cou 



CQU 



/ ' COUNTER passant, is when two lions 

 ^are in a coat of arms, and the one seems 

 to go quite the contrary way from the 

 other. 



COUNTER plea, in law, a cross or con- 

 trary plea, particularly such as the de- 

 mandant alleges against a tenant in cour- 

 tesy, or dower, who prays the King's aid, 

 &c. for his defence. 



COUNTER point, in music, the art of 

 composing harmony, or of disposing se- 

 veral parts in such a manner as to make 

 an agreeable whole, or a concert. In 

 general, every harmonious composition, 

 or composition of many parts, is called 

 counter-point. It took its name from 

 hence : before notes of different mea- 

 sures were invented, the manner of com- 

 posing was to set pricks or points one 

 against another, to denote the several 

 concords. 



COUNTER pointed, in heraldry, is when 

 two chevrons in one escutcheon meet in 

 the points, the one rising as usual from 

 the base, and the other inverted falling 

 from the chief; so that they are coun- 

 ter to one another in the points. They 

 may also be counter-pointed, when they 

 are founded upon the sides of the shield, 

 and the points meet that way, called 

 counter-pointed in fesse. 



COUNTER poise is a piece of metal, call- 

 ed by some the pear, on account of its 

 figure, and the mass, by reason of its 

 weight, which, sliding along the beam, 

 determines the weight of bodies weighed 

 {>y the statera romana. 



\^- COUNTER salient, is when two beasts are 

 borne in a coat leaping from each other 

 directly the contrary way. 



COUNTER scarp, in fortification, is pro- 

 perly the exterior talus or slope of the 

 ditch ; but it is often taken for the cov- 

 ered way and the glacis. In this sense 

 we say, the enemy have lodged them- 

 selves on the counter-scarp. 



COUNTERMAND, in the English law,, 

 IB where a thing, before executed, is by* 

 some act or ceremony afterwards made 

 void by the party that did it. A coun- 

 termand may be either actual or impli- 

 ed : actual, where a power to execute 

 any authority is, by a formal writing or 

 deed for that purpose, pur off for a time, 

 or made void: implied, when a person 

 makes h's last will and testament, where- 

 by he devises his land to such an one, 

 and afterwards conveys the same land to 

 another by feoffment. 



COUNTY, in geography, originally sig- 

 nified the territory of a count or earl, but 



now it is used in the same sense with shire. 

 See SHIRE. 



England, for the better government 

 thereof, and the more easy administration 

 of justice, is divided into 52 counties, each 

 whereof is subdivided into rapes, lathes, 

 wapentakes, hundreds; and these again 

 into tythings. For the execution of the 

 laws in the several counties, excepting 

 Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Dur- 

 ham, every Michaelmas term officers are 

 appointed, called sheriffs ; other officers 

 of the several counties are, lord lieuten- 

 ants, custodes rotulorum, justices of the 

 peace, bailiffs, high constables, coroner, 

 clerks of the market, &c. Of the 52 coun- 

 ties in England and Wales, there are four 

 termed counties palatine, viz. Lancaster, 

 Chester, Durham, and Ely : these counties 

 are reckoned among the superior courts, 

 and are privileged as to pleas, so that no 

 inhabitant of such counties shall be com- 

 pelled by any writ to appear, or answer 

 the same, except for error, and in cases 

 of treason, &c. The counties-palatine of 

 Durham and Chester are by prescription, 

 where the King's writs ought not to come, 

 but under the seal of the counties pala- 

 tine, unless it be a writ of proclamation. 

 There is a court of chancery in the coun- 

 ties-palatine of Lancaster and Durham, 

 over which there are chancellors. Scotland 

 is divided into 33 counties, the govern- 

 ment of which is committed to sheriffs. 



COUSTT corporate, a title given to seve- 

 ral cities on which the English monarchs 

 have thought proper to bestow extraordi- 

 nary privileges, annexing to them a parti- 

 cular territory of land, or jurisdiction, as 

 the county of Middlesex annexed to the 

 city qf London, the county of the city of 

 York, the county of the city of Bristol, &c. 



Conjrrr court, a court of justice, held 

 every month in each county, by the sheriff" 

 or his deputy. See COURT. 



COUP de bride, in the manege, the same 

 with ebrillade. See EBRILLADE. 



COUPED, in heraldry, is used to ex- 

 press the head or any limb of an animal, cut 

 off" from the trunk, smooth; distinguish- 

 ing it from that which is called erassed ; 

 that is, forcibly torn off, and therefore is 

 ragged and uneven. 



COCPED is also used to signify such 

 crosses, bars, bends, chevrons, &c. as do 

 not touch the sides of the escutcheon, but 

 are, as it were, cut off' from them. 



COUPLE class, in heraldry, the fourth 

 part of a chevron, never borne but in pairs, 

 except there be a chevron between them, 

 saii.h GuiUim, though Bloom gives an in- 

 stance to the contrary. 



