tractus, participle of contraho to bring close together or bind, signifies the thing thus contracted or bound; covenant, in French covenante, Latin conventus, participle of convenio to meet together at a point, signifies the point at which several meet, that is, the thing agreed upon by many; compact, in Latin compactus, participle of compingo to bind close, signifies the thing to which people bind themselves close; bargain, from the Welsh bargan to contract or deal for, signifies the act of dealing, or the thing dealt for.

An agreement is general, and applies to transactions of every description, but particularly such as are made between single individuals; in cases where the other terms are not so applicable; a contract is a binding agreement between individuals; a simple agreement may be verbal, but a contract must be written and legally executed: covenant and compact are agreements among communities; the covenant is commonly a national and public transaction; the compact respects individuals as members of a community, or communities with each other: the bargain, in its proper sense, is an agreement solely in matters of trade; but applies figuratively in the same sense to other objects.

The simple consent of parties constitutes an agreement; a seal and signature are requisite for a contract; a solemn engagement on the one hand, and faith in that engagement on the other hand, enter into the nature of a covenant; a tacit sense of mutual obligation in all the parties gives virtue to a compact ; an assent to stipulated terms of sale may form a bargain.

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Friends make an agreement to meet at a certain time; Frog had given his word that he would meet the above-mentioned company at the Salutation, to talk of this agreement.' ARBUTHNOT (History of John Bull.) Two tradesmen enter into a contract to carry on a joint trade; It is impossible to see the long scrolls in which every contract is included, with all their appendages of seals and attestations, without wondering at the depravity of those beings, who must be restrained from violation of promise, by such formal and public evidences.' JOHNSON. The people of England made a covenant with King Charles I. entitled the solemn covenant;

These flashes of blue lightning gave the sign
Of covenants broke; three peals of thunder join.
DRYDEN.

In the society of Freemasons, every individual is bound to secrecy by a solemn compact; In the beginnings and first establishment of speech, there was an implicit compact amongst men, founded upon common use and consent, that such and such words or voices, actions or gestures, should be means or signs whereby they would express or convey their thoughts one to another.' SOUTH. The trading part of the community are continually striking bargains; We see men frequently dexterous and sharp enough in making a bargain, who, if you reason with them about matters of religion, appear perfectly stupid." LOCKE.

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AGREEABLE, PLEASANT, PLEASING.

The first two of these epithets approach so near in sense and application, that they can with propriety be used indifferently, the one for the other; yet there is an occasional difference which may be clearly defined; the agreeable is that which agrees with or suits the character, temper, and feelings of a person; the pleasant that which pleases; the pleasing that which is adapted to please.

Agreeable expresses a feeling less vivid than pleasant people of the soberest and gravest character may talk of passing agreeable hours, or enjoying agreeable society, if those hours were passed agreeably to their turn of mind, or that society which suited their taste; To divert me, I took up a volume of Shakspeare, where I chanced to cast my eye upon a part in the tragedy of Richard the Third, which filled my mind with an agreeable horror.' STEELE. The young and the gay will prefer pleasant society, where vivacity and mirth prevail, suitable to the tone of their spirits ;

Pleasant the sun

When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams. MILTON.

A man is agreeable who by a soft and easy address contributes to the amusement of others; a man is pleasant who to this softness adds affability and communicativeness.

Pleasing marks a sentiment less vivid and distinctive than either;

Nor this alone t'indulge a vain delight,

And make a pleasing prospect for the sight. DRYDEN. A pleasing voice has something in it which we like; an agreeable voice strikes with positive pleasure upon the ear. A pleasing countenance denotes tranquillity and contentment; it satisfies us when we view it: a pleasant countenance bespeaks happiness; it gratifies the beholder, and invites him to behold.

TO AGREE, ACCORD, SUIT.

Agree (v. To agree) is here used in application to things in which it is allied; to accord, in French accorder, from the Latin chorda the string of a harp, signifies the same as to attune or join in tune; and suit, from the Latin secutus, participle of sequor to follow, signifies to be in a line, in the order as it ought to be.

An agreement between two things requires an entire sameness; an accordance supposes a considerable resemblance; a suitableness implies an aptitude to coalesce.

Opinions agree, feelings accord, and tempers suit. Two statements agree which are in all respects alike that accords with our feelings, which produces pleasurable sensations; that suits our taste, which we wish to adopt, or in adopting gives us pleasure.

Where there is no agreement in the essentials of

any two accounts, their authenticity may be greatly questioned: if a representation of any thing accords with what has been stated from other quarters, it serves to corroborate: it is advisable that the ages and stations as well as tempers of the parties should be suitable, who look forward for happiness in a matrimonial connexion.

Where there is no agreement of opinion, there can be no assimilation of habit; where there is no accordance of sound, there can be no harmony; where there is no suitability of temper, there can be no co-opera

tion.

When opinions do not agree, men must agree to differ: the precepts of our Saviour accord with the tenderest as well as the noblest feelings of our nature: when the humours and dispositions of people do not suit, they do wisely not to have any intercourse with each other;

The laurel and the myrtle sweets agree. DRYDEN. 'Metre aids and is adapted to the memory; it accords to music, and is the vehicle of enthusiasm.' CUMBERLAND. Rollo followed, in the partition of his states, the customs of the feudal law, which was then universally established in the southern countries of Europe, and which suited the peculiar circumstances of the age.' HUME.

CONSONANT, ACCORDANT, CONSISTENT. Consonant, from the Latin consonans, participle of con and sono to sound together, signifies to sound, or be, in unison or harmony; accordant, from accord (v. To agree), signifies the quality of according; consistent, from the Latin consistens, participle of consisto, or con and sisto to place together, signifies the quality of being able to stand in unison together. Consonant is employed in matters of representation; accordant in matters of opinion or sentiment; consistent in matters of conduct. A particular passage is consonant with the whole tenor of the Scriptures; a particular account is accordant with all one hears and sees on a subject; a person's conduct is not always consistent with his station.

The consonance of the whole Scriptures, in the Old and New Testaments, with regard to the character, dignity, and mission of our Blessed Saviour, has justly given birth to that form which constitutes the established religion of England; Our faith in the discoveries of the Gospel will receive confirmation from discerning their consonance with the natural sentiments of the human heart.' BLAIR. The accordance of the prophecies respecting our Saviour with the event of his birth, life, and sufferings, are incontestable evidences of his being the true Messiah; The difference of good and evil in actions is not founded on arbitrary opinions or institutions, but in the nature of things, and the nature of man; it accords with the universal sense of the human mind.' BLAIR.

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The consistency of a man's practice with his profession is the only criterion of his sincerity;

Keep one consistent plan from end to end. ADDISON. Consonant is opposed to dissonant; accordant to discordant; consistent to inconsistent. Consonance is not so positive a thing as either accordance or consistency, which respect real events, circumstances, and actions. Consonance mostly serves to prove the truth of any thing, but dissonance does not prove its falsehood until it amounts to direct discordance or inconsistency. There is a dissonance in the accounts given by the four Evangelists of our Saviour, which serves to prove the absence of all collusion and imposture, since there is neither discordance nor inconsistency in what they have related or omitted.

TO CONCILIATE, RECONCILE.

Conciliate, in Latin conciliatus, participle of concilio; and reconcile, in Latin reconcilio, both come from concilium a council, denoting unity and harmony. Conciliate and reconcile are both employed in the sense of uniting men's affections, but under different circumstances.

The conciliator gets the good will and affections for himself; the reconciler unites the affections of two persons to each other. The conciliator may either gain new affections, or regain those which are lost; the reconciler always renews affections which have been once lost. The best means of conciliating esteem is by reconciling all that are at variance.

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Conciliate is mostly employed for men in public stations; The preacher may enforce his doctrines in the style of authority, for it is his profession to summon mankind to their duty; but an uncommissioned instructor will study to conciliate whilst he attempts to correct.' CUMBERLAND. Reconcile is indifferently employed for those in public or private stations; He (Hammond) not only attained his purpose of uniting distant parties to each other, but, contrary to the usual fate of reconcilers, gained them to himself." FELL. Men in power have sometimes the happy opportunity of conciliating the good will of those who are most averse to their authority, and thus reconciling them to measures which would otherwise be odious.

Kindness and condescension serve to conciliate; a friendly influence, or a well-timed exercise of authority, is often successfully exerted in reconciling. Conciliate is employed only for persons, or that which is personal; but reconciling is also employed in the sense of bringing a person's thoughts or feelings in unison with the things that he has not liked before, or might be expected not to like; It must be confessed a happy attachment, which can reconcile the Laplander to his freezing snows, and the African to his scorching sun.' CUMBERLAND.

S

COMPATIBLE, CONSISTENT. Compatible, compounded of com or cum with, and patior to suffer, signifies a fitness to be suffered together; consistent, in Latin consistens, participle of consisto, compounded of con and sisto to place, signifies the fitness to be placed together.

Compatibility has a principal reference to plans and measures; consistency to character, conduct, and station. Every thing is compatible with a plan which does not interrupt its prosecution; every thing is consistent with a person's station by which it is neither degraded nor elevated. It is not compatible with the good discipline of a school to allow of foreign interference; Whatever is incompatible with the highest dignity of our nature should indeed be excluded from our conversation.' HAWKESWORTH. It is not consistent with the elevated and dignified character of a clergyman to engage in the ordinary pursuits of other men; Truth is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out.' TILLOTSON.

INCONSISTENT, INCONGRUOUS,

INCOHERENT.

Inconsistent, from sisto to place, marks the unfitness of being placed together; incongruous, from congruo to suit, marks the unsuitableness of one thing to another; incoherent, from hæreo to stick, marks the incapacity of two things to coalesce or be united to each other.

Inconsistency attaches either to the actions or sentiments of men; incongruity attaches to the modes and qualities of things; incoherency to words or thoughts: things are made inconsistent by an act of the will; a man acts or thinks inconsistently, according to his own pleasure; Every individual is so unequal to himself that man seems to be the most wavering and inconsistent being in the universe." HUGHES. Incongruity depends upon the nature of the things; there is something very incongruous in blending the solemn and decent service of the church with the extravagant rant of Methodism; The solemn introduction of the Phoenix, in the last scene of Sampson Agonistes, is incongruous to the personage to whom it is ascribed.' JOHNSON. Incoherence marks the want of coherence in that which ought to follow in a train; extemporary effusions from the pulpit are often distinguished most by their incoher

the quality of being able to agree (v. To agree); suitable, able to suit (v. To agree).

Conformable is employed for matters of obligation; agreeable for matters of choice; suitable for matters of propriety and discretion: what is conformable accords with some prescribed form or given rule of others; A man is glad to gain numbers on his side, as they serve to strengthen him in his opinions. It makes him believe that his principles carry conviction with them, and are the more likely to be true, when he finds they are conformable to the reason of others as well as to his own.' ADDISON. What is agreeable accords with the feelings, tempers, or judgements of ourselves or others; As you have formerly offered some arguments for the soul's immortality, agreeable both to reason and the Christian doctrine, I believe your readers will not be displeased to see how the same great truth shines in the pomp of Roman eloquence.' HUGHES. What is suitable accords with outward circumstances; I think banging a cushion gives a man too warlike or perhaps too theatrical a figure, to be suitable to a Christian congregation.' SWIFT. is the business of those who act for others to act conformably to their directions; it is the part of a friend to act agreeably to the wishes of a friend; it is the part of every man to act suitably to his station.

It

The decisions of a judge must be strictly conformable to the letter of the law; he is seldom at liberty tisan is always agreeable to the temper of his party: to consult his views of equity: the decision of a parthe style of a writer should be suitable to his subject.

Conformable is most commonly employed for matters. of temporary moment; agreeable and suitable are mostly said of things which are of constant value: we make things conformable by an act of discretion; they are agreeable or suitable by their own nature: a treaty of peace is made conformable to the preliminaries; a legislator must take care to frame laws agreeably to the Divine law; it is of no small importance for every man to act suitably to the character he has assumed.

TO FIT, SUIT, ADAPT, ACCOMMODATE, ADJUST.

Fit signifies to make or be fit; suit to make or be suitable; adapt, from aptus fit, to make fit for a specific purpose; accommodate, to make commodious; adjust, to make a thing such, as it is desired to be.

To fit and suit are used in the literal sense of applying things to each other as they are intended; but fit is employed mostly in regard to material and familiar objects. A tailor fits on a coat, or a coat fits when it is made right to the body;

Then meditates the mark; and couching low,

Fits the sharp arrow to the well-strung bow. POPE. Suit is employed for intellectual or moral objects; 'Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the

modesty of nature." SHAKSPEARE. So also intransitively;

Ill suits it now the joys of love to know,

Too deep my anguish, and too wild my woe. POPE. In an extended application of the terms to fit is intransitively used for what is morally fit in the nature of things;

Nor fits it to prolong the feast Timeless, indecent, but retire to rest. POPE. Whence we speak of the fitness of things; suit is applied either transitively or intransitively in the sense of agree, as a thing suits a person's taste, or one thing suits with another; The matter and manner of their tales, and of their telling, are so suited to their different educations and humours, that each would be improper in any other.' DRYDEN.

Her purple habit sits with such a grace
On her smooth shoulders, and so suits her face.

DRYDEN.

The one intense, the other still remiss,
Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove
Tedious alike. MILTON.

To adapt is a species of fitting; to accommodate is a species of suiting; both applied to the intellectual and moral actions of conscious beings. Adaptation is an act of the judgement; accommodation is an act of the will: we adapt by an exercise of discretion; we accommodate by a management of the humors: the adaptation does not interfere with our interests; but the accommodation always supposes a sacrifice: we adapt our language to the understandings of our hearers; It is not enough that nothing offends the ear, but a good poet will adapt the very sounds as well as words to the things he treats of. POPE. We accommodate ourselves to the humors of others; 'He had altered many things, not that they were not natural before, but that he might accommodate himself to the age in which he lived." DRYDEN. The mind of an infinitely wise Creator is clearly evinced in the world, by the universal adaptation of means to their ends; It is in his power so to adapt one thing to another, as to fulfil his promise of making all things work together for good to those who love him.' BLAIR. A spirit of accommodation is not merely a characteristic of politeness; it is of sufficient importance to be ranked among the Christian duties; It is an old observation which has been made of politicians, who would rather ingratiate themselves with their sovereigns, than promote his real service, that they accommodate their counsels to his inclinations.' ADDISON. The term adapt is sometimes applied to things of a less familiar nature; It may not be a useless enquiry, in what respects the love of novelty is peculiarly adapted to the present state.' GROVE. Adhesion may be in part ascribed, either to some elastical motion in the pressed glass, or to the exquisite adaptation of the almost innumerable, though very small asperities of the one, and the numerous little cavities of the other, whereby the surfaces do lock in with one and another, or are as it were clasped together.' BOYLE.

Accommodate and adjust are both applied to the affairs of men which require to be kept or put in right order; but the former implies the keeping as well as putting in order; the latter simply the putting in order. Men accommodate each other, that is, make things commodious for each other; but they adjust things either for themselves or for others. Thus they accommodate each other in pecuniary matters; or they adjust the ceremonial of a visit. On this ground we may say that a difference is either accommodated or adjusted: for it is accommodated, inasmuch as the parties yield to each other; it is adjusted, inasmuch as that which was wrong is set right; When things were thus far adjusted towards a peace, all other differences were soon accommodated." AD

DISON.

TO FIT, EQUIP, PREPARE, QUALIFY.

To fit signifies to adopt means in order to make fit, and conveys the general sense of all the other terms, which differ principally in the means and circumstances of fitting: to equip, probably from the old barbarous Latin eschipare to furnish or adorn ships, is to fit out by furnishing the necessary materials: to prepare, from the Latin præparo, compounded of præ and paro to get before hand, is to take steps for the purpose of fitting in future: to qualify, from the Latin qualifico, or facio and qualis to make a thing as it should be, is to fit or furnish with the moral requisites.

To fit is employed for ordinary cases; to equip only for expeditions; they may be both employed in application to the same objects with this distinction, a vessel is equipped when it is furnished with every thing requisite for a voyage; it is fitted by simply putting those things to it which have been temporarily removed;

With long resounding cries they urge the train,

To fit the ships and launch into the main. POPE.

The word equip is also applied figuratively in the same sense; The religious man is equipped for the storm as well as the calm in this dubious navigation of life." BLAIR. To fit is for an immediate purpose; to prepare is for a remote purpose. A person fits himself for taking orders when he is at the university: he prepares himself at school before he goes to the university. To fit is to adopt positive and decisive measures; to prepare is to use those which are only precarious: a scholar fits himself for reading Horace by reading Virgil with attention; he prepares for an examination by going over what he has already learnt.

To fit is said of every thing, both in a natural and a moral sense: to qualify is used only in a moral sense. Fit is employed mostly for acquirements which are gained by labor: qualify for those which are gained by intellectual exertion; a youth fits himself for a mechanical business by working at it; a youth qualifies himself for a profession by following a particular course of studies.

COMPETENT, FITTED, QUALIFIED.

Competent, in Latin competens, participle of competo to agree or suit, signifies suitable; fitted signifies made fit; qualified, participle of qualify, from the Latin qualis and facio, signifies made as it ought to be.

Competency mostly respects the mental endowments and attainments; fitness the disposition and character; qualification the artificial acquirements. A person is competent to undertake an office; fitted or qualified

to fill a situation.

Familiarity with any subject aided by strong mental endowments gives competency: suitable habits and temper constitute the fitness: acquaintance with the business to be done, and expertness in the mode of performing it, constitutes the qualification: none should pretend to give their opinions on serious subjects who are not competent judges; none but lawyers are competent to decide in cases of law; none but medical men are competent to prescribe medicines; none but divines of sound learning, as well as piety, to determine on doctrinal questions; Man is not competent to decide upon the good or evil of many events which befall him in this life.' CUMBERLAND. Men of sedentary and studious habits, with a serious temper, are most fitted to be clergymen ; What is more obvious and ordinary than a mole? and yet what more palpable argument of Providence than it? members of her body are so exactly fitted to her nature and manner of life.' ADDISON. Those who have the most learning and acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures are the best qualified for the important and sacred office of instructing the people; Such benefits only can be bestowed as others are capable to receive, and such pleasures imparted as others are qualified to enjoy.' JOHNSON.

The

Many are qualified for managing the concerns of others, who would not be competent to manage a concern for themselves. Many who are fitted from their turn of mind for any particular charge, may be unfortunately incompetent for want of the requisite qualifications.

but under different circumstances. Concord, in French concorde, Latin concordia, from con and cor, having the same heart and mind, is generally employed for the union of wills and affections; harmony, in French harmonie, Latin harmonia, Greek apμovía, from apw to fit or suit, signifying the state of fitting or suiting, respects the aptitude of minds to coalesce.

The idea of union is common to both these terms,

There may be concord without harmony, and harmony without concord. Persons may live in concord who are at a distance from each other;

Kind concord, heavenly born! whose blissful reign
Holds this vast globe in one surrounding chain
Soul of the world. TICKEL.

Harmony is mostly employed for those who are in close connexion, and obliged to co-operate;

In us both one soul
Harmony to behold in wedded pair!
More grateful than harmonious sounds to the ear.

MILTON.

Concord should never be broken by relations under any circumstances; harmony is indispensable in all members of a family that dwell together. Interest will sometimes stand in the way of brotherly concord; a love of rule, and a dogmatical temper, will sometimes disturb the harmony of a family. Concord is as essential to domestic happiness, as harmony is to the peace of society, and the uninterrupted prosecution What concord can there be between of business. kindred who despise each other? what harmony between the rash and the discreet? These terms are both applied to music; but concord solely respects the agreement of two or more sounds;

The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, villanies, and spoils. SHAKSPEARE. But harmony respects the effect of an aggregate number of sounds; Harmony is a compound idea made up of different sounds united.' WATTS. Harmony has also a farther application to objects in general to denote their adaptation to each other;