(1.) * To DEFINE. v. a. (definio, Lat. definer, Fr. 1. To give the definition: to explain a thing by its qualities and circumstances→→

Whofe lofs can't thou mean,

(2.) * DEFICIENT NUMBERS [in arithmetick.] are those numbers whofe parts, added together, make lefs than the integer, whofe parts they are. Chambers.

* DEFIER. n. /. [from deffi, Fr.] A challenger; a contemner; one that dares and defies.-Is it not then high time that the laws fhould provide, by the most prudent and effectual means, to curb those bold and infolent defiers of Heaven? Tillotson.

* DEFILE. n. f. \defile, Fr, from file, a line of fol diers, which is derived from filum, a thread.] A narrow paffage; a long narrow pafs; a line.There is in Oxford a narrow defile, to use the military term, where the partisans used to encounter. Addijon.

(1.) To DEFILE. v. a. [afilan, Saxon; from fut, foul.] 1. To make foul or impure; to make nity or filthy; to dirty.—There is a thing, Har. ry, known to many in our land by the name of pitch; this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile. Shakespeare -He is juftly reckoned a mong the greatest prelates of this age, however his character may be defiled by mean and dirty hands. Swift. 2. To pollute; to make legally or ritually impure.-That which dieth of itself he fhall not eat, to defile himself therewith. Lev. xxii. 8.-Neither fhall he defile himself for his father. Lev. xxi. 11. 3. To corrupt chastity; to violate.Ev'ry object his offence revil'd, Thehufband murder'd, and the wife defil'd. Prior. 4. To taint; to corrupt; to vitiate; to make guilty.-Forgetfulness of good turns, defiling of fouls, adultery and fhameleís uncleannefs. Wifd. xiv. 26.-God requires rather that we should die than defile ourselves with impieties. Stilling fleet. (2.) To DEFILE. v. n. [deffiler, Fr. To march; to go off file by file.

*DEFILEMENT. n. f. [from defice.] The ftate of being defiled: the act of defiling; naftinefs; pollution; corruption; defedation.-The unchafte are provoked to see their vice exposed, and the chafte cannot rake into fuch filth without danger of defilement. Spectator.

DEFILER. n.f. {from defile] One that defiles; a corrupter.-At the laft tremendous day, I shall hold forth in my arms my much wronged child, and call aloud for vengeance on her defiler. Addifon.

* DEFINABLE. adj. [from define.] 1. That which may be defined; capable of definition. The Supreme Nature we canoot otherwife define than by faying it is infinite, as if infinite wore definable, or infinity a fubject for our narrow underdanding. Dryden. 2. That which may be afcer

That do'ft fo well their miferies define? Sidney. Though defining be thought the proper way to make known the proper fignification, yet.. there are fome words that will not be defined. Lacke. 2. To circumferibe; to mark the limit; to bound.When the rings appeared only black and white, they were very diftinct and well defined, and the blacknefs feemed as intenfe as that of the central fpot. Newton.

(2.) To DEFINE. v. n. To determine: to decide; to decree.-The unjuft judge is the capital remover of landmarks, when he defineth amifs of lands and properties. Bacon.

* DEFINER. n. f. [from define.] One that explains; one that defcribes a thing by its qualities. Your God, forfooth is found Incomprehenfible and infinite

But is he therefore found? Vain fearcher! no:
Let your imperfect definition fhow,
That nothing you, the weak definer; know.

Prior.

(1.) DEFINITE. adj. from definitus, Latin.] 1. Certain; limited; bounded.-Llither to your arbour divers times he repaired, and here, by your means, had the fight of the goddess, who in a definite compafs can fet forth infinite beauty. Sidney. 2. Exact; precife. In a charge of adultery, the accufer ought to fet forth, in the accufatory libel or inquifition, which fucceeds in the place of accufation, fome certain and definite time. Ayliffe.

(2.) DEFINITE. n. f. [from the adjective.] Thing explained or defined.-Special bastardy is nothing else but the definition of the general; and the general, again, is nothing else but a defin.te of the fpecial. Ayliffe.

(3) DEFINITE, in grammer, is applied to an article that has a precise determinate fignification; fuch as the article the in English, le and la in French, &c. which fix and afcertain the noun they belong to, to fome particular; the ing, le roy, the queen, la reine; i. e. the king or queen of the contry we are in, or speaking of: whereas the articles, a, an, un, or une, mark nothing particular, and are therefore called INDEFINITE: thus a king, an artift, un roy, une reine, mean a king, artifl, or queen of any country or any age.

* DEFINITENESS. n.. from definite.] Certainty; limitedness.

* DEFINITION. n. f. [definitio, Lat. definition, Fr] 1. A fhort defcription of a thing by its properties.-I drew my definition of poetical wit from my particular confideration of him for propriety of thoughts and words, are only to be found in him. Dryden. 2. Decition; determination. [In logick.] The explication of the effence of a thing by its kind and difference.--What is man? Not a reasonable animal merely; for that is not an adequate and diftiaguilhing definition. Bentl. ;

3

* DEFINITIVE. adj. (definitivus, Lat.] Determinate; pollúive; expreis. Other authors

write often dubiously, even in matters wherein is expected a ftrict and definitive truth. Brown.-I make hafte to the cafting and comparing of the whole work, being indeed the very definitive fum of this art, to diftribute usefully and gracefully a well chofen plot. Wotton.

* DEFINITIVELY. adv. [from definitive.] Pofitively; decifively: exprefsly.

Definitively thus I answer you:

: Your love deferves my thanks; but my defert, . Unmeritable, fhuns your high request. Shak. -That Methuselah was the longeft lived, of all the children of Adam, we need not grant; nor is it definitively fet down by Moses. Brown.

DEFINITIVENESS. n. f. [from definitive.] Decifiveness. Dia.

* DEFLAGRABILITY. n. [from deflagro, Lat. Combuftibility; the quality of taking fire, and burning totally away.-We have fpent more time than the opinion of the ready deflagrability, if I may fo fpeak, of falt-petre did permit us to imagine. Boyle.

DEFLAGRABLE. adj. [from deflagro, Lat. Having the quality of waiting away wholly in fire, without any remains. Our chymical oils, fuppofing that they were exactly pure, yet they would be, as the beft fpirit of wine is, but the more inflammable and deflagrab'e. Boyle.

*To DEFLAGRATE. v. a. (from de from, and flagro, to barn, Lat.]. To burn of; to purify by burning. Afb.

(1.)* DEFLAGRATION. n. f. [d flagratio, Lat. A term frequently made use of in chymiftry, for fetting fire to feveral things in their preparation; as in making Æthiops with fire, with fal prunellæ, and many others. Quincy.-The true reason why paper is not burned by the flame that plays about it seems to be, that the ageous part of the fpirit of wine, being imbibed by the paper keeps it fo moift, that the flame of the fulphure ous parts of the fame fpirit cannot faften on it; and therefore, when the deflagration is over, you fhall always find the paper moift. Boyle.

(2.) DEFLAGRATION, in chemistry, the fetting fire to a falt or mineral, &c. either alone, or mix ed for that purpofe with a fulphureous one, in order to purify it. This fhort procefs has been often recommended as of great ufe in trying the ftrength of brandies and other vinous fpirits, and has been much improved in this refpect by M. Geoffroy. The common way of trying fpirits by deflagration, is to measure out any quantity of it, then to heat it, and fet it on fire. If, after it will no longer burn, the remainder is half as much as the quantity measured out for the trial was, then the spirit tryed is found to confift of half water, and half totally inflammable spirit; that is, it is fomewhat below what we understand by the term perfect proof. This method is much more certain than that by the bubbles which arise upon shaking the spirit in a phial. Monf. Geoffroy's method is -this: Take a cylindric vessel two inches high, and as much in diameter, confifting of thin plate filver, that metal being much lefs liable to ruft than copper; this veffel must be tated with a little rect. angular guage exactly graduated into lines, half lines, &c then the vele being fet level upon a copper cafe made to contain it, a parcel of the

brandy to be examined is poured in, to the heigh of 16 lines. This height is to be exactly hit b pouring in more than enough at firft and the fucking out the overplus with a very small tub Then the vefiel being heated a little, fo as juft t make the liqour fume, it is to be fet on fire, an left to go out of itself; at the inftant when th flame expires, the guage is plunged perpendicula ly into the veffel, and the lines and quarters ex actly noted which the liquor wants of its form height: this difference gives the precife quantit of alcohol or pure fpirit contained in the lique Thus, if eight lines of phlegm are found rodi ing, this being the half of the 16 lines of tbe v ginal filling, it is plain, that the liquor containe one half spririt, or was fomething below proof. only four lines remain, it was nearly doub proof, or of a middle nature betwixt alcohol an common proof spirit.

* To DEFLECT. v. n. [from deflecto, Latin To turn afide to deviate from a true course, right line. At fome parts of the Azores t needle deflecteth not, but lieth in the true me dian: on the other fide of the Azores, and th fide of the Equator, the North point of the need wheeleth to the Weft. Brown's Vulgar Errours.

For did not fome from a straight courfe de They could not meet, they could no world ere Blackm

(1.) * DEFLECTION. n. f. [from deflecto, I tin. 1. Deviation; the act of turning afide. Needles incline to the South on the other fide the Equator, and, at the very line or middle cie, ftand without defe&ion. Brown. 1. A t ning afide, or out of the way. 2. [In navigatic The departure of a ship from its true courie.

(2.) DEFLECTION OF THE RAYS OF LIGH a property which Dr Hook obferved in 1675, read an account of before the Royal Socie March 18, the fame year. He fays he found different both from reflection and refraction, a that it was made towards the furface of the paque body, perpendicularly. This property Ifaac Newton calls INFLECTION.

*DEFLEXURE. n./. \ from defirdo, Lat.] A b ing down; a turning afide, or out of the way. D DEFLEXUS RAMUS. 7 See BOTANY, C DEFLORATA FOLIA. Jary.

(1.) * DEFLORATION. n. f. [defloration, from defloratus, Lat] 1. The act of deflouri the taking away of a woman's virginity.: felection of that which is moft valuable.-The of Normandy are, in a great measure, the d ration of the English laws, and a tranfcript them. Hale.

(2.) DEFLORATION, OF DEFLOWERING, â gin, (§ 1. def. 1.) by the civil law, incurs the nifhment of death, unlfs marriage follows VIRGINITY. The ancients had to much r for virgins, that they would not put them to e till they had firft procured them to be deflowe It is faid, the natives of the coat of Malaba ftrangers to come and deflower their brides. travellers, like poets, often indulge in fiction Scotland, and the northern parts of Engli monftrous privilege was granted to the lo the nanor, by king Ewen, viz. that they s have the first night's cohabitation with their

ante wives. King Malcolm III. allowed the tenapts to redeem this fervice at a certain rate, called marcheta, confifting of a certain number of cows: Buchanan fays it was redeemed with half a mark of filver. A very falfe idea feems to have twayed even the beft legislators in all ages; that if a priqiere, however iniquitous, has once been esta blished, it must not be abolished without fome compenfation from those to whom it is oppreflive, One thould think if any compenfation had been fuppofed due, in this cafe, it should have been to the tenants from the lords of the manors, who had for ages exercised this worst of tyrannies over that clefs of people. The fame abominable cuftom had place in Wales, Flanders, Frielland, and fome parts in Germany: which fhows what dreadful oppreflion the inferior ranks fuffered under the feudal fyftem.

* To DEFLOUR. v. a. [deflorer, Fr.] 1. To ravish; to take away a woman's virginity-As is the luft of an eunuch to deflour a virgin, fo is he that executeth judgment with violence. Eccluf. 4.2. To take away the beauty and grace of any thing. If he died young, he died innocent, and before the sweetness of his foul was defloured, and ravished from him, by the flames and follies of a troward age. Tayler.

*DEFLOURER. n. f. [from deflour. A ravier; one that takes away virginity.I have of te wondered, that thofe defourers of innocence, though dead to all the fentiments of virtue and nour, are not reftrained by humanity. Addifon. * DEFLUOUS. adj. [defluus, Lat.] 1. That fows down. 2. That falls off.

* DEFLUX. n. f. [d'Auxus, Lat.] Downward fow. Both bodies are clammy, and bridle the Aue of humours without penning them too much. Bacon.

DEFLUXION. n. f. [defluxio, Latin. The flow of humours downwards.-We fee that taFing cold moveth loosenefs, by contraction of the skin and outward parts; and fo doth cold likewife caufe rheums, and defluxions from the head. Bron.

DE FOE, Danial, a writer famous for politics and poetry. He was bred a hofier, which protion he foon forfook, and became one of the moft enterprifing authors that any age has producod. When difcontents ran high at the Revolution, and king William was obliged to difmifs his Dutch guards, De Foe, who had true notions of civil liberty, ridiculed the enemies of government in his well known poem, called The True-Born Englishman, which had a prodigions fale. The Lext fatire he wrote was entitled, Reformation of Manners; aimed at fome perfons of high rank, who rendered themfelves a difgrace to their country. When the ecclefiaftics breathed too much of a spirit of perfecution, De Foe wrote a tract called The Shortest Way with the Diffenters; for which he was called to account, and explained himself with great firmnefs. He was afterwards entenced to the pillory for attacking fome pubhe measures; which fo little intimidated him, that in defiance of their usage, he wrote a Hymn to the Pillery. It would be endless to enumerate all his publications; but the following are the principal: The Hiftory of the Plague in 1665; a novel intitled VOL. VII. PART 1.

The History of Colonel Jack; A neav Voyage round the World by a Company of Merchants, printed for Bettefworth, 1725; The Hiftory of Roxana; Mes moirs of a Cavalier; The Hiftorg of Moll Flanders a religious romance, intitied Religious Courtship, which has undergone upwards of 20 editions; and the Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, an admirable performance, of which there have been editions without number, but concerning which there is an anecdote, that does the author of it no credit, as to the better part of a writer's character, honefty. When captain Woods Rogers touched at the island of Juan Fernandez, in the South Sea, he brought away Alexander Selkirk, a Scots fail or, who had been left afhore there, and had lived on that defolate place above 4 years. See SELKIRK. When Selkirk came back to England, he wrote a narrative of his adventures, and put the papers into the hands of De Foe, to digest for publication; who ungenerously converted the ma terials into the Hiftory of Robinson Crufoe, and returned Selkirk his papers again! A fraud for which, the diftinguifhed merit of that romance can never atone. Daniel De Foe died at Illington, in 1731. All his productions of the romantic fpecies, but especially the two laft mentioned, are much in vogue amongst country readers; and, on account of their moral and religious tendency, may very probably in fome measure counterack the pernicious effects, produced by the too general circulation of modern novels, thofe occasional ves hicles of impiety and infidelity.

* DEFŒDATION. n. f. [from defœdus, Lat.] The act of making filthy; pollution. This is no Englith word; at leaf, to make it Englith, it fhould be written defedation.-What native, unextinguishable beauty must be impreffed and inflincted through the whole, which the defædation of fo many parts by a bad printer, and a worfe editor, could not hinder from thining forth! Bentley.-

DEFOLIATION, [from de, and folium, a leaf,} the fall of the leaves; a term opposed to frondefcentia, the annual renovation of the leaves. See FRONDESCENTIA. Moft plants in cold and temperate climates fhed their leaves every year: this happens in autumn, and is generally announced by the flowering of the common meadow faffron. The term is only applied to trees and fhrubs ; for herbs perifh down to the root every year, loting ftem, leaves, and all. All plants do not drop their leaves at the fame time. The ath and wainut trees, though latest in unfolding, are foonest divefted of them: the latter feldom carries its leaves above 5 months. On the oak and hornbeam, the leaves die and wither as foon as the cold commences; but remain attached to the branches till they are pushed off by the new ones. which unfold themfelves the following fpring, Thefe trees are doubtlefs a kind of evergreens; the leaves are probably deftroyed only by cold,. and perhaps would continue longer on the plant, but for the force of the fpring fp, joined to the moifture. In mild and dry feafons, the lilac, pri vet, yellow jeflamine of the woods, and mapie of Crete, preferve their leaves green until spring, and do not drop them till the new leaves are beginning to appear. The fig tree, and many other trees

that

*To DEFORM. v. a. [deformo, Lat.] 1. To dif figure; to make ugly; to spoil the form of an thing.

I that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by diffembling nature Deform'd, unfinish'd, fent before my time Into this breathing world, fcarce half made up Shakespear Thomfo

Wintry blafts

Deform the year delightless.

2. To dithonour; to make ungraceful.— Old men with duft deform'd their hoary bai Drade * DEFORMATIÓN. n. f. \deformatio, Lat A defacing; a disfiguring.

* DEFORMED. participal adj. Ugly; wan ing natural beauty.

* DEFORMEDLY. adj. [from deform.] In a ugly manner.

that grow between the tropics, are of this particular clafs of evergreens. The trees in Egypt, fays Dr Haffelquift, caft their leaves in the end of Dec. and beginning of Jan. having young leaves before all the old ones are fallen off; and, to forward this operation, few of the trees have buds: the fycamore, and willow, indeed, have fome, but with few and quite loose ftipula or scales. Buds feem not fo neceffary in the fouthern as in the northern countries. Some trees and fhrubs preferve their leaves conftantly through the whole year and are not in the leaft influenced by the clemency or inclemency of feafons. Such are the firs, juniper, yew, cedar, cypŕefs, and many other trees, hence denominated evergreens. See EXERGREENS. The falling off of the leaves of deciduous trees feems principally to depend on the temperature of the atmosphere, which likewife ferves to haften or retard the appearance in queftion. An ardent fun contributes to haften the dropping of the leaves. Hence in hot and dry fummers, the leaves of the lime tree and horfe-chefnut turn yellow about the ift of Sept. whilft in other years, the yellownefs does not appear till the beginning of October. Nothing, however, contributes more to haften the fall of the leaves, than immoderate cold or moift weather in autumn; moderate droughts, on the other hand, ferve to retard it. As a proof of this pofition, Mr Adanfon relates, that in 1759, the leaves of the elm tree, which generally fall off about the 25th of November, continued in verdure and vigour at Paris, where the autumn was remarkably dry, till the roth of the following month. The following table, refpecting the mean times in which different trees fhed their leaves, is founded upon obfervations: Gooseberry tree and bladderfena,

Walnut and afh,

Almond tree, horse-chefnut, and lime tree,

Maple, hazle-nut, black poplar, and afpen tree,

Birch, plane tree, mountain ofier, falfe acacia, pear, and apple tree,

Vine, mulberry, fig, fumac, and
angelica tree,
Elm tree and willow,
Apricot and e der trees,

Generally quit their leaves about

O&. ift.

15th. 20th.

25th. Nov. ift.

10th. Isth.

oth.

It is remarkable that an ever-green tree grafted u. pon a deciduous determines the latter to retain its leaves. This obfervation is confirmed by repeated experiments: particularly by grafting the laurel, or cherry bay, an ever-green, on the common cherry; and the ilex, or ever-green oak, on the oak.

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(1.) * DEFORCEMENT. n. f. [from force.] A with-holding of lands and tenements by force from the right owner.

(2.) DEFORCEMENT, in Scots law, the oppofing or refifting of the officers of the law in the ex. cution of their office.

*DEFORM. adj. [deformis, Lat.] Ugly; dif figured; of an irregular form.

So fpake the grilly terror; and in shape, So fpeaking and fo threatning, grew tenfold More dreadful and deferm.

Milton.

DEFORMEDNESS. n. f. [from deformes Uglinefs; a difagreeable form.

(1.) * DEFORMITY. n. f. [deforɛnitas, Latin 1. Ugliness ill-favourednefs.—

Where fits deformity to mock my body,
To shape my legs of an unequal fize;
To difproportion me in every part.
Why should not man,

Retaining ftill divine fimilitude

Sha

In part, from fuch deformities be free,
And, for his maker's image fake, exempt

Milt

2. Ridiculoufnefs; the quality of fomething w thy to be laughed at, or cenfüred.-In come there is somewhat more of the worfe likeneis be taken, because it is often to produce laught which is occafioned by the fight of fome defor ty. Dryden. 3. Irregularity; inordinatenefs.-] glory is more to be envied than that of due forming either church or fate, when deformi are fuch, that the perturbation and novelty not like to exceed the benefit of reforming. K Charles.

(2.) DEFORMITY, FURTHER DEFINED AND D TINGUISHED. Deformity may be defined, in neral, the want of uniformity; though it certa ly does not (as fome have fuppofed) include want of that perfect degree of uniformity that neceflary to conftitute beauty. Many are the jects in nature that cannot be faid to be beauti and yet are by no means deformed. See BEAU Deformity is either natural or moral. Thefe both referred by Mr Hutchefon to an inter fenfe; and our perceptions of them, as he fup fes, arifes from an original arbitrary ftructur our own minds, by which certain objects, w obferved, are rendered the occafions of cer fenfations and affections.

(3.) DEFORMITY, GENERAL REMARKS That many objects give no pleasure to our fen obvious. Many are certainly void of beauty; then, fays Mr Hutchefon, there is no form wi feems neceffarily disagreeable of itself, when dread no other evil from it, and compare it nothing better of the kind. Many objects are turally difpleafing and diftafteful to our exte fenfes, as well as others pleafing and agrees as fmells, taftes, and fome feparate founds > with regard to our fenfe of beauty, no com

fition of objects which give not unpleafant fimple ideas, feems pofitively unpleafant or painful of itfelf, had we never obferved any thing better of the fame kind. Had there been a fpecies of the form which we now denominate ugly or deformed, and had never seen or expected greater beauty, we should have received no disgust from it; though the pleasure would not have been fo great in this form as in those we now admire. Our fenfe of beauty feems defigned to give us pofitive pleature; but not pofitive pain or difguft, any farther than what arifes from difappointment. There are indeed many faces which at firft view are apt to rate diflike. But this is generally not from any pofitive deformity; but either from want of expected beauty, or from the carrying fome natural indications of moralty bad difpofitions, which we all acquire a faculty of difcerning in countenances, airs, and geftures. That this is not occafioned by any form pofitively difgufting, appears hence, that if, upon farther acquaintance, we find fweetnefs of temper, humanity, and cheerfulness, though the bodily form continues, it gives us no difguft. There are horrors raised by fome objects, which are only the effect of fear for ourselves, or compaffion towards others, when either reason, experience, weakness of nerves, or fome foolish affociation of ideas, makes us apprehend danger; and not the effect of any thing in the form itself. For we find, that most of thofe objects which excite borror at first, when experience or reafon has removed the fear, may become the occafion of plea fore. The cafual conjunction of ideas gives us dfguft, where there is nothing difagreeable in the form itself. And this, in effect, is the caufe of moft of our fantastic averfions to the figures of divers animals, &c. Thus ferpents of all kinds, and many infects, really beautiful enough, are beheid with averfion by many people, who have got fome accidental ideas of mischief affociated to them. A fimilar reafoning is applied to our perception of moral beauty and deformity. See Inquiry into the Orginal of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, paffim. But it is more juft to diftinguith between the fentiments of delight or difguft, excited in us by beautiful or deformed objects, which are effects of fome causes, and the natural and real qualities of the perceived objects by which they are produced. There are objects, fays an excellent writer, which have a natural aptitude to pleafe or offend, or between which and the contemplating mind there is a neceffary congruity or incongruity; and though the actual perception of the understanding, and confequent feeling of the heart, in contemplating the actions and affections of moral agents, may exift in very different degrees, on account of the incidental obstructions arifing from bodily indifpofition, mental prejudices and biafies, and the affociation of ideas; yet, to every rational mind properly difpofed, morally good actions muft for ever be acceptable, and can never of themselves offend; and morally evil actions be for ver difagreeable, and can never of themfelves please. What is right in actions and characters is beautiful and amiable, and gives pleasure; what 19 wrong is deformed and odious, and excites difguft; right and pleasure, wrong and pain, are as distinct as caufe and effect. It is no lefs abfurd

to maintain, that the perception of virtue is no thing diftin&t from the reception of the pleasure refulting from it, than to infer, with fome metaphysicians, that folidity, extenfion, and figure, are only peculiar modes of fenfation, because attended, whenever they are perceived, with fome fenfations of fight or touch. Thus does this author fhow, that moral beauty and deformity are real qualities of certain actions; in which confifts their aptitude to please or difguft. With respect to na.. tural beauty, he obferves, that uniformity amidit variety pleafes, because of the natures of variety and uniformity, which are fuch, that whenever united, they are adapted to please every free unbiaffed mind that difcerns them. He accounts for the pleasure they afford, without referring them to an arbitrary internal fenfe, by the following circumftances that attend them. They are more easily comprehended by the mind: order and fymmetry give things their stability and strength, and fubferviency to any valuable purpofe; regularity and order evidence art and defign. Diforder and confufion, whence deformity arifes, denote only the negation of regularity and order; or any arrangement and difpofition of things, which are not pofitively difpleafing; except where we previously expected order, or where impotence or want of fkill appear, and the contriver has either failed of his defign or executed it ill. In the Fu gitive Pieces, is preferved an excellent Effay on Bodily Deformity by the late William Hay, Efq. who was himfelf what he defcribes, and who, while he rallies his own figure with great pleasantry, difcuffes the general subject in a manner equally inftructive and agreeable. He confiders, 1. The natural confequences of bodily deformity; 2. How it affects the outward circumitances; and, 3. What turn it gives to the mind.

(4.) DEFORMITY, NATURAL CONSEQUENCES or. I. It is certain that the human frame, being warped and difproportioned, is leffened in ftrength and activity, and rendered let's fit for its functions. Scarron had invented an engine to take off his hat; "and I with (fays our author) I could invent one to buckle my fhoe, or to take up a thing from the ground, which I can fcarce do without kneeling, for I can bend my body no farther than it is bent by nature. For this reafon, when ladies drop a fan or glove, I am not the first to take it up; and often reftrain my inclination to perform those little fervices, rather than expofe my spider-like fhape. And I hope it will not be construed to pride, if I do not always rife from my feat when I ought: for if it is low, I find fome trouble in it; and my centre of gravity is fo ill placed, that I am often like to fall back. Things hanging within the reach of others are out of mine; and what they can execute with eafe, I want strength to perform. I am in danger of being trampled upon or ftilled in a crowd, where my back is a conve nient lodgment for the elbow of any tall perfon that is near. I can fee nothing, and my whole employment is to guard my perfon. I have for born to attend his majefty in the houfe of peers fince I was like to be squeezed to death there against the wall. I would willingly come thither when his majefty commands, but he is too gracious to expect impoffibilities. Befides, when I get