when men consider that no man living thinks the bet- ABUSIVE, v. Reproachful. ACADEMY, v. School. Steele. Shakspeare. Inclination will at length come over to reason, though we can never force reason to comply with inclination. Addison. This we ought to acquiesce in, that the Sovereign TO ACCEDE, CONSENT, COMPLY, ACQUIESCE, Being, the great Author of Nature, has in him all possible perfection. AGREE. ACCEDE, in Latin accedo, compounded of ac or ad and cedo to go or come, signifies to come or fall into a thing. CONSENT, in French consentir, Latin consentio, compounded of con together and sentio to feel, signifies to feel in unison with another. COMPLY comes probably from the French complaire, Latin complaceo, signifying to be pleased in unison with another. ACQUIESCE, in French acquiescer, Latin acquiesco, compounded of ac or ad and quiesco, signifies to be easy about or contented with a thing. AGREE, in French agréer, is most probably derived from the Latin gruo, in the word congruo, signifying to accord or suit. We accede to what others propose to us, by falling in with their ideas: we consent to what others wish, by authorizing it: we comply with what is asked of us, by allowing it, or not hindering it: we acquiesce in what is insisted by accepting it, and conforming to it: we agree to what is proposed by admitting and embracing it. We object to those things to which we do not accede: we refuse those things to which we do not consent, or with which we will not comply: we oppose those things in which we will not acquiesce: we dispute that to which we will not agree. Addison. We agreed to adopt the infant as the orphan son of a distant relation of our own name. Cumberland. TO ACCELERATE, v. To hasten. TO ACCEPT, v. To receive. ACCEPTABLE, grateful, wELCOME. ACCEPTABLE, signifies worthy to be accepted. GRATEFUL, from the Latin gratus pleasing, signifies altogether pleasing; it is that which recommends itself. The acceptable is a relative good; the grateful is positive: the former depends upon our external condition, the latter on our feelings and taste: a gift is acceptable to a poor man, which would be refused by one less needy than himself; harmonious sounds are always grateful to a musical ear. WELCOME signifies come well or in season for us. Acceptable and welcome both apply to external circumstances, and are therefore relatively employed; but the former is confined to such things as are offered for our choice, the latter refers to whatever happens according to our wishes: we may not always accept that which is acceptable, but we shall never reject that which is welcome : it is an insult to offer any thing by way of a gift to another which is not acceptable; it is a grateful task to be the bearer of welcome intelligence to our friends. To accede is the unconstrained action of an equal; it is a matter of discretion: consent and comply suppose a degree of superiority, at least the power of preventing; they are acts of good-nature or civility: acquiesce implies a degree of submission, it is a matter of prudence or necessity: agree indicates an aversion to disputes; it respects the harmony of social intercourse. Members of any community ought to be always welcome to vulgar as to childish credulity. Emperor of China to the Pope of Rome proposing a I cannot but think the following letter from the coalition of the Chinese and Roman Churches will be acceptable to the curious. Steele. willing to accede to what is the general will of their associates: parents should never be induced to consent to any thing which may prove injurious to their children: people ought not to comply indiscriminately * Vide Abbe Girard: "Consentir, acquiescer, adherer, tomber d'acord." The kids with pleasure browze the bushy plain: Dryden. Johnson. ACCEPTANCE, ACCEPTATION. THOUGH both derived from the verb accept, have this difference, that the former is employed to express the abstract action generally; the latter only in regard to the single object of words. A book, or whatever else is offered to us, may be worthy of ACCIDENT. our acceptance or not. A word acquires its acceptation from the manner in which it is generally accepted by the learned. It is not necessary to refuse benefits from a bad man, when the acceptance implies no approbation of his crimes. Johnson. On the subject of dress I may add by way of caution that the ladies would do well not to forget themselves. I do not mean this in the common acceptation of the phrase, which it may be sometimes convenient and proper to do. ACCEPTATION, v. Acceptance. ACCESSION, v. Increase. Mackenzie. ACCIDENT, CHANCE. ACCIDENT, in French accident, Latin accidens, participle of accido to happen, compounded of ac or ad and cado to fall, signifies the thing falling out. CHANCE, in French chance, most probably comes from the Latin cadens, and signifies like the former the thing falling out. Accident is said of things that have been; chance of things that are to be. That is an accident which is done without intention: that is a chance which cannot be brought about by the use of means. It is an accident when a house falls: it is a chance when and how it may fall. Accidents cannot be prevented: chances cannot be calculated upon. Accidents may sometimes be remedied; chances can never be controlled: accidents give rise to sorrow, they mostly occasion mischief; chances give rise to hope; they often produce disappointment; it is wise to dwell upon neither. That little accident of Alexander's taking a fancy to bathe himself caused the interruption of his march; and that interruption gave occasion to that great victory that founded the third monarchy of the world. South. Surely there could not be a greater chance than that which brought to light the Powder-Treason. South. ACCIDENT, CONTINGENCY, Casualty. ACCIDENT, v. Accident, chance. CONTINGENCY, in French contingence, Latin contingens, participle of contingo, compounded of con and tango, to touch one another, signifies the falling out or happening together; or the thing that happens in conjunction with another. CASUALTY, in French casualte, from the Latin casualis, and cado to fall or happen, signifies the thing that happens in the course of events. All these words imply whatever takes place independently of our intentions. Accidents express more than contingencies; the former comprehend events with their causes and consequences; the latter respeet collateral actions, or circumstances appended to events; casualties have regard simply to circumstances. Accidents are ACCIDENTAL. frequently occasioned by carelessness, and contingencies by trivial mistakes; but casualties are altogether independent of ourselves. The overturning a carriage is an accident; our situation in a carriage, at the time, is a contingency, which may occasion us to be more or less hurt; the passing of any one at the time is a casually. We are all exposed to the most calamitous accidents ; and our happiness or misery depends upon a thousand contingencies; the best concerted scheme may be thwarted by casualties, which no human foresight can prevent. This natural impatience to look into futurity, and to know what accidents may happen to us hereafter has given birth to many ridiculous arts and inventions. Addison. Nothing less than infinite wisdom can have an absolute command over fortune; the highest degree of it which man can possess is by no means equal to fortuitous events, and to such contingencies as may rise in the prosecution of our affairs. Addison. Men are exposed to more casualties than women, as battles, sea voyages, with several dangerous trades and professions. Addison. ACCIDENT, v. Event. ACCIDENTAL, INCIDENTAL, CASUAL, CON CASUAL, v. Casualty. CONTINGENT, v. Contingency. Accidental is opposed to what is designed or planned, incidental to what is premeditated, casual to what is constant and regular, contingent to what is definite and fixed. A meeting may be accidental, an expression incidental, a look, expression, &c. casual, an expense or circumstance contingent. We do not expect what is accidental; we do not suspect or guard against what is incidental; we do not heed what is casual; we are not prepared for what is contingent. Many of the most fortunate and important occurrences in our lives are accidental; many remarks, seemingly incidental, do in reality conceal a settled intent; a casual remark in the course of conversation will sometimes make a stronger impression on the minds of children than the most eloquent and impressive discourse or repeated counsel; in the prosecution of any plan we ought to be prepared for the numerous contingencies which we may meet with to interfere with our arrangements. This book fell accidentally into the hands of one who had never seen it before. Addison. Savage lodged as much by accident and passed the night sometimes in mean houses, which are set Johnson. open at night to any casual wanderers. The distempers of the mind may be figuratively classed under the several characters of those maladies which are incidental to the body. Cumberland. ACCOMPANY. We see how a contingent event baffles man's knowledge and evades his power. South. ACCLAMATION, v. Applause. TO ACCOMMODATE, v. To fit. ACCOMPANIMENT, COMPANION, CONCOMI TANT. ACCOMPANIMENT is properly a collective term to express what goes in company, and is applied only to things; COMPANION, which also signifies what is in the company, is applied either to persons or to things. CONCOMITANT, from the intensive syllable con and comes a companion, implies what is attached to an object, or goes in its train, and is applied only to things. When said in relation to things, accompaniment implies a necessary connexion; companion an incidental connexion: the former is as a part to a whole, the latter is as one whole to another: the accompaniment belongs to the thing accompanied inasmuch as it serves to render it more or less com plete; the companion belongs to the thing accompanied inasmuch as they correspond: in this manner singing is an accompaniment in instrumental music; subordinate ceremonies are the accompaniments in any solemn service; but a picture may be the companion of another picture from their fitness to stand together. The concomitant is as much of an appendage as the accompaniment, but it is applied only to moral objects: thus morality is a concomitant to religion. We may well believe that the ancient heathen bards, who were chiefly Asiatic Greeks, performed religious rites and ceremonies in metre with accompaniments of music, to which they were devoted in the Cumberland. extreme. As the beauty of the body accompanies the health of it, so certainly is decency concomitant to virtue. Hughes. Alas, my soul! thou pleasing companion of this body, thou fleeting thing that art now deserting it, whither art thou flying? Steele. TO ACCOMPANY, ATTEND, Escort. ACCOMPANY, in French accompagner, is compounded of ac or ad and compagner, in Latin compagino to put or join together, signifying to give one's company and presence to any object, to join one's self to its company. ATTEND, in French attendre,compounded of at or ad and tendo to tend or incline towards, signifies to direct one's notice or care towards any object. ESCORT, in French escorter, from the Latin cohors a cohort or band of soldiers that attended a magistrate on his going into a province, signifies to accompany by way of safeguard. We accompany* those with whom we wish to go; we attend those whom we wish *Vide Girard. "Accompagner, escorter." ACCOMPLISH. to serve; we escort those whom we are called upon to protect or guard. We accompany our equals, we attend our superiors, and escort superiors or inferiors. The desire of pleasing or being pleased actuates in the first case; the desire of serving or being served, in the second case; the fear of danger or the desire of security, in the last place. One is said to have a numerous company, a crowd of attendants, and a strong escort; but otherwise one person only may accompany or attend, though several are each other in their excursions; princes are Friends accompany wanting for an escort. attended with a considerable retinue whenever they appear in public, and with a strong escort when they travel through unfrequented and dangerous roads. Creusa the wife of Eneas accompanied her husband on his leaving Troy; Socrates was attended by a number of illustrious pupils, whom he instructed by his example and his doctrines; St. Paul was escorted as a prisoner by a band of three hundred men. This account in some measure excited our curiosity, and at the entreaty of the ladies I was prevailed upon to accompany them to the playhouse, which was no other than a barn. Goldsmith. When the Marquis of Warton was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Addison attended him as his secretary. Johnson. ostlers that belonged to the yard, and engaged them He very prudently called up four or five of the to enlist under his command as an escort to the coach. Hawksworth. Accompany and attend may likewise be said of persons as well as things. In this case the former is applied to what goes with an object so as to form a part of it; the latter to that which follows an object as a dependent upon it. Pride is often accompanied with meanness, and attended with much inconvenience to the possessor. The old English plainness and sincerity, that generous integrity of nature and honesty of disposition, which always argues true greatness of mind, and is usually accompanied with undaunted courage and resolution, is in a great measure lost among us. Tillotson. ACCOMPLISH.. EFFECT, in Latin effeclus, participle of ficio, compounded of ef and ex out of or up, and facio to make, signifies to make up until nothing remains to be done. EXECUTE, in Latin execulus, participle of exequor, compounded of ex and sequor to follow, signifies to follow up or carry through to the end. ACHIEVE, in French achever, from chef a chief, signifies to perform as a chief. We accomplish an object, effect a purpose, execute a project, achieve an enterprise. Perseverance is requisite for accomplishing, means for effecting, abilities for executing, and spirit for achieving. Some persons are always striving to attain an end without ever accomplishing what they propose. It is the part of wisdom to suit the means to the end when we have any scheme to effect. Those who are readiest in forming projects are not always the fittest for carrying them into execution. That ardour of character which impels to the achievement of arduous undertakings belongs but to very few. We should never give up what we have the least chance of accomplishing, if it be worth the labour; nor pursue any plan which affords us no prospect of effecting what we wish; nor undertake what we do not feel ourselves competent to execule, particularly when there is any thing extraordinary to achieve. The friends of humanity exerted their utmost endeavours in behalf of the enslaved Africans, and after many years' noble struggle, at length accomplished their wishes, as far as respects Great Britain, by obtaining a legislative enactment against the slave trade; but they have not yet been able to effect the total abolition of this nefarious traffic: the vices of individuals still interfere with the due execution of the laws of their country: yet this triumph of humanity, as far as it has been successful, exceeds in greatness the boldest achieve vents of antiquity. It is the first rule in oratory that a man must ap war such as he would persuade others to be; and that can be accomplished only by the force of his Swift. Life. Reason considers the motive, the means, and the end; and honours courage only when it is employed to fect the purpose of virtue. Hawkesworth. We are not to indulge our corporeal appetites with pleasures that impair our intellectual vigour, nor gratify our minds with schemes which we know our lives must fail in attempting to execute. Johnson. It is more than probable, that in case our freethinkers could once achieve their glorious design of aking the credit of the Christian Religion, and causing the revenues to be withdrawn which their wiser forefathers had appointed to the support and encouragement of its teachers, in a little time the Shaster would be as intelligible as the Greek TestaBerkeley. ment. TO ACCOMPLISH, v. To fulfil THESE epithets express an assemblage of all the qualities suitable to the subject; and mark the qualification in the highest degree. ACCOMPLISHED refers only to the artificial refinements of the mind; PERFECT is said of things in general, whether natural or artificial, mental or corporeal. An acquaintance with modern languages and the ornamental branches of the arts and sciences constitutes a person accomplished: the highest possible degree of skill in any art constitutes a man a perfect artist. An accomplished man needs no moral endowment to entitle him to the name: a perfect man, if such an one there could be, must be free from every moral imperfection, and endowed with every virtue. Accomplished is applied only to persons; perfect is applicable not only to persons but to works, and every thing else as occasion requires; it may likewise be employed in a bad sense to magnify any unfavourable quality. The English nation in the time of Shakspeare was yet struggling to emerge from barbarity; and to be able to read and write was an accomplishment still valued for its rarity. Johnson. A man endowed with great perfections, without good breeding, is like one who has his pocket full of gold, but always wants change for his ordinary occaSteele. sions. ACCOMPLISHMENT, v. Qualification. To accord, v. To Agree. TO ACCOST, SALUTE, ADDRESS. ACCOST, in French accoster, is conpounded of ac or ad, and the Latin costa a rib or side, signifying to come by the side of a person. health, signifies to bid good speed. SALUTE, in Latin saluto, from salus ADDRESS, in French addresser, is compounded of ad and dresser, from the Latin direxi, preterite of dirigo to direct or apply, signifying to direct one's discourse to a per son. We accost a stranger whom we casually meet by the way; we salute our friends on re-meeting; we address indifferent persons in company. Curiosity or convenience prompt men to accost; good-will or intimacy to salute; business or social communication to address. Rade people accost every one whom they meet; familiar people salute those with whom they are barely acquainted; impertinent people address those with whom they have no business. We must accost by speaking; but we may salute by signs as well as by words; and address by writing as well as by speaking. * Vide Abbe Girard; "Accompli, parfait." ACCOUNT, RECKONING, BILL. ACCOUNT, compounded of ac or ad and count, signifies to count to a person, or for a thing; an account is the thing so counted. RECKONING, from the verb to reckon, signifies the thing reckoned up. BILL, in Saxon bill, in all probability comes from the Swedish byla, to build, signifying a written contract for building vessels, which in German is still called a beilbrief; hence it has been employed to cxpress various kinds of written documents. These words, which are very similar in sig nification, may frequently be substituted for one another. Account is the generic, the others the specific terms: a reckoning and bill is an account, though not always vice versa: account expresses the details, with the sum of them counted up; reckoning implies the register and notation of the things to be reckoned up; bill denotes the details, with their particular charges. An account should be correct, containing neither more nor less Shan is proper; a reckoning should be explicit, leaving nothing unnoticed as to dates and names; a bill should be fair. We speak of keeping an account, of coming to a reckoning, of sending in a bill. Customers have an account with their trades-people; masters have a reckoning with their work-people; tradesmen send in their bills at stated periods. Account, from the extensive use of the term, is applicable to every thing that is noted down; the particulars of which are considered worthy of notice, individually or collectively: merchants keep their accounts; an account is taken at the CustomHouse of all that goes in and out of the kingdom; an account is taken of all transactions, of the weather, of natural phenomena, and whatever is remarkable. Reckoning, as a particular term, is more partial in its use it is mostly confined to the dealings of men with one another; in which sense it is superseded by the preceding ACCOUNT. At many times I brought in my accounis. Shakspeare Merchant with some rudeness demanded a room, and was told that there was a good fire in the next parlour, which the company were about to leave, being then paying their reckoning. Johnson. Ordinary expense ought to be limited by a man's estate, and ordered to the best, that the bills may be less than the estimation abroad. Bacon ACCOUNT, NARRATIVE, DESCRIPTION. ACCOUNT, v. Account, reckoning. NARRATIVE, from narrate, is in Latin narratus, participle of narro or gnaro, which signifies to make known. DESCRIPTION, from describe, in Latin describo or de and scribo, signifies to write down. : Account is the most general of these terms; whatever is noted as worthy of remark is an account; narrative is an account bed. Account has no reference to the pernarrated description, an account descrison giving the account; a narrative must have a narrator; a description must have a describer. An account may come from one or several quarters, or no specified quarter; but a narrative and description bespeak themselves as the production of some individual. An account may be the statement of a single fact only; a narrative must always consist of several connected incidents; a description, of several unconnected particulars respecting some common object. An account and a description may be communicated either verbally or in writing; a narrative is mostly written. An account may be given of political events, natural phenomena, and domestic occurrences; as the signing of a treaty, the march of an army, the death and funeral of an individual: a narrative is mostly personal, respecting the adventures, the travels, the dangers, and the escapes of some particular person: a description does not so much embrace occurrences, as characters, ap pearances, beauties, defects, and attributes in general. Accounts from the armies are anxiously looked for in time of war: whenever a narrative is interesting, it is a spedescriptions which are given of the erupcies of reading eagerly sought after the tions of volcanoes are calculated to awaken a strong degree of curiosity. An account may be false or true; a narrative clear or confused; a description lively or dull. A man of business, in good company, who gives an accent of his abilities and despatches, is hardly more insupportable than her they call a notable woman. Stecic. term, and now serves to express only an ex- Few narratives will, either to men or women, appear more incredible than the historics of the Ama Johnson. Zons. Most readers, I believe, are more charmed with Adiisor |