PER
Hence alfo, the Learned imagine, the fame Name
- Perfbn came to be ufed to fignify fome Dignity, whereby a
Perfon is diftinguifh'd from another; as a Father, Husband, Judge, Magistrate, 05c. In which Senfe we are to under- hand that of Cicero : Cafar never fpeaks of Pimpey, but in Terms of Honour and Refpect; but he does many hard and injurious Things againft his Perfon.
This for the Name : as tor the Thing, we have already defin'd Perfon, an individual Sub jlais.ce of a reafonable Nature; which is the fame Boethius's Definition.
Now a Thing may be individual two ways; i. Logically, as it cannot be predicated of any other; as Cicero, IPMfo, &c. 2. Phyfically, in which Senfe a Drop of Water feparated from the Ocean may be call'd an individual. Perfon is an indivi- dual Nature in each of thefe Senfcs: Logically fays Boeth- ius, Iince Perfon is not fpoke of univerfals, but only of Singulars and Individuals; we don't fay the Perfcn of an Animal or a Man, but of Cicero and 'Plato: And phyficaliy, iince Sccrates's Hand or Foot are never confider'd as Ptrjons
This laft Kind of Individual is denominated two ways; pofitively, as when the Perfon is faid to be the whole Princi- ple of Acting; for, to whatever Thing Action is attributed, that do the Philofophers call a "Per/on : And negatively, as when we fay, with the Thomiiis, $6. that a Perfon confift s in this, that it does not exift in another as a more perfect Being.
Thus, a Man, tho' confifiing of two very different Things, vis** Body and Spirit, is not two Perfons j fince neither Part alone is a whole Principle of Action; but one 'Perfon, iince the Manner of his confuting of Eody axid Spirit, is fuch as constitutes one whole Principle of Action : nor does he exiit in any other as a more perfect Being, as E. gr. Sccrates's Foot does in Socrates, or a Drop of Water in the Ocean.
So Chrift, tho' confirming of two different Natures, viz-. the Divine and Humane, is not two Perfons, but one Divine Perfcn $ the human Nature, in him, not being a whole Prin- ciple of Action; but exiting in the other more perfect one. By the Union of the Divine and human Nature one Indivi- dual, or Whole is constituted;that is one Principle of acting: for whatever Chrift's Humanity does, that does his Divinity join'd therewith : So that there is but one Perfon in Chrift, and one Operation, which is czN&Theandrk. SeeTHEANDRic.
Person, in Grammar, a Term applied to Verbs and Pro- nouns, which being conjugated, arc applicable to three dif- ferent perfons. See Verb, &c.
Hove is a Verb ufed in trie firft Perfon; thou lovefl defigns the fecond Perfon; he loveth marks the Third: And thus in the Plural Number. See Number.
7, tlooUi ke, are Pronouns of the firft, fecond, and third perfons. See Pronoun.
Verbs agree with their Nouns in Tenfe, Number, and perfon. See Construction, and Concord.
Person, Perfona, in dramatic Poetry, the Name and Part of an Actor; or of him reprefented by the Comedian.
At the Head of dramatic Pieces come the 2)ramatis Ptr- fontf, the Lift of Actors, and Characters that are to appear on the Stage. ...
The ancient Tragedy was only a fimple Chorus: Thefpis was the firft who introduced a Perfon to relieve the Chorus; jEfchyhti added a fecond. See Tragedy. See alfo Cho- rus, S§G'
F. Boffu obferves,that in the Epic and Dramatic Poem, the fame Perfon muit reign throughout, i. e. mutt fuftain the chief Part thro' the whole Piece, and the Characters of all the other Perfons be fubordinate to him. See Character. See alfo Hero.
PERSONA, in Law. See Parson.
PERSONABLE, in Law, implies the being able to hold, or maintain, a Plea in Court.
That is, as the Civilians wou'd exprefs it, habere per fonam ftandi in Judkio.
Thus they fay, the Defendant was judg'd Perfonable to maintain this Action: Old Nat. Srev. itxKitchin Fol. 124. The Tenant pleaded that the Wife was an Alien, born in Portugal, without the Ligeance of the King; and Judge- ment was ask'd whether me fhou'd be anfwer'd? The Plain- tiff faid he was made Pet finable by Parliament.
Personable, is alfo ufed to fignify a Capacity to take any Thing granted or given. See Capacity.
PERSONAL, fomething that concerns, or is reftrain'd to the Perfon. See Person.
In Difputes among the Learned, there is ever fomething Perfonal intermix'd; in Ethicks 'tis a Maxim that all Faults are Perfonal, i. e. don't pafs to our Defcendants.
A Personal ABion, in Law, is that levied directly, and folely againft the Perfon, in oppofition to a real or mix'd Action. See Action.
Personal Goods, or Perfonai Efiate, is that confuting of Money, Moveables, g£& which every Perfon has in his own Pifpofal; in oppofition to Lands and Tenements, which are call'd real Efiate. See Estate, and Goods.
Theft is defin'd a felonious taking a way another Man*« moveable Perfonai Goods* See Theft.
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Personal Tithes, arc Tithes paid of fuch Profits as come by the Labour of a Man's Perfon; as by buying and felling - gains of Merchandize, Handicraft, &c. See Tithes, *
pronoun Personal, or Verb Personal, in Grammar, a Verb, or Pronoun, conjugated in all the three Perfons. See Verb and Conjugation.
In Oppofition to Imperfonals which have only the third Perfon. See Impersonal.
PERSONALITY, in the Schools, the Quality of Perfon^ or that which conliitutes an Individual in the Quality of per- fon. See Person,
The Philofophers being ufed to confider Matter, and Form in every other Thing; do the fame in Perfon. The Matter of Perfon, according to them, is a lingular Subflance, endued with Reafon. Jbor, Subflance may, at the Pleafure of God, either be, or not be a Perfon 5 in afmuch as the human Na- ture in Chrift is not a Perfon. The Form of Perfon which they call Subfijlency, Suppofitality, and Perfonality, is that by which the forefaid Subitance becomes individual.
The School Divines are divided aboutwhatit is thatdiftin- guifhes the feveral Personalities in the Trinity : fome will have it to be only the different Relations; others, as Floraven- tius contend for fome incommunicable Subftance : S. Bona~ venture, and S. Thomas^ take it to be the different Origins, that diftinguifh the Perfonalities; which Opinion is the moft foliow'd. See Identity.
Personality, in Law. An Action is faid to be mperfona- tliy, when it is brought againft the right Perfon.
PERSONAL!, among Botanifts, are fuch Flowers as exprefs the gaping Mouths of fome living Creatures.
PERSONIFYING, or Personalising, the feigning a Perfon 5 or attributing a Perfon to an inanimate Being; or giving it the Figure, Sentiments, and Language of a Perfon.
The Poets have perfonified ali the Paffions; and made Di- vinities r.f them, which were wor/hip'd by the Heathens; as the Goddefs Perfuafion, the God Sleep, the Furies, Envy, Difcord, Fame, Fortune, Victory, &c. See God, See alfo Machine.
Perfonifying is effential to Poetry, efpecially the Epo- pea. See Poetry and Epic.
PERSPECTIVE, the Art of Delineating vifible Objects on a plane Surface, fuch as they appear at a given Diftance or Height, upon a tranfparent Plane, placed perpendicular to the Horizon, between the Eye and the Object. See Del-
MEATING.
This, we particularly call linear PerfpeBive, as regarding the Pofitior., Magnitude, Form, $£c. of the feveral Lines, or Contours ot Objects; and exprefiing their Diminution: In Oppofition to the Aerial PerfpeBive, which regards the Colour, Luflre, Strength, Boldnefs, £$;« of diftant Objects, confider'd as feen thro* a Column of Air 5 and expreffes tho Diminutions thereof.
The former is a Branch of Mathematicks: Some make it a Member of Opticks; others a Rivulet therefrom; and its Operations, are all Geometrical. See Opticks.
The latter is a Part of Painting, and confifts wholly in the Conduct of the Colours, their different Teints, or Degrees, Force, Weaknefs, &c. See Colour and Colouring.
Some make a third Kind of PerfpeBive, viz. Specular PerfpeBive; which reprefents the Objects in Conical, Sphe- rical, or other Mirrors, erect, and clear; whereas on Lawn and other Planes appear confufed and irregular. See Mirhor.
To conceive the Nature of PerfpeBive; i. e. Linear Per- fpeBive-. Suppofe a Glafs-plane H J, (Tab. PerfpeBive Fig. 1.) rais'd perpendicularly on a horizontal Plane; and the Spectator S, direfting his Eye 0, to the Triangle ABC: If now we conceive the Rays AO, OB, OC, £5?c. in their Paffage thro' the Plane, to leave their Traces or Veftigia, in a, b, c, &c. On the Plane; there will appear the Triangle a b c; which, as it flrikes the Eye by the fame Rays a O, b O, c 0, by which the Species of the Triangle A B C is car- ried to the fame; it will exhibit the true Appearance of the Triangle ABC, tho' the Object fhou'd be remov'd; the fame Diftance and Height of the Eye being preferv'd. See Vision, Point, Plane, Line, &c.
The Bufinefs of PerfpeBive then, is to fliew by what cer- tain Rules the Points a, b, c, &c. may be found Geometri- cally: And hence alfo, we have a mechanical Method of de- lineating any Object very accurately; See Designing.
PerfpeBive is either em ploy 'd in reprefentingthe Icono- graphies, or Ground-plats of Objects, as projected on Per- fpeBive Planes. See Ichnography.
Or in Scenographies, or Reprefentations of the Bodies themfelves. See Scenography.
The general Laws of each, are fubjoin'd; in order to which, it is neceffary :o premife the following Lemmas in PerfpeBive. 1. That the Appearance of a right Line is evera rightLines whence, the two Extremes being given, the whole Line isgiven.
a. That if a Line be Perpendicular to any right Line drawn on a Plane, it will be Perpendicular to every other right Line drawn on the fame Plane.
5. And
