Q U A 



Hift. Uiilveif. Epitom. lib. xxiv. fays the fame of Trlpto- 

 lemiis. Lallly, if there be not opinions enoiieh ah-cady, 

 Herodotus gives us anotlier ; and fays, the Greeks bor- 

 rowed it from the Libyans. Pliny tells us, that his leal was 

 a quadriga, lib. xvi. 



On the reverfes of medals we frequently fee Viilory, or 

 the emperor, in a quadriga, iiolding the reins of the horlcs ; 

 whence thefe coins are called, among the curious, nummi 

 quadrigali, and vlHorhiii. See Bigati. 



QuADUlGA, from qiinliwr and jitga, yokes, in Surgery, a 

 bandage for tiie ilcrnum and ribs, lo called from its reiem- 

 blance to the trappings of a fonr-horfe car. It was iormcrly 

 employed in cafes of fractured ribs ; but, as it is not now 

 in ufe, a more particular account of it leems unnecelTary. 



QUAURIGEMINA Cokpoha, in Anatomy, a part of 

 the brain, known more commonly by the terms nates and 

 teftes. See Bkain. 



QUADRILATERAL, in Geometry, a figure whofe 

 perimeter confills of four right lines, making four angles ; 

 whence it is alfo called a quadrangular hgure. 



If the feveral angles be right, the figure is a reftangular 

 jjuadrilatera!. If oblique, an oblique-angular quadrilateral. 



If the fides of a quadrilateral be equal, and the angles 

 right, the figure is a fquare. 



If the fides be equal, but the angles unequal, the figure 

 is a rhombus. 



If the angles be equal, and the fides unequal, the figure 

 t« a reAangle. 



If only the oppofite angles and fides be equal, the qua- 

 drilateral is a rhomboides. 



If the oppofite angles and fides be unequal, the quadri- 

 lateral is a trapezium. 



If any fide of a quadrilateral, infcribed in a circle, be 

 produced out of the circle, the external angle will be equal 

 to the oppofite, internal angle. 



Hence, the two oppofite angles of any quadrilateral figure 

 infcribed in a circle, always make two right angles ; and, 

 therefore, no oblique-angled parallelogram can have a circle 

 defcribed about it, becauie its oppofite angles being equal, 

 mud together be greater or lefs than two right angles. See 

 Circle. 



QUADRILL, QuADKiLLA, a little troop or company 

 cf cavaliers, porapoufly dreffed and mounted ; for the per- 

 formance of caroufals, julls, tournaments, runnings at the 

 ring, and other gallant divcrtiiements. 



The word is borrowed from the Italian, being a diminn- 

 live of /quadra, a company of loldiers ranged in a fquare : 

 for fquaJrare is, properly, to dilpofe any thing fquare ; 

 whence their qiiadrigUa, the French /quadrille and quadrille, 

 and our quadrill. The French formerly wrote /quadrille, 

 ajld e/qtiadrille. 



A regular caroufal is to have at leaft four, and at moft 

 twelve, quadrills. 



Of thefe quadrills, eacli is to confift of at leaft three ca- 

 valiers, and at moft of twelve. 



The quadrills are diftinguifiied by the form of their habits, 

 or the diverfity of their colours. 



QUADRILLE, a well-known game at cards ; and 

 which has been, in feveral cafes, the objeft of mathematical 

 computations. See M. De Moivre's Doctrine of Chances, 

 jd edit. p. 97, &c. 



QUADRIO, Francesco Saverio, in Biography, a 

 Jeluit, author of a voluminous hillory aod defcription of 

 every kind of Italian poetry, " Delia iloria e della Ragione 

 d'ogni Poefia," eight vols. 4to. publifiied at Bologna be- 

 tween the years 1739 and 1752. 



The author feems a mere compiler, without feleftion, 



QUA 



taftc, or accuracy. It is a heavy work, hardly intereftinj 

 enougli to ftimulate a regular perufal ; and frum the diforder 

 of arrangement, very difficult to coiifult. Crefccmber.i ii 

 as fupcrior to Quadrio in every requifitc of an hillorian of 

 literature, as Tirabofchi is to Crefcimbcni. 



QUADRIPARTITION, the dividing by four; or a 

 taking of the fourth part of any number, or quantity. 



Hence quadripartite, &c. fomething divided into four. 



QUADRIREME, Quadhihemis, a galley, or velTel, 

 with four oars on a fide ; the invention of which was attri- 

 buted by the ancients to the Carthaginians. 



QUADRISETiE, the four-haired flies, a term ufed by 

 the writers in natural hiitory to exprefs thofe flies of the 

 feticaudc or hair-tailed kind, which have four hairs or 

 briflles growing from the tail, as the others have three, two, 

 or one. 



QUADRIVIUM, the centre of four ways, where four 

 roads meet and crofs each other. By ftatute, polls with 

 infcriptions are to be fet up at fuch crofs-ways, as a direc- 

 tion to travellers, &c. 8 & 9 W. III. c. 10. 



QuADRiviOM, befides the centre of four ways, was a 

 fcholaftic divifion, ufed in the middle ages in our univerfities, 

 to exprefs the highcfl clafs of philofophical learning and 

 fcicnce ; comprehending arithmetic, geometry, aftronomy, 

 and mnfic : as the trivium did grammar, rhetoric, and logic. 

 During this period, nuific, fuch as it was, muit have been 

 highly prized to be ranked with the moft fublime fciencet, 

 and thought an eft'ential part of a learned education. 



QUADRO, Ital. literally means fquare, and in muCc, 

 at prefent, it implies a natural, ^, or Gothic B, in oppo- 

 fition to tondfj, round, or the round b , ufed for a flat. The 

 durum hcxachord is fometimes called the quadro hexachord, 

 from the circumftance of B being ^. 



It was the opinion of Padre Martini and the prince abbot 

 of St. Blafius, that accents and points, enlarged, disfigured, 

 and lengthened, became mufical charafters for time as well 

 as tune. At firlt, when lines and fpaces were ufed, from 

 their being chiefly employed in a fquare form for writing the 

 chants eftablifiied by St. Gregory, they acquired the name 

 of Gregorian notes, quadrata, and in barbarous Latin, qua- 

 driquarta. As the church is flow in receiving new doftnnes, 

 and generally a century later in admitting thofe improve- 

 ments or corruptions in mufic (the reader may call them 

 which he pleafes) that are adopted by the laity as the for- 

 tunate efforts of cultivated genius, the notation of chants 

 was at firft cenfured and prohibited by feveral councils ; 

 and figurative harmony being regarded as a crying fin by- 

 pope John XXI I., was formally excommunicated by a bull 

 from the conclave 1321. See Notes, and Time-table. 



QUADRUGATA Terr^., in Old La-w Records, de- 

 notes a team-hnd ; or fo much as can be tilled by four 

 horfes. 



QUADRULA, in Natural Hi/lory, a word fometimes 

 ufed in the fame fenfe as tefTela, and fpoken of the cubic 

 pyrites. Sometimes it is ufed alfo as the name of thofe 

 little fpangles of fhining matter that are mixed among fand. 

 Thefe are generally fragments of talc ; and are of various 

 colours, white, yellow, and blackifh. 



Solinus has ufed the word quadrula to exprefs the frag- 

 ments of yellow talc that are found in that fand called am- 

 mochry/os, or golden fand. He miftakes thefe fhining 

 particles for mafl'cs of real gold, and makes the fand itfelf 

 a kind of precious fubftance ranked among the gems, and 

 brought from Perfia ; but in this he does not agree with 

 the reft of the ancients. 



QUADRUPED. The efTential charafter of quadra- 

 X z peds 



