CAN
C A N
frig on it fome words, or motto of good omen,to encourage thtj foldiers. Pitifc.Lex, Ant. T. i. p. 348. Du Cange Gloii I Lat. T. t. p. 67 1. Schoet. Cur. Ant. Lex. p. 267. I
CANTALIVERS {Cycl) — Thofe which projeft much are now 1 out of faihion, and with good reafon, efpecially in London, as they darken, by their hanging over, the upper cham- bers at leaft ; and are apt to fpread, and communicate fire, in cafe of a misfortune of that kind ; befides, that in the prefent mode of building, ufe, conveniency and fimplicity are more ftudied than ornament. Neve, Build. Diet, in voc. CANTAR, or Cantaro, an eaftern weight, of different value in different places, equivalent at Acra in Turkey to 603 pounds, at Tunis and Tripoli to 1 14 pounds. Lex. Mercat. p. 388.
Cantar is alfo an Egyptian weight, which is denominated a quintal^ and confifts of a hundred, or of a hundred and fifty ro- tolos, according to the goods they are to weigh. Pocock's Egypt, p. 175.
Cantaro is alfo an Egyptian weight, which at Naples is equivalent to 25 pounds, at Genoa to 150 pounds. Du Cange, GlofT Lat. T. 1. p. 762. Vocab. Crufc. T. 2. p. 275. At Leghorn there are three kinds of cantaros, one weighing I $c pounds, another 151, and a third 160 pounds. Savar. Diet. Comm. T. 1. p. 550.
Cantaro is alfo a Spanifh liquid meafure, in ufe efpecially at Alicant, containing three gallons. Lex. Mercat. p. 388.
Cantaro is alfo a meafure of capacity, ufed at Cochin, con- taining four rubies, the rubi 32 rotolos. Savar. Diet. Comm T.i. p. 557.
CANTATOR, Kawa-n^, in the Greek empire, a name given to thofe who exhorted and encouraged the foldiers to behave g lanfly in battle. Du Cange, GlofT. Grac. T. 1. p. 576:
CANTA TRICES, in middle age writers, hired weepers, and waiters at funerals. Du Cange, GlofT. Lat. T. 1. p. 763.
CANTEL, cartelling in antient Englifh writers, denotes a cuf- tom of felling by the lump, without tale or meafure. Spelman derives the word from quantillum, and defines it by over meafure, or what is added over and above ftrict meafure. Spelm. GlofT. p. 114. Du Cange, GlofT. Lat. T. i.p. 763. Kennet derives it from the old word cant, a hundred, q.d. the fale of about a hundred weight ; anfwering to what we now call the taking of a hundred pound on content; as when we take it in a bag, fealed up, without telling the pieces. Kenn. GlofT. ad Paroch. Antiq. in voc.
CANTERII, orCANTHERii, in the antient architecture, rafters or joifts of a houfe, which reach down from the ridge to the eaves. Vitruv. Archit. 1. 4. c. 2. and c. 7. Bald. Lex. Vi- truv. p. 19. Philand. not. ad Vitruv. p. 63. Pitifc.Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 349.
CANTHAR-ffi, among the antients, a kind of candleftick. See Branch.
CANTHARIAS lapis, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome writers to a folTiIefubftancefuppofed to refemble a beetle. We fometimes meet with parts of the ichthyperia or bony parts of fifhes, which are ridged longitudinally, much in the manner of the outer wing of fome of the beetle tribe, and from their fizi and fhape which is an oblong, or oval one of the bignefs of; common beetle, and fometimes of the largeft, and at others of the very fmalleft kinds ; thefe have been called by fome petri- fied beetles and cantharia lapides, others have extended the name to fuch pieces of amber as have in them the body or any frag- ment of the beetle of any fpecies.
CANTHARIDES {Cycl.) —The antients held them a poifon when taken internally, by reafon doubtlefs of their tendency to ulcerate the bladder \ Yet fome moderns, as Langius b , Bar- tholin c , and others d , have ventured to give them internally, Tupported by the authority of Hippocrates, who appears to have given them in dropfies and jaundices. — [ A Hildan. Cent. 6. Obf. 99. b Lang. Epift. Medic. 1. 1. Ep. 47. « Barihol. Cent. 5. Hift. 82. -i Ephem. Acad.N.C, Dec. 1. ann. 1. Obf. 133. p. 260, feq.]
Groenvclt has a treatife exprefs on the fafe internal ufe ofcan- tharides, wherein he recommends them, efpecially againfr ul- cers in the bladder ; for which he fuffered a perfecution from the college of phyfic'ians, though further experience has fhewn he had juftice on his fide. Vid. Groenv. Trait, de tut. Can- thar. in Medic, ufu intern. Act. Erud. Lipf. 1707. p 182. Dr. Morgan propofes a tincture of cantharides, made with the elixir vitrioli, as good in the diabetes. See Diabetes.
CANTHARUS of a fountain, among Roman writers, denotes th part, or apparatus out of which the water ifiued. See Eoun tain, Cycl.
)t was made in divers forms, fometimes in that of a fhell, at other times in that of an animal, which yielded water at its mouth, eves, and the like. Ferret. Muf. Lapid. 2. Mem 32 Brod. Mifcell. 1. 10. c. 13. Pitifc.Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 348.
Cantharus, in ecclefiaftical writers, denotesa fountain, orcif- tern in the middle of the atrium, before the antient churches, wherein pcrfons warned their hands and faces before they en- tered Bingh. Orig. Ecclef. 1. 8. c, 3. §. 6. Du Cange, GlofT Lat. T. i.p. 764.
Cantharus, in zoology, the name ofafeafifhmuch refembling the fparus and fargus in fhape, but of a dufkier and blacker co- lour, covered with final! fcales, and not ma r ked with the annu- lar black fpots which both thek nfh have 11 «ar the tail Its teeth
alfo are flender and fharp, not broad and obtufe as in f_hofe,and has very remarkable yellow lines running longitudinally down its fides. It has only one back-fin, the anterior rays of whick are prickly, the others not at all fo. It is common in the Me- diterraneans and is frequently brought to market in Rome, &c. being cftcemed a very well taf ted fi(h. Roncblei, de Fife. 1. 5. c. 4. p. 120. Gefnsr, de Plfc. p. III.
The cantharus of the antients is called by Arredi the filver-e;;ed fparus, with longitudinal and parallel yellow lines on each fide. Gaza calls this fifh fcarabaus. Seethe article Sparus. CANTICLES, a canonical book of the old teftament, otherwife called the fong of Solomon, by the Jew*, the fong of fongs, can- ticum cant'uorum.
The Book of canticles is ufually fuppofed to be an epithalamhim compofed by Solomon, on occafion of his marriage with the king of Egypt's daughter. But thofe who penetrate further into the myftery, find in it the marriage of Jefus Chrift with human nature,thc church, and good men. On this principle the canticles is held to be a continued allegory, wherein, under the terms of a common wedding, a divine and fpiritual marriage is expreffed.
This fong contains the adventures of (even Bai s, and feven nights, the exact time allowed for the celebration of marriage among the Hebrews.
The Jews themfelves apprehending the book liable to be un- derftood in a grofs and carnal manner, prudently prohibited the reading of it before the age of thirty, and the fame ufage an- tiently obtained in thechriftian church. Orig. Prsef in Cant. Thecdoret, Opp. T. 1. p. 985. Hieron. inEzek. Calm. Diet. Bib. T. i.p. 356. mif.&ibl Hebr T. 2. p. j;6. Among the antients, Theodore Mopfuetanus rejected the book of canticles, as notdivine. Divers Rabbins liEve alfo queftioncd its being written by infpirat'ion. The anabaptifts generally lav it afide, as a dangerous compofition. 'Tis a ledged, that the name of God is not once found in it. Mr. Whifton h:is a dif- courfe exprefs to prove,that the canticles is not a facred book of the old teftament a . He alledges it indeed to have been writ- ten by king Solomon, the fon of David, but afferts, that it was compofed at the time when that prince, blinded by his concu- bines, was funk in filthy love, and even idolatry. 1 his he chief- ly infers from the general character of vanity and diilbiutenefs which reigns through the canticles, m which there is not, ac- cording to Whifton, one thought that leads the mind tow rd religion, but all is worldly and carnal, to fay no worfe. For the myftic fenfe, he afferts it to be without any foundation^ and that the book is not cited as canonical by any writer be- fore the deftruction of Jerufalcm. Mr. Whifton will have it to have been taken into the canon between the years 77 and 128, when allegories came in vogue, and the rabbins began to corrupt the text of fcripturc. Grotius, Nierembergius, the Dutch divines who criticifed F. Simon, Menetrier, Bafna^e, and fome others, feera alfo to take the ca/iticles for a prophane compofition, on a footing with the love pieces of Catullus or Ovid. But this opinion is refuted by Michaelis, Majus, Wit- fius, Nat. Alexander, Outrein, Trancius, and others h . Mr. Whifton's arguments have been particularly coniidered by It-
p. 74
chener c . — [ a Lond. 1723. 12 . Bibl. Angl. T. feq. *TValf. Bibl. Hebr. T. 2. 1. 1. feet. 2. fubf. 7."§.' l0 . e Defence of canon of old Tcft. Lond. 1723, 12 W . Vid. Bibl. Angl. T. 1 1. p. 463, feq.]
R. Akiba finds the book of canticles more divine than the reft : The whole world, according to this rabbin, is not worth that day when the camides was given to Ifrael ; for whereas all the hagiographers are holy, the canticles is the holy of holies. Cart- wright, Mellific. Hebr 1. 4. c. 4. ap Grit. Sacr. T. 7. p. 855. Carpzsv. Introd. ad Libr. Vet. Teft. P. 2. p 256, feq. CANTING language,or dialeft,is a myfterious fort of jargon ufed by gypfies, thieves, and itrolling beggars, to exprefs their fenti- ments to each other, without being underftood by the reft of mankind.
The canting dlaleil is aconfufed jargon, and not grounded on any rules ; yet even out of that irregularity many words feem to retain fomething of fcholarfhip, as togeman, a gown, from toga, in the Latin; pannam, bread, from paws; cafan, chcefe, from cafeus, &c.
It is obfervable, that, even unknown to ourfelves, we have in- fenfibly adopted fome of their terms into our vulgar tongue, as bite, and bilk, to cheat; bounce, to vapour; Uwfe, ftrong drink ; filch, to fteal ; flog, to whip; rigj game or ridicule; roaji, to rally ; rhino, money. And from the fame fource pro- ceed the words foam, banter, babble, bully, /harper, cutting, /huf- fing, palming, &c. Cant. Diet, in Przef. An anonymous author has given a canting dictionary, compre- hending all the terms ufed in the feveral tribes of gypfies, beg- gars, fhopliftcrs, highwaymen, footpads^ and other clans of cheats and villains, with a collection of fongs in the canting dia- lect. Lond. 1725. 8vo.
Canting arms, among heralds, are thefe which exprefs their owners furname. See Arms, Cycl. and Suf-p/. Thefe anfwej to what the French call amies parlantes, they are a fort of rebus's, and are never prefumed to be noble. Nifi. EfT. on Arm. c. 1. p. 14. and 20. See Rebus, Cycl.
Canting coins, in fhip building, the fame as cant'tc coins. See Ql-'OINj Cycl.
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