13(5 c O N 
Gratification.—'At Paris the prince fpent one whole day, 
to give his mind fome contentment in viewing of a famous 
city. IVotton. 
CONTEIVMINOUS, adj. [cbnterminus, Lat.] Border¬ 
ing upon; touching at the boundaries.—This conformed 
fo many of them, as were conterminous to the colonies and 
garrifons, to the Roman laws. Hale. 
CONTERRA'NEOUS, adj. \_conterraneus, Lat.] Of 
the fame country. 
CONTE'SA, a town of European Turkey, with a 
port, fituated in the province of Macedonia, in a fmall 
iiland, at the bottom of a gulf, to which it gives name, 
at the mouth of the river Strimon: fixteen leagues eaft 
of Salonica. Lat. 40. 40. N. Ion. 41.48. E. Ferro. 
To CONTE'ST, v.a. [ contcjler , Fr. probably from con - 
tra tejlari, Lat.] Todifpute; to controvert; to litigate ; 
to call in queltion.—’’I is evident upon what account 
none have prefumed to contejl the proportion of thefe an¬ 
cient pieces. Drydcn. 
To CONTE'ST, v.n. To drive; to contend: followed 
by with .—.The difficulty of an argument adds to the plea- 
fure of contejling with it, when there are hopes of victory. 
Burnet. —To vie ; to emulate : 
Of man, who dares in pomp with Jove contcjl. 
Unchang’d, immortal, and fupremely bled r Pope. 
CON'TEST, f. [It is now accented on the fird fylla- 
ble.] Difpute ; difference ; debate.—Leave all noify con- 
tejls, all immoded clamours, and brawling language. V/atts. 
CONTEST'ABLE, adj. That may be conteded ; dif- 
putable ; controvertible. 
CONTEST'ABLENESS, f. Poffibility of conted. 
CONTESTA'TION, f. The aft of conteding ; de¬ 
bate ; drife.—Doors diut, vifits forbidden, and, which 
was worfe, divers contejlations even with the queen her- 
felf. IVotton. ■ 
To CONTE'X, v.a. \_contexo, Lat.] To weave toge¬ 
ther ; to unite by interpodtion of parts. Not in ufe. —The 
fluid body of quickfilver is contexcd with the falts it car¬ 
ries up in fublimation. Boyle. 
CON'TEXT, f. [contextus, Lat.] The general feries 
of a difeourfe ; the parts of the difcourfe that precede 
and follow the fentence quoted.—That chapter is really 
a reprefentation of one, which hath only the knowledge, 
not practice, of his duty ; as is manifed from the context. 
Hammond. 
CONTE'XT, adj. Knit together ; firm.—Hollow and 
thin, % lightnefs; but withal context and firm, for 
drengtli. Derham. 
CONTEX'TURE, f. The difpofition of parts one 
amongd others; the compofition of any thing out of fe- 
parate parts ; the fydem ; the conffitution ; the manner 
in which any thing is woven or formed.—He was not 
of any delicate contexture ; his limbs rather durdy than 
dainty. IVotton.—Every fpecies, afterwards expreffed, was 
produced from that idea, forming that wonderful con. 
texture of created beings. Dryden. 
This apt, this wife contexture of the fea, 
Makes it the drips, driv’n by the winds, obey ; 
Whence hardy merchants fail from flrore to fhore. Blackm. 
CONT'HIL, a town of France, in the department of 
the Meurte, and chief place of a canton, in the didrict 
of Dieuze : two leagues north-north-wed of Dieuze. 
CON'TI (Giudo di), an Italian poet, of an ancient 
family, died at Rimini about the middle of the fixteenth 
century. There is a collection of his poems, much 
edeemed, under the title of La bella Mano, Paris, 1595, 
i2nro. with fome pieces of poetry by feveral ot the old 
poets of Tufcany. This collection had been publifhed 
for the fird time, at Venice, in 1592, 4-to. The abbe 
Salvini gave a new edition of it at Florence, in 1715, ac¬ 
companied with prefaces and annotations ; but it is not 
fo complete as either the edition of Paris, or that of 
Verona, 1753, in 4to. 
C O N 
CON'TI (abbe Antony), a no'le Venetian, died in 
5749, at the age of feventy-one, travelled into mod of 
the countries of Europe, and conciliated the edeem of 
all men of letters by the extent of his knowledge, and 
the amiablenefs of his manners. He is the author of 
Tragedies, printed at Ltreea-i-n 1765, more agreeable in 
the clofet than interefting on the ftage. An attempt at 
the poem called Il'globo di Venere, and the plan of ano¬ 
ther, in which he propofed to treat on nearly the fame 
matter as that which Leibnitz has made the fubjedt of 
his Theodicea; but thefe poems are more metaphyfical 
than poetical. The abbe Conti, on a vifit he made to 
London, formed a great intimacy with fir Ifaac Newton, 
who, though fo very referved in general, ufed freely to 
difcourfe with him on his difeoveries in the feveral 
'branches of fcience, to which he was fo happily devoted. 
He carried back with him into Italy a heart and a mind 
entirely Englil’n. His works in profe and verfe were col¬ 
lected at Venice, in 1739, 2 vols. 4to. and his podhu- 
mous performances in 1756, 4to. Though the Opufcula 
of the abbe Conti are no more than embryos, as one of 
the Italian journalids faid of them, yet they give a 
very advantageous idea of their father. They confid of 
thoughts, refledtions, and dialogues on feveral import¬ 
ant iu l jedts. 
CONTIGLIA'NO, a town of Italy, in the duchy of 
Spoleto, near a lake to which it gives name : three leagues 
-wed from Rieti. 
CONTIGNA'TION, f. \_conlignatio, Lat.] A frame 
of beams joined together ; a dory.—Where more of the 
orders than one (hall be fet in feveral dories or contigna- 
tions, there mud be an exquifite care to place the columns 
one over another. IVotton. —The act of framing or join¬ 
ing a fabric of wood. 
CONTI'GNE, a town of France, in the department 
of the Mayne and Loire, and chief place of a canton, 
in the didrict of Chateauneuf: three miles north of 
Chateauneuf. 
CONTIGU'ITY,yi Adtual contact; fituationin which 
two bodies or countries touch upon each other.—1-Ie de¬ 
fined magnetical attradtion to be a natural imitation and 
difpofition conforming unto contiguity. Brown. 
CONTIGUOUS, adj. [contiguus, Lat.] Meeting fo 
as to touch ; bordering upon each other ; not feparate. 
—Flame doth not mingle with flame as air doth with 
air, or water with water, but only remaineth contiguous ; 
as it cometh to pafs betwixt confident bodies. Bacon. 
The Ead and Wed, 
Upon the globe, a mathematic point 
Only divides : thus happinefs and mifery, 
And all extremes, are dill contiguous. Denham. 
It has fometimes with .—Water, being contiguous with air, 
cooleth it, but moideneth it not. Bacon. 
CONTIGUOUSLY, adv. Without any intervening 
fpaces : 
Thus difembroil’d, they take their proper place. 
The next of kin contiguoujly embrace, 
And foes are funder’d by a larger (pace. Dryden. 
CONTI'GUOUSNESS, f. Clofe connexion; cohe¬ 
rence. 
CON'TINENCE, or Continency, f. [contincntia, 
Lat.] Redraint; command of one’s felf.—He knew what 
to fay; he knew alfo when to leave off, a continence which 
is pradtifed by few writers. Dryden. —Forbearance of law¬ 
ful pleafure.—Content without lawful venery, is conti¬ 
nence ; without unlawful, chadity. Grew. —Chadity in 
general: 
Suffer not difhonour to approach 
Th’ imperial feat; to virtue confecrate, 
To judice, continence, and nobility. Shahejpeare. 
Moderation in lawful pleafures.—Chadity is either abdi- 
nence or continence-, abitinence is that of virgins or wi¬ 
dows; continence , of married perfons. Taylor. 
4 
Continence 
