Go CON 
and laftly, ft is to be out of court voluntarily. Where 
a _ writ or confpiracy doth not lie, the confederacy is pu- 
nifliable : and inquiry ffiaii be made of confpirators and 
con fed era tors, who bind themfelves together, See. See 
Conspiracy. 
To CONFEDER ATE, <v. a. [confederer, Fr.] To join 
in a league ; to unite ; to ally : 
With thefe the Piercies them confederate, 
And as three heads conjoin in one intent. Daniel- 
‘To CONFEDERATE, <v. n. To league; to unite in 
a league—By words men come to know one another's 
minds; by thofe they covenant and confederate. South. 
CONFEDERATE, adj. United in league.—For they 
have coni'ulred together with one content: they are con¬ 
federate again!! thee. Pfalm lxxxiii. 5. 
All the fwords 
In Italy and her confederate arms, 
Could not have made this peace. Shakefpeare. 
CONFEDERATE/. One who engages to fupport an¬ 
other j an ally: 
Sir Edmond Courtney, and the haughty prelate. 
With many more confederates, are in arms. Shakefpeare. 
CONFEDERATION,^ [ confederation , Fr.] League; 
ccmpadt of mutual fupport; alliance.—Nor can thofe con¬ 
federations or deiigns be durable, when fubjedts make bank¬ 
rupt of their allegiance. King Charles. 
To CONFE'R, <v. n. [confero , Lat. confercr, Fr.] To dif- 
courfe with another upon a Hated lubjedt; to ventilate 
any queftion by oral difeuffion ; to converfe folemnly ; to 
talk gravely together; to compare fentiments.—Reading 
makes a full man, conference a ready man, and writing 
an exadt mail; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had 
need have a great memory ; if he confer little, he had need 
have a prelent wit; and, if he read little, he had need 
have much cunning, to feem to know that he doth not. 
Bacon. 
To CONFE'R, <v. a. To compare; to examine by com¬ 
panion with other things of the fame kind.—If we con¬ 
fer, thele obfervations with others of the like nature, we 
may find caule to redtify the general opinion. Boyle. —To 
give; to beltow: with on before him who receives the 
gift.—Coronation-to a king, confers no royal authority 
upon him. South. 
Reft to the limbs, and quiet I confer 
On troubled minds. Waller. 
To contribute ; to conduce: with to. —The clofenefs and 
compadlnefs of the parts refting together, doth much con¬ 
fer to the ftrength of the union. Glanville. 
CONFERENCE, f. [conference, Fr.] The ac! of con- 
verfing on feffous fubjedls; formal dilcourfe; oral dif- 
cuflion of any queftion : 
What paflion hangs thefe weights upon my tongue ! 
■ I cannotTpeak to her; yet !he urg’d conference. Sbakefp. 
A11 appointed'meeting for difeufiing fome point by per- 
fonal debate. Comparifon; examination of different things 
by companion of each with other.—Our diligence mud 
fearch out ail helps and furtherances, which (criptures, 
councils, laws, and the mutual conference of all men’s col¬ 
lections and obfervations, may afford. Hooker. 
CONFER'RER, f. He that converfes. He that beftow’s. 
CONFER'VA, or River-V^eed, f [from confervco, 
to knit together.] In botany, a genus of tIre dais crypto- 
gamia, order algae. The generic character is—Simple, 
uniform, hair-like, thread-lhaped, fibres; either conti¬ 
nuous or jointed.— EJfential CbaraEler. Unequal tubercles, 
in very long capillary filaments. 
Twenty-one fpecies are recited in Linnaeus’ fyftem of 
vegetables, edit. Murr. Thefe are all inhabitants of the 
water, fome in freffi, but more in fait, water. Withering 
has sixty fpecies, natives of England, in his fourth vo- 
C O N 
lume of the Botanical Arrangement of Britifh Plants, 
publilhed in 1796. Moll of them are figured by Dole- 
nius; fome by Micheli, Morifon, Petiver, Eilis, in Flora 
Danica, See. 
A curious circumftance reflecting the conferva jngu- 
laris, is mentioned in the TranfaCtions of the Philomatic 
Society at Paris. C. and R. Coqueliert, having collected 
fome of this conferva in the neighbourhood of Paris, 
which, from its minutenefs, being fubjeCted to the mi- 
crofcope, they difeovered, that in this lpecies, there are 
male and female filaments, which unite by an aClual co¬ 
pulation; that certain globules contained in the male fila¬ 
ments,-pafs into the interior part of the female filaments; 
and that by this union there are formed in the veficles of 
the female, very minute ieeds or ova, which reproduce 
the fpecies. This is the firft intimation of a mode of re¬ 
production in the vegetable kingdom, ftriCtly analogous 
to that which takes place among animals. But its near 
approach to one of the molt exquifite fenfations of ani¬ 
mal life, renders the faCt extremely doubtful ; notwich- 
ftanding what is urged refpeding the lenfitive plant, or 
mimofa fpecies. This fexual union of the conferva, being 
alfo a microlcopic difeovery, leems likely to fiiare the lame 
fate as the celebrated hypothefes. of Button and Leeuwen- 
hoek, refpeCring animalcules in the human feed. Dr* 
Gmelin enumerates fixty-five fpecies of conferva. For 
the received opinion of their mode of piopagation, and a 
figure of this very minute aquatic plant, fee the article 
Botany, vol. iii. p. 285-287. 
To CON ID'S 5 , aj.a. [confcff&r, Fr. confiteor, conf=jfum, 
Lat.] To acknowledge a crime ; to own a failure 1 
Human faults with human grief confefs ; 
’Tis thou art chang’d. Priori 
It has of before the thing confeffed, when it is ufed reci¬ 
procally : 
Confefs thee freely of thy fin ; 
For to deny each article with oath, 
Cannot remove nor choke the ftrong conception. Shakcfp, 
To difclofe the date of the confcience to the prieft, in or¬ 
der to repentance and pardon.—It our fin be only againft 
God, yet to confefs it to his minifter may be of good ufe. 
Wake. —It is uled with the reciprocal pronoun.—Our 
beautiful votary took the opportunity of confeffing herfelf 
to this celebrated father. Addifon. —To hear the confeffion 
of a penitent, as a prieft. To own ; to avow; to profefs; 
not to deny.—Wholbever therefore fhaii confefs me before 
men, him will I confefs alfo before my Father which is in 
heaven; but whofoever lhall deny me’before men, him 
will I alfo deny before my Father which is in heaven. 
‘Matt. x. 32, 33.—To grant; not to dilpute : 
If that the king 
Have any way your good deferts forgot 
Which he confejfeth to be manifold, 
Ke bids you name your griefs. Shakefpeare . 
To (hew ; to prove ; toatteft: 
Tall thriving trees confefs'd the fruitful mold; 
The redd’ning apple ripens here to gold. Pope. 
It is ufed in a loofe and unimportant fenfe, by way of in- 
trodudlion, or as an affirmative form of fpeech.—I mull 
confefs I was molt pleafed with a beautiful profpedt, that 
none of them have mentioned. Addifon. 
To CONFK'SS, c v. n. -To make confeffion ; to difclofe ; 
to reveal: as, he is gone to the prieft to confefs. 
CONFESS'EDLY, ad-v. Avowedly; indilputably ; un¬ 
deniably.—Great geniufes, like great miniiters, though 
they are confejfedly the firft in the commonwealth of let¬ 
ters, mult be envied and calumniated. Pope. 
CONFES'SION, f. The acknowledgment of a crime 3 
the difeovery of one’s own guilt.—Your engaging me fir It 
in this adventure of the Moxa, and defiring the ftory of 
it from me, is like giving one the torture, and then alk- 
4 i‘!g 
