746' CAP 
Henry the Fifth did fometimes prophecy, 
If once he came to be a cardinal, 
He’d make his cap coequal with the crown. Skakefpeare. 
The topmaft; the higheft.—Thou art the cap of all the 
fools alive. Skakefpeare. —A reverence made by uncover, 
ing the head: 
They more and lefs came in with cap and knee, 
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages. Skakefpeare. 
A veft'el made like a cap. —It is obferved, that a barrel or 
rap, whole cavity will contain eight cubical feet of air, 
will not ferve a diver above a quarter of an hour. Wilkins. 
—Cap of a great gun. A piece of lead laid over the touch- 
hole, to preferve the prime. 
The ufe of caps and hats is referred to the year 1449, 
the firft feen in thefe parts of the world being at the entry 
of Charles VII. into Rouen: from that time they began 
to take place of the hoods, or chaperoons, that had been 
vifed till then. When the cap was of velvet, they called it 
mortier ; when of wool, bonnet. None but kings, princes, 
and knights, were allowed the ufe of the mortier. The 
cap was the head-drefs of the clergy and graduates. Paf- 
quier fays, that it was anciently a part of the hood worn 
by the people of the robe ; the fkirts whereof being cut 
Off'as an incumbrance, left the round cap an eafy commo¬ 
dious cover for the head ; which round cap being after¬ 
wards a (fumed by the people, thofe of the gown changed 
it for a fquare one, firft invented by a Frenchman, called 
Patrouillet: he adds, that the giving of the cap to the 
{Indents in the univerfities, was to denote, that they had 
acquired full liberty, and were no longer fubjed to the 
rod of their fuperiors ; in imitation of the ancient Ro¬ 
mans, who gave a pileus, or cap, to their flaves, in the 
ceremony of making them free : whence the proverb, Vo. 
cure fervos ad pileum. Hence, alfo, on medals, the cap is 
the fymbol of Liberty, whom they reprefent holding a cap 
in her right hand, by the point. 
The Romans were many ages without any regular co¬ 
verin' 1 ' for the head : when either the rain or fun was trou- 
blefome, the lappet of the gown was thrown over the 
head ; and hence it is that all the ancient flatties appear 
bareheaded, excepting fometimes a wreath, or branch of 
laurel. The fame triage obtained among the Greeks, 
where, at lead during the heroic age, no caps were 
known. The fort of caps or covers of the head in ufe 
■amon" the Romans on particular occafions, were the pi- 
tra, pileus, cucullvs r galcrus , and palliolum ; the differences 
between which are often confounded by ancient as well as 
modern writers. The Romilh clergy wear a fhallow kind 
of cap, called calotte, which only covers the top of the 
head, made of leather, fattin, worded, or other fluff. The 
red cap is a mark of dignity allowed only to thofe who are 
railed to the cardinalate. The fecular clergy are diftin- 
guifhed by black leathern caps, the regulars by knit and 
Worded ones. Churchmen, and the members of univer¬ 
fities, (Indents in law, phyfk, &c. as well as graduates, 
wear fquare caps. In molt univerfities, doCtors are dif- 
timnuflied by peculiar caps, given them in affuming the 
doGorate. Wickliff calls the canons of his time bifurcati, 
from their caps. Pafquer obfcrves, that, in his time, tire 
caps worn by the churchmen, &c. were called fquare 
caps; though, in effeft, they were round yellow caps. 
The Vfhinele have not tire ufe of the hat, like 11s; but 
wear a cap of a peculiar ftruChire, which their laws will 
not allow them to put off; it is different for the dif¬ 
ferent feafons of the year : that ufed in fummer is inform 
cf a cone, ending at top in a point. It is made ot a very 
beautiful kind of mat, much valued in that country, and 
lined with fattin: to this is added, at top, a large lock of 
red (ilk, which falls all round as low as the bottom ; fo 
that, in walking, the filk, fluctuating regularly on all ddes, 
makes a graceful appearance : fometimes, inllead ot filk., 
Ivey ufe a kind of bright red hair, the lufire whereof no wea. 
flier effaces. The cap is fometimes tiled as a mark of in- 
; in Italy the Jews are diltinguiHied by a'yellow cap j 
CAP 
at Lucca by an orange one. In France, thofe who had 
been bankrupts were formerly obliged to wear a green 
cap, to prevent people from being impofed on in any fu¬ 
ture commerce. By feveral arrets in 1584, 1622, 1628, 
1688, it was decreed, that if they were at any time found 
without their green cap, their protection fliould be null, 
and their creditors impowered to call theni into prifon. 
CAP (/Maintenance, one of the regalia, or orna¬ 
ments of Hate, belonging to the kings of England, before 
whom it was carried at the coronation and other great fo- 
lemnities. Caps of maintenance are alfo carried before 
the mayors of feveral cities in England. 
CAP,/ in fhip-building, a flrong, thick, block of wood, 
ufed to confine two mads together, when one is ereCted at 
the head of the other in order to lengthen it. It is for 
this purpofe furnifhed with two holes perpendicular to its 
length and breadth, and parallel to its thicknefs : one of 
tliele is fquare, and the other round ; the former being 
folidly fixed upon the upper end of the lower mafr, whilit 
the latter receives the mall employed to lengthen it, and 
fecures it in this pofitiop. 
To CAP, v . a . To cover on the top.—The bones next 
the joint are capped with a fmooth cartilaginous fubftance, 
ferving both to firength and motion. Derham. —To de¬ 
prive of the cap.—If one, by another occafion, take any 
thing from another, as boys fometimes ufe to cap one ano¬ 
ther, the fame is itraight felony. SpcnJ'tr, — To cap verfes. 
To name alternately verfes beginning with a particular let. 
ter; to name in oppofition or emulation; to name alter¬ 
nately in conteft : 
Where Henderfon, and th’ other maffes, 
Were lent to cap texts, and put cafes. Hudibras. 
CAP-d-PE, or Caf-<2-pie, [ cap-a-pie , Fr.] From head 
to foot; all over : 
There for the two contending knights he fent; 
Arm’d cap-a-pie, with rev’rence low they bent. Dryden. 
CAP-cnrf-BUTTON, two fmall iflands, or rather rocks, 
lying in longitude 105 0 48' 30" eaft ; and in latitude, the 
former 5 0 58' 30'', the latter 5 0 49' fouth. They were vi- 
fited by fome of the perfons attending lord Macartney on 
his embaffy to China ; and are thus deferibed by Sir George 
Staunton : “ At a little difiance they might be miftaken 
for the remains of old caftles, mouldering into heaps of 
ruins, with tall trees already growing upon the tops; but 
at a near view, they betrayed evident marks of a volcanic 
origin. In the Cap were found two caverns, running ho¬ 
rizontally into the fide of the rock ; and, in thefe were a 
number of thofe lingular birds-nefts fo mnch prized by the 
Chinefe epicures. See the article Biro’s-Nests, p, 56, 
of this volume. 
CA'PA-VEE'LA,/ in botany. See Cueome. 
CAPABI'LITY,/ Capacity ; the quality of being ca¬ 
pable : 
Sure he that made 11s with fuel) large difeourfe. 
Looking before-and after, gave us not 
That capability and godlike reafon 
To rufi in us unus’d. Skakefpeare, 
CA'PABLE, adj. £capable, Fr.] Sufficient to contain; 
fufficiently capacious.—When we confider fo much of that 
fpace, as is equal to, or capable to receive, a body -of any 
afiigned dimenfions, Locke .-—Endued with powers equal 
to any particular thing.—When you hear any perfon give 
judgment, confider with yourfelf whether he be a capable 
judge. Watts _ Intellectually capacious ; able to receive. 
—lam much bound to God, that he hath endued you 
with one capable of the belt infractions, Digby .— Sufcep- 
tible: 
The foul, immortal fubftance, to remain 
Confcious of joy, and capable of pain. Prior, 
Qualified for 5 without any natural impediment.—There 
is no man that believes the goodnefs of God, but mu ft be 
inclined to think, that lie hath made feme thirtgs for as 
tong 
