852 C O M 
giftracy or government in civil life; with over. —He af- 
lumed an abfolute command over his readers. Dry den. 
With lightning fill her awful hand, 
And make the clouds leern ail at her command. Waller. 
Cogent authority ; defpotifm.— Command and force may 
often create, but can never cure, an averfion ; and what¬ 
ever any one is brought to by compulfion, he will leave 
as foon as he can. Locke. —The aft of commanding; the 
mandate uttered ; order given : 
Of this tree we may not tafte nor touch ; 
God fo commanded, and left that command 
Sole daughter of his voice, Milton. 
The power of overlooking or furveying any place : 
The fleepy (land, 
Which overlooks the vale with wide command. Dryden. 
COMMANDANT, f [Fr.] The chief military com¬ 
mander of a place, or of a body of forces.—I hope you 
go into the bed company there is at Montpelier, and 
there always is fome at the intendant’s or the command¬ 
ant's. Ckeferfield. —One might expeft that a ferious en¬ 
quiry would be made into the murder of commandants in 
the view of their foldiers. Burke. 
COMMAND'ER, / He that has the fupreme autho¬ 
rity ; a general; a leader; a chief.—The Romans, when 
commanders in war, fpake to their army, and llyled them, 
My loldiers. Bacon. 
We’ll do thee homage, and be rul'd by thee; 
Love thee as our commander and our king. Shakefpeare. 
A paving beetle, or a very great wooden mallet, with an 
handle about three feet long, to ufe in both hands. Moxon. 
*— An inltrument of furgery.—The glod'ocomium, com¬ 
monly called the commander , is of ufe in the molt ftrong 
tough bodies, and where the luxation hath been of long 
continuance. Wifeman. 
COMMAND'ER Y,/. [ praceptoria , Lat.] Was any 
manor or chief melfuage, with lands and tenements there¬ 
to appertaining, which belonged to the priory of St.John 
of Jerufalem in England ; and he who had the govern¬ 
ment of fuch a manor or houfe was ltiled the commander ; 
who could not difpofe of it but to the ufe of the priory, 
only taking thence Iris own fuftenance, according to his 
degree. New Eagle in Lincolnlhire was and dill is called 
the commajidery of Eagle, and did anciently belong to the 
laid priory of St.John. So Selbach in Pembrokelhire, 
and Shingay in Cambridgelhire, were cormnanderies in the 
time of tiie knights templars, fays Camden; and thefe in 
many places of England are termed temples, becaufe they 
formerly belonged to the laid templars. z 6 Hen.VIII. c. z. 
The manors and lands belonging to the priory of St.John 
of Jerufalem, were given to Henry VIII. by 32 Hen.VIII. 
c.20; about the time of the dilfolution of abbies and 
monalleries: fo. that the name only of commanderies re¬ 
mains, the power being long fince extinft. _ 
COM'MANDINE (Frederic), a celebrated mathema¬ 
tician and linguift, was born at Urbino in Italy in 1509, 
and died in 1575; confequentiy at fixty-fix years of age. 
fie was famous for his learning and knowledge in the 
iciences. To a great depth and 3ult talle in the mathe¬ 
matics, he joined a critical Ikill in the Greek language; 
a happy conjunction which made him very well qualified 
for translating and expounding the writings ot the Greek 
mathematicians. And accordingly, with a moll laud¬ 
able zeal and indultry, he tranllated and publilhed leve- 
ral of their works, to which no former writer had done 
that good office. On which account, Francis Moria, 
duke of Urbino, who was very converfant in thofe Ici¬ 
ences, proved a very affectionate patron to him. He is 
greatly applauded by Bianchanus, and other writers ; and 
he juffcly deferved their encomiums. 
COMMAND'MEMT, f. [ comtnandement, Fr.] Man¬ 
date ; command ; order; precept.—By the eafy command¬ 
ment by God given to Adam, to forbear to feed thereon, 
COM 
it pleafed God to make trial of his obedience. Raleigh .*-» 
Authority; coaftive power: 
I thought that all things had been favage here, 
And therefore put I on the countenance ' 
Of Item commandment. Shakefpeare: 
By way of eminence, the precepts of the decalogue given 
by God to Mofes.—-And he wrote upon the tables the words 
of the covenant, and the ten commandments. Exod. xxxiv.28. 
COMMAND'MENT, f. \_praceptum, Lat.] In law, is 
of divers kinds : as the commandment of the king, when on 
his own motion he had call any man into prilon. Com¬ 
mandment of the jufices, abfolute or ordinary ; abfolute, 
where upon their own authority they commit a perfon 
for contempt, See. to prifon, as a punifhment ; ordinary 
is when they commit one rather for fafe cuftody than for 
any punilhment: and a man committed upon fuch an ordi¬ 
nary commandment is replevifable. Staundf.-P.C. 72-. Per- 
fons committed to prilon by the fpecial command of the 
king, were not formerly bailable by the court of king’s 
bench ; but the law is now otherwife. 2 Havok.P. C. c. 15. 
See Bail. In another lenle, magidrates may command 
others to affilt them in the execution of their offices, for 
the ends and purpofes of juftice; and fo may ajultice of 
peace to fupprefs riots, apprehend felons; an officer to 
keep the king’s peace, &c. A mailer may command his 
fervant to drive another man’s cattle out of his ground,, 
to enter into lands, leize goods, diltrain for rent, or do 
many other things, if the thing be not a trefpafs to others. 
The commandment of a thing is good, where he that com¬ 
mands hath power to do it: and a verbal command in mod 
cafes is fufficient; unlefs it be where it is given by a cor¬ 
poration, or when a fheriff’s warrant- is to a bailiff, to ar- 
red, See. Bro. 288. Dyer, zoz. 
In forcible entries, an infant or feme covert may be 
guilty in refpeft. of aftual violence done by them in per- 
lon; though not in regard to what fliall be done by others 
at their command , becaufe ali fuch commands, being ille¬ 
gal, are void. Co. Lit. 375. In trelpals, the mailer fhall 
be charged criminally for the aft of the fervant, done by 
his command ; but fervants fliall not be excufed for com¬ 
mitting any crime by command of their tnafers, who have 
110 authority over them to give fuch 1 command. H. P. C. 66. 
And if a mailer commands his fervant to diftr. in, and he 
abufeth the diltrefs, the fervant fliall anlwer it to the 
party injured. 
COMMAN'DRESS, f. A woman veiled with fupreme 
authority : 
Be you commandrefs therefore, princefs, queen 
Of all our forces, be thy word a law. Fairfax. 
COMMA'NI. See Commendor. 
GOMMANTAWA'NA, a bay on the north coall of 
the illand of St. Vincent: about one mile ealt of Tarraty 
Point. 
CQMMAR'CHIO, f The confines of the land ; from 
whence probably comes the word marches. — Lnprimis de 
r.ofris landbneris commarchionibus. Du Cange. 
COMM ATE'RIAL, adj. [from con and materia.] Con¬ 
fiding of the fame matter with another thing.—The beaks 
in birds are commaterial with teeth. Bacon. 
COMMATERIA'LITY,/! Refembiance to fomething 
in its matter. 
To COMMED'DLE, v. a. [con and meddle.'] To mix 
together.—Religion, oh how it is commeddled with policy*. 
IVelfter's V/hite Devil. 
COM'MELIN (Jerome), a celebrated French printer, 
native of Douay, fettled firl’c at Geneva, afterwards at 
Heidelberg, where he died in 159S. He was a very learned, 
fcbolar, as appears by all the editions of the Greek and 
Latin fathers which he correfted, and to which he added 
notes that are much elleemed. He printed fince 1560, 
in Swilferland, S. Chryfodomus in Nov. Tedamentutn, 
4. vols. folio. 1596. This edition, with that of the Old. 
Tefitament printed at Paris, makes this work complete. 
