may be affifted by a gentle heat in a bed; and if they are planted up to the rims in a moift place, and shaded in dry weather, they will grow very well. Though by this time they should have become hardy, yet it will be proper to fhelter them the winter following in bad weather. They require little care more during their stay in the pots, which may be either two, three, or more years, if they are large enough; when in fpring they may be turned out, with the mould, into the places where they are to remain, which ought always to be moift and properly sheltered.

(2, 3) NYSSA. See NYSA, N° 1, 2. NYSTADT, a town of Sweden, in Finland, on the Gulph of Bothnia, with a good harbour and

(x.) * O Has in English a long found; as, drone, groan, flone, alone, cloke, broke, coal, droll; or fhort, as got, knot, fhot, prong, long. It is ufually denoted long by a fervile a fubjoined; as, moan, or by e at the end of the fyllable; as, bone when thefe vowels are not appended, it is generally fhort, except before II; as, droll, feroll, and even then fometimes fhort; as, loll. 1. O is ufed as an interjection of wishing or exclamation.-0 that we, who have refifted all the defigns of his love, would now try to defeat that of his anger! Decay of Piety. O! were he prefent, that his eyes and hands Might fee and urge the death which he commands. Dryd. 2. O is ufed with no great elegance by Shakespeare for a circle or oval.

Can this cockpit hold

The vafty field of France? or may we cram Within this wooden O, the very caiks That did affright the air at Agincourt? Shak. (2.) O is used, 1. As a letter; 2. as a numeral; 3. as an abbreviation; 4. as a patronymic in names; 5. as a mark in mufic; and 6. as a word. 1. As 3 LETTER, O is the 14th in the alphabet and the 4th vowel. Its found is often fo foft as to require it double, and that chiefly in the middle of words; goofe, reproof, &c. And in fome words this o is pronounced like a fhort, as in flood, blood, &c. The Greeks had two O's; viz. omicron, e, and omega, ; the firft pronounced on the tip of the lips with a fharper found; the fecond in the middle of the mouth, with a fuller found, equal to ce in our language. The long and fhort pronunciation of our O are equivalent to the two Greek ones; the first, as in fuppofe; the ad as in sbey. II. As a NUMERAL, O was fometimes ufed for 11 among the ancients; and with a dalh over it thus, O, for 11,000. In modern arithmetic, it is ufed for the cypher and reprefents no. thing, by which that feience and all others connected with it have been brought to their prefent ftate of perfection. (See ARITHMETIC, Index.) III. As an AEREVIATION, in the notes of the ancients, O. CON, is read opus condu&um; O.C. Q. opera confilioque; O. D. M. operæ donum munus ; and O. LO. opus locatum. IV. Among the Irith, the letter O, at the beginning of the name of a family, is faid to be a character of dignity annexed VOL. XVI. PART I.

great trade; 22 miles NW. of Abo. In 1721, a treaty of peace was concluded in it between Sweden and Ruffia.

NYSTED, a town of Denmark, in Laland; which has a good trade to Germany. In 1560, and 1700 it fuffered much by fire. It is 19 miles SE of Nafkow. Lon. 11. 40. E. Lat. 54. 45. N. NYSUM, a town of Durham, on the Tees NYU-CHE, or KIN, an empire which arose in eaftern Tartary in the beginning of the 13th century. From the founder of this empire, the late Chinese emperor Kang-hi faid that his family was defcended. See CHINA § 9, 10, and TARTARY. NYWICHWANNOCK, a river of the United States, which runs into the Pifcataqua.

OAF

to great houfes. Thus, in the hiftory of Ireland, we frequently meet with the O Neals, O Carrols, &c. confiderable houfes in that island. Camb. den obferves that it is the cuftom of the lords of Ireland to prefix an O to their names, to diftinguith them from the commonalty. But we rather fufpect the O prefixed to Irish names to be a PATRONYMIC fyllable fignifying grandson, as Oy still does in the old Scottish dialect, ufed in a fimilar manner with Mac, in the Gaelic, which every body knows fignifies fon. V. In MUSIC, the ancients ufed O as a MARK of triple time; from a notion that the tenary, or number 3, was the most perfect of rumbers, and therefore properly exprefd by a circle, the most perfect of figures. It is not, ftrictly speaking, the letter O, but the figure of a circle O, or double Cɔ, by which the modern ancients in mufic used to exprefs what they called tempo perfe&o, or triple time. Hence the Italians call it circolo. The feven antiphones, or alternate hymns of seven verses, &c. fung by the choir in the time of Advent, were formerly called 0, from their beginning with fuch an exclamation. VI. As a WORD O is used, 1, as a noun. the name of a town; 2. as an adverb of calling; and 3. as an interjection of forrow or wishing.

(3.) O, in geography, or ST MARTIN D'o, a town of France, in the dep. of the Orne, and diftrict of Argentan.

OACCO, a town and province of Angola, in the kingdom of Benguela.

OACHATE, a fea port of Ulietea.

* OAF. n. ƒ. [This word is variously written: auff, ofe, and oph; it feems a corruption of cuph, a demon or fairy; in German alf, from which elf; and means properly the fame with changeling; a foolish child left by malevolent ouphs or fairies, in the place of one more witty, which they fteal away.] 1. A changeling; a foolish child left by the fairies.

Thefe when a child haps to be got,
Which after proves an idiot,
When folk perceive it thriveth not,

The fault therein to fmother: Some filly doating brainless calf,' That understands things by the half, Says that the fairy left this oaf, And took away the other. Drayton's Nymphid. 2. A dolt; a blockhead; an idiot. * OAFISH.

. Ee

* OAFISH. adj. [from oaf.] Stupid; dull; doltish.

* OAFISHNESS. n. f. [from oofish.] Stupidity; dulnefs.

OAHAHA, a river of Loufiania, which runs into the Miffifippi from the NW. in Lat. 39. 10. N. OAHOO, or WоAHOO, one of the SANDWICH Islands, and the finest in the whole group, for the werdure of its hills, the variety of its woods and lawns, and rich cultivated valleys. It is fuppofed to contain above 60.000 inhabitants. Its harbour lies in Lon. 202. 9. E. Lät. 21. 43. N.

OAHOONA, one of the Ingraham ifles. . OAITIPHEA, a bay of Otaheite.

(1.) * OAK. n. f. [ac, æc, Saxon; which, fays Skinner, to show how eafy it is to play the fool, under a fhew of literature and deep researches, I avill, for the diversion of my readers, derive from ox, a houfe; the oak being the best timber for building. Skinner feems to have had Junius in his thoughts, who on this very word has shewn his ufual fondness for Greek etymology, by a deriva. tion more ridiculous than that by which Skinner has ridiculed him. Ac or oak, fays the grave critic, fignified among the Saxons, like robur among the Latins, not only an oak but strength, and may be well enough derived, non incommode deduci, poteft, from axx, ftrength; by taking the three firft letters, and then finking the x, as is not uncommon; quercus.-The oak-tree hath male flowers, or katkins, which confift of a great number of Amall Blender threads. The embryos, which are produced at remote diances from thefe on the Lame tree, do afterwards become acorns, which are produced in hard fealy cups; the leaves are finuated. The fpecies are five. Miller.

He return'd with his brows bound with oak. Sbak,

He lay along

Under an oak. Shak. -No tree beareth fo many baftard fruits as the pak: for befides the acorns, it beareth galls, oak apples, oak nuts, which are inflammable, and oak berries, flicking clofe to the body of the tree without talk. Bacon's Nat. Hift.

The monarch oak, the patriach of the trees, Shoots rifing up, and spreads by flow degrees; Three centuries he grows, and three he stays Supreme in ftate; and in three more decays. Dryden. -An oak, growing from a plant to a great tree, and then lopped, is ftill the fame oak. Lockt.-A light earthy, ftony, and fparry matter, incrufted and affixed to oak leaves. Woodward on Fofils.—

Let India boaft her plants, nor envy we The weeping amber and the balmy tree, While by our oaks the precious loads are born, And realms commanded which thofe trees adorn. Pope,

(2.) OAK, in botany. See QUERCUS. The pak has been long known by the title of monarch of the swoods. The ancient druids had a moft profound veneration for oak trees; and fome derive their very name from the old British word, dru, an oak. See BRUIDS, 1, 11, Maximus Tyrius fays the Celta or Gauls worshipped Jupiter under the figure of a lofty oak. This ufeful tree grows to fuch a furprifing magnitude, that were

there not many well authenticated inftances of them from our own country, they would appear incredible. In the 18th vol. of the Gent. Mag. we have the dimenfions of a leaf 12 inches long, and 7 broad; and all the leaves of the fame tree were equally large. On the estate of Woodhail, purchafed in 1775 by Sir Thomas Rumbold, Bart. late governor of Madras, an oak was felted, which fold for 431. and measured 24 feet round. One in Millwood foreft, near Chaddefley, which was in full verdure in winter, got its leaves again after the autumn ones fell off. In Hunter's Evelyn's Sylva, we have an account of a very remarkable oak at Greendale; which Gough, in his edition of Cambden thus minutely defcribes: "The Greendale oak, with a road cut through it, ftill bears one green branch. Such branches as have been cut or broken off, are guarded from wet by lead. The diameter of this tree at the top, whence the branches iffue, is 14 feet 2 inches; at the furface of the ground, 111⁄2 feet; circumference there 35 feet; height of the trunk 53; height of the arch, 10, width 6. Mr Evelyn mentions feveral more oaks of extraordinary fize in Workfop park." In the Gent. Mag. for 1773, we have an account of a fpecies differing very effentially from the common one; it is frequent about St Thomas in Devonshire, and is in that county called Lucembe oak, from one William Lucombe who successfully cultivated it near Exeter. It grows as ftraight and handfome as a fir; its leaves are evergreen. and its wood as hard as that of the common oak. its growth is fo quick, as to exceed, in 20 or 30 years, the altitude and girth of the common one at roo. It is cultivated in varicus places; Cornwall, Somerfet fhire, &c. M. Du Hamel Du Monceau, of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, in his Treatise on Hufbandry, gave an account in 1749 of an oak which he had kept in water & years, and which yielded fine leaves every spring. The tree had 4 or 5 branches; the largeft 19 or 20 lines round, and more than 18 inches long. It throve more in the two firft years than it would have done in the beft earth, but afterwards loft its vigour, and decayed; which he attributed to a defect in the roots rather than to want of aliment. M. de Buffon made fome experiments on oak trees; the refult of which is recorded in the Gentleman's Mag. 1754. He had compared barked with unbarked trees; and proves, from a variety of trials, that timber barked and dried ftanding, is always heavier, and confiderably ftronger than timber kept in its bark.

*

excrefcence is an exudation of plants joined with putrefaction, as in oakapples, which are found chiefly upon the leaves of oaks. Bacon's Nat. Hift. OAK-BARK. n.. the bark of the oak, which is very useful in tanning. See TANNING. The bark of oak trees was formerly thought to be extremely useful in vegetation. One load (Mr Mills in his treatise on husbandry informs us) of oakbark, laid in a heap and rotted, after the tanners have used it for dreffing of leather, will do more service to stiffen cold land, and its effects will laft longer, than two loads of the richeft dung; but this has been ftrenuously controverted. (See OAK-LEAVES.) The bark, in medicine, is alfo a ftrong aftringent; and hence is recommended in hæmorrhagies, alvine fluxes, and other præternatural or immoderate secretions; and in these it is sometimes attended with good effects. Some have alleged, that by the use of this bark every purpofe can be answered which may be obtained from Peruvian bark. But after feveral very fair trials, this is found not to be the cafe. Befides the bark, the buds, the acorns, and their cups are ufed; as alfo the galls, which are excrefcences caused by infects on the oaks of the eastern countries, of which there are diverfe forts; fome perfectly round and smooth, fome rougher with small protuberances, but all generally having a round hole in them. All the parts of the oak are ftyptic, binding, and useful in all kinds of fluxes and bleedings, either inward or outward. The bark is frequently used in gargarifms, for the relaxation of the uvula, and for fore mouths and throats: it is also used in reftringent clyfters and injections, against the prolapfus uteri or ani. The acorns, beaten to powder, are frequently taken by the vulgar for pains in the fide. The only officinal preparation is the aqua germinum quercus. OAK BAY, a promontory in the Bay of Fundi, 9 leagues SSE. of Moose Island. It is fo high as to be feen 12 leagues distant.

OAKCHEYS, a town of the United States, in Georgia, 12 miles NNE. of Oakfuskee.

* ŎAKEN. adj. [from oak.] Made of oak; gathered from oak.-No nation doth equal Eng land for oaken timber wherewith to build fhips. Bacon.

By lot from Jove I am the pow'r Of this fair wood, and live in oaken bow'r. Milt. Clad in white velvet all their troop they led, With each an oaken chaplet on his head. Dryd. -An oaken garland to be worn on feftivals, was the recompence of one who had covered a citizen in battle. Addison. He fnatched a good caken cudgel, and began to brandish it. Arbuthnot. (1.) ŎAKENPIN. . . An apple.-oakenpin, fo called from its hardness, is a lafting fruit, yields excellent liquor, and is near the nature of the Weftbury apple, though not in form. Mort. (2. OAKENPIN, or See PYRUS, N° 4.

OAKEN PIPPIN.

(1.) OAKFUSKEE, or TALLAPOOSEE, a large Aver of Georgia, which rifes in the Cherokee country, and thence running SW. rushes over a cataract of 70 feet perpendicular height, and after running 45 miles farther, joins the Abacoo chee, and forms the Alabama

(2.) OAKFUSKEE, a town of Georgia, 159 miles W. of Augufta. Lon. 85. 55. W. Lat. 33. 0. N. (1.) OAKHAM, or ОCKHAM. See OAKUM. (2.) OAKHAM, in geography, a township of Maffachusetts, in Worcester county, 15 miles NW. of Worcester, and 62 W. of Bofton. It contained 772 citizens in 1795.

(3.) OAKHAM. See OKEHAM.

(1.) OAKHAMPTON, a town of Devonshire, on the Oke, 24 miles W. of Exeter, and 195 W. by S. of London. It fends two members to parliament. Lon. 4. 5. W. Lat. 50. 48. N.

OAKHAMSTON HEAD, a cape of Scotland on the SE. coaft of Caithness, 11 miles S. of Wick. OAKINGHAM, or WOKINGHAM, a town of Berkshire near Wilts, with a market on Tuesday, containing about 1200 inhabitants. It is the chief town in Windsor Forest, and the foreft courts are held in it. It has feveral filk mills, and a manufacture of denims. It is 7 miles ESE. of Reading, and 32. W. of London.

OAKINGTON, a town of Cambridgeshire, 4 miles from Cambridge.

OAK ISLAND, a narrow inland on the coaft of N. Carolina.

OAK LEAF GALLS are of feveral kinds: the remarkable species, called the mushroom gall, is never found on any other vegetable substance but these leaves; and befides this there are a great number of other kinds. The double gall of thefe leaves is very fingular, because the generality of productions of this kind affect only one fide of a leaf or branch, and grow all one way; whereas this kind of gall extends itself both ways, and is feen on each fide of a leaf, in form of two protuberances, opposite the one to the other. These are of differently irregular shapes, but their natu ral figure feems that of two cones, with broad bafes, and very obtufe points, though fometimes they are round, or very nearly fo. Thefe make their first appearance on the leaf in April, and remain on it till June or longer. They are at first green, but afterwards yellowish, and are fofter to the touch than many other of the productions of this kind; they are ufually about the fize of a large pea, but fometimes they grow to the bignefs of a nut. When opened they are found to be of that kind which are inhabited each by one infect only, and each contain one cavity. The cavity in this is, however, larger than in any other gall of the fize, or even in many others of three times the fize; the fides of it being very little thicker than the fubftance of the leaf. It is not eaty to afcertain the origin of the feveral fpecies of flies which are at times feen in this manner to come out of the fame fpecies of galls. It feems the common courfe of nature, that only one fpecies of infect forms one kind of gall; yet it may be, that two or three kinds may give origin to the fame kind. There is, however, another occafion of our feeing different fpecies come out of different galls of the fame kind; and this is the effect of the enemies of the proper inhabitants. It might appear that the parent fly, when the had formed a gall for the habitation of her worm-offspring, had it placed in an impregnable fortrefs: but this is not the cafe; for it frequentE e 2

ly

ly happens, that a fly, as fmall perhaps as that which gave origin to the gall, produces a worm which is of the carnivorous kind, as the other feeds on vegetable juices. This little fly, well knowing that where there is one of thefe protu. berances on a leaf, there is a tender and defencelefs infect within, pierces the fides of the gall, and depolits her egg within it. This, when it hatches into a worm, feeds upon the proper inhabitant; and finally, after devouring it, paffes into the chryfalis Itate, and thence appears in the form of its parent Ay, and is feen making its way out of the gall, in the place of the proper inhabitant. On opening thefe leaf galls, which are properly the habitation only of one animal, it is common to find two, the ftronger preying upon the body of the other, and fucking its juices as it does thofe of the leaf; often it is found wholly employed in devouring its unoffending neighbour at once: this is probably the cafe when its time of eating is nearly over; and, in fine, when we find the gall inhabited by only one infect, or containing only one chryfalis, as it ought in its natural fate to do, we are never certain that this is the proper inhabitant, as it may be one of these destroyers who has eaten up the other, and fupplied its place. See APHIS and PUCERON, N° 2.

OAK LEAVES. The ufes of oak-bark in tanning and in hot-beds are generally known. For the latter of these purposes, however, oak-leaves are now found to answer equally well, or rather better. In the notes to Dr Hunter's edition of Evelyn's Treatise on Forest-trees, we find the following directions for their ufe by W. Speechiy: the leaves are to be raked up as foon as poffible after they fall from the trees. When raked into heaps, they should immediately be carried into fome place near the hot-houses, where they may lie to couch. Mr Speechly fays, it was his custom to fence them round with charcoal hurdles, or any thing elfe, to keep them from being blown about the garden in windy weather. In this place they tread them well, and water them in cafe they happen to have been brought in dry. The heap is made 6 or 7 feet thick, and covered over with old mats, or any thing elfe, to prevent the upper leaves from being blown away. In a few days the heap will come to a strong heat. For the first year or two in which he used thefe leaves, our author did not continue them in the heap longer than ten days or a fortnight; but by this method of management they fettled fo much when brought to the hot-house, that a supply was very foon required; and he afterwards found, that it was proper to let them refnain 5 or 6 weeks in the heaps before they are to be watered, and again trodden down exceedingly well, in layers, till the pits are quite full. The whole is then covered with a tan bark, to the thickness of two inches, and well trodden down, till the furface becomes fmooth and even. On this the pinepots are to be placed in the manner they are to ftand, beginning with the middle row first, and filling up the fpaces between the pots with tan. In this manner we are to proceed to the next row, till the whole be finished; and this operation is performed in the fame manner as when tan only is ufed. The leaves require no farther trouble

through the whole feafon as they will retain a conftant and regular heat for 12 months without firring or turning; and our author informs us, that if he may judge from their appearance when taken out (being always entire and perfect), it is probable they would continue their heat through a fecond year; but, as an annual supply of leaves is easily obtained, the experiment is hardly worth making.

OAKLEY, 4 fmall towns of England, in Bedford, Dorfet, Oxford, and Stafford fhires.

(1.) OAKMULGEE, a river of Georgia, which joins the Okonee, and forms with it the S. great branch of the ALATAMAHEE. At Oakmulgee Fields it is about 400 yards broad.

(2.) OAKMULGEE FIELDS, an extensive tract of rich and fertile ground in Georgia, on the E. banks of the above river, confiderably above its conflux with the Okonee, where these two rivers are about 40 miles diftance. This territory is remarkable for exhibiting furpriting relics of the power and grandeur of the ancient American natives, the ruins of feveral towns, with fquares, banks, terraces, artificial mounds, &c. Thefe fields extend about 20 miles up the river.

OAK PUCERON. See PUCERON, N° 2. OAK SAW-DUST is now found to answer the purposes of tanning as well, at least, as the bark. See TANNING.

OAKUM. 7. f. [A word probably formed by fome corruption.]-Cords untwifted and reduced to hemp, with which, mingled with pitch, leaks are ftopped. They make their oakuin wherewith they chalk the feams of the fhips, of feer and weather-beaten ropes, when they are over spent, and grown fo rotten as to ferve for no other ufe but to make rotten oakum, which moulders and washes away with every fea as the ships labour and are toffed. Raleigh.

Some drive old oakum thro' each feam and

rift. Dryden. OANNES, a being in Chaldean mythology, reprefented as half a man and half a fish. According to Beroffus and others, this monfter was the civilizer of the Chaldeans; to whom he taught a fyftem of jurifprudence so perfect as to be incapable of improvement. See ANTEDILUVIANS, § 8; DELUGE, 6; and MYTHOLOGY, § 24.

( 1.) * OAR. n. f. \are, Saxon; perhaps by allufion to the common expreffion of plowing the water; from the fame root with ear, to plow, aro, ` Lat.] A long pole with a broad end, by which veffels are driven in the water, the refistance made by the water to the oar pushing on the veel.The oars were filver,

Which to the tune of flutes kept ftroke. Shak. So tow'rd a fhip the car-finn'd gallies ply. Denhamn

Untaught Indians on the ftream did glide, E'er fharp-keel'd boats to ftem the flood did learn,

Or fin-like oars did spread from either fide.

Dryden

of the veffel, and which enters into the water, is called the blade, or wash plat; and that which is within board is termed the loom, whofe extremity, being fmall enough to be grasped by the rowers or perfons managing the oars, is called the handle. To push the boat or veffel forwards by means of this inftrument, the rowers turn their backs for ward, and, dipping the blade of the car in the water, pull the handle forward, fo that the blade at the fame time may move aft in the waver: but fince the blade cannot be fo moved, without ftriking the water, this impulfion is the fame as if the water were to ftrike the blade from the ftern towards the head: the veffel is therefore necef. farily moved according to this direction. Hence it follows, that she will advance with the greater rapidity, by as much as the oar ftrikes the water more torcibly. Thus it is evident, that an oar acts upon the fide of a boat or veffel like a lever of the fecond class, whose fulcrum is the ftation upon which the oar refts on the boat's gunnel. In large veffels, this ftation is ufually called the row-port; but in lights and boats it is always termed the row-lock.

(1.) * To OAR. v. a. [from the noun.] To impel by rowing.

His bold head

'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar'd Himfelf with his good arms, in lufty strokes, To th' fhore.

(2.) * To OAR. v. n. To row,

Shak.

He more undaunted on the ruin rode, And our'd with labouring arms along the flood. Pope. OARISTUS, or a term in the Greek poetry, OARISTYS, fignifying a dialogue between a busband and his wife; fuch as that in the fixth book of the Iliad, between Hector and Andromache. Scaliger observes, that the oaristus is not properly any particular little poem, or entire piece of poetry, but always a part of a great one. He adds, that the paffage now cited in Homer is the only proper oariftus extant in the ancient poets. ÓARTS. See BOMBAY, 12.

OARY. adj. [from oar.] Having the form or ufe of oars.

The fwan, with arched neck, Between her white wings mantling, proudly

rows

Her state with oary feet.

Milton. His hair transforms to down, his fingers

meet

In skinny films, and shape his oary feet. Addif. (1.) OASIS, the name of three districts of Egypt, fo called from their fertility; the word oafis fignifying "a fertile spot in a fandy defert." They produce barley, maize, dates, &c.

1. OASIS DAKILE, or the Interior Oafis, lies near Upper Egypt, and has two villages.

2. OASIS EL OUAH, so named from OUAH its capital, lies three days journey W. of Oufiout.

3. OASIS, THE MIDDLE, lies between the two preceding, and has two villages, called El Kafr and El Hindan.

(IL) OASIS is alfo the name of feveral fertile difirias of Africa, in SAHARA, or the Great Defartt.

*OAST. n. J. A kiln. Not in ufe.-Empty

the binn into a hog-bag, and carry them immediately to the saft or kiln, to be dried. Mortimer. OAT, n. f. is feldom ufed but in the plural. See OATS.

OATARA, an island in the South Sea, SE. of Ulietea, abounding with wood.

* OATCAKE. n. f. {oat and cake.] Caké made of the meal of oats.-Take a blue ftone they make haver or oatcakes upon, and lay it upon the crofs bars of iron. Peacham.

*OATEN. adj. [trom oat.] Made of oats; bearing oats.

When fhepherds pipe on oaten straws, And merry larks are ploughmens clocks. Shak. OAT-GRASS, a fpecies of BROMUS.

(1.) * OATH. n. f. [aith, Gothick; ath, Saxon. The diftance between the noun oath, and the verb fear, is very obfervable, as it may fhew that our oldeft dialect is from different languages.] An affirmation, negation, or promise, corroborated by the atteftation of the Divine Being.

Read over Julia's heart, thy first beft love, For whofe dear fake thou then didst rend thy faith Into a thousand oaths; and all thofe oaths Defcended into perjury to love me. All the oath rite's said,

Shak.

Chapman.

I then afcended her adored bed. -We have confultations, which inventions fhall be published, which not; and take an oath of fecrecy for the concealing of those which we think fit to keep fecret. Bacon.-Thofe called to any office of trust are bound by an oath to the faithful difcharge of it: but an oath is an appeal to God, and therefore can have no influence except upon those who believe that he is. Swift.

(2.) An OATH is accompanied with an invocation of God to witness what we say; and with an imprecation of his vengeance, or a renunciation of his favour, if what we affirm be false, or what we promise be not performed. The laws of all civilized ftates have required the security of an oath for evidence given in a court of justice; and the Chriftian religion utterly prohibits fwearing, except when oaths are required by legal authority. (3.) OATH, CORONATION. See KING, § I. ii. z.

(4.) OATH, LAWFULNESS OF. The Quakers and Moravians, fwayed by the fense which they put upon that text of Scripture (Matth. v. 34.), "fwear not at all," refufe to fwear upon any occafion, even at the requifition of a magiftrate, and in a court of juftice. Thefe fcruples are groundlefs, and proceed from not diftinguishing between the proper use and abuse of fwearing. It is doubt. lefs impious to call upon God to witness trifles, or to ufe bis tremendous name as a mere expletive in conversation; but it does not follow that we may not folemnly call upon him to witness truths of importance. If it be lawful to afk of God our daily bread, and other earthly bleffings, it cannot furely be unlawful, where the lives or properties of our neighbours, or the fecurity of government is concerned, to invoke him with reverence to witnefs the truth of our affertions, or the fincerity of our intentions; because of our truth and fincerity, in doubtful cafes, none but he can be the witness.

(5.) OATHS, LEGAL DISTINCTION OF. All legal oaths are either affertory or promiflory. i. OATHS,