A U T 



fcriptures received by the apoftolical churches were autlicn- 

 tic; the teftimony given by tliofc churches being, according 

 to this father, an iuitheiitic, original, and certain teilimony. 

 Lardner's Works, voh ii. p. 266, &c. 



Authentic, in Mufc, a term ufed in fpeaking o, the 

 ecclcfiadical modes of canto firmo, or plain-fong. An au- 

 thentic tone or mode is that, when the oftave is harmonically 

 divided in tiiis proportion, 6.^:3. that is to fay, when the 



d 

 fifth is at the bottom, and the foiulh at top, as A. When 



D 

 the oftave is divided arithmetically, as 4.3:2. wliere the 



a 

 fifth is above the fourth, as D, then the mode is termed 



A 

 plagal. Of the eight ancient ecclefnRieal modes, four are 

 authentic; namely, the iirft, third, fifth, and fcvenlh. The 

 rell, that is, the fecond, fonith, fixth, and eighth, are plagal. 

 See Modes. 



AUTHENTICATING, the puniiliing an adaltrcfs,by 

 public whipping, and rtuittiiig her up in a convent for two 

 years; after wiiieh, if the hufbaiid be not willing to take 

 her back, (he is fliaven, veiled, and ihut up for life, it is fo 

 called, as being the punidinient prefcrlbtd in the Authentics. 

 If the hufband die within the two years, (he feems to have a 

 right to petition the court for her liberty; at IcaO, another 

 man, willing to many her, inr.y petition, and probably ob- 

 tain it. 



AUTHENTICITY of the Old and Nc-jj Tcjlmnetil. 

 See Bible, and Tkstament. 



AUTHENTICS, Avthentick, in the Civil Laio, is 

 a name given to the Novels of Judinian. See Novti.. 



The reafon of the denomination is not well known. — 

 Alciat will have it to have been Iirft given them by Accur- 

 fuis. The Novels were originally compofed in Greek, and 

 afterwards tranflated into Latin by the patrician Julian, 

 who alfo reduced them into fewer words, and lefs compafs. 

 And in the time of Bulgarius, there was a fecond vxrfion 

 made, more exadt and literal, though not quite fo eleg°ant as 

 the former. 



This tranflation, fays the author juft cited, being pre- 

 ferred by Accurfius, he called it nuthent':ca, by way of pre- 

 ference to that of Julian, as being more conformable to the 

 original. They are liereby diftinguifhed from fome other 

 publications of later imperial conilitutions, which are not 

 regarded as of much authority. 



AUTHIE, in Geography, a river of France, which runs 

 into .the fea, eight miles north from the mouth of the 

 Samme, and feparates the department of the ttraits of 

 Calais from the department of the Somme, through almoil 

 its whole courfe. 



AUTHION, a vivtr of France, whichruns into the Loire, 

 two miles fouth of Angers. 



AUTHON, a town of France, in the departnij'nt of the 

 Eure and Loire, and chief place of a canton in the diilricl 

 of Nogent le Rotrou; fix leagues weil-north-weil of Cha- 

 t^audun. 



AUTHOR, formed of buto?, ipfe, or rather from the 

 Latin participle amtus, or augeo, I increafe ; properly denotes 

 one who created or produced any tiling; and is applied, by 

 ^vay of eminence, to the firll caul'e; viz. God. Thus we 

 fay, the author of nature; author of the univerfe, &c. 



The term author is fometimes ufed in the fame fenfe with 

 inftitutor or inventor. Polydore Virgil has wrote eight 

 books of the authors or inventors of things, &c. See In- 



VESTION. 



A IT T 



Author, in matters a{ Literature, denotes a pcrfcm who 

 has wrote or compofed fome book or writing. Accordingly 

 we fay, the facred authors, anonymous authors, ancient 

 and modern autliors, &c. An original author is he who ' 

 firil treated of any point or fobjeft; who did not follow 

 any other pcrfon, or imitate any model either in the matter 

 or the manner of what he has wrote. 



AUTHORITY, in a general fenfe, denotes a right or 

 power to command, and make one's fclf obeyed. In this 

 fenfe we fay, the fupreme or fovereign authority ; abfolute 

 or defpotic authority ; the royal authority ; the epifcopal 

 aulhcirity ; the authority of the church, of a father, &c. 

 the authority of fcripture, of a creed, confefiion, or the like. 



Authority is aifo ufed for the teilimony of an author 

 or writing. 



The word is alfo particuhuly urdei flood of an apoph- 

 thegm, or fenlence of fome gre;U or eminent perfoii, quoted 

 in a dii'courfe, either by way of proof, or eir.belhlhmcnt. 



Ai:tho-/Hy alfo includes rules, laws, canons, decrees, de- 

 cifions, &c. alleged in confirmation of a matter in dif- 

 pute. Paflages cjuoted from Ariftotle were of great autho- 

 rity in the fchools : texts of fcripture arc of dccifive au- 

 thoiity. . 



Authorities make a fpecics of arguments called by rhe- 

 toricians inartificial or cxtrinfic arguments. See Argu- 

 ments. 



For the ufe and effeft of authorities, fee Evidence, 

 T'aith, Prejudice, Probability, Reason, Revela- 

 tion, &c. 



Authority, in J.aic, is a power to do fomcthing, 

 conveyed by word or writing; as alio by writ, warrant, 

 commiflion, letter of attorney, &.C.; and fometimes by 

 law. 



Authority, or Authorities, likewife denote the 

 treatifes of ancient authors, fucli as Glanvil, Brafton, Brit- 

 ton, the author of the book Flcta, Henghain, Littleton, 

 Statham, Brooke, Fitzhtrbert, Staundtorde, and fome 

 others of ancient date, which are cited as authority ; and 

 furnilb evidence that cafes have formerly happened in which 

 particular points were determined, which art now become 

 fettled and firft principles. 



One of the laft of thefe methodical writers, in point of 

 time, whofe works are of any intriiific authority in the courts 

 of jullice, and do not entirely depend on the itrength of 

 their quotations from older authors, is fir Edward Coke, who 

 hath wTitten four volumes of Inllitutes, as he is pleafed to call 

 them, though, fays judge Blackftone, they have little of the 

 inllitutional method to warrant fuch a title. 



AUTIRE, in Geography, a river of France, which 

 runs into the Sevre, a little below Maillerais. 



AVrO Da Fe. See Act of Faith. 



AUTOCABDALI, in jint'iqu'ity, an order of muficians, 

 who wore an ivy crown, or garland. 



Scaliger feems to rank them in the number of ?n>ml. 



AUTOCEPHALUS, compounded of ccvlo.:, ipfe, and 

 xi^aA»!, caput, head, a perfon who is his own ruler or mafter^ 

 and who has no other over him. 



This denomination was given, by the Greeks, to certain 

 archbifliops, who were exempted from the jurifdiclion 

 of patriarchs.— -Such were the archbifhop of Cyprus, by a 

 general decree of the council of Ephefus, which freed him 

 from the jurifdiftion of the patriarch of Antioch. 



There were feveral other bilhops in the Eaft, who were 

 autocephali ; and in tlie Weft, thofe of Ravenna pretended 

 to the fame right. — The fixth council, canon 39, fays, thai 

 the autocephali have the fame authority with patriarchs ; 



but 



