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 ia

 
 PUTNAM'S 
 
 HOME CYCLOPEDIA, 
 
 IN SIX VOLUMES. 
 
 EACH COMPLETE IN ITSELF 
 
 I. HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY. The World's Progress. 12mo. With Chart 
 
 II. GENERAL LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS. By GEORGE EIPLEY and BAYARD TAY- 
 LOR.- 12mo. 
 
 III. TUB USEFUL ARTS. By DR. ANTISELL. 12mo. 
 
 IV. UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY. By PARKE GODWIN. 
 
 V. UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY a Comprehensive Gazetteer of the World. 
 
 VI. SCIENCE including Natural History, Botany, Geology, Mineralogy, &c. By Prof. SAMUEL 
 ST. JOHN, of Western Reserve College. 
 
 *, These six volumes are intended to comprise a comprehensive view of the whole circle of human knowledge in 
 other words, to form a General Cyclopedia in a portable shape, for popular reference, for Family Libraries, for Teachers 
 and School Libraries, and for the g neral reader. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 GEORGE P. PUTNAM. 
 1852.

 
 PUTNAM'S HOME CYCLOPEDIA. 
 
 HAND-BOOK 
 
 OF 
 
 LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS; 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 COMPLETK AND ACCURATE DEFINITIONS OF ALL TERMS EMPLOYED IN 
 BELLES-LETTRES, PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY, LAW, MYTHOLOGY, 
 PAINTING, MUSIC, SCULPTURE, ARCHITECTURE, 
 AND ALL KINDRED ARTS. 
 
 COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY 
 
 GEORGE RTPLEY AND BAYARD TAYLOR. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 GEORGE P. PUTNAM. 
 
 1852.
 
 ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, >>y 
 
 GEOEGE P. PUTNAM, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-Fork.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE character of this work is fully set forth in the title-page, yet a few 
 words of introduction still seem necessary, further to elucidate its general 
 scope and aim. The design of the compilers has been to furnish the 
 reading community, and more especially the large class of students in 
 our colleges and seminaries of learning, with a comprehensive handbook 
 or lexicon of all branches of Literature and Art. A work of this kind 
 has long been needed. The great aim of all modern systems of instruc- 
 tion is to present knowledge in as concise and accessible a form as pos- 
 sible, and bring the results of many different theories and systems into 
 forms of practical convenience. In this respect the present work will be 
 found adapted to the purposes of the author, the artist, the student of any 
 learned profession, and the reader. No technical term of general use in 
 any of the departments it includes will be found wanting, while many 
 words, which in a strict sense belong neither to literature nor art, have 
 been added on account of some peculiar association or application. 
 
 In Literature, the work embraces all terms of logic and rhetoric, 
 criticism, style, and language ; sketches of works which stand as types 
 of their age or tongue ; reviews of all systems of philosophy and theology, 
 both of ancient and modern times ; and a complete series of the history 
 of literature among all nations, made up wholly from original sources. 
 All the most important terms of common and international law, all tech- 
 nical words and phrases employed in theology and philosophy, and a 
 number of scientific and historical phrases, which have become familiarized 
 in literature, have been included. The explanations are not confined to 
 mere definitions ; whereever it has been found necessary, illustrative wood- 
 cuts have been introduced, which will greatly assist the reader in his 
 knowledge of architectural terms.
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 In Art, the department of painting, sculpture, and architecture, have 
 been treated as fully and carefully as the nature and limits of the work 
 would permit While a mere technical array of terms has been avoided, 
 care has been taken to explain all the words ; and phrases of art-criticism 
 have been defined at some length, as of interest and value to the general 
 reader, especially since criticism has been recognized as a distinct depart- 
 ment of literature. All words relating to the art and practice of music 
 have been likewise retained. 
 
 In compiling the work, liberal use has been made of Maunders Lite- 
 rary and Scientific Treasury, and Brandos Dictionary of Science and 
 Art. The Imperial Dictionary, the Leipzig Conversations-Lexicon, the 
 Art-Journal Dictionary, and a number of other works have been consulted ; 
 while the article entitled "Literature," comprising sketches of the rise and 
 progress of literature among ancient and modern nations, has been prepared 
 expressly for the present work. The definitions copied from the above- 
 named authorities have been adapted to the usages of the United States, 
 and much that was irrelevant, on account of its application to the local 
 laws or customs of foreign nations, has been purposely omitted. The 
 work, therefore, as it now stands, is intended to furnish a thorough voca- 
 bulary of Art and Literature, specially designed for the use of schools, 
 colleges, and the great reading community of the United States. 
 
 NEW-YOBK, Sept 1851
 
 
 of jCitEraturt ratfo ttie pint Srk 
 
 A is the first letter, and the first vowel, 
 of the alphabet in every known language, 
 except the EthioiMc; and is used either 
 as a word, an abbreviation, or a sign. 
 If pronounced open, as in FATHER, it is 
 the simplest and easiest of all sounds ; 
 the first, in fact, uttered by human 
 beings in their most infantile state, serv- 
 ing to express many and oven opposite 
 emotions, according to the mode in which 
 it is uttered. A has therefore, perhaps, 
 had the first place in the alphabet as- 
 signed to it. In the English language 
 it has four different sounds : the broad 
 sound, as in FALL ; the open, as in 
 FATHER ; the slender, or close, as in 
 FACE ; and the short sound, as in FAT. 
 Most of the other modern languages, as 
 French, Italian, German, &c., have only 
 the open, or Italian a, pronounced short or 
 long. Among the Greeks and Romans, 
 A was used as an arithmetical sign : by 
 the former for 1 ; by the latter for 500 ; 
 or with a stroke over it for 5,000. The 
 Romans also very extensively used it as 
 an abbreviation ; which practice we still 
 retain, as A.M., artium magister ; A.D., 
 anno domini, <j*c. A, a, or aa, in medi- 
 cal prescriptions, denotes ana, or equal 
 parts of each. A, in music, is the nomi- 
 nal of the sixth note in the diatonic 
 scale ; in algebra, it denotes a known 
 quantity ; in logic, an universal affirma- 
 tive proposition ; in heraldry, the dexter 
 chief, or chief point in an escutcheon ; 
 and it is the first of the dominical letters 
 in the calendar. 
 
 AAN'CHE, is a term applied to wind 
 instruments with reeds or tongues, as the 
 clarionet, hautboy, <fcc. 
 
 AA'NES, the tones and modes of the 
 modern Greek music. 
 
 AB, is the llth month of the civil 
 year, and the 5th of the ecclesiastical in 
 
 the Hebrew calendar. In the Syriac cal- 
 endar, it is the last of the summer 
 months. The eastern Christians called 
 the first day of this month Suum Miriam, 
 the fast of Mary, and the 15th, on 
 which day the fast ended, Fathr- Miriam. 
 
 ABACIS'CUS, in ancient architecture, 
 the square compartments of Mosaic pave- 
 ments. 
 
 AB'ACUS, in architecture, is the su- 
 perior member of the capital of a column, 
 to which it serves as a kind of crown. In 
 its origin, it was intended to represent a 
 square tile laid over a basket ; it still re- 
 tains this form in the Tuscan, Doric, and 
 Ionic orders ; but in the Corinthian and 
 Composite, its four sides are arched in- 
 wards, having some ornament in the 
 middle. ABACUS, among ancient mathe- 
 maticians, was a table strewed over with 
 dust, or sand, on which they drew their 
 figures. ABACUS, in arithmetic, an an- 
 cient instrument for reckoning with coun- 
 ters. It is used in various forms ; but 
 the most common arrangement is made 
 by drawing parallel lines distant from 
 each other at least twice the diameter of 
 a counter ; which placed on the lowest 
 line, signifies 1 ; on the second 10 ; on 
 the third, 100 ; on the fourth, 1000 ; and 
 so on. In the intermediate spaces, the same 
 counters are estimated at one half of the 
 value of the line immediately superior. 
 
 AB'BE, a French word, literally mean- 
 ing an abbot ; but the character denoted 
 by it, has long ceased to be of any 
 official nature. Before the Revolution, 
 the term designated a body of persons, 
 who had little connection with the church, 
 but who followed a course of theological 
 study, in hopes that the king would con- 
 fer on them a real abbey, thjit is, a part 
 of the revenues of a monastery. They 
 were employed in various literary pur- 
 suits, and exerted an important influence 
 on the character of the country. Either
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ABN 
 
 in the capacity of a friend or spiritual 
 counsellor, an abbe was found in almost 
 every distinguished family in France. 
 
 AB'BESS, the superior of a nunnery, 
 or other religious community of women. 
 She has the same authority as an abbot, 
 but cannot exercise any of the spiritual 
 functions. 
 
 AB'BEY, a religious house governed 
 by a superior, under the title of an 
 abbot or abbess. The abbeys of England, 
 at their dissolution under Henry VIII., 
 became lay-sees ; when no less than 190 
 were dissolved, the yearly revenue of 
 which has been estimated at 2,853,00(M. 
 At present, an abbey is, in general, the 
 cathedral or episcopal church of the see 
 or diocese in which it stands. 
 
 AB'BOT, was originally the name of 
 every aged monk ; but, since the 8th 
 century, it denotes the head of a monas- 
 tery. In most countries, they held a 
 rank next to that of bishop, and had 
 votes in the ecclesiastical councils. At 
 present they are chiefly distinguished 
 into regular and commendatory ; the 
 former being real monks or religious, 
 and the latter only seculars. 
 
 ABBREVIATION, a contracted man- 
 ner of writing words so as to retain only 
 the initial letters. Such abbreviations 
 were in common use with the Romans, as 
 they are with us, to save time and space. 
 ABBREVIATION, in music, one dash, 
 through the stem of a minim or crotchet, 
 or under a semibreve, converts it into as 
 many quavers as it is equal to in time : 
 two dashes into semiquavers ; three into 
 demisemiquavers ; and so on. When 
 minims are connected together like qua- 
 vers, semiquavers, Ac., they are to be 
 repeated as many times as if they were 
 really such notes. An oblique dash 
 through the 2d, 3d, and 4th lines after 
 an arpeggio, signifies that it is to be 
 repeated ; for quavers, a single dash 
 being used ; for semiquavers, a double 
 one ; and so on. 
 
 ABBRE'VIATORS, officers who assist 
 the vice-chancellor in drawing up the 
 Pope's briefs, and reducing petitions into 
 proper form, to be converted into bulls. 
 
 ABDICA'TION, properly speaking, is 
 a voluntary resignation of a dignity, 
 particularly a regal one ; and if he in 
 whoso favor the abdication was made, 
 dies, or declines the offered dignity, the 
 right of the abdicated prince is reverted. 
 Involuntary resignations are, however, 
 also termed abdications, as in the case 
 of 'yn's abdication at Fontaine- 
 
 fa 1 
 
 ABDITA'RIUM, or ABDITO'RUM, 
 in archaeology, a secret place for hiding 
 or preserving valuables. 
 
 ABDUC'TION, the crime of unlawfully 
 taking away, either by force, or fraud 
 and persuasion, the person of another, 
 whether of child, wife, ward, heiress, or 
 woman generally. 
 
 ABE'LI ANS, or A'BELITES, a Chris- 
 tian sect which sprung from the Gnos- 
 tics. They abstained from matrimony, 
 but adopted the children of others, and 
 brought them up in their own principles. 
 
 ABEY'ANCE, in law, the expectancy 
 of an estate, or possession : thus, if lands 
 be leased from one person for life, with 
 reversion to another for years, the latter 
 estate is in abeyance till the death of 
 the lessee. It is a fixed principle of law, 
 that the fee-simple of all lands is in 
 somebody, or else in^>eyance. 
 
 A'BIB, the first nmith of the Hebrew 
 year, more generally known by the Chal- 
 dean name of Nisan. It is first men- 
 tioned in the 4th verse of the 13th chap- 
 ter of 'Exodus. 
 
 ABJURA'TION, a forswearing, or re- 
 nouncing by oath : in the old law it sig- 
 nified a sworn banishment, or an oath 
 taken to forsake the realm forever. In 
 its modern, and now more usual signifi- 
 cation, it extends to persons, and doc- 
 trines, as well as places. 
 
 AB'LATIVE case, the sixth case of 
 the Latin nouns implied in English by 
 the prepositions/Tom.. 
 
 ABLEC'TI, in ancient Rome, a chosen 
 band of foreign troops, selected from the 
 extraordinarii sociorum. 
 
 ABLEG'MIXA, in Roman antiquity, 
 choice parts of the entrails of victims, call- 
 ed also prqficiee, porricice, prosecta, and 
 prosegmina. The ablegmina were sprin- 
 kled with flour, and burnt on the altar ; 
 the priests pouring some wine on them. 
 
 ABLU'TIOX, a religious ceremony of 
 washing the body, still used by the Turks 
 and Mohammedans. It originated in 
 the obvious necessity of practising clean- 
 liness, for the prevention of diseases in 
 hot countries ; for which purpose it was 
 made a religous rite ; and by an easy 
 transition of idea, the purity of the body 
 was made to typify the purity of the 
 soul : an idea the more rational, as it is 
 perhaps physically certain that outward 
 wretchedness debases the inward mind. 
 
 ABXOR'MAL, contrary to the natural 
 condition. In Art, the term abnormal is 
 applied to everything that deviates from 
 the rules of good taste, and is analogous 
 to tasteless, and ovtrcJiarged.
 
 ABSJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 ABOIVLA, a kind of military garment 
 worn by the Greek and lloman soldiers. 
 
 ABORI'GINES, a name given to the 
 original or first inhabitants of any coun- 
 try ; but more particularly used for the 
 ancient inhabitants of Latium. when 
 JEneas with his Trojans came into Italy. 
 
 ABOR'TION, in & figurative sense, any 
 production that does not come to maturity, 
 or any design or project which fails before 
 it is properly matured. 
 
 AB'RACADAB'RA, a term of incanta- 
 tion, formerly used as a spell or charm, 
 and worn about the neck as an amulet 
 against several diseases. In order to 
 give it the more virtue, it was to be 
 written as many times as the word con- 
 tains letters, omitting always the last 
 letter of the former, and so forming a 
 triangle. But charms and incantations 
 have had their day ; and abracadabra, if 
 used at all, now serves as a word of jest, 
 like hocus pocus, and other unmeaning 
 gibberish. 
 
 ABRAX' AS, or ABRAS AX', in church- 
 history, a mystical term expressing the 
 supreme God, under whom the Basilidians 
 supposed 365 dependent deities. It was 
 the principle of the Gnostic hierarchy. 
 ABRAXAS, or ABRASAX STONES, are very 
 numerous, and represent the human body, 
 with the head of a cock, and the feet of a 
 reptile. The name of Abrasax stone is, 
 in modern times, applied to a variety of 
 gems that exhibit enigmatical composi- 
 tions, but have not the true characteristics 
 of the Basilidians. 
 
 ABRIDGEMENT, the bringing the con- 
 tents of a book within a short compass. 
 The perfection of an abridgment consists 
 in taking only what is material and sub- 
 stantial, and rejecting all superfluities, 
 whether of sentiment 01 style : in which 
 light, abridgments must be allowed to be 
 eminently serviceable to all whose occu- 
 pations prevent them from devoting much 
 time to literary pursuits. 
 
 ABSCIS'SION, in rhetoric, a figure of 
 speech, whereby the speaker stops short 
 in the middle of his discourse, and leaves 
 his hearers to draw their own inferences 
 from the facts he has stated. 
 
 ABSENTEE', a word of modern times, 
 applied to land-owners and capitalists, 
 who expend their incomes in another 
 country. 
 
 AB'SOLUTE, whatever is in all re- 
 spects unlimited and uncontrolled in its 
 own nature : it is opposed to the relative, 
 and to whatever exists only conditionally. 
 Thus the absolute is the principle of 
 entire completion, the universal idea and 
 
 fundamental principle of all things. The 
 question of absolute beauty, i. e. the 
 prototype of the beautiful, is the most 
 important within the reach of Art, in- 
 volving the foundation of ^Esthetics, and 
 of the philosophy of the beautiful. 
 
 ABSOLU'TION, a ceremony practised 
 in various Christian churches. In the 
 Roman Catholic, the priest not only 
 declares absolution to the repentant sin- 
 ner, but is believed to have the power of 
 actually releasing him from his sins : 
 and this authority is declared by the 
 council of Trent to belong to him in its 
 full extent. The Church of England, in 
 the Order for the Visitation of the Sick, 
 has retained nearly the same words ; but 
 her authorities seem not to be exactly 
 agreed as to the force and effect of the 
 absolution so conferred. In the daily 
 service, the words of the absolution are 
 merely declaratory. 
 
 ABSORB'ED, in Italian, Prosciuga- 
 to ; in French, Embu. When the oil 
 with which a picture is painted has sunk 
 into the ground or canvas, leaving the 
 color flat or dead, and the touches indis- 
 tinct, it is said to be absorbed. 
 
 ABSORBENT-GROUNDS are picture- 
 grounds prepared in distemper upon 
 either panel or canvas ; they have the 
 property of imbibing the redundant oil 
 with which the pigments are mixed, of 
 impasting, and are used principally for 
 the sake of expedition. 
 
 AB'SIS, or AP'SIS, in architecture, a 
 word used by ecclesiastical authors to 
 signify that part of the church wherein 
 the clergy were seated, or the altar was 
 placed. The apsis was either circular 
 or polygonal on the plan, and domed 
 over at top as a covering. It consisted 
 of two parts, the altar and the presby- 
 tery, or sanctuary : at the middle of 
 the semicircle was the throne of the 
 bishop ; and at the centre of the diame- 
 ter was placed the altar, towards the 
 nave, from which it was separated by an 
 open balustrade, or railing. On the altar 
 was placed the cibarium and cup. 
 
 AB'STINENCE, the abstaining or re- 
 fraining from what is either useful, 
 agreeable, or pernicious ; but more espe- 
 cially, from eating and drinking. In 
 the Romish church there are "days of 
 abstinence," as well as " fast days ;" the 
 former importing a partial, and the 
 latter, almost a total abstinence from 
 food. 
 
 AB'STINENTS, a sect of Christians 
 who appeared in France about the end 
 of the third century, professing celibacy,
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ACC 
 
 and abstinence from particular kinds of 
 food, &c. 
 
 AB'STRACT, a concise but general 
 view of some large work ; in which sense 
 it differs from an abridgment only as 
 being shorter, and its entering less mi- 
 nutely into particulars ; and from an ex- 
 tract, as this last is only a particular 
 view of some part or passage of it. 
 
 ABSTRACTION, in logic, that opera- 
 tion of the mind whereby it forms ab- 
 stract ideas. The faculty of abstraction 
 stands directly opposite to that of com- 
 pounding. By composition we consider 
 those things together, which, in reality, 
 are not joined together in any one exist- 
 ence. And by abstraction, we consider 
 those things separately and apart, which 
 in reality do not exist apart. In its pas- 
 sive sense it implies occupation with one's 
 self to the exclusion of other objects. 
 
 ACADEM'ICS, certain philosophers 
 who followed the doctrine of Socrates 
 and Plato, as to the uncertainty of knowl- 
 edge and the incomprehensibility of 
 truth. Academic, in this sense, amounts 
 to much the same with Platonist ; the 
 difference between them being only in 
 point of time. They who embraced the 
 system of Plato, among the ancients, 
 were called Academic! ; whereas those 
 who did the same since the restoration of 
 learning, have assumed the denomina- 
 tion of Platonists. 
 
 ACAD'EMY, in Grecian antiquity, a 
 large villa in one of the suburbs of 
 Athens, where the sect of philosophers 
 called Academics held their assemblies. 
 It took its name from Academus, a cele- 
 brated Athenian, who resided there, and 
 became celebrated from its being the 
 place in which Plato taught philosophy. 
 ACADEMY, in the modern acceptation, 
 is a society of persons united for the 
 pursuit of some objects of study and ap- 
 plication, as the Royal Academy of Arts 
 of London, and the Royal Academy of 
 Sciences of Berlin. The first academy 
 of science, in modern times, was estab- 
 lished at Naples, by Baptista Porta, in 
 1560. 
 
 ACAD'EMY FIGURE, in painting, 
 a drawing usually made with black and 
 white chalk, on tinted paper, after the 
 living model. Sometimes Academy-fig- 
 ure is understood to be one in which the 
 action is constrained, and the parts with- 
 out mutual connection with each other, 
 as frequently happens to those who model 
 from a study which was only intended to 
 exhibit the development of certain mus- 
 cles or members of the body. 
 
 ACAN'TnUS, the bear's claw, a plant 
 used in Greece and Italy on account of 
 its beautiful 
 indented 
 leaves and 
 graceful 
 growth for 
 garden plots 
 and also in 
 works of Art 
 for the bor- 
 durs of em- 
 broidered 
 "~~^~-_^-~ ga rinents, 
 the edges of 
 vases, for wreaths round drinking cups ; 
 and in architecture, for ornamenting the 
 capitals of columns, particularly those 
 of the Corinthian order, and the Roman, 
 or Composite, which sprang from it. The 
 type of the Corinthian capital may be 
 found on numerous Egyptian capitals. 
 
 ACAT'ALEPSY, (acatalepsia,) among 
 ancient philosophers, the impossibility 
 of comprehending something ; uncertainty 
 in science. 
 
 ACC A'LI A, in Roman antiquity, solemn 
 festivals held in honor of Acca Laurentia, 
 the nurse of Romulus : they were also 
 called Laurentalia. 
 
 ACCENDEN'TES, or ACCENSO'- 
 RES, in the church of Rome, an inferior 
 rank of ministers, whose business it is to 
 light, snuff, and trim the candles and 
 tapers. 
 
 ACCEN'DONES, in Roman antiquity, 
 officers in the gladiatorial schools, who 
 i excited and animated the combatants dur- 
 ! ing the engagement. 
 
 ACCEN'SI, in Roman antiquity, certain 
 | supernumerary soldiers, designed to sup- 
 ply the place of those who should be 
 killed, or anywise disabled. ACCENSI 
 also denoted a kind of inferior officers, 
 appointed to attend the Roman magis- 
 trates. 
 
 AC'CENT, a modification of the voice 
 ! in pronouncing certain words or sylla- 
 bles : also, the marks on the words or 
 syllables; as, the acute accent, marked 
 thus ('), the grave accent thus ('), the 
 circumflex thus ("). This is called gram- 
 matical accent, but there is also a rhe- 
 torical accent or emphasis, which is de- 
 signed to give to a sentence distinctness 
 and clearness. In a sentence, therefore, 
 the stress is laid on the most important 
 word, and in a word on the most impor- 
 tant syllable. When the accent falls on 
 a vowel, that vowel has its long sound, 
 as in po'rous; but when it falls on a 
 consonant, the preceding vowel is short,
 
 AGO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 as in pot'ter. Accents also not only give 
 a pleasing variety and beauty ~to the 
 modulation of the voice, but often serve 
 to ascertain the true meaning of the 
 word. In music, accent denotes a certain 
 modulation or warbling of the sounds, to 
 express passions, either naturally by the 
 voice, or artificially by instruments. 
 Every bar or measure is divided into the 
 accented and unaccented parts ; the for- 
 mer being the principal, on which the 
 spirit of the music depends. 
 
 ACCEPT'ANCE, in commerce, is when 
 a man subscribes, signs, and makes him- 
 self a debtor for the sum contained in a 
 bill of exchange, or other obligation, 
 drawn upon, or addressed to him ; which 
 is done by his writing the word " Ac- 
 cepted" on it, and signing his name. 
 
 ACCEPT'OR, the person who accepts 
 a bill of exchange by signing it, and 
 thereby becoming bound to pay its con- 
 tents. 
 
 AC'CESSARY, in law, a person who 
 aids in the commission of some felonious 
 action. There are two kinds of acces- 
 saries, viz. before the fact, and after it. 
 The first is he who commands and pro- 
 cures another to commit an offence ; who, 
 though he be absent when it is com- 
 mitted, is now regarded as much a prin- 
 cipal as the actual offender. The ac- 
 cessary after the fact is one who receives, 
 comforts, or assists the offender, knowing 
 him to be such. In the highest crimes, 
 as high treason, &c., and the lowest, as 
 riots, forcible entries, &c., there are no ac- 
 cessaries, but all concerned are principals. 
 
 AC'CESSORIES, objects and materi- 
 als independent of the figure in a picture, 
 and which, without being essential to 
 the composition, are nevertheless useful, 
 whether under the picturesque relation, 
 to fill up those parts that without them 
 would appear naked, to establish a bal- 
 ance between the masses, to form the 
 contrast, to contribute to the harmony 
 of colors, and so add to the splendor and 
 richness of a picture ; or, under the re- 
 lation of poetic composition, to facilitate 
 the understanding of the subject, recall- 
 ing some one of the circumstances which 
 have preceded, or which will follow the 
 action ; to make known the condition 
 and habits of the figures ; to characterize 
 their general manners, and through them 
 the age and country in which the action 
 takes place, <fcc. ; such are draperies va- 
 riously adjusted, trophies affixed to the 
 walls, devices, sculptured divinities, fur- 
 niture, carpets, lamps, groups of vases, ; 
 arms, utensils, <tc. 
 
 ACCIACATU'RA, in music, a sweep- 
 ing of the chords of the pianoforte, and 
 dropping sprinkled notes usual in accom- 
 paniments. 
 
 AC'CIDENCE, a display of the varia- 
 tions of words according to their govern- 
 ment or sense. 
 
 AC'CIDENS, or PER ACCIDENS, a 
 term applied to the operations of natural 
 bodies, in distinction from per se ; thus 
 fire is said to burn per se, but a heated 
 iron per accidens. 
 
 AC'CIDENT, that which belongs ac- 
 cidentally, not essentially, to a thing, as 
 sweetness, softness, &c. 
 
 ACCIDENTAL, in philosophy, a term 
 applied to effects which result from 
 causes occurring by accident. 
 
 ACCIDENTAL COLORS, colors de- 
 pending on some affection of the eye, 
 and not belonging to light itself, or any 
 quality of the luminous object. If we 
 look for a short time steadily with one 
 eye upon any bright-colored spot, as a 
 wafer on a sheet of paper, and immedi- 
 ately after turn the same eye to another 
 part of the paper, a similar spot will be 
 seen, but of a different color. If the 
 wafer be red, the imaginary spot will be 
 green ; if black, it will be changed into 
 white ; the color thus appearing being 
 always what is termed the complemen- 
 tary color of that on which the eye was 
 fixed. 
 
 ACCIDENTAL LIGHT, secondary 
 lights, which are not accounted for by 
 the prevalent effect. 
 
 ACCIDENTAL POINT, in perspec- 
 tive, the point in which a straight line 
 drawn from the eye, parallel to another 
 straight line, cuts the perspective plane. 
 
 ACCIDENTALS, in painting, are 
 those fortuitous or chance effects, occur- 
 ring from luminous rays falling on cer- 
 tain objects, by which they are brought 
 into stronger light than they otherwise 
 would be, and their shadows are conse- 
 quently of greater intensity. This sort 
 of effect is to be seen in almost every 
 picture by Rembrandt, who used them to 
 a very great extent. There are some 
 fine instances of accidentals in Raphael's 
 Transfiguration, and particularly in the 
 celebrated picture, the Notte of Coreg- 
 gio, in which the light emanates from the 
 infant Christ. ACCIDENTALS, in music, 
 are those flats and sharps which are pre- 
 fixed to the notes in a movement, and 
 which would not be considered so by the 
 flats and sharps in the signature. 
 
 ACCLAMATION, in Roman antiqui- 
 ty, a shout raised by the people, to tes-
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ACC 
 
 tify their applause, or approbation of 
 their princes, generals, Ac. In ages 
 when people were more accustomed to 
 give full utterance to their feelings, ac- 
 clamations were very common, whenever 
 a mass of people was influenced by one 
 common feeling. We find, therefore, ac- 
 clamations in theatres, senates, ecclesias- 
 tical meetings, elections, at nuptials, tri- 
 umphs, &c. In the early times of Chris- 
 tianity, the bishops were elected by ac- 
 clamation. The first German emperors 
 were elected in the same way ; and at 
 the present day, wherever the forms of 
 civilized life are least regarded, approba- 
 tion or disapprobation of proposed public 
 measures is shown by acclamations of 
 the assembled multitude. 
 
 AC'COLA, among the Romans, signi- 
 fied a person who lived near some place ; 
 in which sense it differed from incola, the 
 inhabitant of such a place. 
 
 ACCOLADE', the ancient ceremony of 
 conferring knighthood, by the king's lay- 
 ing his arms about the young knight's 
 neck, and embracing him. This familiar ! 
 expression of regard appears to have 
 been exchanged for the more stately act 
 of touching, or gently striking, with the 
 royal sword, the neck of the kneeling 
 knight. The present ceremony of con- 
 ferring the honor of knighthood is evi- 
 dently derived from it. 
 
 ACCOM'PANIMEXT, an instrumen- 
 tal part added to a musical composition 
 by way of embellishment, and in order 
 to support the principal melody. When 
 the piece may be performed with or 
 without the accompaniment at pleasure, 
 it is called accompaniment ad libitum; 
 but when it is indispensable, accompani- 
 ment obligato. 
 
 ACCOM'PLICE, in law, a person who 
 is privy to, or aiding in, the perpetration 
 of some crime. 
 
 ACCOM'PLISHMENT, in a general, 
 sense, denotes the perfecting, or entirely 
 finishing and completing any matter or 
 thing ; but it more expressly describes 
 the acquirement of some branch of 
 learning, useful art, or elegant amuse- 
 ment. ACCOMPLISHMENT is also partic- 
 ularly use 1 for the fulfilment of a proph- 
 ecy ; in which sense, we read of a literal 
 accomplishment, a mystical accomplish- 
 ment, <fcc. 
 
 ACCORD ATU'RA, an Italian word, to 
 express the tuning of an instrument. 
 
 ACCOR'DION, a new musical -instru- 
 ment, of German invention, but now also 
 made in this country, consisting -of a 
 double serias of vibrating tongues, acted 
 
 on by a current of air from a sort of bel- 
 lows, and producing tones very similar to 
 those of the organ. 
 
 ACCOUNT'ANT, or ACCOMPT'ANT, 
 in a general sense, denotes one whose 
 business it is to compute, adjust, and 
 range in due order accounts in commerce. 
 In a more restricted sense, the term is 
 applicable to a person appointed to keep 
 the accounts of a public company or 
 office : thus, we say the accountant of the 
 India Company, the Custom-house, the 
 Excise, &c. 
 
 ACCOUTREMENTS, the necessaries 
 of a soldier, as belts, pouches, cartridge- 
 boxes, &c. 
 
 ACCRE'TION, the increase or growth 
 of a body by an external addition of new 
 parts ; thus shells, stones, and various 
 other substances are formed. 
 
 ACCUBA'TION, the posture used 
 among the Greeks and Romans at their 
 meals, which was with the body extended 
 on a couch, and the head resting on a 
 pillow, or on the elbow, supported by a 
 pillow. This practice was not permitted 
 among soldiers children, and servants ; 
 nor was it known until luxury had cor- 
 rupted manners. Their couches were 
 called ACCUBITA. 
 
 ACEPH'ALI. a sect of Christians, so 
 called because they admitted no head, or 
 superior, either lay or ecclesiastic. 
 
 ACER'RA, in Roman antiquity, was a 
 small altar erected near the bed on which 
 a dead person was laid out. Incense and 
 perfumes were burnt upon it, till the time 
 of the funeral The real intention, prob- 
 ably, was to prevent or overcome any of- 
 fensive smells that might arise about the 
 corpse. 
 
 A'CHEROX, the river of sorrow which 
 flowed round the infernal realms of 
 Hades, according to the mythology of 
 the ancients. There was a river of 
 Thesprotia, in Epirus, of the same name, 
 and also one in Italy, near which Alex- 
 ander, king of the Molossi, was slain; 
 both of which from the unwholesome and 
 foul nature of their waters, were sup- 
 posed to communicate with the infernal 
 stream. 
 
 AC'ME, in rhetoric, the extreme 
 height, or farthest point of pathos, or 
 sentiment, to which the mind is judi- 
 ciously conducted by a series of impres- 
 sions gradually rising in intensity. 
 
 ACOLY'TIII, in ecclesiastical history, 
 denotes candidates for the ministry, so 
 called from their continually attending 
 the bishop. It is also an appellation 
 given to the Stoics, on account of their
 
 ACT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 steady adherence to what they had once 
 resolved. 
 
 ACOUSMAT'ICI, in Grecian antiquity, 
 such disciples of Pythagoras, as had not 
 finished their five years' probation. The 
 acousmatici were instructed by bare posi- 
 tive precepts and rules, without reasons 
 or demonstrations, and these precepts 
 they called acousmaia. 
 
 ACROAT'IC, in the Aristotelian 
 schools, a denomination given to such 
 lectures as were calculated only for the 
 intimate friends and disciples of that 
 philosopher ; being chiefly employed in 
 demonstrating some speculative or ab- 
 struse part of philosophy. The acroatic 
 lectures stood contradistinguished from 
 the exoteric ones, which were adapted to 
 a common auditory. 
 
 ACRO'LITHOS, in sculpture, a statue 
 whose extremities are of stone, the body 
 being made of wood. According to Vi- 
 truvius, there was a temple at Halicar- 
 nassus dedicated to Mars, and built by 
 Mausolus, king of Caria, wherein was an 
 acrolithan statue of the god. And from 
 Trebellius Pollio we learn that Calpurnia 
 set up an acrolithan statue of Venus, 
 which was gilt. 
 
 ACROMONOGRAMMAT'ICUM, apo- 
 etical composition, wherein each subse- 
 quent verse commences with that which 
 the verse preceding terminates. 
 
 ACROP'OLIS, the citadel of Athens. 
 It was formerly the whole city, and at 
 first called Acropia, from Acrops the 
 founder ; but, after the inhabitants were 
 greatly increased in number, the whole 
 plain around it was filled with buildings, 
 and the original city became the centre, 
 under the denomination of Acropolis, or 
 the upper city. 
 
 ACROS'TIC, a poem, the lines of which 
 are so contrived, that the first letters of 
 each, taken together, will make a proper 
 name or other word. 
 
 ACROSTO'LIUM, in the naval archi- 
 tecture of the ancients, the extreme part 
 of the ornament used on the prows of 
 their ships. It was usual to tear the 
 acrostolia from the prows of vanquished 
 ships, as a token of victory. 
 
 ACROTE'RIA, in architecture, small 
 pedestals, upon which globes, vases, or 
 statues stand at the ends or middle of 
 pediments. It also denotes the figures 
 themselves placed in such situations. ( 
 
 ACT, in a general sense, denotes the 
 exertion, or effectual application, of some 
 power or faculty. Act is distinguished 
 from power, as the effect from the cause, 
 or as a thing produced, from that which 
 
 produces it. ACT, among logicians, more 
 particularly denotes an operation of the 
 human mind ; in which sense, compre- 
 hending, judging, willing, &c. are called 
 acts. ACT, in law, is used for an instru- 
 ment or deed in writing, serving to prove 
 the truth of some bargain or transaction. 
 Thus, records, certificates, &c. are called 
 acts. ACT is also used for the final reso- 
 lution, or decree of an assembly, senate, 
 council, &c. ACTS of parliament are 
 called statutes ; acts of the royal society, 
 transactions ; those of the French academy 
 of sciences, memoirs; those of the academy 
 of sciences at Petersburg, commentaries ; 
 those of Leipsic, acta eruditorum ; the 
 decrees%f the lords of session, at Edin- 
 burgh, acta sederunt, &c. ACT, in the 
 universities, is the delivery of orations, 
 or other exercises, in proof of the pro- 
 ficiency of a student who is to take a. 
 degree. At Oxford, the time when mas- 
 ters or doctors complete their degrees, is 
 called the act. At Cambridge, the same 
 period is called the commencement. 
 ACT, in a dramatic sense, is the name 
 given to certain portions of a play, in- 
 tended to give respite both to the specta- 
 tors and the actors. In the ancient 
 drama, five acts were required both in 
 tragedy and comedy ; and in what is 
 termed the regular drama that rule is 
 still observed, the acts being divided into 
 smaller portions, called scenes. 
 
 AC'TA CONSISTO'RII, the edicts or 
 declarations of the council of state of the 
 emperors. 
 
 AC'TA DIUR'NA, was a sort of Roman 
 gazette, containing an authorized narra- 
 tive of the transactions worthy of notice, 
 which happened at Rome. 
 
 AC'TA PUB'LICA, in Roman history, 
 the jouAal of the senate. It seems to 
 have resembled the votes of the English 
 House of Commons, wherein a short ac- 
 count was given to the public of what 
 passed in the senate-house. 
 
 AC'TIAN GAMES, or LUDI ACTIACA, 
 were instituted in commemoration of the 
 victory obtained by Augustus over An- 
 tony at Actium. They returned every 
 fifth year, according to the general 
 opinion, and were sacred to Apollo, who 
 was then called Actius Apollo. Actian 
 years became an era, commencing from 
 the battle of Actium. called also the era 
 of Augustus. The Actian games con- 
 sisted of shows of gladiators, wrestlers, 
 and other exercises, and were kept gene- 
 rally at Nicopolis, a city built by Augus- 
 tus, near Actium, for that purpose, with a 
 view to perpetuate the fame of his victory.
 
 a 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ADJ 
 
 AC'TION, in ethics, something done by ! 
 a free or .moral agent, capable of dis- 
 tinguishing good from evil. The essence 
 of a moral action consists in its being 
 done knowingly and voluntarily : that is, 
 the agent must not only be able to dis- 
 tinguish whether it be good or bad in 
 itself; but he must likewise be entirely 
 free from compulsion of any kind, and at 
 full liberty to follow the dictates of his 
 own understanding. ACTION, in rhet- 
 oric, may be defined, the accommoda- 
 tion of the voice, but more especially the 
 gesture of an orator, to the subject he is 
 upon. ACTION, in a theatrical sense, is 
 nearly the same with action among 
 orators ; only the actor adapts hit action 
 to an assumed character, whereas the 
 orator is supposed to be in reality what 
 his action expresses. ACTION, in paint- 
 ing and sculpture, denotes the posture of 
 a statue or picture, serving to express 
 some passion, &c. ACTION, in the mili- 
 tary art, is an engagement between two 
 armies, or between different bodies of 
 troops belonging thereto. 
 
 AC'TIVE, in a general sense, denotes 
 something that communicates motion or 
 action to another, in which sense it stands 
 opposed to passive. ACTIVE, among 
 grammarians, an appellation given to 
 words expressing some action, as I write, 
 I read, &c. ACTIVE POWER, in meta- 
 physics, the power of executing any 
 work or labor ; in contradistinction to 
 speculative powers, as those of seeing, 
 hearing, reasoning, <fcc. 
 
 AC'TOR, in a dramatic sense, is a man 
 who enacts some part or character in a 
 play. It is remaikable with what differ- 
 ence actors were treated among the an- 
 cients. At Athens they were held in 
 such esteem, as to be sometimes 1 sent on 
 embassies to foreign powers ; whereas, at 
 Rome, if a citizen became an actor, he 
 thereby forfeited his freedom. Actors in 
 the present day have little to complain 
 of, in regard to the treatment they re- 
 ceive : according as they contribute to 
 the gratification of the public so are they 
 rewarded ; and if their moral conduct be 
 irreproachable, no persons are more es- 
 teemed or lauded. 
 
 AC'TRESS, a female dramatic per- 
 former. They were tfhknown to the an- 
 cients, among whom men always took the 
 parts of women. Xor were they intro- 
 duced on the English stage till the days 
 of the Stuarts. 
 
 ACTUA'RIUS, or ACTA'RIUS, in 
 Roman antiquity, an officer, or rather 
 notary, appointed to write down the pro- 
 
 ceedings of a court. ACTUABII were also 
 officers who kept the military accounts, 
 and distributed the corn to the soldiers. 
 
 AC'TUARY, the chief clerk, or person, 
 who compiles minutes of the proceedings 
 of a company in business. 
 
 ACU'MEN, mental sharpness, or quick 
 discernment ; great intellectual capacity. 
 In ancient music, acumen denotes a sound 
 produced by raising the voice to a high 
 pitch. 
 
 ACUTE', an appellation given to such 
 things as terminate in a sharp point, or 
 edge : thus, we say, an acute angle, acute- 
 angled triangle, <fcc. ACUTE, in music, 
 an epithet given to sharp or shrill sounds, 
 in opposition to those called grave. 
 
 ACYROLO'GIA, in grammar, denotes 
 an improper word, phrase, or expression : 
 it differs a little from the catachresis. 
 
 AD, a Latin preposition, expressing the 
 relation of one thing to another. It is 
 frequently prefixed to other words : thus, 
 AD HOMINEM, among logicians, an argu- 
 ment drawn from the professed belief or 
 principles of those with whom we argue. 
 AD LUDOS, in Roman antiquity, a kind 
 of punishment, whereby the criminals 
 entertained the people, either by fighting 
 with wild beasts, or with each other. AD 
 VALOREM, in commerce, according to the 
 value. AD INFINITUM, indefinitely, or to 
 infinity. 
 
 ADA'GIO, a degree quicker than 
 grave time, in music, but with graceful 
 and elegant execution. 
 
 A'DEPT, a distinctive term applied to 
 those alchemists who were supposed to 
 have attained the great object of their re- 
 searches, or to have discovered the phi- 
 losopher's stone. 
 
 ADHE'RENCE, the effect of those 
 parts of a picture which, wanting relief, 
 are not detached, and hence appear ad- 
 hering to the canvas or surface. 
 
 AD'JECTIVE, in grammar, that part 
 of speech which is annexed to substan- 
 tives, to define more accurately the con- 
 ceptions intended to be denoted by them. 
 
 ADJOURN'MENT, the putting off a 
 court or other meeting till another day. 
 In parliament, adjournment differs from 
 prorogation, the former being not only 
 for the shorter time, but also done by the 
 house itself, whereas the latter is an act 
 of royal authority. 
 
 AD'TUNCT, some quality belonging 
 either to body or mind, either natural or 
 acquired. Thus, thinking is an adjunct 
 of the mind, and growth of the body. It 
 also denotes something added to another, 
 without being any necessary part of it
 
 ADUJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 9 
 
 Thus water absorbed by a sponge is an 
 adjunct, but no necessary part of that 
 substance. 
 
 ADJUST'MENT, in a picture, is the 
 manner in which draperies are chosen, 
 arranged, and disposed. 
 
 AD'JUTANT, a military officer, whose 
 duty it is to carry orders from the major 
 to the colonel and Serjeants. When de- 
 tachments are to be made, he gives the 
 number to be furnished by each company 
 or troop, and assigns the hour and place 
 of rendezvous. He also places the guards, 
 receives and distributes the ammunition 
 to the companies, &c. 
 
 AD'JtJTANT-GEN'ERAL, an officer 
 of distinction, who assists the general, by 
 forming the several details of duty of the 
 army with the brigade majors. 
 
 ADLOCU'TION, or ADLOCU'TIO, in 
 Roman antiquity, the address made by 
 generals to their armies, in order to rouse 
 their courage before a battle. 
 
 AD'MIRAL, the commander of a fleet 
 of ships of war ; having two subordinate 
 commanders, as vice-admiral and rear- 
 admiral ; and distinguished into three 
 classes, by the color of their flags, as 
 white, blue, and red. The admiral car- 
 ries his flag at the main-top-mast head ; 
 the vice-admiral, at the fore-top-mast 
 head ; and the rear-admiral, at the mizeii- 
 top-mast head. 
 
 AD'MIRALTY, the Board of Com- 
 missioners for executing the office of Lord 
 High Admiral, and having authority 
 over naval affairs generally. ADMIRAL- 
 TY, COURT OF, in law, i>' a court of rec- 
 ord, of which the proceedings are carried 
 on, at least to a certain extent, according 
 to the course of the civil law ; although, 
 as the judge may have in some cases the 
 assistance of a jury, it has also a resem- 
 blance to the courts of common law. It 
 has jurisdiction principally for the deter- 
 mination of private injuries to private 
 rights arising at sea, o- intimately con- 
 nected with maritime subjects ; and in 
 most cases, to which its authority extends, 
 it has concurrent jurisdiction, either with 
 the common law courts, or those of equity. 
 
 ADONA'I, one of the names of God 
 used in the Scriptures, and properly sig- 
 nifying my lords, in the plural, as ADONI 
 does my lord, in the singular number. 
 
 ADO'NTA, solemn feasts in honor of 
 Venus, instituted in memory of her be- 
 loved Adonis, and observed with great 
 solemnity by the Greeks, Phoenicians, 
 Lycians, Syrians, Egyptians, <fcc. They 
 lasted two days, during the first of which 
 the women carried about images of 
 
 Venus and Adonis, weeping, tearing their 
 hair, beating their breasts, and using ev- 
 ery token of grief. On the second, they 
 sung his praises, and made rejoicings, as 
 if Adonis had been raised to life again. 
 
 ADO'NIC, a species of verse consisting 
 of a dactyle and a spondee. It was in- 
 vented by Sappho, and derived its name 
 from being principally sung at the festi- 
 vals in memory of Adonis. 
 
 ADO'NIS, in mythology, a beautiful 
 youth, son of Cinyras, king of Cyprus, 
 beloved by Venus, and killed by a wild 
 boar, to the great regret of the goddess. 
 It is, also, the name of a river of Phoenicia, 
 on the banks of which Adonis, or Tharn- 
 muz, as he is called in the East, was 
 supposed to have been killed. At certain 
 seasons of the year this river acquires a 
 high red color, by the rains washing up 
 particles of red earth. The ancient poets 
 ascribed this to a sympathy in the river 
 for the death of Adonis. This season 
 was observed as a festival in the adjacent 
 country. 
 
 ADORA'TION, a mode of reverence 
 or worship anciently shown to the gods, 
 by raising the right hand to the mouth, 
 and gently applying it to the lips ; also, 
 in general, any outward sign of worship, 
 by kissing the hand or feet, walking 
 barefoot, or the like. Among the Jews, 
 adoration consisted in kissing the hands, 
 bowing, kneeling, and even prostration. 
 But the posture of adoration most com- 
 mon in all ages and countries, is kneel- 
 ing. 
 
 ADO'REA, in Roman antiquity, grain, 
 or a kind of cakes made of fine flour, and 
 offered in sacrifice ; a dole or distribution 
 of corn, as a reward for some service ; 
 whence, by metonymy, it is put for praise 
 or rewards in general. 
 
 A'DRI AN, ST., in Christian art is repre- 
 sented armed, with an anvil at his feet 
 or in his arms, and occasionally with a 
 sword or an axe lying beside it. The 
 anvil is the appropriate attribute of St. 
 Adrian, who suffered martyrdom, having 
 his limbs cut off on a smith's anvil, and 
 being afterwards beheaded. St. Adrian 
 was the chief military saint of northern 
 Europe for many ages, second only to St 
 George. He was regarded as the patron 
 of soldiers, and the protector against the 
 i plague. He has not been a popular sub- 
 | ject with artists. St. Adrian is the 
 patron saint of the Flemish brewers. 
 
 ADULTERA'TION, in a general sense, 
 
 denotes the act of debasing, by :i.n im- 
 
 I proper mixture, something that was pure 
 
 I and genuine. Thus, adulteration of coin,
 
 10 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [AEO 
 
 is the casting or making it of a metal 
 inferior in goodness to the standard, by 
 using too great a portion of alloy. 
 
 ADUL'TERY, a violation of the nup- 
 tial bed ; a crime which has been re- 
 garded by all civilized nations with 
 abhorrence, and in ancient times was 
 punished as a capital offence. By the 
 Jewish law, the penalty was death. 
 
 AD'VEXT, the coming of our Saviour ; 
 also the festival commemorative of the 
 Advent, which falls about a month before 
 Christmas. 
 
 AD'VERB, a word so called from its 
 signification and connection with verbs ; 
 though they are also frequently joined 
 with adjectives and other parts of speech 
 to modify their meaning. 
 
 ADVERSA'RIA, a memorandum-book, 
 journal, or common-place book. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT, any printed pub- 
 lication of circumstances, either of public 
 or private interest, particularly that in- 
 serted in the newspapers. 
 
 AD'VOCATE, the original pleaders 
 of causes at Rome were the Patricians, 
 who defended gratuitously their clients ; 
 but even before the downfall of the re- 
 public, the class had degenerated into a 
 profession, its members receiving rewards 
 for their services, although still among 
 the most honorable of employments. In 
 the later ages of the empire, the advocati 
 appear to have formed a distinct class 
 from the jurisconsult!, or chamber-coun- 
 sel, and to have munh declined in repu- 
 tation. In France, the avocats, or 
 counsel, form a separate order, of which 
 each member is attached to a particular 
 local court. The lord advocate, in Scot- 
 land, is a public officer, who prosecutes 
 crimes before the court of justiciary. 
 
 ADVOWSON, properly, the relation 
 in which a patron stands towards the 
 living to which he presents, i. e. the pat- 
 ronage of a church. The earliest pro- 
 vision for divine worship, in England and 
 in other countries, was derived from the 
 offerings of the laity, which were dis- 
 tributed by the bishop of each diocese 
 among his clergy, whom he sent from 
 place to place to preach and administer 
 the sacraments. By degrees he was en- 
 abled, by the bequests of the faithful, 
 and the customary offering of tithes, to 
 subdivide his diocese, or parochia, as it 
 was originally called, into various dis- 
 tricts, and to build churches and establish 
 permanent ministers in each. At the 
 same time it became a common p -actice 
 among the nobles to build and endow 
 churches for the benefit of themselves 
 
 and their own dependents ; in which case 
 they were allowed to present to the 
 benefice, subject to the licensing power 
 of the bishop and the canons of the 
 church. 
 
 AD'YTUM, the most retired and secret 
 place of the heathen temples, into which 
 none but the priests were allowed to enter. 
 The adytum of the Greeks and Roman* 
 answered to the sanctum sanctorum if 
 the Jews, and was the place from whence 
 oracles were delivered. The term is 
 purely Greek, signifying inaccessible. 
 
 .iEACE'A, in Grecian antiquity, solemn 
 festivals and games in honor of vEacus, 
 who, on account of his justice upon earth, 
 was thought to have been one of the 
 judges in hell. At the end of the so- 
 lemnity, the victors in the games used to 
 present a garland of flowers. 
 
 yE'DES, in Roman antiquity, besides 
 its more ordinary signification of a house, 
 or the internal part of a house, where 
 the family used to eat, likewise signified 
 an inferior kind of temple, consecrated 
 indeed to some deity, but not by the 
 augurs. 
 
 J5DIC'ULA, a small aedes or temple, 
 which was erected in every village or 
 parish. 
 
 JSDI'LES, a Roman magistrate, whose 
 chief business was to superintend build- 
 ings of all kinds, but more especially pub- 
 lic ones, as temples, aqueducts, bridges, 
 <fec. ; and to take care of the highways, 
 weights, and measures, &c. 
 
 jE'GIS, a shield, particularly the shield 
 of Jupiter. 
 
 ^ENE'ID, the title of Virgil's epic 
 poem, in which he celebrates the adven- 
 tures of ^Eneas, one of the bravest among 
 the Trojan heroes. The author intro- 
 duces him as sailing from Troy, after its 
 destruction, in search of the shores of 
 Italy, on which it had been promised by 
 the gods that he should found an empire 
 destined to be immortal ; and the poem 
 ends with the complete success of JBBWU 
 over Turnus, king of the Rutuli, whose 
 dominions he had invaded, and who falls 
 by his hand. The unrivalled force, ele- 
 gance, and beauty of Virgil's style have 
 been the theme of admiration in every 
 succeeding age, and given him an indis- 
 putable right to a niche in the temple of 
 Apollo, second only to that of Homer. 
 
 ..EO'LIAN HARP, an arrangement of 
 strings placed in a window and played 
 upon by the wind. It produces the effect 
 of a distant, choir of music in the air, 
 sweetly mingling all the harmonic notes, 
 and swelling or diminishing its sounds
 
 A.G.V] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 11 
 
 according to the strength or weakness of 
 the blast. 
 
 JEi'RA, or E'RA, a fixed historical 
 period whence years are reckoned : as 
 the building of Rome, or the birth of 
 Christ. Era and* Epoch are not exactly 
 synonymous. An era is a point fixed by 
 a particular people or nation ; an epoch, 
 one determined by chronologists and his- 
 torians. The idea of an era, also, com- 
 prehends a certain succession of years, 
 proceeding from a fixed event ; and an 
 epoch is that event itself. 
 
 AE'RIAL, in painting, a term applied 
 to the diminishing intensity of color on 
 objects receding from the eye. Aerial 
 perspective is the relative apparent re- 
 cession of objects from the foreground, 
 owing to the quantity of air interposed 
 between them and the spectator, and 
 must accompany the recession of the 
 perspective lines. 
 
 AER'OMANCY, a kind of divination 
 amongst the Greeks, and from them adopt- 
 ed by the Romans, whereby they pre- 
 tended to foretell future events from cer- 
 tain spectral phenomena or noises in the 
 air. By aeromancy, in the present day, 
 is meant the art of foretelling the changes 
 and variations of the air and weather, by 
 means of meteorological observations. 
 
 A'ERONAUT, one who sails in the air 
 in a balloon. 
 
 AERONAU'TICS, or AEROSTA'- 
 TION, the art of navigating the air, by 
 employing air-balloons, or silken globes, 
 filled with gas lighter than atmospheric 
 air. 
 
 ^USTIIET'ICS, a term derived from 
 the Greek, denoting feeling, sentiment, 
 imagination, originally adopted by the 
 Germans, and now incorporated into the 
 vocabulary of Art. By it is generally 
 understood " the science of the beautiful" 
 and its various modes of representation ; 
 its purpose is to lead the criticism of the 
 beautiful back to the principle of reason. 
 In beauty lies the soul of Art. Schelling 
 declares that the province of ^Esthetics 
 is to develop systematically the mani- 
 fold beautiful in every Art, as the one 
 idea of the beautiful. 
 
 ^ES'TIVA, summer encampments for 
 the Roman soldiers, in distinction from 
 the hibernia, or winter quarters. 
 
 jES'TIV AL, in a general sense, denotes 
 something connected with, or belonging 
 to summer. Hence we say aestival point, 
 festival sign, sestival solstice, <fec. 
 
 AFFECTA'TION, in the Fine Arts, 
 an artificial show arising from the want 
 of simplicity either in coloring, drawing, 
 
 i or action. Also, the overcharging any 
 ! part of a composition with an artificial or 
 deceitful appearance. 
 
 AFFETUO'SO, afetto, Ital., in a tender 
 and affecting style ; a term employed in 
 music-books, at the beginning of a move- 
 ment. 
 
 AFFI'ANCE, in law, denotes the mu- 
 tual plighting of truth, between a man 
 and a woman ; to bind one's self to the 
 performance of a marriage contract. 
 
 AFFIDA'VIT, an oath in writing, 
 taken before some person who is legally 
 authorized to administer the same. 
 
 AFFINITY, in civil law, the rela- 
 tionship in which each of the parties 
 married stands to the kindred of the 
 other. 
 
 AFFIR'MATIVE, an epithet used by 
 logicians for a species of proposition 
 wherein any predicate is affirmed of its 
 subject ; as, " a dog is a quadruped ;" 
 here "quadruped" is affirmed of a dog. 
 
 AF'FIX, in grammar, a particle added 
 at the close of a word, either to diversify 
 its form, or alter its signification. 
 
 AFFLA'TUS, in a general sense, a 
 divine influence communicating to the 
 receiver supernatural powers, particularly 
 the gift of prophecy. Among heathen v 
 mythologists and poets, it denotes the 
 actual inspiration of some divinity. 
 Tully, however, extends the meaning of 
 the word farther, by attributing all great 
 actions to a divine afflatus. 
 
 A FORTIO'RI, a term implying that 
 what follows is a .more powerful argu- 
 ment than what has been before adduced. 
 
 AFTER, modelled or drawn after the 
 antique, after Raphael, or some other 
 great master. It is to copy an antique 
 statue, or some work of the great masters. 
 
 AG'AP^E, love-feasts kept by the an- 
 cient Christians, as a token of brotherly 
 charity and mutual benevolence. In 
 course of time abuses crept in, and ren- 
 dered the abolition of them necessary. 
 
 AGAPE'T^E, a society of unmarried 
 women among the primitive Christians, 
 who attended on and served the clergy. 
 At first there was nothing improper in 
 these societies, though they were after- 
 wards charged with gross immoralities, 
 and were wholly abolished by the council 
 of Lateran, in 1139. 
 
 AG'ATHA, ST., when represented as a 
 martyr, is depicted crowned, with a long 
 veil, and bearing the instruments of her 
 cruel martyrdom, a pair of shears, with 
 which her breasts were cut off. As 
 patron saint, she bears in one hand a 
 palm branch, and holding with the other 

 
 12 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [AL 
 
 a plate or salver, upon which is a female 
 breast. The subject of her martyrdom 
 has been treated by Sebastian del Piom- 
 bo. Van Dyck, Parmigiano, and others. 
 
 AGE, a certain period or limit of time, 
 marked for the convenience of chronology 
 and history by some remarkable events. 
 Chronologers usually reckon seven such 
 ages, namely, 1. From the creation to 
 the deluge. 2. From the deluge to the 
 birth of Abraham. 3. From the birth of 
 Abraham to the departure of the Israelites 
 out of Egypt. 4. From the departure of 
 the Israelites to the building of the tem- 
 ple by Solomon. 5. From the laying the 
 foundation of the temple to the reign of 
 Cyrus in Babylon. 6. From the reign 
 of Cyrus to the coming of Christ. 7. Since 
 the birth of our Saviour. Among an- 
 cient historians, the duration of the world 
 was also subdivided into three periods, 
 or ages : the first, reaching from the 
 creation to the deluge which happened in 
 Greece during the reign of Ogyges, is 
 called the obscure or uncertain age ; the 
 second, called the fabulous or heroic, 
 terminates at the first olympiad ; where 
 the third, or historical age, commences. 
 The poets also distinguished the period 
 of the world into four ages : the golden 
 age, or the age of simplicity and happi- 
 ness ; the silver age, which was less pure 
 than the golden age, and in which men 
 began to till the ground for their sus- 
 tenance ; the brazen age, when strife and 
 contentions began ; and the iron age, 
 when justice and honor had left the earth. 
 
 AGEN'DA, small books are now pub- 
 lished under this title, in which individuals 
 may set down, under their proper heads, 
 the things to be daily attended to. 
 
 A'GENT, in a general sense, denotes 
 anything which acts, or produces an ef- 
 fect. Agents are either natural or moral. 
 Natural agents are all such inanimate 
 bodies as have a power to act upon other 
 bodies, in a certain and determinate 
 manner : such is fire, which has the in- 
 variable property or power to warm or 
 heat. Moral agents, on the contrary, 
 are rational creatures, capable of regu- 
 lating their actions by a certain rule. 
 
 A'GIO, in commerce, a term chiefly 
 used in Holland and at Venice, to signify 
 the difference between the value of bank- 
 stock and the current coin. 
 
 AG'NES, ST., this saint is represented 
 as a martyr, holding the palm-branch in 
 her hand, with a lamb at her feet or in 
 her arms, sometimes crowned with olives, 
 and holding an olive-branch as well as 
 the palm-branch. 
 
 AGNO'MEN, in Roman antiquity, was 
 the fourth or honorary name bestowed on 
 account of some extraordinary action, vir- 
 tue, or accomplishment. Thus the agno- 
 men Africanus was given to Publius Cor- 
 nelius Scipio, on account of his exploits 
 in Africa. 
 
 AG'NUS DEI, (LAMB or GOD,) the 
 oval medallions, which are made either 
 from the wax of the consecrated Easter 
 candles or of the wafer dough. They 
 are also sometimes made of silver, and 
 have on one side the Lamb, with the ban- 
 ner of Victory, or St. John, and on the 
 other the picture of some saint. They 
 were first made about the fourteenth 
 century. 
 
 A'GOX, in the public games of the an- 
 cients, a term used indifferently for any 
 contest or dispute, whether respecting 
 bodily exercises, or accomplishments of 
 the mind. Thus poets, musicians, &c., 
 had their agones, as well as the athletic. 
 AGON was also used for one of the 
 ministers employed in the heathen sacri- 
 fices, whose business it was to strike the 
 victim. 
 
 AGONA'LIA, festivals in Rome, cele- 
 brated in honor of Janus, or Agonius, 
 three times a year. 
 
 AGONOTHE'T-S;, officers appointed at 
 the Grecian games to take care that all 
 things were performed according to cus- 
 tom, to decide controversies amongst the 
 antagonists, and adjudge the prizes. 
 
 AGRA'RIAN LAWS, statutes, which 
 forbid the possession of more than a cer- 
 tain extent of land by any single indi- 
 vidual. That law of the Romans, called, 
 by way of eminence, the agrarian law, 
 was published by Spurius Cassius, about 
 the year of Rome, 268, enjoining a di- 
 vision of the conquered lands, in equal 
 parts, among the citizens, and limiting 
 the number of acres that each might enjoy. 
 
 AIR, in music, signifies the melody, 
 or treble part of a musical composition. 
 The word is also used for a tune, or song 
 itself, that is, for a series of sounds 
 whose movement is regular and graceful. 
 AIR, in painting, the medium in na- 
 ture through which every object is viewed, 
 and hence to be transferred to the imita- 
 tion on canvas. The effects which it 
 produces are an indispensable part of the 
 knowledge of every artist. It affects the 
 sizes and color of objects according to 
 their distance. 
 
 AL, an Arabian particle, answering to 
 the English the, and employed in the 
 same manner to mark anything indefi- 
 nitely.
 
 ALE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 13 
 
 AL'AB ASTER, a well-known sulphate 
 of lime, forming a soft, granular, imper- 
 fectly transparent marble ; used for or- 
 naments in houses, and by statuaries. 
 It is found in Germany, France, and 
 Italy. 
 
 A LA GRECQUE, (Fr.) an architec- 
 tural orna- 
 ment resem- 
 bling a vari- 
 ously twisted 
 ribbon, when 
 it is merely a 
 narrow continuous stripe, forming right 
 angles, either raised or cut in, and some- 
 times only painted. This ornament, called 
 also a labyrinth, may be used for recti- 
 lineal mouldings. If it be only one stripe, 
 it is called the simple labyrinth ; but if 
 two stripes be twisted into one another it 
 is called the double labyrinth. 
 
 ALB, or ALBE, (alba,) in the Romish 
 church, a vestment of white linen, hang- 
 ing down to the feet, and answering to 
 the surplice of the Episcopal clergy. In 
 the ancient church, it was usual with 
 those newly baptized, to wear an alb, or 
 white vestment ; and hence the Sunday 
 after Easter was called dominica in albis, 
 on account of the albs worn by those bap- 
 tized on Easter-day. 
 
 AL'BAN, ST., in Christian art, is rep- 
 resented (as also is St. Denis), carrying 
 his head between his hands. His attri- 
 butes are a sword and a crown. 
 
 AL'BATROSS, or Man-of-War Bird, 
 the Diomedes of Linnaeus, a large and 
 voracious bird, which inhabits many 
 countries between the tropics. 
 
 ALBIGEN'SES, a name common to 
 several sects, particularly the athari 
 and Waldenses, who agreed in opposing 
 the dominion of the Romish hierarchy, | 
 and endeavoring to restore the simplicity 
 of primitive Christianity. They endured 
 the severest persecutions, and after the 
 middle of the 13th century, the name of 
 Albigenses altogether disappeared; but 
 fugitives of their party formed, in the 
 mountains of Piedmont and in Lombardy, 
 what is called the French Church, which 
 was continued through the Waldenses, to 
 the era of the Reformation. 
 
 ALBI'NOS, or LEUC^'THIOPS, a vari- 
 ety of the human species, that frequently i 
 occurs in Africa. The Portuguese first j 
 gave the name of Albino to the white ! 
 negro, and they formerly described them 
 as a distinct race ; but modern natural- 
 ists have discovered them in various 
 countries of Europe, viz., in Switzerland, ; 
 among the Savoyards in the valley of \ 
 
 Chamouni ; in France, in the tract of 
 the Rhine ; in Tyrol, &c. 
 
 AL'BUM, a white table or register, 
 whereon the Roman prajtors had their 
 decrees written. There were many of 
 them in use, and they received their ap- 
 pellations from the various magistrates 
 whose names were thereon entered; as 
 the album judicum, the album decurio- 
 num, &c. The fashionable ALBUMS of 
 the present day are derived from the 
 practice adopted in many foreign coun- 
 tries of having a white paper book, in 
 which strangers of distinction or literary 
 eminence were invited to insert their 
 names, or any observation in prose or 
 verse, as a memorial of their visit. 
 
 ALCA'ICS, a term given to several 
 kinds of verse, from their inventor, the 
 poet Alcaeus. 
 
 AL'CAIDE, or AL'CALDE, a Spanish 
 or Portuguese magistrate, or officer of 
 justice, answering nearly to the French 
 prevost, and the British justice of peace. 
 Both the name and office are of Moorish 
 origin. 
 
 AL'CORAN, or the KORAN, the name 
 of the volume containing the revelations, 
 doctrines, and precepts of Mahomet, in 
 which his followers place implicit confi- 
 dence. The general aim of the Alcoran 
 was to unite the professors of the three 
 different religions then followed in Ara- 
 bia, Idolaters, Jews, and Christians, in 
 the knowledge and worship of one God, 
 under the sanction of certain laws, and 
 the outward signs of ceremonies, partly 
 of ancient, and partly of novel institu- 
 tion, enforced by the consideration of re- 
 wards and punishments, both temporal 
 and eternal, and to bring all to the obe- 
 dience of Mahomet, as the prophet and 
 ambassador of God, who was to establish 
 the true religion on earth. 
 
 AL'DINE EDITIONS, those editions 
 of the Greek and Roman classics which 
 were printed by the family of Aldus 
 Manutius, first established at Venice 
 about 1490. 
 
 ALEXAN'DRIAN, or ALEXAN'- 
 DRINE, in poetry, a kind of verse, con- 
 sisting of twelve, or of twelve and thirteen 
 syllables alternately, the pause being al- 
 ways on the sixth syllable. It is so called 
 from a poem on the life of Alexander, 
 written in this way, by some French poet. 
 
 ALEXAN'DRIAN LIBRARY, this 
 celebrated library was founded by Ptole- 
 my Soter, for the use of an academy 
 that he instituted in Alexandria; and, 
 by continual additions by his successors, 
 became at last the finest library in the
 
 14 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ALL 
 
 world, containing no fewer than 700.000 
 volumes. The method followed in col- 
 lecting books for this library, was, to 
 seize all those which were brought into 
 Egypt by Greeks or other foreigners. 
 The books were transcribed in the mu- 
 seum by persons appointed for that pur- 
 pose, the copies were then delivered to 
 the proprietors, and the originals laid up 
 in the library. It was eventually burnt 
 by order of the caliph Omar, A.D. 624. 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN MANUSCRIPT, or 
 CODEX ALEXANDRINUS, a famous copy 
 of the Scriptures, consisting of four vol- 
 umes, in a large quarto size ; which con- 
 tains the whole Bible, in Greek, including 
 the Old and New Testaments, with the 
 Apocrypha, and some smaller pieces, but 
 not quite complete. This manuscript is 
 now preserved in the British Museum. 
 It was sent as a present to king Charles 
 I., from Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of 
 Constantinople, by Sir Thomas Rowe, 
 ambassador from England to the grand 
 seignior, about the year 1628. 
 
 ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL, an acad- 
 emy for literature and learning of all 
 kinds, instituted at Alexandria by Ptole- 
 my, son of Lagus, and supported by his 
 successors. The grammarians and math- 
 ematicians of this school were particularly 
 celebrated. In the former class occur the 
 noted names of Aristarchus, Harpocra- 
 tion, and Aristophanes ; and among the 
 latter were numbered the astronomer 
 Ptolemy, and geometer Euclid. The 
 grammarians of Alexandria exercised a 
 universal literary jurisdiction, publishing 
 canons of those who were to be considered 
 standard authors, and revised editions of 
 ancient writers. 
 
 ALEX'IS, ST., the patron saint of beg- 
 gars and pilgrims. In Christian art, he 
 is usually represented in a pilgrim's 
 habit and staff; sometimes as extended 
 on a mat, with a letter in his hand, dying. 
 St. Roch is also represented as a pilgrim, 
 but he is distinguished from St. Alexis 
 by the plague spot on his body, and in 
 being accompanied by a dog. 
 
 AL'GUAZIL, the title of one of the 
 lower orders of Spanish officers of justice, 
 whose business is to execute the orders i 
 of the magistrate. 
 
 A'LIAS, in law, a Latin word signify- 
 ing otherwise ; often used in describing ; 
 the accused, who has assumed other 
 names beside his real one. 
 
 AL'IBI, in law, a Latin word signify- 
 ing, literally, elsewhere. It is used by 
 the accused, when he wishes to prove his 
 innocence, by showing that he was in 
 
 another place when the act was com- 
 mitted. 
 
 AL'IMONY, in law, the maintenance 
 sued for by a wife, in case of a legal 
 separation from her husband, wherein 
 she is neither chargeable with elopement 
 nor adultery. 
 
 AL'LAH, the Arabian name of God. 
 
 ALLA-PRIMA, (Ital.) Av PREMIER 
 COUP, (P*r.) a method of painting in 
 which the pigments are applied all at 
 once to the canvas, without impasting or 
 retouching. Some of the best pictures 
 of the great masters are painted in at 
 once by this method, but it requires too 
 much knowledge, skill, and decision to 
 be generally practised. 
 
 ALLEGOR'ICAL PICTURES are of 
 two kinds : the one comprehends those in 
 which the artist unites allegorical with 
 real persons, and this is the lower rank 
 of allegorical painting. Such are those 
 of Rubens, in the Gallery of the Luxem- 
 bourg, representing the stormy life of 
 Mary de Medicis. The other, those in 
 which the artist represents allegorical 
 persons only ; and by the position of 
 single figures, the grouping of many and 
 the composition of the whole, conveys to 
 the mind of the spectator one thought 
 or many thoughts, which he cannot con- 
 vey by the common language of his art : 
 this is allegorical painting in the true 
 sense of the term. 
 
 AL'LEGORY, a series or chain of 
 metaphors continued through a whole 
 discourse. The great source of allegory, 
 or allegorical interpretations, is some 
 difficulty, or absurdity, in the literal and 
 obvious sense. 
 
 AHJE'GRO, an Italian word used in 
 music, to denote that the part is to be 
 played in a brisk and sprightly manner. 
 The usual distinctions succeed each other 
 in the following order : grave, adagio, 
 largo, vivace, allegro, presto. Allegro 
 time may be heightened, as allegro assai 
 and allegrissimo, very lively ; or lessened, 
 as allegretto orpoco allegro, a little lively. 
 Piu allegro is a direction to play or sing 
 a little quicker. 
 
 ALLEMAN'NIC, in a general sense, 
 denotes anything belonging to the an- 
 cient Germans. Thus we meet with Alle- 
 mannic history, Allemannic language, 
 Allemannic law, Ac. 
 
 ALL-HAL'LOWS, or ALL-SAINTS, 
 a festival observed by many denomina- 
 tions of Christians, in commemoration of 
 the saints in general. It is kept on the 
 first of November, Gregory IV. having in 
 835 appointed that day for its celebration
 
 ALT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 15 
 
 ALLITERA'TION, a figure or embel- 
 lishment of speech, which consists in the 
 repetition of the same consonants, or of 
 syllables of the same sound, in one sen- 
 tence. The Greek and Roman literature 
 afford many instances of this ; and in 
 English poetry there are also many beau- 
 tiful specimens of alliterations ; though 
 it must be confessed that it is too often 
 used without the requisite skill, and 
 carried too far. In burlesque poetry it 
 is frequently used with excellent effect ; 
 though even there the sense should never 
 be sacrificed to the sound. Tastefully 
 used, it is a most enchanting ornament, 
 and will equally contribute to softness, to 
 energy, and to solemnity. 
 
 ALLU'SION, in rhetoric, strictly, a 
 covert indication, as by means of a meta- 
 phor, a play of words, <fcc., of something 
 not openly mentioned and extrinsic to the 
 principal meaning of the sentence. 
 
 AI/M AGEST, the name of a celebrated 
 book, composed by Ptolemy ; being a 
 collection of many of the observations 
 and problems of the ancients, relating 
 both to geometry and astronomy. 
 
 AL'MA MA'TER, a title given to the 
 universities of Oxford and Cambridge by 
 their several members who have passed 
 their degrees in either of these universi- 
 ties. 
 
 AL'MANAC, a calendar or table, con- 
 taining a list of the months, weeks, and 
 days of the year, with an account of the 
 rising and setting of the sun and moon, 
 the most remarkable phenomena of the 
 heavenly bodies, the several festivals, 
 and fasts, and other incidental matters. 
 The NAUTICAL ALMANAC, a most valua- 
 ble work for mariners, is published in 
 England two or three years in advance. 
 It was commenced in 1767, by Dr. Mas- 
 kelyne, the astronomer royal, and has 
 been regularly continued ever since. 
 
 AL'PHABET, the natural or cus- 
 tomary series of the several letters of a 
 language. The word is formed from j 
 alpha and beta, the first and second letters | 
 of the Greek alphabet. It is undoubtedly 
 the most important of all inventions, for 
 by means of it sounds are represented, 
 and language made visible to the eye by 
 a few simple characters. The five books 
 of Moses are universally acknowledged 
 to be the most ancient compositions, as 
 well as the most early specimens of 
 alphabetical writing extant; and it ap- 
 pears that all the languages in use 
 amongst men which have been conveyed 
 in alphabetical characters, have been 
 the languages of people connected, ulti- j 
 
 mately or immediately, with the Hebrews. 
 Hence a most energetic controversy has 
 existed amongst learned men, whether the 
 method of expressing our ideas by visible 
 symbols, called letters, be really a human 
 invention ; or whether we ought to attrib- 
 ute an art so exceedingly useful, to an 
 immediate intimation of the Deity. 
 
 ALPHON'SINE TABLES, astronom- 
 ical tables made in the reign of Alphon- 
 sus X., king of Arragon, who was a great 
 lover of science, and a prince of rare 
 attainments ; but though these tables 
 bear his name, they were chiefly drawn 
 up by Isaac Hazan, a learned Jewish 
 rabbi. 
 
 ALSEG'NO, in music, a notice to the 
 performer that he must recommence from 
 that part of the movement to which 'CiJ 
 the sign or mark is prefixed. 
 
 ALT, in music, that part of the great 
 scale lying between F above the treble 
 cliff note, and G in altissimo. 
 
 AL'TAR, a place upon which sacrifices 
 were anciently offered to the Almighty, 
 or some heathen deity. Before temples 
 were in use, altars were erected some- 
 times in groves, sometimes in the high- 
 ways, and sometimes on the tops of 
 mountains ; and it was a custom to en- 
 grave upon them the name, proper 
 ensign, or character of the deity to whom 
 they were consecrated. Thus St. Paul 
 observed an altar at Athens, with an 
 inscription, To the unknown God. In 
 the great temples of ancient Rome, thero 
 were ordinarily three altars : the first 
 was placed in the sanctuary, at the foot 
 of the statue of the divinity, upon which 
 incense was burnt, and libations offered ; 
 the second was before the gate of the 
 temple, and upon it they sacrificed the 
 victims ; and the third was a portable 
 altar, upon which were placed the offer- 
 ings and the sacred vessels. The princi- 
 pal altars of the Jews were those of in- 
 cense, of burnt-offerings, and the altar 
 or table, for the show-bread. ALTAH is 
 also used among Christians, for the com- 
 munion-table. 
 
 ALTIS'SIMO, in music, an Italian epi- 
 thet for notes above F in alt. 
 
 ALTIS'TA, in music, an Italian name 
 for the vocal performer who takes the 
 alto primo part. 
 
 AL'TO, or AL'TO TENO'RE, in music, 
 is the term applied to that part of the 
 great vocal scale which lies between the 
 mezzo soprano and the tenor, and which 
 is assigned to the highest natural adult 
 male voice. In scores, it always signi- 
 fies the counter-tenor part.
 
 16 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [AMP 
 
 AL'TO RELIE'VO, in sculpture, a 
 representation of figures and other ob- 
 jects against a flat surface; differing 
 from basso relievo only in the work being 
 much more brought forward. 
 
 AMATEUR', a person having a taste 
 for a particular art, yet not professing, 
 nor being dependent on it. 
 
 AM'BER, a hard, brittle, tasteless sub- 
 stance, mostly semi-transparent, or opa- 
 que, and of a glossy surface. This curious 
 production of nature is inflammable, and, 
 when heated, yields a strong and bitumi- 
 nous odor. Its most extraordinary prop- 
 erties are those of attracting after it 
 has been exposed to a slight friction, 
 straws, and other surrounding objects ; 
 and of producing sparks of fire, visible 
 in the dark. Many thousand years before 
 the science of electricity had entered the 
 mind of man, these surprising qualities 
 were known to exist in amber, and hence 
 the Greeks called it electrum. 
 
 AM'BIDEXTER, a person who can use 
 both hands with equal facility, and for 
 the same purposes that the generality of 
 people do their right hands. In law, a 
 juror who takes money for giving his 
 verdict. 
 
 AM'BITUS, in music, signifies the 
 particular extent of each tone, or modi- 
 fication of grave and sharp. 
 
 AM'BO. in architecture, the elevated 
 place, or pulpit, in the early Christian 
 churches, from whence it was usual to 
 address the congregation, and on which 
 certain parts of the service were chanted. 
 
 AM'BROSE, ST., the patron saint of 
 Milan : but few works of art exist, in 
 which he is so represented. The finest is 
 the painting that adorns his chapel in 
 the Frari at Venice, painted by Viva- 
 rini, towards the end of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, a work of the highest excellence. 
 St. Ambrose is usually represented in the 
 costume of a bishop. 
 
 AMBRO'SIA, in heathen antiquity, 
 denotes the food of the gods. Hence, 
 whatever is very gratifying to the taste 
 or smell has been termed ambrosial. 
 
 AMBRO'SIAN CHANT, in music, 
 so called from St. Ambrose, archbishop 
 of Milan, who composed it for the church 
 there in the fourth century : it is distin- 
 guished from the Gregorian chant by a 
 great monotony and want of beauty in its 
 melody. 
 
 AMEN', in Scripture language, a sol- 
 emn formula, or conclusion to all prayer, 
 signifying verily, or so be it. 
 
 AMENDE HONORABLE, (French,) 
 an infamous kind of punishment formerly 
 
 inflicted in France on traitors, parricides, 
 or sacrilegious persons, who wore to go 
 naked to the shirt, with a torch in their 
 hand, and a rope about their neck, into a 
 church or a court, to beg pardon of (I ml, 
 the court, and the injured party. The 
 modern acceptation of the term indicates 
 that an open apology is made for an of- 
 fence or injury. 
 
 AMER'iCANISM, any word or phrase 
 in general use among the inhabitants of 
 the United States, which deviates from 
 the English standard. Of these, a great 
 proportion are mere vulgarisms and 
 technical words of local character, origi- 
 naliy taken from different counties in 
 England, by the first emigrants ; others 
 are words formerly used by the English 
 writers, but which have become obsolete ; 
 while many are of modern coinage, and 
 owe their origin to the caprice of inventors. 
 Every living language is subject to con- 
 tinual changes ; and it is not to be expected 
 that a large community, in a state of 
 social and political activity, who are daily 
 developing new and characteristic fea- 
 tures, will fail to exercise their share of 
 influence upon that which they naturally 
 consider as a part of their inheritance. 
 
 AM'ETHYST, a rock crystal of a pur- 
 ple color. Many ancient vases and cups 
 are composed of this mineral, and the 
 finer varieties are still much in request 
 for cutting into seals and brooches. 
 
 AM'MON, the title under which Jupi- 
 ter was worshipped in Libya, where a 
 temple was erected to him, from which 
 oracles were delivered for many ages. 
 
 AMMUNITION, all warlike stores, 
 and especially powder, ball, bombs, guns, 
 and other weapons necessary for an army. 
 
 AM'NESTY, an act by which two par- 
 ties at variance promise to pardon and 
 bury in oblivion all that is past. It is 
 more especially used for a pardon granted 
 by a prince to his rebellious subjects. 
 
 AMPHIBO'LIA, or AMPHIBOL'OGY, 
 in rhetoric, ambiguity of expression, 
 when a sentence conveys a double mean- 
 ing. It is distinguished from an equivoca- 
 tion, which lies in a single word. 
 
 AMPHIC'TYONS, in Grecian anti- 
 quity, an assembly composed of deputies 
 from the different states of Greece. The 
 amphictyons at first met regularly at 
 Delphi, twice a year, viz. in spring and 
 autumn ; but in latter times they assem- 
 bled at the village of Anthela, near 
 Thermopylae ; and decided all differences 
 between any of the Grecian states, their 
 determinations being held sacred and 
 inviolable.
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 17 
 
 AMPHITIIE'ATRE, in antiquity, a 
 spacious edifice, built either round or 
 oval, with a number of rising seats, upon 
 which the people used to sit and behold 
 the combats of gladiators, of wild beasts, 
 and other sports. Some of them, as the 
 Coliseum at Rome, were capable of con- 
 taining from 50,000 to 80,000 spectators. 
 The principal parts of the amphitheatre 
 were the arena, or place where the 
 gladiators fought ; cavea, or hollow place 
 where the beasts were kept ; podium, or 
 projection at the top of the wall which 
 surrounded the arena, and was assigned 
 to the senators ; gradus, or benches, ris- 
 ing all round above the podium ; aditus, 
 or entrances ; and vomitories, or gates 
 which terminated the aditus. 
 
 AM'PHORA, in antiquity, a liquid 
 measure in use among the Greeks and 
 Romans. The Roman amphora contained 
 forty-eight sextaries, and was equal to 
 about seven gallons one pint, English 
 wine-measure ; and the Grecian, or Attic 
 amphora, contained one third more. Am- 
 phora was also a dry measure in use 
 among the Romans, and contained three 
 bushels. 
 
 AMPHORI'TES, in antiquity, a sort 
 of literary contest in the island of JEgina, 
 where the poet who made the best dithy- 
 rambic verses in honor of Bacchus was 
 rewarded with an ox. 
 
 AMPLIFICATION, in rhetoric, part 
 of a discourse or speech, wherein a crime 
 is aggravated, a praise or commendation 
 heightened, or a narration enlarged, by 
 an enumeration of circumstances, so as 
 to excite the proper emotions in the 
 minds of the auditors. 
 
 AMPUL/LA, an ancient drinking ves- 
 sel ; and among ecclesiastical writers 
 it denotes one of the sacred vessels used 
 at the altar. The ampulla is still a dis- 
 tinguished vessel in the coronation of the 
 kings of England and France. The vessel 
 now in use in England is of the purest 
 chased gold, and represents an eagle 
 with expanding wings standing on a pe- 
 destal, near seven inches in height, and 
 weighing about ten ounces. It was de- 
 posited in the Tower by the gallant Ed- 
 ward, surnamed the Black Prince. 
 
 AM'ULET, a superstitious charm or 
 preservative against mischief, witchcraft, 
 or diseases. They were made of stone, 
 metal, animals, and, in fact, of every- 
 thing which fancy or caprice suggested. 
 Sometimes they consisted of words, charac- 
 ters, and sentences, ranged in a particular 
 order, and engraved upon wood, <fcc., and 
 worn about the neck, or some other part 
 2 
 
 of the body. At other times they wera 
 neither written nor engraved ; but pre- 
 pared with many superstitious cere- 
 monies, great regard being usually paid 
 to the influence of the stars. 
 
 A'NA, a name given to amusing mis- 
 cellanies, consisting of anecdotes, traits 
 of character, and incidents relating to 
 any person or subject. 
 
 ANAB'ASIS, the title of Xenophon's 
 description of the younger Cyrus's expedi- 
 tion against his brother, in which the 
 writer bore a principal part. 
 
 ANA'CHRONISM, in literature, an 
 error with respect to chronology, whereby 
 an event is placed earlier than it really 
 happened ; in which sense it stands oppo- 
 site to parachronism. 
 
 ANACOLU'THON, in grammar or 
 rhetoric, a want of coherency, generally 
 arising from inattention on the part of 
 the writer or orator. 
 
 ANACREON'TIC VERSE, in ancient 
 poetry, a kind of verse, so called from its 
 being much used by the poet Anacreon. 
 It consisted of three feet, generally spon- 
 dees and iambics, sometimes anapaests, 
 and was peculiarly distinguished for soft- 
 ness and tenderness. 
 
 ANADIPLO'SIS, a figure in rhetoric 
 and poetry, in which the last word or 
 words of a sentence are repeated at the 
 beginning of the next. 
 
 ANAGLY'PHIC. in antique sculpture, 
 chased or embossed work on metal, or 
 anything worked in relief. When raised 
 on stone, the production is a cameo. 
 When sunk or indented, it is a dia- 
 glyphic or an intaglio. 
 
 AN'AGRAM, the change of one word 
 or phrase into another, by the transposi- 
 tion of its letters. They were very 
 common among the ancients, and occa- 
 sionally contained some happy allusion ; 
 but, perhaps, none were more appropriate 
 than the anagram made by Dr. Burney 
 on the name of the hero of the Nile, just 
 after that important victory took place : 
 HORATIO NELSON, " Honor est a Nilo." 
 They are frequently employed satirically, 
 or jestingly, with little aim beyond that 
 of exercising the ingenuity of their au- 
 thors. 
 
 ANALEC'TA, a collection of extracts 
 from different works. 
 
 ANAL'OGY, a certain relation and 
 agreement between two or more things, 
 which in other respects are entirely 
 different. Or it may be defined an im- 
 portant process of reasoning, by which 
 we infer similar effects and phenomena 
 from similar causes and events. A great
 
 18 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 AND 
 
 part of our philosophy has no other foun- 
 dation than antilogy. 
 
 AXAL'YSIS, among grammarians, is 
 the explaining the etymology, construc- 
 tion, and other properties of words. 
 ANALYSIS is also used for a brief, but me- 
 thodical illustration of the principles of a 
 science ; in which sense it is nearly synon- 
 ymous with what is termed a synopsis. 
 
 ANAMNE'SIS, in rhetoric, an enume- 
 ration of the things treated of before ; 
 which is a sort of recapitulation. 
 
 ANAMORPHO'SIS, in perspective and 
 painting, the representation of some 
 image, either on a plane or curved sur- 
 face, deformed, or distorted ; which in a 
 certain point of view appears regular and 
 in just proportion. 
 
 AN'AP^EST, a foot in Greek and Latin 
 metre, consisting of two short syllables 
 followed by a long, being the name of the 
 dactyle. 
 
 ANAPH'ORA, a rhetorical figure, 
 .which consists in the repetition of the 
 same word or phrase at the beginning of 
 several successive sentences. 
 
 AN'ARCHY, a society without a gov- 
 ernment, or where there is no supreme 
 governor. 
 
 ANASTA'SIA, ST., is represented with 
 the attributes, a stake and fagots ; and 
 with the palm as a symbol of her martyr- 
 dom. 
 
 ANASTATIC, a word derived from the 
 Greek signifying " reviving." A recently 
 invented process, by which any number 
 of copies of a printed page of any size, a 
 wood-cut, or a line-engraving, can be ob- 
 tained. The process is based upon the 
 law of " the repulsion of dissimilar, and 
 the mutual attraction of similar parti- 
 cles," and is exhibited by oil, water, and 
 gum arabic. The printed matter to be 
 copied is first submitted to the action of 
 diluted nitric acid, and, while retaining a 
 portion of the moisture, is pressed upon a 
 sheet of polished zinc, which is imme- 
 diately attacked by the acid in every 
 part except that covered by the printing- 
 ink, a thin film of which is left on the 
 zinc ; it is then washed with a weak solu- 
 tion of gum arabic ; an inked-roller being 
 now passed over the zinc-plate, the ink 
 adheres only to that portion which was 
 inked in the original ; the impressions are 
 then taken from the zinc-plate, in the 
 same manner as in lithographic printing. 
 ANAS'TROPHE, in rhetoric, the in- 
 version of words in a sentence, or the 
 placing them out of their natural order. 
 AXATH'EMA, among ecclesiastical 
 writers, imports whatever is set apart, 
 
 separated, or divided ; but the word is most 
 usually intended to express the cutting 
 off a person from the privileges of socie- 
 ty, and from communion with the faithful. 
 AN'CHOR, in Christian art, is the 
 symbol of hope, firmness, tranquillity, 
 patience and faith. Among those saints, 
 of whom the anchor is an attribute, are 
 Clement of Rome and Nicolas of Bari. 
 
 AN'CHORITE, more properly, ana- 
 choret. a hermit, or person who has re- 
 tired from the world with the purpose of 
 devoting himself entirely to meditation 
 and prayer. Such was the case with 
 many of the early Christians, beginning 
 perhaps with such as fled from the per- 
 secutions of Decius and Diocletian, and 
 retired into forests and deserts, at first 
 with a view to security merely, and 
 afterwards continued, from religious mo- 
 tives, the mode of life they had there 
 adopted. 
 
 AN'CIENTS, in the more general 
 sense of the term, means those who 
 lived long ago, or before the Moderns. 
 But the term is now usually employed to 
 designate the Greeks and Romans ; and 
 if any other people be meant, it is cus- 
 tomary to specify them, as the ancient 
 Germans, the ancient Jews, &c. 
 
 ANCY'LE, or ANCI'LE, in antiquity, 
 a small brazen shield which fell, as was 
 pretended, from heaven in the reign of 
 Numa Pompilius, when a voice was 
 heard, declaring that Rome should be 
 mistress of the world as long as she 
 should preserve this holy buckler. 
 
 ANDAN'TE, in music, the Italian 
 term for exact and just time in playing, 
 so as to keep the notes distinct from each 
 other. ANDANTE LAHGO, signifies that 
 the music must be slow, the time exactly 
 observed, and each note distinct. 
 
 ANDANTI'NO, in music, an Italian 
 word for gentle, tender ; somewhat slower 
 than andante. 
 
 ANDREW, ST., the patron saint of 
 Scotland ; also of the renowned order 
 of the Golden Fleece of Burgundy, and of 
 the order of the Cross of St. Andrew of 
 Russia. The principal events in the life 
 of this apostle chosen for representation 
 by the Christian artists are, his Flagella- 
 tion, the Adoration of the Cross, and his 
 Martyrdom. He is usually depicted as 
 an old man, with long white hair and 
 beard, holding the Gospel in his right 
 hand, and leaning upon a transverse cross, 
 formed sometimes of planks ; at others, 
 of the rough branches of trees. This 
 form of cross is peculiar to this saint, and 
 hence it is termed St. Andrew's Cross.
 
 ANT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 19 
 
 AN'GEL, the name given to those 
 spiritual, intelligent beings, who are sup- 
 posed to execute the will of God, in the 
 government of the world. It is some- 
 times used in a figurative, and at others 
 in a literal sense. ANGEL, the name of 
 an ancient gold coin in England, so called 
 from the figure of an angel upon it. It 
 weighed four pennyweights. 
 
 AN'GLICISM, an idiom of speech, or 
 manner peculiar to the English. 
 
 ANGLO-SAX'ON, the name of the 
 people called Angles, who with the Sax- 
 ons and some other German tribes, flour- 
 ished in England after it was abandoned 
 by the Romans, about the year 400 ; and 
 who introduced their language, govern- 
 ment, and customs. ANGLO-SAXON LAN- 
 GUAGE. After the conquest of England 
 by the Angles and Saxons, the Saxon be- 
 came the prevalent tongue of that coun- 
 try ; and after the Norman conquest, the 
 English language exhibits the peculiar 
 case, where languages of two different 
 stocks are blended into one idiom, which, 
 by the cultivation of a free and active na- 
 tion and highly-gifted minds, has grown 
 to a powerful, organized whole. 
 
 AN'IMA, among divines and natural- 
 ists, denotes the soul, or principle of life 
 in animals. ANIMA MUNDI, a phrase 
 formerly used to denote a certain pure 
 ethereal substance or spirit which is dif- 
 fused through the mass of the world, or- 
 ganizing and actuating the whole and the 
 different parts. 
 
 AN'IMAL, a living body endued with 
 sensation and spontaneous motion. In 
 its limited sense, any irrational creature, 
 as distinguished from man. 
 
 AN'IMUS, in metaphysics, the mind or 
 reasoning faculty, in distinction from 
 anima, the being or faculty in which the 
 faculty exists. 
 
 AN'NALS, a species of history, in 
 which events are related in the exact 
 order of chronology. They differ from 
 perfect history in this, that annals are a 
 bare relation of what passes every year, 
 as a journal is of what passes every day; 
 whereas history relates not only the 
 transactions themselves, but also the 
 causes, motives, and springs of actions. 
 
 AN'NO DOM'INI, abbreviated A.D., 
 the year of our Lord ; the computation 
 of time from our Saviour's incarnation. 
 It is used as the date for all public deeds 
 and writings in England and this coun- 
 try, on which account it is called the 
 " Vulgar Era." 
 
 ANXOTA'TION, a brief commentary, 
 or remark upon a book or writing, in 
 
 order to clear up some passage or draw 
 some conclusion from it. 
 
 AN'NUAL, an epithet for Whatever 
 happens every year, or lasts a year : 
 thus we say, the annual motion of the earth, 
 annual plants, annual publications, &c. 
 
 ANNU'ITY, the periodical payment of 
 money, either yearly, half-yearly, or 
 quarterly ; for a determinate period, as 
 ten, fifty, or a hundred years ; or for an 
 indeterminate period, dependent on a 
 certain contingency, as the death of a 
 person ; or for an indefinite term, in 
 which latter case they are called perpet- 
 ual annuities. As the probability of the 
 duration of life at every age is known, 
 so annuities may be purchased for fixed 
 sums during the life of the party. An 
 annuity is said to be in arrear when it 
 continues unpaid after it is due, and in 
 reversion, when it is to fall to -the ex- 
 pectant at some future time. 
 
 AN'NULET, in architecture, a small 
 square member in the Doric capital, un- 
 der the quarter-round. Also a narrow 
 flat moulding, encompassing other parts 
 of the column, as in the base, capital, 
 &c., which is variously termed fillet, 
 
 ANNUNCIA'TION, the delivery of ,., 
 message, particularly the angel's mes- 
 sage to the Virgin Mary, concerning the 
 birth of our Saviour. The festival in 
 commemoration of that event is called 
 Lady-day, and falls on the 25th of March. 
 
 ANOM'ALOUS, in a general sense, is 
 applied to whatever is irregular, or de- 
 viates from the rule observed by other 
 things of the like nature. ANOMALOUS 
 VERBS, in grammar, such as are irregu- 
 larly formed, of which the Greek lan- 
 guage furnishes numerous examples. 
 
 ANON'YMOUS, in literature, works 
 published without the name of the author. 
 Those published under a false name are 
 termed Pseudonymous. The best cata- 
 logue of anonymous works is that of 
 Barbier (Dictionnaire des (Euvrages 
 Anonymes et Pseudonym.es, 3 vols. Paris, 
 1822-1824.) There is also the great 
 work of Placcius, Tkeatrum Anonymo- 
 rum et Pseudonymorum, t. fol. Ham- 
 burg, 1708. 
 
 AN'TA, M. plur., in architecture, a 
 pilaster or square projection attached to 
 a wall. When they are detached from 
 the wall, Vitruvius calls them parastatao. 
 They are not usually diminished, even 
 when accompanying columns from whose 
 capitals, in all Greek works, they vary. 
 
 ANTANACLA'SIS, in rhetoric, a fig- 
 ure which repeats the same word, but in
 
 20 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ANT 
 
 a different sense ; as, " dum vivimus, vi- 
 vamus." 
 
 ANTECE'DENT, in grammar, the 
 word to which a relative refers : thus, 
 " God whom we adore," the word God is 
 the antecedent to the relative whom. 
 ANTECEDENT, in logic, is the first of the 
 two propositions in an enthymeme. 
 
 ANTECLE'MA, in oratory, is where 
 the whole defence of the person accused, 
 turns on criminating the accuser. 
 
 ANTEDILU'VIAN, whatever existed 
 before the deluge ; thus, the inhabitants 
 of the earth from Adam to Noah, are 
 called the antediluvians. 
 
 ANTEPENUL'TIMA, ANTEPEN- 
 UL'TIMATE, or ANTEPENULT', in 
 grammar, the third syllable of a word 
 from the end, or the last syllable but two. 
 
 ANTEPOSI'TION, a grammatical fig- 
 ure, whereby a word, which by the ordi- 
 nary rules of syntax ought to follow an- 
 other, comes before it. 
 
 AN'THEM, a piece of music performed 
 in cathedral service by choristers who sing 
 alternately. This manner of singing is 
 very ancient in the church ; some suppose 
 it to have descended from the practice of 
 the earliest Christians, who, according to 
 Pliny, were accustomed to sing their 
 Hymn to Christ in parts or by turns. 
 
 ANTHOL'OGY, a collection of choice 
 poems, particularly a collection of Greek 
 epigrams so called. The word in its 
 original sense simply means a collection 
 of flowers. 
 
 ANTHONY, ST., the events in the life 
 of this saint form a very important class 
 of subjects in Christian Art. Among the 
 most frequent are his Temptation, and 
 his Meeting with Saint Paul. St. An- 
 thony has several distinctive attributes 
 by which he is easily recognized : as the 
 founder of monachism he is depicted in a 
 monk's habit and cowl, bearing a crutch 
 in the shape of a T, called a tace, as a 
 token of his age and feebleness, with a 
 bell suspended to it, or in his hand, to 
 scare away the evil spirits by which he 
 was persecuted ; a firebrand in his hand, 
 with flames at his feet, a black hog, 
 representing the demons Gluttony and 
 Sensuality, under his feet ; sometimes a 
 devil is substituted for the hog. 
 
 ANTHROPOL'OGY, the science which 
 treats of human nature, either in a 
 physical or an intellectual point of view. 
 
 ANTHROPOMOR'PHITE, one who as- 
 cribes a human figure and a bodily form 
 to God. 
 
 ANTHROPOPH'AGI, or cannibals 
 persons who eat the flesh of men as weTT 
 
 as animals. Abhorrent and unnatural 
 as the practice is, there is no doubt that 
 whole nations have been addicted to this 
 practice, and that it still prevails in the 
 South Seas. 
 
 AN'TI, a Greek particle, which enters 
 into the composition of several words, 
 both Latin, French, and English, and 
 signifies opposite or contrary to, as in 
 antiscorbutics. 
 
 ANTI-CLI'MAX, in literary composi- 
 tion and oratory, when a writer or speaker 
 suddenly descends from the great to the 
 little. 
 
 AN'TIDOTE, a counter-poison, or any 
 medicine generally that counteracts the 
 effects of what has been swallowed. 
 
 ANTIL'OGY, an inconsistency between 
 two or more passages of the same book. 
 
 ANTIMETAB'OLE, in rhetoric, a set- 
 ting of two things in opposition to each 
 other. 
 
 ANTIMETATH'ESIS, in rhetoric, an 
 inversion of the parts or members of an 
 antithesis. 
 
 ANTIPHO'NA, or ANTIPH'ONY, in 
 music, the answer made by one choir to 
 another, when the psalm or anthem is 
 sung verse for verse alternately. 
 
 ANTIPH'RASIS, in rhetoric, a figure 
 of speech, or kind of irony, whereby we 
 say a thing by denying what we ought 
 rather to affirm it to be ; as when we say, 
 "he is no fool," we mean "he is a man 
 of sense." 
 
 AN'TIQUARY, a person who studies 
 and searches after monuments and re- 
 mains of antiquity. There were for- 
 merly in the chief cities of Greece and 
 Italy, persons of high distinction called 
 antiquaries, who made it their business 
 to explain the ancient inscriptions, and 
 give every other assistance in their 
 power to strangers who were lovers of 
 that kind of learning. The monks who 
 were employed in making new copies of 
 old books were formerly called antiqua- 
 rii. 
 
 ANTI'QUE, in a restricted sense, 
 pieces of ancient art, and by artists usu- 
 ally confined to such as were made by the 
 Greeks and Romans of the classical age. 
 
 ANTIQ'UITIES, all such documents 
 of ancient history as industrious and 
 learned men have collected ; genealogies, 
 inscriptions, monuments, coins, names, 
 etymologies, archives, mechanical instru- 
 ments, fragments of history, &c. An- 
 tiquities form a very extensive science, 
 including an historical knowledge of the 
 ancient edifices, magistrates, habiliments, 
 manners, customs, ceremonies, religious
 
 APO] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 21 
 
 worship, and other objects worthy of cu- 
 riositj r , of all the principal nations of the 
 earth. In England, there are British, 
 Roman, Saxon, and Norman antiquities, 
 many of which are highly interesting, 
 and serve to throw a light on the man- 
 ners and customs of the people. 
 
 ANTIS'TROPHE, the alternate verse 
 in ancient poetry, which was divided into 
 the strophe and antistrophe. In reciting 
 their odes the chorus turned from the left 
 to the right at the antistrophe, and vice 
 versa. 
 
 ANTITH'ESIS, in rhetoric, a figure 
 of speech, by which two things are at- 
 tempted to be made more striking, by 
 being set in opposition to each other. 
 " Antitheses, well managed," says Bo- 
 hours, " give infinite pleasure in the pe- 
 rusal of works of genius ; they have 
 nearly the same effect in language as 
 lights and shadows in painting, which a 
 good artist distributes with propriety : or 
 the flats and sharps in music, which are 
 mingled by a skilful master." The 
 beautiful antithesis of Cicero, in his 
 second "atilinarian, may serve as an ex- 
 ample : " On the one side stands mod- 
 esty, on the other impudence ; on the 
 one fidelity, on the other deceit ; here 
 piety, there sacrilege ; here continency, 
 there lust," &c. 
 
 AN'TIT YPE, among ecclesiastical wri- 
 ters, denotes a type corresponding to 
 some other type or figure. In the Greek 
 church it is also an appellation given to 
 the symbols of bread and wine in the 
 sacrament. 
 
 ANTONOMA'SIA, a mode of speaking 
 in which a person is addressed or de- 
 scribed by some appropriate or official 
 designation, but not by his surname ; as, 
 in the House of Lords, " the noble lord," 
 in the House of Commons, "the honora- 
 ble gentleman." 
 
 ANU'BIS, in mythology, an Egyptian 
 deity. The seventh, according to the 
 astronomical Theology, of their eight 
 gods of the first class. The Greeks iden- 
 tified him with Mercury. In Egyptian 
 painting and sculpture he is represented 
 as a man with the head of a dog. 
 
 A'ORIST, that inflection of the verb 
 which leaves the time of the action denoted 
 uncertain. 
 
 AP'ANAGE, an allowance to younger 
 branches of a sovereign house out of the 
 revenues of the country ; generally to- 
 gether with a grant of public domains. 
 A district with the right of ruling it, 
 when thus conferred, is termed paragium. 
 An apanage, in ordinary cases, descends 
 
 : to the children of the prince who on- 
 i joys it. 
 
 AP'ATHY, a term expressive of an 
 utter privation of passion, and an insen- 
 sibility of pain. Thus, the Stoics affected 
 an entire apathy, so as not to be ruffled, 
 or sensible of pleasure or pain. 
 
 APHuERE'SIS, in grammar, the tak- 
 ing away a letter or syllable from a 
 word. 
 
 APH'ORISM, a maxim or principle of 
 a science ; or a sentence which compre- 
 hends a great deal in a few words. The 
 aphoristic method has great advantages, 
 as containing much matter in a small 
 compass ; sentiments are here almost as 
 numerous as expressions ; and doctrines 
 may be counted by phrases. 
 
 APLUS'THE, or APLUS'TRIA, in the 
 naval architecture of the ancients, an 
 ornament resembling a shield fixed in 
 the poop of a ship, in which case it dif- 
 fered from the acrostoliuin. 
 
 APOC'ALYPSE, the Greek name of 
 the last book of the New Testament, so 
 called from its containing revelations 
 concerning several important doctrines 
 of Christianity. 
 
 APOC'OPE, in grammar, a figure by 
 which the last letter or syllable of a word 
 is cut off. 
 
 APOC'RYPHA, in theology, certain 
 books of doubtful authority which are not 
 received into the canons of holy writ. 
 
 APODIC'TICA, in rhetoric, an epithet 
 for arguments which are fitted for prov- 
 ing the truth of any point. 
 
 APODIOX'IS, in rhetoric, a figure 
 whereby we either pass over a thing 
 slightly, or reject it as unworthy of 
 notice. 
 
 APODIX'IS, in rhetoric, an evident 
 demonstration. 
 
 APOD'OSIS, in rhetoric, the latter 
 part of a complete exordium, or applica- 
 tion of a simile. 
 
 AP'OGRAPH, a copy or transcript of 
 some book or writing. It is opposed to 
 autograph. 
 
 APOLLINA'RES LU'DI, or APOL- 
 LINA'RIAN GAMES, in Roman an- 
 tiquity,-were instituted u. c. 542. They 
 were celebrated in honor of Apollo, by a 
 decree of the senate, in consequence of a 
 prediction of the prophet Marcius rela- 
 tive to the battle of Cannae. 
 
 APOL'LO, or PH(KBUS, a heathen 
 divinity, son of Jupiter and Latona, in 
 Homeric times the god of archery, pro- 
 phecy, music, and medicine. Later poets 
 represent him also as the god of day and 
 the sun. The statues of Apollo represent
 
 22 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [APP 
 
 a young man in the perfection of manly 
 strength and beauty, with unshorn curling 
 locks, and a bow or lyre in his hund. 
 
 APOL'LO BEL'VIDERE, an ancient 
 marble statue of Apollo most exquisitely 
 finished. It was found in the ruins of 
 Antiuin, in the 15th century, and placed 
 in the Belvidere gallery of the Vatican 
 palace at Rome. 
 
 APOLLO'NIA, in antiquity, an an- 
 nual festival celebrated by the JEgialians 
 in honor of Apollo. 
 
 APOLLONIA, ST., or ALEXANDRIA, 
 the events in the life of this saint form 
 the subjects of some fine pictures, of 
 which one of the best, painted by Domen- 
 ichino, is in the Uallery of the Library 
 at Mayence. She is usually represented 
 as holding the martyr's palm in one 
 hand, and a pair of pincers, with a tooth, 
 in the other, illustrating her martyrdom, 
 during which all her teeth were pulled out. 
 
 AP'OLOGUE, a poetical fiction, the 
 purpose of which is the improvement of 
 morals. Some writers are of opinion, 
 that this term ought to be confined to 
 that species of fable in which brute or 
 inanimate things, as beasts or flowers, 
 are made to speak ; but this distinction, 
 so far from being followed, is generally 
 reversed. It is, in reality, more usual 
 to give the name of apologue where 
 human actors only are introduced. 
 
 APOL'OGY, in literature, a defence, 
 or answer to an accusation. The two 
 pieces of Xenophon and Plato, each com- 
 monly termed Apologia Socratis, differ 
 in character : the first being a defence 
 suppose'.! to be pronounced by the phi- 
 losopher himself; the last, a narration of 
 his last hours and discourses. Treatises 
 in defence of the Christian religion, in 
 its early period, were denominated Apolo- 
 gies by their writers ; as those of Justin 
 Martyr, Tertullian, and others, both pre- 
 served and lost. The title has been re- 
 tained by some writers in modern times : 
 as by Robert Barclay, in his Apology of 
 Quakerism, and by Bishop Watson, in 
 his Apologies for the Bible and for Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 APOPH'ASIS, a figure of speech in 
 which the orator briefly alludes to, or 
 seems to decline stating, that which he 
 wishes to insinuate. 
 
 AP'OPHTHEGM, or AP'OTHEGM, a 
 short, sententious, and instructive remark, 
 especially if pronounced by a person of 
 distinguished character. 
 
 APOPH YGE, in architecture, the part 
 of a column where it springs out of its 
 base. 
 
 A POSTERIO'RI, in logic, a mode of 
 reasoning from the effect to the cause. 
 
 APOS'TLE, a person sent forth upon 
 any business : hence applied, by way of 
 eminence, to the twelve elect disciples of 
 Christ, who were sent forth by him to 
 convert and baptize all nations. In the 
 first century, the apostles assumed the 
 highest office in the church; and the 
 term apostle during that period was 
 equivalent to bishop in after-times. 
 
 APOS'TLES' CREED, a confession 
 of faith, supposed anciently to have been 
 drawn up by the apostles themselves, 
 and deriving the title "Creed" from the 
 word with which it begins in Latin 
 (credo, / believe). With respect to its 
 antiquity, it may be affirmed, that the 
 greater part of its clauses is quoted by 
 the apostolic father Ignatius ; and that 
 the whole, as it now stands in the liturgy, 
 is to be found in the works of St. Am- 
 brose, in the fourth century. 
 
 APOSTOLIC FATHERS, the wri- 
 ters of the Christian Church, who lived 
 in the apostolic age, or were during any 
 partt>f their lives contemporary with the 
 apostles. They are five : Clement of 
 Rome, Barnabas, Hennas, Ignatius, and 
 Polycarp ; of whom the last suffered mar- 
 tyrdom, A. D. 147. 
 
 APOS'TROPHE, in rhetoric, a figure 
 of speech by which the orator or writer 
 suddenly breaks off from the previous 
 method of his discourse, and addresses 
 himself in the second person to some 
 person, or thing, absent or present. 
 
 APOTHE'OSIS, deification, or the 
 ceremony of placing among the gods, 
 which was frequent among the ancients. 
 It was one of the doctrines of Pythagoras, 
 which he had borrowed from the Chal- 
 dees, that virtuous persons, after their 
 death, were raised into the order of the 
 gods. And hence the ancients deified all 
 the inventors of things useful to mankind, 
 and who had done any important service 
 to the commonwealth. This honor was 
 also conferred on several of the Roman 
 emperors at their decease. 
 
 APOT'OME, in music, the difference 
 between the greater and the less semi- 
 tone, being expressed by the ratio of 128 
 to 125. 
 
 APPEL'L ATIVE, in grammar, a noun 
 or name applicable to a whole species or 
 kind, as, a man, a horse. 
 
 APPEN'DIX, in literature, a treatise 
 or supplement added at the end of u 
 work, to render it more complete. 
 
 APPOGIATU'RA, in music, a small 
 note inserted by the practical musician.
 
 AKC] 
 
 AND THE FINE AKTS. 
 
 23 
 
 between two others, at some distance ; 
 or a note inserted by way of embellish- 
 ment. 
 
 APPOSI'TION, in grammar, the pla- 
 cing two or more substantives together, 
 without any copulative between them, as 
 Wellington, the conqueror. 
 
 APPREHEN'SION, in logic, the first 
 or most simple act of the mind, whereby 
 it perceives, or is conscious of some idea : 
 it is more usually called perception. 
 
 A'PRIL, the fourth month of the 
 year. The name is probably derived 
 from Lat. aperire, to open, either from 
 the opening of the buds, or of the bosom 
 of the earth in producing vegetation. 
 
 A PRIO'RI, a mode of reasoning from 
 the cause to the effect. 
 
 AQLTATIN'TA, a style of engraving, 
 or rather etching, by which an etfect is 
 produced similar to that of a drawing in 
 Indian ink. 
 
 AQ'UEDUCT, a conduit of water, is a 
 construction of stone or timber, built on 
 uneven ground, to preserve the level of 
 water, and convey it, by a canal, from 
 one place to another. There are aque- 
 ducts under ground, and others raised 
 above it supported by arches. The Ro- 
 mans were very magnificent in their 
 aqueducts. In the time of the Emperor 
 Nerva there were nine, which emptied 
 themselves through 13,594 pipes of an 
 inch diameter. That constructed by 
 Louis XIV. for carrying the Bucq to 
 Versailles, is 7000 fathoms long. The 
 Croton aqueduct, 40 miles long, supply- 
 ing the city of New York with water, is 
 probably the greatest work of the kind 
 111 ancient or modern times. 
 
 AR'ABESQUE, or MORESQUE, a 
 style of ornament in painting and sculp- 
 ture, so called from the Arabians and 
 Moors, who rejected the representation 
 of animals. 
 
 AR'ABIC FIGURES, the numeral 
 characters now used in our arithmetic, 
 which were borrowed from the Arabians, 
 and introduced into England about the 
 eleventh century. 
 
 ARABO-TEDES'CO, a style of archi- 
 tecture, in which the Moorish and Gothic 
 are combined. 
 
 A'RyEOSTYLE, in architecture, a sort 
 of intercolnmniation, in which the columns 
 are at a distance from each other. 
 
 AR'BOR SCIEN'TI^E, a general dis- 
 tribution or scheme of science, or knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 ARCADE', in architecture, a series of 
 arches crowned with a roof or ceiling, 
 with a walk or passage thereunder. The 
 
 ! piers of arcades may be decorated with 
 columns, pilasters, niches, and apertures 
 of different forms. The arches them- 
 selves are turned sometimes with rock- 
 worked and sometimes with plain rustic 
 arch stones or voussoirs, or with a moul- 
 ded archivolt, springing from an impost 
 or platband, and sometimes, though that 
 is not to be recommended, from columns. 
 The key-stones are generally carved in 
 the form of a console, or sculptured with 
 some device. 
 
 ARCA'NUM, among physicians, any 
 remedy, the preparation of which is in- 
 dustriously concealed, in order to enhance 
 its value. 
 
 ARCH, a concave building with a 
 mould bent in form of a curve, erected to 
 support some structure. Arches are either 
 circular, elliptical or straight, as .they 
 are improperly called by workmen. El- 
 liptical arches consist of a semi-ellipsis, 
 and have commonly a key-stone and 
 imposts ; they are usually described by 
 workmen on three centres. Straight 
 arches are those used over doors and 
 windows, and having plain straight edges, 
 both upper and under, which are parallel, 
 but both the ends and joints point towards 
 a centre. The term arch is peculiarly 
 used for the space between the two piers 
 of a bridge, for the passages, of water, 
 vessels, &c. TBIUMPHAL ARCH, a stately 
 gate of a semicircular form, adorned with 
 sculpture, inscriptions, <fec. erected in 
 honor of those who had deserved a tri- 
 umph. ARCH, as a syllable prefixed to 
 another word, denotes the highest degree 
 of its kind, whether good or bad ; as 
 archangel, archduke, archbishop, arch- 
 fiend, &c. Many of the highest offices in 
 different empires have this syllable pre- 
 fixed to them. 
 
 ARCH.EOL'OGY, in general, means 
 the knowledge of antiquity, but in a 
 narrower sense, the science which inquires 
 into and discovers the mental life of an- 
 cient nations from their monuments, 
 whether literary, artist ical, or mechani- 
 cal. Artistic Archaeology treats of re- 
 mains as works of the Fine Arts, in those 
 two nations which were models in Art, the 
 Greeks and Romans ; besides these the ar- 
 tistic productions of the Indians, Egyp- 
 tians, Babylonians, and Persians, take 
 an honorable place in the Archaeology of 
 Art. 
 
 AR'CHAISM, any antiquated word or 
 phrase. The use of archaisms, though 
 generally objectionable, occasionally add 
 to the beauty and force of a sentence. 
 
 ARCHBISH'OP, a metropolitan pre-
 
 24 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ARC 
 
 laic, having several suffragan bishops 
 under him. In England there are two 
 archbishops the archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, who is primate of all England ; and 
 tin- archbishop of York, who is only 
 styled primate of England. The first 
 establishment of archbishops in Kng- 
 land, according to Bede, was in the time 
 of Lucius, said to be the first Christina 
 king in Britain ; but the first archbishop 
 of Canterbury was Austin, appointed 
 A.D. 598, by Ethelbert, when he was con- 
 verted. An archbishop consecrates the 
 inferior diocesans, as those ordain priests 
 and deacons, and when invested with his 
 dignity, he is said to be enthroned ; 
 term which probably originated with 
 that period of English history, in which 
 the archbishop of Canterbury had some 
 of the privileges of absolute royalty. 
 
 ARCHDEA'CON, an ecclesiastical of- 
 ficer, next in rank below a bishop. Ev- 
 ery diocese has one, and the generality 
 more. They are usually appointed by 
 .their diocesans ; but their authority is 
 independent. They visit the clergy, and j 
 have courts for the punishment of offen- 
 ders by spiritual censures, and for hearing 
 all other causes that fall within ecclesias- 
 tical cognizance. 
 
 ARQH'ERY, the art of shooting with 
 the bow and arrow. Since the introduc- ; 
 tion of gunpowder, the arrow has ceased j 
 to be employed as an offensive weapon : 
 but in former times it was reckoned of 
 the utmost importance to the military 
 strength of England. The practice of 
 archery was followed both as a recre- 
 ation and a service, and Edward III. 
 prohibited all useless games that inter- 
 fered with the practice of it on holidays 
 and other intervals of leisure. By an 
 act of Edward IV. every man was to have 
 a bow of his own height, to be made of 
 yew, hazel, or ash, &c. ; and mounds of 
 earth were to be made in every township 
 for the use of the inhabitants. Indeed, 
 it appears from the use made of the bow 
 by the English at the battles of Cressy,- 
 Agincourt, and Poictiers, that their claim 
 to be considered the best of modern 
 archers can scarcely be disputed. 
 
 AR'CHETYPE, the first model of a 
 work, which is copied after to make 
 another like it. Among minters it is 
 used for the standard weight by which 
 the otheVs are adjusted. The archetopal 
 icorld, among Platonists, means the 
 world as it existed in the idea of God, 
 before the visible creation. 
 
 AR'CHITECT, one who is skilled in 
 architecture. The architect forms plans 
 
 and designs for edifices, conducts the work, 
 and directs the artificers employed in it. 
 ARCHITECTURE, the art of invent- 
 ing and drawing designs for buildings, or 
 the s.-iewe which teaches the mctho.l of 
 constructing any edifice for use or orna- 
 ment. It is divided into <-!ril, milltun/. 
 and naval; according as the erection- 
 arc for civil, military, or naval pur- 
 poses; and for the sake of convenience, 
 other divisions arc sometimes introduce. I. 
 Architecture appears to have 
 been among the earliest in- 
 ventions, and its works have 
 been commonly regulated by 
 some principle of hereditary 
 imitation. Whatever rude 
 structure the climate and 
 materials of any country 
 have obliged its early in- 
 habitants to adopt for their 
 temporary shelter, the same 
 structure, with all its promi- 
 nent features, has been after- 
 wards in some measure kept 
 up by their refined and opu- 
 lent posterity. To Greece we are indebted 
 for the three principal orders of architec- 
 ture, the Doric, (Fig. 1.) the Ionic, (Fig. 
 2.) and the Corinthian, (Fig. 3) ; \\n\\v.- 
 added two others, both formed out of the 
 former, the Tuscan, (Fig. 4 ) and the 
 Composite, (Fig. 5.) Each of -pj,,. 
 these has a particular expres- 
 sion ; so that a building, or 
 different parts of a building, 
 may be rude, solid, neat, deli- 
 cate, or gay, accordingly as 
 the Tuscan, the Doric, the 
 Ionic, the Corinthian, or the 
 Composite are employed. The 
 columns of these several orders 
 are easily distinguishable to 
 common observers, by reason 
 of the ornaments that are pe- 
 culiar to their capitals ; but 
 the scientific difference con- 
 sists in their proportions. 
 The Tuscan order is charac- 
 terized by its simplicity and 
 strength. It is devoid of all 
 ornament. The Doric (Fig. 1.) 
 is enlivened with ornaments 
 in the frize and capital. 
 The Ionic is ornamented with 
 the volute scroll, or spinal 
 horn : its ornaments are in a 
 style of composition between 
 the plainness of the Doric, 
 and the richness of the Corin- 
 thian. The Corinthian order 
 i is known by its capital being 
 
 Fig. 3.
 
 
 
 ARCHITECTURE, 
 (Interior of Grace Church, N.Y.
 
 

 
 Aiio] 
 
 AND TUB FINE ARTS. 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 adorned with two sorts of 
 loaves ; between these rise 
 little stalks, of which the 
 volutes that support the 
 highest part of the capital, 
 are formed. The Composite 
 is nearly the same as the 
 Corinthian, with an addition 
 of the Ionic volute. In their 
 private buildings the Ro- 
 man architects followed the 
 Greeks ; but in their public 
 edifices they far surpassed 
 them in grandeur. During 
 the dark ages which followed 
 the destruction of the Roman 
 empire, the classic architec- 
 ture of Greece and Rome 
 was lost sight of, but was 
 again revived by the Ital- 
 ians at the time of the res- 
 toration of letters. The 
 Got/lie style was so called 
 because it was first used by 
 the Visigoths ; but at first 
 it was vastly inferior to that 
 which we now call Gothic, 
 and which exhibits grandeur 
 and splendor, with the most 
 accurate execution. The 
 Saxon and Norman styles were so called 
 because they were respectively used by 
 the Saxons before the Conquest, and by 
 the Normans after, in the building of 
 churches. The Saxon style was dis- 
 tinguished by the semicircular arch, which 
 they seem to have taken partly from the 
 Romans, and partly from their ancestors 
 on the continent. The Norman was dis- 
 tinguished by the following particulars : 
 the walls were very thick, generally with- 
 out buttresses ; the arches, both within 
 and without, semicircular, and supported 
 by very plain and solid columns. These 
 two styles continued to be the prevailing 
 modes of building in England until the 
 reign of Henry II., when a new mode 
 was introduced, which was called modern 
 Gothic. Whether this was purely a de- 
 viation from the other two modes, or 
 whether it was derived from any foreign 
 source, is not known. It is, however, 
 supposed to be of Saracenic extraction, 
 and to have been introduced by the 
 crusaders. The style is distinguished by 
 its numerous buttresses, lofty spires and 
 pinnacles, large and ramified windows, 
 with a profusion of ornaments throughout. 
 In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 
 the taste for Greek and Roman architec- 
 ture revived, and brought the five orders 
 again into use, although for sacred edi- 
 
 fices the Saxon and Gothic styles still 
 maintain the pre-eminence. 
 
 AR'CHITRAVE, in architecture, that 
 part of a column, or order of columns, 
 which lies immediately upon the capital ; 
 being the lowest member of the entabla- 
 ture. Over a chimney, this member is 
 called the mantle-piece ; and over doors 
 or windows, the hyperthyron. 
 
 AR'CHIVAULT, in architecture, the 
 inner contour of an arch, or a frame set 
 off with mouldings, running over the faces 
 of the arch stones, and bearing upon the 
 imposts. 
 
 AR'CHIVES, ancient records, or char- 
 ters which contain titles, pretensions, 
 privileges, and prerogatives of a com- 
 munity, family, city, or kingdom. 
 
 AR'CHON, the chief magistrates of the 
 city and commonwealth of Athens. 
 
 ARE'NA, in Roman antiquity, that 
 part of the amphitheatre where the 
 gladiators fought ; so called from its 
 being always strewed with sand, to con- 
 ceal from the view of the people, the 
 blood spilt in the combat. 
 
 AKEOP'AGUS, a sovereign tribunal 
 at Athens, famous for the justice and 
 impartiality of its decrees. It was in the 
 town, on a rock or hill opposite to the 
 citadel. There are some remains of the 
 areopagus still existing in the middle of 
 the temple of Theseus, which was hereto- 
 fore in the middle of the city, but is now 
 without the walls. 
 
 AR'GONAUTS, in Grecian antiquity, 
 a company of illustrious Greeks, who 
 embarked along with Jason in the ship 
 Argo, on an expedition to Colchis with a 
 design to obtain the golden fleece. Some 
 writers imagine, and foremost among 
 them is Sir Isaac Newton, that this ex- 
 pedition was really an embassy sent by 
 the Greeks, during the intestine divisions 
 of Egypt, in the reign of Amenophis, to 
 persuade the nations upon the coasts of 
 the Euxine and Mediterranean seas to 
 lake that opportunity of shaking off the 
 yoke of Egypt, which Sesostris had laid 
 upon them : and that fetching the golden 
 fleece was only a pretence to cover their 
 true design. 
 
 AR'GUMENT, in rhetoric and logic, 
 an inference drawn from premises, the 
 truth of which is indisputable, or at lc:ist 
 highly probable. In reasoning, Mr. 
 Locke observes that men ordinarily use 
 four sorts of arguments. The first is to 
 allege the opinions of men, whoso parts 
 and learning, etninency, power, or some 
 other cause, have gained a name, and 
 settled their reputation in the common
 
 20 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ARR 
 
 esteem, with some kind of authority ; 
 this may be called argumentum ad 
 verecHiidlam. Secondly, another way is 
 to require tin- adversaries to admit what 
 they .illego as a proof, or to assign a 
 bettor; this he calls argumentum ad 
 i'junrantiam. A third way is, to press 
 a man with consequences, drawn from 
 his own principles or concessions; this is 
 known by the name of argumentum ad 
 hnnilnem. Fourthly, the using proofs 
 drawn from any of the foundations of 
 knowledge or probability ; this he calls 
 argumentum ad judicium; and observes, 
 th:it it is the only one of all the four, 
 that brings true instruction with it, and 
 :i<lv:inces us in our way to knowledge. 
 ARGUMENT, in literature, denotes also 
 the abridgment, or heads of a book, his- 
 tory, chapter, Ac. 
 
 ARIO'SO, in musical composition, the 
 Italian word for the time of a common air. 
 
 ARISTOTE'LIAN, something relating 
 to Aristotle : thus we read of the Aris- 
 totelian philosophy, school, &c. The 
 Aristotelians were also designated Peri- 
 patetics, and their philosophy long pre- 
 vailed in the schools, till it gave place to 
 the Newtonian. 
 
 AR'MOR, a name for all such habili- 
 ments as serve to defend the body from 
 wounds, especially of darts, a sword, a 
 lance, &c. A complete suit of armor an- 
 ciently consisted of a casque or helm, a 
 gorget, cuirass, gauntlets, tasses, brassets, 
 cmshes, and covers for the legs, to which 
 the spurs were fastened. This they called 
 armor cap-a-pie ; and was worn by cava- 
 liers and men-at-arms. The infantry 
 had only part of it, viz., a pot or head- 
 piece, a cuirass and tasses ; but all of 
 them made light. Lastly, the horses 
 themselves had their armor, wherewith 
 to cover the head and neck. Of all this 
 furniture of war, scarcely anything is 
 now retained except the cuirass. 
 
 ARMOR-BEARER, the person who 
 was formerly employed to carry the ar- 
 mor of another. 
 
 ARMS, in military phraseology, all 
 kinds of weapons, whether used for of- 
 fence or defence. ARMS, in a legal sense, 
 extend to anything that a person wears 
 for his own defence, or takes into his 
 hnnd, nnd uses, in anger, to strike or 
 throw at another. ARMS denote also the 
 natural weapons of beasts, as claws, 
 teeth, beak, <fec. 
 
 ^ ARMS, COATS OF, family insignia or 
 distinctions, which had their rise from 
 the painting of the shields used in war 
 before the invention of gunpowder. 
 
 AR'MY, in a general sense, is taken 
 for the whole armed force raised for the 
 defence of the country by land. In a 
 limited sense, it denotes a large body of 
 soldiers, consisting of horse and foot, 
 completely armed, and provided with ar- 
 tillery, ammunition, provisions, <tc., un- 
 der a commander-in-chief, having lieu- 
 tenant-generals, major-generals, briga- 
 diers, and other officers under him. An 
 army is generally divided into a certain 
 number of corps, each consisting of brig- 
 ades, regiments, battalions, and squad- 
 rons ; when in the field, it is formed into 
 lines ; the first line is called the van- 
 guard, the second the main body, the 
 third the rearguard, or body of reserve. 
 The middle of each line is occupied by 
 the foot ; the cavalry forms the right and 
 left wing of each line, and sometimes 
 squadrons of horse are placed in the in- 
 tervals between the battalions. The ma- 
 teriel of an army, as the French term it, 
 consists of the horses, stores, provisions, 
 and everything necessary for service. 
 Armies are moreover distinguished ac- 
 cording to their service, into blockading 
 army, army of observation, army of re- 
 serve, df"C. 
 
 ARPEG'GIO, in music, is a term im- 
 plying that the tones should be sounded 
 distinctly, as they are heard on the harp. 
 ARPEGGIO ACCOMPANIMENT consists 
 chiefly of the notes of the several chords 
 taken in returning successions. 
 
 ARRANGE'MENT. in the plastic Arts, 
 and in painting, Invention and Arrange- 
 ment are the groundwork of every com- 
 position. ARRANGEMENT is the placing 
 together of parts in a manner conforma- 
 ble to the character and aim of the work ; 
 it relates entirely to the form, in which 
 the subject must be worked out so as to 
 produce an intuitive perception of its 
 individuality. Artistic arrangement be- 
 longs not only to the object as a whole, 
 but to each part specially, to groups as 
 well as to single figures, and to the posi- 
 tion and contrast of their limbs. In 
 painting, it refers to the distribution of 
 colors, and the disposition of light and 
 shade, all of which require a peculiar 
 artistic arrangement ; li^ht. sli.'ulo, and 
 coloring, being the soul of all painting. 
 
 AR'RIS, in architecture, the intersec- 
 tion or line formed by the meeting of the 
 exterior surfaces of two bodies, answer- 
 ing to what is called the edge. ARRIS 
 FILLET, a small piece of timber, of a 
 triangular section, used in raising the 
 slates against a wall that cuts obliquely 
 across the roof.
 
 AS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 AR'SIS and THESIS, in music, terms 
 used in composition, as when a point is 
 inverted or turned, it is said to move 
 per arsin et ttiesin, that is, when it rises 
 in one point and falls in another ; properly 
 speaking, it is the rise and fall of the 
 hand in beating time. 
 
 ART, a system of rules, serving to 
 facilitate the performance of certain ac- 
 tions ; in which sense it stands opposed 
 to science, or a system of merely specula- 
 tive principles. Terms of Art, are such 
 words as are used in regard to any par- 
 ticular art, profession, or science. 
 
 AR'TICLE, in grammar, a particle in 
 most languages, that serves to express 
 the several cases and genders of nouns, 
 when the languages have not different 
 terminations to denote the different states 
 and circumstances of nouns. 
 
 ARTICULA'TION, in painting and 
 sculpture, the movable connection of the 
 bones, in the representation of which by 
 the artist the greatest skill and knowl- 
 edge of anatomy is required. 
 
 ARTIL'LERY, a collective name de- 
 noting engines of war, but particularly 
 cannon, mortars, and other large pieces, 
 for the discharge of shot and shells. It 
 is also employed to denote the science 
 which teaches all things relating to the 
 artillery, as the construction of all en- 
 gines of war, the arrangement, move- 
 ment, and management of cannon and 
 all sorts of ordnance, used either in the 
 field, or the camp, or at sieges, <fcc. The 
 same name is also given to the troops by 
 whom these arms are served, the men 
 being, in fact, subsidiary to the instru- 
 ments. Park of artillery, a place set 
 apart in a camp for the artillery, and 
 large fire-arms. Train of artillery, a 
 set or number of pieces of ordnance 
 mounted on carriages. Flying artillery, 
 a sort of artillery, so called from the ce- 
 lerity with which it can be moved. Seats 
 are contrived for the men who work it, 
 and a sufficient force of horses is applied 
 to enable them to proceed at a gallop ; 
 each horse being rode by a separate driver. 
 
 AR'TIST, a proficient in the liberal 
 arts, in distinction from ARTISAN, or one 
 who follows one of the mechanic arts. 
 
 ARTS, in the most general sense of the 
 word, means any acquired skill. They 
 are usually divided inlofine and useful ; 
 comprising under the former, all those, 
 the direct object of which is not absolute 
 utility, as painting, sculpture, music, 
 poetry, &c., in distinction from the arts 
 called useful, or such as are essential to 
 trade and commerce. 
 
 ART-UNIONS arc societies formed for 
 the encouragement of the Fine Arts by 
 the purchase of paintings, sculptures, <fcc. 
 out of a common fund raised in email 
 shares or subscriptions ; such works of 
 art, or the right of selecting them, being 
 distributed by lot among the subscribers 
 or members. They appear to owe their 
 origin to M. Hennin, a distinguished 
 amateur of Paris, who about forty years 
 ago organized a little society for the pur- 
 pose of bringing together the unsold 
 works of artists, exhibiting them, and 
 with the exhibition money, and other 
 subscriptions, purchasing a selection from 
 among them, which was afterwards dis- 
 tributed by lot to the subscribers. In 
 1816 this company merged into the 
 " Societe des Amis des Arts." Art-Unions 
 have been extensively organized in most 
 of the German states. The Art-Union 
 of Berlin was established in 1825. The 
 first Art-Union formed in Great Britain 
 was .in Scotland, in the year 1834. The 
 Art-Union of London was established in 
 1837, and since that period similar socie- 
 ties have been established in Ireland, and 
 in many of the principal towns in England. 
 The American Art-Union of New York 
 has exhibited the most remarkable in- 
 stance of rapid growth and prosperity of 
 any similar societies. It was founded in 
 1839, and at the close of 1850 the num- 
 ber of members was 16,310, to whom were 
 distributed as prizes, 433 paintings select- 
 ed by a committee, 27 statuettes, 30 
 sets of prints, from Col. Trumbull's cele- 
 brated pictures of the Battle of Bunker 
 Hill, and Death, of Montgomery, measur- 
 ing 30 inches by 20 inches, 50 sets of 
 Outlines and Sketches by Washington 
 Allston, 250 " Trumbull" medals, and 250 
 "Stuart" medals. 
 
 ARUNDE'LIAN MARBLES, called 
 also the Parian Chronicle, are ancient 
 stones, on which is inscribed a chronicle 
 of the city of Athens, supposed to have 
 been engraven in capital letters in the 
 island of Paros, 264 years before Christ 
 They take their name from the earl of 
 Arundel, who procured them from the 
 East, or from his grandson, who presented 
 them to the University of Oxford. 
 
 ARUS'PICES, or HARUS'PICES, an 
 order of priesthood among the Romans, 
 who pretended to foretell future events by 
 inspecting the entrails of victims killed 
 in sacrifice. They were introduced by 
 Romulus, and abolished by Constantino, 
 A.D. 337. 
 
 AS, a weight used by the ancients, con- 
 sisting of 1 2 ounces : it was also used as a
 
 28 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ASS 
 
 coin, and as an integer divided into 12 
 parts. 
 
 A'SAPHEIS, defective utterance. 
 
 ASARO'TA, in antiquity, a pavement 
 or floor laid in dining-rooms, and com- 
 posed of very small tiles inlaid in differ- 
 ent colors. 
 
 ASBES'TOS, or ASBES'TUS, an in- 
 flammable mineral substance, of which 
 amianthus is one of its principal species. 
 This consists of elastic fibres, somewhat 
 unctuous to the touch, and slightly trans- 
 lucent. The ancients manufactured cloth 
 from the fibres of the asbestos for the pur- 
 pose, as is said, of wrapping up the bodies 
 of the dead when exposed on the funeral 
 pile ; it being incombustible in its nature. 
 
 ASCEND'ANT, in architecture, an or- 
 nament in masonry or joiner's work, which 
 borders the three sides of doors, windows, 
 and chimneys. 
 
 ASCET'ICS, in ecclesiastical history, 
 such Christians in the primitive church 
 as inured themselves to great degrees of 
 abstinence and fasting, in order to subdue 
 their passions. In short, every kind of 
 uncommon piety laid claim to the name 
 ascetic. 
 
 ASCLE'PIA, a Grecian festival, held 
 in honor of jEsculapius. It was also 
 called the sacred contest, because poets 
 and musicians contended for victory 
 there. 
 
 ASCLEPIAD^E'AN VERSE, a kind 
 of poetic measure so called from JEsclepias, 
 the inventor of it. 
 
 ASCO'LIA, in Grecian antiquity, a 
 festival celebrated by the Athenian hus- 
 bandmen, in honor of Bacchus, to whom 
 they sacrificed a he-goat, because that 
 animal destroys the vines. 
 
 ASCRIPTI'TII, in ancient history, 
 supernumerary soldiers, who served to 
 supply the losses in the legions. Also, 
 in later times, foreigners or aliens newly 
 admitted to the freedom of a city. 
 
 ASH'LAR, in architecture, common 
 freestones, as they are brought rough 
 and chipped or detached from the 
 quarry, of different lengths and thick- 
 nesses. Their usual thickness is nine 
 inches. 
 
 ASH'LERING, in architecture, the 
 upright timber or quarters towards the 
 rooms or inwards in garrets by which 
 the slope of the roof is concealed some- 
 times it is only two or three feet high, 
 and sometimes the whole height of the 
 room. 
 
 ASH-WEDNES'DAY, the first day in 
 Lent, so called from the ancient custom 
 of fasting in sackcloth and ashes. 
 
 A'SIARCH, in Grecian antiquity, a 
 governor of the provinces, who used to 
 preside over the public games. 
 
 ASIDE', a term in plays for what is to 
 be said on the stage without being heard 
 by the other performers. 
 
 ASINA'RIA, a festival anciently held 
 in Sicily, in commemoration of the vic- 
 tory obtained over the Athenians, when 
 Demosthenes and Nicias were taken 
 prisoners ; and was so called from the 
 river Asinarius, near which it was 
 fought. 
 
 AS'PECT, in architecture, the direc- 
 tion towards the point of the compass in 
 which a building is placed. The aspectus 
 is also used by Vitruvius to denote the 
 external distribution of a temple. Thus 
 he describes seven sorts of aspects of 
 temples. 
 
 ASPHAL'TUM, a bituminous or in- 
 flammable substance, found in abundance 
 in different countries, especially near the 
 Dead Sea, and in Albania ; but nowhere 
 in such quantities as in the island of 
 Trinidad, where there is a large plain of 
 it, called the Tar Lake, which is three 
 miles in circumference and of an un- 
 known depth. It is also found in France, 
 Switzerland, and some other parts of 
 Europe. 
 
 AS'PIRATE, in grammar, a character 
 in the Greek (marked thus, ') to denote 
 that the vowel must be sounded with a 
 breathing. In English, 'the letter h is 
 called aspirate, when it is sounded, in dis- 
 tinction to h mute. 
 
 AS'SAI, a musical term, which indi- 
 cates that the time must be accelerated 
 or retarded ; as allegro, quick ; allegro 
 assai, still quicker ; adagio assai, still 
 slower. 
 
 ASSAS'SIN, one who kills another, 
 not in open combat, but privately, or 
 suddenly. The name is generally re- 
 strained to murderers of princes or other 
 political characters ; or, to speak perhaps 
 more explicitly, to where the murder is 
 committed from some sentiment of ha- 
 tred, but in a private and dastardly man- 
 ner. 
 
 ASSIGNAT', the name of the national 
 paper currency in France during the 
 Revolution. Four hundred millions of 
 this paper money were first struck off by 
 the constituent assembly, with the ap- 
 probation of the king, April 19, 1790, to 
 be redeemed with the proceeds of the 
 sale of the confiscated goods of the church. 
 They at length increased, by degrees, to 
 j forty thousand millions, and after awhile 
 ! they became of no value whatever.
 
 ATH] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 ASSIGNEE', in law, a person ap- 
 pointed by another to do an act, transact 
 some business, or enjoy a particular 
 privilege. The person to whom is com- 
 mitted the management of a bankrupt's 
 estate. 
 
 ASSIGN'MENT, in law, the act of as- 
 signing or transferring the interest or 
 property a man has in a thing; or of 
 appointing and setting over a right to 
 another. 
 
 ASSI'ZES, a meeting of the English 
 royal judges, the sheriff, and juries, for 
 the purpose of making jail-deliveries, 
 and trying causes between individuals ; 
 generally held twice in the year. The 
 assizes are general when the justices go 
 their circuits, with commission to take all 
 assizes, that is, to hear all causes ; and 
 they are special when special commis- 
 sions are granted to hear particular 
 causes. 
 
 ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS, by this 
 phrase is understood the connection be- 
 tween certain ideas which causes them to 
 succeed each other involuntarily in the 
 mind. To the wrong association of ideas 
 made in our minds by custom, Mr. 
 Locke attributes most of the sympathies 
 and antipathies observable in men, which 
 work as strongly, and produce as regular 
 effects, as if they were natural, though 
 they at first had no other origin than the 
 accidental connection of two ideas, which 
 either by the strength of the first im- 
 pression, or future indulgence, are so 
 united, that they ever after keep com- 
 pany together in that man's mind as if 
 they were but one idea. 
 
 AS'SONANCE, in rhetoric or poetry, 
 is where the words of a phrase or verse 
 have nearly the same sound, or termina- 
 tion, but make no proper rhyme. 
 
 ASSUMP'SIT, in law, a voluntary 
 promise by which a man binds himself to 
 pay anything to another, or to do any work. 
 
 ASSUMPTION, a festival in the 
 Romish church, in honor of the miracu- 
 lous ascent of the Virgin Mary into 
 heaven. ASSUMPTION, in logic, is the 
 minor or second proposition in a categor- 
 ical syllogism. It is also used for a con- 
 sequence drawn from the propositions 
 whereof an argument is composed. 
 
 AS'TERISK, in diplomatics, a sign 
 in the figure of a star, frequently met 
 with in ancient Latin manuscripts, and 
 seeming to serve various purposes ; some- 
 times to denote an omission, sometimes an 
 addition, sometimes a passage which ap- 
 peared remarkable on any account to 
 the copyist. 
 
 AS'TRAGAL, in architecture, a little 
 round moulding, in form of a ring, serv- 
 ing as an ornament at the tops and bot- 
 toms of columns. 
 
 ASY'LUM, in antiquity, a place of 
 refuge for offenders, where they were 
 screened from the hands of justice. The 
 asyla of ajtars and temples were very 
 ancient. The Jews had their asyla ; the 
 most remarkable of which were, the tem- 
 ple, the altar of burnt-offerings, and the 
 six cities of refuge. A similar custom 
 prevailed both among the Greeks and 
 Romans, where temples, altars, and 
 statues, were places of refuge for crim- 
 inals of every description. They had an 
 idea, that a criminal who fled to the tem- 
 ple or altar, submitted his crime to the 
 punishment of the gods, and that it would 
 be impiety in man to take vengeance out 
 of their hands. In former times the like 
 immunities were granted by the pope to 
 churches, convents, <fcc. 
 
 ASYN'DETON, in rhetoric or compo- 
 sition, the omission of conjunctions, or 
 other connecting particles of speech, in 
 order to render the sentence more lively 
 and impressive. 
 
 AT'AB AL, a kind of tabor used among 
 the Moors. 
 
 ATARAX'IA, or AT'ARAXY, a term 
 used to denote that calmness of mind 
 which secures us from all emotions aris- 
 ing from vanity or self-conceit. In this 
 consisted the summum bonum, or sover- 
 eign good of the Stoics. 
 
 AT'AXY, in a general sense, the want 
 of order : with physicians it signifies the 
 irregularity of crises and paroxysms of 
 fevers. 
 
 ATE'LIER, a term derived from the 
 French, and applied specially to the work- 
 room of sculptors and painters, which are 
 also called STUDIOS. The Dutch and 
 Flemish painters have delighted to por- 
 tray their Ateliers. 
 
 A-TEM'PO, in music, Italian for 'in 
 time,' employed when the regular meas- 
 ure has been interrupted. 
 
 ATHEN^E'UM, in antiquity, a public 
 school wherein the professors of the liberal 
 arts held their assemblies, the rhetori- 
 cians declaimed, and the poets rehearsed 
 their performances. These places, of 
 which there were a great number at 
 Athens, were built in the manner of 
 amphitheatres, encompassed with seats 
 called cunei. The three most celebrated 
 Athensea were those at Athens, at Rome, 
 and at Lyons, the second of which was 
 built by the emperor Adrian. 
 
 ATHLE'TjE, in antiquity, men of re-
 
 30 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ATT 
 
 markable strength and agility, disciplined 
 to perform the public games. This was 
 a general term, under which were compre- 
 hended wrestlers, boxers, runners, leap- 
 ers, throwers of the disk, and those who 
 practised in other exercises exhibited in 
 the Olympic, Pythian, and other solemn 
 sports, wherein there were prizes allotted 
 for the conquerors. 
 
 ATLAN'TES, TELAMONES, PEHCES, 
 GIGANTES, are the athletic male statues 
 which we find as supports of parts of an- 
 cient buildings ; female figures for the 
 same purpose were called CARYATIDES ; 
 they are not exact imitations of nature, 
 but their use is sufficiently justified by 
 the antique. They were only employed 
 when pillars were too insignificant for 
 the erections ; they are suitable to a rich 
 style, to small screens, fountains, for 
 supporting a gallery, and for the upper 
 rows of pillars : these should not appear 
 so heavy as to excite compassion, but the 
 expression should be one of graceful 
 freedom. 
 
 ATLAN'TIS, an island meptioned in 
 Plato's Dialogue entitled Limseus, as hav- 
 ing once existed in the Atlantic Ocean 
 opposite to the Pillars of Hercules. It 
 was said to have exceeded Europe and 
 Africa jointly in magnitude ; and after 
 existing for 9000 years, during which 
 period its inhabitants extended their con- 
 quests throughout the known quarters 
 of the globe, to have been uprooted by 
 prodigious earthquakes and inundations, 
 and submerged in the ocean. The ques- 
 tion of the reality and site of this island 
 has been frequently discussed by modern 
 geographers. 
 
 AT'LAS, in geography, a collection of 
 maps ; more properly, a book containing 
 maps of the whole world ; so called from 
 Atlas, who was fabled to have borne the 
 world on his shoulders. It is also the 
 name of a chain of high mountains in 
 Africa, extending from the coast of the 
 Atlantic to the border of Egypt. 
 
 AT'OM, in philosophy, a particle of 
 matter, so minute as to admit of no di- 
 vision. Atoms are the minima naturae, 
 and are conceived as the first principle or 
 component parts of all physical magni- 
 tude. From the earliest times of an- 
 tiquity, down to the present day, two 
 opinions directly opposed to each other, 
 have divided the world on this subject ; 
 the one, that matter is composed of an 
 assemblage of minute particles, or atoms, 
 incapable of farther division ; the other 
 that there is no limit to its divisibility, 
 the smallest conceivable portion still con- 
 
 sisting of an infinity of parts. The first 
 of these theories, which is commonly dis- 
 tinguished by the name of the ATOMIC 
 PHILOSOPHY, was originated in Greece 
 by Leucippus ; it was supported by Dem- 
 ocritus, and subsequently improved by 
 Epicurus and his disciples. The Epicu- 
 reans professed to account for the origin 
 and formation of all things by supposing 
 that these atoms were endued with grav- 
 ity and motion, and thus come together 
 into the different organized bodies we 
 now see. 
 
 ATTACH'MENT, in law, the taking 
 or apprehending a person, by virtue of a 
 writ or precept. It differs from an ar- 
 rest, inasmuch as it lays hold of the 
 goods, as well as the person ; and also 
 from a distress, which seizes on lands, 
 tenements, and goods ; but an attach- 
 ment on the goods and body. 
 
 ATTAIN'DER, the name of a law by 
 which the estate and life of a traitor are 
 forfeited. A Bill of Attainder is a bill 
 for attainting persons convicted of high 
 treason. A person attainted of high 
 treason forfeits all his lands, tenements, 
 and hereditaments ; his blood is cor- 
 rupted, and he and his posterity rendered 
 base ; and this corruption of blood can- 
 not be taken off but by act of parliament. 
 
 ATTAINT', in law, a writ that lies 
 after judgment against a jury of twelve 
 men that are charged with having given 
 a false verdict. 
 
 AT'TIC, in architecture, a sort of 
 building, in which there is no roof or 
 covering to be seen, as was usual in the 
 houses of the Athenians. The ATTIC, or 
 ATTIC STORY, is the upper story of a 
 house. The ATTIC BASE is a peculiar 
 kind of column, or support, employed 
 both in the Doric and Ionic orders. 
 
 AT'TICISM, an elegant or con- 
 cise form of expression. Milton, in his 
 Apology for Smectymnuus, thus uses 
 it : " They made sport, and I laughed : 
 they mispronounced, and I misliked ; 
 and, to make up the atticism, they were 
 out, and I hissed." The term Sal Atti- 
 cum was employed by the Romans at 
 once to characterize the poignancy of wit 
 and brilliancy of style peculiar to the 
 Athenian writers, and to designate the 
 liveliness, spirituality, and refined taste 
 of the inhabitants of that city, which 
 formed the focus and central point of all 
 the eloquence and refinement of the 
 Greeks. 
 
 AT'TITUDE, in painting and sculp- 
 ture, the position and gesture of a figure 
 or statue j ? such a disposition of their
 
 AUG] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 31 
 
 parts, as shall best display some grace or 
 beauty, or serve to express the action 
 and sentiments of the person repre- 
 sented. 
 
 ATTOR'NEY, one who is appointed by 
 another to do a thing in his absence. A 
 public attorney is one who acts in the 
 courts of law, and is a lawyer by profes- 
 sion. 
 
 AT'TRIBUTES, in theology, the sev- 
 eral qualities or perfections of the divine 
 nature, or such as we conceive to consti- 
 tute the proper essence of God ; as his 
 wisdom, power, justice, goodness, &e. 
 ATTRIBUTES, in logic, are the predicates 
 of any subject, or what may be affirmed 
 or denied of anything. ATTRIBUTES, in 
 painting and sculpture, are symbols added 
 to a figure or group, which are character- 
 istic of the principal subject. Thus the 
 eagle is an attribute of Jupiter ; a pea- 
 cock, of Juno ; a caduceus, of Mercury j 
 a club, of Hercules, &c. 
 
 AU'DIENCE, the persons assembled 
 at a theatre, or other public place to see 
 and hear the performances. AUDIENCE, 
 a ceremony used in courts at the admis- 
 sion of ambassadors or other public 
 ministers to a hearing. In England, 
 audience is given to ambassadors in the 
 presence chamber ; and to envoys and 
 residents in a gallery, closet, or any 
 place where the king happens to be. 
 AUDIENCE is also the name of an eccle- 
 siastical court, held by the archbishop of 
 Canterbury, wherein differences upon 
 elections, consecrations, institutions, mar- 
 riages, &c., are heard. 
 
 AU'DIT, a regular examination of ac- 
 counts by officers appointed for that pur- 
 pose. 
 
 AU'DITOR. an officer of any corporate 
 body, appointed annually to examine ac- 
 counts. 
 
 AU'GUR, an officer among the Romans, 
 appointed to foretell future events, by the 
 chattering and feeding of birds. The 
 augurs bore an augural staff or wand, as 
 the ensign of their authority, and their 
 dignity was so much respected, that they 
 were never deposed, nor any substituted 
 in their place, though convicted of the 
 most enormous crimes. 
 
 AU'GURY, a species of divination, or 
 the art of foretelling future events, prac- 
 tised by the ancients. It was distin- 
 guished into five sorts, viz., augury from 
 appearances in the heavens ; from birds ; 
 from chickens ; from quadrupeds ; and 
 from portentous events. This, like other 
 human errors, appears to have arisen 
 from ideas tolerably rational at first. 
 
 The regular appearance and disappear- 
 ance of the birds, and the precision that 
 is observable in almost their whole pro- 
 ceedings, might naturally impress an 
 ignorant race of men with a belief that 
 they either inherently possessed, or from 
 time to time received, supernatural in- 
 formation. Accustomed to regulate by 
 these monitors their rural occupations, 
 the shepherd and the husbandman wero 
 led, by the mpst excusable association of 
 ideas, to consult the same advisers in the 
 few other concerns of life that fell to their 
 lot : and on the foundation laid by super- 
 stition, imposture subsequently raised a 
 fantastic structure. 
 
 AUGUS'TAN HISTORY, a series of 
 history of the Roman empire from the 
 year 157 A.D. to 285 A.D., written by the 
 following six authors : JE1. Spartianus, 
 J. Capitolinus, Ml. Lampridius, Vulca- 
 tius Gallianus, Trebellius Pollio, and 
 Flavius Vopiscus. 
 
 AUGUS'TINE AGE, a term used to 
 designate the reign of Augustus, the 
 most brilliant period in the literary his- 
 tory of Rome. The civil wars that had 
 long distracted the Roman empire had 
 stifled the cultivation of literature and 
 the arts ; and when the battle of Actium 
 had terminated internal commotion, noth- 
 ing, it was supposed, could so effectually 
 celebrate and adorn the restoration of 
 peace and the happy reign of Augustus, 
 as the appearance of great national 
 poets, who might supply the chief defect 
 in the literature of their country, and 
 create a body of classical works, in which 
 the ancient Roman traditions might be 
 transmitted to posterity. To accomplish 
 this object, men of genius were flattered, 
 courted, and enriched, in an unexampled 
 manner, by the liberality of Augustus ; 
 and after a brief interval, the verses of 
 Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, and 
 Tibullus resounded throughout the em- 
 pire in their respective epic, lyric, and 
 elegiac strains. The science of jurispru- 
 dence then received its full development : 
 and the boundaries of strict law on the 
 one hand, and equity on the other, were 
 respectively ascertained. In this age, 
 too, Rome became the seat of universal 
 government and wealth ; and so numer- 
 ous and splendid were the architectural 
 decorations with which it was embellished, 
 as to justify the saying of Augustus 
 that he found Rome of brick, and left it 
 of marble. 
 
 AUGUS'TINES, a religious order, so 
 called from St. Augustine, their founder, 
 and vulgarly called Austin friars, or
 
 32 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ACT 
 
 Christian hermits. Before the Reforma- 
 tion they had 32 houses in England. 
 Among other things, this rule enjoins to 
 have all things in common, to receive 
 nothing without the leave of the superior ; 
 and several other precepts relating to 
 charity, modesty, and chastity. There 
 are likewise nuns of this order. The 
 Augustines are clothed in black, and at 
 Paris are known under the name of the 
 religious of St. Genevieve, that abbey 
 being the chief of the order. 
 
 AUGUSTIN'IANS, a religious sect of 
 the 16th century, who maintained that 
 the gates of heaven would not be opened 
 till the general resurrection. 
 
 AU'LIC, an epithet given to certain 
 officers in the ci-devant German empire, 
 who composed a court which decided, 
 without appeal, in all judicial processes 
 entered in it. This court, which was 
 proverbial for the slow administration 
 of justice, had not only concurrent juris- 
 diction with the court of the imperial 
 chamber, but, in many cases, exclusive 
 jurisdiction. The right of appeal, pos- 
 sessed by the estates, existed also in regard 
 to the judicial decisions of the aulic court. 
 
 AURE'OLA, in its original significa- 
 tion, denotes a jewel, which is proposed 
 as a reward of victory in some public 
 dispute. Hence, the Roman schoolmen 
 applied it to the reward bestowed on 
 martyrs, virgins, &c., on account of their 
 works of supererogation; and painters 
 use it to signify the crown of glory with 
 which they adorn the heads of saints, 
 confessors, &c. 
 
 AU'RUM MOSA'ICUM, a combination 
 of tin and sulphur, used by statuaries 
 and painters, for giving a gold color to 
 their figures. 
 
 AUS'PICES, a kind of soothsaying 
 among the Romans, by the flight or sing- 
 ing of birds. 
 
 AUTHENTIC MEL'ODIES, in music, 
 such as have their principal notes con- 
 tained between the key-note and its oc- 
 tave. This term is applied by the Ital- 
 ians to four of the church modes or tones 
 in music which rise a fourth above their 
 dominants, which are always fifths above 
 their final?, that is, rise to complete their 
 octaves, thus distinguished from plagal 
 melodies, which fall a fourth below their 
 finals. 
 
 AUTOBIOG'RAPHY, this word is of 
 Greek origin, and signifies literally the 
 life of a person written by himself. 
 These memoirs may be divided into two 
 classes : those in which the chief object 
 of the writer is to illustrate the history 
 
 of his own mind and heart, and the man- 
 ner in which these were swayed by the 
 destinies of his life ; and those in which 
 his purpose is merely to give a, sketch 
 of the scenes and events which have oc- 
 curred within his own experience, and of 
 characters with which he has been brought 
 in contact. Of the first class of writings, 
 from the Confession of Saint Augustine 
 down to the Confessions of Rousseau, and 
 the many works which have since been 
 produced in imitation of the latter, it 
 may be said that the general defect is a 
 morbid spirit of exaggeration. Of the 
 more narrative class of memoirs, it i 
 sufficient to say, that where the writer 
 was himself a prominent actor in passing 
 events, they are usually little better than 
 apologies or self-justifications, such as 
 the famous Memoirs of the Cardinal de 
 Retz, and, in our own times, the various 
 fragments of autobiography which have 
 been published from the hand of Na- 
 poleon. 
 
 AUTOCHTHONS, the Greek term for 
 the aboriginal inhabitants of a country, 
 implying that they were sprung from the 
 soil. The Athenians, whose territory 
 had been held by the same race from 
 time immemorial, chiefly on account of 
 its sterility, which offered no incitement 
 to foreign aggression, particularly laid 
 claim to this title, in memorial of which 
 they wore the emblematic grasshopper 
 as part of their head-dress. 
 
 AUTO-DA-FE, properly AUTO-DE- 
 FE, a public solemnity held by the Court 
 of the Inquisition in Spain and Portu- 
 gal. It was a jail delivery, at which 
 extracts from the trials of offenders, and 
 the sentences pronounced by the judges> 
 were read ; after which absolution waa 
 conferred on those who were penitent, 
 and discharged : after which, those con- 
 demned to death (relaja dos) were trans- 
 ferred to the secular authority : and 
 here the auto, properly so called, ended ; 
 the execution of the victims taking place 
 immediately afterwards, under the au- 
 thority of the civil judge, a secretary to 
 the inquisition attending. 
 
 AU'TOGRAPH, an epithet, applied to 
 whatever is written in a person's own 
 hand-writing, as an autograph letter, a 
 letter of one's own writing. 
 
 AU'TUMN, the third season in the 
 year, which begins in the northern hem- 
 isphere, on the day when the sun enters 
 Libra, that is, on the 22d of September. 
 It terminates about the same day in De- 
 cember, when the winter e* mmences. 
 Autumn is represented, in painting, by a
 
 BAC] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 33 
 
 man of mature age, clothed and girt with 
 a starry girdle ; holding in one hand a 
 pair of scales equally poised, with a 
 globe in each ; and in the other a bunch 
 of grapes and other fruit. His age de- 
 notes the perfection of this season ; and 
 the balance, that sign of the zodiac 
 which the sun enters when our autumn 
 begins. 
 
 AUXILIARY VERBS, in grammar, 
 are such verbs as help to form or conju- 
 gate others ; as, in English, the verbs 
 "to have," and "to be." 
 
 AVA'TAR, a term used by the Hin- 
 doos to express an incarnation or descent 
 of Vishnu, their deity : nine of which 
 are believed to be passed, and the tenth 
 yet to come. 
 
 A'VE MARI'A, the name given to the 
 angel Gabriel's salutation to the Virgin 
 Mary. Also, the chaplets and rosaries 
 of the Romish church, which are divided 
 into ave-marias and pater-nosters. 
 
 AVER'NUS, a lake of Italy 10 miles 
 west of Naples, celebrated in antiquity 
 as the entrance to the infernal regions. 
 This place continued to be the favorite 
 haunt of superstition till the time of 
 Augustus, who violated its sanctity, and 
 dispelled the impenetrable darkness in 
 which it had hitherto been enshrouded, 
 by cutting down the surrounding wood, 
 and connecting it with the Lucrine lake, 
 then an arm of the sea. This lake still 
 exists under the name Lago d' Aver- 
 no ; it is about a mile and a half in cir- 
 cumference, and in many places 190 feet 
 deep. 
 
 AWARD', in law, the judgment of an 
 arbitrator, or of one who is not appointed 
 by the law a judge, but chosen by the 
 parties themselves for terminating their 
 differences. 
 
 AX'IOM, in philosophy, is such a plain, 
 self-evident proposition, that it cannot be 
 made more plain and evident by demon- 
 stration ; because it is itself better known 
 than anything that can be brought to 
 prove it. By axioms, called also max- 
 ims, are understood all common notions 
 of the mind, whose evidence is so clear 
 and forcible, that a man cannot deny 
 them without renouncing common sense 
 and natural reason. 
 
 AZ'URE, the blue color of the sky. 
 Among painters, this word originally 
 signified lapis-lazuli, and the blue color 
 prepared from it. At present it is called 
 ultra-marine; and the blue glass made 
 from the earth of cobalt and other vitri- 
 fiable matters, which, when in masses, is 
 called smalt, is, in the state of fine pow- 
 3 
 
 der, known by the name of azure. Azure 
 being employed to color starch, is also 
 called starch-blue. 
 
 AZ'YMITES, in church history, Chris- 
 tians who administer the eucharist with 
 unleavened bread. This appellation was 
 given to the Latin by the Greek church, 
 and also to the Armenians and Ma- 
 ronites. 
 
 B. 
 
 B, the second letter, and first conso- 
 nant, in the alphabet, is formed in the 
 voice by a strong and quick expression 
 of the breath, and a sudden opening of 
 the lips ; it is therefore called a labial, 
 and its pronunciation differs but slightly 
 from p and v. It is often used as an ab- 
 breviation for Bachelor, as B.A. Bache- 
 lor of Arts, B.D. Bachelor of Divinity, 
 &c., and for before, as B.C., Before Christ. 
 B, as a numeral among the Romans, 
 stood for 300, and with a dash over it for 
 3000. B, in chronology, stands for one 
 of the dominical letters, and in music for 
 the seventh note in the gamut. 
 
 BA'AL, an idol among the ancient 
 Chaldeans and Syrians ; supposed to 
 represent the sun, and to be the same as 
 the Bel or Belus of the Greeks. The 
 word signifies also lord or commander; 
 and tie character of the idol was varied 
 by different nations, at different times. 
 
 BABYLON'ICA, in antiquity, a spe- 
 cies of rich weaving so called from the 
 city of Babylon, where the art of weav- 
 ing hangings with a variety of colors was 
 first invented. 
 
 BABYLON'ICS, in literary history, a 
 fragment of the ancient history of the 
 world, ending at 267 years before Christ ; 
 and composed by Berosus, a priest of 
 Babylon, about the time of Alexander. 
 
 BAC'CH^B, the priestesses of Bacchus, 
 who, crowned with vine and ivy leaves, 
 and clad in the skins of wild beasts, cele- 
 brated the orgies of their god with frantic 
 cries and gestures. They were also called 
 Mcenades, Bassarides, and Thyades. 
 
 BACCH AN A'LI A, feasts celebrated in 
 honor of Bacchus by the ancient Greeks 
 and Romans. Their times of celebration 
 were spring and autumn : the former in 
 the city, and the latter in the fields. The 
 company personified Silenus, Pan, Fauns, 
 Satyrs, &c. ; and in this manner ap- 
 peared in public, night and day, counter- 
 feiting drunkenness, daneing obscenely, 
 committing all kinds' of licentiousness 
 and debauchery ; and running over the
 
 34 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OK LITERATURE 
 
 [BAN 
 
 mountains and forests, with horrible 
 .shrieks and bowlings, crying out Etoe 
 Bacche, or lo Bacehe. Livy informs us, 
 that during the Bacchanalian feasts at 
 Rome, such shocking disorders were 
 practised under the cover of the night, 
 and those who were initiated were bound 
 to conceal them by an oath attended with 
 horrid imprecations, that the senate sup- 
 pressed them first in Rome, and after- 
 wards throughout all Italy. 
 
 BACH'ELOR, in its primitive sense, 
 means a man who has not been married : 
 and in all its various senses it seems to 
 include the idea of youth or immaturity. 
 BACHELOR, in universities, is one who 
 has attained the first degree in the lib- 
 eral arts and sciences, or the first degree 
 in the particular study to which he de- 
 votes himself. This degree of honor is 
 called the baccalaureate. At Oxford and 
 at Cambridge, to attain the degree of 
 bachelor of arts, a person must have 
 studied there four years : after three 
 more, he may become master of arts ; 
 and at the end of another series of seven, 
 bachelor of divinity. 
 
 BACK'GROUND, in painting, is the 
 space behind a portrait or group of fig- 
 ures. The distance in a picture is usu- 
 ally divided into the foreground, middle- 
 distance, and background. In portrait- 
 painting, the nature and treatment of 
 backgrounds have varied in the hafcds of 
 almost every master, yet there are cer- 
 tain recognized methods which are more 
 worthy of imitation and study than 
 others. In most of the portraits of 
 Titian, Vandyke, and Rembrandt, the 
 backgrounds represent only space, indi- 
 cated by a warm brown gray tone, and 
 this treatment is the most effective. 
 
 BACK-PAINTING, the method of 
 painting mezzotinto prints pasted on glass 
 with oil colors. 
 
 BADGE, an exterior ornament of a 
 coat of arms, originally worn by the re- 
 tainers or attendants oif the nobility. It 
 fell into disuse in the reign of queen 
 Elizabeth. In naval architecture, an 
 ornament placed on the outside of ships 
 near the stern, containing either a win- 
 dow, or the representation of one. 
 
 BAD'GER, a quadruped of the genus 
 ursus. 
 
 B AG'PIPE, a musical wind instrument 
 used chiefly in Scotland and Ireland. It 
 is of high antiquity, and consists of two 
 parts : namely, a leathern bag, and pipes 
 for admitting and ejecting the air. One 
 of the pipes called the drone, with which 
 the bass part is played, never varies its 
 
 tone. The third pipe is played on by 
 compressing the bag under the arm. 
 
 BAIL, in law, sureties given for the 
 appearance, when required, of a person 
 in custody. Common Bail is in common 
 cases, where any sureties may be taken ; 
 but Special Bail is necessary in matters 
 of greater importance, where special 
 surety of two or more persons must be 
 taken according to the value of the 
 cause. To admit to bail, is to release 
 upon security given by bondsmen. To 
 justify bail, is to prove by the oath of 
 the person that he is worth the sum for 
 which he is surety beyond his debts. 
 
 BAILEE', in law, the person to whom 
 the goods of the one that is bailed are 
 delivered. The party who delivers the 
 goods is termed the BAILOR. 
 
 BAL'CONY, in architecture, a projec- 
 tion from the front of a house, surrounded 
 by a balustrade or open gallery. In 
 large buildings they are susceptible of 
 considerable elegance of decoration, and 
 may be made highly ornamental to the 
 edifices to which they are attached. 
 
 B ALD'ACHIN, in architecture, a kind 
 of canopy erected over an altar. 
 
 BAL'LAD, a short lyric composition, 
 or tale in verse, of a simple and popular 
 character; set to music, and generally 
 in njost esteem by the lower classes. It 
 originally meant a solemn song of praise. 
 
 BAL'LET, a theatrical representa- 
 tion of actions, characters, sentiments, 
 and passions, by means of mimic move- 
 ments and dances, accompanied by mu- 
 sic. The ballet is divided into three 
 kinds historical, mythological, and alle- 
 gorical ; and consist of three parts the 
 entry, the figure, and the retreat. 
 
 BAL'USTER, (often improperly writ- 
 ten bannister,) in architecture, a small 
 turned column usually introduced be- 
 tween piers, on the upper parts of large 
 buildings under windows, and on balco- 
 nies, <fcc. 
 
 BALUSTRADE', a series or row of 
 balusters, joined by a rail : serving as 
 well for rest, to the elbows, as for a fence 
 or inclosure to balconies, altars, stair- 
 cases, <fec. 
 
 BAN, (bannum,) in the feudal law, a 
 solemn proclamation or publication of 
 anything. Hence the custom of asking, 
 or publishing the bans, before marriage. 
 BAN, in military affairs, a proclamation 
 made in the army, by beat of drum, 
 sound of trumpet, Ac., requiring the 
 strict observance of discipline, either for 
 the declaring a new officer, or punishing 
 an offender. The word BAN also means
 
 BAN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 35 
 
 an edict of interdiction or proscription. 
 Thus, to put a prince under the ban of 
 the empire, is to divest him of his digni- 
 ties, and to interdict all intercourse and 
 all offices of humanity with the offender. 
 
 BAND, in architecture, a term used 
 to denote what is generally called a face 
 or fascia. To speak correctly, it signifies 
 a flat, low, square, profiled member 
 without respect to its place. That mem- 
 ber in a cornice on which modillions or 
 dentils are cut is called the modillion 
 band in the former, and the dentil band 
 in the latter case. 
 
 BANDOLEER', a large leathern belt, 
 thrown over the right shoulder, and 
 hanging under the left arm, worn by an- 
 cient musketeers, for sustaining their 
 fire-arms and musket-charges. 
 
 BANDIT'TI, a term peculiarly denot- 
 ing companies of armed robbers, formerly 
 common in Italy and France ; but some- 
 times also used, in a more general sense, 
 for robbers, pirates, outlaws, or others, 
 united for nefarious purposes. 
 
 BANGUE, the name of an opiate used 
 in the East, made from the leaf of wild 
 hemp. It is used by the Mahometans 
 for the same purpose as wine and spirits 
 are by the Christians. 
 
 BAN'IAN-DAYS, a proverbial ex- 
 pression, imported from the Asiatic colo- 
 nies, used for a short or indifferent din- 
 ner, or days on which no animal food is 
 eaten : in allusion to the Banians de- 
 scribed below. 
 
 BAN'IANS, a caste of the Hindoos, 
 whose profession is trade and merchan- 
 dise ; and, in India and Asia, they are 
 the great factors and bankers, as the 
 Jews are in the West. They believe in 
 the transmigration of souls, and not only 
 abstain from eating the flesh of animals, 
 but endeavor to release even the most 
 noxious from the cruelty of others. They 
 are mild in temper, and honest in their 
 dealings ; and are so cautious of having 
 communication with any but their own 
 caste, that if any of another nation or 
 tribe has drunk out of or touched their 
 cup, they break it. 
 
 BAN'IAN-TREE, one of the greatest 
 wonders of the vegetable kingdom. It 
 never dies, and continually extends it- 
 self; for every branch shoots downward, 
 and, striking into the ground, becomes 
 itself a parent tree, whose branches, in 
 like manner, spread. One of them, the 
 Cubbeer Burr, has 350 stems, equal to 
 large oakg, and more than 3000 smaller 
 ones, covering space sufficient to shelter 
 7000 persons. Its branches are crowded 
 
 with families of monkeys, and with birds 
 of every description, and also with enor- 
 mous bats, all of which find luxurious 
 subsistence upon the rich scarlet figs that 
 grow upon it. 
 
 BANK, in commerce, an establishment 
 for the receiving of moneys and letting 
 them out on interest. It may likewise 
 be defined, a place used as a common re- 
 pository of the money of individuals or 
 companies. Also, a company of persons 
 concerned in a private bank ; or the di- 
 rectors of an incorporated one. The 
 basis of all banking is the profitable use 
 to which the banker or company can ap- 
 ply the capital which is deposited. The 
 first bank was established at Venice 
 about 1157, and the name of Banco was 
 given to it in Italian, from the bench 
 which the money-changers or bankers 
 used to sit upon in their burses or ex- 
 changes. 
 
 BANK'ER, a person who traffics in 
 money, by receivihg the current cash of 
 individuals free of interest, and negotiat- 
 ing with it, either in the discount of bills, 
 or the advance of money on sufficient 
 securities. The moneyed goldsmiths in 
 the reign of king Charles II. first acquired 
 this name. The Romans had two sorts 
 of bankers, whose office was much more 
 extensive than that of the bankers among 
 us ; theirs being that of public affairs, in 
 whom' were united the functions of a 
 broker, agent, banker, and notary, manag- 
 ing the exchange, taking in money, assist- 
 ing in buying and selling, and drawing 
 the writings necessary on all these occa- 
 sions. 
 
 BANK-NOTE, or BANK-BILL, a 
 promissory note, issued by a banking 
 company, properly signed and counter- 
 signed, payable to the bearer in the cur- 
 rent coin of the realm, on demand. 
 
 BAN'NER, a square flag, or the prin- 
 cipal standard belonging to a prince or 
 state. 
 
 BAN'NERET, an ancient order of 
 knights or feudal lords, who, possessing 
 several large fees, led their own flag or 
 banner. As the spirit of the feudal sys- 
 tem declined, persons came to be created 
 bannerets, and hence the institution 
 must have become merely titular. The 
 last knight of this description was Sir 
 John Smith, on whom the honor was be- 
 stowed after Edgehill fight, for rescuing 
 the standard of Charles I. On the day 
 of battle, the candidate presented his 
 flag to the king or general, who cutting 
 off the train or skirt, and making it a 
 square, returned it again. Hence, ban-
 
 36 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [BAR 
 
 nerets are sometimes called knights of 
 the square fl:ig. 
 
 BAP'TISM, a rite of the Christian re- 
 ligion, by which the members of its 
 church are received into the communion. 
 Almost all sects of Christians style bap- 
 tism a sacrament, and consider its use as 
 important ; but the manner in which it 
 ought to be performed, and the effects to 
 be derived from it, have been subjects of 
 much controversy. 
 
 BAP'TISTERY, in ecclesiastical wri- 
 ters, a place in which the ceremony of 
 baptism is performed. In the ancient 
 church, it was one of the exedrce or 
 buildings distinct from the church itself, 
 and consisted of a porch or ante-room, 
 where the persons to be baptized made 
 their confession of faith, and an inner 
 room where the ceremony of baptism 
 was performed. Thus it continued till 
 the sixth century, when the baptisteries 
 began to be taken into the church-porch ; 
 and afterwards into the church it-self. 
 
 BAP'TISTS (a contraction of ANA- 
 BAPTISTS), a Christian sect who practise 
 the baptism of adults instead of that of 
 children. 
 
 BAR, the partition which separates 
 the members of a court of justice from 
 those who have to report or hear. It is 
 also applied to the benches, where the 
 lawyers are seated, because anciently 
 there was a bar to separate the pleaders 
 from the attorneys and others. Hence 
 those who are called to the bar, or li- 
 censed to plead, are termed barristers, 
 an appellation equivalent to licentiate in 
 other countries. BAB, in music, a stroke 
 drawn perpendicularly across the lines of 
 a piece of music, including between each 
 two a certain quantity or measure of time. 
 
 BARALYP'TON, in logic, an indirect 
 mode of syllogism, consisting of two uni- 
 versals and one particular affirmative 
 proposition : as, " Every animal is en- 
 dued with sense ; every man is an ani- 
 mal ; therefore something endued with 
 sense is man." 
 
 BARA'THRUM, in antiquity, a deep 
 pit, with sharp spikes at the top and bot- 
 tom, into which condemned persons were 
 cast headlong, at Athens. 
 
 BAR'BARA, in logic, an arbitrary 
 term for the first mode of the first figure 
 of syllogisms, consisting of three univer- 
 sal propositions : as, " All animals are 
 endued with sense : all men are animals ; 
 therefore, all men are endued with sense." 
 BAR'BARA, ST., the patron saint of 
 those who might otherwise die impeni- 
 tent. Her attributes are, 1. The cup, 
 
 given her as a sign that those who hon- 
 ored her could not die without the sacra- 
 ment. 2. A tower, her father having 
 shut her up in one when a child. 3. The 
 sword by which she was beheaded. 4. A 
 crown which she wears ae a symbol of 
 victory and reward. St. Barbara, who 
 was the patron saint of Mantua, was a 
 favorite subject with the artists of the 
 middle ages. 
 
 BARBA'RIAN, a name given by the 
 ancient Greeks and Romans to all who 
 were not of their own country, or were 
 not instituted in their language, man- 
 ners, and customs. In this sense the 
 word signified with them no more than 
 foreigner, not signifying, as with us, a 
 wild, rude, or uncivilized person. 
 
 BAR'BARISM, in a general sense, a 
 rudeness of language or behavior. la 
 grammar, an offence against the purity 
 of style or language ; or a mode of 
 speaking or writing contrary to the true 
 idiom of any particular language. 
 
 BAR'BITON, the name given to the 
 lyre of Apollo. 
 
 BARD, the name given to those indi- 
 viduals of semi-barbarous tribes, whose 
 genius or imagination enabled them to 
 describe events in elevated or measured 
 language. Homer was one of these 
 bards among the early Greeks ; Ossian 
 another among the ancient Irish ; and 
 their rhapsodies were the foundations of 
 the art of poetry, which has been culti- 
 vated with success by all civilized na- 
 tions. In the first stages of society, in 
 all countries, bards have made a con- 
 spicuous figure ; and the " light of the 
 song" has been the morning-beam that 
 first broke upon the darkness of igno- 
 rance : but nowhere does it appear, did 
 ever verse and its professors receive so 
 much public regard as under the druidi- 
 cal establishment ; a regard with which 
 they continued to be honored long after 
 that system had perished. In battle the 
 bards of the Celtic tribes raised the war- 
 cry, and in peace they sung the exploits 
 of their heroes, celebrated the attributes 
 of their gods, and chronicled the history 
 of their nation. Originally spread over 
 the greater part of western Europe, they 
 seem to have been the heralds, the 
 priests, and the lawgivers of the free 
 barbarians who first occupied its ancient 
 forests, until, by the gradual progress of 
 southern civilization and despotism, they 
 were driven back into the fastnesses of 
 Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, where the 
 last echoes of their harps have long since 
 died away.
 
 HAS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 BARGE, in naval affairs, a boat of 
 state and pleasure, adorned with various 
 ornaments, having bales and tilts, and 
 seats covered with cushions, and carpets, 
 and benches for many oars ; as a com- 
 pany's barge, an admiral's barge, Ac. 
 It is also the name of a flat-bottomed 
 vessel employed for carrying goods on a 
 navigable river, as those upon the river 
 Thames, called west country barges. 
 
 BAR'NABAS, ST., representations of 
 this saint are seldom to be met with, ex- 
 cept in the works of the Venetian artists. 
 He is usually depicted as a venerable 
 man, of majestic mien, holding the Gos- 
 pel of St. Matthew in his hand. The 
 subjects are chiefly taken from the Acts 
 of the Apostles, and from the life of St. 
 Paul. 
 
 B AR'ON, a degree of nobility next be- 
 low a viscount, and above a baronet. 
 Originally, the barons being the feudato- 
 ries of princes, were the proprietors of 
 land held by honorable service : hence, 
 in ancient records, the word barons com- 
 prehends all the nobility. BAHONS OF 
 THE EXCHEQUER, the four judges to whom 
 the administration of justice is committed, 
 in causes between the king and his sub- 
 jects, relating to matters concerning the 
 revenue. They were formerly barons of 
 the realm, but of late are generally per- 
 sons learned in the laws. 
 
 BARON AND FEMME, a term in law 
 for husband and wife, who are deemed 
 but one person ; so that a wife cannot be 
 witness for or against her husband ; nor 
 he for or against his wife, except in eases 
 of high treason. 
 
 BAR'ONET, the lowest.degree of honor 
 that is hereditary, being next below a 
 baron, and above a knight. The order 
 was founded by king James I. at the 
 suggestion of Sir Robert Cotton, when 
 200 baronets were created at once : to 
 which number it was intended that they 
 should be always restrained : but it is 
 now enlarged at the royal pleasure, with- 
 out limitation. 
 
 BAR'RACKS, large buildings erected 
 for the security and accommodation of 
 soldiers, whether infantry or cavalry. 
 
 B AR'RATOR, in law, a common mover, 
 or maintainer of suits and quarrels, either 
 in courts or elsewhere ; an encourager of 
 litigation. 
 
 BARRICADE', or BARRICA'DO, a 
 fortification made in haste, of trees, earth, 
 palisades, wagons, or anything that will 
 obstruct the progress of an enemy, or 
 serve for defence or security against his 
 attack. 
 
 BAR'RISTER, a counsellor learned in 
 the law, admitted to plead at the bar, 
 and there to take upon him the protec- 
 tion and defence of clients. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW, ST., the Apostle, 
 generally depicted with a knife, and hia 
 skin in his hand. The horrible scene of 
 his being flayed alive, by order of the 
 chief magistrate of Albanopolis, who con- 
 demned him also to be crucified, has been 
 painted by some artists. 
 
 BAR'YTONE, in music, a male voice 
 the compass of which partakes of the 
 common bass and the tenor, being lower 
 than the one and higher than the other. 
 
 BASAL'TES, or BASALT', a stone 
 supposed to be of volcanic origin, black 
 or green in color, and found in pillars in 
 the prismatic form. Columns of basalt 
 form the Giant's Causeway, the Isje of 
 Staffa, and Fingal's Cave, and are always 
 found near great volcanoes, as Hecla, <fce. 
 It is remarkably hard and heavy, will 
 not strike fire with steel, and is a fine 
 touch-stone. 
 
 BASE, in architecture, is used for any 
 body which bears another, but par- 
 ticularly for the lower part of a column 
 and pedestal. The base of columns is 
 differently formed in different orders : 
 thus, the Tuscan base consists only of a 
 single torus, besides the plinth ; the 
 Doric has an astragal more than the 
 Tuscan ; the Ionic has a large torus over 
 two slender scotias, separated by two 
 astragals ; the Corinthian has two toruses, 
 two scotias, and two astragals : the Com- 
 posite has an astragal less than the 
 Corinthian ; the Attic base has two toruses 
 and a scotia, and is proper for either the 
 Ionic or Composite columns. 
 
 BASHAW, PASHA', or PACHA', a dig- 
 nity under the Turkish government. 
 Bashaw, used absolutely, denotes the 
 prime vizier ; other bashaws, which are 
 generally governors of provinces or cities, 
 being distinguished by the name of the 
 place under their command. The appel- 
 lation is given by way of courtesy to 
 almost every person of any figure at the 
 Grand Signior's court. Their degrees of 
 dignity were marked by their bearing 
 one, two, or three horses' tails. 
 
 BASIL, ST., representations of this 
 saint, who was Bishop of Cesarea, are 
 very rare. He is represented in Greek 
 pontificals bareheaded, with an emaciated 
 appearance. 
 
 BASIL'IC^E, anciently, public halls or 
 courts of judicature, where princes and 
 magistrates sat to administer justice. 
 They were at first the palaces of princes,
 
 38 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [BAT 
 
 but were finally converted into churches. 
 Hence basilic now means a church, chapel, 
 cathedral, or royal palace. 
 
 BASS, (sometimes written base, which 
 is the correct English word for basso, 
 low :) the lowest or fundamental part in 
 mesic, and important as the foundation 
 of harmony. Thorough bass is that 
 which includes the fundamental rules of 
 composition. Ground bass is that which 
 commences with some subject of its own 
 that is continually repeated throughout 
 the movement, whilst the upper parts 
 pursue a separate air. Counter bass is 
 a second or double bass, where there are 
 several in the same concert. 
 
 BAS'SO, in music, the Italian for ficrss. 
 Thus, Basso concertante, is the bass of 
 the little chorus; basso repieno, the 
 bass af the grand chorus ; and basso con- 
 tiniio, that part of a composition which 
 is set for the organ, Ac. 
 
 BASSOON' ; a musical wind instrument, 
 consisting of a very long tube, with a reed 
 for the mouthpiece. 
 
 BAS'SO RELIE'VO, or BASS RE- 
 LIEF, sculpture in which the figures are 
 represented as projecting not far above 
 the plane on which they are formed. 
 Figures cut are said to be done in relief, 
 and when the work is low or flat it is 
 called bass relief, or basso relievo, in 
 distinction from alto relievo and mezzo 
 relieto. 
 
 BASS VIOL, a stringed musical in- 
 strument of the same shape as a violin, 
 but much larger. 
 
 BASTILE', a noted fortress in Paris, 
 which was used as a state prison, and in 
 which many persons who had incurred 
 the resentment of the French monarchs, 
 or their ministers, had been immured for 
 life. It was built at the latter part of 
 the 14th century ; and was demolished 
 by the enraged populace at the com- 
 mencement of the revolution in 1789. 
 
 BASTINA'DO, a mode of punishment 
 used among the Turks, of beating the 
 offender on the soles of the feet. 
 
 BATH, (KNIGHTS OF THE) a mili- 
 tary order of knighthood in England, 
 supposed to have been instituted by 
 Richard II., who limited the number of 
 knights to four ; but his successor, Henry 
 IV., on the day of his coronation increas- 
 ed them to forty-six. This order received 
 its denomination from a custom of bath- 
 ing before the knights received the gol- 
 den spur. The badge or symbol of the 
 order is a sceptre, rose, thistle, and three 
 imperial crowns conjoined within a circle, 
 upon which is the motto, " Tria juncta in 
 
 uno," alluding to the three cardinal vir- 
 tues faith, hope, and charity. The or- 
 der of the bath, after 'remaining many 
 years extinct, was revived under George 
 I., by a solemn creation of a great number 
 of knights. 
 
 BA'TON', in music, a term denoting a 
 rest of four semibreves. 
 
 BATOON', in architecture, a moulding 
 in the base of a column. 
 
 B AT'TEL, an ancient mode of trial by 
 single combat, which was introduced into 
 England by William the Conqueror. 
 The contest was had before the judges, on 
 a piece of ground enclosed, and the com- 
 batants were bound to fight until the 
 stars appeared, unless the death of one 
 party or victory sooner decided the con- 
 test. It is but of late years that this 
 barbarous law has been abolished. 
 
 BAT'TERING-RAM, a military ma- 
 chine, with which the ancients made 
 breaches in fortifications. These engines 
 were variously constructed, and of differ- 
 ent sizes ; but in general the battering- 
 ram consisted of a vast beam suspended 
 to a frame, and armed at one end with a 
 head of iron, resembling that of a ram ; 
 from the butting of which animal the 
 idea was doubtless derived. This being 
 equally balanced, and furnished with a 
 number of ropes, at the extremity oppo- 
 site to the ram's head, a great number 
 of men threw it forward with violence, 
 and thus, by a repetition of the strokes, 
 demolished the wall against which it was 
 directed. 
 
 BAT'TERT, in the military art, a 
 parapet thrown up to cover the gunners 
 and men employed about the guns from 
 the enemy's shot. This parapet is cut 
 into embrasures for the cannon to fire 
 through. A battery of mortars is sunk 
 in the ground, and has no embrasures. 
 BATTERY, in law, the striking, beating, 
 or offering any violence to another per- 
 son, for which damages may be recovered. 
 It is distinguished from an assault, inas- 
 much as the latter does not necessarily 
 imply a hitting or blow. There may be 
 an assault without battery, but battery 
 always implies an assault. 
 
 BAT'TLE-AXE, a kind of halberd, 
 first introduced into England by the 
 Danes, and much used in the early part 
 of the middle ages. 
 
 BAT'TLEMENTS, in architecture, are 
 indentures or notches in the top of a 
 wall, or other building, in the form of 
 embrasures. 
 
 BATTOL'OGY, in grammar, a super- 
 fluous repetition of some words or things.
 
 BEL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 39 
 
 BAY, or BAY TREE, the female laurel 
 tree, an evergreen which grows wild in 
 Italy and France. BAYS, in the plural, 
 an honorary garland or crown, bestowed 
 as a prize for victory or excellence, 
 anciently made of laurel branches. 
 
 BAY'ONET, a short pointed instru- 
 ment or triangular dagger, make to fix 
 on the muzzle of a firelock or musket. 
 
 BAZAR', or BAZAAR', a kind of ex- 
 change or market-place among the Turks 
 and Persians. Some of these buildings 
 are remarkable, not only for their ex- 
 tent, -but for their magnificence. This 
 name has of late years been in use to de- 
 note certain large buildings containing a 
 collection of shops or stalls, let to differ- 
 ent persons, and in which a great variety 
 of " fancy goods" are exposed for sale. 
 
 BDEL'LIUM, a gummy resinous juice, 
 produced by a tree in the East Indies, of 
 which we have no satisfactory account. 
 It is brought into Europe from the East 
 Indies, and from Arabia. 
 
 BEA'CON, a signal erected on a long 
 pole, upon an eminence, consisting of a 
 pitch-barrel or other combustible matter, 
 to be fired at night, to notify the ap- 
 proach of an enemy. Also, any object 
 serving as an occasional signal, or as a 
 constant seamark, by means of which 
 ships may be warned of danger, or as- 
 sured of their port. 
 
 BEAD, in architecture, a round mould- 
 ing, commonly made upon the edge of a 
 piece of stuff, in the Corinthian and Ro- 
 man orders, cut or carved in short em- 
 bossments, like beads in necklaces. 
 
 BEATIFICA'TION, an act of the 
 Pope, by which he declares a person be- 
 atified or blessed after death, and is the 
 first step towards canonization, or the 
 raising of one to the dignity of a saint ; 
 but no person can be beatified till fifty 
 years after his death. 
 
 BEAT'INGS, in music, the regular 
 pausative swellings of sound, produced in 
 an organ by pipes of the same key, when 
 not in unison, and their vibrations not 
 simultaneous or coincident. 
 
 BEAT'ING TIME, in music, that 
 motion of the hand or foot by which some 
 person marks and regulates the move- 
 ments of the performers. 
 
 BEAU IDE'AL, in painting, that 
 beauty which is freed from the defor- 
 mity and peculiarity found in nature 
 in all individuals of a species. All the 
 objects which nature exhibits to us have 
 their blemishes and defects, though every 
 eye is not capable of perceiving them ; 
 and it is only by long habit of observing 
 
 what any objects of the same kind have 
 in common that it acquires the faculty 
 of discerning what each wants in par- 
 ticular. By such means the artist gains 
 an idea of perfect nature, or what is 
 called the Beau Ideal. 
 
 BEAU'TY, a general term for whatever 
 excites in us pleasing sensations or 
 causes our admiration. Or it may be 
 defined to be an assemblage of graces or 
 properties which please the eye and in- 
 terest the mind. The proportion and 
 symmetry of parts, the regularity and 
 symmetry of features, the expression of 
 the eye, and the complexion, are among 
 the principal properties which constitute 
 personal beauty. This kind is said to be 
 intrinsic, and immediately perceptible ; 
 but when reflection is requisite to com- 
 prehend the utility of an object, it is said 
 to be relative : for instance, the beauty 
 of a machine is not perceived till we 
 understand its uses and adaptation to its 
 purpose. Thus, an object may please the 
 understanding without interesting the 
 sense ; and on the other hand, we per- 
 ceive agreeable sensations, excited by 
 some objects, whose ideas are not related 
 to anything that is praiseworthy. 
 BEAUTY, in architecture, painting, and 
 other arts, is the harmony and justness 
 of the whole composition taken together. 
 
 BEL-ESPRIT', a term formerly natu- 
 ralized in England, applied to those in- 
 dividuals whose conversation or writings 
 display an agreeable sprightliness or 
 vivacity. 
 
 BELLES-LET'TRES, or POLITE LIT- 
 ERATURE, in its most obvious sense, is 
 that description of literature which has a 
 peculiar reference to matters of taste : 
 but according to many writers, the term 
 has a much more extensive signification, 
 and is made to comprehend not merely 
 every elegant acquirement, but nearly 
 every branch of knowledge. 
 
 BEL'LEVUE, a name given in France 
 to small country-seats, or to arched 
 bowers at the end of a garden or park, 
 intended for the enjoyment of fresh air in 
 the shade. 
 
 BELLONA'RII, in Roman antiquity, 
 the priests of Bellona, who, in honor of 
 that goddess, used to make incisions in 
 their bodies ; and after having gathered 
 the blood in the palm of their hand, give 
 it to those who were partakers of their 
 mysteries. 
 
 BEL-META'LO DI VOCE, in music, 
 an Italian expression for a clear and 
 brilliant-toned soprano voice. 
 
 BEL'VEDERE, a name given in Italy
 
 40 
 
 CVCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [BIO 
 
 to the cupolas on palaces or large houses, 
 which are ascended for the enjoyment 
 of a fine prospect and the advantage of 
 a pure air. This is the name also of 
 a part of the Vatican, where the famous 
 statue of Apollo is placed, and which, on 
 this account, is called the Apollo belve- 
 dere. 
 
 BENCH, in law, a seat of justice, as 
 the Queen's Bench at Westminster. Also, 
 the persons sitting on a bench, as a bench 
 of magistrates. 
 
 BENCH'ER, a lawyer of the oldest 
 standing in the inns of court. 
 
 BENEDIC'TINES, a celebrated order 
 of monks, who profess to follow the rules 
 of St. Benedict. They wear a loose black 
 gown with large white sleeves, and a cowl 
 on the head, ending in a point. They 
 are the same that are c&UedBlack-friars. 
 
 BENEFIT OF CLERGY, a privilege, 
 originating in a superstitious regard for 
 the church, whereby the clergy were 
 either partially or wholly exempted from 
 the jurisdiction of the lay tribunals. It 
 extended in England only to the case of 
 felony ; and though it was intended to 
 apply only to clerical felons or clerks, 
 yet as every one who could read wa? by 
 the laws of England, considered to be a 
 clerk, when the rudiments of learning 
 came to be diffused almost every person 
 became entitled to this privilege. 
 
 BE'NE PLA'CITO, in music, an Italian 
 term, denoting that the performer is to 
 exercise his own taste. 
 
 BENZOIN', a solid balsam, yielded 
 from incisions made in a tree which 
 grows in Sumatra, called the Styrax Ben- 
 zoin. It is hard, friable, with an agree- 
 able fragrant odor, soluble in alcohol, 
 ether, and oil of turpentine. It has been 
 employed as an ingredient in spirit var- 
 nishes by the Italians and Spaniards, but 
 does not appear to have been an ingre- 
 dient in oil varnishes. 
 
 BER'NARDINES, an order of monks, 
 founded by Robert, abbot of Moleme, and 
 reformed by St. Bernard. They wear a 
 white robe with a black scapulary, and 
 when they officiate they are clad in a 
 large white gown, with great sleeves, and 
 a hood of the same color. 
 
 BE'TA, the second Jetter in the Greek 
 alphabet. 
 
 BEY, among the Turks, signifies a gov- 
 ernor of a country or town. The Turks 
 write it begh, or beg, but pronounce it 
 bey. The word is particularly applied to 
 a lord of a banner, whom they call san- 
 giac-beg or bey. Every province in Tur- 
 key is divided into seven sangiacs, or 
 
 banners, each of which qualifies a bey, 
 and these are all commanded by the gov- 
 ernor of the province, whom they also 
 call begler-beg, that is, lord of all the 
 beys of the province. 
 
 BI'BLE, (THE BOOK,) a name given by 
 way of eminence to the Sacred Writings. 
 The Old Testament consists of the five 
 books called the Pentateuch ; the His- 
 torical, Poetical, and Prophetic books : 
 the New Testament, of the four Gospels, 
 the Acts, and the Epistles. The earliest 
 version of the Bible is a Greek transla- 
 tion called the Septuagint, and from this 
 other translations have been made. It 
 was first printed in English in 1535. The 
 present authorized version of the Holy 
 Scriptures was completed in the reign of 
 James the First, about the year 1603. 
 
 BIBLIOG'RAPHY, the knowledge of 
 books as to their several editions, time 
 of being printed, and other information 
 tending to illustrate the history of litera- 
 ture. 
 
 ,BIBLIOM'ANCY, a kind of divination, 
 performed by means of the Bible, by 
 selecting passages of Scripture at hazard, 
 and drawing from them indications con- 
 cerning future events. 
 
 BIBLIOTHE'CA, in its original and 
 proper sense, denotes a library, or place 
 for depositing books. In matters of 
 literature, it means a treatise giving an 
 account of all the writers on a certain 
 subject ; thus, we have bibliothecas of 
 theology, law, philosophy, Ac. There 
 are likewise universal bibliothecas, which 
 treat indifferently of books" of all kinds. 
 
 BIG'AMY, double marriage, or the 
 marrying of two wives or two husbands 
 while the first is living. 
 
 BIGA'RIUS, in antiquity, the char- 
 ioteer of a biga, or two-wheeled chariot. 
 j Money or medals stamped with this ein- 
 i blem were called biga'ti. 
 
 BIG'OT, a person who is obstinately 
 
 and unreasonably wedded to a particular 
 
 religious creed, practice, or opinion ; or 
 
 j one who is illiberally attached to any 
 
 ' opinion or system of belief. 
 
 BI'NARY MEASURE, in music, that 
 in which the raising the hand or foot is 
 equal to that of falling, usually called 
 common time. The Italians are accus- 
 tomed after a recitative to use the phrase 
 a tempo giusto, to indicate that the meas- 
 ure is to be beat true and correct, which 
 is otherwise conducted in the recitative 
 in order to express passion, Ac. 
 
 BIOG'RAPHY,the life of one or more 
 individuals whose actions are deemed 
 worthy of record. No species of history
 
 BLU] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 41 
 
 can be more entertaining or instructive 
 than the lives of eminent men, who by 
 their private virtues or public deeds, by 
 the efforts of genius or the impulses 
 of philanthropy, excite our admiration, 
 and afford examples for posterity to 
 emulate. 
 
 BIRD'S-EYE VIEW, in the Fine 
 Arts, a term used to denote a view 
 arranged according to the laws of per- 
 spective, in which the point of sight or 
 situation of the eye is placed at a very 
 considerable height above the objects 
 viewed and delineated. In architectural 
 representations, it is used chiefly for the 
 purpose of exhibiting the disposition of 
 the different courts or quadrangles and 
 roofs of a building. It is a useful method 
 of representing battles, as also of giving 
 a general notion of a small district of a 
 country. 
 
 BIS, in music, a word placed over pas- 
 sages which have dots postfixed to one 
 bar, and prefixed to a subsequent bar, 
 signifying that the passage between the 
 dots is to be twice played. 
 
 BIS'CUIT, a kind of white, unglazed, 
 baked porcelain-clay, much employed in 
 the manufacture of statuettes, &c., but 
 for this purpose, a much finer and more 
 suitable material is the so-called PARIAN. 
 Biscuit is the term generally applied to 
 articles of clay, which have gone through 
 only one "baking" or "firing" in the 
 oven, and which have not received the 
 glaze. In this state it is porous, and is 
 used for wine-coolers, and for other pur- 
 poses. 
 
 BISH'OP, a prelate, or person conse- 
 crated for the spiritual government of a 
 diocese. In Great Britain, bishops are 
 nominated by the sovereign, who, upon 
 request of the dean and chapter for leave 
 to elect a bishop, sends a conge d'elire, or 
 license to elect, with a letter missive, 
 nominating the person whom he would 
 have chosen. 
 
 BISSEX'TILE, or LEAP-YEAR, a 
 year consisting of 366 days, and happen- 
 ing every fourth year, by the addition of 
 a day in the month of February, which 
 that year consists of 29 days. And this 
 is done to recover the six hours which 
 the sun takes up nearly in his course, 
 more than the 365 days commonly allowed 
 for it in other years. 
 
 BIS'TRE, or BIS'TER, the burnt oil 
 extracted from the soot of beech-wood, 
 which is used as a brown pigment by 
 painters. 
 
 BLACK, a well-known color, supposed 
 to be owing to the absence of light, most 
 
 of the rays falling upon black substances 
 being not reflected but absorbed. There 
 are several species of blacks used in 
 painting; as Frankfort black, of which 
 there are two sorts, one a natural earth 
 inclining to blue ; and the other made 
 from the lees of wine burnt, washed, and 
 ground with ivory, bones, &c. ; lamp 
 black, the smoke of resin, prepared by 
 melting it in iron vessels ; ivury black, 
 made of burnt ivory, and used in minia- 
 tures ; Spanish black, made of burnt 
 cork, and first used by the Spaniards. 
 
 BLACK LETTER, is the name now 
 applied to the old English or modern 
 Gothic letter, which was introduced into 
 England about the middle of the four- 
 teenth century, and became the character 
 generally used in MS. works before the 
 art of printing was publicly practised in 
 Europe. On the application of that art 
 to the multiplying of books, about the 
 middle of the fifteenth century, the block 
 books, and subsequently those written 
 with movable types, were in this charac- 
 ter, to imitate writing, and were disposed 
 of as manuscripts ; and so perfect was the 
 imitation, that it required great dis- 
 crimination to distinguish the printed 
 from the written. The first printed 
 Bible, known as " the Mentz Bible with- 
 out date," was an instance of this. 
 
 BLACK'-MAIL, a certain rate of mo- 
 ney, corn, or cattle, anciently paid, in the 
 north of England, to certain persons con- 
 nected with the moss-troopers, or robbers, 
 to be by them protected from pillage. 
 
 BLANK, a void space in any writing 
 or printing. This word is applied to va- 
 rious objects, usually in the sense of des- 
 titution, or emptiness. 
 
 BLANK- VERSE, in poetry, that which 
 is composed of a certain number of syl- 
 lables, without the assistance of rhyme. 
 
 BLOCKADE', in military affairs, the 
 blocking up a place, by posting troops at 
 all the avenues leading to it, to keep sup- 
 plies of men and provisions from getting 
 into it ; and by these means proposing to 
 starve it out, without making any regu- 
 lar attacks. To raise a blockade, is to 
 force the troops that blockade to retire. 
 
 BLUE, one of the seven primitive col- 
 ors into which they are divided when re- 
 fracted through a glass prism. Blue, as 
 a color in painting, is distinguished into 
 ultra-marine, from the azure stone, called 
 lapis lazuli; Prussian blue, a color next 
 to ultra-marine for beauty ; blue ashes, 
 used in limning, fresco, and miniature ; 
 blue verditer, a blue somewhat inclining 
 to a green ; and bice, which is the palest
 
 42 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 ROR 
 
 of all the bright blues. In dyeing, the 
 principal ingredients for giving a blue 
 color are indigo and wood. 
 
 BODY, in matters of literature, de- 
 notes much the same with system, being 
 a collection of everything belonging to a 
 particular science or art, disposed in 
 proper order : thus we say, a body of di- 
 vinity, law, physic, &c. 
 
 BOLD'NESS, that quality which dis- 
 tinguishes the artist, who, educated in 
 the soundest principles of art, designs 
 and executes with fearlessness and de- 
 cision. When under proper control, it 
 imparts to all his - productions a vigor 
 that is sure to charm. It is exhibited in 
 the highest degree in the works of 
 Rubens. 
 
 BOLOGNESE' SCHOOL, in painting, 
 sometimes called the Lombard school of 
 painting. It was founded by the Caracci, 
 and its object was to unite the excellen- 
 cies of the preceding schools ; hence it is 
 occasionally called the Eclectic school. 
 Among the principal painters which it 
 numbered were Domenichino, Lanfranco, 
 Corregio, Guido, Scbidone, Caravagio, 
 Zampieri, Primaticcio, &c. 
 
 BOMB, a large shell or ball of east 
 iron, round and hollow, with a vent to 
 receive a fusee, which is made of wood, 
 and filled with combustible materials of 
 all kinds. This being done, and the fusee 
 driven into the vent, the fusee is set on 
 fire, and the bomb is thrown from the 
 mortar, in such a direction as to fall into 
 a fort, city, or enemy's camp, when it 
 bursts with great violence, and often with 
 terrible effect, blowing into pieces what- 
 ever may be in its way. 
 
 BOM'BAST, in literary composition, 
 an inflated style, by which, in attempting 
 to raise a low or familiar subject beyond 
 its rank, the writer seldom fails to be 
 ridiculous. 
 
 BONA DEA, in Roman mythology, a 
 goddess concerning whom a great diver- 
 sity of opinion prevails, even among the 
 writers of antiquity. She is represented 
 by Maerobius, who treats at length upon 
 her nature and worship, as synonymous 
 with the Grecian Rhea or Cybele. The 
 Bona Dea had two temples at Rome ; but 
 her rites were generally solemnized in 
 the house of the consul or praetor. In 
 the celebration of these rites only women 
 participated, thereby indicating the pecu- 
 liar chastity of the goddess. But a perusal 
 of the ancient writers will convince the 
 most skeptical that the exclusion of men 
 from the solemnities of the Bona Dea 
 was purely nominal, and that in the 
 
 course of time the grossest licentiousness 
 was practised during their celebration. 
 
 BOND, in architecture, the connection 
 of one stone or brick with another by 
 lapping them over each other in carrying 
 up work, so that an inseparable mass of 
 building may be formed, which could not 
 be the case if every vertical joint was 
 over that below it. BOND, in law, a 
 deed whereby the obligator, or party 
 binding himself, obliges himself, his 
 heirs, executors, and administrators, to 
 pay a certain sum of money, called the 
 penalty, to another (the obligee) at a 
 day appointed. BOND, ENGLISH, in ar- 
 chitecture, that disposition of bricks in a 
 wall wherein the courses are alternately 
 composed of headers, or bricks laid with 
 their heads or ends towards the faces of 
 the wall, and in the superior and inferior 
 courses of stretchers or bricks, with their 
 lengths parallel to the faces of the walls, 
 as in the margin, in which the upper is 
 called the heading, and the lower the 
 stretching course. BOND, FLEMISH, in 
 architecture, that disposition of bricks in 
 a wall wherein each course has headers 
 and stretchers alternately, as in the 
 margin. BOND OH LAP OF A SLATE, in 
 architecture, the distance between the 
 nail of the under slate and the lower 
 edge of the upper slate. 
 
 BOND STONE, in architecture, a stone 
 running through the whole thickness of 
 a wall at right angles to its face, for the 
 purpose of binding the wall together in 
 the direction of its thickness. 
 
 BOND TIM'BER, in architecture, tim- 
 ber worked in with a wall as it is carried 
 up, for the purpose of tying it together 
 in a longitudinal direction while the 
 work is setting. 
 
 BONZE, an Indian priest, who wears 
 a chaplet of beads about his neck, and 
 carries a staff, having a wooden bird at 
 one end. The bonzes of China are the 
 priests of the Fohists, or sects of Fohi ; 
 and it is one of their established tenets, 
 that there are rewards allotted for the 
 righteous, and punishments for the wick- 
 ed, in the other world; and that there 
 are various mansions, in which the souls 
 of men will reside, according to their 
 different degrees of merit. The number 
 of bonzes in China is estimated at fifty 
 thousand, and they are represented as 
 idle, dissolute men. 
 
 BOOK, a literary composition, designed 
 to communicate something which the au- 
 thor has invented, experienced, or col- 
 lected, to the public, and thence to pos- 
 terity ; being printed, bound in a volume.
 
 BOR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 43 
 
 and published for that purpose. The five 
 books of Moses are doubtless the oldest 
 books now extant ; and there are none in 
 profane history extant anterior to Ho- 
 mer's poems. A great variety of mate- 
 rials were formerly used in making 
 books : plates of lead and copper, the 
 bark of trees, bricks, stone, and wood, 
 were among the first materials employed 
 to engrave such things upon, as men were 
 desirous to transmit to posterity. Jo- 
 sephus speaks of two columns, the one of 
 stone, the other of brick, on which the 
 children of Seth wrote their inventions 
 and astronomical discoveries : Porphyry 
 makes mention of some pillars, preserved 
 in Crete, on which the ceremonies prac- 
 tised by the Corybantes in their sacrifices, 
 were recorded : Hesiod's works were ori- 
 ginally written upon tables of lead, and 
 deposited in the temple of the Muses, in 
 Bceotia : the ten commandments, deliv- 
 ered to Moses, were written upon stone ; 
 and Solon's laws upon wooden planks. 
 Tables of wood, box, and ivory, were com- 
 mon among the ancients : when of wood 
 they were frequently covered with wax, 
 that people might write on them with 
 more ease, or blot out what they had 
 written. The leaves of the palm-tree 
 were afterwards used instead of wooden 
 planks, and the finest and thinnest part of 
 the bark of such trees, as the lime, the 
 ash, the maple and the elm ; from hence 
 comes the word liber, which signifies the 
 inner bark of the trees : and as these 
 barks were rolled up, in order to be re- 
 moved with greater ease, these rolls were 
 called volumen, a volume ; a name after- 
 wards given to the like rolls of paper or 
 parchment. With regard to the use of 
 books, it is indisputable that they make 
 one of the chief instruments of acquiring 
 knowledge ; they are the repositories of 
 the law, and vehicles of learning of every 
 kind; our religion itself is founded on 
 books, and "without them, (says Bartho- 
 lin) God is silent, justice dormant, physic 
 at a stand, philosophy lame, letters dumb, 
 and all things involved in Cimmerian 
 darkness." Yet, with all the well-merited 
 eulogies that have been bestowed on 
 them, we cannot overlook the fact that 
 many are frivolous, and some pernicious. 
 It will therefore be well to bear in mind 
 the opinion of the learned Selden, who 
 says that the characteristics of a good 
 book are solidity, perspicuity, and brev- 
 ity. 
 
 BOR'DER, that which limits or orna- 
 ments the extremities of a thing. FRAMES 
 in a picture, is a border of carved wood, 
 
 sometimes painted or gilt, and of copper- 
 gilt, on which the picture is placed. The 
 frame is not only a luxurious ornament, 
 but it is necessary to circumscribe the 
 composition, and to figure the opening 
 through which the spectator perceives the 
 painted objects, which an illusion of per- 
 spective leads him to think are beyond 
 the wall on which the picture is placed.' 
 TAPESTRIES, in imitation of paintings, 
 have also BORDERS, worked in the tapes- 
 try : as these must be proportionate to 
 the size of the picture, which in tapestry 
 are usually very large, they may be or- 
 namented with Arabesques, Masks, Ca- 
 meos, &c. The greatest painters have 
 not disdained this style of composition ; 
 the borders of many of the tapestries in 
 the Vatican were executed after designs 
 by RafFaelle. 
 
 BO'REAS, in Grecian mythology, the 
 son of Astrseus and Aurora, and usually 
 worshipped as the god of the north wind. 
 There are few of the minor Grecian 
 divinities of whom so strange and multi- 
 farious exploits are recorded as of Bo- 
 reas ; and it is interesting to trace to its 
 source the allegory of all his adventures 
 and achievements, and thence to eluci- 
 date the causes of his deification. The 
 assiduity, for instance, with which the 
 worship of Boreas was cultivated at 
 Athens proceeded from gratitude, the 
 north wind having on one occasion de- 
 stroyed the fleet of the Persians when 
 meditating the invasion of Athens. A 
 similar cause induced the inhabitants of 
 Megalopolis to consider Boreas as their 
 guardian divinity, in whose honor they 
 instituted an annual festival. With his 
 usual partiality for mythological allu- 
 sion, Milton has given Boreas a place in 
 his Paradise Lost: 
 
 Now from the north 
 Of Norumbega, and the Samoed shove, 
 Bursting their bra/en dungeon, armed with ice, 
 And snow and hail, and stormy trust and flaw, 
 Boreas and Caecias and Art-estes loud. 
 And Thrascias rend the woods and seas upturn. 
 
 Boreas was usually represented with the 
 feet of a serpent, his wings dripping with 
 golden dew-drops, and the train of his 
 garment sweeping along the ground. 
 
 BOR/OUGH, this word originally de- 
 noted a fortified city or town ; but at 
 present it is given to such town or vil- 
 lage as sends burgesses or representa- 
 tives to parliament. Boroughs are equally 
 such whether they be incorporate or not; 
 there being several boroughs that are not 
 incorporated, and, on the contrary, sev- 
 eral corporations that are not boroughs.
 
 44 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [BOU 
 
 BOR'RELISTS, in church history, a 
 sect of Christians in Holland, (so called 
 from Borrel, their founder,) who reject 
 the use of the sacraments, public prayer, 
 and all external worship ; yet they lead 
 a very austere life. 
 
 BORS'HOLDER, among the Anglo- 
 Saxons, one of the lowest magistrates, 
 whose authority extended only over one 
 tithing, consisting of ten families. Each 
 tithing formed a little state of itself, and 
 chose one of its most respectable mem- 
 bers for its- head, who was called a bors- 
 holder, a term derived from two words 
 signifying a "surety" and a "head." 
 
 BOSS', this term describes sculptured 
 objects in their full forms in contradis- 
 tinction to those which are in RELIEF, 
 or attached more or less to a plane or 
 ground. 
 
 BOS'SAGE, in architecture, a term 
 used for any stone that has a projecture, 
 and is laid rough in a building, to be af- 
 terwards carved into mouldings, capitals, 
 coats of arms, &c. Bossage is also the 
 name for what is otherwise' called rustic 
 work, consisting of stones that seem to 
 project beyond the level of the building, 
 by reason of indentures or channels left 
 in the joinings. These are chiefly in the 
 corners of edifices, And are there called 
 rustic quoins. 
 
 BOSS'ES, are projecting ornaments 
 used in architecture in various situations, 
 such as ceilings, to cover the points of in- 
 tersection of the ribs, &c. They consist 
 variously of foliage, heads, armorial 
 shields, &c., and embrace a great variety 
 of fanciful shapes. 
 
 BOTAN'IC GARDEN, a garden devo- 
 ted to the culture of a collection of plants, 
 with reference to the science of botany. 
 The legitimate object of gardens of this 
 description appears to be to collect and 
 cultivate, at the public expense, all the 
 species and varieties of plants that can 
 be cultivated in the given climate, with 
 or without the aid of glass ; and then to 
 distribute these to private* individuals 
 throughout the district by which the 
 botanic garden is supported. The most 
 complete system of this kind ever es- 
 tablished appears to have been that of 
 France soon after the revolution. All 
 the botanical articles that could be pro- 
 cured from other countries were sent to 
 the botanic garden at Paris ; and after 
 they had borne seeds or been propagated 
 there, the progeny was distributed among 
 the provincial botanic gardens, of which 
 there is one or more in every department. 
 After being propagated in the provincial 
 
 botanic gardens, the seeds or progeny 
 were given out, free of expense, to who- 
 ever in the district to which the garden 
 belonged thought fit to apply for them. 
 As the useful species and varieties were 
 as much attended to in these gardens as 
 .those which were cultivated only in a 
 scientific point of view, the greatest facili- 
 ties were thus given to the spread of 
 every useful grain, pulse, culinary ve- 
 getable, and fruit, over the whole of 
 France. 
 
 BOTANOMAN'CY, an ancient species 
 of divination by means of plants, espe- 
 cially sage and fig leaves. Questions 
 were written on leaves, which were then 
 exposed to the wind, and as many of the 
 letters as remained in their places were 
 taken up, and, being joined together, 
 contained an answer to the question. 
 
 BOT'TOM RAIL, in architecture, a 
 term used for denoting the lowest horizon- 
 tal rail of a framed door. 
 
 BOT'TOMRY, in commercial law, is in 
 effect a mortgage of a ship, being an 
 agreement entered into by an owner or 
 his agent, whereby, in consideration of a 
 sum of money advanced for the use of the 
 ship, the borrower undertakes to repay 
 the same, with interest, if the ship ter- 
 minate her voyage successfully ; and 
 binds or hypothecates the ship for the 
 performance of the contract. 
 
 BOU'DOIR, in architecture, a small 
 room or cabinet, usually near the bed- 
 chamber and dressing-room, for the pri- 
 vate retirement of the master or mistress 
 of the house. 
 
 BOUL'TIN, in architecture, a name 
 given to a moulding whose section is 
 nearly a quadrant of a circle, whose 
 diameter being horizontal, the contour is 
 convex in respect of a vertical to such 
 diameter. It is more usually called the 
 egg or quarter round, placed next below 
 the plinth in the Tuscan and Doric cap- 
 ital. 
 
 BOTJN'TY, in commerce and the arts, 
 a premium paid by government to the 
 producers, exporters, or importers of 
 certain articles, or to those who employ 
 ships in certain trades, when the profits 
 resulting from these respective branches 
 of industry are alleged to be insufficient. 
 
 BOUSTROPHE'DON, a word descrip- 
 tive of a mode of writing common among 
 the early Greeks until nearly the middle 
 of the fifth century before Christ; viz. in 
 alternate lines from right to left and 
 from left to right, as fields are ploughed 
 in furrows having an alternate direction, 
 from whence the derivation.
 
 BRE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 45 
 
 BOUTS-RIMES, a term for certain 
 rhymes disposed in order, and given to a 
 poet, together with a subject, to be filled 
 up with verses ending in the same word 
 and same order. 
 
 BOWL'DER, or BOWLDER-STONE, 
 a roundish stone found on the sea-shore, 
 or in the channels of rivers, Ac., worn 
 smooth by the action of water. 
 
 BOWL'DER WALL, a wall, generally 
 on the sea-coast, constructed of large 
 pebbles or bowlders of flint, which have 
 been rounded by the action of water. 
 
 BOWLS, a game played upon a fine 
 smooth grassy surface, used solely for the 
 purpose, and denominated a bowling- 
 green. 
 
 BOX'ERS, a kind of athlete, who 
 combat or contend for victory with their 
 fists. Among the Romans they were 
 called pugiles ; hence the appellation 
 of pugilists to the boxers of the present 
 day. 
 
 BRACE, in architecture, a piece of 
 timber framed in with bevel joints, to 
 keep the building from swerving either 
 way. When the brace is framed into the 
 principal rafters, it is sometimes called 
 a strut. 
 
 BRACE'LETS, were with the Ancients, 
 and are still with the Moderns, the sym- 
 bol of marriage. They were generally in 
 the form of a serpent, and some were 
 round bands fastened by two serpent's 
 heads like the girdle of warriors. The 
 number of golden and bronze bracelets 
 found at Herculaneum and Pompeii, 
 show that these ornaments, particularly 
 those in the form of serpents, were arti- 
 cles of luxury among the females of an- 
 cient times. Antique bracelets are of 
 two kinds, armlets and true bracelets, the 
 one worn on the upper arm and the other 
 on the wrist or lower arm. Smaller 
 bracelets, generally of gold, beautifully 
 worked, and sometimes set with jewels, 
 were worn on the wrist. Bracelets have 
 also been found like twisted bands. The 
 Bacchantes wore real serpents instead of 
 serpent-like bracelets. These ornaments 
 were not worn exclusively by women, for 
 wo find that the Roman Consuls wore 
 bracelets in triumphal processions ; they 
 were presented by the emperors to sol- 
 diers who distinguished themselves (An- 
 MILLJE.) The ankles had similar orna- 
 ments, thence called ANKLETS. ' 
 
 BRACHYG'RAPHY, stenography, or 
 the art of writing in short hand. 
 
 BRACHYL'OGY, in rhetoric, the meth- 
 od of expressing anything in the most 
 concise manner. 
 
 BRACK'ET, a support suspended 
 from or attached to a wall for the purpose 
 of supporting statuettes, vases, lamps, 
 clocks, &c. The skill of the artist has 
 been frequently employed upon this or- 
 nament, which is susceptible of great ele- 
 gance of form and embellishment. 
 
 BRAH'MINS, or BR AM'INS, the caste 
 or hereditary division of Hindoos pecu- 
 liarly devoted to religion and religious 
 science, in the same manner as. among 
 the Jews, the priesthood was ordained to 
 continue in the tribe of Levi. The fami- 
 lies of this caste claim peculiar venera- 
 tion from the rest, and seem, in their 
 name of bramins, to claim the merit of 
 being the more immediate followers of 
 Brahma, their incarnate deity. Some of 
 them, however, are described as very 
 corrupt in their morals ; while others live 
 sequestered from the world, devoted to 
 superstition and indolence. To the brain- 
 ins we are indebted for whatever we 
 know of the Sanscrit, or ancient language 
 of the country, in which their sacred 
 books are written. 
 
 BRAVU'RA, in music, an air so com- 
 posed as to enable the performer to show 
 his skill in the execution of difficult pas- 
 sages. It is also sometimes used for the 
 style of execution. 
 
 BREADTH, this term is employed in 
 the language of Art to express that kind 
 of grandeur which results from the ar- 
 rangement of objects and of the mode of 
 proceeding in delineating them. In 
 painting it is applied both to Design and 
 to Coloring : it conveys the idea of sim- 
 ple arrangement, free from too great a 
 multiplicity of details, following which 
 the lights and shades spread themselves 
 over the prominent parts, without daz- 
 zling or interfering with each other, so 
 that the attention of the spectator is ar- 
 rested and kept fixed, and there is breadth 
 of effect, the result of judicious coloring 
 and chiaro-oscuro. When a work offers 
 these results, we say it has breadth ; and 
 'broad touch," and " broad pencil," are 
 terms applicable to this manner of work- 
 ing, when the touches and strokes of the 
 pencil produce breadth of effect. In a 
 similar sense, in engraving, we say " a 
 broad burin." But although a work of 
 sculpture is susceptible of breadth, we do 
 not say " a broad chisel." 
 
 BREC'CIA, an Italian name for those 
 stones which consist of hard angular or 
 rounded fragments of different mineral 
 bodies, united by a kind of cement, of 
 which the so-called pudding-stone is an 
 example, which consists of flint detritus,
 
 46 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [BRO 
 
 cemented by quartz. Tho ancients used 
 breccia both in architecture and the 
 Plastic Arts. Porphyry breccia, or 
 Egyptian breccia, is one of the most 
 beautiful varieties of this material, of 
 which a fine pillar is contained in the 
 Museo Pio Clementine. 
 
 BREED'ING, in a moral sense, denotes 
 a person's deportment or behavior in the 
 external offices and decorums of social 
 life. In this sense, we say, well-bred, ill- 
 bred, a man of breeding, Ac. Lord 
 Shaftesbury compares the well-bred man 
 with the real philosopher ; the conduct 
 and manners of the one are formed accord- 
 ing to the most perfect ease and good en- 
 tertainment of company ; of the other, 
 according to the strictest interest of man- 
 kind ; the one according to his rank and 
 quality in his private station ; the other, 
 according to his rank and dignity in na- 
 ture. In short, good-breeding is polite- 
 ness, or the union of those qualifications 
 which constitute genteel deportment. 
 
 BREVE, in music, a note of the third 
 degree of length. It is equal to two 
 semibreves, or when dotted, to three : the 
 former is called an imperfect, the latter, 
 a perfect breve. 
 
 BREVET', a military term, expressive 
 of nominal promotion without additional 
 pay : thus, a brevet major serves a cap- 
 tain, and draws pay as such. The word 
 is borrowed from the French, signifying 
 a royal act granting some favor or privi- 
 lege ; as brevet d'invention. 
 
 BRE'VIARY, the book containing the 
 daily service of the church of Rome. 
 
 BRIEF, in law, an abridgment of the 
 client's case, made out for the instruction 
 of counsel on a trial at law ; wherein the 
 case of the plaintiff, Ac., is to be briefly, 
 but completely, stated. Brief, in music, 
 a measure of quantity, which contains 
 two strokes down in beating time, and 
 two up. Brief apostolical, letters or 
 written messages of the pope, addressed 
 to princes or magistrates, respecting 
 matters of public concern. 
 
 BRIGADE', a party or division of sol- 
 diers, either horse or foot. An army is 
 divided into brigades of horse and brigades 
 of foot : a brigade of horse is a body of 
 eight or ten squadrons ; a brigade of foot 
 consists of four, five, or six battalions. 
 
 BRIG'ANDINE, a kind of ancient de- 
 fensive armor, consisting of thin jointed 
 scales of plate, so arranged as to be pliant 
 and easy to the body. 
 
 BRIGHT, in painting, shining with 
 light ; a term applied to a picture in which 
 the lights preponderate over the shadows. 
 
 BRILLAN'TE, in music, prefixed to a 
 movement, denotes that it is to be played 
 in a gay and lively manner. 
 
 BRITAN'NIA, the name given by the 
 Romans to the island of Britain, which is 
 represented on their medals under the 
 figure of a female resting her left arm on 
 a shield. 
 
 BRITIN'IANS, a body of Augustine 
 monks who received their name from 
 Britini, in Ancona. They were distin- 
 guished by their austerities in living. 
 
 BROCADE', a stuff of gold, silver, or, 
 silk, raised and enriched with flowers, 
 foliages, and other ornaments, according 
 to the fancy of the merchants or manu- 
 facturers. 
 
 BROGUE, a defective pronunciation of 
 a language, particularly applied to the 
 Irish manner of speaking English. 
 
 BRO'KER, a name applied to persons 
 of several and very different professions, 
 the chief of which are exchange-brokers, 
 stock-brokers, pawn-brokers, and brokers 
 who sell household furniture. 
 
 BRON'TIUM, in Grecian antiquity, a 
 place underneath the floor of the thea- 
 tres, in which were kept brazen vessels 
 full of stones and other materials, with 
 which they imitated the noise of thunder. 
 
 BRONZE, a mixed metal, composed 
 principally of copper, with a small por- 
 tion of tin and other metals. The an- 
 cients used bronze for a great variety of 
 purposes ; hence, arms and other instru- 
 ments, medals and statues of this metal, 
 are to be found in all cabinets of antiqui- 
 ties. The moderns have also made much 
 use of bronze, particularly for statues 
 exposed to accidents, or the influence of 
 the atmosphere, and for casts of cele- 
 brated antiques. Bronze of a good qual- 
 ity acquires, by oxydation, a fine green 
 tint, called patina antiqua or cerugo; 
 which appearance is imitated by an ar- 
 tificial process, called bronzing. 
 
 BROWN, or tan-color, was used both 
 in ancient and mediaeval times as a sign 
 of mourning; regarded as a compound 
 of red and black, BISTRE, it is the sym- 
 bol of infernal love and of treason. By 
 the Egyptians Typhon was represented 
 of a red color, or rather of red mixed 
 with black ; everything in nature of a 
 brown color was consecrated to Typhon. 
 In the ancient pictures representing the 
 Passion of Jesus Christ, the personages 
 are frequently depicted brown. Several 
 religious orders adopt this color in their 
 costume, as the symbol of renunciation. 
 With the Moors it was emblematic of 
 every evil. Tradition assigns red hair
 
 BUD] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 47 
 
 to Judas. Christian symbolism appro- 
 priates the color of the dead leaf for the 
 type of spiritual death ; the blue, the 
 celestial color, which gives them life, 
 is evaporated they become of a dark- 
 yellow, hence the term " dead leaf." 
 
 BRU'MAL, the winter quarter of the 
 year, beginning at the shortest day. 
 
 BRUMA'LIA. in antiquity, a festival 
 celebrated by the Romans in honor of 
 Bacchus twice a-year ; viz., on the twelfth 
 of the calends of March, and the eighth 
 of the calends of December. 
 
 BRUTE, an animal without the use of 
 reason, or that acts by mere instinct, in 
 which sense it denotes much the same 
 with beast, and comprehends all animals 
 excepting mankind. Philosophers, how- 
 ever, are far from being agreed on this 
 subject ; some making brutes mere ma- 
 chines, whilst others allow them not only 
 reason, but immortality. Others take a 
 middle course, and allow brutes to have 
 imagination, memory, and passion ; but 
 deny that they have understanding or 
 reason, at least, in any degree compara- 
 ble to that of mankind. The sagacity of 
 many brutes is indeed admirable ; yet 
 what a prodigious difference is there 
 between that sagacity and the reason of 
 mankind ! 
 
 BUCANIER', or BUCCANEER', a 
 name given to those piratical adven- 
 turers, chiefly English and French, who, 
 in the seventeenth century, committed 
 the most excessive depredations on the 
 Spaniards in America. The name had 
 been given to the first French settlers on 
 the island of St. Domingo, whose sole em- 
 ployment consisted in hunting bulls or 
 wild boars, in order to sell their hides 
 and flesh ; and as they smoked and dried 
 the flesh of the animals according to the 
 manner of the Indians, which was called 
 buccaneering, they thus obtained the 
 name of buccaneers. 
 
 BUCCELLA'RII, an order of soldiery 
 under the Greek emperors, appointed to 
 guard and distribute the rations of bread. 
 
 BUCCI'NA, an ancient musical and 
 military instrument, somewhat similar to 
 the modern trumpet. Hence BUCCINA- 
 TOR, or trumpeter. 
 
 BUCEN'TAUR, the name of the large 
 vessel which the Venetians formerly used 
 in the ceremony of espousing the sea. 
 
 BUCK'LER, a piece of defensive ar- 
 mor used by the ancients, commonly 
 composed of hides, fortified with plates of 
 metal. Bucklers, votive, were those con- 
 secrated to the gods, and hung up in 
 their temples, in commemoration of some 
 
 hero, or as a thanksgiving for a victory 
 obtained over an enemy, whose bucklers, 
 taken in war, were offered as a trophy. 
 
 BUCK'RAM, a sort of coarse cloth 
 made of hemp, gummed, calendered, and 
 dyed of several colors. It is used in 
 drapery, garments, &c., required to be 
 kept stiff to their form. 
 
 BUCOL'ICS, the Greek term for pas- 
 toral poems, meaning literally the songs 
 of herdsmen. We have considerable re- 
 mains of this species of poetry in the 
 poems of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus, 
 and the Eclogues of Virgil. The metre 
 universally employed is the hexameter 
 or heroic; but in pastoral poetry an 
 easier flow of the lines was studied than 
 in epics, and this was generally accom- 
 plished by introducing a larger propor- 
 tion of the metrical feet called dactyls in 
 the former than in the latter ; but no 
 rules were laid down on this point. This 
 species of poetry has been cultivated also 
 by most modern nations, and in England, 
 France', and especially in Germany, with 
 great success. Indeed, the last-mentioned 
 country can boast among others of a 
 Gessner, whose Idyls have been pro- 
 nounced by some modern critics to be 
 models of pastoral poetry, combining the 
 most finished harmony of numbers with a 
 simplicity and tenderness of sentiment 
 and expression worthy of Theocritus him- 
 self. 
 
 BUDD'HISTS, the followers or wor- 
 shippers of Buddha, the founder of a very 
 ancient religion in India, which after- 
 wards spread to Japan, Thibet, and Chi- 
 na, where it exists at the present day. 
 Buddha, whose historical name was Tsha- 
 kia-umni, was born under the reign of 
 Tshao-wang, of the dynasty of Tsheu, 
 1029 B.C., and died under the reign of 
 Mouwang, 950 B.C. His disciple Maha- 
 kaya succeeded him, and is the first saint 
 or patriarch of Buddhism ; but a regular 
 dynasty of successors filled this important 
 station till A.D. 713. Their history is 
 mixed with the grossest fables ; but it is 
 clear that they devoted themselves to re- 
 ligious exercises and constant contempla- 
 tion, and condemned themselves to the 
 severest abstinence. Besides many other 
 monuments of the ancient worship of 
 Buddha, there are two particularly re- 
 markable the ruins of the gigantic tem- 
 ple Bpro-Budor, in Java, and the five 
 large subterranean halls, called Pantsh- 
 Pandu, on the way from Guzerat to Mal- 
 wa. Tradition ascribes these astonishing 
 works of ancient Indian architecture and 
 sculpture, which far surpass the skill of
 
 48 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [BUR 
 
 the modern. Hindoos, to the Pandus, the 
 heroes of Indian mythology. 
 
 BUD'GET, in a general sense, means 
 a condensed statement of the income and 
 expenditure of a nation, or of any particu- 
 lar public department. In England, 
 however, the term is usually employed 
 to designate the speech made by the 
 chancellor of the exchequer when he 
 gives a general view of the public reve- 
 nue and expenditure, and intimates 
 whether government intend to propose 
 the imposition or repeal of any taxes, Ac. 
 
 BUF'FO, the Italian for a singer, or 
 actor, when he takes the humorous part 
 in comic operas, &c. 
 
 BUHL, this word is a corruption of 
 Boule, the name of an Italian artisan 
 who first introduced this kind of ornament 
 into cabinet-work. It is used to desig- 
 nate that sort of work in which any two 
 materials of different colors are inlaid 
 into each other, as brass, tortoise-shell, 
 pearl, Ac. ; it is applied to chairs, tables, 
 desks, work-boxes, Ac. 
 
 BUL, in the ancient Hebrew chronolo- 
 gy, the eighth month of the ecclesiastical, 
 and the second of the civil year ; it has 
 since been called Marshevan, and answers 
 to our October. 
 
 BULL, PAPAL, an instrument, ordi- 
 nance, or decree of the Pope, equivalent 
 to the proclamations, edicts, letters pat- 
 ent, or ukases of secular princes. Bulls 
 are written on parchment, to which a 
 leaden seal is affixed, and are granted 
 for the consecration of bishops, the pro- 
 motion to benefices, and the celebration 
 of jubilees, <fcc. The publication of papal 
 bulls is termed fulmination ; and it is 
 done by one of three commissioners, to 
 whom they are usually addressed. 
 
 BUL'LA, in antiquity, a small round 
 ornament of gold or silver, worn about 
 the neck or breast of the children of the 
 nobility till the age of fourteen. 
 
 BUL'LETIN, an official account of 
 public transactions or matters of general 
 interest. 
 
 BULL'-FIGHT, an entertainment for- 
 merly frequent in Spain and Portugal, 
 at which wild bulls are encountered by 
 men on horseback, armed with lances. 
 
 BULL'ION, uncoined gold or silver in 
 the mass. Those metals are called so, 
 either when smelted from the native ore, 
 and not perfectly refined ; or when they 
 are perfectly refined, but melted down in 
 bars or ingots, or in any unwrought body, 
 of any degree of fineness. 
 
 BUR'DEN, in music, the drone or bass 
 in some musical instruments, and the 
 
 pipe or string that plays it. The bass 
 pipe in the bagpipe is so called. Hence, 
 that part of a song that is repeated at 
 the end of every stanza is called the bur- 
 den of it. 
 
 BUREAU', in its primary sense, is a 
 cloth covering a table ; next a writing- 
 table ; and afterwards used to signify the 
 chamber of an officer of government, and 
 the body of subordinate officers who labor 
 under the direction of a chief. 
 
 BUREAU'CRATIE, or BUREAU- 
 CRACY, is the system by which the 
 business of administration is carried on 
 in departments, each under the control 
 of a chief, in contra-distinction to those 
 systems in which the officers of govern- 
 ment have a co-ordinate authority. 
 
 BUR'GESS, an inhabitant of a borough, 
 or one who possesses a tenement therein. 
 In other countries, burgess and citizen 
 are used synonymously ; but in England 
 they are distinguished, burgess being 
 ordinarily used for the representative of 
 a borough-town in parliament. 
 
 BURG'LARY, in law, the breaking 
 and entering the dwelling of another in 
 the night, with the intent to commit 
 some felony, whether the felonious intent 
 be put in execution or not. The like 
 offence committed by day, is called house- 
 breaking. 
 
 BUR'GOMASTER, the chief magistrate 
 of the great towns in Flanders, Holland, 
 and Germany. The authority of a burgo- 
 master resembles that of the Lord Mayor 
 in London. 
 
 BU'RIN, an instrument used for en- 
 graving on copper or steel plates. 
 
 BURLES'QUE, the Italian poesia bur- 
 lesca, signifies merely comic or sportive 
 poetry ; but the term, in French and 
 English, is more commonly restricted to 
 compositions of which the humor consists 
 in a ludicrous mixture of things high 
 and low : as high thoughts clothed in 
 low expressions; or, vice versa, ordinary 
 or base topics invested in the artificial 
 dignity of poetic diction. The humor of 
 parody or travestie arises from the bur- 
 lesque. Burletta, a slight comic musical 
 drama, is derived from the same origin. 
 
 BURLET'TA, a light, comic species of 
 musical drama, which derives its name 
 from the Italian burlare, to jest. 
 
 BUR'SARS, originally clerks or treas- 
 urers in convents : in more modern times, 
 persons enabled to prosecute their studies 
 at a university by means of funds derived 
 from endowments. It is a singular cir- 
 cumstance that the latter acceptation of 
 this term originated among the Poles,
 
 c] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 49 
 
 who, even in the 14th century, were ac- 
 customed to supply young men of talent 
 with the means of travelling to Germany, 
 and there studying philosophy under the 
 guidance of the monks. This practice 
 was soon adopted by other nations ; and 
 there is now, perhaps, no civilized coun- 
 try in which it does not exist, under the 
 name of bursaries, felrowships, exhibi- 
 tions, scholarships, <fcc. These endow- 
 ments are of two kinds : either furnishing 
 the student with the means of prosecuting 
 his studies during the academical curri- 
 culum ; or enabling him to devote him- 
 self, without distraction, to literary pur- 
 suits even after the expiration of this 
 period. 
 
 BUR'SCHE, a youth, especially a stu- 
 dent at a university. 
 
 BUR'SCHEN COMMENT, the code of 
 laws adopted by the students for the 
 regulation of their demeanor amongst 
 themselves, <fcc. 
 
 BUR'SCHENSCHAFT, a league or 
 secret association of students, formed in 
 1815, for the purpose, as was asserted, of 
 the political regeneration of Germany, 
 and suppressed, at least in name, by the 
 exertions of the governments. 
 
 BURSE, BUR 7 SA, or BASIL'ICA, an 
 exchange, or place of meeting for mer- 
 chants to consult on matters of trade, and 
 to negotiate bills of exchange. 
 
 BUSI'RIS, in Egyptian mythology, a 
 fabulous personage, of whose origin, ex- 
 ploits, and character, Apollodorus, Herod- 
 otus, Diodorus Siculus, and other ancient 
 writers, have given a most discrepant 
 account. His history is blended with 
 that of Osiris. 
 
 BTJS'KIN, a kind of boot, or covering 
 for the leg, of great antiquity. It was 
 part of the costume of actors in tragedy ; 
 it is worn by Diana in representations of 
 that goddess, as part of the costume of 
 hunters. In antique marbles it is repre- 
 sented tastefully ornamented. Being 
 laced in front it fitted tightly to the leg. 
 Buskin is used in contradistinction to 
 the sock, (soccus) the flat-soled shoe, 
 worn by comedians, <fcc., and both terms 
 are used to express the tragic and comic 
 drama. 
 
 BUST, or BUS'TO, in sculpture, de- 
 note.s the figure or portrait of a person 
 in relievo, showing only the head, shoul- 
 ders, and stomach, the arms being lopped 
 off. The stomach and shoulders are, 
 strictly speaking, the bust. The term is 
 also used by the Italians, for the torso or 
 trunk of the body, from the neck to the 
 hips. 
 
 4 
 
 BUS'TUM, in antiquity, a funeral pile 
 on which the dead bodies of the Romans 
 used to be burnt. Hence, BUSTUA'RU 
 were gladiators who fought about the 
 bustum of any person in the celebration 
 of his obsequies. 
 
 BY'-LAWS, or BYE'-LAWS, private 
 and peculiar laws for the good govern- 
 ment of a city, court, or other community, 
 made by the general consent of the mem- 
 bers. All by-laws are to be reasonable, 
 and for the common benefit, not private 
 advantage of any particular persons, and 
 must be agreeable to the public laws in 
 being. 
 
 BYZAN'TINE, a gold coin of the value 
 of 151,, so called from being coined at 
 Byzantium. Also an epithet for any- 
 thing pertaining to Byzantium, an an- 
 cient city of Thrace, situated on the Bos- 
 phorus. 
 
 BYZAN'TINE HISTORIANS, a se- 
 ries of Greek historians and authors, who 
 lived under the Eastern Empire between 
 the 6th and the 15th centuries. They 
 may be divided into three classes: 1. 
 Historians whose works form a continu- 
 ous history of the Byzantine Empire 
 from the fourth century of the Christian 
 era down to the Turkish conquest of Con- 
 stantinople. They are nearly thirty in 
 number, with various shades of literary 
 merit ; but their works constitute the al- 
 most only authentic source of the history 
 of that eventful period. 2. General chron- 
 iclers or historians, whose works, embra- 
 cing a wider range than those of the for- 
 mer, treat chiefly of the chronography of 
 the world from the oldest times. 3. Au- 
 thors who confined their attention to the 
 politics, statistics, antiquities, manners, 
 &c., of the Romans. These two classes 
 combined amount also to about thirty, 
 and their writings give an excellent illus- 
 tration of the times of which they treat, 
 whether as historians, chroniclers, anti- 
 quaries, or politicians. 
 
 C. 
 
 C, the third letter and second consonant 
 of the alphabet, is pronounced like k be- 
 fore the vowels a, o, and u, and like s be- 
 fore e, i, and y. Before h it has a pecu- 
 liar sound, as in chance, chalk ; in chord 
 and some other words, it is hard like k ; 
 but in many French words it is soft be- 
 fore h, like s, as in chaise, chagrin, &o. 
 As a numeral C stands for 100, and C C 
 for 200, &c. ; as an abbreviation it stands 
 f.qr Christ, as A.-C. Anno Christi, or Ante
 
 50 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CAD 
 
 Christum ; also for Companion, as C.B. 
 Companion of the Bath. And in music, 
 C after the cliff, is the mark of common 
 time. 
 
 CAA'BA, or CAA'BAH, properly sig- 
 nifies a square building ; but is particu- 
 larly applied by the Mahometans to the 
 temple of Mecca, built, as they pretend, 
 by Abraham, and Ishmae'l his son. It is 
 towards this temple they always turn 
 their faces when they pray, in whatever 
 part of the' world they happen to be. 
 This temple enjoys the privilege of an 
 asylum for all sorts of criminals ; but it 
 is most remarkable for the pilgrimages 
 made to it by the devout Mussulmans, 
 who pay so great a veneration to it, that 
 they believe a single sight of its sacred 
 walls, without any particular act of de- 
 rotion, is as meritorious in the sight of 
 God, as the most careful discharge of 
 one's duty, for the space of a whole year, 
 in any other temple. 
 
 CABAL', denotes a number of persons 
 united in some close design, and is some- 
 times used synonymously with faction. 
 This term was applied to the ministry of 
 Charles II., from the initial letters of 
 their respective names, viz., Clifford, 
 Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and 
 Lauderdale. 
 
 CAB' ALA, a mysterious kind of science 
 pretended to have been delivered by rev- 
 elation to the ancient Jews, and trans- 
 mitted by oral tradition to those of our 
 times ; serving for the interpretation of 
 the books both of nature and scripture. 
 
 CABINET, a select apartment set 
 apart for writing, studying, or preserv- 
 ing anything that is precious. Hence 
 we say, a cabinet of paintings, curiosi- 
 ties, &c. Also, the closet or private 
 room in the royal palace, where councils 
 are held ; likewise the ministers of state 
 who are summoned to attend such coun- 
 cils. 
 
 CABI'm, certain deities greatly ven- 
 erated by the ancient Pagans in Greece 
 and Phoenicia, who were supposed to have 
 a particular influence over maritime af- 
 fairs. Various opinions have been enter- 
 tained concerning the nature and origin 
 of the Cabiri ; but from the multiplicity of 
 names applied to them, together with the 
 profound secrecy observed in the celebra- 
 tion of their rites, an almost impenetrable 
 veil of mystery has been thrown around 
 their history. They seem to have been 
 men who, having communicated the art 
 of melting metals, 4c., were deified by a 
 grateful posterity. Their worship was 
 chiefly cultivated in the island of Samq T 
 
 thracia, whence it was afterwards trans- 
 ferred to Lemnos, Imbros, and certain 
 towns of Troas. They were styled the off- 
 spring of Vulcan, though their name was 
 derived from their mother Cabera, daugh- 
 ter of Proteus. Their number is variously 
 given. Those who were initiated in their 
 rites were held If be secured against all 
 danger by sea and land. Their distin- 
 guishing badge was a purple girdle. 
 
 CACOE'THES, an ill habit or propen- 
 sity ; as the cacoethes scribendi, an itch 
 for authorship. 
 
 CAC'OPHONG, in rhetoric, an un- 
 couth, bad tone of the voice, proceeding 
 from the ill disposition of the organs. 
 
 CACOPH'ONY, in rhetoric, a defect 
 of style, consisting in a harsh or disagree- 
 able sound produced by the meeting of 
 two or more letters or syllables, or by 
 the too frequent repetition of the same 
 letters or syllables : e.g. 
 
 And oft the ear the open vowels tire. Pope. 
 
 CACOSYN'THETON, in grammar, an 
 improper selection and arrangement of 
 words in a sentence. 
 
 CA'CUS, in fabulous history, the son 
 of Vulcan, a robber of Italy, whose dwell- 
 ing was in the Aventine wood. His ex- 
 ploits form the subject of a fine episode 
 in the 8th book of the ^Eneid. He was 
 represented as a frightful monster of en- 
 ormous strength, who, after a long life 
 of crime, was at length slain by Her- 
 cules, from whom he had stolen some 
 oxen. To express his gratitude for his 
 victory, Hercules erected the Ara Max- 
 ima ; and Evander, with his infant colony 
 of Arcadians, performed divine honors to 
 Hercules as their benefactor. 
 
 CA'DENCE, in grammar, the fall of 
 the voice ; also the flow of verses or 
 periods ; in music, the conclusion of a 
 song, or of some parts thereof, in certain 
 places of the piece, dividing it as it were 
 into so many numbers or periods. The 
 cadence takes place when the parts fall 
 or terminate on a note or chord naturally 
 expected by the ear, just as a period 
 closes the sense in the paragraph of a 
 discourse. A cadence is either perfect or 
 imperfect. The former when it consists 
 of two notes sung after each other, or by 
 degrees conjointed in each of the two 
 parts, the harmony of the fifth preceding 
 that of the key-note ; and it is called 
 perfect, because it satisfies the ear more 
 than the latter. The latter imperfect ; 
 that is, when the key-note with its har- 
 mony precedes that of the fifth without 
 its added seventh. A cadence is said to
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 51 
 
 be broken or interrupted when the bass 
 rises a major or minor second, instead of 
 falling a fifth. 
 
 CADET', one who is trained up for the 
 army by a course of military discipline ; 
 such as the cadets at the military col- 
 leges of Woolwich, Addiscombe, &c. In 
 England there are three grand institu- 
 tions for the education of cadets : Sand- 
 hurst for the British line ; Woolwich for 
 the artillery and engineers ; and Addis- 
 combe for the Indian army, both line 
 and artillery. The academy at Sand- 
 hurst was instituted by George III., for 
 the purpose of affording general and pro- 
 fessional instruction to the sons of pri- 
 vate or military gentlemen, with the 
 view of their obtaining commissions in 
 the British army without purchase. Be- 
 fore the commission is conferred, the 
 cadet must undergo an examination be- 
 fore a competent board in the classics, 
 mathematics, military drawing, Ac. 
 
 The academy at Woolwich was estab- 
 lished with the view of qualifying cadets 
 for the artillery or engineers ; and to 
 this institution the master-general of the 
 ordnance has the sole right of granting 
 admission. The attention of the cadets 
 is specially directed to geography ; gen- 
 eral history, ancient and modern ; modern 
 languages ; military drawing and sur- 
 veying ; mathematics ; engineering and 
 fortification. After the lapse of four 
 years, generally, the cadets undergo an 
 examination in the above mentioned 
 branches of science ; when the most dis- 
 tinguished are selected for the engineers, 
 the others for the artillery. 
 
 The college of Addiscombe is estab- 
 lished for the education of officers of the 
 line, artillery, and engineers for the In- 
 dian army. The plan of instruction 
 pursued there combines the two sys- 
 tems adopted at Sandhurst and at Wool- 
 wich. In order to become a cadet in this 
 institution, it is necessary to have the 
 promise of a commission from a director 
 of the East India Company ; and after a 
 prescribed examination, an appointment 
 is obtained in one of the branches of the 
 Indian army, according to the merit or 
 pleasure of the cadet. 
 
 In France the academies for cadets 
 which existed previously to the French 
 Revolution have been merged in the 
 Polytechnic schools. 
 
 The Dutch possess two institutions of 
 this nature ; one at Breda, the other at 
 Delft. 
 
 In Germany every small state has a 
 military school ; while those at Berlin, 
 
 Vienna, and Munich are on so extensive 
 a scale as to challenge a comparison with 
 any similar institutions in Europe. In 
 Germany, too, the word cadet has a wider 
 signification than in England, being ap- 
 plied to those persons who, without hav- 
 ing frequented a military school, join the 
 army in the expectation of obtaining a 
 commission when they have gained a 
 competent knowledge of the service. 
 
 In Russia there is a famous academy 
 for cadets, which was instituted by Ann 
 at St. Petersburg in 1732; and since its 
 foundation has afforded instruction in 
 military science to upwards of 9000 
 pupils, many of wnofn have acquired 
 celebrity in the annals of Russian litera- 
 ture. 
 
 In the United States there is one at 
 West Point, on nearly the same princi- 
 ple as that at Addiscombe. 
 
 CADET'SHIP, the commission given 
 to a cadet to enter the East India Com- 
 pany's service. 
 
 CA'DI, a civil judge or magistrate in 
 the Turkish empire. 
 
 CADU'CEUS, the staff of Mercury or 
 Hermes, which gave the god power to fly. 
 It was given to him by Apollo, as a re- 
 ward for having assisted him to invent 
 the Lyre. It was then a winged staff; 
 but, in Arcadia, Hermes cast it among 
 serpents, who immediately twined them- 
 selves around it, and became quiet. After 
 this event, it was used as a herald of 
 peace. It possessed the power of bestow- 
 ing happiness and riches, of healing the 
 sick, raising the dead, and conjuring spir- 
 its from the lower world. On the silver 
 coins of the Roman emperors, the Cadu- 
 ceus was given to Mars, who holds it in 
 the left hand, and the spear in the right, 
 to show how peace succeeds war. 
 
 C-SILATU'RA, from the Latin cesium, 
 the tool used : the art, called also by the 
 Romans, sculptura, or chasing, if we 
 mean " raised-work " Caglatura corres- 
 ponds to the Grecian term toreutice, de- 
 rived from toros, which in its true sense 
 means only raised-work. Quintilian ex- 
 pressly limits this term to metal, while 
 he mentions wood, ivory, marble, glass, 
 and precious stones as materials for en- 
 graving. Silver was the artist's favorite 
 metal, but gold, bronze, and even iron, 
 were embossed. Closely connected with 
 this art was that of stamping with the 
 punch, called by the Romans excudere. 
 Embossings were probably finished by 
 toreutice, of which Phidias is called the 
 inventor. The colossal statues of gold 
 and ivory made by him and by Polycletua
 
 52 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CAI 
 
 belong partly to sculpture by the ivory- 
 work, and partly to toreutic art from the 
 gold-work, the embossing of which was 
 essential to their character, as also to 
 castings : the statue of Minerva was rich- 
 ly embossed. Besides Phidias and Poly- 
 cletus, Myron, Mys and Mentor are men- 
 tioned as great toreutic artists. Arms, 
 armor, Ac., were adorned in this manner; 
 other articles, such as goblets and other 
 drinking cups, were also embossed, partly 
 with figures in alto-relievo, or with 
 figures standing quite clear : also dishes, 
 the ornaments of which were set in em- 
 blemae, or fastened slightly on as crustce. 
 Carriages were oAamented not only with 
 bronze, but even with silver and gold 
 embossings. Other articles of furniture, 
 tripods, disks of candelabra, were thus 
 ornamented. With this toreutice or em- 
 bossing, must not be confounded the art 
 of inlaying, empaistike, much practised 
 in antiquity. 
 
 CJERI'TES TAB'UL^E, in antiquity, 
 tables or registers in which the censors 
 entered the names of those citizens, who 
 for any misdemeanor were deprived of 
 their right of voting at an election. 
 
 CjE'SAR, in Roman antiquity, the 
 family name of the first five Roman em- 
 perors, and afterwards adopted as a title 
 by their successors. It was also used, by 
 way of distinction, for the intended or 
 presumptive heir of the empire. 
 
 CJiSA'RIANS, in Roman antiquity, 
 officers or ministers of the Roman empe- 
 rors, who kept an account of their reve- 
 nues, and took possession in their name 
 of such things as devolved or were confis- 
 cated to them. 
 
 C-iESU'RA, a figure in prosody, by 
 which a division or separation takes place 
 in a foot that is composed of syllables 
 belonging to different words. 
 
 C^ET'ERIS PAR'IBUS, a term often 
 used by mathematical and physical wri- 
 ters ; the words literally signifying the 
 rest, or other things, being alike or equal. 
 Thus of a bullet, it may be said cteteris 
 paribus, the heavier it is the greater the 
 range, supposing the length and diame- 
 ter of the piece and the quantity and 
 strength of the powder to be the same. 
 
 CAI'NITES, a sect of heretics, who 
 appeared about 159 A.D. They probably 
 originated in some of the various schools 
 of Manicheism ; and, if their doctrines 
 are truly reported to us, they are said to 
 have asserted that the power which cre- 
 ated heaven and earth was the evil prin- 
 ciple ; that Cain, Esau, Korah, the people 
 of Sodom, and others whom the Old Tes- 
 
 tament represents as victims of peculiar 
 divine judgments, were in fact children 
 of the good principle, and enemies of the 
 evil. Some of them are said to have 
 published a gospel of Judas on the same 
 principle. The Quintilianists, so called 
 from a lady named Quintilia, of whom 
 Tertullian speaks, were an offset of this 
 sect. 
 
 CA IRA, CA IRA, (literally, it (the 
 Revolution) shall go on,) the burden of a 
 famous revolutionary song, which was 
 composed in the year 1790 in denuncia- 
 tion of the French aristocracy. The tune 
 and sentiments of this song were much 
 inferior to those of the Marseillaise 
 Hymn (" Allons enfans de la patrie,") 
 the object of which was to rouse the 
 French to defend their country against 
 foreign aggression. 
 
 CAIRN, a word of Celtic origin, used 
 to denote the piles of stones of a conical 
 form so frequently found on the tops of 
 hills, Ac. in various districts ; erected 
 probably, for the purpose of memorials, 
 although some have assigned to them a 
 peculiar character, as receptacles for the 
 bodies of criminals burnt in the wicker 
 images of the Druids, Ac. According to 
 some antiquaries, cairn is distinct from 
 carnedd, the Welsh name for heaps of 
 stones on the tops of high mountains, 
 (Carnedd David, Carnedd Llewellyn, Ac.,) 
 which are said to have been sacrificial. 
 Some cairns are undoubtedly sepul- 
 chral. 
 
 CA'ISSON, in architecture, a sunken 
 panel in a flat or vaulted ceiling, or in 
 the soffit of a cornice. In ceilings they 
 are of various geometrical forms, and 
 often enriched with rosettes or other 
 ornaments. 
 
 CAL'AMUS, a rush or reed used an- 
 ciently as a pen to write on parchments 
 or papyrus. 
 
 CALAN'TICA, CALVATICA, a kind of 
 head-dress worn by women in ancient 
 times, and known very early in Greece ; 
 there were two kinds, nets and cap-like 
 bags. Many varieties of these caps are 
 to be seen upon ancient vases ; sometimes 
 they are of a plain material, sometimes 
 having a pattern, and sometimes striped 
 or checked ; they are either open behind, 
 so that part of the h:iir hangs out, or it 
 covers only the two sides of the head. 
 
 CAL'ATHUS, the ancient term for 
 the basket in which the spinners kept 
 their wool and their work ; it was also 
 called TALARUS, and was made of wicker- 
 work, with a wide opening at top and 
 pointed at bottom. The calathus was a
 
 CAL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 53 
 
 symbol of maidenhood, 
 and in this sense was em- 
 ployed by artists, as is 
 seen in the reliefs repre- 
 senting Achilles among 
 the daughters of Lycom- 
 edes. Other antiques show 
 us that these baskets were 
 used for many purposes at 
 the toilet, for flowers, &c. The calathus 
 also appears in the basket-like form of 
 the capitals of Corinthian pillars. 
 
 CALA'TOR, in antiquity, was a public 
 servant, and a freeman, such as a bailiff 
 or crier, to summon courts, synods, and 
 other public assemblies. He also attend- 
 ed on the priests in the sacrifices. 
 
 CAL'CEUS, a shoe or short boot used 
 by the Greeks and Romans as a covering 
 to protect the feet while walking; the 
 term being used in contradistinction to 
 sandals or slippers, and corresponding to 
 the modern shoes. There were two sorts, 
 the calcei lunati, which were worn by the 
 patricians, so called from an ivory cres- 
 cent with which they were ornamented, 
 and the calcei mulli, or red shoes. They 
 came up to the middle of the leg, but 
 only covered the sole of the foot. 
 
 CALCOG'RAPHY, an engraving after 
 the manner of a drawing in chalk. 
 
 CALCULATION, the act of comput- 
 ing several sums by means of addition, 
 subtraction, multiplication, division, <fec., 
 or an estimate formed in the mind by 
 comparing the various circumstances 
 which influence its determination. 
 
 C ALCDL ATO'RES, accountants among 
 the Romans, who used to reckon by means 
 of little stones or pebbles. 
 
 CAL'ENDAR, a distribution or divis- 
 ion of time into periods adapted to the 
 purposes of civil life ; also a table or re- 
 gister of such divisions, exhibiting the 
 order in which the seasons, months, festi- 
 vals, and holidays succeed each other du- 
 ring the year. The word is derived from 
 the ancient Latin verb calare, to call. In 
 the early ages of Rome, it was the custom 
 for the pontiffs to call the people together 
 on the first day of each month, to apprise 
 them of the days that were to be kept 
 sacred in the course of it. Hence dies 
 calendcB, the calends or first days of the 
 different months. The calendars in use 
 throughout Europe are borrowed from 
 that of the Romans. Romulus is sup- 
 posed to have first undertaken to divide 
 the year in such a manner that certain 
 epochs should return periodically after a 
 revolution of the sun ; but the knowledge 
 of astronomy was not then sufficiently 
 
 advanced to allow this to be done with 
 much precision. The Roman calendar 
 continued in a state of uncertainty and 
 confusion till the time of Julius Caesar, 
 when the civil equinox differed from the 
 astronomical by three months. Under 
 the advice of the astronomer Sosigenes, 
 Caesar abolished the lunar year, and reg- 
 ulated the civil year entirely by the sun. 
 The Julian year consisted of 365i days, 
 and consequently differed in excess by 11 
 minutes 10-35 sec. from the true solar 
 year, which consists of 365 d. 5 h. 48 m. 
 49-62 sec. In consequence of this differ- 
 ence the astronomical equinox, in the 
 course of a few centuries, sensibly fell 
 back towards the beginning of the year. 
 In the time of Julius Caesar it corre- 
 sponded to the 25th of March ; in the 
 sixteenth century it had retrograded to 
 the llth. The correction of this error 
 was one of the purposes sought to be ob- 
 tained by the reformation of the calendar 
 effected by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1582. 
 By suppressing 10 days in the calendar, 
 Gregory restored the equinox to the 21st 
 of March, the day on which it fell at the 
 time of the Council of Nice in 325 ; the 
 place of Easter and the other movable 
 church feasts in the ecclesiastical calen- 
 dar having been prescribed at that coun- 
 cil. And in order that the same incon- 
 venience might be prevented in future, 
 he ordered the intercalation which took 
 place every fourth year to be omitted* in 
 years ending centuries. The Gregorian 
 calendar was received immediately or 
 shortly after its promulgation by all the 
 Roman Catholic countries of Europe. The 
 Protestant states of Germany, and the 
 kingdom of Denmark, adhered to the 
 Julian calendar till 1700; and in Eng- 
 land the alteration was successfully op- 
 posed by popular prejudices till 1752. In 
 that year the Julian calendar, or old 
 style, as it was called, was formally abol- 
 ished by the act of parliament, and the 
 date used in all public transactions render- 
 ed coincident with that followed in other 
 European countries, by enacting that the 
 day following the 2d of September of the 
 year 1752 should be called the 14th of 
 that month. 
 
 A new reform of the calendar was at- 
 tempted to be introduced in France du- 
 ring the period of the Revolution. The 
 commencement of the year was fixed at 
 the autumnal equinox, which nearly co- 
 incided with the epoch of the foundation 
 of the republic. The names of the an- 
 cient months were abolished, and others 
 substituted having reference to agricul-
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CAL 
 
 tural labors, or the state of nature in the 
 different seasons of the year. But the 
 alteration was found to be inconvenient 
 and impracticable, and after a few years 
 was formally abandoned. 
 
 CA'LENDS, in the ancient Roman 
 calendar, were the first days of each 
 month. The Roman month was divided 
 into three periods by the Calends, the 
 Nones, and the Ides. The Calends were 
 invariably placed at the beginning of the 
 month ; the Ides at the middle of the 
 month, on the 13th or 15th ; and the 
 Nones (novem, nine) were the ninth day 
 before the Ides, counting inclusively. 
 From these three terms the days were 
 counted backwards, in the following man- 
 ner : Those days comprised between the 
 calends and the nones, were denominated 
 days before the nones; those between 
 the nones and the ides, days before the 
 ides; and those from the ides to the end 
 of the month, days before the calends. 
 
 CAL'ICO, cloth made of cotton. It is 
 called calico, because originally brought 
 from Calicut, a kingdom of India on this 
 side of the Ganges, on the coast of Mala- 
 bar. These cloths, whether plain, printed, 
 dyed, stained, or painted, chintz, or mus- 
 lin, are all included under one general 
 denomination. 
 
 CAL'IDUCT, in antiquity, a pipe or 
 canal disposed along the walls of a house 
 for conveying heat from a furnace to the 
 various apartments. 
 
 CAL'IGA, in antiquity, a sort of san- 
 dal worn by the Roman soldiers, whence 
 Caligula derived his name. These calicos 
 were sometimes adorned with gold and 
 silver nails. 
 
 CALIG'RAPHY, the art of beautiful 
 writing. The scribes who made a pro- 
 fession of copying manuscripts, before 
 the invention of printing, have been 
 termed Caligraphers. Their art con- 
 sisted not merely in writing, but also in 
 embellishing their work with ornamen- 
 tal devices, although illumination was 
 also practised as a distinct employment. 
 Among the MSS. of the early part of the 
 middle ages which we possess, there are 
 some sumptuous specimens of the art, 
 written in letters of gold, vermilion, &c., 
 and on leaves of different colors, but that 
 fashion went early out of use ; and in 
 general it may be said, that the current 
 writing of caligraphers diminished in 
 beauty and laborious minuteness, espe- 
 cially in Italy, during the centuries im- 
 mediately preceding the invention of 
 printing. 
 
 CA'LIPH, the chief sacerdotal dignity 
 
 among the Saracens or Mahometans, 
 vested with absolute authority in all 
 matters relating both to religion and 
 policy. It is at this day one of the 
 Grand Signior's titles, as successor of the 
 Prophet ; and of the Sophi of Persia, as 
 successor of AH. The government of the 
 original Caliphs continued from the 
 death of Mahomet till the 655th year of 
 the hegira. 
 
 CALK'ING, or CAULK'ING, in paint- 
 ing, the covering of the back side of a 
 design with red chalk, and tracing lines 
 through on a waxed plate or wall, so as 
 to leave an impression of the color there. 
 
 CALLI'OPE, in mythology, one of the 
 Muses usually associated with Homer in 
 the statues of antiquity, and thence con- 
 sidered as the patroness of heroic poe- 
 try. 
 
 CALL OF THE HOUSE, a parlia- 
 mentary term, implying an imperative 
 call or summons, sent to every member 
 on some particular occasion. 
 
 CALOR'IC, the principle or cause of 
 heat, as distinguished from the sensa- 
 tion. 
 
 CALOTE', a sort of skull cap worn by 
 the French cavalry under their caps, as a 
 guard against the blows of the sabre. 
 
 CAL'UMET, a symbolical instrument 
 of great importance among the Indians 
 of America. It is a smoking-pipe, the 
 bowl of which is generally made of a soft 
 red marble, and the tube of a very long 
 reed, ornamented with feathers. This in- 
 strument, the use of which bears a great 
 resemblance to the caduceus of the 
 Greeks, is a pledge of peace and good 
 faith. The calumet of war, differently 
 made, is used to proclaim war. 
 
 CAL'VINISM, the theological tenets 
 of John Calvin, who, in the 16th century, 
 flourished at Geneva, where his doctrines 
 still subsist. The doctrinal parts of this 
 system differ from that of other reformers 
 of Calvin's period, chiefly in what regards 
 the absolute decrees of God, by which, 
 according to this teacher, the future and 
 eternal condition of the human race was 
 predetermined. 
 
 CALYP'SO, in fabulous history, a 
 daughter of Atlas, according to Homer, 
 but of Oceanus and Thetys, according to 
 Hesiod, was the queen of the island 
 Ogygia. On this island Ulysses suffered 
 shipwreck ; and Calypso, by the united 
 influence of her love and spells, prevailed 
 on him to remain and share her sceptre. 
 After the lapse of seven years, however, 
 his desire to revisit his native country 
 became irrepressible, and he resolved to
 
 CAM] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 55 
 
 forego his honors in Ogygia. Calypso 
 tried every expedient, offering him even 
 the bribe of immortality, to induce him 
 to remain ; but all her efforts proved 
 unavailing, and on his departure she 
 died of grief. The island of Ogygia, 
 placed by Pliny off the Lacinian prom- 
 ontory, between the Tarentine and Sycil- 
 lian bays, has long since been engulfed in 
 the ocean, along with the famous islands 
 of the Sirens. 
 
 CAMAYEU, CAMAIEU, MONO- 
 CHROME. By this term we understand 
 painting with a single color, varied only 
 by the effect of chiaro-oscuro ; we apply 
 this term to painting in gray, which, as 
 well as red, was used by the ancients. 
 Pictures in two or three tints, where the 
 natural hues of the objects are not 
 copied, may also be called en camayeu; 
 we speak of brown, red, yellow, green, 
 and blue camayeu, according to their 
 principal colors. The pictures of Poli- 
 dori Caravaggio, for example, by their 
 heavy brown tint, give the impression of 
 monochrome painting, and, with all their 
 perfection, they are but pictures en 
 camayeu. Drawings in red or black 
 chalk, lead and other pencils, Indian ink, 
 sepia and bistre, as well as engraving, 
 may be called Camayeux. 
 
 CAM'BRIC, a species of fine white lin- 
 en, made of flax, said to be named from 
 Cambray, in Flanders, where it was first 
 manufactured. 
 
 CAM'BER-BEAM, in architecture, a 
 beam cut hollow or archwise in the mid- 
 dle, commonly used in platforms. 
 
 CAM'EO, CAMEI, gems cut in relief, 
 the most expensive class of cut stones. 
 The custom of ornamenting goblets, cra- 
 tera, candelabra, and other articles with 
 gems, originated in the East ; and was 
 followed at the court of the Seleucidae, the 
 greatest extravagance being practised 
 with regard to such ornaments. When 
 the image on the stone was not to be used 
 as a seal it was cut in relief, and the va- 
 riegated onyx was generally selected. 
 Great attention was paid to the different 
 colors of the strata of the stone, so that 
 the objects stood out light from a dark 
 ground. Some of the cameos preserved 
 to us are wonders of beauty and technical 
 perfection, showing the high degree of 
 Art to which the Grecian lapidaries had 
 attained under the luxurious successors 
 of Alexander the Great. The finest spe- 
 cimen now existing is the Gonzaga ca- 
 meo, formerly at Malmaison, now in the 
 imperial collection of gems at St. Peters- 
 burg. Among the remains of the an- 
 
 cient art of stone-cutting, the gems cut in 
 relief, called on account of the different 
 layers of stone camel, are rarer and more 
 valuable than those cut in intaglio. Ca- 
 meos are not mentioned in the history of 
 mediaeval art; they were brought for- 
 ward again in Italy in recent times. The 
 production of cameos has become an art- 
 manufacture of considerable importance. 
 
 CAMERALIS'TICS, the science of 
 finance or public revenue, comprehending 
 the means of raising and disposing of it. 
 
 CAM'ERA LU'CIDA, an optical in- 
 strument, for the purpose of making the 
 linage of any object appear on the wall in 
 a light room, either by day or night. 
 Also, an instrument for drawing objects 
 in true perspective. 
 
 CAM'ERA-OBSCU'RA, or dark cham- 
 ber, an optical machine or apparatus, in 
 which the light being collected, and 
 thrown through a single aperture, ex- 
 ternal objects are exhibited distinctly, 
 and in their native colors, on any white 
 surface placed within the machine. 
 
 CAMISADE', a French term for at- 
 tacking or surprising an enemy by night. 
 It obtained the name from the soldiers 
 wearing their shirts over their other 
 clothes, that they might be known to each 
 other. 
 
 CAM'LET, a sort of stuff originally 
 made of camel's hair and silk mixed, but 
 now of wool and silk. 
 
 CAMP, the residence of an army rest- 
 ing in tents ; or, the place and order of 
 tents for soldiers in the field. On the 
 continent of Europe tents are abolished, 
 and the armies bivouac in the open air, 
 or, if the time will allow it, lodge in huts 
 built of branches, &c. In short, in the 
 progress of the military art, camps have 
 become more slight and simple, even with 
 those who still continue to make use of 
 them. 
 
 CAMPAIGN', the space of time during 
 which an army is kept in the field. A 
 campaign is usually from spring to au- 
 tumn ; but sometimes armies make a 
 winter campaign. 
 
 CAMPANILE', in architecture, prop- 
 erly a tower for containing a bell or 
 bells. Though the word has been adopt- 
 ed in the English language, and applied 
 to the bell towers of churches, it more 
 properly belongs to those towers near 
 churches, but detached from them, to be 
 seen in many of the cities of Italy. Tho 
 principal of these are the Campanile of 
 Cremona, which is of the extraordinary 
 height of 396 feet ; that of Florence, 268 
 feet high, built from the design of Giotto ;
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CAN 
 
 the Garisendi tower at Bologna, built in 
 1110, which is 147 feet high, and is 8 feet 
 8 inches out of an upright ; and very near 
 to it in the same city another tower, bear- 
 ing the name of Asinelli, 327 feet in 
 height, and leaning from the perpendicu- 
 lar 3 feet 8 inches, but which, seen, as it 
 always is, in company with the first, 
 seems to lean but little. The last we 
 shall name is that which is commonly 
 called the leaning tower of Pisa, and per- 
 haps the most remarkable of all. It is 
 151 feet high, and overhangs 12 feet 9 
 inches. Its general form possesses ele- 
 gance, and is that of a cylinder encircled 
 by 8 tiers of columns over each other, 
 and each with an entablature. The col- 
 umns are all of marble, and the upper 
 tier is recessed back. 
 
 CAMPES'TRE, a short garment fas- 
 tened about the loins, and extending from 
 thence down the legs, nearly to the knees, 
 after the manner of the kilt. It was worn 
 by the Roman youths when they exer- 
 cised in public places, also by soldiers and 
 gladiators for the sake of decency when 
 exercising. 
 
 CAM'PUS MAII, an anniversary as- 
 sembly of our ancestors, held on May- 
 day, when they confederated together for 
 defence of the kingdom against all its ene- 
 mies. 
 
 CAM'PUS M AR'TIUS, among the Ro- 
 mans, a field, by the side of the Tiber, 
 where the youth exercised themselves in 
 warlike exercises. It was so called, on 
 account of a temple that stood on it, con- 
 secrated to the god Mars. The consuls, 
 Brutus and Collatinus, made it the place 
 for holding the comitia or assemblies of 
 people, and, in after times, it was adorned 
 with a great quantity of fine statues. 
 
 CANA'BUS, CANE'VAS, CANNE'- 
 VAS, the term by which the ancients 
 designated the wooden skeleton covered 
 with clay, or some other soft substance, 
 for modelling larger figures; hence the 
 French word canevas. Similar skeletons 
 were used as anatomical studies, by pain- 
 ters and plastic artists. 
 
 CANA^RIUM AUGU'RIUM, in an- 
 tiquity, a sacrifice among the Romans, of 
 a red dog, for the purpose of appeasing 
 the fury of the dog-star on the approach 
 of harvest. 
 
 CANCELLA'RIA CU'RIA, in archae- 
 ology, the court of Chancery. 
 
 CANCEL'LI. in architecture, trellis, 
 or lattice-work, made of cross bars of 
 wood or iron. Also, the balusters or rails 
 encompassing the bar of a court of jus- 
 tice. 
 
 CANDELA'BRA, were objects of great 
 importance in ancient Art ; they were 
 originally used as candlesticks, but after 
 oil was introduced, they were used to 
 hold lamps, and stood on the ground, be- 
 ing very tall, from four to seven or ten 
 feet in height. The simplest candelabra 
 were of wood, others were very splendid 
 both in material and in their ornaments. 
 The largest candelabra, placed in tem- 
 ples and palaces, were of marble with or- 
 naments in relief and fastened to the 
 ground ; there are several specimens in 
 the Museum Clementinum at Rome. 
 These large candelabra were also altars- 
 of incense, the carving showing to what 
 god they were dedicated : they were also 
 given as offerings, and were then made 
 of finer metals, and even of precious 
 stones. Candelabra were also made of 
 baked earth, but they were mostly of ele- 
 gantly wrought bronze. They consisted 
 of three parts : 1. the feet ; 2. the shaft ; 
 3. the plinth with the tray,- upon which 
 the lamp was placed. The base generally 
 consisted of three animals' feet, orna- 
 mented with leaves. The shaft was flut- 
 ed ; and on the plinth often stands a fig- 
 ure holding the top, generally in the 
 shape of a vase, on which rests the tray. 
 The branching candelabra are valuable 
 as works of Art, and also those where the 
 shaft is formed by a statue, bearing a 
 torch-like lamp, and each arm holding a 
 plate for a lamp. Another kind of can- 
 delabrum was call- 
 ed Lampadarii : 
 these were in the 
 form of pillars, 
 with arms or 
 branches from 
 which the lamps 
 hung by chains. In 
 the Museo Etrus- 
 co Gregoriano at 
 Rome, are forty- 
 three candelabra 
 of various forms, 
 which were exca- 
 vated at Cervetri. 
 Some have smooth, 
 and some have flut- 
 ed, shafts, on which 
 is represented a 
 climbing animal, 
 a serpent, lizard, 
 weasel, or a cat 
 following a cock. 
 Sometimes these 
 shafts bear a cup, 
 or branch into 
 many arms, be-
 
 CAN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 tween which stand beautiful little fig- 
 ures, or they have plates rising perpen- 
 dicularly above one another. They gen- 
 erally rest on feet of lions, men, or stags, 
 or they are supported by figures of sa- 
 tyrs, &c. Some candelabra are in the 
 form of a human figure, bearing the 
 plate in the outstretched hand, and some- 
 times the pillar is supported by carya- 
 tides. The most curious specimens of 
 candelabra, as respects form, use, and 
 workmanship, are those excavated at 
 Herculaneum and Pompeii. These are 
 all of bronze ; and that they were em- 
 ployed for domestic purposes is proved 
 from the representation, on an Etrus- 
 can vase, of one which serves to give 
 light to the guests assembled round a 
 banquet table. They are slender in their 
 proportions, and perfectly portable, rare- 
 ly exceeding five feet in height. It is to 
 be observed, that none of the candelabra 
 hitherto found exhibit any appearance of 
 a socket or of a spike at top, from which 
 an inference of the use of candles could 
 be drawn. 
 
 CAN'DIDATE, a person who seeks or 
 aspires to some public office. In the Ro- 
 man commonwealth, the CANDIDATE were 
 obliged to wear a white robe, during the 
 two years of their soliciting for a place. 
 This garment, according to Plutarch, they 
 wore without any other clothes, that the 
 people might not suspect they concealed 
 money for purchasing votes ; and also, 
 that they might the more easily show to 
 the people, the scars of those wounds they 
 had received in fighting for the defence 
 of the commonwealth. 
 
 CANDID A'TI MIL'ITES, an order of 
 soldiers, among the Romans, who served 
 as the emperor's body-guards, to defend 
 him in battle. They were the tallest and 
 strongest of the whole troops ; and were 
 called candidati, in consequence of being 
 clothed in white. 
 
 CAN'DLEMAS DAY, the festival ob- 
 served on the second day of February, in 
 commemoration of the purification of the 
 Virgin Mary. It is borrowed from the 
 practice of the ancient Christians, who on 
 that day used an abundance of lights both 
 in their churches and processions, in mem- 
 ory, as is supposed, of our Saviour's be- 
 ing on that day declared by Simeon " to 
 be a light to lighten the Gentiles." In 
 imitation of this custom, the Roman Cath- 
 olics on this day consecrate all the tapers 
 and candles which they use in their 
 churches during the whole year. 
 
 CAN'DYS, a kind of gown, of woollen 
 cloth with wide sleeves, worn by the 
 
 Candys. 
 
 Canephoros. 
 
 Medes and Persians as an outside gar- 
 ment ; it was usually of purple or similar 
 brilliant color. 
 
 CANEPHO'ROS, the bearer of the 
 round basket containing the implements 
 of sacrifice, in the processions of the Dio- 
 nysia, Panathenea, and other public fes- 
 tivals. The attitude in which they ap- 
 pear in works of Art, is a favorite one 
 with the ancient artists ; the figure ele- 
 vates one arm to support the basket car- 
 ried on the head, and with the other 
 slightly raises her tunic. 
 
 CANIC'ULAR DAYS, or DOG DAYS, 
 the name given to certain days of the 
 year, during which the heat is usually 
 the greatest. They are reckoned about 
 forty, and are set down in the almanacs 
 as beginning on the 3d day of July, and 
 ending on the llth of August. In the 
 time of the ancient astronomers, the re- 
 markable star Sirius, called also Canic- 
 ula, or the Dog Star, rose heliacally, 
 that is, just before the sun, about the be- 
 ginning of July ; and the sultry heat 
 which usually prevails at that season, 
 with all its disagreeable effects, among 
 which the tendency of dogs to become 
 mad is not one of the least disagreeable, 
 were ascribed to the malignant rage of 
 the star. Owing to the precession of the 
 equinoxes, the heliacal rising of Sirius 
 now takes place later in the year, and in 
 a cooler season ; so that the dog days 
 have not now that relation to the partic- 
 ular position of the Dog Star from which 
 they obtained their name. 
 
 CANIC'ULAR YEAR, the ancient so- 
 lar year of the Egyptians ; so called be- 
 cause its commencement was determined 
 by the heliacal rising of the Dog Star. The
 
 58 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CAH 
 
 Egyptians chose this star for their obser- 
 vations, either on account of its superior 
 brightness, or because its heliacal rising 
 corresponded with the annual overflow of 
 the Nile. At a very early period of his- 
 tory the Egyptians had perceived that 
 the solar year contains 365i days ; for 
 their common years consisted of 365 days, 
 and every fourth year of 366, as in the 
 Julian Calendar. 
 
 CAN'NON, a piece of ordnance, or a 
 heavy metallic gun for a battery, mount- 
 ed on a carriage. Guns of this kind are 
 made of iron or brass, and of different 
 sizes, carrying balls from three or four 
 to forty-eight pounds' weight. The ex- 
 plosion being directed by the tube, balls 
 and missiles are carried to great distances 
 with destructive force. In a field of bat- 
 tle they are often drawn by horses on light 
 .carriages, and are called field-pieces, or 
 flying artillery. 
 
 CANOE', a small boat, made of the 
 trunk of a tree, hollowed out by cutting 
 or burning ; and sometimes also of pieces 
 of bark joined together. It is impelled 
 by a paddle instead of an oar ; and is 
 used by the uncivilized nations in both 
 hemispheres. 
 
 CAN'ON, a word of various significa- 
 tions, of which we can only enumerate 
 the principal. 
 
 1. In cathedral and collegiate churches 
 there are canons who perform some of the 
 services, and are possessed of certain rev- 
 enues connected with them. These are, 
 strictly speaking, residentiary canons: 
 foreign canons are those to whom col- 
 legiate revenues are assigned without the 
 exaction of any duty. 
 
 2. The laws and ordinances of ecclesi- 
 astical councils are called canons. 
 
 3. The canon of Scripture signifies the 
 authorized and received catalogue of the 
 sacred books. The canon of the Old 
 Testament, as received by the Catholics, 
 differs from that of the Protestant church- 
 es in regarding as inspired those books 
 which they reject under the term Apoc- 
 rypha. The catalogue received by the 
 Jews themselves, which we adopt, was 
 first enlarged by the Council of Carthage 
 to the extent in which it is held by our 
 opponents, and that decision was formally 
 confirmed by the Council of Trent. In 
 the canon of the New Testament, how- 
 ever, the agreement of Christian churches 
 may be considered unanimous. There 
 exist a series of enumerations of sacred 
 books of the latter covenant in the writ- 
 ings of the first four centuries, the gene- 
 ral agreement of which, and the satisfac- 
 
 tory reasons which can be assigned in 
 most cases of omission there are no 
 additions distinctly mark the universal- 
 ity of the judgment of the early churches 
 in this matter. In music, a perpetual 
 fugue. This original method of writing 
 this was on one line, with marks thereon, 
 to show where the parts that imitate were 
 to begin and end. This, however, was 
 what the Italians more particularly call 
 canone chiuso, (shut) or canone in corpo. 
 
 CAN'ONESS, a description of religious 
 women in France and Germany. Their 
 convents were termed colleges. They 
 did not live in seclusion. The college of 
 Eemiremont was the oldest establishment 
 of this order in France. Similar noble 
 monasteries still exist in Germany, and 
 the revenues and dignities of some belong 
 to Protestants. 
 
 CANONICAL HOURS, stated times 
 of the day set apart, more especially by 
 the Romish church, for devotional pur- 
 poses. In England the canonical hours 
 are from 8 to 12 in the forenoon, before 
 or after which the ceremony of marriage 
 cannot be legally performed in any parish 
 church. 
 
 CANONIZA'TION, a ceremony in the 
 Romish church, by which holy men de- 
 ceased are enrolled in the catalogue of 
 saints. The privilege of canonizing was 
 originally common to all bishops, and 
 was first confined to the Pope by Alexan- 
 der III. in 1170. When it is proposed 
 to canonize any person, a formal process 
 is instituted, by which his merits or de- 
 merits are investigated. Hereupon the 
 beatification of the person in question is 
 pronounced by the Pope, and his canon- 
 ization follows upon the production of 
 testimony to miracles performed at his 
 tomb or by his remains. The day of his 
 death is generally selected to be kept in 
 his honor, and is inserted as such in the 
 calendar. 
 
 CAN'OPY, a covering of velvet, silk, or 
 cloth of gold, extended on a frame, and 
 richly embroidered with suitable devices, 
 supported and carried by four or more 
 staves of wood or silver, borne in proces- 
 sion over the heads of distinguished per- 
 sonages, or over the hearse at the fu- 
 nerals of noble persons. In the religions 
 processions of the Catholic church it is 
 borne over the Host and sacred reliques. 
 According to Roman use they are white, 
 but in the French and Flemish churches 
 they are generally red. In England, the 
 two colors seem to have been used indis- 
 criminately. 
 
 CANT, quaint or vulgar language, af-
 
 CAP] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 59 
 
 feeted by particular persons or profes- 
 sions, and not authorized by established 
 usage. In architecture, a term express- 
 ing the position of any piece of timber 
 not standing square. Cant moulding, a 
 moulding with a bevelled surface applied 
 to the capitals of columns. 
 
 CANTAB'ILE, in music, a term ap- 
 plied to movements intended to be in a 
 graceful and melodious style. 
 
 CANTAN'TE, in music, a term to de- 
 note the vocal part of the composition. 
 
 CANTA'TA, a song, or composition, 
 intermixed with recitatives, airs, and 
 different movements, chiefly intended for 
 a single voice, with a thorough bass, 
 though sometimes with other instru- 
 ments. 
 
 CAN'THARUS, a kind of drinking- 
 cup with handles, sacred to Bacchus, who 
 
 is frequently depicted on antique vases, 
 <fcc., holding it in his hand. 
 
 CAN'TICJE, ancient dramatic solilo- 
 quies, supposed to have been introduced 
 as interludes. 
 
 CAN'TICLES, the Song of Songs, in 
 the Bible, supposed to be a marriage 
 song written by Solomon ; to be explained 
 by compositions of a similar nature in 
 Eastern countries. By other writers it 
 is supposed to be a series of sacred idols, 
 each distinct and independent of the 
 other. 
 
 CANTILE'ENA, in music, the treble 
 melody, or upper part of any composi- 
 tion. 
 
 CANTILE'VER, in architecture, a 
 piece of wood framed into the front or 
 side of a house, and projecting from it, 
 to sustain the eaves and mouldings over 
 them. 
 
 CAN'TO, a part or division of a poem, 
 answering to what in prose is called a 
 book. In Italian, canto is a song ; and it 
 signifies also the first treble, or highest 
 vocal part. 
 
 CAN'TO-FER'MO, in music, the sub- 
 ject song. Every part that is the sub- 
 ject of counterpoint, whether plain or 
 figured, is called by the Italians canto 
 fcrmo. 
 
 CAN'TONED, in architecture, is when 
 the corner of a building is adorned with 
 a pilaster, an angular column, rustic 
 quoins, Or anything that projects beyond 
 the level of a wall. 
 
 CAN'VAS, a coarse sort of cloth, of 
 which there are several kinds. Among 
 others, are, 1. That worked regularly in 
 little squares as a basis for tapestry : 2. 
 That which is called buckram : 3. The 
 cloth used for pictures : And, 4. That 
 employed for sails of ships, tents, &e. 
 Two kinds are prepared for artists' use ; 
 the best is called ticking. It is primed 
 with a ground of a neutral gray color, or 
 with other colors, according to the fancy 
 of the painter. Certain sizes being in 
 greater request than others, they are 
 kept stretched on frames ready for use ; 
 for portraits, these are known by the 
 names of Kit-cat, which measures 28 or 
 29*inches by 36 inches ; Three-quarters, 
 measures 25 by 30 ; Half-length, 40 by 
 50 ; Bishops' half-length, 44 or 45 by 
 56 ; Bishops' whole length, 58 by 94. 
 
 CAN'ZONE, or CANZO'NA, in music, 
 a song or air in two or three parts, with 
 passages of fugue and imitation ; but it is 
 sometimes used for a kind of lyric poem, 
 in Italian, to which music may be com- 
 posed in the style of a cantata. 
 
 CANZONET', in music, a short song, 
 in one or two parts. 
 
 CAP, a part of dress made to cover the 
 head. The use of caps and hats is re- 
 ferred to the year 1449, the first seen in 
 Europe, being at the entry of Charles VII. 
 into Rouen : from that time they began 
 to take place of hoods or chaperons. 
 CAP, in architecture, the uppermost part 
 of any assemblage of principal or subor- 
 dinate parts. Cap of maintenance, one 
 of the ornaments of state, carried before 
 the kings of England at the coronation. 
 It is of crimson velvet, faced with ermine. 
 It is also frequently met with above the 
 helmet, instead of wreaths, under gentle- 
 men's crests. Cap-a-pie, (French) from 
 head to foot. 
 
 CA'PET, the name of the French race 
 of kings, which has given 118 sovereigns 
 to Europe, viz., 36 kings of France, 22 
 kings of Portugal, 5 of Spain, 1 1 of Na- 
 ples and Sicily, 3 of Hungary, 3 emperors 
 of Constantinople, 3 kings of Navarre, 17 
 dukes of Burgundy, 12 dukes of Brittany, 
 2 dukes of Lorraine, and 4 dukes of 
 Parma. 
 
 CA'PIAS, in law, a writ of two sorts ; 
 one before judgment, to take the de- 
 fendant ; the other after, which is called 
 the writ of execution.
 
 60 
 
 [CAP 
 
 CAP'ITAL, in commerce, the fund or 
 stock, in money and goods, of a merchant, 
 manufacturer, Ac., or of a trading com- 
 pany. A ^floating capital is that which 
 remains after payment is made for all 
 the apparatus and implements of the 
 business. fictitious capital generally 
 means nothing more or less than exces- 
 sive credits, which throw the manage- 
 ment and disposition of a great deal of 
 property into the hands of persons who 
 are not able to answer for the risks of 
 loss from its bad management, or other 
 causes. CAPITAL, in architecture, the 
 uppermost part of a column or pilaster, 
 serving as the head or crowning, and 
 placed immediately over the shaft, and 
 under the entablature. 
 
 CAPITA'TION, a tax or imposition 
 raised on each person in consideration of 
 his labor, industry, office, rank, &c. It 
 is a very ancient kind of tribute, and an- 
 swers to what the Latins called tributum, 
 by which taxes on persons are distin- 
 guished from taxes on merchandise, called 
 vectigalia. 
 
 CAP'ITOL, a castle, in ancient Rome, 
 on the Mons Capitolinus, where there was 
 a temple dedicated to Jupiter, in which 
 the senate assembled ; and on the same 
 spot is still the city-hall or town-house, 
 where the conservators of the Roman 
 people hold their meetings. The foun- 
 dations of the capitol were laid by Tar- 
 quin the elder, in the year of Rome 139 : 
 his successor Servius raised the walls, 
 and Tarquin the Proud finished it in 221 ; 
 but it was not consecrated till the third 
 year after the expulsion of the kings, and 
 establishment of the consulate. The cap- 
 itol consisted of three parts, a nave, sa- 
 cred to Jupiter ; and two wings, the one 
 consecrated to Juno, and the other to 
 Minerva : it was ascended by stairs ; the 
 frontispiece and sides were surrounded 
 with galleries, in which those who were 
 honored with triumphs entertained the 
 senate at a magnificent banquet, after 
 the sacrifices had been offered to the 
 gods. Both the inside and outside were 
 enriched with numerous ornaments, the 
 most distinguished of which was the 
 statue of Jupiter, with his golden thun- 
 der-bolt, sceptre, and crown. In the 
 capitol also were a temple to Jupiter the 
 guardian, and another to Juno ; with the 
 mint ; and on the descent of the hill was 
 the temple of Concord. This beautiful 
 edifice contained the most sacred deposits 
 of religion, such as the ancylia, the books 
 of the sybils, &c. 
 
 CAP^TOLINE GAMES, these were 
 
 annual games instituted by Camillus, in 
 honor of Jupiter Capitolinus, and in com- 
 memoration of the preservation of the 
 capitol from the Gauls. There was also 
 another kind of Capitoline games, insti- 
 tuted by Domitian, and celebrated every 
 five years, at which rewards and crowns 
 were bestowed on the poets, champions, 
 orators, historians, Ac. 
 
 CAPIT'ULA RURA'LIA, assemblies 
 or chapters held by rural deans and pa- 
 rochial clergy within the precinct of 
 every distinct deanery. 
 
 CAPIT'ULARY, the body of laws or 
 statutes of a chapter, or of an ecclesias- 
 tical council. 
 
 CAPITULA'TION, in military affairs, 
 a treaty made between the garrison of a 
 place besieged and the besiegers, for sur- 
 rendering on certain conditions. The 
 term is also applicable to troops in any 
 situation in which they are compelled to 
 submit to a victorious enemy. 
 
 CAPIT'ULUM, in antiquity, a trans- 
 verse beam in the military engines of the 
 ancients, wherein were holes for the 
 strings with which they were set in mo- 
 tion. 
 
 CAPOTE', a large great coat, with a 
 hood or cowl, which is sometimes worn by 
 sentinels in bad weather. 
 
 CAPRIC'CIO, in music, the term for 
 that irregular kind of composition in 
 which the composer, without any re- 
 straint, follows the bent of his humor. 
 CAPRICCIO'SO denotes that the movement 
 before which it is written, is to be played 
 in a free and fantastic style. 
 
 CAP'TAIN, in the army, the com- 
 mander of a company of foot or a troop 
 of horse ; and in the naval or merchant 
 service, the commander of a vessel. A 
 Captain-lieutenant is an officer, who, 
 with the rank of captain and pay of lieu- 
 tenant, commands a company or troop. 
 A Post-captain in the British navy, is 
 an officer commanding any man-of-war, 
 from a ship of the line down to a. ship- 
 rigged sloop. A man eminently skilled 
 in war or military affairs is styled n 
 "great-captain" as the Duke of Wel- 
 lington. 
 
 CAP'TION, in law, the act of taking 
 any person by any judicial process. 
 
 CAPTIVITY, in sacred history, a pun- 
 ishment which God inflicted upon the 
 Jews for their vices and infidelity. The 
 first captivity was that of Egypt, from 
 which the Israelites were delivered by 
 Moses ; then followed six captivities dur- 
 ing the government of the judges ; but 
 the greatest and most remarkable were
 
 CAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 those of Judah and Israel, which hap- 
 pened under the kings of those different 
 kingdoms. 
 
 CAPUCHINS', an order of Franciscan 
 friars in the Romish church, so called 
 from their capuche or hood sewed to their 
 habits, and hanging down their backs. 
 
 C AP'UL A, in antiquity, a wooden uten- 
 sil with two handles for taking oil out of 
 one vessel into another. The person who 
 did this office was called the capulator. 
 
 CAR'ABINE, or CAR'BINE, a short 
 gun used by the cavalry. 
 
 CAR'ACOLE, the half wheel which a 
 horseman makes, either to the right or 
 left. The cavalry make a caracole after 
 each discharge, in order to pass to the 
 rear of the squadron. 
 
 CA'RAITES, a sect among the Jews 
 who adhere closely to the text and letter 
 of the scriptures, rejecting the rabbinical 
 interpretations and the cabbala. 
 
 CAR'AVAN, a company of merchants, 
 travellers, or pilgrims, who associate to- 
 gether in many parts of Asia and Africa, 
 that they may travel with greater secu- 
 rity through deserts and other places in- 
 fested with robbers or exposed to other 
 dangers. The commercial intercourse of 
 Eastern and African nations has from the 
 remotest ages been chiefly carried on by 
 means of caravans, as the governments 
 that have sprung up in those continents 
 have seldom been able, even if they had 
 had the will, to render travelling safe or 
 practicable for individuals. Since the 
 establishment of the Mohammedan faith, 
 religious motives, conspiring with those 
 of a less exalted character, have tended 
 to augment the intercourse between dif- 
 ferent parts of the Eastern world, and to 
 increase the number and magnitude of 
 the caravans. Mohammed, as is well 
 known, enjoined all his followers to visit 
 Mecca once in their lifetime ; and in obe- 
 dience to a command so solemnly enjoin- 
 ed and sedulously inculcated, large cara- 
 vans assemble for this purpose in every 
 country where the Mohammedan faith is 
 established. There are four regular car- 
 avans which proceed annually to Mecca ; 
 the first from Damascus, composed of 
 pilgrims, travellers, and merchants, from 
 Europe and Asia; the second from Cairo, 
 for the Mohammedans of Barbary ; the 
 third from Zibith, near the mouth of the 
 Red Sea, where those of Arabia and In- 
 dia meet; the fourth from Babylon, 
 where the Persians assemble. Every 
 caravan is under the command of a chief 
 or aga, who tas frequently under him 
 such a number of troops or forces as is 
 
 deemed sufficient for its defence. When 
 it is practicable they encamp near wells 
 or rivulets, and observe a regular disci- 
 pline. Camels are almost uniformly used 
 as a means of conveyance, in preference 
 to the horse or any other animal, on ac- 
 count of their wonderful patience of fa- 
 tigue, and their peculiarity of structure, 
 which so admirably fits them for travel- 
 ling through desert wastes. 
 
 CARAVAN'SERA, a Urge public 
 building, or inn, appropriated for the re- 
 ception and lodgment of caravans in the 
 desert. Though serving in lieu of inns 
 there is this essential difference between 
 them, that the traveller finds nothing in 
 the caravansera for the use either of him- 
 self or his cattle, but must carry all his 
 provisions and necessaries with him. Car- 
 avanseras are also numerous in cities, 
 where they serve not only as inns, but as 
 shops, warehouses, and even exchanges. 
 
 CAR'CANET, in archaeology, a chain 
 for the neck. 
 
 CARCE/RES, in the ancient Circensian 
 games, were inclosures in the circus, 
 wherein the horses were restrained till 
 the signal was given for starting, when, 
 by an ingenious contrivance they all at 
 once flew open. 
 
 CARCHE'SIUM, CARCHE'SION, the 
 name of an antique drinking vessel, and 
 also of the goblet peculiar to Bacchus, 
 found on numerous antiques, sometimes 
 in his own hand, as in the ancient repre- 
 sentations in which the god is clothed and 
 bearded, and sometimes at the Bacchic 
 feasts. The carchesium has a shallow 
 foot ; it is generally wider than it is deep, 
 smaller towards the centre, and with han- 
 dles rising high over the edge, and reach- 
 ing to the foot. Its use in religious cere- 
 monies proves it to have been one of the 
 oldest forms of goblets. 
 
 CAR'DINAL, which in a general sense 
 signifies principal or pre-eminent, is 
 formed of the Latin word cardo, a hinge, 
 agreeably with the common expression, 
 in which it is said of an important matter 
 that everything turns upon it : thus Jus- 
 tice, Prudence, Temperance, and For- 
 titude are called the four cardinal vir- 
 tues. The cardinal signs, in astrono- 
 my, are Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capri- 
 corn. The cardinal points of the com- 
 pass, north, south, east, and west. 
 Cardinal numbers, in grammar, are the 
 numbers, one, two, three. &c., which are 
 indeclinable, in opposition to the ordinal 
 numbers, first, second, third, &c. 
 
 CAR'DINAL, in the Roman hierarchy, 
 an ecclesiastical prince and subordinate
 
 62 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CAR 
 
 magistrate, who has a voice in the con- 
 clave cat the election of a pope, and who 
 may be advanced to that dignity himself. 
 The dress of a cardinal is a red soutanne, 
 a rochet, a short purple mantle, and a red 
 hat ; and his title of address, " His emi- 
 nence." 
 
 CA'RET, in grammar, a character in 
 this form A, denoting that something has 
 been omitted, and is interlined. 
 
 CAK'ICATURE', in painting, an ex- 
 aggerated representation of any object, 
 ia 'which any natural defects are over- 
 charged, so as to make it appear ridicu- 
 lous. 
 
 CAR'ILLONS, a species of chimes fre- 
 quent in the Low Countries, particularly 
 at Ghent and Antwerp, and played on a 
 number of bells in a belfry, forming a 
 complete series or scale of tones or semi- 
 tones, like those of the harpsichord and 
 organ. 
 
 CAR'MELITES, an order of mendi- 
 cant friars, very numerous in Italy and 
 Spain. They wear a scapulary, or small 
 woollen habit of a brown color, thrown 
 over the shoulders. 
 
 CAR'MEN, a Latin term, used, in a 
 general sense, to signify a verse ; but in 
 a more peculiar sense, to signify a spell, 
 charm, form of expiation, execration, &c., 
 couched in few words, placed in a mystic 
 order, on which its efficacy was supposed 
 to depend. 
 
 CAR'MINE, a pigment or powder of a 
 deep red or crimson color, procured from 
 cochineal, and used for painting in minia- 
 ture. 
 
 CARNA'TIONS, in painting, the parts 
 of a picture which represent the naked 
 limbs, &c. 
 
 CARNE'IA, a festival observed in 
 most of the cities of Greece, and especially 
 at Sparta, in honor of Apollo, surnamed 
 Carneius. The festival lasted nine days, 
 and was conducted in imitation of the 
 method of living in camps ; for nine tents 
 were erected, in each of .which nine men 
 of three different tribes lived nine days. 
 
 C ARNE'LI AN, a precious stone, either 
 red, flesh-color, or white. The finest car- 
 nelians are those of the East Indies: 
 there are some beautiful ones in the riv- 
 ers of Silesia and Bohemia; and some of 
 a quality not to be despised in Britain. 
 The use to which they are most generally 
 applied is that of seals. 
 
 C AR'NIVAL, the feast or season of re- 
 joicing previous to Lent, celebrated with 
 great spirit throughout Italy, when feasts, 
 balls, operas, concerts, masquerades, &c., ' 
 abound. The churches are filled with ; 
 
 choristers, and the streets with masks. 
 This festival flourishes more particularly 
 at Venice, where it begins on the second 
 holiday in Christmas, and where it boasts 
 to have had at one time seven sovereign 
 princes, and thirty thousand foreigners 
 among its votaries. 
 
 CARNIVOROUS, an epithet applied 
 to animals that feed on flesh. 
 
 CAROLOT'IC COLUMNS, in architec- 
 ture, columns with foliated shafts, deco- 
 rated with leaves and branches winding 
 spirally around them, or forming crowns 
 and festoons. 
 
 CARO'LUS, a gold coin struck in the 
 reign of Charles I., at that time valued at 
 twenty shillings, but afterwards current 
 at twenty-three. 
 
 CAR'PENTRY, in building and archi- 
 tecture, an assemblage of pieces of tim- 
 ber connected by framing or letting them 
 into each other, as are the pieces of a 
 roof, floor, centre, &c. It is distinguish- 
 ed from joinery by being put together 
 without the use of other edge tools than 
 the axe, adze, saw, and chisel ; whereas 
 joinery requires the use of the plane. 
 
 C AR'PET, a sort of stuff wrought either 
 with the needle or the loom, and used as 
 a covering for the floor. Persian and 
 Turkish carpets are the most costly ; but 
 a variety of other kinds are used, many 
 of which are both elegant and durable. 
 
 CAR'RACK, a large armed vessel em- 
 ployed by the Portuguese in the East 
 India and Brazilian trade. 
 
 CARRA'GO, in the military art of the 
 ancients, a barricade made by carts and 
 wagons, which the Gauls and other bar- 
 barous nations put in the way to impede 
 the progress of an enemy. 
 
 CARRA'RA, a hard white kind of mar- 
 ble, somewhat resembling the Parian ; so 
 called from the town of Carrara, where 
 it was found. 
 
 CARRONADE', a short piece of ord- 
 nance, having a large calibre, and a 
 chamber for the powder, like a mortar. 
 
 CARRU'CA, in antiquity, a splendid 
 kind of chariot or car on four wheels, 
 which were made of brass, ivory, silver, 
 and sometimes of gold. 
 
 CARTE-BLANCHE, a blank paper, 
 signed at the bottom with a person's 
 name, and given to another person with 
 permission to fill it up as he pleases ; ap- 
 plied generally in the sense of unlimited 
 terms being granted. 
 
 CARTEL, an agreement between two 
 states for the exchange of their prisoners 
 of war. A cartel-ship, a.ship commis- 
 sioned in time of war to exchange the
 
 CAS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 63 
 
 prisoners of any two hostile powers ; also 
 to carry any particular request from one 
 power to another. The officer who com- 
 mands her is ordered to carry no cargo, 
 ammunition, or implements of war, except 
 a gun for the purpose of firing signals. 
 
 CARTE'SIAN PHILOSOPHY, the 
 philosophical system of Rene des Cartes, 
 (born 1596,) a native of France, perhaps 
 the most original thinker that country 
 has produced. Des Cartes was the con- 
 temporary of Bacon, and exercised an 
 equally powerful influence, though in a 
 manner widely different, on the progress 
 of philosophy in Europe. What Bacon 
 strove to accomplish by calling men's at- 
 tention to experiment and observation of 
 nature, Des Cartes proposed to attain by 
 the search for a first and self-evident 
 ground of all knowledge. This he finds 
 in the act of consciousness, involving ne- 
 cessarily the idea of self or mind. Con- 
 sciousness is the act of thought, consti- 
 tutes the essence of the soul, and is that 
 which distinguishes it from matter. The 
 ideas or objects of consciousness are of 
 three kinds, acquired, compounded, and 
 innate. All physical phenomena Des 
 Cartes endeavored to account for by his 
 celebrated vortices motions excited by 
 God, the source of all motion. 
 
 CARTHAGIN'IAN, a native of an- 
 cient Carthage, or something pertaining 
 to that celebrated city, which was situated 
 on the northern coast of Africa, about 
 twelve miles from the modern Tunis. It 
 was founded by the Phoenicians, and de- 
 stroyed by the Romans. 
 
 CARTHU'SIANS, a religious order, 
 founded in the year 1080, by St. Bruno. 
 They received their name from Char- 
 treuse, the place of their institution. 
 They are so remarkable for their austeri- 
 ty, that they never leave their cells ex- 
 cept to go to church, nor speak to any 
 person without leave. 
 
 CARTOON', a design drawn upon large 
 sheets of paper for the purpose of being 
 traced upon any other substance, where 
 the subject is to be finished. The most 
 celebrated cartoons in existence are those 
 of Raphael, seven of which are at HampT 
 ton Court, and were originally designed 
 for tapestry. 
 
 CARTOUCH', a case of wood holding 
 about four hundred musket balls, besides 
 iron balls, from six to ten, to be fired out 
 of a howitzer. Also, a portable box for 
 charges. In architecture, cartouches are 
 blocks or modillions used in the cor- 
 nices of wainscoted apartments : also or- 
 naments representing a scroll of paper. 
 
 CAR'TRIDGE, a case of paper or 
 parchment filled with gunpowder, and 
 used in the charging of guns. The car- 
 tridges for small arms, prepared for bat- 
 tle, contain the powder and ball : those 
 for cannon and mortars are made of 
 pasteboard or tin. Cartridges without 
 balls are called blank-cartridges. The 
 cartridge-box is a case of wood covered 
 with leather, with cells for cartridges, and 
 worn upon a belt thrown over the left 
 shoulder. 
 
 CAR'TULARY, or CHAR TULARY, a 
 register-book, or record, as of a monas- 
 tery. 
 
 CARVING, a branch of sculpture usu- 
 ally limited to works in wood and ivory, 
 sculpture, properly so called, being gen- 
 erally applied to carving in stone or mar- 
 ble. Various kinds of wood were used by 
 the ancients, chiefly for images of the 
 gods, to each of which a different or par- 
 ticular kind of wood was appropriated ; 
 as, for instance, the images of Dionysia, 
 the God of Figs, were made of the wood 
 of the fig-tree. Ivory was also used to 
 great extent by the ancients in their 
 works of Art ; and the Chryselephantine 
 sculpture, or the union of gold with ivory, 
 was adopted by the greatest artists. For 
 a long period prior to the Reformation, 
 there was an immense demand for fine 
 wood-carvings, as the remains in cathe- 
 drals, churches, colleges, of screens, cano- 
 pies, desks, chair-seats ; and in baronial 
 halls, of door frames, staircases, chimney- 
 pieces, cabinets, picture-frames, suffi- 
 ciently show. 
 
 CARYATI'DES, in architecture, col- 
 umns, or pillars shaped like the bodies 
 of women, and in the dress of the Caryan 
 people. They were erected as trophies, 
 and intended to represent the Caryan wo- 
 men who were taken captives by the 
 Athenians. Other female figures were 
 afterwards used in the same manner, but 
 they were called by the same name. 
 
 CASCADE', a small waterfall, either 
 natural or artificial. The word is ap- 
 plied to such as are less than a cataract. 
 
 CASE, the particular state, condition, 
 or circumstances that befall a person, or 
 in which he is placed. Also, any outside 
 covering which serves to enclose a thing 
 entirely, as packing-cases, or knife-cases. 
 Case, in grammar, implies the different 
 inflections or terminations of nouns, serv- 
 ing to express the different relations they 
 bear to each other and the things they 
 represent. Action on the case, in law, 
 is an action in which the whole cause of 
 complaint is set out in the writ.
 
 64 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CAS 
 
 CASE'MENT, a window that opens on 
 hinges. Also, a hollow moulding. 
 
 CASE-SHOT, musket balls, stones, old 
 iron, <fcc., put into cases and discharged 
 from cannon. 
 
 CASH, money in hand, or ready mo- 
 ney, distinguished from bills. 
 
 CASHIER', a person who is entrusted 
 with the cash of some public company. 
 In a banking establishment the cashier 
 superintends the books, payments, and 
 receipts of the bank : he also signs or 
 countersigns the notes, and superintends 
 all the transactions, under the order of 
 the directors. 
 
 CASK'ET, the diminutive of cask, a 
 small chest or box, for jewels, <fec. 
 
 CASQUE, a piece of defensive armor, 
 to cover and protect the head and neck 
 in battle. 
 
 CASQUETEL', a small steel cap or 
 open helmet, without beaver or visor, 
 but having a projecting umbril and flex- 
 ible plates to cover the neck behind. 
 
 CASSA'TION, COURT OF, one of the 
 most important institutions of modern 
 France, which gives to the whole juris- 
 diction of that country coherency and 
 uniformity, without endangering the ne- 
 cessary independence of the courts. It 
 was established by the first national as- 
 sembly, and has been preserved, in every 
 essential respect, under all the changes 
 of the revolution and restoration. It 
 properly signifies the annulling of any 
 act or decision, if the forms prescribed by 
 law have been neglected or justice has 
 been perverted. 
 
 C AS'SOCK, the vestment worn by cler- 
 gymen under their gowns. 
 
 CAST, among artists, any statue or 
 part of a statue, of bronze, or of plaster- 
 of-Paris. A cast is that which owes its 
 figure to the mould into which the mat- 
 ter of it has been poured or cast while in 
 a fluid state ; and thus differs from a 
 model, which is made by repeated efforts 
 with a ductile substance, as any adhesive 
 earth ; and from a piece of sculpture, 
 which is the work of the chisel. 
 
 CASTANETS', instruments formed of 
 small concave shells of ivory or hard 
 wood, fastened to the thumb and beat 
 with the middle finger. The Spaniards 
 and Moors use them as an accompani- 
 ment to their saraband dances and gui- 
 tars. 
 
 CASTE, the general name for the 
 tribes of various employment, into which 
 the Hindoos are divided in successive 
 generations, and generations of families. 
 The first caste is religious ; the second 
 
 warlike ; the third commercial ; and the 
 fourth laborers. Persons of the religious 
 caste are universally denominated bram- 
 ins; the soldiers or princes are styled 
 cutlery or rajalis ; the traders, choutres 
 or shuddery ; the lowest order, parias. 
 
 CAS'TELLAIN, in feudal times, the 
 owner, lord, or governor of a castle or 
 fortified place. 
 
 CAS'TELLANY, the lordship belong- 
 ing to a castle ; or the extent of its land 
 and jurisdiction. 
 
 CAST'ING-, with founders, the running 
 of metal into a mould : among sculptors, 
 it is the taking casts or impressions of 
 figures, &c. Plaster-of-Paris is the most 
 usual material employed for this pur- 
 pose. In architecture, a term used to 
 denote the bending of the surfaces of a 
 piece of wood from their original state, 
 caused either by the gravity of the mate- 
 rial, or by its being subject to unequal 
 temperature, moisture, or the uniform 
 texture of the material. Called also 
 Warping. 
 
 CASTING OF DRAPERIES, in paint- 
 ing or sculpture, consists in the proper 
 distribution of the folds of the garments, 
 so that they appear the result of accident 
 rather than of study or labor. The ar- 
 rangement of draperies sometimes gives 
 the artist much trouble, but this is fre- 
 quently caused by the material employed 
 in the model being of a different sub- 
 stance to that depicted in the picture. 
 
 CAS'TLE, a fortress or place rendered 
 defensible, either by nature or art. 
 English castles, walled with stone, and 
 designed for residence as well as defence, 
 are for the most part of no higher date 
 than the Conquest. Those previously 
 erected had been suffered to fall into 
 ruin ; and many writers have assigned 
 this circumstance as a reason for the fa- 
 cility with which William the Norman 
 made himself master of the country. It 
 was the policy of this able general to 
 build a considerable number : and in pro- 
 cess of time the martial tenants of the 
 crown erected them for themselves; so 
 that towards the end of Stephen's reign, 
 we are told that there existed upwards 
 of eleven hundred. At this period castles 
 were an evil of the greatest magnitude 
 to both the sovereign and the subject ; 
 considerable struggles appear to have 
 taken place with regard to their continu- 
 ance ; several were demolished ; and their 
 general decline commenced. A complete 
 castle consisted of a ditch or moat, an 
 outwork, called a barbican, which guard- 
 ed the gate and drawbridge ; an artificial
 
 CAT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 C5 
 
 mount ; an outer and inner ballium or 
 inclosure ; and the keep, or lofty tower, 
 in which the owner or governor resided, 
 and under which were the dungeons. 
 Castle-guard, a feudal tenure, or knight 
 service, which obliged the tenant to per- 
 form service within the realm, without 
 limitation of time. Castle-ward, an im- 
 position laid' upon subjects dwelling with- 
 in a certain distance of a castle, for the 
 purpose of maintaining watch and ward 
 in the castle. 
 
 CAS'TOR AND POL'LUX, the name 
 given to a meteor which sometimes ap- 
 pears at sea, attached to the extremities 
 of the masts of ships under the form of 
 balls of fire. When one ball only is 
 seen, it is called Helena. The meteor is 
 generally supposed to indicate the cessa- 
 tion of a storm, or a future calm ; but 
 Helena, or one ball only, to portend bad 
 weather. 
 
 CAS'UISTRY, the science of resolving 
 cases of doubtful propriety, or of deter- 
 mining the lawfulness or unlawfulness of 
 any act, by rules and principles drawn 
 from the Scriptures, from the laws of so- 
 ciety, or from reason. 
 
 CA'SUS FGED'ERIS, the case stipu- 
 lated by treaty, or which comes within 
 the terms of compact. 
 
 CA'SUS OMIS'SUS, in law, where any 
 particular thing is omitted, and not pro- 
 vided for by the statute. 
 
 CATACHRE'SIS, in rhetoric, a trope 
 which borrows the name of one thing to 
 express another. Thus Milton, in de- 
 scribing Raphael's descent from the em- 
 pyreal heaven, says, 
 
 ''Down thither prone in flight 
 He speeds, and thro' the vast ethereal sky 
 Sails between worlds and worlds." 
 
 So in Scripture we read of the " blood 
 of the grape." A catachresis, in fact, is 
 the abuse of a trope, or when a word is 
 too far wrested from its original signifi- 
 cation. 
 
 CAT'ACOMB, a grotto or subterrane- 
 ous place for the burial of the dead. It 
 is generally applied to a vast number of 
 subterraneous sepulchres, in the Appian 
 AVay, near Rome ; supposed to be the 
 cells in which were deposited the bodies 
 of the primitive Christian martyrs. But 
 there are now many other catacombs, as 
 at Paris, &c. 
 
 CATADRO'MUS, in antiquity, the 
 stadium, or place where raes were run. 
 
 CATAFAL'CO, in architecture, a tem- 
 porary structure of carpentry, decorated 
 with painting and sculpture, representing 
 
 a tomb or cenotaph, and used in funeral 
 ceremonies. That used at the final in- 
 terment of Michael Angelo at Florence 
 was of the most magnificent description, 
 and perhaps unequalled as to the art 
 employed on it by any used before or 
 since. 
 
 CATALEC'TIC, in Greek and Latin 
 poetry; a verse wanting one syllable of 
 its proper length : acatalectic, a verse 
 complete in length ; hypercatalectic, hav- 
 ing one syllable too many ; bracliycatalec- 
 tic, wanting two syllables. 
 
 CAT'ALEPSY, a disease in which the 
 functions of the organs of sense and mo- 
 tion are suspended, whilst the heart con- 
 tinues to pulsate. The patients are said 
 to be in a trance ; and in this state they 
 remain for some hours, or even days. 
 Ammoniacal and ethereal stimulants are 
 the most effectual restoratives. 
 
 CAT'ALOGUE RAISONNE', in bib- 
 liography, a catalogue of books, classed 
 under the heads of their several subjects, 
 and with a general abstract of the contents 
 of works where the title does not sufficient- 
 ly indicate it ; thus serving as a manual, 
 to direct the reader to the sources of in- 
 formation on any particular topic. The 
 want of alphabetical arrangement is sup- 
 plied by an index at the end. The cata- 
 logue of the French Bibtiotlieque Royale 
 (10 vols. fol. 1739-53) is said to be the 
 best work of this description. 
 
 CATAPUL'TA, or CAT'APULT, in 
 antiquity, a military engine used for 
 throwing arrows, darts, and stones upon 
 the enemy. Some of these engines 
 would throw stones of a hundred weight. 
 Josephus takes notice of the surprising 
 effects of these engines, and says, that 
 the stones thrown out of them beat down 
 the battlements, knocked off the angles 
 of the towers, and would level a whole file 
 of men, from one end to the other. 
 
 CAT'ARACT, a great fall of water over 
 a precipice in the channel of a river, 
 caused by rocks or other obstacles stop- 
 ping the course of the stream ; as that 
 of Niagara, the Nile, the Danube, and 
 the Rhine. 
 
 CATAS'TASIS, in poetry, the third 
 part of the ancient drama, being that 
 wherein the intrigue, or action, is sup- 
 ported and carried on, and heightened, 
 till it be ripe for unravelling in the catas- 
 trophe. 
 
 CATAS'TROPHE, in dramatic poetry, 
 the fourth and last part in the ancient 
 drama, or that immediately succeeding 
 the catastasis ; and which consists in the 
 unfolding and winding up of the plot,
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CAT 
 
 clearing up difficulties, and closing the 
 play. 
 
 CATCH, in music, is defined to be "a 
 piece for three or four voices, one of 
 which leads, and the others follow in the 
 same notes." But perhaps it may bo 
 more correctly described as a fugue in 
 the unison, wherein to humor some con- 
 ceit in the words, or to give them a dif- 
 ferent meaning, the melody is broken, 
 and the sense is interrupted in one part, 
 and caught and supported by another. 
 
 CAT'ECHISM, a form of instruction 
 in religion, conveyed in questions and 
 answers. The catechism of the Church 
 of England originally consisted of no 
 more than a repetition of the baptismal 
 vow, the creed, and the Lord's Prayer ; 
 but King James I. ordered the bishops to 
 add to it a short and plain explication of 
 the sacraments. 
 
 CAT'ECHIST, an officer in the primi- 
 tive Christian church, whose business it 
 was to instruct the catechumens in the 
 first principles of religion, and thereby 
 prepare them for the reception of bap- 
 tism. 
 
 CATECHU'MENS, a name formerly 
 given in the Christian church to such as 
 were prepared to receive the ordinance of 
 baptism. . These were anciently the chil- 
 dren of believing parents, or pagans not 
 fully initiated in the principles of the 
 Christian religion ; and were admitted to 
 this state by the imposition of hands and 
 the sign of the cross. 
 
 CAT'EGOREMAT'IC, in logic, when 
 a word is capable of being employed by 
 itself as a term, or predicate of a propo- 
 sition. 
 
 CATEGORY, in logic and metaphys- 
 ics, a Greek word, signifying originally 
 that which may be said or predicated of 
 a thing ; a general term in reference to 
 a less general one which is included un- 
 der it. By Aristotle, from whom the 
 word, and its corresponding Latin term 
 predicate, was borrowed by the school- 
 men, it was applied to denote the -most 
 general of the attributes that may be as- 
 signed to a subject. Of these he attempt- 
 ed an enumeration, under the name of 
 substance, quantity, quality, relation, 
 place, time, condition, state or habitude, 
 action, and passion. The word has been 
 revived in modern time by Kant, to ex- 
 press the most general of the modes in 
 which a thing can be raised from an ob- 
 ject of sense to an object of intellect ; or, 
 in other words, the forms or conditions 
 which must pre-exist in the understand- 
 ing, in order that an act of intelligence 
 
 may take place. The difference between 
 the categories of Kant and those of Aris- 
 totle is this, that the latter are mere gen- 
 eralizations from experience, which may 
 consequently be multiplied indefinitely ; 
 whereas the former result from a profes- 
 sedly exhaustive analysis of the human 
 understanding as it is in itself, or formal- 
 ly, that is, apart from all consideration 
 of its object-matter 
 
 CATENA'RIAN ARCH, in architect- 
 ure, an arch whose form is that of a chord 
 or chain suspended from two fixed points 
 at its extremities. 
 
 CAT'GUT, the name for the strings 
 made of the intestines of sheep or lambs, 
 used in musical instruments, &c. Great 
 quantities are imported from Lyons and 
 Italy. 
 
 CATHE'DRA, in archaeology, a term 
 used to denote the pulpit, or the profes- 
 sor's chair. It originally signified any 
 chair. Among ecclesiastical writers it de- 
 notes a bishop's see, or throne. Hence, 
 ex cathedra is a phrase which is much 
 used among the clergy of the Romish 
 church, in relation to the solemn decrees 
 of the pope. 
 
 CATHE'DRAL, the principal church 
 of a diocese, in which is the throne of the 
 bishop. The term cathedra was original- 
 ly applied to the seats in which the bish- 
 op and presbyters sate in their assem- 
 blies, which were held in the rooms in 
 which the worship of the first Christians 
 was also performed before they had liber- 
 ty to erect temples for that purpose. In 
 after-times the choir of the cathedral 
 church was made to terminate in a semi- 
 circular or polygonal apsis ; and in the 
 recess thus formed were placed the throne 
 of the bishop in the centre, and seats of 
 an inferior class for presbyters. 
 
 CATHERINE, ST., OF ALEXANDRIA, 
 the patron saint of Philosophy and the 
 Schools. The pictures of her are almost 
 innumerable ; as patron saint or martyr, 
 her attributes are a broken wheel set 
 round with knives, and a sword, the in- 
 struments of her martyrdom. 
 
 CATH'OLIC, an epithet properly sig- 
 nifying universal. Originally this appel- 
 lation was given to the Christian church 
 in general, but now the Romish church 
 assumes it exclusively to itself ; whence 
 the name of Roman Catholics has been 
 applied, since the Reformation, to the 
 followers of the Romish doctrine and dis- 
 cipline. Catholic Majesty, the title giv- 
 en to the king or queen of Spain. Cath- 
 olic Priest, a clergy man or priest ordained 
 to say mass and administer the sacra-
 
 CEC] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 67 
 
 merits, &c., according to the rites of the 
 Romish church. 
 
 CATOP'TROM AXCY, a species of div- 
 ination among the ancients, which was 
 performed for the sick, by letting down a 
 mirror, fastened by a thread, into a foun- 
 tain before the temple of Ceres, to look at 
 his face in it. If it appeared distorted 
 and ghastly, it was a sign of death; if 
 fresh and healthy, it denoted a speedy 
 recovery. 
 
 CAUSALITY, or CAUSA'TION, a- 
 inong metaphysicians, the action or pow- 
 er of a cause in producing its effect. 
 
 CAUSE, that from whence anything 
 proceeds, or by virtue of which anything 
 is done :' it stands opposed to effect. We 
 get the ideas of cause and effect from our 
 observation of the vicissitude of things, 
 while we perceive some qualities or sub- 
 stances begin to exist, and that they re- 
 ceive their existence from the due appli- 
 cation and operation of other beings. 
 That which produces is the cause; that 
 which is produced, the effect. Causes are 
 distinguished, by the schools, into effi- 
 cient, material, final, and formal. Effi- 
 cient Causes are the agents employed in 
 the production of anything. Material 
 Causes, the subjects whereon the agents 
 work ; or the materials whereof the thing 
 is produced. Final Causes are the mo- 
 tives inducing an agent to act : or the 
 design and purpose for which the thing 
 was done. Causes are again distinguished 
 into physical and moral ; universal, or 
 particular ; principal, or instrumental : 
 total, or partial ; univocal, equivocal, 
 &c. Cause, among civilians, is the same 
 with action ; denoting any legal process 
 which a party institutes to obtain his de- 
 mand, or by which he seeks his supposed 
 right. 
 
 CAUTIO'NE ADMITTEN'DA,inlaw, 
 a writ which lies against a bishop that 
 holds an excommunicated person in prison 
 for contempt, after he has offered suffi- 
 cient caution or security to obey the or- 
 ders of the church. On receipt of this 
 writ, the sheriff warns the bishop to take 
 caution. 
 
 CAVALCADE' a pompous procession 
 of horsemen, equipages, <fcc., by way of 
 parade to grace a triumph, public entry, 
 or the like. 
 
 CAVALIER', a gallant armed horse- 
 man. It was also an appellation given 
 to the party of Charles I. to distinguish 
 them from the parliamentarians, who 
 were called Roundheads. In fortifica- 
 tion, a work raised within the body of a 
 place, above the other works. 
 
 CAVALRY, a body of soldiers on 
 horseback ; a general term for light-horse, 
 dragoons, lancers, and all other troops 
 who are armed and mounted. Their 
 chief use is to make frequent excursions 
 to the disturbance of the enemy, and in- 
 tercept his convoys ; in battle, to support 
 and cover the infantry, and to break 
 through and disorder the enemy. The 
 use of cavalry is probably nearly as an- 
 cient as war itself. At the present day 
 the cavalry is divided into light and heavy 
 horse, which are employed for different 
 purposes. The heavy cavalry, with de- 
 fensive armor (cuirassiers,) is generally 
 employed where force is requisite ; the 
 lighter troops are used in small detach- 
 ments, where swiftness and continued ef- 
 fort are required. 
 
 CA'VEAT, an entry in the spiritual 
 courts, by which the probate of a will, 
 letters of administration, license of mar- 
 riage, &c., may be prevented from being 
 issued without the knowledge, and, if the 
 reason be just, the consent of the party 
 entering the caveat. 
 
 CAVERN, a natural cavity, or deep 
 hollow place in the earth, arising either 
 from arches accidentally made, or from 
 streams of water flowing under ground. 
 One of the grandest natural caverns 
 known is Fingal's cave, in Staffa, one of 
 the western islands of Scotland. The 
 grotto of Antiparos, in the Archipelago, 
 is celebrated for its magnificence. In 
 some parts, immense columns descend to 
 the floor ; others present the appearance 
 of trees and brooks turned to marble. 
 The Peak Cavern, in Derbyshire, is also 
 a celebrated curiosity of this kind. It is 
 nearly half a mile in length, and, at its 
 lowest part, 600 feet below the surface. 
 Many caves are formed by the lava of 
 volcanoes. In the Cevennes mountains, 
 in France, are caverns and grottoes of 
 great extent, and which abound in objects 
 of curiosity. But the largest we read of 
 is the cavern of Guacharo, in South 
 America, which is said to extend for 
 
 CAVET'TO, in architecture, a hollow 
 member, or round concave moulding, 
 containing the quadrant of a circle ; and 
 used as an ornament in cornices. 
 
 CECIL'IA, ST., the patroness of music, 
 and supposed inventress of the organ ; 
 she suffered martyrdom by being plunged 
 into a vessel of boiling oil. She is some- 
 times depicted with a gash in her neck, 
 and standing in a cauldron, but more 
 frequently holding the model of an or- 
 gan, and turning her head towards hea-
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CEN 
 
 yen, as if listening to the music of the 
 spheres. 
 
 CEIL'ING, in architecture, the upper 
 part or roof of a room, being a lay or 
 covering of plaster over laths, nailed on 
 the bottom of the joists which bear the 
 floor of the upper room, or on joists put 
 up for that purpose where there is no up- 
 per room, hence called ceiling joists. 
 
 CEL'ARENT, in logic, a mode of syllo- 
 gism, wherein the major and conclusion 
 are universal negative propositions, and 
 the minor an universal affirmative ; as 
 " No man that is a hypocrite can be 
 saved : Every man who with his lips only 
 cries Lord, Lord, is a hypocrite : There- 
 fore, no man, who with his lips only cries 
 Lord, Lord, can be saved." 
 
 CEL'EBE, a vase, found chiefly in 
 Etruria, distinguished by its peculiarly 
 shaped handles, which are pillared. 
 
 CEL'ERES, in Roman antiquity, a 
 regiment of body-guards belonging to the 
 Roman kings, established by Romulus, 
 and composed of 300 young men chosen 
 out of the most illustrious Roman fami- 
 lies, and approved by the suffrages of the 
 curiae of the people, each of which fur- 
 nished ten. 
 
 CELES'TIAL, in its first and obvious 
 sense, denotes something pertaining to, 
 or dwelling in heaven. In mythology, 
 the term is applied to the residence of 
 the gods, supposed to be in the clouds or 
 stars ; and hence the space in which the 
 stars are situated are commonly called 
 the celestial spaces. 
 
 CEL'ESTINS, a religious order of 
 Christians, reformed from the Bernardins 
 by Pope*Celestin V. The Celestins rise 
 two hours after midnight to say matins; 
 they eat no flesh at any time, except 
 when sick, and fast often. Their habit 
 is a white gown, a capuche, and a black 
 scapulary. 
 
 CELEUS'MA, in antiquity, a naval 
 shout serving as a signal for the mari- 
 ners to ply their oars, or to cease from 
 rowing. It was also made use of to sig- 
 nify the joyful acclamation of vintagers, 
 and the shouts of the conquerors over the 
 vanquished. 
 
 CELIB'ACY, an unmarried or single 
 state of life, to which, according to the 
 doctrine and the discipline of the church 
 of Rome, the clergy are obliged to con- 
 form. 
 
 CEL'TIC, pertaining to the Celts, or 
 primitive inhabitants of Britain, Gaul, 
 Spain. Thus we say Celtic customs, 
 Celtic origin, Celtic remains, <fcc. 
 
 CE M'ETER Y, a repository for the dead. 
 
 Among modern improvements, perhaps 
 few are more deserving of commendation 
 than the custom, recently introduced, of 
 appropriating an eligible spot of ground, 
 at a convenient distance from populous 
 towns, for the purpose of human inter- 
 ment. 
 
 CEN'OTAPH, a monument erected to 
 a deceased person, but not containing the 
 remains. Originally cenotaphs were 
 raised for those only whose bones could 
 not be found, who had perished at sea, 
 &c., or to one who died far away from 
 his native town. The tomb built by a 
 man during his life-time for himself and 
 family was called a cenotaph. 
 
 CEN'SER, in the religious rites of the 
 ancients, was a vase, containing incense 
 to be used in sacrificing to the gods. Cen- 
 sers were likewise in use among the Jews, 
 as we find in the 1 Kings vii. 50. "Solo- 
 mon, when he prepared furniture for the 
 temple of the Lord, among other things 
 made censers of pure gold." 
 
 CEN'SOR, an officer in ancient Rome, 
 whose business it was to reform the man- 
 ners and to value the estates of the peo- 
 ple. At first they were chosen out of the 
 senate, but after the plebeians had got the 
 consulate open to them, they soon arrived 
 at the censorship. Cicero reduces their 
 functions to the numbering of the people, 
 the correction and reformation of man- 
 ners, the estimating the effects of each 
 citizen, the proportioning of taxes, the 
 superintendence of tribute, the exclusion 
 from the temples, and the care of the 
 public places. The office was so consider- 
 able, that none aspired to it till they had 
 passed all the rest. 
 
 CEN'SURE, a judgment which con- 
 demns some book, person, or action, or 
 more particularly a reprimand from a 
 superior. Ecclesiastical censures are 
 penalties by which, for some striking 
 malconduct, a member of a church is de- 
 prived of the communion of the church, 
 or prohibited from executing the sacer- 
 dotal office. 
 
 CEN'SUS, in Roman antiquity, an 
 authentic declaration made before the 
 censors, by the several subjects of the 
 empire, of their respective names and 
 places of abode. This declaration was 
 registered by the censors, and contained 
 an enumeration of all their estates, lands, 
 and inheritances, their quantity and qual- 
 ity, with the wives, children, domestics, 
 tenants, and slaves of each citizen. The 
 census was instituted by Servius Tullius, 
 and was held every five years. The 
 word census is still used to signify an
 
 CER] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 69 
 
 enumeration of the inhabitants of any 
 kingdom or state, taken by order of its 
 legislature. 
 
 CENT, from centum, " a hundred," is 
 used in commercial concerns to signify 
 a hundred pounds. A profit of 10 per 
 cent, is the gain of IQl. by the use of 
 lOQt 
 
 CEN'TAUR, in classic antiquity, a 
 monster, half man and half horse. It is 
 intimated by Virgil, and generally be- 
 lieved, that the Centaurs were a tribe of 
 Lapithae, who inhabited the city of Pele- 
 thronium, adjoining to Mount Pelion, 
 and who first broke and rode upon 
 horses. Nations to whom the sight of 
 a man on horseback was new, believed, 
 as did the Americans of the Spaniards, 
 the horse and his rider made but one 
 animal. 
 
 CEN'TENARY, the number of a hun- 
 dred, or pertaining thereto. Hence the 
 epithet centennial for what regularly oc- 
 curs once in a century. 
 
 CENTESIMA'TION, a military pun- 
 ishment, in cases of desertion, mutiny, 
 <fec., when every hundredth man is selected 
 for execution. 
 
 CEN'TO, in poetry, a work wholly com- 
 posed of verses or passages, promiscuously 
 taken from other authors, and disposed in 
 a new order. 
 
 CENTRAL FIRE, a supposed perpet- 
 ual fire, which, according to the theory 
 of some philosophers, exists in the centre 
 of the earth, and to which, in ancient 
 times, volcanoes and other similar phe- 
 nomena were attributed. 
 
 CENTUM'VIRI, in Roman antiquity, 
 judges appointed to decide common 
 causes among the people. Three were 
 chosen out of each tribe ; and though 
 there were five more than a hundred, 
 they were nevertheless called centumviri, 
 from the round number centum. 
 
 CENTU'RION, among the Romans, an 
 officer in the infantry, who commanded a 
 century, or a hundred men. The Roman 
 legions were, in fact, divided into cen- 
 turies. 
 
 CEN'TURY, in a general sense, denotes 
 a hundred ; or anything divided into, or 
 consisting of, a hundred parts The Ro- 
 man people, when they were assembled 
 for the electing of magistrates, enacting 
 of laws, or deliberating upon any public 
 affair, were always divided into centuries, 
 and voted by centuries, in order that their 
 suffrages might be the more easily col- 
 lected ; whence these assemblies were 
 called comitia centuriata. This mode of 
 dividing the Roman people was intro- 
 
 duced by Servius Tullins ; the first class 
 contained eighty, to which were added 
 the eighteen centuries of the knights ; the 
 three following classes had each twenty 
 centuries, the fifth thirty, and the sixth 
 only one century. In chronology, it 
 means the space of one hundred years ; 
 and this is the most common signification 
 of the word. As we begin our common 
 computation of time from the incarnation 
 of Christ, the word is generally applied 
 to some term of a hundred years subse- 
 quent to it. 
 
 CEREA'LIA, in antiquity, feasts of 
 Ceres, instituted by Triptolemus of Eleu- 
 sis, in Attica. These feasts were cele- 
 brated with religious purity ; but the 
 votaries of the goddess ran about with 
 lighted torches, in commemoration of her 
 search after her daughter Proserpine. 
 The word also was used to denote all 
 sorts of corn of which bread is made. 
 
 CER'EMONY, an assemblage of seve- 
 ral actions, forms, and circumstances, 
 serving to render a thing more magnifi- 
 cent and solemn ; particularly used to 
 denote the external rites of religious wor- 
 ship, the formality of introducing ambas- 
 sadors to audiences, &c. Master of the 
 Ceremonies, an officer instituted by 
 James I. for the more honorable reception 
 of ambassadors and strangers of quality, 
 and for the regulation of all matters of 
 etiquette in the assemblies over which 
 they preside. Ceremonial of European 
 Powers, comprises 1. The particular 
 titles due to sovereigns in different states ; 
 the imperial title being considered as ex- 
 pressing some sort of superiority over the 
 royal, and having been in consequence 
 assumed by various kings in their public 
 acts (as the king of England since the 
 union of the crowns.) 2. The acknowledg- 
 ment of sovereign titles, the right to con- 
 fer which was formerly claimed by the 
 popes as their own prerogative, but they 
 are now assumed by princes, and confirmed 
 by the acknowledgment of other sove- 
 reigns. 3. The respective prerogatives 
 of different sovereigns ; which speolcs of 
 precedence is that which has occasioned 
 the greatest amount of discussion and dis- 
 pute when sovereigns, or their represen- 
 tatives, have been brought together. In 
 1504, Pope Julius II. arranged the rank 
 of European powers in the following or- 
 der : 1. The Roman emperor; 2. The 
 king of Rome ; 3. France ; 4. Castile ; 
 5. Aragon; 6. Portugal; 7. England) 
 8. Sicily; 9. Scotland; 10. Hungary; 
 11. Navarre; 12. Cyprus; 13. Bohemia; 
 14. Poland ; 15. Denmark ; 16. Repub-
 
 70 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CHA 
 
 lie of Venice; 17. Duke of Britanny; 
 18. Burgundy; 19. Elector of Bavaria; 
 20. Saxony; 21. Brandenburg; 22. Arch- 
 duke of Austria; 23. Duke of Savoy; 
 24. Grand Duke of Florence ; 25. Duke 
 of Milan ; 26. Bavaria. 27. Lorraine. 
 This arrangement, however, gave birth 
 to repeated contests. At present, where 
 precedence is not considered as established 
 between rulers of equal dignity, each con- 
 cedes to the other precedence at home ; 
 and when they meet on the territory of 
 a third party, they take precedence al- 
 ternately until some arrangement is 
 effected. 
 
 CERIN'THIANS, the followers of Ce- 
 rinthus, one of the first heresiarchs in the 
 church. They denied the divinity of 
 Christ, but they held that a celestial vir- 
 tue descended on him at his baptism in 
 the form of a dove, by which he was con- 
 secrated and made Christ. 
 
 CERO'MA, an ointment made of oil 
 and wax, with which the ancient wrestlers 
 rubbed themselves to render their limbs 
 more pliant. 
 
 CER'OMANCY, an ancient mode of 
 divination, by means of dropping melted 
 wax in water, and observing the shapes, 
 Ac., it assumed. 
 
 CEROPLAS'TIC, the art of modelling 
 in wax, one of very high antiquity. Ly- 
 sistratus, the brother of Lysippus, was 
 the first that used wax for modelling the 
 human figure. He lived in the time of 
 Alexander the Great, and was a native 
 of Sicyon. 
 
 CERTIFICATE, in a general sense, 
 a testimony given in writing to declare or 
 certify the truth of anything. Of these 
 there are many which are requisite in 
 almost every profession, but more par- 
 ticularly in the law and in the army. 
 
 CERTIORA'RI, a writ issuing out of 
 some superior court, to call up the re- 
 cords of an inferior court, or remove a 
 cause there depending, that it may be 
 tried in a superior court. 
 
 CESSA'TION OF ARMS, an armistice 
 or occasional truce, agreed to by the com- 
 manders of arms, to give time for a cap- 
 itulation, or for other purposes. 
 
 CESSA'VIT, in law, a writ to recover 
 lands, when the tenant or occupier has 
 ceased for two years to perform the ser- 
 vice which constitutes the condition of his 
 tenure, and has not sufficient goods or 
 chattels to be distrained. 
 
 CES'SION, in a general sense a sur- 
 render ; but particularly a surrender of 
 conquered territory to its former propri- 
 etor or sovereign by treaty. CESSION, 
 
 in the civil law, is a voluntary surrender 
 of a pcrson*s effects to his creditors, to 
 avoid imprisonment. 
 
 CES'TUS, CAESTUS, thongs of leather 
 round the hands and arms, worn by box- 
 ers for offence and defence, to render 
 their blows more power- 
 ful. The cestus was in- 
 troduced when athletics 
 were generally practised, 
 and the name is Roman. 
 It was a stronger defence 
 than the Himantes of the 
 ancient Greeks ; the sim- 
 ple thongs of leather were 
 still used occasionally in 
 boxing, and in the exer- 
 cises of the Agonistae, and 
 were called Mellchai, be- 
 cause the blows they gave 
 were less formidable than those of the 
 cestus. There are many kinds of cestus, 
 in some the thongs of leather are studded 
 with nails. AVorks of ancient Art abound 
 in which the cestus is represented. 
 Cestus, a girdle said to be worn by Ve- 
 nus, to which Homer ascribes the power of 
 exciting love towards the wearer. It was 
 also a marriage girdle, richly studded, 
 with which the husband girded his wife 
 at the wedding, and loosed again at night. 
 
 CHACONE', or CIACONE, in music, 
 a kind of dance resembling a saraband, 
 of Moorish origin. The bass of it consists 
 of four notes, which proceed in conjoint 
 degrees, whereon the harmonies are made 
 with the same burden. Some have de- 
 rived this dance from cieco, a blind man, 
 its supposed inventor. 
 
 CHAIR, (cathedra), was anciently the 
 suggestum, or pulpit, whence the priest 
 or public orator spoke to the people. It 
 is still applied to the place whence pro- 
 fessors in universities deliver their lec- 
 tures ; thus we say, the professor's chair. 
 It is commonly used for a speaker or 
 president of a public council or assembly, 
 as the speaker's chair; and by a meto- 
 nymy, the speaker himself; as, to ad- 
 dress the chair. Chair, among the Ro- 
 man Catholics, certain feasts held ancient- 
 ly in commemoration of the translation 
 of the see or seat of the vicarage of Christ 
 by St. Peter. Curule chair, in Roman 
 antiquity, an ivory seat placed on a 
 car, wherein were seated the chief ma- 
 gistrates of Rome, and those to whom the 
 honor of a triumph was granted. 
 
 CHALCED'ONY, a kind of quartz, 
 semi-transparent, of a bluish' white, but 
 frequently striped and clouded with other 
 colors. AGATE is a mixture of chalced-
 
 
 
 CHA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 71 
 
 ony and varieties of quartz, often beau- 
 tifully tinted. Chalcedony and agate 
 were used for seals and other works of 
 art. 
 
 CHALCID ICUM, in ancient architec- 
 ture, a magnificent hall belonging to a 
 tribunal or court of justice. 
 
 CHALCOG'HAPHY, a modern term 
 for engraving on copper. 
 
 CHALDEE', or CHALDA'IC, the lan- 
 guage spoken by the Chaldeans, or peo- 
 ple of Chaldea : it is a dialect of the He- 
 brew. 
 
 CHAL'ICE, the communion cup, or 
 vessel used to administer the wine in the 
 sacrament of the eucharist. The form 
 has undergone many variations in differ- 
 ent ages, always preserving, however, its 
 cup-like shape. Chalices are made of 
 gold, but more commonly of silver, either 
 
 whole, or parcel gilt and jewelled. They 
 have sometimes been made of crystal, 
 glass, and agate, but these materials are 
 now prohibited on account of their brittle 
 nature. 
 
 CHALI'ZA, in Hebrew antiquity, the 
 ceremony whereby a woman, left a wid- 
 ow, pulled off her brt>thor-in-law's shoes, 
 who should have espoused her; after 
 which she was at liberty to marry whom 
 she pleased. 
 
 CHAL'LENGrE, in a general sense, a 
 summons to fight, whether in a duel or 
 in a pugilistic contest. In law, an excep- 
 tion to jurors, made by the party put on 
 his trial : or the claim of a party that 
 certain jurors shall not sit in trial upon 
 him or his cause. The right of challenge 
 is given both in civil and criminal trials, 
 and extends either to the whole panel, or 
 only to particular jurors. In criminal 
 cases, a prisoner may challenge twenty 
 jurors, without assigning a cause ; which 
 is called a peremptory challenge. 
 
 CHALYB'EATE, an epithet for wa- 
 ters in which iron forms the principal in- 
 
 gredient, as the waters of Tunbridge 
 Wells. Chalybeates act chiefly as absorb- 
 ents and deobstruents. The action of the 
 particles of a chalybeate, by their elasti- 
 city, together with the momentum they 
 give the blood by their ponderosity, 
 makes it not only preferable to most 
 other deobstruents, out also proper in 
 other cases ; especially where there is a 
 viscidity of the juices, the blood impover- 
 ished, or the circulation languid. 
 
 CHAM, or KHAM, the title of the 
 sovereign prince of Tartary. It is like- 
 wise applied to the principal noblemen 
 of Persia. 
 
 CHAMADE', in war, a signal made by 
 beat of drum or sound of trumpet, for a 
 conference with the enemy, either to in- 
 vite to a truce, or to propose a capitula- 
 tion. 
 
 CHAM'BER, in building, any room 
 situated between the lowermost and up- 
 permost rooms. Chamber, in polity, the 
 place where certain assemblies are held ; 
 also the assemblies themselves. Of these 
 some are established. for the administra- 
 tion of justice, others for commercial 
 affairs. In many languages, chamber is 
 used to designate a branch of government 
 whose members assemble in a common 
 apartment. Privy-chamber. Gentle- 
 men of the privy-chamber are servants 
 of the king, who are to wait and attend 
 on him and the queen at court. 
 
 CHAM'BERLAIN, a high officer in 
 all European courts. Originally the 
 chamberlain was the keeper of the treas- 
 ure-chamber ; and this meaning of the 
 word is still preserved, in the usages of 
 the corporations of London and other 
 places, where the chamberlain is the 
 officer who keeps the money belonging to 
 the municipal body. But in modern 
 times, the court officer styled chamber- 
 lain has the charge of the private apart- 
 ments of the sovereign or noble to 
 whom he is attached. In England, the 
 lord great chamberlain, or king's cham- 
 berlain, is one of the three great officers 
 of the king's household. He has the con- 
 trol of all the officers above stairs, except 
 the precinct of the bedchamber, which is 
 under the government of the groom of 
 the stole. Under him are the vice-cham- 
 berlain, lord of the bedchamber, <fcc. ; the 
 chaplains, officers of the wardrobe, phy- 
 sicians, tradesmen, artisans, and others 
 retained in his majesty's service are in 
 his department, and sworn into office by 
 him. He is commonly one of the highest 
 nobility of the country ; in virtue of his 
 situation he precedes dukes. The em-
 
 72 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 
 [CHA 
 
 blera of office appropriated to the cham- ] 
 berlain in European courts is a gold key, 
 generally suspended from two gold but- 
 tons. The LORD GREAT CHAMBERLAIN 
 OF ENGLAND (not of the household) is the 
 sixth great officer of state. This office 
 belonged for many centuries to the noble 
 family of De Vere, Earls of Oxford ; af- 
 terward to that of Bertie, Lords Wil- 
 loughby de Eresby and Dukes of Ancas- 
 ter. In that line it became vested in 
 coheiresses, by whom the present deputy 
 chamberlain (Lord Gwydir) is appointed. 
 
 CHAM'BRE ARDENTE, in French 
 history, a name given to the tribunal 
 which was instituted by Francis I. for the 
 purpose of trying and burning heretics ; 
 and also the extraordinary commissions 
 established under Louis XIV. for the ex- 
 amination of prisoners, and under the 
 regent Duke of Orleans against public 
 officers charged with certain offences 
 against the revenues, and those guilty of 
 fraud in the matter of Law's bank. 
 
 CHAM'BRE DBS COMPTES, (Cham- 
 ber of Accounts,) in French history, a 
 great court established for various pur- 
 poses ; as for the registration of edicts, 
 ordinances, letters patent, treaties of 
 peace, <fcc. The sovereign chambre des 
 comptes was at Paris : there were also 
 inferior courts in ten provincial cities. 
 
 CHAM'FER, in architecture, the edge 
 of anything originally right-angled cut 
 aslope or bevel, so that the plane it then 
 forms is inclined less than a right angle 
 to the other planes with which it inter- 
 sects. 
 
 CHAMP DE MARS, in French his- 
 tory, the public assemblies of the Franks, 
 which were held in the open air. 
 
 CHAM'PERTY, in law, a bargain 
 made with wither plaintiff or defendant 
 in any suit, for giving part of the land, 
 debt, Ac., sued for, to the party who un- 
 dertakes the process at his own expense. 
 
 CHAM'PION, a person who under- 
 takes a combat in the place of another : 
 sometimes the word is used for him who 
 fights in his own cause. In ancient times, 
 when two champions were chosen to 
 maintain a cause, it was always required 
 that there should be a decree of the 
 judge to authorize the combat : when the 
 judge had pronounced sentence, the ac- 
 cused threw a gage or pledge, originally 
 a glove or gantlet, which being taken up 
 by the accuser, they were both taken into 
 saie custody, till the day of battle ap- 
 pointed by the judge. Before the cham- 
 pions took the field, their heads were 
 shaved to a kind of crown or round, 
 
 which was left at the top : they then 
 made oath that they believed the person 
 who retained them to be in right, Ac. 
 They always engaged on foot, and with 
 no other weapon than a club and a shield, 
 and they always made an offering to the 
 church, that God might assist them in the 
 battle. Champion of the King (or 
 Queen,) an officer who rides armed into 
 Westminster Hall on the coronation, 
 while the sovereign is at dinner, and by 
 herald makes proclamation, "That if any 
 man shall deny the king's (or queen's) 
 title to the crown, he is there ready to 
 defend it in a single combat:" which 
 being done, the sovereign drinks to him, 
 and then presents him with a cup for his 
 fee. 
 
 CHANCE, a term applied to events 
 that are supposed to happen without any 
 known or necessary cause ; or, rather, of 
 which the cause is such that they may 
 happen in one way as well as another. 
 Thus, when a piece of money is tossed up 
 in the air, as no reason can be given why 
 it should fall on one side rather than on 
 the other, it is said to be an even chance 
 which of the sides shall turn up. 
 
 CHAN'CEL, that part of the choir of 
 a church between the altar and the balus- 
 trade that incloses it, where the minister 
 is placed at the celebration of the com- 
 munion. The chancel is also the rector's 
 freehold and part of his glebe, and there- 
 fore he is obliged to repair it ; but where 
 the rectory is impropriate, the impro- 
 priator must do it 
 
 CHAN'CELLOR Under the Roman 
 emperors, a chancellor signified a chief 
 notary or scribe ; but in England it 
 means an officer invested with high ju- 
 dicial powers. The Lord High Chan- 
 cellor of Great Britain is one of the prin- 
 cipal officers of tte civil government, 
 created without writ or patent, by the 
 mere delivery of the king's great seal 
 into his custody. He is a privy counsel- 
 lor by his office, and prolocutor of the 
 House of Lords by prescription. He also 
 appoints all the justices of the peace 
 throughout the kingdom. Persons exer- 
 cising this office in former times having 
 been ecclesiastics, and superintendents of 
 the royal chapel, the Lord Chancellor is 
 still styled keeper of the king's conscience, 
 and for the same reason he is visitor, in 
 right of the king, of all hospitals and 
 colleges of the king's foundation ; and 
 patron of all the king's livings under the 
 value of 201. per annum in the king's 
 books. He is the general guardian of 
 all infants, idiots, and lunatics ; has a
 
 CIIAJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 control over all public charities ; and a 
 jurisdiction of vast .extent, as the head 
 of the law in his Court of Chancery ; 
 where ho decides without the. assistance 
 of a jury, but from which there is an ap- 
 peal to the House of Lords. Chancellor 
 of a Diocese, a lay officer under a bishop, 
 versed in the canon and civil law, who is 
 judge of his court. Chancellor of a, Ca- 
 thedral, an officer who hears lessons in 
 the church, inspects schools, hears causes, 
 writes letters, and applies the seal of the 
 chapter, keeps the books, <fec. Chancellor 
 of a University, an officer who seals the 
 diplomas, or letters of degree, <fcc. The 
 chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge are 
 selected from among the prime nobility : 
 the former holds his office for life ; the 
 latter is elected every three years. 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, an officer 
 who presides in that court, and takes care 
 of the interests of the crown. He has 
 power with the lord treasurer to lease the 
 crown lands, and with others to compound 
 for forfeiture of lands, on penal statutes : 
 he has also great authority in managing 
 the royal revenues, and in all matters 
 relating to the finances of the state. 
 
 CHAxVCE-MEDLEY, in law, the acci- 
 dental killing of a person, not altogether 
 without the killer's fault, though without 
 any evil intention. 
 
 CHAN'CERY, the grand court of 
 equity and conscience, instituted to mod- 
 erate the rigor of the other courts that 
 are bound to the strict letter of the law. 
 
 CHAN'CES, a branch of mathematics, 
 which estimates ratios of probability. 
 
 CHANT, in music, an ecclesiastical 
 song usually adapted to the psalms and 
 litanies. There have been several sorts, 
 of which the first was the Ambrosian, in- 
 vented by St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan. 
 The Gregorian chant, which was intro- 
 duced by Pope Gregory, is still in use in 
 the Roman church, and is the foundation 
 of all that is grand and elevated in 
 music. 
 
 CHAN'TRY, a little chapel or altar, 
 commonly in some church endowed (be- 
 fore the Reformation) with revenues for 
 the maintenance of a priest to perform 
 prayers for the soul of the founder and 
 others. 
 
 CHA'OSj that confusion in which mat- 
 ter is supposed to have existed before 
 the world was produced by the creative 
 power of Omnipotence ; or, in other words, 
 the unformed primeval matter of which 
 everything was made. The ancient poets, 
 and Ovid in particular, represent cliaos 
 thus : that there was neither sun to make 
 
 the day, nor moon to enlighten the night ; 
 that the earth was not yet hung in the 
 circumambient air, nor the sea bounded 
 by any shore ; but that earth, air, and 
 water, were one undigested mass. 
 
 CHAP'EL, a place of divine worship, 
 served by an incumbent under the denom- 
 ination of a chaplain. There are vari- 
 ous kinds of chapels ; as parochial chapels, 
 distinct from the mother church ; chapels 
 of ease, built in large parishes for the 
 accommodation of the inhabitants ; free 
 chapels, which were founded by different 
 kings ; chapels belonging to particular 
 colleges ; domestic chapels, built by no- 
 blemen or gentlemen for the use of their 
 families. 
 
 CHAP'ELRY, the precinct belonging 
 to a chapel, in distinction from a parish, 
 or that belonging to a church. 
 
 CHAP'LAIN, an ecclesiastic who per- 
 forms divine service in a chapel ; but it 
 more commonly means one who attends 
 upon a king, prince, or other person of 
 quality, for the performance of his cleri- 
 cal duties in the private chapel. 
 
 CHAP'LET, in a general sense, a gar- 
 land or wreath to be worn on the head. 
 In architecture, a little moulding, carved 
 into round beads, pearls, Ac. Chaplet, a 
 string of beads used by the Roman Catho- 
 lics, by which they count the number of 
 their prayers, and are called paternos- 
 ters. This practice is believed to have 
 been introduced by Peter the Hermit 
 into the church on his return from the 
 Holy Land, the Orientals using a kind 
 of chaplet called a chain, and rehearsing 
 one of the perfections of God on each link 
 or bead. 
 
 CHAP'TER, in ecclesiastical polity, is 
 an assembly for the transaction of such 
 business as comes under its cognizance. 
 Every cathedral is under the superinten- 
 dence of the dean and chapter of its 
 canons. A meeting of the members of 
 an order of knighthood is also called a 
 chapter. 
 
 CHAP'TER-HOUSE, in architecture, 
 the apartment (usually attached) of a 
 cathedral or collegiate church, in which 
 the heads of the church or the chapter 
 meet to transact business. 
 
 CHAR'ACTER, that which distin- 
 guishes each species of being in each 
 genus, and each individual of each spe- 
 cies. In man, character consists of the 
 form of the body, stature, and gait, 
 which distinguish him from other ani- 
 mals. In mankind, the natural or acci- 
 dental peculiarities resulting from sex, 
 temperament, age, climate, the exercise
 
 74 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CHA 
 
 of the passions, the position of the indi- ' 
 viiliiiil in the social scale, and his mode ! 
 of living. These peculiarities and differ- [ 
 ences are, after the study of the human 
 figure in general, the most important 
 subjects of the study of the painter and 
 sculptor, since upon these peculiarities 
 and differences depend all the signifi- 
 cance of their compositions. Each genus, 
 each family of animals, has also its gen- 
 eral and particular character. So also 
 iu the inanimate productions of nature, 
 trees, rocks, fields, and meadows, which 
 vary in reality as well as in appearance, 
 according to the climate, season, time of 
 day, accidental condition of the sky, and 
 also according to the modifications they 
 receive at the hands of man, the effect of 
 time, or by the effect of natural acci- 
 dents. If all these things, observed with 
 sagacity and selected with taste, are 
 faithfully represented in a picture, wo 
 say that the animals, the trees, the rocks 
 of the picture have good character. 
 
 CHARACTERIS'TIC, in a general 
 sense, a peculiar mark or character, 
 whereby a person or thing is distinguish- 
 ed from all others. 
 
 CHARADE', a syllabic enigma, so 
 named from its inventor, made upon a 
 word the two syllables of which, when 
 separately taken, are themselves words. 
 It consists of three parts ; the two first 
 describing the syllables separately ; the 
 second alluding to the entire word. A 
 charade can only be called complete if 
 the different enigmas which it contains 
 are brought into a proper relation to each 
 other, and as a whole unite in an epi- 
 grammatic point. The following charade, 
 which we borrow from the Dictionnaire 
 de V Academic Franfaise, may be regard- 
 ed as a good specimen of this species of 
 riddle : " My first makes use of my 
 second to eat my whole ;" the solution 
 being chien-dent, (dog-tooth,) or dog's 
 grass. The word charade has been ap- 
 plied to this sort of amusement, from the 
 name of its inventor. 
 
 CHARGE, in a general sense, is that 
 which is enjoyed, committed, intrusted, or 
 delivered to another, implying care, cus- 
 tody, oversight, or duty to be performed 
 by the party intrusted. Charge, in civil 
 law, the instructions given by the judge 
 to the grand jury. In ecclesiastical law, 
 the instructions given by a bishop to the 
 clergy of his diocese. 
 
 CHAR'IOT, in antiquity, a ear or ve- 
 hicle used formerly in war, and called by 
 the several names of biga, triga, qiia- 
 driga, &c., according to the number of 
 
 horses which drew them. When the war- 
 riors came to encounter in close fight, 
 they alighted and fought on foot; but 
 when they. were weary they retired into 
 their chariot, and thence annoyed their 
 enemies with darts and missive weapons 
 Besides this sort, we find frequent men- 
 tion of the currus falcati, or chariots 
 armed with hooks or scythes, with which 
 whole ranks of soldiers were cut off to- 
 gether : these were not only used by the 
 Persians, Syrians, Egyptians, &c., but 
 we find them among our British ances- 
 tors. The Roman triumphal chariot was 
 generally made of ivory, round like a 
 tower, or rather of a cylindrical figure ; 
 sometimes gilt at the top and ornamented 
 with crowns ; and, to represent a victory 
 more naturally, they used to stain it with 
 blood. It was usually drawn by four 
 white horses, but oftentimes by lions, ele- 
 phants, tigers, bears, leopards, <tc. 
 
 CHARIS'IA, a Roman nocturnal festi- 
 val and dance kept in honor of the Graces, 
 when sweetmeats, called charisia, were 
 distributed among the guests. 
 
 CHARIS'TIA, a solemn festival among 
 the Romans kept in the month of Febru- 
 ary. It was well worthy the imitation 
 of Christians ; for at this time the rela- 
 tions of each family compromised any 
 differences that had arisen between them, 
 and renewed their former friendships 
 upon the principles of pure benevolence 
 and good-will. 
 
 CHAR'ITY, in a general sense, that 
 disposition of heart which inclines men to 
 think favorably of their fellow-men, and 
 to do them good ; or liberality and be- 
 nevolence, either in alms-giving or in 
 contributing towards public charitable in- 
 stitutions. In a theological sense, su- 
 preme love to God, and universal good- 
 will to men. 
 
 CHAR'LATAN, one who makes un- 
 warrantable pretensions to skill, and 
 prates much in his own favor. The ori- 
 ginal import of the word was an empiric, 
 or quack, who retailed his medicines on 
 a public stage, and drew the people about 
 him by his buffooneries. 
 
 CHARM, some magical words, char- 
 acters, verses, &c., imagined to possess 
 some occult and unintelligible power : by 
 which, with the supposed assistance of 
 the devil, witches and sorcerers have pre- 
 tended to do wonderful things. The word, 
 in its more modern acceptation, js used 
 to describe that which delights and at- 
 tracts the heart. 
 
 CHA'RON, in mythology, the ferry- 
 man of hell, who conducted the souls of
 
 CHE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 the departed in a boat across the Stygian 
 lake to receive judgment from CEacus, 
 Rhadaraanthus, and Minos, the judges of 
 the infernal regions. He received an 
 obolus from every passenger, for which 
 reason the ancients used to put that piece 
 of money in the mouths of the dead. He 
 was said to be the son of Erebus and 
 Night. 
 
 CHAR'TA, MAG'NA, in English his- 
 tory. The " Great Charter of the Realm" 
 was signed by King John in 1215, and 
 confirmed by his successor Henry III. It 
 is reported to have been chiefly drawn up 
 by the Earl of Pembroke and Stephen 
 Langton. Archbishop of Canterbury. Its 
 most important articles are those which 
 proyide that no freeman shall be taken 
 or imprisoned or proceeded against. " ex- 
 cept by the lawful judgment of his peers 
 or by the law of the land," and that no 
 scutage or aid should be imposed in the 
 kingdom (except certain feudal dues from 
 tenants of the crown) unless by the com- 
 mon council of the kingdom. The re- 
 maining and greater part of it is directed 
 against abuses of the king's power as 
 feudal superior. 
 
 CHARTE, in French history, origi- 
 nally used to indicate the rights and 
 privileges granted by the French kings 
 to various towns and communities ; but 
 recently to the fundamental law of the 
 French monarchy, as established on the 
 restoration of Louis XVIII. in 1814. The 
 C/iarte consisted of 69 articles, and was 
 founded on principles analogous to those 
 of the British constitution, as embodied 
 originally in the Magna Charta, and sub- 
 sequently extended in the Bill of Rights. 
 
 CHAR'TER, in law, a written instru- 
 ment, executed with usual forms, where- 
 by the king grants privileges to towns, 
 corporations, &c. ; whence the name of 
 Magna Charta, or the Great Charter of 
 Liberties granted to the people of the 
 whole realm. 
 
 CIIA'RTER-PARTY, in mercantile 
 law, is defined to be a contract, by which 
 the owner or master of a ship hires or 
 lets the whole or a principal part of it to 
 a freighter for the conveyance of goods, 
 under certain specified conditions, on a 
 determined voyage to one or more places. 
 A charter-party is generally under seal; 
 but a printed or written instrument sign- 
 ed by the parties, called a memorandum 
 of a charter-party, is binding if no char- 
 ter-party be executed. A voyage may 
 be performed in part under a charter- 
 party, and in part under a parol agree- 
 ment ; but the terms of a charter-party 
 
 cannot be altered by parol evidence, al- 
 though they may be explained by mer- 
 cantile usage. The instrument expresses 
 the freight to be paid, and generally, but 
 not necessarily, the burden of the ship ; 
 together with some usual covenants, and 
 others at the discretion of the parties. 
 
 CHAR'TULARY, in diplomatics, a col- 
 lection of the charters belonging to a 
 church or religious house. 
 
 CHARYB'DIS, a much-dreaded vortex 
 at the entrance of the Sicilian straits, 
 celebrated for its engulfing perils, by the 
 ancient writers. It is, however, no long- 
 er dreadful to navigators, who, in a quiet 
 sea, and particularly with a south wind, 
 cross it without danger. 
 
 CHASE, in law, a part of a forest for 
 game, which may be possessed by a sub- 
 ject : though a forest cannot. The word 
 chase has also several meanings in mar- 
 itime language ; as, chase-guns, that lie 
 at the head, to fire on a vessel that is 
 pursued, in distinction to stern-chasers, 
 which fire on the pursuer. With hunts- 
 men, the chase is a figurative expression 
 for their sport in general. 
 
 CHA'SING, in sculpture, the art of 
 embossing on metals, or representing fig- 
 ures thereon by a kind of basso-relievo, 
 punched out from behind, and carved on 
 the front with small gravers. The metals 
 usually chased are gold, silver, and 
 bronze, and among the ancients, iron 
 also. The remains of ancient art show 
 to what a degree of perfection it was car- 
 ried; and in our own times, some very 
 nne works have been executed. 
 
 CHASSEURS', a French term for a se- 
 lect body of light infantry, formed on the 
 left of a battalion, and who are required 
 to be particularly light, active, and cour- 
 ageous. Chasseurs a clieval, a kind of 
 light horse in the French service. 
 
 CHA'SUBLE, CHESABLE, CHESIBLE, 
 called also a vestment, the upper or 
 last vestment put on by the priest before 
 celebrating the mass. In form it is near- 
 ly circular, being slightly pointed before 
 and behind, having an aperture in the 
 middle for the head to pass through, and 
 its ample folds resting on either side 
 upon the arms. It is richly decorated 
 with embroidery and even with jewels. 
 
 CHA'TEAU, a French word, formerly 
 used for a castle, or baronial seat in 
 France ; but now simply for a country 
 seat. 
 
 CHEF-D'<EU'VRE, a work of the 
 highest excellence in itself, or relatively 
 to the other works of the same artist. 
 Thus the Apollo Belvedere, or the Tra,7is-
 
 76 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [cm 
 
 figuration of Raffaelle, are chef-d'oeuvres 
 of sculpture and painting. 
 
 CHENIS'CUS, 
 in works of ancient 
 art, ships are seen 
 with ornamental 
 prows, shaped to 
 represent the 
 head and neck of 
 a goose, or other 1 
 aquatic bird ; this 
 part was called 
 cheniscus, ' and 
 was constructed 
 of bronze and oth- 
 er materials. 
 Sometimes, but 
 rarely, the chenis- 
 cus is affixed to 
 the stern of a ship. 
 CHER'UBIM, 
 in Christian Art, a 
 higher class of angels, the nearest to the 
 throne of God, of which they are the sup- 
 porters. Their forms are known by the 
 poetical writings of the Old Testament. 
 They appear first as guardians of Para- 
 dise, whence our first parents were ex- 
 pelled by a cherub with a flaming sword. 
 Jehovah rested between the wings of the 
 cherubim on the cover of the ark ; and in 
 the history of Ezekiel they are repre- 
 sented with four wings, two of which cov- 
 ered the body and drew the chariot of the 
 Lord through the air. In the heavenly 
 hierarchy the cherubim form one of the 
 three high angel choirs seraphim, cher- 
 ubim, and angels, which constitute the 
 first and upper order of angels ; they 
 rank next to the seraphim. 
 
 CHER'SONESE, a tract of land, of any 
 indefinite extent, which is nearly sur- 
 rounded by water, but united to a larger 
 tract by a neck of land or isthmus. 
 
 CHEVAL-DE-FRISE, (generally used 
 in the plural, CHEVAUX-DE-FRISE, Fr. 
 pron. shero de freez,) spikes of wood, 
 pointed with iron, five or six feet long, 
 fixed in a strong beam of wood, and used 
 as a fence against cavalry, or to stop a 
 breach, <fee. 
 
 CHI ARO OSCU'RO, (an Italian phrase, 
 meaning clear-obscure,') is the art of dis- 
 tributing lights and shadows in painting. 
 The aim of paintings is to form a picture 
 by means of light and shade, and by col- 
 ors and their gradations ; the more truly 
 painting accomplishes this end, the more 
 artistic it will be. Correggio and Rem- 
 brandt are famous for thelrchiaro-oscuro. 
 According to the common acceptation of j 
 the term in the language of art, chiaro ' 
 
 oscuro means not only the mutable ef- 
 fects produced by light and shade, but 
 also the permanent differences in bright- 
 ness and darkness. 
 
 CHICA'NERY, mean or unfair arti- 
 fices to perplex a cause or to obscure the 
 truth ; applied either in a legal sense, 
 by which justice is somehow intended to 
 be perverted ; or to disputatious sophis- 
 try. 
 
 CHIEF, a term signifying the head, 
 or principal part of a thing or person. 
 Thus we say, the chief of a party, the 
 chief of a family, <tc. 
 
 CHIEF'TAIN, a captain or comman- 
 der of any class, family, or body of men : 
 thus, the Highland chieftains, or chiefs, 
 were the principal noblemen or gentlemen 
 of their respective clans. 
 
 CHIL'IAD, the sum or number of one 
 thousand. Hence chiliarcli denotes the 
 military commander or chief of a thou- 
 sand men : chiliarchy, a body consisting 
 of 1000 men : chiliatiedron, a figure of 
 1000 equal sides : and chiliagon, a figure 
 of 1000 angles and sides. 
 
 CHILL'ED. When a cloudiness or 
 dimness appears on the surface of a pic- 
 ture that has been varnished, it is called 
 blooming, and we say the varnish has 
 chilled. This defect arises from the 
 presence of moisture, either on the sur- 
 face of the picture, or in the brush, or in 
 the varnish itself, and can easily be 
 avoided by making the former thorough- 
 ly dry, and the latter hot before it is ap- 
 plied. 
 
 CHIM^E'RA, a misshapen monster in 
 Grecian mythology, described by Homer 
 as having a lion's head, a goat's body, 
 and 'the tail of a dragon. The chimaera 
 appears in Art as a lion, except that out 
 of the back grow the head and neck of a 
 goat, and gigantic carvings of it are 
 found on rocks in Asia Minor, according 
 to Homer the native country of the mon- 
 ster. There are innumerable small an- 
 tique statues of chiraaera, and Bellero- 
 phon, by whom the chimajra was killed, 
 of which one of the most remarkable is 
 in the Uffigi palace at Florence. In 
 Christian Art, the chimaera is a symbol 
 of cunning. It is frequently seen on the 
 modillions and capitals of architectural 
 works executed in the eleventh and 
 twelfth centuries, and again in the fif- 
 teenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 
 CHIMES, the musical sounds of bells 
 struck with hammers, arranged and set 
 in motion by clock-work. In a clock, 
 a kind of periodical music, produced at 
 certain hours by a particular apparatus.
 
 cm] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 77 
 
 CIIIM'NEY, in architecture, a body 
 of brick or stone erected in a building, 
 containing a funnel to convey smoke and 
 other volatile matter through the roof 
 from the grate or hearth. How far the 
 Greek and Roman architects were ac- 
 quainted with the construction of chim- 
 neys is a matter of dispute. No traces 
 of them have been discovered in the 
 ruins of Pompeii, and Vitruvius gives no 
 rules for erecting them. The first certain 
 notice of chimneys, as we now build them, 
 is believed to be that contained in an in 
 scription of Venice, over the gate of an 
 edifice, which states that in 1347 a great 
 man3' chimneys were thrown down by an 
 earthquake. 
 
 CHl'NA-WARE, the most beautiful 
 of all kinds of earthenware, takes its 
 name from China, whence the Dutch and 
 English merchants first brought it into 
 Europe. It is also called porcelain, from 
 the Portuguese porcellana, a cup or ves- 
 sel. The Japan china is considered supe- 
 rior to all other of oriental manufacture, 
 in its close and compact granular tex- 
 ture, its sonorosity when struck, its ex- 
 treme hardness, its smooth and shining 
 appearance, and its capability of being 
 used to boil liquids in. With the Chinese 
 potters, the preparation of the clay is 
 constantly in operation ; and usually re- 
 mains in the pits from ten to twenty 
 years prior to being used ; for, the lon- 
 ger it remains there, the greater is its 
 value. The Dresden china has some 
 qualities which render it decidedly supe- 
 rior to the oriental. Its texture exhibits 
 a compact, shining, uniform mass, re- 
 sembling white enamel, while it pos- 
 sesses firmness, solidity, and infusibility 
 by heat. 
 
 CHI'NESE AVHITE, an empirical 
 name given to the white oxide of zinc, a 
 valuable pigment recently introduced 
 into the Arts as a substitute for the prep- 
 arations of white lead. It is little liable 
 to change, either by atmospheric action 
 or by mixture with other pigments. Its 
 only defect appears to be a want of body, 
 as compared with white lead. 
 
 CHI'ROGRAPH, among the Anglo- 
 Saxons, signified any public instrument 
 of gift or conveyance, attested by the 
 subscription and crosses of witnesses. 
 Any deed requiring a counterpart was 
 engrossed twice on the same piece of 
 parchment, with a space between, on 
 which was written chirograph, through 
 which the parchment was cut, and one 
 part given to each party. It was also 
 anciently used for a fine : the manner of 
 
 engrossing the fines, and cutting the 
 parchment in two pieces, is still retained 
 in the chirographer's office, in the Court 
 of Common Pleas. 
 
 CHIROL'OGY, the art or practice of 
 communicating thoughts by signs made 
 by the hands and fingers ; as a substitute 
 for language. 
 
 CHIiVO MANGY, a species of divina- 
 tion, drawn from the different lines and 
 lineaments of a person's hand ; by which 
 means, it is pretended the inclinations 
 may be discovered. The modern word is 
 palmistry. 
 
 CHIRON'OMY, in antiquity, the art 
 of representing any past transaction by 
 the gestures of the body, more especially 
 by the motions of the hands : this made 
 a part of liberal education : it had the 
 approbation of Socrates, and was ranked 
 by Plato among the political virtues. 
 
 CHIS'LEU, the ninth month of the 
 Jewish year, answering to the latter 
 part of November and the beginning of 
 December. 
 
 CHI'TON, the under-garment of the 
 Greeks, corresponding to the tunic of the 
 Romans, mentioned as early as Homer ; 
 it was made of woollen cloth. After the 
 Greek migration it was called chitoniscos, 
 while the light loose garment or hima- 
 tion was also called cklania, or chlanis. 
 The Doric chiton, worn by men, was 
 short and of wool ; that of the Athenians 
 and lonians, of linen, in earler times 
 worn long, but with the former people, 
 after the time of Pericles, it was shorter.
 
 78 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [cnr 
 
 The chiton, worn by freemen, had two 
 sleeves, that of workmen and slaves only 
 one. A girdle (called, when worn by 
 men, zoma) was required when the gar- 
 ment was long, but that of the priests 
 was not girded. The Doric chiton for 
 women was made of two pieces of stuff 
 sewn together, and fastened on the shoul- 
 ders by clasps. In Sparfa it was not 
 sewn up the sides, but only fastened, and 
 had no sleeves. The chiton appears to 
 have been generally gray or brown. 
 Women fond of dress had saffron-colored 
 clothing ; and the material (cotton or 
 fine linen) was striped, figured, or em- 
 broidered with stars, flowers, &c. With 
 regard to statues, we need only remark 
 that Artemis, as a huntress, wears a gir- 
 dle over the chiton, which is fastened on 
 the shoulders and folds over the bosom. 
 Pallas Athene often wears a double 
 chiton, reaching to the feet, and leaving 
 the arms free. On the statues of aina- 
 zons the chiton is sleeveless, clasped up 
 in two places, leaving the breast uncover- 
 ed, and drawn up sufficiently to show even 
 above the knee. 
 
 CHIVALRY, the name anciently giv- 
 en to knighthood, a military dignity ; 
 also the martial exploits and qualifica- 
 tions of a knight. Chivalry, as a military 
 dignity, is supposed by some to have 
 taken its rise soon after the death of 
 Charlemagne, and by others as arising 
 out of the crusades, because in these ex- 
 peditions many chivalrous exploits were 
 performed, and a proud feeling of hero- 
 ism was engendered. The general sys- 
 tem of manners and tone of sentiments 
 which the institution of knighthood, 
 strictly pursued, was calculated to pro- 
 duce, and did in part produce, during the 
 middle ages in Europe, is comprehended 
 in ordinary language under the term of 
 chivalry. This imaginary institution of 
 chivalry, such as it is represented in the 
 old romances, had assuredly no full ex- 
 istence at any period in the usages of 
 actual life. It was the ideal perfection 
 of a code of morals and pursuits which 
 was in truth only partially adopted; and 
 bore the same relation to the real life of 
 the middle age?, which the philosophical 
 excellence aimed at by the various sects 
 of antiquity bore to the real conduct of 
 their professors. But, in both instances, 
 a system of abstract perfection was pro- 
 pounded in theory, which, although the 
 defect of human nature prevented it from 
 being reduced into practice, yet exercised 
 a very important influence in modelling 
 the minds, and even controlling the ac- 
 
 tions, of those who adopted it. The vivi- 
 fying principle of ancient philosophy was 
 ideal virtue ; that of chivalry, the ideal 
 point of honor. The origin of chivalry has 
 often been traced to the German tribes ; nor 
 has its spirit ever penetrated very deeply 
 into the usages of any country in which 
 these tribes have not either produced the 
 ancestors of the great body of the nation, 
 or at least the conquering and governing 
 class, which transfused its habits and 
 sentiments into that body. Thus Ger- 
 many and France, and England, whose 
 gentry derive their origin from both, 
 have been the countries most distinguish- 
 ed for the prevalence of this institution. 
 The martial spirit of the Spaniards was, 
 indeed, partly animated by it; but in 
 their country it always bore something 
 of the character of a foreign importation, 
 modified by the circumstances of their 
 juxtaposition with the Arab race. In 
 Italy, it existed only among those classes 
 which imitated the manners of France 
 and Germany, and never entered into 
 the general character of the natives, not- 
 withstanding the popularity of the ro- 
 mances of chivalry. Among the Slavonic 
 nations it has never prevailed extensive- 
 ly ; although the feudal constitution of 
 Polish society derived a certain tincture 
 from it, it never penetrated into Russia. 
 It has often been remarked, that it is 
 only within the last two or three genera- 
 tions that the nobility of that country, by 
 their intercourse with the nations of 
 Western Europe, have derived something 
 of the spirit of the chivalrous code, so far 
 as it still subsists among ourselves : the 
 point of honor, and its peculiar concomi- 
 tant the usage of the duel, were scarcely 
 known in Russia before the present cen- 
 tury. It is to the 14th century, and 
 especially to that part of its chronicles 
 preserved by the true annalist of chival- 
 ry, Froissart, that we must look for the 
 period when the line between real soci- 
 ety and that represented in romances wag 
 most nearly broken down. When the 
 usages of chivalry were most flourishing, 
 all men of noble birth, (except the high- 
 est) were supposed to pass through three 
 orders or gradations. They first lived as 
 pages in the train of nobles and chiefs of 
 high rank ; next, as esquires, they at- 
 tached themselves to the person of some 
 individual knight, to whom they were 
 bound by a strict law of obedience, and 
 for whom they were bound to incur every 
 danger, and, if necessary, sacrifice their 
 lives ; and, thirdly, they were promoted 
 to the rank of knighthood. However
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 79 
 
 great the distinction might be between 
 knights in point of rank and wealth, cus- 
 tom established a species of equality 
 among all of the same order, which may 
 be said to subsist among gentlemen of the 
 present day. They formed, all over Eu- 
 rope, a common corporation, as it were, 
 possessing certain rights, and owing each 
 other certain mutual duties and forbear- 
 ances. They were united, not by the ties 
 of country, but by those of feudal obe- 
 dience, which attached every knight to 
 the banner of his liege lord, from whom 
 he held his fee ; but little or rather no 
 dishonor attached to knights who were 
 under no such feudal tie, if they chose 
 their own chieftain wherever they thought 
 fit : they were free adventurers, whose 
 order was a passport in every service ; and 
 in the actual conflict, the hostility of 
 knights was moderated by usage. Thus, 
 it was dishonorable in any knight to take 
 a knight's life if disarmed, and not set 
 him free when a prisoner on receiving a 
 fitting ransom. With regard to the point 
 of honor, which forms the most important 
 feature in the usages of chivalry, the 
 principal objects were religious belief; 
 fealty to the feudal superior ; devotion 
 to some one selected lady ; and, finally, 
 the general character for honor and cour- 
 tesy which it was incumbent on a knight 
 to maintain ; for although his imaginary 
 duties, as a knight errant, to avenge 
 wrong and succor the oppressed on every 
 occasion, were not of course very strictly 
 put in practice, yet his vow to perform 
 those duties attached to his character a 
 certain degree of sacredness which it was 
 necessary to maintain. Chivalrous honor 
 was chiefly supported in two ways : first, 
 by the single combat or duel, whether on 
 account of serious provocation or by way 
 of trial of strength ; secondly, by the 
 performance of vows, often of the most 
 frivolous and extravagant nature. These 
 latter were generally undertaken for the 
 honor of the ladies. The commencement 
 of extravagances, however, was rather a 
 sign of the decline of the true spirit of 
 chivalry. It decayed with the progress 
 of mercenary armies and the decline of 
 feudal institutions through the 15th cent- 
 ury; in the 16th, it was little more than 
 a lively recollection of past ages, which 
 knights such as Bayard, and sovereigns 
 such as Francis I. and Henry VIII. 
 strove to revive ; and finally, it became 
 extinguished amid religious discords, 
 leaving as its only relic the code of hon- 
 or, which is still considered as governing 
 the conduct of the gentleman. 
 
 CHLA'MYS, in antiquity, a military 
 habit worn over the tunica. It belonged 
 to the patricians, and was the same in 
 the time of war, that the toga was in the 
 time of peace. It was a light cloak, or 
 rather scarf, the ends of which were fas- 
 tened on the shoulder by a clasp or buckle. 
 It hung with two long points as far as 
 the thigh, and was richly ornamented 
 with purple and gold. When the fibula 
 was unclasped the chlamys bung on the 
 
 left arm, as with Hermes, or served as a 
 kind of shield, as Poseidon, on the old 
 coins, protects his arm with the chlamys. 
 It is fastened on the right shoulder, in 
 the statues of Theseus and the heroic 
 Ephebes, in a wrestling attitude, covering 
 the breast and enveloping the left arm, 
 which is somewhat raised. The figures 
 of Heracles and Hermes, are quite cov- 
 ered by the chlamys, even below the 
 body, whence the Hermes pillar tapers ; 
 the right hand lies on the breast under 
 the chlamys, and the left arm, covered 
 to the wrist, hangs by the side ; in the 
 centre of the breast depends a lion's claw 
 at the opening of the scarf. In the 
 Hermes' statues, the chlamys, when fas- 
 tened on the right shoulder, forms a tri- 
 angle from the neck. 
 
 CHOIR, in architecture, the part of a 
 church in which the choristers sing divine 
 service. In former times it was raised 
 separate from the altar, with a pulpit on 
 each side, in which the epistles and gos- 
 pels were sung, as is still the case in 
 several churches on the continent. It
 
 30 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CHR 
 
 was separated from the nave in the time 
 of Constantino. In nunneries, the choir 
 is a large apartment, separated by a 
 grate from the body of the church, where 
 the nuns chant the service. This term is 
 used also in music to signify a band of 
 singers in different parts. 
 
 CHORA'GIC MONUMENTS, the 
 small monuments to which we apply this 
 term originated in the time of Pericles, 
 who built an Odeon at Athens for musical 
 contests, not of single persons, but of 
 choruses. The richest and most respecta- 
 ble man was chosen 
 from the ten Athe- 
 nian tribes, as cho- 
 ragus, to make the 
 necessary arrange- 
 ments, in return 
 for which distinc- 
 tion he had to de- 
 fray the expenses. 
 If his chorus were 
 victorious, he had 
 also the right of 
 placing upon a 
 monument erected 
 at his own cost, the 
 tripod, which was 
 given as the prize. The rich citizens 
 whose chorus conquered in these contests 
 displayed great splendor in their monu- 
 ments, which were so numerous that at 
 Athens there was a street formed entirely 
 of them called the " Street of the Tri- 
 pods." 
 
 CHORD, in music, the union of two or 
 more sounds uttered at the same time, 
 forming an entire harmony ; as a third, 
 fifth, and eighth. 
 
 CHOREG'RAPHY, the art of repre- 
 senting dancing by signs, as singing is by 
 notes. 
 
 CHORE'US, in ancient poetry, a foot 
 of two syllables ; the first long, and the 
 second short ; the trochee. 
 
 CHORIAM'BUS, in ancient poetry, a 
 foot compounded of a trochee and an iam- 
 bus. 
 
 CHOROG'RAPHY, the art of delineat- 
 ing or describing some particular country 
 or province : it differs from geography 
 as a description of a particular country 
 differs from that of the whole earth ; and 
 from topography as the description of a 
 country from that of a town or district. 
 
 CHO'RUS, in ancient dramatic poetry, 
 one or more persons present on the stage 
 during the representation, uttering an 
 occasional commentary on the piece, pre- 
 paring the audience for events that are 
 to follow, or explaining circumstances 
 
 ' that cannot be distinctly represented. 
 Several examples may be referred to by 
 the English reader, in the plays of Shaks- 
 peare. In tragedy, the chorus was at 
 first the sole performer ; at present it is 
 wholly discontinued on the stage. CHO- 
 HUS, in music, is when, at -certain periods 
 of song, the whole company are to join 
 the singer in repeating certain couplets 
 or verses. 
 
 CHREMATIS'TICS, the science of 
 wealth ; a name given by Continental 
 writers to the science of political econo- 
 my, or rather to what in their view con- 
 stitutes a portion of the science. They 
 consider political economy as a term more 
 properly applicable to the whole range 
 of subjects which comprise the material 
 welfare of states and citizens, and chre- 
 matistics as merely a branch of it. 
 
 CHRESTOM'ATIIY, according to the 
 etymology, that which it is useful to 
 learn. The Greeks frequently formed 
 commonplace books by collecting the va- 
 rious passages to which, in the course 
 of reading, they had affixed the mark 
 X (xpivros, useful.) Hence books of ex- 
 tracts chosen with a view to utility have 
 received this nanm 
 
 CHRISM, or CHRIS'OM, in the Ro- 
 mish and Greek churches, an unction or 
 anointing of children, which was for- 
 merly practised as soon as they were 
 born. 
 
 CHRISTENDOM, a word sometimes 
 employed in such a sense as to compre- 
 hend all nations in which Christianity 
 prevails : more commonly, all realms 
 governed under Christian sovereigns and 
 institutions. Thus European Turkey, 
 although three fourths of its inhabitants 
 are Christians, is not in ordinary lan- 
 guage included within the term Christen- 
 dom. 
 
 CHRISTENING, a terra particularly 
 applied to infant baptism, denoting the 
 ceremony of admitting a person into the 
 communion of the Christian church by 
 means of baptism, or sprinking with wa- 
 ter. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY, the religion of Je- 
 sus Christ. From the period when the 
 disciples " were called Christians first in 
 Antioch" down to the" present day, the 
 main doctrines of the gospel, and the 
 great moral principles whi^h it reveals 
 and confirms, have been preserved with- 
 out interruption in the church. But not- 
 withstanding this substantial unity, it 
 cannot be denied that the character of 
 the religion has been very materially 
 colored throughout all its history by the
 
 CHR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS, 
 
 81 
 
 circumstances and genius of different na- 
 tions and ages. The foundation of a 
 Christian's faith and practice, his ultimate, 
 and, in truth, only appeal, must be to the 
 facts, the doctrines, and the precepts of 
 the Scriptures, especially to those of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 CHRIST'MAS, the festival observed 
 in the Christian church on the 25th of 
 December, in commemoration of our Sa- 
 viour's nativity ; and celebrated in the 
 church of England by a particular ser- 
 vice set apart for that holy day. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER, ST. We frequently 
 meet with this saint in old woodcuts ; he 
 is represented as a giant, his staff being 
 the stem of a large tree, and he is carry- 
 ing the infant Jesus on his shoulders 
 across a river. This was a favorite sub- 
 ject with the artists of the middle ages, 
 and the saint is placed in the side en- 
 trances of German churches as the sym- 
 bol of the transition from heathenism to 
 Christianity. The incidents in the life 
 of this saint chosen for illustration by 
 painters, consist of the passage of. the 
 river, the conversion of the heathen at 
 Samos, and his martyrdom. 
 
 CHROMATIC, in music, an epithet 
 descriptive of that which proceeds by sev- 
 eral consecutive semitones. 
 
 CHROjME GREEN, a beautiful dark- 
 green pigment, prepared from the oxide 
 of chromium,. Different shades of this 
 pigment are used in porcelain and in oil- 
 painting. Mixed with Prussian blue and 
 chrome yellow it is called green cin- 
 nabar. 
 
 CHROME RED, the pigment known 
 at present by this name is not prepared 
 from chrome, but is a beautiful prepa- 
 ration of red lead. The name chrome 
 red was given to it by speculators, in 
 order to secure a good sale and a high 
 price. Red lead is an oxide of lead, 
 while chrome red is a chromate of 
 lead, which is a durable pigment, and 
 admissible in oil-painting. 
 
 CHROME YELLOW, the most poison- 
 ous of the chrome pigments, and to be 
 entirely rejected in oil-painting : it is 
 not durable. When mixed with white 
 lead it turns to a dirty gray. By itself, 
 and as a water-color pigment, it is less 
 objectionable. 
 
 CHRON'IC, an epithet for inveterate 
 diseases, or those of long duration. 
 
 CHRON'ICLE, in literature, an his- 
 torical register of events in the order of 
 time. Most of the historians of the mid- 
 dle ages were chroniclers who set down 
 the events which happened within the 
 6 
 
 range of their information, according to 
 the succession of years. 
 
 CHRONICLES, the name of two 
 books in the canon scripture. They con- 
 sist of an abridgment of sacred history 
 from its commencement down to the re- 
 turn of the Jews from the Babylonish 
 captivity, and are called by the Beptua- 
 gint irapa\sutoiiiia, (lit. things omitted,) 
 because they contain many supplemental 
 relations omitted in the other historical 
 books. It has been generally supposed 
 that the Chronicles were compiled by 
 Ezra, though circumstances are not want- 
 ing to diminish the probability of this 
 conjecture. Eichhorn gives as his rea- 
 sons for attributing them to Ezra their 
 similarity in point of style, idiom, and 
 orthography to the books of Kings and 
 Ezra ; while the opponents of this view 
 base their opinion on the discrepancies 
 that occur throughout Chronicles and 
 Kings, in regard to facts, dates, numbers, 
 names, and genealogies. 
 
 CHRON'OGRAM, an inscription in 
 which a certain date or epoch is expressed 
 by numeral letters. 
 
 CHRONOL'OGY, the science which 
 determines the dates of events, and the 
 civil distinctions of time. The divisions 
 of time are either natural or artificial ; 
 the natural divisions of time are the year, 
 month, week, day, and hour, deduced 
 from the motions of the heavenly bodies, 
 and suited to the purposes of civil life : 
 the artificial divisions of time are the 
 cycle or period, the epoch, and the aera 
 or epoch, which have been framed for the 
 purposes of history. In order to ascer- 
 tain and register the intervals of time 
 between different events, two things must 
 necessarily be assumed : 1st, an epoch 
 or fixed point in time to which all events, 
 whether preceding or succeeding may bo 
 referred; and 2d, a measure or definite 
 portion of time, by which the intervals 
 between the fixed epoch and other events 
 may be estimated. Of these the first is 
 entirely arbitrary, and the second arbi- 
 trary to a certain extent ; for though 
 certain periods are marked out by the 
 recurrence of natural phenomena, yet a 
 choice of these phenomena must be made. 
 It is on account of the arbitrary nature 
 of these two elements, on which all chron- 
 ological reckoning depends, that so much 
 confusion and uncertainty exist respect- 
 ing the dates of historical events. The 
 diversity of epochs which have been as- 
 sumed as the origin of chronological 
 reckoning, is a natural consequence of 
 the manner in which science and civili-
 
 82 
 
 CYCLOl'KDIA. OF LITERATURE 
 
 [cuts 
 
 zation have spread over the world. In 
 the early ages the different communities 
 or tribes into which mankind were divided 
 began to date their years each from ."01110 
 event remarkable only in reference to 
 its own individual history, but of which 
 other tribes were either ignorant, or re- 
 garded with indifference. Hence not 
 only different nations, but almost every 
 individual historian or compiler of an- 
 nals, adopted an epoch of his own. Events 
 of local or temporary interest were also 
 constantly occurring in every commu- 
 nity which would appear of greater im- 
 portance than fhose which were long 
 past, and constantly be adopted as new 
 historical dates. The foundation of a 
 monarchy or a city, or the accession of a 
 king, were events of this class ; and ac- 
 cordingly are epochs of frequent occur- 
 rence in the ancient annals. Religion 
 also came in to increase the confusion 
 caused by political changes. Soon after 
 the introduction of Christianity, the 
 various sects began to establish eras, 
 commencing with events connected with 
 the appearance of Christ ; but no regard 
 was given to uniformity. In like man- 
 ner, the Mohammedans employ dates 
 having reference to the origin of their 
 faith. All these circumstances have con- 
 spired to render it a task of extreme dif- 
 ficulty for modern historians to ascertain 
 the order of the political occurrences of 
 ancient times. But it is not merely the 
 number of chronological epochs and the 
 various origins of eras that have caused 
 the perplexity ; the measure by which 
 long intervals were compared varied in 
 different countries, and in different ages, 
 :ui;l hence arises another source of confu- 
 sion in arranging the order of time. In 
 the scripture history, the lapse of time 
 is frequently estimated by generations 
 or reigns of kings. Some of the histori- 
 ans of early Greece reckoned by the suc- 
 ('s<ion of the priestesses of Juno; others 
 by that of the ephori of Sparta ; and 
 others again by the archons of Athens. 
 Even when the length of the solar year 
 began to be used as the measure of time, 
 uniformity was not obtained. The length 
 of the solar year is a fixed element in 
 nature, and liable to no variation. But 
 neither the commencement or termina- 
 tion of the year is marked by any con- 
 spicuous sign. Its precise length can 
 only be ascertained by a long-continued | 
 series of astronomical observations. Rude i 
 nations were therefore unacquainted with 
 it ; and even when it had become known > 
 with considerable accuracy, it was still | 
 
 necessary to form a civil year, and ad:ij>t 
 it to the seasons, the solar year not being 
 composed of an exact number of days. 
 .Mo-t nations had recourse to intercala- 
 tions for this purpose. For these rea- 
 sons, and numerous others that might 
 easily be adduced, it is very seldom that 
 the precise interval between the events 
 mentioned in ancient history and modern 
 dates can be determined with any degree 
 of certainty, and great discrepancies exist 
 among the computations of different chro- 
 nologers. 
 
 CHRYSELEPHANTINE, religious 
 images of gold and ivory. These, the 
 earliest images of the gods in Greece, 
 were of wood, gilt, or inlaid with ivory, 
 whence were derived aerolites, the heads, 
 arms, and feet of which were of marble, 
 the body still of wood, inlaid with ivory, 
 or quite covered with gold. From this 
 arose the chryselephantine statues, of 
 which the foundation was of wood, cov- 
 ered with ivory or gold, with drapery 
 and hair of thin plates of gold, chased ; 
 and the rest of the exterior was of ivory, 
 worked in a pattern by the scraper and 
 file, with the help of isinglass. The ivory 
 portion of these works belongs to sculp- 
 ture, and the gold part to toreutic art; 
 they were long in favor as temple statues, 
 as marble and brass were used for com- 
 mon purposes. 
 
 CHRYS'OCOLLA, (Gr. gold green.; 
 The Greek term for a green pigment 
 prepared from copper, (green verditer) 
 and one of the most beautiful ancient 
 greens, Armenian green ; it was obtained 
 by grinding varieties of malachite and 
 green carbonate of copper, also by decom- 
 posing the blue vitriol of Cyprus, (sul- 
 phate of copper) as a secondary form 
 of dissolved copper ore. This pigment 
 is identical in color with our different 
 shales of mountain green; the best was 
 brought from Armenia ; a si-'.-ond kind 
 was found near copper mines in Mm- - 
 donia ; the third, and most valuable, was 
 brought from Spain. Chrysoc-olla, called 
 by ancient painters pra Teen, 
 
 was valued in proportion as iN color ap- 
 proached to the color of a seed beginning 
 to sprout. 
 
 CHURCH, in religious affairs, is , a 
 word which is used in several senses: 
 1. The collective body of persons pro- 
 fessing one and the same religion ; or 
 that religion itself: thus, we say, the 
 Church of Christ. 2. Any particular 
 congregation of Christians associating to- 
 gether, as the Church of Antioch. 3. A 
 particular sect of Christians, as the Greek
 
 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 
 (Shottesbrook Church. England.) p. 88.

 
 CIL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 83 
 
 Church or the Church of England. 4. The 
 body of ecclesiastics, in contradistinction 
 to the laity. 5. The building in which a 
 congregation of Christians assemble. 
 Church, in architecture, a building ded- 
 icated to the performance of Christian 
 worship. Among the first of the churches 
 was that of St. Peter's at Rome, about 
 the year 326, nearly on the site of the 
 present church ; and it is supposed that 
 the first church of St. Sophia at Constan- 
 tinople was built somewhat on its model. 
 That which was afterwards erected by 
 Justinian seems in its turn to have af- 
 forded the model of St. Mark's at Venice, 
 which was the first in Italy constructed 
 with pendentives and a dome, the former 
 affording the means of covering a square 
 plan with an hemispherical vault. The 
 four most celebrated churches in Europe 
 erected since the revival of the arts are, 
 St. Peter's at Rome, which stands on an 
 area of 227,069 feet superficial ; Sta. Ma- 
 ria del Fiore at Florence, standing on 
 84,802 feet; St. Paul's, London, which 
 stands on 84,025 feet ; and St. Genevieve, 
 at Paris, 60,287 feet. 
 
 CIBA'RIJE LE'GES, in Roman histo- 
 ry, were sumptuary laws, the intention 
 of which was to limit the expense of 
 feasts, and introduce frugality amongst 
 the people, whose extravagance at table 
 was notorious and almost incredible. 
 
 CIBO'RIUM, in architecture, an in- 
 gulated erection open on each side, with 
 arches, and having a dome of ogee form 
 carried or supported by four columns. It 
 is also used to denote the coffer or case 
 which contains the Host. The ciborium 
 is often merely an addition to the high 
 altar, and is then a synedoche. In the 
 early Christian times, the ciborium was 
 merely a protection to the altar table, 
 first a tabernacle, then a baldachin over 
 the altar, of which, the canopy used at 
 solemn processions and under which the 
 priest wears the casula, still reminds us. 
 The ciborium was generally supported by 
 four pillars, and is above the altar; be- 
 tween the pillars were curtains, which 
 were opened only while believers made 
 their offerings, but closed in the pres- 
 ence of catechumens or infidels. Cibo- 
 rium also signifies a vessel in which the 
 blessed Eucharist is reserved. In form 
 it nearly resembles a chalice with an 
 arched cover, from which it derives its 
 name. The most splendid ciboria are 
 those belonging to ancient German art ; 
 the finest of these, which was in the ca- 
 thedral of Cologne in the preceding cen- 
 tury, exists no longer. The most remark- 
 
 able ciboria in Italy are the tabernacle 
 over the high altar of St. Paul's at Rome, 
 that in the cathedral at Milan, and that 
 in the church of the Lateran. 
 
 CICERO'NE, a name originally given 
 by the Italians to those persons who 
 pointed out to travellers the interesting 
 objects with which Italy abounds ; but 
 applied universally at present to any in- 
 dividual who acts as a guide. This ap- 
 plication of the term cicerone has proba- 
 bly its origin in the ironical exclamation, 
 " E un Cicerone," (he is a Cicero,) being 
 elicited from the traveller by the well- 
 known garrulity of the Italian guides. A 
 good Cicerone must possess accurate and 
 extensive knowledge, and many distin- 
 guished archaeologists have undertaken 
 this office, which, while serving others, 
 affords them also an opportunity of mak- 
 ing repeated examinations of the works 
 of art, and enabling them to increase 
 their familiarity with them. 
 
 CICERO'NIANS, epithets given by 
 Muretus, Erasmus, &c., to those moderns 
 who were so ridiculously fond of Cicero, 
 as to reject every Latin word, as obsolete 
 or impure, that could not be found in 
 some one or other of his works. The 
 word Ciceronian is also used as an epithet 
 for a diffuse and flowing style and a ve- 
 hement manner. 
 
 CICISBE'O, a word synonymous with 
 cavalier servente, and applied to a class 
 of persons in Italy who attend on mar- 
 ried ladies with all the respect and devo- 
 tion of lovers. Formerly the establish- 
 ment of a fashionable lady was not con- 
 sidered complete without a cicisbeo, whose 
 duty it was to accompany her to private 
 parties and public amusements, to escort 
 her in her walks, and in short to be al- 
 ways at her side ready for her commands. 
 This practice is now, however, on the de- 
 cline. 
 
 CID, the name given to an epic poem 
 of the Spaniards which celebrates the ex- 
 ploits of their national hero, Roderigo 
 Diaz, Count of Bivar. It is supposed to 
 have been written in the 13th century, 
 about 150 years after the hero's death ; 
 but unfortunately the author's name has 
 not been transmitted to posterity. 
 
 CID'ARIS, in antiquity, the mitre used 
 by the Jewish high-priests. 
 
 CILI'CIUM, in Hebrew antiquity, a 
 sort of habit made of coarse stuff, former- 
 ly in use among the Jews in times of 
 mourning and distress. It is the same 
 with what the Septuagint and Hebrew 
 i versions call sackcloth. 
 
 CIM'BRIC, pertaining to the Cimbri,
 
 84 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 |CIR 
 
 the inhabitants of the Cimbric Chersonese, 
 now Jutland. 
 
 CIMME'RIAN, pertaining to Cim- 
 merium, a town at the mouth of the Pa- 
 lus Maeotis, which the ancients pretended 
 was involved in darkness ; whence the 
 phrase "Cimmerian darkness" to denote 
 a deep or continual obscurity. The coun- 
 try is now called the Crimea. 
 
 CINCTO'RIUM, a leathern belt worn 
 round the waist, to which the swords 
 worn by the officers of the Roman army 
 were suspended. The common men wore 
 their swords suspended from a balteus, 
 which is worn over the right shoulder. 
 
 CINC'TURE, in architecture, a ring, 
 list, or orlo, at the top and bottom of a 
 column, separating the shaft at one end 
 from the base, and at the other from the 
 capital. 
 
 CIN'NABAR, one of the red pigments 
 known to the ancients, called also by 
 Pliny and Vitruvius minium ; supposed 
 to be identical with the modern vermil- 
 ion, (the bisulphuret of mercury,) and 
 the most frequently found in antique 
 paintings. The Roman cinnabar appears 
 to have been dragon's blood, a resin 
 obtained from various species of the cal- 
 amus palm, found in the Canary Isles. 
 It is beyond a doubt that the Greeks ap- 
 plied the term cinnabari, generally 
 meaning cinnabar, to this resin. Cinna- 
 bar, as well as dragon's blood, was used 
 in monochrome painting ; afterwards 
 ruddle, especially that of Sinopia, was 
 preferred, because its color was less daz- 
 zling. The ancients attached the ideas 
 of the majestic and holy to cinnabar, 
 therefore they painted with it the statues 
 of Pan, as well as those of Jupiter Cap- 
 itolinus and Jupiter Triumphans. It 
 was used upon gold, marble, and even 
 tombs, and also for uncial letters in writ- 
 ing, down to recent times. The Byzan- 
 tine emperors preferred signing with it. 
 Its general use was for walls, on which 
 much money was spent : in places which 
 were damp and exposed to the weather 
 it became black, unless protected by en- 
 caustic wax. 
 
 CINQUE CENTO, this generic term, 
 which is a mere abbreviation forjire hun- 
 dred, is used to designate the style of Art 
 which arose in Italy shortly after the 
 year 1500, and therefore strictly the Art 
 of the sixteenth century. The charac- 
 teristics of this style are, a sensuous de- 
 velopment of Art as the highest aim of 
 the artist, and an illustration of subjects 
 drawn from classical mythology and his- 
 tory. 
 
 CINQUE-FOIL, a figure of five equal 
 segments derived from the leaf of a plant 
 eo called, particularly adapted for the 
 
 representation of the mysteries of the 
 Rosary. It is frequently seen in irregu- 
 lar windows, one of which is engraved as 
 a specimen. 
 
 CINQUE-PORTS, the five ancient ports 
 on the east coast of England, opposite to 
 France, namely, Dover, Hastings, Hythe, 
 Romney, and Sandwich, to which were 
 afterwards added, as appendages, AVin- 
 chelsea and Rye. As places where 
 strength and vigilance were necessary, 
 and where ships might put to sea in cases 
 of sudden emergency, they formerly re- 
 ceived considerable attention from gov- 
 ernment. They have several privileges, 
 and are within the jurisdiction of the 
 Constable of Dover Castle, who, by his 
 office, is called Warden of the Cinque- 
 Ports. 
 
 CITHER, or CY'PHER, one of the 
 Arabic characters, or figures, used in com- 
 putation, formed thus 0. A cipher stand- 
 ing by itself signifies nothing ; but when 
 placed at the right hand of a figure, it 
 increases its value tenfold. By cipher 
 is also denoted a secret or disguised man- 
 ner of writing ; in which certain charac- 
 ters arbitrarily invented and agreed on 
 by two or more persons, are made to 
 stand for letters or words. 
 
 CIP'OLIN, a green marble from Rome, 
 containing white zones. 
 
 CIP'PUS, in antiquity, a low column, 
 with an inscription erected on the high- 
 roads, or other places, to show the way 
 to travellers, to serve as a boundary, to 
 mark the grave of a deceased person, 
 <tc. 
 
 CIRCE'AN, pertaining to Circe, the 
 fabled daughter of Sol and Perseus, who 
 was supposed to possess great knowledge 
 of magic and venomous herbs, by which 
 she was able to charm and fascinate. 
 
 CIRCEN'SIAN GAMES, (Circenscs 
 Ludi,) a general term, under which was 
 comprehended all combats exhibited in
 
 cm] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 85 
 
 the Roman circus, in imitation of .the 
 Olympic games in Greece. Most of the 
 feasts of the Romans were accompanied 
 with Circensian games ; and the magis- 
 trates, and other officers of the republic, 
 frequently presented the people with 
 them, in order to gain their favor ; but 
 the grand games were held for five days, 
 commencing on the 15th of September. 
 
 CIR'CLE, the circle has always been 
 considered as the emblem of Heaven and 
 Eternity, hence many figures in Chris- 
 tian design are constructed on its prin- 
 ciple, such as the Rotation of the Seasons, 
 which are constantly returning ; or the 
 Adoration of the Lamb, and other sub- 
 jects which are found in the great wheel- 
 windows of painted churches. 
 
 CIRCULATING ME'DIUM, a term 
 in commerce, signifying the medium of 
 exchanges, or purchases and sales, wheth- 
 er this medium be gold or silver coin, 
 paper, or any other article ; and it is 
 therefore of a more comprehensive na- 
 ture than the term money. All people 
 have a circulating medium of some de- 
 scription, and, accordingly, we find all the 
 tribes of savages hitherto discovered re- 
 ferring to some article in estimating the 
 value of the various commodities which 
 compose their capital. But from the ear- 
 liest times, the precious metals, where 
 they could be had, have been preferred 
 for this purpose, because they comprised 
 a sufficient value in a small compass and 
 weight to be a convenient medium. 
 
 CIRCUMAM'BIENT, an epithet given 
 to anything that surrounds or encom- 
 passes another on all sides ; chiefly used 
 iu speaking of the air. 
 
 CIRCUMCI'SION, the initiatory rite 
 of the Jewish covenant ; which, as is re- 
 corded, was first enjoined to Abraham by 
 God, and after his posterity had neglected 
 it during their wanderings through the 
 desert, was solemnly renewed upon the 
 passage of the Jordan. This custom has 
 been long prevalent among Eastern na- 
 tions. Herodotus refers to it as the prac- 
 tice of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, and 
 as borrowed from them by the Phoeni- 
 cians and Syrians. It does not appear, 
 however, to have been considered by these 
 nations in the light of a religious cere- 
 mony. It is enforced by the Koran upon 
 all the disciples of Mahomet, whether 
 from an idea of salubrity vulgarly at- 
 tributed to it in the East, or merely as a 
 distinguishing rite. 
 
 CIR'CUMFLEX, in grammar, an ac- 
 cent serving to note or distinguish a syl- 
 lable of an intermediate sound between 
 
 acute and grave : generally somewhat 
 long. 
 
 CIRCUMFORA'NEOUS, an epithet 
 for wandering' about. Circumforaneous 
 musicians, male and female, are daily 
 seen at the doora of hotels in France ; and 
 sometimes they enter the room, expecting 
 a few sous for their reward. Nor are 
 characters of a similar description by any 
 means rare in London or New York. 
 
 CIRCUMLOCU'TION, a paraphrasti- 
 cal method of expressing one's thoughts, 
 or saying in many words that which 
 might have been said in few. 
 
 CIRCUMPOTA'TION, in antiquity, a 
 funeral entertainment which was given 
 in honor of the deceased to the friends 
 that attended. It was afterwards abol- 
 ished by law. 
 
 CIRC UM ROT A'TION, the act of roll- 
 ing or revolving round, as a wheel. 
 
 CIRCUMSTAN'TIAL EVIDENCE, 
 in law, is that kind of evidence obtained 
 fr(fm circumstances which necessarily or 
 usually attend facts of a particular na- 
 ture. It is used to corroborate personal 
 evidence. 
 
 CIRCUMVALLA'TION, or line of 
 circumvallation, in the art of war, ia a 
 trench bordered with a parapet, thrown 
 up round the besieger's camp, by way of 
 security against any army that may at- 
 tempt to relieve the place besieged, or to 
 prevent desertion. 
 
 CIR'CUS, a straight, long, narrow 
 building, whose length to its breadth was 
 generally as five to one. It was divided 
 down the centre by an ornamented bar- 
 rier called the spina, and was used by the 
 Romans for the exhibition of public spec- 
 tacles and chariot races. There were 
 several of these at Rome, of which the 
 most celebrated was the Circus Maximus. 
 Julius Caesar improved and altered the 
 Circus Maximus ; and that it might serve 
 for the purpose of a naumachia, supplied 
 it with water. Augustus added to it the 
 celebrated obelisk now standing in the 
 Piazza del Popolo. No vestiges of this 
 circus remain. Besides these were at 
 Rome the circi of Flaminius, near the 
 Pantheon ; Agonalis, occupying the site 
 of what is now the Piazza Navona ; of 
 Nero, on a portion whereof St. Peter's 
 stands ; Floras. Antoninus, and Aurelian, 
 no longer even in ruins ; and 1 hat of Ca- 
 raealla, which was 738 feet in length, and 
 is sufficiently perfect in the present day 
 to exhibit its plan and distribution in the 
 most satisfactory manner. The specta- 
 cles exhibited in the circus were called 
 the Circensian games, and consisted chief-
 
 8G 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [civ 
 
 ly of chariot and horse races. The Ro- 
 mans were passionately fond of them, and 
 more particularly of the chariot races, 
 which excited so great an interest in the 
 times of the emperors as to divide the 
 whole population of the city into factions, 
 known by the names of the colors worn 
 by the different charioteers. The disputes 
 of these factions sometimes led to serious 
 disturbances, and even bloodshed. In 
 modern times, the word is applied to de- 
 signate a circular enclosure for the ex- 
 hibition of feats of horsemanship. 
 
 CIST, in architecture and sculpture, a 
 chest or basket. It is a term usually ap- 
 plied to the mystic baskets employed in 
 processions connected with the Eleusinian 
 mysteries. They were originally of wick- 
 er-work, and when afterwards made of 
 metal the form and texture were preserv- 
 ed in imitation of the original material. 
 When sculptured on antique monuments 
 it indicates some connection with the mys- 
 teries of Ceres and Bacchus. The cista 
 found at Preneste, and now in the Col- 
 legia Romano, is of surpassing beauty ; 
 on it is represented the expedition of the 
 Argonauts in a style not unworthy of 
 Grecian art, but by the inscription ap- 
 parently of Italian workmanship. 
 
 CISTER'CIANS, in church history, a 
 religious order founded in the llth cen- 
 tury by St. Robert, a Benedictine. 
 
 CITA'TIQX, in ecclesiastical courts, is 
 the same with summons in civil courts. 
 A citation is also a quotation of some 
 law, authority, or passage from a book. 
 
 CITH'ARA, in antiquity, a musical in- 
 strument, the precise structure of which 
 is not known. 
 
 CITHARIS'TIC, an epithet for any- 
 thing pertaining to or adapted for the 
 harp. 
 
 CITH'ERN, an ancient stringed instru- 
 ment, supposed to bear a resemblance to 
 the guitar. 
 
 CITY, a large town, incorporated and 
 governed by particular officers. In 
 Great Britain, it means a town having a 
 bishop's see, and a cathedral ; but this 
 distinction is not always observed in com- 
 mon discourse. War having rendered it 
 requisite that cities should be defensible 
 posts, the smallness of the space they oc- 
 cupied became a consideration of impor- 
 tance. Their inhabitants were taught to 
 crowd themselves together as much as 
 possible ; and among the expedients re- 
 sorted to was that of building apartments 
 over one another, thereby multiplying 
 the number of dwellings without in- 
 creasing the superficial magnitude of the 
 
 place. Trade, too, by requiring a mul- 
 titude of persons upon one spot, has 
 always been the foundation of what we 
 now call cities. Cities usually possess, 
 by charter, a variety of peculiar privi- 
 leges ; and these charters, though they 
 now sometimes appear to be the support- 
 ers of a narrow policy, were, in their in- 
 stitution, grants of freedom at that time 
 nowhere else possessed ; and by these the 
 spell that maintained the feudal tyranny 
 was broken. City, (civitas,) among the 
 ancients, was used in synonymous sense 
 with what we now call an imperial city ; 
 or, rather, answered to those of the Swiss 
 cantons, the republics of Venice, Genoa, 
 &c., as being an independent state, with 
 territories belonging to it. 
 
 CIVIC CROWN, (corona civica,) in 
 antiquity, a crown, or garland composed 
 of oak-leaves, givA by the Romans to 
 any soldier who had saved the life of a 
 citizen. Various marks of honor were 
 connected with it : the person who re- 
 ceived the crown wore it at the theatre ; 
 and when he entered, the audience rose 
 up as a mark of respect. 
 
 CIVIL, an epithet applicable to what- 
 ever relates to the community as a body, 
 or to the policy and the government of 
 the citizens and subjects of a state. It is 
 opposed to criminal: as a civil suit, a 
 suit between citizens alone, and not be- 
 tween the state and a citizen. It is also 
 distinguished from ecclesiastical, which 
 respects the church ; and from military, 
 which includes only matters relating to 
 the army and navy. The popular and 
 colloquial use of the word civil, means 
 complaisant, polite. Civil Law, is prop- 
 erly the peculiar law of each state, 
 country, or city ; but as a general and 
 appropriate term, it means a body of 
 laws composed out of the best Roman and 
 Grecian laws, comprised in the Institutes, 
 Code and Digest of Justinian, <fcc., and, 
 for the most part, received and observed 
 throughout all the Roman dominions for 
 above 1200 years. This law is used un- 
 der certain restrictions in the English 
 ecclesiastical courts, as also in the uni- 
 versity courts and the court of admiralty. 
 Civil List, the revenue appropriated 
 to support the civil government ; also the 
 officers of civil government who are paid 
 from the public treasury. Civil Death, 
 in law, that which cuts off a man from 
 ciriZ society, or its rights and benefits, as 
 banishment, outlawry, Ac. ; as distin- 
 guished from natural death. Ciril War, 
 a war between people of the same state, 
 ; or the citizens of the same city. Ciril
 
 CLA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 87 
 
 Year, the legal year, or that form of the 
 year which each nation has adopted for 
 computing their time by. The civil year 
 in England and other countries of Europe 
 consists of 365 days for the common year, 
 and 366 days for leap year. Civil Ar- 
 c/iitecture, the architecture which is ap- 
 plied to buildings constructed for the 
 purposes of civil life, in distinction from 
 military and naval architecture. 
 
 CIVIL'IAN, a doctor or professor of 
 the civil law ; or in a more extended 
 sense, one who is versed in law and gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 CLAN, a family or tribe, living under 
 one chief. This appears to have been the 
 original condition of the savages of north- 
 ern Europe ; and from this we ought to 
 trace the germ of the feudal system. All 
 the members of a clan held their lands 
 of the chief, followed him to war, and 
 were expected to obey him in peace. 
 The clans of the Scottish Highlands are 
 tribes consisting of many families all 
 bearing the same surname, which accord- 
 ing to tradition descend from a common 
 ancestor. But it is more probable that 
 most clans were formed of an aggregate 
 of different families, the inferior standing 
 to thesuperior in the same sort of rela- 
 tion as the Roman clients to their patrons, 
 and by degrees assuming the same name. 
 Some clans, however, are divided into 
 branches, each possessing a distinct sur- 
 name. The chieftainship of every clan 
 descends regularly through heirs male ; 
 but in the earliest times of their history 
 the rights of primogeniture were not 
 very distinctly denned. The word clan 
 is also sometimes used in contempt, for a 
 sect or society of persons united by some 
 common interest or pursuit. 
 
 CLANG, a sharp, shrill sound, imply- 
 ing a degree of harshness in the sound ; 
 as, the dang of arms. The words clank 
 and dink denote a more acute and less 
 harsh sound than clans;. 
 
 CLARE-OBSCURE, CLAHO-OBSCURO, 
 Latin ; CHIARO-OSCURO, Italian ; and 
 CLAIH - OBSCUR, French ; a phrase in 
 painting, signifying light and shade. In 
 pictural criticism, it means the relief that 
 is produced by light and shade, independ- 
 ently of color. In the art itself, it de- 
 notes that species of painting or design, 
 in which no attempt is made to give 
 colors to the objects represented, and 
 where, consequently, light and shade are 
 everything. 
 
 CLAR'ICHORD, or CLAVICHORD, a 
 musical instrument sometimes called a 
 manichord. It has fifty stops, or keys, 
 
 and seventy strings ; and is in the form 
 of a spinnet. The tone is soft and sweet. 
 Hence it is a favorite instrument with 
 nuns. 
 
 CLAR'ION, a kind of trumpet, whose 
 tube is narrower, and its tone more acute 
 and shrill, than that of the common trum- 
 pet. 
 
 CL AR'IONET, a wooden musical wind 
 instrument, whose mouth partakes of the 
 trumpet form, and is played by holes and 
 keys : said to have been invented about 
 the year 1600 by John Christopher Den- 
 ner of Leipsic. Like the oboe it is played 
 with a reed mouth-piece though it is of 
 somewhat different form. 
 
 CLASS, a term applied to the scientific 
 division or arrangement of any subject ; 
 as in the Linnasan -system, where ani- 
 mals, plants, and minerals, are divided 
 into classes, each of which is to be subdi- 
 vided by a regular downward progres- 
 sion, into orders, genera, and species, 
 with occasional intermediate subdi- 
 visions, all subordinate to the division 
 which stands immediately above them. 
 Classes are natural or artificial, accord- 
 ing as they are founded on natural re- 
 lations or resemblances, or when formed 
 arbitrarily. Class also denotes a num- 
 ber of students in a college or school, of 
 the same standing, or pursuing the same 
 studies. 
 
 CLASSI'CAL, in the Fine Arts, a term, 
 denoting such an arrangement of a sub- 
 ject that all the accessories or parts are 
 suitable to the general design, and such 
 that nothing be introduced which does 
 not strictly belong to the particular class 
 under which it is placed. In antiquity, 
 the Roman people were divided into 
 classes, and the highest order were, by 
 pre-eminence, termed classical. Hence 
 the name came to signify the highest and 
 purest class of writers in any language ; 
 although, down to a comparatively recent 
 period, the term was used merely to de- 
 note the most esteemed Greek and Latin 
 authors. Nothing marks more strongly 
 the increased attention to modern liter- 
 ature, than the now universal applica- 
 tion of the term to modern languages 
 also, and the establishment, in this man- 
 ner, of a line between those authors whom 
 we regard as models and authorities in 
 point of style, and those who are not so 
 highly esteemed. An author is said to 
 be classical if public opinion has placed 
 him in the former order ; language, or an 
 expression, to be classical, if it be such as 
 has been used in a similar sense and un- 
 der sinylar rules of construction by those
 
 88 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CLl 
 
 authors. The epithet classical, as ap- 
 plied to ancient authors, is determined 
 less by the purity of their style than by 
 the period at which they wrote. Thus 
 we speak of the classical age of Greek or 
 Latin writing. With respect to the for- 
 mer, the classical age begins with Homer, 
 the earliest Greek writer with whom we 
 are acquainted. The purest age of Greek 
 classical literature may be said to end 
 about the time of the Macedonian con- 
 quest, or about 300 B.C. ; but, in a wider 
 sense, it extends to the time of the An- 
 tonines, and embraces a much larger 
 catalogue of authors ; while the centuries 
 subsequent to that time produced a few, 
 who, by the purity of their style, deserve 
 to be ranked with earlier classics. The 
 Latin classical period is shorter; its 
 earliest writer is Plautus, and the lan- 
 guage may be said to have lost its classi- 
 cal character about the same time with 
 the Greek, i. e. the reigns of the Anto- 
 nines ; although this limit is arbitrary, 
 and some later writers, even down to 
 Claudian, are generally included among 
 classics. Within the Latin classical era 
 there is a more restricted period of the 
 purest Latinity, comprising the age of 
 Cicero and that of Augustus. 
 
 CL ASS'IFIC A'TION, in the Fine Arts, 
 an arrangement by which objects of the 
 fine arts are distributed in classes; as, 
 for instance, in galleries of paintings, 
 the works should be arranged in schools, 
 each school being subject to a chrono- 
 logical order of the masters. In numis- 
 matology, the coins should be arranged 
 by countries, and these again in chrono- 
 logical order of the monarchs ; and the 
 like of other branches of the Arts. 
 
 CLAUSE, in law, an article in a con- 
 tract or other writing ; a distinct part 
 of a contract, will, agreement, charter, 
 &e. In language, a subdivision of a sen- 
 tence, in which the words are insepara- 
 bly connected with each other in sense, 
 and cannot, with propriety, be separated 
 by a point. 
 
 CLAUS'TRAL, relating to a cloister 
 or religious house ; as, a claustral prior. 
 CLEF, or CLIFF, a character in music, 
 placed in the beginning of a stave to de- 
 termine the degree of elevation occupied 
 by that stave, in the general claviary or 
 system, and to point out the names of the 
 notes which it contains in the line of that 
 clef. 
 
 CLEPSAM'MIA, an ancient instru- 
 ment for measuring time by sand, like an 
 hour-glass. 
 
 CLEP'SYDRA, a Roman and Grecian 
 
 timepiece, or water clock ; an instrument 
 to measure time by the fall of a certain 
 quantity of water. 
 
 CLER'GY, a general name given to 
 the body of ecclesiastics of the Christian 
 church, in distinction from the laity. 
 The revenues of the clergy were ancient- 
 ly more considerable than at present. 
 Ethelwulf, in 855, gave them a tithe of 
 all goods, and a tenth of all the lands in 
 England, free from all secular services, 
 taxes, <fec. The charter whereby this was 
 granted them, was confirmed by several 
 of his successors ; and William the Con- 
 queror, finding the bishoprics so rich, 
 created them into baronies, each barony 
 containing at least thirteen knights' 
 fees. 
 
 CLERK, a word originally used to 
 denote a learned man, or man of letters ; 
 whence the term is appropriated to 
 churchmen, who were called clerks or 
 clergymen ; the nobility and gentry 
 being bred to the exercise of arms, and 
 none left to cultivate the sciences but 
 ecclesiastics. In modern usage, the 
 word clerk means a writer; one who is 
 employed in the use of the pen, in an 
 office, public or private, either for keep- 
 ing accounts, or entering minutes. In 
 some cases clerk is synonymous with sec- 
 retary, but not always. A clerk is al- 
 ways an officer subordinate to a higher 
 officer, board, corporation, or private 
 individual ; whereas, a secretary may 
 either be a subordinate officer, or the 
 head of an office or department. 
 
 CLICHE', the impression of a die in a 
 mass of melted tin or fusible metal. Med- 
 allists or die-sinkers employ it to make 
 proofs of their work, to judge the effect, 
 and stage of progress of their work be- 
 fore the die is hardened. The term 
 cliche is also applied to the French ster- 
 eotype casts from woodcuts. 
 
 CLI'ENT, a person who seeks advice 
 of a lawyer, or commits his cauge to the 
 management of one, either in prosecut- 
 ing a claim, or defending a suit in a 
 court of jusdce. Among the Romans, a 
 client meant a citizen who put himself 
 under the protection of a man of distinc- 
 tion and influence, who was accordingly 
 called his patron. This relation was in 
 many respects similar to that of a serf 
 to his feudal lord, but bore a much milder 
 form. It was the duty of the patron to 
 watch over the interests of his clients and 
 protect them from aggression, and ap- 
 pear for them in lawsuits. He also fre- 
 quently made them grants of land on 
 lease. In return the client was bound to
 
 OLo] 
 
 AND THE FINE AUTS. 
 
 89 
 
 defend his patron, and contribute towards 
 any extraordinary expenses he might be 
 subject to ; as the portioning his daugh- 
 ters, the payment of a fine imposed by 
 the state, &c. He might not appear as 
 accuser or witness against him in judicial 
 proceedings, a prohibition which was re- 
 ciprocal. If he committed any offence 
 against his patron, he was obliged to sub- 
 mit to him as his judge ; and in ancient 
 times it appears that the power of life 
 and death was held by the latter! On 
 the other hand his security against op- 
 pression at the hands of his patron lay 
 in the injunctions and authority of reli- 
 gion, which rendered the bond of union 
 inviolably sa.cred, as that between father 
 and son. The origin of this relation can- 
 not now be traced ; but it seems to 
 have existed, with various modifications, 
 throughout Italy and Greece. In Rome 
 it appears at the foundation of the city 
 by Romulus, when every family not in- 
 cluded among the patricians was obliged 
 to find itself a patron from their number. 
 The body of clients was afterwards in- 
 creased by the institution by which foreign- 
 ers, who, as allies of Rome, had a share 
 in its franchise, might choose themselves 
 patrons on their coming to settle in the 
 city. The obligations of clients were he- 
 reditary, and could not be shaken off un- 
 less through the decay of the family of 
 the patron. This body alone in earlier 
 times furnished artisans and shopkeepers ; 
 they had votes in the Comitia Centuriata ; 
 and though generally confounded with 
 the plebeians, were undoubtedly perfect- 
 ly distinct from them, as we continually 
 meet in history with instances of their 
 joining the patricians in opposition to 
 the former ; and when some of the ple- 
 beian houses became powerful, they them- 
 selves attached bodies of clients. 
 
 CLIMACTER'ICAL YEAR, certain 
 years in the life of man have been from 
 great antiquity supposed to have a pecu- 
 liar importance, and to be liable to sin- 
 gular vicissitudes in his health and for- 
 tunes. This superstitious belief is sup- 
 posed to have originated in the doctrines 
 of Pythagoras. The well-known notice 
 of the climactcrical year, sixty-three, 
 supposed to be particularly dangerous to 
 old men, in a letter of Augustus Caesar 
 preserved by Aulus Gellius, evinces its 
 prevalence among the Romans. This 
 year has been called by some astrological 
 writers " heroicus," as having been pe- 
 culiarly fatal to great men. The virtue 
 of this year seems to consist in its being 
 a multiple of the two mystical numbers, 
 
 seven and nine. It is certainly singular 
 that usage should have attached in all 
 countries peculiar distinction to those 
 years which are denoted by compounds 
 of the number seven. Thus fourteen has 
 been fixed for various purposes as the 
 epoch of puberty, twenty-one of full age ; 
 thirty-five has been selected by Aristotle 
 as the period when the body is in its 
 highest physical vigor. The same au- 
 thor supposes the vigor of the mind to be 
 perfected at forty-nine : sixty-three is 
 the grand climacterical year ; seventy 
 the limit of the ordinary age of man. 
 Bodinus says that seven is the climacter- 
 ical number in men and six in women. 
 The term climacteric disease has more 
 lately been applied to that declension of 
 bodily and vital powers which is fre- 
 quently observed to come on in the latter 
 period of life, and from which many per- 
 sons again rally so as to attain extreme 
 old age. 
 
 CLI'MAX, a figure in rhetoric, con- 
 sisting of an assemblage of particulars, 
 rising, as it were, step by step, and form- 
 ing a whole in such a manner that the 
 last idea in the former member becomes 
 the first in the latter, till the climax, or 
 gradation, is completed. Its strength 
 and beauty consist in the logical connec- 
 tion of the ideas, and the pleasure the 
 mind receives from perfect conviction ; as 
 may be perceived in the following exam- 
 ple : " There is no enjoyment of property 
 without government ; no government 
 without a magistrate ; no magistrate 
 without obedience; and no obedience 
 where every one acts as he pleases." 
 
 CLIN'ICAL, in its literal sense, means 
 anything pertaining to a bed. Thus, a 
 clinical lecture is a discourse from notes 
 taken at the bedside by a physician, 
 with a view to practical instruction in 
 the healing art. Clinical medicine is 
 the practice of medicine on patients in 
 hospitals, or in bed. And the term clinic 
 was also applied by the ancient church 
 historians, to one who received baptism 
 on his death-bed. 
 
 CLI'O, in mythology, the muse who 
 was usually supposed to preside over his- 
 tory, though she sometimes invaded the 
 province, of her sister Calliope, the god- 
 dess of epic poetry. In his magnificent 
 ode addressed to Augustus, Horace in- 
 vokes Clio as the patroness of the flute 
 or the lyre, or in other words of lyric 
 poetry. 
 
 CLOA'CA, an ancient common sewer. 
 
 CLOCK, a machine for measuring time, 
 called, when first invented, a nocturnal
 
 90 
 
 CYCLOPKDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [cor 
 
 dial, to distinguish it from the sun-dial. 
 This machine consists of wheels moved by 
 weights, so constructed that by a uniform 
 vibration of a pendulum, the hours, min- 
 utes, and seconds are measured with 
 great exactness ; and it indicates the 
 hour by the (stroke of a small hammer 
 on a bell. The invention of clocks has 
 been ascribed to Boethius, about the year 
 510; but clocks, like those now used, 
 were either first invented, or revived, 
 between two and three centuries ago. The 
 clock measures even 24 hours, but the 
 solar day is unequal, according to the 
 situation of the earth in its orbit, and the 
 declination of the sun. Hence the clock 
 is sometimes a few minutes faster or 
 slower than the sun. 
 
 CLOIS'TER, the principal part of a 
 regular monastery, consisting of a square, 
 erected between the church, the chapter- 
 house, and the refectory, and over which 
 is the dormitory. In a general sense, 
 cloisters mean covered passages, such as 
 were formerly attached to religious 
 houses. 
 
 CLYPE'US, part of the armor worn by 
 the heavy infantry of the Greeks, and a 
 portion of the Roman soldiery, consisting 
 of a largo shield or buckler, circular and 
 concave on the inside, sufficiently large 
 to cover the body from the neck to the 
 middle of the leg. It was formed of ox- 
 hide stretched upon a frame of wicker- 
 work, and strengthened with plates of 
 metal ; sometimes it was formed entirely 
 of bronze. 
 
 COACH, a vehicle of pleasure, distin- 
 guished from others chiefly from being a 
 covered box hung on leathers. The old- 
 est carriages used by the ladies in Eng- 
 land were called whirlicotes ; and we find 
 that the mother of Richard II., who, in 
 1360, accompanied him in his flight, rode 
 in a carriage of this sort. But coaches, 
 properly so called, were introduced into 
 England from Germany, or France, in 
 1580, in the reign of Elizabeth. In 1601, 
 the year before the queen's death, an act 
 was passed to prevent men from riding 
 in coaches, as being effeminate ; but in 
 twenty-five years afterwards hackney- 
 coaches were introduced. 
 
 COADJU'TOR, in ecclesiastical mat- 
 ters, the assistant of a bishop or other 
 prelate, (in some instances even of a canon 
 or prebendary, but the latter usage was 
 irregular.) These assistants, in France 
 and other countries, were instituted by 
 the pope. A coadjutor was equal in rank 
 to the dignitary whose functions he might 
 on occasion supply ; hence the coadjutor 
 
 of a bishop was himself consecrated a 
 bishop in partibus inftdelium. The cele- 
 brated Cardinal do Ketz was known by 
 the title of the Coadjutor of Paris during 
 the most active period of his career, hav- 
 ing the administration of the temporali- 
 ties of that see, which belonged to his 
 uncle the Archbishop de Retz. Coadju- 
 tors usually succeeded their principals in 
 their dignities ; and hence arose an abuse 
 which tended towards making ecclesias- 
 tical "dignities hereditary, nephews and 
 other relatives of bishops being named 
 their coadjutors. The institution of co- 
 adjutors to bishoprics is preserved by the 
 French concordat of 1801. 
 
 COAD'UNATE, two or more parts 
 joined together. 
 
 COAT, a garment worn commonly up- 
 permost. Also, a thin covering laid or 
 done over anyth ng, as a coat of paint, 
 &c. Coat of arms, in the modern ac- 
 ceptation, is a device, or assemblage of 
 devices, supposed to be painted on a 
 shield ; which shield, in the language of 
 heraldry, is called the field. Coat of 
 mail, a piece of armor made in the form 
 of a shirt, and wrought over with a kind 
 of net-work of iron rings. 
 
 CO A VES'TIS, THE COAN ROBE, a gar- 
 ment worn chiefly by dancing girls, cour- 
 tesans, and other women addicted to 
 pleasure, of texture so fine as to be near- 
 ly transparent, and through which the 
 forms of the wearers were easily seen. 
 
 CO'BALT BLUE, a beautiful pig- 
 ment compounded of alumina and phos- 
 phate of cobalt. It was discovered in 
 1302 by the French chemist Thenard. 
 There is no reason to doubt its durability, 
 although, when imperfectly prepared, it 
 is subject to change. Cobalt is the color- 
 ing matter of smalts. 
 
 CO'BALT GREEN, a preparation of 
 cobalt, the green color of which is due to 
 the presence of iron : it works well both 
 in oil and water. 
 
 COCH'INEAL, a dried insect in the 
 form of a small, round grain, flat on one 
 side, either red, brown, powdered with 
 white, or blackish brown. This val- 
 uable insect was first introduced into 
 Europe about the year 1523. It is im- 
 ported from Mexico and New Spain. It 
 feeds on several species of cactus. It is 
 small, rugose, and of a deep mulberry col- 
 or. They are scraped from the plants 
 into bags, killed by boiling water, and 
 dried in the sun. Those are preferred 
 which are plump, of a peculiar silvery 
 appearance, and which yield a brilliant 
 crimson when rubbed to powder. This
 
 AND THE FIItE ARTS. 
 
 91 
 
 splendid coloring material is soluble in 
 water, and is used for making the red 
 lake pigments known by the names car- 
 mine, Florentine, and other lakes. Coch- 
 ineal is sometimes adulterated by the 
 admixture of a manufactured article com- 
 posed of colored dough. This is detected 
 by the action of boiling water, which dis- 
 solves and disintegrates the imitation, 
 but has little effect upon the real insect. 
 The principal component of cochineal is 
 a peculiar coloring matter, which has 
 received the names of carminium and 
 cochin elia. 
 
 COCK, this bird is regarded as the em- 
 blem of watchfulness and vigilance ; and 
 from a very early period its image was 
 placed on the summit of church crosses. 
 A cock, in the act of crowing, is intro- 
 duced among the emblems of our Lord's 
 passion, m allusion to the sin ofSt. Peter. 
 
 COCKADE', (from Cocarde,) a plume 
 of cock's leathers, with which the Croats 
 adorned, their caps. A bow of colored 
 ribbons was adopted for the cockade in 
 France. During 1 the French revolution, 
 the tri-colored cockade became the na- 
 tional distinction. 
 
 COCK'NEY, a contemptuous appella- 
 tion of a citizen of London. Various deri- 
 vations have been assigned to this word, 
 all of which are more distinguished for 
 ingenuity than probability. But what- 
 ever may be the origin of the term, its 
 antiquity cannot be disputed, as it is 
 mentioned in some verses generally at- 
 tributed to Hugh Bagot, Earl of Norfolk, 
 in the reign of Henry II. : 
 
 Were I in my castle at Bungey, 
 Upon the river of Waverney, 
 I would not care for the king of Cockency 
 (i.e. of London,) 
 
 COCK'PIT, the after part of the orlop 
 deck, or deck below the lower deck, and 
 altogether below the water. Here, in 
 line-of-battle ships, are the cabins of sev- 
 eral of the officers. The cock-pit is ap- 
 propriated to the use of the wounded in 
 time of action. There is also a fore cock- 
 pit in the fore part of the ship, and some- 
 times an after cock-pit. Cock-pit is the 
 name given to the place where game- 
 cocks fight their battles. The room in 
 Westminster in which her Majesty's privy 
 council hold their sittings is called the 
 cock-pit, from its having been the site of 
 what was formerly the cock-pit belonging 
 to the palace at Whitehall. 
 
 COCY'TUS. in mythology, the river of 
 Lamentations, which was. one of the 
 streams that washed the shores of the 
 mythological hell, and prevented the im- 
 
 prisoned souls from returning to the 
 earth. Milton alludes to it thus : 
 
 Cocytus named of lamentations loud 
 Heard on the rueful stream. 
 
 CO'DA, in music, the passage at the 
 end of a movement which follows a length- 
 ened perfect cadence. In some cases it 
 consists of merely one phrase, in others 
 it is carried to a great extent. At the 
 conclusion of a canon or fugue, it often 
 serves to end the piece which might oth- 
 erwise be carried on to infinity. 
 
 CODE, (from codex, a roll, or volume,) 
 a collection or system of laws. The col- 
 lection of laws or constitutions made by 
 order of the emperor Justinian is distin- 
 guished "by the appellation of code by 
 way of eminence. The Code Napoleon, 
 or civil code of France, proceeding from 
 the French Revolution, and the adminis- 
 tration of Napoleon, while consul, effected 
 great changes in the laws of France. It 
 was a work of great magnitude, and will 
 remain a perpetual monument of the 
 state of things as they then existed in 
 that country. 
 
 COD'ICIL, a supplement to a will, con- 
 taining anything which the testator wishes 
 to add ; or any explanation, alteration, or 
 revocation, of what his will contains. 
 
 CODET'TA, in music, a short passage 
 which connects one section with another, 
 and not composing part of a regular sec- 
 tion. 
 
 CO'DEX, a manuscript ; in its original 
 sense (Latin) the inner bark of a tree, 
 which was used for the purposes of writ- 
 ing. The word was thence transferred 
 by the Romans to signify a piece of 
 writing on whatever material ; e. g. with 
 the stylus on tablets lined with wax, or 
 on a roll of parchment or paper. In 
 modern Latin a manuscript volume. 
 Codex rescriptus, or palimpsestus, is a 
 manuscript consisting of leaves, from 
 which some earlier writing has been 
 erased in order to afford room for the 
 insertion of more recent. Many such 
 codices exist ; and from the imperfect 
 nature of the erasing process, the earlier 
 writing has, in some instances, been re- 
 stored. Considerable fragments of clas- 
 sical works, previously considered as 
 lost, have been thus recovered by the 
 Abate Mai from among the contents of 
 the Ambrosian Library at Milan. 
 
 CCE'NA, the principal meal among the 
 Greeks and Romans. The time of the 
 ccena, or supper, was the ninth honr, an- 
 swering to three o'clock in the afternoon 
 with us, and it consisted of throe courses
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [COL 
 
 They made a libation both before and 
 after supper, and concluded the evening 
 with much festivity. 
 
 C<ENAC'ULUM, in ancient architect- 
 ure, the eating or supper room of the 
 Romans. In the early periods of the 
 Roman history, the upper story of their 
 houses, which rarely consisted of more 
 than two, seems to have been called by 
 this name. 
 
 C(ENA'TIO, in ancient architecture, 
 an apartment for taking refreshment in 
 the lower part of the Roman houses. 
 
 CGEN'OBITE, one who lives under a 
 rule in a religious community, as distin- 
 guished from an anchoret or hermit, 
 who lives in solitude. 
 
 COETA'NEOUS, an epithet denoting 
 of the same age, or beginning with an- 
 other. The word coeval is synonymous 
 with it; contemporary implies, existing 
 at the same time. 
 
 COF'FER, in architecture, a sunk 
 panel in vaults and domes, and also in 
 the soffit or under side of the Corinthian 
 cornice, usually decorated in the centre 
 with a flower. 
 
 COG'NIZANCE, in law, an acknowl- 
 edgment of a fine, of taking a distress, 
 <fcc. It also signifies the power which 
 a court has to hear and determine a par- 
 ticular species of suit. 
 
 COGNO'MEN, in antiquities, the last 
 of the three names by which all Romans, 
 at least those of good family, were desig- 
 nated. It served to mark the house to 
 which they belonged, as the other two 
 names, viz., the prcenomen and nomen, 
 served respectively to denote the indi- 
 vidual and the class to which his family 
 belonged. 
 
 COHORT', a military body among the 
 Romans, consisting of the tenth of a 
 legion, or from five to six hundred men. 
 
 COIN, a piece of metal stamped with 
 certain marks, and made current at a 
 certain value. Strictly speaking, coin 
 differs from money as the species differs 
 from the genus. Money is any matter, 
 whether metal, or paper, or beads, or 
 shells, &c., which have currency as a 
 medium in commerce. Coin is a particu- 
 lar species always made of metal, and 
 struck according to a certain process 
 called coining. The British coinage is 
 wholly performed at the Tower of Lon- 
 don, where there is a corporation for the 
 purpose, under the title of the Mint. 
 Current coin, is coin legally stamped 
 and circulating in trade. Counterfeit 
 coin, that which is forged or stampod 
 without authority. 
 
 COLIPH'IUM, in antiquity, a sort of 
 coarse bread which wrestlers used to eat 
 in order to make them strong and mus- 
 cular. 
 
 COLISE'UM, an elliptical amphithea- 
 tre, at Rome, built by Vespasian, in 
 which were statues representing all the 
 provinces of the empire, and in the mid- 
 dle stood that of Rome, holding a golden 
 apple in her hand. This immense struc- 
 ture was 1612 feet in circumference, con- 
 tained eighty arcades, and would hold 
 100,000 spectators. Down to the 13th 
 century, this unrivalled monument of 
 ancient grandeur remained almost unin- 
 jured; afterwards Pope Paul II. took 
 all the stones from it which were used 
 for the construction of the palace of St. 
 Mark, and in later times some other 
 palaces were erected from its fragments. 
 At present, care is taken not to touch 
 the ruins of the Coliseum, but it is 
 gradually crumbling away of itself, and 
 in a few centuries, perhaps, nothing 
 more may be seen of its upper part ; 
 the lower part, however, may safely bid 
 defiance to the ravages of time. Bene- 
 dict XVI. caused a cross to be erected in 
 the centre of the arena, where, every 
 Sunday afternoon, Catholic worship is 
 performed. The great object of this 
 magnificent building was to exhibit the 
 brutal spectacles of the gladiators con- 
 tending with wild beasts. We accord- 
 ingly read, that on the triumph of Tra- 
 jan over the Dacians, 11,000 animals 
 were killed in the amphitheatres at 
 Rome ; and 1000 gladiators fought during 
 123 days. The gladiators at first were 
 malefactors, who fought for victory and 
 life ; or captives and slaves, who were 
 made to fight for their freedom ; but 
 after a time many lived by it as a pro- 
 fession ; and these exhibitions continued, 
 with modifications, for above 500 years. 
 A very large and most ingeniously con- 
 structed building, erected in the Regent's 
 Park, London, is called the Coliseum, or 
 Colosseum. 
 
 COLLAPSE', to close by falling to- 
 gether ; as, the fine canals or vessels of 
 the body collapse in old age ; or, as a bal- 
 loon collapses when the gas escapes from 
 ! it. 
 
 COL'LAR, in Roman antiquity, a chain 
 ! put round the neck of slaves that had run 
 away, after they were taken. In a mod- 
 j ern sense, it denotes an ornament consist- 
 ing of a chain of gold, enamelled, &c., 
 ; frequently set with ciphers or other de- 
 vices, with the badge of the order hang- 
 ing at the bottom, and worn by the
 
 COL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 93 
 
 knights of several military orders over 
 their shoulders. 
 
 COLLAT'ERAL, in genealogy, signi- 
 fies descending from the same stock or 
 ancestor, but not in a direct line ; and is 
 therefore distinguished from lineal. Col- 
 lateral security, in law, is security for the 
 performance of covenants on the pay- 
 ment of money, besides the principal se- 
 curity. 
 
 COLLA'TION, in the canon law, the 
 presentation to a benefice, by a bishop, 
 who has it in his own gift or patronage. 
 When the patron of a church is not a 
 bishop, ho presents his clerk for admis- 
 sion, and the bishop institutes him ; but 
 collation includes both presentation and 
 institution. Collation, in law, the com- 
 parison of a copy with its original, to as- 
 certain its conformity ; or the report of 
 the officer who made the comparison. 
 Hence, a collator means one who com- 
 pares copies or manuscripts. And from 
 the same is derived the term Collating 
 among printers, by which is meant the 
 examining the whole number of sheets 
 belonging to a book, in order to see if 
 they are all gathered properly. 
 
 COL'LECT, a short and comprehensive 
 prayer, particularly such prayers as are 
 appointed with the epistles and gospels 
 in the public service of the Church of 
 England. 
 
 COLLECT A'NE A, in literature, notes, 
 observations, or any matter collected from 
 a variety of works. 
 
 COLLEC'TIVE, in grammar, an epi- 
 thet for any noun which comprehends 
 many persons or things ; as a multitude, 
 a company, a congregation, an army, &c. 
 
 COL'LEGE, in its usual, though some- 
 what limited sense, is a public place en- 
 dowed with certain revenues, where the 
 several parts of learning are taught, and 
 where the students reside, under a regu- 
 lar discipline. An assemblage of several 
 of these colleges is called a university. 
 The establishment of colleges or univer- 
 sities forms a remarkable period in lite- 
 rary history ; for the schools in cathedrals 
 and monasteries were confined chiefly to 
 the teaching of grammar ; and there were 
 only one or two masters employed in that 
 charge ; but in colleges, professors are 
 appointed to teach all the branches of 
 science. There are colleges of physicians 
 and surgeons, a college of philosophy, a 
 college of heralds, a college- of civilians, 
 <fec. 
 
 COLLE'GIATE CHURCHES, are 
 those that, without a bishop's see, have 
 the ancient retinue of a bishop ; such as 
 
 the church of St Peter's, Westminster. 
 This was anciently a cathedral ; but the 
 revenues of the monastery being vested 
 in the dean and chapter by act of parlia- 
 ment, it became a collegiate church. 
 
 COLLOCA'TIO, in antiquity, a cere- 
 mony at the funerals of the Greeks and 
 Romans, which consisted of placing the 
 corpse, laid on a bier, near the threshold 
 of the house, that all might see whether 
 he had met his death by violence or not. 
 
 COLLU'SION, in law, a deceitful agree- 
 ment or compact between two persons to 
 bring an action one against the other for 
 some fraudulent or unlawful purpose. 
 
 COLO'GNE-EARTH, a substance used 
 in painting, much approaching to umber 
 in its structure, and of a deep brown. It 
 is supposed to be the remains of wood 
 long buried in the earth. 
 
 CO'LON, in grammar, a point marked 
 thus (:) to divide a sentence. 
 
 COLO'NEL, the chief commander of a 
 regiment, whether infantry or calvary. 
 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, the second officer 
 in a regiment, who commands in the ab- 
 sence of the colonel. 
 
 COLONNADE', a range of pillars run- 
 ning quite round a building. 
 
 COL'ONY, a company or body of peo- 
 ple removed from their mother country 
 to a remote province or country, where 
 they form a settlement under the sanc- 
 tion of the government. Also, the place 
 whore such a settlement is formed, as the 
 colonies belonging t'o Great Britain in 
 the East and West Indies, North Ameri- 
 ca, &c. 
 
 COL'OPIION, in bibliography, the 
 postscript contained in the last sheet of an 
 early printed work (before the introduc- 
 tion of title-pages,) containing the prin- 
 ter's name, date, &c., is so termed, from 
 a fanciful allusion to a Greek satirical 
 proverb, in which the people of Colophon, 
 in Asia Minor, are reproached with be- 
 ing always the hindmost. 
 
 COL'OR, the type of color is found in 
 the prismatic spectrum or the rainbotc. 
 In which we discover that a ray of white 
 light in capable of being decomposed into 
 three primitive colors red, blue, and 
 yellow; these, by their mixture, produce 
 three other colors, which are termed sec- 
 ondary ; thus, the union of red with blue 
 yields, when in varied proportions, the 
 different hues of purple and violet ; red. 
 mixed with yellow, yields orange : yel- 
 low, with blue, produces green. Every 
 hue in nature is a compound of two or 
 more of the primitive colors in various 
 proportions. Grays and browns are com-
 
 94 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [COL 
 
 pounds of all three of the primary colors 
 in unequal proportions. Black results 
 from a mixture of blue, red, and yellow 
 of equal intensity and in equal propor- 
 tions. Of material colors (pigments) there 
 is but one (ultramarine) that approaches 
 the purity of the type in the spectrum 
 all the others are more or less impure ; 
 thus we cannot obtain a pure red pig- 
 ment, since all are more or less alloyed 
 with blue or yellow. If we could obtain 
 a red and a yellow of the same purity 
 and transparency as ultramarine, we 
 should need no other pigments for our 
 palette, since, by judicious mixture, they 
 would yield every tint in nature. Local 
 colors are those peculiar to each individ- 
 ual object, and serve to distinguish them 
 from each other. Complementary colors 
 are composed of the opposites of any given 
 color. If this color is a primitive, such 
 as blue, the complementary color is com- 
 posed of the other two primitive colors, 
 viz., red and yellow, or orange ; the com- 
 plementary color to any secondary is the 
 other primitive color ; thus the comple- 
 mentary to green (composed of blue and 
 yellow,) is red, and so on, for the remain- 
 der. Harmony of colors results from an 
 equal distribution of the three primary 
 colors, either pure, or compounded with 
 each other, as grays and browns. Con- 
 trast of color is either simple or com- 
 pound. Each of the primitive colors 
 forms a contrast to the other two ; thus 
 blue is contrasted by yellow and by red 
 either of these forms a simple contrast to 
 blue ; but by mixing yellow and red to- 
 gether, we produce orange, which is a 
 compound contrast, consequently orange, 
 the complementary color, is the most 
 powerful contrast that can be made to 
 blue. Colors are regarded as warm or 
 cold, positive or negative ; thus blue is a 
 cold, and orange a warm, color. Red, 
 neither warm nor cold. All warm colors 
 are contrasts to cold colors. Symbolic 
 colors. Colors had the same signification 
 amongst all nations of remotest antiquity. 
 Color was evidently the first mode of 
 transmitting thought and preserving 
 memory ; to each color appertained a re- 
 ligious or political idea. The history of 
 symbolic colors testifies to a triple origin 
 marked by the three epochs in the history 
 of religion the divine, the consecrated, 
 and the profane. The first regulated the 
 costume of Aaron and the Levites, the 
 rites of worship, &c. Religion gave birth 
 to the Arts. It was to ornament temples 
 that sculpture and painting were first in- 
 troduced, whence arose the consecrated 
 
 language. The profane language of cot 
 ors was a degradation from the divine 
 and consecrated languages. 
 
 COL'ORATURE, in music, all kinds of 
 variations, trills, &c. intended to make a 
 song agreeable. 
 
 COLO'RES FLO'RIDI, the name given 
 by the ancients to the expensive and 
 brilliant pigments, as distinguished from 
 the four hard rough principal pigments 
 of earlier times. The colores floridi were 
 supplied by the employer, and often pur- 
 loined by the artist : they were chryso- 
 colla; indicum (indigo introduced into 
 Rome in the time of the emperors;) 
 caeruleum (a blue smalt made at Alex- 
 andria, from sand, saltpetre, and copper ;) 
 and cinnibaris, which was partly natural 
 and- partly artificial vermilion ; but also 
 an Indian pigment, procured from the 
 sap of the pterocarpus draco, and called 
 also dragon's blood. Other pigments were 
 called colores austeri. 
 
 COL'ORIST, a painter whose works are 
 remarkable for beauty of color. Titian, 
 Correggio, Paul Veronese, Rubens, Van- 
 dyke, are in the first rank of colorists. 
 The Venetian and the Flemish schools 
 have supplied the greatest number of 
 colorists, as well as the best ; always ex- 
 cepting Correggio, the founder of the 
 Lombard school, who is by many re- 
 garded equal to Titian. Color being, as 
 well as design, an essential part of a pic- 
 ture, every colorist is, at the same time, 
 more or less a draughtsman. But expe- 
 rience shows, and theory furnishes good 
 reasons for believing, that these two 
 qualities, which many artists possess to- 
 gether in a moderate degree, are rarely 
 found in an eminent degree, united in the 
 same individual, and still less in the 
 same picture. 
 
 COLOS'SAL, in the Fine Arts, a term 
 applied to any work of art remarkable 
 for its extraordinary dimensions. It is, 
 however, more applied to works in sculp- 
 ture than in the other arts. It seems 
 probable that colossal statues had their 
 origin from the attempt to astonish by 
 size at a period when the science of pro- 
 portion and that of imitation were in 
 their infancy. Colossal statues of the di- 
 vinities were common both in Asia and 
 Egypt. By the description of the palace 
 or temple attributed to Semiramis it 
 abounded with colossal statues, among 
 which was one of Jupiter forty feet in 
 height. In Babylon we learn from Dan- 
 iel that the pakices were filled with 
 statues of an enormous size, and in the 
 present day the ruins of India present us
 
 COM] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 with statues of extraordinary dimensions. 
 The Egyptians surpassed the Asiatics in 
 these gigantic monuments, considering , 
 tliu beautiful finish they gave to such a j 
 hard material as granite. Sesostris, ac- j 
 cording to history, appears to have been i 
 the first who raised these colossal masses, 
 the statues of himself and his wife, which 
 he placed before the temple of Vulcan, 
 having been thirty cubits in height. This 
 example was imitated by his successors, 
 as the ruins of Thebes sufficiently testify. 
 The taste for colossal statues prevailed 
 also among the Greeks. The great Phi- 
 dias contributed several works of this 
 order. The statue of Apollo at Rhodes, 
 was executed by Cnares, a disciple of Ly- 
 sippus, who devoted himself to this object 
 during twelve years. It was placed at 
 the entrance of the harbor, with the right 
 foot standing on one side the land and 
 the left on the other. It was of brass, 
 and is said to have existed nearly four- 
 teen centuries, before the period in which 
 it fell by the shock of an earthquake. 
 When the Saracens became possessed of 
 Rhodes, they found the statue in a pros- 
 trate state, and sold it to a Jew, by 
 whom 900 camels were laden with the 
 materials. The colossus at Tarentum by 
 Lysippe was no less than forty cubits 
 in height ; and the difficulty of removing 
 it, rather than the moderation of the 
 conqueror, prevented Fabius carrying it 
 off with the Hercules from the same city. 
 But the proposition made to Alexander 
 of cutting Mount Athos into a statue, in 
 one of whose hands a city was to be 
 placed capable of holding ten thousand 
 inhabitants, whilst in the other he was to 
 hold a vessel pouring out the torrents 
 from the mountain, exceeds all others in 
 history. Before the time of the Romans 
 colossal statues were frequently executed 
 in Italy. The first monument of this 
 nature set up in Rome was one placed in 
 the capitol by Sp. Carvillius after his 
 victory over the Samnites. This was suc- 
 ceeded in after-times by many others, of 
 which those now on Monte Cavallo, said 
 to be of Castor and Pollux, are well 
 known to most persons. In modern times 
 the largest that has been erected is that 
 of S. Carlo Boromeo at Arona near Milan. 
 This gigantic statue is upwards of sixty 
 feet in height. 
 
 COLUMBA, ST., this saint is repre- 
 sented with a crown upon her head, and 
 standing on a pile of burning wood, an 
 angel by her side ; sometimes she holds 
 a sword. According to the legend, the 
 angel is said to have extinguished the 
 
 flames with his wings., whereupon she was 
 beheaded by order of the Emperor Au- 
 relian, at Cordova, A.D. 273. The idea 
 that she was of royal blood appears) to 
 have arisen from the crown, which, on 
 the contrary, refers to her being a mar- 
 tyr. 
 
 COLUMBA'RIUM, in architecture, a 
 pigeon-house or dovecote. From the 
 similarity the arched and square-headed 
 recesses in the walls of cemeteries, which 
 were made to receive the cinerary urns, 
 were also called columbaria. 
 
 COLUM'BIAN, an epithet for any- 
 thing pertaining to America, from its 
 having been discovered by Columbus. 
 
 COL'UMN, in architecture, a cylin- 
 drical pillar, or long round body of wood, 
 stone, or iron, which serves either for the 
 support or ornament of a building. It 
 consists of a capital, which is the top or 
 head ; the shaft, which is the cylindrical 
 part ; and the base, or that on which it 
 rests. Columns are distinguished as to 
 their form into the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, 
 Corinthian, and Composite. The Tuscan 
 is characterized by being rude, simple 
 and massy ; the Doric is next in strength 
 and massiveness to the Tuscan ; the Ionic 
 is more slender than the Tuscan and 
 Doric ; the Corinthian is more delicate 
 in its form and proportions, and enriched 
 with ornaments ; and the Composite is a 
 species of the Corinthian. In strictness, 
 the shaft of a column consists of one en- 
 tire piece ; but it is often composed of 
 different pieces, so united as to have the 
 appearance of one entire piece. The 
 word column has also many other mean- 
 ings ; as, a division of a page, which may 
 contain two or more columns. A large 
 body of troops drawn up in order ; as, a 
 solid column. Any body pressing on its 
 base, and of the same diameter as its 
 base ; as, a column of water, air, or mer- 
 cury. 
 
 COM'EDY. (From the Greek words 
 (coifii), village, and coJ/;, a song; because 
 the original rude dialogues, intermixed 
 with singing and dancing, out of which 
 the early Greek comedy arose, were sung 
 by rustic actors at village festivals.) A 
 species of drama, of which the character- 
 istics in modern usage are, that its inci- 
 dents and language approach nearly to 
 those of ordinary life ; that the termina- 
 tion of its intrigue is happy ; and that it 
 is distinguished by greater length and 
 greater complexity of plot from tho light- 
 er theatrical piece entitled a farce. The 
 original Attic comedy was a burlesque 
 tragedy in form, in substance a satire on
 
 96 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [COM 
 
 individuals, and founded on political or 
 other matters of public interest. The 
 modern comedy is derived from the new 
 comedy of the Greeks, of which Menander 
 and Philemon were the principal authors, 
 and which has been preserved to us 
 through the Latin imitations of Plautus 
 and Terence. According to Bossu, com- 
 edy differs from tragedy in this, that 
 comic writers invent both the names of 
 the persons and the actions which they 
 represent ; whereas the tragic writers in- 
 vent only the latter, taking the former 
 from history. Among us, comedy is dis- 
 tinguished from farce, as the former rep- 
 resents nature as she is, the other dis- 
 torts and overcharges her; but whether 
 it be to recommend virtue or to render 
 folly ridiculous, the real intention and 
 effect are amusement. 
 
 COMI'TIA, in Roman antiquity, an 
 assembly of the people, either in the 
 Comitium or Campus Martins, for the 
 election of magistrates, or consulting on 
 the important affairs of the republic. The 
 people originally gave their votes vivd 
 voce, but in process of time this was su- 
 perseded by the use of tablets. The 
 comitia were of three kinds, distin- 
 guished by the epithets, Curiata, Cen- 
 turiata, and Tributa. 1. The comitia 
 curiata were the assemblies of the pa- 
 trician houses or populus ; and in these, 
 before the plebeians attained political 
 importance, was vested the supreme pow- 
 er of the state. The name curiata was 
 given because the people voted in curias, 
 each curia giving a single vote represent- 
 ing the sentiments of the majority of the 
 members composing it; which was the 
 manner in which the tribes and centuries 
 also gave their suffrages in their respec- 
 tive comitia. After the institution of the 
 comitia centuriata, the functions of the 
 curiata were nearly confined to the elec- 
 tion of certain priests, and passing a law 
 to confirm the dignities imposed by the 
 people. 2. The comitia centuriata were 
 the assemblies of the whole Roman peo- 
 ple, including patricians, clients, and 
 plebeians, in which they voted by cen- 
 turies. By the constitution of the cen- 
 turies, these comitia were chiefly in the 
 hands of the plebeians, and so served ori- 
 ginally as a counterpoise to the powers 
 of the comitia curiata, for which pur- 
 pose they were first instituted by the law- 
 giver king Servius Tullius. These comi- 
 tia quickly obtained the chief importance, 
 and public matters of the greatest mo- 
 ment were transacted in them ; as the 
 elections of consuls, praetors, and censors, 
 
 and the passing laws and trials for high 
 treason. 3. The comitia tributa were the 
 assemblies of the plebeian tribes. They 
 were first instituted after the expulsion 
 of the kings ; and in them were trans- 
 acted matters pertaining to the plebeians 
 alone, as the election of their tribunes 
 and sediles. 
 
 COM'MA, in grammar, a point or char- 
 acter marked thus ( , ) denoting the short- 
 est pause in reading, and separating a 
 sentence into divisions or members. In 
 theoretic music, it is a term to show the 
 exact proportions between concords. 
 
 COMMANDANT', the commanding 
 officer of a place or of a body of forces. 
 
 COMMAND'ER, the chief officer of an 
 army, or one who has the command of 
 a body of men. The commander-in- 
 chief in the British army is he who has 
 the supreme command over all the land 
 forces in Great Britain. In the naval 
 service the chief admiral in any port or 
 station is so called. The commander of 
 a ship, otherwise called the master, is an 
 officer next in rank to a post captain, 
 who has the command of a ship of war 
 under 18 guns, a sloop, &c. 
 
 COMMENCEMENT, an annual pub- 
 lic assembly of a university, or the day 
 on which degrees are publicly conferred 
 on students who have finished a collegiate 
 education. 
 
 COMMEND'AM, in ecclesiastical law, 
 the trust or administration of the reve- 
 nues of a benefice given to a layman to 
 hold as a deposit for six months, in or- 
 der to repairs, &c., or to an ecclesiastic to 
 perform the pastoral duties till the bene- 
 fice is provided with a regular incumbent. 
 In England, the right of granting bene- 
 fices in commendam is vested in the 
 crown by a statue of Henry VIII. One 
 who holds a living in commendam is call- 
 ed a commendatory. Commendatory 
 letters, are letters sent from one bishop 
 to another in behalf of any of the cler- 
 gy, &c- 
 
 COMMENTAC'ULUM, in antiquity, a 
 wand wh4ch those who were going to sac- 
 ! rifice held in their hand, to make people 
 stand out of the way. 
 
 COM'MENTARY, an explanation of 
 the obscure passages in an author ; or an 
 historical narrative, as, the Commentaries 
 of Caesar. 
 
 COM'MERCE, in a general sense, is 
 the intercourse of nation* in each other's 
 produce or manufactures, in which the 
 superfluities of one are given for those 
 of another, and then re-exchanged with 
 other nations for mutual wants. Com-
 
 COM] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 merce is lv>th ^b~*;'p r n and in?ar;4. For- 
 eign commerce is the trade which one 
 nation carries on with another ; inland 
 commerce, or inland trade, is the trade 
 in the exchange of commodities between 
 citizens of the same nation. The benefits 
 of commercial intercourse have been felt 
 and admitted from the earliest times ; 
 but they have never been so highly ap- 
 preciated, or carried to such an extent as 
 at present. It gives a stimulus to in- 
 dustry ; supplies mankind with enjoy- 
 ments to which they would otherwise be 
 strangers, tends greatly to obliterate un- 
 founded prejudices between nations; ex- 
 cites a spirit of laudable competition 
 aiuonjr all classes ; enables one country 
 to profit by the inventions of another ; 
 diffuses the blessings of civilization to 
 the most remote corners of the earth ; 
 enlarges the powers and faculties of the 
 mind ; and advances human knowledge 
 by the improvements which it carries into 
 every art and science. On the other 
 hand, it cannot be denied that it has con- 
 tributed to unjust aggressions, and that 
 the peace and welfare of man have often 
 been made subservient to commercial 
 avarice. Yet much as the evils attribut- 
 ed to commerce have been deplored by 
 some moral writers, we cannot but adopt 
 the sentiments of one who says, " To com- 
 merce, with all its mischiefs, with all its 
 crimes, committed upon every shore, its 
 depopulation of fields, and corruption of 
 cities, to commerce we must attribute 
 that growing intimacy between the mem- 
 bers of the human race from which great 
 benefits have redounded, and greater still 
 may spring." 
 
 COMMISSA'KIATE, the whole body 
 of officers in the commissary's depart- 
 ment. 
 
 COM'MISSARY, in a general sense, 
 one who is sent or delegated to execute 
 some office or duty, as the representative 
 of his superior. In military affairs, an 
 officer, who has the charge of furnishing 
 provisions, clothing, &c. for an army. 
 There are various separate duties de- 
 volving on commissaries, and they have 
 names accordingly : as the commissary- 
 general, who is at the head of the de- 
 partment; deputy-commissaries, &c. In 
 ecclesiastical law, an officer of the bishop 
 who exercises spiritual jurisdiction in 
 distant parts of the diocese. 
 
 COMMISSION, in law, the warrant, 
 or letters patent by which one is author- 
 ized to exercise jurisdiction. In mili- 
 tary affairs, the warrant or authority by 
 which one holds* any post in the army : 
 
 in distinction to the inferior or non-com- 
 missioned officers. In commerce, the 
 order by which any one traffics or nego- 
 tiates for another ; also the per centage 
 given to factors and agents for transact- 
 ing the business of others. 
 
 COMMISSIONER, a person author- 
 ized by commission, letters-patent, or 
 other lawful warrant, to examine any 
 matters, or execute any public office, &c. 
 
 COMMITMENT, is the sending a 
 person to prison by warrant or order, 
 either for a crime or contumacy. 
 
 COMMITTEE, certain persons elected 
 or appointed, to whom any matter or 
 business is referred, either by a legisla- 
 tive body, or by any corporation or soci- 
 ety. A Committee of the Legislature, 
 signifies a certain number of members 
 appointed by the house to proceed on 
 some specific business. The whole house 
 frequently resolves itself into a com- 
 mittee, in which case, each member has 
 a right to speak as often as he pleases. 
 When the house is not in committee, 
 each gives his opinion regularly, and is 
 only allowed to speak once, unless to ex- 
 plain himself. Standing committees are 
 such as continue during the existence of 
 the legislature. Special committees are 
 appointed to consider and report on par- 
 ticular subjects. 
 
 COMMOD'ITY, in commerce, any mer- 
 chandise which a person deals in. Staple 
 commodities, such wares and merchan- 
 dises as are the proper produce or manu- 
 facture of the country. 
 
 COM'MODORE, an officer in the navy, 
 invested with the command of a detach- 
 ment of ships of war destined for a par- 
 ticular purpose. The Commodore of a 
 convoy is the leading ship in a fleet of 
 merchantmen, and carries a light in her 
 top to conduct the other ships. 
 
 COM'MON, a tract of ground, or open 
 space, the use of which is not appropri- 
 ated to an individual, but belongs to the 
 public, or to a number. The right which 
 a person has to pasture his cattle on land 
 of another, or to dig turf, or catch fish, 
 or cut wood, or the like, is called common 
 of pasture, or turbary, of piscary, and of 
 estovers. 
 
 COMMON COUN'CIL, the council of 
 a city or corporate town, empowered to 
 make by-laws for the government of the 
 citizens. It is generally used in speak- 
 ing of a court in the city of London, com- 
 posed of the lord mayor, aldermen, and 
 a certain number of citizens called com- 
 mon-councilmen. The city of London is 
 divided into 24 wards ; the chief magis-
 
 98 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [COM 
 
 trate of each ward has the title of alder- 
 oian ; the 24 aldermen, with the lord 
 mayor, form the court of aldermen ; and 
 certain inhabitants chosen out of each 
 ward, for the purpose of assisting the al- 
 dermen with their advice in public af- 
 fairs, form the court of common, council. 
 
 COMMON LAW, the law that receives 
 its binding force from immemorial usage 
 and universal reception, in distinction 
 from the written or statute law ; and 
 which chiefly originated in judicial deci- 
 sions founded on natural justice and 
 equity, or on local customs. 
 
 COMMONPLACE-BOOK, a register 
 of such thoughts and observations as 
 occur to a person of reading or reflection. 
 
 COMMON PLEAS, a superior court 
 where pleas or causes are heard between 
 subject and subject. 
 
 COMMON PRAYER BOOK, the name 
 given to the collection of all the offices 
 of regular and occasional worship accord- 
 ing to the forms of the church of England. 
 The basis of this book is to be found in 
 the King's Primer, set forth in 1546 by 
 Henry VIII., which was intended to con- 
 vey instruction to the people in the most 
 important parts of the church service ; 
 but contained little more than the Creed, 
 Lord's Prayer, Commandments, and Lit- 
 any. This Primer underwent two revi- 
 sions and republications under Edward 
 VI., whose second Liturgy approaches 
 very near in its contents to that which 
 exists at present. It was at that review 
 that the Sentences, Exhortation, Confes- 
 sion, and Absolution were prefixed to the 
 Daily Service ; the Decalogue was intro- 
 duced into the Communion Service ; and 
 certain remnants of the Romish customs 
 were finally abolished, as the sign of the 
 cross in confirmation and matrimony, the 
 anointing of the sick, and the prayers for 
 the dead. On the accession of Elizabeth, 
 another review of the Liturgy was insti- 
 tuted ; but the alterations effected were 
 little more than in the selection of the 
 lessons. At the review in the reign of 
 James I., after the conference with the 
 Presbyterians at Hampton Court, no 
 change of importance was introduced, 
 except the addition of the explanation of 
 the Sacraments in the Catechism. Again, 
 when on the restoration of Charles II. a 
 conference had been held with the dis- 
 senters at the Savoy, the subject of the 
 common prayer book was reconsidered in 
 convocation. The services for the 30th 
 of January and 29th of May were then 
 added, as also the form to be used at Sea. 
 A few trifling alterations were made also 
 
 in the other services ; but these were the 
 last that have been effected. On the 
 accession of William III. another revis- 
 ion took place, and a considerable num 
 ber of alterations were proposed and sup- 
 ported by many of the bishops and 
 clergy ; but they were rejected by con- v 
 vocation, and have never since been re- 
 vived by authority. 
 
 COM'MONS, the lower house of Par- 
 liament, consisting of the representatives 
 of cities, boroughs, and counties, chosen 
 by men possessed of the property or 
 qualifications required by law. This 
 body is called the House of Commons ; 
 and may be regarded as the basis of the 
 British constitution. The origin of this 
 assembly ought, perhaps, to be attributed 
 to the necessity under which the first 
 Edward perceived himself of counteract- 
 ing a powerful aristocracy. The feudal 
 system had erected a band of petty mon- 
 archs from whom the crown was in per- 
 petual danger. It is to the struggles of 
 these men with regal authority, in the 
 course of which, in order to strengthen 
 their opposition, they were obliged to 
 make common cause with the people, 
 that the existence of English liberty may 
 be attributed. In a word, the House of 
 Commons arose on the ruins of the feu- 
 dal fabric, gained ground as that decayed, 
 pressed on its weaker parts, and, finally, 
 levelled it with the dust. Though each 
 member is elected by a distinct body of 
 people, he is, from the moment of his 
 election, the representative, not of those 
 particular persons only, but of the king- 
 dom at large ; and is to consider himself 
 not merely as the organ through which 
 his constituents may speak, but as one 
 who, having been intrusted with a gene- 
 ral charge, is to perform it to the best of 
 his judgment. In performance of this 
 great function, his liberty of speech is 
 bounded only by those rules of decency 
 of which the house itself is the judge ; 
 and while, on the one hand, he is free to 
 propose what laws he pleases, on the 
 other, he is exposed, as a private man, 
 to the operation of the laws he makes. 
 This assembly is composed of six hun- 
 dred and fifty-eight members ; and 
 though many small boroughs were dis- 
 franchised by the Reform Bill, the elect- 
 ive franchise was given to several places 
 of rising importance, and a variety of 
 alterations took place by adding to the 
 number of representatives of counties, 
 Ac., so that the total number of mem- 
 bers remains the same. 
 
 COMMONWEALTH', in a general
 
 COM] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 99 
 
 sense, applies to the social state of a 
 country, without regarding its form of 
 government. In the usual, though more 
 restricted sense, a republic, or that form 
 of government in which the administra- 
 tion of public affairs is open to all with 
 few, if any, exceptions. 
 
 COMMU'NION, the act of communi- 
 cating in the sacrament of the eucharist, 
 or the Lord's Supper. Communion Ser- 
 vice, the office for the administration of 
 the holy sacrament. Communion Table, 
 the table erected at the east end of a 
 church, round which the communicants 
 kneel to partake of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 COMMU'NITY, a society of people 
 living in the same place, under the same 
 laws and regulations, and who have com- 
 mon rights and privileges. History shows 
 that the establishment of communities 
 has been one of the greatest advances in 
 human improvement : and they have 
 proved, in different ages, the cradle and 
 the support of freedom. 
 
 COMMUTATION, in law. the change 
 of a penalty or punishment from a greater 
 to a less ; as when death is commuted for 
 transportation or imprisonment. 
 
 COM'PACT, a word denoting an agree- 
 ment or contract, but generally applied 
 in a political sense ; as, a compact or 
 agreement entered into between nations 
 and states for any particular object. 
 
 COM'PANY, in a commercial sense, a 
 society of merchants, mechanics, or other 
 traders, joined together in a common in- 
 terest. The term is also applied to large 
 associations set on foot for the purpose 
 of commerce ; as, the East India Com- 
 pany ; a banking or insurance company, 
 &c. When companies do not trade upon 
 a joint stock, but are obliged to admit 
 any person properly qualified, upon pay- 
 ing a certain fine, and agreeing to sub- 
 mit to the regulations of the company, 
 each member trading upon his own stock, 
 and at his own risk, they are called regu- 
 lated companies ; when they trade upon 
 a joint stock each member sharing in 
 the common profit or loss, in proportion 
 to his share in the stock, they are called 
 joint stock companies. In military af- 
 fairs, a small body of foot, consisting 
 usually of a number from 60 to 100 men, 
 commanded by a captain, who has under 
 him a lieutenant and ensign. Also, the 
 whole crew of a ship, including the offi- 
 cers. 
 
 COMPAR'ISON, in a general sense, 
 the consideration of the relation between 
 two persons or things, when opposed and 
 set against each other, by which we 
 
 judge of their agreement or difference. 
 Comparison of ideas, among logicians, 
 that operation of the mind whereby it 
 compares its ideas one with another, in 
 regard of extent, degree, time, place, or 
 any other circumstance, and is the ground 
 of relations. Comparison, in rhetoric, 
 a figure by which two things are con- 
 sidered with regard to a third, which is 
 common to them both ; as, a hero is like 
 a lion in courage. Here courage is com- 
 mon to hero and lion, and constitutes the 
 point of resemblance. 
 
 COMPARTMENT, in architecture, a 
 proportionable division in a building, or 
 some device marked in an ornamental 
 part of the building. 
 
 COMPENSATION, in civil law, a sort 
 of right, whereby a person, who has been 
 sued for a debt, demands that the debt 
 may be compensated with what is owing 
 him by the creditor, which, in that case, 
 is equivalent to payment. 
 
 COMPERTO'RIUM, a judicial inquest 
 in the civil law, made by delegates or 
 commissioners, to find out and relate the 
 truth of a cause. 
 
 COMPITA'LIA, a Roman feast cele- 
 brated in honor of the Lares and Penates. 
 Under Tarquinius Superbus, it is said 
 that human victims were sacrificed at this 
 solemnity. The gods invoked at it were 
 termed Compitales, as presiding over the 
 streets. 
 
 COMPLEX'ION, among physicians, 
 the temperament, habitude, and natural 
 disposition of the body ; but, in general 
 use, the word means the color of the skin. 
 
 COM'PLEX TERMS, and COM'PLEX 
 IDE'AS, in logic, are such as are com- 
 pounded of several simple ones. 
 
 COMPLU'VIUM, in ancient architec- 
 ture, an area in the centre of the Roman 
 houses, so constructed that it might re- 
 ceive the waters from the roofs. It is 
 also the gutter or eave of a roof. 
 
 COMPO'SINGr, that branch of the art 
 of printing which consists in taking the 
 types or letters from the cases, and ar- 
 ranging them in such an order as to fit 
 them for the press. The instrument in 
 which they are adjusted to the length of 
 the lines is called a composing-stick. 
 
 COM'POSITE OR'DER, in architec- 
 ture, one of the five orders of architecture, 
 and, as its name imports, composed of 
 two others, the Corinthian and the Ionic. 
 Its capital is a vase with two tiers of 
 acanthus leaves, like the Corinthian ; but 
 instead of stalks, the shoots appear small 
 and adhere to the vase, bending round to- 
 wards the middle of the face of the capi-
 
 100 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [COM 
 
 tal; the vase is terminated by a fillet 
 over which is an astragal crowned by an 
 ovolo. The volutes roll themselves over 
 the ovolo to meet the tops of the upper 
 row of leaves, whereon they seem to rest. 
 The corners of the abacus are supported 
 by an acanthus leaf bent upwards. The 
 abacus resembles that of -the Corinthian 
 capital. In detail the Composite is 
 richer than the Corinthian, but less light 
 and delicate. Its architrave has usually 
 only two fasciae, and the cornice varies 
 from the Corinthian in having double 
 modillions. The column is ten diame- 
 ters high. The principal examples of this 
 order are the Temple of Bacchus at Rome, 
 the arch of Septimius Severus, those of 
 the Goldsmiths and of Titus, and that in 
 the baths of Diocletian. 
 
 COMPOSI'TION, in a general sense, 
 the putting together, and uniting of sev- 
 eral things, so as to form of the whole one 
 mass or compound Composition of ideas, 
 an act of the mind, whereby it unites sev- 
 eral ideas into one conception, or complex 
 idea. In literature, the act of inventing 
 or combining ideas, furnishing them with 
 words, arranging them in order, and com- 
 mitting them to writing. In logic, a 
 method of reasoning, whereby we proceed 
 from some general self-evident truth, to 
 other particular and singular ones. This 
 method of reasoning is opposed to analy- 
 sis, which begins with first principles, 
 and, by a train of reasoning from them, 
 deduces the propositions or truths sought ; 
 but composition or synthesis collects the 
 scattered parts of knowledge, and com- 
 bines them into a system, so that the un- 
 derstanding is enabled distinctly to follow 
 truth through its different stages of gra- 
 dations. In music, the art or act of form- 
 ing tunes, either to be performed vocally 
 or instrumentally. In commerce, an 
 agreement entered into between an in- 
 solvent debtor and his creditor, by which 
 the latter accepts a part of the debt in 
 compensation for the whole. In paint- 
 ing, this word expresses the idea of a 
 whole created out of single parts, and to 
 this idea the whole ought to conform. In 
 the whole there ought never to be too 
 much or too little ; all parts must be ne- 
 cessary, and must refer to one another, 
 being understood only under such rela- 
 tionship. This does not imply that every 
 part must be co-ordinate, some parts 
 must be of more importance than others, 
 and all must be subordinate to a centre- 
 point, which raises them, while it is raised 
 by them. This quality, which is seen in 
 natural landscape, we call organism ; we 
 
 desire to produce it in art, and require 
 pictures to be organic. This is valid as 
 well in simple composition as in com- 
 pound, which as a composition of compo- 
 sitions, represents many wholes All 
 this, though not attained, is at least at- 
 tempted by those who call themselves ar- 
 tists. The following is less acknowledged 
 but not less important, viz., every com- 
 position consists of three elements, whose 
 one-sided predominance in painters and 
 connoisseurs produces three schools of 
 error; while the fervent working together 
 of these elements alone makes the work 
 a living whole, and gives it that which is 
 expressed by the Latin word compositio 
 a quieting satisfying effect. The artist's 
 subject furnishes the first element. Eve- 
 ry subject has its own law of representa- 
 tion, which the artist must clearly under- 
 stand if he would depict it truly upon the 
 canvas. This comprehension is to be ac- 
 quired only by his forgetting himself in 
 the contemplation of his subject. It is 
 the power of doing this which we prize so 
 highly in poetry under the term objec- 
 tivity. By thus treating the subject the 
 artist becomes a splendid organ, through 
 which nature speaks like a history to 
 sentient man : thus followed out, the ma- 
 jesty of Rome in Rubens, and the cheer- 
 fulness of nature in Claude, are conveyed 
 to posterity. The second element of 
 composition is fixed by the given space 
 which is to be filled by color, form and 
 light, harmonized according to the laws 
 of art ; then a history adorning a space 
 becomes the property of art. The third 
 element lies in the mind of the artist ; as 
 " woman's judgment is tinged by her af- 
 fections," so the artist who cannot imbue 
 his subject with his own feelings will fail 
 to animate his canvas. For though every 
 legitimate subject dictates the laws of its 
 representation, yet every cultivated man 
 sees objects in his own light, and no one 
 may say that he alone sees rightly. He 
 who knows not how to give that to his 
 pictures, by which they become, not from 
 manner but from subject, his pictures, is 
 no artist, but a mere copyist, even could 
 he imitate Phidias or Scopas perfectly. 
 Excess of individualism leads the artist 
 to depict himself instead of the subject, to 
 sacrifice this is a favorite caprice, and in 
 allegorizing his own dreams to confuse 
 the action as well as the spectator; but 
 if he represent it truthfully, working it 
 with pictorial effect and stamping it with 
 I his genius, he has composed, and his work 
 is completed, satisfying all requisitions. 
 COMPO'SITOR. in printing, the work-
 
 CON] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 101 
 
 man who arranges the types in lines and 
 pages, and prepares them for being 
 printed off. 
 
 COMPURGA'TION, an ancient mode 
 of trial both in civil and criminal cases. 
 In the latter, by the law of the Saxons 
 (which William the Conqueror confirmed 
 in this respect, at least as to its main 
 features,) the accused party was allowed 
 to clear himself by the oath of as many 
 of his neighbors to his innocence as 
 amounted in collective worth, according 
 to the legal arithmetic of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, to one pound if he could in the 
 first instance (being a villein) obtain the 
 testimony of his lord that he had not 
 been previously convicted. If other- 
 wise, he is bound to undergo ordeal, or 
 wage his law with a greater number of 
 compurgators. Compurgation in crimi- 
 nal eases was abolished in general by 
 Henry II. 's assizes, the ordeal being en- 
 forced in lieu of it. 
 
 CON, in language, a Latin inseparable 
 preposition or prefix to other words. 
 Ainsworth remarks that con and cum 
 have the same signification, but that cum 
 is used separately, and con in composi- 
 tion. In the phrase pro and con,, for and 
 against, con denotes the negative side of 
 a question. 
 
 CONCATENATION, a term chiefly 
 used in speaking of the mutual depen- 
 dence of second causes upon each other. 
 
 CONCEPTION, in mental philosophy, 
 that faculty or act of the mind by which 
 we combine a number of individuals to- 
 gether by means of some mark or char- 
 acter common to them all. We may ob- 
 serve, for instance, that equilateral, isos- 
 celes and scalene triangles all agree in 
 one respect, that of having three sides ; 
 and from this perceived similitude we 
 form the conception triangle. 
 
 CONCERTAN'TE, in music, a term 
 expressive of those parts of a musical 
 composition that sing or play throughout 
 the piece, as distinguished from those 
 that play only occasionally in particular 
 places. 
 
 CONCER'TO, in music, a piece com- 
 posed for a particular instrument, which 
 bears the greatest part in it, or in which 
 the performance is partly alone and 
 partly accompanied by other parts. 
 
 CONCES'SIO-N, in rhetoric or debate, 
 the yielding, granting, or allowing to the 
 opposite party some point or fact that may 
 bear dispute, in order to show that even 
 admitting the point conceded, the cause 
 can be maintained on other grounds. 
 
 CONCET'TI. (Rendered by English 
 
 writers on rhetoric, conceits.) Ingenious 
 thoughts or turns of expression, points, 
 jeux d'esprit, &c., in serious composition. 
 In the 16th century, the taste for this 
 species of brilliancy, often false and al- 
 ways dangerous, spread rapidly in the 
 poetical composition of European nations, 
 especially in Spain and Italy ; where the 
 name of concetti was applied rather in a 
 good than in a bad sense, the critical 
 taste being much perverted. Tasso is 
 not free from concetti. After his time 
 they became offensively prominent in 
 Italian poetry for a century afterwards : 
 Marino and Filicaia offer strong exam- 
 ples. In France, the mode of concetti 
 was equally prevalent in the 17th cen- 
 tury, and was peculiarly in vogue with 
 the fair critics of the Hotel Rambouillet, 
 so well known by Moliere's " Preeieuses 
 Ridicules." In England, Donne and Cow- 
 ley are instances of a style full of concetti. 
 
 CONCIN'NOUS, in music, an epithet 
 for a performance in concerts, which is 
 executed with delicacy, grace, and spirit. 
 
 CONCIONATO'RES, in law, the com- 
 mon councilmen of the city of London. 
 
 CONCLAMA'TIO, in antiquity, the 
 funeral cry over the body of a deceased 
 person previous to its being burnt ; by 
 which it was expected to recall, as it 
 were, the soul of the deceased from ever- 
 lasting sleep. 
 
 CON'CLAVE the place in which the 
 cardinals of the Romish church meet for 
 the election of a pope. It consists of a 
 range of small cells or apartments stand- 
 ing in a line along the halls or galleries 
 of the Vatican. Conclave is also used 
 for the assembly or meeting of the car- 
 dinals when shut up for the election of a 
 pope. This begins the day following the 
 funeral of the deceased pontiff. The car- 
 dinals are locked up in separate apart- 
 ments and meet once a day in the chapel 
 of the Vatican, (or other pontifical pal- 
 ace,) where their votes, given on a slip 
 of paper, are examined. This continues 
 until two thirds of the votes are found to 
 be in favor of a particular candidate. 
 The ambassadors of France, Austria, and 
 Spain have each the right to put in a veto 
 against the election of one cardinal, who 
 may be unacceptable to their respective 
 courts. 
 
 CONCLUSION, in logic, that proposi- 
 tion which is inferred from certain former 
 propositions, termed the premises of the 
 argument. 
 
 CON'CORD, in music, the union of two 
 or more sounds in such a manner as to 
 render them agreeable to the ear. Con-
 
 102 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [con 
 
 cord and harmony are, in fact, the same 
 thing, though custom has applied them 
 differently ; for as concord expresses the 
 agreeable effects of two sounds in con- 
 sonance, so harmony expresses the agree- 
 ment of a greater number of sounds in 
 consonance. In grammar, that part of 
 syntax which treats of the agreement of 
 words in a sentence. In law, an agree- 
 ment between the parties in a fine, made 
 by leave of the court. 
 
 CONCORDANCE, a dictionary of the 
 Bible, in which every word is given with 
 references to the book, chapter, and verse, 
 in which it occurs, for the purpose of en- 
 abling the student to collate with facility 
 one passage with another in the view of 
 determining its meaning. The importance 
 of this class of works was early appre- 
 ciated, and a vast deal of labor has been 
 expended in compiling them. Concord- 
 ances have been made of the Greek 
 Septuagint, the Greek Testament, the 
 Latin Vulgate, and the English Old and 
 New Testaments. The first concordance 
 was compiled by Cardinal Hugues de St. 
 Cher, who died in 1262. The best Eng- 
 lish concordance is that of Cruden, which 
 appeared in 1737, and still maintains its 
 ground as an authority. 
 
 CONCOR'DAT, an agreement or con- 
 vention upon ecclesiastical matters made 
 between the Pope and some temporal 
 sovereign, as that between Pius VII. 
 and Bonaparte in 1802, by which the Ro- 
 man Catholic religion was re-established 
 in France ; on which occasion the Pope 
 recognized the new division of France 
 into 60 sees, instead of the much greater 
 number which had existed before tho 
 revolution, the payment of the clergy 
 from the national revenues, and the ap- 
 pointment of the bishops by the civil au- 
 thority. Originally the term was applied 
 to agreements regulating mutual rights 
 between bishops, abbots, priors. &c. 
 
 CON'CRETE. in architecture and en- 
 gineering, a mass composed of stone 
 clippings or ballast cemented together 
 through the medium of lime and sand, 
 usually employed in making foundations 
 where the soil is of itself too light or 
 boggy, or otherwise insufficient for the 
 reception of the walls. 
 
 CON'CRETE TERM, in logic, is so 
 called when the notion derived from the 
 view taken of any object is expressed with 
 a reference to, or in conjunction with, the 
 object that furnished the notion ; as 
 " foolish," or " fool." When the notion 
 is expressed without any such reference, 
 it is called an abstract term ; as, "folly." 
 
 CONDITION, in law, a clause in a 
 bond or other contract containing terms 
 or a stipulation that it is to be performed, 
 and in case of failure, the penalty of the 
 bond is to be incurred. We speak of a 
 good condition in reference to wealth 
 and poverty, or to health and sickness, 
 &c. Or, we say, a nation with an ex- 
 hausted treasury is not in a condition to 
 make war ; religion affords consolation 
 to man in every condition of life. Con- 
 ditional propositions, in logic, such as 
 consist of two parts connected together 
 by a conditional particle. Conditional 
 syllogism, a syllogism where the major 
 is a conditional proposition. 
 
 CONDOTTIE'RI. in Italian history, 
 a class of mercenary adventurers in the 
 14th and 15th centuries, who commanded 
 military bands, amounting to armies, on 
 their own account, and sold their services 
 for temporary engagements to sovereign 
 princes and states. One of the earliest 
 and most famous among those leaders 
 was the Englishman Sir John Hawkwood, 
 who commanded in various Italian wars 
 about the time of Edward III. The 
 bands under command of the condottieri 
 were well armed and equipped. Their 
 leaders had, in many instances, consider- 
 able military skill ; but as they took no 
 interest in national contests, except to 
 receive pecuniary advantages, the wars 
 between them became a sort of bloodless 
 contest, in which the only object of each 
 party was to take as many prisoners as 
 possible for the sake of the ransom. This 
 singular system of warfare was only put 
 an end to by the more serious military 
 operations of the French, who invaded 
 Italy under Charles VIII. 
 
 CON'DUIT, a subterraneous or con- 
 cealed aqueduct. The ancient Romans 
 excelled in them, and formed the lower 
 parts, wheron the water ran, of cement 
 of such an excellent quality, that it has 
 become as hard as the stone itself which 
 it was employed to join. Conduits, in 
 modern times, are generally pipes of 
 wood, iron, or pottery, for conveying the 
 water from the main spring, or reser- 
 voirs, to the different places where it is re- 
 quired. 
 
 CONFARREA'TION, in antiquity, a 
 ceremony observed by the Romans in 
 their nuptial solemnities. It consisted 
 of the offering of some pure wheaten 
 bread, and rehearsing, at the same time, 
 a certain formula in presence of the 
 high-priest and at least ten witnesses. 
 
 CONFEC'TION, a sweetmeat, or any- 
 thing prepared with sugar; it also sig-
 
 CON] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 103 
 
 nifies a liquid or soft electuary, of which 
 there are various sorts. 
 
 CONFECTOR, an officer in the Ro- 
 man games, whose business was to kill 
 any beast that was dangerous. 
 
 CONFEDERACY, in law, a combina- 
 tion of two or more persons to do some 
 damage or injury to another, or to com- 
 mit some unlawful act. 
 
 CONFEDERATION, a league, or 
 compact, for mutual support, particu- 
 larly of princes, nations, or states. 
 
 CONFES'SION, in a legal sense, the 
 acknowledgment of something prejudicial 
 to the person making the declaration. 
 A conlession, according to law, must never 
 be divided, but always taken entire ; nor 
 must a criminal be condemned upon his 
 own confession, without other concurring 
 proofs. In theology, a public declara- 
 tion of one's faith, or the faith of a pub- 
 lic body. Also a part of the Liturgy, in 
 which an acknowledgment of guilt is 
 made by the whole congregation. Au- 
 ricular confession, a private confession 
 or acknowledgment of one's s+ns made 
 by each individual in the Romish church 
 to the priest or father confessor. It is so 
 called because it is made by whispering 
 in his ear. Among the Jews, it was a 
 custom, on the annual feast of expiation, 
 for the high-priest to make confession of 
 sins to God in the name of the whole 
 people. 
 
 CONFES'SOR, a Roman Catholic 
 priest, who hears confessions, and is 
 empowered to grant absolution to those 
 who confess. -The seat, or cell, wherein 
 the priest or confessor sits to hear con- 
 fessions, is called the confessional. 
 
 CONFIRMATION, the act or cere- 
 mony in the Christian church of laying 
 on of hands, by which baptized persons 
 are confirmed in their baptismal vows. 
 This ceremony is performed by the 
 bishop ; and the antiquity of it is, by 
 all ancient writers, carried as high as the 
 apostles, upon whose example and prac- 
 tice it is founded. Confirmation, in law, 
 an assurance of title, by the conveyance 
 of an estate or right in esse, from one 
 person to another, by which a possession 
 is made perfect, &c. Confirmation, in 
 rhetoric, the third part of an oration, 
 wherein the orator undertakes to prove 
 the truth of the proposition advanced in 
 his narration. 
 
 CONFISCATION, in law. the condem- 
 nation and adjudication of goods or effects 
 to the public treasury, as the bodies and 
 effects of criminals, traitors, &c. 
 
 CON'FLICT OF LAWS, the opposition 
 
 between the municipal laws of different 
 countries, in the case of an individual 
 who may have acquired rights or become 
 subject to duties within the limit of more 
 than one state. 
 
 CONFORM'IST, in ecclesiastical con- 
 cerns, one that conforms to the establish- 
 ed church ; the seceders or dissenters from 
 which are called Non-conformists. 
 
 CON'GE, in architecture, a mould in 
 form of a quarter round, or a cavetto, 
 which serves to separate two members 
 from one another; such as that which 
 joins the shaft of the column to the cinc- 
 ture ; called also apophyge. 
 
 CONGlS D'ELIKE, (French,) in eccle- 
 siastical affairs, the king's permission to 
 a dean and chapter in the time of a va- 
 cancy, to choose a bishop. 
 
 CONGE'RIES, a collection of several 
 particles or bodies united into one mass 
 or aggregate. 
 
 CON'GIARY, in Roman antiquity, a 
 present of wine or oil, given to the people 
 by their emperors, and so called from the 
 congius, wherewith it was measured out 
 to them. Sometimes, however, the con- 
 giary was made in money or corn. 
 
 CON'GIUS, a liquid measure of the 
 ancient Romans, containing the eighth 
 part of the amphora, or rather more than 
 a gallon. 
 
 CONGREGATIONALISTS, in church 
 history, a sect of Protestants who reject 
 all church government, except that of a 
 single congregation, which, they main- 
 tain, has the right to choose its own pastor 
 and govern itself. 
 
 CON'GRESS, an assembly of envoys, 
 commissioners, deputies, &c. from differ- 
 ent courts, who meet to concert measures 
 for their common good, or to adjust their 
 mutual concerns. Having exchanged 
 their credentials, the envoys of the differ- 
 ent powers carry on their negotiations 
 directly with each other, or by the inter- 
 vention of a mediator, either in a com- 
 mon hall, or in their own residences by 
 turns, or, if there is a mediator, in his 
 residence. These negotiations are con- 
 tinued either by writing or by verbal 
 communio.ation, until the commissioners 
 can agree upon a treaty, or until one of 
 the powers dissolves the congress by re- 
 calling its minister. Congress of the 
 United States of America. The assem- 
 bly of senators and representatives of the 
 several states of North America, forming 
 the legislature of the United States, is 
 designated, in the constitution of the 
 general governmemt, by this title. It 
 consists of a senate and a house of repre-
 
 104 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CON 
 
 Bentatives, each constituting a distinct 
 and independent branch. The house of 
 representatives is chosen every second 
 year, by the people of the several states; 
 and the voters and electors are required 
 to have the same qualifications as are 
 requisite for choosing the members of 
 the most numerous branch of the state 
 legislature of the state in which they 
 vote. The number of representatives is 
 appointed according to the population of 
 each state, and is altered every ten years, 
 when the census is taken by authority. 
 The manner of apportioning the congres- 
 sional representation was fixed by an act 
 passed May 23, 1850. After March 3, 
 1853, the House of Representatives, un- 
 less otherwise ordained by congress, is to 
 consist of 233 members. The apportion- 
 ment is made by adding to the number 
 of free persons three fifths of the number 
 of slaves : the representative population, 
 thus found, divided by 233, gives the ratio 
 of apportionment ; the representative 
 population of each state, divided by this 
 ratio, shows the number of representa- 
 tives to which the state is entitled. To 
 the aggregate thus obtained is added a 
 number sufficient to make up the whole 
 number of 233 members ; this additional 
 number is apportioned among the states 
 having the largest fractions. It is, how- 
 ever, provided by the constitution that 
 each state shall be entitled to at least one 
 representative. The senate is composed of 
 two members from each state : the sena- 
 tors are chosen for six years by the legis- 
 lature of the state. The house of repre- 
 sentatives chooses its own speaker : the 
 vice-president of the United States is. 
 ex-offieio, president of the senate. Bills 
 for revenue purposes must originate in 
 the house of representatives ; but are 
 liable to the proposal of amendments by 
 the senate. The senate has the sole pow- 
 er of trying impeachments ; but can only 
 convict by a majority of two thirds of the 
 members present, and its sentence ex- 
 tends only to removal from office and in- 
 capacitation for holding it. The regular 
 meeting of congress is on the first Mon- 
 day in December annually. Every bill 
 which passes the two houses is sent to the 
 president for approval or disapproval ; in 
 the latter case, he returns it, with his 
 reasons, to the house in which it origin- 
 ated : if, on reconsideration, it is passed 
 again by a majority of two-thirds in each 
 house, it becomes law. The powers of 
 congress are strictly limited, and sepa- 
 rated from those of the various state 
 legislatures, by the constitution. 
 
 CONISTE'RIUM, in ancient archi- 
 tecture, a room in the gymnasium ano 
 palajstra, wherein the wrestlers, having 
 been anointed with oil, were sprinkled 
 over with dust, that they might lay firm- 
 er hold of their antagonists. 
 
 CON'JOINT DEGREES, in music, a 
 term used of two or more notes which 
 immediately follow each other in the 
 order of the scale. 
 
 CON'JOINT TETRACHORDS, 
 in music, two tetrachords or fourths, in 
 which the same note is the highest of one 
 and the lowest of the other. 
 
 CONJUGATION, in grammar, is to 
 verbs what declension is to substantives 
 the sum total of the inflexions which 
 they admit, corresponding to the various 
 circumstances of time or mood under 
 which an action is conceived to take 
 place. 
 
 CONJUNCTION, in grammar, that 
 part of speech which expresses the rela- 
 tion of propositions or judgments to each 
 other. 
 
 CONJUNCTIVE MOOD, that modi- 
 fication of the verb which expresses the 
 dependence of the event intended on cer- 
 tain conditions. 
 
 CONNOISSEUR', a critical judge or 
 master of any art, particularly of paint- 
 ing, sculpture, and the belles lettres. 
 The connoisseur is the true friend of Art ; 
 he judges of works from their intrinsic 
 excellence, regardless of the influence or 
 bias of popular names upon the indis- 
 criminating crowd. He is prompt to re- 
 cognize, seek out, and foster genius in its 
 early struggles and obscurity, and help 
 to occupy that position too frequently 
 usurped by the pretender. The qualities 
 necessary to constitute a connoisseur are 
 a natural feeling for art, a keen per- 
 ception, and a sound judgment ; by study 
 and observation he has become familiar 
 with the technics of art, the manner and 
 method of various schools and masters. 
 He has no prejudices or predilections ; 
 hence he is impartial. He can appreci- 
 ate defects as well as merits, and distin- 
 guish an original from a copy. 
 
 CON'QUEST, the right over property 
 or territory acquired in war. It presup- 
 poses a just war, and is generally admit- 
 ted as a part of the law of nations. Con- 
 quest may respect either persons or 
 things : it may apply to a whole nation, 
 or to a single town or province : and it 
 may be temporary or permanent. Where 
 persons are not found in arms, but are 
 included as inhabitants of a town or prov 
 ince which has surrendered, they are
 
 CON] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 105 
 
 treated generally as subjects. The origi- 
 nal allegiance to their own government is 
 suspended, and they come under the im- 
 plied obligation to the conqueror, to sub- 
 mit to his orders, and to demean them- 
 selves, for the time, as faithful subjects. 
 Under such circumstances, the conqueror 
 generally leaves them in possession of 
 their property, and punishes them only 
 for rebellious or traitorous conduct. It 
 is not usual, in modern times, to change 
 the fundamental laws of a conquered 
 country ; but the sovereign power of the 
 conqueror so to do is conceded by the law 
 of nations. 
 
 CONSANGUINITY, the relation 
 which subsists between persons who are 
 sprung from the same stock or common 
 ancestor, in distinction from affinity or 
 relation by marriage. It terminates in 
 the sixth or seventh degree, except in the 
 succession to the crown, in which case it 
 is continued to infinity. Marriage is pro- 
 hibited by the church to the fourth de- 
 gree of consanguinity inclusive. 
 
 CON'SCIENCE, in ethics, a secret tes- 
 timony of the soul, whereby it gives its 
 approbation to things that are naturally 
 good, and condemns those that are evil. 
 Some writers term conscience the " moral 
 sense," and consider it as an original fac- 
 ulty of our nature ; others allege that our 
 notions of right and wrong are not to be 
 deduced from a single principle or facul- 
 ty, but from various powers of the under- 
 standing and will. 
 
 CONSCIOUSNESS, the knowledge of 
 sensations and mental operations, or of 
 what passes in one's own mind. 
 
 CON'SCRIPT, in Roman antiquity, an 
 appellation given to the senators of Rome, 
 who were called conscript-fathers, on ac- 
 count of their names being entered in the 
 register of the senate. In the French 
 armies, an enrolled soldier, or recruit. 
 
 CONSCRIP'TION, the enlisting the 
 inhabitants of a country capable of bear- 
 ing arms, by a compulsory levy, at the 
 pleasure of the government. The name 
 is derived from the military constitution 
 of ancient Rome. Under the consulship, 
 all persons capable of bearing arms were 
 obliged, under penalty of losing their for- 
 tune and liberty, to assemble in the Cam- 
 pus Martius, or near the capitol, where 
 the consuls, seated in their curule chairs, 
 made the levy by the assistance of the 
 legionary tribunes. The consuls ordered 
 such as they pleased to be cited out of 
 each tribe, and every one was obliged to 
 answer to his name, after which as many 
 were chosen as were wanted. France, in 
 
 the beginning of the revolution, declared 
 it the duty and honor of every citizen to 
 serve in the army of his country. Every 
 French citizen was born a soldier, and 
 obliged to serve in the army from sixteen 
 to forty years of age : from forty to sixty 
 he belonged to the national guard. Eve- 
 ry year the young men of the military 
 age were assembled, and distributed in 
 the different military divisions ; and it 
 was decided by lot who, among the able- 
 bodied men of suita.ble age, should take 
 arms. Thus it was that those prodigious 
 masses were so quickly raised, and sent 
 to the field of slaughter. 
 
 CONSECRA'TION, the act of devoting 
 and dedicating anything to the service 
 and worship of God. Among the ancient 
 Christians, the consecration of churches 
 was performed with a great deal of pious 
 solemnity. In England, churches have 
 been always consecrated with particular 
 ceremonies, the form of which was left to 
 the discretion of the bishop. Consecra- 
 tion was also a religious rite among the 
 Romans, by which they set any person or 
 thing apart for sacred purposes, as their 
 high-priests ; or made it sacred, or a fit 
 object of divine worship ; as the emperors, 
 their wives, or children, who were in this 
 manner enrolled among the number of 
 their gods. This was sometimes called 
 apotheosis, but on medals it is distin- 
 guished by the word consecratio, with an 
 altar or some other sacred symbol. 
 
 CONSEN'TIAN GODS, a term by 
 which the Latins distinguished their 
 twelve chief deities Juno, Vesta, Miner- 
 va, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercury, 
 Jupiter, Neptune, Vulcan, and Apollo. 
 The origin of these deities was Italian, and 
 distinct from those of the Greeks ; but as 
 the literature of Rome took its tone and 
 color from Greece, so its mythology was 
 mixed up with that of the latter country, 
 those deities whose functions most re- 
 sembled each other being confounded, till 
 the above names became regarded as 
 nothing more than the Latin appellations 
 of the Greek divinities. 
 
 CON'SEQUENCE, that which follows 
 as an inference of truth and reason, from 
 admitted premises or arguments. Thus, 
 " every rational being is accountable to 
 his Maker ;" man is a rational being ; 
 the consequence then must be, that man 
 is accountable to his Maker. 
 
 CONSERVA'TOR, an officer appointed 
 for the security and preservation of the 
 privileges of some cities, corporations, 
 and communities. The ancient otlice of 
 conservator of the peace is now performed
 
 106 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CON 
 
 by all judges and magistrates, but par- 
 ticularly by what we now term justices 
 of the peace. 
 
 CONSERVATORY, a term sometimes 
 used for a green-house. It is, properly, 
 a large green-house for exotics, in which 
 the plants are planted in beds and bor- 
 ders, and not in tubs or pots, as in the 
 common green-house. In various parts 
 of Italy and France there are musical 
 schools, called conservatories, which are 
 expressly intended for the scientific culti- 
 vation of musical talents, and from which 
 many first-rate composers, as well as vo- 
 calists, have attained their proficiency. 
 
 CONSIDERATION, in law, the mate- 
 rial cause or ground of a contract, with- 
 out which the party contracting would 
 not be bound. A consideration is either 
 express or implied; express, when the 
 thing to be given or done is specified; 
 implied, when no specific consideration is 
 agreed upon, but justice requires it, and 
 the law implies it : as when a man labors 
 for another, without stipulating for wages, 
 the law infers that he shall receive a rea- 
 sonable consideration. 
 
 CONSIGNMENT of goods, in com- 
 merce, is the delivering or making them 
 over to another : thus, goods are said to 
 be consigned to a factor, when they are 
 sent to him for sale, <fcc. He who con- 
 signs the goods is called the consignor: 
 and the person to whom they are sent is 
 the consignee. 
 
 CONSIST'ENCE, or CONSISTENCY, 
 that state of a body in which its compo- 
 nent parts remain fixed. Also, congruity 
 and uniformity in opinions and actions. 
 
 CONSISTO'RIUM, in antiquity, a 
 council-house or place of audience. 
 
 CONSIS'TORY, an assembly of eccle- 
 siastical persons; also certain spiritual 
 courts are so called which are holden by 
 the bishops in each diocese. At Rome 
 the consistory denotes the judicial court 
 constituted by the college of cardinals. 
 The representative body of the reformed 
 church in France is styled Consistory ; a 
 title and assembly originated by Calvin. 
 
 CONSIS'TORY COURT, the place or 
 court in which the session or assembly of 
 ecclesiastical persons is held by the bishop 
 or his chancellor. 
 
 CONSOLIDATION, in the civil law, 
 signifies the uniting the possession or 
 profit of land with the property, and 
 vice versa. In the ecclesiastical law, it 
 is the uniting two benefices into one by 
 assent of the ordinary, patron, and in- 
 cumbent. 
 
 CON'SOLE, in architecture, a bracket 
 
 or shoulder-piece : or an ornament cut 
 upon the key of an arch, which has a 
 projecture, and on occasion serves to sup- 
 port little cornices, figures, busts, and 
 vases. 
 
 CON'SOLS, in commerce, funds forme 1 
 by the consolidation (of which word it is 
 an abbreviation) of different annuities, 
 which had been severally formed into a 
 capital. 
 
 CON'SONANCE, in music, the agree- 
 ment of two sounds simultaneously pro- 
 duced, the one grave and the other acute 
 
 CON'SONANT, a letter so named be 
 eause it is considered as being sounded 
 only in connection with a vowel. But 
 some consonants have no sound, even 
 when united with a vowel, and others 
 have a very imperfect sound ; hence 
 some are called mutes, and others semi- 
 vowels. 
 
 CONSONANTE, in music, an Italian 
 epithet for all agreeable intervals. 
 
 CONSPIR'ACY, a combination of men 
 for an evil purpose ; or an agreement be- 
 tween them to commit some crime in con- 
 cert ; as, a conspiracy against the govern- 
 ment. In law, it signifies an agreement 
 between two or more, falsely to indict, or 
 procure to be indicted, an innocent per- 
 son of felony. 
 
 CON SPIR'ITO, in music, an Italian 
 phrase, denoting that the part is to be 
 played with spirit. 
 
 CON'ST ABLE, a civil officer, anciently 
 of great dignity, as the Lord High Con- 
 stable of England, and also the constables 
 or keepers of castles, Ac. It is now the 
 title of an officer under the magistrates 
 for the preservation of the peace, whose 
 duty principally consists in seizing and 
 securing persons guilty of tumultuary of- 
 fences. In the United States, constables 
 are town or city officers of the peace, with 
 powers similar to those possessed by the 
 constables in Great Britain. They are 
 invested also with powers to execute civil 
 as well as criminal process, and to levy 
 executions. In New England, they are 
 elected by the inhabitants of towns in le- 
 gal meeting. 
 
 CONSTANT WHITE, PERMANENT 
 WHITE, a pigment prepared from the 
 sulphate of barytes, useful in water- 
 color painting, possessing great body. It 
 is very poisonous. 
 
 CON'STAT, a certificate given out of 
 the exchequer to a person who intends to 
 plead or move for a discharge of any- 
 thing in that court. The effect of it is to 
 show what appears upon the record, re- 
 specting the matter in question.
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 107 
 
 CONSTELLATION, an assemblage or 
 system of several stars, expressed or rep- 
 resented under the name and figure of 
 some animal or other object, as a bear, a 
 ship, and the like ; whence they have de- 
 rived those appellations which are conve- 
 nient in describing the stars. The divi- 
 sion of the heavens into constellations is 
 very ancient, probably coeval with astron- 
 omy itself. 
 
 CONSTITUENT, in politics, one who 
 by his vote constitutes or elects a member 
 of parliament. Constituents, in physics, 
 the elementary or essential parts of any 
 substance. 
 
 CONSTITUTION, in politics, any 
 form or principle of government, regu- 
 larly constituted. Constitutions are either 
 democratic, aristocratic, or of a mixed 
 character. They are, 1. Democratic, 
 when the fundamental law guarantees to 
 every citizen equal rights, protection, and 
 participation, direct or indirect, in the 
 government, such as the constitutions of 
 the United States of America, and of 
 some cantons of Switzerland. 2. Aristo~ 
 cratic, when the constitution establishes 
 privileged classes, as the nobility and 
 clergy, and entrusts the government en- 
 tirely to them, or allows them a very 
 disproportionate share of it : such a con- 
 stitution was that of Venice. 3. Of a 
 mixed character ; to which latter division 
 belong some monarchical constitutions, 
 -which recognize the existence of a sove- 
 reign whose power is modified by other 
 branches of government, of a more or 
 less populous cast. In the United States, 
 the constitution is paramount to the 
 statutes or laws enacted by the legisla- 
 ture, limiting and controlling its power ; 
 and even the legislature itself is created, 
 and its powers designated, by the consti- 
 tution. Apostolic constitutions, an an- 
 cient code of regulations, respecting the 
 doctrine and discipline of the church, pre- 
 tended by some to have been promul- 
 gated by the apostles, and collected by 
 Clemens Romanus. They appear to have 
 been at one time admitted into the canon 
 of scripture. Their authenticity has been 
 a subject of much dispute. They have 
 been printed together with the so-called 
 canons of the apostles. 
 
 CONSTRUCTION, in a general sense, 
 the manner of putting together the parts 
 of a building, or of a machine, &c. In 
 grammar, syntax, or the proper arrange- 
 ment of words in a sentence. Also, the 
 manner of understanding the arrange- 
 ment of words, or of understanding facts : 
 thus we say, "let us give the author's 
 
 words in a rational and consistent con- 
 struction." 
 
 CONSUA'LIA, in Roman antiquity, a 
 festival instituted by Romulus, and dedi- 
 cated by him to Neptune, whom he termed 
 Consus, or the god of counsel, in conse- 
 quence of his successful scheme on the 
 Sabine virgins. 
 
 CONSUBSTANTIAL, in theology, an 
 epithet signifying of the same substance : 
 thus, in the articles of the Church of 
 England, Christ is declared consubstan- 
 tial, or of one substance with the Father. 
 
 CONSUBSTANTIATION, a tenet of 
 the Lutheran church, the members of 
 which maintain that after consecration of 
 the sacramental elements, the body and 
 blood of our Saviour are substantially 
 present, together with the substance of 
 the bread and wine, which is called con- 
 substantiation, or impanation. 
 
 CON'SUL, in the Roman common- 
 wealth, the title of the two chief magis- 
 trates, whose power was, in a certain de- 
 gree, absolute, but who were chosen only 
 for one year. The authority of the two 
 consuls was equal ; yet the Valerian law 
 gave the right of priority to the elder, 
 and the Julian law to him who had the 
 greater number of children ; and this was 
 generally called consul major or prior. 
 In the first ages of Rome they were elect- 
 ed from patrician families ; but in the 
 year of Rome 388, the people obtained 
 the privilege of electing one of the con- 
 suls froia their own body, and sometimes 
 both were plebeians. In modern usage, 
 the name consul is given to an officer ap- 
 pointed to reside in a foreign country, to 
 protect the interests of trade, and to aid 
 his government in any commercial trans- 
 actions with such country. Such officers 
 appear to have been first employed by 
 the Italian republics, to protect their 
 merchants engaged in trade in the cities 
 of the Levant. The consuls of European 
 states in that region, and in Africa, are 
 at the present time officers of more im- 
 portance than those established in the 
 cities of Christendom : as they exercise, 
 according to treaties, civil jurisdiction 
 over the citizens of their respective states. 
 In general, the consul is not regarded as 
 a minister or diplomatic functionary, and 
 is subject to the civil authorities of the 
 place where he resides. Consuls, in 
 French history, were the persons (Bona- 
 parte, Sieyes, and Ducos) to whom, after 
 the dissolution of the Directory in No- 
 vember 1799, was entrusted the provi- 
 sional government of the country, and at 
 whose suggestion it was agreed that
 
 108 
 
 CYCLOPKDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CON 
 
 France should be permanently subjected 
 to consular authority. 
 
 CON'S ULARS, the title given to Ro- 
 man citizens who had been dignified with 
 the office of consul, and consequently 
 were honored with a certain precedence 
 in the senate. 
 
 CONSULTATION, a council for de- 
 liberation ; as, a consultation of physi- 
 cians was called. 
 
 CONTA'GION, the propagation of spe- 
 cific diseases from person to person. Con- 
 tagious poisons communicate the prop- 
 erty of producing similar poisons : the 
 small-pox is a characteristically conta- 
 gious disease. By some writers the term 
 has been limited to diseases requiring 
 actual contact for their communication ; 
 but contagious matter appears often 
 transmissible by the air, hence the terms 
 immediate and mediate contagion. Where 
 diseases are propagated through the me- 
 dium of the air, they are generally called 
 infectious. 
 
 CONTEMPT', in law, disobedience to 
 the rules, orders, or process of a court 
 of competent authority. Contempt in 
 court is punishable by fine and imprison- 
 ment : for contempt out of court attach- 
 ment may be granted. 
 
 CONTENTS', anything or things held, 
 included, or comprehended within a limit 
 or line; as, the contents of a cask or 
 bale, the contents of a book, &c. 
 
 CON'TEXT, the parts of a discourse 
 which precede or follow the sentence 
 quoted ; for instance, the sense of a pas- 
 sage of Scripture is often illustrated by 
 the context. 
 
 CON'TINENT, in geography, a great 
 extent of land, not disjoined or interrupt- 
 ed by a sea ; or a connected tract of land 
 of great extent, as the Eastern or West- 
 ern continent. The continental powers, 
 those whose territories are situated on 
 the continent of Europe. 
 
 CONTINENTAL SYSTEM, a term 
 given to a plan devised by Napoleon to 
 exclude England from all intercourse 
 with the continent of Europe ; thereby 
 to prevent the importation of British 
 manufactures and commerce, and thus to 
 compel the English government to make 
 peace upon the terms prescribed by the 
 French ruler. The history of Napoleon's 
 continental system begins with the decree 
 of Berlin of Nov. 21, 1806, by which the 
 British islands were declared to be in a 
 state of blockade ; all commerce, inter- 
 course, and correspondence were prohib- 
 ited ; every Englishman found in France, 
 or in any country occupied by French 
 
 troops, was declared a prisoner of war; 
 all property belonging to Englishmen 
 fair prize, and all trade in English goods 
 entirely prohibited. Great Britain im- 
 mediately directed reprisals against the 
 Berlin decree ; prohibiting all neutral 
 vessels from sailing from one port to an- 
 other belonging to France, or one of her 
 allies, &c. This was met by counter-re- 
 prisals ; and for a long time a fierce and 
 most annoying system was carried on for 
 the annihilation of British commerce ; 
 the effects of which are still felt, from 
 the rival products and manufactures on 
 the continent to which the system gave 
 rise. 
 
 CONTINGENT, in politics, the pro- 
 portion (generally of troops) furnished by 
 one of several contracting powers in pur- 
 suance of an agreement. 
 
 CONTIN'UED BASS, in music, the 
 same as thorough bass. It receives the 
 name from its continuation through the 
 whole of a composition. 
 
 CONTORNIA'TI, in numismatics, 
 medals supposed to have been struck 
 about the period of Constantino the Great 
 and his immediate successors : they are 
 of bronze, with a flat impression, and 
 marked with peculiar furrows. (It. con- 
 torni, whence their name.) They bear 
 the figures of famous emperors or cele- 
 brated men. Their object is uncertain ; 
 but they have been supposed to be tickets 
 of admission to the public games of the 
 circus in Rome and Constantinople. 
 
 CON'TOUR, in the Fine Arts, the ex- 
 ternal lines which bound and terminate a 
 figure. The beauty of contour consists in 
 those lines being flowing, lightly drawn, 
 and sinuous. They must be carefully 
 and scientifically drawn, which cannot be 
 effected without a thorough knowledge 
 of anatomy. 
 
 CON'TRABAND, in commercial lan- 
 guage, goods exported from or imported 
 into a country against its laws. Contra- 
 band of war, such articles as a belliger- 
 ent has, by the law of nations, the right 
 of preventing a neutral from furnishing 
 to his enemy. Articles contraband of 
 war are, in general, arms and munitions 
 of war, and those out of which munitions 
 of war are made ; all these are liable to 
 be seized : but very arbitrary interpre- 
 tations have been affixed to the term by 
 powerful states, when able to enforce 
 them by arms. Thus, provisions are held 
 contraband of war when it is the object 
 to reduce the enemy to famine. But 
 with respect to these and other articles 
 not in their nature contraband, it seems
 
 CON] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 109 
 
 to be the practice that the belligerent 
 should purchase them from the neutral 
 for a reasonable equivalent, instead of 
 confiscating. 
 
 CONTRABAS'SO, the largest of the 
 violin species of string and bowed instru- 
 ments, whereof it forms the lowest bass, 
 usually called the double bass. 
 
 CON'TR ACT, in civil law, the term usu- 
 ally applied to such agreements, whether 
 express or implied, as create, or are intend- 
 ed to create, a legal right, and correspond- 
 ing liability ; such right not attaching to 
 the possession of the subject matter of 
 the contract, except in equity, and that 
 indirectly, but subsisting both in equity 
 and law against the contracting party. 
 
 CONTRADICTORY PROPO- 
 SITION, in logic, are those which having 
 the same terms differ in quantity and in 
 quality. Contrary propositions are two 
 universals with the same terms, the one 
 negative and the other affirmative. 
 
 CONTRALT'O, in music, the part im- 
 mediately below the treble ; called also 
 the counter tenor. 
 
 CON'TRAST, in the fine arts, an op- 
 position of lines or colors to each other, 
 so contrived that the one gives greater 
 effect to the other. By means of contrast 
 energy and expression are given to a 
 subject, even when employed on inani- 
 mate forms. All art is indeed a system of 
 contrast : lights should contrast with 
 shadows, figures with figures, members 
 with members, and groups with groups. 
 It is this which gives life, soul, and mo- 
 tion to a composition. 
 
 CON'TRATENO'RE, in music, the 
 same as contralto. 
 
 CONTRIBUTION, in a general sense, 
 the act of giving to a common stock. In 
 a military sense, impositions upon a 
 country in the power of an enemy, which 
 are levied under various pretences, and 
 for various purposes, usually for the sup- 
 port of the army. 
 
 CONTROL'LER, in law, an overseer 
 or officer appointed to control or verify 
 the accounts of other officers. 
 
 CON'TUMACY, in law, a refusal to 
 appear in court when legally summoned, 
 or disobedience to its rules and orders. 
 
 CONVALES'CENCE, the insensible 
 recovery of health and strength after dis- 
 ease. 
 
 CON'VENT, a religious house, inhab- 
 ited by a society of monks or nuns. 
 
 CONVEN'TICLE, a private assembly 
 or meeting, for the exercise of religion ; 
 the word was at first an appellation of 
 reproach to the religious assemblies of 
 
 Wickliffe, in the reigns of Edward III. 
 and Richard II., and is now usually ap- 
 plied to a meeting of dissenters from the 
 established church. As the word conven- 
 ticle, in strict propriety, denotes an un- 
 lawful assembly, it cannot be justly ap- 
 plied to the assembling of persons in 
 places of worship, which are licensed ac- 
 cording to the requisitions of law. 
 
 CONVEN'TION, in law, an extraor- 
 dinary assembly of the estates of the 
 realm. In military affairs, an agree- 
 ment entered into between two bodies of 
 troops opposed to each other ; or an 
 agreement previous to a definitive treaty. 
 National convention, the name of the 
 assembly by which the government of 
 France was conducted during a period of 
 the revolution. 
 
 CONVERSION, in a theological sense, 
 that change in man by which the enmity 
 of the heart to the laws of CJod, and the 
 obstinacy of the will are subdued, and 
 are succeeded by supreme love to God 
 and his moral government ; and a ref- 
 ormation of life. Conversion of a prop- 
 osition, in logic, is a changing of the 
 subject into the place of the predicate, 
 and still retaining the quality of the prop- 
 osition. 
 
 CON'VERT, a person who changes his 
 religion. Individuals, of what faith so- 
 ever, who abandon their own creed and 
 embrace Christianity are called converts, 
 in contradistinction to apostates, applied 
 generally to Christians who adopt an- 
 other religion. 
 
 CONVEYANCE, in law, a deed or 
 instrument by which lands, &c., are con- 
 veyed or made over to another. 
 
 CONVEY'ANCER, one who professes 
 to draw deeds, mortgages, and convey- 
 ances of estates. This profession requires 
 great knowledge of the law, and a solid 
 and clear understanding ; for on convey- 
 ancing the security of property greatly 
 depends. 
 
 CON'VICT, in law, a person found 
 guilty of a crime alleged against him, 
 either by the verdict of a jury, or other 
 legal decision. 
 
 CONVIC'TION, the act of proving 
 guilty of an offence charged against a 
 person by a legal tribunal. Also, the 
 state of being sensible of guilt ; as, by con- 
 9iction a sinner is brought to repentance. 
 
 CONVIV'IUM, in antiquity, a banquet 
 or entertainment given to a friendly 
 party. 
 
 CONVOCA'TION, an assembly of the 
 clergy of England, which at present is 
 merely nominal. Its province is stated
 
 
 110 
 
 CVCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [coi* 
 
 to be the enactment of canon-law, subject 
 to the license of the king ; and the ex- 
 amination and censuring of all heretical 
 and schism atical books and persons; but 
 from its judicial proceedings lies an ap- 
 peal to the king in chancery, or his dele- 
 gates. It is held during the session of 
 parliament, and consists of an upper and 
 a lower house : in the upper sit the bish- 
 ops, and in the lower the inferior clergy, 
 who are represented by their proctors, 
 and all the deans and archdeacons ; in 
 all, 143 divines. 
 
 CON'VOY, ships of war which accom- 
 pany merchantmen in time of war, to 
 protect them from the attacks of the 
 enemy. By land, any body of troops 
 which accompany provision, ammunition, 
 or other property for protection. 
 
 COPE, an ecclesiastical vestment, like 
 a cloak (which it originally was, and used 
 to protect the wearer from the inclemency 
 of the weather,) worn in processions, at 
 vespers, during the celebration of mass, 
 by some of the assistant clergy, at bene- 
 diction, consecration, and other ecclesias- 
 tical functions. Its form is an exact semi- 
 circle, without sleeves, but furnished with 
 a hood, and is fastened across the breast 
 with a morse or clasp. Copes were orna- 
 mented with embroidery and jewels, (ap- 
 parells,) wrought with elaborate splendor, 
 at a very early period. In the thirteenth 
 century they became the most costly and 
 magnificent of all the ecclesiastical vest- 
 ments. 
 
 CO'PECK, a small Russian coin, equal 
 to about one farthing English. 
 
 COPER'NICAN SYSTEM, that sys- 
 tem of the universe which was anciently 
 taught by Pythagoras, and afterwards 
 revived by Copernicus, a Polish astron- 
 omer. According to this system, the sun 
 is supposed to be placed in the centre, 
 and all the other bodies to revolve round 
 it in a particular order ; which theory is 
 now universally adopted, under the name 
 of the Solar System. 
 
 CO'PING, in architecture, the upper 
 covering or top course of a wall, usually 
 of stone, and wider than the wall itself, 
 in order to let the rain water fall clear 
 from the wall. 
 
 COPTER-PLATE, a plate of copper 
 on which figures are engraven ; also the 
 impression taken from that plate. Cop* 
 per-plate printing, is performed by means 
 of what is called a rolling-press. The en- 
 graved plate is covered with ink, made of 
 oil and Frankfort black, then cleanly 
 wiped on the smooth parts, and laid on 
 wet soft paper ; and on being passed be- 
 
 tween two cylinders with great force, the 
 impression of the engraved part is per 
 fectly transferred to the paper. 
 
 COP'PICE, or COPSE, a wood of small 
 growth, cut at certain times, and used 
 principally for fuel. 
 
 COPTIC, the language of the Copts, 
 or anything pertaining to those people, 
 who are the descendants of the ancient 
 Egyptians, and called Coptki or Copts, 
 as distinct from the Arabians and other 
 inhabitants of modern Egypt. 
 
 COP'ULA, the word that connects any 
 two terms in an affirmative or negative 
 proposition ; as " God made man ;" " Re- 
 ligion is indispensable to happiness." 
 
 COP'ULATIVE PROPOSITIONS, in 
 logic, those where the subject and predi- 
 cate are so linked together, by copulative 
 conjunctions, that they may be all sever- 
 ally affirmed or denied one of another. 
 "Science and literature enlighten the 
 mind, and greatly increase our intellec- 
 tual enjoyments." 
 
 COP'Y, in law, signifies the transcript 
 of any original writing, as the copy of a 
 patent, charter, deed, &c. A common 
 deed cannot be proved by a copy or coun- 
 terpart, where the original may be pro- 
 cured. But if the deed be enrolled, cer- 
 tifying an attested copy is proof of the 
 enrolment, such copy may be given in 
 evidence. Copy, among printers, denotes 
 the manuscript or original of a book, giv- 
 en to be printed. Also, when we speak 
 of a book, or a set of books, we say a 
 copy ; as, a copy of the Scriptures, a copy 
 of Sir Walter Scott's works, &c. Copy, 
 in the fine arts, is a multiplication or re- 
 production of a work, whether painting, 
 statue, or engraving, by another hand 
 than the original. If a master copies his 
 own picture, we call it merely a repeti- 
 tion, which the French designate by the 
 term doublette. Copies are of three kinds ; 
 the most general are those in which the 
 copyist imitates the original with anxious 
 exactitude ; in this case the difficulty of 
 copying is but slight. The second kind is 
 where the copyist avoids exact imitation, 
 but renders the original freely in its prin- 
 cipal traits. These copies, exact imita- 
 tions in style and coloring, are soon 'seen 
 to be apocryphal pictures. The third 
 and most important kind of copy is, that 
 in which the picture is imitated with the 
 freedom of a skilful hand, but at the same 
 time with a truthful feeling of the origi- 
 nal, and with the inspiration of geniu?, 
 finding satisfaction not in copying, but in 
 an imitation little short of creation. 
 COP'YHOLD, a tenure of landed prop-
 
 COR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 erty, by which the tenant holds his land 
 by copy of court roll of the manor at the 
 will of the lord, or rather, according to 
 the custom of tho manor by which such 
 estate is discernible. 
 
 COP'YRIGHT, the exclusive right of 
 printing and publishing copies of any lit- 
 erary performance, either by an author 
 in his own right, or vested in the hands 
 of those to whom he may have assigned 
 that right. 
 
 COQUETTE, a light, trifling girl, who 
 endeavors to attract admiration by mak- 
 ing a display of her amatory arts, from a 
 desire to gratify vanity, rather than to 
 secure a lover. 
 
 CO'RAL, a marine zoophyte, which, 
 when removed from the water, becomes 
 as hard as a stone. It is of a fine red 
 color, and will take a fine polish. It is 
 much used for small ornaments, but is 
 not so susceptible of a high rank in gem- 
 sculpture, as many precious stones. The 
 islands in the south seas are principally 
 coral rocks covered with earth, which 
 have been formed by them from the bot- 
 tom of the ocean. The coral fishery is 
 particularly followed in the Mediter- 
 ranean, on the coast of Prance. The 
 coral is attached to the sub-marine rocks, 
 as a tree is by its roots, but the branches, 
 instead of growing upwards, shoot down- 
 wards towards the bottom of the sea ; a 
 conformation favorable to breaking them 
 off, and bringing them up. For this kind 
 of fishing, eight men, who are excellent 
 divers, equip a felucca or small boat, 
 called commonly a coralline ; carrying 
 with them a large wooden cross, with 
 strong, equal, and long arms, each bear- 
 ing a stout bag-net. They attach a strong 
 rope to the middle of the cross, and let it 
 down horizontally into the sea, having 
 loaded its centre with a weight sufficient 
 to sink it. The diver follows the cross, 
 pushes one arm of it after another into 
 the hollows of the rocks, so as to entangle 
 the coral in the nets ; when his comrades 
 in the boats pull up the cross and its* ac- 
 companiments. 
 
 COR'BEIL, in fortification, a little 
 basket, to be filled with earth, and set 
 upon a parapet, to shelter men from the 
 fire of besiegers. 
 
 COR'BEL, in building, a short piece of 
 timber in a wall, jutting six or eight [ 
 inches, in the manner of a shoulder ' 
 piece ; sometimes placed for strength 
 under the semi-girder of a platform. 
 
 CORDELIER', in church history, a 
 
 fray friar or monk of the order of St. 
 rancis. The cordeliers wear a white 
 
 girdle or rope, tied with three knots, and 
 called the cord of St. Francis ; but the 
 design of it, they say, is to commemorate 
 the bands wherewith Christ was bound. 
 
 CORDELIERS'. This word, as we have 
 seen above, originally signified an order 
 of Franciscan monks ; but it was after- 
 wards given to a society of Jacobins in 
 France from 1792 to 1794, who were so 
 called from their place of meeting. They 
 were distinguished by the violence of 
 their speeches and conduct, and contribu- 
 ted not a little to the execrable crimes 
 which disgraced the French name and 
 nation during the early periods of revo- 
 lutionary anarchy. 
 
 COR'DON, in "fortification, a row of 
 stones jutting before the rampart, and 
 the basis of the parapet. The word cor- 
 don is still more used to denote a line or 
 series of military posts ; as. a cordon of 
 troops. Cordon also signifies a ribbon, as 
 the cordon bleu, the badge of the order 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 COR'DOVAN, leather made of goat 
 skin, and named from Cordova in Spain. 
 
 CORE'IA, in antiquity, a festival in 
 honor of Proserpine. 
 
 CORIN'TIIIAN ORDER, in architect- 
 ure, one of the five orders of architecture. 
 Tho capital is a vase elegantly covered 
 with an abacus, and surrounded by two 
 tiers of leaves, one above the other; 
 from among which stalks spring out, 
 terminating at their summits in small 
 volutes at the external angles and cen- 
 tres of the abacus. The capitals of the 
 Tuscan, Doric, and Ionic orders appear 
 added to the tops of the shafts ; but the 
 Corinthian capital seems to grow out of 
 the column, varying in height from a 
 diameter and one sixth of the lower part 
 of the shaft to one diameter only ; such 
 last being the height of the capitals of 
 the temple at Tivoli. The entablature 
 of this order is variously decorated. The 
 architrave is usually profiled, with three 
 fascias of unequal height, though in 
 some specimens there are only two. 
 The frieze is often sculptured with 
 foliage, and the cornice decorated both 
 with modillions and dentils ; the former 
 having a sort of baluster front, with a 
 leaf under them ; and the latter, which 
 are cut into the body of the band, being 
 occasionally omitted, as are sometimes 
 even the modillions. The principal re- 
 maining ancient examples of the order at 
 Rome are in the Temple of Mars Ultor, 
 Portico of Seve*rus, the Forum of Nerva, 
 Temple of Vesta, Basilica of Antoninus, 
 the Pantheon. <fcc. <fcc.
 
 
 112 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [COR 
 
 CORI'UM, a leath- 
 ern body armor, cut 
 into scale form, occa- 
 sionally worn by the 
 Roman soldiers. A 
 specimen is here giv- 
 en from Traj- 
 an's column. 
 
 CORN. Ears 
 of corn are the 
 attribute of 
 Ceres, and also 
 of Dike (god- 
 dess of justice) 
 and Juno Mar- 
 tialis, who is represented on a coin of Tri- 
 bonianus Gallus with some ears of corn 
 in the right hand. They were also the 
 symbol of the year. The harvest month, 
 September, was represented by a maiden 
 holding ears of corn, and Ceres wore a 
 wreath of them, or carried them in her 
 hand, as did also the Roman divinity 
 Bonus Eventus. The ears of corn were 
 also used as a symbol of tillage, fruitful- 
 ness, culture and prosperity, and we find 
 on the reverse of a silver coin of Meta- 
 pontis, an ear of barley, with a field- 
 mouse beside it ; the barley alludes to 
 the sacrifice of golden ears at Delphi, and 
 the mouse to Apollo Sminthios. 
 
 COR'NET, a commissioned officer in a 
 troop of horse, corresponding in rank 
 with the ensign of a battalion of infantry. 
 His duty is to carry the standard, near 
 the centre of the front rank of the squad- 
 ron. Cornet, in music, a shrill wind in- 
 strument formed of wood, which appears 
 to have been in use in the earliest times, 
 and remained so till about the commence- 
 ment of the 18th century, when it was 
 displaced by the oboe. 
 
 COR'NET- A PISTONS, a brass wind 
 musical instrument, of the French horn 
 species, but capable of much greater in- 
 flection from the valves and stoppers 
 (pistons) with which it is furnished, and 
 whence it derives its name. 
 
 COR'NICE, in architecture, the upper 
 great division of an entablature, consist- 
 ing of several members. The cornice 
 used on a pedestal is called the cap of 
 the pedestal. 
 
 CORNUCO'PIA, or the HORN OF 
 PLENTY, a source whence, according to 
 the ancient poets, every production of 
 the earth was lavished : a gift from 
 Jupiter to his nurse, the goat Amalthea. 
 In elucidation of this fable, it has been 
 said that in Libya, the ancient name of 
 a part of Africa, there was a little terri- 
 tory, in shape not ill resembling a bul- 
 
 lock's horn, which Amnon, the king, gave 
 to his daughter Amalthea, the nurse of 
 Jupiter. Upon medals, the cornucopia 
 is given to all deities, genii, and heroes, 
 to mark the felicity and abundance of 
 all the wealth procured by the goodness 
 of the former, or the care and valor of 
 the latter. 
 
 COR'OLLARY, a conclusion or conse- 
 quences drawn from premises, or from 
 what is advanced or demonstrated. 
 
 CORO'NA, in architecture, a large flat 
 member of a cornice, crowning tho entab- 
 lature and the whole order. A crown or 
 circlet suspended from the roof or vault- 
 ing of churches, to hold tapers, lighted on 
 solemn occasions, the number of which is 
 regulated according to the solemnity of 
 the festival. Sometimes they are formed 
 of triple circles, arranged pyramidically. 
 
 CORONA'TION, the public and solemn 
 ceremony of crowning, or investing a 
 prince with the insignia of royalty, in 
 acknowledgment of his right to govern 
 the kingdom ; at which time the prince 
 swears reciprocally to the people, to ob- 
 serve the laws, customs and privileges of 
 the kingdom, and to act and do all things 
 conformable thereto. The form of the 
 coronation oath of a British monarch is as 
 follows : " I solemnly promise and swear 
 to govern the people of this United King- 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland, and 
 the dominions thereto belonging, accord- 
 ing to the statues in parliament agreed 
 on, and the laws and customs of the 
 same ; to the utmost of my power to 
 maintain the laws of God, the true pro- 
 fession of the gospel, and the Protestant 
 reformed religion established by the law ; 
 to preserve unto the bishops and the 
 clergy of this realm, and the churches 
 committed to their charge, all such 
 rights and privileges as by law do or 
 shall appertain unto them or any of 
 them." After this, the king or queen, 
 laying his or her hand upon the holy 
 Gospels, shall say, " The things which I 
 hav before promised, I will perform and 
 keep ; so help me God." 
 
 COR'ONER, the presiding officer in a 
 jury convened to inquire into the cause 
 of sudden deaths. 
 
 COR'PORAL, the lowest military offi- 
 cer in a company of foot, who has charge 
 over one of the divisions, places and re- 
 places sentinels, <fec. Corporal, in law, 
 an epithet for anything that belongs to 
 the body, as corporal punishment. Also, 
 corporal oath, so called because the party 
 taking it is obliged to lay his hand on the 
 Bible.
 
 COR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 113 
 
 CORPORATION, a body politic or 
 corporate, so called because the persons 
 or members are joined into one body, and 
 authorized by law to transact business as 
 an individual. Corporations are either 
 spiritual or temporal : spiritual, as bish- 
 ops, deans, archdeacons, &e., temporal, 
 as the mayor, and aldermen of cities. 
 And some are of a mixed nature, being 
 composed of spiritual and temporal per- 
 sons ; such as heads of colleges and hos- 
 pitals, <fcc. It has been truly said, thai 
 the whole political system is made up of 
 a concatenation of various corporations, 
 political, civil, religious, social, and eco- 
 nomical. A nation itself is the great cor- 
 poration, comprehending all the others, 
 the powers of which are exerted in legis- 
 lative, executive, and judicial acts. 
 
 CORPS, (French, pron. Awe) a body of 
 troops ; any division of an army ; as, a 
 corps de resert>4fche troops in reserve ; 
 corps de bataille, the whole line of bat- 
 tle, &c. 
 
 CORPUS CHRISTI DAY, a festival 
 appointed by the church of Rome in 
 honor of the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper. 
 
 CORPUSCULAR PHILOS'OPHY, a 
 system of physics, in which all the phe- 
 nomena of the material world are ex- 
 plained by the arrangement and physical 
 properties of the corpuseules or minute 
 atoms of matter. A doctrine of this sort 
 was anciently taught in Greece by Leu- 
 cippus and Democritus, and is described 
 in the beautiful poem of Lucretius. 
 
 COR'PUSCULE, a minute particle or 
 physical atom. Corpuseules are not the 
 elementary principles of matter, but such 
 small particles, simple or compound, as 
 arc not dissolved or dissipated by ordinary 
 heat. 
 
 COR'PUS JURIS, the collection of the 
 authentic works containing the Roman 
 law as compiled under Justinian. The 
 Corpus Juris comprehends the Pandects, 
 the Institutes, the Code, and the Novels 
 or Authentics, i. e. the latter constitutions 
 of Justinian ; to which, in some editions, 
 are added a few issued by his successors. 
 
 CORRECTION, in the fine arts. 
 With the Italians the word, correzione, is 
 used to denote an exact acquaintance 
 with the different proportions of the parts 
 of a body or design generally : but with 
 us the term is applied to those emenda- 
 tions of inaccuracies or alterations of first 
 thoughts, which they call pentimenti, to 
 be seen under the surface of the finished 
 picture, and which are accounted indica- 
 tions of its originality. 
 
 CORRELATIVE, an epithet denoting 
 the having a reciprocal relation, so that 
 the existence of one in, a certain state de- 
 pends on the existence of another ; as, 
 father and son ; light and darkness ; mo- 
 tion and rest ; all of which are correlative 
 terms. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE, in the fine 
 arts, the fitting or proportioning the 
 parts of a design to each other, so that 
 they may be correlative, and that the 
 same feeling may pervade the whole 
 composition. 
 
 COR'RIDOR, in architecture, a gallery 
 or long aisle round a building, leading to 
 several chambers at a distance from each 
 other. In fortification, the covered way 
 lying round the whole compass of the for- 
 tifications of a place. 
 
 COR'SAIR, a pirate or cruiser ; a 
 name commonly given to the piratical 
 cruising-vessels of Barbary, which, from 
 the beginning of the sixteenth century to 
 a recent period, infested the Mediter- 
 ranean. 
 
 CORTE'GE, a French word, signifying 
 the train or retinue that accompanies a 
 person of distinction. 
 
 CORT'ES, the assembly of the estates 
 of Spain and Portugal ; answering, in 
 some measure, to the parliament of Great 
 Britain. These estates were framed, as 
 elsewhere, of nobility, dignified clergy, 
 and representatives of the towns. In Ar- 
 ragon, they were presided over by a high 
 officer, termed Justiza, with powers in 
 some respects sufficient to control the 
 monarch. The origin of popular repre- 
 sentation in the cortes of the several king- 
 doms out of which that of Spain was final- 
 ly formed, is assigned to a date as early 
 as the 12th century; but the deputies 
 sent by the towns were irregularly sum- 
 moned, frequently did not attend, and the 
 numbers which appeared for each town- 
 frequently bore no proportion to the rel- 
 ative size of the different places. In the 
 14th century the power of the cortes 
 seems to have been at its height, after 
 which it gradually decayed, and under 
 the government of Ferdinand and Isabella 
 was reduced almost to a nullity. 
 
 COR'TILE, in architecture, an open 
 quadrangular of curved area in a dwel- 
 ling-house, surrounded by the buildings 
 of the house itself. 
 
 CORVE'E, in feudal law, the obliga- 
 tion of the inhabitants of a district to do 
 certain services, as the repair of roads, 
 <fcc., for the sovereign or the feudal lord. 
 Some species of corvee were performed 
 gratis : others for a fixed pay, but gener-
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [COT 
 
 ally below the value of the labor per- 
 formed. 
 
 CORVET'TE, a French word for any 
 vessel of war carrying less than twenty 
 guns. 
 
 CORYBAN'TES, in Grecian mytholo- 
 gy, were the priests of Cybele ; so called 
 either from Corybas, the son of that god- 
 dess, or from the frantic gestures with 
 which their devotions were accompanied ; 
 the term corybantes signifying literally 
 "shaking the head violently." They 
 used to beat brazen cymbals in their sa- 
 cred rites : and their whole religious pro- 
 ceedings were characterized by such ex- 
 travagant fanaticism as to have enriched 
 the Greek language with several terms 
 expressive of madness or frenzy. 
 
 CORYCE'UM. in ancient architecture, 
 an apartment in a gymnasium whose ex- 
 act destination is not known. 
 
 CORYM'BUS, -in ancient sculpture, the 
 cluster of ivy leaves, berries, garlands, 
 Ac., with which vases were encircled. 
 
 CO'RYPHCE'US, the leader of the cho- 
 rus in ancient dramas ; by whom the dia- 
 logue between the chorus and the other 
 actors of the drama was carried on, and 
 who led in the choric song. 
 
 COSMQG'ONY, the science which treats 
 of the origin of the universe. If we ex- 
 cept the cosmogony of the Indians, the 
 earliest extant is that of Hesiod, which is 
 delivered in hexameter verse. .The first 
 prose cosmogonies were those of the early 
 Ionic philosophers, of whom Thales, 
 Anaximenes, Anaximander, and Anaxa- 
 goras are the most celebrated. In mod- 
 ern times, a theory of the world has been 
 produced by Burnet. We do not include 
 in this list of cosmogonies the researches 
 of modern geologists, or the systems to 
 which they have led. They may be said 
 to hold the same place in relation to the 
 old cosmogoners, which the astronomer 
 or the chemist occupies in reference to 
 the astrologers and alchemists of ancient 
 times. 
 
 COSMOL'OGY, a treatise relating to 
 the structure and parts of creation, the 
 elements of bodies, the laws of motion, 
 and the order and course of nature. 
 
 COSMOP'OLITE, a citizen of the 
 world ; one who makes himself at home 
 everywhere. 
 
 COSMORA'MA, a view or series of 
 views of the world ; a comprehensive 
 painting. Properly, a name given to a 
 species of picturesque exhibitions. It 
 consists of eight or ten colored drawings, 
 laid horizontally round a semicircular 
 table, and reflected by mirrors placed 
 
 diagonally opposite to them. The spec- 
 tator views them through convex leiiM's. 
 placed immediately in front of each mir- 
 ror. 
 
 COS'SACKS, the tribes who inhabit the 
 southern and eastern parts of Russia. I'o- 
 land, the Ukraine, &c., paying no taxes, 
 but performing, instead, the duly of sol- 
 diers. They form a kind of military de- 
 mocracy ; and have proved highly serv- 
 .iceable, as irregular cavalry, in the Rus- 
 sian Campaigns. Their principal weapon 
 is a lance from ten to twelve feet in length : 
 they have also a sabre, a gun, and a pair 
 of pistols, as well as a bow and arrows. 
 The lances, in riding, are carried upright 
 by means of a strap fastened to the foot, 
 the arm, or pommel of the saddle. Those 
 who use bows carry a quiver over the 
 shoulder. Though little adapted for reg- 
 ular movements, they^re very servicea- 
 ble in attacking baggflj|e, magazines, and 
 in the pursuit of troops scattered in flight. 
 They fight principally in small bodies, 
 with which they attack the enemy on all 
 sides, but mostly on the flanks and in the 
 rear, rushing upon them at full speed, 
 with a dreadful hurrah, and with levelled 
 lances. 
 
 COS'TUME, in painting and the fine 
 arts generally, the observance of that 
 rule or precept by which an artist is en- 
 joined to make any person or thing sus- 
 tain its proper character ; the scene, 
 dress, arms, manners, Ac., all correspond- 
 ing. The study of costume requires, on 
 the part of the artist, the observance of 
 propriety in regard to the person or ob- 
 ject represented ; an intimate knowledge 
 of the countries, their history, manners 
 and customs, arts, and natural produc- 
 tions ; the vestments peculiar to each 
 class ; their physiognomy, complexion, 
 their ornaments, arms, furniture, &c. 
 All should be conformable to the scene 
 of action and historical period. Many of 
 the old masters, and not a few of the 
 modern, have committed some very glar- 
 ing improprieties in their costume ; we 
 may instance Paul Veronese, while, on 
 the contrary, Nicolas Poussin is remavk- 
 able for his accuracy in this respect. The 
 observance of correct costume is a great 
 merit in an artist, at the same time, it 
 must be subservient to pictorial effect. 
 
 COTERIE', an old French word, sup- 
 posed to be derived from the Latin quot, 
 how many, signifying literally a society 
 or company. In the 13th or 14th cen- 
 tury, when merchants were about to em- 
 bark in any commercial enterprise, they 
 formed a coterie or company, each con-
 
 cou] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 115 
 
 trrbuting his quota of goods or money, 
 and deriving his quota of profit. But 
 the term soon acquired a more extended 
 signification, in which, however, the ori- 
 ginal meaning is still perceptible, it be- 
 ing applied to any exclusive society in 
 which interesting subjects (chiefly liter- 
 ary and political) are discussed, each 
 member being supposed to contribute his 
 quota or share for the general edification 
 or amusement. 
 
 COTHUR'NUS, in antiquity, a kind 
 of high shoes, laced high, such as Diana 
 and her nymphs are represented as wear- 
 ing. The tragic actors also wore them, 
 in order to give additional height to 
 those who personated heroes ; the cothur- 
 nus used for this purpose differing from 
 the one used in hunting by its having a 
 sole of cork at least four fingers thick. 
 
 COUCH, in painting, a term used for 
 each lay or impression of color, either in 
 oil or water, covering the canvas, wall, 
 or other matter to be painted. Gilders 
 use the term couch, for gold or silver lace 
 laid on metals in gilding or silvering. 
 
 COUN'CIL, in national affairs, an as- 
 sembly of persons for the purpose of con- 
 certing measures of state. In England, 
 that is called the Privy Council, where- 
 in the sovereign and privy councillors 
 meet in the palace to deliberate on affairs 
 of state. When the council is composed 
 only of cabinet ministers, it is called a 
 Cabinet Council. Council of war, an 
 assembly of the principal officers of a 
 fleet or army, called by the admiral or 
 general to concert measures for requisite 
 operations. 
 
 COUN'SEL, in law, any counsellor or 
 advocate, or any number of counsellors 
 or barristers ; as, the plaintiff's or defend- 
 ant's counsel. 
 
 COUNT, a title of nobility, equivalent 
 to an English earl. In law, a particular 
 charge in an indictment, or narration in 
 pleading, getting forth the cause of com- 
 plaint. There may be different counts 
 in the same declaration. 
 
 COUN'TENANCE, the whole form of 
 the face, or system of features. This 
 word has many figurative applications : 
 thus, by the light of God's countenance, 
 we mean grace and favor : so the rebuke 
 of his countenance indicates his anger. 
 To keep tlte countenance is to preserve a 
 calm, natural, and composed look. To 
 keep in countenance, to give assurance to 
 one, or protect him from shame. To put 
 out of countenance, to intimidate and dis- 
 concert. 
 
 COUN'TER, a term which enters into 
 
 the composition of many words of our lan- 
 guage, and generally implies opposition. 
 
 COUNTER-APPROACH'ES, in forti- 
 fication, lines and trenches made by the 
 besieged, in order to attack the works of 
 the besiegers, or to hinder their ap- 
 proaches. 
 
 COUN'TER-DEED, a secret writing 
 either before a notary or under a private 
 seal, which destroys, invalidates, or alters 
 a public one. 
 
 COUN'TERDRAWING, in painting, 
 copying a design, or painting by means 
 of lines drawn on oiled paper, or other 
 transparent substance. 
 
 COUNTERFEIT, that which is made 
 in imitation of something, but without 
 lawful authority, and with a view to de- 
 fraud by passing the false for the true. 
 Thus we say, counterfeit coin, a counter- 
 feit bond, deed, &c. 
 
 COUN'TERGUARD, in fortification, a 
 small rampart or work raised before the 
 point of a bastion, consisting of two long 
 faces parallel to the faces of the bastion, 
 making a salient angle to preserve the 
 bastion. 
 
 COUN'TERMARK, a mark put upon 
 goods that have been marked before. It 
 is also used for the several marks put 
 upon goods belonging to several persons, 
 to show that they must not be opened 
 but in the presence of all the owners or 
 their agents. The mark of the gold- 
 smith's company, to show the metal to 
 be standard, added to that of the artificer. 
 
 COUN'TERMINE, in military affairs, 
 a well and gallery sunk in the earth and 
 running underground, to meet and defeat 
 the effect of the enemy's mine ; or, in 
 other words, a mine made by the besieg- 
 ed, in order to blow up the mine of the 
 
 COUNTERPART, the correspondent 
 part or duplicate. Also, the part which 
 fits another, as the key of a cipher. In 
 music, the part to be applied to another ; 
 as, the bass is the counterpart to the treble . 
 
 COUN'TERPOINT, in music, the art 
 of combining and modulating consonant 
 sounds ; or of disposing several parts in 
 such a manner as to make an agreeable 
 whole of a concert. 
 
 COUN'TERPROOF, is an engraving 
 taken off from another fresh printed, 
 which, by being passed through the roll- 
 ing press, gives an inverted figure of the 
 former. 
 
 COUNTER-RE VOLU'TION, a revolu- 
 tion opposed to a former one, and restor- 
 ing a former state of things. 
 
 COUN'TERSCARP, in fortification,
 
 116 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 that side of the ditch which is next the 
 camp, arid faces the body of the place ; 
 but it often signifies the whole covered 
 way, with its parapet and glacis. 
 
 COUNTER-SECURITY, security giv- 
 en to one who has entered into a bond, or 
 become surety for another. 
 
 COUNTERSIGN, a military watch- 
 word ; or a private signal given to sol- 
 diers on guard, with orders to let no man 
 pass unless he first names that sign. 
 Also, to sign, as secretary or other sub- 
 ordinate officer, any writing signed by a 
 principal or superior, to attest the au- 
 thenticity of his signature. 
 
 COUNTER-TEN'OR, in music, one of 
 the middle parts between the treble and 
 the tenor. 
 
 COUNT'ING-HOUSE, the house or 
 room appropriated by merchants, traders, 
 and manufacturers, for the business of 
 keeping their books, &c. 
 
 COUN'TRY, any tract of inhabited 
 land, or any region as distinguished from 
 other regions ; any state or territory ; 
 and also any district in the vicinity of a 
 city or town. Thus we say, This gentle- 
 man has a seat in the country ; America 
 is my native country ; the countries of 
 Europe, Asia, &c. 
 
 COUN'TY, originally, the district or 
 territory of a count or earl : one of the 
 ancient divisions of England, which by 
 the Saxons were called shires. England is 
 divided into forty counties or shires, Wales 
 into twelve, Scotland into thirty-three. 
 Each county has its sheriff and its court, 
 with other officers employed in the ad- 
 ministration of justice and the execu- 
 tion of the laws; and each lord-lieuten- 
 ant of a county has the command of its 
 militia. The several states of America 
 are divided by law into counties, in each 
 of which is a county court of inferior 
 jurisdiction ; and in each the supreme 
 court of the state holds stated sessions. 
 County-corporate, a title given to sev- 
 eral cities or ancient boroughs (as South- 
 ampton and Bristol,) on which certain 
 kings of England have thought proper to 
 bestow peculiar privileges ; annexing ter- 
 ritory, land, or jurisdiction, and making 
 them counties within themselves, with 
 their own sheriffs and other officers. 
 County palatine, a county distinguished 
 by particular privileges, and named from 
 palatio, the palace, because the owner 
 had originally royal powers in the ad- 
 ministration of justice ; these are now, 
 however, greatly abridged. The counties 
 palatine in England are Lancaster, Ches- 
 ter and Durham. 
 
 [COD 
 
 COUP, a French term for a stroke or 
 sudden blow. Coup de grace, the finish- 
 ing blow. Coup de main, a sudden un- 
 premeditated attack. Coup d'aeil, the 
 first glance of the eye, with which it sur- 
 veys any object at large. Coup de 
 soleil, any disorder suddenly produced 
 by the violent scorching of the sun. 
 
 COUPEE', a motion in dancing, when 
 one leg is a little bent and suspended 
 from the ground, and with the other a 
 motion is made forward. 
 
 COUP'LE, two of the same species or 
 kind ; as a couple of men, a couple of ap- 
 ples, &c. A pair is a couple, and a brace 
 is a couple ; but a couple may or may not 
 be a pair or a brace. 
 
 COUP'LET, the division of a hymn, 
 ode, or song, wherein an equal number 
 or an equal measure of verses is found in 
 each part, called a strophe. 
 
 COUR'AGE, firmness of mind, inspired 
 by a sense of what is just and honorable ; 
 that which, amidst all the dangers and 
 trials to which human life is incident, 
 enables a man steadily to pursue the dic- 
 tates of conscience and prudence. It in- 
 cludes valor, boldness, and resolution ; 
 and is a constituent part of fortitude. 
 
 COURAN'TO, a piece of music in 
 triple time ; also, a kind of dance. 
 
 COU'RIERS, a name given in ordinary 
 language to the bearer? of public de- 
 spatches or private intelligence by ex- 
 press. The institution of persons to con- 
 vey intelligence with celerity and regu- 
 larity is coeval witn the earliest history 
 of civilized nations. By the Persians 
 they were styled ayyapoi, by the Greeks 
 fi/jtcpuSpofjiot, and by the Romans cursores ; 
 and the duties of the ancient couriers 
 seem to have been wholly analogous to 
 those of the moderns, and were performed 
 chiefly on horseback, though the original 
 derivation of the name would lead to an 
 opposite supposition. In the middle ages 
 couriers were known by the appellation 
 trottarii, or trotters ; and hence perhaps 
 originated the English term running 
 footmen, of whom history makes mention 
 in the 17th and 18th centuries. 
 
 COURSE, in its general sense, a mo- 
 tion forward, either in a direct or curv- 
 ing line ; and may be applied to animals, 
 and to solid or fluid bodies. Applied to 
 the arts and sciences, course denotes a 
 methodical series ; as, the author has 
 completed his course of lectures ; or the 
 medical student has completed his course 
 in anatomy. Of course, in natural and 
 regular order ; as this effect will follow 
 of course. The course of exchange, in
 
 cov 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 117 
 
 commerce, the current price or rate at 
 which the coin of one country is exchang- 
 ed for that of another ; which, as it de- 
 pends upon the balance of trade and the 
 political relations which subsist between 
 tho two 'countries, is always fluctuating. 
 
 COURS'INO, the act or sport of pur- 
 suing any beast of chase, as the hare, &c. 
 with greyhounds. 
 
 COURT, a palace ; a place where jus- 
 tice is administered ; also the persons or 
 judges assembled for hearing and decid- 
 ing causes, civil, criminal, &c. Thus we 
 have a court of law ; a court of equity ; a 
 court martial ; an ecclesiastical court, &c. 
 
 COURT-BAR'ON, a court incident to 
 manorial rights. 
 
 COUR'TESY, it was at the courts of 
 princes and great feudatories that the 
 minstrels and troubadours of the middle 
 ages especially delighted to exercise 
 their art ; and it was there, also, that the 
 peculiarities of chivalrous life and man- 
 ners were chiefly exhibited. Hence court- 
 esy was a general term, expressive of all 
 the elegance and refinement which the 
 society of those times had attained ; in 
 fact, it was synonymous with all the 
 gentler parts of chivalry itself: and it is 
 in this sense that it is used both by the 
 early trouveres and romancers, and also 
 by poets of a later age, when affecting 
 the use of chivalrous language. The 
 transition from this wider meaning to 
 that in which it is now employed is ob- 
 vious enough. Tenure by courtesy, in 
 law, is where a man marries a woman 
 seized of an estate of inheritance, and 
 has by her issue born alive, which was 
 capable of inheriting her estate : in this 
 case, on the death of his wife, he holds 
 the lands for his life, as tenant by courtesy. 
 
 COURT-LEET', a court of record held 
 once a year, in a particular hundred, 
 lordship, or manor, before the steward of 
 the leet. 
 
 COURT-MAR'TIAL. a court consist- 
 ing of military or naval officers, for the 
 trial of offences within its jurisdiction. 
 
 COURT'-ROLL, a roll containing an 
 account of the number, &c. of lands 
 which depend on the jurisdiction of the 
 manor, <fcc. 
 
 COUS'IN, the son or daughter of an 
 uncle or aunt; the children of brothers 
 and sisters being usually denominated 
 cousins or cousin- %er mans. In the sec- 
 ond generation they are called second 
 cousins. 
 
 COUS'SINET, in architecture, the 
 crowning stone of a pier, or that which 
 lies on the capital of the impost and un- 
 
 der the sweep. Its bed is level below 
 and inclined above, receiving the first 
 rise or spring of the arch or vault. This 
 word is also used for the ornament in the 
 Ionic capital, between the abacus and 
 echinus or quarter round, which serves 
 to form the volute, and is thus called 
 because its appearance is that of a 
 cushion or pillow seemingly collapsed by 
 the weight over it, and bound with a 
 strap or girdle called the baltheus. 
 
 COVE, an inlet on a rocky coast. It 
 is a term nearly synonymous with har- 
 bor; the word cove being generally, 
 though not always, used when the inden- 
 tation on the coast .is too shallow or nar- 
 row to admit first class vessels. 
 
 COVENANT, in history, the famous 
 bond of association adopted by the Scot- 
 tish Presbyterians in 1638. It was framed 
 on tho model of a similar declaration, 
 which had been twice solemnly subscribed 
 in the early period of the Reformation ; 
 but in more violent language, and with 
 more specific obligation to support the 
 kirk, together with a prohibition and 
 abjuration of the Anglican liturgy and 
 articles. The founders of the Solemn 
 League and Covenant were Alexander 
 Henderson, leader of the clergy, and 
 Archibald Johnston, of Wariston. an ad- 
 vocate. A new religious covenant be- 
 tween the two kingdoms was framed in 
 1643, and taken by the English House 
 of Commons and assembly of divines at 
 Westminster. Charles II. subscribed tho 
 Scottish covenant on his coronation in 
 1651 ; but on his restoration it was de- 
 clared null by act of parliament, and 
 burned by the common hangman. It 
 formed, however, the watchword and 
 bond of union of the discontented party, 
 or Covenanters, as they were called, in 
 the rebellions of his reign. Covenant, 
 in a theological sense, a promise made 
 by God to man upon certain conditions ; 
 the two grand distinctions of which are 
 emphatically designated the Old and 
 New Covenant, or Testament ; in each 
 of which certain temporal or spiritual 
 benefits are promised to man upon the 
 performance of duties therein pointed 
 out. Covenant, in law, is an engage- 
 ment under seal to do or to omit a direct 
 act. Covenants are of many different 
 species, as in fact and in law, implied 
 and express. &c. ; and according to their 
 subject matter, or express stipulation, 
 they are binding respectively on the 
 heirs, executors, and assigns, or execu- 
 tors and assigns only, of the covenantor. 
 Covenant is also a form of action, which
 
 118 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 ORE 
 
 lies where a party claims damages for 
 breach of a covenant or contract under 
 seal. 
 
 COWL, the hoods which protect both 
 head and neck from the cold. St. Basil 
 and St. Anthony commanded their monks 
 to wear them, and latterly they have 
 come into use by travellers, sailors, and 
 huntsmen. 
 
 COWRIES, small shells brought from 
 the Maldives, which pass current as coin 
 in smaller payments in Hindostan, and 
 throughout extensive districts in Africa. 
 
 CRANIOL'OGY, the science which in- 
 vestigates the structure and uses of the 
 skulls in various animals, particularly 
 in relation to their specific character and 
 intellectual powers. One who is versed 
 in this science is termed a craniologist. 
 
 CRANIOM'ETER, an instrument for 
 measuring the skulls of animals. The 
 art of measuring them for the purpose of 
 discovering their specific differences, is 
 called craniometry. 
 
 CRANIOS'COPY, the science of dis- 
 covering, by the eminences produced by 
 the brain on the cranium, the particular 
 parts in which reside the organs that 
 influence certain passions or faculties. 
 
 CRA'NIUM, the skull ; the assemblage 
 of bones which enclose the brain. 
 
 CRA'TER, the aperture or mouth of a 
 volcano, from which the fire issues. In 
 antiquity, a very large wine cup, or gob- 
 let, out of which the ancients poured their 
 libations at feasts. 
 
 CRAY'ON, a general name for all 
 colored mineral substances, used in de- 
 signing or painting in pastil ; whether 
 they have, been beaten and reduced to a 
 paste, or are used in their primitive con- 
 sistence, after sawing and cutting them 
 into long narrow slips. 
 
 CREA'TIOX, the act of causing to 
 exist, or of shaping and organizing mat- 
 ter so as to form new beings ; as the 
 creation of man and other animals, of 
 plants, minerals, <fcc. Also, the act of 
 investing with a new character ; as, the 
 creation of peers by the sovereign. 
 
 CREDEX'DA, in theology, things to 
 be believed ; articles of faith ; distin- 
 guished from agenda, or practical duties. 
 
 CREDENTIALS, that which gives a 
 title or claim to confidence ; as the let- 
 ters of commendation and power given 
 to an ambassador, or public minister, by 
 the prince that sends him to a foreign 
 court. 
 
 CRED'IT, in political economy, is a 
 term used to express the lending of 
 wealth, or of the means of acquiring 
 
 wealth, by one individual or set of indi- 
 viduals to another. The party who lends 
 is said to give credit, and the party who 
 borrows to obtain credit. Hence credit 
 may bo defined to be the acquisition by 
 one party of the wealth of another in 
 loan, according to conditions voluntarily 
 agreed on between them. Very exagge- 
 rated notions are commonly entertained 
 of the influences of credit : but, in fact, all 
 operations in which credit is given or ac- 
 quired resolve themselves into a new dis- 
 tribution of wealth already in existence. 
 The " magical" effect that is every now 
 and then ascribed to credit is imaginary. 
 A party who purchases goods payable at 
 some future date obviously acquires the 
 command of so much of the capital of the 
 seller of the goods as their value amounts 
 to, in the same way that a party who 
 discounts a bill acquires the command of 
 a corresponding portion of the capital of 
 the discounter. Wealth is not created by 
 the issue of bills ; and all that their nego- 
 tiation does is to transfer already exist- 
 ing property from one individual or party 
 to another. In the great majority of 
 cases loans are made by individuals who 
 wish to retire from business, or who have 
 more capital than they can advantage- 
 ously employ, to individuals entering into 
 business, or who wish to extend their con- 
 cerns and to acquire a greater command 
 of capital. The probability is, that capi- 
 tal will be more likely to be efficiently 
 employed by the latter than by the former 
 class of persons ; and the advantage of 
 credit, in a national point of view, con- 
 sists in that circumstance. Loans made 
 to prodigals or spendthrifts, or to indi- 
 viduals who expend them on unprofitable 
 undertakings, are, in so far, publicly in- 
 jurious ; but, speaking generally, these 
 bear but a very small proportion to the 
 other class of loans, or those made to in- 
 dividuals by whom they are advantage- 
 ously expended. Public credit is the 
 phrase used to express the trust or confi- 
 dence placed in the state by those who 
 lend money to government. The interest 
 or premium paid by the borrowers to the 
 lenders depends on a great variety of 
 circumstances. partly on the rate of 
 profit that may be made by the employ- 
 ment of capital at the time, partly on the 
 duration of the loan and the security for 
 its repayment, and partly on the facili- 
 ties given by the law for enforcing pay- 
 ment. The only way, indeed, in which a 
 government can advantageously interfere 
 to encourage credit is by simplifying the 
 administration of the law, and by giving
 
 CRl] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 119 
 
 every facility for carrying the conditions 
 of contracts into effect. 
 
 CREED, any brief summary of Chris- 
 tian belief; but more especially either of 
 the three confessions commonly called the 
 Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian. The 
 term is derived from the word credo, / 
 believe; in like manner as paternoster, 
 avemaria, &e., are prayers named from 
 the first word of these formulas in the 
 Latin tongue. 
 
 CREMO'NA, a general designation of 
 the violins made at Cremona in Italy, 
 during the 17th and 18th centuries, chief- 
 ly by the family Amati. Cremona is also 
 a name erroneously given to a stop in 
 the organ ; being nothing more than a 
 corruption of krumhorn, an ancient wind 
 instrument, which it was originally de- 
 signed to imitate. 
 
 CRENOPH'YLAX, in antiquity, a ma- 
 gistrate at Athens, who had the inspec- 
 tion of fountains. 
 
 CREO'LE, a name given to the de- 
 scendants of whites born in Mexico, South 
 America, and the West Indies ; in whom 
 the European blood has been unmixed 
 with that of other races. The various 
 jargons spoken in the West India islands 
 by sla.ves, &,c. are called Creole dialects. 
 
 CREPUN'DIA, in antiquity, a term 
 used to express such things as were worn 
 as ornaments by children, as rings, jew- 
 els, <fec., which might serve as tokens 
 whereby they afterwards might be recog- 
 nized, or as an inducement for others to 
 take charge of them. 
 
 CRESCEN'DO, in music, an Italian 
 term for the gradual swelling of the notes 
 over which it is placed. 
 
 CRES'CENT, the increasing or new 
 moon, which, when receding from the 
 sun, shows a curving rim of light, termi- 
 nating in points or horns. The Turkish 
 standard, on which a crescent is depicted ; 
 and, figuratively, the Turkish power or 
 empire of the crescent. 
 
 CREST, the plume of feathers or other 
 material on the top of the ancient helmet. 
 The crest is considered a greater crite- 
 rion of nobility than the armor generally, 
 and therefore forms an important subject 
 in the science of heraldry. 
 
 CREUX, a French term used in sculp- 
 ture, where the lines and figures are cut 
 below the surface of the substances en- 
 graved, and thus stands opposed to re- 
 lievo, which latter term intimates the 
 prominence of the lines and figures which 
 appear above the surface. 
 
 CRIME, the transgression of a law, 
 either natural or divine, civil or eccle- 
 
 siastic. In the general sense of the word, 
 crimes are understood to be offences 
 against society or morals, as far as they 
 are amenable to the laws. To this we 
 may add, in order more clearly to distin- 
 guish between words often esteemed sy- 
 nonymous, that actions contrary to the 
 precepts of religion are called sins; ac- 
 tions contrary to the principles of morals 
 are called vices; and actions, contrary to 
 the laws of the state, are called crimes. 
 
 CRIM'INAL, in the sense usually ap- 
 plied, signifies, a person indicted or 
 charged with a public offence, and one 
 who is found guilty. 
 
 CRIM'SON. The color known by this 
 name is red, reduced to a deep tone by 
 the presence of blue. 
 
 CRI'SIS, in medicine, according to 
 Galen, is a sudden change, either for the 
 better or the worse, indicative of recove- 
 ry or death. In its more general sense, 
 it denotes that stage of a disorder from 
 which some judgment may be formed or' 
 its termination. At the approach of a 
 crisis, the disease appears to take a more 
 violent character. If the change is for 
 the better, the violent symptoms cease 
 with a copious perspiration, or some other 
 discharge from the system. After a salu- 
 tary crisis, the patient feels himself re- 
 lieved, and the dangerous symptoms 
 cease. By a crisis is also meant the 
 point of time when an affair is arrived 
 at its height, and must soon terminate or 
 suffer a material change. 
 
 CRITE'RION, any established rule, 
 principle, or fact, which may be taken as 
 a standard to judge by, and by which a 
 correct judgment may be formed. 
 
 CRITH'OMANCY, a kind of divina- 
 tion by means of the dough of cakes, and 
 the meal strewed over the victims, in an- 
 cient sacrifices. 
 
 CRIT'IC, a person who, according to 
 the established rules of his art, is capable 
 of judging with propriety of any literary 
 composition, or work of art, particularly 
 of such as are denominated the Fine Arts. 
 To which may be added, as within the 
 province of a critic, that he should be 
 able to explain what is obscure, to supply 
 what is defective, to amend what is erro- 
 neous, and to reconcile the discrepancies 
 he may meet with between different au- 
 thors who have treated on the subject 
 under review. 
 
 CRIT'ICISM, has been defined "the 
 art of judging with propriety concerning 
 any object, or combination of objects." 
 In a somewhat more limited, but still ex- 
 tensive meaning, its province is confined
 
 120 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 to literature, philology, and the fine arts ; 
 and to subjects of antiquarian, scientific, 
 or historical investigation. In this sense, 
 every branch of literary study, as well as 
 each of the fine arts, has its proper criti- 
 cism as an appendage to it. The elements 
 of criticism depend on the two principles 
 of beauty and truth, one of which is the 
 final end or object of study in every one 
 of its pursuits : beauty, in letters and the 
 arts ; truth, in history and the sciences. 
 The office of criticism, therefore! is, first 
 to lay down those forms or essential 
 ideas which answer to our conception of 
 the beautiful or the true in each branch 
 of study ; and, next, to point out by ref- 
 erence to those ideas the excellences or 
 defects of individual works, as they ap- 
 proach or diverge from the requisite 
 standard in each particular. Thus, his- 
 torical criticism teaches us to distinguish 
 the true from the false, or the probable 
 from the improbable, in historical works ; 
 scientific criticism has the same object in 
 each respective line of science ; while lit- 
 erary criticism, in a general sense, has 
 for its principal employment the investi- 
 gation of the merits and demerits of style 
 or diction, according to the received stand- 
 ard of excellence in every language ; and, 
 in poetry and the arts, criticism develops 
 the principles of that more refined and 
 exquisite sense of beauty which forms the 
 ideal model of perfection in each. Taste 
 is the critical faculty ; that perception of 
 the beautiful in literature and the arts, 
 for the acquisition of which, perhaps, 
 some minds have superior natural powers 
 than others, but which can in no instance 
 be fully developed except by education 
 and habit. Among the classical ancients, 
 the criticism of beauty was carried to a 
 high degree of perfection. Less encum- 
 bered with a multitude of facts and things 
 to be known than ourselves, their minds 
 were more at leisure, and more sedulous- 
 ly exercised in reflecting on their own no- 
 tions and perceptions ; hence the aston- 
 ishing progress which they made in the 
 fine arts ; and hence, in literature, they 
 valued more the beauty of the vehicle in 
 which sentiments were conveyed, and the 
 moral or poetical beauty of those senti- 
 ments themselves, than the objective 
 branches of study which it is the princi- 
 pal purpose of literature, in our clays, to 
 convey easily and precisely to the mind. 
 And as the criticism which antiquity has 
 left us consists almost wholly of such as 
 relates to the literature and the arts (in 
 history they had, as far as we know, few 
 critical spirits, in the sciences almost 
 
 [CRO 
 
 none,) the name is snll confined, in its 
 most popular signification, to those prov- 
 inces of research. The criticism of truth 
 is of later growth ; but as it is regulated 
 for the most part by similar rules and 
 principles, and as minds which possess 
 the faculty of judgment in a high degree 
 in. the one are generally capable, if exer- 
 cised, of forming right apprehensions in 
 the other, they may be considered as 
 nearly allied in the more essential re- 
 spects. For although it is true that in 
 scientific investigation great knowledge 
 of the individual subject is required to 
 constitute a critic, and in the fine arts the 
 most gifted mind will require much edu- 
 cation and practice to judge of beauty; 
 yet it is equally true in both of these 
 branches of study, however widely differ- 
 ing from each other, that knowledge alone 
 (except perhaps in purely abstract sci- 
 ence, in respect of which the name of crit- 
 icism seems hardly applicable) will not 
 make the critic, and that the habit of dis- 
 criminating and judging correctly is a 
 distinct faculty or compound of faculties 
 in the mind. Criticism, in a more limited 
 sense, is a branch of belles lettres. Es- 
 says written for the purpose of commend- 
 ing or discommending works in literature 
 or the arts, and pointing out their vari- 
 ous merits and defects, are works in the 
 critical department. Thus the term " pe- 
 riodical criticism" is used to express the 
 body of writing contained in the various 
 works under the name of magazines, re- 
 views, <fec., which are periodically pub- 
 lished in mos s t literary countries. 
 
 CRITIQUE', a skilful examination of 
 the merits of a performance, with remarks 
 on its beauties and faults. 
 
 CROCK'ETTS, enrichments modelled 
 generally from 
 vegetable pro- 
 ductions, such as 
 vine or other 
 leaves, but some- 
 times animals 
 and images are 
 introduced, em- 
 ployed in gothic 
 architecture to 
 decorate the angles of various parts of 
 ecclesiastical edifices, such as spires, pin- 
 nacles, niullions of windows, &c. The 
 forms are infinite, almost every kind of 
 leaf or flower being employed for this pur- 
 pose, generally with some pointed refer- 
 ence to local circumstances ; thus, at 
 Westminster we find a succession of roses 
 and pomegranates ; at Magdalen College 
 Chapel, lilies. They only appear in py-
 
 cuo] 
 
 A?JD THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 121 
 
 ramidical and curved lines, never in hori- 
 zontal. 
 
 CROI'SES, in English antiquity, pil- 
 grims bound for the Holy Land, or such 
 as had been there ; so called from a badge 
 they wore in imitation of a cross. The 
 knights of St. John of Jerusalem, created 
 for the defence and protection of pilgrims, 
 were particularly called croises; and so 
 were all those of the English nobility and 
 gentr}', who, in the reigns of Henry II. 
 Richard I. Henry III. and Edward I. 
 were cruce signati, that is, devoted for 
 the recovery of Palestine. 
 
 CROM'LECH, in British antiquity, 
 large, broad, flat stones raised upon other 
 stones set up to support them. They are 
 common in Anglesea, and are supposed to 
 bo remains of druidical altars. Cromlechs 
 are generally supposed by antiquaries to 
 have been constructed to serve as altars. 
 According to some, there is a difference 
 between the cromlechs of the Britons and 
 those of nations of Germanic descent ; the 
 former being inclined stones, perhaps for 
 the purpose of allowing the blood shed in 
 sacrifice to run off; the latter thick, round 
 stones, standing on small hillocks and 
 covering caves. 
 
 CRO'SIER, the staff of an archbishop, 
 surmounted by a cross, and thereby dis- 
 tinguished from the pastoral staff or 
 crook of a bishop. This staff, according 
 to Polydore Virgil, was given to bishops 
 wherewith to chastise the vices of the peo- 
 ple ; and was called baculus pastoralis, in 
 respect of their pastoral charge and su- 
 perintendence over their flock, as 
 well as from its resemblance to 
 the shepherd's crook. Many au- 
 thors contend that the crosier is 
 derived from the lituus or augural 
 staff of the Romans. 
 
 CROSS, in antiquity, an instru- 
 ment of ancient vengeance, con- 
 sisting of two pieces of timber, 
 crossing each other, cither in the 
 form of a T or an X. That on 
 which our Saviour suffered, is 
 represented on coins and other 
 monuments to have been of the 
 former kind. This punishment was 
 only inflicted on malefactors and 
 slaves, and was thence called ser- 
 vile supplicium. The most usual 
 method was to nail the criminal's 
 hands and feet to this gibbet, in 
 an erect posture ; though there 
 are instances of criminals so nail- 
 ed with their head downward. 
 Cross, the ensign of the Christian 
 religion ; and hence, figuratively, 
 
 the religion itself. Also, a monument 
 with a cross upon it to excite devotion, 
 such as were anciently set up in rnarkec 
 places. In theology, the doctrine of 
 Christ's sufferings and of the atonement. 
 Cross, in Christian Art, the sole and 
 universal symbol of our redemption, and 
 of the person of our Saviour ; he is sym- 
 bolized under this form, as he is also 
 under that of the Fish, the Lion, or the 
 Lamb. The cross is either historic or 
 symbolic, real or ideal ; in the one it is 
 a gibbet, in the other an attribute of 
 glory. There are four species of cross. 
 1. The cross without a sumiuit, in the 
 form of a T ; this is the Egyptian cross, 
 the Cross of the Old Testament. Many 
 ancient churches, especially the Basili- 
 cas of Constantine, St. Peter and St. Paul 
 at Rome, are, in their ground plan, near- 
 ly of this form. 2. The cross with sum- 
 mit ; it has four branches ; this is the 
 true cross, the cross of Jesus and of the 
 Evangelists. This form of cross is divided 
 into two principal types, which also par- 
 take of many varieties ; they are known 
 as the Greek and the Latin cross ; the 
 first is adopted by the Greek and Oriental 
 Christians, the second by the Christians 
 of the West. The Greek cross is com- 
 posed of four equal parts, the breadth 
 being equal to the length. In the Latin 
 cross, the foot is longer than the summit 
 or the arms. The Greek cross is an ideal 
 cross ; the Latin cross resembles the real 
 cross upon which Jesus suffered. 3. The 
 cross with two cross-pieces and summit.
 
 122 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [CRO 
 
 4. The cross with summit and three cross- 
 pieces. When the cross retains its sim- 
 ple form, and is not loaded with attri- 
 butes or ornaments, we must distinguish 
 the Cross of the Passion from the Cross 
 of the Resurrection. The Cross of the 
 Passion is a real cross, the gibbet upon 
 which Christ suffered. This is the cross 
 in common use in our churches ; it is 
 employed by painters and sculptors ; and 
 which, in Catholic countries, meets us at 
 every turn ; by the roadside, in the 
 street, chapels, and cathedrals. It is also 
 called the Triumphal Cross. The Cross 
 of the Resurrection is the symbol of the 
 true cross ; it is that put into the hands 
 of Christ in representations of his resur- 
 rection. It is a lance, the staff of which 
 terminates in a cross instead of a pike ; 
 it carries a flag or banner, upon which is 
 depicted a cross, which is suspended from 
 the point of intersection of the arms. It 
 is the cross held by the Paschal Lamb ; 
 it is that carried at the head of religious 
 processions. It is not a tree, like the 
 Cross of the Passion, but a staff; the 
 first is the Cross of Suffering, the other is 
 the Cross of Victory ; they are of the 
 same general form, but the latter is 
 spiritualized; it is the gibbet trans- 
 figured. 
 
 CROSS-BOW, an ancient weapon, a 
 great improvement on the wooden long- 
 bow, and brought to Europe by the Crusa- 
 ders. It was made of steel, with a pe- 
 culiar handle, and the string was stretch- 
 ed by means of a small wheel called a 
 gaffle. The bolts or arrows were gener- 
 ally shod with iron, and were either 
 round, angular, or pointed. Burning 
 materials were also discharged from the 
 bow, in order to set fire to buildings and 
 machines of war. Those bows made 
 wholly of iron were called ballisters. 
 The share which Art had in the cross- 
 bows of the middle ages may be seen by 
 a glance into the armories. The most 
 artistic specimen is the bow which Charles 
 V. used for his amusement. It was in- 
 laid with ivory carved by Albert Durer. 
 
 CROSS-BAR-SHOT, a bullet with an 
 iron bar passing through it, and standing 
 out a few inches on each side ; used in 
 naval actions for cutting the enemy's 
 rigging. 
 
 CROSS'ES, STONE, in architectural 
 antiquities, are of various descriptions, 
 according to the occasion or purpose of 
 their erection. They are said to have 
 originated in the practice of marking the 
 Druid stones with a cross, at the period 
 of the conversion of the Celtic tribes to 
 
 Christianity. Preaching crosses are gen. 
 erally quadrangular or hexagonal, open 
 on one or both sides, and raised on steps. 
 They were used for the delivery of ser- 
 mons in the open air ; such was the 
 famous Paul's Cross in London. Market 
 crosses are well known. Weeping crosses 
 were so called because penances were 
 finished before them. Crosses of memo- 
 rial were raised on various occasions; 
 sometimes where the bier of an eminent 
 person stopped on its way to burial, in 
 attestation of some miracle performed on 
 the spot : such are the well-known crosses 
 of Queen Philippa. Crosses served also 
 as landmarks ; they are especially set 
 up for this purpose on the lands of the 
 Templars and Hospitallers. 
 
 CROSSET'TES, in architecture, tho 
 returns on the corners of door cases or 
 window frames ; called tt a 
 
 also ears, elbows, an- r-- "i p 7-7 
 cones, prothyrides. In V~\ \ / j I 
 architectural construe- ' ' ^~* 
 tion, they are the small projecting pieces 
 in arch stones which hang upon the adja- 
 cent stones a, a, a, a. 
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION, in law, a 
 close and rigid examination of a witness 
 by the counsel of the adverse party, con- 
 sisting of cross questions, in order to elicit 
 the truth. 
 
 CROTA'LUM, an ancient kind of cas- 
 tanet, used by the Corybantes or priests 
 of Cybele. This instrument must not be 
 confounded with the modern crotalo, a 
 musical instrument used chiefly by the 
 Turks, and corresponding exactly with 
 the ancient cymbalutn. 
 
 CROTCH'ET, in music, half a minim. 
 In printing, this mark, [ ], to separate 
 what is not the necessary part of a sen- 
 tence. 
 
 CROWN, an ornamental badge of re- 
 gal power, worn on the head by sover- 
 eign princes. The top of the head ; also 
 the top of any elevated object In archi- 
 tecture, the uppermost member of a cor-, 
 nice. Among jewellers, the upper work 
 of the rose diamond. An English silver 
 coin, of the value of five shillings. 
 Among the various ctowns and wreaths 
 in use among the Greeks and Romans 
 were the following : Corona aurea (the 
 golden crown;) the reward of remarkable 
 bravery. Corona castrensis ; given to 
 him who first entered the camp of an en- 
 emy. Corona civica ; one of the highest 
 military rewards : it was given to him 
 who saved the life of a citizen. Corona 
 convivial is ; the wreath worn at feasts. 
 Corona jnuralis; given by the general
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 CRUJ 
 
 to the soldier who first scaled the enemy's 
 wall. Corona navalis ; given to him 
 who first boarded and took an enemy's 
 vessel : it was next in rank to the civic 
 crown. Corona nuptialls ; a crown or 
 wreath worn by brides. Corona obsid- 
 ionalis; a reward given to him who de- 
 livered a besieged town, or a blockaded 
 army. It was one of the highest military 
 honors, and very seldom obtained. Co- 
 rona triumphalis; a wreath of laurel 
 which was given by the army to the im- 
 perator, who wore it on his head at the 
 celebration of his triumph. In Christian 
 Art, the crown, from the earliest times, is 
 either an attribute or an emblem. It has 
 been employed as an emblem of victory, 
 and hence became the especial symbol of 
 the glory of martyrdom. Its form varied 
 at different periods ; in early pictures it 
 is simply a wreath of palm or myrtle, 
 
 123 
 
 afterwards it became a coronet of gold 
 and jewels. Generally, the female mar- 
 tyrs only wear the symbolical crown of 
 glory on their heads. Martyrs of the 
 opposite sex bear it in their hands, or it 
 is carried by an angel. Sometimes, as 
 
 in St. Catherine and St. Ursula, the crown 
 is both the symbol of martyrdom, and 
 their attribute as royal princesses. The 
 Virgin, as ' Queen of Heaven,' wears a 
 crown. No. 1, in our cut, represents the 
 Laurel Crown of ancient Home. No. 2, 
 the Mural Crown worn by Cybele. No. 
 3, the radiated Crown of its ordinary 
 form. No. 4, the square Saxon Crown. 
 No. 5, the Crown of Edgar. No. 6, the 
 Crown of William the Conqueror. No. 
 
 7, the imperial Crown of Germany. No. 
 
 8, that worn by Charlemagne. 
 CROWN-WORK, in fortification, an 
 
 out-work running into the field, consist- 
 ing of two demi-bastions at the extremes, 
 and an entire bastion in the middle, with 
 curtains. It is designed to gain some 
 advantageous post, and cover the other 
 works. 
 
 CRU'CIFIX, the representation of the 
 Saviour on the cross, but especially that 
 plastic one seen on the altars of Catholic 
 churches, in the centre of which it stands, 
 overtopping the tapers, and only remov- 
 ed at the elevation of the Host. Its in- 
 tention was to lead the mind back to the 
 cross, which was set up on the altar, or 
 in some convenient spot. It was first 
 known in the time of Constantino, and 
 takes the place of the real crucifix in the 
 Eastern church. The latter was not com- 
 mon till the end of the eighth century. 
 The Greek church never publicly accept- 
 ed it, although it appears in the quarrel 
 about images, but used the simple cross. 
 It was not general in the Latin church 
 until the Carlovingian era. From the 
 disciplina arcani and the early prohibi- 
 tion of images by the Synod of Elvira, 
 (305,) an early use of the crucifix may 
 be supposed, as it referred immediately 
 to the first Christian dogma. At first the 
 simple cross was sufficient crux immissa 
 or capitata + ; crux decussata X ' and 
 crux commissa T the Lamb standing 
 under a blood-red cross. The addition 
 of the Saviour's bust at the head or foot 
 of the cross while the Lamb lay in the 
 centre, was the next step towards the cru- 
 cifix ; and afterwards Christ himself was 
 represented clothed, his hands raised in 
 prayer, but not yet nailed. At last 
 ho appeared fastened to the cross by 
 four nails, (seldom by three,) and on the 
 older crucifixes alive, with open eyes ; 
 on the later ones, (from the tenth to 
 the eleventh century,) sometimes dead. 
 Christ was often clad in a robe, having 
 the regal crown on his head ; more re- 
 cently the figure wore only a cloth round 
 the loins, and the crown of thorns. This
 
 124 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [cui 
 
 representation was continued, and tho 
 cruuiiix reg;mlud ;is an indispensable at- 
 tribute of churches and altars. The num- 
 ber of them increased, as they were par- 
 ticular objects of veneration ; and large 
 ones of wood or stone wore placed at the 
 entrances of the church. The altar cru- 
 cifix was generally of gold or silver, 
 adorned with pearls or precious stones. 
 Later artists have enveloped the Saviour 
 in drapery, leaving the body in its cus- 
 tomary position ; they have also added the 
 angel by the side, by which addition 
 these crucifixes intended in the spirit of 
 Christian JEsthetics for Protestant church- 
 es, become more symbolic representations 
 of Christian ideas. The unpleasant sight 
 of tho nailed feet is avoided by their rest- 
 ing free and unbound on the globe, so 
 that only the arms are fastened by nails 
 to the cross. We are now too much ac- 
 customed to the naked figure to allow of 
 the innovation of representing Christ 
 after the old custom ; we ma3 T also ques- 
 tion whether the great simplicity of the 
 original crucifix had not more effect. 
 
 CRUDE, in painting, a term applied 
 to a picture when the colors are rudely 
 laid on, and do not blend or harmonize. 
 
 CRUI'SER, a small armed vessel that 
 sails to and fro in quest of the enemy, to 
 protect the commerce of its own nation, 
 or for plunder. 
 
 CRUPELLA'RII, in antiquity, nobil- 
 ity, among the Gauls, who were armed 
 with a complete harness of steel. 
 
 CRUSA'DES, the name by which the 
 wars or military expeditions were distin- 
 guished, that were carried on by the 
 Christian nations of the West, from the 
 end of the llth to the end of the 13th cen- 
 tury, for the conquest of Palestine. They 
 were called crusades, because all the war- 
 riors fought under the banner of the cross, 
 and wore that emblem on their clothes. 
 The Christians had long grieved that the 
 Holy Land, where Jesus had lived, taught, 
 and died for mankind, where pious pil- 
 grims resorted to pour out their sorrows 
 and ask for aid from above at the tomb 
 of their Saviour, should be in the power 
 of unbelievers. The dawn of civilization 
 and mental cultivation had just com- 
 menced. They were at that period in a 
 state to receive a strong religious excite- 
 ment ; the spirit of adventure burned 
 within them ; and their imaginations 
 were also easily roused by the reports of 
 the riches of the East. The Pope consid- 
 ered the invasion of Asia as the means of 
 promoting Christianity amongst the infi- 
 dels and of winning whole nations to .the 
 
 bosom of the church ; monarchs expected 
 victory and increase of dominion ; and 
 their subjects were easily persuaded to 
 engage in the glorious cause ! Yet army 
 alter army was destroyed ; and though 
 some brilliant victories served to exhibit 
 the soldiers of Christendom as heroes of a 
 valorous age, and the holy city of Jeru- 
 salem was more than once under their 
 dominion, the Christian empire on the 
 continent of Asia was eventually over- 
 thrown, and the dominion of the Mame- 
 lukes and Sultans established. But by 
 means of these joint enterprises, the Eu- 
 ropean nations became more connected 
 with each other; feudal tyranny was 
 weakened ; a commercial intercourse took 
 place throughout Europe, which greatly 
 augmented the wealth of the cities ; tho 
 human mind expanded ; and a number of 
 arts and sciences, till then unknown by 
 the western nations, were introduced. 
 
 CRYPT, a subterranean chapel or ora- 
 tory ; or a vault under a church for the 
 interment of bodies. 
 
 CRYPTOG'RAPHY r , the art of writing 
 in cipher, or secret characters. 
 
 CRYPTOL'OGY", secret or enigmatical 
 language. 
 
 CU'BIT, an ancient measure, equal to 
 the length of a man's arm, from the el- 
 bow to the tip of the middle finger. 
 Among different nations the length of the 
 cubit differed. The English was 18 inch- 
 es, the Roman rather less, and the cubit 
 of the Scriptures is supposed to have been 
 22 inches. 
 
 CUE, the last words of a speech, which 
 a player, who is to answer, catches and 
 regards as an intimation to begin. Also, 
 a hint given to him of what and when he 
 is to speak. 
 
 CUIRASS', a piece of defensive armor, 
 made of iron plate, well hardened, and 
 covering the body from the neck to the 
 girdle. The cuirass of plate-armor suc- 
 ceeded the hauberk, hacqueton, &c., of 
 mail, about the reign of Edward III. ; . 
 and from that period the surcoat, jupon, 
 &c., which were usually worn over the 
 coat of mail, began to be laid aside. From 
 that period the cuirass or breast-plate 
 continued to be worn, and was the last 
 piece of defensive armor laid aside in 
 actual warfare. There were cuirassiers 
 in the English civil wars, and in the 
 French service nearly to the end of the 
 17th century ; after this period, the cuirass 
 was generally laid aside, until it was 
 again employed by some of Xapoleon's 
 regiments, and it is now, in most services 
 worn by some regiments of heavy cavalry.
 
 CUR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 125 
 
 CUIS'SES, CUIS'SOTS, CUIS'SARTS, 
 &c., in plate-arnior, the pieces which pro- 
 tected the front of the thigh. 
 
 CUL'DEES, in church history, an or- 
 der of priests, formerly inhabiting Scot- 
 land and Ireland. Being remarkable for 
 the religious exercises of preaching and 
 praying, they were called, by way of em- 
 inence, cultures Dei. After having exer- 
 cised a great influence throughout the 
 country, they are said to have been over- 
 thrown by the increase of the papal pow- 
 er, and the institution of monasteries, 
 more congenial to the views of the see of 
 Rome. 
 
 CUL DE LAMP, in architecture, a 
 term used for several decorations, in 
 vaults and ceilings. 
 
 CULI'NA, in antiquity, that part of 
 the funeral pile in which the banquet was 
 consumed. Culince, a burial-ground for 
 the poor. 
 
 CUL'LIAGE, a barbarous and immoral 
 practice, whereby the lords of manors an- 
 ciently assumed a right to the first night 
 of their vassals' brides. 
 
 CUL'PllIT, in law, a word applied in 
 court to one who is indicted for a criminal 
 offence. 
 
 CULTIVATION, in a general sense, 
 the art and practice of tilling and pre- 
 paring land for crops ; but it means also 
 the study, care, and practice necessary to 
 the cultivation of our talents and the im- 
 provement of our minds. 
 
 CUL'VERIN, a long slender piece of 
 ordnance, serving to carry a ball to a 
 great distance. 
 
 CUME'RUM, in antiquity, a large cov- 
 ered basket, used at weddings for carry- 
 ing the household stuff, &o., belonging to 
 the bride. 
 
 CUNEIFORM, an appellation given 
 to whatever resembles a wedge ; as, in 
 botany, a cuneiform leaf. 
 
 CUNEIFORM LETTERS, the name 
 given to the inscriptions found on old 
 Babylonian and Persian monuments, 
 from the characters being formed like a 
 wedge. This species of writing, as it is 
 the simplest, so it is the most ancient of 
 which we have any knowledge. It is 
 formed of two radical signs the wedge 
 and the angle susceptible, however, of 
 about thirty different combinations ; and 
 consists of three varieties, distinguished 
 from each other by a greater or less com- 
 plication of the characters. It is of Asi- 
 atic origin ; is written from right to left, 
 like the Sanscrit ; differs from the ancient 
 Egyptian hieroglyphics, inasmuch as it is 
 alphabetic, not ideographic ; and, finally, 
 
 with a few considerable modifications, 
 forms the basis of most of the Eastern 
 languages. 
 
 CU'PID, the Roman name of the Gre- 
 cian god of love Eros. There were three 
 divinities, or rather three forms of the 
 ! same deity, with this appellation ; but 
 the one usually meant when spoken of 
 without any qualification was the son of 
 Mercury and Venus. Like the rest of 
 the gods Cupid assumed different shapes ; 
 | but ho is generally represented as a 
 beautiful child with wings, blind, and 
 carrying a bow and quiver of arrows, 
 with which he transpierced the hearts of 
 lovers, inflaming them with desire. Among 
 the ancients he was worshipped with the 
 same solemnity as his mother Venus ; his 
 influence pervaded all creation, animate 
 and inanimate ; and vows and sacrifices 
 were daily offered up at his shrine. Stat- 
 ues of Cupid formed among the ancients 
 great objects of vertu. Praxiteles is said 
 to have derived great honor from his 
 statues of this divinity ; and in his ora- 
 tions against Verres, Cicero has given 
 celebrity to one statue of Cupid by this 
 artist, which formed an object of peculiar 
 veneration to the Thespians. 
 
 CU'POLA, in architecture, a roof or 
 vault rising in a circular form, otherwise 
 called the tholus or dome. The ancients 
 constructed their cupolas of stone ; the 
 moderns, of timber, covered with lead or 
 copper. The finest cupola, ancient or 
 modern, is that of the Pantheon at Rome. 
 Among some of the handsomest modern 
 cupolas, is that on the Bank of England, 
 St. Peter's at Rome, the Hotel des Inva- 
 lides at Paris, and St. Paul's, London. 
 
 CU'RATE, an officiating, but unbene- 
 ficed clergyman, who performs the duty 
 of a church, and receives a salary from 
 the incumbent of the living. 
 
 CURA'TOR, in a general sense, signi- 
 fies a person who is appointed to take 
 care of anything. Among the ancient 
 Romans, there were officers in every 
 branch of the public service to whom this 
 application was given : thus we read of 
 Curatores frumenti, marum, operum 
 publicorum. Tiberis, <tc. &c., i. e. per- 
 sons who distributed corn, superintended 
 the making of roads and the public build- 
 ings, or were conservators of the river. 
 Curator, in the civil law, is the guardian 
 of a minor who has attained the age of 
 fourteen. Before that age, minors are 
 under a tutor. The guardianship of per- 
 sons under various disabilities, and of the 
 estate of deceased or absent persons and 
 insolvents is also committed to a curator.
 
 L26 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 CUT 
 
 This title is derived from the ancient 
 Komans, by whom, as was remarked 
 above, it was given to various officers 
 who acted as superintendents of different 
 departments of the public service. In 
 learned institutions, the officer who has 
 charge of libraries, collections of natural 
 history, <fcc. is frequently styled curator. 
 CURB ROOF, in 
 architecture, a roof 
 in which the raft- 
 ers, instead of con- 
 tinuing straight 
 down from the ridge 
 to the walls, are at 
 a given height received on plates, which 
 in their turn are supported by rafters 
 less inclined to the horizon, whose bear- 
 ing is, through the medium of the wall- 
 plate, directly on the walls. It presents 
 a bent appearance, as in the diagram, 
 whence it derives its name. 
 
 CURTE W, a law introduced from Nor- 
 mandy into England by AVilliam the Con- 
 queror, that all people should put out 
 their fire and lights at the ringing of a 
 bell, at eight o'clock. The word is de- 
 rived from the French couvre-feu. 
 
 CU'RIA, in Roman antiquity, a cer- 
 tain division, or portion of a tribe. Rom- 
 ulus divided the people into thirty 
 curice, or wards; and there were ten in 
 every tribe, that each might keep the 
 ceremonies of their feasts and sacrifices 
 in the temple, or holy place, appointed 
 for every curia. The priest of the curia 
 was called curio. Curia, in law, signi- 
 fies generally a court, but it was taken 
 particularly for the assemblies of bishops, 
 peers, &c. of the realm, called solemnis 
 curia, curia publica, Ac. 
 
 CUR'RENCY, in commerce, bank- 
 notes or other paper-money issued by 
 authority, and which are continually 
 passing current for coin. 
 
 CUR'RENTS, in navigation, certain 
 settings of the stream, by which ships are 
 compelled to alter their course, and sub- 
 mit to the motion impressed upon them 
 by the current. The causes of currents 
 are very numerous. The waters may be 
 put in motion by an internal impulse ; by 
 a difference of heat and saltness ; by the 
 inequality of evaporation in different lati- 
 tudes ; and by the change in the pressure 
 at different points of the surface of the 
 ocean. The existence of cold strata, 
 which have been met with at great depths 
 in low latitudes, prove the existence of a 
 low current, which runs from the pole to 
 the equator. It proves likewise, that sa- 
 line substances are distributed in the 
 
 ocean, in a manner not to destroy the 
 effect produced by different tempera- 
 tures. It is well known also that there 
 are different currents of air. 
 
 CUR'SITOR, a clerk belonging to the 
 court of chancery, whose business it is to 
 make out original writs. 
 
 CUR'TAIN, in a general sense, a cloth 
 hanging round a bed, or at a window, 
 which may be contracted, spread, or 
 drawn aside at pleasure. Also, a cloth- 
 hanging used in theatres, to conceal the 
 stage from the spectators. In fortifica- 
 tion, the curtain is that part of the ram- 
 part which is between the flanks of two 
 bastions, bordered with a parapet, behind 
 which the soldiers stand to fire on the 
 covered way and into the moat. 
 
 CU'RULE CHAIR, in Roman antiqui- 
 ty, a chair, or stool, adorned with ivory, 
 wherein the chief magistrates of Rome 
 had a right to sit. The curule magis- 
 trates were the aediles, the prjetors, cen- 
 sors, and consuls. This chair was placed 
 in a kind of chariot, whence it had its 
 name. 
 
 CUSTO'DIA, the shrine or receptacle 
 for the host in Spanish churches. They 
 are frequently constructed of gold and of 
 silver, upon which all the riches of the 
 goldsmith's art were lavished. 
 
 CUS'TOM, in law, long established 
 practice or usage, which constitutes the 
 unwritten law, and long consent to which 
 gives it authority. 
 
 CUS'TOMS, in political economy, the 
 duties, toll, tribute, or tariff, payable to 
 the government upon merchandise ex- 
 ported and imported, and which form a 
 branch of the perpetual taxes. 
 
 CUS'TOS ROTULO'RUM, the keeper 
 of the rolls and records of the sessions of 
 the peace, and also of the commission of 
 the peace itself. He is usually a noble- 
 man, and always a justice of the peace, 
 of the quorum in the county where he is 
 appointed. 
 
 CUTA'NEOUS, an epithet for what- 
 ever belongs to or affects the skin ; as, a 
 cutaneous eruption, &c. 
 
 CUT'LERY, a term used to designate 
 all kinds of sharp and cutting instru- 
 ments made of iron or steel, as knives, 
 forks, scissors, razors, <fec. The principal 
 seat of the manufacture of British cut- 
 lery is Sheffield ; and the articles made 
 there are held in the highest estimation 
 in all parts of the world. 
 
 CUT'TER, a boat attached to a vessel 
 of war, which is rowed with six oars, and 
 is employed in carrying light stores, pas- 
 sengers, <tc. Also, a vessel with one mast
 
 CYC] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 and a straight running bowsprit, which 
 
 may be run in upon deck. 
 
 CYAN'OGEN, carburetted azote, or 
 
 the blue compound of carbon and azotic 
 
 gas. 
 
 CYATH'IFORM, in the form of a cup 
 
 or drinking glass, a little widened at the 
 
 top. 
 
 CY'ATHUS, in Roman antiquity, a 
 
 liquid measure, containing four ligulas, 
 
 or half a pint. Also, a cup, which the 
 Romans used 
 to fill and drink 
 from as many 
 times as there 
 were letters in 
 the name of 
 their patron or 
 
 mistress. It 
 is often met 
 with on paint- 
 ed vases in 
 the hands of 
 Bacchus ; but 
 the vessel pe- 
 culiarly sacred 
 to that divinity is the two-handled cup, 
 Cantharus. 
 
 CYBE'LE, in mythology, was origin- 
 ally the Phrygian goddess of the earth. 
 When her worship was introduced among 
 the Greeks, they confounded her with 
 Rhea, as did the Latins with their Ops. 
 Her rites, like those of the Asiatic deities, 
 in general wore celebrated with great 
 excitement ; her priests, who were called 
 Galli, Corybantes, Curetes, &c., running 
 about with bowlings and clashing of cym- 
 bals. 
 
 CY'CL AS, a large robe of thin texture, 
 with a border embroidered with gold, 
 worn by the Roman women. It was 
 worn in the same manner as the pal- 
 lium. 
 
 CY'GLE, in chronology, a certain 
 period or series of numbers, which regu- 
 larly proceed from the first to the last, 
 and then return again to the first, and so 
 circulate perpetually. Cycle of the sun, 
 or solar cycle, a period of 28 years, in 
 which the Sunday or Dominical letter 
 recurs in the same order. Cycle of the 
 moon, or lunar cycle, a period of nine- 
 teen years, when the new and full moon 
 recur on the same days of the month. 
 Cycle of indictlon, a period of fifteen 
 years, in use among the Romans, com- 
 mencing from the third year before Christ 
 This cycle has no connection with the ce- 
 lestial motions ; but was instituted, ac- 
 cording to Baronius, by Constantino. 
 CY'CLIC CHO'RUS, the chorus which 
 
 performed the songs and dances of the 
 Dithyrambic odes at Athens. They de- 
 rived their name from the circumstance 
 of their dancing round the altar of Bac- 
 chus in a circle (wcAos) and were thus dis- 
 tinguished from the square (rtrpdywi/os) 
 choruses of tragedy. 
 
 CY'CLIC POETS. This term waa ap- 
 plied to a succession of Epic poets who 
 followed Homer, and wrote merely on the 
 Trojan war and the adventures of the 
 heroes immediately connected with it, 
 keeping, as it were, to one circle of sub- 
 jects. None of their works have come 
 down to us. 
 
 CYCLOPJE'DIA, a work containing 
 definitions or accounts of the principal 
 subjects in one or all departments of 
 learning, art, or science. Its arrange- 
 ment may be either according to divisions 
 into the various sciences, &c., or the sub- 
 jects may be arranged and treated in 
 alphabetical order. The Encyclopedic 
 Fran^oise, or Dictionnaire Encyclope- 
 dique and the Encyclopaedia Uritannica, 
 have been the most celebrated works of 
 this species ; but the earliest appears to 
 be the Lexicon Technicum of Harris, 
 published in 1706. The great French 
 work, the Encyclopedia Methodique, con- 
 sists, not of one, but of a series of ency- 
 clopedias or dictionaries. 
 
 CYCLO'PEAN, an epithet applied to 
 certain huge structures, the remains of 
 which are found in many parts of Greece, 
 Italy, and Asia Minor, the architecture 
 of which was totally different in style 
 from that which prevailed during the 
 historical ages. The epithet originated 
 in the Grecian tradition that assigned 
 these edifices to the gigantic strength of 
 the Cyclops. It is most probable that 
 they were really raised by the Pelasgians, 
 the predecessors or ancestors of the later 
 Greeks ; and a gradual progress may be 
 traced in them from the extreme of rude- 
 ness to a degree of symmetry that indi- 
 cates an approach to the elegance of 
 Grecian architecture. 
 
 CYCLO'PES, in mythology, a race of 
 gigantic beings fabled by the Greeks to 
 dwell in Sicily, where they assisted Vul- 
 can in forging the thunderbolts of Jupi- 
 ter. They had only one eye, round, and 
 situated in the centre of the forehead. 
 The most celebrated among them was 
 Polyphemus, whose exploits have formed 
 a prolific theme for the poets of antiqui- 
 ty. His attachment to the nymph Gala- 
 tea, is happily described in an idyl of 
 Theocritus ; and the ninth book of the 
 Odyssey contains a graphic account of his
 
 128 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 savage propensities, and of the loss of his 
 eye by the stratagem of Ulysses. 
 
 CYMA'TIUM, CY'MA, or SI'MA, in 
 architecture, a member or moulding of 
 the cornice, the profile of which is waving, 
 that is, concave at the top and convex at 
 the bottom. When the concave part of 
 the moulding projects beyond the convex 
 part, the cymatium is denominated a 
 sima-recta ; but when the convex part 
 forms the greatest projection, it is a sima- 
 retersa. 
 
 CYM'BAL, a musical instrument used 
 by the ancients, hollow, and made of 
 brass, supposed to be somewhat like a 
 kettle-drum. The modern cymbals used 
 in military bands consist of two concave 
 metal plates, which are occasionally 
 struck together and flourished above the 
 head of the player. 
 
 CYN'IC, a man of a surly or snarl- 
 ing temper ; a misanthrope. The cynics 
 were a sect of ancient philosophers who 
 valued themselves upon their contempt 
 of riches and state, arts, sciences, and 
 amusements. This sect was founded by 
 Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates, who 
 sought to imitate his master in careless- 
 ness of outward splendor and contempt of 
 riches ; but his indifference to these things 
 soon degenerated unhappily into a love 
 of ostentation, shown by a display of pov- 
 erty. Thus he and many of his followers 
 rejected not only the conveniences but the 
 common decencies of life, and lived in 
 rags and filthiness ; while they sneered 
 bitterly at the rest of the world, instead 
 of endeavoring to teach it to cultivate the 
 pure reason of which they professed them- 
 selves to be the only followers. Of this 
 sect was the famous Diogenes, whose 
 meeting with Alexander the Great is too 
 well known to require being noticed in 
 this place. 
 
 CYNOSAR'GES, a sort of academy in 
 the suburbs of Athens, situated bear the 
 Lyceum ; so called from the mythological 
 story of a white dog, which, when DiomUs 
 was sacrificing to Hercules, the guardian 
 of the place, carried off part of the vic- 
 tim. Besides possessing several temples 
 erected in honor of Hercules, Alcmene, 
 and other mythological personages, it 
 was chiefly famed for its gymnasium, in 
 which foreigners or citizens of .half blood 
 used to perform their exercises ; and as 
 being the place where Antisthenes insti- 
 tuted the sect of the Cynics, and taught 
 his opinions. 
 
 CYN'OSURE, literally the tail of a 
 dog, applied by some philosophers to the 
 constellation Ursa Minor, by which the 
 
 ancient Phoenicians used to be guided on 
 their voyages : whence it has boon bor- 
 rowed by the language of poetry, in which 
 it signifies " a point of attraction :" 
 
 'Where perhnps some beauty lies, 
 The cynosure of neighboring eyes. 
 
 CYN'THIUS and CYN'THIA, in my- 
 thology, surnames given by the ancient 
 poets to Apollo and Diana : from Cyn- 
 thus. a mountain of the island of Delos, 
 on which they are fabled to have been 
 born. 
 
 CY'PHONISM, a species of punish- 
 ment frequently resorted to by the an- 
 cients, which consisted in besmearing the 
 criminal with honey, and then exposing 
 him to insects. This punishment was car- 
 ried into effect in various ways, but chief- 
 ly by fastening the sufferer to a stake, or 
 extending him on the ground with his 
 arms pinioned. 
 
 CYRE'NIAXS, the philosophers of a 
 school founded at Cyrene, a Grecian col- 
 ony on the northern coast of Africa, by 
 Aristippus, a disciple of Socrates. They 
 held, with the Epicureans, that pleasure 
 was the only good and pain the only evil, 
 and were not at such pains as the latter 
 to prove that the first could only attend 
 on virtuous conduct ; they also differed 
 from them in not considering absence from 
 pain of itself to be a pleasure of the high- 
 est order. But though theso philosophers 
 held that pleasure should form the ulti- 
 mate object of pursuit, and that it was 
 only in subserviency to this that fame, 
 fr endship, and even virtue are to be de- 
 sired, still there were many points in their 
 philosophy calculated to command gen- 
 eral sympathy. It is impossible not to 
 admit that, with all the defects of the sys- 
 tem, its object is to render us happy in 
 relation to ourselves, agreeable and faith- 
 ful to our friends, and discreet, servicea- 
 ble, and well-bred in relation to those 
 with whom we are obliged to live and con- 
 verse. Perhaps the best view of the phi- 
 losophy of this sect is to be obtained from 
 the Satires and Epistles of Horace, in 
 which the versatility of disposition, po- 
 liteness of manners, and knowledge of the 
 world that distinguished the Cyrenians, 
 are set forth with great clearness, and 
 with all the ardor of an enthusiastic dis- 
 ciple. 
 
 CYTIIEILE'A, in mythology, a name 
 given to Venus, from the island Cythera, 
 where she was worshipped with peculiar 
 veneration. 
 
 CYZICE'NA, in antiquity, a magnifi- 
 cent sort of banqueting-house, among the
 
 AND THE FINE AHTS. 
 
 129 
 
 Greeks; so called from Cyzicus, a city 
 famous for its sumptuous buildings. 
 
 CZAR, the title assumed by the empe- 
 rors of Russia. The first that bore this 
 title was Basil, the son of Basilides, un- 
 der whom the Russian power began to 
 appear, about 1470. The word is of old 
 Sclavonic origin, and is nearly equivalent 
 to king. 
 
 CZARI'NA, the title of the empress 
 of Russia. 
 
 D. 
 
 D, the fourth letter in the alphabet, is 
 a dental articulation, having a kind of 
 middle sound between the t and t/i; its 
 sound being formed by a stronger im- 
 pulse of the tongue to the upper part of 
 the mouth, than is necessary in the pro- 
 nunciation of the t. D, as a numeral, 
 denotes 500; as an abbreviation it stands 
 for Doctor, Domini, &c. ; as M.D., Doctor 
 of Medicine ; D.D. Doctor of Divinity ; 
 A.D., Anno Domini. As a sign, it is one 
 of the Dominical or Sunday letters ; and 
 in music, it is the nominal of the sec- 
 ond note in the natural diatonic scale 
 ofC. ' 
 
 DA'ALDER, a Dutch silver coin, of 
 the value of a guilder and a half, or about 
 35 cents. 
 
 DA CAPO, in music, an Italian phrase 
 signifying that the first part of the tune 
 is to be repeated from the beginning. It 
 is also used as a call or acclamation to 
 the musical performer at concerts, &c., 
 to repeat the air or piece which has just 
 been finished. 
 
 DAC'TYL, a foot in Latin and Greek 
 poetry, consisting of a long syllable fol- 
 lowed by two short ones ; as, dominus, 
 carmine. When combined with the foot 
 called a spondee, consisting of two long 
 syllables, it forms a line of hexameter, or 
 six feet poetry, in which the dactyls and 
 spondees are tastefully intermingled. 
 
 DAC'TYLI, priests of Cybele in Phry- 
 gia; so called, according to Sophooles, 
 because they were five in number, thus 
 corresponding with the number of the 
 fingers, from which the name is derived. 
 Their functions appear to have been sim- 
 ilar to those of the Corybantes and Cu- 
 retes, other priests of the same goddess 
 in Phrygia and Crete. 
 
 DAC'TYLIC, an epithet for verses 
 which end with a dactyl instead of a 
 spondee. 
 
 DACTYL'IOGLYPII, in ancient gem 
 
 9 
 
 sculpture, the inscription of the name of 
 the artist on a gem. 
 
 DACTYLIOG'RAPHY, the science of 
 gem engraving. 
 
 DACTYLIOM'ANCY, a kind of divi- 
 nation among the Greeks and Romans, 
 which was performed by suspending a 
 ring by a thread over a table, the edge 
 of which was marked with the letters of 
 the alphabet. As the ring, after its vi- 
 bration ceased, happened to hang over 
 certain letters, these joined together gave 
 the answer. 
 
 DACTYLIOTHE'CA, a collection of 
 engraved gems. 
 
 DACTYLOL'OGY. or DACTYLON'- 
 OMY, the art of communicating ideas or 
 thoughts by the fingers ; or the art of 
 numbering on the fingers. 
 
 DAC'TYLOS, the shortest measure 
 among the Greeks, being the fourth part 
 of a palm. 
 
 DA'DO, the die or that part in the 
 middle of the pedestal of a column be- 
 tween its base and cornice. It is also 
 the name of the lower part of a wall. 
 
 DADU'CHI, priests of Ceres, who at 
 the feaets and sacrifices of that goddess, 
 ran about the temple with lighted torches, 
 delivering them from hand to hand, till 
 they had passed through the whole com- 
 pany. 
 
 DjJED'ALA, two festivals in Bosotia. 
 One was held by the Platceans in a large 
 grove, where they exposed to the air 
 pieces of boiled flesh ; and observing on 
 what trees the crows alighted, that came 
 to feed upon them, they cut them down 
 and formed them into statues called 
 Dcedala. The other festival, which was 
 much more solemn, was observed in dif- 
 ferent parts of Bo3otia once in sixty years, 
 when they carried about the statue of a 
 female, called Dscdala, and every city 
 and every man of fortune offered a bull 
 to Jupiter, and an ox or heifer to Juno, 
 the poorer people providing sheep. These, 
 with wine and incense, were laid upon 
 the altar, and, together with twelve sta- 
 tues which were piled thereon, were set 
 on fire wholly consumed. 
 
 DjED'ALUS, in fabulous history, the 
 great-grandson of Erechtheus king of 
 Athens, is celebrated as the most ancient 
 statuary, architect, and mechanist of 
 Greece To him is ascribed the inven- 
 tion of the saw, the axe, the plummet, 
 and many other tools and instruments ; 
 and to such a degree did he excel in 
 sculpture, that his statues are fabled to 
 have been endowed with life. .For the 
 alleged murder of his nephew he was
 
 130 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DAG 
 
 obliged to quit Athens, whence he re- 
 paired to Crete, then under the sway of 
 Minos, by whom he was favorably re- 
 ceived. Here he constructed the famous 
 labyrinth, on the model of the still more 
 famous one of Egypt ; but having assist- 
 ed the wife of Minos in an intrigue with 
 Taurus, he was, by a strange fatality, 
 confined to this very labyrinth along with 
 his son Icarus. By means, however, of 
 wings, which he formed of linen or feath- 
 ers and wax, Daedalus and his son con- 
 trived to make their escape. The former 
 pursued his aerial journey, and arrived 
 safely in Sicily ; but the latter having 
 soared too near the sun, in consequence 
 of which the wax that fastened the wing 
 was melted, dropped into and was drown- 
 ed in the sea (thence called the Jcarian.) 
 In Sicily Dsedalus continued to prosecute 
 his ingenious labors, and lived long 
 enough to enrich that island with various 
 works of art. From the plastic powers 
 of Daedalus, the ancient poets used to re- 
 gard his name as synonymous with in- 
 genious, as in the phrase Dcedaleum 
 opus; and in a somewhat similar sense 
 Lucretius applies it to the earth, in or- 
 der to describe its vernal vegetation. A 
 few years ago the name of Dasdalus, 
 which had been appropriated by various 
 artists in the history of Grecian art, was 
 assumed by the constructors of some in- 
 genious automata, in memory of the grand 
 impressions which the works of Daedalus 
 had produced. 
 
 DAG'GER, a weapon of various sizes, 
 
 V 
 
 two-edged and pointed, similar in ap- 
 pearance to a sword, but smaller. The 
 cut exhibits two daggers from the armo- 
 ry at Goodrich Court. The first is of 
 the time of Edward III. ; the second, 
 which has the more modern improvement 
 of a guard for the hand, is of Italian 
 workmanship, of the latter end of the fif- 
 teenth century. 
 
 DA'GON, one of the principal divini- 
 tie 3 of the ancient Phoenicians and Syri- 
 ans, and more especially of the Philis- 
 tines. The origin, attributes, and even 
 the sex of this divinity, are all wrapt in 
 the most profound obscurity ; but the sa- 
 cred writers concur in assigning to him 
 such a degree of authority as must place 
 him on a level with the Jupiter of the 
 Greeks and Romans. 
 
 DAGUER'REOTYPE, the name ap- 
 plied to a remarkable invention of M. 
 Daguerre, of Paris, by which he fixes 
 upon a metallic plate the lights and shad- 
 ows of a landscape or figure, solely by the 
 action of the solar light. A plate of cop- 
 per, thinly coated with silver, is exposed 
 in a close box to the action of the vapor 
 of iodine ; and when it assumes a yellow 
 color, it is placed in the dark chamber of 
 a camera obscura, where it receives an 
 image of the object to be represented. It 
 is then withdrawn, and exposed to the 
 vapor of mercury to bring out the im- 
 pression distinctly ; after which, it is 
 plunged into a solution of hypo-sulphite 
 of soda, and lastly, washed in distilled 
 water. The process is then complete, and 
 the sketch produced is in appearance 
 something similar to aquatint,but greatly 
 superior in delicacy ; and such is the pre- 
 cision of the detail, that the most power- 
 ful microscope serves but to display the 
 perfection of the copy. 
 
 DA'IS, in architecture, the platform 
 or raised floor at the upper end of a, 
 dining hall, where the high table stood ; 
 also the seat with a canopy over it for 
 those who sat at the high table. 
 
 DALMAT'ICA, a long white gown 
 with sleeves ; worn by deacons in the 
 Roman Catholic church over the alb and 
 slole. It was imitated from a dress ori- 
 ginally worn in Dalmatia, and imported 
 into Rome by the emperor Commodus, 
 where the use of it gradually superseded 
 the old Roman fashion of keeping the 
 arms uncovered. A similar robe was 
 worn by kings hi the middle ages at cor- 
 onations and other solemnities. 
 
 DAM'AGE-FEAS'ANT, in law, is 
 when one person's beasts get into anoth- 
 er's ground, without license of the owner
 
 DAN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 131 
 
 or occupier of the ground, and do damage 
 by feeding, or otherwise, to the grass, 
 corn, wood, &c., in which case the party 
 injured may distrain or impound them. 
 
 DAM'AGES, in law, the estimated 
 equivalent for an injury sustained ; or that 
 which is given or adjudged by a jury to the 
 plaintiif in an action, to repair his loss. 
 
 DAM' ASK, a fabric of silk, linen, wool, 
 also partly or wholly of cotton, woven 
 with large patterns of trees, fruits, ani- 
 mals, landscapes, &c., and one of the 
 most costly productions of the loom. It 
 consists throughout of a body of five or 
 eight shanks, the pattern being of a dif- 
 ferent nature to the ground. Damask 
 weaving first attained perfection at Da- 
 mascus, whence this large-patterned fab- 
 ric derives its name. We find the art 
 flourishing in the mediaeval times of Art 
 at Bruges, and other places in Flanders ; 
 attempts were also made in Germany 
 and France. 
 
 DAMASKEENING, this term, de- 
 rived from the Syrian Damascus, so re- 
 nowned in Art, designates the different 
 kinds of steel ornamentation. The first 
 is the many-colored watered Damascus 
 blades ; the second kind consists in etch- 
 ing slight ornaments on polished steel- 
 wares ; the third is the inlaying of steel 
 or iron with gold and silver, as was done 
 with sabres, armor, pistol-locks, and gun- 
 barrels. The designs were deeply en- 
 graved, or chased in the metal, and the 
 lines filled with gold or silver wire, driven 
 in by the hammer, and fastened firmly. 
 This art was brought to great perfection 
 by the French artist Corsinet, in the 
 reign of Henry IV. 
 
 DAME, formerly a title of honor to a 
 woman. It is now seldom otherwise ap- 
 plied than to a mistress of a family in the 
 humbler walks of life. 
 
 DAM'NIFY, in law, to cause hurt or 
 damage to ; as, to damnify a man in his 
 goods or estate. 
 
 DAMP'ERS, in music, certain parts in 
 the internal construction of the pianoforte, 
 which arc covered with soft leather in or- 
 der to deaden the vibration, and are act- 
 ed on by a pedal. 
 
 DAM'SEL, (from the Fr. damoiselle,) 
 a name anciently given to young ladies of 
 noble or genteel extraction. The word is, 
 however, now seldom used, except jocular- 
 ly, or in poetry. Damoisel, or damoi- 
 seau, the masculine of the same word, ap- 
 pears to have been applied to young men 
 of rank ; thus we read of damsel Pepin, 
 damsel Louis le gros, damsel Richard, 
 prince of Wales. From the sons of kings 
 
 this appellation first passed to those of 
 great lords or barons, and afterwards to 
 those of gentlemen, who were not yet 
 knights ; but, such is the change which 
 language undergoes, that at the present 
 day it is only used (and then rarely) when 
 speaking of young unmarried women. It 
 occurs frequently in the Scriptures, and in 
 poetry. 
 
 DANCE OF DEATH. This edifying 
 subject is very frequently met with in an- 
 cient buildings, stained glass, and in the 
 decorations of manuscripts, &c. The best 
 known is that by Hans Holbein. It is 
 frequently found in the margins of early 
 printed books. One, from the press of 
 Simon Vostre, in 1502, has a most inter- 
 esting series, beautifully designed and 
 executed. The earliest representation of 
 this impressive subject dates from the 
 fourth century ; but it was rapidly mul- 
 tiplied, and introduced into many English 
 and continental churches. 
 
 DAN'CING, may be defined to be a 
 graceful movement of the figure, accom- 
 panied by gestures and attitudes indica- 
 tive of certain mental emotions, and by 
 measured steps in harmony with a piece 
 of music arranged for the purpose. The 
 great antiquity of dancing is attested by 
 history, both sacred and profane. It con- 
 sisted at first, probably, of nothing more 
 than gesticulation and moving in a pro- 
 cession ; in which sense it formed part of 
 the celebration of the religious rites of the 
 ancient Hebrews and Egyptians. But the 
 Greeks, who are confessedly indebted to 
 the Egyptians for the elements of their 
 religion and literature, though these were 
 afterwards refined by them to such a de- 
 gree as nearly to obliterate all traces of 
 their origin, soon polished and improved 
 these sacred rites, and introduced them 
 into all the festal ceremonies of whinh 
 their elegant mythology was composed. 
 In this they were, as usual, imitated by 
 the Romans. If wo believe Scaliger, the 
 early bishops of the church were styled 
 praesules, because (as the word literally 
 implies) they led off the dance at their 
 solemn festivals ; and this practice con- 
 tinued in the church till the 12th century. 
 Almost every country can boast of its 
 national dances peculiar to the inhabi- 
 tants ; which it is rare to see so well per- 
 formed when adopted by others. Of these 
 the best known to us are the tarantella of 
 the Neapolitans, the bolero and fandango 
 of the Spaniards, the mazourek and kra- 
 kowiaque of Poland, the cosaque of Rus- 
 sia, the reduwac of Bohemia, the quad- 
 i rille and cotillon of France, the waltz
 
 CTCLOl'EDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DAT 
 
 and gallopade of Germany, and the reel 
 of Scotland. As an exercise, or amuse- 
 ment, dancing is nothing more than a 
 methodized act instinctive in the human 
 frame. To teach dancing, is to teach the 
 activity of the body to display itself in a 
 m::nner regulated by the principles of 
 grace, or in imitation of stops and ges- 
 tures which others have used with appro- 
 bation. By its mechanical effects on the 
 body, it inspires the mind with cheerful- 
 ness ; while the music which accompanies 
 it has effect upon the body as well as 
 upon the mind. 
 
 DAN'DY, (from dandiprat, a little 
 urchin, or probably from the French dan- 
 din, a ninny ;) in modern usage, a male 
 of the human species, who dresses himself 
 like a doll, and who carries his character 
 on his back. 
 
 DA'NEGELT, or DA'NEGELD, in 
 England, an annual tax formerly laid on 
 the English nation, for maintaining forces 
 to oppose the Danes, or to furnish tribute 
 to procure peace. It was at first one shil- 
 ling, and afterwards two, for every hide of 
 land, except such as belonged to the church. 
 
 DANGE'RIA, in old English law, a 
 payment of money anciently made by the 
 forest tenants to their lords, that they 
 might have leave to plough and sow in 
 the time of pannage or mast-feeding. 
 
 DAPH'NE, in Grecian mythology, a 
 nymph of Diana, the daughter of the river 
 god Peneus. She was beloved by Apollo ; 
 but she resisted all his attempts to excite 
 in her a mutual attachment, and at last 
 betook herself to flight. On being hotly 
 pursued by the god, she invoked the earth 
 to swallow her up, when her prayer was 
 granted, and she was immediately chang- 
 ed into a laurel-tree. 
 
 DAPHNEPHO'RIA, in antiquity, a 
 novennial festival celebrated by the Boeo- 
 tians in honor of Apollo, to whom boughs 
 of laurel were offered. 
 
 DAP'PLED, variegated with spots of 
 different colors; as, a dapple-bay or dap- 
 ple-gray horse. 
 
 DARAP'TI, in logic, an arbitrary term 
 expressing the first mood of the third fig- 
 ure of syllogisms, where the first two prop- 
 ositions are universal affirmatives, and 
 the last a particular affirmative. 
 
 DA'RIC, in antiquity, a Persian gold 
 coin, said to have been struck by Darius, 
 and supposed to have been equal to 25s. 
 sterling. 
 
 DASH, in music, a small mark, thus ', 
 denoting that the note over which it is 
 placed is to be performed in a short and 
 distinct manner. 
 
 DA'TA, among mathematicians, a term 
 used for such things and quantities as 
 are given or known, in order to find other 
 things therefrom, that are unknown. 
 Euclid uses the word for such spaces, lines, 
 and angles, as are of a given magnitude, 
 or to which we can assign others equal. 
 
 DATE, the notation of the time and 
 place of the delivery or subscription of 
 an instrument. The word is derived from 
 the common formula at the foot of in- 
 struments, "datum," or "data," given 
 at such a place and time. Dates of time 
 are distinguished into definite and in- 
 definite. The former mark specially the 
 year, and sometimes the month, day, Ac. ; 
 the latter only contain a general refer- 
 ence to some period of time. Thus many 
 instruments of the earlier part of the 
 middle ages are dated only " Regnante 
 Domino nostro Jesu C/iristo :" and very 
 often the date contained only mention of 
 the reigning prince, without reference to 
 the years of his reign. Definite dates 
 are various in ancient charters and deeds. 
 The Christian Greeks dated generally, 
 down to the fall of Constantinople, by the 
 year of the world ; beginning their year 
 at the 1st of September. The date used 
 in the oldest Latin charters is commonly 
 that of the indiction, which is also fre- 
 quently added in the Greek. The Chris- 
 tian era (under the several names of year 
 of grace, of the incarnation, of the reign 
 of Christ, of the nativity, &c., <tc.,) began 
 to be in common usage in royal charters 
 in France about the reign of Hugh Capet ; 
 in Spain and Portugal not until the 13th 
 and 14th centuries. In England, the 
 Saxon kings frequently dated by the in- 
 carnation ; but deeds and charters under 
 the Plantagenet kings generally bear 
 the year of the reigning prince. 
 
 DA'TISI, in logic, an arbitrary term 
 for a mode of syllogisms in the third fig- 
 ure, wherein the major proposition is a 
 universal affirmative, and the minor and 
 conclusion are particular affirmatives. 
 
 DA'TIVE, in grammar, the third of 
 the Greek and Latin nouns. 
 
 DAU'PHIN, the title of the eldest son 
 of the king of France. It is said that, in 
 1349, Humbert II., the last of the princes 
 of Dauphiny, having no issue, gave his 
 dominions to the crown of France, upon 
 condition that the king's eldest son should 
 bo styled the Dauphin. 
 
 DAVID'S DAY, (St.) the l?t of March, 
 j kept by the Welsh, in honor of St. David, 
 I bishop of Miney, in Wales; who at the 
 i head of their forces obtained a signal 
 i victory over the Saxons. It is the in
 
 DEA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 133 
 
 variable custom of the Welsh to wear 
 leeks in their hats on this day. 
 
 DAWN, the commencement of the day, 
 when the twilight appears. 
 
 DAY, according to the most natural 
 and obvious sense of the word, signifies 
 that part of the twenty-four hours when 
 it is light; or the space of time between 
 the rising and the setting of the sun ; the 
 time which elapses from its setting to its 
 rising again being considered the night. 
 The word day is often taken in a larger 
 sense, so as to include the night also ; or 
 to denote the time of a whole apparent 
 revolution of the sun round the earth. 
 The day is also distinguishscl into civil 
 and astronomical. The civil day is a 
 space of twenty-four hours, reckoned 
 from sunset to sunset, or from sunrise to 
 sunrise, which is different in different 
 parts of the globe. The astronomical 
 day is the space of twenty-four hours, 
 reckoned from twelve o'clock at noon to 
 the noon of the next day. The nautical 
 day ends at the instant the astronomical 
 day begins; so that nautical time in days 
 of the month, is always twenty-four hours 
 in advance of astronomical time, and the 
 civil day is midway between both. The 
 Babylonians began the day at sun-rising ; 
 the Jews at sun-setting ; the Egyptians 
 at midnight, as do several nations in 
 modern times, the British, French, Span- 
 ish, American, &o. Days of grace, in 
 commerce, a customary number of days 
 allowed for the payment of a bill after it 
 becomes due. Three days of grace are 
 allowed in Great Britain and America. 
 In other countries the time allowed is 
 much longer, but the merchants there 
 very rarely avail themselves of the time. 
 
 DEA'CON, a minister of religion, hold- 
 ing, in Protestant churches, the lowest 
 degree in holy orders. The first appoint- 
 ment of deacons is mentioned in Acts vi., 
 where the Apostles direct the congrega- 
 tion to look out seven men of honest 
 report, upon whom they may lay their 
 hands. Their office at this time seems to 
 have been chiefly the care of the poor 
 and the distribution of the bread and 
 wine in the love feasts. We learn, how- 
 ever, from the example of Philip, Acts 
 viii., that they also had authority to 
 preach. In the English church it is the low- 
 est of the three orders of clergy (deacons, 
 priests and bishops.) The word is some- 
 times used in the New Testament for any 
 one that ministers in the service of God ; 
 in which sense, bishops and presbyters 
 are styled deacons; but, in its restrained 
 sense, it is taken for the third order of 
 
 the clergy. In the church of England, 
 the form of ordaining a deacon declares 
 that it is his office to assist in the distri- 
 bution of the holy communion ; in which, 
 agreeably to the practice of the ancient 
 church, he is confined to the administra- 
 tion of the wine to the communicants. 
 A deacon is not capable of any ecclesias- 
 tical promotion ; yet he may be chaplain 
 to a family, curate to a beneficed clergy- 
 man, or lecturer to a parish church. In 
 the Romish church, the deacon's office is 
 to incense the officiating priest, to incense 
 the choir, to put the mitre on the bishop's 
 head at the pontifical mass, and to assist 
 at the communion. In Presbyterian and 
 Independent places of worship, the dea- 
 cons distribute the bread and wine to the 
 communicants. In Scotland, an overseer 
 of the poor, or the master of an incor- 
 porated company, is styled a deacon. 
 
 DEA'CONESS, a female deacon in the 
 primitive church. This office appears as 
 ancient as the apostolical age ; for St. 
 Paul calls Phoebe a servant of the church 
 of Cenchrea. One part of their office was 
 to assist the minister at the baptizing of 
 womn, to undress them for immersion, 
 and to dress them again, that the whole 
 ceremony might be performed with all 
 the decency becoming so sacred an ac- 
 tion. 
 
 DEAD LANGUAGE, a language 
 which is no longer spoken or in common 
 use by a people, and known only in writ- 
 ings ; as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. 
 
 DEAN, a dignitary of the church of 
 England, next to a bishop, and head of 
 the chapter, in a cathedral or council.- - 
 Dean and chapter, are the bishop's 
 council to assist him with their advice in 
 the aifairs of religion, and in the tempo- 
 ral concerns of his see. 
 
 DEATH, a total and permanent cessa- 
 tion of all the vital functions, when the 
 organs have not only ceased to act, but 
 have lost the susceptibility of renewed 
 action. " Men," says Lord Bacon, " fear 
 death, as children fear the dark ; and as 
 that natural fear in children is increased 
 by frightful tales, so is the other. Groans, 
 convulsions, weeping friends, and the like, 
 show death terrible ; yet there is no pns- 
 sion so weak but conquers the fear of it, 
 and therefore death is not such a terrible 
 enemy ; revenge triumphs over death ; 
 love slights it ; dread of shame prefers it ; 
 grief flies to it; and fear anticipates it." 
 The alarms most prevalent among man- 
 kind seem to arise from two considera- 
 tions, viz., the supposed corporeal suffer- 
 ing attending it ; and the state that is to
 
 134 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DEC 
 
 succeed it. With respect to the supposed 
 corporeal suffering, it may be observed, 
 that death is a mere passive extinction of 
 the vital fire, unattended with any exer- 
 tion of the animal functions, and there- 
 fore wholly free from pain. The agonies 
 and sufferings incident to sickness or 
 wounds, are the agonies and sufferings of 
 life, not of death ; they are the struggles 
 of the body to live, not to die ; efforts of 
 the machine to overcome the obstacles by 
 which its functions are impeded. But 
 when the moment of dissolution arrives, 
 all sense of suffering is subdued by an in- 
 stantaneous stoppage of life, or by a lan- 
 guid insensible fainting. In law, there 
 is a natural death and a civil death ; nat- 
 ural, where actual death takes place ; 
 civil, where a person is not actually dead, 
 but adjudged so by law ; as by banish- 
 ment, abjuration of the realm, &<:. 
 
 DEATH'-WATCH, a little insect, which 
 inhabits old wooden furniture, and is fa- 
 mous for striking with its head against 
 paper or some other material, and there- 
 by making a ticking noise, like the beat 
 of a watch, which by ignorant and super- 
 stitious people is supposed to be a praeage 
 of death. 
 
 DEBATE', oral contention by argu- 
 ment and reasoning ; or a controversy be- 
 tween parties of different opinions, pro- 
 fessedly for elucidating the truth. De- 
 bates in congress, the published report of 
 arguments for and against a measure, in 
 either house of congress. 
 
 DEBENTURE, a term used at the cus- 
 tom-house for a certificate signed by an 
 officer of the customs, which entitles a 
 merchant exporting goods to the receipt 
 of a bounty, or a drawback of duties. It 
 also denotes a sort of bill drawn upon the 
 government. 
 
 DEB'IT, a term used in book-keeping 
 to express the left hand page of ledger, to 
 which all articles are carried that are 
 charged to an account. 
 
 DEBOUCH', in military language, to 
 issue or march out of a narrow place, or 
 from defiles. 
 
 DEBOU'CIIEMENT, a French term 
 for the marching of an army from a nar- 
 row place into one that is more open. 
 
 DEBT, in law, that which is due from 
 one person to another, whether it be mon- 
 ey, goods, or services. In law, used ellip- 
 tically for an action to recover a debt. 
 In scripture, sin ; that which renders lia- 
 ble to punishment ; as, " forgive us our 
 debts." \ntional debt, the engagement 
 entered into by a government to repay at 
 v future period money advanced by indi- 
 
 viduals for public service, or to pay the 
 lenders an equivalent annuity. 
 
 DE'BRIS, (pron. debree,) ruins or rub- 
 bish; applied particularly to the frag- 
 ments of rocks. The word debris is also 
 used by the French to express the remains 
 or wreck of an army that has been routed. 
 
 DEBUT', in its most general accepta- 
 tion, is applied to the commencement of 
 any undertaking, or to the first step made 
 in a public career ; but it is confined more 
 particularly to the language of the thea- 
 tre, in which it signifies the first appear- 
 ance of an actor, or his first appearance 
 on any particular stage. 
 
 DEC'ACHORD, or DECACHOR'DOtf, 
 a musical instrument of ten strings. 
 
 DEC'ADE, a word used by some old 
 writers in a general sense for the number 
 ten, or an enumeration by tens. 
 
 DEC'ALOGUE, the ten commandments 
 or precepts delivered by God to Moses, at 
 Mount Sinai, originally engraved on two 
 tables of stone. The Jews, by way of ex- 
 cellence, call these commandments The 
 Ten Words, whence they afterwards re- 
 ceived the name of decalogue. 
 
 DECAM'ERON, a work containing the 
 actions or conversations of ten days. 
 Decameron, the name given by Boccac- 
 cio to his celebrated collection of tales ; 
 they are supposed to be narrated in 
 turn, during ten days, by a party of 
 guests assembled at a villa in the country 
 to escape from the plague which raged at 
 Florence in 1348. 
 
 DECAPITA'TIOX, a mode of punish- 
 ment of great antiquity, having been 
 practised by the Jews, Greeks, and Ro- 
 mans, and some other ancient nations. 
 Among the continental nations of modern 
 times, it has long been the ordinary 
 punishment inflicted on all capitally con- 
 victed criminals. During the early pe- 
 riod of English history, it was the usual 
 mode of punishing felons ; but it after- 
 wards became a punishment appropria- 
 ted only to criminals of the highest rank, 
 and even to this day it is considered as 
 the most honorable death which a capital 
 offender can undergo. The last instance 
 of the infliction of this punishment in 
 England occurred in 1745, soon after the 
 rebellion in Scotland had been quelled. 
 
 DEC'ASTICK, a poem consisting of 
 ten lines. 
 
 DEC'ASTYLE, in architecture, a 
 building with an ordnance of ten columns 
 in front. 
 
 DECASYL'LABIC, having ten syl- 
 lables. In the German and English lan- 
 guages the ordinary heroic verse is dec-
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 135 
 
 asyllabic ; but a short syllable is some- 
 times added at the end by way of a va- 
 riety, and this, in consequence of the 
 structure of those languages, takes place 
 more frequently in the former than the 
 latter. In the Italian heroic verse the 
 eleventh syllable is almost uniformly 
 added, and hence it is more properly to 
 be termed an hendecasyllabic. In French 
 versification the decasyllabic line is ap- 
 propriated to light compositions, espe- 
 cially tales. 
 
 DECEM'BER, the last month of the 
 modern year, consisting of thirty-one 
 days ; when the sun enters the tropic of 
 Capricorn, and makes the winter solstice. 
 It was so called from being the tenth 
 month in the Roman year, which began 
 with March. 
 
 DE'CEM PRI'MI, or DE'CEM 
 PRIN'CIPES, in Roman antiquity, the 
 ten chief men or senators of every city 
 or borough. 
 
 DECEM'VIRI, properly any body of 
 ten men appointed for particular pur- 
 poses. But that which is especially 
 known by this name was the commission 
 elected from the Roman patricians in the 
 302d year after the foundation of the 
 city, and invested with all the supreme 
 powers of the state, for the purpose of 
 drawing up a body of laws founded, ac- 
 cording to Roman tradition, on the most 
 approved institutions of Greece. They 
 presented to the people a number of laws 
 engraved on ten tables, containing a sum- 
 mary of the privileges to be enjoyed by 
 the people, and the crimes to be punished, 
 &c. At the same time they informed the 
 people that their plan was incomplete ; 
 and accordingly a new commission, to 
 which the plebeians were admitted, was 
 appointed for the next year, with the 
 same powers ; the result of which was 
 the addition of two . more tables to the 
 former ten, thus making up the famous 
 twelve tables, which were the foundation 
 of all Roman law in subsequent times. 
 The second decemvirate did not demean 
 itself with the same moderation as the 
 first, but sought to prolong its power, and 
 at the same time proceeded to some vio- 
 lent acts of despotism, which so exas- 
 perated the people as to make its dissolu- 
 tion necessary. Besides these extraor- 
 dinary commissions, there was a body of 
 decemviri chosen for judicial purposes, to 
 preside over and summon the centumviri, 
 and to judge certain causes by them- 
 selves. There were likewise decemviri 
 appointed from time to time to divide 
 lands among the military. 
 
 DECEN'NARY, in law, a tithing con- 
 sisting of ten freeholders and their fami- 
 lies. Ten of these decennaries constituted 
 a hundred, the origin of which is ascribed 
 to Alfred. 
 
 DECEPTIVE CA'DENCE, in music, 
 a cadence in which the final close is 
 avoided by varying the final chord. 
 
 DECIMA'TION, a punishment inflict- 
 ed by the Romans on such soldiers as quit- 
 ted their post, or behaved themselves ill in 
 the field. The names of all the guilty 
 were put into an urn or helmet, from 
 which a tenth part only were drawn, 
 whose lot it was to suffer death. 
 
 DECK, the planked floor of a ship 
 from stem to stern. Small vessels have 
 only one deck ; larger ships have two or 
 three decks. Thus, speaking of the size 
 of a large ship, we say, she is a two-deck- 
 er, or a three-decker. 
 
 DECLAMA'TION, signified, among 
 the ancients, the art of speaking indiffer- 
 ently upon both sides of a question : a 
 species of intelletual exercise resorted 
 to by the rhetoricians of Greece and 
 Rome, as the best means of acquiring 
 facility in public speaking. In modern 
 times the meaning of declamation is dif- 
 ferent in different countries. In Ger- 
 many, and in most parts of the Continent, 
 it is often used in a sense nearly synony- 
 mous with recitative. In France and 
 England, especially the latter, it is some- 
 times applied to any grand oratorical 
 display, either in the pulpit, at the bar, 
 in the senate, or on the stage, in which 
 the voice, gesticulation, and the whole 
 delivery of the speaker are in perfect 
 keeping with the subject matter of his 
 address. But it is employed most usually 
 in a disparaging sense, to indicate the 
 use of forced emphasis, inflated language, 
 and violent gestures, to withdraw the at- 
 tention of the auditors from the weakness 
 or fallacy of the reasoning. 
 
 DECLARATION, in law, that part of 
 the process or pleadings in which a state- 
 ment of the plaintiff's complaint against 
 the defendant is set forth. Declaration 
 of war, a public proclamation made by a 
 herald at arms to the subjects of a state, 
 declaring them to be at war with some 
 foreign power, and forbidding all and 
 every one to aid or assist the common 
 enemy at their peril. 
 
 DECLEN'SION, in grammar, the in- 
 flection of cases to which nouns are sub- 
 ject. Also, the act^of going through these 
 inflections. 
 
 DECLINATORY PLEA, in law, a 
 plea before trial or conviction, intended
 
 136 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DEE 
 
 to show that the pnrty was not liable to 
 the penalty of I lie l;i w, or was specially ex- 
 empted from the jurisdiction of the court. 
 
 DECOLLATION, a term in frequent 
 use, synonymous with beheading, and 
 used in reference to the decapitation of 
 St. John the Baptist, St. Cecilia, &c. 
 
 DECOR A'TION, the ornamental parts 
 in an edifice, comprising the columns, 
 pilasters, friezes, bas-reliefs, cornices, 
 festoons, niches, statues, <fcc., and which 
 form the decorations of the fafade of a 
 palace or temple ; and the gilding, ara- 
 besques, paintings, panellings, carvings, 
 the draperies, &c., which compose the 
 decoration of an interior. The discover- 
 ies at Pompeii have furnished some very 
 beautiful interior decorations, quite clas- 
 sical in tiiste. 
 
 DECO'RUM, in architecture, the suit- 
 ableness of a building, and of its parts 
 and ornaments, to their respective places 
 and uses. 
 
 DECOY', in a general sense, any lure 
 that deceives and misleads. Also, a sea 
 term, for a stratagem employed by ships 
 of war, to draw any vessel of inferior 
 force into an incautious pursuit, until she 
 comes within gun-shot. Decoying is also 
 performed to elude the chase of a ship of 
 superior force in a dark night ; and this 
 is done by committing to the sea a light- 
 ed cask 6f pitch, which will burn for a 
 considerable time, and misguide the ene- 
 my. As soon as the cask is lowered, the 
 ship changes her course, and thus, if at 
 any tolerable distance from the foe, es- 
 capes with facility. 
 
 DECREE', the order of an authorita- 
 tive power. In England, the sentence 
 of the judges in the civil courts, and in 
 chancery, is called a decree. In theology, 
 the pre-determined purpose of God, whose 
 plan of operations is, like himself, un- 
 changeable. 
 
 DECREET, in the Scotch law, a final 
 decree of judgment of the lords of session, 
 from which an appeal only lies to parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 DECRESCEN'DO, in music, the term 
 for gradually decreasing or weakening 
 the sound ; as opposed to crescendo. 
 
 DECRE'TAL, a letter from the pope, 
 determining some point or question in 
 ecclesiastical polity. The decretals form 
 the second part of the canon law. 
 
 DECU'RIO, in Roman antiquity, a 
 company of ten men under one officer or 
 leader, who was called a decurion, their 
 cavalry being divided into centuries, and 
 the centuries subdivided into ten decurice 
 each. 
 
 DECURIO'NES MUNICIPA'LES, a 
 court of judges or counsellors represent- 
 ing the Roman senate in the free towns 
 and provinces. 
 
 DEDICATION, the act of consecrat- 
 ing, or solemnly devoting, any person or 
 thing to the service of God, and the pur- 
 poses of religion. Feast of dedication, 
 an anniversary festival among the Jews, 
 in memory of Judas Maccabaeus, who 
 repaired and dedicated anew the temple 
 and altar, which had been plundered and 
 profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes. It was 
 observed on the 25th of Chisleu, and con- 
 tinued eight days. Dedication, in litera- 
 ture, a complimentary address to a par- 
 ticular person, prefixed by an author to 
 his work. Dedications arose out of the 
 dependent situation in which authors 
 have too frequently been placed in refer- 
 ence to their powerful or wealthy patrons ; 
 and, at no very distant time, were often 
 rewarded by pecuniary presents. The 
 custom of dedicating works was in use at 
 a very early period. The brightest orna- 
 ments of Roman literature, Horace, Vir- 
 gil, Cicero, and Lucretius, were among 
 the number of those who practised it. At 
 the period of the revival of letters in 
 Europe, few works were published with- 
 out dedications ; many of which are re- 
 markable for their elegance and purity 
 of style, and from the interesting matter 
 which they contain are of far more value 
 than the treatises to which they are pre- 
 fixed. But the practice became gradu- 
 ally perverted : and many of the authors 
 of the succeeding generations employed 
 them chiefly with the view of securing the 
 patronage of the great. Dedications were 
 most abused in France under Louis XIV., 
 and in England from 1670 to the acces- 
 sion of George III. Dryden was a great 
 dedicator, and Johnson wrote dedications 
 for money. Corneille got 1000 louis d'or 
 for the dedication of Cinna. Some of the 
 most beautiful dedications with which we 
 are acquainted are those prefixed to the 
 different volumes of the Spectator, by 
 Addison; and in more recent times the 
 poetical dedications with which each canto 
 of Sir Walter Scott's Marmion is pre- 
 faced. 
 
 DEDL'C'TOR, a client amongst the 
 Romans, who called upon his patron at 
 his lodgings in the morning, waited upon 
 him from thence to the forum, and at- 
 tended him upon all public occasions. 
 
 DEED, in law, a written contract, 
 sealed and delivered. It must be written 
 before the sealing and delivery, other- 
 wise it is no deed ; and after it is once
 
 EG] 
 
 AND THE FIXE ARTS. 
 
 137 
 
 formally executed by the parties, nothing 
 can bo added or iuteiiined ; and, there- 
 fore, if a deed be sealed and delivered, 
 with a blank left for the sum, which the 
 obligee fills up after sealing and delivery, 
 this will make the deed void. Every deed 
 must bo founded upon good and sufficient 
 consideration ; not upon a usurious eon- 
 tract, nor upon fraud or collusion, either 
 to deceive boiia fide purchasers, or just 
 and lawful creditors ; any of which con- 
 siderations will vacate the deed. It takes 
 effect only from the day of delivery ; and, 
 therefore, if a deed have no date, or a 
 date impossible, the delivery will in all 
 cases ascertain the date of it. The deliv- 
 ery of a deed may be alleged at any time 
 after the deed; but unless it be sealed 
 and regularly delivered, it is no deed. 
 And lastly, it must be properly witnessed 
 or attested ; which, however, is necessary 
 rather for preserving the evidence, than 
 as intrinsically essential to the validity 
 of the instrument. 
 
 DE FAC'TO, in law, something actually 
 in fact, or existing, in contradistinction 
 to de jure, where a thing is only so in 
 justice but not in fact ; as a king de facto, 
 is a person that is in actual possession 
 of a crown, but has no legal right to the 
 same ; and a king de jure is the person 
 who has a just right to the crown, though 
 he is not in possession of it. 
 
 DEFAMA'TION, the malicious utter- 
 ing of falsehood with a view to injure 
 another's reputation. Defamatory words 
 writ-ten and published, constitute a libel. 
 
 DEFAULT', in law, a non-appearance 
 in court without assigning sufficient cause. 
 Defaulter, one who fails to account for 
 public money entrusted to his care. 
 
 DEFEAS'ANCE, in law, a condition 
 relating to a deed, which being performed, 
 the deed is defeated and rendered void. 
 A defeasance, or a bond, or a recogni- 
 zance, or a judgment recovered, is a con- 
 dition which, when performed, defeats it. 
 
 DEFEC'TIVE FIFTH, in music, an 
 interval containing a semitone less than 
 the perfect fifth. It is also called semidia- 
 pente, and flat, lesser, or diminished fifth. 
 
 DEFENCE', in law, the reply which 
 the defendant makes after the declaration 
 is produced. In military affairs, any 
 work that covers or defends the opposite 
 posts, as flanks, parapets, Ac. 
 
 DEFEND'ANT, in law, the party that 
 is summoned into court, and defends, de- 
 nies, or opposes the demand or charge, 
 and maintains his own right. It is appli- 
 ed whether the person defends, or admits 
 he claim and suffers a default. 
 
 DEFEND'ER OF THE FAITH, a title 
 bestowed on Henry VIII. of England by 
 Pope Leo X, on the occasion of that 
 monarch's publishing his writing against 
 Luther. AVhen at the Reformation Hen- 
 ry suppressed all the monasteries and 
 convents in England, the pope deprived 
 him of this title ; but in the thirty-fifth 
 year of his reign it was confirmed by par- 
 liament, and it has been since constantly 
 assumed by the sovereigns of England. 
 
 DEFILE', a narrow way, or pass, 
 through which a company of soldiers can 
 march only in fiie. 
 
 DEFINI'TION, the determining the 
 nature of things by words ; or a brief de- 
 scription of a thing by its properties. It 
 is generally effected by adding to a gene- 
 ric word the essential and peculiar quali- 
 ties or circumstances of the thing to be 
 defined ; but a strictly accurate definition 
 cannot always be given ; and the most 
 simple things are generally the least ca- 
 pable of definition, from the difficulty of 
 finding terms more simple and intelligible 
 than the one to be defined. 
 
 DEFINITIVE, a term applied to 
 whatever terminates a process, question, 
 &c. in opposition to provisional and inter- 
 locutory. In grammar, a word used to 
 define or limit the extent of the significa- 
 tion of an appellative or common noun. 
 
 DEFORCE'MENT, in law, the holding 
 of lands or tenements to which another 
 person has a right. In Scotland, it de- 
 notes a resisting of an officer in the exe- 
 cution of law. 
 
 DEGRADATION, in ecclesiastical af- 
 fairs, the depriving a person of his digni- 
 ty and degree ; as the degradation of a 
 clergyman by depriving him of holy or- 
 ders. In military affairs, the depriving* 
 an officer of his commission. In painting, 
 a lessening and obscuring of the appear- 
 ance of distant objects in a landscape, that 
 they may appear as they would do to an 
 eye placed at a distance. 
 
 DEGREE', in universities, a mark of 
 distinction conferred on the students or 
 members thereof as a testimony of their 
 proficiency in arts or sciences, and en- 
 titling them to certain privileges. This 
 is usually evinced by a diploma. The 
 first degree is that of Bachelor of Arts ; 
 the second, that of Master of Arts. Hon- 
 orary degrees are those of Doctor of Di- 
 vinity, Doctor of Laws, &c. Physicians 
 also receive the degree of Doctor of Med- 
 icine. The origin of degrees at the uni- 
 versities of Paris and Bologna, the two 
 most ancient in Europe, appears to have 
 been only the necessary distinction be-
 
 138 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DEL 
 
 tween those who taught and those who 
 learnt. The former were styled (such 
 w;is at least the case at Paris) doctors or 
 teachers, and masters, as a token of re- 
 spect, indiscriminately. At what time the 
 distinction between these two degrees 
 arose we cannot ascertain ; but about the 
 middle of the 13th century we find, at 
 Paris, doctors and masters simply as grad- 
 uates, and not necessarily connected with 
 the business of teaching ; those who were 
 so being called regent masters, or simply 
 regents. The degree of Bachelor, the 
 lowest in the several faculties, is certain- 
 ly of French origin ; from whence it has 
 been argued that the whole system of 
 academical titles is so likewise. Degrees 
 still continue to bear the same names, 
 and, with some variation, the same rela- 
 tive academical rank, in most European 
 countries ; but the mode of granting them, 
 and their value at different universities as 
 tokens of proficiency, vary greatly. At 
 Oxford and Cambridge degrees are given 
 in arts, divinity, law, medicine, and mu- 
 sic ; but among all these the lowest de- 
 gree in arts, viz. that of bachelor, is the 
 only one conferred on a substantial exam- 
 ination, and the only one which is attain- 
 ed by proceeding through a regular aca- 
 demical course of study. The higher de- 
 grees in arts, and those in the other facul- 
 ties, are attained simply by residence and 
 the performance of a few unimportant 
 exercises. Honorary degrees, in the Eng- 
 lish universities, are generally conferred 
 in civil law. 
 
 DEGREES of comparison, in grammar, 
 the inflections of adjectives which ex- 
 press different degrees of the same qual- 
 ity ; as, good, better, best. Degrees, in 
 music, the small intervals of which the 
 concords or harmonical intervals are com- 
 posed. 
 
 DE'ICIDE, a term only used for the 
 condemnation and execution of the Sa- 
 viour of the world, by Pontius Pilate and 
 the Jews. 
 
 DEIFICA'TION, the act of deifying, 
 or enrolling among the heathen deities. 
 
 DEI GRA'TIA, (by ttie grace of God,) 
 a Latin formula, usually inserted in the 
 ceremonial description of the title of a 
 sovereign. It was used originally by the 
 clergy. 
 
 DEI JUDI'CIUM, the old Saxon trial 
 by ordeal, so called because it was sup- 
 posed to be an appeal to God. 
 
 DEtPNOS OPHIST, one of an ancient 
 sect of philosophers who were famous for 
 their learned conversation at meals. 
 
 DE'ISTS, in the modern sense of the 
 
 word, are those persons who acknowl- 
 edge the existence of one God, but dis- 
 believe in revealed religion. Taking 
 the denomination in the most exten- 
 sive signification, a learned theologian 
 has thus divided deists into four eh 
 1. Such as believe the existence of an 
 eternal, infinite, independent, intelligent 
 Being, and who teach that this supreme 
 Being made the world, though he does 
 not at all concern himself in the manage- 
 ment of it. 2. Those who believe not 
 only the being, but also the providence of 
 God with respect to the natural world, but 
 who not allowing any difference between 
 ii.oral good and evil, deny that God takes 
 any notice of the morally good or evil 
 actions of men ; these things depending, 
 as they imagine, on the arbitrary consti- 
 tutions of human laws. 3. Those who 
 having right apprehensions concerning 
 the natural attributes of God, and his all- 
 governing providence, and some notion of 
 his moral perfections also ; yet being 
 prejudiced against the notion of the im- 
 mortality of the human soul, believe that 
 men perish entirely at death, and that 
 one generation shall perpetually succeed 
 another, without any future restoration 
 or renovation of things. 4. Such as be- 
 lieve the existence of a Supreme Being, 
 together with his providence in the gov- 
 ernment of the world, as also the obliga- 
 tions of natural religion ; but so far only, 
 as these things are discoverable by the 
 light of nature alone, without believing 
 any divine revelation. 
 
 DE'ITY, the nature and essence of the 
 Supreme Being ; a term frequently used 
 in a synonymous sense with God. Also, 
 a fabulous god or goddess ; as, Jupiter, 
 Juno, Apollo, &c. 
 
 DEJEU'NER, a term wholly natural- 
 ized in almost all the languages of mod- 
 ern Europe, not excepting the English, 
 signifying the morning meal. The mate- 
 rials of which it is composed vary of 
 course with the climate and usages of dif- 
 ferent countries ; but it is worthy of re- 
 mark that in France itself this tenm is 
 rapidly losing, if indeed it has not already 
 lost, its original acceptation, being used, 
 particularly by the fashionable world, as 
 synonymous with the English luncheon. 
 
 DEL CRED'ERE. a term in commerce 
 expressive of a guarantee given by fac- 
 tors, who for an additional premium war- 
 rant the solvency of the parties to whom 
 they sell goods upon credit. 
 
 DEL'EGATE, a commissioner of ap- 
 peal appointed by the king to hear ap- 
 peal causes from the ecclesiastical court.
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 139 
 
 In the United States, a person elected to 
 represent a territory in Congress, who 
 has the right of debate, but not of voting. 
 
 DELEGATION, in the civil law, the 
 act by which a debtor transfers to another 
 person the duty to pay, or a creditor 
 makes over to a third party- the right to 
 receive payment. 
 
 DELFT WARE, a coarse species of 
 porcelain, originally manufactured at 
 Delft in Holland, whence its name. 
 
 DEL'ICACY, in the fine arts, minute 
 accuracy as opposed to strength or force : 
 slonderness of proportion, great finish, 
 and softness are its characteristics. 
 
 DELIR/IUM, a state in which the ideas 
 of a person are wild and irregular, or do 
 not correspond with the truth, or with 
 external objects. Or it may be defined 
 symptomatic derangement, or that which 
 is dependent on some other disease, in 
 distinction from idiopathic derangement 
 or mania. 
 
 DELIVERY, a part of oratory, refer- 
 ring to the management of the voice ; as, 
 he has a good or graceful delivery. 
 
 DEL'PHI, OR'ACLE OP, so called 
 from Delphi, the capital of Phocis, the 
 most famous of all the oracles of antiqui- 
 ty, sacred to Apollo. The origin of the 
 oraclt) at Delphi is wrapt in obscurity. 
 By some authors it is ascribed to chance ; 
 but many incline to believe that it owed 
 its origin to certain exhalations, which, 
 issuing from a cavern on which it was 
 situated, threw all who approached it into 
 convulsions, and during their continuance 
 communicated the power of predicting the 
 future. Be this as it may, these exhala- 
 tions were soon invested with a sacred 
 character ; and as their reputation ex- 
 tended, the town of Delphi insensibly 
 arose around the cavity from which they 
 issued. The responses were delivered by 
 a priestess, called Pythia, who sat upon 
 a tripod placed over the mouth of the cav- 
 ern ; and after having inhaled the vapor, 
 by which she was thrown into violent con- 
 vulsions, gave utterance to the wished-for 
 predictions, either in verse or prose, which 
 were then interpreted by the priests. Ori- 
 ginally the consultation of the oracle was 
 a matter of great simplicity ; but in pro- 
 cess of time, when the accuracy of the 
 predictions became known, a series of 
 temples, each more magnificent than its 
 predecessor, was erected on the spot. 
 Immense multitudes of priests and do- 
 mestics were connected with the oracle ; 
 and to such a height of celebrity did it 
 attain, that it wholly eclipsed all the oth- 
 er oracles of Greece. The position of the 
 
 oracle was the most favorable that could 
 well be imagined. Delphi formed at once 
 the seat of the Amphictyonic council and 
 the centre of Greece, and, as was univer- 
 sally believed, of the earth. Hence, in 
 every case of emergency, if a new form 
 of government was to be instituted, war 
 to be proclaimed, peace concluded, or 
 laws enacted, it came to be consulted, not 
 only by the Greeks, but even by the neigh- 
 boring nations ; and thus the temple was 
 enriched by an incredible number of the 
 most valuable presents and the most 
 splendid monuments, and the town of 
 Delphi rose to be one of the most wealthy 
 and important of the cities of Greece. 
 
 DEL'PHIN, an edition of the Latin clas- 
 sics, prepared and commented upon by 
 thirty-nine of the most famous scholars of 
 the day, at the suggestion of Louis XIV., 
 for the benefit of the young prince (in 
 usum Delphini) under the superintend- 
 ence of Montausier his governor, and his 
 preceptors Bossuet and Huet. 
 
 DEL'UGE, an inundation or overflow- 
 ing of the earth, either wholly or in part, 
 by water. We have several deluges re- 
 corded in history, as that of Ogyges, 
 which overflowed almost all Attica, and 
 that of Deucalion, which drowned all 
 Thessaly, in Greece ; but the most mem- 
 orable was that called the universal del- 
 uge, or Noah's flood, from which only 
 Noah and those with him in the ark, es- 
 caped. This flood makes one of the most 
 considerable epochas in chronology. Its 
 history is given by Moses in the book of 
 Genesis, ch. vi. and vii., and its time is fix- 
 ed to the year from the creation 1656. 
 From this flood, the state of the world is 
 divided into "diluvian" and " ante-dilu- 
 vian." 
 
 DEM'AGOGUE, any factious orator 
 who acquires great influence with the pop- 
 ulace ; whom he flatters, cajoles, or leads 
 into danger, as best suits his purpose. 
 
 DEMAIN', or DEME'SNE, in law, a 
 manor-house and the lands thereunto be- 
 longing, which the lord of the manor and 
 his ancestors have time out of mind kept 
 in their own occupation. It denotes also 
 all the parts of any manor not in the 
 hands of freeholders ; and is frequently 
 used for a distinction between those lands 
 that the lord has in his own hands, or in 
 the hands of his lessee demised at a rack- 
 rent : or such other land appertaining to 
 the manor, which belongs to free or copy- 
 holders. 
 
 DEMAND'ANT, in law, the pursuer 
 in real actions, in distinction from the 
 plaintiff.
 
 140 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 DEMARC A'TION, LINE or, every line 
 drawn for determining a border, which 
 is not to be passed by foreign powers, or 
 by such as are at v/ar with each other. 
 The word was first introduced in 4493, 
 when Pope Alexander VI., in order to 
 put an end to the dispute, which prevailed 
 between the crowns of Spain and Portu- 
 gal, relative to their Indian discoveries 
 and conquests by virtue of his pontifical 
 authority drew through the ocean an 
 imaginary line, by which the dominions 
 of both parties were defined ; and thus 
 originated the expression line of demar- 
 cation. It is only in this phrase that the 
 word is employed to this day in all the 
 languages of Europe. 
 
 DEM'I, a half fellow at Magdalen 
 College, Oxford. Also, a term in compo- 
 sition, signifying half; as, demigod, a 
 hero who was enrolled among the gods. 
 
 DEAL'I-CADENCE, in music, an im- 
 perfect cadence, or one that falls on any 
 other than the key-note. 
 
 DEM'IDITONE', in music, a minor 
 third. 
 
 DEM'IGODS, a general appellation 
 of the inferior divinities of Greece and 
 Rome, more particularly of such of the 
 mixed offspring of divinities and mortals 
 as were afterwards deified. Of these the 
 number was almost incredible ; and though 
 their worship was not cultivated with so 
 much veneration or solemnity as that of 
 the superior gods, it prevailed to a greater 
 or less extent in every quarter of the 
 ancient world, and formed a large part 
 of the heathen mythology. 
 
 DEM'IQUAVER, in music, a note 
 equal in duration to half a quaver. 
 
 DEM'ITINT, in painting, a tint rep- 
 resenting the mean or medium between 
 light and shade ; by some called a half 
 tint. 
 
 DEMI'SE, in law, is applied to an 
 estate either in fee, for term of life or 
 years, though most usually the latter. 
 The death of a king, or a queen regnant, 
 is termed the demise of the crown, by 
 which is implied a transfer of the royal 
 authority or kingdom to a successor. 
 Demise and re-demise, a conveyance 
 where there are mutual leases made from 
 one to another of the same land, or some- 
 thing out of it. 
 
 DEMIUR'GUS, Demiurge, in the ori- 
 ginal sense of the word, as used by clas- 
 sical authors, an artificer employed in 
 ordinary handicraft. In the language 
 of Platonist writers, it denotes an exalted 
 and mysterious agent, by whose means 
 God is supposed to have created the uni- 
 
 verse. Hence the Demiurgus, or Logos, 
 as the same imaginary agent is termed 
 in the Timaeus of Plato, is identified by 
 the Platonizing Christians with the sec- 
 ond person in the Trinity. 
 
 DEMOC'RACY, a form of government, 
 in which the supreme power is lodged in 
 the hands of the people collectively, or 
 in which the people exercise the powers 
 of legislation. 
 
 DEMOGOR'GON, in mythology, a 
 mysterious divinity of antiquity, of whose 
 origin, attributes, and history no satis- 
 factory account can be given, in conse- 
 quence of the obscurity in which they 
 are enveloped. By some writers he is 
 regarded as the author of creation ; oth- 
 ers consider him to have Jeen a famous 
 magician, to whose spell all the inhab- 
 itants of Hades were subjected ; but all 
 concur in viewing him as an object rather 
 of terror than of worship. 
 
 DE'MON, or D^'MON, a name used 
 by the ancients for certain supernatural 
 beings, whose existence they supposed. 
 They were spirits or genii who appeared 
 to men, either to do them service or to 
 hurt them. The Platonists distinguish 
 between gods, demons, and heroes ; the 
 demons being those since called angels. 
 Socrates and Tasso spoke, in very distant 
 ages, of being each attended by a demon 
 or familiar. In Tasso, this pretension 
 has been referred to an hypochondriacal 
 state of mind ; in Socrates, the matter 
 has given rise to much speculation. From 
 the manner, however, in which the phi- 
 losopher is said to have described his de- 
 mon, there seems good reason to believe 
 that he spoke figuratively of his natural 
 conscience or intellect : " it directed him 
 how to act in every important occasion 
 of life, and restrained him from impru- 
 dence of conduct." The Greeks, from 
 whom we derive the term in Scriptural 
 language, applied it originally to the 
 deified spirits of departed heroes, whom 
 they supposed to have some influence in 
 promoting the good of mankind, and con- 
 sidered therefore as objects of adoration. 
 The manner, however, in which demons 
 are represented in Scripture as evil spir- 
 its inflicting injury on men at the sug- 
 gestion of the Father of Evil, is conform- 
 able to the oriental notion upon such 
 points ; except, indeed, that in the Scrip- 
 tures the general supremacy of God, who 
 suffers evil to exist, is maintained, in op- 
 position to the eastern dogma of the eter- 
 nal and equal conflict of the good and 
 evil principles. The early fathers in- 
 dulged in much speculation upon these
 
 DEM] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 141 
 
 subjects ; but in modern times the literal 
 interpretation of the agency of demons 
 as referred to in Scripture has been fre- 
 quently called in question. The demons, 
 like the fairies and goblins of other my- 
 thologies, are represented with various 
 characters of beneficence, malice, and 
 vyanton mischief. They were sometimes 
 distinguished by the names Cacodernon 
 and Agathodemon, according as their in- 
 fluence was evil or beneficent. 
 
 DEMO'NIACS. persons possessed by 
 or under the influence of demons or devils, 
 of whom mention is made in some pas- 
 sages in the New Testament. Some di- 
 vines have supposed that such influence 
 was permitted to the powers of evil at 
 one particular time for the greater mani- 
 festation of our Lord's authority in re- 
 buking them ; but it is certain that the 
 idea of demoniacal possession was very 
 ancient among the oriental nations ; and 
 those to whom it seems incredible that 
 it should have been grounded on fact, 
 must be content with interpreting such 
 passages of Scripture as a concession to 
 the opinions and feelings of the Jewish 
 people. 
 
 DEMONOL'OGY, the belief in an in- 
 termediate race of beings, between deity 
 and humanity, has been a prevalent fea- 
 ture in almost every popular creed ; and 
 all tradition or speculation respecting it 
 may be said to fall under the general 
 term of demonology. Among the early 
 oriental nations, especially the Persians 
 and Egyptians, the science of astronomy 
 appears to have been essentially connect- 
 ed with this branch of superstition ; the 
 heavenly bodies were honored as daemons 
 or celestial intelligences This ancient 
 belief appears to have had much influ- 
 ence on the Jewish rabbinical writers ; 
 and out of it connected with what is re-, 
 vealed to us in the Old Testament of the 
 existence and attributes of angels, they 
 framed their peculiar mythology. The 
 Greek word iaintav l dcBinon, is said to be 
 derived from Jaij/iwi', knowing or intelli- 
 gent. In the earliest monuments of the 
 language, its signification is vague and 
 uncertain. In Homer it generally signi- 
 fies a deity : ia.ipovu>v is anything god- 
 like, wonderful, which may have been 
 communicated or inspired by a deity ; 
 but, in the Odyssey, some traces are to 
 be found of the meaning ' fortunate" or 
 "unfortunate" attached to the word. In 
 Hesiod, however, we have an express 
 mythological account of the daemons, 
 as spirits, in a state between mortality 
 and divinity, peaceful and favorable to 
 
 man : he describes them as of different 
 orders. The mortals who lived in the 
 golden age have become dsemons of the 
 lirst rank ; those of the silver age have 
 inferior honors, and are mortal, although 
 their life is prolonged to a length of 
 many hundreds of human generations. 
 The heroes form a still inferior class of 
 intermediate spirits. In popular lan- 
 guage, when hero-worship became widely 
 spread in Greece, the words hero and 
 daemon were used without much distinc- 
 tion; but the more recondite difference 
 appears to hav been this, the hero was 
 the departed worthy himself, such as he 
 had once lived on earth ; the daemon was 
 his immaterial part, converted into a sort 
 of abstract principle, a spiritual agent 
 of good or evil, favorable or unfriendly 
 to mankind. It is in this sense also that 
 the inferior deities themselves are desig- 
 nated as daemons. Thales is said to have 
 defined more accurately the difference 
 between gods, heroes as the souls of de- 
 ceased mortals, and daemons properly so 
 called; and in Plato's theology the dae- 
 mons occupy an important place as inter- 
 mediate spirits, closely watching over, di- 
 recting, and recording the actions of mor- 
 tals. By later writers they were divided 
 into many classes : some ministers of 
 punishment and revenge, some freeing 
 from evils already befallen, some ward- 
 ing off their approach. It was in Egypt 
 and Syria, under the Ptolemies and Sc- 
 leucidae, that the Grecian philosophy and 
 mythology came in contact with those of 
 the Rabbis ; and from that union a new 
 mixed system of dsemonology took its 
 origin. Hence, in the Greek of the Now 
 Testament, the word fatmovtov is taken, 
 without addition or qualification, as an 
 evil spirit, and rendered by our transla- 
 tors ''devil." Analogous to the daemons 
 of the Greeks were the genii of the Ro- 
 mans ; but there were other peculiar and 
 characteristic features about the belief in 
 the latter which show it to be of a differ- 
 ent origin, probably derived from the 
 Etruscans, who, as s^me antiquarians 
 believe, drew their mythology from the 
 ancient source of Samothrace. The genii 
 of the Romans were an innumerable IK.: -t 
 of spirits : every man, house, or city, had 
 an attendant genius. The genius of 
 every mortal is mortal as himself; ne- 
 oompanies him into life, and conducts 
 him in all its vicissitudes. In this sense, 
 the genius was a favorable companion : 
 to enjoy the good things of life is repre- 
 sented as " indulging" or gratifying the 
 genius ; abstaining from them, as " de-
 
 142 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DEO 
 
 frauding him. Wine and flowers are ap- 
 propriate offerings to him. But he is 
 also the companion of the mischances as 
 well as the pleasures of life ; unless, as 
 the difficulty appears sometimes to have 
 been solved, the individual had his pair 
 of genii good and bad. And this latter 
 should appear to have been the popular 
 belief among the Etruscans, as far as we 
 can collect it, in a subject, where all is 
 vague and indistinct; and it is impossi- 
 ble accurately to separate the abstract 
 creations of philosophers and poets from 
 the substantive objects of general belief. 
 The Etruscans represented the evil geni- 
 us as a dark and frightful figure, attend- 
 ing a mortal on one side, who is protected 
 or followed on the other by a child or 
 youth the usual emblem of the good 
 genius. The genius is often represented 
 on vases and in ancient paintings as a 
 winged figure : and a genius holding a 
 torch downwards is the emblem of death. 
 Thedsemons of the middle ages were sim- 
 ply fallen angels or devils, according to 
 the sense of the word in the New Testa- 
 ment ; and hence demonology, in the 
 language of modern writers, generally 
 signifies the history of the supposed na- 
 ture and properties of such evil spirits, 
 and of the modern superstition respect- 
 ing compacts between them and ruan- 
 
 DEMONSTRA'TION, a proof of a 
 proposition founded on axioms and inter- 
 mediate proof; called a priori when the 
 effect is proved from the cause, and a pos- 
 teriori when the cause is proved from the 
 effect. It has been remarked that the 
 knowledge acquired by demonstration, 
 though certain, is not so clear and evi- 
 dent as intuitive knowledge. In every 
 step that reason makes in demonstrative 
 knowledge, there is an intuitive knowl- 
 edge of that agreement or disagreement 
 it seeks with the next intermediate idea, 
 which it uses as a proof; for if it were 
 not so, that yet would need a proof, since 
 without the perception of such agreement 
 or disagreement, there is no knowledge 
 produced. 
 
 DEMUR', in law, to stop at any point 
 in the pleadings, and rest or abide on 
 that point in law for a decision of the 
 cause. 
 
 DEMUR'RAGE, in commerce,, an al- 
 lowance made to the master of a ship by 
 the merchants, for staying in a port long- 
 er than the time first appointed. 
 
 DEMUR'RER, in law, a pause or stop 
 put to any action upon some point of 
 difficulty which must be determined by 
 
 the court before any further proceedings 
 can be had in the suit. A demurrer con- 
 fesses the fact or facts to be true, but de- 
 nies the sufficiency of the facts in point 
 of law to support the claim or defence. 
 Demurrers are either general, where no 
 particular cause is shown, or special, 
 where the causes of demurrer are set 
 forth. 
 
 DEMY', the name of paper of a par- 
 ticular size, of which great quantities are 
 used for printing books on. 
 
 DENA'RIUS, in Roman antiquity, the 
 chief silver coin among the Romans, 
 worth 8 pence. As a weight, it was the 
 seventh part of a Roman ounce. De- 
 narius Dei, God's Penny, or earnest 
 money given and received by the parties 
 to contracts. It was so called because in 
 ancient times it was given to the church 
 or to the poor. 
 
 DENDROPHO'RIA, in antiquity, the 
 carrying of boughs or branches of trees ; 
 a religious ceremony so called, because 
 certain priests called from thence den- 
 drophori, or tree-bearers, marched in 
 procession, carrying the branches of trees 
 in their hands in honor of Bacchus, Cy- 
 bele, Sylvanus, or any other god. 
 
 DEN'IZEN, in England, an alien who 
 is made a subject by royal letters patent, 
 holding a middle state between an alien 
 and a natural born subject. He may 
 purchase and possess lands, and enjoy 
 any office or dignity ; yet it is short of 
 naturalization ; for a stranger, when 
 naturalized, may inherit lands by de- 
 scent, which a denizen cannot do. If a 
 denizen purchase lands, his issue that 
 are born afterward may inherit them, 
 but those he had before shall not ; and 
 as a denizen may purchase, so he may 
 take lands by devise. 
 
 DENOUE'MENT, a French word, by 
 modern custom nearly anglicized, signi- 
 fying the development or winding up of 
 any event. 
 
 DEN'TIL, in architecture, an orna- 
 ment in cornices, bearing some resem- 
 blance to teeth ; used particularly in the 
 Corinthian and Ionic orders. 
 
 DE'ODAND, at common law. every 
 personal chattel which has been the im- 
 mediate occasion of the death of a human 
 being, forfeited to the king on the find- 
 ing of a coroner's inquest ; to be applied 
 as alms by his almoner. 
 
 DEONTOL'OGY, the science of duty ; 
 a term assigned by the followers of Jere- 
 my Benthain to their own doctrine of 
 ethics, which is founded on the tendency 
 of actions to promote happiness.
 
 DES] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 143 
 
 DEPARTMENT, either a division of 
 territory, as the departments of France ; 
 or a distinct class of official duties allotted 
 to a particular person. 
 
 DEPLOY', the spreading of troops ; a 
 military term. 
 
 DEPO'NENT, in law, one who gives 
 written testimony, under oath, to inter- 
 rogatories exhibited in {he court of Chan- 
 cery. 
 
 DEPORTA'TION, a sort of banish- 
 ment among the Romans, to some island 
 or other place which wa allotted to a 
 criminal for the place of his abode, with 
 a prohibition not to leave it, on pain of 
 death. 
 
 DEPOS'IT, among civilians, something 
 that is committed to the custody of a per- 
 son, to be kept without any reward, and 
 to be returned again on demand. 
 
 DEPOSI'TION, in law, the testimony 
 given in court by a witness, upon oath. 
 Deposition, the settlement of substances 
 dissolved in fluids ; as, banks are some- 
 times called depositions of alluvial mat- 
 ter. Also, the act of dethroning a king ; 
 or divesting any one in authority of his 
 power and dignity. 
 
 DEPOT', a French word for a store or 
 magazine for depositing goods or mer- 
 chandise. 
 
 DEPRIVATION, an ecclesiastical 
 censure, by which a clergyman is de- 
 prived of his dignity. 
 
 DEPUTA'TI, in antiquity, persons 
 who attended the army for the purpose 
 of carrying away the wounded from the 
 field of battle and waiting on tlrem. The 
 armorers were also sometimes called 
 deputati. 
 
 DEP'UTY, in a general sense, signifies 
 a person appointed or elected to act for 
 another ; or who is sent upon some busi- 
 ness by a community. In law, a deputy 
 is one who exercises an office in another's 
 right ; and, properly, the misdemeanor of 
 such deputy shall cause the person he rep- 
 resents to lose his office. By a deputa- 
 tion is generally understood the person 
 or persons authorized and sent to transact 
 business for others, either with a special 
 commission and authority, or with gene- 
 ral powers. 
 
 DER'ELICTS, in law, such goods as 
 are wilfully relinquished by the owner. 
 It also signifies a thing forsaken, or cast 
 away by the sea ; thus, lands which the 
 sea has suddenly left are called derelict 
 lands; and vessels forsaken at sea are 
 called derelict ships. 
 
 DERIVATIVE, in grammar, any 
 word derived (i. e. taking its origin) 
 
 from another, called its primitive, as 
 manhood from 7nan, &o. 
 
 DEROGA'TION, the act of annulling, 
 revoking, or destroying the value and 
 effect of anything, or of restraining its 
 operation ; as, an act of parliament is 
 passed in derogation of the king's pre- 
 rogative. 
 
 DEROG'ATORY CLAUSE, in a per- 
 son's will, is a sentence or secret charac- 
 ter inserted by the testator, of which he 
 reserves the knowledge to himself, with 
 a condition that no will he may make 
 hereafter shall be valid unless this clause 
 is inserted word for word. This is done 
 as a precaution to guard against later 
 wills being extorted by violence or other- 
 wise improperly obtained. 
 
 DER'VISE, or DER' VIS, a name 
 given to various Mahometan priests or 
 monks. Many of the dervises travel over 
 the whole of the Eastern world, enter- 
 taining the people wherever they come 
 with agreeable relations of the curiosities 
 and wonders they have met with. There 
 are dervises in Egypt, who live with their 
 families, and exercise their trades, of 
 which kind are the dancing dervises at Da- 
 mascus. They are distinguished among 
 themselves by the different forms and 
 colors of their habits ; those of Persia 
 were blue ; the solitaries and wanderers 
 wear only rags of different colors ; others 
 carry on their heads a plume, made of 
 the feathers of a cock ; and those of Egypt 
 wear an octagonal badge of a greenish 
 white alabaster at their girdles, and a 
 high stiff cap without anything round it. 
 They generally profess extreme poverty, 
 and lead an ascetic life. 
 
 DES'CANT, in music, composition in 
 several parts. It is either plain, which 
 consists in the orderly placing of many 
 concords answering to simple counter- 
 point; figurate or florid, wherein dis- 
 cords are employed ; or double, where the 
 parts are so contrived that the treble or 
 any high part may be made the bass, and 
 the contrary. 
 
 DESCENT', in a general sense, is the 
 tendency of a body from a higher to a 
 lower place; thus all bodies, unless other- 
 wise determined by a force superior to 
 their gravity, descend towards the centre 
 of the earth. In law, it means transmis- 
 sion by inheritance ; which is either lin- 
 eal or collateral. Descent is lineal, when 
 it proceeds directly from the grandfather 
 to the father, from the father to the son, 
 and from the son to the grandson ; col- 
 lateral, when it does not proceed in a 
 direct line, but from a man to his brother,
 
 144 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DES 
 
 nephew, or other collateral representa- 
 tive Descent, in genealogy, the order of 
 MII rc"inji i.i il,-ii-.-nil;tiits in a line or 
 family ; or thi'ir distaiu-u from a common 
 progenitor. 
 
 PUSCKIP'TION, in rhetoric, is used 
 to "It-situate such a strong and lively rep- 
 resentation of any object as places it 
 before the reader in a clear and satisfac- 
 tory light. The execution of this task, 
 as is universally admitted, is attended 
 with-great difficulty, and reqiiires no or- 
 dinary powers. Indeed, such is the im- 
 port mice which some critics of eminence 
 attach to the possession of this quality, 
 that they have erected it into a standard 
 whereby to estimate the productions of 
 genius in every department of literature; 
 and though such a test may seem some- 
 what arbitrary, yet when we consider the 
 powers indispensably requisite to form a 
 good description, we shall not be sur- 
 prised to find that amid the galaxy of 
 brilliant productions in other depart- 
 ments with which our literature is adorn- 
 ed, there are so few authors who have 
 attained eminence in this. A good de- 
 scription, is simple and concise ; it sets 
 before us such features of an object as on 
 the first view strike and warm the fancy ; 
 it gives us ideas which a statuary or a 
 painter could lay hold of and work after 
 them one of the strongest and most de- 
 cisive trials of the real merits of descrip- 
 tion. Hence among the qualities essen- 
 tially necessary, and without which, in- 
 deed, even mediocrity is unattainable in 
 this walk of literature, are an eye con- 
 versant with nature in all her aspects, a 
 strong imagination wherewith to catch 
 her grand and prominent features, and 
 great simplicity and clearness of style to 
 transmit the impression unimpaired to 
 the imagination of others. There is no 
 species of composition, prose or poetical, 
 into which description does not enter in 
 some shape ; but the term has been bor- 
 rowed from literature generally, and ap- 
 plied more particularly to those poetical 
 productions which are devoted exclu- 
 sively to the description of nature, such 
 as Milton's Allegro and Thomson's Sea- 
 sons. Hence, although Shakspeare may 
 with great justice be styled a descriptive 
 poet, from the exquisite descriptions of 
 nature with which his unrivalled plays 
 are interspersed ; yet as his chief excel- 
 lence lies in portraying the character 
 and passion? of man, he does not fall, 
 properly speaking, within this category. 
 By no writer, either of antiquity or mod- 
 ern times, was the faculty of description 
 
 possessed in a more eminent degree than 
 by Sir Walter Scott. All his delineations 
 of natural scenery are executed with an 
 unrivalled fervor of imagination: while 
 at the same time they are marked by 
 such traits of character and truth that 
 every object is brought distinctly before 
 the mind, and might without difficulty be 
 transferred to canvass by the artist's 
 pencil. 
 
 DESECRA'TION. a word denoting the 
 very opposite of consecration, being the 
 act of divesting anything of a sacred 
 purpose or use to which it has been de- 
 voted. 
 
 DES'ERT, a large uninhabited tract 
 of land, or extent of country, entirely 
 barren. In this sense, some are sandy 
 deserts, as those of Arabia, Libya, and 
 Zaara : others are stony, as the desert of 
 Pharan, in Arabia Petrea. " The Desert," 
 absolutely so called, is that part of Ara- 
 bia south of the Holy Land, where the 
 children of Israel wandered forty years. 
 But the term desert fliay be, and often 
 is, applied to an uninhabited country, 
 covered with wood or overrun with vege- 
 tation incapable of affording sustenance 
 to man. 
 
 DESER'TER, an officer, soldier, or 
 sailor, who absents himself from his post 
 without permission, nnd with the inten- 
 tion not to return. The crime of deser- 
 tion has in all ages and countries been 
 regarded with peculiar detestation. In 
 Greece and Rome, the deserter, during 
 war, suffered death; during peace, was 
 deprived only of civil rights : a sound 
 and enlightened distinction. The mili- 
 tary code of Great Britain inflicts " death 
 or such other punishments as may bo ad- 
 judged by a general court-martial" ,on 
 deserters ; thus leaving a proper discre- 
 tionary power for the exercise of lenity 
 in cases where the motives to the crime 
 may bear the most favorable construction. 
 
 DESIDERA'TUM, is used to signify 
 something wanted to improve or perfect 
 any art or science, or to promote the ad- 
 vancement of any object or study what- 
 soever.- The longitude is a desideratum 
 in navigation. A tribunal to settle na- 
 tional d'sputes without war is a great 
 desideratum. 
 
 DESIGN', in a general sense, the plan, 
 order, representation, or construction of 
 a building, <fec., by an outline or general 
 view of it. The word design, in painting, 
 is used for the first draught of a large 
 work, with an intention to be executed 
 and finished in a more elaborate manner. 
 Every work of design is to be considered
 
 DES] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 145 
 
 either in relation to the art that produced 
 u, to the nature of its adaptation to the 
 end sought, or to the nature of the end it 
 is destined to serve ; thus its beauty is 
 dependent on the wisdom or excellence 
 displayed in the design, on the fitness or 
 propriety of the adaptation, and upon the 
 utility of the end. The considerations of 
 design, fitness, and utility, have become 
 the three great sources of beauty of form. 
 This beauty frequently arises from the 
 combined power of these expressions. 
 Every work of art supposes unity of de- 
 sign, or some particular end proposed by 
 the artist in its structure or composition. 
 In forms considered simply as expressive 
 of design, the only possible sign of unity 
 of design is uniformity or regularity, by 
 which the productions of chance are dis- 
 tinguished from those of design ; and 
 without the appearance of this, variety 
 becomes confusion. In every beautiful 
 work of art, we are not satisfied with mere 
 design, we must have elegant design, of 
 which the grand feature is variety ; it is 
 this which in general distinguishes beau- 
 tiful from plain forms, and without it 
 uniformity is dull and insipid. 
 
 DESIGNATOR, in Roman antiqui- 
 ties, a species of master of the ceremo- 
 nies, whose duty it was to assign to each 
 person his proper place in the theatres 
 and at the other public spectacles. Offi- 
 cers with this appellation were employed 
 among the Romans on every occasion of 
 public display, and in all domestic solem- 
 nities, whether of a joyful or mournful 
 character. But the chief occupation of 
 the designator consisted in arranging and 
 marshalling the funerals of distinguished 
 persons ; and in this capacity he was at- 
 tended by a troop of inferior officers, all 
 arrayed in black, whose part it was, 
 among other duties, to keep off the crowd, 
 like the lictors of the magistrates. 
 
 DESIRE', a wish to possess some grati- 
 fication or source of happiness which is 
 supposed to be obtainable. It may be 
 either spiritual, intellectual, or sensual ; 
 but when directed merely to sensual en- 
 joyment, it differs little from animal ap- 
 petite. 
 
 DES'POTISM, a form of government 
 where the monarch rules by his sole and 
 uncontrolled authority. In popular lan- 
 guage, all governments are called des- 
 potical that are administered by one in- 
 dividual whose decisions are not con- 
 trolled by any representative assembly 
 or recognized subordinate authorities. 
 Thus, we are in the habit of saying that 
 the emperors of Austria and Russia and 
 10 
 
 the king of Prussia are despotical or ab- 
 solute sovereigns ; meaning by this, that 
 all legislative and executive measures 
 seem to proceed from their free will. But 
 the abstract idea of despotism goes farther 
 than this ; and means a government by a 
 single individual with unlimited power 
 over the lives and fortunes of his subjects. 
 The prophet Daniel, in his description of 
 the Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnez- 
 zar, has given what is perhaps the best 
 account of this species of government. 
 " All people, nations, and languages, 
 trembled and feared before him : whom 
 he would he slew, and whom he would he 
 kept alive : whom he would he set up, 
 and whom he would he put down." But 
 though this gives a vivid idea of what is 
 understood by a pure despotism, it can 
 be regarded only as a popular, or rather 
 poetical account, of a government where 
 the sovereign is possessed of great power. 
 The truth is, that a purely despotical 
 government never had, and never can 
 have, any existence in fact. How abso- 
 lute or despotical soever, all sovereigns 
 must conduct their government so as to 
 procure the concurrence and support of a 
 large, or, at all events, a powerful por- 
 tion of their subjects. A despot is, after 
 all, merely an individual, and becomes 
 quite powerless when those masses of in- 
 dividuals, in whom the ability to coerce 
 others really resides, disapprove of his 
 proceedings. The praetorian bands in an- 
 tiquity, the janissaries of Constantinople, 
 and the grenadiers of Petersburg, must, 
 at least, be led by opinion. But though 
 the sanction of the instruments employed 
 in his government be indispensable to the 
 existence of a despot, it is but seldom that 
 he dares trust to it only. The most ab- 
 solute and tyrannical of the Roman em- 
 perors, when they wished to get rid of 
 any obnoxious individual, dared not to 
 order him to be executed, but were obliged 
 to suborn false evidence, and to proceed 
 against him according to legal forms: 
 and so it is in all countries. Were the 
 most absolute sovereign of whom we have 
 any certain accounts openly to seize on 
 the property of any individual in his do- 
 minions, or to put him to death, without 
 being able to assign some apparently sat- 
 isfactory grounds for doing so, the founda- 
 tions of his power would be shaken to the 
 very centre ; and the repetition of such 
 conduct would most likely occasion his 
 deposition. The strength of absolute gov- 
 ernments, when they embark in oppres- 
 sive courses, depends on their being able 
 to conceal or pervert the real facts of the
 
 146 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 case, so that the victims of their tyranny 
 may be made to appear to be the victims 
 of their justice. We may b^assured that 
 no ruler of any country emerged from the 
 merest barbarism ever could, for any con- 
 siderable period, openly commit on his 
 own responsibility any gross injustice to- 
 wards any considerable portion of his 
 subjects. Those who have done so have 
 rarely, if ever, failed to expiate their fol- 
 ly and tyranny by some signal punish- 
 ment. Neither the government of Prus- 
 sia nor Austria, nor even that of Russia, 
 can be justly called despotical. Their 
 rulers are controlled to a very great ex- 
 tent by the force of public opinion ; and 
 are influenced by a much more lively 
 feeling of responsibility than the sover- 
 eigns of limited monarchies, or of coun- 
 tries in which the legislative functions are 
 divided. It is this fear of their subjects 
 that makes them so anxious, by laying 
 restrictions on the freedom of the press, 
 to conceal their conduct, or to obtain a 
 favorable judgment upon it. There can 
 be no despotism, nor any considerable ap- 
 proach towards despotical government, 
 where the press is free and the people in- 
 structed ; and it is to their influence in 
 securing the freedom of the press, and 
 consequently in enlightening public opin- 
 ion, and making the bulk of the people 
 acquainted with their real interests, that 
 the advantage of representative assem- 
 blies and of a popular form of govern- 
 ment is mainly to be found. 
 
 DESSERT', a word, of doubtful ety- 
 mology, signifying the last service at din- 
 ner, consisting of fruits and confections, 
 &o. The modern dessert is probably equiv- 
 alent to the mensoR secundce of the Ro- 
 mans. If we believe Congreve, the term 
 came into use among the French about 
 the commencement of the 17th century, 
 and was soon adopted into and natural- 
 ized in most of the European languages. 
 In all the countries of Europe the splen- 
 dor of the dessert has ever since the pe- 
 riod of its introduction kept pace with the 
 progress of refinement and civilization, 
 and by many gastronomes the qualities 
 and arrangement of a dessert are looked 
 upon as the most valid test of all that is 
 Attic in taste and refined in elegance. 
 
 DES'TINY, an inevitable necessity de- 
 pending upon a superior cause. This doc- 
 trine has, under a variety of names, been 
 embodied in almost all the religious sys- 
 tems of antiquity ; and even in modern 
 times, with a few modifications, it has 
 been largely adopted by many sects of 
 the Christian church. Destiny was called 
 
 by the Romans Fatum, and by the Greeks 
 Avayvt), Necessity, or Moipa, a Part, as if 
 it were a chain or necessary series of 
 things indissolubly linked together. Ac- 
 cording to many of the heathen philoso- 
 phers, destiny was a secret and invisible 
 power or virtue, which with incomprehen- 
 sible wisdom regulated all the occur- 
 rences of this world which to human eyes 
 appear irregular and fortuitous. The 
 Stoics, on the other hand, understood by 
 destiny a certain concatenation of things, 
 which from all eternity follow each other 
 of absolute necessity, there being no pow- 
 er able to interrupt their connection. To 
 this invisible power even the gods were 
 compelled to succumb. Jupiter and Ve- 
 nus are represented by the poets as vain- 
 ly attempting to withdraw Caesar from 
 his impending fate ; but, as Seneca ob- 
 serves, it is thus that the Ruler of all 
 things, in writing the book of destiny, has 
 prescribed the limitation of his own power. 
 
 DETACH'ED. when figures stand out 
 from the background and from each other 
 in a natural manner, so as to show that 
 there is space and atmosphere between, 
 we say they appear detached. 
 
 DETACH'MENT, a body of troops se- 
 lected or drawn out from several regi- 
 ments or companies, on some special ser- 
 vice or expedition. Also, a number of 
 ships, taken from a fleet and sent on a 
 separate service. 
 
 DET'INUE, in law, a writ or action 
 that lies against a person who has goods 
 or other things delivered to him to keep, 
 and who afterwards detains or refuses to 
 deliver them up. 
 
 DEUCE, DUSE, or DEUSE, a demon. 
 A deviling, or little devil. The ancient 
 Germans gave the name of dusii to cer- 
 tain demons, and it is supposed that the 
 singular dusius is a corruption of Drusus, 
 the son of Tiberius. 
 
 DEUTERON'OMY, one of the sacred 
 books of the Old Testament, or the fifth 
 book of the Penateuch. It is so called, 
 because this last part of the work of 
 Moses comprehends a recapitulation of 
 the law he had before delivered to the 
 Israelites himself. 
 
 DEVICE', in painting, an emblem 
 or representation of anything, with a 
 motto subjoined or otherwise introduced. 
 Badges, impresses, and devices, were 
 greatly in vogue in England, from the 
 reign of Edward I. to that of Elizabeth, 
 when they began to be disused. 
 
 DEVIL, the chief of the apostate an- 
 gels ; Satan, the tempter of the human
 
 DIA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 147 
 
 DEVISE', in law, is the disposition of 
 real estate by will ; being distinguished 
 from a bequest of personal estate, that 
 being termed a legacy. The person to 
 whom a devise is made is called a de- 
 visee. 
 
 DEY, a Turkish title of dignity, given 
 to the governors of Algiers (before the 
 French conquest,) Tunis and Tripoli. 
 The dey is chosen for life from among 
 the chief authorities of the place, with 
 the approbation of the Turkish soldiery. 
 At Tunis the equivalent title of bey is 
 more usually substituted for dey. This 
 term is admitted by all philologists to be 
 of very great antiquity ; though it is im- 
 possible to assign any precise date to its 
 introduction. 
 
 DIACRIT'IC MARKS, marks used to 
 distinguish letters between the forms of 
 which much similarity exists. Thus n 
 and u are distinguished in German run- 
 ning hand by the mark ^ over the latter 
 letter. 
 
 DI'ADEM, the frontlet worn by the 
 kings and princes of antiquity, and also 
 by their wives. It was made of silk, 
 wool, or yarn, narrow, but wider in the 
 centre of the forehead, and generally 
 white. Those of the Egyptian gods and 
 kings are adorned with the emblem of 
 the sacred serpent. The Bacchic diadem, 
 
 or credemnon, which the Indian Bacchus 
 wore, consisted of a folded band encircling 
 the forehead and temples, and fastened 
 behind with hanging ends. With the 
 Parsees (Persians) the diadem was wound 
 round the tiara, and was bluish white. 
 The Greeks presented a diadem to every 
 victor in the public games ; and it was 
 also an attribute of priests and priestesses. 
 The real diadem, like the sceptre, is a 
 symbol of power, especially in the repre- 
 sentation of Juno, who is thereby desig- 
 nated as the consort of the sovereign of 
 the gods and men, and partaking of his 
 power. 
 
 DI.53B/ESIS, in grammar, the esolu- 
 
 tion of a diphthong, or a contracted sylla- 
 ble into two syllables ; as, in Latin, aurai 
 for auras, &e. ; and, in English, the reso- 
 lution of the last syllable of participles by 
 a sound of the final e ; beloved, cursed, &c. 
 
 DIAGNO'SIS, the art of distinguishing 
 one disease from another. The charac- 
 teristic symptoms of diseases by which 
 they are recognized, are termed their 
 diagnostic symptoms. 
 
 DI'AGRAM, the figure or scheme 
 drawn for the illustration of a mathe- 
 matical proposition, or the demonstration 
 of any of its properties. It is also used 
 in other branches of science, and in the 
 fine arts, for the general purposes of il- 
 lustration. 
 
 DI'AGRAPH, a name given by the 
 French artists to a recently-invented in- 
 strument used in perspective. 
 
 DI'ALECT, in the philosophical sense 
 of the word, any variety of a common 
 language. Hence, German, English, 
 Swedish, &c., are all strictly said to be 
 dialects, as coming all of them from the 
 same original stock. Commonly, how- 
 ever, we limit the application of the 
 term dialect to the varieties of a nation- 
 al language ; and speak of the dialects 
 of English, French, &c. In Greek, the 
 four dialects, Doric, Ionic, JEolic, Attic, 
 were the four written varieties of the 
 language, each possessing a literature of 
 its own. In this respect no modern tongue 
 presents a parallel to the Greek ; inas- 
 much as, in all, one dialect has been ar- 
 bitrarily adopted as the standard of polite 
 writing and conversation ; and the writ- 
 ten works which are extant in the other 
 dialects are regarded merely as excep- 
 tions to the general rule. 
 
 DIALEC'TICS, a name which was ori- 
 ginally used by Plato as synonymous 
 with metaphysics, or the highest philoso- 
 phy. Strictly speaking, it can only be 
 regarded as a preparatory discipline for 
 such investigations, or at most as a scien- 
 tific method of prosecuting them. The 
 most splendid examples of dialectical 
 subtlety that exist are to be found in the 
 Dialogues of Plato, especially in those 
 entitled Parmenides, the Statesman and 
 Sophist. Aristotle expresses himself with 
 some contempt of dialectics. It is certain, 
 howerer, that its own logic owes its exist- 
 ence to the dialectical exercises of the 
 Platonic schools ; and that it may, in one 
 point of view, be regarded as a body of 
 canons and directions for their legitimate 
 use. In modern times various systems 
 of dialectics have been propounded in dif- 
 ferent countries ; but by no philosophers,
 
 148 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DIA 
 
 either ancient or modern, has this science 
 been more successfully cultivated than 
 by the Germans, who, among a hast of 
 other names more or less distinguished, 
 c;ui boast of a Fichte, Kant, Leibnitz, 
 Hegel, Schelling, and Schlegel, as the 
 propounders each of a peculiar dialecti- 
 cal system. 
 
 DI'ALOQUE, in literature, a compo- 
 sition or part of a composition in the 
 form of a conversation between two or 
 more persons. The dialogue was the 
 form most generally adopted by the an- 
 cients for the conveyance of instruction, 
 and was considered equally applicable to 
 the most grave and philosophical, and to 
 the most ludicrous and comical subjects. 
 Thus it was adopted by Plato. Cicero, and 
 Lucian, with equal success. Plato chose 
 this form for the conveyance of his phi- 
 losophical sentiments ; because real con- 
 versation had been the mode by which 
 his master, Socrates, (who left no writ- 
 ing,) gave instruction to the Athenians. 
 In the Dialogues of Plato, Socrates is 
 himself introduced as the chief interlocu- 
 tor. Among modern writers the philo- 
 sophical dialogue has been frequently 
 employed for the same purpose, more es- 
 pecially by the French, to whose language 
 and mode of thought it should seem to be 
 peculiarly suited. Among other eminent 
 persons of that country who have enriched 
 its literature with this species of compo- 
 sition are, Fenelon ; Paschal, in his Pro- 
 vincial Letters ; Bouhours, in his Entre- 
 tiens d'Ariste et d' Eugene; Fontenclle, 
 in his Dialogues of the Dead, and Plu- 
 rality of Worlds ; Galiani, Sur le Com- 
 merce des Grains, Ac. In England, this 
 method of composition has been less fre- 
 quently practised ; and, perhaps, with 
 the exception of Berkeley and Kurd, has 
 rarely succeeded in the hands of those 
 who attempted it. Both the Germans 
 and Italians have attempted to impart a 
 knowledge of their different philosophical 
 systems in this manner. Among the 
 latter may be mentioned Machiarelli 
 and Algarotti ; and among the former, 
 Lessing, Mendelssohn, Schelling, and 
 Herder ; though the labors of none of 
 these distinguished persons in this de- 
 partment of literature are so important 
 as to require any particular notice in 
 this place. The dramatic dialogue differs 
 from the philosophical, inasmuch as its 
 subject is one of' action. The whole of 
 modern dramas is dialogue, with the 
 exception of occasional monologue or 
 soliloquy. 
 
 DIAL'YSIS, a mark or character, con- 
 
 sisting of two points placed over one of 
 two vowels, as mosaic, to separate the 
 diphthong, and show that they must be 
 sounded distinctly. In rhetoric, dialysis 
 is a figure of speech in which several 
 words are placed together, without the 
 aid of a conjunction, as veni, vidi, rid. 
 
 DI'AMOND, the most valuable and 
 the hardest of gems. When pure, it is 
 perfectly clear and pellucid, and is emi- 
 nently distinguished from all other sub- 
 ; stances, by its vivid splendor, and the 
 I brightness of its Reflections. Though 
 i found of different shapes, and sometimes 
 i accidentally tinged with several colors, 
 yet it ever carries the same distinguish- 
 ing characters. Diamonds are generally 
 i very small ; but a few large ones have 
 been found, for which incredible prices 
 have been given. The largest ever 
 known belonged to the king of Portugal ; 
 it weighed 1680 carats, and was valued, 
 although uncut, at 224,000,0002. sterling; 
 the one in the sceptre of the emperor of 
 Russia weighs 779 carats, and is valued 
 at upwards of 4,000.0002., but was bought 
 by the empress Catharine for about 
 135,0002. The Pitt diamond, which, at 
 that time was one of the largest, weighed 
 136 carats, and cost Louis XIV. 130,0002. 
 The Mogul diamond, called Koh-i-noor, 
 or Mountain of Light, exhibited at the 
 Great London Exposition of Industry in 
 1851, weighs nearly 280 carats, and was 
 estimated by Tavernier at 468,9592., or 
 according to the rule proposed by Jef- 
 fries, it would be worth 622,0002. This 
 diamond formed a part of the spoil taken 
 in the Sikh war, on the defeat of Ruu- 
 jeet Singh, and was presented by the 
 East India Company to Queen Victoria. 
 The places whence diamonds are brought 
 are the island of Borneo, and the king- 
 doms of Visapour, Golconda, Bengal, in 
 the East Indies ; and the Brazils, in the 
 West Indies. These gems consist of pure 
 carbon, with a specific gravity of 3'5 ; and 
 the hardest tools making no impression 
 on them, they are cut and ground by the 
 power of their own substance. In the 
 experiments of modern chemists, the 
 diamond has been reduced to ashes by 
 the power both of the furnace and the 
 burning glass. Diamonds are valuable 
 for many purposes. Their powder is the 
 best for the lapidary and gem engraver, 
 and more economical than any other ma- 
 terial for cutting, engraving, and polish- 
 ing hard stones. Glaziers use them for 
 cutting their glass; their diamond being 
 set in a steel socket, and attached to a 
 small wooden handle. It is very remark-
 
 DIA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 149 
 
 able, that only the point of a natural 
 crystal can be used; cut or split dia- 
 monds scratch, but the glass will not 
 break along the scratch, as it does when 
 a natural crystal is used. The diamond 
 has also of Into years become an article 
 of great value to engravers, particu- 
 larly in the drawing or ruling of lines, 
 which are afterwards to be deepened by 
 the use of aqua fortis ; for which purpose 
 steel points, called etching needles, were 
 formerly used. 
 
 DIA'NA, in mythology, the Latin 
 name" of the goddess known to the Greeks 
 by the name of Artemis, the daughter of 
 Jupiter and Latona, and sister of Apol- 
 lo. . She was the virgin goddess of the 
 chase, and also presided over health. 
 The sudden deaths of women were at- 
 tributed to her -darts, .as those of men 
 were to the arrows of Apollo. In later 
 times she was confounded with various 
 other goddesses, as Hecate, Lucina, Pro- 
 serpina, and Luna. In the two last of 
 these characters she was said to appear 
 in the nether world and in heaven re- 
 spectively, while on earth she assumed 
 the character of Artemis ; whence she was 
 called the three-formed goddess. She 
 was generally represented as a healthy 
 active maiden in a huntress's dress, with 
 a handsome but ungentle expression of 
 
 countenance. The homage rendered to 
 Diana was so extensive that the silver- 
 smith who remarked that she was wor- 
 *hipped in all Asia and the world, can 
 scarcely be accused of exaggeration. A 
 catalogue of the various places where 
 
 temples were erected in her honor would 
 comprise every city of note in the ancient 
 world. Among others may be mentioned 
 Ephesus, Abydos, Heraclea, Aulis, Ere- 
 tria, Samos, Bubastus in Egypt, Delos 
 (whence she was termed Delia,) and 
 Mount Aventine at Rome. But of all 
 her temples, that at Ephesus was the 
 most celebrated. It was erected at the 
 joint expense of all the states of Asia ; 
 and according to the accounts of ancient 
 authors, it must have surpassed in splen- 
 dor all the structures of antiquity, and 
 fully deserved to be regarded as one of 
 the wonders of the world. A small statue 
 of the goddess, or, as she was termed by 
 her votaries, the " Great Diana of the 
 Ephesians," which was commonly sup- 
 posed. to have been sent from heaven, was 
 here enshrined and adorned with all that 
 wealth and genius could contribute. The 
 fate of this temple is well known. On the 
 day that Alexander the Great was born, 
 it was set on fire by Eratostratus, from a 
 morbid desire to transmit his name even 
 with infamy to posterity. This edifice 
 was afterwards rebuilt on a plan of simi- 
 lar magnificence ; and it remained in full 
 possession of its wealth and reputation till 
 the year 260, A.D., wfcen it was complete- 
 ly destroyed during an invasion of the 
 Goths. 
 
 DIANCE'A, in rhetoric, a figure of 
 speech by which a correct interpretation 
 is given to a subject suitable to the occa- 
 sion. 
 
 DIAPA'SON, in music, a musical in- 
 terval, by which most authors, who have 
 written upon the theory of music, use to 
 express the octave of the Greeks. The 
 diapason is the first and most perfect of 
 the concords ; if considered simply, it is 
 but one harmonical interval ; though, if 
 considered diatonically, by tones and 
 semitones, it contains seven degrees, viz., 
 the three greater tones, two lesser tones, 
 and two greater semi-tones. Diapason, 
 the fundamental or standard scale by 
 which musical instruments are made. 
 
 DIAPEN'TE, in music, a fifth ; an in- 
 terval making the second of the concords, 
 and with the diatessaron, an octave. 
 
 DI'APER, DIAPER WORK, a kind of 
 ornamental decoration applied to plain 
 surfaces, in which the pattern of flowers 
 or arabesques are either carved or paint- 
 ed. When they are carved, the pattern 
 is sunk entirely below the general sur- 
 face ; when painted they are generally 
 of a darker shade of the same color as the 
 plain surface. The patterns are usually 
 square, and placed close together, but
 
 150 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DIC 
 
 AjXJIWJIX^ 
 
 w5?Sm/r*w 
 
 other floriated forms are sometimes met 
 with. 
 
 DIAPH'ANOUS, an appellation given 
 to all transparent bodies, or such as trans- 
 mit the rays of light. 
 
 DIAPHO'RA, in rhetoric, a figure of 
 speech, in which a word, when repeated, 
 is taken in a different sense from what it 
 was at first understood. 
 
 DIAPORE'SIS, in rhetoric, a figure of 
 oratory, expressive of the speaker's doubt 
 or hesitation as to the manner in which 
 he should proceed in his discourse, the 
 subjects he has to treat of being all equal- 
 ly important. 
 
 DI' AUY, signifies properly a note-book 
 or register of daily occurrences, in which 
 the writer has a principal share, or which 
 have come under his own observation, or 
 have happened in his own time. The 
 term diary is equivalent to the French 
 journal, the Italian diario and giornale, 
 and the German Tagebuch,. 
 
 DI'ASCHISM, in music, the difference 
 between the comma and enharmonic die- 
 sis, commonly called the lesser comma. 
 
 DIA'SIA. in Grecian antiquity, a fes- 
 tival kept at Athens in honor of Jupiter 
 the Propitious. 
 
 DIASTAL'TIC, an epithet given by 
 the Greeks to certain intervals in music, 
 as the major third, major sixth, and ma- 
 jor seventh. 
 
 DIAS'TEMA, in rhetoric, a modula- 
 tion of the tones of the voice, by marking 
 with precision the intervals between its 
 elevation and depression. In music, a 
 space or interval. 
 
 DIAS'TOLE. in grammar, a figure of 
 prosody, by which a syllable naturally 
 short is made long. 
 
 DI'ASTYLE, an edifice in which three 
 diameters of a column are allowed for the 
 intercolumniations. 
 
 DIASYR'MOS, in rhetoric, a kind of 
 hyperbole, being an exaggeration of some- 
 thing low and ridiculous ; ironical praise. 
 
 DIATES'SARON, in music, a concord 
 or harmonic interval composed of a great- 
 er tone, a lesser tone, and one greater 
 semitone. Its proportion is as 4 to 3, 
 and it is called a perfect fourth. In the- 
 ology, the four Gospels. 
 
 DIA'TONI, in ancient architecture, 
 the angle stones of a wall, which were 
 wrought n two faces, and which, from 
 stretching beyond the stones above and 
 below them, made a good bond or tye to 
 the work. 
 
 DIATON'IC, an epithet given to mu- 
 sic, as it proceeds by tones and semi- 
 tones, both ascending and descending. 
 Thus we say, a diatonic series ; a diatonic 
 interval ; diatonic melody or harmony. 
 
 DI'ATRIBE, a continued disputation 
 or controversial discourse. 
 
 DIAZENET'IC, in the ancient Greek 
 music, a term applied to the tone dis- 
 jointing two fourths, one on each side of 
 it, and which joined to either made a 
 fifth. 
 
 DIAZO'MA, in ancient architecture, 
 the landings or resting places which en- 
 circled the amphitheatre at different 
 heights, like so many bands or cinctures ; 
 whence the name. 
 
 DI'CAST, in ancient Greece, an officer 
 answering nearly to our juryman. 
 
 DICASTE'RIUM, in ancient architec- 
 ture, the name of a tribunal or hall of 
 justice in Athens. 
 
 DICE, cubical pieces of bone or ivory, 
 dotted on their face from one to six ; and 
 used for gambling purposes. They are 
 said to be of great antiquity, and to have 
 been invented by Palamedes at the siege 
 of Troy, for the amusement of the officers 
 and soldiers. 
 
 DICTA'TOR, in ancient Rome, a ma- 
 gistrate created in times of exigence and 
 distress, and invested with unlimited 
 power. He had authority to raise or dis- 
 band troops, and to make war or peace, 
 and that without the consent either of 
 the senate or people. The ordinary du- 
 ration of his office was only for six 
 months, during which time all other ma- 
 gistracies cease, the tribuneship excepted. 
 Whenever he appeared in public, he was 
 attended by twenty-four lictors, or double 
 the number allowed a consul. Extensive, 
 however, as his power was, he was never- 
 theless under some restrictions : he could 
 not, for instance, spend the public money 
 arbitrarily, leave Italy, or enter the city 
 on horseback. The choice of dictator was 
 not, as in the case of other magistrates 1 , 
 decided by the popular voice, but one of 
 the consuls appointed him by command
 
 DIE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 151 
 
 of the senate. A dictator was also some- | 
 times named for holding the comitia for j 
 the election of consuls, and for the cele- i 
 bration of public games. For the space | 
 of four hundred years this office was re- 
 garded with veneration, till Sylla and 
 CiKsar, by becoming perpetual dictators, 
 converted it into an engine of tyranny, 
 and rendered the very name odious. 
 
 DIC'TIONARY, in its first and most 
 obvious sense, signifies a vocabulary, or j 
 alphabetical arrangement of the words 
 in a language, with their definitions. 
 But now. that the various branches of 
 science have become so much extended, 
 the term is also applied to an alphabeti- 
 cal collection of the terms of any art or 
 science, with such explanations or re- 
 marks as the writer may deem necessary 
 for their elucidation. 
 
 DIC'TUM, a word used in common 
 parlance to signify the arbitrament or 
 award of a judge. 
 
 DICTYOTHE'TON, in ancient archi- 
 tecture, masonry worked in courses like 
 the meshes of a net. Also open lattice 
 work for admitting light and air. 
 
 DIDAC'TIC, in the schools, signifies 
 every species of writing, whether in verse 
 or prose, whose object is to teach or ex- 
 plain the rules or principles of any art or 
 science. Thus to this class of literature 
 belong the writings of Aristotle on gram- 
 mar, poetry, and rhetoric ; Longinus's 
 Treatise on the Sublime ; and the Institu- 
 tions of Quintilian, &c. But the term 
 has been borrowed from scholastic phrase- 
 ology, and appropriated more exclusively 
 to all poetical writings devoted to the 
 communication of instruction on a par- 
 ticular subject, or of a reflective or ethi- 
 cal character, thence called didactic po- 
 etry. Among the most celebrated poems 
 of this species may be reckoned in ancient 
 times that of Lucretius, De Rerum Na- 
 turd, in which the Epicurean system of 
 philosophy is explained ; Virgil's Geor- 
 gics, which has almost always served as 
 a model to the didactic poets of succeed- 
 ing ages; and Horace's Art of Poetry ; 
 and in more recent times, Pope's Essays 
 on Criticism and Man; Du Fresnoy's 
 Art of Painting ; Vida and Boileau's Art 
 of Poetry; Akenside's Pleasures of the 
 Imagination; Armstrong's Art of pre- 
 serving Health; Somerville's Chace ; 
 Dyer's Fleece ; Young's Universal Pas- 
 sion, &c. 
 
 DIDASCA'LIA, a term in use among 
 the Greek writers of antiquity, and till 
 within the last century among almost all 
 the nations of modern Europe, applied to 
 
 the representation of dramatic pieces, or 
 to critical notices of the stage, and of 
 every thing appertaining thereto. 
 
 DIDO'RON, in ancient architecture, a 
 brick whose length was one foot, and its 
 breadth one half its length. 
 
 DIE, a stamp used in coining, by which 
 a piece of prepared metal is impressed 
 with due force. Coins are generally com- 
 pleted by one blow of the coining-press. 
 The engraver selects a forged plug of the 
 best cast steel of proper dimensions for his 
 intended work, and having carefully an- 
 nealed it, and turned its surfaces smooth in 
 the lathe, proceeds to engrave upon it the 
 intended device for the coin. When this 
 is perfect the letters are put in, and the 
 circularity and size duly adjusted ; it is 
 then hardened, and is termed a matrix. 
 Another plug of soft steel is now selected ; 
 and the matrix being carefully adjusted 
 upon it, they are placed under a very 
 powerful fly-press, and two or three blows 
 so directed as to commence an impression 
 of the matrix upon the plug ; this is then 
 annealed, and the operation repeated till 
 the plug receives a perfect impression of 
 the work upon the matrix. This impres- 
 sion is of course in relief, the original 
 work upon the matrix being indented, 
 and produces what is termed the punch. 
 This, being duly shaped in the lathe, is 
 hardened, and is employed in the pro- 
 duction of impressions in soft steel or 
 dies, which, being properly turned and 
 hardened, are exact fac-similes of the 
 original matrix, and are used in the pro- 
 cess of coinage. When a pair of dies are 
 made of good steel duly hardened and 
 tempered, and are carefully used, they 
 will sometimes yield from two to three 
 hundred thousand impressions before they 
 become so far worn, or injured as to re- 
 quire to be removed from the coining 
 presses. 
 
 DI'ES, (days,) in law, are distinguished 
 into dies jurtdici, days on which the court 
 sits for the administration of justice ; 
 dies non juridici, days on which no 
 pleas are held in any court of justice ; 
 and dies datus, a day or time of respite, 
 given by the court to a defendant in tho 
 cause. Dies canicuJares, in astronomy, 
 tho dog-days. Dies critici, in medicine, 
 days in which some diseases are supposed 
 to arrive at a crisis. Among the Ro- 
 mans, days were distinguished in a va- 
 riety of ways; the most important of 
 which were dies nefasti or dies atri, 
 days devoted to religious purposes, on 
 which it was unlawful to do any public 
 business : dies fasti, similar to the dies
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DIO 
 
 juridici of modern times; and dies 
 feriati, like our dies non juridici, when 
 the courts were shut. 
 
 DIE'SIS, the markt; called also a 
 double-dagger, and used as a mark for 
 reference. Diesis, in music, the division 
 of a tone less than a semi-tone ; or an 
 interval consisting of a less or imperfect 
 semi-tone. 
 
 LI'ET, a name given to the principal 
 national assembly in many countries of 
 modern Europe. By the usage of the 
 German empire, two diets were sum- 
 moned every year by the emperor, be- 
 sides such as were convoked on extra- 
 ordinary occasions. There were three 
 chambers 1. That of the electors. 2. 
 That of the sovereign princes, divided 
 into two spiritual and four temporal 
 benches. The counts of the empire voted 
 collectively in four benches or divisions, 
 and not as individuals ; the prelates and 
 the abbots in two. 3. The chamber of 
 the imperial cities, divided into the Rhen- 
 ish and Swabian benches. The diets, to- 
 gether with the emperor, exercised the 
 prerogatives of sovereignty. A decree 
 of the diet was termed a recess of the 
 empire. 
 
 DIETET'ICS, the science or philoso- 
 phy of diets; or that which teaches us to 
 adapt particular foods to particular or- 
 gans of digestion, or to particular states 
 of the same organ, so that the greatest 
 possible portion of nutriment may be ex- 
 tracted from a given quantity of nutri- 
 tive matter. 
 
 DIEU ET MON DROIT, (French; sig- 
 nifying God and my right ;) the motto 
 of the royal arms of England, first as- 
 sumed by king Richard I., to intimate 
 that he did not hold his empire in vassal- 
 age of any mortal.. It was afterwards 
 taken up by Edward III., and was con- 
 tinued, without interruption, to the time 
 of William III., who used the motto je 
 maintiendray, though the former was 
 still retained upon the great seal. After 
 him queen Anne used the motto semper 
 eadem, which had been before used by 
 queen Elizabeth, but since queen Anne's 
 time Dieu et man droit has continued to 
 be the royal motto. 
 
 DIEU ET SON ACTE, a maxim in 
 law, that the act of God shall not be a 
 prejudice to any man. 
 
 DIFFARREA'TION, in Roman an- 
 tiquity, a ceremony whereby the divorce 
 of the priests was solemnized ; or the dis- 
 solving of marriage contracted by con- 
 farreation. 
 
 DIFFERENCE, in logic, an essential 
 
 attribute belonging to any species that is 
 not found in the genus ; being the idea 
 that defines the species. 
 
 DIGAM'MA, so called from its repre- 
 senting two gammas, one set above an- 
 other, thus, F. The name given to the 
 form of that letter in the ancient Greek 
 alphabet which corresponds in appear- 
 ance generally to the Latin F. This let- 
 ter appears to have occupied the sixth 
 place in the alphabet, and was most prev- 
 alent in the JEolic dialect ; though some 
 grammarians contend that it was com- 
 mon to all the dialects of Greece in their 
 more ancient mode of pronunciation. It 
 has often been expressed by B, and some- 
 times by r, A. 6, *, and X ; and it is now 
 almost universally considered to have had 
 the force of F, V, or the English W. As 
 the Latin language approximated more 
 nearly to the JSolic than to any of the 
 other Grecian dialects, the use of the 
 digamma is very prevalent in many 
 Latin words. 
 
 DI'GEST, in law literature, a collec- 
 tion of the decisions of the Roman law- 
 yers, properly digested or arranged under 
 distinct heads, by order of the emperor 
 Justinian. It is also termed the Pan- 
 dects, from the Greek words T<"", all, and 
 fcxtcQa^ to receive. The care of this great 
 compilation was entrusted by the emperor 
 
 | to Tribonian, with seventeen associates. 
 It was completed in three years, and 
 published A.D. 533. It contains the best 
 decisions and opinions of former jurists, 
 collected, it is said, from more than two 
 thousand volumes ; and follows the same 
 arrangement as the code of the same em- 
 peror, which had appeared in 529. 
 
 DIG'LYPH, in architecture, a kind of 
 
 j imperfect triglyph, console, or the like, 
 
 j with two channels or engravings, either 
 circular or angular. 
 
 DIG'NITARY, in the canon law, an 
 ecclesiastic who holds a dignity, or a ben- 
 efice which gives him some pre-eminence 
 over mere priests and canons; as a bish-- 
 op, dean, arch-deacon, prebendary, &c. 
 
 DIG'NITY, this word, in a general 
 sense, signifies a nobleness or elevation 
 of mind ; and is opposed to meanness and 
 vice, the true dignity of human nature 
 being based on moral rectitude and relig- 
 
 I ious veneration. In a more extended 
 
 | sense, it means, elevation of deportment ; 
 
 j and also an elevated office, civil or ecele- 
 
 , siastical. 
 
 DI'GRAPH, a union of two vowels, of 
 
 I which one only is pronounced, as in bread 
 It is essentially different from a diph- 
 thong, which consists of two vowels also
 
 DIM 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 153 
 
 but produces a sound which neither of the 
 vowels has separately. 
 
 DIGRESSION, signifies any details 
 introduced into a work, which are either 
 altogether foreign from the immediate 
 subjects of which it treats, or not absolute- 
 ly necessary to the progress or develop- 
 ment of the story. It will at once be per- 
 ceived from this definition that, as a gen- 
 eral rule, digressions are to be carefully 
 avoided, from their tendency to withdraw 
 the attention of the reader from the chief 
 points of the story or the question under 
 discussion. There are, however, some 
 departments of literature in which the 
 use of digressions is not only admissible, 
 but even advantageous. On this subject, 
 however, no definite rules can be laid 
 down for the guidance of the author : but 
 there can be little doubt that if intro- 
 duced properly and without effort, man- 
 aged with good taste, and confined within 
 reasonable limits, digressions have the ef- 
 fect of relieving the mind from the fatigue 
 .of a too long sustained attention, and of 
 imparting life and interest to a subject 
 that may be naturally dry and uninte- 
 resting. The Essays of Montaigne ex- 
 hibit more clearly than any similar pro- 
 ductions with which we are acquainted, 
 the admirable uses to which digressions 
 may be turned in the hands of a master. 
 Many of the writings of Sterne, but more 
 especially his Tristram Shandy, (which 
 contains an eulogium upon digression,) 
 supply the happiest examples of their ef- 
 fects ; and in our times The Doctor, by 
 Robert Southey, owes its principal attrac- 
 tions to the digressions with which the 
 story is interlarded. 
 
 DILAPIDATION, in law, the ruin or 
 damage which accrues to a house in con- 
 sequence of neglect. 
 
 DILEM'MA, in logic, an argument 
 which cannot be denied in any way with- 
 out involving the party denying in con- 
 tradictions ; or a position involving double 
 choice, each presenting difficulties. A 
 dilemma is usually described, as though 
 it always proved the absurdity, inconve- 
 nience, or unreasonableness of some opin- 
 ion or practice, and this is the most usual 
 design of it. But it is plain, that it may 
 be used to prove the truth or advantage 
 of any thing proposed : as, " In heaven 
 we shall either have desires, or not : if 
 we have no desires, then we have full sat- 
 isfaction : if we have desires, they shall 
 be satisfied as fast as they arise : there- 
 fore, in heaven we shall be completely 
 satisfied." This sort of argument may 
 be composed of three or more members, 
 
 and may be called trilemma. It is also 
 called syllogismus cornutus, a horned 
 syllogism ; its horns being so disposed, 
 that if you avoid the one, you run against 
 the other. 
 
 DILET'TANT, a term wholly natu- 
 ralized in France, England, and Germa- 
 ny ; signifying an amateur, chiefly of 
 music, but also of the kindred sciences. 
 The dilettant is one who treats Art em- 
 pirically, a lover of art who is not satis- 
 fied with looking and enjoying, but must 
 needs criticize without the necessary qual- 
 ifications for so important a function. 
 The dilettant holds the same relation to 
 the artist, that the bungler does to the 
 artisan, he takes hold of art by the v.eak 
 end ; conscious that art is learned accord- 
 ing to rules, he errs in treating its laws 
 as mechanical when they are spiritual. 
 He confounds art with material ; he re- 
 gards neatness and finish, which are me- 
 chanical, as the highest excellences. In- 
 vention, composition, coloring, being spir- 
 itual. are invisible to him. Having no 
 confidence in the application of his rules, 
 he applies them empirically, and follows, 
 as nearly as he can, the direction of pop- 
 ular taste. While the aim and endeavor 
 of the artist is the highest in art, the di- 
 lettant has no aim : he sees only what is 
 beside him nothing beyond. Many di- 
 lettants are collectors ; they are fond, if 
 possessed of the means, of raking togeth- 
 er, their object being to possess, not to 
 choose with understanding, and be con- 
 tent with a few good things. The dilet- 
 tants do great injury to artists, by foster- 
 ing the mechanical, rather than the spir- 
 itual, in art, and by bringing them down 
 to their own level. Yet, on the other 
 hand, dilettantism has its advantages ; it 
 prevents an entire want of cultivation, 
 and as it is in some sort a necessary con- 
 sequence of a general extension of art, it 
 may even be the cause of it. Under cer- 
 tain circumstances it may excite and de- 
 velop a true artistic talent, and substitute 
 a certain idea of art, in place of entire 
 ignorance, and extend it to where the ar- 
 tist would not be able to reach ; though 
 few artists can be connoisseurs, many are 
 dilettants. 
 
 DIMINUTION, in architecture, a 
 contraction of the upper part of a col- 
 umn, by which its diameter is made less 
 than that of the lower part. It general- 
 ly commences from one third of the 
 height of the column. Diminution, in 
 rhetoric, the exaggerating what you 
 have to say by an expression that seems 
 to diminish it. In music, the imitation
 
 154 
 
 CYCLOPKD1A OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DIP 
 
 of or reply to a subject in notes of half 
 the length or value of those of the sub- 
 ject itself. 
 
 DIMIN'UTIVE, in grammar, a word 
 or termination which lessens the mean- 
 ing of the original word ; as, rivulet, a 
 small river ; manikin, a little man. 
 
 DIM'ISSORY, dismissing to another 
 jurisdiction. A letter dimissory, is one 
 given by a bishop to a candidate for holy 
 orders, having a title in his diocese, di- 
 rected to some other bishop, and giving 
 leave for the bearer to be ordained by 
 him. 
 
 DIM'ITY, a kind of white cotton cloth) 
 ribbed or figured. It was originally im- 
 ported from India, but is now manufac- 
 tured in Lancashire, and various other 
 parts of Britain. 
 
 DIO'CESAN, a bishop who has charge 
 of a particular diocese. 
 
 Dl'OCESE, or DI'OCESS, the district 
 or circuit of a bishop's jurisdiction. The 
 name diocese began first to be used in the 
 fourth century, when the exterior polity 
 of the church began to be formed upon 
 the model of the Roman empire. Eng- 
 land, in regard to its ecclesiastical state, 
 is divided into two provinces, viz. : Can- 
 terbury and York, and each province 
 into subordinate dioceses ; the province 
 of Canterbury contains twenty-one dio- 
 ceses, and that of York three. The dio- 
 ceses of the Prot. Epis. Church iu the 
 United States are nearly equivalent to 
 the several states in extent. 
 
 DIONY'SIA, in ancient history, the fes- 
 tivals of Dionysius or Bacchus, but more 
 particularly those that were celebrated 
 in Attica, which were three in number, 
 distinguished by the following titles : 
 1. The Country Dionysia. 2. Those in 
 Limnae, a part of the city of Athens, 
 where they were held, which were also 
 called Lensean, or Anthesteria ; and 3. 
 The Great Dionysia. At all of these fes- 
 tivals the chief amusements consisted in 
 the representation of stage plays ; but 
 the last was most celebrated, as then ; 
 before the face of all Greece, the great 
 tragic contests were held, no expense 
 being spared to render the decorations 
 and accompaniments as splendid as art 
 could make them. 
 
 DIORA'MA, a mode of painting or 
 scenic representation, invented by two 
 French artists, Daguerre and Bouton, 
 and recently brought forward as a pub- 
 lic exhibition in all the principal cities 
 of Europe. The peculiar and very high 
 degree of optical illusion produced by 
 the diorama depends upon two princi- 
 
 ples ; the mode of exhibiting the paint- 
 ing, and the manner of preparing it. 
 With respect to the first of these, the 
 spectator and the picture are placed in 
 separate rooms, and the picture viewed 
 through an aperture, the sides of which 
 are continued towards the picture, so as 
 to prevent any object in the picture 
 room from being seen excepting the 
 painting itself. Into the room in which 
 the spectator is placed no light is admitted 
 excepting what comes through this aper- 
 ture from the picture ; he is thus placed 
 in comparative darkness, and also (which 
 contributes to the effect) at a consider- 
 able distance from the picture. The 
 picture room is illuminated from the 
 roof, which is glazed with ground glass ; 
 and the picture so placed that the light 
 falls on it at a proper angle to be reflect- 
 ed towards the aperture. The roof, which 
 is invisible to the spectator, is provided 
 with an apparatus of folds or shutters, by 
 which the intensity of the illumination 
 may be increased or diminished at pleas- 
 ure, and so modified as to represent, 
 with great effect and accuracy, the dif- 
 ferent accidents of light and shade, or 
 the changes of appearance depending 
 on the state of the atmosphere ; as bright 
 sunshine, cloudy weather, or the obscuri- 
 ty of twilight. The second principle con- 
 sists in painting certain parts of the pic- 
 ture in transparency, and admitting a 
 stream of light upon it from behind, 
 which, passing through the picture, pro- 
 duces a brilliancy far surpassing what 
 could be obtained by illuminating the 
 picture in the ordinary way, and renders 
 the relief of the objects represented 
 j much stronger and more deceptive. 
 I Hence, the diorama is peculiarly adapt- 
 I ed for representing architectural objects, 
 I as the interiors of cathedrals, &c. In 
 order to render the exhibition more at- 
 tractive, it is usual to present more 
 scenes than one. This may of course be 
 effected by removing one picture and 
 substituting another ; but with a view to 
 prevent the illusion from being impaired 
 by the accidents incidental to scene- 
 shifting, a different method is sometimes 
 resorted to. 
 
 DIPH'THONG, the union of two vow- 
 els pronounced in one syllable. The sound 
 is not simple, but so blended as to be con- 
 sidered as forming but one syllable, as 
 noise, bound, joint, Ac. 
 
 DIPLO'MA, a written document, con- 
 ferring some power, privilege, or honor, 
 viz., an instrument or license given by 
 colleges, societies, &c., to a clergyman to
 
 DIP 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 155 
 
 exercise the ministerial function, or to a 
 physician to practise the profession, &o., 
 after passing examination, or admitting 
 him to a degree. Every sort of ancient 
 charter, donation, bull, &c., is compre- 
 hended by writers on diplomatics under 
 the name diploma. The term is derived 
 from the earliest charters of donation 
 with which we are acquainted, those of 
 the early Roman emperors having been 
 inscribed on two tablets of copper joined 
 together so as to fold in the form of a 
 book. Writings of earlier date than the 
 fifth century are generally on leaves of 
 the papyrus, or biblos JEgyptiaca; those 
 of a later period on parchment. The form 
 and character of the diploma granted by 
 the sovereigns, prelates, nobles, &c. of 
 modern Europe, varied from age to age ; 
 and the knowledge of these variations 
 forms an important branch of the science 
 of diplomatics. 
 
 DIP'LOIS, in 
 Grecian costume, 
 a kind of doubled 
 cloak, which, when 
 worn, was folded 
 back in the man- 
 ner shawls are 
 usually worn. 
 
 DIPLOM'ACY, 
 in its most re- 
 stricted sense, is 
 used to express 
 the art of con- 
 ducting negotia- 
 tions or arranging 
 treaties between 
 nations by means 
 of their foreign 
 ministers, or writ- 
 ten correspond- 
 ence ; but, in its 
 most extended sig- 
 nification, it em- 
 braces the whole 
 science of negotia- 
 tion with foreign 
 states as founded on public law, positive 
 engagements, or an enlightened view of 
 the interests of each. It has been truly 
 observed, that in times not very distant, 
 it was sufficient to entertain a royal 
 master by the gossip of a capital, the in- 
 trigues of ladies and gentlemen of the 
 bed-chamber, and the cabals of rival 
 ministers. Now, the political correspond- 
 ent of a cabinet is compelled to inquire 
 into the working of the complex machin- 
 ery of modern society ; to observe con- 
 stantly the pulse of the whole body 
 politic; to keep in view the moral and 
 
 physical resources of nations ; to defend 
 the rights of his country, on the grounds 
 of law and reason ; to give information 
 to the minister, from whom he holds his 
 instructions, and to enable his govern- 
 ment to profit by the intelligence he im- 
 parts, not only in the management of its 
 foreign concerns, but likewise of its in- 
 ternal resources. To be a peifect di- 
 plomatist, in fact, in the present state of 
 the world, a man should be well acquaint- 
 ed with the municipal laws of different 
 countries, versed in the sciences, from 
 which industry and art derive their splen- 
 dor, and a state its strength, and equal 
 to any of the tasks to which those with 
 whom he is brought into contact might 
 put his learning and sagacity. It was 
 one part of the business of the congress 
 assembled at Vienna, in 1814, to regulate 
 the degrees of rank to which the various 
 diplomatic agents were entitled, viz. : 
 1, ambassadors; 2. envoys extraordinary 
 and ministers plenipotentiary; 3, minis- 
 ters resident; 4, charges d'affaires; 5, 
 secretaries of legation and attaches. Min- 
 isters at a court are denominated a dip- 
 lomatic body. 
 
 DIPLOMAT'ICS, the science of deci- 
 phering ancient writings, assigning their 
 date, &c. The name is derived from di- 
 ploma. Writings of earlier date than the 
 fifth century were mostly on the leaves 
 of the papyrus, or biblos JEgyptiaca. 
 Parchment appears to have been first 
 generally used in that century ; and the 
 oldest documents bearing the character 
 of diplomas which we possess do not ex- 
 tend to a higher antiquity. Not long 
 after the general adoption of parchment, 
 a variety of substances and colors began 
 to be used in writing, as vermilion, pur- 
 ple, gold and silver ; but this sumptuous 
 fashion did not long remain in use. The 
 science of diplomatics teaches the differ- 
 ent styles and forms adopted in ancient 
 public documents ; the titles, rank, <fco., 
 of public officers whose names are sub- 
 scribed to them ; the knowledge of the 
 materials used in writing in different 
 ages, of the different characters used in 
 successive periods and in various coun- 
 tries ; and the several kinds of diplomas 
 or public instruments. This science is 
 said to owe its origin to a Jesuit of 
 Antwerp, named Papelroch, who devoted 
 himself arduously to the research and 
 exposition of old diplomas about the 
 year 1675 ; but the honor of having re- 
 duced it to a science, and established it 
 on a sure and more satisfactory founda- 
 tion, is due to Mabillon, whose learned
 
 156 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DIS 
 
 work. Dt Re Diplomatica, was given to 
 the world in 1681. The principles laid 
 down by Mabillon, however, were more 
 fully developed about the middle of last 
 century, in one of the most elaborate 
 works of which the literature of any na- 
 tion can boast, the Nouveau Traitede Di- 
 plomatique ; and which has left little to 
 be done by subsequent laborers in this 
 field beyond the duty of translation, com- 
 pilation, or abridgment. From the above 
 statement of the objects of this science, it 
 will be at once perceived that it is of im- 
 mense utility. It has greatly facilitated 
 the researches of the historian, the poli- 
 tician, the divine, the political economist ; 
 and has contributed to the elucidation of 
 points in the history of nations whinh 
 might otherwise have been forever bu- 
 riedin obscurity. 
 
 DIPTERAL, in architecture, a temple 
 which had a double range of columns on 
 each of its flasks. 
 
 DIPTYCHA, or DIPTYCH, in Ro- 
 man antiquity, a public register of the 
 names of the consuls and other magis- 
 trates. Among the early Christians, they 
 were tablets, on one of which were writ- 
 ten the names of the deceased, and on the 
 other those of the living patriarchs, bish- 
 ops, <fec. or those who had done any ser- 
 vice to the church. The letters were 
 written inside these tablets, and on the 
 outside were slight reliefs, making the 
 specimens still extant not a little in- 
 teresting in the history of Art. The 
 whole class of diptycha, together with the 
 triptycha and pentaptycha, belong to the 
 later Roman empire, and are, therefore, 
 curious as the last effort of Antique and 
 also as remnants of Early Christian Art; 
 they ' are distinguished as consular 
 those presented by the magistrates upon 
 receiving that office ; and ecclesiastical. 
 They were made of wood as well as of 
 ivory, and some are extant of chased sil- 
 ver. Diptycha consularia bore the por- 
 traits of the consuls, representations of 
 the games in the circus and scenes of 
 triumph. &c. The diptycha ecclesiastica 
 are decorated with scenes from Biblical 
 history. They were very common during 
 the middle ages, and were often most 
 exquisitely wrought. 
 
 DI'RjE, in the Roman divination, sig- 
 nifies any unusual accidents or uncom- 
 mon appearances, as sneezing, stumbling, 
 strange voices, apparitions, spilling salt 
 or wine upon the table or upon one's 
 clothes, meeting wolves, hares, foxes, Ac. 
 
 DI'RECT, in music, a character used 
 at the end of a staff, to direct the per- 
 
 former's notice to the succeeding note at 
 the beginning of the following staff. 
 
 DIRECT TAX, taxes are distinguished 
 into direct and indirect. A tax is direct 
 when it is paid by the persons who per- 
 manently own, or use, or consume the sub- 
 ject of the tax. An indirect tax falls ulti- 
 mately on a different person from the one 
 who immediately pays it to the govern- 
 ment. Thus the importer of goods pays a 
 duty on them to the government, but reim- 
 burses himself by charging the amount of 
 this duty in the price of the goods. 
 
 DIREC'TORS, in commerce, the namo 
 given to the individuals composing the 
 board of management of a joint stock 
 company. 
 
 DIRECTORY, in French history, the 
 name given by the constitution of 1795 
 to the executive body of the French re- 
 public. It consisted of five individuals, 
 called directors, who were selected by the 
 council of elders from a list of candidates 
 presented by the council of five hundred. 
 One of these directors retired every year, 
 and was succeeded by another elected on 
 the same principle. To the directory 
 was entrusted the superintendence of the 
 home and foreign departments, the finan- 
 ces and the army, and the appoint- 
 ment of the ministers of state and other 
 public functionaries. Its policy was at 
 first moderate and conciliatory ; but after 
 a short interval it had recourse to meas- 
 ures which produced wide-spread dis- 
 satisfaction, and it was at length over- 
 thrown on the ascendency of Bonaparte 
 after an existence of four years. Direc- 
 tory, signifies also a book containing the 
 names of the inhabitants of a town, ar- 
 ranged in alphabetical order, together 
 with their places of abode, Ac. It is 
 likewise applied to a book containing di- 
 rections for public worship, or other re- 
 ligious services. 
 
 DIRGE, a song or tune intended to 
 express grief, sorrow, and mourning. 
 
 DIS, a prefix or inseparable proposition, 
 which generally has the force of a privative 
 nnd negative ; as, disarm, disallow, diso- 
 blige. In some cases, however, it denotes 
 separation, as in distribute, disconnect. 
 
 DISABILITY, in law, an incapacity 
 in a man to inherit or take a benefit 
 which otherwise he might have done, 
 which may happen by the act of any an- 
 cestor; by the act of the party himself; 
 by the act of the law ; and by the act of 
 God. Disability differs from inability, in 
 denoting deprivation of ability ; whereas 
 inability denotes destitution of ability, 
 either by deprivation or otherwise.
 
 DISJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 157 
 
 DISAFFECTION, in a political sense, 
 signifies disloyalty ; not merely aliena- 
 tion of affection, but positive dislike and 
 enmity. 
 
 DISCHARGE', a word of various sig- 
 nifications. Applied to fire-arms, it means 
 an explosion ; to fluids, a flowing, issu- 
 ing, or throwing out, as water from a 
 spring or spout. It also denotes a dis- 
 missal from office or service ; a release 
 from debt, obligation, or imprisoment ; 
 and the performance of any office, trust, 
 or duty. 
 
 DISCI'PLE, one who learns anything 
 from another : thus, the followers of any 
 teacher, philosopher, &c., are called dis- 
 ciples. In the more common acceptation, 
 among Christians, the disciples denote 
 those who were the immediate followers 
 and attendants on Christ, of whom there 
 were seventy or seventy-two ; but the 
 word is also correctly applied to all Chris- 
 tians, as they profess to learn and re- 
 ceive his doctrines and precepts. The 
 words disciple and apostle are often syn- 
 onymously used in the gospel history, 
 but sometimes the apostles are distin- 
 guished from disciples as persons select- 
 ed out of the number of disciples, to be 
 the principal ministers of his religion. 
 
 DISCIPLINARIAN, one who is well 
 versed in military and naval tactics and 
 manoeuvres ; and who exacts a strict ob- 
 servance of them from those under his 
 command. 
 
 DISCIPLINE, signifies, primarily, in- 
 struction or government ; but it is ap- 
 plied figuratively to a peculiar mode of 
 life, in accordance with the rules of some 
 profession or society. It is also used to 
 designate the punishments employed in 
 convents, and those which enthusiasts 
 undergo or inflict upon themselves by 
 way of mortification. 
 
 DISCIPLINE, BOOK OF, in the church 
 of Scotland, is a common order, drawn 
 up by the General Assembly in 1650 for 
 the reformation and uniformity to be ob- 
 served in the discipline and policy of the 
 church. In this book episcopal govern- 
 ment is set aside, Kirk sessions are estab- 
 lished, the observance of sainte' and oth- 
 er holy days is condemned, and other 
 regulations for the internal government 
 of the church are prescribed. It is called 
 the First Book of Discipline. 
 
 DISCLAIM'ER, in law, is a plea con- 
 taining an express denial or renunciation 
 of some claim which hAs been made upon 
 or by the party pleading. It is more 
 especially taken for the denial, by an al- 
 leged tenant, of his tenancy. 
 
 DISCOBO'LUS, a thrower of the dis- 
 cus, the attitude of which is rendered 
 
 familiar to all by the celebrated statue 
 by the sculptor Myron 
 
 DISCONTINUANCE, in law, an in- 
 jury to real property, which consists in 
 the keeping out the rightful owner of an 
 estate by a tenant whose entry was at 
 first lawful, but who wrongfully retains 
 the possession afterwards. 
 
 DIS'CORD, in music, a union of sounds 
 which is inharmonious, grating, and disa- 
 greeable to the ear ; or an interval whose 
 extremes do not coalesce. It is opposed 
 to concord and harmony. The second, 
 fourth, and seventh, with their octaves, 
 and, in general, all intervals, except those 
 few which precisely terminate the con- 
 cords, are called discords. There is, not- 
 withstanding, what is termed the harmo- 
 ny of discords, wherein the discords are 
 made use of as the solid and substantial 
 part of the harmony ; for by a proper in- 
 terposition of a discord, the succeeding 
 concords receive an additional grace. 
 
 DISCOR'DIA, in mythology, a malev- 
 olent deity, daughter of Night, and sis- 
 ter of Erinnys, the Parcse, and Death. 
 She is represented as having been ban- 
 ished from heaven by Jupiter, on account 
 of the broils she perpetually occasioned. 
 This was the goddess who, from disap- 
 pointment at not being invited to the 
 marriage of Thetis and Peleus, threw into 
 the midst of the assembly the golden ap- 
 ple, with the inscription detur pulchriori, 
 (let it be given to the fairest ;) which, as 
 is well known, occasioned the famed con- 
 test between the goddesses Juno, Miner- 
 va, and Venus, and ultimately led to the 
 Trojan war, and the destruction of Troy. 
 The ancient poets represent this divinity
 
 158 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OK LITERATURE 
 
 DI8 
 
 with a pale and ghastly look, a dagger in 
 her hand, and her hair entwined with ser- 
 pents. 
 
 DIS'COUNT, an allowance made for 
 the payment of money before it is due, 
 and is equivalent to the interest of the 
 principal sum diminished by the discount 
 during the time that must elapse before 
 the money becomes payable. 
 
 DISCOURSE', in rhctoricsignifies in 
 its widest acceptation a series of sen- 
 tences and arguments arranged accord- 
 ing to the rules of art, with the view of 
 producing some impression on the mind 
 or feelings of those to whom it is ad- 
 dressed. In logic, this term is applied to 
 the third operation of the mind, common- 
 ly called reasoning. 
 
 DISCOVERY, in a general sense, that 
 which is discovered, found out, or reveal- 
 %d ; as, the discovery of America by Co- 
 lumbus ; or the properties of the magnet 
 were an important discovery. Discovery, 
 in law, the disclosing or revealing any- 
 thing by a defendant in his answer to a 
 bill filed against him in a court of equity. 
 
 DISCRE'TIVE, in logic, an epithet 
 applied to a proposition expressing some 
 distinction, opposition, or variety, by 
 means of but, though, yet, <fec. ; as, men 
 change their dresses, but not their incli- 
 nations. 
 
 DISCUM'BENCY, the act of leaning 
 at meals, according to the manner of the 
 ancients. 
 
 DIS'CUS, in antiquity, a quoit made 
 of stone, iron, or copper, five or six fin- 
 gers broad, and more than a foot long, 
 inclining to an oval figure, which they 
 hurled in the manner of a bowl, to a vast 
 distance, by the help of a leathern thong 
 tied round the person's hand who threw 
 it, and put through a hole in the middle. 
 
 DISEASE', any state of a living body 
 in which the natural functions of the or- 
 gans are interrupted or disturbed, either 
 by defective or preternatural action. A 
 disease may affect the whole body, or a 
 particular limb or part of the body ; and 
 such partial affection of the body is called 
 a local or topical disease. 
 
 DISFRANCHISE, to deprive of char- 
 tered rights and immunities ; or to de- 
 prive of some franchise, as the right of 
 voting in elections, Ac. 
 
 DISJUNC'TIVE, in grammar, an epi- 
 thet for conjunctions, which unite sen- 
 tences, but separate the sense, as but, nor, 
 <fcc. A disjunctive proposition, in logic, 
 is one in which the parts are opposed to 
 each other by means of disjunctives ; as, 
 " it is either day or night." A disjunc- 
 
 tive syllogism, is, when the major propo- 
 sition is disjunctive ; as, " the earth moves 
 in a circle, or an ellipsis ; but it does not 
 move in a circle, therefore it moves in an 
 ellipsis." 
 
 DISPATCH'ES, in politics, a packet 
 of letters sent by a public officer on some 
 affair of state or public business. 
 
 DISPENSATION, in ecclesiastical af- 
 fairs, the granting of a license, or the li- 
 cense itself, to do what is forbidden by 
 laws or canons, or to omit something 
 which is commanded. Also, a system of 
 principles and rites enjoined : as the Mo- 
 saic dispensation, that is. the Levitical 
 lajv and rites ; the Gospel dispensation, 
 or scheme of human redemption by Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 DISPOSI'TION, a word of extensive 
 application, very generally signifying 
 method, distribution, arrangement, or in- 
 clination. Thus we speak of the disposi- 
 tion of the several parts of an edifice ; the 
 disposition of the infantry and cavalry in 
 an army; the judicious disposition of a 
 person's effects ; a disposition in plants 
 to grow upwards ; a disposition in ani- 
 mal bodies to putrefaction; a person's 
 disposition to undertake particular work, 
 &c. 
 
 DISPUTA'TION, in the sclrools, a con- 
 test, either by words or writing, on some 
 point of learning for a degree, prize, or 
 for an exercise. Also a verbal contro- 
 versy respecting the truth of some fat, 
 opinion, or argument ; as, Paul disputed 
 with the Jews in the synagogue. 
 
 DISQUALIFICATION, that which in- 
 capacitates in law ; implying a previous 
 qualification, which has been forfeited ; 
 and not merely the want of qualification. 
 
 DISQUISI'TION, formal or systematic 
 examination into the circumstances of 
 any affair, in order to discourse about it, 
 and so arrive at the truth. 
 
 DISSEC'TION, the dividing an animal 
 body into its substantial parts, for the 
 purpose of examining its structures and 
 uses. Le Gendre observes, that the dis- 
 section of a human body, even dead, was 
 held a sacrilege till the time of Francis 
 I. ; and that he has seen a consultation 
 held by the divines of Salamanca, at the 
 request of Charles V. to settle the ques- 
 tion whether or not it were lawful in 
 point of conscience to dissect a human 
 body for the purposes of anatomical sci- 
 
 DISSEIS'IN, or DISSEIZ'IN, in law, 
 an illegal seizure of a person's lands, ten- 
 ements, or other incorporeal rights. The 
 person dispossessing is called the dfesei-
 
 Dis] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 sor, and the person dispossessed, the dis- 
 seisee. 
 
 DISSENT'ER, one who separates from 
 the service and worship of any established 
 church. In England, therefore, the word 
 is particularly applied to those who do 
 not conform to the rites and service of its 
 church as by law established. The prin- 
 ciples on which dissenters separate from 
 the church of England, are, the right of 
 private judgment, and liberty of con- 
 science. They maintain that Christ, and 
 he alone, is the head of the church, and 
 that they bow to no authority, in matters 
 of religion, but that which proceeds from 
 him. 
 
 DIS'SONANCE, in music, inharmoni- 
 ous or discordant sounds. 
 
 DISSYL'LABLE, in grammar, a word 
 consisting of two syllables only ; as, king- 
 dom, virtue. 
 
 DISSOLUTION, the separation of a 
 body into its elementary principles ; or a 
 cessation of the powers by which it was 
 held together. We speak of the dissolu- 
 tion of animal bodies, when the parts 
 separate by putrefaction ; and of a reduc- 
 tion of a substance into its smallest parts, 
 by a dissolvent or menstruum. We also 
 say, the dissolution of the world, when 
 we refer to its final destruction ; and the 
 dissolution of government, when it can 
 no longer hold together. 
 
 DIS'TAFF, the staff of a spinning- 
 wheel, to which a bunch of flax is tied, 
 and from which the thread is drawn. 
 This implement is of fre- 
 quent occurrence in ancient 
 Art. It was made out of 
 a cane-stick, of about three 
 feet in length. At the top 
 it was slit in* such a man- 
 ner that it should bend 
 open, and form a recepta- 
 cle for the flax or wool to 
 be spun. A ring was put 
 over the top as a kind of 
 cap to keep the ends of the 
 cane together. The distaff 
 occurs in representations 
 of the fates, who are engH- 
 ged in spinning the thread 
 of life. Distaffs of gold 
 wore given to goddesses. 
 It was dedicated to Pallas, 
 the patroness of spinning. 
 
 DISTEM'PER, DESTEMPER, DETHEM- 
 PE (Fr.,} TEMPERA (Ital.) A kind of 
 painting, in which the pigments are mix- 
 ed in an aqueous vehicle, such as size, 
 and chiefly applied to scene-painting and 
 interior decoration. In former times, 
 
 when this description of painting was 
 more extensively employed than at pres- 
 ent, the vehicles for the pigments were 
 the sap of the fig-tree, milk, and white 
 of egg. Many of the works of the old 
 masters were executed in distemper, and 
 afterwards oiled, by which process they 
 became almost identical with oil-paint- 
 ings, or pictures executed with an olea- 
 ginous vehicle. By many persons, unac- 
 quainted with the processes of painting, 
 distemper is regarded as identical with 
 fresco painting. The difference is this 
 distemper is painted on a dry surface, 
 fresco on wet mortar or plaster. 
 
 DIS'TICH, a couplet, or couple of 
 verses in poetry, making complete sense. 
 
 DISTINCTION, in a general sense 
 means the act of separating or distin- 
 guishing. It also denotes elevation of 
 rank or character. Thus we say, of men 
 who hold a high rank by birth or office, 
 as well as of those who are eminent for 
 their talents, services, or moral worth, 
 that they are persons of distinction. 
 Metaphysical distinction is the non-agree- 
 ment of being, whereby this entity is not 
 that, or one thing is not another. Dis- 
 tinction, or distinguo, is also used, in the 
 schools, as an expedient to evade an ar- 
 gument, or to clear up and unfold an am- 
 biguous proposition, which may be true 
 in one sense, and false in another thus 
 they say, "the respondent was hard 
 pressed, but he disengaged himself by a 
 distinguo." 
 
 DISTRESS', in law, the distraining 
 or seizing upon a person's goods for the 
 payment of rent or taxes, <fec. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION, the act of dividing 
 or separating ; as, the distribution of 
 property among children ; or the distri- 
 bution of plants into genera and species. 
 In logic, the distinguishing a whole 
 into its several constituent parts. In 
 medicine, the circulation of the chyle 
 with the blood. In architecture, the 
 dividing and disposing of the several 
 parts of a building, according to some 
 plan, or to the rules of the art. In print- 
 ing, the taking a form asunder, so as to 
 separate the types, and place each letter 
 in its proper cell or box in the cases. 
 Distributive justice, implies, that justice 
 is so administered by a judge, as to give 
 every man his due. Distributive, in 
 grammar, words which serve to distribute 
 things into their several orders, as each, 
 either, every, &o. 
 
 DIS'TRICT, a word applicable to any 
 portion of land or country, or to any part 
 of a city of town, which is defined by law
 
 160 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DIV 
 
 or agreement. A governor, a prefect, or 
 a judge may have his district; or states 
 and provinces may be divided into dis- 
 tricts for public meetings, the exercise of 
 elective rights. &c. District, in law, that 
 circuit or territory within which a man 
 may be forced to make his appearance. 
 
 DESTRIN'GAS, in law, a writ com- 
 manding the sheriff, or other officer, to 
 distrain a person for debt, or for his ap- 
 pearance at a certain day. 
 
 DITHYRAM'BUS, a sort of hymn an- 
 ciently sung in honor of Bacchus, full of 
 transport and poetical rage : any poem 
 written with wildness. The dithyrambic 
 poetry was very bold and irregular, for 
 the poets not only took the liberty to coin 
 new words for the purpose, but made 
 double and compound words, which con- 
 tributed very much to the wild magnifi- 
 cence of this kind of composition. 
 
 DI'TONE, in music, an interval com- 
 prehending two tones. The proportion 
 of the sounds that form the ditone is 4 : 5, 
 and that of the serai-ditone, 5 : 6. 
 
 DIT'RIGLYPH, in architecture, an ar- 
 rangement ot % intercolumniations in the 
 Doric order, by which two triglyphs are 
 obtained in the frieze between the tri- 
 glyphs that stand over the columns. 
 
 DIT'TO, in book-keeping, more usually 
 contracted into do, signifies the same as 
 that which precedes it. It is derived from 
 the Italian word ditto, signifying the 
 said. 
 
 DIT'TY, a word of great antiquity in 
 the English language, signifying most 
 usually a simple or pastoral song. Mil- 
 ton, Shakspeare. Dryden, and many of 
 the old classic English writers, have re- 
 peatedly given importance to this word. 
 
 DIUR'NAL, is the name given to the 
 book containing those canonical hours of 
 the Roman Catholic breviary which are 
 to be said during the day. It is intend- 
 ed especially for the clergy of the Romish 
 church, and consists generally of four 
 volumes, one for each season of the year. 
 
 DIVAN', a council-chamber, or court 
 in which justice is administered, in the 
 eastern nations, particularly among the 
 Turks. There are two sorts of divans 
 that of the grand seignior, called the 
 council of state, which consists o seven 
 of the principal oflicers of the empire ; 
 and that of the grand vizir, composed of 
 six other vizirs or counsellors of state, 
 the chancellor, and secretaries of state for 
 the distribution of justice. The ' word 
 divan, in Turkey, also denotes a kind of 
 stage, which is found in all the halls of 
 the palaces, as well as in the apartments 
 
 of private persons. It is coveied with 
 costly tapestry, and a number of em- 
 broidered cushions leaning against the 
 wall ; and on it the master of the house 
 reclines when he receives visitors. From 
 this, a kind of sofa has obtained the name 
 of divan. It would seem that the earli- 
 est acceptation in which this word was 
 employed is that of a muster-roll or mil- 
 itary day-book ; and we find it used, 
 especially by the ancient Arabs, who bor- 
 rowed it from the Persians, to signify a 
 collection of poems by one and the same 
 author, arranged in alphabetical order; 
 thus we hear of the divan (i. e. the col- 
 lected poems) of Sadi, the divan of Ha- 
 fiz, &c. 
 
 DI VER'SION, in military tactics, an at- 
 tack on an enemy, by making a movement 
 towards a point that is weak and unde- 
 fended, in order to draw his forces off 
 from continuing operations in another 
 quarter. 
 
 DIVIDEND, the part or proportion 
 of profits which the members of a society, 
 or public company receive at stated pe- 
 riods, according to the share they possess 
 in the capital or common stock of the 
 concern, The term is applied also to the 
 annual interest paid by government on 
 various public debts. In this sense, the 
 order by which stockholders receive their 
 interest is called a dividend warrant, 
 and the portions of interest unreceived 
 are denominated unclaimed dividends. 
 It also signifies the sum a creditor re- 
 ceives from a bankrupt's estate. 
 
 DIVINA'TION, the pretended art of 
 foretelling future events, or such as can- 
 not be obtained by ordinary or natunil 
 means. The Israelites were always very 
 | fond of diviflation, magic, and interpre- 
 j tation of dreams. It was to cure them 
 I of this foolish propensity, that Moses 
 i promised them from God, that the spirit 
 of real prophecy should not depart from 
 amongst them ; forbade them to consult 
 diviners, astrologers, <fcc., under very se- 
 vere penalties ; and ordered those to be 
 stoned who pretended to have familiar 
 i Spirits, or the spirit of divination. The 
 [ ancient heathen philosophers divided div- 
 ination into two kinds, natural and ar- 
 tificial. Natural divination was suppos- 
 j ed to be effected by a kind of inspiration 
 i or divine afflatus ; artificial divination 
 i was effected by certain rites, experiments, 
 or observations, which we have explained 
 under their respective heads. All the 
 i ancient Asiatic tribes had modes of divi- 
 nation ; the Egyptians and Greeks had 
 , their oracles ; and, with the Romans,
 
 DIV] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 161 
 
 divination and witchcraft were brought 
 into a kind of system, and constituted 
 part of their religion. In truth, there 
 has hardly been a nation discovered, 
 which had advanced beyond the lowest 
 barbarism, that did not practise souie 
 kinds of divination ; and even in the ages 
 in which reason has most prevailed over 
 feeling, the belief in the power of fore- 
 seeing future events has been entertained. 
 At the present day, enlightened as the 
 world is by science, the desire of prying 
 into futurity keeps alive many modes of 
 prognosticating future events ; nor is the 
 practice entirely confined to the ignorant 
 and superstitious. 
 
 DIVINE RIGHT, THE, OF KINGS, in 
 politics, means the absolute and unquali- 
 fied claim of sovereigns on the obedience 
 of the people ; insomuch that, although 
 they may themselves submit to restric- 
 tions on their authority, yet subjects en- 
 deavoring to enforce those restrictions by 
 resistance to their unlawful acts are guilty 
 of a sin. This doctrine, so celebrated in 
 English constitutional history, has been 
 asserted on very different grounds. Hobbes 
 deduced the absolute authority of kings 
 from the supposed social contract, where- 
 by men parted absolutely with their nat- 
 ural rights in exchange for protection. 
 But the fashionable political writers and 
 theologians of the times both of Charles 
 I. and II. maintained that government 
 had an existence before property, and 
 before any supposed social contract could 
 take place ; that it originated in the 
 patriarchal sway, which was succeeded 
 by the regal, and that no other was au- 
 thorized by Scripture. 
 
 DI'VING. the art of descending under 
 water to a considerable depth, and re- 
 maining there for a length of time, as 
 occasion may require. The practice of 
 diving is resorted to for the recovery of 
 things that are sunk, &c. The most re- 
 markable diver was Nicolo Pesce, who, 
 according to the account given by Kirch- 
 er, was able to spend five days together 
 in the waves, without any other provi- 
 sions than the fish which he caught and 
 ate raw. He would swim from Sicily to 
 Calabria carrying letters from the king. 
 At length he met his fate in exploring 
 the depths of Charybdis, at the instance 
 of the king ; who, after he had once suc- 
 ceeded in fetching up a golden cup that 
 had been thrown in, ordered him to re- 
 peat the experiment. 
 
 DIVINTTY, a term applied to the 
 Deity or Supreme Being. It also de- 
 notes theology ; the science which unfolds 
 11 
 
 the character of God, his laws and moral 
 government, the duties of man, and the 
 way of salvation. 
 
 DIVIS'lON, the act of dividing or sepa- 
 rating any entire bodies into parts. 
 Division, in music, the dividing the in- 
 terval of an octave into a number of less 
 intervals. The fourth and fifth divide 
 the octave perfectly, though differently : 
 when the fifth is below, and serves as a 
 bass to the fourth, the division is called 
 liarmonical; but when the fourth is be- 
 low, it is called arithmetical. Division, 
 among logicians, is the explication of a 
 complex idea, by enumerating the simple 
 ideas whereof it is composed. In rhet- 
 oric, it is the arrangement of a discourse 
 under several heads. A part of an army, 
 as a brigade, a squadron, or platoon. 
 A part of a fleet, or a select number of 
 ships under a commander, and distin- 
 guished by a particular flag or standard. 
 
 DIVORCE', a separation, by law, of 
 husband and wife ; and is either a di- 
 vorce a vinculo matrimonii, that is, a 
 complete dissolution of the marriage 
 bonds, whereby the parties become as 
 entirely disconnected as those who have 
 not been joined in wedlock, or a divorce 
 a mensd et tlioro (from bed and board,) 
 whereby the parties are legally sepa- 
 rated, but not unmarried. The Jewish 
 law of divorce is founded on the directions 
 given in the 24th chapter of Deuteron- 
 omy ; but the permission therein con- 
 tained is subject to many obstacles and 
 formalities in modern practice. In 
 Greece, in classical times, the practice of 
 divorce seems to have varied in different 
 states ; at Sparta it appears to have been 
 unusual, in Athens great facilities were 
 afforded by the law. In republican 
 Rome great strictness in this branch of 
 morals prevailed for a long period, al- 
 though parties were less impeded in pur- 
 suing a divorce by the difficulties im- 
 posed by the law than by public opinion. 
 Bnt in the later period of the republic, 
 and under the emperors, divorce became 
 extremely common, and was obtained 
 with equal ease by either sex. Our Sa- 
 viour's declaration to the Pharisee, in 
 the 19th chapter of St. Matthew, became 
 the foundation of the law on this subject 
 in Christian countries, and divorces were 
 consequently allowed in one particular 
 case only ; but after the Roman church 
 had erected matrimony into a sacrament, 
 they became, as they now are in Catholic 
 countries, wholly impossible : the only 
 dissolution of marriage being in cases 
 where it is void ab initio. In most Prot-
 
 162 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [uoo 
 
 cstiint countries, the facility of divorce 
 has been so much restored in latter 
 times us to approximate to the heathen 
 practice. 
 
 DO, is in music, a syllable used by the 
 Italians instead of ut, than which it is by 
 them considered more musical and reso- 
 nant. 
 
 DOCE'T^E, one of the earliest hereti- 
 cal sects ; so called from the reality of 
 our Lord's incarnation, and considering 
 him to have acted and suffered only in 
 appearance. Some divines have con- 
 ceived that the express declarations of 
 the nature of Christ in St. John's writ- 
 ings were specially directed against these 
 opinions. 
 
 DOCIM A'SIA, in Greek antiquity, a 
 probation of the magistrates and persons 
 employed in public business at Athens. 
 It was performed publicly in the forum, 
 where they were obliged to give account 
 of themselves and their past life before 
 certain judges. 
 
 DOCK'ET, a small piece of paper or 
 parchment, containing the heads of a 
 writing. Also, a subscription at the foot 
 of letters patent, by the clerk of the 
 dockets. A bill tied to goods, containing 
 some direction, as the name of the 
 owner or the place to which they are to 
 be sent. An alphabetical list of cases in 
 a court, or a catalogue of the names of 
 the parties who have suits depending in a 
 court. In the United States, this is the 
 principal or only use of the word. 
 
 DOC'TOR, a person who has passed all 
 the degrees of a faculty, and is empow- 
 ered to practise and teach it ; or, accord- 
 ing to modern usage, one who has re- 
 ceived the highest degree in a faculty. 
 The title of doctor originated at the same 
 time with the establishment of universi- 
 ties ; and is either conferred publicly, 
 with certain ceremonies, or by diploma. 
 
 DOCTRINAIRES', a party in the 
 French chamber of deputies, on the sec- 
 ond restoration of the Bourbons, who 
 would neither rank themselves among 
 the friends of absolute power, nor 
 among the defenders of the revolution. 
 They opposed the ultra royalists, and took 
 a middle course, avowing themselves the 
 supporters of a constitutional monarchy. 
 
 DOC'TRINE, a principle or position 
 in any science, that is laid down as true 
 by an instructor therein. Thus, the doc- 
 trines of the Gospel are the principles or 
 truths taught by Christ and his Apostles. 
 But any tenet or opinion is a doctrine ; 
 therefore doctrines may be either true or 
 false. 
 
 DOC'UMENT, any official or authori- 
 tative paper, containing written instruc- 
 tions, or evidence. 
 
 DODEC'ASTYLE, in architecture, n 
 building having twelve columns on a 
 front or flank. 
 
 DODO'NA, in antiquity, the seat of 
 the most ancient, and one of the most 
 celebrated oracles of Greece, sacred to 
 Jupiter. By some writers its origin is 
 attributed to Deucalion, who is said to 
 have built the town of Dodona where it 
 stood ; but according to the traditions of 
 the priestesses of the temple, it was 
 founded by a dove, which, perching on 
 the branch of an oak, recommended, in a 
 human voice, that a temple should be 
 erected to Jupiter in that place. The 
 situation of the oracle was in an exten- 
 sive forest, the oaks of which are said to 
 have been endowed with the gift of pro- 
 phecy ; and the oracles were most fre- 
 quently delivered by three priestesses, 
 who expounded the will of the divinity. 
 That the responses of this oracle were 
 received with singular veneration, may 
 be inferred from the number of votaries 
 by whom it was frequented, and the 
 costly presents which adorned the temple 
 and its precincts. This oracle continued 
 to utter responses till the time of Augus- 
 tus, when it ceased. 
 
 DOG, an emblem of fidelity, and gen- 
 erally introduced at the feet of married 
 women in sepulchral effigies with that 
 signification. It also signifies loyalty to 
 the sovereign. 
 
 DOG-DAYS, the period between the 
 24th of July and the 24th of August ; so 
 called because the dog star (Sirius) dur- 
 ing this period rises with the sun; and 
 the heat, which is usually most oppress- 
 ive at this season, was formerly ascribed 
 to the conjunction of this star with the 
 solar luminary. 
 
 DOGE, formerly the title of the chief 
 magistrate in the republics of Venice and 
 Genoa. The dignity was elective in both 
 places : at Venice it continued for life ; 
 at Genoa, only for two years. His pow- 
 er became, by degrees, very limited. 
 
 DOG'GEREL, an epithet given to a 
 kind of loose, irregular, burlesque poetry, 
 like that of Hudibras. 
 
 DOG'MA, a principle, maxim, tenet, 
 or settled opinion, particularly with re- 
 gard to matters of faith and philosophy ; 
 as, the dogmas of the church; the dog- 
 mas of Aristotle. In theology, dogma 
 has been defined to be a fundamental 
 article of belief derived from acknowl- 
 edged authority, a d is usually applied
 
 DOM] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 163 
 
 to what are considered as the essential 
 doctrines of Christianity, deduced either 
 from the Scriptures or from the fathers of 
 the church. There are, however, many 
 other dogmas peculiar to the different 
 sects into which Christianity is divided. 
 Thus the bulls and decretals of the pope, 
 together with all the councils both of ear- 
 lier and later times, are regarded by the 
 Roman Catholics with as much venera- 
 tion as the authority of the Scriptures 
 and the holy fathers. The Greek church, 
 on the other hand, acknowledges the au- 
 thority only of the earlier councils, in 
 addition to that of the Scriptures and the 
 fathers ; and the Lutheran and other 
 Protestant churches have embodied their 
 dogmas in their respective confessions of 
 faith and other ecclesiastical standards. 
 Dogmatic theology, as this branch of 
 divinity is called, in contradistinction to 
 moral and scholastic theology, forms an 
 important object of study in many of the 
 continental universities. In the Protes- 
 tant universities of Germany there are 
 chairs set apart for the history of dogmas, 
 or, as it is termed, dogmatik; in which 
 the origin and nature of the dogmas of 
 the various Christian sects are examined, 
 and the merit of the arguments by which 
 they are supported. 
 
 DOG'MATISTS, a sect of ancient phy- 
 sicians, of which Hippocrates was the 
 first. They are also called logici, or lo- 
 gicians, from their using the rules of 
 logic on professional subjects. They laid 
 down definitions and divisions, reducing 
 diseases to certain genera, and those gen- 
 era to species, and furnishing remedies 
 for them all ; supposing principles, draw- 
 ing conclusions, and applying those prin- 
 ciples and conclusions to the particular 
 diseases under consideration. 
 
 DOIT, the ancient Scottish penny-piece, 
 twelve of which were equal to a penny- 
 sterling. Two of them were equal to the 
 bodle, six to the baubee, and eight to the 
 acheson. 
 
 DO'LABRA, CELT, an implement of 
 various forms, extensively used both in 
 ancient and modern times, for similar 
 purposes as our hatchets and chisels. 
 They abound in museums, and are seen 
 depicted on the columns of Trajan and 
 Antoninus at Homo. They are usually 
 formed of bronze and of flint or other 
 hard stone, and to these latter the term 
 celt is usually applied. 
 
 DOLCE, in music, an instruction to 
 the performer that the music is to be 
 executed softly and sweetly. 
 
 DOLE, in the ancient English customs, 
 
 signified a part or portion of a meadow, 
 where several persons had shares. It now 
 means a distribution of alms, or a liberal 
 gift made to the people or to some chari- 
 table institution. 
 
 DOL'LAR, a silver coin of Spain and 
 of the United States, of the value of 4s. 
 6d. sterling, or 100 cents. In Germany, 
 the name dollar is given to several coins 
 of different values. 
 
 DOLL'MAN, a kind of long cassock, 
 worn by the Turks, hanging down to the 
 I feet, with narrow sleeves buttoned at the 
 wrist. 
 
 DOL'PHIN, an emblem of love and so- 
 cial feeling, frequently introduced as or- 
 naments to coronas suspended in church- 
 es. 
 
 DOM, in the middle ages, was a title 
 originally possessed by the pope, and at 
 a somewhat later period by the dignita- 
 ries of the Roman Catholic church. In 
 more recent times, it formed a distin- 
 guishing title of certain monastic orders, 
 such as the Benedictines, &c. ; and it ap- 
 pears to have been equivalent to the don 
 of the Spaniards, the von of the Germans, 
 and the de of the French. Mabillon and 
 Calmet are always spoken of as Dom 
 Mabillon and Dom Calmet. 
 
 DOME, in architecture, the spherical 
 or other figured concave ceiling over a 
 circular or polygonal building. A sur- 
 based or diminished dome is one that is 
 segmental on its section ; a surmounted 
 dome is one that is higher than the ra- 
 dius of its base. The forms of domes are 
 various, both in plan and section. In 
 the former, they are circular and polyg- 
 onal ; in the latter, we find them semi- 
 circular, and semi-elliptical, segmental, 
 pointed, sometimes in curves of contrary , 
 flexure, bell-shaped, &c. The oldest cu- 
 pola on record is that of the Pantheon at 
 Rome, which was erected under Augustus, 
 and is still perfect. 
 
 DO'MESDAY, orDOOMS'DAY- 
 BOOK, a book or record made by order 
 of William the Conqueror, which now re- 
 mains in the exchequer, and consists of 
 two volumes, a large folio and a quarto ; 
 the former contains a survey of all the 
 lands in most of the counties in England, 
 and the latter comprehends some coun- 
 ties that were not then surveyed. The 
 " Book of Domesday" was begun by five 
 justices, assigned for that purpose in 
 each county, in the year 1081, anflfinish- 
 ed in 1086. It was of such authority, 
 that the Conqueror himself submitted, in 
 some cases wherein he was concerned, to 
 bo determined by it. Camdeu calls it the
 
 164 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DOM 
 
 Tax-book of king William; and it was 
 farther called Magna Rolla. There is 
 likewise a third doinesday book, made by 
 command of the Conqueror; and also a 
 fourth, being an abridgment of the other 
 books. 
 
 DOMICILE, in law, the place where 
 a person has his home. Personal prop- 
 erty, on the decease of the owner, is 
 distributable according to the law of the 
 country in which he was domiciled at the 
 time of his death ; not according to the 
 law of the country in which the property 
 is situate. Residence for forty days con- 
 stitutes a domicile as to jurisdiction in 
 Scotland. 
 
 DOMICILIARY, pertaining to an 
 abode or residence. Hence a domiciliary 
 visit signifies a visit to a private dwell- 
 ing, particularly for the purpose of 
 searching it, under authority. 
 
 DOM'INANT, in a general sense, pre- 
 dominant or governing; as the dominant 
 party or faction. In music, the domi- 
 nant or sensible chord is that which is 
 practised on the dominant of the tone, 
 and which introduces a perfect cadence. 
 Every perfect major chord becomes a 
 dominant chord, as soon as the seventh 
 minor is added to it. 
 
 DOM'INIC, ST., Dominicus de Guz- 
 man, the founder of the Order of Domini- 
 cans ; he is represented with a sparrow 
 by his side, and with a dog carrying a 
 burning torch in his mouth. The bird 
 refers to the devil, who appeared to the 
 saint in that shape ; the dog, to a dream 
 of his mother's, that she gave birth to a 
 black and white spotted dog, who lighted 
 the world with a burning torch. This 
 dog is also said to be the emblem of 
 watchfulness for the true faith, the Domi- 
 nicans being the first and most zealous 
 enemies of heresy ; for to them Spain 
 owes the tribunal of the Inquisition, es- 
 tablished for the purpose of kindling fu- 
 neral piles with the torch of the black 
 and white dog. 
 
 DOMIN'ICAL LETTER, for the pur- 
 pose of exhibiting the day of the week 
 corresponding to any given day of the 
 year, the framers of the ecclesiastical 
 calendar denoted the seven days of the 
 week by the first seven letters of the Al- 
 phabet, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G ; and 
 placed these letters in a column opposite 
 to the days of the year, in such a manner 
 that A stood opposite the 1st of January 
 or first day of the year, B opposite the 
 '2d. ami so on to G, which stood opposite 
 the 7th : after which A returns to the 8th, 
 and so on through the 365 days of the 
 
 year. Now if one of the days of the week, 
 Sunday, for example, falls opposite to E, 
 Monday will be opposite F, Tuesday G, 
 Wednesday A, and so on ; and every 
 Sunday through the year will be repre- 
 sented by the same letter E, every Mon- 
 day by F, and so on. The letter which 
 represents Sunday is called the Domini- 
 cal Letter, or Sunday Letter. As the 
 number of days in the week and the 
 
 : number in the year are prime to each 
 other, two successive years cannot begin 
 with the same day ; hence the Dominical 
 
 i Letter changes every year. Thi* mode 
 
 ' of representing the days of the week has 
 
 i now fallen nearly into desuetude, and the 
 initial letter of the name of the day is 
 placed in our almanacs opposite the day 
 of the month. 
 
 DOMIN'ICANS, called also Predi- 
 cants, or Preaching Friars, an order of 
 monks, founded by St. Dominic, a native 
 of Spain, in 1215. The design of their 
 institution was, to preach the gospel, 
 convert heretics, defend the faith, and 
 propagate Christianity. They embraced 
 the rule of St. Augustine, to which they 
 
 r added statutes and constitutions, which 
 had formerly been observed either by 
 
 | the Carthusians or Praemonstratenses. 
 The principal articles enjoined perpetual 
 silence, abstinence from flesh at all times, 
 
 , wearing of woollen, rigorous poverty, and 
 several other austerities. In France they 
 were called Jacobins, because the first 
 convent in Paris was in the Rue St. 
 Jaques. The Dominican Nuns, who 
 were established at the same time, follow 
 similar rules. A third establishment of 
 
 | St. Dominic was the military order of 
 
 \ Christ, originally composed of knights 
 and noblemen, whose duty it was to wage 
 war against heretics. After the death 
 of the founder, this became the order of 
 the penitence of St. Dominic, for both 
 sexes, and constituted the third order of 
 
 , Dominicans. These became extremely 
 
 | influential ; and numbered among their 
 
 | fraternity some of the most distinguished 
 scholars, such as Albertus Magnus and 
 Thomas Aquinas. In course of time they 
 
 | were superseded in the schools and courts 
 by the Jesuits ; and the order at present 
 flourishes only in Spain, Portugal, Sicily, 
 and South America. 
 
 DOMIN'IONS, in Christian Art, an 
 
 i order of celestial spirits disposing of the 
 office of angels ; their ensign is a scep- 
 
 . tre. 
 
 DOM'INO, a long loose cloak of black 
 
 | silk, furnished with a hood removable at 
 pleasure, and worn chiefly at masque-
 
 DOR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 165 
 
 rades by persons of both sexes by way of 
 general disguise. 
 
 DOM'INUS, in the civil law, signifies 
 one who possesses anything by right of 
 purchase, gift, loan, legacy, inheritance, 
 payment, contract, or sentence. Domi- 
 nus, in the feudal law, one who grants a 
 part of his estate in fee to be enjoyed by 
 another. 
 
 DO'MO REPARAN'DO, a writ which 
 lies for a person against his neighbor, 
 whose house he fears will fall, to the 
 damage of his own. 
 
 DON, a Spanish and Portuguese title, 
 which the king, the princes of the blood, 
 and the highest class of the nobility pre- 
 fix to their names. The ladies of rank 
 have the predicate donna. The title was 
 originally equivalent to that of knight. 
 
 DONA'TION, in law, the act or con- 
 tract by which a person transfers to 
 another either the property or the use of 
 something, as a free gift. In order to 
 be valid, it supposes a capacity both in 
 the donor and donee, and requires con- 
 sent, acceptance, and delivery. 
 
 DO'NATISTS, a religious faction, 
 which arose in Africa in the beginning of 
 the 4th century in oposition to Cecilianus, 
 bishop of Carthage. The Nuinidian bish- 
 ops were indignant at a slight received 
 from him at the time of his consecration, 
 and declared him informally appointed, 
 on account of their absence from the cer- 
 emony. They also accused him of un- 
 worthy conduct during the Diocletian 
 persecution. There are two persons of 
 the name of Donatus celebrated as lead- 
 ers of this party. 
 
 DO'NATIVE, in the canon law, a ben- 
 efice given by the patron to a priest, with- 
 out presentation to the ordinary, and 
 without institution or induction. Dona- 
 tive, among the Romans, was properly a 
 gift made to the soldiers, as congiarium 
 was that made to the people. 
 
 DON'JON, in fortification, signifies a 
 strong tower, or redoubt, into which the 
 garrison of an ancient fortress might re- 
 treat, in case of necessity, and capitulate 
 with greater advantage. 
 
 DO'NOR, a term of the middle ages, 
 applied to the giver and founder of a 
 work of Art for religious purposes, viz., 
 the giver of a church picture, statue, or 
 painted window, &c., the founder of a 
 church, or an altar. If the gift were a 
 picture, the portraits of the donor and j 
 his wife were introduced ; the former, 
 attended by his sons, kneels on one side 
 of the Madonna, who is either standing j 
 or enthroned, while on the other side are | 
 
 his wife and daughters, all with hands 
 raised, as if in prayer. Royal founders 
 of churches, whose portrait-statues are 
 place 1 in or on the buildings they have 
 founded, bear in their hands the titular 
 saint and a model of the church, which 
 latter is also found in the monuments of 
 such donors. 
 
 DOOM, the old name for the Last Judg- 
 ment, which impressive subject was usu- 
 ally painted over the chancel arch in pa- 
 rochial churches. In the reign of Edward 
 VI. these edifying representations were 
 effaced, or washed over, as superstitious. 
 
 DOR'IC, an epithet for anything be- 
 longing to the Dorians, an ancient people 
 of Greece. The Doric dialect was broad 
 and rough, yet there was something ven- 
 erable and dignified in its antique style ; 
 for which reason it was often made use of 
 in solemn odes, &c. The Doric order of 
 architecture is the second of the five or- 
 ders, being that between the Tuscan and 
 Ionic. It is distinguished for simplicity 
 and strength : and is used in the gates of 
 cities and citadels, on the outside of 
 churches, and other situations where em- 
 bellishment is unnecessary or inappro- 
 priate. The Doric mode, in music, was 
 the first of the authentic modes of the an- 
 cients ; and grave rather than gay. 
 
 DOR'MANT, an epithet expressive of 
 a state of inaction or sleep. Hence we 
 speak of dormant animals, or such as re- 
 main several months in the year appa- 
 rently lifeless, or, at least, in utter inac- 
 tivity. The period of long sleep gener- 
 ally begins when the food of the animal 
 grows scarce, and inactivity spreads over 
 the vegetable kingdom. Instinct at this 
 time impels the animals to seek a safe 
 place for their period of rest. The bat 
 hides itself in dark caves, or in walls of 
 decayed buildings ; the hedgehog envel- 
 ops himself in leaves, and generally con- 
 ceals himself in fern brakes ; and the 
 marmot buries himself in the ground. In 
 this period we observe in the animals, 
 first a decrease of animal heat ; and sec- 
 ondly, that they breathe much slower and 
 more uninterruptedly than at other times. 
 The digestion is also much diminished ; 
 the stomach and intestines are usually 
 empty ; and even if the animals are 
 awakened, they do not manifest symp- 
 toms of appetite, except in heated rooms. 
 The causes of the dormant state of ani- 
 mals have generally been sought in a pe- 
 culiar construction of the organs ; but the 
 immediate cause producing this torpidity, 
 is mostly, if not entirely, the cold Frogs, 
 serpents, and lizards, kept in artificial
 
 166 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 cold, may remain for years in this state ; | 
 hence they have been sometimes found 
 enclosed in stones, in which they have 
 been perhaps fr centuries. The other 
 lower animals, as snails, insects, &c., are 
 also subject to a similar torpidity. A 
 state of partial torpor takes place in the 
 case of the common boar, the badger, and 
 the racoon. The bear begins to be drowsy 
 in November, when he is particularly fat, 
 and retires into his den, which he has : 
 lined with moss, and where he but rarely 
 awakes in winter. 
 
 DOR'MER, or DOR'MENT, in archi- 
 tecture, a window made in the roof of a 
 building. 
 
 DOR'NOCK, a kind of figured linen, of 
 stout fabric, manufactured for coarse table 
 cloths. It derives its name from a town 
 in Scotland, where it was first made. 
 
 DOR'OTHEA, ST., this saint is repre- 
 sented with a rose-branch in her hand, a 
 wreath of red roses on her head, the same 
 flowers and some fruit by her side, or with 
 an angel carrying a basket, in which are 
 three apples and three roses. This angel 
 is a youth barefooted, and clad in a pur- 
 ple garment. St. Dorothea suffered mar- 
 tyrdom in the Diocletian Persecution, 
 A.D. 303, by being beheaded. 
 
 DORYPH'ORI, in antiquity, an appel- 
 lation given to the life-guard men of the 
 Roman emperors. 
 
 DO'TAGE, the childishness and imbe- 
 cility of old age. 
 
 DOU'BLE ENTENTE, a term applied 
 to a word of two different meanings. 
 Double-entendre, any phrase which has a 
 covert as well as an obvious meaning. 
 
 DOUB'LET, among lapidaries, a coun- 
 terfeit stone composed of two pieces of 
 crystal, with a color between them, so 
 that they have the same appearance as 
 if the whole substance were colored. 
 
 DOUB'LING a cape, is to sail round or 
 pass beyond it, so that the point of land 
 shall separate the ship from her former 
 situation, or lie between her and any dis- 
 tant observer. 
 
 DOUBLOON', a Spanish coin of the 
 value of two pistoles, or 3/. 6s. sterling. 
 
 DOUBT, uncertainty of mind ; or the 
 act of withholding our assent from any 
 proposition, on suspicion that we are not 
 thoroughly apprised of the merits or from 
 not being able peremptorily to decide be- 
 tween the reasons for and against it. 
 
 DOUCEUR', a present or bribe for the 
 acquirement of any desired object. 
 
 DOUC1NE , in architecture, a mould- 
 ing concave above and convex below, serv- 
 ing as a cymatium to a delicate cornice. 
 
 DOVE, the dove, in Christian Art, is 
 the symbol of the Holy Ghost ; as such, 
 it is represented in its natural form, the 
 body of a snowy 1 whiteness, the beak and 
 claws red, which is the color natural to 
 those parts in white doves. The nimbus, 
 which always surrounds its head, should 
 be of a gold color, and divided by a cross, 
 which is either red or black. A radiance 
 of light invests and proceeds from the 
 person of the dove, and is emblematical 
 of the divinity. It is also sometimes rep 
 resented, in stained glass, with seven 
 rays, terminating in stars, significant of 
 the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. The 
 dove has been constantly adopted in 
 Christian iconography as the symbol of 
 the Holy Ghost from the sixth century 
 until the present day. In the tenth and 
 eleventh centuries the human form was 
 also adopted for the same object. In the 
 fourteenth and fifteenth centuries we meet 
 with both together, as the personification 
 of the Holy Ghost in the human form, , 
 with the dove as his symbol. The dove 
 is an emblem of love, simplicity, inno- 
 cence, purity, mildness, compunction 3 
 holding an olive-branch, it is an emblem 
 of peace. Doves were used in churches 
 to serve three purposes : 1. Suspended 
 over altars to serve as a pyx. 2. As a 
 type or figure of the Holy Spirit over al- 
 tars, baptisteries, and fonts. 3. As symbol- 
 ical ornaments. The dove is also an em- 
 blem of the human soul, and as such is 
 seen issuing from the lips of dying mar- 
 tyrs and devout persons. A dove with 
 six wings has been employed as a type of 
 the church of Christ : it has certain pe- 
 culiarities. The front of the body is of 
 silver, the back of gold. Two of the wings 
 are attached to the head, two to the 
 shoulders, and two to the feet. 
 
 DOWAGER, in law, properly a widow 
 who enjoys a dower ; particularly ap- 
 plied as a title to the widows of princes 
 and nobility. The widow of a king is a 
 queen-dowager. 
 
 DOWER, in law, the portion which a 
 widow has of her husband's lands, to en- 
 joy during her life. 
 
 DOWN, the softest and most delicate 
 feathers of birds, particularly of geese, 
 ducks, and swans, growing on the neck 
 and part of the breast. The eider duck 
 yields the best kind. Also the fine feath- 
 ery substance by which seeds are convey- 
 ed to a distance by the wind ; as in tho 
 dandelion and thistle. 
 
 DOWNS, banks or elevations of sand, 
 which the sea gathers and forms along its 
 shore, and which serve it as a barrier.
 
 DRA] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 167 
 
 The term is also applied to tracts of na- 
 ked land on which sheep usually graze. 
 The Downs is a famous roadstead on the 
 coast of Kent, between the North and 
 South Foreland, where both the outward 
 and homeward bound ships frequently 
 make some stay, and squadrons of men of 
 war rendezvous in time of war. It af- 
 fords excellent anchorage, and is defended 
 by thetastles of Deal, Dover, and Sand- 
 wich, as well as by the Goodwin Sands. 
 
 DOWRY, the money or fortune which 
 the wife brings her husband in marriage : 
 it is otherwise called maritagium, mar- 
 riage-goods, and differs from dower. 
 Dowry is also used, in a monastic sense, 
 for a sum of money given with a female 
 upon entering her in some religious or- 
 der. 
 
 DOXOL'OGY, in Christian worship, a 
 hymn in praise of the Almighty. There 
 is the greater and lesser doxology ; the 
 angelic hymn, " Glory be to God on high," 
 &c., is the greater doxology ; the lesser, 
 ~" Glory be to the Father, and to the Son," 
 &e. 
 
 DRAFT, in commerce, a bill drawn by 
 one person upon another for a sum of 
 money. In military affairs, the select- 
 ing or detaching of soldiers from an army, 
 or from a military post. Also, the act 
 of drawing men to serve in the militia. 
 
 DRAG'OMANS, the interpreters at- 
 tached to European embassies or consu- 
 lates in the Levant. The dragoman of 
 the Sublime Porte is an important Turk- 
 ish officer, who forms the medium of com- 
 munication between his own government 
 and the embassies of foreign countries. 
 
 DRAG'ON, in fabulous history, one 
 of the most famous mythological crea- 
 tions of antiquity and the middle ages. 
 The position which this being occupies in 
 fabulous history presents one of the 
 most singular phenomena of the human 
 mind, as its existence was firmly accred- 
 ited among the ancients of almost every 
 nation, both in the eastern and western 
 regions of ther earth. It occurs in the 
 sacred allegories of the Jews, and in the 
 legends of the Chinese and Japanese ; 
 and the pages of the classic poets of 
 Greece and Rome teem with representa- 
 tions of the dragon. Thus the dark re- 
 treats of their gods and their sacred 
 groves were defended by dragons ; the 
 chariot of Ceres was drawn by them ; and 
 a dragon kept the garden of the Hesper- 
 ides. In Scandinavian mysteries, the 
 dragon was the minister of vengeance 
 under their vindictive gods ; and the an- 
 cient Britons, enslaved in the trammels 
 
 of Druidic superstition, entertained a 
 similar notion of its nature. The alle- 
 gory of the Dragon has even found a 
 place among many nations who have em- 
 braced Christianity. The dragon plays 
 as important a part in Art as he does in 
 Fiction. We' find it upon the shield of 
 the most famous -of the early Grecian 
 heroes, as well as on the helmets of kings 
 and generals. It does not appear among 
 the Romans until after their struggle 
 with the Dacians, by which people it was 
 regarded as the sign of warfare ; and it 
 remained with the former people a subor- 
 dinate symbol, as the glorious eagle 
 was not to be displaced from helmets 
 and standards. The dragon was of 
 more importance in German antiquity ; 
 as with the early Greeks, it was the sym- 
 bol of the hero. In the Nibelungen 
 Lied, Siegfried killed a dragon at 
 Worms. It is found on English shields 
 after the time of William the Conqueror. 
 In modern heraldry it appears on the 
 shield and helmet ; and as a supporter it 
 is called a lindworm when it has no 
 wings, and serpent when it has no feet ; 
 when it hangs by the head and wings it 
 means a conquered dragon. Dragon, in 
 Christian Art, is the emblem of sin. The 
 dragons which appear in early paintings 
 and sculptures are invariably represen- 
 tations of a winged crocodile. It is the 
 form under which Satan, the personifica- 
 tion of sin, is usually depicted, and is 
 met with in pictures of St. Michael and 
 St. Margaret, when it typifies the con- 
 quest over sin ; it also appears under the 
 feet of the Saviour, and under those of 
 the Virgin, as conveying the same idea. 
 Sin is represented in the form of a ser- 
 pent, sometimes with an apple in its 
 mouth. The dragon also typifies idolatry. 
 In pictures of St. George and St. Sylves- 
 ter, it serves to exhibit the triumph over 
 paganism. In pictures of St. Martha, it 
 figures the inundation of the Rhone, 
 spreading pestilence and death. St. John 
 the Evangelist is sometimes represented 
 holding a chalice from which issues a 
 winged dragon. As a symbol of Satan, 
 we find the dragon nearly always in the 
 form of the fossil Icthyosaurus. 
 
 DRAG'ON BEAM, in architecture, an 
 horizontal piece of timber on which the 
 hip or angle rafters of a roof pitch. It 
 is framed into a short diagonal piece, 
 which ties the plates at the internal an- 
 gles of a roof. 
 
 DRAGONNADES', the name given to 
 the persecutions instituted by Louis XIV. 
 and his successors against the French
 
 168 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 Protestants, from the coercive measures 
 which were put in force to effect their con- 
 
 voi'sion. 
 
 DRAG'ON'S BLOOD, a resin which 
 exudes from a tree growing in India, the 
 fterocarpus draco. It is of a dark 
 blood-red color, formerly used in minia- 
 ture paintings, but its color is not dura- 
 ble. It is now used principally for col- 
 oring varnishes. 
 
 DRAGOON', a kind of light horseman, 
 of French origin, trained to fight either 
 in or out of the line, in a body or singly, 
 chiefly on horseback, but, if necessary, 
 on foot also. Experience proving that 
 they did not answer the end designed, 
 they were hardly ever used in infantry 
 service, and now form a useful kind of 
 cavalry, mounted on horses too heavy for 
 the hussars, and too light for the cuiras- 
 siers. 
 
 DRA'MA, (from the Greek word Ipa^a, 
 an action or thing done ; derived from 
 the verb 6p*<<>, I act or do,) has been de- 
 fined a species of poem in which the action 
 or narrative is not related but represent- 
 ed. The invention of the drama is one 
 of those which should seem to proceed 
 most naturally from the ordinary cus- 
 toms and feelings of men. There is a 
 species of dramatic action which seems 
 almost instinctive ; we naturally imitate 
 the tone and gestures of others in reciting 
 their sayings or adventures, or even in 
 adopting their sentiments. Yet some na- 
 tions appear never to have taken the far- 
 ther step of doing, methodically and with 
 design, what all do involuntarily. In the 
 accounts which we possess of the ancient 
 Egyptians, for example, we have no trace 
 of their having possessed dramatic repre- 
 sentation. But among a great number of 
 tribes, wholly independent of each other, 
 we find something approaching to the 
 dramatic art intermingled with their 
 common or solemn customs, and generally 
 connected with religious observance. This 
 was especially the case in Greece, whence 
 the name and substance of the drama have 
 been chiefly derived by the modern Eu- 
 ropean nations. The history of the 3evel- 
 opment of the dramatic art in Greece is 
 well known ; its elements were found in 
 the religions festivals celebrated from the 
 earliest ages in that country. The feasts 
 of Bacchus in particular had sacred 
 choruses or odes ; these were afterwards 
 intermixed with episodic narrations of 
 events in mythological story, recited by 
 an actor in the festival with gesticula- 
 tion ; thence again, the next step was to 
 introduce two actors with alternate reci- 
 
 tation ; and thus were produced tragedy 
 (rpti) uitd, tke song of the goat, from the 
 animal which was led about in those fes- 
 tive processions;) and comedy, (xupuita, 
 the village song,) which differed from 
 the former in that the dialogue of the in- 
 terlocutors was satirical, and not mytho- 
 logical. The early Greek tragedy was a 
 dramatic representation of some scenes 
 or events recorded in the national tra- 
 ditions, the actors personating those who 
 played a part in these events, together 
 with a chorus or band of singers, repre- 
 senting such persons as might naturally 
 be supposed to have been bystanders at 
 the occurrence (captive women, old men, 
 or counsellors, Ac.,) who sang at inter- 
 vals, during the representations, hymns 
 to the gods, or songs appropriate to the 
 scenes passing in representation ; while 
 the Attic comedy, in its first invention, 
 must be regarded as a parody on tragedy, 
 i in which the personages were either real 
 characters introduced for the purpose of 
 satire, or ludicrous personifications. .*Es- 
 chylus, the oldest tragic writer, with the 
 exception of Phrynichus, his contempo- 
 rary, carried the Greek drama at once to 
 nearly its highest state of perfection. 
 Sophocles and Euripides introduced ad- 
 ditional actors into the dialogue, which, 
 at first, admitted only two at the same 
 time, and turned the naked recitals of 
 events which form the substance of the 
 plays of JEschylus into something more 
 nearly resembling the modern idea of a 
 plot, with contrasted character and inci- 
 dents leading to the accomplishment of a 
 main action. Many tragic writers, the 
 whole of whose works have been lost, 
 flourished after Euripides in Athens and 
 Alexandria; but they do not seem to 
 have altered the character of the art 
 which they received from their predeces- 
 sors. The fate of comedy was different ; 
 the old Attic comedy was a political or 
 philosophical satire in action, which in 
 form was a burlesque on the tragedy. 
 Afterwards, passing through the inter- 
 vening stage of the middle comedy, of 
 which we know little, the art acquired in 
 the new comedy of Menander and Phile- 
 mon, a character somewhat approaching 
 to that in which it is at present culti- 
 vated ; a narrative in representation of 
 scenes and incidents in ordinary life of a 
 light or ludicrous character. The dra- 
 matic art among the Greeks aimed at 
 producing an impression upon the spec- 
 tators by three different means ; which, 
 according to modern phraseology, we 
 may denominate poetical effect, dramati-
 
 DRA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 169 
 
 sal effect, and theatrical effect. The 
 poetry of the Greek drama was of the 
 highest order; but it forms a topic to be 
 considered apart. Dramatical effect is 
 the proper subject of the dramatic art; 
 and, in judging of the efforts of the Greek 
 mind in this direction, we are assisted not 
 only by the study of the dramatic poems 
 which we possess, but by the rules of 
 criticism delivered to us by Greek au- 
 thors, and especially by Aristotle. From 
 these it appears that the parts or charac- 
 teristics of a tragedy, essentially divi- 
 ded, were held to be the fable or story, 
 the manners, the style, the sentiment, 
 the music, and the diction ; that the 
 fable should consist of an entire action, 
 namely one principal event and the 
 auxiliary events; and that the proper 
 emotions to be excited by the action are 
 terror and pity ; that its parts of quan- 
 tity, according to the division of form, 
 were the prologue, being that part of the 
 tragedy which precedes the parode or first 
 entry of the chorus ; the episode, being 
 all those several parts which are included 
 between the several choral odes ; the 
 exode, the part which fellows the last 
 choral ode ; and the chorus itself, or the 
 intervening odes, which also admit of 
 various subdivisions. Formally consid- 
 ered, the arrangement of the old comedy 
 nearly resembled that of tragedy ; in the 
 new. the chorus was altogether omitted. 
 The unity of action was a remarkable 
 characteristic of the Greek drama, al- 
 though widely different from that pecu- 
 liar quality, which modern critics have 
 characterized by the name ; it should 
 rather be termed unity of subject, inas- 
 much as in many of our remaining trage- 
 dies, and especially those of .ZEschylus, 
 there is little or no trace of what we term 
 a plot, i. e. a main incident, at which 
 we arrive through subordinate incidents 
 tending to its accomplishment. The 
 unity of time, viz. that the imaginary 
 duration of the action should not exceed 
 twenty-four hours ; and that of place, 
 namely, that the scene in which the 
 events occur should be the same through- 
 out, are inventions of French critics, not 
 warranted by the remains of Greek art, 
 in which both are not unfrequently vio- 
 lated ; but, although not rules of Grecian 
 discovery, they are easily rendered ap- 
 plicable to the simple and severe form 
 of the Greek tragedy. In considering the 
 theatrical effect of the Greek drama, we 
 must remember that the tragedies were 
 originally religious solemnities ; the 
 theatre, a vast building open at the top, 
 
 calculated for the accommodation of 
 several thousand spectators ; the scene, 
 &c. proportionably large. Dramatic rep- 
 resentations were, at Athens, the offer- 
 ing of wealthy men to the people ; he 
 who contributed the expenses of the en- 
 tertainment was said itaayeiv, to bring in 
 the play; the poet who produced it, 
 6i6a.aKf.iv, to teach it, i. e. teach the actors 
 to perform it. A complete representa- 
 tion consisted of four pieces by the same 
 author ; a triology, or three tragedies, 
 narrating successive events in the same 
 series of mythological tradition ; and a 
 fourth piece, termed a satyric drama, of 
 which the chorus consisted of satyrs, and 
 the mythological subject was treated in 
 a manner approaching to burlesque. 
 
 Chinese Drama. Before proceeding 
 to the dramatic art of modern Europe, de- 
 rived as it is from that of Greece, two 
 oriental nations may be noticed which 
 possess a national drama of their own. 
 In China, theatrical entertaiments form 
 one of_ the most popular amusements, 
 and theatrical writing has been cultivated 
 from a very early period. The Chinese 
 drama comprises pieces which we should 
 term both tragical and historical plays, 
 tragi-comedies, and comedies both of in- 
 trigue and of manners ; together with 
 abundance of low, pantomimic, and farci- 
 cal representations. In their regular 
 drama, however, there appears to be less 
 of what we should term connected than 
 of successive action : many of them are, 
 as it were, dramatized memoirs or biog- 
 raphies of individuals, real or fictitious ; 
 the representation of some is said to re- 
 quire ten days. It is remarkable that, 
 of all national dramas,the Chinese ap- 
 pears to be the only one in which we 
 can trace no original connection with re- 
 ligious observance. 
 
 Hindoo Drama. The Hindoo plays 
 which now exist are written for the most 
 part in Sanscrit, although not a living 
 language at the period when they were 
 composed ; mixed, however, with other 
 dialects, which, according to Hindoo crit- 
 ics, are respectively appropriate to dif- 
 ferent parts of a play. They seem to 
 have been appropriate to the entertain- 
 ment of learned persons, and acted only 
 on solemn occasions. They are few in 
 number ; about sixty only are known ; 
 some containing long mythological nar- 
 ratives, others much complicated incident 
 of a domestic character, in a strain of 
 tragedy, alternating with comedy, like 
 the romantic drama of modern Europe. 
 The dramatic art appears to have flour-
 
 170 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DRA 
 
 ished in India during a period of several 
 ages, ending about the Hth or 15th cen- 
 turies of'our era. Dramatic criticism 
 was also much cultivated ; and the most 
 minute and artificial rules are laid down 
 by Hindoo commentators as to the con- 
 duct of a piece, the requisite ethics, the 
 formal arrangement, and the character 
 which must be introduced. The Hindoo 
 drama is so widely different from the 
 Greek or Chinese, tnat it must be re- 
 garded, like them, as a spontaneous off- 
 spring of national genius. 
 
 Modern European Drama. For 
 many centuries after the downfall of the 
 Roman empire, the dramatic art appears 
 to have been entirely lost. Its first re- 
 vival in the middle ages was owing to the 
 solemnities of the church, into which dra- 
 matic interludes were introduced in vari- 
 ous countries of western Europe, repre- 
 senting at first events in biblical history 
 or the lives of the saints, and afterwards 
 intermingled with allegorical fantasies. 
 The framers of these early pieces were 
 monks, and the monks were the only pre- 
 servers of classical learning ; but whe- 
 ther we can infer from these facts that 
 the idea of these rude representations 
 was suggested, or their devils improved 
 by classical associations, it is not easy to 
 pronounce. At the period of the revival 
 of literature, however, the dramatic art 
 was called nearly at once into life in the 
 four principal countries of western Eu- 
 rope ; Italy. France, Spain, and Eng- 
 land. In the two first of these countries 
 it arose simply classical, and unmixed 
 with any original conceptions, or with 
 the sentiments and fashions of the mid- 
 dle ages ; in the^wo last it partook large- 
 ly of both, and was also immediately de- 
 rived from the mysteries and moralities 
 above mentioned : hence, in a historical 
 view, arose the distinction, so elaborately 
 explained by modern critics, between the 
 classical and romantic drama. 
 
 Italian Drama. Originated in close 
 imitation of classical models. The So- 
 fonisba of Trissino (1515) is not abso- 
 lutely the oldest Italian play, but the 
 first which served as a model for subse- 
 quent composers. Rucellai and many 
 others followed in the same track ; Bib- 
 biena, Michiavel, Ariosto, as closely imi- 
 tated the model of the Terentian comedy. 
 The pastoral drama of the 16th century, 
 of which Tas?o and Guarini were the 
 most celebrated writers, furnished the 
 first novelty in this branch of literature ; 
 but these are rather poetical than dra- 
 matical compositions. The true national 
 
 theatre of Italy arose in the 17th century, 
 in the musical drama (opera), to which Me- 
 tastasio, early in the 18th, communicated 
 all the charms of poetry ; but since the 
 period of that writer, the operatic part 
 of the dramatic art has again been whol- 
 ly disconnected from the literary, and 
 the words only serve as vehicles for the 
 music. While the higher classes were 
 devoted to the opera, the lower found 
 their national amusement in the com- 
 medie dell' arte ; comedies performed by 
 masqued characters, which gradually be- 
 came fixed in the well-known persons of 
 Harlequin, Pantaloon, Brighella, Ac., 
 who improvised their parts : Goldoni, in 
 the middle of the 18th century, succeeded 
 in establishing a regular comic drama in 
 possession of the stage ; while his rival, 
 Gasparo Gozzi, took up the cominedie 
 dell' arte as models, and founded upon 
 them a series of amusing extravagances. 
 But since the period of these two spirited 
 writers comedy has fallen almost com- 
 pletely into disrepute. At the end of the 
 18th century Alfieri, a bold and severe 
 genius, produced tragedies in which the 
 ancient classical form (with the exception 
 of the chorus) was again reverted to, in- 
 stead of the French imitations of it which 
 had long been current in Italy as well as 
 the rest of Europe ; and several dramatic 
 poets have since appeared, who adopted 
 the same model. 
 
 French Drama. The early French 
 tragic writers, from the beginning of the 
 16th century down to Corneille in the 
 middle of the 17th, produced nothing but 
 unsuccessful and somewhat barbarous 
 imitations of the Greek tragedy. The 
 first pieces of this kind represented on 
 the French stage had prologues and cho- 
 ruses. Corneille had studied and loved 
 the Spanish drama ; and without intro- 
 ducing much of its varied form and inci- 
 dent, he transfused a portion of its bold- 
 ness and romantic sentiment into the 
 French theatre, together with a power 
 of energetic declamation peculiarly his 
 own. Racine, on the other hand, was a 
 pure admirer of antiquity ; but with a 
 taste and delicacy of feeling which until 
 his time had been very rarely found to 
 accompany classical knowledge. The 
 French tragedy grew up with these two 
 great writers as models, and Boileau as 
 its legislator. A peculiar and rigorous 
 system of criticism was introduced, affect- 
 ing both the form and the substance of 
 dramatic writing; and this system be- 
 came established in the minds of the 
 French public, as the natural and not the
 
 DRA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 171 
 
 conventional rule of beauty. It would 
 be impossible to enter into an examina- 
 tion of the rules of the French drama ; 
 suffice it to say, that they banished from 
 the tragic stage all except heroic charac- 
 ters and passion ; required perfect sim- 
 plicity of plot, uniformity of language, 
 and, in addition, the observance of the 
 before-mentioned technical unities of 
 place and time. These rules have ever 
 since been scrupulously followed, without 
 deviation, on the regular French stage, 
 and many of the greatest names in dra- 
 matic literature have voluntarily subject- 
 ed themselves to their restraints. The 
 French comedy, however, is infinitely 
 more national and characteristic than the 
 French tragedy ; it originated in that of 
 Spain, and was carried at once to a high 
 degree of perfection by Moliere, reject- 
 ing the extravagance of the Spanish 
 drama, confining itself within certain de- 
 finite limits governed by analogy to those 
 established for tragedy, and retaining 
 satire instead of adventure as its leading 
 principle. Since that period the French 
 comic stage his been, beyond all contra- 
 diction, not 01 ly the best, but the model 
 from which tha.t of all other nations has 
 been wholly derived. Of the present 
 state of the French drama it is difficult 
 to speak with precision ; but the national 
 or regular stage seems to be every day 
 losing in popularity, while the attempts 
 to establish a new one on what is termed 
 in France the romantic model have hith- 
 erto met with very partial success. 
 
 Spanish Drama. Spain commenced 
 her literary career more independent of 
 foreign aid than any other country. Her 
 dramatic art appears to have originated 
 as early as the 14th century ; which pro- 
 duced satirical pieces in dialogue, and 
 one complete dramatic romance by an 
 unknown author (La Celestina,) in addi- 
 tion to the mysteries and miracle plays, 
 which were exhibited in Spain even more 
 plentifully than elsewhere. The early 
 Spanish comedies of the 16th century 
 were conversations, like eclogues, be- 
 tween shepherds and shepherdesses ; with 
 occasional interludes of negroes, clowns, 
 and Biscayans, the favorite subjects of 
 popular jest. But the Spanish drama owed 
 to one great author, Lope de Vega, what 
 the English drama owed to his contem- 
 porary, Shakspearc, a rise at a single 
 bound from insignificance to great richness 
 and variety ; he created, moreover, nearly 
 all its numerous divisions, and has left 
 examples of each. The name comedy, in 
 the early Spanish stage, implied no lu- 
 
 dicrous or satirical representation, but 
 simply a play of adventure. Comedias 
 divinas, or spiritual comedies, were sub- 
 divided into lives of saints, and pieces of 
 the holy sacrament : the comedies of hu- 
 man life into heroic, answering to the 
 tragedy of our early English dramatists, 
 although even less regular in form ; and 
 comedies of domestic adventure. Besides 
 these, the interludes which were played 
 between the prologue and the piece pos- 
 sess a distinct character as literary com- 
 positions. Almost all pieces have one 
 favorite invariable character, the gra- 
 cioso or buffoon. Calderon, a greater 
 poet than Lope, and his equal in dra- 
 matic power, is the only other great 
 name in the Spanish drama. Subsequent 
 writers may all be classed as imitators 
 either of their own older poets, or of the 
 favorite dramatists of the French school. 
 English Drama. The semi-religious 
 representations out of which the English 
 drama arose, were called Mystery and 
 Morality. One of the latter, The New 
 Custom, was printed as late as 1573; by 
 which time several regular tragedies and 
 comedies, tolerably approaching to the 
 classical model, had appeared. But a 
 third species of exhibition soon took pos- 
 session of the stage, the historical drama, 
 in which the successive events of a partic- 
 ular reign or portion of history were rep- 
 resented on the stage ; and, together with 
 it, arose the English tragedy and comedy. 
 The first dramatic poets of England (those 
 before Shakspeare) were scholars ; hence 
 they preferred the form of the ancient 
 drama, the division into acts, &c. But 
 they were also writers, who strove for 
 popularity with the general class of their 
 countrymen ; hence, instead of imitating 
 classical simplicity, and confining them- 
 selves to a peculiar cast of diction and 
 sentiment removed from the ordinary 
 course of life, they invented a species of 
 composition which intermingled poetical 
 with ordinary life and language. Com- 
 edy, again, became in their hands a rep- 
 resentation of adventures, differing from 
 those of tragedy only by ending gener- 
 ally in a happy instead of an unhappy 
 exit, and not materially either in the 
 characters or language. Thus the dis- 
 tinctions which* they established between 
 tragedy, comedy, and tragi-cotnedy, are 
 little more than adventitious ; and the 
 Shaksperian drama, properly consider- 
 ed, must be looked on as a miscellane- 
 ous compound, in which actors, language, 
 and sentiments, of a character far re- 
 moved from those of ordinary life, alter-
 
 172 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DRA 
 
 nate with those of a low and even a 
 burlesque character. There is no trag- 
 edy in Shakspeare in which comic scenes 
 and characters are not introduced : there 
 is only one comedy (The Merry Wives 
 of Windsor) without some intermixture 
 of sentiment approaching to tragic. It 
 continued to be the chief national litera- 
 ture, as well as the favorite national 
 amusement, down to the period of the 
 civil wars, when the opinions and legis- 
 lation of the prevailing party put a stop 
 to dramatic representations altogether. 
 During the interval thus created the old 
 English art was unlearned altogether, 
 and the new drama, on the model of the 
 French, introduced almost at once on the 
 return of Charles II. and his courtiers 
 from the Continent. The distinction be- 
 tween tragedy and comedy was then first 
 substantially recognized ; the former 
 confined to heroic events and language, 
 the latter to those of ordinary life. But 
 tragedy, subjected to foreign rules, 
 ceased entirely to flourish : and Otway, 
 the last writer of the old English drama, 
 who wrote partly on the ancient model, 
 although after the Restoration, is also 
 the last tragic poet of England who still 
 occupies the stage ; with the exception 
 of Rowe, and of a few authors of that pe- 
 culiar species of composition, the domes- 
 tic tragedy, in which the distresses and 
 melancholy events of common life are 
 substituted for those of an heroic charac- 
 ter. Comedy, on the other hand, ob- 
 tained possession of the national taste 
 and stage ; and although the charm of 
 poetry and romantic adventure, which 
 had belonged to the old drama under 
 either name, was denied to the modern 
 comedy, it soon attained a high degree 
 of excellence as well- as popularity. 
 The last comedies in verse were written 
 shortly after the Restoration ; since 
 which time, with the exception of a few 
 insulated attempts to revive the older 
 form, it has been entirely framed on the 
 French model. The main element of a 
 modern comedy is satire ; but it admits 
 of a subdivision into comedy of intrigue 
 and comedy of manners, the former be- 
 ing chiefly directed to the development 
 of a plot, the latter to the delineation of 
 manners; although these qualities ought, 
 properly speaking, to be united to consti- 
 tute a good play. The most distinguished 
 English dramatic writers in the former 
 line are, amongst many, Congreve, Van- 
 brugh, Farquhar, Colman, Sheridan : in 
 the latter, the writings of Shadwell and 
 Foote, perhaps, afford the most remarka- 
 
 ble instances of that less popular form of 
 comedy which almost neglects the interest 
 of plot, and confines itself to a satirical 
 representation of prevailing vices and 
 follies. 
 
 German Drama. The modern Ger- 
 man drama is founded on the old English 
 model ; and, although the last in order 
 of time, has risen to a high degree of ex- 
 cellence, the stage in Germany being in- 
 comparably more national and popular 
 at the present time than in other Euro- 
 pean countries. While France, England, 
 and Spain have to look back two hundred 
 years for those names which form the 
 glory of their dramatic literature, Les- 
 sing, Schiller, and Goethe are writers 
 only of the past generation. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSO'N^l, the charac- 
 ters represented in a drama. 
 
 DRAMATUR'GY, the science or art 
 of dramatic poetry and representation ; 
 a word used by German writers. 
 
 DRA'PERY, in sculpture and paint- 
 ing, the representation of the clothing of 
 human figures ; also hangings, tapestry, 
 curtains, and most other things that are 
 not flesh or landscape. Although it is 
 the natural body, and not some append- 
 age added by human customs and reg- 
 ulations, that sensibly and visibly rep- 
 resents mind and life to our eyes, and 
 has become the chief object of the plastic 
 arts, yet the requirements of social life 
 demand that the body be clothed; the 
 artist fulfils this obligation in such man- 
 ner as shall prove least detrimental to 
 his aim. Drapery has, of itself, no de- 
 terminate form, yet all its relations are 
 susceptible of beauty, as it is subordinate 
 to the form it covers. This beauty, which 
 results from the motion and disposition of 
 the folds, is susceptible of numerous com- 
 binations very difficult to imitate ; in- 
 deed, casting of draperies, as it is term- 
 ed, is one of the most important of an 
 artist's studies. The object is to make 
 the drapery appear naturally disposed, 
 the result of accident or chance. In an- 
 cient Art, the feeling and enthusiasm for 
 corporeal beauty was universal, yet the 
 opportunities for representing it were 
 comparatively rare. Only in gymnastic 
 and athletic figures did nakedness pre- 
 sent itself as natural, and become the 
 privileged form of representation to the 
 sculptor ; it was soon, however, extended 
 to statues of male deities and heroes. 
 Garments that concealed the form were 
 universally discarded ; it was sufficient 
 to retain only the outer-garment, and 
 even this was entirely laid aside when
 
 DRE] 
 
 AND THE FINE AKTS. 
 
 173 
 
 the figure was represented in action. In 
 sedent statues, on the contrary, the up- 
 per garment is seldom laid aside ; it is 
 then usually drawn around the loins ; it 
 denotes, therefore, rest and absence of 
 exertion. In this way the drapery, even 
 in ideal figures, is significant, and be- 
 comes an expressive attribute. Ancient 
 Art, at the same time, loved a compendi- 
 ous and illusive treatment ; the helmet 
 denotes the whole armor ; a piece of the 
 chlamys the entire dress of the Ephebos. 
 It was customary at all times to repre- 
 sent children naked ; on the other hand, 
 the unrobing of the developed female 
 body was long unheard of in Art, and 
 when this practice was introduced, it re- 
 quired at first a connection with life ; 
 here the idea of the bath constantly pre- 
 served itself until the eyes became ac- 
 customed to adopt the representation with- 
 out this justification. The portrait sta- 
 tue retained the costume of life, if it also 
 was not raised above the common neces- 
 sity by the form being rendered heroic 
 or divine. The draperies of the Greeks, 
 which, from their simple, and, as it were, 
 still undecided forms, for the most part 
 only received a determinate character 
 from the mode of wearing, and, at the 
 same time, furnished a great alternation 
 of smooth and folded parts, were espe- 
 cially calculated from the outset for such 
 purposes ; but it also became early an 
 artistic principle to render the forms of 
 the body everywhere as prominent as 
 possible, by drawing the garments close, 
 and loading the skirts with small weights. 
 The striving after clearness of represen- 
 tation dictated to the artists of the best 
 period a disposition into large masses, 
 and a subordination of the details to 
 the leading forms, precisely as is observ- 
 ed in the muscular development of the 
 body. 
 
 DRAW, a word used in a variety of 
 situations, and in some of very opposite 
 meanings, but in most of its uses it re- 
 tains some shade of its original sense to 
 pull, to move forward by the application 
 of force, or to extend in length. It ex- 
 presses an action gradual or continuous, 
 and leisurely, yet not requiring the toil 
 and difficulty which its kindred word drag 
 implies. 
 
 DRAWBACK, in commerce, a term 
 used to signify the remitting or paying 
 back of the duties previously paid on a 
 commodity, on its being exported; so 
 that it may be sold in a foreign market 
 on the same terms as if it had not been 
 taxed at all. By this device, therefore, 
 
 merchants are enabled to export com- 
 modities loaded at home with heavy du- 
 ties, and to sell them abroad on the same 
 terms as those fetched from countries 
 where they are not taxed. In a popular 
 sense, drawback signifies any loss of ad- 
 vantage, or deduction from profit. 
 
 DRAWER, and DRAWEE, in com- 
 merce, the drawer is he who draws a bill 
 of exchange or an order for the payment 
 of money ; and the drawee, the person on 
 whom it is drawn. 
 
 DRAWING, the art of representing 
 the appearances of objects upon a flat 
 surface, by means of an outline which 
 describes their form and shadow, situa- 
 tion, distance, &c. 
 
 DRAWING-ROOM, a room appropri- 
 ated for the reception of company at 
 court ; or to which, in . common cases, 
 parties withdraw after dinner. Also, the 
 company assembled at court to pay their 
 respects to the sovereign. 
 
 DREAMS, may be defined to be those 
 trains of ideas which occupy the mind, 
 or those imaginary transactions in which 
 it is engaged, during sleep. Dreams 
 constitute some of the most curious phe- 
 nomena of the human mind, and have in 
 all ages presented to philosophers a sub- 
 ject of most interesting investigation. 
 The theory of dreams embraces two dis- 
 tinct classes of phenomena, physical and 
 psychological: the former relate to the 
 question as to how the body is affected in 
 a state of sleep, how the body in that state 
 affects the mind, and how this aifection 
 operates to the production of the phe- 
 nomena of dreams ; the latter compre- 
 hend an inquiry into the laws which reg- 
 ulate the train of ideas that occur during 
 sleep, and the mode in which these laws 
 operate, together with an examination 
 of certain psychological appearances pe- 
 culiar to that state. To both these classes 
 of phenomena the attention of some of 
 the most distinguished philosophers, both 
 of antiquity and of modern times, has 
 been directed ; and much labor and in- 
 genuity have been expended in endeavor- 
 ing to ascertain the origin and nature of 
 dreams, and to account for the various 
 phenomena by which they are accom- 
 panied. Among a multitude of other 
 efficient causes, dreams have been ascrib- 
 ed to direct impressions on the organs of 
 sense during sleep, to the absence of 
 real impressions on the senses, to a dis- 
 ordered state of the digestive organs, 
 to a less restrained action of the mental 
 faculties, to the suspension of volition 
 while the powers of sensation continue,
 
 174 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DRU 
 
 and to the succession and unequal relax- 
 ation and cessation of the different senses 
 at the commencement and during the 
 time of sleep. From the remotest period 
 of antiquity, dreams have also been as- 
 cribed to supernatural agency. The rec- 
 ords of history, both sacred and profane, 
 abound in instances of dreams which it 
 has been thought impossible to account 
 for on any other hypothesis than that of 
 a supernatural interposition; and. as 
 has been well observed, though there 
 can be no doubt that many dreams which 
 have been considered supernatural, as 
 revealing facts and scientific truths, may 
 now be explained by means within our 
 own knowledge, it can just as little be 
 doubted that many well-authenticated 
 dreams are utterly inexplicable by ordi- 
 nary means. This belief in the supernat- 
 ural character of dreams is common to 
 every nation in a greater or less degree ; 
 but it prevails more especially in the 
 countries of the East, where, from time 
 immemorial, there has existed a class of 
 persons whose peculiar occupation con- 
 sists in the interpretation and explana- 
 tion of dreams. Those who wish for com- 
 prehensive details on this subject may 
 consult the writings of Aristotle, Lucre- 
 tius, Democritus, &e. ; and among modern 
 writers, of Locke, Newton, Hartley, Bax- 
 ter, Beattie, anu Stewart ; and still more 
 recently, those of Abercrombie and Mac- 
 nish, which are extremely valuable for 
 the numerous instances of extraordinary 
 dreams with which their theories are il- 
 lustrated. 
 
 DRESS, clothes worn as the covering 
 or ornament of the body ; and generally, 
 though not always, applied to elegant at- 
 tire. To dress, is a military term for 
 arranging the men in line. 
 
 DRESS'INGS, in architecture, mould- 
 ings round doors, windows, and the like. 
 
 DRIFTING EAVES, in architecture, 
 the lower edges of a roof wherefrom the 
 rain drips or drops to the ground. 
 
 DRIVING NOTES, in music, such 
 notes as connect the last note of one bar 
 with the first of*the following one, so as 
 to make only one note of both. They are 
 also used in the middle of a measure, and 
 when a note of one part terminates in the 
 middle of the note of another, in which 
 case it is called binding or legature. 
 Driving notes are also called syncopation, 
 when some shorter note at the beginning 
 of a measure or half-measure is followed 
 by two, three, or more longer notes, be- 
 fore any other occurs equal to that which 
 occasioned the driving note to make the 
 
 number even ; for instance, when an odd 
 crotchet succeeds two or three minims, or 
 an odd quaver two or more crotchets. 
 
 DROPS, in architecture, the frusta of 
 cones in the Doric order, used under the 
 triglyphs in the architrave below the 
 tcenia. They are also used in the under 
 part of the mutuli or modillions of the 
 order. In the Greek examples they are 
 sometimes curved a little inwards on the 
 profile. 
 
 DRUG'GET, a coarse woollen fabric, 
 used for covering carpets, and sometimes 
 as an article of clothing by females of the 
 poorer classes. 
 
 DRU'IDS, the priests or ministers of 
 the ancient Britons and Gauls, resem- 
 bling, in many respects, the bramins of 
 India. The Druids were chosen out of 
 the best families ; and were held, both by 
 the honors of their birth and their office, 
 in the greatest veneration. They are 
 said to have understood astrology, geome- 
 try, natural history, politics, and geogra- 
 phy ; they had the administration of all 
 sacred things ; were the interpreters of 
 religion, and the judges of all affairs ; 
 and, according to Caesar, they believed in 
 the immortality of the soul, and its trans- 
 migration through different bodies. 
 
 DRUM, a military musical instrument 
 in form of a cylinder, hollow within, and 
 covered at the ends with vellum, which is 
 stretched or slackened at pleasure by the 
 means of small cords and sliding knots. 
 It is beat upon with sticks. Some drums 
 are made of brass, but they are common- 
 ly of wood. There are several beats of 
 the drum, as the chamade, reveille, re- 
 treat, Ac. The drum is supposed to be 
 an eastern invention, and to have been 
 brought into Europe by the Arabians, or 
 perhaps the Moors. The kettle drum, 
 the bass drum, and tambourine, are com- 
 mon in the East. In architecture, the up- 
 right part of a cupola either above or be- 
 low a dome. The same term is used to 
 express the solid part or vase of the Co- 
 rinthian and Composite capitals. 
 
 DRUNK'ENNESS, intoxication. Phy- 
 sically considered, it consists of a preter- 
 natural compression of the brain, and a 
 discomposure of its fibres, occasioned by 
 the fumes or spirituous parts of liquors ; 
 so that the drunkard's reason is disorder- 
 ed, and he reels or staggers in walking. 
 Drunkenness appears in different shapes, 
 in different constitutions ; some it makes 
 gay, some sullen, and some furiouj. 
 Hobbes makes voluntary drunkenness a 
 breach of the law of nature, which directs 
 us to preserve the use of our reason.
 
 DUE] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 175 
 
 Paley calls it " a social festive vice ;" and 
 says, '' The drinker collects his circle ; the 
 circle naturally spreads ; of those who are 
 drawn within it, many become the cor- 
 rupters and centres of sets and circles of 
 their own ; every one countenancing, and 
 perhaps emulating the rest, till a whole 
 neighborhood be infected from the con- 
 tagion of a single example." Drunken- 
 ness is punishable by fine and imprison- 
 ment, and in law is no excuse for any 
 crime committed during the paroxysm. 
 
 DRY'ADS, in the heathen theology, a 
 sort of deities or nymphs, which the an- 
 cients thought inhabited groves and 
 woods. They differed from the Hama- 
 dryads, these latter being attached to 
 some particular tree with which they were 
 born, and with which they died ; whereas 
 the Dryads were goddesses of trees and 
 woods in general. 
 
 DRY'ERS, substances, chiefly metallic 
 oxides, added to certain fixed oils, to im- 
 part to them the property of drying 
 quickly when used in painting. That 
 most commonly employed for this pur- 
 pose is the oxide of lead ; but w/iite cop- 
 peras or white vitriol, (sulphate of zinc,) 
 oxide of manganese, ground, glass, oxide 
 of zinc, calcined bones, chloride of lime, 
 and verdigris, (di-acetate of copper,) have 
 also been used at various periods in the 
 history of Art as dryers. 
 
 DRY'ING OIL, BOILED OIL, when lin- 
 seed oil is boiled with litharge, (oxide of 
 lead.) it acquires the property of drying 
 quickly when exposed in a thin stratum 
 to the air. Its uses as a vehicle and 
 varnish are well known. 
 
 DRY'NESS, this term is applied to a 
 style of painting, in which the outline is 
 harsh and formal, and the color deficient 
 in mellowness and harmony. It is not 
 incompatible with good composition and 
 other high qualities, as may be seen in 
 some f the works of Holbein, and the 
 earlier productions of Raphael. 
 
 DU'ALISM, a name given to those 
 systems of philosophy which refer all 
 existence to two ultimate principles. 
 Dualism is a main feature in all the early 
 Greek cosmogonies, and is that which 
 distinguishes them from the eastern spec- 
 ulations on similar subjects, which mostly 
 regard all things as emanating from a 
 single principle. The dualistic hypothe- 
 sis was, doubtless, originally suggested 
 by the analogy of male and female in 
 animal existence. The earliest forms 
 under which the theory appeared are, as 
 might be expected, rude in the extreme. 
 The Orphic poets made the ultimate prin- 
 
 ciples of all things to be Water and 
 Night; by others ./Ether and Erebus, 
 Time and Necessity, are severally deem- 
 ed worthy of this distinction. The an- 
 cient Greek and Roman mythology was 
 evidently constructed on this principle. 
 In its more philosophic form, the dual- 
 istic theory was maintained among the 
 ancients byPythagoras and many of the 
 Ionian school ; among the moderns, 
 chiefly by Descartes. It may be ex- 
 pressed generally as the assumption of 
 the coeternity and simultaneous develop- 
 ment of the formative with the formed, 
 of the natura naturans with the natura 
 naturata. So the system of philosophy 
 which regards matter and spirit as dis- 
 tinct principles is a species of dualism, 
 as opposed to materialism. In theology, 
 the doctrine of the two sovereign princi- 
 ples of good and evil is also dualistic ; 
 and the high Calvinistic theory may be 
 said to be a species of dualism, viz. that 
 all mankind are divided, in the eternal 
 foreknowledge of God, and by his sove- 
 reign decree, into two classes, the elect 
 and reprobate. 
 
 DU'AL NUMBER, in grammar, is the 
 name given to that form of the verb and 
 substantive by which, in the ancient 
 Greek, Sanscrit, and Gothic, and the 
 modern Lithuanian languages, two per- 
 sons or things are denoted, in contradis- 
 tinction to plural, which expresses an 
 indefinite number of persons or things. 
 
 DUC'AT, a foreign coin of different 
 values, and which are either of silver or 
 gold. The silver ducat is generally of 
 4s. 6d. sterling, and the gold ducat of 
 twice that value. 
 
 DUCATOON', a silver coin, struck 
 chiefly in Italy, value about 4s. 8d. ster- 
 ling ; but the gold ducatoon of Holland 
 is worth twenty florins. 
 
 DU'CES TE'CUM, (bring with thee,) 
 in law, a writ commanding a person to 
 appear on a certain day in the court of 
 Chancery, and to bring with him some 
 writings, evidences, or other things, 
 which the court would view. 
 
 DUE, that which one contracts to pay 
 or perform to another ; that which law 
 or justice requires to be paid or done. 
 Also, that which office, rank, station, or 
 established rules of right or decorum, 
 require to be given or performed. 
 
 DU'EL, signified originally a trial by 
 battle resorted to by two persons as a 
 means of determining the guilt or inno- 
 cence of a person charged with a crime, 
 or of adjudicating a disputed right ; but 
 in more modern times it is used to signify
 
 176 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [DUM 
 
 a hostile meeting between two persons, 
 arising from an affront given by one to 
 the other, and for the purpose (as is said) 
 of affording satisfaction to the person af- 
 fronted. The practice of the duel, as a 
 private mode, recognized only by custom, 
 of deciding private differences, seems to 
 be of comparatively recent date, and de- 
 scends by no very direct transmission 
 from the ancient appeal to the judicial 
 combat as a final judgment in legal dis- 
 putes. That it originated with the feu- 
 dal system is abundantly clear, if it were 
 only from the fact that in Bussia, where 
 that system was never known, the cus- 
 tom of the duel was unheard of, until 
 introduced by foreign officers, even within 
 the tngmory of the present generation. 
 But it is certain that many- antiquarian 
 writers have confused together two very 
 different institutions ; the appeal to arms, 
 as an alternative for the trial by ordeal 
 or by compurgators, appointed by tra- 
 ditionary usage from the earliest periods 
 of Germanic history ; and the voluntary 
 challenge or defiance, resorted to for the 
 purpose of clearing disputes involving the 
 honor of gentlemen. . This last custom 
 was first elevated to the dignity of an es- 
 tablished institution by Philip le Bel of 
 France, whose edict regulating the public 
 combat between nobles bears the date of 
 1308 : the best comment on which may 
 be found in the spirited and accurate rep- 
 resentation, by Shakspeare, of the quar- 
 rel between Mowbray and Bolingbroke. 
 
 DUEN'NA, the chief lady in waiting 
 on the queen of Spain. In a more gen- 
 eral sense, it is applied to a person 
 holding a middle station between a gov- 
 erness and companion, and appointed to 
 take charge of the junior female mem- 
 bers of Spanish and Portuguese families. 
 
 DUET', a piece of music composed for 
 two performers, either vocal or instru- 
 mental. 
 
 DUKE, a sovereign prince in Germany, 
 and the highest title of honor in England 
 next to the Prince of Wales. His consort 
 is called a duchess. In England, among 
 the Saxons, the commanders of armies, 
 &c. were called dukes, duces, without any 
 addition, till Edward III. made his son, 
 the Black Prince, duke of Cornwall ; 
 after whom there were more made in the 
 same manner, the title descending to their 
 posterity. Duke, at present, is a mere 
 title of dignity, without giving any do- 
 main, territory, or jurisdiction over the 
 place from whence the title is taken. The 
 title of duke is said to have originated in 
 the usages of the Lower Empire, where it 
 
 was given to the military governors of 
 provinces. From thence it was borrowed 
 by the Franks, who adopted, in many 
 respects, the titles and distinctions of the 
 empire. Charlemagne is said to have 
 suffered it to become obsolete, but the 
 emperor Louis created a duke of Thurin- 
 gia in 847. In course of time, according 
 to the usual progress of feudal dignities, 
 the title became hereditary. In Germany 
 the dukes became the chief princes of the 
 empire ; this title being proper to all the 
 secular electors, and to most of the 
 greater feudatories. In other countries 
 their dignity became merely titular. In 
 Italy and France dukes form the second 
 rank in the nobility, being inferior to 
 princes : in England they form the first. 
 The title was not known. in the latter 
 country until the reign of Edward III. ; 
 and the word dux is used by writers be- 
 fore that period as synonymous with 
 count or earl. 
 
 DUL'CIMER, a musical instrument 
 played by striking brass wires with little 
 sticks. 
 
 DUMB, the most general, if not the 
 sole cause of dumbness, is the want of 
 the sense of hearing; and nothing is 
 more fallacious than the idea, that the 
 want of speech is owing to the want of 
 mental capacity. The necessity of com- 
 munication, and the want of words, oblige 
 him who is dumb to observe and imitate 
 the actions and expressions which accom- 
 pany various states of mind and of feel- 
 ing, to indicate objects by their appear- 
 ance and use, and to describe the actions 
 of persons by direct imitation, or panto- 
 mimic expression. Hence what has been 
 called the natural sign language has 
 been adopted by instructors of the deaf 
 and dumb, in order to express all the 
 ideas we convey by articulate sounds. 
 This language, in its elements, is to be 
 found among all nations, and has ever 
 been the medium of communication be- 
 tween voyagers and the natives of newly 
 discovered countries. The more lively 
 nations of Europe, belonging to the Celtic 
 race, the French, Italians, &c., make 
 great use of it, in connection with words, 
 and sometimes even without them. The 
 more phlegmatic people of the Teutonic 
 race, in England and Germany, are so 
 little disposed to it, that they regard it as 
 a species of affectation or buffoonery in 
 their southern neighbors. The method 
 of instructing the deaf and dumb, which 
 has been most successfully employed, 
 consists in teaching the pupil the rela- 
 tion between the names of objects and
 
 DUU] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 177 
 
 the objects themselves, the analysis of 
 words into letters of the alphabet, and 
 the particular gesture which he is to at- 
 tach to each word as its distinctive sign 
 showing to him also the meaning of col- 
 lective words, as distinguished from those 
 denoting individual objects, or parts of 
 objects. 
 
 DUN, of a color partaking of a dull 
 brown and black. To dun, to press for 
 the payment of money by repeatedly 
 calling for it. Hence an importunate 
 creditor is called a dun. 
 
 DUN'KERS, a Christian sect, which 
 formed itself into a society under peculiar 
 rules in Pennsylvania in the year 1724. 
 The origin of their name is unknown. 
 They practise abstinence and mortifica- 
 tion, under the idea that such austerities 
 are meritorious in the sight, of God, and 
 effective, first in procuring their own 
 salvation, and further in contributing to 
 that of others. They form a society 
 strictly connected within itself, and hold 
 love feasts, in which all assemble to- 
 gether ; but their devotions and ordinary 
 business are carried on in private, nor do 
 they recognize a community of goods. 
 They also deny the eternity of future 
 punishments ; conceiving that there are 
 periods of purgation, determined by the 
 sabbath, sabbatical year, and year of 
 jubilee, which are typical of them. 
 
 DUN'NAGE, in commercial naviga- 
 tion, loose wood laid in the bottom and 
 against the sides of the ship's hold, in 
 order to prevent the cargo from being 
 injured in the event of her becoming 
 leaky. 
 
 DUODE'CIMO, having or consisting 
 of twelve leaves to a sheet ; or a book in 
 which a sheet is folded into twelve leaves. 
 
 DUPLI'CITY, the act of dissembling 
 one's real opinions for the purpose of 
 concealing them and misleading persons 
 in the conversation and intercourse of 
 life. 
 
 DURAN'TE, in law, During; as du- 
 rante bene placito, during pleasure ; du- 
 rante minors eetate, during minority ; 
 durante vitd, during life. 
 
 DU'RESS, in law, is restraint or com- 
 pulsion ; as, where a person is wrong- 
 fully imprisoned, or restrained of his 
 liberty, contrary to law ; or is threatened 
 to be killed, wounded, or beaten, till he 
 executes a bond, or other writing. Any 
 bond, deed, or other obligation, obtained 
 by duress, will be void in law ; and in an 
 action brought on the execution of any 
 such deed, the party may plead that it 
 was brought by duress. 
 12 
 
 DUSK, a middle degree between light 
 and darkness ; as twilight, or the dusk 
 of the evening. Hence the words dusky, 
 duskiness, &c. 
 
 DUTCH GOLD, copper, brass, and 
 bronze leaf is known under this name in 
 commerce ; it is largely used in Holland 
 for ornamenting toys and paper. 
 
 DUTCH SCHOOL, in painting, this 
 school, generally speaking, is founded on 
 a faithful representation of nature, with- 
 out attention Lo selection or refinement. 
 The ideas are usually low, and the figures 
 local and vulgar. Its merit lies in color- 
 ing <iiid drawing with extreme fidelity 
 what was before the eye of the artist. 
 The pothouse, the workshop, or the 
 drunken revels of unintellectual boors, 
 seem to have furnished its principal sub- 
 jects. The great appearance of reality 
 infused into its productions induced Hage- 
 dora to call it the School of Truth. Not- 
 withstanding its deficiency in all that 
 tends to raise the mind, it has gained an 
 unspeakable lustre from its great head, 
 Rembrandt van Rhyn, to whose name 
 may be added those of De Leide, Heems- 
 kirk, Polemburg, Wouvermans, (an ex- 
 ception to our general observations,) Ge- 
 rard Dow, Mieris, and Vandevelde, &c. 
 
 DUTY, in commerce, any tax or ex- 
 cise ; a sum of money required by gov- 
 ernment to be paid on the importation, 
 exportation, or consumption of goods. 
 In a military sense, the business of a 
 soldier or marine on guard. In its uni- 
 versal application, duty includes any nat- 
 ural, moral, or legal obligation ; as, it is 
 the duty of every citizen of a state to pay 
 obedience to its laws ; obedience, respect, 
 and kindness are the duties which chil- 
 dren owe their parents. 
 
 DUUM'VIRI, in Roman antiquity, a 
 general appellation given to magistrates, 
 commissioners, and officers, where two 
 were joined together in the same func- 
 tion. The office, dignity, or government 
 of two men thus associated, was called a 
 duumvirate. Duumviri capitales, were 
 the judges in criminal causes : from their 
 sentence it was lawful to appeal to the 
 people, who only had the power of con- 
 demning a citizen to death Duumviri 
 municipales, were two magistrates in 
 some cities of the empire, answering to 
 what the consuls were at Rome ; they 
 were chosen out of the body of the decu- 
 riones ; their office usually lasted five 
 years, upon which account they were 
 frequently termed quinquinales magis- 
 trates. Duumviri navales, were the 
 commissaries of the fleet. The duty of
 
 178 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 l 
 
 their office consisted in giving orders for 
 the fitting of ships, and giving their com- 
 missions to tho uiarine officers, Ac. 
 Duumviri sacrorttm, were magistrates 
 created by Tarquinius Superbus, for the 
 performance of the sacrifice, and keeping 
 of the Sibyl's books. They were chosen 
 from among the patricians, and held 
 their office for life : they were exempted 
 from serving in the wars, and from the 
 offices implied on the other citizens, and 
 without them the oracles of the Sibyls 
 could not bo consulted. 
 
 DY'NASTY, a race or series of princes 
 who have reigned successively in any 
 kingdom ; as the dynasties of Egypt or 
 Persia. 
 
 DYSPEP'SIA, or DYSPEP'SY, in 
 medicine, difficulty of digestion. Hence 
 those who are afflicted with indigestion 
 are germed dyspeptic persons. The dis- 
 order of the digestive function is the most 
 frequent and prevailing of the ailments 
 that afflict man in the civili/.ed state ; all 
 classes and all ages suffer from its attacks. 
 But in the higher ranks of society, and 
 amongst the luxurious and opulent, it is 
 a common consequence of over eating, or 
 of indulgence in difficultly digestible or 
 over-stimulating food, or of want of due 
 exercise and general bodily and mental 
 exertion. In others it results from men- 
 tal anxiety and labor associated with a 
 sedentary life ; from the fatigues of busi- 
 ness or the influence of debilitating pas- 
 sions. In the lower orders it is the con- 
 stant result of indulgence in spirituous 
 liquors, combined in many instances with 
 want of proper food, the means which 
 ought to be applied to procuring it being 
 disposed of in the dram shop. The symp- 
 toms of dyspepsia vary, therefore, in the 
 different grades of life. The epicure loses 
 his relish for the most refined dishes, be- 
 comes bloated, plethoric, heavy, and per- 
 haps apoplectic ; the lady of fashion suf- 
 fers from headaches, flatulence, occasional 
 giddiness, and dimness of sight : she be- 
 comes indolent, capricious, and full of fan- 
 cies, or, as the old physicians used to say, 
 she has the vapors; the studious man 
 feels the intensity of his mind blunted, 
 loses his appetite, or at least all enjoy- 
 ment of meals, sleeps ill, and dreams 
 much, gets whimsical and discontented 
 with himself and his friends, and becomes 
 a hypochondriac ; the lower classes at 
 first take their glass of gin or of ruin be- 
 cause they find it a cheap stimulant, little 
 thinking of the misery they are laying up 
 for future years ; this stimulant soon be- 
 comes habitual, and they not only feel 
 
 miserable and heartbroken without it, but 
 the single glass soon loses its efficacy, 
 and tho dose must be gradually increased 
 till they degenerate into regular tipplers, 
 tho aspect and characters of whom it were 
 needless to describe. Complicated as are 
 the symptoms of dyspepsia, and numerous 
 as are the remedies and modes of treat- 
 ment proposed for its relief or cure, they 
 really resolve themselves into a few sim- 
 ple rules. In the majority of cases, ab- 
 stinence is the first and most essential 
 step; the epicure must abstain from the 
 luxuries of the table, eat and drink with 
 moderation, rise betimes, and use due ex- 
 ercise ; the woman of fashion must revert 
 to regular hours, that is, the night and 
 the day must be employed as intended by 
 nature, and not in inverted order ; the 
 philosopher and the scholar must occa- 
 sionally, and often frequently and assidu- 
 ously, divest themselves of their mental 
 labors, and resort to amusements and oc- 
 cupations of a more trivial character. 
 Those among the lower orders who have 
 once acquired the habit of dram drinking 
 are incurable ; for snch is the depression 
 of mind and body, and such the gnawing 
 restlessness that want of the accustomed 
 stimulus occasions, that without it they 
 become miserable and inconsolable, and 
 usually fall a sacrifice to mental or bodily 
 disease, or to both combined ; here, there- 
 fore, prevention is the only cure. 
 
 E. 
 
 E, the fifth letter in the alphabet, and 
 the second vowel, has different pronuncia- 
 tions in most languages. The French 
 have their e open, e masculine, and e 
 feminine or mute. In English, there are 
 three kinds of e : open, as in year, bear ; 
 long, as in here, mere, me; and short, as 
 in iret, kept, Ac. As a final letter it is 
 generally quiescent ; but it serves to 
 lengthen the sound of the preceding vow- 
 el, as in mane, cane, thine, which, without 
 the final e, would be pronounced man, 
 can, thin. In many other words the final 
 e is silent, as in examine, definite, &e. 
 As a numeral E stands for 250. In sea- 
 charts, E stands for East : E by N. and 
 E by S., East by North, and East by 
 South. In music, the third note or de- 
 gree of the diatonic scale, corresponding 
 to the mi of the French and Italians. In 
 the bass clef it is that on the third space 
 of the staff, in the tenor on the first space, 
 in the counter tenor on the fourth line,
 
 EAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 and in the treble clef that on the first 
 line. 
 
 EA'GLE, in history, the symbol of 
 royalty ; as being, according to Philos- 
 tratus, the king of birds. Hence, in the 
 Scriptures, a Ckaldaoan and Egyptian 
 king are styled eagles. The eagle was 
 borne as a standard by many nations of 
 antiquity. The first who assumed it, ac- 
 cording to Xenophon, were the Persians, 
 from whom (in all probability through 
 the medium of the Greeks) it was bor- 
 rowed by the Romans at an early period 
 of their history, but first adopted as their 
 sole ensign in the consulate of C. Marius. 
 Previously to that period they had used 
 as standards wolves, leopards, eagles, and 
 other animals, indifferently, according to 
 the humor of their generals. The Ro- 
 man eagles were gold or silver figures in 
 relievo, about tho size of a pigeon ; and 
 were borne on the tops of spears, with 
 their wings displayed, and frequently 
 with a thunderbolt in their talons. When 
 the army inarched the ea^le was always 
 visible to the legions ; and when it en- 
 camped, the eagle was always placed be- 
 fore their prastorium or tent of the gen- 
 eral. The eagle on the summit of an 
 ivory staff was also the symbol of the con- 
 sular dignity. In modern times an eagle 
 standing with outspread wings, is the 
 military emblem of the United States. 
 During the sway of Napoleon, he caused 
 the tricolor flag, which at the outbreak 
 of the first French Revolution had become 
 the standard of France, to be surmounted 
 with an eagle ; and thus constituted it the 
 standard of the consular and imperial 
 armies. From this circumstance, and 
 from the almost unprecedented career of 
 victory so long pursued by the French 
 under this standard, the expression eagles 
 of Napoleon is often used metaphorically 
 to designate the armies under his com- 
 mand. After the battle of Waterloo the 
 eagle was superseded in France by the 
 flour de lys, the ancient emblem of the 
 Bourbon race. Eagles are frequently 
 found on ancient coins and medals ; where, 
 according to Spanheim, they are emble- 
 matic of divinity and providence, but ac- 
 cording to all other antiquaries, of empire. 
 They are most usually found on the med- 
 als of the Ptolemies of Egypt and the 
 Seleucidae of Syria. An eagle, with the 
 word consecratio, indicates the apotheosis 
 of an emperor. The eagle is also the 
 badge of several orders, as the black ea- 
 gle and the red eagle of Prussia, the white 
 eagle of Poland, &c. In Christian Art, 
 an eagle is the attribute of St. John the 
 
 Evangelist ; the symbol of authority, of 
 power, and of generosity ; it was regard- 
 ed by St Gregory as the emblem of con- 
 templative life. It is represented drink- 
 ing from a chalice, as an emblem of the 
 strength the Christian derives from the 
 Holy Eucharist. The conflict between 
 the " state of nature" and the " state of 
 grace" is represented by an eagle fight- 
 ing with a serpent, and by an eagle, the 
 body of which, terminating in the tail of 
 a serpent, is turned against the head. A 
 common form for the lectern, constructed 
 of wood or brass, used to support the sa- 
 cred volume in the choir of churches, is 
 that of an eagle. Elisha, the prophet, is 
 represented with a two-headed eagle over 
 his head or upon his shoulder, referring 
 to his petition to Elijah for a double por- 
 tion of his spirit. 
 
 EARL, a title of British nobility, be- 
 tween a marquis and a viscount ;%iow 
 the third degree of rank. William the 
 Conqueror first made this title hereditary, 
 giving it in fee to his nobles, and allot- 
 ting them for the support of their state 
 the third penny out of the sheriff's court, 
 issuing out of all pleas of the shire whence 
 they had their title. At present the title 
 is accompanied by no territory, private 
 or judicial rights, but confers nobility, 
 and an hereditary seat in the House of 
 Lords. In official instruments, they are 
 called by the king, " trusty and well-be- 
 loved cousins," an appellation as ancient 
 as the reign of Henry IV. For some 
 time after the Norman conquest they 
 were called counts, and their wives to the 
 present day are styled countesses. The 
 Earl's coronet has no flowers raised 
 above the circle, like that of a duke and 
 a marquis, but only points rising, and a 
 pearl on each of them. 
 
 EARL MARSHAL OF ENGLAND, a 
 great officer who had anciently several 
 courts under his jurisdiction, as the 
 court of chivalry, and the court of honor. 
 Under him is also the herald's office, or col- 
 lege of arms. He has some pre-eminence 
 in the Marshalsea court, where he may 
 sit in judgment against those who offend 
 within the verge of the king's court. 
 This office is of great antiquity in Eng- 
 land, and has been for several ages he- 
 reditary in the family of the Howards. 
 
 EARN'EST, in commercial law, money 
 advanced by the buyer of goods, to bind 
 the seller to the performance of a verbal 
 bargain. 
 
 EAR'RING, an ornament worn at the 
 ear, by means of a ring passing through 
 the lobe, with a pendant of diamonds or
 
 160 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EAR 
 
 Fig. 1. Fig. 2. pearls, Ac., at- 
 
 tached. This or- 
 nament has been 
 worn by both 
 sexes, from the 
 earliest times, in 
 oriental coun- 
 tries, but among 
 the Greeks and Romans, its use was 
 confined to females. It was usually con- 
 structed of gold, of various forms, very 
 finely wrought, and set with pearls and 
 precious stones. The ears in the statue 
 of the Medicean Venus and other statues 
 are pierced, and probably were at one 
 time ornamented with ear-rings. The 
 cut gives examples of two antique ear- 
 rings. Fig. 1 is an Egyptian one of gold, 
 half an inch in diameter, published by 
 Wilkinson. Fig. 2 is from one of the 
 Syracusan medallions. 
 
 E^RTH'QUAKE, a concussion or vi- 
 bration of the ground,- usually preceded 
 by a rattling sound in the air, or by a 
 subterraneous rumbling noise ; and some- 
 times accompanied by rents, and by shak- 
 ing of the surface, so as to swallow up 
 towns and tracts of country. At one time 
 it is hardly perceptible ; at another, it is 
 so violent, that it not only demolishes 
 the works of art, but changes the appear- 
 ance of the ground itself. Sometimes the 
 surface of the ground remains unbroken ; 
 sometimes it bursts open into clefts and 
 chasms ; and then occasionally appears 
 the phenomenon of the eruption of gases, 
 and also of flames, with the ejection of 
 water, mud, and stones, as in volcanic 
 eruptions. Volcanoes are, indeed, only 
 so many spiracles serving for the dis- 
 charge of this subterranean fire, when it 
 is thus assembled ; and where there hap- 
 pens to be such a structure and conform- 
 ation of the interior parts of the earth, 
 that the fire may pass freely and without 
 impediment from the caverns therein, it 
 gathers into these spiracles, and then 
 readily and easily gets out from time to 
 time without shaking or disturbing the 
 earth : but where a communication is 
 wanting, or the passages; are not suffi- 
 ciently large and open, so that it cannot 
 come at these spiracles, without first forc- 
 ing and removing all obstacles, it heaves 
 up and shakes the earth, till it makes its 
 way to the mouth of the volcano ; where 
 it rushes forth, sometimes in flames of 
 vast volume and velocity. Earthquakes 
 are sometimes confined to a narrow space, 
 which is properly the effect of the re- 
 action of the fire ; and they shake the 
 earth just as the explosion of a powder- 
 
 magazine causes a sensible concussion at 
 the distance of several leagues. These 
 observations furnish grounds for the con- 
 clusion, that earthquakes cannot proceed 
 from external causes, but arise from cer- 
 tain powers operating within the circum- 
 ference or crust of the earth. The sub- 
 terranean, thunder-like noises; the slink- 
 ing, raising, and bursting asunder of the 
 earth ; the emission of fire and flames, 
 and the ejection of mineral substances; 
 all occur, occasionally, in earthquakes as 
 well as in volcanic eruptions, even when 
 at a distance from active volcanoes. All 
 the observations, in fact, that have been 
 made, tend to prove, that earthquakes 
 and volcanic eruptions are effects of the 
 same chemical process, (so to speak.) 
 which must have its seat at a great 
 depth beneath the earth's surface. 
 There is no portion of the earth's sur- 
 face, whether it be land or water, that is 
 not more or less subject to earthquakes ; 
 and records of their destructive effects 
 have been transmitted to us through 
 every age. The first earthquake partic- 
 ularly worthy of notice was that which 
 in A.D. 63, destroyed Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii. In the fourth and fifth centu- 
 ries, some of the most civilized parts of 
 the world were almost desolated by these 
 awful visitations. Thrace, 'Syria, and 
 Asia Minor, according to contemporary 
 historians, suffered most severely On 
 the 26th of January, A.D. 447, subter- 
 ranean thunders were heard from the 
 Black to the Red Sea, and the earth was 
 convulsed without intermission, for the 
 space of six months; and in Phrygia, 
 many cities and large tracts of ground 
 were swallowed up. On the 30th of May, 
 A.D. 205, the city of Antioch was over- 
 whelmed by a dreadful earthquake, and 
 250,000 of its inhabitants are said to 
 have been crushed in its ruins. In the 
 year 1346, Asia Minor and Egypt were 
 violently shaken ; and in the following 
 year severe earthquakes were experi- 
 enced in Cyprus, Greece, and Italy. 
 In 1692, the island of Jamaica was vis- 
 ited by a terrible earthquake, in which 
 enormous masses of earth were detached 
 from the Blue Mountains ; and vast 
 quantities of timber, hurled from their 
 flanks, covered the adjacent sea like float- 
 ing islands. It was during this earth- 
 quake that the city of Port Royal, with 
 a large tract of adjacent land, sunk in- 
 stantaneously into the sea. In the fol- 
 lowing year great earthquakes occurred 
 in Sicily, which destroyed Catania and 
 140 other towns and villages, with 100,000
 
 EAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 181 
 
 of their inhabitants. Since the records 
 of history, there have been no earth- 
 quakes equal in intensity to those which 
 ravaged different parts of the world in 
 the eighteenth century. Passing over 
 the convulsion which in 1746 nearly laid 
 waste Lower Peru, and those by which 
 in 1750 the ancient town of Concepcion, 
 in Chili, was totally destroyed, we come to 
 1755, when the city of Lisbon was almost 
 wholly destroyed by one of the most de- 
 structive earthquakes which ever occur- 
 red in Europe. It continued only six 
 minutes ; but such was the violence of 
 the convulsion, that in that short space 
 upwards of 60,000 persons are said to 
 have perished. The phenomena that ac- 
 companied it were no less striking. The 
 sea first retired and laid the bar dry ; it 
 then rolled in, rising fifty feet or more 
 above its ordinary level. The largest 
 mountains in Portugal were impetuously 
 shaken from their very foundations : and 
 some of them opened at their summits, 
 which were split and rent in a wonderful 
 manner, huge masses of them being 
 thrown down into the subjacent valleys. 
 But the most remarkable circumstance 
 which occurred in Lisbon during this ca- 
 tastrophe was the entire subsidence of 
 the new quay, called Cays de Prada, to 
 which an immense concourse of people 
 had fled for safety from the falling ruins. 
 From this hideous abyss, into which the 
 quay sunk, not one of the dead bodies 
 ever floated to the surface ; and on the 
 spot there is now water to the depth of 
 100 fathoms. This earthquake excited 
 great attention from the incredibly great 
 extent at which contemporary shocks 
 were experienced. The violence of the 
 shocks, which were accompanied by a 
 terrific subterranean noise, like the loud- 
 est thunder, was chiefly felt in Portugal, 
 Spain, and northern Africa ; but the ef- 
 fects of the earthquake were perceived 
 in almost all the countries of continental 
 Europe, and were even experienced in 
 the West Indies, and on the Lake On- 
 tario in North America. Ships at sea 
 were affected by the shocks as if they had 
 struck on rocks : and even on some of 
 the Scottish lakes, Loch Lomond in par- 
 ticular, the water, without the least ap- 
 parent cause, rose to the perpendicular 
 height of two feet four inches against its 
 bank, and the* subsided below its usual 
 level. During the next twenty years, 
 various earthquakes occurred in different 
 parts of the world, attended with more 
 or less destructive consequences. In 
 175^, Syria was agitated by violent earth- 
 
 quakes, the shocks of which were pro- 
 tracted for three months, throughout a 
 space of 10,000 square leagues, and lev- 
 elled to the ground Accon, Saphat, Bal- 
 beck, Damascus, Sidon, Tripoli, and many 
 other places. In each of these places 
 many thousands of the inhabitants per- 
 ished ; and in the valley of Balbeck alone, 
 20,000 men are said to have been victims 
 to the convulsion. In 1766, the island 
 of Trinidad and great part of Columbia, 
 were violently agitated by earthquakes 
 In 1772, the lofty volcano of Papanday 
 ang, the highest mountain in Java, die 
 appeared, and a circumjacent area, fifteen 
 miles by six, was swallowed up. In 1783, 
 the north-eastern part of Sicily and the 
 southern portion of Calabria were con- 
 vulsed by violent and oft-repeated shocks, 
 which overthrew the town of Messina, 
 and killed many thousands of its inhab- 
 itants, as well as many persons in Qela- 
 bria. In the same year, the islands of 
 Japan, Java in 1786, Sicily and the Ca- 
 raccas in 1790, Quebec in 1791, and the 
 Antilles and Peru in 1797, were violently 
 agitated by convulsions of this kind. 
 Since the commencement of the present 
 century, various earthquakes have oc- 
 curred both in the Old and New World. 
 In 1811, violent earthquakes shook the 
 valley of the Mississippi, by which lakes 
 of considerable extent disappeared, and 
 new ones were formed. In 1812, Carac- 
 cas was destroyed, and upwards of 12,000 
 of its inhabitants buried in the ruins. 
 In 1815, the town of Tombora, in the 
 island of Sumbawa, was completely de- 
 stroyed by an earthquake, which extend- 
 ed throughout an area 100 miles in dia- 
 meter, and destroyed 12,000 persons. In 
 1819, a violent earthquake occurred at 
 Cutch, in the Delta of the Indus, by which, 
 among other disastrous consequences, the 
 principal town, Bhoog, was converted 
 into a heap of ruins. In 1822, Aleppo 
 was destroyed by an earthquake. In the 
 same year Chili was visited by a most 
 destructive earthquake, from which the 
 coast for 100 miles is stated to have sus- 
 tained an elevation of from two to four 
 feet, while about a mile inward from Val- 
 paraiso, it was raised from six to seven 
 feet. In 1827, Popayan and Bogota suf- 
 fered severely from earthquakes, during 
 which vast fissures opened- in the elevat- 
 ed plains around the latter city. In 1835, 
 the town of Concepcion, in Chili, was en- 
 tirely demolished by an earthquake. In 
 1837, the countries along the eastern ex- 
 tremity of the Mediterranean, especially 
 Syria, were violently agitated by an earth-
 
 182 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EAS 
 
 quake, which caused great damage to the 
 towns of Damascus, Acre, Tyre, and Si- 
 don, and entirely destroyed Tiberias and 
 Safet. Such are some of the most vio- 
 lent earthquakes that have occurred with- 
 in the period of authentic history. 
 
 EASEL, an apparatus constructed of 
 wood, upon which the panel or canvas is 
 placed while a picture is being painted. 
 EASEL-PICTURE is a term employed to 
 designate a picture of small dimensions, 
 
 such as render it portable. In Christian 
 Art, St. Luke is often represented sitting 
 before an easel, upon which is a portrait 
 of the Virgin. Our cut of an artist of the 
 fifteenth century at work at his easel, is 
 from a beautiful Illumination in the fa- 
 mous MS. Romance of the Rose. 
 
 EASE'MENT, in law. a privilege or 
 convenience which one man has of anoth- 
 er, whether by charter or prescription, 
 without profit; such as a way through 
 his lands, &c. 
 
 EAST, one of the four cardinal points 
 of the world ; being that point of the ho- 
 rizon where the sun is seen to rise when 
 in the equator. The word east is indefi- 
 nitely used when we speak of countries 
 which lie eastward of us, as Persia, India, 
 China, <4c. In Christian churches, which 
 are generally built east and west, the 
 chancel stands at the east end, with an 
 emblematic reference to Christ, who is 
 called the Sun of righteousness and the 
 Day-spring. 
 
 EAS'TER, a solemn festival observed 
 among Christians, in commemoration of 
 Christ's resurrection. The Greeks and 
 
 Latins call it pascka ; a Hebrew word, 
 applied to the Jewish feast of the pass- 
 over, to which the Christian festival of 
 Easter corresponds. Thus, St. Paul says 1 
 " For even Christ our passover is sacri- 
 ficed for us." This feast was fixed by the 
 council of Nice, in the year 3'25, to be 
 held on the Sunday which falls upon or 
 immediately after the full moon which 
 happens next after the twenty-first of 
 March ; and as such it stands in the ru- 
 bric of the church of England. The En- 
 glish name Easter, and the German Os- 
 tern, are supposed to be derived from the 
 name of the feast of the Teutonic goddess 
 Ostera, celebrated by the ancient Saxons 
 early in the spring, and for which, as in 
 many other instances, the first mission- 
 aries wisely substituted the Christian fes- 
 tival. 
 
 E AST'ERLING, a coin struck by Rich- 
 ard II., which is supposed to have given 
 rise to the name of sterling, as applied 
 to English money. 
 
 EAST'ER-OFTERINGS, or EASTER- 
 DUES, small sums of money paid to the 
 parochial clergyman by the parishioners. 
 
 EAST-INDIA COMPANY, "the Gov- 
 ernor and company of Merchants of Lon- 
 don trading to the East Indies," the most 
 celebrated commercial association either 
 of ancient or modern times, which has 
 extended its sway over the whole of the 
 Mogul empire, was incorporated about 
 the 42d of queen Elizabeth, A.D. 1600, 
 and empowered to trade to countries to 
 the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 exclusive of all others. A variety of 
 causes had been long operating in favor 
 of such an incorporation. Several very 
 valuable East India ships had been taken 
 from the Portuguese and Spaniards by 
 the English fleets, and awakened the cu- 
 pidity of merchants to the obtaining a 
 share in a traific which promised such 
 great advantages. At length, in 1593, 
 an armament fitted out for the East In- 
 dies by Sir Walter Raleigh, and com- 
 manded by Sir John Borroughs, fell in 
 with, near the Azores, the largest of all 
 the Portuguese carracks. a ship of 1600 
 tons burden carrying 700 men and 36 
 brass cannon ; and, after an obstinate 
 conflict, carried her into Dartmouth. 
 She was the largest vessel that had been 
 seen in England ; and her cargo, consist- 
 ing of gold, spices, calicoes, silks, pearls, 
 drugs, porcelain, ivory, Ac., excited the 
 ardor of the English to engage in so opu- 
 lent a commerce. About the year 1698, 
 application being made to parliament by 
 private merchants, for laying this trade
 
 ECC] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 183 
 
 open, an act passed empowering every 
 subject of England, upon raising a sum 
 of money, for the supply of the govern- 
 ment, to trade to those parts. A great 
 subscription was accordingly raised, and 
 the subscribers were styled the New East- 
 India Company ; but the old establish- 
 ment being in possession of all the forts 
 on the coast of India, the new one found 
 it its interest to unite ; and both, trading 
 with one joint stock, have ever since been 
 known under one name, viz. The United 
 East-India Company. Many and se- 
 vere have been the contests between the 
 advocates of a free trade to India, and 
 the friends of the " incorporated com- 
 pany;" but at length the long-supported 
 monopoly of that powerful body yielded 
 to an act of Parliament passed in 1833, 
 for continuing the charter till 1854, 
 which, in fact, has put a limit to the Com- 
 pany's commercial character, by enact- 
 ing that its trade to China was to cease 
 on the 22d of April, 1834, and that the 
 Company was, as soon as possible after 
 that date, to dispose of their stocks on 
 hand, and close their commercial busi- 
 ness. The functions of the East-India 
 Company are now, therefore, wholly po- 
 litical. She is to continue to govern In- 
 dia, with the concurrence and under the 
 supervision of the Board of Control, till 
 the 30th of April, 1854. 
 
 EAVES, in architecture, the lowest 
 edges of the inclined sides of a roof 
 which project beyond the face of the wall 
 so as to throw the water off therefrom, 
 that being their office. 
 
 EAVES'-DROPPER, one who skulks 
 under the eaves of houses, for the pur- 
 pose of listening to what passes within. 
 
 E'BIONITES, an ancient sect who 
 believed in Christ as an inspired messen- 
 ger of God, but considered him to be at 
 the same time a mere man, born of Jo- 
 seph and Mary. They maintained also 
 the universal obligation of the Mosaic 
 law, and rejected the authority of St. 
 Paul. The origin of their name is un- 
 certain, some deriving it from that of their 
 supposed founder ; others deduce it from 
 a Hebrew word signifying poor, and sup- 
 pose the title to be given to them in ref- 
 erence either to the poverty of the class 
 to which they mostly belonged, or to the 
 meanness of their doctrine. 
 
 EB'ONY, a hard, heavy, durable, 
 black wood, which admits of a fine polish. 
 It is the wood of the eben tree, which 
 grows in India, Madagascar, Ceylon, and 
 the Mauritius. It is wrought into toys, 
 and used for mosaic and inlaid work. 
 
 EBOU'LEMENT, in fortification, the 
 crumbling or falling away of a wall or 
 rampart. 
 
 EBULLFTION, either the operation 
 of boiling, or the effervescence which 
 arises from the mixture of an acid and au 
 alkaline liquor. 
 
 EC'BASIS, in rhetoric, those parts of 
 the proemium, in which the orator treats 
 of things according to their events or 
 consequences. 
 
 EC BOLE, in rhetoric, a digression 
 whereby the speaker introduces some 
 other person speaking in his own words. 
 
 EC'CE HO'MO, (Latin ;) i; Behold the 
 man !" a painting which represents our 
 Saviour, with a crown of thorns on his 
 head, given up to the people by Pilate. 
 The title of it is taken from Pilate's ex- 
 clamation, John xix. 5. 
 
 ECCLE'SIA, in ancient history, the 
 great assembly of the Athenian people, 
 at which every free citizen might attend 
 and vote. This assembly, though nomi- 
 nally possessed of the supreme authority 
 of the state from the earliest times, yet 
 having no fixed times of meeting, was 
 but seldom convened at all ; so that the 
 archons, who were elected from the body 
 of nobles or eupatridae, had virtually the 
 whole management of the state. But the 
 regulations of Solon, which appointed it 
 to meet regularly four times in every 
 period of thirty-five days, besides extraor- 
 dinary occasions on which it might be 
 convened, called it into active energy. 
 Solon, however, restricted the subjects 
 discussed in the Ecclesia to such as had 
 before passed through the senate of five 
 hundred ; but when the democratic spirit 
 of after- times prevailed, this rule was not 
 at all strictly observed. The magistrates 
 who had the management of these as- 
 semblies were the Prytanes, the 'Prohe- 
 dri. and Epistates. The first of these 
 sometimes convened the people, and hung 
 up in a conspicuous place a programme 
 giving an account of the matters to be 
 discussed. The Prohedri proposed to 
 the people the subjects on which they 
 were to decide, and counted the votes. 
 The Epistate, who presided over the 
 whole, gave the liberty of voting, which 
 might not be done before his signal was 
 given. The forms of their proceedings 
 were as follow : First, an expiatory 
 victim was sacrificed, and his blood car- 
 ried and sprinkled round the bounds of 
 the assembly. Then the public crier de- 
 manded silence, and invited all persons 
 above fifty years of age to speak ; after 
 that, any one who pleased. After the
 
 184 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [KCH 
 
 subject was discussed, they proceeded to 
 vote on the crier's demanding of them, 
 " whether they would consent to the de- 
 cree proposed to them ?" The votes were 
 commonly given by show of hands, but 
 on some occasions by ballot. When the 
 suffrages had been examined and their 
 numbers declared, the Prytanes dissolved 
 the assembly. In order to incite the 
 people to attend the Ecclesia, a small 
 pay of one or three oboli was given for 
 early appearance ; and a rope, rubbed 
 with vermilion, was carried through the 
 agora, to mark such as lagged behind, 
 who were accordingly fined. 
 
 ECCLESIAS'TES. one of the canon- 
 ical books of the Old Testament, so called 
 from the Greek word signifying a preach- 
 er. Solomon is generally supposed to be 
 the author of this book, though various 
 opinions hav< been entertained on the 
 subject ; and indeed the whole question 
 of its author, date, and design is involved 
 in such difficulty, that the labors of 
 critics and commentators serve rather to 
 perplex than to assist the inquirer. 
 
 ECCLESIAS'TIC, something per- 
 taining to or set apart for the church : in 
 contradistinction to civil or secular, which 
 regards the world. Ecclesiastics are per- 
 sons whose functions consist in perform- 
 ing the service or in maintaining the dis- 
 cipline of the church. 
 
 ECCLESIAS'TICUS. an apocryphal 
 book of Scripture ; so called from its 
 being read in the church, (ecdesia,) as 
 a book of piety and instruction, but not 
 of infallible authority. The author of 
 this book was a Jew, called Jesus the son 
 of Sirach. The Greeks call it the wisdom 
 of the son of Sirach. It was originally 
 written in Syro Chaldaic, and consists 
 chiefly of meditations relating to religion 
 and the general conduct of human life. 
 It displays but little regard for method- 
 ical arrangement ; but the style is so 
 highly poetical, and the sentiments so 
 profound, that Addison has pronounced 
 it one of the most brilliant moral trea- 
 tises on record. 
 
 E'CHEA, in ancient architecture, so- 
 norous vases of metal or earth in the 
 form of a bell, used in the construction of 
 theatres for the purpose of reverberating 
 the sound of the performer's voice. They 
 were distributed between the seats ; and 
 are described in the fifth book of Vitru- 
 vius, who states that Mummius intro- 
 duced them in Rome, after the taking of 
 Corinth, where he found this expedient 
 used in the theatre. 
 
 ECHELON', a term in military tactics 
 
 borrowed from the French, signifying the 
 position of an army with one division 
 more advanced than another, somewhat 
 like the steps of a ladder. A battalion, 
 regiment Ac., marches en echelon, if the 
 divisions of which it is composed do not 
 march in one line, but on parallel lines. 
 The divisions are not exactly behind each 
 other, but each is to the right or left of 
 the one preceding, so as to give the whole 
 the appearance of a stairway. This or- 
 der is used if the commander wishes to 
 bring one part of a mass into action, and 
 to reserve the other. The word literally 
 me?ns a ladder or stairway. 
 
 ECHID'NA, in Grecian mythology, the 
 daughter of Geryon and the sea-nymph 
 Callirhoe, or of Tartarus and Gaia; a 
 monster that devoured travellers : parents, 
 according to Hesiod, of thob-v- well-known 
 terrors of ancient Greece, Cerberus, the 
 Hydra, the Sphinx, and the Nemcan lion. 
 Hence some suppose the name to repre- 
 sent a sort of general type of monsters 
 and terrific phenomena. 
 
 ECHI'NUS. the "egg and tongue" or 
 " egg and anchor" ornament, frequently 
 met with in classical architecture, carved 
 
 on the ovolo. The type of this ornament 
 I is considered to be derived from the chest- 
 nut and shell. 
 
 ECH'O, a sound reflected or reverber- 
 ated from some hard surface, and thence 
 returned or repeated to the ear. As the 
 undulatory motion of the air, which con- 
 stitutes sound, is propagated in all direc- 
 tions from the sounding body, it will fre- 
 quently happen that the air, in perform- 
 ing its vibrations, will impinge against 
 various objects, which will reflect it back, 
 and so cause new vibrations the contrary 
 way ; now if the objects are so situated as 
 to reflect a sufficient number of vibra- 
 tions back, viz., such as proceed different 
 ways, to the same place, the second will 
 be there repeated, and is culled an echo ; 
 and the greater the distance of the object 
 is, the longer will be the time before the 
 repetition is heard : and when the sound, 
 in its progress, meets with objects at dif- 
 ferent distances, sufficient to produce an 
 echo, the same sound will be repeated 
 several times successively, according to 
 the different distances of these objects 
 from the sounding body, which makes
 
 ECL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 185 
 
 what is called a repeated echo. Echoes 
 are not, however, caused by a mere re- 
 pulsion of the sonorous particles of air, 
 for then every hard substances would pro- 
 duce an echo ; but it is supposed to re- 
 quire a certain degree of concavity in the 
 repelling body, which collects several di- 
 verging lines of sound, and concentrates 
 them in the place where the echo is audi- 
 ble, or, at least, reflects them in parallel 
 lines, without weakening the sound, as a 
 concave mirror collects in a focus the di- 
 verging rays of light, or sometimes sends 
 them back parallel. The celebrated echo 
 at Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, repeats the 
 same sound fifty times. But the most 
 singular echo is that near Kosneath, a 
 few miles from Glasgow. If a person 
 placed at a proper distance from this echo 
 plays eight or ten notes of a tune with a 
 trumpet, they are correctly repeated by 
 the echo, but a third lower ; after a short 
 pause, another repetition is heard, in a 
 lower tone ; and then, after another in- 
 terval, a third repetition follows in a still 
 lower tone. Echo, in architecture, any 
 vault or arch constructed so as to produce 
 an artificial echo. These are generally 
 of a parabolic or elliptic form ; of this 
 kind is the whispering-gallery in St. 
 Paul's cathedral. Echo, in poetry, a sort 
 of verse which returns the sound of the 
 last syllable, the elegance of which con- 
 sists in giving a new sense to the last 
 words. 
 
 ECHOM'ETER, among musicians, a 
 kind of scale or rule, serving to measure 
 the duration and length of sounds, and to 
 find their intervals and ratios. 
 
 ECLAIR'CISSEMENT, the clearing 
 up of anything not before understood. 
 
 ECLAT', (French,) a burst of applause ; 
 renown or approbation following some ac- 
 tion or event. 
 
 ECLEC TICS, those philosophers who, 
 without attaching themselves to any par- 
 ticular sect, select whatever appears to 
 them the best and most rational from 
 each. The Eclectics were a sect of Greek 
 philosophers who endeavored to mould 
 the doctrines of Pythagoras and Plato, 
 and blend them with the theology of the 
 Egyptians, and the tenets of Zoroaster. 
 They borrowed many of the principal 
 truths of Christianity from the catechetic 
 school of Alexandria, and blending these 
 with the mysticism of Pythagoras, the er- 
 rors of Plato, and the superstition of 
 Egypt, they hoped to reconcile the Chris- 
 tians and Pagans to the same opinions. 
 An eclectic spirit, it is evident, can only 
 arise at a period of some maturity in phil- 
 
 osophical speculation. Whether or not 
 it is to be regarded as an evidence of the 
 decay of original power in the age in 
 which it appears, must depend on the less 
 or greater coherence in the system when 
 completed. In one sense of the word, 
 Plato and Aristotle may be regarded as 
 eclectics. They both availed themselves 
 largely of the labors of their predecessors. 
 Plato, in particular, comprehended in his 
 scheme of philosophy the whole of more 
 than one foregoing system ; as the doc- 
 trine of Heraclitus of the perpetual flux 
 of sensible objects, and the consequent 
 uncertainty of sensible impressions. But 
 in the hands of these great thinkers the 
 discerpta membra are reunited, and en- 
 dued with a principle of vitality as con- 
 stituent parts of a harmonious whole. 
 The same cannot be said of others who 
 have adopted a similar method ; especial- 
 ly of most of those to whom the term 
 eclectic has been more particularly ap- 
 plied. A far more favorable specimen of 
 the eclectic spirit has been afl'orded us in 
 modern times in the person of M. Victor 
 Cousin, without doubt the most able and 
 ingenious thinker of modern France. See 
 his Lectures on the History of Philoso- 
 phy, in which eclecticism is presented un- 
 der its fairest guise, and vindicated with 
 the utmost vigor of style and acuteness of 
 thought. 
 
 EC'LOGUE, in the original meaning 
 of the word, the select or choice pieces of 
 an author ; or extracts collected out of 
 former works, such as were termed in 
 Latin excerpta. It is not known how 
 this title was originally given to the pas- 
 toral poems of Virgil ; but from the cir- 
 cumstance of their being so named, the 
 word eclogue in modern usage is applied 
 to that species of poetry. The persons 
 who are introduced conversing in ec- 
 logues, or whose adventures are recounted 
 in them, are shepherds ; that is, for the 
 most part, imaginary personages, whose 
 sentiments, and tfie external circum- 
 stances among which they live, belong 
 rather to an ideal age of gold than to the 
 realities of modern life ; and their loves', 
 constitute the main and proper subjects 
 of the eclogue. Nevertheless various 
 writers have endeavored, but with little* 
 success, to give an air of greater reality 
 to pastoral poetry, and give their rustics 
 more of the costume and diction of actual 
 clowns ; but the result has been a species 
 of burlesque, not at all answering to our 
 conceptions of pastoral poetry ; nor can 
 we easily imagine that the personages of 
 Theocritus, although the earliest and
 
 186 
 
 CYCLOl'KDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 therefore the simplest of pastoral poets, 
 are correct resemblances of the Sicilian 
 rustics nmong whom the writer lived. 
 The eclogues of Virgil are of various de- 
 scriptions : some of them only have the 
 true character of pastorals; others con- 
 tain occasional poems on public and pri- 
 vate events of that day, very slightly 
 enveloped in the pastoral costume. The 
 characteristics of this species of poetry, 
 as assumed by the moderns, are, first, the 
 representation of nature in soft and quiet 
 scenes of cultivation ; secondly, a slightly 
 dramatic turn either of action or narra- 
 tion ; thirdly, characters whose senti- 
 ments and language are confined within 
 certain peculiar limits ; thus, any strong 
 emotion, virtue, or vice, would be an 
 unfit topic for a pastoral poet to dwell 
 upon. In English literature, Spenser, 
 Philips, and a few others, may be named 
 as pastoral poets in the strict sense of 
 the word ; others, as. Milton in his L>yci- 
 das, have assumed the pastoral costume 
 in order to convey a very different class 
 of ideas. It is worthy of remark, that 
 this species of composition is among 
 those which have wholly disappeared in 
 the present day : the English have had 
 no pastoral poet since Gay and Collins ; 
 and Gesner, in Germany, is the latest 
 author who has acquired any degree of 
 celebrity in this line. 
 
 ECON'OMY, the frugal expenditure 
 of money, with the prudent management 
 of all the means by which property is 
 saved or accumulated. It also means, a 
 judicious application of time and labor. 
 In a more extended sense, it denotes the 
 regulation and disposition of the affairs 
 of a state or nation, which is called polit- 
 ical economy. And it is likewise applied 
 to the regular operations of nature in 
 the generation, nutrition, and preserva- 
 tion of animals or plants; as, animal 
 economy, vegetable economy. 
 
 ECOR'CIIEE, (ANATOMICAL FIG- 
 URE.) this convenient word, for which 
 we have no equivalent in our language, 
 signifies the subject, man or animal, 
 flayed, deprived of its skin, so that the 
 muscular system is exposed for the pur- 
 poses of study. The word skeleton is 
 %limited in its application to the bony 
 structure. The study of the muscular 
 system is one of the greatest importance 
 to the artist. The difficulties in the way 
 of studying the dead subject are so great, 
 that it has been found necessary to con- 
 struct models in papier-mache or plaster, 
 in which the prominent muscles are ex- 
 hibited and colored after nature, which 
 
 are used in academies and schools by 
 students. 
 
 ECPIIONE'SIS, in rhetoric, a figure 
 of speech used by an orator to give utter- 
 ance to the warmth of his feelings 
 
 ECS'TASY, that state of the mind in 
 which the functions of the senses fe 
 either suspended or transported with r;ij, 
 tures, by the contemplation of some, ex- 
 traordinary object. In medicine, a spe 
 cies of catalepsy, when the person re- 
 members, after the paroxysm is over, the 
 ideas he had during the fit. 
 
 ECSTAT'ICI, a sort of diviners 
 amongst the Greeks, who for a considera- 
 ble time lay in trances, deprived of all 
 sense and motion, but when they return- 
 ed to their former state, gave strange 
 accounts of what they had seen 7?<i 
 heard during their absence from the body. 
 
 EC'TYPE, a word sometimes used by 
 antiquarians, signifying an impression of 
 a medal, seal, or ring, or a figured copy 
 of an inscription or other ancient monu- 
 ment. 
 
 ED'DA, the ancient collection of Scan- 
 dinavian poetry in which the national 
 mythology is contained. There are two 
 Eddas : the older is believed to have been 
 reduced to writing, from oral tradition, 
 in Iceland, between A.D. 1050 and 1133. 
 It was recovered and published in Den- 
 mark in 1643. The new Edda, supposed 
 to have been composed 200 years after 
 the former, is an abridgment of it, with 
 a new arrangement of its parts. It was 
 translated by Kesenius in 1640, and is 
 thence called the Resenian Edda. The 
 authenticity of these monuments of an 
 early age has been doubted in recent 
 times, but the latest researches of critics 
 (the brothers Grimm and others) seem to 
 go far towards establishing it. 
 
 E'DICT, an order issued by a prince to 
 his subjects, as a rule or law requiring 
 obedience. In Roman history we fre- 
 quently meet with the edicts of the em- 
 perors and the edicts of the praetors, con- 
 taining notices to the people in what 
 manner they intended to execute the 
 laws. Edictum perpetuum was a col- 
 lection of all the laws which had been 
 yearly published by the praetors in their 
 edicts. It was so called because it was 
 intended to continue in force forever, and 
 serve as a guide and rule in the adminis- 
 tration of justice throughout the empire. 
 The Edict of Milan was a proclama- 
 tion issued by Constantino after the con- 
 quest of Italy, A.D. 313, to secure to 
 the Christians the restitution of their 
 civil and religious rites, of which they
 
 EDU] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 187 
 
 had long been deprived, and to establish 
 throughout his extended dominions the 
 principles of a wise and enlightened tol- 
 eration. The most famous edict of mod- 
 ern history is the Edict of Nantes, issued 
 by Henry IV. in 1598, to secure to the 
 Protestants the free exercise of their re- 
 ligion. This act, after continuing in 
 force nearly a century, was repealed by 
 Louis XIV. ; and, as is well known, its 
 revocation led to a renewal of the perse- 
 cutions and bloody scenes which previ- 
 ously to the issuing of this edict had 
 been enacted against the Protestants. 
 The depopulation caused by the sword 
 was also increased by emigration. Above 
 half a million of her most useful and in- 
 dustrious subjects deserted France, and 
 exported, together with immense sums 
 of money, those arts and manufactures 
 which had chiefly tended to enrich the 
 kingdom. About 50,000 refugees passed 
 over into England ; and there can be 
 little doubt that their representations of 
 the cruelties perpetrated by the King of 
 France tended to excite the suspicions of 
 the English against their own Roman 
 Catholic sovereign, and in some degree 
 accelerated the advent of the Revolution 
 of 1688. In the French law, the term 
 edict has a wide signification, being ap- 
 plied equally to the most momentous and 
 the most trifling proclamations of the 
 government. 
 
 EDITION, means simply the (indefi- 
 nite) number of copies of a work printed 
 at one time, before the types are distrib- 
 uted by the compositor. Any one who 
 prepares for publication the writings of 
 another is said to edit them, and is called 
 the editor. In literary language, since 
 the invention of printing, the editor of a 
 work revises, adds notes, prepares for 
 the press, &c., &c. : the publisher is the 
 bookseller who negotiates the sale of the 
 impression. Sometimes (but especially 
 in classical works) the edition goes gen- 
 erally by the name of the printer or pub- 
 lisher, sometimes by that of the editor. 
 Thus, we have the Aldine and Elzevir 
 Classics, &c., the houses of Aldus and El- 
 zevir having been concerned both in 
 printing and publishing ; while Bentley's 
 Horace, Heyne's Homer, <fcc., are so de- 
 nominated from the name of the editor. 
 In bibliographical works, editio princeps 
 signifies the earliest printed edition of an 
 author ; editio optima, that which is 
 generally regarded as the best, <fec. 
 
 EDITORS, are of different species : 
 1. Those who merelv republish a text, or 
 content themselves^with adding notes 
 
 and commentaries to it. 2. Those who 
 superintend the publication of a work, re- 
 ceiving the manuscripts from one or 
 more contributors ; seeing that the ob- 
 ject of the work is attained, that the 
 language is correct, the illustrations ap- 
 propriate, and the facts accurately 
 stated, and that all the parts of the 
 work are properly adjusted and made 
 subordinate to each other. 3. Those who 
 furnish the most important matter, and 
 superintend the literary arrangements of 
 a newspaper or other periodical publica- 
 tion. 
 
 EDUCA'TION. in its most extended 
 signification, may be defined, in reference 
 to man, to be t^e art of developing and 
 cultivating the various physical, intel- 
 lectual, and moral faculties ; and may 
 thence be divided into three branches 
 physical, intellectual, and moral educa- 
 tion. This definition is by no means com- 
 plete ; but it is used merely as indica- 
 tive of the manner in which this subject 
 has generally been discussed. Under 
 physical education is included all that 
 relates to the organs of sensation, and 
 the muscular and nervous system. Intel- 
 lectual education comprehends the means 
 by which the powers of the understanding 
 are to be developed and improved, and a 
 view of the various branches of knowledge 
 which folrn the objects of instruction of 
 the three departments into which wo 
 have divided education. Moral educa- 
 tion embraces the various methods of 
 cultivating and regulating the affections 
 of the heart. The influence which edu- 
 cation has exercised in humanizing the 
 world is universally acknowledged. Its 
 importance has been recognized by phi- 
 losophers and legislators in every age ; 
 and by all the nations, both of antiquity 
 and modern times, which have become 
 distinguished in history, it has been re- 
 garded as the chief element in the at- 
 tainment and promotion of civilization. 
 The reader will find, in the writings of 
 Plato, Plutarch, and Quintilian, among 
 the ancients, and in modern times of 
 Locke, Rousseau, Basedow, Niemeyer, 
 Rehberg, Cousin, &c., a view of the chief 
 systems that have been proposed or 
 adopted in reference to this subject. 
 Education in Greece and Rome. The 
 education of youth was strictly attended 
 to both amongst the Greeks and Romans. 
 Their minds and bodies were improved 
 at the same time ; their minds by every 
 necessary branch of knowledge and 
 learning, and their bodies by the manly 
 exercises of the Campus Martius, or pri-
 
 188 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EIS 
 
 vate contests and trials of skill, agility, 
 and .strength. It was the chief aim of 
 the Romans, as well as Grecians, to 
 make them shine in the senate and in 
 ihu field, at the forum and the public 
 games. Oratory was an object which 
 they kept constantly in view ; and what- 
 ever was their destination, they endeav- 
 oured to acquire the arts of elocution and 
 a habit of fluent reasoning. Lacedaemon 
 trained her hardy sons to despise danger, 
 endure fatigue, and seem insensible of 
 pain to maintain their honor unstained, 
 to love their country, and hold in con- 
 tempt riches, and all that train of ener- 
 vating pleasures which are the com- 
 panions of affluence. So far all this was 
 meritorious in a high degree ; but how 
 circumscribed must the space have been 
 which was then allowed for intellectual 
 exertion, when the whole world of science 
 was a terra incognita. 
 
 EDMUND ST. an Anglo-Saxon king, 
 who in 870 fell a victim to the Danes, by 
 whom England was invaded. He was ta- 
 ken prisoner, scourged, bound to a tree, 
 then killed by arrows ; wherefore he, like 
 St. Sebastian, is represented as tied to a 
 tree, with an arrow in his breast, but 
 bearing a crown. The sword, which is 
 also one of his attributes, refers to th$ 
 legend, that he was afterwards beheaded. 
 As St. Edmund does not always^vcar the 
 insignia of royalty, his picture is often 
 mistaken for that of St. Sebastian; but 
 the beard on the upper lip, denoting 
 military rank, is the attribute solely of 
 the latter. 
 
 EDWARD, THE CONFESSOR, an Eng- 
 lish king, who died A.D. 1066, is repre- 
 sented in royal garments, and with the 
 symbols of Justice, a Mace, and also his 
 Book of Laws. He sometimes bears a 
 sick person, whom he is said to have 
 healed by carrying him into a church. 
 
 EDWARD, THE MARTYR, a king of 
 England. He was stabbed at the insti- 
 gation of his stepmother, while in the act 
 of drinking, A.D. 978. His attributes are, 
 a goblet, a dagger, and the insignia of 
 royalty. 
 
 EFFECT', the consequence of a cause, 
 sometimes simple and visible, sometimes 
 complicated and invisible, but always 
 simultaneous with the cause. Effect, 
 the impression produced upon the mind 
 at the sight of a picture, or other work 
 of Art, at the first glance, Before the de- 
 tails are examined. Thus, some bold 
 outlines indicating the principal forms, 
 with the masses of light and shade prop- 
 erly thrown in and the local colors put 
 
 on, are sufficient to produce a picture 
 which at the first view may appear 
 strikingly brilliant and true, although 
 many of the details proper to the subject 
 are omitted, or the drawing not strictly 
 correct, or the coloring deficient in har- 
 mony. Such is the state in which most 
 good sketches or designs are made, by 
 which the ultimate effect of the work 
 when most carefully executed is judged. 
 Effect is also the result of all the pecu- 
 liar excellencies of the true master ; the 
 ensemble, which is brilliant and striking, 
 as in the works of Rubens. The word 
 effects signify personal or movable goods. 
 
 EFFEC'TIVE, in military language, 
 an epithet for a body of men that are fit 
 for service ; as 20,000 effective men. 
 
 EFFEMINACY, that softness, deli- 
 cacy, and weakness, which are character- 
 istic of the female sex, but which in men 
 are considered a reproach. 
 
 EFFEN'DI, a Turkish word signifying 
 lord or superior ; applied to legal, eccle- 
 siastical, or other civil functionaries, in 
 contradistinction to aga, the name by 
 which high military personages are desig- 
 nated. 
 
 EFFI'CIENT, producing the effect in- 
 tended. The efficient cause is that which 
 produces ; the final cause is that for 
 which it is produced. 
 
 EFFIGY, the literal representation or 
 image of a person. Although the word 
 is sometimes applied to a portrait, it is 
 not synonymous with it, but conveys an 
 idea of a more exact imitation, a more 
 striking and authentic resemblance, as 
 we meet with in -wax-figures. The ordi- 
 nary application of the word is to the 
 sculptured figures on sepulchral monu- 
 ments, and to the heads of monarchs, &c., 
 on coins and medals. 
 
 EFFLTJ VIA, the small particles per- 
 petually flowing out of mixed bodies in 
 the form of vapors, which are sometimes 
 visible, as in the case of smoke or steam ; 
 and sometimes not perceptible, as the 
 noxious exhalations from putrefying an- 
 imal or vegetable substances. Malig- 
 nant effluvia are assigned, by physicians, 
 as the cause of the plague and other con- 
 tagious diseases. 
 
 EGYPTIAN-BLUE, a brilliant pig- 
 ment, which upon analysis is found to 
 consist of the hydrated protoxide of cop- 
 per, mixed with a minute quantity of 
 iron. It was long supposed that this fine 
 blue was an ore of cobalt. 
 
 EISTEDD'FOD, the assemblies or ses- 
 sions of the Welsh jrird? were so termed. 
 They were held alTOifferent places for
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 189 
 
 the minstrels of their respective neigh- 
 borhoods ; at Caerwys, at Aberfraw in 
 Anglesea, and Mathravel in Powys. The 
 judges were appointed by commissions 
 from the Welsh princes, and after the 
 Conquest from the English kings. The 
 last was issued in 1568. But the Gwyn- 
 nedigion and Cambrian Societies have 
 lately revived the old custom ; and annu- 
 al meetings for the recitation of prize 
 poems, and for performances on the harp, 
 are now held under the name of Eistedd- 
 fod. 
 
 EJECT'MENT, in law, a writ or ac- 
 tion which lies for the recovery of pos- 
 session of land from which the owner 
 has been ejected, and for trial of title. 
 Ejectment may be brought by the lessor 
 against the lessee for rent in arrear, or 
 for holding over his term ; also by the 
 lessee for years, who has been ejected be- 
 fore the expiration of his term. 
 
 ELAB'ORATE, an epithet expressive 
 of great care, diligence, &c., used in the 
 execution of any performance. 
 
 EL'DER, a person advanced in life, 
 and who, on account of his age and ex- 
 perience, is selected to fill some impor- 
 tant office. In Jewish history, the elders 
 were persons the most considerable for 
 age, experience, and wisdom. Of this 
 sort were the seventy men whom Moses 
 associated to himself in the government 
 of his people ; such also were those who 
 afterwards held the first rank in the syn- 
 agogue, as presidents. In the first Chris- 
 tian churches, elders were persons who 
 enjoyed offices or ecclesiastical functions, 
 and the word includes apostles, pastors, 
 presbyters, bishops, or overseers ; hence 
 the first councils of the Christians were 
 called presbyteria, or councils of elders. In 
 the modern presbyterian churches, elders 
 are officers, who, with the ministers and 
 deacons, compose the sessions of the kirk, 
 and have authority to inspect and regu- 
 late matters of religion and discipline. 
 
 EL DORA'DO, the name given by the 
 Spaniards to an imaginary country, sup- 
 posed in the 16th century to be situated 
 in the interior of South America, between 
 the rivers Oronooo and Amazon, and, as 
 the name implied, abounding in gold and 
 all manner of precious stones. After the 
 Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru, 
 the most exaggerated accounts of the 
 wealth and riches of the newly acquired 
 territory were circulated and believed. 
 A new region was fabled to exist far 
 surpassing the wealth and splendor of 
 Peru ; expeditions were fitted out for the 
 purpose of discovering it ; and though 
 
 all such attempts proved abortive, the 
 rumors of its existence continued to be 
 believed down to the beginning of last 
 century. The term then passed into the 
 language of poetry, in which it was used 
 to express a land of boundless wealth and 
 felicity, like the ancient Elysium or the 
 Mohammedan Paradise ; until the recent 
 discoveries in California gave that coun- 
 try a fresh claim to the appellation. 
 
 ELEAT'IC PHILOS'OPHY, a system 
 owing its origin to Xenophanes, a native 
 of Elea (in Latin Velia,) who lived about 
 the year B.C. 530. The most celebrated 
 of his followers were Parmenides and 
 Zeno, also natives of Elea. The dialectical 
 character of the principal systems of an- 
 tiquity may be said to owe its existence 
 to the Eleatics. The tendency of their 
 speculations was the direct contrary of 
 that which distinguishes the Ionic school. 
 While the latter fixed their attention on 
 outward nature, and strove to discover 
 the laws which regulate its progress, 
 Xenophanes and his disciples confined 
 their thoughts to what they conceived to 
 be the only objects of real knowledge 
 the ideas of God, or Being as it is in it- 
 self. The world of succession and change, 
 which they designated under the title of 
 that which becomes (TO j-ij-i/d^fi")!',) they 
 held to be utterly vain and illusory ; the 
 very conception of change itself seeming 
 to them to involve a contradiction. Time, 
 space and motion they regarded as mere 
 phantasms, generated by the deceiving 
 senses, and incapable of scientific expla- 
 nation. They were consequently led to 
 distinguish between the pure reason, the 
 correlative of Being, and in one sense 
 identical with it, and opinion or common 
 understanding, the faculty which judges 
 according to the impressions of sense. 
 Parmenides, in particular, was the author 
 of a philosophical epic, the two books of 
 which treated respectively of these two 
 modes of thinking. For a full account 
 of all that can be gathered from remain- 
 ing fragments of this rigid system of ra- 
 tionalism, the reader must consult the 
 German writers on the subject : in par- 
 ticular Brandis and Ritter, in their his- 
 tories of philosophy. Frequent allusion 
 is made both by Plato and Aristotle to 
 the Eleatic doctrines, the authors of which 
 are mentioned by both those philosophers 
 in termsof evident respect and veneration. 
 Plato has ma4e their system the subject 
 of a whole dialogue, entitled the Par- 
 menides ; perhaps the most striking spe- 
 cimen of dialectic subtlety which Grecian 
 philosophy affords.
 
 190 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ELE 
 
 ELECT', in theology, among Calvin- 
 ists, a term for those whom they believe 
 God has chosen, or predestinated to be 
 saved. Elect, in matters of polity, sig- 
 nifies chosen, but not inaugurated. Thus 
 the President of the United States, before 
 his predecessor's term of office has ex- 
 pired, is called the President elect. 
 
 ELECTION, the act of choosing a per- 
 son to fill an office or employment, by 
 any manifestation of preference ; and is 
 applicable to the choice of members of 
 the legislature, which takes place within 
 every seven years ; to the choice of 
 parish officers, annually ; and to the ad- 
 mission of members into societies. Some- 
 times it is practised by show of hands ; 
 sometimes by ballot, and at others, by 
 every elector giving his vote separately, 
 with an oath in regard to his right and 
 integrity. Election is also the state of 
 a person who is left to his own free will, 
 to take or do one thing or another, which 
 he pleases. Election, in theology, divine 
 choice, by which persons, according to 
 the Calvinistic - creed, are distinguished 
 as objects for salvation by the special 
 grace of God, without reference to their 
 good or bad deeds. 
 
 ELEC'TIVE GOVERNMENTS are 
 those in which all functionaries, from the 
 highest to the lowest, are chosen by the 
 suffrages of a greater or less number of 
 citizens. Of these the government of 
 Athens in antiquity, and in modern times 
 that of the United States, will serve as 
 examples. When the functionaries of an 
 elective government are chosen by a very 
 great number, it is identical with a de- 
 mocracy ; and when by a comparatively 
 small number, either with an aristocracy 
 or an oligarchy. 
 
 ELEC'TOR, in law, any one who has 
 the right of giving his vote at an election, 
 particularly at an election of a member 
 of parliament. Elector, in political his- 
 tory, the title of such German princes as 
 formerly had a voice in the election of 
 the emperor of Germany. 
 
 ELEC'TORATE, the dignity or ter- 
 ritory of an elector in the German em- 
 pire. 
 
 ELEC'TROTYPE, the process by which 
 works in relief are produced by the agen- 
 cy of electricity through which certain 
 metals, such as gold, silver, and copper, 
 are precipitated from their solutions upon 
 moulds in so fine a state o^ division as to 
 form a coherent mass of pure metal, equal 
 in toughness and flexibility to the ham- 
 mered metals. The applications of this 
 beautiful Art appear almost unlimited, 
 
 and as a means of reproducing fac-similes 
 of art it is most invaluable. 
 
 ELEC'TRUM, the term is applied in 
 ancient art to amber, and to a compound 
 of gold and silver, which resembled am- 
 ber in color, and was employed for simi- 
 lar purposes to those metals. 
 
 ELEEMOS'YNARY, an epithet for 
 whatever pertains to the use and manage- 
 ment of charitable donations, whether in- 
 tended for the relief of the poor or sick, 
 or appropriated to education. A hospital 
 founded by charity is an eleemosynary 
 institution for the sick ; a college founded 
 by donation is also eleemosynary ; and so 
 is the corporation which is entrusted with 
 the care of such institutions. 
 
 EL'EGANCE, in a general sense, is 
 that which pleases by its symmetry, pu- 
 rity', or beauty ; and is select, as distin- 
 guished from what is common. In litera- 
 ture, elegance of composition consists in 
 well-chosen words and phrases, arranged 
 in an appropriate and happy manner. It 
 implies neatness, purity, and perspicuous 
 arrangement ; a style calculated to please 
 a delicate taste, rather than to excite ad- 
 miration or strong feeling. In speaking, 
 it includes propriety of diction and rich 
 expressions with gracefulness of action. 
 In painting, it implies a certain manner 
 which embellishes and heightens objects ; 
 as in Corregio, where, notwithstanding all 
 the defects as to justness of design, there 
 is an elegance even in the manner of the 
 design itself, as well as in the turn of the 
 attitudes, &c. In architecture, elegance 
 consists in the due symmetry and distri- 
 bution of the parts of an edifice, or in reg- 
 ular proportions and arrangement. It is 
 also applied to various works of art or 
 nature remarkable for their beauty of 
 form, &c. 
 
 ELE'GIT. in law, a writ of execution, 
 which lies for a person who has recovered 
 debt or damages ; or upon a recognizance 
 in any court, against a defendant that is 
 not able in his goods to satisfy his credi- 
 tors. 
 
 EL'EGY, a mournful and plaintive 
 kind of poem. The principal writers of 
 elegiac verse among the Latins, were 
 Propertius, Ovid, and Tibullus ; the chief 
 writers of elegy among the Greeks, were 
 Callimachus, Parthenius, and Euphorion. 
 The form of verse in which it was composed 
 was the alternate hexameter and pentame- 
 ter. In modern times almost all the nations 
 of Europe have practised this species of 
 composition ; but if we except the elegies 
 of Hammond, Milton's Lycidas, and 
 Gray's Elegy among the English, and
 
 ELG] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 191 
 
 Matthisson's Elegie among the Germans, 
 it does not appear with great success. The 
 noble poem of Tennyson, entitled In Me- 
 moriam, has, however, recently been 
 placed in the highest rank of this species 
 of compositions by the unanimous ver- 
 dict of the most enlightened critics. 
 
 EL'EMENT, in physiology, a term 
 used to denote the original component 
 parts of bodies, or those into which they 
 are ultimately resolvable. In the an- 
 cient and still popular sense of the word, 
 the elements are understood to be four in 
 number ; namely, fire, air, earth, and 
 water ; but by the researches of modern 
 science it is fully demonstrated that earth 
 is a compound of many earths ; air, a 
 compound of at least two gases ; water, a 
 compound of hydrogen and oxygen ; and 
 fire, only the extrication of light and heat 
 during combustion. Modern chemistry 
 has, in fact, determined that an element 
 is merely the last result of chemical anal- 
 ysis, or that which cannot be decomposed 
 by any means now employed. Elements, 
 in a figurative sense, is used for the prin- 
 ciple's and foundations of any art or sci- 
 ence, as " Euclid's Elements," <fcc. Ele- 
 ments, in divinity, the bread and wine 
 prepared for the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper. 
 
 ELEMEN'TARY, an epithet expres- 
 sive of that which is uncompounded, or 
 having only one principle or constituent 
 part. It also denotes rudimental, or in- 
 itiatory ; as, an elementary treatise. 
 
 ELEN'CHUS, in logic, a sophism, or 
 fallacious argument, which deceives the 
 hearer under the appearance of truth. 
 
 ELEPHAN'TINE, in Roman anti- 
 quity, an appellation given to the books 
 wherein were registered the transactions 
 of the senate and magistrates of Rome, 
 of the emperors or generals of armies, 
 and even of the provincial magistrates, 
 the births and classes of the people, and 
 other things relating to -the census. They 
 were so called, perhaps, as being made 
 of ivory. 
 
 ELEUSIN'IA, in Grecian antiquity, a 
 solemn and mysterious festival in honor 
 of Ceres, kept every fourth year by the 
 Celeans and Philiasians, and every fifth 
 year by the Athenians, Lacedemonians. 
 Parrhasians and Cretans, at Eleusis, a 
 borough of Attica. It was transferred 
 from thence to Rome by the emperor 
 Adrian. The Eleusinia was the most 
 celebrated and mysterious solemnity of 
 any in Greece, and often called by way 
 of eminence mysteria. The mysteries 
 Mrere of two kinds, the greater and the 
 
 less ; the less were preparatory to the 
 greater. They consisted of a solemn rep- 
 resentation of what was supposed to pass in 
 the regions of Elysium and Tartarus ; 
 and their chief design was, by sensible 
 means, to spread among the people a 
 conviction of the immortality of the soul, 
 and of a future state ofrewards and pun- 
 ishments. To reveal the secrets of the 
 Eleusinian mysteries was looked upon as 
 a crime that would not fail to draw down 
 the vengeance of heaven. The person 
 who presided at these rites was called 
 Hierophantes, or the revealer of holy 
 truths. 
 
 ELEUTHE'RIA, in Grecian antiquity, 
 a festival celebrated at Plataea, in mem- 
 ory of the defeat of Mardonius, the gen- 
 eral of Xerxes : and in honor of those 
 who gallantly sacrificed their lives for 
 tho liberty of their country. It was held 
 every fifth year, when prizes were con- 
 tended for. 
 
 ELEVA'TION, in its primary sense, 
 denotes exaltation ; the act of raising 
 from a lower place to a higher; or, 
 figuratively, the act of exalting in rank ; 
 as, the elevation of a man to a throne. 
 In architecture, an orthographic or up- 
 right draught of a building. Elevation 
 of the Host, in the Romish church, that 
 part of the ceremony of the mass which 
 consists in the priest's raising the host 
 above his head for the people to adore. 
 
 ELF'- ARROWS, a name given to flints 
 in the shape of arrow-heads, vulgarly 
 supposed to be shot by fairies. They are 
 frequently met with in Great Britain, 
 and there is reason to believe they were 
 weapons of offence among the ancient 
 Britons. 
 
 ELFS, or FAIRIES, imaginary be- 
 ings, honored more particularly by the 
 northern nations, in whose mythology 
 they occupy a prominent place. They 
 were divided into two classes the good 
 and the bad; and their exploits have 
 given rise to a multiplicity of delightful 
 stories. 
 
 EL'GIN MAR'BLES, a collection of 
 splendid basso-relievos and fragments of 
 statuary, which were brought from the 
 Parthenon from Athens to England, in 
 1814, by Lord Elgin, (hence the name.) 
 They are now in the British Museum, 
 having been purchased by the government 
 for .35,000. They are unquestionably 
 some of the finest remains of ancient Art, 
 and offer the richest field for study. They 
 consist chiefly of the Metopes, represent 
 ing for the most part the combats of the 
 Centaurs and Lapithae ; a portion of the
 
 192 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [KI.O 
 
 frieze of the cella, representing the Pan- 
 athenaic procession ; and the statues or 
 fragments of them, which ornamented the 
 tympunu of the pediments of the Parthe- 
 non or temple of Minerva at Athens. The 
 superiority of the Elgin Marbles to all 
 others, consists in this, that they represent 
 the human fram^draped and undraped, 
 massive, and beyond the natural size, in 
 nearly every attitude, without the artist 
 having in a single instance degenerated 
 into coarseness, mannerism, or been for- 
 getful of absolute truth beauty ever 
 kept in view. 
 
 ELI'SHA, this prophet is represented 
 with a two-headed eagle over his head, 
 or upon his shoulder ; referring to his 
 petition to Elijah for a double portion 
 of his spirit. The subjects usually chosen 
 in works of Art in which Elisha appears, 
 are that of the Bears destroying the 
 Children ; Elisha seizing Elijah's man- 
 tle ; his Raising the Child ; his Interview 
 with the King's messenger; and his Caus- 
 ing the Axe to Swiin. 
 
 ELI'SION, in grammar, the cutting 
 off or suppressing a vowel at the end of a 
 word for the sake of sound or measure, 
 when the next word begins with a vowel ; 
 as, tli' ensanguined field. 
 
 ELIZABETH AN ARCHITECTURE, 
 a name given to the impure architect- 
 
 Elizabethan Window, Rushton Hall, cir. 1590. 
 
 ure of the times of Elizabeth and James 
 I., when the worst forms of Gothic and 
 
 debased Italian were jumbled together, 
 producing a singular and absurd hetero- 
 geneousness in detail with wonderful pic- 
 turesqueness in general efl'ect. Its chief 
 characteristics are deeply embayed win 
 dows, and galleries of great length. 
 
 ELIZ'ABETH, the position which the 
 mother of John, the precursor of the Sav- 
 iour, occupies in Christian Art, is of im- 
 portance only in relation to the Visita- 
 tion of the Virgin. She is found in many 
 pictures of the Holy Family, but, like 
 Anne, is inferior to the mother of the 
 Messiah. The pictures of the Visitation 
 are almost innumerable ; they consist of 
 the two women Elizabeth, who is rep- 
 resented as old, and Mary, as youthful, 
 each praising God. 
 
 ELLIP'SIS, in grammar, a figure of 
 syntax, by which one or more words are 
 omitted, which the reader may supply ; 
 as, the horse I rode, for the horse which 
 I rode. In rhetoric, a figure of speech 
 whereby the rator, through excessive 
 emotion, passes over many things, which, 
 had he been cool, ought to have been 
 mentioned. 
 
 ELOCU'TION, in rhetoric, consists of 
 elegance, composition, and dignity : the 
 first comprehends the purity and perspi- 
 cuity of a language, and is the founda- 
 tion of elocution ; the second ranges the 
 words in proper order ; and the last adds 
 the ornaments of tropes and figures, to 
 give strength and dignity to the whole. 
 To which may be added, that there 
 should be a certain musical cadence or 
 intonation, to render it pleasing to the 
 ear. 
 
 E'LOGE, a term applied in France to 
 the panegyrical orations pronounced in 
 honor of illustrious deceased persons, and 
 particularly of members of the Royal 
 and other academies. Formerly the 
 secretaries of the various French literary 
 institutions used to compose and pro- 
 nounce the eloge ; but this duty is now 
 performed by the new member elected in 
 the room of the deceased. This practice 
 is no doubt open to censure ; but it has 
 been the means of giving to the world 
 many interesting biographical sketches, 
 which would never otherwise have ap- 
 peared. Eloge is also applied to any 
 species of biographical writing in which 
 praise predominates over censure, and 
 has been much cultivated by French and 
 Italian authors. 
 
 ELOPE'MENT, in law, the voluntary 
 departure of a wife from her husband to 
 go and live with another man. In com- 
 mon acceptation, the secret departure of
 
 ELO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 193 
 
 any female with her lover, either to be 
 married or to live together illicitly. 
 
 EL'OQUENCE, the art of clothing 
 the thoughts in the most suitable ex- 
 pressions, in order to produce conviction 
 or persuasion. In its primary significa- 
 tion, eloquence had reference to public 
 speaking alone ; but as most of the rules 
 for pablio speaking are applicable equal- 
 ly to writing, an extension of the term 
 naturally took place ; and we find even 
 Aristotle, the earliest systematic writer 
 on the subject whose works have come 
 down to us, including in his treatise rules 
 for such compositions as were not intend- 
 ed for public recitation. A still wider 
 extension of the term was contended for 
 by the ancient rhetoricians, who included 
 under it all kinds of literary productions 
 (such as treatises on law, logic, &c.,) and 
 whatever might be necessary to illustrate 
 and explain them. The invention of elo- 
 quence was ascribed by the Egyptians and 
 the fables of the poets to the god Mercu- 
 ry ; but no certain account can be given 
 when or by whom this art first began to 
 be cultivated. If we may judge from the 
 eulogiums which Homer pronounced upon 
 Ulysses and Nestor for their attainments 
 in eloquence, it must have been very 
 early in high esteem among the Greeks. 
 But though, from time to time, there 
 arose in Greece many distinguished wri- 
 ters upon eloquence, it does not appear 
 that the practice of the art was combined 
 with the theory for public purposes till 
 the time of Pisistratus, who owed to his 
 rhetorical acquirements his elevation to 
 the throne. Passing from Pericles, (the 
 next in order to Pisistratus,) who was 
 distinguished at once as a general, a 
 statesman, and an orator, we find many 
 eminent names during the Peloponnesian 
 war immortalized for their eloquence by 
 the pen of Thucydides. In the succeed- 
 ing age arose the school of rhetoricians, 
 or sophists, as they are called, who en- 
 deavored to graft upon eloquence the 
 subtleties of logic ; and among the earli- 
 est and most eminent of this school were 
 Gorgias, Isocrates, and Isaeus, of whose 
 publicly delivered orations there are still 
 ten extant It was in this age that Gre- 
 cian eloquence attained its highest per- 
 fection by the genius of Demosthenes, to 
 whom the palm has been conceded by the 
 unanimous consent of ancient and modern 
 times. Of all human productions, the 
 orations of Demosthenes present to us the 
 models which approach the nearest to 
 perfection. After this period, Grecian 
 eloquence declined rapidly ; and though 
 13 
 
 in the following ages there flourished 
 among others Herrnagoras, Athenfeus, 
 Apollonius, Cascilius, and Dionysius, 
 their names have been almost without 
 exception rescued from oblivion by a 
 work which may be regarded as the last 
 expiring ray of Grecian eloquence the 
 incomparable treatise of Longinus on the 
 Sublime. In consequence of the all-ab- 
 sorbing spirit for military glory with 
 which the ancient Romans were anima- 
 ted, it was long before they found leisure 
 to appreciate the advantages of elo- 
 quence ; and even so late as the year of 
 the city 592, when, by the industry of 
 some Greeks, the liberal arts began to 
 flourish at Rome, the senate passed a de- 
 cree banishing all rhetoricians from the 
 country. But a few years afterwards, 
 when Carneades. Critolaus, and Diogenes 
 were sent as ambassadors from Athens to 
 Rome, the Roman youth were so charmed 
 with the eloquence of their harangues, 
 that the study of oratory formed thence- 
 forth a branch of a liberal education. 
 Men of the highest rank were now seen 
 teaching and learning respectively the 
 art of eloquence ; and such was the im- 
 petus given to this study, that it made 
 the most rapid advances, and was at last 
 crowned by the appearance of Cicero, to 
 whom critics have concurred in assigning 
 a rank inferior only to that of Demos- 
 thenes. The mighty scale on which 
 everything was conducted at Rome, and 
 the enormous interests so frequently at 
 stake, were never so wonderfully exhibi- 
 ted as in the age of Cicero ; and the un- 
 paralleled exigency found or created in 
 him a talent for profiting by its advanta- 
 ges or coping with its difficulties. In 
 the succeeding ages of the Roman em- 
 pire, the despotic character of the gov- 
 ernment checked the growth of the rhe- 
 torical art ; but the names of Tacitus, 
 Quintilian, and Pliny are an earnest of 
 what might have been achieved in this 
 arena, had circumstances permitted the 
 development of their talents. With re- 
 gard to the early history of eloquence in 
 England, there are found, indeed, the 
 names of several distinguished men who 
 in former times directed the resolutions 
 of parliament ; but no pains were taken 
 to preserve their speeches ; and the au- 
 thority which they possessed seems to 
 have been owing to their experience, 
 wisdom, or power, more than to their 
 talents for oratory. It was not until the 
 close of the last century that an era 
 arose in the history of British eloquence, 
 which the genius of Chatham, Pitt,
 
 194 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 EMB 
 
 Burke, Fox, and Sheridan has consecra- 
 ted and immortalized. The little oppor- 
 tunity afforded for a display of forensic 
 or senatorial eloquence by the different 
 governments of Germany has almost en- 
 tirely checked its growth in that country ; 
 and the same remark is applicable to 
 Italy, Spain, and Portugal ; all of which, 
 however, have been rich in the eloquence 
 of the pulpit. The only two countries in 
 tie world whose orators can be put in 
 competition with those of Britain, are 
 France and America. To the pulpit ora- 
 tory of the former, the illustrious names 
 of Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and Massillon 
 have given enduring celebrity ; while 
 the popular character of their respective 
 institutions has formed a host of forensic 
 and senatorial speakers worthy a prom- 
 inent place among the orators of antiqui- 
 ty, and modern times. 
 
 E'LUL, the name of a Jewish month, 
 answering to part of August. 
 
 ELYS'IUM, or ELYS'IAN FIELDS, 
 in heathen mythology, the supposed resi- 
 dence of the blessed after death. The 
 poets describe this region as consisting of 
 beautiful meadows alternated with pleas- 
 ant groves ; where a serene and cloud- 
 less sky was spread over them, and a 
 soft, celestial light shed a magical bril- 
 liancy over every object. The heroes there 
 renewed their favorite sports ; danced to 
 the sound of the lyre from which Orpheus 
 drew the most enchanting tones, or wan- 
 dered through the most odoriferous 
 groves, where the warbling birds carolled 
 forth their harmony by the side of re- 
 freshing fountains. There the earth 
 teemed with plenteous fruits, and the 
 verdure of spring was perpetual ; while 
 all cares, pains, and infirmities, were ex- 
 changed for the purest bliss. 
 
 EMANCIPATION, by the ancient 
 Roman law, the son stood in the relation 
 of a slave to the father. By a fiction of 
 that law, the son might be freed from 
 this relation by being three times sold 
 by the father. Hence the enfranchise- 
 ment of the son derived from this cere- 
 mony the name of emancipation. In 
 course of time, various modes of emanci- 
 pation, both tacit and express, became 
 recognized by the Roman jurisprudence. 
 The word, in countries following that 
 law, signifies the exemption of the son 
 from the power of the father, either by 
 express act, or by implication of law. By 
 the present civil law of France, majority 
 (and with it emancipation) is attained at 
 21 years of age; and the marriage of a 
 minor emancipates him. In ordinary 
 
 language, emancipation is used in a gen- 
 eral sense to signify the enfranchisement 
 of a slave, or the admission of particular 
 classes to the enjoyment of civil rights. 
 
 EMBALM'ING, the opening a dead 
 body, taking out the intestines, and fill- 
 ing the place with odoriferous and desic- 
 cative drugs and spices, to prevent its 
 putrefaction. The Egyptians have al- 
 ways been celebrated for their adherence 
 to this practice, and the skill with which 
 they performed it. AVith some variation, 
 it is still one of the peculiar customs of 
 that nation. It appears to have been a 
 metaphysical notion, inculcated as of 
 their religion, that the soul continued 
 with the body. There naturally followed 
 an affectionate desire to do everything 
 that living creatures can suppose accept- 
 able to the dead. They were even de- 
 sirous of having the dead bodies of their 
 parents in their houses, and at their 
 tables, and believed, as has been suggest- 
 ed, that their souls were present also; 
 and it was essential to this gratification 
 that those bodies should be preserved in 
 the most perfect manner possible: Mod- 
 ern chemistry has made us acquainted with 
 many means of counteracting putrefac- 
 tion, more simple and more effectual than 
 the laborious processes of the ancients. 
 
 EMBAR'GO, in commerce, a prohibi- 
 tion of sailing, issued by authority on all 
 shipping, either out of port, or into port. 
 It is generally to restrain ships from 
 leaving a port. 
 
 EM'BASSY, the public function or 
 employment of a public minister, whether 
 ambassador or envoy. 
 
 EM'BER DAYS, in the Romish cal- 
 endar, are certain fasts appointed by 
 Pope Calixtus for imploring the blessing 
 of the Almighty on the fruits of the 
 eartfi, and upon the ordinations per- 
 formed in the church at these times. 
 They occur four times a year, or once in 
 each of the four seasons ; being the Wed- 
 nesday, Friday, and Saturday after the 
 first Sunday in Lent, after the feast of 
 Pentecost or Whitsunday, after the fes- 
 tival of Holy Cross on the 14th of Sep- 
 tember, and after the festival of St. Lu- 
 cia on the 13th of December. The weeks 
 in which the ember days fall are called 
 ember weeks. The word embers signifies 
 ashes, which the primitive Christiana 
 strewed on their heads at these solemn 
 fasts. 
 
 EMBEZ'ZLEMENT, the act of fraudu- 
 lently appropriating a thing to one's own 
 use, which has been intrusted to one's 
 care and management.
 
 KMB] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 195 
 
 E M'BLEM, this word is used frequently 
 as a synonym with Attribute, Symbol, 
 Image, and Allegorical Figure. So in- 
 discriminately are these terms employed, 
 that it becomes a task of great difficulty 
 to point out their special application, 
 and it must be admitted that the shades 
 of difference are so light, that it would be 
 most convenient to regard them all under 
 the general term Symbol. Thus the 
 sceptre is the attribute of royalty, and 
 the emblem or symbol of power. The 
 Paschal Lamb of the Jews figures the 
 Lamb without stain, which has expiated 
 the sins of the world; but as Jesus 
 Christ has been depicted under this em- 
 blem in the New Testament, this emblem 
 becomes a symbol. And to remove all 
 uncertainty in depicting this symbol in 
 Christian Art, we give to the Lamb a 
 nimbus upon which is figured a cross ; or 
 the Cross of the Resurrection, or simply 
 place a cross above its head ; these are 
 the attributes which distinguish it from 
 other figures of a lamb, which are neither 
 emblems nor symbols.. An emblem is a 
 symbolical figure or composition which 
 conceals a moral or historical allegory ; 
 when accompanied with some sententious 
 phrase which determines its meaning, it 
 has the same relation as device. 
 
 EMBLEMA'TA, the figures with which 
 the ancients decorated the golden, silver, 
 and even copper vessels, and which could 
 be taken off at pleasure. These belong 
 to toreutic art, and were generally exe- 
 cuted in the precious metals, but some- 
 times carved in amber. The Romans 
 had the Greek term emblemata, but ap- 
 plied the word crustae to the ornaments 
 mentioned above. The Greek term is 
 handed down to us in our word emblem, 
 a sign or symbol. 
 
 EM'BLEMENTS, in law, a word used 
 for the produce of land sown or planted 
 by a tenant for life or years, whose estate 
 is determined suddenly after the land is 
 sown or planted, and before a harvest. 
 
 EMBONPOINT, (French,) a moder- 
 ate and agreeable fulness of figure. 
 
 EMBOSSING, the forming or fashion- 
 ing works in relievo, whether by raising, 
 by carving, or by depression. It is, in 
 short, a kind of sculpture, where the 
 figures project from the plane whereon it 
 is cut ; and according as the figures are 
 more or less prominent, they are said to 
 be in alto mezzo, or basso relievo. Em- 
 bossing wood, as in picture frames and 
 other articles . of ornamented cabinet 
 work, is either produced by means of 
 carving, or by casting the pattern in 
 
 plaster of Paris, or other composition, 
 and cementing it on the surface of the 
 wood. Embossing cloth. Cotton, woollen 
 cloth, silk, paper, and other fabrics, are 
 embossed by the powerful pressure of re- 
 volving cylinders on which the required 
 patterns are engraved. 
 
 EMBOUCHURE', signifies a mouth of 
 a river ; it is used also for the mouth- 
 piece of a musical instrument. 
 
 EMBRA'CERY, in law, the offence of 
 endeavoring to corrupt or influence a 
 jury; punishable by fine and imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 EMBRA'SURE, in architecture, the 
 enlargement made of the aperture of a 
 door or window, on the inside of the wall. 
 In fortification, a hole or aperture -in 
 a parapet, through which cannon are 
 pointed and discharged. 
 
 EMBROI'DERY, the name given to 
 the art of working figures on stuffs or 
 muslins with a needle and thread. All 
 embroidery may be divided into two 
 sorts, embroidery on stuff's and on mus- 
 lin : the former is used chiefly in church 
 vestments, housings, standards, articles 
 of furniture, &c., and is executed with 
 silk, cotton, wool, gold and silver threads, 
 and sometimes ornamented with span- 
 gles, real or mock pearls, precious or im- 
 itation stones, <fcc. ; the latter is employed 
 mostly in articles of female apj^rel, as 
 caps, collars, &c. ; and is performed only 
 with cotton. The art of embroidery was 
 well known to the ancients. As early as 
 the time of Moses we find it practised 
 successfully by the Hebrews ; and long 
 before the Trojan war the women of Si- 
 don had acquired celebrity for their skill 
 in embroidery. At a later period, this 
 art was introduced into Greece, probably 
 by the Phrygians, (by some considered as 
 the inventors ;) and to such a degree of 
 skill did the Grecian women attain in it, 
 that their performances were said to ri- 
 val the finest paintings. In our own 
 times the art of embroidery has been 
 cultivated with great success, more espe- 
 cially in Germany and France ; and 
 though for a long period it was practised 
 only by the ladies of these countries as 
 an elegant accomplishment, it is now re- 
 garded as a staple of traffic, and fur- 
 nishes employment for a large portion 
 of the population. In England also it 
 appears to have taken deep root, as it 
 now forms an accomplishment of which 
 almost every lady is in possession. A 
 great impetus has been given to the cul- 
 tivation of this art, both on the Conti- 
 nent and in England, by the invention of
 
 196 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [KMP 
 
 a machine which enables a female to ex- 
 ecute the most complex patterns with 
 130 needles, all in motion at once, as ac- 
 curately as she could formerly do with one. 
 
 EMENDATION, an alteration made 
 in the text of any book by verbal criti- 
 cism. In law, the correction of abuses. 
 
 EM'ERALD, a well-known gem of a 
 beautiful green color, somewhat harder 
 than quartz, which occurs in prisms with 
 a regular hexagonal base, and ranks next 
 in value to the oriental ruby and sap- 
 phire. It becomes electric by friction, is 
 often transparent, sometimes only trans- 
 lucent, and before the blow-pipe is fusi- 
 ble into a whitish enamel, or glass. The 
 most intensely colored and valuable em- 
 eralds are brought from Peru. 
 
 EME'RITI, the name given to the sol- 
 diers and other public functionaries of 
 ancient Rome, who had retired from their 
 country's service. On these occasions the 
 parties were entitled to some renumera- 
 tion, resembling half-pay in the English 
 service ; but whether it was a grant of 
 land or of money has not been accurately 
 ascertained. 
 
 EMIGRA'TION, migration is the 
 movement of an individual or a number 
 of people from one place of i - esidenee to 
 another ; emigration, their abandonment 
 of their former home ; immigration, (a 
 word o^ modern coinage,) their settle- 
 ment in their new one. Emigration is, 
 in modern times, chiefly regarded in the 
 light of a mode of relieving a country or 
 district laboring under excess of popula- 
 tion. Emigration from Europe has for 
 two centuries been chiefly directed to the 
 United States. Of late years, the Cape 
 of Good Hope and Australia have begun 
 to absorb a small portion of the surplus 
 population of Great Britain. 
 
 EM'INENCE, an honorary title given 
 to cardinals. They were called Ulustris- 
 simi and r ever end issimi, until the pon- 
 tificate of Urban VIII. 
 
 E'MIR, a title of dignity among the 
 Saracens and Turks. It was at first giv- 
 en to the caliphs, but when they assumed 
 the title of Sultan, that of Emir remain- 
 ed to their children. 
 
 EM'ISSARY, a secret agent sent to as- 
 certain the sentiments and designs of an- 
 other, and to propagate opinions favora- 
 ble to his employer. 
 
 EMO'TION, in a philosophical sense, 
 an internal motion or agitation of the 
 mind which passes away without desire. 
 When desire follows, the motion or agita- 
 tion becomes a passion. 
 
 EMPAIS'TIC. inlaid work, resembling 
 
 the modern Buhl, Marquetry; next to 
 Toreutic art, (with which it must not be 
 confounded,) that branch most practised 
 by the ancients. It consisted in laying 
 threads, or knocking pieces of different 
 metals into another metal. 
 
 EM'PEROR, was originally merely the 
 title of a Roman general ; but, on the fall 
 of the republic it was particularly ap- 
 plied to the head of the state. The au- 
 thority of the Roman emperors was form- 
 ed principally by the combination of the 
 chief offices of the old republic in a single 
 person ; besides which, some extraordi- 
 nary powers were conferred. Thus, Oc- 
 tavius held the titles of emperor, procon- 
 sul, and tribune, pontifex maxim us or high 
 priest ; and was invested with perpetual 
 consular authority, and also that of the 
 censorship. Besides this, he was termed 
 prince of the senate, and Augustus, which 
 designation descended to his successors ; 
 but he was much more moderate in his 
 use of titular dignities than his successors, 
 contenting himself with substantial pow- 
 er. The provinces of the empire were 
 divided between the senate and emperor, 
 who appointed their governors, distin- 
 guished by the respective titles of procon- 
 sul and proprajtor ; but this division 
 threw all the armies into the hands of the 
 latter, as he took for his share the fron- 
 tier provinces. The emperors appointed 
 their own successors, who were dignified 
 with the title of Caesar, and in later times 
 enjoyed a share in the government. Dio- 
 clesian first divided the care of the em- 
 pire with a second Augustus in the per- 
 son of Maxitnian, and each of these col- 
 leagues associated with himself a Caesar. 
 After the court was removed to Constan- 
 tinople, the old titles and forms of the re- 
 public vanished by degrees, and the em- 
 perors assumed the style of oriental 
 princes. Charlemagne assumed the title 
 of emperor after his coronation at Rome ; 
 and from his time this title (in German 
 kaiser) was claimed exclusively, in west- 
 ern Europe, by the rulers of Germany. 
 On the dissolution of the German empire 
 in 1805, the title passed to the emperor 
 of Austria, and, in the same year, Napo- 
 leon assumed it in France ; the czars of 
 Russia claimed it in the reign of Alex- 
 ander. 
 
 EM'PHASIS, in rhetoric, a particular 
 stress of utterance, or force of the voice 
 and action, given to such parts or words 
 of an oration, as the speaker intends to- 
 impress specially upon his audience. 
 
 E.M'PIRE, originally the territory or 
 extent of land under the command and
 
 ENA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 197 
 
 jurisdiction of an emperor. The domin- 
 ions under the sway of ancient Rome were 
 the first to which the term empire was 
 applied : they consisted of two grand di- 
 visions, the Empire of the East, or, as 
 it was afterwards called, the Lower Em- 
 pire ; and the Empire of the West. The 
 former admitted of various subdivisions 
 in reference to the different dynasties to 
 which it was subject ; and the latter be- 
 came, about the end of the 9th century, 
 the German or Holy Roman Empire. In 
 all these cases the sovereign or chief per- 
 son in the empire was named the empe- 
 ror. But the term empire has in several 
 instances been employed to designate a 
 large extent of dominion, without refer- 
 ence to the title of the ruler or sovereign 
 of a country ; thus we hear of the empire 
 of Persia, Hindostan, &c. The dominions 
 of the Queen of England are invariably 
 designated the British Empire ; and the 
 epithet " imperial" is officially prefixed 
 to the parliament of the united kingdom. 
 The term empire was applied from 1804 
 to 1814 to the dominions of France, in- 
 cluding all the countries then incorpora- 
 ted with it by the conquests of Napo- 
 leon. 
 
 EMPIR'IC, one whose knowledge is 
 founded on experience. The empiric 
 school of medicine was opposed to the 
 dogmatic ; it appears to have originated 
 with Serapion of Alexandria. The em- 
 pirics considered the foundation of medi- 
 cal science to rest upon experience, de- 
 rived either directly from experiment or 
 from chance and imitation. They were, 
 however, a pretending, and generally ig- 
 norant sect ; so that the term empiric 
 is generally applied to quacks and pre- 
 tenders, without reference to its strict 
 etymology, which should have limited it 
 to the sfudy of medicine, 'in accordance 
 with the principles, of Lord Bacon's philos- 
 ophy. 
 
 EMPO'RTUM, a common resort of 
 merchants for trade ; particularly a city 
 or town of extensive commerce, or in 
 which the commerce of an extensive coun- 
 try centres, or to which sellers and buy- 
 ers resort from different countries. 
 
 EMPYRE'UM, or EMPYRE'AN, a 
 term used by dtvines for the highest hea- 
 ven, where the blessed enjoy the beatific 
 vision. Hence we have the word empy- 
 real, as pertaining to that region of space 
 which is refined beyond aerial substance, 
 whore only pure fire or light is supposed 
 to exist. 
 
 ENAM'EL, a kind of colored glass, 
 principally formed by the combination of 
 
 different metallic oxydes, and used in 
 enamelling and painting in enamel. 
 Enamels have for their basis a pure 
 crystal-glass, or frit, ground up with a 
 fine calx of lead and tin, prepared for the 
 purpose, with the addition usually of 
 white salt of tartar. These ingredients 
 baked together, are the matter of all 
 enamels, and the color is varied by add- 
 ing other substances, and melting or in- 
 corporating them together in a furnace. 
 Enamels are distinguished into trans- 
 parent and opaque ; in the former all 
 the elements have experienced an equal 
 degree of liquefaction, and are thus run 
 into crystal glass, whilst in the others, 
 some of their elements have resisted the 
 action of heat more, so that their particles 
 retain sufficient aggregation to prevent 
 the transmission of light. They are used 
 either in counterfeiting or imitating pre- 
 cious stones, in painting in enamel, or by 
 enamellers, jewellers, or goldsmiths, in 
 gold, silver, and other metals. This art 
 is of so great antiquity, as to render it 
 difficult, if not impossible, to trace to its 
 origin. It was evidently practised by 
 the Egyptians, from the remains that 
 have been found on the ornamented en- 
 velopes of mummies. From Egypt it 
 passed into Greece, and afterwards into 
 Rome and its provinces, whence it was 
 probably introduced into Great Britain, 
 as various Roman antiquities have been 
 dug up in different parts of the island, 
 particularly in the barrows, in which 
 enamels have formed portions of the orna- 
 ments. Painting in enamel, &c. is per- 
 formed on plates of gold or silver, but 
 more commonly of copper, enamelled 
 with the white enamel ; the colors are 
 melted in the fire, where they take a 
 brightness and lustre like that of glass. 
 This painting is prized for its peculiar 
 brightness and vivacity, which is very 
 permanent : the force of its colors not 
 being effaced or sullied by time, as in 
 other painting, and continuing always as 
 fresh as when it came out of the work- 
 man's hands. The town of Limoges, in 
 the south of France, has acquired a great 
 name in the history of the art of enamel- 
 ling ; it was particularly distinguished in 
 the twelfth century, and its productions 
 were called Opus de Limogia and Labor 
 Limogiee. Many reliquaries of that 
 time are still extant, the sides and slop- 
 ing roofs of which are composed of plates 
 of copper, covered with etchings and 
 enamel paintings. The most famous 
 artist in enamelling was Leonard Limou- 
 sin of Limoges, from whom the French
 
 198 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 ENO 
 
 works of Art of that period were called 
 Limousins : other masters in this art 
 were Pierre Rexmon, Jean Court, called 
 Vigier, J. Laudin, P. Nouaillier, the 
 master J. P., who is known to us only by 
 his cipher, but whose works are excel- 
 lent, displaying noble ideas, and the mas- 
 ter P. C., who is held in high estimation. 
 As regards the technical part of painting, 
 the works of these masters rank far be- 
 low those produced in more recent times ; 
 they are rather illuminated line-draw- 
 ings, with a glazed transparency of color, 
 or monochrome paintings, the naked fig- 
 ures being well modelled and generally 
 of a reddish tint ; the ornaments in gold 
 and the gilded lights make the paintings 
 appear rich and brilliant. In the course 
 of the seventeenth century the technical 
 part of the art of enamel painting im- 
 proved considerably, progressing from 
 monochrome to that in various colors. 
 Towards the end of the seventeenth and 
 the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, 
 the art arrived at technical perfection, 
 and real pictures were produced with the 
 softest and most delicate gradations of 
 color. But the works of this period were 
 of very small dimensions, the paintings 
 being sometimes on silver, but generally 
 upon gold, and principally portrait me- 
 dallions, for which the art was now em- 
 ployed. Much that was excellent was 
 produced, but in historical representation 
 the artists followed the degenerate style 
 of the compositions of those days, so that 
 these works, in spite of their technical 
 perfection, must rank below those of the 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 ENAMEL PAINTING ON LAVA, a 
 newly-invented style of painting very 
 serviceable for monuments. This inven- 
 tion of enamelling upon stone, discovered 
 in France, and well known in Germany, 
 has produced a kind o painting having 
 all the advantages of color and treat- 
 ment, and the great recommendation of 
 being nearly indestructible. The material 
 used was discovered by Count Chabrol de 
 Volvic; it consists of volvic stone, and 
 lava from the mountains of Auvergne. 
 The method of painting is a new kind of 
 enamelling, and has been used by Abel 
 du Pujol and others in various works of 
 Art ; for example, the altar of the church 
 of St. Elizabeth, at Paris ; it has recently 
 been used in architecture by Hittorf of 
 Cologne, for the exterior of buildings. 
 In Paris there are several tablets paint- 
 ed with figures in the Arabesque and 
 Pompeiian styles, which have excited 
 great admiration by the ease and yet 
 
 preciseness of the treatment, as well as 
 by the firmness of the materials, for a 
 sharp piece of iron might be drawn over 
 them without injuring the painting. 
 
 ENC-33'NIA, in antiquity, anniversary 
 feasts to commemorate the completing or 
 consecrating any new and public work, 
 Ac. In modern times, this term is used 
 for any commemorative festival. 
 
 ENCAMP'MENT, the act of pitching 
 tents for the accommodation of an army 
 in the open country. 
 
 ENCAUS'TIC PAINTING, a peculiar 
 mode of painting in wax, liquefied by 
 fire ; by which the colors acquire consid- 
 erable hardness, brilliance, and durabil- 
 ity. Ancient authors often mention this 
 species of painting, but we have no an- 
 cient pictures of this description, and, 
 therefore, the precise manner formerly 
 adopted is not completely developed, 
 though many moderns have closely in- 
 vestigated the subject and described their 
 processes. As the thing chiefly regarded 
 in encaustic painting was the securing of 
 permanence and durability, by the ap- 
 plication of fire, the word encaustic has 
 been applied, in a very general sense, to 
 other processes, in which both the mate- 
 rial and the mode of applying the heat, 
 are entirely different from what is con- 
 ceived to have been the ancient materials 
 and modes. The moderns have used the 
 term for painting on porcelain, and work 
 in enamel ; and in the same way it was 
 given to the painting on glass of the mid- 
 dle ages, such as is still seen in the win- 
 dows of some Gothic churches. It has 
 also been just as erroneously applied to 
 works in metal ; where gold and silver 
 were inlaid, melted, or laid on, and of 
 everything which was gilt or silvered by 
 fire ; which was called gold or silver en- 
 caustic. 
 
 ENCHANT'MENT, the use of magic 
 arts and spells, or the invocation of de- 
 mons, in order to produce wonderful or 
 supernatural effects. 
 
 ENCHA'SING, or CHA'SING, the art 
 of enriching and beautifying gold, silver, 
 <fec., by some design represented thereon, 
 in low relievo. It is performed by punch- 
 ing, or driving out the metal, to form the 
 figure, from within side, so as to stand out 
 prominently from the plane or surface 
 of the metal. 
 
 ENCHYRIDTON, a manual or small 
 volume. 
 
 ENCLIT'IC, in grammar, a particle 
 so closely united with any other word as 
 to seem to be part of it, as que. in vi- 
 rumque.
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 199 
 
 ENCOMBO'MA, a portion of Greek 
 costume consist- 
 ing of a kind of 
 apron, fastened 
 loosely round the 
 loins by being ga- 
 thered into a 
 knot. It ^as worn 
 chiefly by young 
 maidens ; its use 
 appears to have 
 been to keep the 
 tunic clean. The 
 annexed woodcut 
 represents ayoung 
 female playing on 
 the double pipes, 
 probably an at- 
 tendant in the 
 scene of some 
 play. 
 
 ENCORE', a 
 word signifying 
 again ; used by 
 the audience at 
 theatres, and other places, when they 
 call for a repetition of a particular song. 
 <fcc. 
 
 EXCRATI'TES, in church history, a 
 sect which appeared towards the end of 
 the second century : they were called en- 
 cratites, or continentes, because they ab- 
 stained from marriage, and the use of 
 wine and animal food. 
 
 ENCROACH/MENT, in law, an un- 
 lawful intrusion or gaining upon the 
 rights and possessions of another. 
 
 ENCYCLOPE'DIA, a general system 
 of instruction or knowledge, embracing 
 the principal facts in all branches of 
 science and the arts, properly digested, 
 and arranged in alphabetical order. See 
 CYCLOPEDIA. 
 
 ENDEM'IC, a disease peculiar to a 
 certain class of persons, or to a certain 
 district. Thus agues or intermittent 
 fevers are endemic in low countries, the 
 goitre in the Alps, the plica Polonica in 
 Poland. 
 
 ENDORSING, the writing one's name 
 on the back of a bill of exchange or 
 check : by which responsibility for its 
 amount is incurred, if duly presented and 
 not paid. 
 
 ENDOWMENT, in law, the act of 
 giving or assuring a dower to a woman. 
 Also, the assigning certain rents and rev- 
 enues for the maintenance of a vicar, 
 alrnshouses, &c. The word endowment 
 has also a more enlarged signification, 
 implying any quality or faculty bestowed 
 on man by the Creator. 
 
 ENDRO'MIS, a cloak made of warm 
 coarse materials like a blanket, used to 
 throw over those 
 who were heated 
 by the foot race-; 
 or, after athletic 
 exercises, to pro- 
 tect the wearer 
 from the effects of 
 exposure to cold. 
 In more recent 
 times the name 
 was applied to a 
 luxurious garment 
 worn by women, 
 especially those of 
 Rome. Figures 
 clothed in the En- 
 dromis are of fre- 
 quent occurence in 
 works of Art relat- 
 ing to the exer- 
 cises of the gym- 
 nasium. This word 
 also designates the 
 hunting boots worn 
 \>y Diana, as being 
 peculiarly suitable for the chase, the toes 
 being left uncovered. 
 
 E N D Y ' M 1 N, according to some, a 
 huntsman, according to others, a shep- 
 herd, and according to a third account, a 
 king of Elis. He is said to have asked 
 of Jupiter, whom many have called his 
 father, eternal youth and immortality. 
 His beauty excited passion even in the 
 cold Diana, and Kence he has served in 
 all ages as an ideal of loveliness, and 
 Diana's love to him as that of the ten- 
 derest affection. He is most generally 
 conceived as sleeping in the wood, where 
 the mild rays of the moon kiss his slum- 
 bering eyes. 
 
 EN'EMY, in a political sense, any one 
 belonging to a nation with whom our own 
 country is at war. In law, it denotes an 
 alien or foreigner, who in a public capaci- 
 ty, and with a hostile intention, invades 
 any kingdom. 
 
 ENERGY, the internal or inherent 
 power, virtue, or efficacy of a thing ; as, 
 Danger will rouse our dormant energies, 
 into action ; the administration of the 
 laws requires energy in the magistrate. 
 It also signifies the momentum which 
 any simple or compound body exhibits, 
 by causes obvious or concealed. 
 
 ENER'VATE, to deprive of nerve, 
 force, or strength ; as, idleness and luxu- 
 ry enervate both body and mind. 
 
 ENFEOFF'MENT, in law, the act of 
 giving the fee simple of an estate.
 
 200 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EN a 
 
 ENFILADE', in military tactics, is 
 used in speaking of trenches, or other 
 places, which may bo seen and scoured by 
 the enemy's shot along the whole length 
 of a line. 
 
 ENFRANCHISEMENT, in law, the 
 incorporating a person into any society or 
 body politic ; to admit to the privileges 
 of a frecuinn. 
 
 ENGA'GED COLUMNS, in architect- 
 ure, columns attached to walls, by which 
 a portion of them is concealed ; they 
 never stand less than one half out from 
 the walls. 
 
 ENGAGE'MENT, a word used in dif- 
 ferent senses. Any obligation by agree- 
 ment or contract, is an engagement to 
 perform, &c. ; the conflict of armies or 
 fleets is an engagement ; and any occu- 
 pation, or employment of the attention, 
 is likewise called an engagement. 
 
 EN'GLISH, the language spoken by 
 the people of England, and their de- 
 scendants in India, North America, and 
 the British colonies. The ancient lan- 
 guage of Britain is generally allowed to 
 have been the same with that of the 
 Gauls ; this island, in all probability, 
 having been first peopled from Gallia, as 
 both Caesar and Tacitus prove by many 
 strong and conclusive arguments. Julius 
 Ctesar, sometime before the birth of our 
 Saviour, made a descent upon Britain, 
 though he may be said rather to have 
 discovered than conquered it : but, about 
 the year 45, in the time of Claudius, 
 Aulus Plautius was sent over with some 
 Roman forces, by whom two kings of the 
 Britons, Codigunus and Caractacus, were 
 both signally defeated : whereupon a Ro- 
 man colony was planted at Maiden in 
 Essex, and the southern parts of the 
 island were reduced to the form of a Ro- 
 man province. Britain was subsequently 
 conquered as far north as the friths of 
 Dumbarton and Edinburgh, by Agricola, 
 in the time of Domitian ; and a great 
 number of the Britons, in the conquered 
 part of the island retired to the western 
 part, called Wales, where their language 
 continued to be spoken without any for- 
 eign admixture. The greatest part of 
 Britain being thus become a Roman 
 province, the Roman legions, who resided 
 in Britain for above two hundred years, 
 undoubtedly disseminated the Latin 
 tongue ; and the people being afterwards 
 governed by laws written in Latin, it 
 must have necessarily followed that the 
 language would undergo a considerable 
 change. In fact, the British tongue con- 
 tinued, for some time, mixed with the 
 
 provincial Latin ; but at length, the de- 
 clining state of the Roman empire ren- 
 dered the aid of the Roman legions ne- 
 cessary at home, and on their abandoning 
 the island, the Scots and Picts took the 
 opportunity to attack and harass South 
 Britain i upon which, Vortigern, the king, 
 about trie year 440, called the Saxons to 
 his assistance, who coming over with 
 several of their neighboring tribes, re- 
 pulsed the Scots and Picts, and were 
 rewarded for their services with the isle 
 of Thanet, and the whole county of Kent. 
 Growing at length too powerful, and not 
 being contented with their allotment, 
 they dispossessed the inhabitants of all 
 the country on the east side of the Sev- 
 ern ; and thus the British language was 
 in a great measure destroyed, and that 
 of the Saxons introduced in lieu of it. 
 AVhat the Saxon tongue was long before 
 the Conquest, viz. about the year 700, 
 may be seen in the most ancient manu- 
 script of that language, which is a gloss 
 on the Evangelists, by bishop Eadfride, 
 in which the three first articles of the 
 Lord's prayer run thus : " Uren fader 
 thic arth in heofnas, sic gehalgud thin 
 noma, so symeth thin ric. Sic thin willa 
 sue is heofnas, and in eortho, <fcc." In 
 the beginning of the ninth century, the 
 Danes invaded England, and getting a 
 footing in the northern and eastern parts 
 of the country, their power gradually in- 
 creased, and in about two hundred years 
 they became its sole masters. By this 
 means the ancient English obtained a 
 tincture of the Danish language : but their 
 government, being of no long continu- 
 ance, did not make so great an alteration 
 in the Anglo-Saxon, as the next revolu- 
 tion, when the whole land, A D. 1067, was 
 subdued by William the Conqueror, Duke 
 of Normandy, in France : for the Nor- 
 mans, as a monument of their conquest, 
 endeavored to make their language as 
 generally received as their commands : 
 and thereby the English language be- 
 came an entire medley. About the year 
 900, the Lord's prayer in the ancient An- 
 glo-Saxon, read as follows : " Thu ure 
 fader the eart on heofenum, si thin nama 
 gehalgod ; cuine thin rice si thin willa on 
 eorthan swa, swa on heofnum, Ac." And, 
 about the year 1160, pope Adrian, an 
 Englishman, thus rendered it in rhyme : 
 
 " Ure fader in heaven rich, 
 Thy nnrne be hayled ever lich, 
 Thou brill;? us thy michell blisse : 
 Ala hit in heaven y-doe, 
 Evar in yearth beene it also, &c." 
 
 It continued to undergo various muta-
 
 ENaJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 201 
 
 tions, till the year 1537, when the Lord's 
 prayer was thus printed : " oure father 
 which arte in heven, halowed be thy 
 name : let thy kingdome come, thy will 
 be fulfiled as well in erth as it is in 
 heven ; geve us this daye in dayly bred, 
 &c." Here, it may be observed, the dic- 
 tion is brought almost to the present 
 standard, the chief variations being only 
 in the orthography. By these instances, 
 and many others that might be given, it 
 appears, that the Anglo-Saxon Language, 
 which the Normans in a great measure 
 despoiled and rendered obsolete, had its 
 beauties, was significant and emphatical, 
 and preferable to what they substituted 
 for it. " Great, verily," says Camden, 
 "was the glory of our tongue, before the 
 Norman Conquest, in this, that the old 
 English could express, most aptly, all 
 the conceptions of the mind in their own 
 tongue, without borrowing from any." 
 Of this he gives several examples. After 
 the Conquest, it was ordained that all 
 law proceedings should be in the Norman 
 language ; and hence the early records 
 and reports of law cases came to be 
 written in Norman. But neither royal 
 authority, nor the influence of courts, 
 could absolutely change the vernacular 
 language. After an experiment of three 
 hundred years, the law was repealed ; 
 and since that period, the English has 
 been, for the most part, the official as 
 well as the common language of the na- 
 tion. Since the Norman invasion, the 
 English has not suffered any shock from 
 the intermixture of conquerors with the 
 natives of England ; but the language 
 has undergone great alterations, by the 
 disuse of a large portion of Saxon words, 
 and the introduction of words from the 
 Latin and Greek languages, with some 
 French, Italian, and Spanish words. 
 These words have, in some instances, 
 been borrowed by authors directly from 
 the Latin and Greek ; but most of the 
 Latin words have been received through 
 the medium of the French and Italian. 
 For terms in the sciences, authors have 
 generally resorted to the Greek ; and 
 from this source, as discoveries in science 
 demnnd new terms, the vocabulary of the 
 English tongue is receiving continual 
 augmentation. It has, also, a few words 
 from the German and Swedish, mostly 
 terms in mineralogy ; and commerce has 
 introduced new commodities of foreign 
 growth or manufacture, with their for- 
 eign names, which now make a part of 
 our language. It may then bo stated, 
 that the English is composed of, 1st, 
 
 Saxon and Danish words of Teutonic and 
 Gothic origin. 2nd, British or Welsh, 
 which may be considered as of Celtic 
 origin. 3rd, Norman, a mixture of 
 French and Gothic. 4th, Latin. 5th, 
 French. 6th, Greek. 7th, A few words 
 directly from the Italian, Spanish, Ger- 
 man, and other languages of the conti- 
 nent. 8th, A few foreign words, intro- 
 duced by commerce, or by political or 
 literary intercourse. Of these the Saxon 
 words constitute our mother tongue. 
 The Danish and Welsh also are primi- 
 tive words, and may be considered as 
 part of our vernacular language. 
 
 ENGRA'VING.the art of producing by 
 incision or corrosion designs upon blocks 
 of wood, plates of metal, or other mate- 
 rials, from which impressions or prints 
 upon paper or other soft substances are 
 obtained by pressure. Engraving, as an 
 art, seems to have nearly the same rela- 
 tion to design and painting as typography 
 bears to written language ; and its utility 
 and great importance must be obvious to 
 every one from its capability of giving a 
 boundless circulation to representations" 
 of the most valuable examples of the arts 
 and of objects connected with science. 
 Xylography, or wood-engraving, was the 
 earliest method practised ; but its origin 
 is involved in obscurity. It is possible 
 that it was known in China 1120 years 
 before Christ ; though we think its inven- 
 tion is of a much later period, as the Chi- 
 nese were not acquainted with the art of 
 making paper till 95 B.C. It has been 
 stated that this art was introduced into 
 Europe from China through the inter- 
 course of the Venetian merchants with 
 its inhabitants ; for it is proved that en- 
 graving on wood had been practised in 
 that part of Italy which borders on the 
 Adriatic as early as the 13th century. 
 The first wood engravings in Europe of 
 which anything is known with certainty, 
 were executed in 1285, by a brother and 
 sister of a noble family of the name of 
 Cunio. They represent the actions of 
 Alexander. But for the accidental dis- 
 covery by a Venetian architect of the 
 name of Temanza of a decree of the 
 magistracy of Venice, in 1441, we might 
 have been without positive proof of the 
 practice of the art in Italy previous to 
 1467, and the Germans might still have 
 continued to claim the honor of its intro- 
 duction into Europe. This decree plainly 
 indicates that wood engraving was prac- 
 tised in Venice as early as the commence- 
 ment of the fifteenth century. In Ger- 
 many and the Low Countries, the early
 
 202 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EJJO 
 
 block books seom to have existed as early 
 as 1420, and to have given Outtenburg 
 the hint for using movable types. At 
 Rome, in 1467, a work intituled Medita- 
 tiones Johanni-s de Turrecremata issued 
 from the press of Ulric Han, embellished 
 with wood engravings, in which the de- 
 sign and execution of an Italian artist 
 are evident. The decorations of the 
 work of Valturius by Matteo Pasti, of 
 Verona, published five years afterwards, 
 exhibit considerable spirit and accuracy ; 
 and before the end of the fifteenth cent- 
 ury the art had been carried to great 
 perfection, as may be proved by the deli- 
 cacy and purity with which the designs 
 are engraved in the celebrated Hypnero- 
 tomachiaof Colonna. At this period, how- 
 ever, the discovery of copper-plate en- 
 graving had been made, and to this the 
 more ancient art yielded place. Maso 
 Finiguorra, a goldsmith and sculptor of 
 Florence, and pupil of Masaccio, about 
 the middle of the fifteenth century, seems 
 from the most authentic accounts to have 
 been the person to whom the world is in- 
 debted for the discovery. Finiguerra 
 ' was followed by Baccio Baldini, a gold- 
 smith of Florence. His works were nu- 
 merous, and are of course much sought 
 after by collectors. Botticelli, a painter 
 of eminence as well as an engraver, was a 
 native of Florence, where he was born in 
 1437. He is spoken of with praise by 
 Vasari, and especially for his picture at 
 San Pietro Maggiore, of the assumption 
 of the Virgin: among the works he en- 
 graved from his own designs are subjects 
 illustrative of Dante, and a number of 
 prints of prophets and sibyls. His death 
 occurred in 1515. Contemporary with 
 him flourished Antonio del Poliajuolo, 
 and rather later Gherardo and Robetta, 
 who advanced the art ; though it was 
 still dry in execution, and more to be ad- 
 mired for correctness of drawing and de- 
 sign than for any attempt at relief or 
 effect. There can be no doubt that at 
 this period the art was practised at 
 Rome, though the Venetian state and 
 other parts of the north of Italy fur- 
 nished a more abundant supply of artists. 
 In Germany and the Low Countries the 
 art of engraving had made extraordinary 
 progress during the fifteenth century ; 
 and the name of Martin Schoen or Schon- 
 gauer must not be forgotten. This artist, 
 who was also a painter and goldsmith, 
 was the father of the German school of 
 engraving. He was a native of Culm- 
 bach in Franconia, and born about 1420. 
 He began the practice of the art when it 
 
 was in its infancy, and succeeded in car- 
 rying it to a great degree of perfection. 
 His death occurred at Colmar in 1486. 
 Vasari relates that Michael Angelo, 
 when young, was so pleased with a print 
 by Schongauer, representing St. Anthony 
 tormented by devils, that he copied it in 
 colors. Albert Durer, the most celebrated 
 of the early engravers of Germany, was 
 born at Nuremburg, in 1471. Skilled in 
 many arts, and a painter of no ordinary 
 powers, it is astonishing that, in a life 
 not exceeding fifty-eight years, he should 
 have succeeded so eminently in that of 
 engraving that he has even hardly been 
 surpassed. On copper as well as wood 
 his works exhibit specimens of executive 
 excellence, which the experience of 
 centuries has not been able to surpass. 
 Durer is supposed to have been the in- 
 ventor of the art of etching, at least no 
 etchings are known before those which 
 are extant from his hand. Of the works 
 he has left, which are very numerous, 
 his wood engravings are the most free 
 and masterly. Following Albert Durer 
 were Aldegrever his pupil, Hans Beham 
 and his brother Bartholomew, Altdorfer, 
 Binek, Goerting, Penz, and Solis. Hans 
 Holbein, who, according to some was a 
 native of Basle, and according to others 
 of Augsburg, besides acquiring celebrity 
 as a painter, is known as an engraver on 
 wood, executed many pieces : the best 
 known and most remarkable of which are 
 the fifty-three prints called the " Dance 
 of Death." first published about 1530. 
 Of the Dutch and Flemish schools Lucas 
 van Leyden must be considered the head. 
 Born in 1494, at the place whence he de- 
 rives his name, he was the contemporary 
 and friend of Albert Durer ; to whom, 
 though inferior in design, he was supe- 
 rior in composition. His works, which 
 were both on wood and copper, are few in 
 number. The Low Countries furnished a 
 host of engravers, among whom we think 
 it unnecessary to name more than the 
 Sadelers ; Bloemart, who laid the founda- 
 tion of the principles upon which lines be- 
 come capable of expressing quality, color 
 and chiaro oscuro, which the French en- 
 gravers afterwards improved; Goltzius 
 and his pupils ; Muller ; -and Lucas 
 Kiliau : the three last, though they 
 handled the graver with great freedom 
 and dexterity, fell into boundless absurd- 
 ity and extravagance, which, however, 
 were tempered and corrected by Mathieu 
 and Saenredam. In the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century the two Bolswerts 
 appeared, whose style was much im-
 
 ENG] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 203 
 
 proved by the instructions of Rubens. 
 Vosterman, Pontius, and Peter de Jode 
 the younger, wore of this school, which is 
 distinguished for the success and correct- 
 ness with which it transferred the picture 
 to the copper. Rembrandt, notwithstand- 
 ing all his faults and absurdities, claims 
 a special notice in this place as an en- 
 graver. The Descent from the Cross, 
 and the print called " Hundred Guilder 
 Print," are extraordinary efforts of art. 
 His portraits and landscapes are full of 
 nature, expression, and character ; and it 
 is difficult to say whether he is more suc- 
 cessful in his sunshine effects, than in the 
 sober solemn twilight with which his 
 varied subjects are enveloped. Vandyke 
 has left a few specimens of etchings wor- 
 thy of his name. Jegher, Lutrua, and 
 above all the family of the Vischers, ex- 
 hibited great excellence in the art, which 
 continued to advance under the hands of 
 Waterloo, Jacob Ruysdael, and Paul Pot- 
 ter ; the last of whom, in his etchings of 
 animals, displayed a scientific acquaint- 
 ance with drawing and anatomy till his 
 time unpractised. 
 
 We must now return to close the brief 
 account of the Italian school, in which 
 the appearance of Marc Antonio Raimon- 
 di forms the most splendid era. Born at 
 Bologna about 1488, he became the pupil 
 of Raibolini, an artist of that city. His 
 master in the art of engraving is, how- 
 ever, unknown. We first hear of him at 
 Venice, whither Albert Durer went to 
 institute proceedings against him for 
 pirating his prints, which had been 
 copied by Raimondi with such wonder- 
 ful accuracy that they were sold for the 
 originals. But the proper sphere for 
 Marc Antonio was Rome, whither he 
 soon bent his steps. There his merit 
 soon gained him the friendship and es- 
 teem of llaffaelle, then in the plenitude 
 of his glory, by whom he was employed 
 to engrave from his designs. His first 
 plate from a design by Raffaelle was the 
 Lucretia, soon after which ho executed 
 the Judgment of Paris. His engravings 
 after this master are very numerous ; 
 and though free from the blandishments 
 of style, chiaroscuro, and local color which 
 the art has received since his time, such 
 was his knowledge of drawing, such the 
 beautiful character that pervades his 
 works, that he is entitled to the highest 
 rank in the art to which excellence has 
 ever attained His school attracted to 
 Re me artists from all parts; among 
 whom may be enumerated Marco de 
 Ravenna, Giulio Bonasoni, Agostino de 
 
 Musis, Enea Vico, and Nicolo Beatrici. 
 Some of the German artists whom we 
 have named above, viz., Behara, Penz, 
 and James Binck, resorted to Rome for 
 the benefit of his instructions. On the 
 death of Raffaelle, he executed engrav- 
 ings of some of the works of Giullio 
 Romano. His last print, the Battle of 
 the Lapithse, is dated 153i). Some of the 
 principal pupils of Marc Antonio have 
 already been named ; to them may be 
 added Georgio Grisi, commonly called 
 Mantuanus, and others of his family. 
 Many of the Italian painters were ex- 
 tremely successful in engraving, among 
 whom Titian etched many landscapes ; 
 but none cultivated the art with more 
 success than Agostino Caracci, who studied 
 under Cornelius Cort, a Dutch engraver, 
 born at Hoorn in 1536. His design and 
 execution are equally to be admired ; and 
 had he but concentrated his lights more, 
 and attended to local color, he would 
 have been exceeded by none. In the 
 seventeenth century Delia Bella, Callot, 
 who, though born in France, belongs to 
 the Italian school, Guercino, Salvator 
 Rosa, and Claude, continued the reputa- 
 tion of the art. At the latter end of 
 this century was born Antonio Canaletti, 
 originally a scene painter, like his father 
 Bernardo. His etchings opened an en- 
 tirely new field in architectural engrav- 
 ing, and may be considered almost, if 
 not quite, the first in which fine spark- 
 ling effects of light are introduced., and 
 in which the darkest shadows partake of 
 the transparency and clearness which 
 nature herself exhibits. Piranesi, who 
 was born in Venice, and died in 1770, 
 appeared about the middle of that cen- 
 tury ; he was one of the most surprising 
 architectural engravers that have ever 
 existed, whether wo consider the aston- 
 ishing power or number of his works. 
 His use of the etching needle surpassed 
 all that has been done before or since ; 
 and in our own time Volpato of Florence, 
 who, besides his other works, engraved 
 almost all the celebrated performances 
 of Canova with a delicacy, grace, and 
 correctness of the first order. 
 
 The French school commenced about 
 the middle of the sixteenth century with 
 Noel Gamier, who was followed by many 
 clever artists ; but till the time of Louis 
 XIV. it cannot be said to have been high- 
 ly distinguished. At that epoch we have 
 Gerard Edelinck, who, though born at 
 Antwerp, belongs properly to the French 
 school, and Gerard Audran. The former 
 of these, who worked entirely with the
 
 204 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ENO 
 
 graver, carried what is called color in en- 
 graving to a much greater degree of per- 
 fection than had ever before been prac- 
 tised. His facility was amazing, and por- 
 trait and history were equally the subjects 
 of his burin. The name of Audran, not less 
 from the circumstance of the family hav- 
 ing produced six engravers, than for Ge- 
 rard Audran, who engraved the well- 
 known battles of Alexander after Le 
 Brun, is conspicuous in the history of the | 
 art; his name, however, will descend to 
 posterity with greater lustre from his 
 engravings after the Italian school, and 
 particularly those of Nicolo Poussin. 
 Gerard Audran was born at Lyons in 
 1640, and died in Paris in 1703. John 
 Audran, the last of the family who exer- 
 cised the art, and nephew of Gerard, died 
 in 1756. Nanteuil, the three Drevets, 
 of whom Peter was the most eminent, 
 Le Clerc, Chereau, Cochin, Beauvais, 
 Simonneau Dupuis, and many other mas- 
 ters, belong to this period ; but Balechon 
 and Wille, towards the middle of the cen- 
 tury, outstripped all that had been done 
 by their predecessors. Wille was a Ger- 
 nwn ; but his residence having been 
 chiefly at Paris, he is always ranked 
 among the French engravers. His ex- 
 traordinary powers in imitating the 
 qualities of objects, and particularly of 
 satin, the smoothness of effect he pro- 
 duced, and his extraordinary clearness 
 in the use of the graver, entitle him to a 
 place of the first rank in the French 
 school, which, since the age of Louis 
 XIV., has been more distinguished for 
 its great mechanical skill, than for grace, 
 correctness, and beauty in the higher de- 
 partments of the art. 
 
 Till the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury England was indebted to foreign 
 artists for the embellishment bestowed 
 upon the typographical works she pro- 
 duced, as well as for such engravings, 
 either in history, portrait, or landscape, 
 as the taste of the nation required. 
 Among the artists who visited England 
 and made it their permanent or tempo- 
 rary residence were the Passes, Vaillant, 
 Hondius, Vosterman, Hollar, Blooteling, 
 Dorigny, and several others. Payne, 
 who died about 1648, and Faithorne, who 
 executed many historical pieces and por- 
 traits in a masterly manner, were the 
 earliest English engravers deserving men- 
 tion. William Faithorne, son of the last 
 named, was eminent as one of the earliest 
 mezzotinto engravers. This invention, 
 which is usually attributed to Prince 
 Rupert, is claimed by Heineken for Lieu- 
 
 tenant Colonel Siegen, who was a Hessian 
 officer, from whom Heineken says Prince 
 Rupert learned the secret, which ho 
 brought to England on his return with 
 Charles II. After the two Whites, father 
 and son, appeared Vcrtue, who was born 
 in 1684. He was the scholar of Vandar- 
 gucht, and from the numerous works he 
 brought out must have been an artist of 
 great industry and facility. The larger 
 portion of his labors was confined to por- 
 traits. The works of Pond and Knapton 
 can only be mentioned as continuing the 
 history, though occasionally they possess 
 some spirit ; but Vivares, a Frenchman 
 by birth, belonging, however, to the En- 
 glish school, and indeed the founder of 
 it in landscape engraving, has shown in 
 his engravings from the pictures of 
 Claude, talents, the precursors of that 
 pre-eminence in landscape engraving 
 which the English have not only improved 
 upon but exclusively possessed. Wool- 
 lett carried execution to a far greater 
 extent than Vivares, uniting with that 
 engraver's spirit all the elegance, clear- 
 ness, and delicacy of the French school ; 
 and to these Woollett superadded every 
 beauty that mechanical skill could effect. 
 John Browne was a contemporary worthy 
 of Woollett, whose works after Salvator, 
 Both, and others, are well executed. Sir 
 Robert Strange distinguished himself by 
 his great mechanical skill, whence re- 
 sulted beautiful execution, by the breadth 
 he preserved in the effects he copied, and 
 by the delicacy he imparted to flesh in a 
 manner that has never been equalled. 
 His principal engravings are from the 
 Italian painters, especially Titian, Guido, 
 und Corregio, and reflect great honor on 
 the English school, which since his time 
 has never been deficient in producing 
 artists of the first class. Strange was a 
 native of one of the Orkney islands, 
 where he was born in 1721, and died in 
 1792. Since his time the names of artists 
 of talent might be here supplied to a very 
 great extent : we shall merely mention 
 those of Basire, Bartolozzi, Rooker, 
 Heath, Byrne, Bromley, Lowry, Earlom, 
 Raphael, Smith. Ac. In the present day, 
 the demand of prints for the embellish- 
 ment of books has produced talent both 
 in England and in the United States 
 which, perhaps, might be more nobly 
 employed in works of a higher order. 
 
 Engraving on Wood, or Xylogra- 
 phy. In this branch of the 'art the ma- 
 terial used is a block of box or pear-tree 
 wood, cut at right angles to the direction 
 of the fibres, its thickness being regulated
 
 ENOJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 205 
 
 by the size of the print to be executed. 
 The subject is drawn on the block with a 
 black-lead pencil, or with a pen and In- 
 dian ink, taking care that the whole 
 effect is represented in the lines so drawn. 
 The whole of the wood is then cut away, 
 except where the lines are drawn, which 
 are left as raised parts ; in which point 
 it is that this mode of engraving differs 
 so essentially from copper-plate engrav- 
 ing, wherein the lines are cut out or 
 sunk in the metal, instead of being raised 
 from it. The impressions from wood 
 blocks are taken in the same manner as 
 from printing types. 
 
 Engraving on Copper is performed by 
 cutting lines representing the subject On 
 a copper-plate by means of a steel instru- 
 ment ending in an unequal-sided pyram- 
 idal point, such instrument being called 
 a graver or burin. Besides the graver 
 there arc other instruments used in the 
 process : viz., a scraper, a burnisher, an 
 oil stone, and a cushion for supporting 
 the plate. In cutting the lines on the 
 copper the graver is pushed forward in 
 the direction required, being held in the 
 hand at a small inclination to the plane 
 of the copper. The use of the burnisher 
 is to soften down lines that are cut too 
 deep, and for burnishing out scratches in 
 the copper : it is about three inches long. 
 The scraper, like the last, is of steel, with 
 three sharp edges to it, and about six 
 inches long, tapering towards the end. 
 Its use is to scrape off the burr, raised by 
 the action of the graver. To show the 
 appearance of the work during its pro- 
 gress, and to polish off the burr, engrav- 
 ers use a roll of woollen or felt called 
 a rubber, which is put in action^ with a 
 little olive oil. The cushion, which is 
 a leather bag about nine inches diame- 
 ter filled with sand for laying the plate 
 on, is now rarely used except by writing 
 engravers. 
 
 Etching is a species of engraving on 
 copper cr other metals with a sharp- 
 pointed instrument called an etching nee- 
 dle. The plate is covered with a ground 
 or varnish capable of resisting the action 
 of aquafortis. The usual method is to 
 draw the design on paper with a black- 
 lead pencil ; the paper being damped and 
 laid upon the plate, prepared as above, 
 with the drawing next the etching ground, 
 is passed through the rolling press, and 
 thus the design is transferred from the 
 paper to the ground. The needle then 
 scratches out the lines of the design ; and 
 aquafortis being poured over the p/ate, 
 which is bordered round with wax, it is 
 
 allowed to remain on it long enough tc 
 corrode or bite in the lines which the etch- 
 ing needle has made. Etching with a dry 
 point, as it is called, is performed entirely 
 with the point without any ground, the 
 burr raised being taken off by the scra- 
 per. Etching with a soft ground is used 
 to imitate chalk or black-lead drawings. 
 For this purpose the ground is mixed 
 with a portion of tallow or lard, according 
 to the temperature of the air. A piece 
 of thin paper being attached to the plate 
 at the four corners by some turner's pitch 
 and lying over the ground, the drawing 
 is made on the paper and shadowed with 
 the black-lead pencil. The action of the 
 pencil thus detaches the ground which 
 adheres to the paper, according to the de- 
 gree to which the finishing is carried ; the 
 paper being then removed, the work is 
 bit in the ordinary way. Stippling is 
 also executed on the etching ground by 
 dots instead of lines made with the etch- 
 ing needle, which, according to the inten- 
 sity of the shadow to be represented, are 
 made thicker and closer. The work is 
 then bit in. Etc/iing on Steel is executed 
 much in the same way as in the process 
 on copper. The plate is bedded on com- 
 mon glazier's putty, and a ground of 
 Brunswick black is laid in the usual way, 
 through which the needle scratches. It 
 is then bit in, in the way above described. 
 Etching on Glass. The glass is cover- 
 ed w>th a thin ground of beeswax; and 
 the design being drawn with the etching 
 needle, it Is subjected to the action of sul- 
 phuric acid sprinkled over with pounded 
 flour or Derbyshire spar. After four or 
 five hours this is removed, and the glass 
 cleaned off with oil of turpentine, leaving 
 the parts covered with the beeswax un- 
 touched. This operation may be inverted 
 by drawing the design on the glass with a 
 solution of beeswax and turpentine, and 
 subjecting the ground to the action of the 
 acid. 
 
 Mezzotinto Engraving. In this spe- 
 cies of engraving the artist, with a knife 
 or instrument made for the purpose, 
 roughs over the whole surface of the cop- 
 per in every direction, so as to make it 
 susceptible of delivering a uniform black, 
 smooth, or flat tint. After this process 
 the outline is traced with an etching nee- 
 dle, and the lightest parts are scraped 
 out, then the middle tints so as to leave a 
 greater portion of the ground, and so ou 
 according to the depth required in the 
 several parts of the work. 
 
 Steel Engraving was introduced by 
 our celebrated countryman, Mr. Perkins.
 
 206 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ENO 
 
 The steel plate is softened by being de- 
 prived of a part of its carbon ; the en- 
 graving is then made, and the plate hard- 
 ened again by the restoration of the car- 
 bon. The great advantage of steel plates 
 consists in their hardness, by which they 
 are made to yield an indefinite number 
 of impressions; wnereas a copper plate 
 wears out after 2 or 3000 impressions, and 
 even much sooner if the engraving be 
 fine. An engraving on a steel plate may 
 be transferred, in relief, to a softened 
 steel cylinder by pressure ; this cylinder, 
 after being hardened, may again transfer 
 the design, by being rolled upon a fresh 
 steel plate : thus the design may be mul- 
 tiplied at pleasure. 
 
 Aquntinta Engraving, whose effect 
 somewhat resembles Jhat of an Indian-ink 
 drawing. The mode of effecting this is 
 (the design being already etched) to cov- 
 er the plate with a ground made of resin 
 and Burgundy pitch or mastic dissolved 
 in rectified spirit of wine, which is poured 
 over the plate lying in an inclined posi- 
 tion. The spirit of wine, from its rapid 
 evaporation, leaves the rest of the com- 
 position with a granulated texture over 
 the whole of the plate, by which means a 
 grain is produced by the aquafortis on 
 the parts left open by the evaporation of 
 the spirit of wine. The margin of the 
 plate is of course protected in the usual 
 way. After the aquafortis has bitten the 
 lighter parts they are stopt out, and the 
 aquafortis is again applied, and so on as 
 often as any parts continue to require 
 more depth. Formerly the grain used to 
 be produced by covering the copper with 
 a powder or some substance which took a 
 granulated form, instead of using the 
 compound above mentioned ; but this 
 process was found to be both uncertain 
 and imperfect. In the compound the 
 grain is rendered finer or coarser, in pro- 
 portion to the quantity of resin intro- 
 duced. This mode of engraving was in- 
 vented by a Frenchman of the name of 
 St. Non, about 1662. 
 
 Engraving on Stone, or Lithography. 
 A modern invention, by means whereof 
 impressions may be taken from drawings 
 made on stone. The merit of this dis- 
 eovery belongs to Aloys Senefelder, a 
 musical performer of the theatre at Mu- 
 nich about the year 1800. The following 
 are the principles on which the art of 
 lithography depends : First, the facility 
 with which calcareous stones imbibe wa- 
 ter; second, the great disposition they 
 have tv adhere to resinous and oily sub- 
 stances ; third, the affinity between each 
 
 other of oily and resinous substances, and 
 the power they possess of repelling water 
 or a body moistened with water. Hence, 
 when drawings are made on a polished 
 surface of calcareous stone with a resin- 
 ous or oily medium, they are so adhesive 
 that nothing short of mechanical means 
 can effect their separation from it, and, 
 whilst the other parts of the stone take 
 up the water poured upon them, the res- 
 inous or oily parts repel it. Lastly, when 
 over a stone prepared in this manner a 
 colored oily or resinous substance is pass- 
 ed, it will adhere to the drawings made 
 as above, and not to the watery parts of 
 the stone. The ink and chalk used in 
 lithography are of a saponaceous quality ; 
 the former is prepared in Gerjnany from 
 a compound of tallow soap, pure white 
 wax, a small quantity of tallow, and a 
 portion of lauip-blaok, all boiled together, 
 and when cool dissolved in distilled wa- 
 ter. The chalk for the crayons used in 
 drawing on the stone is a composition 
 consisting of the ingredients above men- 
 tioned, but to it is added when boiling a 
 small quantity of potash. After the draw- 
 ing on the stone has been executed and 
 is perfectly dry, a very weak solution of 
 vitriolic acid is poured upon the stone, 
 which not only takes up the alkali from 
 the chalk or ink, as the case may be, 
 leaving an insoluble substance behind it, 
 but it lowers in a very small degree that 
 part of the surface of the stone not drawn 
 upon, and prepares it for- absorbing water 
 with greater freedom. Weak gum water 
 is then applied to the stone, to close its 
 pores and keep it moist. The stone is 
 now washed with water, and the daubing 
 ink applied with balls as in printing ; 
 after w4iich it passed in the usual way 
 through the press, the process of water- 
 ing and daubing being applied for every 
 impression. There is a mode of trans- 
 ferring drawings made with the chemical 
 ink on paper prepared with a solution of 
 size or gum tragacanth, which being laid 
 on the stone and passed through the press 
 leaves the drawing on the stone, and the 
 process above described for preparing the 
 stone and taking the impressions is car- 
 ried into effect. In Germany many en- 
 gravings are made on stone with the 
 burin, in the same way as on copper ; but 
 the very great inferiority of these to cop- 
 per engravings makes it improbable that 
 this method will ever come into general 
 use. Perhaps one of the greatest advan- 
 tages of the art of lithography is the ex- 
 traordinary number of copies that may 
 be taken from a block. As many as
 
 ENT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 70,000 copies or prints have been taken 
 from one block, and the last of them 
 nearly as good as the first. Expedition 
 is also gained, inasmuch as a fifth more 
 copies can be taken in the same time than 
 from a copper-plate : and as regards econ- 
 omy the advantage over every other spe- 
 cies of engraving is very great. 
 
 Zincography. This art, which is of 
 very recent introduction, is similar in 
 principle to lithography, the surface of 
 the plates of zinc on which it is executed 
 being bit away, leaving the design prom- 
 inent or in relief. A species of engrav- 
 ing on copper, called the medallic, has 
 been invented within the last twenty-five 
 years. Its object is to give accurate rep- 
 resentations of medals, coins, and bassi- 
 relievi of a small size. Some of the im- 
 pressions are exceedingly accurate and 
 beautiful, and appear so salient, that we 
 can hardly convince ourselves at first that 
 we are looking upon a flat surface. 
 
 ENGROSS'ING, the writing of a deed 
 over fair, and in proper legible charac- 
 ters. Among lawyers it more particu- 
 larly means the copying of any writing 
 upon parchment or stamped paper. In 
 statute law, engrossing means the buying 
 up of large quantities of any commodity 
 In order to sell it again at an unusually 
 high price. 
 
 ENHAIIMON'IC SCALE, in music, a 
 scale in which the modulation proceeds 
 by intervals less than semitones ; that is, 
 by quarter tones, having two dieses or 
 rigns of raising or lowering the voice. 
 
 ENIG'MA, a proposition put in ob- 
 jcure or ambiguous terms to puzzle or 
 exercise the ingenuity in discovering its 
 meaning. In the present day, the enig- 
 ma is only a jeu d'esprit, or a species of 
 amusement to beguile a leisure hour; 
 but formally it was a matter of such im- 
 portance that the eastern monarchs used 
 to send mutual embassies for the solution 
 of enigmas. Every one remembers the 
 enigma which Samson proposed to the 
 Philistines for solution ; and the still 
 more famous enigma of the Sphinx, the 
 <ource at once of the elevation and the 
 misfortunes of (Edipus. About the 17th 
 fentury the enigma, which had been for 
 jenturies neglected as a species of liter- 
 iry display, again came into favor ; and 
 n France particularly it was cultivated 
 tfith so much zeal, that several grand 
 wreatises were dedicated to its history and 
 characteristics. The best enigmas with 
 which we are acquainted were written by 
 Schiller, and have been incorporated in 
 his works. Even in the present day the 
 
 periodical literature of France and Ger- 
 many does not disdain this species of writ- 
 ing ; though, as was before observed, it 
 is now employed generally for amuse- 
 ment, and rarely to convey moral in- 
 struction. 
 
 . ENNUI, (French,) a word expressive 
 of lassitude, or weariness arising from 
 the want of employment. 
 
 ENS, among metaphysicians, denotea 
 entity, being, or existence : this the 
 schools call ens reale, and ens positivum, 
 to distinguish it from their ens rationis, 
 which exists only in the imagination. 
 Ens, among chemists, signifies the es- 
 sence or virtue of any substance. 
 
 ENSEM'BLE, (French,) a term used 
 in the fine arts to denote the general effect 
 of a whole work, without reference to the 
 parts. The ensemble of a picture, for 
 instance, may be satisfactory to the eye 
 of the spectator, though the several parts 
 may not bear a critical analysis ; or, in a 
 drama, the characters may be well drawn, 
 and yet it may be deficient in the ensem- 
 ble, that is, as a whole. 
 
 EN'SIFOKM, an epithet for that which 
 resembles a sword, (ensis ;) as an ensi- 
 Jbrm leaf. 
 
 EN'SIGN, the flag or banner under 
 which soldiers are ranged, according to 
 the different regiments to which they be- 
 long. Ensign is also the officer that 
 carries the colors, being the lowest com- 
 missioned officer in a company of infan- 
 try. Naval ensign, is a large banner 
 hoisted on a staff, and carried over the 
 poop or stern of a ship. 
 
 ENTAB'LATURE, in architecture, the 
 architrave, frieze, and cornice, at the top 
 of a column, and which is over the capi- 
 tal ; the horizontal continuous work 
 which rests upon a row of columns. 
 
 ENTAIL', in law, an estate entailed, 
 abridged and limited by certain condi- 
 tions prescribed by the first donor. Es- 
 tates tail are either general or special ; 
 and are always less estates than a fee 
 simple. To entail, is to settle the do- 
 scent of lands and tenements, by gift to 
 a man and certain heirs specified, t.o 
 that neither the donee nor any subse- 
 quent possessor can either alienate or be- 
 queath it. 
 
 ENTASIS, in architecture, a delicate 
 and almost imperceptible swelling of the 
 shaft of a column, to be found in almost 
 all the Grecian examples, adopted to pre- 
 vent the shafts being strictly frusta of 
 cones. This refinement, which is alluded 
 to in the second chapter of the third book 
 of Vitruvius, was first observed in exe-
 
 208 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 cution by Mr. Alluson in 1814 in the 
 Athenian edifices. 
 
 ENTEL'ECIIY, a peripatetic terra, in- 
 vented by Aristotle in order to express 
 an object in its complete actualization, 
 as opposed to merely potential existence. 
 
 ENTBRTAIN'MBNT, the pleasure 
 which the mind receives from anything 
 interesting, and which arrests the atten- 
 tion. Also, the hospitable reception of, 
 and amusement we provide for, our 
 guests. In a dramatic sense, the farce 
 or pantomime which follows a tragedy or 
 comedy. 
 
 ENTHU'SIASM, in a religious sense, 
 implies a transport of the mind, whereby 
 a person vainly fancies himself inspired 
 with some revelation from heaven, or 
 that his actions are governed by a divine 
 impulse. Devotion, when it does not lie 
 under the check of reason, is apt to de- 
 generate into enthusiasm ; and when once 
 it fancies itself under the influence of a 
 divine impulse, it is no wonder that it 
 should slight human ordinances, and trust 
 to the conceits of an overweening imagi- 
 nation. But enthusiasm, in another 
 sense, when under the control of reason 
 and experience, becomes a noble passion, 
 that forms sublime ideas, and prompts to 
 the ardent pursuit of laudable objects. 
 Such is the enthusiasm of the poet, the 
 orator, the painter, and the sculptor 
 such is the enthusiasm of the patriot, the 
 hero, the philanthropist, and the truly 
 devout Christian. 
 
 EN'THYMEME, among logicians, de- 
 notes a syllogism, perfect in the mind, 
 but imperfect in the expression. This 
 is the character under which the univer- 
 sal form of reasoning, or syllogism, .gen- 
 erally presents itself in connected wri- 
 ting. For example, the following argu- 
 ment, if drawn out in the correct logical 
 form, would stand thus, " All tyrants 
 deserve death ; but Caesar is a tyrant, 
 therefore Caesar deserves death." But in 
 the rapid diction of oratory, or poetry, it 
 would probably be expressed either, ;l All 
 tyrants deserve death, therefore so does 
 Cassar ;" in which case the minor pre- 
 miss, " Caesar is a tyrant," is suppressed: 
 or, " Caesar is a tyrant therefore he de- 
 serves death," by suppressing the major 
 premiss. Instances may be cited in 
 which the enthymeine consists merely of 
 one of the premisses expressed, while 
 both the other premiss and the conclusion 
 are to be supplied by a rapid exercise of 
 thought. Thus in the well-known words, 
 ' But Brutus says he was ambitious, and 
 Brutus is an honorable man," the last of 
 
 these propositions contains a complete 
 argument, " what honorable men say ia 
 to be believed : Brutus is an honorable 
 man, therefore what Brutus says is to be 
 believed." 
 
 ENTI'ERTIE, or ENTIRETY, in law, 
 the whole of a thing, in distinction from a 
 moiety : thus a bond, damages, &c., are 
 said to be entire, when they cannot be 
 apportioned. 
 
 ENTRE'METS, small plate?, or dain- 
 ties, set between the principal dishes at 
 table. In music, the inferior and lesser 
 movements inserted in a composition be- 
 tween those of more importance. 
 
 ENTREPAS', in horsemanship, is a 
 short broken pace, nearly resembling an 
 amble. 
 
 ENTREPOT', a warehouse or maga- 
 zine for the deposit of goods. 
 
 EN'TRY, in law, the act of taking 
 possession of lands. In commerce, the 
 act of setting down in an account-book 
 the particulars of trade ; as make an 
 entry of that sale, debt, or credit. Book- 
 keeping is performed either by single or 
 double entry. Entry, at the custom- 
 house, the exhibition or depositing of a 
 ship's papers in the hands of the proper 
 officers, and obtaining permission to land 
 the goods. 
 
 ENU'CLEATE, to open as a nucleus; 
 to clear from knots or lumps ; hence, to 
 explain, or clear from obscurity. 
 
 ENUMERATION, an account of sev- 
 eral things, in which mention is made of 
 every particular article. Enumeration, 
 in rhetoric, is that part of a peroration 
 in which the orator recapitulates the 
 principal points or heads of the discourse 
 or argument. 
 
 EN VI'RONS, the parts or places which 
 surround another place ; as the environs 
 of a city or large town. 
 
 EN'VOY, a person deputed by govern- 
 ment to negotiate some affair with any 
 foreign prince or state. There are en- 
 voys ordinary and extraordinary, as well 
 as ambassadors ; they are equally the 
 same under the protection of the law of 
 nations, and enjoy all the privileges of 
 ambassadors, but, being in rank below 
 them, they are not treated with equal 
 ceremony. The word envoy is also some- 
 times applied to resident ministers. 
 
 EN'VY, a feeling that springs from 
 pride or disappointed ambition, excited 
 by the sight of another's superiority or 
 success, accompanied with some degree of 
 malignity, and usually with a desire to 
 depreciate him. 
 
 E'PACTS, in chronology, the excesses
 
 AND THE FINE AKTS. 
 
 209 
 
 of the solar month above the lunar synod- 
 ical month, and of the solar year above the 
 lunar year of twelve synodical months. 
 The epacts, then, are either annual or 
 monthly. Suppose the new moon to be on 
 the 1st of January : since the lunar 
 month is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3 
 seconds, and the month of January con- 
 tains 31 days ; the monthly epact is 1 day, 
 11 hours, 15 minutes, 57 seconds. The an- 
 nual epnct is nearly 11 days ; the Julian 
 solar year being 365 days, 6 hours ; and 
 the Julian lunar year 354 days, 8 hours, 
 48 minutes, 38 seconds. In the ordinary 
 tables of the church calendar the epacts 
 are given only for a single century ; but 
 as the Gregorian calendar now in use de- 
 fines precisely the length of the year, 
 tables, though somewhat more compli- 
 cated, have been formed, which show the 
 epacts of every future year in all time to 
 come. The epacts were invented by 
 Luigi Lilio Ghiraldi, more frequently 
 styled Aloysius Lilius, a physician of Na- 
 ples, and author of the Gregorian Calen- 
 dar, for the purpose of showing the days 
 of the new moons, and thence the moon's 
 age on any day of the year, and conse- 
 quently of regulating the church festi- 
 vals. It is only in ecclesiastical compu- 
 tations that the epacts are ever employed ; 
 in civil affairs the civilized portion of 
 mankind have long since laid aside the 
 use of the lunisolar year, and regulated 
 time entirely by the sun. In the calen- 
 dar of the Church of England, Easter and 
 the other movable feasts are determined 
 in the same manner as in the old Romish 
 calendar, excepting that the golden num- 
 bers are prefixed to the days of the full 
 moons, instead of the days of the new 
 moons. The epacts are consequently not 
 used. It is desirable that the custom of 
 reckoning time by the moon, which had 
 its origin in ignorant ages, were aban- 
 doned, and the civil year adopted for 
 every purpose. 
 
 EP'ARCHY, the prefecture or terri- 
 tory under the jurisdiction of an eparck or 
 governor. 
 
 EPAU'LE, in fortification, the shoul- 
 der of the bastion, or the angle of the 
 face and flank ; which is often called the 
 angle of the epaule. 
 
 EPAU'LEMENT, in fortification, a 
 work raised to cover sidewise, made of 
 earth, gabions, &c. It also denotes a 
 mass of earth, called a square orillon, 
 raised to cover the cannon of a casement, 
 and faced with a wall. 
 
 EPAULETTES', distinguishing orna- 
 ments %orn both by military and naval 
 
 14 
 
 officers. In the different armies of the 
 German states ensigns are not allowed to 
 wear epaulettes ; and hence the phrase 
 " to obtain epaulettes," is synonymous 
 with " to become a lieutenant." In the 
 British army all officers with the rank of 
 captain upwards wear two epaulettes ; all 
 under that rank only one. 
 
 EPENET'IC, the laudatory or "en- 
 comiastic" species of oratory : a branch 
 of the Epideictie. according to the di- 
 vision of Aristotle's Rhetoric. 
 
 EPEN'THESIS, a figure of grammar, 
 by which one or more letters are in- 
 serted in the middle of a word ; as in the 
 Latin rettulit for retulit. 
 
 EPHEBEI'UM, in ancient architec- 
 ture, the building appropriated for the 
 wrestling and exercises of youth till they 
 had, on their arrival at manhood, the 
 right to enter the gymnasium. 
 
 EPHE'BI, applied particularly to the 
 Athenian youth between the ages of 
 eighteen and twenty years. 
 
 EPH'OD, in Jewish antiquity, a part 
 of the sacerdotal habit, being a kind of 
 girdle which was brought from be- 
 hind the neck 
 over the two 
 shoulders, 
 and hanging 
 down before, 
 it was extend- 
 ed across the 
 stomach, then 
 carried round 
 the waist and 
 used as a gir- 
 dle to the tu- 
 nic. They 
 were of two 
 sorts ; one of 
 plain linen, 
 and the other 
 embroidered 
 for the high 
 priest. On the part in front were two 
 precious stones, on which were engraven 
 the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 
 Before the breast was a square piece or 
 breast-plate. 
 
 . EPH'ORI, in Grecian antiquity, ma- 
 gistrates established in ancient Sparta to 
 balance the regal power. The authority 
 of the ephorl was very great : they were 
 five in number, presided over shows and 
 festivals, had (he care of the public mo- 
 ney, specially superintended the educa- 
 tion of youth, and were the arbiters of 
 war and peace. 
 
 EP'IC, a poem of an elevated charac- 
 ter, describing generally the exploits of
 
 210 
 
 CVCLOl'EDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 lEPI 
 
 * heroes. This species of poetry claims a 
 very ancient origin, and is universally 
 allowed to be the most dignified and ma- 
 jt^tic to which the powers of the poet can 
 be directed. There are various theories 
 regarding the character of an epic poem; 
 and while some critics claim this title ex- 
 clusively for the Iliad and Odyssey of Ho- 
 mer, the jiSneid of Virgil, and the Para- 
 dise Lost of Milton, others and particu- 
 larly the Germans embrace in the cata- 
 logue of epic writers Scott, Byron, Pope, 
 Moore, and Campbell. Epic poetry has 
 often been compared to the drama ; and 
 the essential difference between them is, 
 that description is the province of the 
 former action of the latter. The emo- 
 tions which epic poetry excite are not so 
 frequent and violent as those produced 
 by dramatic composition ; but they are 
 more prolonged, and more developed by 
 actual occurrences; for an epic poem em- 
 braces a wider compass of time and action 
 than is admissible in the drama. History 
 has generally supplied the best epic wri- 
 ters with themes ; but a close attention to 
 historical truth in the development of the 
 story is by no means requisite. Fiction, 
 invention, imagination, may be indulged 
 in to an almost unlimited extent; pro- 
 vided always the poet be careful to pre- 
 serve what the critics call unity, i. e. pro- 
 vided his work embrace an entire action, 
 or have a beginning, a middle, and an 
 end. This is the distinguishing charac- 
 teristic of the great epic poems. If the 
 epic is the highest, it is also the most 
 difficult style of poetical composition, and 
 that in which mediocrity is least endura- 
 ble ; and hence few of the writers of epius 
 on the classical model have obtained a 
 high reputation as national poets in any 
 language. Virgil is the earliest imitator 
 of Homer whose epic has been preserved, 
 and the most successful. The other 
 Greek and Latin epic poets contain pas- 
 sages of great beauty ; but their poems, 
 as wholes, are of an inferior order. In 
 the English language there are only two 
 epics which can be said to form part of 
 the national literature, and those only in 
 part framed on the classical model : the 
 Paradise Lost and Regained of Milton. 
 French epics, including even the Henri- 
 ade of Voltaire, so famous in its time, 
 have no place among the chefs-d'oeuvre 
 of the national literature. Of the great 
 Italian poems, only one (the Jerusalem 
 Delivered of Tasso) fulfils the conditions 
 of an epic. The poem of Dante, however 
 sublime in style, has no unity of event or 
 action : those of Ariosto, and the other 
 
 Romanzieri. form a class distinguished 
 from the epic by the mixture of the seri- 
 ous and ludicrous. The old German and 
 Spanish national poems, the Romance 
 of Ike Cid, and the Niebelungen-Lied, 
 especially the latter, which is closely 
 confined to the conduct of one great ac- 
 tion, although the work of writers un- 
 skilled in classical literature, deserve the 
 title of epic as truly as those of Homer. 
 
 EP'ICENE, in grammar, an epithet 
 for the gender of such words as are com- 
 mon to both sexes. 
 
 EPICHIRE'MA, in logic, a mode of 
 reasoning, which comprehends the proof 
 of one or both the premises of a syllo- 
 gism, before the conclusion is drawn. 
 
 EPICHIROTO'NIA, in Grecian an- 
 tiquity, the annual ceremony of revising 
 the laws, which was instituted by Solon. 
 They gave their votes by holding up their 
 hands : hence the name. 
 
 EPICITHARIS'MA, in the ancient 
 drama, the last part of the interlude, or 
 a flourish of music after the play was 
 over. 
 
 EPIC REPRESENTATION, the Epos 
 <5r epic poem, relates a grand event on 
 which important consequences depend. In 
 plastic art, reliefs on walls, and friezes, 
 and encaustic, and fresco-painting which 
 can be executed on large surfaces as well 
 as oil-paintings, by which a considerable 
 space on canvas may be filled, are pe- 
 culiarly adapted for the representation 
 of an Epos, or of a great action. But 
 the artist has not, like the poet, the 
 power of representing in connection, 
 those consequences of single events, 
 scenes, &c., which form the whole. The 
 limits of connection (with the poet of- 
 ten only single words, clever phrases, or 
 striking transitions) are denied to the 
 artist, and he mu?t therefore limit him- 
 self to the means at his command, of 
 showing in the clearest manner possible, 
 the point of the event frqm which its con- 
 sequences are developed. The plastic 
 artist can and may depict the moment of 
 an event or a scene, including several 
 events which he may define or suggest. 
 To choose this moment rightly, to draw 
 strikingly, and to execute intelligibly, is 
 the important task, in the performance 
 of which the true master and epic artist 
 are seen. The epic picture, whether it 
 belong to plastic work or painting, is thus 
 the representation of an important action 
 of human life, of ancient or modern 
 times, of distant or neighboring nations, 
 of events which have happened or which 
 have been invented. It must i* every
 
 EPl] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 211 
 
 case bo true or probable, i, e., belonging 
 to history and reality, or possible ; in 
 other words, the circumstances to be rep- 
 resented must be brought out conforma- 
 bly to Nature and Art, and have nothing 
 contradictory in themselves. The epic 
 work of Art, is always only a fragment 
 (though an important one) of a classic 
 or romantic, of a more or less historical, 
 or of a pure poetic epos, often the quin- 
 tessence of an epos, but never the epos 
 itself. The plastic descriptive work of 
 Art is thus limited to the poetical im- 
 portant event, but is in its limitation the 
 utmost concentration of history, while it 
 brings forward a principal action, with a 
 short but clear glance of the most im- 
 portant preceding and succeeding cir- 
 cumstances, so that all forms are arrang- 
 ed in action in their due relation to 
 each other, or to the principal point of 
 the picture. If this bo undertaken with 
 genius and happily executed by a mas- 
 terly hand, the whole will not only at- 
 tract the eye of the spectator, as a har- 
 monious grouping of different details, 
 rich in references, and finding a centre 
 point of union and conclusion, but will 
 rivet his attention. 
 
 EPICTE'TIAN', pertaining to Epicte- 
 tus, the Stoic philosopher; a man who 
 was held in such high esteem, that it is 
 said his study lamp was sold after his 
 death for three thousand drachmas. 
 
 EPICURE'ANS, a numerous sect of 
 philosophers in Greece and Koine : the 
 disciples of Epicurus, who flourished 
 about 300 years B.C. They maintained 
 that sensual pleasure was man's chief fe- 
 licity ; that the world was formed by a 
 concourse of atoms, and not governed by 
 Providence ; that the gods resided in the 
 extramundane spaces, in soft, inactive 
 ease, and eternal tranquillity ; that fu- 
 ture rewards and punishments were idle 
 chimeras ; and that the soul was extin- 
 guished with the body. They are men- 
 tioned in the xviith chapter of the Acts 
 of the Apostles. Epicurus himself main- 
 tained a more manly philosophy than the 
 generality of his followers ; he held, in- 
 deed, that pleasure was the chief end of 
 human pursuit ; and this pleasure he 
 placed in an exemption from pain, and a 
 perfect tranquillity of body and mind ; 
 but the means which he pointed out as 
 conducive to this end were prudence, 
 temperance, fortitude, and justice, in the 
 union of which perfect happiness consists. 
 He pursued pleasure, therefore, in its 
 most rational acceptation, and his life 
 seoms to have been stained with few vices. 
 
 The precepts and practices of the Epicu- 
 reans have, however, loaded his memory 
 with unmerited infamy ; and an Epicure- 
 an, according to the perverted meaning 
 of his doctrine, is one who is devoted to 
 sensual enjoyments, particularly those of 
 the table. 
 
 EPIDE'MIA, in Grecian antiquity, 
 festivals kept in honor of Apollo and Di- 
 ana, at the stated seasons when these dei- 
 ties, who could not be present every- 
 where, were supposed to visit different 
 places, in order to receive the vows of 
 their adorers. 
 
 EPIDEM'IC, a disease which prevails 
 in a place or tract of country only for a 
 temporary period, or that attacks many 
 people at the same season. There are 
 some epidemics which prevail every year, 
 and which are produced by the various 
 changes of the seasons. Thus, the spring 
 is accompanied by inflammatory diseases ; 
 summer by complaints in the stomach 
 and bowels ; autumn by catarrhs ; and 
 winter by intermittents. An epidemic at 
 its commencement is usually mild, and 
 becomes more dangerous as it spreads ; 
 but as it goes off, it again generally as- 
 sumes a mild form. Epidemics are not 
 originally contagious ; it is only under 
 particular circumstances, especially if the 
 disorder is a violent one, and many pa- 
 tients are crowded into a small room, so 
 as to form a corrupt atmosphere about 
 the sick, that contagion takes place. That 
 which is frequently ascribed to contagion, 
 is only the consequence of a violent shock 
 of the nervous system at the sight of a 
 sick person, perhaps in a loathsome state, 
 whereby the disease, to which the body 
 was already disposed, is more quickly de- 
 veloped. It is essential to the medical 
 notion of an epidemic that it be of a tem- 
 porary, in contradistinction to a perma- 
 nent character. It differs from endemic, 
 inasmuch as the latter class of diseases 
 are of a permanent nature, and prevail 
 only among certain people, and in certain 
 districts. 
 
 EPIG'ONI, the collective appellation 
 of the sons of the seven Greek princes 
 who conducted the first war against Thebes 
 without success. The war subsequently 
 undertaken by the Epigoni to avenge the 
 defeat of their forefathers is celebrated in 
 history. Their capture of Thebes forms 
 the theme of Wilkie's epic poem, the 
 Epigoniad, which was published about 
 the middle of the last century, and pro- 
 cured for its author great reputation. 
 
 EP'IGRAM, in poetry, a short poem 
 or piece in verse, which has only one sub-
 
 212 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EPI 
 
 ject, and finishes by a witty or ingenious | 
 turn of thought ; or, to use a more gen- 
 eral definition, an interesting thought 
 represented happily in a few words. The 
 first of these definitions, although tolera- 
 bly correct as to the modern epigram, dif- 
 fers, as it will be seen, widely from the 
 original sense of the word in Greek. The 
 Greek epigram was. in the first instance, 
 a short collection of lines actually in- 
 scribed on a monument, statue, fountain, 
 Ac. ; and the word was thence transferred 
 to such short poems as might serve for 
 inscriptions : of such the collection termed 
 the Greek epigram is almost wholly 
 composed. Their general characteristic 
 is perfect simplicity, and the seemingly 
 studied absence of that point which char- 
 acterizes the modern epigram. They are 
 almost wholly in one form of metre, the 
 elegiac. In the poetry of classical Rome, 
 the term epigram was still somewhat in- 
 discriminately used to designate short 
 pieces in verse ; but the works of Catul- 
 lus, and still more the well-known col- 
 lection of the Epigrams of Martial, con- 
 tain a great number which present the 
 modern epigrammatic character : and 
 Martial has, in fact, afforded the model 
 on which the modern epigram has been 
 framed. In this class of composition, and 
 especially where the turn of thought is 
 satirical, the French writers have been 
 far more successful than those of any 
 other nation ; and the term " piquant" 
 seems expressly invented to designate the 
 peculiar force of those epigrammatic sal- 
 lies of fancy of which their literature is 
 full. 
 
 EPIGRAPH, also termed motto. In 
 literature, a citation from some author, 
 or a sentence framed for the purpose, 
 placed at the commencement of a work 
 or of its separate divisions. 
 
 EP'ILOGUE, in the drama, a speech 
 addressed to the audience when the play 
 is ended. In the modern tragedy the 
 epilogue is usually smart and lively, in- 
 tended, probably, to compose the passions 
 raised in the course of the representa- 
 tion ; but it has been compared to a merry 
 jig upon the organ, after a good sermon, 
 to wipe away any impression that might 
 have been made by it, and send the congre- 
 gation away just as they came. In rhet- 
 oric, the conclusion of a speech, contain- 
 ing a recapitulation of the whole. 
 
 EPINI'CION, in the Greek and Latin 
 poetry, is a poem or composition cele- 
 brating a victory. Also, a festival on ac- 
 count of a victory. 
 
 EPIPH'ANY a Christian festival, ob- 
 
 served on the sixth of January, (the 
 twelfth day after Christmas,) in honor 
 of the appearance of our Saviour to the 
 magi, or wise men, who came to adore 
 him, and bring him presents. The Greek 
 fathers used the word for the appearance 
 of Christ in the world. 
 
 EPIPIIONE'MA, in rhetoric, a sen- 
 tentious exclamation or remark, not close- 
 ly connected with the general tenor of 
 the oration, and generally expressed with 
 vehemence. 
 
 EPIPH'ORA, in rhetoric, the emphatic 
 repetition of a word or series of words at 
 the end of several sentences or stanzas. 
 One of the finest instances of this figure 
 in modern oratory occurs in Fox's defence 
 of himself and his measures in the House 
 of Commons after the dissolution of the 
 Coalition ministry. 
 
 EPIPLEX'IS, a rhetorical figure, 
 which, by an elegant kind of upbraiding, 
 endeavors to convince. 
 
 EPIP'LOCE, a rhetorical figure, by 
 which one aggravation, or striking cir- 
 cumstance, is added to another ; as, " He 
 not only spared the rebels, but encour- 
 aged them ; not only encouraged them, 
 but rewarded them." 
 
 EPIS'COPACY, a form of church gov- 
 ernment by diocesan bishops. 
 
 EPISCOPALIANS, an appellation 
 given to those who adhere to the epis- 
 copal form of church government and 
 discipline. 
 
 EP'ISODE, in poetry, a separate inci- 
 dent, story, or action, which a poet in- 
 vents, and connects with his principal 
 action, that his work may abound with a 
 greater variety of events : though, in a 
 more limited sense, all the particular in- 
 cidents of which the action or narration 
 is compounded, are called episodes. In 
 epic poetry, there is much more room for 
 the episode than in dramatic, where the 
 poem is confined to a present action. 
 The term episode has also been trans- 
 ferred to historical painting, in a sense 
 analogous to that which it bears in poe- 
 try. 
 
 EPIS'TATES, the title of the presi- 
 dents of the two great councils of the 
 Athenians, viz., the Ecclesia and the sen- 
 ate of the Five Hundred. They were 
 both respectively elected from the num- 
 ber of the prohedri of the ecclesia and 
 senate, and their office only lasted one 
 day. The latter of these two officers had 
 the post of the greatest trust, as in his 
 hands were placed the keys of the citadel 
 and public treasury. 
 
 EPIS'TLE, the use of this word is now
 
 EPl] 
 
 AND THE FINE AKTS. 
 
 213 
 
 confined to the designation of those writ- 
 ten addresses by apostolical writers to 
 their. Christian brethren which are con- 
 tained in the canon of Scripture ; a few 
 others, either spurious or of high anti- 
 quity, although not recognized among 
 inspired writings, are also so denomi- 
 nated. The epistles of St. Paul, and oth- 
 ers contained in the volume of the New 
 Testament, are not arranged according 
 to their date, but, in all probability, ac- 
 cording to the views which those who ar- 
 ranged the canon entertained of the rel- 
 ative importance either of the writings 
 themselves, or of the parties to whom 
 they are addressed. Thus, the epistles 
 of St. Paul to the different churches, and 
 the Catholic epistles of St. John (i. e. ad- 
 dressed to the universal church,) are 
 ranked before the epistles of those saints 
 to individual Christians. An exception 
 to this rule is to be found in the epistle 
 to the Hebrews, which is placed last 
 among those of St. Paul, and seems to 
 have been admitted into the canon at a 
 comparatively recent period. The prac- 
 tice of reading a portion of an epistle in 
 the service of the church is extremely 
 ancient, and said to be noticed by Justin 
 in his First Apology. 
 
 EPISTOLOG'R APHY, the art or prac- 
 tice of writing letters. 
 
 EPIS'TROPHE, in rhetoric, a figure 
 of speech in which several successive sen- 
 tences end with the same word or affirm- 
 ation, as, " Are they Hebrews 1 so am I. 
 Are they Israelites 1 so am I. Are they 
 of the seed of Abraham 1 so am I," &c. 
 
 EP'ISTYLE, in ancient architecture, 
 a term used by the Greeks for what we 
 call the architrave, viz., a massive piece 
 of stone or wood laid immediately over 
 the capital of a column. 
 
 EP'ITAPH, literally an inscription on 
 a tomb. As has been well observed, in- 
 scriptions in honor of the dead are per- 
 haps as old as tombs themselves ; though 
 they were by no means bestowed in such 
 profusion in ancient as in modern times. 
 Among the Greeks, for instance, this 
 honor was paid only to the tombs of 
 heroes, as in the case of Leonidas and his 
 gallant comrades. The Romans were the 
 first to deviate from this course. Every 
 Roman family who consecrated a tomb to 
 their relations had the privilege of in- 
 scribing an epitaph thereon ; and as their 
 tombs were usually situated on the high- 
 way, the attention of passers-by was 
 sought to be arrested by the words " sta 
 viator" the formula with which all their 
 epitaphs were prefaced. But how much 
 
 soever the epitaphs of the ancient Greeks 
 and Romans differed in point of number, 
 there were three qualities which they 
 possessed in common brevity, simpli- 
 city, and familiarity ; qualities which a 
 modern critic, Boileau, has pronounced to 
 be indispensable in this species of writing. 
 At what period sepulchral inscriptions 
 came into use in England has not been 
 precisely ascertained ; though there can 
 be little doubt that this practice was in- 
 troduced by the Romans at the period of 
 their invasion of Britain. During the 
 first twelve centuries of the Christian era, 
 monumental inscriptions were all written 
 in Latin. About the 13th century, the 
 French language was adopted and con- 
 tinued to be used for this purpose till 
 the middle of the 14th century ; at which 
 time monumental inscriptions in the ver- 
 nacular tongue became common, though 
 the clergy and learned of that time, as 
 might have been expected, still preferred 
 the Latin, as their more familiar idiom. 
 The modern English. French, and Ger- 
 man epitaphs, of which several collections 
 have been made, are infinitely more nu- 
 merous than those of any time or nation, 
 and exhibit every variety of style and 
 sentiment ; from the most chaste and 
 majestic gravity, impressive tenderness, 
 and laconic terseness, to the most puerile 
 epigrammatic conceits, pointed satire, and 
 heraldic prolixity. 
 
 EPITA'SIS, in ancient poetry, the 
 second part or division of a dramatic 
 poem, in which the plot, entered upon in 
 the first part, or protasis, was carried on, 
 heightened, and worked up till it arrived 
 at its height, called catastasis. In rhet- 
 oric, that part of an oration in which the 
 orator addresses himself most forcibly to 
 the passions. 
 
 EPITHALA'MIUM, a nuptial song, 
 sung by a chorus of boys and girls when 
 the bride and bridegroom entered the 
 bridal chamber, and again on the first 
 morning after the marriage. This was 
 the custom in Greece, which was some- 
 what varied at Rome, where the chorus 
 consisted of girls only, who sang before 
 the door of the nuptial chamber till mid- 
 night. The most perfect examples of 
 this species which antiquity has left us 
 are by Theocritus and Catullus. 
 
 EP'ITHET, in rhetoric and compo- 
 sition, denotes a term employed in an 
 adjective sense to express an attribute or 
 quality of another substantive terra. The 
 abundance and the propriety of epithets 
 form peculiar characteristics of various 
 poetical styles. In the strict rhetorical
 
 214 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EQU 
 
 sense, epithets are only such adjectives 
 as convey a notion already implied in 
 the noun substantive itself, and add no- 
 thing to the sense. Thus, the " glorious" 
 sun is a mere epithet ; while the " rising" 
 or the " setting" sun would, as convey- 
 ing some additional idea into the sense 
 of the passage, not be considered as epi- 
 thets. The former sort, however, are 
 sometimes called in disparagement by 
 writers on rhetoric "otiosa," or idle epi- 
 thets. 
 
 EPITITH'IDES, in architecture, the 
 crown or upper mouldings of an entab- 
 lature. 
 
 EPIT'OME, in literature, an abridg- 
 ment ; a work in which the contents of a 
 former work are reduced within a smaller 
 space by curtailment and condensation. 
 In the later classical period, extending 
 through the declining ago of the Western 
 Empire, the practice of epitomizing the 
 writings of older writers, especially in 
 history, became very prevalent ; and 
 while some regard the works of Justin, 
 Eutropius, and similar writers, as having 
 preserved to us much historical knowl- 
 edge which would otherwise have been 
 lost, others have maintained that these 
 laborious compilers have done great dis- 
 service to literature, inasmuch as the 
 voluminous works which they abridged 
 being superseded by their more popular 
 and cheaper compendia, in an illiterate 
 age, have, from that cause, for the most 
 part perished. 
 
 EPIT'ROPE, or EPIT'ROPY, in rhet- 
 oric, a figure of speech, by which one 
 thing is granted, with a view to obtain 
 an advantage ; as, " I concede the fact, 
 but this very concession overthrows your 
 own argument." 
 
 EPIZEUX'IS, in rhetoric, a figure 
 which repeats the same word, without 
 any other intervening ; such is that of 
 Virgil, "nune, nunc, insurgite remis." 
 
 E'POCH, a certain fixed period, or 
 point of time, made famous by some re- 
 markable event, and serving as a stand- 
 ard in chronology and history. The prin- 
 cipal are the Creation, 4004 B.C. ; the 
 Flood, 2348 B.C. ; the birth of Abraham, 
 1996 B.C.; the conquest of Canaan, 1451 
 B.C.; the taking of Troy, 1184 B.C. ; the 
 finishing of Solomon's temple, 1104 B.C. ; 
 the first Olympiad, 776 B.C. : the building 
 of Rome, 753 B.C. ; the era of Nabonassar, 
 74" B.C. ; the founding of the Persian 
 Empire, by Cyrus, 559 B.C. ; the death j 
 of Alexander, 323 B.C ; the death of 
 Cresar, 44 B.C ; the birth of Christ, 1, or 
 thb commencement of the Christian era ; 
 
 the Hegira of Mahomet, 622 A.D. The 
 Christian era, used by almost all Chris- 
 tian nations, dates from January 1st, the 
 middle of the fourth year of the 194th 
 Olympiad, in the 753d of the building of 
 Rome, and 4714th of the Julian period. 
 The Christian year, in its division, fol- 
 lows exactly the Roman year, consisting 
 of 365 days for three successive years, 
 and of 366 in the fourth year, which is 
 termed leap year. The simplicity of this 
 form has brought it into very general 
 use, and it is customary for astronomers 
 and chronologists, in treating of ancient 
 time, to date back in the same order 
 from its commencement. See CALEN- 
 DAR. 
 
 EP'ODE, in lyric poetry, the third or 
 last part of the ode, the ancient ode being 
 divided into strophe, antistrophe, and 
 epode. The word is now used for any 
 little verse or verses, that follow one or 
 more great ones. 
 
 EPOPEE', or EPOPCE'IA. in poetry, 
 the fable, or subject of an epic poem. 
 
 EPOP'TjE, in antiquity, a name given 
 to those who were admitted to view the 
 secrets of the greater mysteries, or re- 
 ligious ceremonies of the Greeks. 
 
 EPOT'IDES, in the naval architecture 
 of the ancients, two thick blocks of wood, 
 one on each side the prow of a galley, 
 for warding off the blows of the rostra of 
 the enemy's vessels. 
 
 EPULO'NES, in Roman antiquity, 
 public officers who assisted at the sacri- 
 fices, and had the care of the epulum, or 
 sacred banquet, committed to them. 
 
 EQUAL'ITY, a term of relation be- 
 tween things the same in magnitude, 
 quantity, or quality. Also, the same de- 
 gree of dignity or claims ; as, equality 
 of men, in the scale of being ; an equal- 
 ity of rights, Ac. 
 
 EQUANIMITY, that even and calm 
 frame of mind and temper, under good or 
 bad fortune, which is not easily elated or 
 depressed. A truly great man bears 
 misfortunes with equanimity, and carries 
 himself in prosperity without vain exult- 
 ation or excessive joy. 
 
 EQ UERRY, an oflBcer of state under 
 the master of the horse. There are five 
 equerries, who ride out with her majesty ; 
 for which purpose they give their attend- 
 ance monthly, one at a time, and have a 
 table provided for them. 
 
 E'QUES AURA'TUS, a Roman knight, 
 so called because none but knights were 
 allowed to gild their armor. 
 
 EQUES'TRIA, a place in the Roman 
 theatres where the knights or equites sat.
 
 KQU] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 215 
 
 EQUES'TRIAN GAMES, in Roman 
 antiquity, {ludi equestres,) horse-races, 
 of which there are five kinds ; the pro- 
 dromus or plain horse-race, the chariot 
 race, the decursory race about funeral 
 piles, the ludi sevirales, and the ludi 
 neptunales. Equestrian order, the sec- 
 ond rank in Rome, next to the senators. 
 Equestrian statue, the representation 
 of a person on horseback. 
 
 EQUIPAGE', in ordinary language, 
 signifies the carriage, horses, and liveries 
 of any gentleman when he appears 
 abroad. Equipage, in marine affairs, 
 signifies the crew of a ship, together with 
 all a ship's furniture, masts, sails, am- 
 munition, &c. In the art military, it 
 denotes all sorts of utensils and artillery. 
 <fcc., necessary for commencing and pros- 
 ecuting with ease or success any military 
 operation. 
 
 EQUIPOL'LENCE, in logic, an equiv- 
 alence, or agreement, either as to the 
 nature of the thing, or as to the gram- 
 matical sense of any two or more propo- 
 sitions ; that is, when two propositions 
 signify one and the same thing, though 
 they express it ditferently. 
 
 EQUI'RIA, in antiquity, games insti- 
 tuted by Romulus in honor of Mars, and 
 which consisted in horse-racing. They 
 were celebrated on the third of the cal- 
 ends of March. 
 
 EQ'UITES, amongst the Romans, were 
 persons of the second degree of nobility, 
 immediately succeeding the senators in 
 point of rank. Every eques or knight 
 had a horse kept at the public charge ; 
 he received also the stipend of a horse- 
 man, to serve in the wars, and wore a 
 ring, which was given him by the state. 
 The equites composed a large body of 
 men, and constituted the Roman caval- 
 ry ; for there was always a sufficient 
 number of them in the city, and nothing 
 but a review was requisite to fit them for 
 service. 
 
 EQ'UITY, in a moral sense, is the im- 
 partial distribution of justice. So, in an 
 enlarged view, Blackstone observes : 
 " Equity, in its true and general mean- 
 ing, is the soul and spirit of all law ; 
 positive law is construed, and rational 
 law is made by it. In this, equity is sy- 
 nonymous with justice." In English ju- 
 risprudence, a court of equity or chan- 
 cery, is a court which corrects the opera- 
 tion of the literal text of the law, and 
 supplied its defects, by reasonable con- 
 struction, and by rules of proceeding and 
 deciding, which are not admissible in a 
 court of law. ' Equity then, is the law of 
 
 reason, exercised by the chancellor or 
 judge, giving remedy in cases to which 
 the courts of law are not competent. It 
 will remove legal impediments to the 
 fair decision of a question depending at 
 law. It will prevent a party from im- 
 properly setting up, at a trial, some title 
 or claim which would be inequitable. It 
 will compel him to discover, on his own 
 oath, facts which he knows are material 
 to the right of the other party, but which 
 a court of law cannot compel the party to 
 discover. It will provide for the safety 
 of property in dispute pending litigation. 
 It will counteract, or control, or set aside, 
 fraudulent judgments. It will also exer- 
 cise, in many eases, exclusive jurisdic- 
 tion ; particularly in granting special re- 
 lief beyond the reach of the common 
 law. It will grant injunctions to prevent 
 waste or irreparable injury, or to secure 
 a settled right, or to prevent vexatious 
 litigations, or to compel the restitution 
 of title deeds ; it will appoint receivers 
 of property, where it is in danger of mis- 
 application ; it will prohibit a party from 
 leaving the country in order to avoid a 
 suit ; it will decree a specific performance 
 of contracts respecting real estates ; it 
 will, in -many cases, supply the imperfect 
 execution of instruments, and reform and 
 alter them according to the real intention 
 of the parties ; it will grant relief in cases 
 of lost deeds and securities ; and, in all 
 cases in which its interference is asked, 
 its general rule is, that he who asks 
 equity must do equity. In short, its ju- 
 risdiction is almost undefined, where the 
 positive law is silent, but substantial jus- 
 tice entitles the party to relief. 
 
 EQUITY OF REDEMP'TION, in law, 
 is the advantage allowed to one who 
 mortgages his property, to have a reason- 
 able time allowed him to redeem it ; for 
 although the estate, upon non-payment 
 of the money, becomes vested in the 
 mortgagee, yet equity considers it only a 
 pledge for the money, and gives the party 
 a right to redeem, which is called his 
 equity of redemption. 
 
 EQUIVOCAL, an epithet for whatever 
 is ambiguous or susceptible of different 
 constructions ; as, that man's character is 
 very equivocal. 
 
 EQUIVOCAL TERM, in lo*ic, a term 
 which has several significations, applying 
 respectively and equally to several ob- 
 jects. A word is generally said to be 
 employed equivocally where the middle 
 term is used in different senses in the two 
 premisses, or where a proposition is liable 
 to be understood in various senses, ac-
 
 216 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [KRS 
 
 cording to the various meanings of one of 
 its terms. 
 
 EQUIVOCATION, the use of equivo- 
 cal terms, which may be understood by 
 the hearer in a different sense from that 
 in which they are taken by the speaker. 
 He who is guilty of equivocation, may be 
 fairly suspected of hypocrisy. 
 
 EQ'UIVOQUE, a word or phrase sus- 
 ceptible of different significations. 
 
 ERAS'TIANS, the followers of Eras- 
 tus, a German divine ; a sect which ob- 
 tained some notoriety in England in the 
 time of the civil wars. They referred the 
 punishment of all offences, civil or re- 
 ligious, to the civil magistrate ^ and as- 
 serted that the church had no power to 
 enforce any acts of discipline, nor to re- 
 fuse the communion of the Lord's Supper 
 to any one who desired it. 
 
 ERA'TO, one of the muses, whose 
 name signifies lov- 
 ing or lovely. She 
 has much in com- 
 mon with Terpsi- 
 chore the same at- 
 tributes, the same 
 dress, and frequent- 
 ly a lyre and plec- 
 trum. She presides 
 over the songs of 
 lovers. 
 
 ER'EBUS, accor- 
 ding to the classic 
 mythology, the son 
 of chaos and dark- 
 ness, who dwelt in 
 the lowest part of 
 hell, which is fre- 
 quently called by his 
 name. 
 
 EREMITICAL, (from eremite, a her- 
 mit,) living in solitude, or in seclusion 
 from the world. 
 
 EROT'IC POETRY, a term for ama- 
 tory poetry. The name of erotic writers 
 has been applied particularly to a class 
 of romance writers who belong to the 
 later periods of Greek literature, and 
 whose works abound in sophistical subtle- 
 ties and ornaments 
 
 EROTOM'ANY, a term employed by 
 some writers to denote that modification 
 of insanity, of which the passion of love is 
 the origin, and in which the love of a 
 particular individual constitutes the pre- 
 dominant idea, occupying the whole at- 
 tention of the patient. It sometimes 
 passes into perfect delirium, leads to sui- 
 cide, hysterics, &c. Young people are 
 peculiarly subject to it, who have an ex- 
 citable nervous system and lively imagi- 
 
 nation, who give themselves up to an ex- 
 cess in pleasure, or are spoiled by read- 
 ing romances, and rendered effeminate 
 by an injudicious education and indo- 
 lence. 
 
 ERRAT'IC, wandering, or having no 
 certain course ; also, not fixed or station- 
 ary ; hence the planets are called erratic 
 stars ; and fevers which observe no reg- 
 ular periods, are denominated erratic 
 fevers. 
 
 ERRA'TUM, an error of the press ; in 
 the plural, Errata, a list of which is 
 usually printed at the beginning or end 
 of a book. 
 
 ER'ROR, a wandering or deviation 
 from the truth. An error may be either 
 voluntary or involuntary; when com- 
 mitted through carelessness or haste it is 
 a blunder. Error, in law, is a mistake 
 committed in pleading, or in a process ; 
 whereupon a writ of error is brought to 
 remedy it, which carries the suit to an- 
 other tribunal for redress. 
 
 ERSE, the language of the descendants 
 of the Gaels or Celts, in the highlands of 
 Scotland. Erse is a corruption of Irish. 
 The highlanders were supposed by their 
 Gothic neighbors to be .an Irish colony, 
 and hence the name given to their lan- 
 guage. The highlanders themselves in- 
 variably call it Gaelic. It first attracted 
 notice after the publication in the English 
 language of the poems of Ossian, said to 
 be derived from it about the middle of 
 the last century. These, it was pre- 
 tended, were translated from manuscripts 
 in the translator's possession ; but such 
 poems in a written form, it is now suffi- 
 ciently known, never had any existence 
 either in the Irish or Gaelic language. 
 Although not committed to writing, or 
 rather not handed down in writing, these 
 poems, committed to memory and hand- 
 ed down from one bard or story-teller to 
 another, still exist in the Highlands of 
 Scotland, and in a dress not remote from 
 that in which they were rendered by 
 Macpherson into English. Their scene is 
 sometimes laid in Scotland, but more fre- 
 quently in Ireland. In short, they are 
 the Iliad and Odyssey of the Celtic race 
 of the two islands, handed down by tradi- 
 tion only, what the poems of Homer 
 were in all likelihood to the Greeks 
 themselves, before the art of writing was 
 known to them. The Erse, although a 
 rude and uncultivated language, is a 
 nervous and manly one, both as to ex- 
 pression and sound, and well suited to 
 poetry, whether sublime or tender. The 
 range of its sounds is very great ; for it
 
 ESO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 217 
 
 possesses twelve vowels, and no less than 
 eighteen diphthongs and triphthongs, with 
 forty-one consonants, including aspirates. 
 Many of the consonants are guttural ; 
 and of these, as well of the vocalic sounds, 
 there are several utterly unpronounce- 
 able by a stranger : the attempts made 
 to express such a variety of sounds by 
 the Human alphabet are, of course, both 
 awkward and imperfect. As to the 
 grammar, that of the Gaelic is of complex 
 structure, implying a primitive language 
 which has undergone little change by ad- 
 mixture with other tongues. 
 
 EQUES'TRIAN STAT'UE, statues of 
 men on horseback, usually formed of 
 bronze, but sometimes of lead and stone. 
 London enjoys the singular eminence of 
 possessing the worst equestrian statues to 
 be found in any city of Europe. 
 
 ER'MINE, the fur of the animal of 
 this name. It is an emblem of purity, 
 and of honor without stain. Robes of 
 royal personages are lined with it to sig- 
 nify the internal purity that should regu- 
 late their conduct. 
 
 ERUDI'TION, the attainment of pro- 
 found learning and extensive knowledge, 
 obtained by study and instruction ; par- 
 ticularly learning in history, antiquity, 
 and languages, as distinct from the use- 
 ful arts and sciences. 
 
 ESCALADE', in the military art, a 
 furious attack made upon a rampart, or 
 scaling the walls of a fortification, by fill- 
 ing up the ditches with bundles of fag- 
 ots, called fascines, and entering by lad- 
 ders ; without proceeding in form, break- 
 ing ground, or carrying on regular works 
 to secure the men a mode of attack 
 much adopted in the late wars, but gen- 
 erally accompanied with great slaughter. 
 ESCAL'LOP, an emblem of St. James 
 the Great, which is 
 frequently met with in 
 churches, dedicated to 
 his honor. It is one 
 of the attributes and 
 insignia of pilgrims, 
 adopted by them in 
 their voyages to the 
 sepulchre of this apostle, gathered by 
 them on the sea-shore, and fastened on 
 their hoods or hats as a mark of the pil- 
 grimage. 
 
 ESCAPE,' in law, is where a person 
 arrested gains his liberty before he is de- 
 livered by law. In civil cases, after the 
 prisoner has been suffered voluntarily to 
 escape, the sheriff can never after retake 
 him, and must answer for the debt ; but 
 the plaintiff may retake him at any time. 
 
 In the case of a negligent escape, the 
 sheriff, upon fresh pursuit, may retake 
 the prisoner, and the sheriff shall be ex- 
 cused if he have him again before any ac- 
 tion is brought against himself for the 
 escape. In criminal cases, an escape of 
 a person arrested is an offence against 
 public justice, and the party is punishable 
 by fine and imprisonment. 
 
 ESCARP'MENT, or ESCARP', in the 
 military art, the exterior slope facing 
 fortified works ; the interior slope being 
 the counterscarp. 
 
 ESCHEAT', in law, lands or profits 
 that fall to a lord within his manor, either 
 by forfeiture, the death of the tenant, or 
 through failure of heirs. 
 
 ES'CORT, a guard or company of arm- 
 ed men attending an officer, or baggage, 
 provisions, or munitions conveyed by 
 land, to protect them from an enemy, &c. 
 
 ES'CUAGE, in feudal customs, a kind 
 of knight-service, called service of the 
 shield, by which the tenant was bound to 
 follow his lord to the wars at his own 
 charge. 
 
 ESCULA'PIAN, (from Msculapius 
 the physician,) pertaining to the healing 
 art. 
 
 ES'CULENT, an epithet for such 
 plants or roots as may bo eaten. 
 
 ESCU'RIAL, a celebrated palace and 
 monastery in Spain, about twenty miles 
 from Madrid, built by Philip II. It is in 
 the shape of a gridiron, and contains the 
 king's palace. St. Lawrence's church, the 
 monastery of Jerenomites, and the free 
 schools. It was erected in consequence 
 of a vow made by Philip, on the day of 
 the battle of St. Quentin, and dedicated 
 to St. Lawrence, whose festival was on 
 that day. Though the building is im- 
 mensely large and the most superb in the 
 kingdom, its exterior has rather the aus- 
 tere simplicity of a convent than the ele- 
 gance of a palace. It is a quadrangle, 
 740 feet in length by 580 in breadth ; and 
 is said to have cost 50 millions of dollars. 
 
 ES'DRAS, the name of two apocryphal 
 books, usually bound up with the Scrip- 
 tures. They were always excluded the 
 Jewish canon. 
 
 ESOTER'IC, an epithet applied to the 
 private instructions and doctrines of Py- 
 thagoras ; opposed to exoteric, or public. 
 Much dispute has prevailed among the 
 learned as to the precise import of this 
 distinction. By some it was thought that 
 the ancient philosophers had a set of mys- 
 terious doctrines which they communi- 
 cated only to the more enlightened of 
 their disciples, and another more popular 

 
 218 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EST 
 
 doctrine which they promulgated to the 
 multitude. In the case of Aristotle, to 
 whose writings the distinction properly 
 applied, this opinion is, to a certain ex- 
 tent, well founded ; except so far as re- 
 gards the suspicion of intentional conceal- 
 ment implied in it. The exoteric or pub- 
 lished writings of that philosopher appear 
 to have been written in the form of dia- 
 logues, all of which are lost. His esoteric 
 works, we gather from the synonymous 
 term acroa.ma.tic, were not intended to su 
 persede the necessity of oral instruction 
 to render them intelligible. This agrees 
 well enough with the brevity, the frequent 
 repetitions, and the perplexed arrange- 
 ment of the works of Aristotle which sur- 
 vive. 
 
 ES'PIONAGE, a system of employing 
 spies, or secret emissaries, either in mili- 
 tary or political affairs. 
 
 ESPOUS'ALS, in law, a contract or 
 mutual promise of marriage between a 
 man and woman. 
 
 ESPLANADE', in fortification, the 
 glacis of the counterscarp, or sloping of 
 the parapet of the covered way towards 
 the country. The word is now also used 
 for a sloping walk or promenade. 
 
 ESPRIT' DE CORPS, a French phrase, 
 signifying that species of attachment with 
 which persons, more especially military 
 men, are animated to the corps or service 
 to which they belong. 
 
 ESQUIRE', anciently a shield or ar- 
 mor-bearer ; the person that attended a 
 knight in time of war, and carried his 
 shield. It is now a title. given to the sons 
 of knights, or those who serve the king in 
 any worshipful calling, as officers of the 
 king's courts, counsellors at lajv, &c. It 
 has, however, become a sort of vague and 
 undefined compliment, placed at the end 
 of a man's name, and may be regarded 
 more as an expression of respect than 
 anything else. 
 
 ES'SAY, in literature, an attempt; a 
 species of composition. In general, this 
 title is given to short disquisitions on 
 subjects of taste, philosophy, or common 
 life. In this sense it has been applied to 
 periodical papers, published at regular 
 intervals under a collective name, by one 
 or more writers, containing remarks on 
 topics of the day, or on more serious sub- 
 jects. From the appearance of the Tal- 
 Icr, in the beginning of the last century, 
 which was chiefly written by Sir Richard 
 Steele, this species of literature continued 
 to be a favorite in England for seventy 
 years, and many similar series of essays 
 were produced; the best of which are 
 
 united in one collection under the name 
 of The English Essayists. The most 
 celebrated of these works was the Spec- 
 tator, to which Addison was the best con- 
 tributor ; and next to it the Jtambler, 
 published and almost wholly written by 
 Samuel Johnson. The title of essay has 
 been also adopted, by way of indicating 
 diffidence in the completeness of their 
 work, by various authors of more ex- 
 tended performances ; as, by Locke (Es- 
 say on the Human Understanding.) 
 
 ES'SENCE, in philosophy, a scholastic 
 term, denoting what the Platonists called 
 the idea of a species. The school phi- 
 losophers give two significations of the 
 word essence : the first denoting the 
 whole essential perfection of a being, and 
 consequently its entity, with all its in- 
 trinsic and necessary attributes taken to- 
 gether; the second denoting the principal 
 or most important attributes of anything. 
 The essences of things were held by many ~ 
 to be uncreated, eternal, and immutable. 
 
 ESSENES', a sect among the Jews in 
 the time of our Saviour, of whom an ac- 
 count is preserved to us by Josephus and 
 Philo, though they are not mentioned in 
 Scripture. They were few in number, 
 and lived chiefly in solitude, taking no 
 part in public affairs, but devoting their 
 lives to contemplation. There were in- 
 deed two classes of them, distinguished 
 as the practical and contemplative, who 
 differed in the degree of strictness and 
 austerity which they observed. They 
 believed in the immortality of the soul, 
 and held the Scripture in the highest 
 reverence ; interpreting it, however, after 
 an allegorical system of their own. 
 
 ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES, in logic, 
 such as necessarily depend upon, and are 
 connected with, the nature and essence of 
 a thing, in distinction from the accidental. 
 
 ESSOIN', in law, an excuse by reason 
 of sickness or any other just cause for one 
 that is summoned to appear and answer 
 an action, <fec. The first three days of a 
 term are called essoin days, as three days 
 are allowed for the appearance of suitors. 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT, in a military 
 sense, the quota of officers and men in flu 
 army, regiment, or company, which be- 
 ing much greater in war than in peace, 
 has given rise to the distinctive terms of 
 War Establishment and Peace Establish- 
 ment. The word is also used when speak- 
 ing of the ministers of a church estab- 
 lished by law, as belonging to the Estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 ESTACADE', in the military art, a 
 French word for a dyke, constructed with
 
 KTY] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 219 
 
 piles in the sea, a river, or morass, to 
 oppose the entry of troops. 
 
 BSTAFBT'TE, a military courier, sent 
 from one part of an army to another ; or 
 a speedy messenger who travels on horse- 
 back. 
 
 ESTATE', in law, the title or interest 
 that a person has in lands, tenements, or 
 other effects ; comprehending the whole 
 in which a person has any property. Es- 
 tates are either real or personal; other- 
 wise distinguished into freeholds, which 
 descend to heirs ; or chattels and effects, 
 which go to executors or administrators. 
 There are also estates for life, for years, 
 at will, (fcc. Estates of the realm are 
 the distinct parts of any state or govern- 
 ment, as the king, lords, and commons, 
 in England. 
 
 ES'THER, a canonical book of the Old 
 Testament, containing the history of a 
 Jewish virgin, dwelling with her uncle 
 Mordecai at Shushan, in the reign of Aha- 
 suerus, one of the kings of Persia. Arch- 
 bishop Usher supposes Darius Hystaspes 
 to be the Ahasuerus of Scripture, and 
 Artystona to be Esther. Scaliger con- 
 siders him as Xerxes, and his queen Ha- 
 mestris as Esther. Josephus, on the con- 
 trary, asserts that Ahasuerus was Arta- 
 xerxes Longimanus ; and the Septuagint, 
 throughout the whole book of Esther, 
 translates Ahasuerus by Artaxerxes. 
 
 ES'TIMATE, a judgment or opinion 
 formed of the value, degree, extent, or 
 quantity of anything, without ascertain- 
 ing it. Also a computation of probable 
 value or cost, such as is generally pre- 
 pared by engineers, architects, and build- 
 ers, previous to the commencement of 
 any undertaking. 
 
 ESTO'VERS, in law, a reasonable al- 
 lowance out of lands or goods for the sub- 
 sistence of a man accused of felony, du- 
 ring his imprisonment. But it is more 
 generally taken for certain allowances of 
 wood made to tenants, and called, from 
 the Saxon, house-bate, hedge-bate^ plough- 
 bole. &o. 
 
 ESTRAY', a tame beast found without 
 any owner known, which, by the English 
 law if not reclaimed within a year and a 
 day, falls to the lord of the manor. 
 
 ESTREAT', in law, a true copy or 
 duplicate of an original writing, partic- 
 ularly of the penalties or fines to be ! 
 levied by the bailiff or other officer, of 
 every man for his offence. 
 
 ET C^T'ERA, and the contraction 
 etc. or cf-c., denote the rest or others of 
 the kind ; and so forth. 
 
 ETCH'ING, a method of engraving on 
 
 copper or steel, in which the lines and 
 strokes are eaten in with aquafortis. See 
 ENGRAVING. 
 
 ETER'NITY, everlasting duration, 
 without beginning or end ; a term ex- 
 pressive of that perpetuity which can 
 only be imagined, on account of the im- 
 possibility of conceiving when time was 
 not, or will not be ; hence many have 
 concluded that there has been an eter- 
 nity of past time, and must be an eter- 
 nity of future time. 
 
 ETH'ICS, the doctrine of manners, or 
 science of moral philosophy, which teach- 
 es men their duty and the springs and 
 principles of human conduct. 
 
 ETHNOG'RAPHY, the science which 
 treats of the particularities of nations, de- 
 scribing their customs, peculiarities, <fcc. 
 Although a peculiar name has been 
 given to it, it is in general considered as 
 a branch of the sciences of geography and 
 history. 
 
 ETIOL'OGY, an account of the causes 
 of anything, particularly of diseases. 
 
 ET'IQUETTE, is the ceremonial code 
 of polite life, more voluminous and minute 
 in each portion of society according to its 
 rank. The word is derived from the cus- 
 tom of arranging places at processions, &c. 
 by tickets delivered beforehand to appli- 
 cants. The Byzantine court appears to 
 have carried the practice of ceremonial 
 observations to the most inconvenient 
 and ludicrous extent. But of modern 
 courtly etiquette, Philip the Good, Duke 
 of Burgundy, is regarded by some as the 
 founder. His desire to conceal his in- 
 feriority in rank, as a great feudatory 
 only, to the great sovereigns of Europe, 
 whom he equalled in power, induced him 
 to surround his presence with a multi- 
 tude of officers and numberless formali- 
 ties. At no time, probably, was the 
 spirit of etiquette so predominant and so 
 tyrannical as in the court of Louis XIV. ; 
 and the Memoirs of St. Simon are full 
 of the most extraordinary proofs of the 
 subjugation of the minds of men of sense, 
 wit, and even independent character in 
 other respects, to its engrossing influ- 
 ence, their pride in attaining any little 
 point of precedence, and their mortifica- 
 tion in failing of it. The smaller courts 
 of Germany caricatured the ceremonial 
 of that of the Great Monarch, and carried 
 its strictness to an absurd extent. At the 
 present day the ancient etiquette of courts 
 is continually losing something of its 
 strictness. 
 
 ETYMOL'OGY, a branch of philology, 
 which teaches the origin and derivation
 
 220 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EVA 
 
 of words, with a view to ascertain their 
 radical or primary signification. In gram- 
 mar, it comprehends not only the deriva- 
 tion of words, but their various inflections 
 and modifications. One who is well versed 
 in the deduction of words from their 
 originals, is called an etymologist. 
 
 EU'CHARIST, the sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper ; so called because the 
 death of our Redeemer is thereby com- 
 memorated with thankful remembrance, 
 and bread and wine are taken as emblems 
 of his flesh and blood. 
 
 EUCHOL'OGY, a book of prayers; 
 synonymous, in the phraseology of the 
 Roman Catholic church, with missal or 
 breviary. 
 
 EU'CRASY, an agreeable, well-pro- 
 portioned mixture of qualities, by which 
 a body is said to be in good order, and 
 disposed for a good state of health. 
 
 EUHARMON'IC, in music, producing 
 harmony or concordant sounds. 
 
 EU'LOGY, in a general sense, an en- 
 comium pronounced on any person for 
 his meritorious or virtuous qualities ; 
 but, in a more restricted meaning, it was 
 used in ecclesiastical history to denote 
 any present bestowed on the church after 
 having been blessed or hallowed. 
 
 EU'NOMY, equal law, or a well-ad- 
 justed constitution of government. 
 
 EUPA'TRID^E. in ancient history, the 
 nobles of Attica, in whose hands in early 
 times all the power of government was 
 vested, in consequence of which the lower 
 orders sunk into a low state of degrada- 
 tion, being particularly oppressed by 
 their debts which the pressure of their 
 circumstances compelled them to incur, 
 and which, if not paid, gave the creditor 
 power over the bodies and liberties of the 
 debtor and his family. These evils were 
 remedied by the legislation of Solon, who 
 reduced the interest of debts, and deprived 
 the creditor of his power over the body 
 of the debtor, and at the same time threw 
 the judicial and much of the legislative 
 power into the hands of the people at 
 large. The alterations in the constitution 
 of Athens, subsequent to the time of 
 Solon, by degrees deprived the Eupa- 
 tridae of all their political privileges, 
 and finally established an unmixed de- 
 mocracy. 
 
 EU'PEPSY, in medicine, good con- 
 coction in the stomach ; perfect digestion. 
 
 EU'PHEMISM, in rhetoric, a figure 
 by which things in themselves disagree- 
 able and shocking, are expressed in terms 
 neither offensive to good manners nor re- 
 pulsive" to "ears polite" 
 
 EU'PHONY, an easy and smooth enun- 
 ciation of words. A grammatical license, 
 whereby a letter that is too harsh is con- 
 verted into a smoother, contrary to the 
 ordinary rules, for the purpose of pro- 
 moting smoothness and elegance in the 
 pronunciation. 
 
 EU'RITHMY, in architecture, paint- 
 ing, and sculpture, is a certain majesty, 
 elegance, and ease in the various parts 
 of a body, arising from its just propor- 
 tions. In medicine, euritlimy signifies a 
 good disposition of the pulse. 
 
 EUSTA'THI ANS, a sect of Christians, 
 the followers of Eustathius, an Armenian 
 bishop in the fourth century, who, under 
 pretence of great purity and severity, in- 
 troduced many irregularities. 
 
 EU'STYLE, in architecture, a sort of 
 building in which the columns are placed 
 at the most convenient distances from 
 each other, most of the intercolumnia- 
 tions being just two diameters and a 
 quarter of the column. 
 
 EUTER'PE, one 
 of the muses, con- 
 sidered as presiding 
 over music, because 
 the invention of the 
 flute is ascribed to 
 her. She is usually 
 represented as a 
 virgin crowned with 
 flowers, having a I 
 flute in her hand, or 
 with various instru- 
 ments about her. As 
 her name denotes, 
 she is the inspirer 
 of pleasure. 
 
 EUTY'CHIANS, 
 a religious sect in 
 the fifth century, 
 called after one Eu- 
 tychus, who maintained, among other 
 things, that the flesh of Christ differed in 
 its nature from that of mankind. 
 
 EUTHANA'SIA, or EUTHAN'ASY, 
 a gentle, easy, happy death 
 
 EVAN'GELIST, a general name given 
 to those who write or preach the go.pel 
 of Jesus Christ. The word is of Grook 
 origin, signifying one who publishes <rlad 
 tidings, or is the messenger of good 
 news. But it is applied principally 
 to the writers of the four Gospels, or 
 Evangelia, viz. Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
 and John. The word also denotes certain 
 ministers in the primitive church, who 
 assisted the Apostles in diffusing the 
 knowledge of the Gospel, and travelled 
 about to execute such commissions as
 
 EVIJ 
 
 AND THE FINE AttTS. 
 
 221 
 
 they were entrusted with, for the ad- 
 vancement of Christianity. 
 
 EVAN'GELISTS, in the Fine Arts, on 
 the earliest sculptures the EVANGELISTS 
 are symbolized by four scrolls, or, with 
 reference to the four streams of Paradise, 
 by four rivers flowing down from a hill, 
 on which stands a Cross and the Lamb, 
 the MONOGRAM of Christ. They were af- 
 terwards represented as the forms out of 
 Ezekiel, vii. 1-10, viz., a man, a lion, a 
 bull, and an eagle, which are mentioned 
 as supporting the throne of God (Rev. iv. 
 6-7.) After the fifth century, the By- 
 y.antine artists, keeping strictly to bibli- 
 cal terms, represented the Evangelists (at 
 iirst in mosaic) as miraculous animals, 
 half men and half beasts; they had wings 
 like the CHERUBIM, and were either in 
 the act of writing or had a scroll before 
 them. The human face was given only 
 to Matthew or Mark, to which of these 
 two was doubtful, even o the time of 
 Jerome, with whom originated the pres- 
 ent appropriation of the attributes ; the 
 other three had the heads of a lion, an 
 ox, and an eagle, with corresponding 
 feet. This representation was customary 
 for some time in the Greek Church. In 
 the latter part of the middle ages the 
 Western Church began to separate the 
 human figure from that of the animal, 
 and to represent the Evangelists only in 
 the former manner, generally as writing, 
 and three of them with the animals by 
 their sides as attributes. The four ani- 
 mals are often represented with scrolls, 
 anciently inscribed with the initial sen- 
 tences of each Gospel. In later exam- 
 ples the names of the Evangelists are in- 
 scribed on the scrolls. In sepulchral 
 brasses the Evangelistic symbols are 
 found variously arranged, but they are 
 most frequently placed so as to follow 
 the same order. According to St. Je- 
 rome's arrangement St. Matthew had a 
 man or angel by his side, because his 
 Gospel begins with a genealogy showing 
 the human descent of Christ. St. Mark 
 has a lion, the symbol of the royal dig- 
 nity of the Saviour, and referring to the 
 desert (Mark i. 13) in which he was with 
 wild beasts. St. Luke has the ox, the 
 symbol of the high priesthood, because 
 his Gospel begins with the history of Zach- 
 arias serving in the temple. St. John 
 has the eagle, the emblem of the divinity 
 of Christ, and referring to the doctrine 
 of the Logon, with which his Gospel com- 
 mences. Christ was thus symbolized by 
 the Evangelists, as Man, King, High 
 Priest, and God. The EVANGELISTIC 
 
 SYMBOLS are found variously employed 
 in Christian edifices and ornaments of 
 every period in the history of Art, and 
 they are introduced in Christian design 
 under a great variety of place and cir- 
 cumstance, e. g. most appropriately on 
 books of the Holy Gospels, enamelled in 
 silver and set on the angles of the covers ; 
 on crosses, as being the four great wit- 
 nesses of the doctrine of the Cross. For 
 the same reason, on the four gables of 
 Cruciform Churches; also in cross front- 
 als for altars ; at the four corners of 
 monumental stones and brasses in testi- 
 mony of the faith of the deceased in the 
 Gospel of Christ ; around images of the 
 Majesty, the Holy Trinity, Agnus Dei, 
 Crucifixion, Resurrection, whether paint- 
 ed on glass, or ceilings and wall, or em- 
 broidered on vestments or altar-cloths, 
 as the sacred mysteries represented are 
 described in the Holy Gospels. 
 
 EVA'S ION, the act of eluding or es- 
 caping from the pressure of an argument, 
 or from an accusation, charge, or inter- 
 rogatory. 
 
 EVA'TES, a branch of the Druids, or 
 ancient Celtic philosophers. Strabo di- 
 vides the British and Gaulic philosophers 
 into three sects, Bards, Evates, and Dru- 
 ids. He adds, that the Bards were the 
 poets and musicians; the Evates, the 
 priests and naturalists ; and the Druids 
 were moralists as well as naturalists. 
 
 EVE'NING, or EVE, the precise 
 time when evening begins is not ascer- 
 tained by usage. In strictness, evening 
 commences at the setting of the sun, and 
 continues during twilight, and night com- 
 mences with total darkness. But it 
 sometimes includes a portion of the after- 
 noon ; as in the phrase, " the morning 
 and evening service of the church ;" and 
 in customary language it. extends to bed- 
 time ; as "I spent the evening with a 
 friend." Figuratively, we use it for the 
 decline of life, or old age ; as " the eve- 
 ning of life." 
 
 EVIDENCE, in its most general 
 sense, means the proofs which establish, 
 or have a tendency to establish, any facts 
 or conclusions. It may be divided into 
 three sorts, mathematical, moral, and 
 legal. The first is employed in the dem- 
 onstrations which belong to pure math- 
 ematics; the second is employed in the 
 general affairs of life, and in those rea- 
 sonings which are applied to convince the 
 understanding in cases not admitting of 
 strict demonstration ; the third is that 
 which is employed in judicial tribunals 
 for the purpose of deciding upon the
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 EXC 
 
 rights and wrongs of litigants. Accord- 
 ing to our system of jurisprudence in 
 common law trials, it is the peculiar pro- 
 vince of a jury to decide all matters of 
 fact. The verdict of the jury is, however, 
 to be given, and the trial is to be had, in 
 the presence of a judge or judges, who 
 preside at the trial, and are bound to de- 
 cide all matters of law, arising in the 
 course of the trial. Whenever, therefore, 
 a question arises, whether anything of- 
 fered as proof at such trial is or is not 
 proper to go before the jury as evidence, 
 that question is to be decided by the 
 court, and, unless permitted by the court, 
 it can never legally come before the con- 
 sideration of the jury. Hence, whatever 
 is so permitted to be brought before the 
 jury, for the purpose of enabling them to 
 decide a'ny matter of fact in dispute be- 
 tween the parties, is in a legal sense, evi- 
 dence, and is so called in contra-distinc- 
 tion to mere argument and comment. 
 This gives rise to a very important dis- 
 tinction, at the common law, as to the 
 competency and the credibility of evi- 
 dence. It is competent, when by the 
 principles of law, it is admissible to es- 
 tablish any fact, or has any tendency to 
 prove it. It is credible, when, being in- 
 troduced, it affords satisfactory proof of 
 the fact. It follows, therefore, that evi- 
 dence may be competent to be produced 
 before a jury, when it may nevertheless 
 not amount to credible proof, so as to sat- 
 isfy the minds of the jury ; and, on the 
 other hand, it may be such as, if before 
 them, would satisfy their minds of the 
 truth of the fact, but yet, by the rules of 
 law, it is not admissible. Whether there 
 is any evidence of a fact, is a question for 
 the court ; whether it is sufficient, is a 
 question for the jury. 
 
 B'VIL, in philosophy, &c. is either 
 moral or natural. Moral evil is any de- 
 viation of a moral agent from the rules 
 of conduct prescribed to him. Some 
 make the essence of moral evil consist in 
 the disagreement of our manners to the 
 divine will, whether known by reason or 
 revelation ; others, in being contrary .to 
 reason and truth ; and others, in being 
 inconsistent with the nature, faculties, 
 affections, and situation of mankind. 
 
 EVOCA'TI, soldiers among the Ro- 
 mans, who having served their full time 
 in the army, went afterwards volunteers 
 at the request of some favorite general ; 
 on which account they were called by the 
 hono-able names of hncriti and Beneji- 
 ciarii. 
 
 EVOCATION, in P.oman antiquity, a 
 
 solemn invitation or prayer to the gods 
 of a besieged town, to forsake it and 
 come over to the besiegers. 
 
 EVOLUTION, in military tactics, the 
 complicated movement of a body of men 
 when they change their position by 
 countermarching, wheeling, <tc. 
 
 E'VOVJE, in music, the vowels used 
 with the ending notes of the ecclesiastical 
 tones: it is a word, for brevity's sake, 
 formed of the six vowels in the words 
 saeculorum amen, which are subjoined to 
 the notes in Antiphonaries, Ac., to indi- 
 cate that those are the ending notes. 
 
 EXAGGERATION, in rhetoric, a kind 
 of hyperbole, whereby things are aug- 
 mented or amplified, by saying more than 
 the strict truth will warrant. In paint- 
 ing; a method of giving a representation 
 of things too strong for the life. 
 
 EXALTA'DOS, in Spanish history, the 
 name of the party attached the liberal 
 system of politics, corresponding to the 
 ''extreme gauche" of the French, or 
 Whig radicals, in English politics. 
 
 EXAMINATION, in its primary 
 sense, is a careful and accurate inspec- 
 tion or inquiry, in order to discover the 
 real state of anything. In judicial pro- 
 ceedings, an attempt to ascertain truth, 
 generally on the oath of the party ex- 
 amined, by interrogatories. In schools, 
 an inquiry into the acquisitions of the 
 students, by questioning them in litera- 
 ture and the sciences, or by hearing their 
 recitals. 
 
 EXAMINERS, in law, two officers in 
 the court of Chancery, who are appointed 
 on oath, to examine witnesses on either 
 side. 
 
 EX' ARCH, in antiquity, an officer sent 
 by the emperors of the East, into Italy, 
 as prefect or governor. Exarch also de- 
 notes an officer still subsisting in the 
 Greek church, who visits the provinces, 
 in order to see whether the bishops and 
 clergy do their duty. 
 
 EXAUCTORATION, or EXAUTHO- 
 RA'TION, in Roman antiquity, tempo- 
 rary dismission from service : thus the ex- 
 auctori milites were deprived of their pay 
 and arms, witRout being absolutely dis- 
 charged. 
 
 EXCALCEA'TION, among the He- 
 brews, was a law, whereby a widow, 
 whom her husband's brother refused to 
 marry, had a right to summon him to a 
 court of justice, and, upon his refusal, 
 might excalceate him, that is, pull off one 
 of his shoes, and spit in his face ; both 
 of which were considered actions of great 
 ignominy.
 
 EXC] 
 
 AND THE FIN 7 E ARTS. 
 
 223 
 
 EX CA'THEDRA, a Latin phrase ; 
 originally applied to decisions rendered 
 by prelates, chiefly popes, from their ca- 
 thedra or chair : i. e. in a solemn judi- 
 cial manner. Hence applied to every 
 decision pronounced by one in the exercise 
 of his peculiar authority : a professor 
 in his lecture room, a judge from the 
 bench, &c. 
 
 EX'CELLENCY, a title of honor for- 
 merly given to kings and emperors, but 
 now given to governors, ambassadors, &c. 
 who are elevated by virtue of particular 
 offices. The title of excellency is in no 
 case hereditary, or transferable from one 
 member to another, but always belongs 
 to the office, and is only borne, on the 
 European continent, by ministers in ac- 
 tual service, by the highest court and 
 military dignitaries, and by ambassadors 
 and plenipotentiaries. Foreign minis- 
 ters are addressed by the title of your 
 excellency, by way of courtesy, even if 
 they have no rank which entities them to 
 this distinction ; but charge d'affaires 
 never receive the title. 
 
 EXCHANGE', in commerce, traffic by 
 permutation, or the act of giving one 
 thing or commodity for another. The 
 receipt or payment of money in one 
 country for the like sum in another, by 
 means of bills of exchange. Thus, A in 
 London, is creditor to B in New York, to 
 the amount of 100Z. C in London is 
 debtor to B in New York, in a like sum : 
 by the operation of the bill of exchange, 
 the London creditor is paid by the Lon- 
 don debtor, and the New York creditor is 
 paid by the New York debtor ; and, con- 
 sequently, two debts are paid, though no 
 specie is sent from London to New York, 
 or from New York to London. This is 
 the principle of a bill of exchange ; and 
 the great convenience here represented 
 is the foundation of exchange itself. That 
 variation above and below par, which is 
 called the course of exchange, results 
 from the same causes that act upon the 
 price of commodities of every other kind. 
 If bills upon New York be scarce, that 
 is, if New York is but little indebted 
 to London, the London creditor, who 
 wants bills on New York to remit to that 
 city, is obliged to purchase them dearly ; 
 then the course of exchange is above par : 
 if, on the other hand, London owes less 
 to New York than New York owes to 
 London, New York bills will be propor- 
 tionably plenty, and the exchange with 
 that city below par. Hence, it is a max- 
 im that, when the course of exchange 
 rises above par, the balance of trade runs 
 
 against the country where it rises. In 
 London, bills of exchange are bought and 
 sold by brokers, who go round to the prin- 
 cipal merchants, and discover whether 
 they are buyers or sellers of bills. A 
 few of the brokers of most influence, after 
 ascertaining the state of the relative sup- 
 ply of arfd demand for bills, suggest a 
 price at which the greater part of the 
 transactions of the day are settled, with 
 such deviations as particular bills, from 
 their being in very high or low credit, 
 may be subject to. In London and other 
 great commercial cities, a class of middle- 
 men speculate largely on the rise and fall 
 of the exchange, buying bills when they 
 expect a rise, and selling them when a 
 fall is anticipated. Exchange,, in arith- 
 metic, is the finding what quantity of the 
 money in one place is equal to a given 
 sum of another, according to a certain 
 course of exchange. Course, of exchange 
 is the current price betwixt two places, 
 whi"h is always fluctuating and unset- 
 tled. -Arbitration of exchange is a cal- 
 culation of the exchanges of different 
 places to discover which is the most prof- 
 itable. Exchange of prisoners, in war, 
 the act of giving up men on both sides, 
 upon certain conditions agi'eed to by the 
 contending parties. 
 
 EXCHANGE', (often contracted into 
 CHANGE,) signifies a building or other 
 place in considerable trading cities, where 
 the merchants, agents, bankers, brokers, 
 and other persons concerned in commerce, 
 meet at certain times, to confer and 
 treat together of matters relating to ex- 
 changes, remittances, payments, adven- 
 tures, assurances, freights, and other 
 mercantile negotiations both by sea and 
 land. 
 
 EXCHEQ'UER, in British jurispru- 
 dence, an ancient court of record, in which 
 all causes concerning the revenues and 
 rights of the crown are heard and deter- 
 mined, and where the crown-revenues 
 are received. It took this name from the 
 cloth that covered the table of the court, 
 which was party-colored or chequered. 
 This court is said to. have been erected 
 by William the Conqueror. The public 
 Exchequer is under the control of the 
 lords of the Treasury, and of a minister 
 called the chancellor of the exchequer. 
 To institute a process against a person 
 in this court, is called to exchequer him. 
 
 EXCHEQ'UER-BILLS, bills for mon- 
 ey, or promissory notes, issued from the 
 exchequer, under the authority of govern- 
 ment, and bearing interest. 
 
 EXCISE', an inland duty, paid in some
 
 224 
 
 OVClioPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EXE 
 
 instances upon the commodity consumed, 
 or on the retail, which is the last stage 
 before consumption-; but in others this 
 duty is paid at the manufactories. The 
 excise was first introduced in England by 
 the parliament which beheaded Charles 
 I. and its great founder was Mr. Pym ; 
 and is now one of the most considerable 
 branches of the national revenue. It 
 was formerly farmed out, but is at pres- 
 ent managed for the government by com- 
 missioners, who receive the whole pro- 
 duct of the excise, and pay it into the 
 exchequer. The officer who inspects ex- 
 cisable- commodities and rates the duties 
 on them is called an exciseman. 
 
 EXCLAMA'TION, emphatical utter- 
 ance ; or the sign by which emphatical 
 utterance is marked : thus (!). In gram- 
 mar, a word expressing some passion, as 
 wonder, fear, &c. 
 
 EXCOMMUNICATION, an ecclesias- 
 tical censure, whereby a person is ex- 
 cluded from communion with the church, 
 and deprived of some civil rights. In 
 the present state of church-government 
 in England, excommunication is seldom 
 used but as a sort of writ of outlawry on 
 contempt of the bishop's court, in the sev- 
 eral descriptions of causes that belong to 
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It is published 
 in the church, and if the offender does not 
 submit in forty days, the civil magistrate 
 interposes, and the excommunicated per- 
 son is imprisoned till he submits, and ob- 
 tains absolution. The Roman Catholics 
 use the phrase fulminating an excom- 
 munication, to signify the solemn pro- 
 nouncing of an excommunication after 
 several admonitions. This fulmination 
 principally consists of curses, execrations, 
 and other ceremonies ; and is called ana- 
 thema. Excommunication amongst the 
 Jews was of three kinds or degrees. The 
 first was called Niddui, and was a sepa- 
 ration for a few days. The second was 
 Cherem, and was a separation attended 
 with execration and malediction ; the 
 third was Shammatlia, and was the last 
 and greater excommunication. Excom- 
 munication amongst the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans excluded the person, on whom it was 
 pronounced, from the sacrifices and tem- 
 ples, and delivered him over to the Furies. 
 
 EXCC'BI.35, in antiquity, the watches 
 and guards kept in the day by the Ro- 
 mans, in distinction fr<Jm vigilicc, which 
 were kept at night. 
 
 EX'EAT, in ecclesiastical history, a 
 term employed in the permission which 
 a bishop grants to a priest to go out of 
 his diocese. 
 
 EXECU'TION, in law, the completing 
 or finishing some act, as of judgment or 
 deed, and it usually signifies the obtain- 
 ing possession of anything received by 
 judgment of law. Also, the carrying into 
 effect a sentence or judgment of court; 
 as the infliction of capital punishment. 
 Execution, in painting, is the term given 
 to the peculiar mode of working for ef- 
 fect the manipulation peculiar to each 
 individual artist ; where it predominates 
 over finish, or where execution exhibits a 
 studied eccentricity, it degenerates into 
 mannerism, which, when it merely ex- 
 hibits the manual dexterity of the artist, 
 is usually the exponent of mediocrity : at 
 the same time it must be admitted, that 
 good execution is always aimed at by the 
 true artist. All qualities of execution, 
 properly so called, are influenced by, and 
 in a great degree dependent on, a far 
 higher power than that of mere execution 
 knowledge of truth. For exactly in 
 proportion as an artist is certain of his 
 end, will he be swift and simple in his 
 means ; and as he is accurate and deep in 
 his knowledge, will he be refined and pre- 
 cise in his touch. 
 
 EXECUTIONER, the officer who in- 
 flicts capital punishment in pursuance of 
 a legal warrant ; the common hangman. 
 
 EXEC'UTIVE, in politics, that branch 
 of the government which executes the 
 functions of governing the state. The 
 word is used in distinction from legisla- 
 tive and judicial. The body that deliber- 
 ates and enacts laws, is legislative; the 
 body that judges or applies the laws to 
 particular cases, is judicial; and the body 
 that carries the laws into effect, or super- 
 intends the enforcement of them, is ex- 
 ecutive. In all monarchical states this 
 power rests in the prince. 
 
 EXEC'UTOR, in law, a person appoint- 
 ed by another's last will and testament, 
 to have the execution of the same after 
 his decease, and the disposing of the tes- 
 tator's goods and effects, according to the 
 intent of the will. 
 
 EXEC'UTOR Y, in law, signifies that 
 which is to take effect on a future con- 
 tingency ; as an executory devise or re- 
 mainder. 
 
 EXE'DR.53, in antiquity, a general 
 
 name for such buildingj- as were distinct 
 
 j from the main body of the churches, and 
 
 I yet within the limits of the consecrated 
 
 i ground. 
 
 EXEGE'SIS, a discourse intended to 
 
 explain or illustrate a subject. The term 
 
 is applied most usually to the exposition 
 
 ; or interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.
 
 EXl] 
 
 AND THE FINE ABTS. 
 
 225 
 
 This department of biblical learning has 
 been most assiduously cultivated in mod- 
 ern times, especially by the Germans, as 
 the writings of Michaelis, Schleusner, 
 Rosenmuller, Gesenius, Ac., amply testify. 
 
 EXEM'PLAR, a pattern or model ; the 
 ideal model which an artist attempts to 
 imitate. That which serves as a model 
 for imitation, or as a warning for others, 
 is termed exemplary ; as, exemplary jus- 
 tice ; exemplary punishment. 
 
 EXEQUA'TUR, an official recognition 
 of a person in the character of consul or 
 commercial agent, authorizing him to ex- 
 ercise his powers. 
 
 EX'ERCISE, the exertion of the body, 
 for health, amusement, labor, or the at- 
 tainment of any art. Exercise increases 
 the circulation of the blood, attenuates 
 and divides the fluids, and promotes a 
 regular perspiration, as well as a due se- 
 cretion of all the humors ; for it acceler- 
 ates the animal spirits, and facilitates 
 their distribution into all the fibres of the 
 body, strengthens the parts, creates an 
 appetite, and helps digestion. Whence 
 it arises, that those who accustom them- 
 selves to exercise are generally very ro- 
 bust, and seldom subject to diseases. It 
 should never be forgotten by those of 
 studious habits, that the delicate springs 
 of our frail machines lose their activity, 
 and the vessels become clogged with ob- 
 structions, when we totally desist from 
 exercise ; from which consequences arise 
 which necessarily affect the brain ; a mere 
 studious life is therefore equally prejudi- 
 cial to the body and the mind. We may 
 further observe, that an inclination to 
 study ought not to be carried to the ex' 
 tent of aversion to society and motion. 
 The natural lot of man is to live among 
 his fellows ; and whatever may be his sit- 
 uation in the world, there are a thousand 
 occasions wherein his physical energies 
 may be rendered serviceable to his fel- 
 low-creatures, as well as to himself. 
 Many rational causes have therefore giv- 
 en rise to the practice of particular exer- 
 cises ; and those legislators who deserve 
 to be called the most sagacious and be- 
 nevolent, have instituted opportunities 
 for enabling youth who devote themselves 
 to study, to become expert also in lauda- 
 ble exercises. Mental exercise is the ex- 
 ertion of the mind or faculties for im- 
 provement, as in the various branches of 
 literature, art, and science. Military 
 exercise consists in the use of arms, in 
 marches, evolutions, Ac. Naval exercise 
 consists in the management of artillery, 
 and in the evolutions of fleets. 
 15 
 
 EXER'GUE, a term used by medallists 
 to denote the little space around and 
 without the work or figures of a medal 
 for an inscription, &c. 
 
 EXHEREDA'TION, in the civil law, 
 a father's excluding a child from inher- 
 iting any part of his estate. 
 
 EXHIB'IT, any paper produced or pre- 
 sented to a court or to auditors, referees, 
 or arbitrators, as a voucher, &c. In 
 chancery, a deed or writing produced in 
 court and sworn to, and a certificate of 
 the oath endorsed on it by the examiner 
 or commissioner. 
 
 EXHIBITION, a public display of 
 whatever is interesting either as a mat- 
 ter of art or curiosity. Also, a benefac- 
 tion settled for the benefit of scholars in 
 the universities, that are not on the foun- 
 dation. The person receiving this is call- 
 ed an exhibitioner. Exhibition was an- 
 ciently an allowance for meat and drink, 
 such as the religious appropriators made 
 to the poor depending vicar. 
 
 EXHUMA'TION, the digging up of a 
 dead body that has been interred. 
 
 EX'IGENT, in law, a writ or part of 
 the process of outlaw'ry. The exigent or 
 exigi facias requires the defendant to be 
 proclaimed in five courts successively, to 
 render himself ; and if he does not, he is 
 outlawed. 
 
 EX'ILE, a state of banishment or ex- 
 pulsion from one's country by authority ; 
 or it may be an abandonment of one's 
 country, for a foreign land, from disgust 
 or any other motive, which is called vol- 
 untary exile. 
 
 EXIST'ENCE, the state of being, or 
 having an actual essence. Mr. Locke 
 says, that we arrive at the knowledge of 
 our own existence, by intuition ; of the 
 existence of God, by demonstration ; and 
 of other things, by sensation. As for our 
 own existence, continues he, we perceive 
 it so plainly, that it neither needs, nor is 
 capable of, any proof. I think, I reason, 
 I feel pleasure and pain ; can any of 
 these be more evident to me than my 
 own existence ? If I doubt of all other 
 things, that very doubt makes me per- 
 ceive my own existence, and will not suf- 
 fer me to doubt. If I know I doubt, I 
 have as certain a perception of the thing 
 doubting, as of that thought which I call 
 doubt : experience then convinces us, that 
 we have an intuitive knowledge of our 
 own existence. 
 
 EX'IT, a departure ; a terra used to 
 denote the action of quitting the stage by 
 a player after he has performed his part. 
 Figuratively, the act of quitting this mor- 
 tal existence.
 
 226 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [EXP 
 
 EXO'DIA, amongst the Romans, were 
 a sort of after-pieces, performed by young 
 gentlemen when the play was concluded. 
 They bore no relation to the drama be- 
 fore exhibited ; but were intended to re- 
 vive, or rather improve the Fescennine 
 verses, which had fallen into disuse. Pro- 
 fessional actors never performed any part 
 in the Exodia. 
 
 EX'ODE, in the Greek drama, the con- 
 cluding part of a play, or that part which 
 comprehends all that occurs after the last 
 interlude. 
 
 EX'ODUS, a canonical book of the Old 
 Testament ; being the second of the Pen- 
 tateuch, or five books of Moses. It con- 
 tains a history of the departure of the 
 children of Israel from Egypt ; from 
 which it received its name. 
 
 EX OFFI'CIO, in law, the power a 
 person has, by virtue of his office, to do 
 certain acts without special authority. 
 
 EXO'MIS, in Grecian costume, a gar- 
 ment worn chiefly by the working classes, 
 without sleeves, or with only one sleeve 
 for the left arm, leaving the right and 
 part of the breast exposed and free. It 
 varied much in form, sometimes it was a 
 chiton, at others a pallium, serving the 
 purposes of each. In works of Art it is 
 usually applied to representations of the 
 Amazons, and to Charon, Vulcan, and 
 Daedalus. It was also the dress of old 
 men in the comic plays of Aristophanes 
 and others. 
 
 EX'ORCISM, the solemn adjuration by 
 which those endowed with certain powers 
 were believed to be able to subject evil 
 spirits to their obedience : more partic- 
 ularly to compel them to leave the bodies 
 of those supposed to be subject to demon- 
 iacal possession. The exorcists form one 
 of the minor orders in the church of 
 Rome. 
 
 EXOR'DIUM, in oratory and litera- 
 ture, the opening part of an oration ; 
 which, according to ancient critics, should 
 be drawn either from the subject itself or 
 from the situation of the speaker ; pre- 
 senting either brief remarks on the gen- 
 eral character of the topic on which he 
 is about to deliver himself, or insinua- 
 tions, (according to the advice of Cicero,) 
 calculated to prejudice the audience in 
 favor of the speaker, and against his ad- 
 versary. 
 
 EXOTER'IC, in rhetoric, a term ap- 
 plied to such of Aristotle's lectures as 
 were open to all persons. See ESOTERIC. 
 
 EXOT'IC, an appellation for the pro- 
 duce of foreign countries. Exotic plants 
 are such as belong to a soil and climate 
 
 entirely different from the place where 
 they lire raided, and therefore can be 
 preserved for the most part only in green- 
 houses. 
 
 EX-PAR'TE, in law, on one side, aa 
 ex-parte statement, a partial statement, 
 or that which is made on one side only. 
 
 EXPATRI A'TION, the forsaking one's 
 own country, with a renunciation of alle- 
 giance, and with a view of becoming a 
 permanent resident and citizen in anoth- 
 er country. 
 
 EXPECTANCY, in law, a state of 
 I waiting or suspension. An estate in ex- 
 pectancy is one which is to take effect or 
 | commence after the determination of an- 
 other estate. Estates of this kind are 
 remainders and reversions. 
 
 EXPECTANT, in law, an epithet for 
 whatever has a relation to, or dependence 
 upon another. 
 
 EXPECTA'TION. in the doctrine of 
 chances, is applied to any contingent 
 event, upon the happening of which some 
 i benefit is expected. Expectation differs 
 | from hope in this : hope originates in de- 
 sire, and may exist with little or no 
 ground of belief that the desired event 
 will arrive ; whereas expectation is found- 
 ed on some reasons which render the 
 event probable. Expectation, of life, is 
 a term used to express the number of 
 years, which, according to the experience 
 of bills of mortality, persons at any age 
 may be expected to live. 
 
 EXPE'DIENT, a temporary means of 
 effecting an object, without regard to ul- 
 terior consequences. 
 
 EXPEDITION, the march of an army, 
 or the voyage of a fleet, to a distant place 
 for hostile purposes ; as, the expedition 
 \ of the English to Holland ; the expedi- 
 tion of the French Co Egypt. 
 
 EXPE'RIENCE. the source of knowl- 
 edge arising from the faculty of memory, 
 and the power of reasoning by analogy. 
 Thus, we learn the instability of human 
 affairs bv observation or by experience. 
 
 EXPERIMENT, an act or operation 
 ' designed to discover some unknown truth, 
 principle, or effect. In chemistry, a trial 
 of the results of certain applications and 
 motions of natural bodies, in order to dis- 
 cover something of their laws, nature, 
 ; Ac. Experimental knowledge is the 
 most valuable, because it is most certain, 
 and most safely to be trusted. 
 
 EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 those branches of science, the deductions 
 in which are founded on experiment, as 
 contrasted with the moral, mathematical, 
 and speculative branches of knowledge
 
 EXT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 227 
 
 The principal experimental science is 
 Chemistry : but there are many others, 
 as, Optics, Pneumatics, Hydrostatics, 
 Electricity, Magnetism, <fcc. 
 
 EXPERIMEN'TUM CRU'CIS, a lead- 
 ing or decisive experiment. 
 
 EXPIA'TION, a religious ceremony, 
 by which satisfaction is made for sins of 
 omission or commission, accidental or in- 
 tentional. The chief mode of expiation 
 among the Jews and Pagans was by sac- 
 rifice. Expiation, in a figurative sense, 
 is applied by divines to the pardon pro- 
 cured to men's sins, by the obedience and 
 deiith of Christ. 
 
 EXPORTATION, that part of foreign 
 commerce which consists in sending out 
 goods for sale, and which is therefore the 
 active part of trade, as importation, or 
 the purchasing of goods, is the passive. 
 We apply the word exports to goods or 
 produce which are sent abroad or usually 
 exported. 
 
 EXPOSITOR, one who explains the 
 writings of others ; it is applied particu- 
 larly to those who profess to expound the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 EX POST FACTO, (literally, for some- 
 thing done afterwards,) as an ex post 
 facto law, a law which operates upon a 
 subject not liable to it at the time the 
 law was made. 
 
 EXPOSTULA'TION, in rhetoric, a 
 warm address to a person, who has done 
 another some injury, representing the 
 wrong in the strongest terms, and de- 
 manding redress. 
 
 EXPRESS', a messenger or courier 
 sent to communicate information of an 
 important event, or to deliver important 
 dispatches. 
 
 EXPRESSION, in painting, the dis- 
 tinct and natural exhibition of character 
 or of sentiment in the characters repre- 
 sented. The term expression is frequent- 
 ly confounded with that of passion, but 
 they differ in this, that expression is a 
 general term, implying a representation 
 of an object agreeably to its nature and 
 character, and the use or office it is to 
 have in the work ; whereas passion, in 
 painting, denotes a motion of the body, 
 accompanied with certain indications of 
 strong feeling portrayed in the counte- 
 nance ; so that every passion is an expres- 
 sion, but not every expression, a passion. 
 Expression, in rhetoric, the elocution, 
 diction, or choice of words suited to the 
 subject and sentiment. In music, the 
 tone and manner which give life and re- 
 ality to ideas and sentiments. Theatri- 
 cal expression, is a distinct, sonorous, and 
 
 pleasing pronunciation, accompanied with 
 action suited to the sentiment. 
 
 EXPROPRIATION, the surrender of 
 a claim to exclusive property. 
 
 EXPUR'GATORY, serving to purify 
 from anything noxious or erroneous ; as 
 the expurgatory index of the Roman 
 Catholics, which directs the expunging 
 of passages of authors contrary to their 
 creed or principles. 
 
 EX'TANT, an epithet for anything 
 which still subsists or is in being ; as a 
 part only of the writings of Cicero are 
 extant. 
 
 EXTEM'PORE, without previous 
 study or meditation ; as he writes or 
 speaks extempore. Though an adverb, it 
 is often unnecessarily and improperly 
 used as an adjective ; as an extempore 
 sermon, instead of an extemporary or ex- 
 temporaneous sermon, &c. To extempo- 
 rize well, requires a ready mind well 
 furnished with knowledge. 
 
 EXTENT', in law, is used in a double 
 sense ; sometimes it signifies a writ or 
 command to the sheriff for the valuing 
 of the lands or tenements of o debtor ; 
 and sometimes the act of the sheriff, or 
 other commissioner, upon this writ ; but 
 most commonly it denotes an estimate or 
 valuation of lands Extent in aid, a 
 seizure made by the government, when a 
 public accountant becomes a defaulter, 
 and prays for relief against his credi- 
 tors. 
 
 EXTENUA'TION, the act of repre- 
 senting anything less faulty or criminal 
 than it is in fact ; it is opposed to aggra- 
 vation. 
 
 EXTINGUISHMENT, in law, the an- 
 nihilation of an estate, &c. by means of 
 its being merged or consolidated with an- 
 other. 
 
 EXTOR'TION, the unlawful act of any 
 person in authority, who, by color of his 
 office, takes money or any other thing 
 when none is due. Whenever property 
 of any kind is wrested from a person by 
 menace, duress, violence, authority, or by 
 any illegal means, it is extortion. The 
 word extort has a very wide signification. 
 Conquerors extort contributions from the 
 vanquished ; officers often extort illegal 
 fees ; confessions of guilt are extorted by 
 the rack ; promises which men are un- 
 able to perform are sometimes extorted 
 by duress, &c. 
 
 EX'TRA, a Latin preposition denoting 
 beyond or excess ; as extra-work, extra- 
 pay, &c. It serves as a prefix to numer- 
 ous English words. 
 
 EX'TRACT, in literature, some selee*
 
 228 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 matter or sentence taken from a book. '. 
 In law, a draught or copy of a writing. 
 
 EXTRAJUDI'CIAL, out of the ordi- | 
 nary course of legal proceedings. 
 
 EXTRAMUN'DANE, beyond the limit 
 " of the material world. 
 
 EXTRAOllDINA'RII, in Roman an- 
 tiquity, a chosen body of men, consisting 
 of a third part of the foreign horse, and a 
 fifth of the foot, which was separated from 
 the rest of the forces borrowed from the 
 confederate state, with great policy and 
 caution ; to prevent any design that they 
 might possibly entertain against the nat- 
 ural forces. 
 
 EXTRAVAGAN'ZA, in music, the 
 Italian for a kind of composition remark- 
 able for its wildness and incoherence. 
 Irregular dramatic pieces, generally of 
 the burlesque cast, are also sometimes 
 called extravaganzas. 
 
 EXTREME', the utmost point, or fur- 
 thest degree ; as the extremes of heat 
 and cold ; the extremes of virtue and 
 vice. In logic, the extreme terms of a 
 syllogism are the predicate and subject. 
 Thus, " Man is an animal : Henry is a 
 man, therefore Henry is an animal ;" the 
 word animal is the greatest extreme, 
 Henry the less extreme, and man the 
 medium. In music, a word employed in 
 describing those intervals in which the 
 diatonic distances are increased or dimin- 
 ished by a chromatic semitone. 
 
 EXTREME' UNC'TIOX, one of the 
 seven sacraments of the Romish church, 
 founded upon the passage in the Epistle 
 of St. James in which he says, " If any 
 be sick among you, let him call upon the 
 elders of the church, and let them pray 
 over him, anointing him with oil in the 
 name of the Lord." The performance of 
 this ceremony is supposed to purify the 
 soul of the dying person from any sins 
 that he may have committed, and which 
 have not been previously expiated by 
 participation in the other means of 
 grace. 
 
 EXTREM'ITY, in its primary sense, 
 signifies the utmost point or border of a 
 thing. It also denotes the highest or fur- 
 thest degree ; as the extremity of pain or 
 suffering; or the Greeks have endured 
 oppression in its utmost extremity. In 
 painting and sculpture, the extremities 
 of the body, are the head, hands, and 
 feet. 
 
 EYE. the eye is the most active feature 
 in the countenance, the first of our organs 
 to awake, and the last to cease motion. 
 It is indicative of the higher and holier 
 emotions, of all those feelings which dis- 
 
 tinguish man from the brute. In the 
 eye we look for meaning, sentiment, and 
 reproof; it is the chief feature of expres- 
 sion. A large eye is not only consistent 
 with beauty, but essential to it. Hoiner 
 describes Juno as " ox-eyed." The eye 
 of the gazelle illustrates the Arab's idea 
 of woman's beauty, when he compares 
 the eye of his beloved to that of this ani- 
 mal. The timidity, gentleness, and inno- 
 cent fear in the eyes of all the deer tribe, 
 are compared with the modesty of a 
 young girl. In a well-formed face the 
 eye ought to be sunk, relatively to the 
 forehead, but not in reference to the face ; 
 that would impart a very mean expres- 
 sion. It is the strong shadow produced 
 by the projecting eyebrow which gives 
 powerful effect to the eye in sculpture. 
 The word eye is used in a great variety 
 of senses, both literal and figurative. 
 Eye, in architecture, is used to signify 
 any round window, made in a pediment, 
 an attic, the reins of a vault, Ac. Eye 
 of a dome, an aperture at the top of a 
 dome, as that of the Pantheon at Rome, 
 or of St. Paul's at London ; it is usually 
 covered with a lantern. Eye of the vo- 
 lute, is the centre of the volute, or that 
 point in which the helix, or spiral of 
 which it is formed, commences. 
 
 EY'RIE, or EY'RY, the place where 
 birds of prey construct their nests. 
 
 EZE'KIEL, one of the four principal 
 prophets. Like them, he bears a book ; 
 but his own peculiar attribute is a closed 
 gate with towers, which is either placed 
 in his hand or standing by his side, and 
 which referring to his vision of the new 
 temple, is the type of the heavenly Jeru- 
 salem, mentioned by St. John in Revela- 
 tion. It is one of the oldest symbols of 
 Christianity, and also alludes to the mys- 
 tery of the miraculous conception ; for 
 we find it together with Moses and the 
 burning bush, Aaron's rod, Gideon's An- 
 gel and Fleece, on the volets of a picture 
 of the Virgin by Van Eyck. of which only 
 a copy at Bruges is in existence. The 
 subjects usually chosen by the painter in 
 which Ezekiel appears are his Vision 
 of the Almighty, and his Vision of the 
 Resurrection of the Dead, and in a group 
 with the three other great prophets. 
 
 F. 
 
 F, the sixth letter of the alphabet, is a 
 labial articulation, formed by placing the 
 upper teeth on the under lip, and accom- 
 panied with an emission of breath. Its
 
 FAC'] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 229 
 
 kindred letter is , which is chiefly dis- 
 tinguished from f by being more vocal. 
 The Romans for some time used F in- 
 verted thus, j, for V consonant, as DItfl, 
 for DIVI. Some have supposed that this 
 was one of the three letters invented by 
 Claudius, but many inscriptions belong- 
 ing to periods much anterior to the 
 time of Claudius exhibit this singular use 
 of this letter. P, as a numeral, with the 
 Romans, signified 40, with a dash over 
 it, 40,000. On medals, monuments, &c., 
 F stands for Fabius, Furius, Felix; 
 Faitstns, &c. With merchants, f signi- 
 fies folio (page.) F often stands in medi- 
 cal prescriptions and on documents for 
 fiat (let it be made or done.) F also 
 stands for fellow, as F.A.S. Fratemita- 
 tis Antiquariorum Socius, or Fellow of 
 the Antiquarian Society. Fl. is the ab- 
 breviation for florin, or guilder ; and fr. 
 for franc. In music, f over a line means 
 forte ; ff, molto forte ; and F is the nomi- 
 nal of the fourth note in the natural dia- 
 tonic scale of C. 
 
 FA, in music, one of the syllables in- 
 vented by Guido Aretine, to mark the 
 fourth note of the modern scale, which 
 rises thus, ut, re, mi, fa. 
 
 FA'BIAN, an epithet signifying that 
 line of military tactics which declines the 
 risking of a battle in the open field, but 
 seeks every opportunity of harassing the 
 enemy by countermarches, ambuscades, 
 &c. It is so called from Q. Fabius Maxi- 
 mus, the Roman general opposed to 
 Hannibal. 
 
 FA'BLE, a fictitious narration, or spe- 
 cies of didactic allegory, which may be 
 described as a method of inculcating 
 practicable rules of worldly prudence or 
 wisdom, by imaginary representations 
 drawn from the physical or external 
 world. It consists, properly, of two parts :' 
 symbolical representation, and the appli- 
 cation of the instruction intended to be 
 deduced from it, which latter is called the 
 moral of the tale, and must be apparent 
 in the fable itself, in order to render it 
 poetical. The satisfaction which we de- 
 rive from fables does not lie wholly in the 
 pleasure that we receive from the sym- 
 bolical representation, but it lies deeper, 
 in the feeling that the order of nature is 
 the same in the spiritual and material 
 world ; and the fabulist, whose object is 
 not merely to render a truth perceptible 
 by means of a fictitious action, chooses 
 his characters from the brute creation. 
 Some fables are founded upon irony ; 
 some are pathetic; and some even aspire 
 to the sublime ; but, generally speaking, 
 
 a fable should possess unity, that the 
 whole tenor of it may be easily seen ; 
 and dignity, since the subject has a cer- 
 tain degree of importance. We find that 
 fables have been highly valued, not only 
 in times of the greatest simplicity, but 
 among the most polite ages of the world. 
 Jotham's fable of the trees is the oldest 
 that is extant, and as beautiful as any 
 that have been made since. Nathan's 
 fable of the poor man is next in antiqui- 
 ty, and had so good an effect as to convey 
 instruction to the ear of a king. We find 
 ^Esop in the most distant ages of Greece ; 
 and in the early days of the Roman com- 
 monwealth, we read of a mutiny appeased 
 by the fable of the belly and the mem- 
 bers. To which we may add that although 
 fables had their rise in the very infancy 
 of learning, they never flourished more 
 than when learning was at its greatest 
 height. Fable is also used for the plot 
 of an epic or dramatic poem, and is, ac- 
 cording to Aristotle, the principal part, 
 and, as it were, the soul of a poem. In 
 this sense the fable is defined to be a dis- 
 course invented with art, to form the 
 manners by instruction, disguised under 
 the allegory of an action. 
 
 FA'BLIAUX, in French literature, the 
 metrical tales of the Trouveres or early 
 poets of the Langue d'Oil, or dialect of 
 the north of France ; composed, for the 
 most part, in the 12th and 13th cen- 
 turies. 
 
 FAB'RIC, in general, denotes the 
 structure or construction of anything; 
 but particularly of buildings, as a church, 
 hall, house, <fcc. It is also applied to the 
 texture of cloths, or stuffs ; as, this is 
 cloth of a beautiful fabric. 
 
 FAB'ULOUS AGE, that period in the 
 history of every nation in which super- 
 natural events are represented to have 
 happened. The fabulous age of Greece 
 and Rome is called also the heroic age. 
 
 FACADE' (pron. fassade 1 ,) in archi- 
 tecture, the front or external aspect of 
 an edifice. As in most edifices only one 
 side is conspicuous, viz., that which faces 
 the street, and usually contains the prin- 
 cipal entrance, this has been denomina- 
 ted, par eminence, the facade. 
 
 FACE, in anatomy, the front part of 
 the head, and the seat of most of the 
 senses, comprising the forehead, the eyes 
 and eye-lids, the nose, cheeks, mouth, 
 and chin. The human face is called the 
 image of the soul, as being the place 
 whence the ideas, emotions, &c. of the 
 soul are chiefly set to view. Nor can it 
 be denied that the character of each in-
 
 230 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FAC 
 
 dividual is often strongly marked by the 
 conformation of the countenance ; physi- 
 ognomy, therefore, in a certain degree, 
 always has existed. Face, among paint- 
 ers and artists, is used to denote a cer- 
 tain dimension of the human body, adapt- 
 ed for determining the proportion which 
 the several parts should bear to one an- 
 other ; thus the different parts of the 
 body are said to consist, in length, of so 
 m&ny faces. We also use the word face 
 in speaking of the surface of a thing, or 
 the side presented to the view of a spec- 
 tator ; as, the ./'ace of the earth ; the face 
 of the sun ; the face of a stone, <fcc. 
 
 FA' GETS, the name of the little faces 
 or planes to be found in brilliant and rose 
 diamonds. 
 
 FA'CIAL LINE OR ANGLE, these 
 terms are used in describing the conform- 
 ation that exists in the bones of the face, 
 Ac,, and which so strikingly characterizes 
 the varieties of the human race. On the 
 relation of the jaw to the forehead is 
 founded the facial line, discovered by Pe- 
 ter Camper. Suppose a straight line 
 drawn at the base of the skull, from the 
 great occipital cavity across the external 
 orifice of the ear to the bottom of the 
 nose. If we draw another straight line 
 from the bottom of the nose, or from the 
 roots of the upper incisor teeth to the 
 forehead, then both lines will form an 
 angle which will be more acute the less 
 the shape of the face, in brutes, resem- 
 bles that of men. In apes, this angle is 
 only from 45 to 60 ; in the ourang- 
 outang. 63 ; in the skull of a negro, 
 about 70 ; in a European, from 75 to 
 85. In Grecian works of statuary, this 
 angle amounts to 90 : in the statues of 
 Jupiter, it is 100. 
 
 FA'CIES HIPPOCRAT'ICA, in medi- 
 cine, that death-like appearance which 
 consists in the nostrils being sharp, the 
 eyes hollow, the temples low, the tips of 
 the ears contracted, the forehead dry and 
 wrinkled, and the complexion pale and 
 livid. It is so called from Hippocrates, 
 by whom it has been so justly described 
 in his prognostics. 
 
 FACSIM'ILE, an imitation of an 
 original in all its traits and peculiarities. 
 The object of fac-similes is various ; but 
 in all cases their perfect accuracy is in- 
 dispensable. 
 
 FACTION, in ancient history, an ap- 
 pellation given to the different troops or 
 companies of combatants in the games of 
 the circus Of these factions there were 
 four, the green, blue , red, and white ; to 
 which two others were said to have been 
 
 added by the emperor Domitian. the 
 pruple and the yellow. In the time of 
 Justinian 40,000 persons were killed in a 
 contest between two of these factions ; so 
 that they were at last suppressed by uni- 
 versal consent. The term faction is ap- 
 plied, also, in a more general sense, to any 
 party in a state which attempts without 
 adequate motives to disturb the public 
 repose, or to assail the measures of gov- 
 ernment with uncompromising opposi- 
 tion. In the ancient Greek republics, 
 faction was carried to an extent unparal- 
 leled in modern times. The middle ages 
 were distinguished chiefly by two fac- 
 tions, the Guelfs and Guibelins. who long 
 kept Italy in a state of alarm. In the 
 present day, in England, the term faction 
 is bandied about between the three great 
 parties of the country, the Whigs, Tories, 
 and Radicals, being applied indiscrimi- 
 nately by the adherents of one party to 
 those of another. 
 
 FAC'TOR, in commerce, an agent or 
 correspondent residing in some remote 
 part, commissioned by merchants to buy 
 or sell goods on their account, to nego- 
 tiate bills of exchange, or to transact 
 other business for them. It is universal- 
 ly held in courts of law and equity, that 
 the principal is held liable for the acts of 
 his agent, provided that the conduct of 
 the latter be conformable to the common 
 usage and mode of dealing ; but an agent 
 cannot delegate his rights to another so 
 as to bind the principal, unless expressly 
 authorized to nominate a sub-agent. Es- 
 tablishments for trade, in foreign parts 
 of the world, are called factories. The 
 word factory is now also used for a man- 
 ufactory on an extensive scale. 
 
 FAC'TORAGE, the allowance or per- 
 centage given to factors by the mer- 
 $hants and manufacturers, &c. who em- 
 ploy them ; and which is usually fixed by 
 special agreement between the merchant 
 and factor. 
 
 FAC'ULTY, a term used to denote the 
 powers or capacities of the human mind, 
 viz. understanding, will, memory, imagi- 
 nation, Ac. If it be a power exerted by 
 the body alone, it is called a corporeal 
 or animal faculty ; if it belong to the 
 mind, it is called a rational faculty. And 
 it may further be distinguished into the 
 ' natural faculty, or that by which the body 
 is nourished ; and the vital, or that by 
 which life is preserved, <fec. Faculty, a 
 ! term applied to the different members or 
 departments of an university, divided ac- 
 cording to the arts and sciences taught 
 there. In most foreign universities there
 
 FAl] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 231 
 
 are four faculties ; of arts, including hu- 
 manity and philosophy ; of theology ; of 
 physic ; and of civil law. The degrees 
 in the several faculties are those of bach- 
 elor, master, and doctor. Vacuity, in 
 law, a privilege granted to a person, by 
 favor and indulgence, or doing that which, 
 by the strict letter of the law, he ought 
 not to do. Faculty of advocates, a term 
 applied to the college or society of advo- 
 cates in Scotland, who plead in all actions 
 before the court of session, judiciary and 
 exchequer. 
 
 FAI'ENCE, or IMITATION PORCELAIN, 
 a kind of pottery, superior to the com- 
 mon sort in its glazing, beauty of form, 
 and richness of painting. It derived its 
 name from the town of Faenza, in Ro- 
 inagna, where it is said to have been in- 
 vented in 1299. It reached its highest 
 perfection in the 16th century ; and some 
 pieces were painted by the great artists 
 of the period, which are highly valued as 
 monuments of early art. 
 
 FAIR, (either from the Latin feriae or 
 forum,) a meeting held at stated times 
 of the year in particular places, for the 
 purposes of traffic, to which merchants 
 resort with their wares. Fairs, in Chris- 
 tian countries, were usually held on par- 
 ticular festivals ; and are so still in Eng- 
 land, unless where they have been fixed 
 to particular days in the month by later 
 grants or privileges. By the English 
 law, the king's authority only is supposed 
 to confer the privilege of holding a fair. 
 Fairs are considered free, unless toll is 
 due to the owners by special grant, or by 
 custom which supposes such grant. The 
 most important fairs now held are proba- 
 bly those of Germany, and particularly 
 the Leipsic fairs, where books form so im- 
 portant a branch of its commerce. But 
 in no country can they have the im- 
 portance they formerly had, because the 
 communication between different parts 
 of a country has become so easy, that 
 merchandise may now be readily obtain- 
 ed direct from the places where it is pro- 
 duced or manufactured. 
 
 FAI'RIES, imaginary beings, who oc- 
 cupied a distinguished place in the tra- 
 ditional superstitions of the nations of 
 Western Europe, and especially in these 
 islands. Their English name is proba- 
 bly derived from " fair," or has the same 
 etymology with that word ; and, although 
 some similarity has been traced between 
 them and the Peris of the Persians (pro- 
 nounced Feri by the Arabians,) it is not 
 probable that the resemblance of name 
 Is more than accidental. There is also a 
 
 distinction between the fairy of the Eng- 
 lish and the Fata or prophetic sibyl of 
 the Italians, from which last the French 
 Fee is derived ; although the French, in 
 their romantic mythology, have some- 
 what mingled the characteristics of the 
 two. The British fairies, also, although 
 they have something in common with the 
 Dwergas or Gnomes of the Scandinavian 
 mythology, are not identical with them ; 
 they are in fact peculiar to people of 
 Celtic race, and the notions respecting 
 them prevalent among the Celtic popula- 
 tion in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland tally 
 to a remarkable degree. The popular 
 belief, however, was nowhere invested 
 with so poetical a character as in the 
 Lowlands of Scotland, where it forms a 
 main ingredient in the beautiful ballad 
 poetry of the district. The fairies of the 
 Scottish and English mythology are 
 diminutive beings, who render themselves 
 occasionally visible to men, especially in 
 exposed places, on the sides of hills, or in 
 the glades of forests, which it is their 
 custom to frequent. They have also 
 dealings with men. but of an uncertain 
 and unreal character. Their presents 
 are sometimes valuable ; but generally 
 accompanied, in that case, with some 
 condition or peculiarity which renders 
 them mischievous : more often they are 
 unsubstantial, and turn into dirt or ashes 
 in the hands of those to whom they have 
 been given. Mortals have been occasion- 
 ally transported into Fairy-land, and 
 have found that all its apparent splendor 
 was equally delusive. One of the most 
 ordinary employments of fairies, in vul- 
 gar superstition, is that of stealing chil- 
 dren at nurse, and substituting their own 
 offspring in place of them, which after a 
 short time perish or are carried away. 
 The popular belief in fairies has been 
 made the subject of poetical amplifica- 
 tion in the hands of so many of the 
 greatest writers, from Shakspeare to 
 Scott, that it is not easy to disentangle 
 the embellishments with which it has 
 been invested from the original notions 
 on which they are founded. The Fata of 
 the Italians, who figures in their romnntic 
 epics, and from whom the French have 
 made the Fee of their fairy tales, is quite 
 a different personage : a female magician, 
 sometimes benevolent, and sometimes ma- 
 levolent, partaking herself of the super- 
 natural character, and peculiarly gifted 
 with the spirit of prophecy. Such is the 
 Fata Morgana, to whom the celebrated 
 optical delusion occasionally produced in 
 the Straits of Messina was formerly at-
 
 232 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 tributed by popular belief. Fairy of the 
 mine, an imaginary being supposed to 
 inhabit mines, wandering about in the 
 drifts and chambers, always employed, 
 yet effecting nothing. Fairy ring or 
 circle, a phenomenon frequently seen in 
 the fields, consisting of a round bare path 
 with grass in the middle, formerly as- 
 cribed to the dances of the fairies. It has 
 been supposed by some, that these rings 
 are the effect of lightning ; but a more 
 rational theory ascribes them to a kind 
 of fungus which grows in a circle from 
 the centre outwards, destroying the grass 
 as it extends, while the interior of the 
 circle is enriched by the decayed roots of 
 the fungi. 
 
 FAITH, in divinity and philosophy, 
 the firm belief of certain truths upon the 
 testimony of the person who reveals 
 them. The grounds of a rational faith 
 are, that the things revealed be not con- 
 trary to, though they may be above natu- 
 ral reason ; that the revealer be well 
 acquainted with the things he reveals ; 
 that he be above all suspicion of deceiving 
 us. Where these criterions are found, no 
 reasonable person will deny his assent. 
 Whatever propositions, therefore, are be- 
 yond reason, but not contrary to it, are, 
 when revealed, the proper matter of 
 faith. Justifying, or saving faith, sig- 
 nifies .perfect confidence in the truth of 
 the Gospel, which influences the will, and 
 leads to an entire reliance on Christ for 
 salvation. Public faith, is represented 
 on medals, sometimes with a basket of 
 fruit in one hand, and some ears of corn 
 in the other : and sometimes holding a 
 turtle-dove. But the most usual symbol 
 is with her two hands joined together. 
 Faith, (Fides) in ancient Art, is represent- 
 ed as a matron wearing a wreath of olive 
 or laurel leaves, and carrying in her hand 
 ears of corn, or a basket of fruit. In 
 Christian Art, by a female carrying a 
 cup surmounted by a cross, emblematical 
 of the Eucharist, " the Mystery of Faith." 
 
 FA'KIR, or FA'QUIR, a devotee, or 
 Indian monk. The fakirs are a kind of 
 fanatics in the East Indies, who retire 
 from the world, and give themselves up 
 to contemplation. Their great aim is to 
 gain the veneration of the world by their 
 
 but make a vow of poverty, and go from 
 village to village, prophesying and telling 
 fortunes. 
 
 FAL'CON, a bird nearly allied to the 
 hawk, about the size of a raven, and ca- 
 pable of being trained for sport, in which 
 it was formerly much employed. It is 
 usually represented in coats of arms with 
 bells on its legs, and also decorated with 
 a hood, virols, rings, <fcc. Falcon, the 
 attribute of St. Jerome, and of the holy 
 hermit Otho of Ariano ; the former has a 
 hooded falcon on his hand, while the lat- 
 ter has it sitting on his head. 
 
 FAL'CONET, a small cannon, or piece 
 of ordnance. 
 
 FAL'CONRY, the art of training all 
 kinds of hawks, but more especially the 
 larger sort, called the gentle falcon, to 
 the exercise or sport of hawking. This 
 sport was much practised in Europe and 
 Asia in the chivalric ages, and continued 
 in favor till the 17th century; but the 
 invention of fire-arms gradually super- 
 seded it. In France, England, and Ger- 
 many, falconry was at one time in such 
 hiarh esteem, that during the reign of 
 Francis I. of France, his grand falconer 
 received an annual revenue of 4000 li- 
 vres ; had under him fifteen noblemen 
 and fifty falconers ; and enjoyed the priv- 
 ilege of hawking through the whole king- 
 dom at pleasure. The whole establish- 
 
 absurd and cruel penances, outdoing even ment, which cost annually about 40,000 
 the mortifications and severities of the livres, attended the king wherever he 
 ' ancient Christian anchorets. Some of ; went, and those who were distinguished 
 them mangle their bodies with scourges for their skill in the sport were loaded 
 and knives ; others never lie down ; and j with royal favors. In England, falconry 
 others remain all their lives in one pos- | was also in high esteem, and there is to 
 ture. There is also another kind of fa- this day an hereditary grand falconer 
 kirs, who do not practise suoh severities, i (the duke of St. Alban's,) who, by virtue 

 
 FAN] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 233 
 
 of his office, presents the king, or queen 
 regnant, with a cast of falcons on the day 
 of the coronation. A similar service is 
 performed by the representative of the 
 Stanley family in the Isle of Man. The 
 origin of this celebrated sport has given 
 occasion to much controversy. It has 
 been said that it was unknown to the 
 Greeks ; it is, however, described by Cte- 
 sias and Aristotle as practised in their 
 time in India and Thrace. Martial and 
 Apuleius present us with plain indica- 
 tions of the knowledge of this pastime 
 among the Romans. In modern Europe, 
 it appears to have been practised earliest, 
 or at least with most ardor, in Germany : 
 the title of the emperor, Henry the Fow- 
 ler (A.D. 920,) is said to be derived from 
 an anecdote respecting his fondness for it. 
 In the 12th century, it was the favorite 
 sport of nobles and knights throughout 
 Europe ; and in that which followed its 
 rules were reduced into a system by the 
 Emperor Frederic II., (Barbarossa,) and 
 by Demetrius, physician to the Greek 
 Emperor Palteologus. In that court the 
 grand falconer was an officer of distinc- 
 tion ; and the title was borrowed from it 
 by the western sovereigns. According to 
 the opinion of Strutt, the sport was not 
 known so early in England as on the Con- 
 tinent ; yet there are traces of it as early 
 as the 8th century. 
 
 FALD STOOL, a kind of stool placed 
 at the south side of the altar, at which 
 the kings of England kneel at their coro- 
 nation ; also a folding stool or desk, pro- 
 vided with a cushion, for a person to kneel 
 on during the performance of certain acts 
 of devotion ; also a small desk, at which, 
 in cathedrals, churches, <fcc., the litany is 
 enjoined to be sung or said. It is some- 
 times called a litany stool. 
 
 FAL'LACY, in logic and rhetoric, has 
 been defined ' any argument, or apparent 
 argument, which professes to be decisive 
 of the matter at issue, while in reality it 
 is not." Fallacies have been divided into 
 those " in dictione," in the words : and 
 " extra dictionern," in the matter. The 
 latter of these it is not the province of 
 logic to discover and refute ; they being, 
 strictly, instances in which the conclusion 
 follows from the premisses, and which 
 therefore depend on the unsoundness of 
 these premisses themselves, which can 
 only be detected by a knowledge of the 
 subject-matter of the argument. Logical 
 fallacies, or fallacies in dictione, are those 
 in which the conclusion appears; to follow, 
 but in reality does not, from the prem- 
 isses ; and which, consequently, can be 
 
 detected by one unlearned in the subject- 
 matter of the argument, but acquainted 
 with the rules of logic. 
 
 FALSE, contrary to the truth or fact : 
 the word is applicable to any subject 
 physical or moral. False, in music, an 
 epithet applied by theorists to certain 
 chords, because they do not contain all 
 the intervals appertaining to those chords 
 in their perfect state. Those intonations 
 of the voice which do not truly express 
 the intended intervals are also called 
 false, as well as all ill-adjusted combina- 
 tions. false, an epithet used also in 
 law, as false imprisonment, the trespass 
 of imprisoning a man without lawful 
 cause. In mineralogy, us false diamond, 
 a diamond counterfeited with glass. It 
 is also a word much used in military af- 
 fair ; as, a false alarm, a false attack, 
 &c. False Jlower, in botany, a flower 
 which does not seem to produce any fruit. 
 False roof, in carpentry, that part of 
 a house which is between the roof and 
 the covering. 
 
 FALSET'TO, in music, an Italian 
 term, denoting that species of voice in a 
 man, the compaes of which lies above his 
 natural voice, and is produced by arti- 
 ficial constraint. 
 
 FAMILIAR SPIRITS, demons, or evil 
 spirits, supposed to be continually within 
 call and at the service of their masters, 
 sometimes under an assumed shape ; 
 sometimes compelled by magical skill, 
 and sometimes doing voluntary service. 
 In Eastern stories, nothing is more com- 
 mon than the mention of magic gems, 
 rings, &c., to which are attached genii, 
 sometimes good, sometimes bad ; but in 
 modern Christian Europe the notion of 
 familiars has always been restricted to 
 evil spirits. 
 
 FANAT'IC, one who indulges wild and 
 extravagant notions of religion, and some- 
 times exhibits strange motions and pos- 
 tures, and vehement vociferation in re- 
 ligious worship. The ancients called 
 those fanatici who passed their time in 
 temples, (fana,) and being often seized 
 with a kind of enthusiasm, as if inspired 
 by the divinity, exhibited wild and antic 
 gestures. Prudentius represents them as 
 cutting and slashing their arms with 
 knives : shaking the head was also com- 
 mon among thefanatioi; hence the word 
 was applied to different religious sects, 
 who, on their first appearance amongst 
 us. sought notoriety by the extravagance 
 of their actions, and by pretending to in- 
 spirations. 
 
 FANDAN'GO, an old Spanish dance,
 
 234 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FAS 
 
 which proceeds generally from a slow 
 and uniform to the most lively motion. 
 It is seldom danced but at the theatre, 
 and in the parties of the lower classes ; 
 nor is it even then customary to dance it 
 with those voluptuous looks and attitudes 
 which distinguish the true fandango. 
 There is another species of fandango, 
 called the bolero, the motions and steps 
 of which are slow and sedate, but grow 
 rather more lively towards the end. In 
 these dances the time is beat by casta- 
 nets. 
 
 FANFARE', (French,) a short, lively, 
 loud, and warlike piece of music, com- 
 posed for trumpets and kettle-drums. 
 Also, small, lively pieces performed on 
 hunting-horns, in the chase. From its 
 meaning is derived fanfaron, a boaster, 
 and fanfaronade, boasting. 
 
 FANTA'SIA, in music, the name gen- 
 erally given to a species of composition, 
 supposed to be struck off in the heat of 
 the imagination ; and in which the com- 
 poser is allowed to give free range to his 
 ideas, unconflned by the rules of the sci- 
 ence. Some limit the term to mere ex- 
 temporaneous effusions, which are trans- 
 itive and evanescent : differing from the 
 capricio in this, that though the latter is 
 wild, it is the result of premeditation, 
 and becomes permanent ; whereas the 
 fantasia, when finished, no longer ex- 
 ists. 
 
 FAXTOCCI'NI. dramatic representa- 
 tions in which puppets are substituted in 
 the scene for human performers. 
 
 FARCE, a dramatic piece or enter- 
 tainment of low comic character. It was 
 originally a droll, or petty show exhib- 
 ited by mountebanks and their buffoons 
 in the open streets, to gather the people 
 together. It has, however, long been re- 
 moved from the street to the theatre ; 
 and instead of being performed by merry- 
 andrews to amuse the rabble, is acted by 
 comedians, and become the entertainment 
 of a polite audience. As the aim of a 
 farce is to promote mirth, the dialogue is 
 not refined, nor is there any opportunity 
 lost to excite laughter, however wild or 
 extravagant the plot, or however ridicu- 
 lous the characters. The original term 
 seems to signify a miscellaneous com- 
 pound or mixture of different things. In 
 modern language it has borne various 
 significations. Certain songs which were 
 sung between the prayers on the occa- 
 sion of religious worship are said to have 
 been denominated farces in Germany, 
 during the middle ages ; whence the word 
 appears to have Senoted simply an in- 
 
 terlude of any kind. In England, the 
 farce appears to have risen to the dignity 
 of a regular theatrical entertainment 
 about the beginning of the last century ; 
 since which time it has formed one of the 
 most popular exhibitions, and is usually 
 performed, by way of contrast, after a 
 tragedy at the national theatres. The 
 farce is restricted to three acts as its lim- 
 it, but frequently consists only of two or 
 one. Of all the pieces of this class which 
 have successively amused English audi- 
 ences, none have acquired a permanent 
 literary reputation except those of Foote, 
 performances in which the license of 
 the theatre in satirizing living persons 
 was carried to the utmost height. The 
 FabulcB AteUanee of the Romans, which 
 appears to have been short dramatic en- 
 tertainments of a miscellaneous charac- 
 ter, sometimes pastoral, sometimes tragi- 
 comic, Ac., but not so coarse in plan or 
 diction as the Mimes and their Exodia, 
 which were satirical dialogues in verse 
 between some set characters or stage- 
 buffoons, appear to have filled in some 
 respects the place of the modern farce. 
 On the French stage the vaudeville an- 
 swers to the English farce. 
 
 FAS'CES, in Roman antiquity, bundles 
 of rods with an axe in the centre of each 
 bundle, carried before the consuls as a 
 badge of their office. The use of the fas- 
 ces was introduced by the elder Tarquin 
 
 as a mark of sovereign authority : in 
 after-times they were borne before the 
 consuls, but by turns only, each having 
 his day. These latter had twelve of 
 them, carried by so many lictors. 
 
 FAS'CIA, in architecture, a flat mem- 
 ber in an entablature or elsewhere, like
 
 FATj 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 235 
 
 a flat band or broad fillet. The archi- 
 trave, when subdivided for instance, has 
 three bands, called fasciae ; of which the 
 lower is called the lirst fascia, the middle 
 one the second, and the upper one the 
 third. Fascia, a bandage employed in 
 various ways, 1. As a diadem, worn round 
 the head as an emblem of royalty, the 
 color being white, that worn by women 
 was purple. 2. Fastened round the legs, 
 especially of women, from the ankle to 
 the knee, serving the purpose of leggings, 
 as a protection to the legs of the wearer, 
 a practice that was adopted in Europe 
 during the middle ages. 
 
 FASCINA'TION, a kind of witchcraft 
 or enchantment supposed to operate by 
 the influence of the eye. A belief in fas- 
 cination appears to have been very gene- 
 rally prevalent in most ages and coun- 
 tries. It has been till very recently, and 
 in some remote districts is even yet, prev- 
 alent among the Scotch Highlanders, 
 and the inhabitants of the Western is- 
 lands, where the fear of the evil eye has 
 led to various precautions against its in- 
 fluence ; and in Turkey, when a child is 
 born, it is immediately laid in the cradle 
 and loaded with amulets, while the most 
 absurd ceremonies are used to protect it 
 from the noxious fascination of some in- 
 visible demon. 
 
 FASH'ION, a term used to signify the 
 prevailing mode or taste in any country, 
 the only recognized quality which it pos- 
 sesses being mutability. It may safely 
 be averred that in proportion to the in- 
 fluence which fashion exercises in any 
 country may its claim to civilization be 
 vindicated, nothing being so character- 
 istic of a rude and barbarous state of 
 existence as a rigid adherence to the cus- 
 toms of antiquity. The term fashion has 
 generally been considered as applicable 
 chiefly to the adornment of the person, 
 in conformity with the prevailing taste 
 as introduced by some individual of con- 
 sideration in society ; but it has a much 
 wider signification, being applied to the 
 most trivial kind of conventional usages, 
 a disregard or ignorance of which is suf- 
 ficient in the eyes of the votaries of this 
 tyrannical goddess to banish the offender 
 beyond the pale of civilized society. 
 
 FAS'TI, in ancient history, the records 
 of the Roman state, in which all public 
 matters, military and civil, were regis- 
 tered by the high priest, according to the 
 days on which they took place. The 
 fasti of Ovid is a poem giving an ac- 
 count of the Rovnan year, and the cere- 
 monies attached to the different days, 
 
 with their historical or mythological ori- 
 gin. The first six books, containing the 
 first six months of the year, beginning 
 with January, have come down to us ; 
 the rest are lost. 
 
 FASTS, occasional abstinence from 
 food, on days appointed by public author- 
 ity to be observed in fasting and humili- 
 ation. Solemn fasts have been observed 
 in all ages and nations, especially in 
 times of mourning and affliction. Among 
 the Jews, besides their stated fast days, 
 they were occasionally enjoined in the time 
 of any public calamity. They were ob- 
 served upon the second and fifth days of 
 the week, beginning an hour before sun- 
 set, and continuing till midnight on the 
 following flay. On these occasions they 
 always wore sackcloth next their skins, 
 rent their clothes, which were of coarse 
 white stuff; sprinkled ashes on their 
 heads; went barefoot ; and neither wash- 
 ed their hands nor anointed their bodies 
 as usual. They thronged the tejnple, 
 made long and mournful prayers, and 
 had every external appearance of humil- 
 iation and dejection. In order to com- 
 plete their abstinence, at night they were 
 allowed to eat nothing but a little bread 
 dipped in water, with some salt for sea- 
 toning, except they chose some bitter 
 herbs and pulse. The practice of fasting 
 is recommended in the New Testament 
 by the example of the Apostles and early 
 Christians, who are frequently represent- 
 ed as fasting, especially on solemn occa- 
 sions, such as when Paul and Barnabas 
 are sent forth by the Apostles to preach 
 to the Gentiles. The observance of sta- 
 ted fast days prevailed very early and 
 universally in the church. 
 
 FA'TALISM, the belief of an un- 
 changeable destiny, to which everything 
 is subject, uninfluenced by reason, and 
 independent of a controlling cause ; the 
 doctrine, in short, which teaches that all 
 things take place by an inevitable ne- 
 cessity. 
 
 FA'TA MORGA'NA, a singular aerial 
 phenomenon seen in the straits of Messi- 
 na. When the rising sun shines from 
 that point whence its incident ray forms 
 an angle of about 45 on the sea of Heg- 
 gio, and the bright surface of the water 
 in the bay is not disturbed either by the 
 wind or current, when the tide is at its 
 height, and the waters are pressed up by 
 currents to a great elevation in the mid- 
 dle of the channel, the spectator being 
 placed on an eminence, with his back to 
 the sun and his face to the sea, the moun- 
 tains of Messina rising like a wall behind
 
 236 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FEA 
 
 it, and forming the back-ground of the 
 picture, on a sudden there appears in 
 the water, as in a catoptric theatre, vari- 
 ous multiplied objects numberless series 
 of pilasters, arches, castles, well-deline- 
 ated regular columns, lofty towers, su- 
 perb palaces, with balconies and windows, 
 extended alleys of trees, delightful plains, 
 with herds and flocks, armies of men on 
 foot, on horseback, and many other things, 
 in their natural colors and proper actions, 
 passing rapidly in succession along the 
 surface of the sea, during the whole of the 
 short period of time while the above- 
 mentioned causes remain. All these ob- 
 jects, which are exhibited in the Fata 
 Morgana, are proved by the accurate ob- 
 servations of the coast and town of Reg- 
 gio, to be derived from objects on shore. 
 If, in addition to the circumstances be- 
 fore described, the atmosphere be highly 
 impregnated with vapor, and dense ex- 
 halations, not previously dispersed by the 
 action of the wind and waves, or rarified 
 by the sun, it then happens, that in this 
 vapor, as in a curtain extended along the 
 channel to the height of above forty 
 palms, and nearly down to the sea, the 
 observer will behold the scene of the same 
 objects not only reflected from the surface 
 of the sea, but likewise in the air, though 
 not so distinctly or well defined as the 
 former objects of the sea. Lastly, if the 
 air be slightly hazy and opaque, and at 
 the same time dewy, and adapted to form 
 the iris, then the above-mentioned objects 
 will appear only at the surface of the sea, 
 as in the first case ; but all vividly color- 
 ed or fringed with red, green, blue, and 
 other prismatic colors. 
 
 FATE, destiny depending on a supe- 
 rior cause and uncontrollable. According 
 to the Stoics, every event is determined 
 by Fate ; and in the sense in which the 
 moderns use the word, it implies the or- 
 der or determination of Providence. 
 
 FATES, in mythology, the three sister 
 goddesses named Clotho, (spinster,) La- 
 chesis, (allotter,) and Atropos, (unchange- 
 able,) whose office it was to spin the des- 
 tinies of men, and break the threads when 
 their appointed hours of death came. 
 They were also called Parcse by the Lat- 
 ins. Their Greek name was Mofpai, f. e., 
 " the dispensers." 
 
 FAUNA'LIA, three Roman festivals 
 annually observed in honor of the god 
 Faunus. The first was kept on the ides 
 of February, the second on the 16th of 
 the calends of March, and the third on 
 the nones of December. The sacrifices on 
 these occasions were lambs and kids. It 
 
 is supposed that the Roman Faunus was 
 the same with the Greek Pan. 
 
 FAUNS, rural deities, among the Ro- 
 innns, represented with horns on their 
 heads, sharp pointed ears, and the rest of 
 their bodies like goats. They were the 
 mythological demi-gods of woods and for- 
 
 ests, thence called sylvan deities. The 
 figure is taken from an antique statue in 
 the Florentine museum, and represents a 
 young faun as a flute-player. 
 
 FAUX JOUR, (French^/a/seZig-W; 
 term used in the Fine Arts, signifying that 
 a picture is placed so that the light falls 
 upon it from a different side from that 
 which the painter has represented the 
 light in the picture as falling upon ob- 
 jects, or that it is covered with a bright 
 glare, so that nothing can be properly 
 distinguished. 
 
 FAVIS'SJE, large vaults underground 
 in the area of the Roman capitol, where 
 the Romans carefully lodged and deposi- 
 ted with a degree of religious care the 
 old statues, and other sacred utensils, 
 when they happened to be broken ; such 
 a superstitious veneration did they pay 
 to everything belonging to the capitol. 
 
 FE'ALTY, in feudal law, an oath ta- 
 ken on the admittance of any tenant to 
 be true to the lord of whom he held his 
 land. Under the feudal system of ten- 
 ures, every vassal or tenant was bound to 
 be true and faithful to his lord, and to 
 defend him against his enemies : the 
 tenant is called a liege man ; the land a 
 lie" e fee ; and the superior, a liege lord. 
 
 FEASTS, or FESTIVALS, in a reli- 
 gious sense, are aniversary times of feast- 
 ing and thanksgiving, such as Christmas 
 Easter, Ac. Feasts were of divine insti- 
 tution ; intended by the Deity to perpet-
 
 FEE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 237 
 
 uate among his chosen people, the Jews, 
 the memory of his mercies and miracles ; 
 as well as to keep alive the friendship 
 betwixt the different tribes and families, 
 by bringing them together on solemn oc- 
 casions, and offering up their thanksgiv- 
 ings in the holy city. Among Chris- 
 tians, movable feasts are those which, 
 depending on astronomical calculations, 
 do not always return on the same days 
 of the year. Of these, the principal is 
 Easter, which fixes all the rest, as Palm- 
 Sunday, Good Friday, Ash- Wednesday, 
 Sexagesima, Ascension-day, Pentecost, 
 and Trinity Sunday. Immovable feasts, 
 those which are constantly celebrated on 
 the same day ; of these, the principal are 
 Christmas day, or the Nativity, the Cir- 
 cumcision, Epiphany, Candlemas or the 
 Purification, Lady-day or the Annuncia- 
 tion, All Saints, and All Souls, and the 
 days of the several apostles. The four 
 quarterly feasts, are Lady-day, or the 
 annunciation of the Virgin Mary, on the 
 *'5th of March ; the nativity of St. John 
 the Baptist, on the 24th of June ; the 
 feast of St. Michael, the archangel, on 
 the 29th of September ; and Christmas, or 
 rather of St. Thomas the apostle, on the 
 21st of December. The feasts of the an- 
 cients were conducted with great cere- 
 mony. The guests wore white garments, 
 decorated themselves with garlands, and 
 often anointed the head, beard, and breast 
 with fragrant oils. The banqueting 
 room was also often adorned with gar- 
 lands and roses, which were hung over 
 the table, as the emblem of silence : 
 hence the common phrase, to communi- 
 cate a thing sub rosa (under the rose.) 
 The luxurious Romans drank out of crys- 
 tal, amber, and the costly murra (a kind 
 of porcelain introduced by Pompey.) 
 as well as onyx, beryl, and elegantly 
 wrought gold, set with precious stones. 
 After the meal was ended, flute players, 
 female singers, dancers and buffoons of 
 all kinds, amused the guests, or the 
 guests themselves joined in various sports 
 and games. 
 
 FEB'RUARY in chronology, the sec- 
 ond month of the year, reckoning from 
 January, first added to the calendar of 
 Romulus by Numa Pompilius. Febru- 
 ary derived its name from Februa, a 
 feiist held by the Romans in this month, 
 in behalf of the manes of the deceased, 
 at which ceremony sacrifices were per- 
 formed, and the last offices were paid to 
 the shades of the defunct. February in 
 a common year consists only of 28 days, 
 but in the bissextile year it has 29, on 
 
 account of the intercalary day added that 
 year. 
 
 FE'CIALES, a college of priests insti- 
 tuted at Rome by Numa, consisting of 
 twenty persons, selected out of the best 
 families. Their business was to be ar- 
 bitrators of all matters relating to war 
 and peace, and to be the guardians of 
 the public faith. 
 
 FED'ERAL GOVERNMENT, such a 
 government as consists of several inde- 
 pendent provinces or states, united under 
 one head ; but the degree to which such 
 states give up their individual rights 
 may be very different, although as re- 
 lates to general politics they have one 
 common interest, and agree to be gov- 
 erned by one and the same principle. 
 Of such kind is the government of the 
 United States of America. 
 
 FEDERALIST, an appellation in the 
 United States, given to those politicians 
 who wanted to strengthen thefasdus, or 
 general government compact, in opposi- 
 tion to others who wished to enfeeble it 
 by extending the separate authority of 
 the several states. Hamilton was a 
 chief federalist, Jefferson a leading anti- 
 federalist. 
 
 FEE, a reward or recompense for pro- 
 fessional services ; as the fees of law- 
 yers, physicians, &c. Public offices have 
 likewise their settled./'ees, for the several 
 branches of business transacted in them. 
 
 FEE-ESTATE, in law, properly signi- 
 fies an inheritable estate in land, held of 
 some superior or lord ; and in this sense 
 it is distinguished from allodium, which 
 is the absolute property in land. It is 
 the theory of the English law that all the 
 lands of the kingdom, except the royal 
 domains, are held in fee, or by a tenure, 
 of some superior lord, the absolute or al- 
 lodial property being only in the king, so 
 that all the tenures arc strictly feudal. 
 The most ample estate a person can have 
 is that of fee-simple ; and such an estate 
 can be had only in property that is in- 
 heritable, and of a permanent nature. 
 fee-farm, a kind of tenure without hom- 
 age, fealty, or other service, except that 
 mentioned in the feoffment ; which is 
 usually the full rent. The nature of this 
 tenure is, that if the rent is in arrear or 
 unpaid for two years, then the feoffer and 
 his heirs may have an action for the re- 
 covery of his lands. 
 
 FEELING, one of the five external 
 senses, by which we obtain the ideas of 
 solid, hard, soft, rough, hot, cold, wet, 
 dry, and other tangible qualities. This 
 sense is the coarsest, but at the same
 
 238 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FEO 
 
 time it is the surest of the five ; it is be- 
 sides the most universal. We see and 
 hear with small portions of our body ; 
 but we feel with all. Nature has be- 
 stowed that general sensation wherever 
 there are nerves, and they are every- 
 where where there is life. Were it other- 
 wise, the parts divested of it might be 
 destroyed without our knowledge. All 
 the nervous solids, while animated by 
 their fluids, have this general sensation ; 
 but the papillae in the skin, those of the 
 nngers in particular, have it in a more 
 exquisite degree. Like every other sense, 
 feeling is capable of the greatest improve- 
 ment ; thus we see that persons, born 
 without arms, acquire the nicest feeling 
 in their toes; and, in blind people, this 
 sense becomes so much developed, that 
 individuals born blind, and acquiring the 
 faculty of sight in after life, for a long 
 time depend rather on their feeling than 
 on their sight, because they receive clear- 
 er ideas through the former sense. 
 
 FEET, in Christian Art, the feet of 
 our Lord, also of angels and of the apos- 
 tles, should always be represented naked, 
 without shoes or sandals. 
 
 FEINT, in military tactics, a mock at- 
 tack, made to conceal the true one. 
 
 FELI'CITAS, the appellation of a 
 Roman goddess, a Christian martyr, and 
 a traditional empress, mentioned in ro- 
 mantic poetry only. 1. Felicitas, a di- 
 vine being, agreeing with the Eudaemo- 
 nia (felicity) and the Eutychia (good for- 
 tune) of the Greeks, in whom was per- 
 sonified the idea of happiness arising 
 from blissful occurrences. Thus, Felici- 
 tas (Eutychia) means more than Fortu- 
 na or Tyche, by which was meant chance 
 or luck. The Felicitas of the Greeks, 
 Eutychia, is represented on many earth- 
 en vessels as announcing to the specta- 
 tor the desired result of the action in- 
 tended. We also meet with it as illus- 
 trative of success in arms, and of happi- 
 ness in marriage. On Roman coins she 
 is represented with the modius on her 
 head, the staff of Hermes in her hand, 
 and resting on a cornucopia ; but her at- 
 tributes differ according to circumstances. 
 2. St. Felicitas, a Christian lady of Rome, 
 who is depicted with a palm-branch and 
 cross ; she is the patroness of male chil- 
 dren. She had seven sons, who with her 
 suffered martyrdom at Rome, A.D. 160. 
 Felicitas was thrown into a cauldron of 
 boiling oil, while her sons' heads were 
 cut off and exhibited before her. 3. The 
 empress Felicitas, a principal character 
 in the romance of Count Octavian ; her 
 
 two children, who, with herself, were cast 
 into a forest, were nursed by a lioness. 
 
 FEL'LOW, the member of a college or 
 of a corporate body. This word has a 
 very wide and opposite meaning; for 
 though we say, in speaking of a skilful 
 artist, this man has not his fellow, we al- 
 so apply it in the most ignoble sense, and 
 say, such a one is a mean or worthless 
 fellow. 
 
 FE'LO DE SE, in law, a person that, 
 being of sound mind, and of the age of 
 discretion, wilfully causes his own death. 
 
 FEL'ONY, in law, generally includes 
 all capital crimes below treason, such as 
 murder, burglary, Ac. ; and is punished 
 with death or transportation, according 
 to the enormity of the offence. 
 
 FELUC'CA, a light open vessel with six 
 oars, much used in the Mediterranean. 
 It has this peculiarity, that its helm may 
 be used either at the head or the stern. 
 
 FEME COV'ERT, in law, a married 
 woman, who is under covert of her hus- 
 band. By the common law of England, 
 the legal capacity of a woman to contract, 
 or sue and be sued, separately, ceases on 
 marriage ; and her husband becomes 
 liable to her debts existing at that time. 
 Feme-sole, a single woman. Feme-sole 
 merchant, a woman who carries on trade 
 alone, or without her husband. 
 
 FEMINA'LIA, a kind of short pan- 
 taloons or closely- fitting breeches, reach- 
 ing a short distance below the knees, 
 worn by the Roman soldiers in their ex- 
 peditions to cold countries ; they are seen 
 depicted on the Column of Trajan, and on 
 the Arch of Constantine at Rome. 
 
 FEM'ININE, in grammar, denoting 
 the female gender. 
 
 FEN'CING, the art of using skilfully 
 a sword or foil either in attack or defence. 
 In the exercise of this art. foils or thin 
 swords are used, which, being blunted at 
 the points, and bending readily, are ren- 
 dered harmless. 
 
 FEN'GITE, a kind of transparent ala- 
 baster or marble, sometimes used for 
 windows as in the church of St. Miniato 
 at Florence. 
 
 FEO'DUM, FEOD, or FEUD, in feu- 
 dal law, the right which the vassal had 
 in land, &c., to use the same, and take 
 the profits thereof, rendering unto his 
 lord such fees, duties, and services, as 
 belonged to military tenure. 
 
 FEOFF'MENT, in law, is a gift or 
 grant of any manors, messuages, lands, 
 or tenements to another in fee, that is, to 
 him and his heirs forever, by delivery of 
 seisin, and possession of the estate grant-
 
 FET] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 239 
 
 ed. The giver is called the f coffer, and 
 the persou who is thus invested is called 
 the J'eojfee. 
 
 FERA'LIA, in antiquity, a festival 
 observed among the llomans on the 21st 
 of Feruary, or, according to Ovid, on the 
 17th, in honor of the manes of their de- 
 ceased friends and relations. During the 
 ceremony, whi<;h consisted in making 
 presents at their graves, marriages were 
 forbidden, and the temples of the divini- 
 ties shut up ; because they fancied that 
 during this festival, departed spirits suf- 
 fered no pains in hell, but were permitted 
 to wander about their graves and feast 
 upon the meats prepared for them. 
 
 FERENTA'RIA, in ancient Home, a 
 sort of light-armed soldiers. 
 
 FER'ETORY, this term is applied to 
 the bier or shrine containing the reliques 
 of saints, borne in processions. The type 
 of a feretory is a coffin, but the form is 
 usually that of a ridgod chest, with a 
 roof-like top, usually ornamented by 
 pierced work, with the sides and top en- 
 graved and enamelled, and sometimes 
 with images in high relief. They were 
 made of various metals. 1. Of solid gold 
 and silver adorned with jewels. 2. Of 
 copper, gilt and enamelled. 3. Of wood 
 overlaid with plates of metal, or richly 
 painted and gilt. 4. Of ivory, or of crys- 
 tal, mounted in metal and gilt. 5. Of 
 wood, covered with precious stuffs and 
 embroidery. 
 
 FE'RIA, in the Romish breviary, is 
 applied to the several days of the week ; 
 thus, Monday is theferia secunda, Tues- 
 day thejeria tertia, and so on. 
 
 FE'RI-35, in Roman antiquity, holi- 
 days, or days upon which they abstained 
 from business. The ferlcc were of several 
 kinds, namely, Ferice stativae, or stated 
 festivals ; f trice conceptivcc, or movable 
 feasts ; feriae imperatival, or occasional 
 festivals enjoined by the consuls or other 
 magistrates on some public occasion ; and 
 feriiE denicales, for private occasions. 
 There were also the f trice Latinee, kept 
 by the fifty Latin towns on Mount Alba- 
 nus ; and the f trice mundince, festivals 
 kept for nine days on the appearance of 
 any prodigy. It was a pollution of the 
 ferice, according to Macrobius, if the rex 
 sacrorum or famines saw any work done 
 on them, and therefore they ordered pro- 
 clamation to be made by the herald, that 
 every one might abstain from work ; and 
 whoever transgressed the order was fined. 
 
 FE'RINE, an epithet for such beasts 
 as are wild and savage, as lions, tigers, 
 wolves, bears, Ac. 
 
 FE RIO, in logic, a mode in the first 
 figure of syllogisms, consisting of a uni- 
 versal negative, a particular affirmative, 
 and a particular negative. A^similar 
 mode in the third figure of syllogisms, is 
 termed ferison. 
 
 FER'ULA, in ecclesiastical history, 
 signifies a place separated from the church, 
 wherein the audientes were kept, as not 
 being allowed to enter the church. Un- 
 der the eastern empire, the ferula was 
 the emperor's sceptre, as is seen on a 
 variety of medals ; it consisted of a long 
 stem or shank, and a flat square head. 
 
 FES'CENNINE VERSES, so called 
 from Fescennia, an Etrurian town, where 
 they first had their origin, were rude ex- 
 temporaneous pieces of poetry recited by 
 the youth of Latiurn and Etruria at rus- 
 tic festivals, especially at harvest home, 
 with gestures adapted to the sense. They 
 consisted principally of raillery and play- 
 ful rustic abuse ; a species of humor very 
 much in vogue with the Grecian and 
 Egyptian country people also. The Fes- 
 cennine verses are chiefly remarkable from 
 having given rise to satire, the only class 
 of poetry of native Italian growth. 
 
 FESTI'NO, in logic, a mood of syllo- 
 gisms in the second figure, in which the 
 first proposition is a universal negative, 
 the second a particular affirmative, and 
 the third a particular negative. 
 
 FESTOON', a carved ornament in wood, 
 stone, &c., usually in the form of a gar- 
 land or wreath, composed of flowers, 
 fruits, leaves, <fec., bound together, and 
 suspended by the ends. It was employed 
 by the architects of the middle ages fre- 
 quently with much success in their friezes 
 of the composite order. It is usefully 
 and aptly employed in decoration. The 
 
 
 garland is of greatest size in the middle, 
 and diminishes gradually to the points 
 of suspension from which the ends gene- 
 rally hang down. The festoon in archi- 
 tecture is sometimes composed of an imi- 
 tation of drapery, similarly disposed, and 
 frequently of an assemblage of musical in- 
 struments, implements of war, or of the 
 chase and the like, according to the pur- 
 pose to which the building it ornaments 
 is appropriated. 
 
 FE'TICH, FETICHISM, the word fetich
 
 240 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FEU 
 
 is said to be derived from the Portuguese, 
 'and appears to have been brought into 
 usage from the writings of some travel- 
 lers on %bo western coast of Africa. It 
 is now comprehensively employed to sig- 
 nify any object of worship not represent- 
 ing a living (or rather, perhaps, a hu- 
 man) figure ; thus excluding idols, prop- 
 erly so called. This perverted form of 
 religion prevails very extensively among 
 barbarous nations, and especially those 
 of the Negro race. Among the latter, 
 tribes, families, and individuals have 
 their respective fetiches ; which are often 
 objects casually selected, or chosen under 
 the influence of some occasional super- 
 stition, as stones, weapons, vessels, plants, 
 <fec., Ac. 
 
 FEUD, an inveterate quarrel between 
 families or parties in a state. The word 
 is not applicable to wars between differ- 
 ent nations, but to intestine wars and 
 animosities between families, clans, or 
 tribes. 
 
 FEU'DAL SYSTEM, a form of gov- 
 ernment anciently subsisting in Europe, 
 and which, about twelve centuries ago, 
 was so universally received, that Spelman 
 calls it " the law of nations in our western 
 world." The origin of this system, is to 
 be found in the military policy of the 
 Celtic or northern nations, known by the 
 names of Goths, Vandals, Franks, Huns, 
 and Lombards, who overran Europe on 
 the declension of the Roman empire, and 
 brought it with them from the countries 
 out of which they emigrated. According 
 to the feudal scheme, a victorious leader 
 allotted considerable portions of land, 
 called feoda,Jiefs, or feuds, to his princi- 
 pal officers, who in their turn, divided 
 their possessions among their inferiors ; 
 and the condition upon which these re- 
 wards were given, was that of faithful 
 military service both at home and abroad. 
 To this they engaged themselves by an 
 oath of fealty ; in the event of a breach 
 of which, either by not performing the 
 service agreed upon, or by deserting their 
 lord in time of battle, Ac., the lands were 
 to return to their original possessor. 
 Every person, therefore, who was a feuda- 
 tory, i. e. who had received lands, was 
 bound to do everything in his power to 
 defend the lord of his fee ; while, on the 
 other hand, the latter was no less subor- 
 dinate to his immediate superior ; and so 
 on up to the prince himself. Thus the 
 several orders of vassals formed a system 
 of concentric circles, of which each was 
 under the influence of the next, and all 
 moved around a common centre, the king, 
 
 as the supreme feudal lord. As there 
 was a graduated scale from the lowest 
 vassal to the prince or lord paramount of 
 the territory, every man's interest was 
 involved in the security of the whole ; 
 and every man was a pledge of security 
 to his neighbor. In the midst of that dis- 
 interestedness of sentiment which belongs 
 to a rude state of society, the connection 
 of the lord and his vassal was of a salu- 
 tary nature ; and, as is the end of all 
 social combinations, each individual con- 
 tributed to support that strength by 
 which he was protected. But besides 
 these feudal grants, which were held only 
 on the terms of military service above 
 mentioned, there were others called allo- 
 dial, which were given upon more en- 
 larged principles. To these every free 
 man had a title, and could not only claim 
 his territory as well as the rest, but dis- 
 pose of it at his pleasure. A part of their 
 freedom consisted in liberty to go to the 
 wars ; for this, in the times to which we 
 are referring, was the only way to acquire 
 any degree of renown. Only the serfs or 
 villeins, were destined to follow the arts 
 of peace. The feudal vassals, properly 
 so called, constituted the army ; while the 
 national militia was composed of the 
 allodial proprietors. It has, however, 
 often been argued, that the bare theory 
 of feudal government, as a permanent in- 
 stitution, however fair-seeming, is hol- 
 low ; that the family connection it sup- 
 poses could be but a source of minute, 
 domestic tyranny ; and that in their best 
 period, the customs enumerated must 
 have been liable to the grossest abuse. 
 In process of time, the evil increased to 
 an enormous height ; and even the polit- 
 ical value of the system decayed. In its 
 vigor, it had at least constituted a regu- 
 lar, powerful, and compact system of gov- 
 ernment ; a unanimity had pervaded the 
 various departments of the state ; and 
 while the power was internally diffused, 
 it presented to foreign nations a united 
 and formidable front. As the ideas en- 
 gendered by property advanced, and the 
 great grew more avaricious of money than 
 of glory ; and when, it ought perhaps to 
 be added, man's notions of right and 
 order became more correct, nothing was 
 heard of but the enormities of the power- 
 ful, and the sufferings of the humbler 
 classes ; and the strength of feudal gov- 
 ernment declined amidst a spirit of dis- 
 affection too universal to be cheeked 
 Mr. Hallam in his work on the Middle 
 Ages, ably exhibits a picture of the ad- 
 vantages and disadvantages of the feudal
 
 FIG] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 241 
 
 system. If, says he, we look at the feu- 
 dal polity as a scheme of civil freedom, 
 it boars a noble countenance. To the 
 feudal law it is owing, that the very 
 names of right and privilege were not 
 swept away, as in Asia, by the desolating 
 hand of power. The tyranny which, on 
 every favorable moment, was breaking 
 through all barriers, would have rioted 
 without control, if, when the people were 
 poor and disunited, the nobility had not 
 been brave and free. So far as the sphere 
 of feudality extended, it diffused the spirit 
 of libe rty, and the notions of private right. 
 The bulk of the people, it is true, were 
 degraded by servitude ; but this had no 
 connection with the feudal tenures. As a 
 school of moral discipline, the feudal in- 
 stitutions were perhaps most to be valued. 
 Society had sunk, for several centuries 
 after the dissolution of the Roman em- 
 pire, into a condition of open depravity ; 
 where, if any vices could be selected 
 as more eminently characteristic than 
 others, they were falsehood, treachery, 
 and ingratitude. In slowly purging off 
 the lees of this extreme corruption, the 
 feudal spirit exerted its ameliorating in- 
 fluence. Violation of faith stood first in 
 the catalogue of crimes most repugnant 
 to the very essence of feudal tenure, most 
 severely and promptly avenged, most 
 branded by general infamy. The feudal 
 law-books breathe throughout a spirit of 
 mutual obligation. The feudal course of 
 jurisdiction promoted, what trial by peers 
 is peculiarly calculated to promote, a 
 keener feeling and a readier perception 
 of moral as well as of legal distinctions. 
 And as the judgment and sympathy of 
 mankind are seldom mistaken in these 
 great points of veracity and justice, except 
 through the temporary success of crimes or 
 the wants of a definite standard of right, 
 they gradually recovered themselves, 
 when law precluded the one and supplied 
 the other. In the reciprocal services of 
 lord and vassal, there was ample scope 
 for every magnanimous and disinterested 
 energy. The heart of man when placed 
 in circumstances which have a tendency 
 to excite them, will seldom be deficient in 
 such sentiments. No occasions could be 
 more favorable, than the protection of a 
 faithful supporter, or the defence of a 
 beneficent suzerain, against such powerful 
 aggression, as left little prospect except of 
 sharing in his ruin. From these feelings, 
 engendered from the feudal relation, has 
 sprung up the peculiar sentiment of per- 
 sonal reverence and attachment towards 
 a sovereign, which we denominate loy- 
 
 16 
 
 alty ; alike distinguishable from the stu- 
 pid devotion of eastern slaves, and from 
 the abstract respect with which free citi- 
 zens regard their chief magistrate. Men 
 who had been used to swear fealty, to 
 profess subjection, to follow, at home and 
 in the field, a feudal superior and his 
 family, easily transferred the same alle- 
 giance to the monarch. It was a very 
 powerful feeling which could make the 
 bravest men put up with slights and ill- 
 treatment at the hands of their sovereign ; 
 or call forth all the energies of disinter- 
 ested exertion for one whom they never 
 saw, or in whose character there was 
 nothing to esteem. In ages when the 
 rights of the community were unfelt, 
 this sentiment was one great preservative 
 of society ; and though collateral or even 
 subservient to more enlarged principles, 
 it is still indispensable to the tranquillity 
 and permanence of every monarchy. 
 
 FEUIL'LANS, an order of bare-footed 
 monks, who observe the same rules with 
 the Benardinea. 
 
 FI'AT, in law, a short order or warrant 
 signed by a judge, for making out and al- 
 lowing certain processes. friat jnstitia 
 are the words written by the king on his 
 warrant to bring a writ of error in par- 
 liament, <fec. 
 
 FIB'ULA, a brooch, buckle, or clasp, 
 used for fastening together various parts 
 of male and female attire, as well as for 
 ornament. They were made of ivory, 
 gold, bronze, precious stones set in gold, 
 and sometimes of silver, and of every va- 
 riety of form, upon which the most elab- 
 orate ornament was frequently bestowed. 
 In ancient Art we see the fibula employed 
 to pin together the two parts of a cloak 
 or scarf, (chlamys, pallium, <fec.,) so as 
 to fasten them over the right shoulder. 
 Sometimes, but rarely, we see it on the 
 breast. In female costume it is seen 
 worn on both shoulders, and sometimes 
 on the sleeves, breast, and to fasten the 
 tunic when tucked up at the knee. 
 
 FICTI'LIA, TESTA, the term applied 
 to all ancient pottery, from domestic uten- 
 sils to architectural ornaments, coarse or 
 fine, burnt, or only hardened by exposure 
 to the air. The most plastic species of 
 clay for the finer kinds of pottery was 
 found in Etruria, and the earthen table 
 vessels of Arretiurn maintained their su- 
 periority even to the time of Pliny. 
 Among the Greeks, the pottery of Athens, 
 and of the island of Samos, was the most 
 famed, the finest, and of the most care- 
 fully washed earth ; it was called Samian 
 clay, and produced the hardest ware.
 
 242 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FIG 
 
 FIC'TION, in law, a supposition that 
 a thing is true without inquiring whether 
 it is or not, so that it may have the effect 
 of truth, as far as is consistent with equity. 
 
 FIC'TOK, a term applied to any artist 
 who works in wax, clay, or other plastic 
 material, as contradistinguished from one 
 who works in bronze, marble, wood, ivo- 
 ry, or other solid substances. 
 
 FIEF, a fee ; an estate held of a su- 
 perior on condition of military service. 
 See FEUDAL SYSTEM. 
 
 FIELD, in heraldry, the whole surface 
 of the shield or escutcheon. Field, in 
 military tactics, the ground chosen for any 
 battle. Field, in painting, the ground or 
 blank space on which anything may be 
 drawn. 
 
 FIELD-MAR'SHAL, the highest mili- 
 tary officer in England. Field-officer, a 
 military officer above the rank of a cap- 
 tain, as a major or colonel. Field-col- 
 ors, in war, are small flags of about a 
 foot and a half square, which are carried 
 along with the quarter-master general, 
 for marking out the ground for the squad- 
 rons and battalions. Field-pieces, small 
 cannons, from three to twelve pounders, 
 carried along with an army in the field. 
 Field-staff, a weapon carried by the gun- 
 ners, about the length of a halbert, with 
 a spear at the end ; having on each side 
 ears screwed on, like the cock of a match- 
 lock, where the gunners screw in lighted 
 matches, when they are upon command. 
 Field-works, in fortification, are those 
 thrown up by an army in besieging a for- 
 tress, or by the besieged to defend the 
 place. 
 
 FI'ERI FA'CIAS, in law, a judicial 
 writ commanding the sheriff to levy the 
 debt or damages on the goods of one 
 against whom judgment has been had in 
 an action of debt. 
 
 FIFE, a small wooden musical wind 
 instrument of the flute species played by 
 holes, exceedingly shrill in tone, and rare- 
 ly used except in military bands. 
 
 FIF'TEENTH. an ancient tribute or 
 tax laid upon cities, boroughs, &c., 
 through all England, and so termed be- 
 cause it amounted to a fifteenth part of 
 what each city or town had been valued 
 at ; or it was a fifteenth of every man's 
 personal estate according to a reasonable 
 valuation. In doomsday-book, there are 
 certain rates mentioned for levying this 
 tribute yearly. 
 
 FIFTH, in music, one of the harmoni- 
 cal intervals or concords. It is the second 
 in order of the concords, the ratio of the 
 chords that afford it being as 3 : 2. It is 
 
 called the fifth, as containing five terms 
 or sounds between its extremes and four 
 degrees ; so that in the natural scale of 
 music it comes in the fifth place or order 
 from the fundamental. The ancients 
 called it diapente, and the Italians at 
 present call it quinta. The imperfect, 
 defective or false fifth, called by the an- 
 cients semi-diapente, is less than the fifth 
 by a lesser semitone. 
 
 FIFTH- MON'ARCHY-MEX, a fanat- 
 ical sect, who formed a principal support 
 of Cromwell during the Protectorate. 
 They considered his assumption of power 
 as an earnest of the foundations of the 
 fifth monarchy, which should succeed to 
 the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian, 
 and the lloman, and in which Jesus Christ 
 should reign with the saints on earth for 
 the space of a thousand years. Upon the 
 restoration of the royal family, and the 
 return of the kingdom to its former prin- 
 ciples in church and state, a party of 
 these enthusiasts, headed by a man of the 
 name of Venner, made a desperate insur- 
 rection in the streets of London, which 
 was put down with the slaughter of a 
 great number of them. 
 
 FIG'URE, in physics, denotes the sur- 
 face or terminating extremities of any 
 body ; and, considered as a property of 
 body affecting our senses, is defined, a 
 quality which may bo perceived by two 
 of the outward senses touch and sight. 
 Figure, in dancing, denotes the several 
 steps which the dancer makes in order 
 and cadence, considered as they mark cer- 
 tain figures on the floor. Figure, in 
 rhetoric, a mode of speaking or writing 
 in which words are deflected from their 
 ordinary signification, thereby expressing 
 a passion with more emphasis and beauty 
 than by the ordinary way. Rhetorical 
 figures are often highly serviceable as 
 well as ornamental, and serve to awaken 
 and fix attention ; but they are to be used 
 with prudence and caution ; for whatever 
 is described in a multitude of words, or is 
 carried on to a disproportionate length, 
 fails of the end proposed, and grows tire- 
 some rather than pleasing. The princi- 
 pal figures of rhetoric are the metaphor, 
 allegory, simile, and personification ; 
 which, with their further divisions into 
 hyperbole, climax, antithesis, <fec., will be 
 found under their respective heads. 
 Figure, in painting and designing, de- 
 notes the lines and colors which form the 
 representation of any animal, but more 
 particularly, of a human personage. Thus 
 a painting is said to be full of figures, 
 when there are many representations of
 
 FIN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 243 
 
 men ; and a landscape is said to be with- 
 out figures, when there is nothing but 
 natural scenery. 
 
 FIL'ACER, an officer of the common 
 pleas, so called from his filing the writs 
 on which he makes out processes. There 
 are fourteen of these officers, who are sev- 
 erally allotted to particular divisions and 
 counties, and make out all original pro- 
 cesses, real, personal, and mixed. 
 
 FILLAGREE WORK, or FIL'I- 
 GRANE, a delicate and elaborate man- 
 ufacture, primarily executed in threads 
 of gold and silver, but lately imitated 
 with colored and gilt paper. In Suma- 
 tra, manufactures of fillagree-work are 
 carried to very great perfection. In Chi- 
 na also, where the fillagree is mostly of 
 silver, many beautiful articles are pro- 
 duced. 
 
 FIL'LET, in architecture, a little 
 square member, ornament, or moulding, 
 used in various places, but generally as 
 a corona over a great moulding. Among 
 painters and gilders, a little rule or line 
 of leaf-gold, drawn over certain mould- 
 ings, or on the edges of frames, panels, 
 &c. 
 
 only to the knees, worn in the Highlands 
 of Scotland. 
 
 FIM'BRIA, FRINGE, by the Greeks 
 and Romans, fringes and tassels were 
 ornaments but little worn, except on the 
 garments of females, by whom they were 
 sometimes attached to the tunic. The 
 extremities of the threads of the warps 
 
 (thrums) formed the usual fringes, to 
 which an ornamental appearance was 
 given by twisting and crossing the threads, 
 and the production of a net-like form. 
 Fringes were also made of gold thread 
 and other materials, which were attached 
 to the garments, &c. 
 
 FI'NAL CAUSES, the purposes or 
 ultimate ends in view. The efficient cause 
 is that which produces the event or ef- 
 fect ; the final cause is that for which 
 anything is done. 
 
 FINA'LE, the concluding part of a 
 musical composition. In instrumental 
 pieces, it has mostly a character of viva- 
 city, and requires a quick movement and 
 lively performance. 
 
 FINE, in law, a penalty or amends 
 made in money for an offence ; also, 
 money paid for the renewal of a lease, 
 and a conveyance of lands or tenements, 
 in order to cut off all controversies. 
 
 FINE ARTS, a term somewhat in- 
 definite in its meaning, but generally ap- 
 plied to those arts which depend on the 
 mind and imagination : opposed to the 
 mechanical. 
 
 FINESSE', may be defined simply as 
 a peculiar aptitude of discovering, in any 
 business, the best means of attaining the 
 object in view ; or as the power of em- 
 bracing in one comprehensive glance the 
 various interests of any subject, together 
 with ingenuity to devise and tact to carry 
 out the plan best calculated to obtain 
 success. 
 
 FINE STUFF, in architecture, plais- 
 ter used in common ceilings and walls 
 for the reception of paper or color. It 
 is composed of lime, slaked and sifted 
 through a fine sieve, then mixed with a 
 due quantity of hair and fine sand. A 
 mixture of lime and hair, used in the 
 jirst coat and floating of plastering, is 
 called coarse stuff. 
 
 FIN'GER BOARD, in music, the black 
 board attached to the neck of instruments 
 of the viol class, on which the strings are 
 pressed by the fingers for the purpose 
 of adjusting their lengths, so as to pro- 
 duce the different sounds. 
 
 FIN'GERING, in music, the act of 
 disposing of the fingers in a convenient, 
 natural, and apt manner, in the perform- 
 ance of any instrument, but more espe- 
 cially the organ and piano-forte. Good 
 fingering is one of the first things to 
 which a judicious master attends ; for to 
 a facility in this branch of the perform- 
 er's art must a pupil look, as the means 
 of acquiring a facile and graceful exe- 
 cution, and the power of giving passages
 
 244 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FIH 
 
 with articulation, accent, and expres- 
 sion. 
 
 FIN'IAL, an ornament employed in 
 Gothic architecture, as a termination to 
 pinnacles, pediments, canopies ; it con- 
 sists of a bunch of foliage, and therein 
 closely resembles the crocket : and some- 
 times finials are composed of four or more 
 crockets, united together. Church spires, 
 when perfect, are frequently terminated 
 with finials. 
 
 FIN'ISH, the last touches applied to 
 a picture or other work of Art. It al- 
 ways constitutes the difference between 
 excellence and mediocrity. Small pic- 
 tures require the most careful finish, but 
 in larger works, too much attention to 
 high finish detracts from the boldness 
 and vigor demanded by works on a large 
 scale. 
 
 FINISHING COAT, in architecture, 
 the best coat of stucco work when three 
 coats are used. When in the third coat 
 fine stuff is used for paper, it is called 
 setting. 
 
 FIN'TO, in music, a feint or an at- 
 tempt to do something and not to do it ; 
 as cadenza finto i when having done every- 
 thing proper for a true character, instead 
 of falling on the right final, a higher or 
 a lower note is taken. 
 
 FIRE, in former times, fire obtained a 
 place among the elements, and was for a 
 long time considered to be a constituent 
 part in the composition of all bodies, and 
 to require only the concurrence of favor- 
 able circumstances to develop its activ- 
 ity. Its all-consuming energy, the sim- 
 ilarity of its effects to those of the sun, 
 its intimate connection with light, its ter- 
 rible and yet beneficent power, easily 
 explain how it happened that, in times 
 when cause and effect, form and essence, 
 were not yet distinctly separated, fire 
 became an object of religious veneration, 
 a distinguished element in mythology, 
 an expressive symbol in poetry, and an 
 important agent in the systems of cos- 
 mogony. When natural philosophy was 
 treated in the schools, theories were 
 adopted to which little attention is paid 
 in the present age, when all science is 
 founded on facts and observations. Ca- 
 loric, be it a material agent or the conse- 
 quence of vibratory motion, is at present 
 considered the cause of the phenomena 
 which were formerly ascribed to fire ; and 
 though its nature is as unknown to us as 
 that of fire was to the ancients, the sub- 
 stitution of one of these terms for the 
 other has introduced a greater precision 
 of language, and cause and effect are 
 
 no longer confounded under the same 
 name. Fire,Jlame, the attribute of St. 
 Florian, the protector against confln^ni- 
 tion ; of the hermit Anthony, because the 
 tempter appeared to him from the fire ; 
 of Bishop Basil, who saved a poor boy, 
 by burning his compact with the devils ; 
 of St. Bridget of Scotland, over whose 
 head a flame was seen from childhood ; 
 of St. Columba of Cordova, who saved an 
 angel from death by fire ; of St. Patrick, 
 before whom fire sprung out of the earth, 
 upon his drawing a cross upon it with his 
 staff; of the Dominican, Peter Gonzales, 
 called St. Elmo, who enveloped in a man- 
 tle, lay upon burning coals, whence the 
 expression St. Elmo's fire ; and of many 
 Christian martyrs condemned to die by 
 fire. 
 
 FIRE-ARMS, a general designation 
 for all sorts of guns, fowling-pieces, blun- 
 derbusses, pistols, &c., which effect their 
 discharge by the combustion of gunpow- 
 der. 
 
 FIRE, GREEK, a destructive compo- 
 sition, used in war from the 7th to the 
 13th century. When the Arabs besieged 
 Constantinople in 668, the Greek archi- 
 tect Callinicus of Heliopolis, deserted 
 from the caliph to the Greeks, and took 
 with him a composition, which, by its 
 wonderful effects, struck terror into the 
 enemy, and forced them to take to flight. 
 Sometimes it was wrapped in flax attach- 
 ed to arrows and javelins, and so thrown 
 into the fortifications and other buildings 
 of the enemy, to set them on fire. At 
 other times it was used in throwing stone 
 balls from iron or metallic tubes against 
 the enemy. The receipt for the compo- 
 sition of the Greek fire was long supposed 
 to be lost ; but the baron Von Aretin of 
 Munich has, it is said, discovered in a Lat- 
 in MS. of the 13th century, in the central 
 library in that city, a dissertation on the 
 Greek fire, which contains the receipt. 
 
 FIR'MAMENT, in Scripture, denotes 
 the great arch or expanse over our heads, 
 in which are placed the atmosphere and 
 the clouds, and in which the stars appear 
 to be placed, and are really seen. In the 
 Ptolemaic astronomy, the firmament is 
 the eighth heaven or sphere, with respect 
 to the seven spheres of the planets which 
 it surrounds. It is supposed to have two 
 motions ; a diurnal motion, given to it by 
 the primum mobile, from east to west 
 about the poles of the ecliptic ; and 
 another opposite motion from west to 
 east, which last it finishes, according to 
 Tycho, in 25,412 years; according to 
 Ptolemy, in 36.000 ; and according to Co
 
 FLA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 245 
 
 pernicus, in 25,800 ; in which time the fixed 
 stars return to the same points in which 
 they were at the beginning. This period 
 is commonly called the Platonic, or great 
 year. 
 
 FIR'MAN, in the Persian language, 
 signifies a command, and is the name 
 given in Turkey, Persia, and India to 
 mandates or certificates of the sovereign, 
 issued for various purposes. Those best 
 known to Europeans are given to travel- 
 lers, and serve as passports. The ferman 
 has placed at its head in Turkey the ci- 
 pher of the reigning sultan, written in a 
 complicated manner, affixed by the chief 
 secretary of the sign manual. 
 
 FIRST-FRUITS, offerings made to 
 God by the Hebrews, or part of the fruit 
 of their harvest, as an acknowledgment 
 of his sovereign dominion. They were 
 called first-fruits because they were of- 
 fered in the temple before any part of 
 the crop was touched. First-fruits, in 
 the church of England, are the profits of 
 every spiritual benefice for the first year, 
 according to the valuation in the king's 
 books. 
 
 FISC, or FIS'CUS, the treasury of a 
 prince, or state. It differs from the eera- 
 rium, which was the treasury of the pub- 
 lic, or people : thus, when the money 
 arising from the sale of condemned per- 
 sons' goods was appropriated for the use 
 of the public, their goods were said to be 
 publicari ; but when it was destined for 
 the support of the prince, they were 
 called confiscari. 
 
 FIS'CAL, in the civil law, something 
 relating to the pecuniary interest of the 
 prince or people. The officers appointed 
 for the management of the fisc, were 
 called procuratores Jisci, and advocati 
 jisci. 
 
 FISH, a fish has been employed as a 
 symbol of our Lord from the earliest 
 times, (it is found depicted in the tombs 
 of the Roman catacombs,) by whom St. 
 Peter was called a "fisher of men ;" and 
 the faithful were sometimes represented 
 by fish, with reference to the waters of 
 baptism in which they were born, and 
 fish were therefore frequently carved on 
 the baptismal fonts. Fish are used as 
 emblems of Chastity ; it is an attribute 
 of the Apostle Simon. The VESICA PISCIS 
 is a symbolical figure, consisting of two in- 
 tersecting segments of circles, employ- 
 ed also as an emblem of the Saviour from 
 the fourth century. The seals of abbeys, 
 colleges, and other religious establish- 
 ments were all invariably made of this 
 form. 
 
 FITCH, among the brushes used in 
 painting, some are made of the hair of 
 the sable, a kind of weasel; others of 
 the badger, and of white hog's bristles; 
 but among the best are those of the fitch 
 or polecat, which are black in color, elas- 
 tic and firm, though soft. They are made 
 both flat and round, and are used also for 
 varnishing. 
 
 FLAG, a general name for colors, 
 standards, bearers, ensigns, &c. To 
 strike or lower thejlag, is to pull it down 
 upon the cap in token of respect 'or sub- 
 mission. To strike the flag in an en- 
 gagement, is the sign of surrendering. 
 To hang out the white Jlag, is to ask 
 quarter ; or in some cases, it denotes that 
 the vessel has no hostile intention, but 
 comes to trade, &c. The red flag is a 
 sign of defiance and battle. To hang the 
 Jlag half-mast high, is a token or signal 
 of mourning. 
 
 FLAGEL'LANTS, a sect of enthusi- 
 asts who first appeared in the middle of 
 the 13th century, and being then repress- 
 ed, sprang up again with renewed vio- 
 lence in the 14th. Beginning first at 
 Cremona in Italy, the contagion of the 
 example spread in a few years through- 
 out Europe ; and every city was infested 
 by multitudes who went naked from the 
 loins upward, and inflicted upon them- 
 selves several daily flagellations, with 
 the idea of obtaining thereby merit in the 
 eyes of God. They formed themselves 
 into a society, and at first were at least 
 innocent in their behavior ; but as their 
 numbers increased, they gave way to 
 great excesses, and were eventually sup- 
 pressed by a holy war proclaimed against 
 them by Pope Clement VI. 
 
 FLA'GEOLET, a wooden musical wind 
 instrument, played with a mouthpiece, 
 the holes and keys whereof are stopped 
 with the fingers, in the same way as the 
 flute. 
 
 FLAKE WHITE, a white pigment 
 extensively used in oil-painting; like 
 nearly all the other white pigments, it is 
 prepared from the carbonate of the oxide 
 of lead, obtained by exposing sheets of 
 lead to the vapor of acetic and carbonic 
 acids. It derives its name from the form 
 in which it appears in commerce that 
 of flakes or scales. As a pigment it pos- 
 sesses great body, and enters largely into 
 numerous compound tints. 
 
 FLAMBOYANT, FLAME-LIKE, a term 
 applied to those contours of which the in- 
 flexions have a resemblance to those of 
 flame ; and by antiquaries of France to 
 that style of architecture which was con-
 
 246 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FLE 
 
 temporary in that country with the per- 
 pendicular in England from the flame- 
 like wavings of its tracery. It is regard- 
 ed by some as a vitiated decorated rath- 
 er than a distinct stylo : in rich works, 
 the intricacy and redundancy of the or- 
 luniirnts are frequently truly surprising. 
 
 FLA'MEN, in Roman antiquity, the 
 name of an order of priests, instituted by 
 Romulus or Numa; authors not being 
 agreed on this head. Originally there 
 were three priests so called ; the Flamen 
 Dialis, consecrated to Jupiter ; flamen 
 Martialis, sacred to Mars; and Flamen 
 Quirinalis, who superintended the rites 
 of Quirinus or Romulus. 
 
 FLAMME'UM, the yellow veil worn 
 on the wedding-day by Roman brides. It 
 was sufficiently large to cover the wear- 
 er from head to foot. It was removed 
 by the husband upon their arrival at 
 their home. 
 
 FLANK, the side of an army, or a 
 battalion encamped on the right and 
 left. In fortification, that part of a bas- 
 tion which reaches from the curtain to 
 the face ; or any part of a work that de- 
 fends another work along the outside of 
 its parapet. 
 
 FLAT, in music, a character of this 
 form b, which depresses the note before 
 which it is placed a chromatic semitone. 
 Flats and sharps were originally contrived 
 to remedy the defects of musical instru- 
 ments whereon temperament was re- 
 quired, the natural si^ale of music being 
 limited to certain fixed sounds, and ad- 
 justed to an instrument in many points 
 defective ; for we can only proceed from 
 one note to another by a particular order 
 of degrees. Hence, from one note to 
 another, upwards or downwards, we can- 
 not find any interval at pleasure. To 
 supply or remedy this defect, musicians 
 have had recourse to a scale proceeding 
 by twelve degrees, making therefore thir- 
 teen notes to an octave, including the ex- 
 tremes, which, though it does not make 
 the instrument perfect, leaves little room 
 for complaint. In instruments whose 
 sounds are fixed, a sound or note dividing 
 it into two unequal parts, called semi- 
 tones, is placed between the extremes of 
 every tone of the natural scale ; so that 
 we have twelve semitones between thir- 
 teen notes in the compass of an octave. 
 In order, then, to keep the diatonic series 
 distinct, the inverted notes answer for the 
 name of the natural note next below, with 
 this character , called a sharp ; or the 
 name of the natural note next above it, 
 with this character [,, called a flat. Thus 
 
 D 5 signifies a semitone below D natu- 
 ral (^.) On keyed instruments the short 
 keys are the representatives of these flats 
 and sharps. The system, however, does 
 not strictly produce what it represents : 
 it is only an approximation. 
 
 FLAT FIFTH, in music, an interval 
 of a fifth depressed by a flat, called by 
 the ancients semidiapcnte. 
 
 FLEECE, ORDER OF THE GOLDEN, 
 one of the most distinguished among Eu- 
 ropean orders of knighthood. It was 
 founded by Philip III., duke of Burgun- 
 dy, in 1430 ; and as by its foundation his 
 successors were declared to be hereditary 
 grand masters, that title passed, with the 
 Burgundian inheritance, to the house of 
 Austria ; thence after the death of Charles 
 V., to the Spanish line of that house : 
 but when the monarchy of Spain passed 
 to the Bourbons and the Spanish Nether- 
 lands to Austria, the archdukes of Austria 
 claimed the grand mastership ; and claims 
 are made on it at present both by the 
 emperor of Austria and king of Spain ; 
 the order is consequently conferred both 
 at Vienna and Madrid, and is, in both 
 courts, the highest in point of rank. As 
 its nominal object is the protection of re- 
 ligion, it is rarely conferred on any Prot- 
 estants, with the exception, by courtesy, 
 of Protestant sovereigns. 
 
 FLEET, a squadron of ships of war, 
 belonging to any prince or state. It also 
 denotes any number of trading ships, 
 employed in a particular branch of com- 
 merce. Merchant-fleets generally take 
 their denomination from the place they 
 are bound to, as the Turkey-fleet, East- 
 India-fleet, &c. These, in times of peace, 
 go in fleets for their mutual aid and as- 
 sistance : in time of war, besides this se- 
 curity, they procure convoys of men of 
 war, either to escort them to the places 
 whither they are bound, or to a certain 
 place or latitude. It is also the name 
 of a prison in London, where debtors are 
 confined ; and to which persons are com- 
 mitted by the courts of chancery and 
 common-pleas. 
 
 FLEM'ISH SCHOOL, in painting, the 
 school formed in Flanders. The works 
 of this school are distinguished by the 
 most perfect knowledge of chiaro-scuro ; 
 high finishing without dryness ; by an 
 admirable union of colors well blended 
 and contrasted, and by a flowing, luxuri- 
 ous pencil. Its defects are somewhat 
 similar to those Tif the Dutch school. The 
 Flemish painters, like the Dutch, rep- 
 resented nature as they found her, and 
 not as she should be. Rubens and Van-
 
 FLO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 247 
 
 dyke, (the glory of .this school,) though 
 men of the greatest genius, were not free 
 from this defect, and the former espe- 
 cially. Teniers was another great mas- 
 ter of the school in question ; to it also be- 
 longs Snyders, Steenwick, Nefs, Schwa- 
 ne veldt, Van Eyck, <fcc. 
 
 FLESH, FLESH TINTS, the colors which 
 best represent the human body, sometimes 
 termed the carnations, but employed in 
 a more extended sense than this latter 
 term, which better expresses the more 
 delicate portions of the body, such as the 
 face, bosom, and hands. 
 
 FLE'TA, the title of an ancient trea- 
 tise on English law, attributed to the reign 
 of Edward I., and named (according to 
 tradition) from its cotnposition*by a judge 
 in the Fleet prison. 
 
 FLEUR DE LIS, the royal insignia 
 of France. Its origin is disputed; by 
 some it is supposed to represent a lily, 
 by others, the iron head of some weapon. 
 It is of frequent occurrence in English 
 armory. 
 
 FLORA'LIA, a feast kept by the Ro- 
 mans in honor of the goddess Flora. 
 This feast began April the 25th, and con- 
 tinued till the 1st of May, during wh^ch 
 time the Ludi Florales were celebrated. 
 
 FLORENTINE FRES'CO, FRESCO 
 SECCO, a kind of painting first practised 
 at Florence during the flourishing period 
 of Italian Art for decorating walls. Like 
 common fresco the lime is used wet, but 
 in this case it can be moistened and kept 
 damp and fit for painting on. 
 
 FLOR'ENTINE LAKE, a pigment 
 prepared from cochineal ; it is now obso- 
 lete ; the greater durability in oil-paint- 
 ing of the lakes prepared from madder 
 having entirely superseded those pre- 
 pared from cochineal. 
 
 FLOR'ENTINE MOSA'IC, the term 
 applied to the art of inlaying tables and 
 other plane surfaces with pietra dura, 
 carried on principally at Florence. Very 
 beautiful patterns are thus produced by 
 the combination of precious stones, form- 
 ing the most difficult branch of mosaic art. 
 
 FLOR ID STYLE, in literary compo- 
 sition, that which is too much enriched 
 with figures and flowers of rhetoric. 
 Longinus uses the terms florid and af- 
 fected style indifferently, and describes 
 them as quite contrary to the true sub- 
 lime. The florid style of architecture, or 
 florid Gothic, an elaborate kind of Gothic 
 architecture, filled with points, ramifica- 
 tions, mullions, &c. Florid, in music, 
 any composition or performance of a rich 
 and embellished kind. 
 
 FLOR'IN, a coin of different value ; 
 the silver florin of Holland is worth about 
 Is. Qd. Most of the gold florins are of a 
 coarse alloy, weighing variously from 
 about fourteen to seventeen carats. 
 
 FLO'TA, a name given by the Span- 
 iards to the ships that formerly sailed 
 together, or under convoy, from Cadiz 
 and the other ports of the peninsula, au- 
 thorized to trade directly with the trans- 
 atlantic possessions of Spain. 
 
 FLOTIL'LA, literally a little fleet; 
 in which sense, however, it is seldom 
 used, being applied almost invariably to 
 a fleet, how large soever, composed of 
 small vessels. Thus the term flotilla was 
 given to the immense naval force with 
 which Napoleon meditated the invasion 
 of Great Britain, and which consisted of 
 2365 yessols of every description, was 
 manned by about 17,000 sailors, and car- 
 ried 160,000 soldiers, and 10,000 horses. 
 In Spain, the name flotilla is given to 
 a number of vessels appointed to an- 
 nounce to the home government the de- 
 parture and nature of the cargo of the 
 flota or mercantile ships from foreign 
 ports on their homeward voyage. 
 
 FLOT'SAM,_in law, a term for goods 
 lost by shipwreck, but which are floating 
 on the sea. There are two other uncouth 
 terms made use of to describe wrecked 
 goods, viz., jetsam and lagan; the for- 
 mer, when the goods are sunk ; and the 
 latter, when they are sunk, but tied to a 
 cork or buoy to be found again. 
 
 FLOUR'ISH, in music, a prelude or 
 preparatory air, without any settled rule ; 
 also the decorative notes which a singer 
 or instrumental performer occasionally 
 introduces. In military language, it is 
 the sounding of trumpets on receiving an 
 officer or other person of distinction. 
 
 FLOWERS. Flowers are employed 
 in Art as attributes. 1st. Of mythologi- 
 cal persons Aphrodite, the Hours, and 
 Zephyr. 2d. Among legendary person- 
 ages of St. Dorothea, who is represented 
 with flowers and fruits by her side, or in 
 a basket ; also with a branch of roses in 
 her hand, or crowned with those flowers ; 
 of St. Sophronia, upon whose corpse birds 
 and flowers are strewed ; of St. Rosa de 
 Lima, who was named Rosa on account 
 of her beauty, and has a rose with a 
 broken crown of thorns ; of St. Rosa of 
 Viterbo, who holds roses in her hand or 
 in her apron ; of St. Elizabeth of Hun- 
 gary, who has roses in her lap or in a 
 basket ; of St. Casilda, who generally 
 wears a wreath of white roses on her 
 head ; of the holy pair Ascylus and Vic-
 
 248 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FON 
 
 toria, both crowned with roses ; of St. 
 Angelas, from whose mouth fall roses 
 and lilies; and of St. Hugo, who holds 
 three flowers in his hand. For the lily, 
 the attribute of many saints. 
 
 FLUTE, the common or English, a 
 musical wind instrument, consisting of a 
 tnbe about eighteen inches in length, 
 furnished with holes at the side for the 
 purpose of varying its sounds by stopping 
 and opening them with the fingers. The 
 German flute is formed of several joints 
 or pieces screwed into each other, with 
 holes at the side, and the addition of 
 several brass or silver keys, to temper 
 the tones to the various flats and sharps. 
 
 FLUTES, or FLU'TINGS, in archi- 
 tecture, perpendicular channels, or cavi- 
 ties, cut along the shaft of a column or 
 pilaster. They are chiefly effected in the 
 Ionic order, where they had their first 
 rise ; though they are also used in the 
 richer orders, as the Corinthian and Com- 
 posite, but seldom in the Doric, and 
 scarcely ever in the Tuscan. Each col- 
 umn has twenty-four flutes, and each 
 flute is hollowed in exactly a quadrant 
 of a circle. The Doric, however, has but 
 twenty. Between the flutes are little 
 spaces that separate them, called stria, 
 or lists; though in the Doric, the flutes 
 are frequently made to join to one an- 
 other, without any intermediate space at 
 all ; the list being sharpened off to a thin 
 edge, which forms a part of each flute. 
 Fluted columns are sometimes, though 
 improperly, termed reeded. 
 
 FLUX'IONS, a method of calculation 
 invented by Sir Isaac Newton. In this 
 branch of mathematics, magnitudes of 
 every kind are supposed to be generated 
 by motion. This science is employed in 
 the investigation of curves, in finding the 
 contents of solids, and computing their 
 surfaces ; in finding the centres of gravi- 
 ties and oscillation of different bodies ; 
 the attractions of bodies under different 
 forms ; the direction of wind, which has 
 the greatest effect on an engine ; and in 
 the solution of many other interesting 
 and important problems. 
 
 FLY'EllS, in architecture, stairs that 
 do not wind, but are made of an oblong 
 square figure, and go straight forward, 
 the second standing behind the first, and 
 so on. 
 
 FO, the name given by the Chinese to 
 Buddha, by one of those phenomena in 
 literature whereby appellations are in- 
 troduced from one language into others 
 with which it has little or no affinity. 
 Originally the name Buddha was ex- 
 
 pressed in the Chinese language with 
 sufficient exactness by the term Fu-thau, 
 pronounced Foudah ; but, as is usual in 
 China with proper names, the last syllable 
 was subsequently dropped. 
 
 FOIL, among jewellers, a thin leaf of 
 metal placed under precious stones, to in- 
 crease their lustre and improve their 
 color. Hence anything of a different 
 color or quality, which serves to adorn or 
 set off another thing to advantage, is 
 termed a foil. In fencing, an elastic 
 piece of steel, or sword without a point, 
 to fence with by way of exercise. The 
 foil usually has a button or piece of cork 
 at the end, covered with leather. 
 
 FOLD, in painting, the doubling or 
 lapping of one piece of drapery over 
 another. 
 
 FO'LIAGE, in architecture and sculp- 
 ture, a group of leaves of plants and 
 flowers, so arranged as to form archi- 
 tectural or sculptural ornaments ; as in 
 friezes, panels, and also in the capital of 
 the Corinthian order. 
 
 FO'LIO, in account books, denotes a 
 page, or rather both the right and left 
 hand pages, these being expressed by the 
 same figure. folio, a book of the largest 
 size, the leaves of which are formed by 
 once doubling a sheet of paper. 
 
 FOLK'MOTE, a word used in England 
 before the Norman conquest to denote an 
 annual assembly of the people, answering 
 in some measure to a modern parliament. 
 Some authors, however, allege that the 
 folkmote was an inferior court, or com- 
 mon council of a city or borough. 
 
 FONT, the vessel used to contain the 
 consecrated water in baptism, usually 
 constructed of stone and lined with lead ; 
 and in the earlier ages of the church 
 were always large enough to allow of the 
 complete immersion of infants. The forms 
 of fonts have generally varied in differ- 
 ent ages, and often exhibit exquisite 
 richness both of design and ornament. 
 Fonts were required to be covered and 
 locked ; originally these covers were sim- 
 ply flat, movable lids, but they were 
 subsequently very highly ornamented, 
 assuming the form of spires, and en- 
 riched with various decorations in the 
 form of pinnacles, buttresses, &o. font 
 or fount, a complete assortment of print- 
 ing types of one size, including a due 
 proportion of all the letters, points, fig- 
 ures, accents, Ac. 
 
 FONTINA'LIA, in Roman antiquity, 
 a religious feast celebrated Oct. .13, in 
 honor of the nymphs of wells and foun- 
 tains. The ceremony consisted in throw-
 
 FOR] 
 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 249 
 
 ing nosegays into the fountains, and put- 
 ting crowns of flowers upon the wells. 
 
 FOOL, in ordinary language, signifies 
 one who is deficient in intellect, or 
 who pursues a course contrary to the dic- 
 tates of reason. In Scripture, the word 
 fool is often used for a wicked or de- 
 praved person. But in its most legiti- 
 mate sense, the term fool means one who 
 is destitute of reason ; either from hav- 
 ing been born an idiot ; or become idiotic 
 from some injury done to the brain. To 
 play the fool, to act the buffoon ; to occu- 
 py one's time in absurd trifling. 
 
 FOOLS, we frequentlj^meet in ancient 
 churches, especially under the seats of 
 choir-halls, representations of men in 
 grotesque costume, and in various pos- 
 tures, with a fool's cap and bells. The 
 introduction of these and other ludicrous, 
 or even indecent images, in the very 
 buildings dedicated to the solemn wor- 
 ship of God, has long been a subject of 
 inquiry among the learned, and of sur- 
 prise and scandal to the generality of 
 persons. The source of many of these 
 representations may be traced to the pa- 
 gan orgies of the Saturnalia and Luper- 
 calia. It is necessary to draw a great 
 distinction between the burlesque figures, 
 and symbolical representations of the 
 vices and virtues, which are often intro- 
 duced under the guise of animals whose 
 nature corresponds to the passion or vir- 
 tue represented , henoe human beings 
 may be depicted with heads of beasts and 
 birds, such as foxes, lions, or hawks, to 
 denote cunning, courage, or rapacity. 
 Again, animals are frequently introduced 
 with the same intention, and most ad- 
 mirable moral lessons are imparted under 
 the same types as have been selected by 
 j?Esop and his imitators. 
 
 FOOLS, FEAST OF, a festival an- 
 ciently celebrated in almost every church 
 and monastery of France, on New Years' 
 Day, in which every absurdity and even 
 indecency was practised. It was equiva- 
 lent to the Saturnalia, among the Ro- 
 mans, whence indeed it is said to be de- 
 rived. This festival received some mod- 
 ifications in the different districts where 
 it was celebrated, and acquired various 
 designations according to the multifarious 
 ceremonies of which it consisted. Several 
 bishops and councils attempted, though 
 in vain, to abolish this festival ; but at 
 length about the 15th century it became 
 less generally observed, and soon after 
 fell into almost total disuse, though its 
 characteristic absurdities are still main- 
 tained in the Carnival of the present times. 
 
 FOOT, in poetry, a certain number of 
 syllables, constituting part of averse ; as, 
 the iambus, the dactyl, and the spondee. 
 
 FOR'AGE, all kind of provender for 
 cattle, especially for horses in time of war. 
 A foraging party, those who are sent 
 out by the general in order to collect pro- 
 visions either for the horses or for the 
 troops. 
 
 FORCE, in mechanics, the energy or 
 impulse with which one body affects an- 
 other, with reference to the direction of 
 motion, and the centres of the masses. It 
 consists in the transfer of the motion of 
 one body to another. Physical force, is 
 the force of material bodies. Moral force, 
 is the power of acting on the reason in 
 judging and determining. Force, in law, 
 signifies any unlawful violence offered to 
 persons or property. A forcible entry, is 
 a violent and actual entry into houses, or 
 lands ; and a forcible detainer, is a vio- 
 lent withholding the possession of lands, 
 &c., so that the person who has a right of 
 entry is hindered therefrom. The word 
 force has numerous other meanings ; as 
 strength or power for war virtue effi- 
 cacy validity destiny necessity, &c. 
 
 FORECLOSE', in law, to exclude or 
 bar the equity of redemption on mort- 
 gages, Ac. 
 
 FORE-SHORT'ENING, the art of rep- 
 resenting objects on a plane surface as 
 they appear to the eye, depending upon 
 a correct knowledge of form, perspective, 
 and chiaroscuro. It is one of the most 
 difficult studies in the art of design, and 
 when executed with skill constitutes the 
 excellence of the master. Michael An- 
 gelo, Rubens, and Correggio, were distin- 
 guished among other rare qualities for 
 their skill in fore-shortening. They prac- 
 tised modelling for assistance in attaining 
 this art. 
 
 FORESTALLING, the act of buying 
 or bargaining for any provisions or mer- 
 chandise, before they reach the market to 
 which they were going, with an intent to 
 sell the same again at higher prices. 
 
 FORFEITURE, in law, the loss of 
 some right, privilege, or estate, goods, 
 lands, or employments, &e., for neglecting 
 to do one's duty, or for some crime com- 
 mitted. 
 
 FOR'GERY, in law, the fraudulent 
 making or altering any deed, or writing, 
 &c., to the prejudice of another man's 
 right, particularly the counterfeiting the 
 signature of another with intent to de- 
 fraud. 
 
 FORLORN-HOPE, in military affairs, 
 a detachment of men appointed to lead
 
 
 250 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FOB 
 
 in an assault, to storm a counterscarp, en- 
 ter a breach, or perform any other ser- 
 vice attended with great and imminent 
 peril. 
 
 FORM, the external appearance of ob- 
 jects ; the quality that distinguishes one 
 thing from another. Form, in painting, 
 signifies especially the human body. The 
 study of forms, and the changes they un- 
 dergo by muscular contractions, require 
 on the part of the artist the utmost at- 
 tention and assiduity. The conscientious 
 artist ought scrupulously to avoid any 
 tendency to exaggerate the superficial 
 forms of the body : nothing is more sim- 
 ple, more calm ; nothing shows a grander 
 breadth of design than the human body ; 
 the muscles assist by their reunion in 
 the production of general forms : the spe- 
 cial forms are scarcely visible. Form, 
 in physiology, the essential and distin- 
 guishing modification of the matter of 
 which any body is composed. Form, in 
 a moral sense, the manner of being or 
 doing a thing according to rules : thus we 
 say, a form of government, a form of 
 argument, <fcc. Form, in law, the rules 
 established and requisite to be observed 
 in legal proceedings. Form, in me- 
 chanics, a kind of mould in which any- 
 thing is wrought. Essential form 'is 
 that mode of existence which constitutes 
 a thing what it is, and without which it 
 could not exist. Form, in printing, pages 
 or columns of type, properly arranged, 
 and enclosed and locked in an iron frame 
 called a chase, for the purpose of being 
 put to press. There are two forms re- 
 quired for every sheet, one for each side ; 
 and each form consists of more or fewer 
 pages, according to the size of the books. 
 Tn schools, a class. 
 
 FORM'ALIST, one who observes the 
 outward forms and ceremonies of worship, 
 for appearance' sake, without possessing 
 the life and spirit of pure religion. 
 
 FORM'ATIVE ARTS, those arts which, 
 independently of external wants and aims, 
 yet, on the other hand, bound to the imi- 
 tation of nature, represent life by means 
 of the forms naturally connected. 
 
 FOR'MULA, in mathematics, a general 
 theorem or literal expression for resolv- 
 ing any part of a problem. -Formula, in 
 theology, a profession of faith. 
 
 FORT, in the military art, a small for- 
 tified place, surrounded with a moat, 
 rampart, and parapet ; or with palisades, 
 stockades, and other means of defence. 
 
 FORTE, in music, a direction to the 
 performer to execute the part loudly to 
 which the word is affixed. It is indicated 
 
 by the single letter F. If two F F's, 
 thus, are used, the part is to Mb played 
 or performed fortissimo, very loud. 
 
 FORTIFICA'TiON, the art or science 
 of fortifying a place, or of putting it in 
 such a posture of defence, that every one 
 of its parts defends, and is defended, by 
 some other parts, by means of ramparts, 
 parapets, moats, and other bulwarks ; so 
 that a small number of men within may 
 be able to defend themselves for a consid- 
 erable time against the assaults of a nu- 
 merous army without. Ancient fortifi- 
 cation, at first consisted of walls or de- 
 fences made of the trunks and large 
 branches of trees, mixed with earth, to 
 secure them against the attacks of the 
 enemy. This was afterwards altered -to 
 stone-walls, on which were raised breast- 
 works, behind which they made use of 
 their darts and arrows in security. Mod- 
 ern fortification, is that which is flanked 
 and defended by bastions and out-works, 
 the ramparts of which are so solid, that 
 they cannot be beat down but by the con- 
 tinual fire of several batteries of cannon. 
 The principal works belonging to a forti- 
 fication are, the ditch or trench made 
 round each work ; the rampart, or eleva- 
 tion of earth, raised along the faces of 
 any work, to cover the inner part ; the 
 parapet, or that part of a rampart which 
 serves to cover the troops planted there ; 
 the bastion, that part of the inner en- 
 closure of a fortification making an angle 
 towards the field ; the counterscarp, the 
 slope of the ditch facing the body of the 
 place ; the covert way, the space extend- 
 ing round the counterscarp; and the gla- 
 cis, the part beyond the covert way, to 
 which it serves as a parapet. In recent 
 times, however, fortification has under- 
 gone important changes, and engineers 
 have adopted different systems ; but those 
 which have acquired the greatest reputa- 
 tion in Europe, are the systems of Count 
 Pagan, the Baron do Coehorn, Von Schei- 
 ter, and Marshal Vauban. 
 
 FOR'TITUDE, the basis or source of 
 coolness and intrepidity in danger, of pa- 
 tience in suffering, of forbearance under 
 injuries, and of magnanimity in all con- 
 ditions of life. In fine, fortitude is the 
 virtue of a rational and considerate mind, 
 founded on a sense of honor and a regard 
 to duty. The motives to fortitude are 
 many powerful, and this virtue tends 
 much to the happiness of the individual, 
 by giving composure and presence of 
 mind, and keeping the other passions in 
 due subordination. 
 
 FORTU'NA, in mythology, the god-
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 dess who presided over the destinies of 
 mankind, and, generally speaking, over all 
 the events of life. She was represented 
 as blind, with winged feet, and resting 
 on a wheel. The goddess was not known 
 in the more ancient systems of the Greek 
 theogony : all the guidance of human 
 affairs, for instance, is entrusted by Ho- 
 mer to destiny ; but in Italy, and chiefly 
 at Rome, Actium, and Prseneste, her 
 worship was most assiduously cultivated. 
 
 FO'RUM, in Rome, a public place 
 where causes were judicially tried, and 
 orations delivered to the people. There 
 were six of these forums, viz., the Ro- 
 manum, Julianum, Augustum, Palladi- 
 um, Trojanum, and Salustii forum. The 
 chief of these was the forum Romanum, 
 called, by way of eminence, the forum. 
 In this was an apartment called the ros- 
 tra, where the lawyers pleaded, and the 
 orators harangued the people, &c. Here 
 was also the comitium, or hall of justice, 
 with the sanctuary of Saturn, the temple 
 of Castor, &c., altogether forming a most 
 splendid place. The word forum was 
 also applied to a place of traffic, or mar- 
 ket-place : of these there were vast num- 
 bers, as the forum piscarium, olitorium, 
 &c. These were generally called fora 
 venalia, in distinction from the former, 
 which were called fora civilia. In the 
 law, forum signifies a court of justice, 
 the place where disputed rights are set- 
 tled ; hence forum competens, a compe- 
 tent jurisdiction ; forum incompetens, a 
 court not authorized to try the cause, &c. 
 
 FOUNDATION, in architecture, the 
 lower part of a wall, on which the insistent 
 wall is raised, and always of much greater 
 thickness than such insistent wall. A 
 practice has lately been introduced of 
 laying foundations (if not in water) on a 
 bed of what is called concrete, which is a 
 mixture of rough small stones or large 
 gravel stones with sand and stone, lime 
 and water, with just enough of the lime 
 to act as a cementitious medium, with 
 the best effect. 
 
 FOUNDATIONS, in political econo- 
 my, the generic name given to institu- 
 tions established and endowed by indi- 
 viduals, associations, or the pubh'c, for 
 the promotion of what is believed to be, 
 at the time when the foundation is made, 
 some useful or benevolent purpose. In 
 most old-settled and rich countries there 
 are foundations for a vast variety of ob- 
 jects. During the Middle Ages, it was 
 very common to bequeath property for 
 the foundation of monastic institutions 
 and scholastic establishments. The two 
 
 great universities of Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge are noble examples of the last 
 species of foundations ; and by far the 
 greater number of the grammar and free 
 schools in most parts of England, and in- 
 deed of Europe, owe theiv origin to the 
 same source. A great deal of property 
 has also been bequeathed by benevolent 
 individuals in this and other countries 
 for the erection and endowment of hos- 
 pitals, or foundations of various descrip- 
 tions, for the relief and assistance of the 
 poor ; and not unfrequently also prop- 
 erty is appropriated, or foundation insti- 
 tuted for the amusement and recreation 
 of the public. 
 
 FOURTH, in music, one of the har- 
 monical. intervals ; so called because it 
 contains four sounds or terms between 
 its extremes, and three intervals ; or as 
 being the fourth in order of the natural 
 or diatonic scale from the fundamental. 
 
 FRANC, a French coin, worth twenty 
 sols, or ten-pence sterling. 
 
 FRAN'CHISE, in a general sense, sig- 
 nifies some privilege or exemption from 
 ordinary jurisdiction. A franchise may 
 bo vested either in bodies politic, or cor- 
 porations ; in borough towns, or in indi- 
 viduals ; as the electoral franchise. Cor- 
 porate liberties being usually held by 
 charter, are all said to be derived from 
 the crown, but some lie in prescription 
 without the help of any charter. 
 
 FRANCIS'CANS, Friars-Minor, or 
 Gray-Friars, the religious order of Saint 
 Francis, by whom they were founded 
 about the year 1200. 
 
 FRANK'INCENSE, an odoriferous, 
 dry, resinous substance, procured from 
 the juniper-tree in Turkey and the East 
 Indies. It is of a pale yellow color, very 
 inflammable, and is used as a perfume. 
 
 FRANKS, an appellation given by the 
 Turks, and oiher nations of Asia, to all 
 the people of the western parts of Eu- 
 rope, English, French, Italians, &o. 
 
 FBATER'NITIES, in the middle ages, 
 consisted of pious laymen who formed 
 societies for the purpose of relieving the 
 sick and destitute, and performing other 
 Christian duties, 
 
 FRA'TRAGE, in law, a partition 
 among brothers or co-heirs coming to,the 
 same inheritance or succession ; also that 
 part of the inheritance that comes to the 
 youngest brothers. 
 
 FREE'BOOTERS, a name given to 
 some adventurers of all nations, but es- 
 pecially of France and England, who 
 have obtained a place in history by the 
 courage and intrepidity which they dis-
 
 252 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FRE 
 
 playedin executing the most difficult en- 
 terprises. The origin of their history is 
 merged in obscurity, and it is impossible 
 to ascertain precisely whence their name 
 is derived ; but the Jlibustiers of the 
 French naval historians are identical 
 with the buccaneers of our own language. 
 The South American islands formed the 
 chief theatre of their depredations ; and 
 such was the relentless hostility with 
 which they visited the Spaniards, that 
 during the latter half of the seventeenth 
 century, which embraced the most for- 
 midable period of the freebooter's career, 
 their commercial operations in the Indian 
 seas were nearly destroyed.. At the com- 
 mencement of the 18th century, the free- 
 booters sustained in their expedition a 
 series of disasters, which sensibly dimin- 
 ished their numbers ; and since that pe- 
 riod the designation has been applied in- 
 discriminately to any individual who re- 
 gards "the universe as his property," 
 and appropriates to himself either fur- 
 tively or forcibly the possessions of an- 
 other. 
 
 FREEHOLD, that land or tenement 
 which is held in fee-simple, fee-tail, or 
 for term of life. It is of two kinds ; in 
 deed and in law. The first is the real 
 possession of such land or tenement ; the 
 last is the right a man has to such land 
 or tenement, before his entry or seizure. 
 More properly, & freehold is an estate in 
 lands or tenements, in fee-simple, or in 
 tail, for the term of the life of the holder, 
 or for the life of another person, in dower 
 or by the courtesy. Freehold is also 
 extended to such offices as a man holds 
 in fee or for life. It is also taken in op- 
 position to villenage. In Scotland, a 
 freehold is an estate held of the crown 
 or prince. In the United States, & free- 
 hold is an estate which a man holds in 
 his own right, subject to no superior nor 
 to conditions. 
 
 FREE'HOLDER, one who owna an es- 
 tate in fee-simple, fee-tail, or for life ; 
 the possessor of a freehold. In Scotland, 
 a freeholder is a person holding of the 
 crown or prince; but the title is, in modern 
 language, applied to such as, before the 
 passing of the reform act, were entitled 
 to elect or be elected members of parlia- 
 ment, and who must have held lands, ex- 
 tending to a forty shilling land of old 
 extent, or to 400 Scots of valued rent. 
 
 FREE'MAN, in ancient law. one free 
 from servitude, as distinguished from a 
 vassal or bondsman. In Great Britain, 
 a freeman is one who enjoys the freedom 
 of a city or borough. 
 
 FREEMA'SONRY, a term applied to 
 the organization of a society calling 
 themselves free and accepted mason?, and 
 all the mysteries therewith connected. 
 This society, if we can reckon as one a 
 number of societies, many of which are 
 unconnected with each other, though they 
 have the same origin, and a great simi- 
 larity in their constitution, extends over 
 almost all the countries of Europe, many 
 parts of America, and some other parts 
 of the globe. According to its own pecu- 
 liar language, it is founded on the prac- 
 tise of social and moral virtue. It 
 claims the character of charity, in the 
 most extended sense ; and brotherly love, 
 relief, and truth are inculcated in it. 
 The first societies of antiquity with which 
 free masonry appears to stand in histori- 
 cal connection, are the corporations of 
 architects, which, with the Romans, ex- 
 isted under the names of Collegia and 
 Corpora, first established in the time of 
 Numa. Our distinct historical informa- 
 tion on the subject merely amounts to 
 this, that the fraternity of architects or 
 builders in the middle ages extended over 
 all Catholic countries, and was especially 
 patronized by the see of Rome. It is to 
 this craft that we owe the magnificent 
 Gothic edifices dedicated to religion, 
 which contrast so strongly with the bar- 
 barous efforts of those ages in most other 
 departments of art. It is said that this 
 association was introduced into Scotland 
 in the 13th century, and about the same 
 time into England, it being ascertained 
 that the Abbey of Kilwinning in the 
 former country was raised by this frater- 
 nity ; and it is believed to have continued 
 to exist, although small in number, in 
 these two countries after it had disap- 
 peared from the Continent. The Kilwin- 
 ning and York lodges are respectively the 
 most ancient in either country. But the 
 mode and period in which the association 
 became changed from a mere professional 
 fraternity to a society of persons of all 
 descriptions connected by secret symbols, 
 is unknown. It certainly excited great 
 attention, and numbered individuals of 
 high rank as honorary members, as early 
 as the 15th century. The Scottish masons 
 appointed St. Clair of Roslin as their 
 hereditary grand-master in 1630; and 
 the office was resigned by his descendant 
 in 1736, -when the grand lodge of Scot- 
 land was instituted. In 1725, the first 
 French lodge was established ; in 1730, 
 the first American ; in 1735, the first 
 German. Pope Clement XTT. excommu- 
 nicated the freemasons in Spain and For-
 
 FRO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 253 
 
 tugal : until recent events, their name 
 was synonymous with that of deists and 
 revolutionists. But the most singular 
 chapter in the history of the society re- 
 lates to its fortunes in America ; where 
 it has given origin to two political par- 
 ties. The story of the abduction and 
 murder of William Morgan, suspected of 
 having revealed the secrets of the frater- 
 nity, made a great sensation in the Union, 
 and is not cleared up at this day. 
 
 FREE-TIIINK'ER, a term applied to 
 those who reject the ordinary modes of 
 thinking in matters of religion. It is 
 almost synonymous with deist. Free- 
 thinking, in England, first appeared in 
 the form of opposition to abuses in the 
 church, which were attacked in the reign 
 of James II. and William III. 
 
 FREIGHT, in navigation and com- 
 merce, the hire of a ship, or a part there- 
 of, for the conveyance and carriage of 
 goods from one place to another ; or the 
 sum agreed on between the owner and 
 the merchant, for the hire and use of a 
 vessel. In a more extended sense, it 
 means the burden of such ship. 
 
 FRENCH-HORN', a musical wind in- 
 strument made of copper. It possesses a 
 range of three octaves, and is capable of 
 producing tones of great sweetness. 
 
 FRES'CO PAINTING, a method of 
 painting by incorporating the colors with 
 plaster before it is dry, by which it 
 becomes as permanent as the wall it- 
 self. This method of painting is exe- 
 cuted with mineral and earthy pigments 
 upon a freshly laid stucco ground of lime 
 or gypsum. Vegetable pigments cannot 
 be used for fresco-painting even when 
 mixed with mineral pigments ; and of the 
 latter, only those are available which 
 resist the chemical action of the lime. 
 Burnt pigments are the best for this 
 style of painting; they are generally 
 ground with clean water, and rendered 
 so thin, that they can be worked with the 
 brush ; to some are added lime, milk, &c. 
 The pigments unite with the lime or 
 gypsum ground, and are therefore ex- 
 tremely durable ; but as this ground, 
 after standing a night, is unfit for paint- 
 ing on, there must be only a sufficient 
 quantity for one day prepared. Fresco- 
 painting is therefore difficult, as it can- 
 not be retouched. This art, which is em- 
 ployed generally for large pictures on 
 walls and ceilings, was understood by the 
 ancients, but first made of real impor- 
 tance by the Italians in the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 FRET, in architecture, an ornament 
 
 consisting of two lists or small fillets 
 variously interlaced or interwoven, and 
 running at parallel distances equal to 
 their breadth. Fret-work is sometimes 
 used to fill up and enrich flat empty 
 spaces, but is mostly practised in roofs, 
 which are fretted over with plaster-work. 
 Frets, in music, certain short pieces of 
 wire fixed on the finger-boards of guitars, 
 <fec. at right angles to the strings, and 
 which, as the strings are brought into 
 contact with them by the pressure of the 
 fingers, serve to vary and determine the 
 pitch of the tones. Formerly, these frets 
 or stops consisted of strings tied round 
 the neck of the instrument. 
 
 FRIAR, (from the French frere, a 
 brother,) a term common to monks of all 
 orders ; there being a kind of fraternity, 
 or brotherhood, between the several re- 
 ligious persons of the same monastery. 
 Friars are generally distinguished into 
 four principal branches, viz., 1. Minors, 
 gray friars, or Franciscans ; 2. Augus- 
 tines; 3. Dominicans, or black friars; 
 4. White friars, or Carmelites. 
 
 FRI DAY, the sixth day of the week, 
 so called from Frea, or Friga, a goddess 
 worshipped by the Saxons on this day. 
 
 FRIEND'SHIP, a noble and virtuous 
 attachment between individuals, spring- 
 ing from a pure source ; this is true 
 friendship. False friendship may subsist 
 between bad men, as between thieves 
 a temporary attachment springing from 
 interest, which may change in a moment 
 to enmity and rancor. 
 
 FRIEZE, in architecture, the member 
 in the entablature of an order between 
 the architrave and the cornice. It is al- 
 ways plain in the Tuscan ; ornamented 
 with triglyphs and sculpture in the Doric; 
 in the Ionic it is occasionally, in modern 
 or Italian architecture, swelled ; in which 
 case it is called a pulvinated or cushioned 
 frieze ; and in the Corinthian and Com- 
 posite it is variously decorated, according 
 to the taste of the architect. 
 
 FRIG'ATE, a ship of war, light built, 
 and a good sailer. Frigates have two 
 decks, and generally mount from twenty 
 to forty-four guns. 
 
 FRIGATOON', a Venetian vessel built 
 with a square stern, without any foremast ; 
 it is used in the Adriatic. 
 
 FRONDE', WAR OF THE, that main- 
 tained by the malcontent partisans of the 
 parliament in France, under the regency 
 of Louis XIV.. against the government of 
 Cardinal Mazarin. The name of Fronde 
 (sling) was given to this war in conse- 
 quence of some incidents of a street quar-
 
 254 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [FCN 
 
 rel, which have been differently repre- 
 sented. The party opposed to. govern- 
 ment was called that of the Fronde ; and 
 the word Frondeurs has hence acquired 
 in the French language the signification 
 of discontented politicians. 
 
 FRON'TAL, in architecture, a little 
 pediment or front- piece over a small door 
 or window. Frontal, the hangings or 
 ornamental panel in front of an altar, 
 were of three kinds : 1st, of precious 
 metals, adorned with enamels and jew- 
 els ; 2d, of wood, painted, gilt, em- 
 bossed, and often set with crystals ; 3d, 
 of cloth of gold, velvet, or silk embroider- 
 ed, and occasionally enriched with pearls. 
 
 FRONTIER, the border, confine or 
 extreme part of a kingdom or province, 
 bordering on another country. Frontiers 
 were anciently called inarches. 
 
 FRON'TISPIECE, in architecture, the 
 face or fore front of a house ; but more 
 usually applied to the decorated entrance 
 of a building. This term is also used for 
 the ornamental first page of a book, be- 
 ing, as the derivation imports, that part 
 which first meets the eye. 
 
 FRUIT-PAINTING, may be consid- 
 ered to have originated with Zeuxis, who 
 painted a bunch of grapes so naturally 
 that the birds came and pecked at them. 
 Since the introduction in modern times of 
 pictures of still life, fruit and flower- 
 painting has become a distinct branch of 
 art. cultivated principally in the Nether- 
 lands. 
 
 FRUIT-WORK, this branch of art at- 
 tained some excellence in antiquity, al- 
 though used only for architectural orna- 
 ments. Workers in clay and bronze also 
 imitated fruits, and in the time of Mar- 
 cus Varro, there lived at Rome a clay- 
 modeller who imitated apples and grapes 
 so exactly, that at first sight they were 
 not to be distinguished from nature. 
 Festoons of fruit were also carved in 
 stone for the decoration of temples. The 
 most celebrated specimen in bronze is a 
 colossal pine-apple, formerly on the tomb 
 of the Emperor Hadrian, but now in the 
 great Bramanhe niche, at the end of the 
 garden of the Belvedere at Rome. We 
 find the capitals and friezes of buildings 
 of the middle ages, carved with grapes, 
 and in the age of the Renaissance we meet 
 with festoons of fruits, which aft^Pvards, 
 in the age of Rococo, were employed too 
 frequently in decoration. At Florence, 
 beautiful imitations of richly colored 
 fruits, such as purple grapes, Ac., were 
 made in Pietra dura, or Florentine Mo- 
 saic. 
 
 FU'GITIVE, in literature, short and 
 occasional compositions either in poetry 
 or prose ; written in haste or at inter- 
 vals, and considered to be fleeting and 
 temporary. 
 
 FU'GLEMAN, or FLU'GELMAN, a 
 non-commissioned officer, appointed to 
 take his place in front of a regiment as 
 a guide to the soldiers in their move- 
 ments of the drill. The word is derived 
 from the German fliigel, awing. 
 
 FU'GUE, in music, a piece of compo- 
 sition in which the different parts follow 
 each other, each repeating in order what 
 the first had performed. 
 
 FUNCTION, any office, duty, or em- 
 ployment belonging to a particular sta- 
 tion or character ; as the functions of a 
 judge, a bishop, &c. Functions, applied 
 to the actions of the body, are divided 
 into vital, animal and natural. The vital 
 functions are those necessary to life, and 
 without which the individual cannot sub- 
 sist ; as the motion of the heart, lungs, 
 &c. The natural functions are such as 
 we cannot subsist any considerable time 
 without ; as the digestion of the aliment, 
 and its conversion into blood. Under 
 animal functions are included the senses of 
 touching, tasting, &c., memory, judg- 
 ment, and voluntary motion, without 
 which an animal may be said to exist, 
 though under great privations. In short, 
 all parts of the body have their own 
 functions, or actions, peculiar to them- 
 selves. Life consists in the exercise of 
 these functions, and health in the free 
 exercise of them. 
 
 FUNDS, a term adopted by those who 
 speak of the public revenue of nations, to 
 signify the several taxes that have been 
 laid upon commodities, either by way of 
 duties of custom, or excise, or in any 
 other manner, to supply the exigencies of 
 the state, and to pay interest for what 
 sums it may have occasion to borrow. 
 The capital stock of a banking institu- 
 tion, or the joint stock of a commercial 
 or manufacturing house, constitutes it* 
 funds: and hence the word is applied to 
 the money which an individual may pos- 
 sess, or the means he can employ for car- 
 rying on any enterprise or operation. 
 The Funding system commenced in Eng- 
 land shortly after the Revolution of 
 1688, and as the sums were at first bor- 
 rowed for short periods, and partially re- 
 paid, the first transaction which assumed 
 the character of a permanent loan was 
 when, at the establishment of the Bank 
 of England, in 1693, its capital, then 
 amounting to 1,200,OOOZ., was advanced
 
 GAB] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 255 
 
 to the government. A sinking fund is 
 a sum of money appropriated to the pay- 
 ment of the public stock, or the payment 
 of the public debt. 
 
 FU'NERAL GAMES, the celebration 
 of these- games among the Greeks, mostly 
 consisted of horse-races ; the prizes were 
 of different sorts and value, according to 
 the quality and magnificence of the per- 
 son that celebrated them. The garlands, 
 given to victors on this occasion, were 
 usually of parsley, which was thought to 
 have some particular relation to the 
 dead. Among the Romans, the funeral 
 games consisted chiefly of processions ; 
 but sometimes also of mortal combats of 
 gladiators, around the funeral pile. 
 
 FU'NERAL PALLS, the palls in an- 
 cient use, especially at the funerals of 
 persons of distinction, were of the most 
 costly materials and beautifully orna- 
 mented, being constructed of velvet or 
 cloth of gold, embroidered with heraldic 
 devices and imagery. The form was 
 usually square, sometimes with lappets, 
 with a cross extending the whole length 
 and width, formed of a different material 
 from the pall itself, and generally en- 
 riched with ornaments or appropriate 
 inscriptions. The color of the palls va- 
 ried at different periods. In the six- 
 teenth century, and perhaps earlier, 
 black was used ; they were frequently 
 made of red, purple, greeji and blue vel- 
 vet, or cloth of gold, with reference to 
 the heraldic tinctures that were peculiar 
 to the deceased. 
 
 FU'NERAL RITES, ceremonies ac- 
 companying the interment or burial of 
 any person. These rites differed among 
 the ancients according to the different 
 genius and religion of each country. 
 The ancient Christians testified their ab- 
 horrence of the pagan custom of burning 
 the dead, and always deposited the 
 body entire in the ground ; and it was 
 visual to bestow the honor of embalming 
 upon the martyrs, at least, if not upon 
 thers. 
 
 FU'RIES, in mythology, called by the 
 Greeks Erinnyes and Eumenides, were 
 the avenging deities, who punished gods 
 and men for their transgressions against 
 those whom they were bound to esteem 
 and reverence. Their number was not 
 fixed, though sometimes they were con- 
 sidered to be three sisters. The Atheni- 
 ans, who, according to Plutarch, were 
 particularly addicted to this art of eu- 
 phemism., called them also the venerable 
 goddesses, their true names being consid- 
 ered ominous. By this name they were 
 
 mentioned in the oaths taken .at the Are- 
 opagus. 
 
 FUR'LOUGH, leave granted to a non- 
 commissioned officer or soldier to be ab- 
 sent for a given time from his regiment. 
 
 FUSILEER', a soldier belonging to 
 what is termed the light infantry : they 
 were formerly armed with a fusil; but 
 they are not now so distinguished, their 
 muskets being like the rest. 
 
 FUS'TIAN, in literature, an inflated 
 style of writing, in which high-sounding 
 aad bombastic terms are used, instead of 
 such as are natural, simple, and suited to 
 the subject. 
 
 FYL'FOT, a cross of peculiar form, fre- 
 quently introduced in decoration and em- 
 broidery during the middle ages. It oc- 
 curs on monumental brasses anterior to 
 the accession of Richard II., being found 
 on the girdle of a priest of the date A.D. 
 1011. It is considered to have been in 
 use at a very remote period as a mystic 
 symbol amongst religious devotees in In- 
 dia and China, whence it was introduced 
 into Europe about the sixth century. 
 
 G. 
 
 G, the seventh letter in the English al- 
 phabet ; but in the Greek, and all the 
 oriental languages, it occupies the third 
 place. It is a mute, and cannot be sound- 
 ed without the assistance of a vowel. It 
 has a hard and a soft sound, as in game, 
 and gesture ; and in many words, as in 
 sign, reign. &c., the sound is not per- 
 ceived. As a numeral it formerly stood 
 for 400, and with a dash over it. for 400,- 
 000. G, in music, is the nominal of the 
 fifth note in the natural diatonic scale of 
 C, and to which Guido applied the mono- 
 syllable sol. It is also one of the names 
 of the highest cliff. 
 
 GA'BIONS, in fortification, baskets 
 made of osier-twigs, of a cylindrical form, 
 six feet high, and four wide ; which, be- 
 ing filled with earth, serve as a shelter 
 from the enemy's fire. 
 
 GA'BLE, in architecture, the vertical 
 triangular piece of wall at the end of the 
 roof, from the level of the eaves to the 
 summit. 
 
 GA'BRIEL, ST., one of the three arch- 
 angels, the "messenger;" the il angel of 
 the annunciation ;" in pictures represent- 
 ing this mystery, he is frequently repre- 
 sented in royal robes, bearing a sceptre, 
 or a lily, and kneeling. In some in- 
 stances, he is represented floating in the 
 air, with his hands crossed over his breast.
 
 256 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OP LITERATURE 
 
 GADS, or GADLYNOS, in armor, are 
 the bosses or 
 small spikes of 
 steel with which 
 the knuckles 
 were armed. 
 The gads of the 
 gauntlets o f 
 Edward the 
 
 Black Prince are of brass, and made in 
 the shape of lions or leopards. 
 
 GAE LIC, is the name of that dialect in 
 the ancient Celtic language, which is spok- 
 en in the Highlands of Scotland. It is a 
 generally received opinion, that the Celtic, 
 at the time of the Roman invasion, was 
 universally spoken over the west of Eu- 
 rope ; for, although divided into a variety 
 of dialects, yet they all show the clearest 
 proofs of a common origin. The Gaelic, 
 which, from a variety of causes, has re- 
 tained much of its original purity, is hold, 
 expressive, and copious. It derives no 
 assistance from the languages either of 
 Greece or Rome, from which it differs in 
 its structure and formation. More than 
 two thirds of the names of places in Great 
 Britain and Ireland are of Celtic origin, 
 which, if other proofs were wanting, would 
 establish the fact of its once having been 
 the language of the country. See ERSE. 
 GAIL'LIARDE, an ancient Italian 
 dance, of a sportive character and lively 
 movement. It was sometimes called Ro- 
 manesque, because it was said to have 
 come originally from Rome. 
 
 GAL'AXY, in astronomy, the Via Lac- 
 tea, or Milky Way ; a long, white, lu- 
 minous track, which seems to encompass 
 the heavens like a girdle ; forming near- 
 ly a great circle of the celestial sphere. 
 This, like every other phenomenon of 
 nature, has supplied the poet with many 
 a fantastic, and many a beautiful dream. 
 The invention of the telescope has con- 
 firmed the conjecture of science, that it 
 consists in a multitude of stars, too re- 
 mote to be separately distinguished by 
 the naked eye. 
 
 GALL, the gall of the ox is used in 
 water-color painting, mixed with the pig- 
 ments to make them flow freely upon pa- 
 per which has a greasiness of surface. 
 To fit it for this purpose, the gall is 
 strained and exposed to a gentle heat un- 
 til nearly solidified; it is then of a dark 
 olive-brown color, scarcely fit to mix with 
 the pure blue or red pigments. Colorless 
 ox-gall should be prepared by boiling the 
 crude gall with animal charcoal, and fil- 
 tering the liquid. 
 GAL'LEON, vessels of war formerly 
 
 used by the Spaniards and Portuguese. 
 In more recent times, those vessels were 
 called galleons, in which the Spaniards 
 transported treasures from their Ameri- 
 can colonies. 
 
 GAL'LERY, in architecture, "a long, 
 narrow room, the width of which is at 
 least three times less than its length ; by 
 which proportion it is distinguished from 
 a saloon. Corridors are sometimes also 
 called galleries. Gallery, in fortifica- 
 tion, a covered walk across a ditch in a 
 besieged town, made of strong planks and 
 covered with earth. It was formerly 
 used for carrying a mine to the foot of 
 the ramparts. Gallery, (of a mine,) a 
 narrow passage, or branch of a mine car- 
 ried on underground to a work designed 
 to be blown up. Gallery, (in a ship,) a 
 balcony, projecting from the stern of a 
 ship of war, or of a large merchantman. 
 Gallery, in the Fine Arts, a term applied 
 to a collection of works in painting or 
 sculpture. The earliest gallery of which 
 there is any record was that of Verres. 
 It is described by Cicero, and was rich in 
 pictures as well as sculpture. In Eu- 
 rope, at the present day. the gallery of 
 the Louvre, though much reduced in 1815 
 by the restoration of many works of art 
 which conquest had enabled the French 
 to acquire, is the finest in Europe, if 
 taken as a whole. That founded at 
 Florence by Cosmo II. long enjoyed the 
 first rank, but must be now considered 
 secondary to the French collection. The 
 other principal galleries of Europe are 
 those at Munich, Dresden, Berlin, and, 
 though last not least both in size and 
 importance, that of the Vatican at Rome ; 
 which, however, is more generally called 
 the Museum of the Vatican. 
 
 GAL'LEY, a naval vessel of large size, 
 long and narrow, usually propelled by 
 oars, with occasionally the addition of 
 sails. Most of the ships employed by the 
 ancients may be termed galleys, and ac- 
 cording to the number of banks of row- 
 ers were biremes when with two bunk* 
 triremes when with three, and so on, 
 up to as many as forty, but those with 
 more than four or five banks must be re- 
 garded as curiosities. Galleys were in 
 use in the Mediterranean until the close 
 of the eighteenth century, for coast navi- 
 gation, the largest of which were about 
 160 feet long and 30 feet wide, with 52 
 oars. Among the Venetians there was in 
 use a kind of large galley, with a very 
 lofty poop, called galeazza. The state 
 galley of the Doges was termed BUCEN- 
 TAUR. The punishment of the galleys,
 
 GAL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 257 
 
 i. e. the employment of condemned crim- 
 inals in the toilsome employment of row- 
 ing them, is said to have originated under 
 the Greek empire ; as well as the name 
 TaAeopofj or galley slaves in French ga- 
 leriens. It was used by all the nations 
 bordering on the Mediterranean. In 
 France, under the old jurisprudence, the 
 punishment of the galleys was the se- 
 verest after that of death. About the 
 end of the reign of Louis XIV., when 
 galleys themselves began to be disused, 
 the galley slaves were employed in hos- 
 pitals, public works, <fec. : and the name 
 of the punishment was changed by the 
 constituent assembly (1798) to travaux 
 forces, compulsory labor, whence the 
 vrordforgat for a criminal so condemned. 
 Under the code of the empire the pun- 
 ishment was accompanied with forfeiture 
 of property, infamy, and branding. By 
 an alteration of the law effected in 1832, 
 the brand was abolished ; and the crim- 
 inals, who had hitherto been intermingled 
 in the three penal fortresses (Toulon, 
 Kochefort, and Brest,) were classified. 
 Toulon was appropriated to those con- 
 demned for 10 years and under ; Brest, 
 to those from 10 to 20 ; Rochefort, to the 
 condemned for life. 
 
 GAL'LI. the priests of Cybele were so 
 named at Rome from the country (Gala- 
 tia or Gallo-Graecia) in which Pessinus, 
 the head-quarters of her worship, was 
 situated : also termed Curetes, Cory- 
 bantes, and Idaoi Dactyli. Cybele, the 
 mother of the gods, was introduced to 
 Rome from Asia on the occasion of a pes- 
 tilence by the advice of the Sybillino ora- 
 cles, and her worship became in time one 
 of the most popular in the city. 
 
 GAL'LICAN, anything belonging to 
 France : thus the term gallican church 
 denotes the chur'ch of France, or the as- 
 sembly of the clergy of that kingdom. 
 
 GAL'LICISM, an idiom or phrase of 
 the French language, introduced in speak- 
 ing or writing another language. 
 
 17 
 
 GALTJOT, a small galley or 
 Dutch vessel, carrying a main and 
 mizenmast, and a large gaff-main- 
 sail ; built very slightly, and de- 
 signed only for chase. It can both 
 sail and row, and has sixteen or 
 twenty oars. All the seamen on 
 board are soldiers, and each has a 
 musket by him 3n quitting his 
 oar. 
 
 GALLOPADE', in the manege, 
 a sidelong or curveting kind of 
 = gallop. Also the term for a spright- 
 ly and active kind of dance. 
 GALL-STONE, a concretion found in 
 the gall-bladder of the ox, which is em- 
 ployed as a pigment in water-color paint- 
 
 ing. I^yields a fine golden-yellow color, 
 
 jirnilarYo . 
 
 manent. 
 
 Indian yellow. It is not per- 
 
 GAL'LY, in printing, a wooden or 
 metal frame, into which the compositor 
 empties the lines out of his composing- 
 stick, and in which he ties up the page 
 when it is completed. 
 
 GAL' VANISH, electrical phenomena, 
 in which the electricity is developed 
 without the aid of friction, and in which 
 a chemical action takes place between 
 certain bodies. It includes all those 
 electrical phenomena arising from the 
 chemical agency of certain metals with 
 different fluids. Volta discovered the 
 means of multiplying those effects ; henco 
 the science has also been called roltaism, 
 or voltaic electricity ; and, from its action 
 on the muscles of animals rfewly killed, 
 animal electricity. The galvanic battery 
 or pile, is an instrument of vast power, 
 and admits of extensive application in 
 the wide field of chemical research, and 
 accordingly the acquisition of it has led 
 to important discoveries. The electricity 
 produced by the galvanic battery is much 
 less intense than that produced by an 
 ordinary electrical machine, but it pos- 
 sesses this great advantage, that its ac- 
 tion may be kept up for any length of 
 time, in a continuous manner ; whereas, 
 in a highly charged electric battery, the 
 whole of the electric power is expended 
 as soon as the circuit is completed. The 
 effects of galvanism may be distinguished 
 into the three classes of physiological, 
 chemical, and physical. With respect to 
 the physiological effects, we may refer to 
 the marvellous cures said to have been 
 effected by currents of electricity to the 
 facts recorded of animals recently killed, 
 exhibiting many of the signs of life, so 
 long as they are placed between the poles 
 of the pile. Animals stupefied by breath-
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [GAN 
 
 ing the fumes of charcoal, may be brought 
 at once to life by placing them between 
 the poles of the pile. Among the chemi- 
 cal effects produced by the galvanic pile, 
 the decomposition of water, of oxydes, 
 and the alkalies, are the most remarka- 
 ble. Among the physical effects we may 
 remark the production of heat, light and 
 magnetism. This last effect, and the 
 mutual action which the currents exert 
 on each other, constitutes the science of 
 electro-magnetism. Galvanism is heat, 
 light, electricity, and magnetism, united 
 in combination or in simultaneous ac- 
 tion ; sometimes one and sometimes an- 
 other of them predominating, and thus 
 producing more or less all the effects of 
 each usual means of excitement, con- 
 tact of dissimilar bodies, espe<nally of 
 metals and fluids. 
 
 GALVANOG'RAPHY, ELECTHOGRA- 
 VHY, this is one of the most beautiful 
 and successful inventions of modern times, 
 as by its means plastic objects, e. g., wood, 
 stone, coins, plaster casts, &c., and copper 
 plates for engravings, may be exactly 
 copied in copper, and bronzed or gilt. 
 The invention is especially valuable for 
 copper-plate engraving, as by its means 
 any number of duplicates of the original 
 plate may be obtained. Galvanography, 
 after many experiments, has produced 
 works of Art far surpassing the expecta- 
 tions at first entertained, and the uses to 
 which it may be applied are multifarious, 
 for since the first galvanic plate was taken, 
 it has been" used in all branches of en- 
 graving, having been found to unite all 
 the known methods of the graver and 
 etching needle, aqua tinta, scraper, and 
 roulette work, &c., and, moreover, is very 
 easy of execution. 
 
 GAMBE'SON. or WAMBEYS, in armor, 
 a body-covering stuffed with wool and 
 padded in parallel lines of needle-work. 
 
 GAM'BOGE, a gum-resin brought from 
 the East, which yields a fine yellow pig- 
 ment, very useful in water-color paint- 
 ing. The finest quality is the pipe-gam- 
 boge, brought from Siam. It dissolves 
 readily in water, is very transparent and 
 glossy when dry. It is indispensable in 
 water colors, forming, with the various 
 blues, excellent compound greens. This 
 pigment would be useful in oil painting, 
 as it resists for a long time the action of 
 strong light, provided the resinous part 
 could be separated from the other parts. 
 
 GAME, all sorts of birds and beasts 
 that are objects of the chase. Game 
 laics. In England, laws have been en- 
 acted to secure to certain privileged 
 
 classes the right of hunting and shooting 
 wild birds and animals, and preventing 
 their being destroyed or sold in the mar- 
 ket ; and it is believed that nothing h:m 
 been so fertile a source of crime, among 
 the lower orders, as these enactments. 
 
 GAMES, in antiquity, were public 
 diversions, or contests, exhibited on cer- 
 tain occasions, as spectacles for the grati- 
 fication of the people. Such, among the 
 Greeks, were the Olympic, Pythian, Isth- 
 mian, and Nemaean games ; and, among 
 the Romans, the Apollinarian, Circen- 
 sian, Capitoline, <fec. The Romans had 
 three sorts of games, viz., sacred, hone- 
 ary, and ludicrous. The first were insti- 
 tuted in honor of some deity or hero ; the 
 second were those exhibited by private 
 persons, to please the people ; as the 
 combats of gladiators, the scenic games, 
 and other amphitheatrical sports. The 
 ludicrous games were much of the same 
 nature with the games of exercise and 
 hazard among us ; such were the ludus 
 Trojanus, tessera, <fcc. By a decree of 
 the Roman senate, it was enacted that 
 the public games should be consecrated, 
 and united with the worship of the gods 
 as a part thereof: whence it appears, 
 that feasts, sacrifices, and games, made 
 up the greatest part, or rather the whole, 
 of the external worship offered by the 
 Romans to their deities. 
 , GAM'UT, or GAM'MA UT, in music, 
 a scale whereon the musical notes are dis- 
 posed in their several orders, and marked 
 by the monosyllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, 
 la. Its invention is attributed to Guido 
 Aretino, a monk of Tuscany ; it is also 
 called the harmonical hand, from Guido 
 having made use of the figure of the 
 hand to demonstrate the progression of 
 his sounds. 
 
 GANT'LET, or GAUNT'LET, a large 
 kind of glove, made of iron, and the fingers 
 covered with small plates, formerly worn 
 by cavaliers, armed at all points. To 
 throw the gantlet, is a proverbial phrase, 
 signifying to challenge or defy The ex- 
 pression derives its origin from the days 
 of chivalry, when he that challenged an 
 opponent in the lists threw down his glove, 
 and he that accepted the challenge took 
 it up. 
 
 GANT'LOPE. or GANT'LET, in mili- 
 tary affairs, an old punishment in which 
 the criminal, running between the ranks, 
 received a lash from every man. A simi- 
 lar punishment is used on board of ships ; 
 but it is seldom inflicted, except for such 
 crimes as are calculated to excite general 
 antipathy among the seamen.
 
 OAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 259 
 
 GAN'YMEDE, great-grandson of Dar- 
 danus, who founded the city of Troy, son 
 of Tros and of Callirrhoe, a daughter of 
 the Scamander. Jupiter, in the shape 
 of an eagle, carried him off from Mount 
 Ida to the scat of the gods, where he dis- 
 charged the office of cup-bearer to the 
 immortals, Hebe having rendered her- 
 self unworthy of this office. This fiction 
 has afforded, both to poets and artists, an 
 inexhaustible supply of subjects. Numer- 
 ous paintings, statues, cameos, and in- 
 taglios, master-works of ancient Art, have 
 descended to us, upon which this youth, 
 scarcely passed the years of boyhood, is 
 represented as of great beauty. The rep- 
 resentations of Ganymede are to be recog- 
 nized by the Phrygian cap, and the eagle, 
 which is either standing beside him, or 
 carrying him in its talons to Olympus. 
 
 GAOL DELIVERY, a term in law 
 for the clearing of a prison by a judicial 
 condemnation or acquittal of the prison- 
 ers ; also a commission from the king to 
 deliver or clear the gaols. 
 
 GARD DE BRAS, in armor, the plate 
 attached to the cuff of the gantlet or the 
 coudiere. 
 
 GAR'DENING, that branch of cultiva- 
 tion which teaches us how to dispose 
 fruit-trees, flowers, and herbs, to the best 
 advantage, whether for profit or pleas- 
 ure ; and directs us how to prepare the 
 soil for sowing the different kinds of 
 seeds, as well as how to treat the plants, 
 during their various stages of vegetation, 
 till they repay our care by the produce 
 they yield when arrived at maturity. 
 The art embraces the following heads : 
 Horticulture, which comprehends the cul- 
 ture of culinary vegetables and fruits ; 
 floriculture, which includes the culture of 
 ornamental and curious flowers, shrubs, 
 and trees ; aboriculture, which implies 
 the culture of trees or shrubs used 
 for various purposes in the arts and in 
 general economy ; and landscape gar- 
 dening, or the general disposition of the 
 scenery or landscape about a country 
 residence. Horticulture includes the 
 culture of the kitchen garden and or- 
 chard ; floriculture, the culture of flower 
 gardens, botanic gardens, shrubberies, 
 and pleasure-grounds ; aboricultnre, the 
 culture of nurseries for fruit and forest 
 trees and shrubs ; and landscape garden- 
 ing, the formation and management of 
 lawns, roads, walks, lakes, ponds, and 
 artificial rivers, of rock work, and of 
 every description of objects in artificial 
 scenery which come under the denomina- 
 tion of ornamental or picturesque. 
 
 G ARGOYLE'fthis term is derived from 
 the French gargouille, a dragon or mon- 
 ster. It is applied to the spouts in the 
 form of dragons that project from the 
 roof-gutters in ancient buildings. 
 
 GAR/LANDS, of various descriptions, 
 are used in the ceremonies, <fcc., of the 
 Catholic Church. 1. Of flowers, suspend- 
 ed over altars, and in churches on festival 
 days. 2. Of roses, and other flowers, 
 worn round the heads of the assistant 
 clergy and others in certain processions. 
 3. Of silver, set with jewels, or of natu- 
 ral flowers, and placed on images. 4. 
 Of artificial flowers and other ornaments 
 carried at the funerals of virgins. 
 
 GARNISHMENT, in law, a warning 
 or notice given to a party to appear in 
 court or give information ; a technical 
 term, used only in one or two instances. 
 
 GAR'RISON, a body offerees disposed 
 in a fortress to defend it against the ene- 
 my, or to keep the inhabitants of the 
 town where it is situated in subjection. 
 The term garrison is sometimes used 
 synonymously with winter quarters, viz. 
 a place where a number of troops are laid 
 up in the winter season without keeping 
 the regular guard. 
 
 GARROTE', THE, a mode of capital 
 punishment employed in Spain. "tho 
 criminal is seated on a stool with his back 
 to a stake. A tight collar is passed round 
 his throat, of which the ends nearly meet ; 
 the executioner standing behind him, 
 twists them closer by means of a screw : 
 the death is instantaneous. 
 
 GAR'TER, ORDER OF THE, a military 
 order of knighthood, said to have been 
 first instituted by Richard I. at the siege 
 of Acre, where he caused twenty-six 
 knights, who firmly stood by^ him, to 
 wear thongs of blue leather about their 
 legs. It is also understood to have been 
 perfected by Edward III., and to have 
 received some alterations, which were 
 afterwards laid aside, from Edward VI. ; 
 but the number of knights remained as 
 at first established, till the year 1786, 
 when it was increased to thirty-two. 
 This order is never conferred but upon 
 persons of the highest rank. The habit 
 and ensigns of this order are the garter, 
 mantle, cap and collar The badge of 
 the order is the image of Saint George, 
 called the George ; and the motto is 
 Honi soit qui mal y pense, or " Evil to 
 him that evil thinks hereof." A vulgar 
 story (says Hume) prevails, but it is not 
 supported by any ancient authority, that, 
 at a court ball, Edward the Third's mis- 
 tress, commonly supposed to be the Count-
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [OEM 
 
 ess of Salisbury, dropped her garter ; 
 and the king, taking it up, observed 
 some of the courtiers to smile, as if they 
 thought he had not obtained this favor 
 by accident; upon which he called out 
 Honi soil qui mal y pense. 
 GAS'TROMANCY, a kind of divina- 
 tion practised among the ancients by 
 means of words issuing or seeming to 
 issue from the belly. This term is ap- 
 plied also to a species of divination per- 
 formed by means of glasses or other round 
 transparent vessels, in the centre of which 
 certain figures appear by magic art. 
 
 GASTRON'OMY, the science of eating 
 and drinking. The gastronomy of the 
 Romans was the most gross and luxu- 
 rious, as that of the French is the most 
 refined and delicate, combined with the 
 rules of health and social merriment. 
 
 GAUZE, a very thin, slight, trans- 
 parent kind of stuff, woven sometimes 
 of silk, and sometimes only of thread ; 
 and frequently with flowers of silver or 
 gold on a silk ground. It is said to have 
 been invented in Gaza, a city of Palestine. 
 
 GAV'EL-KIND, a tenure in England, 
 by which land descended from the father 
 to all his sons in equal portions, and the 
 la^d of a brother, dying without issue, 
 descended equally to his brothers. This 
 species of tenure prevailed in England 
 before the Norman conquest, in many 
 parts of the kingdom, perhaps in the 
 whole realm ; but particularly in Kent, 
 where it still exists. 
 
 GA'VOT, in music, an air for a dance, 
 which has two strains ; the first having 
 usually four or eight bars, and the second 
 eight or twelve more, each of which are 
 played twice over. It is of a brisk nature. 
 
 GAZETTE', a periodical paper, pub- 
 lished at short intervals, containing arti- 
 cles of general intelligence. In Europe 
 such sheets were generally termed Mer- 
 curies in the first times of their inven- 
 tion, and appeared only occasionally ; the 
 earliest were published during the gen- 
 eral apprehensions from the presence of 
 the Spanish armada, but some doubt has 
 been lately thrown on the authenticity 
 of the specimens preserved in the British 
 Museum. The first gazette produced in 
 France (under that title) was in 1631 : 
 the first in England in 1665, when the 
 court resided at Oxford on account of the 
 plague in London. From that period the 
 Gazette has regularly appeared twice a 
 week, containing such notifications as are 
 either published by the court or the gov- 
 ernment, or such as are authoritatively 
 required by law in private transactions 
 
 The name Gazette is said to be derived 
 from Gazetta, a small Venetian coin, 
 being the price that was paid for one of 
 the flying sheets of commercial and mili- 
 tary information (notizie scritte,) which 
 were first published by that republic in 
 1563. 
 
 GAZETTEER', a topographical work, 
 alphabetically arranged, containing a 
 brief description of empires, kingdoms, 
 cities, towns, and rivers. It may either 
 include the whole world, or be limited to 
 a particular country. The first work of 
 this kind, with which we are acquainted, 
 is that of Stephen of Byzantium, who 
 lived in the beginning of the sixth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 GAZONS', in fortification, pieces of 
 fresh earth, covered with grass, and cut 
 in form of a wedge, to line the outsides 
 of works made of earth, as ramparts, 
 parapets, &c. 
 
 GEHEN'NA, a term in Scripture, 
 adopted from the usage of the Jews to 
 signify hell or the place of eternal pun- 
 ishment. The word is a slight corruption 
 of Gehinnon, or the Valley of Hinnom in 
 the neighborhood of Jerusalem, wherein, 
 at a place named Tophet, it was recorded 
 that certain idolatrous Jews had sacri- 
 ficed to Moloch. The sewers of the city 
 were emptied into this hollow, and per- 
 petual fires were kept up to consume the 
 noxious matter, and prevent pestilential 
 effluvia. Hence, it is said, the name of 
 the place came to be used metaphorically 
 in the sense above described. From this 
 word seems to be derived the old French 
 gehenne, torture; and from thence the 
 common word gene, constraint. 
 
 GELOS'COPY, a kind of divination 
 drawn from laughter ; or a method of 
 knowing the qualities and character of a 
 person, acquired from the consideration 
 of his laughter. 
 
 GEMAR'A, the second part of the Tal- 
 mud or commentary on the Jewish laws. 
 
 GEMO'NI^l SCA'LJE, in Roman anti- 
 quity, a place for executing criminals, 
 situated on the Aventine mount, or tenth 
 region of the city. 
 
 GEMS, the name given to precious 
 stones in general, but more especially to 
 such as by their color, brilliancy, polish, 
 purity, and rarity, are sought after as ob- 
 jects of decoration. Gems of the most valu- 
 able kinds form the principal part of the 
 crown jewels of sovereign princes, and are 
 esteemed not merely for their beauty, but 
 as comprising the greatest value in the 
 smallest bulk. Gems are remarkable for 
 their hardness and internal lustre. Un-
 
 GEN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 261 
 
 der this name are comprehended the dia- 
 mond, ruby, sapphire, hyacinth, beryl, 
 garnet, emerald, topaz, chrysolite, &c. 
 To these have been added rock crystals, 
 the finer flints of pebbles, the cat's eye, 
 the oculus mundi, the chalcedony, the 
 moon-stones, the onyx, the cornelian, the 
 sardonyx, agate, <fce. Of most of these 
 species there are some of an inferior class 
 and beauty ; these are commonly called 
 by jewellers occidental stones. They are 
 mostly the produce of Europe, and found 
 in mines or stone quarries ; and are so 
 named in opposition to those of a higher 
 class, which are always accounted ori- 
 ental, and supposed to be only produced 
 in the east. Gem-engraving, or gem- 
 sculpture, called also litkoglyptics, is the 
 art of representing designs upon precious 
 stones, either in raised work, as cameos, 
 or by figures cut below the surface, as 
 intaglios. This art is of great antiquity, 
 and was probably practised by the Baby- 
 lonians. Some think the art originated 
 in India ; but wherever it originated, we 
 have ample evidence that among the 
 Greeks and Romans it was in high es- 
 teem. The merit of cameos and intag- 
 lios depends on their erudition, as it is 
 termed, or the goodness of the workman- 
 ship, and the beauty of their polish. The 
 antique Greek gems are the most highly 
 prized ; and, next to them, the Roman 
 ones of the times of the higher empire. 
 Artificial gems. In order to approxi- 
 mate as near as possible to -the brilliancy 
 and refractive power of native gems, a 
 basis, called a paste, is made from the 
 finest flint glass, composed of selected 
 materials, combined in different propor- 
 tions, according to the preference of the 
 manufacturer. This is mixed with me- 
 tallic oxydes capable of producing the 
 desired color. The imitation of antique 
 gems consists in a method of taking the 
 impressions and figures of antique gems, 
 with their engravings, in glass, of the 
 color of the original gems. Great care 
 is necessary in the operation, to take the 
 impression of the gem in a very fine 
 earth, and to press down upon this a 
 piece of proper glass, softened or half 
 melted at the fire, so that the figures of 
 the impression made in the earth may be 
 nicely and perfectly expressed upon the 
 glass. 
 
 GENDARMES', or GENS D' ARMES, 
 in the history of France, an appellation 
 given to a select body of troops, who 
 were destined to watch over the interior 
 public safety, and consequently much 
 employed by the police. They were so 
 
 called on account of their succeeding the 
 ancient gendarmes, who were completely 
 clothed in armor, and commanded by 
 captain-lieutenants, the king and the 
 princes of the blood being their captains. 
 At the revolution this body was broken 
 up, and the name was given to a corps 
 which was employed in the protection of 
 the streets. August 16th, 1830, a royal 
 ordinance abolished the gens d'armes. 
 and established a new body called the 
 municipal guard of Paris, to consist of 
 1443 men, under the direction of the 
 prefect of police. 
 
 GEN'UER, in grammar, a distinction 
 in nouns to mark the sexes ; genders are 
 either masculine, for the male sex; fem- 
 inine, for the female sex; or neuter, for 
 those which are of neither sex. The 
 English language has very few termina- 
 tions by which the genders are distin- 
 guished, such as count and countess, but 
 generally supplies distinct words ; as boy, 
 girl; whereas, in the Latin and French, 
 the terminations always mark the dis- 
 tinction, as bonus equus, a good horse ; 
 bona equa, a good mare ; un bon citoyen 
 a good citizen ; une bonne citoyenne, a 
 good female citizen. 
 
 GENEAL'OGY, a history of the de- 
 scent of a person or family from a series 
 of ancestors. In various chapters and 
 military orders, it is required that the 
 candidates produce their genealogy, to 
 show that they are noble by so many 
 descents. The Jews were anxious to pre- 
 serve their genealogies entire and unin- 
 terrupted ; and this care on their part 
 affords an argument of considerable im- 
 portance with respect to the accomplish- 
 ment of those prophecies that pertain 
 to the Messiah : accordingly, in their 
 sacred writings, we find genealogies car- 
 ried on for above 3500 years. 
 
 GEN'ERAL, in the army, is, next to 
 field marshal, the highest military title 
 adopted by the European states. Like 
 most military designations, it owes its 
 origin to the French, who, about the 
 middle of the 15th century, conferred the 
 title of lieutenant-general on the indi- 
 vidual to whom the monarch (by virtue 
 of his birth the commander or general of 
 the national forces) intrusted the super- 
 intendence of the army. The title of 
 general is conferred either on the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the force? of a nation, 
 or on the commander of an army or 
 grand division ; it is also given to the offi- 
 cers next in rank to the general, who, be- 
 sides performing functions peculiar to 
 their own offices, frequently act as the sub
 
 262 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 GKX 
 
 etitutes of their superior, with the desig- 
 nation of lieutenant-general and inajor- 
 general. A particular beat of drum 
 which in the morning gives notice to the 
 infantry to be in readiness to march, is 
 also called the general. 
 
 GENERALIS'SIMO, a title conferred, 
 especially by the French, on the com- 
 mander-in-chief of an army consisting of 
 two or more grand divisions, each under 
 the superintendence of a general. Ac- 
 cording to Balzac, this dignity was first 
 assumed by Cardinal Richelieu on the 
 occasion of his leading the French army 
 into Italy ; but the term does not appear 
 to have found favor among the other 
 European states. 
 
 GENERALIZA'TION, in logic, has 
 been defined as the act of comprehending 
 under a common name several objects 
 agreeing in some point which we abstract 
 from each of them and which that com- 
 mon term serves to indicate. Ex. Coper- 
 nicus generalized the celestial motions, 
 by merely referring them to the moon's 
 motion. Newton generalized them still 
 more, by referring this last to the motion 
 of a stone through the air. 
 
 GEN'ERAL IS'SUE, in law, that plea 
 which denies at once the whole declara- 
 tion or indictment, without offering any 
 special matter by which to evade it. 
 This is the ordinary plea upon which 
 most causes are tried, and is now almost 
 invariably used in all criminal cases. It 
 puts everything in issue, that is denies 
 everything, and requires the party to 
 prove all that he has stated In many 
 cases, for the protection of justices, con- 
 stables, excise officers, Ac., they are al- 
 lowed to plead the general issue, and 
 give the special matter for their justifi- 
 cation, under the act, in evidence. 
 
 GEN'ERATOR, in music, the principal 
 sound or sounds by which others are pro- 
 duced. Thus the lowest C for the treble 
 of the pianoforte, besides its octave, will 
 strike an attentive ear with its twelfth 
 above, or G in alt., and with its seven- 
 teenth above, or E in alt. Hence C is 
 called their generator, the G and E its 
 products or harmonics. 
 
 GENER'IC, or GENER'ICAL, an ep- 
 ithet pertaining to a genus or kind. It is 
 a word used to signify all species of 
 natural bodies, which agree in certain 
 essential and peculiar characters, and 
 therefore all of the same family or kind; so 
 that the word used as the generic name, 
 equally expresses every one of them, 
 and some other words expressive of the 
 peculiar qualities of figures of each are 
 
 added, in order to denote them singly, 
 and make up what is called the specific 
 name. Thus the word rosa, or rose, i- 
 the generic name of the whole series of 
 flowers of that kind, which are distin- 
 guished by the specific names of the red 
 rose, the white rose, the moss rose, Ac. 
 Thus also we see, Canis is the generic 
 name of animals of the dog kind ; Felis, 
 of the cat kind ; Cervus, of the deer 
 kind, Ac. 
 
 GEN'ESIS, a canonical book of the 
 Old Testament, and the first of the Pen- 
 tateuch, or five books of Moses. The 
 Greeks gave it the name of Genesis, 
 from its beginning with the history of 
 the creation of the world. It includes 
 the history of 2369 years, and besides 
 the history of the creation, contains an 
 account of the original innocence and fall 
 of man ; the propagation of mankind ; 
 the general defection and corruption of 
 the world ; the deluge ; the restoration 
 and re -peopling of the earth; and the 
 history of the first patriarchs down to 
 the death of Joseph. 
 
 GENETH'LIAC, an ode or other short 
 poem composed in honor of the birth of 
 an individual. 
 
 GE'NII, called by the Eastern nations 
 Genn or Gien, are a race of beings cre- 
 ated from fire, occupying an intermedi- 
 ate place between man and angels, and 
 endowed with a corporeal form, which 
 they are capable of metamorphosing at 
 pleasure. They are said to have inhab- 
 ited this earth many ages before the cre- 
 ation of man, and to have been at last 
 driven thence for rebellious conduct 
 against Allah. Their present place of 
 abode is Ginnistan, the Persian Ely- 
 sium; but they are represented as still 
 interesting themselves deeply in the af- 
 fairs of this earth, over which they exer- 
 cise considerable influence. Every one 
 is aware of the important part which the 
 genii perform in the interesting stories of 
 the East ; and indeed a more correct idea 
 maybe formed of their origin, character- 
 istics, and history, from a perusal of the 
 Arabian Nights' Entertainments, than 
 can be conveyed by the most elaborate 
 dissertation. 
 
 GENITIVE CASE, the second case 
 in Latin and Greek nouns, which denote 
 possession : it is marked in English by s 
 with an apostrophe, thus ('s). 
 
 GE'NIU, an aptitude for a particular 
 pursuit, founded on some stimulus in 
 youth, by which the mind and faculties 
 are directed to excellence. It combines 
 opposite intellectual qualities ; the deep-
 
 GEN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 263 
 
 est penetration with the liveliest fancy ; 
 the greatest quickness with the most in- 
 defatigable diligence. To what is old it 
 gives a new form ; or it invents new ; 
 and its own productions are altogether 
 original. We estimate it higher than 
 talent, in the common acceptation of that 
 term, which in the capacity for originat- 
 ing in extent and energy is inferior to 
 fenitis. Where ordinary powers advance 
 y slow degrees, genius soars on rapid 
 wings. But genius does not assume its 
 distinctive character in every exercise of 
 its powers. A gifted poet, for instance, 
 is not necessarily an ingenious philoso- 
 pher, nor does the statesman's genius in- 
 clude that of the soldier. We distinguish 
 this genius, therefore, into various kinds, 
 as poetical, musical, mathematical, mil- 
 itary, <fcc. ; thus, for example, Milton 
 possessed a genius for poetry, Mozart for 
 music, Newton for mathematics, &c. Yet, 
 although the union of great excellence in 
 different walks of art and science is but 
 rarely found in one man, some, like 
 Michael Angelo, who was equally cele- 
 brated as a statuary, architect, and pain- 
 ter, are found possessing genius of a most 
 comprehensive character. By the an- 
 cients the word genius was used to ex- 
 press a supposed invisible spirit which 
 directs a course of events. According to 
 the belief of the Romans, every person 
 had his own genius, that is, a spiritual 
 being, which introduced him into life, 
 accompanied him during the course of it, 
 and again conducted him out of it at the 
 close of his career. This belief was no 
 doubt a consequence of their idea of a 
 divine spirit pervading the whole physi- 
 cal world ; and was probably a personi- 
 fication of the particular structure or bent 
 of mind which a man receives from na- 
 ture. The guardian spirit of a person (a 
 purely Italian idea, which in modern 
 language has been wrongfully transferred 
 to Grecian Art,) is generally represented 
 as a veiled figure in a toga, holding a 
 patera and cornucopia, or as a beautiful 
 youth, nude or nearly so, with the wings 
 of a bird on his shoulders. The guardian 
 spirits of the female sex, junones, are 
 represented as young maidens with the 
 wings of a butterfly or a moth, and drap- 
 ed. The Romans also gave a genius to 
 edifices, towns, armies, and kingdoms. 
 The Roman genius of a place was de- 
 picted as a serpent devouring fruits, which 
 lay before it ; there are, however, many 
 exceptions to these rules. The modern 
 world comprises under the term genii, 
 the angels or messengers of heaven, and 
 
 those emblematical figures, which, as ev- 
 erything was personified in ancient Art, 
 are regarded as the deification of ideas. 
 The most common idea of Christian genii 
 are the patron angel of childhood and 
 tf youth, the angel of baptism, those of 
 poverty and mercy, of religion and vir- 
 tue, and the genii of the three Christian 
 graces, faith, hope, and charity. In mod- 
 ern times we find the genii of countries 
 often personified : the greatest work of 
 this kind is the genius of Bavaria, a 
 bronze female statue of colossal size by 
 Schwanthaler, recently completed and 
 placed in front of the Walfialla, near 
 Munich. Modern representations of river 
 gods are only to be regarded as genii 
 when they are executed in the romantic 
 and not in the antique style. 
 
 GENS, in ancient history, a clan or 
 sect, forming a subdivision of the Roman 
 people next in order to the curia or tribe. 
 The members and houses composing one 
 of these clans were not necessarily united 
 by ties of blood, but were originally 
 brought together by a political distribu- 
 tion of the citizens, and bound by reli- 
 gious rites, and a common name, derived 
 probably from some ancient hero. 
 
 GEN'TILES, a name given by the 
 Jews to all who were not of the twelve 
 tribes of Israel. Among Christians, it is 
 the name of all heathens who did not em- 
 brace the Christian faith. 
 
 GEN'TLEMAN, in the modern lan- 
 guages of western Europe, we generally 
 find a word to signify a person distin- 
 guished by his standing from the laboring 
 classes, gentUuomo, gentilhomme, hidal- 
 go, &c. In the German language, the 
 term which most nearly expresses the 
 same idea, is gebildet, which includes not 
 only gentlemanly manners, but also a 
 cultivated mind. The English law-books 
 say, that, under the denomination of gen- 
 tlemen, are comprised all above yeomen ; 
 so that noblemen are truly called gentle- 
 men; and further, that a gentleman, in 
 England, is generally defined to be one, 
 who, without any title, bears a coat of 
 arms, or whose ancestors have been free- 
 men : the coat determines whether he is 
 or is not descended from others of the 
 same name. In the highest sense, the 
 term gentleman signifies a man who not 
 only does what is just and right, but 
 whose conduct is guided by a true prin- 
 ciple of honor, which springs from that 
 self-respect and intellectual refinement 
 which manifest themselves in easy and 
 free, yet delicate manners. 
 
 GENRE-PAINT'ING, pictures of life
 
 264 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [GEN 
 
 and manners. Under this title are com- 
 prised the grave episodes of life, which 
 are to history what a single scene is to a 
 drama, or a lyric to an epic poem. Also 
 comic scenes of every kind ; a comic sub- 
 ject is seldom placed in the highest cate^ 
 gory of art, because it is the nature 9 
 comedy to overstep the strict line of beau- 
 ty and to become caricature. The prin- 
 cipal genre pictures consist of scenes of 
 every-day life, and may be classified. 
 Those of the Netherlands are the best, 
 and deserve to live ; though far from the 
 ideal of art, they show a skilful execution 
 and lead to higher thoughts. Another 
 kind are the low attempts at coloring 
 called costume or portrait genre pictures, 
 which are merely studies. In taking for 
 its subject the events of daily life, genre- 
 painting (unless the subject is eminently 
 suited to the idea) avoids religious themes 
 as high and lasting, as well as historical 
 subjects, which, though transitory, ought 
 never to appear so. A view of an open 
 house, into which the sun is shining, a 
 peasant lighting his pipe, all the pass- 
 ing events of life, its characters and aims, 
 offer fitting subjects for genre-painting. 
 Pure nature, true humanity, national 
 character, as revealed by domestic man- 
 ners, &c., form the circle of true genre- 
 painting, the boundary being mo.re clear- 
 ly 'defined than is the case in historical or 
 religious art. The distinction between 
 history and genre-painting cannot be too 
 clearly drawn. Transitions from one to 
 the other are admissible, and such pic- 
 tures belong to the happiest productions 
 of art ; and there are also circumstances 
 under which the advantages of both styles 
 may be united. We meet with speci- 
 mens of genre-painting among the an- 
 cients. As the character of ancient wor- 
 ship changed, a freer space was offered to 
 Art, which, by degrees, overstepped the 
 ideal circle of the mythic-normal, with- 
 drew the mystic veil with which the Saga 
 covered everything, and revealing nature, 
 assumed an individual character from 
 which a genre-like style of art arose tend- 
 ing towards the mythic. This style was, 
 however, very different from what we now 
 call genre-painting, which may be ex- 
 plained by the plastic character pervad- 
 ing art. Still we see by the mural paint- 
 ings at Herculaneum and Pompeii, that 
 in later Roman art there were colored 
 pictures of the genre kind. These were 
 certainly imperfect attempts, but they 
 prove, nevertheless, that mere manual 
 artists turned to domestic painting. The 
 introduction of a new religion, in the ser- 
 
 vice of which art was enrolled, delayed 
 the progress of life-painting for more than 
 a thousand years, but when that which 
 was unnatural in Christian Art gave place 
 to a free Germanic spirit, genre-painting 
 arose refreshed. This spirit inclining to- 
 wards the poetry of real life employed 
 genre-painting for ecclesiastical purposes, 
 but so many pleasing effects were devel- 
 oped, that religion was soon neglected and 
 cast aside. The carpenter's workshop be- 
 came popular, although it was not that of 
 Joseph; the landscape was beautiful, even 
 without the procession of the three kings ; 
 and the nosegay riveted the eye, although 
 not placed in the oratory of the Virgin. 
 
 GENRE-SCULP'TURE, we have evi- 
 dences of this branch of Art having been 
 attempted by the ancients. After the 
 time of Alexander the Great, religion, 
 and consequently Art, underwent a great 
 change ; there was more room for indi- 
 viduality, and a style of art was devel- 
 oped which corresponded to the wants of 
 the age. and which produced many works 
 of a genre character. We know that 
 genre-painting was very popular during 
 the last ages of Grecian art, from the de- 
 scriptions extant of the kitchen scenes, 
 <fcc., painted by Pyreicos, who finished 
 these little pictures so exquisitely that 
 they fetched a much higher price than 
 large paintings by other artists. There 
 are several specimens of genre-sculpture 
 extant, the most remarkable of which is 
 the Venus Cattipygos, in the Museum at 
 Naples. We find this style very often 
 employed in Etruscan art, of which we 
 have some specimens in the collection of 
 bronzes in London, viz., a circular vase, 
 the handle of which is formed by the fig- 
 ures of two struggling gladiators, a han- 
 dle formed by two jugglers, also a rare 
 bronze, formed of an Etruscan slave, 
 kneeling, whose physiognomy betrays his 
 descent ; he is employed in cleaning a 
 shoe, and holds a sponge in one hand. 
 We meet with genre-sculpture among the 
 biblical and legendary subjects in the 
 middle ages ; and it was carried on in the 
 Germanic period, though only in small 
 works, and those of a secular nature, viz., 
 ivory carvings, and illuminations in books. 
 Many critics affect to treat such works 
 slightingly, but whoever looks at them 
 with an unprejudiced eye, will be de- 
 lighted at the union of nature with gran- 
 deur of conception, and will reasonably 
 expect to see such subjects chosen for the 
 highest efforts of the artist. 
 
 GE'NUS, in natural history, a subdi- 
 vision of any class or order of things,
 
 GEO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 265 
 
 whether of the animal, vegetable, or min- 
 eral kingdoms. All the species of a ge- 
 nus agree in certain characteristics. In 
 music, a distribution of the tetrachord, or 
 the four principal sounds, according to 
 their quality. 
 
 GEOG'RAPHY, properly, a descrip- 
 tion of the earth or terrestrial globe, 
 particularly of the divisions of its surface, 
 natural and artificial, and of the position 
 of the several countries, kingdoms, states, 
 cities, <fcc. As a science, geography in- 
 cludes the doctrine or knowledge of the 
 astronomical circles or divisions of the 
 sphere, by which the relative position 
 of places on the globe may be ascertain- 
 ed ; and usually treatises of geography 
 contain some account of the inhabitants 
 of the earth, of their government, man- 
 ners, <fcc., and an account of the princi- 
 pal animals, plants, and minerals. Gen- 
 eral or universal geography, the science 
 which conveys a knowledge of the earth, 
 both as a distinct and independent body in 
 the universe, and as connected with a sys- 
 tem of heavenly bodies. Mathematical 
 geography, that branch of the general 
 science which is derived from the applica- 
 tion of mathematical truths to the figure 
 of the earth, and which teaches us to de- 
 termine the relative position of places, 
 their longitudes and latitudes, the differ- 
 ent lines and circles imagined to be drawn 
 upon the earth's surface, their measure, 
 distance, &c. Physical geography, that 
 branch which gives a description of the 
 principal features of the earth's surface 
 the various climates and temperature, 
 showing how these, together with other 
 causes, affect the condition of the human 
 race, and also a general account of the 
 animals and productions of the globe. 
 Political geography, that branch which 
 considers the earth as the abode of ra- 
 tional beings, according to their diffusion 
 over the globe, and their social relations 
 as they are divided into larger or smaller 
 societies. Sacred or biblical geography, 
 the geography of Palestine, and other 
 oriental nations mentioned in Scripture, 
 having for its object the illustration of 
 sacred history. 
 
 GEOL'OGY, the doctrine or science of 
 the structure of the earth or terraqueous 
 globe, and of the substances which com- 
 pose it ; or the science of the compound 
 minerals or aggregate substances which 
 compose the earth, the relations which 
 the several constituent masses bear to 
 each other, their formation, structure, 
 position, and direction. It also investi- 
 gates the successive changes that have 
 
 taken place in the organic and inorganic 
 kingdoms of nature ; it inquires into the 
 causes of these changes, and the influ- 
 ence which they have exerted in modify- 
 ing the surface and external structure 
 of our planet. It is a science founded on 
 exact observation and -careful induction, 
 and is intimately connected with all the 
 physical sciences. The geologist, in order 
 that he may conduct his investigations 
 with success, ought to be well versed in 
 chemistry, mineralogy, zoology, botany, 
 comparative anatomy ; in short, every 
 branch of science relating to organic and 
 inorganic nature Within the memory 
 of the present generation, the science 
 of geology has made immense progress. 
 Aided not only by the higher branches 
 of physics, but by recent discoveries in 
 mineralogy and chemistry, in botany, 
 zoology, and comparative anatomy, it has 
 extracted from the archives of the inte- 
 rior of the earth, records of former condi- 
 tions of our planet, and deciphered docu- 
 ments which were a sealed book to our 
 ancestors. It extends its researches into 
 regions more vast and remote than come 
 within the scope of any other physical 
 science except astronomy, of which it 
 has emphatically been termed the sister 
 science. 
 
 GE'OMANCY, a kind of divination by 
 means of figures or lines, formed by little 
 dots or points, either on the earth or on 
 paper, and representing the four ele- 
 ments, the cardinal points, the planetary 
 bodies, &c. This pretended science was 
 flourishing in the days of Chaucer, and 
 was deeply cultivated by Dryden at the 
 time of his rifaccimento of the Knight's 
 Tale. Cattan, who wrote a book on 
 geomaney in the sixteenth century, ab- 
 surdly enough observes, that it is " no 
 art of inchaunting, as some may suppose 
 it to be, or of divination, which is made 
 by diabolicke invocation ; but it is a part 
 of natural magicke, called of many worthy 
 men the daughter of astrologie, and the 
 abbreviation thereof." 
 
 GEOM'ETRY, originally and properly, 
 the art of measuring the earth, or any 
 distances or dimensions on it. But ge- 
 ometry now denotes the science of mag- 
 nitude in general, comprehending the 
 doctrines and relations of whatever is 
 susceptible of augmentation and diminu- 
 tion ; as the mensuration of lines, sur- 
 faces, solids, velocity, weight, Ac., with 
 their various relations. Geometry is the 
 most general and important of the mathe- 
 matical sciences ; it is founded upon a few 
 JVxiom,s or self-evident truths, and every
 
 2G6 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [GER 
 
 proposition which it lays down, whether 
 it be theorem or problem, is subjected to 
 the most accurate and rigid demonstra- 
 tion. Its usefulness extends to almost 
 every art and science. Astronomy, navi- 
 gation, surveying, architecture, fortifica- 
 tion, engineering, perspective, drawing, 
 optics, mechanics, &c., all depend upon 
 it. Geometry has been distinguished 
 into theoretical or speculative and practi- 
 cal. The former treats of the various 
 properties and relations of magnitudes, 
 with demonstrations of theorems, &c. ; 
 and the latter relates to the performance 
 of certain geometrical operations, such as 
 the construction of figures, the drawing 
 of lines in certain positions, and the ap- 
 plication of geometrical principles to the 
 various measurements in the ordinary 
 concerns of life. Theoretical geometry 
 is again divided into elementary or com- 
 mon geometry, and the higher geometry ; 
 the former being employed in the con- 
 sideration of lines, superficies, angles, 
 planes, figures, and solids ; and the lat- 
 ter, in the consideration of the higher 
 order of curve lines and problems. 
 
 GEOPON'ICA, the name of a Greek 
 compilation of precepts on rural economy, 
 extracted from ancient writers. The name 
 of the compiler is unknown ; but the au- 
 thorities which he quotes are numerous 
 and deservedly celebrated. 
 
 GEOPON'ICS, the art or science of 
 cultivating the earth. 
 
 GE'ORAMA, an instrument or machine 
 which exhibits a very complete view of 
 the earth, invented in Paris. It is a hol- 
 low sphere of forty feet diamater, formed 
 by thirty-six bars of iron representing 
 the parallels and meridians, and covered 
 with a bluish cloth, intended to represent 
 seas and lakes. The land, mountains, 
 and rivers are painted on paper and 
 pasted on this cover. 
 
 GEORGE, ST., a saint, or hero whose 
 name is famous throughout all the East, 
 and by which several orders, both mili- 
 tary and religious, have been distin- 
 guished. St. George is usually repre- 
 sented on horseback, in full armor, with 
 a formidable dragon writhing at his 
 feet. His sanctity is established in the 
 Latin as well as the Greek church ; and 
 England and Portugal have chosen him 
 for their patron saint. According to an- 
 cient legends, this renowned saint was a 
 prince of Cappadocia ; whose greatest 
 achievement was the conquest of an enor- 
 mous dragon, by which he effected the 
 deliverance of Aja, the daughter of a 
 king. The legend belongs to the age of 
 
 the crusades. The ancient Christian em- 
 perors bore the knight upon their stand- 
 ards. To these sacred banners the cru- 
 saders attributed a miraculous power, 
 and were sure of conquest while they 
 floated above their heads. Many, how- 
 ever, deny his very existence ; and reduce 
 his effigy to a mere symbol of victory 
 gained by the crusaders over the Mussul- 
 man nation. The legend of his life is one 
 of the most familiar and popular of the 
 Christian mythology. He is usually rep- 
 resented as a knight clothed in armor, 
 mounted on horseback, and combating 
 with a dragon. The variations are so 
 slight, that the subject can be easily rec- 
 ognized. As patron saint, he stands in 
 armor, holding a lance, sometimes with a 
 banner with a red cross, and a palm 
 branch. Sometimes the lance is broken 
 and the dragon dead at his feet. 
 
 GEOR'GICS, a poetical composition 
 treating of husbandry, after the manner 
 of Virgil's poems on rural subjects, which 
 are called Georgics. 
 
 GER'M AN SCHOOL, in painting. In 
 this school we find an attention to indi- 
 vidual nature, as usually seen, without 
 attempt at selection, or notion of ideal 
 beauty. The German painters seem to 
 have set a particular value on high fin- 
 ishing, rather than on a good arrange- 
 ment and disposition of the subject. 
 Their coloring is far better than their 
 drawing, but their draperies are gen- 
 erally in bad taste. Though among the 
 painters of this school some are free 
 from the application of these observa- 
 tions, they are not sufficient in number to 
 change the general judgment that must be 
 passed upon it. Wohlgeinuth, Holbein, 
 and Albert Durer are the heads of it. 
 These observations do not apply to a 
 school which seems now rising in Ger- 
 many, and which, with such leaders as 
 Retsch and others, seems likely to put the 
 school of painting there on a level with 
 its highly splendid intellectual powers 
 in all other branches of the arts and 
 sciences. 
 
 GEROCO'MIA, that part of medicine 
 which prescribes a regimen for old age. 
 
 GER'RA, in antiquity, a sort of square 
 shield, used first by the Persians and af- 
 terwards by the Greeks. 
 
 GER'UND, in grammar, a verbal noun 
 of the neuter gender, partaking of the 
 nature of a participle, declinable only in 
 the singular number, through all the 
 cases except the vocative ; as, nom. 
 amandum, gen. amandi, dat. amando, 
 accus. amandum, abl. amando.
 
 GIA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 261 
 
 GERU'SIA, in ancient history, the 
 senate of Sparta. The number of this 
 council was thirty, including the two 
 kings ; and the qualifications of its mem- 
 bers were, pure Spartan blood, and an 
 age not below sixty years. The election 
 was performed in a primitive manner by 
 acclamation, the candidates being brought 
 forth one by one before the people. He 
 who was greeted with the loudest ap- 
 plause was held to receive the highest 
 honor next the throne. The functions 
 of the gerusia were partly deliberative, 
 partly judicial, and partly executive. 
 It prepared measures which were to be 
 laid before the popular assembly ; it 
 exercised a criminal jurisdiction, with 
 power of capital punishment ; and also 
 wielded a kind of censorial authority for 
 the correction of abuses. 
 
 GES'TURE, any action or posture in- 
 tended to express an idea or passion, 
 or to enforce an argument or opinion : 
 hence propriety of gesture is of the first 
 importance to an orator. The interpre- 
 tation of the proper significance of ges- 
 ture is very important for the under- 
 standing of works of art. Much of this 
 is common to humanity, and seems to us 
 necessary ; on the other hand there are 
 also qualities of a positive nature, that 
 is derived, from the particular views and 
 customs of the nation. Here there is very 
 much indeed to be learned and guessed at, 
 as well by the artist in studying life, as 
 by the scientific in works of art. 
 
 ' GEY'SERS, the celebrated spouting 
 fountains of boiling water in Iceland. 
 The Geysers are situated about 30 miles 
 from the volcano Hecla, in plains full of 
 hot springs and steaming fissures. Their 
 jets are intermittent, and the height to 
 which they rise appears to vary much at 
 different times. 
 
 GHAUTS, a term applied originally 
 to the narrow and difficult passes in the 
 mountains of Central Hindostan, but 
 which has been gradually extended to 
 the mountains themselves. They consist 
 of two great chains extending along the 
 east and west coasts of the Deccan, par- 
 allel to each other, or rather diverging, 
 and leaving between them and the sea 
 only a plain of forty or fifty miles in 
 breadth. 
 
 GHOST, the soul or spirit separate 
 from the body. The ancients supposed 
 every man to be possessed of three differ- 
 ent ghosts, which, after the dissolution of 
 the human body, were differently dis- 
 posed of. These they distinguished by 
 the names of Manes, Spiritus, Umbra. 
 
 The Manes, they fancied, went down 
 into the infernal regions ; the Spiritus 
 ascended to the ski, and the Umbra 
 hovered about the tomb, as being unwil- 
 ling to quit its old connections. To give 
 up the ghost, a phrase frequently used in 
 Scripture for to yield up the breath, or 
 expire. 
 
 GHOST, HOLY, the third person in 
 the Holy Trinity ; but according to some 
 theologians, a biblical metaphor, to des- 
 ignate the divine influence. All Chris- 
 tians who subscribe to the doctrine of 
 the Athanasian creed, believe the Holy 
 Ghost to have proceeded from the Father 
 and the Son ; yet the Son and the Holy 
 Ghost are both eternal, since they are 
 co-eternal with the Father. The Greek 
 church maintains that the Holy Ghost 
 proceeds from the Father only ; and this 
 difference is one of the main points of 
 distinction between that church and the 
 Roman Catholic. A military order in 
 France under the old regime, which was 
 abolished by the revolution, but revived 
 by the Bourbons. 
 
 GI'ANTS, history, both sacred and 
 profane, makes mention of giants, or 
 people of extraordinary stature. Na- 
 tions, as well as individuals, in their in- 
 fancy, love the miraculous ; and any 
 event which deviates from the common 
 course of things, immediately becomes a 
 wonder on which poetry eagerly seizes ; 
 hence the Cyclops and Lsestrygons of the 
 ancients, and the ogres of romance. In- 
 stances, however, are by no means want- 
 ing of uncommonly large persons, hardly 
 needing the exaggeration of a lively im- 
 agination to make them objects of won- 
 der. The giants spoken of in Scripture 
 might bo men of extraordinary stature ; 
 but not so much above the ordinary meas- 
 ure as they have fancied, who describe 
 them as three or four times larger than 
 men are at present. And when we find 
 the Israelites describing themselves as 
 appearing like grasshoppers before the 
 Anakites, we must bear in mind the uni- 
 versal practice among the nations of the 
 East to express their astonishment in the 
 most extravagant style of hyperbole. The 
 giants of Greek mythology are believed 
 by some to represent the struggle of the 
 elements of nature against the gods, that 
 is, against the order of creation. They 
 were said to hurl mountains and forests 
 against Olympus, disdaining the light- 
 nings of Jupiter, <tc. Giants, indeed, 
 make a very considerable figure in the 
 fabulous history of every nation ; but, like 
 ghosts and fairies, they have always van-
 
 268 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [GIF 
 
 ished at the approach of science and civili- 
 zation. The fossil bones which gave cur- 
 rency to the belief of their existence, have, 
 upon minute inquiry, been found gener- 
 ally to belong to elephants, whales, Ac. 
 
 GI'ANT'S CAUSE'WAY, a vast as- 
 semblage of basaltic crystallized rocks, on 
 the northern coast of Ireland. This mag- 
 nificent production of nature extends two 
 miles in length along the coast of Antrim, 
 and probably runs under the sea as far as 
 the coast of Scotland, since something of 
 the same kind is met with there, and 
 known by the name of Fingal's Cave. 
 It consists of many hundred thousands 
 of columns of a black kind of rock, hard 
 as marble, of about twenty feet in height, 
 and a pentagonal or five-sided figure. 
 
 GIAOUR, a word literally signifying 
 dog in the Turkish language ; and com- 
 monly applied by the Turks to designate 
 the adherents of all religions except the 
 Mohammedan, but more particularly 
 Christians. 
 
 GIB'ELINES, or GHIB'ELINES, a 
 faction in Italy, in the 13th century, who 
 were the opponents of another faction, 
 called the Guelfs [which see.] 
 
 GIL'BERTINE, one of a religious or- 
 der, so named from Gilbert, lord of Sem- 
 pringham in Lincolnshire. 
 
 GIL'DA MEKCATO'RIA, in law, mer- 
 cantile meetings, assemblies, or corporate 
 bodies. 
 
 GILD'ING, the art of covering any- 
 thing with gold, either in a foliated or 
 liquid state. The beauty of gold has in- 
 duced many attempts to imitate its ap- 
 pearance, and hence several methods of 
 gilding have been invented. The art of 
 gilding, at the present day, is performed 
 either upon metals or upon wood, leather, 
 parchment, or paper ; and there are three 
 distinct methods in general practice ; 
 namely, wash, or water gilding, in which 
 the gold is spread, whilst reduced to a 
 fluid state, by solution in mercury ; leaf 
 gilding, either burnished or in oil, per- 
 formed by cementing thin leaves of gold 
 upon the work, either by size or by oil ; 
 and japanner's gilding, in which gold 
 dust or powder is used instead of leaves. 
 Gold is also applied to glass, porcelain, 
 and other vitrified substances, of which 
 the surfaces, being very smooth, are 
 capable of perfect contact with the gold 
 leaves. 
 
 GILES, ST., THE HERMIT, Saint Gilles, 
 (Fr.,) Sant. Egidio, (Ital.) This saint 
 has obtained great popularity both in 
 England and Scotland, as well as in 
 France. He is usually represented as an 
 
 old man with a flowing white beard, 
 naked, or clothed in white, (the color of 
 the habit of the Benedictines,) and ac- 
 companied by a hind wounded by an ar- 
 row. 
 
 GIM'BAL, a brass ring by which a 
 sea compass is suspended in its box, by 
 means of which the card is kept in a hor- 
 izontal position, notwithstanding the roll- 
 ing of the ship. 
 
 GIP'SIES. or GYP'SIES, a wandering 
 tribe, or race of vagabonds, spread over 
 the greater part of Europe, and some 
 parts of Asia and Africa ; strolling about 
 and subsisting mostly by theft, low games, 
 and fortune-telling. The name is sup- 
 posed to be corrupted from Egyptian, as 
 they were formerly thought to have come 
 from Egypt ; but it is now believed they 
 are of Indian origin, and that they be- 
 longed to the race of the Sindes, an In- 
 dian caste, which was dispersed, in 1400, 
 by the expeditions of Timour. Their 
 language is the same throughout Europe 
 with but little variation, and even now 
 resembles the dialect of Hindostan. The 
 late Bishop Heber relates in his Narra- 
 tive of a Journey through the Upper 
 Provinces of India, that he met with a 
 camp of gypsies on the banks of the 
 Ganges, who spoke the Hindoo language 
 as their mother tongue ; and he further 
 observes, that he found the same people 
 in Persia and Russia. Gypsies are re- 
 markable for the yellow brown, or rather 
 olive color of their skin ; the jet black 
 of their hair and eyes ; the extreme 
 whiteness of their teeth ; and for the 
 symmetry of their limbs, which distin- 
 guishes even the men, whose general ap- 
 pearance, however, is repulsive and shy. 
 Though some occasionally follow a trade 
 or honest calling, they rarely settle per- 
 manently anywhere. Wherever the cli- 
 mate is mild enough, they are found in 
 forests and deserts, in companies. They 
 seldom have tents, but seek shelter from 
 the cold of winter in grottoes and caves, 
 or they build huts, sunk some feet in the 
 earth, and covered with sods laid on poles. 
 They are fond of instrumental music, 
 which they chiefly practise by the ear, 
 and their lively motions are remarkable 
 in their own peculiar dances. The youth- 
 ful gypsies traverse the country, the men 
 obtaining their living by gymnastic feats, 
 tricks, <fec., while the women invariably 
 practise fortune-telling and chiromancy. 
 They are not nice in their food, but eat 
 1 all kinds of flesh ; even that of animals 
 which have died a natural death. Brandy 
 is their favorite beverage ; tobacco theii
 
 GLA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 269 
 
 greatest luxury ; both men and women 
 chew and smoke it with avidity, and are 
 ready to make great sacrifices for the 
 sake of satisfying this inclination. As 
 for religion they have no settled notions 
 or principles : amongst the Turks they 
 are Mohammedans ; in Christian coun- 
 tries, if they make any religious profes- 
 sion at all, they follow the forms of Chris- 
 tianity, without, however, caring for in- 
 struction, or having any interest in the 
 spirit of religion. They marry with none 
 but their own race, but their marriages 
 are formed in the rudest manner, and 
 when a gypsy becomes tired of his wife, 
 he will turn her off without ceremony. 
 
 GIR'DER, in architecture, a principal 
 beam in a floor for supporting the bind- 
 ing or other joists, whereby their bearing 
 or length is lessened. Perhaps so called, 
 because the ends of the joists are inclosed 
 by it. 
 
 GIR'DLE, a belt or band of leather or 
 some other substance used in girding up 
 the loins. The girdle was in use among 
 the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, for 
 various purposes more or less important. 
 By the Hebrews it was worn chiefly upon 
 a journey, and sometimes as a mark of 
 humiliation and sorrow; and by the 
 Greeks and Romans it was used as a mil- 
 itary ornament. To deprive a soldier of 
 his girdle was the deepest mark of igno- 
 miny with which he could be branded ; 
 and even among the civilians, who al- 
 ways wore a girdle over the tunic to ren- 
 der their motions unembarrassed, the 
 want of this appendage was considered 
 strongly presumptive of idle and dissolute 
 propensities, jfonam solvere virgineam 
 was a well-known phrase appropriated to 
 the marriage ceremony. To Venus was 
 attributed by the poets the possession of 
 a particular kind of girdle, called cestus, 
 which was said to have the power of in- 
 spiring love. 
 
 GIRONDE', THE, in French history, 
 a celebrated political party during the 
 revolution ; its members were termed 
 Girondists or Girondins. The name was 
 derived from that of the department La 
 Gironde, (in which Bordeaux is situated.) 
 which sent to the legislative assembly of 
 1791, among its representatives, three 
 men of eloquence and talent, (Gaudet, 
 Gensonne, Vergniaud,) who were among 
 the chief leaders of the party. Its prin- 
 ciples were republican. During the con- 
 tinuance of that assembly the Girondists 
 formed a powerful, but not always con- 
 sistent party. Out of these Louis XVI. 
 chose his republican ministers in the be- 
 
 ginning of 1792. But after the massacres 
 of September in that year the party in 
 general withdrew from all connection with 
 the Jacobins, and approximated towards 
 the Constitutionalists. In the Conven- 
 tion the Girondists at first commanded a 
 majority, but on the king's trial they 
 were much divided ; and, being pressed 
 by the violence of the sections of Paris, 
 they were at length expelled from the as- 
 sembly : thirty-four of them were out- 
 lawed, and finally twenty-two of their 
 leaders guillotined (7th and 31st October, 
 1793,) while a few escaped, and others 
 put an end to themselves. Perhaps the 
 most celebrated member of the Gironde 
 party was a lady, Madame Roland, the 
 wife of the minister of that name, who 
 was executed when the party fell. 
 
 GIR'OUETTE, (French, weathercock,) 
 a term applied to numerous public char- 
 acters in France, who. during the revolu- 
 tionary era, turned with every political 
 breeze. To mark these, a Dictionnaire 
 des Girouttes was published, containing 
 their names, &c., with a number of weath- 
 ercocks against each, corresponding to the 
 number of changes in the individual's po- 
 litical creed. 
 
 GIVEN, a term much used by mathe- 
 maticians, to denote something supposed 
 to be known. Thus, if a magnitude be 
 known, it is said to be a given magnitude, 
 if the ratio between two quantities be 
 known, these quantities are said to have 
 a given ratio, &c., &c. 
 
 GLA'CIERS, immense masses or fields 
 of ice which accumulate in the valleys be- 
 tween high mountains, from the melting 
 of the snow at their top, and which, ow- 
 ing to their elevation, generally remain 
 solid. The ice of the glaciers is entirely 
 different from that of the sea and river 
 water. It is not formed in layers, but 
 consists of little grains of congealed snow ; 
 and hence, though perfectly clear, and 
 often smooth on the surface, it is not 
 transparent. As glaciers, in some posi- 
 tions, and in hot summers, decrease, they 
 often also increase for a number of years 
 so as to render a valley uninhabitable. 
 Their increase is caused partly by alter- 
 nate thawing and freezing ; their de- 
 crease, by the mountain rivers, which of- 
 ten flow under them, and thus form an 
 arch of ice over the torrent. In the Ty- 
 rol, Switzerland, Piedmont, and Savoy, 
 the glaciers are so numerous that they 
 have been calculated to form altogether 
 a superficial extent of 1484 square miles. 
 
 GLA'CIS, in fortification, a mass of 
 earth serving as a parapet to the covered
 
 270 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [OLE 
 
 way, having an easy slope or declivity 
 toward*! the champaign or field. 
 
 GLA'DIATORS, in antiquity, combat- 
 ants who fought at the public games in 
 Home, for the entertainment of the spec- 
 tators. They were at first prisoners, 
 slaves, or condemned criminals ; but af- 
 terwards freemen fought in the arena, 
 either for hire, or from choice. The 
 games were commenced by a prcelusio, in 
 which they fought with weapons of wood, 
 till, upon a signal, they assumed their 
 arms, and began in earnest to fight in 
 pairs. In case the vanquished was not 
 
 killed in the combat, his fate was decided 
 by the people. If they wished to save 
 the life of the vanquished gladiator, they 
 signified the same by clenching the fin- 
 gers of both hands between each other, 
 and holding the thumbs upright, close to- 
 gether; the contrary was signified by 
 bending back their thumbs. The first of 
 these signals was called pollicem premere, 
 the second pollicem vertere. The victors 
 were honored with a palm branch, a sum 
 of money, or other marks of the people's 
 favor ; anS they were not unfrequently 
 released from further service, and re- 
 ceived as a badge of freedom, the rudis, 
 or wooden sword. The cut represents the 
 celebrated statue of the Dying Gladiator. 
 GLASS PAINTING, in painting, the 
 method of staining glass in such a man- 
 ner as to produce the effect of represent- 
 ing all the subjects whereof the art is 
 susceptible. A French painter of Mar- 
 seilles is said to have been the first who 
 instructed the Italians in this art, during 
 the pontificate of Julius II. It was, how- 
 ever, practised to a considerable extent by 
 Lucas of Leyden, and Albert Durer. The 
 art of glass-painting is practised under 
 three systems, which may be distinguish- 
 ed as the mosaic method; the enamel 
 method ; and a method compounded of 
 these two, or the mosaic-enamel method. 
 There is yet another mode of ornament- 
 ing glass, which consists in applying pig- 
 ments mixed with copal varnish. But 
 this is of a perishable nature, and should 
 not be regarded as true glass-painting, 
 
 which is only perfected by the aid of fire, 
 and is as durable as the glass itself. 
 Most true glass-paintings are formed by 
 combining the two processes of enamel- 
 ling and staining, since, although it would 
 not be possible to execute a glass-paint- 
 ing by staining the glass merely, yet it 
 can be entirely formed of painted glass 
 By the mosaic method, each color of the 
 design must be represented by a separate 
 piece of glass, except yellow, brown, and 
 black; these colors are applied upon white 
 glass, and for shadows. In the enamel 
 method, colored glass is not used, the 
 picture being painted upon white-glass 
 with enamel fragments. The mosaic- 
 enamel method consists of a combination 
 of the two other processes; white and 
 colored glass, as well as every variety of 
 enamel color, being employed in it. 
 
 GLAU CUS, in Grecian mythology, the 
 name of a marine deity, the son, accord- 
 ing to some of the genealogists, of Nep- 
 tune and one of the Naiads ; according to 
 others, of Polybius and Alcyone. He 
 enjoyed the power of prophecy. 
 
 GLAZ'ING, is that part of the prac- 
 tice of oil-painting which consists in the 
 application of an extremely thin layer 
 of color over another, for the purpose of 
 modifying its tone. The pigments em- 
 ployed are generally transparent, al- 
 though, in some instances, such as in the 
 representation of clouds, dust, smoke, <tc , 
 opaque pigments are admissible when 
 mixed in minute quantities with a large 
 proportion of oil. By glazing, the painter 
 can produce certain effects, such as trans- 
 parency and mellowness, impossible with 
 the aid of solid pigments alone, the in- 
 tention being to give a natural and 
 agreeable harmony and mellowness to 
 the execution of a picture such as would 
 be produced by a colored varnish. The 
 color employed in glazing should be of a 
 darker tint than the solid pigment over 
 which it is laid. Glazing formed a very 
 important part in the practice of the 
 Venetian school, and in those derived 
 from it. Those who paint alia prima 
 can produce the desired effect without 
 glazing. 
 
 GLEAN'ING. the practice of collect- 
 ing corn left in a harvest field after the 
 harvest has been carried, which appears 
 by the Mosaic law to have been allowed 
 to the poor. The right of the poor to 
 glean is, however, not admitted in the 
 English common law. 
 
 GLEBE, in law, church land; usually 
 taken for that which is annexed to a par- 
 ish church of common right.
 
 ONO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 271 
 
 GLEE, in music, a composition for 
 voices in three or more parts. The sub- 
 jects of the words are various, being gay, 
 grave, amatory, pathetic, or bacchana- 
 lian. It may consist of only one move- 
 ment, but usually has more. 
 
 GLEE-MAN, itinerant minstrels were 
 so called by the Saxons : their appella- 
 tion is translated jouulatores by the Latin 
 writers of the middle ages. The name 
 appears to have been supplanted by the 
 Norman minstrel, shortly after the con- 
 quest. 
 
 GLOBE, in practical methematics, an 
 artificial spherical 'body, on the convex 
 surface of which are represented the 
 countries, seas, &c. of our earth ; or the 
 face of the heavens, with the several cir- 
 cles which are conceived upon them. 
 That with the parts of the earth deline- 
 ated upon its surface, is called the terres- 
 trial globe ; and that with the constella- 
 tions. <fcc. the celestial globe. Their prin- 
 cipal use, besides serving as maps to 
 distinguish the earth's surface, and the 
 situation of the fixed stars, is to illustrate 
 and explain the phenomena arising from 
 the diurnal motion of the earth. They 
 are consequently of the highest impor- 
 tance in acquiring a knowledge of geogra- 
 phy and astronomy. 
 
 GLOB'ULAR CHART, a name given 
 to the representation of the surface, or 
 of some part of the surface of the terres- 
 trial globe upon a plane, wherein the 
 parallels of latitude are circles, nearly 
 concentric, the meridian curves bending 
 towards the poles, aud the rhumb-lines 
 are also curves. 
 
 GLOB'ITLE, a small particle of matter 
 of a spherical form ; a word particularly 
 applied to the red particles of blood, 
 which swim in a transparent serum, and 
 may be discovered by the microscope. 
 
 GLO'RY, in painting and sculpture, a 
 circle, either plain or radiated, surround- 
 ing the heads of saints, &c., and espe- 
 cially of our Saviour. The term glory is 
 used in the sacred writings in various 
 senses, all of which, however, may be 
 easily deduced from the original meaning 
 of its Hebrew equivalent, which signifies 
 weight. Thus the glory of God means 
 all those attributes aud qualities which 
 give him weight in our eyes, or inspire 
 us with reverence. 
 
 GLOSS, in the rhetoric of Aristotle, 
 this word is used in the sense of a foreign, 
 obsolete, or otherwise strange idiom ; 
 which, judiciously employed, he reckons 
 among the ornaments of style. From 
 the sense of " something requiring inter- 
 
 pretation" the word came to moan the 
 interpretation itself ; strictly, of a single 
 word or phrase. In the twelfth century, 
 the comments or annotations of learned 
 jurists on passages in the text of the 
 Roman law were denominated glosses ; 
 when these extended to a running com- 
 mentary, they were termed an appara- 
 tus. The glosses were collected by Ac- 
 cursius in the 13th century, and from 
 that period they formed for a long time 
 a body of authority reckoned equal or 
 even superior to the text itself. 
 
 GLOS'SARY, a dictionary of difficult 
 words and phrases in any language or 
 writer ; sometimes used for a dictionary 
 of words in general. 
 
 GLOVES, well-known articles of dress 
 used for covering the hands. The prac- 
 tice of covering the hands with gloves has 
 prevailed among almost all Mi/j nations 
 of the earth from time immemorial, and 
 is common at once to the rude Tartar, 
 who seeks by their means to protect 
 himself from cold, and to the refined 
 European, with whom their use is an 
 emblem of luxury. In the middle ages, 
 gloves constituted a costly article of 
 dress, being often highly decorated with 
 embroidery and richly adorned with 
 precious stones. In the age of chivalry 
 it was usual for the soldiers who had 
 gained the favor of a lady to wear her 
 glove in his helmet ; and, as is well 
 known, the throwing of a glove *was the 
 most usual mode of challenging to duel. 
 This latter practice prevailed so early as 
 the year 1245. 
 
 GLYCO'NIAN, or GLYCON'IC, a kind 
 of verse in Greek and Latin poetry, con- 
 sisting of three feet, a spondee, a chori- 
 amb, and a pyrrhic. 
 
 GLYPH, in sculpture and architecture, 
 any channel or cavity intended as an or- 
 nament. 
 
 GLYPTOG'RAPHY, a description of 
 the art of engraving on precious stones. 
 
 GLYPTOTHE'CA, a building or room 
 for the preservation of works of sculp- 
 ture ; a word adopted by the Germans, as 
 in the instance of the celebrated Glypto- 
 thek at Munich. 
 
 GNOMES, spirits with which the imagi- 
 nation of certain philosophers has peopled 
 the interior parts of the earth, and to 
 whose care mines, quarries, <fec. are as- 
 signed. 
 
 GNO'MIC POETS. Greek poets, whose 
 remains chiefly consist of short senten- 
 tious precepts and reflections, are so 
 termed in classical bibliography. The 
 principal writers of this description, of
 
 272 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 whom a few fragments arc extant, are 
 Theognis and Solon, who lived in the 6th 
 century before the Christian era. With 
 them TyrUiMis and Simonides are joined 
 by Brunck in his edition, although these 
 writers have little of a gnomic character. 
 The metre of these poets is elegiac. 
 
 GNOSTICS, a sect of philosophers that 
 arose in the first ages of Christianity, 
 who pretended they were the only men 
 who had a true knowledge of the Chris- 
 tian religion. They formed for them- 
 selves a system of theology, agreeable to 
 the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, 
 and fancied they discovered deeper mys- 
 teries in the Scriptures than were per- 
 ceived by those whom they considered as 
 simple and ignorant. They held that all 
 natures, intelligible, intellectual, and ma- 
 terial, are derived by successive emana- 
 tions from the Deity. In process of 
 time, the name designated sectarians of 
 various descriptions, but who all agreed 
 in certain opinions ; and the tenet which 
 seems most particularly to distinguish the 
 Gnostic name, was the existence of two 
 first principles, or deities, the one the 
 author of good, and the other of evil. 
 
 GOBELINS, or HOTEL-ROYAL DE Go- 
 it ELINS, a celebrated academy for tapes- 
 try-drawing, and manufactory of tapes- 
 try, erected in the suburb of St. Marcel, 
 at Paris, by Louis XIV. in the year 1666. 
 The place was previously famous on ac- 
 count of the dyeing manufactory estab- 
 lished there by Giles and John Gobelins, 
 in the reign of Francis I. These eminent 
 dyers discovered a. method of producing 
 a beautiful scarlet, which has ever since 
 been known by their name ; and so ex- 
 tensive has been their fame, that not only 
 the color, but the house in which their 
 business was carried on, and the river 
 they made use of, are called gobelins. 
 
 GOD, the appellation which we give to 
 the Creator and Sovereign of the uni- 
 verse ; the Supreme Being. The words 
 god and goddess are also the appellatives 
 common to the heathen deities ; which 
 they divided into diimajorum gentium, 
 and dii minorum gentium ; that is, into 
 the superior and inferior gods. Another 
 division was taken from their place of 
 residence ; thus there were celestial, ter- 
 restrial, infernal, marine, and sylvan 
 gods. They were also divided into ani- 
 mal and natural gods : the animal gods 
 were mortals, who had been raised to di- 
 vinity by ignorance and superstition ; and 
 the natural gods, the parts of nature, 
 euch as the stars, the elements, mountains, 
 rivers, Ac. There were also deities, who 
 
 were supposed to preside over particular 
 persons : some had the care of women in 
 child-birth; others, the care of children 
 and young persons; and others were the 
 deities of marriage. Each action, virtue, 
 and profession had also its particular 
 god : the shepherds had their Pan ; the 
 gardeners, their Flora ; the learned, their 
 Mercury and Minerva ; and the poets, 
 their Apollo and the Muses. 
 
 GOD'FATHER, and (iOD'.MOTIIER, 
 the man and woman who are sponsors for 
 a child at baptism ; who promise to an- 
 swer for his future conduct, ami solemnly 
 promise that he shall 'follow a life of piety 
 and virtue, by this means laying them- 
 selves under an indispensable obligation 
 to instruct the child and watch over his 
 conduct. This practice is of great an- 
 tiquity in the Christian church, and was 
 probably instituted to prevent children 
 being brought up in idolatry, in case 
 their parents died before they arrived at 
 years of discretion. 
 
 GOLD, this metal, which in purity and 
 firmness surpasses all others, is employed 
 both in the plastic arts, and to a limited 
 extent in painting. The most varied and 
 beautiful objects extant are the vessels 
 used in religious services; and as it was 
 most properly employed in the sacred 
 vessels and sanctuary of the Old Temple, 
 so the chalices and tabernacles of the 
 Catholic church, and the shrines of the 
 saints have been moulded of this precious 
 metal ; and in ecclesiastical ornament of 
 all kinds, with its multiplied fibres, and 
 mingled with silk and purple, it enriches 
 the sacerdotal vestments and the hang- 
 ings of the altar. Gold signifies purity, 
 dignity, wisdom, and glory, and it is used 
 in painting for the Nimbi which surround 
 the heads of the saints, and it frequently 
 forms the ground on which sacred sub- 
 jects are painted, the better to express 
 the majesty of the mystery depicted. It 
 is a proper emblem of brightness and 
 glory. 
 
 GOLD'EN-FLEECE, in the mytho- 
 logical fables of the ancients, signified the 
 skin or fleece of the ram upon which 
 Phryxus and Hella are supposed to have 
 swum over the sea to Colchis ; which be- 
 ing sacrificed to Jupiter, its fleece was 
 hung upon a tree in the grove of Mars, 
 guarded by two brazen-hoofed bulls, and 
 a monstrous dragon that never slept ; but 
 was at last taken and carried off by Jason 
 and the Argonauts. 
 
 GOLD'EN NUM'BER, in chronology, 
 is that number which indicates the year 
 of the lunar cycle, for any given time. It

 
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 
 (Cathedral at Troyes. France! p
 
 GOT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 273 
 
 was called the Golden Number, because 
 in the ancient calendar it was written in 
 letters of gold, on account of its great use- 
 fulness in ecclesiastical computations, es- 
 pecially in fixing the time of Easter. It 
 was likewise called the Prime, because it 
 pointed out the first day of the new moon, 
 primum lunce. To find the Golden Num- 
 ber, add 1 to the year of our Lord, divide 
 the sum by 19, and the remainder is the 
 Golden Number, the quotient at the same 
 time expressing the number of cycles 
 which have revolved from the beginning 
 of the year preceding the birth of Christ. 
 GON'DOLA, the name given to the 
 pleasure boats used at Venice, where the 
 numerous canals with which it is inter- 
 sected generally render it necessary to 
 substitute boats for carriages. The gon- 
 dola is from 25 to 30 feet long, and five 
 
 feet wide in the centre, in which a sort of 
 cabin is constructed for passengers. They 
 are sharp-pointed both at the prow and 
 stern, and are rowed by two men called 
 gondolieri. The cabins are always fur- 
 nished with black curtains, which give a 
 sombre appearance to the gondola at a 
 distance. 
 
 GOOD FRI'DAY, the name given in 
 England to the anniversary of our Sa- 
 viour's crucifixion. The French and most 
 other European nations substitute the 
 epithet holy for good. From the first 
 dawn of Christianity, Good Friday has 
 been regarded as a solemn festival by 
 the great body of the Christian world. 
 
 GOOD-WILL, in law, the custom of 
 any trade or business. A contract to 
 transfer it is, in general, good at law, 
 though not usually enforced in equity. In 
 wliiii cases the good-will of a partnership 
 can be claimed as property by the repre- 
 sentatives of a deceased partner appears 
 doubtful. 
 
 GOR'DIAN KNOT, in antiquity, a 
 knot made in the harness of the chariot 
 18 
 
 of Gordius, king of Phrygia, so very in- 
 tricate, that there was no finding where 
 it began or ended. An oracle had de- 
 clared that he who should untie this knot 
 should be master of Asia. Alexander 
 having undertaken it, and fearing that 
 his inability to untie it should prove an 
 ill augury, cut it asunder with his sword, 
 and thus either accomplished or eluded 
 the oracle. Hence, in modern language, 
 to rat the Gordian knot is to remove a 
 difficulty by bold or unusual means. 
 
 GORGE, in architecture, the narrowest 
 part of the Tuscan and Doric capitals, ly- 
 ing between the astragal, above the shaft 
 of the column and the annulets. In for- 
 tification, the entrance of a bastion, rav- 
 elin, or other outwork. 
 
 GOR'GET, in plate-armor, the piece 
 covering the neck at- 
 tached to the helmet. 
 The old covering for 
 the neck was called 
 camail, made of leath- 
 er or cloth, and at- 
 tached to the hood ; on this plates of steel 
 were riveted ; and thus the gorget wa.-s 
 formed, about the time of Edward II. 
 The name is supposed to have originated 
 in Lombardy. 
 
 GORGONEI'A, in architecture, carv- 
 ings of masks imitating the Gorgon or 
 Medusa's head. 
 
 GOR'GONS. in mythology, three sister 
 deities, fabled by the Greeks to dwell 
 near the Western Ocean. Their heads, 
 which were twined with serpents instead 
 of hair, had the power of turning all who 
 beheld them to stone ; of which property 
 Perseus made use after he had, by the 
 help of Minerva, cut off the head of 
 Medusa. 
 
 GOS'PEL, is used to signify the whole 
 system of the Christian religion, and 
 more particularly, as the term literally 
 implies the good news of the coming of 
 the Messiah. The word was also origi- 
 nally applied to the books which con- 
 tained an account of the life of Christ, 
 many of which were in circulation in 
 the first century of the Christian era ; 
 though only four, those of Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke and John, were considered 
 canonical by the fathers. 
 
 GOTH'IC, pertaining to the Goths ; 
 as Gothic customs ; Gothic barbarity. 
 In architecture, a term at first applied 
 opprobriously to the architecture of the 
 middle ages, but now in general use as 
 its distinctive appellation. By some the 
 term Gothic is considered to include the 
 Romanesque. Saxon, and Norman styles
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [GRA 
 
 which have circular arches, but it is only 
 appropriately applied to the styles which 
 are distinguished by the pointed arch. 
 Gothic architecture so restricted has 
 been divided into three distinct periods : 
 the first period is named the Early Eng- 
 lish, it prevailed in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury ; the second period or style, of the 
 fourteenth century, is named the decora- 
 ted style ; and the third period is called 
 the perpendicular style. The chief char- 
 acteristics of Gothic architecture are : 
 the predominance of the arch and the 
 subserviency and subordination of all the 
 other parts to this chief feature ; the 
 tendency of the whole composition to 
 vertical lines ; the absence of the column 
 and entablature of classic architecture, 
 of square edges and rectangular surfaces, 
 and the substitution of clustered shafts, 
 contrasted surfaces, and members multi- 
 plied in rich variety. The Gothic style 
 is that best adapted for ecclesiastical 
 * edifices. 
 
 GOVERNMENT, that form of funda- 
 mental rules and principles by which a 
 nation or state is governed. If this 
 power be vested in the hands of one, it is 
 a monarchy ; if in the hands of the nobil- 
 ity, an aristocracy ; and if in the hands 
 of the people, or those chosen by them, a 
 democracy. The executive government 
 is the power of administering public 
 affairs; the legislative government, that 
 of making the laws. Government is also 
 a post or office which gives a person the 
 power or right to govern or rule over a 
 place, a city, or province, either su- 
 premely or by deputation. Thus, the 
 government of Ireland is vested in the 
 lord-lieutenant. Government, in gram- 
 mar, the influence of a word in regard to 
 construction, as when established usage 
 requires that one word should cause 
 another to be in a particular case or 
 mood. 
 
 GRACE, in objects of taste, a certain 
 species of beauty, which appears to con- 
 sist in the union of elegance and dig- 
 nity. In theology, the free unmerited 
 love and favor of God; or the divine 
 influence in restraining from sin. Days 
 of grace, in commercial law, three days 
 allowed for the payment of a bill after it 
 has become due. The word grace is also 
 used in speaking of or to a duke or 
 duchess, as your Grace, his or her Grace. 
 7Vie Graces, among the heathen world, 
 were female beauties deified : they were 
 three in number; Aglaia, Thalia, and 
 Euphrosyne, the constant attendants of 
 Venus. In music, graces are turns, 
 
 trills, and shakes, introduced for the pur- 
 pose of embellishment. 
 
 GRADATION, in general, the as- 
 cending step by step, or proceeding in a 
 regular and uniform manner. It also 
 means a degree in any order or series. 
 Thus we say, there is a gradation in the 
 scale of being; or we observe a grada- 
 tion in the progress of society from a 
 rude state to civilized life. Gradation, in 
 logic, is an argumentation, consisting of 
 four or more propositions, so disposed, as 
 that the attribute of the first is the sub- 
 ject of the second ; and the attribute of 
 the second, the subject of the third; and 
 so on, till the last attribute come to be 
 predicated of the subject of the first prop- 
 osition. 
 
 GRAD'UATE. one who has obtained a 
 degree at a university, or from some 
 professional incorporated society, after a, 
 due course of study, and suitable exami- 
 nation. 
 
 GRAM'MAR, the art which analyzes 
 and classes the words in a language, which 
 details its peculiarities, and furnishes 
 rules, recognized by the best authorities, 
 for its construction. General grammar 
 teaches the principles which are common 
 to all languages ; and the grammar of 
 any particular language teaches the prin- 
 ciples peculiar to that language. 
 
 GRAND, in the Fine Arts, a quality 
 by which the highest degree of majesty 
 and dignity is imparted to a work of art. 
 Its source is in form freed from ordinary 
 and common bounds, and to be duly felt 
 requires an investigation of the different 
 qualities by which great and extraordi- 
 nary objects produce impression on the 
 mind. 
 
 GRANDEE', the highest title of Span- 
 ish nobility. The collective body of the 
 higher nobility in Spain is termed la 
 grandeza. They were originally the 
 same with the ricos hombres. Grandees 
 bear different titles duke, marquis, Ac. ; 
 but there is no essential difference of rank 
 between these titles : all are equal among 
 themselves. Grandeeyhips descend through 
 females, and thus become accumulated in 
 families. 
 
 GRAN'DEUR, in a general sense, 
 greatness ; that quality or combination 
 of qualities in an object, which elevates 
 or expands the mind, and excites pleas- 
 urable emotions in him who views or 
 contemplates it. Thus the extent and 
 uniformity of surface in the ocean consti- 
 tute grandeur ; as do the extent, the 
 elevation, and the concave appearance or 
 rault of the sky. So we speak of the
 
 ORE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 grandeur of a large and well-propor- 
 tioned edifice, of an extensive range of 
 lofty mountains, of a large cataract, of a 
 pyramid, &c. 
 
 GRAND JU'RY, a jury whose duty is 
 to examine into the grounds of accusa- 
 tion against offenders, and if they see 
 just cause, then to find bills of indictment 
 against them to be presented to the 
 court. 
 
 GRANT, in law, a gift in writing of 
 such things as cannot conveniently be 
 passed or verbally conveyed. 
 
 GRAPE'-SHOT, in artillery, a com- 
 bination of small shot put into a thick 
 canvass bag, and corded so as to form a 
 kind of cylinder. 
 
 GRA'VER, called also BURIN, the 
 sharp tool, whose extremity is a trian- 
 gular form, for cutting the lines of an en- 
 graving on the copper. See ENGRAV- 
 ING. 
 
 GRAVITA'TION, the force by which 
 bodies are pressed or drawn, or by which 
 they tend toward the centre of the earth 
 or other centre, or the effect of that force. 
 Thus the falling of a body to the earth is 
 ascribed to gravitation. The attraction 
 of gravitation exists between bodies in 
 the mass, and acts at sensible distances. 
 It is thus distinguished from chemical 
 and cohesive attractions which unite the 
 particles of bodies together, and act at 
 insensible distances, or distances too small 
 to be measured. Terrestrial gravita- 
 tion, that which respects the earth, or by 
 which bodies descend, or tend towards the 
 centre of the earth. All bodies, when 
 unsupported, fall by gravitation towards 
 the earth, in straight lines tending to its 
 centre. General or universal gravita- 
 tion, that by which all the planets tend 
 towards one another, and, indeed, by 
 which all the bodies and particles of mat- 
 ter in the universe tend towards one an- 
 other. The theory of universal gravita- 
 tion was established, by Newton. He 
 proved that the moon gravitates to- 
 wards the earth, and the earth towards 
 the moon, all the secondaries to their 
 primaries ; and these to their seconda- 
 ries; also the primaries to the sun, and 
 the sun to the primaries. It is also highly 
 probable, that the bodies of the solar 
 system, and those of other systems, grav- 
 itate mutually towards each other. The 
 terms gravitation and gravity are gene- 
 rally used synonymously. 
 
 GRAY, is compounded of black and 
 white in various proportions, or of the 
 three primary colors, red, blue, and yel- 
 low; according to the predominance of 
 
 either of these, there are produced blue 
 grays, purple grays, green grays ; but 
 when the red or yellow predominate, there 
 are produced the various hues of brown. 
 
 GRAZIO'SO, in music, an instruction 
 to the performer that the music to which 
 this word is affixed is to be executed ele- 
 gantly and gracefully. 
 
 GREAVE, a piece of armor defend- 
 ing the shin. TRe greave was a piece of 
 steel hollowed to fit the front of the leg, 
 and fastened with straps behind. The 
 greave common among the Greeks was 
 used in some instances by the Roman 
 soldiery, but only on one leg, the other 
 being covered with the buckler. It is 
 said to have been discontinued in the 
 armies of the Greek empire, under the 
 emperor Maurice, (about the end of the 
 6th century,) and again brought into use 
 in those armies of the middle ages, about 
 1320. They were also called jambs, bein- 
 bergs, &c. They were originally of 
 leather, quilted linen, &c. The clavons 
 were a species of greaves made of cloth. 
 
 GREEK CHURCH, that portion of 
 Christians who conform, in their creed, 
 usages, and church government, to the 
 views of Christianity introduced into the 
 former Greek empire, and perfected, since 
 the fifth century, under the patriarchs of 
 Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and 
 Jerusalem. Like the Roman Catholic, 
 this church recognizes two sources of doc- 
 trine, the bible and tradition, under which 
 last it comprehends not only those doc- 
 trines which were orally delivered by the 
 apostles, but also those which have been 
 approved of by the fathers of the Greek 
 church. It is the only church which 
 holds that the Holy Ghost proceeds from 
 the Father only, thus differing from the 
 Catholic and Protestant churches, which 
 agree in deriving the Holy Ghost from 
 the Father and the Son. Like the Cath- 
 olic church, it has seven sacraments bap- 
 tism, chrism, the eucharist preceded by 
 confession, penance, ordination, marriage, 
 and supreme unction ; but it is peculiar 
 in holding that full purification from 
 original sin in baptism requires an im- 
 mersion three times of the whole body in 
 water, whether infants or adults are to 
 be baptized, and in joining chrism (con- 
 firmation) with it as the completion of 
 baptism. It rejects the doctrine of pur- 
 gatory, has nothing to do with predesti- 
 nation, works of supererogation, indul- 
 gences, and dispensations ; and it recog- 
 nizes neither the pope nor any one else 
 as the visible vicar of Christ on earth. 
 In the invocation of the saints, in their
 
 276 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [GRE 
 
 fasts, relics, &c., they are as zealous as 
 the Romanists ; it may be said, indeed, 
 that the services of the Greek church 
 consist almost entirely of outward forms. 
 This is the religion of Russia ; the eccle- 
 siastical establishment of which consists 
 in a holy synod, four metropolitans, 
 eleven archbishops, nineteen bishops, 
 12,500 parish churches, and 425 convents, 
 fifty-eight of which are connected with 
 monastic schools for the education of the 
 clergy. The Greek church, under the 
 Turkish dominion, remained, as far as 
 was possible under such circumstances, 
 faithful to the original constitution. 
 The patriarch of Constantinople exercises 
 the highest ecclesiastical jurisdiction over 
 the Greeks in the whole Turkish empire ; 
 but they labor under many disabilities, 
 among which is a heavy poll-tax, under 
 the name of " exemption from behead- 
 ing." 
 
 GREEK FIRE, a combustible compo- 
 sition invented by the Greeks in the mid- 
 dle ages, during their wars with the 
 Arabs and Turks. It consists of naphtha, 
 bitumen, sulphur, gum, <fcc. 
 
 GREEK LAN'GUAGE, the language 
 of the primitive inhabitants of Greece, the 
 Pelasgi, was already extinct in the time 
 of Herodotus, who asserts that it was dif- 
 ferent from the Hellenic, and adds, that 
 it is probable the Hellenes have retained 
 their original language. From the great 
 number of Hellenic tribes of the same 
 race, it was to be expected that there 
 would be different dialects, the knowledge 
 ef which is the more necessary for becom- 
 ing acquainted with the Greek language, 
 since the writers of this nation have trans- 
 mitted the peculiarities of- the different 
 dialects in the use of single letters, words, 
 terminations, and expressions, and that 
 not merely to characterize more particu- 
 larly an individual represented as speak- 
 ing but even when they speak in their 
 own person. It is customary to distin- 
 guish three leading dialects, according to 
 the three leading branches of the Greeks, 
 the j-Eolie, the Doric, and the Ionic, to 
 which was afterwards added the mixed 
 Attic dialect. At what time this language 
 first began to be expressed in writing, has 
 long been a subject of doubt. Accord- 
 ing to the general opinion, Cadmus, the 
 Phoenician, introduced the alphabet into 
 Greece. His alphabet consisted of but 
 sixteen letters ; four are said to have been 
 invented by Palamedes in the Trojan war, 
 and four more by Simonides of Ceos. As 
 the lonians first adopted these letters, 
 and the Athenians received them from 
 
 them, the alphabet with twenty-four let 
 ters is called the Ionic. Those who have 
 most carefully studied the subject, be- 
 lieve that the use of the alphabet became 
 common in Greece about 550 years before 
 Christ, and about as long after Homer. 
 In Homer's time, all knowledge, religion, 
 and laws were preserved by memory 
 alone, and for that reason were put in 
 verse, till prose was introduced with the 
 art of writing. The Greek language, as 
 preserved in the writings of the celebrated 
 authors of antiquity, as Homer, Hcsiod, 
 Demosthenes, Aristotle, Plato, Xenophon, 
 Ac., has a great variety of terms and ex- 
 pressions, suitable to the genius and oc- 
 casions of a polite and learned people, 
 who had a taste for arts and sciences. In 
 it, proper names are significative ; which 
 is the reason that the modern languages 
 borrow so many terms from it. When any 
 new invention, instrument, machine, or the 
 like, is discovered, recourse is generally 
 had to the Greek for a name to it ; the facil- 
 ity wherewith words are there compound- 
 ed, affording such as will be expressive of 
 its use ; such are barometer, hygrometer, 
 microscope, telescope, thermometer, <fec. 
 But of all sciences medicine most abounds 
 with such terms ; as, diaphoretic, diagno- 
 sis, diarrhoea, hemorrhage, hydrophobia, 
 phthisis, atrophy, &c. Modern Greek, or 
 Romaic. The Greek language seems to 
 have preserved its purity longer than any 
 other known to us ; and even long after 
 its purity was lost, the echo of this beau- 
 tiful tongue served to keep alive some- 
 thing of the spirit of ancient Greece. All 
 the supports of this majestic and refined 
 dialect seemed to fail, when the Greeks 
 were enslaved by the fall of Constantino- 
 ple, (A. D. 1543.) All the cultivated class- 
 es who still retained the pure Greek, the 
 language of the Byzantine princes, either 
 perished in the conflict, or took to flight, 
 or courted the favor of their rude con- 
 querors by adopting their dialect. In the 
 lower classes only did the common Greek 
 survive the vulgar dialect of the polished 
 classes. But the Greek spirit, not yet ex- 
 tinguished by all the adversities the na- 
 tion had undergone, finally revived with 
 increasing vigor, and even the love of 
 song kept alive some sparks of patriotic 
 sentiment. From the beginning of the 
 present century, external circumstances 
 have greatly favored the progress of edu- 
 cation in Greece ; schools have been es- 
 tablished ; and the language itself, which 
 in its degradation was not destitute of 
 melody and flexibility, gained energy and 
 vivacity from the efforts of several pa-
 
 GRO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 277 
 
 triotic individuals, who endeavored to 
 bring it nearer the ancient classic dialect. 
 
 GREEN, a secondary color, compound- 
 ed of the primaries blue and yellow : if 
 the blue predominates, the compound is 
 a blue-green ; if the yellow predomi- 
 nates, it is a yellow-green ; or a warm 
 green. Green, in blazonry, sinople, sig- 
 nified love, joy, and abundance. Among 
 the Greeks green symbolized victory, and 
 among the Moors it had the same signifi- 
 cation : it also designated hope, joy, 
 youth, and spring, (the youth of the 
 year,) which gives tha hope of harvest. 
 
 GREEN'-CLOTH, in British polity, a 
 board or court of justice held in the count- 
 ing-house or the British monarch's house- 
 hold, and composed of the lord-steward 
 and inferior officers. To this court is 
 committed the charge and supervision of 
 the ro3 r al household in matters of justice 
 and government, with power to correct 
 all offenders, and to maintain the peace 
 of the verge, or jurisdiction of the court- 
 royal, which extends every way two 
 hundred yards from the gate of the pal- 
 ace. Without a warrant first obtained 
 from this court, no servant of the house- 
 hold can be arrested for debt. It takes 
 its name from a green-cloth spread over 
 the board at which it is held. 
 
 GREEN PIG'MENTS, are derived 
 chiefly from the mineral world, and owe 
 their color to the presence of copper. 
 Among the most valuable to the painter 
 are malachite or mountain green, terra 
 verde, Veronese green, native carbonate 
 of copper, cobalt green, and chrome 
 green. The only vegetable green is sap 
 green, which is employed occasionally in 
 water-color painting. 
 
 GREEN-ROOM, in the theatre, the 
 name given to the actors' retiring room ; 
 so called, in all probability, from its be- 
 ing originally painted or otherwise orna- 
 mented with green. 
 
 GREGO'RI AN, the Gregorian year, in 
 chronology, is a correction of the Julian 
 year. In the latter, every secular or 
 hundredth year is bissextile : in the for- 
 mer year every one in four. This reforma- 
 tion, which was made by pope Gregory 
 XTII., A.D. 1582. is also called the New- 
 style. 
 
 GRENADE', a hollow shell or globe 
 of iron, filled with combustibles, and 
 thrown out of a howitzer. There is also 
 a smaller kind, thrown by hand, which 
 are called hand-grenades. These were 
 originally used by soldiers, who, from 
 long service and distinguished bravery, 
 were selected for the sen ice ; and hence 
 
 the name of grenadiers, who now form 
 the first company of a battalion. 
 
 GRIF'FIN, a fabulous animal of an- 
 tiquity represented with the body and 
 feet of a lion, the head of an eagle or vul- 
 ture, and as being furnished with wings 
 and claws. The griffin is one of those ima- 
 ginary creatures to which the ancients 
 were so confessedly partial, but it belongs 
 more to the romantic than the classical 
 mythology. It plays a prominent part 
 in the fairy tales and romances of the 
 middle ages ; and, like the dragon which 
 was fabled to guard the golden apples of 
 the llesperides, its chief duties consisted 
 in watching over hidden treasures, and in 
 guarding captive princesses, or the cas- 
 tles in which they were confined. The 
 griffin is at once the symbol of strength 
 and swiftness, courage, prudence, and 
 vigilance qualities which its form is 
 well calculated to represent ; and hence 
 it has been adopted into the language of 
 heraldry, where it constitutes a promi- 
 nent feature in the armorial bearings of 
 many princely and noble families. 
 
 GRIMACE', in painting and sculpture, 
 an unnatural distortion of the counten- 
 nance, from habit, affectation, or inso- 
 lence. 
 
 GRISA'ILLE, in gray; a style of paint- 
 ing employed to represent solid bodies in 
 relief, such as friezes, mouldings, orna- 
 ments of cornices, bas-reliefs, <fec., by 
 means of gray tints. The objects repre- 
 sented are supposed to be white ; the 
 shadows which they project, and the 
 lights, from those most vividly reflected, 
 to the least, are properly depicted by the 
 various gray tints produced by the mix- 
 ture of white with black pigments, or 
 sometimes by brown. Many painters 
 make the frotte, or first sketch of their 
 pictures in a brown tint, to which the term 
 en grisaille is sometimes misapplied. 
 
 GROAT, a silver coin, first struck in 
 the reign of Edward I., before whose 
 time the English had no silver coin lar- 
 ger than a penny. It has since been 
 used as a money of account equal to four- 
 pence. 
 
 GROIN'ED CEILING, or GROINED 
 ROOF, a ceiling formed by three or more 
 intersecting vaults, every two of which 
 form a groin at the intersection, and all 
 the groins meet in a common point called 
 the apex or summit. The curved surface 
 between two adjacent groins is termed the 
 sectroid. Groined roofs are common to 
 classic and medieval architecture, but it 
 is in the latter style that they are seen in 
 their greatest perfection. In this style, by
 
 278 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [GUA 
 
 increasing the number of intersecting 
 vaults, varying their plans, and covering 
 their surface with ribs and veins, great 
 variety and richness were obtained, and 
 at length the utmost limit of complexity 
 was reached in the fan groin tracery 
 vaulting. 
 
 GROTESQUE', in the Fine Arts, a term 
 applied to capricious ornaments, which as 
 a whole have no type in nature ; consist- 
 ing of figures, animals, leaves, flowers, 
 fruits, and the like, all connected togeth- 
 er. Grotesque, in architecture, artificial 
 grotto-work decorated with rock-work, 
 shells, &c. 
 
 GROT'TO, the name given to subter- 
 raneous natural excavations formed in 
 the heart of mountains or other places. 
 Many of these cavities are famed for the 
 mephitic exhalations that issue from them, 
 and to this class belongs more especially 
 the Grotto del Cane, near 'Naples ; but 
 there are others not less celebrated for 
 their beauty and grandeur, of which the 
 grottoes of Antiparos and Fingal, are 
 well-known examples. In picturesque 
 gardening, the term is applied to an arti- 
 ficial or ornamental cave or low building 
 intended to represent a natural grotto. 
 The best specimen of this kind is the grot- 
 to attached to the Colosseum, which may 
 be considered a model for all similar de- 
 signs. 
 
 GROUND, in the Fine Arts, word of 
 various application. In painting, it is the 
 first layer of color on which the figures or 
 other objects are painted ; of sculpture, it 
 is the surface from which, in relievi, the 
 figures rise, and in architecture, it is used 
 to denote the face of the scenery or coun- 
 try round a building. 
 
 GROUP, in painting, an assemblage of 
 objects, whose lighted parts form a mass 
 
 of light, and their shaded parts a mass of 
 shadow : the word is also used to denote 
 any adjoining assemblage of figures, ani- 
 mals, fruits, flowers, &c In speaking 
 also of objects of different sorts, it is usual 
 to say that one object groups with an- 
 other. Lights in groups should, as well 
 as shadows, be connected together, or the 
 
 necessary repose will be wanting. In 
 sculpture, the word group is applied to a 
 design in which there are two or more 
 figures. In music, group signifies a num- 
 ber of notes linked together at the stems. 
 
 GUAR'ANTOR, one who engages to 
 see that the stipulations of another are 
 performed ; also one who engages to se- 
 cure another in any right or possession. 
 
 GUAR'ANTY, or GUARANTEE', an 
 undertaking or engagement by a third 
 party, that the stipulations of a treaty, 
 or the engagement or promise of another 
 shall be performed. 
 
 GUARD, the duty of guarding or de- 
 fending any post or person from an attack 
 or surprise. Also, the soldiers, who do 
 this duty. Guard, in fencing, a posture 
 or action proper to defend the body. 
 Van-guard, in military affairs, a body 
 of troops, either horse or foot, that 
 march before an army or division, to 
 prevent surprise or give notice of danger. 
 Rear-guard, a body of troops that 
 march in the rear for a like purpose. 
 Life-guards, a body of select troops, 
 whose especial duty is to defend the 
 person of a prince or chief officer. 
 
 GUARDIAN, in law, a person ap- 
 pointed by will, or otherwise, to superin- 
 tend the education and property of a 
 minor, to whom the guardian is bound to 
 account, after the child is of age, under 
 responsibility for the just performance of 
 the trust.
 
 GUI] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 279 
 
 GUARDS, in a particular sense, the 
 troops that are designed to guard the 
 royal person and palace ; and which con- 
 sist both of horse and foot. In Britain, 
 the household troops or guards consist of 
 the life-guards, the royal regiment of 
 horse-guards, and three regiments of 
 foot-guards. Yeomen of the Guards, a 
 band of body-guards instituted by Henry 
 VIII. in the year 1545. Their dress is 
 similar to that of the time of their foun- 
 der. One hundred are by rotation on 
 duty, and there are seventy more, out 
 or whom the place of any of the hundred 
 who die is supplied. National Guards, a 
 military body which has acquired histor- 
 ical importance in the politics of France, 
 originated with the revolution, but un- 
 derwent many changes both during Na- 
 poleon's sway and under the restored 
 Bourbons. It was abolished in April, 
 1827, for having demanded the removal 
 of Villele's ministry ; but was revived 
 at Paris during the popular commotion 
 in July, 1830, which ended in seating 
 Louis Philippe on the throne. Guard- 
 skip, a vessel of war appointed to super- 
 intend the marine affairs of a harbor or 
 river, to see that the ships not in com- 
 mission have their proper watch-word 
 kept duly, by sending her guard-boats 
 round them every night; and to receive 
 seamen who are impressed in time of 
 war. 
 
 GUE'BRES, a Persian sect, who still 
 worship fire as an emanation or emblem 
 of the Deity. 
 
 GUELFS, or GUELPHS, the name of 
 a family, composing a faction formerly 
 in Italy, whose contests with a rival 
 faction, called the Ghibelines, was the 
 cavise of much misery and bloodshed. 
 The wars of the Guelfs and Ghibelines 
 became the struggle between the spiritual 
 and secular power. The popes, who en- 
 deavored to reduce the German emperors 
 to acknowledge their supremacy,and the 
 cities of Italy, struggling for independ- 
 ence, and deliverance from the oppressive 
 yoke of these same emperors, formed the 
 party of the Guelfs. Those who favored 
 the emperors were called Ghibelines. A 
 branch of the Guelf family was in the 
 llth century transplanted from Italy to 
 Germany, where it became the ruling 
 race of several countries ; and the mem- 
 ory of this ancient name has lately been 
 revived by the institution of the Hano- 
 verian (riielfic order. 
 
 GUERRIL'LA, the plan of harassing 
 the French armies by the constant at- 
 tacks of independent bands, acting in a 
 
 mountainous country, was adopted in 
 the north of Spain during the Peninsular 
 war. It was first reduced into a kind of 
 system in 1810. The bands which con- 
 ducted this desultory warfare were called 
 Partidas : the name of Guerrilla is, by a 
 misapplication of the term, frequently 
 applied to them. 
 
 GUIDE, in music, the leading part in 
 a canon or fugue. 
 
 GUILD, a company, fraternity, or cor- 
 poration, associated for some commercial 
 purpose ; of which every member was 
 to pay something toward the common 
 charge. The ancient guilds were li- 
 censed by the king, and governed by 
 laws and orders of their own. 
 
 GUILD'HALL, the chief hall of the 
 city of London, for holding courts, and 
 for the meeting of the lord-mayor and 
 commonalty, in order to make laws and 
 ordinances for the welfare and regulation 
 of the city. Guild-rents are rents paid to 
 the crown by any guild or fraternity : or 
 those that formerly belonged to religious 
 houses, and came to the crown at the 
 general dissolution of monasteries. 
 
 GUIL'LOCHE. in architecture, an or- 
 nament composed of curved fillets, which, 
 by repetition, form a continued series. 
 
 GUILLOTINE', the name given to 
 the instrument of capital punishment 
 used in France ; so called from Joseph 
 Ignace Guillotin, by whom it was intro- 
 duced into that country. This person 
 was born at Saintes, and, established as 
 a physician at Paris, obtained a certain 
 celebrity in the early period of the Rev- 
 olution by the strong part which he took 
 in favor of the rights of the Tiers-Etat. 
 He was elected in consequence a deputy 
 to the National Assembly. When that 
 body was occupied in its long discussions 
 relative to the reform of the penal code 
 (in 1790) Guillotin proposed the adoption 
 of decapitation up to that time used 
 only for nobles as the only method of 
 capital punishment. From sentiments 
 of humanity he recommended the em- 
 ployment of a machine which had beec 
 long known in Italy under the name of 
 " mannaja," and in other countries also ; 
 for something much resembling it had been 
 used in Scotland and in England within 
 the jurisdiction of the borough of Halifax. 
 The Assembly applauded the idea, and 
 the machine was adopted, to which the 
 Parisians have given the name of "Guil- 
 lotine," of which Guillotin is most erro- 
 neously supposed to have been the inven- 
 tor. It consists of two upright pieces of 
 wood fixed in a horizontal frame ; a
 
 280 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [GUI 
 
 sharp blade of steel moves up and down 
 by means of a pulley in grooves in the two 
 uprights ; the edge is oblique instead of 
 horizontal in shape, which gives it the 
 mechanical power of the wedge. The 
 criminal is laid on his face, his neck im- 
 mediately under the blade, which severs 
 it at a blow from his body. It is equally 
 a vulgar error that Guillotin perished by 
 the instrument which bears his name. He 
 was imprisoned during the Reign of 
 Terror, but released at the revolution of 
 July, 1794 ; and died in 1814, after 
 founding the association termed the Acad- 
 emy of Medicine. 
 
 GUIN'EA, an English gold coin, first 
 coined in the reign of Charles II., and 
 till lately current for 21s. It was so 
 called because it was made from the gold 
 that was brought from Guinea, on the 
 coast of Africa. 
 
 GUITAR', a musical stringed instru- 
 ment, rather larger than a violin, and 
 played with the fingers. It is much used 
 in Spain and Italy, more especially in 
 the former country, where there are few, 
 even of the laboring class, who do not 
 solace themselves with its practice. 
 
 GUN, a fire-arm, or weapon of offence, 
 which forcibly discharges a ball, shot, or 
 other offensive matter, through a cylin- 
 drical barrel, by means of gunpowder. 
 The larger species of guns are called 
 cannon ; and the smaller kinds are called 
 muskets, carbines, fowling-pieces, &c. The 
 gun is supposed to have been used in 
 Asia at a very early date ; but it was 
 not invented in Europe before the 14th 
 century. Roger Bacon, about the year 
 1280, suggested the possibility of apply- 
 ing the preparation since called gun- 
 powder to the purposes of war ; but the 
 idea of blowing a body to a distance by 
 its power was produced by its accident- 
 ally doing so, in the laboratory of Bar- 
 tholomew Schwartz, a German monk. 
 Guns were originally made of iron bars, 
 soldered together, and strengthened with 
 iron hoops, an example of which is still 
 preserved in the Tower of London. 
 
 GUN'NERY, the science of using ar- 
 tillery against an enemy judiciously, and 
 to the greatest eifect. Besides an accurate 
 acquaintance with the inanagementof ord- 
 nance of all kinds, the range and force of 
 every kind, the charge and direction neces- 
 sary for different distances, their materi- 
 als, the fabrication and effect of gunpow- 
 der, &c. ; the artillerist must be able to in- 
 struct his men in their several exercises, 
 and be thoroughly acquainted with all the 
 tactics necessary in the art of attack and 
 
 defence ; he must be practically skilled 
 in throwing up batteries and other field- 
 works : he must understand mathematics, 
 (particularly the doctrine of curves, to 
 calculate the path of the balls ;) and have 
 some knowledge of mechanics. 
 
 GUN'POWDER, a composition of nitre, 
 sulphur, and charcoal, mixed and redu- 
 ced to fine powder, and usually granu- 
 lated. It is in the highest degree com- 
 bustible, and, by means of its elastic force, 
 explodes with great intensity. The dis- 
 coverer of this compound, and the person 
 who first thought of applying it to the 
 purposes of war, are unknown. It is 
 certain, however, that it was used in the 
 fourteenth century. From certain ar- 
 chives quoted by AViegleb, it appears 
 that cannons were employed in Germany 
 before the year 1372. No traces of it 
 can be found in any European author 
 previously to the thirteenth century ; but 
 it seems to have been known to the Chi- 
 nese long before that period. There is 
 reason to believe that cannons were used 
 in the battle of Cressy, which was fought 
 in 1346. They seem even to have been 
 used three years earlier, at the siege of 
 Algesiras; but before this time they must 
 have been known in Germany, as there 
 is a piece of ordnance at Amberg, on 
 which is inscribed the year 1303. Roger 
 Baoon, who died in 1292, knew the prop- 
 erties of gunpowder ; but it does not fol- 
 low that he was acquainted with its ap- 
 plication to fire-arms. 
 
 GUN'POWDER PLOT, in English his- 
 tory, the celebrated conspiracy of certain 
 disappointed Roman Catholics to destroy 
 the king, James I., and the two Houses 
 of Parliament, by gunpowder, which was 
 detected on the 4th of November, 1605. 
 
 GUS'TO, that which excites pleasant 
 sensations in the palate or tongue. Fig- 
 uratively this word is used for intellect- 
 ual taste. 
 
 GUT'TURALS, letters pronounced by 
 a peculiar effort of the throat. There 
 are no gutturals properly so called in the 
 English language, although the guttural 
 sound may often be heard in some pro- 
 vincial pronunciations of the letter r. Nor 
 are there in the pure French or Italian, 
 although they are frequent in the dia- 
 lects : e. g. the letter c hard (as in casa) 
 has in the Tuscan a strong guttural sound. 
 In the Spanish language alone, of those 
 derived from the Latin, gutturals are com- 
 mon. In German, the guttural ch is large- 
 ly used. In the Celtic language, gh and ch 
 are also sounded with much variety of 
 guttural intonation.
 
 AND THE FINE AKTS. 
 
 281 
 
 GYMNA'SIARCH, an Athenian officer 
 who ha'l the charge of providing the oil 
 and other necessaries for the gymnasia. 
 This was one of the offices at Athens, the 
 expenses of which were defrayed from 
 the private pocket of the individual on 
 whom they devolved, and who received 
 no salary from the state. 
 
 GYMNA'SIUM, originally a space 
 measured out and covered with sand for 
 the exercise of athletic games. After- 
 w:mls, among the classical Greeks, the 
 gymnasia became spacious buildings or 
 institutions for the mental as well as cor- 
 poreal instruction of youth. They were 
 first built at Lacedaemon, whence they 
 spread through the rest of Greece, <fec., 
 into Italy. They did not consist of sin- 
 gle edifices, but comprised several build- 
 ings and porticoes, used for study and 
 discourse, for baths, anointing rooms, pa- 
 testras in which the exercises took place, 
 and for other purposes. Two of the 
 Athenian gymnasia, viz., the Lyceum and 
 Academy, were rendered famous by be- 
 ing the scenes of the lectures of Aristotle 
 and Plato respectively.- The term gym- 
 nasium has descended to modern times. 
 In Germany the higher schools, intended 
 to give immediate preparation for the 
 universities, are termed gymnasia. In 
 Prussia the scholars undergo examina- 
 tion on leaving them : their compositions 
 at this examination are sent to the min- 
 ister of instruction and ecclesiastical af- 
 fairs ; and they receive testimonials of 
 fitness, No. 1, 2, or 3, according to their 
 degree of proficiency. Persons who have 
 fitted themselves for the universities with- 
 out passing through the gymnasia are 
 examined by a committee appointed by 
 government, which sits half-yearly for 
 the purpose. 
 
 GYMNAS TICS, under this name were 
 comprised by the ancients all those games 
 and exercises which were performed with 
 the body partly naked ; such as wrest- 
 ling, boxing, running, throwing the quoit, 
 playing at ball, <fec. They were first in- 
 stituted at Lacedasmon, where they were 
 not confined to men, but were also con- 
 sidered a necessary part of the education 
 of females. In the rest of Greece, where 
 they subsequently spread, they were also 
 held of the highest importance, and as 
 such were conducted under the superin- 
 tendence of the government,, and entered 
 conspicuously into the political schemes 
 of the philosophers. In this respect the 
 Greeks offered a remarkable contrast to 
 their Asiatic neighbors, among whom it 
 was considered a great disgrace even for 
 
 a man to be seen naked. At Rome gym- 
 nastics were principally exercised by the 
 mercenary athletes. 
 
 GYMNOS'OPHISTS, a sect of Indian 
 philosophers who lived naked in the 
 woods, whence they derived their name, 
 and submitted to other strange austeri- 
 ties. They believed in the immortality 
 of the soul and its migration into several 
 bodies. They enjoyed great reputation 
 for astronomical and physical science. 
 There was likewise an African sect of 
 philosophers bearing the same name, who 
 are said to have lived in ^Ethiopia, near 
 the sources of the Nile, whose habits dif- 
 fered from those of the Indian sect, in- 
 asmuch as they lived as anchorites, while 
 the latter congregated in societies. 
 
 GYMNO'TUS, the name of an eel, re- 
 markable for its power of affecting the 
 nervous system, in the manner of elec- 
 tricity. This animal and the torpedo, on 
 dissection, appear to have an arrange- 
 ment of muscular plates not unlike a 
 galvanic trough, and well adapted to pro- 
 duce the effect. 
 
 GYN^CE'UM, among the ancients the 
 apartment of the women, a separate room 
 in the inner part of the house, where they 
 employed themselves in spinning, weav- 
 ing and needle-work. 
 
 GYN^CON OMI, certain magistrates 
 amongst the Athenians, who had an eye 
 upon the conduct of the women, and pun- 
 ished such as forsook the line of propri- 
 ety and modesty. A list of such as had 
 been fined was put up by them upon a 
 palm-tree in the Ceramicus. The gynce- 
 conomi were ten in number, and differed 
 from the gyncecocosmi ; for the former 
 were inspectors of manners, the latter of 
 
 ^YN'ARCHY or GYN.ECOC'RACY, 
 government by a woman : or a state 
 where women are legally capable of the 
 supreme command. Of this Great Brit- 
 ain and Spain are familiar examples. 
 
 GYR'OMANCY, a kind of divination 
 performed by walking round in a circle 
 or ring. 
 
 H. 
 
 H, the eighth letter and sixth conso- 
 nant of the English alphabet. It is not 
 strictly a vowel, nor an articulation ; but 
 the mark of a stronger breathing than 
 that which precedes the utterance of any 
 other letter. It is pronounced with a 
 strong expiration of the breath between 
 the lips, closing, as it were, by a gentle
 
 282 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [HAI 
 
 motion of the lower jaw to the upper, and 
 the tongue nearly approaching the palate. 
 II is sometimes mute, as in honor, honest ; 
 also when united with g, as in right, Jig/it, 
 brought. In which, ichat, and some other 
 words where it follows w> it is sounded 
 before it, fncich hicat, Ac. H, among the 
 Greeks, us a numeral, signified 8 ; in the 
 Latin of the middle ages, 200, and with a 
 dash jover it, 200,000. In music, h is the 
 seventh degree in the diatonic scale, and 
 the twelfth in the chromatic. 
 
 HA'BEAS-COR'PUS, in law, a writ 
 for delivering a person from false im- 
 prisonment, or for removing a person 
 from one court to another. By the ac- 
 tion of this writ, of which there are sev- 
 eral kinds, adapted to different occasions, 
 relief from all unjust imprisonment may 
 be obtained, causes removed from one 
 court to another for the promotion of 
 justice, and prosecutors compelled to 
 bring the prosecuted to open trial, in- 
 stead of prolonging his imprisonment. 
 Thus it not only protects the citizen from 
 unlawful imprisonment at the suggestion 
 of the civil officers of the government, but 
 also against groundless arrests at the suit 
 or instigation of individuals. The right 
 is, however, liable to be suspended ; it 
 being sometimes necessary to clothe the 
 executive with an extraordinary power, 
 as the Romans were in the habit of choos- 
 ing a dictator in emergencies, when the 
 public was in danger. 
 
 HABEN'DUM, in law, a word of form 
 in a deed or conveyance, which must con- 
 sist of two parts, viz. the premises and 
 habendum (to have and to hold.) 
 
 HABER'GEON, a coat of mail former- 
 ly worn to defend the neck and breast. It 
 was formed of little iron rings united, 
 and descended from the neck to the mid- 
 dle of the body. 
 
 HAB'IT, in philosophy, an aptitude or 
 disposition either of mind or body, ac- 
 quired by a frequent repetition of the 
 same act : thus virtue is called a habit 
 of the mind ; strength, a habit of the 
 body. All natural habits, whether of 
 body or mind, are no other than the body 
 and mind themselves considered as either 
 acting or suffering ; or they are modes of 
 the body or mind wherein either perse- 
 veres till effaced by some contrary mode. 
 Habit, in medicine, denotes the settled 
 constitution of the body ; or a particular 
 state formed by nature, or induced by 
 extraneous circumstances. 
 
 HA'DES, in classical mythology, the 
 abode of the dead. According to Hesiod 
 the mortals of the brazen age were the 
 
 first who descended to Hades. Hades 
 was also an appellation of the god Pluto ; 
 in which sense alone, it is said, Hesiod 
 uses it. The word occurs frequently in 
 the Septuagint, and in the Greek Now 
 Testament, and almost invariably signi- 
 fies the state of the dead in general, with- 
 out regard to the virtuous or vicious char- 
 acters of the persons, their happiness or 
 misery. 
 
 HADJ, the Mohammedan pilgrimage 
 to Mecca and Medina; whence Hadji, a 
 pilgrim, or one who has performed this 
 pilgrimage ; Hedjaz, the Holy Lond, 
 where these cities are situated. By far 
 the most authentic dese iption of it is that 
 of Burkhardt, who performed it in the 
 guise of a Mohammedan, in 1814. It is 
 fixed to a particular lunar month, and 
 consequently takes place in every season 
 of the year. It was a custom long ante- 
 rior to the establishment of Islamism, 
 when the famous " black stone" of the 
 Caaba at Mecca was an object of idola- 
 trous veneration. Every year a black 
 silk stuff is now sent by the sultan to cov- 
 er the Caaba. There are usually five or 
 six caravans ; from Syria, Egypt ( Bar- 
 bary. the East, and the North. In 1814, 
 the number of pilgrims was about 70,000, 
 and this was considered small. The pil- 
 grims go thrbugh several ceremonies at 
 Mecca, of which the principal are the 
 towqf, or procession round the Caaba, and 
 drinking of the well of Zemzen ; they then 
 proceed to the summit of Mount Ararat ; 
 and lastly to Medina, the place of the 
 prophet's burial. 
 
 HAGIOG'RAPHY, sacred writings. 
 The Jews divide the books of the Scrip- 
 tures into three parts ; the Law, which is 
 contained in the first five books of the 
 Old Testament ; the Prophets, or Nevim ; 
 and the Cetuvim, or writings, by way of 
 eminence. The latter class is called by 
 the Greeks Hagiographa, comprehending 
 the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job. Dan- 
 iel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Ruth, Esther, Chron- 
 icles, Canticles, Lamentations, and Eccle- 
 siastes. 
 
 HAIL, the small masses of ice or fro- 
 zen vapor, falling from the clouds in show- 
 ers or storms. These masses consist of 
 little spherules united, but not all of the 
 same consistence ; some being as hard 
 and solid as perfect ice ; others soft, like 
 frozen snow.. Hailstones assume various 
 figures ; some are round, others angular, 
 others pyramidical, others flat, and some- 
 times they are stellated with six radii, 
 like crystals of snow. Hail occurs chief- 
 ly in spring and summer, and is always
 
 HAL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 283 
 
 accompanied with electrical phenomena, 
 and not unfrequently with thunder. It 
 usually precedes storms of rain, sometimes 
 accompanies them ; but never, or very 
 rarely, follows them, especially if the rain 
 is of any duration. The time of its con- 
 tinuance is always very short, generally 
 only a few minutes. The usual size of 
 hailstones is about a quarter of an inch in 
 diameter, but they are frequently of 
 much larger dimensions, sometimes even 
 3 and 4 inches in diameter. Hail-storms 
 are very destructive to crops, particularly 
 in hot climates. The phenomena attend- 
 ing the formation and fall of hail are not 
 well understood ; but it is supposed that 
 the cold necessary for its formation is pro- 
 duced by the wind ; and th it when hail- 
 stones are formed they are also carried 
 along through the atmosphere by cur- 
 rents of wind, in a direction very oblique 
 to the horizon, by which' means they may 
 be kept suspended a sufficient length of 
 time to acquire the dimensions they pos- 
 sess, by congealing the particles of humid 
 vapor with which they successively come 
 in contact. The electricity with which 
 hail is always accompanied, is only the 
 effect of the passage of the particles of 
 water from the liquid to the solid state. 
 Hail-rods, upon the same principle as 
 lightning-rods, have been erected in Ger- 
 many and Switzerland, with the view of 
 subtracting the superabundant electrici- 
 ty from the clouds, and preventing the 
 formation of hail ; but they have not been 
 attended with the success which was ex- 
 pected. 
 
 HAIR, in physiology, slender, oblong, 
 and flexible filaments, growing out of the 
 pores of animals, and serving most of 
 them as a covering. It consists of the 
 bulb, situated under the skin, which is a 
 nervous vesicle, and a trunk which per- 
 forates the skin and cuticle, and is cov- 
 ered with a peculiar vagina or sheath. 
 The color of human hair depends on the 
 medullary juice ; but there are also 
 general differences of it, peculiar in some 
 degree to the climates. In the hottest 
 countries it is very black ; in the colder 
 it is yellowish, brown, or inclining to red ; 
 but in all places it grows gray or white 
 with age. In quadrupeds it is of the 
 most various conformation, from the 
 finest wool to the bristles of a hog. The 
 principal constituent parts of hair are 
 animal matter, oil, silex, sulphur, car- 
 bonate of lime, <fec. Among the ancients, 
 from the earliest times, the hair of the 
 head was an object of especial care and 
 attention. Among the Greeks, it at first 
 
 was worn long by adults ; boys, especially 
 those of Sparta, until the age of puberty, 
 wore their hair cropped close. At a later 
 period, it was customary for men to wear 
 their hair cut short. The Athenian cus- 
 tom was the opposite of the Spartan ; the 
 hair was worn long in childhood, and cut 
 upon arriving at manhood. The cutting 
 of the hair was an act of solemnity, and 
 performed with many ceremonies. The 
 Roman youth, before the age of puberty, 
 wore their hair in ringlets upon their 
 shoulders ; but about the time of putting 
 on the toga virilis, they cut it short ; 
 such of them, at least, as wished to dis- 
 tinguish- themselves from the maccaro- 
 nis and effeminate coxcombs. The hair 
 thus cut off was consecrated to Apollo, 
 who is always represented with flowing 
 hair, or to some other god, under whose 
 protection they supposed themselves to 
 be more immediately placed. In works 
 of Art, the Ephebi (youth who had at- 
 tained the age of 18,) and the Athletfr 
 are always represented with short hair. 
 Among the females, it was the custom to 
 confine the hair with a band, or with net- 
 work, sometimes richly ornamented with 
 gold and other metals, examples of which 
 are seen in the paintings found at Pom- 
 peii. In other representations we find 
 the hair inclosed in a kind of bag, made 
 of various textile materials. The color 
 which was most prized was blonde, al- 
 though black was the most common. 
 In times of mourning the hair was cut 
 short. 
 
 HAIR PEN'CILS, in painting, are 
 composed of very fine hairs, as of the 
 minever, the marten, the badger, the 
 polecat, <fcc., which are mounted in a 
 quill when they are small or of moderate 
 size, but when larger than a quill they 
 are mounted in white-iron tubes. The 
 most essential quality of a good pen- 
 cil is to form a fine point, so that all 
 the hairs may be united when they are 
 moistened by drawing them through the 
 lips. 
 
 HAIR'S BREADTH, a measure of 
 length, equal to the forty-eighth part of 
 an inch. 
 
 HAL'BERD, or HAL'BERT, an an- 
 cient military weapon, intended for both 
 cutting and thrusting, formerly carried 
 by sergeants of foot and artillery. It 
 was a kind t>f combination of a spear and 
 a battle-axe, with a variously formed 
 head, and a shaft about six feet long. It 
 is now rarely to be seen in use, except in 
 Scotland in the hands of town-officers 
 (counterparts of English javelin-men)
 
 284 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [HAN 
 
 1. Hnlbert, time of Henry VIII. 2 do., with fleur 
 de lis, Henry VII. 3. Double-axed halbert. Charles 
 I. 4. Halbert, Charles II. 5 do., William III. 
 
 when attending the magistrates of a bor- 
 ough. 
 
 HAL'CYON DAYS, a name given by 
 the ancients to the seven days that pre- 
 cede and follow the winter solstice, from 
 the circumstance of the halcyon or alce- 
 do selecting that period for incubation. 
 While this process was going on, the 
 weather was generally remarkable for 
 its calmness ; and hence the expression 
 has passed into a proverb, signifying 
 days of peace and tranquillity. 
 
 HALL, in architecture, a large room 
 at the entrance of a house or palace. In 
 the houses of ministers of state, magis- 
 trates, <fec., it is the place where they 
 give audience and despatch business. In 
 magnificent edifices where the hall is very 
 large and lofty, and placed in the middle 
 of the edifice, it is called a saloon. An 
 edifice, in which courts of justice are held; 
 as Westminster Hall, which was origin- 
 ally a royal palace; the kings of England 
 formerly holding their parliaments and 
 courts of judicature in their own dwell- 
 ings, as is still the practice in Spain. 
 It is perhaps a term improperly applied, 
 as now, to the entrance of a dwelling- 
 house, though not so to a servants' hall. 
 At Oxford an unendowed college is styled 
 a hall; but at Cambridge the term is 
 used indiscriminately for college, whether 
 endowed or not. 
 
 HALLELU'IAH, a word signifying 
 praise the Lord, or praise ye Jehovah. 
 It is met with in the beginning of some 
 Psalms, and the end of others. It is a 
 word of such liquid fluency and harmo- 
 
 nious softness, that it is retained in our 
 hymns withont translation. In conform- 
 ity with the German and other continen- 
 tal languages in which j has the sound of 
 y, we often see it written Hallelujah ; but 
 to pronounce the word with the English 
 sound of j destroys its beauty, and it 
 ought never to be so written. 
 
 IIALLUCINA'TION, in medicine, er- 
 roneous imagination. Hallucinations of 
 the senses arise from some defect in the 
 organs of sense, or from some unusual 
 circumstances attending the object ; and 
 they are sometimes symptoms of general 
 disease, as in fevers. Maniacal halluci- 
 nations arise from some imaginary or 
 mistaken idea. 
 
 HA'LO, a circle appearing round the .,, 
 body of the sun, moon, or stars, but more 
 especially about the body of the sun and 
 moon, called also corona, orc*.wn. Ha- 
 loes are sometimes white and sometimes 
 colored. Sometimes one only appears, 
 and sometimes several concentric circles 
 appear at the same time. Haloes are 
 at times accompanied with other phenom- 
 ena, such as parhelia, or mock -suns ; par- 
 selenes, or mock-moons ; anthelia, or glo- 
 ries. All these appearances are occasion- 
 ed by the refraction, reflection, or inflec- 
 tion of light falling upon, or passing near 
 thick vapor floating in the atmosphere. 
 HAMADRY'ADS, certain nymphs or 
 inferior deities supposed by the Greek 
 and Roman poets to preside over woods 
 and forests, and, as their name implied, 
 to live and die with the particular trees 
 to which they were attached. 
 
 HAND, in anatomy, an important 
 member of the human body, which, from 
 the facilities it affords in all operations, 
 and accuracy in ascertaining' the magni- 
 tude, <fec. of extraneous objects, is justly 
 lonsidered as contributing very essen- 
 tially to all that is either ingenious or 
 scientific in the human character. In 
 Christian Art a hand is the indication of 
 a holy person or thing, and frequently 
 occurs in pictures representing martyr- 
 doms, as extended from a cloud over a 
 saint. A hand in the act of benediction 
 s frequently met with in early Christian 
 Art, and generally represents the Al- 
 mighty Father. Previous to the twelfth 
 :entury, the Supreme was always repre- 
 sented by a hand extended from a cloud, 
 sometimes open, with rays proceeding 
 "rom the fingers, but generally in the 
 act of benediction, viz., with two fingers 
 raised and the rest open. The hands of 
 ur Saviour pierced, were frequently rep- 
 resented in sculpture.
 
 HAB] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 285 
 
 HAND'LING, in painting, manage- 
 ment of the pencil by touch. Handling 
 should be bold, with freedom, firmness, 
 and spirit. 
 
 HANSEAT'IC, pertaining to the 
 Hanse towns, or to their confederacy. 
 The Hanse towns in Germany were cer- 
 tain commercial cities which associated 
 for the protection of commerce as early 
 as the 12th century. To this confederacy 
 acceded certain commercial cities in Hol- 
 land, England, France, Spain, and Italy, 
 until they amounted to seventy-two, 
 which for centuries commanded the re- 
 spect and defied the power of kings. From 
 the middle of the 15th century, the power 
 of the confederacy, though still very for- 
 , midable, began to decline. This, however, 
 was not owing to any misconduct on the 
 part of its leaders, but to the progress of 
 that improvement it had done so much to 
 promote. The civilization, which had 
 been at first confined to the cities, gradu- 
 ally extended over the contiguous coun- 
 try ; and feudal anarchy was everywhere 
 superseded by a system of subordination 
 *nd the progress of the Arts. At present 
 it only consists of the cities of Ham- 
 burgh, Lubeck, and Bremen ; and they, 
 indeed, possess merely the shadow of 
 their former state. 
 
 HAP'PINESS, the agreeable sensa- 
 tions which spring from the enjoyment 
 of good. It consists in the possession not 
 only of the goods of the body, as health, 
 strength, &c., but also of the more refined 
 goods of the mind, as knowledge, memory, 
 taste, and especially the moral virtues, 
 magnanimity, fortitude, benevolence, &c. 
 That state is mostly to be sought after, 
 in which the fewest competitions and dis- 
 appointments can happen, which least of 
 all impairs any sense of pleasure, and 
 opens an unexpected source of the most 
 refined and lasting enjoyments. That 
 state which is attended with all those ad- 
 vantages, is a state or course of virtue : 
 therefore, a state of virtue, in which the 
 moral goods of the mind are attained, is 
 the happiest state ; and he only can be 
 esteemed really and permanently happy, 
 who enjoys peace of mind in the favor 
 of the Almighty. 
 
 HARANGUE', a popular oration, gen- 
 erally implying loudness or declamation ; 
 and not a deliberate and argumentative 
 address or discourse. 
 
 HAR'BOR, a port, haven, or inlet of 
 the sea, i.n which ships can moor, and be 
 sheltered from the fury of winds and a 
 heavy sea. 
 
 HARD'WARE, instruments and uten- 
 
 sils of every kind manufactured from 
 metals, comprising iron, brass, steel, and 
 copper articles of all descriptions. Bir- 
 mingham and Sheffield are the principal 
 seats of the British hardware manufac- 
 tures ; and from these immense quanti- 
 ties of knives, razors, scissors, fire-arms, 
 gilt and plated goods, &c. are supplied to 
 an extent almost incredible. The total 
 aggregate value of the iron and other 
 hardware manufactures of England and 
 Scotland may be estimated at not less 
 than 17,500,0'OOZ. a year; affording direct 
 employment, in the various departments 
 of the trade, for at least 360,000 persons. 
 
 HA'REM, the apartments in which 
 Mussulman princes confine their women, 
 who are prohibited from the society of 
 others. They are waited on by female 
 slaves, and guarded by black eunuchs: 
 the head of the latter is called Kizlar- 
 aga. There are two kizlar-agas, one of 
 the old, the other of the new palace, each 
 of which has its harem. The one is occu- 
 pied by the women of former sultans, and 
 those who have incurred the displeasure 
 of the reigning prince ; the other by such 
 as still enjoy his favor. The lady who 
 first presents him with a male heir, is 
 styled the sultana, by way of eminence. 
 She must then retire into the old palace ; 
 but if her son ascends the throne, she re- 
 turns to the new palace, and has the title 
 of sultana valide. She is the only woman 
 who is allowed to appear without a veil ; 
 none of the others, even when sick, a,re 
 permitted to lay aside the veil, in the 
 presence of any one except the sultan. 
 When visited by the physician, their bed 
 is covered with a thick counterpane, and 
 the pulse felt through gauze. The life 
 of the ladies of the imperial harem is 
 spent in bathing, dressing, walking in the 
 garden, witnessing the voluptuous dances 
 performed by their slaves, &c. The 
 women of other Turks enjoy the society 
 of their friends at the baths, or at each 
 other's houses, appear in public accom- 
 panied by slaves and eunuchs, and enjoy 
 a degree of liberty which increases as 
 they descend in rank. But those of the 
 sultan have none of these privileges. It 
 is, of course, only the richer Moslems 
 who can maintain harems : the poorer 
 classes have generally but one wife. 
 
 HAR'LEQUIN, the principal charac- 
 ter in pantomime, clad in a party-colored 
 dress, with a half-mask, and who is per- 
 petually dancing, leaping, or performing 
 tricks with his wonder-working wand. 
 This character was first introduced into 
 Italian comedy, where he united extrav-
 
 280 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [HAR 
 
 ngant buffoonrey with great corporeal 
 agility. 
 
 HARMAT'TAN, the name given to a 
 prevailing wind on the coast of Africa, 
 which is of a peculiarly dry and parching 
 character. 
 
 HARMON'ICA, or ARMON'ICA, a 
 musical instrument, in which the sound 
 is produced from glasses, blown as near 
 as possible in the form of hemispheres, 
 having each an open neck or socket in 
 the middle. The diameter of the largest 
 glass is nine inches, and that of the small- 
 est three inches. Between these there 
 are twenty-three different sizes, differing 
 from each other a quarter of an inch in 
 diameter. The largest glass in the in- 
 strument is G, including three complete 
 octaves ; and they are distinguished by 
 painting the apparent parts of the glass- 
 es within side, every semitone white, 
 and the other notes of the octave with 
 the seven prismatic colors ; so that glass- 
 es of the same color, (the white except - 
 ed,) are always octaves to each other. 
 The method of extracting exquisite tones, 
 by rubbing the finger on the brim of 
 drinking-glasses, filled with water in dif- 
 ferent proportions, was an old discovery ; 
 but it remained for Dr. Franklin to con- 
 struct the harmonica. " The advantages 
 of this instrument," says Dr. Franklin, 
 ' are, that its tones are incomparably 
 sweet beyond any other ; that they may 
 be swelled and softened at pleasure, by 
 stronger or weaker pressures of the fin- 
 ger, and continued to any length; and 
 that the instrument, once well tuned, 
 never again wants tuning." Its disad- 
 vantages are, the difficulty of adjusting 
 the tones by grinding ; the extreme skil- 
 fulness necessary in the player ; and the 
 impracticability of performing upon it 
 many of the ordinary operations of the 
 musical art ; for however much it excels 
 all others in the delicacy and duration of 
 its tones, yet it is confined to those of a 
 soft and plaintive character, and to slow 
 solemn movements. 
 
 HARMON'ICS, that branch of music 
 which considers the differences and pro- 
 portions of sound. This science was by 
 the ancients divided into seven parts ; 
 viz. cf ssunds, of intervals, of system, of 
 the genera, of the tones or modes, of mu- 
 tation, and of melopseia. 
 
 HARMONIC TRIAD, in music, the 
 chord of a note consisting of a third and 
 perfect fifth, or, in other words, the com- 
 mon chord. 
 
 HAR'MONY, in music, the agreeable 
 result or union of several musical sounds 
 
 heard at one and the same vime. Natu- 
 ral liarmony consists of the harmonic 
 triad or common chord. Artificial har- 
 mony is a mixture of concords and dis- 
 cords. Figured harmony is that in 
 which, for the purpose of melody, one or 
 more of the parts of a composition move, 
 during the continuance of a chord, through 
 certain notes which do not form any of 
 the constituent parts of that chord. Har- 
 mony, as applied to nature, the neces- 
 sary reciprocal accordance of causes and 
 effects, by which the existence of one 
 thing is dependent on that of another. 
 In matters of literature, we use the word 
 harmony for a certain agreement between 
 the several parts of the discourse. In 
 architecture, harmony denotes an agree- 
 able relation between the parts of a 
 building. In painting, it signifies" the 
 union or connection between the figures, 
 with respect to the subject of the piece ; 
 and also denotes the union or agreeable 
 mixture of different colors. Harmony 
 of the spheres, a favorite hypothesis of 
 Pythagoras and many other ancient phi- 
 losophers, according to which, celestial 
 music, imperceptible by the ears of mor- 
 tals, was supposed to be produced by the 
 sweetly tuned motions of the stars and 
 planets. This harmony they attributed 
 to the various proportionate impressions 
 of the heavenly globes upon one another, 
 acting at proper intprvals. 
 
 HAR'MONY OF THE SCRIP'TURES, 
 GOSPELS, Ac., the correspondence of the 
 several writers of different parts of the 
 Scriptures in their respective narratives, 
 or statements of doctrine. The earliest 
 Harmony of the Gospels was composed 
 by Tatian, in the second century, with 
 the title Diatessaron. 
 
 HAR'MONY PRE-ESTAB'LISHED, 
 a hypothesis invented by Leibnitz, to ex- 
 plain the correspondence between the 
 course of our sensations and the series of 
 changes actually going on in the universe, 
 of which, according to that philosopher 
 and many others, we have no direct 
 knowledge. This hypothesis is connected, 
 in the Leibnitzian system, with the doc- 
 trine of monads, certain spiritual pow- 
 ers or substances, one of which constitutes 
 the principle of vitality and conscious- 
 ness in every living being. Each of 
 these, is, in its degree, a mirror, in which 
 the changes going on in the universe are 
 reflected with greater or less fidelity. 
 But between simple substances, such as 
 spirit and matter, soul and body, no real 
 reciprocal action can take place. The 
 Author of the universe has consequently
 
 ii AT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 387 
 
 so ordained that the series of changes 
 going on in any particular conscious mo- 
 nad, corresponds precisely to those of the 
 inonads in contiguity to which it is placed. 
 Hence arises our belief that mind is act- 
 ed on by matter, and vice versa ; a be- 
 lief which leads to no practical errors in 
 virtue. 
 
 HARMOS'TES, in ancient history, a 
 Spartan magistrate, called also sometimes 
 .sophronistes, who was appointed to super- 
 intend a conquered state. Other Greek 
 states which made conquests afterwards 
 borrowed the name. 
 
 HARP, a musical stringed instrument, 
 of a triangular figure. It stands erect, 
 and, when used, is placed at the feet of 
 the performer, who produces its tones by 
 the action of the thumb and fingers of 
 both hands on the strings. Its origin is 
 very variously ascribed ; but whatever it 
 may have been, its invention is mani- 
 festly very ancient ; for it appears to 
 liBve been in use (under various forms) 
 with the Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, 
 and Romans. The Anglo-Saxons excel- 
 led in playing on the harp. The Irish, 
 Scots, and Welsh also made much use of 
 this instrument ; and with the Anglo- 
 Normans it was equally popular. By 
 the Welsh laws, a harp was one of the 
 things that were necessary to character- 
 ize a freeman or gentleman ; and none 
 could pretend to this rank, who had not 
 a harp, and was not able to play upon it. 
 By the same laws, to prevent slaves from 
 pretending to be gentlemen, it was ex- 
 pressly forbidden to teach, or to permit, 
 them to play upon the harp ; and none 
 but the king, the king's musicians, and 
 gentlemen, were allowed to have harps in 
 their possession. The modern harp forms 
 one of the most elegant objects to the 
 eye, while it produces some of the most 
 agreeable effects to the ear, of any in- 
 strument in use. There are generally 
 35 strings, but sometimes the number is 
 extended to 43 : and the compass usually 
 extends from double A of the bass clef, 
 to double G in the G clef. 
 
 HAR'PIES, in mythology, three rapa- 
 cious winged monsters, supposed to be 
 the goddesses of storms, and called Aello, 
 Ocypete, and Celoeno. They are so differ- 
 ently described by the poets, that it is 
 difficult to say anything definite concern- 
 ing them. Hesiod represents them as 
 young virgins, of great "beauty ; Vossius 
 supposes them to be three winds ; but 
 both poets and artists appear gener- 
 ally to vie with each other in depicting 
 them under the most hideous forms. 
 
 HARPOON', an iron instrument, form- 
 ed at one end like a barbed arrow, and 
 having a rope at the other, for the pur- 
 pose of spearing the whale. As soon as 
 the boat has been rowed within a compe- 
 tent distance of the whale, the harpooner 
 launches his instrument ; and the fish 
 being wounded, immediately descends un- 
 der the ice with amazing rapidity, carry- 
 ing the harpoon along with him, and a 
 considerable length of the line, which is 
 purposely let down, to give him room to 
 dive. Being soon exhausted with the fa- 
 tigue and loss of blood, he re-ascends, in 
 order to breathe, where he presently ex- 
 pires, and floats upon the surface of the 
 water. Harpoon gun, an instrument 
 for discharging harpoons at. whales in 
 preference to the common method of the 
 hand. It consists of a kind of swivel, 
 having a barrel of wsougbt iron, about 
 two feet long, and is furnished with two 
 locks, which act simultaneously, for the 
 purpose of diminishing the liability of 
 the gun missing fire. 
 
 HARP'SICHORD, a musical instru- 
 ment with strings of wire, played on by 
 means of keys, the striking of which 
 moves certain little jacks, which also 
 move a double row of chords or strings, 
 stretched over four bridges on the table 
 of the instrument. Since the invention 
 of that superior instrument, the grand 
 piano-forte, the use of the harpsichord is 
 greatly diminished. 
 
 HAR'USPICE, in Roman history, a 
 person who pretended to foretell future 
 events by inspecting the entrails of beasts 
 sacrificed, or watching the circumstances 
 attending their slaughter, or their man- 
 ner of burning and the ascent of the 
 smoke. 
 
 HAR'VEST MOON, an epithet ap- 
 plied to those moons which, in the au- 
 tumnal months, rise on successive nights, 
 soon after sunset, owing to the oblique 
 ascension of the signs of the Zodiac, 
 through which the moon is then passing. 
 
 HASTA'TI. among the Romans, were 
 soldiers armed with spears, who were al- 
 ways drawn up in the first line of battle. 
 These were picked out the next in age to 
 the velites. At last they laid aside the 
 spear, but still retained their name. 
 
 HATCH'WAY, in ships, a square or 
 oblong opening in the deck, affording a 
 passage from one deck to another, or into 
 the hold or lower apartments. 
 
 HAT'TI-SHERIFF, in Turkish polity, 
 an order which comes immediately from 
 the Grand Signior, who subscribes it usu- 
 ally with these words: "Let my order
 
 288 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [HEB 
 
 be executed according to its form and im- 
 port." These words are generally edged 
 with gold, or otherwise ornamented ; and 
 an order given in this way is irrevocable. 
 H AU'BERK, in armor, a tunic of ring- 
 ed mail, with wide 
 sleeves reaching a 
 little below the el- 
 bow, and descending 
 below the knees ; 
 being cut up before 
 and behind a little 
 way, for convenience 
 in riding, it had the 
 appearance of ter- 
 minating in short 
 trowsers. It was 
 introduced in the 
 twelfth century, and 
 is supposed to have 
 been introduced 
 from Germany. 
 Hauberk is the name given to this vest- 
 ment by the Normans, signifying a pro- 
 tection for the throat, but the term could 
 only have been appropriate when the ca- 
 puchin or cowl formed a component part 
 of it. 
 
 HAUTBOY, a musical wind instru- 
 ment, shaped somewhat like the flute, but 
 spreading and widening at the bottom, 
 and sounded through a reed. 
 
 HAVERSACK, a kind of bag of strong 
 coarse linen, to carry bread and provis- 
 ions on a march. 
 
 HEALTH, that condition of the body, 
 in which all the vital, natural, and ani- 
 mal functions, are performed easily and 
 perfectly, and unattended with pain. The 
 most perfect state of health is generally 
 connected with a certain conformation and 
 structure of the bodily organs, and well 
 marked by certain external signs. To 
 preserve health, it is necessary to be tem- 
 perate in food, exercise, and sleep ; to 
 pay strict attention to bodily cleanliness ; 
 to abstain from spirituous liquors, and to 
 guard against excess of all kinds. The 
 Greeks and Romans deified health, rep- 
 resenting it under the figure of a woman, 
 whom they supposed to be the daughter 
 of ^Esculapius. We find the name of the 
 goddess Salus, or Health, on many med- 
 als of the Roman emperors, with differ- 
 ent inscriptions, as Salus publica, Salus 
 reipublicfe, Salus Au&usti, &c. 
 
 HEAVEN, literally the sky, or azure 
 vault which spreads above us like a hol- 
 low hemisphere, and appears to rest on 
 the limits of the horizon. Modern as- 
 tronomy has taught us, that this blue 
 vault is, in fact, the immeasurable space 
 
 in which our earth, the sun, and all the 
 planets, revolve. In metaphorical lan- 
 guage, this space is called the abode of 
 the Deity, and the seat of the souls of the 
 just in the life to come. In these latter 
 senses, it is sometimes called the empy- 
 rean, from the splendor by which it is 
 characterized. It is also sometimes called 
 the firmament. The word which, in the 
 first chapter of Genesis, is translated fir- 
 mament, was corrupted, it is said, by the 
 Septuagint translators, and should be 
 rendered expanse or extension. St. Paul 
 speaks of the third heaven ; and the ori- 
 entals always describe seven heavens, or 
 more. The foundation of the doctrine of 
 several heavens was this : the ancient 
 philosophers assumed there were as many 
 different heavens as they saw bodies in 
 motion ; they considered them solid, al- 
 though transparent, and supposed the 
 blue space extended over our heads firm 
 as a sapphire. They could not conceive 
 that otherwise they could sustain thofc 
 bodies ; and they deemed them spherical, 
 as the most proper form for motion. 
 Thus, there were seven heavens for the 
 seven planets, and an eighth for the fixed 
 stars. Ptolemy discountenanced this sys- 
 tem. He said, the deities (by which name 
 he calls the stars, for they were adored in 
 his time,) moved in an ethereal fluid. It 
 was, however, by very slow degrees that 
 men became acquainted with the true sci- 
 ence which instructs us in the laws of ce- 
 lestial motion, and the magnitudes, dis- 
 tances, &c., of those effulgent orbs which 
 deck the vast expanse. The heavens, 
 then, to follow the path of the Newtonian 
 or true system, are filled with a fluid 
 much finer and thinner than this air, and 
 extending beyond all limits of which we 
 have any conception. There being noth- 
 ing visible to us in the remote part of the 
 heavens, we can only consider them as 
 the places of the stars. We shall have a 
 vast idea of this space if we consider that 
 the largest of the fixed stars, which are 
 probably the nearest to us, are at a dis- 
 tance too great for the expression of all 
 that we can conceive from figures, and 
 for all means of admeasurement. The 
 sun, which in that little space of the heav- 
 ens that makes the system of which our 
 world is a part, is in reality nothing 
 more than a fixed star. 
 
 HEBDOM'ADARY, a member of a 
 chapter or convent, whose duty it is to of- 
 ficiate in the choir, rehearse the anthems 
 and prayers, and perform other services, 
 which, on extraordinary occasions, are 
 performed by the superiors.
 
 HKL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 289 
 
 HEBDOM'ARY, a solemnity of the 
 ancient Greeks, in which the Athenians 
 sung hymns in honor of Apollo, and car- 
 ried in their hands branches of laurel. 
 It was observed on the seventh day of 
 every lunar month; hence the name. 
 
 HE'BE, in Grecian mythology, was 
 the goddess of youth, whose office it was 
 to hand round the nectar at the banquets 
 of the gods. She was the daughter of 
 Jupiter and Juno. 
 
 HE'BRAISM, an idiom or manner of 
 speaking peculiar to the Hebrew lan- 
 guage. 
 
 HE'BREW, the language spoken by 
 the Jews, and which appears to be the 
 most ancient of all the languages in the 
 world. The books of the Old Testament 
 are the only pieces to be found, in all an- 
 tiquity, written in pure Hebrew ; and the 
 language of many of these is extremely 
 sublime. But Hebrew literature, inde- 
 pendently of its containing the records 
 of a divine revelation, possesses a pecu- 
 liar scientific interest. It surpasses in 
 antiquity, general credibility, originality, 
 poetic strength, and religious importance, 
 that of any other nation before the Chris- 
 tian era, and contains most remarkable 
 memorials and trustworthy materials for 
 the history of the human race, and its 
 mental development. The Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, a canonical book of the New 
 Testament. The Hebrews, to whom this 
 epistle was addressed, were the believing 
 Jews of Palestine, and its design was to 
 convince them of the insufficiency and 
 abolishment of the ceremonial and ritual 
 law. In order to which the apostle un- 
 dertakes to show, first, the superior ex- 
 cellency of Christ's person above that 
 of Moses ; secondly, the superiority of 
 Christ's priesthood above the Levitical ; 
 and thirdly, the mere figurative nature, 
 and utter insufficiency, of the legal cere- 
 monies and sacrifices. 
 
 HEC'ATE, in mythology, a Grecian 
 goddess, daughter of the Titan Perses 
 and Asteria. She presided over popular 
 assemblies, war, the administration of 
 justice, and the rearing of children. 
 There is a good deal of obscurity attached 
 to this goddess, who is often confounded 
 with Artemis or Diana, and Proserpine ; 
 whence she is sometimes considered the 
 patroness of magic and the infernal re- 
 gions. She was called the triple goddess, 
 and was supposed to wander along the 
 earth at night. Statues were set up to 
 her in market-places, and especially at 
 cross roads. 
 
 HECATE'SIA, in Grecian antiquity, 
 19 
 
 a public entertainment given by the 
 Athenians every new moon, in honor of 
 Hecate. 
 
 HEC'ATOMB, amongst the Greeks, 
 was a sacrifice consisting of a hundred 
 oxen offered upon some very extraordi- 
 nary occasion. Hecatomb, in its most 
 general sense, signifies no more than a 
 sacrifice of a hundred animals ; but the 
 ox being the chief of animals used in sac- 
 rifice, gave derivation to the word. 
 
 HEGI'RA, the epoch of the flight of 
 Mahomet from Mecca, July 10, 622, 
 whence Eastern nations date the year of 
 354 days ; which is found by subtracting 
 622 from our year, and then multiplying 
 by 365.52, and dividing by 354. 
 
 HEI'GHTEN, in painting, a verb sig- 
 nifying to make prominent by means of 
 touches of light or brilliant colors, as con- 
 trasted with the shadows. 
 
 HEIR, in law, the person who succeeds 
 another by descent to lands, tenements, 
 and hereditaments, being an estate of in- 
 heritance, or an estate in fee ; because 
 nothing passes by right of inheritance but 
 in fee. We give the title to a person who 
 is to inherit after the death of an ances- 
 tor, and during his life, as well as to the 
 person who has actually come into pos- 
 session. -Heir-apparent, is a person so 
 called in the lifetime of his ancestor, _at 
 whose death he is heir at law. Heir- 
 presumptive, one who, if the ancestor 
 should die immediately, would, in the 
 present circumstances of things, be his 
 heir ; but whose right of inheritance may 
 be defeated by the contingency of some 
 nearer heir being born. 
 
 HEIR'-LOOM, any furniture or per- 
 sonal chattel, which by law descends to 
 the heir with the house or freehold. 
 
 HELIX, HELICES, in architecture, 
 the curling stalks or volutes under the 
 flowers in each face of the abacus of the 
 Corinthian capital. 
 
 HELLE'NIC, the name given to the 
 common dialect which prevailed very 
 generally among the Greek writers after 
 the time of Alexander. It was formed, 
 with very slight variations, from the pure 
 Attic of the age preceding its introduc- 
 tion. 
 
 HELLENIS'TIC, the name given to 
 that dialect of the Grecian language that 
 was used by the Jewish writers. Its pe- 
 culiarities consisted in the introduction 
 of foreign words very little disguised, but 
 more especially of oriental metaphors and 
 idioms ; but not at all in the inflexions 
 of words, which were the same as in the 
 Hellenic. In this dialect, it is said, the
 
 290 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [HEM 
 
 Septuagint was written, and also the 
 books of the New Testament ; and that 
 it was thus denominated to show that it 
 was Greek filled with Hebraisms and 
 Syriacisms. 
 
 ' IIHL'LENISTS, the name by which 
 the Jews who from their foreign birth or 
 travel used the Greek (Hellenic) lan- 
 guage, are distinguished in- the Acts of 
 Apostles. The word is derived, accord- 
 ing to a common method of formation 
 in the Greek language, from the verb 
 cXXwfi^ti', to Hellenize, or adopt the man- 
 ners of a Greek. There were great num- 
 bers of Jews scattered throughout the 
 Roman empire at this period, more espe- 
 cially in the Asiatic and East African 
 provinces, where the Greek was the cur- 
 rent language ; and as they were in the 
 habit of making frequent journeys to and 
 from Jerusalem, they heard the preach- 
 ing of the Apostles, and became effica- 
 cious instruments in conveying the knowl- 
 edge of the word throughout all lands. 
 From their long sojourn in foreign coun- 
 tries they were distinguished from the 
 Hebraists, or native Jews, by the greater 
 liberality of their views with respect to 
 the nature of the promises of the Old 
 Testament. It appears from Acts, vi. 1, 
 that these Jews retained the distinctive 
 name of Hellenists after their conversion 
 to Christianity, and that there continued 
 to subsist some jealousy between them 
 and the native Christiana. 
 
 HEL'MET, defensive armor for the 
 head : a word of Scandinavian derivation. 
 The armor of the ancients, which partic- 
 ularly guarded the head, was known by 
 the general denominations of head-piece, 
 casque, and helmet. Helmets were an- 
 ciently formed of various materials, but 
 chiefly of skins of beasts, brass, and iron. 
 An open helmet covers only the head, 
 ears, and neck, leaving the face unguard- 
 ed. Some open helmets have a bar or 
 bars from the forehead to the chin, to 
 guard against the transverse cut of a 
 broad-sword ; but it affords little defence 
 against the point of a lance or sword. A 
 close helmet entirely covers the head, 
 face, and neck ; having on the front per- 
 forations for the admission of air, and 
 slits through which the wearer may see 
 the objects around him ; this part, which 
 is style.'l the visor, (from the French word 
 riser, to take aim,) lifts up by means of a 
 pivot over each ear. Some helmets have a 
 bever, (from buveur, drinker, or from the 
 Italian bevere, to drink,) which, when 
 closed, covers the mouth and chin, and 
 either lifts up by revolving on the same 
 
 pivots as the visor, or lets down by means 
 of two or more pivots on each side near 
 the jaws. The use of the bever was to 
 enable the wearer to eat and drink more 
 commodiously than could be done in a 
 helmet with a visor only. The helmets 
 of the Greeks and Ilomans were mostly 
 
 open, not unlike skull-caps, as formerly 
 worn by modern dragoons. Montfaucon 
 says he never saw an ancient helmet with 
 a visor to raise or let down, although be 
 is of opinion that they had those contri- 
 vances. It seems as if the Romans, at 
 least those of which Pompey's army was 
 composed at Pharsalia, had open hel- 
 mets, as Caesar directed his soldiers to 
 strike them in the face, which order, had 
 their faces been covered, he would not 
 have given. 
 
 HE'LOTS, in ancient history, the 
 slaves of the Spartans, who consisted 
 originally of the Achaean inhabitants of 
 Laconia, who were subdued by force of 
 arms by the Dorian invaders. The name 
 was derived from Helos, a town of Laco- 
 nia, of which the inhabitants were thus 
 reduced to servitude ; but to this class 
 were afterwards added the Messenians, 
 who still clung to their native, soil after 
 its subjugation by the Spartans. They 
 were employed either as domestic slaves, 
 cultivators of the land, or in the public 
 works ; and though they do not appear 
 to have been treated ordinarily with 
 much severity, yet the recollection of 
 their former state urged them frequently 
 to revolt, while their numbers rendered 
 them so formidable to their masters as to 
 drive the latter to schemes of the most 
 abominable treachery for their repres- 
 sion. 
 
 HELVET'IC, an epithet designating 
 what pertains to the Hefaetii, the ancient 
 inhabitants of Switzerland, or to the 
 modern states and inhabitants of the Al- 
 pine regions ; as the Helvetic confede- 
 racy, <fec. 
 
 HEM'I, a Greek word used in the com- 
 position of several terms borrowed from 
 that language. It signifies half, the same 
 as semi, and demi: thus, hemiplegia is a 
 palsy of one half of the body ; hemistich, 
 half a verse : hemicytfe, a semi-circle.
 
 HER] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 291 
 
 HEM'ISTICH, in poetry, denotes half 
 a verse, or a verse not completed. In 
 reading common English verse, a short 
 pause is required at the end of each 
 hemistich. 
 
 HENDECASYL'LABLES, in poetical 
 composition, a verse of eleven syllables. 
 Among the ancients it was particularly 
 used by Catullus, and is well adapted for 
 elegant trifles. 
 
 HEP'TACHORD, in ancient poetry, 
 verses sung or played on seven chords or 
 different notes ; in which sense the word 
 was applied to the lyre when it had but 
 seven strings. 
 
 HEP'TARCHY, a government exer- 
 cised by seven persons ; or, a nation di- 
 vided into seven governments. Saxon 
 heptarchy, the seven kingdoms existing 
 in England, between the fifth and ninth 
 centuries. These kingdoms were sever- 
 ally named, I.Kent ; 2. Sussex ; 3. Wes- 
 sex ; 4. Essex ; 5. Northumberland ; 6. 
 East Angleland; 7. Mercia. The hep- 
 tarchy was formed by degrees ; but it 
 may be said to have commenced in 449, 
 when Hengist arrived on the island. In 
 827 Egbert was enabled, by a combina- 
 tion of circumstances, to assume the title 
 of King of England ; but, in reality, 
 three of the kingdoms, Northumberland, 
 East Angleland, and Mercia, were still 
 governed by their own kings, though 
 those kings were his vassals and tributa- 
 ries. The kingdoms he actually govern- 
 ed were Kent, Sussex, Wessex, and Essex. 
 
 HERACLI'D^E, the return of the He- 
 raclidaa into Peloponnesus, in chronolo- 
 gy, constituted the beginning of profane 
 history ; all the time preceding that 
 period being accounted fabulous. This 
 return happened in the year of the world 
 2682, a hundred years after th%y were 
 expelled, and eighty after the destruction 
 of Troy. 
 
 HER' ALD, the title of an officer in Eng- 
 land whose duty it anciently was to declare 
 war, to challenge in battle and combat, to 
 proclaim peace, and to execute martial 
 messages; but who is, at present, to conduct 
 royal processions, the creations of nobility, 
 and the ceremonies of knighthood ; to 
 publish declarations of war, not to the 
 enemy, but at home ; to proclaim peace ; 
 to record and blazon armorial bearings ; 
 and to regulate abuses in arms, under the 
 authority of the earl -marshal, by whom 
 he is created. The heralds were formed 
 into a college by Richard the Third. The 
 three chief heralds are called kings at 
 arms, the principal of which is Garter; 
 the next is called Clarencieux, and the 
 
 third Norroy ; these two last are called 
 provincial heralds. Besides these there 
 are six other inferior heralds, viz., York, 
 Lancaster, Somerset, Richmond, Chester, 
 and Windsor ; to which, on the accession 
 of king George I. to the crown, a new 
 herald was added, styled Hanover her- 
 ald ; and another styled Gloucester king 
 at arms. Heralds, amongst the ancient 
 Greeks and Romans, were held in great 
 estimation, and looked upon as sacred. 
 Those of Greece carried in their hands a 
 rod of laurel, round which two serpents, 
 without crests, were twisted as emblems 
 of peace. 
 
 HER'ALDRY, is the art, practice, or 
 science of recording genealogies, and bla- 
 zoning arms or ensigns armorial ; or it is 
 the science of conventional distinctions 
 impressed on shields, banners, and other 
 military accoutrements. It also teaches 
 whatever relates to the marshalling of 
 cavalcades, processions, and other public 
 ceremonies. Heraldry has been divided 
 into personal and national. The first of 
 these divisions treats of bearings belong- 
 ing to individuals, either in their own or 
 in hereditary right. The second treats 
 of distinctive emblems adopted by civil 
 communities. 
 
 HERBA'RIA, collections of dried 
 plants, such as the old botanists called 
 horti sicci, or dry gardens. They are 
 formed by gluing to sheets of paper 
 branches and other parts of plants pressed 
 flat, and dried in the sun or otherwise. 
 If well prepared, they are as useful to 
 the botanist as plants alive ; but it is ne- 
 cessary to have some practical skill to be 
 able to employ them advantageously. 
 The largest public herbaria are those of 
 the Museum at Paris ; the Imperial col- 
 lection of Vienna ; the Royal of Berlin ; 
 and that of the British Museum, formerly 
 Sir Joseph Bank's. Nothing certain is 
 known of the extent of these collections, 
 but they probably contain, in some cases, 
 as many as 60,000 species. The herbari- 
 um is an unattractive part of public mu- 
 seums ; but a very important one for nu- 
 merous purposes of science, both practical 
 and speculative. 
 
 HERCULA'NEUM. an ancient city of 
 Naples, overwhelmed by an eruption of 
 Mount Vesuvius in the reign of Titus ; it 
 was discovered in the year 1689, since 
 which time many manuscripts, paintings, 
 statues, and other relics of antiquity, 
 have been discovered. From the excava- 
 tions that have been made from time to 
 time, the ancient streets and buildings 
 have been, as it were, again thrown open,
 
 292 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 HER 
 
 nnd the domestic affairs of the ancients 
 revealed to the eyes of modern archaeolo- 
 gists. Since 1828 new excavations have 
 taken place, and a splendid private house 
 has been discovered, with a suite of cham- 
 bers, and a court in the centre. There is 
 a separate part of the mansion allotted 
 to females, a garden surrounded by ar- 
 cades and columns, and also a grand sa- 
 loon, which probably served for the meet- 
 ing of the whole family. Another house, 
 also discovered, was very remarkable, 
 from the quantity and nature of the pro- 
 visions in it, none of which had been dis- 
 turbed for eighteen centuries, for the 
 doors remained fastened, in the same state 
 as they were at the period of the catas- 
 trophe which buried Herculaneum. The 
 family which occupied this mansion was, 
 in all likelihood, when the disaster took 
 place, laying in provisions for the winter. 
 The provisions found in the store-rooms 
 consist of dates, chestnuts, large walnuts, 
 dried figs, almonds, prunes, corn, oil, 
 pease, lentils, pies, and hams. The in- 
 ternal arrangement of the house, the man- 
 ner in which it was ornamented, all, in 
 fact, announced that it had belonged to a 
 very rich family and to admirers of the 
 Arts ; for there were discovered many pic- 
 tures, representing Polyphemus and Ga- 
 latea; Hercules and the three Uesperides, 
 Cupid and a Bacchante, Mercury and 
 lo, Perseus killing Medusa, and others. 
 There were also in the same house, vases, 
 articles in glass, bronze and terra cotta, 
 as well as medallions in silver, represent- 
 ing in relief Apollo and Diana. 
 
 HERCU'LEAN, an epithet expressive 
 of the great labor necessary to execute 
 any task ; such as it would require the 
 strength or courage of Hercules to en- 
 counter or accomplish. 
 
 HER'CULES, in mythology, one of the 
 most celebrated personages of antiquity, 
 believed to be the son of Jupiter and 
 Alcmsena, the daughter of Electryon, king 
 of Mycenae. The history and wonderful 
 exploits of this hero are so well known, 
 that it vvould be superfluous to dwell up- 
 on them here. There is, perhaps, no sub- 
 jeft connected with antiquity to the right 
 comprehension of which such formidable 
 difficulties are presented ; and hence the 
 numerous attempts that have been made 
 to separate truth from fiction in the his- 
 tory of Hercules, by divesting it of the 
 mythological traditions with which it had 
 been encumbered by all the writers of 
 antiquity. In some shape or another, all 
 the profane nations of antiquity seem to 
 have possessed a divinity to whom they 
 
 attributed an extraordinary degree of 
 bodily strength, combined with indomita- 
 ble perseverance and moral energy in pros- 
 ecuting and overcoming difficult achieve- 
 ments. The reader will at once recog- 
 nize, as belonging to this class, the Baal 
 of the Syrians, the Melkarth of Phoenicia, 
 and the Kama of Hindostan; who, like 
 the Grecian Hercules, outstripping in 
 bodily and intellectual endowments the 
 great mass of the people of the rude era 
 in which they lived, achieved a multi- 
 plicity of deeds which were looked upon 
 as altogether miraculous, and which pro- 
 cured for their authors empire and do- 
 minion during their lives, and after death 
 a place among the gods. 
 
 HEREDIT'AMENTS, in law, lands, 
 tenements, and whatever immovable 
 things a person may have to himself and 
 his heirs, by way of inheritance ; and 
 which, if not otherwise bequeathed, de- 
 scend to him who is next heir, and not to 
 the executor, as chattels do. 
 
 HERED'ITARY, an appellation given 
 to whatever belongs to a family by right 
 of succession, from heir to heir. Some 
 monarchies are hereditary, and others 
 elective ; and some hereditary monarchies 
 descend only to the heirs male, as in 
 France ; but others, to the next of blood, 
 as in Spain, England, Ac. Hereditary 
 is also applied to offices and posts of honor 
 annexed to certain families ; thus in 
 England the office of earl-marshal is he- 
 reditary in the family of Howard. It is 
 also figuratively applied to good or ill 
 qualities, supposed to be transmitted from 
 a parent to a child ; as, hereditary bra- 
 very, hereditary pride. 
 
 HER'ESY. a fundamental error in re- 
 ligion, or an error of opinion respecting 
 some ftindamental doctrine of religion. 
 But in countries where there is an estab- 
 lished church, an opinion is deemed her- 
 esy, when it differs from that of the 
 church. The Scriptures being the stand- 
 ard of faith, any opinion that is repugnant 
 to its doctrines, is heresy; but as men 
 differ in the interpretation of Scripture, 
 an opinion deemed heretical by one body 
 of Christians, may be deemed orthodox 
 by another. In Scripture and primitive 
 usage, heresy meant merely sect, party, 
 or the doctrines of a sect, as we now use 
 denomination or persuasion, implying 
 no reproach. 
 
 HER'ETOCH, among the ancient Sax- 
 ons, signified the leader or commander 
 of an army, or the commander of the 
 militia in a country or district. 
 
 HER'IOT, in law, the fine paid to the
 
 HEX] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 293 
 
 lord of the manor, by copyholders, on the 
 death of the tenant. 
 
 HER'ISSON, in fortification, a beam 
 or bar armed with iron spikes pointing 
 outwards, and turning on a pivot; used 
 to block up a passage. 
 
 HERMENEU'TICS, the art of finding 
 the meaning of an author's words and 
 phrases, and of explaining it to others. 
 The word is seldom used except in refer- 
 ence to theological subjects. 
 
 HERMETIC ART, the imaginary art 
 or science of alchemy ; so termed from 
 Hermes Trismegistus, a personage of 
 questionable reality, looked up to by the 
 alchemists as the founder of the art. 
 Some spurious works bearing his name 
 are still extant. 
 
 HER'MITS, or ER'EMITES, persons 
 who, in the early ages of Christianity, 
 secluded themselves from the world for 
 devotional purposes, betaking themselves 
 to solitary and desert places (Ipriiiis,) 
 whence their name. In the first five cen- 
 turies of our era this class of persons was 
 extremely numerous ; nor have individ- 
 uals been wanting in latter ages who 
 have undergone the same privations with 
 the same mistaken views, and have ac- 
 quired great reputation for sanctity in 
 consequence. 
 
 HE RO, in pagan mythology, an illus- 
 trious mortal, but supposed by the popu- 
 lace to partake of immortality, and after 
 his death to be placed among the gods. 
 Hero is also used in a more extensive 
 sense for a great, illustrious, and extra- 
 ordinary personage ; particularly one 
 eminent for valor, courage, intrepidity, 
 and other military virtues. Hero, in a 
 poem or romance, is the principal per- 
 sonage, or the one who has the principal 
 share in the actions related ; as Achilles 
 in the Iliad, Ulysses in the Odyssey, &c. 
 Heroic verse, hexameter verse, so 
 called because it is used by poets in their 
 heroic poems. Heroic (tge, that age or 
 period of the world wherein the heroes, 
 or demigods, are supposed to have lived. 
 The heroic age coincides with the fabu- 
 lous age. 
 
 HERRN'HUT, an establishment in 
 Upper Lusatia, comprising, it is said, at 
 present 120 houses, and 1500 inhabitants, 
 which was founded by a few Moravians 
 about the year 1722, under the patronage 
 of Count Zinzendorf. The principles of 
 the society thus formed are seclusion 
 from the world, the enjoyment of a con- 
 templative life, and the possession of all 
 goods in common. Its members are 
 bound together, under the title of Mora- 
 
 vian Brethren, by strict laws and observ- 
 ances. Accusations have been thrown 
 out against them of their indulging, in 
 their retirement, in many licentious 
 practices ; but it is certain that their in- 
 dustry supplies many of the markets of 
 Germany with various useful and orna- 
 mental articles of handiwork ; that their 
 zeal has prompted them to establish affi- 
 liated societies in many parts of Europe 
 and America ; and that in religious mat- 
 ters they are neither extravagant them- 
 selves, nor intolerant of others. 
 
 HER'TII A, (sometimes written Aertha, 
 Aortha, and Eorthe.) In German my- 
 thology, the name generally assigned in 
 modern times to the chief divinity of the 
 ancient German and Scandinavian na- 
 tions. She was worshipped under a va- 
 riety of names, of which the chief were 
 exactly analogous to those of Terra, Rhea, 
 Cybele, and Ops, among the Greeks and 
 Romans. Long before the Christian era 
 the knowledge of Hertha appeared to 
 have been extended over a great portion 
 of northern Europe. Tacitus speaks of 
 the wonderful unanimity which tribes 
 that had no other feature in common dis- 
 played in worshipping this goddess, whom 
 he designates Herthus, or Mother Earth. 
 Her chief sanctuary was situated, accord- 
 ing to the same authority, in a sacred 
 grove in an island of the ocean, in insula 
 oceani, which, by some writers, has been 
 supposed to be Riga, and by others Zet- 
 land or Heligoland ; but no modern re- 
 searches have been able accurately to fix 
 its locality. 
 
 HESPER'IDES, in Greek mythology, 
 the daughters of Night, or the grand- 
 daughters of Hesperus the brother of At- 
 las, three or seven in number, possessors 
 of the fabulous garden of golden fruit 
 watched over by an enchanted dragon at 
 the western extremities of the earth. 
 Such at least is the most ordinary form 
 of the fable, but it is very variously rep- 
 resented. 
 
 HET'EROCLITE. in grammar, a word 
 which is irregular or anomalous, either 
 in declension or conjugation, or which 
 deviates from the ordinary forms of in- 
 flection in words of a like kind. 
 
 HEX'ACHORD, in music, a progres- 
 sion of six notes, to which Guido attached 
 the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. The 
 hexachord is also called a sixth ; and is 
 twofold, greater and less. The former is 
 composed of two greater, two less tones, 
 and one greater semitone, making five 
 intervals ; the latter of two greater tones, 
 one lesser and two greater semitones.
 
 294 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [HIO 
 
 HEXAM'ETER, in ancient poetry, a 
 verse consisting of six feet, the first four 
 of which may be either dactyls or spon- 
 dees, the fifth must regularly be a dactyl, 
 and the sixth always a spondee. Hex- 
 ameter verse was employed on almost 
 every topic to which poetry can be ap- 
 plied. In modern times several poets of 
 France, England, and Germany have at- 
 tempted to introduce this measure into 
 the language of their respective coun- 
 tries. The few specimens wo have seen 
 of it in French appeared to us wholly un- 
 successful. The little countenance given 
 to the attempts made by Dr. Southey 
 and others to introduce it into English 
 literature, is conclusive, we think, against 
 its ever being generally adopted in that 
 country ; but, on the other hand, it has 
 been cultivated in Germany with great 
 success, as the Hermann and Dorothea 
 of Goethe, and many other examples that 
 might be cited, abundantly prove. One 
 of the most successful specimens of mod- 
 ern hexameter is the admirable poem of 
 Evangeline, by our countryman, Long- 
 fellow. 
 
 HEX'APLE, the combination of six 
 versions of the Old Testament by Origen, 
 is so called : viz., the Septuagint, Aquila, 
 Theodotian, Symmachus, one found at 
 Jericho, and another at Nicopolis. 
 
 HEX'ASTYLE, in architecture, that 
 species of temple or other building hav- 
 ing six columns in front. 
 
 JIIA'TUS, a word which has passed 
 into several modern languages. In dip- 
 lomatics and bibliography, it signifies a 
 deficiency in the text of an author, as 
 from a passage erased, worn out, &c. In 
 grammar and prosody, it properly signi- 
 fies the occurrence of a final vowel, fol- 
 lowed immediately by the initial vowel 
 of another word, without the suppression 
 of either by an apostrophe. This, in 
 Greek and Latin poetry, was only admis- 
 sible in certain excepted cases ; as whore, 
 in Greek, a final long vowel is succeeded 
 by an initial short vowel, and becomes 
 sometimes short by position : or in Latin, 
 where the ccesura gave an additional 
 force to the first vowel, as in the cele- 
 brated line, 
 
 "Ter aunt conatl Imponere Peli6 Ossam. 1 ' 
 
 which affords an instance of both, the 
 first hiatus being occasioned by the caes- 
 ura; the second, an imitation of the 
 Greek prosody. In French the hiatus is 
 carefully avoided : in English less so, 
 although by the more accurate poets still 
 regarded as a blemish, except in some 
 
 instances where a long vowel is followed 
 by a short one. The worst species of 
 hiatus is where the same vowel sound 
 is repeated. 
 
 HIERARCHY, a term literally signi- 
 fying holy government, and applied some- 
 times to the supposed polity, or social 
 constitution, among angels. Also, eccle- 
 siastical government, or the subordina- 
 tion of rank among the different orders 
 of clergy. 
 
 HIEROGLYPHICS, in antiquity, 
 mystical characters or symbols used in 
 writings and inscriptions, particularly by 
 the Egyptians, as signs of sacred, divine, 
 or supernatural things. The hieroglyph- 
 ics were figures of animals, parts of the 
 human body, &c., containing a meaning 
 which was intelligible only to the priests, 
 and those who were initiated in their 
 mysteries. In a general sense, a hiero- 
 glyphic is any symbol or figure which 
 may serve to represent an object and 
 convey a meaning. 
 
 HIEROGRAM'MATISTS, in anti- 
 quity, priests amongst the Egyptians who 
 presided over learning and religion. Their 
 duty was to take care of the hieroglyph- 
 ics, and expound religious mysteries and 
 opinions. They were also skilled in div- 
 ination, and were honored with many 
 exemptions from civil duties and taxes. 
 
 HIEROM'ANCY, in Grecian antiquiiy, 
 a species of divination, which predicted 
 future events by observing the appear- 
 ances of the various things offered in sac- 
 
 IIIEROM'NEMON, in ancient Greece, 
 a magistrate who presided over the sa- 
 cred rites and solemnities. 
 
 HIERON'ICES, in antiquity, a con- 
 queror at the Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, 
 and Nemean games. 
 
 HIEROPHAN'TES, in Grecian anti- 
 quity, the priests and priestesses who 
 were appointed by the state to have the 
 supervisal of sacred rites, and to take 
 care of the sacrifices. 
 
 HIEROPH'YLAX, an officer in the 
 Greek church, who was guardian or keeper 
 of the holy utensils, vestments, &c., an- 
 swering to our sacristan or vestry-keeper. 
 
 HIGH'NESS, a title of honor given to 
 princes. The kings of England before 
 James I. were not saluted with the title 
 of " majesty," but that of highness only. 
 At present the children of crowned heads 
 are generally styled royal highness. 
 Those of the emperors of Austria and 
 Russia are styled imperial highness. 
 
 HIGH-PRIEST, the head of the Jew- 
 , ish priesthood. Moses conferred this dig-
 
 HIS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 nity upon his orotner, in whose family it 
 descended without interruption. After 
 the subjugation of the Jews by the Seleu- 
 cidse, the Ptolemies, and the Romans, it 
 was often arbitrarily conferred by the 
 foreign masters. The importance of this 
 officer is indicated by the splendor and 
 costliness of his garment, which was 
 among yie most beautiful works of an- 
 cient art. 
 
 HIL A'RIA, in antiquity, a festival cel- 
 ebrated by the Romans on the 8th of the 
 calends of April, in honor of the god Pan. 
 
 HINDOOS', the primitive inhabitants 
 of the Bast Indies ; a people distinguish- 
 ed for their humanity, gentleness, indus- 
 try, and knowledge of the polite arts, 
 at a time when most of their Asiatic 
 neighbors were yet only in the first stages 
 of civilization, when the Greeks lay in 
 obscurity, and the nations of Europe 
 were in a state of barbarism. They have 
 preserved their national character from 
 the most distant ages, even under the do- 
 minion of foreigners, and have retained 
 to the present day their language, their 
 written characters, their government, 
 religion, manners, customs, and habits 
 of life. They possess great natural tal- 
 ents, but are at present deprived of op- 
 portunities for their development, though 
 they are still largely engaged in manu- 
 factures and commerce. In earlier times, 
 before they were oppressed by a foreign 
 yoke, they had reached a higher degree 
 of civilization, and their country has been 
 considered as the cradle of the arts and 
 sciences. They are divided into four dis- 
 tinct classes, or castes, which, to the great 
 disadvantage of cultivation, are essen- 
 tially and perpetually separate from each 
 other, so that no transition from one to 
 another is possible. But the most extra- 
 ordinary custom of the Hindoos is the 
 burning of widows at the funeral of their 
 husbands. 
 
 HIPPOCEN'TAUR, in ancient fable, a 
 supposed monster, half man and half horse. 
 The hippocentaur differed from the cen- 
 taur in this, that the latter rode on an 
 ox, and the former on a horse, as the 
 name imports. 
 
 HIP POCRENE, a celebrated fountain 
 at the foot of Mount Helicon, supposed to 
 have been produced by the horse Pegasus 
 having struck his foot against the moun- 
 tain. It was regarded in antiquity with 
 peculiar veneration, as it was believed to 
 be a favorite haunt of the Muses, and was 
 consequently looked upon as one of the 
 chief sources whence the poets drew their 
 inspiration. 
 
 HIP'PODROME, in antiquity, a course 
 for chariot and horse races. There are in 
 England some vestiges of similar courses, 
 the most remarkable of which is that near 
 Stonehenge. This hippodrome occupies a 
 tract of ground extending about two hun- 
 dred druidical cubits, or three hundred 
 and fifty feet, in breadth, and six thou- 
 sand druidical cubits, or more than a mile 
 and three quarters, in length. It runs 
 directly east and west, and is completely 
 inclosed with a bank of earth. The goal 
 and career are at the east end. The goal 
 is a high bank of earth, raised with a 
 slope inwards, on which the judges are 
 supposed to have sat. There is one about 
 half a mile to the southward of Leicester ; 
 another near Dorchester ; and a third on 
 the banks of the Lowther, near Penrith 
 in Cumberland. But these must have 
 been humble imitations indeed of the 
 splendid structures erected in ancient 
 times, as may be seen in the description 
 of the one at Olympias, as given by Pau- 
 sanias, or of that which was finished by 
 Constantine, and which still fills the trav- 
 eller who visits the Turkish capital with 
 astonishment. It is surrounded by two 
 ranges of columns, extending farther than 
 the eye can reach, raised one above the 
 other, and resting on a broad foundation, 
 and is adorned by an immense quantity 
 of statues, in marble, porphyry, and 
 
 HISTOR ICAL PAINTING, in paint- 
 ing, that department of the art which 
 comprehends all representations whereof 
 history furnishes the subject. But under 
 this head are generally included subjects 
 from fabulous history, and those founded 
 on allegory. 
 
 HISTORIOGRAPHER, a professed 
 historian, or writer of histories. It has 
 been a common, although not uniform 
 practice in European courts, to confer the 
 place of public historiographer on some 
 learned man as a mark of royal favor. 
 Voltaire had at one period the title of 
 Royal Historiographer of Pra.nce. 
 
 HIS'TORY, an account of facts, particu- 
 larly of facts respecting nations or states ; 
 a narration of events in the order in which 
 they happened, with their causes and ef- 
 fects. History differs from annals. An- 
 nals relate simply the facts and events of 
 each year, in strict chronological order, 
 without any observations of the annalist. 
 History regards less strictly the arrange- 
 ment of events under each year, and ad- 
 mits the observations of the writer. This 
 distinction, however, is not always re- 
 garded with strictness. History is of dif-
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 HOL 
 
 ferent kinds, or treats of different sub- 
 jects ; as, a history of government, or po- 
 litical history ; history of the Christian 
 church, or ecclesiastical history ; history 
 of the affairs of nations, empires, king- 
 doms, and states, their rise, progress, and 
 decline, or civil history ; history of relig- 
 ion as contained in the bible, or sacred his- 
 tory. Profane history is another name 
 for civil history, as distinguished from sa- 
 cred history ; history of war and con- 
 quests, or military history ; history of 
 law ; history of commerce ; history of the 
 crusades ; history of literature, history of 
 science, Ac. In these and similar exam- 
 ples, history is written narrative or rela- 
 tion. The divisions of history in relation 
 to periods of time have been reckoned 
 three. 1. Ancient history, which includes 
 the Jewish history, and that of the na- 
 tions of antiquity, and reaches down to 
 the destruction of the Roman empire, 
 A.D. 476. 2. History of the middle ages, 
 which begins with 476, and comes down 
 to the discovery of America in 1492, or 
 to the reformation. 3. Modern history, 
 from either of these e'ras to our own times. 
 Classical history, properly so called, i? 
 the history of the national affairs and 
 conquests of the Greeks and Romans. 
 The uses of history are as varied as they 
 are important. To become acquainted 
 with the characters of men, the marks, 
 sources, and effects of their passions and 
 prejudices, the power and changes of their 
 customs, and the like, is an essential and 
 necessary step to prudence ; and all this 
 knowledge is considerably improved by 
 history, which teaches us to make other 
 men's experience our own, to profit by it, 
 and to learn wisdom from their misfor- 
 tunes. Persons who read history merely 
 for amusement, or, having in view some 
 particular branch of learning, attend only 
 to certain branches of history, are not 
 confined to that order and connection 
 which is absolutely requisite for obtain- 
 ing a proper knowledge of history ; the 
 most regular, as well as successful way 
 of studying which, is to begin with an 
 epitome of universal history, and after- 
 wards apply to the history of particular 
 nations and commonwealths ; for the 
 study of particular histories is only ex- 
 tending the knowledge of particular parts 
 of universal history. Unless this be our 
 plan, we shall only fill the memory with 
 some events ; which may be done" with- 
 out applying to history, or pretending to 
 the knowledge of it. 
 
 HISTRION'IC ART, that of acting in 
 dramatic representation. Histrio, in an- 
 
 cient Rome, signified an actor or come- 
 dian ; but more especially a pantomimist, 
 whose talents were exerted in gesticula- 
 tions and dancing. 
 
 HOCK'DAY, or HOKE'DAY, a day 
 of feasting and mirth, formerly held in 
 England the second Tuesday after Eas- 
 ter, to commemorate the destruction of 
 the Danes in the time of Ethelred. 
 
 HO'LINESS, a title of quality given 
 to the pope, who is styled, "your holi- 
 ness," or, "holy father:" in Latin, sanc- 
 tissime, or beatissime pater. 
 
 HOL'OCAUST, a burnt offering or sac- 
 rifice, wholly consumed by fire : of this 
 kind was the daily sacrifice in the Jewish 
 church. This was done by way of ac- 
 knowledgment, that the person offering, 
 and all that belonged to him, were the 
 effects of the divine bounty. The pagan 
 nations, who also offered holocausts, prob- 
 ably considered them in the same light. 
 
 HOL'OGRAPH. a deed or testament 
 wholly written by the hand of the testa- 
 
 HO'LY ALLI'ANCE, THE, a league 
 formed between certain of the principal 
 sovereigns of Europe, after the defeat of 
 Napoleon at Waterloo; on the proposal, 
 it is said, of the Emperor Alexander. 
 It arose from the religious enthusiasm 
 which was prevalent at that period of 
 deliverance from French domination, 
 and with which the Russian emperor was 
 just then considerably imbued. The act 
 of this alliance is said to have been sent 
 in his handwriting to the emperor of 
 Austria and king of Prussia, and signed 
 by them. It is not .supposed that the 
 original terms of the league were other 
 than indefinite ; for the maintenance of 
 justice, religion, &c., in the name of the 
 Gospel. But it was subsequently con- 
 nected with the determination of those 
 monarchs to support, in conjunction with 
 England and France, existing govern- 
 ments throughout Europe, by the Decla- 
 ration of November, 1819 : afterwards 
 the congresses of Troppau, Laybach, and 
 Verona established the character of the 
 alliance ; to which the war of France 
 against Spain, in 1823, gave additional 
 illustration. Since the secession of Eng- 
 land and France, the alliance can scarcely 
 be said to have any active existence. 
 
 HO'LY ROOD, or HOLY CROSS, a 
 festival kept on the 14th of September, 
 to commemorate the exaltation of the 
 Holy Cross. It is from this circumstance 
 that the royal palace in Edinburgh has 
 derived its appellation. 
 
 HO'LY THURSDAY, or ASCENSION
 
 n OM] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 297 
 
 DAY, in the Romish calendar, the 39th 
 day after Easter Sunday. A festival in 
 commemoration of Christ's ascension. 
 
 HO'LY-WATEK, in the Roman Cath- 
 olic and Greek churches, water which has 
 heen consecrated by prayers, exorcisms, 
 and other ceremonies, to sprinkle the 
 faithful and things used for the church. 
 It is contained in a particular kind of 
 vases, at the doors of churches, and also 
 within them at certain places, from which 
 the Catholics sprinkle themselves before 
 prayer. The Protestants renounce the 
 use of holy-wa.ter probably from a fear 
 that it would be considered, like amulets 
 or relics, as something efficacious in it- 
 self, without the repentance commanded 
 by the church. 
 
 HO'LY-WEEK, the week before Eas- 
 ter, in which the passion of our Saviour is 
 commemorated. 
 
 JttO'M^lOMERI'A, the name given to 
 the physical theory of Anaxagoras, a 
 Grecian philosopher of Clazoinenae, who 
 flourished in the fifth century B.C. Ac- 
 cording to this hypothesis, every material 
 substance is made up of infinitely small 
 parts similar to itself. Hence the growth 
 and nourishment of animals and vegeta- 
 bles was accounted for, by supposing the 
 alimentary substance to be analyzed into 
 its various component parts correspond- 
 ing to the parts of the substance nourish- 
 ed. For instance, corn was supposed to 
 contain particles of blood, bone, flesh, 
 skin, <fcc., which by the process of diges- 
 tion were separated from each other, and 
 added to the corresponding parts of the 
 animal body. This theory bears some 
 resemblance to that of the monads of 
 Leibnitz in modern times. 
 
 HOM'AGE, in law, the oath of submis- 
 sion and loyalty, which the tenant, under 
 the feudal system, used to take to his lord 
 when first admitted to his land. 
 
 HOMER'IC, pertaining to Homer, the 
 great poet of Greece, or to his poetry. 
 
 HOM'ICIDE, in law, the killing of one 
 human being by another. It is of three 
 kinds, justifiable, excusable, or felonious ; 
 justifiable, when it proceeds from una- 
 voidable necessity, without an intention 
 to kill, and without negligence ; excusa- 
 ble, when it happens from misadventure, 
 or in self-defence ; felonious, when it pro- 
 ceeds from malice, or is done in the pros- 
 ecution of some unlawful act, or in a sud- 
 den passion. Homicide committed with 
 premeditated malice, is murder. Sui- 
 cide also, or self-murder, is felonious 
 homicide. The lines of distinction be- 
 tween felonious and excusable or justifia- 
 
 ble homicide, and between manslaughter 
 and murder, are, in many cases, difficult 
 to define with precision. But, in general, 
 the accused has the advantage of any un- 
 certainty or obscurity that may hang over 
 his case, since the presumptions of law 
 are usually in his favor. 
 
 HOM'ILY, a sermon or discourse upon 
 some point of religion, delivered in a 
 plain manner, so as to be easily under- 
 stood by the common people. In the 
 primitive church, homily rather meant a 
 conference or conversation by way of ques- 
 tion and answer, which made part of the 
 office of a bishop, till the fifth century, 
 when the learned priests were allowed to 
 preach, catechize, &c., in the same man- 
 ner as the bishops used to do. There are 
 still extant several fine homilies, com- 
 posed by the ancient fathers. Homiletic 
 or pastoral theology, a branch of practical 
 theology, which teaches the manner in 
 which ministers of the gospel should adapt 
 their discourses to the capacities of their 
 hearers, and pursue the best methods of 
 instructing them by their doctrines and 
 examples. 
 
 HOMCEOP'ATHY, a mode of treating 
 diseases, which consists in the adminis- 
 tration of a medicine which is capable of 
 exciting in healthy persons symptoms 
 closely similar to those of the disease 
 which it is desired to cure. 
 
 HOMOGE'NEOUS, or HOMOGE'NE- 
 AL, an appellation given to things, the 
 elements of which are of similar na- 
 ture and properties. Homogeneous light, 
 that whereof the rays are all of one color 
 and degree of refrangibility, without any 
 mixture of others. 
 
 HOMO'NYMS, words which agree in 
 sound, but differ in signification ; as the 
 substantive " bear" and the verb " bear." 
 
 HOMOOU'SIANS, and HOMOIOU'- 
 SIANS, names by which the Orthodox 
 and Arian parties were distinguished in 
 the great controversy upon the nature of 
 Christ in the fourth century ; the former 
 word signifying that the nature of the 
 Father and Son is the same, the latter 
 that they are similar. Homoousian (Gr. 
 o/joouo-toj) ig derived from b/ios, the same, 
 and Avffia, being ; Homoiousian (bpoiovaios} 
 from bpntns, similar, and oviria. 
 
 HOMOPHO'NOUS, in music, of the 
 same pitch, or unisonal. Two or more 
 sounds are said to be homophonous when 
 they are exactly of the same pitch. 
 
 HOMOPH'ONY. homophonous words 
 or syllables, in language, are words or 
 syllables having the same sound, although 
 expressed in writing by various coinbina-
 
 298 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA. OF LITERATURE 
 
 [if ON 
 
 tions of letters. Languages which abound 
 in horaophonies are, 1. Some Oriental 
 monosyllabic tongues, namely, the Chi- 
 nese and its kindred dialects, in which 
 very few sounds comprise the whole vo- 
 cabulary, and the same sound is expressed 
 by a variety of ideographic characters, (in 
 Chinese there are only 400 such sounds, 
 multiplied by the distinctions of tone and 
 accent to 1600 or 2000;) and, 2. Some 
 European tongues in which, according to 
 the genius of the dialect, the syllables of 
 the original languages from which the 
 words are chiefly derived have been con- 
 tracted in speaking, and part of their 
 sounds dropped, while the greater part of 
 the letters is retained. Thus in English, 
 and still more in French, which is pecu- 
 liarly a dialect of Latin abounding in con- 
 tractions, homophonies are numerous, (in 
 the latter tongue the number of syllables 
 differently spelt, all having nearly the 
 sound of our broad A, amounts to more 
 than a hundred ;) while in Italian, in 
 which the original proportions of the Ro- 
 man language are preserved, they are 
 scarcely to be found at all. 
 
 1IONG, the Chinese name for the for- 
 eign factories situated at Canton. The 
 hong merchants are those persons who are 
 alone legally permitted to trade with for- 
 eigners. They are ten in number, and 
 are always held responsible by the gov- 
 ernment for paying all duties, whether on 
 imports or exports in foreign vessels. No 
 foreign ship that enters the Chinese ports 
 can commence unloading until she has 
 obtained a hong merchant as security for 
 the duties. 
 
 HON'OR, a testimony of esteem or 
 submission, expressed by words, actions, 
 and an exterior behavior by which we 
 make known the veneration and respect 
 we entertain for any one, on account of 
 his dignity or merit. The word honor is 
 also used in general for the esteem due 
 to virtue, glory, and reputation. It 
 moreover means, that dignified respect 
 for character, which springs from princi- 
 ple or moral rectitude, and which is a 
 distinguishing trait in the character of 
 good men. It is also used for virtue and 
 probity themselves, and for an exactness 
 in performing whatever we have promis- 
 ed: and in this last sense we use the 
 term, a man of honor. But honor is more 
 particularly applied to two different kinds 
 of virtue, bravery in men, and chastity i 
 in women. Virtue and honor were deified 
 among the Greeks and Romans, and had 
 a joint temple consecrated to them at ! 
 Rome ; but afterwards they had separate j 
 
 temples, which were so placed, that no 
 one could enter the temple of Honor, 
 without passing through that of Virtue ; 
 by which the Romans were continually 
 put in mind, that virtue is the only direct 
 path to true glory. The first temple to 
 honor was erected by Scipio Africanus, 
 and another afterwards was built by 
 Claudius Marcellus. AVe find a personi- 
 fication of this quality on several medals 
 of Galba and of Vitellius. She is repre- 
 sented half naked, holding in one hand a 
 spear, and in the other a cornucopia : 
 upon others, a long robe envelops the 
 figure, and the spear is exchanged for an 
 olive branch. Honor, in law, a superior 
 seignory, to which other lordships and 
 manors owe suit and service, and which, 
 itself, holds of the king only Honors of 
 IJE IT, honorable terms granted to a van- 
 quished enemy, when he is permitted to 
 march out of a town with all the insignia 
 of military honors. Laws of honor, 
 among persons of fashion, signify certain 
 rules by which their social intercourse is 
 regulated, and which are founded on a 
 regard to reputation. These laws re- 
 quire a punctilious attention to decorum 
 in external deportment, but often lead to 
 the most flagrant violations of moral 
 duty. Court of honor, an ancient court 
 of civil and criminal jurisdiction, having 
 power to redress injuries of honor, and to 
 hold pleas respecting matters of arms and 
 deeds of war. Maids of honor, ladies in 
 the service o^European queens, whose 
 business it is to attend the queen when 
 she appears in public. In England, they 
 are six in number, with a salary of .300 
 each. 
 
 HON'ORABLE, a title prefixed to the 
 Christian names of the younger sons of 
 earls, and to those of all the children, 
 both sons and daughters, of viscounts and 
 barons. It is also conferred on persons 
 filling certain offices of trust and dignity, 
 such as the maids of honor of the queen 
 and queen dowager ; and collectively on 
 certain public bodies or institutions, as 
 the House of Commons, the Congress of 
 the United States, the East India Com- 
 pany, &c., &c. The title of right honor- 
 able is given to all peers and peeresses 
 of the United Kingdom ; to the eldest 
 sons and all the daughters of peers above 
 the rank of viscount ; to all privy coun- 
 sellors ; and to some civic functionaries, 
 as the lord mayors of London and Dub- 
 lin, the lord provosts of Edinburgh and 
 Glasgow, <tc. 
 
 IIONORA'RIUM, a term used almost, 
 synonymously with fee, and applied at
 
 HOR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 299 
 
 present chiefly to the fees tendered to 
 professors in universities, and to medical 
 or other professional gentlemen for their 
 services. It was originally applied solely 
 to the salaries of the great officers of state, 
 whose services it was considered, by a 
 perhaps pardonable euphemism, were re- 
 numerated only, as itwere, honoris causa ; 
 a shade of meaning which is still percep- 
 tible in the present use of the term. 
 
 HON'ORS. Greece, in the heroic times, 
 rendered to all her great generals and 
 captains some liberal reward as a proof 
 of the public approbation and respect. 
 This was sometimes offered in the shape 
 of g. ','ase of gold, or of a silver tripod, or 
 som<i other valuable article either of util- 
 ity or of mere ornament. Similar re- 
 wards were conceded to the victorious 
 Roman leader in the shape of a triumph 
 or ovation. Nor was it to military merit 
 alone that the ancients decreed honors : 
 the Fine Arts were made objects of national 
 regard and encouragement. Philosophy, 
 eloquence, painting, poetry, music, sculp- 
 ture, architecture, were each enabled to 
 aspire to the highest distinctions. The 
 Lacedaemonians, even although their edu- 
 cation was decidedly warlike, erected 
 statues to the poet Tyrtaeus. At the cel- 
 ebrated public games in Sparta, prizes 
 were distributed to the most successful 
 amongst the poets and musicians. Athens 
 erected statues to Solon, to Socrates, and 
 an infinity of others. To Homer temples 
 were raised ; and various poets and art- 
 ists received crowns, prerogatives, and 
 often the rights of citizenship. The Athe- 
 nians inscribed upon the front of their 
 temples the names of the able architects 
 who had designed them. The town of 
 Pergamus purchased with the public 
 funds a palace for the reception of the 
 works of Apelles. The Eleans, for whom 
 Phidias executed the statue of Jupiter 
 Olympus, in honor for the memory of 
 the artist, and in respect for the surpass- 
 .ing beauty of his work, erected, in favor 
 of his descendants, a lucrative office, of 
 which the only duty consisted in taking 
 care of, and keeping free from blemish, 
 that celebrated piece of art. In the times 
 of the republic, by the Romans, amongst 
 whom the use of arms constituted the 
 chief, nay, almost the only species of 
 merit, few testimonies of esteem were 
 awarded to the practisers of the Fine Arts. 
 They aflixed no honorable distinctions to 
 the successful architect, painter, or sculp- 
 tor, inasmuch as these peaceful avoca- 
 tions were, for the most part, cultivated 
 either by slaves or freeJmen. It was not 
 
 until the reign of Augustus Cnosar that 
 the Arts were duly honored. On the re- 
 vival of intellectual energy, after the 
 darkness of the middle ages, the Arts were 
 liberally encouraged. Michael Angelo 
 was high in favor with the fierce Julius 
 II. Raphael was greatly beloved by 
 Leo X. ; and the emperor Maximilian 
 became the warm patron of Albert Durer, 
 whom he ennobled. Leonardo da Vinci 
 died in the arms of Francis I. Rubens 
 enjoyed the highest consideration, and 
 was entrusted with important negotia- 
 tions both by Philip IV. of Spain and 
 Charles II. of England. Even the stern 
 Henry VIII. was a mild and kind master 
 to Holbein ; and the illustrious name of 
 Medici will at once recall the zeal of that 
 princely family for the cultivation of the 
 Fine Arts. 
 
 HOOD, an article of dress designed to 
 cover the head and shoulders, and some- 
 times signifying, among the ancients, a 
 mantle, which served likewise to envelop 
 the whole body. In this sense we find it 
 alluded to, as serving to conceal from ob- 
 servation the persons of the Roman youth 
 during their nocturnal rambles. In such a 
 habit is usually depicted Telesphorus, the 
 son of Esculapius. 
 
 HO'PLITES, the heavy-armed infan- 
 try of Grecian antiquity. According to 
 the Athenian regulations (similar, prob- 
 ably, to those of other states), the higher 
 classes of citizens only, as estimated by 
 the census, were liable to this expensive 
 form of military service ; in process of 
 time, however, it seems that the Thetes 
 or inferior classes also served as hoplites. 
 The hoplites were armed in early times 
 with the spear, heavy defensive armor, 
 and large shield ; the latter were ex- 
 changed after the time of Iphicrates for 
 the light cuirass and target. 
 
 HORDE, a company of wandering peo- 
 ple, who have no settled habitation, but 
 stroll about, dwelling under tents, to be 
 ready to shift, as soon as the provisions 
 of the place fail them. 
 
 HORI'ZON, is the plane of a great 
 circle of the sphere, dividing the visible 
 from the invisible hemisphere. The hori- 
 zon is either sensible or rational. The 
 sensible horizon is a plane which is a 
 tangent to the earth's surface at the place 
 of the spectator, extended on all sides till 
 it is bounded by the sky; the rational 
 horizon is a plane parallel to the former, 
 but passing through the centre of the 
 earth. Both the sensible and rational 
 horizon are relative terms, and change 
 with every change of the spectator's po-
 
 300 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 H08 
 
 sit ion on the surface of the earth ; in all 
 cases they are perpendicular to the direc- 
 tion of gravity. Artificial or painter's 
 horizon. In every picture the artificial 
 eye, or point of sight, is supposed to be 
 at a certain height from the base line ; 
 as high as a human figure would be, rep- 
 resented as standing there. To this point 
 everything in the picture tends, as every- 
 thing in a real view tends to the natural 
 eye. The picture then, as far as this j 
 circumstance is concerned, is perfect, if 
 the artificial eye and the artificial hori- 
 zon go together; for these always bear 
 the same relation to each other, wherever 
 the picture may be placed. 
 
 HOR'OSCOPE, a representation of the 
 aspect of the heavens and positions of the 
 celestial bodies at a particular moment, 
 drawn according to the rules of the ima- 
 ginary science of astrology. Thus the 
 aspect of the heavens at the moment of the 
 birth of an individual is his horoscope, and 
 supposed to indicate his future destinies. 
 
 HORSE'-POWER. the power of a 
 horse, or its equivalent ; the force with 
 which a horse acts when drawing. It is 
 compounded of his weight and muscular 
 strength, and diminishes as his speed in- 
 creases. The mode of ascertaining a 
 horse's power is to find what weight he 
 can raise, and to what height in a given 
 time, the horse being supposed to pull 
 horizontally. From a variety of experi- 
 ments of this sort, it is found that a 
 horse, at an average, can raise 160 pounds 
 weight at the velocity of 2 1-2 miles per 
 hour. The power of a horse exerted in 
 this way, is made the standard for esti- 
 mating the power of a steam-engine. 
 Thus we speak of an engine of 60 or 80 
 horse-power, each horse-power being es- 
 timated as equivalent to 33,000 pounds, 
 raised one foot high per minute. 
 
 HOR'TICULTDRE, the cultivation of 
 a garden ; or the art of cultivating gar- 
 dens. It includes in its most extensive 
 signification the cultivation of esculent 
 vegetables, fruits, and ornamental plants, 
 and the formation and management of 
 rural scenery, for the purposes of utility 
 and embellishment, but in a more re- 
 stricted sense, it is employed to designate 
 that branch of rural economy which con- 
 sists in the formation and culture of gar- 
 dens. Its results are culinary vegeta- 
 bles, fruits, and flowers. 
 
 nOR'TUS SICCUS, literally, a dry 
 garden ; an appellation given to a collec- 
 tion of specimens of plants, carefully dried 
 and preserved. The old name of her- 
 barium. 
 
 HOSAN'NA, was a form of supplica- 
 tion amongst the Hebrews, signifying, 
 save, J beseech you, or help hitn God! 
 This acclamation was so much used at the 
 feast of tabernacles, that the solemnity 
 was called Hosanna rabba. It was used 
 at the inauguration of kings to express 
 their good wishes for the prosperity of 
 their princes. At the feast of tabernacles 
 it was continually echoed, both as express- 
 ive of gratitude for former deliverances, 
 and of their joyful expectation of a future 
 one by the Messiah. 
 
 HO'SEA, a canonical book of the Old 
 Testament, and the first of the minor pro- 
 phets. His prophecies are chiefly direct- 
 ed to the ten tribes before their captivity, 
 threatening them with destruction in case 
 of disobedience, but comforting the pious 
 with the promise of the Messiah, and of 
 the nappy state of the church in the lat- 
 ter days. 
 
 HOS'PITAL, a place or building prop- 
 erly endowed, or otherwise supported by 
 charitable contributions, for the reception 
 and support of the poor, aged, infirm, sick, 
 or helpless. Also, a house for the recep- 
 tion of disabled seamen or soldiers, found- 
 lings, &c., who are supported by public 
 or private charity, as well as for pauper 
 lunatics, infected persons. Ac. Hospitals 
 for the sick and wounded, and also those 
 for the poor and infirm, were wholly un- 
 known among the ancients. In Sparta, 
 where all the citizens ate together, there 
 was no institution for the sick. In Rome, 
 neither under the consuls nor emperors 
 did they ever think of making any pro- 
 vision for the infirm or the poor. The 
 first establishment of hospitals must be 
 ascribed to Christians. After the estab- 
 lishment of Christianity, the emperors at 
 Constantinople built many hospitals for 
 poor infants, the aged, orphans, and 
 strangers. Piety impelled many individ- 
 uals to appropriate a part of their funds 
 to religious and charitable purposes ; and 
 this good example being followed, from 
 patriotic and benevolent motives, hospi- 
 tals of various kinds were founded in most 
 of the civilized nations of Europe. 
 
 HOS'PITALLERS, an order of relig- 
 ious knights, who built a hospital at Je- 
 rusalem for pilgrims. They are now 
 known by the title of knights of Malta. 
 
 HOSPI'TIUM, a term used in old 
 writers either for an inn or a monastery, 
 built for the reception of strangers and 
 travellers. In the more early ages of 
 the world, before public inns were thought 
 of, persons who travelled lodged in pri- 
 vate houses, and were obliged, if need re-
 
 HOUJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 301 
 
 quired, to return the favor to those that 
 entertained them. This was the occasion 
 of the most intimate friendship betwixt 
 the parties, insomuch that they treated 
 one another as relations. Hence the word 
 hospitium, which properly signifies lodg- 
 ing or entertainment at the house of an- 
 other, is used for friendship, founded upon 
 the basis of hospitality. 
 
 HOS'PODAR, a title home by the 
 princes of Wallachia and Moldavia, who 
 receive the investiture of their principal- 
 ities from the grand seignior. He gives 
 them a vest and standard : they are un- 
 der his protection, and obliged to serve 
 him, and he even sometimes deposes them ; 
 but in other respects they are absolute 
 sovereigns within their own dominions. 
 
 HOST, in church history, a contraction 
 of hostia, a Latin word, signifying a vic- 
 tim, or sacrifice offered to the Deity. In 
 a general sense, the term is used to Jesus 
 Christ, as an Iwstitia offered to the Father 
 for the sins of ma'nkind. In the church 
 of Rome, the host is the consecrated wafer 
 used in the sacrament of the Eucharist ; 
 which wafer, or bread, being transubstan- 
 tiated, as is taught, into the real body 
 and blood of Christ, is in that rite offered 
 up a sacrifice anew. The elevation of the 
 host is a ceremony prevalent in all Cath- 
 olic countries, in which the consecrated 
 elements are raised aloft and carried in 
 procession through a church, or even 
 through the streets of a city. On these 
 occasions the people fall on their knees 
 and worship the host. The origin of the 
 custom is diited from the 12th century, 
 when, it is said, it was thought necessary 
 to make this public and conspicuous de- 
 claration of the Eucharist on the occasion 
 of the promulgation of the opinions of 
 Berengarius against transubstantiation. 
 
 HOS'TAGE, a person given up to an 
 enemy as a security for the performance 
 of the articles of a treaty ; on the per- 
 formance of which the person is to be re- 
 lease 1. 
 
 HOTEL', signifies, in a general sense, 
 a large inn for the reception of strangers ; 
 but in a particular sense, especially in 
 France, it is applied to the residences of 
 the king, nobility, or other persons of 
 rank: or it is used synonymously with 
 hospitals, as the Hotel Diea, Hotel des 
 Invalides, &c. 
 
 HOTTE, a basket of wicker-work, much 
 used in Franco, for carrying burthens on 
 the back. It is slung over the arms by 
 means of straps, and great weights are 
 thus carried with much facility. 
 
 HOTTENTOTS, natives of the south- | 
 
 ern extremity of Africa ; a race of people 
 whose appearance, habits, and general 
 ignorance, show in the most striking man- 
 ner to what a degraded condition man- 
 kind may be reduced, when wholly desti- 
 tute of the blessings of civilization. 
 
 HOUR, a space of time equal to one 
 twenty-fourth part of a day and night, 
 and consisting of 60 minutes, each min- 
 ute being 60 seconds. The ancient He- 
 brews did not divide their day into hours. 
 Their division of the day was into four 
 parts, morning, high day or noon, the 
 first evening, and the last evening ; and 
 their night was^livided into three parts, 
 night, midnight, and the morning watch. 
 But afterwards they adopted the manner 
 of the Greeks and Romans, who divided 
 the day, i. e., the space of time from sun 
 rising till sun-set, into twelve equal parts, 
 which consequently differed in length, at 
 the different seasons of the year, though 
 still equal to each other. 
 
 HOU'RIS, the name given by "the Eu- 
 ropeans to the imaginary beings whose 
 company in the Mohammedan paradise is 
 to form the principal felicity of the be- 
 lievers. The name is derived from hur 
 al oyun, signifying black-eyed. They are 
 represented in the Koran as most beauti- 
 ful virgins, with complexions like rubies 
 and pearls, and possessed of every intel- 
 lectual and corporeal charm. They are 
 not created of clay, as mortal women, but 
 of pure musk ; and are endowed with im- 
 mortal youth, and immunity from the 
 diseases and defects of ordinary beings. 
 
 HOURS, in mythology, divinities re- 
 garded in two points of view as the god- 
 desses of the seasons, and hours of the 
 day ; and their number is stated in dif- 
 ferent ways accordingly. Their duty was 
 to hold the gates of heaven, which they 
 opened to send forth the chariot of the 
 sun in the morning, and receive it again 
 in the evening. No classical poet has 
 described them with greater beauty than 
 Shelley, in a celebrated passage of his 
 Prometheus Unbound. These goddesses 
 are often depicted as forming the train 
 of Venus. 
 
 HOURS, CANONICAL, the seven 
 hours of prayer, observed, it is said, by 
 the Catholic church since the 5th cen- 
 tury; chiefly in monasteries. The num- 
 ber seems before that time to have va- 
 ried, although some peculiar seasons of 
 the day and night were always set apart 
 for this observance. They became finally 
 fixed at seven by the rule of St. Bene- 
 dict ; a number, perhaps, recommended 
 by the literal acceptation of the words
 
 302 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OP LITERATURE 
 
 of David, (Psalm cxix.,) " Seven times a 
 day will I praise thee." These hours 
 are termed, in the language of the Latin 
 church, matins, pritua, tertia, nona, vesp- 
 ers, complcta or completorium, which last 
 takes place at midnight. At the time 
 of the Reformation the canonical hours 
 were reduced in the Lutheran church to 
 two, morning and evening ; the " re- 
 formed" church never observed them. 
 
 HOUSE, a human habitation, or place 
 of abode of a family. Among the Eastern 
 nations, and those to the south, houses 
 are flat on the top, with the ascent to 
 the upper story by steps on the outside. 
 As we proceed northward, a declivity of 
 the roof becomes requisite to throw off 
 the rain and snow, which are of greater 
 continuance in higher latitudes. Among 
 the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Jews, 
 the houses usually enclosed a quadran- 
 gular area or court, open to the sky. 
 This part of the house was by the Romans 
 called the impluvium, or cavtedium, and 
 was provided with channels to carry off 
 the waters into the sewers. The word 
 house is a term used in various ways ; 
 as, in the phrase, " a religious house," 
 either the buildings of a monastery, or 
 the community of persons inhabiting them, 
 may be designated. In the Middle Ages, 
 when a family retired to the lodge con- 
 nected with the mansion, or to their 
 country-seat, it was called " keeping 
 their secret house." House, among ge- 
 nealogists, a noble family, or an illus- 
 trious race, descended from the same 
 stock ; as the house of Austria; the house 
 of Hanover When speaking of a body 
 of men united in their legislative capa- 
 city, and holding their place by right or 
 by election, we also use the word house ; 
 as the House of Lords or the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 HOUSE'-BREAKING, in law, the 
 breaking open and entering of a house 
 by daylight, with the intent to commit a 
 felony. The same crime committed at 
 night is denominated a burglary. 
 
 HOUSE'HOLD, the whole of a family 
 considered collectively, including the mis- 
 tress, children, and servants. But the 
 household of a sovereign prince includes 
 only the officers and domestics belonging 
 to his palace. 
 
 HOWAD'JI, the Arabian name for 
 merchant or shopkeeper, and applied by 
 the Orientals to all travellers. 
 
 HOWITZER, a kind of mortar, mount- 
 ed upon a carriage like a gun. The how- 
 itzer is used to throw grenades, case-shot, 
 and sometimes fire-balls ; their principal 
 
 use, however, is in the discharge of gre- 
 nades. 
 
 HUE AND CRY, in law, the common 
 law process of pursuing a felon. The ori- 
 ginal signification of the phrase evidently 
 was, that the offender should be pursued 
 with a loud outcry, in order that all 
 might hear and be induced to join in the 
 pursuit. 
 
 HU'GUENOT, a French word used af- 
 ter the year 1560, as an appellation for a 
 Protestant. Its origin, and consequently 
 its literal meaning, has received various 
 explanations. Their history forms an 
 important feature in the annals of per- 
 secution. The religious prejudices of the 
 people were kept alive by contending po- 
 litical factions, till France was nearly 
 desolated by what was termed " religious 
 wars ;" and at length a dreadful massacre 
 of the Huguenots took place on St. Bar- 
 tholomew's day, 1572. Henry IV., 1598, 
 protected them by the edict of Nantes ; 
 but Louis XIV., 1685, revoked this edict, 
 in consequence of which 500,000 Hugue- 
 nots fled to Switzerland, Germany. Hol- 
 land, England, and America, where their 
 industry and wealth found a welcome re- 
 ception. 
 
 HUISSIERS', civil officers in France, 
 whose attendance is necessary at .every 
 judicial tribunal, from that of a justice 
 of the peace to the court of cassation. 
 There are different degrees of them, an- 
 swering in some respects to the sheriffs, 
 clerks, and criers of our courts. 
 
 HULK, in naval architecture, the body 
 of a vessel, or that part which is, in truth, 
 the vessel itself; the masts, sails, and 
 cordage, composing only the apparatus for 
 its navigation. Hulk is also an old ship ; 
 so called because such ship being no lon- 
 ger intended for navigation, the masts 
 are taken away. Such old vessels are 
 employed in the business of raising sand 
 or ballast; and the criminals that are 
 condemned to this work in the way of 
 punishment, are said to be condemned to 
 the hulks. 
 
 HUM AN'ITIES, a term used in schools 
 and colleges, to signify polite literature, 
 or grammar, rhetoric, and poetry, in- 
 cluding the study of the ancient classics, 
 in distinction from philosophy and science. 
 
 HUR'RICANE, a most violent storm 
 of wind, generally accompanied by thun- 
 der and lightning, and rain, or hail. 
 Hurricanes prevail chiefly in the East 
 and West Indies, the Isle of France, and 
 in some parts of China. A hurricane is 
 distinguished from every other kind of 
 tempest by the extreme violence of the
 
 HYA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 303 
 
 wind, and by its sudden changes ; the 
 wind often veering suddenly several 
 points, sometimes a quarter of the circle 
 and even more. Hurricanes appear to 
 have an electric origin ; the velocity of 
 the wind exceeds that of a cannon ball, 
 sometimes 300 feet in a second. Corn, 
 vines, sugar-canes, forests, houses, every- 
 thing is swept away by -it. What are 
 called hurricanes in more northern lati- 
 tudes are only whirlwinds occasioned by 
 the meeting of opposite currents of air. 
 
 HUS'BANDRY, the practical part of 
 the science of agriculture, or the business 
 of cultivating the earth and rearing ani- 
 mals. Husbandry is the proper term for 
 that which is commonly called farming ; 
 and, accordingly, in law, a man of this pro- 
 fession is not to be styled a farmer, but a 
 husbandman. It includes agriculture, 
 breeding, grazing, dairying, and every 
 other occupation by which riches may be | 
 drawn from the superficial products of the 
 earth. For a long time past it has been 
 progressively rising in estimation ; and 
 the present age beholds the descendants 
 of feudal chieftains seeking honorable 
 renown in that pursuit which was once 
 abandoned to the meanest of their ances- 
 tors' vassals. Late improvements in agri- 
 culture consist in the lessening the quan- 
 tity of labor, by means of implements, 
 machines, and methodical arrangements. 
 
 HUSSARS', the name by which certain 
 cavalry regiments are distinguished. It 
 is a word of Hungarian origin, and was 
 originally given to the cavalry of that 
 country, raised in 1458, when Mathias I. 
 ordered the prelates and nobles to assem- 
 ble, with their cavalry, in his camp. 
 Every twenty houses were obliged to 
 furnish a man ; and thus from the Hun- 
 garian words husz (twenty,) and ar (pay,) 
 was formed the name huszar or ussar. 
 
 HUSS'ITES, the disciples of John 
 Huss, a Bohemian, and curate of the 
 chapel of Bethlehem at Prague ; who, 
 about the year 1414, embraced and de- 
 defended the opinion of Wickliff of Eng- 
 land, for which he was cited before the 
 council of Constance, and, refusing to re- 
 nounce his supposed errors, he was con- 
 demned to be burnt alive, which sen- 
 tence was accordingly excuted upon him 
 at Constance. This gave rise to a rebel- 
 lion of the Hussites, who avenged his 
 death by one of the fiercest and most ter- 
 rible civil wars ever known. 
 
 IIUS'TINGS, (from the Saxon word, 
 hustinge, a council, or court,) a court 
 lieM in the guildhalls of several English 
 cities, as London, Westminster, Winches- 
 
 ter, and York, by the principal officers 
 of their respective corporations. Here, 
 deeds may be enrolled, outlawries sued 
 out, and replevins and writs of error de- 
 termined. Here, also, the elections of 
 officers and parliamentary representa- 
 tives take place. In a popular sense, the 
 word hustings is used for a place raised 
 for the candidates at elections of mem- 
 bers of parliament. 
 
 HUTCHINSO'NIANS, the name given 
 to those who embraced the opinions of 
 John Hutchinson, a well-known philoso- 
 pher and naturalist of the 18th century. 
 Though the followers of Hutchinson have 
 never constituted a sect, they have reck- 
 oned among their number several distin- 
 guished divines both of the established 
 churches of England and Scotland, and of 
 dissenting communities. The number 
 of professed Hutchinsonians is rapidly de- 
 creasing, though the principles and views 
 of their founder are still entertained by 
 many. The chief characteristics of 
 Hutchinson's philosophy consist in his 
 rejection of Newton's doctrine of gravita- 
 tion; and in his maintaining the exist- 
 ence of a plenum on the authority of the 
 Old Testament, which, according to him, 
 embraces a complete system of natural 
 philosophy as well as of religion. 
 
 HY'ACINTH, a genus of pellucid 
 gems, whose color is red with an admix- 
 ture of yellow. The hyacinth, though 
 less striking to the eye than any other 
 red gems, is not without its beauty in 
 the finest specimens. Its structure is 
 foliated ; its lustre, strong ; its fracture, 
 conchoidal ; and it is found of various 
 sizes, from that of a pin's head to the 
 third of an inch in diameter. Like com- 
 mon crystal, it is sometimes found co- 
 lumnar, and sometimes in a pebble form ; 
 and is always hardest and brightest in 
 the larger masses. 
 
 HYACIN'THUS, in Grecian mytholo- 
 gy, the son of Amyclas, king of Laconia, 
 and of the muse Clio, accidentally killed 
 by Apollo while they were playing at 
 quoits. The story is thus related : 
 Zephyr, enraged at the preference dis- 
 played by Hyacinthus for Apollo, caused 
 the wind of which he was the god to turn 
 from its course a quoit thrown by Apollo, 
 which, hitting him on the forehead in- 
 stantaneously caused his death. The lat- 
 ter immortalized his favorite by causing 
 the flower which still bears his name to 
 spring from his blood, and inscribed the 
 word AI (Gr. at, alas) on its leaves, to 
 indicate the deep grief of the god for his 
 loss. An annual festival, named Hya-
 
 304 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 cinthin, was celebrated at Amyclse in 
 honor of Hyacinthus. It continued three 
 days, on the first of which all was lamen- 
 tation, and mourning, and woe ; but on 
 the second and third days they danced 
 iiinl sung hymns to Apollo, offered sacri- 
 fices, exhibited spectacles, treated their 
 friends, and enjoyed themselves with 
 much festivity. 
 
 HY'BRID, an epithet for any animal 
 whoso sire is of one kind, and* dam of 
 another kind. 
 
 HY'DRA, a celebrated monster which 
 infested the neighborhood of the lake 
 Lcrna in Peloponnesus. It was the fruit 
 of Echidna's union with Typhon. It had 
 a hundred heads, according to Diodorus : 
 but accounts vary much on this point, 
 and no wonder ; since, as soon as one of 
 these heads was cut off, two immediately 
 grew up, unless the wound was stopped 
 by fire. It was one of the labors of Her- 
 cules to destroy this monster, which he 
 easily effected with the assistance of 
 lolas, who applied burning iron to the 
 wounds as soon as each head was cut off. 
 The ancient artists differ in their repre- 
 sentations of the hydra. Sometimes it 
 is a serpent branched out into several 
 others ; and sometimes has a human head, 
 with serpents upon it instead of hair, and 
 descending less and less in serpentine folds. 
 The term hydra is sometimes used in a 
 metaphorical sense for any manifold evil. 
 HY'DROMANCY, a method of divina- 
 tion by water, amongst the ancients, per- 
 formed by holding a ring in a thread over 
 the water, and repeating, along with the 
 question to be solved, a certain form of 
 words. If the question was answered af- 
 firmatively, the ring of its own accord 
 struck the sides of the bowl. 
 
 HYGE'IA, the god- 
 dess of health, in the 
 Greek mythology ; the 
 daughter or wife of^!s- 
 culapius, according to 
 the different recitals of 
 genealogists. Her sta- 
 tues (of which the most 
 celebrated was at Si- 
 cyon) sometimes repre- 
 sented her attended by 
 a large serpent coiled 
 round her body, and el- 
 evating its head above 
 her arm to drink of a 
 cup which she held in 
 her band. Isis, in 
 Egyptian monuments, 
 appears sometimes in 
 a similar attitude. 
 
 The employment of the serpent as a 
 mythological symbol of life and health 
 has been by some derived from the his- 
 tory contained in the first chapter of 
 Genesis. 
 
 HY'GEINE, that branch of medicine 
 which relates to the means of preserving 
 public health. 
 
 HYLOZO'ISM, in philosophy, strictly 
 the doctrine that matter lives. Some 
 writers have confined this name to the 
 tenet of the anima mundi, or soul of the 
 world ; others to the theory of a peculiar 
 life residing in the whole of nature, ap- 
 proaching, therefore, in its sense to pan- 
 theism. This life is either merely or- 
 ganic or actually sentient : the latter 
 notion has been also called hylopathlsm. 
 
 H Y'MEN, among the ancients, the god 
 of Marriage. The origin of the worship 
 of this divinity is attributed to the fol- 
 lowing story : A young Athenian, nam- 
 ed Hymenaeus, in humble circumstanees, 
 having become enamored of a rich and 
 noble lady, from whose presence he was 
 debarred, attired himself in female habili- 
 ments, and joined a religious procession 
 to Eleusis, in which his mistress took 
 part. On their way thither the parties 
 who composed it were attacked by pirates, 
 who carried them into captivity ; but 
 Hymemeus seized the opportunity, when 
 they were asleep, of putting them to 
 death, and departing immediately for 
 Athens, engaged to restore all thejadies 
 to their families on condition of his ob- 
 taining permission to marry the object 
 of his affection. The Athenians consent- 
 ed ; the nuptials of Hymenaeus were 
 crowned with happiness ; and from that 
 period the Greeks instituted festivals in 
 his honor, and invoked him at the cele- 
 bration of their marriages. The formula 
 employed on these occasions was, " 
 Hymensee Hymen, Hymen Hymensee." 
 Hymeneal is used to signify a song or 
 ode composed in celebration of a mar- 
 riage. 
 
 HYMN, an ode in praise of the Deity, 
 or some divine personage. The earliest 
 Greek hymns are those attributed, prob- 
 ably without foundation, to Homer: imi- 
 tated by Calliinochus. They are in heroic 
 verse, except one of Callimachus in hex- 
 ameters and pentameters ; and their con- 
 tents, for the most part, are narrations 
 of the events in the mythological history 
 of the respective gods and goddesses to 
 whom they are dedicated, related in an 
 encomiastic strain. The choric strains of 
 some of the tragedians in honor of dei- 
 ties, introduced into their dramas, appear
 
 HYP] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 305 
 
 also to have the character of hymns ; es- 
 pecially as dramatic performances among 
 the Greeks, had something of a religious 
 solemnity attached to them. The Theur- 
 gic hymns were strains of a higher charac- 
 ter, and intended only for those who were 
 initiated into certain mysteries supposed 
 to have for their object the diffusion of 
 more exalted notions of the divinity. 
 Those which are falsely attributed to Or- 
 pheus, and pass by his name, are said to 
 be of this class ; but. except from their 
 obscurity, it is difficult to say from what 
 reason. Philosophical hymns, intended 
 for the use of the followers of a still high- 
 er species of worship, are mentioned in 
 the division of ancient hymns ; but we 
 have no genuine examples of such com- 
 positions. In modern literature, hymns 
 are pieces of sacred poetry intended to 
 be sung in churches, of which the Psalms 
 of David, the most ancient pieces of po- 
 etry, properly so called, on record, (ex- 
 cept the book of Job,) furnish the chief 
 example and model. St. Hilary, bishop 
 of Poitiers, is said to have been the first 
 who composed hymns to be sung in 
 churches. The Latin hymns of the Ro- 
 man Catholic church are well known from 
 the exquisite music to which they have 
 been united. 
 
 IIYP2ETIIRAL, in architecture, a 
 building or temple uncovered by a roof. 
 The temples of this class are arranged 
 by Vitruvius under the seventh order, 
 having six columns in front and rear, 
 and surrounded by a dipteral or double 
 portico. The famous temple of Neptune 
 at Paestum, still remaining, is an exam- 
 ple of this species of building. 
 
 HYPAL'LAGE, in grammar, a figure 
 consisting of a mutual change of cases : 
 a species of hyperbaton. 
 
 HY'PER, a Greek word signifying over, 
 which is used in English composition to 
 denote excess, or something over or be- 
 yond what is necessary. 
 
 HYPER'BATON, in grammar, a fig- 
 urative construction inverting the natural 
 and proper order of words and sentences. 
 The species are the anastrophe, hypal- 
 lage, &o. ; but the proper hyperbaton is 
 a long retention of the verb which com- 
 pletes the sentence. 
 
 HYPER'BOLE, in rhetoric, a figure 
 by which expressions are used signifying 
 more than is intended to represent to 
 the hearer or reader ; as when thoughts 
 and sentiments are clothed in tumid lan- 
 guage, or ideas brought forward which in 
 themselves are incredible, in order to 
 induce a belief of something less than 
 20 
 
 that which is offered. Exaggeration is 
 hyperbole applied to narrative, when 
 false assertions are added to true, in or- 
 der to increase the impression made by 
 them. 
 
 HYPERBO'REANS, the name given 
 by the ancients to the unknown inhab- 
 itants of the most northern regions of 
 the globe, who were reported always 
 to enjoy a delightful climate, being, 
 according to their notions, situated be- 
 yond the domain of Boreas or the north 
 wind ; but, in fact, they were the Lap- 
 landers, the Samoiedes, and the most 
 northern of the Russians. 
 
 HY'PERCATALEC'TIC, in Greek and 
 Latin poetry, a verse exceeding its prop- 
 er length by one syllable. 
 
 HY'PERCRIT'ICISM, consists in view- 
 ing the works of an author in an ungen- 
 erous spirit, exaggerating minor defects, 
 and overlooking or undervaluing such 
 merits or beauties as might fairly be con- 
 sidered to outweigh the former. 
 
 HYPER/METER, a verse containing 
 a syllable more than the ordinary meas- 
 ure. When this is the case, the follow- 
 ing line begins with a vowel, and the re- 
 dundant syllable of the former line blends 
 with the first of the following. 
 
 HY'PHEN, a mark or character in 
 grammar, implying that two words are 
 to be connected ; as pre-established, five- 
 leaved, &o. Hyphens also serve to show 
 the connection of such words as are di- 
 vided by one or more of the syllables com- 
 ing at the end of a line. 
 
 HYPOB'OLE, in rhetoric, a figure in 
 which several things are mentioned that 
 seem to make against the argument or 
 in favor of the opposite side, and each of 
 them is refuted in order. 
 
 HYPOCAUS'TUM, in ancient archi- 
 tecture, a vaulted apartment from which 
 the fire's heat is distributed to the rooms 
 above by means of earthen tubes. This 
 method, first used in baths, was after- 
 wards adopted in private houses, and 
 diffused an agreeable and equable tempe- 
 rature throughout the different rooms. 
 
 HYPOCHONDRI'ASIS, an affection 
 characterized by dyspepsia ; languor and 
 want of energy ; sadness and fear, aris- 
 ing from uncertain causes ; with a melan- 
 cholic temperament. The principal causes 
 are sorrow, fear, or excess of any of the 
 passions ; too long-continued watching ; 
 and irregular diet. Hypochondriacs are 
 continually apprehending future evils ; 
 and in respect to their feelings and fears, 
 however groundless, there is usually the 
 most obstinate belief and persuasion.
 
 306 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 ICH 
 
 HYPOS'TASIS, in theology, a term 
 used to denote the subsistence of the Fa- 
 ther, Son, Mini Holy Spirit, in the (ld- 
 Infill, called by the Greek Christians, 
 three ky/>ostases. The Latins more gen- 
 erally used persona, and this is the 
 modern practice : hence it is said the God- 
 head consists of three persons. 
 
 II VPOTHECA'TION, in the civil law, 
 an engagement by which the debtor 
 assigns his goods in pledge to a creditor 
 as a security for his debt, without parting 
 with the immediate possession ; differing 
 in this last particular, from the simple 
 pledge. 
 
 HYPOTH'ESIS, a principle taken for 
 granted, in order to draw a conclusion 
 therefrom for the proof of a point in ques- 
 tion. Also, a system or theory imagined 
 or assumed to account for what is not un- 
 derstood. 
 
 HYSTEROL'OGY, or HYSTERON 
 PROTERON, in rhetoric, a figure by 
 which the ordinary course of thought is in- 
 verted in expression, and the last put first : 
 as, where objects subsequent in order of 
 time are presented before their antece- 
 dents, cause before effect, <fec. ; as, Valet 
 atque vivc.*, (he is well and lives.) 
 
 I, the ninth letter in the alphabet, and 
 the third vowel. Its sound varies ; in 
 some words it is long, as kigk, mind, pine ; 
 in some it is short, as bid, kid; and in 
 others it is pronounced like y, as collier, 
 onion, <fcc. ; in a few words its sound ap- 
 proaches to the ee in beef, as in machine. 
 which is the sound of the long i in all 
 European languages except the English. 
 In all Latin words of Latin origin, i pre- 
 ceding a vowel (unless it follows another 
 vowel,) is a consonant, as Janus (Janus,) 
 coniicio (conjicio ;) but in words of 
 Greek origin, it is a vowel, as iambus, 
 iaspis. No English word ends with i, but 
 when the sound of the letter occurs at 
 the end of a word, it is expressed by y. 
 I, used as a numeral, signifies no more 
 than one, and it stands for as many units 
 as it is repeated times ; thus II stands 
 for 2, and III for 3. When put before a 
 higher numeral it subtracts itself, as IV, 
 four ; and when set after it, the effect is 
 addition, as XII, twelve. 
 
 lAM'BIC, or lAM'BUS, in poetry, a 
 foot consisting of two syllables, the first 
 short and the last long, as in declare, 
 adorn. Thus, verses composed of short 
 
 and long syllables alternately are term- 
 ed iambics : as, 
 If ty | rant fac j tion dare | assail | her 
 
 throne, 
 
 A peo | pie's love | shall make | her 
 cause | their own. 
 
 lAM'BICS, a species of verse consist- 
 ing of short and long syllables alter- 
 nately, used by the Greek and Latin 
 poets, and especially by the Greek tragic 
 poets. The iambics of the Greek tragic 
 poets were originally composed of a suc- 
 cession of six iambi, but at a later period 
 various other feet were admitted. In most 
 modern European languages the verse of 
 five iambic feet is a favorite metre. Ac- 
 cording to Aristotle, the iambic measure 
 was first employed in satirical poems, 
 called iamba, which appear to have bea 
 represented or acted. 
 
 ICE'BERG, a hill or mountain of ice, 
 or a vast body of ice accumulated in val- 
 leys in high northern latitudes, or float- 
 ing on the ocean. This term is applied 
 to such elevated masses as exist in the 
 valleys of the frigid zones ; to those which 
 are found on the surface of fixed ice ; and 
 to ice of great thickness and height in a 
 floating state. These lofty floating masses 
 are sometimes detached from the icebergs 
 on shore, and sometimes formed at a dis- 
 tance from any land. They are found 
 in both the frigid zones, and are some- 
 times carried toward the equator as low 
 as 40. 
 
 ICH DIEN, (Germ.,) literally, I serve: 
 the motto of the Prince of Wales, which 
 was originally adopted by Edward the 
 Black Prince in proof of his subjection 
 to his father Edward III., and has been 
 continued without interruption down to 
 the present time. 
 
 ICHNOG'RAPIIY, in architecture, the 
 transverse section of a building, which 
 represents the circumference of the whole 
 edifice ; the different apartments ; the 
 thickness of the walls ; the distribution 
 of parts ; the dimensions of doors, win- 
 dows, chimneys ; the projection of col- 
 umns and door-posts ; and, in short, all 
 that can come into view in such a section. 
 
 ICH'THYS, (Gr. a fish,) a word found 
 on many seals, rings, urns, tombstones, 
 &c., belonging to the early times of 
 Christianity, and supposed to have a 
 mystical meaning, from each character 
 forming an initial letter of the words 
 I(|?ou{ Xpurros, Qtov Yios, 'Zwrnp ', i- e., Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of God,- the Saviour. This 
 interpretation is not unlikely, when we 
 consider at once the universal reverence 
 with which the fish was symbolically re-
 
 IDE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 307 
 
 garded among most ancient nations, and 
 the many signs and ceremonies adopted 
 by the Christians, with some change of 
 meaning, from the religious rites of the 
 surrounding nations. 
 
 I ' C N I S M, in rhetoric, a figure of 
 speech which consists in representing a 
 thing to the life. 
 
 ICON'OCLASTS, that party of Chris- 
 tians which would not tolerate images in 
 their churches, much less the adoration 
 of them. Images and paintings were 
 unknown in the Christian church till the 
 fourth century; and the opposition to 
 them was long continued with great vio- 
 lence. 
 
 ICONOG'RAPHY, the description of 
 images or ancient statues, busts, semi- 
 busts, paintings in fresco, mosaic works, 
 Ac. 
 
 IDE'A, in general, the image or re- 
 semblance of a thing, which, though not 
 seen, is conceived by the mind ; whatever 
 is held or comprehended by the under- 
 standing or intellectual faculties. In 
 logic, idea denotes the immediate object 
 about which the mind is employed, when 
 we perceive or think of anything. Locke 
 used the word idea, to express whatever 
 is meant by phantasm, notion, species, 
 or whatever it is which the mind can be 
 employed about in thinking. Darwin, in 
 his Zoonomia, uses idea for a notion of 
 external things which our organs bring 
 us acquainted with originally, and he de- 
 fines it a contraction, motion, or configu- 
 ration of the fibres which constitute the 
 immediate organ of sense ; synonymous 
 with which he sometimes uses sensual 
 motion, in contradistinction to muscular 
 motion. By idea Kant eminently des- 
 ignated every conception formed by the 
 reason, (as distinct from the understand- 
 ing,) and raised above all sensuous per- 
 ception. These ideas he subdivides into, 
 1st, empirical, which have an element 
 drawn from experience, for instance, or- 
 ganization, a state, a church ; and 2d, 
 pure, which are totally free from all that 
 is sensible or empirical, such as liberty, 
 immortality, holiness, felicity, Deity. 
 Another division of the Kantian ideas, is 
 into theoretical and practical, according 
 to a similar division of the reason itself. 
 Thus the idea of truth is a theoretical, 
 that of morality a practical idea. 
 
 IDE'AL, that which considers ideas as 
 images, phantasms, or forms in the mind ; 
 as, the ideal theory of philosophy. Beau 
 ideal, or ideal beauty; an expression in 
 the Fine Arts, used to denote a selection 
 for a particular object, of the finest parts j 
 
 from different subjects, united in that one 
 so as to form a more perfect whole than 
 nature usually exhibits in a single speci- 
 men of the species ; or, in other words, 
 the divesting nature of accident in the 
 representation of an individual. 
 
 IDE'ALISM, a term applied to sev- 
 eral metaphysical systems, varying in its 
 signification according to the mcniiing 
 attached in each particular scheme to the 
 word idea; from which it is derived. In 
 England the best known system of ideal- 
 ism is that of Berkeley. In reference to 
 this philosopher's doctrines, the word is 
 used in its empirical sense for the object 
 of consciousness in sensation. In its Pla- 
 tonic or transcendental sense, the term 
 idealism has been applied to the doctrines 
 of Kant and Schelling ; neither of whom 
 is an idealist in the way in which Berke- 
 ley may be so called. The system of 
 Berkeley may be thus expressed : The 
 qualities of supposed objects cannot be 
 perceived distinct from the mind that 
 perceived them ; and these qualities, it 
 will be allowed, are all that we can know 
 of such objects. If, therefore, there were 
 external bodies, it is impossible we should 
 ever know it ; and if there were not, we 
 should have exactly the same reason for 
 believing there were as we have now. 
 All, therefore, which really exists is spir- 
 it, or the thinking principle ourselves, 
 our fellow-men, and God. What we call 
 ideas are presented to us by God in a cer- 
 tain order of succession, which order of 
 successive presentation is what we mean 
 by the laws of nature. 
 
 IDEN'TITY, sameness, as distinguish- 
 ed from similitude and diversity ; the 
 sameness of a substance under every pos- 
 sible variety of circumstances. Among 
 philosophers, personal identity denotes 
 the sameness bf the conscious subject /, 
 throughout all the various states of which 
 it is the subject. System of identity, in 
 philosophy, (otherwise called identism,) 
 a name which has been given to the met- 
 aphysical theory of the. German writer 
 Schelling. It rests on the principle that 
 the two elements of thought, the objects 
 respectively of understanding and rea- 
 son, called by the various terms of mat- 
 ter and spirit, objective and subjective, 
 real and ideal, &c., are only relatively 
 opposed to one another, as different forms 
 of the one absolute or infinite : hence 
 sometimes called the two' poles of the 
 absolute. In a secondary sense the term 
 identity denotes a merely relative same- 
 ness, which may be also called logical, 
 or abstract. Thus, in logic, whatever
 
 308 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [iDO 
 
 things arc subjects of the same attribute, 
 or collection of attributes, are considered 
 the same ; for example, dog and lion are 
 the same relatively to the common no- 
 tion quadruped, under which they are 
 both contained. Again, in physics, a tree 
 may be assumed to be the same in rela- 
 tio;i to all the rights of property, not- 
 withstanding the physical change which 
 it undergoes from the constant segrega- 
 tion of old, and aggregation of new par- 
 ticles. Lastly, it is only in this logical 
 use of the term, that we can be said in 
 memory to be conscious of the identity 
 of the reproduced, and the original idea, 
 for if they were absolutely identical, it 
 would be impossible to distinguish be- 
 tween the first appearance, and the re- 
 currence of an idea. 
 
 IDEOGRAPHIC CHARACTERS, in 
 philology, characters used in writing 
 which express figures or motions, instead 
 of the arbitrary signs of the alphabet. 
 The Chinese characters are ideographic, 
 although the symbols, at first intended to 
 represent distinct objects, have become 
 by use merely conventional. The hiero- 
 glyphical characters of the ancient Egyp- 
 tians were of the same description. Ideo- 
 graphical writing is opposed to phonetic. 
 
 IDEOL'OGY, literally, the science of 
 mind, is the term applied by the latter 
 disciples of Condillac to the history and 
 evolutions of human ideas, considered as 
 so many successive modes of certain origi- 
 nal or transformed sensations. The writ- 
 ings of this school are characterized by an 
 unrivalled simplicity, boldness, and sub- 
 tlety ; and the different phases of its doc- 
 trines are admirably exhibited in the 
 physiological researches of Cabanis, the 
 moral dissertations of Garat and Volney, 
 and the metaphysical disquisitions of 
 Destutt de Tracy.. 
 
 IDES, one of the three epochs or divi- 
 sions of the ancient Roman month. The 
 calends were the first days of the differ- 
 ent months ; the ides, days near the mid- 
 dle of the months; and the nones, the 
 ninth day before 'the ides. In the months 
 of March, May, July, and October, the 
 ides fell on the 15th ; in the other months 
 on the 13th. The Romans used a very 
 peculiar method of reckoning the days of 
 the month. Instead of employing the 
 ordinal numbers first, second, third, &c., 
 they distinguished them by the number 
 of days intervening between any given 
 day and the next following of the three 
 fixed divisions. For example, as there 
 were always eight days between the nones 
 and the ides, the day after the nones was 
 
 called the eighth before the ides, the next 
 the seventh day before the ides, the next 
 the sixth day before the ides, and so on. 
 In leap years, when February had twen- 
 ty-nine days, the extra day was accounted 
 for by calling both the twenty-fourth and 
 twenty-fifth days of that month the sixth 
 day before the calends of March ; whence 
 the leap year got the name of bissextile, 
 (from bis, twice and sextus, sixt/i.) 
 
 ID'IOM, in philology, a mode of speak- 
 ing or writing foreign from the usages of 
 universal grammar or the general laws 
 of language, and restricted to the genius 
 of some individual tongue. Thus, a sen- 
 tence or phrase consisting of words ar- 
 ranged in a particular manner may be a 
 Latin idiom ; the same, arranged in a 
 different manner, an English idiom, <fcc. 
 The use of a particular inflexion of a word 
 may also be an idiom. We also use the 
 term idiom in a more general sense, to 
 express the general genius or character 
 of a language. AVe have a number of 
 subordinate words to express the idioms 
 of particular tongues : thus, a Latin id- 
 iom is a Latinisrn, a French idiom a Gal- 
 licism, &c. The word idiom is also not 
 uncommonly, but incorrectly, used in the 
 same sense with the French idiome ; a 
 dialect or variety of language. Idiotisme 
 is the French term expressing the correct 
 signification of the English " idiom." 
 
 IDIOPATII'IC, a disease which does 
 not depend upon any other disease, and 
 which is thus opposed to those diseases 
 which are symptomatic. Thus, an epi- 
 lepsy is idiopatfiic, when it happens mere- 
 ly through some fault in the brain ; and 
 sympathetic, when it is the consequence 
 of some other disorder. 
 
 IDIOSYN'CRASY, a peculiar temper- 
 ament or organization of body, whereby 
 it is rendered more liable to certain dis- 
 orders, than bodies differently constituted 
 usually are. 
 
 IDOL'ATRY, in its literal acceptation, 
 denotes the worship paid to idols. It is 
 also used to signify the superstitious ado- 
 ration paid to other objects. Soon 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 anything but 
 false worship and idolatry. The heavenly 
 bodies appear to have been the first ob- 
 jects of idolatrous worship ; and, on ac- 
 count of their beauty, their influence on 
 the productions of the earth, and the reg- 
 ularity of their motions, the sun and moon 
 were particularly so, being considered as 
 the most glorious and resplendent images
 
 ILL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 309 
 
 of the Deity ; afterwards, as their senti- 
 ments became more corrupted, they be- 
 gan to form images, and to entertain the 
 opinion, that by virtue of consecration, 
 the gods were called down, to inhabit or 
 dwell in their statues. But history plain- 
 ly teaches us, that before the idea of one 
 infinite and true God was properly com- 
 prehended by men, their imaginations 
 created rulers and deities, to whom they 
 ascribed the direction of all outward 
 events, and every tribe or family had its 
 peculiar object of adoration. The selfish 
 and cunning turned this frailty to their 
 own advantage ; and hence originated 
 seers, oracles, and all the numerous su- 
 perstitions which have disgraced the 
 world. 
 
 I'DYL, a short pastoral poem. The 
 Greek word is derived from ius, form, or 
 visible object; and hence the object, or. 
 at least, the necessary accompaniment of 
 this species of poem, has been said to be 
 a vivid and simple representation of or- 
 dinary objects in pastoral nature. But 
 in common usage the signification of this 
 word is hardly different from that of 
 eclogue. The poems of Theocritus are 
 termed Idyls, those of Virgil Eclogues ; 
 but it would be difficult to assign a dis- 
 tinction between the two, except what 
 arises from the greater simplicity of lan- 
 guage and thought which characterizes 
 the former. Many critics, however, aver 
 that the eclogue requires something of 
 epic or dramatic action ; the idyl only 
 picturesque representation, sentiment, or 
 narrative. In English poetry, among 
 this class may be ranked, The Seasons 
 of Thomson, Shenstone's School-mistress, 
 Burn's Cottager's Saturday Night, Gold- 
 smith's Deserted Village, &c., &c. 
 
 IG'NIS FAT'UUS, a kind of lumi- 
 nous meteor, which flite about in the air 
 a little above the surface of the earth, 
 and appears chiefly in marshy places, or 
 near stagnant waters, or in churchyards, 
 during the nights of summer. There are 
 many instances of travellers having been 
 decoyed by these lights into marshy pla- 
 ces, where they perished ; and hence the 
 name Jack-with-a-lantern, Will-with-a- 
 wisp : some people ascribing the appear- 
 ance to the agency of evil spirits, who 
 take this mode of alluring men to their 
 destruction. The cause of the phenome- 
 non does not seem to be perfectly under- 
 stood ; it is generally supposed to be 
 produced by the decomposition of animal 
 or vegetable matters, or by the evolution 
 of gases which spontaneously inflame in 
 the atmosphere. 
 
 IGNORA'MTJS, in law, the endorse- 
 ment of a grand jury on a bill of indict- 
 ment, equivalent to "not found." The 
 jury are said to ignore a bill when they 
 do not find the evidence such as to make 
 good the presentment. 
 
 I. H. S. an abbreviation for Jesus Ho- 
 minum Salvator, Jesus the Saviour of 
 Mankind. 
 
 IL'IAD, the oldest epic poem in exist- 
 ence ; commonly attributed to Homer, 
 but according to some modern hypotheses, 
 the work of several hands. The theme 
 of the poem is the siege of Ilium (whence 
 its name) or Troy ; or, more properly 
 speaking, the quarrel of Achilles with 
 Agamemnon, general of the Grecian ar- 
 my before that city. It consists of twen- 
 ty-four books. The first book relates the 
 origin of the quarrel ; and the residue of 
 the poem contains an account of the ef- 
 forts made by Agamemnon and the chiefs 
 who adhered to his party to conquer the 
 Trojans without the aid of Achilles, their 
 defeat, the pacification of Achilles, his 
 resumption of arms in the common cause^ 
 and the death of Hector by his hand. 
 Neither the landing of the chieftains, nor 
 the conclusion of the war and capture of 
 Troy, come within its range. 
 
 ILLATIVE CONVERSION, in logic, 
 is that in which the truth of the converse 
 follows from the truth of the exposita or 
 proposition given. Thus the proposition 
 "no virtuous man is a rebel," becomes, 
 by illative conversion, " no rebel is a vir- 
 tuous man." "Some boasters are cow- 
 ards ;" therefore, a converse, " Some 
 cowards are boasters." 
 
 ILLUMINA'TI, or THE ENLIGHT- 
 ENED, a secret society formed in 1776, 
 chiefly under the direction of Adam 
 Weishaupt, professor of law at Ingolstadt, 
 in Bavaria. Its professed object was the 
 attainment of a higher degree of virtue 
 and morality than that reached in the 
 ordinary course of society. It numbered 
 at one time 2000 members. It was sup- 
 pressed by the Bavarian government in 
 1784. It has been supposed that this 
 and some other secret societies were ac- 
 tively engaged in preparing the way for 
 the French revolution ; but of this no 
 satisfactory proof has been adduced. 
 Among the early Christians, the term II- 
 luminati was given to persons who had 
 received baptism ; in which ceremony 
 they received a lighted taper, as a sym- 
 bol of the faith and grace they had re- 
 ceived by that sacrament. 
 
 ILLUMINATING, the art of laying 
 colors on initial capitals in books, or other-
 
 310 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [IMA 
 
 wise embellishing manuscript books, as 
 was formerly done by artists called Illu- 
 minators. These manuscripts, contain- 
 ing portraits, pictures, and emblematic 
 figures, form a valuable part of the rich- 
 es preserved in the principal libraries in 
 Europe. 
 
 ILLUSTRA'TION, in rhetoric, appears 
 to differ from comparison or simile in 
 this only, that the latter is used merely 
 to give force to the expression : the for- 
 mer to throw Jjght upon an argument. 
 The term illustration is, however, some- 
 times used i trwider sense, in which it 
 seems to comprehend example, which is 
 the recital of a particular fact or instance 
 evincing the truth of a general proposi- 
 tion laid down in the argument ; and 
 , parable, which is a species of symbolical 
 narrative, in which the actors and events 
 are intended to represent certain other 
 actors and events in a typical manner. 
 
 IM'AGE, in rhetoric, a term somewhat 
 loosely used ; but which appears general- 
 ly to denote a metaphor dilated, and 
 rendered a more complete picture by the 
 assemblage of various ideas through 
 which the same metaphor continues to 
 run, yet not sufficiently expanded to form 
 an allegory. 
 
 IM'AGES, in sculpture. This word 
 was used among the ancients, more par- 
 ticularly to denominate the portraits of 
 their ancestors, either in painting or 
 sculpture. The Greeks and Romans en- 
 tertained for these images the greatest 
 veneration, and even rendered them a 
 sort of worship. The Romans preserved 
 with especial care the images of their 
 ancestors, and had them carried both in 
 their funeral pomps and in their triumphs. 
 This honor, however, was restricted to 
 figures of such as had held important offices 
 in the state ; as for instance, those of aedile, 
 praetor, or consul. These images were 
 often made of wax, sometimes of mar- 
 ble, and were occasionally adorned with 
 pearls. The atrium or porch of those 
 families who had for a long time held the 
 principal magistracies, were filled with 
 an infinite number of these images. They 
 became smoke-dried, in course of time, 
 by the fire which was always kept lighted 
 in the atrium, in honor of the lares, or 
 household gods. In order to prevent this, 
 they were sometimes deposited in the 
 chests or presses. On days of solemnity 
 or rejoicing, they drew these statues forth, 
 crowned them with laurel, or decked them 
 with the habits which characterized the 
 public offices of the parties whom they 
 depicted. The ancients were likewise 
 
 habituated to engrave upon their rings 
 the images of their friends, with which 
 they also ornamented their cups and 
 vases. The disciples of Epicurus did not 
 content themselves with depositing the 
 image of their master in their inner or 
 sleeping apartments, where they render- 
 ed it a species of worship, but bore it, in 
 like manner, on their rings, and hod it 
 engraven on their vases. The Roman 
 emperor Claudius permitted not his sub- 
 jects indiscriminately to wear his figure 
 on their rings, but those alone who had 
 made public entry of them thus, in fact, 
 forming a kind of tax thereon. It was 
 also customary, among the ancients, to 
 place at the stern of a vessel the images 
 of certain deities or animals, which thence 
 acquired the title of tutelce navis, the 
 guardian of the ship. Another custom 
 was to set up, both in public and private 
 libraries, the images or busts of the most 
 celebrated writers. Both Greeks and 
 Romans offered in the temples of their 
 gods, not only images of themselves, but 
 of other personages also. Thus Diogenes 
 Laertius informs us, that Mithridates, 
 son of Rodobates, dedicated to the Muses 
 the statue of Plato. According to an- 
 other ancient author, Romulus dedicated 
 to Vulcan certain chariots of gold, toge- 
 ther with his own statue ; and we read in 
 Tacitus, that Julia dedicated to Augustus 
 the image of Marcellus. Since the in- 
 troduction of Christianity, the use of 
 images has been preserved in the Greek 
 and Roman Catholic churches. 
 
 IMAGINA'TION, the faculty of the 
 mind which forms images or representa- 
 tions of things. It acts either in presenting 
 images to the mind of things without, or 
 by reproducing those whose originals are 
 not, at the moment, present to the mind 
 or the sense. W^herefore distinguish 
 (1.) original imagination, or the faculty 
 of forming images of things in the mind 
 that is, the faculty which produces the 
 picture of an object which the mind per- 
 ceives by the actual impression of the 
 ' object from the (2.) reproductive ima- 
 gination, or the faculty which recalls the 
 image of an object in the mind without 
 the presence of the object. Besides the 
 power of forming, preserving, and recall- 
 ing such conceptions, the imagination has 
 also the power (3.) to combine different 
 conceptions, and thus create new images. 
 In this case, it operates involuntarily, 
 according to the laws of the association 
 of ideas, when the mind is abandoned to 
 the current of ideas, as in waking dreams 
 or reveries. The association of ideas is
 
 IMP] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 311 
 
 either directed to a definite object by the 
 understanding, or it operates only in sub- 
 jection to the general laws of the under- 
 standing. In the former case, the ima- 
 gination is confined ; in the latter, its op- 
 erations are free, but not lawless, the 
 general law of tendency to a definite end 
 fixing limits to its action, within which it 
 may have free play, but which must not 
 be overstepped. The free and yet reg- 
 ulated action of the imagination alone 
 can give birth to the productions of the 
 Fine Arts. In this ease, it forms images 
 according to ideas. It composes, creates, 
 and is called the poetical faculty. Prom 
 the twofold action of the imagination, we 
 may distinguish two spheres, within which 
 it moves the prosaic and the poetical. 
 In the former, it presents subjects on 
 which the understanding operates for the 
 common purposes of life. Hero it is re- 
 stricted by the definite object for which 
 we put it in action. In the latter, it gives 
 life to the soul, by a free, yet regulated 
 action, elevates the mind by ideal crea- 
 tions, and representations above common 
 realities, and thus ennobles existence. 
 Imagination operates in all classes, all 
 ages, all situations, all climates, in the 
 most exalted hero, the profound thinker, 
 the passionate lover, in joy and grief, in 
 hope and fear, and makes man truly 
 man. 
 
 IM'AM, or IM'AN, a Mahometan 
 priest, or head of the congregations in 
 their mosques. In ecclesiastical affairs 
 they are independent, and are not subject 
 to the mufti, though he is the supreme 
 priest. 
 
 IMBRO'GLIO, (a word borrowed from 
 the Italian brogliare, to confound or mix 
 together ; whence the French brouiller 
 and English embroil.) In literary lan- 
 guage, the plot of a romance or a drama, 
 when much perplexed and complicated, 
 is said to be an " imbroglio." The small 
 burlesque theatrical pieces so termed by 
 the Italians derive their ludicrous char- 
 acter from a similar species of absurdity. 
 
 IMITA'TION, the act of following in 
 manner, or of copying in form ; the act 
 of making the similitude of anything, or 
 of attempting a resemblance. By the 
 imitation of bad men, or of evil exam- 
 ples, we are apt to contract vicious hab- 
 its. In the imitation of natural forms 
 and colors, we are often unsuccessful. 
 Imitation, in music, 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 interval whatever. Imitation, in 
 oratory, is an endeavor to resemble a 
 speaker or writer in the qualities which 
 we propose to ourselves as patterns. A 
 method of translating, in which modern 
 examples and illustrations are used for 
 ancient, or domestic for foreign, or in 
 which the translator not only varies the 
 words and sense, but forsakes them as 
 he sees occasion. 
 
 IMMOLA'TIO, a ceremony used in the 
 Roman sacrifices ; it consisted in throwing 
 upon the head of the victim some sort of 
 corn and frankincense, together with the 
 mola or salt cake, and a little wine. 
 
 IMMORTAL'ITY, the quality of end- 
 less duration, as the immortality of the 
 soul. The idea that the dissolution of the 
 body involves the annihilation of exist- 
 ence, is so cheerless, so saddening, that 
 the wisest and best of men, of all ages, 
 have rejected it, and all civilized nations 
 have adopted the belief of its continuation 
 after death, as one of the main points of 
 their religious faith. The Scriptures af- 
 ford numerous evidences of the soul's 
 immortality ; the hope of it is a religious 
 conviction ; man cannot relinquish it, 
 without abandoning, at the same time, 
 his whole dignity as a reasonable being 
 and a free agent ; and hence the belief 
 in immortality becomes intimately con- 
 nected with our belief in the existence 
 and goodness of God. 
 
 IMMU'NES, in Roman history, an epi- 
 thet applied to such provinces as had ob- 
 tained an exemption from the ordinary 
 tribute. The term is also applied to 
 soldiers who were exempt from military 
 service. 
 
 IMMU'NITY, in jurisprudence, legal 
 freedom from any legal obligation. Thus 
 the phrase "ecclesiastical immunities" 
 comprehends all that portion of the rights 
 of the Church, in different countries, 
 which consists in the freedom of its mem- 
 bers, or of its property, from burdens 
 thrown by law on other classes. 
 
 IMPALE'MENT, the putting to death 
 by thrusting a stake through the body, 
 the victim being left to perish by linger- 
 ing torments. This barbarous mode of 
 torture is used by the Turks, as a punish- 
 ment for Christians who say anything 
 'against the law of the prophet, who in- 
 trigue with a Mohammedan woman, or 
 who enter a mosque. 
 
 IMPARISYL'LABIC, in grammar, an 
 epithet for words having unequal sylla- 
 bles. 
 
 IMPAR'LANCE, in law, a privilege 
 or license granted, on petitioning the
 
 812 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 court for a day to consider or advise what 
 answer the defendant shall make to the 
 plaintiff's declaration. 
 
 1MPASTATION, the mixture of vari- 
 ous materials of different colours and 
 consistencies, baked or bound together 
 with some cement, and hardened by the 
 air or by fire. 
 
 IMPEACH'MENT, the accusation and 
 prosecution of a person for treason, or 
 other high crimes and misdemeanors. In 
 England the house of lords has an origi- 
 nal jurisdiction in criminal matters, ex- 
 ercised over either peers or commons, 
 upon impeachment by a member of the 
 lower house. Any member of the house 
 of commons may not only impeach one 
 of their own body, but also any lord of 
 parliament. When any person is im- 
 peached, articles, containing the accusa- 
 tion, are exhibited on behalf of the com- 
 mons, who appoint managers to conduct 
 the prosecution. These articles are car- 
 ried to the lords, and if they find the ac- 
 cused guilty upon sufficient evidence, no 
 pardon under the Great Seal can be 
 pleaded to such impeachment. Till the 
 house of commons demand judgment on 
 an impeachment exhibited by them, the 
 lords cannot pass sentence. In the United 
 States, it is the right of the house of 
 representatives to impeach, and of the 
 senate to try and determine impeach- 
 ments. The senate of the United States, 
 and the senates in the several states, are 
 the high courts of impeachment. 
 
 IMPER'ATIVE, in grammar, one of 
 the moods of a verb, used when we would 
 command, exhort, or advise ; as go, at- 
 tend, &c. 
 
 IMPERA'TOR, in Roman antiquity, 
 a title of honor conferred on victorious 
 generals, by their armies, and afterwards 
 confirmed by the senate. After the over- 
 throw of the republic, imperator became 
 the highest title of the supreme ruler; 
 and in later times it had the signification 
 which we attach to the word emperor. 
 
 IMPER'FECT CON'CORDS, in music, 
 such as are liable to change from major 
 to minor, or the contrary, as are thirds 
 and sixths ; still, however, not losing 
 their consonancy. 
 
 IMPER'FECT TENSE, in grammar, 
 that modification of a verb which ex- 
 presses that the action or event of which 
 we speak was, at a certain time to which 
 we refer, in an unfinished state. This is 
 in English designated by the auxiliary 
 " was." joined with the present participle. 
 
 IMPE'RIAL, in architecture, a species 
 of dome whose profile is pointed towards 
 
 the top and widens towards the base, thus 
 forming a curve of contrary flexure. 7m- 
 perial, pertaining to an empire. Thus 
 the imperial chamber, means the sove- 
 reign court of the German empire ; an 
 imperial city, a city in Germany which 
 has no head but the emperor : the impe- 
 rial diet, an assembly of all the states in 
 the German empire. 
 
 IMPE'RIALIST, a subject or soldier 
 of an emperor. The denomination im- 
 perialists is often given to the troops or 
 armies of the emperor of Austria. 
 
 IMPER'SONAL VERB, in grammar, 
 a verb used only in the third person sin- 
 gular, with it for a nominative in English, 
 as it rains ; and without a nominative in 
 Latin, as pugnatur. 
 
 IMPETRA'TION, in law. the obtain- 
 ing anything by request or prayer : but 
 in old statutes, it is taken for the pro- 
 obtaining of church benefices from the 
 court of Rome, which belonged to the 
 disposal of the king and other lay-patrons 
 of the realm. 
 
 IMPOSE', in printing, to put the pages 
 on the imposing stone, and fit on the 
 chase, and thus prepare the form for the 
 press. In legislation, to lay on a tax, 
 toll, duty, or penalty. To impose on, to 
 mislead by a false pretence. 
 
 IMPOSITION of hands, a religious 
 ceremony, in which a bishop lays his hand 
 upon the head of a person, in ordination, 
 confirmation, or in uttering a blessing. 
 This practice is also generally observed 
 at the ordination of congregational minis- 
 ters, while one prays for a blessing on the 
 labors of him they are ordaining. Impo- 
 sition of hands was a Jewish ceremony, 
 introduced not by any divine authority, 
 -but by custom ; it being their practice, 
 whenever they prayed for any person, to 
 lay their hands on his head. Our Saviour 
 observed the same ceremony both when 
 he conferred his blessing on the children, 
 and when he cured the sick. 
 
 IMPOSSIBLE, that which cannot bo 
 done or effected. A proposition is said to 
 be impossible, when it contains two ideas, 
 which mutually destroy each other, and 
 which can neither be conceived nor united 
 together in the mind : thus, it is impossi- 
 ble that a circle should be a square, or 
 that two and two should make five. A 
 thing is said to be physically impossible, 
 that cannot be done by any natural pow- 
 ers, as the resurrection of the dead ; and 
 morally impossible, when in its own na- 
 ture it is possible, but attended with diffi- 
 culties or circumstances which give it tbfl 
 appearance of being impossible.
 
 IMP] 
 
 AND THK FINE ARTS. 
 
 313 
 
 IM'POST, any tax or tribute imposed 
 by authority ; particularly a duty or tax 
 laid by government on goods imported. 
 In architecture, that part of a pillar in 
 vaults and arches, on which the weight 
 of the building rests; or the capital of a 
 pillur, or cornice which crowns the pier and 
 supports the first stone or part of an arch. 
 IM'POTBNCE, or IM'POTENCY, 
 want of strength or power, animal, intel- 
 lectual, or moral. The first is a want of 
 some physical principle, necessary to an 
 action ; the last denotes the want of pow- 
 er or inclination to resist or overcome 
 habits or natural propensities. 
 
 IMPRESCRIPTIBLE RIGHTS, such 
 rights as a man may use or not at pleas- 
 ure, those which cannot be lost to him 
 by the claims of another founded on pre- 
 scription. 
 
 IMPRES'SION, in the Arts, is used to 
 signify the transfer of engravings from a 
 hard to a soft substance, whether by 
 means of the rolling-press, as in copper- 
 plate and lithographic printing, or by 
 copies in wax, &c., from medals and en- 
 graved gems. The word is also used to 
 denote a single edition of a book ; as, the 
 whole impression of the work was sold in 
 two months. 
 
 IMPRIMATUR, (Latin, let it be 
 printed,) the word by which the licenser 
 allows a book to be printed, in countries 
 where the censorship of books is rigorous- 
 ly exercised. This formula was much 
 used in English books printed in the 16th 
 and 17th centuries; and this permission 
 is even still vested in some of the British 
 universities, especially in Scotland, where 
 it is nothing unusual to find on the title- 
 page of some works recommended to pub- 
 lic favor by the senatus academicus the 
 "imprimatur" of the principal. 
 
 IMPRFMIS,(Zan,) in the first place ; 
 first in order. 
 
 IM'PRINT, the designation of the 
 place where, by whom, and when a book 
 is published, are always placed at the 
 bottom of the title. Among the early 
 printers it was inserted at the end of the 
 book, and is styled the colophon. 
 
 IMPROMP'TU, in literature, any short 
 and pointed production supposed to be 
 brought forth on the spur of the moment ; 
 generally of an epigrammatic character. 
 
 IMPROPRIA'TION, in law, the act of 
 appropriating or employing the revenues 
 of a church living to one's own use. Lay 
 impropriation is an ecclesiastical living 
 in the hands of a layman. Before the 
 destruction of the monasteries by Henry 
 VIII., in 1539, many livings were in the 
 
 possession of impropriators ; the great 
 tithes they kept themselves, allowing the 
 small tithes to the vicar or substitute who 
 served the church. On the suppression 
 of the monasteries, Henry disposed of the 
 great tithings among his favorites. 
 
 IM'PROVISATORE, an Italian word, 
 signifying a person who has the talent of 
 composing and reciting a suite of verses 
 on a given subject immediately and with- 
 out premeditation. This peculiar talent, 
 thus restricted, appears to belong, almost 
 exclusively, to the Italian language and 
 people. Much, no doubt, of the facility 
 of these improvisator!, which appears al- 
 most preternatural to one unaccustomed 
 to hear them, arises from the peculiar 
 ease and flexibility of their language, and 
 its richness in rhymes. But this circum- 
 stance will not wholly account for so sin- 
 gular a national faculty ; for, about the 
 time of the revival of letters, Italy pos- 
 sessed improvisatori in Latin as well as 
 Italian. Many poets have enjoyed con- 
 siderable celebrity in their day from their 
 success in this mode of composition ; but 
 we are not aware that any of their poems 
 have acquired a permanent celebrity, al- 
 though often taken down from their reci- 
 tation. Tuscany and the Venetian states 
 have been most famous for the production 
 of improvisatori, especially Sienna and 
 Verona ; in which latter city the talent 
 seems to have been perpetuated by suc- 
 cession. The chevalier Bernardino Per- 
 fetti, the most famous of all these reciters, 
 was of Sienna : he flourished in the first 
 half of the 17th century. He is said to 
 have possessed unbounded erudition, and 
 to have been able to pour forth extem- 
 pore poetical essays on the most absbruse 
 questions of science. There have been 
 many distinguished females possessed of 
 this talent, (improvisatrici.) Gorilla, the 
 most celebrated of them, was of Pistoia 
 in Tuscany. She was the original of 
 Madame de Stael's Corinne. She re- 
 ceived in 1776 the laureate crown at 
 Rome, an honor which had also been ac- 
 corded to Perfetti. Germany is said to 
 have produced one noted improvisatrice, 
 Anna Louisa Karsch. There appears no 
 reason why the term improvisation should 
 not also be applied to the delivery of un- 
 premeditated discourses in prose. It is 
 the exertion of a very similar faculty, 
 perfected in the same manner by habits 
 to a degree almost inconceivable by those 
 not accustomed to witness its exercise. 
 It is, however, much more general. The 
 North American Indians are represented 
 to possess it in a high degree. In Eu-
 
 314 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 rope, it is most generally to be found in 
 the pulpit. Public secular oratory of this 
 unpremeditated description is far more 
 common in England, and the power much 
 more sedulously cultivated, thtth in any 
 continental country, 
 
 INA'LIENABLE, an epithet applied 
 to such things as cannot be legally alien- 
 ated or made over to another : thus the 
 dominions of a sovereign, the revenues 
 of the church, the estates of a minor, &c. 
 are inalienable, otherwise than with a 
 reserve of the right of redemption. 
 
 INAUGURATION, was originally 
 applied to the Roman ceremony of ad- 
 mission to the college of augurs, or sooth- 
 sayers, or to the selection of a proper site 
 for the erection of temples or other na- 
 tional edifice? ; but it afterwards received 
 a more extended signification, and is now 
 used in a sense nearly synonymous with 
 the consecration of a prelate, or the coro- 
 nation of a king or emperor. It means 
 also an introduction to any office with 
 certain ceremonies. 
 
 INCA, or VNCA, a name given by the 
 Indians of ancient Peru to their kings 
 and princes of the blood. The empire of 
 the Incas, founded, according to tradition, 
 by the celebrated Manco Capac, extended 
 over the table-land of the Andes, from 
 Pasto to the neighborhood of Chili, as 
 well as the low lands on the coast. It 
 was destroyed by the Spaniards under 
 Pizarro and Almagro. The blood royal 
 of the Incas is preserved, or believed to 
 be so, among the Indians of the present 
 day, and Tupac Amaru, who carried on 
 a long and nearly successful insurrection 
 against Spain in the latter part of the 
 last century, professed to be descended 
 from them. 
 
 IN C.ENA DOMINI, (Lat. at the 
 Lord's Supper,) the name of a celebrated 
 papal bull, containing a collection of ex- 
 tracts from different constitutions of the 
 pope, comprising those rights which, since 
 the time of Gregory VII., have been un- 
 interruptedly claimed by the Roman see, 
 and a proclamation of anathema against 
 all who violate them. It was annually 
 read on Holy Thursday, whence it re- 
 ceives its name ; but lately on Easter 
 Monday. The sects of heretics are cursed 
 in it by their several designations. A 
 copy of the bull is hung up at the door 
 of the churches of St. Peter and St. John 
 Lateran : and all patriarchs, primates, 
 bishops, <fec., are required to have it read 
 once or more annually in their churches. 
 
 INCARNA'TION, a word in common 
 use among the theologians to express the 
 
 union of the Godhead with the Manhood 
 in Jesus Christ. The real manner of this 
 union, or indwelling of the God in the 
 Man, is allowed to be a mystery such as 
 cannot bo fully apprehended by the hu- 
 man intellect. 
 
 IN'CENSE, in the materia medica, a 
 dry resinous substance, known by the 
 name of thus and olibanum. The burn- 
 ing of incense made part of the daily 
 service of the Jewish temple ; and in the 
 Romish church it is the deacon's office to 
 incense the officiating priest or prelate, 
 and the choir. In the religious rites of 
 heathen nations, too, the odors of spices 
 and fragrant gums were burnt as incense. 
 
 INCEP'TIVE, in grammar, an epithet 
 for verbs which express a proceeding by 
 degrees in an action. 
 
 INCOG'NITO, (abbreviated to incog.,) 
 unknown, or so disguised as not to be rec- 
 ognized; a mode of travelling without 
 any mark of distinction, which is some- 
 times adopted by princes and great people 
 who do not wish to be recognized. 
 
 INCOMPATIBLE, in a general sense, 
 morally inconsistent; or that cannot sub- 
 sist with another, without destroying it : 
 thus, truth and falsehood are essentially 
 incompatible : so cold and heat are in- 
 compatible in the same subject, the 
 strongest overcoming and expelling the 
 weakest. In a legal sense, that is incom- 
 patible which cannot be united in the 
 same person, without violating the law, 
 or constitution. 
 
 INCORPORATION, in law, the for- 
 mation of a legal or a political body, with 
 the quality of perpetual existence or suc- 
 cession, unless limited by the act of in- 
 corporation. 
 
 IN'CUBUS, or Nightmare, the name 
 of a disease which consists in a spasmodic 
 contraction of the muscles of the breast, 
 usually happening in the night, and at- 
 tended with a very painful difficulty of 
 respiration and great anxiety. The most 
 obvious symptom of this disease is a sen- 
 sation of some great weight laid upon the 
 breast. Sometimes Jhe sufferer finds him- 
 self in some inextricable difficulty, en- 
 deavoring to escape from a monster, or, 
 perhaps, in imminent danger of falling 
 from a precipice, while his limbs refuse 
 to do their office, until he suddenly awa- 
 kens himself by starting from his recum- 
 bent posture, or by a cry of terror. 
 
 INCUM'BENT, the person who is in 
 present possession of an ecclesiastical 
 benefice. 
 
 INCUNAB'ULA, in bibliography, a 
 term applied to books printed during the
 
 IND] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 315 
 
 early period of the art ; in general con- 
 fined to those which appeared before the 
 year 1500. 
 
 INDECLI'NABLE, in grammar, a 
 word admitting of no declension or in- 
 flexion. Adverbs, prepositions, particles, 
 conjunctions, are all indeclinable. In 
 classical languages,, indeclinable nouns are 
 those few (chiefly borrowed by the Greeks 
 and Latins from foreign languages) of 
 which the termination is not altered in 
 the several cases. 
 
 INDEFEA'SIBLE, in law, an epithet 
 for an estate, or any right which cannot 
 be defeated or made void. 
 
 INDEFINITE, or INDETER'MI- 
 N ATE, that which has no certain bounds ; 
 or to which the human mind cannot affix 
 any. Descartes makes use of this word 
 in his philosophy instead of infinite, both 
 in numbers and quantities, to signify an 
 inconceivable number, or a number so 
 great as not to be capable of any addi- 
 tion. Indefinite, is also used to signify a 
 thing that has but one extreme ; for in- 
 stance, a line drawn from any point and 
 extended infinitely. Indefinite, in gram- 
 mar, 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. 
 
 INDEM'NITY,. in law, a writing to 
 secure one from all damage and danger 
 that may ensue from any act. Act of 
 Indemnity, .an act passed every session 
 of parliament for the relief of those who 
 have neglected to take the necessary 
 oaths, <fcc. 
 
 INDENT'URE, in law, a writing con- 
 taining an agreement or contract made 
 between two or more persons ; so called 
 because it was indented or cut scollopwise, 
 so as to correspond with another writing 
 containing the same words. But indent- 
 ing is often neglected, while the writings 
 or counterparts retain the name of in- 
 dentures. 
 
 INDEPENDENTS, a sect of Protes- 
 tants, distinguished,_not by doctrine, but 
 discipline. They regard every congrega- 
 tion of Christians, meeting in one build- 
 ing for the purpose of public worship, as 
 a complete church, independent of any 
 other religious government ; and they 
 reject tire use of all creeds, as impious 
 substitutes for the letter of the Scripture. 
 The direction of each church is vested in 
 its elders. The Independents arose in 
 the reign of Elizabeth; and during the 
 civil wars of England, in the 17th century, 
 they formed a powerful party. 
 
 IN'DEX, in arithmetic and algebra, 
 the number that shows to what power the 
 quantity is to be raised ; the exponent. 
 Index, j.n literature, an alphabetical table 
 of the contents of a book. Expurgatory 
 index, a catalogue of prohibited books in 
 the church of Rome. 
 
 IN'DIAN, a general name of any na- 
 tive of the Indies ; as, an East Indian, 
 or West Indian, It is particularly ap- 
 plied to an aboriginal native of the Amer- 
 ican continent. 
 
 IN'DIAN ARCHITEC'TURE, the ar- 
 chitecture of India, in its details, bears a 
 striking resemblance to that of Persia 
 and Egypt, and they are considered to 
 
 Indian Capital Elephantal. 
 have a common origin. Its monuments 
 may be divided into two classes, the ex- 
 cavated, which is either in the form of a 
 cavern, or in which a solid rock is sculp- 
 tured into the resemblance of a building ; 
 and the constructed, in which it is actu- 
 ally a building, or formed by the aggre- 
 gation of different materials. The first 
 class is exemplified in the caves of Ele- 
 phanta and Ellora, and the sculptured 
 pagodas of Mavalipouram. and the sec- 
 ond class in the pagodas of Chillimbaram, 
 Tanjore, and others. The architecture 
 of India, it is said, resembles in its details 
 that of Egypt, but its differences are also 
 very striking. In the architecture of 
 Egypt, massiveness and solidity are car- 
 ried to the extreme ; in Indian architec- 
 ture these have no place. In the former, 
 the ornaments are subordinate to the 
 leading forms, and enrich without hiding 
 them. In the latter, the principal 'forms 
 are overwhelmed and decomposed by the 
 accessories. In the one grandeur of ef- 
 fect is the result, while littleness is the 
 characteristic of the other. 
 
 IN'DIAN INK, a substance brought
 
 316 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 INF 
 
 from China, used for water-colors. It is 
 in rolls or in square cakes, and is said to 
 consist of lump-black and animal glue. 
 
 IMMC'ATI VK, in grammar, .the first 
 mood, or manner, of conjugating a verb, 
 by which we simply affirm, deny, or indi- 
 cate something ; as. he writes ; they run. 
 
 INDIC'TIOX, CYCLE OF, in chronol- 
 ogy, a mode of computing time by the 
 space of fifteen years, instituted by Con- 
 stantiue the Great ; originally the period 
 for the payment of certain taxes. The 
 popes, since the time of Charlemagne, 
 have dated their acts by the year of the 
 indiction, which was fixed on the 1st of 
 January. At the time of the reforma- 
 tion of the calendar, the year 1582 was 
 reckoned the tenth year of indiction. 
 Now this date, when divided by 15, leaves 
 a remainder, 7, that is, three less than 
 the indiction, and the sa^ne must neces- 
 sarily be the case in all subsequent cases; 
 so that, in order to find the indiction for 
 any year, divide the date by 15, and add 
 3 to the remainder. It has no connection 
 with the motions of the heavenly bodies. 
 
 INDICTMENT, in law, a written ac- 
 cusation of one or more persons for a 
 crime or misdemeanor, preferred to, and 
 presented on oath by a grand jury. In 
 determining whether there is a reason- 
 able cause to put the accused upon his 
 trial, the grand jury hear evidence only 
 of the charge ; and if twelve of them are 
 satisfied of the truth of the charge, the 
 indictment is then said to be found, and 
 is publicly delivered into court. If the 
 grand jury think the accusation ground- 
 less, the accused is discharged ; but a 
 new bill of indictment may be preferred 
 to a subsequent grand jury. By the con- 
 stitution of the United States, no person 
 is held to answer for a capital or other- 
 wise infamous crime, unless on a present- 
 ment or indictment by a grand jury, ex- 
 cept in cases arising in the land or naval 
 forces ; and the same principle is adopted 
 in several of the states. 
 
 INDORS'ER, he who writes his name 
 on the back of a bill of exchange. That 
 which is written on the back is called the 
 indorsement; and the person to whom 
 the bill is assigned by indorsement, is the 
 indorsee. 
 
 INDUC'TIOX. the counter-process in 
 scientific method to deduction, implies 
 the raising individuals into generals, and 
 those into still higher generalities; de- 
 duction being the bringing down of uni- 
 versals to lower genera or to individuals. 
 Every deduction, therefore, to be valid, 
 must rest on a prior induction, which, in 
 
 order that we may obtain logical cer- 
 tainty, must be a complete induction; 
 that is to say, must include all the indi- 
 viduals which constitute the genus. This, 
 it is evident, is impossible, so long as we 
 assume the only power necessary to in- 
 duction to be the observation of particu- 
 lars ; for these are infinite in number : 
 we can never be sure that we have ob- 
 served them all. We are therefore com- 
 pelled, if we are to admit the possibility 
 of science properly so called, to allow the 
 necessity of some spontaneous action of 
 the understanding in every inductive pro- 
 cess ; of a faculty, in short, which takes 
 occasion from experience to arrive at the 
 knowledge of truths not contained in that 
 experience. 
 
 INDULGENCE, a power claimed by 
 tht Roman Catholic church of granting 
 to its contrite members remission for a 
 certain term, either on earth or in pur- 
 gatory, of the penalty incurred by their 
 transgressions. The practice was first 
 instituted in the eleventh century by 
 Popes Gregory VII., Victor, and Urban 
 II., as a recompense to those who em- 
 barked in the perilous enterprise of the 
 Crusades ; but its benefits in process of 
 time extended to all who, either by dona- 
 tions or other services, contributed to the 
 well-being of the church. It was the 
 profligate sale of indulgences that first 
 excited Luther to commence his warfare 
 against the see of Rome ; and although 
 the traffic in indulgences has been repro- 
 bated by many councils, and some minor 
 corruptions have been partially reformed, 
 still the Council of Trent decreed the 
 usefulness and validity of such instru- 
 ments, and left the whole control of their 
 nature and manner of issuing them en- 
 tirely in the discretion of the pope for 
 the time being. 
 
 INDUL'TO, in ecclesiastical affairs, an 
 Italian term for a dispensation granted 
 by the pope, to do or obtain something 
 contrary to the common law. 
 
 IN ES'SE, (Latin,) actually existing ; 
 distinguished from in. posse, which de- 
 notes that a thing is not, but may be. 
 
 IN'FAMY, in law. that total loss of 
 character or public disgrace which a con- 
 vict incurs, and by which a person is ren- 
 dered incapable of being a witness or a 
 juror. 
 
 IN'FANCY, the period physically con- 
 sidered, from birth to seven years, and 
 legally, till 21, previously to which no 
 one can inherit or execute any obligation, 
 or incur any responsibility except for 
 necessaries.
 
 INF] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 INFANT'E, and INFANT'A, appel- 
 lations severally given to all the sons 
 and daughters of the kings of Spain and 
 Portugal, except the eldest. The dignity 
 of the title consists in the pre-eminence 
 implied by styling the children of the 
 king, the children. 
 
 IN'FANTRY, the general name for 
 soldiers who serve on foot. The term is 
 in all probability derived from the Italian 
 word fante, signifying a child or young 
 person ; and was originally conferred on 
 the young Italian peasantry, who served 
 in the wars on foot, the nobles being usu- 
 ally mounted. There are, however, va- 
 rious ot^er accounts of the origin of the 
 term. Among the ancient Greeks and 
 Romans, the infantry constituted the chief 
 strength of an army ; and, with the ex- 
 ception of that period in European his- 
 tory during which the institutions of chiv- 
 alry prevailed, when the tournament 
 with its gay appendages engaged the at- 
 tention of all the powerful nobles and 
 otherwise distinguished persons, who thus 
 imparted to the cavalry a factitious im- 
 portance, it has generally been regarded 
 as the principal military arm. Since the 
 institution of standing armies this has 
 been peculiarly the case. 
 
 INFEC'TION, the act or process of 
 infecting, or the act by which poisonous 
 matter, morbid miasmata, or exhalations, 
 produce disease in a healthy body. The 
 thing which infects. The terms infection 
 and contagion are used as synonymous 
 in a great majority of cases. Different 
 writers proposed and attempted to make 
 a distinction between them, but there has 
 been a great disagreement as to what the 
 distinction should be ; and in general no 
 regard is paid to the proposed distinctions. 
 Infection is used in two acceptations ; first, 
 as denoting the effluvium or infectious 
 matter exhaled from the person of one 
 diseased, in which sense it is synonymous 
 with contagion ; and secondly, as signi- 
 fying the act of communication of such 
 morbid effluvium, by which disease is 
 transferred. The atmosphere and other 
 inert substances are often contaminated 
 by the deleterious or offensive qualities 
 of malaria, the matter of contagion, efflu- 
 via from putrid animal or vegetable sub- 
 stances. 
 
 INFEODA'TION of tithes, in law, the 
 granting of tithes to mere laymen. 
 
 INFE'RI^E, in Roman antiquity, sac- 
 rifices offered to the infernal deities for 
 the souls of the departed. 
 
 IN'FINITE, in mathematics, infinite 
 quantities are such quantities as are 
 
 either greater or less than assignable 
 ones. And infinite series, a series con- 
 sidered as infinitely continued as to the 
 number of its terms. 
 
 INFINITES'IMAL, a term denoting 
 an indefinitely small quantity. 
 
 INFIN'ITIVE, in grammar, a mood 
 expressing the action of the verb, without 
 limitation of person or number, as to 
 love. 
 
 INFINITY, a term applied to the 
 vast and the minute, to distances and 
 spaces too great to be expressed in any 
 numbers of measures, or too small to be 
 expressed by any fraction ; and one of 
 the incomprehensible, but necessarily ex- 
 isting wonders of the universe. We ap- 
 ply infinity to God and his perfections. 
 We speak of the infinity of his existence, 
 his power, and his goodness. 
 
 INFIR'MARY, a charitable establish- 
 ment where the poor may receive medi- 
 cal advice and medicine gratis. 
 
 INFLECTION, in grammar, in strict- 
 ness of language is any change which 
 takes place in a word from a modifica- 
 tion of its sense between the root and the 
 termination. The inflection must, there- 
 fore, not be confounded with the termina- 
 tion itself. Thus, the syllable am is the 
 root of all the words employed in the 
 conjugation of the Latin verb amo, I love : 
 in the imperfect tense, the inflection is 
 the syllable ab. The termination varies 
 according to the person ; amabam, ama- 
 bas, amabat. 
 
 INFLUEN'ZA, an epidemic catarrh 
 which has in various times spread more 
 rapidly and extensively than any other 
 disorder, and this universality of its at- 
 tacks, together with the greater severity 
 of its symptoms, principally distinguishes 
 it from common catarrh. It attacks 
 all ages and conditions of life, but is 
 seldom fatal, except to the aged, or to 
 those previously suffering, or having 
 a tendency to pulmonary disease. The 
 epidemics of 1831-2, and of 1836-7, were 
 nearly universal throughout the civilized 
 world. 
 
 INFORM A'TION, in law, an accusa- 
 tion or complaint exhibited against a 
 person for some criminal offence. An in- 
 formation differs from an indictment, 
 inasmuch as the latter is exhibited on the 
 oath of twelve men. but the information 
 is only the allegation of the individual 
 who exhibits it. He who communicates 
 to a magistrate a knowledge of the vio- 
 lations of law, is an informer ; but he 
 who makes a trade of laying informa- 
 tions, is termed a common informer
 
 318 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [iNL 
 
 and is generally held in disesteem by so- 
 ciety. 
 
 INFHALAPS A'RIANS, in church his- 
 tory, an appellation given to such pre- 
 destinarians as think the decrees of God, 
 in regard to the salvation and damnation 
 of mankind, were formed in consequence 
 of Adam's fall. 
 
 INFU'LA, in Roman antiquity, abroad 
 kind of fillet, made of white wool, which 
 the priests used to wear round their heads. 
 At later periods, the imperial governors 
 wore infula as a sign of dignity, and, as 
 such, it was adopted, in the 7th century, 
 by the bishops of the Roman Catholic 
 church, who continue to wear it on solemn 
 occasions. It is, in fact, the mitre ; 
 which the bishops of the church of Eng- 
 land have in their coat of arms, but 
 never wear on their head. 
 
 IN'GOT, a small bar of metal made of 
 a certain form and size, by casting it in 
 moulds. The term is chiefly applied to 
 the small bars of gold and silver, intend- 
 ed either for coining or for exportation to 
 foreign countries. 
 
 IN'GRESS, E'GRESS, andRE'GRESS, 
 in law, words frequently used in leases of 
 lands, which signify a free entry into, a 
 going out of, and returning from some 
 part of the premises leased to another. 
 
 INGRES'SU, in law, a writ of entry, 
 termed also a prcecipe quod reddat. 
 
 INGRESS'US, in law, a duty which the 
 heir at full age formerly paid to the chief 
 lord for entering upon lands which had 
 fallen to him. 
 
 INHABITANT, a dweller ; one who 
 dwells or resides permanently in a place, 
 or who has a fixed residence, as distin- 
 guished from an occasional lodger or visi- 
 tor ; as the inhabitant of a house or 
 cottage; the inhabitants of a town, city, 
 county, or state. So brute animals are 
 inhabitants of the regions to which their 
 natures are adapted ; and we speak of 
 spiritual beings, as inhabitants of heaven. 
 In English law, the term inhabitant 
 is used in various technical senses. Thus 
 a person having lands or tenements in 
 his own possession, is an inhabitant for 
 the purpose of repair of bridges, wher- 
 ever he may reside ; but for purposes of 
 personal services, the inhabitant must 
 necessarily be a resident. For the pur- 
 pose of the poor rate, the word means a 
 person residing permanently, and sleep- 
 ing in the parish. Where the right of 
 voting is in inhabitant householders, it is 
 generally understood that an inhabitant 
 is one who keeps a house in his own occu- 
 pation, either personally residing in it, 
 
 or having it occupied by servants and 
 ready for his residence, he having what 
 is termed the animus revertendi, or in- 
 tention to return. 
 
 INHE'RENT, that which is insepara- 
 ble, distinguished from the accidental 
 and acquired ; as the inherent qualities 
 of the magnet. <fec. 
 
 INHERITANCE, an estate derived 
 from an ancestor to an heir by succession 
 or in course .of law ; or an estate which 
 the law casts on a child or other person, 
 as the representative of the deceased an- 
 cestor. An estate, or real property which 
 a man has to himself and heirs, or the 
 heirs of his body, &c., is termed ajfreehold 
 of inheritance. 
 
 INHIBITION, in law, a writ to forbid 
 a judge's proceeding in a cause that lies 
 before him. This writ generally issues 
 out of a higher court to an inferior, nnd 
 is of much the same nature as a prohibi- 
 tion. 
 
 INITIATIVE, in politics. In legisla- 
 tive assemblies constituted so as to com- 
 prise more than one chamber, or more 
 than one distinct and co-ordinate power, 
 that branch of the legislature to which 
 belongs of right the power to propose 
 measures of a particular class is said to 
 have the initiative with respect to those 
 measures. Thus in England all proposi- 
 tions for taxing the subject, whether di- 
 rectly or indirectly, must begin in the 
 Commons ; a usage which has been 
 adopted in most modern constitutions. 
 On the other hand, there are some private 
 bills which by custom originate in the 
 Lords ; and one bill, that, namely, for a 
 general pardon, is proposed in the first 
 instance by the crown. 
 
 IN JUNCTION, in law, a writ or pro- 
 hibition granted in several cases ; and 
 for the most part grounded on an inter- 
 locutory order or decree, made in the 
 court of chancery or exchequer, for stay- 
 ing proceedings either in courts of law, 
 or ecclesiastical courts. When the reason 
 for granting an injunction ceases, the in- 
 junction is dissolved. 
 
 IN'JURY, in a legal sense, any wrong 
 or damage done to another, either in his 
 person, rights, reputation, or goods. 
 Whatever impairs the quality or dimin- 
 ishes the value of goods or property, is an 
 injury; so also whatever impairs the 
 health, weakens the mental faculties, or 
 prejudices the character of a person, is an 
 injury. 
 
 IN'LAND, in law, that part of any 
 land or mansion which lay next to the 
 mansion-house, and was used by the lord
 
 INQ] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 319 
 
 himself. In geography, that which is sit- 
 uated in the interior of a country remote 
 from the sea-coast. Inland bills, In com- 
 merce, bills payable in the country where 
 they are drawn 
 
 INLAY'ING, the art of diversifying 
 cabinet-work, or working in wood or metal 
 with several pieces of different colors, cu- 
 riously put together. 
 
 IN LIM'INE, (Latin,) in the outset ; 
 before anything is said or done. 
 
 INN, in England, a college of muni- 
 cipal or common law professors and stu- 
 dents ; formerly, the town-house of a no- 
 bleman, bishop, or other distinguished 
 personage, in which he resided when he 
 attended the court. Inns of court, col- 
 leges or corporate societies in which stu- 
 dents of law reside and once were in- 
 structed. The principal are the Inner 
 Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's 
 Inn, and Gray's Inn. Every candidate 
 for the rank of barrister-at-law is obliged 
 to be admitted a member of one of these 
 societies, and to submit to its regulations 
 as a student. Inns of Chancery, colleges 
 in which young students formerly began 
 their law studies. These are now occu- 
 pied chiefly by attorneys, solicitors, &c. 
 
 IN'NATE IDE'AS, principles or ideas 
 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 has given rise 
 to much discussion, and which the cele- 
 brated Locke took great pains to refute. 
 
 IN'NOCENTS' DAY, a festival ob- 
 served in the church on the 28th of De- 
 cember, in memory of the children that 
 were slain by command of Herod. 
 
 INOCULA'TION, the insertion of poi- 
 sonous or infectious matter into any part 
 of the body ; but in this country the 
 phrase is commonly used to signify the 
 insertion of the virus of the common 
 small-pox, the insertion of the virus of the 
 cow-pox being called Vaccination. In- 
 oculation was introduced into general no- 
 tice by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, 
 whose son was inoculated at Constanti- 
 nople about the year '1721, and whose 
 daughter was the first who underwent 
 the operation in England. A milder dis- 
 ease is thus propagated than when it is 
 received in the natural way. 
 
 IN PRO'PRIA PERSO'NA, (Latin,) 
 in one's own person or character. 
 
 IN'QUEST, judicial inquiry. It may 
 either be a jury to decide on the guilt of 
 an accused person, according to fact and 
 law ; or to examine the weights and 
 measures used by shopkeepers ; decide 
 
 on the cause of any violent or sudden 
 death ; or to examine into accusations 
 before trial. 
 
 INQUTRY, writ of, in law, a writ that 
 issues out to the sheriff to summon a 
 jury to inquire what damages a plaintiff 
 has 'sustained in an action upon the case 
 where judgment goes by default. 
 
 INQUISFTION, the title given to a 
 court armed with extensive criminal au- 
 thority in various European countries ; 
 especially instituted to inquire into of- 
 fences against the established religion. 
 The first of these tribunals of faith was 
 that established in the south of France 
 after the conquest of the Albigenses in 
 the 13th century. They were established 
 in Spain in the middle of the same cen- 
 tury, not without much opposition on the 
 part of the bishops and secular clergy, 
 who, in Castile, long maintained their 
 exclusive spiritual jurisdiction. In 1480, 
 the supremo general .inquisition was 
 founded at Seville by Queen Isabella, 
 with the aid of the Cardinal Pedro Gon- 
 zalez de Mendoza. This great court, 
 commonly known by the name of the 
 Holy Office, had far more extensive au- 
 thority than those local tribunals of the 
 same name which had previously been 
 established. Thomas de Torquemada, 
 prior of a Dominican convent, was its 
 first president, with the title of inquisitor- 
 general. The process of the inquisition 
 was widely different from that of all other 
 courts of justice. The kings named the 
 grand inquisitor, who appointed his as- 
 sessors, some of whom were secular, but 
 the greater part regular ecclesiastics : 
 the counsellors were six or seven in num- 
 ber, of whom one, by the ordinance of 
 Philip III., must be a Dominican. A 
 party who was brought under cognizance 
 of the court by secret accusation was im- 
 mediately seized by its officers, (termed 
 officials or familiars,) and his property 
 put under sequestration. If the accused 
 was fortunate enough to absent himself, 
 and did not appear at the third summons, 
 he was excommunicated, and in some 
 cases burnt in effigy. The subsequent 
 process of the court by imprisonment, 
 secret examination, and torture, is well 
 known. Penitent offenders were sub- 
 jected to imprisonment, scourging, con- 
 fiscation, and legal infamy. Those con- 
 victed, who were sentenced to death, wore 
 burnt at the Autos da Fe, which usually 
 take place on some Sunday between 
 Trinity and Advent. During the 18th 
 century, the chief officers of the inquisi- 
 tion were for the most part men of intel-
 
 320 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [INS 
 
 ligence and moderation, and its proceed- 
 ings chiefly directed against parties guilty 
 of such offences against decency or reli- 
 gion as would have been punishable in 
 most European countries, although not 
 by an equally arbitrary process. But 
 there were exceptions to this general 
 character ; and by the provincial courts 
 of inquisition, of which Spain contained 
 sixteen, some acts of barbarous injustice 
 were committed. According to a common 
 calculation, 340,000 persons had been 
 punished by the inquisition from 1481 to 
 1808, of whom nearly 32,000 were burnt. 
 In that year it was abolished by Napo- 
 leon. It was afterwards re-established 
 by Ferdinand III. in 1814; but having 
 been again abrogated by the Cortes in 
 1820, it has not been since reconstituted. 
 In Portugal, the supreme court of in- 
 quisition was established in 1557. Its 
 history in many respects resembles that 
 of the Spanish court; but in the 18th 
 century its power was greatly curtailed 
 by ordinances which required a certain 
 degree of publicity in its procedure. It 
 was abolished by the Cortes of 1821. 
 There were courts of inquisition in vari- 
 ous southern provinces of France, the 
 principal that of Languedoc, established 
 at Toulouse, which was first founded after 
 the war against the Albigenses; but their 
 power was limited not long after their 
 creation, and fell into desuetude long be- 
 fore their final abolition. In several 
 Italian states courts of inquisition have 
 been established ; but the institution has 
 never taken much hold on the sentiments 
 or habits of the people of that country. 
 It was restored at Rome by Pius VII. 
 after the expulsion of the French, but 
 had jurisdiction only over the faith and 
 conduct of the clergy. 
 
 INQUISITOR, in law, any officer, as 
 the sheriff and the coroner, having power 
 to inquire into certain matters. Grand 
 inquisitor is the name given to a judge 
 of the Inquisition. 
 
 INSAN'ITY, mental derangement of 
 any degree, from slight delirium to raving 
 madness. It is, however, rarely used to 
 express temporary delirium occasioned 
 by fever, Ac. 
 
 INSCRIBE', to engrave on a monu- 
 ment, pillar, &c. ; or to commend by a 
 short address, less formal than a dedica- 
 tion ; as, to inscribe an ode or book to a 
 prince. 
 
 INSCRIP'TI, in Roman antiquity, a 
 name given to those who were branded 
 with any ignominious mark after the 
 manner in which slaves were treated. 
 
 I N S C R I P'T ION, any monumental 
 writing, engraved or affixed to a thing, 
 to give a more distinct knowledge of it, 
 or to transmit some important fact to 
 posterity. The inscriptions mentioned 
 by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, suf- 
 ficiently show that this was the first 
 method of conveying instruction to man- 
 kind, and transmitting the knowledge of 
 history and sciences to posterity : thus 
 the ancients engraved upon pillars both 
 the principles of sciences, and the history 
 of the world. Pisistratus carved precepts 
 of husbandry on pillars of stone ; and the 
 treaties of confederacy between the Ro- 
 mans and Jews were engraved on plates 
 of brass. Antiquarians have accordingly 
 been very curious in examining the in- 
 scriptions on ancient ruins, coins, medals, 
 <fcc. 
 
 INSOLVENCY, inability of a, person 
 to pay all his debts ; or the state of want- 
 ing property sufficient for such payment. 
 Insolvency is a term in mercantile law, 
 applied to designate the condition of all 
 persons unable to pay their debts accord- 
 ing to the ordinary usage of trade. A 
 bankrupt is an insolvent, but persons 
 may be in a state of insolvency, without 
 having committed any of the specific acts 
 which render them liable to a commission 
 of bankruptcy. 
 
 INSPIRATION, the infusion of ideas 
 into the mind by the Holy Spirit ; the 
 conveying into the minds of men, ideas, 
 notices, or monitions by extraordinary or 
 supernatural influence. Inspiration of 
 the sacred writers, is defined an influence 
 of the Holy Spirit exercised on the under- 
 standings, imaginations, memories, and 
 other mental powers of tb* writers, by 
 means of which they were qualified for 
 communicating to the world divine reve- 
 lation, or the knowledge of the will of 
 God, without error or mistake. Writers 
 on theology have enumerated several 
 kinds or degrees of inspiration, which 
 are founded upon the supposition that 
 God imparted to the sacred writers that 
 measure and degree of assistance which 
 was just suited to the nature of the sub- 
 jects which they committed to writing, 
 and did not supersede the use of their 
 natural powers and faculties, and of their 
 acquired knowledge where these were suf- 
 ficient. The measure of divine assistance 
 which enabled Moses to give an account 
 of the creation ; Joshua to record with 
 exactness the settlement of the Israel- 
 ites in Canaan ; David to mingle pro- 
 phetic information with the varied ef- 
 fusions of gratitude, contrition, and
 
 INS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 321 
 
 piety ; Isaiah to deliver predictions re- 
 specting the Messiah; and the Evange- 
 lists to record, in their own several styles 
 and ways, the life and transactions of 
 Jesus Christ, has been termed inspira- 
 tion of direction. In some cases inspira- 
 tion only produced correctness and accu- 
 racy in relating past occurrences, and 
 preserved the writers generally from rela- 
 ting anything derogatory to the revelation 
 with which it was connected. This has 
 been termed inspiration of superintend- 
 ency. Where indeed it not only commu- 
 nicates ideas, new and unknown before, 
 but has also imparted greater strength 
 and vigor to the efforts of the mind than 
 the writers could otherwise have attain- 
 ed, this divine assistance has been called 
 inspiration of elevation. Further, when 
 the prophets and apostles received such 
 communications of the Holy Spirit, as 
 suggested and dictated minutely every 
 part of the truths delivered ; this, which 
 is the highest degree of divine assistance, 
 has been termed inspiration of sugges- 
 tion. The infusion or communication of 
 ideas or poetic spirit, by a superior being 
 or supposed presiding power ; as, the in- 
 spiration of Homer or other poet. 
 
 INSTALLA'TION, the ceremony of 
 inducting, or investing with any charge, 
 office, or rank ; as, the placing a dean or 
 prebendary in his stall or seat, or a knight 
 into his order. 
 
 INSTAL'MENT, in commercial tran- 
 sactions, the payment of a certain por- 
 tion of a gross sum, which is to be paid 
 at different times, or, as the phrase is, by 
 instalments. In constituting a capital- 
 stock by subscriptions of individuals, it 
 is customary to afford facilities to sub- 
 scribers by dividing the sum subscribed 
 into instalments, or portions payable at 
 distinct periods. In large contracts also, 
 it is not unusual to agree that the money 
 shall be paid by instalments. 
 
 IN'ST ANT, a part of time or duration 
 in which no succession is perceived. There 
 are three kinds of instants distinguished 
 by the schoolmen ; a temporary, a natu- 
 ral, and a rational instant. The first is 
 a part of time immediately preceding 
 another ; the second is what is otherwise 
 termed a priority of nature, which ob- 
 tains in things subordinated in acting, as 
 first and second causes, or causes and 
 their effects ; and the third is not any 
 real instant, but a point which the un- 
 derstanding conceives to have existed 
 before some other instant, founded on the 
 nature of the things which cause it to be 
 conceived.. 
 
 21 
 
 INSTAN'TER, in law, instantly ; with- 
 out the least delay ; as, the party was 
 compelled to plead instanter. 
 
 INSTAN'TI^E CRUCIS, in philoso- 
 phy, crucial instances or examples ; a 
 phrase invented by the fancy of Bacon. 
 The use of crucial examples or experi- 
 ments is to facilitate the process of induc- 
 tion. For example. A and B, two differ- 
 ent causes, may produce a certain number 
 of similar effects ; find some effect which 
 the one produces and the other does not, 
 and this will point out, as the direction- 
 post at a point where two highways meet, 
 (crux,) which of these causes may have 
 been in operation in any particular in- 
 stance. Thus, for example, many of the 
 symptoms of the Oriental plague are 
 common to other diseases ; but when the 
 observer discovers the peculiar bubo or 
 boil of the complaint, he has an instantia 
 cruets, which directs him immediately to 
 its discovery. 
 
 IN STATU QUO, (Latin,) a term sig- 
 nifying that condition in which things 
 were left at a certain period ; as when 
 belligerent parties agree that their mu- 
 tual relations should be in statu quo, or 
 as they were before the commencement 
 of a war ; and the like. 
 
 INSTAURA'TA TER'RA, in arche- 
 ology, land ready stocked or furnished 
 with all things necessary to carry on the 
 employment of a farmer. 
 
 INSTAU'RUM ECCLE'SIJE, the vest- 
 ments, plate, and all utensils belonging 
 to a church. 
 
 IN'STINCT, that power of volition or 
 impulse produced by the peculiar nature 
 of an animal, which prompts it to do cer- 
 tain things, independent of all instruction 
 or experience, and without deliberation, 
 where such act is immediately connected 
 with its own individual preservation, or 
 with that of its kind Indeed, it is mani- 
 fest that instinct not only makes animals 
 perform certain actions necessary to the 
 preservation of the species, but often alto- 
 gether foreign to the apparent wants of 
 the individual ; and often, also, extremely 
 complicated. We cannot attribute these 
 actions to intelligence, without supposing 
 a degree of foresight and understanding 
 infinitely superior to what we can admit 
 in the species that perform them. The 
 actions performed by instinct are not the 
 effects of imitation, for the individuals 
 that execute them have often never seen 
 them done by others ; they bear no pro- 
 portion to the common intelligence of the 
 species, but become more singular, more 
 skilful, more disinterested, in proportion
 
 322 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [INT 
 
 as the animals belong to the less elevated 
 classes. They are so much the property 
 of the species, that all the individuals 
 perform them in the same manner, with- 
 out any improvement. The duckling 
 hastens to the water, the hen remains the 
 proper time on her eggs during incuba- 
 tion, the beaver builds his curious habita- 
 tion with a skill peculiar to the species, 
 and the bees construct, with architectural 
 accuracy, their waxen colls. Instinct, 
 theu, is the general property of the living 
 principle, or the law of organized life in 
 a state of action. 
 
 INSTITUTE, or INSTITUTION, any 
 society instituted or established according 
 to certain laws, or regulations, for the 
 furtherance of some particular object, 
 such as colleges or seminaries for the 
 cultivation of the sciences, Literary In- 
 stitutes, Mechanics' Institutes, and others. 
 We apply the word institution to laws, 
 rites, and ceremonies, which are enjoined 
 by authority as permanent rules of con- 
 duct or of government; as, the institu- 
 tions of Moses or Lycurgus. Also, a so- 
 ciety of individuals for promoting any 
 public object, as a charitable or benevo- 
 lent institution. 
 
 INSTRUMENT, MUSICAL, a machine 
 or sonorous body, artificially constructed 
 for the production of musical sounds. 
 They are divided into three kinds, wind 
 instruments, stringed instruments, and 
 instruments of percussion. Mathemati- 
 cal instruments, a common case of, con- 
 tains, a pair of plain compasses ; a pair 
 of drawing compasses ; a drawing pen ; a 
 protractor ; a parallel ruler ; a plain 
 scale ; and a sector ; besides black lead 
 pencils. Instrument, in law, a deed or 
 writing drawn up between two parties, 
 and containing several covenants agreed 
 between them. 
 
 INSTRUMEN'TAL MU'SIC, music 
 produced by instruments, as distinguished 
 from vocal music ; particularly applied 
 to the greater compositions, in which the 
 human voice has no part. Until the mid- 
 dle of the last century, the Italian com- 
 posers used no other instruments in their 
 great pieces than violins and bas. c -viols ; 
 at that time, however, they began to use 
 the haut-boy and the horn ; and even to 
 this day, the Italians use wind instru- 
 ments much less than the French and 
 Germans. In general, symphonies and 
 overtures, solos, duets, terzettos, quar- 
 tettos, Ac., sonatas, fantasias, concerts for 
 single instruments, dances, marches, Ac., 
 belong to instrumental music. 
 
 IN'SULATED, in architecture, an ap- 
 
 pellation given to such columns as stanc 
 alone, or free from any contiguous wall, 
 <fcc., like an island in the sea ; whence 
 the name. 
 
 IXSUR'ANCE, in law and commerce, 
 the act of providing against a possible 
 loss, by entering into contract with one 
 who is willing to give assurance ; that is, 
 to bind himself to make good such possi- 
 ble loss, upon the contingency of its oc- 
 currence. In this contract, the chances of 
 the benefit are equal to the insurer and 
 the assurer. The first actually pays a cer- 
 tain sum, and the latter undertakes to 
 pay a larger, if an accident should hap- 
 pen. The one, therefore, renders his 
 property secure ; the other receives mo- 
 ney, with the probability that it is clear 
 gain. The instrument by which the con- 
 tract is made, is denominated a policy, 
 and the stipulated consideration is called 
 the premium. These are generally for 
 protection against losses by fire, or risks 
 at sea. Policies on lives are another de- 
 scription of this contract, whereby a 
 party, for a certain premium, agrees to 
 pay a certain sum, if a person, to whose 
 life it relates, shall die within a time 
 specified, or to pay the executors of the 
 insured a certain sum at the time of his 
 death. These policies, however, usually 
 make an exception of death by suicide. 
 According to general practice, a life in- 
 surance is seldom made by the payment 
 of a single sum when it is effected, but 
 almost always by the payment of an an- 
 nual premium during its continuance, 
 the first being paid down at the com- 
 mencement of the insurance. An indi- 
 vidual, therefore, who has insured a sum 
 on his life, would forfeit all the advanta- 
 ges of the insurance, were he not to con- 
 tinue regularly to make his annual pay- 
 ments. 
 
 INTA'GLTOS, precious stones on which 
 are engraved the heads of eminent men, 
 inscriptions, <tc., such as are set in 
 rings, Ac. 
 
 IN'TELLECT, that faculty of the hu- 
 man soul or mind, which receives or 
 comprehends the ideas communicated to 
 it by the senses, or by perception, or by 
 other means ; the faculty of thinking ; 
 otherwise called the understanding. It 
 is applied to the mind when only its ra- 
 tional powers are considered, apart from 
 the animating principle, or the will, and 
 from the source of the passions. A clear 
 intellect receives and entertains the same 
 ideas which another communicates with 
 perspicuity. In the philosophy of Kant, 
 the intellect is distinguished into two fao-
 
 INT] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 323 
 
 ultios, understanding and reason. The 
 understanding, acting on experience, 
 merely compares, judges, and measures 
 its representations, and is conversant 
 solely with their mutual limits and rela- 
 tions, classifying them according to cer- 
 tain schemes of its own which are called 
 categories. While, however, the under- 
 standing is thus limited, the activity of 
 the reason is unbounded, and as the prin- 
 ciple of principles, it is the base and the 
 verification of every special principle and 
 reasoning. 
 
 INTEND'ANT, a word much used in 
 France, denoting a person who has the 
 charge, direction, or management of some 
 office or department ; as an intendant 
 of marine, an intendant of finance, <fcc. 
 
 INTER'CALARY DAY, in the calen- 
 dar, a day inserted out of the usual 
 order to preserve the account of time. 
 Thus every fourth year containing 360 
 days, while the other years contain only 
 365, one of the months in that year must 
 have an additional day, which is called 
 the intercalary day. The additional day 
 was given to February, as being the 
 shortest month, and in the ancient Roman 
 calendar was inserted between the 24th 
 and 25th days. In the ecclesiastical cal- 
 endar it still retains that place ; but in 
 the civil calendar it is the 29th. 
 
 INTERCESSION, in Roman antiquity, 
 the act of a tribune of the people, where- 
 by he inhibited the act of another magis- 
 trate, or prevented the passing of a law 
 in the senate, which was usually done by 
 the single word -veto. 
 
 INTERCOLUMNIA'TION, in archi- 
 tecture, the space between two columns, 
 which is always to be proportioned to the 
 height and bulk of the columns. It is 
 one of the most important elements in 
 architecture, and on it depend the effect 
 of the columns themselves, their propor- 
 tion, and the harmony of an edifice. 
 
 IN'TERDICT, in ecclesiastical history, 
 a spiritual weapon, by which the popes 
 used in former times to reduce individuals 
 or whole states to the most abject submis- 
 sion to their power. In the middle ages 
 it was the most terrible blow which could 
 be inflicted on the people or the prince. 
 When an interdict was laid on a kingdom 
 all spiritual services ceased ; the church- 
 es were shut up ; the sacraments were 
 no longer administered ; no corpses were 
 buried with funeral rites ; and all the 
 ministry of the church which was then 
 believed to be the only channel of salva- | 
 tion was forbidden to be exercised. The 
 first memorable occasion on which this \ 
 
 method of warfare was adopted was the 
 marriage of King Robert of France with 
 Bertha his cousin, when Gregory V. 
 in 998 issued interdicts against the whole 
 country, and compelled the sovereign to 
 dissolve his union. It had, however, 
 been often used before by bishops ; an 
 instance is quoted by Moreri as early as 
 A.D. 870. The ban under which England 
 was laid in the reign of John by Inno- 
 cent III. is well known in the history 
 of that country. The latest pretensions 
 to the exercise of this power were as- 
 sumed by Pius VII., when h^ issued an in- 
 efficient decree against Napoleon in 1809. 
 
 IN'TERIM, in modern European his- 
 tory, the name given to a decree of the 
 Emperor Charles V., after the overthrow 
 of the Protestant League of Smalcalde, 
 in which he attempted to reduce to har- 
 mony the conflicting opinions of the Prot- 
 estants and Romanists. The use of the 
 cap, kowever, and the marriage of the 
 clergy, were the only points which he 
 conceded to the Reformers ; and it be- 
 came a question among them, and gave 
 rise to many serious disputes, whether 
 they could conscientiously submit even to 
 a temporary decree of such a nature. The 
 enactments of the interim were intended 
 only to remain in full force till some defin- 
 itive settlement could be made ; whence 
 it derives the name by which it is gene- 
 rally known. It received the force of 
 law at the Diet of Augsburgh, in 1548. 
 Its provisions against the Protestants 
 were however, in most respects, set aside 
 by the treaty of Passau, 1552. 
 
 INTERJEC'TION, in grammar, an in- 
 declinable part of speech, serving to ex- 
 press some passion or emotion of the 
 mind ; as, " Alas ! my fondest hopes are 
 now forever fled !" 
 
 INTERLACING ARCHES, in archi- 
 tecture, circular arches which intersect 
 each other, as in the figure. They are fre- 
 
 Interlacing Arcade, Norwich Cathedral 
 quent in arcades in the Norman style of 
 the twelfth century, and from them Dr. 
 Milner supposed the pointed arch to 
 have had its origin.
 
 324 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [INT 
 
 INTERLOC'UTOR, in literary phra- 
 seology, a person who is introduced as 
 taking part in a dialogue ; in dramatic 
 literature, termed dramatis persona : 
 the latter name, however, comprehends 
 such as appear on the stage but take no 
 part in speaking, termed by the Greeks 
 mute personages. 
 
 INTERLOC'UTORY Order or Decree. 
 in law, an order that does not decide the 
 cause, but only some matter incident 
 thereto, which may happen in the inter- 
 mediate stage of a cause ; as when, in 
 chancery, th^ plaintiff obtains an order 
 for an injunction until the hearing of the 
 cause ; which order, not being final, is 
 called interlocutory. 
 
 IN'TERLUDE, in the drama, a light 
 entertainment exhibited on the stage be- 
 tween the principal performance and the 
 afterpiece. At present, the term inter- 
 lude is applied principally to small comic 
 operas, written for two or three persons. 
 In ancient tragedy, the chorus sung the 
 interludes between the acts. 
 
 IN'TERMEDE, or INTERMEZ'ZO, 
 in dramatic literature, nearly the same 
 with interlude. A short musical piece, 
 generally of a burlesque character ; but 
 many, not intended merely for introduc- 
 tion between the acts of a more serious 
 performance, are comprised under these 
 names by the French and Italians. 
 
 INTERNUN'CIO, an envoy of the 
 pope, sent to small states and republics, 
 distinguished from the nuncio who repre- 
 sents the pope at the courts of emperors 
 and kings. Also a species of diplomatic 
 officers, who ranked, according to the old 
 practice, between ambassadors and pleni- 
 potentiaries. 
 
 INTERPOLATION, in philological 
 criticism, the insertion of spurious pas- 
 sages in the writings of some ancient 
 1 author. 
 
 INTERREG'NUM, the time during 
 which a throne is vacant in elective king- 
 doms ; for in such as are hereditary, like 
 that of England, there is no such thing 
 as an interregnum. 
 
 INTERROGATION, in grammar, a 
 character or point (?) denoting a ques- 
 tion, as, Do you love me ? Interroga- 
 tion, in rhetoric, a figure containing a 
 proposition in the form of a question. 
 
 INTERROG'ATORY, in law. a ques- 
 tion in writing demanded of a witness in 
 a cause who is to answer it under the 
 solemnity of an oath. 
 
 IN'TERVAL, in music, the difference 
 between the number of vibrations, pro- 
 duced by one sonorous body of a certain 
 
 magnitude and texture, and of those pro- 
 duced by another of a different magni- 
 tude and texture, in the same time. The 
 ancients divided the intervals into simple 
 or uncomposite, which they call diastems, 
 and composite intervals, which they call 
 systejns. Modern musicians consider the 
 semitone as a simple interval, and only 
 call those composite which consist of two 
 or more semitones. 
 
 INTONA'TION, in music, the act of 
 sounding the notes in the scale with the 
 voice, or any other given order of musi- 
 cal tones. It consists, in fact, in giving 
 to the tones of the voice or instrument 
 that occasional impulse, swell, and de- 
 crease, on which, in a great measure, all 
 expression depends. 
 
 INTOXICA'TION, the state produced 
 by the excessive use of alcoholic liquids. 
 It may be called progressive madness. 
 Its first stage is marked by an increased 
 circulation of the blood ; the conscious- 
 ness is not yet attacked, the fancy is 
 more lively, and the feeling of strength 
 and courage is increased. In the second 
 stage, the effect on the brain is more de- 
 cided : the peculiarities of character, and 
 the faults of temperament, which in his 
 sober moments the individual could con- 
 trol and conceal, manifest themselves 
 without reserve. Consciousness, in the 
 next stage, becomes more weakened : the 
 balance of the body cannot be kept, and 
 dizziness attacks the brain. In the next 
 degree, the .soul is overwhelmed in the 
 tumult of animal excitement ; conscious- 
 ness is extinguished ; the organs of speech 
 refuse to perform their office, or the 
 tongue pours forth an incoherent jargon ; 
 the face is red and swollen ; the eyes are 
 protruded and meaningless ; and the 
 drunkard falls into a state of stupor and 
 insensibility. 
 
 INTRAN'SITIVE, in grammar, an 
 epithet for a verb that expresses actions 
 that do not pass over to an object, as I 
 go, I come, I sleep, &o. 
 
 IN TRAN'SITU, a Latin expression, 
 signifying, during the passage from one 
 place to another. 
 
 INTRENCH'MENT, in fortification, 
 any work that shelters a post against the 
 attacks of an enemy. 
 
 IN'TROIT, in ecclesiastical antiqui- 
 ties, the verses chanted or repeated at 
 the first entering of the congregation into 
 the church ; a custom as old as the fourth 
 century: called " ingressa" in the Am 
 brosian ritual. 
 
 INTRU'SION, in law, a violent or un 
 lawful seizing upon lands or tenements.
 
 INVj 
 
 AND THK FINE ARTS. 
 
 325 
 
 INTUI'TICLNr, the act by which the 
 mind perceives the agreement or dis- 
 agreement of two ideas, or the truth of 
 things, immediately, or the moment they 
 are presented, without the intervention 
 of other ideas, or without reasoning and 
 deduction. Intuition is the most simple 
 act of the reason or intellect, on which, 
 according to Locke, depends the certainty 
 and evidence of all our knowledge ; which 
 certainly every one finds to bo so great, 
 that he cannot imagine, and therefore 
 cannot require, greater. In the philoso- 
 phy of Kant, the term intuition is used 
 to denote the single act of the sense upon 
 outward objects according to its own laws. 
 
 INTU'ITIVE, perceived by the mind 
 immediately, without the intervention of 
 argument or testimony ; exhibiting truth 
 to the mind on bare inspection ; as, in- 
 tuitive evidence. The different species 
 of intuitive evidence, according to Dugald 
 Stewart, are, 1. The evidence of axioms ; 
 2. The evidence of consciousness ; of per- 
 ception and of memory ; 3. The evidence 
 of those fundamental laws of human be- 
 lief which form an essential part of our 
 constitution, and of which our entire con- 
 viction is implied, not only in all specu- 
 lative reasonings, but in all our conduct 
 as active beings. Of this class is the evi- 
 dence for our own personal identity; for 
 the existence of the material world ; for 
 the continuance of those laws which have 
 been found, in the course of our past ex- 
 perience, to regulate the succession of 
 phenomena. Such truths no man ever 
 thinks of stating to himself in the form 
 of propositions ; but all our conduct and 
 all our reasonings proceed on the suppo- 
 sition that they are admitted. Every 
 step which the reason makes in demon- 
 strative knowledge has intuitive certain- 
 ty ; and, consequently, the power of rea- 
 son presupposes that of intuition. 
 
 IN'VALIDS, those soldiers or sailors 
 who, either on account of wounds or length 
 of service, are admitted into hospitals, 
 and there maintained at the public ex- 
 pense. The practice of making provision 
 for soldiers worn out or disabled in the 
 public service dates from high antiquity. 
 The liberality of Pisistratus to the Athe- 
 nian soldiers is known to every scholar ; 
 and the history of ancient Rome is re- 
 plote with instances of the veterans of the 
 legions being rewarded with grants of 
 land. It must be admitted, however, that 
 in ancient times such recompenses had 
 not their origin in that high philanthropic 
 feeling by which the moderns are actu- 
 ated in making provision for military and 
 
 naval invalids ; for they were granted 
 only after victory, and emanated more 
 from individual power or favor than from 
 any general or established principles of 
 benevolence. In modern times there is 
 no civilized country without institutions 
 for the maintenance of invalids ; but the 
 most magnificent are, without question, 
 the Greenwich and Chelsea hospitals in 
 England, ana m France the Hotel des In- 
 valides. 
 
 IN VEN'TION", the action or operation 
 of finding out something new ; the con- 
 trivance of that which did not before ex- 
 ist ; as, the invention of logarithms ; the in- 
 vention of the art of printing ; the inven- 
 tion of the orrery. Invention differs from 
 discovery. Invention is applied to the 
 contrivance and production of something 
 that did not before exist. Discovery 
 brings to light that which existed before, 
 but which was not known. We are in- 
 debted to invention for the thermometer 
 and barometer. We are indebted to dis- 
 covery for the knowledge of the islands 
 in the Pacific ocean, and for the knowl- 
 edge of galvanism, and many species of 
 earth not formerly known. This distinc- 
 tion is important, though not always ob- 
 served. That which is invented. The 
 cotton gin is the invention of Whitney ; 
 the steamboat is the invention of Fulton. 
 The Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders 
 are said to be inventions of the Greeks ; 
 the Tuscan and Composite are inventions 
 of the Latins. In painting, the finding 
 or choice of the objects which are to enter 
 into the composition of the piece. In 
 poetry, it is applied to whatever the poet 
 adds to the history of the subject. In 
 rhetoric, the finding and selecting of ar- 
 guments to prove and illustrate the point . 
 
 INVERSION, in rhetoric and philolo- 
 gy, the transposition of words out of their 
 natural order. Every language has a 
 customary arrangement of its own to reg- 
 ulate the order of succession in which 
 words forming part of the same sentence, 
 member, or proposition follow each other. 
 On the other hand, there is undoubtedly 
 a natural or philosophical order of words 
 following each other in the same analyt- 
 ical succession in which ideas present 
 themselves to the mind, varied occasion- 
 ally by that produced by the succession 
 of sentiments or emotions ; and as in eve- 
 ry language many customary phrases, if 
 not the general arrangement of the words, 
 are contrary to this primitive order, eve- 
 ry language has customary inversions of 
 its own. Deviations from the customary
 
 326 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITEKATUIIE 
 
 [ION 
 
 order of words are more commonly called 
 transpositions ; but each word has, of 
 course, a relative and somewhat arbitra- 
 ry signification. As an instance of ordi- 
 nary inversion, it may be observed that, 
 according to the metaphysical or analyt- 
 ical order, the subject of a proposition 
 precedes the predicate, being the first idea 
 which presents itself to the mind. Thus, 
 in the construction of a sentence contain- 
 ing a proposition, "Solon is wise," or 
 "Alexander reigns," we habitually fol- 
 low the order of nature. But when a sub- 
 stantive and adjective in connection form 
 part of a sentence, i. e., a subject or pred- 
 icate, or a part of either, the substantive 
 is that which seems naturally to present 
 itself first to the mind ; whereas in most 
 modern languages it follows the adjective, 
 while in the Greek and Latin its ordinary 
 although not its necessary place was be- 
 fore it : " Who is a wise man V " Vir 
 bonus est quis?" "The end of a long 
 silence." " Finis silentii diuturni." It 
 is in general to be observed, that modern 
 languages admit far less readily than an- 
 cient of transposition ; but there are con- 
 siderable differences in this respect be- 
 tween modern languages themselves. 
 German admits much latitude, French 
 very little. In our own language we are 
 frequently able to vary the analytical or- 
 der by following what maybe termed the 
 order of emotion, where a French writer 
 could not do so : thus in the proposition, 
 " Great is Diana of the Ephesians," it 
 would be impossible, in French, to give 
 the force which is added to the expression 
 by the transposition of the predicate to 
 the beginning without violating the ha- 
 bitual rules of construction. A similar 
 instance of inversion is to be found in the 
 Swedish and some kindred languages, in 
 which the article follows instead of pre- 
 ceding the noun. Inversion, in music, 
 the change of place between two notes of 
 an interval ; that is, placing the lower 
 note an octave higher, or the higher note 
 an octave lower. 
 
 INVERT'ED ARCH, in architecture, 
 one wherein the lowest stone or brick is 
 
 the key-stone. It is used in foundations, 
 to distribute the weight of particular 
 points over the whole extent of the foun- 
 
 dation, and hence its employment is fre- 
 quently of the first importance in con- 
 structive architecture. 
 
 INVES'TITURE, in feudal law, the 
 delivery of a fief by a lord to his vassal, 
 accompanied by peculiar ceremonies. 
 The investiture of a bishop was, properly 
 speaking, his endowment with the fiefs 
 and temporalities of the see. Hence it 
 became a subject of contest between the 
 popes and emperors, and one of the prin- 
 cipal grounds of the great quarrel of 
 Guelfs and Ghibellines. It was conceded 
 by the emperors to the Roman see in 
 1122 ; but the question was ended by a 
 substantial compromise, which left the 
 nomination in reality in the hands of the 
 temporal prince in European monarchies 
 under the Roman Catholic religion. 
 
 LNVOCA'TION, in literature, signi- 
 fies, in a general sense, an address at the 
 commencement of a poem, preferred to 
 the Muses or some other being supposed 
 capable of giving inspiration. Thus, 
 while the ancient poets generally ad- 
 dressed their invocations to some partic- 
 ular muse or divinity, Milton invokes 
 the " Heavenly Muse" and the " Holy 
 Spirit;" and, in his Henriade, Voltaire 
 calls to his aid " auguste Verite." 
 
 IN' VOICE, in commerce, a written ac- 
 count of the particulars of merchandise 
 shipped or sent to a purchaser, factor. &c. 
 with the value or prices and charges an- 
 nexed. 
 
 lON'IC DIALECT, the most eupho- 
 nious of the four written varieties of the 
 Greek language, was spoken by the in- 
 habitants of the Ionian Islands, and in 
 their colonial possessions in Asia Minor. 
 It was originally the same as the Attic 
 dialect, at least they boasted of a com- 
 mon origin ; but from the extensive com- 
 mercial intercourse of the lonians with 
 the eastern nations, -their language grad- 
 ually imbibed a portion of Asiatic effem- 
 inacy, which at length became its chief 
 characteristic, forming a striking con- 
 trast to that combination of strength and 
 harmony which distinguished the dialect 
 of Attica. The chief writers in the Ionic 
 dialect are Herodotus, Hippocrates, and 
 Galen : but it is in the writings of the 
 first that the most complete specimen is 
 to be found. 
 
 IONIC ORDER, one of the five or- 
 ders of architecture. The distinguish- 
 ing characteristic of this order is the 
 volute of its capital. In the Grecian 
 Ionic, the volutes appear the same on 
 the front and rear ; being connected on the 
 flanks by a baluster-like form ; through
 
 ISA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 327 
 
 the external angles of the capitals of the 
 corner columns, however, a diagonal vo- 
 lute is introduced. The Romans gave 
 their Ionic four diagonal volutes, and 
 curved the sides of the abacus. The 
 Greek volute continues the fillet of the 
 spiral along the face of the abacus, 
 whereas in the Roman, its origin is be- 
 hind the ovolo. In the modern Ionic cap- 
 ital, the volutes are placed diagonally, 
 and the abacus has its sides hollowed out. 
 The shaft, including the base, which is 
 half a diameter, and the capital to the 
 bottom of the volute, generally a little 
 more, is about 9 diameters high, and may 
 be fluted in 24 flutes, with fillets between 
 them ; these fillets are seuai-circular. The 
 pedestal is a little taller and more orna- 
 mented than the Doric. The bases used 
 to this order are very various. The Attic 
 base is very often used, and with an as- 
 tragal added above the upper torus, 
 makes a beautiful and appropriate base. 
 The cornices of this order may be divided 
 into three divisions, the plain Grecian 
 cornice, the dentil cornice, and the mo- 
 dillion cornice. The best examples of 
 this order are the temple on the Ilissus, 
 of Minerva Polias, aifd Erichtheus in the 
 Acropoli?, and the aqueduct of Adrian at 
 Athens ; the temple of Fortuna Virilis, 
 and the Coliseum at Rome. The bold- 
 ness of the capital, with the beauty of 
 the shaft, makes it eligible for porticoes, 
 frontispieces, entrances to houses, &c. 
 
 lON'IC PHILOSOPHERS, the earliest 
 among the Greek schools of philosophy. 
 Speculation arose in Greece, as elsewhere, 
 in the attempt to discover the laws of 
 outward phenomena, and the origin and 
 successive stages of the world's develop- 
 ment. Such an attempt, it is needless 
 to say, must at first have been extremely 
 rude. To th^ student of philosophical 
 literature, however, no such undertaking, 
 however unsuccessful, can possibly be 
 otherwise than interesting ; and in this 
 instance in particular we are able to dis- 
 cover the manifest traces of that liveli- 
 ness of thought and systematic spirit 
 which distinguish the later Greek specu- 
 lations. The fathers of the Ionic school 
 were Thales and his disciple Anaximenes. 
 They were succeeded in the same line of 
 thought by Diogenes of Apollonia, and 
 Heraclitus of Ephesus. The character- 
 istic mark which distinguishes the specu- 
 lations of these thinkers is the endeavor 
 to refer all sensible things to one origi- 
 nal principle in nature. The two first 
 named were satisfied with a. very simple 
 solution of the problem. Water with the 
 
 one, and air with the other, were made 
 the original materials out of which all 
 things arose, and into which they were 
 finally resolved. In their successors the 
 germs of a more philosophical doctrine 
 are apparent. They retain, indeed, the 
 simplicity of an original element ; but 
 the air of Diogenes and the fire of He- 
 raclitus are apparently only sensible 
 symbols which they used only in order to 
 present more vividly to the imagination 
 the energy of the one vital principle 
 which is the ground of all outward ap- 
 pearances. It would indeed be a mistake 
 to regard these philosophers as 'material- 
 ists. The distinction between objective 
 and subjective, between a law operating 
 in the universe, and the corresponding 
 apprehension of that law by reason, how- 
 ever obvious it may seem at the pres- 
 ent day, seems to have required the deep 
 meditation of numerous powerful think- 
 ers to bring it into clear consciousness. 
 But we meet also with a class of thinkers 
 in whom the contrary tendency prevail- 
 ed. Anaximander (B.C. 590) and Anax- 
 agoras. the master of Pericles, agree 
 in this respect, that they consider the 
 world to be made up of numberless small 
 particles, of different kinds and of various 
 shapes, by the change in whose relative 
 position all phenomena are to be account- 
 ed for. This hypothesis is combined by 
 Anaxagoras with a Supreme Reason, the 
 author of all that is regular and harmo- 
 nious in the disposition of these element- 
 ary atoms. Anaxagoras may indeed be 
 considered as the first philosopher who 
 clearly and broadly stated the leading 
 distinctions between mind and matter. 
 
 I'RONY, a mode of speech, or writing, 
 expressing a sense contrary to what the 
 speaker or writer means to convey. 
 When irony is uttered, the dissimulation 
 is generally apparent from the manner 
 of speaking, which may be either accom- 
 panied by an arch look or by affected 
 gravity. 
 
 ISA'IAH, or the Prophecy of ISAIAH, 
 a canonical book of the Old Testament. 
 Isaiah is the first of the four great pro- 
 phets, the other three being Jeremiah, 
 Ezekiel, and Daniel. The style of Isniiih 
 is noble, sublime and florid. Grotius 
 calls him the Demosthenes of the He- 
 brews. He had the advantage, above 
 the other prophets, of improving his 
 diction by conversing with men of the 
 greatest learning and elocution ; and this 
 added a sublimity, force, and majesty to 
 what he said. He boldly reproved the 
 vices of the age in which he lived, and
 
 328 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ivo 
 
 openly displayed the judgments of God 
 that threatened the Jewish nation ; at 
 the same time denouncing vengeance on 
 the Assyrians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, 
 Moabites, Edomites, Syrians, and Ara- 
 bians, who were instrumental in inflict- 
 ing those judgments. He foretold the 
 deliverance of the Jews from their cap- 
 tivity in Babylon, by the hands of Cyrus, 
 king of Persia, a hundred years before it 
 came to pass ; but the most remarkable 
 of his predictions are those concerning 
 the Messiah, in which he not only foretold 
 his coming in the flesh, but many of the 
 great and memorable circumstances of 
 his life and death. The whole, indeed, 
 bears the stamp of genius and true inspi- 
 ration. 
 
 I'SIS, one of the chief deities in the 
 Egyptian mythology. By the Egyptians 
 she was regarded as the sister or sister- 
 wife of Osiris, who concurred with her in 
 the endeavor to polish and civilize their 
 subjects ; to teach them agriculture and 
 other necessary arts of life: Among the 
 higher, and more philosophical theolo- 
 gians, she was made the symbol of pan- 
 theistic divinity. By the people she was 
 worshipped as the goddess of fecundity. 
 The cow was sacred to her. She is repre- 
 sented variously, though most usually as 
 a woman with the horns of a cow, and 
 sometimes with the lotus on her head, 
 and the sistrum in her hand. 
 
 IS'LAMISM, the practical as well as 
 the doctrinal tenets of the Mohammedan 
 religion, embracing the whole of their 
 civil and religious polity. 
 
 ISLANDS OF THE BLESSED, ac- 
 cording to the Grecian mythology, the 
 Happy Islands, supposed to lie westward 
 in the ocean, whither after death, the 
 souls of the virtuous were transported. 
 In the early mythology of the Greeks, 
 the Islands of the Blessed, the Elysian 
 fields, and the infernal regions, were 
 generally confounded with each other. 
 
 ISOTOM'IC, in music, consisting of 
 intervals, in which each concord is alike 
 tempered, and in which there are twelve 
 equal semitones. 
 
 IS'SUE, in law, the legitimate off- 
 spring of parents. Also, the profits 
 arising from lands, tenements, fines, &o. 
 The point of matter at issue between 
 contending parties in a suit, is when a 
 thing is affirmed on the one side, and 
 denied on the other. 
 
 IST'IIMIAN GAMES, so called be- 
 cause they were celebrated in the Isth- 
 mus of Corinth, which joins the Pelopon- 
 nesus to the Continent, at the temple of 
 
 Isthmian Neptune, which was surrounded 
 with a thick forest of pine. They were 
 originally held in the night, and had 
 perhaps fallen into disuse, when Theseus 
 restored them, and ordered them to be 
 celebrated in the day. The contests were 
 of the same kind as at the Olympic games ; 
 and so great was the concourse at these 
 games, that only the principal people ; of 
 the most remarkable cities, could have 
 place. 
 
 ITAL'IAN, a native of Italy, or the 
 language spoken by its inhabitants. The 
 origin of this beautiful and most harmo- 
 nious tongue, is involved in great ob- 
 scurity. 
 
 ITAL'ICS, in printing, characters or 
 letters (first used in Italy) which stand 
 inclining; thus Italic; and which are 
 often used by way of distinction from Ro- 
 man letters, for emphasis, antithesis, or 
 some peculiar importance attached to the 
 words in which they are employed. 
 Italicize, to write or print in Italic char- 
 acters. 
 
 ITALIC SCHOOL OF PHILOSO- 
 PHY, comprehends properly the Pytha- 
 gorean and Eleatic systems taken to- 
 gether; but sometimes it is used as 
 synonymous merely with the school of 
 Pythagoras. Under the several heads 
 will be found the chief features of these 
 philosophical systems, which, comprising 
 as they do all that can be said in refer- 
 ence to the Italic school, it would seem 
 unnecessary in this place further to ad- 
 vert to. The Italic school has been so 
 designated from the fact that its founder, 
 Pythagoras, taught in Italy, spreading 
 his doctrine among the people of Ta- 
 rentum, Metapontuin, Heraclea, Naples, 
 etc. 
 
 I'VORY, the tusks and teeth of the 
 elephant, and of the walrusor sea-horse ; 
 a hard, solid substance, or a fine white 
 creamy color, and greatly esteemed for 
 the fineness of its grain, and the high 
 polish tt is capable of receiving. That 
 of India loses its color and becomes yel- 
 low ; but that of Achem and Ceylon is 
 free from this imperfection. Ivory is 
 extensively used by cutlers in the manu- 
 facture of handles for knives and forks ; 
 by miniature painters for their tablets; 
 by turners, in making numberless useful 
 and ornamental objects, as well as for 
 chess-men, billiard balls, toys. Ac. ; also 
 by musical and philosophical instrument 
 makers; comb-makers; and by dentists 
 for making artificial teeth; for which 
 last-mentioned purpose the ivory of the 
 walrus is preferred. The western and
 
 JAC] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 32G 
 
 eastern coasts of Africa, the Cape of 
 Good Hope, Ceylon, India, and the coun- 
 tries to the eastward of the straits of 
 Malacca, are the great marts whence 
 supplies of ivory are derived. Ivory 
 articles are said to be manufactured to a 
 greater extent, and with better success, 
 at Dieppe, than in any other place in 
 Europe ; but the preparation of this 
 beautiful material is much better under- 
 stood by the Chinese than by any other 
 people. No European artist has hitherto 
 succeeded in cutting concentric balls after 
 the manner of the Chinese ; and their 
 boxes, chess-men, and other ivory arti- 
 cles, are all far superior to any that are 
 to be met with anywhere else. The use 
 of ivory was well known in very early 
 ages. We find it employed for arms, 
 girdles, sceptres, harnesses of horses, 
 sword-hilts, Ac. The ancients were also 
 acquainted with the art of sculpturing in 
 ivory, of dying and encrusting it. Homer 
 refers to the extreme whiteness of ivory. 
 The coffer of Cypselus was doubtless the 
 most ancient monument of this kind in 
 basso-relievo, and we meet with similar 
 instances in the temple of Juno, at Olym- 
 pius; in the time of Pausanias that is 
 to say, seven hundred years after it had 
 been built. Antiquity possessed numer- 
 ous statues of ivory, particularly in the 
 temples of Jupiter and of Juno at Olym- 
 pius. In these statues there was very 
 frequently a mixture of gold. The most 
 celebrated are stated to have been the 
 Olympian Jupiter and the Minerva of 
 Phidias : the former was covered with a 
 golden drapery, and seated on a throne 
 formed of gold, of ivory and cedar-woSd, 
 and enriched with precious stones. In 
 his hand the god held a figure of Victory, 
 alike of ivory and gold. The Minerva 
 was erected in the Parthenon at Athens 
 during the first year of the eighty-seventh 
 Olympiad, the year which commenced 
 the Peloponnesian war. Pausanias, like- 
 wise, makes mention of an ivory statue 
 of Juno, on her throne, of remarkable 
 magnificence, by Polycletes, together with 
 an infinity of others. 
 
 I'VY, in mythological painting and 
 sculpture, a plant, the leaves of which 
 were made very plentiful use of by an- 
 cient artists on vases, pedestals, altars, 
 <tc. It was also, in the shape of a crown, 
 the constant attribute of Bacchus, proba- 
 bly because, being evergreen, it implied, 
 in an allegorical and at the same time 
 elegant manner, the eternal youth of that 
 deity. 
 
 J. 
 
 J, this letter, although very ancient, 
 has been added to the English alphabet 
 only in modern days. Its form was origi- 
 nally identical with that of I, and it ia 
 only within the last century that any dis- 
 tinction was made between them. The 
 separation of these two letters in English 
 dictionaries is of still more recent date. 
 It seems to have had the sound of y in 
 many words, as it still has in the German. 
 The English sound of this letter may be 
 expressed by dzk, or edzh, a compound 
 sound coinciding exactly with that of g, 
 in genius; the French _;', with the articu- 
 lation d preceding it. It is the tenth 
 letter of the English alphabet, and the 
 seventh consonant. 
 
 JA'COBINS, in French history, a po- 
 litical club, which bore a well-known part 
 in the first revolution. It was first form- 
 ed by some distinguished members of the 
 First Assembly, particularly from Brit- 
 tany, where revolutionary sentiments ran 
 high. They took, at first, the name of 
 Friends of the Revolution ; but as, at the 
 end of 1789, they held their meetings in 
 the hall of a suppressed Jacobin monas- 
 tery in the Rue Saint Honore, the name 
 of Jacobins, at first familiarly given them, 
 was finally assumed by themselves. The 
 history of the Jacobin club is, in effect, 
 the history of the Revolution. It con- 
 tained at one time more than 2,500 mem- 
 bers, and corresponded with more than 
 400 affiliated societies in France. The 
 club of the Cordeliers, formed by a small 
 and more violent party out of the.general 
 body of Jacobins, was reunited with the 
 parent society in June, 1791 ; but con- 
 tinued to form a separate section within 
 its limits. The Jacobin club, which had 
 almost controlled the first assembly, was 
 thus, during the continuance of the sec- 
 ond, itself divided between two contend- 
 ing parties; although the name of Jaco- 
 bins, as a political party, is commonly 
 given to that section which opposed the 
 Girondists or less moderate in the club no 
 less than in the assembly. After the 
 destruction of the latter under the Con- 
 vention, the club was again exclusively 
 governed by the more violent among its 
 own members, until the downfall of Robes- 
 pierre. After that period it became un- 
 popular ; and its members having at- 
 tempted an insurrection on behalf of the 
 subdued Terrorists, November 11, 1794, 
 the meeting was dispersed by force, and 
 the club finally suppressed. Some wri-
 
 330 
 
 CYCLOl'EDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [JAN 
 
 tors, such as Barrue.. nave seen in the 
 first formation of this and similar socie- 
 ties, the long-concocted operations of a 
 conspiracy against legitimate government 
 and religion throughout Europe. The 
 Jacobins, and the other principal clubs 
 of the Revolution, adopted all the forms 
 of a legislative assembly. In the consti- 
 tution of 1792, their legal existence was 
 recognized. See the historians of the 
 French Revolution, especially Carlyle, 
 Mignet, and Thiers, for general views; 
 Buchez et Roux, Histoire Parlemen- 
 taire de la Revolution Franfaise, for the 
 most complete series of details respecting 
 the Jacobins and their meetings which 
 has yet been made public. Jacobins, in 
 ecclesiastical history, the religious of the 
 order of St. Dominic were so called in 
 France, from the situation of the princi- 
 pal convent at Paris, near the Rue St. 
 Jacques. 
 
 JAC'OBITES, in English history, that 
 party which, after the Revolution of 1688, 
 adhered to the dethroned monarch James 
 II., and afterwards to his descendants. 
 In Scotland and Ireland, where the revo- 
 lution was not effected except with the 
 assistance of arms, the Jacobite party 
 formed one of the two great divisions of 
 each nation ; and although crushed in the 
 latter country by conquest, they contin- 
 ued in the former to comprise a large 
 proportion of the population until long 
 after the last rebellion in 1745. But in 
 England the revolution was effected at 
 first with the consent of all parties ; the 
 adherents to the exiled monarch were si- 
 lenced : yet in a year or two, the Jaco- 
 bite faction rose into strength, and con- 
 tinued to harass the government of AVil- 
 liam throughout his reign. Its immedi- 
 ate cause was to be found in the refusal 
 of a portion of the bishops and clergy to 
 take the oaths to the new government, 
 which gave, as it were, a certain consist- 
 ency and tangible ground of opposition to 
 the friends of the dethroned monarch in 
 general. At the same time many of Wil- 
 liam's chief advisers and officers main- 
 tained a secret correspondence with James 
 II. at the French court, less from any at- 
 tachment to his cause than with a view 
 to secure their own interest in case of his 
 return. After the death of James II. in 
 France, and accession of Anne in Eng- 
 land the efforts of the party languished 
 for a time ; but towards the close of her 
 reign they revived, on the prospect of a 
 change in the succession. In 1715, on 
 the arrival of George I., broke out the 
 unsuccessful first rebellion in Scotland : 
 
 its ill conduct and failure proved a con- 
 siderable check to the hopes of the Eng- 
 lish Jacobites. Bishop Atterbury, the 
 last of their bolder intriguers and adher- 
 ents, was banished in 1722: after which 
 time it is probable that no extensive con- 
 spiracy took place on their part. In 
 Scotland, however, the party maintained 
 its strength unabated, until the second 
 rebellion of 1745, by its complete failure, 
 put an end to its political existence. 
 Jacobites, in ecclesiastical history, the 
 monophysite Christians of Syria are so 
 called, from Jacob Baradzi, who revived 
 their belief and form of worship in that 
 country and Mesopotamia, in the middle 
 of the 6th century. Many unsuccessful 
 attempts have been made at various times 
 to unite them with the church of Rome. 
 
 JAC'OBUS, a gold coin in the reign 
 of James I. of the value of 25s. 
 
 JAC'QUERIE, in history, the name 
 popularly given to a revolt of the French 
 peasantry against the nobility, which took 
 place while king John was a prisoner in 
 England, in 1356. Jacques Bonhomme 
 was a term of derision applied by the 
 nobles to the peasants, from which the 
 insurrection took its name. It began in 
 the Beauvoisis, under a chief of the name 
 of Caillet, and desolated Picardy, Artois, 
 and Brie, where savage reprisals were 
 executed against the nobility for their 
 oppressions. It was suppressed after some 
 weeks by the dauphin and Charles the 
 Bad, king of Navarre. A similar spirit 
 in England produced, not many years 
 afterwards, the rebellion of Wat Tyler. 
 
 JACTITA'TION of Marriage, a suit 
 inthe ecclesiastical court, when one of 
 the parties declares that he or she is 
 married, which if the other party deny, 
 and no adequate proof of the marriage be 
 brought, the offending party is enjoined 
 silence on that head. 
 
 JAMBS, in architecture, the side or 
 vertical pieces of any opening in a wall, 
 which bear the piece that discharges the 
 superincumbent weight of such wall. 
 
 JAN'IZARIES, or JAN'ISSARIES, 
 the appellation given to the grand seig- 
 nior's guard, or the soldiers of the Turk- 
 ish infantry. They became turbulent, 
 and rising in arms against the sultan, in 
 May, 1826, were attacked, defeated, and 
 subsequently abolished, and their places 
 supplied by troops trained after the Eu- 
 ropean manner. 
 
 JAN'SENISTS, a denomination of Ro- 
 man Catholics in France, who followed 
 the opinon of Jansen, bishop of Ypres, 
 and formed a considerable party in tho
 
 JEW] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 331 
 
 latter half of the 17th century. The Jan- 
 senists were Calvinistic in many of their 
 sentiments, and in several respects ap- 
 proximated to the reformed opinions. 
 They did not, however, separate them- 
 selves from the Catholic church ; nor did 
 they long survive the decree of Alexan- 
 der VII., by which certain propositions 
 extracted from their writings are con- 
 demned as heretical. The Jansenists are 
 chiefly celebrated for the contest they 
 maintained with the Jesuits, by whom, 
 they were at last overcome, and subjected 
 to the enmity both of Louis XIV. and 
 the pope. 
 
 JAN'UARY. the first month of the 
 year. By some the name is derived from 
 Janus, a Roman divinity ; by others from 
 janua, a gate. The months of January 
 and February were inserted in the Ro- 
 man year by Numa Pompilius. The 
 Roman feast of the kalends of January 
 seems to have been converted in the 6th 
 century into the Christian festival of the 
 circumcision. 
 
 JA'NUS, a Latin deity, originally the 
 same as the sun. He was represented 
 with two faces looking opposite ways, and 
 holding a key in one hand, a staff in the 
 other. He presided over the commence- 
 ment of all undertakings, whence the first 
 month in the year was named after him. 
 His temple at Rome was kept open in 
 the time of war, and shut in peace. The 
 warlike disposition of the Romans is 
 manifest from the fact that this temple 
 was only shut six times in 800 years: 
 viz., once in the reign of Numa ; at the 
 conclusion of the first Punic war ; thrice 
 in the reign of Augustus ; and once again 
 under Nero. 
 
 JEAL'OUSY, that passion or peculiar 
 uneasiness which arises from the fear 
 that a rival may rob us of the affection 
 of one whom we love, or the suspicion 
 that he has already done it ; or it is the 
 uneasiness which arises from the fear 
 that another does, or will enjoy some 
 advantage which we desire for ourselves. 
 A man's jealousy is excited by the atten- 
 tions of a rival to his favorite lady. A 
 woman's jealousy is roused by her hus- 
 band's attentions to another woman. The 
 candidate for office manifests a jealousy 
 of others who seek the same office. The 
 jealousy of a student is awakened by the 
 apprehension that his fellow will bear 
 away the palm of praise. In short, jeal- 
 ousy is awakened by whatever may ex- 
 alt others, or give them pleasures and 
 advantages which we desire for ourselves. 
 Jealousy is nearly allied to envy, for 
 
 jealousy, before a good is lost by our- 
 selves, is converted into envy, after it is 
 obtained by others. 
 
 JEHO'VAH, one of the Scripture 
 names of God, signifying the Being who 
 is self-existent, and gives existence to 
 others. This is the awful and ineffable 
 name of the God of Israel, which was re- 
 vealed to Moses ; denoting Him who is, 
 who was, and who is to come. 
 
 JEM'IDAR, in military affairs, a 
 black officer, who has the same rank as a 
 lieutenant in the East India Company's 
 service. 
 
 JES'DTTS, or the Society of Jesus, the 
 most celebrated of all the Romish reli- 
 gious orders; founded by Ignatius Lo- 
 yola, a Spaniard, in the year 1534, when 
 he, with Francis Xavier and four or five 
 other students at the university of Paris, 
 bound themselves to undertake the con- 
 version of unbelievers. As a religious 
 body, the Jesuits differ from their pred- 
 ecessors, inasmuch as, their principle 
 being to conform as much as possible 
 with the manners of the age, they have 
 never adopted the austere observances 
 and exclusive spiritual character upon 
 which all earlier orders had grounded 
 their claims to notoriety. They are di- 
 vided into different classes ; of which only 
 the professed take the religious vows of 
 poverty, chastity, and obedrence to their 
 superior. Among the novices are fre- 
 quently enrolled influential laymen, as 
 was Louis the XIV. himself in his latter 
 years ; and this is one of the means which 
 the order has employed to extend its ef- 
 ficiency where it would be least liable to 
 observation. The professed are of sev- 
 eral ranks, the whole body being under 
 the absolute control of the general, whose 
 abode is fixed in Rome, and whose coun- 
 cil consists of an admonitor and five as- 
 sistants or counsellors, who represent the 
 five principal Catholic states Italy, Ger- 
 many, France, Spain, and Portugal. To 
 Rome, as the central seat of the order, 
 are sent monthly communications from 
 the superiors of the different provinces 
 through which its members are distrib- 
 uted. 
 
 JEU D'ESPRIT', (French,) a witti- 
 cism or unexpected association of ideas. 
 
 JEWS, the descendants of Abraham, 
 once an independent tribe in Palestine, 
 but dispersed by the Romans ; yet still 
 distinguished by their religion, peculiar 
 pursuits, and primitive customs. They 
 are the negotiators of money between all 
 nations, and everywhere distinguished for 
 their successful enterprise and accumu-
 
 332 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [J09 
 
 lations of wealth. They have, however, 
 lost the distinction of twelve tribes, 
 though perhaps more numerous than at 
 any period. See JUDAISM. 
 
 JEW'S'-HARP, an instrument of mu- 
 sic, of a very imperfect character, which, 
 placed between the teeth and by means 
 of a spring struck by the finger, gives a 
 sound which is modulated by the breath. 
 By some it has been called thvjaw's-harp, 
 because the place where it is played upon 
 is between the jaws. 
 
 JOB, or the book of Job, a canonical 
 book of the Old Testament, containing 
 the narrative of a series of misfortunes 
 which happened to a man named Job, as 
 a trial of his patience and fortitude, to- 
 gether with conferences which he held with 
 his several friends on the subject of his 
 misfortunes, and the manner in which he 
 was restored to happiness. Many of the 
 Jewish Rabbins pretend that this relation 
 is purely a fiction ; others think it a sim- 
 ple narrative of a matter of fact ; while 
 a third class of critics acknowledge that 
 the ground-work of the story is true, but 
 that it is written in a poetical style, and 
 decorated with peculiar circumstances, to 
 render the narration more profitable and 
 interesting. Such is the opinion of Gro- 
 tius, who supposed that the events record- 
 ed in it happened in Arabia, while the 
 Hebrews wandered in the desert. The 
 whole narrative is characterized by sim- 
 plicity of manner and intensity of feel- 
 ing, combined with pure and lofty senti- 
 ments, illustrating in a striking manner, 
 the nature of man and the providence of 
 God. 
 
 JOHN BULL, the well-known collec- 
 tive name of the English nation, was 
 first used in Arbuthnot's satire, The 
 History of John Bull, usually published 
 in Swift's works ; in which the French are ( 
 designated as Lewis Baboon, the Dutch 
 as Nicholas Frog, &c. 
 
 JOHN (Sr.) THE EVANGELIST, 
 the author of the Gospel which bears his 
 name, of the book of Revelations, which 
 he wrote while an exile in the isle of Pat- 
 mos, and of three Epistles. He was 
 emphatically called " the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved ;" and he was one of the 
 most pure and estimable characters men- 
 tioned in the New Testament. 
 
 JOHN THE BAPTIST, the inspired 
 harbinger of the Messiah. His zeal, as 
 one who came to " prepare the way" of 
 a greater and more glorious prophet, 
 was equalled only by his self-denial and 
 humility. He at last fell a victim to his 
 independence and severe virtues, being 
 
 beheaded by order of Herod Antipas, te- 
 trarch of Galilee, to gratify a vindictive 
 woman. His disciples are said to have 
 been the founders of the sect of Sabians. 
 
 JOINT-STOCK, stock held in com- 
 pany. Joint- Stock Companies, associa- 
 tions of a number of individuals for the 
 purpose of carrying on a specified busi- 
 ness or undertaking. They are generally 
 formed for the accomplishment of exten- 
 sive schemes of trade or manufacture, or 
 the completion of some object of national 
 and local importance, such as railways, 
 bridges, canals, Ac. They have also been 
 found well adapted for the formation of 
 banks. 
 
 JOINT-TEN'ANCY, in law, a tenure 
 of estate by unity of interest, title, time, 
 and possession. 
 
 JOINT'URE, in law, a wife's separate 
 estate, secured by will, or by marriage 
 settlement. In other cases the wife in- 
 herits one third. 
 
 JO'NAH, prophecy of, a canonical 
 book of the Old Testament, in which it 
 is related that Jonah, about the year 771, 
 B.C., was ordered to go and prophesy the 
 destruction of the Ninevites, on account 
 of their wickedness. But instead of 
 obeying the divine command, he embark- 
 ed for.Tarshish, when a tempest arising, 
 the mariners drew lots to determine who 
 was the cause of it, and as the lot fell to 
 him he was thrown into the sea, and was 
 swallowed by a great fish, which after 
 three days, cast him on the shore. After 
 this he boldly preached to the people of 
 Nineveh, and predicted their destruction ; 
 but which, on account of their repentance, 
 was averted. Jonah, dreading the suspi- 
 cion which might attach to him as a false 
 prophet, retired to a mountain at a dis- 
 tance from the city, where he learnt the 
 folly and unreasonableness of his own dis- 
 content. It may be observed that some 
 critics consider this book as a collection 
 of traditions, collected after the destruc- 
 tion of Nineveh, while others treat it as 
 a mere allegorical poem. 
 
 JOSH'UA, a canonical book of the Old 
 Testament, containing a history of the 
 wars and transactions of the person whose 
 name it bears. This book is divisible into 
 three parts, the first of which is a history 
 of the conquest of Canaan ; the second, 
 which begins with the 12th chapter, is a 
 description of that country, and the di- 
 vision of it among the tribes : and the 
 third, comprised in the last two chapters, 
 contains the renewal of the covenant 
 which he caused the Israelites to make, 
 and the death of their victorious leader.
 
 JUL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 333 
 
 JOUR'NAL, a diary ; an account of 
 daily transactions and events ; or the 
 book containing such account. Among 
 merchants, a book in which every partic- 
 ular article or charge is fairly entered 
 from the waste book or blotter. In navi- 
 gation, a daily register of the ship's 
 ourse and distance, the winds, weather, 
 and other occurrences. A paper publish- 
 ed daily, or other newspaper ; also, the 
 title of a book or pamphlet published at 
 stated times, containing an account of in- 
 ventions, discoveries, and improvements 
 in arts and sciences ; as, the Journal des 
 Savans ; the Journal of Science. A nar- 
 rative, periodically or occasionally pub- 
 lished, of the transactions of a society, 
 <fcc., as the Journals of the Houses of 
 Congress. 
 
 JU'BILEE, a grand festival celebrated 
 every fiftieth year, by the Jews, in com- 
 memoration of their deliverance out of 
 Egypt. At this festival, which was a 
 season of joy, all debts were to be can- 
 celled ; all bond-servants were set free ; 
 all slaves or captives were released ; and 
 all estates which had been sold reverted 
 to the original proprietors or their de- 
 scendants. In imitation of the Jewish 
 jubilee, the Romish church instituted a 
 year of jubilee, during which the popes 
 grant plenary indulgences, &c. 
 
 JU'DAISM, the religious doctrines aiM 
 rites of the Jews, a people of Judah, or 
 Judea. These doctrines and rites are de- 
 tailed in the five books of Moses, hence 
 called the law. The Caraites acknowl- 
 edge no other ; but the ttabbinists, the 
 second of the two sects of Jews, add those 
 inculcated by the talmud. The following 
 is a summary of the religious creed of the 
 Jews : 1, that God is the creator and ac- 
 tive supporter of all things ; 2, that God 
 is ONE, and eternally unchangeable ; 3, 
 that God is incorporeal, and cannot have 
 any material properties ; 4, that God 
 shall eternally subsist ; 5, that God is 
 alone to be worshipped ; 6, that whatever 
 has been taught by the prophets is true : 
 
 7, that Moses is the head and father of 
 all contemporary doctors, and of all those 
 who lived before and shall live after him ; 
 
 8, that the law was given by Moses; 9, 
 that the law shall always exist, and nev- 
 er be altered ; 10, that God knows all the 
 thoughts and actions of man; 11, that 
 God will reward the observance and pun- 
 ish the breach of his law; 12. that the 
 Messiah is to come, though he tarry a 
 long time ; and 13, that there shall be a 
 resurrection of the dead when God shall 
 think fit. These doctrines, commonly re- 
 
 ceived by the Jews to this day, were 
 drawn up about the end of the eleventh 
 century by the famous Jewish rabbi Mai- 
 monides. 
 
 JUDG'ES, THE BOOK OF, a canonical 
 book of the Old Testament, so called from 
 its relating the state of the Israelites un- 
 der the administration of many illustrious 
 persons who were called judges, from the 
 circumstance of their being both the civil 
 and military governors of the people. 
 The power of the judges extended to af- 
 fairs of peace and war. They were pro- 
 tectors of the laws, defenders of religion, 
 avengers of all crimes ; but they could 
 make no laws, nor impose any new bur- 
 thens upon the people. They lived with- 
 out pomp or retinue, unless their own for- 
 tunes enabled them to do it ; for the 
 revenues of their office consisted in vol- 
 untary presents from the people. They 
 continued from the death of Joshua till 
 the beginning of the reign of Saul. 
 
 JTJDG'MENT, in metaphysics, a fac- 
 ulty of the soul, whereby it compares 
 ideas, and perceives their agreement or 
 disagreement. In law, the sentence or 
 doom pronounced in any cause, civil or 
 criminal, by the judge or court by which 
 it is tried. Judgments are either inter- 
 locutory, that is, given in the middle of 
 a cause on some intermediate point, or 
 final, so as to put an end to the action. 
 
 JU'DICES SELEC'TI, in Roman an- 
 tiquities, 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 regular- 
 ly admitted into this number till he was 
 twenty-five years of age. Sortitia Judi- 
 cum, or impanelling the jury, was the of- 
 fice of the Judex Qucestionis, and was 
 performed after both parties were come 
 into court, for each had a right to reject 
 or challenge whom they pleased, others 
 being substituted in their room. 
 
 JUDI'CIUM DEI, the term formerly 
 applied to all extraordinary tria ; ls of se- 
 cret crimes, as those by arms, single com- 
 bat, ordeals, &e., in which it was believed 
 that heaven would miraculously interfere 
 to clear the innocent and confound the 
 guilty. 
 
 JU'LIAN PE'RIOD, in chronology, 
 signifies a revolution of 7980 years, which 
 arises from multiplying the solar cycle, 
 the cycle of the moon, and the cycle of 
 indiction into one another. This period 
 is of great use, as the standard and gen- 
 eral receptacle of all other epochas. peri- 
 ods, and cycles : into this as into a large 
 ocean, all the streams of time discharge
 
 334 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [JUR 
 
 
 themselves, yet so as not to lose their pe- 
 culiar characters ; and had historians re- 
 marked the number of each cycle in each 
 year respectively, there could have been 
 no dispute about the time of any action 
 or event in past ages. When the Chris- 
 tian era commenced 4713 years of the 
 Julian period were elapsed, 4713 there- 
 fore being added to the year of our Lord, 
 will give the year of the Julian period. 
 
 JULY', the seventh month of the year. 
 It was the fifth month of the old Roman 
 year, and known by the name of Quin- 
 tilis ; but received the name of July in 
 compliment to Julius Caesar, who reform- 
 ed the calendar, in such a manner, that 
 this month stood as it does now with ns, 
 the seventh in order. 
 
 JUNE, the sixth month of the year, in 
 which is the summer solstice. It was the 
 fourth month of the old Roman year, but 
 the sixth of the year as reformed by Nu- 
 ma and Julius Caesar. Some suppose it 
 received its name in honor of Junius Bru- 
 tus. It was looked upon as under the 
 protection of Mercury. 
 
 JU'NO, the Latin name of the divinity 
 called by the Greeks Hera. She was the 
 sister and consort of Jupiter, and was 
 held to preside over marriage, and pro- 
 tect married women. She was represented 
 as the model of majestic beauty, in royal 
 
 attire and attended by her favorite bird 
 the peacock. Her principal temples in 
 Greece were at Samos and Argos. She 
 was also the patroness of Veii, whence 
 she was invited to Rome on the occasion 
 of the last siege of the ffirmer city. 
 
 JUN'TA, a grand Spanish council of 
 state. Besides the assembly of the states 
 or cartes, there wore two juntas : one 
 which presided over the commerce, the 
 mint, and the mines ; and the other form- 
 ing a board for regulating the tobacco 
 monopoly. The assembling of a junta by 
 Napoleon in 1808, and the part they sub- 
 sequently played in Spanish history, are 
 sufficiently known to the reader. In 
 English the term junto (evidently of 
 Spanish origin) is used almost synony- 
 mously with cabal or faction. 
 
 JU'PITER, the supreme deity among 
 the Greeks and Romans. He was called 
 by the Greeks Zeus (Ztttj,) and appears 
 originally to have been worshipped as an 
 elemental divinity who presided over 
 rain, snow, lightning, &c. He was the 
 son of Saturn, whom he deposed from his 
 tnrone, and thence became the supreme 
 monarch of gods and men. He married 
 his sister Juno, by whom he had Vulcan, 
 
 but he had a numerous progeny besides, 
 the chief of whom was Minerva. His 
 most celebrated Grecian temple was at 
 Olympia in Elis, and his chief oracle was 
 at Dodona in Epirus. He is usually rep- 
 resented as seated on an ivory throne 
 with a sceptre in his left hand and a 
 thunderbolt in his right. The eagle, his 
 favorite bird, is generally placed by the 
 side of the throne. 
 
 JURISCON'SULT, a master of Roman 
 jurisprudence, who was consulted on the 
 interpretation of the laws. 
 
 JURISDICTION, in its most general 
 sense, is the power to make, declare, or 
 apply the law ; when confined to the ju-
 
 jus] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 335 
 
 diciary department, it is what we denom- 
 inate the judicial power, the right of ad- 
 ministering justice through the laws. 
 Inferior courts have jurisdiction of debt 
 and trespass, or of smaller offences ; the 
 supreme courts have jurisdiction of trea- 
 son, murder, and other high crimes. 
 
 JURISPRUDENCE, the science which 
 gives a knowledge of the laws, customs, 
 and rights of men in a state or commu- 
 nity, necessary for the due administration 
 of justice. 
 
 JU'RIS U'TRUM, in law, a writ in 
 behalf of a clergyman whose predeces- 
 sor has alienated the lands belonging to 
 his church. 
 
 JU'RY, a certain number of men sworn 
 to inquire into or to determine facts, and 
 to declare the truth according to the 
 evidence legally deduced, and they are 
 sworn judges upon evidence in matters of 
 fact. When the object is inquiry only, 
 the tribunal is sometimes called an in- 
 quest or inquisition ; but when facts are 
 to be determined by it for judicial pur- 
 poses, it is always termed a jury. Trial 
 by jury, in popular language, signifies 
 the determination of facts in the admin- 
 istration of civil or criminal justice by 
 twelve men, sworn to decide facts truly 
 according to the evidence produced be- 
 fore them. Grand juries are exclusively 
 incident to courts of criminal jurisdiction ; 
 their office is to examine into charges of 
 crimes brought to them, and if satisfied 
 that they are true, or at least that they 
 deserve more particular examination, to 
 return a bill of indictment against the 
 accused, upon which he is afterward tried 
 by a petty jury. A grand jury must 
 consist of twelve at the least, but in prac- 
 tice a greater number usually serve, and 
 twelve must always concur in finding 
 every indictment. Petty or common ju- 
 ries consist of twelve men only. They 
 are appointed to try all cases both civil 
 and criminal, and to give their verdict 
 according to the evidence adduced. 
 
 JUS, (Latin,) in its general accepta- 
 tion, signifies that which is right or con- 
 formable to law. Jus accrescendi, in 
 law, the right of survivorship between 
 two joint tenants. Jus coronec, signifies, 
 in general, the rights of the crown. These 
 are a part of the laws of the kingdom, 
 though they differ in many things from 
 the general laws relating to the subject. 
 Jus duplicatum, is a double right, and 
 is used when a person has the possession 
 of a thing, as well as a right to it. Jus 
 divinum, is that which is ordered by a 
 revelation, in contradistinctiyn to that 
 
 which is ordered by reason : but it is evi- 
 dent that the distinction exists only in 
 the form, and not in the essence, because 
 that which is ordered by our reason is to 
 be referred to God, as its origin, equally 
 with that which is decreed by revelation. 
 Jus gentium, the law of nations, or 
 the laws established between different 
 kingdoms and states, in relation to each 
 other. Jus hereditatis, the right or law 
 of inheritance. Jus patronatus, in tho 
 canon law, is the right of presenting to a 
 benefice ; or a kind of commission grant- 
 ed by the bishop to inquire who is the 
 rightful patron of a church. Jus pos- 
 sessionis, is a right of seisin or possession, 
 as jus proprietaiis is the right of owner- 
 ship of lands, Ac. Jus quiritium. in an- 
 tiquity, the fullest enjoyment of Roman 
 citizenship. This is also called Jus civile 
 and Jus urbanum. Jus imaginis. the 
 right of using pictures and statues, sim- 
 ilar to the modern right of bearing coats 
 of arms, which was allowed to none but 
 those whose ancestors or themselves had 
 borne some curule office. 
 
 JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, the word 
 justice is applied to judicial magistrates ; 
 as justices of such a court, and, in the 
 English laws, justices of the forest, hun- 
 dred, or the laborers, &c. ; and hence the 
 appellation justice of the peace that is, 
 a judicial magistrate intrusted with the 
 conservation of the peace. A great part 
 of the civil officers, are, in fact, the con- 
 servators of the peace, as their duty is to 
 prevent or punish breaches of the peace. 
 Thus the judges, grand-jurymen, justices 
 of the peace, mayors and aldermen of 
 municipal corporations, sheriffs, coro- 
 ners, constables, watchmen, and all offi- 
 cers of the police, are instituted for the 
 purpose of preventing, in different ways, 
 crimes and disturbances of the peace of 
 the community, or for arresting, trying 
 and punishing the violators of the laws 
 and good order of society. In England 
 and the United States, the justice of the 
 peace, though not high in rank, is an offi- 
 cer of great importance, as the first ju- 
 dicial proceedings are had before him in 
 regard to arresting persons accused of 
 grave offences ; and his jurisdiction ex- 
 tends to trial and adjudication for small 
 offences. In case of the commission of 
 a crime or a breach of the peace, a com- 
 plaint is made to one of these magistrates. 
 If he is satisfied with the evidence of a 
 commission of some offence, the cogni- 
 zance of which belongs to him, either 
 for the purpose of arresting, or for trying 
 the party accused, he issues a warrant
 
 330 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [KAL 
 
 directed to a constable, or other executive 
 ofiicer designated by the law for this 
 purpose, ordering the person complained 
 of to be brought before him, and he there- 
 upon tries the party, if the offence bo 
 within his jurisdiction, and acquits him 
 or awards punishment. If the offence 
 charged be of a graver character, the ad- 
 judication upon which is not within the 
 justice's jurisdiction, the question then 
 is, whether the party complained of is to 
 be imprisoned, or required to give bonds 
 to await his trial before the tribunal 
 having jurisdiction, or is to be discharg- 
 ed ; and on these questions the jus- 
 tice decides according to his view of 
 the law and the facts. In the United 
 States, the office is held only by special 
 appointment, and the tenure is different 
 in different states, the office having been 
 held, in one state at least, during good 
 behavior ; but the commission is more 
 usually for seven years, or some other 
 specific limited period. These magis- 
 trates have usually also a civil jurisdic- 
 tion, of suits for debts, on promises, or 
 for trespasses, (where the title to real es- 
 tate does not come in question, and with 
 some other exceptions,) to an amount 
 varying, in the different states, from 
 $13.33 to $100. In some states, a party 
 may appeal from the decision of the jus- 
 tice to a higher tribunal, whatever may 
 be the amount in question, in a civil suit, 
 and whatever may be the judgment. In 
 other states, no appeal is allowed, except 
 in case of an amount in question exceed- 
 ing four dollars, or some other certain, 
 but always inconsiderable sum. So an 
 appeal is usually allowed to the accused 
 party in a criminal prosecution before a 
 justice of the peace, in case of the judg- 
 ment being for a penalty over a certain 
 specified and small amount, or an impris- 
 onment over a certain number of days. It 
 is evidently of the greatest importance to 
 the peace and good order of a community, 
 that the justices should be discreet, hon- 
 est and intelligent. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION, in law, the show- 
 ing good reason in a court, why one has 
 done the thing for which he is called to 
 answer. Pleas in justification must set 
 forth some special matter : thus, on be- 
 ing sued for a trespass, a person may 
 justify it by proving that the land is his 
 own freehold ; that he entered a house, 
 in order to apprehend a felon ; or by vir- 
 tue of a warrant, to levy a forfeiture ; or, 
 in order to take a distress. In theology, 
 justification signifies remission of sin and 
 absolution from guilt and punishment, 
 
 or an act of free grace by which God par- 
 dons the sinner and accepts him as right- 
 eous, on account of the merits of Christ. 
 
 JUVENA'LI^E, in Roman antiquity, 
 a feast instituted for youth by Nero, 
 when his beard was first shaven. 
 
 K. 
 
 
 
 The eleventh letter of the English al- 
 phabet, is borrowed from the Greeks, 
 being the same character as the Greek 
 kappa, answering to the Oriental kaph. 
 It represents a close articulation, formed 
 by pressing the root of the tongue against 
 the upper part of the mouth, with a de- 
 pression of the lower jaw and opening of 
 the teeth. It is usually denominated a 
 guttural, but is more properly a palatal. 
 Before all the vowels, it has one invaria- 
 ble sound, corresponding with that of c, 
 before a, o, and M, as in keel, ken. In 
 monosyllables, it is used after c, as in 
 crack, check, deck, being necessary to ex- 
 hibit a correct pronunciation in the de- 
 rivatives, cracked, checked, decked, crack- 
 ing, for without it, c, before the vowels e 
 and i would be sounded like s. Formerly, 
 k was added to c, in certain words of Lat- 
 in origin, as in musick, publick, republick. 
 But in modern practice, k is very properly 
 omitted, being entirely superfluous, and 
 the more properly, as it is never written 
 in the derivatives, musical, publication, 
 republican. It was till lately retained 
 in traffick, as in monosyllables, on ac- 
 count of the pronunciation of the deriva- 
 tives, trafficked, trafficking, but we now 
 write traffic. K is silent before n, as in 
 know, knife, knee. As a numeral, K 
 stands_for 250 ; and with a stroke over it 
 thus, K, 250,000. As a contraction, K 
 stands for knight, as K.B., Knight of the 
 Bath ; K.G., Knight of the Garter ; 
 K.C.B., Knight Commander of the Bath ; 
 K.T., Knight of the Thistle ; and K.H., 
 Knight of Hanover. This character was 
 not used by the ancient Romans, and 
 rarely in the later ages of their empire. 
 In the place of k they used c, as in clino, 
 for the Greek fAo-w. In the Teutonic 
 dialects, this Greek letter is sometimes 
 represented by h. 
 
 KA'LAND, a lay fraternity instituted 
 in Germany in the 13th century, for the 
 purpose of doing honor to deceased rela- 
 tives and friends. The term is probably 
 derived from kalendae, the first day of 
 any month, as the members of this society 
 chose thai, day for the observance of their
 
 KAN] 
 
 ceremonies. These consisted originally 
 of prayers, followed by a slight repast, in 
 which all the members participated ; but 
 in process of time the religious purposes 
 of the society became wholly merged in 
 the festivities, so that it eventually was 
 found necessary to abolish the fraternity 
 on account of its excesses. 
 
 KA'MI, spirits or divinities, the belief 
 in which appears to have characterized 
 the ancient religion of Japan before it 
 became intermingled with foreign doc- 
 trines, and still constitutes its ground- 
 work. Those spirits are partly ele- 
 mental, subordinate to the gods of the 
 sun and moon, and partly the spirits of 
 men ; but, in fact, every natural agent 
 or phenomenon has its spirit or genius. 
 The human spirits survive the body, and 
 receive happiness or punishment for the 
 actions of the individual in life. Distin- 
 guished benefactors of their species, or 
 men renowned for purity of life, are dei- 
 fied; and their kami become objects of 
 worship, like the heroes of antiquity. 
 The number of them is said at present to 
 bo above 3,000. They are worshipped in 
 temples in which no images are retained, 
 each particular divinity being merely 
 typified by a mirror, the emblem of 
 purity ; and all the rites of the worship 
 appear to be symbolical of purification. 
 
 KAM'SIN, the name given to a hot 
 and dry southerly wind, common in Egypt 
 and the deserts of Africa, which prevails 
 more or less for fifty days. On the ap- 
 proach of this wind the sky becomes dark 
 and heavy, the air gray and thick, and 
 filled with a dust so subtile that it pene- 
 trates everywhere. It is not remarkably 
 hot at first, but increases in heat the 
 longer it continues, during which time it 
 causes a difficulty of breathing, and when 
 at its highest pitch, will sometimes cause 
 suffocation. 
 
 KAN'TIAN PHILOS'OPHY, (known 
 also by the name of the Critical Philoso- 
 phy,) a system which owes its existence 
 to Immanuel Kant, professor of logic and 
 metaphysics in the university of Ktinigs- 
 berg in the latter half of the 18th cen- 
 tury. The promulgation of Kant's doc- 
 trines forms a very marked era in the 
 history of philosophy. Our limits will 
 prevent us from giving an explanation 
 of this system in any degree adequate to 
 its importance. We must confine our- 
 selves to a brief outline of its leading 
 features. At the time when Kant com- 
 menced his metaphysical labors the phil- 
 osophical world was divided between the 
 sensualism of the French followers of 
 22 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 337 
 
 Locke on the one hand, and the dogmatic 
 rationalism of the disciples of Wolf and 
 Leibnitz on the other. The former, by a 
 species of analytical legerdemain, re- 
 solved all our mental powers into modifi- 
 cations of sense ; while the latter, in an 
 equally indiscriminating spirit, though 
 with far more laudable intentions, sought 
 to construct a systsm of real truth out of 
 the abstract conceptions of the under- 
 standing. Against both of these schools 
 Kant declared c pen warfare. Withdraw- 
 ing himself froiji all ontological specula- 
 tion, he sought, by a stricter analysis of 
 our intellectual powers, to ascertain the 
 possibility and to determine the limits 
 of human knowledge. He divides the 
 speculative part of our nature into three 
 great provinces sense, understanding, 
 and reason. Our perception of the out- 
 ward world is representative merely : of 
 things as they are in themselves it affords 
 us no notices. In order to render human 
 experience possible, two ground-forms, 
 under which all sensible things are con- 
 templated, are assumed time and space. 
 To these he assigns a strictly subjective 
 reality. The truth of the fundamental 
 axioms of geometry rests on the necessity 
 and universality of our intuitions of space 
 in its three dimensions intuitions which 
 are not derived from any one of our 
 senses, or from any combinations of them, 
 but lie at the ground and are the condition 
 of all sensible human experience. The 
 understanding, or the faculty which com- 
 bines and classifies the materials yielded 
 by sense, Kant subjects to a similar analy- 
 sis. All its operations are generalized 
 into four fundamental modes or forms of 
 conception ; which, after the example of 
 Aristotle, he names categories. These 
 are four in number : 1. Quantity, includ- 
 ing unity, multeity, totality ; 2. Quality, 
 divided into reality, negation, and limita- 
 tion ; 3. Relation, viz. substance and acci- 
 dent, cause and effect, action and reac- 
 tion ; and 4. Modality, also subdivided 
 into possibility, existence, and necessity. 
 These form, as it were, the moulds in 
 which the rude material of the senses is 
 shaped into conceptions, and becomes 
 knowledge properly so called. The cate- 
 gories in themselves are the subject-mat- 
 ter of logic, which is so far forth a pure 
 science, determinable a priori. The third 
 and highest faculty, the reason, consists 
 in the power of forming ideas pure 
 forms of intelligence, to which the sensi- 
 ble world has no adequate correspondents. 
 Out of these ideas no science can be 
 formed ; they are to be regarded as regu-
 
 338 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [KET 
 
 lative only, not as constitutive. The ex- 
 istence of God, immortality, freedom, 
 are the objects after which the reason is 
 perpetually striving, but concerning 
 which it can decide nothing either one 
 way or the other. Thus far Kant's sys- 
 tem may bo regarded as one of pure 
 skepticism. The deficiencies of our spec- 
 ulative reason he conceives to be supplied 
 by the moral faculty, to which he has 
 given the name of practical reason, the 
 object of which is to determine, not what 
 is, but what ought to be. As the former 
 determines the form of our knowledge, 
 so the latter prescribes the form of our 
 action. Obligation is not a mere feeling ; 
 it has a pure form under which the reason 
 is compelled to regard human conduct. 
 The personality of man, which lies at the 
 ground of speculative knowledge, becomes, 
 in relation to action, freedom of the will. 
 It is in our moral nature that we must 
 seek for the only valid foundation of the 
 belief in God, the immortality of the soul, 
 and a future state in which the demands 
 of the practical reason shall be realized. 
 
 KEEL, the lowest piece of timber in a 
 ship, running her whole length from the 
 lower part of her stem to the lower part 
 of her stern post, and supporting the 
 whole frame. Sometimes a second keel, 
 or false keel, as it is called, is put under 
 the first. 
 
 KEEL'-HAULTNG, among seamen, a 
 punishment of offenders at sea by letting 
 them down from the yard-arm with ropes, 
 and drawing them under the keel from 
 one side to the other. 
 
 KEEL'SON, or KEL'SON, in naval 
 architecture, a principal timber in a ship, 
 laid withinside across all the timbers over 
 the keel, and fastened with long bolts ; so 
 that it forms the interior or counterpart 
 of the keel. 
 
 KEEP, a strong tower in old castles, 
 where the besieged retreated in cases of 
 extremity. It is also called the donjon 
 or dungeon. 
 
 KEEP'ER, in English law, an officer 
 of different descriptions, as the keeper of 
 the great seal, a lord by his office, and 
 one of the privy council, through whose 
 hands pass all charters, commissions, and 
 grants of the king under the great seal ; 
 the keeper of the privy seal, through 
 whose hands pass all charters, &c., before 
 they come to the great seal. There is 
 also the keeper of the forests, the keeper 
 of the touch, an officer of the mint, &e. 
 
 KEEP'ING, a term used in various 
 branches of the Fine Arts, to denote the 
 jnst proportion and relation of the vari- 
 
 ous parts. In painting, it signifies the 
 peculiar management of coloring and 
 chiaro oscuro, so as to produce a proper 
 degree of relievo in different objects, ac- 
 cording to their relative position and im- 
 portance. If the lights, shadows, and 
 half tints be not in proper keeping, that 
 is, in their exact relative proportion of 
 depths, no rotundity can be effected, and 
 without due opposition of light, shade, 
 and colors, no apparent separation of ob- 
 jects can take place. 
 
 KE'RI-CHE'TIB, in philology, the 
 name given to various readings in the 
 Hebrew Bible. Keri signifies that which 
 is read, and chetib that which is written. 
 When any such various readings occur, 
 the false reading or ehetib is written in 
 the text, and the true reading or keri is 
 written in the margin. These correc- 
 tions, which are about 1000 in number, 
 have been generally attributed to Ezra ; 
 but as several keri-chetibs are found in the 
 sacred books the produce of his own pen, it 
 is more probable that they are of later 
 date. 
 
 KEY, in music, the name of the funda- 
 mental note or tone, to which the whole 
 piece is accommodated, and in which it 
 usually begins and always ends. There 
 are but two species of keys ; one of the 
 major, and one of the minor mode, all the 
 keys in which we employ sharps or flats 
 being deduced from the natural keys of 
 C major and A minor, of which they are 
 mere transpositions. The keys of an or- 
 gan or pianoforte, are movable project- 
 ing levers, made of ivory or wood, so 
 placed as conveniently to receive the fin- 
 gers of the performer, by which the me- 
 chanism is set in motion and the sounds 
 produced. 
 
 KEY'STONE, in architecture, the 
 highest central stone of an arch; that 
 placed on the top or vertex, to bind the 
 
 K, the Keystone. 
 
 two sweeps together. In some arches the 
 keystone projects from the face. In vault- 
 ed Gothic roofs, the keystones are usu- 
 ally ornamented with a boss or pendant.
 
 KNl] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 339 
 
 KHAN, an Asiatic governor. In the 
 north of Asia this title expresses the full 
 regal dignity ; but there are also khans 
 of provinces, cities, &o. " This is the 
 word," says Sir William Jones, <: so va- 
 riously and so erroneously written by 
 Europeans. The sovereign lord of Tar- 
 tary is neither the cham, as our travellers 
 call him, nor the fian, as Voltaire will 
 have it ; but the khdn, or cdn, with an 
 aspirate on the first letter." Khan is 
 frequently used to signify an Eastern 
 caravansera, in which travellers find a 
 gratuitous lodging, provided their stay 
 be limited to a single night. 
 
 KING, the chief magistrate or sove- 
 reign of a nation ; a man invested with 
 supreme authority over a nation, tribe, 
 or country. Kings are absolute mon- 
 archs, when they possess the powers of 
 government without control, or the entire 
 sovereignty over a nation : they are 
 called limited monarchs when their power 
 is restrained by fixed laws. Kings are 
 hereditary sovereigns, when they hold the 
 powers of government by right of birth 
 or inheritance, and elective, when raised 
 to the throne by choice. The person of 
 the king of England is sacred. He can- 
 not, by any process of law, be called to 
 account for any of his acts. His concur- 
 rence is necessary for every legislative 
 enactment. He sends embassies, makes 
 treaties, and even enters into wars with- 
 out any previous consultation with par- 
 liament. He nominates the judges, and 
 the other high officers of state, the officers 
 of the army and navy, the governors of 
 colonies and dependencies, the bishops, 
 deans, and some other dignitaries of the 
 English Church. He calls parliament 
 together, and can at his pleasure pro- 
 rogue or dissolve it. He is the fountain 
 of honor ; all hereditary titles are de- 
 rived from his grant. King at arms, an 
 officer in England of great antiquity, and 
 formerly of great authority, whose busi- 
 ness is to direct the heralds, preside at 
 their chapters, and have the jurisdiction 
 of armory. There are three kings at 
 arms, viz.. garter, clarencieux, and nor- 
 roy (nortfiroy.) The first of these is 
 styled principal king at arms, and the 
 two latter provincial kings, because their 
 duties are confined to the provinces ; the 
 one (clarencieu.r,) officiating south of the 
 Trent, and the other (norroy,J north of 
 that river. There is also a Lyon king at 
 arms for Scotland, and an Ulster king at 
 arms for Ireland, whose duties are nearly 
 analogous to those of England. 
 
 KINGS, BOOKS OF, 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 Baby- 
 lonish captivity, for the space of near six 
 hundred years. 
 
 KING'S BENCH, BANCUS REGIUS, 
 so called because the king used formerly 
 to sit there in person. It is the supreme 
 court of common law in England, consist- 
 ing of the Lord Chief Justice, and three 
 puisne or inferior judges, who hear and 
 determine, for the most part, all pleas 
 which concern the crown. 
 
 KI'OSK, (a Turkish word,) a kind of 
 summer-house, or open pavilion, with a 
 tent-shaped roof, and supported by pillars. 
 Kiosks have been introduced from Turkey 
 and Persia into European gardens, which 
 they greatly serve to embellish. 
 
 KIRK, in Scotland, a church. Kirk- 
 man, one of the church of Scotland. 
 Kirk sessions, an inferior church-judica- 
 tory, in Scotland, consisting of the minis- 
 ters, elders, and deacons of a parish. 
 
 KIT-CAT CLUB, the name of a cele- 
 brated association in London, instituted 
 about 1688 by some young men, origi- 
 nally for convivial purposes ; but as its 
 most distinguished members were whigs 
 in politics, it gradually assumetl a politi- 
 cal character, till in the reign of Queen 
 Anne it came to be regarded as exclu- 
 sively political in its objects. At that 
 period it comprised above forty noblemen 
 and gentlemen of the first rank and qual- 
 ity, merit and fortune, firm friends to 
 the Hanoverian succession ; among whom 
 were Addison, Steele, Marlborough, Wai- 
 pole, &c. &c. It was originally formed 
 in Shire Lane, and derived its name from 
 one Christopher (Kit) Kat, who supplied 
 the members with mutton pies. The 
 fame of this club has been transmitted 
 chiefly by the collection of the portraits 
 of the members painted by Sir Godfrey 
 Kneller, himself a member, who was 
 obliged to invent a new-sized canvass ac- 
 commodated to the height 6T walls ; 
 whence has originated the application of 
 the epithet kit-kat to any portrait about 
 three quarters in length. It was dissolved 
 in the year 1720. 
 
 KNIGHT. Originally, a knight was a 
 youth ; and young men being employed 
 as servants, hence it came to signify a 
 servant. But among our warlike ances- 
 tors, the word was particularly applied 
 to a young man after he was admitted to 
 the privilege of bearing arms. The ad- 
 mission to this privilege was a ceremc- 
 ny of great importance, and was the
 
 340 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OP LITERATURE 
 
 origin of the institution of knighthood. 
 JIoncc, in foudiil times, a knight was a 
 man admitted to military rank by a 
 certain ceremony. This privilege was 
 conferred on youths of family and for- 
 tune, and hence sprung the honorable 
 title of knight, in modern usage, which 
 in dignity ranks next to nobility. Knight- 
 hood is the highest rank of a commoner, 
 but a knight is still a commoner. A 
 knight has the title of Sir before his 
 Christian name, as, Sir John, Sir Wil- 
 liam. Anciently, when the Christian 
 name was not known, the style was Sir 
 Knight. 
 
 KNIGHT'ED, created a knight, 
 KNIGHT-ER'RANT, or wandering 
 Knight, one who in the generous enthu- 
 siasm of chivalry, set out, attended by 
 his esquire or shield-bearer, with the de- 
 sign of exposing his life wherever wrong 
 was to be redressed. The chivalrous age 
 in which this profession was taken up, 
 demanded such exertions ; and though 
 poetry has given an air of fiction, to the 
 adventures of knights-errant, they are 
 founded on truth. 
 
 KNIGHT'HOOD, the order or frater- 
 nity of knights. The order of knight- 
 hood, as now existing, appears to have 
 originated in the eleventh and twelfth 
 centuries, and it was introduced into 
 England from France. It was a military 
 institution, but there appears to have 
 been something of a religious character 
 belonging to it, and the order of knight- 
 hood, like the orders of the clergy, could 
 be conferred only by persons who were 
 themselves members of the order. In 
 early times some knights undertook the 
 protection of pilgrims ; others were vow- 
 ed to the defence or recovery of the 
 holy sepulchre ; others roved about as 
 knights-errant, seeking adventures. It 
 was common to create knights on various 
 occasions. The most honorable species 
 of knighthood was that conferred on the 
 field and after a battle ; but the more 
 common fashion, especially in France, 
 was to make knights when a battle 
 was expected. In the age of chivalry, 
 the youth who aspired to the honor of 
 knighthood, was first educated, in general, 
 as a page attached to the family, and 
 especially to the ladies of some noble 
 house, during which period he was also 
 trained to the use of arms, riding, Ac. 
 When properly qualified for arms he be- 
 came an esquire, or squire, in which 
 capacity he attended on some knight, and 
 was his shield-bearer. The third, and 
 highest rank of chivalry, was that of 
 
 knighthood, which was not conferred be- 
 fore the twenty-first year, except in the 
 case of distinguished birth or great 
 achievements. The candidate, when the 
 order was conferred with full solemnity, 
 had to go through various imposing pre- 
 liminary ceremonies, and was then ad- 
 mitted with religious rites. Knighthood 
 was conferred by the accolade, which 
 
 Conferring Knighthood. 
 
 from the derivation of the name, should 
 appear to have been originally an em- 
 brace, but afterwards consisted, as it still 
 does, in a blow of the flat of a sword on 
 the neck of the kneeling candidate. The 
 oath of knighthood was previously ad- 
 ministered. Knighthood is now conferred 
 in England by the king, (or queen when 
 the throne is filled by a female,) by sim- 
 ple verbal declaration, attended with a 
 slight form, without any patent or other 
 written instrument. It gives to the party 
 precedence over esquires and other un- 
 titled gentlemen. Sir is prefixed to the 
 baptismal name of knights and baronets, 
 and their wives have the legal designation 
 of Dame, which is ordinarily converted 
 into L/ady. The chief distinction of rank 
 which subsisted between knights in France 
 and England, was that of knights bache- 
 lors, and knights bannerets. The knight 
 bachelor was of the lower order, and ob- 
 tained his honor without any reference 
 to a qualification of property, and many 
 of this rank were mere adventurers, who 
 offered their services in war to any suc- 
 cessful leader. The knight banneret was 
 one who possessed fiefs to a considerable 
 amount, and was obliged to serve in war 
 with a greater attendance, and carried a 
 banner. The orders of knighthood are 
 of two classes ; either they are associa- 
 tions, or fraternities, possessing proper-
 
 LAB] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 341 
 
 ty and rights of their own, as indepen- 
 dent bodies, or they are merely honorary 
 associations, established by sovereigns 
 within their respective dominions. To 
 the former class belonged the three cele- 
 brated religious orders founded during 
 the Crusades Templars, Hospitallers, 
 and Teutonic Knights. The other class, 
 consisting of orders merely titular, em- 
 braces most of the existing European 
 orders ; such as the order of the Golden 
 Fleece, the order of the Holy Ghost, the 
 order of St. Michael. The three great 
 British orders are the Garter, the Thistle, 
 and St. Patrick. The Garter is the most 
 ancient and illustrious of 'the three. It 
 was founded by Edward the Third. The 
 knights, twenty-five in number, are the 
 most eminent persons of the English na- 
 tion, together with many illustrious for- 
 eigners, chiefly sovereign princes. The 
 order of the Thistle was instituted in 
 1540, by James the .Fifth of Scotland. 
 The number of knights is sixteen, all of 
 whom are nobility of Scotland. The or- 
 der of St. Patrick was instituted in 1783. 
 The number of knights is twenty-two, 
 who are peers of Ireland. The order of 
 the Bath differs in some respects from 
 those spoken of. It is now composed of 
 three classes, military, and civil knights, 
 grand crosses, knights commanders, and 
 knights companions. All these orders 
 have particular badges. There are also 
 knights of the Guelphic order, knights of 
 the Ionian order, of St. Michael and St. 
 George. 
 
 KNOUT, a mode of punishment in 
 Kussia, which at one time was exercised 
 with the greatest possible barbarity, but 
 which is now less cruel, though it at pres- 
 ent consists of a severe scourging on the 
 back with a leather strap, in the point of 
 which wire is interwoven. Formerly, in 
 addition to this, the nose was slit up, and 
 the ears were cut off. 
 
 K N W L' E D G E, that information 
 which the mind receives, either by its 
 own experience, or by the testimony of 
 others. The beneficial use of knowledge 
 is wisdom. That portion of knowledge, 
 the truth of which can be demonstrated, 
 is science. 
 
 KRAAL, the name given to the villa- 
 ges of the Hottentots. 
 
 KRA'KEN, a name applied in the 
 fabulous epoch of zoology to a marine 
 monster of gigantic size. 
 
 L. 
 
 L. the twelfth letter of the English al- 
 phabet. It is a semi-vowel, formed in 
 the voice by intercepting the breath be- 
 tween the tip of the tongue and the fore- 
 part of the palate, with the mouth open. 
 There is something of aspiration in its 
 sound, and therefore our British ances- 
 tors usually doubled it, or added an h to 
 it; as in Han, or llian, a temple. In Eng- 
 lish words of one syllable it is doubled at 
 the end, as in all, wall, mill, well, &o., 
 but not after diphthongs and digraphs, as 
 foul, fool, prowl, growl, foal, &o. ; words 
 of more syllables than one, as foretel, 
 proportional, &c., are written with a sin- 
 gle I. In some words I is mute, as in 
 half, calf, talk, chalk. It may be placed 
 after most of the consonants, as in blue, 
 clear, Jlame, &c., but befjyre none of them. 
 As a numeral letter L denotes 50 ; and 
 with a dash over it, 50,000. 
 
 LA, in music, the syllable by which 
 Guido denotes the last sound of each hex- 
 achord : if it begins in C, it answers to 
 our A ; if in G, to E ; and if in F, to D. 
 LAB'ADISTS, a sect who lived in the 
 17th century, the followers of Jean de 
 Labadie, who held that God can and does 
 deceive men, that the observance of the 
 Sabbath is not required, and other heret- 
 ical opinions. 
 
 LA'BARUM, in Roman antiquity, the 
 standard borne before the emperors ; 
 being a rich purple streamer, supported 
 by a spear. It was the name given to 
 the imperial standard, upon which Con- 
 stantine, after his conversion, blazoned 
 the monogram of Christ. 
 
 LA'BORED, in the Fine Arts, a term 
 applied to works of art wherein are ap- 
 parent the marks of constraint in the ex- 
 ecution ; and used in opposition to the 
 term easy or free. 
 
 LAB'YRINTH, literally a place, usu- 
 ally subterraneous, full of inextricable 
 windings. Ancient history gives an ac- 
 count of four celebrated labyrinths ; the 
 Cretan, Egyptian, Lemnian, and Italian. 
 The first was built by Daedalus at the in- 
 stigation of Minos, to secure the Mino- 
 taur ; the second is said to have been 
 constructed by Psammetichus, king of 
 Egypt ; the third was on the island of 
 Lemnos, and was supported by columns 
 of great beauty; and the fourth was 
 designated by Porsenna. king of Etruria, 
 as a tomb for himself and his successors. 
 Of these labyrinths the Cretan is most 
 :elebrated in the historical and mytholo-
 
 342 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITKRATUKE 
 
 gical writings of antiquity ; but the 
 Egyptian was by far the most important, 
 both in extent and magnificence. The 
 latter, which was built on the isle of Me- 
 roe, was a vast edifice, composed of twelve 
 palaces, all contained within the compass 
 of one wall, and communicating with 
 each other. It had only one entrance ; 
 but the innumerable turnings and wind- 
 ings of the terraces and rooms of which 
 it consisted rendered it impossible for 
 those who had once entered within its 
 walls to get out without a guide. It is 
 said to have been designed either as a 
 burial-place for the Egyptian kings, or 
 for the preservation of the sacred croco- 
 diles, the chief objects of Egyptian idola- 
 try. It was partly demolished between 
 the reigns of Augustus and Titus ; but 
 even at the period of Pliny's visit, its 
 ruins were magnificent. With regard to 
 the labyrinth of. Crete, no doubt can now 
 remain, after the statements of Cockerell 
 and Tournefort, that its existence was a 
 reality, and not merely a fabulous crea- 
 tion of the Grecian imagination. Accord- 
 ing to these travellers the island of 
 Crete abounds even at the present day in 
 extensive caverns, one of which, consist- 
 ing principally of many long windings 
 and narrow passages that can only be 
 safely explored by means of a clue, ex- 
 hibits a wonderful similarity in all es- 
 sential particulars to the famous laby- 
 rinth of Dsedalus. It is impossible, at 
 this distant period, to pronounce with 
 certainty on so difficult a question ; but 
 the substantial coincidences that exist 
 between the ancient and modern laby- 
 rinths seem to leave little doubt as to 
 their identity. 
 
 LACHRYMATO'RY, in antiquity, a 
 vessel in which were collected the tears 
 of a deceased person's friends, and pre- 
 served along with the ashes and urn. It 
 was a small glass bottle or phial, many 
 of which have been found in the tombs 
 itnd sepulchres of the ancients. 
 
 LA'CONISM, a short and pointed say- 
 ing ; so termed from the celebrity which 
 the Lacedsemouians enjoyed in antiquity 
 for their belief and sententious mode of 
 expressing themselves produced by the 
 severe discipline of their institutions, and 
 the gravity which it engendered. When 
 they became famous for this quality, they 
 appear to have begun to aim at the ex- 
 hibition of it in rather an affected man- 
 ner, of which some curious instances are 
 contained in Herodotus. None of the 
 many Laconi^ms recorded in ancient his- 
 tory are more noble than the expression 
 
 of the Spartan mother to her son, when 
 presenting him with his buckler : >} ran n 
 Ini rov "either bring it back, or be 
 brought home dead upon it." 
 
 LA'DING, a term applied to the goods 
 in a ship, whose quantity is limited by 
 her own tonnage, when the specific gravi 
 ty^if the goods is greater than water. 
 
 liA'DY, this word originally apper- 
 tained only as a title to the daughters of 
 earls ; but now, by custom, it belongs to 
 any woman of genteel manners and edu- 
 cation. 
 
 LA'DY-DAY, the 25th of March, so 
 called because it is the day of the An- 
 nunciation of the Virgin Mary. 
 
 LAGOON', a name given to those 
 creeks, or shallow lakes, which extend 
 along the coast, and which contain nu- 
 merous small islands ; Venice, for in- 
 stance, is built on sixty of them. To- 
 wards the sea the islets are secured by 
 dams, natural or artificial. 
 
 LAIR, among 'sportsmen, the place 
 where the deer harbor by day. This 
 term is also used to signify a place where 
 cattle usually rest under shelter; also 
 the bed or couch of a wild beast. 
 
 LAIRD, a title of honor in the High- 
 lands, equivalent to that of Lord. 
 
 L A'lTY, the great body of the faithful, 
 as opposed to those who are set apart for 
 the ministration of the services and sac- 
 raments the clergy. This distinction is 
 plainly observed in the writers of the 
 third century Origen, Cyprian, and Ter- 
 tullian ; and is generally supposed to 
 have prevailed from the first foundation 
 of Christianity. The word laity is prop- 
 erly a general name for the people : in 
 the writings of the Fathers /Jtwnicoi, secu- 
 lars, Wicorai, private men, and Aiocoi, lay- 
 men, are used indifferently to express 
 this class. 
 
 L A'MA, a pretended delegate of heav- 
 en, or pontiff of Tartary and Thibet. He 
 is worshipped as a supernatural being 
 by his subjects, and is never to be seen 
 but in the secret recesses of his palace, 
 where he sits cross-legged on a cushion. 
 The people believe that the supreme di- 
 vinity lives in him, that he knows and 
 sees everything in the deepest recesses of 
 the heart, and that he never dies, but on 
 the dissolution of his mortal frame his 
 soul enters into the body of a new-born 
 child. The worship of his followers con- 
 sists in clamorous songs and prayers, in 
 splendid processions, in the solemnization 
 of certain festivals, and in personal aus- 
 terities. 
 
 LAMENTA'TIONS, a canonical book
 
 LANf] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 343 
 
 of the Old Testament, written by the 
 prophet Jeremiah. The first four chap- 
 ters of the Lamentations are an abeceda- 
 ry, every verse or couplet beginning with 
 ono of the letters of the Hebrew alpha- 
 bet, in the alphabetical order. 
 
 LAMPADEPHO'RIA, a torch race, 
 which it was customary to exhibit at cer- 
 tain sacred festivals at Athens. The per- 
 formers were three young men, to one of 
 whom, chosen by lot, was given a lighted 
 torch, which he was to carry to the goal 
 unextinguished ; or if he failed, to deliver 
 it to the second ; who, if he failed also, 
 gave it to the third : whence a metaphor 
 is sometimes derived by ancient writers, 
 ** to be applied to persons who anxiously 
 wait for the deaths of others. If the run- 
 ners slackened their pace, they were driv- 
 en on by the blows of the spectators. 
 
 LANCE, a weapon consisting of a long 
 shaft with a sharp point, much used by 
 the nations of antiquity, and also by the 
 moderns before the invention of gunpow- 
 der. The Macedonian phalanx and the 
 Roman infantry, as well as the most bar- 
 barous nations, all considered the lance 
 as one of the most effective weapons ; and 
 even at the present day it is still consid- 
 ered of great value, though it is now al- 
 most universally borne by cavalry. Al- 
 most all the armies of Europe have now 
 regiments of lancers, so called from the 
 lance being the chief offensive weapon 
 with which they are armed. The lances in 
 use among the European cavalry have a 
 shaft of ash or beech wood, eight, twelve, 
 or in some cases even sixteen feet long, 
 with a steel point eight or ten inches in 
 length, adorned by a small flag, the wav- 
 ing of which is said to frighten the ene- 
 my's horses. The ancient lancea was a 
 general term for missile weapons or jav- 
 elins. 
 
 LAN'DAMMAN, in Switzerland, the 
 president of the diet of the Helvetic re- 
 public. The highest magistrate in ten 
 of the cantons also bears the title of 
 landamman ; in the others he is desig- 
 nated by various appellations. 
 
 LAN'DAU, the name given to a pe- 
 culiar kind of carriage, which opens and 
 closes at the top ; so called from Landau 
 in Germany, where they were originally 
 made. 
 
 LAND'FALL, the first land seen after 
 a voyage is so called. A good landfall is 
 when the land is seen as expected. 
 
 LAND'GRAVE, a title taken by some 
 German counts in the twelfth century, 
 who wished to distinguish themselves from 
 tho inferior counts under their jurisdic- 
 
 tion ; and thus assumed the designation 
 of land-graf, or count of the whole coun- 
 try. This was tho origin of the land- 
 graves of Thuringia, of Lower and High- 
 er Alsace, the only three who were prin- 
 ces of the empire. 
 
 LAND'SCAPE, the scenery presented 
 to the eye in the country ; as also, in its 
 more common acceptation, a picture rep- 
 resenting such scenery. A landscape in 
 the latter sense may, however, become 
 allegorical and historical ; n the meaning 
 applied by artists to thoe terms. The 
 chief study of the landscape painter is 
 the vegetable world, air, water, rocks, 
 and buildings. To these he may impart 
 an ideal beauty, and thus elevate his 
 art above mere topographical painting ; 
 which may be applied to his work, if he 
 merely copies without refinement what is 
 presented to his eye. 
 
 LAND'SCAPE GAR'DENING, the 
 art of laying out grounds so as to produce 
 the effect of natural landscape. Its prin- 
 ciples are the same as those upon which 
 the landscape painter proceeds in com- 
 posing a picture. 
 
 LAN'GUAGE, human speech; the ex- 
 pression of ideas by words or significant 
 articulate sounds, for the communication 
 of thoughts. Language consists in the 
 oral utterance of sounds, which usage has 
 made the representatives of ideas. When 
 two or more persons customarily annex 
 the same sounds to the same ideas, the 
 expression of these sounds by one person 
 communicates his ideas to another. This 
 is the primary sense of language, the use 
 of which is to communicate the thoughts 
 of one person to another through the or- 
 gans of hearing. Articulate sounds are 
 represented by letters, marks, or charac- 
 ters which form words. Hence, language 
 consists also in words duly arranged in 
 sentences, written, printed, or engraved, 
 and exhibited to the eye. The speech or 
 expression of ideas peculiar to a particu- 
 lar nation. Men had originally one and 
 the same language, but the tribes or 
 families of men, since their dispersion, 
 have distinct languages. Many philolo- 
 gists have included all known languages 
 under three great divisions: 1. Lan- 
 guages composed of monosyllabic roots 
 without any forms of grammar. To this 
 class belong the Chinese idioms. 2. Lan- 
 guages composed of monosyllabic roots, but 
 with a great abundance of grammatical 
 forms, as the Indo-Germanic, Armenian, 
 and other languages. S. Languages whose 
 verbal roots consist in their present form of 
 two syllables, and require three consonants
 
 344 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LAN 
 
 for the expression of their fundamental 
 meaning. This class is limited to the 
 iScheiuitic languages, including the Ara- 
 m;i' in, the Hebrew, and Arabic. The 
 Indo-Germanic languages are divided 
 into 1. The Indian branch, comprising 
 the Sanscrit, and its derivatives. 2. The 
 Medo-Persic or Arian branch, at the 
 head of which stands the Zend. 3. The 
 Teutonic branch, with the Gothic at its 
 head, and comprising the different Ger- 
 man dialects, the Anglo-Saxon, the Ice- 
 landic, Swedish, Danish, &c. 4. The 
 Grseco-Latin branch, comprising the two 
 ancient classical languages. 5. The Sla- 
 vonic branch, including the Lithuanian, 
 the ancient Prussian, the Russian, the 
 Polish, and Bohemian. 6. The Celtic 
 branch, including the Welsh, Cornish, 
 Armorican, the Irish' or Erse, the Gaelic 
 or Highland Scotch, and the Manx. 
 
 The comparative perfection of a lan- 
 guage, as an instrument for the commu- 
 nication of thought, depends mainly on 
 its copiousness. In order to estimate 
 this, it must be borne in mind that the 
 classes of words employed in a language 
 are all reducible into two, which have 
 been termed by some notional and rela- 
 tional- The former express distinct ideas 
 or notions ; the latter serve to display 
 the relation, connection, and order of 
 ideas. Nouns and verbs belong to the 
 first class ; prepositions, adverbs, &c., and 
 the signs denoting the inflections of verbs 
 and nouns, to the latter. With respect 
 to the former class, all languages, to be 
 serviceable for the purposes of life, must 
 be sufficiently copious to express all dis- 
 tinct notions. But the comparative rich- 
 ness of a language is mainly shown by 
 the manner in which this is done. As 
 nations advance from barbarism towards 
 civilization, new notions, and new varie- 
 ties of notions, are constantly requiring 
 utterance. In those in which this can 
 easily be done by composition, (as in Greek 
 and German,) great facilities are afford- 
 ed for the easy expression of thought, 
 comparatively with those in which it can 
 only be effected by the laborious process 
 of borrowing and adopting words from 
 the vocabularies of more advanced na- 
 tions. 
 
 But it is in the relational words, or modes 
 in which relations of ideas are expressed, 
 that the genius of different languages 
 most varies. The Chinese, in their sin- 
 gular and obscure tongue, seem never to 
 have reached beyond the process of vary- 
 ing the collocation of their unchangeable 
 roots in the sentence, in order to express 
 
 varieties of meaning. The next process 
 should appear to be that of using auxili- 
 ary words. In many languages (our own 
 among the number) relations are almost 
 wholly expressed in this manner. But 
 in others the auxiliary words have, in 
 course of time, coalesced with the princi- 
 pal : so that many relations are expressed 
 by varying the beginning, termination, 
 Ac., of the principal word. This, at 
 least, is the most probable origin of those 
 forms termed in grammar inflection*, or 
 forms of declension and conjugation, in 
 which Greek, Latin, Sanscrit, German, 
 and their derivative languages are more 
 or less rich; the Greek, for example, be- 
 ing more copious than the Latin or mod- ' 
 ern German, in having the dual form and 
 additional tenses (the aorists, and the 
 paulo-post futurum.) And some lan- 
 guages (especially among the American 
 Indians) are so curiously constructed as to 
 carry the power of inflection far beyond 
 this point. A complex idea, which in 
 English would require to be expressed 
 by a pronoun, an adverb, and an auxili- 
 ary verb, (or, perhaps, a second auxiliary 
 verb also, e.g., "I desire," or "I ab- 
 stain,") together with the principal verb, 
 would in some American languages be 
 expressed merely by a variety of the 
 form of the principal verb itself. 
 
 As a general rule, the power of inflec- 
 tion adds greatly to the copiousness of 
 a language ; and although some enthusi- 
 asts, in their admiration of our own. have 
 maintained that the process of conjugat- 
 ing or declining by auxiliary words and 
 particles is more convenient, and affords 
 more variety and harmony than that by 
 changes in the termination of the verb or 
 noun, it is probable that few candid rea- 
 soners will hold the same opinion. But 
 there are distinctions in language, aris- 
 ing out of relations simply imaginary, 
 which may be pronounced unnecessary 
 and cumbersome. Such are the genders, 
 common to almost all languages of the 
 Indo-European family except our own, 
 but for which it would be difficult to as- 
 sign either utility or beauty. 
 
 Another and a more substantial disad- 
 vantage of language rich in inflections, 
 if the fact be true, is to be found in the 
 greater difficulty which common people 
 are supposed to have in framing their 
 speech grammatically and accurately un- 
 der this system than the other. The 
 greater the niceties of a language, it has 
 been urged, the greater the difference 
 must inevitably be between the variety 
 spoken and written by educated men and
 
 LAP]" 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 345 
 
 that in use among the uneducated 5 and 
 it has been contended that in ancient 
 Italy, for instance, the rustic language 
 was altogether different from the written 
 Latin. But the facts on which this rea- 
 soning rests may be pronounced extremely 
 controvertible. There are certainly some 
 grounds for the suspicion that there was 
 an unusual difference between the vul- 
 gar and the polished Roman tongue, at 
 least in the later times of the empire ; 
 but if this was always the case, it is sin- 
 gular that Plautus and Terence should 
 nowhere furnish us, by way of heighten- 
 ing the ludicrous, with instances of un- 
 grammatical locution. The language of 
 ancient Greece was more refined and in- 
 flective than that of Home ; and there is 
 no appearance that there was a greater 
 diversity between the speech of the peas- 
 ant and the philosopher and rhetorician 
 than in any modern country. In Attica 
 the very reverse seems to have been the 
 truth, since its most elegant writers and 
 orators appear carefully to have modelled 
 their language on the common dialect of 
 their countrymen. And, finally, the wild 
 Indians of America speak with purity a 
 language often surpassing in variety of 
 inflections those of the most civilized and 
 illustrious nations of the Old World. 
 
 LANGUEN'TE, in music, a direction 
 to the performer, when prefixed to a 
 composition denoting that it is to be per- 
 formed in a languishing or soft manner. 
 
 LAO'COON, in fabulous history, the 
 priest of Apollo or Neptune during the 
 Trojan war. While he was engaged in 
 sacrificing a bull to Neptune, two enor- 
 mous serpents sent by Minerva, in re- 
 venge for his having endeavored to dis- 
 
 suade the Trojans from admitting the 
 famous wooden horse within their walls, 
 issued from the sea ; and having fastened 
 on his two sons, whom he vainly endeav- 
 ored to save, at last attacked the father 
 himself, and crushed him to death in their 
 complicated folds. This story has gained 
 immortal celebrity from its forming the 
 subject of one of the most beautiful 
 groups of sculpture in the whole history 
 of ancient Art. The composition is py- 
 ramidal, and represents Laocoon and his 
 two sons writhing and expiring in the 
 convulsions of the serpents. Agony in 
 an intense degree is exhibited in the 
 countenance and convulsed body of La- 
 ocoon, who is attempting to disengage 
 himself from the serpents ; and the sons 
 are represented as imploring assistance 
 from their helpless parent. This famous 
 group of sculpture was discovered at 
 Rome among the ruins of the palace of 
 Titus, at the beginning of the 16th cen- 
 tury, and afterwards placed in the Far- 
 nese palace, whence it found its way to 
 the Vatican. It was executed by Poly- 
 dorus, Agesander, Athenodorus, the three 
 celebrated artists of Rhodes. 
 
 LAP'IDARY, one who polishes and 
 engraves stones. This is effected by 
 means of friction produced by wheels of 
 various metal, according to the nature 
 of the stone to be worked. Thus dia- 
 monds require wheels of soft steel ; ru- 
 bies, sapphires, and topazes, copper 
 wheels ; emeralds, amethysts, &c., leaden 
 wheels worked with oil and various 
 powders. The term lapidary is also used 
 for a virtuoso skilled in the nature, kinds, 
 <fcc. of precious stones, or a merchant who 
 deals in them. Lapidary -style, denotes 
 that which is proper for monumental or 
 other inscriptions. 
 
 LA'PIS LA'ZULI, in painting, a stone 
 of an azure or blue color, of which the 
 paint called ultramarine is made. It is 
 a combination of silex, the blue fluate of 
 lime and sulphate of lime, and iron ; is 
 very compact and hard, and is found in 
 lumps of a beautiful blue color, richly 
 variegated with clouds of white, and 
 veins of shining gold color. 
 
 LA'PIS MARMO'REUS, in archaol- 
 ogy, a marble stone in Westminster Hall, 
 in the midst of which stood a chair 
 wherein the English kings anciently sat 
 at their coronation. The courts of Chan- 
 cery and King's Bench were erected over 
 this stone. 
 
 LATITUDE, in ancient geography, a 
 people of Thessaly, chiefly known to ug 
 from their fabled contests with the Cen-
 
 346 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 * [LAT 
 
 taurs. The battle between the Centaurs 
 :nrl the L;i]iit!iu' has been described by 
 Hcsiod, and by Ovid with great minute- 
 ness. To the Lapithre has been attributed 
 the invention of bits and bridles for 
 horses. 
 
 LAPSE, in ecclesiastical law, an omis- 
 sion on the part of the patron to present 
 to a benefice within six months after it is 
 vacant, upon which default the ordinary 
 has a right to collate to the said benefice. 
 Lapsed Legacy, one which falls or is 
 lost by a lapse ; as where the legatee 
 dies before the testator, or where a legacy 
 is given upon a future contingency, and 
 the legatee dies before the contingency 
 happens. 
 
 LAR'CENY, is the fraudulent taking 
 by a person of the goods of another, with- 
 out his consent, with the intent, on the 
 part of the taker, to appropriate them to 
 his own use. Larceny was formerly di- 
 vided, in England, into two kinds, grand 
 and petty ; the former being the stealing 
 of an article over the value of one shil- 
 ling, the latter, that of an article not 
 over that value. The same division of 
 the kinds of the offence, according to the 
 value of the thing stolen, is made in some 
 of the United States. But this distinction 
 is abolished in England by a statute. In 
 that country, the punishment for grand 
 larceny was death; but, most frequently 
 of late years, it has been commuted for 
 transportation ; and, now, the punish- 
 ment of all simple larceny, of whatever 
 value, is, the imprisonment or transpor- 
 tation. In the United States, the pun- 
 ishment is usually imprisonment in the 
 common jail, or penitentiary, for a longer 
 or shorter period. 
 
 LA'RES, in antiquity, the domestic or 
 household gods among the Romans, which 
 the family honored as their protectors. 
 They were Linages of wood, stone, or 
 metal, and generally stood upon the 
 hearth in a kind of shrine. 
 
 LAR'GO andL ARGHET'TO, (Italian,) 
 musical terms, directing to slow move- 
 ment. Largo is one degree quicker 
 than grave, and two degrees quicker than 
 adagio. 
 
 L AR'VA, spectres of the deceased were 
 so termed by the Romans : mere empty 
 forms or phantoms, as their name indi- 
 cates ; yet endowed with a sort of exist- 
 ence resembling life, since they were to 
 be propitiated by libation and sacrifice. 
 The larva of Caligula, according to Sue- 
 tonius, -was often seen in his palace after 
 his decease. The larvae are described by 
 Seneca, and often represented in paint- 
 
 ings and on gems under the figure of a 
 skeleton ; sometimes under those of old 
 men, with shorn locks and long beards, 
 carrying an owl on their hands. 
 
 LA'RVTNX, an organ of the voice, be- 
 ing a cartilaginous cavity connected with 
 the windpipe, and on the size and flexi- 
 bility of which depend the powers and 
 tones of the human voice. The superior 
 opening of the larynx is called the glottis. 
 
 LASCAR', in the East Indies, a native 
 seaman, or a gunner. 
 
 LAT'ERAN, a church at Rome, the 
 Pope's see, and the metropolitan or the 
 whole world, dedicated to St. John Late- 
 ran. The name is derived from the Ro- 
 man family of the Laterani, who possessed 
 a palace on this spot, which was seized 
 by Nero, and became from his time an 
 imperial residence. The Lateran palace 
 was given by Constantine to the popes, 
 who continued to inhabit it until their 
 retirement to Avignon, when it was ex- 
 changed for the Vatican. The building 
 was then converted into a church. Eleven 
 councils have been held in the Basilica 
 of this name (hence styled Lateran coun- 
 cils in ecclesiastical history,) of which 
 four are considered by the Roman Catho- 
 lics to be general. The last of these (or 
 the 12th General, according to the same 
 computation) is the most celebrated. It 
 was held in 1215 by Innocent III., and 
 is principally famous as establishing the 
 Roman Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist, 
 using for the first time the term transub- 
 stantiation for the change of the elements. 
 This council was convoked on the occasion 
 of the heresy of the Albigenses, and its 
 exposition of the Catholic faith is directed 
 principally against them. It established 
 also some canons for the maintenance of 
 discipline among the clergy, and that 
 which enforces confession and commun- 
 ion upon all the faithful at least once a 
 year. 
 
 LAT'ICLAVE, in antiquity, an orna- 
 ment of dress worn by Roman senators. 
 
 LAT'IN, the language spoken by the 
 ancient Romans, or the inhabitants of 
 Latium, from which it derives its name. 
 The Latin tongue was, for a while, con- 
 fined almost wholly within the walls of 
 Rome ; nor would the Romans allow the 
 common use of it to their neighbors, or to 
 the nations they subdued : but, by de- 
 grees, they in time became sensible of 
 the necessity of its being generally un- 
 derstood for the convenience of com 
 merce; .and accordingly used their en- 
 deavors that all the nations subject to 
 their empire, should be united by one
 
 LAW] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 347 
 
 common language, so that at length they 
 imposed the use of it by an express law. 
 
 LATITUDINA'RIANS, in ecclesias- 
 tical history, a class of English divines 
 in the reign of Charles II., opposed alike 
 to the high tenets of the ruling party in 
 the church, and the fanaticism which then 
 distinguished so many of the Dissenters. 
 Henry More, and the other Platonizing 
 divines of the time, were sometimes com- 
 prehended under this appellation. The 
 word has been since very generally used 
 to designate those who hold opinions at 
 variance with the more rigid interpreta- 
 tion of Scripture and church traditions, 
 or merely as a term of party vitupera- 
 tion. 
 
 LA'TRIA, the highest kind of worship, 
 or that paid to God : distinguished by the 
 Catholics from dulia, or the inferior wor- 
 ship paid to saints. 
 
 LAU'REATE, literally crowned with 
 laurels ; applied at present to a well- 
 known officer in the royal household. At 
 the Certamina, or gymnastic and other 
 contests celebrated under the Roman em- 
 perors, especially at the Quinquatria, or 
 Eeast of Minerva, poets also contended, 
 and the prize was a crown of oak or olive 
 leaves. But it was from some tradition- 
 ary belief respecting the coronation of 
 Virgil and Horace with laurel in the 
 Capitol, (of jvhich, however, no record is 
 extant.) that the dignity of poet laureate 
 was invented in the 14th century, and 
 conferred on Petrarch at Rome by the 
 senator or supreme magistrate of the 
 city. It was intended to confer the same 
 honor on Tasso, who, however, died on 
 the night before the proposed celebration. 
 In 1725 and 1776 it was granted to two 
 celebrated improvisatori, the Signor Ru- 
 fetti and the Signora Morelli, better known 
 by the name of Gorilla. In most Euro- 
 pean countries the sovereign has assumed 
 the privilege of nominating a court poet 
 with various titles. In France and Spain 
 these have never been termed poets lau- 
 reate ; but the imperial poet, or Poeta 
 Cesareo, in Germany, was invested with 
 the laurel. This crown, however, was 
 customarily given at the universities in 
 the middle ages to such persons as took 
 degrees in grammar and rhetoric, of 
 which poetry formed a branch'; whence, 
 according to some authors, the term Bac- 
 calaureatus has been derived. In Eng- 
 land traces of a stipendiary poet royal are 
 found as early as Henry III., and of a 
 poet laureate by that name under Edward 
 IV. Skelton, under Henry VII. and 
 VIII., was created poet laureate by the 
 
 universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 
 and appears to have held the same dig- 
 nity at court; but the academical and 
 court honor were distinct until the ex- 
 tinction of the university custom, of 
 which Henry VIII. 's reign exhibits the 
 last instance. Royal poets laureate are 
 supposed not to have begun to write in 
 English until after the Reformation. 
 The office was made patent by Charles I., 
 and the salary fixed at 100 annually, 
 and a tierce of Spanish Canary wine. 
 Under Queen Anne it was placed in the 
 control of the lord-chamberlain. In the 
 reign of George III. the annual tierce of 
 wine was commuted for an increase of 
 salary, and at the close of the same reign 
 the custom of requiring annual odes from 
 the lord-chamberlain was discontinued. 
 The most distinguished poets in recent 
 times who have held the office are 
 Southey, Wordsworth, and Tennyson. 
 
 LAUREA'TION, in the Scotch univer- 
 sities, signifies the act of taking the de- 
 gree of master of arts, which the students 
 are permitted to do after four years' 
 study. 
 
 LAURENTA'LIA, in antiquity, a fes- 
 tival kept by the Romans on the 23d of 
 December, in memory of Acca Laurentia, 
 the nurse of Romulus and Remus. She 
 was called Lupa by way of nick-name ; 
 hence the story of the wolf that suckled 
 the royal twins. 
 
 LAW, an established or permanent 
 rule, prescribed by the supreme power of 
 a state to its subjects, for regulating their 
 social actions. Laws may be divided into 
 the following classes : declaratory laws ; 
 directory laws ; remedial laws ; and pro- 
 hibitory and penal laws. Declaratory 
 laws only declare what the law shall be, 
 not what it has been, or is. Directory 
 laws are those which prescribe rules of 
 conduct, or limit or enlarge rights, or 
 point out modes of remedy. Remedial 
 laws are those whose object it is to redress 
 some private injury, or some public in- 
 convenience . Prohibitory and penal laics 
 are those which forbid certain things to 
 be done or omitted, under a penalty, or 
 vindicatory sanction. The legislation of 
 no country, probably, ever gave origin to 
 its whole body of laws. In the very for- 
 mation of society, the principles of nat- 
 ural justice, and the obligations of good 
 faith, must have been recognized before 
 any common legislature was acknowl- 
 edged. Debts were contracted, obliga- 
 tions created, personal property acquired, 
 and lands cultivated, before any positive 
 rules were fixed is to the rights of posses-
 
 348 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LAZ 
 
 ion and enjoyment growing out of them. 
 The first rudiments of jurisprudence re- 
 sulted from general consent or acquies- 
 cence ; and when legislation began to act 
 upon it, it was rather to confirm, alter, or 
 add to, than to supersede, the primitive 
 principles adopted into it. The forma- 
 tion of codes, or systems of general law, 
 for the government of a people, and 
 adapted to their wants, takes place only 
 in advanced stages of society, when knowl- 
 edge is considerably diffused, and legisla- 
 tors have the means of ascertaining the 
 best principles of policy and the best rules 
 for justice, not by mere speculation and 
 theory, but by the results of experience, 
 and the reasoning of the learned and the 
 wise. We shall now proceed to give sep- 
 arate definitions of the word law, as it is 
 variously applied. Municipal or civil 
 law, is a rule of civil conduct prescribed 
 by the supreme power of a state, com- 
 manding what its subjects are to do, and 
 prohibiting what they are to forbear. 
 The law of nature, otherwise called ethics, 
 or morals, comprehends those rules of 
 right and wrong, of which the sentiment 
 is in every man's breast, and of the jus- 
 tice of which reflection affords sufficient 
 conviction. The divine law is that which, 
 not being naturally felt, nor discovered 
 by reflection, is found only in inspired 
 writings. The law of nations is that rule 
 of conduct which nations are to observe 
 toward each other. This is founded upon 
 the law of nature ; but either ascertained 
 or modified by usage, or by mutual com- 
 pacts. The written law, those laws or 
 rules of action prescribed or enacted by a 
 sovereign or state, and promulgated and 
 recorded in writing. Unwritten or com- 
 mon law, a rule of action which derives 
 Us authority from long usage, or estab- 
 lished custom, which has been immemori- 
 ally received and recognized by judicial 
 tribunals. Ecclesiastical or canon law, a 
 rule of action prescribed for the govern- 
 ment of a church. Martial law, the rules 
 ordained for the government of an army 
 or military force. Marine laws, rules 
 for the regulation of navigation, and the 
 commercial intercourse of nations. 
 Physical laws, the invariable tendency 
 or determination of any species of matter 
 to a particular form with definite proper- 
 ties, and the determination of a body to 
 certain motions, changes, and relations, 
 which uniformly take place in the same 
 circumstances. The Mosaic law, the in- 
 stitutions of Moses, or the code of laws 
 prescribed to the Jews, as recorded in the 
 Old Testament. That part which relates 
 
 to the mere external rites and ceremo- 
 nies to be observed by them, as distinct 
 from the moral precepts, is called the 
 ceremonial law. 
 
 LAY. the lyric poems of the old French 
 minstrels, or trouv^res, were termed lais ; 
 but the title appears, in modern usage, to 
 be peculiarly appropriate to narrative 
 poems, or serious subjects of moderate 
 length in simple style and light metre. 
 
 LAY BROTH'ERS, persons received 
 into convents of monks, under the three 
 vows, but not in holy orders. The intro- 
 duction of this class of devotees appears 
 to have begun in the llth century. They 
 are dressed somewhat differently from the 
 other monks or brothers of the choir, and 
 often employed in the manual exercises 
 necessary for the uses of the community. 
 The Carthusian and Cistercian orders are 
 said to have first recognized the distinc- 
 tion, and their example was followed by 
 the other orders. The same distinction 
 exists in-monasteries of females between 
 the nuns, properly so called, and the lay 
 sisters, or sisters converse. 
 
 LAY EL'DERS, in Presbyterian 
 churches, ministers of ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction, not ordained as clergymen, who 
 assist the pastor in each congregation. 
 The divines of that persuasion rest the 
 appointment of lay elders in some meas- 
 ure on that of presbyters " iaevery city," 
 by Paul and Barnabas, who, they ima- 
 gine, from the manner in which they are 
 mentioned, could not have been all 
 preachers. 
 
 LAY'MAN, the appellation by which 
 the rest of the community are distinguish- 
 ed from the clergy. Layman or lay-Jig- 
 ure, among painters, signifies a small 
 statue, whose joints are so formed that it 
 may be put into any attitude for the pur- 
 pose of adjusting the drapery of figures. 
 
 LA'ZAR-HOUSE, or LAZARET'TO, 
 a public building in the southern Euro- 
 pean states of the nature of an hospital, 
 for the reception of the poor and those 
 afflicted with contagious disorders. In 
 some places lazarettoes are set apart for 
 the performance of quarantine ; in which 
 case only those are admitted who have 
 arrived from countries infested by the 
 plague, or suspected of being so. 
 
 LAZARISTS, in ecclesiastical history, 
 a body of missionaries, founded by St. 
 Vincent de Paul in 1632 ; so termed from 
 occupying the priory of St. Lazarus, at 
 Paris, as their head-quarters. Their 
 primary object was to dispense religious 
 instruction and assistance among the 
 poorer inhabitants of the rural districts
 
 LEC] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 349 
 
 of France. They were dispersed at the 
 time of the revolution, but have since re- 
 established a congregation at Paris ; and 
 the French Government has lately pro- 
 jected entrusting them with the spiritual 
 care of the colony at Algiers. 
 
 LAZ'AllUS, SAINT, ORDER, OF, a 
 military order of religious persons, ori- 
 ginally an association of knights, for the 
 purpose of maintaining lepers, <fec., in 
 lazar-houses or hospitals, especially in 
 the Holy Land. Being driven out of 
 Palestine in 1253, they followed St. Louis 
 to France. In 1490, their order was sup- 
 pressed by Pope Innocent VIII.. and 
 united with that of St. John ; but the bull 
 was not universally received. In 1572, 
 they were united in Italy with the order 
 of St. Maurice ; in 1608, in France, with 
 that of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The 
 knights of these united orders were al- 
 lowed to marry. 
 
 LAZZARO'NI, a name given to the 
 poorer classes at Naples, from the hospi- 
 tal of St. Lazarus, which served as a 
 refuge for the destitute in that city. 
 Forty years ago two large sections of the 
 people were generally comprehended un- 
 der this name, the fishermen, and the 
 lazzaroni, properly so called, who lived in 
 the streets, and performed no other labor 
 but that of errand porters and occasional 
 servants. ThSse alone were estimated at 
 40,000. These lazzaroni formed a power- 
 ful community, which under Masaniello, 
 accomplished the revolution of Naples; 
 and, in later times overthrew the popular 
 government, under the influence of Car- 
 dinal Ruffo and the English party. But 
 during the French occupation of Naples 
 they ceased to exist as a distinct class ; 
 and the name is now only used to desig- 
 nate, in general language, the mob or 
 populace of that great city. 
 
 LEAD'ING NOTE, in music, the sharp 
 seventh of the scale. 
 
 LEADS, or SPACE LINES, are pieces 
 of type metal cast to specific thickness 
 and lengths, lower than types, so that 
 they do not make any impression in print- 
 ing, but leave a white space where pla- 
 ced. Their general use is to be placed 
 between the lines when a work is not 
 closely printed, which is considered to 
 look better than when printed solid, and 
 also to branch out the heads of pages and 
 titles. 
 
 LEAGUE, in politics, an alliance be- 
 tween two or more powers, in order to 
 execute some common enterprise. It is 
 more active, and less durable, than an 
 alliance or a confederacy ; both of which 
 
 have some permanent object, while neither 
 necessarily requires active co-operation. 
 In the middle ages, the word league was 
 used nearly in the sense now attached to 
 these latter terms: hence we read of 
 the Hanseatic league, and of the three 
 leagues still subsisting in the canton of 
 the Grisons in Switzerland ; both of 
 which were more properly confederacies. 
 The word is of Spanish origin; and it 
 has been said that the period of its com- 
 monest use in political language was 
 commensurate with that during which the 
 Spanish government exercised the great- 
 est influence among those of Europe 
 the 16th and 17th centuries. 
 
 LEASE, in law, a demise of lands or 
 tenements, or a conveyance of them, gene- 
 rally in consideration of rent or other 
 annual recompense, for term of years, 
 for life, or at will, provided it be for a 
 shorter term than the lessor has in the 
 premises. The party letting the lands, 
 &c. is called the lessor, and the party to 
 whom they are let, the lessee. Any one 
 of the conditions of a lease not being 
 complied with, the proprietor may resume 
 possession. 
 
 LEC'TERN or LET'TERN, a reading 
 desk or stand for the larger books, used 
 in the service of the Roman Catholic 
 church. The lectern was sometimes a fix- 
 ture of stone or marble, but it was oftener 
 constructed of wood or brass, and mova- 
 ble. It was of various forms, sometimes 
 highly decorated and enriched ; a fre- 
 quent form of the brass lettern was that 
 of a pelican or an eagle, with its wings 
 expanded to receive the book. 
 
 LECTI'C A, a sort of couch used by the 
 Romans for the same purpose as the se- 
 dan chair, or rather the palanquin, is 
 employed by the moderns, with this differ- 
 ence, that the person carried on the 
 lectica reclined. It was used also for the 
 conveyance of dead bodies to the funeral 
 pile. The persons who carried the lectica 
 were called lecticarii, whose number in 
 the Lower Empire is said to have amount- 
 ed to 11,000. 
 
 LEC'TISTER'NIUM, a religious festi- 
 val or ceremony among the ancient Ro- 
 mans, celebrated during times of public 
 calamity, and remarkable as a singular 
 relic of barbarous superstition, retaining 
 the impression of a very rude age. In 
 this festival the gods themselves were 
 invited to the entertainment ; their stat- 
 ues were taken from their pedestals, laid 
 on couches with pillows and pedestals, 
 and placed at the table, while the ser- 
 vants used gravely to convey the viands
 
 350 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LEG 
 
 to the idols' lips. The first festival of 
 this sort, according to Livy, which took 
 place, was held in the year of Rome 354, 
 on the occasion of a contagious disease 
 which committed frightful ravages among 
 their cattle, and lasted for eight succes- 
 sive days. On the celebration of this festi- 
 val enemies were said to forget their ani- 
 mosity, and all prisoners were liberated. 
 
 LEC'TOR, in the early church, a per- 
 son set apart for the purpose of reading 
 parts of the Bible and other writings 
 of a religious character to the people. 
 They were consecrated by prayers and 
 ceremonies for this office, and in the 
 third century appear to have formed 
 proper officers of the church. 
 
 LEC'TURE, a discourse read or pro- 
 nounced on any subject ; usually, a formal 
 or methodical discourse, intended for in- 
 struction ; as, a lecture on morals, philos- 
 ophy, rhetoric, or theology : but the term 
 is applied in a more extended sense to 
 every species of instruction communica- 
 ted viva voce. In the Scotch and conti- 
 nental universities, as well as those re- 
 cently established in England, the great 
 business of teaching is carried on by 
 means of public lectures delivered at 
 stated periods, and embracing the differ- 
 ent subjects included in the curriculum 
 of study. Pulpit lectures have for their 
 object some portion of Scripture, which is 
 explained, and the doctrines therein con- 
 tained stated and enforced. 
 
 LEG'ACY, in law, a bequest or gift 
 by will of any personal effects ; the per- 
 son bequeathing is called the testator, 
 and he to whom it is bequeathed the leg- 
 atee. There is also a residuary legatee, 
 or one to whom, after the several de- 
 vises or bequests made by will, the resi- 
 due of the testator's estate and effects are 
 given. 
 
 LEG'ATE, the pope's ambassador to 
 foreign countries ; either a cardinal or a 
 bishop. The power of a legate is some- 
 times given without the title. It was one 
 of the ecclesiastical privileges of England 
 from the Norman conquest, that no for- 
 eign legate should be obtruded upon the 
 English, unless the king should desire it 
 upon some extraordinary emergency, as 
 when a case was too difficult for the Eng- 
 lish prelates to determine. 
 
 LEGATION, a term denoting the body 
 of official persons attached to an embassy. 
 Hence secretary of legation. 
 
 LEGATO, (Italian,) in music, a word 
 used in an opposite sense to staccato, and 
 implying that the notes of a movement or 
 passage to which it is affixed are to be per- 
 
 | formed in a close, smooth, and gliding 
 manner. 
 
 LE'GEND, a book used in the ancient 
 Roman churches, containing the lessons 
 that were to be read. The word was 
 afterwards used to denote a chronicle or 
 register of the lives of saints. As these 
 histories were often nothing more than 
 pious fictions, the name of a legend was 
 given to the incredulous fables which 
 make pretensions to truth. Legend, in 
 Roman antiquity, signifies the motto en- 
 graved upon medals, which differs from 
 the inscription properly so called. The 
 inscription signifies words placed on the 
 reverse of a medal in lieu of figures ; but 
 the legend is the word made use of round 
 the head or other figure. 
 
 LEG'ER, the principal book used 
 in merchants' accounts, wherein every 
 man's particular account is kept ; the 
 book into which a summary of the jour- 
 nal is carried. L/eger-lines, in music, 
 those lines added to the usual stave of 
 five lines, when more are wanted for notes 
 ascending or descending. 
 
 LEGERDEMAIN', tricks, which, from 
 the dexterity of the performer, are made 
 to deceive the observer, and are called 
 sleight of hand. 
 
 LE'GION, in Roman antiquity, a body 
 of soldiers in the Roman army, consist- 
 ing of different numbers at different pe- 
 riods of time. In the time of Romulus 
 the legion consisted of 3,000 foot and 300 
 horse ; though after the reception of the 
 Sabines, it was augmented to 4,000. In 
 the war with Hannibal it was raised to 
 5,000 ; after this it sunk to 4,000 or 4,500, 
 which was the number in the time of Po- 
 lybius. The number of legions kept in 
 pay together, also differed according to 
 times and occasions. Each legion was 
 divided into ten cohorts, each cohort into 
 ten companies, and each company into 
 two centuries. The chief commander of 
 the legion was called Legatus (lieuten- 
 ant.) The principal standard of a legion 
 was a silver eagle ; and the legions were 
 named from their commanders, (as the 
 Claudian legion.) or from the place 
 where they were stationed, <fcc. The 
 word legion was revived in the time of 
 Napoleon; and has since been commonly 
 applied to a body of troops of an indefi- 
 nite number, and usually of different 
 kinds; as the English- German legion, 
 the British legion in Spain, Ac. 
 
 LE'GION OF HONOR, an order in- 
 stituted by Napoleon, while consul, (May 
 19, 1802,) for military and civil merit. It 
 consisted of different grades of merit, as
 
 LEV] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 351 
 
 grand crosses, crosses, commanders, offi- 
 cers, and legionaries ; all of whom re- 
 ceive pensions with this mark of distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 LEGISLATOR, one who frames or es- 
 tablishes the laws and polity of a state or 
 kingdom. The term is chiefly applied to 
 some distinguished persons of antiquity, 
 such as Moses among the Jews ; These- 
 us, Draco, Solon, among the Athenians ; 
 Lycurgus among the Spartans ; and 
 Numa among the Romans. 
 
 LEGISLATURE, the supreme power 
 of a state. 
 
 LEGIT'IMACY, a word which, in a 
 political sense, is variously defined, ac- 
 cording to the bias of the party by whom 
 it is used. But in its most commonly re- 
 ceived acceptation, it denotes the lawful- 
 ness of the government, in an hereditary 
 monarchy, where the supreme dignity 
 and power pass by law from one regent 
 to another, according to the right of pri- 
 mogeniture. Legitimate means, accord- 
 ing to law ; hence, children born in wed- 
 lock are called legitimate, and those born 
 out of wedlock are styled illegitimate. 
 
 LE'MURES, among the ancient Ro- 
 mans, spectres or ghosts, believed to be the 
 souls of the dead, which tormented men 
 in the night. In order to lay them, a 
 ceremony called lemuria was observed 
 on the nights of the 9th, llth, and 13th 
 of May. 
 
 LENT, a solemn time of fasting and 
 abstinence in the Christian church, ob- 
 served as a time of humiliation before 
 Easter, the great festival of our Saviour's 
 resurrection. It begins on Ash-Wednes- 
 day, and continues forty days. 
 
 LE'ONINE VERSE, a kind of Latin 
 verse, consisting of hexameters and pen- 
 tameters, of which the final and middle 
 syllables rhyme. Some say it derived 
 its name from pope Leo I. (A.D. 680,) 
 others from Leonius, a poet of the 12th 
 century. 
 
 LES'SONS, are certain portions of the 
 Scriptures read in most Christian churches 
 during divine service, the performance of 
 which in the ancient church devolved, 
 among other duties, on the catechumen. 
 In the English church, the course of 
 lessons begins with the year at the book 
 of Genesis, and, with the omission of 
 the two books of Chronicles, continues 
 through the Old Testament, including 
 portions of the Apocrypha. Ii) the second 
 lessons, as they are called, the same 
 course is followed with the New Testa- 
 ment. In the Presbyterian church, the 
 word lesson, in this sense, is unknown, 
 
 I though the practice of reading a portion 
 of Scripture is almost universally adopt- 
 ed ; but the selection of the passage is 
 left to the choice of the officiating cler- 
 gyman. 
 
 LE'THE, in Greek mythology, the 
 River of Oblivion : one of the streams of 
 the infernal regions. Its waters possessed 
 the quality of causing those who drank 
 them to forget the whole of their former 
 existence. In the sixth book of Virgil's 
 JKneid, the shades of the departed, after 
 fulfilling their various destinies in the 
 infernal regions during a thousand years, 
 are brought to drink of the water of 
 Lethe, as a preparation fortheir trans- 
 migration into new bodies. 
 
 LET'TER, a mark or character, writ- 
 ten, printed, engraved, or paintc 1 ; used 
 as the representative of a sound, or of an 
 articulation of the human organs of 
 speech. By sounds, and articulations or 
 closures of the organs, are formed syl- 
 lables and words. Hence a letter is the 
 first element of written language, as a 
 simple sound is the first element of 
 spoken language or speech. As sounds 
 are audible and communicate ideas to 
 others by the ear, so letters are visible 
 representatives of sounds, and communi- 
 cate the thoughts of others by means of 
 the eye. Letters are distinguished by 
 grammarians into vowels, and consonants 
 (which latter arc again subdivided into 
 mutes, and liquids) and diphthongs, ac- 
 cording to the organ employed in their 
 pronunciation. 
 
 LEVANT'', in geography, is applied in 
 a general sense to any country situated 
 to the eastward of us, or in the eastern 
 part of any continent or country ; but, in 
 a more contracted signification, it is given 
 to that part of the Mediterranean Sea 
 bounded by Asia Minor on the north, 
 Syria and Palestine on the east, Egypt 
 and Barca on the south, and by the island 
 of Candia and the rest of the Mediterra- 
 nean on the west. 
 
 LEVEE, in court phraseology, a cere- 
 monial visit of the nobility, gentry, Ac., 
 who assemble to pay their respects to the 
 queen (or king.) It consists of gentlemen 
 only, by which it is distinguished from 
 what is termed a drawing-room, where 
 ladies as well as gentlemen attend. 
 
 LEV'EE-EN-MASSE, a military ex- 
 pression for the patriotic rising of a whole 
 people, including all capable of bearing 
 arms, who are not otherwise engaged in 
 the regular service ; and is the most for- 
 midable obstacle an enemy can encoun- 
 ter. In Germany it is called the land-
 
 352 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF laTERATURK 
 
 sturm, in distinction from the landwehr, 
 or militia. In 1813 the governments of 
 Northern Germany called it forth in 
 every part of the country. 
 
 LEVI'ATIIAN, a word which, in the 
 Hebrew, signifies a great fish. Some 
 suppose, from the description of it in the 
 book of Job, it means a whale, while 
 others have presumed it is a crocodile. 
 In Isaiah, however, it is called the crook- 
 ed serpent. 
 
 LE' VITES, a term applied in Scripture 
 to such of the tribe of Levi as were em- 
 ployed in the lower offices and ministries 
 of the temple. In this particular, they 
 were distinguished from the priests, who, 
 being descended from Aaron, were like- 
 wise of the tribe of Levi. The Levites 
 bore some resemblance in the tabernacle, 
 and temple of the Jews, to the deacons 
 among Christians. They were employed 
 in bringing wood, water, and other neces- 
 saries for the sacrifice, and they sung 
 and played upon instruments in the tem- 
 ple. They also applied themselves to the 
 study of the law, and were the ordinary 
 judges of the country, though always 
 subordinate to the priests. Their subsist- 
 ence was the tithes of corn, fruit and 
 cattle throughout Israel ; but the priests 
 were entitled to a tenth of their tithes, 
 by way of first-fruits to the Lord. 
 
 LEVIT'ICUS, a canonical book of the 
 Old Testament, so called from its con- 
 taining the laws and regulations relating 
 to the priests, Levites, and sacrifices. 
 These duties, rites and ceremonies, formed 
 what is termed the L,evitical. law. 
 
 LEXICOL'OGY, or LEXICOG'RA- 
 PHY, a word used by some writers to 
 express that branch of philology which 
 treats of words alone, independently of 
 their grammatical and rhetorical uses; 
 considering their senses, their composi- 
 tion and their etymology. 
 
 LEX'ICON, a dictionary of words, or 
 vocabulary ; originally, and still usually, 
 confined to dictionaries of the Greek or 
 Hebrew tongues. The oldest Greek lex- 
 icon is the Onomasticon, which was writ- 
 ten 180 years before Christ : the oldest 
 Hebrew lexicon belongs to the 9th cen- 
 tury. 
 
 LEZE-MAJ'ESTY, in jurisprudence, 
 any crime committed against the sove- 
 reign power in a state. The name is 
 derived from the Roman phrase, "crimen 
 laesfe majestatis," which denoted a charge 
 brought against a citizen for acts of re- 
 bellion, usurpation of office, and general 
 misdemeanors of a political character, 
 which were comprehended under the title 
 
 of injuries to the " majesty of the Roman 
 people." The emperors transferred to 
 all offences against themselves the same 
 criminal character ; and offences of leze- 
 majesty were multiplied under their ar- 
 bitrary governments. 
 
 LIBA'TION, among the Greeks and 
 Romans, was an essential part of solemn 
 sacrifices. It was also performed alone, 
 as a drink offering, by way of procuring 
 the protection and favor of the gods, in 
 the ordinary affairs of life. At sacrifices, 
 after the libation had been tasted by the 
 priest, and handed to the bystanders, it 
 was poured upon the victim. At enter- 
 tainments a little wine was generally 
 poured out of the cup, before the liquor 
 began to circulate. 
 
 LI'BEL, in law, the malicious defama- 
 tion of any person, either written or print- 
 ed, in order to provoke him to anger, or to 
 expose him to public hatred, contempt, or 
 ridicule. Any book, pamphlet, writing, 
 or picture, containing such representa- 
 tions, although only communicated to a 
 single person, is considered in law a 
 publication of it ; and libellers may be 
 brought to punishment by a prosecution, 
 or be compelled to make reparation by a 
 civil action. The civil action is grounded 
 upon the injury which the libel is sup- 
 posed to occasion to the individual ; the 
 public prosecution upon its tendency to 
 provoke a breach of the peace. In a 
 civil action, the plaintiff recovers dam- 
 ages, the amount of which is settled by 
 the jury : but, upon an indictment, the 
 jury has merely to acquit the defendant, 
 or to find him guilty, after which the 
 court passes judgment. Libel, in the ec- 
 clesiastical and admiralty courts, is the 
 name given to the formal written state- 
 ment of the complainant's ground of com- 
 plaint against the defendant. 
 
 LI'BER, in Roman mythology, a sur- 
 name of Bacchus, in reference, perhaps, 
 to the idea of his being a liberator or de- 
 liverer. Liber was originally an old 
 divinity, who presided over fertility, and 
 who was worshipped in connection with 
 Libera (a name of Proserpine,) and Ceres. 
 
 LIB'ERAL, in politics, a conventional 
 name given to that party in a country 
 which advocates progressive reform of 
 abuses in the state, real or supposed. 
 
 LIBTERAL ARTS, such as depend 
 more on the exertion of the mind than 
 on manual labor, and regard intellectual 
 improvemOT^nd amusement, rather than 
 the necessity of subsistence. 
 
 LIBERA'LIA, -i sacred festival, with 
 games ; so called from Liber, a Latin
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 353 
 
 name of Bacchus, in honor of which god 
 they were celebrated at Home. It was 
 on occasion of this festival that the Ro- 
 man youths who attained the ago of 
 seventeen assumed the manly dress, or 
 toga. 
 
 LIBER'TAS, in the mythology of the 
 Greeks and Romans, was a goddess wor- 
 shipped with peculiar veneration. By the 
 former she was invoked by the synony- 
 mous title Eleutheria; and throughout 
 all parts, both of Greece and Italy, statues, 
 temples, and altars were erected in honor 
 of her. At Rome, her most famous tem- 
 ple, built by T. Gracchus, was situated on 
 the Aventine Mount. She was repre- 
 sented under the figure of a woman, hold- 
 ing in one hand a cap, the symbol of 
 liberty, and two poniards in the other. 
 In modern times a cap is also used as a 
 symbol of liberty ; thus, in France a red 
 cap formed the badge of the Jacobin club. 
 In England a blue cap with a white 
 border is used as a symbol of the consti- 
 tutional freedom of the nation, and Bri- 
 tannia sometimes bears it on the point of 
 her spear. 
 
 LIBER'TUS, in Roman antiquity, a 
 person who from being a slave had ob- 
 tained his freedom. The liberti were 
 such as had been actually made free 
 themselves ; the libertini were the chil- 
 dren of such persons. 
 
 LIB'ERT Y, freedom from restraint, in a 
 general sense, and applicable to the body, 
 or to the will or mind. The body is at 
 liberty, when not confined ; the will or 
 mind is at liberty, when not checked or 
 controlled. A man enjoys liberty, when 
 no physical force operates to restrain his 
 actions or volitions. Natural liberty, 
 consists in the power of acting as one 
 thinks fit, without any restraint or con- 
 trol, except from the laws of nature. It 
 is a state of exemption from the control 
 of others, and from positive laws and the 
 institutions of social life. This liberty is 
 abridged by the establishment of govern- 
 ment. Civil liberty, is the liberty of men 
 in a state of society, or natural liberty, 
 so far only abridged and restrained, as is 
 necessary and expedient for the safety 
 and interest of the society, state, or na- 
 tion. A restraint of natural liberty, not 
 necessary or expedient for the public, is 
 tyranny or oppression. Civil liberty is 
 an exemption from the arbitrary will of 
 others, which exemption is .secured by 
 established laws, which restrain every 
 man from injuring or controlling another. 
 Hence the restraints of law are essential 
 to civil liberty. Political liberty, is 
 23 
 
 sometimes used as synonymous with civil 
 liberty. But it more properly designates 
 the liberty of a nation, the freedom of a 
 nation or state from all unjust abridg- 
 ment of its rights and independence by 
 another nation. Hence we often speak 
 of the political liberties of Europe, or the 
 nations of Europe. Religious liberty, is 
 the free right of adopting and enjoying 
 opinions on religious subjects, and of 
 worshipping the Supreme Being accord- 
 ing to the dictates of conscience, without 
 external control. Liberty, in metaphys- 
 ics, as opposed to necessity, is the power 
 of an agent to do or forbear any particu- 
 lar action, according to the determination 
 or thought of the mind, by which either 
 is preferred to the other. Liberty of the 
 press, is freedom from any restriction on 
 the power to publish books ; the free 
 power of publishing what one pleases, 
 subject only to punishment for abusing 
 the privilege, or publishing what is mis- 
 chievous to the public or injurious to in- 
 dividuals. 
 
 LI'BRARY, a collection of books be- 
 longing to a private person, or to a pub- 
 lic institution or a company. An apart- 
 ment, or suite of apartments, or a whole 
 building appropriated to the keeping of 
 books. The most celebrated library of 
 antiquity was the Alexandrian in Lower 
 Egypt. The principal libraries of mod- 
 ern times are the Royal library at Paris, 
 the Bavarian State library at Munich, 
 the Imperial library at Petersburg, the 
 Imperial library at Vienna, the Univer- 
 sity library at Gdttingen, the Royal li- 
 brary at Dresden, the Royal library at 
 Copenhagen, the Royal library at Berlin, 
 the Vatican library at Rome, the Am- 
 brosian library at Milan, the Bodleian, 
 library at Oxford, the University library 
 at Cambridge, the library of the British 
 Museum in London, the Advocates' li- 
 brary in Edinburgh, and that of Trinity 
 College in Dublin. 
 
 LI'CENSE. in law, an authority given 
 to a person to do some lawful act. A li- 
 cense is a personal power, and therefore 
 cannot be transferred to another. If the 
 person licensed abuse the power given 
 him, he becomes a trespasser. A license 
 may be either verbal or written ; when 
 written, the paper containing the author- 
 ity is called a license. 
 
 LTCEN'TIATE, in law, one who has 
 full license to practise any art or faculty ; 
 generally, a physician who has a license 
 to practise, granted by the college of phy- 
 sicians. 
 
 LIC'TORS, in Roman antiquity, offi-
 
 354 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF UTKRATUKE 
 
 cers or beadles who carried the fasces be- 
 fore the chief magistrates whenever they 
 appeared in public. It was also a, part 
 of their duty to be the public executioners 
 in beheading, scourging, Ac. A dictator 
 was attended by twenty-four lictors; a 
 consul by twelve ; the master of the horse, 
 six ; a prsetor, six ; and each vestal vir- 
 gin had one. 
 
 LIEGE, in law, a term used either as 
 liege lord, signifying one that acknowl- 
 edges no superior, or the chief lord of the 
 fee ; or as liege man, he who owes horn- 
 Age and allegiance to the liege lord. By 
 the term liege people is meant the sub- 
 jects of a monarch, because they owe him 
 their allegiance. 
 
 LI'EN, in law, the right which one 
 person, in certain cases, possesses of de- 
 taining property belonging to another, 
 when placed in his possession, until some 
 demand, which the former has, is satis- 
 fied. Liens are of two kinds : particular 
 liens, that is, where the person in posses- 
 sion of goods may detain them until a 
 claim which accrues to him from those 
 identical goods is satisfied ; and general 
 liens, that is, where the person in posses- 
 sion may detain the goods, not only for 
 his claim accruing from them, but also 
 for the general balance of his account 
 with the owners. Some liens also are 
 created by express agreement, and some 
 by usage. 
 
 LIEUTEN'ANT, this word, like cap- 
 tain, and many others, has received grad- 
 ually a much narrower meaning than it 
 had originally. Its true meaning is a 
 deputy, a substitute, from the French 
 lieu, (place, post,) and tenant, (holder.) 
 A lieutenant general du royaume is a 
 person invested with almost all the pow- 
 ers of the sovereign. Such was the count 
 d'Artois (afterwards Charles X.) before 
 Louis XVIII. entered France, in 1814. 
 Lieutenant-general was formerly the ti- 
 tle of a commanding general, but at pres- 
 ent it signifies the degree above major- 
 general. Lieutenant-colonel is the offi- 
 cer between the colonel and major. 
 Lieutenant, in military language, signi- 
 fies the officer next below a captain. 
 There are first lieutenants, and second, or 
 sous-lieutenants, with different pay. 
 A lieutenant in the navy is the second 
 officer next in command to the captain of 
 a ship. In England, the lord-lieutenant 
 of a county has the authority to call out 
 the militia in case of invasion or Rebel- 
 lion. The governor of Ireland is also 
 called lord-lieutenant of Ireland. In 
 some English colonies, jointly under a 
 
 governor-general, the chief magistrate 
 of each separate colony is called lieuten- 
 ant-governor. Many of the United States 
 choose lieutenant-governors to act in c;t.-o 
 of the governor's death. 
 
 LIG'ATURE, in music, the tie which 
 binds several notes of like length to- 
 gether, by which they appear in groups. 
 
 Thus * * * ^ four quavers, by means 
 of a ligature at the top or bottom, assume 
 the form >__\ i j , the line connecting them 
 
 being the ligature. 
 
 LIGHT, that imponderable ethereal 
 agent or matter which makes objects per- 
 ceptible to the sense of seeing, but the 
 particles of which are separately in- 
 visible. It has been believed that light 
 is a fluid or real matter, existing inde- 
 pendent of other substances, with prop- 
 erties peculiar to itself. Its velocity is 
 astonishing, as it passes through a space 
 of nearly twelve millions of miles in a 
 minute. Light, when decomposed, is 
 found to consist of rays differently color- 
 ed ; as, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, 
 indigo, and violet. The sun is the prin- 
 cipal source of light in the solar system ; 
 but light is also emitted from bodies ig- 
 nited, or in combustion, and is reflected 
 from enlightened bodies, as the moon. 
 Light is also emitted from certain putre- 
 fying substances. It is usually united 
 with heat, but it exists also independent 
 of it. The intensity of light, at different 
 distances from a luminous body, is in- 
 versely as the squares of those distances, 
 so that in this respect it follows the same 
 law as heat, sound, and the force of grav- 
 ity. Light acts a very important part 
 in the vegetable economy. The green 
 color of plants and the hues of flowers 
 entirely depend upon it. It is also found 
 to assist in developing the forms of some 
 of the lower classes of animals. There 
 are two theories respecting the nature 
 of light. Some maintain that it is com- 
 posed of material particles, which are 
 constantly thrown off from the luminous 
 body ; while others suppose that it is a 
 fluid, diffused through all nature, and 
 that the luminous body occasions waves 
 or undulations in this fluid, by which the 
 light is propagated in the same manner 
 as sound is conveyed through the air. 
 The first is called the corpuscular, the 
 second the undulatory theory; the lat- 
 ter is now more generally entertained, 
 several facts being wholly inexplicable 
 on the former theory. The language, 
 however, which is employed in treating
 
 LIP] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS 
 
 355 
 
 of light is, for the most part, accommo- 
 dated to the former. Light, in painting, 
 the medium by which objects are dis- 
 cerned. In a picture it means the part 
 the most illuminated. This may happen 
 from natural light, as the sun or moon ; 
 or from artificial light, as a fire, candle, 
 &c. The principal light is generally 
 made to fall on the spot where the prin- 
 cipal figures are placed, and generally 
 near the centre of the picture. A re- 
 flected light is that which a body in shad- 
 ow receives from a contiguous light ob- 
 ject. 
 
 LIGIIT'NING, a sudden discharge of 
 electricity from a cloud to the earth, or 
 from the earth to a cloud, or from one 
 cloud to another, that is, from a body 
 positively charged to one negatively 
 charged, producing a vivid flash of light, 
 and usually a loud report, called thun- 
 der. Sometimes lightning is a mere in- 
 stantaneous flash of light without thun- 
 der, as heat-lightning, lightning seen by 
 reflection, the flash being beyond the 
 limits of our horizon. AVhen the flash 
 of lightning takes a zigzag course, or 
 when it branches out, it is termed forked 
 lightning; when it has the appearance 
 of a sudden and wide illumination, it is 
 called sheet-lightning. 
 
 LIM'BO, a region, supposed by some 
 of the school theologians to lie on the 
 edge or neighborhood of hell. This serv- 
 ed as a receptacle for the souls of just 
 men, not admitted into purgatory or 
 heaven. Such were, according to some 
 Christian writers, the patriarchs and oth- 
 er pious ancients who died before the 
 birth of Christ : hence the limbo was 
 called Limbus Patrum. These, it was 
 believed, would be liberated at Christ's 
 second coming, and admitted to the priv- 
 ileges of the blessed in heaven. Though 
 some have asserted that, when our Saviour 
 went down into hell, he liberated these 
 souls, and carried them away with him 
 into heaven. This latter idea is proba- 
 bly an adorned representation of the re- 
 markable passage in St. Peter's epistle, 
 (i. 3, 19,) where he says that Christ 
 preached to the spirits in prison ; and, 
 being held by certain of the later fathers, 
 seems to have given some influence to 
 the growing opinion in favor of a purga- 
 tory. The limbus puerorum, or infan- 
 tum, was a similar receptacle allotted 
 by some of the schoolmen to the souls of 
 infants who die unbaptized. Dante has 
 fixed his limbo, in which the distinguished 
 spirits of antiquity are confined, as the 
 outermost of the circle of his hell. The 
 
 use which Milton has made of the same 
 superstitions belief is well known. 
 
 LIMITA'TION, in law, a certain time 
 prescribed by statute, within which an 
 action must be brought. 
 
 LINE, in fortification, whatever is 
 drawn on the ground of the field, as a 
 trench, or a row of gabions, &c. Lines 
 are most commonly made to shut up an 
 avenue, or entrance to some place, and 
 are distinguished into lines of approac/i, 
 of defence, of communication, &c. Line, 
 in genealogy, a series or succession of 
 relations, from a common progenitor. 
 Direct line, is that which goes from fa- 
 ther to son ; being the order of ascendants 
 and descendants. The collateral line, is 
 the order of those who descend from a 
 common father related to the former, but 
 out of the line of ascendants and descend- 
 ants : in this are placed uncles, aunts, 
 nephews, &c. A ship of the line, in na- 
 val affairs, any vessel of war large enough 
 to be drawn up in the line of battle. In 
 military affairs, regular troops, in dis- 
 tinction from the militia, volunteers, <fcc., 
 are called troops of the line. 
 
 LIN'EN, cloth made of flax, being 
 much finer than that which is made of 
 hemp. In common linen the warp and 
 woof cross each other at right angles ; if 
 figures are woven in, it is called damask. 
 The species of goods which come under 
 the denomination of linen, are table- 
 cloths, sheeting, cambric, lawn, shirting, 
 towels, &o. The chief countries in which 
 linens are manufactured are Russia, Ger- 
 many, Switzerland, Holland, Scotland, 
 and Ireland. In several parts of Ger- 
 many, Switzerland,Flanclers, and France, 
 linens are frequently embellished with 
 painting ; and in England the produce 
 of the Irish^inen manufacture is beauti- 
 fully printed in the manner of calicoes. 
 In the middle ages, linen and woollen 
 cloth formed the only materials for dress 
 and fine linen was held in very high es 
 timation. In more ancient times linen 
 formed the dress of the Egyptian priests, 
 who wore it at all their religious cere- 
 monies. 
 
 LIPOGRAMMAT'IC WORKS or 
 WRITINGS, compositions in which a 
 particular letter is omitted throughout. 
 The ancients produced many ingenious 
 trifles of this description. In the Odys- 
 sey of Tryphiodorus there was no A in the 
 first book, no B in the second, and so on. 
 There are other pieces of modern inven- 
 tion, such as the Pugna Porcorum, in 
 which all the words begin with the letter 
 P. Odes in Spanish, containing only one
 
 356 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 of the vowels, arc refinements on the same 
 invention. 
 
 LIST, the enclosed field of ground 
 wherein the ancient knights held their 
 jousts and tournaments ; so called from 
 its being encircled with pales, barriers, 
 or stakes, as with a list. Some of these 
 were double, one for each cavalier, which 
 
 kept them apart, and prevented them 
 from coming nearer each other than a 
 spear's length. ^lence the expression to 
 enter the lisfs is synonymous with enga- 
 ging in contest. 
 
 LIT'ANY, signifies a general suppli- 
 cation ; and was applied by the Eastern 
 church in early ages to a special form 
 of prayer which was introduced into the 
 ritual, or used on particular occasions. 
 The term passed over into the Western 
 church, where the words rogatio and 
 supplicatio have been used in the same 
 technical sense. It is supposed that the 
 change of term was occasioned by the 
 frequency of processional supplications 
 from the Eastern to the Western church- 
 es, beginning in the fourth century. The 
 litany of the English Church is mostly 
 translated from the forms of the Western 
 litanies previously used in that country ; 
 those of the breviary of Salisbury and 
 York. The direction in the prayer-book 
 is, that the litany shall be read on 
 Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays : on 
 the two former, as fast-days in the primi- 
 tive Church ; the one as the day in which 
 Christ was sold by Judas, the other as 
 that of the crucifixion, and therefore pe- 
 riods of peculiar humiliation : on the 
 Sunday, as the day appointed for the most 
 complete and solemn service in the week. 
 LITERA'TI, in general, denotes men 
 of learning. In antiquity, those who 
 were branded with any le*ters by way 
 of ignominy, were so called. 
 
 LIT'ERATES, in ecclesiastical affairs, 
 
 <u a name given to those who are admitted 
 to ordination by the bishop without hav- 
 ing taken a university degree. 
 
 LIT'ERATURE, in the general sense 
 of the word, comprises the entire results 
 of knowledge and mental activity ex- 
 pressed in writing ; but in a narrower 
 sense, it is used to denote the depart- 
 ment of elegant letters, excluding works 
 of abstract science and mere erudition. 
 In this limited view it comprehends 
 languages, particularly Greek and Lat- 
 in, grammar, etymology, logic, rhetoric, 
 poetry, history, criticism, bibliography, 
 and a description of the attainments 
 of the human mind in every sphere 
 of research and invention. The history 
 
 of literature represents the develop- 
 ment and successive changes of civil- 
 ization, so far as these are exhibited 
 in written works, and embraces the his- 
 tory of the literature of special ages or 
 countries, and of the separate branches 
 of literature, as poetry, rhetoric, philol- 
 ogy, and so forth. A brief sketch of the 
 literature of different nations, in ancient 
 and modern times, will be given in the 
 present article. 
 
 I. ANCIENT LITERATURE. 
 
 1. Chinese Literature. The antiquity 
 of Chinese literature is proportionate to 
 that of the language, and its develop- 
 ment has been greatly promoted by the 
 early invention of the art of printing, 
 which has been known in China for at 
 lea^t nine hundred years. The Chinese 
 language presents a remarkable speci- 
 men of philological structure, which for 
 ingenuity of arrangement and copious- 
 ness of expression, is not surpassed in 
 any written literature. It belongs to 
 that class of idioms which are called 
 monosyllabic. Every word consists of 
 only one syllable. The roots or original 
 characters of the Chinese are only 214 
 in number, and it is supposed that a 
 minute analysis would reduce them to 
 a still smaller amount. Each of these 
 characters represents one word, and each 
 word an idea. Their various combina- 
 tions form the whole language. Taken 
 singly, they express the principal objects 
 or ideas that are suggested in the com- 
 mon intercourse of life ; and combined, 
 according to obvious analogies, they are 
 made to comprehend the entire field of 
 thought. Thus the character, which 
 originally represents the word hand, is 
 so modified and combined with others, 
 as to denote every variety of manual 
 labor and occupation. The Chinese 
 characters are written from top to bot- 
 tom, and from right to left. The lines 
 are not horizontal, but perpendicular and 
 parallel to each other. Much impor- 
 tance is attached by the Chinese to the 
 graphic beauty of their written charac- 
 ters, which in picturesque effect, it must 
 be owned, are superior to most forms of 
 alphabetic symbols. The grammar of 
 the language is very limited. The nouns 
 and verbs cannot be inflected, and hence 
 the relation of words to each other in a 
 sentence can be understood only from 
 the context, or marked by their position. 
 
 The Chinese literature is rich in works 
 in every department of composition, both
 
 LIT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 357 
 
 verse and prose. Their scholars are 
 fond of discussions in moral philosophy, 
 but they have also numerous books of 
 history, geography, voyages, dramas, 
 romances, tales, and fictions of all kinds. 
 The labors of various European travellers 
 and students have given us specimens of 
 almost every description of Chinese liter- 
 ature. In legislation, we have a trans- 
 lation of the Penal Code of the Empire ; 
 in politics and morals, the sacred books 
 of Confucius, and his successor Meng- 
 Tsew ; in philology and belles-lettres, 
 a well-executed dictionary of the lan- 
 guage ; several translations and ab- 
 stracts of history ; and selections from 
 the drama, criticism, and romance. 
 Among the most successful explorers of 
 the field of Chinese literature, we may 
 mention Staunton, Davis, Morrison, 
 Klaproth,. and llemusat, who have fol- 
 lowed up the earlier researches of the 
 Jesuits at Pekin, and greatly elucidated 
 a subject which had been supposed to be 
 inaccessible. 
 
 2. Greek Literature. The language 
 which we call Greek, was not the prim- 
 itive language of Greece, for that coun- 
 try was originally inhabited by the Pe- 
 lasgi, whose language had become extinct 
 in the time of Herodotus. With regard 
 to its origin, there is a diversity of opin- 
 ion among the learned, although it 
 evidently forms a branch of the exten- 
 sive family of languages, known by the 
 name of Indo-Germanic. It has existed 
 as a spoken language for at least three 
 thousand years, and with the exception 
 of the Arabic and the English, has been 
 more widely diffused than any other 
 tongue". Out of Greece, it was spoken in 
 a great part of Asia Minor, of the south 
 of Italy and Sicily, and in other regions 
 which were settled by Grecian colonies. 
 The Greek language is divided into four 
 leading dialects, the JEolic, Ionic, Doric, 
 and Attic, beside which there are several 
 secondary dialects. The four principal 
 dialects may, however, be reduced to 
 two, the Hellenic-Doric, and the Ionic- 
 Attic, the latter originally spoken in the 
 northern part of Peloponnesus and At- 
 tica, the former in other parts of Greece. | 
 In each of these dialects, there are cele- 
 brated authors. To the Ionic dialect, 
 belong in part the works of the oldest 
 poets. Homer, Ilesiod. Theognis ; of 
 some prose writers, especially Herodotus 
 and Hippocrates : and the poems of Pin- 
 dar, Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus. 
 The Doric dialect was of the greatest an- 
 tiquity. We have few remains of Doric 
 
 prose, which consists chiefly of mathe- 
 matical or philosophical writings. Af- 
 ter Athens became the centre of litera- 
 ry cultivation in Greece, the works of 
 JSschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aris- 
 tophanes, Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, 
 Isocrates, Demosthenes, and so forth, 
 were regarded as standards of style, and 
 made the Attic the common dialect of 
 literature. Poetry, however, was not 
 written in the Attic diafcct. The pecu- 
 liarities of Homer were imitated by all 
 subsequent poets, except the dramatists, 
 and even they assumed the Doric to a 
 certain degree in their choruses, for the 
 sake of the solemnity of expression 
 which belonged to the oldest liturgies 
 of the Greeks. According to the gen- 
 eral tradition, Cadmus the Phoenician, 
 was the first who introduced the alpha- 
 bet into Greece. His alphabet consisted 
 of but sixteen letters; four are said to 
 have been invented by Palamedes in the 
 Trojan war, and four more by Simonides 
 of Ceos. It has been maintained how- 
 ever by some persons, that the art of 
 writing was practised by the Pelasgi 
 before the time of Cadmus. On the 
 other hand, many of the most sagacious 
 critics, place the origin of writing in 
 Greece at a much later period. 
 
 The origin of Greek literature, or the 
 intellectual cultivation of the Greeks, by 
 written works, dates at a period of which 
 we have few historical memorials. The 
 first period of Grecian cultivation, which 
 extends to 80 years after the Trojan war, 
 is called the ante-Homeric period, and is 
 destitute of any literary remains, proper- 
 ly deserving the name. Of the poets 
 previous to Homer, nothing satisfactory 
 is known. The most ancient was Oleu, 
 who is mentioned by Pausanias. He was 
 followed by Linus ; Orpheus, Musaeus, and 
 others, but the poems which are circu- 
 lated under their names cannot be re- 
 garded as their genuine productions. It 
 was in the Greek colonies of Asia Minor, 
 that the first great impulse was given 
 to the development of literature ; and 
 among them we find the earliest authen- 
 tic specimens of Greek poetry and his- 
 torical composition. Situated on the 
 borders of a noble sea, enjoying a climate 
 of delicious softness and purity, abound- 
 ing in the most nutritious and tempting 
 products of nature, whose fertility was 
 not inferior to its beauty, these colonies 
 possessed a character of refined voluptu- 
 ousness, which, if not favorable to the 
 performance of great deeds, allured the 
 dreamy spirit to poetical contemplations,
 
 358 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 and was manifested in noble creations of 
 the fancy, which have not been surpassed 
 in the progress of cultivation. Living 
 near the scene of the Trojan war, the 
 bards devoted their first poems to the 
 celebration of Grecian heroism. With 
 them, commenced the second period of 
 Greek literature, which we call the Epic 
 age. Of these, Homer alone has survived. 
 We have from him the two great poems, 
 the Iliad andfc Odyssey, with several 
 hymn? and epigrams. He gave his name 
 to the Homeridae, an Ionian school of 
 minstrels, who preserved the old Homeric 
 and epic style, and who are probably the 
 Authors of much that has been ascribed 
 to.Homer himself. 
 
 Next to the Homeridae, come the Cyclic 
 poets, whose works embrace the whole 
 circle of mythology and tradition, de- 
 scribing the origin of the gods and of the 
 world, the adventures of the Heroic times, 
 the Argonautic expedition, the labors of 
 Hercules and Theseus, the principal 
 events of the Theban and Trojan wars, 
 and the fortunes of the Greeks after the 
 fall of Troy. A transition between these 
 historic- poets and the later school of 
 Ionian minstrelsy, is formed by Hesiod, 
 who conducted poetry back from Asia 
 Minor into Greece. Of the sixteen works 
 ascribed to him. we have the Theogony, 
 the Shield of Hercules, and Works and 
 Days, the last, an agricultural poem, in- 
 terspersed with moral reflections and pru- 
 "dential maxims. 
 
 The third period commences with the 
 growth of lyric poetry, of apologues and 
 philosophy, with which history gained a 
 new development and a higher degree of 
 certainty. Lyric poetry sprung up on 
 the decline of the Epic school, and was 
 much cultivated from the beginning of 
 the epoch of the Olympiads (776 B.C.,) to 
 the first Persian war. The poems of this 
 period are considered among the most 
 valuable productions of Grecian litera- 
 ture. Many of them resembled the epic, 
 and contained the subjects of heroic song. 
 They were sung by bands of youths and 
 maidens, accompanied by instrumental 
 music. Among the most celebrated of 
 the lyric poets were Archilochus of Paros, 
 the inventor of the Iambus ; Tyrtfeus, 
 Terpander, and Alcman, whose martial 
 strains enkindled the valor of the Spar- 
 tans ; Callimachus of Ephesus, inventor 
 of the elegiac measure ; Simonides and 
 Anacreon of Ceos ; the impassioned Sap- 
 pho of Mitylene ; Stesichorus, Hipponax, 
 and Pindar. Many didactic poems, fa- 
 bles, and proverbs were written during 
 
 this period, and served to prepare the 
 way for prose composition. 
 
 The philosophy of this age was marked 
 by its constant reference to practical 
 affairs. Among its expounders, we may 
 consider the seven wise men of Greece, 
 as they are called, (Periander, or accord- 
 ing to some, Epiuaenides of Crete, Pitta- 
 cus, Thales. Solon, Bias, Chilo, and Cleo- 
 bulus,) of whom six acquired their fame, 
 not by the teaching of speculative ab- 
 stractions, but by their admirable wisdom 
 in the affairs of life, and their skill in the 
 offices of state. Their celebrated sayings 
 are the maxims of experience, applied to 
 the practical relations of life. But with 
 the progress of intellectual culture, a 
 taste for speculative inquiries was un- 
 folded. This resulted in the establish- 
 ment of the Ionic philosophy by Thales, 
 the Italian, by Pythagoras, and the older 
 and later Eleatic. With the development 
 of these schools, we are brought to the 
 scientific period of Greek literature. The 
 Ionic school ascribed a material origin 
 to the universe. Its principal followers 
 were Pherecydes, Anixatnander, Ariaxa- 
 mines, Anaxagoras, Diogenes of Apollo- 
 nia, and Archilaus of Miletus. Of the 
 Pythagorean school, which explained the 
 organization of the world by number and 
 measure, were Ocellus Lucanus, Timaeus 
 of Locris, Epicharmus, Theages, Archy- 
 tas, Philolaus, and Eudoxus. - To the 
 older Eleatic school, which cherished a 
 more sublime, but less intelligible con- 
 ception of the origin of the world, as- 
 suming the fact of a pure necessary 
 existence, belonged Xenophanes and Par- 
 menides ; to the later Eleatic, Melissus 
 and Diagoras. Until about the com- 
 mencement of the 90th Olympiad, the 
 philosophers and their disciples were dis- 
 persed throughout the various Grecian 
 cities. Athens subsequently became their 
 chief residence, where the class of men 
 called Sophists first rose into importance 
 as public teachers. Of these, the most 
 distinguished names that have been pre- 
 served to us are Gorgias of Leontium, 
 Protagoras of Abdera, Hippias of Elis, 
 Prodicus of Cos, Trasimaeus and Tisias. 
 They were especially devoted to the sub- 
 jects of politics and eloquence, but also 
 made a study of the natural sciences, 
 mathematics, the theory of the fine nrt., 
 and philosophy. Professing the art of 
 logic as a trade, they were less earnest 
 in the pursuit of truth, than in ' he con- 
 struction of plausible arguments. Their 
 fallacious pretences awakened the honest 
 indignation of Socrates, who not only be-
 
 LIT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 359 
 
 came their zealous antagonist, but gave 
 a vigorous and original impulse to the 
 progress of philosophy. This shrewd and 
 subtle reasoner opened a new direction 
 to philosophical research, turning it to 
 the study of human nature, and of the 
 laws of psychology and ethics instead of 
 barren speculations and theories. With- 
 out leaving any written record of his 
 genius, he is known at the present day 
 by the affectionate and beautiful memo- 
 rials which have been consecrated to his 
 character in the productions of his disci- 
 ples. Among these, Plato was pre-emi- 
 nent by the force and comprehensiveness 
 of his reason, the marvellous keenness of 
 his insight in the region of transcenden- 
 tal ideas, the vigor and acuteness of his 
 logical faculties, and the winning sweet- 
 ness and grace of expression, which lend 
 a charm to his writings that has never 
 been equalled in philosophical literature. 
 The masterly conversations of Socrates, 
 in which he expounded the principles of 
 his philosophy in the streets and market- 
 place of Athens, are reproduced with ad- 
 mirable dramatic effect, in the glowing 
 pages of his eloquent disciple. 
 
 The progress of history kept pace in 
 Grecian cultivation with the development 
 of philosophy. Among the oldest histori- 
 cal prose writers, are Cadmus, Dionysius, 
 and Hecatseus of Miletus, Hellanicus of 
 Mitylene, and Pherecydes of Scyros. 
 After them appears Herodotus, who has 
 received the name of the Homer of his- 
 tory. He was followed by Thucydides, 
 the grave, condensed, and philosophical 
 historian of the Peloponnesian War. 
 Strongly contrasted with his sternness 
 and energy, is Xenophon, whose limpid 
 narrative flows on with the charming 
 facility of a graceful stream, presenting 
 a delightful specimen of the tranquil 
 beauty of Greek prose in its most simple 
 form. These three historians distin- 
 guished the period from 550 to 500 B.C., 
 during which time we have to notice the 
 introduction of a new class of poetical 
 creations. 
 
 The popular festivals, which were 
 celebrated after the vintage, with rude 
 songs and dances, led to the gradual cre- 
 ation of the drama. A more artistic 
 form was given to the wild choruses in 
 honor of Bacchus ; the recitation of fa- 
 bles by an intermediate speaker was in- 
 troduced into the performances ; and 
 soon the games of the vintage festival 
 were repeated on other occasions. The 
 spirit of the drama was thus cherished, 
 until the appearance of jEschylus, who 
 
 may be deemed the author of the dra- 
 matic art in Greece. He divided the sto- 
 ry into different portions, substituted the 
 dialogue for recitation by a single per- 
 son, and assigned the various parts to 
 skilful actors. The three great tragic 
 writers are ^Eschylus, Sophocles and 
 Euripides, while the most distinguished 
 rank in comedy is held by Cratinus, 
 Eupolis, Crates, and especially Aristo- 
 phanes, j) 
 
 During this period we find several 
 didactic and lyric poets, while the sister 
 art of eloquence was illustrated by the 
 names of Lysias, Demosthenes) jEschines, 
 Antiphon, Gorgias, and Isocrates. 
 
 The succeeding period, which is usu- 
 ally called the Alexandrine, was char- 
 acterized by the prevalence of a critical 
 spirit ; the luxuriant bloom of the ear- 
 lier Greek literature had passed away ; 
 and the fresh creative impulses of ge- 
 nius were made to yield to the love of 
 speculation and the influence of erudi- 
 tion. The glowing imaginative philos- 
 ophy of Plato was succeeded by the 
 more rigid system of Aristotle, who 
 fdunded the Peripatetic school, and gf^e 
 order and precision to the principles of 
 reasoning. With the passion for subtle 
 analysis, which was the characteristic of 
 his mind, he drew a sharp line of distinc- 
 tion between logic and rhetoric, ethics 
 and politics, physics and metaphysics, 
 thus enlarging the boundaries of philos- 
 ophy, and establishing a system which 
 exercised an undisputed supremacy for 
 ages. The dogmatic tendencies of Aris- 
 totle found their counterpart in the 
 skeptical principles of which Pyrrho of 
 Elis was the most distinguished advocate. 
 The same principles prevailed to a cer- 
 tain extent in the Middle and New Acad- 
 emies founded by Arcesilaus and Car- 
 neades, while the Socratic philosophy 
 was modified by the disciples of the Stoic 
 school, established by Zeno, and of the 
 Epicurean, which bears the name of its 
 celebrated founder. At length the intel- 
 lectual sceptre which had been so long 
 wielded by the philosophers and poets of 
 Greece, passed from Athens to Alexan- 
 dria ; the nation itself was absorbed in 
 the progress of Roman conquest ; Greek 
 literature ceased to give birth to original 
 productions ; and its brilliant career be- 
 came the subject of history. 
 
 Hebrew Literature. The language 
 and literature of the ancient Hebrews, 
 apart from its religious character and 
 claims, presents a curious and important 
 subject of investigation. It is the oldest
 
 360 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 literature of which any remains have 
 come down to modern times. With a 
 rich poetical coloring, a profound senti- 
 ment of humanity, and a lofty religious 
 faith, it sustains a most intimate relation 
 to the development of the intellect and 
 the moral and political history of the 
 race. The Hebrew language is one of the 
 oldest branches of the numerous family 
 of languages which have received the 
 name Shemitic, on account of the sup- 
 posed descent of the nations by which 
 they were spoken, from Shem, the son 
 of Noah. These are the Chaldaic, the 
 Aramsean, the Hebrew, the Syriac, the 
 Arabic, the Phoenician, and the Ethio- 
 pian. The history of the language has 
 been divided by many critics into four 
 periods. I. From Abraham to Moses. 
 II. From Moses to Solomon. III. From 
 Solomon to Ezra. IV. From Ezra to 
 the end of the age of the Maccabees, 
 when it was gradually lost in the modern 
 Aramsean and became a dead language. 
 The differences, however, which can be 
 traced in the language are so slight, that 
 a sounder division would be into only two 
 periods, the first extending from the time 
 of Moses to the reign of Hezekiah, and 
 the second from the reign of Hezekiah to 
 its final extinction as a spoken language. 
 The written characters or letters, which 
 date from the time of Solomon, were the 
 same as the Phoenician. During the 
 Babylonish captivity, the Hebrews re- 
 ceived from the Chaldees the square 
 character in common use, and in the 
 time of Ezra, the old Hebrew manu- 
 scripts were copied in these characters. 
 The punctuation of the language was not 
 settled until after the seventh century of 
 the Christian era. The accents, vowels, 
 points, and divisions into words, were also 
 introduced at a later period. 
 
 The poetical and religious sentiment 
 was the foundation of Hebrew literature. 
 Lyric poetry received a rich development 
 under David, to whom are ascribed sev- 
 eral noble specimens of song and elegy. 
 The fragments of didactic poetry which 
 bear the name of Solomon are stamped 
 with a character of practical wisdom, and 
 often exhibit an energy of expression, 
 which authorize us to class them among 
 the most extraordinary productions of 
 ancient literature. After the division of 
 the kingdom, the prophets became the 
 great- teachers of the people, and have left 
 various collections of their writings, none 
 of which have come down to us with com- 
 pleteness. Upon the return of the exiled 
 people from the Babylonish captivity. 
 
 the remains of Hebrew literature were 
 collected by a college of learned men un- 
 der the direction of Ezra, and from their 
 labors we have received the books of tho 
 Old Testament in their present form. 
 
 Roman Literature. The language of 
 the ancient Romans is usually called 
 Latin, for though Rome and Latium 
 were originally separate communities, 
 they always appear to have spoken the 
 same language. The Latins, as far as 
 we can decide on such a question at the 
 present day, seem to have formed a part 
 of that great race which overspread both 
 Greece and Italy under the name of Pe- 
 lasgians. It is supposed that the Pelas- 
 gians who settled in Italy originally 
 spoke the same language with the Pelas- 
 gians who settled in Greece. The Greek 
 and Latin languages accordingly have 
 many elements in common, though each 
 has its own distinctive character. 
 
 The history of Roman literature may 
 be divided into four periods. I. From 
 the earliest times till Cicero. II. To 
 the death of Augustus, A.D. 14. III. To 
 the death of Trojan. IV. To the con- 
 quest of Rome by the Goths. During 
 the first five hundred years of the Roman 
 history, scarcely any attention was paid 
 to literature. Its earliest attempts were 
 translations and imitations of the Greek 
 models. The Odyssey was translated into 
 Latin by Livius Andronicus, a Greek 
 captive of Tarentum, and the earliest 
 writer of whom we have any account. 
 His tragedies and comedies were taken 
 entirely from the Greek. He was fol- 
 lowed by Naevius, who wrote an historical 
 poem on the first Punic war, by the two 
 tragic writers Pacuvius and Attius, and 
 by Ennius, B.C. 239, the first epic poet, 
 and who may be regarded as the founder 
 of Roman literature. Being a Greek by 
 birth, he introduced the study of his 
 native language at Rome, and had 
 among his pupils Cato, Scipio Africanus, 
 and other distinguished citizens of that 
 day. At the same time, he taught the 
 Romans the art of easy and graceful 
 writing in their own language, and helped 
 to inspire them with a love of literature 
 by his refined taste and elegant cultiva- 
 tion. Contemporary with Ennius was 
 Plautus, whose dramatic pieces, in imi- 
 tation of the later comedy of the Greeks, 
 were remarkable for their vivacity of 
 expression and their genuine comic hu- 
 mor. He was followed by Cecilius and 
 Terence, of whom the latter has left 
 several admirable comedies, fully im- 
 bued with the Grecian spirit. The first
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 361 
 
 prose writers were Quintus Fabius Pictor 
 and Lucius Cincius Alimentus, who lived 
 in the time of the second Punic war, and 
 wrote a complete history of Rome. Their 
 style was meagre and insipid, aiming 
 only at brevity, and entirely destitute of 
 ornament or grace. 
 
 With the age of Augustus, in which 
 some earlier writers are usually reckoned, 
 a new spirit is exhibited in Roman litera- 
 ture. In didactic poetry, Lucretius sur- 
 passed his Grecian masters, by the force 
 of thought and the splendor of diction, 
 which characterize his great philosophical 
 poem on the origin of the universe. Ca- 
 tullus attempted various styles of poetry, 
 in all of which he obtained eminent suc- 
 cess. His lyric and elegiac poems, his 
 epigrams and satires, are marked by 
 singular versatility of feeling, frequent 
 flashes of wit, and rare felicity of ex- 
 pression. Among the elegiac poets, of 
 whose genius we still possess the remains, 
 the highest distinction was gained by Ti- 
 bullus, Propertius and Ovid. The former 
 of these poets was pronounced by Quinc- 
 tilian to be the greatest master of elegiac 
 verse ; Ovid possessed an uncommon fer- 
 tility of invention and ease of versifica- 
 tion ; while Propertius tempers the vo- 
 luptuous cast of his writings with a 
 certain dignity of thought and vigorous 
 mode of expression. The great lyric 
 poet of the Augustan age is Horace, 
 whose graceful and sportive fancy, com- 
 bined with his remarkable power of deli- 
 cate and effective satire, continues to 
 make him a favorite with all who have 
 the slightest tincture of classical learning. 
 The noblest production of this period, 
 however, is the ./Eneid of Virgil, which, 
 with his elaborate poem on rural affairs, 
 the Georgics, and his sweet and tender 
 pastorals, or Eclogues, fairly entitles him 
 to the position which has been given him 
 by universal consent, of the most gifted 
 epic and didactic poet in Roman litera- 
 ture. 
 
 The prose writings of the Latin authors, 
 taken as a whole, betray a higher order of 
 genius and cultivation than the works of 
 the poets. In this department, the pre- 
 eminence belongs to Cicero, whose vari- 
 ous productions in eloquence, philosophy, 
 and criticism, are amon'g the most valu- 
 able treasures of antiquity. In history, 
 Cesar, Sallust, and Livy. are the most 
 prominent names, who, each in his own 
 peculiar style, h'ave left models of his- 
 torical composition, which have been the 
 admiration of every subsequent age. 
 The literature of the Augustan period 
 
 partook of the general character of the 
 Roman people. Devoted to the realiza- 
 tion of practical objects, with slight ten- 
 dencies to the ideal aspect of things, and 
 absorbed in the exciting game of politics 
 and war, the Romans had little taste 
 either for abstract speculation or for the 
 loftiest flights of poetical fancy. Hence 
 no new system of philosophy was pro- 
 duced in their literature ; their best 
 poets were essentially imitative ; and of 
 all branches of study, those connected 
 with popular eloquence were held in the 
 greatest esteem. 
 
 With the death of Augustus com- 
 menced the decline of Roman litei nture. 
 Among the poets of this period, are Phse- 
 drus, an ingenious fabulist, the satirists, 
 Juvenal and Persius, whose works are 
 more important for their illustrations of 
 the manners of the age. than for their 
 poetical merit, and Lucan, who describes 
 the wars of Cesar and Pompey in an in- 
 sipid historical epic. In prose, we have 
 the sombre, but condensed and powerful 
 histories of Tacitus, and the quaint and 
 artificial treatises on ethics and philosophy 
 by Seneca. Subsequent to the reign of 
 Trajan, we meet with no writers, who 
 have any claim upon our attention, and 
 the literature of Rome, after a brief in- 
 terval of splendor, during the golden age 
 between Cicero and Augustus, passes into 
 unimportance and obscurity. 
 
 Sanscrit Literature. Until the close 
 of the last century, the Sanscrit literature 
 was almost wholly unknown to the learned 
 of Europe. The Roman Catholic mis- 
 sionaries in India, had, to a certain ex- 
 tent, engaged in the study of the lan- 
 guage at an earlier period, but it is only 
 since the year 1790, that it has attracted 
 the attention of eminent scholars. Among 
 those who have given an impulse to the 
 study of Sanscrit, and who have them- 
 selves pursued it with distinguished suc- 
 cess, are Sir William Jones, Wilkins, 
 Forster, Colebrooke, Wilson. Haughton, 
 Rosen, Chezy, Burnouf, A. W. Schlegel, 
 and Bopp. We are indebted to their 
 labors for a knowledge of this rich and 
 curious literature, which, on many ac- 
 counts, may be considered as one of the 
 most remarkable products in the history 
 of intellectual culture. 
 
 The Sanscrit language is a branch of 
 the Indo-Germanic family of languages, 
 and is supposed to bear the greatest re- 
 semblance to the primitive type. In its 
 construction, it is in the highest degree 
 ingenious and elaborate, and the variety 
 and beauty of its forms are well adapted
 
 362 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 to illustrate the laws of the formation of 
 language. It is the sacred language of 
 the Bramins, and contains the Vedas, the 
 oldest records of their religion. The last 
 century before the Christian era, was the 
 period of its richest blossoming, although 
 it extends back to a far more remote 
 antiquity. It appears in its most ancient 
 form in the Vedas, which date from the 
 thirteenth century before Christ, and in 
 that state exhibits many striking analo- 
 gies with the Zend, the ancient language 
 of Persia. These writings are the foun- 
 dation of Sanscrit literature, and diffuse 
 their influence through the whole course 
 of its development. 
 
 The Vedas are divided into four classes, 
 the first being in poetry, the second in 
 prose,,^^ third consisting of lyrical 
 prayers, and the fourth of devotional 
 pieces, intended to be used in sacrifices 
 and other religious offices. Each Veda 
 is composed of two parts, the prayers and 
 the commandments. The Sanscrit pos- 
 sesses a variety of other works in sacred 
 literature, which contain not only a co- 
 pious exposition of religious doctrines, 
 but numerous discussions of philosophi- 
 cal and scientific subjects, and an exten- 
 sive collection of poetical legends. 
 
 The two oldest and most interesting 
 epic poems are " The Kamayana," de- 
 scribing the seventh great incarnation of 
 Vishnu, and "The Mahabharata," devo- 
 ted to the wars of two rival lines descend- 
 ed from the ancient Indian monarch, 
 Bharata. An episode from this work 
 called "Bhagavat Gita" has been trans- 
 lated by Wilkins, Herder, Schlegel and 
 others, and has excited no small interest 
 as an illustration of the early Oriental 
 philosophy. 
 
 A new character was given to Sanscrit 
 poetry about one hundred years before 
 the Christian era, by the introduction of 
 themes connected with courts and princes. 
 It lost the popular and national ten- 
 dency which appears in the two great- 
 epics, alluded to above, and assumed n, 
 more artificial form. With a manifest 
 improvement in the mere externals of 
 style, the new poetry shows a degeneracy 
 in point of thought, and an entire ab- 
 sence of original invention. In the 
 principal works of this class we find la- 
 bored descriptions of natural objects, and 
 
 tion, and whose epic, lyric, and dramatic 
 productions, must be allowed to possess 
 considerable merit. His best descriptive 
 poem, entitled ' Meghaduta," is a model 
 of simplicity and elegance. It exhibits 
 a highly ideal character, tracing out the 
 spiritual significance of visible phenome- 
 na, and striving to penetrate into the 
 hidden life of the universe. The drama 
 called ''Sacontala" or the "Fatal Ring," 
 by this author, has received the warm- 
 est commendation from modern critics. 
 " All its scenes," says the genial Herder, 
 " are connected by flowery bands, each 
 grows out of the subject as naturally as 
 a beautiful plant. A multitude of sub- 
 lime as well as tender ideas are found in 
 it, which we should look for in vain, in a 
 Grecian drama." A valuable translation 
 of this poem has been made by Sir Wil- 
 liam Jones. 
 
 The influence of religious speculation 
 in India early gave birth to numerous 
 philosophical writings. With the love 
 of contemplation, to which the natives 
 are so strongly inclined, and the progress 
 of thought in opposition to the doctrines 
 of the Vedas, a variety of philosophical 
 systems was the natural consequence. 
 The oldest of these is called the " Sank- 
 hya." It teaches the duality of matter 
 and spirit, which are essentially different 
 in their nature, though found in such 
 intimate union. The problem of life, is 
 the emancipation of the soul from the do- 
 minion of the senses, -and the attainment 
 of blessedness by the supremacy of the in- 
 tellect. Another system of transcenden- 
 tal speculation is named the li Nyaya.'' 
 This is constructed from strict logical 
 deductions, which it applies to the inter- 
 pretation of nature, and arrives at a 
 theory of materialism, the reverse of the 
 Sankhya ideality. The Nyaya school 
 has produced a multitude of writings. 
 Opposed to each of these systems is the 
 " Mimansa," which maintains the doc- 
 trines of the Vedas in their original 
 strictness, and strives to reconcile them 
 with the suggestions of philosophy. 
 
 The Sanscrit literature, moreover, 
 abounds in works on various other 
 branches of learning. Its philological 
 treatises, especially, are of great value. 
 The Indian grammarians surpass those 
 of any other ancient people. No less 
 
 many curious artifices of composition, j important are the Sanscrit works on 
 
 but they are destitute both of brilliancy 
 of imagination and depth of reflection. 
 The most fertile author of the new school 
 is undoubtedly Calidasa, who attempted 
 almost every species of poetical composi- 
 
 rhetoric, criticism, music, astronomy, and 
 jurisprudence. They Well deserve the 
 attention of the scholar, not only on 
 account of their intrinsic character, but 
 as precious memorials of the early de-
 
 LIT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 363 
 
 I 
 
 velopment of the intellect, and significant 
 illustrations of the history of the race. 
 
 II. MODERN LITERATURE. 
 r An interval of eight centuries separates 
 /the period of the decline of Roman litera- 
 ture from that of the first dawn of modern 
 literature in Europe. The successive 
 invasions of the barbarians during the 
 rapid dismemberment of the ancient em- 
 pire of Rome, for a time destroyed all 
 languages, and centuries elapsed before 
 the new tongues were sufficiently ma- 
 tured for the cultivation of letters. In 
 the Eastern Empire, during the third, 
 fourth, and fifth centuries after Christ, 
 nothing was produced except some works 
 of theology, by the Fathers of the Church. 
 The Arabs first began to cultivate litera- 
 ture in the sixth, and the Persians in the 
 ninth century after Christ. The Pro- 
 vencal, or language of the Troubadours, 
 in the south of France, first attained a 
 stable character towards the close of the 
 ninth century, and the Langue d' Oil, or 
 Romance-tongue of Normandy, about fifty 
 years later. Nearly all of the living 
 languages of Europe date the first be- 
 ginnings of their literature as far back 
 as the tenth century, though, except to 
 gratify a philological taste, there is little 
 that will repay the student of modern 
 literature for going beyond the twelfth 
 century. The following sketches of the 
 literature of civilized- nations, since the 
 decline of classic literature, have been 
 arranged nearly in the order of time : 
 
 Arabic Literature, Literature, after 
 its final decay and extinction in the East- 
 ern and Western Roman Empires, revived 
 first among the Arabic tribes in the East. 
 Even before the era of Mahomet, there 
 were renowned poets and story-tellers in 
 Arabia. In the fifth century, during the 
 great fairs of Mecca, poetical contests 
 frequently took place, the victorious pro- 
 ductions being lettered with gold and 
 hung up in the Caaba. Among the most 
 renowned poets of this period were 
 Amralkeis, Tharafa, and Antar. Their 
 works are distinguished by imaginative 
 power, richness of illustration, and great 
 skill in depicting the passions of love 
 and revenge. With Mahomet commenced 
 a memorable epoch in Arabic literature. 
 Through the Koran, which was arranged 
 from Mahomet's teaching?, by Abubekr, 
 the first caliph, the method of writing 
 and the literary style of the nation were 
 determined. The reigns of Haroun Al- 
 Raschitl and Al-Mainun in the seventh 
 and eighth centuries, were the most en- 
 
 lightened period of the Arabic dominion, 
 though for two centuries afterwards the 
 nation produced many eminent geogra- 
 phers, philosophers, jurists and histori- 
 ans. Under the government of Al-Ma- 
 mun, excellent universities were estab- 
 lished at Bagdad, Bussora and Bokhara, 
 and extensive libraries in Alexandria, 
 Bagdad and Cairo. The dynasty of the 
 Abbassides in Bagdad emulated that of 
 the Ornmanides in Spain ; during the tenth 
 century the University of Cordova was 
 almost the only refuge of literature in 
 Europe. The labors of the Arabic schol- 
 ars and travellers contributed greatly to 
 the spread of geographical knowledge. 
 Ibn Battita, who in the thirteenth century 
 visited Africa, India, China, and Russia, 
 ranks with Marco Polo and Rubruquis. 
 In the twelfth century Abu'l Kasein 
 wrote the history of the Arabs in Spain ; 
 Bohaeddin, a biography of Sultan Sala- 
 din ; Ibn Arabschah described the ex- 
 ploits of Tamerlane, and Hadji Khalfa, 
 in later times, has produced an encyclo- 
 pedia of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish 
 literature. The style of the Arabian 
 historians is clear, concise, and unincum- 
 bered with imagery. The most renowned 
 philosopher was Avicenna, who flourished 
 in the eleventh century. Averrhoes, 
 whose name is also familiar to scholars, 
 was famous as an expounder of the sys- 
 tem of Aristotle. In the departments 
 of medicine, astronomy, geometry.- and 
 arithmetic, there are many Arabic works 
 which exhibit great research and scien- 
 tific knowledge. 
 
 The number and variety of the works 
 produced by the Arabian poets, is most 
 remarkable, and their influence on the 
 modern literature of Europe was greater 
 than is generally suspected. In pic- 
 turesque narration they have rarely been 
 excelled, and the "Thousand and One 
 Nights." which first appeared in its col- 
 lected form during the reign of Caliph 
 Mansur in the ninth century, has been 
 naturalized in all modern languages. 
 Only half of this, however, is Arabic ; 
 the remainder having been translated 
 from the Sanscrit and Persian. The 
 Arabian poets left many poetic chron- 
 icles, the most celebrated of which are : 
 " The Deeds of Antar," " The Deeds of 
 the Warriors," and "The Deeds of tho 
 Heroes." Of late years, several eminent 
 French and German scholars have given 
 their attention to the study of Arabic 
 literature, the best works of which aro 
 ow accessible through their translations 
 Persian. Literature. The modern lit-
 
 364 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 erature of Persia succeeded that of Arabia. 
 After the conquest of the country by the 
 caliphs, about the middle of the seventh 
 century, the arts and sciences of the 
 Arabs, together with the religion of Ma- 
 homet, were transplanted upon Persian 
 soil, but the fruits of this new culture did 
 not appear for several succeeding genera- 
 tions. The first Persian books, both of 
 poetry and history, were written in the 
 early part of the tenth century, and for 
 several centuries there was no interrup- 
 tion in the list of renowned authors. 
 Literature was encouraged and rewarded, 
 whatever might be the political convul- 
 sions that affected the empire. Persian 
 poetry consists for the most part of small 
 lyrics, arranged in divans, or collections. 
 There are also several voluminous histori- 
 cal, romantic, and allegorical poems, be- 
 sides legends and narratives told in a mix- 
 ture of prose and verse. The first Persian 
 poet is Rudegi, who flourished about the 
 year 952. Firdusi, the great epic poet 
 of Persia, died in the year 1030, at the 
 age of seventy. He wrote the " Schah- 
 namefi," or " Kings' Book'," describing 
 the deeds of the Persian rulers, from the 
 creation of the world to the downfall of 
 the Sassanide dynasty in 632. He was 
 thirty years in the composition of this 
 work, which contains sixty thousand 
 verses. The most celebrated portion is 
 that recounting the adventures of the 
 hero Rustem. Nisami, at the close of the 
 twelfth century, wrote extensive romantic 
 poems, the most remarkable of which 
 were "Medjnoun and Leila," and " Is- 
 kander-Nameh" an epic on Alexander 
 the Great. Chakani was a celebrated 
 writer of odes in the thirteenth century. 
 Saadi, one of the most celebrated Persian 
 authors, was born in 1175, and lived till 
 1263. His poems are principally moral 
 and didactic, but rich with the experience 
 of a fruitful life, and written in a very 
 simple and graceful style. His best 
 works are the Gulistan. or " Garden of 
 Roses," and the Bostan, or " Garden of 
 Trees." Hafi/,, the Oriental poet of love, 
 was born at Schiraz, in the beginning of 
 the fourteenth century, where he lived as 
 a dervish in willing poverty, resisting the 
 invitations of the caliphs to reside in 
 Bagdad. In the year 1388, he had an 
 interview with Tamerlane, by whom he 
 was treated with much honor. His poems 
 consisted of odes and elegies, which have 
 been collected into a " Divan." His 
 lyrics, devoted to the praise of love undjj 
 wine, are full of fire and melody. 
 
 Djami, who died in 1492, was one of 
 
 the most prolific of Persian writers. His 
 life was spent at Herat, where, in the 
 hall of the great mosque, he taught the 
 people the precepts of virtue and religion. 
 He left behind him forty works, theologi- 
 cal, poetical, and mystical. Seven of his 
 principal poems were united under the 
 title of " The Seven Stars of the Bear." 
 His history of mysticism, entitled " The 
 Breath of Man," is his greatest prose 
 work. Among the later Persian poems 
 are the Sctiehinscheh-Nameli, a continua- 
 tion of the Book of Kings, and the George- 
 Nameh, an account of the conquest of 
 India by the British. The Persian is 
 the only Mahometan literature contain- 
 ing dramatic poetry. Its dramas stri- 
 kingly resembl-e the old French myste- 
 ries. Of the collections of tales, legends, 
 and fairy-stories, the most celebrated are 
 the Amcari soheili, or " Lights of the 
 Canopy," and the Behari danisch, or 
 "Spring of Wisdom." The historical 
 works in the Persian language are very 
 numerous and valuable. They embrace 
 the history of the Mohammedan races, 
 from Mongolia to Barbary. The princi- 
 pal works are the Chronicle of Wassaf, a 
 history of the successors of Genghis Khan, 
 which appeared in 1333; the "Marrow 
 of the Chronicles," by Khaswini, in 1370, 
 and the Rauset Essafa, a great universal 
 history, of which modern historians have 
 made good use. It was written by Mir- 
 chond, about the year 1450. In the de- 
 partments of ethics, rhetoric, theology, 
 and medicine, the Persian scholars are 
 only second to the Arabic. They also 
 excelled in translation, and have repro- 
 duced in Persian, nearly the entire lit- 
 erature of India. 
 
 Italian Literature. The Italian lan- 
 guage assumed a regular and finished 
 character at the court of Roger I., king of 
 Sicily, in the twelfth century. Several 
 poets arose, who, borrowing the forms of 
 verse from the Proven9al troubadours, 
 gave the people songs in their native 
 language in place of the melodies of the 
 Moors and Arabians. The Italian soon 
 became the court language of Italy, and 
 Malespina's History of Florence, which 
 was written in the year 1280, is scarcely 
 inferior, in elegance and purity of style 
 to any Italian prose works which have 
 since been produced. The first genuine 
 poet of Italy, however, was her greatest, 
 and one of the greatest of all time. 
 Dante commenced his great poem of the 
 " Divina Commedia" in the year 1304, 
 just before his exile from Florence, and 
 completed it during his many years of
 
 LIT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 365 
 
 wandering from one court of Italy to 
 another. Out of the rude and imperfect 
 materials within his reach, he constructed 
 an epic which places his name beside that 
 of him whom he humbly called his mas- 
 ter Virgil. Taking the religious faith 
 of his time as the material, ho conducts 
 the reader through the sad and terrible 
 circles of Hell, the twilight region of 
 Purgatory, and the fair mount of Para- 
 dise, showing him all forms of torture 
 and punishment for the vile, all varieties 
 of supreme happiness for the pure and 
 good. The poem takes a fierce and 
 gloomy character from the wrongs and 
 persecutions which the poet endured in 
 his life. Dante died in 1321, at which 
 time Petrarch, who was born in 1304, had 
 commenced those studies which led to the 
 restoration of classic literature to Italy. 
 As an enthusiastic admirer of antiquity, 
 he imparted to his contemporaries that 
 passion for the study of the Greek and 
 Roman authors which preserved many 
 of their masterpieces at a moment when 
 they were about to be lost to the world. 
 His songs and sonnets, most of which 
 were inspired by his unfortunate love for 
 Laura de Sade, give him a worthy place 
 after Dante, in Italian literature. He 
 died in 1374. Contemporary with Pe- 
 trarch was the great master of Italian 
 prose Boccaccio, who was born in 1313. 
 He early devoted his life to literature, 
 and in 1341, assisted at the celebrated 
 examination of Petrarch, previous to his 
 coronation in the capitol. His principal 
 work is the Decamerone, a collection of 
 one hundred tales, which, notwithstand- 
 ing the impurities with which they are 
 disfigured, are models of narration, and 
 exhibit the most varied powers of ima- 
 gination and invention. Boccaccio is 
 considered as the inventor of romances 
 of love a branch of literature which was 
 wholly unknown to antiquity. 
 
 For a century following the death of 
 Boccaccio, the literature of Italy shows no 
 great name, though several scholars dis- 
 tinguished themselves by their attain- 
 ments and the aid which they rendered to 
 the cause of classic literature. The most 
 noted of these were John of Ravenna; 
 Lionardo Aretino, who wrote a history of 
 Florence in Latin ; Poggio Bracciolini, a 
 most voluminous writer, who enjoyed the 
 patronage of Cosmo de' Medici, at Flo- 
 rence; Francesco Fileflo and Lorenzo 
 Valla, both men of great erudition, whose 
 labors contributed to bring on a new era 
 of Italian literature. Lorenzo de' Medici, 
 called the Magnificent, towards the close 
 
 of the fifteenth century, gave the first im- 
 pulse to the cultivation of the Italian 
 tongue, which had been lost sight of in the 
 rage for imitating Latin poets. Besides 
 being the author of many elegant songs 
 and sonnets, his court was the home of all 
 the authors of that period. Among these 
 were Politiano, who wrote Orfeo, a fable 
 formed on the myth of Orpheus, which was 
 performed at the court of Mantua, in 
 1483 ; Luigi Pulci, the author of Mor- 
 gante Maggiore, and Boiardo, author of 
 the Orlando Innamorato. Both the last- 
 named poems are chivalrous romances, 
 written in the ottava rima, and full of a 
 quaint humor, which before that time had 
 only appeared in the prose of Boccaccio. 
 But the master of the gay and sparkling 
 poetic narrative was Ariosto, wh - was 
 born in 1474, and first appeared as a i au- 
 thor about the year 1500. Five years 
 later he commenced his Orlando Furioso, 
 which was not completed till 1516. This 
 is a romantic poem in forty-six cantos, 
 celebrating the adventures of Roland, the 
 nephew of Charlemagne. It is one of the 
 classics of Italy, and has been translated 
 into all modern languages. After the 
 death of Ariosto in 1533, no literary work 
 of any prominence appeared until Tor- 
 quato Tasso published his Jerusalem De- 
 livered, in 1581. Alamanni, Trissino and 
 Bernardo Tasso flourished in the interval 
 and produced labored poems, which are no 
 longer read. The subject of Tasso's poem 
 is the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre from 
 the Moslems, by the Crusaders, under 
 Godfrey of Bouillon. The wrongs and 
 persecutions heaped upon Tasso clouded 
 his mind and shortened his days ; he died 
 in Rome, in 1595, on the day before that 
 appointed for his coronation. Three other 
 Italian authors of the sixteenth century 
 are worthy of mention : Cardinal Bembo, 
 the mostlBnished scholar of his day, and 
 author of a history of Venice ; Nicolo 
 Machiavelli, whose name has become sy- 
 nonymous with all that is sinister and un- 
 scrupulous in polities, from his treatise 
 entitled " The Prince," for which, after 
 his death, an anathema was pronounced 
 against him; and Pietro Aretino, one of 
 the most infamous and dissolute men of 
 his time. Machiavelli wrote an admira- 
 ble History of Florence, which is still a 
 standard work. 
 
 In the half-century following the'death 
 of Tasso, there are but two poets who 
 have attained any renown ; Guarini, the 
 author of Pastor Fido, and Tassoni, who 
 wrote the Secchia Kapita (Rape of the 
 Bucket.) Filicaja, whose impassioned ly-
 
 366 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 rics are still the revolutionary inspiration 
 of Italy, belongs to the latter part of the 
 seventeenth century; he died in 1707. 
 After another long interval arose Frugo- 
 ni. a lyric poet of some celebrity, who 
 died in 1768. and Metastasio, the author 
 of plays, operas and ballets innumerable. 
 He is remarkable for his wonderful com- 
 mand of the language, and the free and 
 spirited movement of his dialogue. He 
 died in 'Vienna, in the year 1782. During 
 this same period, Italian dramatic litera- 
 ture received a new accession in Goldoni, 
 whose comedies are still the glory of the 
 Italian stage. He had a rival in Count 
 Gazzi, whose works, nevertheless, are far 
 inferior to Goldoni's in humor and bril- 
 liancy. What Goldoni did for comedy, Al- 
 fieri accomplished for Italian tragedy. 
 This author justly stands at the head of 
 modern Italian literature. His tragedies, 
 odes and lyrics exhibit an eloquence and 
 fervor of thought which is scarcely reach- 
 ed by any other author. His principal 
 works are Saul, Myrrha, Octavia, Bru- 
 tus the Second, and Philip II. Since the 
 commencement of this century, Italy has 
 not been barren of authors. Pindemonte, 
 who has published several volumes of dra- 
 matic poetry ; Ugo Foscolo, author of a 
 poetn called "The Sepulchres ;" Manzoni, 
 who wrote 1 Promessi Sposi, (The Be- 
 trothed,) a charming romance of life on 
 the shores of Lake Como ; Silvio Pellico, 
 whose Le Mie Prigione is a narrative of 
 his sufferings in the prison at Spielberg, 
 and Niccolini, equally celebrated as a 
 poet and prose writer. Mazzini, Trium- 
 vir of Rome during the brief period of I 
 the Republic, and Gioberti, are the most 
 distinguished Italian authors of the pres- 
 ent generation. 
 
 Spanish Literature. The earliest es- 
 say in Spanish literature is the Chron- 
 icle of the Cid, which is supposed to have 
 been written about the middle of the 
 twelfth century. In form the poem is 
 sufficiently barbarous, though the lan- 
 guage is remarkably spirited and pictur- 
 esque. It has been the fount of number- 
 less songs and legends, through the later 
 centuries. It narrates the adventures of 
 Kuy Diaz de Bivar, the Cid Campeador. 
 In the following century, Gonzales de 
 Berceo, a monk, wrote nine voluminous 
 poems on the lives of the saints. Alfonso 
 X. of Castile, whose reign terminated in 
 1284, was the author of a poem entitled 
 The Philosopher's Stone, besides several 
 prose works. The first author of the 
 fourteenth century was Prince Don John 
 Manuel, who wrote a prose work entitled 
 
 Count Lucanor, a collection of tales em- 
 bodying lessons of policy and tnorulity. 
 He was followed by Pedro Lopez da 
 Ayala, and Mendoza, Marquis de San- 
 tillana ; though the latter belongs prop- 
 erly to the next century. He produced 
 a number of works, both prose and poetry, 
 all of which were remarkable for the 
 erudition they displayed. Some of his 
 lighter poems are very graceful and me- 
 lodious. 
 
 Under the reign of Charles V. Spanish 
 literature first reached its full develop- 
 ment. After the union of Arragon and 
 Castile and the transfer of the seat of the 
 government to Madrid, the Castilian be- 
 came the court language, and thus re- 
 ceived a new polish and elegance. The 
 first author of this period was ' Bos- 
 can, an imitator of Petrarch in some re- 
 spects, but a poet of tnnch native fervor 
 and passion. Garcilaso de la Vega, the 
 friend of Boscan, surpasses him in the 
 sweetness of his verses and in their sus- 
 ceptibility and imagination. He was a 
 master of pastoral poetry, and his ec- 
 logues are considered models of that 
 species of writing. His life was actively 
 devoted to the profession of arms. He 
 fought under the banner of Charles XI. in 
 Tunis, Sicily, and Provence, and was 
 finally killed while storming the walls of 
 Nice. Don Diego de Mendoza, one of the 
 most celebrated politicians and generals 
 of that period, is generally awarded a 
 place next to Garcilaso. He was a patron 
 of classical literature, and the author 
 of a history of the Moorish Revolt in 
 the Alpuxarra, and a History of the 
 War of Grenada, but a man of cruel 
 and tyrannical character. Montemayor, 
 who flourished at the same time, attain- 
 ed much celebrity from his pastoral 
 of Diana. These authors during the 
 reign of Charles V. gave Spanish poetry 
 its most graceful and correct form, and 
 have since been regarded as models of 
 classic purity. The great masters of 
 Spanish literature, however, were re- 
 served for the succeeding generation. 
 Herrera and Ponce de Leon, lyrical 
 poets, fill the interval between the age 
 of Garcilaso de la Vega and Cervantes. 
 Herrara is considered the first purely 
 lyrical poet of Spain. Ponce de Leon, 
 who was imprisoned five years by the 
 Inquisition for having translated the 
 song of Solomon, was the author of sev- 
 eral volumes of religious poetry. 
 
 Two of the brightest stars of Spanish 
 literature, Cervantes and Lope de Vega, 
 were contemporaries, and were followed
 
 LIT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 367 
 
 in the next generation, by the third, Cal- 
 deron. Cervantes was born in 1549. He 
 travelled through Italy, lost a hand at 
 the battle of Lepanto, and was five years 
 a slave in Barbary. He commenced his 
 literary career by the writing of come- 
 dies and tragedies, the first of which, 
 Galatea, was published in 1584. Thirty 
 of his comedies have been entirely lost. 
 His great work, Don Quixote, was pub- 
 lished in 1605, and was immediately 
 translated into all the languages of Eu- 
 rope. From this time until his death in 
 1616, he wrote many novels and comedies. 
 The tragedy of Numantia, and the com- 
 edy of Life in Algiers, are the only two 
 of his plays which have been preserved. 
 To this same period belongs Don Alonzo 
 de Ercilla, whose epic of La Aracuana 
 was written during the hardships of a 
 campaign against the Aracuanian In- 
 dians in Chili. Lope de Vega was born 
 in 1562, and after a life of the most mar- 
 vellous performances died in 1635. He 
 was a prodigy of learning, imagination, 
 and language. Out of eighteen hundred 
 dramas which he wrote, one hundred 
 were each produced in the space of a 
 single day. His detached poeuis have 
 been printed in 27 volumes in quarto. 
 Very few of his plays are now read or 
 performed. The only remaining authors 
 of eminence during this period are Que- 
 vedo, who wrote several moral and reli- 
 gious works and three volumes of lyrics, 
 pastorals, and sonnets ; Villegas, an ana- 
 creontic poet ; and tHe Jesuit Mariana, 
 author of a History of Spain. The life 
 of Calderon de la Barca, the illustrious 
 head of the Spanish drama, extended 
 from 1600 to 1687. His plays are of four 
 kinds : sacred dramas, from Scriptural 
 sources ; historical dramas ; classic dra- 
 mas ; and pictures of society and man- 
 ners. The most celebrated are The Con- 
 stant Prince, El Secreto a Voces and El 
 Magico prodigioso. A number of small 
 dramatists were contemporary with Cal- 
 deron, but with his death Spanish litera- 
 ture declined, and has since produced few 
 eminent names. Luyando, counsellor 
 of state, published two tragedies in 1750, 
 and in 1758 appeared Tke Life of Friar 
 Gerund, by Salazar a work in the style 
 of Don Quixote, but directed against the 
 clergy instead of the chivalry. It abounds 
 with wit and satire, and is perhaps the 
 best Spanish prose work of the last cen- 
 tury. Towards the close of the century 
 Huerta achieved considerable reputa- 
 tion by his attempts to revive the Spanish 
 drama. Tomas de Yriarte published in 
 
 1782 his Literary Fables, and a few years 
 later Melendez appeared as the author 
 of two volumes of idyls and pastorals. 
 Both of these authors display considera- 
 ble lyric genius ; but since their death, 
 in the early part of the present century, 
 Spain has produced no new name in lit- 
 erature. 
 
 Portuguese Literature. Portugal first 
 acquired its position as an independent 
 kingdom after the battle of Ourigue, in 
 1139. The date of the origin of its lite- 
 rature is nearly coeval with that of the 
 monarchy. Hermiguez and Moniz, two 
 knights who flourished under Alfonso I., 
 wrote the first ballads. King Dionysius, 
 who reigned from 1279 to 1325, and his 
 son, Alfonso IV. were both renovired as 
 poets, but few vestiges of their writings 
 remain. It was not until the fifteenth 
 century, however, that Portuguese litera- 
 ture attained any considerable merit. 
 Macias, a Portuguese knight engaged in 
 the wars with the Moors of Grenada, was 
 called El Enamorado, on account of the 
 tender and glowing character of his ama- 
 tory poems. The first distinguished poet 
 of the country was Bernardin Ribeyro, 
 who nourished under the reign of Em- 
 manuel the Great, in the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century. His most cele- 
 brated productions arehis eclogues, the 
 scenes of which are laid on the banks of 
 the Tagus and the sea-shores of Portugal. 
 His lyrics of love, the origin of which i<3 
 attributed to an unholy passion for the 
 king's daughter, are wonderfully sweet 
 and melodious. The first prose work in 
 Portuguese worthy of note, is a romance 
 entitled The. Innocent Girl, which ap- 
 peared about this period. Saa de Mi- 
 randa, who also attained celebrity as a 
 Spanish author, was born in Coimbra in 
 1495, and wrote many sonnets, lyrics and 
 eclogues in his native tongue. He also 
 wrote a series of poetical epistles, after 
 the manner of Horace. Antonio Ferreira, 
 who was born in 1528, followed the ex- 
 ample of Miranda in his sonnets and 
 eclogues, but surpassed him in entering 
 the field of dramatic literature. His 
 Inez de Castro, founded on the tragic 
 story of that lady, displays much power 
 and pathos in the delineation of the char- 
 acters. The other poets of this genera* 
 tion were Andrade Caminha, Diego Ber- 
 nardes and Rodriguez de Castro, all of 
 whom wrote lyrics, sonnets and pastorals, 
 few of which have survived them. 
 
 The sole star of Portuguese literature, 
 who is now almost its only representative 
 to other nations, was Luis de Camoens,
 
 368 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 who was born in 1525. After studying 
 at Coimbra, where he was coldly treated 
 by Ferreira, he embraced the profession 
 of arms, and lost an eye in the siege of 
 Ceuta. Sailing for India in 1533, he 
 reached Goa in safety, participated in an 
 expedition against the king of Cochin- 
 China, spent a winter in the islands of 
 Ormuz, and afterwards, on account of a 
 satire entitled Follies in India, directed 
 against the Portuguese governor, was ban- 
 ished to Macao, on the coast of China. 
 During his residence of five years in that 
 place, he wrote his great epic of The Lu- 
 siad, devoted to celebrating the passage 
 of the Cape of Good Hope by Vasco de 
 (in ma, and the triumph of Portuguese 
 arms and commerce in the Orient. On 
 his return to Portugal he was shipwreck- 
 ed on the coast of Cambodia, and escaped 
 by swimming, with the Lusiad in his 
 hand, held above the waves. He died in 
 
 freat poverty, in 1579. He left behind 
 im many sonnets, songs and pastorals, 
 but most of them are penetrated with a 
 vein of deep and settled melancholy. 
 Among the successors of Camoens, the 
 most noted are Gil Vicente, a dramatic 
 writer, who is supposed to have served as 
 a model to Lope de Vega and Calderon ; 
 and Rodriguez Lobo, who was at one time 
 considered a rival of Camoens. He wrote 
 the Winter Nifttft, a series of philosoph- 
 ical conversations, Spring, a romance, 
 and numberless pastorals. Cortereal also 
 described in a ponderous epic the adven- 
 tures of Manuel de Sousa Sepulveda, a 
 distinguished Portuguese. 
 
 The age of Camoens also gave rise to a 
 new branch of literature. John de Barros, 
 born in 1496, is esteemed by his coun- 
 trymen as the Livy of Portugal. He 
 commenced his career by a romance en- 
 titled The Emperor Clarimond, but after 
 his return from service on the coast of 
 Guinea, he devoted himself to the prepa- 
 ration of a grand historical work on the 
 Portuguese empire. Only one fourth of 
 this, entitled Portuguese Asia, which was 
 published in 1552, appeared. This is one 
 of the most comprehensive, accurate and 
 interesting historical works of that age. 
 Alfonso D Albuquerque, one of the most 
 distinguished contemporaries of Barros, 
 wrote a series of Commentaries, and 
 Couto and Castanheda undertook to com- 
 plete the work which Barros had left un- 
 finished. Bernardo de Brito, born in 
 1570, designed to give a universal History 
 of Portugal, but, commencing with the 
 Creation, he died by the time he reached 
 the Christian Era. Osorio, Bishop of 
 
 Sylvez, who died in 1580, wrote the His- 
 tory of King Emmanuel, describing the 
 religious troubles of that time in a most 
 liberal and enlightened spirit. Manuel 
 de Faria, born in 1590, almost rivalled 
 Lope de Vega in the amount of his 
 works ; his dissertations on the art of 
 poetry are held in most value. He also 
 wrote a History of Portugal and a Com- 
 mentary on Camoens. After the subju- 
 gation of Portugal by Philip II. of Spain, 
 the literature of the country declined, 
 and presents no distinguished name for 
 nearly a century following. The first 
 author of the last century is the Count of 
 Ericeyra, born in 1673. He was a gene- 
 ral in tb-? army, and a scholar of splendid 
 attainments. His chief work was the 
 Henriqueide, a epic poem, describing 
 the adventures of Henry of Burgundy, 
 th<? founder of the Portuguese monarchy. 
 Towards the close of the last century, 
 Antonio Garpao and the Countess de Vi- 
 mieiro acquired some celebrity by their ' 
 dramatic productions. The only Portu- 
 guese authors of note, whom the present 
 century has brought forth, are Antonio 
 da Cruz e Silva, who imitated Pope and 
 other English poets, and J. A. da Cunha, 
 an eminent, mathematician and elegiac 
 poet. The Portuguese colonies have pro- 
 duced a few writers, the most noted of 
 whom are Vascencellos and Clauuio Man- 
 uel da Costa. 
 
 French Literature. The literature of 
 France was later in its development than 
 that of the other nations of Southern Eu- 
 rope. It was necessary to wait the de- 
 cline of the two romance-tongues of Nor- 
 | mandy and Provence before the language 
 ! could take a settled form, and a still fur- 
 i ther time "elapsed before it was sufficiently 
 j matured for the purposes of the scholar 
 and the author. During the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries the kingdom 
 produced many romances, in which the 
 influence of the literature of the Trou- 
 ve'res and Troubadours was manifest. 
 Gilbert de Montreuil, Castellan de Coucy, 
 and some others were noted for this spe- 
 cies of composition ; many sacred dramas 
 and mysteries were written in the north 
 of France, and about the middle of the 
 fifteenth century, several romantic epics 
 appeared. The only remarkable name 
 of this early period is the renowned 
 chronicler, Froissart, who was born in 
 1337, and in the .course of his travels 
 and sojourn at all the courts of Europe, 
 was witness of many of the chival- 
 rous events he describes in his "Chron- 
 icles of France, Spain, Italy. England
 
 LIT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 369 
 
 and Germany." Philip de Comines, who 
 died in 1509, passed his life in the ser- 
 vice of Louis IX., and left behind him 
 the " Memoirs" of his time. The latter 
 part of the fifteenth century produced 
 many small writers of satires, odes, songs, 
 &c., among whom, Charles, Duke of Or- 
 leans, takes the first rank. The sacred 
 mysteries, the first attempt at theatrical 
 representation, gradually gave place to 
 a rude form of drama and comedy, and a 
 very successful comedy of French life ap- 
 peared in 1475. 
 
 With the reign of Francis I. the study 
 of the classics became popular in France, 
 and from that time till the age of Louis 
 XIV. the progress of French literature 
 was rapid and uninterrupted. The six- 
 teenth century produced a few great 
 names. Scaliger and Casaubon were re- 
 nowned for their scholastic acquirements ; 
 Clement Marot and Theodore Beza cul- 
 tivated poetry under Francis I., whose sis- 
 J,er, Margaret of Valois, published a col- 
 lection of novels, called the Heptameron ; 
 Ronsard was the first French poet who 
 showed strong original genius, and, with 
 Regnier, gave the national poetry a freer 
 and more characteristic tone. The drama 
 was improved by Etienne Jodelle, who 
 imitated the Greek tragedians ; Claude 
 de Seyssel wrote the History of Louis 
 XII. ; and Brantoine and Agrippa d'Au- 
 bigne left behind them many memoirs and 
 historical essays. But the boast of the 
 age is the names of Malherbe, Rabelais 
 and Montaigne. Malherbe, born in 1554, 
 is considered the first French classic, in 
 poetry ; his language is most inflexibly 
 pure and correct. Rabelais was born in 
 1483, and his romance of " Gargantua 
 and Pantagruel" was first published in 
 1533. Notwithstanding its grossness it is 
 one of the most lively, humorous and bril- 
 liant books in the language. It satirizes 
 the clerical and political characters of his 
 time. Montaigne, whose life extended 
 from 1533 to 1592, wrote three volumes of 
 Essays, on moral, political and religious 
 subjects, which on account of their elegant 
 style no less than the treasures of thought 
 they contain, have always held their 
 place among French classics. 
 
 The seventeenth century is the glory of 
 French literature. Under the auspices 
 of Richelieu, Colbert and Louis XIV. all 
 departments of letters, science and art 
 reached a height unknown before. The 
 French Academy was founded by Riche- 
 lieu in 1635, and the language, at that 
 time unrivalled in clearness, perspicacity 
 and flexibility, gradually became the po- 
 24 
 
 lite tongue of Europe. Dramatic poetry, 
 especially, founded on the principles of 
 the Greek theatre, attained a, character 
 it has never since reached. Corneille, 
 born in 1606, was the father of the classic 
 French drama. His first play, The Cid, 
 belongs rather to the romantic drama, but 
 through the influence of the Academy his 
 later works, the most eminent of which 
 are Les Horaces, Cinna, Polyeucte and 
 Mart de Pompee are strictly classical. 
 His dramatic works amount to thirty- 
 three. Racine," who was born in 1639, 
 brought the classic drama to perfection. 
 His language is the most elegant and 
 melodious of all French dramatists, while 
 he is inferior to none in his knowledge of 
 nature and his command of the senti- 
 ments and passions. His plays, though 
 constructed on the classic model, are not 
 confined strictly to classic subjects. The 
 most celebrated are : Andromaque, Baja- 
 zet, Mitliridate, Phtdre, Esther and 
 Athalie. After these two authors ranks 
 Moli^re, the father and master of French 
 comedy. His Tartujfe has a universal 
 celebrity. Ho died in 1673. Crebillon, 
 sometimes called the French Jischylus, 
 was a writer of tragedies. Legrand, Reg- 
 nard, and Scarron distinguished them- 
 selves as dramatists of secondary note. 
 To this age belong Le Sage, the author 
 of Gil Bias ; La Fontaine, the greatest 
 fabulist since Esop ; and Boileau, the sat- 
 irist and didactic poet, whose Art poeti- 
 que and Lutrin or " Battle of the Books" 
 have been made classic. Mademoiselle 
 de Scudery wrote many chivalrous ro- 
 mances, and Perrault's fairy tales soon 
 became household words. The Telcma- 
 que of Fenelon was also produced during 
 this period. This author, with Bourda- 
 loue, Bossuet and Massillon, were cele- 
 brated as theological writers and pulpit 
 orators. Madame de Sevigne's letters 
 are unsurpassed as specimens of graceful, 
 polished and spirited epistolary writing. 
 As historians, Rollin is the most dis- 
 tinguished, but Mezeray, author of the 
 national Chronicles, the Jesuit D'Orleans, 
 author of Histories of Revolutions in Eng- 
 land and Spain, and Bossuet's theological 
 histories, are worthy of notice. 
 
 During the eighteenth century, when 
 the literature of Spain, Italy and Portu- 
 gal were on the decline, nd England and 
 Germany remained stationary, France 
 still maintained her supremacy. In 1694 
 was born Voltaire, who in the course of 
 his life made himself master of nearly 
 every department of literature. His first 
 play, (Edipe, was successfully performed
 
 370 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 in 1718, though his epic of the Henriade, 
 written at the same time, was not pub- 
 lished till 1729. Many of his succeeding 
 plays were unsuccessful, and his satires 
 and philosophical essays produced only 
 banishment. His principal plays are 
 Zaire, Alzire, Brutus, Oreste, Mahomet 
 and Tancrtdt. After his return from 
 Germany, he settled at Ferney on the 
 Lake of Geneva, where for twenty years 
 he devoted himself to literature. His 
 principal works are : History of Charles 
 XII. of Sweden ; History of Russia under 
 Peter the Great; Pyrrhonisms de I'his- 
 toire, Droits de I'homme and the Diction- 
 naire Philoso/ihique. Jean Jaques Rous- 
 seau, born in 1712, exercised scarcely less 
 influence on French literature, than Vol- 
 taire. His first work, a dissertation on 
 Modern Music, appeared in Paris in 1743, 
 about which time he wrote several come- 
 dies and tragedies and composed an opera. 
 His romance entitled Nouvelle Heloise, 
 was published in 1760. and his Contrdt 
 Social and Emile in 1762. His most re- 
 markable work, the Confessions, was com- 
 pleted in 1770, and he 'died in 1778. As 
 bold and independent as Voltaire in his 
 philosophical views, he had nothing of his 
 cynicism. His works, the style of which 
 is absolutely fascinating, express a sin- 
 cere sympathy with humanity. Montes- 
 quieu, whose Spirit of Laws is a stand- 
 ard work on jurisprudence, belongs to 
 the first half of the eighteenth century. 
 Among the historians contemporary with 
 Voltaire were Condorcet, author of a His- 
 tory of Civilization, andBarthelemy, who 
 also wrote the Voyage dujeune Anachar- 
 sis. La Bruyere. La Harpe and Madame 
 d'Epinay distinguished themselves by 
 their didactic and epistolary writings. 
 The most noted novelists were Marmon- 
 tel, Bernardin de St. Pierre, author of 
 Paul and Virginia, and Louvet. Mari- 
 vaux attained distinction as a writer of 
 comedies, and Beaumarchais as a drama- 
 tist and writer of operas. The well-known 
 Barber of Seville is from his pen. France 
 produced few lyric poets during the last 
 century. Lebrun, Delille and Joseph 
 Chenier are the most worthy of mention, 
 but the Marseillaise of Rouget de Lisle 
 is the finest lyric of the century, if not of 
 all French literature. Mirabeau, Bar- 
 nave, Sieyes and the leaders of the Rev- 
 olution gave a new and splendid charac- 
 ter to French oratory, towards the close 
 of the century. 
 
 Chateaubriand, de Stael and Beranger 
 connect the age of Rousseau and Voltaire j 
 with the modern literature of France. | 
 
 Chateaubriand was born in 1769, and 
 published his first work, the Essay on 
 Revolutions, in London, in 1797, while in 
 exile. His Atala, the subject of which 
 was derived from his adventures among 
 the Natchez tribe of Indians, on the Mis- 
 sissippi, appeared in 1801, and his Genie 
 du Christianisme in 1802. He also pub- 
 lished Les Martyrs in 1807, and an ac- 
 count of his travels in the East. He 
 filled many diplomatic stations under the 
 Bourbons, and was made peer of France. 
 After his death, which took place in 1848, 
 his autobiography was published, under 
 the title of Memoires d'outre Tombe. 
 Madame de Stael, the daughter of M. 
 Neckar, afterwards minister under Louis 
 XVI., was born in 1766, and first appear- 
 ed as an author in 1788, when she pub- 
 lished a series of letters on the life and 
 writings of Rousseau. During the French 
 Revolution she remained in Switzerland 
 and England, where she wrote several po- 
 litical pamphlets, dramas, and essays on f 
 life and literature. Her romance of Co- 
 rinne was published in 1807, and her De 
 I'Allemagne, which directed Attention to 
 the literature of Germany, in 1810. Her 
 work entitled Ten Years of "Exile, was 
 written in Sweden ; she died in Paris in 
 1817. Beranger, who still lives at Passy, 
 near Paris, is the first song-writer of 
 France. Many of his lyrics and ballads 
 have become household words with the 
 common people. Casimir Delavigne, who 
 died in 1843, was among the first restor- 
 ers of that lyric school, which Lamartine, 
 Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset have 
 since carried to a high degree of perfec- 
 tion. The most renowned names in co- 
 temporary French literature, are, as po- 
 ets : Alphonse de Lamartine. author of 
 Meditations Poetiques, Harmonies Po- 
 et iques and La Chute d'un Ange ; Victor 
 Hugo, author of three volumes of lyrical 
 romances and ballads ; Alfred de Musset ; 
 Jean Reboul, a disciple of Lamartine ; 
 and Auguste Barbier, who mingles with 
 his poems a vein of keen satire. Jasmin, 
 a barber of Agen, has obtained much ce- 
 lebrity by his poems in the Gascon dia- 
 lect. The new school of French romance 
 has infected the modern literature of all 
 countries. Balzac, who died in 1850, is 
 unequalled as a painter of society and 
 manners* Eugene Sue, whose Mysteries 
 of Paris and Wandering Jew have been 
 so widely read, delights in exciting sub- 
 jects and the most intricate and improba- 
 ble plots ; Alexander Dumas, best known 
 by his Count of Monte Christo, and his 
 romances of travel, is a master of pictur-
 
 LIT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 371 
 
 esque narrative ; Victor Hugo is best 
 known as a novelist by his Notre Dame 
 de Paris, a brilliant historical fiction, 
 and Paul de Kock, as a lively though 
 unscrupulous painter of Parisian life, 
 enjoys a remarkable popularity. The 
 most striking and original writer of fic- 
 tion is Madame Dudevant, better known 
 as " George Sand," whose Andre, Lettres 
 d'un Voyageur and Consuelo, have placed 
 her in the first rank of French authors. 
 As dramatists, Scribe, Leon Gozlan, Eti- 
 enne Arago, Germain Delavigne and Fe- 
 lix Pyat have distinguished themselves. 
 The most prominent historical and politi- 
 cal writers are Lamartine, Thiers, Miche- 
 let, Guizot, Louis Blanc and Thibau- 
 deau ; while Cousin and Cotute are the 
 founders of the new schools of philosophy. 
 French oratory now occupies a higher 
 position than ever before ; its most illus- 
 trious names are Guizot, Thiers, Berryer, 
 Lamartine, Odilon Barrot and Victor 
 Hugo. 
 
 German Literature. The first period 
 of German literature commenced with 
 the reign of Charlemagne in the eighth 
 century, and extends to the time of the 
 Suabian emperors, at the close of the 
 twelfth century. The first learned so- 
 ciety was instituted by Alcuin,the great- 
 est scholar of Charlemagne's time. In 
 the succeeding period, Einhard, Rithard, 
 and Lambert von Aschaffenburg dis- 
 tinguished themselves as historical and 
 theological writers. About this time also 
 originated those epic ballads and frag- 
 ments which were afterwards collected 
 under the title of the Niebelungen-Lied, 
 or ' Lay of the Nibelungen," and the 
 " Song of Hildebrand." The Neibelun- 
 gen-Leid, which has been called the Ger- 
 man Iliad, received its present form 
 about the year 1210. Its subject is the 
 history of Siegfried, son of the King 
 of the Netherlands, his marriage with 
 Chriemhild. sister of Gunther, King of 
 the Burgundians, and the revenge of 
 Brunhild, Queen of Ireland, who married 
 Giinther. 
 
 The second period terminates with the 
 close of the fifteenth century. It includes 
 the Minnesingers, or German Trouba- 
 dours, who were the result of the inter- 
 course of Germany with Italy and France, 
 which made German scholars acquainted 
 with the amatory literature of Provence. 
 The most renowned Minnesingers were 
 AVolfram von Eschenbach, who wrote 
 Parcival, Walter von der Vogelweide, 
 the most graceful and popular of all, and 
 Hoinrich von Ofterdingen. Otto von 
 
 Friesingen achieved renown for his his- 
 tories, which were written in Latin. 
 
 The third period, dating from the com- 
 mencement of the fifteenth century, at 
 which time the German language was 
 fully developed and subjected to rule, ex- 
 tends to the present time . It has been sub- 
 divided by German critics into three parts, 
 viz.: 1. to the commencement of the Thirty 
 Years' War ; 2. to Klopstock and Lessing ; 
 3. to our own day. The progress of the 
 Reformation in the fifteenth dentury ope- 
 rated very favorably upon German lite- 
 rature. Melancthon, Luther, Ulric von 
 Hutten and the other leaders of the 
 movement were also distinguished schol- 
 ars. The celebrated Paracelsus, the natu- 
 ralist, Gesner, the painter, Albert Diirer, 
 and the astronomers Kepler and CoTer- 
 nicus, flourished also in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury. The most distinguished poet of 
 this period was Hans Sachs, the shoe- 
 maker poet of Nuremberg. He was the 
 master of a school or guild of poetry, 
 which was then considered as an elegant 
 profession. In the number of his works 
 he rivals Lope de Vega, as ho is said to 
 kave written 6048, 208 of which were 
 comedies and tragedies. He died in 1576. 
 Martin Opitz, who marks the commence- 
 ment of a new era in German poetry, 
 was born in 1597. He first established a 
 true rhythm in poetry, by measuring the 
 length of the syllables, instead of merely 
 counting them, as formerly. His princi- 
 pal poems are Vesuvius, Judith, and a 
 number of lyrics. He was followed by 
 Paul Flemming and Simon Dach, who 
 wrote in the low German dialect. As 
 prose writers of the seventeenth century, 
 Puffendorf, a writer on jurisprudence and 
 international law, Leibnitz, the distin- 
 guished philosopher and the Brothers 
 Baumgarten, are most prominent. There 
 is no great name in German literature, 
 however, from Opitz till the middle of 
 the last century, when Gellert, Gessner, 
 Klopstock and Hagedorn were the inau- 
 guration of a new life. Under these au- 
 thors, and others of less note, the lan- 
 guage attained a richness of expression, 
 a flexibility of style, and a harmony of 
 modulation which it never possessed bo- 
 fore. Gellert, born in 1715, is distin- 
 guished for his " Spiritual Songs and 
 Odes," his letters and his romance of 
 The Swedish Countess, which is the first 
 domestic novel written in the German 
 language. Gessner is best known through 
 his idyls, in which he followed the classic 
 models. Hagedorn, who died in -1754, 
 wrote many poems ; he is supposed to
 
 372 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 have exercised considerable influence on 
 Klopstock in his earlier years. As prose 
 writers, Forstcr, Mendelssohn, the philos- 
 opher, and Musaus, who made a collec- 
 tion of German legends and traditions, 
 are worthy of note. 
 
 With Klopstock commenced the golden 
 age of German literature, and the list of 
 renowned names continues unbroken un- 
 til the present time. Klopstock was born 
 in 1724. In his odes and lyrical poems 
 he struck out a new and bold path, cast- 
 ing aside the mechanical rules of the 
 older schools of German poetry. His 
 greatest work is the Messias, a sacred 
 epic, which was commenced in 1745, and 
 finished in 1771. Lessing, born in 1729, 
 stands by the side of Klopstock as a poet, 
 while he is also distinguished as a prose 
 writer. He may be considered as the 
 first successful German dramatist, his 
 plays of Emilia Galotti, Minna von 
 Barnhelm, and Nathan the Wise, still 
 keeping their place on the stage. As a 
 critical writer on all branches of the Fine 
 Arts, he is also distinguished. Wieland 
 follows next in the list of German classics. 
 Born in 1733, he is the link between 
 the age of Gellert and Klopstock, and 
 that of Schiller and Goethe. He died in 
 1813. His principal works are The New 
 Amadis, which illustrates the triumph 
 of spiritual over physical beauty, the 
 heroic epic of Oberon, a romance of the 
 middle ages, the drama of Alceste, the 
 History of the Abderites, a satirical ro- 
 mance, besides many letters, satires, and 
 criticisms on literature and art. Herder, 
 his cotemporary, in addition to his fame 
 as a poet, is celebrated for his philosoph- 
 real and theological writings, and his 
 Spirit of Hebrew Poetry. He died in 
 1803. At the commencement of. this 
 century, Wieland, Herder, Goethe, and 
 Schiller, were gathered together at the 
 Court of Weimar the most illustrious 
 congregation of poets since Shakspeare, 
 Spenser. Ben Johnson, and Fletcher, met 
 together in London. Goethe was born in 
 1749, and from his boyhood displayed a 
 remarkable talent for literature, science, 
 and art. His first romance, The Sor- 
 rows of Werter, produced a great sensa- 
 tion throughout all Europe. His tragedy 
 of Got* von Berlichingen, written at the 
 age of 22, established his fame as a poet. 
 After his settlement at Weimar, in 1776, 
 his works followed each other rapidly. 
 He produced the tragedies of Iphigenia, 
 Egmont, Tasso, and Clavigo, the pasto- 
 ral epic of Hermann und Dorothea, the 
 philosophical romances of Wilhelm Meis- 
 
 ter and Die Wahlverwandschaften, the 
 West-Ostliche Divan, a, collection of 
 poems founded in his studies of Oriental 
 litarature, and the first part of his great- 
 est work, Faust. He also published nar- 
 ratives of travel in France and Italy, and 
 Wahrheit und Dichtung, an autobiogra- 
 phy of his life. His philosophic and sci- 
 entific writings, especially his theory of 
 color, are scarcely less celebrated than 
 his literary works. He is equally a mas- 
 ter in all departments of literature, and 
 is generally acknowledged as the greatest 
 author since Shakspeare. He died in 
 1832. Schiller, born in 1759, exercised 
 scarcely less influence on German litera- 
 ture, than Goethe. His tragedy of the 
 Robbers produced nearly as great a revo- 
 lution as the Sorrows of Werter. On 
 account of this and other works he was 
 obliged to fly from his native Wurtem- 
 berg, and after many vicissitudes, settled 
 in Weimar, with his great colleagues. 
 After a brief but intense and laborious 
 life, he died in 1805. After the Robbers, 
 he wrote the following dramatic works : 
 Fiesco, Cabal and Love, Don Carlos, 
 The Maid of Orleans, Marie Stuart, 
 William Tell, The Bride of Messina, 
 and Wallenstein. The last is the great- 
 est drama in the German language. 
 His lyrical poems are unsurpassed. His 
 principal prose works are the History of 
 the Netherlands and History of the 
 Thirty Years' War. This period, so 
 glorious for German literature, produced 
 also the poets, Burger, author of Lenore 
 and The Wild Huntsman ; Count Stol- 
 berg ; Voss, author of Luise ; Salis and 
 Matthisson, elegiac poets ; Tiedge, au- 
 thor of Urania ; and the hero Korner, 
 the Tyrtaeus of the wars of 1812 and 
 1813. The department of prose was filled 
 by many distinguished writers of philoso- 
 phy, history, and romance, some of whom 
 are still living. Kant, who lived from 
 1724 to 1804, is the father of modern 
 German philosophy, and exercised a great 
 influence on all his cotemporaries. Schle- 
 gel, in the department of literary criti- 
 cism, and Winckelmann, in that of art, 
 are renowned names. Hegel and Fichte 
 succeeded Kant as philosophers, and Al- 
 exander von Humboldt became the lead- 
 er of a new and splendid company of 
 writers on cosmical science. The name 
 of Tieck heads the school of modern Ger- 
 man romance. He was born in 1773, and 
 early attracted attention by his Blue- 
 beard and Puss in Boots. In addition to 
 a great number of plays, romances, and 
 poems, he produced, in conjunction with
 
 LIT] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 373 
 
 Schlegel, a German translation of Shak- 
 speare, which is the most remarkable 
 work of its kind in all literature. Jean 
 Paul Richter, the most original and pe- 
 culiar of all German authors, was born 
 in 1763, and died in 1825. His first work 
 was a humorous and satirical production, ' 
 entitled The (rreenlandic Lawsuit, fol- [ 
 lowed by " Selections from the Devil's 
 papers." His works are distinguished 
 by a great knowledge of human nature, 
 a bewildering richness of imagination, 
 and a style so quaint and involved, as 
 almost to form a separate dialect. His 
 best works are Titan, Hesperus, Die un- \ 
 sichtbare Loge, and Flower, Fruit and 
 Tkorn Pieces. E. T. A. Hoffman is 
 scarcely less original, in his romances, 
 which have a wild, fantastic, and super- 
 natural character Among other Ger- 
 man authors, the brothers Grimm are 
 celebrated for their Kinder und Haus 
 Miihrchen, the notorious Kotzebue for 
 his plays, and Wolfgang Mentzel for his 
 History of Germany and German litera- 
 ture. 
 
 Since the commencement of the present 
 century Germany has been prolific of 
 authors, but the limits of this sketch 
 prohibit us from much more than the 
 mere mention of their names. Baron de 
 la Motte Fouque is known as the author 
 of Undine, one of the most purely poet- 
 ical creations of fiction, Sintram and 
 Thiodolf, the Icelander. Borne attained 
 celebrity as a satirist, critic, and political 
 writer. Uhland stands at the head of the 
 modern generation of poets. His bal- 
 lads, romances, and his epic of Ludwig 
 der J3aier, are among the best German 
 poems of the day. After him rank 
 Riickert, also renowned as an Oriental 
 scholar; Hauff, a lyric poet, and author 
 of the romance of Liechtenstein ; Gustav 
 Schwab, Justinus Kerner, author of the 
 Seeress of Prevorst ; Arndt, author of the 
 German Fatherland, the national lyric ; 
 Anastasius Grun, (Count Auersperg,) 
 author of the Pfaff von Kahlenberg ; 
 Nicholas Lenau, author of Savonarola; 
 Ferdinand Freiligrath, a vigorous politi- 
 cal poet ; Heinrich Heine, author of 
 many popular songs and ballads ; Cha- 
 rnisso, who also wrote the romance of 
 Peter Schlemihl; Gutzkow, distinguished 
 as a dramatist ; Halm, also a dramatist, 
 and author of Der Solm der Wildniss ; 
 and, as lyric poets, Herwegh, Geibel, and 
 Bock. Among the distinguished prose 
 writers are Schlosser, author of a Uni- 
 versal History ; Neander, author of a 
 History of the Church, and a Life of 
 
 Christ ; Prince Piickler-Muskau and the 
 Countess Hahn-IIahn, critics and tour- 
 ists ; Zschokke, (a Swiss,) distinguished 
 as a novelist, and Feuerbach; Schelling, 
 as a philosopher; Strauss, author of a 
 Life of Christ and head of the German 
 "Rationalists:" Miiller, as a historian, 
 and Krummacher, a writer of fables and 
 parables. As historians, Rotteck, Nie- 
 buhr, and Ranke, are among the most 
 distinguished of the present century. 
 One of the most popular living prose 
 writers is Adalbert Stifter, whose Stu- 
 dien are unsurpassed for exquisite purity 
 and picturesqueness of style. 
 
 Scandinavian Literature. Under this 
 head we have grouped the literature of 
 the three nations of Scandinavian origin. 
 Sweden. Norway, and Denmark. The 
 old Scandinavian Eddas, or hymns of 
 gods and heroes, may be traced back to 
 the seventh or e ghth century. The 
 earlier Edda, which was collected and 
 arranged by Sarnund in the year 1100, 
 consists of legends of the gods, most of 
 which were probably written in the eighth 
 century. The latter Edda, collected by 
 Snorre Sturleson in the first half of the 
 thirteenth century, contains fragments 
 of the songs of the Skalds who flourished 
 in the ninth and tenth centuries, espe- 
 cially in the latter, when their genius 
 reached its culmination in Norway and 
 Iceland. Among the most renowned 
 works of the Skalds were the JEiriksmal, 
 the apotheosis of King Eric, who died in 
 952, and the Hakonarmal, describing the 
 fall of Jarl Haco. A celebrated Skald 
 was Egill Skalagrimsson, who wrote three 
 epic poems, and two drapas, or elegiac 
 poems. The power of the Skalds declined 
 through the eleventh and twelfth centu- 
 ries, and after the fourteenth, when the 
 Christian element first began to appear 
 in Icelandic poetry, wholly disappeared. 
 Many sagas were written in prose, and 
 the Heimskringla of Snorre Sturleson, 
 who died in Iceland in 1238, contains the 
 chronicles of Scandinavian history from 
 its mythic period to the year 1177. 
 
 Previous to the establishment of the 
 University of Upsala, in 1476, the only 
 literature of Sweden was a few rhymed 
 historic legends. The two centuries suc- 
 ceeding this period have left no" great 
 names, and few distinguished ones. Saxo- 
 Grammaticus made a collection of le- 
 gends in the fifteenth century ; Olaus 
 Magni wrote a history of the North in 
 Latin ; Messenius, who died in 1637, 
 wrote comedies and a historical work en- 
 titled Scandia illustrata ; Axel Oxen-
 
 374 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 stiorna, the celebrated minister, was also 
 a theologist and patron of literature ; 
 Olof Rudbeck. a distinguished scholar, 
 published in 1675 his Atlantica, wherein, 
 from the study of the old Sagas, he en- 
 deavored to show that Sweden was the 
 Atlantis of the ancients. George Stjern- 
 hjelin, who died in 1672, was the author 
 of a poem called Hercules, whence he is 
 named the father of Swedish poetry. 
 Swedenborg, the most striking character 
 in Northern literature, was born in 1688. 
 After several years of travel in England 
 and on the continent, he established him- 
 self in Sweden, where he devoted his at- 
 tention to science, and produced a number 
 of works on natural philosophy, miner- 
 alogy, zoology, and other kindred sub- 
 jects. The close of his life was entirely 
 occupied with his religious studies, and 
 the production of his Arcana Caelestia, 
 which contains his revelations of the fu- 
 ture life, and his theory of the spiritual 
 universe. These writings gave rise to a 
 new religious sect, the numbers of which, 
 in the United States, are supposed to 
 number about 6000. He professed to be 
 visited by the Holy Spirit, and his works 
 are considered by his disciples as equally 
 inspired with those of the Apostles. He 
 died in London in 1772. Dalin and Mad- 
 ame Nordenflycht, were the first noted 
 poets of the last century. They were 
 succeeded by a multitude of lyric and 
 didactic poets ; but Swedish poetry did 
 not attain a high character before the 
 commencement of the present century. 
 Among the authors most worthy of note 
 are Lidner, Bellman, and Thorild. A 
 grand history of Sweden, by Professors 
 Geijer, Fryxell, and Strutnbolrn, is nearly 
 completed. The present century pro- 
 duced Atterbom and Dahlgren, poets of 
 considerable celebrity, and Tegner, the 
 first of Swedish poets, whose Frithiqf's 
 Saga has been translated into English, 
 French, and German. Longfellow has 
 translated his Children of the Lord's 
 Supper. In the glow of his imagination, 
 his fine artistic feeling and his wonderful 
 command of rhythm, Tegner ranks among 
 the first of modern poets. He died in 
 1850. Geijer and Runeberg are at the 
 head of the living poets of Sweden. As 
 writers of fiction, Count Sparre, author 
 of Adolf Findling, Fredrika Bremer, 
 whose fame as a painter of Swedish life, 
 has extended over both hemispheres, 
 and Madame Flygare-Carlen, author of 
 the Rose of Thistle Island, have at- 
 tained an honorable place. The most 
 celebrated works of Miss Bremer are 
 
 The Neighbors, The Home, and Strife 
 and* Peace. 
 
 There are few names in Danish litera- 
 ture before the last century. Ludwig 
 von Holberg, born in 1685, was the first 
 who achieved a permanent reputation as 
 poet and historian. Towards the close 
 of the last century, Denmark produced 
 many distinguished scholars and men of 
 science. Rafn and Finn Magnusen res- 
 cued the old Icelandic sagas from obliv- 
 ion, and established the fact of the dis- 
 covery of New England by Bjorne in the 
 tenth century ; Peterson became re- 
 nowned as a classical scholar and critic ; 
 Oersted is a well-known name in science 
 and philosophy ; and Miiller and Allen 
 successfully labored in the department 
 of history. Nearly all these authors first 
 became known in the present century. 
 At the head of Denmark's poets it (Eh- 
 lenschlager, who died in 1850. His na- 
 tional tragedies, epics, and lyrics were 
 written partly in German and partly in 
 Danish. He is considered the originator 
 of the artist-drama, of which his Coreg- 
 gio is a masterpiece. Baggesen, who 
 commenced his career in the last century, 
 is one of the first Danish lyric poets. 
 Heiberg devoted himself to vaudeville 
 and the romantic drama, and Hauch to 
 tragedy, in which he is justly distin- 
 guished. Hertz is known through his 
 King Rtne's Daughter, which has been 
 successfully produced on the English 
 stage. One of the most distinguished of 
 modern Danish authors is Hans Chris- 
 tian Andersen, known alike as poet, nov- 
 elist, and tourist. His romaftces of Da- 
 nish life are the most characteristic of 
 his works, though he is better known out 
 of his native country by his Improvisa- 
 tore and The True Story of my Life. 
 
 Russian Literature The first frag- 
 ments of Russian Literature belong to 
 the tenth and eleventh centuries. They 
 consist principally of rude songs and le- 
 gends, the hero of which is Wladimir the 
 Great, who first introduced Christianity 
 into the country. Nestor a monk in the 
 monastery of Kiev, who died in the year 
 1116, left behind him a collection of 
 annals, beginning with 852, which throw 
 much light on the early history of Russia. 
 After the empire was freed from the 
 Mongolian rule by Ivan I. in 1478, the 
 progress of literature and the arts was 
 more rapid. The first printing-press wns 
 established in Moscow in 1564, though 
 the Academy in that city was not founded 
 until a century later. Peter the Great 
 devoted much attention to the Russian
 
 LIT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 375 
 
 language and literature. At his com- 
 mand, the characters used in printing 
 were greatly simplified and improved. 
 The first Russian newspaper was printed 
 in 1705, in this character. 
 
 From 1650 to 1750, Russia produced 
 several authors, but principally among 
 the clergy, and their works are disserta- 
 tions on theology or lives of the saints. 
 Tatitschev wrote a History uf Russia, 
 which still retains some value. The only 
 poet of this period was Kantemir, son of 
 the Hospodar of Moldavia, who entered 
 the Russian service, devoted himself to 
 study, and obtained much reputation 
 from his satires. Towards the close of 
 the last century, and especially during 
 the reigns of Elizabeth and Catharine II. 
 the establishment of universities and 
 academies of science and art, contributed 
 greatly to the development of the lan- 
 guage and the encouragement of litera- 
 ture. The distinction between the old 
 Slavic and modern Russian dialects is 
 strongly exhibited in the works of Lomo- 
 nosow, and the predominance of the latter 
 was still further determined by Sumara- 
 kow, the first Russian dramatist, whose 
 plays were performed on the stage. 
 Choraskow, who belongs to the last half 
 of the eighteenth century, wrote a long 
 epic poem on the Conquest of Kazan, and 
 another on Wladimir the Great. He was 
 considered the Homer of his time, but is 
 now never read. Among his cotemporary 
 poets were Prince Dolgoruki, who wrote 
 philosophic odes and epistles, and Count 
 Chvostow, the author of some of the best 
 lyric and didactic poetry in the language. 
 
 The first Russian poet whose name was 
 known beyond the borders of the empire, 
 was Derzhavin, who was born at Kazan 
 in 1743, and after filling important civil 
 posts under the Empress Catharine, died 
 in 1816. Many of his most inspired 
 odes were addressed to his imperial patro- 
 ness. His ode " To God," has been trans- 
 lated into nearly all languages, and a 
 Chinese copy, printed in letters of gold, 
 hangs upon the walls of the palace at Pe- 
 kin. The prose writers of this period 
 were Platon, Lewanda and Schtscherba- 
 tow, who wrote a History of Russia. 
 Under Alexander I. in the commence- 
 ment of the present century, Russian 
 literature made rapid advances. Karam- 
 sin, who stood at the head of Russian au- 
 thors during this period, first freed the 
 popular style from the fetters of the clas- 
 sic school, and developed the native re- 
 sources of the language. Prince Alexan- 
 der Schakowski wrote many comedies and 
 
 comic operas, and Zukowski, following in 
 the path of Karamsin, produced some 
 vigorous and glowing poetry. Count 
 Puschkin. one of the most celebrated Rus- 
 sian-authors, was born in 1799. His first 
 poem published at the age of fourteen, 
 attracted so much attention that he re- 
 solved to devote himself to literature. 
 An " Ode to Freedom," however, procur- 
 ed him banishment to the south of Rus- 
 sia, where his best poems were written. 
 His works are : Russian and Ljudmilla, 
 a romantic epic of the heroic age of Rus- 
 sia ; the Mountain Prisoner, a story of 
 life in the Caucusus ; the Fountains of 
 Baktsckirsarai, and Sorts Godunojf, a 
 dramatic poem. In his invention, the 
 elegance o." his diction and the richness 
 of his fancy, Puschkin excels all other 
 Russian authors. He was killed in a 
 duel, in 1837. His cotemporary Baratyn- 
 ski, who stood nearest him in talent, 
 died in 1844. Other poets of the present 
 generation are Lermontow, Podolinski 
 and Baron Delwig. Russian romance is 
 not yet fairly developed. The first names 
 in this department are Bestuzew, who 
 sufiered banishment in Siberia and met 
 death in the Caucusus, where his best 
 work, Amaleth-Beg, was written and 
 Bulgarin, author of Demetrius and 
 Mazeppa. The only histories written in 
 Russia are Histories of Russia. The best 
 of these, which have been produced by 
 the present generation of authors, are 
 those of Ustrialow, Pogodin, Polewoi and 
 Gen. Michailowski-Danilewski. 
 
 Polish Literature. The Polish lan- 
 guage has received a more thorough de- 
 velopment and boasts a richer literature 
 than any other language of Slavic origin. 
 It first reached a finished and regular 
 form in the sixteenth century, though a 
 fragment of a hymn to the Virgin re- 
 mains, which was supposed to have been 
 written by St. Adalbert, in the fifteenth 
 century. The first bloom of Polish litera- 
 ture happened during the reigns of Sigis- 
 mund I. and Augustus, from 1507 to 
 1572. Michael Rey, the father of Polish 
 poetry, was a bold, spirited satirist. He 
 died in 1586, and was followed by the 
 brothers Kochanowski, Miaskowski and 
 Szymonowicz, who, for his Latin odes, 
 was called the Latin Pindar. Bielski 
 wrote the Kronika, a collection of Polish 
 legends, and Gurnicki, Secretary to Sigis- 
 mund, a History of the Crown of Poland. 
 Orzechowski, one of the most distinguish- 
 ed orators of his day, wrote in the Latin 
 language, the Annales Poloniee. 
 
 After the commencement of the seven-
 
 376 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 teenth century, Polish letters declined, 
 and as the kingdom cauio under the as- 
 cendency of the Jesuits, a corresponding 
 change came over the character of the 
 literature. Kouhowski, who died in 1700, 
 was historiographer to King John So- 
 bieski, and accompanied him against the 
 Turks. Opaliuski, the Woiwode of Posen, 
 published in 1652 his Satyres, a lively 
 and characteristic work, and a number of 
 Jesuit historians undertook histories of 
 the country, in which few of them were 
 successful. 
 
 Through the influence of French au- 
 thors, Polish literature made another ad- 
 vanco, at the close of the first half of the 
 last century. The first poet who served to 
 concentrate the scattered elements of 
 Polish poetry, was Krasicki, who was 
 born in 1734, and in 1767 was made 
 Bishop of Ermeland. He wrote a mock- 
 heroic poem, Myszeis, (The Mousead,) 
 an epic entitled Vfoyna. Clwclmska, (The 
 War of Chocim,) and many fables in 
 verse. The most prominent of the later 
 poets are Godebski, Wezyk, author of ro- 
 mances and dramas, Felinski, author of 
 Barbara Jiadziwill, and Gen. Kropinski, 
 who wrote Ludgarda. Tropinski, who 
 died in 1825, was the author of many ad- 
 mirable lyrics and idyls, and a tragedy 
 called Judyta. Niemcewicz, his contem- 
 porary, wrote the Historical Lives of 
 Poland, a History of the reign of Sigis- 
 inund III., and a romance : Johann v. 
 Tenczyn. The university of Wilna, 
 which in 1815 was the seat of Polish learn- 
 ing, witnessed a revolution in the charac- 
 ter of the literature. Several young au- 
 thors, with Mickiowicz at their head, de- 
 termined to free themselves from the 
 classic spirit of the language, and imi- 
 tate the later English and German 
 schools. From this time Polish fiction 
 took a freer, bolder and more varied form. 
 Mickiewicz, born in 1798, published his 
 first volume of poetry in 1822. Banished 
 to the interior of Russia, on account of 
 political troubles, he wrote a series of 
 sonnets which attracted the attention of 
 Prince Galizin, under whose auspices his 
 epic poem, Konrad Wallenrod. was pub- 
 lished in 1828. He is now Professor of 
 Slavic literature in the College of France. 
 His polish epic of Pan Tadeusz first ap- 
 peared in Paris, in 1834. Among his con- 
 temporary authors, the most noted are : 
 Odyniec, author of the drama of Izora ; \ 
 Korsak, a lyric and elegiac poet ; Garcz- 
 ynski, who wrote many fiery battle-songs ; 
 and Czajkowski, a noted writer of Slavic 
 romances. The later prose writers of ! 
 
 Poland are the histo7ical Lelewel, and 
 Count Plater. It is to be feared that Po- 
 lish literature will expire with the pres- 
 sent generation. 
 
 Englisti Literature. The English lan- 
 guage, like other composite modern 
 tongues, such as the French and Italian, 
 passed through several phases before 
 reaching its present form and character. 
 During the prevalence of the Anglo- 
 Saxon tongue, from the fifth century to 
 the Norman conquest, England boasted 
 several authors, whose names and works 
 have in part descended to us. The ven- 
 erable Bede, born in Northumberland, 
 in 672, is distinguished for his scholar- 
 ship. He left an Ecclesiastical history 
 of the Angles, which forms the basis of 
 early English history. The monk Caed- 
 mon, who flourished in the seventh cen- 
 tury, wrote a paraphrase of Genesis and 
 some fragments which are supposed to 
 have given Milton the first idea of " Para- 
 dise Lost." The song -jf Beowulf, which 
 belongs to the eighth cc itury, is a spirited 
 and stirring heroic. King Alfred's poems 
 belong to the best specimens of Anglo- 
 Saxon literature. The Norman conquest 
 introduced the French language and the 
 literature of the Trouveres, while the 
 Anglo-Saxon was left to the peasants and 
 thralls. Out of these elements, howev- 
 er; the English language was gradually 
 formed, and under the reign of Edward 
 III., in the fourteenth century, was made 
 the language of the court. It then as- 
 sumed a character which is intelligible 
 to the educated English of the present 
 day, and that period, therefore, may be 
 considered as the first age of English lit- 
 erature. 
 
 The earliest English author is Chaucer, 
 " the morning-star of English song," who 
 was born in 1328, and produced his first 
 poem, T/ie Court of Love, in 1347. .Dur- 
 ing his life he enjoyed the favor of Ed- 
 ward III. and his son, John of Gaunt. 
 He filled various diplomatic stations, 
 among others that of ambassador to 
 Genoa. During his residence in Italy, 
 he became familiar with the works of 
 Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch, and is 
 supposed to have visited the latter. He 
 also wrote Troilus and Cressida, The 
 House of Fame, and The Canterbury 
 Tales, his most famous work, an imita- 
 tion, in poetry, of the Decameron. He 
 died in 1400. The first prose works in 
 the English language were translations 
 of the gospels and of some of the classics. 
 AVickliffe, the Reformer, who first made 
 an English version of the Bible, was a
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 377 
 
 contemporary of Chaucer. Sir Thomas 
 Wyatt, and Henry Howard, Earl of Sur- 
 rey, who flourished under the reign of 
 Henry VIII., in the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, are the next English 
 poets of note. They wrote principally 
 songs and odes. Surrey was beheaded 
 on charge of treason in 1547. 
 
 The reign of Elizabeth, at the close of 
 the sixteenth century, was the golden age 
 of English literature. Shakspeare, Spen- 
 ser, Raleigh, Sidney, Ben Jonson, Beau- 
 mont and Fletcher, formed a constella- 
 tion of poets and dramatists, such as no 
 other age or country ever produced. 
 Spenser, born in 1553, became early as- 
 sociated with Sir Philip Sidney, to whom, 
 in 1579, he dedicated his first work, the 
 Sliepherd's Calendar, a pastoral. From 
 1586 to 1598, he was sheriff of the county 
 of Cork, in Ireland, and resided at Kil- 
 colman Castle, where his greatest work, 
 The Faery Queen, was composed This 
 is an allegory in 12 books, written in 
 stanza of his own invention, (modelled, 
 however, on the Italian ottava rima,) 
 and which now bears his name. He died 
 in 1599. Sidney, who was born in 1554, 
 is best known as the author of Arcadia, 
 a pastoral romance, and the Defence of 
 Poetry. He is the first writer who gave 
 an elegant and correct form to English 
 prose. Shakspeare, the greatest dramat- 
 ic poet of any age, was born in 1564. 
 He commenced his career by preparing 
 for the stage the plays of some of his pre- 
 decessors, and this fact has thrown some 
 doubt about the authenticity of two or 
 three of the plays included among his 
 works. The order in which his own plays 
 appeared has never been satisfactorily 
 ascertained. The following, however, 
 are known to have been written before 
 1598 : The Tico Gentlemen of Verona; 
 Love's Labor Lost; The Comedy of Er- 
 rors ; Midsummer Night's Dream ; 
 Romeo and Juliet ; Merchant of Venice ; 
 Richard II.; Richard III.; Henry IV., 
 and King John. The Tempest, which 
 appeared in 1611, is believed to be his 
 last dramatic work. He also wrote the 
 poems of Venus and Adonis, and The 
 Rape of Lucrece, a lyric called The 
 Passionate Pilgrim, and a great num- 
 ber of sonnets, some of which are the fin- 
 est in the language. He died in 1616. 
 Ben Jonson was born in 1574, and pub- 
 lished his first dramatic work, the com- 
 edy of Every Man in his Humor, in 
 1596. In addition to other comedies, the 
 best of which are Volpone, the Fox, and 
 The Alchymist, he wrote many exquisite 
 
 songs and madrigals. Sir Walter Kal- 
 eigh is more distinguished as a gallant 
 knight and daring adventurer than as 
 an author, yet his lyrics and his History 
 of the World, written during twelve 
 years' imprisonment in the Tower, give 
 him full claim to the latter title. He 
 was born in 1552 and was beheaded by 
 order of James I. in 1617. Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, contemporaries and in some 
 degree imitators of Shakspeare, deserve 
 the next place after him, among the dra- 
 matists of that period. Beaumont is sup- 
 posed to have been the inventive genius 
 of their plays, and Fletcher to have sup- 
 plied the wit and fancy. The Faithful 
 Shepherdess is the work of Fletcher 
 alone. Many dramatists flourished dur- 
 ing this and the succeeding generation, 
 whose works are now but little read, but 
 who would have attained eminence but 
 for the greater lights with which they 
 are eclipsed. The most noted of them 
 are Marlowe, Marston, Chapman, Decker, 
 Webster, Ford and Massinger. 
 
 Between Shakspeare and Milton, the 
 only name which appears in English lit- 
 erature is Cowley, the author of the 
 Davideis, a forgotten epic. Milton was 
 borne in 1608, and in his early boyhood 
 exhibited the genius which afterwards 
 made him the first English poet, and one 
 of the great masters of English prose. 
 His Hymn on the Nativity, was written 
 in his twenty-first, and his mask of Co- 
 mus, in his twenty-third year. L' Alle- 
 gro, II Penseroso, and Lycidas soon af- 
 terwards appeared. After his return 
 from Italy, he devoted his attention to 
 theology and politics. His treatise on 
 Marriage was published in 1643, his 
 Areopagitica in 1644, and his famous re- 
 ply to Salmasius in 1651. In the follow- 
 ing year he lost his sight, and was obliged 
 to retire from public service. His Para- 
 dise Lost appeared in 1665, and was fol- 
 lowed by Paradise Regained in 1671, 
 and Samson Agonistes. He died in 1674. 
 Dryden, who, born in 1631, was known as 
 a poet during Milton's life, introduced a 
 new school of poetry the narrative and 
 didactic. His first noted poem, the An- 
 nus Mirabilis, was produced in 1666, 
 his satire of Absalom and Achitophel in 
 1681, and shortly afterwards his Hind 
 and Panther, a religious satire. He also 
 wrote several rhymed tragedies and an 
 Essay on Dramatic Poesy. Defoe, born 
 in 1663, wrote the world-renowned nar- 
 rative of Robinson Crusoe, which was 
 first published in 1719. The seventeenth 
 century was also an important epoch for
 
 878 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 English philosophical literature. Lord 
 Bacon, born in 1561, published his De 
 dignitate et augmentis Scientarum in 
 1605, and his celebrated Novum Orga- 
 num in 1620. These, although written in 
 Latin, are the most important philosophi- 
 cal works which have ever emanated from 
 an English author. Hobbes, a writer on 
 politics, jurisprudence and moral phi- 
 losophy, died in 1679. Locke, born in 
 1632, first published his Essay on the 
 Human Understanding, in 1690. 
 
 The commencement of the last century 
 brings us to a group of authors of very 
 different character. The influence of 
 French literature began to be felt, and 
 the characteristics of the English writers 
 of this period are elegance and grace. 
 This is properly the age of English prose, 
 which was enriched, successively, by Ad- 
 dison, Horace Walpole, Swift, Sterne. 
 Richardson, Smollett, Fielding, Hume, 
 Gibbon, Chesterfield, and Robertson. The 
 first poet who rose to eminence in the last 
 century, was Pope, who was born in 1688, 
 and published his Essay on Criticism in 
 1711. His most celebrated poetical works 
 are the Rape of the Lock, the Essay on 
 Man, and The Dunciad. Thomson, au- 
 thor of The Seasons and the Castle of 
 Indolence, lived and died in the first half 
 of the century. Gay, a contemporary 
 poet, is distinguished for his Fables. 
 Gray ranks as one of the finest lyric po- 
 ets of England. The few odes he has left, 
 and his Elegy in a Country Churchyard, 
 belong to the classics of the language. 
 Goldsmith was born in 1728, and died in 
 1774. His poems of The Traveller, and 
 The Deserted Village, and his romance 
 of the Vicar of Wakefield, will live as 
 long as his native tongue. Cowper closes 
 the list of the poets of the last century. 
 He died in 1800, after a life darkened by 
 religious melancholy. His Task, Table- 
 talk, and ballad of John G-ilpin, are his 
 best poetical works. Returning to the 
 prose writers, Addison is first in point of 
 time, having been born in 1672. His best 
 works are his essays, contributed to The 
 Spectator, which he established in 1711, 
 in conjunction with his friend Steele. 
 His English has rarely been excelled for 
 purity and elegance. Chesterfield, Lady 
 Montague, and Horace Walpole, are dis- 
 tinguished as epistolary writers. Dean 
 Swift, born in 1667, was a politician and 
 satirist, but i^ now best known by his 
 Tale of a Tub, published in 1704. and 
 Gulliver's Travels, in 1726. Sterne, in 
 his Tristram Shandy and The Senti- 
 mental Journey, displayed a droll min- 
 
 gling of wit and pathos, in a style exceed- 
 ingly lively and flexible. Richardson, 
 one of the first English romance-writers, 
 was born in 1689. His principal novels, 
 which are of immense length, are Pa- 
 mela, Clarissa Harlowe, and Sir Charles 
 G-randison. Smollett, his successor, pub- 
 lished his Roderick Random, in 1748, 
 and Humphrey Clinker, his last work, in 
 1771. Hume, in addition to political and 
 philosophical works, wrote the History 
 of England, from the invasion of Caesar 
 to the rebellion of 1688, which was pub- 
 lished in 1673-4. Smollett wrote four 
 volumes in continuation of the history. 
 Gibbon, born in 1737, completed, after 
 twenty years' labor, his History of the 
 Decline and Fall of the R> tan Empire, 
 which appeared from 1782 10 1788. Rob- 
 ertson, the contemporary of Gibbon, pub- 
 lished his History of Scotland in 1759, 
 and his History of the Reign of Charles 
 V. in 1769. Dr. Johnson, whose Rasselas, 
 Liives of the Poets, and contributions to 
 The Rambler, exercised such a salutary 
 influence on the popular taste of his time, 
 died in 1784. His Dictionary of the 
 English Language, was first published 
 in 1755. Edmund Burke, one of the most 
 finished and powerful of English orators, 
 published, in 1756, his Essay on the Sub- 
 lime and Beautiful, which is a model of 
 philosophical writing. He died in 1797. 
 
 With the present century commenced 
 a new era in English literature. The 
 reign of the drama and the epic were 
 over ; the reign of romance, in both prose 
 and poetry, and the expression of a high- 
 er and more subtle range of imagination, 
 now commenced. The language lost 
 something, perhaps, of its classic polish 
 and massive strength, but became more 
 free and flowing, more varied in style, 
 and richer in epithet. The authors in 
 whom this change is first apparent, are 
 Coleridge and Wordsworth, in poetry, 
 and Scott in prose. Nearly coeval with 
 the two former, but different in charac- 
 ter, were Byron and Moore ; the latter 
 are the poets of passion, the former of 
 imagination. Scott, in his Waverley nov- 
 els, first developed the neglected wealth 
 of English romance. Burns, although his 
 best songs are in the Scottish dialect, 
 stands at the head of all English song- 
 writers. Campbell, in the true lyric in- 
 spiration of his poems, is classed with 
 
 I Gray. Rogers and Southey can scarcely 
 be ranked among those poets who assisted 
 
 ! in developing the later English litera- 
 ture. The former imitates the old mod- 
 els ; the latter, more daring in his forms
 
 LIT 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 379 
 
 of verse, and more splendid in his imagi- 
 nation, has never been able to touch the 
 popular heart. Coleridge's prose works 
 contain probably the most important 
 contributions to English philosophical 
 literature, since the time of Bacon. The 
 department of history has been amply 
 filled by Scott, Alison, author of a Ilis- 
 tory of Europe, Gillies and Grote, cele- 
 brated for their Histories of Greece, Na- 
 pier, in his History of the Peninsular 
 War, Hallam, in his History of the Mid- 
 dle Ages, and Macaulay in his History 
 of England. Most of these writers are 
 now (1851) living. Those who have died 
 since the beginning of the century, are 
 Keats, in 1820; Shelley, in 1822 ; Byron, 
 in 1824 : Scott, in 1832 ; Coleridge, in 
 1834 ; Southey, in 1843 ; Campbell, in 
 1844 ; Thomas Hood, in 1848 ; and 
 Wordsworth, in 1850. Kogers and Moore 
 are still living, at an advanced age ; 
 Leigh Hunt, the author of The Rimini, 
 survives his friends, Shelley and Keats. 
 The field of historical romance, open'ed 
 by Sir Walter Scott, has been success- 
 fully followed by Sir Edward Bulwer 
 Lytton and G. P. R. James. As novelists 
 of English life and society, under all its 
 aspects, Dickens and Thackeray and of 
 late years, Miss Bronte, author of Skir- 
 ley and Jane Eyre stand preeminent. 
 As essayists and critics, the names of 
 Lords Jeffrey and Brougham, Sidney 
 Smith, Macaulay, Professor Wilson, De 
 Quincey, Carlyle and Stevens, surpass 
 even the group who produced The Taller 
 and the Spectator. Carlyle, in his Sartor 
 Resartus, Past and Present, and Heroes 
 and Hero- Worship, has made use of an 
 idiom of his own a broken, involved, 
 Germanesque diction, which resembles 
 that of no other English author. The 
 most prominent living English poets, are 
 Thomas Moore, Leigh Hunt, Rogers, 
 Alfred Tennyson, the present poet-lau- 
 reate, Milnes, Barry Cornwall, Robert 
 Browning, a lyric and dramatic poet, his 
 wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, prob- 
 ably the most impassioned and imagina- 
 tive of English female authors, Walter 
 Savage Landor, Mary Howitt, R. H. 
 Home, author of Orion, Croly, Philip 
 James Bailey, author of Festus, and T. 
 N. Talfourd, author of the tragedy of 
 Ion. As prose writers, there still remain 
 Hallam, Macaulay, Grote, Professor Wil- 
 son, Brougham, Bulwer, Dickens, Thack- 
 eray, Miss Bronte, Miss Martineau, 
 James, Howitt, Stevens, and a number 
 of others. All English works of any 
 merit are now immediately reprinted in 
 
 this country, and the English literature 
 of the present century is as familiar to 
 most Americans as their own. 
 
 American Literature. The literature 
 of the United States belongs almost ex- 
 clusively to the present century. The 
 language being that of England, and all 
 the treasures of English literature the 
 common inheritance of our countrymen, 
 whatever American authors produce is 
 necessarily measured by the English 
 standard. The language comes to us 
 finished and matured, while the means 
 of intellectual cultivation until a com- 
 paratively recent period have been 
 limited, and our abundant stores of le- 
 gend and history are still too fresh to be 
 made available for the purposes of poetry 
 and fiction. The present generation, 
 however, has witnessed the growth of a 
 national literature, if not peculiarly 
 American in language, at least in style 
 and the materials it has chosen. Our 
 most eminent poets and prose writers are 
 still living, and almost every year adds 
 to the list of younger authors, and to the 
 regard in which American literature is 
 held abroad. 
 
 The seventeenth century boasted two 
 or three authors, but none, we believe, 
 native to the soil. Mrs. Anne Bradstreet, 
 wife of a governor of Massachusetts, 
 published in 1640, a poem on the Four 
 Elements, smoothly versified, but of little 
 poetical merit. Cotton Mather, born in 
 1663, is almost the only prose writer 
 worthy of note. His " Magnalia" eon- 
 tains some valuable historical matter. 
 The last century produced some distin- 
 guished prose writers and some accom- 
 plished versifiers, though no poet in the 
 true sense of the title. Franklin, born in 
 1706, was master of a singularly clear, 
 compact, and vigorous style. Jonathan 
 Edwards, who flourished during the last 
 century, wrote a celebrated treatise on 
 the Will, which is one of the first meta- 
 physical works in the language. The 
 Revolutionary struggle, and the circum- 
 stances which preceded and succeeded it, 
 produced a number of bold and brilliant 
 writers and speakers, among whom were 
 Jefferson, Hamilton, the Adamses, Rich- 
 ard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry. The 
 diplomatic correspondence of the Revolu- 
 tion has rarely been surpassed. Philip 
 Freneau, who has been called the first 
 American poet, wrote many patriotic 
 songs, which were sung during the strug- 
 gle, but none have retained their original 
 vitality. Trumbull was the author of a 
 Hudibrastic poem entitled McFingal, in
 
 380 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LIT 
 
 which the Tories were held up to ridicule ; 
 the first part was published in 1775. 
 Joel Barlow, who aspired to the rank of 
 an epic poet, published in 1787, his 
 " Vision of Columbus," which, in 1808, 
 was expanded into the " Columbiad," 
 and printed in what was then a style of 
 unusual magnificence. 
 
 Dana, Bryant, , Washington Irving, 
 Cooper, Paulding ; and Everett, all born 
 towards the close of the last century, are 
 still living. Dana may be considered as 
 the first genuine poet the United States 
 has produced. His " Buccaneer" is a 
 picturesque and striking poem, founded 
 on a legend of the pirates who formerly 
 frequented the American coast. Irving's 
 "Knickerbocker's History of New York" 
 appeared in 1809, and instantly gave 
 him a position, as a writer of the purest 
 style and of exquisite humor and fancy. 
 His latest production, a Biography of 
 Goldsmith, to whom he has been com- 
 pared, was published in 1849. Many of 
 his works among them the " Sketch 
 Book," "Bracebridge Hall," "The Al- 
 hambra," and the " Life of Columbus," 
 were first published in England, where 
 he lived many years. Cooper's first essay 
 jn literature was a novel of society enti- 
 tled " Precaution," but he subsequently 
 confined himself to the two fields in which 
 he has earned his best fame the forest 
 and the ocean. His most successful 
 novels are : "The Spy." the "Pioneers," 
 the " Deerslayer," the " Pilot," and the 
 " Pathfinder. 1 ' Bryant first attracted 
 noticed by his poem of " Thanatopsis," 
 written in his nineteenth year. His first 
 volume, "The Ages," was published in 
 1825. The most distinguished authors 
 who have died since the commencement 
 of the century are Dr. Channing, whose 
 essays," criticisms, and moral, religious, 
 and political writings have won him much 
 celebrity as a prose writer ; William 
 Wirt, author of the "British Spy," a 
 collection of letters written in a chaste 
 and elegant style ; Charles Brockden 
 Brown, the earliest American novelist, 
 author of "Wieland;" Richard Henry 
 Wilde, author of a "Life of Tasso;" 
 Chief Justice Marshall, who compiled a 
 voluminous " Life of Washington ;" Hen- 
 ry Wheaton, author of standard works on 
 law and political economy ; Judge Story, 
 author of several celebrated legal works ; 
 Edgar A. Poe, a most original and 
 strongly marked character, who wrote 
 tho poem of "The Raven," and a num- 
 ber of weird and fantastic prose stories ; 
 Margaret Fuller, a lady of remarkable 
 
 acquirements, who has left behind her 
 much admirable descriptive and criti- 
 cal writing ; and of poets of lesser note, 
 Robert C. Sands, author of " Yamoyden ;" 
 J. G. C. Brainard; Pinckney, a very 
 graceful song-writer ; P. P. Cooke, au- 
 thor of the " Froissart Ballads ;" and 
 Mrs. Osgood, a female writer, who gave 
 evidence of possessing a brilliant and in- 
 exhaustible fancy. The most eminent 
 living authors, many of whom are still 
 young, and have scarcely reached the 
 maturity of their powers, are Irving, 
 Cooper, Bryant, Dana, Paulding, author 
 of a number of humorous stories ; Miss 
 Sedgwick, who chose for the objects of 
 her fictions the early history of New 
 England; N. P. Willis, whose poems, 
 stories, anc -coords of travels in Europe 
 and the East, are unsurpassed in point 
 and brilliancy ; Longfellow, the most 
 popular poet of the country ; Ralph Waldo 
 Emerson, the essayist and poet, and the 
 founder of a new school of philosophy ; 
 Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the 
 " Scarlet Letter" and the " House of the 
 Seven Gables ;" E. P. Whipple, an essay- 
 ist and critic ; W. Gilmore Simms, J. P. 
 Kennedy, and Dr. Bird, all of whom have 
 written novels relating to the early his- 
 tory of the South ; Halleck, the author 
 of the magnificent poem of Marco Bozza- 
 ris ; Prescott, the historian, author of the 
 "Conquest of Mexico," "Conquest of 
 Peru, and " Lives of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella ;" Bancroft, who is now engaged 
 in publishing a complete history of the 
 United States ; Herman Melville, author 
 of " Typee," "Oinoo," and "Whitejack- 
 et;" Mrs. Kirkland, and C. F. Hoffman, 
 both of whom have admirably sketched 
 the wild life of the West; Whittier, a 
 fiery and earnest poet, who strikes un- 
 hesitatingly at what he deems oppres- 
 sion ; Lowell, one of the youngest and 
 most encouraging of American poets ; 
 and Donald C. Mitchell, who has lately 
 achieved an honorable reputation as a 
 prose writer. It is unnecessary to carry 
 the enumeration further, since all the 
 remaining authors are young, and every 
 day adds something to their intellectual 
 stature and relative positions. 
 
 LITHOG'RAPHY, the art of tracing 
 letters, figures, or other designs on stone, 
 and of transferring them to paper by im- 
 pression ; an art invented in 1793 by A. 
 Sennefelder at Munich, in Bavaria. The 
 principles upon which this art is founded, 
 are 1. The quality which a compact 
 granular limestone has of imbibing grease 
 or moisture ; and 2. The decided antipa-
 
 LOG] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 381 
 
 thy of grease and water for each other. 
 A drawing being made upon the stone 
 with an ink or crayon of a greasy compo- 
 sition, is washed over with water, which 
 sinks into all parts of the stone not de- 
 fended by the drawing. A cylindrical 
 roller, charged with printing ink is then 
 passed all over the stone, and the draw- 
 ing receives the ink, whilst the water de- 
 fends the other parts of the stone from it 
 on account of its greasy nature. Impres- 
 sions of the drawing may then be taken 
 upon paper, by means of a lithographic 
 press. The mosc convenient and useful 
 way, however, of proceeding, is to write 
 with proper ink on a prepared paper, 
 and then transfer the writing to the stone 
 by passing it through the press. 
 
 LIT'URGY, an office at Athens, by 
 which persons of considerable property 
 were bound to perform certain public du- 
 ties, or supply the commonwealth with 
 necessaries at their own expense. The 
 persons on whom this office was imposed 
 were usually among the richest inhabit- 
 ants ; and if any one selected to fill it 
 could find another more wealthy than 
 himself who was exempt from public 
 duty, he could insist on being released 
 from his charge, which then devolved on 
 the party denounced. This obnoxious in- 
 stitution was abolished on the proposition 
 of Demosthenes. It is from this term 
 that the English liturgy, in ecclesiastical 
 meaning, has been derived ; the sense 
 having been contracted from public min- 
 istry or service in general to the ceremo- 
 nies of religious worship. LITURGY, the 
 ritual according to which the religious 
 services of a church are performed. In 
 the writings of the ancients, the name is 
 restricted to the service of the Eucharist, 
 which afterwards came to be distinguish- 
 ed in the Western church by the term of 
 missa, or mass. There still exist in 
 Greek, Latin, and some Oriental lan- 
 guages, various rituals by which the Eu- 
 charist was celebrated in very early ages. 
 Some have supposed that all these may 
 be referred to one original liturgy, which 
 may have been universally adopted in 
 the primitive church. Palmer, the latest 
 English writer on this subject, conceives 
 that the number of original liturgies may 
 be reduced to four, but not lower. These 
 he entitles the great Oriental liturgy, the 
 Alexandrian, the Roman, and the Galli- 
 can ; each of which was extensively used 
 from the Apostolic age in the quarters 
 from which he assigns them their names, 
 and became the parents of many other 
 rituals, such as were used, with constant- 
 
 ly diverging variations, in the different 
 patriarchates of the empire. The earli- 
 est period at which any liturgical forms 
 were consigned to writing is the end of 
 the third or beginning of the fourth cen- 
 tury ; at least the liturgy called of St. 
 Basil can be traced as high as the latter 
 period. This practice, also, seems fre- 
 quently to have been applied only to cer- 
 tain parts of the service. We find, there- 
 fore, great differences in the MSS. which 
 now exist; and it becomes very difficult 
 to ascertain what the contents of the 
 primitive rituals were, and trace the pe- 
 riods at which many rites and ceremonies 
 have been introduced into the service. 
 The liturgy of the Church of England is 
 a liturgy in the wider and more usual 
 acceptation of the term, comprehending 
 the whole of the various services used on 
 ordinary and extraordinary occasi ns 
 throughout the year. 
 
 LIVERY, a suit of clothes made of 
 different colors and trimmings by which 
 noblemen and gentlemen have their ser- 
 vants distinguished ; supposed to have 
 originated in the practice followed by 
 cavaliers at tournaments, whp used to 
 distinguish themselves by wearing the 
 livery or badge of their mistresses. Per- 
 sons of distinction formerly gave liveries 
 to persons unconnected with their own 
 household or family, to engage them in 
 their quarrels for the time being. The 
 Romish church has also liveries for con- 
 fessors, virgins, apostles, martyrs, peni- 
 tents, &o. A particular dress or garb, 
 appropriate or peculiar to particular 
 times or things ; as, the livery of May ; 
 the livery of autumn. Livery of' seisin, 
 in law, signifies delivering the possession 
 of lands, &o. to him who has a right to 
 them. 
 
 LIVERYMAN, a freeman of the city 
 of London, admitted member of some 
 one of the city companies, by which he 
 enjoys certain powers and privileges. 
 From among their number are elected 
 the common council, sheriff, and other 
 superior officers of the city. 
 
 LLOYD'S LIST, a London periodical 
 publication, in which the shipping news 
 received at Lloyd's coffee-house is pub- 
 lished. On account of the extensive in- 
 formation which it contains, it is of great 
 importance to merchants. Lloyd's Cof- 
 \ fee-house has long been celebrated as the 
 ' resort of eminent merchants, under-wri- 
 ! ters, merchants, insurance brokers, <tc., 
 and the books kept there are replete with 
 valuable maritime intelligence. 
 
 LO'CUM TE'NENS, a deputy or
 
 382 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [LOU 
 
 
 substitute : one who supplies the place of 
 another, or executes his office. 
 
 LOCUS IN QUO, in law, the place 
 where anything is alleged to be done in 
 pleadings, &c. Locus partitus, a di- 
 vision made between two towns or coun- 
 ties, to make trial where the land or place 
 in question lies. 
 
 LODGE, in architecture, a small house 
 situated in a park or domain, subordinate 
 to the mansion ; also, the cottage situ- 
 ate at the gate of the avenue that leads 
 to the mansion. 
 
 LODGEMENT, in military affairs, is a 
 work raised with earth, gabions, fascines, 
 Ac., to cover the besiegers from the ene- 
 my's fire, and to prevent their losing a 
 place which they have gained, and are 
 resolved, if possible, to keep. 
 
 LOG'IC, various definitions have been 
 given of logic, some including too little, 
 and others too much. Logic has been 
 called the Art of Reasoning ; this defini- 
 tion has been properly amended by call- 
 ing it the Science as well as the Art of 
 Reasoning : meaning by the former, the 
 analysis of the mental process which 
 takes place whenever we reason ; and, by 
 the latter, the rules grounded upon that 
 analysis for conducting the process cor- 
 rectly. But the word Reasoning, again, 
 is ambiguously used. In one of its ac- 
 ceptations it means syllogizing, or that 
 mode of inference which may be called 
 concluding from generals to particulars. 
 The better definition of this term, how- 
 ever, and that which accords more with 
 the general usage of the English lan- 
 guage, makes it signify the inferring of 
 any assertion from assertions already ad- 
 mitted. But the province of logic is 
 wider than reasoning even in this exten- 
 sive sense, for it undoubtedly includes, 
 for instance, precision of language and 
 accuracy of classification ; in other words, 
 definition and division. These various 
 operations might be brought within the 
 compass of the science, by defining logic 
 as the science which treats of the opera- 
 tions of the human understanding in the 
 pursuit of truth. This definition, how- 
 ever, includes too much. Truths are 
 known to us in two ways : some are known 
 directly and of themselves ; some through 
 the medium of other truths. It is only 
 with the latter that logic has to do. 
 Logic is not the science of belief, but the 
 science of proof. But as the far greatest 
 portion of our knowledge, whether of 
 general truths, or of particular facts, is 
 avowedly matter of inference, our defini- 
 tion of logic is in danger of including the 
 
 whole field of knowledge; unless we 
 qualify it by some further limitation, 
 showing where the domain of the other 
 arts and sciences, and of common pru- 
 dence ends, and that of logic begins. The 
 distinction is, that the science or knowl- 
 edge of the particular subject matter 
 furnishes the evidence, while logic fur- 
 nishes the principles and rules of the esti- 
 mation of evidence : logic points out what 
 relations must subsist between data, and 
 whatever can be concluded from them. 
 " Logic, then, is the science of the opera- 
 tions of the understanding which are sub- 
 servient to the estimation of evidence : 
 both the process itself of proceeding from 
 known truths to unknown, and all intel- 
 lectual operations auxiliary to this." 
 Logic was highly valued, perhaps over- 
 valued, among the ancient philosophers. 
 The Stoics in particular were celebrated 
 for their application of its principles to 
 their own favorite metaphysical discus- 
 sions. From the abuse o/ logical knowl- 
 edge arose the celebrated fallacies of the 
 Sophists. Zeno is called the father of 
 logic or dialectics ; but it was then treated 
 with particular reference to the art of 
 disputation, and soon degenerated into- 
 the minister of sophistry. It is to Aris- 
 totle, however, that the science owes, not 
 only its first exposition, but its complete 
 development. His logical writings were 
 called Organon in later ages, and for 
 almost two thousand years after him 
 maintained authority in the schools of 
 the philosophers, and in the middle ages 
 it became the foundation of the scholas- 
 tic philosophy, which was little better 
 than a revival under another form, of the 
 logic of the Athenian Sophists. 
 
 LOGIS'T^E, in antiquity. Athenian 
 magistrates, ten in number, whose office 
 it was to receive and pass the accounts 
 of magistrates when they went out of 
 office. 
 
 LOGOG'HAPHY, a system of taking 
 down the words of an orator without 
 having recourse to short-hand, which was 
 put in practice during the French revo- 
 lution. Twelve or fourteen reporters 
 were seated round a table. Each had a 
 long slip of paper, numbered. The writer 
 of No. 1 took down the first three or four 
 words, and as soon as they were spoken 
 gave notice to his neighbor by touching 
 his elbow, or some other sign ; No. 2 
 passed the sign to No 3, and so on, until 
 the first line of each slip was filled ; No. 1 
 then began the second line : thus all the 
 12 or 14 slips, when filled, being arranged 
 parallel to each other, formed a single
 
 LOO] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 383 
 
 page. This mode required great atten- 
 tion and quickness, and was not found to 
 answer well in practice. It was intro- 
 duced in the National Assembly in Octo- 
 ber, 1790, the expenses being paid by the 
 civil list ; and continued until the 10th 
 of August, 1792, when Louis XVI. and 
 his family, taking refuge from insurrec- 
 tion in the assembly, occupied the box of 
 the logographe. After that time it was 
 not used. Logography is also used to 
 denote a method of printing in which 
 whole words in type are used instead of 
 single letters. This method was at one 
 time introduced into the printing of a 
 daily London newspaper ; but after a 
 short trial was abandoned as incon- 
 venient. 
 
 LOG'OGRIPH, a kind of riddle, which 
 consists in some allusion or mutilation of 
 words, being of a middle nature between 
 an enigma and a rebus. The word is 
 used by Ben Jonson. 
 
 L K, in Northern mythology, the 
 name of a malevolent deity ; correspond- 
 ing to the Ahriman of the Persians, who 
 is represented to be at war with both 
 gods and men, and originating all the 
 evil with which the universe is desolated. 
 In the Edda (the great poem of the 
 Norwegian nations) he is described as 
 the great serpent which encircles the 
 earth (supposed to be emblematical of 
 sin or corruption,) and as having given 
 birth to Hela, or Death, the queen of the 
 infernal regions. 
 
 LOL'LARDS, a class of persons in 
 Germany and the Netherlands, who pro- 
 fessed, in the 14th century, to undertake 
 spiritual offices in behalf of the sick and 
 dead, and succeeded in attracting the 
 attention and love of the mass of the 
 people when they were, in a great meas- 
 ure, alienated from the secular and regu- 
 lar clergy by their general indifference 
 and neglect. The origin of the name has 
 been much disputed ; but the inquiries 
 of Mosheiin'seern to lead to the result 
 that it is compounded of the German 
 words lallen (identical with the lallare of 
 the Romans, and the lull of our own lan- 
 guage, signifying to sing in a murmuring 
 strain) and hard, a common affix, as in 
 the somewhat similar word beghard. A 
 Lollard, therefore, meant one in the 
 habit of singing to the praise of God, or 
 funeral dirges and the like, as was the 
 custom of the early professors of this holy 
 manner of life. The Lollards, however, 
 were accused probably through the envy 
 and spite of the mendicant friars and 
 others whose neglected duties they so 
 
 zealously performed of holding many 
 heretical opinions. It is not impossible 
 that there might have been some degree 
 of enthusiasm mixed up with so ardent 
 and unworldly a devotion ; but the 
 charges of violent reforming views, still 
 more those of practical vice, appear to 
 rest upon no authentic grounds. In pro- 
 cess of time the term was applied by the 
 partisans of the church to the heretics 
 and schismatics of the day generally ; 
 and the followers of Wicliffe in England 
 are frequently stigmatized under the 
 name of Lollards. 
 
 LOM'BARD, a term anciently used in 
 England for a banker or money-lender. 
 The name is derived from the Italian 
 merchants, the great usurers or money- 
 lenders of the middle ages, principally 
 from the cities of Lombardy, who are said 
 to have settled in London in the middle of 
 the 13th century, and to have taken up 
 their residence in a street in the city 
 which still bears their name. 
 
 LONGEVITY, length or duration of 
 life, generally designating great length 
 of life. Lord Bacon observes, that the 
 succession of ages, and of the generation 
 of men seems no way to shorten tb 
 length of human life, since the age of man 
 from the time of Moses to the present has 
 stood at about eighty years, without grad- 
 ually declining, as one might have ex- 
 pected ; but doubtless there are times 
 wherein men live to a longer or shorter 
 age in every conntry ; and it has been 
 remarked that those generally prove 
 longest-lived who use a simple diet, and 
 take most bodily exercise ; and shortest- 
 lived who indulge in luxury and ease ; 
 but these things have their changes and 
 revolutions, whilst the succession of man- 
 kind holds on uninterrupted in its course. 
 There are, however, several essential 
 circumstances which must combine to give 
 any individual a chance of exceeding the 
 usual period assigned to human existence. 
 These may be comprehended under the 
 following heads : a proper configuration 
 of body ; being born of healthy parents ; 
 living in a healthy climate and good at- 
 mosphere ; having the command of a suf- 
 ficient supply of food ; constant exercise ; 
 a due regulation of sleep ; a state of mar- 
 riage ; and due command of the passions 
 and temper. 
 
 LOOP'IIOLES, in fortification, aper- 
 tures formerly made in the battlements, 
 or in the walls of fortified places, for dis- 
 charging arrows and javelins against the 
 assailants. Since the invention of gun- 
 j powder and the substitution of cannon for
 
 384 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 LOU 
 
 Buch missiles, loopholes have necessarily 
 been discontinued in the construction of 
 fortresses, the assailants of which are 
 now sought to be driven back by guns 
 fired through apertures of a different 
 character, designated embrasures, which 
 see. 
 
 LORA'RIUS, in antiquity, one who 
 stimulated the gladiators to continue the 
 fight by exercising the scourge upon 
 them. Also, a. slave who bound and 
 scourged others at his master's pleasure. 
 
 LORD, a title of courtesy given to all 
 British and Irish noblemen, from the 
 baron upwards ; to the eldest sons of 
 earls ; to all the sons of marquesses and 
 dukes ; and, as an honorary title, to cer- 
 tain official characters ; as the lord mayor 
 of London, the lord chamberlain of the 
 king's household, the lord chancellor, the 
 lord chief justice, <fec. Lord is also a 
 general term, equivalent with peer. 
 Lord, in law, one who possesses a fee or 
 
 anor. This is the primitive meaning of 
 the word ; and it was in right of their feofs 
 that lords came to sit in parliament. In 
 Scripture, a name for the Supreme Be- 
 ing. When LORD, in the Old Testament, 
 is printed in capitals, it is the translation 
 of the Hebrew word for JEHOVAH, and 
 might with great propriety be so render- 
 ed. It is also applied to Christ, to the 
 Holy Spirit, to kings, and to prophets. 
 
 LORDS, HOUSE OF, is composed of the 
 five orders of nobility, viz. dukes, mar- 
 quesses, earls, viscounts, and barons, who 
 have attained the age of 21 years, and 
 labor under no disqualification ; of the 16 
 representative peers of Scotland; of the 
 28 representative peers of Ireland ; of 2 
 English archbishops and 24 bishops, and 
 4 representative Irish bishops. 
 
 LORD'S SUPPER, a ceremony among 
 Christians by which they commemorate 
 the death of Christ, and make at the 
 same time a profession of their faith. 
 The blessed founder of our religion in- 
 stituted this rite when he took his last 
 meal with his disciples ; breaking the 
 bread, after the oriental manner, as a fit- 
 ting symbol of his body, which was soon 
 to be broken, while the wine was signifi- 
 cant of that blood which was about to be 
 shed. 
 
 LORI'CA, in Roman antiquity, a cui- 
 rass, a brigandine, or coat of mail, which 
 was made of leather, and set with plates 
 of various forms, or rings like a chain. 
 
 LOTOPH'AGI, a name given to a peo- 
 ple of ancient Africa who inhabited the 
 Regio Syrtica, so called from the lotus 
 berry forming their principal food. They 
 
 were represented as a mild, hospitable 
 race of men. The food with which they 
 were nourished, among other peculiar 
 qualities, is said to have had the power 
 of obliterating all remembrance of one's 
 native country. 
 
 LOTTERY, a game of hazard in which 
 small sums are ventured for the chance 
 of obtaining a larger value, either in mo- 
 ney or other articles. In general, lotte- 
 ries consist of a certain number of tickets 
 drawn at the same time with a correspond- 
 ing number of blanks and prizes, by 
 which the fate of the tickets is determin- 
 ed. This species of gaming has been re- 
 sorted to at different periods by most of 
 the European governments, as a means 
 of raising money for public purposes. 
 Both state and private lotteries were en- 
 tirely abolished in England in 1823, on 
 the ground that they tended to foster a 
 spirit of gambling in the great body of the 
 people, and gave rise to many delusive 
 and fraudulent schemes. In 1836 they 
 were suppressed in France. They have 
 been prohibited in most of the United 
 States, but still exist in several of the 
 states of Germany. 
 
 LOUIS-D'OR, a French gold coin, 
 which received its name from Louis XIII., 
 who first coined it in 1631. The value of 
 the old Louis-d'or was equal to 24 francs ; 
 the new Louis is of the value of 20 francs. 
 
 LOU'IS, ST., KNIGHTS OF, the name of 
 a military order in France instituted by 
 Louis XIV. in 1693. 
 
 LOU'VRE, one of the most ancient 
 palaces of France. It existed in the time 
 of Dagobert as a hunting seat, the woods 
 then extending all over the actual site of 
 the northern portion of Paris down to the 
 banks of the Seine. The origin of its 
 name has not been satisfactorily ascer- 
 tained. It was formed into a stronghold 
 by Philip Augustus, who surrounded it 
 with towers and fosses, and converted it 
 into a state prison for confining the re- 
 fractory vassals of the crownT It was then 
 without the walls of Paris ; but, on their 
 extension in the latter part of the 14th 
 century, it was included within their cir- 
 cuit. Charles V. made additions to it. 
 That part of the palace now called the 
 Vieux Louvre was commenced under the 
 reign of Francis I., after the designs of 
 Pierre L'Escot, abbot of Clugny. When 
 Charles IX resided in the Louvre, he 
 began the long gallery which connects it 
 with the Tuilleries, and in which is now 
 deposited the celebrated collection of pic- 
 tures. It was finished under Henry IV. 
 Louis XIV., from the designs of Lemer-
 
 LUS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 385 
 
 cier, erected the peristyle which forms 
 the entrance to the Vieux Louvre from 
 the side of the Tuilleries. That monarch 
 also gave a beginning to the remainder 
 of the present modern edifice, from the 
 designs of Claude Perrault. The edifice 
 has never been finished; though, under 
 the reigns of succeeding monarchs, and 
 especially during that of Napoleon, it has 
 slowly advanced towards completion. The 
 eastern front, though not finished even 
 now, exhibits a facade of surpassing beau- 
 ty perhaps, in its kind, never equalled. 
 The quadrangle of the Louvre is a per- 
 fect square on the plan. Three of its 
 sides were from the designs of Perrault, 
 above mentioned. Besides the gallery 
 above adverted to, which contains some 
 of the finest pictures in the world, the 
 Louvre contains a museum of sculpture, 
 antiquities, and other specimens of art, 
 equally valuable. 
 
 LOVE, an affection of the mind excited 
 by beauty and worth of any kind, or by 
 the qualities of an object which commu- 
 nicate pleasure, sensual or intellectual. 
 It is opposed to hatred. Love between 
 the sexes, is a compound affection, con- 
 sisting of esteem, benevolence, and ani- 
 mal desire. Love is excited by pleasing 
 qualities of any kind, as by kindness, be- j 
 nevolence, charity, and by the qualities j 
 which render social intercourse agreea- 
 ble. In the latter case, love is ardent 
 friendship, or a strong attachment spring- 
 ing from good-will and esteem, and the 
 pleasure derived from the company, civ- 
 ilities, and kindnesses of others. Be- 
 tween certain natural relatives, love 
 seems to be in some cases instinctive. 
 Such is the love of a mother for her child, 
 which manifests itself toward an infant, 
 before any particular qualities in the 
 child are unfolded. This affection ip ap- 
 parently as strong in irrational animals 
 as in human beings. We speak of the 
 love of amusement, the love of books, the 
 love of money, and the love of whatever 
 contributes to our pleasure or supposed 
 profit. The love of God is the first duty 
 of man, and this springs from just views [ 
 of his attributes or excellencies of his j 
 character, which afford the highest de- j 
 light to the pious heart. Esteem and ' 
 reverence constitute ingredients in this 
 affection, and a fear of offending him is 
 its inseparable effect. 
 
 LU'DI, in antiquity, the shows or pub- 
 lic exhibitions which were made among 
 the Greeks and Romans, for the display 
 of skill and the entertainment of the 
 people. , 
 
 25 
 
 LUKE, or Gospel of St. Luke, a canon- 
 ical book of the New Testament, distin- 
 guished for fulness, accuracy, and traces 
 of extensive information. Some think it 
 was properly St. Paul's gospel, and when 
 that apostle speaks of his gospel, he 
 means what is called St. Luke's. Ire- 
 naeus says, that St. Luke digested into 
 writing what St. Paul preached to the 
 gentiles; and Gregory Nazianzen tells 
 us, that St. Luke wrote with the assist- 
 ance of St. Paul. 
 
 LTJ'NACY, a species of insanity or 
 madness, supposed to be influenced by 
 the moon, or periodical in the month. 
 In law, strictly, the condition of an in- 
 sane person who has lucid intervals ; but, 
 for convenience, the term is commonly 
 used as embracing the condition of all 
 those who are under certain legal disa- 
 bilities on account of mental deficiency ; 
 such as idiots, fatuous persons, <fec. ; in 
 short, all who are of unsound mind. By 
 the law of England, the sovereign has 
 the custody of lunatics. This is, in prac- 
 tice, delegated to the keeper of the great 
 seal, to whom applications for a commis- 
 sion of lunacy are directed. 
 
 LTJPERCA'LIA, a Roman festival in 
 honor of Pan, celebrated in February ; 
 when the Luperci ran up and down the 
 city naked, having only a girdle of goat's 
 skin round their waist, and thongs of the 
 same in their hands, with which they 
 struck those they met, particularly mar- 
 ried women, who were thence supposed 
 to be rendered prolific. The name is de- 
 rived from lupus, a wolf; because Pan 
 protected cattle from that animal. The 
 indecencies and excesses attending the 
 processions of the Lupercals, which had 
 degenerated from high religious rites 
 to vulgar superstitions, provoked the in- 
 dignation of Christians in the 4th and 5th 
 centuries. 
 
 LUPER'CI, the Roman priests of Pan, 
 and most ancient religious order in the 
 state, having been instituted, according 
 to tradition, by Evander, king of Pallan- 
 tium, a town that occupied the Palatine 
 Hill before Rome was built. There were 
 three companies of them; viz. the Fabi- 
 ani, Quintiliani, and Julii the last of 
 whom were founded in honor of Julius' 
 Caesar. 
 
 LU'SIAD, the name given to the great 
 epic poem of Portugal, written by C&- 
 moens, and published in 1571. The sub- 
 ject of this poem is the establishment of 
 the Portuguese empire in India ; but 
 whatever of chivalrous, great, beautiful, 
 or noble, could be gathered from the tra-
 
 386 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MAD 
 
 ditions of his country, has been inter- 
 woven into the story. Among all the 
 heroic poets, either of ancient or modern 
 times, there has never, since Homer, been 
 any one so intensely national, or so loved 
 or honored by his countrymen, as Ca- 
 moens. It seems as if the national feel- 
 ings of the Portuguese had centered and 
 reposed themselves in the person of this 
 poet, whom they consider as worthy to 
 supply the place of a whole host of poets, 
 and as being in himself a complete liter- 
 ature to his country. The great defect 
 of the Lusiad consists in its preposterous 
 mythological machinery, and its clumsy 
 management ; but in all the qualities of 
 versification and beauty of language it is 
 perfect, and may be regarded as the 
 " well, pure and undefiled," of the Por- 
 tuguese language. Few modern poems 
 have been so frequently translated as the 
 Lusiad. Mr. Adamson, in his Memoirs 
 of the Life and Writings of Camoens, 
 notices one Hebrew translation of it, five 
 Latin, six Spanish, four Italian, three 
 French, four German, and two English. 
 Of the two English versions one is that 
 of Sir R. Fanshawe, written during Crom- 
 well's usurpation, and distinguished for 
 its fidelity to .the original ; the other is 
 that of Mickle, who, unlike the former, 
 took great liberties with the original, but 
 whose additions and alterations have met 
 with great approbation from all critics 
 except, as indeed was to be expected, 
 from the Portuguese themselves. 
 
 M. 
 
 M, the thirteenth letter of the English 
 alphabet, is a liquid and labial consonant, 
 pronounced by slightly striking the under 
 lip against the upper one. It is some- 
 times called a semi-vowel, as the articu- 
 lation or compression of the lips is ac- 
 companied with a humming sound through 
 the nose. M. as a numeral stands for 
 mille, a thousand ; and with a dash over 
 it, 1,000,000. M. A. magister artium : 
 M. D. medicines doctor : MS. manuscript, 
 and MSS. manuscripts. M. also stands 
 for noon, from the Latin meridies : hence 
 P.M. post meridiem (afternoon;) and 
 A.M. ante meridiem (morning.) M, in 
 French, stands for Monsieur ; MM. for 
 Messieurs. 
 
 MAB, in northern mythology, the 
 queen of the imaginary beings called 
 fairies ; so fancifully described by the 
 sportive imagination of Shakspeare, in 
 Komeo and Juliet. 
 
 MACARON'IC or MACARO'NIAN, 
 an appellation given to a burlesque kind 
 of poetry, made up of a jumble of words 
 of different languages, of Latin words 
 modernized, or of native words ending in 
 Latin terminations. Drummond's Pole- 
 mo-Middinia, a Scottish burlesque, is, 
 perhaps, the best known macaronic form 
 of our language. 
 
 MAC'CABEES, two apocryphal books 
 of Scripture, containing the history of 
 Judas and his brothers, and their wars 
 against the Syrian kings in defence of 
 their religion and liberties. The first 
 book is an excellent history, and comes 
 nearest to the style of the sacred histo- 
 rians. The second book of the Maccabees 
 begins with two epistles sent from the 
 Jews of Jerusalem to the Jews of Egypt 
 and Alexandria, to exhort them to observe 
 the feast of the dedication of the new altar 
 erected by Judas on his purifying the 
 temple. 
 
 MACH'IAVELISM, the principles in- 
 culcated by Machiavelli, an Italian writer, 
 secretary and historiographer to the re- 
 public of Florence. Hence the word 
 Machiarelian denotes political cunning 
 and artifice, intended to favor arbitrary 
 power. 
 
 MACHICOL A'TIONS, in architecture, 
 openings made through the roofs of por- 
 tals to the floor above, or in the floors 
 of projecting galleries, for the purpose 
 of defence, by pouring n 
 through them boiling lead, 
 pitch, &c., upon the enemy. 
 In the galleries they are 
 formed by the parapet or 
 breast-work B being set 
 out beyond the face of 
 the wall C on corbels D ; 
 the spaces E between 
 the corbels, being open 
 throughout, are the ma- 
 chicolations. 
 
 MAC'ROCOSM, the universe, or the 
 visible system of worlds ; opposed to 
 microcosm, or the world of man. 
 
 MADON'NA. a term of compellation. 
 
 equivalent to madam. It is given to the 
 
 Virgin Mary ; and pictures of the Italian 
 
 j schools, representing the Virgin, are 
 
 ! generally called madonnas. 
 
 MAD'NESS, a dreadful kind of delir- 
 ium, without fever, in which the patient 
 | raves or is furious. Melancholy and msid- 
 i ness may very justly be considered as 
 ' diseases nearly allied ; for they have both 
 the same origin, that is, an excessive con- 
 gestion of blood in the brain : they only 
 differ in degree, and with respect to the
 
 MAG] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 387 
 
 time of appearing ; melancholy being the 
 primary disease, of which madness is the 
 augmentation. 
 
 MAD'RIGAL, one of the lesser kind 
 of poems, usually consisting of fewer ver- 
 ses than the sonnet or roundelay. In its 
 composition the fancy and convenience of 
 the poet are not subjected to very strict 
 rules, rhymes and verses of different 
 species being often intermixed. The sub- 
 jects are mostly of a tender and gallant 
 nature ; the character often quaint, the 
 expression marked with great simplicity. 
 Grassineau, in his Musical Dictionary, 
 describes the madrigal as " a little piece 
 of poetry, the verses whereof are free 
 and easy, usually unequal : it borders on 
 a sonnet and an epigram, but has not the 
 briskness of the one, nor the poignancy 
 of the other." 
 
 MiiESTO'SO, in music, an Italian word 
 signifying majestic, and used as a direc- 
 tion to play the part with force and 
 grandeur. 
 
 MAGAZINE', in literature, a pam- 
 phlet periodically published, containing 
 miscellaneous papers or compositions. 
 The first publication of this kind in Eng- 
 land, was the Gentleman's Magazine, 
 which first appeared in 1731, under the 
 name of Sylvanus Urban, by Edward 
 Cave, and which is still continued. A 
 magazine differs from a newspaper and 
 review ; the peculiar province of a news- 
 paper is to communicate information on 
 politics and passing events, both foreign 
 and domestic ; and that of the review is 
 to communicate information on literary 
 and scientific subjects, and to give a crit- 
 ical survey of these. The magazine, 
 while it embraces all the features of the 
 newspaper and review, is of a more mis- 
 cellaneous character, containing, in the 
 form of tales, sketches, poetry, Ac., a 
 great variety of matter of an original 
 character which would be foreign to the 
 others. 
 
 M AGGIO'RE, in music, an Italian epi- 
 thet signifying greater. 
 
 MA'GI, or MA'GIANS, an ancient 
 religious sect in Persia, and other eastern 
 countries, who maintained that there were 
 two principles, the one the cause of all 
 good, the other the cause of all evil ; and, 
 abominating the adoration of images, 
 worshipped God only by fire, which they 
 looked upon as the brightest and most 
 glorious symbol of the Deity. This re- 
 ligion was reformed by Zoroaster, who 
 maintained that there was one supreme 
 independent being; and under him two 
 principles or angels, one the angel of 
 
 goodness and light, and the other of evil 
 and darkness. The priests of the Magi 
 were the most skilful mathematicians 
 and philosophers of the ages in which 
 they lived, insomuch that a learned man 
 and a magician became synonymous 
 trms. 
 
 MAG'IC, properly signifies the doc- 
 trine of the Magi ; but the Magi being 
 supposed to have acquired their extra- 
 ordinary skill from familiar spirits or 
 other supernatural information, the word 
 magic acquired the signification it now 
 bears, viz. a science which teaches to 
 perform wonderful and surprising acts, 
 by the application of certain '"means, 
 which procure the assistance and inter- 
 position of demons. The magicians of 
 antiquity were generally acquainted with 
 certain secret powers, properties and 
 affinities of bodies, and were hence ena- 
 bled to produce surprising effects, to as- 
 tonish the vulgar ; and these surprising 
 effects, produced by natural causes, pro- 
 cured them the credit in their pretensions 
 to supernatural and miraculous power 
 Astrology, divination, enchantments and 
 witchcraft, were parts of this fanciful 
 science ; which, from being truly respec- 
 table once, as having had for its object 
 mathematics and natural philosophy, by 
 these means became contemptible, its 
 professors opprobrious, its productions 
 ridiculous, and its illusions mere jug- 
 gler's tricks. 
 
 MAGISTRATE, a public civil officer, 
 invested with the executive government 
 or some branch of it. In this sense, the 
 president of the United States is the 
 highest or first magistrate. But the word 
 is more particularly applied to subor- 
 dinate officers, to whom the executive 
 power of the law is committed, either 
 wholly or in part ; as, governors, mayors, 
 justices of the peace, and the like. 
 
 MAG'NA CHARTA, the Great Char- 
 ter of Liberties, obtained by the English 
 barons from king John, in 1215. The 
 barons consisted of the whole nobility of 
 England; their followers comprehended 
 all the yeomanry and free peasantry, 
 and the accession of the capital was a 
 pledge of the adherence of the citizens 
 and burgesses. John had been obliged 
 to yield to_this general union, and con- 
 ferences were opened, on the plain called 
 Runnymede, on the banks of the Thames, 
 near Staines, in sight of the forces of 
 each other. At length the preliminaries 
 being agreed on, the barons presented 
 heads of their grievances and means of 
 redress ; and the king directed that the
 
 CrCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MAI 
 
 articles should be reduced to the form of 
 a charter, in whi<-h ft ate it issued as a 
 royal grant. To secure the execution of 
 this charter, John wns compelled to sur- 
 render the city and Tower of London, to 
 be temporarily held by the barons, and 
 consented that the barons should chodse 
 twenty-five of their number, to be guar- 
 dians of the liberties of the kingdom, with 
 power, in case of any breach of the char- 
 ter, or denial of redress, to make war on 
 the king, to seize his castle and lands, 
 and to distress and annoy him in every 
 possible way till justice was done. Many 
 parts of the charter were pointed against 
 the abuses of the power of the king as 
 lord paramount; the tyrannical exercise 
 of the forest laws was checked, and many 
 grievances incident to feudal tenures 
 were mitigated or abolished. But besides 
 these provisions, it contains many for the 
 benefit of the people at large, and a few 
 maxims of just government, applicable 
 to all places and times. 
 
 MAG'NATES, in Hungary at this day, 
 and formerly also in Poland, the title of 
 the noble estate in the national represen- 
 tation. The Hungarian magnates are 
 divided into greater and lesser; certain 
 high state officers belonging to the first 
 class, the counts and barons of the king- 
 dom to the second. The title is of Latin 
 derivation. 
 
 MAGNIF'ICO, the title given by cour- 
 tesy to a nobleman of Venice. 
 
 MAGNIL'OQUENCE, a lofty manner 
 of speaking; tumid, pompous words or 
 style ; language expressive of pretensions 
 greater than realities warrant. 
 
 MAHA'BARATA, the name of one 
 of the great Indian epic poems, the sub- 
 ject of which is a long civil war between 
 two dynasties of ancient India, the Kurus 
 and Pandus. This poem embraces the 
 whole circle of Indian mythology ; but it 
 is still more valuable as embodying an 
 immense number of historical fragments, 
 which will be of great importance to the 
 future historian of India. Many episodes 
 from the jWahabarata have been ably 
 translated by some of the most celebrated 
 Orientalists ; and parts of the original 
 have been published at different periods 
 in Germany. The period at which the 
 ]\Iahabarata was written is wholly un- 
 known, and it has no less baffled all the 
 researches of the learned to discover the 
 date at which it assumed its present me- 
 thodical form. 
 
 MA'HADO, a name of one of the In- 
 dian deities, from whom the sacred Gan- 
 ges is fabled to spring. 
 
 MAHOMETANS, or MOHAMME- 
 DANS, believers in the doctrines and di- 
 vine mission of Mahomet, the warrior 
 and prophet of Arabia, whose creed main- 
 tains that there is but one God, and that 
 Mahomet is his prophet, and teaches cere- 
 monies by prayer, with washings, 4c., 
 almsgiving, fasting, sobriety, pilgrimage 
 to Mecca, <fcc. Besides these they have 
 some negative precepts and institutions 
 of the Koran, in which several things are 
 prohibited, as usury, the drinking of wine, 
 all games that depend upon chance, the 
 eating of blood and swine's flesh, and 
 whatever dies of itself, is strangled, or is 
 killed by a blow or by another beast. 
 These doctrines and practices Mahomet 
 established by the sword, by preaching, 
 and by the alcoran or koran, which con- 
 tains the principles of his religion ; and 
 he and his followers met with such suc- 
 cess, as in a few years to subdue half the 
 known world. 
 
 MA'HOUND, formerly a contempt- 
 uous name for Mohammed and the devil, 
 and thence applied to any character of 
 seeming power and great wickedness. In 
 Scotland Mahoun was formerly used, as 
 meaning Satan. 
 
 MAI'A, in Grecian mythology; 1, 
 the daughter of Atlas and Pleione, one 
 of the Pleiads, who became mother of 
 Mercury by Jupiter : 2, a daughter of 
 the god Faunus. and wife of Vulcan ; fre- 
 quently confounded by mythologists with 
 the former personage. 
 
 MAIN'PllIZE, in law, the receiving a 
 person into friendly custody who might 
 otherwise be committed to prison, on se- 
 curity given for his forthcoming on a day 
 appointed. 
 
 MAIN'TENANCE, in law, is an un- 
 lawful maintaining or supporting a suit 
 between others, by stirring up quarrels, 
 or interfering in a cause in which the 
 person has no concern. Thus if any per- 
 son disinterested in a cause officiously 
 gives evidence, without being called upon 
 for that purpose, or acts the part of coun- 
 sel by speaking in the cause, or retains 
 an attorney for the party, he is guilty of 
 maintenance, and is liable to be prosecu- 
 ted by indictment. But it is no mainte- 
 nance, where a person gives a poor man 
 money out of charity to carry on a suit. 
 
 MAIN'TENANCE, CAP OF, a cap of 
 dignity, anciently belonging to the rank 
 of a duke ; termed by the French bonnet 
 ducal. 
 
 MA J'ESTY, this title of honor is deriv- 
 ed from the Romans, among whom it stood 
 for the collective power and dignity of the
 
 MAN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 389 
 
 sovereign body ; as majestas populi Ro- 
 mani. Hence treason was termed crimen 
 lessee majestatis, an injury offered to maj- 
 esty. Majesty was the attribute of con- 
 suls, praetors, &c., only as representing 
 the public ; and hence, in later times, 
 when it was transferred to the emperors 
 along with the sovereign power, inferior 
 magistrates were entitled, in ceremonial 
 language, by the appellation of dignitas. 
 Majesty is now the conventional title of 
 European emperors and kings. 
 
 MA'JOR, the title of several military 
 officers, as major-general, major of a bri- 
 gade, major of a regiment, &c. In logic, 
 the Major term is, in a syllogism, the 
 predicate of the conclusion. The major 
 premise is that which contains the major 
 term. In hypothetical syllogisms, the 
 hypothetical premise is called the major. 
 In music, an epithet applied to the 
 modes in which the third is four semi- 
 tones above the tonic or key-note, and 
 to intervals consisting of four semitones. 
 The major mode takes a major or sharp 
 3d, and is thus distinguished from that 
 having a minor or flat one. The major 
 mode has always a greater 3d, that is, a 
 third consisting of two tones, and the 
 minor mode has always a minor third ; 
 that is, a 3d consisting of a tone and a 
 semitone. 
 
 MAJORAT', in modern legal phrase- 
 ology, as employed by several European 
 nations, the right of succession to prop- 
 erty according to age. 
 
 MAJORITY, in law, in the United 
 States, the age of twenty-one, at which 
 time the male citizen is allowed to exer- 
 cise the right of suffrage. In politics, the 
 age at which the sovereign, in hereditary 
 monarchies, becomes capable of exercising 
 supreme authority. 
 
 MALADMINISTRATION, bad man- 
 agement of public affairs, or a misde- 
 meanor in public employments, particu- 
 larly of executive and ministerial duties, 
 prescribed by law. 
 
 MA'LUM IN SE, (Latin.) in law, an 
 offence at common law, in distinction from 
 malum prohibitum ; such as playing at 
 unlawful games, &c., which are only 
 mala prohibita under certain circum- 
 stances. 
 
 MALVERSATION, in law, misbehav- 
 ior in an office, employ, or commission, 
 as breach of trust, extortion, <fcc. 
 
 MAM'ELUKE, (Arabic, memalik, a 
 Slave,) a name applied to the male slaves 
 imported from Circassia into Egypt by 
 the master of that country. In the 13th 
 century, when the countries in the vicin- 
 
 ' ity of Mount Caucasus were ravaged by 
 Genghis Khan, Nojtnedden, sultan of 
 Egypt) purchased several thousands of 
 the natives of those regions, especially 
 Turks, and formed them into an armed 
 body of guards. These guards, or 
 Mamelukes, in the sequel, seized on all 
 the power of the country, murdered the 
 sultan, Touran Shah, A.D. 1258, and made 
 Ibeg, one of their own number, his suc- 
 cessor. After that period the Mame- 
 lukes, whose numbers were continually 
 enriched by importations from their own 
 country, governed Egypt 263 years. 
 This military sovereignty was destroyed 
 by Selim I., the Turkish sultan, who took 
 Cairo in 1517. Nevertheless, the Mame- 
 lukes, under their 24 beys, continued for 
 200 years more to exercise a power 
 scarcely inferior to that of the Turkish 
 pachas, whom, in the 18th century, they 
 reduced to mere ciphers in the govern- 
 ment. Their power was again consider- 
 ably broken by the French invasion under 
 Bonaparte, to which they offered a de- 
 termined opposition. After the abandon- 
 ment of Egypt by the French, the struggle 
 between the beys and the pachas was 
 renewed : finally, in 1811, the present 
 pacha, Mohammed Ali, having invited 
 the principal leaders of the Mamelukes 
 to a banquet, slew 470 of them by treach- 
 ery, and compelled the remainder to 
 submission. 
 
 MAM ; MON, in the Syriac language, 
 signifies riches. It is used Matt. vi. 24, 
 and Luke xvi. 13, and is there called the 
 mammon of unrighteousness, intimating 
 that riches are frequently the instruments 
 of iniquity, or acquired by unrighteous 
 means. 
 
 MAN, mankind ; the human race ; the 
 whole species of human beings ; beings 
 distinguished from all other animals by 
 the powers of reason and speech, as well 
 as by their shape and dignified aspect. 
 When opposed to -woman, man some- 
 times denotes the male sex in general. 
 It sometimes bears the sense of a male 
 adult of some uncommon qualifications ; 
 particularly, the sense of strength, vigor, 
 bravery, virile powers, or magnanimity, 
 as distinguished from the weakness, 
 timidity, or impotence of a boy, or from 
 the narrow-mindedness of low-bred men. 
 So, in popular language, it is said, he is 
 no man. Play your part like a man. 
 He has not the spirit of a man. An in- 
 dividual of the human species. Under 
 this phraseology, females may be com- 
 prehended. So a law restraining man, 
 or every man from a particular act,
 
 390 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MAN 
 
 comprehends women and children, if of 
 competent age to be the subjects of law. 
 One who is master of his mental powers, 
 or who conducts himself with his usual 
 judgment, we say, he is not his own man. 
 It is sometimes used indefinitely, with- 
 out reference to a particular individual ; 
 any person ; one. This is as much as a 
 man can desire. 
 
 MANDA'MUS, in law, a writ issued 
 from a court of law, and directed to any 
 person, corporation, or inferior court, 
 commanding the performance of some 
 special thing. 
 
 MANDARIN', the magistrates and 
 governors of provinces in China, who are 
 chosen out of the most learned men, and 
 whose government is always at a great 
 distance from the place of their birth. 
 
 MAN'DUCI, in antiquity, hideous fig- 
 ures introduced at the public representa- 
 tions of the Romans, which served as 
 bugbears. 
 
 MAN'EGE, the art of breaking in and 
 riding horses, or the place set apart for 
 equestrian exercises. 
 
 MA'NES, in the pagan system of the- 
 lg v i a general name for the infernal 
 deities. The ancients comprehended un- 
 der the term manes not only Pluto, Pros- 
 erpine, and Minos, but the souls of the 
 deceased were likewise included. It was 
 usual to erect altars and offer libations 
 to the manes of deceased friends and re- 
 lations, for the superstitious notion that 
 the spirits of the departed had an im- 
 portant influence on the good or bad 
 fortune of the living, made people very 
 cautious of offending them. When it was 
 not known whether a corpse had been 
 buried or not, a cenotaph was erected, 
 and the manes were solemnly invited to 
 rest there, from fear that otherwise they 
 would wander about the world, terrifying 
 the living, and seeking the body which 
 they had once inhabited. 
 
 MAN'GONEL, an engine formerly 
 used for throwing stones and battering 
 walls. 
 
 MAN'IIOOD, the state of one who is a 
 man. of an adult male, or one who is ad- 
 vanced beyond puberty, boyhood, or 
 childhood ; virility. The qualities of a 
 man ; courage ; bravery ; resolution. 
 
 MANICHEES', in church history, a 
 sect of Christian heretics in the third cen- 
 tury, the followers of Manes, who made 
 his appearance in the reign of the empe- 
 ror Probus ; pretending to be the Com- 
 forter whom our Saviour promised to 
 send into the world. He taught that 
 there are two principles, or gods, coeternal 
 
 and independent of each other ; the first- 
 principle, or light, the author of all good : 
 the second principle, or darkness, the 
 author of all evil a doctrine which he 
 borrowed from the Persian magi. 
 
 MAN'IFEST, an invoice of a cargo of 
 goods, imported or laden for export, to 
 be exhibited at the custom-house by the 
 master of the vessel, or the owner or 
 shipper. 
 
 MANIFES'TO, in politics, a declara- 
 tion of motives publicly issued by a bel- 
 ligerent state, or by a general acting with 
 full powers, previously to the commence- 
 ment of hostilities. They are in the form 
 of letters, with a superscription or head- 
 ing addressed to the public in general, 
 and signed with the name of the authority 
 who sends them forth. The usage of 
 issuing manifestoes is said to date so far 
 biu-k as the 14th century. The term is 
 probably derived from the Latin words 
 " manifestum est," with which such docu- 
 ments usually commenced. 
 
 MANIP'ULUS, in Roman antiquity, a 
 body of infantry, consisting of two hun- 
 dred men, and constituting the third part 
 of a cohort. 
 
 MAN'NER, in the Fine Arts, a peculi- 
 arity of treating a subject, or of execut- 
 ing it, by which individual artists are 
 distinguished : the latter arising out 
 of a particular mode of using the media 
 and implements of art, the former out 
 of a singular method of observing na- 
 ture. 
 
 MAN'OR, an ancient royalty or lord- 
 ship, formerly called a barony, consisting 
 of demesnes, services, and a court-baron ; 
 and comprehending in it messuages, lands, 
 meadow, pasture, wood, rents, an advow- 
 son, Ac. It may contain one or more 
 villages, or hamlets, or only a great part 
 of a village, Ac. In these days, a manor 
 rather signifies the jurisdiction and roy- 
 alty incorporeal, than the land or site ; 
 for a man may have a manor in gross, as 
 the law terms it, that is, the right and 
 interest of a court-baron, with the per- 
 quisites thereto belonging. Some estates 
 injhe United States still retain the name 
 ofrnanor, from the times of the colonies. 
 
 MANSARD-ROOF, in architecture, a 
 roof of peculiar construction, named after 
 its first practicer Julius, or as some say, 
 Francis Mansard, who used it upon all 
 his principal buildings. Before the time 
 of either of these architects, however, 
 this kind of roof was employed by the 
 Abbe de Clugny in the old palace of the 
 Louvre. 
 
 MANSLAUGHTER, in a genera)
 
 MAll] 
 
 AND THE FINE AKTS. 
 
 391 
 
 sense, the killing of a man or of men ; 
 destruction of the human species ; mur- 
 der. In law, the unlawful killing of a 
 man without malice, express or implied. 
 This may be voluntary, upon a sudden 
 heat or excitement of anger ; or invol- 
 untary, but in the commission of some 
 unlawful act. Manslaughter differs from 
 murder in not proceeding from malice 
 prepense or deliberate, which is essential 
 to constitute murder. It differs from 
 homicide excusable, being done in conse- 
 quence of some unlawful act, whereas 
 excusable homicide happens in conse- 
 quence of misadventure. 
 
 MAN'TELET, in fortification, a kind 
 of movable parapet, or wooden penthouse, 
 used in a siege. Mantelets are cased with 
 tin and set on wheels, so as to be driven 
 before the pioneers, to protect them from 
 the enemy's small shot. 
 
 MAN'TLE, in architecture, the piece 
 lying horizontally across from one jamb 
 of a chimney to the other. In mala- 
 cology, the external fold of the skin of 
 the uiollusks. 
 
 MAN'UAL, was applied originally to 
 the Roman Catholic service book, from its 
 convenient size, (being such as might be 
 carried in the hand ;) but it now signifies 
 any small work used chiefly for the pur- 
 pose of reference. 
 
 MANUMIS'SION, among the Romans, 
 the solemn ceremony by which a slave 
 was emancipated, or liberated from per- 
 sonal bondage. 
 
 MAN'OSCRIPTS, literally writings of 
 any kind, whether on paper or any other 
 material, in contradistinction to such as 
 are printed. Books were generally writ- 
 ten upon vellum, after the papyrus used 
 in classical times had become obsolete, 
 until the general introduction of paper 
 made from rags, about the 15th century 
 after Christ ; and the finest and whitest 
 vellum is generally indicative of great 
 ago in a manuscript. The dearness of 
 this material gave rise to the practice 
 of using old manuscript books on which 
 the writing had been erased, and also to 
 that of abbreviations. These were ci^ied 
 to excess in the 12th century, and from 
 that time until the invention of printing ; 
 and for a long period subsequent to that 
 invention, abbreviations were still in com- 
 mon use : in Greek printing they were 
 usual until within the last fifty years. 
 Of Latin MSS., those prior to the reign 
 of Charlemagne (A.D. 800) are consid- 
 ered ancient. Manuscripts of the early 
 classical age were written on sheets rolled 
 together. Illuminated manuscripts' are 
 
 such as are embellished with ornaments, 
 drawings, emblematical figures, <fec., il- 
 lustrative of the text. This practice was 
 introduced at a very early period ; for 
 we find the works of Varro. Pomponius 
 Atticus. and others adorned by illumina- 
 tions. But it was chiefly employed in the 
 breviaries and prayer-book of the early 
 Christian church. The colors most em- 
 ployed for this purpose were gold and 
 azure. Illuminations were in a high 
 state of perfection between the 5th and 
 10th centuries; after which they seemed 
 to have partaken of he barbarism of the 
 middle ages, which threw their chilling 
 influence over every description of art. 
 On the revival of the arts in the 15th and 
 16th centuries many excellent perform- 
 ances were produced ; but the art did not 
 take deep root, and became extinct with 
 the invention of printing. 
 
 MAP, a delineation of a country ac- 
 cording to a scale, in which the prop t- 
 tion, shape, and position of places are 
 exactly preserved. The top is usually 
 the north, and the right hand the east, 
 and, when otherwise, distinguished by a 
 Jleur de lis pointing to the north. It is 
 called a universal map when it repre- 
 sents the whole surface of the earth, or 
 the two hemispheres ; and a particular 
 map when it only represents particular 
 regions or countries. A map is properly 
 a representation of land, as distinguished 
 from a chart, which only represents thi 
 sea or sea-coast. In maps, three things 
 are essentially requisite : 1, that all 
 places have the same situation and dis- 
 tance from the great circles therein, as on 
 the globe, to show their parallels, longi- 
 tudes, zones, climates, and other celestial 
 appearances ; 2, that their magnitudes 
 be proportionable to their real magnitudes 
 on the globe ; 3, that all places have the 
 same situation, bearing and distance, as 
 on the earth itself. The degrees of 
 longitude are always numbered at top 
 and bottom, and the degrees of latitude 
 on the east and west sides. 
 
 MAR'ABUTS, or MAR'ABOOTS, in 
 Northern Africa, among the Berbers, a 
 kind of saints or sorcerers who are held 
 in high estimation. They distribute amu- 
 lets, affect to work miracles, and are 
 thought to exercisa the gift of prophecy. 
 They live with a good deal of pomp, and 
 maintain a numerous train of wives and 
 concubines. They make no pretensions 
 to abstinence or self-denial. 
 
 MARANA'THA, amongst the Jews, 
 was a form of threatening, cursing, or 
 anathematizing, and was looked upon as
 
 392 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MAF 
 
 the most severe denunciation they had. 
 The word is said to signify the Lord comes, 
 or is come : which taken as a curse or 
 threat may be thus paraphrased, " the 
 Lord come quickly to take vengeance on 
 thee for thy crimes." 
 
 MARCH, the third month of the year, 
 according to the calendar of Numa and 
 Julius Caesar ; but in the calendar of 
 Romulus it stood first, in honor of his re- 
 puted father, Mars. This month seems 
 to have a strong claim to the first place 
 in the series, because in March the sun 
 enters into the sign%Aries, which is reck- 
 oned the first sign of the zodiac. March, 
 in music, a military air, played by 
 inflatile and pulsatile instruments, to 
 regulate the steps and to animate the 
 minds of soldiers. The march, however, 
 has long been adapted to every species of 
 musical instrument, and some of the most 
 celebrated compositions of the greatest 
 masters are in this style ; as the March of 
 the Priests in Mozart's Zauber-Jlote, the 
 Peasant's March in AVeber's Freiscliutz, 
 and, above all, Beethoven's Funeral 
 Marches. In most Dictionaries of musi- 
 cal terms, it is truly said that a march 
 should always be composed in com- 
 mon time, with an odd crotchet or 
 quaver at the beginning. It is usually 
 quick for ordinary marching, and slow 
 for grand occasions ; but no general rules 
 can be laid down for its composition. 
 March of the Deities. The ancients, 
 in all their representations of the super- 
 human powers, and even of heroic men 
 or demigods, paid great attention to their 
 step or gait. They held a grave, steady, 
 and at the same time light step to be in- 
 dicative of dignity and even of a spiritual 
 nature. Occasionally, as on a medal of 
 Antoninus representing the advance of 
 Mars to Sylvia, the figure appears rather 
 to glide over the surface of the earth 
 than to tread upon it. The Belvidere 
 Apollo has a similar character of step or 
 walk. The foot of the deity scarcely 
 presses the ground. 
 
 MARCHES, borders or confines, partic- 
 ularly the boundaries between England 
 and Wales. The office of " lords marchers" 
 was originally to guard the frontiers. 
 
 MARCO'SIANS, a sect of Christian 
 heretics in the second century, so called 
 from their leader Marcus, who represent- 
 ed the Deity as consisting not of a 
 trinity, but a quaternity, viz. the Ineffa- 
 ble, Silence, the Father, and Truth. 
 
 MAR'GIN, in printing, is the arrange- 
 ment of the pages in a sheet at proper 
 distances from each other, according to 
 
 the size of the paper; so that when the 
 sheet is printed and folded, the border of 
 white paper round them shall be regular 
 and uniform in every leaf of the book. 
 In architecture, that part of the upper 
 side of a course of slates which appears 
 uncovered by the next superior course. 
 
 MAR'GRAVE, or, more properly, 
 MARKGRAVE, a title of rank formerly 
 used in Germany, and equivalent to the 
 English marquis. Both words spring 
 from a common origin. 
 
 MARI'A THERE'SA, ORDER OF, a 
 military order of Austria, consisting of 
 grand crosses, commanders, and knights ; 
 founded in 1757. 
 
 MARINES', a corps of men enlisted to 
 serve as soldiers on board of ships-of-war 
 in naval engagements, and on shore un- 
 der certain circumstances. They some- 
 times assist, particularly in the British 
 service, in performing some naval duties 
 on board of ship. 
 
 MAR'ITIME LAW, signifies the laws 
 relating to harbors, ships, and sailors. 
 It forms an important branch of the com- 
 mercial law of all trading nations, and 
 embraces an infinite variety of subjects, 
 most of which have been defined under 
 their respective heads. The most cele- 
 brated codes of maritime law have been, 
 in classical times, that of Rhodes ; in 
 modern times, the Consolato del Mare, a 
 compilation supposed to have been framed 
 at Barcelona as early as the 9th century ; 
 the laws of the Isle of Oleron, in the time 
 of Richard I. of England ; the laws of 
 Wisby, in the island of Gothland, to 
 which some northern jurists have assigned 
 an earlier origin than the laws of Oleron. 
 but which there can be little doubt were 
 merely a compilation from those above 
 specified. But by far the most complete 
 and well-digested system of maritime 
 jurisprudence that has ever appeared is 
 that comprised in the Ordonnance de la 
 Marine, issued by Louis XIV. in 1681, 
 by which maritime law was elevated to 
 the rank of a regular system, and has 
 formed the basis of many of the subse- 
 qudlB decisions of American, English, 
 and foreign courts. This excellent code 
 was compiled under the direction of 
 M. Colbert, by individuals of great talent 
 and learning, after a careful revision of 
 all the ancient sea laws of France and 
 other countries, and upon consultation 
 with the different parliaments, the courts 
 of admiralty, and the chambers of com- 
 merce of the different towns. It com- 
 bines whatever experience and the wisdom 
 of ages had shown to be best in the Roman
 
 MAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 393 
 
 laws, and in the institutions of the modern 
 maritime states of Europe. 
 
 MARK, or the Gospel of ST. MARK, a 
 canonical book of the New Testament, 
 the second in order. St. Mark wrote his 
 gospel at Rome, where he accompanied 
 St. Peter, in the year of Christ 44. Ter- 
 tullian, and others, pretend that St. Mark 
 was no more than an amanuensis to St. 
 Peter, who dictated this gospel to him ; 
 others assert that he wrote it after St. 
 Reter's death. Nor are the learned less 
 divided as to the language this gospel 
 was written in ; some affirming it to 
 have been in Greek, and others in Latin. 
 It however seems plainly intended for 
 Christian converts from paganism, and 
 is distinguished from the other evangeli- 
 cal writings by its brevity, passing over 
 much that relates to the character of 
 Christ as Messiah. 
 
 MAROONS', the name given to re- 
 volted negroes in the West Indies, and 
 in some parts of South America. In 
 many cases, by taking to the forests and 
 mountains, they have rendered them- 
 selves formidable to the colonies, and 
 sustained a long and brave resistance to 
 the white population. 
 
 MARQUE, letter of, a power granted 
 by a state to its subjects, to make re- 
 prisals on the subjects of a state with 
 whom it is at war. 
 
 MAR'QUETRY, in architecture, inlaid 
 work consisting of different pieces of 
 divers colored woods of small thickness 
 glued on to a ground usually of oak or 
 fir, well dried and seasoned, which, to 
 prevent casting and warping, is composed 
 of several thicknesses. The early Italian 
 builders used it in cabinet work, and John 
 of Vienna, and others of his period, by its 
 means represented figures and land- 
 scapes ; but in the present day it is 
 chiefly confined in its use to floors, in 
 which the various pieces of wood are 
 usually disposed in regular geometrical 
 figures, and are rarely of more than 
 three or four species. 
 
 MAR'QUIS, or MAR'QUESS, a 
 of honor, next in dignity to that of 
 first given to those who commanded the 
 inarches, or borders and frontiers of a 
 kingdom. Marquises were not known 
 in England till Richard II. in the year 
 1337, created Robert de Vere marquis of 
 Dublin. The marquis's coronet is a cir- 
 cle of gold set round with four strawberry 
 leaves, and as many pearls on pyramidal i 
 points of equal height alternate. 
 
 MAR'RIAGE, the act of uniting a man : 
 and woman for life ; wedlock ; the state i 
 
 or condition of being married ; the legal 
 union of a man and woman for life. 
 Marriage is regarded by the law as a 
 civil contract binding the parties to cer- 
 tain reciprocal obligations, and the gen- 
 eral principle of law respecting this, as 
 well as other civil contracts, is, that it is 
 to be held valid according to the usage 
 of the country wherein it is made. Al- 
 though among protestants marriage has 
 ceased to be regarded as a sacrament, yet 
 in most protestant countries the entrance 
 into the married state has continued to 
 be accompanied witB religious observ- 
 ances. These are not, however, in the 
 eye of the law, essential to the constitu- 
 tion of a valid marriage, any fu. ther 
 than the legislative power may have 
 seen it proper to annex them to and in- 
 corporate them with the civil contract. 
 The laws concerning marriage are differ- 
 ent, in the separate states of the Union. 
 By the laws of most of the states, as well 
 as that of Scotland, a marriage is valid, 
 when contracted by any form of ceremony 
 without the proclamation of banns, or the 
 aid of a clergyman, provided the parties 
 on the occasion express a solemn accept- 
 ance of each other as man and wife. It 
 is also contracted by the writing of the 
 parties without any ceremony, provided 
 the writing express their acceptance of 
 each other as man and wife. Also by a 
 verbal acceptance of each other as man 
 and wife in the presence of witnesses, or 
 by a promise followed by intercourse. 
 
 MARSEILLAISE HYMN, the name 
 popularly, though erroneously, given to 
 the national anthem of the French. The 
 origin of this song, which has played so 
 important a part in the revolutions not 
 only of France but other continental 
 states, was long involved in obscurity ; 
 but the following statement respecting 
 it may be relied on as authentic : The 
 Marseillaise Hymn was the production 
 of Rouget de Lille, a French officer of en- 
 gineers, who was quartered at Strasburg 
 in the year 1791, when Marshal Luckner 
 commanded the army, i\i that time en- 
 tirely composed of young conscripts. 
 The marshal was to march the following 
 morning of a certain day ; and, late in 
 the evening previous, he inquired if there 
 were any men of a musical or poetical 
 genius in the army who could compose a 
 song to animate his young soldiers. 
 Some one mentioned Captain Rouget de 
 Lille, who was immediately ordered into 
 the presence of the marshal to receive 
 his commands on the subject ; which 
 having been given, and a promise made
 
 394 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITE 
 
 by Do Lille that a song would be ready 
 the following morning, he went to his 
 quarters, and during the night he nfot 
 only wrote the song in question, butalso 
 set it to music; and next morning the 
 army marched to its tune, and cirriod 
 everything before it with an enthusiasm 
 only to be equalled by absolute phrensy. 
 The song is said to have been styled the 
 Marseillaise Hymn from a body of troops, 
 on their march from Marseilles, having 
 entered Paris playing that tune at a time 
 when it was little known in the capital. 
 The original of the Marseillaise is said 
 to be in the possession of Louis Philippe. 
 
 -MARS, or MA'VORS, the Latin 
 names of the deity called by the Greeks 
 Ares. lie was fabled to be the son of 
 Juno, conceived by means of the virtue 
 of a certain plant; and was worshipped 
 as the God of War. At Rome he was 
 honored as the progenitor of Romulus, 
 the founder of the city, of which he was 
 held to be the protector; and it was to 
 the honor of this divinity that the Latin 
 husbandmen used to offer up a peculiar 
 sacrifice, called suuvetaurilia, which, as 
 the derivation of the word implies, con- 
 sisted of a 'pig, a sheep, and a bull. 
 
 MAR'S HAL, a title of honor in many 
 European countries, applied to various 
 dignities and high offices. The deriva- 
 tion of the word, and its early use, are 
 extremely uncertain. The title of Mar- 
 shal of England is now hereditary in the 
 family of the Dukes of Norfolk. William 
 Fitz-Osborn and Roger de Montgomery 
 are said to have been marshals to Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror. The earl marshal 
 is eighth in rank among the great officers 
 of state in England. He has the same 
 jurisdiction over the court of chivalry 
 which was formerly exercised by the con- 
 stable and marshal jointly. Marshal of 
 France is the highest military rank in 
 the French army. This officer appears 
 first in history under the reign of Philip 
 Augustus, as commander-in-chief of the 
 royal armies. The number of marshals 
 w.is increased by several successive sove- 
 reigns : in the reign of Henry IV. the 
 states of Blois limited it to four, but this 
 restriction was not observed ; and, in the 
 reign of Louis XIV., there were at one 
 period no less than twenty. After the 
 deposition of Louis XVI. the dignity of 
 marshal ceased; but was revived by Na- 
 poleon, with the title of Marshal of the 
 Empire. 
 
 MARTEL'LO TOWERS, the name 
 given to the circular buildings of mason- 
 ry which were erected along different 
 
 RE 
 
 parts of The British coastg at the com- 
 iiiciii-cniciii of the present century, in- 
 tended as a defence against the meditated 
 invasion of Napoleon. The origin of the 
 name is usually supposed to be derived 
 from a fort in Mortella (Myrtle) Bay, 
 Corsica, which, after a determined resist- 
 | ance, was at last captured by the British 
 in 1794. These towers were prctided 
 with vaulted roofs, and consisted of two 
 stories the lower for the reception of 
 stores, the upper, which was shell-prowl', 
 for the casement of troops ; and the wall 
 of the building terminated in a parapet, 
 which secured the men in working the 
 pieces of artillery, which, besides, were 
 constructed on moving pivots, so as to be 
 fired in any direction. In most places of 
 England these towers have been dis- 
 mantled ; those that remain either serve 
 as stations for the coast blockade force, 
 or, like that near Leith, are not employed 
 for any purpose. 
 
 MARTINET', a cant phrase for a se- 
 vere military disciplinarian : probably 
 derived from a certain Colonel Martinet, 
 who served in the French army under 
 Louis XIV., who was the inventor of a 
 peculiar whip, called by his name, for the 
 purpose of military punishment, and also 
 (if Voltaire may be believed) of the 
 bayonet. 
 
 MAR'TYR, any innocent person who 
 suffers death in defence of a cause, rather 
 than abandon it. In the Christian sense 
 of the word, it is one who lays down his 
 life for the gospel, or suffers death for the 
 sake of his religion. The Christian church 
 has abounded in martyrs, and history is 
 filled with surprising accounts of their 
 singular constancy and fortitude under 
 the most cruel torments human nature 
 was capable of suffering. The primitive 
 Christians believed that the martyrs en- 
 joyed very singular privileges : that 
 upon their death they were immediately 
 admitted to the beatific vision, while other 
 souls waited for the completion of their 
 piness till the day of judgment ; and 
 God would grant chiefly to their 
 ers the hastening of his kingdmn, 
 and shortening the times of persecution. 
 The festivals of the martyrs are of very 
 ancient date, and may be carried back at 
 least till the time of Polycarp, who suf- 
 fered martyrdom about the year of 
 Christ 168. On these days the Christians 
 met at the graves of the martyrs, and 
 offered prayers and thanksgivings to 
 God for the examples they had afforded 
 them; they celebrated the eucharist, and 
 gave alms to the poor ; which, together
 
 MAS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 395 
 
 with a panegyrical oration or sermon, 
 and reading the acts of the martyrs, 
 were the spiritual exercises of these an- 
 niversaries. 
 
 MARTYROL'OGY, a catalogue or list 
 of martyrs, including the history of their 
 lives and sufferings. 
 
 MA'SONS, or FREE AND ACCEPTED 
 MASONS, a term applied to a fraternity 
 of great antiquity, and so called probably 
 because the first founders of that society 
 were persons of that craft or occupation. 
 It is generally understood that they are 
 bound by an oath of secresy not to reveal 
 anything that passes within the society, 
 and the members throughout the whole 
 world are known to each other by certain 
 secret signs. 
 
 MAS'ORA, a Hebrew work on the 
 bible, by several Rabbins. It is a collec- 
 tion of remarks, critical, grammatical, 
 and exegetical, on the books of the Old 
 Testament by the Jewish doctors of the 
 third and succeeding centuries. It is di- 
 vided into the great and little ; the for- 
 mer contains the whole collection in sepa- 
 rate books ; the little is an extract from 
 the observations which were written in 
 the margins of the biblical manuscripts. 
 
 MASQUE, or MASK, a species of 
 drama. It originated from the custom in 
 processions, and other solemn occasions, 
 of introducing personages in masks to rep- 
 resent imaginary characters. Many of 
 these characters, even in the religious 
 shows of Italy, <fcc., wore of a grotesque 
 description, and the performance often 
 intermixed with dancing and buffoonery. 
 By degrees, in England, something of 
 a dramatic character was added to these 
 exhibitions. At first, as in the well- 
 known progresses of Queen Elizabeth, 
 monologues or dialogues in verse were 
 put into the mouths of the masked per- 
 formers ; and in the reign of James I., 
 they had ripened into regular dramat- 
 ic performances ; sometimes, as in the 
 Tempest of Shakspeare, introduced by 
 way of interlude in regular plays ; at 
 other times acted as separate pulfcs, 
 with much machinery and decorOTTOn. 
 Ben Jonson was the first, and indeed 
 almost the only classical English writer 
 (with the exception of Milton, in the soli- 
 tary and noble specimen of Comus) who 
 devoted much labor and taste to this 
 department of the drama. His masques 
 were represented at court ; the Queen of 
 James I., and after her the accomplished 
 Queen Henrietta Maria, did not disdain 
 to take part, at least as silent dramatis 
 persona?, in some of these pageants. The 
 
 taste for them died away in the reign of 
 Charles I., and after the interruption 
 given to the progress of dramatic art and 
 literature by the civil wars, they were 
 not again brought into fashion. 
 
 MASQUERADE', (Ital. mascherata,) 
 an amusement practised in almost every 
 civilized country of modern times, con- 
 sisting of a ball and other festivities in 
 which only those who are masked or dis- 
 guised can participate. This species of 
 amusement had its origin in Italy, where, 
 according to Hall's Chronicle, they had 
 become fashionable so early as the begin- 
 ning of the 16th century. 
 
 MASS, in the church of Rome, the 
 prayers and ceremonies used at the cele- 
 bration of the eucharist ; or, in other 
 words, consecrating the bresd and wine 
 into the body and blood of Cnrist, and 
 offering them so transubstantiated, as an 
 expiatory sacrifice for the quick and the 
 dead. As the mass is believed to be a 
 representation of the passion of our 
 blessed Saviour, so every action of the 
 priest, and every particular part of the 
 service, is supposed to allude to the par- 
 ticular circumstances of his passion and 
 death. It consists of three parts : the 
 offertorium, or offering the elements on 
 the altar ; the consecration, by which 
 they are supposed to undergo the tran- 
 substantiation into the real body and 
 blood of Christ; and the sumption, or 
 actual participation in them by the com- 
 municants. These ceremonies are ac- 
 companied by the recitation of various 
 prayers ; and the priest goes through 
 numerous evolutions, which are supposed 
 to represent the circumstances attending 
 the passion of our Lord. The general 
 division of masses consists in high and 
 low ; high mass is sung by the choristers, 
 and celebrated with the assistance of a 
 deacon and sub-deacon ; low masses are 
 those in which the prayers are barely re- 
 hearsed without singing. There are a 
 great number of different or occasional 
 masses in the Romish church, many of 
 which have nothing peculiar but the 
 name : as the masses of the saints, <fco. 
 
 MAS'SIVE, in architecture, sculpture, 
 <fcc., heavy, full, solid. This term is one 
 of commendation, or otherwise, according 
 to the nature of the work respecting 
 which it is used. Thus in speaking of 
 an abutment, a wall, the pier of a bridge, 
 &c.. the architect is complimented by the 
 application of this term ; whereas, the 
 precise contrary is generally the case, 
 when it is employed in speaking of a 
 portico, an arch, column, or a roof.
 
 396 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MAU 
 
 MAS'TER, a man who rules, governs, 
 or directs either men or business. A man 
 who has servants is their master; he who 
 has apprentices is their master, as he has 
 the government and direction of them. 
 In commercial navigation, the person 
 intrusted with the care 'and navigation 
 of a ship ; otherwise called captain. In 
 skips of war, an officer who takes rank 
 immediately after the lieutenants, and 
 navigates the ship under the direction of 
 the captain. The director of a school ; a 
 teacher; and instructor. In this sense 
 the word is giving place to the more ap- 
 propriate words, teacher, instructor, and 
 preceptor. A title of dignity or a degree 
 in colleges and universities ; as, Master 
 of Arts. In the American and English 
 universities this degree follows that of 
 Bachelor ; it is the highest in the faculty 
 of arts, but subordinate to that of doctor 
 of divinity. In all the. arts. A professor 
 of either of the fine arts, who gives lec- 
 tures thereon to students. In another, 
 and more general sense, any distinguish- 
 ed practiser of art, whose works are 
 sufficiently excellent to have attained 
 him an undying reputation, and to ren- 
 der his performances referred to as mo- 
 dels for style and execution by the young 
 artist. Without the existence of the 
 works of the great masters, the arts 
 would still be in their infancy. 
 
 MA'STER-SING'ERS, a class of poets 
 who flourished in Germany during the 
 15th and part of the 16th century. They 
 were confined to a few imperial towns, 
 and their chief seat was the city of Nu- 
 remberg. They were generally of burg- 
 her extraction ; and formed regular cor- 
 porations, into which proficients were 
 admitted by the ordinary course of ap- 
 prenticeship. Their poetry (generally 
 confined to devotional or scriptural pieces, 
 legendary tales, with some admixture of 
 satire and amatory lyrics) was subjected 
 to a peculiar and pedantic code of laws, 
 both composition and versification ; and 
 a board of judges (styled merker) assem- 
 bled to hear the poems recited, and mark 
 the faults which might be committed in 
 either particular : he who had the fewest 
 faults received the prize. Hans Sachs, 
 the famous cobbler of Nuremberg, was a 
 member of these societies ; although his 
 genius was of too independent a charac- 
 ter to submit to the trammels of their 
 poetical regulations. 
 
 MAT'ADOR, in Spanish bull-fights, 
 the name given to the person who gives 
 the death wound to the bull. After the 
 banderilleros have goaded the animal to 
 
 madness by fastening squibs upon him 
 and discharging them, the matador (el 
 matador, the killer,) advances with a 
 naked sword and aims a fatal blow at 
 him. If this is effectual, the slaughtered 
 animal is dragged away and another is 
 brought forward. 
 
 MATERIALISM, the doctrine held 
 by those who maintain that the soul of 
 man is not a spiritual substance distinct 
 from matter, but that it is the result or 
 effect of the organization of matter in the 
 body. This theory, however, does not 
 explain how matter can think, and how 
 physical motion can produce mental 
 changes, which we do not observe in so 
 many organic beings. In decided oppo- 
 sition to materialism, is our consciousness 
 of the identity and liberty of man, which 
 would be annihilated by it, because mat- 
 ter is governed by the necessity of nature, 
 and free will therefore excluded. 
 
 MAT'INS, the first part of the daily 
 service, particularly in the Romish 
 church. 
 
 MATRA'LIA, in antiquity, a Roman 
 festival celebrated by the matrons, in 
 honor of the goddess Mater Matula, on 
 the third of the ides of June. 
 
 MATRIC'ULATE, to enter or admit 
 to membership in a body or society, par- 
 ticularly in a college or university, by 
 enrolling the name in a register. 
 
 MATRONA'LIA, a Roman festival 
 instituted by Romulus, and celebrated on 
 the calends of March, in honor of Mars. 
 It was kept by matrons, to whom pres- 
 ents were made by the men, as by hus- 
 bands to their wives, &c. Bachelors were 
 entirely excluded from any share in the 
 solemnity. 
 
 MAT'THEW, or Gospel of St. Mat- 
 thew, a canonical book of the New Testa- 
 ment. St. Matthew wrote his gospel in 
 Judea, at the request of those he had 
 converted, and it is thought he began it 
 in the year 41, eight years after Christ's 
 resurrection. It was written, according 
 to the testimony of all the ancients, in 
 thdhHebrew or Syriac language, which 
 walRhen common in Judea : but the 
 Greek version of it, which now passes for 
 the original, is as old as the apostolical 
 times. St. Matthew's view in writing his 
 gospel, was chiefly to show the royal de- 
 scent of Jesus Christ, and to represent 
 his life and conversation among men. 
 
 M AUN'DAY THURSDAY, the Thurs- 
 day in passion-week, or next before Good 
 Friday. The word is supposed by some 
 to be derived from the Saxon mand, a 
 basket ; because on that day princes used
 
 MEAJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 397 
 
 to give alms to the poor from their bas- 
 kets. Others think it was called Maun- 
 day or Mandate Thursday, from the dies 
 mandati, (the day of command,) the com- 
 mand which Christ gave his disciples to 
 commemorate him in the Lord's supper, 
 which he this day instituted ; or from the 
 new commandment that he gave them to 
 love one another, after he had washed 
 their feet as a token of his love to them. 
 
 MAUR, SAINT, CONGREGATION 
 OF, a learned body of religious of the 
 Benedictine order ; so called from a vil- 
 lage near Paris, where they were estab- 
 lished in 1618. On the request of Louis 
 XIII., Gregory XV. gave this order his 
 approval by an apostolic brief, dated 17th 
 of May, 1621 ; and it obtained new priv- 
 ileges from Urban VIII., by a bull dated 
 21st of January, 1627. The fame of this 
 body attracted the attention of many 
 other religious orders, several of which 
 were induced to submit to its rules ; and 
 at last it numbered upwards of a hundred 
 religious houses. The literary world owes 
 to them a series of very valuable editions 
 of ancient Greek authors, chiefly fathers, 
 during the 17th century. Among the 
 most eminent of its members during that 
 period may be mentioned Jean Mabillon, 
 Thierri Ruinart, Hugh Menard, and Ber- 
 nard de Montfaucon, &o. &o. (See Mo- 
 shoim, Eccl. Hist., vol. v.) 
 
 M AUSOLE'UM, a general designation 
 of any superb and magnificent monument 
 of the dead, adorned with rich sculpture, 
 and inscribed with an epitaph. In a 
 more confined acceptation it signifies the 
 pompous monument in honor of some em- 
 peror, prince, or very illustrious person- 
 age ; but it properly and literally signi- 
 fies that particular monument built by 
 Artemisia, to the memory of her husband 
 Mausolus, king of Caria, whence it de- 
 rives its name. This monument was so 
 superb that it was reckoned one of the 
 wonders of the world. 
 
 MAX'IM, an established proposition 
 or principle ; in which sense, according to 
 popular usage, it denotes nearly the same 
 as axiom in philosophy and mathenwRcs. 
 Maxims are self-evident propositions, 
 and the principles of all science ; for on 
 these, and definitions, all demonstrative 
 knowledge depends. In music, the long- 
 est note formerly used, equal to two longs, 
 or four breves. 
 
 MAY, the fifth month of our year, but 
 the third of the Roman. The name is 
 supposed to be derived from Maia, the 
 mother of Mercury, to whom the Romans 
 offered sacrifices on the first day of the 
 
 month ; but various other derivations 
 have been assigned to it. See CALENDAR. 
 
 MAY-DAY. The 1st of May is usually 
 so called in England, by way of eminence, 
 in commemoration of the festivities which 
 from a very early period were till recent- 
 ly, and in many parts of the country are 
 still observed on that day. It would be 
 out of place in this work to give any de- 
 tailed account of them, as they are uni- 
 versally known ; but a few words as to 
 their origin may not be out of place. In 
 looking at the nature of these rites, which 
 are, to a certain extent, common to every 
 place in which they are observed, it is evi- 
 dent that they had their origin in the hea- 
 then observances practised in honor of the 
 Latin goddess Flora ; but it is impossible 
 to fix with accuracy the precise period at 
 which they were introduced into Eng- 
 land. The earliest notice of the celebra- 
 tion of May-day may be traced to the Dru- 
 ids, who on May-eve were accustomed to 
 light large fires on eminences in gratitude 
 and joy for the return of Spring. At a 
 later period the observance of this day 
 appears not to have been peculiar to any 
 class of society, for the most exalted as 
 well as the lowest persons took part in it. 
 In his Court of Love Chaucer says, that 
 on this day "forth goeth all the Court, 
 most and least, to fetch the flowers fresh, 
 and braunch and bloom ;" and it is well 
 known that Henry VIII. and Katherine, 
 and all the court partook in their diver- 
 sion. The custom has been but partially 
 introduced into the United States. 
 
 MAY'HEM, in law. a wound or hurt, by 
 which a man loses the use of any member. 
 It originally applied to such corporeal 
 injuries as rendered a man less fit for war. 
 
 MAYOR, (Lat. major, meaning the 
 first or senior alderman,) the title of 
 the chief municipal officer of a borough, 
 to whom it appears to have been first 
 given by charters granted some time 
 after the conquest. In France, the first 
 municipal officer of each commune, ac- 
 cording to a general system established 
 by the law of 14th December, 1789, which 
 created municipalities. The maire has 
 one or more adjuncts or assessors, accord- 
 ing to the population of the commune, 
 chosen in the same manner. 
 
 MEAS'URE, in music, the interval or 
 space of time between raising and de- 
 pressing the hand in a movement ; being 
 the same as bar. The measure is regula- 
 ted according to the different values of the 
 notes of a piece, by which the time as- 
 signed to each note is expressed. Semi- 
 breves, for instance, occupy one rise and
 
 398 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MED 
 
 one fall, called a whole measure. In 
 poetry, the measure or metre is the man- 
 ner of ordering and combining the quan- 
 tities, or the long and short syllables. 
 Thus hexameter, pentameter, iambic, 
 Sapphic verses, &c., consist of different 
 measur es. In dancing, the interval be- 
 tween steps, corresponding to the interval 
 between notes in the music. 
 
 MED'AL, a piece of metal in the form 
 of a coin, intending to convey to posterity 
 the portrait of some great person, or the 
 memory of some illustrious action. The 
 parts of a medal are the two sides, one 
 of which is called the face or head, and 
 the other the reverse. On each side is 
 the area, or field, which makes the middle 
 of the medal ; the rim, or border ; and 
 the exergue, or plain circular space just 
 within the edge : and on the two sides 
 are distinguished the type, or the figure 
 represented, and the legend, or inscrip- 
 tion. Egyptian medals are the most 
 ancient ; but the Grecian medals far excel 
 all others in design, attitude, strength, 
 and delicacy. Those of the Romans are 
 beautiful, the engraving fine, the inven- 
 tion simple, and the taste exquisite. 
 They are distinguished into consular and 
 imperial ; the consular medals are the 
 most ancient, though the copper and silver 
 ones do not go farther back than the 
 484th year of Rome, and those of gold 
 no farther than the year 546. Among 
 the imperial medals, a distinction is made 
 between those of the upper and lower em- 
 pire. The first commenced under Julius 
 Cajsar, and continued till A.D. 260 : the 
 lower empire includes a space of nearly 
 1200 years, and ends with the taking 
 of Constantinople. The use of medals is 
 very considerable : they often throw great 
 light on history, in confirming such pas- 
 sages as are true in old authors, in 
 reconciling such as are variously narra- 
 ted, and in recording such as have been 
 omitted. In this case a cabinet of medals 
 may be said to be a body of history. It 
 was, indeed, an excellent way to perpetu- 
 ate the memory of great actions, thus to 
 coin out the life of an emperor, and to 
 put every exploit into the mint a kind 
 of printing before the art was invented. 
 Nor are medals of less use in architec- 
 ture, painting, poetry, &c. ; for a cabinet 
 of medals is a collection of pictures in 
 miniature, and by them the plans of 
 many of the most considerable buildings 
 of antiquity are preserved. 
 
 MEDAL'LIONS, are medals of a 
 larger size, and supposed to have been 
 struck by the different emperors for their 
 
 friends, or for foreign princes and ambas- 
 sadors. That the smallness of the num- 
 ber of these, however, might not put to 
 hazard the loss of the devices they bore, 
 the Romans generally took care to stamp 
 the subjects of them upon their ordinary 
 coins. Medallions, in respect to othei 
 coins, resembled what modern medals, 
 properly so speaking, are in respect to 
 money, having had no current value, but 
 merely an arbitrary one. 
 
 ME'DIANT, in music, the chord which 
 is a major or minor third higher than the 
 key note, according as the mode is major 
 or minor. 
 
 ME'DIATIZA'TION, the annexation 
 of the smaller German sovereignties to 
 larger contiguous states, which took place, 
 on a large scale, after the dissolution of 
 the German empire in 1806. The same 
 thing had been done on various occasions 
 during the continuance of the empire ; 
 and the dominions so annexed were said 
 to be mediatized, i. e., made mediately 
 instead of immediately dependant on the 
 empire. The term was retained when 
 the abolition of the German union had 
 rendered it in strictness inappropriate. 
 A few more were mediatized after the 
 peace of 1815. 
 
 MEDIA'TOR, a term applied to Jesus 
 Christ, as interceding between God and 
 man. and obtaining for the latter the re- 
 mission of the punishment due to original 
 and contracted sin. The divinity of our 
 Saviour is argued from his mediatorial 
 character : it seeming impossible that a 
 mere man could efficaciously intercede by 
 the sacrifice of himself for the sins of his 
 fellow-men. Those reasoners, therefore, 
 who have arrived at the conclusion of the 
 mere humanity of Christ, either express- 
 ly deny or essentially modify the idea of 
 his mediatorial character. 
 
 MEDICINE, the art which treats of 
 the means of preserving health when 
 present, and of restoring it when lost : an 
 art that assists nature in the preservation 
 of health by the use of proper remedies. 
 It is founded on the study of man's physi- 
 cal Und moral nature, in health and in 
 disease. It has struggled at all times, 
 and continues to struggle, with favorite 
 theories ; and has, with the slowness 
 which marks all the important advance- 
 ments of mankind, but lately emerged 
 from some of the prejudices of many 
 centuries, and will doubtless longcontinue 
 subject to others. Hippocrates, who lived 
 about the middle of the fifth century 
 before the Christian era, is the earliest 
 author on medicine whose writings havo
 
 MEM] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 399 
 
 been preserved. He was a man of very 
 superior medical acquirements, and, by 
 the consent of posterity, he has been 
 styled the Father of Medicine. 
 
 MEDI'ETAS LIN'GILE, in law, a 
 jury consisting of half natives and half 
 foreigners, which is impanelled in cases 
 where the party to be tried is a foreigner. 
 
 MEDIE'VAL, relating to the middle 
 ages. Medieval architecture, the archi- 
 tecture of Europe during the middle ages, 
 including the Norman and early Gothic 
 styles. 
 
 ME'DIUM, in philosophy, the space or 
 region through which a body in motion 
 passes to any point, in logic, the mean 
 or middle term of a syllogism, being an 
 argument or reason for which we affirm 
 or deny anything. Medium also denotes 
 the means or instrument by which any- 
 thing is accomplished, conveyed, or car- 
 ried on. Thus money is the medium of 
 commerce ; bills of credit or bank-notes 
 are often used as mediums of trade in 
 the place of gold and silver ; and intelli- 
 gence is communicated through the me- 
 dium of the press. 
 
 MEDU'SA, in mythology, the chief of 
 the Gorgons ; according to Hesiod, the 
 eldest daughter of Celo and the sea-god 
 Phorcua. Various stories are related of 
 this mythological personage ; but her 
 chief peculiarity was the power she pos- 
 sessed of turning all who looked upon her 
 into stone. She was slain by Perseus, 
 who placed her head in the shield of 
 Minerva, where it continued to retain the 
 same petrifying power as before. 
 
 MEGALE'SIAN GAMES, one of the 
 most magnificent of the Roman exhibi- 
 tions of the circus ; in honor of Cybele, the 
 mother of the gods. 
 
 MEGA'RIAN SCHOOL OP GREEK 
 PHILOSOPHY, founded at Megara by 
 the disciples of Socrates, who retired 
 thither after his death, and distinguished 
 in later times by its logical subtlety. Its 
 most celebrated names were those of 
 Euclides, Eubulides, and Stilpo. 
 
 MEL'ODRAME, or MEL'O-DRAMA, 
 a dramatic performance in which music 
 is intermixed ; or that species of drama 
 in which the declamation of certain pas- 
 sages is interrupted by music. If only 
 only one person acts, it is a monodrama ; 
 if two, a duodrama. It differs from the 
 opera and operetta in this, that the per- 
 formers do not sing, but declaim, and the 
 music only fills the pauses, either prepar- 
 ing or continuing the feelings expressed 
 by the actors. Melo-dramas are gene- 
 rally romantic and extravagant. 
 
 MEL'ODY, in music, the agreeable 
 effect of different sounds, ranged and dis- 
 posed in succession ; so that melody is 
 the effect of a single voice or instrument, 
 by which it is distinguished from harmo- 
 ny. " Melody," says an eminent French 
 musician, " is for music, what thought is 
 for poetry, or drawing for painting." 
 
 MELPO'MENE, the muse who pre- 
 sides over tragedy ; represented usually 
 with a mask in one hand, a club or dagger 
 in the other, and with buskins on her feet. 
 
 MELUSI'NE, in the mediaeval my- 
 thology of France, a beautiful nymph or 
 fairy, whose history occupies a large 
 space in the popular superstitions of that 
 country. She is represented as the 
 daughter of Helmas, king of Albania, 
 and the fairy Persine ; and as having 
 married Raymund, count of Toulouse, 
 who built her the magnificent castle of 
 Lusignan (originally called Lusineem, 
 the anagram of Melusine). Like most 
 of the fairies of that period, she wae 
 doomed to a periodical metamorphosis, 
 during which the lower part of her body 
 assumed the form of a fish or a serpent.. 
 On these occasions she exerted all her 
 ingenuity to escape observation ; but hav- 
 ing been once accidentally seen by her 
 husband in this condition, she swooned 
 away, and soon afterwards disappeared, 
 none knew whither. But her form is said 
 to be seen from time to time on the tower 
 of Lusignan, clad in mourning, and ut- 
 tering deep lamentations ; and her ap- 
 pearance is universally believed to indi- 
 cate an impending calamity to the royal 
 family of France. 
 
 MEM'BER, a limb : a part appendant 
 to the body. We say of a figure, in the 
 arts of design, that its different members 
 are exact and well proportioned. In ar- 
 chitecture, this word is applied to each 
 of the different parts of a building, to 
 each separate portion of an entablature, 
 or to each different moulding of a cornice. 
 
 MEM'OIRS, a species of history, writ- 
 ten by persons who had some share in the 
 transactions they relate ; answering to 
 what the Romans called commentarii 
 (commentaries.) They furnish the reader 
 with interesting individual anecdotes, and 
 often expose the most secret motives, or 
 disclose the whole character of events, 
 which miy be barely hinted at in books 
 of general history. These qualities, when 
 the writer is to be relied on for his vera- 
 city and judgment, give them an advan- 
 tage over the other kinds of historical 
 writings, since they satisfy the mere 
 reader for amusement as we'll as the stu-
 
 400 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MEM 
 
 dent. The French were the earliest, 
 and have always been by far the most 
 successful writers, in this branch of 
 literature. Their historical memoirs, 
 partly autobiographical, and partly the 
 works of authors who had access to the 
 papers and memorials of those whose 
 lives they illustrated, form a complete 
 series from the sixteenth century to 
 the present time, and throw the great- 
 est light on some portions of history ; 
 while their memoirs of celebrated indi- 
 viduals in the ranks of literature and 
 fashion are still more numerous and 
 interesting. In the last century, this 
 branch of literature became so popular, 
 that any distinguished individual who 
 did not leave authentic memoirs of him- 
 self was sure to become the subject, after 
 his death, of fabricated memoirs, pub- 
 lished under his name ; and this species 
 of falsification, of which Voltaire then 
 complained, appears to be now carried on 
 as extensively as at any former period. 
 The collections of historical memoirs re- 
 cently edited in Paris contain three series 
 of historical memoirs relating to French 
 history, and one of English memoirs, 
 translated, illustrating the period of the 
 civil war and revolution. The latter un- 
 dertaking was conducted by M. Guizot. 
 
 MEMORABILIA, things remarkable 
 and worthy of remembrance. 
 
 MEMO'llIAL, in diplomacy, a species 
 of informal state of paper much used in 
 negotiation. Memorials are said to be 
 of three classes. 1. Memorials in the 
 form of letters, subscribed by the writer, 
 and speaking in the second person as ad- 
 dressed to another. 2. Memorials proper, 
 or written representations, subscribed by 
 the writer, and with an address, but not 
 speaking in the second person. 3. Notes, 
 in which there is neither subscription nor 
 address. Species of the first class of me- 
 morials are, circulars from the bureau 
 of foreign affairs sent to foreign agents ; 
 answers to the memorials of ambassadors ; 
 and notes to foreign cabinets and ambas- 
 sadors. 
 
 MEM'ORY, is defined to be the power 
 or capacity of having what was once pres- 
 ent to the senses or the understanding 
 suggested again to the mind, accompa- 
 nied by a distinct consciousness of past 
 existence. The term is also employed, 
 though more rarely, to denote the act or 
 operation of remembering, or the pecu- 
 liar state of the mind when it exercises 
 this faculty, in contradistinction to the 
 faculty itself. Various opinions have 
 been propounded by metaphysicians re- 
 
 1 specting the nature and origin of the 
 faculty of memory. Upon this point, 
 j however, it is not our intention to enter 
 into any details, as this question is so 
 mixed up with that of other faculties of 
 the mind, such as perception and associa- 
 tion, and such metaphysical questions, as 
 personal identity, Ac., as to be insepara- 
 ble from them ; and to these heads we 
 must refer the reader for information. 
 We may, however, remark, that the an- 
 cient Platonists and Peripatetics ascribed 
 the faculty of memory to the common 
 theory of ideas ; that is, of imnges in the 
 brain or in the mind, of all the objects of 
 thought ; and in this opinion they were 
 supported, with slight modifications, by 
 many other philosophers of antiquity. 
 But Dr. Reid, who has examined this 
 question with great acuteness has satis- 
 factorily demonstrated the thwry of the 
 ancients to be very defective. The more 
 modern theories of Locke, Hume, and 
 other philosophers, also meet with little 
 consideration from the same acute meta- 
 physician, who, after exposing their fal- 
 lacies, sums up in these words : " Thus, 
 when philosophers have piled one suppo- 
 sition on another, as the giants piled the 
 mountains in order to scale the heavens, 
 it is all to no purpose memory remains 
 unaccountable ; and we know as little 
 how we remember things past as how wo 
 are conscious of the present." The word 
 memory is not employed uniformly in 
 the same precise sense, but it always 
 expresses some modification of that fac- 
 ulty which enables us to treasure up, 
 and preserve for future use the knowledge 
 which we acquire ; a faculty which is ob- 
 viously the great foundation of all inteb- 
 lectual improvement. The word memory 
 is sometimes used to express a capacity 
 of retaining knowledge, and sometimes a 
 power of recalling it to our thoughts 
 when we have occasion to apply it to use. 
 The latter operation of the mind, how- 
 ! ever, is more properly called recollection. 
 Hence a distinction is made between mem- 
 ory and recollection. Memory retains 
 past ideas without any, or with little 
 effort ; recollection implies an effort to 
 ! recall ideas that are past. Memory de- 
 ! pends upon attention, without which even 
 | the objects of our perceptions make no 
 impression on the memory, and the per- 
 manence of the impcession which any- 
 thing leaves in the memory is propor- 
 | tioned to the degree of attention which 
 < was originally given to it. There is also 
 a strong connection between memory and 
 I the association of ideas.
 
 MER] 
 
 AND THE FINE AKTS. 
 
 401 
 
 MEM'PHIAN, pertaining to Mem- 
 phis ; a term expressive of something very 
 obscure : a sense borrowed from the intel- 
 lectual darkness of Egypt in the time of 
 Moses. 
 
 MEN'DICANTS, a term applied to 
 several orders of monks who live on alms, 
 or beg from door to door. 
 
 MEN'NONITES, or MENNONISTS, 
 a sect founded by a German, named Simon 
 Menno, in 1645, the leading tenet of 
 which is, that Jesus Christ's nature did 
 not partake of that of his mother. 
 
 MENOL'OGY, in the Greek church, a 
 brief calendar of the lives of the saints, or 
 a simple remembrance of those whose 
 lives are not written. 
 
 MEN'SA, in archaeology, denotes all 
 patrimony or goods necessary for a liveli- 
 hood. 
 
 MENSA'LIA, in law, such parsonages 
 or spiritual livings as were united to the 
 tables of religious houses, called by the 
 canonists mensal benefices. 
 
 MENSA'RII, in Roman antiquity, of- 
 ficers appointed to manage the public 
 treasury. 
 
 MENSO'RES, in antiquity, those offi- 
 cers who were sent onward to t provide 
 lodgings for the Roman emperors in their 
 routes, and to the domestics who waited 
 at table. Mensores frumentarius^ dis- 
 tributors of the corn. 
 
 ME'NU, INSTITUTES OP, the name 
 given to the most celebrated code of In- 
 dian civil and religious law ; so called 
 from Menu, Menou, or Manu, the son of 
 Brama, by whom it is supposed to have 
 been revealed. The Hindoos themselves 
 ascribe to this system the highest anti- 
 quity ; and many of the most learned 
 Europeans are of opinion that of all 
 known works there is none which carries 
 with it more convincing proofs of high 
 antiquity and perfect integrity. Sir W. 
 Jones assigns the date of its origin some- 
 where between Homer and the Twelve 
 Tables of the Romans ; and Schlegel as- 
 serts it as his belief that it was seen by 
 Alexander the Great in a state not ma- 
 terially different from that in which we 
 possess it. The Institutes of Menu are of 
 a most comprehensive nature : they em- 
 brace all that relates to human life ; the 
 history of the creation of the world and 
 man ; the nature of God and spirits ; and 
 a complete system of piorals, government, 
 and religion. The work, says Sir W. 
 Jones, contains abundance of curious mat- 
 ter, interesting both to speculative law- 
 yers and antiquaries, with many beauties 
 which need not to be pointed out, and with 
 
 many blemishes which cannot be justified 
 or palliated : it is a system of despotism 
 and priestcraft ; both, indeed, limited by 
 law, but artfully conspiring to give mutu- 
 al support. 
 
 MERCA'TOR'S CHART, a chart, in 
 which the parallels of latitude and the 
 meridians are represented by straight 
 lines. 
 
 MER'CHANT, one who exports the 
 produce of one country, and imports the 
 produce of another ; or. according to popu- 
 lar usage, any trader who deals wholesale. 
 
 MER'CY-SEAT, in scripture antiqui- 
 ties, a table, or cover, lined on both sides 
 with plates of gold, and set over the ark 
 of the covenant, on each side of which was 
 a cherubim of gold with wings spread over 
 the mercy-seat. 
 
 MER'CURY, the I ttirr name of the 
 Grecian Hermes. He was the son of Ju- 
 piter and Maia, and discharged the office 
 of the messenger of the gods. Part of his 
 duty was also to conduct the shades of the 
 dead to the infernal regions. He presides 
 over eloquence, profit, good fortune, and 
 theft ; in which he was himself so great a 
 proficient that, on the day of his birth, he 
 
 stole fifty kine from the herds of Apollo, 
 whom he repaid by the gift of his inven- 
 tion, the lyre. 
 
 MER'GER. in law, is the destruction 
 of a lesser estate in lands and tenements 
 by the acquisition of a greater estate in 
 the same immediately succeeding by the 
 same party and in the same right. Thus 
 an estate for years is said to merge, or 
 sink, in an estate for life, if there be no 
 other estate vested in another person in- 
 tervening between the two ; and an estate
 
 402 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITKRATURE 
 
 for life in an estate of inheritance. There 
 is no merger of an estate tail. 
 
 MEll'LON, in fortification, is that part 
 of a parapet which is terminated by two 
 embrasures of a battery. 
 
 MER'MAID, an imaginary or fabulous 
 creature, which seamen have described as 
 having the head and body of a woman, 
 with the tail of a fish. Mermen also have 
 been seen, if we might trust the same 
 authority. It is not, however, any recent 
 fiction ; ancient writers having given full 
 credence to it. 
 
 MES'MERISM, the doctrine of animal 
 magnetism, so named from its author, 
 Frederic Anthony Mesmer, a German 
 physician. In 1778, Mesmer propounded 
 a theory, according to which all the phe- 
 nomena of life are referred to the motion 
 and agency of a certain universal mag- 
 netic fluid, which admits of being influ- 
 enced by external agents, and especially 
 by magnetic instruments. Wonderful 
 effects were said to have been produced 
 by him and others who co-operated with 
 him, upon animal bodies, and many cures 
 performed by the agency of a certain 
 magnetical apparatus. The use of mag- 
 netic instruments is now quite exploded, 
 and the principal means used to produce 
 the effects of mesmerism are such as 
 touching and stroking with the hands, 
 according to rule, breathing on a person, 
 fixing the eye upon him, Ac. The mes- 
 merized person must always be of a 
 weaker constitution than the mesmerizer, 
 and, if possible, of a different sex, and 
 must also believe devoutly in the science. 
 The effects produced upon the person to 
 whom mesmerism is communicated, or 
 the mesmeree, as he is called, consist 
 partly in bodily sensations, as chilliness, 
 heaviness, flying pains, &c. ; partly in a 
 diminished activity of the external sen- 
 ses; partly in fainting, convulsions, sleep, 
 with lively dreams, in which the mesme- 
 ree is transported to higher regions, ob- 
 serves the internal organization of his 
 own body, prophesies, gives medical pre- 
 scriptions, receives inspired views of heav- 
 en and hell, purgatory, &c. ; reads sealed 
 letters laid on his stomach, and when 
 awakened is totally unconscious of what 
 he has experienced. Six stages or de- 
 grees of mesmerism have been enume- 
 rated, viz. the walking stage, the stage 
 of half-sleep, mesmeric sleep or stupor, 
 somnambulism, self -contemplation or 
 clairvoyance, universal illumination, in 
 which the patient knows what is going on 
 in distant regions, and all that has hap- 
 pened or will happen to those persons 
 
 with whom he is brought into mesmeric 
 relation, and so forth. More latterly 
 mesmerism has been associated with 
 phrenology, so that by touching certain 
 organs, the patient, when mesmerized, is 
 made to dance, sing, fight, or steal, <fcc. 
 
 MESNE, in law, a lord of a manor who 
 has tenants holding under him, though 
 he holds the manor of a superior. Mcspe 
 process, an intermediate process whi'-li 
 issues pending the suit, upon gome col- 
 lateral interlocutory matter. Sometimes 
 it is put in contradistinction tojinai pro- 
 cess, or process of execution, and then it 
 signifies all such processes as intervene 
 between the beginning and end of a suit. 
 
 MESS, in military language, denotes 
 a sort of ordinary, or public dinner, for 
 the* maintenance of which every officer, 
 who takes his meals there, gives a certain 
 proportion of his pay. In a British mili- 
 tary mess-room the young subaltern and 
 the veteran field-officer meet on equal 
 terms, a soldierlike frankness prevails, 
 and the toils of service are, as they ought 
 to be, forgotten during the moments de- 
 voted to social hilarity. In naval lan- 
 guage, the mess denotes a particular 
 company of the officers or crew of a ship, 
 who eat* drink, and associate together : 
 hence the term messmate is applied to 
 any one of the number thus associated. 
 
 MES'SAGE, an official communication 
 sent by a President or King to the con- 
 gress of the nation. 
 
 MES'SEXGERS, certain officers em- 
 ployed in the secretary of state's depart- 
 ment to convey despatches, either at 
 home or abroad. 
 
 MESSI'AD, the name given to the 
 only modern epic poem of Germany ; the 
 subject of which is, as the name implies, 
 the sufferings and triumphs of the Mes- 
 siah. It is written in hexameter verse, 
 for which, as we have elsewheze observed, 
 the German is better fitted than any 
 modern language, and consists of 20 
 books. The publication of this poem 
 procured for its author unbounded repu* 
 tation ; but posterity does not appear to 
 sanction the high award pronounced on it 
 by contemporaneous writers. Schlegel, 
 indeed, maintains that the modern liter- 
 ature of Germany may be said to date 
 from the Messiad ; but this high praise 
 must be understood as referring chiefly 
 to its having been among the first, pro- 
 ductions in which the power and resources 
 of the German language were developed, 
 rather than to its innate merits as an 
 epic poem, or to the influence it has 
 exercised over the national poetry of
 
 MET] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 403 
 
 Germany. The reputation of Klopstock 
 among his own countrymen rests chiefly 
 on his Odes ; and it must be admitted 
 that in all those parts of his epic into 
 which a lyric spirit could be infused in 
 other words, whenever the feelings or the 
 sympathies were to be excited there are 
 few poets, either ancient or modern, to 
 whom he deserves to be postponed : but, 
 on the other hand, the dignity and sub- 
 limity of his sentiments are not unl're- 
 quently disfigured by the pedantry and 
 affectation of his style, and the tedious- 
 ness of his episodes. 
 
 MESSI'AH, a Hebrew word signifying 
 the anointed; a title which the Jews 
 gave to their unexpected great deliverer, 
 whose coming they still wait for : and a 
 name which Christians apply to Jesus 
 Christ, in whom the prophecies relat- 
 ing to the Messiah were accomplished. 
 Among the Jews, anointing was the cere- 
 mony of consecrating persons to the 
 highest offices and dignities ; kings, 
 priests, and sometimes prophets were 
 anointed : thus Aaron and his son re- 
 ceived the sacerdotal, Elisha the prophetic, 
 and David, Solomon, and others, the 
 royal unction. The ancient Hebrews 
 being instructed by the prophets, had 
 very clear notions of the Messiah ; these, 
 however, were changed by degrees ; inso- 
 much that when Jesus Christ appeared 
 in Judea, they were in expectation of a 
 temporal monarch, who should free them 
 from their subjection to the Romans. 
 Hence they were greatly offended at the 
 outward appearance, the humility, and 
 seeming weakness of our Saviour ; which 
 prevented their acknowledging him to be 
 the Christ they expected. 
 
 MES'SUAGB, in law, is said to be 
 properly a dwelling-house with a small 
 portion of land adjacent, or the site of the 
 manor. It is now one of the general 
 words used in the legal description of 
 dwelling-houses with the land attached. 
 
 MESTI'ZO, in Spanish America, the 
 child of a Spaniard or Creole and a native 
 Indian. 
 
 METAB'ASIS, in rhetoric, transition ; 
 a passing from one thing to another. 
 
 METACAR'PUS, in anatomy, that 
 part of the hand between the wrist and 
 the fingers. The inner part of the meta- 
 carpus is called the palm, and the other 
 the back of the hand. 
 
 METACH'RONISM. an error in chro- 
 nology, by placing an event after its real ', 
 time. 
 
 METALEP'SIS, in rhetoric, the con- 
 tinuation of a trope in one word through 
 
 a succession of significations, or the union 
 of two or more tropes of a different kind 
 in one word, so that the several grada- 
 tions or intervening senses come between 
 the word expressed and the thing intend- 
 ed by it. 
 
 METAMOR'PIIOSIS, the changing of 
 something into a different form ; in 
 which sense it includes the transform- 
 ation of insects, as well as the mytholo- 
 gical changes related by the poets of 
 antiquity. 
 
 MET'APHOR, in rhetoric, is the ap- 
 plication of a word in some other than its 
 ordinary use, on account of some appli- 
 cability or resemblance between the two 
 objects : thus, if we call a hero a lion ; a 
 shrewd, crafty fellow, a fox ; a minister, 
 a pillar of the state, <fec., we speak meta- 
 phorically. Brevity and power are the 
 characteristic excellencies of the meta- 
 phor ; novelty shows the original wit : 
 but metaphors indulged in merely for the 
 sake of unexpected contrast, frequently 
 prove more allied to the ridiculous than 
 the sublime, and ought to be but rarely 
 used. Metaphors have been divided by 
 writers on rhetoric into several classes ; 
 but the most appropriate are those' which 
 are termed analogical, and which derive 
 their force, not from any actual resem- 
 blance between two objects, but from a 
 resemblance between the relations which 
 they bear respectively to certain other 
 objects. Thus "the sea of life" is a com- 
 mon and appropriate metaphor ; not from 
 any resemblance between the idea of the 
 visible sea and the complex notion of 
 that abstraction which we term human 
 life, but because there is a fancied simi- 
 larity between the position of navigators 
 in an uncertain voyage and that of human 
 beings engaged in the manifold scenes of 
 life 
 
 METAPH'RASIS, a bare or literal 
 translation out of one language into 
 another. 
 
 METAPHYS'ICS, that branch of phi- 
 losophy which inquires into the science 
 of the mind, or spiritual existence. With 
 respect to animals, it takes them up where 
 physiology leaves them ; and, proceeding 
 higher, ventures to speak of Deity itself. 
 The end of this science is the search of 
 pure and abstracted truth. It casts a 
 light upon all the objects of thought and 
 meditation, by ranging every being with 
 all the absolute and relative perfections 
 and properties, modes and attendants of 
 it, in proper ranks or classes ; and thereby 
 it discovers the various relations of things 
 to each other, and what are their general
 
 404 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MET 
 
 or special differences from each other ; 
 wherein a great part of human knowledge 
 consists. It has been Very pertinently 
 remarked that " a man who contemns 
 metaphysics must think his own nature 
 unworthy of examination. Metaphysical 
 inquiries, indeed, have often been disfig- 
 ured with overstrained subtilty and revolt- 
 ing sophistry, and too often arbitrary 
 analogies, bold comparisons, and unmean- 
 ing mysticism have claimed and received 
 homage as having unlocked the long- 
 hidden truth ; but the same has taken 
 place in regard to religion and politics, 
 and all the great subjects which strongly 
 stir the soul of man." 
 
 MET'APLASM, in grammar, a trans- 
 mutation or chang_e made in a word by 
 transposing or retrenching a syllable or 
 letter. 
 
 METATH'ESIS, in literature, a figure 
 by which the letters or syllables of a 
 word are transposed. In medicine, a 
 change or removal of a morbid cause, 
 without expulsion. 
 
 METEMPSYCHO'SIS, the doctrine of 
 transmigration, which supposes that the 
 soul of man, upon leaving the body, be- 
 comes the soul of some other animal. 
 This was the doctrine of Pythagoras and 
 his followers, and such is still the prevail- 
 ing doctrine in some parts of Asia, par- 
 ticularly in India and China. The Indian 
 doctrine of metempsychosis rests on the 
 supposition that all beings derive their ori- 
 gin from God, and are placed in this world 
 in an altogether degraded condition, from 
 which they all, but more particularly the 
 human race, must either decline into still 
 lower degradation, or rise gradually to 
 a higher state more accordant with their 
 divine original, according as they give 
 ear to the vicious or the virtuous sugges- 
 tions of their nature. It must be re- 
 marked, however, that the Indians make 
 a wide distinction between the future 
 destiny of those who have passed through 
 life tainted by the usual vices and infirmi- 
 ties of human nature, and those whose 
 lives have been spent in the constant 
 discharge of religious duties. In the 
 latter case, the soul does not pass through 
 different stages of existence, "but pro- 
 ceeds directly to reunion with the Supreme 
 Being, with which it is identified, as a 
 river at its confluence with the sea merges 
 therein altogether. His vital faculties, 
 and the elements of which his body con- 
 sist?, are absorbed completely and abso- 
 lutely ; both name and form cease ; and 
 he becomes immortal, without parts or 
 members." 
 
 METEMP'TOSIS, a term in chronolo- 
 gy expressing the solar equitation neces- 
 sary to prevent the new moon from 
 happening a day too late, or the suppres- 
 sion of the bissextile once in 134 years. 
 
 METEOROM'ANCY, a species of 
 divination by thunder and lightning, held 
 in high estimation by the Romans. 
 
 METH'OD, a suitable and convenient 
 arrangement of things or ideas. In logic 
 and rhetoric, the art or rule of disposing 
 ideas in such a manner that they may be 
 easily comprehended, either in order to 
 discover the truth, or to demonstrate it to 
 others. Method is essential to science ; 
 and without method, business of any kind 
 will fall into confusion. In studying a 
 science, we generally mean by method, a 
 system of classification, or arrangement of 
 natural bodies according to their common 
 chars, -teristics ; as the method of Ray, 
 the Linnaean method. The difference be- 
 tween mctlwd and system is this : system 
 is an arrangement founded, throughout 
 all its parts, on some one principle ; 
 method is an arrangement less fixed and 
 determinate, and founded on more gener- 
 al relations. 
 
 METHOD'IC SECT, a name given to 
 certain ancient physicians, who conducted 
 their practice by rules after the manner 
 of Galen and his followers, in opposition 
 to the empiric sect. 
 
 METH'ODISTS, the body of Chris- 
 tians to whom this name is chiefly applied 
 are the followers of the late John Wesley, 
 the founder of this numerous sect ; hence 
 called Wesleyan Methodists. But the 
 term bears a more extensive meaning, 
 being applied to several bodies or sections 
 of Christians who have seceded or with- 
 drawn from the Wesleyan denomination. 
 The origin of the Methodist Society took 
 place at Oxford in 1729. After the Revo- 
 lution, when the principles of religious 
 toleration were recognized amid the pro- 
 gress of free inquiry, the clergy of the 
 Established Church were thought by some 
 to have sunk into a state of comparative 
 lukewarmness and indifference. This 
 alleged degeneracy was observed with 
 pain by John Wesley and his brother 
 Charles, when students at the University 
 of Oxford ; and being joined by a few of 
 their fellow-students who were intended 
 for the ministry in the Established Church, 
 they formed the most rigid rules for the 
 regulation of their time and studies, for 
 reading the Scriptures, for self-examina- 
 tion, and other religious exercises. The 
 ardent piety and rigid observance of 
 system in everything connected with tht
 
 MET] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 405 
 
 new opinions displayed by the Wesleys 
 and their adherents, as well as in their 
 college studies, which they never neglect- 
 ed, attracted the notice and excited the 
 jeers of various members of the Univer- 
 sity, and gained for them the appellation 
 of Methodists ; in allusion to the met/io- 
 dici, a class of physicians at Home who 
 practised only by theory. 
 
 METOE'CI, the resident aliens, who 
 formed a large class of the inhabitants 
 of Athens. They were distinguished 
 from the few full citizens by many disa- 
 bilities and burdens. Thy had no share 
 in the administration of the state, and 
 were precluded from the power of pos- 
 sessing landed estates. Each was com- 
 pelled to purchase the shelter he receiv- 
 ed from the state by the payment of a 
 small annual sum, and to place himself 
 under the guardianship of a citizen, who 
 was his formal representative in the 
 courts of law. They were generally en- 
 gaged in mercantile and mechanical busi- 
 ness. 
 
 METON'IC CY'CLE, in chronology, 
 the period of nineteen years, in which 
 the lunations of the moon return to the 
 same days of the month ; so called from 
 its discoverer Meton, an Athenian, who 
 lived about 400 B.C. From its great use 
 in the calendar, this is called the golden 
 number. 
 
 METONYM'IA, or MET'ONYMY, in 
 rhetoric, a figure of speech whereby one 
 thing is put for another, as the cause for 
 the effect, the part for the whole, and the 
 like ; as, " my friend keeps a good table," 
 instead of good provisions; "that boy 
 has a clear head," meaning intellect. 
 
 METO'PA, in architecture, the square 
 space in the frieze between the triglyphs 
 of the Doric order. It is left either plain 
 or decorated, according to the taste of the 
 architect. In the most ancient examples 
 of this order, the metopa is left quite 
 open, as is manifest from a passage al- 
 luded to in the 'art. 
 
 METOPOS'COPY, the art of divina- 
 tion by inspecting the forehead, treated 
 of especially by the famous Cardanus. 
 The signs of the forehead are chiefly its 
 lines ; but moles and spots are also sup- 
 posed to have their particular meaning. 
 The lines are under the dominion of their 
 several planets. 
 
 ME'TRE, in the classical sense of a 
 word, a subdivision of a verse. The 
 Greeks measured some species of verses 
 (the dactylic, choriambic, antispastic, 
 Ionic, &c.) by considering each foot as a 
 metre ; in others (the iambic, trochaic, 
 
 and anapaestic,) each dipodia, or two feet, 
 formed a metre. Thus, the dactylic hex- 
 ameter (the heroic verse) contains six 
 dactyls and spondees : the iambic, ana- 
 paestic, and trochaic trimeter, six of those 
 feet respectively. A line is said to be 
 acatalectic when the last syllable of tho 
 last foot is wanting ; brachycatalectic, 
 when two syllables are cutoff in the same 
 way; hypercatalectic, when there is one 
 superfluous syllable. 
 
 METROMA'NIA, a rage for compos- 
 ing verses, which is said (upon the au- 
 thority of a respectable medical work) to 
 have once seized a person in a tertian 
 fever, who was otherwise by no means 
 gifted with poetical powers, but who, 
 when the fit was off, became as dull and 
 prosaic as the most unimaginative of hu- 
 man beings could desire. We apprehend 
 that fits of this kind are more frequent 
 than the public have any idea of. 
 
 MET'RONOME, an instrument for 
 measuring musical time. It is contrived 
 on the principle of a clock, having a short 
 pendulum, whose bob being movable up 
 and down on the rod, is thus capable of 
 increasing or decreasing the length of a 
 note or bar as required by the character 
 of the music. The length or duration of 
 a note is often expressed at the head of a 
 piece of music by stating that a pendulum 
 of a given length in inches will vibrate a 
 minim, crotchet, or other note, as the 
 case may be. 
 
 METROP'OLIS, the capital or princi- 
 pal city of a country or province : as Lon- 
 don or Paris. The term metropolis is 
 also applied to archiepiscopal churches, 
 and sometimes to the principal or mother 
 church of a city. The Roman empire 
 having been divided into thirteen dioceses, 
 and one hundred and twenty provinces, 
 each % diocose and each province had its 
 metropolis, or capital city, where the pro- 
 consul had his residence. To this civil 
 division, the ecclesiastical was afterwards 
 adapted, and the bishop of the capital 
 city had the direction of affairs, and the 
 pre-eminence over all the bishops of the 
 province. His residence in the metropo- 
 lis gave him the title of metropolitan. 
 
 METROPOLITAN, in early ecclesi- 
 astical history, was a title applied to the 
 archbishop, or chief ecclesiastical digni- 
 tary, resident in a city. The establish- 
 ment of metropolitans took place at the 
 end of the third century, and was con- 
 firmed by the council of Nice. In some 
 of the Protestant states of Germany the 
 title exists to the present time, and the 
 person in possession of it has rank equiv-
 
 406 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MIL 
 
 alcnt to the bishops of the English 
 church. 
 
 MEZ'ZANINE, in architecture, an 
 entresole, or little window, less in height 
 than in breadth, serving to give light to 
 an attic. 
 
 MEZ'ZO, in music, an Italian word, 
 signifying lialf. Thus mezzo forte, mez- 
 zo piano, mezzo voce, imply a middle 
 degree of piano or soft. By mezzo sopra- 
 no is understood, a pitch of voice between 
 the soprano or treble and counter-tenor. 
 
 MEZZOTIN'TO, a particular manner 
 of engraving, so called from its resem- 
 blance to drawings in Indian ink. To 
 perform this, the smooth surface of the 
 copper or steel plate is furrowed all over 
 with an instrument made for the purpose, 
 till the whole is of a regular roughness 
 throughout ; so that if a paper were to be 
 worked off from it at the copper-plate 
 press it would be black all over. When 
 this is done, the plate is rubbed with 
 charcoal, black chalk, or black lead, and 
 then the design is drawn with white chalk ; 
 after which the outlines and deepest 
 shades are not scraped at all, the next 
 shades are scraped but little, the next 
 more, and so on, till the shades gradu- 
 ally falling off, leave the paper white, in 
 which places the plate is perfectly bur- 
 nished. By an artificial disposition of the 
 shades, and different parts of a figure on 
 different plates, mezzotintos are printed 
 in colors, so as to represent actual paint- 
 ings. 
 
 MI'CAH, a canonical book of the Old 
 Testament, written by the prophet Mieah ; 
 in which the writer censures the reigning 
 vices of Jerusalem and Samaria, and de- 
 nounces the judgments of God against 
 both kingdoms. The birthplace of our 
 Saviour is thus designated by him : " But 
 thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, little among 
 the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall 
 come forth a ruler in Israel, whose gene- 
 ration is of old, from everlasting." 
 
 MICH'AELMAS, or Feast of St. Mi- 
 chael, a festival of the Komish church, 
 observed on the 29th of September. In 
 England, Michaelmas is one of the regu- 
 lar periods for settling rents ; and an old 
 custom is still in use of having a roast 
 goose for dinner on that day, probably 
 because geese are at that period most 
 plentiful, and in the highest perfection. 
 
 MI'CROCOSM, man has been called so 
 by some fanciful writers on natural phi- 
 losophy and metaphysics, by reason of a 
 supposed correspondence between the dif- 
 ferent parts and qualities of his nature 
 and those of the universe. 
 
 MICROG'RAPHY, the description of 
 objects which are too minute to be seen 
 without the help of a microscope. 
 
 MIDDLE AGES, a term used by histo- 
 rians to denote that period which begins 
 with the final destruction of the Roman 
 empire, and ends with the revival of let- 
 ters in Europe, or, as some writers have it, 
 with the discovery of America ; i. e. from 
 the eighth to the fifteenth century. In gen- 
 eral, it may be said, the middle ages em- 
 brace that period of history in which the 
 feudal system was established and devel- 
 oped, down to the most prominent events 
 which necessarily led to its overthrow. 
 
 MID'SHIPMAN. Midshipmen are 
 young gentlemen ranking as the highest 
 of the class of petty officers on board a 
 ship of war ; their duty is to pass to the 
 seamen the orders of the captain or other 
 superior officer, and to superintend the 
 performance of the duties so commanded. 
 
 MID'SUMMER, the summer solstice. 
 3?he 24th of June is Midsummer-davj 
 which is also quarter day. 
 
 MILIEU, (JUSTE,) PARTY OF THE, 
 a French party nickname, arising, it is 
 said, out of a casual expression of King 
 Louis Philippe, but which has obtained 
 a notoriety rather greater than such 
 ephemeral phrases usually acquire. It 
 has served to denote the great party op- 
 posed to the Carlists, or Legitimists, on 
 the one hand, and to the extreme left 
 section of the Chamber of Deputies, with 
 its allies the Republicans, on the other. 
 After the overthrow of the feeble ministry 
 of Lafitte, in March, 1831, Casimir Perier 
 was authorized to form a new cabinet ; 
 and his administration seems to have re- 
 alized more than any other the ideal of 
 a government of the Juste Milieu. After 
 a short interval he was succeeded by 
 Soult ; who has been perhaps, since that 
 time, more identified with the Juste Mi- 
 lieu party than any other minister : 
 Mole, Guizot, Dupin, Thiers, Barrot, the 
 most eminent statesmen 'of France, hav- 
 ing each of them adopted a line and 
 formed to a certain extent a party of his 
 own, alternately aided and opposed by 
 the great body of the partisans of the 
 Juste Milieu. 
 
 MILI'TIA, a body of soldiers, regu- 
 larly enrolled and trained, though not in 
 constant service in time of pence, nnd 
 thereby distinguished from standing ar- 
 mies. In England the origin of this na- 
 tional force is generally traced back to 
 Alfred. 
 
 MILLENA'RIANS, or CHILTASTS, 
 a name given to those who, in the prim
 
 MIN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 407 
 
 itive ages, believed that the saints will 
 one day reign on earth with Jesus Christ 
 a thousand years. The former appella- 
 tion is of Latin original, the latter of 
 Greek. The Millenarians held, that af- 
 ter the coming of Antichrist, and the 
 destruction of all nations which shall fol- 
 low, there shall be a first resurrection of 
 the just alone ; that all who shalfbe found 
 upon earth, both good and bad, shall con- 
 tinue alive the good, to obey the just 
 who are risen as their princes the bad 
 to be conquered by the just, and to be 
 subject to them ; that Jesus Christ will 
 then descend from heaven in his glory ; 
 that the city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt, 
 enlarged, embellished, and its gates stand 
 open night and day. 
 
 MILLENNIUM, the reign of Christ 
 with his saints upon earth for th'e space 
 of a thousand years ; an idea derived 
 from a passage in the 20th chap, of the 
 Apocalypse, and not uncommonly enter- 
 tained by Christians in all ages, but es- 
 pecially in the times of the primitive 
 church. The opinion seems to be traced 
 as far back as to Papias, a father of the 
 second century. It is the subject of much 
 discussion among the writers of that and 
 the succeeding ages ; was maintained by 
 Justin Martyr, Irenseus, Tertullian, and 
 many others, and powerfully refuted by 
 Origen. 
 
 MIME, the name given by the ancient 
 Greeks and Romans at once to a species 
 of dramatic entertainment, and to the 
 authors and actors by whom it was re- 
 spectively composed and performed. It 
 consisted chiefly of a rude representation 
 of common life, and resembled the mod- 
 ern farce or vaudeville in its character 
 and accompaniments. Sophron of Syr- 
 racuse, who lived about 400 years be- 
 fore the Christian era, is considered the 
 inventor of this species of composition. 
 His pieces were read even with pleasure 
 by Plato, who is said to have introduced 
 this kind of dramatic entertainment into 
 Athens. 
 
 MIME'SIS, in rhetoric, imitation of 
 the voice and gestures of another person. 
 
 MIND, the intellectual or intelligent 
 power in man. "When the mind," says 
 Mr. Locke, " turns its view inward upon 
 itself, thinking is the first idea that oc- 
 curs ; wherein it observes a great variety 
 of modifications, whence it frames to itself 
 distinct ideas. Thus the perception an- 
 nexed to any impression on the body by 
 an external object, is called sensation; 
 when an idea recurs without the presence 
 of the object, it is called remembrance ; 
 
 when sought after by the mind, and again 
 brought into view, it is recollection ; when 
 the ideas are taken notice of, and, as it 
 were, registered in the memory, it is at- 
 tention ; when the mind fixes its view on 
 any one idea, and considers it on all sides, 
 it is called study. 
 
 MINER'VA, the Latin goddess corres- 
 ponding to, and confounded with, the 
 Grecian Pallas or Athena. She was 
 fabled to have sprung in full armor from, 
 the forehead of her father Jupiter. Mi- 
 nerva was worshipped as the goddess of 
 wisdom, and the patroness of industry 
 and the arts. Athens, the city to which 
 she gave name, was her favorite spot ; 
 and there her worship was celebrated with 
 great splendor, and the magnificent tem- 
 ple, the Parthenon, erected to her honor. 
 
 MINERVA'LIA, in Roman antiquity, 
 festivals celebrated in honor of Minerva, 
 in the m'onth of March; at which time 
 the scholars had a vacation, and usua!'y 
 made a present to their masters, called 
 from this festival minerval. 
 
 MINIATURE, a representation of na- 
 ture on a very small scale. Miniature 
 painting is generally executed on ivory; 
 and is. as to composition, drawing, and 
 finishing, subject to the same laws as 
 Painting. 
 
 MIN'IM, in music, a note equal to two 
 crotchets, or half a semibreve. 
 
 MIN'IMS, a religious order in the 
 church of Rome, founded by St. Francis 
 do Paula, towards the end of the 15th 
 century. 
 
 MIN'ISTER, the pastor of a church, 
 duly authorized to perform religious wor- 
 ship in public, administer the sacraments, 
 &o. In politics; one to whom a sovereign 
 prince intrusts the administration of the 
 government ; as, a minister of state ; the 
 prime minister ; or a. foreign minister. 
 In the United States, no minister (or 
 secretary, in the language of our govern- 
 ment) can be chosen either representative 
 or senator. Foreign minister, a person 
 sent from one government to another, and 
 accredited to the latter, in order to trans- 
 act public business in the name of his 
 government 
 
 MIN'NEHOFE, the name given by 
 the Germans to the courts of love, so fa- 
 mous in the history of chivalry. The sub- 
 jects brought before these courts were 
 chiefly connected with the Romantic gal- 
 lantry of the period, and consisted either 
 of questions proposed with the view to 
 entrap the judges into some awkward de- 
 cision ; or of serious complaints, resulting 
 from affairs of the heart which were dis-
 
 408 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MIN 
 
 cussed and decided upon with all the for- 
 mality of a court of law. These minne- 
 hofe were for a long period looked upon 
 as forming an indispensable part in all 
 chivalrous exercises. Knights, ladies, and 
 poets participated alike in their proceed- 
 ings ; and large collections of their de- 
 cisions are still extant. A certain num- 
 ber of ladies, remarkable at once for per- 
 sonal and mental attractions, acted as 
 judges in these courts: the fair sex also 
 conducted the proceedings as counsel, at- 
 torneys-general, and solicitors-general, 
 &c. ; and they were attended by a nume- 
 rous train of nobles, knights, and others, 
 who we're invested by the court with gra- 
 dations of rank and precedency analogous 
 to those conferred by the sovereign. 
 
 MIN'NESINGERS, the most ancient 
 school of German poets, whose name is 
 derived from the old German word minne 
 (love.) The songs and fame of the Pro- 
 vencal troubadours appear to have pen- 
 etrated into Germany under the first 
 emperors of the house of Hohenstauifen ; 
 in whose time the crusades and the fre- 
 quent Italian wars combined to bring 
 their nation, seated as it is in the centre 
 of Europe, to closer communication with 
 those surrounding it. The minnesingers 
 imitated in German the strains of those 
 early poets, and, like them, made love 
 their principal subject; which was cele- 
 brated with much of pedantry and false 
 conceits, but, at the same time, not with- 
 out generous and chivalric feeling. The 
 verses of the minnesingers are in the old 
 Swabian dialect of the high German, 
 which, under the Hohenstauffens, them- 
 selves of Swabian race, was the court lan- 
 guage. As was the case with the trouba- 
 dours, the minnesingers belonged to two 
 different classes : there were among them 
 many knights, princes, and even sove- 
 reigns ; while there was also another tflass 
 of more professional poets wandering 
 minstrels, who attached themselves to 
 the persons of the distinguished chiefs, or 
 wandered from court to court. The oldest 
 of the minnesingers known to us is Henry 
 of Veldeck, about 1170. During the re- 
 mainder of the 12th and first half of the 
 13th century, this school of poets flourish- 
 ed ; afterwards it gradually declined, and 
 was succeeded by the less chivalrous and 
 homelier school of the master-singers. 
 We possess the names of more than 300 
 
 Eoets, and pieces of the composition of a 
 irge proportion of them, who sang during 
 the short period in question. 
 
 MI'iN'OR, in law, an heir male or fe- | 
 male, under the age of twenty-one. In | 
 
 logic, the second proposition of a regular 
 syllogism. In music, sign ifieskss. and is 
 applied to certain concords or intervals, 
 which differ from others of the same de- 
 nomination by half a tone. 
 
 MINOK'ITY, in law, a state of being 
 under age. Also the smaller number of 
 persons who give 'their votes on any ques- 
 tions, particularly in parliament : oppos- 
 ed to majority. 
 
 MI'NOS, in mythological history, was 
 son of Jupiter and Europa, and king of 
 Crete, and so celebrated as a lawgiver on 
 earth that after his death he was appoint- 
 ed judge of the internal regions, in which 
 office he was associated with JEacus and 
 Rhadamanthus. 
 
 MIN'OTAUR, a fabled monster of clas- 
 sical antiquity, half man and half bull, 
 frequently mentioned by the poets. 
 
 MIN'STER, was anciently applied only 
 to the church of a monastery or convent ; 
 and forms the termination of the name of 
 many places in England in which such 
 churches formerly existed, as Westmin- 
 ster, Leominster, &c. It is sometimes, 
 but incorrectly, used in common language 
 to signify a cathedral church. 
 
 MIN'STRELS, defined by Percy as an 
 order of men in the middle ages who sub- 
 sisted by the arts of poetry and music, 
 and sang to the harp verses composed by 
 themselves or others. They appear to 
 have been the successors of the minne- 
 singers, scalds, and bards of different 
 European nations, who, even after the 
 age of chivalry had passed, attempted to 
 gain a subsistence by practising those 
 arts which at an earlier period had pro- 
 cured fame and honor for their predeces- 
 sors. In the piping times of peace, the 
 minstrel sang of mimic war to the dull 
 barons of dungeon castles, who had ears, 
 although they could not read ; who, 
 doubly steeped in the ennui of wealth 
 and want of occupation, listened greedily, 
 like other great men, to their own praises. 
 Minstrelsy supplied the lack of a more 
 refined intellectual entertainment and of 
 rational conversation, as professional 
 gentlemen do now at civic banquets : 
 their harpings lulled the rude Sauls to 
 sleep, which is now done by quarto epics. 
 The person of the minstrel was sacred ; 
 his profession was a passport; he was 
 " high placed in hall a welcome guest ;" 
 the assumption of his character became 
 the disguise of lovers of adventure. 
 
 MIN'UET, a dance in slow time and 
 with short measured steps, which re- 
 quires great dignity and grace of car- 
 riage.
 
 MI*] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 409 
 
 MIN'UTE, an architectonic measure ; 
 the lower diameter of a column, being 
 divide I into .sixty parts, each part is call- 
 ed a minute. 
 
 ML'QUELETS, in modern history, a 
 species of partisan troops raised in the 
 north of Spain, and chiefly in Catalonia. 
 The tuiquelets became first known in the 
 wars between Spain and France in the 
 17th century. At several periods (in 
 1689, 1789, and again in the wars of Na- 
 poleon) tlSj French have endeavored to 
 organize similar corps, to oppose ^to the 
 miquelets in the mountain warfare of 
 those districts. 
 
 MIK'ACLE, an event or effect produced 
 in a manner different from the common 
 and regular method of Providence, by the 
 interposition either of God himself, or 
 some superior agent to whom He delega- 
 ted the power. Lord Bacon observes, 
 that a miracle was never wrought by 
 God to convert an atheist, because the 
 light of nature might have led him to 
 o tnfess a God : but miracles, says he, are 
 designed to convert idolaters, and the su- 
 perstitious, who have acknowledged a 
 deity, but erred in the manner of adoring 
 him ; because no light of nature extends 
 so far as fully to declare the will and 
 true worship of God. 
 
 MIR'ZA, the common style of honor in 
 Persia, when it precedes the surname of 
 an individual. When appended to the 
 surname it signifies prince. 
 
 MISAN'THROPY signifies a general 
 dislike or aversion to man and mankind ; 
 in contradistinction to philanthropy, which 
 means the love of our species. 
 
 MIS'CELLANY, a word usually ap- 
 plied to a collection of literary works or 
 treatises. The most celebrated collection 
 of works known by this name is Constable's 
 Miscellany. 
 
 MISCH'NA, or MIS'NA. the code or 
 collection of the civil law of the Jews. 
 The Jews pretend, that when God gave 
 the written law to Moses, he gave him 
 also another not written, which was pre- 
 served by tradition among the doctors of 
 the synagogue, till through their disper- 
 sion they were in danger of departing 
 from the traditions of their fathers, when 
 it was judged proper to commit them to 
 writing. 
 
 MISDEMEAN'OR, in law. a minor 
 offence, or one of less magnitude than 
 that which is generally designated a 
 crime, the latter being, in common usage, 
 male to denote an offence of a more 
 atrocious character. 
 
 MISERE'RE, the 50th Psalm, 4th of 
 
 the Penitential Psalms, is that designated 
 by the Roman Catholic church under this 
 word, on account of its first words (in 
 the Vulgate translation, " miserere met 
 Deus, secundum magnam misericordium 
 tuam.") It is the usual psalm appointed 
 for acts of penitence and mortification. 
 
 MISNO'MER, in law, a misnaming or 
 mistaking a person's name. The Chris- 
 tian name of a person should always be 
 perfect, but the law is not so strict in re- 
 gard to surnames, a small mistake in 
 which will be overlooked. 
 
 MISPRIS'ION, in law, any high of- 
 fence under the degree of capital, but 
 bordering thereon. Misprision of trea- 
 son consists in a bare knowledge and con- 
 cealment of treason, without assenting to 
 it. Misprisions are called negative, when 
 they consist in the concealment of some- 
 thing that ought to be revealed ; and 
 positive, when they consist in the com- 
 mission of something which ought not to 
 be done. 
 
 MIS'SAL, in the Romish church, the 
 book which contains the prayers and 
 ceremonies of the Mass. Some early 
 missals are beautifully executed, and are 
 objects of bibliomania. 
 
 MISSA'LIA, the money paid to a 
 Catholic priest for a mass read for the 
 dead. 
 
 MISSIL'IA, in antiquity, were a cer- 
 tain kind of largesses thrown among the 
 Roman people, such as small coins of 
 gold or silver, sweetmeats, &c. 
 
 MIS'SIO, among the Romans, was a 
 full discharge given to a soldier after 
 twenty years' service, and differed from 
 the exauctoratio, which was a discharge 
 from duty after seventeen years' service. 
 Missi also signified a rescue sent by the 
 emperor or person who exhibited the 
 games, to a wounded gladiator. 
 TlMIS'SIONARIES, all religious com- 
 munities, from the earliest ages of Chris- 
 tianity, have endeavored to propagate 
 their tenets, not by the force of arms, but 
 by the persuasive precepts of the Gospel ; 
 and there is scarcely a corner of the 
 habitable globe which has not been pene- 
 trated by men expressly sent out to carry 
 its glad tidings to pagan nations. Fore- 
 most among the Protestant countries 
 which have thus distinguished themselves, 
 are the United States and England. 
 
 MIS'SIONS, stations of missionaries 
 in infidel countries. In geography, the 
 extensive districts formerly under the 
 control of missionaries of the church of 
 Rome, on the borders of the Spanish and 
 Portuguese settlements in America, were
 
 410 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 MOD 
 
 so called. These missionaries chiefly 
 belonged to the orders of the Capuchins, 
 Dominicans, and Jesuits ; but the latter 
 were the most celebrated and the most 
 successful. Their settlements in Para- 
 guay comprehended a vast province, 
 which they governed with independent 
 authority : in Brazil they had also exten- 
 sive districts under their control. The 
 downfall of the order was followed by 
 the destruction of these settlements. 
 
 MITH'RAS, the grand deity of the 
 Persians, supposed to be the sun or god 
 of fire, to which they paid adoration as the 
 purest emblem of the divine essence. 
 
 MI'TRA, in antiquity, a cap or cover- 
 ing for the head, worn by the Roman 
 ladies, sometimes by the men, but it was 
 looked upon as a mark of effeminacy in 
 them, especially when it was tied upon 
 their heads. Amongst the Greeks, mitra 
 was a piece of defensive armor made of 
 brass, lined with wool, and worn next to 
 the skin, under the coat of mail. 
 
 Ml'TRE, a sacerdotal ornament worn on 
 the head by bishops and certain abbots on 
 solemn occasions ; being a sort of cap. 
 pointed and cleft at top. The high priest 
 among the Jews wore a mitre or bonnet 
 on his head. 
 
 MIT'TIMUS, in law, a precept or com- 
 mand in writing under the hand and seal 
 of a justice of the peace, or other proper 
 officer, directed to the gaoler or keeper 
 of a prison, for the receiving and safe 
 keeping of an offender charged with any 
 crime until he be delivered by due course 
 of law. 
 
 MNEMONICS, the art of assisting 
 the memory an art which, when founded 
 on a simple system, is of incalculable 
 use to all persons, but more especially to 
 those who wish to study history and the 
 sciences to advantage. The ancieois 
 were well acquainted with mnemonics ; 
 according to some, the science came from 
 the East to the Greeks ; others consider 
 the poet Simonides as the inventor of 
 them. The principal difficulty in attain- 
 ing a competent knowledge of history, 
 consists in retaining the dates of the 
 several epochas, eras, &c., to which the 
 principal occurrences in history belong ; 
 but this difficulty is considerably obviated 
 by the employment of modern systems 
 of mnemonics. 
 
 MNEMOS'YNE, in classical mytholo- 
 gy, the goddess of memory : daughter, 
 according to the genealogists, of Uranus 
 (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth,) and mother, 
 by Jupiter, of the Nine Muses. Her 
 statues usually have the figure enveloped 
 
 in long and ample drapery, and the right 
 hiiihl raised towards the chin. 
 
 MOAT, a ditch made round the old 
 castles, and filled with water. The moat 
 surrounding a military fortress of modern 
 construction (or the ditch) is left dry ; 
 but where it is capable of inundation at 
 pleasure, this circumstance is considered 
 an advantage to the system of defence. 
 
 MODE, a term used by Locke to de- 
 note "such complex ideas, which, how- 
 ever compounded, contain not in them 
 the supposition of subsisting by them- 
 selves, but are considered as dependences 
 on, or affections of, substances. ' Of these 
 modes there are two kinds, simple and 
 mixed. Simple modes are " only varia- 
 tions or different combinations of the 
 same simple idea, without the mixture 
 of any other, as a dozen or a score, which 
 are nothing but the ideas of so many 
 distinct units added together." Mixed 
 modes are those " compounded of simple 
 ideas of several kinds put together to 
 make one complex one e. g., beauty ; 
 and consisting of a certain composition 
 of color and figure, causing delight in the 
 beholder." The term is now universally 
 laid aside by writers on mental philoso- 
 phy. In music, a regular disposition of 
 the air and accompaniments relative to 
 certain principal sounds, on which a 
 piece of music is formed, and which are 
 called the essential sounds of the mode. 
 In the earliest Greek music there were 
 only three modes, but various new modes 
 were afterwards added. The moderns, 
 however, only reckon two modes, the 
 major and minor. The major mode is 
 that division of the octave by which the 
 intervals between the third and fourth, 
 and seventh and eighth, become half- 
 tones, and all the other intervals whole 
 tones. The minor mode is that division 
 by which the intervals between the second 
 and third, and fifth and sixth, become 
 half-tones, and all the others whole 
 tones. In logic, the form or manner of a 
 syllogism with respect to the quantity 
 and quality of its constituent propositions. 
 
 MOD'EL, in the Fine Arts, that which 
 is an object of imitation. In painting 
 and sculpture, it is the individual whom 
 the artist procures for getting up his 
 proportions, details, play of the mus- 
 cles, &c. Also in sculpture, it is the term 
 applied to the small sketch in wax or 
 clay for a work of art. In architecture, 
 it is a small pattern in relief, either of 
 wood, plaster, or other material, of the 
 building proposed to be executed. 
 
 MOD'ELLING, in the Fine Arts, the
 
 MOL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 411 
 
 art of making a mould from which works 
 in plaster are to be cast ; also used for 
 the forming in clay of the design itself. 
 
 MOD'EKATES, the name given to a 
 party in the Church of Scotland which 
 arose early in the eighteenth century, 
 claimed the character of moderation in 
 doctrine, discipline, and church govern- 
 ment, and which has continued to exist 
 in a greater or less degree of vigor down 
 to the present time. 
 
 MOD'ERATOR, a person who presides 
 at a public assembly, to propose ques- 
 tions, preserve order, and regulate the 
 proceedings. 
 
 MOD'ERNS, those who have lived in 
 times recently passed, or are now living; 
 opposed to the ancients. The term is 
 especially applied to those of modern 
 nations, or of nations which arose out of 
 the ruins of the Greek and Roman em- 
 pires, the people of which are called 
 the ancients. 
 
 MODIFICATION, in philosophy, that 
 which modifies a thing, or gives it this or 
 that manner of being. Quantity and 
 quality are accidents which modify all 
 bodies. According to Spinosa's system, 
 all the beings that compose the universe 
 are only so many different modifications 
 of one and the same substance ; and it 
 is the different arrangement and situa- 
 tion of their parts, that make all the 
 difference between them. 
 
 MODIL'LION, in architecture, an or- 
 nament sometimes square on its profile, 
 and sometimes scroll-shaped, with the in- 
 tervention of one or two small horizontal 
 members placed at intervals under the 
 corona in the richer orders. They should 
 stand centrally over columns when the 
 latter are employed. They are simplest 
 in the Ionic and Composite orders, more 
 carving being bestowed on them in the 
 Corinthian order. 
 
 MODULATION, in music, the art of 
 composing agreeable to the laws pre- 
 scribed by any particular key, or of 
 changing the mode or key. Also the reg- 
 ular progression of several parts through 
 the sounds that are in the harmony of any 
 particular key, as well as the proceeding 
 naturally and regularly from one key to 
 another. In pieces of a mild and quiet 
 character, it is not proper to modulate so 
 often as in those which have to express 
 violent and great passions. Where every- 
 thing relating to expression is considered, 
 modulation also must be so determined by 
 the expression, that each single idea in 
 the melody shall appear in the tone that 
 is most proper for it. 
 
 MOD'ULES, in architecture, a meas- 
 ure equal to the semi-diameter of a Doric 
 column. It is a term only applied in the 
 Doric order, and consists of thirty min- 
 utes. 
 
 MO'DUS OPER AN'DI, a Latin phrase, 
 signifying the way or method by which 
 an operation or performance of any kind 
 is effected. 
 
 MOGRA'BIANS, or MEN OF THE 
 WEST, a name formerly given to a spe- 
 cies of Turkish infantry, composed of the 
 peasants of the northern parts of Africa, 
 who sought to ameliorate their condition 
 by entering into foreign service. 
 
 MO'GUL. GREAT, the name by whieh 
 the chief of itie empire so called, founded 
 in Hindostan by Baber, in the 15th cen- 
 tury, was known in Europe. The last 
 person to whom this title of right be- 
 longed was Shah Allum ; and the Mogul 
 empire having terminated at his death in 
 1806, his vast possessions fell chiefly into 
 the hands of the East India Company. 
 
 MOLE, a mound or massive work 
 formed of massive stones laid in the sea 
 by means of coffer-dams, extended in a 
 right line or as an arch of a circle, before 
 a port, which it serves to defend from the 
 violent impulse of the waves ; thus pro- 
 tecting ships in a harbor. The word is 
 sometimes used for the harbor itself. 
 Among the Romans, a kind of mausoleum, 
 built like a round tower on a square base, 
 insulated, encompassed with columns, and 
 covered with a dome. 
 
 MO'LINISM, in Roman Catholic the- 
 ology, a system of opinions on the sub- 
 jects of grace and predestination some- 
 what resembling that advocated by the 
 Arminian party among Protestants. It 
 derived its name from the Jesuit Louis 
 Molina, professor of theology in the uni- 
 versity of Evora in Portugal. 
 >. MOL'L AH, the title of the higher order 
 of judges in the Turkish empire. After 
 the three first magistrates of the empire 
 follow fourteen mollahs, who preside over 
 the fourteen principal seats of justice in 
 the empire; among these, the mollahs 
 of Mecca and Medina have the highest 
 rank. 
 
 MO'LOCH, the name of the chief god 
 of the Phoenicians, frequently mentioned 
 in Scripture as the God of the Ammon- 
 ites, and probably the same as tffe Saturn 
 of the Syrians and Carthaginians. Hu- 
 man sacrifices were offered at the shrine 
 of this divinity; and it was chiefly in the 
 valley of Tophet, to the east of Jerusa-. 
 loin, that this brutal idolatry was perpe- 
 trated.
 
 412 
 
 CVCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MON 
 
 MOLOS'SUS, in Greek and Latin poe- 
 try, a foot consisting of three long sylla- 
 bles, MIS <:ku,r<:hijard-wall. 
 
 MO'MIEKS, the name by which cer- 
 tain religionists of tiio so-called Evangel- 
 ical party have been designated in Swit- 
 zerland, and some parts of France and 
 Germany, since 1818. 
 
 MO'NAD, in metaphysics, this word 
 has been used by Leibnitz and his follow- 
 ers, partisans of what has been called the 
 Monadic Theory. " After studying," 
 says Stewart, " with all possible diligence 
 what Leibnitz has said of his monads in 
 different parts of his works, I find myself 
 quite incompetent to annex any precise 
 idea to the word as he employed it." He 
 then quotes the following as " some of his 
 most intelligible attempts to explain his 
 meaning:" " A simple substance has no 
 parts : a compound substance is an aggre- 
 gate of simple substances, or of monads." 
 " Monads, having no parts, are neither 
 extended, figured, nor divisible. They 
 are the real atoms of nature ; in other 
 words, the elements of things." 
 
 MON'ARCHY, the government of a 
 single person. Monarch and monarchy 
 are equivalent in common speech to king 
 and kingdom : so that we often read of 
 the Spartan monarchs, &c., although the 
 government of Sparta was under a double 
 race of kings reigning at the same time. 
 Monarchies are usually said to bo of four 
 kinds absolute, limited, hereditary, and 
 elective, which are self-explanatory terms. 
 The only elective monarchy in Europe 
 was that of Poland. All absolute and 
 limited monarchies have adopted the 
 hereditary principle. 
 
 MON'ASTERY, the general name for 
 those religious houses appropriated to 
 the reception and maintenance of monks 
 and nuns, but especially of the former. 
 
 MON 'DAY, the second day of the week 
 is so called, and means, literally, the day 
 of the moon. Its equivalents in Fr. and 
 Germ, are respectively Lundi and Mon- 
 tag. signifying also day of the moon. 
 
 MON'EY, in political economy, the 
 name given to the commodity adopted to 
 serve as the universal equivalent of all 
 other commodities, and for which individ- 
 uals readily exchange their surplus pro- 
 ducts or services. 
 
 MONK, a man who retires from the 
 ordinary temporal concerns of the world, 
 and devotes himself to religion. Monks 
 usually live in monasteries, on entering 
 ' which they take a vow to observe certain 
 rules Some, however, live as hermits in 
 solitude, and others have lived a strolling 
 
 life without any fixed residence. Monks 
 are distinguished by the color of their 
 habits into bl:iuk, white, gray, <fec. 
 
 MON'OCHOKD, a musical instrument 
 originally having but one string :i 
 name imports; but it i. now generally 
 constructed with two, by means of which 
 the musician is better enabled to try the 
 proportions of sounds and intervals, and 
 judge of the harmony of two tempered 
 notes. 
 
 MON'OCHROME, an ancient mode of 
 painting in which only one color is 
 used. The most numerous monuments 
 existing of this kind of painting are on 
 terra cotta. 
 
 MON'ODY, a species of poem of a 
 mournful character, in which a single 
 mourner is supposed to bewail himself; 
 thus distinguished from those pastoral 
 elegies which are in the form of dia- 
 logues. 
 
 MONOG'AMY, the state or condition 
 of those who have only been once mar- 
 ried, and are restrained to a single wife. 
 
 MON'OGRAM, in archaeology, a char- 
 acter or cipher composed of one, two, or 
 more letters interwoven, being an abbre- 
 viation of a name ; anciently used as a 
 seal, badge, arms, &c. Printers, engrav- 
 ers, &c., formerly made use of monograms 
 to distinguish their works. 
 
 MON'OGRAPH, a treatise on a single 
 subject in literature or science. 
 
 MON'OLITH, a term recently intro- 
 duced into the language, to signify a 
 pillar or other large substance consisting 
 of a single stone. Some remarkable 
 monoliths have been found in Egypt ; 
 of these, the zodiac of Denderah. and the 
 obelisk of the Luxor, both of which have 
 been removed to Paris, are well-known 
 examples. 
 
 MON'OLOGUE, a dramatic scene, in 
 which a person appears alone on the 
 stage, and soliloquizes. 
 
 MONOMA'NIA, the name given by 
 some physicians to that form of mania 
 in which the mind of the patient is ab- 
 sorbed by one idea. 
 
 MONOPH'YSITE, one who maintains 
 that Jesus Christ had but one nature, or 
 that the human and the divine nature 
 were so united as to form one nature 
 only. 
 
 MONOP'OLY, an exclusive right, se- 
 
 I cured to one or more persons, to carry on 
 
 | some branch of trade 'or manufacture ; 
 
 or the sole power of vending any species 
 
 of goods, obtained either by engrossing 
 
 the articles in market by purchase, or by 
 
 a license from the government. The most
 
 MOR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 413 
 
 frequent monopolies formerly granted, 
 were the right of trading to certain for- 
 eign countries, the right of importing or 
 exporting certain articles, and that of ex- 
 orcising particular arts or trade?. There 
 is, however, one species of monopoly, 
 sanctioned by the laws of all countries 
 that have made any advances in the arts 
 the exclusive right of an invention or im- 
 provement for a limited number of years. 
 
 MON'OTHEISM, the doctrine or be- 
 lief of the existence of one God only : op- 
 posed to polytheism, or a plurality of 
 gods. 
 
 MON'OTONE, in rhetoric, a sameness 
 of sound, or the utterance of successive 
 syllables on one unvaried key, without 
 infliction or cadence. 
 
 MONSEIG'NEUR, a title of courtesy 
 in France, which was prefixed to the titles 
 of dukes and peers, archbishops, bishops. 
 and some other exalted personages, and 
 used in addressing them. Monseigneur 
 simply was, before the Revolution, the 
 title given to the dauphin. Monsieur is 
 now the common title of courtesy and 
 respect in France. 
 
 MONT DE PIETE, the name given on 
 some parts of the Continent to certain 
 benevolent institutions, established for 
 the purpose of lending money to the poor 
 at a moderate rate of interest. They 
 originated under the papal government 
 in the 15th century, and were intended to 
 countervail the exorbitant usurious prac- 
 tices of the Jews, who formed at that pe- 
 riod the great money-lenders of Europe. 
 
 MON'UMENT, in architecture, a 
 building or erection of any kind, destined 
 to preserve the memory or achievements 
 of the person who raised it, or for whom 
 it was raised; as a triumphal arch, a 
 Mausoleum, a pyramid, a pillar, a tomb, 
 Ac. 
 
 MOOD, (sometimes written mode,) in 
 grammar, the manner of forming a verb, 
 or the manner of the verb's inflections, so 
 as to express the different forms and man- 
 ners of the action, or the different inten- 
 tions of the speaker. 
 
 MOOT'-CASE, or MOOT'-POINT, an 
 unsettled point or question to be mooted 
 or debated. 
 
 MOR AL'ITY, the duties of men in their 
 social character ; or that rule of conduct 
 which promotes the happiness of others, 
 ' and renders their welfare accordant with 
 our own. This implies, that our acts 
 must proceed from a motive of obedience 
 to the divine will. The term moralities 
 was given to a kind of allegorical plays, 
 formerly in vogue, and which consisted of 
 
 moral discourses in praise of virtue and 
 condemnation of vice. They were oc- 
 casionally exhibited as late as the reign 
 of Henry VIII., and after various modi- 
 fications, assumed the form of the masque, 
 which became a favorite entertainment at 
 the court of Elizabeth and her successor. 
 
 MORAL PHILOSOPHY, the science 
 of manners and duty ; the science which 
 treats of the nature and condition of man 
 as a social being, of the duties which re- 
 sult from his social relations, and the 
 reasons on which they are founded. It 
 is denominated a science, as it deduces 
 the rules of conduct and duty from the 
 principles and connections of our nature, 
 and proves that the observance of them 
 is productive of our happiness. It is 
 likewise called an art as it contains a 
 system of rules for becoming virtuous 
 and happy ; and whoever practises these 
 rules attains an habitual power or facil- 
 ity of becoming virtuous and happy. It 
 is an art and a science of the highest dig- 
 nity, importance, and use. Its object is 
 man's duty, or his conduct in the several 
 moral capacities and connections which 
 he sustains. Its office is to direct our 
 conduct, to show whence our obligations 
 arise, and where they terminate. Its 
 use or end is the attainment of happiness, 
 and the means it employs are rules for 
 the right conduct of our moral powers. 
 Like natural philosophy, it appeals to 
 nature or fact ; it depends on observa- 
 tion, and it builds its reasonings on plain 
 incontrovertible experiments, or upon the 
 fullest induction of particulars which the 
 subject will admit. The terms, moral 
 philosophy, moral science, and morals, 
 are synonymous, though some writers 
 have employed them improperly to de- 
 note the whole field of knowledge, relat- 
 ing primarily to the mind of man, thus 
 giving them a signification co-extensive 
 with the word metaphysics. 
 
 MORAL SENSE, an innate or natural 
 sense of right and wrong ; an instinctive 
 perception of what is right or wrong in 
 moral conduct, which approves some ac- 
 tions and disapproves others, independent 
 of education or the knowledge of any pos- 
 itive rule or law. But the existence of 
 any such moral sense is very much 
 doubted. 
 
 MORA'VIANS, otherwise called 
 HERNHUTTERS, or UNITED BRETHREN, a 
 sect of Christians, among whom social 
 polity makes a figure as conspicuous, at 
 least, as religious doctrine. The United 
 Brethren are much attached to instru- 
 mental as well as vocal music ; celebrate
 
 414 
 
 rVCUH'KDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MOT 
 
 agapas or love feasts ; and east lots, to 
 discover the will of the Lord. These 
 people live in communities, and provide 
 for their poor; but do not make a com- 
 mon stock of their property. They wear 
 a plain, uniform dress, and are extremely 
 methodical in all their concerns. 
 
 MORBIDEZ'ZA, delicacy or softness 
 of style, as opposed to anything harsh, 
 hard, or angular. This word is more 
 particularly applicable, in painting and 
 sculpture, to representations of human 
 flesh and its characteristics. 
 
 MOR'DENTE. in music, a grace in 
 use by the Indian school, which is effected 
 by turning upon a note without using 
 the note below. 
 
 MORESQUE', in painting, a species 
 of ornamental painting, in which foliage, 
 fruits, flowers, Ac., are combined, by 
 springing out of each other, without the 
 introduction of the human figure, or that 
 of any animals ; and receiving its name 
 from having been much used by the 
 Moors, who, however, were not the in- 
 ventors of it. 
 
 MORGANAT'IC MAR'RIAGE, 
 or Left-handed Marriage, a marriage be- 
 tween a man of superior and a woman of 
 inferior rank, in which it is stipulated 
 that the latter and her children shall not 
 enjoy the rank or inherit the possessions 
 of her husband. Such marriages are not 
 uncommon in the families of sovereign 
 princes, and of the higher nobility in 
 Germany ; but they are restricted to per- 
 sonages of these exalted classes. 
 
 MOR'ION, a kind of helmet copied by 
 the Spaniards from the Moors. 
 
 MOR'PHEUS, in ancient mythology, 
 the god of dreams; the son of Somnus, who 
 presided over sleep, with whom he is fre- 
 quently confounded. The chief distinc- 
 tion between them appears to be this : 
 Morpheus had the power of assuming 
 only the human shape, while the trans- 
 formations of Somnus were unlimited. 
 He is generally represented as a beautiful 
 youth, with a bunch of poppies in his hand, 
 
 MORTALITY, BILLS OF. Bills of 
 Mortality are extracts from official regis- 
 ters, showing the numbers who have died 
 in some fixed period of time, as a year, a 
 month, or a week ; and hence they are 
 called yearly, monthly, or weekly bills. 
 
 MORT'GAGE, literally, a dead pledge ; 
 the grant of an estate in fee as security 
 for the payment of money, and on the 
 condition that if the money shall be paid 
 according to the contract, ihe grant shall 
 be void, and the mortgagee shall recon- 
 vey the estate to the mortgager. 
 
 MORT'MAIN, in law, an alienation 
 of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to 
 any corporation, sole or aggregate, guild, 
 or fraternity. The foundation of the 
 statutes of mortmain is MagnaCharta; 
 by which it was rendered unlawful for 
 any one to give his lands to a religious 
 house, &c. in order to take them back 
 again to hold of the same house ; which 
 was extended, by interpretation, so as 
 to annul gifts of lands which religious 
 houses did not give back to the donor 
 to his own use, but kept in their own 
 hands after taking. 
 
 MOSA'IC, in painting, a species of 
 representation of objects by means of 
 very minute pieces of stones or pebbles 
 of different colors, carefully inlaid upon 
 a ground generally of metal. In St. 
 Peter's at Rome are to be seen some 
 works of this sort on a magnificent scale. 
 This art was practised at a very early 
 period, and was re-introduced to Italy 
 by the Byzantine Greeks. 
 
 MOSQUE, a Mahometan temple, or 
 place of religious worship. All mosques 
 are square buildings, generally construct- 
 ed of stone, in the Moresque or Saracenic 
 style of architecture. Before the chief- 
 gate is a square court paved with white 
 marble, and surrounded with a low gal- 
 lery whose roof is supported by marble 
 pillars. In these galleries the Turks 
 wash themselves before they enter the 
 mosque. 
 
 MOTET', in music, a composition con- 
 sisting of from one to eight parts, of a 
 sacred character. 
 
 MO'TION, in painting and sculpture, 
 the change of place or position which 
 from certain attitudes a figure seems to 
 be making in its representation in a 
 picture. It can be only implied from the 
 attitude which prepares the animal for 
 the given change, and differs from action, 
 which see. Upon motion in art, depends 
 that life which seems to pervade a picture 
 when executed by a master. In music, 
 the manner of beating the measure so as 
 to hasten or retard the pronunciation of 
 the words or notes. 
 
 MO'TION IN COURT, in law, an 
 occasional application to the court, by 
 the parties or their counsel, for the pur- 
 pose of obtaining some rule or order of 
 court which becomes necessary in the 
 progress of a cause. Motions are either 
 of a criminal nature, as motions for an 
 attachment for a misbehavior ; or of a 
 civil nature. Motions are accompanied 
 by affidavits stating the facts on which 
 they are grounded, and generally prece-
 
 MUN'J 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 415 
 
 ded by a notice to the opposite party. 
 In any public assembly, the proposing of 
 any matter for the consideration of those 
 present. 
 
 MOT'TO, is used to signify a word or 
 sentence added to a device ; and when put 
 upon a scroll, it is commonly employed 
 as an external ornament of coat armor. 
 The use of mottoes for this purpose is 
 very ancient. The term motto is also 
 applied as a sentence or quotation pre- 
 fixed to any writing or publication. 
 
 MOULD'INGS, in architecture, certain 
 projections beyond the bare wall, column, 
 &c., an assemblage of which forms a 
 cornice, or other decoration. 
 
 MOUNT'ING, the act of straining a 
 print or drawing upon canvass, or of pla- 
 cing it upon an ornamental frame. 
 
 MOVABLE FEASTS, certain festi- 
 vals held in commemoration of different 
 events recorded in the Gospels and the 
 Acts of the Apostles, and connected with 
 the personal circumstances of Christ du- 
 ring the last year of his earthly life, and 
 after his death. As they are reckoned 
 backward and forward from his resur- 
 rection, and as the celebration of that 
 day depends on the time of new moon, 
 which varies at different times through 
 the space of a month, these dependent 
 festivals also vary in the same way. 
 Easter is always the first Sunday after 
 the first new moon after the 21st of 
 March ; and from this all the others are 
 reckoned for each year. 
 
 MOVE'MENT, in politics, an expres- 
 sion that has been adopted of late years 
 into the political vocabulary of most Eu- 
 ropean nations, signifying that party in 
 a state whose principles consist in a rest- 
 .less endeavor to obtain such concessions 
 in favor of popular rights as will ulti- 
 mately place the chief functions of gov- 
 ernment in the hands of the people. It 
 is opposed to the Conservative party. 
 
 MUCK, RUNNING A, a phrase which 
 has been adopted into the English lan- 
 guage to signify an indiscriminate attack 
 upon friends and enemies. This expres- 
 sion is derived from the Javan word 
 amok, which means to kill; the inhabi- 
 tants of Java, and many other of the 
 Asiatic islands, being remarkable for an 
 irresistible phrensy resulting from a de- 
 sire of vengeance, which leads them to 
 aim at indiscriminate destruction, and 
 thus to subject themselves to be treated 
 like wild beasts which it is impossible to 
 take alive. 
 
 MUEZ'ZIN, or MUED'DIN, among 
 the Mahometans, the crier who announces 
 
 the hour of prayer from the minaret, and 
 reminds the faithful of their duty. 
 
 MUF'TI, the chief priest among the 
 Mussulmans, appointed by the grand 
 seignior himself. He is the oracle in all 
 doubtful questions of their law. 
 
 MUGGLETO'NIANS, a religious sect 
 which arose in England, about the year 
 1657 ; so denominated from their leader 
 Ludowic Muggleton, a tailor, who, with 
 his associate Reeves, asserted that they 
 were the two last witnesses of God men- 
 tioned in the Revelations. 
 
 MULAT'TO, a term in general use in 
 American countries, in which there exists 
 a mixed population of different races and 
 colors, for the offspring of a union be- 
 tween a white and a negro. 
 
 MUL'LION. in 
 architecture, a ver- 
 tical division be- 
 tween the lights of 
 windows, screens, 
 &e., in Gothic ar- 
 chitecture. Mul- 
 lions are rarely 
 found earlier than 
 the early English 
 style. Their mould- 
 ings are very va- 
 rious. Sometimes 
 the styles in wains- 
 coting are called 
 mullions. 
 
 MU'LIER, in 
 law, a married wo- 
 man, in distinction from a concubine. 
 Also, a name for lawful issue born in 
 wedlock, who are preferred before an 
 elder brother of illegitimate birth. 
 
 MULTO'CA, the name given to the 
 code of laws by which the Turkish empire 
 is governed, consisting of the precepts 
 contained in the Koran, the oral injunc- 
 tions of Mohammed, and the decisions of 
 the early caliphs and doctors. It relates 
 to every subject of life, and comprises 
 various matters appertaining to govern- 
 ment, the sultan being the sole judge of 
 its application to particular cases. 
 
 MUNICIPAL, in the Roman civil law, 
 an epithet which signifies, invested with 
 the rights and privileges of Roman citi- 
 zens. Thus the municipal cities were 
 those whose inhabitants were capable of 
 enjoying civil offices in the city of Rome ; 
 though the greater part of them had no 
 
 suffrages or votes there. In modern 
 
 times, Municipal law pertains solely to 
 the citizens and inhabitants of a state, 
 and is thus distinguished from political 
 law, commercial law, and the law of na-
 
 416 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [MUS 
 
 tions. And those are called municipal 
 officers who are elected to defend the in- 
 terest of cities, to maintain their rights 
 and privileges, and to preserve order and 
 harmony among the citizens ; such as 
 mayors, bheriffs, aldermen, &c. 
 
 MU'NIMENTS, in law, the writings 
 relating to a person's inheritance, by 
 which he is enabled to defend his title to 
 his estate : or, in a more general sense, 
 all manner of evidences, s.ich as charters, 
 feofments, releases, <fec. 
 
 MU'RAL CROWN, among the ancient 
 Romans a golden crown or circle of gold, 
 indented and embattled, bestowed on him 
 who first mounted the wall of a besieged 
 place and there planted a standard. 
 
 MUR'DER, in law, the wilful and felo- 
 nious killing a person from premeditated 
 malice ; provided the party wounded or 
 otherwise hurt, die within a year and a 
 day after the fact be committed. To 
 constitute murder, in law, the person 
 killing another must be of sound mind or 
 in possession of his reason, and the act 
 must be done with malice prepense and 
 aforethought ; but malice may be implied, 
 as well as expressed. 
 
 MUR'ZAS, the name given to the 
 hereditary nobility of the Tartars, or, 
 more strictly, perhaps, to the second class 
 of their nobility, the first or principal 
 class being designated beys. 
 
 MU'SES, in the poetry of the ancients, 
 personifications of the various branches 
 of delightful exercises in which human 
 genius displays itself. They were beau- 
 tifully said to be the daughters of Jove 
 and Mnemosyne, or Memory ; and they 
 were represented as companions of Apol- 
 lo upon Parnassus. As the subject was 
 wholly dependent upon the fancy of the 
 poet, it was not always treated of 
 alike. Thus according to some, all the 
 functions of the Muses were united 
 in three persons ; Mneme, Aoede, and 
 Melete ; that is, Memory, Song, and 
 Meditation ; but it was more usual to 
 reckon nine, and to name them as follows : 
 Clio, to whom they attributed the inven- 
 tion of history ; Melpomene, the inventor 
 of tragedy ; Thalia, of comedy ; Euterpe, 
 of the use of the flute ; Terpsichore, of 
 the harp ; Erato, of the lyre and lute ; 
 Calliope, of heroic verse ; Urania, of 
 astrology ; and Polyhymnia, of rhetoric. 
 
 MUSE'UM, a place set apart as a re- 
 pository for curious, valuable, and inter- 
 esting objects connected with the arts and 
 sciences, more especially such as relate 
 to natural history. The term was origi- 
 nally applied to a study or a place set 
 
 apart for learned men in the royal palace 
 of Alexandria, by Ptolemy Philadelphus, 
 who founded a college, and gave salaries 
 to the several members, adding also an 
 extensive library, which was one of the 
 most celebrated in the world. 
 
 MU'SIC, is the science of sounds, con- 
 sidered as capable of producing melody, 
 and agreeably affecting the mind by a 
 due disposition, combination, and propor- 
 tion. It treats of the number, time, 
 division, succession, and combination of 
 sounds. It is divided into theoretical 
 music, which inquires into the properties 
 of concords and discords, and explains 
 their combinations and proportions for 
 the production of melody and harmony ; 
 and practical music, which is the art of 
 applying the theory of music in the com- 
 position of all sorts of tunes and airs. 
 Music is also either vocal or instrumental. 
 Vocal music is the melody of a single 
 voice, or the harmony of two or more 
 voices in concert ; instrumental music is 
 that produced by one or more instru- 
 ments. As civilization advances, music. 
 as a science, gains new advocates ; and 
 the day is evidently fast approaching 
 when few will decry music on the ground 
 that its effects are merely sensual. It is 
 addressed to the ear, indeed ; but all the 
 influences which we receive from without 
 are conveyed through the medium of the 
 senses ; and the tones of music often 
 speak a language to the soul richer in 
 meaning than words could express. 
 Nothing is merely sensual which makes 
 a lasting spiritual impression upon us ; 
 and those who deny to music such a 
 power, have not heard its sublimest 
 strains, or have not the capacity to ap- 
 preciate them. With regard to the an- 
 tiquity of music, it appears to have been 
 almost coeval with man. Moses tells us 
 that Jubal, who lived before the flood, 
 was the inventor of the kinnor and the 
 hugah, i. e. the harp and the organ. 
 The Jews were fond of music in their re- 
 ligious ceremonies, their feasts, their 
 public rejoicings, their marriages and 
 their mournings. Kings nnd great men 
 among the Jews studied music, and David 
 made a very great proficiency in it. In 
 their time, indeed, music had reached 
 its highest perfection among the Hebrew 
 nation, and part of their religious service 
 consisted in chanting solemn psalms, 
 with instrumental accompaniments. 
 The invention of the lyre is nscribed to 
 Hermes Tristnegistus, the Mercury of the 
 Egyptians, which is a proof of its anti- 
 quity : but a still greater proof of the
 
 MYSJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 417 
 
 existence of musical instruments amongst 
 them at a very early period, is drawn 
 from the figure of an instrument said to 
 be represented on an obelisk, erected, as 
 is supposed, by Sesostris at Heltopolis. 
 The Greeks, we know, were exceedingly 
 fond of music. It had a considerable 
 share in their education ; and so great 
 was its influence over their bodies as well 
 as their minds, that it was thought to be 
 a remedy for many disorders. 
 
 MU'SICAL GLASSES, a musical in- 
 strument consisting of a number of glass 
 goblets, resembling finger glasses, which 
 are tuned by filling them more or less 
 with water, and played upon with the 
 end of a finger damped. 
 
 MUS'SULMAN, or MOS'LEM, a fol- 
 lower of Mahomet. This word signifies, 
 in the Turkish language, a true believer. 
 
 MUSTER-ROLL, a specific list of the 
 officers and men in every regiment, troop, 
 or company, made out by the adjutant, 
 and delivered to the inspecting field- 
 officer or pay-master, <fcc., by which they 
 are paid, and their strength and condi- 
 tion known. 
 
 MUTE, in law, a person that stands 
 speechless when he ought to answer or 
 plead. In grammar, a letter that repre- 
 sents no sound. Mutes are of two kinds : 
 the pure mutes which entirely intercept 
 the voice, as k, p, and t, in the syllables, 
 ek, ep, et : and the impure mutes, which 
 intercept the voice less suddenly, as b, d, 
 and g, in the syllables eb, ed, eg. 
 
 MUTES, in the grand seignior's se- 
 raglio, dumb officers who are sent to stran- 
 gle, with the bow-string, bashaws or other 
 persons who fall under the sultan's dis- 
 pleasure. Mutes, among undertakers, 
 men who are employed to stand at the 
 door of the deceased, until the body is 
 carried out. 
 
 MU'TINY, an insurrection of soldiers 
 or seamen, or open resistance to the au- 
 thority of their commanders. Any at- 
 tempt to excite opposition to lawful au- 
 thority, or disobedience, of commands, is 
 by the laws of most-nations declared to be 
 mutiny, and is punishable by the sentence 
 of a court-martial. 
 
 MU'ZARAB, Christians living under 
 the government of the Moors in Spain ; so 
 called, it is said, from an Arabic werd signi- 
 fying imitators or followers of the Arabs. 
 
 MYOL'OGY, the doctrine of the mus- 
 cles. In the Fine Arts, the term is ap- 
 plied to a description of the muscles of 
 animals. 
 
 MYRIORA'MA, a movable picture, 
 capable of forming an almost endless va- 
 
 27 
 
 riety of picturesque scones, by means of 
 several fragments or sections of land- 
 scapes on cards, which may be placed to- 
 gether in numberless combinations. 
 
 MYR'MIDONS, in classical mytholo- 
 gy, a people on the southern borders of 
 Thessaly, who accompanied Achilles to 
 the Trojan war. 
 
 MYS'TERY, something secret or con 
 coaled, impossible or difficult to compre 
 hend. All religions, true or false, have 
 their mysteries. In the religions of Pa 
 gan antiquity, the secret rites and cer- 
 emonies performed by a select few in 
 honor of some divinity were so called. 
 "Each of the Pagan gods," says Bishop 
 Warburton, " had, besides the public and 
 open, a secret worship paid them, into 
 which none were admitted but those who 
 had been selected by preparatory ceremo- 
 nies, called initiation ; and this secret 
 worship was termed the mysteries." The 
 first mysteries of which we have any ac- 
 count were those of Isis and Osiris in 
 Egypt ; whence they were introduced into 
 Greece and Italy, and in process of time 
 disseminated through the northern and 
 western nations of Europe. The religion 
 of the Jews was likewise full of myste- 
 ries ; their laws, nay, their whole constitu- 
 tion and nation, were mysterious ; but 
 the mysteries of the Old Testament were 
 generally types or shadows of something 
 in the New. The Christian religion has 
 also its mysteries ; but, in the scripture 
 language, the word mystery is used with 
 some latitude, and denotes whatever is 
 not to be known without a divine revela- 
 tion. 
 
 MYS'TERIES, in modern literature, a 
 species of dramatic composition, with 
 characters and events drawn from sacred 
 history. Saint Gregory Nazianzen com- 
 posed the earliest sacred dramas extant, 
 on the model of the Greek tragedies, but 
 with Christian hymns substituted for the 
 ancient chorus. The mysteries of the 
 middle ages are thought by some to have 
 been first introduced by pilgrims return- 
 ing from the Holy Land. They originated 
 among, and were probably first perform- 
 ed by, ecclesiastics. 
 
 MYS'TICISM, in religion, a word of 
 very vague signification, applied, for the 
 most part, indiscriminately to all those 
 views or tendencies in religion which as- 
 pire towards a more direct communica- 
 tion between man and God, not through 
 the medium of the senses, but through 
 the inward perception of the mind, than 
 that which is afforded us through revela- 
 tion.
 
 418 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [NAR 
 
 MYS'TICS, a, religious soot distinguish- 
 ed by their i>ri>tV-Miij a pure, sublime, 
 and perfect devotion, with an entire dis- 
 interested love of God, free from all selfish 
 considerations, and by their aspiring to a 
 state of passive contemplation. 
 
 MYTHOL'OGY, the history of the 
 fabulous gods and heroes of antiquity, 
 with the explanations of the fables or al- 
 legories couched therein. According to 
 the opinion of most writers, among whom 
 is that profound thinker, Lord Bacon, a 
 great deal of concealed instruction and 
 allegory was originally intended in most 
 part of the ancient mythology : he ob- 
 serves, that some fables discover a great 
 and evident similitude, relation, and con- 
 nection with the thing they signify, as 
 well in the structure of the fable, as in 
 the meaning of the names whereby the 
 persons or actors are characterized. He 
 also takes a more enlarged and higher 
 view of the subject, and looks on them not 
 as the product of the age, nor the inven- 
 tion of the poets, but as sacred relics, 
 or. as he terms them, "gentle whispers, 
 and the breath of better times, that from 
 the tradition of more ancient nations, 
 came at length into the flutes and trum- 
 pets of the Greeks." 
 
 N, the fourteenth letter and eleventh 
 consonant of the English alphabet, is an 
 imperfect mute or semi-vowel, because 
 part of its articulation may be continued 
 for any length of time ; it is also a liquid, 
 and a nasal letter, the sound being formed 
 by forcing the voice strongly through the 
 mouth and nostrils, which, at the same 
 time, is intercepted by applying the tip 
 of the tongue to the fore part of the pal- 
 ate, with the lips open. It has one sound 
 only, .and after m is silent, or nearly so, 
 as in hymn, condemn. Among the an- 
 cients, N stood as a numeral for 900; 
 and, with a dash over it, for 9000. N. 
 or No. stands as an abbreviation for nu- 
 mero. number; also for north. 
 
 N A'BOB, an Indian word for a deputy ; 
 a title of dignity and power applied to 
 those who act under the soubahs or vice- 
 roys. The term, however, has become 
 proverbial, of late years, to signify a 
 person who has acquired great wealth, 
 and lives in great splendor. 
 
 NA'HUM, or ike prophecy of Nahum, 
 a canonical book of the Old Testament. 
 Nahum, the seventh of the twelve minor 
 
 prophets, was a native of Elkoshai, a 
 little village of Galilee. The subject of 
 his prophecy is the destruction of Nine- 
 veh, which he describes in the most lively 
 and pathetic manner ; his style being bold 
 and figurative. 
 
 NA'iADS,inmythology,water-nymphs, 
 or deities that preside over brooks and 
 fountains. They arc represented as beau- 
 tiful women, with their heads crowned 
 with rushes, and reclining against an urn 
 from which water is flowing. 
 
 NAIVETE', naturalness; absence of 
 artifice. The essential meaning of the 
 word is a natural, unreserved expression 
 of sentiments and thoughts, without re- 
 gard to conventional rules, and without 
 weighing the construction which may be 
 put upon the language or conduct. 
 
 NAME, a word whereby men have 
 agreed to express some idea ; or which 
 serves to signify a thing or subject spoken 
 of. Names are either proper or appel- 
 lative. Proper names are those which 
 represent some individual thing or per- 
 son, so as to distinguish it from all other 
 things of the same species ; and are either 
 called Christian, as that given us at bap- 
 tism, or surnames ; the first imposed for 
 the distinction of persons, answering to 
 the Roman prcenomen ; the second for 
 the distinction of families, answering to 
 the nomen of the Romans, and the patro- 
 nymicum of the Greeks. The ancient 
 Britons, says Cainden, generally took 
 their names from colors, because they 
 painted themselves. When they were 
 subdued by the Romans, they took Ro- 
 man names ; the Saxons introduced the 
 German names ; the Danes brought with 
 them their names ; and the Normans in- 
 troduced theirs. 
 
 NARRA'TION, in rhetoric, the term 
 usually applied to the second division of 
 an oratorical discourse, in which the facts 
 of the case are set forth from which the 
 orator intends to draw his conclusions. 
 This part of a discourse should be charac- 
 terized by the greatest simplicity of style, 
 as well as by absence of all rhetorical or- 
 naments. 
 
 NARCIS'SUS, in mythology, the beau- 
 tiful son of Cephesus and the nymph Li- 
 riope, whose history formed one of the 
 most favorite topics with the poets of 
 classical antiquity. Though beloved by 
 all the Grecian nymphs, he treated them 
 with contemptuous indifference ; but hav- 
 ing accidentally seen his own image re- 
 flected in a fountain, he became so ena- 
 mored of it that he languished till ho 
 died, and thus realized the prophecy of
 
 NAT] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 419 
 
 Tiresias, that he should live until he saw 
 himself. After his death the gods, moved 
 with compassion for his fate, changed 
 him into the flower which bears his name. 
 
 NATA'LIS, or NATALIS DIES, prop- 
 erly signifies a birth-day ; but it was 
 used by the ancients more particularly 
 to signify the feast held on the anniver- 
 sary of the birth-day of an emperor : 
 hence in time it served to denote any sort 
 of feast ; and the primitive Christians 
 used it in this sense. 
 
 NA'TION, a collective appellation for 
 a people inhabiting a certain extent of 
 territory under the same government. 
 The word is also used in some universi- 
 ties by way of distinguishing students of 
 different districts or countries, as the case 
 may be. This latter meaning is borrow- 
 ed from the custom that was adopted in 
 the University of Paris previously to the 
 institution of faculties, when those who 
 resorted to it from different countries 
 lived under the same institutions and 
 masters, a common country, however, 
 being the only bond of union. 
 
 NATIONAL GUARD (OF FRANCE..) 
 a military institution composed of citi- 
 zens, and not incorporated with the stand- 
 ing army. It may in fact be considered 
 the army of the people, in opposition to 
 the standing force, considered as the army 
 of the state. It is, therefore, not liable 
 to be sent across the frontiers, except by 
 the consent of the individuals composing 
 it ; but when the country is attacked, it 
 is expected to act, with or without the 
 aid of the regulars ; also to concur with 
 the latter in preserving the public peace. 
 The officers are elected by their comrades, 
 and not appointed by the public author- 
 ities. 
 
 NATIVITY, the day of a person's 
 birth. The word nativity is chiefly used 
 in speaking of the saints, as the nativity 
 of St. John the Baptist, &c. But when 
 we say the Nativity, it is understood to 
 mean that of Jesus Christ, or Christmas 
 Day. 
 
 NAT'URAL, in music, a character 
 marked thus %. whose office is to con- 
 tradict the flats or sharps placed at the 
 beginning of a stave or elsewhere, and by 
 the use of which the note to which it is 
 prefixed returns to the diatonic scale. 
 
 NATURALIZATION, in law, the act 
 of naturalizing an alien, or placing him 
 in the condition (that is, investing him 
 with the rights and privileges) of a natu- 
 ral subject. 
 
 N A'TURE, a word of vast and compre- 
 hensive signification, embracing as it 
 
 were, the whole universn all that H 
 comprised under the superintending caro 
 of the great Creator. Thus when we say, 
 Nature is benevolent and wise, we under 
 stand either the Deity himself, or 
 power performing the will of the Deity, 
 and conducting everything in this world 
 under his order : a notion supported by 
 some ancient systems of philosophy, 
 adopted by poets, and most easy to popu- 
 lar idea. Independently of this, however, 
 we often say Nature herself, &c. in a 
 merely figurative sense ; personifying the 
 laws of nature, that is, the properties of 
 matter. When, therefore, we say, that 
 nature covers the earth with abundance, 
 we mean that God covers the earth with 
 abundance ; when we say that nature is 
 magnificent and inexhaustible, we mean 
 that creation is magnificent and inex- 
 haustible. When we speak of the study 
 of nature, we mean the study of creation ; 
 which embraces first the knowledge of 
 things, and secondly the knowledge of 
 the properties of things. Nature (mean- 
 ing thereby the whole body of created 
 things) presents an assemblage of object* 
 in every respect worthy of the attention 
 of mankind. Nature is made to conform 
 in some degree to the hand of man, and 
 resist only when his ignorance violates its 
 essential order. It yields its secrets to 
 his inquiries ; to his sensibility it presents 
 the most engaging images ; and remains, 
 to all ages, a picture perpetually renewed 
 of the primitive creation of God. There 
 is another sense, too, in which the word 
 nature is of continual occurrence ; viz., 
 the nature of man ; by which we under- 
 stand the peculiar constitution of his body 
 or mind, or the qualities of the species 
 which distinguish him from other animals. 
 So also we express by this word, the es- 
 sential qualities or attributes of any other 
 thing ; as the nature of blood, of a metal, 
 of plants, &c. Again, when we allude' to 
 the established or regular course of things, 
 we say, this or that event is not accord- 
 ing to nature. In the Fine Arts, nature 
 often means the successful imitation of 
 nature ; but, with artists of a higher order, 
 nature does not signify a mere copy, but 
 as it were, the expression of the ideal of 
 nature, at which she aims in all her for- 
 mations, yet without ever absolutely at- 
 taining it. By the law of nature is un- 
 derstood, that system of principles which 
 human reason has discovered to regulate 
 the conduct of man in all his various re- 
 lations. In its most extensive sense, it 
 comprehends man's duties to God, to him- 
 self, and to all mankind.
 
 420 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [NEF 
 
 NA'VAL AR'CHITECTURE, or SHIP- 
 BUILDING, the art of constructing vessels 
 for the purposes of navigation, was, in all 
 probability, anterior to the deluge, and 
 is generally admitted to have been hand- 
 ed down by Noah to his posterity. That, 
 in a rude state, it was practised in Egypt, 
 there is no question ; and the Greeks are 
 supposed to have derived their knowledge 
 of it from the Carthaginians. But nei- 
 ther in Greece nor in Rome, did naval 
 architecture rise to what may be termed 
 a scientific knowledge of the art of ship- 
 building. The crusades first gave the 
 impulse to improvements in ship-building. 
 In modern times the United States and 
 England excel in naval architecture. 
 The American vessels in elegance of form 
 and speed in sailing, surpass those of all 
 other nations. 
 
 NAVA'LIS CORO'NA, a crown among 
 the Romans, given to him who first 
 boarded an enemy's ship ; it was a circle 
 of gold representing the beaks of ships. 
 
 NAVE, in architecture, that part of a 
 temple enclosed by the walls. The part 
 in front of it was called pronaos, and that 
 in the rear posticum. In modern archi- 
 tecture, it is the middle part or alley of a 
 church, between the aisles or wings. 
 
 NAVIGA'TION, the art and science 
 by which, in open seas, ships are conduct- 
 ed from port to port. This is effected by 
 charts of the seas, and by keeping a jour- 
 nal of the courses from hour to hour, and 
 the distance on each by means of the log 
 line, each knot on which corresponds to a 
 mile of distance. Also by observations on 
 the sun, moon, and stars, made with instru- 
 ments, and checked by tables and alma- 
 nacs. 
 
 NAVIGA'TION LAAVS, a branch of 
 maritime law, defining the peculiar priv- 
 ileges to be enjoyed by British ships, 
 apd the way in which they shall be man- 
 ned ; as also the conditions under which 
 foreign ships shall be allowed to engage 
 in the trade of this country, either as 
 importers or exporters of commodities. 
 
 NA'VY, the whole naval establishment 
 of any country, including the collective 
 body of ships, officers, men, stores, <fcc. 
 
 NAZ'ARITE, among the Jews, one 
 who had laid himself under the obligation 
 of a vow to observe the rules of Nazarite- 
 ship, either for his whole life as was the 
 case with Samuel, and John the Baptist, 
 or only for a specified time. The rules 
 of Nazariteship, during the time specified 
 in the vow, obliged the man or woman 
 to more than ordinary degrees of purity. 
 
 NECES'SITY, the cause of that which 
 
 cannot be otherwise, or whatever is done 
 by a power that is irresistible ; in which 
 sense it stands opposed to freedom. The 
 schools distinguish a physical necei-.sity 
 and a moral necessity ; and a simple or 
 absolute necessity, and a relative one. 
 Physical necessity, is the want of a prin- 
 ciple, or of a natural means necessary to 
 act, which is otherwise called a physical 
 or natural impotence. Mural necessity, is 
 only a great difficulty, such as that aris- 
 ing from a long habit, a strong inclina- 
 tion, or violent passion. Simple or abso- 
 lute necessity, is that which has no 
 dependence on any state or conjuncture, 
 or any particular situation of things, but 
 is found everywhere, and in all the cir- 
 cumstances in which the agent can be 
 supposed. Relative necessity, is that 
 which places a man in a real incapacity 
 of acting or not acting in those circum- 
 stances, and that situation he is found in, 
 though in other circumstances, and in 
 another state of things, he might act or 
 not act. AVhen a man's actions are de- 
 termined by causes beyond his control, he 
 acts from necessity, and is not a free 
 agent. 
 
 NECROL'OGY, a register of the deaths 
 of benefactors in a monastery. Former- 
 ly, also, what is now called martyrology 
 was called necrology. A register of dis- 
 tinguished persons who die within a cer- 
 tain period (not a record of their lives 
 and actions, for that is biography) is also 
 known by this term. 
 
 NEC'ROMANCY, a sort of magic prac- 
 tised by the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, 
 by which they attempted to raise the 
 dead or make them appear. The witch 
 of Endor is a striking example of a bold 
 and artful deception of this kind. 
 
 NECROP'OLIS, in antiquity, the name 
 given to some ancient cemeteries in the 
 vicinity of large cities. It has also been 
 given to some of our modern ones. 
 
 NEC'TAR, in mythology, the supposed 
 drink of the gods, and which was imagin- 
 ed to contribute much towards their eter- 
 nal existence. It was, according to the 
 fables of the poets, a most beautiful and 
 delicious liquor, far exceeding anything 
 that the human mind can imagine. It 
 gave a bloom, a beauty and a vigor, which 
 surpassed all conception, and together 
 with ambrosia (their solid food.) repaired 
 all the decays or accidental injuries of 
 the divine constitution. 
 
 NEFAS'TI DI'ES, an appellation 
 given by the Romans to those days where- 
 in it was not allowed to administer jus- 
 tice or hold courts.
 
 NEO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 421 
 
 NEGA'TION, in logic, a declaration 
 that something is not, or the affirming 
 one thing to be different from another ; 
 as, the soul is not matter. 
 
 NEG'ATIVE, in general, something 
 that implies a negation : thus we say, neg- 
 ative quantities, negative signs, nega- 
 tive powers, Ac. " Our words and ideas," 
 says Dr. Watts, " are so unhappily linked 
 together, that we can never know which 
 are positive, which negative ideas, by 
 the words that express them : for some 
 positive terms denote a negative idea, as 
 dead ; and there are both positive and 
 negative terras invented to signify the 
 same and contrary ideas, as unhappy and 
 miserable.'' If we say, such a thing is 
 "not a man," or "not white," nothing is 
 determined ; the thing may be a dog, and 
 it may be black : something of a positive 
 character is necessary to express what it 
 is. Negative pregnant, in law, a neg- 
 ative which implies an affirmation ; as 
 when a person denies having done a thing 
 in a certain manner or at a certain time, 
 as stated in the declaration ; which im- 
 plies that he did it in some manner. 
 
 NEHEMI'AH, a canonical book of the 
 Old Testament, so called from the name 
 of its author. Nehemiah was born at 
 Babylon during the captivity, and suc- 
 ceeded Ezra in the government of Judah 
 and Jerusalem. He was a Jew, and was 
 promoted to the office of cup-bearer to 
 Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia; 
 when the opportunities he had of being 
 daily in the king's presence, together 
 with the favor of Esther the queen pro- 
 cured him the favor of being authorized 
 to repair and fortify the city of Jerusa- 
 lem, in the same manner as it was before 
 its destruction by the Babylonians. 
 
 NE INJUSTE VEX'ES, in law, a writ 
 that lies for a tenant who is distrained by 
 his lord for more services than he is 
 obliged to perform, being a prohibition to 
 the lord not to distrain or vex his tenant. 
 
 NEMJE'AN GAMES, in antiquity, 
 celebrated games in Greece, deriving 
 their name from Nemaea, a village be- 
 tween the cities of Cleonse and Philus, 
 where they were celebrated every third 
 year. They were instituted in memory 
 of Archemorus or Opheltes ; but, after 
 some intermission, were revived by Her- 
 cules, in honor of Jupiter, after his vic- 
 tory over the Nema?an lion. The exercises 
 were chariot races, and all the parts of 
 the Pentathlon. 
 
 NEM. CON. for Nemine contradicente, 
 (no one opposing,) a term chiefly used in 
 parliamentary bodies when anything is 
 
 carried without opposition. Nemine dis~ 
 sentiente, (no one dissenting,) are termi 
 similarly applied. 
 
 NEM'ESiS, a Greek divinity, worship 
 ped as the goddess of vengeance. Ac- 
 cording to Ilesiod, she was the daughter 
 of Night, and was represented as pursu 
 ing with inflexible hatred the proud and 
 insolent. The reluctance of the Greeks 
 to speak boastfully of their good fortune, 
 lest they should incur a reverse, is well 
 known ; and from various passages in the 
 Anthologia, and other ancient writings, it 
 is clear that this feeling originated in a 
 desire to propitiate this divinity. The 
 worship of this goddess was very exten- 
 sive. Temples were erected to her honor, 
 not only in Greece, but throughout tho 
 Roman empire. Nowhere, however, was 
 her worship so pompously celebrated as 
 at Rhamnus, a town of Attica, where she 
 had a statue 10 cubits high of a single 
 stone, and so exquisitely beautiful as to 
 equal even the finest productions of Phid- 
 ias. 
 
 NEOL'OGY, a new phrase or word in- 
 troduced into a language, or any innova- 
 tion on ordinary modes of expression. 
 Most European tongues have their clas- 
 sical diction fixed by precedent and au- 
 thority ; and words introduced by bold or 
 careless writers, since this standard was 
 established, go by the name of neologisms 
 until usage has added them at last to the 
 received national vocabulary. Neology, 
 in the last century, was the name given 
 by orthodox divines in Germany, to the 
 novel system of interpretation which 
 then began to be applied by many to the 
 records of revealed religion. 
 
 NEOMF/NIA, in antiquity, a festival 
 observed at the beginning of a lunar 
 month in honor of all the gods, but par- 
 ticularly Apollo. 
 
 NE'OPHYTE, in the primitive church 
 newly converted Christians were so term- 
 ed ; and the same appellation is still 
 given, in the Roman Catholic church, to 
 converts made by missionaries among the 
 heathen, to any person entering on the 
 priestly office, and to those persons new- 
 ly received into the communion of the 
 church. 
 
 NEOPLATON'ISTS, in ancient liter- 
 ature, the mystical philosophers of the 
 school of Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus 
 are commonly so called, who mixed some 
 tenets of ancient Platonism with others 
 derived from a variety of sources, and 
 particularly from the demonology of the 
 East They flourished in the 4th and 
 5th centuries of the Christian era.
 
 422 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [NEU 
 
 NEORA'MA, an invention of Allaux, a 
 Frenchman, in 1827, for representing the 
 interior of a large building in which the 
 spectator appears to be placed. Every- 
 thing is exhibited to the life by means of 
 groups and shading. 
 
 NEPEN'THE. a species of inagic po- 
 tion, mentioned by the Greeks and Rom- 
 ans, which was supposed to have the 
 power of obliterating all pain and sorrow 
 from the memory of those who partook 
 of it. It is now used figuratively to ex- 
 press any efficient remedy in giving rest 
 and consolation to an afflicted mind. 
 
 NEPHA'LIA, Grecian festivals or 
 sacrifices instituted in honor of various 
 deities, as Aurora, Venus, <fcc. They 
 were so called because no wine was offer- 
 ed during their celebration. It was 
 "hiefly at Athens that these festivals were 
 observed. 
 
 NE PLUS ULTRA, i. e. no farther, the 
 extremity or utmost extent to which any- 
 thing can go. 
 
 NEPTUNA'LIA, in antiquity, feasts 
 observed by the Romans in honor of 
 Neptune. They differ from the Consua- 
 lia, in which that god was considered as 
 presiding over horses and the manege ; 
 whereas, the Neptunalia were feasts of 
 Neptune, in his more general character 
 as god of the sea. 
 
 NEP'TUNE, a Roman divinity, whose 
 attributes are nearly the same as those 
 of the Greek Poseidon. He was the 
 brother of Jupiter, and presided over the 
 
 sea. He is represented similar in ap- 
 pearance to Jupiter, but his symbols are 
 a trident and the dolphin. 
 
 NEPTUN'IAN, orNEPTUN'IST, one 
 who adopts the theory that the sub- 
 stances of which the earth is composed 
 
 were formed from aqueous solution ; op- 
 posed to the Plutonic theory, which attri- 
 butes the earth's formation to the action 
 of fire. 
 
 NE'REIDS, in mythology, sea-nymphs, 
 daughters of Nereus and Doris, and cele- 
 brated for their beauty. In ancient mon- 
 uments the Nereids are represented as 
 riding upon sea-horses, sometimes with 
 the human form entire, and at others 
 with the tail of a fish. 
 
 NE'REUS, a marine Grecian deity, 
 son of Ocean and Earth. He possessed 
 the gift of prophecy, and was distinguish- 
 ed for his knowledge and love of truth 
 and justice. 
 
 NESS, the termination of several 
 names of places in Great Britain, where 
 there is a headland or promontory, as 
 Inverness, Sheerness. The word is prob- 
 ably derived from the Fr. nez, or the 
 Germ, nase, nose. 
 
 NESTO'RIANS, the followers of Nes- 
 torius, patriarch of Constantinople, in the 
 first half of the fifth century. This pre- 
 late agitated the Christian world, after 
 the Arian controversy had been quietly 
 settled, by the introduction of certain 
 subtle disputations concerning the incar- 
 nation of Christ, from whence debates 
 and contentions arose which harassed 
 the church for the space of more than 
 two centuries. He affected to distin- 
 guish with peculiar precision between the 
 divine and human natures united in 
 Christ ; and, in guarding over-carefully 
 against the propensity which he discover- 
 ed in the Christians of his own day to 
 confuse the two, and look upon them as 
 absorbed into one compound substance, 
 he forbade men to entertain any combin- 
 ed notion at all, and kept constantly be- 
 fore their eyes both the god and the 
 man. 
 
 NEUTRALITY, the state of being 
 unengaged in disputes or contests between 
 others ; the state of taking no part on 
 either side. In international law, that 
 condition of a nation or state in which 
 it does not take part directly or indirect- 
 ly in a war between other states. A 
 neutral state has the right of furnishing 
 to either of the contending parties all 
 supplies which do not fall within the de- 
 scription of contraband of war, which sig- 
 nifies in general, arms and munitions of 
 war, and those out of which munitions of 
 war are made. All such articles are 
 liable to be seized. A neutral state has 
 also the right to conclude such treaties with 
 either belligerent party, as are uncon- 
 nected with the subject of the war.
 
 NIB] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 423 
 
 NEWEL, in architecture, the space, 
 either solid or open, round which the 
 steps of a staircase are turned about. 
 
 NEWS, literally, fresh information. 
 This word has been fancifully derived 
 from the initial letters of the four cardi- 
 nal points of the compass, north, east, 
 west, and south. 
 
 NEWS'PAPERS, publications in num- 
 bers, consisting commonly of single sheets, 
 and published at short and stated inter- 
 vals, conveying intelligence of ^passing 
 events. In Rome, under the government 
 of the emperors, periodical notices of pass- 
 ing events (diurna, acta diurna) were 
 compiled and distributed for general 
 reading ; but our accounts of these an- 
 cient newspapers, derived from classical 
 sources, are somewhat obscure and un- 
 certain. In modern Europe, the earliest 
 occasional sheets of daily intelligence 
 seem to have appeared at Venice, during 
 the war of 1563 against the Turks ; and 
 the earliest regular paper to have been a 
 monthly one, published in the same city 
 by the state : but these were distributed 
 in manuscript, and, owing to the jealousy 
 of the government, continued to be so 
 down to very late times. Extraordinary 
 gazettes are said to have been published 
 in England by authority, during the time 
 when the arrival of the Spanish Armada 
 was apprehended ; but the specimens pre- 
 served in the British Museum, and so 
 long regarded as authentic, seem now to 
 be demonstrated forgeries. The Mercu- 
 ries, Intelligencers, &c. of the civil wars, 
 seem to have been the first English pa- 
 pers which appeared regularly. The G-a- 
 zette de France appeared regularly from 
 1631 to 1792, forming a collection of 163 
 volumes ; it was continued, also, but with 
 some interruptions, through the period of 
 the revolution ; and the name still exists, 
 the journal so called being at present, 
 however, but a second-rate paper. From 
 their first imperfect beginning, news- 
 papers have gradually increased in num- 
 ber, matter, and consequence, until they 
 form, jn many countries, one of the most 
 important features in the social economy 
 of the people ; exercising a marked in- 
 fluence on domestic manners, literature, 
 and usages, but more especially powerful 
 as a great political instrument. 
 
 NEW STYLE, the method of reckon- 
 ing the days of the year in accordance 
 with the Gregorian Calendar, which ad- 
 justs the odd hours and minutes, by which 
 the earth's revolution exceeds 365 days, 
 and renders celestial phenomena and ter- 
 restrial reckoning equal. 
 
 NEW TES'TAMENT, the name given 
 to that portion of the Bible which com- 
 prises the writings of the apostles and 
 their immediate disciples. It consists of 
 five historical books, viz., the respective 
 Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
 John, and the Acts of the Apostles (at- 
 tributed to Luke;) of twenty- one apos- 
 tolical epistles, of which the early fathers 
 have unanimously ascribed fourteen to 
 St. Paul, three to St. John, two to St. 
 Peter, one to St. James, and one to St. 
 Jude ; and of the book known by the name 
 of the Apocalypse or the Revelation of 
 St. John. 
 
 NEWTO'NIAN SYS'TEM, or Newto- 
 nian Philosophy, a phrase often applied 
 to the Copernican or Solar system, which 
 was generally adopted before Newton's 
 time ; and by others applied to the laws 
 of planetary motion, first promulgated 
 by Kepler and Hooke ; but strictly appli- 
 cable only to certain geometrical and 
 analytical demonstrations of those known 
 laws, as developed by the genius and in- 
 dustry of Sir Isaac Newton. The chief 
 parts of the Newtonian philosophy Sre ex- 
 plained by the author in his " Principia." 
 
 NEW YEAR'S DAY. The celebration 
 of the commencement of the new year 
 dates from high antiquity. The Jews 
 regarded it as the anniversary of Adam's 
 birth-day, and celebrated it with splendid 
 entertainments a practice which they 
 have continued down to the present time. 
 The Romans also made this a holiday, 
 and dedicated it to Janus with rich and 
 numerous sacrifices ; the newly-elected 
 magistracy entered upon their duties on 
 this day ; all undertakings then com- 
 menced were considered sure to terminate 
 favorably ; the people made each other 
 presents of gilt dates, figs, and plums ; 
 and even the emperors received from 
 their subjects new year's gifts, which at 
 a later period it became compulsory to 
 bestow. 
 
 NIBELUN'GEN, LAY OF THE, the 
 name given to the most ancient existing 
 monument of German epic poetry. The 
 origin of this poem is veiled in great ob- 
 scurity ; it is supposed to have existed, in 
 substance at least, two centuries before 
 the reign of Charlemagne, and, like the 
 early compositions of poets in all ages, 
 to have consisted originally of detached 
 ballads and poems, which were afterwards 
 gradually collected, and at length mould- 
 ed into the complete form in which tiiey 
 at present exist. The last of the modifi- 
 cations which it underwent took place 
 towards the end of the 12th century, and
 
 424 
 
 CVCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 NJZ 
 
 is attributed to the Minnesinger Hen- 
 rich von Ofterdingen. The story turns 
 upon the adventures of Chrimhild of 
 Burguniy, who is first won by the valiant 
 Siegfried, and after he is treacherously 
 murdered gives her hand to Attila, king 
 of the Huns, chiefly in the hope that 
 through his power and influence she may 
 be revenged on the murderers of her for- 
 mer lord. The Nibelungen Lied formed 
 for many centuries the chief traditionary 
 record of the romantic deeds and senti- 
 ments of the German nation, but at the 
 era of the Reformation it sank wholly 
 into oblivion ; from which, however, it has 
 within the last thirty years been rescued, 
 and permanently placed by the labors 
 and commentaries of Hagen, Zeune, Sim- 
 rock, and Schlegel, among the most con- 
 spicuous monuments of human genius. 
 All the questions relating to its origin, 
 nature, and characteristics are discussed 
 with great interest by the German lite- 
 rati, to many of whom, indeed, it forms a 
 distinct branch of study. In the Nibelun- 
 gen Lied, in the same manner as in the 
 legends of Troy and of Iceland, the inter- 
 est turns on the fate of a youthful hero, 
 who is represented as invested with all the 
 attributes of beauty, magnanimity, and 
 triumph, but dearly purchasing all these 
 perishable glories by the certainty of an 
 early and predicted death. In his person, 
 as is usual, we have a living type both of 
 the splendor and the decline of the heroic 
 world. The poem closes with the descrip- 
 tion of a great catastrophe borrowed from 
 a half-historical incident in the early tra- 
 ditions of the north. In this respect also, 
 as in many others, we cannot fail to per- 
 ceive a resemblance to the Iliad. If the 
 last catastrophe of the German poem be 
 one more tragical, bloody, and litanic 
 than anything in Homer, the death of the 
 German hero, on the other hand, has in 
 it more solemnity and stillness, and is 
 withal depicted with more exquisite 
 touches of tenderness than any similar 
 scene in any heroic poem with which we 
 are acquainted. The Nibelungen Lied 
 is, moreover, a poem abounding in vari- 
 ety ; in it, both sides of human life, the 
 joyful as well as the sorrowful, are de- 
 picted in all their reality. 
 
 NICE, COUN'CIL OF, the first, and. 
 according to most writers, the most im- 
 portant, oecumenical council held in the 
 Christian church. It was convened, A.D. 
 325, at Nicfea, by the emperor Constan- 
 tine, in order to settle the differences that 
 had arisen in the Christian church in 
 respect to the doctrines of Arius. This 
 
 council was attended by upwards of 250 
 bishops, of \fhorn a groat majority cauie 
 from the East, by presbyters, deacons, 
 and others from all parts of the Christian 
 world. The chief question, as was re- 
 marked above, was the Arian heresy ; 
 and the council issued in the excommuni- 
 cation of Arius. The decision of this 
 council had not the effect of restoring tran- 
 quillity to the Eastern church, for the 
 Arian controversy was still warmly car- 
 ried on; but it has supplied that mode 
 of stating the doctrine of the Divinity (as 
 far as relates to the Father and Son) in 
 which it has ever since been received by 
 the orthodox sects 
 
 NI'CENE CREED, in ecclesiastical 
 affairs, a particular creed, or confession 
 of faith, drawn up by the clergy in the 
 council of Nice, and since adopted by the 
 church of England. 
 
 NICHE, in architecture, a hollow or 
 recess in a wall, for the reception of a 
 statue or bust. 
 
 NICOLA'TIANS, one of the earliest 
 Christian sects, mentioned in the Reve- 
 lations of St. John, where the angel of 
 God reproaches the church of Pergarnos 
 with harboring persons of this denomina- 
 tion. They are there characterized as 
 inclining to the licentious and pagan 
 practices of the Gentiles. 
 
 NIM'BUS, a circle or disk, of a lumi- 
 nous nature, which, on sundry ancient 
 medals and other monuments, environs 
 the heads of divinities or sovereigns : the 
 primitive Christian artists adopted this 
 usage, and applied it to their personifica- 
 tions of the great Founder of their reli- 
 gion, and also to the saints and martyrs 
 of the holy church. There can be little 
 doubt but that the origin of this custom 
 arose from a desire on the part of the 
 people of remote antiquity to compliment 
 their kings and heroes by decorating 
 them with a resemblance to the rays of 
 the sun, the great apparent source of 
 life, heat, and fertility. 
 
 NI'OBE, in classical mythology, 
 daughter of Tantalus, and one of the 
 Pleiades, married to Amphiou, 'king of 
 Thebes. Proud of her numerous and 
 flourishing offspring, she provoked the an- 
 ger of Apollo and Diana, who slew them 
 all : she was herself changed by Jupiter, 
 in Phrygia, into a rock, from which a 
 rivulet, fed by her tears, continually 
 pours. The subject of Niobe and her 
 children was a great favorite with the 
 poets of antiquity. 
 
 NIZAM', the title of great officers of 
 state in the Asiatic governments.
 
 NON] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 425 
 
 NOBIL'ITY, the general appellation 
 for a privileged order of society which 
 exists in every civilized country, with 
 the exception of the United States and 
 Norway, in Roman antiquity persons 
 were not noble by birth, but in conse- 
 quence of the public offices held by their 
 ancestors, who had the sole right to be- 
 queath their images to their descendants. 
 An hereditary nobility is found in the 
 infancy of most nations, ancient and 
 modern. Its origin is to be attributed to 
 various causes ; for the most part to mil- 
 itary despotism ; in some cases, to the 
 honors paid to superior ability, or to the 
 guardians of the mysteries of religion. 
 The priestly nobility of the remotest an- 
 tiquity has everywhere yielded to the 
 superiority of military chieftains. In 
 Erance and Germany, the first hereditary 
 nobility begins with the downfall of the 
 Carlovingian dynasty ; in England, with 
 the conquest of the Normans, in the tenth 
 and eleventh centuries ; and was after- 
 wards spread over all Europe ; for, since 
 that time, dignities, as well as lands, have 
 become hereditary. A contemporary 
 writer has remarked, that " it is a curi- 
 ous particular in the history of nobility, 
 that among the natives of Otaheite, rank is 
 not only hereditary, but actually descends 
 to the son, to the degradation of the 
 father while yet alive : thus, he who is a 
 nobleman to-day, if a son be born to him. 
 is a commoner to-morrow, and his son 
 takes his rank." 
 
 NO^LE, in numismatics, a gold coin 
 value 6s. Bd. which was struck in the 
 reign of Edward III., and stamped with 
 the impression of a ship, which emblem 
 is supposed to have been commemora- 
 tive of a naval victory obtained by 
 Edward over the French at Sluys, in 
 1340. 
 
 NO'MADS, or NO'MADES, a name 
 given to nations whose chief occupation 
 consists in feeding their flocks, and who 
 have no fixed place of abode, but shift 
 their residence according to the state of 
 pasture. Nomadic tribes are seldom 
 found to quit their wandering life, until 
 they are compelled to do so by being sur- 
 rounded by tribes in settled habitations, 
 or unless they can make themselves mas- 
 ters of the settlements of a civilized na- 
 tion. 
 
 NO'MANCY, the art or practice of di- 
 vining the destiny of persons by the let- 
 ters which form their names. 
 
 NOM DE GUERRE, a French term 
 commonly used to denote an assumed or 
 fictitious name. 
 
 NOMENCLA'TOR, in Roman antiqui- 
 ty, was usually a slave who attended 
 upon persons that stood candidates for of- 
 fices, and prompted or suggested to them 
 the names of all the citizens they met, 
 that they might address them by their 
 names ; which, among that people, was es- 
 teemed an especial act of courtesy. 
 
 NOMENCLATURE, was originally 
 applied to a catalogue of the most ordina- 
 ry words in any langiflge, with their sig- 
 nifications, &c., drawn up for the purpose 
 of facilitating their use and retention to 
 those who are endeavoring to acquire a 
 language. But, in a more general sense, 
 this term is employed to denote the lan- 
 guage peculiar to any science or art : 
 thus we speak of the nomenclature of 
 chemistry, botany, &c. 
 
 NO'MINALISTS, a term originally 
 applied to a scholastic sect which arose in 
 the llth century. Its founder was John 
 Roscelin, a churchman of Compiegne, 
 who asserted that general terms have no 
 corresponding reality either in or out of 
 our minds, being, in truth, words, .and no- 
 thing more. This doctrine naturally ex- 
 cited great consternation among the 
 schoolmen, with whom, hitherto, all that 
 was real in nature was conceived to de- 
 pend on these general notions or essences. 
 Its promulgator underwent much per- 
 secution for his opinions, and was ul- 
 timately compelled to retract them, as 
 inconsistent with the doctrine of the Trin- 
 ity as it was then stated. He found, 
 however, an able successor in the person 
 of Peter Abelard, who attracted numer- 
 ous disciples by his dialectical skill and 
 eloquence, and. with his followers, whom 
 he led in a body to Paris, was the occasion 
 of founding the celebrated university of 
 that city. After his death, the ancient 
 realism was restored to its supremacy; 
 nor do we meet with a nominalist until 
 the 13th century, when William of Occam 
 revived his doctrines under some modifica- 
 tions. 
 
 NON'AGE, the time of life before a 
 person, according to the laws of his coun- 
 try, becomes of age to manage his own 
 concerns. 
 
 NON-ASSUMP'SIT, in law, is a gen- 
 eral plea in a personal action, by which 
 a man denies that he has made any 
 promise. The following legal terms or 
 phrases, beginning with now, properly 
 follow in this place ; viz. Non compos 
 mentis, a phrase to denote a person's not 
 being of sound memory and understand- 
 ing. A distinction is made between an 
 idiot and a person non compos mentis,
 
 426 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [NOV 
 
 the former being constitutionally desti- 
 tute of reason, the latter deprived of that 
 with which he was naturally endowed : 
 but, to many purposes, the law makes no 
 distinction between the two. Non dis- 
 tringendo, a writ granted not to distrain. 
 Non est inventus, that is, literally, 
 "lie has not been found;" the answer 
 made by the sheriff in the return of the 
 writ, when the defendant is not to be found 
 in his bailiwick. -WVbn liquet, " it does not 
 appear ;" a verdict given by a jury, when 
 a matter is to be deferred to another day 
 of trial. Non pros, or Nolle prosequi, is 
 a term made use of to signify that the 
 plaintiff will proceed no farther in his ac- 
 tion. In criminal cases it can only be 
 entered by the attorney-general. 
 
 NONCONFORMIST, one who refuses 
 to conform to the rites and worship of the 
 established church. The name was at 
 first particularly applied to those clergy- 
 men who were ejected from their livings 
 by the act of uniformity in 1662. 
 
 NONES, in the Roman calendar, the 
 fifth f l ay of the months January, Februa- 
 ry, April, June, August, September, No- 
 vember, and December ; and the seventh 
 of March, May, July, and October ; these 
 four last months having six days before 
 the nones, and the others only four. 
 March, May, July, and October had 
 six days in their nones ; because these 
 alone, in the ancient constitution of the 
 year by Numa, had thirty-one days a- 
 pieee, the rest having only twenty-nine, 
 and February thirty ; but when Caesar 
 reformed the year, and made other 
 months contain thirty-one days, he did 
 not allot them six days'of nones. The 
 nones, like the calends and ides, were 
 reckoned backwards. 
 
 NON'SUIT, in law, the default or non- 
 appearance of the plaintiff in a suit, 
 when called in court, by which the plain- 
 tiff is presumed to signify his intention 
 to drop the suit ; he is therefore nonsuited, 
 that is, his non-appearance is entered 
 on the record, and this entry amounts to 
 a judgment of the court that the plaintiff 
 has dropped the suit. 
 
 NON'JURORS, the adherents of James 
 II. who refused to take the oath of alle- 
 giance to the government and crown of 
 England at the Revolution, when James 
 abdicated, and the Hanoverian family 
 was introduced. 
 
 NOR'MAL, an adjective signifying that 
 the ordinary structure peculiar to a fami- 
 ly, a genus, or a species, is in no wise 
 departed from. 
 
 NOR'MAN ARCHITECTURE, astyle 
 
 of architecture imported into England 
 immediately from Normandy, at the time 
 of the Conquest. It is readily distin- 
 guished from the styles which succeeded 
 to it by its general massive character, 
 round-headed doors and windows, and low 
 square central tower. 
 
 NORNES, in Scandinavian mythology, 
 the three fates, equivalent to the Moira, 
 of the Greeks. Their names were Urd, 
 Worand, and Sculd ; or Past, Present, 
 and Future. They were represented as 
 endowed with great beauty, but of a 
 melancholy and sombre disposition ; they 
 were consulted even by the gods, and 
 their decrees were sure and irrevocable. 
 NO'TABLES, in French history, the 
 deputies of the states under the old re- 
 gime, appointed and convoked on certain 
 occasions by the king. In 1786 this as 
 sernbly was summoned, 160 years aftei 
 its last meeting, and proposed various 
 reforms in different branches of the gov- 
 ernment. It again met, for the last 
 time, in 1788. 
 
 NO'TARIES, APOSTOL'ICAL AND 
 IMPE'RIAL, public notaries appointed 
 by the popes and emperors, in virtue of 
 their supposed jurisdiction over other 
 powers, to exercise their functions in 
 foreign states. Edward II. forbade the 
 imperial notaries to practise in England. 
 Charles VIII. of France, in 1490, abol- 
 ished both these classes of notaries, and 
 forbade his lay subjects to employ them. 
 NO'TARY, or NO'TARY PUB'LIG, in 
 modern usage, an officer authorized to 
 attest contracts or writings, chiefly in 
 mercantile matters, to make them authen- 
 tic in a foreign country ; who protests 
 foreign bills of exchange, and inland bills 
 and notes : and in particular, to note the 
 non-payment of an accepted bill. 
 
 NOTE, in music, a character which, by 
 its place on the staff, represents a sound, 
 and by its form, determines the time or 
 continuance of such sound. There are 
 six notes in ordinary use, viz., the semi- 
 breve, minim, crotchet, quaver, semiqua- 
 ver, and demisemiquaver. To these may 
 be added the breve, yet met with in 
 sacred music, and the half demisemi- 
 quaver, much used by the moderns. 
 
 NOTTUR'NO, in music, originally sy- 
 nonymous with serenade ; but applied at 
 present to a piece of music in which the , 
 emotions chiefly of love and tenderness - 
 are developed. Of modern composers 
 hopin, Field, and Herg are the most 
 distinguished in this department. 
 
 NOVA'TIANS. the followers of Nova- 
 tian, a presbyter of Rome, who was stig-
 
 KOXJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 raatized as a schismatic and heretic, and 
 founded a sect of this name in the 3d 
 century, which continued to flourish to 
 the end of the 5th. The aim of Nova- 
 tian was to deny readmission into the 
 church to all persons who, in the time of 
 persecution, or on other accounts, had 
 once lapsed from the faith. 
 
 NOVEL, in literature, a fictitious tale, 
 or imaginary history of real life, gen- 
 erally intended to exhibit the operation 
 of the passions, foremost among which is 
 love. *In the novel," says Goethe, "sen- 
 timents and events are to be chiefly rep- 
 resented ; in the drama, character and 
 actions. The hero of the novel must be 
 passive, or, at least, not in a high degree 
 active ; but we expect of the dramatic 
 hero action." The Italian novella, of 
 which the bust and earliest specimens are 
 those contained in the Decameron of 
 Boccaccio, was rather a short tale, tufc- 
 ing on an event, or on a series of adven- 
 tures of humor, pathos, or intrigue, than a 
 novel in the modern acceptation of the 
 term. In its present signification in the 
 English language, it seems to express a 
 species of fictitious narrative somewhat 
 different from a romance ; yet it would 
 be difficult to assign the exact distinction, 
 and. in the French language, the same 
 name (roman) is used for both ; while it 
 differs from a tale merely in the circum- 
 stance that a certain degree of length is 
 necessary to constitute a novel. Although, 
 in fact, the terms novel and romance are 
 often used indifferently, yet they have also 
 often been treated as distinct classes of 
 composition in English literature. Per- 
 haps, if we seek to draw the distinction 
 with as much of accuracy as the subject 
 will admit, we may say that the proper 
 object of a novel is the delineation of 
 social manners, or the development of a 
 story founded on the incidents of ordina- 
 ry life, or both together. Thus will be ex- 
 cluded from the class of novels, on the one 
 hand, tales of which the incidents are not 
 merely improbable, (for this may .be the 
 case in a novel,) but occurring out of the 
 common course of life, and such as are 
 founded on imaginary times and imagi- 
 nary manners, tales of supernatural in- 
 cidents, chivalrous romances, pastoral 
 romances. &c. : and, on the other hand, 
 we must exclude from the same class 
 fictitious narratives, in which the author's 
 principal object is neither the story nor the 
 costume, but which are obviously written 
 with an ulterior view, although their inci- 
 dents and character may perhaps, in 
 other respects, fall under the definition 
 
 Thus, political, philo- 
 sophical, and satirical fictions are clearly 
 not to be ranked as novels. But it is 
 obvious that no definition can be drawn 
 which shall, on this subject, entirely satis- 
 fy the caprices of popular language. Of 
 the novel, in this confined sense, the 
 works of Richardson, and those of Field- 
 ing and Smollett, afforded, perhaps, the 
 first examples in English literature. The 
 first of these authors gave birth to the 
 sentimental novel, the latter two to the 
 comic or humorous. Marivaux, Prevost, 
 <fec., spread the former style of composi- 
 tion in France ; where, as well as on the 
 Continent generally, it attained a high 
 degree of vogue. The novel of manners, 
 whether comic or serious, has, perhaps, 
 been always a more popular species of 
 fiction in England. It may be doubted 
 whether the historical fiction, to which 
 Sir Walter Scott has given such universal 
 popularity, belongs strictly to the class 
 of novel or romance. By aiming at the 
 delineation of real, although past man- 
 ners, and by the general turn of the 
 story, it seems to resemble the former; 
 while the romantic character of many of 
 its incidents seems to assimilate it to 
 the latter. 
 
 NOVEM'BER, the eleventh month of 
 the Julian year, consisting only of thirty 
 days. It is the first winter month in the 
 northern hemisphere, and the first sum- 
 mer month of the southern. Its name, 
 November, originates in its being the 
 ninth month of the Roman reckoning. 
 
 NOVICE, a person not yet skilled or 
 experienced in an art or profession. Nov- 
 ice is more particularly used in monas- 
 teries for a religious person, in his or her 
 novitiate, or year of probation, and who 
 has not made the vows. 
 
 NOVI HOM'INES, among the Romans, 
 were such persons as, by their own per- 
 sonal merit, had raised themselves to cu- 
 rule dignities without the aid of family 
 connections. This reproach, as is well 
 known, was addressed by Catiline to 
 Cicero. 
 
 NOVITIATE, the term appointed for 
 the trial of those who are to enter a 
 monastery, in order to ascertain whether 
 they have the qualifications necessary for 
 living up to the rule to which they are to 
 bind themselves by vow. The novitiate 
 is generally very severe ; the novice gen- 
 erally having to perform many menial 
 offices about the convent, and to give ac- 
 count of the most trifling actions to the 
 master of the novices. 
 
 NOX, in mythology, the goddess of
 
 428 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [NUM 
 
 night. In the Grecian mythology, she 
 was the daughter of Chaos, the sister of 
 Elpen and Erebus, and the mother of 
 jEther, Hemera, M:m;it:is, Motnus, the 
 Fates, &c., Ac.; which were all personifi- 
 cations of the natural phenomena life, 
 sleep, death, &c. 
 
 NUDE COM'PACT, in law, a contract 
 made without any consideration, and 
 therefore not valid. Nude matter, a bare 
 allegation of something done. 
 
 NUDIPEDA'LIA, in antiquity, a fes- 
 tival in which all were obliged to walk 
 barefooted. This was done on account 
 of some public calamity ; as the plague, 
 a famine, &c., &c. It was likewise usual 
 for the Roman matrons, when any sup- 
 plication and vows were to be made to the 
 goddess Vesta, to walk in procession to 
 her temple barefooted. 
 
 NU'DITIES, in painting and sculpture, 
 those parts of the human figure which 
 are not covered with drapery. The gods, 
 demigods, and heroes of antiquity are 
 generally represented either entirely 
 naked, or with a slight mantle only thrown 
 across the shoulders. Figures of fauns, 
 satyrs, <fcc., also have this distinction. 
 An exception must, however, be made 
 with respect to Jupiter, who is very sel- 
 dom found without an ample robe envel- 
 oping different parts of his body. Per- 
 haps the reverence entertained by the 
 ancients for this their principal deity, 
 prevented them from exhibiting him in a 
 state of absolute nudity. 
 
 NUI'SANCE, in law, that which in- 
 commodes or annoys ; something that 
 produces inconvenience or damage. Nui- 
 sances are public or private : public, when 
 they annoy citizens in general, as ob- 
 structions of the highway ; private, when 
 they affect individuals only, as when one 
 man erects a house so near his neighbor's 
 as to throw the water off the roof upon 
 his neighbor's land or house, or to inter- 
 cept the light that his neighbor before 
 enjoyed. 
 
 NUM'BERS, the title of the fourth 
 book of the Pentateuch, so called because 
 it contains an account of the numbering 
 of the people. The book comprehends a 
 period of the Israelitish history of about 
 thirty-eight years. Numbers, in poetry, 
 oratory, music, <fcc. are certain meas- 
 ures, or cadences, which render a verse, 
 period, or song, agreeable to the ear. 
 Poetical numbers consist in a certain 
 harmony in the order and quantity of syl- 
 lables constituting feet. Rhetorical num- 
 bers are a sort of simple, unaffected har- 
 mony, less apparent than that of verse, 
 
 but such as w perceived and affects the 
 mind with pleasure. 
 
 NU'MERAL LET'TERS, the Roman 
 capital letters which stand as substitutes 
 for figures ; as I for 1 ; X for 10 ; L for 
 50; Cfor 100. &< 
 
 NUMISMATICS, the science of coins 
 and medals, principally those struck by 
 the ancient Greeks and Romans. The word 
 coin is in modern times applied to those 
 pieces of metal struck for the purpose of 
 circulation as money ; while the word med- 
 al signifies pieces of metal similartlo coins 
 not intended for circulation as money, but 
 struck and distributed in commemoration 
 of some person or event. Ancient coins, 
 however, are often termed in common lan- 
 guage medals. The parts of a coin or 
 medal are, the obverse or face, containing 
 generally the head, bust, or figure of the 
 sovereign or person in whose honor the 
 iftdal was struck, or some emblematic 
 figure relating to him ; and the reverse, 
 containing various figures or words. The 
 
 words around the border form the legend, 
 those in the middle or field the inscrip- 
 tion. The lower part of the coin sepa- 
 rated by a line from the figures or the 
 inscription, is the basis or exergue, ami 
 contains the date, the place where the 
 coin was struck, &c. The metals of which 
 coins and medals have been chiefly com- 
 posed are gold, silver, brass or copper. 
 The earliest coins are Phoenician, and 
 were struck or imprinted from dies unre- 
 versed, so that the inscription was re- 
 versed; but those struck by the ancient 
 Greeks and Romans are most deserving 
 our attention. The study of coins and 
 medals is indispensable to archaeology, 
 and to a thorough acquaintance with the 
 Fine Arts. They indicate the names of 
 countries and cities, determine their po- 
 sition, and present pictures of many cele- 
 brated places. They fix the period of 
 events, and enable us to trace series of 
 kings. In short, they serve to make us 
 acquainted with whatever relates to an- 
 cient usages, civil, military, and religious, 
 while they enable us to trace the epochs
 
 OAS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 429 
 
 of different styles of art, and are of great 
 assistance in our philological researches. 
 
 NUN'CIO, an ambassador from the 
 pope to some Catholic prince or state, or 
 who attends some congress or assembly 
 as the pope's representative. The nun- 
 cio is generally a prelate of the court of 
 Home ; if a cardinal, he is styled legate. 
 Since the time of the council of Trent the 
 nuncios have acted as judges of appeal 
 from the decisions of the respective bish- 
 ops in those countries which are subject 
 to the decretals and discipline of the 
 council of Trent. In other Catholic king- 
 doms and states holding themselves inde- 
 pendent of the court of Rome in matters 
 of discipline, the nuncio has merely a 
 diplomatic character like the minister 
 of any other foreign power. 
 
 NUNCUPATIVE WILL, in law, a 
 will or testamentary desire expressed 
 verbally, but not put into writing. It 
 depends merely on oral testimony for 
 proof, though afterwards reduced to writ- 
 ing. Nuncupative, in a general sense, 
 signifies something that exists only in 
 name. 
 
 NUN'DINJS, in antiquity, days set 
 apart by the Romans for the country 
 people to expose their wares and commod- 
 ities to sale, very similar to the large 
 markets or fairs. They were called Nun- 
 dince, because they were kept every ninth 
 day. 
 
 NUN'NERY, in the Romish church, a 
 religious house for nuns, or females who 
 have bound themselves by vow to a sin- 
 gle life. 
 
 NYCHTHEM'ERON, among the an- 
 cients, signified the whole natural day, 
 or day and night, consisting of twenty- 
 four hours, or equal parts. This way of 
 considering the day was particularly 
 adopted by the Jews, and seems to owe its 
 origin to that expression of Moses, in the 
 first chapter of Genesis, "the evening 
 and the morning were the first day." 
 
 NYMPH/E'A, certain public baths at 
 Rome, of which there were twelve in num- 
 ber, adorned with curious statues of the 
 Nymphs, to whom they were consecrated, 
 furnished with pleasant grottoes, and sup- 
 plied with cooling fountains, which ren- 
 dered them exceedingly delightful, and 
 drew great numbers to frequent them. 
 Silence was particularly required there, 
 as appears by this inscription, Nympkis 
 loci, bibe, lava, tace. 
 
 NYMPHS, female beings, in Grecian 
 mythology, partaking of the nature of 
 gods and men. They peopled all the re- 
 gions of earth and water, and were vari- 
 
 ously designated, according to the places 
 of their abode. Thus, the Naiades inhab- 
 ited the streams, the Oreiades the moun- 
 tains, the Dryades the woods, the llama- 
 dryades trees, with which they were born 
 and died. They are represented as very 
 beautiful ; they constituted the atten- 
 dants of various of the higher female 
 divinities, especially Diana, and were also 
 considered as having been the nurses of 
 many of the gods, as Jupiter and Pan. 
 
 o. 
 
 0, the fourth vowel and the fifteenth 
 letter in the alphabet, is pronounced by 
 projecting the lips, and forming an open- 
 ing resembling the letter itself. The 
 English language designates not less 
 than four sounds by the character o, ex- 
 emplified in the words no, prove, for, not. 
 The French indicate the sound o (pro- 
 nounced as in no) by various signs. The 
 use of o is next in frequency to that of a. 
 With an apostrophe after it, signifies 
 son in Irish proper names ; as O'Neil, (the 
 son of Neil,) like the prefix Mac. Among 
 the ancients, was a mark of triple time, 
 from the notion that the ternary, or 
 number 3, is the most perfect of num- 
 bers, and properly expressed by a circle, 
 the most perfect figure. is often used 
 as an interjection or exclamation to ex- 
 press a wish, admiration, warning, pity, 
 imploring, and sometimes surprise ; but 
 when language expressive of strong emo- 
 tion is used the introductory exclamation 
 is properly Oh ! Shakspeare uses for 
 a circle or oval. 
 
 OAN'NES, in ancient mythology, the 
 most celebrated divinity of the Babylo- 
 nians. He was represented as a sea- 
 monster, with human feet and hands ; 
 and was said to dwell in the abysses of 
 the Red Sea, whence he was in the habit 
 of issuing daily, and proceeding to Baby- 
 lon, where he communicated instruction 
 on religion, the science of government, 
 and the useful arts. It has been gene- 
 rally supposed that Cannes was identical 
 with the god Dagon. 
 
 O'ASIS, a fertile spot, watered by 
 springs, and covered with verdure, situ- 
 ated in the midst of the uninhabited des- 
 erts of Northern Africa ; the name is 
 also applied to a cluster of verdant spots. 
 In the desert of Sahara there arc several 
 of these. They serve as stopping-places 
 for the caravans, and often contain vil- 
 lages. In Arabic, they are called wadys.
 
 430 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [OBE 
 
 OATH, a solemn affirmation or decla- 
 ration, made with an appeal to God for 
 the truth of what is affirmed. The appeal 
 to God in an oath, implies that the person 
 imprecates his vengeance and renounces 
 his favor if the declaration is false ; or if 
 the declaration is a promise, the person 
 invoices the vengeance of God if he should 
 fail to fulfil it. A person who is to be a 
 witness in a cause may have two oaths 
 administered to him ; the one to speak 
 the truth, in relation to what the court 
 shall think fit to ask him, concerning him- 
 self or anything else that is not evidence 
 in the cause ; and the other purely to 
 give evidence in the cause wherein he is 
 produced as a witness. The laws of all 
 civilized states have required the security 
 of an oath for evidence given in a court 
 of justice ; and the Christian religion, 
 while it utterly prohibits profane and 
 needless swearing, does not seem to for- 
 bid oaths duly required, or taken on ne- 
 cessary occasions. But the Quakers and 
 Moravians, swayed by the sense which 
 they put upon that text of Scripture in 
 St. Matthew, which says, : ' Swear not at 
 all," and St. James's words, ch. v. 12, 
 refuse to swear on any occasion, even at 
 the requisition of a magistrate, and in a 
 court of justice. Any believer in a defi- 
 nite form of religion can be a witness, and 
 the oath may be administered " accord- 
 ing to such forms and ceremonies as he 
 may declare to be binding." But persons 
 who cannot take an oath are incapable 
 of being witnesses ; such, therefore, as 
 will not declare their belief in God. in a 
 future state of rewards and punishments, 
 and that perjury will be punished by the 
 Deity, are excluded ; as well as those who, 
 from their years of ignorance, are inca- 
 pable of comprehending the nature of an 
 oath. Oaths to perform illegal acts do 
 not bind, nor do they excuse the per- 
 formance of the act. Perjury is the wil- 
 ful violation of an oath administered by 
 a lawful authority to a witness in a judi- 
 cial proceeding. Different formalities 
 have been customary in different coun- 
 tries in taking oaths. The Jews some- 
 times swore with their hands lifted up, 
 and sometimes placed under the thigh of 
 the person to whom they swore. This 
 was also the custom among the Athenians 
 and the Romans. The ancients guarded 
 against perjury very religiously ; and 
 for fear they might fall into it through 
 neglect of due form, they usually de- 
 clared that they bound themselves only 
 so far as the oath was practicable : and 
 lest the obligation should lie upon their 
 
 ghosts, they made an express obligation, 
 when they swore, that the oath should 
 be cancelled at their death. Perjury 
 they believed could not pass unpuuished, 
 and expected the divine vengeance to 
 overtake the perjured villain even in this 
 life. 
 
 OBADI'AH, or THE PROPHECY OP 
 OBADIAH, a canonical book of the Old 
 Testament, which is contained in one 
 single chapter, and is partly an invective 
 against the cruelty of the Edomites, and 
 partly a prediction of the deliverance of 
 Israel, and of the victory and triumph 
 of the whole church over her enemies. 
 
 O'BEAH, a species of witchcraft prac- 
 tised among the negroes, the apprehen- 
 sion of which operating upon their super- 
 stitious fears, is frequently attended with 
 disease and death. 
 
 OBEDIENCE, PAS'SIVE, in politics, 
 signifies the unqualified obedience which, 
 according to some political philosophers, 
 is due from subjects to the supreme pow- 
 er in the state ; insomuch that not only 
 its lawful, but its unlawful commands, 
 may not be forcibly resisted without sin. 
 OB'ELISK, a lofty quadrangular mon- 
 olithic column, "diminishing upwards, 
 with the sides gently inclined, but not so 
 as to terminate in an apex at the top ; 
 neither is it truncated or cut off at the 
 summit, but the sides are sloped off so as 
 to form a flattish pyramidal figure, by 
 which the whole is suitably finished off 
 and brought to a point, without the upper 
 part being so contracted as to appear in- 
 significant." Egypt was, properly speak- 
 ing, the land of obelisks ; and they are 
 unquestionably to be reckoned among the 
 most ancient monuments of that extraor- 
 dinary people. Much learning and in- 
 genuity has been expended in endeavor- 
 ing to ascertain their origin, and the 
 purposes for which they were erected ; 
 but it does not appear that any satisfac- 
 tory solution of the problem has hitherto 
 been given. It has been frequently as- 
 serted that obelisks were originally erect- 
 ed in honor of the sun, of which they 
 were said to be symbolical, and that they 
 served the purposes of a gnome or sun- 
 dial ; but this opinion is now almost 
 totally rejected, and it is generally be- 
 lieved that obelisks were nothing more 
 than monumental structures, servhig as 
 ornaments to the open squares in which 
 they were generally built, or intended to 
 celebrate some important event and to 
 perpetuate its remembrance. They were 
 usually adorned with hieroglyphics; and 
 we learn from the testimony of Diodorus
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 431 
 
 and Strabo that the inscriptions with 
 which they were charged declared the 
 amount of gold and silver, the number of 
 troops, and the quantity of ivory, per- 
 fumes, and corn which all the countries 
 subject to Egypt were required to furnish. 
 The two largest obelisks were erected by 
 Sesostris in Heliopolis. They were form- 
 ed of a single block of granite, and meas- 
 ured 180 feet in height. 
 
 OB'ELUS, in diplomatics, a mark so 
 called from its resemblance to a needle ; 
 usually thus orthus -i- in ancient MSS. 
 The common use of the line in modern 
 writing is to mark the place of a break in 
 the sense, where it is suspended, or where 
 there is an ungrammatical transition ; 
 but a paragraph introduced where the 
 sense is suspended, is more properly 
 marked by the sign of a parenthesis. 
 
 O'BERON, in mediaeval mythology, 
 the king of the fairies. Wieland's beau- 
 tiful poem, and Weber's romantic opera 
 of this name, the Midsummer Night's 
 Dream, and innumerable other poems 
 and tales of which he is the hero, have 
 made the name of Oberon so familiar, 
 that it will be unnecessary to do more in 
 this place than to state the origin of the 
 fable. The name Oberon first appears in 
 the old French fabliaux of Huon of Bor- 
 deaux ; it is identical with Auberon, or 
 Alberon. the first syllable of which is 
 nothing more than the old German word 
 Alb, elf or fairy. He was represented 
 as endowed with magic powers, and with 
 the qualities of a good and upright mon- 
 arch, rewarding those who practised truth 
 and honesty, and punishing those who 
 acted otherwise. His wife's name was Ti- 
 tania, or Mab, whose powers have been so 
 beautifully depicted in Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 O'BIT, a funeral solemnity, or office 
 for the dead, most commonly performed 
 when the corpse lies in the church un- 
 interred. It likewise signifies an annual 
 commemoration of the dead, performed 
 on the day of their death, with prayers, 
 alms, &c. 
 
 OBIT'UARY, a register in which are 
 enrolled the names of deceased persons 
 for whom obits are to be performed, and 
 the days of their funeral. It is also used 
 for the book containing the foundation or 
 institution of the several obits in a church 
 or monastery. In the former sense it is 
 synonymous with necrology, in the latter 
 with martyrology. 
 
 OB'JECT, that about which any power 
 or faculty is employed, or something ap- 
 prehended or presented to the mind by 
 sensation or imagination. Thus that 
 
 quality of a rose which is perceived by 
 the sense of smell, is an object of percep- 
 tion. When the object is not in contact 
 with the organ of sense, there must be 
 some medium through which we obtain 
 the perception of it. The impression 
 which objects make on the senses, must 
 be by the immediate application of them 
 to the organs of sense, or by means of the 
 medium that intervenes between the or- 
 gans and the objects. 
 
 OB'LATE, in ecclesiastical antiqui- 
 ties, 1. A person who, on embracing the 
 monastic state, had made a donation of 
 all his goods to the community. 2. One 
 dedicated to a religious order by his pa- 
 rents from an early period of his life. 3. 
 A layman residing as an inmate in a re- 
 gular community to which he had assign- 
 ed his property either in perpetuity or 
 for the period of his residence. 4. A lay- 
 man who had made donation, not only of 
 his property, but his person, as bondsman 
 to a monastic community. In France the 
 king possessed, in ancient times, a privi- 
 lege of recommending a certain number 
 of oblati, chiefly invalided soldiers, to 
 monasteries, whom they were bound to 
 maintain. 
 
 OBLA'TION, a sacrifice, or offering 
 made to God. In the canon-law, obla- 
 tions are defined to be anything offered 
 by godly Christians to God and the 
 church, whether movables or immova- 
 bles. Till the fourth century, the church 
 had no fixed revenues, the clergy wholly 
 subsisting on voluntary oblations. 
 
 OBLIGATION, in general, denotes 
 any act whereby a person becomes bound 
 to another to do something. Obligations 
 are of three kinds, viz. natural, civil, and 
 mixed. Natural obligations are entirely 
 founded on natural equity ; civil obliga- 
 tions, on civil authority alone, without 
 any foundation in natural equity ; and 
 mixed obligations are those which being 
 founded on natural equity, are further 
 enforced by civil authority. In a legal 
 sense, obligation signifies a bond, wherein 
 is contained a penalty, with a condition 
 annexed for the payment of money, <fec. 
 
 OBLIGA'TO, in music, a term applied 
 to a movement or composition written for 
 a particular instrument. It sometimes 
 means that a movement is restrained by 
 certain rules to give particular expres- 
 sion to a passage, action, &c. 
 
 OB'OLUS, a small Grecian silver coin, 
 equal to one penny farthing. It was this 
 coin which they placed in the mouth of 
 the dead, to pay Charon for their passage 
 over the Styx.
 
 432 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [OCT 
 
 OBSECRA'TIO, in Roman antiquity, 
 a solemn ceremony performed by the 
 chief magistrates of Rome, to avert any 
 impending calamity. It consisted of 
 prayers offered up to the gods whom they 
 Mipposed to be enraged. So exact were 
 they in observing the prescribed form on 
 these occasions, that a person was ap- 
 pointed to read it over to the man who 
 was to pronounce it, and the most trifling 
 omission was held sufficient to vitiate the 
 whole solemnity. 
 
 OBSECRATION, in rhetoric, a figure 
 in which the orator implores the assist- 
 ance of God or man. 
 
 OB'SEQUIES, were solemnities per- 
 formed at the burials of eminent persons. 
 The term is now used for the funeral it- 
 self. 
 
 OBSES'SION, the state of a person 
 vexed or besieged by an evil spirit. In 
 the language of exorcists, demoniacal ob- 
 session differed from demoniacal posses- 
 sion : in the latter, the demon had pos- 
 session of the patient internally ; in the 
 former he attacks him from without. 
 Well-known marks of obsession were the 
 Being miraculously hoisted or elevated 
 in the air, speaking languages of which 
 the patient had no knowledge, aversion 
 to the offices of religion, and so forth. 
 
 OBSID'IONAL CROWN, in Roman 
 antiquities, a crown granted by the state 
 to the general who raised the siege of a 
 beleaguered place. It was formed of 
 grass growing on the rampart. Obsidi- 
 onal coins, in numismatics, are pieces 
 struck in besieged places to supply the 
 place of current money. They are of 
 various base metals, and of different 
 shapes. Some of the oldest known are 
 those which were struck at the siege of 
 Pavia, under Francis I. 
 
 OB'VERSE, or FACE, in numismat- 
 ics, the side of the coin which contains 
 the principal symbol : usually, in the 
 coins of monarchical states, ancient and 
 modern, the face in profile of the sove- 
 reign ; in some instances, the full or half 
 length figure. 
 
 OCCASIONALISM, or the System of 
 Occasional Causes, in metaphysics, a 
 name which has been given to certain 
 theories of the Cartesian school of phi- 
 losophers, especially Arnold Geulinx, of 
 Antwerp, by which they accounted for 
 the apparent action of the soul on the 
 body ; e. g. in the phenomena of volun- 
 tary motion. According to these theories, 
 (which were more or less clearly develop- 
 ed by different writers,) the will was not 
 the cause of the action of the body ; but 
 
 whenever the will required a motion, God 
 caused the body to move in the required 
 direction. 
 
 OCCULT', something secret, hidden or 
 invisible, as the occult quality of matter. 
 The occult sciences are magic, necro 
 mancy, <fcc. 
 
 OCE'ANUS, in Greek mythology, the 
 oldest of the Titans : according to some, 
 the son of Ouranos and Gaia. His con- 
 sort was Tethys, his daughters the Ocea- 
 nides. In Homer, the word ocean merely 
 designates the " river," or^treain, which, 
 according to his notion, encompassed the 
 earth. 
 
 ; OCHLOCRACY, a word coined to ex- 
 press the condition of a state in which the 
 populace have acquired an immediate 
 illegal control over the government ; and, 
 by a figure commonly used in the exag- 
 geration of political speakers and writers, 
 a government in which the power of the 
 lower classes predominates, either for a 
 time or permanently. 
 
 OCTAVE, in music, an eighth, or an 
 interval of seven degrees or twelve semi- 
 tones. The octave is the most perfect of 
 the chords, consisting of six full tones 
 and two semi-tones major. It contains 
 the whole diatonic scale. The most sim- 
 ple perception that we can have of two 
 sounds, is that of unisons ; the vibrations 
 there beginning and ending together. 
 The next to this is the octave, where the 
 more acute sound makes precisely two 
 vibrations, while the grave or deeper 
 makes one ; consequently, the vibrations 
 of the two meet at every single vibration 
 of the more grave one. Hence, unison 
 and octave pass almost for the same con- 
 cord ; hence, also, the ratio of the two 
 sounds that form the octave is as 1 to 2. 
 The octave may be doubled, tripled, and 
 multiplied at pleasure, with changing its 
 nature, but a double octave is less agree- 
 able to the ear than a single one ; a triple 
 octave, still less agreeable than a double 
 one, and so on. 
 
 OCTA'VO, in printing, the form of a 
 page which is made by folding *a sheet 
 into eight leaves, or sixteen pages. It is 
 often written 8vo. 
 
 OCTO'BER, in chronology, the tenth 
 month of the Julian year, consisting of 
 thirty-one days : it obtained the name of 
 October from its being the eighth month 
 in the calendar of Romulus. 
 
 OCTASTY'LOS, in architecture, a tem- 
 ple or other building having eight col- 
 umns in front. 
 
 OCTROI, an old French term (from auc- 
 torltas) signifying a grant or privilege
 
 OFF] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 433 
 
 from government, is particularly applied 
 to the commercial privileges granted to 
 a person or to a company. In a like 
 sense the term is applied to the constitu- 
 tion of a state granted by a prince, in 
 contradistinction to those which are de- 
 rived from a compact between a ruler 
 and the representatives of the people. It 
 also signifies a tax levied at the gates of 
 some cities in France upon all articles 
 of food. 
 
 O'DALISQUES, properly ODALIKS, 
 (Turkish, oda, a chamber,) female slaves 
 employed in domestic service about the 
 persons of the wives, female relatives, 
 &c. of the sultan. 
 
 ODD'FEL'LOWS, persons affiliated to 
 certain associations that originated, about 
 the year 1820 ; but now oddfellow socie- 
 ties form parts of an important system, 
 widely ramified in Great Britain and the 
 United States. The oddfellows are in 
 many respects similar to freemasons, as 
 to initiatory rites, secret oaths, <fcc. ; and 
 hold frequent meetings, ostensibly for 
 philanthropic purposes. 
 , ODE, among the Greeks and Komans, 
 was a short lyric composition, usually in- 
 tended to be sung, and accompanied by 
 some musical instrument, generally the 
 lyre ; hence the expression lyric verse. 
 In the modern sense of the word, the ode 
 appears to be distinguished from the 
 song by greater length and variety, and 
 by not being necessarily adapted to music. 
 It is distinguished also from the ballad, 
 and other species of lyric poetry, by its 
 being confined to the expression of senti- 
 ment, or of imaginative thought, on a 
 given subject, not admitting of narrative, 
 except incidentally. The odes of Pindar, 
 Anacreon, and Horace, are, in fact, the 
 models on which the modern notion of the 
 ode is formed, and which have been imi- 
 tated in similar compositions in modern 
 times. Until the science of Greek metres 
 was so accurately explored as it has 
 recently been, the Pindaric ode was sup- 
 posed to admit of an excessive irregularity 
 in the length and measure of lines. In 
 point of fact, however, a scheme of per- 
 fect metrical irregularity pervaded the 
 Greek ode : the Anacreontic ode consists 
 of a number of lines of the same metrical 
 length and arrangement. The Horatian 
 ode, again, consists of an indefinite num- 
 ber of stanzas, precisely similar to each 
 other, each forming a complete metrical 
 whole. The Dithyrambic ode was a 
 bacchanalian song ; and as, from the 
 attributes of the divinity to which it was 
 dedicated, it admitted great irregularity 
 
 and license, the name has been transfer- 
 red in modern times to all odes partaking 
 of a wild and impetuous character. 
 
 ODE'UM, orODE'ON,in ancient archi- 
 tecture, a building wherein the poets and 
 musicians contended for the prizes, both 
 in vocal and instrumental music. Peri- 
 cles, who was the first person to erect one 
 of these buildings at Athens, instituted it 
 for the choragi of the different tribes to 
 rehearse their performances ; but these 
 buildings in the end were used for far 
 different purposes from those for which 
 they were originally destined. An odeum 
 was to be found in all the principal cities 
 of antiquity. The word odeon has been 
 preserved in most modern languages : 
 thus, there is an odeon in Paris, appro- 
 priated to theatrical and other similar 
 purposes. 
 
 DIN, a Scandinavian deity, who 
 seems, like the Jupiter of the Greeks, to 
 have formed the connecting link between 
 the ancient and more recent systems of 
 their mythology. The conqueror Odin 
 appears to have been a chieftain who led 
 the Asi (the Goths) from the confines of 
 Asia to northern Europe. But, when 
 deified by public adoration, the attributes 
 of an earlier deity seem to have been 
 transferred to him. Odin is the chief of 
 the gods ; by his wife Freya he has two 
 chief sons, Thor and Balder : the death 
 of the latter (for the Scandinavian gods 
 are not all immortal) furnishes many 
 legends to the northern mythology. 
 
 OD'YSSEY, an epic poem, attributed, 
 in general, to Homer, but, according to 
 some modern hypotheses, not by the hand 
 of the author of the Iliad. The subject 
 of the poem is the return of Ulysses from 
 Troy to his native island, Ithaca. 
 
 (ECON'OMY, in architecture, the har- 
 monious and skilful combination of the 
 parts of the building, which renders them 
 suitable to their several purposes, and 
 tends to connect them conveniently with 
 each other. 
 
 (ECUMENICAL, in the Greek lan- 
 guage applied to ecclesiastical matters in 
 the sense of universal. Several patri- 
 archs of Constantinople and Rome as- 
 sumed the title of oecumenical (par- 
 ticularly John, A.D. 590, and Cyril, his 
 successor,) apparently in opposition to 
 the pretensions of the bishop of Rome. 
 (Ecumenical councils are those to which 
 prelates resorted from every part of 
 Christendom under the jurisdiction of the 
 Roman empire. 
 
 OFFENCE', in law, the violation of 
 any law ; this is termed capital if pun-
 
 434 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [OLL 
 
 ished with death, and not capital if visit- 
 ed with any other punishment. 
 
 OF'FERINGS, literally, gifts present- 
 ed at the altar in token of acknowledg- 
 ment of the Divine goodness. Offerings 
 constituted a large portion of the Jewish 
 worship. They consisted chiefly of bread, 
 salt, fruits, wine, and oil, and had differ- 
 ent names according to the purposes for 
 which they were employed. A distinc- 
 tion has often been made between offer- 
 ings and sacrifices ; the former being said 
 to refer only to the fruits of the earth, 
 the latter to animals ; but this can scarce- 
 ly have been the case, for both the burnt 
 and the sin offering required animals to 
 be sacrificed. Among the Greeks, Ro- 
 mans, and other nations, the same prac- 
 tice prevailed of offering at their altars 
 wheat, flour, and bread. In a modern 
 sense, the term offering is applied to cer- 
 tain dues payable by custom to the 
 Church, as the Easter offerings, &c. This 
 latter custom has obtained from the first 
 period of Christianity, when those who 
 officiated at the altar had no other main- 
 tenance or allowance than the free gifts 
 or offerings (oblations) of the people. 
 
 OF'FERTORY, the first part of the 
 Mass, in which the priest prepares the 
 elements for consecration. In the Eng- 
 lish communion service, it denotes the 
 sentences which are delivered by the of- 
 ficiating priest while the people are 
 making their oblations or offerings. 
 
 OF'FICER, is used generally to signify 
 any person in the enjoyment of a post or 
 office, whether civil or military, under the 
 crown. Under their different heads will 
 be found a notice of the chief civil and 
 military officers ; to these the reader is 
 referred. 
 
 OFF'SET, in architecture, the superior 
 surface left uncovered by the continuation 
 upwards of a wall where the thickness 
 diminishes, forming a ledge. 
 
 OGEE, or 0. G., in architecture, a 
 moulding, consisting of two members, the 
 one concave, the other convex ; or, of a 
 round and a hollow, somewhat like an S. 
 
 O'GIVE, in architecture, an arch or 
 branch of a Gothic vault ; which, instead 
 of being circular, passes diagonally from 
 one angle to another, and forms a cross 
 with the other arches. The middle, where 
 the ogives cross each other, is called the 
 key. The members or mouldings of the 
 ogives are called nerves, branches, or 
 reins ; and the arches which separate the 
 ogives, double arches. 
 
 O'GRES, the well-known name of those 
 imaginary monsters with which the nur- 
 
 sery tales of England abound. They are 
 usually represented as cannibals of ma- 
 lignant dispositions, and as endowed with 
 gigantic height and power. It is difficult 
 to speak with certainty of the origin of 
 these fabulous creations ; but it is proba- 
 ble that the term ogre is derived from 
 Oegir, one of the giants in the Scandina- 
 vian mythology ; though it has been al- 
 leged, with perhaps more probability, 
 that it has been borrowed from the Ogurs, 
 or Onogurs, a desperate and savage Asi- 
 atic horde, which overran'part of Europe 
 about the middle of the 5th century. 
 
 OIL-PAINT'ING, the art of painting 
 with oil colors, which are the kind most 
 commonly used for large pictures. This 
 art has the pre-eminence above all other 
 kinds of painting on account of its liveli- 
 ness, strength, agreeableness, and natural 
 appearance ; on account of the variety 
 and mixture of tints; in short, on account 
 of the charm of the coloring. The vari- 
 ous colors chiefly used in oil painting are, 
 white lead, Cremnitz white, chrome, king's 
 yellow, Naples yellow, patent yellow, the 
 ochres, Dutch pink, terra da Sienna, yel- 
 low lake, vermilion, red lead, Indian an* 
 Venetian red, the several sorts of lake, 
 brown, pink. Vandyke brown, burnt and 
 unburnt amber, ultramarine, Prussian 
 and Antwerp blue, ivory black, blue black, 
 asphaltum. The principal oils are those 
 extracted from the poppy, nut, and lin- 
 seed, the latter being used for the ground 
 work. Oil paintings are made upon wood, 
 copper, and other metals ; also upon walls 
 and thick silk, but now most commonly 
 upon canvas, stretched upon a frame, and 
 done over with glue or gold for a ground, 
 and by some with white water colors. 
 
 OLIGARCHY, a state in which the 
 sovereign power is lodged in the hands 
 of a small, exclusive class, is so called. 
 It differs from aristocracy, in that the 
 latter term appears to designate a govern- 
 ment in which the whole of a particular 
 class or interest, e. g., the noble, the 
 wealthy, &c., share directly or indirectly in 
 the management of public affairs ; while, 
 in an oligarchy, it is a party or section 
 formed out of one of these classes which 
 enjoys the advantages of government. 
 
 O'LIO, a miscellany; a collection of 
 various pieces. It is chiefly applied to 
 musical collections. 
 
 OL'LA PODRI'DA, the name given to 
 a favorite dish of all classes in Spain ; 
 consisting of a mixture of all kinds of 
 meat cut into small piece?, and stewed 
 with various kinds of vegetables. The 
 epithet podrida is applied to this dish, in
 
 ONT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 435 
 
 consequence of the poorer classes being 
 obliged to serve it up so often that the 
 odor arising from long keeping is far from 
 agreeable. The phrase olla podrida is 
 often used metaphorically in England for 
 any incongruous melange. 
 
 OLYMP'I AD, in chronology, a Grecian 
 epoch of four years, being the interval 
 between the celebration of the Olympic 
 games. 
 
 OLYMP'IC GAMES, the greatest of 
 the national festivals of Greece, cele- 
 brated once every four years at Olympia, 
 or Pisa, in Elis, in honor of Olympian Ju- 
 piter. Their institution is variously at- 
 tributed to Jupiter, Pelops, and Hercules ; 
 but it appears that they had fallen into 
 disuse for some time, till they were revived 
 by Iphitus, 776 B.C. From this period it 
 is that the Olympiads are reckoned. Like 
 the other public festivals, the Olympian 
 games might be attended by all who bore 
 the Hellenic name; and such was their 
 universal celebrity, that spectators qua- 
 ternially crowded to witness them, not 
 only from all parts of Greece itself, but 
 from every Grecian colony in Europe, 
 Asia, and Africa, In these games, none 
 were allowed to contend but those who 
 could prove that they were freemen of 
 genuine Hellenic origin, and unstained 
 by crime or immorality. 
 
 OME'GA, the name for the Greek long 
 o. It was the last letter in the Greek 
 alphabet, as alpha was the first ; and 
 from the expression in Revelations, " I 
 am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
 the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and 
 which was. and which is to come, the Al- 
 mighty," the characters of alpha and 
 omega became with the Christians sym- 
 bolical hieroglyphics. 
 
 O'MENS, casual indications, from 
 which men believe themselves enabled to 
 conjecture or foretell future events. The 
 essential characteristic of all omens is 
 their happening by accident ; and it is 
 this which distinguishes them from all 
 other modes of divination. This branch 
 of superstition seems nearly as ancient 
 as the world itself; and in none do we 
 find such remarkable indications of same- 
 ness of origin. Many external circum- 
 stances appear to be received in almost 
 all countries as ominous. The omens in 
 which the Thugs or secret murderers of 
 India, believe with peculiar devotion, aro 
 almost the very same which an ancient 
 Roman would have observed with equal 
 attention ; especially the appearance of 
 animals on the right or left hand. Omens, 
 among the Greeks (and, we may add, 
 
 among almost all nations in periods of 
 ignorance, and among the vulgar of the 
 present day,) may be divided into three 
 classes : those derived from natural oc- 
 currences, relating to inanimate objects, 
 lightning, earthquakes, phosphoric ap- 
 pearances, <fec. ; those derived from ani- 
 mals, especially birds, the region of their 
 appearance, their voices, &c. ; and those 
 which the individual drew from sudden 
 sensations of his own. Sneezing, in most 
 times and countries, has been a peculiarly 
 ominous occurrence. The Romans, as is 
 well known, carried the science of omens 
 to a very profound depth : the flight of 
 birds was the main element in augury; 
 the omens afforded by the entrails of sac- 
 rificed animals, in the learning of extis- 
 picium. One remarkable variety be- 
 tween Greek and Roman divination has 
 often been noticed ; the right hand in the 
 former generally denoted good luck, and 
 the left the contrary. Among the Ro- 
 mans this rule was reversed, although 
 their writers in later times often adopt 
 the Greek mode of expression. 
 
 ONE'IROCRIT'ICS, the science of in- 
 terpreting dreams : treated of by Arte- 
 midorus, Macrobius, and other classical 
 writers ; by Thomas Aquinas, and others 
 of the schoolmen ; and, among many 
 other moderns, by Cardanus, and Maio, 
 a Neapolitan philosopher. According to 
 all these writers, the secret of one irocriti- 
 cal science consists in the relation sup- 
 posed to exist between the dream and the 
 thing signified ; but they are far from 
 keeping to the relations of agreement 
 and similitude, and they frequently have 
 recourse to others of dissimilitude, and 
 contrariety. 
 
 ONOM'ATOPE, or ONOMATOPOEIA, 
 in grammar and rhetoric., a figure in 
 which words are formed to resemble the 
 sound made by the thing signified, or in 
 which words are formed or supposed to be 
 formed in imitation of natural sounds ; 
 as, to buzz, as bees ; to crackle, as burn- 
 ing thorns or brushwood ; to creak, as a 
 door on its hinges, &c. A word whose 
 sound corresponds to the sound of the 
 thing signified, or which expresses by its 
 sound the thing represented ; as, to neigh, 
 to murmur, to bleat. Greek and German 
 are rich in words of this description. 
 
 ONTOL'OGY. the doctrine of being ; a 
 name formerly given to that part of the 
 science of metaphysics which investigates 
 and explains the nature and essence of 
 all beings, their qualities and attributes. 
 It investigates the nature, 1. of things in 
 general, their possibility, reality, and
 
 436 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [OPT 
 
 necessity ; 2. of substance and accidence, 
 cause, effect, and mutual operation ; 3. 
 of quantity, quality, similarity, and 
 equality of things; 4. of space and time; 
 and 5. of the simple and compound. 
 
 O'NUS PROBAN'DI, in law, the bur- 
 den of proving what has been alleged 
 against another. 
 
 O'PENINGS, in architecture, the pierc- 
 ings or unfitted parts in a wall, left for 
 the purpose of admitting light, air, <fec. 
 
 PERA, a musical drama in which 
 the music forms an essential part, and not 
 merely an accompaniment. The whole 
 dramatic art of the ancients possessed 
 much of an operatic character. The 
 choric parts were sur\g ; and if the dia- 
 logue was not carried on in the musical 
 tone termed recitative in modern times, 
 it was certainly delivered in an artifi- 
 cially raised and sustained key, very 
 different from the ordinary or oratorical 
 speech. The first operas in modern times 
 were performed in Italy, about the end 
 of the 15th century. The Orpkeo of 
 Poliziano has been cited as the first com- 
 plete piece of this sort. According as the 
 serious or the comic character prevails in 
 the opera, it is termed opera seria. or opera 
 buffa. The name of grand opera is given 
 to that kind which is confined to music 
 and song ; of which the recitativo is a 
 principal feature. An operetta is a short 
 musical drama of a light character ; to 
 which species of composition the French 
 vaudeville belongs. The opera, properly 
 speaking, admits only of singing and re- 
 citation, although, in some of the German 
 operas, dialogue is also introduced. The 
 romantic opera, which is considered as a 
 German invention, is a compound be- 
 tween the two Italian species. Metasta- 
 sio in Italy, and Goethe in Germany, 
 have both written for the opera ; but 
 these are splendid exceptions, and the 
 poetry has, in most instances, been held 
 entirely subservient to the music. 
 
 O'PHIOMANCY, the art of divination 
 from serpents. Thus, the seven coils of 
 the serpent seen on the tomb of Anchises 
 were held to indicate the number of years 
 of JEneas's future wanderings. 
 
 O'PHITES, the name of an early sect 
 of Christian heretics, who emanated from 
 the Gnostics, so called from their worship- 
 ping the serpent that tempted Eve. They 
 considered the serpent as the father of all 
 the sciences, which, but for the tempta- 
 tion of our first parents, would never have 
 been known. 
 
 OPIN'ION, the judgment which the 
 mind forms of any proposition, for the 
 
 truth or falsehood of which there is not 
 sufficient evidence to produce absolute 
 belief. Some things are known to bo 
 scientifically correct, or capable of mathe- 
 matical demonstration ; but other things 
 depend on testimony. When one or two 
 men relate a story including many cir- 
 cumstances to a third person, and another 
 comes who positively contradicts it, either 
 in whole or in part, he, to whom those 
 jarring testimonies are given, weighs all 
 the circumstances in his own miud, bal- 
 ances the one against the other, and 
 lends an assent more or less wavering, to 
 that side on which the evidence appears 
 to preponderate. This assent is his opin- 
 ion respecting the facts of which he has 
 received such different accounts. 
 
 OPISTHOG'R APHUM, in classical an- 
 tiquity, a set of tickets, or roll of parch- 
 ment or paper, answering the purpose of 
 a memorandum book, or commonplace 
 book, to enter notes and other extempo- 
 rary matters to be revised afterwards : so 
 called from being written over both on 
 the front and back. Any ordinary MS. in 
 which the transcriber had employed both 
 the front and back of the papyrus was 
 indeed an opisthograph, strictly so called. 
 
 OPPOSITION, in politics, a word well 
 understood in free representative govern- 
 ments, but nowhere else : denoting that 
 intelligent and independent spirit in the 
 members of the legislative assembly, 
 which induces them to persevere in op- 
 posing whatever legislation is injurious 
 to the state, but which does not so far in- 
 fluence them as to oppose what is bene- 
 ficial. A temperate and consistent oppo- 
 sition is therefore an essential element 
 of good government ; for though it may 
 struggle against an existing administra- 
 tion, it contributes at the same time to 
 the soundness and vigor of the body poli- 
 tic. Opposition, in logic, the disagree- 
 ment between propositions which have 
 the same subject and the same predicate. 
 In rhetoric, a figure whereby two 
 things are joined, which .-sc'-.:!n incom- 
 patible. 
 
 OP'TATIVE, in grammar, a mode or 
 form of a Greek verb, by which is express- 
 ed the wish or desire to do a thing. 
 
 OPTE'RIA, in antiquity, presents made 
 by the bridgroom to the bride when he 
 first saw her. 
 
 OPTI'MATES, in Roman antiquity, 
 one of the divisions of the Roman people, 
 opposed to the Populares. It does not 
 certainly appear what were the charac- 
 teristic differences betwixt these two par- 
 ties. Some say the Optimates were warm
 
 ORA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 437 
 
 supporters of the dignity of the chief 
 magistrate, and sticklers for the grandeur 
 of the state ; caring little for the other 
 classes ; whereas the Populares boldly 
 stood up for the rights of the people, 
 pleaded for larger privileges, and labored 
 to bring matters nearer to a level. Tully 
 says, that the Optimates were the best 
 citizens, who wished to deserve the appro- 
 bation of the better sort ; and that the 
 Populares courted the favor of the popu- 
 lace, not so much considering what was 
 right, as what would please the people 
 and gratify their own thirst of vain glory. 
 
 OPTI'ME, a scholar in the first class 
 of mathematics at Cambridge. 
 
 OP'TIMISM, that philosophical and 
 religious doctrine which maintains that 
 this world, in spite of its apparent imper- 
 fections, is the best that could have been 
 devised, and that everything in nature is 
 ordered for the best, 
 
 OP'TION, in ecclesiastical law, a pre- 
 rogative of the archbishops of the church 
 of England. Every bishop is bound, im- 
 mediately after his confirmation, to make 
 a legal conveyance to the archbishop of 
 the next avoidance of any one benefice 
 or dignity belonging to his see which the 
 archbishop may choose (whence the 
 name.) 
 
 OR'ACLE, the name primarily given 
 to the response delivered by the ancient 
 heathen divinities to those who consulted 
 them respecting the future, but afterwards 
 applied both to the place where responses 
 were given as well as to the divinities 
 from whom the responses were supposed 
 to proceed. To the desire so natural to 
 man to obtain a glimpse into futurity, 
 coupled with the ennobling belief that his 
 destiny was predetermined in a higher 
 sphere, is doubtless to be traced the 
 origin of the art of divination, which has 
 in all, but more especially in the earlier 
 stages of society, exercised so powerful 
 an influence over the human mind. But, 
 of all the modes of divination, that by 
 consulting the oracle was the most popu- 
 lar. In other cases, as the interpretation 
 of events depended on man alone, there 
 might be mistake or deception ; but in 
 the oracle, when the deity was believed 
 to pronounce either in his own voice or 
 in that of a consecrated agent, it was 
 supposed there could be none. Hence 
 oracles obtained such credit and celebrity 
 in antiquity, but more especially among 
 the Greeks, that they were resorted to 
 on every occasion of doubt and emergen- 
 cy, both by princes and states, as well as 
 by private individuals. The general 
 
 characteristics of oracles were ambiguity, 
 obscurity, and convertibility; so that 
 one answer would agree with several 
 various and sometimes directly opposite 
 events. Thus, when Crossus was on the 
 point of invading the Medes, he consult- 
 ed the oracle of Delphi as to the success 
 of the enterprise, and received for an 
 answer that by passing the river Halys 
 he would ruin a great empire. But 
 whether it was his own empire or that of 
 his enemies that was destined to be ruined 
 was not intimated ; and in either case, 
 the oracle could not fail to be right. 
 
 OR'ANGEMEN, the name given by 
 the Catholics in Ireland to their Protes- 
 tant countrymen, on account of their ad- 
 herence to king William (of the house of 
 Orange,) while the former party support- 
 ed the cause of James II. 
 
 ORA'TION, in modern usage, an ora- 
 tion differs from a sermon, from an argu- 
 ment at the bar, from a speech before a 
 deliberative assembly, and from a popu- 
 lar harangue, though all these are ora- 
 tions in the generic sense. The word is 
 now applied chiefly to discourses pro- 
 nounced on special occasions, as a fune- 
 ral oration, an oration on some anniver- 
 sary. -&c., and to academic declamations. 
 
 OR'ATOR, in modern usage, signifies 
 an eloquent public speaker ; or a person 
 who pronounces a discourse publicly on 
 some special occasion. In ancient Rome 
 orators were advocates of a superior kind, 
 differing from the patrons : the latter 
 were allowed only to plead causes on be- 
 half of their clients; whereas the former 
 might quit ttio forum and ascend the ros- 
 tra or tribunal, to harangue the senate 
 or the people. The orators had rarely a 
 profound knowledge of the law, but they 
 were eloquent, and their style was gene- 
 rally correct and concise. 
 
 ORATO'RIO, a sacred musical compo- 
 sition, consisting of airs, recitatives, du- 
 ets, trios, choruses, &c., the subject of 
 which is generally taken from Scripture. 
 The text is usually in a dramatic form, 
 as in Handel's Samson ; but it sometimes 
 takes the form of a narrative, as in 7s- 
 rael in Es;ypt ; occasionally it is of a 
 mixed character, as in Haydn's Creation ; 
 and sometimes it consists merely of de- 
 tached passages from Scripture as in the 
 Messiah. The origin of oratorios has 
 been variously ascribed ; but the most 
 prevalent opinion regards them as origi- 
 nally founded upon the spiritual songa 
 and dialogues which were sung or recited 
 by the priests of the oratory. The more 
 recent introduction of this species of
 
 438 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ORD 
 
 musical drama is on all sides attributed 
 to St. Philippo Neri, about the middle of 
 the 16th century; but oratorios, properly 
 so culled, were not produced till about 
 a century afterwards. At first the per- 
 sons introduced were sometimes ideal, 
 sometimes parabolical, and sometimes, as 
 in the latter oratorios, taken from sacred 
 history ; but this species of drama soon 
 assumed a more regular form, and orato- 
 rios became great favorites in Italy ; 
 where they were constantly performed 
 during the Carnival ; and they have since 
 given birth to some of the noblest and 
 most elaborate compositions of the great 
 masters both of that and other countries. 
 
 OR'ATORY. the art of speaking well, 
 or of speaking according to the rules of 
 rhetoric, in order to persuade. To con- 
 stitute oratory, the speaking must be just 
 and pertinent to the subject ; it must be 
 methodical, all parts of the discourse 
 being disposed in due order and connec- 
 tion ; and it must be embellished with the 
 beauties of language and pronounced with 
 eloquence. Oratory consists of four parts, 
 invention, disposition, elocution, and pro- 
 nunciation. Diction, manner, gesture, 
 modulation, a methodical arrangement of 
 the several topics to be introduced, and a 
 logical illustration of them, are all essen- 
 tial requisites in oratory ; and, as Cicero 
 has observed, " the action of the body 
 ought to be suited to the expressions, not 
 in a theatrical way, mimicking the words 
 by particular gesticulations, but in a man- 
 ner expressive of the general sense, with 
 a sedate and manly inflection." 
 
 OR'ATORY, signifies, commonly, a 
 room in a private house set apart for 
 prayer. It differs from a chapel, inas- 
 much as it does not contain an altar, nor 
 may mass be celebrated in it. Oratory, 
 Priests of t/ie, a religious order founded 
 by Philip Nevi, in 1574, for the study of 
 theology, and for superintending the re- 
 ligious exercises of the devout ; but they 
 are not bound by monastic vows. This 
 order still exists in Italy. 
 
 OR'CHESTRA, the space in theatres 
 between the stage and the seats of the 
 spectators. It was appropriated by the 
 Greeks to the chorus and musicians, by 
 the Romans to the magistrates and sena- 
 tors, and by moderns to the musicians. 
 The word is also used to denote the whole 
 instrumental band performing together 
 in modern concerts, operas, or sacred 
 music. 
 
 ORDE'AL, an ancient mode of trial, 
 in which an appeal was made to God to 
 manifest the truth, by leaving nature to 
 
 its ordinary course, if the accused were 
 guilty ; by interposing a miracle if inno- 
 cent. This mode of distributing justice 
 in criminal charges prevailed, during the 
 middle ages, throughout almost the whole 
 of Europe ; and it is still practised in 
 some parts of the East Indies. In Eng- 
 land it existed from the time of the Con- 
 fessor to that of Henry III., who abol- 
 ished it by declaration : while it lasted, 
 the more popular modes of resorting to it 
 were those of Jire (or the hot iron,) and 
 of water; the former for freemen and 
 people of rank, the latter for psasants. 
 The method of administering the ordeal 
 by fire, in England, was by placing nine 
 red-hot plough-shares in a line, at certain 
 distances from each other, and requiring 
 the person accused to walk over them 
 barefoot and blindfold. If his feet always 
 alighted in the spaces between the shares, 
 so that he passed ower them unhurt, his 
 success was deemed a divine assertion of 
 his innocence ; if on the contrary, he was 
 burnt, the disaster was an oracular proof 
 of his guilt. The ordeal by water was of 
 two kinds ; either by plunging the bare 
 arm to the elbow in boiling water, or by 
 casting the person suspected into a river 
 or pond of cold water, and if he floated 
 without an effort to swim, it was an evi- 
 dence of guilt, but if he sunk. he was ac- 
 quitted. There were also ordeals by lot, 
 as by the casual choice between a pair of 
 dice, one marked with a cross and the 
 other blank, mentioned in the laws of the 
 Frisons. The famous trial of the bier, in 
 which the supposed perpetrator was re- 
 quired to touch the body of a murdered 
 person, and was pronounced guilty if the 
 blood flowed, may be regarded as a spe- 
 cies of ordeal, although founded more on 
 usage than legal enactment ; as this form 
 of superstition did not become prevalent 
 until later times, when ordeals were no 
 longer a recognized part of the law. To 
 the same head may be referred the vari- 
 ous absurd and cruel methods which were 
 adopted in different countries to try sus- 
 pected witches. Ordeals are of common 
 use in the judicial practice of various 
 heathen nations, especially of the Hin- 
 doos. 
 
 ORDER OF THE DAY, in parliamen- 
 tary usage, one method of superseding a 
 question already proposed to the House is 
 by moving "for the order of the day to 
 be read." This motion, to entitle it to 
 precedence, must be for the order gen- 
 erally, and not for any particular order ; 
 and, if this is carried, the orders must be 
 read and proceeded on in the course ic
 
 ORD] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 439 
 
 which they stand. But it can be in its 
 turn superseded by a motion " to ad- 
 journ." 
 
 OR'DERS, or HO'LY OR'DERS, de- 
 note the character and office peculiar to 
 ecclesiastics, whereby they are set apart 
 for the ministry. Since the Reformation, 
 there are three orders of the clergy ac- 
 knowledged, namely, bishops, priests, and 
 deacons ; whence the phrase, " to be in 
 orders," is the same as to be of the cleri- 
 cal order. Religious orders, associa- 
 tions, or societies of monastics, bound to 
 lead strict and devotional lives, according 
 to the prescribed rules of their respective 
 communities. An order, in fact, consists 
 in the rules to be observed by those who 
 enter it ; thus some orders are more aus- 
 tere than others, and one order dresses in 
 white, while another is habited in'gray or 
 black. Military Orders are societies es- 
 tablished by princes, the members of 
 which are distinguished by particular 
 badges, and consist of persons who have 
 done particular service to the prince and 
 state, or who enjoy, by the privileges of 
 birth, the highest distinctions in the state. 
 They originated from the institutions of 
 chivalry and the ecclesiastical corpora- 
 tions, and were, in the beginning, frater- 
 nities of men, who, in addition to particu- 
 lar duties enjoined by the law of honor, 
 united for the performance of patriotic or 
 Christian purposes. Free birth and an 
 irreproachable life were the conditions of 
 admission. During the time of the cru- 
 sades numerous military orders arose, 
 and were an example for all future or- 
 ders. The oldest of the religious military 
 orders is that of St. John of Jerusalem j 
 and on their model the secular military 
 orders were formed in later times, which 
 united religious with military exercises. 
 But the original pious object of these or- 
 ders was changed, and they acquired by 
 degrees their present character. Or- 
 ders, in law, rules made by the court in 
 causes there depending. 
 
 OR'DINAL, or ORDER, the name 
 given in England to an old work contain- 
 ing the ritual or religious ceremonies ne- 
 cessary to be performed before the or- 
 dination of a priest. It was composed in 
 the reign of Edward VI., and revised by 
 the English clergy in 1552. 
 
 OR'DINANCE, in law, a temporary 
 act of parliament, not introducing any 
 new law, but founded on souie act former- 
 ly made ; consequently, such ordinances 
 might be altered by subsequent ones. 
 
 OR'DINARY, in general signifies com- 
 mon or usual ; thus an ambassador or 
 
 envoy in ordinary, is one sent to reside 
 constantly at some foreign court, in order 
 to preserve a good understanding, and 
 watch over the interest of bis own nation. 
 Ordinary, in the common and canon 
 law, one who has ordinary or immediate 
 jurisdiction. In which sense, archdeacons 
 are ordinaries ; though the appellation is 
 more frequently given to the bishop of 
 the diocese, who has the ordinary ecclesi- 
 astical jurisdiction. 
 
 ORDINA'TION, the conferring holy 
 orders, or initiating a person into the 
 priesthood. In the church of England 
 the first thing necessary on application 
 for holy orders, is the possession of a 
 title. , that is, a sort of assurance from a 
 rector to the bishop, that, provided the 
 latter finds the party fit to be ordained, 
 the former will take him for his curate, 
 with a stated salary. The candidate is 
 then examined by the bishop or his chap- 
 lain, respecting both his faith and his 
 erudition ; and various certificates are 
 necessary, particularly one signed by the 
 clergyman of the parish in which he has 
 resided during a given time. Subscrip- 
 tion to the thirty-nine articles is requir- 
 ed, and a clerk must have attained his 
 twenty-third year before he can be or- 
 dained a deacon ; and his twenty-fourth 
 to receive priest's orders. The ceremony 
 of ordination is performed by the bishop 
 by the imposition of hands on the person 
 to be ordained. In the English church, 
 and in most Protestant countries where 
 the church is connected with the state, 
 ordination is a requisite to preaching ; 
 but in some sects ordination is not consid- 
 ered necessary for that purpose, although 
 it is considered proper previous to the ad- 
 ministration of the sacraments by the 
 preacher. In the Presbyterian and con- 
 gregational churches, ordination means 
 the act of settling or establishing a li- 
 censed preacher over a congregation with 
 pastoral charge and authority : or the 
 act of conferring on a clergyman the 
 powers of a settled minister of the gospel, 
 without the charge of a particular church, 
 but with general powers wherever he 
 may be called to officiate. 
 
 ORD'NANCE, a general name for ar- 
 tillery of every description. Ordnance 
 Office, or Board of Ordnance, an office 
 kept within the tower of London, which 
 superintends and disposes of all the arms, 
 instruments, and utensils of war, both by 
 sea and land, in all the magazines, gar- 
 risons, and forts in Great Britain. The 
 Board of Ordnance is divided into two 
 distinct branches, the civil and the mill-
 
 440 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ORl 
 
 tary; the latter being subordinate to, 
 and under the authority of the former. 
 
 ORD'ONNANCE, in architecture, the 
 right assignment, for convenience and 
 propriety, of the measure of the several j 
 apartments, that they be neither too 
 large nor too small for the purposes of 
 the building, and that they be conveni- 
 ently distributed and lighted. 
 
 ' R E A D S, in Greek mythology, 
 nymphs of the mountains, companions of 
 Diana, and usually invoked along with 
 that goddess. 
 
 OR'GAN, in music, a wind instrument, 
 of ancient invention, blown by bellows, 
 and containing numerous pipes of various 
 kinds and dimensions, which, for its 
 solemnity, grandeur, and rich volume of 
 tone, is particularly fitted for the pur- 
 pose for which it is commonly employed. 
 Organs are sometimes of an immense 
 size. St. Jerome mentions an organ with 
 twelve pair of bellows, which might be 
 heard at the distance of a thousand paces, 
 or a mile ; and another at Jerusalem, 
 which might be heard at the Mount of 
 Olives. The organ in the Cathedral 
 church at Ulm, in Germany, is said to be 
 93 feet high and 28 broad, its largest 
 pipe being 13 inches in diameter, and it 
 having 16 pair of bellows. 
 
 ORGA'NIC LAWS, in modern politi- 
 cal phraseology, the name given to laws 
 directly concerning the fundamental 
 parts of the constitution of a state. Ac- 
 cording to the distinction taken by some 
 French writers, fundamental laws are 
 merely declaratory, containing the princi- 
 ples or theory of government. Organic 
 laws are those which apply those prin- 
 ciples to the actual condition of society, 
 by positive enactment, and add the sanc- 
 tion of punishment. 
 
 ORGA'NISTS, the old name given in 
 the Roman Catholic church to those 
 priests who organized or sang in parts. 
 The name organists of the hallelujah was 
 applied in the 13th century, to certain 
 priests who assisted in the performance 
 of the mass. They were generally four 
 in number, and derived their name from 
 singing in parts, or organizing the melody 
 appropriated to the word hallelujah. 
 
 ORGANIZATION, the processes by 
 which an organized body is formed : also, 
 the totality of the parts which constitute, 
 and of the laws which regulate an organ- 
 ized body. 
 
 OR'GANON, in philosophical lan- 
 guage, nearly synonymous with method, 
 and implying a body of rules and canons 
 for the direction of the scientific faculty, 
 
 either generally or in reference to some 
 particular department ; as, the organon 
 of Aristotle ; the organon of Bacon. The 
 organon of Aristotle is his System of 
 Logic, and contains his Categories, his 
 treatise on Interpretation, or the nature 
 of Propositions, his former and latter 
 Analytics, and his eight books of Topics ; 
 to which may be added, his book on Soph- 
 isms. The Novum, Organon of Bacon 
 contains the development of his system 
 of philosophy, or the inductive system. 
 
 ORGAN POINT, in music, a succession 
 of chords, in some of which the harmony 
 of the fifth is taken unprepared on the 
 bass as a holding note, whether preceded 
 by the tonic or by the harmony of the 
 fourth of the key. 
 
 OR'GIA, in antiquity, feasts and sac- 
 rifices performed in honor of Bacchus, 
 instituted by Orpheus, and chiefly cele- 
 brated on the mountains by wild, dis- 
 tracted women, called bacchce. These 
 feasts were held in the night : hence the 
 term, "nocturnal orgies." 
 
 OR'GUES, in fortification, long and 
 thick pieces of wood shod with iron, and 
 suspended each by a separate rope over a 
 gate so as to be ready to let fall and stop 
 it up upon the approach of an enemy. 
 The term also denotes a machine com- 
 posed of arquebuses, or musket-barrels, 
 linked together so that they may be dis- 
 charged all at once, and used to defend 
 breaches. 
 
 O'RIEL, a large bay or recessed win- 
 dow in a hall, chapel, or other apartment. 
 It usually projects from the outer face of 
 the wall, either in a semi-octagonal or 
 semi-square plan, and is of various kinds 
 and sizes. When not on the ground-floor 
 it is supported on brackets or corbels. 
 
 O'RIENT, the east or eastern part of 
 the horizon. In surveying, to orient a 
 plan signifies to mark its situation or 
 bearing with respect to the four cardinal 
 points. 
 
 ORIEN'TALS, the natives or inhabi- 
 tants of the Eastern parts of the world. 
 It is common to give this appellation to 
 the inhabitants of Asia from the Helles- 
 pont and Mediterranean to Japan. An 
 orientalism is an idiom of the eastern 
 languages. An orientalist, one versed in 
 the eastern languages and literature. 
 
 O'RIFLAMME, the ancient royal 
 standard of France. It was the banner 
 of the abbey of St. Dennis, which was 
 presented by the abbot to the lord-protec- 
 tor of the convent, whenever engaged in 
 the field on its behalf. This protector- 
 ship was attached to the countship of
 
 ORP] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 441 
 
 Vexin ; and when that county was added 
 to the possessions of the crown by Philip 
 I., this banner, which he bore in conse- 
 quence, became, in time, the great stand- 
 ard of the monarchy. By some it is said 
 to have been lost at Agincourt, but, ac- 
 cording to others, its last display in the 
 field was in the reign of Charles VII. 
 
 OR'IGENISTS, in the history of the 
 church, followers of Origen of Alexandria, 
 a celebrated Christian father, who held 
 that the souls of men have a pre-existent 
 state ; that they are holy intelligences, 
 and sin before they are united to the 
 body, <fcc. 
 
 ORIG'INAL, in the Fine Arts, a work 
 not copied from another, but the work of 
 the artist himself. When an artist copies 
 his own work, it is called a duplicate. A 
 certain freedom and ease are always dis- 
 cernible in an original, which in a copy 
 are looked for in vain ; though copies 
 have sometimes been executed which it 
 is almost impossible to detect, and which 
 have deceived even excellent judges. In 
 its more obvious and general sense, the 
 word is used as an adjective, and applied 
 to such productions as possess the princi- 
 ples of novelty or invention, as distin- 
 guished from that of imitation or man- 
 nerism ; but as a substantive, it means 
 such works as are the undoubted perfor- 
 mances of the great masters in any given 
 art or branch of art, a distinction which 
 it is often very difficult to award justly, 
 and which has been consequently given, 
 over and over again, through want of 
 complete evidence, to successful and spir- 
 ited copies. 
 
 ORIL'LON, in fortification, a round 
 mass of earth faced with a wall, raised 
 on the shoulder of those bastions that 
 have casements to cover the cannon of 
 the retired flank. 
 
 ORI'ON, in Greek mythology, the son 
 of Hyrieus; according to Homer a youth 
 slain by Diana, on account of the love 
 borne to him by Aurora; but according 
 to others, a king and a mighty hunter. 
 Antiquity is full of contradictions re- 
 specting the origin, character, and fate of 
 this mythological personage, and the 
 only point in which it agrees respecting 
 him is in his elevation to the stars after 
 his death. 
 
 OR'LO, in architecture, the plinth to 
 the base of a column or a pedestal. 
 
 R' MO LU, bronze or copper, gilt, 
 usually goes under this name. The 
 French are celebrated in this branch of 
 manufacture. 
 
 ORNITH'OMANCY, divination by the 
 
 flight of birds. The Efcruscans were the 
 most celebrated practisers of it. 
 
 OROMAS'DES, in Persian mythology, 
 the principle of Good, created by the will 
 of the great eternal spirit Zeruane Ak- 
 herene, simultaneously with Ahriman, 
 the principle of evil, with whom he is in 
 perpetual conflict. Oromasdes is the 
 creator of the earth, sun, moon, and stars, 
 to which he originally assigned each its 
 proper place, and whose various move- 
 ments he continues to regulate. Ac- 
 cording to the Persian myths, the world 
 which is to last 12,000 years, during 
 which the war between the Good and 
 Evil principle is to go on increasing, is 
 at length to bo consumed, the Evil prin- 
 ciple exterminated, and a new world be 
 formed. 
 
 OR'PHAN, a fatherless child or minor; 
 or one that is deprived both of father and 
 mother. The lord chancellor is the gen 
 eral guardian of all orphans and minor" 
 throughout the realm. In London the 
 lord-mayor and aldermen have the cus- 
 tody of the orphans of deceased freemen, 
 and also the Keeping of their lands and 
 goods : accordingly, the executors or ad- 
 ministrators of freemen leaving such or- 
 phans, are to exhibit inventories of the 
 estates of the deceased, and give security 
 to the chamberlain of London for the 
 orphan's part. 
 
 OR'PHANS' COURT, a court in some 
 states of the United States of America, 
 having jurisdiction of the persons and 
 estates of orphans. 
 
 OR'PHEAN MYSTERIES, the mys- 
 teries of which Orpheus was the founder 
 were so called. These mysteries were at 
 a remote period in the highest estimation, 
 and exercised an important influence over 
 the intellectual development of mankind. 
 Their nature is involved in an impenetra- 
 ble veil of obscurity ; but there can be 
 no doubt that they partook of the general 
 character of all mysteries, inculcating a 
 purer knowledge of religion than was 
 compatible with the superstitious obser- 
 vances then prevalent. On the union of 
 these mysteries with the Bacchanalian 
 orgies they fell into merited contempt, 
 and were at length gradually disused. 
 The initiated in these mysteries, as well 
 as the persons employed to initiate candi- 
 dates in them, were called, in some cases, 
 OrpheotelestcB. 
 
 OR'PHEUS, a mythological personage ; 
 according to the common story, :i son of 
 the Thraoian river /Eagrus and the muse 
 Calliope. His power of moving inani- 
 mate things by music, the share he borft
 
 442 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITEllATURB 
 
 OSS 
 
 in the Argonautic expedition, his descent 
 into the Shades to recover his wife Eury- 
 dice, and his death by the violence of the 
 Thraeian women, are well-known circum- 
 stances in ancient romantic fable. Mod- 
 erns have imagined that his name is a 
 general mythic designation for the earliest 
 bards who came with their art from Thrace 
 to Greece. Whether any fragments of 
 poetry either of the real Orpheus or 
 of this supposed school, existed in Grecian 
 classical ages, has been doubted. What 
 passed as the poetry of Orpheus in the 
 time of Aristotle seems to have been 
 decidedly supposititious, as much so as the 
 poems which we possess under the same 
 name, some of which are thought to be 
 as recent as the 4th century after Christ. 
 According to modern theories, the Orphic 
 poetry of ancient times contained the 
 whole body of Grecian esoterical religion 
 and import of the Mysteries. 
 
 OR'THODOX, or OR'THODOXY, these 
 terms are restricted in application to 
 right judgments in matters of religious 
 faith; and although every sect maintains 
 of course the exclusive correctness of its 
 own views, yet the title of orthodoxy is 
 appropriated by ecclesiastical historians 
 to the standard maintained by the Catho- 
 lic or universal church. The term ortho- 
 dox is generally restricted also to those 
 principal tenets which have been always 
 held by the great mass of professing Chris- 
 tians : large bodies of dissenters in Eng- 
 land are allowed by the church to be 
 orthodox, inasmuch as they hold the three 
 creeds, and therefore profess the principal 
 articles of the Christian faith in common 
 with those who differ from them in mat- 
 ters of church authority and discipline. 
 
 OR'THOEPY, the art of uttering words 
 with propriety ; a correct pronunciation 
 of words. 
 
 ORTHOG'RAPHY, that part of gram- 
 mar which teaches the nature and prop- 
 erties of letters, and the proper spelling 
 or writing of words. In architecture, the 
 elevation or representation of the front 
 of abuilding. The internal orthography, 
 called also a section, is a delineation of 
 a building, such as it would appear if the 
 external wall were removed. In per- 
 spective, the right side of any plane, i. e. 
 the side or plane that lies parallel to a 
 straight line which may be imagined to 
 pass through the outward convex points 
 of the eyes, continued to a convenient 
 length. 
 
 O'RUS, an Egyptian god, son of Isis 
 and Osiris, according to Herodotus ; an- 
 swering to the Greek Apollo. He frequent- 
 
 ly appears in Egyptian paintings sitting 
 on the lap of Isis. 
 
 OSIAN'DRIANS, in ecclesiastical his- 
 tory, a sect among the Lutherans ; so 
 called from their founder Osiander, a 
 celebrated divine. They differed from 
 the followers of Luther and Calvin as to 
 the efficient cause of the justification. 
 
 OSI'RIS, in mythology, one of the chief 
 Egyptian divinities, the brother and hus- 
 band of Isis, and, together with her, the 
 greatest benefactor of Egypt, in to which he 
 introduced a knowledge of religion, laws, 
 and the arts and sciences. After having 
 accomplished great reformations at home, 
 he visited the greater part of Europe and 
 Asia, where he enlightened the minds of 
 men by teaching them the worship of the 
 gods and the arts of civilization. He was 
 styled " the Manifester of Good ;" and to 
 this title he had an undisputed right, for 
 he appeared on earth to benefit mankind ; 
 and after having performed the duties he 
 had come to fulfil, and fallen a sacrifice 
 to Typhon the evil principle (which was 
 at length overcome by his influence after 
 his leaving the world,) he ''rose again to 
 a new life," and became the "judge of 
 mankind in a future state." Other titles 
 of Osiris were, " President of the West," 
 " Lord of the East," " Lord of Lords," 
 " Eternal Ruler." " King of the Gods," 
 <tc. Osiris has been identified with many 
 of the Grecian divinities ; but more espe- 
 cially with Jupiter, Pluto, and with Bac- 
 chus, on account of bis reputed conquest 
 of India. Osiris was particularly wor- 
 shipped at Philae and Abydus : so sacred 
 was the former that no one was permitted 
 to visit it without express permission ; 
 and the latter was regarded with such 
 veneration that persons living at a dis- 
 tance from it sought, and with difficulty 
 obtained, permission to possess a sepul- 
 chre within its necropolis. 
 
 OS'SIAN'S POEMS, the name given 
 to a collection of poems, alleged to have 
 been the production of Ossian, the son of 
 Fingal, a Scottish bard, who lived in the 
 third century. They were first given to 
 the world in an English version by James 
 M'Pherson, Esq., in 1760, with the assur- 
 ance that they were translations made 
 by himself from ancient Erse manuscripts 
 which he had collected in the Highlands 
 of Scotland ; and such was the enthusiasm 
 which their appearance excited, that they 
 may be almost said to have given a new 
 tone to poetry throughout all Europe. 
 There were not, however, wanting many 
 distinguished persons who, from the first, 
 denied their authenticity; foremost among
 
 OTT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 443 
 
 whom was Dr. Johnson, who boldly pro- 
 nounced the whole of the poems ascribed 
 to Ossian to be forgeries ; and his opinion 
 was corroborated by Hume, Gibbon, and 
 many others, who defied M'Pherson to 
 produce a manuscript of any Erse poem 
 of earlier date than the sixteenth century. 
 On the other hand, M'Pherson's asser- 
 tions as to the genuineness of the poems 
 found warm supporters in Dr. Blair, Dr. 
 Henry, Lord Kaimes, and many other 
 distinguished names, and almost to a man 
 in the whole body of the Highlanders. 
 In this unsettled state the controversy 
 remained till the year 1800, when Mal- 
 colm Laing, so well known for his histor- 
 ical labors, in a Dissertation appended 
 to the second volume of his History of 
 Scotland, endeavored to establish, from 
 historical and internal evidence, that the 
 so called poems of Ossian are absolutely 
 and totally spurious. The sensation cre- 
 ated by this Dissertation was unprece- 
 dented. Many converts were made to 
 the opinions therein set forth ; but the 
 general disbelief in the authenticity of 
 the poems was not complete till 1805, 
 when a committee of the Highland Soci- 
 ety of Edinburgh, which had been ap- 
 pointed in 1797 to inquire into their na- 
 ture and authenticity, reported to the 
 effect " that they had not been able to 
 obtain any one poem the same in title 
 and tenor with the poems of Ossian." 
 Since that period the controversy, so far 
 as it regards their translation from Erse 
 manuscripts, may be said to be terminat- 
 ed. But although these poems had never 
 been committed to writing, or rather have 
 not been handed down in writing, there 
 can be, we believe, .but little doubt that 
 many of them still exist in the Highlands 
 of Scotland, in a dress not very different 
 from that in which they were rendered 
 by M'Pherson into English, having been 
 committed to memory, and transmitted 
 from one bard or storyteller to another 
 in regular succession; and consequently 
 their pretensions to be regarded as his- 
 torical authority on many points can 
 scarcely be denied. Their scene is some- 
 times laid in Scotland, but more fre- 
 quently in Ireland ; and they may be 
 justly considered the Iliad and Odyssey 
 of the Celtic race of the two islands, 
 handed down by tradition only what the 
 poems of Homer were, in all likelihood, 
 to the Greeks themselves before they 
 were acquainted with the art of writ- 
 ing. 
 
 OSSILE'GIUM, in antiquity, the act 
 of collecting the bones and ashes of the 
 
 dead after the funeral-pile was consumed, 
 and which was performed by the friends 
 or near relations of the deceased, who 
 first washed their hands and ungirt their 
 garments. When all the bones were col- 
 lected, they were washed with wine, milk, 
 perfumes, and the tears of friends ; after 
 this ceremony was over, the relics were 
 put into an urn, and deposited in a sep- 
 ulchre. 
 
 OS'TRACISM, in Grecian antiquity, a 
 kind of popular judgment or condemna- 
 tion among the Athenians, whereby such 
 persons as had power and popularity 
 enough to attempt anything against the 
 public liberty were banished for a term 
 of ten years. This punishment was called 
 ostracism, from a Greek word which 
 properly signifies a shell ; but, when ap- 
 plied to this object, it is used for the bil- 
 let on which the Athenians wrote the 
 names of the citizens whom they intended 
 to banish, which was a piece of baked 
 earth, or tile, in the form of a shell. If 
 6000 of the shells deposited in the place 
 appointed were in favor of the banish- 
 ment of the accused, it took effect ; other- 
 wise he was acquitted. After the expi- 
 ration of ten years, the exiled citizen was 
 at liberty to return to his country, and 
 take possession of his wealth, and all his 
 civil privileges. To this sentence no dis- 
 grace was attached; for it was never in- 
 flicted upon criminals, but only upon 
 those who had excited the jealousy or 
 suspicion of their fellow-citizens, by the 
 influence they had gained by peculiar 
 merit, wealth, or other causes. Aristotle 
 and Plutarch called ostracism the " med- 
 icine of the state." 
 
 OTTA'VA RI'MA, an Italian form of 
 versification, consisting of stanzas of two 
 alternate triplets and a couplet at the 
 end : the verses being, in the proper Ital- 
 ian metre, the heroic of eleven syllables. 
 It is a happy metre, in the hands of an 
 able versifier, for the expression of feel- 
 ings varying from the sublime and pa- 
 thetic to the humorous ; although rather 
 deficient in variety, and possessing too 
 little repose and solemnity for the sus- 
 tained majesty of epic poetry. It has 
 been adopted by the Germans, who have 
 given it something of an elegiac turn ; 
 and, of late, by English poets, of whom 
 the most distinguished is Lord Byron, 
 who has employed it in his Beppo and 
 Don Juan, works belonging to a mixed 
 class of poetry, between the serious and 
 the burlesque. 
 
 OT'TOMAN, an appellation given to 
 what pertains to the Turks or their gov-
 
 444 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 ernment ; as, the Ottoman power or em- 
 pire. The word originated in Othman, 
 the name of a sultan who assumed the 
 government about the year 1300. The 
 finest countries of the old world have 
 been ruled for five hundred years by the 
 Turks, or Ottomans, a mixed people, com- 
 posed of Tartars, robbers, slaves, and kid- 
 napped Christian children. 
 
 OUT'LAWRY, the putting a man out 
 of the protection of the law, or the pro- 
 cess by which a man is deprived of that 
 protection. A defendant is outlawed in 
 Great Britain, upon certain proceedings 
 being had, when he does not appear to 
 answer to an indictment or process. On 
 an outlawry for felony, the person forfeits 
 his lands, goods, and chattels. In person- 
 al actions, the goods and chattels only are 
 liable ; and they are forfeited to the king, 
 with the profits of the lands ; for the 
 party being without the law, is incapable 
 of taking care of them himself. In an 
 indictment for treason or felony, an out- 
 lawry of the party indicted is equivalent 
 to a conviction. But in the case of either 
 treason or felony, an outlawry may be 
 reversed by a writ of error, or plea ; and 
 the judgment upon the reversal is, that 
 the party shall be restored to all that he 
 lost, &c. ; he must, however, plead to the 
 indictment against him. 
 
 OUT'LINE, contour; the line by which 
 a figure is defined ; the exterior line. In 
 drawing, the representation of an imagi- 
 nary line circumscribing the boundary of 
 the visible superficies of objects, without 
 indicating by shade or light the elevations 
 or depressions, and without color. The 
 study of contour or outline is of the 
 greatest importance to the painter, and 
 in recent times great attention has been 
 paid to it. The first sketch of a figure. 
 First general sketch of any scheme or 
 design. 
 
 OUT'WORKS, in fortification, all those 
 works of a fortress which are situated 
 without the principal wall, within or be- 
 yond the principal ditch. They are de- 
 signed not only to cover the body of the 
 place, but also to keep the enemy at a 
 distance, and prevent his taking advan- 
 tage of the cavities and elevations usual- 
 ly found in the places about the counter- 
 scarp, which might serve them either as 
 lodgments, or as rideaux, to facilitate the 
 carrying on their trenches, and planting 
 their batteries against the place : such 
 are ravelins, tenailles, horn-works, crown- 
 works, Ac. 
 
 0V A'TION, an inferior kind of triumph 
 which, according to the ancient Roman 
 
 custom, was granted to distinguished mil- 
 itary leaders. Some antiquaries imagine 
 the distinction between the triumph and 
 the ovation to have originally consisted, 
 not in the greater or less degree of honor, 
 but in the latter being strictly appropri- 
 ated to successes by which peace was ob- 
 tained, or to distinguish brilliant achieve- 
 ments in time of peace. Thus we find 
 that ovations were permitted, though 
 triumphs were not, in civil wars. An 
 ovation was celebrated by Mark Antony 
 and Octavius to solemnize their recon- 
 ciliation. 
 
 O'VERT ACT, in law, an open or 
 manifest act from whence criminality is 
 implied. No indictment for high treason 
 is good unless some overt act is alleged in it. 
 
 O'VERTURE, the introductory piece 
 of music prefixed to an opera or oratorio. 
 Its movements in works of the modern 
 school generally contain snatches of the 
 more prominent and leading airs in the 
 opera, and introduce the audience to a 
 general notion of the emotions which it 
 is the desire of the author to excite. The 
 word overture also signifies a proposal. ; 
 in which sense it is always used in the 
 Presbyterian church to indicate those res- 
 olutions proposed by presbyteries and 
 synods, and afterwards laid before the 
 General Assembly, either for its sanction 
 or rejection. 
 
 O'VOLO, in architecture, a moulding 
 whose profile is the quadrant of a circle ; 
 though in Grecian architecture there is a 
 deviation from that exact form, which is 
 most apparent at the upper portion, 
 where it resembles the form of an egg, 
 whence this moulding derives its name. 
 
 OWL, THE, among the ancients, 
 generally was considered as an omen of 
 misfortune or death. As, however, ac- 
 cording to Philostratus, theEgyptians rep- 
 resented Minerva under the form of an 
 owl, the Athenians, so peculiarly under 
 the care of this goddess, looked upon the 
 appearance of this bird as a favorable 
 omen. From this circumstance it formed 
 upon ancient coins, the symbol of Athens 
 and her foreign possessions. 
 
 OWL'ING, so called from its being 
 usually carried on in the night, is the 
 offence of transporting wool or sheep out 
 of England, contrary to the statute. 
 
 OX'GANG, in English antiquities, was 
 used to signify as much land as a single 
 ox could ear or plough in a season. The 
 oxgang was contracted or expanded ac- 
 cording to the quality of the land ; forty 
 acres constituting the maximum and six 
 the minimum of the measure.
 
 PAG] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 445 
 
 OXYMO'RON, a rhetorical figure, in 
 which an epithet of a quite contrary sig- 
 nification is added to a word; as, tender 
 cruelty. 
 
 O'YER AND TEE/MINER, in law, a 
 court by virtue of the king's commission, 
 to hear and determine all treasons, felo- 
 nies, and misdemeanors. 
 
 YES, in law, corrupted from the 
 French "oyez,hear ye;" the expression 
 used by the crier of a court, in order to 
 enjoin silence when any proclamation is 
 made. 
 
 P. 
 
 P, a consonant of the labial series. As 
 was to bo expected from the approxima- 
 tion of this letter in sound to b, it is sus- 
 ceptible of interchange with the latter in 
 nearly all the languages of which we have 
 any knowledge, but more especially in 
 the German. P. M. stands for post me- 
 ridiem, afternoon; P. S. for postscript. 
 As a numeral, P, like C, stands for one 
 hundred, and with a dash over it, P, for 
 four hundred thousand. P, in music, an 
 abbreviation of the Italian word piano, 
 soft, denoting that the force of the voice 
 or instrument is to be diminished. P.P. 
 means piu piano, or more soft ; and 
 P. P. P. pianissimo, as soft as possible. 
 
 PACA'LI A, a feast among the Romans 
 in honor of the goddess Pax. or peace, 
 who was worshipped as a deity with great 
 solemnity, and honored with an altar and 
 a magnificent temple. 
 
 PACHA', or PASHAW, the military 
 governor of a Turkish province. The 
 most distinguished of them have three 
 horse tails carried before them; the in- 
 ferior, two. Though the pacha is ap- 
 pointed and removed at the will of the 
 sultan, his powef* is very groat, and the 
 provincial administration is in his hands. 
 This word is also written bashaw. 
 
 PA'CHACA'MAC, the name given by 
 the idolaters of Peru to the being whom 
 they worshipped as the creator of the 
 universe ; this divinity was held in the 
 highest veneration. In the fruitful val- 
 ley of Pachncama (whence the name) the 
 incas dedicated to his honor a temple of 
 such splendor and wealth, that notwith- 
 standing the rapacity of the Spanish 
 soldiers, by whom it was plundered pre- 
 viously to the arrival of Pizarro, that 
 general is said to have drawn from it treas- 
 ures to the amount of 900,000 ducats. 
 The ruins of this temple which still re- 
 
 main, furnish a high notion of its former 
 magnificence. 
 
 PACIFICA'TION, EDICTS OF, the 
 term usually applied to the edicts issued 
 by the French monarchs in favor of their 
 Protestant subjects, in the view of allay-, 
 ing the commotions occasioned by their 
 previous persecutions. The first edict of 
 this nature was promulgated by Charles 
 IX. in 1562 ; but the most celebrated was 
 the edict of Nantes issued by Henry IV. 
 in 1598, and revoked by Louis XIV. in 
 1685. 
 
 PAC'TIO, among the Romans, was a 
 temporary cessation from hostilities ; a 
 truce or league for a limited time. It 
 differed from Fcedus, which was a per- 
 petual league, and required one of those 
 heralds called Feciales, to confirm it by 
 solemn proclamation ; neither of which 
 conditions were necessary in the truce 
 called Pactio. 
 
 PAD'ISHAH, a title assumed by the 
 Turkish sultan. Formerly the Ottoman 
 Porte applied that name only to the king 
 of France, calling the other European sov- 
 ereigns koral ; but it has since been ap- 
 plied to other foreign princes of Europe. 
 
 PA'DUAN COINS, in the Fine Arts, 
 coins forged by the celebrated Paduans, 
 Cavino and Bassiano ; who were also the 
 artists employed on the pope's medals, 
 from Julius III. to Gregory XIII. (1571.) 
 These coins hold the first rank in imita- 
 tions of ancient medals for their masterly 
 execution. 
 
 Pj35'AN, among the ancients, a song 
 of rejoicing in honor of Apollo, chiefly 
 used on occasions of victory and triumph. 
 Such songs were named Paeans, because 
 the words lo Paean ! frequently occurred 
 in them, which alluded to Apollo's contest 
 with the serpent. Paean, in ancient poe- 
 try, a foot of four syllables, of which there 
 are four kinds, the paean primus, secun- 
 dus, &c. 
 
 P^'DOBAP'TISTS, those who hold 
 that baptism should be administered dur- 
 ing infancy. The great majority of Chris- 
 tian churches which allow the baptism of 
 infants are thus denominated from that 
 circumstance, and are thereby distin- 
 guished from the Antipredobaptists. i. e., 
 those who deny the validity of infant 
 baptism. 
 
 P^EDOTHY'SIA, the inhuman custom 
 of sacrificing children, which prevailed 
 among the heathens. 
 
 PAGANA'LIA, in antiquity, certain 
 festivals observed by the Romans in the 
 month of January. They were instituted 
 by Servius Tullius, who appointed a cer-
 
 446 
 
 CYCLOPKDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [l J AO 
 
 tain number of villages (pagi,) in each of 
 which an altar was to be raised for an- 
 nual sacrifices to their tutelar gods, at 
 which all the inhabitants were to assist. 
 and give presents in money according to 
 their sex and age, by which means the 
 number of country-people was known. 
 
 PA'GANISM, the religion of the hea- 
 then world, in which the Deity is rep- 
 resented under various forms, and by all 
 kinds of images or idols ; it is therefore 
 called idolatry or image worship. The 
 theology of the pagans was of three sorts, 
 fabulous, natural, and political or civil. 
 The first treats of the genealogy, worship, 
 and attributes of their deities, who were 
 for the most part the offspring of the 
 imagination of poets, painters, and stat- 
 uaries. The natural theology of the 
 pagans was studied and taught by the 
 philosophers, who rejected the multiplici- 
 ty of gods introduced by the poets, and 
 brought their theology to a more rational 
 form. The political or civil theology of 
 the pagans was instituted by legislators, 
 statesmen, and politicians to keep the 
 people in subjection to the civil power. 
 This chiefly related to their temples, al- 
 tars, sacrifices, and rites of worship. In 
 its origin paganism, as a system, was 
 simple. A few great divinities were 
 placed in heaven to guide the affairs of 
 the visible and invisible worlds. By de- 
 grees each great planet, each law of na- 
 ture, each region and city, nay each river, 
 fountain, wood, tree, mineral, had its tu- 
 telary divinity. The laws of nature were 
 often inexplicable ; what more obvious 
 than to infer that each was subject to a su- 
 perior power 1 As the ideas of men became 
 more precise and refined, gods were placed 
 over human faculties and passions : thus 
 the understanding and the will, love and 
 revenge, were the offspring of certain dei- 
 ties. Mere abstractions were similarly 
 personified ; until the empire of reason, 
 of sentiment, and of morals, was as much 
 pervaded as earth, air, and ocean with 
 these visionary beings. In all countries 
 we find instances of deification of individu- 
 als. Thus he who during life, proved 
 himself a benefactor to his countrymen, 
 who taught them useful arts, or freed 
 them from some impending evil, would 
 be regarded with affectionate admiration 
 by his contemporaries ; and time, which 
 so constantly increases every object, 
 would convert a great exploit, a shining 
 virtue, into a divine effort. But it not 
 unfrequently happened that men were 
 often deified for brute strength, unac- 
 companied by those elevated mental qual- 
 
 ities which form the noblest distinction 
 of the hero. It may, however, be observ- 
 ed, that in such cases men were always 
 reverenced for the quality most wanted 
 in a state. If a district were infested by 
 wild beasts, or by predatory savages, a 
 Hercules arose to free it. If a country 
 required laws, a Minos established them. 
 If the culture of the grape was unknown, a 
 Bacchus appeared to teach it. Such ben- 
 efactors, it was believed, deserved, as 
 they certainly obtained, the peculiar fa- 
 vor of heaven rewards which far trans- 
 cended those bestowed on other men. In 
 most cases, however, each was held to be 
 a divinity, or at least the offspring of one. 
 As the generation of the gods was a re- 
 ceived tenet, and their union with mortals 
 of constant occurrence, imagination had 
 little difficulty in the filiation of a ben 
 efactor. Moat nations were eager to 
 proclaim a god as their founder ; and 
 when one laid claim to the honor, the ex- 
 ample was speedily followed by others 
 with equal appearance of justice. Hence 
 the prodigious number of divinities ; 
 heaven and hell, the earth and the plan- 
 ets, air and ocean, the whole frame of na- 
 ture, every part of the universe, visible 
 and invisible, even the realms of imagina- 
 tion, being pervaded by them ; and hence 
 idolatry became a complicated system, 
 endless in its forms of worship as in its 
 objects. 
 
 PA'GEANT, in its general sense, apub- 
 lic representation or exhibition of a showy 
 and splendid character. It was a very 
 early custom in the middle ages, both in 
 England and on the Continent, to celebrate 
 festive occasions of a public nature, as 
 royal visits, marriages. <fcc., by some orna- 
 mental show in the public streets of cities. 
 During the period of chivalry these shows 
 began to be exhibited with the addition 
 of masked figures, repreitenting allegori- 
 cal personages, with appropriate scenery ; 
 and as, in process of time, speeches in 
 verse or prose were put into the mouths 
 of these figures, and sometimes a kind 
 of dramatic entertainment performed be- 
 tween them, the pageant consequently 
 holds a place in early English literature. 
 
 PAGO'DA, a Hindoo place of worship, 
 divided, like our churches, into an open 
 space, a place for worship, and an interior 
 or chancel. The most remarkable pago- 
 das are those of Benares, Siarn, Pegu, 
 and particularly that of Juggernaut, in 
 Orissa. In the interior of these build- 
 ings, besides altars and statues of the 
 gods, there are many curiosities. The 
 statues, which are likewise called pago-
 
 PAL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 447 
 
 das, and which are often numerous, are 
 usually rude images of baked earth, 
 richly gilt, but without any kind of ex- 
 pression. Pagoda is also the name of a 
 gold or silver coin current in Hindostan, 
 of different values in different parts of 
 India, from $2.00 to $2.25. 
 
 PAINS AND PEN'ALTIES, in law, 
 an act for the infliction of pains and 
 penalties beyond or contrary to the com- 
 mon law, in the particular cases of great 
 public offenders. 
 
 PAINTING, the art of representing 
 objects in nature, or scenes in human life, 
 with fidelity and passion. It was coeval 
 with civilization, and practised, with suc- 
 cess by the Greeks and Romans ; obscured 
 for many centuries, but revived in Italy 
 in the 15th century, where it produced 
 the Roman, Venetian, and Tuscan schools ; 
 afterwards, the German, Dutch, Flemish, 
 French and Spanish schools ; and, finally, 
 the English school, which equals, and bids 
 fair to transcend them all, in correct- 
 ness of drawing, effect of coloring, and 
 taste of design. It is distinguished into 
 historical painting, portrait painting, 
 landscape painting, animal painting, ma- 
 rine painting, &c. ; and as regards the 
 form and the materials, into painting in 
 oil, water colors, fresco, miniature, dis- 
 temper, mosaic, <fcc. Historical paint- 
 ing is the noblest and most compre- 
 hensive of all branches of the art ; for 
 in that the painter vies with the poet, 
 embodying ideas, and representing them 
 to the spectator. He must have technical 
 skill, a practised eye and hand, and must 
 understand how to group his skilfully 
 executed parts so as to produce a beauti- 
 ful composition ; and all this is insuf- 
 ficient without a poetic spirit which can 
 form a striking conception of an histori- 
 cal event, or create imaginary scenes of 
 beauty. The following rules of criticism 
 in painting have been laid down : 1. The 
 subject must be well imagined, and, if 
 possible, improved in the painter's hands ; 
 he must think well as an historian, poet, 
 or philosopher ; and more especially as 
 a painter, in making a wise use of all 
 the advantages of his art, and in finding 
 expedients to supply its defects. 2. The 
 expression must be proper to the sub- 
 ject, and the characters of the persons ; 
 it must be strong, so that the dumb- 
 show may be perfectly and readily un- 
 derstood ; every part of the picture must 
 contribute to this end; colors, animals, 
 draperies, and especially the attitudes of 
 the figures. 3. There must be one prin- 
 cipal light, and this and all the subor- 
 
 dinate ones, with the shadows and re- 
 poses, must make one entire and harmo- 
 nious mass ; while the several parts must 
 be well connected and contrasted, so 
 so as to make the whole as grateful to 
 the eye as a good piece of music is to 
 the ear. 4. The drawing must be just ; 
 nothing must be out of place, or ill-pro- 
 portioned ; and the proportions should 
 vary according to the characters of the 
 persons drawn. 5. The coloring, whether 
 gay or solid, must bo natural, and such 
 as delights the eye, in shadows as well 
 as in lights and in middle tints ; and the 
 colors, whether they are laid on thick, or 
 finely wrought, must appear to have been 
 applied by a light and accurate hand. 6. 
 Nature must be the obvious foundation of 
 the piece ; but nature must be raised and 
 improved, not only from what is common- 
 ly seen to what is rarely met with, but 
 even yet higher, from a judicious and 
 beautiful idea in the painter's mind. 
 
 PAIR'ING, in parliamentary lan- 
 guage, that practice by which two mem- 
 bers of a legislative body, of opposite po- 
 litical opinions, agree to absent them- 
 selves from divisions of the house during 
 a stated period. 
 
 PAL'ACE, a magnificent house in 
 which a sovereign or other distinguished 
 person resides ; as a royal palace ; a pon- 
 tifical palace ; a ducal palace. Palace- 
 Court, a court in England which admin- 
 isters justice between the domestic ser- 
 vants of the crown. 
 
 PAL'ADIN, a name formerly given to 
 the knights-errant, who travelled from 
 place to place to give proofs of their 
 valor and their gallantry ; extolling their 
 own mistresses as unrivalled in beauty, 
 and compelling those who refused to ac- 
 knowledge the truth of their panegyrics 
 to engage with them in mortal combat. 
 Of this kind the most famous were Ama- 
 dis of Gaul and the brave Roland or 
 Orlando. 
 
 PAL^EOG'RAPHY. a description of an- 
 cient writings, inscriptions, characters, <fec. 
 
 PAL^ES'TRA, in Grecian antiquity, a 
 public building where the youth exercised 
 themselves in wrestling, running, play- 
 ing at quoits, &c. Some say the palses- 
 tra consisted both of a college and an 
 academy, the one for exercises of the 
 mind, the other for those of the body ; 
 but most authors describe the palaestra 
 as a mere academy for bodily exercises. 
 
 PALANQUIN', or PALANKEEN', a 
 sort of litter or covered carriage, used in 
 the East Indies, and borne on the should- 
 ers of four porters, called coolies, eight of
 
 448 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PAN 
 
 whom are attached to it, and who relieve 
 each other. They are usually provided 
 with a bed and cushions, and a curtain, 
 which can bo dropped when the occupant 
 is disposed to sleep. The motion is easy, 
 and the travelling in this way safe and 
 rapid. 
 
 PALA'RIA, in antiquity, an exercise 
 performed by the Roman soldiers, to im- 
 prove them in all their necessary ma- 
 noeuvres. 
 
 PAL'ATINE, an epithet applied ori- 
 ginally to persons holding an office or 
 employment in the palace of a sover- 
 eign ; hence it imports possessing royal 
 privileges, as the counties palatine of 
 Lancaster, Chester, and Durham, in Eng- 
 land, which have particular jurisdictions. 
 On the continent a palatine, or count 
 palatine, is a person delegated by a 
 prince to hold courts of justice in a prov- 
 ince, or one who has a palace and a court 
 of justice in his own house.. All the 
 princes of the German empire were ori- 
 ginally servants of the imperial crown. 
 In course of time they acquired indepen- 
 dent authority, and secured that author- 
 ity to their heirs : among these was the 
 count palatine, or of the palace, in the 
 German language denominated the pfalz- 
 graf. This officer was a president who 
 decided upon appeals made to the emper- 
 or himself, from the judgment of provin- 
 cial courts. All titles, except that of 
 lord, which is complimentary, and belong- 
 ed to territory, were originally official, 
 as are those of judge, general, Ac., at 
 this day. 
 
 PALEOL'OGY, a discourse or treatise 
 on antiquities, or the knowledge of an- 
 cient things. 
 
 PAL'FRE Y, a word seldom used except 
 in novels and romances to signify a small 
 or gentle horse, such as is fit for a lady's 
 use. It is also used by the old poetical 
 writers for a horse used by kings or noble- 
 men, or on state occasions. 
 
 PALI'CI, in Grecian mythology, twin 
 divinities worshipped in Sicily, and espe- 
 cially in the neighborhood of JEtna ; 
 sons, according to some, of Jupiter and 
 Thalia, the daughter of Vulcan ; accord- 
 ing to others, of Vulcan and ..Etna, 
 daughter of Ocean. Their heads appear 
 on coins of Catania. 
 
 PA'LIMPSEST, the name given to a 
 sort of parchment, from which whatever 
 was written thereon might be erased, so 
 as to admit of its being written on anew. 
 The term means, literally, twice rubbed. 
 
 PALINDROME, in composition, a 
 verse or lino which reads the same either 
 
 forwards or backwards ; e. g. that which 
 is put in the mouth of Satan Signa te, 
 signa, temere me fangis el angis (cross 
 thyself, cross thyself, you touch and tor- 
 ment me in vain ;) or, Roma tibi subito 
 motibus ibit amor. 
 
 PALINGENE'SIA, in philosophy, a 
 new or second birth regeneration. The 
 doctrine of the destruction and reproduc- 
 tion of worlds and living beings is Orien- 
 tal ; but the word in question appears to 
 be of Stoical origin. 
 
 PAL'HJODE, or PAL'INODY, a re- 
 cantation, particularly a poetical one, of 
 anything dishonorable or false uttered 
 against another person. 
 
 PAL'LET, among painters, a little 
 oval tablet of wood or ivory, on which a 
 painter places the several colors he has 
 occasion to use. The middle serves to 
 mix the colors on, and to make the tints 
 required. It is held by putting the 
 thumb through a hole made at one end 
 of it. 
 
 PAL'LITJM, an upper garment or 
 mantle worn by the Greeks, as the toga 
 was by the Romans. Each of these was 
 so peculiar to the respective nations, that 
 Palliatus is used to signify a Greek, and 
 Togatus a Roman. Pallium, or Pall, 
 also the woollen mantle which the Roman 
 emperors were accustomed from the 
 fourth century, to send to the patriarchs 
 and primates of the empire, and which 
 was worn as a mark of ecclesiastical dig- 
 nity. Since the 12th century it has con- 
 sisted of a white woollen band or fillet, 
 which is thrown over the shoulders out- 
 side of the sacerdotal vestments ; one 
 band hanging over the back, and another 
 over the' breast, and both ornamented 
 with a red chaplet. 
 
 PALM'ER, a pilgrim bearing a staff; 
 or one who returned from the Holy Land, 
 bearing branches of palm : he was dis- 
 tinguished from other pilgrims by his pro- 
 fession of poverty, and living on alms as 
 he travelled. 
 
 PALMISTRY, a mode of telling for- 
 tunes by the lines of the hand ; a trick of 
 imposture much practised by gipsies. 
 
 PALM SUNDAY, the sixth Sunday 
 in Lent, the next before Easter, commem- 
 orative of our Saviour's triumphal en- 
 trance into Jerusalem, when palm branch- 
 es were strewed in the way. 
 
 PAN, the chief rural divinity of the 
 Greeks, who presided over flocks and 
 herds. He was said by some to be the 
 son of Mercury ; and his birthplace was 
 Arcadia, to which province his worship 
 seems to have been confined in early
 
 PAN] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 449 
 
 times. The introduction of his worship 
 into the other Grecian states is thus ac- 
 counted for. He was represented with 
 the head and breast of an elderly man, 
 while his lower parts were like the hind 
 quarters of a goat, whose horns he like- 
 wise bore on his forehead. His emblems 
 were the shepherd's crook and pipe of 
 seven reeds, his own invention, 
 
 PANATHENJE'A, in Grecian anti- 
 quity, an ancient Athenian festival, in 
 honor of Minerva, who was the protec- 
 tress of Athens, and called Athena. There 
 were two solemnities of this name, one 
 of which was called the greater panathe- 
 ncea, and celebrated once in five years. 
 These were distinguished from the less 
 (which were celebrated every third year) 
 not only by their greater splendor and 
 longer continuance, but particularly by 
 the solemn procession, in which' the pe- 
 plus, a sacred garment, consecrated by 
 young virgins, and made of white wool, 
 embroidered with gold, was carried from 
 the Acropolis into the temple of the god- 
 dess, whose ivory statue was covered with 
 it. This festival was so holy, that crimi- 
 nals were released from the prisons on 
 the occasion of its celebration, and men 
 of distinguished merit were rewarded with 
 gold crowns. 
 
 PANCRA'TIUM,- among the ancients, 
 a kind of exercise which consisted of 
 wrestling and boxing. In these contests 
 it was customary for the weaker party, 
 when he found himself pressed by his 
 adversary, to fall down, and fight rolling 
 on the ground. 
 
 PAN'DECTS, the name of a volume 
 of the civil law, digested by order of the 
 emperor Justinian. 
 
 PAN'DIT, or PUN'DIT, a learned 
 Brahmin ; or one versed in the Sanscrit 
 language, and in the sciences, laws, and 
 religion of the country. 
 
 PANDOURS', a kind of light infantry, 
 formerly organized as separate corps in 
 the Austrian service ; raised from the 
 Servian and Rascian inhabitants of the 
 Turkish frontier, and originally under 
 leaders of their own, styled Harumbachas. 
 Since 1755, they have been included in 
 the regular army. 
 
 PANEGY'RIC, in oratory, an eulogy 
 or harangue, written or spoken, in praise 
 of an individual or body of mn. Among 
 the ancients, orations were recited in 
 praise of the departed on various occa- 
 sions, before solemn assemblies : hence 
 the name. Among the later Romans, 
 the baser practice prevailed of reciting 
 panegyrical orations on distinguished 
 29 
 
 living persons in their presence. Among 
 the moderns panegyrical oratory has 
 been chiefly confined to funeral discourses 
 from the pulpit. 
 
 PAN'EL, in law, a schedule or roll of 
 parchment on which are written the 
 names of the jurors returned by the 
 sheriff. Impanelling a jury, is returning 
 their names in such schedule. 
 
 PAN'IC, an ill-grounded terror in- 
 spired by the misapprehension of danger. 
 The origin of the word is said to be de- 
 rived from Pan, one of the captains of 
 Bacchus, who with a few men routed a 
 numerous army, by a noise *which his 
 soldiers raised in a rocky valley favored 
 with a great number of echoes. Hence 
 all ill-grounded fears have been called 
 panic fears. 
 
 PAN'OPLY, literally all the armor 
 that can be worn for defence : complete 
 armor. 
 
 PANORA'MA, a picture in which all 
 the objects of nature that are visible from 
 a single point are represented on the in- 
 terior surface of a round or cylindrical 
 wall, the point of view being in the axis 
 of the cylinder. The rules according to 
 which the different objects are represent- 
 ed in perspective are easily deduced from 
 the consideration that the lines on the 
 panorama are the intersections of the 
 cylindrical surface of the picture, with, 
 one or more conical surfaces having their 
 summits at the point of view, and of 
 which the bases are the lines of nature 
 which the artist proposes to represent. 
 In executing this kind of perspective, t ho 
 artist divides the horizon into a conside- 
 rable number of parts, twenty, for exam- 
 ple, and draws, in the ordinary way, on 
 a plane surface, a perspective view of all 
 the objects comprised in each of these 
 portions of the horizon. He then paints 
 on a canvass, representing the develop- 
 ment of the cylindrical surface, the twen- 
 ty drawings, in as many vertical and 
 parallel stripes ; and the picture is com- 
 pleted by stretching the canvas on the 
 cylindrical wall of the rotunda which is . 
 to contain the panorama. When a paint- 
 ing of this kind is well executed, its truth 
 is such as to produce a complete illusion. 
 No other method of representing objects 
 is so well calculated to give an exact idea 
 of the general aspect and appearance of 
 a country as seen all round from a given 
 point. 
 
 PANTHE'A, in antiquity, statues com- 
 posed of the figures or symbols of several 
 divinities. 
 
 PAN'THEISM, in metaphysical theol-
 
 450 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PAR 
 
 ogy, tho. theory which identifies nature, 
 or the universe in its totality with God. 
 This doctrine differs from atheism in the 
 greater distinctness with which it asserts 
 the unity and essential vitality of nature, 
 parts of which all animated beings arc. 
 The most ancient Greek philosophers 
 were pantheists in this sense, Anaxago- 
 raa being the first who distinctly stated 
 the coexistence with nature of a reason- 
 able creator " a mind, the principle of 
 all things." In this sense, too, Spinosa 
 may be called a pantheist. The pa.nthe- 
 ism of Schelling, and many modern Ger- 
 man philosophers, is of a different stamp. 
 According to these thinkers, God is con- 
 ceived as the absolute and original Being, 
 revealing himself variously in outward 
 nature, and in human intelligence and 
 freedom. 
 
 PANTHE'ON, in Roman antiquity, a 
 temple of a circular form, dedicated to 
 all the heathen deities. It was built on 
 the Campus Martius, by Agrippa, son- 
 in-law to Augustus; but is now converted 
 into a church and dedicated to the Virgin 
 Mary and all the martyrs. It is, how- 
 ever, called the rotunda, on account of its 
 form, and is one of the finest edifices in 
 Rome. The well-preserved portico seems 
 to be of a later period than the temple 
 itself; it consists of sixteen columns of 
 oriental granite, each of which is 15 feet 
 in circumference. The interior was for- 
 merly adorned with the most beautiful 
 statues of the various deities, but they 
 were removed by Constantine to Constan- 
 tinople ; at present there are in the eight 
 niches, eight fine columns, placed there 
 by the emperor Adrian. What is very 
 remarkable, and shows the alteration 
 which has taken place at Rome, is, that 
 the entrance is now twelve steps below, 
 though heretofore it was twelve steps 
 above the surface of the ground. 
 
 PAN'TOMIME, in the modern drama, 
 a mimic representation by gestures, ac- 
 tions, and various kinds of tricks perform- 
 ed by Harlequin and Columbine as the 
 'hero and heroine, assisted by Pantaloon 
 and his clown. Pantomimes, among the 
 ancients, were persons who could imitate 
 all kinds of actions and characters by signs 
 and gestures. Scaliger supposes they 
 were first introduced upon the stage to 
 succeed the chorus and comedies, and 
 divert the audience with apish postures 
 and antic dances. In after times their 
 interludes became distinct entertain- 
 ments, and were separately exhibited. 
 
 PA'PACY, the office of pope, or, his- 
 torically, the succession of popes in the 
 
 see of Rome. The origin of the term is 
 oriental. The word papas was used in 
 lower Greek, with the signification of 
 father, and is still applied by the Greek 
 church to the priests of that communion. 
 In the Western Church, the title was not 
 uncommonly given to bishops in general, 
 and was not confined to the Roman pon- 
 tiff for several centuries. 
 
 PA'PER-MONEY, or PA'PER CUR'- 
 RENCY, bank notes or bills issued by 
 the credit of government, and circulated 
 as the representative of coin. In a more 
 extensive sense, these terms may denote 
 all kinds of notes and bills of exchange. 
 
 PA PIST, one that adheres to the doc- 
 trines and ceremonies of the church of 
 Rome ; a Roman Catholic. 
 
 PAPY'RUS, an Egyptian sedge-like 
 plant, or reed-grass, which has acquired 
 an immortal fame in consequence of its 
 leaves having furnished the ancients with 
 paper. It grows in the marshes of Egypt 
 or in the stagnant places of the Nile. Its 
 roots are tortuous, and in thickness about 
 four or five inches : its stem, which is tri- 
 angular and tapering, rises to the height 
 of ten feet, and is terminated by a com- 
 pound, wide spreading, and beautiful 
 umbel, which is surrounded with an in- 
 volucre composed of eight large sword- 
 shaped leaves. The uses of the papyrus 
 were, however, by no means confined to 
 the making of paper. The inhabitants 
 of the countries where it grows, even to 
 this day, manufacture it into sail-cloth, 
 cordage, and sometimes wearing apparel. 
 PAR, (Latin, equal,) in commerce, is 
 said of any two things equal in value ; 
 and in money-affairs, the equality of one 
 kind of money or property with another : 
 thus, when $101) stock is worth exactly 
 $100 specie, the stock is said to be at par; 
 that is, the purchaser is required to give 
 neither more nor less of the commodity 
 with which he parts, than he receives of 
 that which he acquires : thus, too, the par 
 of exchange is the equal value of money 
 in one country and another. 
 
 PA'RA, a Turkish coin, very small and 
 thin, of copper and silver, the fortieth 
 part of a Turkish piaster. 
 
 PAR' ABLE, a fable or allegorical rep- 
 resentation of something real or appar- 
 ent in life or nature, from which a moral 
 is drawn for instruction. Parables are 
 certainly a most delicate way of impress- 
 ing disagreeable truths on the mind, and 
 in many cases have the advantage of a 
 more open reproof, and even of formal 
 lessons of morality : thus Nathan made 
 David sensible of his guilt by a parable ;
 
 PAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 451 
 
 and thus our Saviour, in compliance with 
 the customs of the Jews, who had a kind 
 of natural genius for this sort of instruc- 
 tion, spoke frequently in parables, most 
 beautifully constructed, and calculated to 
 convince them of their errors and pre- 
 judices. 
 
 PARACEL'SIAN, a name given to a 
 physician who follows the practice of 
 Paracelsus, a celebrated Swiss physician 
 and alchymist who lived at the close of 
 the 15th century, and who performed 
 many extraordinary cures by means to- 
 tally unknown to the generality of medi- 
 cal practitioners of his time. 
 
 PARACH RONISM, an error in chro- 
 nology, by which an event is related as 
 having happened later than its true 
 date. 
 
 PAR'ACLETE, a name attached to the 
 Holy Spirit, as an advocate, intercessor, 
 or comforter of mankind. It was not an 
 uncommon opinion of the early heretics, 
 that the Paraclete, whose mission was 
 promised by Christ, was to appear corpore- 
 ally upon the earth, and complete the dis- 
 pensation announced by our Lord and the 
 apostles ; and they drew a distinction be- 
 tween the person of the Comforter and 
 the effusion of his grace upon the disciples 
 on the day of Pentecost. Accordingly, 
 several of them, Simon Magus, Manes, 
 and others, gave themselves out as this 
 expected Paraclete; andTertullian him- 
 self was at one period infatuated by the 
 claims advanced by Montanus to this 
 personification. 
 
 PARACROS'TIC, a poetical composi- 
 tion in which the first verse contains, in 
 order, all the letters which commence the 
 remaining verses of the poem or division. 
 According to Cicero, the original sibylline 
 verses were paracrostics. 
 
 PAR'ADIGM, in grammar, an example 
 of a verb conjugated in the several moods, 
 tenses and persons. 
 
 PAR'ADISE, a region of supreme fe- 
 licity ; generally meaning the garden of 
 Eden, in which Adam and Eve were placed 
 immediately after their creation. The 
 locality of this happy spot has been as- 
 signed, by different writers, to places the 
 most opposite. In truth there is scarcely 
 any part of the world where Paradise has 
 not been sought for. The most probable 
 opinion is, that it was situated between 
 the confluence of Euphrates and Tigris, 
 and their separation ; Pison being a 
 branch arising from one of them after 
 their separation, and Gihon, another 
 branch arising from the other, on the 
 western side. When Christians use the 
 
 word, they mean that celestial paradise, 
 or place of pure and refined delight in 
 which the souls of the blessed enjoy ever- 
 lasting happiness. In this sense it is 
 frequently used in the New Testament : 
 our Saviour tells the penitent thief on the 
 cross, " This day shalt thou be with me 
 in Paradise ;" and St. Paul, speaking of 
 himself in 'the third person, says, ' I 
 knew a man who was caught up into 
 Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, 
 which it is not lawful for a man to utter." 
 
 PAR'ADOX, in philosophy, a tenet or 
 proposition seemingly absurd, or con- 
 trary to received opinion, yet true in 
 fact. 
 
 PAR'AGOUE, a figure in grammar by 
 which the addition of a letter or syllable 
 is made to the end of a word. 
 
 PAR/AGON, a model by way of dis- 
 tinction implying superior excellence or 
 perfection : as, a paragon of beauty or 
 eloquence. 
 
 PAR'AGRAM, a play upon words. 
 Hence paragrammatist, an appellation 
 for a punster. 
 
 PAR' AGRAPH, any section or portion 
 of a writing which relates to a particular 
 point, whether consisting of one sentence 
 or many sentences. Paragraphs are gen- 
 erally distinguished by a break in the 
 lines ; or, when a great quantity of print 
 is intended to be compressed into a small 
 space, they may be separated by a dash, 
 thus . A paragraph is also some- 
 times marked thus, ^\. 
 
 PARALEP'SIS, or PAR'ALEPSY, a 
 figure in rhetoric by which the speaker 
 pretends to pass by what at the same 
 time he really mentions. 
 
 PARALIPOM'ENA, in matters of lit- 
 erature, denotes a supplement of things 
 omitted in a preceding work. 
 
 PAR'ALLEL, is often used metaphori- 
 cally, to denote the continued comparison 
 of two objects, particularly in history. 
 Thus we speak of drawing an historical 
 parallel between ages, countries, or men. 
 Parallel passages, are such passages 
 in a book as agree in import ; as, for 
 instance, the parallel passages in the 
 bible. 
 
 PARAL'OGISM, in logic, a fallacious 
 argument or false reasoning ; an error 
 committed in demonstration, when a con- 
 sequence is drawn from principles which 
 are false, or though true, are not proved; 
 or when a proposition is passed over that 
 should have been proved by the way. 
 
 PAR'AMOUNT, in Eng. the supreme 
 lord of the fee. The lords of those ma- 
 nors that have other manors under them
 
 452 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PAR 
 
 are styled lords-paramount ; and the 
 king, who, in law, is chief lord of all the 
 lands in England, is thus the lord-para- 
 mount. In common parlance, it means 
 superior to anything else ; as, a man's 
 private interest is usually paramount to 
 all other considerations. 
 
 PAR'ANYMPH, among the ancients, 
 the person who waited on the bridegroom 
 and directed the nuptial solemnities. As 
 the paranymph officiated only on the 
 part of the bridegroom, a woman called 
 pronuba officiated on the part of the 
 bride. In poetry, the term paranymph 
 is still occasionally used for the bride- 
 man. 
 
 PAR'APEGM, in ancient customs, sig- 
 nified a brazen table fixed to a pillar, on 
 which laws and proclamations were en- 
 graved. Also, a table set in a public 
 place, containing an account of the rising 
 and setting of the stars, eclipses, seasons, 
 Ac. 
 
 PAR'APET, in fortification, a wall, 
 rampart, or elevation of earth for screen- 
 ing soldiers from an enemy's shot. It 
 means literally, a wall breast high. 
 
 PA'RAPH, in diplomatics, the figure 
 formed by a flourish of the pen at the 
 conclusion of a signature. This formed, 
 in the middle ages, a sort of rude provi- 
 sion against forgery, like the flourishes 
 in the plates of bank notes. In some 
 countries (as in Spain,) the paraph is 
 still a usual addition to a signature. 
 
 PAIIAPIIERNA'LIA, in English law, 
 the goods which a wife brings with her 
 at her marriage, or which she possesses 
 beyond her dower or jointure, and which 
 remain at her disposal after her husband's 
 death. They consist principally of the 
 woman's apparel, jewels, <fcc., which, in 
 the lifetime of her husband, she wore as 
 the ornaments of her person ; nor can 
 the husband devise such ornaments and 
 jewels of his wife, though, during his life, 
 he has power to dispose of them. 
 
 PAR'APHRASE, an explanation of 
 some text or passage in a book, in a more 
 clear and ample manner than is express- 
 ed in the words of the author ; such as 
 the paraphrase of the New Testament by 
 Erasmus. A paraphrase partakes of the 
 nature both of a version, if the work par- 
 aphrased be in a foreign language, and 
 of a commentary. Its object is to ex- 
 press the full sense contained in the 
 words which are paraphrased, by the in- 
 troduction of circumlocutions, explana- 
 tory clauses, and expansions of the au- 
 thor's meaning. 
 
 PAR'ASANG, a Persian measure of 
 
 length, varying in different ages, and in 
 different places, from thirty to fifty stadia 
 or furlongs. 
 
 PARASCE'NIUM. in the Grecian and 
 Roman theatres, was a place behind the 
 scenes whither the actors withdrew to 
 dress and undress themselves. The Ro- 
 mans more frequently called it pustsce- 
 nium. 
 
 PARASCE'VE, a word signifying prep- 
 aration, given by the Jews to the sixth 
 day of the week, or Friday ; because, not 
 being allowed to prepare their food on 
 the sabbath day, they provided and pre- 
 pared it on the day previous. 
 
 PARASI'TI, among the Greeks, were 
 an order of priests, or at least ministers 
 of the gods, -resembling the Epulones at 
 Rome. Their business was to collect and 
 take care of the sacred corn destined for 
 the service of the temples and the gods ; 
 to see that sacrifices were duly perform- 
 ed, and that no one withheld the first 
 fruits, &c. from the deities. In every vil- 
 lage of the Athenians, certain Parasiti, 
 in honor of Hercules, were maintained 
 at the public charge ; but, to ease the 
 commonwealth of this burthen, the ma- 
 gistrates at last obliged some of the richer 
 sort to take them to their own tables, and 
 entertain them at their individual ex- 
 pense : hence the word parasite, by which 
 we denote a hanger-on, a fawning flat- 
 terer, one who, for the sake of a good 
 dinner at the expense of another person, 
 would be ready to surfeit him with adula- 
 tion. 
 
 PARAVAIL', in feudal law, the lowest 
 tenant holding under a mediate lord, as 
 distinguished from a tenant in capite, 
 who holds immediately of the king. 
 
 PAR'CM, or the FATES, in the hea- 
 then mythology, TS3re three goddesses 
 who were supposed to preside over the ac- 
 cidents and events, and to determine the 
 date or period of human life. They were 
 called Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis, and 
 are represented as spinning the thread of 
 human life ; in which employment Clotho 
 held the distaff, Lachesis turned the 
 wheel, and Atropos cut the thread. Their 
 persons are variously described ; some- 
 times they are represented as old women, 
 one holding a distaff, another a wheel, 
 and a third a pair of scissors. Others 
 paint Clotho in a robe of various colors, 
 with a crown of stars upon her head, and 
 holding a distaff in her hand ; Lachesis in 
 a garment covered with stars, and hold- 
 ing several spindles ; and Atropos they 
 clad in black, cutting the thread with a 
 large pair of scissors.
 
 PAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 453 
 
 PAR'CENER, or CO-PAR'CENER, in 
 law, a coheir, or one who holds lands by 
 descent from an ancestor in common with 
 others. The holding or occupation of 
 lands of inheritance by two or more per- 
 sons, differs from joint tenancy, which is 
 created by deed or devise, whereas par- 
 cenary is created by the descent of lands 
 from a common ancestor. 
 
 PAREL'CON, in grammar, the addi- 
 tion of a word or syllable at the end of 
 another. 
 
 PAREM'BOLE, a figure in rhetoric, 
 often confounded with the parenthesis. 
 The parembole is, in reality, a species of 
 parenthesis ; but its specific character is 
 this, that it relates to the subject ; while 
 the parenthesis is foreign from it. 
 
 PA'RENT, a term of relationship ap- 
 plicable to those from whom we im- 
 mediately receive our being. Parents, 
 by the law of the land as well as by the 
 law of nature, are bound to educate, 
 maintain, and defend their children, over 
 whom they have a legal as well as a nat- 
 ural power : they likewise have interest 
 in the profits of their children's labor, 
 during their nonage, in case the children 
 live with and are provided for by them ; 
 yet the parent has no interest in the real 
 or personal estate of a child, any other- 
 wise than as his guardian. The laws re- 
 lating to the mutual rights and duties of 
 parents and children are a very important 
 part'of every code, and have a very inti- 
 mate connection with the state of society 
 and with civil institutions. In ancient 
 times, when paternity was a great foun- 
 dation of civil authority, the parental 
 rights were much more absolute than in 
 the modern, extending, in some countries, 
 to the right of life and death, and con- 
 tinuing during the life of the two parties. 
 
 PARENTA'LIA, in antiquity, funeral 
 obsequies, or the last duties paid by chil- 
 dren to their deceased parents. The term 
 is also used for a sacrifice, or solemn ser- 
 vice, offered annually to the manes of the 
 
 PARENTHESIS, in rhetoric, a figure 
 by which a series of words is inserted in 
 a sentence, having no grammatical con- 
 nection with those which precede or fol- 
 low, with the object of explaining some 
 detached portion of the sentence. In an- 
 cient authors, a parenthetical form of 
 writing is even more common than among 
 moderns ; because much which a Greek or 
 Roman author would have conveyed by 
 way of parenthesis is now inserted in sep- 
 arate explanatory notes. 
 
 PA'RIAS, a degraded tribe of Hindoos, 
 
 who live by themselves in the outskirts 
 of towns ; and, in the country, build their 
 houses apart from the villages, or rather 
 have villages of their own. They dare 
 not in cities pass through the streets 
 where the Brahmins live ; nor enter a 
 temple of the superior castes. They are 
 prohibited from all approach to anything 
 pure, and are doomed to perform all 
 kinds of menial work. 
 
 PAR IM'PAR, in antiquity, a game 
 of chance practised among the Greeks 
 and Romans. It was identical with the 
 game of " even or odd" practised by the 
 boys of modern times. 
 
 PAR'ISH, the precinct or territorial 
 jurisdiction of a secular priest, or a cir- 
 cuit of ground or district inhabited by 
 people who belong to one church, and are 
 under the particular charge of its minis- 
 ter. In the earliest ages of the church, 
 the name parish was applied to the dis- 
 trict placed under the superintendence of 
 the bishop, and was equivalent to the 
 diocese. Parishes were originally eccle- 
 siastical divisions, but they now come 
 under the class of civil divisions. In 
 England, their limits cannot be altered 
 but by legislative enactment ; and in 
 Scotland it requires the authority of the 
 Court of Session, together with the con- 
 sent of three fourths of the heritors, to 
 erect new churches and to disjoin parish- 
 es. Towns originally contained but one 
 parish, but from the increase of inhab- 
 itants, many of them are divided into 
 several parishes. The number of parish- 
 es and parochial chapelries in England 
 and Wales is estimated at about 10,700. 
 In Scotland, the number of parishes rec- 
 ognized by law is 948. In some of the 
 United States, parish is an ecclesiastical 
 society not bounded by territorial limits ; 
 but the inhabitants of a town belonging 
 to one church, though residing promiscu- 
 ously among the people belonging to 
 another church, are called a parish. This 
 is particularly the case in Massachusetts. 
 In Connecticut, the legal appellation of 
 such a society is ecclesiastical society. 
 
 PARK, in England, a large piece of 
 ground enclosed and privileged for beasts 
 of the chase. Also, a piece of ground in 
 cities, planted with trees and devoted to 
 public recreation. Park of artillery, a 
 place in the rear of both lines of an 
 army for encamping the artillery, which 
 is formed in lines, the guns in front, the 
 ammunition wagons behind the guns, and 
 the pontoons and tumbrils forming the 
 third line. The whole is surrounded with 
 a rope.
 
 454 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PAR 
 
 PAR'LIAMENT, the grand assembly 
 of tho three estates in Groat Britain, or 
 the great council of the nation, consisting 
 of the King, Lords, and Commons, which 
 form the legislative branch of the govern- 
 ment. The word parliament was intro- 
 duced into England under the Norman 
 kings. The supreme council of the na- 
 tion was called by our Saxon ancestors, 
 the wittenagemote, the meeting of wise 
 men or sages. A parliament is called by 
 the king's [queen's] writ, or letter, direct- 
 ed to each lord, summoning him to ap- 
 pear ; and by writs sent by the lord 
 chancellor under the great seal, com- 
 manding the sheriffs of each county to 
 take the necessary steps for the election 
 of members for the county, and the bor- 
 oughs contained in it. On the day ap- 
 pointed for the meeting of parliament, 
 the king [queen] sits in the house of lords 
 under a canopy, dressed in his [her] robes, 
 as are all the lords in theirs ; and, the 
 commons being summoned to the bar of 
 that house, the sovereign addresses both 
 houses on the state of public affairs. 
 The commons are then required to choose 
 a speaker, which officer being presented 
 to and approved by the sovereign, the 
 latter withdraws, the commons retire to 
 their own house, and the business of par- 
 liament begins. In the house of lords, 
 the seat of each member is prescribed 
 according to rank ; though, except in the 
 presence of the king [queen] this formali- 
 ty is almost wholly dispensed with. The 
 princes of the blood sit on each side of 
 the throne ; the two archbishops against 
 the wall on the king's right hand; the 
 bishops of London, Durham, and Win- 
 chester below the former, and the other 
 bishops according to priority of conse- 
 cration. On the king's [queen's] left 
 hand, above all the dukes except those 
 of the blood royal, sit the lord treasurer, 
 lord president, and lord privy-seal ; then 
 the dukes, marquises, and earls, the in- 
 dividuals of each class taking precedence 
 according to the date of their creation. 
 Across the room are woolsacks, continued 
 from ancient custom ; and on the first of 
 these, immediately before the throne, sits 
 the lord chancellor, as speaker of the 
 house. On the other woolsacks are seated 
 judges, masters in chancery, and the 
 king's counsel, who only give their advice 
 on points of law. In the house of commons 
 there are no peculiar seats for any mem- 
 bers. The speaker only has a chair ap- 
 propriated to him at the upper end of 
 the house, and at a table before him 
 sit the clerk and his assistant. When 
 
 the parliament is thus assembled, no 
 member is to depart without leave. Upon 
 extraordinary occasions, all the members 
 are summoned; otherwise three hundred 
 of the commons is reckoned a full house, 
 and forty may compose a house for the 
 dispatch of business. The method of 
 making laws is much the same in both 
 houses. In each house the act of the 
 majority binds the whole ; and this ma- 
 jority is declared by votes openly given ; 
 not privately, or by ballot. 
 
 PARLIAMENTARIAN, an epithet 
 for those who sided with the English re- 
 publican parliament in opposition to king 
 Charles I. 
 
 PARNAS'SUS, in mythology, a cele- 
 brated mountain in ancient Greece, sa- 
 cred to Apollo and the Muses, and, from 
 the numerous objects of classical interest 
 of which it formed the theatre, considered 
 "holy" by the Greeks. On its side stood 
 j the city of Delphi, near which flowed the 
 Castalian spring, the grand source of an- 
 cient inspiration ; and from this circum- 
 stance, in metaphorical language, the 
 word Parnassus has come to signify poe- 
 try itself. A good collection of the Italian 
 poets, printed at Milan, bears the title 
 11 Parnasso Italiano. 
 
 PARO'DY, a kind of writing in which 
 the words of an author or his thoughts 
 are, by some slight alterations, adapted 
 to a different purpose ; or it may be de- 
 fined, a poetical pleasantry in which the 
 verses of some author are, by way of rid- 
 icule, applied to another object ; or in 
 turning a serious work into burlesque by 
 affecting to observe the same rhymes, 
 words, and cadences. 
 
 PAR'OL, in law, anything done ver- 
 bally, or by oral declaration ; as parol 
 evidence. Parole, in military affairs, a 
 promise given by a prisoner of war when 
 suffered to be at large, that he will return 
 at the time appointed, unless he shall 
 have previously been discharged or ex- 
 changed. Parole also means the watch- 
 word given out every day in orders by a 
 commanding officer, in camp or garrison, 
 by which friends may be distinguished 
 from enemies. 
 
 PAROMOL'OGY, in rhetoric, a figure 
 of speech by which the orator concedes 
 something to his adversary, in order to 
 strengthen his own argument. 
 
 PARONOMA'SIA, a rhetorical figure, 
 by which words nearly alike in sound, but 
 of very different or opposite meanings, 
 arc affectedly or designedly used; a play 
 upon words. 
 
 PAR'QUETRY, a species of joinery or
 
 PAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 455 
 
 cabinet work, which consists in making a 
 parquet, or inlaid floor, composed of small 
 pieces of wood, either square or triangu- 
 lar, which, by the manner of their dispo- 
 sition, are capable of forming various 
 combinations of figures. Two sorts of 
 wood are employed for this purpose al- 
 most of the same color, or differing only 
 in shade, and these two sorts suffice for 
 the production of a great variety of 
 effects. 
 
 P AR'RICIDE, strictly signifies the mur- 
 der or murderer of a father, as matricide 
 does of a mother ; yet this word is ordina- 
 rily taken in both senses, and is also ex- 
 tended to the murder of any near relation. 
 The word parricide is also applied to one 
 who invades or destroys any to whom he 
 owes particular reverence, as his country 
 or patron. By the Roman law it was 
 punished in a severer manner than any 
 other kind of homicide. After being 
 scourged, the delinquents were sewn up 
 in a leathern sack. 
 
 PARRICID'ITJM, a name given by a 
 decree of the Roman senate to the ides 
 of March, which was the anniversary of 
 Caesar's assassination. Dolabella the 
 consul proposed a law to change its 
 name to Natalis Urbis, as he looked 
 on that day as the birthday of Roman 
 liberty. 
 
 PAR'SEE, the name given by English 
 writers to the Persian* refugees, driven 
 from their country by the persecutions 
 of the Mussulmans, who now inhabit 
 various parts of India. Their principal 
 emigration to Baroach, Surat, and the 
 neighboring coast, is supposed to have 
 taken place about the end of the eighth 
 century. The sacred fire, the emblem of 
 their religion, called behrem, is believed 
 by them to have been brought by the first 
 emigrants from Persia, and, after many 
 changes of place, is now preserved at 
 Odisari and Nausari, near Surat, and at 
 Bombay. In this latter city, under the 
 protection of the British government, 
 they have grown into a colony of consid- 
 erable numbers and of great opulence. 
 They have become particularly distin- 
 guished in the art of shipbuilding, and 
 the dock-yard of Bombay is now almost 
 exclusively in their hands. Their charac- 
 ter is variously estimated by different 
 observers ; but all agree in attributing to 
 them industry and economy, and attach- 
 ment to their religion, and to those of the 
 higher class strong sentiments of honor 
 and honesty. Their number is said to 
 equal 700,000 ; and at Bombay, according 
 to late calculations, at least 20,000. 
 
 PARS'ING, in grammar, the resolving 
 a sentence into its elements, by showing 
 the several parts of speech of which it is 
 composed, and their relation to each 
 other according to grammatical rules. 
 
 PAR'SON, the rector or incumbent of 
 a parish, who has the parochial charge 
 or cure of souls. Parsonage, a rectory 
 endowed with a house, glebe, lands, tithes, 
 &c., for the maintenance of the incum- 
 bent. 
 
 PAR'THENON, in ancient architec- 
 ture, the name given to the celebrated 
 Grecian temple of Minerva, erected dur- 
 ing the splendid era of Pericles. It was 
 built of marble upon a spot elevated on 
 all sides above the town and citadel ; of 
 the Doric order ; 222 Greek feet in length, 
 and 69 in height. This magnificent tem- 
 ple had resisted all the ravages of time ; 
 had been in turn converted into a Chris- 
 tian church and a Turkish mosque ; but 
 in the year 1687, when the Venetians 
 besieged the citadel of Athens, under the 
 command of general Koenigsmarck, a 
 bomb fell most unluckily on the devoted 
 Parthenon, set fire to the powder which 
 the Turks had shut up therein, and thus 
 the roof was entirely destroyed, and the 
 whole building almost reduced to ruins. 
 
 PARTICEPS CRIM'INIS, in law, an 
 accomplice, or one who has a share in 
 the guilt. 
 
 PARTICIPANTS, a semi-religious 
 order of knighthood, founded by Pope 
 Sextus V., in 1586, in honor of Our Lady 
 of Loretto. The members of this order 
 were allowed to marry. The order was 
 soon extinguished; and the title of Knights 
 of Loretto is now conferred on some civil 
 servants of the pope. 
 
 PARTITION, in music, the arrange- 
 ment of the several parts of a composition 
 on the same page or pages, ranged 
 methodically above and under each other, 
 so that they may be all under the eye of 
 the performer or conductor, and sung or 
 played jointly or separately as the com- 
 poser intended. It is commonly called a 
 score. In architecture, the vertical as- 
 semblage of materials which divides one 
 apartment from another. It is usually, 
 however, employed to denote such divi- 
 sion when constructed of vertical pieces of 
 timber called quarters. In politics, the 
 division of the states of a sovereign or 
 prince, after his decease, among his heirs, 
 as was the custom in some of the prince- 
 ly families in the ancient German em- 
 pire : or among other powers, such as 
 that of the states of the king of Spain, 
 which was in contemplation (against all
 
 456 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PAS 
 
 justice) between William III., Louis 
 XIV., and the Dutch, by the treaties of 
 1698 and 1699, when Charles II., the 
 reigning monarch, was without near 
 heirs. But the most celebrated parti- 
 tions in history, to which the name has 
 become almost exclusively attached, were 
 those of Poland by llussia, Prussia, and 
 Austria. 
 
 PARTNERSHIP, the association of 
 two or more persons for the prosecution 
 of any trade, manufacture, or commercial 
 enterprise, at their joint expense. In 
 this case the connection is formed by con- 
 tract ; each partner furnishing a part of 
 the capital stock, and being entitled to a 
 proportional share of profit, or subject to a 
 proportional share of loss ; or one or more 
 of the partners may furnish money or 
 stock, and the others may contribute 
 their services. A partnership or associa- 
 tion of this kind is a standing or perma- 
 nent company, and is denominated a, firm 
 or house. Though partnerships ought not 
 to be entered into without great circum- 
 spection, the benefits of a union of the 
 means and advantages of different per- 
 sons for the conduct of a business, in many 
 instances, are too obvious to need illus- 
 tration. 
 
 PAR'TT, in politics, a body of men 
 united under different leaders for promot- 
 ingi by their joint endeavors, the nation- 
 al interest, upon some particular prin- 
 ciple in which they are all agreed. The 
 origin of party may be traced to that law 
 of the human mind which is founded in 
 our natural desire of sympathy, and our 
 disposition to afford it. From the earliest 
 ages down to the present time, the prin- 
 ciple of mutual eo-operation has been 
 adopted with success in executing favor- 
 ite designs, and in aiming at the accom- 
 plishment of certain ends. Among the 
 ancient Romans, for example, " iderp. 
 sentire de republica" formed a princip'al 
 ground of friendship and attachment ; 
 and the same feeling, modified by differ- 
 ent forms of government and other cir- 
 cumstances, is at present in full operation 
 in all the civilized states of Europe and 
 America. The benefits of party may be 
 briefly stated to be, increased energy in 
 pursuit of a common object, regular co- 
 operation, mutual control and regulation, 
 and an advantageous division of labor. 
 But, though party or combination may in 
 this manner be productive of good results, 
 like every other principle and feeling in 
 our nature, it is liable to be abused. It 
 involves a frequent sacrifice of individual 
 notions of what is just and proper, and 
 
 tempts bodies of men to act in a way that 
 would often be deemed discreditable in 
 individuals. Perhaps the worst effect of 
 party is its tendency to generate narrow, 
 false, and illiberal prejudices, by teach- 
 ing the adherents of one party to regard 
 those that belong to an opposing party as 
 unworthy of confidence ; and in making 
 them oppose good measures because they 
 happen to be proposed by a different 
 party, and support bad measures because 
 they are proposed or supported by their 
 own party. 
 
 PASIG'RAPHY, the imaginary uni- 
 versal language to be spoken and written 
 by all nations, the invention of which has 
 exercised the ingenuity of so many learn- 
 ed men, has been denoted by this word. 
 Leibnitz seems to have been one of the 
 first who conceived this to be possible. 
 Many writers in Germany (where the 
 name was invented) have followed him in 
 the endeavor to devise schemes for this 
 fanciful object. In England, Bishop 
 Wilkins, in the reign of Charles II., in- 
 vented a scheme for a universal language, 
 grammar and character. 
 
 PASQUINADE', a satirical writing 
 directed against one or more individuals. 
 A mutilated ancient statue of a gladiator 
 dug up at Rome about 300 years ago, 
 which now lies in the court of the Capi- 
 tol, was popularly termed, by the Ro- 
 mans, " Pasquino/' from the name, it is 
 said, of a barber of eccentric and well- 
 known character, opposite to whose house 
 it was originally set up. This statue, and 
 another, called by the populace Marforio, 
 which was situated near it, were used for 
 the purpose of bearing satirical placards, 
 often reflecting on the court and church 
 of Rome, which were affixed to them at 
 night, not unfrequently in the form of a 
 dialogue between the two statues. So 
 annoying did Pasquin often become to the 
 
 fovernment, that on one occasion a serious 
 esign was entertained of throwing him 
 into the river ; but the ministers of the 
 reigning pontiff are said to have dissuad- 
 ed him from it, representing that if this 
 were done " the frogs in the Tiber would 
 croak louder than ever Pasquin had 
 spoken." He has, however, lost his pub- 
 lic spirit, and rarely or never ventures to 
 attack the powers that be. But his 
 statue is still the occasional receptacle 
 of jocose comments on private matters. 
 The difference between a pasquinade and 
 a satire is, that the end of the latter is to 
 correct and reform, while that of the 
 former is only to ridicule and expose. 
 PAS'SING-BELL, the bell that is
 
 PAS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 457 
 
 tolled at the hour of death, or immediate- 
 ly after death. The passing-bell was 
 originally intended to drive away any 
 demon that might seek to take possession 
 of the soul of the deceased, on which ac- 
 count it was sometimes called the soul- 
 bell. Mr. Ellis in his notes to Brand, 
 quotes Wheatley's apology for our re- 
 taining this ceremony ; " Our church," 
 says he, " in imitation of the saints in 
 former ages, calls on the minister, and 
 others who are at hand, to assist their 
 brother in his last extremity. In order 
 to this, she directs that when any one is 
 passing out of this life a bell should be 
 tolled." 
 
 PAS'SION, or THE PAS'SIONS, are 
 strong feelings or emotions of the mind 
 excited by an adequate cause, and exist- 
 ing in such strength as to engross the 
 whole man, and resist the influence of 
 every other cause of sensation. In order 
 to form a clear notion of the passions, we 
 must begin with rejecting the phrase 
 that man is possessed of this or that 
 number of passions, and say that he is 
 possessed of one quality, that is, suscep- 
 tibility, which is liable to be acted upon 
 by this or that number of causes. Man, 
 therefore, has not so many feelings, but 
 one feeling, assuming different forms of 
 appearance according to the impression 
 it receives; and the number of passions is 
 exactly that of the circumstances that 
 are important to a sentient creature. 
 Now, these, in a comprehensive point of 
 view, are only of two kinds ; those that 
 contribute to its pleasure, and those that 
 are productive of pain. It is for this 
 reason that, according to some, man has 
 only two passions : the desire of happi- 
 ness, and the aversion to evil ; but sub- 
 divided, each order has its genera, and 
 each genus its species. The desire of 
 happiness is separated into love, or the 
 wish to possess that which will impart 
 happiness ; hope, which is the expecta- 
 tion of possessing it ; and joy, which is 
 the assurance of possession. The aver- 
 sion to evil is separated into fear, which 
 belongs to the dread of evil ; grief, which 
 belongs to the presence of it ; and anger, 
 which resents it. These, again, to which 
 also other genera may be added, are dis- 
 tinguished into species ; as, to fear belong 
 terror and horror ; and to anger, envy, 
 jealousy, hatred, and malice. Some think 
 the most natural division of the passions 
 is into pleasurable and painful. Pas- 
 sions, in painting and sculpture, the rep- 
 resentation in the countenance and other 
 parts, of the violent emotions of the mind, 
 
 produced by anger, fear, grief, &c. The 
 expression of the passions is a language 
 without which the painter can never hope 
 for success ; it is in this that he has the 
 means of appealing to the sympathy of 
 the spectator. The close observation of 
 nature under similar circumstances is 
 the only mode by which his aim can bo 
 accomplished. 
 
 PAS'SION-WEEK, the week immedi- 
 ately preceding the festival of Easter ; so 
 called, because in that week our Saviour's 
 passion and death happened. The Thurs- 
 day in this week is called Maundy 
 Thursday, and the Friday, Good Friday. 
 The "passion of Christ" is celebrated in 
 the Catholic and most Protestant churches 
 on the European continent during Lent, 
 and particularly during Passion-week, by 
 sermons relating to the sufferings of the 
 Saviour ; and it is no inconsiderable 
 treat to the lovers of sacred music who 
 may be sojourning at Rome during the 
 time, to hear the compositions of Pales- 
 trini, Pergolesi, Allegri, <fec., in the purest 
 style, as performed in the Sistine Chapel. 
 
 PAS'SIVE, in grammar, a term given 
 to a verb which expresses passion, or the 
 effect of an action of some agent. Pas- 
 sive obedience, in civil polity, denotes not 
 only quiet unresisting submission to pow- 
 er, but implies the denial of the right of 
 resistance, or the recognition of the duty 
 to submit in all cases to the existing gov- 
 ernment. Passive prayer, among mystic 
 divines, is a suspension of the soul or in- 
 tellectual faculties, and yielding only to 
 the impulses of grace. Passive com- 
 merce, trade in which the productions of 
 a country are carried on by foreigners in 
 their own ships : opposed to active com- 
 merce. 
 
 PASS'OVEE, a solemn festival of the 
 Jews, celebrated on the 14th day of the 
 month following the vernal equinox, and 
 instituted in commemoration of their prov- 
 idential deliverance on the night before 
 their departure from Egypt, when the 
 destroying angel, who put to death the 
 first-born of the Egyptians, passed over 
 the house of the Hebrews, which were 
 sprinkled with the blood of a lamb. 
 
 PASS'PORT, a written license from a 
 king, governor, or other proper authority, 
 granting permission or safe conduct for 
 one to pass through his territories, or to 
 pass from one country to another, or to 
 navigate a particular sea without moles- 
 tation. Also, a license for importing or 
 exporting contraband goods or movables 
 without paying the usual duties. In all 
 passports it is usual to describe the per-
 
 458 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PAT 
 
 sons, purposes, and destinations of the 
 traveller, intended to show that their 
 characters are good, and their objects in 
 travelling lawful. The use of passports 
 is abolished in the United States and 
 England. 
 
 PASTE, in gem sculpture, a prepara- 
 tion of glass, calcined crystal, lead, and 
 other ingredients, for imitating gems. 
 This art was well known to the ancients, 
 and after being long lost, was restored, 
 at the end of the fifteenth century, by a 
 Milanese painter. 
 
 PAS'TEL, in painting, a crayon formed 
 with any color and gum water, for paint- 
 ing on paper or parchment. The great 
 defect of this mode of painting is its want 
 of durability. 
 
 PASTIC'CIO, in painting, a picture 
 painted by a master in a style dissimilar 
 to that in which he generally painted. 
 David Teniers could, for instance, imitate, 
 with surprising exactness, the styles of 
 many of the first masters of Italy and 
 Flanders. The same may be affirmed of 
 Luca Giordano, a Neapolitan artist. 
 
 PASTOPH'ORI, in antiquity, priests 
 among the Greeks and Romans whose of- 
 fice it was to carry the images along with 
 the shrines of the gods at solemn festivals. 
 The cells or apartments near the temples 
 where the Pastophori lived, were called 
 Pastophorla. 
 
 PAS'TORAL, something descriptive of 
 a shepherd's life ; or a poem in which any 
 action or passion is represented by its ef- 
 fects on a country life. The complete 
 character of this poem consists in sim- 
 plicity, brevity, and delicacy; the two 
 first of which render an eclogue or idyl 
 natural, and the last delightful. As the 
 fir^ strains of poetry must have been 
 heard in the primitive times of the hu- 
 man race, and as a shepherd's life is con- 
 genial with this mode of occupation, we 
 naturally consider poetry as having origi- 
 nated in the pastoral period ; but the 
 poetic idea of pastoral life, where all is 
 purity and simplicity, is not supported by 
 experience in past or present times. 
 
 PASTORA'LE, in ecclesiastical affairs, 
 that part of theology which includes the 
 execution of the duties of the clergyman, 
 or the practical application of his theolo- 
 gical knowledge. In the pastorale of a 
 Roman Catholic priest, the chief part of 
 the canon law is comprised ; while that of 
 the Protestant minister consists of princi- 
 ples addressed merely to his understand- 
 ing, including certain rules which experi- 
 ence has shown to be important for the 
 execution of clerical duties. 
 
 PATAVIN'ITY, a term used by clas- 
 sical scholars to denote a peculiarity of 
 Livy's diction ; so denominated from Pa- 
 tavium or Padua, the place of his nativ- 
 ity ; but as authors are not agreed as to 
 what this patavinity consists in, it may 
 reasonably be concluded that it is one of 
 those delicacies which are undiscernible 
 when a language is no longer spoken. 
 
 PATE, in fortification, a kind of plat 
 form, resembling what is called a horse- 
 shoe ; not always regular, but generally 
 oval, encompassed only with a parapet, 
 and having nothing to flank it. 
 
 PAT'ENTS, orLET'TERS PATENT, 
 (open letters,) writings sealed with the 
 great seal, granting a privilege to some 
 person, or authorizing a man to do or en- 
 joy that which he could not of himself. 
 They are called patent on account of their 
 form being open, ready to be exhibited 
 for the confirmation of the authority del- 
 egated by them. In England and the 
 United States, patents are granted for a 
 term not exceeding fourteen years. The 
 time in England may be prolonged by a 
 private act, and in the United States by 
 act of congress. In France, patents are 
 given for five, ten, or fifteen years, at the 
 option of the inventor ; but this last term 
 is never to be prolonged without a par- 
 ticular decree of the legislature. The 
 caveat is an instrument by which notice is 
 requested to be given to the person who 
 enters it, whenever any application is 
 made for a patent for a certain invention, 
 which is therein described in general 
 terms, and must be renewed annually. 
 It simply gives notice that the invention 
 is nearly completed, with a request that, 
 if any other person should apply for a pat- 
 ent for the same thing, the preference 
 may be given to him who entered it. 
 
 PA'TERA, in architecture, an orna- 
 ment frequently seen in the Doric frieze, 
 and in the tympans of arches. The pa- 
 tera was a small dish or vase used by the 
 Romans in their sacrifices, in which they 
 offered their consecrated food to the gods, 
 and with which they made libations ; and 
 hence, as the Doric was used for temples, 
 it became an ornament of that order. It 
 was also enclosed in urns with the ashes 
 of the dead, after it had been used in the 
 libations of wine and other liquors at the 
 funeral. 
 
 PAT'ERNOSTER, the Lord's prayer, 
 so called from the two first words thereof 
 in Latin. It is also sometimes used for 
 a rosary or string of beads, used by Ro- 
 man Catholics in their devotions ; but 
 more especially for every tenth large
 
 PAT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 459 
 
 bead in the said rosary ; for at this they 
 repeat the Lord's prayer ; and at the in- 
 tervening small ones, only an Ave Ma- 
 ria. In architecture, the same term is 
 used for an ornament cut in the form of 
 beads, either oval or round, for astragals, 
 Ac. 
 
 P A'THOS, language capable of moving 
 the tender passions, and of exciting the 
 finest emotions of the soul. 
 
 PATIENCE, the quality of enduring 
 affliction, pain, persecution, or other evil, 
 without murmuring or fretfulness. 
 
 PAT'IN, in the Romish church, the 
 cover of the chalice, used for holding par- 
 ticles of the host. 
 
 PA'TOIS, a word in general use in 
 most European countries, signifying the 
 dialect peculiar to the lower classes. 
 
 PA'TRES CONSCRIP'TI.aname given 
 to the Roman senators in general, though 
 at first it was applied to a particular part 
 of that body. The hundred appointed by 
 Romulus were called simply Patres ; a 
 second hundred added by Romulus and 
 Tatius upon the union of their people, 
 were denominated Patres Minorum Gen- 
 tium ; a third hundred being afterwards 
 added by Tarquinius Priscus, the two 
 latter classes were called Patres Con- 
 scripti, because they were written down 
 or put upon the list with the original 
 hundred of Romulus. 
 
 PA'TRIARCH, properly signifies the 
 head or chief of a family. The name of 
 patriarchs is generally confined to the 
 progenitors of the Israelites who lived 
 before Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
 &o.; or to the heads of families before the 
 flood, as the antediluvian patriarchs. The 
 appellation has from hence been trans- 
 ferred to the bishops of the first churches 
 of the East ; as, the patriarchs of Antioch, 
 Alexandria, Jerusalem. Constantinople. 
 
 PATRI'CIAN, in Roman history, a 
 title given at first to the descendants of 
 the senators whom Romulus created, and 
 called patres, " fathers." It was after- 
 wards enjoyed by those who became sen- 
 ators by other channels than that of he- 
 reditary claim : but the dignity of the 
 patricians was lessened by the fall of the 
 republic, the civil wars, and the estab- 
 lishment of the imperial dignity. The 
 word patrician, in its general and mod- 
 ern acceptation, signifies noble ; senato- 
 rial ; not plebeian. 
 
 PAT'RICK, ST., Order of, an Irish 
 order of'knighthood, instituted by George 
 III. in 1783, which is the only one be- 
 longing to Ireland, but it is the most 
 splendid of any. 
 
 PA'TRIOT, one who sincerely loves 
 his country, and who, as a proof of that 
 love, exerts his best energies in contrib- 
 uting to his country's welfare. In the 
 Latin of the middle ages, patriota signi- 
 fied a native, in contradistinction to pere- 
 grinus, a foreigner, that is, one who did 
 not enjoy the rights of citizenship. As the 
 native, or citizen, was considered to be 
 attached by his interests to the common- 
 wealth, the word gradually received the 
 meaning of a citizen who loves his coun- 
 try. Like many other words, its true 
 meaning has at times been sadly pervert- 
 ed, or irreverently used. 
 
 PAT'RIOTISM, the love of one's coun- 
 try the noblest passion that animates 
 the breast of a true citizen, either in de- 
 fending it from foreign enemies, or in 
 protecting its rights and maintaining its 
 laws and institutions in vigor and purity 
 when assailed by domestic foes. 
 
 PATROL', in war, a round or march 
 made by the guard in the night-time, to 
 observe what passes, and to secure the 
 peace and safety of a city or camp, or oth- 
 er place. The patrol generally consists of 
 a body of five or six men detached from 
 a body on guard, and commanded by a 
 Serjeant. 
 
 PA'TRON, in its most general sense, 
 signifies one that specially countenances 
 and supports another, or lends his aid to 
 advance the interests of some underta- 
 king ; as a patron of the Fine Arts ; the 
 patrons of a charitable institution, Ac. 
 Patron, (patronus,) among the Romans, 
 was an appellation given to any per- 
 son in power, under whose protection 
 a few inferiors put themselves, under cer- 
 tain conditions of obedience and personal 
 service. The persons protected were 
 called clients. The duty of the patrons was 
 to be their clients' counsellors in difficult 
 cases, their advocates in judgments, their 
 advisers in matters of doubt, and their 
 overseers in all their affairs. Patron 
 was also a title conferred on a master who 
 had freed his slave ; the relation of pa- 
 tron commencing when that of master ex- 
 pired. The patron was legal heir to his 
 freedmen, if they died intestate, or with- 
 out lawful issue born after their freedom 
 commenced. By the Papianlaw, if afreed- 
 man's fortune amounted to ten thousand 
 sesterces and he had three children, the 
 patron was entitled to a child's portion. 
 Patron in the English canon and common 
 law. a person who, having the advowson of 
 a parsonage, vicarage, or other spiritual 
 promotion belonging to his manor, has 
 the gift and disposition of the benefice,
 
 460 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PED 
 
 and may present to it whenever it be- 
 comes vacant. Patron, in the church 
 of Rome, a guardian or saint, whose 
 name a person bears, or under whose pro- 
 tection he is placed, and whom he in- 
 vokes : or a saint, in whose name a 
 church or order is founded. Lay-patron- 
 age is a right attached to a person either 
 as founder or as heir of the founder, or 
 as possessor of the see to which the pa- 
 tronage is annexed. Ecclesiastical pa- 
 tronage is that which a person is entitled 
 to by virtue of some benefice which he 
 holds. 
 
 PATRONYM'IC, a term applied to 
 such names of men and women as are de- 
 rived from those of their parents or an- 
 cestors ; as Tydides, the son of Tydeus. 
 
 PAULI'CIANS, in ecclesiastical histo- 
 ry, a branch of the ancient Manichees, 
 so called from their founder, one Paul us, 
 an Armenian. For several centuries they 
 suffered great persecution, and were at 
 length wholly exterminated. 
 
 PAUSA'NIA, in Grecian antiquity, a 
 festival, in which were solemn games, 
 wherein nobody contended but free-born 
 Spartans. It was instituted in honor of 
 Pausanias, the Spartan general, under 
 whose conduct the Greeks overcame Mar- 
 donius, in the celebrated battle at Plataea. 
 
 PAUSE, a character of time in music, 
 marked thus '""*, denoting that the note 
 over which it is placed is to be drawn out 
 to a greater length than usual, or to be 
 embellished with appoggiatures, shakes, 
 or other graces. 
 
 PAVIL'ION, in architecture, a kind 
 of turret or buiMing, usually insulated 
 and contained under a single roof: some- 
 times square, and sometimes in form of a 
 dome Sometimes a pavilion is a pro- 
 jecting part in front of a building; some- 
 times it flanks a corner. In military af- 
 fairs, a tent raised on posts. The word is 
 also sometimes used for a flag, ensign, or 
 banner. 
 
 PAWNBROKER, a species of banker, 
 who advances money at a certain rate of 
 interest upon the security of goods de- 
 posited in his hands ; having power to 
 sell the goods if the principal sum. and 
 the interest thereon, be not paid within 
 a specified time. The practice of advan- 
 cing money to the poor, either with or 
 without interest, seems to have been occa- 
 sionally adopted in ancient times ; but the 
 first public establishments of this kind 
 were founded in Italy, under the name of 
 Monti di Pieta, in the 14th and 15th cen- 
 turies, and were intended to countervail 
 the exorbitant usurious practices of the 
 
 Jews, who formed at that period the great 
 money-lenders of Europe. From Italy 
 these establishments gradually spread 
 over the Continent, jn many parts of 
 which they still exist. 
 
 PAX, on allegorical divinity among 
 
 the ancients, worshipped as the goddess 
 
 of peace. She had a celebrated temple 
 
 at Rome, which was built by Vespasian, 
 
 and was consumed by fire in the reign of 
 
 | Comrnodus. This term is sometimes ap- 
 
 i plied to a small image of Christ, because, 
 
 in former times, the kiss which the people 
 
 gave it before leaving church was called 
 
 the kiss of peace. 
 
 PEACE, in a general sense, signifies a 
 state of tranquillity or freedom from dis- 
 turbance.* In a political sense, freedom 
 from war with a foreign power, or from 
 internal commotion. It likewise denotes 
 a calm and tranquil state of the mind, 
 which is the effect of a clear conscience. 
 Also, that quiet, order, and security 
 which is guaranteed by the laws. 
 
 PEC ULATOR, one who defrauds the 
 public by appropriating to his own use 
 money entrusted to his care. 
 
 PECU'LIAR, in the English canon law, 
 a parish or church that has jurisdiction 
 within itself, and is competent to the 
 granting probates of wills and letters of 
 administration, exempt from the ordinary 
 or bishop's court. Court of Peculiars, a 
 branch of the court of arches, belonging 
 to the archbishop of Canterbury, which 
 takes cognizance of matters relating to 
 parishes that have a peculiar jurisdic- 
 tion. 
 
 PED'AGOGUE, among the ancient 
 Greeks, a slave charged with the personal 
 care of a boy from the earliest age after in- 
 fancy (from the milk, in the loose phrase 
 of Plutarch ; from about the age of seven, 
 as it is more accurately stated by 
 JEschines) until he became a youth, i. e., 
 until the seventeenth or twentieth year. 
 The pedagogue's duty was to attend his 
 charge on all occasions when he left his 
 father's house ; to the lecture-rooms, of 
 masters, the theatres, <fec. He was also 
 entrusted with the duty of instructing 
 and disciplining the child in all the inferior 
 branches of education and ordinary man- 
 ners. He was, consequently, of a very 
 superior order of common slaves. 
 
 PED'ALS, in music, the keys played 
 by the feet, (hence the name,) by which 
 the deepest bass pipes of an organ are 
 put in motion. A pedal is also used 
 under a piano, in order to strengthen and 
 prolong the tones. In a harp, the podal 
 serves to elevate the notes half a tone.
 
 PEN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 461 
 
 PED'ESTAL, in architecture, the low- 
 est part of a column, being that which 
 serves as its stand. It consists of three 
 parts, viz., a trunk or dye, which forms 
 the body ; a cornice, the head ; and a 
 base, the foot of the pedestal. 
 
 PEDIMENT, the triangular finishing 
 above the entablature at the end of build- 
 ings or over porticoes. The mouldings of 
 the entablature bound the inclined sides 
 of the pediment. Also the triangular 
 finishing over doors and windows. In the 
 debased Roman style the same name is 
 given to these same parts, though not 
 
 Pediment. 
 
 triangular in their form, but circular, el- 
 liptical, or interrupted. In the architec- 
 ture of the middle ages, small gables and 
 triangular decorations over openings, 
 niches. &c., are called pediments. These 
 have the angle at the apex more acute 
 than the corresponding decoration of clas- 
 sic architecture. 
 
 PEER, in England, a nobleman or peer 
 of the realm. The lords of parliament 
 are the peers of each other; for whatever 
 formality of precedence may attach to 
 the title of duke, earl, marquis, or vis- 
 count, it is a barony which conveys the 
 right to a seat in parliament, and confers 
 every privilege annexed. It is as a baron, 
 not as a duke, bishop, &c. that a peer 
 sits in parliament ; and the parliamentary 
 rights are, at the present day, the essence 
 of nobility. In compliance with an 
 ancient practice, peers are sometimes 
 still created by titles which convey the 
 idea of local rights to which they have in 
 reality no pretension ; but though this is 
 a mere form, the rank they gain is not 
 an empty one ; it is that of an hereditary 
 legislator of the realm. A peer is not to 
 be put upon any inquest, even though 
 the cause have relation to two peers ; and 
 where a peer is a defendant in a court of 
 equity, he is not to be sworn to his answer, 
 which is to be received upon the faith of 
 his honor ; but when he is to answer to in- 
 terrogatories, or to make an affidavit, or 
 to be examined as a witness, he is to be 
 sworn. There are two peculiarities at- 
 tending the trial of a peer : 1st, the num- 
 ber of jurors is greater than ordinary, 
 every peer having a right to sit ; 2dly, 
 unanimity is not required, but the deci- 
 sion depends upon the majority, which, 
 however, must amount to twelve. 
 
 PEER'ESS, a woman who is noble by 
 
 descent, creation or marriage. If a peer- 
 ess by descent or creation marries a per- 
 son under the degree of nobility, she still 
 continues noble ; but if she has obtained 
 the dignity by marriage only, by a sub- 
 sequent marriage with a commoner she 
 loses it; though by the courtesy of Eng- 
 land, she always retains her title. 
 
 PEG'ASUS, in Greek mythology, a 
 winged horse, produced by Neptune ; or 
 according to some authors, which sprung 
 from the blood of Medusa when Perseus 
 cut off her head. 
 
 PEINE FORTE ET DURE, a special 
 punishment inflicted in ancient times on, 
 those who, being arraigned of felony, re- 
 fused to put themselves on the ordinary 
 trial, but stood mute. It was vulgarly 
 called pressing to death. 
 
 PELA'GIANS, a Christian sect who 
 appeared about the beginning of the fifth 
 century. Pelagius, the founder of it, was 
 born in Wales, and his real name was 
 Morgan, which in the Welsh languages 
 signifies sea born ; whence the Latin name 
 Pelagius. Some of our ancient historians 
 pretend that he was abbot of Bar.gor ; but 
 this is impossible, because the British 
 monasteries were of a later date. St. 
 Austin gives him the character of a very 
 pious man, and a person of superior birth. 
 Among other genets of belief, the Pelagi- 
 ans denied original sin, maintaining that 
 Adam would have died, whether he had 
 sinned or not ; while they asserted the 
 doctrine of free will, and the merit of 
 good works. 
 
 PE'NAL LAWS, laws made for the 
 punishment of criminal offences. 
 
 PEN'ALTY, (in law,) a fine or forfei- 
 ture by way of punishment, which is a 
 pecuniary penalty ; but the wovd penalty 
 is not confined to this ; for imprisonment, 
 whipping, transportation, &c. are equally 
 penalties, though in the shape of personal 
 punishments. 
 
 PEN'ANCE, in ecclesiastical law, the 
 infliction of some pain or bodily suffering, 
 as fasting, flagellation, &c ; as an exer- 
 cise of repentance for some sin, either vol- 
 untary or imposed. Penance is one of the 
 seven sacraments of the Romish church. 
 
 PENA'TES, in Roman antiquity, tute- 
 lar deities, either of countries or of par- 
 ticular houses, in which last sense they 
 were the same with the lares. The Pena- 
 tes were originally the tutelar gods of 
 the Trojans ; but being adopted by the 
 Romans, they were thus named. 
 
 PEND'ANT, in gothic architecture, an 
 ornamented polygonal piece of stone or 
 timber hanging down from the vault or
 
 462 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 PEO 
 
 roof of a building. Of stone pendants 
 some exquisite examples may be seen in 
 Henry VII. "s chapel at Westminster. In 
 ancient writers the springers of arches, 
 which rest on shafts or corbels, are called 
 pendants. In painting, <fec. a picture or 
 print which from uniformity of size and 
 subject seems to hang up as a companion 
 to another. The term may also be ap- 
 plied to bassi relievi of similar sizes. 
 
 PENETRA'LE, was a sacred room or 
 chapel in private nouses, set apart for the 
 worship of the household gods among the 
 Romans. In temples also there were 
 penetralia, or apartments of peculiar 
 sanctity, where the images of the gods 
 were kept, and certain solemn ceremonies 
 peformed. 
 
 PENITEN'TIARY, in the ancient 
 Christian church, a name given to certain 
 presbyters, appointed in every church to 
 receive the private confessions of the peo- 
 ple, in order to facilitate public discipline, 
 by acquainting them what sins were to 
 be expiated by public penance, and to 
 appoint private penance for such crimes 
 as it might be deemed unadvisable to 
 censure publicly. Penitentiary, at the 
 court of Rome, an office in which are ex- 
 amined and delivered out the secret 
 bulls, graces, or dispensations relating to 
 cases of conscience, confessions, &c. The 
 title of penitentiary was also given to an 
 officer in some cathedrals, who WHS vested 
 with power from the bishop to absolve in 
 cases reserved to him. Penitentiary, the 
 name of prisons where felons are kept to 
 hard labor. 
 
 PEN'ITENTS, an appellation given 
 to certain fraternities in Catholic coun- 
 tries, distinguished by their different 
 habits, and generally employed in chari- 
 table acts. 
 
 PEN'NON, in heraldry, a small point- 
 ed flag, borne by a gentleman. When 
 knighthood was conferred upon him, the 
 point was cut off, and the square flag that 
 remained bore the name of banner. 
 
 PEN'SION, an annual allowance of a 
 sum of money to a person by government, 
 in consideration of past services, civil or 
 military ; or, at least, such a pension 
 ought to be. 
 
 PEN'StONER, one who receives an 
 annuity from another, whether in con- 
 sideration of service past or present, or 
 merely as a benevolence. 
 
 PENTAM'ETER, in Latin and Greek 
 poetry, a verse consisting of five feet or 
 metres. The two first may be either dac- 
 tyls or spondees ; the third is always a 
 spondee, and the two last anapaests. A 
 
 pentameter verse subjoined to an hex- 
 ameter constitutes what is called elegiac. 
 The pentameter has not been generally 
 introduced into any modern language 
 with which we are acquainted : though 
 Goethe and Schiller have left us some 
 excellent specimens of the facility with 
 which it might be engrafted on the Ger- 
 man language. The hexameter and pen- 
 tamer distich is beautifully described in 
 the lines of Schiller, which are thus ren- 
 dered by Coleridge, who was long con- 
 sidered as the original author : 
 
 In the hexameter rises the fountain's .silvery 
 
 column : 
 In Ihe pentameter aye falling in melody back. 
 
 Every page of Ovid's Heroides or Tristia, 
 illustrates the manner in which the hex- 
 ameter breaks, as it were, and falls back 
 in the pentameter, thereby adding a most 
 exquisite grace to the rhythm ; indeed 
 the secret genius of the metre appears to 
 consist in this play. 
 
 PEN'TASTICH, in poetry, a compo- 
 sition consisting of five verses. 
 
 PEN'TASTYLE, in architecture, a 
 building in which there are five rows of 
 columns. 
 
 PEX'TATEUCH, an appellation given 
 ! to the first five books of the Old Testa- 
 : ment, viz. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 
 I Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 
 
 PENTATH'LUM, in antiquity, a gen- 
 eral name for the five exercises perform- 
 ed at the Grecian games, namely, wrest- 
 ling, boxing, leaping, running, and play- 
 ing at the discus. 
 
 PENTECON'TER, in antiquity, a Gre- 
 cian vessel of fifty oars ; smaller than a 
 trireme. 
 
 PEN'TECOST, a solemn festival of the 
 Jews, instituted in memory of the pro- 
 mulgation of the law, and so named be- 
 cause that event took place on the fiftieth 
 day after their departure from Egypt. 
 It is retained by us in the Christian church 
 (and by us called Whitsuntide) on account 
 of the miraculous descent of the Holy 
 Ghost on the apostles, which happened on 
 one of the annual returns of its celebra- 
 tion. 
 
 PENUL'TIMA, PENULT', or PENUL- 
 TIMATE SYLLABLE, in grammar, the last 
 syllable but one of a word ; and hence the 
 anti-penulttmate syllable is the last but 
 two, or that immediately before the pe- 
 nultima. 
 
 PEO'PLE, the body of persons who com- 
 pose a community, town, city, or nation. 
 We say, the people of a town ; the people 
 of New York or Paris ; the American peo-
 
 PER] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 463 
 
 pie. In this sense, the word is not used 
 in the plural, but it comprehends all 
 classes of inhabitants, considered as a col- 
 lective boily, or any portion of the inhab- 
 itants of a city or country. 
 
 PERCEPTION, the act of perceiving 
 or of receiving impressions by the senses ; 
 or that act or process of the mind which 
 makes known an external object. In 
 other words, the notice which the mind 
 takes of external objects. We gain a 
 knowledge of the coldness and smoothness 
 of marble by perception. In philoso- 
 phy, the faculty of perceiving ; the facul- 
 ty or peculiar part of man's constitution, 
 by which he has knowledge through the 
 medium or instrumentality of the bodily 
 organs, or by which he holds communica- 
 tion with the external world. It is dis- 
 tinguished from conception by the cir- 
 cumstance that its objects are in every 
 instance supposed to have an actual ex- 
 istence. We may conceive things that 
 have no reality, but we are never said to 
 perceive, such things. Perception differs 
 from consciousness in that it takes cog- 
 nizance only of objects without the mind. 
 We perceive a man, a horse, a tree ; 
 when we think or feel, we are conscious 
 of our thoughts and emotions. It is fur- 
 ther supposed in perception that the ob- 
 jects of it are present. We can remem- 
 ber former objects of perception, but we 
 do not perceive them again until they are 
 once more present. The term perception, 
 however, is sometimes analogically em- 
 ployed in common speech in reference to 
 truths, the evidence of which is certain. 
 Thus we may perceive the truth of a math- 
 ematical proposition. Various theories 
 of perception have arisen among philoso- 
 phers. These have been designated by 
 the terms idealism and realism. 
 
 PERFECTIBILITY, the capability 
 of arriving at perfection. This word, 
 which is entirely modern, and scarcely 
 as yet admitted in our language on clas- 
 sical English authority, is commonly used 
 in reasoning on the social condition of 
 mankind. 
 
 PERFECTION", in the highest sense 
 to which this word can be applied, means 
 an inherent or essential attribute of 
 supreme or infinite excellence. If we 
 speak of physical perfection, we mean 
 that a natural object has all its powers, 
 faculties, or qualities entire and in full 
 vigor, and all its parts in due proportion. 
 Moral perfection is the complete pos- 
 session of such moral qualities and vir- 
 tues as the thing spoken of is capable of 
 
 PE'RI, in Persian mythology, are the 
 descendants of fallen spirits, excluded 
 from paradise until their penance is ac- 
 complished. 
 
 PERIB'OLOS, in architecture, a court 
 or enclosure entirely round a temple, 
 surrounded by a wall. One of the most 
 extraordinary examples of a peribolos is 
 at Palmyra, where the great temple is 
 surrounded by a wall with two rows of 
 interior columns, each side whereof is 
 from 700 to 800 feet long. 
 
 PER'IDROME, in ancient architec- 
 ture, the space in a peripteral temple 
 between the walls of the cell and the 
 columns. It is a term that may be ap- 
 plied to any gallery of communication 
 round an edifice. 
 
 PE'RIOD, in rhetoric, has been defined 
 " a passage, i. e., series of words, develop- 
 ed in properly connected parts." In a 
 stricter sense, a period is a sentence so 
 framed that the grammatical construc- 
 tion will not admit a close, and the mean- 
 ing remains suspended until the end of 
 it. A sentence in which the sense would 
 permit of a stop before its completion is, 
 in this sense, not a period. The Greek 
 and Latin languages were much more 
 periodic than most modern tongues; that 
 is, they admitted of the construction of 
 sentences so that a single grammatical 
 connection should run through a great 
 series of words, while a similar series, in 
 a modern language, would be so arranged 
 as to form several distinct grammatical 
 wholes. 
 
 PERIOD ICALS, in literature, com- 
 prise the whole of those publications 
 which appear at regular intervals, wheth- 
 er devoted to general information, or es- 
 pecially intended for some particular 
 class of readers. They consequently in- 
 clude all the newspapers, reviews, and 
 magazines, as well as such works on sci- 
 ence and art as are published in a series 
 of volumes, parts, or numbers; and while 
 they have contributed greatly to the dif- 
 fusion of general knowledge, they have 
 done much towards promoting the cause 
 of truth, and facilitating the progress of 
 science. 
 
 PERIPATETICS, the followers of 
 Aristotle, whose doctrines are distinguish- 
 ed by the name of peripatetic philosophy. 
 He also was called the Peripatetic because 
 he delivered his lectures walking in the 
 Lyceum at Athens. 
 
 PERIPH'RASIS, or PER'IPHRASE, 
 in rhetoric, circumlocution ; or the use 
 of more words than are necessary to ex- 
 press an idea.
 
 464 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PER 
 
 PERIPTEROUS, in architecture, an 
 opithet for a place encompassed about 
 with columns. 
 
 PER'ISTYLE. a range of columns 
 surrounding anything, as the cella of a 
 temple, or any place, as a court or clois- 
 ter. It is frequently but incorrectly lim- 
 ited in signification to a range of columns 
 surrounding the interior of a place. 
 
 PER'JURY, in law, is a wilful false 
 oath taken in a court of justice, by a wit- 
 ness lawfully required to depose the 
 truth in a matter of some consequence to 
 the point in question. A false oath there- 
 fore, taken before no court, or before a 
 court incompetent to try the issue in 
 question, does not constitute the offence 
 of perjury. Perjury is a misdemeanor at 
 common law, and punishable by fine and 
 imprisonment. Subornation of perjury 
 is the offence of procuring a man to com- 
 mit perjury. 
 
 PER'MIT, a note given by the officers 
 of customs to authorize the landing, deliv- 
 ery or transfer, of imported merchandize. 
 
 PERORA'TION, the concluding part 
 of an oration, in Which the speaker re- 
 capitulates the principal points of his dis- 
 course or argument, and urges them with 
 greater earnestness and force, with a view 
 to make a deep impression on his audience. 
 The main excellence of a peroration con- 
 sists in vehemence, pathos, and brevity. 
 
 PERPETUITY, in the doctrine of 
 Annuities, is the sum of money which will 
 purchase a certain annuity to continue 
 forever. This is equal to the product of 
 the annuity into the number of years in 
 which the simple interest of any sum will 
 equal the principal. For example, if the 
 rate of interest be 4 per cent., the simple 
 interest of any sum will amount to a sum 
 equal to the principal in twenty-five 
 years. The value, therefore, of the per- 
 petuity of $100 per annum is $2500. 
 The number of years is equal to unit di- 
 vided by the rate of interest, or 100 divid- 
 ed by the rate per cent. 
 
 PERSECUTION, the infliction of pain, 
 punishment, or death upon others un- 
 justly, more especially for adhering to a 
 religious creed or mode of worship. The 
 history of the world is full of persecutions ; 
 and there is scarcely any dominant sect 
 or party, religious or political, which has 
 not at times disgraced humanity by in- 
 flicting unjust punishment or penalties 
 upon their fellow-men, for adhering to 
 principles which their consciences dictated 
 and their judgment approved. 
 
 PER'SEUS, son of Jupiter, and Danae, 
 one of the most distinguished heroes of 
 
 the Grecian mythology. His history is 
 too well-known to bo recapitulated here. 
 His chief exploit was the conquest of 
 Medusa. 
 
 PERSEVE'RANCE, in theology, the 
 continuance of the elect in a state of 
 grace to the end of their lives, which, ac- 
 cording to some theologians, must always 
 be the case with him who has once been 
 truly called into such a state. Since God 
 is represented as the image of perfection 
 and immutability in himself, so, it is ar- 
 gued, having once begun the preparation 
 of a human being for a blessed eternity, 
 he will not leave his work unfinished ; 
 but the person concerned must necessarily 
 persevere to the end in a state of accept- 
 ance, under the absolute decree of which 
 he was originally elected unto life. 
 
 PER'SONAL, in law, belonging to the 
 person and not to the thing ; as personal 
 goods, opposed to real property or estates ; 
 personal action, an action against the 
 person, wherein a man claims satisfac- 
 tion in damages for an injury to his per- 
 son or property. Personal identity, in 
 metaphysics, sameness of being, of which 
 consciousness is- the evidence. 
 
 PER'SONAL PROP'ERTY, according 
 to the division recognized by our law, is 
 best defined negatively, as including 
 everything which may be made the sub- 
 ject of property, and which is not legally 
 considered as appertaining to land. The 
 original distinction was undoubtedly be- 
 tween things movable and immovable. 
 
 PERSONIFICATION, the giving to 
 an inanimate object the sentiments and 
 language of a rational being ; or the rep- 
 resentation of an inanimate being with 
 the affections and actions of a person. 
 The more the imagination prevails among 
 a people, the more common are personifi- 
 cations ; and as reflection acquires the 
 ascendancy personifications are less used. 
 
 PERSPECTIVE, the science which 
 teaches the representation of an object or 
 objects on a definite surface so as to affect 
 the eye when viewed from a given point, 
 in the same manner as the object or ob- 
 jects themselves. Correctly defined, a 
 perspective delineation is a section, by 
 the plane or other surface, on which the 
 delineation is made, of the cone of rays 
 proceeding from every part of the object 
 to the eye of the spectator. It is inti- 
 mately connected with the arts of design. 
 and is indispensable in architecture, en- 
 gineering, fortification, sculpture, and 
 generally all the mechanical arts; but it 
 is particularly necessary in the art of 
 j painting, as without a correct observance
 
 PER] 
 
 AND THK FINE ARTS. 
 
 465 
 
 of the rules of perspective no picture can 
 have truth and life. Perspective alone 
 enables us to represent foreshortenings 
 with accuracy, and it is requisite in de- 
 lineating even the simplest positions of ob- 
 jects. Suppose we view a point situated 
 beyond an upright transparent plane, as 
 a glass window, the spot where a straight 
 line from the eye to this point will go 
 through the window is the perspective 
 representation of it : for the eye views all 
 objects by means of rays of light, which 
 proceed from it, to the different points 
 of the object, in straight lines. Let us 
 then imagine a spectator to be looking 
 at a prospect without doors, from within, 
 through a glass window; he will per- 
 ceive not only the vast extent which so 
 small an aperture will admit to be seen 
 by his eye, but also the shape, size, and 
 situation of every object upon the glass. 
 If the objects are near the window, the 
 spaces which they take upon the glass 
 will be proportionably larger than when 
 they are at a greater distance ; if they 
 are parallel to the window, then their 
 shapes upon the glass will be parallel 
 also ; but if they are oblique, then their 
 shapes will be oblique, and so on. And 
 he will always perceive, that as he alters 
 the situation of his eye, the situation of 
 the objects upon the window will be altered 
 also : if he raises his eye, the objects 
 will seem to keep pace with it, and rise 
 higher upon the window ; and the contrary 
 if he lowers it. And so in every situation 
 of the eye, the objects upon the window 
 will seem to rise higher or lower ; and con- 
 sequently the depth of the whole prospect 
 will be proportionably greater or less, as 
 the eye is elevated or depressed : and the 
 horizon will, in every situation of the 
 eye, be upon a level with it : that is, the 
 imaginary line which parts the earth and 
 sky will seem to be raised as far above 
 the ground upon which the spectator 
 stands as his eye is. Now suppose the 
 person at the window, keeping his head 
 steady, draws the figure of an object seen 
 through it upon the glass with a pencil, as 
 if the point of the pencil touched the ob- 
 ject : he would then have a true represen- 
 tation of the object in perspective, as it ap- 
 pears to his eye : for as vision is occasion- 
 ed by pencils of rays coming in straight 
 lines to the eye from every point of the 
 visible object, it is plain that, by join- 
 ing the points in the transparent plane 
 through which all those pencils of rays 
 respectively pass, an exact representation 
 must be formed of the object, as it ap- 
 pears to the eye in that particular posi- 
 30 
 
 tion, and at that determined distance. 
 And were pictures of things to be always 
 first drawn on transparent planes, this 
 simple operation, with the principle on 
 which it is founded, would comprise the 
 whole theory and practice of perspective. 
 Perspective is divided into two branches, 
 linear and aerial. Linear perspective 
 has reference to the position, form, mag- 
 nitude, &c. of the several lines or con- 
 tours of objects, &c. The outlines of such 
 objects as buildings, machinery, and most 
 works of human labor which consist of 
 geometrical forms, or whhh can he re- 
 duced to them, may be most accurately ob- 
 tained by the rules of linear pferspective, 
 since the intersection with an interposed 
 plane of the rays of light proceeding 
 from every point of such objects may be 
 obtained by the principles of geometrj. 
 
 Oblique perspecthre. 
 
 Parallel perspective. 
 
 Linear perspective includes the various 
 kinds of projection ; as scenographic, 
 orthographic, ichnographic, stereograph- 
 ic projections, &c. Aerial perspective 
 teaches how to give due diminution to 
 the strength of light, shade, and colors 
 of objects according to their distances, 
 and the quantity of light falling on them, 
 and to the medium through which they 
 are seen. Perspective plane, the surface 
 on which the object or picture is delinea- 
 ted, or it is the transparent surface or plane 
 through which we suppose objects to be 
 viewed; it also termed the plane of pro- 
 jection, and the plane of the picture. 
 'Parallel perspective is where the picture 
 which is supposed to be so situated, as to 
 be parallel to the side of the principal 
 object in the picture ; as a building, for 
 instance. Oblique perspective, is when 
 the plane of the picture is supposed to 
 stand oblique to the sides of the object 
 represented ; in which case the represen- 
 tations of the lines upon those titles will 
 not bo parallel among themselves, but 
 will tend toward their vanishing point. 
 Isometrical perspective, a kind of per-
 
 466 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PHA 
 
 spective on the principles of orthographic 
 projection invented by Professor Farish 
 of Cambridge, by which solids, of the form 
 of rectangular parallelopipeds, or such 
 as are reducible to this form, can be 
 represented with their three pair of 
 planes in one figure, which gives a more 
 intelligible idea of their form than can 
 be done by a separate plan and elevation. 
 At the same time, this method admits of 
 their dimensions being measured by a 
 scale as directly as by the usual mode of 
 delineation. As applied to machinery, it 
 gives the elevation and ground plan in 
 one view. It is considered for such pur- 
 
 poses, to be preferable to the methods 
 in common use, as it is easier and simpler 
 in its application. 
 
 PESTILENCE, any contagious or in- 
 fectious disease that is epidemic and mor- 
 tal. It is also used to denote any moral 
 disease or corruption destructive of hap- 
 piness. 
 
 PET'ALISM, in antiquity, a form of 
 proscription or banishment practised at 
 Syracuse, by writing the person's name 
 on a leaf; whence the name. It differed 
 from the Athenian ostracism merely in 
 being for five years instead of ten, and 
 the name being written on leaves instead 
 of shells or tiles. 
 
 PETARD', in fortification, a hollow 
 engine shaped like a sugar-loaf, to be 
 loaded with powder and fixed on a plank ; 
 made for breaking open gates, draw- 
 bridges. <fcc. 
 
 PET" ASUS, in antiquity, a covering 
 for the head, similar to a broad-brimmed 
 hat, used to keep off the heat of the sun. 
 In architecture, the cupola of a house, in 
 the form of a petasus. 
 1 PETAURTST^E, in antiquity, a name 
 given to certain athleta, who threw them- 
 selves from a machine called a petaurum, 
 
 which was hung high in the air, and de- 
 scended to the earth by means of a rope. 
 
 PETER-PENCE, the popular name 
 of an impost, otherwise termed " the fee 
 of Home," or, in the Anglo-Saxon, 
 "Romescot:" originally a voluntary 
 offering by the faithful to the see of 
 Rome ; afterwards a due levied in various 
 amounts from every house or family in 
 a country. Peter-pence were paid in 
 France, Poland, and other realms. In 
 England this tax is recognized by the 
 Norman laws of William the Conqueror. 
 Edward III. discontinued the payment 
 when the popes resided at Avignon ; but 
 it was afterwards revived, and finally 
 ceased in the reign of Henry VIII. 
 
 PETIT, or PETTY. The former word 
 occurs in our law books in such phrases 
 as petit jury, petit treason, petit larceny, 
 4-c. ; but the practice is giving way to the 
 use of the English petty. Petit treason, 
 the crime of killing a person to whom the 
 offender owes duty or subjection. Thus 
 the crime of murder, when a wife kills 
 her husband, or a servant his master, has 
 this appellation. Petit larceny, the 
 stealing of goods of the value of twelve 
 pence, or under that amount. Petit 
 jury, a jury of twelve freeholders who 
 are empanelled to try causes in a court ; 
 so called in distinction from the grand 
 jury, which tries the truth of indictments. 
 
 PETI'TION, a formal supplication or 
 request made by an inferior to a superior, 
 especially to one having some jurisdiction 
 Also, a paper containing a supplication 
 or solicitation. 
 
 PETI Tip PRINCIP'II, in logic, the 
 taking a thing for true, and drawing con- 
 clusions from it as such ; when it is either 
 false, or at least requires to be proved 
 before any inferences can be deduced 
 from it. In common parlance this is 
 called " begging the question." 
 
 PHA'ETON, in mythology, the son of 
 Apollo and Clymenes, one of the Oceani- 
 des, according to most writers. The fable 
 of his adventures is well known. Taunted 
 with his doubtful origin, he asked his fa- 
 ther to lend him the chariot of the sun 
 for a day, as a proof of his filial rights. 
 Unable to guide the fiery steeds, he was 
 dashed to the ground by Jupiter with a 
 thunderbolt, to prevent his consuming 
 the heavens and earth. 
 
 PHALANSTE'RIANISM, the system 
 of Charles Fourier, the French socialist ; 
 who, as a remedy for the evils of society, 
 as at present constituted, advocated its 
 reorganization into so many phalanste- 
 ries, containing each from BOO to 2000
 
 PHI] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 467 
 
 persons, upon principles similar to those 
 of joint-stock companies ; the members to 
 lire in one spacious edifice, cultivating a 
 common domain ; the proceeds to be 
 shared according to the amount of capi- 
 tal, skill, or labor invested by each. 
 
 PHA'LANX, in the military affairs of 
 Greece, a square and compact battalion 
 or body of soldiers, formed in ranks and 
 files compact and deep, with their shields 
 joined and pikes crossing each other, so as 
 to render it almost impossible to break it. 
 At first the phalanx consisted of 4000 
 men, but was afterwards doubled and 
 even quadrupled. The Macedonian pha- 
 lanx is thus described by Polybius. It 
 was a square of pikemen, consisting of 
 sixteen in flank and five hundred in front ; 
 the soldiers stood so close together that 
 the pikes of the fifth rank extended three 
 feet beyond the front : the rest, whose 
 pikes were not serviceable owing to their 
 distance from the front, couched them 
 upon the shoulders of those that stood 
 before them, and so locking them toge- 
 ther in file, pressed forward to support 
 and push on the former rank, by which 
 means the assault was rendered more vio- 
 lent and irresistible. The word phalanx 
 is likewise used for any combination of 
 people distinguished for firmness or so- 
 lidity of union. 
 
 PHAR'ISEES, a sect among the Jews, 
 who distinguished themselves by their 
 zeal for the traditions of the elders, which 
 they derived from the same fountain with 
 the written word itself, pretending that 
 both were delivered to Moses on Mount 
 Sinai, and were therefore both of equal 
 authority. From their rigorous observ- 
 ance of these traditions they considered 
 themselves as more holy than other Jews, 
 and therefore separated themselves from 
 them ; and hence, from the Hebrew word 
 pharis, which signifies to separate, they 
 had the name of p/iarisees or separatists. 
 The pharisees numbered in their ranks 
 the most distinguished lawyers and states- 
 men in Judaea ; and as pers.ons of all 
 conditions were admitted into their socie- 
 ty, they gained a political influence which 
 often decided the fate of the Jewish na- 
 tion under the Maccabees, and brought 
 into their hands the power which had 
 been left to the great council by the Ro- 
 mans in the time of Christ. They be- 
 lieved in a resurrection from the dead, 
 and the existence of angels ; but, accord- 
 ing to Josephus, their belief extended to 
 no more than a Pythagorean resurrec- 
 tion, that is, of the soul only, by its trans- 
 migration into another body and being 
 
 born anew with it. From this resurrec- 
 tion they excluded all who were notorious- 
 ly wicked, being of opinion that the souls 
 of such persons were doomed to a state 
 of everlasting woe. 
 
 PHA'ROS, a light-house or lofty build- 
 ing near the sea, where a fire is kept 
 burning during the night to serve as a 
 beacon to vessels. The Pharos of Alex- 
 andria, built in the reign of Pharos, was 
 one of the most celebrated works of anti- 
 quity, and from this circumstance the 
 name is supposed to have been given to 
 edifices of a similar description. The 
 tower of king Pharos stood at the mouth 
 of the Nile ; it consisted of several stories 
 or galleries, surmounted with a lantern, 
 and was seen for many leagues at sea, as 
 well as all along the coast. 
 
 PHELLOPLAS'TICS, the art of repre- 
 senting works of architecture on a re- 
 duced scale in cork, which affords very 
 fine models, and are. cheaper than those 
 in wood, stone, gypsum, <fcc. 
 
 PHIDI'TIA. in antiquity, Lacedemo- 
 nian festivals, remarkable for the fru- 
 gality of the entertainment, and the char- 
 itable intention of the meeting. They 
 were held in public places, and in the 
 open air. Those who attended made con- 
 tributions of flour, wine, cheese, and figs. 
 Rich and poor assisted alike at this feast, 
 and were upon the same footing ; the de- 
 sign of the institution being, like that of 
 the Roman Charistia, to reconcile differ- 
 ences, and to cultivate peace, friendship, 
 and a good understanding among all the 
 citizens, of every rank and degree. 
 
 PHIGA'LIAN MARBLES, (so called 
 from having been discovered near the 
 site of Phigalia, a town of Arcadia,) the 
 name given to a series of sculptures in 
 alto relievo, now deposited in the British 
 Museum, where they form part of the 
 collection known by the name of the Si- 
 gin Marbles. They originally formed 
 the fringe round the interior of the cella 
 of the temple dedicated to Apollo the De- 
 liverer ; a title conferred on him by the 
 Phigalians in gratitude for his having 
 delivered them from a pestilence. They 
 represent the combat of the Centaurs aud 
 the Lapithae, and that of the Greeks and 
 Amazons. The similarity, both in design 
 and execution, which they bear to the 
 decorations on the Parthenon leaves no 
 doubt that they are the workmanship of 
 the same master minds which designed, 
 constructed, and adorned that splendid 
 monument of the golden age of art. 
 
 PHIL ANTHRO'PINISM,aname given 
 in Germany to the system of education
 
 468 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PHI 
 
 on natural principles, as it is termed, 
 which was promoted by Basedow and his 
 friends in the last century, and mainly 
 founded on the notions of Locke and Rous- 
 seau. An institution for the purposes of 
 education founded under the protection 
 of the Duke of Dossau, in 1774, was the 
 first so called " Philanthropin." It was 
 dissolved in 1793; and of the similar in- 
 stitutions afterwards founded, only one, 
 it is said, has continued to maintain it- 
 self. But the influence of the labors of 
 the Philanthropinists has undoubtedly 
 entered largely into the modern system 
 of education. 
 
 PHILAN'THROPY, good-will and be- 
 nevolence towards the whole of mankind. 
 It differs from friendship, inasmuch as it 
 has no limits to its sphere of action, 
 whereas friendship may be confined to an 
 individual ; but a true philanthropist so 
 loves his fellow-men that he is continually 
 exerting himself for their welfare. 
 
 PHILIP'PIC, a word used to denote 
 any discourse or declamation full of acri- 
 monious invective. .It is derived from an 
 oration made by Demosthenes against 
 Philip of Macedon, in which the orator 
 inveighs against the indolence of the 
 Athenians. The fourteen orations of 
 Cicero against Mark Antony are also 
 called philippics. 
 
 PHILOL'OGY, in its usual acceptation, 
 is that branch of literature which compre- 
 hends a knowledge of the etymology or 
 origin and combination of words, and 
 whatever relates to the history, affinity, 
 and present state of languages. In a 
 wider sense it signifies an assemblage of 
 sciences, consisting of grammar, rhetoric, 
 poetry, antiquities, history, criticism, &o., 
 usually understood by the French term 
 belles lettres. Of late j'ears, however, a 
 new and very extensive province has been 
 added to the dominion of philology ; 
 namely, the science of language in a more 
 general sense, considered philosophically 
 with respect to the light it throws on the 
 nature of human intellect and progress 
 of human knowledge-; and historically, 
 with reference to the connection between 
 different tongues, and the connection 
 thus indicated between different nations 
 and races. Some attempts have recently 
 made to confine the use of the word phi- 
 lology to this particular branch of learn- 
 ing. It comprehends, 1. Phonology, or 
 the knowledge of the sounds of the hu- 
 man voice ; which appears to include or- I 
 thography, or the system to be adopted 
 when we endeavor to render, by our own I 
 alphabet, the sounds of a foreign Ian- ; 
 
 guage ; 2. Etymology; 3. Ideology, or the 
 science of the modification of language 
 by grammatical forms, according to the 
 various points of view from which men 
 contemplate the ideas which words are 
 meant to express. 
 
 PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, a stone 
 or preparation which the alchymists 
 formerly sought, as the instrument of 
 converting the baser metals into pure 
 gold. The alchymists held that the baser 
 metals were all convertible into silver 
 and gold by a long series of processes, 
 and the instrument by which it was sup- 
 posed that this mighty change was to be 
 effected, was a certain mineral to be pro- 
 duced by these processes, which being 
 mixed with the base metal would trans- 
 mute it, and this was called the philoso- 
 pher's stone. 
 
 PHILOS'OPHY, literally, the love of 
 wisdom. But in modern acceptation, 
 jjjiilosophy is a general term denoting an 
 explanation of the reasons of things ; or 
 an investigation of the causes of all phe- 
 nomena both of mind and of matter. 
 When applied to any particular depart- 
 ment of knowledge, it denotes the collec- 
 tion of general laws or principles under 
 which all the subordinate phenomena or 
 facts relating to that subject, are compre- 
 hended. Thus, that branch of philosophy 
 which treats of God, Ac., is called the- 
 ology ; that which treats of nature is 
 called physics, or natural philosophy ; 
 that which treats of man is called logic 
 and ethics, or moral philosophy ; that 
 which treats of the mind is called intel- 
 lectual or mental philosophy, or meta- 
 physics. The term philosophy is often 
 used, apparently with no great precision, 
 though it is not difficult to deduce from 
 the use of this term the general meaning 
 or notion which is attached to it. We 
 speak of the philosophy of the human 
 mind as being of all philosophies that to 
 which the name philosophy is particularly 
 appropriated ; and when the term philos- 
 ophy is used absolutely, this seems to be 
 the philosophy that is spoken of. Other 
 philosophies are referred to their several 
 objects by qualifying terms : thus we 
 speak of natural philosophy, meaning 
 thereby the philosophy of nature, or of 
 material objects. We also speak of the 
 philosophy of positive law, understanding 
 thereby the philosophy of those binding 
 rules, properly called laws. The terms 
 philosophy of history, philosophy of man- 
 ufactures, and other such terms are also 
 used. All objects then which can occupy 
 the mind may have something in common,
 
 PHlJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 469 
 
 called their philosophy; which philos- 
 ophy is nothing else than the general 
 expression for that effort of the mind 
 whereby it strives, pursuant to its laws, 
 to reduce its knowledge to the form of ul- 
 timate truths or principles, and to deter- 
 mine the immutable relations which 
 exist between things as it conceives them. 
 The philosophy which comprises within 
 itself all philosophies is that which labors 
 to determine the laws or ultimate prin- 
 ciples in obedience to which the inind 
 itself operates. Thus, every kind of 
 knowledge, the objects of which are things 
 external, has its philosophy or principles, 
 which, when discovered and systematized, 
 form the science of the things to which 
 they severally belong. But we must as- 
 sume that the mind also has its laws and 
 powers which may be discovered by ob- 
 servation, as we discover by observation 
 the laws or principles which govern the 
 relations of things external to the mind, 
 or conceived as external. Accordingly 
 the human mind, by the necessity im- 
 printed on it, seeks to discover th ujti- 
 mate foundation of all that it knows or 
 conceives ; to discover what itself is, and 
 what is its relation to all things, and so it 
 strives to form a system out of all such 
 altimato laws or principles. Such a sys- 
 tem may be called a philosophy in the 
 proper and absolute sense of the term, and 
 the attempt to form such a system is to 
 philosophize. Systems of philosophy 
 have existed in all nations. The objects 
 of philosophy are to ascertain facts or 
 truth, and the causes of things or their 
 phenomena ; to enlarge our views of 
 God and his works, and to render our 
 knowledge of both practically useful and 
 subservient to human happiness. Pytha- 
 gorean philosophy, the system taught by 
 Pythagoras, who flourished 500 years be- 
 fore the Christian era. He deserted the 
 Deity as one incorruptible, invisible being; 
 and differed from some of the ancients, as 
 Epicurus, in conceiving a cornection be- 
 tween God and man ; that is. in teaching 
 the doctrine of a superintending provi- 
 dence. He asserted the immortality of the 
 soul ; but in a sense essentially peculiar, 
 and which appears to have been adopted 
 by Plato, as it is in part at this day by the 
 Hindoos. In the cosmogony of Pythago- 
 ras, spirit, however diffused through all 
 animals, was part of the Divinity himself, 
 separated only by the gross forms of mat- 
 ter, and ready, whenever disengaged, to 
 unite itself with the kindred essence of 
 God ; but God was only purity ; and the 
 mind recoiled from the idea of uniting with 
 
 him a portion of spirit soiled with the cor- 
 ruption of a sinful life. The soul, there- 
 fore, once tainted, could never return to 
 the Deity whence it emanated, till it had 
 again recovered its innocence. After hav- 
 ing animated a human body by which 
 crimes had been committed, it was denied 
 the great object of its desire, a union with 
 its God, and forced to enter into other 
 bodies, till at length it filled a righteous 
 one. To this theory was added another, 
 by means of which punishments, propor- 
 tioned to its offences, were awarded : ac- 
 cording to this, the soul of a negro-driver 
 would pass into the body of an infant ne- 
 gro; and that which in one existence 
 plied the whip, in the other would receive 
 the lash : the soul of the wicked would 
 occupy the body of some animal exposed 
 to suffering ; and that of a being of few 
 foibles undergo a sentence proportionably 
 mild. Such is the doctrine of the me- 
 tempsychosis or transmigration of souls, 
 a leading feature in the Pythagorean 
 system. Socratic philosophy, or the 
 doctrines of Sgcrates, who flourished at 
 Athens about 400 years B.C., and died a 
 martyr in the cause of natural religion 
 against paganism. He is said to have 
 opened the career of moral philosophy in 
 Greece, where he preceded Plato, from 
 the writings of which latter the philoso- 
 phy of Socrates is chiefly known, for he 
 wrote nothing himself. While other phi- 
 losophers boasted of their knowledge, he 
 laid the greatest stress upon his igno- 
 rance, asserting that ho knew nothing 
 but this, that he knew nothing. Socrates 
 led men from the contemplation of uni- 
 versal nature to that of themselves ; a 
 branch of philosophy which was inculcat- 
 ed in that famous inscription, Know thy- 
 self! The Socratic method of argument 
 was that of leading an antagonist to ac- 
 knowledge a proposition himself, by dint 
 of repeated questions, in preference to 
 that of laying it down authoritatively. 
 Platonic philosophy, -a, system of theology 
 and morals, delivered by Plato about 350 
 years B.C. Plato, it is said, labored to re- 
 establish natural religion by opposing pa- 
 ganism. The existence of the one God 
 was zealously inculcated by him ; and 
 also the immortality of the soul, the res- 
 urrection of the dead, the everlasting 
 reward of righteousness, and punishment 
 of sin. It was Plato, too, who taught 
 that the world was created by the Logos 
 or Word; and that through knowledge 
 of the word men live happily on earth 
 and obtain eternal felicity hereafter. 
 From him, also, came the doctrine of
 
 470 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITKRATURE 
 
 [PHI 
 
 grace, and the inducements to monastic 
 life ; for he pressed upon his disciples 
 that the world is tilled with corruption ; 
 that it is the duty of the righteous to fly 
 from it and to seek a union with God, 
 who alone is life and health ; that in the 
 world the soul is continually surrounded 
 with enemies: and that, in the unceasing 
 combat through which it has to struggle, 
 it can conquer only with the assistance 
 of God or of his holy angels. " A happy 
 immortality," said Plato, "is a great 
 prize set before us, and a great object of 
 hope, which should engage us to labor in 
 the acquirement of wisdom and virtue 
 all the time of our life." In morals, he 
 taught that there is nothing solid and 
 substantial but piety, which is the source 
 of all virtues and the gift of God ; that 
 the love of our neighbor, which proceeds 
 from the love of God as its principle, 
 produces that sacred union which makes 
 families and nations happy ; that self- 
 love produces that discord and division 
 which reigns among mankind, and is the 
 chief cause of our sins : that it is better 
 to suffer wrong than to do it; that it is 
 wrong to hurt an enemy or to revenge 
 an injury received; that it is better to 
 die than to sin ; and that man ought 
 continually to learn to die, and yet to en- 
 dure life with all patience and submis- 
 sion to the will of God. The Aristotelian 
 philosophy, which succeeded the Platonic, 
 is characterized by a systematic striving 
 to embrace all the objects of philosophy 
 by cool and patient reflection. The Epi- 
 curian philosophy, or the system of Epi- 
 curus, an Athenian. This teacher laid 
 down, as the basis of his doctrine, that 
 the supreme good consists in pleasure ; 
 a proposition that soon suffered a two- 
 fold abuse. On the one hand, by mis- 
 construction, it was regarded as a bare- 
 faced inculcation of sensuality ; on the 
 other, adopted by the luxurious, the in- 
 dolent, and the licentious, as a cloak and 
 authority for their conduct ; and hence it 
 has happened that the name Epicurean 
 is now used in an absolute sense to desig- 
 nate one minutely and luxuriously at- 
 tentive to his food. Epicurus is reported 
 to have written three hundred books, but 
 of these none are extant ; and the partic- 
 ulars of his philosophy, which have come 
 down to posterity, are chiefly found in 
 the writings of Lucretius, Diogenes, La- 
 ertius, and Cicero. His system, for which 
 he is said to have been almost wholly 
 indebted to Democritus, consisted of three 
 parts : canonical, physical, and etherial. 
 Soundness and simplicity of sense, assist- 
 
 ed with some natural reflections, consti- 
 tuted all the method of Epicurus. His 
 search after truth proceeded only by the 
 senses, to the evidence of which he gave 
 so great a certainty that he considered 
 them as the first natural light of man- 
 kind. It is in the meanings allowed to 
 the words pleasure and pain that every- 
 thing which is important in the morals 
 and doubtful in the history of the Epicu- 
 rean system is contained. According to 
 Gassendus, the pleasure of Epicurus con- 
 sisted in the highest tranquillity of tnind, 
 united with the most perfect health of 
 body ; blessings enjoyed only through the 
 habits of rectitude, benevolence, and tem- 
 perance ; but Cicero, Horace, Plutarch, 
 and several of the fathers of the Christian 
 church represent the system in a very dif 
 ferent point of view. The disagreement, 
 however, is easily reconciled, if we believe 
 one side to speak of what Epicurus taught, 
 and the other of what many of his follow- 
 ers, and still more of those who took shel- 
 ter under his name, were accustomed to 
 practise. To the foregoing we must add 
 the Stoic philosophy, or the doctrines of 
 Zeno the stoic, whose morality was of a 
 magnanimous and unyielding kind, form- 
 ed to resist temptation to evil, and to 
 render men callous to adversity : thus 
 they maintained, among other things, 
 that a man might be happy in the midst 
 of the severest tortures ; the Cynic phi- 
 losophy, the followers of whijh affected a 
 great contempt of riches and of all scien- 
 ces except morality ; and the Skeptical 
 philosophy, under Pyrrho, who affected to 
 doubt everything. In glancing at the 
 history of philosophy, the student has 
 abundant opportunities of observing its 
 gradual development as a science, and 
 tracing the progress and aberrations of the 
 human mind in themselves subjects most 
 imports; and instructive. Departing 
 from, or only partially retaining, the con- 
 flicting dogmas of the Greek and Roman 
 philosophers, we find the scholastics of 
 the middle ages engaged in a struggle for 
 the attainment of intellectual excellence, 
 under the influence of principles derived 
 from the Christian faith and doctrine ; yet 
 the progress of philosophic truths was for 
 a long time feeble, irregular, and vacillat- 
 ing. During the 15th century, there arose 
 a freer and more independent spirit of 
 inquiry, penetrating deeper into ultimate 
 causes ; till at length, the cool and search- 
 ing energy of Bacon enabled him to pro- 
 duce his Novum Organum. and to give a 
 more substantial basis to the efforts of the 
 intellect, by making observation and ex-
 
 PHO'j 
 
 AND THE PINE ARTS. 
 
 471 
 
 perience the predominant character of 
 philosophy. Some there were, however, 
 who disputed his laws, and hence new 
 theories occasionally obtained a tempora- 
 ry distinction ; but his doctrines, in a 
 great measure, ultimately prevailed ; and, 
 at no distant period, the calm reasoning 
 of Locke introduced into the study of the 
 human mind the method of investigation 
 which his great predecessor had pointed 
 out. The subject, however, presents so 
 wide and tempting a field for observation, 
 that we dare not venture on it, lest, by 
 unduly extending one article, we may be 
 compelled to curtail others which equally 
 demand our attention ; and enough, per- 
 haps, has been already said to direct the 
 inquiring mind towards a study which, as 
 it were, embraces all nature in its mighty 
 grasp. 
 
 PH(E NIX, in fabulous history, a won- 
 derful bird which the ancients describe as 
 of the size of an eagle ; its head finely 
 crested with a beautiful plumage, its 
 neck covered with feathers of a gold color ; 
 its tail white, and its body purple. By 
 some authors this bird is said to come 
 from Arabia to Egypt every five hundred 
 years, at the death of his parent bringing 
 the body with him, embalmed in myrrh, 
 to the temple of the sun, where he buries 
 it. According to others, when he finds 
 himself near his end, he prepares a nest 
 of myrrh and precious herbs, in which he 
 burns himself; but from his ashes he re- 
 vives in the freshness of youth. The 
 several eras when the phoenix has been 
 seen are fixed by tradition. The first, we 
 are told, was in the reign of Sesostris ; the 
 second in that of Amasis ; and in the pe- 
 riod when Ptolemy, the third of the Ma- 
 cedonian race, was seated on the throne 
 of Egypt, another phoenix directed its 
 flight towards Heliopolis. From late my- 
 thological researches, it is conjectured 
 that the phoenix is a symbol of a period 
 of 500 years, of which the conclusion was 
 celebrated by a solemn sacrifice, in which 
 the figure of a bird was burnt. 
 
 PHONET'IC WRI'TING, that writing 
 in which the signs used represent sounds ; 
 in opposition to ideographic, in which 
 they represent objects, or symbolically 
 denote abstract ideas, as in the figurative 
 part of the Egyptian hieroglyphics. The 
 signs representing sounds are usually ar- 
 bitrary, or at least have become so in 
 process of time ; as in the ancient Roman 
 alphabet, of which the letters are for the 
 most part derived from the Hebrew or 
 Phoenician, in which languages they may 
 have originally partaken of a symbolical 
 
 character. But, in a species of phonetic 
 ] writing which is intermixed with the 
 figurative hieroglyphics in Egyptian in- 
 scriptions, every letter is denoted by a 
 figure representing some object, the name 
 of which begins with that letter. 
 
 PHONOL'OGY, the science or doctrine 
 of the elementary sounds uttered by the 
 human voice, including its various de- 
 grees of intonation. 
 
 PHOTOGEN'IC DRAWING, the name 
 given by Mr. H. F. Talbot, the inventor or 
 discoverer of it, to a "new art," which, 
 ) though not identical, is very similar to 
 j that of M. Daguerre. The outline of the 
 process is as follows : A piece of copper 
 is plated in the usual way with silver by 
 passing the metals together through a 
 rolling mill, and is then cut into pieces 
 of a proper size. The silver surface is 
 carefully polished, and cleansed by wiping 
 it over with a piece of cotton dipped in 
 dilute nitric acid, washing, and drying. 
 When thus duly prepared and much 
 depends upon the manner in which these 
 preliminary operations are performed and 
 the materials used the plate is subjected 
 to the diffused vapor of iodine, which 
 forms a slightly brown or yellow film 
 upon the silver ; it is then ready to be 
 subjected to the action of the image to 
 be represented, which is thrown upon it, 
 care being taken to exclude all other light, 
 by an instrument upon the principle of 
 the camera obscura. In the course of 
 a few seconds or minutes, the requisite 
 time depending upon the intensity of the 
 light, the plate is removed ; and though 
 nothing is as yet visible upon it it has re- 
 ceived the image, which is brought out 
 and rendered evident by subjecting it, 
 inclined at an angle of about 45, to the 
 vapor of mercury. This operation is per- 
 formed in a box with a glass side ; at the 
 bottom of which is a basin of mercury, 
 heated to about 170, so that the operator 
 may see the progress of the appearance 
 of the image, and remove the plate when 
 it is perfect ; but light must be as far as 
 possible excluded, and more especially 
 daylight. The plate is then washed by 
 cautious immersion in a solution of hy- 
 po-sulphite of soda, and lastly with boil- 
 ing distilled water, and allowed to dry: 
 it is now perfect, may be exposed to light 
 without injury ; but must be carefully 
 protected from all friction by covering it 
 with a glass. The action of the various 
 shades of light upon the film of iodine, 
 and the subsequent influence of the mer- 
 curial vapor upon which the visibility of 
 the picture depends, have not been satis-
 
 472 
 
 CVCLOPKDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PHV 
 
 factorily explained, and require further 
 experimental elucidation. The perfection 
 of the drawing, and the extraordinary 
 manner in which the minutest details are 
 represented, we have noticed in our for- 
 mer article ; they must, however, be 
 seen to be accurately judged of and duly 
 appreciated. 
 
 PHRASE, a short sentence or expres- 
 sion ; said to be complete when it conveys 
 complete sense, as "to err is human;" 
 and incomplete when it consists of several 
 words without affirming anything. Any I 
 peculiar sentence or short idiomatic ex- 
 pression is also denominated a phrase. 
 In music, any regular symmetrical course 
 of notes which begin and complete the 
 intended expression. 
 
 PHRENOL'OGY, a modern science, | 
 which professes to teach, from the con- 
 formation of the human skull, the par- 
 ticular characters and propensities of 
 men, presuming that the powers of the 
 mind and the sensations are performed 
 by peculiar parts of the brain : the front 
 parts being intellectual, the middle senti- 
 mental, and the hinder parts governing 
 the animal propensities : the degree being 
 in proportion to the projection or bulk 
 of the parts. It was long ago observed 
 by physiologists, that the characters of 
 animals were determined by the forma- 
 tion of the forehead, and that the intelli- 
 gence of the animal, in most cases, rose 
 or fell in proportion to the elevation or 
 depression of the skull. But it was re- 
 served to Drs. Gall and Spurzheim to ex- 
 pand this gerrn of doctrine into a minute 
 system, and to map out the whole cranium 
 into small sections, each section being the 
 dwelling-place, or workshop, of a certain 
 faculty, propensity, or sentiment, in all 
 amounting to thirty-six, and to which 
 certain names have been given in order 
 to mark their specific qualities, their uses 
 and abuses. 
 
 PHYLAC'TERY, among the ancients, 
 a general name given to all kinds of 
 spells, charms, or amulets, which they 
 wore about them, to preserve them from 
 disease or danger. It is more particu- 
 larly used to signify a slip of paper on 
 which was written some text of Scripture, 
 especially of the Decalogue, which the 
 more devout Jews wore on the forehead, 
 breast, or neck, as a badge of their re- 
 ligion. Among the primitive Christians, 
 a phtjlactery was a case in which they 
 inclosed the relics of their dead. 
 
 PHY'LiE, the tribes into which the 
 whole of Attica was divided in antiquity. 
 Originally there were but four phylae, 
 
 which were frequently remodelled, but 
 remained the same in number till soon 
 after the expulsion of the Pisistradidte, 
 when Cleisthenes caused their number to 
 be increased to ten. What the precise 
 nature of the change effected on this 
 occasion was is not known, but it is prob- 
 able that the new tribes embraced a large 
 number of citizens that had been exclu- 
 ded from the former. The phylse were 
 afterwards increased to twelve, by the 
 addition of two in honor of Antigonous 
 and his son Demetrius. The Athenian 
 senate was composed of fifty delegates 
 from each of these tribes. 
 
 PHY'LARCH, an Athenian officer ap- 
 pointed for each phyle or tribe, to super- 
 intend the registering of its members 
 and other common duties. The title ans- 
 wers to that of the Roman tribune, but 
 its functions never reached the same im- 
 portance. 
 
 PHYSICAL, an epithet denoting that 
 which relates to nature or natural pro- 
 ductions, as opposed to things moral or 
 imaginary. We speak of physical force 
 or power, with reference to material 
 things : thus armies and navies are the 
 physical force of a nation ; whereas knowl- 
 edge, skill, Ac., constitute moral force. 
 A physical body or substance, is a mate- 
 rial body or substance, in distinction from 
 spirit or metaphysical substance. Physi- 
 cal education, the education whioh is 
 directed to the object of giving strength, 
 health, and vigor to the bodily organs 
 and powers. 
 
 PHYSIOGXOM'ICS, among physi- 
 cians, signs in the countenance which 
 serve to indicate the state, disposition, <fec., 
 both of the body and mind : and hence 
 the art of reducing these signs to practice 
 is termed physiognomy. 
 
 PHYSIOG'NOMY, the art of discov- 
 ering the predominant temper or other 
 characteristic qualities of the mind by 
 the features of the face or external 
 signs of the countenance. Whatever be 
 thought of the possibility of laying down 
 strict rules for such judgments, it is a 
 fact of e very-day occurrence, that we are, 
 almost without reflection on our part, 
 impressed favorably or unfavorably in 
 regard to the temper and talents of others 
 by the expression of their countenances. 
 No study, says Lavater, mathematics ex- 
 cepted, more justly deserves to be termed 
 a science than physiognomy. It is a de- 
 partment of physics, including theology 
 and belles-lettres; and in the same man- 
 ner with these sciences may be reduced 
 to rule. It may acquire a fixed and ap-
 
 PIC] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 473 
 
 propriate character; it may be commu- 
 nicated and taught. Physiognomy, he 
 adds, is a source of pure and exalted men- 
 tal gratification. It affords a new view 
 of the perfection of Deity ; it displays a 
 new scene of harmony and beauty in his 
 works ; it reveals internal motives, which, 
 without it, would only have been discov- 
 ered in the world to come. We all have 
 some sort of intuitive method by which we 
 form our opinions ; and though our rules 
 for judging of men from their appear- 
 ance may often fail, we still continue to 
 trust in them. 
 
 PHYSIOG'NOTYPE, a machine for 
 taking an exact imprint or cast of the 
 countenance, lately invented by a Pari- 
 sian. This instrument is a metallic, oval 
 plate, pierced with a large quantity of 
 minute holes very closely together, and 
 through each of which a wire passes with 
 extreme facility. These needles have 
 the appearance of a brush. The whole 
 is surrounded with a double case of tin, 
 which contains warm water, in order to 
 keep the instrument of a proper tempe- 
 rature with the blood. If any figure be 
 applied against this brush of needles, it 
 will yield to the slightest pressure, and 
 leave an exact mould, taking Up only 
 about two seconds. 
 
 PIANO-FORTE, a musical stringed 
 instrument, the strings of which are ex- 
 tended over bridges rising on the sound- 
 ing-board, and are made to vibrate by 
 means of small covered hammers, which 
 are put in motion by keys. It has been 
 gradually improved, till it has become 
 one of the most important instruments in 
 all domestic musical entertainments. 
 
 PIAS'TRE, a variable denomination 
 of money. In the West, its use is nearly 
 confined to Italy, and Spain with its colo- 
 nies ; in which it generally means a dollar, 
 or the largest silver coin of those regions ; 
 but the term is there obsolescent. The 
 old rose piastre of Tuscany contains 10 
 pauls, or about $1.05 ; the old two-globed 
 piastre of Spain, whether Mexican or Se- 
 villan, is worth about $1.03. Both pass in 
 the United States for a dollar. In the 
 East, on the other hand, piastre means a 
 coin of scarcely l-20th the value of the 
 foregoing; namely, worth about five cents. 
 
 PIAZ'ZA, an Italian name for a por- 
 tico or covered walk. The word literally 
 signifies a broad open place or square ; 
 whence it came to be applied to the walks 
 or porticos surrounding them. 
 
 PI'BROCH, martial music produced by 
 the bag-pipe of the Highlanders. It is 
 said to signify also the instrument itself; 
 
 but the former meaning, if, indeed, there 
 are any instances of the latter to be found 
 in any classical writer, has received the 
 sanction of the two most celebrated poets 
 of their time, Lord Byron and Sir Walter 
 Scott. The connoisseurs, says the latter 
 writer, in pipe-music, affect to discover, 
 in a well-composed pibroch, the imitative 
 sounds of march, conflict, flight, pursuit, 
 and all the "current of a heady fight." 
 
 PICARDS', the name of a fanatical and 
 immoral sect of Christians, who sprang 
 up in Bohemia in the fifteenth century. 
 They derived their name from Picard, a 
 native of Flanders, who styled himself 
 the New Adarn, and attempted to revive 
 the absurdities of the Adamites of the 
 second century in imitating the state of 
 primeval innocence. They were com- 
 pletely annihilated by Zisca, the great 
 general of the Hussites, who, struck with 
 their abominable practices, had marched 
 against them. 
 
 PICK'ET, or PIC'QUET, in military 
 discipline, a certain number of men, horse 
 or foot, who do duty as an outguard, to 
 prevent surprises Also, a punishment 
 which consists in making the offender 
 stand with one foot on a pointed stake. 
 Pickets, in fortification, sharp stakes, 
 sometimes shod with iron, used in laying 
 out ground, or for pinning the fascines 
 of a battery. In the artillery, pickets 
 five or six feet long are used to pin the 
 park lines ; in the camp, they are used 
 about six or eight inches long to fix the 
 tent cords, or five fee't long in the cavalry 
 camp to fasten the horses. 
 
 PICTS' WALL, an ancient wall began 
 by the emperor Adrian, A.D. 123, on the 
 northern boundary of England, from 
 Carlisle to Newcastle, to prevent the in- 
 cursions of the Picts and Scots. It was 
 first made only of turf, strengthened with 
 palisades till the emperor Severus coming 
 in person into Britain, had it built with 
 stone ; and Actius, the Roman general, 
 rebuilt it with brick, A.D. 430. Some re- 
 mains of this wall are still visible in parts 
 of Northumberland and Cumberland. 
 
 PICTURESQUE', an epithet denoting 
 that peculiar kind of beauty which, 
 either in a prospect, a painting, or a de- 
 scription, strikes the mind with great 
 power, or imparts to it agreeable sensa- 
 tions. In the theory of the Arts,- tho 
 word picturesque is used as contradistin- 
 guished from poetic and plastic. The 
 poetical has reference to the fundamental 
 idea to be represented to the painter's 
 conception of his subject ; whilst the pic- 
 turesque relates to the mode of express-
 
 474 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PIL 
 
 ing the conception, the grouping, the 
 distribution of objects, persons, and lights. 
 The poetical part of a picture, as well as 
 its mechanical execution, may be without 
 fault, and yet the picture be a total 
 failure as regards the picturesque. 
 
 PIER, a very strong stone wall or 
 mass of solid stone-work running into the 
 water, to resist the force of the sea, to 
 support the arches of a bridge, or the 
 quay of a wharf, and to withstand the 
 dashing of waves. Also, a part of the 
 wall of a house between windows. 
 
 PIE'RIAN, an epithet given to the 
 muses, from Mount Pierus, in Thessaly, 
 which was sacred to them ; or from their 
 victory over the nine daughters of the 
 Macedonian king, Pierus. 
 
 PI'ETIST, a person belonging to a 
 sect of Protestants which sprung up in 
 Germany, in the latter part of the 17th 
 century. They professed great strictness 
 and purity of life, affecting to despise 
 learning and ecclesiastical polity, as also 
 forms and ceremonies in religion, and 
 giving themselves up to mystic theology. 
 
 PI'ETY, that holy principle which 
 consists in veneration accompanied with 
 love for the Supreme Being ; and which 
 manifests itself, in practice, by obedience 
 to God's will, and a pure devotion to his 
 service. Piety both towards God and 
 man was one of the virtues held in most 
 esteem by the ancients, and is therefore 
 commemorated on innumerable medals, 
 sometimes under the figure of a female 
 carrying children, or of ./Eneas bearing 
 his father, Ac., but more frequently 
 under that of a female standing at an 
 altar. 
 
 PIG'MENTS, preparations of various 
 kinds used in painting and dyeing, to im- 
 part the colors required. They are ob- 
 tained from animal, vegetable, and min- 
 eral substances. 
 
 PIGiMY, by ancient authors on nat- 
 ural history,~this name was applied to a 
 fabulous race of dwarfish and deformed 
 human beings ; it is now restricted to a 
 species of npe, the Chimpanzee. Ancient 
 fable described a nation of pigmies dwell- 
 ing somewhere near the shores of the 
 ocean, and maintaining perpetual wars 
 with the cranes ; of which Athenaeus 
 gives the mythological origin. Ctesias 
 the6reek historian, as quoted by Photius, 
 represented a nation of them as inhabit- 
 ing India, and attending Us king on his 
 military expeditions. Other ancients be- 
 lieved them to inhabit the Indian islands. 
 
 PILASTER, a debased pillar; a square 
 pillar projecting from a pier, or from a 
 
 wall, to the extent of from 4 to \ of its 
 breadth. Pilasters origi- 
 nated in the Grecian antre. 
 In Roman architecture 
 they were sometimes ta- ^ 
 pered like columns, and 
 finished with capitals mo- 
 delled after the order with 
 which they were used. 
 
 PILE'US, in antiquity, 
 a hat or cap worn by the 
 Romans, during any in- 
 disposition which prevent- 
 ed them from appearing 
 safely with their heads un- 
 covered, as was the gener- 
 al custom. The Pileus 
 was also worn by such as 
 had lately received their 
 freedom, because on hav- 
 ing their liberty granted, 
 they were constantly shav- 
 ed : the Pileus, therefore, 
 being necessary on this 
 account, was also esteemed a badge of 
 liberty ; hence pileo donari signifies to be 
 made free. 
 
 PIL'GRIM. one that travels to a dis- 
 tance from his own country to visit a holy 
 place for devotional purposes. In the 
 middle ages, kings, princes, bishops, and 
 others made pilgrimages to visit the holy 
 sepulchre at Jerusalem, in pious devotion 
 to the Saviour. This was permitted while 
 Palestine was held by the Saracens ; but 
 when the Turks obtained possession of 
 that country, the Christian pilgrims were 
 visited with the greatest indignities, and 
 their repeated complaints occasioned the 
 excitement which led to the crusades. In 
 subsequent times pilgrimages to Rome, 
 Compostella, Loretto, Tours, and other 
 places where the relics of martyrs and 
 saints attracted the notice of devotees, 
 have been common ; and pilgrims to this 
 day travel to Rome, where they are pro- 
 vided for in establishments founded es- 
 pecially for their reception and entertain- 
 ment. But pilgrimages are not confined 
 to Christian nations. According to a com- 
 mand in the Koran, every good Mussul- 
 man is enjoined once in his lifetime to 
 repair to Mecca; and there are many 
 other places, especially in Persia, endow- 
 ed with sufficient sanctity to attract mul- 
 titudes of pilgrims. The Hindoos have 
 also their pilgrimages, the most celebrat- 
 ed of which is to the city of Juggernaut, 
 where stands the temple erected in honor 
 of the deity of the same name ; a full ac- 
 count of which will be found in the Geo 
 Diet., art. " Juggernaut." Among exist-
 
 PIS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 475 
 
 ing Christian pilgrimages, the most cel- 
 ebrated is that of Marianzell, in Austria. 
 
 PIL'L AK, a kind of irregular column, 
 either too massive or too slender for reg- 
 ular architecture ; the parts and propor- 
 tions of which, not being restricted to any 
 rules, are arbitrary. 
 
 PIL'LORY, an instrument of punish- 
 ment, consisting of a frame of wood erect- 
 ed on posts, made to confine the head and 
 hands of a criminal, in order to expose 
 him to view, and to render him publicly 
 infamous. 
 
 PI'LUM, a missile weapon used by the 
 Roman soldiers, and in a charge darted 
 upon the enemy. Its point was so long 
 and small, that after the first discharge it 
 was generally so bent as to be rendered 
 useless. 
 
 PINA'CIA, among the Athenians, 
 were tablets of brass inscribed with the 
 names of all the citizens in each tribe, 
 who were duly qualified and willing to 
 be judges of the court of Areopagus. 
 These tablets were cast into one vessel 
 provided for the purpose, and the same 
 number of beans, a hundred being white 
 and all the rest black, were thrown into 
 another. Then the names of the candi- 
 dates and the beans were drawn out one 
 by one ; and they whose names were 
 drawn out together with the white beans 
 were elected judges or senators. 
 
 PINACOTHE'CA, in ancient architec- 
 ture, the apartment in a house for the 
 reception of paintings. 
 
 PINDAREES', the name given in 
 British India to the hordes of mounted 
 robbers who, for several years, (since 
 1812,) infested the possessions of the East 
 India Company. These freebooters have 
 existed since 1761, but made themselves 
 particularly formidable in the 19th cen- 
 tury. They were descended mostly from 
 the caste of Mohammedan warriors, which 
 formerly received high pay from the In- 
 dian princes ; and these latter, after be- 
 coming tributary to the British, secretly 
 excited the Pindarees to attack the com- 
 pany. In 1817 the marquis of Hastings, 
 then governor-general, determined on 
 their destruction, and being attacked on 
 all sides, they were conquered and dis- 
 persed. 
 
 PINDAR'IC, an ode in imitation of 
 the odes of Pindar, the prince of Greek 
 lyric poets. 
 
 PIN'- MONEY, gifts by a husband to 
 his wife for the purchase of apparel, or- 
 naments for her person, or for private ex- 
 penditure. Usually, however, a sum of 
 money for that purpose is secured by the 
 
 husband to his wife by settlement, or by 
 articles executed before the marriage, 
 and such a provision cannot be attached 
 for the husband's debts. 
 
 PIN'NACE, a small vessel navigated 
 with oars and sails, and having generally 
 two masts which are rigged like those of a 
 schooner ; also one of the boats belonging 
 to a man of war, usually with eight oars, 
 and used to carry the officers to and from 
 shore. 
 
 PIN'NACLE, in architecture, the top 
 or roof of a building, terminating in a 
 point. Among the ancients the pinnacle 
 was appropriated to temples ; their ordi- 
 nary roofs being all flat. It was from 
 the pinnacle that the pediment took its 
 rise. 
 
 PIONEER', in military tactics, a mili- 
 tary laborer, or one whose business is to 
 attend an army in its march, to clear the 
 way, by cutting down trees and levelling 
 roads : as also to work at intrenchrnents, 
 or form mines for destroying an enemy's 
 works. 
 
 PI'RACY, the crime of robbery or tak- 
 ing of property from others by open 
 violence on the high seas without author- 
 ity. It includes all acts of robbery and 
 depredation committed at sea, which, if 
 occurring upon land, would amount to 
 felony. The word pirate signifies literal- 
 ly an adventurer. Piracy is also fre- 
 quently used to signify any infringement 
 on the law of copyright. It is extremely 
 difficult to lay down any general principle 
 on which to decide as to what is and what 
 is not piracy. Generally it is held, that 
 one writer may borrow the ideas or 
 theories of another : but that he must 
 dress them up and explain them in a dif- 
 ferent way, and in his own language. 
 This, however, is often done so as merely 
 to evade the law : and it were well, in 
 order to make greater attention be paid 
 to originality, were the law as to piracy 
 less lax than it is at present. 
 
 PIROGUE', a kind of canoe, used in 
 the Southern and Eastern seas, made from 
 a single trunk of a tree hollowed out. 
 Pirogues are generally small, and work- 
 ed by paddles ; they are, however, some- 
 times large, decked, rigged with sails, 
 and furnished with out-riggers. 
 
 PIROUET'TE, in dancing, a rapid cir- 
 cumvolution upon one foot, which on the 
 stage is repeated by the dancers many 
 times in succession. In riding, it is the 
 sudden short turn of a horse, so as to 
 bring his head suddenly in the opposite 
 direction to where it was before. 
 
 PIS'CARY, in our ancient statutes,
 
 476 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PLA 
 
 the right or liberty of fishing in another 
 man's waters. 
 
 PITCH, in music, the degree of acute- 
 ness or graveness of a note. It may be 
 the key-note, or the note on which any 
 air or part begins. Any sound less acute 
 than some other sound, is said to be of a 
 lower pitch than that other sound, and 
 vice versa. Concert pitch, in musical 
 performances, the degree of acuteness or 
 gravity generally adopted for some one 
 given note, and by which every other note 
 is governed. It is not regulated by any 
 fixed standard. The opera pitch is high- 
 er than the concert pitch. Pitch of a 
 roof, in architecture, the inclination of 
 the sloping sides of the roof to the horizon, 
 or the vertical angle formed by the slop- 
 ing sides. It is usually designated by 
 the ratio of its height to its span. 
 
 PIU', in music, Italian for a little 
 more. It is prefixed to words to increase 
 their force, as piu allegra, a little brisk- 
 er ; piu piano, a little softer, &c. 
 
 FIX, a covered vessel used in Roman 
 Catholic countries for holding the conse- 
 crated host. Fixes are most frequently 
 made of gold or silver, and sometimes are 
 in form like a chalice with merely the 
 addition of a lid. 
 
 PLAC'AKD, properly a written or 
 printed paper posted in a public place. 
 It seems to have been formerly the name 
 of an edict, proclamation, or manifesto 
 issued by authority, but this sense is, I 
 believe, seldom or never annexed to the 
 word. A placard now is an advertise- 
 ment, or a libel, or a paper intended to 
 censure public or private characters or 
 public measures, posted in a public place. 
 In the case of libels or papers intended 
 to censure public or private characters, 
 or the measures of government, these 
 papers are usually pasted up at night for 
 secrecy. It is also used for any paper 
 posted to give public notice, as an adver- 
 tisement. 
 
 PLA'CITA, (Lat.,) in the middle ages, 
 were public courts or assemblies, in which 
 the sovereign presided when a consulta- 
 tion was held upon the affairs of the state. 
 
 PLAFOND', the ceiling of a room whe- 
 ther flat or arched ; also the under side of 
 the projection of the larmier of the cornice, 
 generally any soffit. 
 
 PL A'GALMEL'ODIES, in music, such 
 as have their principal notes lying be- 
 tween the fifth of the key and its octave 
 or twelfth. 
 
 PLA'GIARISM, (from the Latin legal 
 lorm plagium, which signified the offence 
 of stealing a slave, or kidnapping a free 
 
 person into slavery.) A plagiary, in the 
 modern sense of the word, is one who 
 borrows without acknowledgment, in lit- 
 erary composition, the thoughts or words 
 of another ; and the theft itself is styled 
 plagiarism. 
 
 PLAGUE, a malignant and contagious 
 disease that often prevails in Egypt, Sy- 
 ria, and Turkey. It generally proves 
 fatal to nations and great cities, but is 
 arrested by cleanliness, or the avoiding 
 of putrid fermentations of which it seems 
 to be an extension. 
 
 PLAIN-SONG, a term in ancient ec- 
 clesiastical music signifying the plain, 
 unvaried chant of churches ; so called in 
 contradistinction from the prick-song, or 
 variegated music sung by note. It is an 
 extremely simple melody and admits but 
 one measure, the duple, and only notes 
 of equal value. It is rarely allowed to 
 extend beyond the compass of an octave. 
 It is still used in the Romish church. 
 
 PLAIN'TIFF, in law, the person who 
 commences a suit before a judicial tribu- 
 nal, for the recovery of a claim ; opposed 
 to defendant. 
 
 PLAN, the representation of some- 
 thing drawn on a plane ; as a map, chart, 
 or ichnography. It is, however, more 
 particularly used for a draught of a build- 
 ing, as it appears, or is intended to ap- 
 pear on the ground ; showing the extent, 
 division, and distribution of its area, or 
 ground plot, into apartments, rooms, pas- 
 sages, <fec. A perspective plan is that 
 which is exhibited according to the rules 
 of perspective. The word plan also sig- 
 nifies a scheme or project ; the form of 
 something to be done existing in the mind, 
 with the several parts adjusted in idea. 
 A plan, in this sense, may be expressed 
 in words or committed to writing ; as a 
 plan of a constitution of government, the 
 plan of a military expedition, &c. 
 
 PL ANTA'GENET, the surname of the 
 royal family of England from Henry II. 
 to Richard III. inclusive. The origin of 
 the name is involved in deep obscurity. 
 The best antiquaries derive it from the 
 well-known story of the Earl of Anjou, 
 the ancestor of the royal race, who hav- 
 ing made a pilgrimage to Rome, where 
 he was scourged with broom twigs, as- 
 sumed the name of Plantagenista, (lite- 
 rally, a broom twig,) which his descend- 
 ants retained. The name Plantagenet 
 belongs to the noble house of Bucking- 
 ham. 
 
 PLANTATION, in the United States 
 and the West Indies, a cultivated estate; 
 a farm. In the United States, this word i.
 
 PLE] 
 
 AND THE PINE ARTS. 
 
 applied to an estate, a tract of land occu- 
 pied and cultivated, in those states only 
 where the labor is performed by slaves, 
 and where the land is more or less appro- 
 priated to the culture of tobacco, rice, in- 
 digo, and cotton, that is, from Maryland to 
 Georgia inclusive, on the Atlantic, and in 
 the western states where the land is ap- 
 propriated to the same articles, or to the 
 culture of the sugar-cane. From Mary- 
 land, northward and eastward, estates in 
 land are called farms. An original set- 
 tlement in a new country ; a town or 
 village planted. 
 
 PLAS'TIC ART, a branch of sculp- 
 ture, being the art of forming figures of 
 men and animals in plaster, clay, &c. 
 The word plastic signifies having power 
 to give form or fashion to a mass of mat- 
 ter ; as, the plastic hand of the Creator, 
 <fcc. Plastic nature, a certain power by 
 which, as an instrument, many philoso- 
 phers, both ancient and modern, supposed 
 that the great motions in the corporeal 
 world, and the various processes of gene- 
 ration and corruption were perpetually 
 carried on. 
 
 PL AT'BAND, in architecture, a square 
 moulding projecting less than its height 
 or breadth. The fillets between the flutes 
 of columns are sometimes called, but 
 improperly, by this name. It is also 
 sometimes used to denote the lintel of a 
 door. 
 
 PLATE, in architecture, a piece of 
 timber lying horizontally on a wall for 
 the reception of the ends of girders, 
 joints, rafters, &c. 
 
 PLAT'FORM, in architecture, a row 
 of beams which support the timber-work 
 of a roof; also any erection consisting of 
 boards raised above the ground for an 
 exhibition or any other temporary pur- 
 pose. Platform, in the military art, an 
 elevation of earth on which cannon are 
 mounted to fire on an enemy. 
 
 PLATON'IC, pertaining to Plato, his 
 school, philosophy, opinions, &c. The 
 leading characteristic of the mind of 
 Plato is its comprehensiveness. This 
 quality discovers itself equally in the 
 form in which his philosophy is commu- 
 nicated, and in that philosophy itself. 
 The form to which we allude is, it is well 
 known, that of the dialogue. The Dia- 
 logues of Plato are at once vivid repre- 
 sentations of Athenian life and character, 
 and constituent parts of a system of uni- 
 versal philosophy; the harmonious pro- 
 ductions of a genius which combined the 
 dramatic imagination with the scientific 
 intellect in a degree which has never be- 
 
 fore nor since been equalled. It is in this 
 circumstance that we must seek alike for 
 the influence which Plato's writings have 
 exerted, and for the difficulty of rightly 
 apprehending their meaning. What has 
 been said of history in general may with 
 equal truth be applied to the Platonic 
 dialogues that they are " philosophy 
 teaching by examples." In place of a 
 formal refutation of sophistry, we are 
 introduced to living sophists ; in the room 
 of an elaborate system of philosophy, 
 we meet the greatest philosophers of his 
 day, reasoning and conversing with dis- 
 ciples eager in the pursuit of knowledge 
 with Athenians full of national preju- 
 dices, with men abounding with individ- 
 ual peculiarities. Platonic love denotes 
 a pure spiritual affection, for which Plato 
 was a great advocate, subsisting between 
 the different sexes, unmixed with carnal 
 affections, and regarding no other object 
 but the mind and its excellencies. It is 
 also sometimes understood as a sincere dis- 
 interested friendship subsisting between 
 persons of the same sex, abstracted from 
 any selfish'views, and regarding no other 
 object than the individual so esteemed. 
 Platonic year, or the great year, a period 
 of time determined by the revolution of 
 the equinoxes, or the space of time in 
 which the stars and constellations return 
 to their former places in respect to the 
 equinoxes. This revolution, which is cal- 
 culated by the precession of the equinoxes, 
 is accomplished in about 25,000 years. 
 
 PLA'TONIST, one that adheres to the 
 philosophy of Plato. 
 
 PLATOON', in the military art, a small 
 square body of forty or fifty musketeers, 
 drawn out of a battalion of foot, and 
 placed between the squadrons of horse to 
 sustain them ; or a small body acting 
 together, but separate from the main 
 body ; as, to fire by platoons. 
 
 PLEA, in law, that which is alleged by 
 a party for himself in court, in a cause 
 there depending ; but in a more limited 
 sense, the defendant's answer to the plain- 
 tiff's declaration and demand. That 
 which the plaintiff alleges in his decla- 
 ration is answered and repelled, or justi- 
 fied by the defendant's plea. 
 
 PLEAD'INU. in law, a speech deliver- 
 ed at the bar in defence of a cause : but, 
 in a stricter sense, pleadings are all the 
 allegations of the parties to a suit, made 
 after the declaration, till the issue is 
 joined. In this sense they express what- 
 ever is contained in the bar, replication, 
 rejoiner, &o. till the question is brought 
 to issue, that is, to rest on a single point.
 
 478 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 PLE 
 
 Pleading, amongst the Greeks and 
 Romans, was limited as to its duration, 
 by a clepsydra or hour-glass of water ; 
 and to see that the orators had justice 
 done them, in this respect, an officer was 
 appointed to distribute the proper quan- 
 tity of water to each. 
 
 PLEAS'URE, the gratification of the 
 senses or of the mind ; agreeable sensa- 
 tions or emotions ; some enjoyment or 
 delight lasting for a time and then ceas- 
 ing ; the excitement, relish, or happiness 
 produced by enjoyment or the expecta- 
 tion of good ; opposed to pain. We re- 
 ceive pleasure from the indulgence of 
 appetite ; from the view of a beautiful 
 landscape ; from the harmony of sounds; 
 from agreeable society ; from the expec- 
 tation of seeing an absent friend ; from 
 the prospect of gain or success of any 
 kind. Pleasure, bodily and mental, car- 
 nal and spiritual, constitutes the whole 
 of positive happiness, as pain constitutes 
 the whole of misery. Pleasure is prop- 
 erly positive excitement of the passions 
 or the mind ; but we give the name also 
 to the absence of excitement, when that 
 excitement is painful ; as when we cease 
 to labor, or repose after fatigue, or when 
 the mind is tranquillized after anxiety 
 or agitation. Pleasure is susceptible of 
 increase to any degree ; but. the word, 
 when unqualified, expresses less excite- 
 ment or happiness than delight or joy. 
 
 PLEAS URE-GROUND, that portion 
 of ground adjoining a dwelling in the 
 country which is exclusively devoted to 
 ornamental and recreative purposes. In 
 the ancient style of gardening, the pleas- 
 ure-ground was laid out in straight walks, 
 and regular or symmetrical forms, com- 
 monly borrowed from architecture ; but, 
 in the modern style, it is laid out in 
 winding walks, and in forms borrowed 
 direct from nature. A portion of lawn 
 or smooth grassy surface may be con- 
 sidered as essential to the pleasure- 
 ground under both styles. 
 
 PLEBEIANS, the free citizens of 
 Rome who did not come under the class 
 of the patricians or clients. Though 
 always personally independent, they had 
 in early times no political power, the 
 government being entirely in the hands 
 of the patricians, who, with their clients 
 and the king, formed the original people. 
 The class of plebeians was of after- 
 growth, and probably drew its numbers 
 from various sources, as from clients 
 whose obligations were dissolved by the 
 decay of the houses of their patrons, and 
 the inhabitants of conquered states who 
 
 where admitted to rights of citizenship. 
 The plebeian families with patrician 
 names are supposed to have arisen from 
 marriages of disparagement- contracted 
 between the higher and lower classes. As 
 this body, from its constitution, naturally 
 grew in vigor while the patricians became 
 weaker, it soon formed the main strength 
 of the Roman armies, and became desir- 
 ous of sharing in the advantages of the 
 conquests made by its prowess ; while the 
 patricians, on their part, tenaciously 
 clung to all their privileges, and, far 
 from yielding to the demands of the other 
 party, exercised the severe rights which 
 as creditors they possessed over the lib- 
 erties of many of its members. This 
 state of things produced a continued series 
 of collisions between the two orders, in 
 which the latter gradually gained ground, 
 till, in the last ages of the republic, it 
 was admitted to a full share of all the 
 powers and privileges before confined to 
 one order. 
 
 PLEDGE, something left in pawn ; 
 that which is deposited with another as 
 security for the repayment of money bor- 
 rowed, or for the performance of some 
 agreement or obligation. In law, bail ; 
 surety given for the prosecution of a suit, 
 or for the appearance of a defendant, or 
 for restoring goods taken in distress and 
 replevied. To pledge, in drinking, is to 
 warrant a person that he shall receive no 
 harm while drinking, or from the draught ; 
 a practice which originated with our an- 
 cestors in their rude state, and which was 
 intended to assure the person that he 
 would not be stabbed while drinking, or 
 poisoned by the liquor. Notwithstanding 
 the reason has long since ceased, the cus- 
 tom still continues a remarkable in- 
 stance of the force of habit. 
 
 PLENIPOTENTIARY, a person in- 
 vested with full power to transact any 
 business; generally, an ambassador from a 
 prince, invested with full power to negoti- 
 ate a treaty or conclude peace with an- 
 other prince or state. 
 
 PLE'ONASM, redundancy of words in 
 speaking or writing ; the use of more 
 words to express ideas, than are necessa- 
 ry. This may be justifiable when we in- 
 tend to present thoughts with particular 
 perspicuity or force, as '' I saw it with 
 my own eyes," " I heard it with my oicn 
 
 PLETH'RON, or PLETH'RUM, in 
 Grecian antiquity, a square measure, the 
 exact contents of which are not certainly 
 known. Some suppose it to correspond 
 with the Roman juger, or 240 feet ; others
 
 POE] 
 
 AND THE FIJ5E ARTS. 
 
 479 
 
 say it was the square of a hundred cu- 
 bits. 
 
 PLINTH, a flat, square member, in 
 form of a brick, which serves as a foun- 
 
 c. 
 
 a. Torus, b. Plinth. 
 
 dation of a column ; being the flat square 
 table under the moulding of the base and 
 pedestal, at the bottom of the order. 
 Plinth of a statue, is a base, flat, round, 
 or square. Plinth of a wall, two or 
 three rows of bricks advanced from the 
 wall, in form of a flatband ; and, in gen- 
 eral, any flat, high moulding, that serves 
 in a front wall to mark the floors, to sus- 
 tain tho eaves of a wall, or the larmier 
 of a chimney. 
 
 PLOT, any stratagem or plan of a com- 
 plicated nature, adapted to the accom- 
 plishment of some mischievous purpose ; 
 as a plot against the government, or 
 against the life of a person. .Plot, in dra- 
 matic writings, the fable of a tragedy or 
 comedy, but more particularly the knot 
 or intrigue, comprising a complication of 
 incidents which are ultimately unfolded. 
 Plot, in surveying, the plan or draught of 
 any field, farm, <fcc. surveyed with an in- 
 strument, and laid down in the proper 
 figure and dimensions. 
 
 PLU'TEUS, the wall sometimes made 
 use of to close the intervals between the 
 columns of a building; it was either of 
 stone or some less durable material when 
 it occurred in the interior of a building. 
 The pluteus was also a kind of podium 
 interposed between two orders of columns, 
 where one was placed above the other. 
 A movable gallery on wheels, shaped like 
 an arched sort of wagon, used by besieg- 
 ers for the protection of their archers, 
 who were stationed on it to clear the 
 walls with their arrows. 
 
 PLU'TUS, the god of riches, said to 
 have been the son of Jasius and Demeter 
 or Ceres. There are no particulars known 
 as to his worship ; but he is introduced 
 ns an actor in the play of Aristophanes 
 which bears his name, and he bears a 
 part also in the Timon of Lucian. 
 
 PLU'TO, in Greek and Roman mythol- 
 ogy, the brother of Jupiter and Neptune, 
 and lord of the infernal regions. He is 
 represented as an old man with a digni- 
 fied but severe aspect, holding in his hand 
 a two-pronged fork. He was generally 
 called by the Greeks Hades, and by the 
 llomans Orcus and Dis. His wife was 
 
 Proserpine, daughter of Jupiter and 
 Ceres, whom Pluto seized in the island 
 of Sicily while she was plucking flowers, 
 and carried to the lower world. 
 
 PO'DIUM, (Latin,) in architecture, 
 the part in an amphitheatre projecting 
 over the arena, above which it was raised 
 about 12 or 15 feet : in this part sat the 
 personages of distinction. The word is 
 also used to signify a balcony. 
 
 PCE'CILE, a celebrated portico or 
 gallery at Athens, where Zeno inculcated 
 his doctrines. The Poecile was adorned 
 with the statues of gods and benefactors ; 
 and the picture of Polygnotus, so jfell- 
 known to the classical reader, which rep- 
 resented Miltiades at the head of the 
 1000 Greeks at the battle of Marathon, 
 was here suspended for ages. 
 
 PO'EM, a metrical composition ; a 
 composition in which the verses consist of 
 certain measures, whether in blank verse 
 or in rhyme ; as, the poems of Homer or 
 of Milton ; opposed to prose. This term 
 is also applied to some compositions in 
 which the language is that of excited 
 imagination ; as the poems of Ossian. 
 
 PO'ET, one who has a particular 
 genius for metrical composition, combin- 
 ed with those higher requisites which be- 
 long to a lively imagination, and a keen 
 sense of the beauties of nature. Many 
 write verses who have no just claim to 
 the title of poets, and yet such writers 
 may be many degrees beyond those versi- 
 fying scribes who, in derision, are termed 
 poetasters. 
 
 POET'ICAL JUS'TICE, a term often 
 used in speaking of dramatic writings, to 
 denote a distribution of rewards and pun-
 
 480 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 FOE 
 
 ishments to the several characters at the 
 catastrophe or close of a piece. 
 
 PO'ET LAU'REATE, the appellation 
 given to a poet whose duty it is to com- 
 pose birth-day odes, and other- poems of 
 rejoicing, for the monarch in whose ser- 
 vice he is retained. The laureate's post 
 in England is at present filled by Alfred 
 Tennyson, and the services formerly 
 required are dispensed with. The first 
 mention of a king's poet in England, un- 
 der the title of poet laureate, occurs in 
 the reign of Edward IV. Poeta laurea- 
 tus was, however, also an academical title 
 in England, conferred by the universities 
 when the candidates received the degrees 
 in grammar (which included rhetoric and 
 versification.) The last instance of a lau- 
 reated degree at Oxford occurs in 1512. 
 Ben Jonson was court poet to James I. 
 and received a pension, but does not ap- 
 pear to have the title of laureate formal- 
 ly granted him. Dryden was appointed 
 laureate to Charles II.. and afterwards 
 to James II., by regular patent under 
 privy seal. Nahum Tate, Howe, Eusden, 
 Cibber, Whitehead, T. Warton, Pye, 
 Southey, Wordsworth, and Tennyson, (the 
 last of whom was appointed in 1851.) 
 
 PO'ETRY. To produce a complete and 
 satisfactory definition of poetry has been, 
 hitherto, unsuccessfully attempted by 
 writers on taste, and by poets themselves. 
 A popular one, sufficiently adapted to 
 general notions, is furnished by the doyen 
 of living critics, Lord Jeffrey : " The end 
 of pAtry is to please ; and the name, we 
 think, is strictly applicable to every met- 
 rical composition from which we derive 
 pleasure without any laborious exercise 
 of the understanding." But, in the first 
 place, it has been truly observed that 
 " verse is the limit by which poetry is 
 bounded : it is the adjunct of poetry, but 
 not its living principle." " Poetry," says 
 Coleridge, " is not the proper antithesis 
 to prose, but to science. Poetry is op- 
 posed to science, and prose to metre." 
 " The proper and immediate object of 
 science is the acquirement or communi- 
 cation of truth ; the proper and immedi- 
 ate object of poetry is the communication 
 of immediate pleasure." It is essentially a 
 creative art : its operation is " making," 
 not transcribing. "Imitation" it is, as 
 Aristotle defines it ; not because it copies, 
 but because it has its model in nature, 
 and can never depart far from it without 
 losing its character. Lord Bacon ex- 
 plains this by saying, that poetry " doth 
 raise and erect the mind, by submitting 
 the shows of things to the desire of the 
 
 mind." The imagination alters these 
 " shows of things" by adding or subtract- 
 ing qualities, and poetry produces to view 
 the forms which result from the operation. 
 1. Imagination is, emphatically, the 
 great poetical faculty. It is " the first 
 moving or creative principle of the mind, 
 which fashions out of materials previous- 
 ly existing, new materials and original 
 truths." It is " a Complex power, in- 
 cluding those faculties which are called 
 by metaphysicians conception, abstrac- 
 tion, and judgment :" the first enabling 
 us to form a notion of objects of percep- 
 tion and knowledge ; the second " sepa- 
 rating the selected materials from the 
 qualities and circumstances which are 
 connected with them in nature ;" the 
 third selecting the materials. Its opera- 
 tions are most various, and it exhibits 
 itself in poetry in very different degrees 
 and forms. It may shine here and there, 
 chiefly in comparison, or in bold and 
 pleasing metaphor, breaking the chain 
 of a narrative, as in Homer and the 
 earlier poetry of most nations ; it may 
 hurry image on image, connected only 
 by those exquisite links of thought which 
 are present in the mind of the poet, in 
 daring, compressed, rapid language, as 
 if language were inadequate to its ex- 
 pression, as in the inspired prophets, in 
 jEschylus, and often in Shakspeare; it 
 may predominate in entire sustained 
 conceptions, grasping at general features, 
 as in Milton ; it may cling more closely 
 to the " shows of things," dwelling in 
 particulars, reproducing with startling 
 vividness images little altered, graphic, 
 and minute, as in Dante. 
 
 2. No distinction has given critics more 
 trouble, in the way of definition, than 
 that between imagination and fancy. 
 <; Fancy," it has been said, " is given to 
 beguile and quicken the temporal part 
 of our nature ; imagination to incite and 
 support the eternal." " The distinction 
 between fancy and imagination," says 
 another, " is simply that the former alto- 
 gether changes and remodels the original 
 idea, impregnating it with something ex- 
 traneous ; the latter leaves it undisturbed, 
 but associates it with things to which in 
 some view or other it bears a resem- 
 blance." 
 
 3. Lord Jeffrey associates with the 
 pleasure of imagination that derived from 
 "the easy exercise of reason." This is 
 produced chiefly by the faculties of 
 thought, wit, and reflecM.on. It may, in- 
 deed, be doubted wheth\, T the expression 
 of thought, however energetic and acute,
 
 POE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 481 
 
 clad in current poetical diction, is really 
 poetry. Certainly it is so, if at all, in a 
 very inferior degree to that of the ima- 
 gination. 
 
 4. The expression of passion, sentiment, 
 or pathos, is the most common and uni- 
 versal of all sources of poetical pleasure. 
 It is the very soul of all early and simple 
 poetry ; it pervades no less that of the 
 most civilized communities. Yet this 
 class of poetry is less truly and emphati- 
 cally poetical than the imaginative, al- 
 though more popular. The pleasure oc- 
 casioned by it is of a mixed nature : it 
 arises from the excitement of peculiar 
 sympathies; not produced, but heightened 
 only, by the form in which that excite- 
 ment is conveyed. 
 
 5. The dramatic faoulty, of which we 
 have already spoken, seems to consist in 
 acute powers of observation of the varie- 
 ties of human character, together with 
 the rarer power of delineating it with 
 such force as to bring the imaginary per- 
 son distinctly before the reader. It is the 
 wonderful and unique characteristic of 
 Shakspeare, in whom all individuality, 
 as has often been observed, seems abso- 
 lutely lost. 
 
 6. The descriptive faculty is of the same 
 kind ; that of bringing the objects of ex- 
 ternal nature, or passing scenes of what- 
 ever sort, vividly before the reader's fancy. 
 It is obvious that this also is a faculty com- 
 mon to poets with many others who are 
 not so : but sustained energy of descrip- 
 tion, as in Homer, forms a magnificent 
 groundwork for strictly poetical ornament. 
 In the poetry of modern times, especially 
 in this country, and in Germany, the 
 description of external nature has been 
 made subservient to the purposes of im- 
 agination and reflection by writers of 
 high genius ; and this combination pecu- 
 liarly characterizes the taste of the age. 
 
 7. Lord Jeffrey ranks last the pleasure 
 derived from diction as of a secondary 
 order, which it undoubtedly is, and yet 
 almost essential. The highest poetry, 
 without beauty of style, is rarely or never 
 popular. We have no space to charac- 
 terize minutely this poetical quality ; but 
 by way of example, it may suffice to ob- 
 serve that Virgil is, perhaps, of all poets, 
 he of whose charm the greatest propor- 
 tion is derived from simple beauty and 
 felicity of diction ; through a whole range 
 of ill-chosen subjects, always graceful, 
 always equable, and as nearly approach- 
 ing to faultlessness as human skill can 
 construct. 
 
 8. Lastly, we must not omit the pleas- 
 
 31 
 
 ure of melody : not essential to poetry, 
 since there may be poetry without verse ; 
 not always a merit of the poet's own, 
 since much depends on the language ; and 
 a Greek or Italian poet, cscteris paribus, 
 will ever be preferable to an English or 
 German one on this account alone ; but 
 a grace which heightens the charm of 
 the noblest poetry, and sometimes capti- 
 vates the sense even in the most indiffer- 
 ent. 
 
 Dr. Channingsays, "In an intellectual 
 nature, framed for progress and for higher 
 modes of being, there must be creative 
 energies, powers of original and ever- 
 growing thought ; and poetry is th i form 
 in which those energies are chiefly mani- 
 fested. It is the glorious prerogative of 
 this art that ' it makes all things new' 
 for the gratification of a divine instinct. 
 It indeed finds its elements in what it 
 actually sees and .experiences in the 
 worlds of matter and mind ; but it com- 
 bines and blends these into new forms and 
 according to new affinities ; breaks down, 
 if we may so say, the distinctions and 
 bounds of nature ; imparts to material 
 objects life, and sentiment, and emotion, 
 and invests the mind with the powers and 
 splendors of the outward creation ; de- 
 scribes the surrounding universe in the 
 colors which the passions throw over it, 
 and depicts the mind in those moments 
 of repose or agitation, of tenderness or 
 sublime emotion, which manifests its thirst 
 for a more powerful and joyful existence. 
 To a man of a literal and prosaic" char- 
 acter, the mind may seem lawless in 
 these workings ; but it observes higher 
 laws than it transgresses, the laws of the 
 immortal intellect; it is trying and de- 
 veloping its best faculties ; and in the 
 objects which it describes, or in the emo- 
 tions which it awakens, anticipates those 
 states of progressive power, splendor, 
 beauty, and happiness, for which it was 
 created. We accordingly believe that 
 poetry, far from injuring society, is one 
 of the great instruments of its refinement 
 and exaltation. It lifts the mind above 
 ordinary life, gives it a respite from de- 
 pressing cares, and awakens the conscious- 
 ness of its affinity with what is pure and 
 noble. In its legitimate and highest 
 efforts it has the same tendency and 
 aim with Christianity ; that is to spiritu- 
 alize our nature. True, poetry has been 
 made the instrument of vice, the pander 
 of bad passions : but, when genius thus 
 stoops, it dims its fires, and parts with 
 much of its power; and, even when poe- 
 try is enslaved to licentiousness or misan-
 
 482 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [POL 
 
 thropy, she cannot wholly forget her true 
 vocation. Strains of pure feeling, touch- 
 es of tenderness, images of innocent hap- 
 piness, sympathies with suffering virtue, 
 bursts of scorn or indignation at the 
 hollowness of the world, passages true to 
 our moral nature, often escape in an im- 
 moral work, and show us how hard it is 
 for a gifted spirit to divorce itself wholly 
 from what is good. Poetry has a natural 
 alliance with our best affections. It de- 
 lights in the beauty and sublimity of the 
 outward creation and of the soul. It 
 indeed portrays with terrible energy the 
 excesses of the passions ; but they are 
 passions which show a mighty nature, 
 which are full of power, which command 
 awe, and excite a deep though shuddering 
 sympathy. Its great tendency and pur- 
 pose is, to carry the mind above and 
 beyond the beaten, dusty, weary walks 
 of ordinary life ; to lift it into a purer 
 element, and to breathe into it more pro- 
 found and generous emotion. It reveals 
 to us the loveliness of nature, brings back 
 the freshness of youthful feeling, revives 
 the relish of simple pleasures, keeps 
 unquenehed the enthusiasm which warm- 
 ed the spring-time of our being, refines 
 youthful love, strengthens our interest 
 in human nuture by vivid delineations 
 of its tenderest and loftiest feelings, 
 spreads our sympathies over all classes 
 of society, knits us by new ties with uni- 
 versal being, and through the brightness 
 of its prophetic visions, helps faith to 
 lay hold on the future life. It is not true 
 that the poet paints a life which does 
 not exist. He only extracts and concen- 
 trates, as it were, life's ethereal essence, 
 arrests and condenses its volatile fra- 
 grance, brings together its scattered beau- 
 ties, and prolongs its more refined but 
 evanescent joys ; and in this, he does well ; 
 for it is good to feel that life is not 
 wholly usurped by cares for subsistence 
 and physical gratifications, but admits, 
 in measures which may be indefinitely 
 enlarged, sentiments and delights worthy 
 of a higher being." 
 
 POINT, in music, a mark or note an- 
 ciently used to distinguish tones or 
 sounds. Hence, simple counterpoint is 
 when a note of the lower part answers 
 exactly to that of the upper : and figura- 
 tive counterpoint is when a note is synco- 
 pated, and one of the parts makes several 
 notes or inflections of the voice, while the 
 other holds on one. In modern music, a 
 dot placed by a note to raise its value or 
 prolong its time by one half, so as to 
 make asemibreve equal to three minims ; 
 
 a minim equal to three quavers, <tc. A 
 character used to mark the divisions of 
 writing, or the pauses to be observed in 
 reading or speaking ; as the comma, sem- 
 icolon, colon, and period. The period is 
 called a, full stop, as it marks the close of 
 a sentence. Particular ; single thing or 
 subject. In what point do we differ 7 All 
 points of controversy between the parties 
 are adjusted. We say, in point of antiqui- 
 ty, in point of fact, in point of excellence. 
 The letter in every point is admirable. 
 The treaty is executed in every point. 
 
 POLA'CRE, a vessel with three masts, 
 used in the Mediterranean. The masts 
 are usually of one piece, so that they 
 have neither tops, caps, nor cross-trees, 
 nor horses to their upper yards. 
 
 POL'EMARCU. in antiquity, ar Athe- 
 nian magistrate whose duty it was i take 
 care that the children of such as lost their 
 lives in their country's service were main- 
 tained out of the public treasury. He had 
 also the care of sojourners and stran- 
 gers in Athens ; his authority over them 
 being equal to that of the archon over the 
 citizens. 
 
 POLEM'ICS, controversial writings, 
 particularly applied to controversies on 
 matters of divinity. 
 
 POLE'-STAR, or PO'LAR STAR, in 
 astronomy, a star of the second magni- 
 tude, the last in the tail of Ursa Minor, 
 which is nearly vertical to the pole of the 
 earth. Owing to its proximity, it never 
 sets ; it is therefore of great use to nav- 
 igators in the northern hemisphere, in 
 determining the latitudes, &c. 
 
 POLICE', is a term employed to desig- 
 nate those regulations which have for 
 their object to secure the maintenance of 
 good order, cleanliness, health, &c. in 
 cities and country districts ; and it is also 
 used to designate the description of force 
 by which these objects are effected. This 
 force differs from military in its being 
 commanded by civil officers and not be- 
 ing under military law ; but it is general- 
 ly drilled and armed in a half military 
 manner, and has a distinctive uniform. 
 The police force is employed alike to pre- 
 vent and detect offences ; and may be 
 either open or secret. By an open police 
 is meant officers dressed in their ac- 
 customed uniform, and known to every- 
 body ; while by a secret police is meant 
 officers whom it may be difficult or im- 
 possible to distinguish from certain classes 
 of citizens, whose dress and manners they 
 may think it expedient to assume. The 
 latter are employed that they may. with- 
 out exciting the suspicion of guilty par-
 
 POL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 483 
 
 ties, or of those who are projecting some 
 outrage, acquire their confidence, and by 
 making themselves masters of their se- 
 crets, secure their apprehension or pre- 
 vent the outrage. 
 
 POL/ICY, in its primary signification, 
 is the same as polity, comprehending the 
 fundamental constitution or frame of 
 civil government in a state or kingdom. 
 But by usage, policy is now more gen- 
 erally used to denote what is included 
 under legislation and administration, 
 and may be defined, the art or manner of 
 governing a nation; or that system of 
 measures which the sovereign of a coun- 
 try adopts and pursues, as the best adapt- 
 ed to the interests of the nation. Thus 
 we speak of domestic policy, or the sys- 
 tem of internal regulations in a nation ; 
 foreign policy, or the measures which 
 respect foreign nations ; commercial pol- 
 icy, or the measures which respect com- 
 merce. Policy, in commerce, the writing 
 or instruction by which a contract of 
 indemnity is effected between the insurer 
 and the insured ; or the instrument con- 
 taining the terms or conditions on which 
 a person or company undertakes to indem- 
 nify another person or company against 
 losses of property exposed to peculiar 
 hazards, as houses or goods exposed to 
 fire, or ships and goods exposed to de- 
 struction on the high seas. The terms 
 policy of insurance -or assurance, are also 
 used for the contract, between the insurer 
 and the insured. Policies are valued or 
 open ; valued, when the property or 
 goods insured are valued at prime cost ; 
 open, when the goods are not valued, but 
 if lost, their value must be proved. 
 
 POLITE'NESS, polished manners, or 
 that conduct towards others which good 
 will in the first place, and good sense in 
 the second, imperiously dictates. It 
 unites gracefulness and gentility of be- 
 havior with an obliging willingness to 
 conform to the wants and wishes of 
 others. 
 
 POLITICAL ARITHMETIC, the art 
 of making arithmetical calculations on 
 matters relating to a nation, its revenues, 
 value of lands and effects, produce of 
 lands or manufactures, population, and 
 the general statistics of a country. 
 
 POLITICAL ECON'OMY, the science 
 of the laws which regulate the production, 
 distribution, and consumption of the pro- 
 ducts, necessary, useful, or agreeable to 
 man, which it requires some portion of 
 voluntary labor to produce, procure, or 
 preserve. It must be observed, however, 
 that the limits of this department of 
 
 knowledge are not yet accurately defined ; 
 hence much discussion has arisen among 
 different writers as to its extent, object, 
 and the various subjects to be compre- 
 hended under it. It is, in general, said 
 of political economy, that its object is 
 to ascertain the circumstances most fa- 
 vorable for the production of wealth, and 
 the laws which determine its distribution, 
 among the different ranks and orders into 
 which society is divided ; and this defini- 
 tion seems quite unexceptionable, pro- 
 vided it be clearly understood, that by 
 wealth, in this science, is meant only 
 those articles or products which require 
 some portion of human industry for their 
 production, acquisition, or preservation, 
 and which, consequently, possess ex- 
 changeable value. The principal topics 
 discussed by political economists are : 
 1. The definition of wealth; 2. of pro- 
 ductive and unproductive labor ; 3. on 
 the nature and measures of value ; 4. on 
 the rent of land ; 5. the wages of labor ; 
 6. the profits of capital ; 7. the results 
 of machinery ; 8. the circulating medium 
 or currency ; 9. the nature and conditions 
 of commerce, or exchange of commodities. 
 Continental writers on political economy 
 not only treat of the principles which 
 govern the production and accumulation 
 of wealth, and its distribution and con- 
 sumption, but also introduce in their 
 systems inquiries into the principles ac- 
 cording to which the governments of 
 states may be organized, so as to promote 
 in the best manner the well-being of those 
 subjected to their authority ; but this 
 last subject belongs properly to general 
 politics. 
 
 POL'ITICS, the science of government; 
 that part of ethics which consists in the 
 regulation and government of a nation 
 or state, for the preservation of its safe- 
 ty, peace, and prosperity ; comprehend- 
 ing the defence of its independence and 
 rights against foreign control or conquest, 
 the augmentation of its strength and 
 resources, and the protection of its citi- 
 zens in their rights, with the preservation 
 and improvement of their morals. Poli- 
 tics, in its widest extent, is both the 
 science and the art of government, or 
 the science whose subject is the regula- 
 tion of man. in all his relations as the 
 member of a state, and the application of 
 this science. In other words, it is the 
 theory and practice of obtaining the onda 
 of civil society as perfectly as possible. 
 The subjects which political .science 
 comprises have been arranged under the 
 following heads : 1. Natural law ; 2.
 
 484 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [POL 
 
 abstract politics, that is, the object of a 
 state, and the relations between it and 
 individual citizens ; 3. political economy ; 
 4. the science of police, or municipal reg- 
 ulation : 5. practical politics, or the 
 conduct of the immediate public affairs 
 of a state; 6. history of politics; 7. his- 
 tory of the European system of states, 
 being the only system in which the 
 modern art of politics has received a prac- 
 tical development ; 8. statistics ; 9. posi- 
 tive law relating to state affairs, com- 
 monly called constitutional law ; 10. prac- 
 tical law of nations ; 11. diplomacy ; 12. 
 the technical science of politics, an ac- 
 quaintance with the forms and style of 
 public business in different countries. In 
 common parlance we understand by the 
 politics of a country the course of its gov- 
 ernment, more particularly as respects 
 its relations with foreign nations. 
 
 POL'ITY, the form or constitution of 
 civil government of a nation or state ; 
 and in free states, the frame or funda- 
 mental system by which the several 
 branches of government are established, 
 and the powers and duties of each desig- 
 nated and defined. The word seems also 
 to embrace legislation and administra- 
 tion of government. 2. The constitution 
 or general fundamental principles of gov- 
 ernment of any class of citizens, consider- 
 ed in an appropriate character, or as a 
 subordinate state. 
 
 POLL, in elections, the register of 
 those who give their vote, containing 
 their name, place of residence, <fcc. Also 
 the place where the votes are registered; 
 as "we are going to the poll;" "several 
 electors were unable to get to the poll," 
 Ac. 
 
 POLL TAX, a tax still levied in many 
 of the continental states, and formerly 
 also in England, in proportion to the 
 rank or fortune of the individual. In 
 England this species of tax was first 
 levied in 1378; and, as is well known, it 
 was from the brutality with which the 
 levying of it was accompanied, that the 
 rebellion of Wat Tyler took its rise in 
 1381. Various poll taxes were levied at 
 different periods in the subsequent his- 
 tory of England; but they were finally 
 nbolished in the reign of William III. 
 See TAXATION. 
 
 POLONOISE', in music, a movement 
 of three crotchets in a bar, with the 
 rhythmical cesura on the last. 
 
 POLYANTOG'RAPHY, the act or 
 practice of multiplying copies of one's 
 own hand-writing, by engraving on stone ; 
 a species of lithography. 
 
 POL'YARCHY, a word sometimes used 
 by political writers in a sense opposed to 
 monarchy : the government of many, 
 whether a privileged class (aristocracy,) 
 or the people at large (democracy.) 
 
 POL'YCHROMY, a modern term used 
 to express the ancient practice of color- 
 ing statues, and the exteriors and inte- 
 riors of buildings. This practice dates 
 from the highest antiquity, but probably 
 reached its greatest perfection in the 
 twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 
 
 POLYG'AMY, a plurality of wives or 
 husbands at the same time. In some 
 countries, as in Turkey for instance, 
 polygamy is allowed ; but by the laws 
 of England, polygamy is made felony, 
 except in the case of absence beyond the 
 seas for seven years. Polygamy pre- 
 vailed among the Jewish patriarchs, both 
 before and under the Mosaic law ; but 
 the state of manners had probably be- 
 come reformed in this respect before the 
 time of Christ, for in the New Testament 
 we meet no trace of its practice. Polyg- 
 amy has been allowed under all the re- 
 ligions which have prevailed in Asia. 
 By the laws of Mohammed, every Mus- 
 sulman is permitted to have a plurality 
 of wives : the Arabs, however, seldom 
 avail themselves of this privilege The 
 ancient Romans never practised it, 
 though it was not forbidden among them ; 
 and Mark Antony is mentioned as the 
 first who took the liberty of having two 
 wives. From that time it became fre- 
 quent in the Roman empire, till the 
 reigns of Theodosius, Honorius, and Ar- 
 cadius, who prohibited it A.D. 393. 
 
 POL'YGLOT, a word generally applied 
 to such Bibles as have been printed with 
 the text represented in various languages, 
 The most ancient instance of this parallel 
 representation of various texts is the 
 work of Origen, known by the name of 
 the Hexapla, in imitation of which seve- 
 ral similar editions of the Scriptures have 
 been published since the invention of 
 printing ; of which the most important 
 are, 1. The Complutensian, or edition 
 of Cardinal Ximenes, printed at Alcala 
 in Spain, 1515, in four languages, com- 
 prehended in six vols., folio. 2. The Ant- 
 werp Polyglot, by Montanus, 8 vols., 
 folio, 1569." 3. The Paris Polyglot, by 
 Le Jay, 10 vols., folio, 1628-45. 4. The 
 English or Walton's Polyglot, London, 
 1657. These contain among them the 
 Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Samaritan 
 texts, with Latin versions each : the Sep- 
 tuagint, the Greek of the New Testament 
 the Italic and the Vulgate.
 
 PON] 
 
 AND THK FINE ARTS. 
 
 485 
 
 POL'YGRAPH, an instrument for mul- 
 tiplying copies of a writing with ease 
 and expedition. 
 
 POLYG'RAPHY, the art of writing 
 in various ciphers, and deciphering the 
 same. 
 
 POLYHYM'NIA, among the Greeks 
 and Roman?, the muse that presided 
 over lyric poetry, to whom is attributed 
 the invention of mimes and pantomimes. 
 By the Grecian artists she is represented 
 covered with a veil, and in a meditating 
 posture. Her attributes are the lyre and 
 the plectrum. She places the forefinger 
 of her right hand upon her mouth, or 
 holds a scroll. 
 
 P L Y M ' A T H Y, the knowledge of 
 many arts and sciences. Hence a person 
 who is acquainted with many branches 
 of learning is styled a polymath. 
 
 POL'YSTYLE, a term applied to an 
 edifice, the columns of which are too nu- 
 merous to be readily counted ; which 
 reminds us of an old tradition respecting 
 the pillars at Stonehenge namely, that 
 no two persons ever counted their num- 
 ber alike on the first trial. 
 
 POL'YSYLLABLE, in grammar, a 
 word consisting of more syllables than 
 three ; for when a word consists of one, 
 two, or three syllables, it is called a 
 monosyllable, dissyllable, and trisyllable. 
 
 POLYSYN'DETON, in grammar and 
 rhetoric, a figure in which a redundance 
 of conjunctions, especially copulative ones, 
 is used ; as, il we have armies and fleets 
 and gold and stores all the sinews of 
 war." 
 
 POLYTECH'NIC, an epithet denoting 
 or comprehending many arts ; as, a 
 polytechnic school ; the Polytechnic Gal- 
 lery. The POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL, in 
 France, was established by a decree of 
 the national convention of March llth, 
 1794, which was passed by the influence 
 of Monge, Carnot, Fourcroy, &c. It is 
 now established in the buildings of the 
 ancient college of Navarre. Napoleon 
 did much for it, and under him it re- 
 ceived considerable modifications. The 
 pupils were obliged to live in the build- 
 ing, and wear a uniform. Its object is to 
 diffuse a knowledge of the mathematical, 
 physical, and chemical sciences, and to 
 prepare the pupils for the artillery ser- 
 vice and the various departments of 
 engineering, military, naval, and civil. 
 The number of pupils is limited to 300. 
 The terms for the students not supported 
 on the foundation are 1000 francs a year, 
 independent of the expense of uniform 
 and books. The pupil, at the time of 
 
 admission, must be more than sixteen 
 and less than twenty years old. The 
 course of studies lasts two years, in cer- 
 tain cases three. A rigorous examination 
 precedes admission, and another exami- 
 nation takes place before the pupils 
 leave the institution, and it is invariably 
 attended by the greater number of the 
 marshals of France, together with many 
 of the most distinguished scholars. 
 
 POMCE'RIUM, in antiquity, a space 
 of ground both within and without the 
 walls, which the augurs consecrated on 
 the first building of any city. 
 
 POMO'NA, the Italian goddess of 
 fruit-trees. Her worship was assiduously 
 cultivated at Rome, where there was a 
 Jlamen pomonalis, who sacrificed to her 
 every year for the preservation of the 
 fruit, 
 
 POM'PA CIRCEN'SIS, or CEREA'- 
 LIS, in antiquity, a procession exhibited 
 at the Ludi Cereales of the Romans, 
 consisting of a solemn march of the per- 
 sons who were to engage in the exercises 
 of the circus, attended by the magistrates 
 and ladies of quality ; the statues of the 
 gods and illustrious men being carried 
 along in state on wagons called thensae. 
 
 PON'TIFEX, among the Romans, was 
 one of the order of Pontifices. who had 
 the superintendence and direction of 
 divine worship in general. The Pon- 
 tifices were erected into a college consist- 
 ing of fifteen persons, of whom the eight 
 first had the title of Majores, and the 
 seven others of Pontifices Minores. They 
 made together but one body, the chief of 
 which was called Pontifex Maximus. 
 
 PON'TIFF, the high or chief priest in 
 the Romish and Greek churches. The 
 ancient Romans had a college of pontiffs ; 
 the Jews had their pontiff's; and the 
 pope is called a sovereign pontiff'. The 
 word pontificate is used for the state or 
 dignity of a pontiff, or high-priest ; but 
 more particularly for the reign of a pope. 
 
 PONTIFICA'LIA, the robes in which 
 a bishop performs divine service. 
 
 PONTOONS', or PONTOON BRIDGE, 
 a floating bridge, formed of flat-bottomed 
 boats, anchored or made fast in two lines, 
 and used in forming bridges over rivers 
 for the passage of armies. Pontoon car- 
 riage, a vehicle formed of two wheels 
 only, and two long side pieces, whose fore- 
 ends are supported by timbers. 
 
 PONT- VOLANT',' in military affairs, 
 a kind of bridge used in sieges for sur- 
 prising a post or outwork that has but 
 narrow moats. It is composed of two 
 small bridges laid one above the other,
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [l-OR 
 
 and so contrived that, by the aid of cords 
 and pulleys, the upper one may be pushed 
 forward till it reaches the destined point. 
 
 POOR, THE, in political economy, the 
 term employed to designate those per- 
 sons, or that portion of the population of 
 any county, who, being destitute of 
 wealth, are, through age, bodily or men- 
 tal infirmity, want of employment, or 
 other cause, unable to support them- 
 selves, and have to depend for support 
 on the contributions of others. 
 
 PO'P-55. in Roman antiquity, certain 
 officers of inferior rank who assisted the 
 priests at sacrifices. 
 
 POPE, the head of the Roman Catho- 
 lic church. The appellation of pope was 
 anciently given to all Christian bishops; 
 but about the latter end of the eleventh 
 century, in the pontificate of Gregory 
 
 VII. it was adopted by the bishop of 
 Rome, whose peculiar title it has ever 
 since continued. The spiritual moniirchy 
 of Rome sprung up soon after the declen- 
 sion of the Roman empire. The bishops 
 of Rome affect to owe their origin to the 
 appointment of St. Peter, who was con- 
 sidered as transferring the keys of heaven 
 (figuratively consigned to his keeping,) to 
 these bishops as his successors ; hence 
 they assumed a supremacy which was ad- 
 mitted by all the Western Christians, but 
 resisted by the Eastern ones, who in 
 Greece, Turkey, and Russia, have a sep- 
 arate Greek church. The vices of the 
 clergy led, however, in the 14th and 15th 
 centuries, to schisms ; and a personal 
 quarrel between the pope and Henry 
 
 VIII. induced the latter to assume the 
 title of the Head of the Anglican church, 
 as well as to recognize the principles of 
 the Reformers, which were adopted by 
 many German princes, and the Northern 
 sovereigns. The pope retains his spirit- 
 ual ascendancy throughout Italy, France, 
 Austria, Spain, and Portugal ; and four 
 fifths of the Irish are Catholics. He is 
 also regarded as a sovereign in certain 
 provinces contiguous to Rome. 
 
 POP'ULAR, enjoying the favor of the 
 great body of the people ; as, a popular 
 ministry. Also, whatever pertains to the 
 common people ; as the popular voice. 
 In law, a popular action is one which 
 gives a penalty to the person that sues 
 for the same. 
 
 POPULA'RES, the name of a party at 
 Rome, who struggled to ingratiate them- 
 selves with the people, and, by eytend- 
 ing their influence and power, to increase 
 their own. The Populares were opposed 
 to the Optimates. 
 
 POPULARITY, the state of possess- 
 ing the affections and confidence of the 
 people in general. " The man whose 
 ruling principle is duty, is never per- 
 plexed with anxious corroding calcula- 
 tions of interest and popularity." 
 
 POPULA'TION, .the aggregate num- 
 ber of people in any country. Owing to 
 the increase of births above that of the 
 deaths, the population is continually in- 
 creasing in most parts of the habitable 
 world. " Countries," says Adam Smith, 
 in his Wealth of Nations, " are populous, 
 not in proportion to the number of peo- 
 ple whom their produce can clothe and 
 lodge, but in proportion to that of those 
 whom it can feed." The law of population, 
 or of the increase of the human species, 
 has not, till a comparatively recent pe- 
 riod, attracted that attention to which it 
 is eminently entitled. It was formerly 
 taken for granted that every increase of 
 population was an advantage, and it was 
 usual for legislators to encourage early 
 marriages, and to bestow rewards on those 
 who brought up the greatest number of 
 children. But recent researches have 
 shown that every increase in the numbers 
 of a people, occasioned by artificial expe- 
 dients, and which is not either accompa- 
 nied or preceded by a corresponding in- 
 crease of the means of subsistence, can be 
 productive only of misery or of increased 
 mortality ; that the difficulty never is to 
 bring human beings into the world, but 
 to feed, clothe, and. educate them when 
 there ; that mankind do everywhere in- 
 crease their numbers, till their farther 
 multiplication is restrained by the diffi- 
 culty of providing subsistence, and the 
 poverty of some part of the society ; and 
 that, consequently, instead of attempting 
 to strengthen the principle of increase, 
 we should rather endeavor to strengthen 
 the principles by which it is controlled 
 and regulated. 
 
 PORCH, in architecture, a kind of ves- 
 tibule supported by columns at the en- 
 trance of temples, halls, churches, or 
 other buildings. By way of distinction, 
 a public portico in Athens, where Zeno the 
 philosopher taught his disciples, was called 
 the porch. Hence, the porch, in clas- 
 sical literature, is equivalent to the school 
 of the Stoics. 
 
 PORTCUL'LIS, a strong grating of 
 timber or iron, resembling a harrow, 
 made to slide in vertical grooves in the 
 jambs of the entrance gate of a fortified 
 place, to protect the gate in case of as- 
 sault. The vertical bars, when of wood, 
 were pointed with iron at the bottom, for
 
 1'OS] AND THE 
 
 the purpose of striking into the ground 
 when the grating was dropped, or of in- 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 juring whatever it might fall upon. In 
 general there were a succession of port- 
 cullises in tire same gateway. It is some- 
 times called a portclu.se. 
 
 PORTE, THE SUBLIME, the official 
 title of the government of the Ottoman 
 empire : said to be derived from a gate 
 of the palace at Broussa, the original 
 metropolis of that empire, Bab Huina- 
 yoor, the sublime gate. 
 
 PORT'GREVE, or PORTREEVE, in 
 former times, a chief magistrate of a 
 port or maritime town. This officer is 
 now styled either mayor or bailiff. Ac- 
 cording to Camden, the chief magistrate 
 of London was anciently called portgreve, 
 but was exchanged by Richard I. for two 
 bailiffs, and these gave place in the reign 
 of John to a mayor. 
 
 PORTHOLES, the openings or embra- 
 sures in the sides of ships of war, through 
 which guns are put. 
 
 POR'TICO, in architecture, a kind of 
 gallery on the ground, supported by col- 
 umns, where people may walk under 
 cover. Though this word is derived from 
 porta, a gate or door, yet it is used for 
 any arrangement of columns which form 
 a gallery. The Athenians were curious 
 in their porticoes, and the poets and phi- 
 losophers recited their works, and held 
 their disputations there. The most fa- 
 mous portico was that called Paecile, 
 which was in fact a picture gallery adorn- 
 ed with the works of the greatest masters. 
 
 PORTLAND VASE, a celebrated cin- 
 erary urn or vase, long in possession of 
 the noble family of the Barberini at 
 Rome (whence it was called the Barberi- 
 ni vase ;) from whom it came into posses- 
 sion of the Portland family, who deposit- 
 ed it, in 1810, in the British Museum, of 
 which it is one of the most valuable re- 
 liques. This beautiful specimen of ancient 
 art was found in the tomb of the Empe- 
 ror Alexander Severus and his mother 
 Mammnoa. 
 
 POR'TRAIT, in painting, the repre- 
 
 sentation of an individual, or, more strict- 
 ly speaking, of a face, painted from real 
 life. Portraits are of full length, half 
 length, &c. ; and are executed in oil or 
 water colors, crayons, &e. 
 
 PORT ROY'ALISTS, the name popu- 
 larly given to the members of the cele- 
 brated convent of the Port Royal des 
 Champs. It was founded about 1204, by 
 Matthieu de Marli, on the eve of his de- 
 parture for the Holy Land ; and, though 
 originally limited in its means and ob- 
 jects, it gradually acquired such impor- 
 tance as to have secured for it a prominent 
 place in the history of Europe. It would 
 be out of place here to give any details 
 of its varied fortunes, and the religious 
 controversies which it carried on in the 
 17th century the period of its greatest 
 importance. It was abolished by Louis 
 XIV., as a nest of Jansenists and heretics. 
 Among the distinguished names connect- 
 ed with Port Royal, are those of Lance- 
 lot, Paschal, Arnauld, Nicole de Sacy s 
 and Tillemont. The school books which 
 were published for the use of that insti- 
 tution, were translated into all the lan- 
 guages of Europe, and maintained their 
 reputation long after its abolition. 
 
 POSID'IUM, or POSID'EON, in an- 
 cient chronology, the seventh month of 
 the Athenian year, which consisted of 
 thirty days, answered to the latter part 
 of December and beginning of January, 
 and had its name from a festival in honor 
 of Neptune Posidonius which was during 
 that month celebrated. 
 
 POSI'TION, in painting, the placing 
 of the model in the manner best cal- 
 culated for the end in view by the artist. 
 Such positions as are most natural and 
 easy, and which exhibit the peculiar 
 habit of the individual, in portrait paint- 
 ing, are preferable. 
 
 POS'ITIVE, is used in opposition to 
 relative or arbitrary : thus, we say, 
 beauty is no positive thing, but depends 
 on different tastes. It is also used in 
 opposition to natural : as, a thing is of 
 positive right, meaning that it is founded 
 on a law which depends absolutely on the 
 authority of him who made it. 
 
 POS'SE COMITA'TUS, in law, the 
 armed power of the county, or the attend- 
 ance of all persons charged by the 
 sheriff to assist him in the suppression 
 of riots, &c. 
 
 POSSES'SION, in law, the holding or 
 occupying of anything, either de jure or 
 de facto. Possession de jure, is the title 
 a man has to enjoy a thing, though it be 
 usurped and in the actual possession of
 
 488 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PRA 
 
 another; or where lands are descended 
 to a person, and he has not yet entered 
 into them : and possession de facto, or 
 actual possession, is where there is an 
 actual and effectual enjoyment of a thing. 
 Long undisturbed possession is presump- 
 tive proof of right or property in the 
 possessor. 
 
 POST-DATE, to date after the real 
 time ; as to post-date a bill or a contract, 
 that is, to date it after the true time of 
 drawing the one or making the other. 
 
 POST-DILU'VIAN, a person who 
 lived after the flood, or who has lived 
 since that event. 
 
 POST-DISSETZIN, in law, a writ in- 
 tended to put in possession a person who 
 has been disseized after a judgment to 
 recover the same lands of the same per- 
 son, under the statute of Merton. 
 
 POS'TSA, in law, is the return of a 
 record of the proceedings in a cause after 
 a trial and verdict by writ of nisi prius, 
 into the court of common pleas, after a 
 verdict ; and there afterwards recorded. 
 
 POS'TERN, in fortification, a small 
 gate, usually in the angle of a flank of a 
 bastion, or in that of the curtain or near 
 the orillon, descending into the ditch. 
 
 POS'THUMOUS, born after the death 
 of a father. Also, published after the 
 death of the author ; as postkumous 
 works. 
 
 POS'TIL, a marginal note ; originally, 
 a note in the margin of the Bible, so 
 called because written after the text. 
 
 POSTLIMIN'IUM, or POSTLIM'I- 
 NY, among the Romans, was the return 
 of a person to his own country who had 
 gone to sojourn in a foreign country, or 
 who had been banished or taken by an 
 enemy. In the modern law of nations, 
 the right of postliminy is that by virtue 
 of which, persons and things taken by an 
 enemy in war, are restored to their 
 former state, when coming again under 
 the power of the nation to which they 
 belonged. But this cannot extend in all 
 cases to personal effects, on account of 
 the difficulty of ascertaining their iden- 
 tity. 
 
 POST'-NOTE, in commerce, a bank 
 note intended to be transmitted to a dis- 
 tant place by the public mail, and made 
 payable to order ; differing in this from 
 a common bank note, which is payable 
 to the bearer. 
 
 POST'-OFFICE, an establishment for 
 the reception, conveyance, and delivery 
 of letters, <fcc. Posts were originally 
 intended to serve merely for the convey- 
 ance of public dispatches, and of persons 
 
 travelling by authority of government. 
 But the great convenience it afforded to 
 individuals, particularly as commercial 
 transactions multiplied and extended, to 
 have a safe, regular, and speedy commu- 
 nication between distant parts of the 
 country, induced the government to con- 
 vert it into a source of revenue. 
 
 POST POSI'TION, in music, retarda- 
 tions of the harmony, effected by placing 
 discords upon the accented parts of a bar 
 not prepared and resolved according to 
 the rules for discords. 
 
 POSTSCE'NIUM, in architecture, the 
 back part of the theatre behind the 
 scenes, furnished with conveniences for 
 robing the actors and depositing the 
 machinery. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT, an addition made to a 
 letter after it is concluded and signed by 
 the writer. Also, any addition made to 
 a literary performance after it had been 
 supposed to be finished, containing some- 
 thing omitted or something new occur- 
 ring to the writer. 
 
 POSTULATES, fundamental princi- 
 ples in any art or science, which are too 
 easy and self-evident to need demonstra- 
 tion. 
 
 POWER, in a philosophical sense, the 
 faculty of doing or performing anything. 
 The exertion of power proceeds from the 
 will ; and in strictness, no being destitute 
 of will or intelligence can exert power. 
 Active power is that which moves the 
 body ; speculative power is that by which 
 we see, judge, remember, or, in general, 
 by which we think. Power may exist 
 without exertion : we have power to speak 
 when we are silent. This word, indeed, 
 has an almost unlimited signification, 
 whether as regards animal strength or 
 mental ability : we speak of the powers 
 of genius ; the reasoning powers ; the 
 power which a man has of relieving the 
 distressed ; his moral power, quadrate, 
 <fcc. Power, in law, the authority which 
 one man gives another to act for him. 
 The instrument or deed by which this is 
 done is called a power of attorney. 
 
 PR^ECEP'TORIS, in ecclesiastical af- 
 fairs, certain benefices having their name 
 from being possessed by the more emi- 
 nent Templars, whom the ohief master, 
 by his authority, created and called 
 PrcBceptores Templi. 
 
 PR2ECIPE IN CAP'ITE. in law, a 
 writ issuing out of the court of chancery 
 for a tenant who held of the king in chief, 
 as of his crown, and not as of any honor, 
 castle, or manor. 
 
 PR^ECOG'NITA, things previously
 
 PRE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 489 
 
 known in order to understand something 
 else. Thus a knowledge of the structure 
 of the human body is one of the prcecog- 
 nita of medical science and skill. 
 
 PRJEFEC'TURE, in antiquity, an ap- 
 pellation given to certain towns in Italy, 
 whose inhabitants had the name of Roman 
 citizens, but were neither allowed to en- 
 joy their own laws nor magistrates, being 
 governed by annual prefects sent from 
 Rome. These were generally such places 
 as were suspected, or had some way or 
 other incurred the displeasure of the 
 state. The title prcefectus was given to 
 many officers in ancient Rome. 
 
 PKJSMUNI'RE, in law, a writ granted 
 against a person for introducing and 
 maintaining the papal power, creating an 
 imperiurn in imperio, and yielding that 
 obedience to the mandates of the pope, 
 which constitutionally belongs to our 
 rightful sovereign. 
 
 PR^ENO'MEN, among the Romans, 
 like our Christian name, served to distin- 
 guish brothers, &c., from each other : as 
 Caius, Lucius, Marcus, Julius, <fcc. Care 
 was generally taken, in conferring the 
 prcenomen, to give that of the father to 
 the pldest, that of the grandfather to the 
 second, and so on. The prcenomen was 
 not brought into use till long after the 
 nomen, or family name. 
 
 PR^E'TOR, a chief magistrate among 
 the Romans, institutedfor the administra- 
 tion of justice in the absence of the con- 
 suls. The office of praetor was instituted 
 in the year of the city 388, to administer 
 justice in the city, instead of the consuls, 
 who were at that time wholly engaged in 
 foreign wars. The institution also was 
 intended to compensate to the nobility the 
 loss of their exclusive right to the consul- 
 ship, to which honor the commons had 
 now put in their claim, and succeeded. 
 The pra3tor decreed and proclaimed pub- 
 lic feasts, had the power to make and re- 
 peal laws, with the approbation of the 
 senate and the people ; and kept a regis- 
 ter of all the freed-men who were en- 
 franchised at Rome. In the absence of 
 the consuls he had a right to command 
 the armies ; he also commanded the 
 quaestors, who served him as lieutenants, 
 and ware charged with part of the busi- 
 ness of his office. He was entitled to the 
 prcetexta, the curule chair, and two lie- 
 tors to walk before him in Rome, and six 
 when out of the city. 
 
 PR^ETORI A'NI, or Pretorian Guards, 
 were the emperor's guards, who in time 
 were increased to ten thousand. The 
 Prsetorian bands owe their first institu- 
 
 tion to Scipio Africanus, who chose for 
 his guards a company of the bravest men 
 in his army ; but in time they became 
 very inimical to the liberties of their 
 country. 
 
 PR^ETO'RIUM, among the Romans, 
 denoted the hall or court where the prae- 
 tor administered justice : it was also his 
 palace. 
 
 PRAGMAT'IC SANC'TION, in the 
 civil law, is a rescript or answer of the 
 sovereign, delivered by advice of his 
 council to some college, order, or body of 
 people, who consult him in relation to the 
 affairs of their community. A similar 
 answer given to an individual is called 
 simply a rescript. The term pragmatic 
 sanction was give-* to the settlement 
 made by Charles VI. emperor of Germa- 
 ny, when, having no sons, in 1722 he set- 
 tled his hereditary dominions on his eld- 
 est daughter, the archduchess Maria 
 Theresa. 
 
 PRA'TIQUE, in commerce, a license 
 or permission to hold intercourse and 
 trade with the inhabitants of a place, 
 after having performed quarantine, or 
 upon a certificate that the ship did not 
 come from an infected place. 
 
 PRAX'EANS, a sect of heretics that 
 sprung up in Asia in the second century ; 
 so called from their founder, Praxeas, an 
 Asiatic haeresiarch. The distinguishing 
 characteristics of this sect were their 
 denial of plurality of persons in the god- 
 head, and their belief that it was the 
 Father himself who suffered on the cross. 
 The Monarchic!, Sabellians, and Patri- 
 passians adopted these sentiments. 
 
 PREAD'AMITE, an appellation given 
 to the inhabitants of the earth, who by 
 some are supposed to have lived before 
 Adam. 
 
 PRE' AMBLE, in law, the introduc- 
 tory matter to a statute, which contains 
 the reasons for making such an enact- 
 ment. 
 
 PREB'END, the stipend or mainte- 
 nance a prebendary receives out of the es- 
 tate of a cathedral or collegiate church. 
 Prebends are simple or dignitary ; a. 
 simple prebend has no more than the rev- 
 enue for its support : but a prebend with 
 dignity, has always a jurisdiction annex- 
 ed to it. 
 
 PREB'ENDARY, an ecclesiastic who 
 enjoys a prebend. The difference be- 
 tween a prebendary and a canon is, that 
 the former receives his prebend in consid- 
 eration of his officiating in the .church ; 
 but the latter merely in consequence of 
 his being received into the cathedral.
 
 490 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITEKATUKE 
 
 PRECEDENCE, by custom and cour- 
 tesy, the right of taking place before 
 another, which is determined by author- 
 ity, and followed exactly on all public 
 occasions of processions and the like. 
 
 PRE'CEDENT. in law, a judicial de- 
 cision, which serves as a rule for future 
 determinations in similar or analogous 
 cases : thus the precedents of a court 
 have the force of laws, and no court will 
 reverse a judgment contrary to many 
 precedents. Precedent also frequently 
 denotes an original authentic instrument 
 or writing, which serves as a form to 
 draw others by. 
 
 PRECEN'TOR, the chanter or master 
 of the choir in a cathedral. 
 
 PRE'CEPT, in law, a command in 
 writing sent by a justice of the peace, 
 Ac., for bringing a person, record, or 
 other matter before him. In a general 
 sense, a precept signifies any command- 
 ment or order intended as an authorita- 
 tive rule of action : but applied particu- 
 larly to commands respecting moral con- 
 duct. Hence preceptor, a teacher. 
 
 PREDESTINA'TION, in theology, a 
 term to denote the pre-ordination of 
 men by the Supreme Being to everlast- 
 ing happiness or misery. One who be- 
 lieves in this doctrine is called a predes- 
 tinarian. 
 
 PREDIC'AMENT, in logic, a cate- 
 gory. The school philosophers distribute 
 all the objects of our thoughts and ideas 
 into genera or classes, which the Greeks 
 call categories, and the Latin predica- 
 ments. 
 
 PRED'ICATE, in logic, that part of a 
 proposition which affirms or denies some- 
 thing of the subject : thus, in these prop- 
 ositions, "snow is white, ink is not white," 
 whiteness is the predicate affirmed of 
 snow, and denied of ink. 
 
 I'RE-EMP'TION, the right of pur- 
 chasing before others. Prior discovery 
 of land inhabited by uncivilized tribes is 
 held to give the discoverer the pre- 
 emption, or right of purchase before 
 others. 
 
 PRE-EXIST'ENCE, in philosophy, the 
 existence of anything before another ; 
 commonly used for the existence of the 
 human soul, in some former condition, 
 before it became connected with its pres- 
 ent body. It was the doctrine of the Py- 
 thagorean school, and connected with their 
 peculiar tenet of the Metempsychosis. 
 It was also the doctrine of Plato ; and 
 he uses in support of it arguments which 
 have exercised a strong influence on many 
 minds, and to this day are constantly re- i 
 
 curring to those who study the subject on 
 independent principles; particularly the 
 rapidity of learning in early childhood, 
 which he explains as an effort of reminis- 
 cence, not acquisition. Others have en- 
 listed into the service those peculiar sen- 
 sations which are sometimes raised by 
 scenes, persons, sounds, words, though 
 seen or heard, as our reasons would per- 
 suade us, for the first time, as if we were 
 conscious of some prior familiarity with 
 men. This poetical, rather than philo- 
 sophical view of the subject, is beauti- 
 fully illustrated in a well-known ode of 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 PREF'ACE. the observations prefixed 
 to a work or treatise, intended to inform 
 the reader of its plan and peculiarities. 
 There are few subjects which afford so 
 wide a field for the display of skill and 
 address as preface writing ; and those 
 who wish to witness an unrivalled exhi- 
 bition of these qualities may consult 
 some of Dr. Johnson's prefaces, either to 
 his own writings or to the numerous 
 works which he edited. 
 
 PRE'FECT, an important political 
 functionary in modern France. Under 
 the old regime, the officers who were 
 sent round to the provinces to superintend 
 the details of administration on behalf of 
 the king were at first styled maitres des 
 requetes. These were made permanent 
 local officers in the reign of Henry II., 
 and afterwards attained many additional 
 powers, with the title of intendants. 
 These were abolished at the revolution, 
 when various attempts were made to 
 establish elective local governments. By 
 a law of the year 1800 prefects were 
 first appointed for the departmpnts, with 
 powers similar in many respects to those 
 of the old intendants, with a council of 
 prefecture, and a general council of the 
 department ; which, however, fell into 
 disuse. With slight variations, the pre- 
 fects retain the same jurisdiction. They 
 are, in some respects, analogous to our 
 sheriffs : but with far greater powers. 
 They possess not the nominal only, but 
 the actual direction of the police estab- 
 lishment, within their respective depart- 
 ments, together with extensive powers 
 of municipal regulation ; the arrondissc- 
 ments or districts into which the depart- 
 ments are subdivided are under sous- 
 prefets appointed by them. Their power, 
 however, is considerably controlled by 
 that of the council of the prefecture, 
 which acts in some measure as a court of 
 appeal from the prefect, taking cogni- 
 zance of various cases within the sphere
 
 ilOJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 491 
 
 of his administrative interference, if legal 
 disputes arise upon it. 
 
 PRE'JUDICE, decision neither found- 
 ed upon nor consistent with reason, and 
 the error of ignorance, weakness, or idle- 
 ness. It is the enemy of all truth, knowl- 
 edge, and improvement ; and is the blind- 
 ness of the mind, rendering its powers use- 
 less and mischievous. Innumerable are 
 the prejudices we imbibe in our youth ; 
 we are accustomed to believe without 
 reflection, and to receive opinions from 
 others without examining the grounds by 
 which they can be supported. 
 
 PRE'LATE, an ecclesiastic raised to 
 some eminent dignity in the church ; as a 
 bishop, an archbishop, or a patriarch. 
 The office or dignity of a prelate is called 
 a prelacy. 
 
 PRELIMINARY, in general, denotes 
 something to be examined and determined 
 before an affair can be treated of to the 
 purpose. The preliminaries of peace con- 
 sist chiefly in settling the powers of am- 
 bassadors, and certain points in dispute, 
 which must be determined previous to the 
 treaty itself. 
 
 PRE'LUDE, a short flight of music; 
 the preface or introduction to a move- 
 ment, and usually consisting of a few bars 
 of harmony in the same key as the move- 
 ment which it precedes ; being, in fact, a 
 preparation to the ear for what is to fol- 
 low. Something introductory, or that 
 shows what is to follow ; something pre- 
 ceding which bears some relation or re- 
 semblance to that which is to follow. 
 
 PRE M'ISES, in logic, the two first prop- 
 ositions of a syllogism, from which the 
 inference or conclusion is drawn. Also, 
 propositions antecedently proposed or 
 proved. Premises, in law, lands, tene- 
 ments, <fcc. before mentioned in a lease or 
 deed. 
 
 PRE'MIUM, properly, a reward or 
 recompense ; but it is chiefly used in a 
 mercantile sense for the sum of money 
 given to an insurer, whether of ships, 
 houses, lives, Ac. Also the recompense 
 or prize offered for a specific recovery, or 
 for success in an enterprise. It is some- 
 times synonymous with interest ; but gen- 
 erally it is a sum per cent. ; distinct from 
 the interest, as, the bank lends money to 
 government at a premium of 2 per cent. 
 
 PREMON'STRANTS, a religious order 
 of regular canons or monks of Premontre, 
 in the isle of France ; instituted in 1120. 
 
 PREPENSE', in law, premeditation 
 and forethought as applied to bad actions ; 
 whence the term malice prepense. 
 
 PREROGATIVE, an exclusive or pe- 
 
 culiar privilege. The royal prerogative 
 is that special pre-eminence which a 
 sovereign has not only over other per- 
 sons, but over the ordinary course of the 
 common law, in right of the legal dignity. 
 Among these are the right of appointing 
 ambassadors, and of making peace and 
 war. It is the prerogative of a father to 
 govern his children. And the right of 
 governing created beings is the preroga- 
 ative of the Great Creator. 
 
 PRES'BYTER, in the primitive Chris- 
 tian church, an elder ; one who had au- 
 thority in the church, and whose duty 
 was to watch over the flock. The word 
 is borrowed from the Greek translation 
 of the Old Testament, where it usually 
 signifies a ruler or governor ; it being a 
 title of office and dignity, not of age, and 
 in this sense bishops are sometimes called 
 presbyters in the New Testament. 
 
 PYESBYTE'RIANS, a sect of Protes- 
 tants, so called from their maintaining 
 that the government of the church ap- 
 pointed in the New Testament was by 
 presbyteries; that is, by ministers and 
 ruling elders, associated for its govern- 
 ment and discipline. The presbyterians 
 stand opposed to the episcopalians, the 
 latter preferring the hierarchy of bishops ; 
 and to congregationalists or independ- 
 ents, who hold every pastor to be as a 
 bishop or overseer of his own congrega- 
 tion, independent of any person or body 
 of men. 
 
 PRES'BYTERY, is that form of eccle- 
 siastical polity according to which there 
 is no gradation of order in the church, 
 but which vests church government in a 
 society of clerical and lay presbyters, or, 
 in common phraseology, ministers and 
 lay elders, all possessed officially of equal 
 rank and power. 
 
 PRESCRIPTION, in law, a right and 
 title to a thing grounded upon a contin- 
 ued possession of it beyond the memory 
 of man. Prescription differs from a cus- 
 tom, which is a local usage. Prescription 
 is ^personal usage annexed to the person. 
 
 PRES'ENCE OF MIND, that calm, 
 collected state of the mind and faculties, 
 which enables a person to speak or act 
 without disorder or embarrassment in 
 unexpected difficulties. 
 
 PRESENTA'TION, in ecclesiastical 
 law, the act of a patron offering his clerk 
 to the bishop, to be instituted in a bene- 
 fice of his gift. An advowson is the right 
 of presentation. A patron may revoke 
 his presentation before institution, but 
 not afterwards. 
 
 PRESENTMENT, in law, a declara-
 
 492 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 tion or report made by jurors or others 
 of any offence to be inquired of in the 
 court to which it is presented. 
 
 PRES'ENTS, in the plural, is used in 
 law, for a deed of conveyance, a lease, or 
 other written instrument ; as in the 
 phrase, " Know all men by these pres- 
 ents ;" that is, by the writing itself, per 
 presentes. 
 
 PRESIDENT, an officer appointed to 
 preside over a corporation, company, or 
 assembly of men, to keep order, manage 
 their concerns, or govern their proceed- 
 ings. Also an officer appointed or elect- 
 ed to govern a province or territory, or 
 to adminster the government of a nation. 
 The supreme executive officer of the 
 United States of America is styled presi- 
 dent. The qualifications required of a 
 person raised to this dignity are, to be a 
 natural-born citizen of the age of thirty- 
 five years, and to have resided fourteen 
 years within the States. The election 
 is by electoral colleges in every state. 
 These colleges contain, in each state, a 
 number of electors equal to all the sena- 
 tors and representatives of that state in 
 congress; but their appointment varies 
 in different states, and at different times ; 
 sometimes it is made by their respective 
 legislatures, sometimes by general elec- 
 tion throughout the state, sometimes part 
 of the electors are chosen by district and 
 j>art by general election. The colleges 
 in each state vote by ballot for a presi- 
 dent (and at the same time for a vice- 
 president) ; and the votes of all the elec- 
 tors, taken in this manner, are counted 
 by the president of the senate : when, if 
 any person have an absolute majority of 
 votes, he is duly elected ; if not, the elec- 
 tion is made by the house of representa- 
 tives between the three persons having 
 the highest number ; in which case the 
 votes are taken by states, and a majori- 
 ty of all the states is necessary to con- 
 stitute a choice. 
 
 PRESS, is metaphorically applied ei- 
 ther to the whole literature of a country, 
 or to that part of it more immediately 
 connected with newspapers, or other pe- 
 riodical publications. 
 
 PREST'- MONEY, called earnest-mo- 
 ney, the sum given to a soldier at the 
 time he enlists, so called because it binds 
 the receiver to be ready for service at all 
 times appointed. 
 
 PRESUMP'TIVE EVIDENCE, in 
 law, is that which is derived from circum- 
 stances which necessarily or usually at- 
 tend a fact, as distinct from direct evi- 
 dence or positive proof. 
 
 PRETEN'SION, a holding out the ap- 
 pearance of right or possession of a thing, 
 with a view to make others believe what 
 is not real, or what, if true, is not yet 
 known or admitted. There are ill-found- 
 ed pretensions and well-founded preten- 
 sions : for instance, a man may make 
 vretensions, to rights which he cannot 
 maintain, or to skill which he does not 
 possess; and he may make pretensions 
 to acquirements which he really posses- 
 ses, but is not known to possess. 
 
 PRETERI'TION, in rhetoric, a figure 
 by which, in pretending to pass over any- 
 thing, we make a summary mention 
 of it ; as, ''I will not say the prince is 
 noble, or that he is as learned as he is 
 accomplished," Ac. The most artful 
 praises are those bes.owed oy way of 
 preterition. 
 
 PRETERNAT'URAL, an epithet for 
 those events in the physical world which 
 are deemed extraordinary, but not mirac- 
 ulous ; in distinction from events which 
 are supernatural, which cannot be pro- 
 duced by physical laws or powers, and 
 must therefore be produced by the direct 
 intervention of Omnipotence. 
 
 PREVARICA'TION, a deviation from 
 the plain path of truth and fair dealing ; 
 a shuffling or quibbling to evade the 
 truth or the disclosure of truth. In the 
 civil law, the collusion of an informer 
 with the defendant, for the purpose of 
 making a sham prosecution. In common 
 law, a seeming to undertake a thing 
 falsely or deceitfully, for the purpose of 
 defeating or destroying it. 
 
 PREVENTIVE SERVICE, an ap- 
 pellation for the duty performed by the 
 armed police officers engaged to watch 
 the coasts, for the purpose of preventing 
 smuggling aud other illegal acts. The 
 men thus employed are also sometimes 
 termed the coast blockade force. 
 
 PRIA'PUS, a divinity introduced into 
 Grecian mythology after the time of 
 Alexander. He was the god of fruitful- 
 ness, and by the Romans was looked on 
 particularly as the guardian of gardens, 
 in which indecent and rudely sculptured 
 wooden statues of him were usually set 
 up. 
 
 PRICE CUR'RENT, in commerce, a 
 published list or enumeration of the vari- 
 ous articles of merchandise, with their 
 prices, the duties (if any) payable there- 
 on when imported or exported, with the 
 drawbacks occasionally allowed upon 
 their exportation. 
 
 PRIEST, according to the modern ac- 
 ceptation of the word, is a person who is 

 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 493 
 
 set apart or consecrated to the ministry 
 of the Gospel. In its most general sense 
 the word includes all orders of the clergy 
 duly licensed according to the forms and 
 rules of each respective denomination of 
 Christians : but Protestants are accus- 
 tomed to apply the word more especially 
 to clergymen of the Roman Catholic per- 
 suasion. In primitive ages, the fathers 
 of families, princes, and kings were 
 priests. In the days of Moses the office 
 of priest was restricted to the tribe of 
 Levi, and the priesthood consisted of 
 three orders, the high-priest, the priests, 
 and the Levites ; and the office was made 
 hereditary in the family of Aaron. 
 Among pagans, priests were persons 
 whoso appropriate business was to offer 
 / sacrifices and perform other sacred rites 
 of religion. 
 
 PRI M ACY, the chief ecclesiastical sta- 
 tion or dignity. The archbishop of Can- 
 terbury is primate of all England. 
 
 PRIMITIVE COLORS, these are 
 said to be restricted to three namely, 
 red, yellow and blue, from the mixtures 
 and combinations of which all other col- 
 ors, tints, and gradations are produced 
 
 PRIMOQEN ITURE, in law, the right 
 of the first-born. This right is an unjust 
 prerogative, and contrary to the natural 
 right ; for since it is birth alone gives 
 children a title to the paternal succession, 
 the chance of primogeniture should not 
 throw any inequality among them. It 
 was not till the race of Hugh Capet, that 
 the prerogative of succession to the crown 
 was appropriated to the first-born. By 
 the ancient custom of gavel-kind, still 
 preserved in Kent, primogeniture is dis- 
 regarded, the paternal estate being 
 equally shared among the sons. 
 
 PRINCE, a general title for all sove- 
 reigns or persons exercising the functions 
 of government in an independent man- 
 ner, even though they are permitted so 
 to do by the will of another. 
 
 PRIN'CIPAL, in commerce, is the 
 capital of a sum due or lent, so called in 
 opposition to interest. It also denotes 
 the first fund put by partners into a com- 
 mon stock, by which it is distinguished 
 from the calls or accessions afterwards 
 required. In law, the absolute perpe- 
 trator of a crime is called a principal in 
 the first degree ; a principal in the 
 second degree, is one who is present, 
 aiding and abetting ; distinguished from 
 an accessary. In architecture, a main 
 timber in an assemblage of carpentry. 
 Thus, in a roof, the strong rafters used 
 for trussing the beams are called princi- 
 
 pal rafters. In the Fine Arts, the chief 
 circumstance in a work of art, to which 
 the rest are to be subordinate. 
 
 PRIN'CIPLE, in a general sense, the 
 origin, source, or primordial substance 
 of anything. In science, a truth ad- 
 mitted either without proof, or considered 
 as having been before proved. In ethics, 
 that which is believed, and serves as a 
 rule of action or the basis of a system ; 
 as the principles of morality ; the prin- 
 ciples of the Stoics, Ac. 
 
 PRINCIPLES, in the Fine Arts, those 
 general and fundamental truths from 
 which the rules and maxims of art are 
 deduced. To each art particular princi- 
 ples are attached on which its theory is 
 founded. These principles, before they 
 can be said to have stability, must be 
 found to depend on certain truths, which, 
 recognized by every one, and indisputa- 
 ble, oblige the mind to concur in the 
 deductions that result from them. Before 
 a law in any art is laid down, it is ne- 
 cessary to trace it to the principles from 
 which it springs, though there may be 
 causes which prevent those principles 
 being universally admitted ; such as 
 ignorance, prejudice, love of novelty, and 
 the like. 
 
 PR ['OR, the superior of a convent of 
 monks, or one next in dignity to an abbot. 
 
 PRISCIL'LIANISTS. in church histo- 
 ry, a Christian sect, so called from their 
 leader Priscillian, a Spaniard by birth, 
 and bishop of Avila. He is said to have 
 practised magic, and to have maintained 
 the principal errors of the Manichees ; 
 but his peculiar tenet was, that it is law- 
 ful to make false oaths in the support of 
 one's cause and interest. 
 
 PRIVATEER', a ship or vessel of war 
 owned and equipped by private persons 
 at their own expense, and who are per- 
 mitted by the government to seize or 
 plunder the vessels of an enemy in war. 
 The owners of privateers must give bond 
 not to break the stipulations of treaties 
 subsisting with their government, nml 
 not to misuse their captives. If a ship 
 bo fitted out and act as a privateer with- 
 out being licensed or commissioned by 
 government, it is a pirate. That the 
 severest, restrictions should be enforced 
 on privateering is manifestly for the in- 
 terest of individuals, to whatever bellig- 
 erent power they belong. TJfce wish to 
 amass plunder is the only principle by 
 which they are actuated ; and such being 
 the case, it would be idle to suppose that 
 they should be very scrupulous about 
 abstaining from excesses.
 
 494 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PRO 
 
 PRIVILEGE, in law, some peculiar 
 benefit granted to certain persons or 
 places, contrary to the usual course of the 
 law, or beyond the common advantages 
 of other citizens. Thus the nobles of 
 Great Britain have the privilege of being 
 tried by their peers only ; and members 
 of parliament have the privilege of ex- 
 emption from arrests in certain cases. 
 
 PllIV'ITY, in law, is a peculiar mu- 
 tual relation which subsists between indi- 
 viduals connected in various ways ; so that, 
 besides those who are actually parties to 
 a transaction, others connected with these 
 parties are said to be privy to the trans- 
 action, and are bound by its consequen- 
 ces. Several sorts of privity are enu- 
 merated by writers on law ; but those of 
 most ordinary occurrence are three : privi- 
 ty of blood, of estate, and of contract. 
 The former subsists between an ancestor 
 and his heir ; the second between lessor 
 and lessee, tenant for life and reversioner 
 created by the same instrument ; and 
 privity of contracts between those who are 
 parties to a contract, which species of 
 privity is personal only. 
 
 PRIV Y-COUN'CIL, in British polity, 
 an executive body, with whose assistance 
 the crown issues proclamations, which, if 
 not contrary to law, are binding on the 
 subject. Anciently, the privy council 
 was a high court of justice ; but in mod- 
 ern times it seldom or never interferes 
 with judicial matters, confining itself to 
 the executive branch of government. A 
 privy-council is summoned on a warning 
 of forty-four hours, and never held with- 
 out the presence of a secretary of state. 
 In debates, the lowest delivers his opin- 
 ion first ; the sovereign, if present, last ; 
 and though the privy-councillors thus 
 give their opinions, it is that of the sov- 
 ereign alone which is decisive. Prii'y- 
 seal, a seal affixed by the queen, or by the 
 lord keeper of the privy-seal, to instru- 
 ments that afterwards pass the great seal. 
 The word priry-seal, is also used ellipti- 
 cally for the person intrusted with the 
 privy-seal ; as, " the qeeen's sign-man- 
 ual is the warrant to the privy-seal, who 
 makes out a writ or warrant thereon to 
 the chancery." 
 
 PRIZE, anything captured by a bel- 
 ligerent using the right of war : in com- 
 mon language, only ships thus captured, 
 with the property taken in them, are so 
 called. Prizes taken in war are condemn- 
 ed by the proper judicature in the courts 
 of the captors; such condemnation is held 
 to divest the title of the proprietor and 
 confer a new ownership. In order to give 
 
 jurisdiction to a court of prize ; it is deemed 
 necessary, by the law of nations, that the 
 property captured, should be in posses- 
 sion of the captors in their own ports, 
 those of an ally, or of a neutral ; but no 
 belligerent power has a right to capture 
 in the ports of a neutral country, or 
 within a marine league of her shores ; nor 
 does a capture made then render the ad- 
 judication valid. Subject to capture are 
 hostile property, that is, the property 
 of persons domiciled in a hostile coun- 
 try, and neutral property, contraband of 
 war. 
 
 PRO and CON, i. e. prj and contra, for 
 and against, a phrase frequently occur- 
 ring in common parlance. 
 
 PROBABILITY, that state of a ques- 
 tion which falls short of moral certainty, 
 but inclines the mind to receive it as the 
 truth. Demonstration produces certain 
 knowledge ; proof produces belief, and 
 probability opinion. If the chance that 
 a thing may happen is less than the 
 chance that it may not happen, it is said 
 to be probable ; and the numbers which 
 express these variable chances, when as- 
 certained, constitute what is termed the 
 science of probabilities. As applied to 
 human life, founded on tables of mor- 
 tality, it serves as the foundation of 
 societies which, for certain annual pre- 
 miums, varied according to age, under- 
 take to pay certain sums to the heirs of 
 the party, whose life is thereby insured 
 for that sum. 
 
 PRO'BATE, in law, the proof of the 
 genuineness and validity of a will, or the 
 exhibition of the will to the proper officer, 
 and such other proceedings as the law pre- 
 scribes, as preliminary to the execution 
 of it by the executor. 
 
 PROB'LEM, in logic, a proposition 
 that appears neither absolutely true nor 
 false, and consequently may be asserted 
 either in the affirmative or negative. In 
 a general sense, a problem may be defin- 
 ed, any question involving doubt, or un- 
 certainty, and requiring some operation 
 or further evidence for its solution. 
 
 PRO'CESS. in law, the whole course of 
 proceedings in any cause, real or person- 
 al, civil or criminal, from the original 
 writ to the end of the suit. In a more 
 limited sense, process denotes that by 
 which a man is first called into any tem- 
 poral court. Original process is the 
 means taken to compel the defendant to 
 appear in court. Mesne process is that 
 which issues, pending the suit, upon some 
 collateral or interlocutory matter. Final 
 process is the process of execution.
 
 PRO] 
 
 PROCE'S VERBAL, in the language 
 of French jurisprudence, an authentic 
 written minute or report of an official act 
 or proceeding, or statement of facts. The 
 term is also used to signify minutes drawn 
 up by a secretary or other officer of the 
 proceedings of an assembly. 
 
 PRO'CHRONISM, an error in chronol- 
 ogy, when events are dated anterior to 
 the time at which they happened. 
 
 PROCLAMATION, a public notice or 
 declaration of anything in the name of 
 the supreme magistrate. Proclamation 
 is used for a solemn declaration of war 
 and peace, and in monarchies for the act 
 of notifying the accession of a prince to 
 the throne ; also for the public declaration 
 used at the calling of a court ; and for va- 
 rious other objects. 
 
 PRO CONFES'SO, in law, a term ap- 
 plied to a defendant in chancery who ap- 
 pears and is afterwards in contempt for 
 not answering ; wherefore the matter con- 
 tained in the bill shall be taken pro con- 
 fesso, that is, as though it had been con- 
 fessed. 
 
 PROCON'SUL, a Roman magistrate 
 sent to govern a province with consular 
 authority. The proconsuls were appoint- 
 ed from the body of the senate, and their 
 authority expired at the end of a year 
 from their appointment. Before the pro- 
 consul quitted Rome, he went up to the 
 Capitol, offered sacrifice, put on the robe 
 of war called paludamentum, and then 
 departed from the city in pomp, preced- 
 ed by lictors, with rods and axes, and at- 
 tended by his friends to some distance 
 from Rome. His equipage, consisting of 
 pavilions, horses, mules, clerks, secreta- 
 ries, &c. was called his viaticum, and pro- 
 vided at the public expense. 
 
 PROCRUS'TES, in mythology, a fa- 
 mous robber of ancient Greece, who tor- 
 tured his victims by placing them on an 
 iron bed, which their stature was made to 
 fit by stretching or mutilating them so as 
 to suit its dimensions; whence the well- 
 known metaphorical expression, the bed 
 of Procrustes. He was killed by Theseus 
 near Hermione. 
 
 PROC'TOR, a person employed to man- 
 age another's cause in a court of civil or 
 ecclesiastical law, as in the court of ad- 
 miralty, or in a spiritual court. Also 
 the magistrate or superintendent of a 
 university. 
 
 PROCURATION, in law, a composi- 
 tion paid by an incumbent to the bishop 
 or archdeacon, to commute for the en- 
 tertainment which was to have been given 
 him at his visitation. Also, tho instru- 
 
 AND THE FINE AKTS. 
 
 495 
 
 ment by which a person is empowered to 
 transact the affairs of another. 
 
 PROCURATO'RES, under the Roman 
 emperors, were officers sent into the prov- 
 inces to regulate the public revenue, re- 
 ceive it, and dispose of it as the emperor 
 directed. Such an officer was Pontius Pi- 
 late in Judea ; but as the Jews were look- 
 ed upon as a rebellious people, besides his 
 authority over the revenue, he was in- 
 vested with all the power of a pro-consul, 
 even a power of life and death. Pro- 
 curatores, in the Roman courts of judi- 
 cature, were properly such lawyers as as- 
 sisted tho plaintiff in proving, or the de- 
 fendant in clearing himself from the mat- 
 ter of fact alleged. They are often con- 
 founded with the adi>\i,ales. 
 
 PROD'IGY, in ordinary modern lan- 
 guage, signifies a surprising though natu- 
 ral event ; in contradistinction to miracle, 
 which is something out of the course of 
 nature. Among the Romans, however, 
 any extraordinary event or appearance 
 to which, from insufficient acquaintance 
 with natural history, they could not as- 
 sign a cause, was termed a prodigy, and 
 regarded as a supernatural event, indica- 
 tive of favorable or (more generally) of 
 unfavorable dispositions of their gods. 
 Hence the number of recorded prodigies, 
 many evidently false, some real but mis- 
 understood, which Livy has inserted in 
 his annals. 
 
 PRO'DUCE, in an enlarged sense, is 
 what any country yields from labor, and 
 national growth, which may serve either 
 for the use of the inhabitants, or be ex- 
 ported to foreign countries. In a more 
 limited sense, we speak of the produce of 
 a farm, of a mine, of a tax, &e. ; but 
 when we allude to a work either of na- 
 ture or art, we use the word production. 
 
 PRO'EM, preface ; introduction ; pre- 
 liminary observations to a book or writ- 
 ing. 
 
 PROFESSION, a word which, when 
 applied to a person's vocation or employ- 
 ment, designates an occupation not mere- 
 ly mechanical. We say, the learned 
 professions; the profession of a clergy- 
 man, a lawyer, a physician, a surgeon, a 
 lecturer, or a teacher. In like manner, 
 we use the word professional when speak- 
 ing of literary and scientific studies, pur- 
 suits, or duties. 
 
 PROFES'SOR, in its original sense, 
 signifies one who makes open declaration 
 of his sentiments or opinions, particular- 
 ly one who makes a public avowal of his 
 belief in the Christian doctrine and reve- 
 lation. In its more modern and common
 
 496 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 acceptation, a professor is one that pub- 
 licly teaches any science or branch of 
 learning ; as a professor of natural his- 
 tory, of mathematics, of theology, Ac. 
 In a university, some professors are de- 
 nominated from the arts they profess, 
 others from the founders of the professor- 
 ships, or those who assigned a revenue 
 for the support of the professors. 
 
 PRO'FILE, in general, the view of an 
 object from one of its chief sides, at which 
 more or less of the other side is hidden 
 from the eye. Profile, in sculpture and 
 painting, a head, portrait, <fcc., repre- 
 sented sideways, or in a side view. On 
 almost all medals, faces are represented 
 in profile. Profile, in architecture, de- 
 notes the outline of a figure, building, or 
 member, also the draught of a building, 
 representing it as if cut down perpen- 
 dicularly from the roof to the foundation. 
 
 PROF'IT, in political economy, means 
 the advantage or gain resulting to the 
 owner of capital from its employment 
 in industrious undertakings. It is the 
 premium, as it were, on accumulation. 
 Were there no profit there would be little 
 or no motive to save and amass ; and all 
 the vast advantages that society derives 
 from the formation and employment of 
 capital would be unknown. But without 
 taking into account the security and con- 
 sequence conferred on the possessors of 
 capital or wealth, and looking only at its 
 tangible results, profit consists of that 
 part of the produce raised by the agency 
 of capital employed in industrious under- 
 takings that remains in the hands of 
 those by whom it is employed after re- 
 placing the capital itself, or such portions 
 of it as may have been wasted in the busi- 
 ness, and every expense necessarily in- 
 curred in superintending its employment. 
 The rate of profit is the proportion which 
 the amount of profit derived from an un- 
 dertaking bears to the capital employed 
 in it. 
 
 PROF'IT AND LOSS, in commerce, 
 the gain or loss arising from goods bought 
 and sold ; the former of which, in book- 
 keeping, is placed on the creditor's side : 
 the latter on the debtor's side. Net profit 
 is the gain made by selling goods at a 
 price beyond what they cost the seller, 
 and beyond all costs and charges. 
 Among the many wise precepts which 
 appear in the pages of the " Rambler," 
 there are few more worthy to be borne 
 in mind than this : " Let no man antici- 
 pate uncertain profits." 
 
 PRO'GRAMME, a detailed account or 
 advertisement ofsoine public performance. 
 
 In a university, a billet or advertisement 
 to invite persons to an oration. In anti- 
 quity, an edict posted in some public 
 place. 
 
 PRO'HEDHI, certain Athenian officers 
 chosen to superintend the proceedings in 
 the two legislative assemblies ; so called 
 because they had the privilege of sitting 
 in the front seats. 
 
 PROHIBITION, in law, a writ to for- 
 bid any court from proceeding in a cause 
 then depending, on suggestion that the 
 cause of ii Joes not properly belong to 
 that court. 
 
 PROJEC'TURE, in architecture, the 
 jotting or leaning outwards of the mould- 
 ings and other members of architecture 
 beyond the face of a wall, column, &c. 
 
 PROLEGO'MENA, in literature, pre- 
 liminary or introductory observations or 
 dissertations prefixed to any work. The 
 famous dissertation prefixed by D'Alera- 
 bert to the Encyclopedic, and the disser- 
 tations prefixed by Dugald Stewart. 
 Playfair, Leslie, and Mackintosh to the 
 last edition of the Encyclopaedia Bri- 
 tannica, are among the best specimens of 
 prolegomena. 
 
 PROLEP'SIS. a figure in rhetoric, by 
 which the speaker anticipates or prevents 
 objections, b3' alluding to or answering 
 them himself. 
 
 PRO'LOGUE, in dramatic poetry, an 
 address to the audience previous to the 
 commencement of the play, delivered by 
 one of the performers. It may either be 
 in prose or verse, but is generally in the 
 latter; and it usually consists of apolo- 
 getic remarks on the merits of the piece 
 about to be represented. Sometimes it 
 relates to the situation in which the au- 
 thor or actors stand to the public, and 
 sometimes it contains allusions to subjects 
 incidental to neither. 
 
 PROLU'SION, in literature, a term 
 formerly applied to certain pieces or com- 
 positions made previously to others, by 
 way of prelude or exercise. 
 
 PROME'TIIEUS, according to the most 
 ordinary form of his legend in Greek my- 
 thology, one of the Titans, who was ex- 
 posed to the wrath of Jupiter on account 
 of his having taught mortals the arts, 
 and especially the use of fire ; which 
 he was said to have stolen from heaven, 
 concealed in a pipe. According to an- 
 other story, Prometheus was actually the 
 creator of men ; and in the Protagoras 
 of Plato he is made not to have created, 
 but to have inspired them with thought 
 and sense. His punishment was to be 
 chained to a rock on Caucasus, where a
 
 PRO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 497 
 
 vulture perpetually gnawed his liver ; 
 from which he was finally rescued by Her- 
 cules. This legend has formed the sub- 
 ject of the grandest of all the poetical 
 illustrations of Greek supernatural be- 
 lief, the Prometheus Bound of JSschy- 
 lus. Many have recognized in the indom- 
 itable resolution of this suffering Titan, 
 and his stern endurance of the evils in- 
 flicted on him by a power with which he 
 had vainly warred for supremacy, the 
 prototype of the arch-fiend of Milton. 
 Others have sought for a recondite anal- 
 ogy, and discovered in the tortures en- 
 dured by Prometheus as a sacrifice for 
 mankind, whom he had benefited, a fore- 
 shadowing of the great mystery of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 PROMISSORY NOTE, a writing or 
 note of hand, promising the payment of 
 a certain sum at a certain time, in con- 
 sideration of value received by the prom- 
 isor. 
 
 PROOF, in law and logic, that degree 
 of evidence which convinces the mind of 
 the certainty of truth or fact, and pro- 
 duces belief. Proof differs from dem- 
 onstration, being derived from person- 
 al knowledge or conclusive reasoning; 
 whereas the term demonstration is ap- 
 plicable only to those truths of which the 
 contrary is inconceivable. In printing, 
 .n impression on which the errors and 
 mistakes are marked for the purpose of 
 being corrected. Proofs are first proof, 
 which is the impression taken with all the 
 errors of workmanship. After it is read 
 by the copy, and' the errors corrected, 
 which if not many, and carefully done, 
 another impression is printed with more 
 care, to send to the author ; this is termed 
 a clean proof. On it he makes his cor- 
 rections and alterations : when those are 
 altered in the types, another proof is 
 printed, and read over carefully, previ- 
 ously to the whole number being printed 
 off; this is called the press proof. 
 
 PROPAGANDA, during the French 
 revolution, was a term applied to secret 
 societies whose object was the propaga- 
 tion of democratical principles ; and it has 
 since beuome to signify any kind of insti- 
 tution for making proselytes for political 
 objects. The name was originally given 
 to those institutions which were erected 
 by the papal court, for the extension of 
 its own power and the Catholic religion 
 among those who were not within its pale. 
 It was called the congregatio de propa- 
 ganda fide, (society for propagating the 
 faith,) and was founded by Gregory XV. 
 in 1622. 
 
 32 
 
 PROP'ERTY, a particular virtue ot 
 quality which nature has bestowed on 
 some things exclusive of all others : thus 
 color is a property of light ; extension, 
 figure, divisibility, and impenetrability, 
 are properties of bodies. <fec. Property, 
 in law, is defined to be the highest right 
 a person has, or can have, to anything. 
 At this day property in lands, <fcc., is ac- 
 quired either by entry, descent, law, or 
 conveyance ; and in goods and chattels 
 property may be gained various ways, 
 as by gift, inheritance, or purchase. The 
 labor of inventing, making, or producing 
 anything, constitutes one of the highest 
 and indefeasible titles to property. That 
 also is a person's property to which he 
 has a legal title, whether in his posses- 
 sion or not. Much has of late been said 
 respecting the right of an author to his 
 literary productions, as a species of abso- 
 lute property; and why the productions 
 of manual labor should rank higher in 
 the scale of rights than the productions 
 of the intellect or why the former should 
 be held without limitation, and the latter 
 be limited to a term of years will require 
 better arguments to substantiate than 
 have yet been advanced. 
 
 PRO'PHET, in general, one who fore- 
 tels future events ; but when we speak of 
 the prophets, we mean those inspired per- 
 sons among the Jews who were commis- 
 sioned by God to declare his will and pur- 
 poses to that people. Among the canon- 
 ical books of the Old Testament, we have 
 the writings of sixteen prophets, four of 
 which are denominated the " greater pro- 
 phets," viz. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
 and Daniel ; so called from the length or 
 extent of their writings, which exceed 
 those of the others, viz. Hosea, Joel, 
 Amos, Obadiah, Jonas, Micah, Nahum, 
 Habakkuk, Haggai, Zachariah, and Mal- 
 achi, who are called the lesser " pro- 
 phets." The deep sense and religious 
 fire of these men, so far before their age, 
 present a phenomenon that can be ex- 
 plained only by the special action of di- 
 vine influences. They appear, therefore, 
 as messengers of God, divinely inspired 
 seers ; and their preachings and songs 
 were preserved by the Hebrews as the 
 word of God, and among them were ren- 
 dered more impressive by their connec- 
 tion with poetry and music. Their con- 
 stant object was the preservation of the 
 doctrines of revelation in their purity : 
 and the richness, originality, and sub- 
 limity of their writings still awaken the 
 admiration of those who deny them the 
 character of prophecies. The prophecies
 
 498 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PRO 
 
 in general are supposed to have had a 
 double sense, and a double completion ; 
 one sense referred to, which had its ac- 
 complishment about the time when the 
 prophets wrote ; the other sense had a 
 relation to distant times and events, to 
 which it applies in a somewhat allegori- 
 cal manner. 
 
 PROPITIA'TION, in theology, an 
 atonement or sacrifice offered to God to as- 
 suage his wrath, and render him propi- 
 tious. Among the Jews there were both or- 
 dinary and public sacrifices, as holocausts, 
 Ac., offered by way of thanksgiving ; and 
 extraordinary ones, offered by particular 
 persons guilty of any crime, by way of 
 propitiation. It was also a feast among 
 the Jews, celebrated on the 10th of the 
 month Tisri, in commemoration of the 
 divine pardon proclaimed to their fore- 
 fathers through Moses, who, as God's 
 agent, remitted the punishment due to 
 the crime of their worshipping the golden 
 3alf. The lloraish church believe the 
 mass to be a sacrifice of propitiation for 
 the living and the dead. The reformed 
 churches allow of no propitiation but that 
 one offered by Jesus Christ on the cross. 
 
 PROPI'TIATORY, or MERCY-SEAT, 
 the cover or lid of the ark or covenant, 
 lined within and without with plates of 
 gold. This is said to have been a type of 
 Christ. 
 
 PROPOR'TIOX, in the Fine Arts, the 
 most proper relation of the measure of 
 parts to each other and to the whole. 
 The Greeks used the word to express this 
 idea. In many instances, proportion may 
 he considered almost synonymous with 
 fitness, though there is a distinction be- 
 tween them ; since every form suscepti- 
 ble of proportion may be considered either 
 with respect to its whole as connected 
 with the end designed, or with respect to 
 the relation of the several parts to the 
 end. In the first case, fitness is the thing 
 considered ; in the second, proportion. 
 Fitness, therefore, expresses the general 
 relation of means to an end, and propor- 
 tion the proper relation of parts to an 
 end. It is hence needless to dwell on the 
 intimate connection that exists between 
 beauty and proportion, in all complex 
 forms. 
 
 PROPOSITION, in logic, is defined 
 " a sentence indicative ;" i. e., a sentence 
 which affirms or denies. Thus, sentences 
 in the form of command or question are 
 excluded from the character of proposi- 
 tions Logical propositions are said to 
 be divided, first, according to substance, 
 into categorical and hypothetical ; second- 
 
 ly, according to quality, into affirmative 
 and negative; thirdly, according to quan- 
 tity, into universal and particular. 1. A 
 categorical proposition is where the sen- 
 tence affirms or denies absolutely, as 
 " man is mortal." A hypothetical propo- 
 sition is defined to be two or more cate- 
 goricals united by a conjunction, as "if 
 Caius is man, he is mortal." There are 
 several sorts of hypothetical propositions ; 
 conditional, disjunctive, casual, <5cc. 2. 
 An affirmative proposition is one whose 
 copula (or conjunction) is affirmative, as 
 "man is mortal;" a negative proposition 
 has a negative copula, as " man is not 
 immortal." 3. An universal proposition 
 is when the predicate is said of the whole 
 of the subject, as " all men are mortal," 
 " Caius is mortal ;" a particular when it 
 is said of part of the subject only, as 
 ' some men are rich." To these two 
 species may be added the indefinite prop- 
 osition, when the subject has no sign of 
 universality or particularity, or is a sin- 
 gular noun, which is either universal or 
 particular according to the matter. 
 
 PROPRE'FECT, among the Romans, 
 the prefect's lieutenant, or an officer 
 whom the prajtorium commissioned to do 
 any part of his duty. 
 
 PROPRyE'TOR, a Roman magistrate, 
 who, having discharged the office of 
 praetor at home, was sent into a province 
 to command there with his former preto- 
 rial authority. 
 
 PROPY'L^EUM, in ancient architec- 
 ture, the vestibule of a house. The 
 vestibules or porticoes of Athens, leading 
 to the Acropolis were thus denominated. 
 
 PRO RA'TA, in commerce, a term some- 
 times used by merchants for in propor- 
 tion ; as each person must reap the profit 
 or sustain the loss pro rata to his interest, 
 that is, in proportion to his stock. 
 
 PRO RE NA'TA, according to exigen- 
 cies or circumstances. 
 
 PROROGATION, a term used at the 
 conclusion of a session of parliament, de- 
 noting its continuance from one session to 
 another ; as an adjournment is a con- 
 tinuation of the session from day to day. 
 
 PROSCE'NIUM, in the Grecian and 
 Roman theatres, was the stage or place 
 before the scene, where the pulpitum 
 stood, into which the actors came from 
 behind the scenes to perform. 
 
 PROSCRIPTION, a punishment in use 
 among the Romans, which had some anal- 
 ogy to our outlawry. The names of the 
 proscripti. or persons suffering under 
 proscription, were posted up in tablets at 
 the forum, to the end that they might be
 
 PRO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 499 
 
 brought to justice, a reward being pro- 
 posed to those who took them, and a pun- 
 ishment to those who concealed them. 
 Under the triumvirate many of the best 
 Roman citizens fell by proscription. 
 
 PROSE, in literature, all language not 
 in verse. Prose diction, to be good, or 
 even admissible, in ordinary criticism, 
 must be conformable to the rules of com- 
 position as to style, cadence, &c. 
 
 PROSECU'TION, in law, the institu- 
 tion and carrying on a suit in a court of" 
 law or equity ; or the process of exhibit- 
 ing formal charges against an offender 
 before a legal tribunal, and pursuing 
 them to final judgment. The person who 
 institutes and carries on a criminal suit is 
 called the prosecutor. 
 
 PROS'ELYTE, a new convert to some 
 religion, system or party. Thus a pagan 
 converted to Christianity is a proselyte ; 
 and, although the word primarily refers 
 to converts to some religious creed, we 
 speak familiarly of proselytes to the theo- 
 ries of Lavoisier, Black, &c. 
 
 PRO'SERPINE, the Latin form of 
 Persephone, the name of a Grecian god- 
 dess, sprung from Jupiter and Ceres. 
 She was stolen from her mother by Pluto, 
 who, enamored of her beauty, carried her 
 off from the plains of Enna in Sicily, while 
 sporting with her companions, to the in- 
 fernal regions, where she became his 
 queen. The wanderings of Ceres in search 
 of her daughter were much celebrated by 
 the ancient poets. When she at last dis- 
 covered the place of her concealment, a 
 compromise was entered into, by which 
 Proserpine was allowed to spend two 
 thirds of the year with her parents and 
 the rest with Pluto in his empire. 
 
 PROS'ODY, the science which treats 
 of quantity, accent, and the laws of har- 
 mony, both in metrical and prose com- 
 position. In the Greek and Latin lan- 
 guages every syllable had its determinate 
 value or quantity, and verses were con- 
 structed by systems of recurring feet, 
 each foot containing a definite number of 
 syllables possessing a certain quantity 
 and arrangement. The versification of 
 modern European languages, in general, 
 is constructed simply by accent and num 
 ber of syllables. They have, therefore, 
 no prosody strictly so called. The Ger- 
 mans, however, have labored to subject 
 their language to the ancient metrical 
 system, but with indifferent success. 
 
 PROSONOMA'SIA, a figure in rheto- 
 ric, wherein allusion is made to the like- 
 ness of a sound in several names or words : 
 a kind of pun. 
 
 PROSOPOG'RAPHY, in rhetoric, a 
 word used by some critical writers to sig- 
 nify the description of animated objects. 
 Of this figure the portraits of the horse 
 and the leviathan in the book of Job are 
 well-known and beautiful examples. 
 
 PROSOPOLEP'SY, a premature opin- 
 ion or prejudice against a person, formed 
 by a view of his external appearance. 
 
 PROSOPOPE'IA, a figure in rhetoric 
 by which things are represented as per- 
 sons, or by which things inanimate are 
 spoken of as animated beings, or by which 
 an absent person is introduced as speak- 
 ing, or a deceased person is represented 
 as alive and present. It includes per- 
 sonification, but is more extensive in its 
 signification. 
 
 PROSPEC'TUS, the outline or plan of 
 a literary work, containirg the general 
 subject or design, with the necessary par- 
 ticulars as to the mode of publication. 
 The word prospectus has recently been 
 adopted in announcing many undertak- 
 ings and schemes which are not purely 
 literary. 
 
 PRO'STYLE, in architecture, a range 
 of columns in the front of a temple. 
 
 PRO'TASIS, in grammar and rhetoric, 
 every properly constructed period is said 
 to be naturally divisible into two parts ; 
 of which the first is termed protasis, the 
 second apodosis. In the ancient drama, 
 the protasis was the exposition, usually 
 contained in the first part of the piece, 
 either by way of soliloquy or dialogue, 
 serving to make known the characters 
 and the plot to the audience. 
 
 PRO'TEST, a formal and solemn dec- 
 laration of opinion, given in writing, com- 
 monly against some act ) as, the formal 
 and recorded dissent of a minority against 
 the majority of any public body. Pro- 
 test, in commerce, a formal declaration 
 made by a notary-public, at the request 
 of the holder of a bill of exchange, for 
 non-acceptance or non-payment of the 
 same, protesting against the drawer and 
 others concerned, for the exchange, char- 
 ges, damages, and interest. This protest 
 is written on a copy of the bill, and no- 
 tice given to the indorser of the same, 
 by which he becomes liable to pay the 
 amount with charges and interest : also, 
 a similar declaration against the drawer 
 of a note of hand for non-payment to a 
 banking firm, <fcc. There is also another 
 kind of protest, viz. a writing attested by 
 a justice of the peace or consul, drawn 
 by the master of a vessel, stating the se- 
 verity of the voyage by which the ship 
 has suffered, and snowing that the dam-
 
 500 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PRO 
 
 age was not occasioned by his misconduct 
 or neglect. 
 
 PROT'ESTANT, in church history, a 
 name first given in Germany to those 
 who adhered to the doctrine of Luther : 
 because, in 1529, they protested against 
 a decree of the emperor Charles V. and 
 the diet of Spires, declaring that they 
 appealed to a general council. This 
 name was afterwards extended to the 
 Calvinists, and is now become common to 
 all who belong to the reformed churches. 
 
 PROTESTATION, in law, a declara- 
 tion in pleading, by which the party in- 
 terposes an oblique allegation or denial 
 of some fact, protesting that it does or 
 does not exist. 
 
 PROTOCOL, in the French language, 
 signifies the formulae or technical words 
 of legal instruments ; in Germany, it 
 has been used to denote the minutes or 
 rough draught of an instrument or a 
 transaction. It is in the latter sense that 
 the word has been borrowed by diplo- 
 macy, in which it signifies the original 
 copy of any dispatch, treaty, or other 
 document. 
 
 PRO'TO MARTYR, a term applied to 
 Stephen, the first Christian martyr; and 
 used also for the first sufferer in any 
 cause, religious or political. 
 
 PRO'TOPOPE, the imperial confessor, 
 an officer of the holy directing synod, 
 the supreme spiritual court of the Greek 
 church in Russia. 
 
 PROTOTYPE, an original or model 
 after which anything is formed. 
 
 PROVERB, a familiar saying, which 
 has been variously defined. In point of 
 form, there are two species of proverbs ; 
 one containing a maxim directly express- 
 ed in a concise and familiar style ; the 
 other, in which a maxim is expressed 
 metaphorically, e.g. " honesty is the best 
 policy," or, rather, allegorically, e. g. 
 " strike, while the iron is hot." In point 
 of substance, proverbs are for the most 
 part rules of moral, or, still more prop- 
 erly, of prudential conduct. In dra- 
 matic literature, chiefly French, the 
 term has been applied to short pieces, 
 in which some proverb or popular say- 
 ing is taken as the foundation of the 
 plot. They originated in the fondness 
 of the higher class of France for private 
 theatricals, which became a sort of pas- 
 sion about the middle of the last century. 
 Carmantelli was the most successful wri- 
 ter of proverbs at the time of their high- 
 est popularity. Those of M. Theodore 
 Leclercq, at the present time, have met 
 with considerable success. Proverbs, the, 
 
 of Solomon, one of the canonical books 
 of the Old Testament. According to the 
 arrangement in its present shape, the 
 first nine books form a species of intro- 
 duction ; those from the tenth to the 
 twenty-fourth contain the proverbs of 
 Solomon, properly so called ; and the re- 
 mainder furnishes a kind of appendix ; 
 including the thirtieth and thirty-first, 
 which contain the proverbs of Agur, the 
 .son of Jakeh, and of king Lemuel. 
 
 PROVIDENCE, in theology, the care 
 and superintendence which God exercises 
 over his creatures. A belief in divine 
 providence is founded on this rational 
 principle, that the same power which 
 caused a thing to exist is necessary to 
 continue its existence. 
 
 PROVINCE, among the Romans, a 
 country of considerable extent, which, be- 
 ing reduced under their dominion, was 
 new modelled according to the pleasure 
 of the conquerors, subjected to the com- 
 mand of annual governors sent from 
 Rome, and obliged to pay such taxes and 
 contributions as the senate thought fit to 
 demand. These provinces had the appel- 
 lations of consular or praetorian, accord- 
 ing as they were governed by consuls or 
 prtetors. Among the moderns, a country 
 belonging to a kingdom or state, either 
 by conquest or colonization, usually situ- 
 ated at a distance from the kingdom or 
 btate, but more or less dependent on and 
 subject to it. 
 
 PROVIN'CIALISM, a mode of speech 
 peculiar to a province or district of coun- 
 try remote from the principal country or 
 from the metropolis. 
 
 PROVISION AL, provided for present 
 need or for a temporary occasion ; as, a 
 provisional government, a provisional 
 treaty, Ac. 
 
 PROVI'SO, in law, an article or clause 
 in any statute, agreement, contract, &c., 
 by which a conditional stipulation is in- 
 troduced. 
 
 PROVI'SOR, the title in the ancient 
 French universities, of an officer charged 
 with the management of their external 
 affairs, both spiritual and temporal, and 
 to a certain extent with their discipline 
 also. The provisor of the Sorbonne was 
 an officer of high importance among the 
 clergy. The principals of Napoleon's 
 Lyceum had the title of provisors, and 
 the modern royal colleges retain it for 
 the same functionary. 
 
 PROVOST, in a general sense, a per- 
 son who is appointed to preside over or 
 superintend ; as, the prorost of a college. 
 The provost-marslial of an army, is an
 
 PSY] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 501 
 
 officer appointed to arrest and secure 
 deserters and other criminals, to hinder 
 the soldiers from pillaging, to regulate 
 weights and measures. &c. There is a 
 similar officer in the English navy, who 
 has the charge of the prisoners taken at 
 sea. 
 
 PROXI'MATE CAUSE, that which 
 immediately precedes and produces the 
 effect, as distinguished from the remote or 
 predisposing cause. 
 
 PROX'Y, the agency of another who 
 acts as a substitute for his principal. In 
 England, any member of the house of 
 lords may cause another peer to vote for 
 him as his proxy in his absence. 
 
 PRYTANE'UM, in Grecian antiquity, 
 the senate-house in Athens, where the 
 council of the prytanes assembled, and 
 where those who had rendered any signal 
 service to the commonwealth were main- 
 tained at the public expense. Pryta- 
 neum was also a name given to all places 
 sacred to Vesta. Hence those widows 
 called prytanides, who took care of the 
 sacred fire, received their name. 
 
 PSALM, a divine song or hymn ; but 
 chiefly appropriated to the hundred and 
 fifty Psalms of David, a canonical book 
 of the Old Testament. Most of these 
 psalms have a particular title, signifying 
 either the name of the author, the person 
 who was to set it to music or sing it, the 
 instrument that was to be used, or the 
 subject and occasion of it. Some have 
 imagined that David was the sole author 
 of the Book of Psalms ; but the titles of 
 many of them prove the contrary. Some 
 of the psalms were apparently written by 
 Solomon ; a few belong to the reigns of 
 the kings immediately succeeding him ; 
 and several to the mournful days of the 
 Babylonish captivity and of the return, 
 especially those headed " for the sons of 
 Korah," most of which are probably by 
 the same author. Finally, a few seem to 
 belong to the age of the Maccabees. The 
 " Psalms of David," whether actually 
 composed by him, or merely of his time, 
 probably constituted an earlier collection, 
 which extended to the seventy-second. 
 But, by whomsoever penned, they are 
 among the highest and subliinest efforts 
 of poetry ; and the holy light of revela- 
 tion, the inspiring belief in the eternal 
 true God, spreads over them a bright 
 splendor, and fills them with a deep and 
 holy fervor. 
 
 PSAL'TERY, a musical instrument 
 used by the Hebrews, the true form of 
 which is not now known. That which is 
 now used is a flat triangular instrument, 
 
 truncated at the top, and strung with 
 thirteen chords of wire. 
 
 PSEUDEPIG'RAPIIY, the ascription 
 of false names of authors to works. This 
 was carried to a great extent among the 
 Christians of the fourth and following 
 centuries. 
 
 PSEU'DO, a prefix (from the Greek) 
 used in the composition of many words 
 to denote false, or spurious; as, Apaeiido- 
 apostle, or false apostle; & pseudo-proph- 
 et, or false prophet, Ac. 
 
 PSY'CHE, in mythology, the daughter 
 of Sol and Constancy. She was so loved 
 as to be taken for Venus herself. This 
 goddess becoming jealous of her rival 
 charms, ordered Cupid to inspire her 
 with love for some contemptible wretch. 
 But Cupid fell in love with her himself. 
 Many were the trials Psyche underwent, 
 arising partly from her own indiscretion, 
 and partly from the hatred of Venus, 
 with whom, however, a i ^conciliation 
 was ultimately effected. Psyche, by Ju- 
 piter's command, became immortal, and 
 was forever united with her beloved. 
 
 PSYCHOL'OGY, in its larger accepta- 
 tion, may be taken as synonymous with 
 mental philosophy. The word is more 
 frequently used in reference to the lower 
 faculties of the mind, and the classifica- 
 tion of the phenomena which they present. 
 All psychology is built on experience, 
 either immediate, or revived by the mem- 
 ory and imagination. But, in reflect- 
 ing on our intellectual faculties, we dis- 
 cover in them certain laws, which, as 
 soon as they are presented to us, we at 
 once recognize as universal and necessary; 
 certain conditions without the fulfilment 
 of which we are sensible that no act of in- 
 tellection could have taken place. This 
 universality is something very different 
 from the empirical truth, as a matter of 
 fact, which we attribute to the laws of 
 association, which are, indeed, universal, 
 but which might, for aught we can see, 
 have been different from what they are. 
 Corresponding to this distinction, German 
 writers have discriminated between a 
 higher, or rational, and a lower, or em- 
 pirical psychology ; the first, that of 
 Kant, who sought, in all our mental fac- 
 ulties, to determine that only which is 
 necessary and immutable ; the second, that 
 of Hartley, who treats all our intellec- 
 tual acts as alike objects of mere history, 
 dependent for their validity only on the 
 fact that they do really recur in such and 
 such order. The psychology of Aristotle 
 was of the latter description. He, conse- 
 quently, regard^ the science as forming
 
 602 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [PUN 
 
 one of the physical sciences, or those 
 which are conversant with the contingent 
 and changeable. Many pregnant psy- 
 chological truths are discoverable in that 
 philosopher's work on the soul ; in partic- 
 ular, the doctrine of association, the mas- 
 ter-light of all sound experimental psy- 
 chology, owes its first enunciation to him. 
 Among later writers who have made 
 valuable contributions to the science may 
 be enumerated Hobbes, Locke, Hartley, 
 and Sir Thomas Brown. The value of 
 these authors' writings in this peculiar 
 province cannot be too highly apprecia- 
 ted. It is only when psychology intrudes 
 upon the domain, or usurps the attributes 
 of the higher philosophy, that its claims 
 need to be resisted. As a preparation 
 for metaphysical and theological thought, 
 and, indeed, as an indispensable requisite 
 for the science of man, whether history, 
 politics, or ethics, it is not easy to exag- 
 gerate its importance. 
 
 PUB'LICAN, among the Romans, a 
 farmer of the taxes and public revenues, 
 the inferior officers of which class were 
 deemed oppressive ; they were conse- 
 quently regarded by the Jews and other ' 
 tributary nations with no small degree : 
 of detestation. Under the modern term 
 of publicans are comprised inn-keepers, 
 hotel-keepers, alehouse-keepers, keepers 
 of wine vaults, <fcc. 
 
 PUB'LICIST, a writer on the laws 
 of nations. 
 
 PUCK, in mediaeval mythology, the 
 " merry wanderer of the night," whose 
 character and attributes are so beauti- 
 fully depicted in the Midsummer Night's 
 Dream. This celebrated fairy is known 
 by a variety of names ; as Robin Good- 
 fellow and Friar Rush in England; and 
 in Germany, as Knecht Ruprecht; but 
 it is by his designation of Puck, that he 
 is most generally known both in Eng- 
 land, Germany, and the more northern 
 nations. He was the chief of the do- 
 mestic tribe of fairies, or brownies, as 
 they are called in Scotland ; and innu- 
 merable stories are told of his nocturnal 
 exploits, among which, drawing the wine, 
 and cleaning the kitchen while the 
 family were asleep, are the most promi- 
 nent. The word is probably derived 
 from the old Scandinavian puki, a boy ; 
 it is also synonymous with pug, or j 
 monkey, whose form this fairy is said to I 
 have most frequently assumed. 
 
 PUL'PIT, an elevated place or inclosed 
 stage in a church, in which the preacher J 
 stands. It is called also a desK. Pulpits 1 
 in modern churches ai^of wood, but in 
 
 ancient times some were made of stone, 
 others of marble, and richly carved. 
 
 PUN, a species of wit which has been 
 gravely pronounced "low;" but surely 
 it is both fastidious and cynical thus to 
 define it. A pun is an expression in 
 which two different applications of a word 
 present an odd or ludicrous idea ; but it 
 does not necessarily follow that the ideas 
 to which it gives rise shall be low, that 
 is, vulgar. That they often are so, we 
 admit ; but he must be of an incorrigibly 
 saturnine disposition who would declare 
 that all the mirth-inspiring puns which 
 the inimitable Hood draws from his ex- 
 haustless quiver are to be accounted low. 
 An inveterate punster, who is constantly 
 on the watch for opportunities to torture 
 every expression into a quibble, is not to 
 be tolerated in decent society ; but it 
 would be hard indeed if the laws of de- 
 corum were so strict, as to debar us from 
 cheering the dull realities of life with an 
 occasional scintillation of wit, even at 
 the hazard of perpetrating a bad pun. 
 
 PUNCTUA'TION, in grammar, the 
 discriminating use of certain marks 
 adopted to distinguish the clauses of a 
 period, sometimes with reference to the 
 sense, and at others to the grammatical 
 construction. Thus, a full point ( . ) 
 closes a perfect sentence ; a colon ( : ) 
 indicates an adjunct; a semicolon (;) 
 distinguishes its principal part ; and a 
 comma ( , ) parts subordinate to the 
 semicolon. A sentence, which may in- 
 clude several periods, terminates a 
 branch of the subject or argument. A 
 question is indicated by (?); an ex- 
 clamation by ( ! ) ; and it is sometimes 
 convenient to include a collateral circum- 
 stance in a parenthesis ( ). The an- 
 cients were altogether unacquainted with 
 punctuation. 
 
 PU'NIC, pertaining to the Carthagin- 
 ians or their language. Also, a term 
 implying treacherous, deceitful ; &spunic 
 faith. 
 
 PUN'ISHMENT, the infliction of pain, 
 or personal suffering according to law, 
 for crimes ; intended as an example, to 
 deter others and to correct the offen- 
 der. The punishment of crimes against 
 the laws is inflicted by the supreme power 
 of the state in virtue of the right of gov- 
 ernment vested in the legislature, and 
 belongs only to persons clothed with au- 
 thority. Some punishments consist of ex- 
 ile or transportation, others in loss of lib- 
 erty by imprisonment. Locke observes, 
 " The rewards and punishments of an- 
 ther life, which the Almightly has estab-
 
 PYC 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 503 
 
 lished as the enforcements of his law, are 
 of weight enough to determine the choice 
 against whatever pleasure or pain this 
 life can show." 
 
 PURGATION, the act or operation of 
 clearing one's self of a crime ; a mode of 
 trying persons accused of any crime, 
 which was formerly in practice. 
 
 PUR'GATORY, a place appointed for 
 the satisfaction of temporal punishments, 
 which, according to the Roman Catholic 
 church, are distinguished from the eter- 
 nal, of which the latter only are remitted 
 to us by the death of Christ. There is 
 none, perhaps, of the peculiar articles of 
 the Romish faith in favor of which so 
 little can be advanced from the language 
 of Scripture ; and it may be safely averred 
 that it was not from that source that the 
 opinion ever gained possession of men's 
 minds. It seems to be a natural but too 
 strict an inference from the imperfecny 
 disclosed economy of the divine judg- 
 ments, which we find to admit of every 
 degree of severity in this life, and are 
 liable to conclude from analogy must bo 
 subject to some equivalent adjustment in 
 the next. Accordingly, we discover some 
 imperfect recognitions of the idea in in- 
 dividual writers several centuries before 
 it can be proved that it formed an estab- 
 lished article of faith. Augustin is con- 
 sidered the earliest of these ; and he speaks 
 vaguely and inconsistently. It was first 
 inculcated as a doctrine by Gregory the 
 Great, who seems to have connected it 
 with the then popular belief that the 
 world was closely approaching to its end. 
 
 PURIFICATION, in religion, the act 
 or operation of cleansing ceremonially, 
 by removing any pollution or defilement. 
 Purification by washing was common to 
 the Hebrews and to Pagans ; and the Mo- 
 hammedans always use it previous to de- 
 votion. 
 
 PU'RIM. among the Jews, the feasts 
 of lots, instituted to commemorate their 
 deliverance from the machinations of 
 Hainan. 
 
 PU'RIST. a name sometimes applied 
 to rigorous critics of purity in literary 
 style. 
 
 PU'RITAN, the name by which the 
 dissenters from the church of England 
 were generally known in the reign of 
 Elizabeth, and the first two Stuarts. The 
 name Puritan was given (probably in 
 derision) to them on account of th6 supe- 
 rior purity of doctrine or discipline which 
 the more rigid reformers claimed as their 
 own ; maintaining that they followed the 
 word of God alone in opposition to all 
 
 human inventions and superstitions, of 
 which they believed the English church 
 to retain a considerable share, notwith- 
 standing its alleged reformation. Hume 
 gives this name to three parties' : the po- 
 litical puritans, who maintained the high- 
 est principles of civil liberty ; the puri- 
 tans in discipline, who were averse to 
 the ceremonies and government of the 
 episcopal church ; and the doctrinal puri- 
 tans, who rigidly defended the specula- 
 tive system of the first reformers. 
 
 PUR'LIN, in architecture, a piece of 
 timber extending from end to end of a 
 building or roof, across and under the 
 rafters, to support them in the middle. 
 
 PUR'SER, in the navy, an officer on 
 board a man-of-war, who takes charge of 
 the provisions, and attends to their pres- 
 ervati&n and distribution among the offi- 
 cers and crew. 
 
 PUR'SUIVANT, in heraldry, the low- 
 est order of officers at arms. The pur- 
 suivants are properly attendants on the 
 heralds when they marshal public cere- 
 monies. 
 
 PU'SEYISM, in the church of England, 
 the name given to certain new doctrines 
 promulgated of late years by Dr. Pusey, 
 in conjunction with other divines of Ox- 
 ford, in a series of pamphlets, entitled 
 "Tracts for the Times" These doctrines 
 have manifestly a strong tendency to- 
 wards Romanism, and accordingly many 
 of their advocates have already gone over 
 to the church of Rome ; they relate chiefly 
 to the exclusive claim of episcopacy to 
 the apostolical succession ; the denial of 
 the validity of ordination or of the ad- 
 ministration of the sacraments by all who 
 cannot prove their claim to unbroken 
 apostolical descent in the episcopal line ; 
 the alleged virtue of such ordination in 
 conferring efficacy on the sacraments in 
 the simple opus operatum, or rite ad- 
 ministered; the exclusive authority of 
 the ehurch, as based on tradition ; the 
 introduction into the church of England 
 of many of the observances of Romanism ; 
 the doctrine of Reserve, (see Tract, No. 90,) 
 and such kindred matters, believed by 
 protestants to be contrary to Scripture, 
 and identical with the doctrines of the 
 church of Rome; leading to the same in- 
 terference between the human conscience 
 and the direct authority of the word of 
 God. 
 
 PYC NOSTYLE, in ancient architec- 
 ture, a building where the columns stand 
 very close to each other ; only one diame- 
 ter and a half of the column being al- 
 lowed to each intercolumniation.
 
 504 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [QUA 
 
 PYR'AMID, a solid body standing on 
 a triangular square, or polygonal base, 
 and terminating in a vertex or point at 
 the top. Or, in other words, it is formed 
 by the meeting of three or more planes 
 at a point termed the apex. The Pyra- 
 mids of Egypt are noble monuments of 
 Egyptian grandeur, about forty in num- 
 ber, near Memphis. The largest is 481 
 feet in height, measured perpendicularly, 
 and the area of its base includes eleven 
 acres. The object of this kind of monu- 
 ment was, undoubtedly, eitherto perpetu- 
 ate the recollection of some memorable 
 event, or to stand as a testimony of the 
 glory and splendor of deceased monarchs. 
 That it was principally sepulchral has 
 been rendered tolerably evident. Among 
 other reasons, because it was held, from 
 its shape, symbolical of immortality. 
 
 PYR'OMANCY, among the classical 
 ancients, a species of divination by means 
 of the fire of the sacrifice ; in which, if the 
 flames immediately took hold of and con- 
 sumed the victims, or if they were bright 
 and pure, or if the sparks rose upward in 
 a pyramidal form, success was said to be 
 indicated. If the contrary took place, 
 misfortunes were said to be presaged. 
 
 PYR'RHIC DANCE, called by the Ro- 
 mans Pyrrhica Saltatio, a species of war- 
 like dance, said to have been invented 
 by Pyrrhus to grace the funeral of his 
 father Achilles, though this point is in- 
 volved in obscurity. This dance consist- 
 ed chiefly in such an adroit and nimble 
 turning of the body as represented an 
 attempt to avoid the strokes of an enemy 
 in battle, and the motions necessary to 
 perform it were looked upon as a kind of 
 training for the field of battle. This dance 
 is supposed to be described by Homer as 
 engraved on the shield of Achilles. Lord 
 Byron describes the Suliotes as still per- 
 forming this dance. 
 
 PYRR'HONISTS, a sect of ancient 
 philosophers, so called from Pyrrho, a 
 native of Eli., in Peloponnesus. The 
 opinions of these philosophers, who were 
 also called skeptics, terminated in the 
 incomprehensibility of all things, in which 
 they found reason both for affirming and 
 denying ; they accordingly seemed to be 
 always in search of truth, without ever 
 acknowledging that they had found it : 
 hence the art of disputing upon all things, 
 without ever going further than suspend- 
 ing our judgments, is called pyrrhonism. 
 
 PYTHAGO REANS, a sect of ancient 
 philosophers, so called from being the 
 followers of Pythagoras of Sainos, who 
 lived in the reign of Tarquin, the last 
 
 king of Rome. The doctrine of metemp- 
 sychosis, or the transmigration of souls 
 through different orders of animal cxi.-t- 
 ence, is the main feature by which the 
 Pythagorean philosophy is popularly 
 known. It is, however, by no means 
 certain that the genuine Pythagoreans 
 held this doctrine in a literal sense. It 
 may have been only a mythical way of 
 communicating their belief in the indi- 
 viduality and post mortem duration of 
 the soul. 
 
 PYTH'IA, or PYTH'ONESS, in an- 
 tiquity, the priestess of Apollo, who de- 
 livered oracular answers at Delphi, in 
 
 PYTH'IAN GAMES, one of the four 
 great national festivals of Greece, cele- 
 brated every fifth year in honor of Apol- 
 lo, near Delphi. Their institution is 
 variously referred to Amphictyon, son of 
 Dwicalion, founder of the council of Am- 
 phictyons, and Diomed, son of Tydeus ; 
 but the most common legend is, that they 
 were founded by Apollo himself, after he 
 had overcome the dragon Python. The 
 contests were the same as those atOlym- 
 pia, and the victors were rewarded with 
 apples and garlands of laurel. 
 
 Q, the seventeenth letter of the Eng- 
 lish alphabet, is not to be found either in 
 the Greek, old Latin, or Saxon alphabets ; 
 is never sounded alone, but in conjunction 
 with u, and never ends any English word. 
 For qu in English, the Dutch use kw, the 
 Germans qu, and the Swedes and the 
 Danes qv. It appears, in short, that q is 
 precisely k, with this difference in use, 
 that q is always followed by u in English, 
 and k is not. As a numeral Q stands for 
 500, and with a dash over, it stands for 
 500,000. Q is used as an abbreviation 
 for question ; it also stands for quantity, 
 or quantum, as q. pi. quantum placit, as 
 much as you please ; and q. s. quantum 
 sufficit, i. e. as much as is necessary. 
 Among mathematicians, Q. E. D. stands 
 for quod erat demonstrandum, that is, 
 which was to be demonstrated ; and Q. E. 
 F. quod erat faciendum, which was to be 
 done. 
 
 QUACK'ERY, the boastful pretensions 
 of an empiric or ignorant quack. 
 
 QUADRAGES'IMA, lent; so called 
 because it consists of forty days. 
 
 QUAD'RANGLE, in architecture, any
 
 QUA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 505 
 
 range of houses or buildings with four 
 sides in the form of a square. 
 
 QUADRI'GA, in antiquity, a car or 
 chariot drawn by four horses. On the re- 
 verses of medals, we frequently see the 
 emperor or Victory in a quadriga, hold- 
 ing the reins of the horses.; whence these 
 coins are, among numismatologists, called 
 nummi quadrigati and victoriati. 
 
 QUADRIREME', a species of the 
 naves lonce used by the Romans and also 
 by the Greeks, being a galley with four 
 benches or banks of rowers. 
 
 QUAD'ROON, the name given in South 
 America to the offspring of a mulatto 
 woman by a white man. 
 
 QU^E'RE, a term expressive of doubt, 
 and calling for further information. 
 
 QUJ33'TIO, in logic, the third proposi- 
 tion in a syllogism, which contains the 
 question to be proved. 
 
 QUJiS'TOR, an officer among the Ro- 
 mans who had the management of the 
 public revenue or treasury. The qucBstor- 
 s/iip was the first office any person could 
 fill in the commonwealth. 
 
 QUA'KERS, or FRIENDS, a religious 
 sect which made its first appearance in 
 England during the protectorate of Crom- 
 well. Their founder was George Fox, a 
 native of Drayton, in Leicestershire. He 
 proposed but few articles of faith, insist- 
 ing chiefly ou moral virtue, mutual char- 
 ity, the love of God, and a deep atten- 
 tion to the inward motions and secret ope- 
 rations of the spirit. He required a plain 
 simple worship, and a religion without 
 ceremonies, making it a principal point 
 to wait in profound silence the directions 
 of the Holy Spirit. Although at first the 
 Quakers were guilty of some extravagan- 
 cies, these wore off, and they settled into 
 a regular body, professing a great aus- 
 terity of behavior, a singular probity 
 and uprightness in their dealings, a great 
 frugality at their tables, and a remark- 
 able plainness and simplicity in their 
 dress. Their system, or tenets, are laid 
 down by Robert Barclay (one of their 
 members,) in a sensible, well-written 
 " apology," addressed to Charles II. 
 Their principal doctrines are, that God 
 has given to all men, without exception, 
 supernatural light, which being obeyed 
 can save them ; and that this light is 
 Christ, the true light, which lighteth 
 every man th-.it cometh into the world : 
 that the Scriptures were indeed given by 
 inspiration, and are preferable to all the 
 other writings in the world ; but that they 
 are no more than secondary rules of faith 
 and practice, in subordination to the light 
 
 or spirit of God, which is the primary 
 rule : that immediate revelation has not 
 ceased, a measure of the spirit being 
 given to every one : that all supersti- 
 tions and ceremonies in religion, of mere 
 human institution, ought to be laid 
 aside : that in civil society, the saluting 
 one another by pulling off the hat, bend- 
 ing the body, or other humiliating pos- 
 ture, should be abolished; and that the 
 use of the singular pronoun thou when 
 addressing one person, instead of the cus- 
 tomary you, should be strictly adhered 
 to. They farther laid it down as a solemn 
 obligation, not to take an oath, encourage 
 war, engage in private contests, nor even 
 carry weapons of defence. The society is 
 governed by its own code of discipline, 
 which is enacted and supported by meet- 
 ings of four degrees, for discipline ; name- 
 ly, preparative, monthly, quarterly, and 
 yearly meetings. The preparative digest 
 and prepare the business for the monthly 
 meetings, in which the executive power 
 is principally lodged, subject however to 
 the revision and control of the quarterly 
 meetings, which are subordinate and ac- 
 countable to it, and subject to its supervi- 
 sion and direction. Its authority is par- 
 amount, and it possesses the sole power to 
 make or amend the discipline. There are 
 at present ten yearly meetings, namely, 
 London, Dublin, New England, New- 
 York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Virginia, 
 North Carolina, Ohio, and Indiana. The 
 number of Quakers in the United States 
 is about 150,000. 
 
 QUALIFICATION, any natural en- 
 dowment, or any acquirement which fits 
 a person for a place, office, or employ- 
 ment. Also any property or possession 
 which gives one a right to exercise the 
 elective franchise, or furnishes one with 
 any legal power or capacity. 
 
 QUALITY, in the philosophy of Kant, 
 the second category, (there being four in 
 all,) comprising the notions of existence 
 or reality, non-existence or negation, and 
 limitation. 
 
 QUAN'TITY, in prosody, the amount 
 of time in a syllable. Syllables are either 
 short or long ; the former being the unit 
 or smallest measure of time, the latter 
 consisting of two times. This distinction 
 is clearly marked in the ancient lan- 
 guages, in which some syllables are ne- 
 cessarily long or short by position, others 
 by the nature of the vowels which they 
 contain ; and, in the Latin language, 
 some common, or susceptible of being 
 sounded as long or short, according to 
 certain rules of elegance or convenience.
 
 506 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [QL-E 
 
 All the metrical system of the ancient 
 languages is founded on quantity. In 
 most modern languages there is, strictly 
 speaking, no quantity, ns distinct from 
 emphasis or accent ; the long syllables 
 being those which receive the arsis, the 
 short those which receive the thesis. In 
 the German language, however, critics 
 have endeavored to establish a conven- 
 tional system of quantity, and thus to 
 adapt that language to regular versifi- 
 cation in the ancient Greek and Latin 
 metres. 
 
 QUAN'TUM, [Lat.] the quantity. 
 Quantum, meruit (as much as he de- 
 served,^ in law, an action grounded on a 
 promise that the defendant would pay to 
 the plaintiff for his service as much as he 
 should deserve. Quantum valebat, an 
 action to recover of the defendant for 
 goods sold, as much as they were worth. 
 
 QUAR'ANTINE, the restraint of in- 
 tercourse to which a ship arriving in port 
 is subjected, on the presumption that she 
 may be infected with a malignant, con- 
 tagious disease. This is either for forty 
 days, or for any other limited term, ac- 
 cording to circumstances. A ship thus 
 situated is said to be' performing quar- 
 antine. The term is derived from the 
 Italian quaranta, forty ; it being gener- 
 ally supposed that if no infectious dis- 
 ease breaks out within forty days, or six 
 weeks, no danger need be apprehended 
 from the free admission of the individuals 
 under quarantine. During this period 
 all the goods, clothes, <tc. that might be 
 supposed capable of retaining the infec- 
 tion, are subjected to a process of purifi- 
 cation, which is a most important part 
 of the quarantine system. In law, the 
 period of forty days, during which the 
 widow of a man dying possessed of land, 
 has the privilege of remaining in the 
 principal messuage or mansion house. 
 
 QUARTER-DAYS, the days which be- 
 gin the four quarters of the year, namely, 
 the- 25th of March, or Lady Day ; the 
 24th of June, or Midsummer Day ; the 
 29th of September, or Michaelmas Day; 
 and the 25th of December, or Christmas 
 Day. 
 
 QUAR'TER-SES'SIONS, a court of 
 justice, held quarterly, before magistrates 
 of the district to try minor offences by 
 jury, after bills found by a grand jury. 
 The legal powers ofr these are often very 
 great, but the questions may in many 
 cases be removed to superior courts. 
 
 QUARTET'TO, in music, Italian for 
 a piece for four voices or four instru- 
 ments. 
 
 QUAR'TO, in printing and bookbind- 
 ing, a size made by twice folding a sheet, 
 which then makes four leaves. 
 
 QUASH'ING, in law, the overthrowing 
 and annulling of anything : as, to quask 
 an indictment. 
 
 QUA'SI CON'TRACT, in the civil 
 law, an act which has not the strict form 
 of a contract, but yet has the force of 
 one. Thus, if one person does another's 
 business in -his absence, without his pro- 
 curation, and it has succeeded to the 
 other person's advantage ; the one may 
 have an action for what he has disbursed, 
 and the other to make him give an 
 account of his administration ; which 
 amounts to a quasi contract. 
 
 QUATRAIN', in poetry, a piece con- 
 sisting of four verses, the rhymes usually 
 alternate ; sometimes also, especially in 
 French poetry, intermixed, the first and 
 fourth, second and third, rhyming to- 
 gether. 
 
 QUA'VER, in music, a measure of 
 time equal to half a crotchet, or an 
 eighth of a semibreve. Also a shake or 
 rapid vibration of the voice. 
 
 QUEEN, a woman who holds a crown 
 singly ; or, by courtesy, one who is mar- 
 ried to a king. The former is distin- 
 guished by the title of queen regnant ; 
 the latter by that of queen consort. A 
 queen consort is a subject, though as the 
 wife of the king she enjoys certain pre- 
 rogatives. The widow of a king is called 
 a queen dowa&er. 
 
 QUES'TION. the application of torture 
 to prisoners under criminal accusation, 
 according to the laws of France before 
 the Revolution. The question was of 
 two kinds : one, where strong evidence, 
 but insufficient of Itself to justify a con- 
 demnation to death, existed against a pris- 
 oner on a capital charge ; he might then be 
 subjected to torture to produce confession. 
 This was termed the question prepara- 
 toire. It was abolished by an ordinance 
 of Louis XVI. in 1780. The other, termed 
 question prealable or definitive, was ap- 
 plied to the prisoner when convicted of a 
 capital offence, in order to make him 
 discover supposed accomplices. It was 
 abolished by the National Assembly. 
 
 QUEST'-MEN, in law, persons chosen 
 to inquire into abuses and misdemeanors, 
 especially such as relate to weights and 
 measures. 
 
 QUES'TUS, in law, land which does 
 not descend by hereditary right, but is 
 acquired by one's own labor and indus- 
 try. 
 
 QUID PRO QUO, in law, an equiva-
 
 QUO] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 507 
 
 lent, or the mutual consideration and 
 reciprocal performance of both parties to 
 a contract. 
 
 QUID'NUNC, one who is curious to 
 know everything that passes, and is con- 
 tinually asking " What now 1" or " What 
 news ?" one who knows or pretends to 
 know all occurrences ; a news gossiper. 
 
 QUI'ETISTS, in ecclesiastical history, 
 a sect of mystics, originated by Molino, 
 a Spanish priest, who maintained that 
 religion consists in the internal rest and 
 meditation of the mind, wholly employed 
 in contemplating God and submitting to 
 his will. This doctrine was termed 
 quietism. Its leading feature was the 
 description of the happiness of a soul re- 
 posing in perfect quiet on God, so as to 
 become conscious of His presence only, 
 and untroubled by external things. He 
 even advanced so far as to maintain that 
 the soul, in its highest state of perfection, 
 is removed even beyond the contempla- 
 tion of God himself, and is solely occu- 
 pied in the passive reception of divine 
 influences. 
 
 QUINDECEM'VIRI, in Roman an- 
 tiquity, a college of fifteen magistrates, 
 whose business it was to preside over the 
 sacrifices. They were also the interpre- 
 ters of the Sibyl's books ; which, however, 
 they never, consulted but by an express 
 order of the senate. 
 
 QUINQUAGENA'RIUS, in Roman 
 antiquity, an officer who had the com- 
 mand of fifty men. 
 
 QUINQUAGES'IMA, or Shrove Sun- 
 day, so called as being about the fiftieth 
 day before Easter. 
 
 QUINQUA'TRI A, in Roman antiquity, 
 festivals celebrated in honor of Minerva 
 with much the same ceremonies as the 
 Panathencea were at Athens. 
 
 QUINQUENXA'LIA, in antiquity, 
 Roman games that were celebrated ev- 
 ery five years. 
 
 QUIN'QUIREME, in antiquity, a gal- 
 ley having five seats or rows of oars. 
 
 QUINTI'LIS, in chronology, the month 
 of July, so called because it was the fifth 
 month of ilomulus's year, which began 
 in March. It received the name of July 
 from Marc Antony, in honor of Julius 
 Caesar, who reformed the calendar. 
 
 QFIRINA'LIA, in antiquity, a feast 
 celebrated among the Romans in honor 
 of Romulus, who was called Quirinus. 
 These feasts were held on the 13th of 
 the calends of March. 
 
 QUIRI'TES, in antiquity, a name 
 given to the populace of Rome, as dis- 
 tinguished from the soldiery. 
 
 QUT-TAM, in law, a term for an action 
 brought, or information exhibited, at the 
 suit of the king, on a penal statute 
 wherein half the penalty is directed U 
 fall to the suer or informer. 
 
 QUIT-RENT, in law, a small rent 
 payable by the tenants of most manors, 
 whereby they go quit and free from all 
 other services. 
 
 QUI VIVE, (French,) literally, "who 
 lives?" The challenge of the French 
 sentries to those who approach their 
 posts; equivalent to the English "Who 
 goes there 1" Hence, to be on the qui 
 vive, is to be on the alert ; to be all ac- 
 tivity. 
 
 QUIZ, an obscure question ; something 
 to puzzle. One whom an observer can- 
 not make out ; an odd fellow. The more 
 general use of the word, however, is 
 to signify one addicted to mockery and 
 jesting in simulated gravity ; and also 
 the act itself. This word and its deriva- 
 tives are used only in colloquial or vul- 
 gar language. It is said to have origi- 
 nated in a joke. Daly, the manager 
 of a Dublin play-house, wagered that he 
 would make a word of no meaning to bo 
 the common talk and puzzle of the city 
 in twenty-four hours ; in the course of 
 that time the letters q, u, i, z were 
 chalked or pasted on all the walls of 
 Dublin, with such an effect that the 
 wager was won. 
 
 QUOAD HOC, a term used frequently 
 in law reports to signify that " as to the 
 thing named," the law is so, <fec. 
 
 QUOD'LIBET, (Lat. what you, please,) 
 in the language of the schoolmen, ques- 
 tions on general subjects within the range 
 of their inquiries were termed questiones 
 quodUbetictB. or miscellaneous. In French 
 the word quodlibet, or quolibet, is retain- 
 ed, in the sense of a slight jeu d' esprit, 
 pun, &c. What is termed in music a 
 " pot-pourri" was also called in Germany 
 a quodlibet. 
 
 QUOD PERMIT'TAT, in law, a writ 
 for the heir of him that is disseized of 
 common pasture, against the heirs of the 
 disseizor. 
 
 QUO JU'RE, in law, a writ that lies 
 for a person who has lands wherein an- 
 other claims common of pasture time out 
 of mind ; and is brought in order to com- 
 pel the person to show by what title he 
 challenges it. 
 
 QUO'RUM, in law, a word frequently 
 mentioned in our statutes, and in com- 
 missions both of justices of the peace and 
 others. By it is generally understood, 
 such a number of justices as are compe-
 
 508 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [RAI 
 
 tent by law to transact business. The 
 term ' is derived from the words of the 
 commission, quorum A. 13. unum esse 
 rolumus. 
 
 QUOTA'TION, a passage quoted or 
 cited ; the part of a book or writing named, 
 repeated, or adduced as evidence or illus- 
 tration. In mercantile language, the 
 current price of commodities or stocks, 
 published in prices-current, <fcc. 
 
 QUO WARKAN'TO, in law, the name 
 of a writ which lies against any particular 
 persons, or bodies politic or corporate, 
 who usurp or make an improper use of 
 any franchise or liberty, in order to ob- 
 lige them to show by what right and title 
 they hold or claim such franchise. 
 
 K. 
 
 R, the eighteenth letter of our alpha- 
 bet, is numbered among the liquids and 
 semi-vowels, and is sometimes called the 
 canine letter. Its sound is formed by a 
 guttural extrusion of the breath, which 
 in some words is through the mouth, with 
 a sort of quivering motion or slight jar 
 of the tongue. In words which we have 
 received from the Greek language we fol- 
 low the Latins, who wrote k after r, as 
 the representative of the aspirated sound 
 with which this letter was pronounced by 
 the Greeks ; as in rhapsody, rhetoric, &c.; 
 otherwise it is always followed by a vowel 
 at the beginning of words and syllables. 
 As an abbreviation, R in English, stands 
 for rex and regina ; as George R. ; Victo- 
 ria R. In the notes of the ancients, R. 
 or RO. stands for Roma; R.C. Romano, 
 civitas ; R.G.C. rei gerendee causa; R.F. 
 E.D. recte factual et dictum ; 11G.F. regis 
 filius ; R.P. respublica. or Romani prin- 
 cipes. As a numeral, R, in Latin authors, 
 stands for 80, and with a dash over it, for 
 80,000. 
 
 RAB'BI,-or RAB'BIX, a title assumed 
 by the pharisees and doctors of the law 
 among the Jews, which literally signifies 
 master or lord. There were several gra- 
 dations before they arrive.l at the dignity 
 of a rabbin ; but it does not appear that 
 there was any fixed age or previous ex- 
 amination necessary ; when, however, a 
 man had distinguished himself by hi? 
 skill in the written and oral law, and 
 passed through the subordinate degrees, 
 ho was saluted a rabbin by the public 
 voice. In their schools the rabbins sat 
 upon raised chairs, and their scholars at 
 their feet : thus St. Paul is said to have 
 
 studied at the feet of Gamaliel. Such of 
 the doctors as studied the letter or text 
 of the scripture were called caraites, those 
 who studied the cabballa, cabbalists, and 
 those whose study was in the traditions 
 or oral law, were called rabbinista. The 
 customary duty of the rabbins, in general, 
 was to pray, preach, and interpret the law 
 in the synagogues. Among the modern 
 Jews, the learned men retain no other 
 title than that of rabbi; they have great 
 respect paid them, have the first places 
 or seats in their synagogues, determine 
 all matters of controversy, and frequently 
 pronounce upon civil affairs. 
 
 RAB'DOMANCY, in antiquity, a sort 
 of divination by means of rods, according 
 to their manner of falling when they were 
 set up. 
 
 R A'C A, a Syriac word signifying empty, 
 foolish, beggarly ; a term of extreme con- 
 tempt. The Jews used to pronounce the 
 word with certain gestures of indignation, 
 as spitting, turning away the head, <tc. 
 Our Saviour intimates that whosoever 
 should call his neighbor raca, should be 
 condemned by the council of the Sanhe- 
 drim. 
 
 RACE, the lineage of a family, or the 
 series of descendants indefinitely continu- 
 ed. All mankind are called the race of 
 Adam ; the Israelites are of the race of 
 Abraham ; and in like manner, we say, 
 the Capetine or the Carlovingian race of 
 kings, <fcc. 
 
 RACK, a horrid engine of torture, fur- 
 nished with pulleys and cords, <fcc., for ex- 
 torting confession from criminals or sus- 
 pected persons. Its use is entirely un- 
 known in free countries. 
 
 RACO' VI ANS, in ecclesiastical history, 
 the Unitarians of Poland are sometimes 
 so called ; from Racow, a small city of 
 that country, where Jacobus a Sienna, 
 its head, erected a public seminary for 
 their church in 1600. Here the ' Racov- 
 ian Catechism," originally composed by 
 Socinus, and revised by his most eminent 
 followers, was published. 
 
 RA'DIX. in etymology, a primitive 
 word from which spring other words. 
 
 RAF'TERS, the pieces of timber ex- 
 tending from the plate of a building so as 
 to meet in an angle at the trfp, and form 
 the roof. 
 
 RAIL, in architecture, the horizontal 
 part in any piece of framing or panelling. 
 Thus, in a door, the horizontal pieces 
 between which the panels lie. are called 
 rails, whilst the vertical pieces between 
 which the panels are inserted are called 
 stifles.
 
 RAT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 509 
 
 RA'JAH, one of the ancient hereditary 
 princes of India, before its conquest by 
 the Moguls ; some of whom are tributary 
 to Europeans, and some are said to be in- 
 dependent. 
 
 RALLENTAN'DO, in music, an Ital- 
 ian tertn, implying that the tune of the 
 passage over which it is placed is to be 
 gradually decreased. 
 
 RAM'ADAN, the name given to the 
 great fast or Lent of the Mohammedans. 
 It commences with the new moon of the 
 ninth month of the Mohammedan year ; 
 and, while it continue?, the day is spent 
 uninterruptedly in pra\ers and other de- 
 votional exercises. Even the night is 
 passed by the more rigid of the faithful in 
 the mosques, which are splendidly illu- 
 minated on this occasion ; but, generally 
 speaking, the arrival of sunset is the sig- 
 nal for a more than usually unlimited 
 indulgence in the pleasures of the table ; 
 and, on the third evening of the fast, the 
 grand vizier commences a series of official 
 banquets. The Ramadan ends on the day 
 preceding the only other great festival of 
 the Mohammedans the Bairum equiva- 
 lent to our Easter. 
 
 RAMAYA'NA, the oldest of the two 
 great Sanscrit epic poems, describes the 
 life and actions of the hero llama, and 
 his wife Sita; and especially Rama's e*x- 
 pedition to Ceylon, to rescue Sita from 
 the tyrant Rawana. The poem is thought 
 to have been composed before the Chris- 
 tian era ; but there is no certain indica- 
 tion of its age. 
 
 RA'MISTS, in philosophy, the parti- 
 sans of Pierre Rame, better known by his 
 Latin name of Ramus, roynl professor of 
 rhetoric and philosophy at Paris, in the 
 reign of Henry II. He perished in the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew. His system 
 of logic was opposed to that of the Aris- 
 totelian party ; and during the latter half 
 of the 16th century a vehement contest 
 was maintained between their respective 
 adherents in France, Germany, and other 
 parts of Europe. 
 
 RAM'PART, in fortification, an eleva- 
 tion or mound of ea rth round a place, capa- 
 ble of resisting the cannon of an enemy ; 
 and formed into bastions, curtains, &e. Sol- 
 diers continually keep guard upon the 
 ramparts, and pieces of artillery are 
 planted there for the defence of the place. 
 Rampart, in civil architecture, is used 
 for the space left between the wall of a 
 city and the nearest houses. 
 
 RAN'GER, in England, an officer 
 whose duty it was to walk through the 
 forest, and present all trespassers at the 
 
 next forest court. The office of ranger 
 is not of the same importance as former- 
 ly, but the situation is still tilled, and his 
 duties are of a similar kind. 
 
 RANK, the degree of elevation which 
 one man holds in respect to another. 
 This is particularly defined in regard to 
 the nobility in monarchical countries, as 
 also in all offices of state, as well as in the 
 officers of the army and navy. Rank, in 
 military tactics, the straight line which 
 the soldiers of a battalion or squadron 
 make as they stand side by side. Rank 
 and file, a name given to the men carry- 
 ing firelocks, and standing in the ranks, 
 in which are included the corporals. 
 
 RAN'SOM, money -naid for redeeming 
 a captive, or for obta.ning the liberty of 
 a prisoner of war. 
 
 RAN'TERS, a sect of dissenters, origi- 
 nating in Staffordshire, England, in 1807, 
 and marked by the extravagance of their 
 religious enthusiasm. They sprang from 
 the Wesleyan Methodists, from whom 
 they separated, and by whom they are 
 disowned. They hold camp meetings 
 annually, and differ from the parent 
 stock in many of their outward ceremo- 
 nies, but they still assimilate to the origi- 
 nal connection in their religious opinions. 
 
 RANZ DE VACHE, in music, a favor- 
 ite national air among the Swiss shep- 
 herds, which they play upon their bag- 
 pipes while tending their flocks and 
 herds. It consists of a few simple inter- 
 vals, is entirely adapted to the primitive 
 life of these people and their instrument 
 (the Alpenhorn, horn of the Alps,) and 
 has an uncommon effect in the echoes of 
 the mountains. This effect becoming inti- 
 mately associated with the locality of 
 Switzerland, explains the many anecdotes 
 of the home -sickness caused by the sound 
 of the Ranz des Vacfies, when heard by 
 the Swiss in foreign countries. 
 
 R ASKOL'NIKS, the name of the largest 
 and most important body of dissenters 
 from the Greek Church in the Russian 
 dominions. They designate themselves 
 Starowerzi, or the Orthodox; but differ 
 from the Greek church only in the out- 
 ward forms of religion, and in maintain- 
 ing a more strict ecclesiastical discipline. 
 This body was formerly subjected to 
 persecution; but it is now treated with 
 comparative toleration, though its mem- 
 bers are still excluded from the service 
 of the state. Their number is said to be 
 about 300,000. 
 
 RATE, in English law, an assessment 
 by the pound for public purposes ; as, for 
 the poor, the highways, church repairs,
 
 510 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [REA 
 
 county expenses, &c. In the navy, the 
 order or class of a ship, according to its 
 magnitude or force. 
 
 RA'TION, the proportion or fixed al- 
 lowance of provisions, drink, forage, &o., 
 assigned to each soldier for his daily sub- 
 sistence, and for the subsistence of horses. 
 Seamen in the navy also have rations of 
 certain articles. 
 
 RATION A'LE, the account or solution 
 of any phenomenon or hypothesis, ex- 
 plaining the principles on which it de- 
 pends, and every other circumstance. 
 
 HA'TIONALISM, the interpretation 
 of scripture truths upon the principles of 
 human reason; which has become famous 
 in the present day by the theological 
 systems to which it has given birth in 
 Germany. The history of the progress 
 of the opinions of the reformed churches 
 of that country may be found in Dr. 
 Pusey's essay upon this subject. He con- 
 ceives the polemical discussions which 
 prevailed throughout those communities 
 in the 17th and first half of the following 
 century to have prepared the way for the 
 reception of the low views of Christianity, 
 as a moral system, which were derived 
 from the writings of the concealed or 
 avowed deists of England. From the 
 middle of the last century there have 
 arisen in Germany a succession of di- 
 vines Baumgarten, Michaelis, Semler, 
 Eichhorn, Paulus, Bretschneider, &a., who 
 have endeavored either to affix a lower and 
 more human character to the invisible 
 operations of God upon men through 
 Christianity, or to reduce the accounts 
 which we have of the foundation of our 
 religion to the mixture of truth and 
 error natural to fallible men. They have 
 questioned the genuineness of almost all 
 the separate parts of Scripture, and the 
 accuracy of all their supernatural narra- 
 tives. The discredit into which these 
 theologians appear to have fallen arises, 
 in a great measure, from the inability 
 they have shown to produce a connected 
 and consistent system of religion upon 
 the low ground which they have taken up. 
 Of later years a much more spiritual con- 
 ception of the nature of Scripture promises 
 and Christian assistances is observable in 
 the writings of German divines, under the 
 operation of which their theological criti- 
 cism has already assumed a more dig- 
 nified and exalted tone. The sensa- 
 tion created by Strauss'a Liift of Christ, 
 the latest, and in some respects the most 
 remarkable production of the Rationalist 
 school, may probably have aided in this 
 reaction. 
 
 RAVELINS, in fortification, detached 
 works composed of two faces, forming 
 salient angles, and raised before the 
 counterscarp. 
 
 RE, in grammar, a prefix or insepara- 
 ble particle at the beginning of words, to 
 repeat or otherwise modify their mean- 
 ing; as in re-action, re-export. <fec. 
 
 REACH, in sea language, signifies the 
 distance between any two points of land, 
 lying nearly in a right line. 
 
 REA'DER, in ecclesiastical matters, 
 one of the five inferior orders in the Ro- 
 mish church. In the Church of England, 
 a reader is a deacon appointed to do di- 
 vine service in churches and chapels of 
 which no one has the cure. There are 
 also readers (priests) attached to various 
 eleemosynary and other foundations. 
 
 RE'ALISM, in philosophy, is the op- 
 posite of idealism, and is that philosophi- 
 cal system which conceives external things 
 to exist independently of our conception 
 of them ; but realism becomes material- 
 ism if it considers matter, or physical 
 substance, as the only original cause of 
 things, and the soul itself as a material 
 substance. 
 
 RE'ALISTS, in philosophy, a sect of 
 school philosophers formed in opposition 
 to the Nominalists, who held that words, 
 artd not things, were the objects of dialec- 
 tics. 
 
 REALM, a royal jurisdiction or extent 
 of a king's dominions. 
 
 REAL PRES'ENCE, in the Romish 
 church, the actual presence of the body 
 and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, or 
 the conversion of the substance of the 
 bread and wine into the real body and 
 blood of Christ. 
 
 REAR, a military term for behind. 
 Rear-guard, a body of men that marches 
 in the rear of the main body to protect 
 it. Rear-rank, the last line of men that 
 are drawn up two or more deep. The 
 rear is also a naval term applied to the 
 squadron which is hindermost. 
 
 REA'SON, that particular faculty in 
 man of which either the exclusive or the 
 more intense enjoyment distinguishes 
 him from the rest of the animal creation. 
 Like most of the terms in the science of 
 mind, that of reason has been employed 
 in a great variety of significations. Du- 
 gald Stewart takes it in its widest sense, 
 and comprises under it all the operations 
 of the intellect upon the materials of 
 knowledge which are furnished in the 
 first instance by sense and perception. 
 Its office is to distinguish the trua from 
 the false, right from wrong, and to com-
 
 REB] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 511 
 
 bine means for the attainment of partic- 
 ular ends. According to this definition, 
 therefore, the province of reason is' coex- 
 tensive with the range of human activity, 
 and it directs itself to the three supreme 
 objects of desire to man the good, the 
 beautiful, and the true. Mr. Hume, 
 however, withdraws the discernment of 
 right and wrong, and of the beautiful 
 and its contrary, from the domain of rea- 
 son ; and, on the other hand, also, denies 
 the certainty of the truth which it enun- 
 ciates, and limits its convincing force 
 merely to a certain weight of probability. 
 Locke's usage of the term, again, par- 
 taking as it does of the general looseness 
 of his phraseology, is very different. In 
 one passage reason is declared to be the 
 faculty which finds out the means, and 
 rightly applies them, to discover either 
 the certain agreement or disagreement 
 of two ideas, or their probable connection. 
 But. in another place, it is said to be 
 conversant with certainty alone ; while 
 the discovery of what, as probable, en- 
 forces a contingent assent or opinion, is 
 ascribed to an especial faculty, which is 
 called the judgment. Bird, on the other 
 hand, confines the latter term to the ap- 
 prehension of intuitive truth ; but agrees 
 so far with Locke as to make it one part 
 of reason, whose other part is reasoning, 
 both demonstrative and moral. On the 
 whole, however, it is clear that in the 
 mind of Locke the terms reasoning and 
 reason were nearly, if not quite equiva- 
 lent. But reasoning and deduction are 
 evidently not the source either of the 
 dignity or the authority of the human 
 intellect. The discursive faculty can 
 never establish any other than a condi- 
 tional truth, which predisposes some an- 
 terior and pre-established verity as its 
 basis and verification. If there were not 
 in the human mind something primary, 
 unconditional, and absolute, to which all 
 reasonings might be referred, as to their 
 source and foundation, the discursive pro- 
 cess would proceed into infinity, and its 
 conclusions be, as Hume asserts that they 
 are, without any power to enforce assent. 
 But there are unquestionably in the hu- 
 man mind certain necessary and univer- 
 sal principles, which, shining with an 
 intrinsic light of evidence, are themselves 
 above proof, but the authority for all 
 mediate and contingent principles. That 
 which is thus above reasoning is the rea- 
 son. In the language of English philoso- 
 phy, the terms reason and understanding 
 are nearly identical, and are so used by 
 Stewart ; but in the critical philosophy 
 
 of Kant a broad distinction has been 
 drawn between them. Reason is the 
 principle of principles ; either specula- 
 tively verifies every special principle, or 
 practically determines the proper ends 
 of human action. Approximately, it 
 may be called the sum of what, in Scotch 
 philosophy, has been denominated the 
 laws of man's intellectual constitution. 
 The understanding, on the other hand, is 
 coextensive with the vernacular use of 
 reason. It is that which conceives of 
 sensible objects under certain general 
 notions, which again it compares one 
 with another, or with particular repre- 
 sentations of them, or with the objects 
 themselves. It is, therefore, the faculty 
 of reflection and generalization. But the 
 act of comparison is called a judgment ; 
 and the understanding, when it enunci- 
 ates its conceptions, becomes also the 
 faculty of judging. But the truth of a 
 proposition which is not identical, or the 
 enunciation of a primary truth, cannot 
 be immediately certain. To prove it, 
 recourse must be had to other proposi- 
 tions previously admitted ; the under- 
 standing, that is, must deduce one judg- 
 ment from another^ and so becomes the 
 discursive faculty, or reasoning. Farther, 
 in discovering these mediate truths, and 
 in the regular and methodical disposition 
 of them for the purpose of conclusion, as 
 well as in the selection of means for the 
 accomplishment of its ends, it exhibits 
 itself as a power of adaptation. 
 
 RE'BEC, a Moorish word, signifying a 
 stringed instrument somewhat similar to 
 the violin, having three strings tuned in 
 fifths, and playe* with a bow. It was 
 introduced by the Moors into Spain. It, 
 appears to have been much used at 
 festive entertainments. 
 
 REB'EL, one who revolts from the 
 government to which he owes allegiance, 
 either by openly renouncing the authori- 
 ty of that government, or by taking arms 
 and openly opposing it. 
 
 REBEL'LION, nn open and avowed 
 renunciation of the authority of the 
 government to which one owes allegiance. 
 Rebellion differs from insurrection ; for 
 insurrection may bo a rising in opposi- 
 tion to a particular act or law, without a 
 design to renounce wholly all subjection 
 to the government. It may lead to, but 
 is not necessarily in the first instance 
 rebellion. Rebellion differs also from 
 mutiny, that being an insurrection of 
 soldiers or sailors asjninst the authority 
 of their officers. Rebellion, the great, 
 the revolt of the Long Parliament
 
 512 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATI KB 
 
 [KBC 
 
 against the authority of Charles I., in 
 English history, is commonly so denomi- 
 nated. 
 
 RE BUS, an enigmatical representa 
 tion of some name, Ac. by using figures 
 or pictures instead of words. Camden 
 tells us the rebus was in great esteem 
 among our forefathers, and he was no- 
 body who could not hammer out of his 
 name an invention by this wit-craft, and 
 picture it accordingly. In heraldry, a 
 coat of arms which bears an allusion to 
 the name of a person. . . 
 
 REBUTTER, in law, the defendant's 
 answer to the plaintiffs sur-rejoinder, in 
 a cause depending in the court of chan- 
 cery, Ac. 
 
 RECAPTION, in law, the taking a 
 second distress of one formerly distrain- 
 ed for the same cause during the plea 
 grounded upon the former distress. It is 
 also the name of a writ which lies for the 
 party thus distrained, to recover dam- 
 ages, Ac. 
 
 RECEIPT', in commerce, an acquit- 
 tance or discharge in writing for money 
 received, or other valuable considera- 
 tion. 
 
 RECHABITES, a religious order 
 among the ancient Jews, instituted by 
 Jonadab, the son of Rechab, from whom 
 they derived their name. It comprised 
 only the family and posterity of the 
 founder, who was anxious to perpetuate 
 among them the nomadic life ; and with 
 this view prescribed to them several 
 rules, the chief of which were to abstain 
 from wine, from building houses, and 
 from planting vines. These rules were 
 observed by the Reclmbites with great 
 strictness. In recent times, a branch of 
 the Temperance society has assumed the 
 name of Rechabites. 
 
 RECIPROCAL, in general, something 
 that is mutual, or which is returned equal- 
 ly on both sides, or that affects both par- 
 ties alike. 'Reciprocal terms, in logic, 
 are those which have the same significa- 
 tion ; and consequently are convertible 
 and may be used for each other. 
 
 RECI TATIVE, language delivered in 
 musical tones ; or, as the Italians define 
 it, speaking music. It is used in operas, 
 Ac. to express some action or passion, or 
 to relate a story or reveal a secret or de- 
 sign. It differs from an air in having no 
 fixed time or measure ; and it is not gov- 
 erned by any principal or predominant 
 key, though its final cadence or close 
 must be in some cognate key of the air 
 which follows, or, at least, in no very re- 
 mote key. There are two kinds of recita- 
 
 tive, unaccompanied and accompanitd. 
 The first is when a few occasional chords 
 are struck by the piano-forte or violon- 
 cello to give the singer the pitch, and in- 
 timate to him the harmony. The second 
 is when all, or a considerable portion, of 
 i the instruments of the orchestra accompa- 
 ! ny the singer, either in sustained chords 
 | or florid passages, in order to give the 
 1 true expression or coloring to the passion 
 | or sentiment to be expressed. 
 
 RECK OXING, in navigation, an ac- 
 
 count of the ship's course and distance 
 
 , calculated from the log-board without 
 
 the aid of celestial observation. This is 
 
 called the dead-reckoning. 
 
 RECOG NIZANCE, in law, a bond or 
 
 | obligation acknowledged in some court, 
 
 | or before some judge, with condition to 
 
 do some particular act, as to appear at 
 
 the assizes, to keep the peace, Ac. The 
 
 > person who enters into such bond is 
 
 \ called the recosnizor ; the person to 
 
 i whom one is bound is the recognize.*. 
 
 RECOLLEC TION, the act of recalling 
 ', to the memory, as ideas that have 
 escaped ; or the operation by which ideas 
 . are recalled to the memory or revived in 
 the mind. Recollection differs from re- 
 membrance, as it is the consequence of 
 volition, or an effort of the mind to revive 
 ideas ; whereas remembrance implies no 
 , such volition. We often remember things 
 | without any voluntary effort. Recollec- 
 tion is called also reminiscence. 
 
 RECOLLECTS, monks of the orderof 
 
 St. Francis under a reformed rule. The 
 
 first separation from the original body 
 
 I seems to have taken place towards the 
 
 end of the 14th century, when some reli- 
 
 i gions person?, desirous of returning to 
 
 stricter discipline, assumed the title of 
 
 j Brothers of the Observance. From these 
 
 originated the Recollects, (living in a 
 
 I state of recollection, or reclnsion,) first 
 
 ; established in Spain by the Count de 
 
 i Belalcazar. about 1434, and afterwards 
 
 i introduced into Italy. After much oppo- 
 
 i sition. they acquired the possession of 
 
 great wealth and court favor in France, 
 
 during the 16th and 17th centuries. 
 
 RECONNOITRE, in military lan- 
 | gnage. means to inform one's self by 
 ' ocular inspection of the situation of an 
 I enemy, or the nature of a piece of ground. 
 It is one of the most important depart- 
 , ments of the military art, and must 
 , precede every considerable movement. 
 Reconnoitering not unfrequently brings 
 j on engagements, and considerable bodies 
 j of troops march out to cover the recon- 
 j noitering party, and to make prisoners
 
 RED] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 513 
 
 if possible, in order to obtain information 
 from them. 
 
 REC'ORD, a register ; an authentic or 
 official copy of any writing, or account of 
 any facts and proceedings whether public 
 or private, entered in a book for pres- 
 ervation ; or the book containing such 
 copy or account ; as, the records of 
 statutes orof judicial courts; the records 
 of a town or parish ; the records of a 
 family. In a popular sense, the term 
 records is applied to all public documents 
 preserved in a recognized repository ; 
 but, in the legal sense of the term, rec- 
 ords are contemporaneous statements 
 of the proceedings of those higher courts 
 of law which are distinguished as courts 
 of record, written upon rolls of parch- 
 ment. Records are said to be of three 
 kinds : 1. judicial records ; 2. ministe- 
 rial records on oath, being offices or 
 inquisitions found; 3. records made by 
 conveyance or consent, as fines, recover- 
 ies, or deeds enrolled. In the court of 
 session, a record is a judicial minute 
 subscribed by the counsel of the parties 
 in a cause, and by the lord ordinary, 
 whereby the parties mutually agree to 
 hold certain pleadings, as containing 
 their full and final statement of facts and 
 pleas in law. This record forms the basis 
 of the future argument, and of the deci- 
 sion of the cause. The term records, in 
 Scotch law, is usually applied to public 
 registers for decrees of courts, deeds, in- 
 struments, and probative writings of 
 every kind. Authentic memorial; as, 
 the records of past ages. Court of 
 record, is a court whose acts and judicial 
 proceedings are enrolled on parchment or 
 in books for a perpetual memorial ; and 
 their records are the highest evidence of 
 facts, and their truth cannot be called 
 in question. Debt of record, is a. debt 
 which appears to be due by the evidence 
 of a court of record, as upon a judgment 
 or a recognizance. Trial by record is 
 where a matter of record is pleaded, and 
 the opposite party pleads that there is no 
 such record. In this case, the trial is by 
 inspection of the record itself, no other 
 evidence being admissible. 
 
 RECORD'ER, a person whom the 
 mayor and other magistrates of a city or 
 corporation associate with them for their 
 better direction in matters of justice, and 
 proceedings in law. He also speaks in 
 their name, upon public occasions. 
 
 RECOVERY, in law, the obtaining a 
 
 right to something by a verdict and 
 
 judgment of court from an opposing 
 
 party in a suit ; as, the recovery of debt, 
 
 33 
 
 damages, and costs, by a plaintiff; the 
 recovery of land in ejectments, Ac. 
 
 REC'TOR, in Great Britain, a term 
 applied to the possessors of several offi- 
 cial situations ; as, 1. a clergyman who 
 has the charge and cure of a parish, and 
 the property of the tithes, &c.; 2. the 
 chief elective officer in several universi- 
 ties; 3. the head master of large public 
 schools in Scotland ; 4. the governor in 
 several convents ; 5. the superior of a 
 seminary or college of the Jesuits. 
 REC'TUS IN CU'RIA, in law, one 
 who stands at the bar, no person objecting 
 anything against him. Also, one who 
 has reversed an outlawry, and can there- 
 fore partake of the benefit of the law. 
 
 RECUR'RENT VERSES, in poetry, 
 verses that read the same backwards as 
 they do forwards. 
 
 RECU'SANT, in English history, one 
 who refuses to acknowledge the kingly 
 supremacy in matters of religion ; as a 
 popish recusant, who acknowledges only 
 the supremacy of the pope. 
 
 RED'DIDIT SE, a law term, used in 
 cases where a man renders himself in 
 discharge of his bail. 
 
 REDEMPTION, in law, the liberation 
 of an estate from a mortgage ; or the 
 purchase of the right to re-enter upon it 
 by paying the principal sum for which 
 it was mortgaged, with interest and costs ; 
 also, the right of redeeming and re-enter- 
 ing. In war and in commerce, the, act of 
 procuring the deliverance of persons or 
 things from the possession and power of 
 captors by the payment of an equivalent ; 
 as, the redemption of a ship and cargo. 
 In theology, the ransom or deliverance 
 of sinners from the bondage of sin and the 
 penalties of God's violated law by the 
 atonement of Christ. 
 
 REDEMP'TORISTS, a religious order 
 founded in Naples by Liguori, in 1732, 
 and revived in Austria in 1820. They 
 are bound by the usual monastic vows, 
 and devote themselves to the education 
 of youth and the propagation of Catholi- 
 cism. They style themselves members of 
 the order of the Holy Redeemer, whence 
 their name ; but they are also often 
 called Liguorists, from the name of their 
 founder. 
 
 REDONDIL'LA, formerly a species of 
 versification used in the south of Europe, 
 consisting of a union of verses of four, six, 
 and eight syllables, of which generally 
 the first rhymed with the fourth, and the 
 second with the third. At a later period, 
 verses of six and eight syllables in gene- 
 ral, in Spanish and Portuguese poetry,
 
 514 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 KEF 
 
 wore called redondillas, whether they 
 made perfect rhymes or assonances only. 
 These became common in the dramatic 
 poetry of Spuin. 
 
 REDOUBT', in fortification, a small 
 square fort without any defence but in 
 front : used in trenches, lines of circum- 
 vallation, contravallation, and approach, 
 to defend passages, &c. 
 
 REDUCE', to copy a picture, a drawing, 
 or print, diminishing its size, and at the 
 same time carefully preserving its pro- 
 portions. This is done either by the 
 artist adopting himself a smaller scale, or 
 by the employment of mechanical instru- 
 ments, such as the pantograph. 
 
 REDUCTIO AD ABSUR'DUM, in 
 logic, a mode of argundent by which the 
 truth of a proposition is proved by show- 
 ing the absurdity of the contrary. 
 
 REDUPLICATION, in logic, a kind 
 of condition expressed in a proposition 
 indicating or assigning the manner where- 
 in the predicate is attributed to the 
 subject. 
 
 REFEC'TIOX, among certain ecclesias- 
 tics, a spare meal or repast just suffic- 
 ing for the support of life ; hence the hall 
 in convents, and other communities, where 
 the monks, nuns, &c., take their refec- 
 tions or meals in common, is called the 
 refectory. 
 
 REFEREE', one to whose decision a 
 thing is referred ; particularly, a person 
 appointed by a court to hear, examine, 
 an-l decide a case between parties, pend- 
 ing before the court, and make report 
 thereon. 
 
 REF'ERENCE, in law, the act of re- 
 ferring a matter in dispute to the decision 
 of an arbitrator. Also, in the court of 
 chancery, the referring a matter to a 
 master. Reference, in printing, a mark 
 in the text of a work referring to a simi- 
 lar one in the side or at the bottom of the 
 paije. 
 
 REFEREN'DARIES, in the early mon- 
 archies of Europe, after the fifth century, 
 public officers charged with the duty of 
 procuring, executing, and despatching 
 diplomas and charters. The office of 
 great referendary, in the French mon- 
 archy, became merged in that of chan- 
 cellor. 
 
 REFLECTION, the operation of the 
 mind by which it turns its views back 
 upon itself and its operations ; the review 
 or reconsideration of past thoughts, opin- 
 ions, or decisions of the mind, or of past 
 events. 
 
 RE'FLEX, in painting, is a term used 
 to denote those places in a picture which 
 
 are supposed to be illuminated by a 
 light reflected from some other body, 
 represented in the same piece. 
 
 REFORM', PARLIAMENTARY, a 
 change to some considerable extent in the 
 representative part of the English consti- 
 tution, by an extension of the elective 
 franchise to modern largo towns, such 
 as Manchester, Birmingham, Ac.,, which 
 heretofore sent no members to parlia- 
 ment and by taking away the franchise 
 from places which had long since become 
 insignificant. 
 
 REFORMATION, the term applied 
 by Protestants, universally, to denote the 
 change from the Roman Catholic to the 
 Protestant religion, which was first set on 
 foot in Germany by Luther, A D. 1517, 
 but had been begun in England by Wick- 
 liffe, and was afterwards completed by 
 Henry VIII. who assumed the title of 
 Head of the Church. Of all the errors, 
 frauds, and superstitions of the church of 
 Rome, the one which proved most injuri- 
 ous to religion and morals, and that which 
 was most deplored by enlightened and 
 conscientious men, was the facility with 
 which riches were allowed to purchase 
 salvation ! Wealth was invested in mon- 
 asteries, shrines, and chantries ; and 
 few persons who had any property at their 
 <>wn disposal went out of the world with- 
 out bequeathing some of it to the clergy 
 for saying masses, in number proportion- 
 ed to the amount of the bequest, for the 
 benefit of their souls. Thus were men 
 taught to put their trust in riches ; their 
 wealth, being thus invested, became avail- 
 able to them beyond the grave ; and in 
 whatever sins they indulged, provided 
 they went through the proper forms and 
 obtained a discharge, they might pur- 
 chase a free passage through purgatory, 
 or, at least, an abbreviation of the term 
 and a mitigation of its torments while 
 they lasted. But purgatory was not the 
 only invisible world over which the au- 
 thority of the church extended ; for to the 
 pope, as to the representative of St. Peter, 
 it was pretended that the keys of heaven 
 and hell were given ; a portion of this 
 power was delegated to every priest, and 
 they inculcated that the soul which de- 
 parted without confession and absolution, 
 bore with it the weight of its deadly sins 
 to sink it to perdition. To this let us add, 
 that the arrogance of the priests had ex- 
 asperated the princes ; the encroachments 
 of the mendicant friars did injury to the 
 secular ecclesiastics; and a thousand in- 
 nocent victims of the inquisition called 
 for vengeance. Other causes also con-
 
 BEOJ 
 
 AND THK FINK AKTS. 
 
 515 
 
 spired to bring on the day of religious 
 freedom : the means of information were 
 vastly increased by the art of printing ; 
 materials for thinking were laid before 
 the people by instructive works in the 
 vulgar tongues ; the number of learned 
 men increased ; and the intelligence for 
 which the Reformation was to open a way 
 began to act generally and powerfully. 
 The centre of Europe, together with the 
 north, which had long submitted with re- 
 luctance to Rome, was ready to counte- 
 nance the boldest measures for shaking 
 off the priestly yoke, of which the best 
 and most reflecting men had become im- 
 patient. But no one anticipated the 
 quarter whence the first blow would be 
 struck. Leo X. was created pope in 1513 ; 
 and, little affected by the universal de- 
 sire for reformation in the church, he 
 seemed placed at its head merely to em- 
 ploy its revenues in the gratification of 
 his princely tastes. Albert, elector of 
 Mentz and archbishop of Magdeburg, a 
 prince of a similar character, received 
 from Leo, in 1516, permission to sell in- 
 dulgences within his own jurisdiction, on 
 condition of sharing the profits with the 
 pope. In this traffic, Albert employed, 
 among others, John Tetzel, a Dominican 
 monk of Leipsic, who went about from 
 place to place, carrying on his trade with 
 the most unblushing impudence, and ex- 
 tolling his certificates above the papal 
 bulls (which required repentance,) as un- 
 conditional promises of the forgiveness of 
 sins in time and eternity. Luther, an 
 Augustine monk of Erfurt, a man of 
 powerful mind, and distinguished more 
 for his deep piety and strong love of truth, 
 than for deep erudition, set his face 
 against this abuse, first in his sermons, 
 and afterwards in ninety-five theses, or 
 questions, which he affixed to the door of 
 the church, Oct. 31, 1517. This led to 
 several public disputations, in which 
 lie had such a decided advantage over his 
 antagonists, that this man, who was 
 hardly known before, became the public 
 champion of all enlightened men who la- 
 mented the degeneracy of the church of 
 Christ. The respect for the Roman court, 
 which was perceptible in his earlier writ- 
 ings, he now discarded, as the injustice of 
 the papal pretensions had become clear to 
 him. The most complete success attend- 
 ed his endeavors ; and wherever the re- 
 formed religion found its way, the worship 
 of God recovered that simplicity, and 
 warmth, and sincerity, which had char- 
 acterized it among the first Christians. 
 Religion was no longer a mere subject of 
 
 the imagination, but appealed to the rea- 
 son and feelings of men, and invited close 
 investigation. The reformation also had 
 an important influence on morals. While 
 the reformers abolished the principle of 
 blind obedience to the pope and other ec- 
 clesiastical dignitaries, denied the merit 
 of penances, fasts, and alms, and rejected 
 the possibility of acts of supererogation, 
 by which saints had enriched the treasury 
 of the church, they again awakened the 
 smothered moral feelings of men, and in- 
 troduced that more elevated morality 
 which requires holiness of heart and pu- 
 rity of conduct. 
 
 REFORM'ED CHURCH, comprises in 
 a general sense, all those bodies of Chris- 
 tians that have separated from the church 
 of Rome since the era of the Reforma- 
 tion ; but it is applied in a restricted 
 sense to those Protestant churches which 
 did not embrace the doctrines and disci- 
 pline of Luther, and more particularly to 
 the Calvinistic churches on the Continent. 
 
 REFUGEE', in political history, a term 
 applied to the French protestants, who, 
 on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, 
 fled from the persecution of France. The 
 same term was also applied to the French 
 priests and other royalists who sought an 
 asylum in this country at the commence- 
 ment of the revolution. 
 
 REGA'LIA, in law, the rights and 
 prerogatives of the sovereign power ; 
 also the ensigns of royalty, the crown, 
 sceptre, &c., worn by our kings and 
 queens at their coronation. Regalia of 
 the church-, are the rights and privileges 
 which cathedrals, Ac. enjoy by royal 
 grants. This term is particularly used 
 for such lands and hereditaments as have 
 been given by different sovereigns to the 
 church. 
 
 REGARD'ER, in England, an ancient 
 officer of the king's forest, whose business 
 is to inquire into all offences and defaults 
 committed within the forest, and to ob- 
 serve whether the other officers execute 
 their respective duties. 
 
 REGAT'TA, a name given to yacht 
 and boat races. The word is adopted 
 from the regatta in Venice, where boats, 
 containing one person only, contest for 
 prizes on the canals that intersect that 
 city. It is generally a very gay and 
 attractive spectacle, from the number of 
 spectators present in ornamented gondo- 
 las 
 
 REGENERATION, in theology, the 
 new birth of man unto righteousness, 
 following on the abolition of the original 
 corruption of his nature. Similar Ian-
 
 516 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [REH 
 
 guage was used respecting the admission 
 of proselytes to the privilege of Judaism : 
 so, also, in other religions. The Sanscrit 
 name for a Brahmin is said to signify 
 " twice-born ;" and Tertullian says that 
 the heathens used baptism in their mys- 
 teries, "in regenerationem." When our 
 Saviour admonished Nicodemus not to 
 marvel at his words, " Ye must be born 
 again," he added, with reference, doubt- 
 less, to the doctrines already taught 
 among the Jews, "Art thou a master of 
 Israel, and knowest not these things?" 
 But whether the new birth to which allu- 
 sion is made in these solemn passages of 
 Scripture, actually takes place by and 
 through baptism ; whether baptism, duly 
 administered by those authorized, is in 
 itself an " opus operatum," in the lan- 
 guage of the schools ; or whether the re- 
 generation spoken of as the condition of 
 our salvation takes place after, and inde- 
 pendent of baptism, by the operation of the 
 Spirit on the inner man this is a ques- 
 tion on which Protestants have never 
 agreed among themselves, and which 
 divides the English church at this day. 
 The former is the commonly received or 
 Catholic doctrine ; and has been so from 
 very early times, as far as we can con- 
 clude from the language of the fathers 
 and ancient forms of the church. But it 
 does not appear to be positively declared 
 by the Church of England, though infer- 
 red from various passages in the baptis- 
 mal service. 
 
 RE'GENT, one who governs a kingdom 
 during the minority or absence of the 
 rightful monarch. In English universi- 
 ties, a master of arts under five years' 
 standing, and a doctor under two. A 
 member of a board or corporate body in 
 the state of New York, who have power 
 to grant acts of incorporation for colle- 
 ges, and to visit and inspect all colleges, 
 academies, and schools of the state. 
 
 REG'IGIDE, the offence of slaying a 
 king or other sovereign. The early Greek 
 republics, unaccustomed to the legitimate 
 rule of monarchs, saw, in the occasional 
 subjugation which they underwent from 
 successful partisans, a mere usurpation, 
 or tyranny ; and tyrannicide was with 
 them only the slaying of a public enemy. 
 
 REG'IMEN, the regulation of diet, or, 
 in a more general sense, of all the non- 
 naturals, with a view to preserve or re- 
 store health. In grammar, that part of 
 *vntax, or construction, which regulates 
 frne dependency of words, and the altera- 
 tions which one occasions or requires in 
 Another in connection with it. 
 
 REGIMENT, in military affairs, a 
 body of troops, either horse, foot, or artil- 
 lery ; the infantry consisting of one or 
 more battalions, and commanded by acolo- 
 nel or lieutenant-colonel. Regimentals, 
 the uniform clothing of the army. 
 
 REGISTER, an official account of the 
 proceedings of a public body, or a book 
 in which are entered and recorded me- 
 moirs, acts, and minutes, to be had re- 
 course to occasionally, as well as for pre> 
 serving and conveying to future times 
 an exact knowledge of transactions 
 Register, in printing, such an accurate 
 arrangement of the lines and pages, that 
 those printed on one side of the sheet 
 shall fall exactly on those of the other. 
 
 RE'GIUS PROFES'SOR, in literature, 
 a title given to each of the five readers or 
 lecturers in the university of Oxford, so 
 called from king Henry VIII., by whom 
 these professorships were founded. 
 
 REG LET, or RIG'LET, in architec- 
 ture, a flat narrow moulding, used chiefly 
 in pannels and compartments, to separate 
 the parts or members from each other, 
 and to form knots, frets, and other orna- 
 ments. In printing, a ledge or thin slip 
 of wood exactly planed, used to separate 
 lines and make the work more open. 
 
 REG'NUM ECCLESIASTICUM, in 
 law, the absolute and independent power 
 which was possessed and exercised by the 
 clergy previous to the reformation, in all 
 spiritual matters ; in distinction from the 
 regnum seculars. 
 
 REGRA'TER, one who buys and re- 
 sells in the same fair or market ; a,fore- 
 staller being one who buys on the road to 
 the market. 
 
 REG'ULA, in archaeology, the book of 
 rules or orders of a monastery. 
 
 REG'ULARS, in military affairs, that 
 part of the army which is entirely at the 
 disposal of government. In ecclesiasti- 
 cal history, regulars are such as live 
 under some rule of obedience, and lead a 
 monastic life. 
 
 REHABILITATION, in foreign crim^ 
 inal law, is the reinstatement of a crim- 
 inal in his personal rights which he has 
 lost by a judicial sentence. Thus, in 
 Scotland, a pardon from the king is said 
 to rehabilitate a witness laboring under 
 infamia juris. In France, persons con- 
 demned to imprisonment or compulsory 
 labor may demand their rehabilitation 
 five years after the expiration of their 
 penalty : the demand is considered by the 
 cour royale of the district, and pronoun- 
 ced upon by the king in his privy council. 
 Various singular forms were attached to
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 517 
 
 the process of rehabilitation in ancient 
 times. There are extant letters of Charles 
 VI.. given in 1383, permitting a criminal 
 whose hand had been cut off for homi- 
 cide to replace it by another made in 
 such fashion as he may choose. 
 
 REHEAR'SAL, the recital in private 
 of an opera, oratorio, or, in short, any 
 dramatic work, previously to public ex- 
 hibition. 
 
 REI'NECKE, (the fox,) the name of a 
 celebrated popular German epic poem, 
 which, during the latter part of the middle 
 ages and early centuries of modern times, 
 enjoyed an almost European reputation. 
 It became first known through the medi- 
 um of a Low German version in the 15th 
 century; and it has. with few interrup- 
 tions, ever since involved the German 
 literati in discussions as to its origin, 
 which are yet apparently far from being 
 settled. It contains a humorous and sa- 
 tirical account of the adventures of Rei- 
 necke (the fox) at the court of King Nodel 
 (the lion ;) exhibits the cunning of the 
 former, arid the means which he adopted 
 to rebut the charges preferred against 
 him, and the hypocrisy and lies by which 
 he contrived to gain the favor of his sove- 
 reign, who loaded him with honors. The 
 king, the officers of his court, and all his 
 subjects are represented, as in Esop's 
 Fables, under the names of the animals 
 best suited to their respective characters ; 
 and the poem is an admirable satire on 
 the intrigues practised at a weak court. 
 The most successful versions of this poem 
 are those of Goethe, in hexameters ; of 
 Soltau, in the measure of the original ; 
 and the more recent attempt of Ortlepp. 
 This poem appears, in some form or 
 other, to have been known throughout 
 Europe. 
 
 REIS-EPFEN'DT, the name given to 
 one of the chief Turkish officers of state. 
 He is chancellor of the empire and min- 
 ister of foreign affairs, in which capacity 
 he negotiates with the ambassadors and 
 interpreters of foreign nations. 
 
 RE.JOIN'DER, in law, the defendant's 
 answer to the plaintiff's reply. 
 
 RELA'TION, in logic, one of the ten 
 predicaments or accidents belonging to 
 substance. Relation, inharmonical, in 
 music, a term to express that some harsh 
 and displeasing discord is produced in 
 comparing the present note with that of 
 another part. 
 
 REL'ATIVE, in general, a term sig- 
 nifying not absolute, but considered as 
 belonging to or respecting something 
 else. Relative, in grammar, a word 
 
 which relates to or represents another 
 word, called its antecedent, or to a sen- 
 tence, or member of a sentence, or to a 
 series of sentences, which constitutes its 
 antecedent. Relative terms, in logic, 
 terms which imply relation, as guardian 
 and ward ; husband and wife ; master and 
 servant. 
 
 RELAY', a supply of horses ready on 
 the road to relieve others, in order that 
 a traveller may proceed without delay. 
 In hunting, relay signifies fresh sets of 
 dogs, or horses, or both, placed in readi 
 ness, in case the game coines that way, 
 to be cast off. or to mount the hunters in 
 lieu of the former. 
 
 RELEASE', in law, is a discharge or 
 conveyance of a person's right in landa 
 or tenements, to another who has some 
 former estate in possession. The words 
 generally used therein, are. " remised, 
 released, and forever quit-claimed." 
 
 REL'ICS, in the Romish church, are 
 the remains of saints and holy men, or of 
 their garments, &c., which are enjoined 
 to be held in veneration, and are consid- 
 ered, in many instances, to be endued 
 with miraculous powers. They are pre- 
 served in the churches, to which they are 
 often the means of attracting pilgrimages, 
 and in very ignorant times and places 
 have been actually made objects of ado- 
 ration. The virtues which are attributed 
 to them are defended by such instances 
 from Scripture as that of the miracles 
 that were wrought by the bones of Elisha. 
 
 RELIEF', (RELIEVO,) in sculpture, 
 that species of sculpture in which the 
 figures are engaged on or rise from a 
 ground. There are three sorts of relievo 
 basso-relievo, in which the figures or 
 
 other objects have but small projection 
 from the ground on which they are sculp- 
 tured ; mezzo-relievo, in which the figures 
 stand out about half their natural pro- 
 portions, the other half appearing im- 
 mersed in the ground ; and lastly, alto- 
 relievo, in which the figures stand com- 
 pletely out from the ground, being 
 attached to it only in a few places, and 
 in others worked entirely round like single
 
 518 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [REM 
 
 statues; such are the metopsc of the 
 Elgin marbles in the British Museum, 
 which marbles also, in the Panathenaic 
 
 procession, exhibit some exquisite ex- 
 amples of basso-relievo. Relief, in ar- 
 chitecture, the projection of a figure or 
 ornament from the ground or plane on 
 which it is sculptured. In painting, the 
 appearance of projection, or the degree 
 of boldness which a figure exhibits to 
 the eye at a distance. In feudal law, 
 * a fine or composition which the heir of 
 a tenant, holding by knight's service or 
 other tenure, paid to the lord at the 
 death of the ancestor, for the privilege 
 of taking up the estate which, on strict 
 feudal principles, had lapsed or fallen to 
 the lord on the death of the tenant. 
 This relief consisted of horses, arms, 
 money, and the like, the amount of 
 which was originally arbitrary, but after- 
 ward fixed at a certain rate by law. It 
 is not payable, unless the heir at the 
 death of his ancestor had attained to the 
 age of twenty-one years. 
 
 RELIEF''SYNC)D, a respectable body 
 of Presbyterian dissenters in Scotland, 
 whose ground of separation from the 
 established church was the violent exer- 
 cise of lay patronage which obtained in 
 the latter. Though patronage, or the ap- 
 pointment of clergymen to church bene- 
 fices by presentations had been establish- 
 ed by net of Parliament in 1712, yet a 
 minority of the clergy were opposed to 
 that measure; or at least to the intrusion 
 of a minister into parochial charge con- 
 trary to the sentiments of the people. 
 The majority of the church, however, en- 
 tertained different views, and rigorously 
 enforced the provisions of the act of 1712. 
 With this state of things the people gene- 
 rally, but particularly in rural districts, 
 were dissatisfied ; and hence the origin of 
 the Secession church, and the Relief. 
 
 RELI'GrON, that worship and homage 
 which is due to God, considered as our 
 crenfor, preserver, and most bountiful 
 benefactor. It is divided into natural 
 
 and revealed. By natural religion \e 
 meant, that knowledge, veneration, and 
 love of God, and the practice of those 
 duties to him, our fellow-creatures, and 
 ourselves, which are discoverable from 
 the right exercise of our rational facul- 
 ties, from considering the nature and 
 perfections of God, and our relation to 
 him and to one another. By revealed re- 
 ligion is meant, natural religion explain- 
 ed, enforced, and enlarged, from the ex- 
 press declarations of God himself, from 
 the mouths or pens of his prophets. &e. 
 Religion, in a more contracted sense, is 
 used for any system of faith and worship ; 
 and even for the various sects into which 
 each religion is divided. Religion is dif- 
 ferent from theology, inasmuch as the 
 latter is speculative and the former prac- 
 tical. Religion is a system of dirties ; 
 theology a system of opinions. Theology 
 inquires into the nature of the po\ver or 
 powers to whom all visible things are 
 in subjection; religion is the sentiment 
 which springs from that inquiry. The 
 slightest knowledge of history is sufficient 
 to inform us that religion has evei had a 
 powerful influence in moulding the sen- 
 timents and manners of men. In one 
 region or age it has been favorable to 
 civilization and refinement; in another 
 it has been so directed as to fetter genius 
 or warp the human mind. That, however, 
 depends on the purity of the doctrine and 
 the liberality of its teachers. 
 
 RELI'GIOUS HOUSES, different asyla 
 or habitations for priests, nuns, and poor, 
 still existing in Catholic countries, and 
 before the Reformation abounding in Eng- 
 land. They consisted of abbeys, monas- 
 teries, priories, hospitals, friaries, and 
 nunneries, supported by lands and be- 
 quests left them by pious persons, which 
 became enormous. Nearly the whole 
 (above 3000) were dissolved, and their 
 wealth seized by Henry the Eighth ; the 
 monks, nuns, and officers being allowed 
 pensions. 
 
 RELIQ'UJE, in Roman antiquity, the 
 ashes and bones of the dead, remaining 
 after burning their bodies; which were 
 gathered up, put into urns, and after- 
 wards deposited in tombs. 
 
 RE'LIQUARY, the receptacle for the 
 relics venerated in Roman Catholic 
 churches. The difference between a reli- 
 quary and a case used for the same pur- 
 pose is, that the former is smaller in di- 
 mensions, and contains only small frag- 
 ments; the latter, in many instances, en- 
 tire bodies. 
 
 REMAIN'DER, in law, an estate in
 
 REP] 
 
 AND THK FINE ARTS. 
 
 519 
 
 lands, tenements, or rents, not to be en- 
 joyed till after a term of years or an- 
 other person's decease. There is this 
 difference between a remainder and a 
 reversion; in case of a reversion, the es- 
 tate granted, after the limited time, re- 
 verts to the grantor or his heirs ; but by 
 a remainder it goes to some third person 
 or a stranger. 
 
 REMINIS'CENCE, that faculty of the 
 mind by which ideas formerly received 
 into it, but forgotten, are recalled or re- 
 vived in the memory. 
 
 REM'ON'STRANCE, a strong repre- 
 sentation of reasons against a measure, 
 either public or private; and .when ad- 
 dressed to a public body, prince or magis- 
 trate, it may be accompanied with a peti- 
 tion or supplication for the removal or pre- 
 vention of some evil or inconvenience. 
 
 REMON'STRANTS, in ecclesiastical 
 history, the appellation given to the Ar- 
 minians who remonstrated against the 
 decisions of the Synod of Dort, in 1618. 
 
 REM'PHAN, an idol worshipped by 
 the Israelites while in the wilderness, 
 according to the language of St. Stephen, 
 as recorded in the acts, " Ye took up the 
 tabernacle- of Moloch, and the star of 
 your god Remphan." In this passage 
 commentators are agreed that St. Ste- 
 phen quotes the words of Amos, " Ye have 
 borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and 
 Chiun, your images." Chiun and Rem- 
 phan are, therefore, the same, and both 
 are thought to be personifications of Sir- 
 ius, the Dog-star. 
 
 RENT, in law, a sum of money issuing 
 yearly from lands and tenements ; a com- 
 pensation or return, in the nature of an 
 acknowledgment, for the possession of a 
 corporeal inheritance. Rack-rent, is & 
 rent of the full value of the tenement, or 
 near it. Afee-farm rent, is a rent charge 
 issuing out of an estate in fee, of at least 
 one-fourth of the value of the lands at the 
 time of its reservation. 
 
 RENT'AL. a schedule in which the 
 rents of manors are set down. It contains 
 the lands let to each tenant, with their 
 names, and the several rents arising. 
 
 RENT CHARGE, in law, a charge of. 
 rent upon land, with a clause of distress 
 in case of non-payment. 
 
 REPEAT', in music, a character show- 
 ing that what was last played or sung 
 must be repeated. 
 
 REPENT'ANCE, in a religious sense, 
 sorrow or deep contrition for sin, as an of- 
 fence and dishonor to God, and a violation 
 of his holy law ; but to render it accepta- 
 ble, it must be followed by amendment i 
 
 j of life. Legal repentance, or such as is 
 excited by the terrors of legal penalties, 
 may exist* without an amendment of 
 life. 
 
 REP'ERTORY, a place in which things 
 are disposed in an orderly manner, so 
 that they can be easily found, as the in- 
 dex of a book, a common-place book, <fec. 
 REPLEVIN, in law, a remedy grant- 
 ed on a distress, by which a person, whose 
 effects are distrained, has them restored 
 to him again, on his giving security to 
 the sheriff that he will pursue his action 
 against the party distraining, and return 
 the goods or cattle if the taking them 
 shall be adjudged lawful. 
 
 REPLICA'TION, in logic, the assum- 
 ing or using the same term twice in the 
 same proposition. 
 
 REPOSE . in the Fine Arts, the absence 
 of that agitation which is induced by the 
 scattering and division of a subject into 
 too many unconnected parts, in which case 
 a work is said to want repose. Where re- 
 pose is wanting from this cause, "the 
 eye," says Sir Joshua Reynolds, " is per- 
 plexed and fatigued, from not knowing 
 where to rest, where to find the principal 
 action, or which is the principal figure ; 
 for where all are making equal preten- 
 sions to notice, all are in danger of neg- 
 lect." 
 
 REPORTING, the act of giving ac- 
 count of anything, of relating, or of mak- 
 ing statements of facts or of adjudged 
 cases in law. Newspaper reporting, the 
 name given to that system ly which the 
 Congressional debates and proceedings, 
 and the proceedings of public meetings, 
 <fec., are promulgated throughout the 
 country. 
 
 REPRESENTATION, in politics, the 
 part performed by a deputy chosen by a 
 constituent body to support its interests, 
 and act in its name on a public occasion. 
 Thus a plenipotentiary represents the 
 sovereign or the state which delegates 
 him at a foreign court. But the most or- 
 dinary use of the word is to express the 
 principal function of the delegate of a 
 constituency in a legislative assembly. 
 Representation, in this sense, was un- 
 known to the political systems of the an- 
 cients, and seems to have originated in 
 the necessities and usages of feudal times ; 
 the lord not being able to levy aid from 
 his vassals without their consent, it be- 
 came customary for these to delegate pow- 
 ers to individuals from among their num- 
 bers to attend his summons, and confer 
 with him respecting the aid required. 
 Hence, in our own country, the represen-
 
 520 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [KES 
 
 tation of county freeholders by knight?, 
 of communities by their chosen burgesses, 
 in parliament. The most complete early 
 model of a representative feudal assem- 
 bly is to be found in the parliament of the 
 Sicilies under the Suabian kings; but 
 England is the only country in which it 
 has expanded regularly into a legislature. 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE, one who law- 
 fully represents another for the perfor- 
 mance of any duty, according to the 
 wishes of the other and to his own honest 
 judgment. A member of the house of 
 commons is the representative of his con- 
 stituents and of the nation. In matters 
 concerning his constituents only, he is 
 supposed to be bound by their instruc- 
 tions ; but in the enacting of laws for the 
 nation, he is supposed not to be bound 
 by their instructions,- as he acts for the 
 whole nation. Any other construction of 
 his duty would be derogatory to him as a 
 free and independent member of the 
 senate. 
 
 REPRIEVE', in law, a warrant for 
 suspending the execution of a malefactor. 
 
 REPRI'SALS, LETTERS OF, in na- 
 tional law, the capture of property be- 
 longing to the subjects of a foreign power 
 in satisfaction of losses sustained by a 
 citizen of the capturing state. Letters of 
 reprisal are granted by the law of na- 
 tions, where the subject of one state has 
 been oppressed or injured by the subjects 
 of another, and where justice has been re- 
 fused on application by letters of request. 
 
 REPRI'SES, in law, deduction or pay- 
 ments out of the value of lands ; such as 
 rent-charges, or annuities. 
 
 REPROBA'TION, in theology, is a 
 term commonly applied to the supralap- 
 sarian tenet of the consignment of all 
 mankind to eternal punishment, with the 
 exception of those whom God has arbi- 
 trarily selected for eternal happiness. 
 
 REPUB'LIC, that form of government 
 in which the supreme power is vested in 
 the people. A republic may be either an 
 aristocracy or a democracy : the supreme 
 power, in the former, being consigned to 
 the nobles or a few privileged individuals, 
 as was formerly the case in Venice and 
 Genoa ; while, in the latter, it is placed 
 in the hands of rulers chosen by and from 
 the whole body of the people, or by their 
 representatives assembled in a congress 
 or national assembly. The free towns of 
 the Continent, Hamburg, Frankfort, Lii- 
 beck, and Bremen, are instances of this 
 latter form of government ; but the most 
 perfect example of it is to be found in the 
 United States, and in some of the South 
 
 American confederations which have 
 shaken off the Spanish yoke. In Swit- 
 zerland, aristocracy is partially blended 
 with democracy in the form of govern- 
 
 REQUESTS', COURT OF, in law, a 
 convenient court for the recovery of small 
 debts, held by commissioners duly quali- 
 fied, who try causes by the oath of par- 
 ties and of other witnesses. 
 
 RE'QUIEM, in music, a prayer in the 
 Romish church, which begins with Re- 
 quiem ceternam dona eisdomine; whence, 
 "losing a requiem," is tosing-a mass 
 for the rest of the souls of deceased per- 
 sons. 
 
 RE'SCRIPT, the wiswer of an empe- 
 ror, when consulted by particular persons 
 on some difficult question. This answer 
 serves as a decision of the question, and 
 is therefore equivalent to an edict or de- 
 cree. 
 
 RES'CUE, in law, the forcible retaking 
 of a lawful distress from the distrainor, 
 or from the custody of the law : also, the 
 forcible liberation of a defendant from 
 the custody of the officer. 
 
 RESERVATION, in law, a clause 
 or part of an instrument by which some- 
 thing is reserved, not conceded or grant- 
 ed. Mental reservation, is the withhold- 
 ing of expression or disclosure of some- 
 thing that affects a proposition or state- 
 ment, and which if disclosed would mate- 
 rially vary its import. 
 
 RESERVE', or CORPS DE RESERVE, in 
 military affairs, the third or last line of 
 an army drawn up for battle ; so called 
 because they are reserved to sustain the 
 rest, as occasion requires, and not to en- 
 gage but in case of necessity. 
 
 RESIDENTIARY, a canon or other 
 ecclesiastic installed into the privileges 
 and profits of a residence. 
 
 RESID'UARY LEGATEE', in law, 
 the legatee to whom the residue of a 
 personal estate is given by will, after 
 deducting all debts and specific legacies. 
 
 RESOLU'TION, the operation or pro- 
 cess of separating the parts which com- 
 pose a complex idea or a mixed body. 
 The determination or decision of a legis- 
 lative body ; or a formal proposition 
 offered for legislative determination. 
 Resolution, in music, the writing out 
 of a canon or fugue in partition from 
 a single line. Resolution of a discord, 
 the descent by a tone or a semitone, ac- 
 cording as the mode may require, of a 
 discord which has been heard in the pre- 
 ceding harmony. 
 
 RES'ON ANCE, in music, the returning
 
 UET] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 521 
 
 of sound by the air acting on the bodies 
 of stringed musical instruments 
 
 RESPONDENT, in law, one that an- 
 swers in a suit, particularly a chancery 
 suit. In the schools, one who maintains 
 a thesis in reply, and whose province is 
 to refute objections or overthrow argu- 
 ments. 
 
 RESPONSE', an answer; but more 
 particularly used to denote the answer of 
 the congregation to the priest, in the 
 litany and other parts of divine service. 
 In the llomish church, a kind of anthem 
 sung after the morning lesson. 
 
 UESSEX'TI, a word employed in the 
 arts connected with drawing, to signify 
 whatever is pronounced or expressed with 
 force. Thus we speak of muscles ressenti, 
 or a'mnnner ressenti. Nature exhibits all 
 the varieties of form, but these are only 
 occasionally to be so denominated. Wo- 
 men, children and men of delicate hab- 
 its or profession, display only muscles 
 ligbtly shaped and unmarked by strenu- 
 ousness, while, on the other hand, men 
 exercised to robust employments present 
 this style of person. Who is not struck 
 with the contrast between the Farnese 
 Hercules and the Belvedere Apollo or the 
 Antinous ? Among the moderns, Raf- 
 faelle is perhaps the greatest painter to 
 be cited for the precision and variety of 
 the shapes which he has adapted to differ- 
 ent figures, as well as for superiority in 
 the art in general. 
 
 REST, in music, n pause or interval 
 of time, during which there is an inter- 
 mission of the voice or sound. A rest 
 may be for a bar, or more than a bar, or 
 for a part of a bar only. The pause or 
 cessation of sound is equal in duration 
 to the note represented by the rest. As 
 there are six musical characters called 
 notes, so there are as many rests. 
 
 RESTORATION, renewal; revival; 
 re-establishment. In England, the re- 
 turn of King Charles II., in 1660. is byway 
 of eminence called the Restoration ; and 
 the 29th of May is kept as an anniver- 
 sary festival, in commemoration of the 
 re-establishment of monarchy. 
 
 RESURRECTION, the history of the 
 resurrection of our Saviour is detailed 
 in the separate narration of each of the 
 four Evangelists, and is also referred to 
 and insisted on in the Acts of the Apostles, 
 and in every one of the Epistles. The 
 importance of this history, as an evidence 
 of the truth of Christianity, is pointed out 
 in a peculiar manner by Paley ; namely, 
 that it was alleged from the beginning by 
 all the propagators of Christianity, and 
 
 relied on as the great test of the doc- 
 trines which they taught : consequently, 
 if the fact be untrue, they must all have 
 been either deceivers, or deceived in a 
 point on which it is morally impossible 
 they could be so. 
 
 RETAIN'ER, in old English law, a 
 servant not dwelling in the master's 
 house or employed by him in any distinct 
 occupation, but wearing his livery (i. e., 
 hat, badge, or suit,) and attending on 
 particular occasions ; an important relic 
 of the times of private warfare. The 
 giving liveries, or retaining this class of 
 servants, was forbidden by man}' statutes 
 with little effect. In the language of the 
 bar, a fee given to a counsel to secure his 
 services : or .rather, as it has been said, 
 to prevent the opposite side from engag- 
 ing them. A special retainer is for a 
 particular case expected to come on. A 
 general retainer is given by a party de- 
 sirous of securing a priority of claim on 
 the counsel's services for any case which 
 he may have in any court which that 
 counsel attends. The effect of it is mere- 
 ly this, that if a counsel having a general 
 retainer receive a special retainer on the 
 other side, he cannot accept it until 
 twenty-four hcurs after notice shall have 
 been given of its arrival to the party so 
 generally retaining him ; when, if he does 
 not receive a brief or a special retainer 
 from the latter, he is bound to accept it. 
 The same word in its strict legal accepta- 
 tion signifies the engagement of an attor- 
 ney by his client, which enhances the 
 mutual duties implied by the law between 
 them. 
 
 RETIA'RIUS, th^name of a class of 
 Roman gladiators armed in a peculiar 
 way. The retiarius was furnished with a 
 trident and net, with no more covering 
 than a short tunic ; and with these im- 
 plements ho endeavored to entangle and 
 despatch his adversary, who was called 
 secutor (from sequi, to follow,) and was 
 armed with a helmet, a shield, and a 
 sword. 
 
 RET'ICENCE, or RET'ICENCY, in 
 rhetoric, a figure by which a person 
 really speaks of a thing, while he makes 
 a show as if he would say nothing on the 
 subject. 
 
 RETIC'ULATED WORK, in architec- 
 ture, that wherein the stones are square 
 and laid lozengewise, resembling the 
 meshes of a net. This species of masonry 
 is scarcely ever practised in the present 
 day : but it was very common among the 
 ancients. 
 
 RETIRADE', in fortification, a kind
 
 522 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF -LITERATURE 
 
 of retrenchment in the body of a bastion 
 or other work, which is to be disputed 
 inch by inch, after the defences aro dis- 
 mantled. 
 
 RETRAX'IT, in law, the withdrawing 
 or open renunciation of a suit in court, 
 by which the plaintitf loses his action. A 
 retraxlt is a bar to any future action, 
 which a nonsuit is not 
 
 RETRENCII'MENT, in the artof war, 
 any kind of work raised to cover a post 
 and fortify it against the enemy, such as 
 fascines loaded with earth, gabions, sand- 
 bags, <fcc. 
 
 RE'TRO, a prefix to many words, as in 
 retrocession, retrogradatiou, &c. : imply- 
 ing a going backward. 
 
 RE'TURN, in law, a certificate from 
 sheriffs and bailiffs of what is done in the 
 execution of a writ. Return days, certain 
 days in term time for the return of writs. 
 In military and naval affairs, an 
 official account, report, or statement ren- 
 dered to the commander ; as, the return 
 of men fit for duty ; or the return, of pro- 
 visions, ammunition, <tc. Returns, in 
 commerce, that which is returned, wheth- 
 er in goods or specie, for merchandise 
 sent abroad. Also, the return of money 
 laid out in the way of trade ; as, " small 
 profits bring quick returns." Returns 
 of a mine, in fortification, the windings 
 and turnings of a gallery leading to a 
 mine. Returns, in military affairs, state- 
 ments given in by the officers of regi- 
 ments, companies, Ac, of the number, 
 condition, &c., of their men, horses, &c. 
 
 REVE ILLE, in military affairs, the 
 beat of drum about break of day, to give 
 notice that it is tiro for the soldiers to 
 rise and for the senunels to forbear chal- 
 lenging. 
 
 REVELATION, the act of revealing, 
 or making a thing public that was before 
 unknown. It is also used for the dis- 
 coveries made by God to his prophets, 
 and by them to the world ; and more 
 particularly for the books of the Old and 
 New Testament. The principal tests of 
 the truth of any revelation are. its being 
 worthy of God, and consistent with his 
 known attributes ; and in its having a 
 tendency to refine, purify, and exalt the 
 mind of man to an imitation of the Deity 
 in his moral perfections. 
 
 REVELS, MASTER OF THE, or 
 LORD OF MISRULE, the name of an 
 officer formerly attached pro tempore to 
 royal and other distinguished houses, 
 whose duty it was to preside over the 
 Christinas entertainments. This office 
 was first permanently instituted in the 
 
 rein of Henry VIII., and appears to 
 have gone out of fashion towards the end 
 of the 17th century. 
 
 REVENDICA'TION, a term of tin- 
 civil law, signifying a claim legally 
 made to recover property, by one claim- 
 ing as owner. The right of property 
 must, generally speaking, be complete, 
 to proceed to the action of revendication ; 
 thus, no such action can be brought for 
 corporeal things until after delivery, by 
 which they pass. 
 
 REVENUE, in a general sense, is an 
 annual or continual income, or the yearly 
 profit that accrues to a man from his 
 lands or possessions ; but in modern 
 usage, revenue is generally applied to 
 the annual produce of taxes, excise, cus- 
 toms, duties, &c. which a nation or 'state 
 collects or receives into the treasury for 
 public use. 
 
 REVEREND, a title of respect given 
 to the clergy. In Roman Catholic coun- 
 tries the members of the different reli- 
 gious orders are styled reverend. In 
 England, deans are very reverend, bishops 
 right reverend, and archbishops most 
 reverend. In Scotland, the principals of 
 the universities and the moderator of the 
 General Assembly for the time being are 
 styled very reverend. 
 
 REVERIE, a loose or irregular train 
 of thoughts, occurring in musing or medi- 
 tation ; or any wild, extravagant conceit 
 of the fancy or imagination. 
 
 REVE1VSION, in law, is when the 
 possession of an estate which was parted 
 with for a time returns to the donor or 
 his heirs. Also the right which a person 
 has to any inheritance, or place of profit, 
 after the decease of another. 
 
 REVET'MENT, in fortification, a 
 strong wall on the outside of a rampart, 
 intended to support the earth. 
 
 REVIEW, in military tactics, the dis- 
 play of a body of troops, for the purpose 
 of exhibiting the state of their appear- 
 ance and discipline before some superior 
 officer or illustrious personage. Review, 
 in literature, a critical examination of a 
 new publication. Also a periodical pub- 
 lication containing critical examinations 
 and analyses of new works. The person 
 who performs this duty is called the re- 
 viewer. Revieir, (bill of.) in chancery, a 
 bill where a cause has been heard, but 
 some errors in law appearing, or some 
 new matter being discovered after the 
 decree was made, this bill is given for a 
 fresh examination into the merits of the 
 cause. 
 
 REVISE', a second proof-sheet of a
 
 RHY] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 523 
 
 work, for the revisal or re-examination 
 of the errors corrected. The act of revi- 
 sing a book or writing for publication, is 
 termed a revision. 
 
 REVTVOR, in law, the reviving of a 
 suit which is abated by the death of any 
 of the parties. This is done by a bill of 
 revivor. 
 
 REVOKE', to reverse or repeal. A 
 law, decree, or sentence is revoked by the 
 same authority which enacted or passed 
 it. A devise may be revoked by the 
 devisor, a use by the grantor, and a will 
 by the testator. A law may cease to 
 operate without an express revocation. 
 
 REVOLU'TION, in politics, a material 
 or entire change in the constitution of 
 government. Thus the revolution in 
 England, in 1688, was produced by the 
 abdication of King James II. the estab- 
 lishment of the house of Orange upon 
 the throne, and the restoration of the 
 constitution to its primitive state. In 
 like manner, though with very different 
 consequences, the revolution in France 
 effected a change of constitution. In the 
 United States, the war of 1776, which 
 achieved the independence of the thirteen 
 states, is known as THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 REX SACRO'RUM, among the Ro- 
 mans, was a person appointed to preside 
 in certain sacred duties. He generally 
 performed such office as the kings of 
 Rome had reserved to themselves before 
 the abolition of their power. He was 
 chosen by the augurs and pontifices, at 
 the establishment of the commonwealth, 
 that the name of king might not be wholly 
 extinct; and in order that his power 
 might never be dangerous to civil liberty, 
 he was not permitted to have the least 
 share in civil affairs. 
 
 RHAB DOMANCY, properly, divina- 
 tion by a rod or wand. Some persons have 
 been believed to be endowed by nature 
 with a peculiar sense or perception, by 
 which they are enabled to discover things 
 hid in the earth, especially metals and 
 water. But a more prevalent opinion 
 has been, that the discovery of these 
 substances might be effected by means of 
 a divining rod. A divining rod is a branch 
 of a tree, generally hazel, forked at the 
 end, and held in a particular way, by the 
 two ends, in the hands of the adept ; and 
 is supposed to indicate the position of 
 the substance sought by bending towards 
 it with a slow rotatory motion, the adept, 
 according to modern practice, being placed 
 in contact with some metallic or other 
 magnetic substance. The art is said to 
 be occasionally practised in the south of 
 
 France and Italy, under the names of 
 metalloscopy, hydroscopy. &c. 
 
 RHAP'SODI, in antiquity, a name 
 given to such poets as recited or sung 
 their own works, in detached pieces, from 
 town to town. Hence the term rhapso- 
 dies was particularly applied to the 
 works of Homer, which were so rehearsed. 
 In modern usage, a collection. of pas- 
 sages, composing a new piece, but with- 
 out necessary dependence or natural con- 
 nection, is called a rhapsody. 
 
 RHEN'ISH, pertaining to the river 
 Rhine, or to Rheims, in France : as Rhen- 
 ish wine. 
 
 RHE'TIAN, pertaining to the ancient 
 Rhaeti, or to Rhsetia, their country, as 
 the Rhetian Alps, now the country of 
 Tyrol and the Grisons. 
 
 RHET'ORIC, the art of speaking with 
 propriety, elegance, and force ; or, as 
 Lord Bacon defines it, the art of ap- 
 plying and addressing the dictates of 
 reason to the fancy, and of recommending 
 them there so as to affect the will and 
 desires. Rhetoric and oratory differ from 
 each other as the theory from the prac- 
 tice ; the rhetorician being the one who 
 describes the rules of eloquence, and the 
 orator he who uses them to advantage. 
 The parts of rhetoric are, invention, dis- 
 position, and elocution. The forms of 
 speech by which propriety and elegance 
 are produced, are denominated tropes 
 and figures. The general manner in 
 which the orator employs his words for 
 the formation of his speech is called style, 
 which is variously distinguished. Rheto- 
 ric divides an oration or speech into five 
 parts : the exordium, narration, confirma- 
 tion, refutation, and peroration. The 
 exordium is the part in which the speaker 
 prepares the minds of the auditors for 
 what he is about to advance. It ought 
 to be expressed with considerable care 
 and perspicuity, and the matter and man- 
 ner should be to the purpose, brief, and 
 modest. The narration is the recital of 
 facts or events ; and should have the 
 qualities of clearness, probability, brevi- 
 ty, and consistency. The confirmation 
 establishes the proofs of a discourse, and 
 arranges them in the manner best adapt- 
 ed to enforce conviction. The refuta- 
 tion, or anticipation, furnishes arguments 
 to answer the assertions that may be op- 
 posed to the narration. The peroration, 
 or conclusion, should recapitulate the 
 whole with condensed force and energy. 
 
 RHYME, in poetry, the correspond- 
 ence of sounds in the last words or sylla- 
 bles of verses. The latter is the true
 
 524 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 rhyme of modern European languages. 
 There are rhymed verses in the Latin 
 classical poets, where the jingle seems 
 intentional, and more distinct examples 
 of it in the fragments of Roman military 
 songs, <tc., which have come down to us. 
 But in the earlier period of the decay of 
 the Latin language, when accent was sub- 
 stituted for metre in the rhythmical ar- 
 rangement of the verse, rhyme made its 
 way into the composition of church hymns, 
 Ac. It has been attempted with little 
 success, to deduce this innovation from 
 the Goths, and from the Arabians ; but 
 the former, like the old Teutonic races, 
 probably used alliteration, but no rhyme 
 in their verses ; and the latter could not 
 have influenced European literature until 
 a period long after that in which rhyme 
 first appears. A rhyme in which the 
 final syllables only agree (strain, com- 
 plain,) is called a male rhyme ; one in 
 which the two final syllables of each verse 
 agree, the last being short (motion, 
 ocean,) female ; and the latter is some- 
 times extended in Italian poetry to three 
 syllables (femore, immemore,) when the 
 verse is called sdriicciolo. In English 
 such a license is hardly permissible, ex- 
 cept in burlesque poetry (see Hudibras 
 and Don Juan, for instances.) By the 
 strict rules of French prosody, the male 
 and female species of rhymes must be 
 alternately used, however intricate the 
 disposition of the verse may be ; although 
 the last short syllable is generally mute, 
 or very slightly sounded. Rhymes which 
 extend not only beyond the three last 
 syllables, but through the whole struc- 
 ture of the lines, are used in Arabian and 
 Persian poetry. Rhymes in which the 
 consonants of the last syllable in each 
 verse are identical, (dress, address,) are 
 vicious in English, but rather admired in 
 French poetry. One more singularity of 
 English poetry deserves notice : while, 
 from the irregularity of our spelling, 
 many syllables rhyme with each other, 
 although widely dissimilar in orthography 
 (woo, pursue,) there are, on the other 
 band, rhymes which speak to the eye, 
 and not to the ear ; i. e., in which the 
 orthography of the rhyming syllables is 
 the same, but the pronunciation different ; 
 as, wind, find; gone, alone. This is a 
 license only rendered admissible by pre-_ 
 cedent. 
 
 RIIYMOPCE'IA, in ancient music, that 
 part of the science which prescribed the 
 laws of rhyme, or what appertained to 
 the rhythmic art. 
 
 RHYTHM, in music, variety in the 
 
 movement as to quickness or slowness, 
 or length and shortness of the notes ; or 
 rather the proportion which the parts of 
 the motion have to each other. Metre ; 
 verse ; number. Rhythm is the conso- 
 nance of measure and time in poetry, 
 prose composition, and music, and by an- 
 alogy, dancing. In poetry, it is the rela- 
 tive duration of the moments employed 
 in pronouncing the syllables of a verse ; 
 and in music, the relative duration of 
 the sounds that enter into the composi- 
 tion of an air. Prose also has its rhythm, 
 and the only difference (so far as sound 
 is concerned) between verse and prose is, 
 that the former consists of a regular suc- 
 cession of similar cadences, or of a limit- 
 ed variety of cadences, divided by gram- 
 matical pauses and emphases into pro- 
 portional clauses, so as to present sensi- 
 ble responses to the ear, at regular pro- 
 portioned distances ; prose, on the other 
 hand, is composed of all sorts of cadences, 
 arranged without attention to obvious 
 rule, and divided into clauses which have 
 no obviously ascertained proportion, and 
 present no responses to the ear at any 
 legitimate or determined intervals. In 
 dancing, the rhythm is recognized in the 
 sound of the feet. 
 
 RIDEAU', in fortification, a rising 
 ground commanding a plain : also a 
 trench covered with earth in form of a 
 parapet to shelter soldiers. 
 
 RI'DER, or RI'DER-ROLL, in law, a 
 schedule, or small piece of parchment, 
 often added to some part of a record or 
 act of parliament. 
 
 RI'DING, in England, one of the three 
 jurisdictions into which the county of 
 York is divided, anciently under the 
 government of a reeve. 
 
 RIFACIMEN'TO, an Italian word, of 
 late often used in English, to denote a 
 remaking or furbishing up anew. Its 
 most usual application is to the process 
 of recasting literary works, so as to adapt 
 them to a somewhat different purpose or 
 to a changed state of circumstances. 
 
 RIGHT OF PROP'ERTY, in political 
 economy, the right which states, bodies 
 of individuals and individuals have to 
 the exclusive use and enjoyment of such 
 lands, natural powers, and products as 
 have been appropriated or set apart for 
 any peculiar purpose. 
 
 klNFORZAN'DO, in music, a direc- 
 tion to the performer, denoting that the 
 sound is to be increased. It is marked 
 thus < ; when the sound is to be dimin- 
 ished this mark > is used. 
 
 RING'LEADER, the leader of any
 
 RoaJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 525 
 
 association of men engaged in violation 
 of law or an illegal enterprise, as rioters, 
 mutineers, and the like. According to 
 some this name is derived from the prac- 
 tice which men associating to oppose law 
 have sometimes adopted, of signing their 
 names to articles of agreement in a ring, 
 that no one of their number might be 
 distinguished as the leader. According 
 to others it signified originally, one who 
 took the lead in forming the ring of a 
 dance. 
 
 RINGS, FAIRY, a name given to ir- 
 regular circles In pastures and lawns on 
 which agarics spring up, and which be- 
 come much more verdant than the sur- 
 rounding grass. They are caused by the 
 centrifugal growth of the spawn of the 
 agaric, which radiates from a common 
 centre, and bears the fructification, 
 which is what appears above ground, 
 only at the circumference. The verdure 
 of the grass where these fungi grow 
 seems to be caused either by their ma- 
 nuring the ground when they decay, or 
 by the nitrogen they give off, which is an 
 active stimulant to vegetation. The ap- 
 plication of fairy rings was given to this 
 phenomenon from their being regarded 
 as the places where the fairies held their 
 nocturnal revels. 
 
 RI'OT. in law, is said to be a tumult- 
 uous disturbance of the peaue by three 
 persons or more assembling together of 
 their own authority in order to assist 
 each other against any one who shall 
 oppose them in the execution of a private 
 purpose, and afterwards executing the 
 same in a violent and turbulent manner. 
 A rout is said to be a disturbance of the 
 peace by persons assembled together to 
 do a thing, which, if executed, would 
 make them rioters, and making some 
 motion towards that object ; an unlawful 
 assembly, a similar disturbance by per- 
 sons who neither execute their purpose, 
 nor make any actual motion towards the 
 execution of it. 
 
 RIPIE'NO, in music, a term signifying 
 full, and is used in compositions of many 
 parts, to distinguish those which fill up 
 the harmony and play only occasionally, 
 from those that play throughout the 
 piece. 
 
 RITE, a formal act of religion or other 
 solemn duty ; the manner of performing 
 divine service as established by law or 
 custom. 
 
 RITORNEL'LO, in music, a passage 
 which is played whilst the principal 
 voice pauses : it often signifies the intro- 
 duction to an air or any musical piece. 
 
 This ritornello is often repeated after the 
 singing voice has concluded; hence tho 
 name. 
 
 RIT'UAL, a book containing the rites, 
 or directing the order and manner to be 
 observed in celebrating religious cere- 
 monies, and performing divine service in 
 the church. 
 
 ROBES, MASTER OP THE, an offi- 
 cer in the royal household of England, 
 whose duty, as the designation implies, 
 consists in ordering the sovereign's robes. 
 Under a queen, this office, which has 
 always been one of great dignity, is per- 
 formed by a lady, who enjoys the highest 
 rank of the ladies in the service of tho 
 
 ^ROB'IN-GOOD'FELLOW, an old do- 
 mestic goblin, called in Scotland a 
 brownie. 
 
 ROC, the well-known monstrous bird 
 of Arabian mythology, of the same fabu- 
 lous species with the simurg of the Per- 
 sians. In the notes to vol. iii. of Mv. 
 Lane's edition of the Arabian Nights' 
 .Entertainments are some curious ex- 
 tracts from the writers of old voyages of 
 that nation ; showing that the tale was 
 either founded on, or supported by, the 
 wonderful accounts of travellers. Even 
 Sinbad's well-known adventure, when his 
 crew broke the roc's egg, and were attack- 
 ed in consequence by the enraged pair of 
 birds, is borrowed from the serious narra- 
 tion of Ibn-El-Wardee. The roc is also 
 described by Marco Paulo. The size of 
 this infamous monster is, of course, de- 
 scribed with all the luxuriance of oriental 
 imagination. Ibn-El-Wardee makes one 
 of its wings 10.000 fathoms long. Mr. 
 Lane appears to think that this extrava- 
 gant fictjon was suggested by the condor ; 
 but the size and power of that bird are 
 much exaggerated, even in the common 
 accounts. The bearded vulture of Egypt 
 seems a better archetype of the roc. In 
 a drawing from an illuminated Persian 
 MS., which Mr. Lane has copied, the roc, 
 or rather simurg, which is represented as 
 performing the slight operation of carry- 
 ing off three elephants in its beak and 
 claws, is something like a cock, with 
 eagle's wings and an extravagant tail. 
 The simurg is a creature of importance 
 in Persian mythology: it is the phoenix 
 of oriental fable, one only living at a 
 time, and attains the .age of 1700 years. 
 
 RODOMONTADE', a term that has 
 passed into most European languages ; 
 from Rodoraont, a boisterous character in 
 Orlando Furioso, 
 
 RO'GA. in antiquity, a present which
 
 526 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ROM 
 
 the emperors made to the senators, magis- 
 trates, and even to the people. These 
 rogcc were distributed by the emperors 
 on the first day of the year, on their birth- 
 day, or on the~n.alo.lis dies of the cities. 
 
 ROGA'TION, in the Roman jurispru- 
 dence, a demand made by the consuls, or 
 tribunes of the people, when a law was 
 proposed to be passed. Rogatio is also 
 used for the decree itself made in conse- 
 quence of the people giving their assent 
 to this demand, to distinguish it from a 
 senatus consultant, or decree of the senate. 
 
 ROGA'TION-WEEK, the week pre- 
 ceding Whitsunday, thus called from the 
 three rogat ion-days or feasts therein, viz. 
 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, on 
 each of which extraordinary prayers and 
 processions were made for the fruits of 
 the earth. The word rogation is derived 
 " a rogando Deurn," " petitioning God." 
 
 ROLL', an official writing ; a list, regis- 
 ter, or catalogue ; as a muster roll, a court 
 roll, &c. Roll call, the calling over the 
 names of the men who compose any part 
 of a military body. Rolls of parliament, 
 the manuscript registers, or rolls of the 
 proceedings of the ancient English parlia- 
 ments, which before the invention of 
 printing were all engrossed on parch- 
 ment, and proclaimed openly in every 
 county. In these rolls are also contained 
 a great many decisions of difficult points 
 of law, which were frequently in former 
 times referred to the decisioa of that high 
 court. 
 
 ROLL MOULDING, in architecture, 
 a round moulding divided longitudinally 
 along the middle, the upper half of which 
 projects over the lower. It occurs often 
 
 in the early Gothic decorated style, where 
 it is profusely used for drip-stones, string- 
 courses, abacuses, <fcc. Roll and fillet 
 moulding, a round moulding with a 
 
 square fillet on the face of it. It is most 
 usual in the early decorated style, and 
 
 appears to have passed by various grada- 
 tions into the ogee. 
 
 RO'MAN, a native or citizen ot tlome ; 
 or something pertaining to the place, its 
 people, or their religion. One of the 
 Christian church at Rome to which St. 
 Paul addressed an epistle, consisting of 
 converts from Judaism or Paganism. 
 In literature, the ordinary printing char- 
 acter now in use, in distinction from the 
 Italic. 
 
 RO'MAN CATH'OLICS, that society 
 of Christians whose members acknowledge 
 the pope as visible head of the church. 
 The Roman doctors hold that the Scrip- 
 ture is not sufficient for its own interpre- 
 tation. The books which compose the 
 canon of the New Testament are, they 
 conceive, desultory and incomplete ; 
 being many of them written for special 
 occasions, at a period considerably later 
 than the foundation of the religion in 
 various districts, in some of which whole 
 generations of believers may have passed 
 away without having seen or heard of 
 their precious contents. It is not to be 
 supposed, however, that doctrines so im- 
 portant as those shadowed forth in the 
 Epistles of St. Paul, or the Gospel of St. 
 John, could have been left untaught to 
 the churches which flourished before their 
 publication or beyond their reach. It 
 must be admitted, therefore, they argue, 
 that the first preachers of Christianity 
 must have been commissioned and in- 
 structed to deliver these same doctrines 
 orally ; and it is affirmed that several 
 important doctrines are imperfectly de- 
 veloped in Scripture, and would not be 
 understood, except for some such illustra- 
 tion by the way, the result of which is 
 conveyed in the creeds of the first centu- 
 ries. It is also affirmed that the practice 
 of the primitive church, the infallibility 
 of which is assumed, authenticates various 
 articles of Roman belief, of which only 
 very slight hints are to be found in Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
 ROMANCE', in literature, a tale or 
 fictitious history of extraordinary adven- 
 tures, intended to excite the passions of 
 wonder and curiosity, and to interest the 
 sensibilities of the heart. The romance 
 differs from the notel, as it treats of great 
 actions and extravagant adventures, 
 soaring beyond the limits of fact and real 
 life. Romances have of late years given 
 way to historical novels ; and even such 
 as are occasionally published are very 
 different from those of the olden time, in 
 which the blandishments of beauty and 
 the enterprises of chivalry were incon-
 
 ROM] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 527 
 
 gruously blended with fictions exceeding 
 all bounds of human credulity. The 
 earliest modern romances were collections 
 of chivalrous adventures, chiefly founded 
 on the lives and achievements of the war- 
 like adherents of two sovereigns, one of 
 whom, perhaps, had only a fabulous ex- 
 istence, while the annals of the other 
 have given rise to a wonderful series of 
 fables Arthur and Charlemagne. These 
 romances were metrical compositions in 
 that branch of the modern French lan- 
 guage termed the langue d'oil, which pre- 
 vailed throughout the north of Franco, 
 and especially in Normandy. Besides 
 these a great variety of smaller tales, some 
 chivalrous, some marvellous, some simply 
 ludicrous, termed. fabliaux, exist in the 
 same language. The date of these com- 
 positions extend from the 12th to the 15th 
 centuries. From the hands of these 
 rhymers the tales of chivalry passed first 
 into those of prose compilers, who re- 
 duced them into a form more resembling 
 that of our modern romances. The 
 French prose romances of chivalry, still 
 confined to the same classes of subjects, 
 belong to the 14th and loth centuries. 
 
 ROMANCE'RO, in Spanish, the gene- 
 ral name for a collection of the national 
 ballads or romances; so called from the 
 Roman or Romanic tongue, which in the 
 early part of the middle ages, seems to 
 have been the common appellation of all 
 the dialects spoken from the Alps to the 
 western extremity of the Mediterranean. 
 The TLomance.ro General, the most cele- 
 brated of these collections, was published 
 in 1604-14. 
 
 ROMANES'QUE, in painting, apper- 
 taining to fable or romance. In histori- 
 cal painting, it consists in the choice of a 
 fanciful subject rather than one founded 
 on fact. The romanesque is different 
 from romantic, because the latter may be 
 founded on truth, which the former never 
 is. Romanesque, in literature, is applied 
 to the common dialect of Languedoc and 
 some other districts in the south of France, 
 which is a remnant of the old Romanee 
 language, now nearly extinct. This term 
 must not be confounded with Romaic, 
 which is used to signify the language of 
 modern Greece. 
 
 R-O'MAN LAW, the name given to the 
 law which was founded originally upon 
 the constitutions of the ancient kings of 
 Rome ; next upon the twelve tables of 
 the decemviri; then upon the laws or 
 statutes enacted by the senate or by the 
 people ; the edicts of the proctor and the 
 responsa prudentum, or the opinions of 
 
 learned lawyers ; and lastly upon the 
 imperial decrees or constitutions of the 
 emperors. The principles of the Roman 
 law are incorporated in a remarkable 
 degree with those of the law of Scotland, 
 and they have exerted an extraordinary 
 influence ever every system of jurispru- 
 dence in Europe. 
 
 RO'MAN SCHOOL. This school of 
 painting, which, like the Florentine, ad- 
 dressed itself to the mind, is formed upon 
 antique models. Its style was poetical ; 
 embellished with all the grandeur, pathos, 
 and freedom from common matters that 
 the happiest imagination could conceive. 
 In touch its masters were easy, correct in 
 drawing, learned and full of grace. In 
 composition it is sometimes whimsical, 
 yet always elegant. The heads of the 
 figures are always drawn with great 
 respect to truth and expression, and it 
 exhibits great intelligence in contrasting 
 attitudes. It is in coloring that it dis- 
 plays the greatest marks of negligence, 
 while in draperies it is eminently success- 
 ful. At the head of this school was 
 Raffaelle ; and among its other principal 
 masters were Giulio Romano, Zuccaro, 
 M. A. Caravaggio, Baroocio, Andrea 
 Sacchi (perhaps the best colorist of this 
 school.) 
 
 ROMAN'TIC. By romantic is under- 
 stood that singular intermixture of the 
 wonderful and the mysterious with the 
 sublime and beautiful which introduces 
 us into an enchanted existence, and 
 raises us above the bare realities of life 
 by its dazzling peculiarities. Antiquity 
 was a stranger to this feeling, nor had 
 the classic languages any term to express 
 it. The term romanticism an offshoot 
 of romantic is of recent invention, and 
 is applied chiefly to the fantastic and 
 unnatural productions of the modern 
 French school of novelists, at the head 
 of which are Victor Hugo, Balzac, 
 ' George Sand," <fcc., and their imitators 
 in France and other countries. 
 
 ROMANZIE'IU, in Italian liierature, 
 a series of poets who took for the subject 
 of their compositions the chivalrous ro- 
 mances of France and Spain ; and, with 
 one or two exceptions only, those relating 
 to the exploits of Charlemagne and his 
 fabulous Paladins. The earliest of these 
 poets flourished in the latter end of the 
 15th century. Boiardo, although not 
 absolutely the first in order of time, is 
 considered as having laid the ground- 
 work, in his Orlando Innamorato, of the 
 edifice of fiction raised by his successors. 
 Pulei, in the Morsrante Moggiore, was
 
 528 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ROS 
 
 the first who allied the romantic inci- 
 dents and sentiments of chivalry with 
 light and humorous satire. Berni re- 
 modelled the work of Boiardo. Ariosto, 
 in the Orlando Furioso, carried this 
 species of poetry to the highest degree 
 of perfection. These are the four princi- 
 pal Romanzieri ; but many other poets 
 of the same school flourished until the 
 end of the 16th century. Tasso composed 
 one of his early poems (II Rinaldo) on 
 the common model. In the beginning 
 of the 18th century, the Abate Fortigu- 
 erra compiled his Ricciardetto, a poem 
 of a semi-burlesque character, intended 
 originally as a parody, but completed as 
 a serious composition ; and thus closes 
 the list of the Romanzieri. All these 
 poets adopted the ottava rima, invented 
 by Boccaccio. In their poems the thread 
 of the main narration" is frequently in- 
 terrupted by a multiplicity of minor 
 adventures and intrigues ; and this com- 
 plication of plot appears to have con- 
 stituted one of the characteristic features 
 of the chivalrous epic. 
 
 RON'DEAU, a species of poetry, 
 usually consisting of thirteen verses, of 
 which eight have one rhyme, and five 
 another. It is divided into three coup- 
 lets, and at the end of the second and 
 third, the beginning of the rondeau is 
 repeated in an equivocal sense, if possi- 
 ble. 
 
 RON'DO, in music, either vocal or 
 instrumental, generally consists of three 
 strains, the first of which closes in the 
 original key, while each of the others is j 
 so constructed as to reconduct the ear in I 
 an easy and natural manner to the first 
 strain. 
 
 ROPOROG'RAPHY, a kind of Ara- 
 besque style of decoration, found in j 
 Pompeii, in which slender columns, ! 
 formed of parts of plants and animals, 
 are the chief characteristic. 
 
 RO'SARY. in the Roman Catholic 
 church, a string of beads, or a chaplet 
 consisting of five or fifteen decades of 
 beads, to direct the recitation of so many 
 Ant Marias, or prayers addressed to the 
 Virgin. Mary. The rosary serves not 
 only to ascertain the number of recitals, 
 but is intended also to keep the thoughts 
 alive to the act of devotion. 
 
 ROSES, FESTIVAL OF, a rural fes- 
 tival of some parts of France, in which 
 the best behaved maiden of the town or 
 village (called La Rosiere) is annually 
 crowned with roses in the church, whither 
 she is conducted with great pomp by the 
 villagers. These festivals were originally 
 
 celebrated on the 8th of June at Salency, 
 a village of Picardy, under Louis XIII , 
 but they were afterwards introduced 
 into SurSne, near Paris, whence they 
 extended to many other places, and have 
 latterly even penetrated to Moravia. 
 The Persians have also an annual festi- 
 val of roses which consists of bands of 
 youth parading the streets with music, 
 and offering roses, as the Italians during 
 the carnival confetti, to all they meet, 
 for which they receive a trifling gratuity. 
 
 ROSES, WHITE AND RED, in Eng- 
 lish history, the well-known feuds that 
 prevailed between the houses of York 
 and Lancaster are so called, from the 
 emblems adopted by their respective 
 partisans ; the adherents of the house of 
 York having the white, those of Lancas- 
 ter the red rose, as their distinguishing 
 symbol. These wars originated with the 
 descendants of Edward III., and after 
 extending over a period of more than 
 eighty years, during which England 
 formed an almost uninterrupted scene 
 of bloodshed and devastation, were at 
 last put an end to by the victory of 
 Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, over 
 Richard III., in 1485, the victor uniting 
 in his own person the title of Lancaster 
 through his mother, and that of York by 
 his marriage with the daughter of Ed- 
 ward IV. Since that period the rose has 
 been the emblem of England, as the 
 thistle and shamrock (see those terms) 
 are respectively the symbols of Scotland 
 and Ireland. 
 
 ROSE WINDOW, in architecture, a 
 circular window divided into compart- 
 ments by mullions or tracery radiating or 
 branching from a centre. It is called 
 
 also Catherine 
 window. 
 
 Wheel and Mary-gold
 
 ROU] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 529 
 
 ROSET'TA STONE, the name given to 
 a stone in the British museum, originally 
 found by the French near the Rosetta 
 mouth of the Nile. It is a piece of black 
 basalt, and contains part of three distinct 
 inscriptions, the first or highest in hiero- 
 glyphics, the second in enchorial charac- 
 ters, and the third in Greek. According 
 to the Greek inscription the stone was 
 erected in the reign of Ptolemy Epipha- 
 nes, about 193 years before Christ. The 
 inscriptions however are much mutilated, 
 and they have led to no important dis- 
 covery. 
 
 ROSICRU'CIANS, a sect of visionary 
 speculators who existed in Germany about 
 the beginning of the 17th century. They 
 ascribed, indeed, a much higher antiquity 
 to themselves; but it is probable that if 
 any body of philosophers who adopted 
 this title ever existed in reality, they 
 were the alchemists, fire philosophers, 
 or Paraelsists of the 16th century, who 
 adopted this mode of giving vogue and 
 fashion to their tenets. Germany was 
 inundated with tracts, from 1600 to 1630, 
 purporting to come from supporters or 
 from enemies of this sect, in which their 
 opinions and intentions are canvassed, 
 but generally in a wild and unintelligible 
 manner. From one of these, a Treatise 
 on the Laws of the Rosicrucians, by 
 Ritter von Maier (1618.) we learn that 
 the fraternity had six fundamental laws : 
 1. That their chief end and object was 
 to cure the sick without fee or reward. 2. 
 That in travelling they were to change 
 their habits and dress, so as to accommo- 
 date themselves to those of the countries 
 in which they sojourned. 3. To meet 
 once a year on a certain day and at a 
 certain place, kept secret from the rest 
 of the world. 4. To fill up vacancies in 
 their body by electing members. 5. To 
 use the letters R C as their common sym- 
 bol. 6. That the fraternity should re- 
 main undivulged for one hundred years 
 from its foundation. It appears proba- 
 ble that the device of the rose issuing out 
 of the cross, which was the same with 
 Martin Luther's seal, was adopted for 
 the purpose of attracting the notice of 
 the religious : the rose was explained to 
 represent the blood of Christ. It would 
 appear from these laws that some species 
 of Freemasonry was intended; and the 
 Rosicrucians have been by some connect- 
 ed with the Freemasons ; but there is, in 
 point of fact, no evidence that any such 
 society existed at all, and the name and 
 other circumstances were probably only 
 the device of some alchemists, who usually 
 
 conveyed their own notions Under cover 
 of symbolical language. 
 
 ROS'TRA, in antiquity, a part of the 
 Roman forum, where orations, pleadings, 
 funeral harangues, &c., were delivered. 
 It was so called from rostrum, the beak 
 of a ship, because it was made of the 
 beaks of the ships taken at Antium. 
 
 ROS'TRUM, an important part of the 
 ancient ships of war, which were hence 
 denominated naves rostratce. The ros- 
 trum, or beak, was made of wood and 
 brass, and fastened to the prow to an- 
 noy the enemy's vessels. The first 
 rostra were made long and high ; but 
 they were afterwards made short and 
 strong, and placed so low as to pierce the 
 enemy's ships under water. The rostra 
 taken by the Romans from their enemies, 
 and hung up as trophies of victory in the 
 forum, occasioned the pulpit, or place for 
 the orators, to be called rostra. 
 
 RO'TA, the name of an ecclesiastical 
 court at Rome, composed of twelve pre- 
 lates. This is one of the most august 
 tribunals in Rome, taking cognizance of 
 all suits in the territory of the church, by 
 appeal ; and of all matters beneficiary 
 and patrimonial. 
 
 ROTUN'DA, a name given to any 
 building that is round both on the outside 
 and inside ; but more particularly to a 
 circular building at Rome, which was an- 
 ciently called the Pantheon. 
 
 ROUE, a term applied to a person, in 
 the fashionable world, who, regardless of 
 moral principle, devotes his life to sen- 
 sual pleasures. 
 
 ROUN'DEL AY, a sort of ancient poem, 
 consisting of thirteen verses, of which 
 eight are in one kind of rhyme, and five 
 in another. It is divided into couplets ; 
 at the end of the second and third of 
 which, the beginning of the poem is 
 repeated, and that, if possible, in an 
 equivocal or punning sense. Roundelay, 
 also signifies a song or tune in which the 
 first strain is repeated, and a kind of 
 dance. 
 
 ROUND'HEADS, in British history, 
 a name given, during the civil war, to the 
 Puritans or members of the parliament 
 party, from the practice which prevail- 
 ed among them of cropping the hair 
 round. 
 
 ROUND'ROBIN, a term applied to a 
 memorial or remonstance drawn up by 
 any body of men (though the practice is 
 almost entirely confined to the army and 
 navy,) who have determined to stand by 
 each other in making a statement of their 
 common grievances to the government,
 
 530 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [RUI 
 
 or some person high in authority. The 
 term is supposed to be corrupted from 
 ruban rond, because their signatures 
 are written round the remonstrance, or 
 in a circular form, so that it cannot be 
 seen who signed it first. 
 
 ROUND TABLE, KNIGHTS OF THE, 
 the name given to the famous order of 
 knights that existed in England under 
 the reign of King Arthur, by whom it 
 was founded. The members of this order 
 are said to have been forty in number, 
 and derived their name from a huge 
 round marble table, round which they 
 were accustomed to sit. Their adven- 
 tures form the themes of much of the 
 early romantic poetry and ballads of 
 England. 
 
 ROY'AL, pertaining to or becoming 
 one who is invested with regal power. 
 Among seamen, a small sail spread im- 
 mediately above the top-gallant sail ; 
 sometimes termed the top-gallant royal. 
 Royal Society, a society- incorporated 
 by Charles II. under the name of " The 
 President, Council, and Fellows of the 
 Royal Society, -for the Improvement of 
 Natural Philosophy." Royal Academy 
 of London, a corporation instituted by 
 George III. for the advancement of draw- 
 ing, painting, engraving, sculpture, mod- 
 elling, and architecture. Royal Institu- 
 tion, a corporation erected in the year 
 1800 ; the great object of which is to ren- 
 der science applicable to the comforts 
 and conveniences of mankind. 
 
 RU'BEZAHL, the name of a famous 
 spirit of the Riesengebirge in Germany, 
 who is celebrated in innumerable sagas, 
 ballads, and tales, and represented under 
 the various forms of a miner, hunter, 
 monk, dwarf, giant, &e. He is said to 
 aid the poor and oppressed, and shows 
 benighted wanderers their road ; but 
 wages incessant war with the proud and 
 wicked. The origin of the name is ob- 
 scure. 
 
 RU'BICON, a small river which sep- 
 arated Italy from Cisalpine Gaul, the 
 province allotted to Csesar. When Caesar 
 crossed that stream, he invaded Italy, 
 with the intention of reducing it to his 
 power. Hence the phrase to pass the 
 Rubicon, signifies to take a desperate 
 step in an enterprise, or to adopt a meas- 
 ure from which one cannot recede, or 
 from which he is determined not to re- 
 cede. 
 
 RU'BRIC, in the language of the old 
 copies of manuscripts, and of modern 
 printers, any writing or printing in red 
 ink. The date and place on a title-page 
 
 being frequently in red ink, the word 
 rubric has come to signify the false name 
 of a place on a title-page. Many books 
 printed at Paris bear the rubric of Ge- 
 noa, London, Ac. But the most common 
 use of the word is in ecclesiastical mat- 
 ters. In MS. Missals, the directions pre- 
 fixed to the several prayers and offices 
 were written or printed in red ink ; and 
 hence, the rubric familiarly signifies the 
 order of the liturgy, in Roman Catholic 
 countries as well as in England. 
 
 RU'BY, a precious stone, next to the 
 diamond in hardness and value. Its con- 
 stituent parts are alumina, silica, carbo- 
 nate of lime, and oxyde of iron. The most 
 esteemed, and, at the same time, rarest 
 color, of the oriental ruby, is pure car- 
 mine, or blood red of considerable intensi- 
 ty, forming, when well polished, a blaze 
 of the most exquisite and unrivalled tint. 
 It is, however, more or less pale, and 
 mixed with blue in various proportions ; 
 hence it occurs rose-red and reddish white, 
 crimson, peach-blossom red, and lilac 
 blue the latter variety being named 
 oriental amethyst. A ruby, perfect both 
 in color and transparency, is much less 
 common than a good diamond, and when 
 of the weight of three or four carats, is 
 even more valuable than that gem. The 
 king of Pegu, and the monarchs of Siam 
 and Ava, monopolize the rarest rubies ; 
 the finest in the world is in the possession 
 of the first of these kings : its purity has 
 passed into a proverb, and its worth, 
 when compared with gold, is inestimable. 
 
 RU'DIMENTS, the first elements or 
 principles of any art or science. In bot- 
 any, the gerinen, ovary or seed-bud, is 
 the rudiment of the fruit yet in embryo ; 
 and the seed is the rudiment of a new 
 plant. 
 
 RUDOL'PHINE TA'BLES, a celebra- 
 ted set of astronomical tables, published 
 by Kepler, and thus entitled in honor of 
 the emperor Rudolph or Rudolphus. 
 
 BU'INS, a term peculiarly applied to 
 magnificent buildings fallen into decay 
 by length of time, and whereof there only 
 remains a confused heap of materials. 
 Such are the ruins of the tower of Belus, 
 two days' journey from Bagdat in Syria, 
 on the banks of the Euphrates ;. which are 
 now no more than a heap of bricks, ce- 
 mented with bitumen, and whereof we 
 only perceive the plan to have been 
 square. Such also are the ruins of a fa- 
 mous temple, or palace, near Schiras, in 
 Persia, which the antiquaries will main- 
 tain to have been built by Ahasuerus, and 
 which the Persians now call Tchelminar,
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 531 
 
 or Chelminar, q. d. the Forty Columns, 
 on account of so many columns remaining 
 pretty entire, together with the traces of 
 others, a great quantity of bassi rilievi, 
 and unknown characters, sufficient to 
 show the magnificence of the antique 
 architecture. The most remarkable ru- 
 ins still existing of entire cities are those 
 of Palmyra and Persepolis, of Hercula- 
 neum and Pompeii. 
 
 RULE, that which is established as a 
 principle, or settled by authority for guid- 
 ance and direction. Thus, a statute or 
 law is a rule of conduct for the citizens of 
 a state ; precedents in law are rules of 
 decision to judges. Rule, in monasteries, 
 corporations, or societies, a law or regula- 
 tion to be observed by the society and its 
 particular members. In grammar, an 
 established form of construction in a par- 
 ticular class of words. 
 
 RUNES, are properly the signs or let- 
 ters of the ancient alphabet peculiar to 
 the northern nations (Germans and Scan- 
 dinavians.) Schlegel deduces this alpha- 
 bet from the Phoenicians. Others have 
 supposed it to have been derived from 
 that of the Romans ; but its originally 
 consisting only of sixteen letters has been 
 urged as an argument against this hy- 
 pothesis The runen inscriptions found in 
 Germany (especially Northern Saxony,) 
 are thought by some to have tokens of an 
 origin somewhat different from the Scan- 
 dinavian. The antiquity of both has been 
 much disputed. Of those found in Goth- 
 land, it is said that the oldest are not 
 earlier than A.D. 1200, the latest 1449 ; 
 1300 stones with Runic inscriptions have, 
 it is said, been discovered in Sweden ; 
 many in Denmark ; none in Lapland or 
 Finland. Runic staves are massive sticks, 
 generally of willow, inscribed with Runic 
 characters, probably of magical import. 
 
 RUNNING-TI'TLE, in printing, the 
 title of a book that is continued from 
 page to page on the upper margin, called, 
 among printers, the heads. 
 
 RUN'NYMEDE, a celebrated meadow 
 where the conference was held Juno 15th, 
 1215, between John and the English ba- 
 rons, in which the former was compelled 
 to sign Magna Churta and the Chnrta de 
 Foresta. It is five miles east of Windsor, 
 and is now divided into several enclosures 
 
 RUPEE', a coin current in the Mogul 
 empire, and other parts of India. The 
 gold rupee is worth about 2s. 6d. sterling. 
 Of the silver rupees the new and old are 
 of different values. 
 
 RU'RAL ECON'OMY, the general 
 management of territorial property, ei- 
 
 ther by the proprietor ar his agent. On a 
 small scale, the agent is termed a bailiff 
 or farm servant ; and on a large scale, a 
 land steward or factor. The duties of the 
 latter are to collect the rents, and see 
 that the different clauses in the leases 
 by which the tenants hold their lands are 
 fulfilled ; and of the former, to cultivate 
 the land in such a manner as to produce 
 the greatest profit, or to fulfil the inten- 
 tions of the proprietor as to the kiml of 
 produce which he considers it desirable 
 to obtain. 
 
 RUS'SIA COM'PANY, a regulated 
 company for conducting the trade with 
 Russia ; first incorporated by charter of 
 Philip and Mary, sanctioned by act of 
 parliament in 1566. 
 
 RUSTICA'TION, in universities and 
 colleges, the punishment of a student for 
 some offence, by compelling him to leave 
 the institution and reside for a time in 
 the country. 
 
 RUS'TIC-WORK, in a building, a term 
 used when the stones, <fcc., in the face 
 of it are hacked and indented so as to be 
 rough. 
 
 RUTH, BOOK OF, a canonical book 
 of the Old Testament, being a kind of ap- 
 pendix to the Book of Judges, and an in- 
 troduction to those of Samuel. Its title 
 is derived from the person whose story is 
 therein principally related. 
 
 RY'OT, in Hindostan, a renter of land 
 by a lease which is considered as perpet- 
 ual, and at a rate fixed by ancient sur- 
 veys and valuations. The ryots or peas- 
 ants may be considered as the cultivators 
 of the soil in India, having a perpetual 
 hereditary and transferable right of occu- 
 pancy, so long as they continue to pay 
 the share of the produce of the land de- 
 manded by the government. 
 
 s. 
 
 S, the nineteenth letter and fifteenth 
 consonant of our alphabet, is a sibillnnt 
 articulation ; the sound being formed by 
 driving the breath through a narrow 
 passage between the palate and the 
 tongue elevated near it, together with a 
 motion of the lower jaw and teeth towards 
 the upper. The sound of this letter 
 varies, being strong in some words, as in 
 this, thus, &c., and soft in words which 
 have a final e, as muse, wise, &c. It ia 
 generally doubled at the end of words, 
 whereby they become hard and harsh, as 
 in kiss, loss, <fcc. In a few words it is
 
 532 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SAC 
 
 silent, as in isle and viscount. As an 
 abbreviation in music, S stands for solo. 
 In books of navigati >n, and in common 
 usage, S stands for south, S.E. for south- 
 cast, 3.W. for south-icest, S.S.E. for south- 
 south-east, S.S.W. for south-south-icest. 
 In the notes of the ancients, S stands for 
 Sextus ; Sp. for Spurius ; and S.P.Q-R. 
 for stnat'is populusque Romanus. 
 
 SABJJ'ANS, or SA'BIAXS, idolaters 
 of the East, who, in all ages, whether 
 converted in part to Judaism Christian- 
 ity, or Mohammedanism, or unacquainted 
 with either, hare worshipped the stars. 
 Some of the Sabaeans, who acknowledge 
 the name of Christ, are distinguished by 
 the title of " Christians of St. John," on 
 account of their attachment to the bap- 
 tism of that forerunner of the Messiah. 
 Sabaism bears the marks of a primitive 
 religion ; to the adoration of the stars, it 
 joins a strong inculcation of respect for 
 agriculture. This belief prevailed .in 
 very remote ages in the Asiatic countries 
 between the Euphrates and the Mediter- 
 ranean ; and Chaldaea, the native land of 
 astronomy, was its most celebrated seat. 
 Many allusions are made to this species of 
 worship in the Old Testament, especially 
 in the invectives of the prophets against 
 the various forms of idolatry borrowed by 
 the Jews from their heathen neighbors. 
 
 SAB'AOTH, a word of Hebrew deri- 
 vation, signifying armies. It is used. 
 Horn. ix. 29 ; James v. 4, " the Lord of 
 Sabaoth." 
 
 SABA'SIA, in ancient mythology, fes- 
 tivals in honor of various divinities, en- 
 titled Sabasii ; the origin of which term 
 is not clear. Mithras, the sun, is called 
 Sabasins in ancient monuments, whence 
 the word seems to have some connection 
 with the root of Sabaism ; but Bacchus was 
 also thus denominated, according to some, 
 from the Saba?, a people of Thrace : and 
 the nocturnal Sabasia were celebrated in 
 his name. 
 
 SABBAT A'RIAXS. a sect of baptists 
 who are only remarkable for adhering to 
 the Judaic sabbath, the observance of 
 which they contend was not annulled by 
 the Christian dispensation. 
 
 SAB BATH, the seventh day of the 
 week, a day appointed by the Mosaic law 
 fur a total cessation from labor, and for the 
 service of God, according to the divine 
 command, " Remember that ye keep holy 
 the Sabbath day," Ac. From the accounts 
 we hare of the religions service practised 
 in the patriarchal age, it appears that 
 imineJialely after the fall, when Adam 
 was restored to faror through a mediator, 
 
 I a stated form of pnblic worship was insti- 
 , tuted, which man was required to observe, 
 ! in testimony, not only of bis dependence 
 on the Creator, but also of his faith and 
 : hope in the promise made to our first 
 parents, and seen afar off. In the earliest 
 times of Christianity, the desire of dis- 
 | tinguishing the Christian from the Jewish 
 ; observance, gave rise to the celebration 
 , of Sunday, the first day of the week, as 
 ' a sacred festival in commemoration of 
 our Saviour's resurrection hence em- 
 phatically called " the Lord's day." The 
 converts from Judaism, however, retained 
 the celebration of the Sabbath, though 
 they adopted also that of Sunday ; and 
 thus in course of time the strict solemni- 
 ties of the one became blended with the 
 cheerful piety of the other. But inde- 
 pendent of the divine injunction, a sabbath, 
 or weekly day of rest and pious medita- 
 tion, is an institution, on whichever day 
 kept, highly conducive to the happiness 
 and comfort of mankind. We may here 
 observe, that this septenary division of 
 time has been, from the earliest ages, 
 uniformly observed over all the eastern 
 world. The Assyrians, Egyptians, Ara- 
 bians, and Persians, made use of a week 
 consisting of seven days. Many futile 
 attempts have been made to account for 
 this uniformity ; but a practice so gener- 
 al and prevalent could never have taken 
 place had not the septenary distribution 
 of time been instituted from the begin- 
 ning, and handed down by tradition. 
 
 SABBAT'ICAL YEAR, in the Jew- 
 ish economy, was every setenth. year, in 
 : which the Israelites were commanded to 
 suffer their fields and vineyards to rest or 
 to lie without tillage. The first sabbatical 
 year, celebrated by the children of Israel, 
 was the fourteenth year after their coming 
 into the land of Canaan ; because they 
 were to be seven years in making them- 
 selves masters of it, and seven more in 
 dividing it amongst themselves. This 
 year was reckoned from Tisri or Sep- 
 tember, and for several reasons was called 
 the year of release : 1. because the ground 
 remained entirely unfilled ; 2. because 
 such debts as had been contracted during 
 the six preceding years, were remitted 
 and cancelled; and 3. because all He- 
 brew slaves were then set at liberty. 
 
 SABEL'LIAXS, a sect of Christians 
 founded by Sabelliu*. at Ptolemais, in 
 the third century. Their doctrine taught 
 that the Father, the Son. and the Spirit 
 are names of the one God under different 
 ei rcu instances. 
 
 SAC, in law, the privilege enjoyed by
 
 SAG] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 533 
 
 the lord of a manor, of holding courts, 
 trying causes, and imposing fines. 
 
 SACK, a wine much esteemed by our 
 ancestors. It was brought from Spain, 
 and is supposed to have been very simi- 
 lar to sherry or canary. 
 
 SACK'BUT, a wind instrument of the 
 trumpet species, but differing from the 
 common trumpet in form and size. It is 
 of low or bass pitch, and is drawn out or 
 shortened by means of sliders, according 
 to the acuteness or gravity of the tone 
 to be produced. It is, in fact, the trom- 
 bone of the Italians. 
 
 SAC'RAMENT, in Christian rituals, is 
 defined an outward sign of a spiritual grace 
 annexed to its use. The lloman church 
 recognizes seven sacraments : baptism, 
 confirmation, the eucharist, penance, ex- 
 treme unction, ordination, and marriage. 
 The Sabasan Christians reduce the sacra- 
 ments to four ; the eucharist, baptism, or- 
 dination, and marriage. The Protestant 
 churches acknowledge only two, the eu- 
 churist or Lord's supper, and baptism; 
 but they agree with the lloman church 
 in styling the eucharist. pre-eminently, 
 the holy sacrament. The eucharist is 
 also known in the Roman church by the 
 name of " the host." 
 
 SACRAMENTA'LIA, in ecclesiastical ; 
 history, certain sacramental offerings for- 
 merly paid to the parish priest at Easter, 
 <Scc. 
 
 S-ACRAMEN'TUM MILITA'RE, in 
 antiquity, the name of the oath taken by 
 the Roman soldiers after the levies were 
 completed. 
 
 S AC'RIFICE, a solemn act of religious 
 worship, consisting in the dedication or 
 offering up something animate or inani- 
 mate on an altar, by the hands of the 
 priest, either as an expression of grati 
 tude to the Deity for some signal mercy, 
 or to acknowledge our dependence on him, 
 and conciliate his favor. The Jews had 
 two sorts of sacrifices, taking the word in 
 its most extensive signification : the first 
 were offerings of tithes, first-fruits, cakes, 
 wine, oil, honey, Ao., and the last, offer- 
 ings of slaughtered animals. The prin- 
 cipal sacrifices of the Hebrews consisted 
 of bullocks, sheep, and goats; but doves 
 and turtles were accepted from those who 
 were not able to bring the other; and 
 whatever the sacrifice might be, it must 
 be perfect and without blemish. The 
 rites of sacrificing were various, all of 
 which are very minutely described in the 
 books of Mo-ins. 
 
 SAC'RILEGE, the crime of violating 
 or profaning sacred things ; or the alien- 
 
 ating to laymen or to common purposes 
 what has been appropriated or conse- 
 crated to religious persons or uses. . 
 
 SAC'RISTY, in architecture, an apart- 
 ment attached to a church, in which the 
 consecrated vessels of the church, and the 
 garments in which the clergyman offici- 
 ates, <fec., are deposited. 
 
 SAD'DER, a work in the modern Per- 
 sian tongue, comprising a summary of 
 various parts of the Zendavesta, or sacred 
 books of the ancient Persians. The au- 
 thority and character of the Sadder are 
 supposed to bo very small ; some attribute 
 it to the Parsees, and give it an antiquity 
 of several centuries ; others consider it a 
 more modern forgery. 
 
 SAD'DUCEES, a sect among the an- 
 cient Jews, esteemed as free-thinkers, 
 rather than real Jews, though they as- 
 sisted at all the ceremonies of worship in 
 the temple. Their origin and name is 
 derived from one Sadoc^ who flourished 
 in the reign of Ptolemy Phihulelphus, 
 about 263 years B.C. They denied the 
 immortality of the soul, and the exist- 
 ence of all spiritual and immaterial bo- 
 ings. They acknowledged, indeed, that 
 the world was formed by the power of 
 (rod, and superintended by his providence ; 
 but that the soul at death suffered one 
 common extinction with the body. They 
 held the Scriptures alone to be of divine 
 authority, and obligatory upon men, as a 
 systetn of religion and morals ; and paid 
 no regard to those traditionary maxims 
 and human institutions which the Jews in 
 general so highly extolled, and the Phari- 
 sees reverenced even more highly than 
 the Scriptures themselves. The tenets 
 of the Sadducees are called Sadducism. 
 SAFE-CON'DUCT, a pass or warrant of 
 security given by the sovereign under the 
 great seal to a foreigner, for his safe com- 
 ing into and passing out of the kingdom. 
 Generally speaking, passports have super- 
 seded the use of special safe-conducts. 
 
 SA'GA, the general name of those an- 
 cient compositions which comprise at once 
 the history and mythology of the north- 
 ern European races. Their language is 
 different from the modern Danish, Swed- 
 ish, and Norwegian, and is more power- 
 ful and expressive than either of these 
 later dialects. Of the mythological sagas 
 the most famous are the saga of Regnar, 
 Lodbrok, the Ilervarar saga, the Voluspa 
 saga, and the Wilkina saga. The histori- 
 cal are very numerous ; the Jomsvilkingia 
 saga and the Kaflinga saga comprehend 
 much of the early annals of Norway and 
 Denmark ; and the Eyrbiggia saga is the
 
 534 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [8A! 
 
 chief historical document of ancient Ice- 
 laud. It is, however, to be remembered, 
 that the chief object of the relators is the 
 interest of the narrative ; so that as mere 
 histories they are of imperfect value. 
 Many of them are collected in the great 
 work of Snorre Sturleson called Heim- 
 skringla. The most classical period of 
 these compositions is considered by anti- 
 quaries to fall within the 12th and 13th 
 centuries. 
 
 SAGITTA'RII, in the Roman army 
 under the emperors, were young men 
 armed with bows and arrows, who, toge- 
 ther with the Funditores, were generally 
 sent out to skirmish before the main body. 
 
 SAINT, in a limited but the most usual 
 sense of the word, signifies certain indi- 
 viduals whose lives were deemed so emi- 
 nently pious, that the church of Rome 
 has authorized the rendering of public 
 worship to them. In its widest sense, it 
 signifies the pious, who in this world 
 strictly obey the commands of God, or 
 enjoy, in the eternal world, that bliss 
 which is the reward of such a life on 
 earth. The doctrine of saints, and the 
 ideas and usages which grew out of it, 
 form one of the main points of difference 
 between the Protestants and Roman Cath- 
 olics. In all probability, the veneration 
 paid to saints, relics, &c. originated from 
 the virtues displayed by the early Chris- 
 tian martyrs; and it is also very natural 
 to suppose, that in ages when information 
 was transmitted chiefly by tradition, facts 
 easily became exaggerated, without in- 
 tentional violation of the truth ; and many 
 miracles were, accordingly, reported to 
 have been wrought by their relics or in- 
 tercession. 
 
 SAINT JOHN, KNIGHTS OF, or 
 HOSPITALLERS, a military order of 
 religious persons. They derived their 
 name from a church and monastery 
 dedicated to St. John the Baptist, founded 
 at Jerusalem about 1048, by merchants 
 from Amalfi, the brotherhood of its mem- 
 bers being devoted to the duty of taking 
 care of poor and sick pilgrims. The order 
 was instituted as a military brotherhood 
 by Raymond du Puy, its principal, early 
 in the 12th century. It was divided into 
 three ranks knights, chaplains, and ser- 
 vitors ; and in its military capacity it 
 was bound to defend the church against 
 the infidels. It possessed various posses- 
 sions and settlements at different times 
 in different parts of the East. In the 13th 
 century, being driven from Palestine, 
 the knights of this order fixed their prin- 
 cipal seat first in Cyprus, and afterwards 
 
 at Rhodes, where they remained from 
 1309 to 1522, when the island was cap- 
 tured by Solyman II. After several 
 changes of settlement, they were fixed in 
 1530 by Charles V. at Malta and its de- 
 pendent islands, whence they took the 
 name of Knights of Malta. Here they 
 maintained themselves until 1798, when 
 the island was taken by Napoleon. The 
 order, however, continued to subsist, 
 notwithstanding the loss of its sovereign 
 possessions both in Malta and in Tuscany . 
 the seat of the chapter is now at Ferrara. 
 Before the French Revolution the num- 
 ber of knights was estimated at 3000. 
 The temporal powers of the order were 
 chiefly concentrated in the hands of the 
 grand master ; but he was, in fact, con- 
 trolled by the governors of the eight 
 languages. These were, of Provence. 
 Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, Ger- 
 many, Castile, and England. The lands 
 were divided into priories, commander- 
 ies, and bailliages. The spiritual power 
 was exercised by the chapter, consisting 
 of eight ball ivi conventuales. The knights 
 were under the rules of the order of St. 
 Augustine; but Protestants were not 
 bound to celibacy. They were required 
 to be necessarily of good descent ; but 
 those whose proofs of noble ancestry 
 were unquestionable were termed cava- 
 lier I di giustizia, while others who could 
 not show such proofs might be admitted 
 on account of their merits as cavalieri di 
 
 r jSAINT SIMO'NIANS. Claude Henri, 
 Count de S. Simon, of the ancient family 
 of that name, born in 1760, was engaged 
 during the greater part of his life in a 
 series of unsuccessful commercial enter- 
 prises, a traveller, and in the early por- 
 tion of his life a soldier in America; but 
 having dissipated a considerable fortune, 
 ' and been unable to draw the attention 
 j of the public to a variety of schemes, po- 
 litical and social, which he was constantly 
 publishing, he attempted suicide in 1820 ; 
 he lived, however, a few years longer, 
 and died in 1825, leaving his papers and 
 projects to Olinde Rodriguez. St. Simon's 
 views of society and the destiny of mnn- 
 i kind are contained in a variety of works, 
 ' and especially in a short treatise entitled 
 the Nouteau Christianisme, published 
 after his death by Rodriguez. This book 
 docs not contain any scheme for the 
 foundation of a new religion, such as his 
 disciples afterwards invented. It is a 
 diatribe against both the Catholic and 
 Protestant sects for their neglect of 
 I the main principle of Christianity, the
 
 SAL] 
 
 AND THE FINE AKTS. 
 
 elevation of the lower classes of society ; 
 and inveighs against " 1'exploitation de 
 1'homtne par 1'homme," the existing 
 system of individual industry, under 
 which capitalist and laborer have oppo- 
 site interests and no common object. The 
 principle of association, and just division 
 of the fruits of common labor between the 
 members of society, he imagined to be 
 the true remedy for its present evils. 
 After his death these ideas were caught 
 up by a number of disciples, and formed 
 into something resembling a system. 
 The new association, or St. Simonian 
 family., was chiefly framed by llodri- 
 guez, Bazar, Thierry, Chevalier, and 
 other men of talent. After the revolu- 
 tion of July, 1830, it rose rapidly into 
 notoriety, from the sympathy between 
 the notions which it promulgated and 
 those entertained by many of the repub- 
 lican party. In 1831. the society had 
 about 3000 members, a newspaper (the 
 Globe,) and large funds. The views of 
 the St. Simonian family were all directed 
 to the abolition of rank and property in 
 society, and the establishment of associa- 
 tion, (such as the followers of Mr. Owen 
 have denominated co-operative,) of which 
 all the members should work in common 
 and divide the fruits of their labor. But 
 with these notions, common to many 
 other social reformers, they united the 
 doctrine, that the division of the goods 
 of the community should be in due pro- 
 portion to the merits or capacity of the 
 recipient. Society was to be governed 
 by a hierarchy, consisting of a supreme 
 pontiff, apostles, disciples of the first, 
 second, and third order. On the 22d 
 Jan., 1832, the family was dispersed by 
 the government. 
 
 SAL'ARY, the stipend or remunera- 
 tion made to a man for his services 
 usually a fixed annual sum ; in distinc- 
 tion from icages, which is for day labor ; 
 and pay, which is for military service. 
 
 SAL'IC, or SAL'IQUE LAW, an an- 
 cient and fundamental law of France, 
 usually supposed to have been made by 
 Pharamond, or at least by Clovis, by 
 virtue of which males only can inherit 
 the throne. Though, by this law, the 
 crown of France is prevented from being 
 worn by a woman, the provision was a 
 general one, without particular regard 
 to the royal family ; as the crown of 
 England descends to the eldest son, by 
 thetfeneral right of primogeniture. The 
 Salic Franks, from whom this term was 
 derived, settled in Gaul in the reign of 
 Julian, who is said to have given them 
 
 lands on condition of their personal ser- 
 vice in war. The historian Millot ob- 
 serves, there is no ground for believing 
 that the Salic law expressly settled the 
 right of succession to the crown ; it only 
 says that, with relation to the Salic land, 
 women have no share of heritage, without 
 restricting it to the royal family, for all 
 those Salic lands which were held by 
 right of conquest. 
 
 SAL'LY, in the military art, the issu- 
 ing out of the besieged from a town 
 or fort, and falling upon the besiegers in 
 their works, in order to cut them off or 
 harass and exhaust them. " To cut off 
 a sally" is to get between those that 
 made the sally and their town. 
 
 SAL'LY-PORT. in fortification, a post- 
 ern gate, or a passage underground from 
 the inner to the outer works, such as from 
 the higher flank to the lower, or to the 
 communication from the middle of the cur- 
 tain to the ravelin. Sally-ports are also 
 doorways on each quarter of a fire-ship, 
 out of which the men make their escape 
 into the boats as soon as the train is 
 fired. 
 
 SALOON', a spacious and lofty sort of 
 hall, vaulted at top, and usually compre- 
 hending two stories, with two ranges of 
 windows. The saloon is a grand room in 
 the middle of a building, or at the head 
 of a gallery, &c. Its faces or sides should 
 all have a symmetry with each other; 
 and as it commonly takes up the height 
 of two stories, its ceiling should be with a 
 moderate sweep. The saloon is a state- 
 room much used in the palaces of Italy, 
 where the balmy and luxuriant nature of 
 the climate renders airy and spacious 
 apartments desirable ; and from thence 
 it travelled into France and England. 
 People of distinction are generally re- 
 ceived by the master of a house in the 
 saloon. It is sometimes built square, 
 sometimes round or oval, sometimes oc- 
 tagonal, and sometimes in other forms. 
 
 SALUTE', in military discipline, a 
 testimony or act of respect performed in 
 different ways, according to circumstan 
 ces. In the army, the officers salute by 
 dropping the point of the sword ; also by 
 lowering the colors and beating the drums. 
 In the navy, salutes are made by dis- 
 charges of cannon, striking the colors or 
 top-sails, or by volleys of small arms. 
 Ships always salute with an odd number 
 of guns ; and galleys with an even num- 
 ber. The vessel under the wind of the 
 other fires first. 
 
 SAL'VAGE, in commerce, allowance 
 or compensation made to those by whose
 
 536 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SAN 
 
 exertions ships or goods have been saved 
 from the dangers of the seas, fire, pirates, 
 or enemies. The crew of a ship are not 
 entitled to salvage for any extraordinary 
 efforts they may have made in saving her, 
 out passengers are entitled to recompense 
 for extraordinary services performed in 
 the hour of danger. If the salvage be 
 performed at sea, or within high or low 
 water mark, the Marine Court has jurisdic- 
 tion over the subject, and will fix the sum 
 to be paid, and adjust the proportions, 
 which vary according to circumstances. 
 In cases where the party cannot agree, 
 the salvors may retain the property un- 
 til compensation is made ; or they may 
 bring an action or commence a suit in 
 court, against the proprietors for the 
 amount claimed. 
 
 SAMAR'ITAN, an inhabitant of Sa- 
 maria, or one that belonged to the sect 
 which derived their appellation from that 
 city. After the fall of the kingdom of 
 Israel, the people remaining in its terri- 
 tory (consisting of the tribes of Ephraim 
 and Manasseh, mingled with some Assy- 
 rian colonists,) were called Samaritans 
 by the Greeks, from the city of Samaria, 
 around which they dwelt. When the 
 Jews, on their return from captivity, re- 
 built the temple of Jerusalem, the Sa- 
 maritans desired to aid in the work ; but 
 their offers were rejected by the Jews, 
 who looked upon them as unclean, on ac- 
 count of their mixture with heathens ; 
 and the Samaritans revenged themselves 
 by hindering the building of the city and 
 temple. Hence the hatred which pre- 
 vailed between the Jews and Samaritans, 
 which, in the time of Jesus, when the 
 latter were confined to a narrow strip of 
 country between Judca and Galilee, pre- 
 vented all intercourse between them, and 
 still continues. In their religious opin- 
 ions and usages they resemble those Jews 
 who reject the Talmud, and differ from 
 the rabbinical Jews, in receiving only the 
 Pentateuch and book of Joshua, and in 
 rejecting all the other portions of the 
 Bible, as well as the Talmud and rabbin- 
 ical traditions : but in their manners, 
 rites, and religious ceremonies, they ad- 
 here strictly to the Mosaic law. 
 
 SA'MIEL, the Arabian name for a hot 
 suffocating wind peculiar to the desert of 
 Arabia. It blows over the deserts in the 
 month of July and August : it approaches 
 the very gates of Bagdat, but is said never 
 to affect a person within its walis. It fre- 
 quently passes with the velocity of light- 
 ning, and there is no way of avoiding its 
 dire effects, but by falling on the ground, 
 
 and keeping the face close to the earth. 
 Those who are negligent of this precau- 
 tion experience instant suffocation. 
 
 SAMNITES', in antiquity, a sort of 
 gladiators who derived their name from 
 their armor. They are mentioned by 
 Cicero and others. 
 
 SAM'UEL, the books of, two canonical 
 books of the Old Testament, so called, as 
 being usually ascribed to the prophet 
 Samuel. The books of Samuel, and the 
 books of Kings, are a continued history of 
 the reigns of the kings of Israel and Ju- 
 dah. The first book of Samuel compre- 
 hends the transactions under the govern- 
 ment of Eli and Samuel, and under Saul 
 the first king; and also the acts of David 
 while he lived under Saul. The second 
 book is wholly occupied in relating the 
 transactions of David's reign. 
 
 SAN-BEN'ITO, a kind of linen gar- 
 ment, painted with hideous figures, and 
 worn by persons condemned by the in- 
 quisition. Also a coat of sackcloth used 
 by penitents on their reconciliation to the 
 church. 
 
 SANCTIFICA'TION, in an evangeli- 
 cal sense, the act of God's grace by which 
 I the affections of men are purified or 
 ! alienated from sin and the world, and ex- 
 j alted to a supreme love of God. 
 
 SANC'TUARY, in a general sense, any 
 i sacred asylum ; but more especially sig- 
 j nifying the SANCTUM-SANCTORUM, the 
 most retired part of the temple at Jerusa- 
 lem, called also the Holy of Holies, in 
 which was kept the ark of the covenant, 
 and into which no person was permitted 
 to enter except the high-priest, and that 
 only once a year, to intercede for the 
 people. From the time of Constantino 
 downwards, certain churches have been 
 set apart in many Catholic countries, to 
 be an asylum for fugitives from the hands 
 of justice. In England, particularly down 
 to the Reformation, any person who had 
 taken refuge in a sanctuary was secured 
 against punishment, if within the space 
 of forty days he gave signs of repentance, 
 and subjected himself to banishment. In 
 Scotland, the Abbey of Holyroodhouse 
 and its precincts, as having been a royal 
 residence, have the privilege of giving 
 sanctuary to debtors in civil debts. When 
 a person retires to the sanctuary he is 
 protected against personal violence, 
 which protection continues for twenty- 
 four hours; but to enjoy it longer the 
 person must enter his name in the books 
 kept by the baillie of the Abbey. This 
 sanctuary does not protect a crown debt- 
 or, nor a fraudulent bankrupt.
 
 SAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 537 
 
 SAN'DAL, in antiquity, a kind of cost- 
 ly slipper, worn by the Greek and Roman 
 ladies, made of silk or other precious 
 stuffs, and ornamented with gold or silver. 
 
 SANG FROID, [Fr. cold blood,} free- 
 dom from agitation or excitement of 
 mind. 
 
 SAN'GIAC, the title of a provincial 
 governor in Turkey, next in authority to 
 a bey or viceroy. 
 
 SAN'HEDRIM, a word said to be de- j 
 rived from the Greek, and signifying the 
 great public council, civil and religious, 
 of the ancient Jewish republic or hierar- 
 chy. This council consisted of seventy 
 elders, who received appeals from other 
 tribunals, and had power of life and 
 death. 
 
 SANS'CRIT, the learned language of 
 Hindustan. The literal meaning of the 
 word Sanscrita is polished, and it is used 
 by grammarians in the sense of " regu- 
 larly inflected or formed." And it is a 
 question whether, in its present form, it 
 was ever a spoken language, although 
 the theory of Schlegel is, that it was im- 
 ported by the conquering or Brahminical 
 caste. It constitutes the most ancient 
 literature of the Hindoos, and is radically j 
 connected with the various dialects of 
 Hindostan, so that they may be regarded 
 as more or less deflected from it. Cole- j 
 brooke, however, is of opinion that " there ; 
 seems no good reason for doubting that ; 
 it was once universally spoken in India ;" j 
 and he says, that " those who are learned 
 in Sanscrit, at the present day, deliver 
 themselves with such fluency as is suf- 
 ficient to prove that it may have been 
 spoken in former times with as much 
 facility as the contemporary dialects of 
 the Greek language, or the more modern 
 dialects of the Arabic tongue." Nine 
 tenths of the " Hindustani," it is said, 
 may be traced to the Sanscrit ; the re- 
 maining tenth is thought to be, perhaps, 
 founded on the old " Hindi" language, 
 which Sir W. Jones thought anterior to 
 it, conceiving the Sanscrit to have been 
 introduced by conquerors in some very 
 distant age. In the Hindoo drama, the 
 gods and saints are made to speak in 
 Sanscrit ; while women, benevolent genii, 
 <fcc., speak another dialect, and the lower 
 personages a third. 
 
 SANS-CULOTTES, [from sans, without, 
 and culottes, breeches.] the name given 
 in derision to the popular party, by the 
 aristocratical, in the beginning of the 
 French revolution of 1789 ; but though 
 in the first instance applied by way of 
 contempt, yet when the fiercest principles 
 
 of republicanism prevailed, sans-culot- 
 tism became a term of honor ; and some 
 of their bravest generals in their dis- 
 patches announcing their victories, gloried 
 in the name. 
 
 SAP'PHIC, pertaining to Sappho, a 
 Grecian poetess ; as Sapphic odes, <fcc. 
 The Sapphic verse consists of eleven 
 syllables in five feet, of which the first, 
 fourth, and fifth, are trochees, the second 
 a spondee, and the third a dactyl, in the 
 first three lines, of each stanza, with a 
 fourth consisting only of a dactyl and a 
 spondee. 
 
 SAP'PHIRE, a precious stone of a 
 fine blue color. In hardness it is only 
 inferior to the diamond ; and the sapphire 
 which is found in the same mines with 
 the ruby, is nearly allied to that gem. 
 They are found in various places ; as 
 Pegu, Calicut, Cananor, and Ceylon, in 
 Asia ; and Bohemia and Silesia, in Eu- 
 rope. The most highly prized varieties 
 are the crimson and carmine red ; these 
 are the oriental ruby of the jeweller: 
 the next is sapphire ; and the last is 
 sapphire, or oriental topaz. The aste- 
 rias, or star-stone, is a very beautiful 
 variety, in which the color is generally 
 of a reddish violet, with an opalescent 
 lustre. 
 
 SAP'PING, in sieges, &c., the act of 
 working underground to gain the descent 
 of a ditch, counterscarp, ifcc. 
 
 SAR'ABAND, in music, a composition 
 in triple time very similar to a minuet. 
 When denoting music for the dance, it is 
 to the same measure which usually ter- 
 minates when the beating hand rises; 
 being thus distinguished from the courant, 
 which ends when the hand falls. 
 
 SAR'ABITES, a kind of oriental monks 
 or csenobites, described by Cassian in his 
 Institutions ; and supposed to be the 
 same with those called Rernoboth by St. 
 Jerome and Eust., and characterized as 
 vicious and ignorant. They seem to have 
 been seceders from the ordinary monastic 
 life, which formed a species of society 
 rather resembling that of the Moravians 
 of the present day, and without commu- 
 nity of goods. 
 
 SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 Egypt and Syria present many specimens 
 of Saracenic architecture, which form a 
 striking contrast with the ancient Egyp- 
 tian and Greek styles. The Saracens, in 
 "Egypt, have borrowed but little (if any) 
 of their style from the aborigines of the 
 country. The style called Suracenic, 
 which is justly supposed to have been the 
 parent of the Gothic, is distinguished by
 
 538 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 SAT 
 
 the boldness and loftiness of its vaultings ; 
 the peculiar mixed form of its curves; 
 the slenderness of its columns ; the va- 
 riety of its capitals ; the prodigious mul- 
 tiplicity of its mouldings and ornaments : 
 presenting a strong assemblage of friezes, 
 mosaics, foliage, and arabesques, inter- 
 laced with flowers, and disposed alto- 
 gether with much skill. The Egyptian 
 Saracenic diifers from the Spanish prin- 
 cipally in the form of the arch, as may 
 be seen by comparing the gate of Cairo 
 with that of the Alhambra in Grenada, 
 or the great church at Cordova. Among 
 the principal remains of the former style 
 are the walls of Alexandria, built, in 
 878. by the Caliph Motahwnkkel ; several 
 arcades of the aqueduct of Alexandria, 
 which are distinguished by the medley 
 of the capitals ; the greater and the 
 smaller pharos, the mosque and the an- 
 cient palace of the sultans, in the same 
 city : there are also several buildings of 
 the sultan Saladin, whose real name was 
 Joseph or Jussuf, which bear his latter 
 appellation, as the walls at Cairo, the 
 Granaries, &c. 
 
 SAKCOPH'AGUS, a species of lime- 
 stone of which ancient coffins were made, 
 and which, according to Pliny, had the 
 power of destroying within forty days the 
 corpses put into them. This quality 
 brought the stone into use for coffins, and 
 thus the name came to be applied to 
 all coffins of stone, though often used for 
 a contrary purpose to that which the 
 name expresses Of the great number 
 of sarcophagi which have come down to 
 us, several are known by particular 
 names; as, the sarcophagus of Homer, 
 in the Besborodko gardens at St. Peters- 
 burg; and that of Alexander the Great, 
 in the British museum, once in the mosque 
 of St. Athanasius at Alexandria. It was 
 taken by the British from the French, 
 during their memorable campaign in 
 Egypt. 
 
 SARDON'IC LAFGII, (risus sardoni- 
 cus,) so called from the herb sardo7iia, 
 which being eaten is said to cause a dead- 
 ly convulsive laughter, or spasmodic 
 grin. 
 
 SAR'DONYX, a genus of semi-pellucid 
 gems, of the onyx structure, zoned or tab- 
 ulated, and composed of the matter of 
 the onyx variegated with that of the red 
 or yellow earnelian. 
 
 SAS'TRA, among the Hindoos, a book 
 containing sacred ordinances. The six 
 great Sastras, in the opinion of the Hin- 
 doos, contain all knowledge, human and 
 divine. These are called the Veda, Upa- 
 
 veda, Vedanga, Purana, Dherma, and 
 Dersana. 
 
 SA'TAN, a Hebrew word signifying 
 enemy or adversary, and used as such, 
 without any reference to the Evil Power 
 itself, in one or two passages of the Old 
 and New Testaments. The equivalent 
 term in Greek for this word is literally 
 one who accuses or calumniates ; whence 
 the word devil is derived. 
 
 SAT'IRE, in literature, a species of 
 writing, generally poetical, the object of 
 which is always castigation. It presup- 
 poses not merely much natural wit, but 
 also acute observation, and much variety 
 of life and manners to call this wit into 
 exercise. Satire, in the literary sense 
 of the word, as designating a species of 
 composition, is usually confined to a spe- 
 cies of poetry ; but prose works, of which 
 the contents are of a satirical character, 
 are often comprehended under the same 
 appellation. Dramatic writings, also, are 
 not satires in the stricter sense of the 
 word, although their contents be of a 
 satirical character. According to their 
 subjects, satires are divided into political 
 and moral, and these again severally 
 subdivided into personal and general. 
 Political satires, in almost every lan- 
 guage, have been nearly confined to 
 prose ; the moral satire alone has found 
 its appropriate vehicle in verse. The 
 only Greek satirist of whom any frag- 
 ments have reached us was Archilochus, 
 and his attacks were evidently directed 
 against individuals. Aristophanes pos- 
 sessed a vein of satirical power, both in 
 the indignant and ludicrous strain, which 
 has never been surpassed ; and his dra- 
 mas contain not only sarcasms on indi- 
 viduals, but also political and ethical les- 
 sons of the highest value. But the moral 
 satire, properly so called, was invented 
 by the Romans, not only in form, but in 
 substance also, and by them carried to 
 perfection ; and it is remarkable that the 
 only species of Roman poetry which has 
 any degree of originality is that which 
 would seem to have accorded the least 
 with the grave and austere turn of the 
 genuine Roman character. In the liter- 
 ature of the modern nations, the fate of 
 satire has been similar to that which has 
 befallen many other species of composi- 
 tion. The name and form of the ancient 
 satire have been preserved by many wri- 
 ters, who have produced, for the most 
 part, little besides cold or exaggerated 
 imitations of antiquity. But the true 
 spirit of satire, in its moral beauty, its 
 humor, and its delicate irony, has been
 
 SCA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 539 
 
 inherited by others, who had too much 
 originality of thought to tie down their 
 genius to an antiquated form of writing. 
 
 SAT'URDAY, the last day of the week. 
 The Scandinavians, and from them the 
 Saxons, had a deity named Sealer, from 
 whom the English name of the dies Sa- 
 turnii of the llomans maybe derived; 
 but the subject is by no means clear. 
 
 SAT'URN, an Italian deity having 
 many points of similarity with the 
 Grecian Kronos, with whom he is, ac- 
 cordingly, frequently identified. He 
 seems to have been originally the god 
 of earth, (of which his wife Tellus. Ops, or 
 Rhea was the goddess,) and presided 
 over tillage, of which the sickle he car- 
 ried was the symbol. The treasury at 
 Rome was in his temple. The Grecian 
 Kronos was the youngest son of Heaven 
 and Earth, and the father of Jupiter, 
 Juno, Neptune, and Pluto. He usurped 
 the sovereignty, and was in his turn de- 
 posed and imprisoned by Jupiter. His 
 reign was celebrated by the ancient poets 
 as the golden age. The whole history of 
 this deity is probably allegorical. The 
 name itself, with a slight variation signi- 
 fies time, and his attribute of the sickle, 
 together with the account of his being the 
 son of Heaven, by whose luminaries time 
 is measured, and tho husband of Rhea 
 (flowing,) and of his devouring his own 
 progeny, are corroborative of this conjec- 
 ture. 
 
 SATURN A'LIA, in antiquity, feasts in 
 honor of Saturn. The Saturnalia had 
 their origin in Greece, but by whom they 
 were instituted or introduced among the 
 Romans is not known : but they were 
 celebrated with such circumstances as 
 were thought characteristic of the golden 
 age ; particularly the overthrow of dis- 
 tinction and rank. Slaves were reputed 
 masters during the three days of this 
 festivity ; were at liberty to say what 
 they pleased ; and, in fine, were served at 
 table by their owners. These festivities, 
 in which men indulged in riot without 
 restraint, were held annually about the 
 middle of December. 
 
 SAT'YRS, in classical mythology, di- 
 vinities, or rather supernatural person- 
 ages, represented with the heads, arms, 
 and bodies of men, and the lower parts of 
 goats. They were under the peculiar 
 government of the god Bacchus. Some 
 antiquaries have fancied that the notion 
 of satyrs arose from the introduction of 
 ourang-outangs by the real Bacchus on 
 his return from his conquest of India, and 
 derive the name from the Heb. sahurim. 
 
 hairy men ; Bacchus, according to tra- 
 dition, having remained some time in 
 Palestine during his return. In the same 
 way we may perhaps account for St. Au- 
 gustin's story, of a satyr having been 
 seen and caught, in his own time, in the 
 deserts of Africa. In Grecian dramatic 
 literature, the name satyr is applied to a 
 theatrical piece, in which the chorus con- 
 sisted of satyrs of a semi-burlesque char- 
 acter to judge of it by the only specimen 
 left to us, the Cyclops of Euripides. It 
 was customary for the tragedian to pre- 
 sent at the same time three tragic pieces 
 and one satyr, forming a tetralogy. 
 
 SAU'CISSE, in the art of war, a long 
 pipe or bag, made of cloth well pitched, 
 or of leather, filled with powder, and ex- 
 tending from the chamber of the mine to 
 the entrance of the gallery. It serves to 
 communicate fire to mines, caissons, bomb 
 chests, &c. 
 
 SAUCISSONS', in fortification, fagots 
 or fascines, made of great boughs of 
 trees bound together ; their use being 
 to cover men, or to make epaulements, 
 &c. 
 
 SAX'ON ARCHITEC'TURE, the ar- 
 chitecture of England before the Norman 
 conquest. There are some supposed re- 
 mains of this style in existence, but the 
 characteristics are not satisfactorily de- 
 termined. 
 
 SCAF'FOLDING, in architecture, is 
 the temporary combination of timber- 
 work, by the means of upright poles and 
 horizontal pieces, on which latter are 
 laid the boards for carrying up the differ- 
 ent stages or floors of a building, and 
 which are struck or removed as soon as 
 they have answered their purpose. 
 
 SCAGLIO'LA, a mixture of fine gyp- 
 sum and powdered selenite, made into a
 
 540 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SCB 
 
 paste with glue, and serving to form 
 paintings of a stony hardness. The pro- 
 cess is as follows : Upon a tablet of 
 white stucco (consisting of this gypsum 
 paste,) the outlines of the work designed 
 are traced with a sharp instrument, and 
 the cavities thus made are filled up with 
 successive layers of paste, of the same 
 composition, but colored. It takes a very 
 high polish, and, when executed by a 
 skilful workman, is an admirable imita- 
 tion of marble. 
 
 SCALD, signifies in the ancient Norsk 
 language a poet. In the old northern lit- 
 erature, those mythological poems of 
 which the writers are known are properly 
 called songs of the Scalds, while those of 
 unknown authors are termed Eddas. It 
 appears from Tacitus that the ancient 
 Germans had those three classes of poems 
 which were found at a later era in Scan- 
 dinavia, namely, relating to the gods, to 
 heaven, and to historical subjects. The 
 Scalds whose remains have come down to 
 us are very numerous. Their poems are 
 partly alliterative, and partly rhymed ; 
 and this latter circumstance seems to in- 
 dicate works of comparatively recentdate. 
 The historical value of their poems is con- 
 siderable ; but they are written in a pe- 
 culiar vein of exaggeration, and in a met- 
 aphysical and almost enigmatical fash- 
 ion, which appears to have been charac- 
 teristic of the poetical art of the north. 
 
 SCALE, in music, a progressive series 
 of sounds arising in acuteness or falling 
 in gravity from any given pitch to the 
 greatest practical distance, through such 
 intermediate degrees as create an agree- 
 able and perfect succession, wherein all 
 the harmonical intervals are conveniently 
 divided. 
 
 SCAMIL'LI, in ancient architecture, a 
 sort of second plinths or blocks under stat- 
 
 .--. Scamilli. 
 
 ues, columns, <fcc., to raise them, but not, 
 like pedestals, ornamented with any kind 
 of moulding. 
 SCANDA'LUM M AGNA'TUM, in law, 
 
 a defamatory speech or writing made or 
 published to the injury of a person of dig- 
 nity. 
 
 SCAN'NING, in Latin poetry, the ex- 
 amining a verse by counting the feet, to 
 see whether the quantities be duly ob- 
 served ; or, according to modern usage, to 
 recite or measure verse by distinguishing 
 the feet in pronunciation. 
 
 SCAPE'-GOAT, in the Jewish ritual, 
 a goat which was brought to the door of 
 the tabernacle, where the high-priest laid 
 his hands upon him, confessing the sins of 
 the people, and putting them on the head 
 of the goat ; after which the goat was 
 turned loose into the wilderness. 
 
 SCAP'ULARY, a part of the habit of 
 certain religious orders in the Romish 
 church, consisting of two narrow slips of 
 cloth worn over the gown, covering the 
 back and breast, and extending to the 
 feet. 
 
 SCAR'AMOUCH, a personage in the 
 old Italian Comedia dell' Arte, dressed 
 in the Spanish or Hispano-Neapolitan 
 costume, and representing a military per- 
 sonage, a poltroon and braggadocio, who 
 always ended by receiving a beating from 
 the hands of Harlequin. The most cele- 
 brated Scaramouch of the Italian theatre 
 at Paris was Tiberio Fiurelli, a Neapoli- 
 tan, who had the honor of making Louis 
 XIV. laugh when an infant j and whose 
 agility was such that he was able, accord- 
 ing to his biographers, to give a box on 
 the ear with his foot at the age of 80. 
 
 SCARP, in fortification, the interior 
 talus or slope of the ditch next the place 
 at the foot of the rampart. In heraldry, 
 the scarf which military commanders 
 wear for ornament. 
 
 SCENE, in dramatic literature, dra- 
 matic representations, having, it is sup- 
 posed, originally taken place on spots of 
 ground shaded with boughs of trees. The 
 imaginary place in which the action of 
 the play is supposed to pass ; also a divi- 
 sion of a drama : properly speaking, 
 whenever the action changes to a new 
 scene or place. But in the French thea- 
 tre, and those framed on its model, (in 
 which unity of place is observed,) every 
 entry of an actor constitutes a new scene. 
 On the English stage, the subdivision 
 called a scene is extremely arbitrary ; the 
 scenes in most plays being far more nu- 
 merous than the actual changes of scene, 
 while at the same time the French rule is 
 not observed, and actors enter in the mid- 
 dle of a scene. The scenes in a play are 
 numbered as subdivisions of the act. 
 
 SCENE PAINT'ING, a department of
 
 SCH] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 541 
 
 painting which forms a walk of art both 
 peculiar and extensive, and has its own 
 laws, its own practical and scientific rules, 
 in the same way as perspective has. The 
 follower of scene painting should, in the 
 first place, be deeply conversant with 
 that particular knowledge, by means of 
 which he is enabled to decide on the ef- 
 fects of those colors he employs by day, 
 when they shall be subjected to a strong 
 artificial light. In the next instance, it is 
 absolutely indispensable that he should 
 be well versed in the rules of both linear 
 and aerial perspective. He traces, by 
 fixed geometrical operations, lines bent 
 or inclined, which the spectator, placed at 
 the proper point of view, imagines to be 
 straight ones. He employs gradual dim- 
 inutions of plans which give the appear- 
 ance of an extent and distance existing 
 merely in his own art ; thus in a few fath- 
 oms to which he is bounded expressing 
 an extent sometimes almost infinite. He 
 uses chiefly water colors, on account of 
 their operating promptly, and presenting 
 no glossy surface. To the scene painter 
 the use of brilliant colors, of skilful 
 ctiiaro-scuro, of striking management of 
 masses of light and shade, is obvious. He 
 addresses less the heart or understanding 
 than the eye. With him effect is every- 
 thing. His fame, as well as his works, 
 is commonly of short duration ; and there 
 is consequently the greater reason that he 
 should acquire that promptness and de- 
 cision of style which would secure im- 
 mediate approbation. 
 
 SCE NERY, the appearance of the va- 
 rious objects presented to our view; as, 
 the scenery on the banks of the Thames 
 at Richmond is diversified and pleasing; 
 or, the landscape scenery presented to 
 the view from the Malvern hills is pictu- 
 resque and varied. The paintings repre- 
 senting the scenery of a play. 
 
 S C E N G'R A P H Y, in perspective, 
 stands opposed to ichnography and or- 
 thography. Ichnography is the ground- 
 plan ; orthography, the elevation or a flat 
 view of a front of an object; and scenog- 
 raphy, is the perspective view, which 
 takes several sides, and represents every- 
 thing in its apparent proportions. 
 
 SCEP'TICISM, also called Pyrrho- 
 nism, (from its founder, Pyrrho, who lived 
 under Alexander the Great,) the doctrine 
 of a sect of philosophers, who maintained 
 that no certain inferences can be drawn 
 from the senses, and who therefore doubt- 
 ed of every thing. In theology, scepticism 
 is a denial of the divine origin of the 
 Christian religion, or of the being, per- 
 
 fections, and truth of God. The most 
 celebrated sceptics of modern times are, 
 Montaigne (A.D. J580 ;) Glanville, an 
 Englishman, who flourished about the 
 i period of the Restoration; Bayle, and 
 I Hume. Of these Mr. Hume has the merit 
 of producing the most systematic and 
 comprehensive scheme of scepticism the 
 world has yet seen. According to this 
 philosopher, all the objects of conscious- 
 ness may be reduced to two classes 1. 
 the impressions on the senses ; and 2. 
 ideas, or copies of those impressions, 
 | which differ from their originals only in 
 being less vivid. All knowledge, save 
 that of mathematical relations, consists 
 in the arrangement of these impressions 
 according to the order of their succession. 
 Of the connection between any two links 
 of this succession we know nothing ; that 
 to which we give the name of causation 
 being, in fact, nothing more than habitual 
 sequence relatively to the phenomena, 
 and custom, or often-repeated association, 
 in relation to ourselves. 
 
 SCEP'TRE, a short staff, the emblem 
 of sovereign power. It is an ensign of 
 royalty of greater antiquity than the 
 crown. It was at first an unornamented 
 staff, or baton, but afterwards became 
 covered with ornaments in ivory, gold, 
 &c. At the present time the sceptre and 
 ball form the two most important em- 
 blems of royal and imperial power. 
 
 SCHED'ULE, in law, a scroll of paper 
 or parchment appended to a will or any 
 other deed. Also an inventory of goods, 
 &c. 
 
 SCHE'RIF, a title given in the East, 
 by prescriptive usage, to those who de- 
 scend from Mohammed through his son- 
 in-law and daughter, AH and Fatima. 
 They are also called Emir and Seid, and 
 have the privilege of wearing the green 
 turban. The chiefs of Mecca and Medina, 
 who are always supposed to belong to this 
 sacred family, are styled the scherifs of 
 those cities. 
 
 SCHISM, in a theological sense, a divi- 
 sion or separation in a church or denom- 
 ination of Christians ; or breach of uni- 
 ty among people of the same religions 
 persuasion. Hence, one who separates 
 from an established c'lurch or religiout 
 faith is termed a schismatic. In Scrip- 
 ture, the word schism seems to denote a 
 breach of charity, rather than a differ- 
 ence of doctrine. 
 
 SCHOLAS'TICS,aclass of philosophers 
 or schoolmen, who arose in the- middle 
 ages, and taught a peculiar kind of phi- 
 losophy, which consisted in applying the
 
 542 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [set 
 
 ancient dialectics to theology, and inti- 
 mately uniting both. On account of the 
 excessive subtilty which prevailed in the 
 scholastic philosophy, the expression 
 scholastic has been used for the extreme 
 of subtilty. After the Reformation and 
 the revival of letters, the system gradu- 
 ally declined, till it gave place to the 
 enlightened philosophy of Lord Bacon and 
 the great men who have followed in his 
 track and carried out his principles. 
 
 SCHO'LIA. notes or annotations on 
 an ancient author. Scholiast, one who 
 writes scholia, for the purpose of illus- 
 trating ancient authors. 
 
 SCHOOL, a house or place of rendez- 
 vous for pupils or students to receive in- 
 struction in various arts and branches of 
 useful and necessary knowledge. In 
 modern usage, the word school compre- 
 hends every place of education, whether 
 a college, an academy, a primary school, 
 or a school for learning any single art or 
 accomplishment. " The changes which 
 have taken place in science, and in the 
 whole condition of modern nations, who 
 are no longer dependent, like those of the 
 middle ages, for their means of intellec- 
 tual culture, on the remains of ancient 
 civilization, necessarily make the charac- 
 ter of school instruction very different 
 from what it was formerly, when the 
 whole intellectual wealth of Europe was 
 contained in two languages ; and though 
 these noble idioms will always retain a 
 high place in a complete system of edu- 
 cation, yet their importance is compara- 
 tively less, while that of the natural sci- 
 ences, history, geography, politics, Ac. 
 has very much increased. All this has 
 had a great influence upon schools, and 
 will have a still greater. The import- 
 ance of education, moreover, is now set 
 in strong relief by the general conviction, 
 entertained in free countries, that the 
 general diffusion of knowledge is the only 
 true security for well-regulated liberty, 
 which must rest on a just sense of what 
 is due from man to man ; and few results 
 can be attained by the student of history 
 and of mankind more delightful than this 
 of the essential connection of light and 
 liberty ; not that great learning neces- 
 sarily leads to liberty ; history affords 
 many instances which disprove this ; but 
 that a general diffusion of knowledge al- 
 ways tends to promote a general sense 
 and a love of what is right and just, as 
 well as to furnish the means of securing ; 
 it." For the foregoing remarks, which 
 are not less forcible than apparent, we 
 are indebted to Blackie's edition of the | 
 
 Conversations Lexicon. Schools, Infant, 
 are said to owe their origin to Mr. .Rob- 
 ert Owen of Scotland. They have now 
 been in operation since the year 1820. 
 Schools, Normal, schools for the educa- 
 tion of persons intended to become school- 
 masters, teachers, or professors in any 
 line. Normal schools form a regular 
 part of the establishments for education 
 in many continental states, especially in 
 Germany. The normal school of Paris 
 was suppressed in 1821, but revived a 
 few years afterwards under the name of 
 preparatory school, and has now (since 
 the event of 1830) resumed its original 
 title. Schools, Sunday, first set on foot 
 by Mr. Robert Raikes of Gloucester. The 
 number of children at present frequent- 
 ing Sunday-schools in England, varies 
 from 800,000 to 900,000. The education 
 given is almost uniformly confined to 
 reading alone ; but many Sunday-schools 
 appear to have evening schools connected 
 with them, open two or three times a 
 week, in which writing and arithmetic 
 are taught. The system of Sunday-school 
 instruction prevails to a great extent in 
 the United States, where it is almost ex- 
 clusively of a religious character. School, 
 among painters, the style and manner of 
 painting among the great masters of the 
 art at any particular period, as the Ital- 
 ian, Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, and English 
 schools. School, in philosophy, a system 
 of doctrine as delivered by particular 
 teachers, as the Platonic school, the school 
 of Aristotle, <fcc. Also, the seminaries 
 for teaching logic, metaphysics, and the- 
 ology, which were formed in the middle 
 ages, and. which were characterized by 
 academical disputations and subtilties of 
 reasoning. Hence school divinity is the 
 phrase used to denote that theology which 
 discusses nice points, and proves every- 
 thing by argument. 
 
 SCIAG'RAPHY, in architecture, a 
 profile or section of a building to exhibit 
 its interior structure. 
 
 SCI'ENCE, in a general sense, knowl- 
 edge, or certain knowledge ; the knowl- 
 edge of many methodically digested and 
 arranged so as to become attainable by 
 one; the comprehension or understanding 
 of truth or facts by the mind. The 
 science of God must be perfect. In 
 philosophy, a collection of the general 
 principles or leading truths relating to 
 any subject. Pure science, as the mathe- 
 matics, is built on self-evident truths ; 
 but the term science is also applied to 
 other subjects founded on generally ac- 
 knowledged truths, as metaphysics ; or
 
 SCR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 543 
 
 on experiment and observation, as 
 chemistry and natural philosophy; or 
 even to an assemblage of the general 
 principles of an art, as the science of 
 agriculture; the science of navigation. 
 The knowledge of reasons and their con- 
 clusions, constitutes abstract science; 
 that of causes and effects, and of the laws 
 of nature, natural or physical science. 
 The term science is often used to signify 
 that which we know inductively, or by 
 the experience of particulars, from which 
 we ascend to general conclusions not 
 necessarily constituted by those particu- 
 lars, yet warranted by previous experi- 
 ence and by analogies widely observed. 
 This signification of the term is applica- 
 ble to physical, moral, arid practical 
 science. Physical or natural science is 
 that which is susceptible of experiment, 
 and is therefore said to be founded on ex- 
 perimental evidence. Moral science, is 
 that which, lying in great part beyond 
 the reach of experiment, rests for its 
 certainty on aggregated facts, supported 
 by concurrent testimony, by experience, 
 and by analogy, so as to leave no room 
 for doubt, though not demonstrable. 
 Practical science, is that which consists 
 of general observations arising out of 
 experience, and is otherwise called 
 theory in correlation to an art or practice 
 belonging to it. The term science, how- 
 ever, is more particularly used in con- 
 tradistinction to art and literature. As 
 distinguished from the former, a science 
 is a body of truths, the common princi- 
 ples of which are supposed to be known 
 and separated, so that the individual 
 truths, even though some or all may be 
 clear in themselves, have a guarantee 
 that they could have been discovered and 
 known either with certainty, or with such 
 probability as the subject admits of, by 
 other means than their own evidence. 
 As distinguished from literature, science 
 is applied to any branch of knowledge 
 which is made the subject of investiga- 
 tion with a view to discover and apply 
 first principles. 
 
 SCI'RE FA'CIAS, in law, a judicial | 
 writ summoning a person to show cause j 
 to the court why something should not 
 be done ; as, to require sureties to show 
 cause why the plaintiff should not have 
 execution against them for debt and 
 damages, or to require a third person to 
 show cause why goods in his hands by 
 replevin, should not be delivered to 
 satisfv the execution, <fcc. 
 
 SCLAVO'NIAN, or SCLAVONIC, 
 pertaining to the Sclavi, or their lan- 
 
 guage a people that anciently inhabited 
 the country between the rivers Save and 
 Drave. Hence the word came to denote 
 the language which is now spoken in 
 Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, &c. 
 
 SCORE, in music, a collection of all 
 the vocal and instrumental parts of a 
 composition, arranged on staves one above 
 the other, and bar for bar, present- 
 ing at once, to the eye of a skilful mu- 
 sician, the effect of the whole band as the 
 composition proceeds. A composition so 
 arranged is also said to be in score. 
 
 SCOT, in law, a customary contribu- 
 tion laid upon all subjects according to 
 their ability. Whoever were assessed to 
 any contribution, though not by equal 
 portions, were said to pay scot and lot. 
 
 SCO'TIA, in architecture, the name of a 
 hollow moulding, chiefly used between the 
 tori in the bases of columns. It takes its 
 name from the shadow formed by it, which 
 seems to envelop it in darkness. It is 
 sometimes called a casement ; and often, 
 from its resemblance to a common pulley, 
 trochilus. 
 
 SCOT'ISTS, a sect of school-divines 
 and philosophers, thus called from their 
 founder, J. Duns Scotus, a Cordelier, who 
 maintained the immaculate conception 
 of the Virgin, or that she was born with- 
 out original sin, in opposition to Thomas 
 Aquinas and the Thomists. 
 
 SCREEDS, in architecture, wooden 
 rules for running mouldings. Also the ex- 
 treme guides on the margins of walls and 
 ceilings for floating to, by the aid of the 
 rules. They are always necessary for 
 running a cornice when the ceiling is not 
 floated. 
 
 SCREEN, in architecture, a partition 
 usually wrought with rich tracery, placed 
 behind the high altar of a church, and 
 also before small chapels and tombs. 
 Sometimes, as at Easter, they are placed 
 temporarily at the sides of choirs. 
 
 SCRIBES, the copyists, and at the same 
 time the interpreters of the law, in the 
 later periods of the Jewish history. They 
 were held in great honor among that 
 people, and ranked with the priests them- 
 selves in their estimation. In the New 
 Testament we find them generally refer- 
 red to in connection with the Pharisees, 
 to which sect they appear generally tc 
 have belonged, and with whom they co- 
 incided in temper and sentiments. Some 
 ancient writers conceive the scribes to 
 have formed peculiar sects in themselves ; 
 but there is no authority to sustain this 
 opinion. 
 
 SCRIP'TURE, or the Holy Scriptures,
 
 544 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [scu 
 
 an appellation given, by way of emi- 
 nence, to the sacred and inspired writings 
 of the Old and New Testaments. 
 
 SCRIVENER, money scriveners, in old 
 English usage, were parties who received 
 money to place it out at interest, and 
 supplied parties who wished to lend mon- 
 ey on security. 
 
 SCRU'TINY, in law, an examination 
 of suffrages or votes at an election, for 
 the purpose of ascertaining whether they 
 are good or not. In the primitive church, 
 an examinatign of catechumens who were 
 to receive baptism on Easter-day. 
 
 SCULP'TURE, the art of giving form 
 and expression, by means of the chisel 
 and other implements, to masses of stone 
 or other hard substances, so as to repre- 
 resent figures of every description, ani- 
 mate and inanimate. It is generally 
 thought that sculpture had its origin from 
 idolatry, as it was found necessary to place 
 before the people the images of their gods 
 to enliven the fervor of their devotion. 
 But to form conclusions concerning the 
 rise and progress of the arts and sciences, 
 without the aid of historical evidence, by 
 analogies which are sometimes accidental, 
 and often fanciful, is a mode of reasoning 
 which, at best, must ever be liable to 
 suspicion. In whatever country the ear- 
 liest attempts were made, the Egyptians 
 were the first who adopted a certain style 
 of art. Their works were gloomy and 
 grave, but still they were full of deep 
 sentiment, and connected, as would ap- 
 pear by the hieroglyphics which covered 
 them, with poetry and history, and by the 
 mummies, with the belief of immortality. 
 Interesting as the subject would doubt- 
 less prove, it is far beyond our limited 
 means to trace the progress of this beau- 
 tiful art through all its stages in the 
 classic days of Greece, till its decline in 
 Rome, where, though all the treasures of 
 the Grecian sculptors had been carried to 
 deck the Roman capital, the art never 
 became naturalized. During the long 
 and gloomy interval of barbarism that 
 succeeded the downfall of imperial Rome, 
 sculpture, with the sister arts, lay dor- 
 mant and forgotten. At length, however, 
 through the genius of Michael Angelo 
 Buonarotti, and the skill and perseve- 
 rance of some of his distinguished suc- 
 cessors, seconded by the patronage of the 
 illustrious house of Medici, the treasures 
 of antiquity were collected, and modern 
 art nobly tried to rival the grace and 
 sublimity which existed in the ancient 
 models. Though till within the last cen- 
 tury it could hardly be said that a British , 
 
 school of sculpture existed, yet the talent 
 that has been successfully called into 
 action has produced many works of ster- 
 ling merit. The names of Flaxman, 
 Chantrey, Baily, and Westmacott, are 
 alone sufficient to redeem the national 
 character in this department of art. In 
 the United States, the productions of 
 Greenough, Powers and other distin- 
 guished artists, have been received with 
 admiration by the most fastidious connois- 
 seurs. The very essence of sculpture is 
 correctness ; and when to correct and 
 perfect form is added the ornament of 
 grace, dignity of character, and appro- 
 priate expression, as in the Apollo, the 
 Venus, the Laocoon, the Mose.of Michael 
 Angelo, and many others, this Art may 
 be said to have accomplished its pur- 
 
 Eose. Sculpture, practice of. What has 
 een said under the article Painting, 
 relative to anatomy, comparative anato- 
 my, symmetry, invention, expression, 
 and drapery, equally applies to the art 
 of sculpture, and need not be here re- 
 peated. AVe shall, therefore, merely state 
 the different methods practised in produ- 
 cing a work in this art. A model as large 
 as the intended figure or group is first made 
 in clay. It is placed on a stand called the 
 sculptor's easel ; and the general form is 
 got out with the hand and fingers, small 
 box-wood tools being made use of to 
 touch the parts that the fingers cannot 
 reach. The clay is kept moist, to pre- 
 vent its shrinking till the model is com- 
 pleted. The model is then moulded in 
 plaster of Paris, before it begins to dry, 
 whence a matrix is formed, into which 
 plaster is introduced; and the matrix 
 being broken away from it, the model in 
 clay is thus transferred into one of plas- 
 ter. This becomes the standard from 
 which the artist takes all the measure- 
 ments for the figure he is about to exe- 
 cute. The block of marble and the model 
 being now placed on stands, with a gradu- 
 ated rod, which moves on a frame per- 
 pendicular to it, and has a point attached 
 to it which can be made to advance and 
 recede at jjleasure, certain prominent 
 points are selected and marked in the 
 model, and their distapce measured on 
 the frame longitudinally and vertically, 
 and also the distance that the point of 
 the rod is advanced or receded to touch a 
 given point. This being found on the 
 outside of the rough block, the particular 
 point is drilled down to as great a distance 
 as was measured in the model. This ope- 
 ration being repeated for a great number 
 of points, the surface is worked away
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 545 
 
 to all the several points found as above, 
 till at last it begins to assume the general 
 form of the model. As the sculptor ap- 
 proaches the surface which is to be left 
 when finished, more caution and finer 
 tools become necessary, till at length it 
 is brought into a state for his finishing 
 touches. The process which we have de- 
 scribed of bringing the shapeless block 
 into something like the form it is ulti- 
 mately to bear, and which is an operation 
 purely mechanical, is performed by infe- 
 rior workmen, by which the artist's labor 
 and time are much spared. It is only 
 with such a genius as Michael Angelo 
 that the making a model could be dispen- 
 sed with. 
 
 SCU'TUM, in antiquity, a sort of buck- 
 ler of both an oblong and an oval form. 
 
 SGYL'LA, a rock in the sea between 
 Sicily and Italy, which was very formi- 
 dable to the mariners among the ancients. 
 It was opposite to the whirlpool Charyb- 
 dis. 
 
 SEAL, in law, the impression or 
 device printed on wax which is put to 
 any deed by way of ratification. 
 
 SEA'MAN, an individual engaged in 
 navigating ships or other vessels upon 
 the high seas. Various regulations have 
 been enacted with respect to the hiring 
 of seamen, their conduct, and the pay- 
 ment of their wages ; but these particu- 
 lars are too numerous for insertion here, 
 and not within the seope of this work. 
 
 SE A'MANSHIP, an acquaintance with 
 the art of managing and navigating a 
 ship ; applicable both to officers and the 
 men, and indispensably necessary in 
 those who have the ship under their com- 
 mand. 
 
 SEA-'SONS, the four divisions or por- 
 tions of the year, namely, Spring, when 
 the sun enters Aries ; Summer when he 
 enters Cancer ; Autumn, when he enters 
 Libra ; and Winter when he enters Cap- 
 ricorn. The diversity of the seasons de- 
 pends upon the oblique position of the 
 sun's path through the heavens, whereby 
 this luminary rises to different heights 
 above the horizon, making the day some-^ 
 times longer, and sometimes shorter than* 
 the nights. When the sun rises highest 
 at noon, its rays fall most nearly in the 
 direction of a perpendicular, and conse- 
 quently a greater number is received 
 upon a given spot; their action also, at 
 the same time, continues the longest. 
 These circumstances make the difference 
 between summer and winter. It is found 
 that the sun does not rite so high in sum- 
 mer, nor descend so low in winter, at the 
 35 
 
 present time as it did formerly ; in other 
 words, the obliquity of the ecliptic, which 
 is half the difference between the sun's 
 greatest and least meridian altitudes, is 
 growing less and less continually, and the 
 seasons are thus tending, though slowly, 
 to one unvaried spring. 
 
 SEC'OND, in music, an interval of a 
 conjoint degree, being the difference be- 
 tween any sound and the next nearest 
 sound above or below it. There are three 
 kinds of- seconds, the minor second or 
 semitone, the major second, and the ex- 
 treme sharp second 
 
 SEC'OND SIGHT, a superstitious no- 
 tion, prevalent in the highlands of Scot- 
 land, by which certain persons are sup- 
 posed to be gifted with a kind of super- 
 natural sight, or the power of seeing 
 future or distant events as if they really 
 happened. But the peculiarity of the 
 Highland superstition seems to consist in 
 this, that persons were supposed to be 
 endowed with the faculty who were in no 
 other respect feared or reverenced for 
 their supernatural powers ; it was regard- 
 ed as a mere natural power, like superior 
 sharpness of sight or hearing. The in- 
 habitants of the Western Islands were 
 thought to be peculiarly gifted with it. 
 It could not be exerted at pleasure ; the 
 power came on the seer involuntarily, 
 and often to his extreme terror and suf- 
 fering. Nevertheless, certain rules were 
 in fashion for the interpretation of the 
 visions ; such, for instance, as that men- 
 tioned by Sir W. Scott, that if a seer saw 
 a figure with his back to him, on altering 
 the position of his own plaid if the 
 figure appeared with its plaid similarly 
 arranged the vision regarded the seer 
 himself. 
 
 SEC'RET ARY, an officer whose duty it 
 is to write letters and other instruments, 
 for and under the orders and authority 
 of a public body or an individual. 
 Secretary of State, an officer who trans- 
 acts and superintends the affairs of a par- 
 ticular department of government. In 
 Great Britain, there are three principal 
 secretaries of state. In this country, the 
 secretary of state conducts treaties with 
 foreign powers, and corresponds with the 
 public ministers abroad, and foreign 
 ministers of the United States. He also 
 keeps the seal of the United States, but 
 cannot use it without the authority of 
 | the president. 
 
 SECT, a collective term for a body of 
 ! persons adhering to some philosophical 
 I or religious system, but constituting a 
 I distinct party by holding sentiments dif- 
 ferent from those of other men. Most
 
 546 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SL 
 
 seels have originated in a particular per- 
 son, who taught and propagated some 
 peculiar notions in philosophy or religion, 
 and who is considered to have been its 
 founder. 
 
 SECTA'RIAN, one of a party in reli- 
 gion which has separated itself from the 
 established church, or which holds tenets 
 different from those of the prevailing 
 denomination in a kingdom or state. 
 
 SEC'TION, in general, denotes a dis- 
 tinct part or portion of something which 
 is divided, or the division itself. Such 
 are the subdivisions of a chapter, called 
 also paragraphs and articles. In archi- 
 tectural drawings, the word section is ap- 
 plied to the view of an edifice cut down 
 the middle for the purpose of exhibiting 
 the interior, and describing the height, 
 breadth, thickness, of wall, arches, domes, 
 &c. The drawings relative to an archi- 
 tectural work cannot be said to be com- 
 plete, unless they comprise plan, eleva- 
 tion, and section. 9 
 
 SEC'ULAR, something that is tempo- 
 ral, in which sense the word stands oppos- 
 ed to ecclesiastical : thus we say, secular 
 power, secular jurisdiction, &c. Among 
 Catholics, secular is more peculiarly used 
 for an ecclesiastic who lives at liberty in 
 the world, not confined to a monastery, 
 nor bound by vows, or subjected to the 
 particular rules of any religious com- 
 munity ; in which sense it stands opposed 
 to regular. Thus we say, the secular 
 clergy, and the regular clergy. The act 
 of rendering secular the property of the 
 clergy, is called secularization. 
 
 SEC'ULAR GAMES, in antiquity, 
 solemn games held among the Romans 
 once in an age or century. They lasted 
 three days and three nights, during 
 which time sacrifices were performed, 
 theatrical shows exhibited, with combats, 
 .sports. <fcc., in the circus. The first who 
 had them celebrated at Rome was Vale- 
 rius Publicolo, the first consul created 
 after the expulsion of the kings. At the 
 time of the celebration of the secular 
 games, heralds were sent throughout all 
 the empire, to intimate that every one 
 might come and see those solemnities 
 which he never yet had seen, nor would 
 ever see again. 
 
 SECULARIZATION, in politics, the 
 appropriation of church property to sec- 
 ular uses. In most European states 
 such appropriations have taken place on 
 a great scale within the last century. In 
 England, the only great secularization 
 has been that made under Henry VIII. 
 
 SECUN'DUM AR'TEM, (Lat) accord- 
 
 ing to the rules of art. In medicine, a 
 term frequently used in prescriptions, to 
 denote that the recipe must be made up 
 with particular care. Secundum na- 
 turam, according to the course of nature. 
 
 SECUTO'RES, in antiquity, a descrip- 
 tion of gladiators among the Romans, 
 who fought against the retiarii. The 
 secutores were artned with a sword and a 
 buckler, to keep off the net or noose of 
 their antagonists, and they also wore a 
 casque. This name was also given to 
 such gladiators as took the place of those 
 killed in the combat, or who fought the 
 conqueror. 
 
 SE DEFENDEN'DO, in law, a plea 
 used for one who is charged with the 
 death of another, by alleging that he 
 was under a necessity of committing the 
 act in his own defence. 
 
 SEDI'TION, in polities, an opposition 
 to the laws, or the administration of jus- 
 tice, and in disturbance of the public 
 peace. In general, it signifies a local or 
 limited opposition to civil authority ; a 
 commotion of less extent than an insur- 
 rection, and consequently less than re- 
 bellion. 
 
 SEE, the name usually given to the 
 diocess of a bishop in England. It was 
 originally applied exclusively to the 
 papal chair at Rome ; but it has long 
 been used in its present wide significa- 
 tion. 
 
 SEIGN'IORAGE,- a royal right or 
 prerogative of the king or queen regnant 
 of England, by which they claim an al- 
 lowance of gold and silver brought in the 
 mass to be exchanged for coin. A lord 
 of a manor is sometimes styled a seignior, 
 and the lordship a seigniory. 
 
 SE'IZIN, or SE'ISIN, in law, posses- 
 sion. Seizin in fact, or deed, is actual 
 or corporal possession ; seizin in law, is 
 when something is done which the law 
 accounts possession or seizin, as enrol- 
 ment ; or when lands descend to an heir, 
 but he has not yet entered on them. In 
 this case the law considers the heir as 
 seized of the estate, and the person who 
 ^wrongfully enters on the land is accounted 
 a disseizor. 
 
 SELEU'CID^I, a term in chronology 
 designating a particular era. The era 
 of the Seleucidse, or the Syro-Macedonian 
 era, is a computation of time, com- 
 mencing from the establishment of the 
 Seleueidaa, a race of Greek kings, who 
 reigned as successors of Alexander the 
 Great, in Syria, as the Ptolemies did in 
 Egypt. This era we find expressed in 
 the book of the Maccabees, and OH a
 
 SEN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 547 
 
 great number of Greek medals, struck by 
 the cities of Syria, &c. The Kabbins call 
 it the era of contracts : and the Arabs 
 the era of tho two horns. According to 
 the best accounts, the first year of this 
 era falls in the year 312 before Christ, 
 being about eleven or twelve years after 
 Alexander's death. 
 
 SELF-COMMAND', that steady equa- 
 nimity which enables a man in every 
 situation to exert his reasoning faculty 
 with coolness, and to do what the exist- 
 ing circumstances require. It depends 
 much upon the natural temperament of 
 the body, and much upon the moral cul- 
 tivation of the mind ; and he who from 
 his early youth has been accustomed to 
 muke his passions submit to his reason, 
 will, in any sudden emergency, be more 
 capable of acting with a cool and steady 
 resolution, than he who has tamely 
 yielded to or allowed himself to bo con- 
 trolled by the influence of his passions. 
 
 SELF-KNOWL'EDGE. a difficult but 
 most important acquisition. It is difficult, 
 because every man is more or less 
 blinded by some fallacy peculiar to him- 
 self, and it is disagreeable to investigate 
 our errors, our faults, and our vices. But 
 these difficulties are more than counter- 
 balanced by the advantages of self- 
 knowledge. By knowing the extent of 
 our abilities, we shall be restrained from 
 rashly engaging in enterprises beyond 
 our ability ; by investigating our opin- 
 ions, we may discover those which are 
 based upon false principles ; and by 
 examining our virtues and vices, we 
 shall learn what principles ought to be 
 strengthened, and what habits or propen- 
 sities ought to be abandoned. 
 
 SELF-LOVE, an instinctive principle 
 in the human mind which impels every 
 rational creature to preserve his life, and 
 promote his own happiness. It is very 
 generally confounded with selfishness, 
 but their springs of action and their 
 results are very different; for selfishness 
 is the parent and nurse of every vice, 
 while self-love only prompts him who is 
 actuated by it to procure to himself the 
 greatest possible sum of happiness during 
 his whole existence. 
 
 SEL'LING OUT, among stockbrokers, 
 a transfer of one's share of stock from 
 one person to another, in distinction from 
 buying in, which is the purchase of the 
 stock held by another. 
 
 SEM'IBllEVE, in music, the measure 
 note by which all others are regulated. 
 It contains the time of two minims, 
 which are divided either into four 
 
 crotchets, eight quavers, sixteen semi- 
 quavers, or thirty-two demi-semiquavers. 
 
 SEM'ICOLON, in grammar and punc- 
 tuation, the point ( ; ) the mark of a 
 pause to be observed in reading, of less 
 duration than the colon, double the dura- 
 tion of the comma, or half the duration 
 of the period. It is used to distinguish 
 the conjunct members of a sentence. 
 
 SEMI-DIAPA'SON, in music, a de- 
 fective octave, or an octave diminished 
 by a minor semitone. 
 
 SEM'INAilY, any place of education, 
 in which young persons are instructed in 
 the several branches of learning. 
 
 SEMI-PELA'GIANS, a sect of Chris- 
 tians, who hold that God has not by pre- 
 destination dispensed his grace to one 
 more than to another; that Christ died 
 for all men ; that the grace purchased by 
 Christ and necessary to salvation, is of- 
 fered to all men ; that man, before he re- 
 ceives grace, is capable of faith and holy 
 desires; and that man being born free, is 
 capable of accepting grace, or of resisting 
 its influence. 
 
 SEMIQUAVER, in music, a note of 
 half the duration of the quaver, being the 
 sixteenth of tho semibreve. 
 
 SEMITIC LAN'GUAGES, one of the 
 great families of languages. They have 
 been divided thus : 1. Ar.imEean. (in the 
 north,) including Eastern and Western 
 Aramaean ; the Eastern embraces the As- 
 syrian, the Babylonian, from which seve- 
 ! ral dialects originated, as the Chaldaic, 
 the Syro-Chaldaic ; and the Samaritan. 
 The Western Aramaean includes the Sy- 
 riac dialect, the Palmyrene, and the Sa- 
 bian idiom, a corrupted Syriac dialect. 2. 
 Canaanitish languages, which comprise 
 the Phoenician language, with its dia- 
 lect the Punic, the Hebrew with the Rab- 
 i binic dialect. 3. The Arabic language, 
 from which originated the Ethiopian or 
 Abyssinian. 
 
 SEM'ITONE, in music, half a tone; 
 an interval of sound, as between mi and 
 fa, in the diatonic scale, which is only half 
 the distance of the interval between ut 
 and re, or sol and la. A semitone, strict- 
 ly speaking, is not half a tone, as there 
 are three kinds of semitones ; greater, 
 lesser, and natural. 
 
 SEM'I-VOWEL, in grammar, a half 
 vowel, or an articulation which is accom- 
 panied with an imperfect sound; as, el, 
 em, en, which, though uttered with close 
 organs, do not wholly interrupt the 
 sounds. 
 
 SEN'ATE. an assembly or council of 
 senators : that is, a body of the principal
 
 548 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SEN 
 
 inhabitants of a state, invested with a 
 share in the government. The senate of 
 ancient Komo was, of all others, the most 
 celebrated : it appointed judges, either 
 from among the senators or knights, to 
 determine processes ; it also appointed 
 governors of provinces, and disposed of 
 the revenues of the commonwealth, Ac. 
 Yet the whole sovereign power did not 
 reside in the senate, since it could not 
 elect magistrates, make laws, or decide 
 on war and peace ; in all which cases the 
 senate was obliged to consult the people. 
 One of the qualifications of a senator was 
 the possession of property to the amount 
 of 80,000 sesterces, about 7000J. In 
 many republican constitutions of modern 
 times, the upper house of the national as- 
 sembly has been so called. The senate 
 of the United States is composed of two 
 members for each state of the Union. 
 The senators are chosen by the state for 
 six years. The American senate, besides 
 its legislative functions, is also a species 
 of executive council, assisting the presi- 
 dent ; its consent being necessary for the 
 ratification of treaties, appointment of 
 ambassadors, judges of the supreme court, 
 heads of departments in the administra- 
 tion, &c. It is also the high court of im- 
 peachment for public functionaries. Sen- 
 ate-kouse, a building in which the senate 
 meets, or a place of public council. Sen- 
 ate, in the university of Cambridge, is 
 equivalent to the convocation at Oxford, 
 and consists of all masters of arts, and 
 higher graduates, being masters of arts, 
 who have each a voice in every public 
 measure, in granting degrees, in electing 
 members of parliament, a chancellor, &c. 
 
 SENA'TUS AUCTOR'ITAS, a vote of 
 the Komau senate, drawn up in the same 
 form as a decree, but without its force, as 
 having been prevented from passing into 
 a decree by some of the tribunes of the 
 people. 
 
 SENA'TUS CONSUL'TUM, a decree 
 of the Roman senate, pronounced on some 
 question or point of law ; which, when 
 passed, made a part of the law. 
 
 SEN'ESCIIAL, an officer in the houses 
 of princes and dignitaries, who has the 
 superintendence of feasts and public cer- 
 emonies. In some instances, the senes- 
 chal is an officer who has the dispensing 
 of justice, as the high seneschal of Eng- 
 land, &o. 
 
 SENSE, the faculty of the soul by 
 which it perceives external objects by 
 means of impressions made on certain or- 
 gans of the body. The external organs of 
 sense are usually classed under five heads, 
 
 viz. those of sight, hearing, feeling, smell, 
 and taste. The nerves and the brain are 
 the organs of sensation. If the external 
 organ be destroyed, no sensation can be 
 produced : where there are no nerves 
 there is no sensation : where the nervous 
 branches are most numerous there is 
 most sensation ; if the nerve be destroyed, 
 sensation cannot be produced from those 
 parts to which the nerve belongs, which 
 are further from the brain than the in- 
 jured parts. All the nerves terminate in 
 the brain. If the brain is compressed, 
 sensation is suspended : if the brain is 
 considerably injured, sensation ceases. 
 Sensations are the rudiments and ele- 
 ments of our ideas, that is, of all our 
 thoughts and feelings. In the earliest 
 exercise of the sensatdve power, sensa- 
 tions are simple, uncompounded with the 
 relics of former corresponding sensations : 
 but the sensations soon become percep- 
 tions ; that is, they instantaneously recall 
 the relics of other corresponding sensa- 
 tions. The accuracy and extent of the 
 perception depends on the vividness and 
 efficaciousness of the compound sensa- 
 tions, and the number of them received 
 from the same or similar objects in differ- 
 ent situations, and through the medium 
 of different senses. The object therefore 
 of earlier education should be to invigo- 
 rate the organs of sense. Common sense 
 is that power of the mind which, by a 
 kind of instinct, or a short process of rea- 
 soning, perceives truth, the relation of 
 things, cause and effect, &c., and hence 
 enables the possessor to discern what is 
 right and expedient, and adopt the best 
 means to accomplish his purpose. Moral 
 sense implies, a determination of the 
 mind to be pleased with those affections, 
 actions or characters of rational agents, 
 which are considered good and conducive 
 to virtue. 
 
 SENSIBIL'ITY. acuteness of percep- 
 tion, or that quality of the mind which 
 renders it susceptible of impressions ; 
 delicacy of feeling; as sensibility to 
 pleasure or pain, shame or praise. 
 
 SEN'SUALISM, in mental philoso- 
 phy, that theory which resolves all our 
 mental acts and intellectual powers into 
 various modifications of mere sensation. 
 The best known, and the most elaborate 
 attempt of this kind which has been 
 made in modern times, is that of Con- 
 dillac, who conceived that he was follow- 
 ing out the principles of Locke into their 
 legitimate consequences. For this belief 
 it cannot be denied that there exists at 
 least plausible ground. Locke does in-
 
 SEP 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 549 
 
 deed draw a distinction between sensa- 
 tion and reflection, as separate sources 
 of " ideas :" but his account of reflection 
 is so vague, and its existence apparently 
 so unsupported in his system, as to 
 justify the attempt to reduce it to mere 
 revived sensation. The writings of Con- 
 dillac may be regarded as a fair reductio 
 ad absurdum of the theory which at- 
 tempts to explain the existence of our 
 mental phenomena independently of con- 
 ditions in the mind itself. The theory 
 opposed to sensualism is called intellect- 
 ualism. 
 
 _ SEN'TENCE, in law, a judicial deci- 
 sion publicly and officially declared in a 
 criminal prosecution. In civil cases, the 
 decision of a court is called ^judgment. 
 In grammar, a number of words con- 
 taining complete sense, and followed by 
 a full pause ; a period. 
 
 SEN'TIMENT, in its primary sense, 
 signifies a thought prompted by passion 
 or feeling. Also, the decision of the 
 inind, formed by deliberation or reason- 
 ing. Sentiments, in poetry, and espe- 
 cially dramatic, are the thoughts which 
 the several persons express, whether 
 they relate to matters of opinion, pas- 
 sion, &c. 
 
 SEN'ZA, in music, signifies without; 
 as senza stromenti, without instruments ; 
 con e senza violini, with and without 
 violins. 
 
 SEPARATISTS, a religious sect 
 which originated in Dublin about the 
 year 1803. Their principle, like that of 
 most sects at their commencement, was 
 to return more nearly to what they con- 
 ceived to be the primitive form of Chris- 
 tianity. There is nothing very peculiar 
 in their tenets, beyond their withdrawal 
 from the fellowship of other Christian 
 bodies. In the year 1833 an act of par- 
 liament was passed for their relief in the 
 matter of oaths. 
 
 SE'POYS, the name given to the 
 Hindoo or native troops in the service 
 of the East India Company, of whom 
 there are nearly 200,000, chiefly infantry, 
 though there are several regiments of 
 cavalry and some companies of artillery. 
 They are all disciplined after the Euro- 
 pean manner, and are hardy, temperate, 
 and subordinate. Their dress consists of 
 a red jacket, with a white cotton vest, 
 trowsers reaching only half-way down 
 the thighs, and a light turban. The 
 character of the Sepoys as soldiers has 
 been the subject of much discussion. Ac- 
 cording to a modern writer, "the Sepoys 
 have justly been celebrated for excellent 
 
 qualities; as, for instance, patience and 
 fortitude under difficulties and priva- 
 tions. But, on the other hand, if we 
 analyze the account of the wars in which 
 they have been employed, we shall find 
 that they seem to possess passive rather 
 than active courage ; for instance, that 
 in line they will remain steady under 
 fire ; in a broken or close country, how- 
 ever, where skirmishers and small de- 
 tachments are necessarily most employed, 
 'they are found wanting." Others, how- 
 ever, disagree even from this modified 
 dispraise. 
 
 SEPT, in Irish history, a clan, race, or 
 family, proceeding from a common pro- 
 genitor. 
 
 SEPTEM'BER, so called from its be- 
 ing the seventh month in the Roman year 
 as established by Romulus, which began 
 with March, is the ninth month in the 
 calendar of Nurna. Several of the Roman 
 emperors gave names to this month in 
 honor of themselves ; but, unlike the 
 month of August, whose ancient name of 
 Sextilis has been quite merged in that of 
 Augustus, the name of September has out- 
 lived every other appellation. 
 
 SEPTEM'BRISTS, the name given to 
 the agents in the dreadful massacre which 
 took place in Paris on September 2, 1792, 
 during the French Revolution. The num- 
 bers that perished in this massacre have 
 been variously given ; but the term has 
 become proverbial throughout Europe 
 for all that is bloodthirsty and malignant 
 in human nature. 
 
 SEPTEN'NIAL, happening or return- 
 ing every seven years, as septennial par- 
 liaments, i. e. new parliaments chosen 
 j every seven years, as they are at present 
 appointed in England. 
 
 SEPTEN'TRION, or SEPTEN'TRI- 
 ON AL, pertaining to the north or north- 
 ern regions of the globe. 
 
 SEPTUAGES'IMA, in the calendar, 
 
 the third Sunday before Lent, or before 
 
 Quadragesima Sunday : supposed to take 
 
 its name from being about seventy days 
 
 ' before Easter. 
 
 SEP'TUAGINT, a Greek version of the 
 books of the Old Testament, so called be- 
 cause the translation is supposed to luivn 
 , been made by seventy-two Jews, who, for 
 the sake of round numbers, are usually 
 called the seventy interpreters. This 
 ; translation is said to have been made at 
 the request of Ptolemy Philadelphia, 
 king of Egypt, about 280 years before the 
 birth of Christ. It was in use in the time 
 of our Saviour, and is that out of which 
 all the citations in the New Testament
 
 550 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [8KB 
 
 from the Old are taken. It was also the 
 ordinary and canonical translation made 
 use of by the Christian church in the ear- 
 liest ages ; and it still subsists in the 
 churches both of the east and west. It is 
 however observable, that the chronology 
 of the Septuagint makes fifteen hundred 
 years more from the creation to Abraham, 
 than the present Hebrew copies of the 
 Bible. 
 
 SEP'ULCHRE, a place destined for the 
 interment of the dead. This term is 
 chiefly used in speaking of the burying 
 places of the ancients, those of the mod- 
 erns being usually called tombs. Sepul- 
 chres were held sacred and inviolable, 
 and the care taken of them has always 
 been held a religious duty. Those who 
 have searched or violated them, have been 
 thought odious by all nations, and were 
 always severely punished. The Egyp- 
 tians called sepulchres eternal houses, in 
 contradistinction to their ordinary houses 
 or palaces, which they called inns, on ac- 
 count of their short stay or pilgrimage on 
 earth. The sepulchres of the Hebrews 
 in general were hollow places dug out of 
 rocks. Thus Abraham is said to bury 
 Sarah his wife in the cave of Macpelah. 
 In such sepulchres, also, the bodies of 
 Lazarus and Jesus Christ were buried. 
 And the same custom prevails in the East 
 to this day, according to the account of 
 modern travellers. Knights of the holy 
 Sepulchre, a military order, established 
 in Palestine about the year 1114. 
 
 SEPULTU'RA, in archaeology, an of- 
 fering made to the priest for the burial 
 of the dead body. 
 
 SE'QUENCE, in music, a regular suc- 
 cession of similar sounds. In gaming, a 
 set of cards immediately following each 
 other, in the same suit, as a king, queen, 
 knave, &c. ; thus we say, a sequence of 
 three, four, or five cards. 
 
 SEQUESTRA'TION, in law, the act 
 of taking a thing, in controversy, from 
 the possession of both parties till the 
 right be determined b}' course of law. 
 In the civil law, the act of the ordinary, 
 disposing of the goods and chattels of a 
 person deceased, whose estate no one will 
 meddle wirh. 
 
 SE'QUIN, or ZE CHIN, a gold coin of 
 Venice and Turkey, of different values in 
 different places, but generally about 9s. 
 
 SERAG'LIO, a Persian word, signify- 
 ing the palace of a prince or lord ; but 
 the term is used, by way of eminence, for 
 the palace of the Grand Seignior at Con- 
 stantinople, and all the officers and de- 
 pendents of his court ; and in it is trans- 
 
 ! acted all the business of the government. 
 j In this building are also kept the females 
 of the harem. 
 
 SERAI', a large building for the ac- 
 commodation of travellers, common in 
 the East. In Turkey they are called 
 khans; in Persia, caravanserais, which 
 we write caravansaries ; but in Tartary 
 and India, simply serais. 
 
 SER'APH, a spirit of the highest rank 
 in the hierarchy of angels; thus called 
 from their being supposed to be most in- 
 flamed with divine love, or holy zeal, 
 owing to their more immediate attend- 
 ance at the throne of God. The Hebrew 
 plural is seraphim : the English plural 
 is regularly formed (seraphs.) 
 
 SERA'PIS, an Egyptian deity. The 
 image and worship of this go<i were 
 brought from Sinope in Pontus, to Alex- 
 andria, in the last year of Ptolemy Soter, 
 in consequence, it is said, of a vision of 
 Ptolemy I. According to some accounts, 
 this image was a statue of Jupiter ; but 
 however this may have been, Serapis was 
 clearly, as Sir G. Wilkinson expresses it, 
 " at most a Grreco-Egyptian deity," 
 And there is no foundation for the notion 
 entertained by some early Christian 
 fathers, that he represented the patriarch 
 Joseph, (which they supported by an ar- 
 gument drawn from the ornament in the 
 shape of a bushel, which the images of 
 this god usually bore on the head ;) or for 
 that of some modern antiquaries, that it 
 was another name for Apis. 
 
 SERAS'KIER, a Turkish general or 
 commander of land forces. 
 
 SERENADE', signified originally mu- 
 sic performed in the open air. on a serene 
 evening ; but it is now universally ap- 
 plied to a musical performance made by 
 gentlemen in a spirit of gallantry under 
 the windows of ladies whom they admire. 
 This practice, which was formerly very 
 general in Spain and Italy, has latterly 
 fallen greatly into disuse in these coun- 
 tries : but it is still very common in the 
 German university towns, where the stu- 
 dents are in the habit of assembling in 
 the evening under the windows of a fa- 
 vorite professor, and offering him a musi- 
 cal tribute. 
 
 SERENE' HIGH'NESS, a title of 
 courtesy in European etiquette of con- 
 siderable antiquity. Before the dissolu- 
 tion of the German empire, Serene and 
 Most Serene Highness were the appro- 
 priate addresses of princely houses hold- 
 ing immediately of the empire. Since 
 that period the rules of princely etiquette 
 have become more uncertain.
 
 SEVJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 551 
 
 SERF, a servant, or as is the case in 
 some couutries, a peasant slave, attached 
 to tho soil and transferred with it. 
 
 SEJR'GEANT, in military affairs, a 
 non-commissioned officer in a company 
 of infantry or troop of cavalry, whose 
 duty is to order and form the ranks, and 
 see discipline preserved. Sergeant-at- 
 law, in England, a barrister who usually 
 pleads in the court of common-pleas, but 
 who is allowed to plead also in other 
 courts. Every judge must first bo a ser- 
 geant-at-law. Sergeant-at-arms, or at 
 mace, an officer appointed to attend the 
 person of the sovereign, arrest persons of 
 quality that offend, &c. A similar ser- 
 geant attends the lord chancel lor ; a third 
 the speaker of the house of commons; 
 and a fourth, the lord mayor of London, 
 on solemn occasions. Common sergeant 
 an officer of the city of London, who at- 
 tends the lord mayor and court of alder- 
 men on court days, and is in council with 
 them on all occasions. He is, more par- 
 ticularly, to take care of the orphan's 
 estates. Sergeantry, in the old English 
 law, is of two kinds. Grand sergeantry, 
 is a kind of knight service, by which the 
 tenant was bound to do some special hon- 
 orary service to the king in person, as 
 to carry his banner or sword, or be his 
 champion at his coronation, &c. Petit 
 sergeantry was a tenure by which the 
 tenant was bound to render to the king 
 annually some small implement of war, 
 as a bow, a sword, a lance, &c. 
 
 SER'MON, in ecclesiastical usage. The 
 use of the sermon or homily as a portion 
 of the communion service is said to be of 
 remote antiquity. This ancient custom 
 fell into partial disuse during a great 
 part of the middle ages. The homilies 
 of Elfric, archbishop of Canterbury, in 
 the 10th century, were long used in the 
 English church ; but these became anti- 
 quated ; and in the year 1281, preaching 
 seems to have been generally omitted. 
 In that year archbishop Pcckham order- 
 ed in his Constitutions, that four sermons 
 should be delivered during the year. 
 But for some time prior to the Reforma- 
 tion preaching was again coming more 
 into use ; and the publication of homilies 
 by authority, seems to have completely 
 restored the ancient practice. See HOM- 
 ILY. 
 
 SER'VICE, in a general sense, labor, 
 whether of body or mind, or of both unit- 
 ed, performed in pursuance of duty, or at 
 the command of a superior. The service 
 of persons who spontaneously perform 
 something for another's benefit, is termed 
 
 voluntary, and that of those who work by 
 compulsion involuntary service. Public 
 worship is termed, divine service. The 
 duty which a tenant owes to his lord for 
 his fee, is called personal service. The 
 word service is also applied to the duty 
 of naval or military men when serving 
 their country ; as home service, foreign 
 service, limited service, &c. Various le- 
 gal processes are also distinguished by 
 the term service, as the service of Aicrit, 
 an attachment, an execution, &c. 
 
 SER'VITOR, a poor scholar at Oxford, 
 answering to a sizer at Cambridge, who 
 attends on other students for his mainte- 
 nance and learning. * 
 
 SES'QUI, in music, a whole and a half; 
 which, joined with altera, terza, quarta, 
 &c., is much used in the Italian music to 
 express a set of ratios, particularly the 
 several'species of triple time. 
 
 SES'SION, in law, a sitting of justices 
 in court upon their commission, as the 
 session oyer and termincr, &c. The ses- 
 sion of a judicial court is called a term : 
 thus a court may have two sessions or 
 four sessions annually. The term sessions, 
 or quarter sessions, is applied to those 
 quarterly meetings of justices of the 
 peace, when minor offences are tried, or 
 business performed which requires the 
 sanction of two or more justices. Session 
 of Congress, the season and space be- 
 tween its meeting and its adjournment. 
 
 SES'TERCE, in antiquity, a Roman 
 coin, the fourth part of a denarius in 
 value, or about twopence. The sester- 
 tiuni, or sestertium pondus, was 250 de- 
 narii ; about $35. One qualification of a 
 Roman knight was the possession of es- 
 tate of the value of four hundred thou- 
 sand sesterces ; that of a senator was dou- 
 ble this sum. 
 
 SET'-OFF, is a term used in law, when 
 the defendant acknowledges the plaintiff's 
 demand, but makes a demand of his own, 
 to set-off or counterbalance the debt 
 either wholly or in part. 
 
 SETTLEMENT, in law, the right 
 which an individual acquires to parochial 
 assistance, under the statutes for the re- 
 lief of the poor, in that parish or district 
 to which he legally belongs, and in whi<;h 
 he is said to have the settlement. 
 
 SEVENTH, in music, an interval ; 
 whereof there are four species. First, the 
 defective seventh, consisting of three 
 tones and three greater semitones. Sec- 
 ond, the minor seventh, consisting of 
 seven degrees and six intervals, diatoni- 
 cally taken ; four being tones, and the 
 rest greater semitones. Third, the major
 
 552 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 SHA 
 
 seventh, being only a major semitone less 
 than the octave. Fourth, the extreme 
 sharp seventh, which is only a comma 
 less than the octave. 
 
 SEVEN YEARS' WAR, in history, a 
 war carried on 'in Germany between two 
 alliances, headed respectively by Austria 
 and Prussia, from the year 1756 to 1763, 
 when it was ended by the peace of Hu- 
 bertsburg. It was signalized chiefly by 
 the extraordinary campaigns of Frederick 
 II., the Great King of Prussia. His prin- 
 cipal ally throughout the struggle was 
 England ; while he was, at one period, 
 assailed by the forces of Austria. France, 
 the Empire, Sweaen, and Russia. When 
 the forces of the Prussian sovereign had 
 been almost annihilated by this coalition, 
 the death of the Russian empress. Eliza- 
 beth, caused the withdrawal of Russia 
 from the alliance of his enemies, and 
 brought about the termination of the war 
 without material advantages gained by 
 any party. 
 
 SEWER, in architecture, a subterra- 
 neous conduit, or channel, to receive and 
 carry off the superfluous water and filth 
 of a city. The sewers of Rome have been 
 the models of those of the modern cities 
 of Europe. They are as old as the elder 
 Tarquin. These cloaca: had, between the 
 Quirinal, Capitoline, and Palatine hills, 
 many branches, which, joining in the Fo- 
 rum, now the Campo Vaccino, were re- 
 ceived for conveyance into the Tiber by a 
 larger one called the cloaca maxima. It 
 must be admitted, however, that it is er- 
 roneous to designate the Roman cloacae 
 by the term sewers. They were rather 
 drains, made to cjarry off the stagnant 
 water of the pestilential marshes which 
 occupied much of the low ground near 
 the Tiber, and the spaces between the 
 Aventine. Palatine, and Capitoline hills. 
 The height and width of the cloaca max- 
 ima are equal, each measuring 13 1-2 
 feet. 
 
 SEXAGES'IMA, the second Sunday 
 before Lent, or the next to Shrove Sun- 
 day : so called as being about the 60th 
 day before Easter. 
 
 SEXHIX'DENI, or SEX'HINDMEN, 
 in Anglo-Saxon history, the middle 
 thanes, who were rated at 600 shillings. 
 
 SEX'TAIN, in poetry, a stanza con- 
 taining six verses. 
 
 SEXTARY-LANDS, in law, lands 
 given to a church or religious house for 
 the maintenance of the sexton or sac- 
 ristan. 
 
 SEXTI'LIS, the sixth month of Rom- 
 ulus's year, but the eighth of the year 
 
 of Numa. It was vinder the protection of 
 Ceres, and was afterwards called August, 
 in honor of Augustus. 
 
 SEX'TON, an under officer of the 
 church, whose business it is to take care 
 of the vessels, vestments, Ac. belonging 
 to the church, and to attend the officiat- 
 ing clergyman, and perform other duties 
 pertaining to the church. He was an- 
 ciently called the sacristan. 
 
 SFORZA'TO, in music, an Italian term 
 signifying that the note over which it is 
 placed must be struck with force. 
 
 SFUMA'TO, in painting. This term is 
 applied to the species of painting in which 
 the tints are extremely smooth and 
 blended, so as to present that sort of in- 
 definite contour and outline displayed by 
 natural appearances on a misty day. or 
 at a considerable distance. This style, in 
 the hands of a master, is very agreeable 
 and harmonious. Perhaps Guercino has 
 seized its true spirit better than any other 
 artist of celebrity. 
 
 SGRAFIT'TO, in painting, a species 
 of painting in which the ground is pre- 
 pared with dark stucco, on which a white 
 coat is applied ; which last being re- 
 moved with an iron instrument, the 
 chipping it away opens to the black 
 ground and forms the shadows, giving it 
 the appearance of a chiaro-scuro paint- 
 ing. The principal pictures of Polidoro 
 da Caravaggio are executed in this man- 
 ner, which is capable of great effect, and 
 is extremely durable, though it must be 
 conceded the appearance is rather harsh. 
 
 SHAB'RACK, a military term, of 
 Hungarian origin, used for the cloth 
 furniture of a cavalry officer's troop- 
 horse or charger. 
 
 SHAD'OW, in painting, Ac. Shadow 
 must not be confounded with obscurity ; 
 the latter being an entire privation of 
 light, whilst the former is merely a gra- 
 dation of it, the parties in shade being 
 still radiated by the light dispersed 
 through the air. According to Felibien, 
 it may be regarded simply as a light 
 cloud covering the bodies and depriving 
 them of the stronger brilliancy without 
 rendering their colors and shapes imper- 
 ceptible. It is requisite, in a picture, 
 that there should be different modifica- 
 tions of shadow, as operated on by situa- 
 tion and surrounding objects. The di- 
 rection of the shades should be diagonal, 
 and the effects triangular, like those of 
 lights. The progression of the latter, in 
 fact, should serve as a model for the 
 former, to the end that the chiaro-scuro 
 should be well and naturally balanced.
 
 SHE] 
 
 AND -THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 553 
 
 SHAFT, in architecture, that part of a 
 column between the base and capital, 
 sometimes called the trunk of the 
 column. The shaft of a column always 
 diminishes io OJirneter from about a 
 third of itL height. Sometimes it has a 
 slight swelling in the lower part of its 
 height. In the oldest Doric columns, the 
 diminution was so considerable as to give 
 the column a conical appearance. In 
 the Doric edifices at Athens, the upper 
 diameter is not more than a quarter loss 
 than the lower diameter. 
 
 SHAH, the title given by European 
 writers to the monarch of Persia, who in 
 his own country is designated by the 
 compound appellation of Padishah, which 
 see. 
 
 SHAH-NAMAH, the most ancient and 
 celebrated poem in the modern Persian 
 language, by the poet who received as a 
 title of honor the name " Firdousi," by 
 which he is known. Its date is supposed 
 to be about A. D. 1000. A complete 
 translation into English, in four volumes, 
 was published by Captain Macan, Cal- 
 cutta, 1829. 
 
 SHAKE, in music, an embellishment, 
 consisting of an alternate reiteration of 
 two notes, comprehending an interval 
 not greater than one whole tone, nor less 
 than a semitone. 
 
 SHA'KERS, in ecclesiastical history, a 
 sect said to have originated by a secession 
 from the body of Quakers, in 1747) in 
 Lancashire ; who received their nick- 
 name from the peculiar contortions of 
 body which .they adopted in their re- 
 ligious exercises. Anne Lee, the great 
 female leader of this sect, joined the 
 society in 1758 ; and, considering herself 
 persecuted in England,'went, with a few 
 followers, to New York in 1774, and died 
 ten years afterwards, at which time her 
 sect had made great progress in America. 
 She was considered as the woman spoken 
 of in Revelations. Several flourishing 
 establishments of this sect exist in vari- 
 ous parts of the United States. 
 
 SHA'MANISM, a general name ap- 
 plied to the idolatrous religions of a num- 
 ber of barbarous tribes, comprehending 
 those of Finnish race, the Ostiaks, 
 Samojeds, and other inhabitants of Si- 
 beria as far as the Pacific Ocean. These 
 nations generally believe in a Supreme 
 Being, but to whom they attribute little 
 share in the immediate government of 
 the world : this is in the hands of a num- 
 ber of secondary gods, both benevolent 
 and malevolent towards men. They ap- 
 pear to have very uncertain and fluetua- 
 
 ' ting opinions respecting these last. Thus, 
 those tribes which dwell on the frontier 
 of Russia are said *o admit Saint Nicho- 
 las among their gods. 
 
 SHAM'ROCK, the Irish name for 
 three-leaved grass, or trefoil. According 
 to legendary tradition, when St. Patrick 
 landed near Wicklow, to convert the 
 Irish, in 433, the pagan inhabitants were 
 about to stone him ; but having obtained 
 a hearing, he endeavored to explain to 
 them the Trinity in Unity ; but they 
 could not understand him, till, plucking 
 a trefoil from the ground, he said, " Is it 
 not as possible for the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost, aa for these leaves, to grtjw 
 upon a single stalk?" Upon which (says 
 the legend) the Irish were immediately 
 convinced. 
 
 SHARP'ING, in archaeology, a cus- 
 tomary present of corn made about Christ- 
 mas, by farmers in some part of England 
 to the smiths for sharpening their iron 
 implements of husbandry. 
 
 SHAS'TER, among the Hindoos, a 
 sacred book containing the dogmas of the 
 religion of the Bramins and the cere- 
 monies of their worship. It consists of 
 three 1 parts: the first containing the moral 
 laws of the Hindoos ; the second the rites 
 and ceremonies of their religion ; the 
 third the distribution of the people into 
 tribes or classes, with the duties per- 
 taining to each. 
 
 SHAWM, in antiquity, an instrument 
 used in the sacred music of the Hebrews. 
 
 SHEATHING, in naval architecture, 
 sheets of copper nailed all over the out- 
 side of a ship's bottom, to protect the 
 planks from the pernicious effects of 
 worms. 
 
 SHEIK, an elder or chief of the Ara- 
 bic tribes or hordes. 'They are very 
 proud of their long line of noble ances- 
 tors ; and some of them also take the 
 title of emir. The Mohammedans also 
 call the heads of their monasteries sheiks, 
 and the Turkish mufti is sometimes 
 called sheik ulislam, or chief of the true 
 believers. 
 
 SHE'KEL, a Jewish silver coin, worth 
 about (524 cents. There was also the 
 golden shekel, worth $9. 
 
 SHEKI'NAH, the Jewish name for the 
 Divine presence, which rested, in the 
 shape of a cloud, over the " propitiatory," 
 or " mercy-seat," as it is rendered in our 
 translation. The Jews reckon it among 
 the five particulars which were in the 
 first temple, and wanting in the second. 
 On this account God is so often said in 
 Scripture to " dwell between the cheru-
 
 554 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SHI 
 
 bitn ;" that is, between the images of the 
 cherubim on the mercy-seat. 
 
 SHEMIT'IC, an epithet for anything 
 pertaining to Shein, the son of Noah. 
 What are termed the Shemitic languages 
 are the Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew, 
 Samaritan, Ethiopia, and the old Phoeni- 
 cian. 
 
 SHERIFF, an officer appointed in each 
 county, to execute process, preserve the 
 peace, and give assistance to justices and 
 others in doing so. In England, during 
 his office, which is but for a year, he is 
 the first man in his county, and has at 
 his disposal the whole civil force of that 
 county, so as to enable him to preserve 
 rtie peace. He only executes in person 
 such parts of his office as are either 
 purely honorary, or are of some dignity 
 and public importance, his other func- 
 tions being performed by a deputy or 
 under sheriff. 
 
 SHEW'-BREAD, in the Jewish rites, 
 the loaves of unleavened bread which the 
 priest placed on the golden table in the 
 sanctuary. They were shaped like a 
 brick, and weighed about S Ibs. The 
 loaves were twelve in number, represent- 
 ing the twelve tribes of Israel ; and were 
 to be eaten by the priest only. 
 
 SHIB'BOLETU, the name given to a 
 sort of test or criterion by which the an- 
 cient Jews sought to distinguish true 
 persons or things from false. The term 
 originated thus: After the battle gained 
 by Tephtha over the Ephraimites, the 
 Gileadites commanded by the former se- 
 cured all the passes of the river : and on 
 an Ephraimite attempting to cross, they 
 asked him it' he was of Ephraim. If he 
 said no, they bade him pronounce the 
 word Skibboleth, which the Ephraimites 
 from inability to give the aspirate called 
 Sibboletk ; and by this means he was de- 
 tected and instantly thrown into the river. 
 In modern times this word has been 
 adopted into the language of politics, in 
 which it signifies those political opinions 
 on which all the members of a party are 
 agreed, or the watchword by which it is 
 intended to unite them. 
 
 SHIELD, a broad piece of defensive 
 armor, formerly borne on the left arm, 
 as a defence against arrows, darts, lances, 
 and other weapons. The shields of the 
 ancients were of different shapes and 
 sizes, and generally made of leather, or 
 wood covered with leather. The surface, 
 or as it is called in heraldry, the.^eW, of 
 the shieM, or escutcheon, appears to have 
 been in all ages decorated with figures 
 emblematical or historical, serving to ex- 
 
 press the sentiments, record the honors, 
 or at least distinguish the person of the 
 warrior. 
 
 SUI'ITES, that class of the Moham- 
 medans to which the Persians belong. ' 
 They reject the three first caliphs, and 
 consider Ali as being the only rightful 
 successor of Mohammed. They do not ac- 
 knowledge the Sunna, or body of tradi- 
 tions respecting Mohammed, as any part 
 of the law, and on these accounts are 
 treated as heretics by the Sunnites, or 
 orthodox Mohammedans. 
 
 SHIL'LING, an English silver coin, 
 equal in value to twelve pence. The 
 word is supposed, by some, to be derived 
 from the Latin silicas, which signifies a 
 quarter of an ounce, or the 48th part of a 
 Koman pound. In support of this ety- 
 mology, it is alleged that the Saxon shil- 
 ling was also the 43th part of the Saxon 
 pound. 
 
 SHI P'-B U I L D I N G, the practical 
 branch of naval architecture, or the art 
 of constructing vessels for navigation, 
 particularly ships and other vessels of a 
 large kind, bearing masts ; in distinction 
 from boat-building. To give an idea of 
 the enormous quantity of timber neces- 
 sary to construct a ship of war, we may 
 observe that 2,000 tons, or 3,000 loads, 
 are computed to be required for a seven- 
 ty-four. Now, reckoning fifty oaks to the 
 acre, of 100 years' standing, and the quan- 
 tity in each tree at a load and a half, it 
 would require forty acres of oak-forest to 
 build one seventy-four ; and the quantity 
 increases in a great ratio, for the largest 
 class of line-of-battle ships. A first-rate 
 man-of-war requires about 60,000 cubic 
 feet of timber, and uses 180,000 pounds 
 of rough hemp, ip the cordage and sails 
 for it. The average duration of these 
 vast machines, when employed, is com- 
 puted to be fourteen years. Ship-build- 
 ing made but very slow progress until the 
 introduction of the compass, when the 
 application of astronomy to nautical pur- 
 suits at once set the mariner free irom 
 the land. Thenceforward the mariner, 
 thrown upon the wide ocean, was brought 
 into contact with unknown perils, to ob- 
 viate which he was led to untried experi- 
 ments. The art has since strode forward 
 with giant steps. To the Italians. Cata- 
 lans, and Portuguese, belong most of the 
 advances in the earlier days of its revival; 
 the Spaniards followed up the discovery 
 of the new world with a rapid improve- 
 ment in the form and size of their ships, 
 some of which, taken by the cruisers of 
 Elizabeth, carried 2000 tons. In modern
 
 SIB] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 555 
 
 times, to Great Britain, France, .and the 
 United States belongs the credit of the 
 progress made in this important branch 
 of art. See Ct/cl. Useful. Arts. 
 
 SHIP'-MONEY, in English history, 
 an ancient impost upon the ports, towns, 
 cities, boroughs, and counties of the realm, 
 for providing ships for the king's service. 
 This demand was Revived by Charles I. 
 in the year 1635 and 1636 ; being laid by 
 the king's writ under the great seal, with- 
 out the consent of parliament, was held 
 to be contrary to the laws and statutes 
 of the realm, and subsequently abolished. 
 
 SHIP'S-PA'PERS, certain papers or 
 documents, descriptive of the ship, its 
 owners, the nature of the cargo, &c. 
 They consist 1st, of the certificate of 
 registry, license, charter-party, bills of 
 lading, bill of health, &c. which are re- 
 quired by law of the country ; and 2dly, of 
 those documents required by the law of 
 nations to be on board neutral ships, to 
 vindicate their title to that character. 
 
 SHIRE, in English topography, the 
 same with county. The word, which was 
 originally spelt scir or scire, signifies a 
 division. Alfred is said to have made 
 those divisions, which he called satrapias, 
 and which took the name of counties, after 
 earls, comites, or counts were set over 
 them. He also subdivided the satrapias 
 into centuries or hundreds; and these 
 into decennas, or tenths of hundreds, 
 now called tithings. 
 
 SHIRE-MOTE, the ancient name in 
 England for the county court. 
 
 SHIT'TIM-WOOD, in Scripture, a 
 kind of precious wood of which the tables, 
 altars, and boards of the tabernacle were 
 made. The wood is said to be hard, 
 smooth, and very beautiful. 
 
 SHORE, in architecture, a piece of 
 timber or other material placed in such a 
 manner as to prop up a wall or other 
 heavy body. Dead-shore, an upright 
 piece fixed in a wall that has been cut or 
 broken through for the purpose of making 
 some alterations in the building In ma- 
 
 rine language, shores are props or stan- 
 chions fixed under a ship's side or bottom, 
 
 to support her on the stocks, or when laid 
 on the blocks on the ship. 
 
 SHRINE, properly the receptacle of 
 the remains or relics of a saint. Shrines 
 are of two sorts : portable, used in proces- 
 sions, called in Latin feretra. ; and fixed, 
 in churches. The approp r iate place for 
 shrines, in the churches ot tne middle 
 ages, was generally in the eastern part, 
 in the space behind the high altar. Such 
 is the situation of the celebrated shrine 
 of the three kings of Cologne ; and such 
 was that of the shrines at St. Alban's, 
 Canterbury, Durham, and Westminster, 
 before the Reformation. 
 
 SHROVE-TUES'DAY, the Tuesday 
 after Quinquagesiraa Sunday, or the day 
 immediately preceding the first of Lent ; 
 being so called from the Saxon word 
 shrive, to confess ; that day having been 
 employed by the people in confessing 
 their sins to the parish priest, and there- 
 by qualifying themselves for a more re- 
 ligious observance of the approaching 
 fast. 
 
 SIB'YLS, in antiquity, certain women 
 who pretended to be endowed with a pro- 
 phetic spirit. They resided in various 
 parts of Persia, Greece, and Italy ; and 
 were consulted on all important occasions. 
 They delivered oracular answers, and, as 
 it is pretended, wrote certain prophecies 
 on leaves in verse, which are called 
 Sibylline verses ; but these Sibylline 
 oracles seem to have been composed to 
 answer political purposes. The number 
 of Sibyls, according to Varro, was ten. 
 
 SIB'YLLINE BOOKS, documents sup- 
 posed to contain the fate of the Roman 
 empire. Nine of them are said to have 
 been offered by an old woman, called 
 Amalthsea. to Tarquin the Proud ; but 
 Tarquin refusing to give the price she 
 asked, she went away, and burned three 
 of them. Returning with the remainder, 
 she offered them to the king on the same 
 terms as before ; and, on his second re- 
 fusal, departed again, and returned with 
 three, which she still offered at the same 
 price as the original nine. The king, 
 struck with her conduct, at last acceded 
 to her offer, and entrusted the care of the 
 books to certain priests. They were pre- 
 served in a stone chest beneath the temple 
 of Jupiter Capitolinus, and were consulted 
 in times of public danger or calamity. 
 They were destroyed by the fire that con- 
 sumed the Capitol in the Marsic war. 
 After this calamity, ambassadors were 
 sent to collect such fragments of Sibylline 
 prophecies as they could pick up in 
 various countries ; and from the verses
 
 556 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 |SIK 
 
 thus collected Augustus formed two new 
 books, which were deposited in two gilt 
 cases in the temple of the Palatine Apol- 
 lo. Silylline verses are often quoted by 
 Christian writers, as containing prophe- 
 cies of Christianity ; but these are spu- 
 rious a forgery of the second century. 
 
 SICILIAN VES'PERS, in modem 
 history, the rtame commonly given to the 
 great massacre of the French in Sicily, in 
 A.D. 1282. They were the soldiers and 
 subjects of Charles of Anjou, who had 
 made himself master of the island after 
 the defeat and death of Conradin. The 
 insurrection broke out on the evening of 
 Easter Tuesday, whence its name. Its 
 consequence was the expulsion of Charles; 
 and the islanders placed themselves un- 
 der the protection of the king of Arragon. 
 
 SIDEROG'RAPHY, the art or practice 
 of engraving on steel, by means of which, 
 impressions may be transferred from a 
 steel plate to a steel cylinder in a rolling 
 press constructed on a peculiar principle. 
 Hence the term siderographic art, ap- 
 plied to steel plate engraving. 
 
 SID EROMANCY, in antiquity, a spe- 
 cies of divination performed by burning 
 straws, &c. on red-hot iron. 
 
 SIEGE, in the art of war, the encamp- 
 ment of an army before a fortified place, 
 with a design to take it. A siege differs 
 from a blockade, as in a siege the invest- 
 ing army approaches the fortified place 
 to attack and reduce it by force ; but in a 
 blockade, the army secures all the ave- 
 nues to the place to intercept all supplies, 
 and waits till famine reduces the besieged 
 to surrender. To raise the siege, is to 
 give over the attack of a place, and quit 
 the works thrown up against it. 
 
 SIERKA, a term used for a hill, or 
 chain of hills, particularly in Spain, the 
 west coast of Africa, and the coasts of 
 Chili and Peru. 
 
 SIGILLA'RIA, feasts in honor of Sat- 
 urn, celebrated after the Saturnalia. At 
 this festival little statues of gold, silver, 
 <fcc. were sacrificed to the god instead of 
 men, who had been the usual victims, till 
 Hercules abolished the barbarous custom. 
 
 SIGN, in a general sense, a visible 
 token or representation of anything. 
 Also, any motion, appearance, or event 
 which indicates the existence or approach 
 of something else. Sign, in astronomy, 
 the twelfth part of the ecliptic. The signs 
 are reckoned from the point of intersec- 
 tion of the ecliptic and equator, at the 
 vernal equinox, and are named respec- 
 tively, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, 
 Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, 
 
 Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. On ac- 
 count of the precession of the equinoxes, 
 the positions of these constellations in the 
 heavens no longer correspond with the 
 divisions of the ecliptic of the same name, 
 but are now considerably in advance of 
 them : the constellation Aries, for exam- 
 ple, being in that pjirt of the ecliptic 
 called Taurus. 
 
 SIG'NA, in antiquity, standards or en- 
 signs among the ancients : those of the 
 Romans usually bore the figure of an 
 eagle ; but the signa of the Greeks bore 
 the figures of various animals. 
 
 SIG'NALS, certain signs agreed upon 
 between parties at a distance, for the pur- 
 pose of conveying instantaneous informa- 
 tion, orders, &e. Signals are particularly 
 useful in the navigation of fleets, and in 
 naval engagements. They are made by 
 the admiral or commander-in-chief of a 
 squadron, either in the day, or by night, 
 whether for sailing, fighting, or the bet- 
 ter security of the merchant-ships under 
 their convoy. They are very numerous 
 and important, being all appointed and 
 determined by the lords of the admiralty, 
 and communicated in the instructions 
 sent to the commander of every ship of 
 the fleet or squadron before their putting 
 to sea. Day-signals are usually made 
 by the sails, by flags and pendants, or 
 guns ; night-signals are lanterns disposed 
 in certain figures, rockets, or the firing 
 of guns ; fog-signals, by guns, drums, 
 bells, Ac. There are signals of evolution 
 addressed to a whole fleet, to a division, 
 or to a squadron ; signals of movements 
 to particular ships ; and signals of service, 
 general or particular. Signals used in 
 the army are mostly made by beat of 
 drum or the sound of the bugle. 
 
 SIG'NATURE, in printing, is a letter 
 put at the bottom of the first page at 
 least, in each sheet, as a direction to the 
 binder, in folding, gathering, and collat- 
 ing them. Also, the name of a person 
 written or subscribed by himself. 
 
 SIG'NET, CLERK OF THE, an offi- 
 cer, in England, continually in attendance 
 ! upon the principal secretary of state, who 
 I has the royal signet in his keeping for 
 the signing of letters, grants, Ac. 
 
 SIGN- MANUAL, in English polity, 
 the royal signature. In a general sense, 
 it is the signature of any one's name in 
 his own hand-writing. 
 
 SIKHS, a religious sect in Hindostan, 
 (founded about A.D. 1500,) which pro- 
 fesses the purest Deism, and is chiefly 
 distinguished from the Hindoos by wor- 
 shipping one only invisible God. The
 
 SIM] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 557 
 
 name Sikhs, or lions, was given to the 
 sect, on account of the heroic manner in 
 which they resisted their Mohammedan 
 oppressors, against whom they long fought 
 with varying success. They ultimately 
 subdued Lahore, and established for them- 
 selves a country which includes the Pun- 
 jaub, a part of Mooltan, <fcc. In 1846 and 
 1847, they were conquered by the British 
 troops. 
 
 SILEN'TIARY, among the Romans, 
 the title of office of a class of slaves at- 
 tached to wealthy houses. In the court 
 of the emperors, there was a body of offi- 
 cers attached to the household styled 
 silentiaries. Thence the title came to 
 functionaries of higher authority, and 
 was borne by cabinet secretaries in the 
 Lower Empire, and in the courts of 
 Charlemagne and other western poten- 
 tates who^erived their code of ceremonial 
 from Byzantium. Members of the privy 
 council seem to have been sometimes 
 called by this name under the Plantage- 
 nets in England. 
 
 SILE'NUS, a Grecian divinity, the fos- 
 ter-father and attendant of Bacchus, and 
 likewise leader of the satyrs. This deity 
 was remarkable for his wisdom, his drun- 
 kenness being regarded as inspiration. 
 He was represented as a robust old man 
 in a state of intoxication, and riding on 
 an ass, with a can in his hand. 
 
 SILHOUET'TE, in the Fine Arts, a 
 name given to the representation of an 
 object filled in of a black color, and in 
 which the inner parts are sometimes in- 
 dicated by lines of a lighter color, and 
 shadows or extreme depths by the aid of 
 a heightening of gum or other shining 
 medium. This sort of drawing derives 
 its name from its inventor, Etienne de 
 Silhouette, the French minister of finance 
 in 1759. Representations of this sort 
 may be well enough taken from the sha- 
 dow of a person thrown on a piece of 
 paper placed against a flat surface or 
 wall. The likeness may be still 'better 
 taken, if on a reduced scale, by means of 
 the instrument called a pantograph. The 
 invention of what is called a silhouette 
 is, however, ascribed to a remote period, 
 being said to have been the method 
 whereby the daughter of a Greek potter 
 drew the outline of her lover's portrait 
 on a wall ; and has been placed at the 
 time of the renewal of the Olympic games, 
 shortly before the expedition of the Bac- 
 chiades from Corinth, about 776 B.C. It 
 is to be observed that Sicyon and Corinth 
 were the first cities in which painting 
 flourished; and that Crato of Sicyon, 
 
 Philocles of Egypt, and Cleanthes of Co- 
 rinth, were considered the inventors of 
 jnonoc/iromes, OB silhouettes, as they 
 have been more recently called, which 
 were applied to large objects. The Etrus- 
 can vases furnish to an amazing extent, 
 and in boundless variety, some of the 
 most beautifully drawn and elegant mon- 
 ochromes or silhouettes that have ever 
 been executed. 
 
 S I L'L N, in fortification, a work 
 raised in the middle of a ditch to defend 
 it when it is too wide. 
 
 SIM'ILE, in rhetoric, a comparison 
 of two things, which though different in 
 other respects, agree in some strong 
 points of resemblance ; by which compar- 
 ison the character or qualities of a thing 
 are illustrated or presented in an im- 
 pressive light. 
 
 SIMO'NIANS, the name given to the 
 followers of Simon Magus, who pretended 
 to be the great virtue and power of God 
 sent from heaven to earth. Their system 
 was a medley of the philosophy of Plato, 
 the mythological fables of the heathens, 
 and of Christianity. The sum of their 
 doctrines, as enjoined by their founder, 
 was, that from the Divine Being, as a 
 fountain of light, flow various orders of 
 eternal natures, subsisting within the 
 plenitude of the Divine essence ; that be- 
 yond these in the order of emanation are 
 different classes of intelligences, to the 
 lowest of which belongs the human soul ; 
 that matter is the most remote produc- 
 tion of the emanative power, which, on 
 account of its infinite distance from the 
 fountain of light, possesses sluggish and 
 malignant qualities, which appear the. 
 divine operations, and are the cause of 
 evil ; that it is the great design of philos- 
 ophy to deliver the soul from its impris- 
 onment in matter, and restore it to that 
 divine light from which it was derived ; 
 and that for this purpose God had sent 
 us one of the first aeons into the world. 
 He believed also in the transmigration 
 of souls, and denied the resurrection of 
 the body. 
 
 SIM'ONY, in law, the illegal buying 
 or selling ecclesiastical preferment; or 
 the corrupt presentation of any one to a 
 benefice for money or reward. The word 
 is derived from the Chaldaean Magus, 
 Simon, who, according to the Acts of the 
 Apostles, wished to buy of them the 
 power of working miracles. 
 
 SIMOON', or SIMOOM', a hot, arid 
 wind which blows in Arabia, Syria, and 
 the adjacent countries, and chiefly about 
 the time of the equinoxes. The simoon,
 
 558 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SIB 
 
 which is identical with the khamsin of Sy- 
 ria and (he sainiel of the Turks, and re- 
 sembles in many respects the sirocco and 
 soranu of olher countries, derives its qual- 
 ities from blowing over sandy deserts 
 heated intensely by the sun. Sometimes 
 it blows in squalls., bearing along with it 
 quantities of burning sand and dust. In 
 the desert it is greatly dreaded ; and the 
 only chance of safety the traveller has, is 
 to fall down with his face close to the 
 ground, and to continue as long as possi- 
 ble without drawing breath. It is de- 
 scribed by Bruce, Volney, Charind, Mal- 
 colm, and other travellers. 
 
 SIM'PLE CONTRACT, in law, a term 
 applied to debts, where the contract upon 
 which the obligation arises, is neither as- 
 certained by matters of record, nor yet by 
 deed or special instrument. 
 
 SIMPLICITY, in all the arts. That 
 quality opposed to exuberance or preten- 
 sion. We say that a work of art pos- 
 sesses a noble simplicity when the effect 
 produced by it is the result of means 
 neither numerous nor complicated. We 
 say also that a form is simply beautiful 
 when, as in the majority of antique vases, 
 it pleases by its agreeable contour alone, 
 without the assistance of any accessories. 
 With regard to an edifice similar remarks 
 ripply. It is simply elegant when there 
 is no confused or contradictory diversity 
 of parts, and when the whole is harmo- 
 nious and graceful. Experience has 
 abundantly proved, that simplicity, as 
 distinguished from meanness or boldness, 
 is always conformable to good taste. 
 This quality may be evidenced in all the 
 .different portions of a work, from the 
 general plan even to the execution of the 
 minutest details. The best works of art 
 are always the simplest in point of de 
 sign. Their projectors sought the prin- 
 ciples of grandeur and beauty not in a 
 superfluous quantity of parts, but in uni- 
 ty, in connection, in tout ensemble. It is 
 true that the great masters have some- 
 times produced works the composition of 
 which is extremely rich, but only when 
 the subject necessarily demanded such 
 profusion. When Poussin painted the 
 gathering of manna by the Israelites in 
 the Desert, he could not limit himself to 
 a small number of figures. But often, 
 in the finest specimens of pictorial art, a 
 single group, composed of four or five 
 figures, is found sufficient to tell an in- 
 teresting story, and to display the most 
 consummate ability in the artist. 
 
 SIM'PULUM, in antiquity, a vessel 
 resembling a cruet, used at sacrifices and 
 
 libations for taking a very little wine at 
 a time. 
 
 SIMULATION, the assumption of a 
 deceitful appearance or character. It 
 differs from dissimulation, inasmuch as 
 the former assumes a false character, 
 while the latter only conceals the true 
 one ; but both are truly designated by the 
 word hypocrisy. 
 
 SFNECURE. a church benefice without 
 cure or care, or guardianship of souls ; 
 as where there is a parish without church 
 or inhabitants. The word is applied to 
 any post that brings profit without labor. 
 SI'NE DI'E, in parliamentary lan- 
 guage, a Latin phrase used for the ad- 
 journment of a debate without fixing a 
 day when it shall be resumed. In law, 
 a term applied to a defendant when judg- 
 ment is given in his favor, and he is 
 suffered to go sine die, or dismissed the 
 court. 
 
 SINK'ING FUND, in politics, a term 
 applied to a portion of the public reve- 
 nue set apart to be devoted to the reduc- 
 tion or diminution of the national debt. 
 
 SI NON OM NES, in law, a writ on 
 association of justices, by which, if all 
 in commission cannot meet at the day 
 assigned, it is allowed that two or more 
 of them may proceed to finish the busi- 
 ness. 
 
 SI'RENS, melodious divinities, who 
 dwelt on the shores of Sicily, and so 
 charmed passing mariners by the sweet- 
 ness of their song that they forgot their 
 homes, and remained there till they per- 
 ished of hunger. Their history has been 
 variously described. According to Homer, 
 in the Odyssey, as Ulysses and his com- 
 panions were on their homeward voyage 
 from JE&ca,, they came first to the island 
 of the Sirens ; but they passed in safety : 
 for, by the directions of Circe, Ulysses 
 stopped the ears of his companions with 
 wax, and had himself tied to the mast 
 before approaching the island ; so that, 
 although when he heard the song of the 
 Sirens he made signs for his companions to 
 unbind him. they only secured him the 
 more closely in compliance with his pre- 
 vious instructions. Thus he listened to 
 the songs of the Sirens, and escaped not- 
 withstanding. Hence it was feigned that 
 they threw themselves into the sea from 
 vexation at the escape of Ulysses, an 
 oracle having predicted that they should 
 live only so long as their strains had 
 power to arrest all who heard them. But 
 according to other poets, they threw them- 
 selves into the sea from rage and despair 
 on hearing the more melodious song of
 
 SLA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 559 
 
 Orpheus. Originally there were only two 
 Sirens ; but their number was afterwards 
 increased to three, and their names are 
 given with great variety. 
 
 SIROC'CO, a periodical wind which 
 generally blows in Italy and Dahnatia ] 
 every year about Easter. It blows from j 
 the southeast by south, and is attended j 
 with heat, but not rain ; its ordinary | 
 period is twenty days, and it usually 
 ceases at sunset. When the sirocco does 
 not blow in this manner, the summer is 
 almost free from westerly winds, whirl- 
 winds, and storms. This wind is preju- j 
 dictal to plants, drying and burning up I 
 their buds ; and also causes an extraordi- 
 nary weakness and lassitude in men. In 
 the summertime, when the westerly wind 
 ceases for a day, it is a sign that the 
 sirocco will blow the day following, which 
 usually begins with a sort of whirlwind. 
 
 SIRVEN'TE, in the literature of the 
 middle ages, a species of poem in com- 
 mon use among the Troubadours, usually 
 satirical, and divided into strophes of a 
 peculiar construction. 
 
 SIS'TRUM. a kind of timbrel, which 
 the Egyptian priests of Isis used to shake 
 with their hands at the festivals of that 
 goddess. 
 
 SIS'YPHUS, in ancient mythology, 
 one of the descendants of ^Eolus, respect- 
 ing whom a variety of opinions prevails. 
 By some he is said to have resided at 
 Epyra, in the Peloponnesus ; others 
 maintain that he was a Trojan prince, 
 who was punished for betraying state 
 secrets ; while others allege that he was 
 a notorious robber, slain by Theseus. 
 Be this as it may, all the ancient poets 
 are agreed that he was distinguished for 
 his craftiness and cunning ; and that his 
 punishment in Tartarus for his crimes 
 committed on earth consisted in rolling a 
 huge stone to the top of a high hili, 
 which constantly recoiled, and thus ren- 
 dered his labor incessant. 
 
 SITOPH YLAX, in Grecian antiquity, 
 an Athenian magistrate, who had the 
 superintendence of the corn, and was to 
 take care that no one bought more than 
 was necessary for the provision of his 
 family. 
 
 SI'VA, in Hindoo mythology, a title 
 given to the Supreme Being, considered 
 in the character of the avenger or de- 
 stroyer. Sir William Jones has compared 
 Siva to Jupiter ; but he appears to share 
 many of the attributes of Pluto. Under 
 the name of Mahadeva, ho is exhibited 
 also as a type of reproduction : to de- 
 stroy, according to the Vedantas of India, | 
 
 the Sufis of Persia, and even to many 
 European schools of philosophy, being 
 only to generate' or reproduce under 
 another form. 
 
 SIXTH, in music, an interval formed 
 of six sounds, or five diatonic degrees. 
 There are four kinds of sixths, two conso- 
 nant and two dissonant. 
 
 SI'ZARS, the lowest class of students 
 at Cambridge, England. At Oxford the 
 same class go in different colleges by the 
 denominations of servitors, <fcc. They 
 are such as have certain allowances made 
 ill their battels (college bills,) through 
 the benefactions of founders or other 
 charitable persons. In college phrase- 
 ology, a size is a portion of bread, meat, 
 &c. allotted to a student ; and hence the 
 name sizar. The sizars at Cambridge are 
 almost entirely on the same footing with 
 independent students; at Oxford they 
 are somewhat lower, and some relics of 
 their former degraded condition still 
 subsist in certain colleges in the customs 
 of bringing up dishes to dinner, dining 
 off the remnants of the fellows' dinners, 
 4o. 
 
 SKETCH, an outline or general de- 
 lineation of anything ; a first rough or 
 incomplete draught of a plan or any 
 design : as, the sketch of a building; the 
 sketch of an essay. In painting, the first 
 delineated idea of the artist's conception 
 of a subject, in which are usually distin- 
 guishable the fire and enthusiasm with 
 which the subject is expressed and felt. 
 Sketches are made either with carbon, 
 with the pen, or the pencil ; in general, 
 that method is preferred which seems to 
 present the greatest promptitude and 
 facility. 
 
 SLAN'DER, in law, a malicious def- 
 amation of a man by words spoken. It 
 is not actionable unless it impute some 
 crime punishable by law ; or some infec- 
 tious disease, such as leprosy or the like, 
 which may have the effect of excluding 
 from society the person slandered ; or be 
 uttered concerning him in his trade or 
 business in such a way as to impair his 
 means of livelihood; or, lastly, unless it 
 be attended with special damage. In this 
 case, such special damage must be aver- 
 red upon the pleadings. 
 
 SLA'VERY, bondage ; the state of 
 entire subjection of one person to the 
 will of another. Slavery is the obliga- 
 tion to labor for the benefit of the master, 
 without the contract or consent of the 
 servant; or it is the establishment of a 
 right which gives one person such a 
 power over another, as to make him ab-
 
 560 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [soc 
 
 solute master of his life and property. 
 But the condition of a slave is susceptible 
 of innumerable modifications, and there 
 are few nations, whether of ancient or 
 modern times, among whom slavery has 
 been long established, that have not 
 enacted certain laws for limiting the. 
 power of a master over his slave. 
 Slavery may proceed from crimes, from 
 captivity, or from debt. Slavery is also 
 voluntary or involuntary ; voluntary, 
 when a person sells or yields his own 
 person to the absolute command of 
 another ; involuntary, when he is placed 
 under the absolute power of anothef 
 without his own consent. Slavery no 
 longer exists in Great Britain, nor in any 
 of her colonies, nor in the northern states 
 of America. 
 
 SLEEP, one of the most mysterious 
 phenomena in the animal world ; a state 
 wherein the body appearing perfectly at 
 rest, external objects act on the organs of 
 sense as usual, without exciting the usual 
 sensations. The voluntary exertion of 
 our mental and corporeal powers being 
 suspended, we rest unconscious of what 
 passes around us, and are not affected by 
 the ordinary impressions of external 
 objects. 
 
 SLEIGHT OF HAND, tricks perform- 
 ed by persons who, by great practice, or 
 confederacy with others, perform acts ap- 
 parently out of the course of nature, 
 which the vulgar and ignorant believe, 
 and even the intelligent admire. 
 
 SLUR, in music, a mark connecting 
 notes that are to be sung to the same 
 syllable, or made in one continued breath 
 of a wind instrument, or with one stroke 
 of a stringed instrument. 
 
 SMAB/AGD, another name for the 
 emerald. Hence, smaragdine, an epi- 
 thet for anything pertaining to or re- 
 sembling an emerald ; of an emerald 
 green. 
 
 SMORZA'TO, in music, a term denot- 
 ing that the violin bow is to be drawn to 
 its full extent, but gradually lighter till 
 the sound is nearly lost. 
 
 SMUG'GLING, the offence of import- 
 ing goods without paying the duties im- 
 posed by law. Smuggling owes its 
 existence, in many cases, to oppressive 
 duties. 
 
 SOAVE', in music, a term denoting to 
 the player that the music to which it is 
 prefixed is to be executed with sweet- 
 ness. 
 
 SOBRI'ETY, a word expressive not 
 only of habitual temperance with regard 
 to intoxicating liquors, but also of an ha- 
 
 bitual freedom from enthusiasm or inor- 
 dinate passion ; as, the sobriety of age, a 
 period when calmness and rational views 
 are expected'to take the place of an over- 
 heated imagination. 
 
 SOC'AGE, in law, a tenure of lands by 
 or for certain inferior services of hus- 
 bandry to be performed by the lord of the 
 fee ; a tenure distinct from chivalry or 
 knight's service, in which the render was 
 uncertain. 
 
 SO'CIALTSM, a social state in which 
 there is a community of property among 
 all the individuals composing it, a state 
 of things in which there are no individual 
 or separate rights in property. It is 
 otherwise termed agrarianism and com- 
 munism. 
 
 SO'CIALIST, one who advocates a 
 community of property among all the 
 citizens of a state. Some of this sect 
 contend also for a community of females, 
 or a promiscuous intercourse of the sexes ; 
 and they have likewise been accused of 
 holding various other heterodox prin- 
 ciples. They are also called Owenites 
 from Robert Owen, one of the first pro- 
 mulgators of the social tenets in this 
 country. In France, parties holding sim- 
 ilar opinions are called Fourierists, and 
 St. Simonians, from Fourier and St. 
 Simon, two noted socialist leaders. They 
 are also called communists. 
 
 SOCI'ETY, in its most enlarged sense, 
 signifies the whole race or family of man ; 
 as, " the true and natural foundations of 
 society, are the wants and fears of individ- 
 uals." In a narrower sense, it signifies, 
 persons living in the same neighborhood, 
 who frequently meet in company. It is 
 also a name given to any association of 
 persons uniting together, and co-operat- 
 ing to effect some particular object, as 
 the societies or academies for promoting 
 the cause of literature ; benevolent socie- 
 ties, for purposes of public charity ; mis- 
 sionary societies, for sending missionaries 
 abroad ; and various others. In society, 
 a man not only finds more leisure, but 
 better opportunities of applying his tal- 
 ents with success. The social principle, 
 in fact, is of such an expansive nature, 
 that it cannot be confined within the cir- 
 cuit of a family, of friends, or a neigh- 
 borhood ; it spreads into wider systems, 
 and draws men into larger communities 
 and commonwealths ; since it is in these 
 only that the more sublime powers of our 
 nature attain the highest improvement 
 and perfection of which they are capable. 
 The purposes for which benevolent and 
 religious societies ore formed will be best
 
 soc] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 561 
 
 inferred from the epithets with which 
 they are connected ; temperance societies 
 are established with a view to promote 
 sobriety, mendicity societies for the relief 
 of the indigent, &c. There is no feature, 
 perhaps, which distinguishes a civilized 
 from a savage state more than the estab- 
 lishment of such societies ; and in this 
 view England has a right to claim a 
 place in the foremost ranks of civilization, 
 whether we regard the number or the 
 principles of the management of its reli- 
 gious and benevolent institutions. 
 
 SO'CII, among the Romans, were such 
 states as were in alliance with the com- 
 monwealth of Rome. In the time of 
 Polybius, all Italy was subject to the 
 Romans ; yet no state or people in it had 
 been reduced into the form of a province, 
 but retained in general their own laws 
 and governors, and were termed socii, or 
 confederates. The socii received no con- 
 sideration for their service, but a distri- 
 bution of corn. The auxilia differed from 
 the socii, as being borrowed at a certain 
 pay from foreign princes and states. The 
 name of socii in time ceased ; all the 
 natives of Italy being accounted Romans, 
 and honored with the jus civitatis. 
 
 SOCIN'IANS, the followers of Socinus, 
 the uncle and the nephew, both of the 
 same name, and celebrated for similar 
 opinions concerning the nature of Christ. 
 The nephew, Faustus Socinus, was the 
 principal founder of the sect. He was an 
 Italian, born at Sienna, in 1539 ; who 
 after publishing a treatise on the nature of 
 the Saviour, desired to be admitted into 
 a society of Unitarians already existing 
 in Poland. Their opinions do not appear 
 to have precisely corresponded with his, 
 and admission was refused him ; nor did 
 he effect during his lifetime the institu- 
 tion of any distinct congregation ; but 
 the views which he disseminated in his 
 writings were gradually referred to and 
 adopted by many ministers and religious 
 communities, especially in Poland, Where 
 Crellius, Wolgozenius, and others pub- 
 lished a Socinian system of theology, i 
 comprised in the Bibliotkeca Frntrum 
 Polonorum. Since the death of Socinus, 
 the theologians who have asserted the j 
 mere humanity of Christ have been gen- j 
 erally denominated Socinians. The doc- ; 
 trines, however, to which that appellation 
 can with strictness be applied are not 
 precisely equivalent to those of the mod- 
 ern Unitarians. The Socinian denies the 
 existence of Christ previous to his birth 
 of the Virgin Mary : he allows, however, 
 that that birth was miraculous, and con- 
 
 siders the Saviour as an object of peculiar 
 reverence and an inferior degree of wor- 
 ship. By the term Mediator, as applied 
 to Christ, he understands that in estab- 
 lishing the new covenant he was the me- 
 dium between God and man ; and of his 
 sacrifice he says that as the Jewish sac- 
 rifices were not mado for the payment 
 of sins, but for the remission of them, 
 so also the death of Christ was designed 
 for the remission of sins through God's 
 favor, and not for the satisfaction of them 
 as an equivalent. 
 
 SOCIOL'OGY, social science, or the 
 science of society, according to the Posi- 
 tive Philosophy of M. Compte. It treats 
 of the general structure of human society, 
 the laws of its development, and the 
 progress of actual civilization. Sociology 
 is the most complex of all the sciences, 
 and consists of derivative truths, verified 
 by experience from psychology and the 
 laws of ethology, or the science of the 
 formation of character. The laws of 
 social phenomena are nothing but the 
 laws of the thoughts, feelings, and actions 
 of men united together in the social 
 state ; and these laws are approximate 
 generalizations obtained from the past 
 history and present observation of all 
 stages of civilization. And as men's 
 thoughts, feelings, and actions are sub- 
 ject to fixed laws, that is, uniform se- 
 quences, so must also the phenomena 
 of society, that is, of aggregates of men. 
 The fundamental problem of society is to 
 discover the laws by which any state of 
 society produces the state which follows 
 it, and takes its place, and to show by 
 deduction that these laws are derivative 
 from those of human nature. The sub- 
 ject matter of the sciences of man, and 
 of society, is peculiar in varying from 
 age to age. and in being progressive. The 
 laws of human nature, and of the ex- 
 ternal circumstancesjn which men are 
 placed, form their characters, and men 
 themselves in turn mould and shape cir- 
 cumstances for themselves and their pos- 
 terity. The institutions of a people are the 
 results of their ideas, and as society advan- 
 ces, mental qualities tend more and more 
 to prevail over bodily, and aggregates 
 of men over individuals. The elements 
 of permanent social union are education 
 through life, which is always a restrain- 
 ing discipline, the feeling of allegiance 
 or loyalty to something fixed and perma- 
 nent, and a strong and active principle 
 of nationality or union for common in- 
 terest. Such are some of the leading 
 principles of sociology ; but to understand
 
 562 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SOK 
 
 the science aright, it is necessary to 
 have recourse to M. Compte's gre<U work. 
 " Cours de Philosopkle Positive," and 
 the last book of Mill's System of Logic. 
 
 SOCK, the shoe of the ancient actors 
 in comedy. Hence the word is used for 
 comedy, and opposed to buskin or trage- 
 dy ; as, " I have no talents either for the 
 sock or buskin." 
 
 SOC'LE, in architecture, a flat square 
 member under the basis of pedestals of 
 vases -and statues, serving as a foot or 
 stand. 
 
 SOCRATTC PHILOS'OPHY, in amore 
 extensive sense, is used to comprehend 
 the whole development of philosophy of 
 Greece from Socrates to the Neo Plato- 
 nists. The title is so far just, ns all the 
 schools of this period, with the single ex- 
 ception of the Epicurean, called them- 
 selves by the name of Socrates, and arro- 
 gated to themselves the merit of exclu- 
 sively propagating the trfte doctrines of 
 Socrates. But in a narrow and more 
 proper signification, it signifies the pecu- 
 liar direction and method which Socrates 
 gave to philosophical inquiry. The So- 
 cratic method of reasoning and instruc- 
 tion was by interrogatories. Instead of 
 laying down a proposition authoritative- 
 ly, this rnethoj led the antagonist or dis- 
 ciple to acknowledge it himself by dint 
 of a series of questions put to him. It 
 was not the object of Socrates to establish 
 any perfectly evolved system of doctrine, 
 so much as to awaken by his discourses a 
 new and more comprehensive pursuit of 
 science, which should direct itself to all 
 that is knowable. To him is ascribed 
 two of the very first principles of science, 
 namelj', the inductive method and the 
 definition of ideas. ' ' 
 
 SOFFIT, the under part or ceiling of 
 a cornice. Any timber ceiling formed 
 of cross-beams of flying cornices, the 
 square compartments or panels of which 
 are enriched with sculpture, painting, or 
 gilding; such are those in the palaces of ' 
 Italy, and in the apartments of the Lux- 
 embourg at Paris. The term is also em- 
 ployed for the under side or face of an 
 architrave; and more especially for that 
 of the corona or larmier, which the an- 
 cients called lacunaria, the French de- ; 
 nominate plafond, and we usually the 
 drip. It is enriched with compartments 
 of roses ; and in the Doric order has 
 eighteen drops, disposed in three ranks 
 (six in each,) placed, to the right of the 
 guttcB at the bottom of the triglyphs. 
 The word soffit has likewise been applied 
 to the ceiling of an arch. 
 
 ; SO'FI, a Persian word, which is em- 
 ployed to designate religious persons, 
 otherwise termed Dervishes. It ia prob- 
 ably a corruption of the Greek sophos, 
 wise. Sofi was the surname borne by the 
 ancestors of the kings of Persia of the 
 race preceding that which now occupies 
 the throne ; and Shah Ismael Sofi, the 
 first monarch of that race, also bore it; 
 hence by European writers of the 16th 
 and 17th centuries it was used errone- 
 ously as a title of the king of Persia. 
 
 SO'FISM, the mystical doctrines of the 
 class of Mohammedan religionists called 
 Sofia. This name is indeed generally ap- 
 plied in the East to persons living to- 
 gether in a monastic way, and professing 
 an ascetic life. But the tenets peculiar- 
 ly denoted by the name of Sufism are 
 those of a sect which is said to be gaining 
 ground extensively in oriental countries, 
 especially among the educated classes of 
 Mohammedans. These tenets, like those 
 of the Quitetists and other Christian sects 
 of mystics, are founded on a notion of 
 the union of the human soul with the 
 divinity by contemplation and the subju- 
 gation of the appetites : but, as has been 
 too frequently the case among Christians 
 also, they have afforded a cover for the 
 most licentious lessons of refined de- 
 bauchery. The principles of Sufism ap- 
 pear also to have a remarkable affinity, 
 in some respects, with ttaose pantheistic 
 notions which are prominent in the system 
 of the Bramins, .and seem to form the 
 very foundation of the still more widely 
 extended religion of Buddha. 
 
 SOIREE', the term originally given 
 by the French to certain evening parties 
 held for the sake of conversation only, 
 music, dancing, and similar entertain- 
 ments being excluded ; but the word has 
 been since introduced into all the lan- 
 guages of modern Europe, and is now 
 employed to designate most descriptions 
 of evening parties in which ladies and 
 gentlemen are intermixed, whatever be 
 the amusements introduced. It is fre- 
 quently applied in England to the public 
 meetings of certain societies held for the 
 advancement of their respective objects, 
 at which tea and other refreshments are 
 dispensed during the intervals of business. 
 
 SOKE, in English law, a term which 
 anciently had various significations, viz.: 
 1. The liberty or privilege of tenants ex- 
 cused from customary burdens and impo- 
 sitions. 2. The power of administering 
 justice. 3. The precinct in which the 
 chief lord exercised his soc, or liberty of 
 keeping court within his own jurisdiction
 
 SON] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 563 
 
 4. A stipulated payment or rent to the 
 lord for using his land, with such liberty 
 and privilege as made the tenant the soke- 
 man or freeholder. Sake-men, those 
 who held by no servile tenure, but paid 
 their rent as a soke, or sign of freedom. 
 
 SOLA'RIUM, in antiquity, a place on 
 the tops of houses exposed to the sun, 
 where the Romans used to take air and 
 exercise. 
 
 SOL'DAN, a title formerly given to 
 the general who commanded the caliph's 
 army ; the epithet was afterwards applied 
 to a governor of Egypt. 
 
 SOL'DIER, a man enrolled for mili- 
 tary service, or whose occupation is 
 military. It is generally applied to a 
 private, or one in the ranks : but it is 
 also 'a proper appellation for an officer 
 of any grade who possesses valor, skill, 
 and experience. 
 
 SCLDU'RII, in antiquity, a kind of 
 military clients or retainers to the great 
 men in Gaul, who bound themselves to 
 bear all the good or ill fortune of their 
 patrons. 
 
 SOL'ECISM, among modern gram- 
 marians, any word or expression which 
 does not agree with the established usage 
 of writing or speaking. As customs I 
 change, that which may be regarded as a 
 solecism at one time, may at another be 
 considered as correct language. Hence a 
 solecism differs from a barbarism, which 
 consists in the use of a word or expres- 
 sion altogether contrary to the spirit of 
 the language. 
 
 SOLFEG'GIO, in music, the system 
 of arranging the scale by the names ut, 
 re. mi, fa, sol, la, by which musical stu- 
 dents are taught to sing, these notes 
 being represented to the eye by lines and 
 spaces, to which the syllables in question 
 are applied. 
 
 SOLI'CITOR, in law, a person author- 
 ized and employed to prosecute the suits 
 of others in courts of equity. Solicitor- 
 general, in British polity, an officer of 
 the crown. Till the 13th of Charles II., 
 he, with the attorney-general, had a 
 right, on special occasions, to sit in the j 
 house of lords. 
 
 SOLIFID'IAN, in theology, one who 
 Maintains that faith alone, without works, 
 is necessary to justification. 
 
 SO'LO, in music, a passage, or perfect 
 piece in which a single voice or instru- 
 ment performs without accompaniment. 
 Peculiar freedom, ease, distinctness, and 
 power of execution, are required to per- 
 form the solo with correctness, taste, and 
 feeling. 
 
 SO'MATIST, one who denies the exist- 
 ence, and consequently the agency, of 
 spiritual substances. 
 
 SOMATOL'OGY, the doctrine of bodies 
 or material substances. 
 
 SOM'NUS, in classical mythology, the 
 poetical god of sleep, is the son of Erebus 
 and Nox, or of Nox alone. He dwells 
 with his brother Death in a palace at the 
 western extremity of the earth. Homer 
 makes Juno seek him in the isle of Lem- 
 nos, whither he had repaired for love of 
 the nymph Pasithea. Ovid makes him 
 dwell in a cavern among the Scythians or 
 Cimmerians ; Statius in ^Ethiopia. 
 
 SON, in its primary sense, is the male 
 issue of a parent, father or mother. In a 
 more extended sense, as often used in the 
 Scriptures, sons include descendants in 
 general ; as, we are all sons of Adam. 
 Also a native or inhabitant of a country ; 
 as, the sons of America. 
 
 SONA'TA, in music, a piece or com- 
 position of music, wholly executed by in- 
 struments ; and which, with regard to the 
 several kinds of instruments, is what the 
 cantata is with respect to vocal perform- 
 ances. 
 
 SONG, in general, that which is sung 
 or uttered with musical modulations of 
 the voice, whether of the human voice or 
 that of a bird. A little poem to be sung, 
 or uttered with musical modulations : a 
 ballad. The term is applied to either a 
 short poetical or musical composition, but 
 most frequently to both in union. As a 
 poetical composition it may be largely 
 defined a short poem divided into portions 
 of returning measure, and turning upon 
 some single thought or feeling. As a 
 union of poetry and music, it may be de- 
 fined a very brief lyrical poem, founded 
 commonly upon agreeable subjects, to 
 which is added a melody for the purpose 
 of singing it. As denoting a musical com- 
 position, song is used to signify a vocal 
 melody of any length or character, and 
 not confined to a single movement ; but 
 as regards performance, it is confined to 
 an air for a single voice. Tho songs of a 
 country are characteristic of its manners. 
 Every country has its love songs, its war 
 songs, and its patriotic songs. A hymn ; 
 a sacred poem or hymn to be sung either 
 in joy or thanksgiving, as that sung by 
 Moses and the Israelites after escaping 
 the dangers of the Red Sea and Pharaoh's 
 wrath ; or of lamentation, as that of Da- 
 vid over the death of Saul and Jonathan. 
 Songs of joy are represented as constitut- 
 ing a part of heavenly felicity. 
 
 SON'NET. in poetry, a short composi-
 
 664 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SOB 
 
 tion of fourteen or fifteen lines, deca or 
 endecasyllabic, rhymed according to an 
 intricate but not always precisely similar 
 arrangement. It is the oldest form in 
 which the Italian language was used ; 
 but was, at a still earlier period, employ- 
 ed, although not commonly, by the Pro- 
 venyal poets. In Italy, Dante, and the 
 Tuscan poets his contemporaries brought 
 the sonnet into public estimation, about 
 the" beginning of the 14th century ; but 
 by them it was invariably employed as 
 the vehicle of thoughts wrapped in very 
 obscure language, and probably of a sym- 
 bolical nature, though generally, in their 
 outward signification, breathing the spirit 
 of romantic and chivalrous love. By Pe- 
 trarch, in the course of the same century, 
 the sonnet was carried to perfecfion in 
 point of form and polish ; although ap- 
 plied by him, as it had been by his pred- 
 ecessors, almost exclusively to the sub- 
 ject of his figurative and mystical passion. 
 Since the time of Petrarch the sonnet has 
 been a favorite form of composition in 
 Italy, especially for the purposes of oc- 
 casional poetry. In France it has had 
 little success ; or rather the French son- 
 net is a different poem, less regular in its 
 construction than the Italian. In Ger- 
 many and England the comparative pov- 
 erty in rhymes of their respective lan- 
 guages has rendered it unusual : but Mil- 
 ton has given to it a dignity peculiarly 
 his own, together with much of the melo- 
 dy and tenderness which characterize his 
 Italian models. The proper sonnet con- 
 sists of two quatrain's, with four lines and 
 two rhymes each, and two terzines, each 
 with three lines and a single rhyme. 
 The last six lines, however, are suscepti- 
 ble of various arrangements ; the one 
 usually adopted in English is the rhym- 
 ing of the fifth and sixth lines together, 
 frequently after a full pause, so that the 
 sonnet ends with a point, as in an epi- 
 gram The sonnet generally consists of 
 one principal idea, pursued through the 
 various antitheses of the different stro- 
 phes. Pieces of a similar metrical structure 
 in octo-syllabic lines are termed by the 
 Italians Anacreontic sonnets. It is some- 
 times said that there is " hardly an educat- 
 ed Italian who has not composed a sonnet." 
 SOOTH'SAYING, the foretelling of 
 future events by persons without divine 
 aid or authority, and thus distinguished 
 from prophecy by inspiration. 
 
 SOPH'ISM, a subtilty in reasoning, 
 the arguments not being logically sup- i 
 ported, or in which the inferences are not I 
 justly deduced from the premises. 
 
 SOPH'ISTS, a name at first given to 
 philosophers, and those who were remark- 
 able for their wisdom : it was afterwards 
 applied to rhetoricians, and lastly to such 
 as spent their time in verbal niceties, 
 logical conundrums, sententious quibbles, 
 and philosophical enigmas. The follow- 
 ing, called the Pseudomenos, for exam- 
 ple, was a famous problem amongst the 
 ancient sopliists : " When a man says, / 
 lie, does he lie, or does he not lie ? If he 
 lies, he speaks truth ; and if he speaks 
 the truth, he lies." We find the leading 
 feature of the sophistic doctrine to be a 
 dislike to everything fixed and necessary, 
 in ethics as well as philosophy. Pre- 
 scription was represented as the sole 
 source of moral distinctions, which must 
 consequently vary with the character and 
 institutions of the people. The useful 
 was held to be the only mark by which 
 one opinion could be distinguished from 
 another. An absolute standard of truth 
 is as absurd a notion in speculation as an 
 absolute standard of morals in practice ; 
 that only is true which seems so to the 
 individual, and just as long as it so seems. 
 " Man is the measure of all things." 
 These and similar doctrines they main- 
 tained with great subtlety and acuteness, 
 and found numerous disciples among 
 those who were well prepared for the ad- 
 mission of tenets which swept away at 
 once all the remnants of those prejudices 
 which might still interpose a barrier be- 
 tween their passions and their gratifica- 
 tion. Considered as a link in the chain 
 of philosophical development, the So- 
 phists were doubtless the involuntary 
 cause of the greater depth and soundness 
 of the subsequent Grecian philosophy. 
 The success which they had found in de- 
 molishing the systems of their predeces- 
 sors proved the necessity of laying the 
 foundations of human knowledge deeper 
 than heretofore had been done ; and it is 
 thus to the Sophists that we may attrib- 
 ute the more critical and cautious spirit 
 which distinguishes the doctrines of Plato 
 and Aristotle from those of Heraclitus or 
 Parmenides. 
 
 SOPRA'NO, in music, one of the inter- 
 mediate portions of the scale, which is a 
 species of the treble, suited to the female 
 voice. 
 
 SORBON'NE, the name of a college 
 originally instituted for the education 
 of secular clergymen at the university 
 of Paris, so called after Robert of Sorbon, 
 in Champagne, a theologian of Paris, 
 who founded it during the reign of St. 
 Louis, about 1250, and endowed it with
 
 sou] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 565 
 
 an income which was subsequently much 
 increased. This institution, the teachers 
 in which were always doctors and pro- 
 fessors of theology, acquired so much 
 fame, that its name was extended to the 
 whole theological faculty of the universi- 
 ty of Paris. 
 
 SOR'CERY, magic, or divination by 
 the supposed assistance of evil spirits, 
 or the power of commanding evil spirits. 
 
 SORI'TES, in logic, an imperfect syllo- 
 gism, or an abridged form of stating a 
 series of syllogisms; or it is a species of 
 reasoning in which a series of proposi- 
 tions are so linked together, that the 
 predicate of the one becomes continually 
 the next in succession, till a conclusion is 
 formed by bringing together the subject 
 of the first proposition and the predicate 
 of the last. Thus, all men of revenge 
 have their souls often uneasy. Uneasy 
 souls are a plague to themselves. Now 
 to be one's own plague is folly in the 
 extreme. Therefore all men of re- 
 venge are extreme fools. A sorites has 
 as many middle terms as there are in- 
 termediate propositions between the first 
 and the last ; and, consequently, it may 
 bo drawn out into as many syllogisms. 
 
 SORTIE', in military language, the 
 issuing of a body of troops from a be- 
 sieged place to attack the besiegers ; a 
 sally. 
 
 SOR'TILEGE, divination by lots. A 
 very ancient mode of exploring future 
 events, and which has been supposed by 
 superstitious persons in modern times to 
 derive countenance from various inci- 
 dents in sacred history, especially the 
 choice of St. Matthias by lot to the place 
 of an apostle. 
 
 SOSTENU'TO, in music, a term im- 
 plying that the notes of the movement or 
 passage or note over which it is placed, 
 is to be held out its full length in an 
 equal and steady manner. 
 
 SOT'TO, in music, a term signifying 
 below, or inferior; as, sotto il soggetto, 
 below the subject ; but sotto voce is used 
 to signify with a restrained voice or 
 moderate tone. 
 
 SOUL, in metaphysics, the intellectual 
 principle, immaterial and immortal. Va- 
 rious have been the opinions of philoso- 
 phers concerning the substance of the 
 human soul ; but, as Lord Bacon observes, 
 the doctrine concerning the rational soul 
 of man must be deduced from revelation ; 
 for as its substance, in its creation, was 
 not formed out of the mass of heaven and 
 earth, but immediately inspired by God; 
 and as the laws of the heavenly bodies, \ 
 
 together with those of our earth, make 
 th$ subject of philosophy, so no knowledge 
 of the substance of the rational soul can 
 be had from philosophy. By the word 
 soul, we also denote the spirit, essence, 
 or chief part ; as, charity is the soul of 
 all the virtues. Also the animating prin- 
 ciple, or that which gives life and energy 
 to the whole ; as, an able commander is 
 the soul of an army. 
 
 SOUTHCOT'TIANS, the followers of 
 Joanna Southcott, a religious fanatic, 
 who was born at Gittisharn, in Devon- 
 shire, in 1750. She first pretended to a 
 divine mission, and held herself out as 
 the woman spoken of in the book of Rev- 
 elation. After she had attained .her 
 grand climacteric, in 1814, she announc- 
 ed herself as the mother of the promised 
 Shiloh, whose speedy advent she predict- 
 ed. Her death, in December of that year, 
 did not undeceive her disciples, and the 
 sect continued to exist for many years, 
 nor are we aware that it is yet altogether 
 extinct. Many of her followers wore long 
 beards and a peculiar costume. 
 
 SOUTH SEA BUBBLE, a term given to 
 a commercial ' scheme" in 1720, which, 
 for a time, produced a kind of national de- 
 lirium in England. A company for trad- 
 ing to the South Seas, which was entitled 
 the " South Sea Company," had been 
 sanctioned by government, with the spe- 
 cious pretence of discharging the national 
 debt, by reducing all the funds into one. 
 Blunt, the projector, had taken the hint 
 of his plan from Law's celebrated Missis- 
 sippi scheme, which, in the preceding 
 year, had, in France, entailed ruin upon 
 many thousand families of that kingdom. 
 In the project of Law there was some- 
 thing substantial. It promised an ex- 
 clusive trade to Louisiana ; though the 
 design was defeated by the frantic eager- 
 ness of the people. But the South Sea 
 scheme was buoyed up by nothing but 
 the folly and rapaciousness of individ- 
 uals, which became so blind and extrav- 
 agant, that Blunt was able to impose 
 upon the whole nation, and make tools 
 of the other directors, to serve his own 
 purpose and that of a few associates. 
 When this projector found that the South 
 Sea stock did not rise according to his 
 expectation, he circulated a report that 
 Gibraltar and Port Mahon would be ex- 
 changed for some places in Peru ; by 
 which means the English trade to the 
 South Sea would be protected and en- 
 larged. This rumor, diffused by emissa- 
 ries, acted like a contagion. In five days 
 the directors opened their books for a
 
 566 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SPH 
 
 subscription of 1,000,0001. at the rate of 
 3001. for every lOOt. capital. Persons at 
 all ranks crowded to the house in such a 
 manner, thut the first subscription ex- 
 ceeded 2,000.000/. of original stock. In 
 a few days this stock advanced to 340Z ; 
 and the subscriptions were sold for double 
 the price of the first payment. In a 
 little time the stock reached 1,OOOZ., and 
 the whole nation was infected with the 
 spirit of stock-jobbing to an incredible 
 extent. The infatuation prevailed till 
 the 8th of September, when the stock be- 
 gan to fall, and some of the adventurers 
 awoke from their delirium. On the 29th 
 of the same month, the stock had sunk 
 to 1501. : several eminent goldsmiths and 
 bankers, who had lent great sums upon 
 it, were obliged to stop payment and ab- 
 scond ; and the ebb of this portentous 
 tide was so violent that it carried every- 
 thing in its way, and an infinite number 
 of families were overwhelmed with ruin. 
 Public credit sustained a terrible shock; 
 the nation was thrown into a ferment ; 
 and nothing was heard but the ravings 
 of grief, disappointment, and despair. 
 
 SOVEREIGN, a supreme ruler, or 
 one who possesses the highest authority 
 without control. A king or queen reg- 
 nant. An English gold coin, value twen- 
 ty shillings. 
 
 SPA'HI, one of the Turkish cavalry. 
 
 SPAN'DREL, in architecture, the ir- 
 regular triangular space comprehended 
 between the outer curve or extrados of 
 an arch, a horizontal line drawn from its 
 apex, and a perpendicular line from its 
 springing. In Gothic Architecture, span- 
 drels are usually ornamented with trace- 
 ry, foliage, &c. Spandrel bracketing, a 
 cradling of brackets which is placed be- 
 tween curves, each of which is in a verti- 
 cal plane, and in the circumference of a 
 circle whose plane is horizontal. Span- 
 drel irall, a wall built on the back of an 
 arch filling in the spandrels. 
 
 S P E A K ' E R, in the parliamentary 
 sense, an officer who acts as chairman 
 during a sitting. The Speaker of Con- 
 gress, is a member of the house elected by 
 a majority of votes to act as chairman or 
 president, in putting questions, reading 
 bills, keeping order, and carrying into 
 execution the resolutions of the honse. 
 The Speaker is not to deliver his senti- 
 ments upon any question ; but it is his 
 duty to interrupt a member whose lan- 
 guage is indecorous ; or who wanders from 
 the subject of debate : he may also stop 
 a debate, to remind the house of any 
 standing order, or established mode of 
 
 proceeding, which he sees about to be 
 violated. He, however, submits every- 
 thing to the decision of the house. If 
 the number of votes, on the two sides of a 
 question be equal, he may decide it by 
 his own ; but otherwise he cannot vote. 
 When the house resolves itself into a 
 committee, the chair is filled by a tempo- 
 rary chairman, and the speaker is then 
 capable of addressing the house on any 
 subject, like a private member. 
 
 SPE'CIALTY, in law, a special con- 
 tract or bond ; the evidence of a debt by 
 deed or instrument under seal, thereby 
 differing from what is called simple con- 
 tract. 
 
 SPECIFICATION, the act of specify- 
 ing, or designation of particulars : as, the 
 specification necessary to be given in 
 taking out a patent ; or, the specification 
 of a charge against a naval or military 
 officer. 
 
 SPEC'TACLE, something that is ex- 
 hibited to view as extraordinary or de- 
 serving especial notice ; as, the combats 
 of gladiators in ancient Rome were spec- 
 tacles at once wonderful and brutal ; or, 
 the manager has this season produced a 
 splendid spectacle. 
 
 SPEC'TRE, a phantom or apparition 
 created, when supposed to be seen, by 
 the mind, through its own fears or guilty 
 recollections. 
 
 SPECULATION, in commerce, the act 
 or practice of buying articles of mer- 
 chandise, or any purchasable commodity 
 whatever, in expectation of a rise of 
 price, and of selling the same at a con- 
 siderable advance. In this it is distin- 
 guished from regular trade, in which the 
 profit expected is the difference between 
 the retail and wholesale prices, or the 
 difference of price in the place where the 
 goods are purchased, and the place to 
 which they are to be carried for market. 
 Speculation on a large scale, upon the 
 principle of monopolizing, or that kind 
 of speculation which consists in the pur- 
 chase and sale of shares in public com- 
 panies, as well as " dabbling" in the 
 stocks, and a -variety of other hazard- 
 ous transactions which might be named, 
 are different species of gambling, and 
 are often no less ruinous. 
 
 SPHINX, in antiquity, an emblemati- 
 cal figure, composed of the head and 
 breasts of a woman, the wings of a bird, 
 the legs and claws of a lion, and the body 
 of a dog ; and said to have been the 
 Egyptian symbol of Theology. Also, a 
 fabulous monster of Thebes. According 
 to mythological history, its father was
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 567 
 
 Typhon the gigantic son of Terra, and it 
 was sent by Juno to afflict the Thebans, 
 which it did by proposing enigmatical 
 questions to persons, whom it killed if 
 they could not expound them. At length, 
 (Edipus having explained its famous rid- 
 dle on man, it precipitated itself from a 
 rock, and was dashed to pieces. This 
 riddle was as follows : " What creature is 
 that which goes in the morning upon four ; 
 at noon, upon two ; and in the evening 
 upon three legs." (Edipus answered, 
 "It is man ; who, in his infancy, crawls 
 upon all four, walks afterwards on two, 
 till old age brings him to his staff, which 
 constitutes three legs." The Grecian 
 sphinx was probably borrowed from 
 Egypt : where the enormous figure, now 
 half buried in the sand, was probably the 
 archetype of the more elegant monster 
 of Greece. This figure is close to the 
 Pyramids of Ghizeh, and was disinterred 
 by the late Mr. Belzoni, but has been 
 again nearly covered. 
 
 SPHRAGIS'TICS, the science of seals, 
 their history, peculiarities, and distinc- 
 tions, especially with a view to the means 
 which they afford of ascertaining the age 
 and genuineness of documents to which 
 tltey are affixed. Ancient seals were 
 chiefly impressed on common wax of dif- 
 ferent colors ; sealing-wax came into use 
 in the 16th century. This branch of diplo- 
 matics owes its origin to Heineccius, who 
 published a work on the subject in 1709. 
 
 SPICCA'TO, in music, a term indicat- 
 ing that every note is to have its distinct 
 sound. When used in relation to instru- 
 ments played with a bow, it is to be un- 
 derstood that every note is to have a 
 bow distinct from the preceding or suc- 
 ceeding one. 
 
 SPIN'ET, a musical stringed instru- 
 ment, played on by two ranges of keys, 
 the foremost range being in the order of 
 the diatonic scale ; and the other range 
 set backward, in the order of the artificial 
 notes or semitones. 
 
 SPINO'SISM, in philosophy, the sys- 
 tem of Benedict Spinosa, a Jew of Am- 
 sterdam, born in 1634, which is develop- 
 ed in his works on ethics. In it he de- 
 duces by strictly mathematical reasoning, 
 from a few axioms, the well-known prin- 
 ciples, that "there can be no substance 
 but God; whatever is is in God, and nothing 
 can be conceived without God." Hence 
 his scheme is called, with justice, Pan- 
 theistic. In fact, as Mr. Hallam observes, 
 " He does not essentially differ from the 
 Pantheists of old. He conceived, as they 
 had done, that the infinity of God requir- 
 
 ed the exclusion of all other substance : 
 that he was infinite ab omni parte, and 
 not only in certain senses." " It was one 
 great error of Spinosa," says the same 
 writer, " to entertain too arrogant a no- 
 tion of the human faculties ; in which, by 
 dint of his own subtle demonstrations, he 
 pretended to show a capacity of adequate- 
 ly comprehending the nature of what he 
 denominated God. And this was accom- 
 panied by a rigid dogmatism, no one prop- 
 osition being stated with hesitation ; by 
 a disregard of experience, at least as the 
 basis of reasoning ; and by a uniform pref- 
 erence of the synthetic mode." 
 
 SPIN'STER, in law, the common title 
 by which an unmarried woman, without 
 rank or distinction, is designated. 
 
 SPIRE, in architecture, the pyramidal 
 or conical termination of a tower or tur- 
 ret. The earliest spires were merely py- 
 ramidal or conical roofs, specimens of 
 which still exist in Norman buildings, as 
 that of the tower of Than church in Nor- 
 mandy. These roofs, becoming gradually 
 elongated, and more and more acute, re- 
 sulted at length in the elegant tapering 
 spire ; among the many existing exam- 
 ples of which, probably, that of Salisbury 
 is the finest. The spires of medieval 
 architecture, to which alone they are ap- 
 propriate, are generally square, octago- 
 nal, or circular in plan ; they are some- 
 times solid, more frequently hollow, and 
 are variously ornamented with bands en- 
 circling them, with panels more or less 
 enriched, and with spire lights, which aro 
 of infinite variety. Their angles are 
 sometimes crocketted, and they are al- 
 most invariably terminated by a finial. 
 In the later styles the general pyramidal 
 outline is obtained by diminishing the 
 diameter of the building in successive 
 stages, and this has been imitated in mod- 
 ern spires, in which the forms and details 
 of classic architecture have been applied 
 to structures essentially medieval. The 
 term spire is sometimes restricted to sig- 
 nify such tapering buildings, crowning 
 towers or turrets, as have parapets at 
 their base. When the spire rises from 
 the exterior of the wall of the tower with- 
 out the intervention of a parapet, it is 
 called a broach. 
 
 SPIR'IT. in metaphysics, an incorpo- 
 real being of intelligence. Also, excite- 
 ment of mind, animation, or whatever 
 has power or energy ; the quality of any 
 substance which manifests life nnd activi- 
 ty ; disposition of mind excited nnd direct- 
 ed to a particular object, &c. Holy Spir- 
 it, the third person in the Trinity.
 
 668 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [STA 
 
 SPIRITUAL, mental; intellectual; 
 immaterial. Also, relating to . sacred 
 things, or ecclesiastical. Spiritually 
 minded, having the affections refined and 
 elevated above sensual objects, and placed 
 on God and his law. Spiritual court, a 
 court held by a bishop or other ecclesias- 
 tic. 
 
 SPIR'ITUALISM, as distinguished 
 from Materialism. That system accord- 
 ing to which all that is real is spirit, 
 soul, or self ; that which is called the ex- 
 ternal world being either a succession of 
 notions impressed on the mind by the 
 Deity, or else the mere educt of the mind 
 itself. The first is the spiritualism of 
 Berkeley ; the second, which may be 
 called pure egotism, that of Fichte. 
 
 SPON'DEB, in the Latin and Greek 
 prosody, a poetic foot of two long sylla- 
 bles. Spondaic, pertaining to a spon- 
 dee. 
 
 SPON'SIONS, in international l#w, 
 acts and engagements made on behalf 
 of states by agents not specially author- 
 ized, or exceeding the limits of the au- 
 thority under which they purport to be 
 made, are so called by writers on this 
 branch of jurisprudence. Such conven- 
 tions must be confirmed by express or 
 tacit ratification ; the latter of which is 
 implied from the fact of acting under it 
 as if bound by its stipulations ; but mere 
 silence is not, in general, held equivalent 
 to ratification. Such are the official acts 
 of admirals or generals suspending or 
 limiting hostilities, capitulations of sur- 
 render, oartels of exchange, &c. 
 
 SPON'SOR, one who binds himself to 
 answer for another, and is responsible for 
 his default. .Hence, sponsor, in baptism, 
 is a surety for the moral education of 
 the child baptized. 
 
 SPONTANEOUS, an epithet for things 
 that act by their own impulse, or with- 
 out any apparent external agency ; as, 
 the spontaneous combustion of vegetable 
 substances, which, when highly dried, 
 and closely heaped, will burst into a 
 flame. 
 
 SPRING, the season of the year when 
 increasing solar heat restores the ener- 
 gy of vegetation. It comprehends the 
 months of March, April, and May, in 
 the middle latitudes, north of the Equa- 
 tor. 
 
 SQUAD'RON, in the art of war, a di- 
 vision or body of troops, which, among 
 the ancients, was always square : whence 
 its name. A squadron of skips, a di- ! 
 vision or part of a fleet employed on a 
 particular expedition, and commanded , 
 
 by a vice or rear-adiniral, or a commo- 
 dore. 
 
 STA'BAT MATER DOLORO'SA, the 
 first words of a celebrated Latin hymn of 
 the church, in rhymed lines of eight 
 syllables without metre ; said to have 
 been composed by a Franciscan monk 
 name] Jacopone, in the 14th century. 
 It has been set to music by nearly all the 
 great composers ; but the best known of 
 all their compositions is that of Pergolesi, 
 commenced by him when nearly on his 
 deathbed, and finished by another hand. 
 The stabat mater is performed in the ec- 
 clesiastical services of the Roman church 
 during Holy Week. 
 
 STACC A'TO, in music, a term denoting 
 that the notes to which it is affixed are to 
 be detached in a striking way from each 
 other, being much like spiccato, which 
 see. 
 
 STA'DIUM, in ancient architecture, 
 an open area used for exercise by the 
 Grecian youth. With the Romans it 
 was much in the form of the circi, but 
 most of the Grecian stadia were enclosed 
 by merely an earthen mound. Vitruvi- 
 us informs us that its length was much 
 greater than its breadth ; the lists were 
 formed by a bank or terrace. Though 
 the stadium mostly formed part of a 
 gymnasium, it sometimes formed a separ- 
 ate structure, and was built at great cost 
 and with considerable elegance : witness 
 that on the Corinthian Isthmus mention- 
 ed by Pausanias, as well as that of 
 Herodie Atticus at Athens, which was 
 of large dimensions, and constructed of 
 Pentelican marble. Besides this, men- 
 tion is made by that author of several 
 others. 
 
 STADT'HOLDER, the name formerly 
 given to the coininander-in-chief of the 
 military forces in the republic of the 
 United Netherlands. 
 
 STAFF, in military affairs, an estab- 
 lishment of officers in various depart- 
 ments, attached to an army, or to the com- 
 mander of an army. The staff includes 
 officers not of the line, as adjutants, 
 quarter-masters, chaplain, surgeon, Ac. 
 The staff is the medium of communica- 
 tion from the comniander-in-chief to 
 every department of an army. An en- 
 sign of authority ; a badge of office ; as, 
 a constable's staff. Also a pole erected 
 in a ship to hoist and display a flag, call- 
 ed a Qng-staff". 
 
 STAGE, in the drama, the place of ac- 
 tion and representation, included between 
 the pit and the scenes, and answering to 
 the proscenium or pulpitum, of the an-
 
 STA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 569 
 
 cients. The word stage also often implies 
 the whole dramatic art in composition 
 and performance. A floor or platform 
 o.f any kind elevated above the ground or 
 common surface, as for an exhibition to 
 public view ; as, a stage for a mounte- 
 bank ; a stage erected for public speak- 
 ers. A place of rest on a journey ; as, 
 how far is it to the next stage 1 or the 
 distance between two places of rest on a 
 road ; as, it is a twelve mile stage. 
 Hence the word stage-coach. 
 
 STA'GYRITE, an appellation given 
 to Aristotle, from Stagira, a town in 
 Macedonia, the place of his birth. 
 
 STAIRS, in architecture, steps for 
 ascending from the lower to the upper 
 part of a house. When these are enclosed 
 with walls or balustrades, with landing- 
 places for communication between the 
 several stories of a building, the whole is 
 called a staircase. Vitruvius makes no 
 mention of staircases in his Treatise on 
 Architecture ; and, indeed, with the an- 
 cients they formed no feature in the in- 
 terior, being generally on the outside of 
 the houses. Those of which traces re- 
 main are narrow, and so inconvenient 
 that in some cases the steps are a foot in 
 height. In modern architecture, they 
 are often constructed with great display 
 of skill and magnificence, and are no 
 small test of the skill and power of the 
 architect. Those stairs which proceed in 
 a right line of ascent are called fliers ; 
 when they wind round a solid or open 
 newel they are called winders. Mixed 
 stairs are such as partly wind and partly 
 
 fly- 
 
 STALL, in architecture, a seat raised 
 on the sides of the choir or chancel of a 
 church, mostly appropriated to a digni- 
 tary of a cathedral or collegiate church. 
 Sometimes stalls are placed near the high 
 altar, for the priest and deacon or sub- 
 deacon to rest while the service in certain 
 parts is carried on .by the choristers. In 
 churches of the kinds named there is gen- 
 erally a series of them. 
 
 STAMP, in England, a mark set upon 
 things chargeable with duty to govern- 
 ment, as evidence that the duty is paid ; 
 as, the stamp on a newspaper, the stamp 
 on a bond or indenture, Ac. Any instru- 
 ment for making impressions on other 
 bodies. A character of reputation, good 
 or bad, fixed on anything; as, the Scrip- 
 tures bear the stamp of a divine origin ; 
 this person bears on his unblushing face 
 the stamp of roguery. 
 
 STAN'ZA, in poetry, a series or num- 
 ber of verses connected with each other 
 
 in a poem, of which the metro is con- 
 structed of successive series similar in 
 arrangement. Thestanza, however, must 
 be understood to form a shorter division 
 than the classical strophe, to which this 
 definition would bo equally applicable. 
 The term is of Italian origin, and signifies 
 literally a station or resting-place : it is 
 so called 'from terminating with a full 
 point or pause. The ottava rima, which 
 consists of six lines in alternate rhyme 
 ended by a couplet, the lines being deca, 
 or rather hendeca-syllabic, is the prin- 
 cipal Italian stanza. The Spenserian 
 stanza (which was perhaps invented by 
 the poet from whom it derives its name, 
 but wa!S certainly first applied by him to 
 the construction of a regular poem) con- 
 sists of eight deca-syllabic verses and an 
 Alexandrine at the end ; the first and 
 third verses forming the last rhyme ; the 
 second, fourth, fifth, and seventh another; 
 and the eighth and ninth a third rhyme. 
 Lord Byron has given both to the Ottava 
 and the Spenserian stanza in English 
 verse a peculiar and original character. 
 
 STAR'-CHAMBER, formerly, a court 
 of criminal jurisdiction at Westminster, 
 England, so called from its roof being 
 ornamented with gilt stars. This court 
 took upon itself to decide upon those 
 cases of offence with Regard to which the 
 law was silent ; and was in criminal mat- 
 ters what the exchequer is in civil. It 
 passed judgment without the intervention 
 of a jury. It differed from all other ju- 
 diciary courts in this, that the latter were 
 governed only by the common law, or 
 immemorial custom, and acts of parlia- 
 ment ; whereas the former often admitted 
 for law the proclamations of the king in 
 council. 
 
 STA'ROST, a title under the Polish 
 
 ! republic enjoyed by noblemen who were 
 in possession of certain castles and do- 
 
 j mains called starosties. These were grants 
 
 i of the crown, and only conferred for life, 
 but generally renewed after the demise 
 of a possessor to his heirs. 
 
 STATES, or ESTATES, in modern 
 European history, (French etats, German 
 stande.) those divisions of society, pro- 
 fessions, or classes of men, which have 
 partaken, either directly or by represen- 
 tation, in the government of their coun- 
 try. Their number has varied in differ- 
 
 ! ent countries. In France, and most other 
 feudal kingdoms, there have been three 
 estates, (nobles, clergy, commonalty.) 
 members of the ancient national assem- 
 blies. Hence the well-known appellation 
 tiers etat (third estate) for the last. In
 
 570 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 STK 
 
 Sweden there are at this day four : no- 
 bility, clergy, citizens, peasants. In most 
 countries the ancient system of assemblies 
 convoked from separate estates disap- 
 peared by the progress of absolute gov- 
 ernment in the 16th and 17th centuries; 
 and in modern monarchical constitutions 
 the English system of government by 
 king, lords, and commons, or analogous 
 powers, has prevailed. But the states 
 have been reconstituted of late years in 
 some German monarchies and grand 
 duchies, the electorate of Hesse Cassel, 
 &c 
 
 STATES-GENERAL, in French his- 
 tory, assemblies which were first called 
 A.D. 1302, and were held occasionally 
 from that period to the year 1614, 
 when they were discontinued, till they 
 were summoned again at an interesting 
 period, viz., in the year 1789. These 
 states-general, however, were very differ- 
 ent from the ancient assemblies of the 
 French nation under the kings of the 
 first and second race. There is no point 
 with respect to which the French anti- 
 quaries are more generally agreed than 
 in maintaining that the states-general 
 had no suffrage in the passing of laws, 
 and possessed no proper jurisdiction. 
 The whole tenor of the French history 
 confirms this opinion. 
 
 STATIONERY, the name given to all 
 the materials employed in the art of 
 writing, but more especially to those of 
 pen, ink, and paper. The term station- 
 ery is derived from the business of book- 
 sellers having been anciently carried o 
 entirely in stalls, or stations. 
 
 STATISTICS, a term of somewhat 
 modem date, adopted to express a more 
 comprehensive view of the various par- 
 ticulars constituting the general and po- 
 litical strength and resources of a country 
 than was usually embraced by writers on 
 political arithmetic. The principal ob- 
 jects of the science of statistics are the 
 extent and population of a state ; the 
 occupation of the different classes of its 
 inhabitants ; the progress of agriculture, 
 of manufactures, and of internal and 
 foreign trade ; the income and wealth of 
 the inhabitants, and the proportion drawn 
 from them for the public service by taxa- 
 tion ; their health and longevity ; the 
 condition of the poor ; the state of schools 
 and other public institutions of utility ; 
 with every other subject, the knowledge 
 of which may be useful in ascertaining 
 the moral condition and political strength 
 of a country, its commerce, arts, &c. 
 
 STAT'UE, in sculpture, a representa- 
 
 tion in relief in some solid substance, aa 
 marble or bronze, or in some apparently 
 solid substance, of a man or other ani- 
 mal. There are various species of statues : 
 1. Those smaller than nature. 2. Those 
 of the same size as nature. 3. Those 
 larger than nature. 4. Those that are 
 three or more times larger than nature, 
 and are called colossal. The first were 
 by the ancients confined to men and gods 
 generally. The second were confined to 
 the representation of men celebrated for 
 their learning and talents, who had ren- 
 dered service to the state, and were ex^!- 
 cuted at the public expense. The third 
 were confined to kings, emperors, and, 
 when more than twice the size of nature, 
 to heroes. The fourth species were con- 
 fined to statues of the gods, or of kings 
 and emperors represented under the 
 form of gods Equestrian statues are 
 those in which the figure is seated on a 
 horse. 
 
 STA'TUS QUO, in politics, a treaty 
 between two or more belligerents, which 
 leaves each party in possession of the 
 same territories, fortresses, <fec. as it 
 
 | occupied before hostilities broke out, is 
 
 j said to leave them " in statu quo ante 
 bellurn," in the same state as before the 
 
 i war. 
 
 STATUTES, acts of Congress, which 
 
 j are either public or private. Statutes 
 are distinguished from common law. The 
 latter owes its binding force to the prin- 
 ciples of justice, to long use, and the 
 consent of a nation. The former owe 
 their binding force to a positive command 
 or declaration of the governing power. 
 
 STAVE, in music, the five horizontal 
 and parallel lines on which the notes of 
 tunes are written or printed. 
 
 STEE'PLE, in architecture, an append- 
 age erected generally in the western end 
 
 I of churches, to hold the bells. Steeples are 
 denominated, according to their form, 
 either spires or towers : the first are such 
 as ascend continually diminishing either 
 conically or pyramidally : the latter are 
 merely parallelepipeds, and are covered 
 at top platform-wise. The steeple ap- 
 pears to have originated in Gothic archi- 
 tecture. 
 
 STEN'CILLING, a method of painting 
 on walls with a stencil, so as to imitate 
 the figures on paper-hangings. 
 
 STENOG'RAPHY, the art of writing 
 in short-hand, by using abbreviations or 
 characters for whole words. Some sys- 
 tems are replete with unmeaning symbols 
 and ill-judged contractions ; while others 
 are too prolix, by containing a multi-
 
 BTl] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 plicity of characters, and those characters 
 not simple or easily remembered. No 
 system of arbitrary signs, in fact, how- 
 ever scientific, can, without extensive 
 practice, be of much use to the student ; 
 and it is not therefore surprising that 
 many of our most expert reporters neg- 
 lect or abandon the study of it altogether. 
 
 STENTO'RIAN, [from Stentor, a her- 
 ald in Homer, whose voice was as loud as 
 the united voices of fifty other men,J able 
 to utter a very loud sound. The word 
 stentorophonic is also sometimes, though 
 rarely, used. 
 
 STERCO'RIANISM, in ecclesiastical 
 history, a nickname which seems to have 
 been applied in the Western church, in 
 the 5th and 6th century, to those who 
 held the opinion that a change took place 
 in the consecrated elements, so as to 
 render the divine body subject to the act 
 of digestion. 
 
 STEREOG'RAPHY, the art of drawing 
 the forms and figures of solids upon a 
 plane. 
 
 STEREOT'OMY, the science or art of 
 cutting solids into certain figures or sec- 
 tions ; as walls or other members in the 
 profiles of architecture.' 
 
 STEll'EOTYPE, an entire solid plate 
 or piece of type cast from an impression 
 in gypsum of a page composed with mov- 
 able types. Thus we say a book is printed 
 on stereotype, or in stereotype. In the 
 latter use, the word seems rather to signify 
 the workmanship, or manner of printing, 
 than the plate. See Cycl. Useful Arts. 
 
 STER'L'ING, in English commerce, a 
 term which is applied to money, signify- 
 ing that it is of the fixed, or standard, 
 national value ; thus, "a pound sterling" 
 is not indefinitely " a pound," but " an 
 English pound." Camden appears to 
 offer the true etymology of this word, 
 when he derives it from easterling, and 
 corroborates, if not demonstrates, the 
 propriety of this suggestion, by quoting 
 old deeds, where English coin is always 
 called nummi easterlingi. In explana- 
 tion, he observes, that in the reign of 
 Richard I. money coined in the eastern 
 part of Germany grew to be much es- 
 teemed in England, on account of its 
 purity : this money was called easterling 
 money, as all the people of those parts 
 were called easterlings ; and in conse- 
 quence of the partiality related, some of 
 the easterling coiners were invited into 
 the kingdom, to perfect its coinage, which 
 was thenceforward denominated easter- 
 ling, esterling, or sterling. During a 
 considerable period, the only coin in Eng- 
 
 land 'was one of about the value of a 
 penny: whence it happens, that many 
 ancient writers use the word easterling 
 as a substantive, and synonymously with 
 penny. The word sterling has also a 
 more general application. We speak of 
 sterling value, sterling worth, or sterling 
 wit ; thereby meaning genuine and of 
 good quality. 
 
 STEWARD, a man who is employed 
 in wealthy families to superintend the 
 household generally, to collect the rents 
 or income, keep the accounts, <fcc. 
 
 STICII'O MANGY, divination by lines 
 or passages in books taken at hazard. 
 Among the Romans verses from the 
 Sibylline books were written on slips of 
 paper, which were thrown into a vessel ; 
 and future events were conjectured from 
 the interpretation of one of these slips 
 drawn out at hazard. Of the same kind 
 were the Sortes Virgiliance, Homericce, 
 &G.; a sort of literary superstition by 
 which the works of authors were consult- 
 ed, and the meaning of a line casually 
 taken assumed as indicative of the fate 
 of the person discovering it. Verses of 
 the Bible selected in this way by chance 
 have been, and are still, frequently taken 
 by the superstitious as oracular. This 
 sort of divination has been called biblio- 
 mancy, or sortes biblicae. It was con- 
 demned by the council of Vannes in 465, 
 and other early synods ; but was long 
 afterwards practised in France at the 
 elections of bishops, abbots, &c. The cus- 
 tom of drawing by lots verses from the 
 Bible on such occasions is said to have 
 prevailed as late as 1740, in the cathe- 
 drals of Ypres, St. Omer, and Boulogne. 
 
 STIFF, constrained, labored, wanting 
 in ease and gracefulness of style. Such, 
 for example, are the Egyptian figures, 
 those of the most ancient Greek style, 
 certain Gothic figures, Ac. Stiffness is 
 essentially opposed to beauty of form. 
 Nature, bountiful in almost all her pro- 
 visions, has given to the limbs and move- 
 ments of men freedom and suppleness ; 
 and it is only through the unworthy 
 affectation which sometimes springs 
 from sophisticated habits of society, that 
 constrained or stiff movements are dis- 
 cernible, except in people out of health. 
 
 STIG'MATIZING. in antiquity, the 
 act of affixing a mark upon slaves, 
 sometimes as a punishment, but more 
 usually in order to know them. It was 
 done by applying a red-hot iron, marked 
 with certain letters, to their foreheads, 
 till a fair impression was made, and then 
 pouring ink into the furrows, that the
 
 572 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [STO 
 
 inscription might be the more conspicu- 
 ous. Stigmatizing, among some nations, 
 was, however, looked upon as a distin- 
 guishing mark of honor and nobility. 
 
 STIPENDIARY, one who performs 
 services for a settled compensation, or 
 stipend, either by the day, month, or 
 year. 
 
 STIP'PLING, in the arts, a method of 
 engraving in dots, as distinguished from 
 etching in lines. 
 
 STIPULATION, a contract or bar- 
 gain ; as, the stipulations of the allied 
 powers of Europe to furnish each his con- 
 tingent of troops. 
 
 STO',33, in antiquity, porticoes in Ath- 
 ens, which were the resort of philosophers, 
 particularly the Stoics. 
 
 STOCK, in commerce, any fund con- 
 sisting of money or goods employed by a 
 person in trade, particularly the sum of 
 money raised by a company for carrying 
 on any trading concern. Stock is a gen- 
 eral name for the capitals of trading com- 
 panies. It is a word also that denotes 
 any sum of money which has been lent to 
 government, on condition of receiving a 
 certain interest till the money is repaid. 
 Hence the price of stocks, or rates per 
 cent., are the several sums for which $100 
 of those respective stocks sell at any given 
 time. 
 
 STOCK -BROKER, one who deals in 
 the purchase and sale of stocks or shares 
 in the public funds, for others. 
 
 STOCK'-JOBBER, one who speculates 
 in the prices of stock from day to day, or 
 by anticipation for future time : a despe- 
 rate species of gambling, by which thou- 
 sands are annually ruined. Stock-hold- 
 er, one who is a proprietor in the public 
 funds, or in the funds of a bank or other 
 company. 
 
 STO'IC, a disciple of the philosopher 
 Zeno, who founded a sect. He taught that 
 men should be free from passion, unmov- 
 ed by joy or grief, and submit without 
 complaint to the unavoidable necessity 
 by which all things are governed. The 
 Stoics are proverbially known for the 
 sternness and austerity of their ethical 
 doctrines, and for the influence which 
 their tenets exercised over some of the 
 noblest spirits of antiquity. Their sys- 
 tem appears to have been an attempt to 
 reconcile a theological pantheism, and 
 a materialist psychology, with a logic 
 which seeks the foundations of knowledge 
 in sensible experience, and a morality 
 which claims as its first principle the ab- 
 solute freedom of the human will. " Live 
 according to nature" is, with the Stoics, 
 
 the expression of the coincidence which 
 ought to exist between the human will 
 and the universal reason, which they 
 identified with the life and power of na- 
 ture. This coincidence is virtue, the only 
 good ; as vice, its opposite, is the only 
 evil. All things else are in themselves 
 indifferent; being approved or disapprov- 
 ed only by comparison. Virtue, accord- 
 ing to them, is the perfect harmony of 
 the soul with itself; vice is, in its essence, 
 inconsistent and self-contradictory. The 
 wise man, the ideal of human perfection, 
 is absolutely and without qualification, 
 free. His actions are determined by his 
 free will, with a power as irresistible as 
 that by which universal nature is guided 
 and animated. 
 
 STO' LA, in antiquity, a long robe in 
 use among the Roman ladies, over which 
 I they wore a large mantle, or cloak, called 
 the pallium. Also, a sacerdotal orna- 
 ment worn by the Romish parish priests 
 over their surplice, as a mark of supe- 
 riority in their respective churches ; and 
 by other priests over the alb, while cele- 
 brating mass. 
 
 STOLE, a long vest or robe, which 
 forms a part of the sacerdotal dress of 
 Roman Catholic parish priests over their 
 surplice, as a mark of superiority in their 
 respective churches, and by other priests 
 over the alb while celebrating mass. It 
 is a long broad white band, of silk or sil- 
 ver stuff, lined with stiff linen, worn by 
 deacons over the left shoulder, and reach- 
 ing to the right hip ; but the priests wear 
 it over both shoulders, and hanging down 
 across the breast. It is marked with three 
 crosses, and not unfrequently has little 
 bells at the end. 
 
 STONE'HENGE, in English topogra- 
 phy, the remains of a public structure 
 of the ancient Britons, still extant upon 
 Salisbury plain. It consists of many un- 
 hewii stones, which with some that are 
 wanting, appear to have originally com- 
 posed four ranks, one within another. 
 Some of them, especially in the outermost 
 and the third ranks, are twenty feet high 
 and seven broad. -The vertical stones 
 sustain horizontal ones, laid across their 
 heads, and fastened by mortises. The 
 whole is supposed to have been once 
 joined together. The purpose of a place 
 of this description, among the generations 
 which, two thousand years ago, peopled 
 the island of Britain, and were not so 
 barbarous or inconsiderable as is com- 
 monly supposed, and as the vanity and 
 superior refinement of the Romans con- 
 tribute to represent, seems to have been
 
 STR] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 573 
 
 that of religious worship. What that 
 religion was can only be conjectured ; but 
 judging of these ruins by their similarity 
 to the huge remains of buildings still ex- 
 isting in Egypt as well as from the cir- 
 cumstance that the heads and horns of 
 oxen and other animals have been found 
 buried in the spot it has been thought 
 that the rites peculiar to solar worship 
 were there performed ; and, consequently, 
 that Stonehenge was once a temple of 
 Baal. 
 
 STOP, the instrument by which the 
 sounds of wind music are regulated ; as, 
 the stops of a flute or an organ. The 
 stops of an organ are a collection of pipes 
 similar in tone and quality, which run 
 through the whole or a great part of the 
 compass of the instrument. In great 
 organs, the stops are numerous and mul- 
 tifarious ; but the principal ones are the 
 two diapasons, the principal, the twelfth, 
 ihejifteenth, the sesquialtera, the mixture 
 or furniture, the trumpet, the clarion, 
 and the cornet. The choir-organ usually 
 contains the stopt diapason, the dulciana, 
 the principal, the Jlute, the twelfth, the 
 bassoon, and the vox humana. The stops 
 of an organ are so arranged, that by 
 means of registers the air proceeding 
 from the bellows may be admitted to 
 supply each stop or series of pipes, or 
 excluded from it at pleasure ; and a valve 
 is opened when the proper key is touched, 
 which causes all the pipes belonging to 
 the note, in those series of which the re- 
 gisters are open, to sound at once. Sev 
 eral of the stcyps are designed to produce 
 imitations of different musical instru- 
 ments, as the trumpet, clarion, cornet 
 smdjtute stops. 
 
 STOR'THING, the parliament of Nor- 
 way. It is elected once in three years, 
 and sits every year for the despatch of 
 business. The election is double ; every 
 quajified person (an owner or life-renter 
 of land paying taxes in the country, and 
 every one possessing land or houses of 156 
 rix dollars value in towns) joining in the ! 
 election of councillors, who elect out of ! 
 their own body the representatives of the ; 
 country. These must be from 75 to 100 
 in number. The storthing, when elected, 
 divides itself into two houses : one fourth, 
 chosen by the rest, joining the laything, 
 or upper house ; the remainder the odels- 
 thing, or lower house. The storthing has 
 the usual powers of a legislative assem- 
 bly in a constitutional country, and the 
 king has only a suspensive veto ; which, if 
 the storthing passes a law three times in 
 six successive years, becomes of no effect, j 
 
 STRAPPA'DO, a military punishment 
 formerly practised. It consisted in draw- 
 ing an offender to the top of a beam and 
 letting him fall, by which means a limb 
 was sometimes dislocated. 
 
 STRAT'EGY, properly the science of 
 combining and employing the means 
 which the different branches of the art 
 of war afford, for the purpose of forming 
 projects of operations, and of directing 
 great military movements. It was for- 
 merly distinguished from the art of mak- 
 ing dispositions and of manoeuvring, when 
 in the presence of the enemy ; but mili- 
 tary writers now, in general, comprehend 
 all these subjects under the denomination 
 of grand and elementary tactics. 
 
 STRATH'SPEY, in Scotland, a species 
 of dance in which two persons are en- 
 gaged. It is so denominated from the 
 country of Strathspey, probably as hav- 
 ing been first used there. A species of 
 dance music in common time, peculiar to 
 Scotland. It probably originated in the 
 same district as the above dance. 
 
 STRATOC'RACY, a military govern- 
 ment, or that form of government in 
 which the soldiery bear the sway. 
 
 STRENGTH, force of writing ; vigor ; 
 nervous diction. The strength of words, 
 of style, of expression, and the like, con- 
 sists in the full and forcible exhibition of 
 ideas, by which a sensible or deep im- 
 pression is made on the mind of a hearer 
 or reader. It is distinguished from soft- 
 ness or sweetness. Strength of language 
 enforces an argument, produces cuiivic- 
 tion, or excites wonder or other strong 
 emotion ; softness and sweetness give 
 pleasure. 
 
 STREPITO'SO, in music, an Italian 
 word denoting that the part to which it 
 is prefixed must be performed in an im- 
 petuous and boisterous style. 
 
 STRETCH'ING COURSE, in archi- 
 tecture, a course in which the bricks or 
 stones are laid horizontally with their 
 lengths in the direction of the face of the 
 wall. 
 
 STRET'TO, in music, a term indicating 
 that the measure to which it is affixed is 
 to be performed short and concise, hence 
 quick It is the opposite of largo. 
 
 STRIDE, in architecture, the fillets 
 which separate the furrows or grooves 
 of fluted columns. 
 
 STRO'PHE, a division of a Greek 
 choral ode answering to a stanza. The 
 name is derived from orptyuv, to turn, 
 because the singers turned in one direc- 
 tion while they recited that portion of 
 the poein ; they then turned round and
 
 574 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATUEK 
 
 [STY 
 
 sung the next portion, which was of ex- 
 actly the same length and metre as the 
 preceding, and was termed the antistro- 
 phe. These were sometimes followed by 
 another strophe and antistrophe, some- 
 times by a single stanza called the epode. 
 
 STRUC'TURE, in its usual accepta- 
 tion, a building of some size and im- 
 portance. Also, form or construction ; 
 as, " we know but little of the structure 
 and constitution of the terraqueous 
 globe." 
 
 STUC'CO, in building, .a fine kind of 
 plaster composed of lime, sand, whiting, 
 and pulverized marble ; used for cover- 
 ing walls, &c. 
 
 STUD, in building, a small piece of 
 timber or joist inserted in the sills and 
 beams, between the posts, to support the 
 beams or other main timbers. 
 
 STUD'IES, in painting, a term applied 
 to those preparatory sketches or exercises 
 made by an artist, consisting of separate 
 parts of a picture, first designed and 
 painted unconnectedly, with a view to 
 their future introduction into the entire 
 work. Thus, entire figures in some in- 
 stances ; in others, human heads, hands, 
 or feet, animals, trees', plants, flowers, 
 and, in short, anything designed from 
 nature, receive the general name of 
 studies. The use of studies is to enable 
 a painter to acquire a practical knowl- 
 edge of his art, and facility of execution. 
 Pieces of instrumental music composed 
 for the purpose of familiarizing the 
 player with the difficulties of his instru- 
 ment. 
 
 STUD'Y, application of the mind to 
 books, to art or science, or to any subject, 
 for the purpose of learning what was not 
 before known; the occupation of a stu- 
 dent. Also, the apartment devoted to 
 study or literary avocations. 
 
 STYLE, in literature, the word style 
 may be defined to mean the distinctive 
 manner of writing which belongs to each 
 author, and also to each body of writers, 
 allied as belonging to the same school, 
 country, or age. It is that which, to use 
 the expression of Dryden, individuates 
 each writer from all others. The style 
 of an author is made up of various 
 minute particulars, which it is extremely 
 difficult to describe, but each of which 
 adds something to the aggregate of qual- 
 ities which belong to him. Collocation 
 of words, turn of sentences, syntax, 
 rhythm ; the relation, abundance, and 
 the character of his usual figures and 
 metaphors ; the usual order in which 
 thoughts succeed each other ; the logical 
 
 form in which conclusions are generally 
 deduced from their premises ; the par- 
 ticular qualities most insisted on in de 
 scription ; amplification and conciseness, 
 clearness and obscurity, directness and 
 indirectness, exhaustion, suggestion, sup- 
 pression all these are features of style, 
 in the largest sense of the expression, in 
 which it seems to comprehend all pecu- 
 liarities belonging to the manner in 
 which thought is communicated from the 
 writer to the reader. Excellence of style, 
 particularly of the rhetorical parts of 
 style, was more cultivated by the ancients 
 than the moderns ; and less, perhaps, at 
 the present day, than at any former 
 period since the English language began 
 to be written in prose with correctness 
 and elegance. Since the period when 
 Bolingbroke, Junius, Johnson. Gibbon, 
 and Burke became established as models, 
 a certain superficial sameness of style, 
 wanting in the roughness and vulgarity, 
 but also in the force and individuality 
 of old English composition, seems to 
 prevail to such an extent as to render 
 modern writing extremely monotonous 
 and artificial. But it should never be 
 forgotten that whatever quality may 
 command a temporary popularity, no 
 work, either in poetry or prose, has ever 
 permanently maintained its hold on pub- 
 lic admiration without excellence of 
 style. Style, in the Fine Arts, the mode 
 in which an artist forms and expresses 
 his ideas on and of a given subject. It 
 ^s the form and character that he gives 
 to the expression of his ideas, according 
 to his particular facultiS and powers. 
 Style may be almost considered as the 
 refinement of manner; it is a charac- 
 teristic essence by which we distinguish 
 the works of one master from another. 
 From literature this word has passed into 
 the theoretic language of the Fine Arts : 
 and as in that we hear of the sublime, 
 brilliant, agreeable, historic, regular, 
 y.atural, confused, and other styles, so 
 we have almost the same epithets ap- 
 plied to styles of art. Indeed this is not 
 wonderful, since the principles of taste, 
 in both the one and the other, are found- 
 ed in nature ; and it is a well-known 
 saying, that poetry is a speaking picture. 
 This word is improperly used as applied 
 to coloring and harmony of tints : we 
 speak of the style of a design, of a com- 
 position, of draperies, <&c.; but not of the 
 style of coloring, but rather the method 
 or manner of coloring. The definition 
 of this word by Sir Joshua Reynolds :'s as 
 follows: "Style in painting is the came
 
 SUB] 
 
 AND THE FINE ART8. 
 
 675 
 
 as in writing a power over materials, 
 whether words or colors, by which con- 
 ception^ or sentiments are conveyed." 
 Style, in chronology, the manner of com- 
 puting time, with regard to the Julian or 
 Gregorian calendar, and termed either 
 old style or new. By the old style the 
 year consisted of 365 days and 6 hours ; 
 but the new or Gregorian style was made 
 to correspond more nearly with the period 
 of the sun's revolution, reckoning the 
 year to be 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes 
 20 seconds, by retrenching 11 days from 
 the old style. The new style was in- 
 troduced into Germany in 1700, and in 
 1752 into England by act of parliament, 
 whereby the 2d of September in that 
 year was reckoned the 14th. Style, in 
 architecture, a particular mode of erect- 
 ing buildings, as the Gothic style, the 
 Saxon style, the Norman style, &c. 
 
 STY'LITE, the title given to a peculiar 
 class of anchorites from the places on 
 which they took up their solitary abodes, 
 being the tops of various columns in 
 Syria and Egypt. This strange method 
 of devotion took its rise in the second 
 century, and continued to be practised 
 by many individuals for a great length 
 of time. The most famous among them 
 was one St. Simeon, in the 5th century, 
 who is said to have lived thirty-seven 
 years upon various columns of consider- 
 able height in the neighborhood of An- 
 tioch. 
 
 STY'LOBATE, in architecture, in a 
 general sense, any sort of basement on 
 which columns are placed to raise them 
 above the level of the ground or floor ; 
 but in its technical sense, it is applied 
 only to a continuous unbroken pedestal, 
 upon which an entire range of columns 
 stand, contradistinguished from pedestals, 
 which are merely detached fragments 
 of a stylobate placed beneath each 
 column. 
 
 STYX, in mythology, a nymph : the 
 daughter, according to Hesiod, of Ocea- 
 nus and Thetis ; but other mythologists 
 relate the genealogy differently. She 
 d'.velt in a rock palace in the infernal re- 
 gions, from whence ona of the infernal 
 rivers burst forth. This river, Styx, was 
 one of the ten arms or branches of Ocea- 
 nus The gods of Olympus swore by the 
 water of Styx ; and a deity, who took 
 this oath in vain was banished from the 
 heavenly mansions for ten years, to en- 
 dure various torments. 
 
 SUB, a Latin preposition for under 
 or below ; used as a prefix to many Eng- 
 lish words denoting inferiority of rank or 
 
 defect in quality ; as, subaltern, subordi- 
 nate, &c. 
 
 SU'BAH, in India, a province or vice- 
 royship. Hence, jubahdar, the gover- 
 nor of a province. Subakdar is also 
 used for a native of India, who ranks 
 as captain in the European companies. 
 
 SUBAL'TERN, a term for a military 
 officer below the rank of captain. 
 
 SUBDOM'INANT, in music, that note 
 which is a fifth below the key-note. It is 
 a species of governing note, inasmuch as 
 it requires the tonic to be heard after it 
 in the plagal cadence. In the regular 
 ascending scale of seven notes it is the 
 fourth ; the term, however, has its origin 
 from its relation to the tonic as the fifth 
 below. 
 
 SUB'JECT, one that owes allegiance 
 to a government, and is governed by its 
 laws. Men in free governments are sub- 
 jects as well as citizens ; as citizens, they 
 enjoy rights and franchises ; as subjects, 
 they are bound to obey the laws. Sub- 
 ject, that on which any mental opera- 
 tion is performed, or which is treated or 
 discussed. 
 
 SUB JEC'TIVE and OB JEC'TIVE, are 
 terms expressing the distinction which in 
 analyzing every intellectual act we ne- 
 cessarily make between ourselves, the con- 
 scious subject, and that of which we are con- 
 scious, the object. "I know" and "some- 
 thing is known by me," are convertible 
 propositions ; every act of the soul that is 
 not thus resolvable belongs to the emotive 
 part of our nature, as distinguished from 
 the intelligent and percipient. For the 
 distinction between subject and object, 
 all-important in intellectual philosophy, 
 and the neglect of which has been the 
 cause of infinite confusion and perplexity, 
 we are indebted to the schoolmen ; from 
 whom it was derived, through Wolf and 
 Leibnitz, by Kant and the modern Ger- 
 man philosophers. 
 
 SUBLAPSA'RIAN, in theology, one 
 who maintains that the sin of Adam's 
 apostasy being imputed to all his poster- 
 ity, God in his compassion decreed to send 
 his Son to rescue a great number from 
 their lost state, and to accept of his obe- 
 dience and death on their account. The 
 word sublapsarian is opposed to supra- 
 lapsarian. 
 
 SUBLIME', in literature, that style or 
 manner of writing in which a sublime 
 thought, or a fact sublime in its charac- 
 ter, is suitably presented to the mind. It 
 has often been said, but we suspect 
 there is no valid ground for the assertion, 
 that when men grow philosophical.
 
 576 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 they can seldom excel in the sublime. 
 The sources of the sublime in language 
 are well enumerated by Longinus. The 
 first is elevation of mind ; the second, ar- 
 dent sensibility ; the third, the proper 
 use of figures ; the fourth, grandeur of 
 diction ; and the fifth, a dignified har- 
 mony of arrangement. The sublime in 
 narration is exemplified in the well- 
 known commencement of the book of 
 Genesis : " God said let there be light, 
 and there was light." Sublime, in the 
 Fine Arts, high or exalted in style. That 
 which in art is raised above the higher 
 standard of nature or its prototypes. 
 Sublimity is incompatible with our ideas 
 of elegance, grace, or any of the other 
 sources of beauty, though these may all 
 enter into an object wherein those and 
 many other qualities may be combined 
 with sublimity. They have been, how- 
 ever, not unfrequently considered as some 
 of the sources of the sublime. The nod 
 of Jupiter, in the hands of such a master 
 as Homer, is an indication of sublimity ; 
 but when Longinus tells us, that, as ap- 
 plied to literature, the constituent ingre- 
 dients of sublimity are boldness in 
 thought, the pathetic, proper application 
 of figures, use of tropes and beautiful ex- 
 pressions, and last, musical structure and 
 sounds, we are inclined to think he had 
 very indistinct notions of it himself. We 
 cannot better exemplify the meaning of 
 this term than by referring the reader to 
 the works of Michael Angelo in the Sis- 
 tine Chapel, wherein, as Fuseli has truly 
 said, " his line is uniformly grand ; char- 
 acter and beauty were admitted only as 
 far as they could be made subservient to 
 grandeur. The child, the female, mean- 
 ness, deformity, were by him indiscrimi- 
 nately stamped with grandeur. A beggar 
 rose from his hand the patriarch of pov- 
 erty ; his infants teem with the man, his 
 men are giants." The terribile via,, hint- 
 ed at by Agostino Caracci, is indeed the 
 sublime. Note. The true nature of sub- 
 limity is a subject of great interest and 
 importance in mental philosophy, and it 
 has always been a favorite subject of 
 speculation. The term, psychologically 
 considered, has two significations : one 
 that of tlje quality or circumstance in 
 objects, which raises the emotion named 
 sublimity; the other that of the emotion 
 itself. The invariable condition in ob- 
 jects, either material or moral, is vast- 
 ness or intensity. The invariable condi- 
 tion of the emotion of sublimity that 
 which distinguishes this emotion from 
 every other emotion is a comprehension 
 
 I of this vastness, with a simultaneous feel- 
 j ing of our own comparative insignificance, 
 i together with a concomitant sense of 
 present security from any danger which 
 might result from this superior power. 
 The antithesis to the emotion of sublim- 
 ity is the emotion of contempt. In every 
 case of sublimity in material objects, 
 whatever feelings may simultaneously 
 concur, vastness will be found an inva- 
 riable condition vastness either of form 
 or of power ; as in the violent dashing of 
 a cataract, in the roar of the ocean, in the 
 violence of the storm, in the majestic 
 quiet of Mont Blanc, preserving its calm 
 amidst all the storms that play around it. 
 In the moral world, the invariable condi- 
 tion of sublimity is intensity intensity 
 of will. Mere intensity is sufficient to 
 produce the sublime. Lear, who appeals 
 to the heavens, " for they are old like 
 him," is sublime from the very intensity 
 of his sufferings and his passions. Lady 
 Macbeth is sublime from the intensity of 
 her will, which crushes every female feel- 
 ing for the attainment of her object. 
 Scsevola, with his hand in the burning 
 coals, exhibits an intensity of will which 
 is sublime. In all the cases above-men- 
 tioned we are moved by a vivid feeling 
 of some greater power than our own ; or 
 some will more capable of suffering, more 
 vast in its strength, than our feeble va- 
 cillating will. 
 
 SUBLIM'ITY, in oratory and compo- 
 sition, loftiness of sentiment or style. 
 Also, moral grandaur ; as, " the incom- 
 prehensible sublimity of God." 
 
 SUBME'DIANT, in music, the sixth 
 note, or middle note between the octave 
 and subdominant. 
 
 SUBORNATION, in law, the crime of 
 procuring a person to take such a false 
 oath as constitutes perjury. 
 
 SUBPCE'NA, in law, a writ command- 
 ing the attendance in court of a person 
 on whom it is served ; as a witness, Ac. 
 
 SUBREPTION, the act of obtaining 
 a favor by surprise or unfair representa- 
 tion, that is, by the suppression of facts. 
 
 SUBROGATION, in the civil law, the 
 substituting of one person in the place 
 of another, and giving him his rights. 
 
 SUBSCRIPTION, the act of signing 
 or setting one's hand to a paper. Also 
 the giving of a sum of money, or enga- 
 ging to give it, for the furtherance of 
 some common object in which several are 
 interested, as subscriptions in support of 
 charitable institutions, and the like. 
 
 SUB'SIDY, in England, an aid or tax 
 granted to the king, by parliament, upon
 
 SUF] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 577 
 
 any urgent occasion, and levied on every 
 subject of ability, according to a certain 
 rate on lands and goods : but the word in 
 some of the statutes, is confounded with 
 that of customs. It signifies, in modern 
 usage, a sum of money given by the gov- 
 ernment of one nation to that of another, 
 for the immediate purpose of serving the 
 latter, and the ultimate one, of benefiting 
 the former. Thus Great Britain subsi- 
 dized Austria and Prussia, to engage 
 those powers in resisting the progress of 
 the French during the war with Napoleon. 
 
 SUB'STANCE, something that we con- 
 ceive to subsist of itself, independently 
 of any created being, or any particular 
 mode or accident. Our ideas of substan- 
 ces, as Mr. Locke observes, are only 
 such combinations of simple ideas as are 
 taken to represent distinct things subsist- 
 ing by themselves, in which the confu- 
 sed idea of substance is always the chief. 
 Thus the combination of the ideas of a 
 certain figure, with the powers of motion, 
 thought, and reasoning joined to the sub- 
 stance, make the ordinary idea of a man ; 
 and thus the mind observing several sim- 
 ple ideas to go constantly together, which 
 being presumed to belong to one thing, 
 or to be- united in one subject, are called 
 by one name, which we are apt afterwards 
 to talk of, and consider, as one simple 
 idea. The word is equally applicable to 
 matter or spirit ; we say, " stone is a hard 
 substance;" "the soul of man is an im- 
 material substance, endued with thought;" 
 and, " in a good epitome, we may have 
 the substance of a large book," &c. 
 
 SUBSTITUTE, in law, one delegated 
 to act for another. In the militia, one 
 engaged to serve in the room of another. 
 
 SUB'URBS, the buildings, streets, or 
 parts that lie without the walls, but in 
 the immediate vicinity of a city. Hence 
 suburban, inhabiting or being situated 
 near a city. 
 
 SUCCEDA'NEUM, that which is used 
 for something else ; a substitute. Hence 
 succedaneous, being employed for or sup- 
 plying the place of something else. 
 
 SUCCESSION APOSTOL'ICAL, in 
 theology, by these words is meant the un- 
 interrupted succession of priests in the 
 church by regular ordination, from the 
 first commission given by our Saviour to 
 the Apostles, and recorded in the Gospels, 
 down to the present day. And the doc- 
 trine of " the apostolical succession," as it ' 
 is popularly called, means the belief that | 
 the clergy so regularly ordained have a 
 commission from God to preach the gos- 
 pel, administer the sacraments, and guide 
 52 
 
 the church ; that through their ministra- 
 tion only we can derive the grace which 
 is communicated by the sacraments. It 
 follows, of course, that those sects of 
 Christians which have no regular succes- 
 sion, (having seceded from Romanism 
 without retaining ministers regularly or- 
 dained, or having subsequently interrupt- 
 ed the succession, that is, all Protestant 
 bodies, except the church of England) 
 have, properly speaking, neither church 
 nor sacraments, since they possess no 
 apostolical authority. This doctrine was, 
 by admission on all hands, of very great 
 antiquity in the church ; but whether that 
 antiquity is primitive or not, is a matter 
 of discussion at the present day. 
 
 SUCCES'SION, LAW OF, in political 
 economy, the law or rule according to 
 which the succession to the property of 
 deceased individuals is regulated. Gen- 
 erally speaking, this law obtains only in 
 cases where a deceased party has died 
 intestate, or in cases where the power 
 of bequeathing property by will, is limi- 
 ted by the legislature. It is plain that 
 in cases of intestacy, where the deceased 
 either leaves a number of descendants, 
 or where he leaves no direct descend- 
 ants, the law, in order to prevent endless 
 disputes and litigation, must interfere 
 to regulate the succession to the proper- 
 ty ; and it will necessarily follow that 
 the succession will be determined in dif- 
 ferent countries by local circumstances, 
 depending partly on the peculiar state 
 and institutions of each country, and on 
 the views entertained by its legislators of 
 what is just and proper, and most condu- 
 cive to the public advantage. Hence it 
 is to no purpose in a matter of this kind 
 to look for any general or fixed princi- 
 ples. The succession to the property of 
 those dying intestate, and the power of 
 bequeathing property by will or testa- 
 ment, depend wholly on the rules and 
 regulations enacted in each country ; 
 and these necessarily vary with the vary- 
 ing circumstances of different countries 
 and conditions of society. 
 
 SUE, to institute legal process against 
 a person ; to prosecute in a civil action 
 for the recovery of ft real or supposed 
 right ; as to sue for debt or damages. 
 
 SUF'FERANCE, a term in law, ap- 
 plied to tenants ; a tenant at sufferance 
 being one that continues after his title 
 ceases, without positive leave of the owner. 
 
 SUFFE'TES, certain Carthaginian 
 magistrates, whose office bore considera- 
 ble analogy to that of the Spartan kings 
 and Roman consuls. Their number was
 
 578 
 
 [SUN 
 
 two, and they were elected annually 
 from the noblest families of the state. 
 The functions of the sufl'etes seems prin- 
 cipally to have been confined to the 
 management of civil affairs. Thus it 
 was their province to assemble the senate 
 and preside in it, and also to propose the 
 subjects of debate, and collect the votes ; 
 but there are instances recorded of suf- 
 fetes leading the armies of their country. 
 All the cities of note in the Carthagin- 
 ian dominions had likewise their suf- 
 fetes ; but these, of course, were invested 
 with merely municipal authority. 
 
 SUF'FRAG AN, in ecclesiastical polity, 
 a term of relation applied to a bishop, 
 with respect to the archbishop who is his 
 superior ; or rather, an assistant bishop. 
 
 SUF'FRAGE, a vote given in deciding 
 a controverted question, or in the choice 
 of a man for an office or trust ; as, a true 
 patriot deserves the suffrages of his 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 SU'ICIDE, the crime of self-murder. 
 Although the practice of self-annihila- 
 tion, under particular circumstances, was 
 upheld by many of the ancient philoso- 
 phers, the general lawfulness of suicide 
 was by no means universally received in 
 the ancient pagan world ; many of the 
 most considerable names, both Greek and 
 Roman, having expressly declared against 
 that practice. Pythagoras, Socrates, 
 Plato, Tully, have condemned it; even 
 Brutus himself, though he fell by his own 
 hand, yet in his cooler and philosophical 
 hours, wrote a treatise wherein he highly 
 condemned Cato, as being guilty of an 
 act both of impiety and cowardice in 
 destroying himself. According to modern 
 law, to constitute a suicide, the person 
 must be of years of discretion and of 
 sound mind. 
 
 SUIT, in law, an action or process for 
 the recovery of a right or claim. In a 
 general sense, suit denotes a number of 
 things use.d together, and in a degree 
 necessary to be united, in order to answer 
 the purpose ; as a suit of curtains, a suit 
 of armor, or a suit of clothes. We also 
 use the word when speaking of a number 
 of attendants or followers ; as, a noble- 
 man and his suit. It is right, however, 
 to state, ' that custom has now pretty 
 generally established the use of the 
 French word suite (pronounced sweet) in 
 this last named case. 
 
 SUITOR, in legal phraseology, one 
 who attends a court to prosecute a demand 
 of right in law, as a plaintiff, petitioner 
 or appellant. 
 
 SUL'TAN, in Arabic, mighty. Various 
 
 1 Mohammedan princes are styled by this 
 title besides the Ottoman umpurur or 
 grand sultan, to whom it is commonly 
 given by Europeans, but whose peculiar 
 title of Padishah is more dignified. The 
 princes of the deposed family of the klum 
 of the Crim Tartars are also styled sul- 
 ! tan : so also the pacha of Egypt in that 
 country, although not by the court of 
 Constantinople. 
 
 SUM'MEK, one of the four seasons of 
 the year ; beginning in the northern 
 hemisphere., when the sun enters Cancer, 
 about the 21st of June, and continuing 
 for three months ; during which time, the 
 sun being north of the equator, renders 
 this the hottest period of the year. In 
 latitudes south of the equator, just the 
 opposite takes place, or, in other words, 
 it is summer there when it is winter here. 
 
 SUM'MONS, in law, a warning or ci- 
 tation to appear in court ; or a written 
 notification signed by the proper ofiicer, 
 to be served on a person, warning him 
 to appear in court at a day specified, to 
 answer to the demand of the plaintiff. 
 
 SUMP'TUARY LAWS, those laws 
 which, in extreme cases, have occasional- 
 ly been made to restrain or limit the ex- 
 penses of citizens in apparel, food, furni- 
 ture, &c. Sumptuary laws are abridg- 
 ments of liberty, and of very difficult ex- 
 ecution. 
 
 SUN'DAY, the first day of the week, 
 called also the Lord's-day, because it is 
 kept holy in memory of the resurrection 
 of Christ ; and the sabbath-day, because 
 substituted, in the Christian worship, for 
 the sabbath, or day of rest, in the old dis- 
 pensation. This substitution was first de- 
 creed by Constantino the Great, A.D. 321, 
 before whose time both the old and new 
 sabbath were observed by Christians. 
 
 SUN'NIAH, the name given to the sect 
 commonly considered as orthodox among 
 the Mussulmans by the followers of Ali. 
 The latter believe that the sovereign 
 imanship, or imaginary dignity which 
 conveys supremacy over all the faithful, 
 belongs of right to the descendants of Ali, 
 son-in-law of Mohammed. The schism 
 between these two sects has subsisted 
 from the earliest times of Mohammedan- 
 ism ; when Ali, having become fourth ca- 
 liph after the death of Othman, a rebel- 
 lion was raised against him by Maaniah, 
 founder of the Ommiad race of caliphs 
 about the year 1000 of the Christian era. 
 The division took place between the two 
 parties in the court of the caliph Moli 
 I' Mah, which resulted in the Schiite par- 
 ty becoming pre-eminent in Persia, the
 
 SUP] 
 
 AND THE FINE AliTS. 
 
 579 
 
 Sunniahites in Turkey and most other 
 Mohammedan countries. 
 
 SUPERCAR'GO, a person in a mer- 
 chant's ship, appointed to manage the 
 sales and superintend all the commercial 
 concerns of the voyage. 
 
 SUPEREROGA'TiON, in theology, a 
 term applied to such works as a man does 
 which exceed the measure of his duty. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT, one who has 
 the oversight and charge of something, 
 with the power of direction ; as, the su- 
 perintendent of public works, <fec. 
 
 SUPERNATURAL, being beyond or 
 exceeding the powers or laws of nature ; 
 miraculous. A supernatural event is 
 one which is not produced according to 
 the ordinary or established laws of nat- 
 ural things. Thus if iron has more spe- 
 cific gravity than water, it will sink in 
 that fluid ; and the floating of iron on 
 water must be a supernatural event. 
 Now no human being can alter a law of 
 nature ; the floating of iron on water 
 therefore must be caused by divine power 
 especially exerted to suspend, in this in- 
 stance, a law of nature. Hence, super- 
 natural events or miracles can be pro- 
 duced only by the immediate agency of 
 divine power. 
 
 SUPERNUMERARY, in military af- 
 fairs, is an epithet for the officers and 
 non-commissioned officers attached to a 
 regiment for the purpose of supplying the 
 places of such as fall in action, &c. 
 
 SUPERSE'DEAS, in law, a writ or 
 command to suspend the powers of an 
 officer in certain cases, or to stay proceed- 
 ings. 
 
 SUPERSTFTION, a habit of the hu- 
 man mind, attributed to those who are 
 thought to attach religious importance to 
 things of a too trivial nature ; or to those 
 who are thought wrong in their ideas of 
 the government of the world, not on the 
 side of excluding supernatural agency, 
 but the reverse. Also, the belief of what 
 is absurd, or belief without evidence. 
 
 SUPERSTRUCTURE, any kind of 
 building raised on a foundation or basis ; 
 the word being used to distinguish what 
 is erected on a wall or foundation from 
 the foundation itself. 
 
 SUPERTON'IC, in music, the note 
 next above the key-note. 
 
 SUP'PLE, in all the Arts. A praise- 
 worthy quality opposed to hardness or 
 inflexibility. It is to be sought in con- 
 tours, in attitudes, in adjustments, and in 
 fact in all the parts of composition. The 
 contours should be sinuous, flowing ; the 
 attitudes easy and unconstrained ; the 
 
 adjustments natural ; the compositions 
 various. The term is more strictly ap- 
 plied to the movement of contours, the 
 flow of draperies, &c. than to the general 
 ordonnance of a work. 
 
 SUP'PLEMENT, in literature, an ad- 
 dition made to a book or paper, by which 
 it is made more full and complete. 
 
 SUPPOSITION, in music, the use of 
 two successive notes of equal value as to 
 time, one of which being a discord sup- 
 poses the other a concord. The harmony, 
 though by rule falling on the accented 
 part of the bar, and free from discords, 
 requires their proper preparation and res- 
 olution ; and they are called passing 
 notes. Discords on the unaccented part 
 of the measure are allowable by conjoint 
 degrees, and it is then not required that 
 the harmony should be so complete on 
 the accented part. This transient use of 
 discords followed by concords is what we, 
 after the French, call supposition, where- 
 of there are several kinds. 
 
 SUPPRESSION, a figure in grammar 
 is sometimes so called by which words are 
 omitted in a sentence, which are never- 
 theless to be understood as necessary to a 
 perfect construction : -as, for instance, in 
 most languages, the repetition of a noun 
 is avoided where it is coupled with a pro- 
 noun in one branch of the proposition ; 
 e. g., '' this (horse) is my horse," or " this 
 horse is mine" (horse.) 
 
 SUPRALAPSA'MAN, in theology, 
 one who maintains that God, antecedent 
 to the fall of man, decreed the apostasy 
 and all its consequences, determining to 
 save some and condemn others, and that 
 in all he does he considers his own glory 
 only. 
 
 SUPREM'ACY, in English polity, the 
 supreme and undivided authority of the 
 sovereign over all persons and things in 
 this realm, whether spiritual or tempo- 
 ral. Oath of supremacy, in Great Bri- 
 tain, an oath which acknowledges the su- 
 premacy of the sovereign in spiritual af- 
 fairs, and abjures the pretended suprem- 
 acy of the pope. 
 
 SUPREME', highest in authority; 
 holding the highest place in government 
 or power. The parliament of Great 
 Britain is supreme in legislation ; but 
 ] the king is supreme in the administra- 
 tion of the government. In the United 
 States, the congress is supreme in regu- 
 lating commerce and in making war arid 
 peace. In the universe, God only is the 
 supreme ruler and judge. His commands 
 are supreme, and binding on all hia 
 creatures.
 
 580 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [srn? 
 
 SUPRANAT'URALISTS, a name 
 given of late years to the middle party 
 among the divines of Germany, to distin- 
 guish them from the Rationalists, who 
 exclude all supernatural manifestations 
 from religion ; and from the Evangelical 
 party, whose tenets are of a more strict 
 description. Thus many of the supra- 
 naturalists have given way to the system 
 of accommodation (as it is termed) in 
 religious matters, so far as to deny the 
 doctrine of original sin, and other tenets 
 which have been considered as funda- 
 mental : others approximate to what are 
 regarded as orthodox Protestant opinions. 
 
 SUE/CHARGE, in law, any extra 
 charge made by assessors upon such as 
 neglect to make due returns of the taxes 
 to which they are liable. 
 
 SURE TY, in law, one who enters into 
 a bond or recognizance to answer for 
 another's appearance in court, or for his 
 payment of a debt, or for the performance 
 of some act. and who, in case of the 
 principal debtor's failure, is compellable 
 to pay the debt or damages. 
 
 SUR'NAME, the family name ; the 
 name or appellation added to the bap- 
 tismal or Christian name. Camden de- 
 rives it from sur, as being added over or 
 above the other, in a metaphorical sense 
 only. The most ancient surnames were 
 formed by adding the name of the father 
 to that of the son. in jvhich manner were 
 produced several 'English surnames, end- 
 ing with the word son ; thus, Thomas 
 William's son, makes Thomas William- 
 son. The feudal system introduced a 
 second description of surnames, derived 
 from the names of places. In short, the 
 greater part of surnames originally des- 
 ignated occupation, estate, place of 
 residence, or some particular thing or 
 event that related to the person. 
 
 SUR'PLICE, a white garment worn by 
 clergymen of some denominations over 
 their other dress, in their ministrations. 
 It is particularly the habit of the clergy 
 of the Church of England. 
 
 SURREBUT'TER, in law, the replica- 
 tion or answer of the plaintiff to the 
 defendant's rebutter. 
 
 SURREJOIN'DER, in law, a second 
 defence, as the replication is the first, of 
 the plaintiff's declaration in a cause, and 
 is an answer to the rejoinder of the de- 
 fendant. 
 
 SURREN'DER, in law, a deed testify- 
 ing that the tenant for life or years of 
 lauds, &c. yields up his estate to him 
 that has the immediate estate in remain- 
 der or reversion. 
 
 | SUR'ROGATE, in the civil law, a dep- 
 , uty, or person substituted for another. 
 | A magistrate who presides over the set- 
 I tlement of estates of deceased persons. 
 
 SURVEY'OR, in law, one who views 
 and examines for the purpose of ascer- 
 taining the condition, value, and quality 
 of a thing ; or who surveys or superin- 
 tends any business, as the surveyor of 
 the highways, a parochial officer who 
 sees that the roads are kept in repair, 
 <fcc. 
 
 SURVFVOR, in law, the longest liver 
 of joint-tenants, or of any two persons 
 who have a joint interest in a thing; in 
 which case, if there be only two joint- 
 tenants, upon the death of one, the whole 
 goes to the survivor ; and if there be 
 more than two, the part of the deceased 
 is divided among all the survivors. 
 
 SUSPENSION, temporary privation 
 of power, authority, or rights, usually 
 intended as a punishment. A military 
 or naval officer's suspension takes place 
 when he is put under arrest. In law, 
 prevention or interruption of operation ; 
 as the suspension of the habeas corpus 
 act. Suspension, in rhetoric, a keeping 
 of the hearer in doubt and in attentive 
 expectation of what is to follow, or what 
 is to be the inference or conclusion from 
 the arguments or observations. Suspen- 
 sion of arms, a short truce agreed on by 
 hostile armies, in order to bury the dead, 
 make proposals for surrender, Ac. 
 
 SUSPEN'SION-BRIDGE, a structure 
 which is hung and stretched across some 
 chasm, water-course, or other space, over 
 which it is designed to form a passage. 
 In modern structures of this sort, the 
 leading features for the most part consist 
 in fixing securely, in the two opposite 
 banks, the extremities of strong chains, 
 which, being carried over piers or pillars, 
 reach across the space to be passed in 
 such a manner that each portion of chain 
 intercepted between two piers is allowed 
 naturally to assume, by its weight, the 
 figure of the curve named the catenarian. 
 From these chains, a platform for the 
 roadway is suspended by means of a 
 series of equidistant vertical rods. The 
 largest suspension bridge in Great 
 Britain, is that over the Menai Strait in 
 Wales, the distance between the points 
 of suspension being 560 feet. A remark- 
 able structure of this kind is over the 
 Niagara river below the Falls, connect- 
 ing the American and Canadian shores. 
 
 SUTTEE', the act of sacrifice to which 
 a Hindoo widow submits, namely, that of 
 immolating herself on the funeral pile of
 
 SYL] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 581 
 
 her husband. Though none of the sacred 
 books of the Hindoos absolutely command 
 the suttee, they speak of it as highly 
 meritorious, and the means of obtaining 
 eternal beatitude. It is believed also to 
 render the husband and his ancestors 
 happy, and to purify him from all oien- 
 ces, even if he had killed a brahmin. 
 Since the year 1756, when the British 
 power in India became firmly established, 
 upwards of 70,000 Hindoo widows have 
 thus been sacrificed. It is gratifying 
 however, to add, that this shocking per- 
 version of devotion has at length been 
 abolished ; and to Lord Bentinck, the 
 governor-general of India, the honor of 
 the abolition is due. Public opinion in 
 England, was greatly divided as to the 
 propriety of interfering with a solemn 
 religious rite of a foreign nation : but the 
 humane decision of the governor-general 
 appears to have been received by the 
 public with heartfelt satisfaction. A short 
 time before Lord Bentinck's order, a 
 rajah in the hill country, who died, had 
 twenty-eight wives burned with his body ! 
 
 SWAIN'MOTE, in English law,- one 
 of the forest courts to be holden be- 
 fore the verderers, as judges, by the stew- 
 ard of the swainmote : the swains, or 
 countrymen, composing the jury. 
 
 SWEDENBOR'GIANS, the followers 
 of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish noble- 
 man, who died in 1772. He conceived 
 the society which he founded to be the 
 New Jerusalem spoken of in the Apoca- 
 lypse ; and that he was gifted with pecu- 
 liar insight into spiritual things, and he 
 professed to hold conversation with spirits, 
 and to be instructed by them in the mys- 
 teries of religion. The Swedenborgians 
 interpret Scripture by a system of corres- 
 pondences, supposing it to have three 
 distinct senses, accommodated respective- 
 ly to particular classes, both of men and 
 angels. They date the last judgment of 
 the spiritual world and the second advent 
 of Christ from the year 1757. They 
 abound principally in England and in the 
 United States, where they have at the 
 present day several chapels in the large 
 towns. They are distinguished as a body 
 for their intelligence and excellent char- 
 acter. 
 
 SWELL, in music, a set of pipes in an 
 organ', acted upon by a key board, and 
 capable of being increased in intensity of 
 sound by the action of a pedal, which 
 allows of its being thereby gradually 
 augmented. 
 
 SWIND'LING, the practices of a swind- 
 ler. When a person by the assumption 
 
 of a false character, or by a false repre- 
 sentation of some sort, obtains the pos- 
 session of money or other property from 
 another or others, and appropriates it to 
 himself, he is said to be guilty of 
 swindling, and is liable to punishment 
 by law. 
 
 SWORD, ORDER OF THE, a Swedish 
 military order of knighthood, instituted 
 by Gustavus Vasa. 
 
 SYB'ARITE, a term used metaphori- 
 cally to designate an effeminate voluptu- 
 ary ; so called from the inhabitants of 
 Sybaris, formerly a town of Italy on the 
 gulf of Tarentum, whom a devotion to 
 sensual pleasures had so enfeebled that 
 they became an easy prey to the Cro- 
 tonians, a people comparatively insig- 
 nificant in point of numbers, by whom 
 their city was levelled to the ground 
 B.C. 310. 
 
 SYC'OPHANT, an obsequious flatter- 
 er or parasite. This word was originally 
 used to denote an informer against 
 those who stole figs, or exported them 
 contrary to law. Hence, in time it came 
 to signify a tale-bearer, or informer in 
 general ; thence a flatterer, deceiver, or 
 parasite. 
 
 SYL'LABLE, a letter, or a combina- 
 tion of letters, uttered together, or at a 
 single effort or impulse of the voice. A 
 vowel may form a syllable by itself, as a, 
 the definite, or in amen ; e in even ; o in 
 over, and the like. A syllable may also 
 be formed of a vowel and one consonant, 
 as in go, do, in, at; or a syllable may be 
 formed by a vowel with two articulations, 
 one preceding, the other following it, as 
 in can, but, tun ; or a syllable may con- 
 sist of a combination of consonants, with 
 one vowel or diphthong, as strong, short, 
 camp, voice. A syllable sometimes forms 
 a word, and is then significant, as in go, 
 run, write, sun, moon. In other cases, a 
 syllable is merely part of a word, and by 
 itself is not significant. Thus ac. in 
 active, IKI.S no signification. At least one 
 vowel or open sound is essential to the 
 formation of a syllable ; hence in every 
 word there must be as many syllables as 
 there are single vowels, or single vowels 
 and diphthongs. A word is called accord- 
 ing to the number of syllables it contains, 
 viz., monosyllable, a word of one syllable ; 
 dissyllable, a word of two syllables : 
 trisyllable, a word of three syllables ; 
 polysyllable, a word of many syllables. 
 
 SYL'LABUS, an abstract or com- 
 pendium containing the heads of a dis- 
 course. 
 
 SYLLEP'SIS, in grammar, a figure
 
 582 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 SYM 
 
 by which we conceive the sense of words 
 otherwise than the words import.' and 
 construe them according to the intention 
 of the author. Also, where two nomina- 
 tive cases singular of different persons 
 are joined to a verb. 
 
 SYL'LOGISM, a form of reasoning or 
 argument, consisting of three proposi- 
 tions, of which the two first are called 
 the premises, and the last the conclusion. 
 In this argument, the conclusion neces- 
 sarily follows from the premises ; so that 
 if the two first propositions are true, the 
 conclusion must be true, and the argu- 
 ment amounts to demonstration. Thus, 
 a plant has not the power of locomotion ; 
 an oak is a plant ; therefore an oak has 
 not the power of locomotion. These prop- 
 ositions are denominnted the major, the 
 minor, and the conclusion. The three 
 propositions of a syllogism are made up 
 of three ideas or terms, and these terms 
 are called the major, the minor, and the 
 middle. The subject of the conclusion is 
 called the minor term; its predicate is 
 the mnjor term, and the middle term is 
 that which shows the connection between 
 the major and minor term in the conclu- 
 sion ; or it is that with which the mnjor 
 and minor terms are respectively com-' 
 pared. Syllogisms are divided by some 
 into single, complex, conjunctive, Ac., 
 and by others into categorical, hypothet- 
 ical, conditional, &c. The figure of a 
 syllogism is a proper disposition of the 
 iniiMIe term with reference to the major 
 and minor terms. The figures are gene- 
 rally reckoned three. The mood of a 
 syllogism is the designation of its three 
 propositions, according to their quantity 
 and quality. The quantity and quality 
 of propositions, in logic, are marked by 
 arbitrary symbols, as A, E, I, 0. Every 
 assertion may be reduced to one of four 
 forms the universal affirmative marked 
 by A ; the universal negative, marked 
 by E ; the particular affirmative marked 
 by I ; and the particular negative, mark- 
 ed by 0. From these, by combination, 
 all syllogisms are derived. In order to 
 remember the figures, certain words have 
 been long used by writers on logic, which 
 make a grotesque appearance ; but which 
 nevertheless are of considerable use. 
 Thus, under the first figure, we have 
 Barbara, Celarent, Darii. Ferio ; under 
 the second. Cesare, Camestres, Festino, 
 Baroko ; and under the third, Darapti, 
 Disamis, Datisi, Felapton, Bokardo, Fe- 
 riso. Each of these words designates a 
 particular mood. The rules of syllogism 
 may be thus briefly expressed: 1. One at 
 
 ; least of the premises must be affirmative, 
 I and one at least universal ; 2. The middle 
 j term must enter universally in one of the 
 premises ; und, 3. The conclusion must 
 not speak of any term in a wider sense 
 than it was spoken of in the premise in 
 wh^ch it entered. A term universally 
 spoken of is either the subject of univer- 
 sal affirmative, or the predicate of any 
 negative. Syllogisms are nothing else 
 than reasoning reduced to form and me- 
 thod, and all that passes under the name 
 of reasoning, unless it can be made syl- 
 logistic, is no reasoning at all, but a muss 
 of words without meaning. The syllo- 
 gism is the instrument of self-examina- 
 tion, and the last weapon of resort in 
 dispute ; and a bad syllogism, with one 
 of the premises implied only, and not ex- 
 pressed, is the first resource of fallacy. 
 To bring forward the suppressed premise, 
 is the visible destruction of every argu- 
 ment which is logically bad. 
 
 SYLPH, the name given to the spirits 
 of air in the fantastic nomenclature of 
 the Rosicrucians and Cabalists. The use 
 which Pope has made of this fancy in his 
 Rape of the Lock is well known. H seems 
 to have borrowed it from the enigmatical 
 romance called the Count de Gabalis. 
 
 SYM'BOL, the emblem, sign or repre- 
 sentation of some moral quality by the 
 images or properties of natural things ; 
 as the lion is a symbol of courage ; the 
 lamb, a symbol of meekness ; two hands 
 joined together, a symbol of union, Ac. 
 These symbols were much used by the 
 ancienta in representing their deities, 
 and are still continued in various ways. 
 In the eucharist, the bread and wine ure 
 called symbols of the body and blood of 
 Christ. Symbolical philosophy, is the 
 philosophy expressed by hieroglyphics. 
 
 SYM'PATHY, the quality of being 
 affected by feelings similar to those of 
 another in whose fate we are interested. 
 This kind of sympathy is produced through 
 the medium of organic impression, and 
 is a correspondent feeling of pain or re- 
 gret. Thus we sympathize with our 
 friends in distress. The word sympathy 
 is also used, but less correctly, to denote 
 an agreement of affections or inclinations, 
 or a conformity of natural temperament 
 which makes two persons pleased with 
 each other. 
 
 SYM'PHONY, in music, a composition 
 which, from the etymology of the term, 
 evidently implies that the voice anciently 
 formed an essential part of its construc- 
 tion. In the present day, however, the 
 term is otherwise applied, and is ex-
 
 SYN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 583 
 
 clusively used for a piece in which instru- 
 ments only are engaged. It is, in fact, a 
 composition for a perfect instrumental 
 orchestra, which, until the beginning of 
 the eigiitegnth century, was unknown. 
 Tlio Concert I grossi of Corelli were the 
 first of the species, which was carried out 
 to a greater extent in the works of Gemi- 
 niani and Vivaldi ; but it does not seem 
 to us that before the time of Haydn it 
 can be said to have assumed the form 
 which the name now imports. There is, 
 perhaps, no musical composition in which 
 the power of the author is so completely 
 developed as in a symphony. The mu- 
 sician in it becomes a poet, or, perhaps 
 rather, a painter. Scenes and the pas- 
 sions are represented therein by a com- 
 bination of musical sounds; in, illustra- 
 tion of which we need only cite that 
 splendid work of Beethoven, known to all 
 under the name of II Pastorale. The 
 general form of the symphony may be 
 thus described : It opens with a short, 
 serious, slow movement; this is followed 
 by, and forms a contrast to one of spirit 
 and of a lively nature ; then comes an 
 andante varied, or an adagio or slow 
 movement ; a minuet with its trio follows ; 
 and the symphony usually closes with a 
 livelv movement. 
 
 SYMPO'SIARCH, among the ancients, 
 was the director and manager of an en- 
 tertainment. This office was sometimes 
 performed by the person at whose ex- 
 pense the feast was provided, and some- 
 times by the person whom he thought fit 
 to nominate. The feasts of the ancients 
 were called symposia: hence the name. 
 
 SYNJE'RESIS, the shortening of a word 
 by the omission of a letter, as ne'er for 
 never. 
 
 SYN'AGOGUE, the religious assem- 
 blies of the Jews are so called by Hel- 
 lenic writers. The Jews had no syna- 
 gogues, it is thought, before the Babylon- 
 ish captivity. They were first formed 
 after the return of the Jews to the Holy 
 Land. The rule was, that a synagogue 
 was to be erected in any place where 
 there were ten persons of full age and 
 free condition ready to attend the service 
 of it. Others, however, consider the ten 
 batelnim, to use the Hebrew word, to 
 have been ten elders, or stationary men 
 of the synagogue. The service performed 
 in the synagogue consisted, and still con- 
 sists, of 'prayers, reading the Scriptures, 
 and preaching and expounding of them. 
 The prayers are contained in liturgies. 
 The reading of the Scriptures consists of 
 three portions: the "Shema," certain se- 
 
 | lected passages from Deuteronomy and 
 Numbers ; the law and the prophets. The 
 third part of the service is mentioned in 
 several places in the narratives of the life 
 of our Saviour, and the Acts. The times 
 of the synagogue service were three da.ys 
 a week (Monday, Thursday, and Satur- 
 day,) besides the holy days. The minis- 
 tration of the synagogue was not confined 
 to the order of priests ; the elders, or 
 " rulers of the synagogue" were persons 
 qualified, and duly admitted, of all tribes. 
 
 SYNAL(E'PHA, in grammar, a con- 
 traction of syllables, performed principal- 
 ly by suppressing some vowel or diphthong 
 at the end of a word, before another vowel 
 or diphthong at the beginning of the next : 
 as, ill' ego, for ille ego. 
 
 SYN'CIIISIS, in rhetoric, a confused 
 and disorderly placing of words in a sen- 
 tence. 
 
 SYN'CHRISIS, in rhetoric, a figure of 
 speech in which opposite persons or things 
 are compared. 
 
 SYNCHOllE'SIS, in rhetoric, a figure 
 of speech wherein an argument is scof- 
 fingly conceded to, for the purpose of re- 
 torting to it more pointedly. 
 
 SYNCHRONISM, in chronology, con- 
 currence of two or more events in time. 
 Synchronal, simultaneous, or happening 
 at the same time. 
 
 SYN'CRETISM, in philosophy, the 
 blending of the tenets of different schools 
 into a system. A party among the Pla- 
 tonists at the revival of letters, to which 
 belonged Ammonius, Pico della. Miran- 
 dola, Bessarion, and other distinguished 
 men, have received the name of Syncre- 
 tists. 
 
 SYN'CRETISTS, in ecclesiastical his- 
 tory, the partisans of Calixtus, a Luther- 
 an divine of the 16th century, who en- 
 deavored to form a comprehensive scheme 
 which should unite the different professors 
 of Christianity. The opinions of Calix- 
 tus raised a strong controversy in the 
 Lutheran church. A new confession of 
 faith was drawn up in Saxony for the pur- 
 pose of excluding his partisans. As doc- 
 trines, however, they did not long sur- 
 vive his death, although not without ef- 
 fect on the spirit of the age. 
 
 SYN COPATE, in a primary sense, to 
 contract, as a word, by taking one or more 
 letters or syllables from the middle. 
 In music, to prolong a note begun on the 
 unaccented part of a bar, to the Accented 
 part of the next bar; or to connect the 
 last note of a bar with the first of the fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 SYN'DIC, an officer of government in-
 
 584 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA, OF LITERATURE 
 
 [SYS 
 
 vested with different powers in different 
 countries ; generally a kind of magistrate 
 entrusted with the affairs of a city or 
 community. The university of Cambridge 
 has its syndics; and in Paris almost all 
 the companies, the university, &c. have 
 theirs. 
 
 SYN'DICI, in antiquity, orators ap- 
 pointed by the Athenians to plead in be- 
 half of any law which was to be enacted 
 or abrogated. 
 
 SYNECDOCHE, in rhetoric, a figure 
 or trope by which the whole of a thing is 
 put for a part, or a part for the whole ; as 
 the genus for the species, or the species 
 for the genus, &c. 
 
 SYN'OD, in ecclesiastical affairs, a 
 council or meeting to consult on matters 
 of religion. In Scotland, a synod is com- 
 posed of several adjoining presbyters. 
 The members are the ministers, and a 
 ruling elder from each parish. 
 
 SYN'ONYMS, words of the same lan- 
 guage which have a similar signification. 
 Strictly speaking, words having exactly 
 the same signification are not to be found 
 in any language, unless one of them has 
 been borrowed from another language ; 
 but in this case the shades of difference 
 are often so slight that words may be 
 frequently used for one another, and this 
 interchange produces a pleasing variety in 
 composition, necessary in poetry. Syn- 
 onyms form an important object of phi- 
 lological study, demanding, on the part 
 of the inquirer, great knowledge of the 
 principles of language. 
 
 SYNOP'SIS, a collection of things or 
 parts' so arranged as to exhibit the whole 
 or the principal parts in a general view. 
 
 SYN'TAX, that division of the gram- 
 matical art which analyzes the depen- 
 dence of parts of speech upon one another 
 and supplies rules for their mutual gov- 
 ernment. Syntax, as an art, may be 
 divided into two branches : the one com- 
 mon to all languages, and by which words 
 are made to agree in gender, number, case, 
 person, and mood ; the other peculiar to 
 each language, and by which one mood 
 is made to govern another, and the con- 
 sequent variations effected ; the first of 
 these is called concord, the second 
 government. It has been said that the 
 first merit of language is intelligibility ; 
 its first grace, purity ; and that every 
 other excellence is subordinate. Syntax, 
 then, especially deserves attention : as 
 neither intelligibility nor purity of style 
 can be found where the rules of syntax 
 are violated 
 
 S YN'THESIS, in logic, that process of 
 reasoning in which we advance by a regu- 
 lar chain from principles before estab- 
 lished or assumed, and propositions al- 
 ready proved, until we arrive at the 
 conclusion. The synthetical is therefore 
 opposed to the analytical method. 
 
 SYNTON'IC, in music, an epithet used 
 by ancient musical writers to distinguish 
 a species of the diatonic genus. 
 
 SYR'IAC, pertaining to Syria or its 
 language ; as, the Syriac version of the 
 Pentateuch. 
 
 SYR'IACISM, orSYR'IANISM, a Syr- 
 ian idiom, or a peculiarity in the Syrian 
 language. 
 
 S Y R'l N X, a nymph of Arcadia, 
 daughter of the river Ladon. Pan became 
 enamored of her and attempted to offer 
 her violence ; but Syrinx escaped, and 
 at her own request was changed by 
 the gods into a reed, called syrinx by 
 the Greeks. The god made himself a 
 pipe with the reeds into which his favorite 
 nymph had been changed, and upon this 
 pipe he is often introduced playing, in 
 pictures. 
 
 SYS'TEM, in science and philosophy, 
 a whole plan or scheme, consisting of 
 many parts connected in such a manner 
 as to create a chain of mutual dependen- 
 cies ; or a regular union of principles or 
 parts forming one entire thing. Thus we 
 say the planetary system, or the whole 
 of the bodies supposed to belong to each 
 other ; a system of botany, or that which 
 comprehends the whole science of plants ; 
 a system of philosophy, or a theory or 
 doctrine which embraces the whole of phi- 
 losophy. The great utility of systems is 
 to classify the individual subjects of our 
 knowledge in such a way as to enable us 
 readily to retain and employ them, and at 
 the same time to illustrate each by show- 
 ing its connection with all. In the Fine 
 Arts, a collection of the rules and princi- 
 ples upon which an artist works. In 
 music, an interval compounded or sup- 
 posed to be compounded of several less- 
 er intervals, as the fifth, octave, Ac., the 
 elements of which are called diastems. 
 
 SYS'TYLE, in architecture, the disposi- 
 tion of columns in a building near to each 
 other, but not quite so thick as the pyc- 
 nostyle : the intercolurnniation being 
 only two diameters of the column. 
 
 SYSY'GIA, in music, any combination 
 of sounds so proportioned to each other 
 as to produce a pleasant effect on the 
 ear. In grammar, the coupling different 
 feet together in Greek or Latin verse.
 
 TAB] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 585 
 
 T. 
 
 T, is the twentieth letter of the Eng- 
 lish Alphabet, and a close consonant. It 
 represents a close joining of the end of 
 the tongue to the root of the upper teeth, 
 as may be perceive,d by the syllable, at, 
 et, ot, ut, in attempting to pronounce 
 which, the voice is completely intercept- 
 ed. It is therefore numbered among the 
 mutes, or close articulations, and it dif- 
 fers from d chiefly in its closeness ; for 
 in pronouncing ad, ed, we perceive the 
 voice is not so suddenly and entirely in- 
 tercepted, as in pronouncing at and et. 
 T by itself has one sound only, as in take, 
 turn, bat, bolt, smite, bitter. So we are 
 accustomed to speak ; but in reality, can 
 hardly be said to have any sound at all. 
 Its use, like that of all mute articula- 
 tions, is to modify the manner of uttering 
 the vocal sound which precedes or follows 
 it. When t is followed by h, as in think and 
 that, the combination really forms a dis- 
 tinct sound for which we have no single 
 character. This combination has two 
 sounds in English ; aspirated, as in think, 
 and vocal, as in t/iat. The letters ti, be- 
 fore a vowel, and unaccented, usually 
 pass into the sound of sh, as in nation, 
 motion, partial, substantiate ; which are 
 pronounced nashon, moshon, parshal, 
 substanshate. In this case, t loses en- 
 tirely its proper sound or use, and being 
 blended with the subsequent letter, a new 
 sound results from the combination, which 
 is in fact a simple sound. In a few words, 
 the combination of ti has the sound of 
 the English ch, as in Christian, m.ixtion, 
 question. T is convertible with d. Thus 
 the Germans write tag, where we write 
 day, and gut for good. It is also con- 
 vertible with s and z, for the Germans 
 write wasser, for water, and zahm for 
 tame. T, as an abbreviation, stands for 
 theologia ; as, S. T. D. Sancton theologies 
 doctor, doctor of divinity. In ancient 
 monuments and writings, T is an abbre- 
 viature which stands for Titus, Titius, 
 or Tulliits. As a numeral, T, among the 
 Latins, stood for 160, and with a dash 
 over the top, f , for 160.000. In music, T 
 is the initial of tenor, vocal, and instru- 
 mental. 
 
 TABARD', a sort of tunic, or mantle, 
 covering the body before and behind, 
 reaching below the loins, but open at the 
 sides from the shoulders downwards : an 
 ordinary article of dress in England and 
 France in the middle ages. It was at 
 first chiefly used by the military, after- 
 
 wards by other classes. The tabard, with 
 coats of arms blazoned before and behind, 
 is the state dress of heralds to this day. 
 It is the dress .worn by the knaves in 
 cards. Long tabards, which reached to 
 the mid-leg, were a peculiarly English 
 fashion. 
 
 TABASHEER', a Persian word signify- 
 ing a light white porous substance found 
 in the joints of the bamboo : it consists 
 almost entirely of silica. It is said to be 
 used medicinally in the East Indies ; but 
 its virtues must be merely imaginary. 
 
 TABEL'LION, in the Roman empire, 
 officers who had charge of public docu- 
 ments were so called ; they were also 
 secretaries, or registrars, and in some 
 cases judges. The notaries were their 
 assistants. In France, the titles of " Ta- 
 bellion" and " Greffier" were confounded, 
 and Henry IV. united the functions of 
 tabellion with those of notary ; but the 
 old title seems still to be retained (or was 
 until the Revolution) m some few places. 
 
 TAB'ERN ACLE, a Latin word signify- 
 ing a tent or cabin. The tabernacle which 
 was carried from station to station by the 
 Jews during their wanderings in the des- 
 ert, was a tent of sails and skins stretch- 
 ed upon a framework of wood, and divid- 
 ed into two compartments ; the outer, 
 named the Holy, being that in which in- 
 cense was burned, and the show-bread 
 exhibited ; and the inner, or Holy of Ho- 
 lies, in which was deposited the ark of 
 the covenant. The Feast of Tabernacles 
 was one of the three principal festivals 
 among the Jews. It commenced on the 
 15th of the month Tisri, corresponding 
 with the 30th of September, and lasted 
 seven days, during which the people 
 dwelt in booths formed of the boughs of 
 trees. It was instituted in commemora- 
 tion of the habitation of their ancestors 
 in similar dwellings during the forty 
 years of their pilgrimage in the wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 TAB'LATURE, in music, the use of 
 the letters of the alphabet, or any other 
 character, for expressing the notes or 
 sminds of a composition. It is not now a 
 usual mode of writing. In its stricter 
 and more original sense, it is a mode of 
 writing music for a particular instrument 
 on parallel lines (of which each repre- 
 sents a string of the instrument) by means 
 of certain letters of the alphabet. Thus 
 A denotes that the string is to be struck 
 open, B that one of the fingers is to be 
 put on the first stop, C on the second, D 
 on the third, and so on through the oo- 
 tave.
 
 586 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 TA'BLEAUX VI'VANTS, the name 
 given to an amusement in which groups 
 of persons dressed in appropriate costume 
 aro made to represent some interesting 
 scene in the works of distinguished paint- 
 ers or authors. It is thus managed: The 
 room in which the spectators are placed 
 being darkened, the group assume their 
 respective attitudes behind a frame (or 
 some other contrivance intended to rep- 
 resent it) covered with gauze ; and can- 
 dles being so placed as to reflect light 
 upon the group from above, the illusion is 
 complete. These representations are not 
 unfrequently resorted to in England; but 
 their homo is chiefly in France and Ger- 
 many, where they form an important 
 feature on all festive occasions. They 
 owe their present popularity to the cele- 
 brated M. Hiindel-Sehutz, whose genius 
 for imitation and delineation was unri- 
 valled in Germany. Tableaux are often 
 employed to represent some scene in 
 which a riddle is concealed. 
 
 TAB'LETS, in Roman antiquities, 
 pieces of ivory, metal, stone, or other 
 substance, used in judiciary proceedings, 
 or in the passing of laws. 
 
 TABOO', a word used by the South 
 Sea islandejrs to denote something conse- 
 crated, sacred, and forbidden to be touch- 
 ed, or set aside for particular uses and 
 persons. 
 
 T A'BORITES, the denomination of one 
 of the parties into which the followers of 
 Huss, in Bohemia, separated after the 
 death of their leader. They were so 
 called from Tubor, a hill or fortress of 
 Bohemia, upon which they encamped 
 during the struggle which they main- 
 tained against the civil and ecclesiastical 
 power. At their head stood John Ziska 
 von Brockznow, who was distinguished at 
 once for his indomitable courage and his 
 remorseless cruelty After various fanat- 
 ical exhibitions, which were met by their 
 adversaries with determined hostility, 
 the better and more quietly disposed 
 portion of the Taboritesi formed them- 
 selves into a religious society under the 
 denomination of the Bohemian Brethfen. 
 They established several Christian com- 
 munities, elected their own bishops, 
 priests, and elders ; drew up a rigorous 
 plan of ecclesiastical discipline ;. and sent 
 forth missionaries to various parts, though 
 with little success. Though harassed by 
 persecutions, they continued to augment 
 their numbers, and at the end of the 15th 
 century they counted about 200 commu- 
 nities of adherents. At the end of this 
 period the distinctive name and opinions 
 
 of the Taborites were lost among the va- 
 rious assailants of the Romish corruptions, 
 who formed the vanguard of the Refor- 
 mation in Genniiny, 
 
 TABULA'TUM, in ancient architec- 
 ture, a terra used to denote the floors, 
 ceilings, and other wood-work in a house : 
 occasionally also it .was applied to the 
 balconies and other projections of a like 
 nature. 
 
 TAC'TICS, a term which, in its most 
 extensive sense, relates to those evolu- 
 tions, manoeuvres and positions which 
 constitute the main-spring of military 
 and naval finesse : tactics are the means 
 by which discipline is made to support 
 the operations of a campaign, and are 
 studied for the purpose of training all the 
 component parts according to one regular 
 plan or system ; whereby celerity, pre- 
 cision, and strength are combined, and 
 the whole rendered effective. 
 
 TA'GES, an old Italian divinity, who 
 is represented to have sprung as a beau- 
 tiful boy from the earth, which a Tuscan 
 ploughman had furrowed too deep. The 
 first act of this earth-born god was to 
 foretell from the wings of birds what was 
 to happen to the peasants, by whom he 
 was quickly surrounded ; and hence he 
 was worshipped as the inventor of 
 augury. A collection of his prophecies 
 was made and preserved in the sacred 
 records of Etruria. 
 
 TAIL, or FEE-TAIL, in law, a limited 
 estate or fee; opposed to fee-simple. 
 
 TAILLE, iwancient French jurispru- 
 dence, any imposition levied by the king 
 or any other lord on his subjects. There 
 is some obscurity about the derivation 
 of this word. It is commonly deduced 
 from talcre, tallies, little pieces of wood 
 with which reckonings were made. But 
 whether these were not so called from 
 their use in telling or counting does not 
 appear. Again, it is apparently con- 
 nected with the Gerin. zoll, Engl. toll ; 
 but these words are derived by some, 
 through the Ital. tolta, from the Lnt. 
 tollere, to raise. Perhaps the whole 
 series of words is from the same original 
 root ; but it is not easy to trace the 
 affinities. The Royal Tattle, in old 
 France, which was the impost commonly 
 understood under the general name, \\:> 
 a personal or rather mixed constitution, 
 from persons not noble or ecclesiastical, 
 or enjoying certain other exemptions 
 imposed according to their supposed 
 ability, measured by their goods. In the 
 respect in which it fell on the agricul- 
 tural class, from which it was chiefly
 
 TAL] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 587 
 
 levied, it is described by Adam Smith as 
 " a tax on the supposed profits of the 
 farmer, which they estimate by the stock 
 which he has upon the farm." 
 
 TAL'BOTYPE, a photogenic process 
 invented by Mr. II. Fox Talbot, in which 
 paper, prepared in a particular manner, 
 is used instead of the silvered plates of 
 M. Daguerre. The process has also been 
 termed calotype. 
 
 TAL'ENT, among the ancients, the 
 name of a coin, the true value of which 
 cannot well be ascertained, but it is 
 knojm that it was different among differ- 
 ent nations. Among the Hebrews there 
 was both a talent of gold and a talent of 
 silver ; the gold coin weighed only four 
 drachms, and was the same as the shekel 
 of gold : but their talent of silver, called 
 dear, was equivalent to three thousand 
 shekels, or one hundred and thirteen 
 pounds, ten ounces, troy weight. The 
 Attic talent is supposed to .have been of 
 the value of 193J. 15s. sterling. The 
 Romans had the great talent and the 
 little talent; the great talent equal to 
 99Z. 6s. 8rf., and the little talent to 751. 
 sterling. 
 
 TA'LES, in law, additional jurymen, 
 when those impanelled do not appear, or, 
 appearing, are challenged. 
 
 TALIO'NIS LEX, (Latin,) a punish- 
 ment in which a person convicted of a 
 crime suffered exactly in the same man- 
 ner as he had offended : thus an eye was 
 required for an eye and a tooth for a 
 tooth. This mode of punishment was 
 established by the Mosaic law, and was 
 in some cases imitated by the Romans. 
 
 TAL'ISMAN, among the Eastern na- 
 tions, a figure cut in metal, stone, &c., 
 supposed to have been made with par- 
 ticular ceremonies, and under particular 
 astrological circumstances, and to possess 
 various virtues, but chiefly that of avert- 
 ing disease or violent death from the 
 wearer. In a more general sense, any 
 portable object endowed with imaginary 
 influence in controlling evil spirits, &c. 
 has been so designate'd. The term is 
 frequently used as synonymous with 
 amulet ; but, strictly speaking, the latter 
 is not believed to possess such extensive 
 powers as the talisman. 
 
 TAL'LY, a mode of reckoning between 
 buyers and sellers, which before the use 
 of writing was almost universal, and 
 which is even still partially used. The 
 tally is a piece of wood on which notches 
 or scores are cut as marks of number. It 
 is customary for traders to have two of 
 these sticks, or one stick cleft into two 
 
 parts, and to mark or notch them in a 
 corresponding manner; one to be kept 
 by the seller, the other by the purchaser. 
 In the English exchequer are tallies 
 of Iqans, one part being kept in the ex- 
 chequer, the other being given to the 
 creditor in lieu of an obligation for money 
 lent to government. 
 
 TAL'MUD, the traditionary or un- 
 written laws of the Jews. It is called 
 unwritten, to distinguish it from the 
 textual or written law ; and is, in fact, 
 the interpretation which the rabbins affix 
 to the law of Moses, which embodies their 
 doctrine, polity, and ceremonies, and to 
 which many of them adhere more than to 
 the law itself. There are two Talmuds, 
 that of Jerusalem and that of Babylon ; 
 not to mention those of Onkelos and 
 Jonathan, which are rather paraphrases 
 than volumes of traditionary doctrines. 
 The Talmud of Jerusalem consists of two 
 parts the Gemara, and the Mishna. 
 The Mishna signifies a doubling or 
 reiteration ; the Gemara, a work brought 
 to perfection or completed from the 
 Chaldee gamar, to finish or complete. 
 The Gemara and the Mishna together, 
 strictly speaking, form the Talmud ; but 
 the rabbins are wont to designate the 
 Pentateuch of Moses the Jirst part of the 
 Talmud, and which is simply the law. 
 The second part is the Mishna, which is 
 a more extensive explication or amplifi- 
 cation of the law ; and the third part the 
 Gemara, as finishing and completing it. 
 The Mishna is the work of Rabbi Judah 
 Hakkadosh, 120 years after the destruc- 
 tion of the temple of Jerusalem. It is 
 written in a tolerably pure style, and its 
 reasonings are much more solid than 
 those of the Gemara, which the Jewish 
 doctors, it is stated, have stuffed with 
 dreams and chimeras, and many igno- 
 rant and impertinent questions and dis- 
 putations. The Gemara was written 
 about 100 years afterwards by Rabbi 
 Jochanan, the rector of the school at 
 Tiberias. These two works form the Je- 
 rusalem Talmud. But the Talmud of 
 Jerusalem is less esteemed than the 
 Talmud of Babylon formed by Rabbi Asa 
 or Aser, who had an acadamy for forty 
 years at a place called Sara, near Baby- 
 lon, whence it was denominated thj 
 Babylonish Talmud. It is this Talmud 
 which the Jews more frequently consult; 
 and it is especially esteemed by those 
 Jews who live beyond the Euphrates, 
 from the circumstance that it was cotn*- 
 piled at Babylon. Rabbi Asa was called 
 to his fathers before this celebrated com-
 
 588 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [TAR 
 
 mentary on the Mishna was completed ; 
 but it was finished by his disciples (some 
 say his children) about 500 years after 
 Christ. With the exception of the sacred 
 authors, these Talmuds, after the Ch&ldee 
 paraphrases, are the most ancient books 
 of doctrine possessed by the Jews. 
 
 TAL'ON, in architecture, a kind of 
 moulding, which consists of a cymatium, 
 crowned with a square fillet. It is con- 
 cave at the bottom, and convex at the 
 top ; and is usually called by workmen 
 an ogee, or 0. G. 
 
 TAM'BOUR, in fortification, a kind of 
 work formed of palisades or pieces of 
 wood ten feet long, planted close together, 
 and driven firm into the ground. Tam- 
 bour, in architecture, is applied to a wall 
 of a circular building, surrounded with 
 columns. 
 
 TAMBOURINE', one of the most an- 
 cient musical instruments, and still used, 
 particularly in Biscay, where a large 
 kind of tambourine, called tambour de 
 Basque, is used to accompany all the na- 
 tional songs and dances. In Scripture 
 this instrument is designated a timbrel ; 
 in profane history we find it was popular 
 among most of the Eastern nations ; and 
 in the middle ages it was used by the 
 Troubadours and minstrels. The present 
 tambourine consists of a wooden or braz- 
 en hoop, over which a skin is extended, 
 and which is hung with bells. Sometimes 
 the thumb of the right hand is drawn in 
 a circle over the skin ; sometimes the 
 fingers are struck against it ; while it 
 is supported by the thumb of the left 
 hand. From the performance of it being 
 capable of displaying various graceful 
 movements of the body, the tambourine 
 is generally an attribute of Terpsichore. 
 
 TAN'ISTRY, a tenure of lands in Ire- 
 land, by which the proprietor had only a 
 life estate, and to this he was admitted 
 by election. The primitive intention 
 seems to have been that the inheritance 
 should descend to the oldest or most 
 worthy of the blood and name of the de- 
 ceased ; but the practice often gave rise 
 to the fiercest and most sanguinary con- 
 tests between tribes and families. 
 
 TAN'TALUS, in Greek mythology, a 
 king of Lydia, Phrygia, or Paphlagonia, 
 According to different authors, whose 
 punishment in the infernal regions is 
 well known to classical readers. He was 
 condemned to be plunged in water, and 
 have delicious fruits continually hanging 
 over his head, without the power of satis- 
 fying either thirst or hunger. His crime 
 is differently represented. According to 
 
 some, he served to the gods at a feast the 
 limbs of his own son Pelops ; according 
 to others, he revealed the mystery of the 
 gods, of whom he was high-priest : while 
 others attribute to him the vices of pride 
 and too great wealth. 
 
 TARE, in commerce, an allowance for 
 the outside package that contains such 
 goods as cannot be unpacked without det- 
 riment ; or for paper, bands, cords, &c. 
 When the tare is deducted, the remainder 
 is called the net or neat weight. 
 
 TAR'GUM, in sacred literature, a 
 name given by the Jews to certain glasses 
 and paraphrases of the Scriptures, writ- 
 ten in the Chaldaio language : a work 
 which was occasioned by the long cap- 
 tivity of that people. 
 
 TAR'IFF, in commerce, a list or table 
 of custom-house and excise duties im- 
 posed on goods, with their respective 
 rates. 
 
 TARPE'IAN, in Roman antiquity, an 
 appellation given to a steep rock in 
 Rome ; whence, by the law of the twelve 
 tables, those guilty of certain crimes 
 were precipitated. It was named after 
 Tarpeia, the daughter of Tarpeius, the 
 governor of the citadel of Rome, who 
 promised to open the gates of the city to 
 the Sabines, provided they gave her their 
 gold bracelets, or, as she expressed it, 
 what they carried on their left hands. 
 The Sabines consented, and, as they en- 
 tered the gates, threw not only their 
 bracelets, but their shields, upon Tarpeia, 
 who was crushed under the weight. She 
 was buried in the capitol. 
 
 TARTU'FFE, a common French nick- 
 name for hypocritical pretenders to de- 
 votion. It is derived from the celebrated 
 comedy of Moliere, of which the hero is 
 so called. Whether Moliere invented, or 
 took it from the popular language of the 
 time, does not appear : some say that he 
 intended to attack Louis XIV. 's confessor, 
 Pe*re la Chaise, whom he had once seen 
 eating truffles with peculiar go&t ; and 
 thence the name. The play was written 
 in 1664, but not acted till 1669 ; great 
 difficulties being thrown in the way of 
 the author by the clergy and the papal 
 legate. On one occasion it was prohibit- 
 ed when the curtain was on the point of 
 rising, and Moliere announced to the 
 public its disappointment in the well- 
 known equivocal words, " Monsieur le 
 president ne veut pas qu'on le joue." 
 When at last licensed (through the influ- 
 ence, it is said, of the king himself), it 
 had a run of three months with unparal- 
 leled success ; and the eager attention
 
 TAX] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 589 
 
 and applause which it still excites bear 
 testimony at onee to the keenness of the 
 wit, and the peculiar relish of the public 
 for the exposure of the frailties of those 
 who profess a religious character. In 
 England, this play has been made more 
 than once to serve the popular passions 
 of the day. Gibber translated it and 
 made the hero a non-juring churchman ; 
 and the play is still acted under the name 
 of T/ie Hypocrite, in which the Tartuffe 
 is a methoiiistical divine. 
 
 TASTE, that power of the mind which 
 is conversant about the beautiful, both 
 of nature and of art. In the Latin lan- 
 guage, the same metaphor obtained a 
 very wide application, and the term sa- 
 pient a, was employed to signify quickness 
 and correctness of judgment generally. 
 Shaftsbury's use of the term is nearly as 
 extensive, being applied by him to man- 
 ners, morals, and government, and to wit, 
 ingenuity, and beauty. In its modern 
 use it is restricted to those objects which 
 fall within the province of imagination. 
 Now, although imagination derives its 
 objects pre-eminently from those of the 
 sight and hearing, and although the epi- 
 thet beautiful, is, for the most part, con- 
 fined to these, yet the mental power 
 which judges of them borrows its name 
 from a third sense. The reason of this 
 is satisfactorily shown by Coleridge. The 
 senses, he observes, are either purely or- 
 ganic, or mixed. The former present 
 their objects to the mind distinct from its 
 perception of them, while the latter in- 
 variably blend the perception of the ob- 
 ject with a certain consciousness of the 
 percipient subject. To the latter class 
 belong the touch, the smell, and the taste. 
 Of these, taste and smell differ from the 
 touch, as adding to that reference to our 
 vital being which is common to the three 
 a degree of enjoyment or otherwise ; 
 while the taste is distinguished from the 
 smell only by its more frequent and dig- 
 nified use in human nature. By taste 
 then, as applied to the Fine Arts, we must 
 be supposed to mean an intellectual per- 
 ception of any object, blended with a dis- 
 tinct reference to our sensibility of enjoy- 
 ment or dislike. In the same essay Cole- 
 ridge gives another and a wider definition 
 of taste ; as " a metaphor taken from one 
 of the mixed senses, and applied to objects 
 the more purely organic, and of our 
 moral sense, when we would imply the 
 co-existence of an immediate personal 
 dislike or complacency." Now, by the 
 constitution of man's nature, every exer- 
 tion of human activity, in the pursuit of 
 
 the good, the beautiful, and the true, 
 combines a sense of pleasure, or the con- 
 trary, with the perception of their re- 
 spective objects ; and this fact would justi- 
 fy the widest application of the ineta.phor. 
 AVhile, however, in the case of the true, 
 this co-existent pleasure has not received 
 any distinctive appellation, and while 
 conscience, as comprehending the sense 
 of approbation and disapprobation, is 
 characteristically applied to the moral 
 energy, that of taste has been confined to 
 the perception of beauty and the accom- 
 panying gratification. But taste, like 
 all other metaphorical terms, is extreme- 
 ly inaccurate ; and by directing attention 
 exclusively to this element of pleasure, 
 it has led to a very inadequate conception 
 of the true nature of the faculty which it 
 designates. Thus Hutcheson maintains 
 that the faculty is peculiar, and a sense 
 which similarly, to the other senses, pro- 
 cures a pleasure totally distinct from a 
 cognition of principles, or of the causes, re- 
 lations, and usages of an object : that beau- 
 ty strikes, at first sight, and that knowl- 
 edge the most perfect will not increase the 
 pleasure which it gives rise to : and lastly, 
 that all the diversity of sentiments exci- 
 ted in different minds by the beautiful, 
 arise solely from the modifications of the 
 sense by association, custom, example, 
 and education. Among the advocates of 
 the theory of a moral taste we may 
 reckon Hume, Akenside, Blair, Lord 
 Kames, and Beattie. 
 
 TATTOO', the beat of the evening 
 drum, giving notice to soldiers to repair 
 to their quarters in garrison, or to their 
 tents in camp. 
 
 TAURID'IA, among the Romans, were 
 certain games in honor of the infernal 
 gods. They are sometimes called taurii 
 ludi. 
 
 TAUTOL'OGY, in rhetoric, a vicious 
 diction, by which the same idea is ex- 
 pressed in two or more different words or 
 phrases, apparently intended to convey 
 different meanings. 
 
 TAXA'TION, a tax is a rate or duty 
 laid by government on the incomes or 
 property of individuals, or on the pro- 
 ducts consumed by them ; the produce of 
 such duty or rate being placed at the 
 disposal of government. A tax may be 
 either general or particular ; that is, it 
 may either affect all classes indiscrimi- 
 nately, or only one or more classes. Tax- 
 ation is the general term used to express 
 the aggregate of particular taxes. It is 
 also the name given to that branch of the 
 science of political economy which ex-
 
 590 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 plains the mode in which the revenue re- 
 quired for the public service may be most 
 advantageously raised. 
 
 TAX'ES, the assessments imposed by 
 law tor the public service, either direct, 
 as on persons and necessaries ; or indirect, 
 as on luxuries and raw materials. Taxes 
 imposed on goods at the time of their im- 
 portation, are denominated customs, du- 
 ties, or imposts. 
 
 TE'BETH, the tenth month of the Jew- 
 ish ecclesiastical year, and fourth of the 
 civil. It answers to our month of Decem- 
 ber. 
 
 TECH NICAL, that method of speak- 
 ing which is proper, or peculiarly apper- 
 taining, to any given art. Artists and 
 amateurs are accustomed, when they talk 
 of matters relating to the arts, to employ 
 many expressions which are not introdu- 
 ced into ordinary language, or at least do 
 not bear the same signification. This 
 species of conversation is not without its 
 advantages. The terms it employs are 
 often arbitrary, but they are much clearer 
 than any other would be to the artist or 
 connoisseur, inasmuch as he has habitua- 
 ted himself to combine with them, and 
 with them alone, the ideas meant to be 
 conveyed ; and they besides often save a 
 round-about way of expression. But this 
 .stated, we are bound to add that they 
 should never be introduced into books, 
 excepting only such as are addressed spe- 
 cifically to the practisers of our art ; for 
 in any work designed for the purposes of 
 general information, they merely tend 
 to mystify and confuse the reader. 
 
 TECHNOL'OGY, a treatise on the 
 Arts ; or an explanation of the terms of 
 the Arts. A technical word is a word that 
 belongs properly or exclusively to the 
 Arts ; and when speaking of the terms of 
 Art, we say technical terms, technical lan- 
 guage, <fec. 
 
 TE DEUM, (from the first words of the 
 original Latin, " Te Deum laudamus;" 
 We praise thee, God.) The authorship 
 of this sublime hymn has been ascribed 
 by some to Ambrose and Augustine ; by 
 others to Ambrose alone, to Hilary, and 
 other less distinguished persons. It is, 
 however, generally thought to have been 
 composed in the Gallican church : the 
 most ancient mention of it being in the 
 rule of Caesarius, bishop of Aries in the 
 fifth century. The Te Deum, in the office 
 of matins, is always sung after the read- 
 ing of Scripture; in the English morning 
 service, between the two lessons. 
 
 TEM'PERAMENT, in music, the ac- 
 commodation or adjustment of the imper- 
 
 fect sounds, by transferring a part of their 
 defects to the more perfect ones, to reme- 
 dy in part the false intervals of instru- 
 ments of fixed sounds, as the piano, organ, 
 &c. 
 
 TEMPERANCE SOCFETIES. The 
 evils of intemperance have long been the 
 subject of much anxious observation in 
 civilized nations, more especially in the 
 United States ; and the idea of concen- 
 trating public sentiment upon it, in some 
 form, to produce important results, seems 
 to have been first conceived in this coun- 
 try ; a meeting, called the General Asso- 
 ciation of Massachusetts Proper, having 
 been held in 1313, for the express object 
 of "cheeking the progress of intempe- 
 rance." The first attempt of the society 
 was to collect facts towards a precise ex- 
 hibition of the nature and magnitude of 
 the existing evil with the view of drawing 
 public attention to it, and of directing 
 endeavors for its removal. The reports 
 presented from year to year, embraced 
 statements and calculations which were 
 found to make out a case of the most 
 appalling nature, such as to amaze even 
 those whose solicitude on the subject had 
 been greatest. In 1830, from data care- 
 fully collected, the Massachusetts society 
 stated in their report, that the number 
 who died annually victims of intempe- 
 rance was estimated at above 37,000; and 
 that 72,000,000 gallons of distilled spir- 
 its were consumed in the country, being 
 about six gallons on an average for every 
 man, woman, and child of the whole popu- 
 lation. It also stated that about 400,000 
 of the community were confirmed drunk- 
 ards ; and that there appeared reason to 
 believe that intemperance was responsi- 
 ble for four fifths of the crime committed 
 in the country, for at least three quarters 
 of the pauperism existing, and for at 
 least one third of the mental derange- 
 ment. By these exposures, and an un- 
 relaxing perseverance in the course they 
 had commenced; by the circulation of 
 tracts and the addresses of travelling 
 agents; by the formation of auxiliary 
 associations, and by obtaining individual 
 responsibility for the performance of a 
 variety of duties tending to promote the 
 great object in view, public notice was 
 attracted, and it led to an imitation of the 
 practice in Great Britain and Ireland. 
 Of late years the cause of temperance 
 has made great progress in all parts of 
 the United States. 
 
 TEM'PLARS, or Knights of the Tern- ' 
 pie, a military order of religious persons. 
 It was founded by an association of
 
 TEN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 591 
 
 knights, in the beginning of the 12th [ 
 century, for the protection of pilgrims on ' 
 the roads in Palestine : afterwards it took 
 for its chief object the protection of the j 
 Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem against the j 
 Saracens. Knights were fixed at JerUsa- I 
 letn by King Baldwin II., who gave them 
 the ground on the east of the Temple. 
 Their rules were taken from those of the 
 Benedictine monks : they took the vows 
 of chastity, obedience, and poverty. The 
 classes of the order were knights, esquires, 
 servitors, and chaplains ; the universal 
 badge of the order was a girdle of linen 
 thread. The officers of the order were cho- 
 sen by the chapter from among the 
 knights : they were, for military affairs, [ 
 marshals, and bannerets : for purposes 
 of government, priors, who superintended 
 single priories or preceptories ; abbots, 
 commanders, and grand priors, who gov- 
 erned the possessions of the order within 
 separate provinces ; and the grand master, 
 who, in some respects, assumed the dignity 
 of a sovereign prince, being independent in 
 secular matters, and depending solely on 
 the pope in spiritual. The chief part of 
 the- 9000 estates, lordships, <fec., which the 
 society possessed in the 13th century, 
 was situated in France; and the grand 
 master was usually of that nation. The 
 Templars were driven from Palestine by 
 the Saracens, with the rest of the Chris- 
 tians, and then fixed the chief seat of 
 their order in Cyprus. Their exorbitant 
 power and wealth, and the haughty man- 
 ner in which they endeavored to keep 
 aloof from the control of European sov- 
 ereigns, and act as a military republic 
 independent' of their authority, were 
 probably the principal reasons which in- 
 duced Pope Clement V. and Philip the 
 Fair of France to concert their overthrow. 
 The charges of heresy and idolatry, which 
 ware preferred against them, were at least 
 unsupported by evidence. In 1307, Ja- 
 quesde Molay, the grand master, having 
 been enticed into France, was arrested by 
 Philip ; the templars' estates were seized ; 
 many of them burned alive, after the 
 mockery of a trial ; and, in 1312, the 
 order was abolished by a bull of Clement 
 V. Its vast estates fell partly into the 
 hands of the sovereigns of the countries 
 in which they were situated, partly into 
 those of the Hospitallers and other mili- 
 tary orders. Detached bodies of the 
 order, however, continued to subsist for 
 some time in different countries. 
 
 TEM'PLE, a place of worship, chiefly 
 applied to heathen worship. Originally 
 temples were open places, as Stonehenge, 
 
 in Wiltshire. In Rome, some of the 
 temples were open, and called sacel- 
 la ; others were roofed, and called cedes. 
 The most celebrated of the ancient pa- 
 gan temples were those of Belus in 
 Babylon, Vulcan at Memphis, Jupiter 
 at Thebes, Diana at Ephesus, Apollo in 
 Miletus, Jupiter Olympius in Athens, 
 and Apollo at Delphi. The most celebra- 
 ted and magnificent temple erected to the 
 true God, was that built by Solomon in 
 Jerusalem. The Temples, in London, are 
 two inns of court, so called because an- 
 ciently the dwellings of the Knights 
 Templars. They are called the Inner 
 and the Middle Temple, and are situated 
 near the Thames. 
 
 TEM'PO, (Italian for time,) signifies, 
 in music, the degree of quickness with 
 which a musical piece is to be executed. 
 The different degrees of time are designa- 
 ted by the following terms, largo, ada- 
 gio, andante, allegro, and presto ; and 
 the intermediate degrees are described 
 by additions. 
 
 T E M'P ORAL, belonging to secular 
 concerns ; not spiritual ; as the temporal 
 revenues of the church, called temporali- 
 ties. Temporal courts are those which 
 take cognizance of civil suits ; temporal 
 power, civil or political power. 
 
 TENAIL', in fortification, an outwork 
 consisting of two parallel sides with a 
 front, in which is a re-entering angle. It 
 is single or double. 
 
 TENAIL'LONS, in fortification, works 
 constructed on each side of the ravelins, 
 like the lunettes, but differing in this, 
 that one of the faces of the tenaillon is in 
 the direction of the ravelin, whereas that 
 of the lunette is perpendicular to it. 
 
 TEN'ANT, in law, one who holds lands 
 or tenements by any right or title, par- 
 ticularly one who occupies lands or tene- 
 ments at a yearly rent, for life, years, or 
 at will. Tenant in capite, in England, 
 is one who holds immediately of the king. 
 According to the feudal system, all lands 
 in England are considered as held imme- 
 diately or mediately of the king, who is 
 styled lord paramount. Such tenants, 
 however, are considered as having the 
 fee of the lands and permanent possession. 
 TEN'DER, a small vessel employed to 
 attend a larger one for supplying her 
 with provisions or naval stores, or to 
 convey intelligence, <fec. In law, an offer 
 either of money to pny a debt, or of ser- 
 vice to be performed, in order to save a 
 penalty or forfeiture which would be in- 
 curred by non-payment or non-perform- 
 ance.
 
 592 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [TEH 
 
 TE'NET, any opinion, principle, or 
 doctrine which a person believes and 
 maintains ; as, the tenets of Christianity ; 
 the tenets of Plato, &c. 
 
 TEN'OR, in music, the more delicate 
 of the two voices which belong to the 
 mature nge of male singers, it being the 
 second of the four parts reckoning from 
 the bass ; and originally the air, to which 
 the other parts were auxiliary. What is 
 called counter-tenor (between the treble 
 and the tenor) is in reality only a higher 
 tenor. 
 
 TENSE, in grammar, an inflection of 
 verbs by which they are made to signify 
 or distinguish the time of actions or 
 events ; as the present tense, denoting 
 the time that now is ; the preterite or 
 past, the time that was ; and the future, 
 the time that will be. Some tenses like- 
 wise denote the state of the action, as to 
 its completeness or otherwise, in a certain 
 degree or time, as the imperfect tense, 
 which denotes an unfinished action at a 
 certain time ; the perfect, a finished ac- 
 tion at any time ; and the pluperfect, a 
 finished action before a certain time. 
 
 TEN'URE, the feudal relation between 
 lord and vassal in respect of lands. Ten- 
 ures in capite, or in chief, were those by 
 which land was held immediately of the 
 crown ; raesne tenures, of mesne or infe- 
 rior lords. English tenures under the 
 feudal system are reduced by Blackstone 
 to four : knight-service, or chivalry ; free 
 socage ; pure villenage ; and villein-so- 
 cage. 
 
 TER'APHIM, household deities or 
 images. The teraphim seem to have 
 been either wholly or in part of human 
 form and of small size. They appear to 
 have been superstitiously reverenced as 
 penates or household gods, and in some 
 shape or other to have been used as do- 
 mestic oracles. They are mentioned 
 several times in the Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 TERM, in law, the space of time which 
 the courts are open for the trial of causes. 
 In universities, <fcc., the fixed period or 
 time during which students are compelled 
 to reside there previously to their taking 
 a degree. These fall within the four 
 quarters of the year, and are distinguish- 
 ed by the same names as the law terms. 
 In the Arts, a word or expression that 
 denotes something peculiar to an art : as, 
 a technical term.. In contracts, terms 
 mean conditions upon which work is 
 agreed to be performed. 
 
 TERMINA'LIA, in antiquity, feasts 
 held by the Romans on the 22d and 
 
 I 23d of February, in honor of Terminus, 
 the god of boundaries or land-marks. 
 Cakes and fruit were originally offered, 
 but afterwards animals formed part of the 
 sacrifice. 
 
 TER'MINI, in architecture, figures 
 used by the Romans for the support of 
 entablatures, in the place of columns : 
 the upper part consisted of the head and 
 breast of a human body, and the lower 
 of the inverted frustum of a cone. They 
 were so called because they were princi- 
 pally used as boundary marks, and rep- 
 resented their god Terminus, whose altar 
 was on the Tarpeian rock, where he was 
 represented with a human head, without 
 feet or arms, to intimate that he never 
 moved, wherever he might be placed. 
 
 TER'MINISTS, in ecclesiastical his- 
 tory, a name given to a class among the 
 Calvinists, whose tenet it is (or was, for 
 such opinions hardly exist at the present 
 day,) that there are persons to whom 
 God has fixed, by a secret decree, a cer- 
 tain term before their death, after which 
 he no longer wills their salvation, how- 
 ever long they may Jjve. They instanced 
 the case of Pharaoh, Saul, and Judas, 
 among others. 
 
 TERMINOL'OGY. that branch of a sci- 
 ence or art which explains the meaning 
 of its technical terms. In some sciences 
 it is of particular importance ; in botany, 
 for instance, where not even a leaf can 
 be described without an agreement on 
 certain technical terms. 
 
 TER'MINUS, (Lat.) in ancient archi- 
 tecture, a stone raised for the purpose of 
 marking the boundary of a property. 
 Also, a pedestal increasing in size as it 
 rises, or a parallelepiped for the recep- 
 tion of a bust. Terminus was the name 
 of the god of boundaries among the Ro- 
 mans. Terminus, in more recent times, 
 is applied to the beginning or the end : 
 i. e., to the first and last station of a rail- 
 road. 
 
 TER'RACE, a platform or bank of 
 earth raised and breasted, particularly in 
 fortifications. Also, a raised walk in a gar- 
 den, having sloping sides raised with turf. 
 
 TER'RA COT'TA, in the Arts, the 
 name given to a very large class of re- 
 mains of antiquity modelled in clay, 
 many admirable specimens of which have 
 been discovered in Tuscany and Rome. 
 They consist of lamps and vessels of 
 various kinds, besides entire figures and 
 reliefs, some of which display the talents 
 of the sculptor or modeller in no ordinary 
 degree. Terracotta is literally "baked 
 clay ;" and the various articles so named,
 
 TKT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 593 
 
 of modern manufacture, (some of which 
 are extremely tasteful,) are modelled or 
 cast in a paste made of pipe or potter's 
 clay and a fine-grained colorless sand, 
 from Ryeg'ate, with pulverized pot- 
 sherds, slowly dried in the air, and after- 
 wards baked in a kiln. 
 
 TER'R^E FIL'IUS, a scholar at the 
 university of Oxford, England, formerly 
 appointed to make jesting and satirical 
 speeches. 
 
 TERROR, EEIGN OF, in the history 
 of the French Revolution. This term 
 has been generally applied to the period 
 during which the executions were most 
 numerous, and the country under the 
 sway of the actual terror inspired by the 
 ferocious measures of its governors, who 
 had established it avowedly as the prin- 
 ciple of their authority. It seems to be 
 most properly confined to the period be- 
 tween October, 1793, when the revolu- 
 tionary tribunal, although constituted at 
 an earlier time, was first put in perma- 
 nent action on the fall of the party of the 
 Gironde, and the overthrow of Robes- 
 pierre and his accomplices in thermidor 
 (July,) 1794. The agents and partisans 
 of the system.have been termed Terror- 
 ists. 
 
 TER'ZA RI'MA, a peculiar and com- 
 plicated system of versification, borrowed 
 by the early Italian poets from the 
 Troubadours. The verses are the ordi- 
 nary Italian heroic lines of eleven sylla- 
 bles (interspersed very rarely with ten- 
 syllable lines) The rhyme is thus 
 arranged : At the commencement of a 
 poem or portion of a poem, verses 1 and 
 3 rhyme together ; as do verses 2, 4, and 
 6 ; the third rhyme begins with verse 5, 
 which rhymes to 7 and 9 ; the fourth is 
 formed by 8, 10, and 12, and so on ; and 
 the poem or canto ends abruptly, the 
 last rhyme, like the first, being on a 
 couplet instead of a triplet. It is obvious 
 that the ryhme is interlaced throughout, 
 and continually in suspense, so that no 
 pause can be found until the end of the 
 poem or flanto ; as, at the end of every 
 line, there must still bo a rhyme incom- 
 plete. This continuity gives a very 
 peculiar character to the metre, and 
 renders it highly expressive of sustained 
 narrative or passion, and the abruptness 
 of the conclusion is often turned to good 
 effect by masters of versification. This 
 metre has been rendered celebrated by 
 Dante, who wrote in it his Divina Corn- 
 media. It has been adopted by his 
 imitators, of whom the latest. Nincenzo 
 Monti, has used it to much advantage ; 
 38 
 
 and by Ariosto and other poets for their 
 satires Byron has adopted it in Eng- 
 lish, with indifferent success, in his 
 Prophecy of Dante; and it has been 
 attempted by various translators. 
 
 TERZET'TO, in music, a composition 
 in three 'parts. 
 
 TES'SELLATED PAVE'MENT, in 
 ancient architecture, a pavement formed 
 of small square pieces of stone called 
 tesserae or dies. They are frequently, 
 indeed mostly, found inlaid in different 
 colors and patterns, and with a central 
 subject. They are embedded in cement, 
 and rest on prepared hard strata. 
 
 TES'SERA, in Roman antiquities, a 
 die, six-sided, like the modern dice ; and 
 thus to be distinguished from the talus, 
 which had only three sides. Tickets or 
 tallies used for various puposes were 
 called tesserae. Thus guards were set at 
 night in their camps by means of a tes- 
 serae with a particular inscription, given 
 from one centurion to another, through 
 the army. 
 
 TES'TAMENT, in law, a solemn 
 authentic instrument in writing, whereby 
 a man declares his last will as to the 
 disposal of his estate and effects after 
 his death. Testament, in theology, the 
 name of each of the volumes of the Holy 
 Scriptures, that is, the Old and the New- 
 Testament. The first Testament printed 
 in the English language was in 1526. 
 This translation was made by William 
 Tyndale, and was published abroad, after 
 which it was circulated at Oxford and 
 London. 
 
 TES'TIMONY, th evidence of facts, 
 oral, as in a court of law, or written, as in 
 the records of history. Testimony is 
 probable and credible when in accordance 
 with general experience, corroborated, 
 and disinterested ; but improbable, and 
 unworthy of credit, when contrary to 
 general experience, and uncorroborated. 
 
 TE'THYS, in Greek mythology, the 
 daughter of Uranus and Gaia, and wife 
 of her brother Oceanus. The symbol of 
 the sea, and of the element of water ; in 
 which character she is sometimes con- 
 founded with Thetis, unless indeed the 
 name of the latter goddess be only anoth- 
 er form of hers. 
 
 TET'RACHORD, in music, a concord 
 consisting of three degrees or intervals, 
 and four terms or sounds ; in modern 
 music it is commonly called a fourth. 
 The word, in its strictly literal sense, 
 signifies any instrument with four strings, 
 and was applied to the lyre in its primi- 
 tive state.
 
 594 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [THE 
 
 TET'RAD, the number four; a collec- 
 tion nf four things. 
 
 TETRADI APA'SON, a musical chord, 
 otherwise called a quadruple eighth or 
 twenty-ninth. 
 
 TET'RADITES, a word used in sev- 
 eral senses, all of them, however, bearing 
 upon its original derivation from four. 
 1. Among the ancients children were so 
 called who were born in the fourth 
 month ; and such were believed to be 
 unlucky. 2. The Manichees and others, 
 who believed the Godhead to consist of 
 four instead of three persons, bore this 
 name. And. 3. In ecclesiastical history, 
 different sects of heretics were so called, 
 in consequence of the respect with which 
 they regarded the number four. 
 
 TETRAD'ORON, in ancient architec- 
 ture, a species of brick used by Greek 
 builders in the private dwellings, four 
 palms in length. 
 
 TETRADRACII'MA, in ancient coin- 
 age, a silver coin worth four drachms, 
 about 75 cents. 
 
 TE'TRARCH, a Roman governor of 
 the fourth part of a province. Such 
 originally was the import of the title tet- 
 rarch ; but it was afterwards applied to 
 any petty king or sovereign. The office, 
 or the territory of a tetrarch, was called 
 a tetrarchate. 
 
 TETRAS'TICH, a stanza, epigram, or 
 poem consisting of four verses. 
 
 TET'RASTYLE, in ancient architec- 
 ture, a building with four columns in front. 
 
 TEUTON 1C, belonging to the Teu- 
 tones, an ancient people of Germany. 
 The Teutonic language is the parent of 
 the German-Dutch and Anglo-Saxon. 
 Teutonic order, a religious order of 
 knights, established towards the close of 
 the twelfth century, and thus called as 
 consisting chiefly of Germans or Teutones. 
 The original object of the association was 
 to defend the Christian religion against 
 the infidels, and to take care of the sick 
 in the Holy Land. It was at one period 
 immensely rich and powerful. 
 
 TEXT, a term signifying an original 
 discourse exclusive of any note or com- 
 mentary. Also, a certain passage of 
 Scripture, chosen by a preacher to be the 
 subject of his sermon. Text-book, a book 
 containing the leading principles or most 
 important points of a science or branch 
 of learning, arranged in order for the use 
 of students. 
 
 THAM'MUZ, the tenth month of the 
 Jewish civil year, containing 29 days, and 
 answering to a part of June and a part of 
 July. 
 
 THANE, in early English history, a 
 title of honor belonging to the Anglo- 
 Saxon nobility. In its original meaning, 
 it signified a minister or honorable re- 
 tainer, and was applied to the followers 
 of kings and chieftains. The thanes in 
 England were formerly persons of some- 
 dignity ; of these there were two orders, 
 the king's thanes, who attended the Sax- 
 on and Danish kings in their courts, and 
 held lands immediately of them ; and the 
 ordinary thanes, who were lords of man- 
 ors, and who had a particalar jurisdic- 
 tion within their limits. In a later age 
 of the Anglo-Saxon power, the term thane 
 seems to have been applied to all landed 
 proprietors who were below the rank of 
 earl, and above that of alderman, and 
 had the privilege of assisting in framing 
 the laws. The rank of thane implied the 
 possession of a certain amount of landed 
 property, and five hides of land is sup- 
 posed to have been the amount required 
 for a thane of the highest order. After 
 the Conquest, this title was disused, and 
 baron took its place. In Scotland, thane 
 was a recognized title down to the end of 
 the 15th century, and it appears to have 
 implied from the first a jiigher dignity 
 than in England, and to have been, for 
 the most part, synonymous with earl, 
 which title was generally annexed to the 
 territory of a whole country. 
 
 THE'ATINES, a religious order in the 
 Roman Catholic church, the earliest in 
 point of date of the communities of " reg- 
 ular clerks :" it was founded in 1524 by 
 St. Cajetan of Thiene. The members, be- 
 sides the ordinary monastic vows, bound 
 themselves to the duties of the cure of 
 souls, preaching against heresies, tending 
 the sick and convicts, and to abstain from 
 possessing property Or asking for alms. 
 
 THE'ATRE, in architecture, a build- 
 ing appropriated to the representation of 
 dramatic spectacles. The theatres of the 
 Greeks and Romans display some of the 
 most extraordinary specimens of their 
 power in the Arts. Bacchus has the rep- 
 utation of being the invento* of them, 
 which, after their temples, appear to have 
 been the most important public edifices 
 of these people. They seem to have been 
 carried to perfection in the Grecian colo- 
 nies at an earlier period than they were 
 in the mother country. The first theatre 
 of stone at Athens, called the theatre of 
 Bacchus, was built in the time of The- 
 mistocles ; and as there seems little doubt 
 that the Athenians were the inventors of 
 the drama as a regular scenic action, it is 
 fair to presume that they were the first
 
 THE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 595 
 
 to regulate the form and proportions 
 which necessity and pleasure dictated in 
 their arrangement. The subjoined dia- 
 gram shows the general form of the 
 Greek theatre, which differed but little 
 from that of the Romans ; and the instruc- 
 tions given by Vitruvius in the eighth 
 chapter of his fifth book, as to the gene- 
 ral outline of the plan, are as follows : 
 " Whereas in the Latin theatre the points 
 
 of the four triangles touch the circumfer- 
 ence, in the theatres of the Greeks the 
 angles of three squares are substituted ; 
 and the side of that square which is 
 nearest to the place of the scene, at the 
 points where it touches the circumference 
 of the circle, is the boundary of the pro- 
 scenium. A line drawn parallel to this, 
 at the extremity of the circle, will give 
 the front of the scene. Through the cen- 
 tre of the orchestra, opposite to the pro- 
 scenium, another parallel line is drawn 
 touching the circumference on the right 
 and left ; then, one foot of the compasses 
 being fixed on the right-hand point, with 
 a radius equal to the distance from the 
 left point, describe a circle on the right- 
 hand side of the proscenium, and, placing 
 the foot of the compasses on the left-hand 
 point, with the distance of the right-hand 
 interval describe another circle on the 
 left side of the proscenium. Thus de- 
 scribing it from three centres, the Greeks 
 have a larger orchestra, and their scene 
 is further recessed. The pulpitum, which 
 they call \oyeiov, is less in width ; wherefore 
 among them the tragic and comic per- 
 formers act upon the scene, the rest going 
 through their parts in the orchestra." 
 The ancient theatres were frequently 
 used for the deliberations of the general 
 assembly of the people on political mat- 
 ters, as we find from Tacitus and Auso- 
 nius in respect of the theatres at Antioch 
 and Athens. Notwithstanding the use of 
 those buildings in later times as quarries 
 freely used by the inhabitants of the 
 cities in which they stood, there are still 
 considerable ruins at Ephesus, Alabauda, 
 
 Teos, Smyrna, Hieropolis, Cyzicus, Alin- 
 da, Magnesia, Laodicea, Mylassa, Sardis, 
 Miletus, Stratonicea, Telmessus, Jasus, 
 and Patara, all in Asia Minor ; in Sicily, 
 nt Catana, Taurorninium, Syracuse, Ar- 
 gyrium, and Segesta. In' Greece, ruins 
 are still extant at Athens, Sparta, in the 
 I island of Egina, at. Epidaurus, and Me- 
 i galopolis. According to Pnusanias, that 
 at Epidaurus, built by Polycletus, sur- 
 passed all the other theatres of Greece in 
 its beauty and proportions ; but in gran- 
 deur and magnificence the Roman thea- 
 tres far surpassed those of the Greeks ; 
 nor is this surprising, considering the pop- 
 ulation the former had to accommodate 
 compared with that of the latter. For a 
 very considerable period the theatres of 
 Rome, like those of the Etruscans, were 
 of wood; and Pompey, on his return from 
 the war against Mithridates, was the first 
 who constructed one of stone. This must 
 have been of large dimensions, inasmuch 
 as it would contain 40,000 spectators. 
 The remains of it as some stables of a 
 palace are still visible. There were two 
 other considerable theatres in Rome ; the 
 first built in the year 741 of the city, by 
 Cornelius Balbus ; and the second which 
 was begun by Julius Caesar, but not 
 finished till the time of Augustus, who 
 dedicated it to his friend Marcellus. 
 From the remains it appears that it was 
 a specimen of great beauty and purity, 
 as far as relates to the profiles of two of 
 its orders, there being no vestiges of the 
 upper order. The only other remains of 
 Roman theatres are at Saguntum and 
 Oranges, though the Romans usually 
 erected theatres in their newly conquered 
 cities, or at least embellished and im- 
 proved those they found on the spot. The 
 modern theatres of Rome are, perhaps, 
 the worst in Europe. Italy, however, 
 boasts some beautiful examples ; the 
 principal whereof are those at Parma, 
 now in a very dilapidated state, Milan, 
 Verona, Turin, IJaples, and Bologna. In 
 France, a very fine theatre at Bourdenux ; 
 the theatre at Versailles ; and some ele- 
 gant theatres in Paris. We subjoin a 
 short table of the width of the stage in a 
 few European and American theatres : 
 Milan .... 40 feet 
 
 San Benedetto, Venice . 40 
 Theatre Franyais, Paris . 40 
 Parma .... 40 
 Uourdeaux ... 39 
 Turin .... 39 
 
 Covent-Garden . . 37 
 
 Argentino, at Rome . 36 
 
 Theatre Italien, Paris . 33 
 Broadway Theatre, New York 45
 
 596 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [THE 
 
 THE'BAID, the name given to the 
 heroic poein of Statins, which celebrates 
 the civil war of Thebes waged between 
 the two brothers Eteocles and Polynices. 
 It consists of twelve books. 
 
 THE'BAN YEAR, in chronology, the 
 Egyptian year of 365 days 6 hours was 
 so culled. 
 
 THEFT, in jurisprudence, the general 
 name for the most ordinary class of of- 
 fences against property ; for which Eng- 
 lish law uses the peculiar designation of 
 larceny. The difficulty of distinguishing 
 between theft, those other species of 
 fraudulent appropriation which are re- 
 garded by the laws of most countries as 
 criminal offences, and, finally, that class 
 which is only the subject of civil action, 
 has given rise to a variety of definitions. 
 
 THE'ISM, the belief or acknowledg- 
 ment of the existence of a God, as op- 
 posed to theism. It has sometimes been 
 defined to be deism; but theism differs 
 from deism, for although deism implies 
 a belief in the existence of a God, yet it 
 'signifies in modern usage a denial of rev- 
 elation, which theism does not. 
 
 THEOC'RACY, a term expressing the 
 government of a state immediately by 
 God. The constitution of the Israelites, 
 previous to the appointment of kings, 
 was emphatically a theocracy ; their 
 chief magistrates or judges being for the 
 most part occasional officers appointed by 
 the express direction of God. The kingly 
 government may still be considered in a 
 secondary sense as a theocracy, from the 
 general superintendence which Jehovah 
 continued to exercise over it. All poli- 
 ties may in this sense be called theocratic 
 in which the final appeal in matters of 
 moment is made to the will of God, as 
 expressed in oracles, by auguries, or the 
 mouth of the priesthood. 
 
 THEOG'ONY, that branch of the hea- 
 then theology which taught the genealo- 
 gy of their gods. 
 
 THEOLO'GIUM, in. the ancient thea- 
 tre, a kind of little stage, above that 
 whereon the ordinary actors appeared ; 
 being the place where the machinery of 
 the gods was arranged. 
 
 THEOL'OGY, the study of religion, or 
 the science which instructs in the knowl- 
 edge of God and divine things. Theology 
 consists of two branches, natural and re- 
 vealed. Natural theology is the knowl- 
 edge we have of God from his Works, by 
 the light of nature and reason. Revealed 
 theology is altogether founded on divine 
 revelation. There are several other 
 branches into which theology may be di- 
 
 vided as, 1. Exegetical theology, which 
 consists in the explanation and interpre- 
 tation of. the Scriptures. 2. Didactic 
 or speculative theology, by which the 
 several doctrines of religion are stated 
 and explained and their truth establish- 
 ed. 3. Systematic theology, which ar- 
 ranges methodically fefce great truths of 
 religion, so as to enable us to contem- 
 plate them in their natural connection, 
 and to perceive both the mutual depend- 
 ence of the parts, and the symmetry of 
 the whole. 4. Practical theology, which 
 consists of an exhibition, first, of precepts 
 and directions ; and, secondly, of the mo- 
 tives by which we should be excited to 
 comply with these ; and both these 
 rules and these motives may be either 
 found expressly revealed in Scripture, 
 or they may be inferences from what it 
 teaches. 
 
 THEOM'ANCY, a species of prophecy 
 in which a god himself was believed to 
 reveal future events. 
 
 THEOPHIL AN'THROPISTS, the title 
 assumed by a deistical society formed at 
 Paris during the French revolution. The 
 object of its founders was to revive public 
 religious ceremonies, which had alto- 
 gether ceased during the reign of terror, 
 without returning to the rites and cere- 
 monies of Christianity. The revival of 
 the Catholic religion hastened the decline 
 of the society, and in 1802 the consuls 
 prohibited them from holding their meet- 
 ings in the churches. 
 
 THEOR'BO, a musical instrument 
 made in form of a large lute, except 
 that it has two necks. It is used by 
 the Italians for playing a thorough 
 bass. 
 
 THE'ORY, in science, properly ex- 
 presses a connected arrangement of facts 
 according to their bearing on some real 
 or hypothetical law. A hypothesis has 
 been distinguished from a theory as an 
 assumption which is conceived to afford a 
 support to the discovered law. Thus, 
 some have imagined that the facts of 
 gravitation are explained on the supposi- 
 tion of a subtle and all-pervading ether. 
 Here it is evident that the facts, and 
 therefore the theory or connected survey 
 of them, are unaffected by the supposi- 
 tion in question. The abstract principles 
 of any science or art, considered without 
 reference to practice. 
 
 THEOS'OPHIST, one who pretends to 
 derive his knowledge from divine illumi- 
 nation. 
 
 THERAPEU'TJE, a term applied to 
 those who are wholly employed in the
 
 THO] 
 
 THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 597 
 
 service of religion. This general term 
 has been applied to particular sects of 
 men, concerning whom there have heen 
 great disputes among the learned. It is 
 generally supposed that St. Mark estab- 
 lished a particular society of Christians 
 about Alexandria, of whom Philo gives 
 an account, and calls them Therapeutee. 
 He speaks of them as a particular sect, 
 retired from the world, who spent their 
 time in reading the writings of ancient 
 authors, in singing hymns and songs 
 composed by some of their own sect, and 
 in dancing together the whole night. 
 Some suppose they were Essenes ; others 
 imagine they were Jews, residing in 
 Egypt ; and Eusebius and others consider 
 them as Christians. 
 
 THER'MIDOR, in the French calen- 
 dar, the'name of the llth month in the 
 year in the French Republic. It com- 
 menced on the 19th of July, and ended 
 on the 17th of August. It was the month 
 signalized by the overthrow of Robes- 
 pierre and the Reign of Terror ; thence 
 commonly called the Revolution of Ther- 
 midor, and those who boasted of having 
 participated in it called themselves Ther- 
 midorians. 
 
 THE'SIS, a position or proposition 
 which a person advances and offers to 
 maintain, or which is actually maintain- 
 ed by argument; a theme. 
 
 THE'SPIAN ART, that of tragedy or 
 tragic acting is so termed ; from Thespis, 
 an Athenian, who lived in the first half 
 of the 6th century before Christ, and in- 
 troduced the first rudiments of a tragic 
 stage. 
 
 THE'URGY, the magician's art ; or 
 the power or act of performing supernat- 
 ural things by invoking the name of 
 God or of subordinate agents. 
 
 THIRTY YEARS' WAR, in history, 
 properly a series of wars carried on be- 
 tween the Protestant and Roman Catho- 
 lic leagues in Germany, in the first half j 
 of the 17th century. The house of Aus- 
 tria was, throughout, at the head of the 
 latter party. The Protestant princes of 
 Germany were assisted by various foreign 
 powers ; in the earlier part of the war by 
 Denmark and Sweden, and afterwards by 
 France. It is considered to have com- 
 menced with the insurrection of the Bo- 
 hemians in 1618, and ended with the 
 peace of Westphalia in 1648. The cele- 
 brated history of this war, by Schiller, 
 is rather a spirited historical essay than 
 an accurate narrative. 
 
 THIS'TLE, or SAINT AN'DREW, a \ 
 Scottish order of knighthood, said to be , 
 
 of great antiquity, but revived by James 
 V. in 1540 ; again by James II. of Eng- 
 land. VII. of Scotland, in 1687 ; and a 
 third time in 1703, by Queen Anne, who 
 increased the number of knights to twelve, 
 and placed the order on a permanent 
 footing. The thistle, as is well known, 
 is the national emblem of Scotland ; and 
 the national motto is very appropriate, 
 being " Nemo me impune lacesset," no- 
 body shall provoke me with impunity. 
 This is also the motto of the order of the 
 thistle. 
 
 THO'LUS, this word has been various- 
 ly defined as the middle or centre of an 
 arched or vaulted roof as the roof itself 
 of a temple or church, or as the lantern 
 or cupola of a large public hall. Pausa- 
 nias applies the term to several circular 
 edifices with a cupola at top, but which 
 were not considered temples. At Athens 
 was a building of this description, in 
 which were found sundry little silver 
 images, and where the Prytanea offered 
 sacrifices. At Epidaurus was another 
 tholus, in the wood sacred to ^Esculapius, 
 and behind the temple of that deity. 
 Pausanias speaks of this as a very ro- 
 markable structure. It was built of white 
 marble. Polycletes was the architect, 
 and the interior was adorned with paint- 
 ings. In Sparta was an edifice of a simi- 
 lar kind, in which were found statues of 
 Jupiter and Venus. 
 
 THO'MISTS, the followers of Thomas 
 Aquinas, with respect to predestination 
 and grace, in opposition te Scotus. 
 
 THOR, in Scandinavian mythology, 
 the son of Odin and Freya, and the di- 
 vinity who presided over all mischievous 
 spirits that inhabited the elements. His 
 power is represented as irresistible. Many 
 of his deeds are preserved in the Edda ; 
 but it is probable that the worship of this 
 divinity under the name of Donan, or 
 god of thunder, spread also into Germany, 
 where traces of him are still to be found 
 in numerous local appellations, as Don- 
 nersberg, Thorstein, &c. As the worship 
 of this god extended, nothing was more 
 likely than that the Germans should 
 confound him with the Jupiter of the 
 Romans, who were then invading their 
 country ; and hence in Germany the day 
 sacred to Jupiter was denominated Don- 
 nerstag. while the Scandinavian equiva- 
 lent of the same deity has been retain- 
 ed by the English in Thursday (Thor's 
 day.) 
 
 THOTH, an Egyptian divinity, con- 
 sidered by the Greeks as identical with 
 Mercury. His hieroglyphic represents
 
 598 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [TIHT 
 
 the beginning of the astronomical year. 
 He was regarded as the inventor of wri- 
 ting and Egyptian philosophy ; nnd is 
 hence paralleled with Mercury by Cicero. 
 
 He is represented as a human figure with 
 the head of a lamb or ibis. 
 
 THOR'OUGH-BASS, in music, the art 
 by which harmony is superadded to any 
 proposed bass, and include^ the funda- 
 mental rules of composition. This branch 
 of the musical science is twofold, theoreti- 
 cal and practical. Theoretical thorough- 
 bass comprehends the knowledge of the 
 connection and disposition of all the sev- 
 eral chords, harmonious and dissonant, 
 and includes all the established laws by 
 which they are formed and regulated. 
 Practical thorough-bass supposes a fa- 
 miliar acquaintance with the figures, a 
 facility in taking the chords they indi- 
 cate, and judgment in the various appli- 
 cations and effects of those chords in ac- 
 companiment. 
 
 THOUGH T, properly, that which 
 the mind thinks. Thought is either the 
 act or operation of the mind, when at- 
 tending to a particular subject or thing, 
 or it is the idea consequent on that ope- 
 ration. We say, a man's thoughts are 
 employed on government, on religion, on 
 trade, or arts, or his thoughts are em- 
 ployed on his dress or on his means of 
 living. By this we mean that the mind 
 is directed to that particular subject or 
 object ; that is, according to the literal 
 import of the verb think, the mind, the 
 intellectual part of man, is set upon such 
 an object, it holds it iu view or contem- 
 plation, or it extends to it, it stretches 
 toil. 
 
 THOU'SAND AND ONE NIGHTS, 
 more commonly called the Arabian 
 Nights' Entertainments, from the title 
 adopted in our first translation from Gal- 
 land's version. A well-known collection 
 of oriental tales, which has acquired in 
 the west a popularity never attained by 
 any other eastern composition. The his- 
 tory of the work has been the subject of 
 much investigation, especially by De 
 Sacy, Von Hammer, and our last learned 
 translator Mr. Lane, from whom we bor- 
 row most of this article. It is the opinion 
 of Mr. Lane that the work, in its present 
 form, is the composition of a single au- 
 thor living in Egypt; and that it was 
 most probably " not commenced earlier 
 than the last quarter of the 15th centu 
 ry of our era, and completed before the 
 termination of the first quartef of the 
 next century, soon after the conquest of 
 Egypt by the Osmanlee Turks in 1517." 
 But the origin of the tales is a much 
 more difficult subject of inquiry. It seems 
 to be now established (from the discover- 
 ies of De Sacy and Von Hammer) that 
 there was an ancient Persian collection qf 
 stories, known by the name of the He- 
 zar Afzdneh, (the " Thousand Fanciful 
 Tales,") of unknown antiquity, but cer- 
 tainly older than the 9th century of our 
 era; that the framework of this collec- 
 tion was the same with that of the modern, 
 namely, the story of the cruel king Sha- 
 kryar and his ingenious queen Chehra- 
 zdd ; and that this was very early trans- 
 lated into Arabic by the name of the 
 Thousand Nights. But Mr. Lane differs 
 from these learned orientalists in still 
 believing that the early work was only a 
 model ; that the greater proportion of 
 the modern tales are really Arabian, es- 
 pecially all those founded on the supposed 
 adventures of the Khalif Haroun and 
 his queen Zobeyde, a few only being dis- 
 tinctly of Persiiin or Indian original. 
 
 THREN'ODY, a species of short, occa- 
 sional poem, composed on the occasion of 
 the funeral of some distinguished person- 
 age. 
 
 THUGS, a secret and wide-spread asso- 
 ciation of robbers and murderers in the 
 upper provinces of Hindostan. The ex- 
 istence of this association was scarcely 
 known to the British government before 
 the year 1810. and nocombined measures 
 were taken to put it down until about 1830. 
 The Thugs are considered to be a degene- 
 rate sect of Kali worshippers, and are 
 peculiarly superstitious in their observan- 
 ces. To rob and murder is with them a 
 sacred duty, and they are directed it all
 
 TIR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 599 
 
 their proceedings by auguries, supposed 
 to be vouchsafed by their tutelary god- 
 dess Behowanee. They usually move in 
 gan^s, consisting of from ten to two 
 hundred or three hundred men, of all 
 races, castes, sects, and religions, yet 
 all joining in the worship of Kali, and 
 sacrificing to their tutelary goddess 
 every victim they can seize, and sharing 
 the plunder among themselves. Still 
 they shed no blood unless when forced by 
 circumstances, but strangle their victims 
 by means of a rope or handkerchief. 
 Particular classes, however, are altogeth- 
 er exempt from their attacks; among 
 whom are dancing girls, minstrels, sikhs, 
 fome religious mendicants, tailors, oil- 
 men, blacksmiths, and carpenters. In 
 1830 vigorous measures were adopted for 
 their suppression, and between 1830 and 
 1837 upwards of 3000 were brought to 
 justice. In consequence of these meas- 
 ures, the numbers of Thugs have rapidly 
 diminished, and it is to be hoped that 
 they will soon be totally extinct. The 
 system practised by the Thugs is termed 
 Thugee. 
 
 THULE, a name given by the ancients 
 to the most northern country with which 
 they were acquainted. Some authors 
 imagine it to have been Iceland; others 
 consider it to have been the coast of Nor- 
 way ; while there are many who have not 
 attached to it the idea of any precise 
 country. 
 
 THUM'MIM, a Hebrew word denoting 
 perfections. The urim, and t/iummim, 
 were worn in the breastplate of the high 
 priest, but what they were has never 
 been satisfactorily ascertained. 
 
 THURS'D AY, the fifth day of the week. 
 so named by the Saxons from Thor, the 
 old Teutonic god of thunder, answering 
 to the Jove of the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 TIA'RA, an ancient crown, which does 
 not appear to have always the same shape. 
 Among the Persians, however, it was a 
 sort of turban, formed like a half-moon, 
 and from this is derived the tiara of the 
 pope. Originally the popes wore a com- 
 mon bishop's mitre. The tiara and keys 
 are badges of the papal dignity. Tiara, 
 the well-known ornament with which 
 the ancient Persians adorned their 
 heads. It was in the form of a tower, 
 and adorned with peacocks' feathers. 
 Xenophon says that it was sometimes 
 encompassed with a diadem, at lea.st 
 in ceremonies, and had frequently the 
 figure of a half-moon embroidered upon 
 it. This was the name also originally 
 given to the mitre of the popes. It was 
 
 nothing more than a round high cap, at 
 first single instead of double, like that 
 of the other bishops. Nicholas the First 
 added the first gold circle, as the sign of 
 the civil power. The second was added 
 by Boniface about 1300; the third by 
 Urban V. about 1365. 
 
 TIERS ETAT, third estate. This 
 term was universally applied in France 
 to the mass of the people under the old 
 regime. Before the cities rose to wealth 
 and influence, the nobility and clergy 
 possessed the property of almost the 
 whole country, and the people were sub- 
 ject to the most degrading humiliations ; 
 but as trade and commerce began to ren- 
 der men independent, and they were able 
 to shake off their feudal bonds, the tiers 
 etat gradually rose into importance ; and 
 at length the third estate, during the 
 revolution, may be said to have become 
 the nation itself. 
 
 TIM'BREL, an ancient musical instru- 
 ment ; a kind of tabor or tambourine, fre- 
 quently mentioned in Scripture. 
 
 TIME, in music, that affection of sound 
 whereby shortness or length is denomi- 
 nated as regards its continuity on the 
 same degree of tune. Time may be con- 
 sidered either with respect to the abso- 
 lute duration of the notes themselves, 
 measured by motion foreign to music, or 
 with respect to the proportion or quan- 
 tity of notes compared with each other. 
 The signs or characters by which the 
 time of notes is represented are given 
 under the article Music. 
 
 TIMOC'RACY, that form of govern- 
 ment whose laws require a certain prop- 
 erty to enable a citizen to be capable of 
 the highest offices. 
 
 TIRAILLEURS', in the military art, a 
 name given to a species of infantry, sel- 
 dom intended to fight in close order, but 
 generally dispersed, two and two always 
 supporting each other, and in general to 
 skirmish in front of the line. They must 
 be particularly expert in their move- 
 ments, to collect quickly into masses at 
 the sound of the bugle, and disperse again 
 with equal expedition ; and to act con- 
 stantly with the whole army They 
 were introduced by the French during 
 the wars of their revolution, and were 
 soon found so useful as to be indispen- 
 sable 
 
 TIRO'NIAN NOTES, the short-hand 
 of Roman antiquity. According to the 
 received story, they were introduced into 
 Rome by Tiro, the freedtnan and favorite 
 of Cicero : he is supposed to have import- 
 ed the art from Greece. MSS., written
 
 600 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 JTOL 
 
 entirely in what are called the Tironinn 
 notes, are not unfrequently of the date 
 of the 7th century and downwards ; 
 and they are still common in marginal 
 notes. 
 
 TIS'RI, the first Hebrew month of 
 the civil year, and the seventh of the 
 ecclesiastical ; answering to a pnrt of 
 our September and a part of October. 
 
 TI'TAN, in Grecian mythology, ac- 
 cording to the more modern account, the 
 eldest son of Uranus and G-aia, who re- 
 linquished the sovereignty of gods and 
 men to his younger brother Saturn, the 
 latter undertaking to destroy all his 
 children, so that the monarchy might re- 
 vert to those of Titan. He afterwards 
 recovered the sovereignty from Saturn ; 
 but Jupiter, the son of the latter, van- 
 quished him, and restored it to his father. 
 This, however, is a tale altogether un- 
 known to the original rnythologists. Ac- 
 cording to them, the Titans were many in 
 number, children of Uranus, and Gaia. 
 Hesiod makes them six. The children 
 of the Titans, Atlas for example, retain- 
 ed the same appellation. The war of 
 these Titans with Jupiter was the subject 
 of many different and contradictory le- 
 gends. Its scene was laid in Thessaly ; 
 by Homer, on the mountains Olympus, 
 Pelion, and Ossa. By some writers 
 Titan is identified with Hyperion ; but 
 this point is involved in great ob- 
 scurity. 
 
 TITHES, in English ecclesiastical law, 
 the tenth part of the increase annually 
 arising from the profits of land and stock, 
 allotted to the clergy for their support. 
 The great tithes are chiefly corn, hay, 
 and wood ; other things of less value are 
 comprehended under the name of small 
 tithes. Tithes are personal, predial, or 
 mixed ; personal, when accruing from 
 labor, art, or trade ; predial, when aris- 
 ing from the earth, as hay, wood, and 
 fruit ; and mixed, when accruing from 
 beasts, wh"ich are fed off the land. The 
 custom of paying tithes, or of offering a 
 tenth of what a man enjoys, has not only 
 been practised under the Jewish law, and 
 by Christians, but we also find something 
 like it among the heathens. The Baby- 
 lonians and Egyptians gave their kings a 
 tenth of their revenues. The Romans 
 offered a tenth of all they took from their 
 enemies to the gods ; and the Gauls, in 
 like manner, gave a tenth to their god 
 Mars. 
 
 TI'THTNG, a community of ten men, 
 into which all England was divided in the 
 time of the. Saxons. 
 
 TME'SIS, in grammar, a figure by 
 which a compound word is separated into 
 two parts, and one or more words inserted 
 between them ; as, of whom be thou ware 
 also ; 2 Tim. iv. 15, for, of whom beicare 
 thou also. 
 
 TOC'SIN, an old French word of 
 which the derivation seems not to be as- 
 certained. Gregory of Tours uses the 
 word " seing" for the sound of a bell 
 signifying an alarum bell. The use of 
 the terrible tocsin, during the troubles 
 of the Revolution, to assemble the multi- 
 tude, has rendered the word almost pro- 
 verbial. 
 
 TO'GA, the name given to the princi- 
 pal outer garment worn by the Romans. 
 
 It was a loose flowing garment made of 
 wool and sometimes of silk, the usual 
 color being white. It covered the whole 
 body with the exception of the left arm, 
 and the right of wearing it was the ex- 
 clusive privilege of every Roman citizen. 
 The toga virilis, or manly gown, was as- 
 sumed by Roman youths when they at- 
 tained the age of fourteen. The toga 
 prcetexta was worn by the children of 
 the nobles, by girls until they were mar- 
 ried, and by boys until they were four- 
 teen, when they assumed the toga ririlis. 
 It was also the official robe of the higher 
 magistrates of the city. The toga picta, 
 or ornamented toga, was worn by gene- 
 rals in their triumph. 
 
 TOLERATION, in a general sense, 
 the allowance of that which is not wholly 
 approved ; but more especially, the al- 
 lowance of religious opinions and modes 
 of worship in a state, when contrary to 
 or different from those of the established 
 church or belief.
 
 TOP] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 601 
 
 TOL'MEN, a species of druidical mon- 
 ument, composed of a large stone placed 
 horizontally upon other stones, fixed ver- 
 tically in the earth, about three or four 
 feet high, and not fewer in number than 
 three, nor more than fifteen. In form it 
 is generally a parallelogram. The tol- 
 men is also at times composed only of a 
 
 large stone, one end resting on the 
 ground, and the other end supported by 
 a stone placed under it. The large stone 
 or table has generally a hole pierced 
 through. Some have supposed the tol- 
 men to be a kind of druidal oracle, the 
 hole through the stone being an acoustic 
 contrivance, by means of which the 
 priests could return oracular answers. 
 Others suppose the tolmens to have been 
 altars on which victims were sacrificed ; 
 the hole being used as a means of dis- 
 persing the blood of the victim on those 
 who wished such bloody baptism. A 
 third opinion is, that they indicate, or 
 rather constitute places of sepulture. 
 They are also called cromlechs. 
 
 TOMB, is used to express both the 
 grave or sepulchre in which the body of a 
 deceased person is interred, and a mon- 
 ument erected in his memory. In many 
 countries it was customary to burn the 
 bodies of the dead, and to collect the 
 ashes into an urn which was deposited in 
 a tornb. The tombs of the Jews were 
 generally hollow places hewn out of a 
 rock. The Greeks constructed their 
 tombs outside the walls of their cities, 
 with the exception of those raised to dis- 
 tinguished personages. The same dis- 
 tinction was observed by the Romans ; 
 their sepulchres wore in the country near 
 the high roads. 
 
 TONE, the degree of elevation which 
 any sound has, so as to determine its 
 acuteness or gravity. Musical tones 
 differ from those of common speech 
 chiefly by being more prolonged, so as to 
 give the ear a more decided perception 
 of their height, formation, and relation 
 to each other. There are two kinds of 
 
 tones, major and minor. The tone major 
 is in the ratio of 8 to 9, which results 
 from the difference between the fourth 
 and fifth. The tone minor is as 9 to 10, 
 resulting from the difference between the 
 minor third and the fourth. Tone, in 
 painting, <fcc., a term used chiefly in 
 coloring to express the prevailing hue. 
 Thus we say, this picture is of a dull 
 tone, of a lively tone, of a soft tone, of a 
 clear tone, &c., and thus it may be also 
 observed it is requisite to heighten the 
 tone of this wqrk, or otherwise, to render 
 the colors more vivid, and, in some in- 
 stances, the masses more decided and the 
 figures more striking. The word tone, 
 in relation to chiaro-scuro, expresses the 
 degree of brightness or intensity. Tone 
 is not precisely synonymous with tint; 
 the latter relating rather to the mixture 
 of colors, and the former to their effect. 
 Tones, ecclesiastical, in music, the eight 
 modes now generally called the Gregorian 
 Chant, in which the service of the Cath- 
 olic church is performed ; four whereof 
 are authentic, and four of them plagal. 
 Pope Gregory has been considered the 
 inventor of them. They are the founda- 
 tion of all music, and will ever be con- 
 sidered stupendous monuments of com- 
 position. 
 
 TON'IC, in music, the principal note 
 of the key. It is the chief sound upon 
 which all regular melodies depend, and 
 in which they all terminate. Its octaves, 
 both above and below, are equally called 
 by the same name. It is, however, to be 
 understood that the termination here 
 alluded to has relation only to the chief 
 melody, or to its bass, inasmuch as the 
 inner or mean parts of the harmony con- 
 clude on the third or mediant, and the 
 fifth or dominant. 
 
 TON'TINE, a sort of increasing life 
 annuity, or a loan given by a number 
 of persons with the benefit of survivor- 
 ship. Thus an annuity is shared among 
 a number, on the principle that the share 
 of each, at his death, is enjoyed by the 
 survivors, until at last the whole goes to 
 the last survivor, or to the last two or 
 three, according to the terms on which 
 the money is advanced. 
 
 TO'PAZ, a gem or precious stone, very 
 generally of a fine yellow or gold color. 
 It sometimes occurs in masses, but more 
 generally crystallized in rectangular 
 octahedrons. The oriental topaz is most 
 esteemed : its color borders on the 
 orange. The occidental, or that found in 
 Peru, is of a softer substance, but its 
 color is nearly the same. There is also
 
 602 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [TOR 
 
 the oriental aqua-marine, or blue topaz, 
 besides several other kinds, of inferior 
 worth and beauty. 
 
 TOOTH OR'NAMENT, in architect- 
 ure, one of the peculiar marks of the 
 early English style. It consists of a 
 pyramid, having its sides partially cut 
 out, so as to have the resemblance of an 
 inverted flower. It is generally inserted 
 in a hollow moulding. 
 
 Tooth ornament. 
 
 TO'PHET, a polluted unclean place 
 near Jerusalem, into which the Jews 
 used to throw the carcasses of beasts, or 
 the bodies of men to whom they refused 
 burial ; and where a fire was perpetually 
 kept up to consume all that was brought. 
 Hence Tophet is sometimes used met- 
 aphorically for hell. This place had also 
 been defiled by human sacrifices which 
 had been offered to Moloch. Hence Mil- 
 ton says of this hideous deity, that he 
 
 Made his grove 
 
 The pleasant valley of Hinnom : Tophet thence 
 And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell. 
 
 The name is derived by some from Heb. 
 toph, a drum, on account of the beating 
 of drums and other instruments by which 
 the cries of the children sacrificed to 
 Moloch were stifled. 
 
 TOPICS, in rhetoric. By abstracting 
 from a proposition which conveys a truth 
 in the concrete (i. e., respecting certain 
 circumstances expressed in the terms of 
 the proposition) a portion of those cir- 
 cumstances denominated accidental, we 
 arrive at the same truth in the abstract, 
 or (in stricter language) more widely 
 applicable, and accommodated to many 
 different sets of accidental circumstances. 
 Thus, for example, in jurisprudence, 
 from an investigation of the truth in 
 various insulated cases in which a too 
 strict application of legal principles has 
 been attended with evil effects, we deduce 
 the general truth that such application 
 is so attended ; or, in the proverbial 
 phrase, "summum jus sumraa injuria." 
 Among the helps inployed by the an- 
 cients in their favorite study of rhetoric 
 was tho collection and arrangement of a 
 
 great variety of such general truths, ac- 
 cording to the several sciences or subjects 
 to which they belonged. These they 
 termed topoi, or places ; from which the 
 modern term topic is derived. They 
 considered it useful for the student in 
 rhetoric to have at hand, -b^- means of his 
 memory, those compendious expressions 
 of universal sentiment, and the general 
 reasonings or declamations applicable to 
 each of them, in order to employ them 
 for particular use by performing the 
 converse of that operation by which they 
 were arrived at ; viz. clothing them with 
 the particular circumstances of the case. 
 Thus the topos just cited might be useful 
 to the forensic orator ; it affords a sub- 
 ject for reasoning and declamation 
 applicable to a great number of in- 
 dividual instances. Many of these topics 
 answer to what in modern phrase we 
 should term axioms ; and, indeed, some 
 of the axioms of pure mathematics are 
 enumerated by Aristotle among the 
 topics which are proper to every species 
 of oratory. 
 
 TOPOG'RAPHY, the accurate descrip- 
 tion or draught of some particular place 
 or tract of land, as of any particular 
 county, city, town, castle, <fec. Topogra- 
 phy goes into minute details which 
 geography does not enter upon. 
 
 TORQUE, in antiquity, a chain or col- 
 lar formed of a number of small ringlets 
 interlaced with each other, framed of 
 metal, and worn around the neck. No- 
 ornament perhaps was of more early or 
 general use. It is mentioned in Genesis, 
 as one of the ornaments conferred by 
 Pharaoh on Joseph. It was in use among 
 the Greeks and Romans, but peculiar- 
 ly among the Celtic nations. The le- 
 gends respecting the torques of the Gauls 
 who invaded Rome are well known. It 
 was from his victory over a Gaul that T. 
 Mantius Torquatus derived his surname. 
 And no relic is more commonly found in 
 this country by antiquarian explorers. 
 Boadicea wore a long golden torque. 
 
 TOR'SO, the trunk of a statue, mutila- 
 ted of head and limbs. 
 
 TO'RUS, in architecture, a large round 
 moulding in the bases of columns, resem- 
 bling the astragal in form, but larger. 
 
 WRY, in British history, a political 
 party opposed to the Whigs, and adhe- 
 ring to the ancient constitution of Eng- 
 land. The word Tory is Irish, and was 
 formerly applied to a class of depredators 
 in that country ; but the distinctions of 
 Tory and Whig (as political partisans) 
 wore not known before the year 1678, in
 
 TRA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 603 
 
 the reign of Charles II., when those who 
 believed that the Catholics conspired 
 against the king and state, as deposed 
 by Titus Gates, were called Whigs, and 
 those who disbelieved it, Tories. Of late 
 years the term Conservatives has been 
 adopted by the Tories, as tending to con- 
 vey the best explanation of their princi- 
 ples. During the American Revolution, 
 those who favored the British were called 
 Tories. 
 
 TOUR'N.AMENT, a well-known mili- 
 tary sport of the middle ages, which with- 
 out doubt arose from the exercises of 
 military training. A joust or just is, 
 properly speaking, the encounter of two 
 knights in this species of exercise ; the 
 tournament, an assembly held for the 
 purpose of exhibiting such justs, or the 
 encounter of several knights on a side. 
 The earlier tournaments were highly 
 dangerous and sanguinary sports. They 
 were performed with the ordinary weap- 
 ons of warfare, the lance and the sword ; 
 and the combatants had only the strength 
 of their armor to rely on for their defence. 
 It was a recognized custom, that whoever 
 slew or disabled an adversary in the 
 tournament was indemnified against all 
 consequences. The account of the tour- 
 nament given by the Count of Chablais, 
 in Savoy, to Edward I. on his return from 
 Palestine to England, as given by Thomas 
 de Walsingham, represents a sort of 
 violent mSlee, in which knights, esquires, 
 and archers were engaged on both sides, 
 endeavoring to unhorse their riders and 
 overthrow the footmen by every possible 
 means. But in the course of time this 
 chivalric amusement became the subject 
 of minute regulations, which in some de- 
 gree diminished the danger and insured 
 the fairness of the sport. In tournaments, 
 when under the strict regulation of 
 knightly usage, two sorts of arms were 
 employed : those expressly made for the 
 purpose, viz., lances with blunt heads of 
 iron ; and the ordinary arms of warfare, 
 termed, " armes aoutrance," which were 
 only employed by such champions as were 
 desirous to signalize themselves in a 
 more than ordinary degree, and frequent- 
 ly were not permitted by the judges of 
 the tournament. Every knight attending 
 was required to show his noble birth and 
 rank, as a title to admission. These were 
 at first proclaimed by the heralds with 
 sound of trumpet; and hence the word 
 blazonry, which signifies the correct de- 
 ciphering of the heraldic symbols on a 
 coat-of-arms, is derived by some from the 
 German blasen, to blow. Afterwards, 
 
 when armorial bearings became general, 
 the shield of the knight gave token of his 
 rank and family. The attendance of la- 
 dies at the tournaments, their distribu- 
 tion of prizes to those who had borne 
 themselves best, arming and unarming 
 the knights, <fec.. are various romantic 
 circumstances well known to the reader 
 of chivalric legends ; but they must not 
 be supposed to have been the necessary, 
 or even usual accompaniments of these 
 knightly sports, at least until a later age, 
 when the taste for gallantry, combining 
 with that for show and spectacle, turned 
 these military exhibitions of skill into lit- 
 tle more than gorgeous pageants. The re- 
 vival of the tournament was recently at- 
 tempted in the west of Scotland by the 
 Earl of Eglinton ; but we scarcely suppose 
 that the success of that attempt was either 
 commensurate with its deserts, or was 
 such as to induce any party to renew it. 
 At the court of Wurtemberg tournaments 
 are not unt'requently exhibited at this 
 day. 
 
 TOWER, in arehitecture, a building 
 raised to a considerable elevation, and 
 consisting of several stories. Towers are 
 either round or square, and flat on the 
 top, by which they are distinguished from 
 spires or steeples. Before the invention 
 of guns, places were not only fortified 
 with towers, but attacked with mova- 
 ble towers mounted on wheels, which 
 placed the besiegers on a level with the 
 walls. 
 
 TOWN'SHIP, the corporation of a 
 town ; the district or territory of a town. 
 In New England, the counties are di- 
 vided into townships of five, six, seven, or 
 perhaps ten miles square, and the inhab- 
 itants of such townships are invested 
 with certain powers for regulating their 
 own affairs, such as repairing roads, pro- 
 viding for the poor, &c. 
 
 TRA'BEA, in Roman antiquities, the 
 robe used at first by the kings, but after- 
 wards by consuls and augurs. The purple 
 trabea was used only on the occasion of 
 great sacrifices. The second sort, of purple 
 and white, was commonly worn by consuls 
 on state occasions. A third, of purple 
 and scarlet, was the dress of the au- 
 gurs. 
 
 TRACT, or TREA'TISE. in literature, 
 both originally from the same Latin 
 word tractatus ; the latter through the 
 French. It would be difficult to assign 
 any reason for the difference in significa- 
 tion between two words identical in ori- 
 gin and etymological meaning ; but the 
 first' is now commonly used to describe
 
 604 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [TRA 
 
 short compositions, in which some partic- 
 ular subject is " treated," generally in 
 the form of a pamphlet ; the latter, more 
 extensive works. 
 
 TRADE, the business of buying and 
 selling for money, comprehending every 
 species of exchange or dealing It is, 
 however, chiefly used to denote the bar- 
 ter or purchase and sale of goods, wares, 
 and merchandise, either by wholesale or 
 retail. Foreign trade consists in the ex- 
 portation and importation of goods, or 
 the exchange of the commodities of the 
 different countries. Inland or home trade 
 is the exchange or buying and selling of 
 goods within a country. The word trade 
 has also a more limited signification, 
 designating the business which a person 
 has learned, and which he either carries 
 on or is employed in ; as, the trade of a 
 carpenter, a smith, &c. The liberal arts, 
 learned professions, and agriculture are 
 not included. 
 
 TRADITION, a truth of doctrine or 
 fact, delivered or handed down to one 
 from another, and received on the faith 
 that the first to whom it was so delivered 
 received it from an authentic source. In 
 common language, the word is used to 
 signify records of facts preserved in the 
 memory of successive persons or genera- 
 tions only, and not committed to writing. 
 In theology, tradition means, generally, 
 that body of doctrine and discipline sup- 
 posed to have been put forth by our Sa- 
 viour or his inspired apostles, and not 
 committed to writing ; and thus the word 
 is used in a contrary sense from "Scrip- 
 turd." And such traditions are of two 
 sorts ; tradition of doctrine (such as that 
 of the Trinity,) which is commonly said to 
 be directly affirmed by tradition and prov- 
 ed by Scripture ; and tradition of rites and 
 ceremonies, called by Hooker "traditions 
 ecclesiastical," or " ordinances made in 
 the prime of Christian religion, establish- 
 ed with that authority which Christ has 
 loft to his church in matters indifferent, 
 and, on that consideration, requisite to 
 be observed till like authority give just 
 cause to alter them." 
 
 TRA'Q-EDY, a species of drama, in 
 which the diction is elevated and the ca- 
 tastrophe melancholy. The name is 
 usually derived from the ancient Greek 
 custom of leading about a goat in proces- 
 sion at the festivals'of Bacchus, in whose 
 honor those choral odes were sung which 
 were the groundwork of the Attic tragedy. 
 A Greek tragedy always consisted of two 
 distinct parts ; the dialogue, which cor- 
 responded in its general features to the 
 
 dramatical compositions of modern times; 
 and the chorus, the whole tone of which 
 was lyrical rather than dramatical, and 
 which was meant to be sung while the 
 dialogue was intended to be recited. The 
 unity of time : namely, that the dura- 
 tion of the action should not exceed 
 twenty-four hours : and that of place, 
 namely, that the scene in which the 
 events occur should be the same through- 
 out, are modern inventions. Eschylus 
 is called the father of tragedy. 
 
 TRAGI-COM'EDY ; in literature, a 
 compound name, invented to express a 
 class of the drama which should partake 
 both of tragedy and comedy. If the mix- 
 ture of serious with humorous portions in 
 the piece alone entitles it to this name, 
 then all the plays of Shakspeare (with 
 the single exception of the Merry Wives 
 of Windsor, to which some add the 
 Twelfth, Night.) as being pure comedies, 
 belong to this class ; as do, indeed, almost 
 all the works of the old English drama- 
 tists. But Troilus and Cressida alone, 
 of the plays of Shakspeare, bears this 
 title in old editions : on what account we 
 do not know. French critics define the 
 distinction to be, that the ecent of the 
 tragi-comedy is not unhappy or bloody. 
 Dacier condemns them as illegitimate. 
 Guarini, the Italian poet, wrote an essay 
 on the subject. 
 
 TRAMON'TANE. lying beyond, or on 
 the farther side of the mountains ; ap- 
 plied, particularly by the Italians, to 
 such as live north of the Alps. 
 
 TRANCE, a state in which the volun- 
 tary functions of the body are suspended, 
 and the soul seems to be rapt in visions. 
 
 TRANSACTION, the doing or per- 
 forming of any business ; management 
 of any affair. That which is done ; an 
 affair. We are not to expect in history 
 a minute detail of every transaction. 
 In the civil law, an adjustment of a dis- 
 pute between parties by mutual agree- 
 ment. Philosophical transactions, the 
 published volumes containing the several 
 papers relating to the sciences, which 
 have been read at the meetings of certain 
 philosophical societies, as the Royal So- 
 ciety of London, and the Royal Society of 
 Edinburgh, and which have been thought 
 worthy of being made public at the ex- 
 pense of such societies. These transac- 
 tions contain the several discoveries and 
 histories relative to the sciences, such as 
 natural history, mathematics, mechani- 
 cal philosophy, chemistry, Ac., either 
 made by the members themselves, or 
 communicated by them from their corre-
 
 TRA] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 605 
 
 spondents, with the various experiments, 
 observations, <fec., made by them or trans- 
 mitted to them. 
 
 TRANSALPINE, lying to the north 
 or west of the Alps ; as, Transalpine 
 Gaul : opposed to Cisalpine. 
 
 TRANSATLANTIC, lying or being 
 beyond the Atlantic. When used by a 
 person in Europe or Africa, transatlantic 
 signifies being in America ; and vice versa. 
 
 TRANSCENDEN'TAL, a word used 
 by German philosophers to express that 
 which transcends or goes beyond the 
 limits of actual experience. This general 
 meaning is somewhat restricted by Kant, 
 who draws a distinction between the tran- 
 scendental and the transcendent. The 
 transcendental he defines to be that which, 
 though it could never be derived from 
 experience, yet is necessarily connected 
 with experience, an 1 which maybe short- 
 ly expressed as the intellectual form, the 
 matter of which is supplied by sense. " I 
 call," says he, " all knowledge transcen- 
 dental, which has regard in general not 
 so much to objects as to our mode of 
 knowing or apprehending objects (that is 
 to say, to formal knowledge.) so far as 
 this is conceived to be possible a priori. 
 A system of such conceptions would be j 
 named transcendental philosophy, as the 
 system of all the principles of pure rea- 
 son." The transcendent, on the contrary, 
 is that which regards those principles as 
 objectively real to which Kant assigns 
 only a subjective or formal reality, and 
 consequently is by him regarded as be- 
 yond the limits of the human reason al- 
 together. 
 
 TRAN'SCRIPT, a copy of any original 
 writing, particularly that of an act or in- 
 strument inserted in the body of another. 
 The title to land must be transferred by 
 deed. 
 
 TRAN'SEPT, in architecture, the aisle 
 of ancient churches, extending across the 
 nave and main aisles. 
 
 TRANS'FER, in commerce, an act 
 whereby a person surrenders his right, 
 interest, or property in anything to an- 
 other. 
 
 TRANSFIGURATION, the super- 
 natural change which is described to have ! 
 taken place in the appearance of Christ, 
 when, as is recorded, he took Peter, 
 James, and John up into a high rnoun- j 
 tain with him, and was transfigured be- j 
 fore them, his face shining as the sun, 
 and his raiment showing white as light. 
 There appeared in conversation with him 
 Moses and Elias ; and the apostles erect- 
 ed three tabernacles or tent? to them. 
 
 An ancient tradition assigns Mount Ta- 
 bor as the scene of this event, upon which 
 three contiguous grottoes hare been 
 fashioned to represent the three taberna- 
 cles. - 
 
 TRANSITION, in rhetoric, is of two 
 kinds. The first is when a speech is in- 
 troduced abruptly ; as when Milton gives 
 an account of our first ancestors' evening 
 devotions : 
 
 Both turn'd, and under open sky adored 
 The God thut made both air, sky, earth and 
 heaven 
 
 Thou also madest the night, 
 
 Maker omnipotent, and Thou ihe day. 
 
 The second is when a writer suddenly 
 leaves the subject he is upon, and passes 
 to another, from which it seems different 
 at first view, but serves to illustrate it. 
 In music, a change of key from major to 
 minor, or the contrary. 
 
 TRANSLATION, in literature, the 
 rendering of a literary work from the 
 original language into another. The pe- 
 culiar merits and peculiar difficulties of 
 successful translation have often been 
 pointed out by critics, but their judicious 
 directions have been seldom realized by 
 authors. In truth, those difficulties re- 
 quire a talent of so high an order to sur- 
 mount them, that few writers are fit to 
 undertake the office of translators (we 
 mean of works of any high literary mer- 
 it,) except those whose genius has more 
 congenial occupation in original composi- 
 tion ; for notwithstanding Dryden's sar- 
 castic remark, that " imitation of an au- 
 thor is the most advantageous way for a 
 translator to show himself, but it is the 
 greatest wrong which can be done to the 
 memory and reputation of the dead," we 
 are inclined to doubt whether, in reality, 
 imitation be not the more advantageous 
 method of the two. " It is the office of 
 the translator to represent the forms of 
 language according to the intention with 
 which they are employed: he will there- 
 fore, in his translation, make use of the 
 phrases in his own language to which use 
 and custom have assigned a similar con- 
 ventional import ; taking care, however, 
 to avoid those which, from their form, or 
 any other circumstances, are connected 
 with associations exclusively belonging to 
 modern manners. He will likewise, if he 
 is capable of executing his work upon a 
 philosophic principle* endeavor to render 
 the personal and local allusions into the 
 genera of which the local or personal va- 
 riety employed by the original author ia 
 merely the accidental type, and to repror 
 duce them in one of those permanent
 
 606 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [TBA 
 
 forms which are connected with the uni- 
 versal and immutable habits of mankind. 
 The faith iful translator will not venture 
 to take liberties of this sort ; ho renders 
 into English all the conversational phrases 
 according to their grammatical and logi- 
 cal form, without any reference to the 
 current usage which has affixed to them 
 an arbitrary sense, and appropriated 
 them to a particular and definite purpose. 
 The spirited translator, on the contrary, 
 employs the corresponding modern phras- 
 es ; but he is apt to imagine that a peculiar 
 liveliness and vivacity may be imparted 
 to his performance by the employment 
 of such phrases as are particularly con- 
 nected with modern manners ; and if at 
 any time he feels more than usually anx- 
 ious to avoid the appearance of pedantry, 
 he thinks he cannot escape from it in any 
 way more effectually than by adopting 
 the slang and jargon of the day. The pe- 
 culiarities of ancient times he endeavors 
 to represent by substituting in their place 
 the peculiarities of his own time and na- 
 
 TRANSMIGRA'TION, the Pythago- 
 rean doctrine of the passing of the soul' 
 from one body into another. A belief in 
 this, under various modifications, has ex- 
 isted in different ages of the world, and 
 by various nations. This belief in the 
 transmigration of the soul, as a means of 
 purification and penance, may have been 
 attended with good consequences in cer- 
 tain states of society ; but the Christian is 
 content to leave undrawn the veil which 
 the Creator has placed over the particular 
 circumstances of our future condition. 
 
 THANSMUTA TiON, the change of 
 one substance into another of a different 
 nature. The transmutation of base metals 
 into gold was one of the dreams of alche- 
 my. 
 
 TRAjSf'SOM, in architecture, a lintel 
 over a door, or the piece that is framed 
 across a double light window. In a ship, 
 the beam or timber extended across the 
 stern-post to strengthen the aft part and 
 give it due form. 
 
 TRANSPORTATION, in English law, 
 a species of punishment. It is not known 
 to the common law of England, and was 
 originally a commutation of punishment, 
 pardon being granted to various descrip- 
 tions of offenders on condition of under- 
 going transportation*: generally for seven 
 or fourteen years, or for life. It is now 
 a statutable punishment for a great varie- 
 ty of offences. It is said to have been 
 first inflicted as a punishment by a law 
 in the time of Elizabeth, enacting that 
 
 such rogues as were dangerous to the in- 
 ferior people should be biinished. At that 
 time the English plantations in North 
 America were the receptacles of trans- 
 ported convicts. Virginia, the Jerseys, 
 Delaware, Maryland, Ac. are the districts 
 which received the greatest accession to 
 their population from this cause. At the 
 very commencement of the practice, the 
 same arguments were employed against 
 it by Lord Bacon which are urged at this 
 day by many law reformers. " It is," 
 he says, " a shameful and unblessed thing 
 to take the scum of the people, and wick- 
 ed condemned men, to be those with whom 
 you plant." After the loss of the Amer- 
 ican colonies, several years elapsed be- 
 fore the government fixed on any place 
 by way of substitute. At length, in 1787, 
 Botany Bay, on the coast of New South 
 Wales, was fixed upon : 760 convicts were 
 despatched that year. But when the ex- 
 pedition arrived, it was discovered that 
 Botany Bay (discovered by Cook in 
 1770) afforded no practicable site for the 
 colony, which was consequently landed at 
 Port Jackson, where the town of Sydney 
 was founded. From that period to the 
 present, great numbers of convicts have 
 been transported to Port Jackson, and to 
 the later founded colony of Van Die- 
 men's Land the only two English penal 
 settlements. Much has been done of late 
 years towards regulating the condition of 
 the convicts in the colony, and subjecting 
 the worst part of them to severe priva- 
 tions ; in particular, by transporting some 
 of them to particular depots, where they 
 are liable to close inspection and hard 
 labor. Among the writers who have late- 
 ly contended against the policy of con- 
 tinuing the punishment of transportation, 
 we may particularly mention Archbishop 
 Whately. 
 
 TRANSPOSITION, in grammar, a 
 change of the natural order of words in 
 a sentence. Transposition, in music, a 
 change in the composition, either in the 
 transcript or the performance, by which " 
 the whole is removed into another key. 
 
 TRANSUBSTANTIA'TION, in the- 
 ology, the supposed conversion or change 
 of the substance of the bread and wine 
 in the eucharist, into the body and blood 
 of Jesus Christ. This is a main point in 
 the Roman Catholic religion, and is re- 
 jected by the Protestants, the former 
 maintaining the transubstantiation to be 
 real, the latter only figurative ; interpret- 
 ing the text hoc est corpus meum, " this 
 signifies my body ;" but the council of 
 Trent strenuously contended for the lit-
 
 TRE] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 607 
 
 eral sense of the verb est. and say ex- 
 pressly, that in transubstaiitiation, the 
 body and blood of Christ are truly, really, 
 and substantially under the species of 
 bread and wine. 
 
 TRANSUMP'TION, a syllogism by 
 concession or agreement, used where a 
 question proposed is transferred to anoth- 
 er ; with this condition, that the proof of 
 the latter should be admitted for a proof 
 of the former. 
 
 TRAP'PISTS, the name of a religious 
 order which still exists in Normandy. It 
 was founded in 1140 by a Count de Per- 
 che, in a deep valley called La Trappe, 
 whence the name of the order, and has 
 survived all the changes and revolutions 
 of Prance. The rules of this order are 
 of the strictest kind. It was, however. 
 far less celebrated under its original 
 foundation, than from the reform it un- 
 derwent under the celebrated Abbe de 
 Ranee, in the reign of Loins XIV. 
 
 TRAVERSE, 'in law, a denial of what 
 the opposite party has advanced in any 
 stage of the pleadings. In fortification, 
 a traverse is a trench with a little para- 
 pet for protecting men on the flank : 
 also, a wall raised across a work. 
 
 TRAVESTY, the burlesque imitation 
 of an author's style and composition. 
 Most travesties purposely degrade the 
 subject treated: though they may be in- 
 tended either to ridicule absurdity, or to 
 convert a grave performance into a hu- 
 morous one. 
 
 TREA'SON, in law, is divided into 
 high treason, and petty treason. High 
 treason is the greatest crime of a civil 
 nature of which a man can be guilty. 
 In general, it is the offence of attempting 
 to subvert the government of the state to 
 which the offender owes allegiance. 
 
 TREAS'URER, in law, an officer to 
 whose care the treasure of the govern- 
 ment or of any company, is committed. 
 The Lord High Treasurer of England 
 has the charge of all the national rev- 
 
 TREAS'URE-TROVE, in law, money 
 or any other treasure found hidden under 
 the earth. 
 
 TREAS'URY, a place or building 
 where wealth or valuable stores are de- 
 posited. 
 
 TREA'TY. an agreement, league, or 
 contract between two or more nations or 
 sovereigns, formally signed by commis- 
 sioners properly authorized, and solemn- 
 ly ratified by the several sovereigns or 
 the supreme power of each state. Trea- 
 ties are of various kinds, as treaties for 
 
 regulating commercial intercourse, trea- 
 ties of alliance, offensive and defensive, 
 treaties for hiring troops, treaties of 
 peace, &c. In most monarchies, the 
 power of making and ratifying treaties is 
 vested in the sovereign ; in republics, it 
 is vested in the chief magistrate, senate, 
 or executive council ; in the United 
 States, it is vested in the president, by 
 and with the consent of the senate ; while 
 in the Germanic confederation, the par- 
 ticular states have the right of making 
 treaties of alliance and commerce not in- 
 consistent with the fundamental laws of 
 the confederation. The East India Com- 
 pany enjoys the right of making treaties 
 under certain limitations ; but in all 
 cases treaties can only be made by the 
 sovereign power in a state, or by parties 
 upon whom the sovereign power has co: . - 
 ferred that right Hence, in order to 
 enable a public minister or other diplo- 
 matic agent to conclude and sign a treaty, 
 he must be furnished with full power by 
 the sovereign authority, and the treaty 
 concluded in this manner is binding on 
 the state, in the same manner as if it had 
 been concluded immediately by the sove- 
 reign power. In the United States, it is 
 necessary that the sanction of the legis- 
 lative body be given to treaties of com- 
 merce, or those which impose taxes on 
 the people, entered into by the exe- 
 cutive. 
 
 TREB'LE, the highest or most acute of 
 the parts in music which is adapted to the 
 voice of females or boys. Treble note, the 
 note in the treble stave, placed on the 
 line with the cliff. 
 
 TRENCH'ES, or lines of approach, in 
 fortification, ditches cut in oblique zig- 
 zag directions, to enable besiegers to ap- 
 proach a fortified place without being ex- 
 posed to the fire of its cannon. Hence 
 the terms "to open the trenches," to 
 break ground for the purpose of carrying 
 on approaches to a besieged place ; 
 " mount the trenches," to mount guard 
 in the trenches, &c. 
 
 TRENT, COUN'CIL OF, in ecclesias- 
 tical history, was assembled by Paul III. 
 in 1545, and continued, in twenty-five 
 sessions, until 1563, under Julius III. 
 and Pius IV. This celebrated council 
 was convoked at a period when the Chris- 
 tian world was agitated by the early ef- 
 forts of the reformers ; and its most im- 
 portant decrees have therefore reference 
 to the points on which the controversies 
 of the Reformation chiefly turned : e. g. t 
 transubstantiation, image-worship, the 
 authority of the pope. There is a certain
 
 608 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 TRI 
 
 degree of ambiguity in the expression of 
 some of its decrees, owing to the uncertain- 
 ty which the doctrines of the reformers 
 caused in the minds of supporters of the 
 i; "in isli faith. But, on the whole, it can- 
 not be denied that they express the gene- 
 ral belief of Western Christians at the pe- 
 riod when they were drawn up; and that 
 they condemn, although with little decision 
 and firmness, many of the more gross abu- 
 ses of the church. The-authority of these 
 decrees (except so far as the more strictly 
 doctrinal part of them is embodied in the 
 creed of Pope Pius IV.) has been much 
 debated among Romish ecclesiastics. In 
 Germany, Poland, and Italy, they ap- 
 pear to have been adopted from the be- 
 ginning 'without restriction; in Spain 
 only with a reservation of the rights of 
 the monarch ; in France they have never 
 been solemnly received But as regards 
 the more important portions of them 
 which contain the rule of faith, they 
 probably accurately express the belief of 
 the Roman Catholic church at the pres- 
 ent day. 
 
 TRES'PASS, in law, any violation 
 of another's rights ; as, the unlawfully 
 entering on his premises ; but when 
 violence accompanies the act, it is called 
 a trespass vi et armis. In a moral 
 sense, the transgression of any divine 
 law or command is a trespass. 
 
 TRI'AD, in music, the common chord, 
 consisting of the third, fifth, and eighth. 
 
 TRI'AL, in law, the examination of 
 causes before a proper judge, which, as 
 regards matters of fact, are to be tried 
 by a jury ; as regards matters of law, by 
 the judge ; and as regards records, by 
 the record itself. 
 
 TRIB'UNE,.in Roman antiquity, the 
 title of various officers. A tribune of 
 the people, was chosen out of the plebeians 
 to protect them against encroachments 
 and oppressions of the patricians, and 
 the attempts of the senate and consuls 
 on their liberty. These tribunes were 
 not, strictly speaking, magistrates, or 
 invested with magisterial powers ; but 
 they exercised a great influence upon 
 public affairs. They had the power of 
 putting a negative on the decrees of the 
 senate, and of arresting the proceedings 
 of magistrates by their veto ; and in 
 process of time their influence was in- 
 creased to such a degree, that they 
 endangered the safety of the state. 
 Military tribune, an officer in the 
 Roman army, who commanded in chief 
 over a body of forces, particularly the 
 division of a legion, consisting usually 
 
 of about 1000 men. The title of tribune 
 was also given, as we observed above, to 
 various other officers ; as Tribuni tcrarii, 
 tribunes of the treasury. Tribuni fab- 
 ricarum, those who had the direction of 
 the making of arms. Also, Tribuni 
 marinorum, Tribuni nolanorum, Tri- 
 buni voluptatum, mentioned in the 
 Theodosian code, as intendants of the 
 public shows, and other diversions. 
 Tribune, in the French houses of legisla- 
 ture, the pulpit or elevated place from 
 which the members deliver their speeches, 
 which they usually read, if of any con- 
 siderable length. In general, only short 
 replies are made extempore. 
 
 TRIB'UTE. a sum of mouey paid by 
 an inferior sovereign or state to a 
 superior potentate, to secure the friend- 
 ship or protection of the latter. The 
 black mail formerly levied by the Scot- 
 tish borderers on their less powerful 
 neighbors, for protecting their property 
 from the depredations of caterans, was a 
 species of tribute. 
 
 TRICLINIUM, in ancient architec- 
 ture, a room furnished on three sides 
 with couches, the fourth side being left 
 open for facilitating the attendance of 
 the servants, in which company was re- 
 ceived and the repasts served. The 
 winter triclinia were placed to the west, 
 and those for summer to the east. 
 
 TRI'COLOR, the national French ban- 
 ner of three colors, blue, white, and red, 
 adopted on the occasion of the first 
 revolution. The immediate occasion for 
 adopting them is said to have been that 
 they were the colors worn by the ser- 
 vants of the Duke of Orleans ; and they 
 were first assumed by the people when 
 the minister Neckar was dismissed in 
 1789. But these colors, in combination, 
 appear to have formed a national em- 
 blem in France from a very early period. 
 It is also said to have* been formed by 
 uniting the three colors successively 
 used in the French standards at different 
 periods; viz. the blue of the -banner of 
 St. Martin, the red of the oriflamme, and 
 the white of the white cross, supposed to 
 have been assumed under Philip of 
 Valois. The three colors were given by 
 Henry IV. to the Dutch on their desiring 
 him to confer on them the national colors 
 of his country ; and they have since been 
 | borne successively by the Dutch republic 
 and the kingdom of the Netherlands. 
 The domestic livery of Louis XIV. was 
 tricolored, as were also the liveries of the 
 Bourbon kings in Spain. At the revolu- 
 tion, when the three colors were assumed
 
 TRlJ 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 609 
 
 on the national flag, they were borne in 
 the same order as the Dutch, but in a 
 different position, viz. the division of 
 colors parallel to the flag-staff ; whereas 
 in the Dutch flag it is at right angles 
 with it. Tricolored flags have been 
 adopted in some of the German states, 
 and in Belgium, &c.; and they are often 
 employed as emblematical of liberty. 
 
 TRI'DENT, an attribute of Neptune, 
 being a kind of three-pronged sceptre 
 which the fables of antiquity put into the 
 hands of that deity. 
 
 TRIERAR'CHIA, an Athenian in- 
 stitution which imposed on a certain body 
 of citizens the duty of fitting out triremes 
 for the use of the state. About 1200 
 citizens were usually chosen for this 
 purpose from the richest individuals, 
 and these were subdivided into clubs of 
 12 or 16 to each ship. Demosthenes in- 
 troduced a new regulation, by which the 
 burden to be borne by each individual 
 was made to bear a given proportion to 
 his property. 
 
 TRIET'BRIS, in Grecian chronology, 
 a cycle invented by Thales to connect his 
 year, which consisted of 12 months of 30 
 days each, amounting to 360 days ; this 
 falling short of the true solar year, he 
 inserted a month of 30 days at the end 
 of every three years, by which means he 
 made it exceed the true year by 13 days. 
 
 TRIFO'RIUM, (Latin,) in Gothic ar- 
 chitecture, an arched story between the 
 lower arches and the clere-story in the 
 aisles, choir, and transepts of a church. 
 An example may be seen in Westminster 
 Abbey, where the triforium aifords a 
 communicating gallery entirely round 
 the church. 
 
 TRIG'AMY, the state of having three 
 husbands or three wives at the same time. 
 
 TRIG'LYPH, in architecture, a mem- 
 ber of the Doric frieze, repeated at equal 
 intervals. 
 
 TRIL'LO, in music, a term by which 
 it is intimated that the performer is to 
 beat quickly on two notes in conjoint de- 
 grees alternately one after another, be- 
 ginning with the highest and ending with 
 the lowest. It is- marked with a single 
 T as well in a vocal as in an instrumen- 
 tal part. 
 
 TRI'LOBITES, the name given by 
 Cuvier to an order of Crustaceans, com- 
 prehending those remarkable fossil spe- 
 cies in which the body is divided into 
 three lobes by two fissures which run pa- 
 rallel to its axis. 
 
 TRIL'OGY, the word applied to a se- 
 ries of three dramas, which, although 
 39 
 
 each of them is in one sense complete, 
 yet bear a mutual rehition, and form but 
 parts of one historical and poetical pic- 
 ture. All the plays of yEschylus, and 
 the Henry VI. of Shakspeare, are exam- 
 ples of a trilogy. 
 
 TRIN'GLE, in architecture, a little 
 square member or ornament, fixed exact- 
 ly over every triglyph, under the plat- 
 band of the architrave, from whence the 
 guttae or pendant drops hang down. 
 
 TRINITA'RIANS, a religious order 
 founded in 1198 under the pontificate of 
 Innocent III. Its members devoted 
 themselves especially to the duty of ran- 
 soming captives taken by the Moors and 
 other infidels. Another body of Trinita- 
 rians was formed in consequence of a 
 reformation of the order in 1578. There 
 was also a fern ale order of the same name, 
 and dedicated to the same objects. 
 
 TRIN'ITY, in theology, the ineffable 
 mystery of three persons in one God 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
 
 TRIN'ITY HOUSE, a society so called 
 in England, incorporated by Henry VIII. 
 in 1515, for the promotion of commerce 
 and navigation, by licensing and regu- 
 lating pilots, ordering and erecting bea- 
 cons, light-houses, &c. This corporation 
 is governed by a master, four wardens, 
 eight assistants, and thirty-one elder bro- 
 thers ; besides numerous inferior members 
 of the fraternity, named younger breth- 
 ren. Many valuable privileges are at- 
 tached to this corporation, and its revenue 
 amounts to about 140. OOO/. per annum. 
 
 TRI'O, in music, an instrumental piece 
 of three obligato voices, or two chief 
 voices and an accompnnj'ing bass, or of 
 one chief voice and two accompanying 
 parts. 
 
 TRIOLETT', a stanza of eight lines, 
 in which, after the third the first line, 
 and after the sixth the first two lines, are 
 repeated, so that the first line is heard 
 three times. 
 
 TRIP'LET, in music, a name given to 
 three notes sung or played in the time 
 of two. 
 
 TRIP'LE TIME, in music, a time con- 
 sisting of three measures in a bar. 
 
 TRIPLI'CITY, in astrology, the divi- 
 sion of the signs according to the number 
 of the elenlents, each division consisting 
 of three signs. 
 
 TRI'POD, in Grecian antiquity, the 
 sacred seat, supported by three feet, on 
 which the priestesses among the ancients 
 used to deliver the oracles. 
 
 TRI'POS, at the university of Cam- 
 bridge, the name given to one who pre-
 
 610 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 pares what is termed a tripos paper A 
 tripos paper, also called a trifios, is a 
 printed list of the successful candidates 
 for mathematical honors, accompanied by 
 a piece in Latin verse. There are two 
 of these papers, designed to commemo- 
 rate the two tripos days, or days of ex- 
 amination. The first contains the names 
 of the wranglers, and senior optimes, and 
 the second the names of the junior op- 
 times. The word tripos is supposed to 
 refer to the three-legged stool, formerly 
 used at the examinations for these honors. 
 
 TRI'REME, in Greek and Roman an- 
 tiquity, a galley with three tiers or banks 
 of oars, in which the rowers were placed 
 upon seats ascending gradually one above 
 another. 
 
 TRISOLYMPON'ICA, in antiquity, 
 one among the Greeks who returned three 
 times victorious from the Olympic games, 
 and on whom special honors were con- 
 ferred by the state. 
 
 TRITHE'IST, in theology, one who 
 believes that there are three distinct 
 Gods in the Godhead, that is, three dis- 
 tinct substances and essences. 
 
 TRI'TONE, in music, an interval, now 
 generally called a sharp fourth, consist- 
 ing of four degrees, and containing three 
 tones between the extremes, on which 
 account the ancients gave it its name. 
 It is, moreover, divisible into six semi- 
 tones, three diatonic and three chromatic. 
 In dividing the octave, we find on one 
 side the tritone and on the other the false 
 fifth. 
 
 T RI'TONS, in the Greek mythology, a 
 kind of demi-gods, half man and half 
 fish, upon whom the Nereids rode. 
 
 TRI'UMPH, in Roman antiquity, a 
 public and solemn honor conferred by the 
 Romans on a victorious general, by al- 
 lowing him a magnificent procession 
 through the city. The triumph was of 
 two kinds, the greater and the less, the 
 latter of which was called an oration. 
 The splendid spectacle was as follows : 
 the whole senate went out to meet the 
 victor, who, being seated in a gilded char- 
 iot, usually drawn by white horses, and 
 clad in his triumphal robes, was followed 
 by the kings, princes, and generals whom 
 he had vanquished, loaded with chains. 
 Singers and musicians preceded, followed 
 by choice victims, and by the spoils and 
 emblems of the conquered cities and pro- 
 vinces. Lastly followed the victorious 
 army, horse and foot, crowned with laurel, 
 and adorned with the marks of distinc- 
 tion they had received, shouting lo tri- 
 umphe, and singing songs of victory, or 
 
 of sportive raillery. Upon the capitol, 
 the general rendered public thanks to the 
 gods for the victory, caused the victims to 
 be slaughtered, and dedicated the crown 
 which he wore and a part of the spoils to 
 Jupiter. All the temples were open, and 
 all the altars loaded with offerings and 
 incense ; games and combats were cele- 
 brated in the public places; the general 
 gave a costly feast, and the shouts of the 
 multitude rent the air with their rejoic- 
 ings. 
 
 TRIUM'PHAL ARCH, in architecture, 
 an arch erected to perpetuate the memo- 
 ry of a conqueror, or of some remarkable 
 victory or important event. At first it 
 consisted of a single arch, decorated mere- 
 ly with a statue and spoils of the victori- 
 ous commander ; but arches were after- 
 wards erected with two, and then with 
 three passages. Those on the Via Tri- 
 umphalis in Rome were the most magni- 
 ficent ; and in cases where they served as 
 gates, they were usually constructed with 
 two openings, so that one was appropriat- 
 ed for carriages passing into, and the 
 other for carriages passing out of the city. 
 The following is a list of some of the prin- 
 cipal triumphal arches of antiquity : The 
 arch at Rimini, erected in honor of Augus- 
 tus on the completion of the repairs of 
 the Flaminian Way from Rome to that 
 city. It was one of the noblest as well as 
 most ancient of the arches of the ancients, 
 having a Single passage about thirty- 
 three feet wide, and was, contrary to the 
 usual practice, crowned with a pediment. 
 The lesser arch of Septimus Severus at 
 Rome, commonly called the Arch of the 
 Goldsmiths, is a curious example, being 
 of a single opening, and crowned with a 
 flat lintel. An extremely elegant arch 
 at Susa, on the Italian side of Mont Ce- 
 nis. in honor of Augustus. The arches of 
 Aurelian and Janus, which possess more 
 
 | singularity than beauty. 
 
 TRIUM'VIRATE, an absolute govern- 
 
 1 ment administered by three persons, with 
 
 I equal authority; as that of Augustus, 
 Marc Antony, and Lepidus, which gave 
 the last blow to the Roman republic ; fer 
 
 ! Augustus having vanquished Lepidus and 
 
 ; Antony, the triumvirate was soon con- 
 
 I verted into a monarchy. 
 
 TRIUM VIRS, (triumciri.) in Roman 
 
 | history, three men who jointly obtained 
 the sovereign power in Rome. 
 
 TRO'CHEE, in the Greek and Latin 
 
 | poetry, a foot consisting of two s3 T llables, 
 
 j the first long, and the second short. 
 
 TRO'CHILUS, in architecture, a name 
 
 I used by the ancients for a hollow ring
 
 TRO] 
 
 , 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 611 
 
 round a column, which the moderns call 
 scotia. 
 
 TROG'LODYTES, certain tribes in 
 Ethiopia who are represented by ancient 
 writers as living in subterranean caverns, 
 and respecting whom we have many fab- 
 ulous stories. 
 
 TROM'BONE, a deep-toned instru- 
 ment of the trumpet kind, consisting of 
 three tubes ; the first, to which the mouth- 
 piece is attached, and the third, which 
 terminates in a bell-shaped orifice, are 
 placed side by side ; the middle tube is 
 doubled, and slides into the other two 
 like the tube of a telescope. By the side 
 of the tube, every sound in the diatonic 
 and chromatic scales being within its 
 compass, is obtained in perfect tune, and 
 thus the trombone surpasses every other 
 instrument, in admitting, like the violin 
 or the voice, the introduction of the slide. 
 The trombone is of three kinds, the alto, 
 the tenor, and the T)ase ; and in orches- 
 tral music, these are generally used to- 
 gether, forming a complete harmony in 
 themselves. 
 
 TROOP, in cavalry, a certain number 
 of soldiers mounted, who form a compo- 
 nent part of a squadron. It is the same 
 with respect to formation, as company in 
 the infantry. The word troops (in the 
 plural) signifies soldiers in general, 
 whether more or less numerous, inclu- 
 ding infantry, cavalry, and artillery. 
 
 TROPE, in rhetoric, a change in the 
 signification of a word, from a primary 
 to a derivative sense, a word or expres- 
 sion used in a different sense from that 
 which it properly signifies ; or a word 
 changed from its original signification to 
 another, for the sake of giving life or 
 emphasis to an idea ; as, when we call a 
 stupid fellow an ass, or a shrewd man a 
 fox. Tropes are chiefly of four kinds, 
 metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and 
 irony ; but to these may be added, alle- 
 gory, prosopopoeia, autonomasia, and per- 
 haps some others. Some authors make 
 figures the genus, of which trope is a 
 species ; others make them different 
 things, defining trope to be a change of 
 sense, and figure to be any ornament, ex- 
 cept what becomes so by such change. 
 
 TRO'PHY, anything taken and pre- 
 served as a memorial of victory, as arms, 
 standards, &c. taken from an enemy. It 
 was customary with the ancients to erect 
 their trophies on a spot where they had 
 gained a victory. At first they consisted 
 of the arms they had taken ; but after- 
 wards trophies were formed of bronze, 
 marble, or even gold. In architecture, 
 
 an ornament representing the stem of a 
 tree, charged or encompassed with mili- 
 tary weapons. 
 
 TROUBADOURS', poets who flourished 
 in Provence from the 10th to the 13tlt 
 century. They wrote poems on love and 
 gallantry, on the illustrious characters 
 and remarkable events of the times, &c., 
 which they set to music and sung : they 
 were accordingly general favorites in 
 different courts, diffused a taste for their 
 language and poetry over Europe, and 
 essentially contributed towards the res- 
 toration of letters and a love for the Arts. 
 The royal court in Provence, at Aries, 
 was, from the times of Boso I., for nearly 
 two centuries, the theatre of the finest 
 chivalry, the centre of a romantic life. 
 The assembly of knights and Troubadours, 
 with their Moorish story-tellers and buf- 
 foons, and ladies acting as judges or par- 
 ties in matters of courtesy, exhibit a 
 glittering picture of a mirthful, soft, and 
 luxurious life. The knight of Provence 
 devoted himself to the service of his la- 
 dy-love in true poetic earnest, and made 
 the dance and the sport of the tilt-yard 
 the great business of his life. Each 
 baron, a sovereign in his own territory, 
 invited the neighboring knights to his 
 castle to take parts in tournaments and 
 to contend in song, at a time when the 
 knights of Germany and Northern France 
 were challenging each other to deadly 
 combat. There the gallant knight broke 
 his lance on the shield of his manly an- 
 tagonist ; there the princess sat in the 
 circle of ladies, listening seriously to the 
 songs of the knights, contending in 
 rhymes respecting the laws of love, and 
 at the close of the contest, pronouncing 
 her sentence (arrel d'amour.) Thus the 
 life of the Provenfals was lyrical in the 
 highest degree ; but it was necessarily 
 superficial, and would lose its chief value 
 if unaccompanied by music. In the llth 
 and 12th centuries it had attained its 
 highest bloom : it had spread into Spain 
 and Lombardy, and even German empe- 
 rors (Frederic Barbarossa,) and English 
 kings (Richard Coeur de Lion,) composed 
 songs in the Provenfal dialect. But the 
 poetry of the Troubadours, as in the course 
 of time it became more common, became 
 degraded into mere ballad-singing ; and 
 the few specimens of it that have been 
 preserved, consist of short war-songs and 
 lyrics of pastoral life and love. 
 
 TRO'VER, in law, an action which lies 
 against any one who, having the goods 
 of another unjustly in his possession, re- 
 fuses to deliver them up.
 
 612 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 TDI 
 
 TRUCE, an agreement between states. 
 or those representing them, for the sus- 
 pension of hostilities. Such an agree- 
 ment, when made by officers of the state 
 in the general exercise of their duty, and 
 not authorized for the purpose expressly, 
 or by necessary implication, ranks among 
 that class of conventions which jurists term 
 sponsions, and which are binding only 
 if ratified. A general armistice or truce 
 differs from a partial, which is limited to 
 particular places ; as between two armies, 
 or between a besieged fortress and the 
 besieging army. The former, in general, 
 requires ratification ; power to include 
 the latter is held to be implied in the 
 general authority of military and naval 
 officers. 
 
 TRUCE OF GOD, a suspension of arms, 
 which occasionally took place in the 
 middle ages, putting a stop to private 
 hostilities. The right to engage in these 
 hostilities was jealously maintained by 
 the inferior feudatories of the several 
 monarchies of Europe. But it was re- 
 strained by the repeated promulgation 
 of these truces, under the authority of the 
 church. 
 
 TRUM'PET, the loudest of all portable 
 wind instruments, consisting of a folded 
 tube, generally of brass. Speaking 
 trumpet, a tube, from six to fifteen feet 
 in length, made of tin, perfectly straight 
 and having a very large aperture ; the 
 mouth-piece being large enough to ad- 
 mit both lips. By means of this instru- 
 ment the voice is carried, with distinct- 
 ness, for a mile or more. It is chiefly 
 used at sea. The feast of trumpets, a 
 festival among the Jews, observed on the 
 first day of the 7th month of the sacred 
 year, which was the first of the civil year, 
 and answered to our September. The 
 beginning of the year was proclaimed by 
 sound of trumpet. 
 
 TRUST, in law, is a term commonly 
 used to designate any equitable right or 
 interest, as distinguished from a legal 
 one ; properly, that class of equitable 
 rights supposed to be founded in the con- 
 fidence placed by one party in another ; 
 the name trustee denoting the person in 
 whom confidence is placed. The origin of 
 copveyances in trust may be traced to the 
 fidei commissum of the Romans, which 
 was a gift by will to a person capable of 
 taking in trust for another incapable by 
 the Roman law of taking such benefit, 
 whose claim under such gifts was for a 
 long time precarious, and merely fiduci- 
 ary, but came at length to be recognized 
 and enforced by law. 
 
 TRUSTEE', in law, one to whom is 
 confided the care of an estate, money, or 
 business, to keep or manage for the bene- 
 fit of another, either by the direction of a 
 body of creditors or at the instance of an 
 individual, &c., or by a legal instrument 
 called a deed of trust. 
 
 TRUTH, exact accordance with that 
 which is, has been, or shall be. Moral 
 truth consists in relating things according 
 to the honest persuasion of our minds, 
 and is called also veracity. Metaphysi- 
 cal or transoendental truth, denotes the 
 real existence of things conformable to 
 the ideas which we have annexed to their 
 names. 
 
 TU'BA, a wind instrument, used by 
 the ancient Romans, resembling our 
 trumpet, though of a somewhat different 
 form. 
 
 TU'DOR STYLE, in architecture, a 
 name frequently applied to the latest 
 
 Gothic style in England, called also 
 Florid Gothic. The period of this style 
 is from 1400 to 1537. It is character- 
 ized by a flat arch, shallow mouldings, 
 and a profusion of panelling on the 
 walls. 
 
 TUES'DAY, the third day of the week, 
 answering to the dies Martis of the Ro- 
 mans, but dedicated by the Saxons to 
 Tuisco. The peculiar attribute of the 
 deity worshipped under this name is not 
 clearly known. 
 
 TUI'LERIES, the residence of the 
 French monarchs, on the right bank of 
 the Seine, in Paris. It was begun by 
 Catharine de Medici, wife of Henry II., 
 in 1564, and the latest additions made to 
 it were by Napoleon, in 1808. The ex- 
 terior of the Tuileries is deficient in har- 
 mony, having been built at different
 
 TUS] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 613 
 
 times, and on very different plans, but 
 the interior is magnificent. 
 
 TU'MULUS, a barrow or mound of 
 earth in ancient times raised to the 
 memory of the dead. Barrows of loose 
 stones or of dark mould and flints are 
 very common in England ; and urns con- 
 taining the ashes of those who have here 
 been buried, with spears, swords, shields, 
 bracelets, beads, <fcc., -are among the prin- 
 cipal contents. We find, indeed, that 
 these rude funeral monuments are met 
 with in .most countries. 
 
 TUNE, a short air or melody ; a series 
 of musical notes in some particular mea- 
 sure, and consisting of a single series, for 
 one voice or instrument, the effect of 
 which is melody ; or a union of two or 
 more series or parts to be sung or played 
 in concert, the effect of which is harmo- 
 ny. Thus we say, a merry tune, a lively 
 tune, a grave tune, a psalm tune, a mar- 
 tial tune. Correct intonation in singing 
 or playing; the state of giving the proper 
 sounds; as when we say, a harpsichord is 
 in tune ; that is, when the several chords 
 are of that tension, that each gives its prop- 
 er sound, and the sounds of all are at due 
 intervals, both of tones and semitones. 
 
 TU'NING, the art or operation of ad- 
 justing the various sounds of a musical 
 instrument, so that they may be all ut 
 due intervals, and the scale of the instru- 
 ment brought into as correct a state as 
 possible. In tuning an instrument, the 
 first point is to fix upon some one note as 
 a leading note, and then by the pitch of 
 it to determine the relative sounds of all 
 the rest. The art or operation of ad- 
 justing two or more musical instruments, 
 so as to bring them into agreement with 
 each other, as two or more violins, a vio- 
 lin and violoncello, &c. Horns, fifes, 
 flutes. Ac., have a permanent relative 
 scale, and only change their pitch by 
 change of temperature. 
 
 TU'NING-FORK, a steel instrument 
 consisting of two prongs and a handle ; 
 used for tuning instruments, for regulat- 
 ing their pitch, and also the pitch of 
 voices. There are two kinds of tuning 
 forks in use ; one of which sounds C ma- 
 jor, and the other A minor. The first is 
 used in tuning piano-fortes, and the sec- 
 ond in orchestras, for the violins, &c. 
 
 TU'NIC, a garment worn within doors 
 by the Romans of both sexes, under the 
 toga : the slaves and common people only 
 appearing in it abroad. The senators 
 wore a tunic with a broad stripe of purple 
 sewed on the breast : the equites had nar- 
 row stripes. 
 
 TUN'NEL, a subterraneous passage. 
 Some are cut through hills to continue 
 the lines of canals, from half a mile to 
 two or three miles long ; others are 
 formed on the lines of railroad, where 
 steep hills render them necessary. 
 
 TUR'BAN, a head-dress worn by most 
 Oriental nations, of very various forms, 
 but consisting generally of a piece of fine 
 cloth or linen wound round a cap. The 
 cap is red or green, roundish on the top, 
 and quilted with cotton. The Turkish 
 sultan's turban contains three heron's . 
 feathers, with many diamonds and other 
 precious stones. The grand vizier has two 
 heron's feathers; other officers but one. 
 
 TUR'BARY, in English law, the right 
 of digging turf on another man's land. 
 Common of turbary, is the liberty which 
 a tenant enjoys of digging turf on the 
 lord's waste. 
 
 TURK'ISH AR'CHITECTURE, this 
 style assimilates itself, in a great meas- 
 ujg, to that of the Saracenic. In their 
 public buildings they indulge, above all 
 other things, in a great number of towers 
 and minarets. They employ little art, on 
 the other hand, in the construction of pri- 
 vate houses, the lower parts of which are 
 'generally of cut stone, and the upper of 
 bricks dried in the sun. The dwellings 
 of the rich are surrounded by a court- 
 yard ; and jn the interior is often a beauti- 
 ful hall, paved with marble and adorned 
 with fountains. This hall is ordinarily 
 of the whole height of the building, and 
 surmounted by a small dome. 
 
 TURN'PIKES, the name given to the 
 toll gates on the public roads, the ancient 
 gate being a mere pole or pike. 
 
 TUR'QUOISE, or TURK'OIS, a mine- 
 ral of a beautiful sky-blue color, occur- 
 ring in thin layers, or in rounded masses. 
 It is destitute of lustre, but susceptible 
 of a high polish, and is much used in 
 jewellery. It contrasts well with dia- 
 monds and pearls set in gold. Some nat- 
 uralists say that the turquoise is a" bone 
 impregnated with cupreous particles, and 
 not a real stone. 
 
 TUS'C AN ORDER, in architecture, one 
 of the five orders, and the simplest of 
 them all. It is not found in any ancient 
 example. Palladio has given two ex- 
 amples of this order, from one of which 
 the profile here given is adopted, though 
 by some that composed by Vignola has 
 been preferred. The base, as will be 
 seen on inspection, consists of a simple 
 torus with its fillet, accompanied by a 
 plinth. Sir William Chambers assigns 
 to the column, with its base and capital,
 
 614 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ULE 
 
 a height equal to seven of its diameters. 
 Vitruvius speaks of this order with little 
 praise, but Palladio commends it for its 
 
 great utility. It does not allow the in- 
 troduction of ornament ; and it is to be 
 observed, thai its columns are never 
 fluted. By some architects it has been va- 
 ried on the shaft with rustic cinctures ; but 
 such taste is perhaps very questionable. 
 
 TUT'TO, or TUT'TI, in Italian music, 
 a direction for all to play in full concert. 
 
 TWELFHIN'DI, among the Anglo- 
 Saxons, men of the highest rank, who 
 were assessed at 1200 shillings; and if 
 any injury were done to such persons, 
 siitisfaction was to be made according to 
 their worth. 
 
 TYM'PAN, in architecture, that part 
 of the bottom of the pediments which is 
 enclosed between the cornices. In car- 
 pentry, it is applied to the pannels of 
 doors in the same sense. Among the 
 Greeks and Romans, a tympanum was a 
 musical instrument, not unlike the tam- 
 bourine, beaten wirh the hand. 
 
 TYPE, in theology, a sign or symbol ; 
 a figure of something to come ; as, the 
 paschal lamb was a type of Christ. To 
 the word in this sense is opposed anti- 
 type ; Christ, therefore, is the antitype. 
 In natural history, type means a gene- 
 ral form, such as is common to the species 
 of a genus, or the individual of a species. 
 
 TY'PHON, the evil genius of Egyptian 
 mythology. According to Sir G. Wilkin- 
 son they seem to have acknowledged two 
 deities, who answered to the description 
 
 given by the Greeks of Typho. " One 
 who was the brother of Netpe, and op- 
 posed to his brother Osiris, as the bad to 
 the good principle ; the other bearing the 
 name of Typho, and. answering to that 
 part of his character which represents 
 him as the opponent of Horus :" the 
 true evil genius Ombte, whom the Greeks 
 seem to confound with Typho. " He is 
 figured under the human form, having 
 the head of a quadruped, with square- 
 topped ears, which some might have 
 supposed to represent an ass with clipped 
 ears, if the entire animal did not top 
 frequently occur to prevent this erroneous 
 conclusion." In his Egyptian names is 
 " Ombte," in which Sir G. Wilkinson 
 thinks he traces a connection with An- 
 tceus, the son of Earth. There appears 
 to have been a general propensity to 
 erase his figure and titles from the monu- 
 ments at some remote epoch. 
 
 TY'RANT, one who exercises arbitrary 
 or excessive power. A monarch or other 
 ruler who, by injustice or cruel punish- 
 ment, or the demand of unreasonable 
 services, imposes burdens and hardships 
 on those under his control, which law does 
 not authorize, and which are repugnant 
 to the dictates of humanity. The word 
 tyrant, in its original signification, mere- 
 ly meant an absolute ruler ; but the 
 abuse of the office led to a different ap- 
 plication of the word. 
 
 u. 
 
 U, the twenty-first letter and the fifth 
 vowel of the alphabet, is generally pro- 
 nounced nearly like eu shortened or 
 blended ; as in annuity, enumerate, mute, 
 duke, rule, infuse. In some words, as in 
 bull, pull, full, the sound of u is that of 
 the Italian u, the French ou, but short- 
 ened. Its other sound is heard in tun, 
 run, rub, snub. &c. 
 
 UBIQUITA'RIANS, in ecclesiastical 
 history, a sect of Lutherans who sprung 
 up in Germany about the year 1590, and 
 maintained that the body of Jesus Christ 
 is (ubique) omnipresent, or in every 
 place at the same time. 
 
 U'KASE, in Russia, a proclamation or 
 imperial order published. 
 
 ULE'MA, the college or corporation 
 composed of the three classes of the 
 Turkish hierarchy : the imans, or minis- 
 ters of religion ; the muftis, or doctors 
 of law ; the cadis, or administrators of 
 justice. This organization, according to
 
 TTNl] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 613 
 
 D'Ohisson was first framed by the caliphs, 
 and adopted, along with the other .prin- 
 ciples of their government, by the Otto- 
 man sultans. Candidates for admission 
 into the Uletna are educated at the dif- 
 ferent colleges (medresses) of the em- 
 pire. The Sheikh, ul Islam, or mufti of 
 Constantinople, is the president of the 
 whole body. 
 
 ULTIMATUM, (from ultimus, last,) 
 in modern diplomacy, the final condi- 
 tions offered for the settlement of a dis- 
 pute, or the basis of a treaty, between 
 two governments. The word is also used 
 for any final proposition or condition. 
 
 UL'TRA, a prefix to certain words in 
 modern politics, to denote those members 
 of a party who carry their notions to 
 excess. In 1793, those persons in France 
 were called ultra-revolutionists, who de- 
 manded much more than the constitution 
 they adopted allowed. When the Bour- 
 bons returned to France in 1815, the 
 words ultra-royalists and ultra-liberals 
 were much used, and have become com- 
 mon wherever political parties exist. 
 
 ULTRAMARINE', in painting, a 
 valuable pigment affording a beautiful 
 sky-blue color. Its name ultramarine 
 is derived from being brought from be- 
 yond sea. that is to say, from Hindostan 
 and Persia, and it was originally ob- 
 tained only from the rare mineral lapis 
 lazuli. Ultramarine ashes, a pigment 
 which is the residuum of lapis lazuli, 
 after the ultramarine has been extracted. 
 
 ULTRAMON'TANE, an epithet ap- 
 plied to countries which lie beyond the 
 mountain : thus France, with regard to 
 Italy, is an ultramontane country. 
 
 UM'BER. in painting, a pigment 
 affording a fine dark-brown color. It is 
 a dusky-colored earth, or ore, and was 
 formerly brought from Umbria, in Italy. 
 It is used in two states ; the first its 
 natural one, with the simple precaution 
 of levigation, or washing ; the second, 
 that in which it is found after being 
 burnt. The hues of burnt and unburnt 
 umber greatly differ from each other. 
 
 UN, in philology, a particle of nega- 
 tion, giving to words to which it is pre- 
 fixed a negative signification. Un and 
 in were formerly u-ed indifferently for 
 this purpose ; but the tendency of modern 
 usage is to prefer the use of in, in some 
 words, where un was before used. It is 
 prefixed generally to adjectives and par- 
 ticiples, but sometimes also to verbs, as 
 in unbend, unbind, <fec. 
 
 U'NA VO'CE, (Latin,) with one voice; 
 unanimously. 
 
 UNBELIEF', in the sense used in the 
 New Testament, signifies a disbelief of 
 the truth of the gospel, and a distrust 
 of God's promises, &c. 
 
 UN'CIAL, pertaining to letters of a 
 large size, used in ancient manuscripts. 
 
 UNC'TION, the anointing with con- 
 secrated oil, a practice among the Jews in 
 consecrating kings and priests ; also still 
 in use at coronations : and is one of the 
 seven sacraments of the Catholic church. 
 It is performed, in cases of mortal 
 disease, by anointing the head, hands, 
 and feet with oil consecrated by the 
 bishop, and accompanied with prayers. 
 The anointing of persons who are on 
 their death-bed is called extreme unction. 
 UNDERSTANDING, the intellectual 
 faculty, or that faculty of the human 
 mind by which it apprehends the real 
 state of things presented to it, or by 
 which it receives or comprehends the 
 ideas which others express and intend to 
 communicate. 
 
 UNDERWRITER, one who under- 
 signs a policy of insurance on a ship or 
 its cargo, at a certain rate per cent. 
 
 UNDINES', or ONDINES, the name 
 given by the Cabalists to one class of 
 their spirits of the elements, namely, 
 those residing in the waters. The an- 
 cient Greeks believed springs and lakes 
 to be haunted by a peculiar race of su- 
 pernatural nymphs, and this belief 
 passed down unimpaired to the middle 
 ages. The ancient Saxons adored the 
 female deity of the Elbe ; and the belief 
 in undines is still scarcely eradicated in 
 that region. The Saxon peasants report 
 that an undine is often met in the market- 
 place of Magdeburg, dressed as a girl of 
 their own class, but always to be known 
 by having one corner of her apron wet. 
 Near Toulouse many objects of value 
 were once discovered on draining a large 
 artificial lake, which are supposed to 
 have been thrown in as offerings to the 
 spirits of the water. The nixe of the 
 northern countries is of the same family, 
 and the Scottish kelpies are creatures of 
 a similar superstition. 
 
 UNIFORM'ITY, ACT OF, the act of 
 the English parliament by which the form 
 of public prayers, administration of sac- 
 raments and other rites, is prescribed to 
 be observed in all the churches. 
 
 UN'ION, or Act of Union, in politics, 
 the act by which Scotland was united to 
 England, or by which the two kingdoms 
 were incorporated into one, in 1707. Also, 
 the legislative union of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, in 1801. The United States are
 
 616 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [(TNI 
 
 also called the Union. Among painters, 
 union denotes a symmetry and agreement 
 between the several parts of a painting. 
 In architecture, harmony between the 
 colors in the materials of a building. In 
 ecclesiastical affairs, the combining orcon- 
 solidat ing of two or more churches into one. 
 
 U'NISON, in music, a coincidence or 
 agreement of sounds, proceeding from an 
 equality in the number of vibrations 
 made in a given time by a sonorous body. 
 Unison consists in sameness of degree, or 
 similarity in respect to gravity or acute- 
 ness, and is applicable to any sound, 
 whether of instruments or of the human 
 organs, <fcc. 
 
 UNITA'RIAN, a name used to desig- 
 nate a religious denomination who hold 
 to the personal unity of God, in opposi- 
 tion to the doctrine of the Unitarian faith. 
 They profess to derive their views from 
 Scripture, and to make it the ultimate 
 arbiter in all religious questions, thus 
 distinguishing themselves from the Ra- 
 tionalists (otherwise called the Anti-su- 
 pernaturalists) of Germany. They un- 
 dertake to show that, interpreted accord- 
 ing to the settled laws of language, the 
 uniform testimony of the sacred writings 
 is, that the Holy Spirit has no personal 
 existence distinct from the Father, and 
 that the Son is a derived and dependent 
 being, whether as some believe, created 
 in some remote period of time, or, as 
 others, beginning to live when he appear- 
 ed on earth. Three of the passages of the 
 New Testament, which have been relied 
 on to prove the contrary, (1 John v. 7 ; 
 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; and Acts xx. 28,) they 
 hold, with other critics, to be spurious. 
 Others (as John i. 1, &c. ; Romans ix. 5,) 
 they maintain to have received an erro- 
 neous interpretation. They insist that 
 ecclesiastical history enables them to 
 trace to obsolete systems of heathen phi- 
 losophy the introduction of the received 
 doctrine into the church, in which, once 
 received, it has been sustained on grounds 
 independent of its merits ; and they go so 
 far as to aver that it is satisfactorily re- 
 futed by the biblical passages, when 
 rightly understood, which are customari- 
 ly adduced in its support The principal 
 Unitarian authorities are Dr. Priestley 
 and Mr. Belsharn. who were among the 
 most active teachers of the doctrine in 
 Great Britain, and Dr. William E. Chan- 
 ning in this country, whose writings on 
 the subject have been widely circulated. 
 In the Unite 1 ! States, the Unitarian doc- 
 trine has prevailed to a considerable ex- 
 tent among the Congregatioualists of 
 
 i New England, and is said to number 
 about two hundred and fifty churches in 
 connection with that body. 
 
 U'NITIES, in the drama, are three 
 of time, place, and action. The latter 
 only is strictly adhered to in the dramatic 
 compositions of classical antiquity ; but 
 what is termed by moderns the classical 
 drama (in opposition to the romantic) re- 
 quires all three. 
 
 U'NITY, the state of being one ; one- 
 ness. Unity may consist of a simple sub- 
 stance or existing being, as the soul ; but 
 usually it consists in a close junction of 
 particles or parts, constituting a body de- 
 tached from other bodies. Unity is a thing 
 undivided itself, but separate from every 
 other thing. In poetry, the principle by 
 which a uniform tenor of story and pro- 
 priety of representation is preserved. In 
 the Greek drama, the three unities re- 
 quired were those of action, of time, and 
 of place ; in other words, that there should 
 be but one main plot ; that the time sup- 
 posed should not exceed twenty-four 
 hours, and that the place of the action be- 
 fore the spectators should be one and the 
 same throughout the piece. In the epic 
 poem, the great and almost only unity is 
 that of action. In music, such a combina- 
 tion of parts as to constitute a whole, or a 
 kind of symmetry of style and character. 
 In all the arts, the correspondence of the 
 various parts of a work, so that they may 
 form one harmonious whole. Unity is in- 
 dispensable in every work of art. In law, 
 the properties of a joint estate are deriv- 
 ed from its unity, which is fourfold ; unity 
 of interest, unity of title, unity of time, 
 and unity of possession; in other words, 
 joint-tenants have one and the same in- 
 i terest, accruing by one and the same con- 
 \ veyance, commencing at the same time, 
 j and held by one and the same undivid- 
 | ed possession. Unity of possession is a 
 | joint possession of two rights by seve- 
 ral titles, as when a man has a lease of 
 land upon a certain rent, and afterwards 
 buys the fee simple. This is a unity of 
 possession, by which the lease is extin- 
 guished. Unity of faith, is an equal be- 
 lief of the same truths of God, and pos- 
 session of the grace of faith in like form 
 and degree. Unity of spirit, is the one- 
 ness which subsists between Christ and 
 his saints, by which the same spirit dwells 
 in both, and both have the same disposi- 
 tion and aims; and it is the oneness of 
 Christians among themselves, united un- 
 der the same head, having the same spir- 
 it dwelling in them, and possessing the 
 same graces, faith, love, hope. Ac.
 
 ONI] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 617 
 
 UNIVER'SALISTS, those Christians 
 who believe in the final salvation of all 
 men, in opposition to the doctrine of eter- 
 nal punishment. There is, however, a 
 great difference of opinion, in regard to 
 the future state, among those who are 
 called Universalists : some believe in a 
 remedial punishment of limited duration, 
 which will end in a universal restoratien 
 to goodness and happiness ; others believe 
 that all men will be happy after the dig- 
 solution of the body, but in different de- 
 grees until the resurrection ; and yet 
 others hold that the future state of all 
 will be alike perfect and happy immedi- 
 ately after death. This denomination 
 has made great progress within a few 
 years in the United States, and numbers 
 about 1200 churches. 
 
 UNIVERSALITY, in painting. This 
 quality, though impossible, strictly speak- 
 ing, to be attained by any individual, 
 should, in a modified sense, be acquired 
 by the artist who enters for fame in the 
 hazardous lists of historical painting. 
 According to the subject which he has to 
 treat, it is requisite that he should know 
 well how to represent both landscape and 
 architecture. He will occasionally find 
 himself obliged to introduce the figures 
 of horses, dogs, tigers, lions, serpents, 
 <fec. Warlike arms, utensils devoted to 
 sacred ceremonies, whether ancient or 
 modern, groups of cattle, human figures 
 in short, almost every object which is 
 susceptible of exhibition on canvass may 
 be regarded as likely to fall in his way, 
 and to demand a faithful delineation. 
 The ancient artists, it is true, mostly dis- 
 claimed this universality ; with them the 
 sole object frequently was, to paint with 
 exactness and expression the human form: 
 but modern art has exploded their exclu- 
 sive system ; and requires at the hand of 
 the painter of history an acquaintance 
 with the extensive range to which we 
 have alluded. 
 
 U'NIVERSE, the collective name of 
 heaven and earth : or totality of space, 
 and all its material contents and phe- 
 nomena, of whose boundless extent and 
 smallest parts finite beings can have no 
 just idea ; but. as far as we can discover, 
 it is filled with an ethereal fluid, in which 
 masses of matter are equally disposed 
 throughout space, which masses, like our 
 sun, act as centres of motion, excite lumi- 
 nosity, and transfer motion and momenta 
 to subordinate spheres, like our earth, 
 bach centre being millions of millions 
 of miles distant from the others. 
 
 UNIVER'SITY, a name applied to an 
 
 establishment for a liberal education, 
 wherein professors in the several branch- 
 es of science and polite literature aro 
 maintained, and where degrees or honors 
 attached to the attainments of scholars, 
 are conferred. Such an establishment is 
 called a university or universal school, as 
 intended to embrace the whole compass 
 of study. The universities of Great Bri- 
 tain are seated at Oxford, Cambridge, St. 
 Andrew's, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edin- 
 burgh. They are governed by chancel- 
 lors, vice-chancellors, proctors, and bea- 
 dles ; and ever}' college has its master and 
 tutors ; there are also public lectures of 
 professors in every established branch of 
 knowledge. The students and all the 
 %nembers wear an ancient costume con- 
 sisting of trencher-caps and gowns, varied 
 according to their degrees, which are 
 bachelors of arts, divinity, law, music, 
 medicine ; masters of arts, and doctors of 
 divinity, law, and physic. The London 
 University and King's College, are two 
 collegiate establishments in the metropo- 
 lis, of recent foundation, which may prob- 
 ably be the precursors of others. Univer- 
 sities in their present form, and with 
 their present privileges, are institutions 
 comparatively modern. They sprang 
 from the convents of regular clergy or 
 from the chapters of cathedrals in the 
 church of Rome, where young men were 
 educated for holy orders, in that dark 
 period when the clergy possessed all the 
 little erudition which was left in Europe. 
 Probably in every town in Europe where 
 there 'is now a university, which has any 
 claim to be called ancient, these convents 
 were seminaries of learning from their 
 first institution ; for it was not till the 
 more eminent of the laity began to see 
 the importance of literature and science, 
 that universities distinct from convents 
 were founded, with the privilege of ad- 
 mitting to degrees, which conferred some 
 rank in civil society. These universities 
 have long been considered as lay corpora- 
 tions ; but as a proof that they had this 
 kind of ecclesiastical origin, it will be suf- 
 ficient to observe, that the pope arroga- 
 ted to himself the right of vesting them 
 with all their privileges ; and that, prior 
 to the Reformation, every university in 
 Europe conferred its degrees in all the 
 faculties by authority derived from a 
 papal bull. The most ancient universi- 
 ties in Europe are those of Oxford, Cam- 
 bridge, Paris, Salamanca, and Bologna; 
 and in the two English universities, the 
 first-founded colleges are those of Uni- 
 versity, Baliol, and Merton, in the for-
 
 618 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 mer, and St. Peter's in the latter. Oxford 
 and Cambridge however, were universi- 
 ties, or, as they were then called, studies, 
 some hundreds of years before colleges 
 or schools were built in them ; for the for- 
 mer flourished as a seminary of learning 
 in the reign of Alfred the Great, and the 
 other, if we may credit its partial histo- 
 rians, at a period still earlier. The univer- 
 sities of Scotland are four, St. Andrews, 
 Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh. 
 In Ireland there is but one university, 
 viz., that of Dublin, founded by Queen 
 Elizabeth, and very richly endowed. The 
 University of Oxford, in England, is an 
 establishment for the purposes of educa- 
 tion, which corresponds to a federal body 
 united for political purposes. As, in this 
 latter case, the several states have separ- 
 ate jurisdictions, separate duties, and to a 
 certain extent separate interests, so the 
 several colleges and halls which compose 
 the academical body, have each its own 
 private regulations for the education of its 
 members, but all contribute to the uni- 
 versity education. This may be brought 
 under the heads of public examinations 
 and college preparation. In its early 
 constitution, and in the gradual additions 
 which for many ages were made to it, 
 the system now followed in the German 
 universities was kept in view, and pro- 
 fessorships or readerships in the different | 
 arts and sciences were established ; but 
 these university officers are no longer the j 
 main sources of instruction. The demand i 
 for instruction created by the degree 
 examination, is met almost exclusively 
 by lectures delivered in the several col- 
 leges and halls, or rather, by private tu- 
 tors in the colleges and halls ; so exclu- 
 sively indeed, that, although some knowl- 
 edge of Greek is essential for a degree, 
 and a considerable proficiency for the 
 higher class degrees, the Greek professor 
 has no lectures. What is actually re- 
 quired for a degree of bachelor of arts is, 
 that the student should display some ac- 
 quaintance with the facts and doctrines 
 of the Christian religion, and especially 
 with the peculiar tenets of the church of 
 England, as set forth in its articles ; some 
 proficiency in the Greek and Latin lan- 
 guages, in one or more of the ancient 
 philosophical treatises, or, in lieu of this, 
 in a portion of ancient history : some 
 knowledge also, either of the elements of 
 logic or of the elements of geometry. 
 The statute, however, contemplates the 
 probability of a much higher standard of 
 qualification in a portion of the students ; 
 and for these it provides honors addition- 
 
 al to that of a mere degree. Their 
 names are printed, arranged in four cl;i>- 
 ses, according to a fixed standard of 
 merit for each class. The candidate 
 is permitted to name the book in which 
 he wishes to be examined : and the 
 examiners are, besides, at liberty to exa- 
 mine in any books which they may select. 
 The mathematical examinations ure con- 
 ducted principally by means of printed 
 questions, answered in writing. A candi- 
 date for the first class may be stated gen- 
 erally to have acquired a knowledge of, 
 1. the elements of analytical geometry 
 and trigonometry ; 2. the differential and 
 integral calculus and its applications; 3. 
 mechanics, including the principles of its 
 application to the solar system, embracing 
 the substance of the three first sections 
 of Newton's Principia, which are also 
 read in the original forms ; 4. the princi- 
 ples of hydrostatics, optics, and plane as- 
 tronomy. The examinations take place 
 twice a year. Prizes are given for the 
 encouragement of compositions in prose 
 and verse, in Latin and English. There 
 are also public scholarships, which ope- 
 rate as rewards and encouragements of . 
 general proficiency or particular acquire- 
 ments. These include classical literature, 
 mathematics, Hebrew, and the law. The 
 university also affords facilities for the 
 acquirement of various branches which 
 do not enter into the qualifications for a 
 degree. Thus the several professors of 
 geology, chemistry, and many other 
 branches of science, are always provided 
 with classes, often with numerous ones. 
 We now proceed to the college prepara- 
 tion for the public examinations. It is 
 this that really constitutes the Oxford 
 education. The process of instruction in 
 the college is by no means of recitations. 
 Every head of a house appoints a certain 
 number of tutors for this purpose. Ques- 
 tions are put by the tutor, and remarks 
 made by him on the book which is the 
 subject of study. He also gives direc- 
 tions respecting the proper mode of study- 
 ing. The students usually attend two, 
 three, or four tutors, why thus give in- 
 struction in different branches. The col- 
 lege tutor, moreover, has interviews, from 
 time to time, with his pupils, separately, 
 for the sake of ascertaining the indi- 
 vidual's state of preparation for the pub- 
 lic examination, assisting him in his 
 difficulties, Ac. .Besides these college 
 tutors, however, there are private tutors, 
 who superintend the studies of individu- 
 als, and prepare them for attendance on 
 the exorcises of the college tutors. These
 
 UNI] 
 
 AND THE FINK ARTS. 
 
 619 
 
 private tutors are particularly useful to 
 that large class of students who come 
 to college insufficiently prepared. The 
 college instruction closes at the end of 
 eaph term, with a formal examination of 
 each member separately, by the head and 
 tutors, who attend for this purpose. This 
 summing up of the business of the term 
 is called, in the technical language of the 
 place, collections or terminals. Each 
 student presents himself in turn, with the 
 books in which he has received instruction 
 during the term, and, in many colleges, 
 with the essays and other exercises which 
 he has written, his analyses of scientific 
 works, abridgments of histories and the 
 like. In some colleges the students are 
 required to present, for their examina- 
 tion, some book also, in which they have 
 not received instruction during the term. 
 Besides the other studies pursued in the 
 colleges, the students write weekly short 
 essays on a given subject, occasionally 
 interchanged with a copy of Latin verses, 
 for those skilled in versification. The 
 liberality of donors has enabled the col- 
 leges to provide indirectly for the pro- 
 motion of study by means of exhibitions, 
 scholarships, and fellowships. Every col- 
 lege and hall examines, if it thinks fit, 
 its own candidates for admission, and 
 pronounces, each according to a standard 
 of its own, on their fitness or unfifness 
 for the university. The first universities 
 founded in Germany wore those of Prague, 
 1348, and Vienna, 1365, both after the 
 model of thatof Paris: in both the divi- 
 sion into four nations was adopted. This 
 circumstance caused the decline of the 
 former, and the foundation of a new one. 
 The emperor Charles IV. had divided the 
 teachers and students, when the univer- 
 sity of Prague was founded, into the Bo- 
 hemian, Polish, Bavarian, and Saxon 
 nations. The Germans, therefore, (as the 
 Polish nation consisted chiefly of German 
 Silesians,) had the advantage over the 
 Bohemians : and, as these were unwilling 
 to suffer their oppressions, John Huss 
 and Jerome of Prague induced the em- 
 peror Wenceslaus to make three nations 
 of the Bohemian and one of the two Ger- 
 man. Several thousand students and 
 teachers withdrew immediately, and gave 
 rise to the university of Leipsic, in 1409, 
 where they were divided into four na- 
 tions, the Misnian, Saxon, Bavarian, and 
 Polish. None of the other German uni- 
 versities, founded in the fifteenth centu- 
 ry, adopted the division into nations. ' 
 Universities were now expressly estab- | 
 lished, and not loft to grow up of them- 1 
 
 selves, as before. For almost three cen- 
 turies, the popes continued to erect these 
 institutions, ajnd exercised the right of 
 protecting and of superintending them. 
 Monarchs who wished to establish a uni- 
 versity, requested the papal confirmation 
 (which never was denied,) and submitted 
 to the authority which the Roman see 
 arrogated over them. Wittenberg was 
 the first German universitv which re- 
 ceived its confirmation (in 1502,) not from 
 the pope, but from the German emperor ; 
 but even this institution eventually re- 
 quested the papal confirmation. Marburg 
 was established in 1525, without papal 
 or imperial confirmation : the latter, how- 
 ever, was subsequently given. Even 
 Gottingen, founded in 1734, obtained im- 
 perial privileges, after the model of those 
 of Halle. The unhappy thirty year's 
 war did much injury to the German uni- 
 versities ; but since that period, they have 
 advanced beyond those of any other coun- 
 try ; and it may be said that the principal 
 part of the liberty left to the Germans has 
 been academical liberty; hence, also, their 
 abive of it ; hence, too, the fondness with 
 which a German recalls his life at the uni- 
 versitv ; and hence the students' .jealousy 
 of their privileges. Germany has more 
 universities than any other country. The 
 general organization of a German univer- 
 sity is as follows : A number of prqfes- 
 sores ordinarii are appointed for the va- 
 rious branches. They divide themselves 
 into four faculties, each having a dean an- 
 nually chosen by themselves from among 
 their number. All these professors gen- 
 erally form the senate, at the head of 
 which is the rector, who is chosen an- 
 nually. They have jurisdiction over the 
 students, in regard to small offences and 
 matters of police, and make the general 
 provisions respecting instruction, with the 
 consent of the government. Professors 
 in most universities are appointed by the 
 government. Besides these professors, 
 there are an indefinite number of profes- 
 sores extraordinarii, for the same brunch- 
 es, or for particular parts of them. They 
 receive small salaries, and are the persons 
 to whom the government look to fill va- 
 cancies. They are generally persons who 
 have distinguished themselves, and whose 
 talents the government wishes to secure. 
 In Berlin, there are a great many of these 
 extraordinary professors. The last class of 
 lecturers are the docentes, or licentiates, 
 who, after undergoing an examination, 
 have obtained permission to teach (licen- 
 tia docendi.) They receive no salary. 
 Any person can request to be examined
 
 620 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [usir 
 
 by the faculty in this way, and thus ca- 
 pacitate himself to teach. From them 
 the prqfessores extraordir\arii are ordi- 
 narily taken. Every person in these 
 three classes can lecture upon whatever 
 subject he may choose, the professors being 
 only obliged to deliver lectures also on 
 the branches for which they are particu- 
 larly appointed. Thus we constantly find 
 theologians lecture on politics, philoso- 
 phers on theological subjects and statis- 
 tics ; theologians on philology, &c. Very 
 often three or four courses are delivered 
 on the same subject. The German stu- 
 dent, in the Protestant universities, is 
 left at full liberty to choose the lectures 
 which he will attend. No official exami- 
 nation takes place during his term of 
 study. The only regulation is that, in 
 the case of most sciences, he is required 
 to attend certain lectures, and study full 
 three years, if he wishes to obtain an ap- 
 pointment, practise a profession, &c., if 
 he is not specially exempted from so 
 doing. If he wishes to practise medicine, 
 he must study in Prussia four years. The 
 German student usually divides his term 
 of study among two or more universities ; 
 but whilst he is thus left almost a,t full 
 liberty while at the university, he must 
 go through a severe examination, particu- 
 larly in Prussia, if he wishes to become 
 a clergyman, statesman, practise as phy- 
 sican, lawyer, or teacher in a superior 
 school. These examinations are both 
 oral and in writing, and the successive 
 steps of promotion are attended with new 
 examinations. In the United States, the 
 word university has been applied to Har- 
 vard College at Cambridge, and other 
 smaller literary institution?, but not with 
 exact propriety, as those seminaries are 
 usually devoted to the elementary studies 
 of an academical course. 
 
 URA'NIA, in Grecian mythology, the 
 muse of astronomy. She is generally 
 represented with a crown of stars, in a 
 garment spotted with stars, and holding 
 in her left hand a celestial globe or a 
 lyre. Urania is likewise the name of 
 the heavenly Venus, or of pure intellec- 
 tual love. One of the Oceanides, or sea- 
 nymphs, was also called Urania. 
 
 U ' R I M, the Urim and Thummim, 
 among the Israelites, signify lights and 
 perfections. These were a kind of orna- 
 ment belonging to the habit of the high 
 priest, in virtue of which he gave oracular 
 answers to the people ; but what they were 
 has not been satisfactorily ascertained. 
 
 URN, in antiquity, a kind of vase of a 
 roundish form, but largest in the middle, 
 
 destined to receive the ashes of the dead. 
 The substances employed in the con- 
 struction of these vessels were numerous. 
 Amongst them are gold, bronze, glass, 
 terra cotta, marble, and porphyry. Many 
 have been discovered bearing inscriptions; 
 others with the name only of the party 
 to whose remains they were devoted. 
 It was also customary with the Romans 
 to put the names of those who were to 
 engage at the public games, into urns, 
 taking them in the order in which they 
 were drawn out. Into such a vessel also 
 they threw the notes of their votes at the 
 elections. The urn (urna) was also a 
 Roman measure for liquids, containing 
 about three gallons and a half, wine meas- 
 ure. It was half the amphora. 
 
 UR'SULINES ; or Nuns of St. Ursulm, 
 a sisterhood founded by St. Angela of 
 Brescia, in 1537, at first without being 
 bound to the rules of the monastic life, 
 but devoting themselves merely to the 
 practice of Christian charity and the ed- 
 ucation of children Many governments, 
 which abolished convents in general, pro- 
 tected the Ursulines on account of their 
 useful labors, particularly in the practice 
 of attending on the sick, and administering 
 to their cure and their comforts. 
 
 U'SANCE, in commerce, the time fixed 
 for the payment of bills of exchange, 
 reckoned either from the day on which 
 the bill is accepted, or from that of its 
 date, varying in different countries, and 
 thus called, because wholly dependent on 
 usage. 
 
 USH'ER, literally a "door-keeper;" 
 being derived from the French "huissier." 
 In Britain, usher is the name given to 
 several public officers, in which sense it 
 seems to be synonymous with sergeant. 
 These ushers are in waiting, introduce 
 strangers, and execute orders. Usher is 
 also used as the denomination of an assist- 
 ant to a school-master ; where it seems 
 to refer to his office of introducing the 
 scholars to learning. 
 
 USTRI'NUM, in Roman antiquities, a 
 public burning-place, enclosed by walls, 
 in which bodies, mostly of the poorer sort 
 of people, were consumed. An ustrinum, 
 according to Montfaufon, was square, 
 and in compass about 300 feet. 
 
 USUCAP'TION, in the civil law, the 
 acquisition of the title or right to prop- 
 erty by the undisputed possession and 
 enjoyment of it for a certain term pre- 
 scribed by law. 
 
 U'SUFRUCT, in the civil law, the tem- 
 porary use or enjoyment of lands or ten- 
 ements ; or the right of receiving the
 
 VAG] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS, 
 
 621 
 
 fruits and profits of an inheritance, with- 
 out a pdwer of alienating the property. 
 
 U'SURY, a compensation or reward for 
 money lent. In this sense it is merely 
 equivalent to interest. In the common 
 business of life, however, it rarely has 
 this signification ; but is chiefly used in 
 an odious sense, to express an exorbitant 
 or illegal compensation for money lent, 
 in contradistinction to legal interest. 
 
 UTILITA'RIANS, a name which has 
 been given to a particular sect of modern 
 politicians ; those, namely, who profess 
 to try the excellence of modes of govern- 
 ment and usages simply by their utility. 
 The celebrated Jeremy Bentham, regard- 
 ed as the founder of this sect, introduced 
 into the critical department of politics a 
 closer logic than had been commonly ap- 
 plied to it ; and aimed at applying his 
 famous principle, " the greatest happiness 
 of the greatest number," as an immedi- 
 ate test by which to affirm or deny the 
 value of institutions. It is evident that 
 all political sects, both of writers and 
 statesmen, profess ultimately the same 
 object. The real characteristic of the 
 Utilitarians consists in the peculiar sense 
 in which they understand it. They con- 
 fine for the most part the proposed utility, 
 so as to restrict it to that which is useful 
 for the material and economical well- 
 being of the multitude. 
 
 UTI POSSIDE'TIS, in politics, a treaty 
 which leaves belligerent parties mutually 
 in possession of what they have acquired 
 by their arms during the war is said to 
 be based on the principle of uti possidetis 
 " as you possess." 
 
 UTO'PIA, a term invented by Sir T. 
 More, and applied in his celebrated wrk 
 called Utopia to an imaginary island, 
 which he represents to have been discov- 
 ered by a companion of Amerigo Ves- 
 pucci, and as enjoying the utmost perfec- 
 tion in laws, politics, <fcc., in contradis- 
 tinction to the defects of those which then 
 existed. The work was first printed in 
 1516, but Froben's edition, of 1518, is 
 more correct. The word Utopia has now 
 passed into all the languages of Europe 
 to signify a state of ideal perfection ; and 
 Utopian is used synonymously with/aTi- 
 ciful or chimerical. 
 
 V. 
 
 V. the twenty-second letter of the al- 
 phabet, is a labial articulation, nearly 
 allied tof. being formed by the same or- 
 
 gans ; but v is vocal, and f is aspirate, 
 and this constitutes the principal differ- 
 ence between them. V has one sound 
 only, as in vain, very, vote, vanity. 
 Though v and u have as distinct uses aa 
 any two letters in the alphabet, they were 
 formerly considered as one letter; and in 
 some encyclopaedias and dictionaries the 
 absurd practice of arranging the words 
 which begin with these letters is still con- 
 tinued. As a numeral, V stands for 5 ; 
 and with a dash over it, in old books, for 
 5000. 
 
 VA, in music, Italian for " go on," as 
 va crescendo, go on increasing. 
 
 VACATION, in law, the period be- 
 tween the end of one term and the begin- 
 ning of another : and the same in the 
 universities. 
 
 VA'DE IN PACE, (Lat. go in peace.) 
 In monastic communities offences were 
 sometimes punished by the dreadful in- 
 fliction of starving to death in prison ; and 
 bones have been occasionally found among 
 the ruins of convents of victims who ap- 
 pear to have perished in this manner. 
 The punishment acquired this name from 
 the words in which the sentence was pro- 
 nounced. The use which Walter Scott has 
 made of this custom in his poem of Mar- 
 mion is well known. But it is no roman- 
 tic fiction. 
 
 VA'DE-MECUM (from the Latin, sig- 
 nifying Go icitk me,) a favorite book or 
 other thing that a person constantly car- 
 ries with him. 
 
 VA 'GRANT, in law, the word vagrant 
 has a much more extended meaning than 
 that assigned to it in ordinary language, 
 and in its application the notion of wan- 
 dering is almost lost. By the law va- 
 grants are divided into three classes 
 idle and disorderly persons ; rogues and 
 vagabonds ; incorrigible rogues. Under 
 the first class are included, every person 
 who refuses or neglects to maintain him- 
 self and family, he being able to do so ; 
 paupers returning without certificate to 
 parishes from which they have been le- 
 gally removed ; pedlars without license, 
 beggars, common prostitutes, <fcc. Under 
 | the second class, are included every per- 
 ! son committing any offence which would 
 constitute him an idle or disorderly per- 
 I son, and who has been once already con- 
 victed, fortune tellers, and other impos- 
 I tors ; persons guilty of indecent exhibi- 
 I tions ; persons collecting alms or money 
 I under false pretences ; wanderers who 
 ' have no visible means of subsistence, and 
 : cannot give a good account of themselves ; 
 j persona playing at games of chance in
 
 622 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [VAN 
 
 public place? ; reputed thieves ; persons 
 having in their possession housebreaking 
 implements or offensive weapons with in- 
 tent to use them. Under the third class 
 are included persons guilty of the last 
 class of offences, having been already con- 
 victed ; persons breaking out of legal con- 
 finement ; every person apprehended as a 
 rogue and vagabond, and violently resist- 
 ing any constable or other peace officer, 
 so apprehending him. For all these of- 
 fences the punishment is imprisonment or 
 hard labor for a longer or shorter period, 
 according to the nature of the particular 
 offence. In Scotland, the laws against 
 vagrants, as beggars, fortune tellers, jug- 
 glers, minstrels, &c., are of a much less 
 stringent nature, and such persons are 
 seldom apprehended or punished, unless 
 where police regulations are enforced, or 
 where they are entering a parish in the 
 face of an advertised prohibition, or where 
 they are committing or in the notorious 
 habit of committing petty delinquencies. 
 
 VAL'ENTINE'S DAY, the 14th of 
 February, a festival in the calendar in 
 honor of St. Valentine, who suffered mar- 
 tyrdom in the reign of the emperor Clau- 
 dius.- He was eminently distinguished for 
 his love and charity ; and the custom of 
 choosing valentines, or special loving 
 friends, on this day, is by some supposed 
 to have thence originated. The following 
 solution is, however, the more probable 
 one. It was the practice in ancient Rome, 
 during a great part of the month of Feb- 
 ruary, to celebrate the Lupercalia, which 
 were feasts in honor of Pan and Juno, 
 whence the latter deity was named Fe- 
 bruata, or Februalis. On this occasion, 
 amidst a variety of ceremonies, the names 
 of young women were put into a box, 
 from which they were drawn by the men, 
 as chance directed. The pastors of the j 
 early Christian church, who by every pos- 
 sible means endeavored to eradicate the 
 vestiges of pagan superstitions, and chief- 
 ly by some commutations of their forms, 
 substituted, in the present instance, the 
 names of particular saints, instead of 
 those of the women ; and as the festival 
 of the Lupercalia had commenced about 
 the middle of February, they appear to 
 have chosen Valentine's-day for celebrat- 
 ing the new feast, because it occurred 
 nearly at the same time. 
 
 VAL'ET, originally, the sons of 
 knights, and afterwards those of the 
 nobility before they had attained the 
 age of chivalry. The name is sometimes 
 written vasletus. and seems to be derived 
 from the same root with vassal ; probably 
 
 the Celtic gwas. Valet in French, and 
 varlet in English, degenerated in later 
 times into the signification of servant. 
 
 VALIIAL'LA, the palace of immor- 
 tality, in the Scandinavian mythology, 
 inhabited by the souls of heroes slain in 
 battle. 
 
 VALKY'RIUR, the Fates of the 
 Scandinavian mythology : the " choosers 
 of the slain," who conduct heroes killed 
 in battle to Valhalla. 
 
 VALLA'RIS CORO'NA, in antiquity, 
 a golden crown which the Roman generals 
 bestowed on him who, in attacking the 
 enemy's camp, first broke in upon the 
 lines or pallisades. It was also called 
 Corona castrensis. 
 
 VAL'LUM, among the Romans, was 
 the parapet which fortified their encamp- 
 ments. 
 
 VALO'REM, or AD VALOREM, ac- 
 cording to the value ; as, an ad valorem 
 duty. 
 
 VAL'UE, in commerce, the price or 
 worth of any purchasable commodity. 
 The intrinsic value denotes the real and 
 effective worth of a thing, and is used 
 chiefly with regard to money, the popular 
 value of which may be raised or lowered, 
 but its real or intrinsic value, depending 
 wholly on its weight and purity, is not 
 at all thereby affected The value of 
 commodities is regulated principally by 
 the comparative facility of their produc- 
 tion, and partly on the relation of the 
 supply and demand. But many other 
 causes operate to raise or depreciate the 
 value of an article ; as monopolies, 
 fashion, new inventions, the opening of 
 new markets, or the stoppage of com- 
 me,rcial intercourse through war, &c. 
 And, in fact, in all countries where mer- 
 chants are possessed of large capitals, 
 and where they are left to be guided in 
 the use of them by their own discretion 
 and foresight, the prices of commodities 
 will frequently be very much influenced, 
 not merely by the actual occurrence of 
 changes in the accustomed relation of 
 the supply and demand, but by the mere 
 anticipation of them. Value, in another 
 sense, denotes those properties in a thing 
 which render it useful or estimable : thus, 
 for instance, the real or intrinsic value 
 of iron is far greater than that of gold. 
 
 VAM'PLET, in archaeology, a piece 
 of steel, formed like a funnel, placed on 
 tilting spears just before the hand to se- 
 cure it, but which might be taken off at 
 pleasure. 
 
 VAN'DALS, a ferocious race, who, it 
 is believed, were either a Sclavonic tribe,
 
 VAU] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 623 
 
 or came from the north of Germany, be- 
 tween the Elbe and the Vistula. During 
 the 4th and 5th centuries they became 
 very powerful, and, under Genseric, their 
 king, overran Spain, Gaul, and Italy. 
 They subsequently established them- 
 selves in Africa ; but were eventually 
 subdued by Belisarius, the celebrated 
 lloman general in the reign of Justinian, 
 who took their king, Gelimer, prisoner, 
 and carried him to Constantinople in 
 triumph. From the ferocity of their 
 character, and the havoc they made of 
 the finest works of art, the words Van- 
 dalism and Vandalic have been applied 
 to such acts as imply a rude and savage 
 ferocity combined with a disregard of 
 the advantages of civilization. 
 
 VA'RIANCE, in law, a difference of 
 statement between two material docu- 
 ments in a cause ; as where the plain- 
 tiff's declaration differed (formerly) from 
 the writ, or where it differs from a deed 
 on which it is grounded. And, in or- 
 dinary language, a departure in the oral 
 evidence from the statement in the 
 pleadings is termed a variance. This 
 variance may be either immaterial or 
 material ; and, in the latter case, amend- 
 able or not : according to a great variety 
 of distinctions. Variation, in music, the 
 different manner of playing or singing 
 the same air or tune, by subdividing the 
 notes into several others of less value, or 
 by adding graces, Ac., yet so that the 
 tune itself may be discovered through all 
 its embellishments. In grammar, change 
 of termination of nouns and adjectives, 
 constituting what is called case, number, 
 and gender. 
 
 VARIO'RUM EDITIONS, in litera- 
 ture, editions of the Greek and Roman 
 classics, in which the notes of different 
 commentators are inserted. 
 
 VARRO'NIAN SATIRE, a species of 
 satire so called from the learned Varro, 
 who first composed it. The style was 
 free and unconfined, containing both 
 prose and verse intermixed according to 
 the fancy of the writer. 
 
 VAR'TABED, one of an order of 
 ecclesiastics in the Armenian church. 
 They differ from the priests by living in 
 seclusion and celibacy. They also preach, 
 while the priests do not. 
 
 VARU'NA, in Hindoo mythology, the 
 god of the waters, the Indian Neptune, 
 and the regent of the west division of the 
 earth. He is represented as awhile man, 
 four-armed, riding on a sea animal, with 
 a rope in one of his hands, and a club in 
 another. 
 
 VASE, in architecture, an ornament 
 placed on cornices, socles, or pediments, 
 representing such vessels as the ancients 
 used in sacrifices, &c. The Grecian art- 
 ists gave to every vase the shape best 
 adapted to its use, and most agreeable to 
 the eye. A great number of these ves- 
 sels have been preserved to the present 
 day, and offer to artists models of the 
 most beautiful forms. Among florists, 
 the calyx of a plant, as the tulip, is called 
 a vase. 
 
 VAT'ICAN, the ancient palace of the 
 popes, and the most magnificent in the 
 world, stands at Rome on the right bank 
 of the Tiber, and on the hill anciently 
 called by the same name ; derived, ac- 
 cording to Aulus Gellius, from Vaticini- 
 um, or rather from an ancient oracular 
 deity of the Latins, called by the Romans 
 Jupiter Vaticanus, who was worshipped 
 there. Some say that Pope Symmachus 
 began t^e construction of the palace. It 
 was inhabited by Charlemagne in 800; 
 and the present irregular edifice has been 
 raised by the gradual additions of a long 
 series of pontiffs. Its extent is enormous, 
 the number of rooms, at the lowest com- 
 putation, amounting to 4422 ; and its 
 riches in marbles, bronzes, and frescoes, 
 in ancient statues and gems, and in paint- 
 ings, are unequalled in the world ; not to 
 mention its library, the richest in Europe 
 in manuscripts. The length of the mu- 
 seum of statues alone is computed to be 
 a mile : here are the Sistine Chapel ; the 
 Camere of Raphael, painted by himself 
 and pupils ; the Museum of Pius VI., pe- 
 culiarly rich in objects of ancient Italian 
 workmanship ; and other deposits of art 
 and antiquity, each of which by itself 
 would suffice to render a city illustrious. 
 
 VAU'DEVILLE, in French poetry, a 
 species of light song, frequently of a sa- 
 tirical turn, consisting of several couplets 
 and a refrain or burden, introduced into 
 theatrical pieces. The origin of the word 
 is disputed ; some derive it from Vau-de- 
 vire, a village in Normandy. Short comic 
 pieces interspersed with such songs are 
 also termed Vaudevilles. 
 
 VAITDOIS, the inhabitants of some 
 valleys in the Alps between Italy and 
 Provence, from whence they derive their 
 name ; and who must be distinguished 
 from the Waldenses, or followers of Peter 
 Waldo, who acquired celebrity in the 12th 
 century, and from whom some writers 
 have deduced both their religious tenets 
 and their appellation also. The Vaudois 
 are celebrated for having maintained the 
 purity of their doctrine for many ages
 
 624 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [VED 
 
 before the Reformation ; and it has been 
 asserted by some theologians that the 
 true spirit of the primitive Christianity 
 was kept alive among them throughout 
 the whole period of Romish corruption. 
 This position, however, does not seem 
 susceptible of proof. Another claim that 
 they possess to a place in ecclesiastical 
 history, is derived from the numerous 
 persecutions to which they have been 
 exposed on account of the witness they 
 have so long borne against the erro- 
 neous doctrines of the nations by whom 
 they are surrounded. Their extreme 
 antiquity is certain at all events ; and 
 the numerous attempts which have been 
 made by Komanist writers to fix on them 
 the stigma of Manicheism seem unsup- 
 ported by the evidence. For the last 
 three centuries they have been viewed 
 with displeasure by the dukes of Savoy 
 and the kings of Sardinia, their masters, 
 and repeatedly visited with milifciry ex- 
 ecution, or more legal forms of violence. 
 One great persecution, in the 17th cen- 
 tury, is known to us by Milton's noble 
 sonnet. 
 
 VAULT, in architecture, a continued 
 arch, or an arched roof, so constructed 
 that the stones, bricks, or other material 
 
 of which it is composed, sustain and keep 
 each other in their places. Vaults are 
 of various kinds, cylindrical, elliptical, 
 single, double, cross, diogonal, Gothic, 
 Ac. When a vault is of greater height 
 than half its span, it is said to be sur- 
 mounted, and when of less height, sur- 
 based. A rampant vault is one which 
 springs from planes not parallel to the 
 horizon. One vault placed above an- 
 other constitutes a double vault. A conic 
 vault is formed of part of the surface of a 
 cone, and a spherical vault of part of the 
 surface of a sphere, as fig 4. A vault is 
 simple, as figs. 1 and 4, when it is formed 
 
 by the surface of some regular solid, 
 around one axis ; and compound, as figs. 
 2 and 3, when compounded of more than 
 one surface of the same solid, or of two 
 different solids. A groined vault, fig. 3, 
 is a compound vault, rising to the same 
 height in its surfaces as that of two equal 
 cylinders, or a cylinder with a cylindroid. 
 
 VAVASOR, an ancient title of nobili- 
 ty in England, said by Camden to be 
 next below a baron. 
 
 VEA'DER, the 13th month of the Jew- 
 ish ecclesiastical year. 
 
 VE'DA, the name by which the Hin- 
 doos designate the collective body of their 
 Scriptures ; sometimes called Vedam, 
 Bedam, <fcc., according to various provin- 
 cial pronunciations, by European writers. 
 The four Vedas (Rig, Yajust, Saman, and 
 Atharvan,) are believed, according to the 
 orthodox creed, to have been revealed by 
 Brahma. But the subdivisions are infi- 
 nite, as are also the connected works 
 Upavedas, Angas, Upangas, <fec. ; some 
 of which are considered by Mr. Cole- 
 brooke to constitute, according to received 
 opinion, a fifth Veda. The arrangement 
 is ascribed to one Vyasa, a sage of whom 
 nothing positive can be ascertained. The 
 Vedas chiefly consist of prayers, precepts 
 or maxims, and stories ; called respec- 
 tively by different titles. Thus a portion 
 of the mythological histories are called 
 Puranas ; but these are not to be con- 
 founded with the poems of romantic my- 
 thology called by the same name. The 
 genuineness and antiquity of the Vedas 
 have been matter of much dispute among 
 western antiquaries. The chief .chrono- 
 logical data are, that they were compiled 
 before the supposed incarnation of Vishnu, 
 as Rama and Kirshna, under which titles 
 he is now so commonly worshipped among 
 the Hindoos ; and also before the appear- 
 ance of Buddha. Sir William Jones gave 
 them a conjectural antiquity -of about 
 3000 years ; and Mr. Colebrooke arrives 
 at about the same conclusion. 
 
 VEDAN'TA, a sect among the Hin- 
 doos, whose theory of philosophy is pro- 
 fessedly founded on the revelations con- 
 tained in the Vedas. Its fundamental 
 tenets appear to have a near connection 
 with the opinions of Epicharmus, Plato, 
 Pyrrho, and what is termed the Berke- 
 lian philosophy among ourselves: namely, 
 that matter has no existence independent 
 of mental perception ; with the ordinary 
 consequences of that doctrine, of which 
 those practically most important are the 
 maxims of Quietism. 
 
 VEDET'TE, in military affairs, a sen-
 
 VJEN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 625 
 
 tinel on horseback detached from the main 
 body of the army, to discover and give 
 notice of the enemy's movements. 
 
 VEHMIC COURTS, criminal courts 
 of justice, established in Germany during 
 the middle ages. These courts are com- 
 monly said to have originated in those 
 held by the Missi Dominici, or imperial 
 legates, sent by Charlemagne into the 
 provinces of his empire ; but many cir- 
 cumstances denote their descent from the 
 more ancient tribunals of the German 
 tribes, held in the open air in the primi- 
 tive periods of their history. But the 
 character under which these institutions 
 became formidable and important, about 
 the beginning of the 13th century, arose 
 from the disordered state of northern 
 Germany after the dissolution of the 
 dtfehy of Saxony. The Vehmic. or as 
 they were called, free courts, wore then 
 modelled on a secret system of organiza- 
 tion. The president was usually a prince 
 or count of the empire ; his assistants 
 were persons affiliated to the society by 
 secret initiation, to the number, it is said, 
 at one time of 100,000. All these were 
 bound to attend the secret meetings of the 
 courts when summoned, and to execute 
 their decrees, if necessary, by taking the 
 life of persons condemned. Westphalia, 
 styled, in the language of the free courts, 
 the Red Land, was the district in which 
 their central authority was seated. These 
 courts exercised a great power, which 
 was occasionally serviceable in repressing 
 the lawless violence of the nobles of that 
 period, but which was also liable to be 
 perverted to the gratification of private 
 malice and tyranny. Various leagues 
 were formed in the fifteenth century, by 
 the nobles of the empire, for the purpose 
 of destroying their influence ; which was 
 at last effected, chiefly by the introduc- 
 tion of a better system of public judica- 
 ture and police in the several states. 
 
 VEH'TES, in antiquity, light armed 
 troops in the Roman armies, who derived 
 their name, a vdocitate, from their swift- 
 ness. They seem not to have been divid- 
 ed into distinct bodies or companies, but 
 to have hovered loosely in front of the 
 army. They were disposed sometimes 
 before the front of the hastati, sometimes 
 dispersed up and down among the void 
 spaces, and sometimes placed in two bod- 
 ies in the wings. The Velites generally 
 began the combat, skirmishing in flying 
 parties with the first troops of the enemy, 
 and, when repulsed, fell back by the 
 flanks of the army, or rallied again in 
 the rear. Their armor was a javelin, 
 40 
 
 casque, cuirass, and shield, all of a light 
 construction. 
 
 VEL'LUM, a fine kind of parchment 
 made of calves' skins, rendered particu- 
 larly clear and white. The invention of 
 vellum has been usually, though errone- 
 ously, ascribed to Attains, king of Perga- 
 mus, now Bergamo: but the art of 
 writing upon skins was known long before 
 the time of Attains, and is assignable to 
 Eumenes, king of Pergamus, the contem- 
 porary with Ptolemy Philadelphus, who^e 
 motive for giving his attention to the im- 
 provement of vellum is said to be as fol- 
 lows : The Egyptian monarch was anx- 
 iously employed in perfecting his magni- 
 ficent library at Alexandria ; with these 
 feelings ana views, he prohibited the ex- 
 portation of the papyrus from his domin- 
 ions, that he might not be subjected to 
 the inconvenience of wanting paper for 
 the multitude of scribes, whom he con- 
 stantly employed to copy the MSS. which 
 he had, by means of skilful emissaries, 
 collected in every part of the known world. 
 
 VENEER'ING, the art of inlaying 
 furniture, <fcc., with different kinds of 
 wood, metal, or other materials. Also, 
 of making representations of flowers, 
 birds, and otlftr figures. 
 
 VENE'TIAN SCHOOL, the distin- 
 guishing character of this school is color- 
 ing, and a consummate intellectual knowl- 
 edge of chiaro-scuro ; in both which, all is 
 grace, spirit, and faithful adherence to 
 nature, so seductive as to lead the spec- 
 tator away from any consideration of its 
 defects. It is an exquisite bouquet of 
 well-arranged flowers ; or a collection of 
 pulpy, juicy, saccharine fruits. But it is 
 not to be inferred that it is altogether 
 wanting in still higher accomplishments : 
 for the head of it was Tiziano de Vece'lli ; 
 and in its ranks are to be found Tintoret- 
 to, Paul Veronese, Giorgione, and many 
 other illustrious masters. See PAINTING. 
 
 VE'NIAL SIN, in theology, is defined 
 by Roman Catholic theologians, a sin 
 which weakens sanctifying grace, but 
 does not take it away. It is not neces- 
 sary, although commendable, to mention 
 such sin in confession. Reformed theo- 
 logians altogether reject the formal dis- 
 tinction between venial and mortal sin. 
 
 VENI'RE FA'CIAS, in law, a judicial 
 writ, directed to the sheriff, to cause a 
 jury to come or appear in the neighbor- 
 hood where a cause is brought to issue, to 
 try the same. A venire facias de nova, 
 being a writ directing the sheriff to cause 
 a jury to come and try a cause a second 
 time, is granted where there has been a
 
 626 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [VER 
 
 mis-trial ; on the ground of irregularity, 
 as, for instance, in summoning the jury ; 
 on the ground of misconduct by the jury ; 
 and also in certain cases where the ver- 
 dict given is imperfect by reason of some 
 ambiguity and uncertainty. The great 
 rule of difference between a venire de 
 novo in the latter case and a new trial is, 
 that the former is only granted on matter 
 appearing on the record. 
 
 VENI, SANC'TE SPIRI'TUS, (Lat. 
 Come, Holy Ghost.) The name given to 
 a mass in the Roman Catholic church to 
 invoke the assistance of the Iloly Spirit. 
 
 VEN'TIDUCT, in building, a passage 
 for wind or air ; a subterraneous passage 
 or spiracle for ventilating apartments. 
 
 VENTILA'TION, the act of expelling 
 impure air, and of dissipating noxious 
 vapors. Few persons are aware how 
 very necessary a thorough ventilation is 
 to the preservation of health. We pre- 
 serve life without food for a considerable 
 time ; but keep us without air for a very 
 few minutes, and we cease to exist. It is 
 not, however, enough that we have air ; 
 we must have/res/i air, for the principle 
 by which life is supported is taken from 
 the air during the act of breathing. One 
 fourth only of the atmosphere is capable 
 of supporting life ; the remainder serves 
 to dilute the pure vital air, and render it 
 more fit to be respired. 
 
 VENTRIL'OQUISM, an art or prac- 
 tice of speaking, by means of which the 
 voice appears to proceed from different 
 places ; though the utterer does not 
 change his place, and in many instances 
 does not appear to speak. It has been 
 considered that the sounds were produc- 
 ed independent of the labial and lingual 
 organs, and was supposed to be a natural 
 peculiarity, because few persons have 
 learned it by being taught ; but it is cer- 
 tain that practice only is necessary to 
 carry this act of illusion to a high degree 
 of perfection, and that the sound is not 
 produced during inspiration, but proceeds 
 as usual, during expiration, with a less 
 opened mouth. The art of the ventrilo- 
 quist consists merely in this : after draw- 
 ing a long breath, he breathes it out 
 slowly and gradually, dextrously dividing 
 the air, and diminishing the sound of the 
 voice by the muscles of the larynx and 
 the palate, moving the lips as little as 
 possible. 
 
 VEN'DE, in law, a neighborhood or 
 near place ; the place where an action is 
 laid. The county in which the trial of 
 a particular cause takes place, is said to 
 be the venue of that cause. Originally 
 
 jurors were summoned from the immedi- 
 ate neighborhood where a fact happened, 
 to try it by their own knowledge, but they 
 are nowsummonable from the body of the 
 county. In what are termed local actions, 
 the actual place in which the subject 
 matter is situated must be laid as the 
 venue in the action ; but in those actions 
 termed transitory, that is, actions of debt, 
 contract, for personal injuries, &c., any 
 county may be laid as the venue in the 
 action. In criminal trials, the venue is 
 the county in which the offence charged 
 was actually committed. The courts, 
 however, have a discretionary power of 
 changing the venue, both in civil and 
 criminal cases. 
 
 VERBA'TIM ET LITERA'TIM, [Lat.] 
 word for word, and letter for letter. 
 
 VER'DICT, in law, the answer of.a 
 jury given to the court concerning any 
 matter of fact in any cause, civil or crim- 
 inal, committed to their trial and exam- 
 ination. 
 
 VERGE, in law, the compass or extent 
 of the royal court, within which is bound- 
 ed the jurisdiction of the lord steward of 
 the royal household. 
 
 VER'GERS, certain officers of the 
 courts of the queen's bench and common- 
 pleas who carry white wands before the 
 judges. There are also vergers of cathe- 
 drals and collegiate churches, who carry 
 a rod tipped with silver before the bishop, 
 dean, &c. 
 
 VEllMIL'IOST, a red pigment, of a 
 hue between scarlet and crimson. There 
 are two kinds of vermilion ; the one 
 natural or native, and the other artificial 
 or factitious. Native vermilion is found 
 in several silver-mines, in the form of a 
 ruddy sand, which only requires to be pu- 
 rified. Factitious or common vermil- 
 ion is made of the red sulphuret of mer- 
 cury, or, as it was formerly called facti- 
 tious cinnabar, reduced to a very fine 
 powder. 
 
 VER'NAL, appearing in or appertain- 
 ing to the spring : as, vernal flowers are 
 preparatives to autumnal fruits. Vernal 
 signs, in astronomy, the signs in which 
 the sun appears in the spring. Vernal 
 equinox, the equinox in March ; opposed 
 to the autumnal equinox, in September. 
 
 VER'SATILE, an epithet for that 
 quality which enables persons to turn 
 readily from one thing to another. 
 
 VERSE, in poetry, a line or part of a 
 composition, the cadences of which are 
 similar in each. The harmony of every 
 verse is complete in itself. _Verses are 
 made up of feet, the number and species
 
 vie] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 of which constitute the character of the 
 verse, as hexameter, pentameter, &c. In 
 the Greek and Kotnan versification, afoot 
 was determined by its quantity ; in the 
 English, quantity is supplied by accent. 
 Blank-verse, poetry in which the lines do 
 not end in rhymes. Heroic verse usually 
 consists of ten syllables, or, in English, of 
 five accented syllables, constituting five 
 feet. Versification is the art of adjust- 
 ing the syllables, and forming them into 
 harmonious measure. 
 
 VERST, a Russian measure of length, 
 containing 3500 feet ; about three quar- 
 ters of an English mile. 
 
 VESI'CA PISCIS, a name given to a 
 symbolical representation of Christ, of a 
 pointed oval or egg-shaped fortn, made 
 by the intersection of two equal circles 
 cutting each other in their centres. The 
 actual figure of a fish found on the sar- 
 cophagi of the early Christians gave way, 
 in course of time, to this oval-shaped 
 ornament, which was the most common 
 symbol used in the middle ages. It is to 
 be met with sculptured, painted on glass, 
 in ecclesiastical seals, &c. &c. The aureole 
 or glory, in pictures of the Virgin, &c., 
 was frequently made of this form. 
 
 VES'PERS, the evening songs or pray- 
 ers in the Romish church. Sicilian ves- 
 pers, in French history, a massacre of all 
 the French in Sicily, in the year 1582. 
 It is so called, because the ring of the 
 bell for vespers was the signal. 
 
 VES'TALS, in antiquity, certain vir- 
 gins consecrated at Rome to the service 
 of the goddess Vesta, and to whom was 
 committed the care of the vestal fire, 
 which was to be kept perpetually burning 
 upon her altar. Their dress was a white 
 vest, with a purple border ; a white linen 
 surplice, called suparum linteum ; and 
 over this a large purple mantle, with a 
 long train. On their heads they wore the 
 infula, and from the infula hung ribbons. 
 When a vestal was convicted of unchasti- 
 ty, she was led to the Campus Sceleratus, 
 and stripped of her habit solemnly by the 
 pontiff. She was then put alive into a 
 pit, with a lighted candle, a little water 
 and milk, and thus covered up to pine and 
 languish away the short remainder of her 
 miserable existence. 
 
 VES'TIBULE, in architecture, a porch 
 or entrance into a building. In fortifica- 
 tion, that space or covered ground which 
 is in front of a guard-house. 
 
 VES'TRY, a place adjoining the church 
 where the vestments of the minister are 
 kept ; also where the parishioners assem- 
 ble for the discharge of parochial busi- 
 
 ness ; whence such a meeting is also called 
 a vestry. Vestry-clerk, an officer ap- 
 pointed to attend all vestries, and take 
 account of their proceedings, <fec. 
 
 VET'ERAN, among the Romans, a 
 soldier who had passed the legal age of 
 military service, which extended from 
 seventeen to forty-six, was termed vete- 
 ranus ; or, in the later times of the re- 
 public, one who had served a requisite 
 number of campaigns, generally twenty- 
 five. 
 
 VE'TO, in politics, the power en- 
 joyed by a branch of the legislature, 
 which cannot of itself originate or mod- 
 ify a law, to reject the propositions of 
 the other branch or branches. In the 
 Polish diet, every noble who was an in- 
 dependent member could prevent any res- 
 olution from passing by his simple dis- 
 sent (expressed in the words "Nie poz- 
 walam," / do not permit ) The privilege 
 of thus arresting the deliberations of the 
 diet was termed the " liberum veto," and 
 proved the fertile source of the disorders 
 and anarchy of that country. In most 
 constitutional monarchies the king has an 
 absolute veto (as in France and Eng- 
 land;) in some it is only suspensive. 
 Thus, in Norway, if three successive 
 storthings (assemblies) repeat the same 
 resolution, it becomes law against the 
 will of the king. The president of the 
 United States may return a bill, with his 
 reasons for dissenting from it, to the 
 house in which it originated ; but if both 
 houses pass it afterwards by a majority 
 of two thirds in each, it is not in his power 
 again to reject it. 
 
 VFADUCT, a structure made for con- 
 veying a carriage way, either by rais- 
 ing mounds or arched supports across 
 marshes, rivers, &c., as is the case with 
 some of the railroads, or. by perforation 
 through hills, &c. 
 
 VIAT'ICUM, among the Romans, an 
 allowance or provision made by the re- 
 public for such of its officers or magis- 
 trates as travelled upon the business of 
 the state into any of the provinces. The 
 term viaticum implies not only money 
 for defraying the expenses of travelling, 
 but their clothes, ornaments, baggage, 
 &c. Viaticum, in the church of Rome, 
 an appellation given to the eucharist, 
 when administered to persons at the point 
 of death. 
 
 VIA'TOR, in Roman antiquity, an ap- 
 pellation given in common to all officers 
 of any of the magistrates ; as lictors, ac- 
 censi, scribes, criers, <fec. 
 
 VIC'AR, a particular kind of parish
 
 ear 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 VIL 
 
 priest, where the predial tithes are im- 
 propriated, that is, belonging to a chapter 
 or religious house, or to a layman, who 
 receives them, and only allows the vicar 
 the smaller tithes as a salary. Vicars 
 apostolical, in the Romish church, are 
 those who perform the functions of the 
 pope in churches or provinces committed 
 to their direction. The title of vicar- 
 general was given by Ilenry VIII. to the 
 earl of Essex, with power to oversee all 
 the clergy, and regulate all church af- 
 fairs. It is now the title of an office, 
 which, as well as that of official principal, 
 is united in the chancellor of the diocese. 
 The business of the vicar-general is to 
 exercise jurisdiction over matters purely 
 spiritual. 
 
 VICE, (Lat. vice, in the turn or place,) 
 is used in composition to denote one qui 
 vicem gerit, who acts in the place of ano- 
 ther, or is second in authority. Thus we 
 have such words as vice-chamberlain, 
 vice-chancellor, vice-resident, vicegerent, 
 viceroy, ^c. Vice, in sniithery, an instru- 
 ment used for holding fast any piece of 
 iron which the artificer is working upon. 
 Among glaziers, a machine for drawing 
 lead into flat rods for case windows. 
 
 VIC'TOKY, in classical mythology, a 
 goddess, called by Varro the daughter of 
 Heaven and Earth. Her altar was pre- 
 served in the curia or senate-house of 
 Rome ; and its destruction was the sub- 
 ject of one of the latest contests between 
 Christians and pagans. 
 
 VIDELICET, in law. In pleading, it 
 is usual to state any allegation which 
 forms part of the facts set out, but which 
 it is not intended to prove with precision, 
 with the word "scilicet" (in English, 
 "to wit") preceding it. Thus, numbers 
 and dates, for instance, are frequently 
 laid under a videlicet : as where anything 
 is alleged to have taken place heretofore, 
 " to wit," on such a day; or where, in 
 trespass, the plaintiff charges the defend- 
 ant with carrying away or injuring 
 divers, " to wit," so many articles, &c. 
 The general rule on this subject is, that 
 where an allegation is in itself material, 
 so that the issue cannot be established 
 without it, there the putting a videlicet 
 before it will not dispense with the proof; 
 but where an allegation is in itself imma- 
 terial, there (in general, but not always,) 
 the omission of a videlicet before it will 
 render it material, and make it necessary 
 for the party so alleging it to prove it as 
 stated. But the distinctions on this 
 subject run, as may be supposed, into 
 extreme minuteness. 
 
 VI ET AR'MIS, in law, words made 
 use of in indictments and actions of tres- 
 pass, to show the violent commission of 
 any trespass or crime. 
 
 VT'GIL, an ecclesiastical usage, the 
 evening before a feast day, is so termed. 
 The observation of vigils is said by some 
 to be nearly the oldest of Christian cere- 
 monies. According to Lactantius, Je- 
 rome, and other ancient authorities, tho 
 second advent of our Saviour was ex- 
 pected to take place on the vigil of 
 Easter. They were originally celebrated 
 by meeting together at night (as they 
 are still on some occasions in the Eastern 
 churches,) and are said thus to preserve 
 the memory of the nocturnal assemblies 
 of Christians in times of persecution. 
 
 VIGNETTE', originally, a kind of 
 flourish of vine leaves and flowers in the 
 vacant part of the title-page of a book, 
 above the dedication, or at the end of a 
 division. At present, however, the word 
 signifies any small engraved embellish- 
 ment for the illustration or decoration 
 of a page of any work ; and, in a more 
 limited sense, such illustrations as are 
 softened off at the edges, and not ter- 
 minated by a definite boundary line. In 
 architecture, ornamental carving in im- 
 itation of vine leaves. 
 
 VIGORO'SO, in music, a term which, 
 prefixed to a movement, denotes that it 
 is to be performed with strength and 
 firmness. 
 
 VIK'ING, a pirate. The Vikingr 
 were Northmen who infested the Eu- 
 ropean seas in the 8th. 9th, and 10th 
 centuries. They were generally the sons 
 of Northern kings, who betook them- 
 selves to piracy as a means of distin- 
 guishing themselves, and of obtaining an 
 independent command. 
 
 VIL'LA, in Roman antiquities, origi- 
 nally any country dwelling, farm-house, 
 <fec., but in architectural language, the 
 country residences of individuals of the 
 wealthier classes were so called. Many 
 descriptions of ancient villas are hero 
 and there scattered in the pages of clas- 
 sical writers ; but the two most complete, 
 undoubtedly (besides those contained in 
 the work of Vitruvius,) are the accounts 
 given by Pliny the younger of his Lau- 
 rentine and Tuscan residences : the first 
 being the complete picture of a marine, 
 and the second of an inland villa. The 
 remains of the first are thought to have 
 been discovered not far from Ostia, in the 
 beginning of the last century. The most 
 important parts of an ordinary villa 
 were the porticoes, one or more, along
 
 vis] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 the front or sides of the mansion ; the 
 triclinium or dining-room : the wings 
 forming suits of living apartments, com- 
 monly called, in the time of Pliny, 
 diseta; ; the baths, with their appur- 
 tenances, the hypocausta or vaulted 
 heating-rooms, apodyteria or dressing- 
 rooms, rooms for exercise, &c. Adjacent 
 to the main portico are generally the 
 xystus. 
 
 VIL'LAGE, in English legal phrase- 
 ology, a subdivision of a parish ; some- 
 times a whole parish, and sometimes a 
 manor. Most commonly it means the 
 out part of a parish, consisting of a few 
 houses separate from the rest. In coun- 
 tries where there are peasants attached 
 to the glebe, or possessing distinct rights 
 and obligations from other subjects, a 
 village is properly a place inhabited by 
 peasants only. From the Latin villa 
 was derived the French ville, city, ori- 
 ginally signifying any residence ; and 
 thence a collection of houses which grad- 
 ually grew around a principal residence. 
 Thus, especially in Normandy, ville is a 
 common termination to the names of 
 towns. 
 
 VIL'LEIN, a name given, in ancient 
 times, to persons not proprietors of land, 
 many of whom were attached to the 
 land, and bound to serve the lord of the 
 manor. 
 
 VIN A'LIA, in antiquity, a festival ob- 
 served by the Romans, Aug. 19, in honor 
 of Jupiter and Venus. 
 
 VI'OL, a stringed musical instrument of 
 the same form as the violin, but larger. 
 Viols are of different kinds ; the largest 
 is called the bass viol, whose tones are 
 deep, soft, and agreeable. 
 
 VIOLIN', the most perfect of all string- 
 ed musical instruments played with the 
 bow. The violin consists of three chief 
 parts the neck, the table, and the sound- 
 board. The violin has four catgut strings 
 of different sizes, of which the largest is 
 wound round with wire. Music for the 
 violin is always set in the G key, which 
 on that account is called the violin key ; 
 and the excellence of the instrument con- 
 sists in its purity and distinctness, 
 strength, and fulness of tone. 
 
 VIOLONCEL'LO, a musical instrument 
 which comes between the viola di braccio 
 (or arm violin) and the double bass, both 
 as to size and tone. It is constructed en- 
 tirely on the same plan with the violin ; 
 and the player holds it between his knees. 
 Its notes are written in the F or bass 
 clef; and it generally accompanies the 
 double bass. 
 
 VIOLO'NO, the English double bass, 
 a deep-toned musical instrument, the 
 largest of the kind played with a bow, 
 and principally used to sustain the har- 
 mony. 
 
 VIR'GA, in archaeology, the rod or 
 staff which sheriffs, bailiffs, &c. carry as a 
 badge of their office. 
 
 VIR'GINAL, in music, a stringed and 
 keyed instrument resembling the spinnet. 
 It is now quite obsolete, though former- 
 ly in great repute. 
 
 VIR'TU, a lov of the Fine Arts, and a 
 taste for curiosities. 
 
 VIR'TUE, in moral philosophy, is em- 
 ployed both in an abstract and compre- 
 hensive sense, to signify the law or laws 
 in which right conduct consists, and also 
 concretely for that quality of actions and 
 persons which arises from their agree- 
 ment with the rules of morality. By 
 theories of virtue are understood the dif- 
 ferent explanations which have been giv- 
 en, both of that which distinguishes right 
 from wrong, and of the nature of the 
 feelings with which virtue and vice are 
 contemplated by mankind. The distinc- 
 tion of these two questions, so frequently 
 confounded by ethical writers, is due to 
 Adam Smith, but has since been strongly 
 insisted upon by Mackintosh and Hamp- 
 den. 
 
 VIRTUO'SO, one skilled in antique or 
 natural curiosities ; a lover of the liberal 
 arts. 
 
 VIS'COUNT, (pron. vi'count) in France 
 and England, a nobleman next in degree 
 to an earl. The first viscount was creat- 
 ed in the reign of Henry VI. A vis- 
 count's coronet has neither flowers nor 
 points raised above the circle, like those 
 of superior degree, but only pearls placed 
 on Siva, the circle itself. 
 
 VISH'NU, one of the three principal 
 deities of the Hindo* mythology, the 
 other two being Brama and Siva. He 
 is commonly called the Preserver, the 
 other two being respectively the Creator 
 and the Destroyer. The great objects of 
 his providence are brought about by his 
 successive incarnations or avatars, in 
 which he appears and acts on earth. 
 Nine of these have taken place. The 
 last is said to have been the appearance 
 of Buddha, which is supposed by some 
 learned orientalists to have taken place 
 about A.D. 1014 ; and hence the Buddhists 
 reject the Vedas, which were compiled 
 before that event. The tenth avatar of 
 Vishnu is yet to take place, when he 
 will appear on a white horse, with a 
 blazing scimitar, for the everlasting
 
 G30 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [voc 
 
 punishment of the wicked. One of the 
 incarnations of Vishnu is the celebrated 
 Juggernaut, whose temple and worship 
 hold such a prominent place in Indian 
 superstition. On the grand annual fes- 
 tival in his honor, all distinctions of 
 castes and classes are forgotten, and 
 even on that occasion the Brahminical 
 Hindoos and the followers of Buddha 
 cease their religious hostilities. The 
 word Juggernaut signifies literally Lord 
 of the Universe : and it is said that on the 
 day he expired, Buddha assumed this ap- 
 pellation, exclaiming " Universe, lam 
 thy Lord." 
 
 VIS'ION, BEATIF'IC, in theology. 
 The doctors of the church distinguish 
 three manners of seeing or knowing God : 
 which they call, 1 . Abstractive vision; i. e. 
 through the consideration of his attri- 
 butes. 2. Beatific or intuitive vision; that 
 which the faithful enjoy in heaven. The 
 belief termed Catholic by the Romanists 
 is, that this vision is accorded to the just, 
 who die without leaving a sin unexpiated, 
 immediately on their departure. The 
 Greek church holds that they do not en- 
 joy it until after the general resurrec- 
 tion. This is one of the opinions con- 
 demned by the Council of Florence in 
 1439 ; and its decision is confirmed by 
 that of Trent. 3. The third kind of vision, 
 or comprehension, is that which belongs 
 to God, who alone can know Himself as 
 "He is. Prophetic vision is only the 
 knowledge of future or distant events, 
 given by inspiration. 
 
 VISITA'TION, in ecclesiastical polity, 
 an office or act of superintendence, per- 
 formed by a bishop once in three years, 
 by visiting the churches and their rectors. 
 &c., throughout the whole diocese. Pa- 
 rochial visitation by the archdeacon is 
 annual. 
 
 VIS'ITOR. in law. an inspector into 
 the government of a corporation. 
 
 VIS'UAL, in perspective, the visual 
 point is a point in the horizontal line, in 
 which all the ocular rays unite. 
 
 VITRIFIED WALLS or FORTIFI- 
 CATIONS, ancient remains discovered in 
 Scotland, constructed of stones piled 
 rudely upon one another, and firmly ce- 
 mented together by some matter which 
 has been vitrified by means of fire. 
 They generally surround the top of some 
 steep conical hill. They have been dis- 
 covered chiefly in the Highlands, but 
 also in Galloway. The vitrification is 
 mostly external, the interior of the walls 
 being a mere heap of loose stones. 
 Daines Barrington considered the vitrifi- 
 
 cation to be accidental, but his explana- 
 tion of how it took place is not very 
 intelligible. It seems more reasonable 
 to suppose that the art was derived from 
 observation of the ease with which some 
 kinds of earth containing much iron ore 
 are vitrified by fire, and that the process 
 was rendered easy by the quantities of 
 wood which in early days covered the 
 Highlands 
 
 VIVA'CE, in music, an Italian epi- 
 thet, signifying lively ; and vivacissimo, 
 very lively. 
 
 VI'VARY, a place for keeping living 
 animals, as a park, a warren, a pond, 
 &c. 
 
 VI'VA VO'CE, (Latin,) by word of 
 mouth; as, to vote, or to communicate 
 with another person, vivd voce. 
 
 VIZIR, (in Arabic, a porter ; and, by 
 a singular metaphor, the title in various 
 oriental countries of a minister and 
 councillor of state.) The grand khalifs 
 had their vizirs, who attained to the 
 hiffeest rank and consideration in their 
 states, and were often more powerful 
 than their masters ; but after the crea- 
 tion of the new dignity of Emir-ul-ornrah 
 (commander of commanders,) by Khalif 
 Radhi, the older title lost much of its 
 consideration. In Turkey, the council- 
 lors of state who sit in the divan, gen- 
 erally eight in number, are styled vizirs ; 
 and the chief among them vizir azem, 
 rendered by us by grand vizir, which is 
 the highest temporal dignity in the em- 
 pire. 
 
 VOCAB'ULARY, a list or collection 
 of the words of a language, arranged in 
 alphabetical order and explained ; a 
 word-book ; the words of a science ; a 
 dictionary or lexicon. We often use vo- 
 cabulary in a sense somewhat different 
 from that of dictionary, restricting the 
 signification to the list of words ; as when 
 we say, the vocabulary of Johnson is 
 more full or extensive than that of En- 
 tick. We rarely use the word as synony- 
 mous with dictionary, but in other 
 countries the corresponding word is so 
 used, and this may be so used in Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 VO'CAL MU'SIC, music produced by 
 the voice, either unaccompanied or ac- 
 companied by instruments. Vocal music 
 has many advantages over instrumental, 
 in its endless variety of intonation and 
 expression, and in the support which it 
 derives from its connection with words. 
 
 VOCA'TION, in divinity, the grace 
 vouchsafed by God to any man in calling 
 him from death unto life, and putting
 
 vou] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 631 
 
 him into the way of salvation. It is also 
 used for the call of the Holy Spirit, by 
 which persons are supposed to be initiate ~ 
 into the clerical order. 
 
 VOICE, the g'ounds produced by the 
 organs of respiration, especially the 
 larynx. The lungs, the wind-pipe, &c., 
 the finely-arched roof of the mouth, and 
 the pliability of the lips, are each of the 
 greatest importance in producing the 
 % different intonations which render the 
 human voice so agreeable and harmoni- 
 ous. A good musical voice depends 
 chiefly upon the soundness and power of 
 the organs of utterance and of hearing ; 
 and is much promoted by the practice of 
 singing and gymnastic exercises that 
 expand the che-t. 
 
 VOIRE DIRE, in law, according to 
 ancient practice, an objection to the com- 
 petency of a witness, in a trial at com- 
 mon law, could only be taken on a pre- 
 liminary examination, in which the wit- 
 ness was sworn to speak the truth, and 
 then examined touching his interest in 
 the subject matter. The same practice is 
 still followed occasionally, although the 
 objection may now be taken when it 
 arises on the examination in chief. 
 
 YOL'TA, in music, an Italian word, 
 signifying that the part is to be repeated, 
 one, two, or more times. 
 
 VOL'TIGEUR, a foot-soldier in a se- 
 lect company of every regiment of French 
 infantry. Voltigeurs were established 
 by Napoleon during his consulate. Their 
 duties, exercises, and equipment, are 
 similar to those of our light companies. 
 In the United States, a light horseman. 
 
 VOL'TI SU'BITO, in music, a term 
 directing that the leaf is to be turned 
 t over quickly. 
 
 VOL'UME, properly signifies a roll or 
 book, so called a volvenrlo, because the 
 ancient books were rolls of bark or parch- 
 ment. This manner lasted till Cicero's 
 time. The several sheets or pieces were 
 glued or pasted end to end, and written 
 only on one side. At the bottom a stick 
 was fastened, called umbilicus, round 
 which it was rolled ; and at the other 
 end was a piece of parchment, on which 
 the title of the book was written in let- 
 ters of gold. Of such volumes, Ptolemy's 
 library in Alexandria contained, as some 
 authors say, 700,000. 
 
 VOL'UNTARY, in music, a piece play- 
 ed by a musician exteinporarily, accord- 
 ing to his fancy. 
 
 VOL'UNTEER, a person who enters 
 into military or other service of his own 
 free will. 
 
 VOLUTE', in architecture, a kind of 
 spiral scroll, used in the Ionic and Com- 
 posite capitals, of which it is a principal 
 ornament. The number of volutes in the 
 Ionic order is four ; in the Composite, 
 
 eight. There are also eight angular vo- 
 lutes in the Corinthian capital, accom- 
 panied with eight smaller ones, called 
 helices. 
 
 VOMITO'RIA, in architecture, the 
 openings, gates, or doors, in the ancient 
 theatres and amphitheatres, which gave 
 ingress and egress to the public. 
 
 VOTE, the suffrage of the people of 
 each of the members of an assembly, 
 where any affair is to be carried by a 
 majority assembled in large meetings. 
 
 VO'TIVE, in numismatics. Votive 
 medals are such as were struck in grate- 
 ful commemoration of any auspicious 
 event, such as the recovery from sickness 
 of a prince, &c. ; especially those of the 
 Roman emperors, struck every five, ten, 
 or twenty years, on which the public vows 
 on their behalf are recorded. The cus- 
 tom is said to have originated in the re- 
 peated continuance of Augustus in his 
 high offices at the prayers of the people 
 A votive tablet, picture, &c., is one dedi- 
 cated in consequence of the vow of a wor- 
 shipper ; in classical Europe some deity, 
 in modern Roman Catholic countries, tc 
 saints. 
 
 VOUCH'ER, one who gives witness 
 or full attestation to anything. In law, 
 the act of calling in a person to make 
 good his warranty of title. A book, pa- 
 per, or document which serves to vouch 
 the truth of accounts, or to confirm and 
 establish facts of any kind. The mer- 
 ihant's books are his vouchers for the cor- 
 rectness of his accounts. Notes, bonds, 
 receipts, and other writings, are used aa 
 vouchers in proving facts. In Scots law, 
 voucher is the technical name for the writ- 
 ten evidence of payment. 
 
 VOUS'SOIRS, in bridges, are the stones 
 which immediately form the arch, being 
 of the shape of a truncated wedge. Their
 
 632 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [WAG 
 
 under sides form .the intrados or soffitt. 
 The length of the middle voussoir, or key- 
 stone, ought to be about l-15th or l-16th 
 of the span, and the rest should increase 
 all the way down to the imposts. Their 
 joints should be cat perpendicular to the 
 curve of the intrados ; consequently the 
 angle of the sides is Determined by the 
 curvature. 
 
 VOW, a solemn and religious promise, 
 or oath. The use of vows is found in most 
 religions. They make up a considerable 
 part of the pagan worship, being made 
 either in consequence of some deliver- 
 ance, under some pressing necessity, or 
 for the success of some enterprise. Among 
 the Jews, all vows were to be voluntary, 
 and made by persons wholly in their own 
 power ; and if such person made a vow in 
 anything lawful and possible, he was 
 obliged to fulfil it. Among the Roman- 
 ists, a person is constituted a religious by 
 taking three vows, that of poverty, chas- 
 tity, and obedience. Vows, among the 
 Romans, signified sacrifices, offerings, 
 presents, and prayers made for the 
 Caesars and emperors, particularly for 
 their prosperity and the continuance of 
 their empire. 
 
 VOWEL, in grammar, a letter which 
 can be pronounced alone, thus distin- 
 guished from consonants, which require 
 to be sounded with the aid of a vowel. 
 They are divided in ancient prosody into 
 long, short, and common, i. e., either long 
 or short at pleasure. A diphthong con- 
 sists of two vowels, of which the sounds 
 run (or are supposed to run) into one 
 another. 
 
 VUL'CAN, in mythology, the Latin 
 name for the divinity called by the 
 Greeks Hephaestus, the god who presided 
 over the working of metals. He was also 
 called Mulciber. He was the son of Ju- 
 piter, who, incensed at his interference 
 on the part of his mother Juno, cast him 
 out of heaven : he fell in the isle of Lem- 
 nos, and broke his leg in the fall. His 
 feats as the patron of armorers and work- 
 ers in metal, his marriage with Venus, 
 and her infidelities, form the subjects of 
 many of the best known classical stories. 
 There is about the character of Vulcan 
 much of the usual confusion belonging to 
 Greek mythology. Cicero mentions three 
 Vulcans, besides the son of Jupiter : one, 
 the child of Uranus ; another, of Nilus, 
 who reigned in Egypt ; a third, of Macna- 
 lius. A peculiarity attending the wor- 
 ship of Vulcan was, that the victims were 
 wholly consumed, in reference to his char- 
 acter as god of fire. In sculpture, he is 
 
 represented as bearded, with a hammer 
 and pincers, and a pointed cap. He does 
 not appear lame, as represented by the 
 poets. Cicero, however, praises the sculp- 
 tor Alcamenes for making his lameness 
 observable without amounting to defor- 
 
 VULCAN'IC THE'ORY, a system 
 which ascribes the changes on the earth's 
 surface to fire, while others ascribe the 
 whole to water, under a theory called _ 
 Neptunian. 
 
 VUL'GATE, a very ancient Latin 
 translation of the Bible, which was trans- 
 lated from the Greek of the Septuagint. 
 It is the only one acknowledged by the 
 llomish church to be authentic. 
 
 w. 
 
 W, the twenty-third letter of the Eng- 
 lish alphabet, takes its written form from 
 the union of two V's, and its naino of 
 double u from the Roman capital V rep- 
 resenting that which we call U. In Eng- 
 lish it is always followed by a vowel, ex- 
 cept when followed by h, as in when, or 
 by r, as in wrong. The w, being a strong, 
 breathing, is nearly related to all aspi- 
 rated sounds, and throngh them again to 
 the gutturals, so that we find w and g 
 often interchanged in different languages, 
 as in the words William , G-uillaume, <fcc. 
 
 WAD'SETT, an ancient tenure or 
 lease of land in the Highlands of Scot- 
 land, which seems to have been upon a 
 kind of mortgage. 
 
 WA'GER OF BAT'TLE, an ancient 
 mode of trial by single combat, where, in 
 appeals of felony, the appellee might 
 fight with the appellant to prove his in- * 
 nocence ; and it is but recently that this 
 relic of barbarism and injustice has been 
 abolished. It was also used in affairs of 
 chivalry and honor, and in civil cases 
 upon issue joined in a writ of right. 
 
 WA'GER OF LAW, the offer, on the 
 part of the defendant in an action of debt 
 by simple contract, to take an oath in 
 court in the presence of eleven compur- 
 gators, that he owes the plaintiff nothing 
 in the manner and form as he has de- 
 clared, whereupon the law allows him his 
 discharge. 
 
 WA'GES, in political economy, are the 
 return made or compensation paid to 
 those employed to perform nny kind of 
 labor or service by their employers. In 
 ordinary language, the term wages is 
 usually employed to designate the sums
 
 WAK] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 633 
 
 paid to artisans or laborers employed in 
 manufactures, in household services, and 
 in agriculture, mines, and other manual 
 occupations. Substantially and in fact, 
 however, it has a much more extensive 
 application : the salaries of public func- 
 tionaries of all sorts, and the fees of law- 
 yers, physicians, and other professional 
 men, are as really wages as the sums 
 paid by them to the menials in their ser- 
 vice, and depend on the same laws and 
 principles. " Every man," says Dr. Pa- 
 ley, " has his work. The kind of work 
 varies, and that is all the difference there 
 is. A great deal of labor exists besides 
 that of the hands, many species of indus- 
 try besides bodily operation, equally ne- 
 cessary, requiring equal assiduity, more 
 attention, more anxiety. It is not true, 
 therefore, that men of elevated stations 
 are exempted from work ; it is only true 
 that there is assigned to them work of a 
 different kind ; whether more easy or 
 more pleasant may be questioned ; but 
 certainly not less wanted, nor less essen- 
 tial to the common good." 
 
 WAHA'BEES, a Mussulman sect, of 
 which the founder was a learned Arabian, 
 named Abd el Wahiib, who became per- 
 suaded of the corruption, both of doctrine 
 and practice, prevalent among the pro- 
 fessors of Islam, especially the Turks. 
 His daughter married Mohammed Ibn 
 Saoud, the principal person of the town 
 of Derayeh, who became his first convert 
 and leader of the sect, about 1760. Like 
 the original prophet of their faith, Saoud 
 and his followers propagated their doc- 
 trines at once by persuasion and arms. 
 Abd el Aziz and Ibn Saoud, the son and 
 grandson of the first Saoud, carried their 
 arms to the utmost extremities of Arabia, 
 and, conformably with the old Moham- 
 medan principle, established a spiritual 
 and temporal leadership united in their 
 persons. The Bedouins, or wandering 
 tribes, formed the bulk of their converts. 
 They acknowledged the Koran and the 
 Sunne, or orthodox tradition, and they 
 professed adherence to the liberal tenets 
 of both ; but they accused the other Mo- 
 hammedans of an idolatrous veneration 
 for the prophet and other saints, and de- 
 nied the intercession of saints altogether. 
 Like the early Protestants of Europe, 
 their favorite taste was the destruction 
 of the cupolas and tombs of saints. To 
 this the mob of Wahabys added a strong 
 aversion to the rich dress of the Turks, 
 and to the practice of smoking tobacco, 
 which had been prohibited by Abd el 
 Wahdb much on the same bold principle 
 
 which had induced Mohammed himself to 
 condemn the use of wine. The province of 
 Nedjd became the chief seat of the Waha- 
 by power. Under the last Saoud (a very 
 handsome man, whom the Arabs called 
 Abou Showareb, or the Father of Mus- 
 taches,) it reached its greatest extent. 
 Like the early caliphs, he administered 
 justice in person to great part of Arabia. 
 The Wahabys, in the first twenty years 
 of this century, extended their plunder- 
 ing expeditions to Syria, Irak, and Mes- 
 opotamia. In 1803 they took Mekka, 
 and soon conquered the Hidjah. In 1809 
 Mehernet AH began hostilities in Arabia ; 
 and in 1812 the Hidjah was restored, and 
 the caravans of pilgrims once more ar- 
 rived with their usual pomp at Mekka; 
 but for some years afterwards the Waha- 
 bys maintained their superiority in the 
 rest of Arabia. Saoud died in 1814, and 
 was succeeded in his political and relig- 
 ious authority by his son Abdallah, under 
 whom the Wahabys were finally subdued 
 by Mehemet AH ; but we possess no au- 
 thentic account of their conquest, or their 
 present condition. 
 
 WAIFS, in law, goods found, of which 
 the owner is not known, and which are 
 claimed by the crown. These were ori- 
 ginally such goods as a thief, when pur- 
 sued, threw away to prevent his being 
 apprehended. 
 
 WAIN'SCOT, in architecture, the 
 framed lining in panels wherewith a wall 
 is faced. The wood originally used for 
 this purpose being a species of foreign 
 oak, that wood has acquired the name 
 from the purpose to which it was thus 
 applied. 
 
 WAITS,formerly, minstrels or musical 
 watchmen, who attended on great men, and 
 sounded the watch at night. At present 
 the name is given to those itinerant musi- 
 cians who, in most of the large towns of 
 England andScotland, especially London, 
 go round the principal streets at night for 
 some time before Christmas, play two or 
 three tunes, call the hour, then remove 
 to a suitable distance, where they go 
 through the same ceremony, and so on 
 till four or five o'clock in the morning. 
 
 WAI'VER, in law, the passing by, or 
 declining to accept a thing ; applied 
 either to an estate, to a plea, <fec. 
 
 WAI'WODE, in the Turkish empire, 
 the governor of a small province 01 
 town. 
 
 WAKE, in antiquities and popular 
 
 usage, the word is of the same meaning 
 
 as vigil; and the custom originated in 
 
 I the processions which took place early in
 
 634 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [\VAP 
 
 the morning of feast days to the church, 
 and were not uncommonly followed by 
 revelling and drunkenness. At present 
 most fast days are popularly called wakes 
 by the English peasantry ; but the pe- 
 culiar " wake" or " revel" of county 
 parishes was, originally, the day of the 
 week on which the church had been dedi- 
 cated ; afterwards, the day of the year. 
 In 1536, an act of convocation appointed 
 that the wake should be held in every 
 parish on the same day, namely, the 
 first Sunday in October ; but it was dis- 
 regarded. Wakes are expressly men- 
 tioned in Charles the First's Hook of 
 Sports, among the feasts which it was his 
 majesty's pleasure should be observed. 
 The wake appears to have been also held 
 on the Sunday after the day of dedica- 
 tion : or, more usually, the day of the 
 saint to whom the church was dedicated. 
 A strange practice of celebrating fu- 
 neral rites by the lower orders in Ireland, 
 has been thus described by Miss Edge- 
 worth : "At night the body is waked; 
 that is to say, all the friends and neigh- 
 bors of the deceased collect in a barn or 
 stable, where the corpse is laid upon some 
 boards, or an unhinged door, supported 
 upon stools, the face exposed, the rest of 
 the body covered with a white sheet. 
 Round the body are stuck, in brass candle- 
 sticks, which have been borrowed per- 
 haps at five miles' distance, as many 
 candles as the poor person can beg or 
 borrow, observing always to have an odd 
 number. Pipes and tobacco are first dis- 
 tributed, and then, according to the abil- 
 ity of the deceased, cakes and ale, and 
 sometimes whiskey, are dealt to the com- 
 pany." 
 
 WALDEN'SES, in ecclesiastical his- 
 tory, a remarkable religious sect, said to 
 have derived their name from Peter Wal- 
 do, a merchant of Lyons, who preached 
 what he regarded as the pure doctrine of 
 the Scriptures about 1 180. Historians have 
 confounded them, on the one hand, with 
 the Vaudois (see that article,) who appear, 
 although their history is involved in 
 much obscurity, to be an older and separ- 
 ate people ; and on the other (especially 
 those of the Catholic party,) with the 
 Albigenses ; and thus it has been endeav- 
 ored to throw on them the discredit of 
 the Manichean tracts, which are common- 
 ly (but on very doubtful testimony) im- 
 puted to the latter. It seems clear, how- 
 ever, that the Waldenses were distinct 
 from these, and probably from the Vau- 
 dois also. Their distinguishing character, 
 it has been said, " seems to have consist- 
 
 ed in a strict adherence to what they con- 
 sidered to be the doctrine originally 
 delivered by Christ to his apostles." And 
 out of their extremely literal interpreta- 
 tion of the Gospel appears to have arisen 
 most of their peculiarities, whether good 
 or evil. They seein to have rejected an 
 established succession of the priesthood, 
 and the distinguishing characteristics of 
 the priestly office ; the high Catholic doc- 
 trine of the sacraments, besides the com- 
 mon ecclesiastical abuses of their day ; 
 and are said, in addition, to have protest- 
 ed against oaths, warfare, lawsuits, and 
 the accumulation of wealth. Their later 
 history is obscure ; and it may be said of 
 them, as well as of other sects of the day, 
 that they had little of the elements of 
 permanence, the same opinions being 
 continually promulgated afresh by new 
 reformers, and then receiving new de- 
 nominations. 
 
 WALPUR'GIS NIGHT, the night of 
 the 1st of May, a festival of St. Philip 
 and St. James. Saint Walpurga was an 
 English lady, sister of Boniface, the apos- 
 tle of the Germans : her festival falls on 
 the same day with that of the above-men- 
 tioned saints, and is a common day in 
 Germany, like Lady-day in England, for 
 the commencement of leases, <fec. It is 
 also known as the day on the eve of which, 
 according to popular superstition, the 
 great witch festival is held on the sum- 
 mit of the Brocken, in the Hartz moun- 
 tains. This superstition is supposed to 
 have originated in the rites performed by 
 the pagan remnants of the Saxons to 
 their gods, when their nation was forcibly 
 converted to Christianity ; which, being 
 secretly celebrated in remote places, 
 were supposed by the vulgar to be super- 
 natural orgies. 
 
 WALTZ, a national German dance, 
 but now common in England, and other 
 European countries. To waltz with ef- 
 fect, much grace and precision are neces- 
 sary, or else it becomes a mere vulgar 
 exercise. The waltz of the north of Ger- 
 many was grave and slow, whilst that of 
 the south is gay, and the quick gay waltz 
 is by far the most prevalent. 
 
 WAM'PUM, shells used by the Ameri- 
 can Indians as money or a medium of 
 commerce. These shells are run on a 
 string, and form a broad belt, which is 
 worn as an ornament or girdle. 
 
 WAP'ENSHAW, an exhibition of 
 arms, according to the rank of the individ- 
 ual, made formerly at certain times in 
 every district. These exhibitions or meet- 
 ings were not designed for military exer-
 
 WAR] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 635 
 
 tises, but only for showing that the lieges 
 were properly provided with arms. 
 
 WAP'ENTAKE, in law, a division or 
 district, peculiar to some of the northern 
 counties of England, and answering to 
 the hundred or cantred, in other counties. 
 This name had its origin in a custom of 
 touching lances or spears when the chief 
 or leading man of the hundred entered on 
 his office. 
 
 WAR, a contest between nations or 
 states, carried on by force, either for de- 
 fence, or for revenging insults and re- 
 dressing wrongs, for the extension of com- 
 merce or acquisition of territory, or for 
 obtaining and establishing the superiori- 
 ty and dominion of one over the other. 
 These objects are accomplished by the 
 slaughter or capture of troops, and the 
 capture and destruction of ships, towns, 
 and property. Among rude nations, war 
 is often waged and carried on for plun- 
 der. As war is the contest of nations or 
 states, it always implies that such contest 
 is authorized by the monarch or the sov- 
 ereign power of the nation. When war 
 is commenced by attacking a nation in 
 peace, it is called an offensive war, and 
 such attack is aggressive. When war is 
 undertaken to repel invasion or the at- 
 tacks of an enemy, it is called defensive, 
 and a defensive war is considered as jus- 
 tifiable. When war arises between dif- 
 ferent portions or members of the same 
 nation, or between the established govern- 
 ment of a nation, and a portion of the 
 people resisting it, it is called a civil war. 
 Very few of the wars that have desolated 
 nations and deluged the earth with blood, 
 have been justifiable. Happy would it be 
 for mankind, if the prevalence of Chris- 
 tian principles might ultimately extin- 
 guish the spirit of war, and if the ambi- 
 tion to be great might yield to the ambi- 
 tion of being good. The " rights of war" 
 are such as arise in times of hostilities 
 1. between enemies ; 2. between neutrals. 
 As between enemies, it is a general law 
 that subjects of a hostile state who are 
 not in arms, or who have submitted, may 
 not be slain. The killing of prisoners is 
 only justifiable in very extreme cases. 
 The usage of exchanging prisoners is now 
 general, but was only firmly established 
 in the 17th century; and it is not now 
 considered obligatory. As to property, 
 that belonging to the government of the 
 vanquished nation belongs to the victori- 
 ous state, wherever it is found ; but pri- 
 vate rights are unaffected by conquest, 
 with the remarkable exception of private 
 property when at sea, which is by gene- 
 
 ral usage held lawful prize. Acts of hos- 
 tility are only lawful, according to mod- 
 ern usage, when committed by those au- 
 thorized by the express or implied com- 
 mand of the state ; such as the regularly 
 commissioned military and naval forces 
 of the nation, and all others called out by 
 the government in its defence, as well as 
 persons spontaneously defending them- 
 selves in case of necessity. Irregular 
 bands of marauders are therefore denied 
 the rights of war, and liable to be treated 
 as banditti ; and this distinction is gene- 
 rally only observed so far as suits the bel- 
 ligerent's purpose. For private citizens 
 taking up arms, although in obedience to 
 proclamations, are constantly liable to be 
 treated as marauders ; as by the French 
 in the Peninsular war, and in numerous 
 other cases. 
 
 WARD, in law, a term applied to all 
 infants under the power of guardians. 
 A certain district, division, or quarter of 
 a town or city. 
 
 WAR'DEN, a keeper; as, the warden 
 of a prison. Warden of a college, the 
 head or president. Warden of the cinque 
 ports, an officer or magistrate who has 
 the jurisdiction of certain ports or havens 
 in England. 
 
 WARD'MOTE, a court kept in every 
 ward in London, usually called the ward- 
 mote court ; of this court the inquest has 
 power every year to inquire into all defi- 
 ciencies with regard to the officers of the 
 ward. 
 
 WARD'SHIP, guardianship ; care and 
 protection of a ward. Right of guardian- 
 ship. Wardship, under the feudal sys- 
 tem, was one of the incidents of tenure 
 by knight service. When the tenant 
 died, and his heir was under the age of 
 21, being a male, or 14, being a female, 
 the lord was entitled to the wardship of 
 the heir, and was called the guardian in 
 chivalry. This wardship consisted in 
 having the custody of the body and lands 
 of such heir, without any account of the 
 profits, till the age of 21 in males, and 
 14 (which was afterwards advanced to 16) 
 in females, the male heir being then con- 
 sidered capable of performing knight 
 service, and the female capable of marry- 
 ing. This right of wardship was abol- 
 ished under the commonwealth. Pupil- 
 age ; state of being under a guardian. 
 
 WARMTH, in painting, that glowing 
 effect which arises from the use of warm 
 colors, and also from the use of trans- 
 parent colors, in the process of glazing ; 
 opposed to leaden coldness. 
 
 WAR'RANT, in law, a precept autho-
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF L1TEKATUKE 
 
 [WED 
 
 rizing an officer to seize an offender and 
 bring him to justice. Warrant of attor- 
 ney, an authority given to an attorney 
 by his client to appear and plead for 
 him ; or in a more general sense, that by 
 which a man appoints another to act in 
 his name, and warrants his transaction. 
 Search warrant, a precept authorizing a 
 person to enter houses, Ac. to search for 
 stolen or contraband goods, or to discover 
 whether a criminal be there concealed. 
 Wan-ant officer, an officer holding a 
 warrant from the navy board, such as the 
 master, surgeon, purser, Ac. of a ship. 
 Press warrant, in the navy, a warrant 
 issued by the admiralty, authorizing an 
 officer to impress seamen. 
 
 WAR'RANTY, in law, a covenant by 
 deed, made by one party to another, to 
 secure to him the enjoyment of an estate 
 or other thing bargained for. Warranty 
 is real, when annexed to lands and tene- 
 ments granted in fee or for life. &c., and 
 personal, when it respects goods sold or 
 their quality. If a man sells goods 
 which are not his own, or which he has 
 no right to sell, the purchaser may have 
 satisfaction for the injury. And if the 
 seller expressly warrants the goods to be 
 sound, and they prove to be otherwise, he 
 must indemnify the purchaser. But the 
 warranty must be at the time of sale. 
 
 WAR'REN, a franchise or privileged 
 place for keeping beasts and fowls of the 
 warren, as hares, partridges, and pheas- 
 ants. 
 
 WAS'SAIL-BOWL, a large drinking 
 vessel, in which the Saxons, at their pub- 
 lic entertainments, drank health to each 
 other, saying, " Wses hsel !" " Health 
 be to you !" or " Your health !" It was 
 also a Saxon custom, to go about with 
 such a bowl, at the time of the Epiphany, 
 singing a festival song, drinking the 
 health of the inhabitants, and, of course, 
 collecting money to replenish the bowl. 
 This custom, from which christmas-boxes, 
 christmas-ale, bell men's verses, and 
 carols, are all, probably, more or less 
 derived, was called wassailing, and those 
 who practised it, wassailers. 
 
 WASTE, in law, an epithet for lands 
 which are not in any man's occupation, 
 but lie common. 
 
 WATCH AND WARD, the custom of 
 watching by night, and warding or keep- 
 ing the peace by day in towns and 
 cities, which was first appointed by Henry 
 
 WA'TER-COL'ORS, in painting and 
 limning, colors diluted and made with 
 gum- water instead of oil. The principal 
 
 of the water-colors are as follow: White 
 Ceruse, white lead, Spanish white, flake 
 white, spodium ; Black Burnt cherry- 
 stones, ivory black, lampblack; Green 
 Green bice, green verditer, grass green, 
 sap green, verdigris distilled; Blue 
 Sanders blue, terre blue, blue verditer, 
 indigo, litmus, smalt, Prussian blue, 
 light blue, ultramarine, blue bice ; Brown 
 Spanish brown, Spanish liquorice, um- 
 ber, bistre, terra de Sienna, burnt and 
 unburnt ; Red Native cinnabar, burnt 
 ochre, Indian red, red lead, minium, 
 lake, vermilion, carmine, red ink, Indian 
 lake ; Yellow English ochre, gall stones, 
 gamboge, masticot, ochre de luce, orpi- 
 ment, Roman ochre, Dutch pink, saffron 
 water, king's yellow, gold yellow, French 
 berries. 
 
 WA'TER-GAVEL, in law, a rent paid 
 for fishing, or any other benefit received 
 from some river. 
 
 WA'TER-LINE, a horizontal line sup- 
 posed to be drawn about a ship's bottom, 
 at the surface of the water. This is 
 higher or lower, according to the depth 
 of water necessary to float her. 
 
 WA'TER-LOGGED, is said of a ship 
 when, by leaking and receiving a great 
 quantity of water into her hold, she has 
 become so heavy as to be totally unman- 
 ageable. 
 
 WA'TERMAN, one who plies with a 
 boat upon a river ; a ferryman. 
 
 WA'TER-MARK, the utmost limit of 
 the rise of the flood. The mark visible 
 in paper, which is made in the manufac- 
 turing of it. -n 
 
 WA'TER-TABLE, in architecture, a 
 ledge in the wall of a building, about 18 
 or 20 inches from .the ground. 
 
 WAX'-WORK, figures formed of wax, 
 in imitation of real persons. Where the 
 likenesses are correct, and the artist has 
 displayed good taste in adjusting the 
 draperies, &c., a collection of wax-work 
 figures, representing public characters, 
 affords an amusing exhibition. But 
 figures of this kind overstep the proper 
 limit of the Fine Arts ; and their ghastly 
 fixedness has a tendency to make us 
 shudder even while gratifying our curi- 
 osity. At present wax is used for ana- 
 tomical preparations, or for fruits : it 
 also serves the sculptor for his models 
 and studies. 
 
 WAYS AND MEANS, the financial re- 
 sources to meet the public expenditure, 
 or supplies voted by Congress. 
 
 WEDNES'DAY, the fourth day of the 
 week, so called from Wodin, or Odin, a 
 deity or chief among the northern nations
 
 WES] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 637 
 
 of Europe. Ash Wednesday, the first 
 day of Lent. Some think the day receiv- 
 ed this name, or Dies cinerum, from the 
 custom in the early ages of the church, 
 of penitents appearing in sackcloth with 
 ashes on their heads. But, however cer- 
 tain it is that such a practice prevailed, 
 there is no evidence that it was done pre- 
 cisely on that day. 
 
 WEEK, a period of seven days, of un- 
 certain origin, but which has been used 
 from time immemorial in eastern coun- 
 tries. The week did not enter into the 
 calendar of the Greeks, who divided the 
 civil month into three periods of ten 
 days each ; and it was not introduced at 
 Rome till after the reign of Theodosius. 
 By some writers the use of weeks is sup- 
 posed to be a remnant of the tradition of 
 the creation ; by others, that it was sug- 
 gested by the phases of the moon ; while 
 a third class, with more probability, re- 
 fer its origin to the seven planets known 
 in ancient times. This opinion explains 
 the circumstance that the days of the 
 week have been universally named after 
 the planets, according to a particular 
 order. In the ancient Egyptian astron- 
 omy, the order of the planets, in respect 
 of distance from the earth, beginning 
 with the most remote, is Saturn, Jupiter, 
 Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the 
 Moon. The day was divided into 24 
 hours, and each successive hour conse- 
 crated to a particular planet in the order 
 now stated ; so that one hour being con- 
 secrated to Saturn, the next fell to Jupi- 
 ter, the third to Mars, and so on ; and 
 each day was named after the planet to 
 which its first hour was consecrated. 
 Now, suppose the first hour of a particu- 
 lar day to have been consecrated to 
 Saturn, it is evident that Saturn would 
 also have the 8th, the 15th, and the 22d 
 hours. The 23d hour would therefore 
 full to Jupiter ; the 24th to Mars ; and 
 the 25th, or the first hour of the following 
 day, would belong to the Sun, from which 
 it would take its naine. By proceeding 
 in the same manner, it is found that the 
 first hour of the third day would fall to 
 the Moon, the first of the fourth day to 
 Mars, of the fifth to Mercury, of the 
 sixth to Jupiter, and of the seventh to 
 Venus. The cycle being completed, the 
 first hour of the eighth day would return 
 to Saturn, and all the others constantly 
 succeed in the same order. According to 
 Dio Cassius, the Egyptian week began 
 with Saturday. The Jews, on their 
 flight from Egypt, made Saturday the 
 last day of the week. The Saxons seem 
 
 to have borrowed the week from some 
 eastern nation, substituting the names 
 of their own divinities for those of the 
 gods of Greece. In England, the Latin 
 names of the days are still retained in 
 legislative and judiciary acts. 
 
 WELL, a cylindrical excavation sunk 
 perpendicularly into the earth to such a 
 depth as to reach a supply of water, and 
 walled with stone or brick to support the 
 earth. Well, in the military art, a depth 
 which the miner sinks under ground, with 
 branches or galleries running out from 
 it, either to prepare a mine, or to discover 
 and disappoint the enemy's mine. 
 
 WELSH, the language or general 
 name of the people of Wales. The Welsh 
 call themselves Cymry, their country 
 Cymru, and tke name of their language, 
 Cymraeg. Tney are supposed to be the 
 Cimbri, of Jutland. It was to Wales that 
 the ancient Britons fled when Great Bri- 
 tain was invaded by the Saxons; and 
 there they long maintained themselves 
 as an independent state, preserving their 
 own language, and being governed by 
 their native kings ; till Llewellin, their 
 last prince, being vanquished and slain 
 in 1283, while resisting the forces of Ed- 
 ward I., the country was united to Eng- 
 land. The people submitted to the Eng- 
 lish dominion with extreme reluctance ; 
 and Edward, as a conciliatory means, 
 promised to give them for their prince a 
 Welshman by birth, and one who could 
 speak no other language. This notice 
 being received with joy, he invested in 
 the principality his second son, Edward, 
 then an infant, who had been born at 
 Carnarvon. The death of his eldest son, 
 Alphonso, happening soon after, young 
 Edward became heir also of the English 
 monarchy, and united both nations under 
 one government ; but some ages elapsed, 
 before the animosity which had long sub- 
 sisted between them was totally extin- 
 guished. 
 
 WER'EGILD, in ancient English law, 
 a compensation paid for a man killed by 
 the person who caused his death. Black- 
 stone says it was paid partly as a penal- 
 ty to the king for the loss of a subject, 
 partly to the lord of the vassal, and part- 
 ly to the next of kin. 
 
 WEST, one of the cardinal points, be- 
 ing that point of the horizon where the 
 sun sets at the equinox, or any point in 
 a direct line between the spectator or 
 other object, and that point of the horizon. 
 In a less strict sense, it is that region of 
 the hemisphere near the point where the 
 sun sets when in the equator.
 
 638 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [WHI 
 
 WESTERN E M'PIRE, the name given 
 by historians to the western division of 
 the Roman empire, when divided, by the 
 will of Theodosius the Great, between his 
 sons Honorius and Arcadius, A.D. 395. 
 After the deposition of the emperor Au- 
 gustulus by Odoacer, A.D. 476, the Wes- 
 tern empire was definitely at an end. 
 But when Charlemagne, in the year 800, 
 assumed the imperial crown, it was with 
 the view of reassuming the ancient dig- 
 nity of the Caesars in Western Europe ; 
 and after him the German emperors were 
 considered by the jurists of their own 
 country, and of their party in Italy, as 
 representing the majesty of ancient Rome, 
 the Italian states being looked on as feu- 
 datories of the empire. 
 
 WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY, a 
 name given to the synod of divines and 
 laymen, who in the reign of Charles I., 
 assembled by authority of parliament, in 
 Henry the Seventh's chapel, Westmin- 
 ster, for the purpose of settling the gov- 
 ernment, liturgy, and doctrine of the 
 Church of England. The great majority 
 of those who attended this assembly were 
 presbyterians. Those members of epis- 
 copalian principles refrained from attend- 
 ing, because the king had declared against 
 the assembly. The Westminster Assem- 
 bly continued in existence for five years 
 and a half. They signed the solemn 
 league and covenant, drew up the Con- 
 fession of Faith, a Directory for Public 
 Worship, the Larger and Shorter Cate- 
 chisms, and some other publications of 
 temporary importance. 
 
 WHEEL, BREAK'ING ON THE, 
 a mode of capital punishment, said to 
 have been first employed in Germany ; 
 according to some writers, on the mur- 
 derers of Leopold, duke of Austria, in 
 the 14th century. According to the Ger- 
 man method of this savage execution, 
 the criminal was laid on a cart-wheel 
 with his arms and legs extended, and 
 his limbs in that posture fractured with 
 an iron bar. But in France (where it 
 was restricted to cases of assassination, 
 or other murders of an atrocious descrip- 
 tion, highway robbery, parricide, and 
 rape ) the criminal was laid on a frame 
 of wood in the form of a St. Andrew's 
 cross, with grooves cut transversely in it 
 above and belorf the knees and elbows ; 
 and the executioner struck eight blows 
 with an iron bar, so as to break the limbs 
 in those places, sometimes finishing the 
 criminal by two or three blows on the 
 chest or f tomach : thence called coups de 
 grace. He was then unbound and laid 
 
 on a small carriage wheel, with his face 
 upwards, and his arms and legs doubled 
 under him ; there to expire, if still alive. 
 Sometimes the sentence contained a re- 
 tentum, by which the executioner was 
 directed to strangle the criminal, either 
 before the first, or after one, two or three 
 blows. This punishment was abolished 
 in France at the Revolution ; but it is 
 still resorted to in Germany as the pun- 
 ishment for parricide, the last instance 
 of which took place in 1827 near Gottin- 
 gen. The assassin of the bishop of Erme- 
 land in Prussia, in 1841, was sentenced 
 to the wheel. 
 
 WHIG, one of a political party which 
 had its origin in England in the 17th 
 century, in the reign of the Stuarts, when 
 great contests existed respecting the royal 
 prerogatives. Those who supported the 
 king in his high claims were called To- 
 ries, and the advocates of popular rights 
 were called Whigs. The term is of Scot- 
 tish origin, and was first used in the reign 
 of Charles II. According to Bishop 
 Burnet, it is derived from whiggam, a 
 word which was used by the peasants 
 of the south-west of Scotland, in driving 
 their horses ; the drivers being called 
 uhiggamores, contracted to whiggs. In 
 1648, after the news of the Duke of Ham- 
 ilton's defeat, the clergy stirred up the 
 people to rise and march to Edinburgh, 
 and they themselves marched at the head 
 of their parishes. The Marquis of Ar- 
 gyle and his party 'came and headed 
 them. This was called the whiggamores' 
 inroad, and ever after that all that op- 
 posed the court came, in contempt, to be 
 called whiggs; and from Scotland, the 
 word was brought to England, where it 
 has since continued to be used as the 
 distinguishing appellation of the political 
 party opposed to the Tories. It was 
 first assumed as a party name by that 
 body of politicians who were most active 
 in placing William III. on the throne of 
 England. Generally speaking, the prin- 
 ciples of the whigs have been of a pop- 
 ular character, and their measures, when 
 in power, tending to increase the demo- 
 cratic influence in the constitution. In 
 American history, the friends and sup- 
 porters of the war and the principles of 
 the revolution, were called whigs, and 
 those who opposed them were called 
 tories and royalists. One of the two 
 great political parties in the United 
 States, is called whig. 
 
 WHIS'PERING DOMES, or GALLE- 
 RIES, are places in which whispers or 
 feeble sounds are communicated to a
 
 WIN] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 635 
 
 greater distance than under any ordinary 
 circumstances. In order to produce this 
 effect, the form of the roof or walls of the 
 building must be such that sound pro- 
 ceeding from one part is transmitted by 
 reflection or repeated reflections to an- 
 other. The dome of St. Paul's church in 
 London furnishes an instance. 
 
 WHIST, the most perfect game at the 
 card table, requiring great attention and 
 silence, whence its name. This game is 
 played by four persons, who cut for 
 partners ; the two highest and the two 
 lowest are together, and the partners sit 
 opposite to each other : the person who 
 cuts the lowest card is to deal first, giving 
 one at a time to each person, till he comes 
 to the last card, which is turned up for 
 the trump, and remains on the table till 
 each person has played a card. The 
 person on the left hand side of the dealer 
 plays first, and whoever wins the trick is 
 to play again, thus going on till the cards 
 are played out. The ace, king, queen, 
 and knave of trumps are called honors; 
 whichever side holds three of these 
 honors, reckons two points towards the 
 game, or for the whole of the honors, four 
 points, the game consisting of ten points. 
 The honors are reckoned after the tricks ; 
 all above six tricks reckoning also to- 
 wards the game. 
 
 WHITFIELD'IAN METH'ODISTS, 
 the name given to the most numerous 
 body of the Methodists after the Wesley- 
 ans ; so called from Whitfield, whose 
 early connection with the Methodists will 
 be found noticed under that term. Soon 
 after the return of Mr. Whitfield from 
 America in 1741, he withdrew connection 
 from Wesley on account of religious 
 tenets ; the former holding the high doc- 
 trine of Calvinism, and differing from the 
 latter chiefly on the subjects of election 
 and general redemption. But though 
 they differed in sentiments, these good 
 men lived and died united in heart. 
 AVhitfield devoted his life to itinerant 
 preaching, and was, if possible, more 
 popular as an energetic and eloquent 
 pulpit orator than his former coadjutor, 
 lie did not confine his labors to Great 
 Britain and Ireland, but visited North 
 America no fewer than seven different 
 times ; and died there at Boston, in 1770, 
 in the fifty-sixth year of his age. But 
 he can scarcely be said to be the founder 
 of a sect : his chief object was itinerating. 
 At several places, indeed, he erected 
 chapels, or tabernacles, as he called them ; 
 but these he invariably left to the care 
 of any orthodox clergyman, whether in. 
 
 the establishment or among the dissen- 
 ters, who was prepared to occupy them. 
 
 WHIT'SUNTIDE, the fiftieth day 
 after Easter, and which is properly called 
 Pentecost. It is said to have received its 
 popular name from the circumstance, 
 that, formerly, people newly baptized 
 came to church between Easter and Pen- 
 tecost in white garments. 
 
 AVICK'LIFFITES, a religious sect 
 which sprung up in England in the reign 
 of Edward III., and took its name from 
 John Wickliffe, doctor and professor of 
 divinity in the University of Oxford, who 
 maintained that the substance of the sacra- 
 mental bread and wine remained unalter- 
 ed after consecration ; and opposed the doc- 
 trine of purgatory, indulgences, auricular 
 confession, the invocation of saints, and 
 the worship of images. He made an 
 English version of the Bible, and com- 
 posed two volumes called Aletheia, that 
 is, Truth, from which John Huss learned 
 most of his doctrines. In short, to this 
 reformer we owe the first hint of the ref- 
 ormation, which was effected about two 
 hundred years after. 
 
 WIG'WAM, a name given by the 
 English to the huts or cabins of the North 
 American Indians. 
 
 WILL, that faculty of the mind by 
 which we determine either to do or for- 
 bear an action. The will is directed or 
 influenced by the judgment. The under- 
 standing or reason compares different ob- 
 jects, which operate as motives ; the 
 judgment determines which is prefer- 
 able, and the will decides which to pur- 
 sue. The freedom of the will is essential 
 to moral action, and is the great distinc- 
 tion of man from the brute. 
 
 WILL or TES'TAMENT, the disposi- 
 tion of a person's estate, to take effect 
 after his or her decease. No person un- 
 der twenty-one can make a valid will. 
 Wills are to be construed as if made im- 
 mediately before the death of the testa- 
 tor, unless a contrary intention is ex- 
 pressed ; and properties bequeathed in 
 general terms include all property in the 
 possession of the testator at his decease, 
 whether acquired before or after the will 
 was made. 
 
 WINCHESTER BUSH'EL, the origi- 
 nal English standard measure of capacity, 
 given by King Edgar, and kept in the 
 town-hall of the ancient city of Winchester, 
 with other measures both of quantity and 
 length. Until the year 1826, when the 
 imperial standard measure was introdu- 
 ced, the Winchester bushel was the stand- 
 ard for England.
 
 640 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 WIN'TER, ode of the four seasons of 
 the year, commencing on the day when 
 the sun's distance from the zenith of the 
 place is the greatest, and ending on that 
 when it is at a mean between the great- 
 est and the least. The coldness of winter 
 is therefore owing to the shortness of the 
 days, or time during which the sun is 
 above the horizon, and the oblique direc- 
 tion in which his rays fall upon our part 
 of the globe at that season. 
 
 WIS'DOM, the right use of knowledge. 
 It may be considered both as a faculty of 
 the mind and as an acquirement. In 
 the former sense it is the faculty of dis- 
 cerning or judging what is most just, 
 proper, and useful ; in the latter, the 
 knowledge and use of what is best, most 
 just, and most conducive to prosperity or 
 happiness. In Scripture theology, wis- 
 dom is the knowledge and fear of God, 
 and sincere and uniform obedience to his 
 commands ; in other words, true religion. 
 Wisdom of Solomon, one of the books 
 of the Apocrypha. It is by many thought 
 to have been written after the cabalistic 
 philosophy was introduced among the 
 Jews. 
 
 WIT, in its original signification, was 
 synonymous with wisdom. Thus we read 
 of our ancient witenagemot, or Saxon 
 parliament, an assembly of wise men ; 
 and so late as the Elizabethan age, a 
 man of great or pregnant wit, meant a 
 man of vast judgment. The word wit, 
 however, like many other words, has in 
 the course of time undergone various 
 mutations. According to Locke, wit lies 
 in the assemblage of ideas, and putting 
 those together with quickness and variety, 
 so that a congruity of associations and 
 pleasant images may be present to the 
 fancy ; while Pope defines it to be a quick 
 conception and an easy delivery. It is 
 evident that wit excites in the mind an 
 agreeable surprise, and that this is en- 
 tirely owing to the strange assemblage j 
 of related ideas presented to the mind. 
 Of so much consequence are surprise and 
 novelty, that nothing is more vapid than 
 a joke that has become stale by frequent 
 repetition. For the same reason, a witty 
 repartee is infinitely more pleasing than 
 a witty attack ; and a pun or happy al- 
 lusion thrown out extempore in conversa- 
 tion, will often appear excellent, though 
 it might be deemed execrable in print. 
 Humor and wit are both addressed to the 
 comic passion ; but humor aims at the 
 risibility, and wit at the admiration ; 
 humor is the seasoning of farce, and wit 
 of comedy; humor judges by instiqet; 
 
 wit by comparison. As a learned divine 
 has well observed, " sometimes it playeth 
 in words and phrases, taking advantage 
 from the ambiguity of their sense, or the 
 affinity of their sound ; sometimes it is 
 wrapped in a dress of humorous expres- 
 sion ; sometimes it lurketh under an odd 
 similitude ; sometimes it is lodged in a 
 sly question, in a smart answer, in a 
 quirkish reason, in a shrewd intimation, 
 in cunningly diverting or cleverly retort- 
 ing an objection ; sometimes it is couched 
 in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, 
 in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling meta- 
 phor, in a plausible reconciling of contra- 
 dictions, or in acute nonsense. Often it 
 consisteth in one knows not what, and 
 springeth up one can hardly tell how." 
 Note. It is difficult to give any strict 
 definition of the term wit, its precise 
 boundaries being still too unsettled. It 
 has passed through a greater variety of 
 significations in the course of the last 
 two centuries than most other terms in 
 the English language. Originally, wit 
 signified wisdom ; and anciently a man 
 of icitte, was a wise man. In the reign 
 of Elizabeth, a man of pregnant wit, or 
 of great wit, was a man of vast judgment. 
 In the reign of James I. wit was used to 
 signify the intellectual faculties or mental 
 powers collectively. In the time of Cow- 
 ley it came to signify a superior under- 
 standing, and more particularly a quick 
 and brilliant reason. By Dryden it is 
 used as nearly synonymous with talent 
 or ability. According to Locke, it con- 
 sists in quickness of fancy and imagina- 
 tion. Pope defined icit to be a quick 
 conception and an easy delivery; accord- 
 ing to which, a man of wit, or a wit, is a 
 man of brilliant fancy ; a man of genius. 
 At present, icit is used to designate a 
 peculiar faculty of the mind, connected 
 with the more comprehensive faculty of 
 the imagination : and also the effect pro- 
 duced by this faculty, which consists in 
 the display of remote resemblances be- 
 tween dissimilar objects, or an unexpected 
 combination of remote resemblances; in 
 the exhibition or perception of ludicrous 
 points of analogy or resemblance among 
 things in other respects dissimilar. 
 Hence, a man of wit, or a wit, is con- 
 sidered to be a man in whom a readiness 
 for such exercise of the mind is remark- 
 able. It is evident that wit excites in 
 the mind an agreeable surprise, and that 
 arising, not from anything marvellous in 
 the subject, but solely from the imagery 
 employed or the strange assemblage of 
 related ideas presented to the mind.
 
 WIT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 641 
 
 This end is effected, 1. by debasing 
 things pompous or seemingly grave ; 2. 
 by aggrandizing things little and frivo- 
 lous ; or, 3. by setting ordinary objects in 
 a particular and uncommon point of 
 view, by means not only remote, but ap- 
 parently contrary. Hence arise a great 
 many kinds of wit. Wit is often joined 
 with humor, but not necessarily so ; it 
 often displays itself in the keenest satire ; 
 but when it is not kept under proper con- 
 trol, or whe'n it becomes the habitual ex- 
 ercise of the mind, it is apt to impair the 
 nobler powers of the understanding, to 
 chill the feelings, to check friendly and 
 social intercourse, and to break down 
 those barriers which have been estab- 
 lished by courtesy. At the same time, 
 when kept within its proper sphere, and 
 judiciously used, it may be rendered very 
 effective in attacking pedantry, preten- 
 sion, or folly, and may also be employed 
 as a powerful weapon against error. 
 
 WITCH'CRAFT, a supernatural power, 
 which persons were formerly supposed to 
 obtain the possession, of, by entering into 
 compact with the evil one. Indeed, it 
 was fully believed that they gave them- 
 selves up to him body and soul ; and he 
 engaged that they should want for no- 
 thing, and be able to assume whatever 
 shape they pleased, to visit and torment 
 their enemies ! The insane fancies of dis- 
 eased minds, unusual phenomena of na- 
 ture, and the artful machinery of design- 
 ing malignity, ambition, or hypocrisy, 
 were all laid at Satan's feet. Witchcraft 
 was universally believed in throughout 
 Europe till the 16th century, and even 
 maintained its ground with tolerable 
 firmness till the 17th. Vast numbers of 
 reputed witches were convicted and con- 
 demned to be burnt. In short, it is re- 
 corded, that 500 witches were burned at 
 Geneva in three months, about the year 
 1515 ; that 1000 were executed in one 
 year in the diocese of Como; and it has 
 been calculated that not less than 100,000 
 victims must have suffered, in Germany 
 alone, from the date of Innocent's bull, 
 in 1484, which directed the Inquisition to 
 be vigilant in searching out and punish- 
 ing witches, to the final extinction of the 
 prosecutions. The number of those put 
 to death in England has been estimated 
 at about 30.000 ! Much has been said 
 concerning the connection between reli- 
 gious fanaticism and the superstition of 
 witchcraft. It has been seen that the 
 cruelties and absurdities of witch perse- 
 cution had reached a great height even 
 before the Reformation ; but it can 
 41 
 
 scarcely be denied that the strong reli- 
 gious excitement which produced and ac- 
 companied that event was in some way 
 connected with the rapid spread and de- 
 velopment of that atrocious system. The 
 more intense the belief in the overruling 
 providence of God, and his immediate 
 interference in the course of ordinary 
 events (which especially characterized 
 the revival of religion,) the more does the 
 parallel belief in the agency of evil spirits, 
 and their dealings with man, appear to 
 take root in the imagination. Sir W. 
 Scott observes that, among Protestant 
 sects, the Calvinists (whose views of re- 
 ligion were at once the most gloomy and 
 the most engrossing) seem to have afford- 
 ed the most terrible examples of this pre- 
 vailing mania. There seems also to have 
 been a constantly recurring tendency to 
 treat witchcraft and heresy as allied 
 offences. It appears, upon the whole, 
 that the persecutions during the 16th and 
 17th centuries were most violent in those 
 countries which were the scene of much 
 strife between the two religions, or in 
 which the Calvinist opinions were pushed 
 to an extreme France, the Netherlands, 
 Northern and Western Germany, Swit- 
 zerland, Scotland, England under the 
 Commonwealth, and at a still later period 
 New England. A singular example of 
 the contagion of fanaticism suddenly 
 spreading with extraordinary violence, 
 and subsiding again after one terrible 
 outbreak, is to be found in the history 
 of the witch persecutions in Sweden, in 
 the end of the 17th century. In Italy, 
 with the exception of one or two of the 
 northern districts, the superstition was 
 generally less prevalent, or at least less 
 distressing in its effects ; and the same 
 may be said of Spain, after the first pe- 
 riod of the history of the Inquisition. 
 
 WITENAGE'MOTE, literally, an as- 
 sembly of wise men. Among the Anglo- 
 Saxons, the great national council or 
 parliament, consisting of nobles, or chiefs, 
 the largest landholders, and the principal 
 ecclesiastics. The meetings of this coun- 
 cil were frequent ; they formed the high- 
 est court of judicature in the kingdom ; 
 they were summoned by the king in any 
 political emergency ; their concurrence 
 was necessary to give validity to laws, 
 and treaties with foreign states were sub- 
 mitted to their approval. They had 
 even power to elect the king, and if the 
 sceptre descended in his race, it was by 
 means of the formal recognition of the 
 new king by the nobles, bishops, Ac., in 
 an assembly convened for the purpose.
 
 642 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [woo 
 
 It seems that in East Anglia the posses- 
 sion of forty hides of land was necessary 
 to entitle a person to rank among those 
 termed in the Latin of the age " pro- 
 ceres," who appear to have been .mem- 
 bers of the great council. The powers 
 and character of the witenagemote passed 
 to the great council of the early Norman 
 kings, which are called by the same 
 name by Saxon writers. 
 ' WITNESS, in law, one who gives evi- 
 dence in a judicial proceeding. In civil 
 cases, witnesses are compelled to attend 
 by the process called subpoena ad testifi- 
 candum (which see,) and punishable if 
 they neglect to do so by attachment or 
 action. In criminal cases, by subpoena 
 or by recognizance taken by the magis- 
 trate before whom the information is 
 
 'wO'DEN, or WUOTAN, an Anglo- 
 Saxon divinity, considered to correspond 
 with the Mercury of the ancient Greeks 
 and Romans ; from whom Wednesday 
 derives its name. He is sometimes also, 
 though erroneously, considered as iden- 
 tical with Odin. 
 
 WOM'AN, the female of the human 
 race, grown to an adult age. In the pa- 
 triarchal ages women were used agreea- 
 bly to that simplicity of manners which 
 for a long time after pervaded all na- 
 tions. They drew water, kept sheep, 
 and fed the cattle ; as may be observed 
 in what is related of Rebecca, the niece 
 of Abraham, and Rachel, the daughter 
 of Laban. Among the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, women were employed in spinning, 
 weaving, embroidery, and all sorts of 
 needle-work ; their education being whol- 
 ly confined to their domestic duties. It 
 is in the Christian home only that woman 
 reigns the mother, sister, wife, and 
 friend. The influence of Christianity 
 gave woman a new station in society, 
 broke her chains, and released her from 
 the degrading restrictions in which she 
 had almost become the soulless thing 
 which she had been represented to be. 
 As man ceased to be a mere citizen of his 
 own country, and felt himself to be a 
 citizen of the world, so woman was 
 restored to her natural rights. " In 
 every age and country (says Gibbon,) 
 the wiser, or at least the stronger, of the 
 two sexes has usurped the powers of the 
 state, and confined the other to the cares 
 and pleasures of domestic life. In heredi- 
 tary monarchies, however, and especially 
 in those of modern Europe, the gallant 
 spirit^ of chivalry, and the law of succes- 
 sion, have accustomed us to allow a 
 
 singular exception ; and a woman is often 
 acknowledged the absolute sovereign of 
 a great kingdom, in which she would 
 be deemed incapable of exercising the 
 smallest employment, civil or military. 
 But as the Roman emperors were still 
 considered as the generals and magis- 
 trates of the republic, their wives' 
 mothers, although distinguished by the 
 name of Augusta, were never associated 
 to their personal honors ; and a female 
 reign would have appeared an inexpia- 
 ble prodigy in the eyes of those primitive 
 Romans who married without love, or 
 loved without delicacy and respect." 
 Born to feel and inspire the kind and 
 tender affections, it is the fault of men 
 if well-educated females become not the ( 
 grace and ornament of society. This, at 
 least, is the rule ; the reverse of this, 
 the exception. 
 
 WON'DER, that emotion which is ex- 
 cited by something presented to the 
 senses which is either sudden, extraordi- 
 nary, or not well understood. The word 
 wonder is nearly allied to astonishment, 
 though it expresses less, and much less 
 than amazement. Among the ancients, 
 the seven wonders of the world were 
 the Egyptian pyramids the mausoleums 
 erected by Artemisia the temple of 
 Diana, at Ephesus the walls and hang- 
 ing gardens of Babylon the colossus at 
 Rhodes the statue of Jupiter Olympus 
 and the Pharos or watch-tower at Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 WOOD-ENGRAV'ING, or wood-cut- 
 ting, the art of cutting figures in wood, 
 that they may be printed by the same 
 process as common letter-press. The 
 mode of engraving on wood is exactly 
 the reverse of that of copper-plate, the 
 parts intended to appear being raised on 
 the surface. The wood which is used for 
 the purpose of engraving, is that of the 
 box-tree, of which a considerable quan- 
 tity is imported from Turkey. The 
 design drawn upon the wood is the re- 
 verse of the object copied, so that when 
 the impression is taken from the engrav- 
 ing, the object is correctly represented. 
 
 WOOD'-GELD, in ancient English 
 customs, the gathering or cutting of wood 
 within the forest ; or the money paid for 
 the same to the foresters. Sometimes it 
 also seems to signify an immunity from 
 this payment by the king's grant. 
 
 WOOL'SACK, the seat of the Lord 
 Chancellor of England, in the House of 
 Lords, is so called, from its being a large 
 square bag of wool without back or arms, 
 covered with red cloth.
 
 WRl] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS 
 
 643 
 
 WORDS, are signs, or symbols of 
 ideas and thoughts, produced by sounds, 
 and combinations of sounds, or by letters 
 and their combinations. In the lan- 
 guage of an old writer, who somewhat 
 quaintly expresses himself. " He that has 
 names without ideas, wants meaning in 
 his words, and speaks only empty sounds. 
 He that has complex ideas without 
 names for them, wants despatch in his 
 expression. H*e that uses his words 
 loosely and unsteadily, will either not be 
 minded or not understood. He that ap- 
 plies names to ideas, different from the 
 common use, wants propriety in his lan- 
 guage, and speaks gibberish ; and he 
 that has ideas of substances disagree- 
 ing with the real existence of things, so 
 far wants the materials of true knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 WORLD, the whole system of created 
 globes ; or the orbs which occupy space, 
 and all the beings which inhabit them. 
 The duration of the world is a subject 
 which has given rise to much disputation. 
 Plato, after Ocellus Lucanus, held it to 
 be eternal, and to have flowed from God 
 as rays flow from the sun. Aristotle, who 
 was much of the same opinion, asserts 
 that the world was not generated so as to 
 begin to be a world, which before was 
 none : he lays down a pre-existing and 
 eternal matter as a principle, and thence 
 argues the world eternal. His arguments 
 amount to this, that it is impossible an 
 eternal agent, having an eternal passive 
 subject, should continue long without ac- 
 tion ; and his opinion was for a long time 
 generally followed, as seeming to be the 
 fittest to end the dispute among so many 
 sects about the first cause. But some of 
 the modern philosophers refute the im- 
 aginary eternity of the world by this ar- 
 gument, that if it be ab eterno, there 
 must have been a generation of individ- 
 uals in a continual succession from all 
 eternity, since no cause can be assigned 
 why they should not be generated, viz., 
 one from another. By the world we 
 sometimes understand the things of this 
 world, its pleasures and interests. It 
 also means the customs and manners of 
 mankind ; the practice of life. 
 
 WOR'SHIP, or DIVINE' WOR'SHIP, 
 the act of paying divine honors to the 
 Supreme Being; or, the reverence and 
 homage offered up to God in prayer, ado- 
 ration, and other devotional exercises, 
 expressive of pious veneration. If the 
 worship of God, says Paley, be a duty of 
 religion, public worship is a necessary in- 
 stitution ; because without it the greater 
 
 part of mankind would exercise no reli- 
 gious worship at all. 
 
 WRANG'LER, SENIOR, in the univer- 
 sity of Cambridge, the student who passes 
 the best examination (especially in math- 
 ematical knowledge) in the senate-house, 
 for the first degree or that of bachelor in 
 arts ; they who follow next in the same 
 division are respectively termed second, 
 third, fourth, &c. wranglers. 
 
 WRECK, in navigation, the destruc- 
 tion of a ship and the cargo, by being 
 driven ashore, or found floating at sea in 
 a deserted and unmanageable condition. 
 But in order to constitute a legal wreck, 
 the goods must come to land. In former 
 times the most inhospitable and barbar- 
 ous conduct was exercised against all who 
 had the misfortune to suffer from the 
 perils of the sea; but as commerce and 
 navigation were extended, the law was 
 made to afford the adventurous mariner 
 protection. In England, and other coun- 
 tries, wrecks had been adjudged to the 
 king : but the rigor and injustice of this 
 law was modified so early as the reign 
 of Henry I., when it was ruled, that if 
 any person escaped alive out of the ship, 
 it should be no wreck. And after various 
 modifications, it was decided, in the reign 
 of Henry III. that if goods were cast on 
 shore, having any marks by which they 
 could be identified, they were' to revert 
 to the owners, if claimed any time within 
 a year and -a day. The plundering of 
 wrecks had, however, become so confirmed 
 by the custom of ages, that various sub- 
 sequent penal statutes were enacted to 
 repress it. 
 
 WREST'LING, a kind of combat or 
 engagement between two persons un- 
 armed, body to body, to prove their 
 strength and dexterity, and try which 
 can throw his opponent on the ground. 
 Wrestling is an exercise of very great 
 antiquity and fame. It was in use in the 
 heroic age; and had considerable rewards 
 and honors assigned to it at the Olympic 
 games. 
 
 WRIT, in law, a precept issued by 
 some court or magistrate in the name of 
 the government, and addressed to a sher- 
 iff, his deputy, or other subordinate ex- 
 ecutive officer, commanding him to do 
 some particular thing. Writs are distin- 
 guished into original and judicial, the 
 former being such as a party sues out 
 without any direction of the court in the 
 particular case ; the latter, such as are 
 issued in pursuance of a decree, judg- 
 ment, or order of a court. A writ or 
 summons, is called a subpoena, when it
 
 644 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [XES 
 
 requires witnesses to appear ; a latitat, 
 when it is assumed the party is concealed ; 
 of habeas corpus, when it is to bring up 
 the body ; of premunire, when it incurs 
 forfeiture of all property ; and of qui tarn, 
 when to recover a fine, of which the pros- 
 ecutor is to have a share. 
 
 WRI'TING, an art and act of express- 
 ing and conveying our ideas to others by 
 letters or characters visible to the eye. 
 Without its aid the experience of each 
 generation would hate been almost en- 
 tirely lost to succeeding ages, and only a 
 faint glimmer of truth could have been 
 discerned through the rnists of tradition. 
 The most ancient remains of writing, 
 which have been transmitted to us, are 
 upon hard substances, such as stones and 
 metals, which were used for edicts and 
 matters of public notoriety. Thus we 
 read that the decalogue was written on 
 two tables of stone ; but this practice was 
 not peculiar to the Jews, for it was used 
 by most of the Eastern nations, as well 
 as by the Greeks and Romans. The laws 
 penal, civil, and ceremonial, among the 
 Greeks, were engraven on tables of brass, 
 called cyrbes. The Chinese, before the 
 invention of paper, wrote or engraved 
 with an iron tool, or style, upon thin 
 boards or on bamboo. Pliny says, that 
 table-books of wood were in use before 
 the time of Homer. In later times these 
 tables were usually waxed over, and 
 written upon with a style. What was 
 written upon the tables which were thus 
 waxed over was easily effaced, and by 
 smoothing the wax new matter might be 
 substituted in the place of what was writ- 
 ten before. The bark of trees was also 
 used for writing by the ancients, and is 
 so still in several parts of Asia. The 
 same may be said of the leaves of trees. 
 But the Greeks and Romans continued 
 the use of waxed table-books long after 
 the use of papyrus, leaves, and skins 
 became common, because they were so 
 convenient for correcting extemporary 
 compositions. 
 
 X. 
 
 X, the twenty-fourth letter of the Eng- 
 lish alphabet, is borrowed from the Greek. 
 When used at the beginning of a word, it 
 has precisely the sound of z, but in the 
 middle and at the end of words, its sound 
 is the same as ks ; as, icax. luxury, tax- 
 atior, <tc. In French, x has the various 
 pronunciations of s, ss, gz, and z, accord- 
 ing to circumstances. The Italians never 
 
 use it, on account of its guttural charac- 
 ter, but express it by ss, as in Alessan- 
 dro ; and the Germans generally substi- 
 tute for it, ks, gs, or cfis. X begins no 
 word in our language but such as are of 
 Greek original ; and is in few others but 
 what are of Latin derivation. As a nu- 
 meral, X stands for ten. When laid 
 horizontally, thus, *!, it stands for a 
 thousand, and with a dash over it, ten 
 thousand. As an abbreviation, X stands 
 for Christ, as in Xn., Christian ; Xmas., 
 Christmas. 
 
 XANG'TI in theology, a name among 
 the Chinese for the Supreme Being. 
 
 XAN'THICA, in antiquity, a Mace- 
 donian festival, so called because it was 
 observed in the month Xanthus, which 
 is supposed to have been the same as 
 April. 
 
 XEBEC', a small three-masted vessel, 
 used in the Mediterranean sea, and on the 
 coasts of Spain, Portugal and Barbary. 
 Being generally equipped as a corsair, 
 the xebec is constructed with a narrow 
 floor, for the sake of speed, and of a great 
 breadth, so as to be able to carry a con- 
 siderable force of sail without danger of 
 overturning. When close hauled, it car- 
 ries large lateen sails. The Algerine 
 xebecs usually carried from 16 to 24 guns, 
 and from 300 to 450 men, two thirds of 
 whom were soldiers. 
 
 XENELA'SIA, in antiquity, a law 
 among the Spartans, by which strangers 
 were excluded from their society, not out 
 of fear lest they should imitate the Spar- 
 tan manners, but lest the Spartans should 
 be contaminated by foreign vices. It was 
 a barrier set up against contagion ; but 
 was not so strict as to exclude deserving 
 men, or any talent worthy of being re- 
 ceived. 
 
 XE'NIA, among the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, were presents made by strangers to 
 such persons as had treated them with 
 kindness and hospitality. Xenia was also 
 a name given to the gifts and presents 
 made to the governors of provinces by the 
 inhabitants of them. 
 
 XENODO'CHIA, in antiquity, places 
 where strangers were lodged and enter- 
 tained. 
 
 XENOPARO'CHI, in antiquity, 
 Roman officers whose business it was to 
 provide every necessary for ambassa- 
 dors. 
 
 XEROPH'AGY, the name given to a 
 sort of fast which was adopted in the 
 primitive ages of Christianity, and which 
 consisted entirely of dry viands. 
 
 XES.'TA, in antiquity, an Athenian
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 measure of capacity, answering to the 
 Roman sextarius. 
 
 XYLOCO'PIA, among the Greeks, a 
 sort of punishment inflicted with a 
 cudgel. 
 
 XYLOG 'RAPHY, wood- engraving ; 
 the act or art of cutting figures in 
 wood, in representation of natural ob- 
 jects. 
 
 XY'LON, a species of punishment in 
 use among the Greeks, which answered 
 to our putting oifenders in the stocks. 
 
 XYNOE'CIA, an Athenian festival, 
 observed in memory of Theseus having 
 united all the petty communities of At- 
 tica into one commonwealth, whose as- 
 semblies were ever after to beheld in the 
 Prytaneum at Athens. 
 
 XYS'TARCH, an officer in the Grecian 
 gymnasium, who presided over the xystus, 
 as lieutenant to the gymnasiarch. His 
 business was to superintend the athletes 
 in their exercises in the two xysti. 
 
 XYS'TER, in surgery, an instrument 
 used for scraping bones. 
 
 XYS'TUS, or XYS'TOS, among the 
 Greeks and Romans, a portico covered at 
 the top, designed for the exercise of the 
 wrestlers when the weather did not per- 
 mit them to contend in the open air. The 
 Xystus made a necessary part of a gym- 
 nasium : and the name given to the ath- 
 letse who performed their exercises there, 
 was Xysticl. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Y, the twenty-fifth letter of the Eng- 
 lish alphabet, is sometimes used as a 
 vowel, and at other times as a consonant : 
 as the latter at the beginning of words. 
 In the middle and at the end of words, y 
 is precisely the same as i ; being sound- 
 ed as i long, when accented, as in reply, 
 defy; and as i short, when unaccented, 
 as in synonymous, liberty, ability, &c. 
 Y, as a numeral, stands for 150, and with 
 a dash over it, for 150,000. Y, by the 
 Pythagoreans, was made the emblem or 
 symbol of virtue and vice. The broad 
 line at the bottom of the letter, repre- 
 sents the innocency and simplicity of in- 
 fancy and early youth. The place where 
 it is divided into two parts shows us the 
 years of discretion, when we take the 
 side of wisdom or of folly, andean discrim- 
 inate what is right from what is wrong. 
 The narrow line on the right exhibits to 
 the fancy the strait path that leads to 
 happiness, and the difficulties which at- 
 tend a course of virtue. The broad line 
 
 on the left represents the broad road that 
 leads to destruction, and the seducing 
 blandishments of vice. 
 
 YACHT, a . sailing vessel, pleasure 
 boat, or small ship with one deck, suffi- 
 ciently large for a sea voyage. In its 
 original signification it is a vessel of state 
 used to convey princes, ambassadors, and 
 other great personages from one kingdom 
 to another. It is usually fitted with a 
 variety of convenient apartments and 
 suitable furniture. The smaller yachts 
 are generally rigged as sloops. 
 
 YA'GERS, or JAGERS, light infantry 
 armed with rifles (chasseurs, riflemen.) 
 In the Prussian service, the Yagers form 
 a distinct corps with peculiar discipline ; 
 in that of Austria, light infantry, gene- 
 rally from the mountain districts. In 
 Germany the term jasper is applied to a 
 peculiar species of higher servant attach- 
 ed to the families of the aristocracy. 
 
 YA'HOO, a name given by Swift, in 
 one of his imaginary voyages, to a race 
 of brutes, having the form of man and 
 all his degrading passions. They are 
 placed in contrast with the Houyhnhums, 
 or horses endowed with reason, the whole 
 being designed as a satire on the human 
 race. Chesterfield uses the -term yahoo 
 for a savage, or one resembling a savage. 
 
 YAN'KEE, a word commonly applied 
 to an inhabitant of the United States, as 
 John Bull is to an Englishman or Myn- 
 heer to a Dutchman. It is said to have 
 originated in a corrupt pronunciation of 
 the word English by the native Indians 
 of America, who called the early settlers 
 from Great Britain Yengeese, but this 
 etymology is doubtful. 
 
 YEO'MAN. in English polity, a com- 
 moner, or a plebeian of the first or most 
 respectable class. In ancient times, it 
 denoted one of those who held folk-land; 
 that is, had no .fief, or book-land, and 
 therefore did not rank among the gentry. 
 What he possessed, however, he possessed 
 independently ; he was, therefore, no 
 man's vassal. To understand the true 
 condition of the ancient yeomen, it must 
 be observed that there were some lands 
 which never became subject to the feudal 
 system. These were called folk-lands, or 
 the lands of the people. When therefore, 
 it is said that the sovereign is lord of the 
 soil of all England, the assertion is not 
 true. He is certainly the lord paramount 
 of all fiefs ; but he has no such reversion- 
 ary interest in lands that were never 
 held in fee. The collective body of yeo- 
 rnen or freeholders is termed Yeomanry. 
 Yeomen of the Guard, & certain de-
 
 646 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA OF LITERATURE 
 
 [ZEM 
 
 gcription of foot-guards, who attend im- 
 mediately on the person of the sovereign. 
 They were established by Henry VIII., 
 and their office and dress continue the 
 same. 
 
 YEZDEGER'DIAN, noting an era, 
 dated from the overthrow of the Persian 
 empire, when Yezdegerd was defeated by 
 the Arabians, in the eleventh year of the 
 Hegira, A.D. 636. 
 
 YEZ'IDEES, a small tribe bordering 
 on the Euphrates, whose religion is said 
 to be a mixture of the worship of the 
 devil, with some of the doctrines of the 
 Magi, Mohammedans, and Christians. 
 
 YO'GA, among the Hindoos, a species 
 of asceticism, which consists in a complete 
 abstraction from all worldly objects, by 
 which the Hindoo ascetic expects to ob- 
 tain final emancipation from further mi- 
 grations, and union with the universal 
 spirit. Those who practise the Yoga are 
 called Yogis, and the horrible tortures 
 which they commit on themselves have 
 been often described. 
 
 YOUTH, in painting, sculpture, <fcc. 
 The most beautiful period of life, and 
 consequently that which the artist will 
 select to display and embody his abstract 
 ideal of corporeal human perfection. 
 The smooth and glowing substance of the 
 skin, the beautifully defined contours of 
 the figure, the firm and well knit muscles 
 of man, and the delicious shapeliness of 
 woman ; these qualities, as they are in 
 themselves uniformly amiable in real 
 life, so they cannot fail to draw forth the 
 ability of the artist, and excite the admi- 
 ration of the beholder, when transmitted 
 to canvass or marble. 
 
 YULE, the common Scottish name for 
 Christmas. It appears to be a very an- 
 cient Celtic word. In Welsh, wyl or 
 gywl signifies a holiday; whence also the 
 old phrase, " Gule of August," the first 
 day of August, or fast of St. Peter and 
 Vincula, for which various absurd ety- 
 mologies have been found. Perhaps the 
 old French word ' Noel," for Christmas 
 (used also generally as a popular cry of 
 rejoicing,) has the same original. Count 
 de Gebelin, however, derives yule from a 
 supposed primitive word; connected with 
 the idea of revolution or " wheel." 
 
 z. 
 
 Z, the last letter of the English alpha- 
 bet, is a sibillant articulation and semi- 
 vowel ; bearing the same relation to s, 
 
 as v does to f. In Italian, it is some- 
 times sounded like our ts, sometimes like 
 ds ; in Spanish, it corresponds to our th; 
 and in French, when pronounced at all, 
 it has the sound of a forcibly articulated 
 s. As a numeral, Z stands for 2,000, and 
 with a dash over it for 2,000,000. 
 
 ZAC'CHO, in architecture, the lowest 
 part of the pedestal of a column. 
 
 ZAIMS, a name for certain leaders or 
 chiefs among the Turks, who support and 
 pay a mounted militia of the same name. 
 
 ZEAL'OT, one who engages warmly in 
 any cause, and pursues his object with 
 earnestness and ardor. It is generally 
 used in dispraise, or applied to one whose 
 ardor is intemperate and censurable. 
 The fury of zealots was one cause of the 
 destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 ZECHARI'AH, one of the minor pro- 
 phets, who prophesied in the reign of 
 Darius Hystaspes. The design of the 
 first part of Zechariah's prophecy, like 
 that of his contemporary, Haggai, is to 
 encourage the Jews to proceed with re- 
 building the Temple, by giving them 
 assurance of God's aid and protection. 
 From this he proceeds to foretel the 
 glory of the Christian church (the true 
 Temple of God.) under its great High- 
 priest and Ruler, Jesus Christ ; of whom 
 Zerubbabel and Joshua were figures. He 
 treats of his death, sufferings, and king- 
 dom, in many particulars not mentioned 
 by any other of the minor prophets before 
 him ; everything relating to those great 
 events becoming more explicit, in pro- 
 portion as their accomplishments drew 
 nearer. His style, like that of Haggai, 
 is for the most part prosaic, especially 
 towards the beginning ; the last six 
 chapters are more elevated ; for which 
 reason, among others, these six chapters 
 are, by many commentators, ascribed to 
 the prophet Jeremiah. . 
 
 ZEMINDAR', a title introduced into 
 India by its Mohammedan conquerors, 
 conferred in Bengal, and generally 
 throughout the Mogul empire, on the 
 agent employed to collect that share of 
 the produce of the soil which belongs to 
 it. The zemindars were the great land- 
 holders of the Mogul empire ; but the 
 nature of their tenure has given rise to 
 much dispute. Whether they were heredi- 
 tary, absolute owners of the soil, or only 
 tenants of the sovereign at a fixed rent 
 by way of land-tax, for which they were 
 personally responsible, was a question 
 much agitated by writers on Indian sub- 
 jects at the period of the " Permanent 
 Settlement" in 1793. By that settlement
 
 ZOT] 
 
 AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 647 
 
 the rent was to be fixed in the first 
 instance by custom, and the zemindar 
 was then to give the ryot a lease re- 
 stricted to himself and his assignees on 
 performance of its conditions ; his own 
 share being fixed as before at 10 per cent, 
 of the assessment, and his hereditary 
 right secured. A zemindary, i. e., the 
 district of a zemindar, is liable to be sold 
 by government for arrears of revenue, 
 and existing leases with the ryots to be 
 set aside. At present the land-tax of 
 India is levied in three methods, which 
 prevail in different districts the " ze- 
 mindar settlement," by which the zemin- 
 dar is responsible to government ; the 
 " mouzawar" or village settlement, by 
 which the collector contracts with the 
 head man of the village ; and the " ryot- 
 war" or cultivator settlement, by which 
 the tax is collected immediately from the 
 peasantry. 
 
 ZEND, or ZENDAVES'TA, a book 
 ascribed to Zoroaster, and containing his 
 pretended revelations ; which the an- 
 cient magicians and modern Persians, 
 called also Gaurs, observe and reverence 
 in the same manner as the Christians do 
 the Bible, and the Mahometans do the 
 Koran, making it the sole rule of their 
 faith and manners. 
 
 ZEN'DIK, in Arabic, a name given 
 to those who are chnrged with atheism, 
 or rather disbelief of any revealed reli- 
 gion ; or with magical heresies. The sect 
 of Zendiks opposed the progress of Mo- 
 hammedanism in Arabia with great ob- 
 stinacy. It appears to have had many 
 features in common with Sadduceeism 
 among the Jews. 
 
 ZEPHANI'AH, a canonical book of 
 the Old Testament, containing the pre- 
 
 dictions of Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, 
 and grandson of Gedaliah ; being the 
 ninth of the twelve lesser prophets. He 
 prophesied in the time of king Josiah, a 
 little after the captivity of the ten tribes, 
 and before that of Judah ; so that he was 
 contemporary with Jeremiah. 
 
 ZEPH'YRUS, or ZEPH YR, the west 
 wind ; a wind blowing from that cardinal 
 point opposite to the east. The poets 
 personify it, and represent Zephyrus as 
 the mildest and most gentle of all the 
 deities of the woods ; the character of 
 this personage is youth and gentleness. 
 It is also called Favonius and Occidens. 
 
 ZEUG'MA, a figure in grammar by 
 which an adjective or verb which agrees 
 with a nearer word, is, by way of supple- 
 ment, referred to another more remote. 
 
 ZO'IIAR, a Jewish book, highly esteem- 
 ed by the rabbis, and supposed to be of 
 great, though altogether unascertained 
 antiquity. It consists of cabalistical com- 
 mentaries on Scripture, especially the 
 books of Moses. It has been translated 
 into Latin. 
 
 ZOLL'VEREIN, the Prussian or Ger- 
 man commercial or customs union, found- 
 ed, through the example and efforts of 
 the government of Prussia, in the year 
 1834, and having for its object the estab- 
 lishment of a uniform rate of customs 
 duties throughout the various states join- 
 ing the union. 
 
 ZOOL'ATRY, the worship of animals, 
 which was the characteristic of the an- 
 cient Egyptian religion most remarked 
 upon by foreigners. 
 
 ZOTHE'CA, in architecture, a, small 
 room, or alcove, which might be added 
 to or separated from another, by means 
 of curtains and windows. 
 
 FINIS.
 
 
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