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D E S 
men's minds; fometimes producing uneafinefs or pain, 
fometimes reft and indolency. Locke. —We are troubled 
©n every fide, yet not diftrefted ; we are perplexed, but 
not in defpair. 2 Cor. iv. 8. 
Wearied, forfaken, and purfued at laft, 
All fafety in defpair of fafety plac’d, 
Courage he thence refumes, refolv’d to bear 
All their aflaults, fince ’tis in vain to fear. Denham. 
That which caufes defpair; that of which there is no 
hope: 
Strangely vifited people, 
All fwoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye ; 
The mere defpair of forgery, he cures. Shakefpeare. 
[In theology.] Lofs of confidence in the mercy of God. 
•—Are not all or moft evangelical virtues and graces in 
danger of extremes ? As there is, God knows, too often 
a defeft on the one fide, fo there may be an excefs on 
the other: may not hope in God, or godly forrow, be 
perverted into prefumption or defpair? Spratt. 
To DESPA'IR, v.n. \_defpero, Lat.] To be without 
hope ; to defpond : with of before a noun.—Though 
thou dreweft a fword at thy friend, yet defpair not; for 
there may be a turning. Ecclns. xxii. 21.—Never defpair 
of God’s bleflings here, or of his reward hereafter; but 
go on as you have begun. Wake. 
DESPAIR'ER,y. One without hope : 
He cheers the fearful, and commends the bold, 
And makes dfpairers hope for good fuccefs. Dryden. 
DESPAIR'FUL, adj. Hopelefs. Obfolete. —Other cries 
amongft the Irifh favour of the Scythian barbarifm; as 
the lamentations of their burials, with defpairful outcries. 
Spenfer. 
DESPAIRINGLY, adv. In a manner betokening 
hopeleflhefs or defpondency.—He fpeaks feverely and 
defpairingly of our fociety. Boyle. 
To DESPA'TCH, v. a. [depejcher , Fr.] To fend away 
haftily : 
The good .#sneas, whofe paternal care 
Iiilus’ abfence could no longer bear, 
Defpatch'd Achates to the fhips in hafte, 
To give a glad relation of the paft. Dryden. 
To fend out of the world ; to put to death'.—And the 
company fitall ftone them with ftones, and defpatch them 
with their fvvords. Ezek. xxiii. 47. 
Defpatch me quickly, I may death forgive; 
I fhall grow tender elfe, and with to live. Dryden. 
To perform a bufinefs quickly : as, I defpatclied my af¬ 
fairs, and ran hither.—Therefore commanded he his cha¬ 
riot-man to drive without ceafing, and to defpatch the 
journey, the judgment of God now following him. 2 
Mac. ix. 4.—To conclude an affair with another : 
What, are the brothers parted ? 
They have defpatch'd with Pompey ; he is gone. Shakefp. 
DESPA'TCH, f. Hafty execution ; fpeedy perform¬ 
ance.—Affedted defpatch is one of the moft dangerous 
things to bufinefs that can be. Bacon. —Conduct; ma¬ 
nagement. Obfolete: 
You fhall put 
This night’s great bufinefs into my defpatch , 
Which fhall, to all our nights and days to come, 
Give folely fovereign fway and mafterdom. Shakefpeare. 
Exprefs ; hafty meffenger or meflage : as, defpatches were 
fent away. 
DESPATCH'FUL, adj. Bent on hafte ; intent on 
fpeedy execution of bufinefs: 
Let one defpatchful bid fome f\vain to lead 
A well-fed bullock from the grally mead. Pope. 
DES'PAUTER, or Van Pauteren (John), an emi¬ 
nent grammarian, born at Ninove in Flanders. He ftudied 
at.Louyain, and taught in feveral places, the laft of which 
D E S 
was Comines, where he died in 1520. He compofed La¬ 
tin rudiments, grammar, fyntax, profody, &c. all printed 
together under the title of Commentarii Grammatici, by Ro¬ 
bert Stephen, Paris, 1537, fol. and at Lyons, 1563, 4to. 
A great number of editions of parts of his works have 
been made for the ufe of fchools, and the name of De- 
fpauter is as familiar on the continent, as that of Lilly ia 
England. 
to DESPE'CT, v. n. \_defpicere , Lat.] To look down. 
DESPEC'TIONjy. A looking downwards. 
DESPERA'DO,/. [Ital.] A defperate, mad, frantic, 
fellow. 
DES'PERATE, adj. [ defperatus , Lat.] Without hopei 
Since his exile fhe hath defpis’d me moft ; 
Forfworn my company, and rail’d at me. 
That I am defperate of obtaining her. Shakefpeare. 
Without care of fafety ; rath ; precipitant; fearlefs of 
danger.—He who goes on without any care or thought 
of reforming, fuch an one we vulgarly call a defperate 
perfon. Hammond. —Irretrievable; unfurmountable; irre¬ 
coverable.— Thefe debts may be well called defperate 
ones; for a mad man owes them. Shakefpeare. —Mad; 
hot-brained ; furious.—Were it not the part of a defperate 
phyfician to with his friend dead, rather than to apply 
the beft endeavours of his (kill for his recovery ? Spen. 
fer. —It is fometimes ufed in a fenfe nearly ludicrous, 
and only marks any bad quality predominating in a high 
degree: 
Concluding all mere defp'rate fots and fools, 
That durft depart from Ariftotle’s rules. Pope. 
DES'PERATELY, adv. Furioufly ; madly; without 
attention to fafety or danger : 
Your eldeft daughters have foredone themfelves, 
And defp'rately are dead. Shakefpeare. 
In a great degree ; violently: this fenfe is ludicrous.— 
She fell defperately in love with him, and took a voyage 
into Sicily in purfuit of him. Addifon. 
DES'PER ATENESS, f Madnefs ; fury; precipi¬ 
tance.—The going on not only in terrors and amaze¬ 
ment of confidence, but alfo boldly, hopingly, confident¬ 
ly, in wilful habits of fin, is called a defperatenefs alfo ; and 
the more bold thus, the more defperate. Hammond. 
DESPER A'TION,/. Hopeleftnefs ; defpair ; defpon¬ 
dency.—As long as we are guilty of any paft fin, and 
have no prontife of remiflion, whatever our future care 
be, this defperation of fuccefs chills all our induftry, and 
we fin on becaufe we have finned. Hammond. 
Defperation 
Is all the policy, ftrength, and defence, 
That Rome can make againft them. Shakefpeare. 
DES'PICABLE, adj. [_defpicabilis, Lat.] Contempti¬ 
ble; vile; mean; fordid; worthlefs. It is applied 
equally to perfons or things.—When men of rank and 
figure pafs away their lives in criminal purfuits and prac¬ 
tices, they render themfelves more vile and defpicable 
than any innocent man can be, whatever low ftation his 
fortune and birth have placed him in. Addifon. 
All th’ earth he gave thee to polfefs and rule, 
No defpicable gift. Milton. 
DES'PICABLENESS,/. Meannefs; vilenefs; worth- 
lelTnefs.—We confider the great difproportion between 
the infinity of the reward and the dejpicablenefs of our fer- 
vice. Decay of Piety. 
DES'PICABLY, adv. Meanly; fordidly ; vilely: 
Here wanton Naples crowns the happy fliore. 
Nor vainly rich, nor defpicably poor; 
The town in foft folemnities delights, 
And gentle poets to her arms invites. Addifon . 
DESPIER'RES (John), a learned Flemifli benedidline 
monk, of the feventeenth century. He was diftinguifhed 
for his acquaintance with the mathematical fciences, as 
well 
