c o u 
But heav’n’s great view is one, and that the whole : 
That counterworks each folly and caprice ; 
That dilappoints th’ effetSt of ev’ry vice. Pope. 
COUN'TESS, /. [ comitija , Lat. comtefe, Fr.] The 
lady of an earl or count.—It is the peculiar happinefs of 
the countcj's of Abingdon to have been fo truly loved by 
you while (he was living, and fo gratefully honoured af¬ 
ter (lie was dead. Dryden. 
I take it, die that carries up the train, 
Is that old noble lady, the duchefs of Norfolk. 
—It is, and all the reft are countejfcs. Shakefpeare. 
COUNT'ING-HOUSE,/. The room appropriated by 
traders to their books and accounts.—Men in trade fel- 
dom think of laying out money upon land, till their pro¬ 
fit has brought them in more than their trade can well 
employ ; and their idle bags cumbering their counting- 
houfcs, put them upon emptying them. Locke. 
COUNT'ING-HOUSEof the KING’S HOUSEHOLD, 
[domus computus hofpitii regis,] ufually called the board of 
green cloth , where fit the lord fteward, and treafurer of 
the king’s houfe, the comptroller, mafter of the houfe. 
hold, cofferer, and two clerks of the green cloth, &c. 
for daily taking the accounts of all expences of the houfe- 
hold, making provifions, and ordering payment for the 
fame ; and for the good government of the king’s houfe- 
hold fervants, and paying the wages of thofe below ftairs. 
39 Eliz. c. 7. 
COUNT'LESS, adj. Innumerable; without number; 
not to be reckoned : 
Ay, tear for tear, and loving kifs for kifs, 
Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips: 
O were the fum of thefe that I thould pay 
Countlefs and infinite, yet would I pay them. Shakefpeare. 
By one countlefs fum of woes oppreft, 
Hoary with cares,, and ignorant of reft, 
We find the vital fprings relax’d and worn ; 
Thus, thro’ the round of age, to childhood vve return. Prior. 
COUN'TORS,/. [ contours , Fr.] Such ferjeantsat law, 
which a man retains to defend his caufe, and fpeak for 
him in any court, for their fees. Horn's Mirror, lib. 2. 
And as in the court of common-pleas, none but ferjeants 
dt law may plead ; they were anciently called ferjeant 
countors. ibif.17. 
COUN'TRIES, f. among miners, a term or appella¬ 
tion for the fides or inclofures of a vein or load of ore ; 
e.g. the country of the lead is limeftone, killas, &c. 
COUN'TRY, f \_contree, Fr. contrata, low Lat. fup- 
pofed to be contracted from conterrata.~\ A trad of land ; 
a region, as diftinguiftied from other regions.—They re¬ 
quire to be examined concerning the defcriptions of thofe 
countries of which they would be informed. Spratt.— The 
parts of a region diftant from cities or courts; rural parts. 
—I fee them hurry from country to town, and then from 
the town back again into the country. Speblator. 
Would I a houfe for happinefs ereCt, 
Nature alone fhould be the architect; 
She’d build it more convenient than great, 
And doubtlefs in the country choofe her feat. Cowley. 
The place which any man inhabits, or in which he at 
prefent refides : 
Send out more horfes, Ikirre the country round, 
Hang thofe that talk of fear. Shakefpeare. 
The place of one’s birth ; the native foil.—The king fet 
on foot a reformation in the ornaments and advantages 
of our country. Spratt. —O fave my country , heav’n! fhall 
be your laft. Pope.—-t The inhabitants of any region: 
All the country, in a general voice, 
Cried hate upon him ; all their pray’rs and love 
Were fet on Hereford. Shakefpeare. 
COUN'TRY, adj. Ruftic ; rural; villatic.—Cannot 
a country wench know, that, having received a fliilling 
Vol. V. No. 273, 
C O U 289 
from one that owes her three, and a fliilling alfo from 
another that owes her three, the remaining debts in each 
of their hands are equal ? Locke. 
Come, we’ll e’en to our country feat repair, 
The native home of innocence and love. Norris. 
Of an intereft oppofite to that of courts ; as, the country 
party. Peculiar to a region or people.—She laughing 
the cruel tyrant to fcorn, fpake in her country language. 
2 Maccabees, vii. 27.—Rude; ignorant; untaught.—We 
make a country man dumb, whom we will not allow to 
fpeak but by the rules of grammar. Dryden. 
COUN'TRYMAN,y. One born in the fame country, 
or tradl of ground. Locke. —The Britifh foldiers a£l with 
greater vigour under the condudt of one whom they do 
not confider only as their leader, but as their countryman. 
Addifon. 
Homer, great bard! fo fate ordain’d, arofe ; 
And, bold as were his countrymen in fight, 
Snatch’d their fair aCtions from degrading profe, 
And fet their battles in eternal light. Prior. 
A ruftic ; one that inhabits the rural parts.—All that 
have bufinefs to the court, and all countrymen coming up 
to the city, leave their wives in the country. Graunt .—. 
A farmer ; a hufbandman.—A countryman took a boar in 
his corn. L'EJlrangc. 
COUN'TY, f. \_comte, Fr. comitatus,. Lat.] Inlaw, a 
diftrict ; the fame with fhire ; the one coming from the 
French, the other from the Saxon. It contains a cir¬ 
cuit or portion of the realm, into which the whole land 
is divided, for the more eafy adminiftration of juftice : fo 
that there is no part of this kingdom that lies not within 
fome county ; and every county is governed by a yearly 
officer, the ftieriff. Of thefe counties, the numbers have 
been different at different times, there are now in Eng¬ 
land forty, befides twelve in Wales, making in all fifty- 
two. This divifion of the kingdom appears to have been 
firft made by king Alfred. The names of the counties 
are as follow. In England, Bedford, Berks, Bucks, 
Cambridge, Chefter, Cornwall, Cumberland, Derby, 
Devon, Dorfet, Durham, Effex, Gloucefter, Hereford, 
Hertford, Huntingdon, Kent, Lancafter, Leicefter, Lin¬ 
coln, Middlefex, Monmouth, Norfolk, Northampton, 
Northumberland, Nottingham, Oxford, Rutland (the 
fmalleft,) Salop (commonly called Shropfhire,) Somer- 
fet, Stafford, Suffolk, Surrey, Suffex, Southampton, 
Hants or Hampfhire, Warwick, Weftmorland, Worcef- 
ter, Wilts, York (tire largeft.) In North Wales, An. 
glefea, Caernarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Merioneth, and 
Montgomery. In South Wales, Brecknock, Cardigan, 
Caermarthen, Glamorgan, Pembroke, and Radnor. 
Each of thefe counties are deferibed in this Encyclo¬ 
paedia, under their proper titles, and illuftrated w it’ll new 
and correct maps. The term county anciently fignified 
an earldom, and gave title to a countee, or count: now, 
with us, totally obfolete. 
Three of the counties above enumerated, viz. Chef¬ 
ter, Durham, and Lancafter, are called counties palatine. 
The two former are fuch by prefeription, or immemorial 
cuftom; or, at leaft as old as the Norman conqueft : the 
latter was created by Edward III. in favour of Henry 
Plantagenet, firft earl, and then duke, of Lancafter; 
whofe heireffes being married to John of Gaunt, the 
king’s fon, the franchife was greatly enlarged and con¬ 
firmed in parliament to honour John of Gaunt himfelf, 
whom, on the death of his father-in-law, the king had 
alfo created duke of Lancafter. Plowd. 215. T. Raym. 138. 
Thefe counties palatine are fo called a palatio , becaufe 
the owners thereof, the earl of Chefter, the bifiiop of 
Durham, and the duke of Lancafter, had in thofe coun¬ 
ties jura regalia , as fully as the king hath in his palace ; 
regalem potefatem in omnibus, as B raft on expreffes it, lib. 3, 
c. 8. They might pardon treafons, murders, and felo¬ 
nies; they appointed all judges and juftices of the 
peace; all writs and indictments ran in their name's, as 
4 E in 
