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pita!, at feveral times, 1000I. and ioool. more by will. 
To the hofpitals of St. Thomas and Bethlehem, 500I. 
each. To the workhoufe without Biihopfgate, 200I. To 
the Tociety for propagating the gofpel in foreign parts, 
300I. He built an alins-houfe for fix poor people at Shene, 
in Surrey, and left very handfcme legacies to Mortlake, 
in the fame county, where he died : that is, he gave 45I. 
yearly, to be continued for twelve years after his death, 
for clothing and educating twelve boys and twelve girls 
in that place; and all'o 85I. he being fo many years old, 
to eighty-five poor men and women there, to each rl. to 
be dillributed at the time of his deceafe. He gave 100I. 
per annum, to be continued for twelve years after his 
death, and to be dift'ributed by the direction of his exe¬ 
cutors; either to place out every year ten boys appren¬ 
tice's, or to be given towards the fetting up ten young 
tradefmen, to each 10I. He gave likewife to eighteen 
charity-fchools in feveral parts of England, and to be 
continued to them for twelve years after his death, to 
each fchool yearly 5I. Finally,, he gave towards building 
a church at Manchefter, 20I. and towards the building of 
a church at Tiverton, in Devonfhire, 50I. 
Befides thefe known and public benefactions, he gave 
away every year large fums in private charities, for many 
years together; and the preacher of his funeral fermon 
gives us to underftand, that thefe did not fall much fhcrt 
of his public ones. We have no encouragement to fay to 
our reader, “ Go and do thou likewife;” there being fo 
very few whofe fituation and circumftances will permit 
them to imitate Col (ton even in the 1110ft diftant degree. 
Much delicacy and judgment are required to difpofe of 
.gratuities fo as to make the parties relieved the better 
for them : Colfton feems to have poifeffed no fmall (hare 
of this judgment; for, among other inltances of it, one 
may be noted in his not giving any thing to common' 
beggars. This he never did; but he always ordered, 
that poor houfe-keepers, fick and decayed periods, (hould 
be fought out as the fitted objects of his charity. We 
muft not forget to obferve, that though charity was this 
gentleman’s ftiining virtue, yet he poffeffed other virtues 
in an eminent degree. He was a perfon of great tempe¬ 
rance, meeknefs, equanimity of temper, patience, and 
mortification. He always looked cheerful and pleafant, 
was of a peaceable and quiet difpofition, and remarkably 
circumfpeft in his aCtions. Some years before his deceafe 
he retired from bufinefs, and lived occafionally in Lon¬ 
don, and at Mortlake in Surrey, w-here he had a country 
feat. Here he died, OCtober xi, 1721, almoft eighty-five; 
and was buried in the church of All Saints, Briltol, where 
a monument is ereCted to his memory, on which are enu¬ 
merated his public charities, mentioned in this article. 
His funeral fermon was preached by Dr. Harcourt, and 
printed at London the fame year. 
COLT,/, [coir, Sax.] A young horfe; ufed com¬ 
monly for the male offspring of a horfe, as foal is for the 
female. See Equus. —Like colts or unmanaged horfes, 
we ftart at dead bones and lifelefs blocks. Taylor. 
No fports, but what belong to war, they know; 
To break the lhibborn colt, to bend the bow. Dryden. 
A young foolifh fellow.—Ay, that’s a colt indeed ; for he 
doth nothing but talk of his horfe. Shakefpeare. 
To COLT, v. n. To frifk ; to be licentious ; to run at 
large without rule; to riot; to frolic.—As foon as they 
were out of fight by themfelves, they (hook off their 
bridles, and began to colt anew, more licentioufly than 
before. Spenfer. 
To COLT, •v. a. To befool.—What a plague mean ye, 
to colt me thus? Shakefpeare. 
“ A ragged Colt may make a good horfe.” A very 
ancient and applicable proverb. Mechant poulain peut de- 
’venir bon che-val, fay the French. Vn cattivo puledro puo 
divenire tin buon cavallo, fay the Italians. The general 
drift of this proverb is to (hew, that an untoward youth 
may make a good man; though it is fometimes ufed to 
C O', L 
denote, that children who are r.othandfome when young, 
may be fo when grown up. The reverfe of this proverb 
is, “ Fair in the cradle, and foul in ttie fuddle.” Though 
this is chiefly, or perhaps wholly, in the latter fenfe. 
COLT-EVIL, f. See the article Farriery. 
COLTS-FOOF, f. in botany. See Cacalia, and 
Tussilago. 
CQLTS-TOOTH,/ An imperfefl or fuperfiuous tooth 
in young horfes. A love of youthful pleafure ; a difpo- 
fition to the practices of youth. Figuratively, for a lala* 
cious difpofition in old people ; 
Well laid, lord Sands; 
Your colts-tootb is not caff yet ! Shakefpeare. 
COL'TER, /. [culroji, Sax. culter, Lat.] The (harp 
iron of a plough that cuts the ground perpendicularly to 
the fhare. 
COLT'ISH, am- .Having the tricks of a colt; wanton. 
COLU'BER,/. \_quod colat umbram, becaufe it delights 
in the fhade of woods, hiding for its prey.] The Vi¬ 
per, or Adder ; in zoology, a genus of reptiles belong¬ 
ing to the order of amphibiae ferpentes. The generis 
characters of the coluber are thefe: it is furnifhed under 
the neck and belly with plates, called abdominal fait a, 
like the boa ; but under the tail, inftead of Icuta, or 
plates, which are continued in the boa, it has only lqua- 
mae, or fcal.es, fo formed as to refsmble leuta in their ap¬ 
pearance ; and being divided by a line down the middle, 
are called fub-caudalfquamce , whence, in reckoning their 
number, they are uiualiy counted by pairs. In diftinc- 
tion from the ordinary leales which cover other parts of 
the body, the fub-caudal fquama: are often termed fcutellas. 
Of this abundant genus of noxious reptiles, Dr. Gmeiin, 
in his correfted edition of the Syftema Naturae of Lin¬ 
naeus, enumerates no lefs than one hundred and feventy- 
one fpecies ; and Dr. Ruffeil, in his Account of Serpents 
found on the Coal! of Coromandel, deferibes twenty-nine 
new fpecies, and feveral varieties, not noticed by any 
other author. 
The ferpent tribes have hitherto been fo partially ex¬ 
plained, and their number, variety, and general habitudes, 
lo little known or inveltigated by Englifh writers, that 
we have thought it needful to deferibe all the known, 
fpecies of the viper genus, in as comprehenfive a manner 
as the nature of our work will admit ; and alfo to iiluf- 
trate the molt celebrious and rare individuals, by corred: 
and authentic engravings. Indeed it muft be acknow¬ 
ledged that this department of Natural Hiftory offers no 
attractive allurements, and that thofe who have fufficient 
leifure for fuch refearches, are more likely to purfue ob¬ 
jects lefs difgufting, and lefs accompanied with perlonal 
danger. It is certain that the bite of many of this genus 
is cruel and deadly. Some bring on alrnolt inftant death ; 
others a diflblution more lingering, attended with excru¬ 
ciating pain and torture. Some there are that appear 
quite hartnlefs; and others whofe bite merely induces 
pain, without any danger from poilbn. Thole reptiles 
furnifhed with dog-teeth or fangs, are certainly venom¬ 
ous, and often fatal; but where thefe are wanting we 
may pronounce the lerpentat leaft not poifonous, although 
its bite may produce inflammation and (welling on the part. 
Dr. Ruflell leerns to have eltablifhed it as a certain rule, 
that none of thofe fnakes are poifonous which have three 
rows of common teeth in the upper jaw ; one exterior, 
and two inferior : the former of which he terms marginal, 
the other two palatal. In thofe fubjeCls where the marginal 
row of common teeth is wanting, fangs or dog-teeth are 
conftantly found ; and hence we are affured that all fuch 
fpecies are poifonous. But fora more obvious diferimi- 
nation of this fubjeft, we muft refer the reader to a view 
of the poifoning apparatus in the anatomy of the viper, 
given under Serpentes ; and for the mode of inflicting 
its venom, with its deleterious effeCts, and the belt known 
means of relief, to the article Poison. 
i„ Coluber vipera, the true viper or adder of Africa and 
4 Afiaj, 
