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without judgment or difcretion. That courage which a- 
rifes from the fenfe of our duty, and from the fear of of¬ 
fending Him that made us, afts always in an uniform 
manner, and according to the dictates of right reafon. 
Add foil. 
The king-becoming' graces. 
Devotion, patience, courage , fortitude. Shakefpeare. 
Hope arms their courage ; from their tow’rs they throw* 
Theirdarts with double force, anddrive the foe. Drydcn. 
That man only is truly courageous, who fears nothing fo 
much as doing a fhameful adlion, but will refolutely and 
undauntedly perform the duties of his ftation, how dan¬ 
gerous foever they may be, whenever the honour or exi¬ 
gencies of his country may require his exertions. A moll 
illuftrious example of this heroic courage fignalizes the 
following event:—Porfenna, a potent king of Italy, hav¬ 
ing undertaken to reftore the Tarquins to the throne of 
Rome, from which they had heenbaniflied for theircruelty 
and oppreflion, fent propofals to the fenate for that pur- 
pofe ; but finding they were rejedled with fcorn, he advanc¬ 
ed towards Rome in a confident perfuafion that he fhould 
ealily reduce it. When he came to the bridge, and faw 
the Romans drawn up in order of battle before the river, 
he was furprifed at their refolution, and not doubting 
but he (hould overpower them with numbers, prepared 
to fight. The two armies engaged, and long contended 
for victory. After a great (laughter on both fides, the 
Romans began to give way, and were put to flight. All 
fled into the city over the bridge, which at the fame 
time would have afforded a paflage to the enemy, if 
Rome had not found, in the noble courage of one of her 
citizens, a bulwark as ftrong as the highed walls. Pub¬ 
lius Horatius was the man, furnamed Codes, becaufe he 
had but one eye, having loft the other in battle. He 
was the ftrongeft and moft undaunted of all the Romans. 
He ufed every method to flop the flying army ; but per¬ 
ceiving that neither intreaties nor exhortations could 
overcome their panic, he refolved, however badly fup- 
ported he might be, to defend the entrance of the bridge 
till it was demolifhed behind. On the fuccefs of this 
depended the prefervation of the city. Only two Ro¬ 
mans followed his example, and partook of his danger ; 
.and, when he faw but a few planks of the bridge remain¬ 
ing, he obliged thefe to retire, and to fave themfelves. 
Standing alone againft a whole army, but preferving his 
intrepidity, he even dared to infult his numerous ene¬ 
mies ; and caft terrible looks upon the principal Hetru- 
rians, one While challenged them to a (ingle combat, and 
then bitterly reproached them all. “ Vile (laves that 
you are,' 1 laid he, “ not fatisfied with being unmindful 
of your own, ye are come to deprive others of their liber¬ 
ty who have had the courage to affume it.” Covered 
with his buckler, he fuftained a (bower of darts ; and at 
laft, when they were all preparing to rufh upon him, 
the bridge was entirely demolilhed, and Codes, throwing 
himfelf with his arms into the Tyber, fafely fwam over, 
having performed an adtion, fays Livy, that will com¬ 
mand the admiration more than the faith of pofterity. 
Some fepoys in the Englifh fervice, in Hindooftan, 
being condemned to death on account of a mutiny, it was 
ordered that they fhould be blown off from cannon in the 
front of the army. Some of the offenders being grena¬ 
diers, on feeing others, who were led forth to fufter be¬ 
fore them, they called out: “As we have generally 
flrown the way on fervices of danger, why fhould we be 
denied that diftinCtion now l” They walked towards the 
guns with firmnefs and compofure ; requefted to be 
(pared the indignity of being tied ; and, placing their 
breads to the muzzles of the cannon, were (hot away. 
Though feveral had been condemned, the behaviour of 
thefe men operated fo ftrongly- on the feelings of the com¬ 
manding officer, that the reft were pardoned. 
There is fomething, fays profelfor Berkenhout, fo ir- 
refiftibly bewitching in perfonal courage, that we have 
2 
hardly an inftanee of a truly brave general or admiral, 
who was not adored by every foldier, or failor, under 
his command. Shakefpeare, who was no novice in the 
knowledge of human nature, makes the young and beau¬ 
tiful Defdemona violently enamoured of that gallant fol¬ 
dier, Othello, the moor of Venice, for his perfonal cou¬ 
rage. Ariftotle, in his Ethics, afligns to courage the 
firft place in his enumeration of moral virtues, and with 
reafon ; for there is nothing more precarious than the 
virtue of a coward : he (brinks at the approach of danger 
or difficulty, and yields to temptation, for want of re¬ 
folution to refift it. The bed proof of a man’s real cou¬ 
rage, is to dare, in every fituation of life, to be juft to 
his own principles, to himfelf, to his connexions, and to 
the world. 
COURA'GEOUS, adj. Brave; daring; bold; enter- 
prizing ; adventurous ; hardy ; (lout.—Let us imitate 
the courageous example of St. Paul, who chofe then to 
magnify his office when ill men confpired to lefien it. 
Atterbury. —It is ufed ludicroufly by Shakefpeare for out¬ 
rageous.—He is very courageous mad, about his throwing 
into the water. Shakefpeare. 
COURA'GEOUSLY, adv. Bravely; ftoutly ; boldly; 
•—The king the next day prefented him battle upon the 
plain, the fields there being open and champaign : the 
earl couragcoufy came down, and joined battle with him. 
Bacon. 
COURA'GEOUSNESS f. Bravery; boldnefs ; fpi- 
rit ; courage.—Nicanor hearing of the manlinefsand the 
courageoufnefs that they had to fight for their country, 
durft not try the matter by the fword. 2 Maccabees, xiv.iS. 
COURA'NT, or Couranto, f . [ courante , Er.] See 
Corant.— A nimble dance. — I’ll like a maid the better, 
while I have a tooth in my head : why, he is able to lead 
her a couranto. Shakefpeare. —Any thing that fpreads quick, 
as a newfpaper. 
COU'RAP, f A term for the herpes, or itch, in the 
Eaft Indies. 
COURAYER' (Peter Francis), a Roman Catholic 
clergyman, diftinguiflied by great moderation, charity, 
and learning, born at Vernon in Normandy, in 1681. 
While canon regular and librarian of the abbey of St. 
Genevieve at Paris, he applied to our archbiffiop Wake 
for the refolution of fome doubts, concerning the epif- 
copal fucceffion in England, and the validity of our or¬ 
dinations: he was encouraged to this by the friendly 
correfpondence which had palled between the archbiffiop 
and M. du Pin of the Sorbonne. The archbiffiop fent 
him exadt copies of the proper records ; and on thefe he 
built his Defence of Engliffi Ordinations, which was 
publiffied in Holland in 1727. This expofing him to a 
profecution in his own country, he took refuge in Eng¬ 
land ; where he was well received, and prefented the 
fame year by the univerfity of Oxford with a doctor’s 
degree. As it is fomewhat uncommon for a Roman Ca¬ 
tholic clergyman to be admitted to degrees in divinity by 
Proteftant univerfities, the curious may be gratified with 
a fight of the diploma, and the dodtor’s letter of thanks, 
in The prefent State of the Republic of Letters for 
June 1728. In 1736, he tranfiated into French, and 
publiffied, Father Paul’s Hiftory of the Council of 
Trent, in 2 vols. folio, and dedicated it to queen Caro¬ 
line ; who augmented to two hundred pounds a penfion 
of one hundred pounds a-year, which he had obtained 
before from the court. His works are many, and all in 
French : he tranfiated Sleidan’s Hiftory of the Reforma¬ 
tion. He died in 1776, after two days illnefs, at the age 
of ninety-five; and was buried in the cloifter of Well- 
minfter-abbey. 
To COURB, v. n. Icourber Fr.] To bend ; to bow ; 
to (loop in fupplication. Not in ufe. 
In the fatnefs of thefe purfy times, 
Virtue itfelf of vice mull pardon beg, 
Yea, courb and woo, for leave to do it good. Shakefpeare. 
COUR'B AN- 
