mature, which will yet appear obfcure. Boyle. That this part of facred fcripture had difficulties in it, many caufes of obcurity did readily occur to me. Locke. What lies beyond our pofitive idea towards infinity, lies in obfcurity, and has the undeterminate confufion of a negative idea, it being too large for a fihite capacity: Locke. (1.)* OBSECRATION. n. S. Jobfecratio, from obfecro, Lat.] Intreaty'; fupplication. That thefe were comprehended under the facra, is manifeft from the old form of obfecration. Stilling fleet. (2.) OBSECRATION, in rhetoric, a figure whereby the orator implores the affiftance of God or man. OBSEQUENS, Julius, a Latin writer, fuppofed to have lived before Honorius's reign. He made a collection of the prodigies which Livy related in his hiftory. There are feveral editions of thofe remains. Lycofthenes endeavoured to fupply what was wanting in the original. (r.)* OBSEQUIES. n. J. [obfequies, French. I know not whether this word be not anciently miftaken for exequies, exequiæ, Latin: this word however, is apparently derived from obfequium.] 1. Funeral rites; funeral folemnities.-There was Dorilaus, valiantly requiring his friend's help in a great battle, deprived of life, his obfequies being not more folemnized by the tears of his partakers, than the blood of his enemies. Sidney. Fair Juliet, that with angels doft remain, Accept this lateft favour at my hand; That living honour'd thee, and being dead, With fun'ral obfequies adorns thy tomb. Shak. I fpare the widows tears, their woeful cries, And howling at their husbands obfequies. Dryd, I will, myTelf, Be the chief mourner at his obfequies. Dryden. Alas! poor Poll, my Indian talker, dies, Go birds and celebrate his obfequies. Creech. 2. It is found in the fingular, perhaps more properly. Or tune a fong of victory to me, Milton. Or to thyself, fing thine own obfequy, Crafbaw. Him I'll fomnly attend, With filent obf.quy and funeral train. (2.) OBSEQUIES. See BURIAL, § 2; and FuNERAL, 3—15. * OBSEQUIOUS. adj. [from obfequium, Latin.] 1. Obedient compliant; not refifting.-Adore not fo the rifing fon, that you forget the father, who raised you to this height; nor be you fo bfequious to the father, that you give just cause to the fon to fufpect that you neglect him. Bacon. At his command th' up-rooted hills retir'd Each to his place; they heard his voice, and I follow'd her; the what was honour knew, And, with obsequious majesty, approv❜d My pleaded reafon. Milton. See how th' obfequious wind and liquid air The Theban fwan does upward bear. Cowley. A genial cherishing heat acts fo upon the fit and obfequious matter, as to organize and fashion it according to the exigencies of its own nature. Boyle. Shak In filial obligation, for fome term, To do obfequious forrow. OBSEQUIOUSLY. adv. [from obfequious.] 1. Obediently; with compliance They rife, and with refpectful awe, At the word giv'n, obfequiously withdraw. Dryd. -We cannot reafonably expect, that any one fhould readily and obfequiously quit his own opinion, and embrace ours with a blind refignation. Locke. 2. In Shakespeare it fignifies, with funeral rites; with reverence for the dead. I a while obfequiously lament Th' untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster. Shak. *OBSEQUIOUSNESS. n.. [from cbfequious.] Obedience; compliance.-They apply themfelves both to his intereft and humour, with all the arts of flattery and obfequiousness. South. * OBSERVABLE. adj. [from obfervo, Latin.Į Remarkable; eminent; fuch as may deferve no. tice. They do bury their dead with obfervable ceremonies. Abbot. These properties affixed unto bodies from confiderations deduced from eaft, weft, or thofe obfervable points of the sphere, will not be justified from fuch foundations. Brown. I took a juft account of every obfervable circumftance of the earth, ftone, metal, or other matter. Woodward.-The great and more obferv able occafions of exercifing our courage, occur but feldom, Rodgers. * OBSERVABLY. adv. [from obfervable.] In a manner worthy of note. It is prodigious to have thunder in a clear fky, as is obfervably recorded in fome hiftories. Brown. * OBSERVANCE. n. fe obfervance, French; obfervo, Latin.] 1. Refpect; ceremonial reve 5. Careful obedience.-We must attend our Creator in all those ordinances which he has prefcrib ed to the obfervance of his church. Rogers. 6. Obfervation; attention.-There can be no obfervation or experience of greater certainty, as to the increase of mankind, than the ftrict and vigilant obfervance of the calculations and registers of the bills of births and deaths. Hale. 7. Obedient regard; reverential attention. Having bad fuch Obfequious to his orders, bear him hither. Addif. experience of his fidelity and obfervance abroad, His fervants weeping, he he found himself engaged in honour to 'fupport him. Wotton. (1.) * OBSERVANT. adj. fobfervans, Latin.] 1. Attentive; diligent; watchful.-Thefe writers were obfervant fpectators of thofe mafters they admired. Raleigh.-'. Wand'ring from clime to clime obfervant ftray'd, Their manners noted. Pope. 2. Obedient; refpectful: with of-We are told how obfervant Alexander was of his mafter AriAtotle. Digby. 3. Refpectfully attentive: with of She now obfervant of the parting ray, Eyes the calm fun-fet of thy various day. Pope. 4. Meanly dutiful; fubmiffive.-How could the moft bafe men attain to honour but by fuch an obfervant flavish courfe. Raleigh. (2.) OBSERVANT. . . This word has the accent on the firft fyllable in Shakespeare.] Alavilh attendant. Not in ufe. These kind of knaves in this plainnefs, Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends, Than twenty filky ducking obfervants, That stretch their duties nicely. King Lear. (1.)* OBSERVATION. n. f. Lobfervatio, from obfervo, Latin; obfervation, French. 1. The act of obferving, noting, or remarking. These cannot be infafed by obfervation, because they are the rules by which men take their firft apprehenfions and obfervations of things. South.-The rules of our practice are taken from the conduct of fuch perfons as fall within our obfervation. Rogers. 2. Notion gained by obferving; note; remark; animadverfion. We fhall find the greatest advantage by making wife obfervations on our conduct, and of the events attending it. Watts. 3. Obe dience; ritual practice. He freed the Chriftian church from the external obfervation and obedi. ence of all fuch legal precepts as were not fimply and formally moral. White. (2.) OBSERVATION, among navigators, fignifies the taking the fun's or the ftars meridian altitude, in order thereby to find the latitude. OBSERVATOR, 1. Leber utitur, fr, from obfervo, Lat.] One that obferves; a remarker.The obfervator of the bills of mortality, hath given us the best account of the number that the late plagues have fwept away. Hale. 2. She may be handfome, yet be chafle, you fay; Good obfervator, not fo faft away, Dryden. (1.)* OBSERVATORY.n. n. f. Lobfervatoire, Fr.] A place built for aftronomical obfervations.-Another was found near the obfervatory in Greenwich Park, Woodward. -(2-) An OBSERVATORY, is generally erected on fome eminence, covered with a terrace. There are feveral good obfervatories in the Scottish Univerfities; and an excellent one is erected at Dub lin. The most celebrated obfervatories are the following: (3.) OBSERVATORY AT BENARES. Of this Șir Robert Barker gives the following account, Phil. Tranf. Vol. LXVII. p. 598. "Benares in the Eaft Indies, one of the principal feminaries of the Bra mins or priests of the original Gentoos of Hind of tan, continues ftill to be the place of refort of that VOL. XVI. PART I. fect of people; and there are many public charîties, hofpitals, and Pagodas, where fome thoufands of them now refide. Having frequently heard that the ancient Bramins had a knowledge of aftronomy, and being confirmed in this by their information of an approaching eclipfe both of the fun and moon, I made enquiry, when at that place in 1772, among the principal Bramins, to endea vour to get fome information relative to the manner in which they were acquainted of an approaching eclipfe. The moft intelligent that I could meet with, however, gave me but little fatisfac tion. 1 was told, that these matters were confi. ned to a few, who were in poffeffion of certain books and records; fome containing the myfteries of their religion; and others the tables of aftronomical obfervations, written in the Shanfcrit lan guage, which few understood but themselves: that they would take me to a place which had been conftructed for the purpose of making fuch obfervations as I was inquiring after, and from whence they fuppofed the learned Bramins made theirs. I was then conducted to an ancient building of ftone, the lower part of which, in its present fi tuation, was converted into aftable for horfes, and a receptacle for lumber; but by the number of court-yards and apartments, it appeared that it must once have been an edifice for the ufe of fome public body of people. We entered this building, and went up a staircafe to the top of a part of it, near to the river Ganges, that led to a large térrace, where, to my furprise and fatisfaction, I faw a number of inftruments yet remaining, in the greateft prefervation, ftupendoufly large, immoveable from the fpot, and built of ftone, fome of them being upwards of zo feet in height; and although they are faid to have been erected 200 years ago, the graduations and divifions on the feveral arcs appeared as well cut and as accurately divided, as if they had been the performance of a modern artift. The execution in the conftruction of these inftruments exhibited a mathemati exactnefs in fixing, of the feveral parts, in the neceflary and fufficient fupports to the very large ftones that compofed them, and in the joining and faftening each into the other by means of lead and iron. The fituation of the two large quadrants of the inftrument, plate 247, fig. 1. whofe radius is 9 feet 2 inches, by their being at right angles with a gnomon at 25° elevation, are thrown into fuch an oblique fituation as to render them the moft difficult, not only to conftruct of fuch a magnitude, but to fecure in their pofition for fo long a period, and affords a ftriking inftance of the ability of the architect in their conftruction: for, by the fhadow of the gnomon thrown on the quadrants, they do not appear to have altered in the leaft from their ori ginal pofition; and fo true is the line of the gnomon, that, by applying the eye to a small iro!! ring of an inch diameter at one end, the fight is carried through three others of the fame dimen fion, to the extremity at the other end, distant 38 feet 8 inches, without obftruction; fuch is the firmnefs and art with which this inftrument has been executed. This performance is the more wonderful and extraordinary, when compared Gg with the works of the artificers of Hindoftan at this day, who are not under the immediate direction of an European mechanic; but arts appear to have declined equally with fcience in the eaft. Leut. Col. Archibald Campbell, at that time chief engineer in the Eaft India Company's fervice at Bengal, made a perspective drawing of the whole of the apparatus that could be brought within his eye at one view; but I lament he could not reprefent fome very large quadrants, whofe radii were about 20 feet, they being on the fide from whence he took his drawing. Their defcription however is, that they are exact quarters of circles of different radii, the largest of which I judged to be 20 feet. conftructed very exactly on the fides of ftone walls, built perpendicular, and fituated, I fuppofe, in the meridian of the place: a brafs pin is fixed at the centre or angle of the quadrant, from whence, the Bramin informed me, they ftretched a wire to the circumference when an obfervation was to be made; from which it occurred to me, the obferver muft have moved his eye up or down the circumference, by means of a ladder or fome fuch contrivance, to raise and lower himself, until he had discovered the altitude of any of the heavenly bodies in their paffage over the meridian, fo expreffed on the arcs of thefe quadrants. Thefe arcs were very exactly divided into 9 large fections; each of which again into ten, making 90 leffer divifions or degrees; and thofe alfo into 20 expreffing three minutes each, of about two roths of an inch afunder; fo that it is probable they had fome method of dividing even thefe into more minute divifions at the time of obfervation. My time would only permit me to take down the particular dimenfions of the moft capital inftrument, or the greatest equinoctial fun-dial, represented by Fig. 1. which appears to be an inftrument to exprefs folar time by the fhadow of a gnomon upon two quadrants, one fituated to the E. and the other to the W. of it; and indeed the chief part of their inftruments at this place appear to be constructed for the fame purpose, except the quadrants, and a brafs inftrument. Fig. 2. is another inftrument for the purpose of determining the exact hour of the day by the fhadow of a gnomon, which ftands perpendicular to, and in the centre of a flat circular ftone, fupported in an oblique fituation by means of four upright ftones and a cross-piece; fo that the fhadow of the gnomon, which is a perpendicular iron rod, is thrown upon the divifion of the circle defcribed on the face of the flat circular ftone. Fig. 3. is a brass circle about two feet diameter, moving vertically upon two pivots between two stone pillars, having an index or hand turning round horizontally on the centre of this circle, which is divided into 360 parts; but there are no counter divifions on the index to fubdivide thofe on the circle. This inftrument appears to be made for taking the angle of a ftar at fetting or rifing, or for taking the azimuth or amplitude of the fun at rifing or fetting. The ufe of the inftrument, fig. 4. I was at a lofs to account for. It confifts of two circular walls; the outer of which is about 40 feet diameter, and 8 feet high the wall within about, half that height, and ap pears intended for a place to ftand on to obferve the divifions on the upper circle of the outer wall, rather than for any other purpose; and yet both circles are divided into 360°, each degree being subdivided into 20 leffer divifions, the fame as the quadrants. There is a door-way to pass înto the inner circle, and a pillar in the centre, of the fame height with the lower circle, having a hole in it, being the centre of both circles, and feems to be a focket for an iron rod to be placed perpendicular into it. The divifions on thefe, as well as all the other inftruments, will bear a nice examination with a pair of compaffes. Fig. 5. is a smaller equinoctial fun-dial, conftructed upon the fame principle as the large one, fig. 1. I cannot quit this fubject without obferving that the Bramins, without the affiftance of optical glaffes, had nevertheless an advantage unexperienced by the obfervers of the more northern climates. The ferenity and clearnefs of the atmosphere in the night-time in the Eaft Indies, except at the feafons of changing the monfoons or periodical winds, is difficult to exprefs to those who have not feen it, because we have nothing in comparifon to form our ideas upon: it is clear to perfection, a total quietude fubfifts, fcarcely a cloud to be feen, and the light of the heavens by the numerous appearance of the stars, affords a profpect both of wonder and contemplation. This obfervatory is faid to have been built by the order of the emperor Ackbar: for as this wife prince endeavoured to improve the arts, fo he wifhed alfo to recover the fciences of Hindostan, and therefore directed that three fuch places fhould be erected; one at Delhi, another at Agra, and the third at Benares." (4) The OBSERVATOTY AT CAMBRIDGE. Over the great gate of Trinity College, there is an obfervatory which is called SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S, because this great philosopher had used it; but it is gone to decay. It ought to be repaired and preferved, in memory of that truly great man. Ia St John's, too, there is a small one. The late ingenious Mr Cotes used to give lectures in Sir Ifaac Newton's on experimental philosophy. (5.) OBSERVATORY AT EDINBURGH. See EDINBURGH, $18. (6.) OBSERVATORY AT GREENWICH was built in 1676, by order of Charles II. at the folicitations of Sir Jonas Moore and Sir Chriftopher Wren; and furnished with the most accurate inftruments; particularly a noble fextant of feven feet radius, with telofcopic fights. (7.) The OBSERVATORY AT OXFORD is a very excellent one, built by the trustees of Dr Radcliffe, at the expence of nearly 30,000l. (8.) The OBSERVATORY AT PARIS was built by the order of Lewis XIV. in the Fauxbourg St Jacques. It is a very fingular, but withal a very magnificent building, the defign of Monfieur Perault: it is 80 feet high; and at top is a terrace. The difference in longitude between this and the Greenwich obfervatory is 2° 20. In it is a cave or cel lat, of 170 feet defcent, for experiments that are to be made far from the fun, &c. particularly fuch as relate to congelations, refrigerations, indurations, confervations, &c. (9.) The |