COM 
S S 6 
rcr fraftions, or furds, are fuch as have Tome other num¬ 
ber, winch will mealnre or divide them exa6t!y, or with¬ 
out a remainder. Thus, 6 arid 8 are commenfurable, 
becauie a riieafures or divides them both. And and 
or -A? and are commenfurable fractions, becauie the 
fraction'^-, or'-j^, &c. will meafure them both : and in this 
feu he, all fractions may be fair! to be commenfurable. 
Alfo, the furds z\j z and z are commenfurable, being 
•meafured.by \l z, or being to each other as z to 3. 
COMMEN SURABLENESS, f. Commenfurability ; 
proportion.—There is no commenfurablenefs between this 
object and a created underltanding, yet there is a con- 
gruity and conriaturality. Hale. 
T0 COMMEN'SURATE, <v. a. [con and menfura , Lat.] 
To reduce to Some common mealure.—That divifion is 
not natural, bur artificial, and by agreement, as the aptdl 
terms to commenfurate the longitude of places. Brown. 
COMMEN'SURATE, adj. Reducible to fome com¬ 
mon meafure —They permitted no intelligence between, 
them, other than by the mediation of fome organ equally 
commenfurate to foul and body. Government of the Tongue. 
• —Egual; proportionable to each other.—Is our know¬ 
ledge adequately commenfurate with the nature of things ? 
Glan'vllle.--'Tbo[e who are perfuaded that they (hall con¬ 
tinue for ever, cannot chute but afpire after a happinefs 
commenfurate to their duration. Tillotfon. 
COMMEN'SURATELY, ad-v. With the capacity of 
meafuring, or being meafured by fome other thing.—We 
are conlhained to make the day ferve to meafure the year 
as well as we can, though not commenfurately to each 
year; but by collecting the fraction of days in Teveral 
years, till they amount to an even day. Holder. 
C’OMMENSURA'TION, f. Proportion; reduction of 
fome things to fome common mealure.—A body over 
great, or over fmall, will not be thrown fo far as a body 
of a middle fize ; fo that, it leemeth, there mult be a com- 
menfuration or proportion between the body moved and 
the force, to make it move well. Bacon _All fitnefs lies 
in a particular commenfiration, or proportion of one thing 
• to another. South. 
To CO VI'MENT, tv. n. [commentor, Lat.] To anno- 
•tate; to write notes upon an author; to expound ; to ex¬ 
plain: with upon before the thing explained.—They have 
contented tnemfelves only to comment upoti thofe texts, 
and make the belt copies they could after thofe originals. 
Temple. —To make remaiks; to make obfervations : 
Enter his chamber, view his lifelefs corpfe, 
.And comment then upon his fudden death. Shakefpeare. 
COM'MENT,/. Annotations on an author; notes; 
explanation ; expofition ; remarks.—Adam came into the 
world a plnlolopher, which appeared by his writing the 
nature of things upon their names : he could view elfences 
in themfelves, and read forms without the comment of their 
refpeftive properties. South. —Remarks; obfervations 
In fuch a time as this, it is not meet 
That every nice offence (liould bear its comment. Shakefp. 
COM'ME\TARY, f. [comment arius, Lat.] An expofi¬ 
tion ; book of annotations or remarks.—In religion, ferip- 
ture is the belt rule; and the church’s universal practice, 
the bell commentary. King Charles. —Memoir; narrative in 
.-familiar manner.—They lhevv ftiil the ruins of Cjefar’s 
wall, that reached eighteen miles in length, 1 as he has de¬ 
clared it in the firlt be k of his Commentaries. Addi/on. 
COM'MENTA i OR, f. Expofitor; annotator.—Ga¬ 
len’s commentator tells us, that bitter Jubilances engender 
choier, and burn the blood. Arbuthtiot. 
No commentator can more (lily pafs 
O'er a learn'd unintelligible place. Pope. 
COM MEN TER, f. One that writes comments; an 
..explainer; an annotator: 
:£lily as any commenter goes by 
fiard words or leuie. 
COM 
COMMENTI'TIOUS, adj. [commentitlus, Lat.] In¬ 
vented; fictitious; imaginary.—-It is eafy to .draw a pa- 
rallelifm between that ancient and this modern nothing, 
and make good its refemblance to that commentitious 
inanity. GlanviVe. 
COMMEQUI'ERS, a town of France, in the department 
of tiie Vendee : fifteen miles north, of Sables d’Olonne. 
COMMERA'GH, mountains of Ireland, in the county 
of Waterford: eight miles north of Dungarvon. 
COM'MERCE, f. [conmercium, Lat. It was anciently 
accented on the fall fyJlablq.] Intercourfe; exchange 
of one thing for another; interchange of any thing; 
trade ; traffic.—Places of public worlhip being provided, 
our repair thither is efpecially for mutual conference, 
and, as it were, cotmnerce to be had between God and 
us. Hooker. 
Intruded (hips lhall fail to quick commerce, 
By which remoteft regions are ally’d ; 
Which makes one city of the univerfe, 
Where fome may gain, and ali may be fupply’d. Dry den• 
Common or familiar intercourfe.—Good-nature, which 
confills in overlooking of faults, is to be exercifed only in 
doing ourfelves jultice in the ordinary commerce and oc¬ 
currences of life. Addfon. 
To COM'MERCE. v. n. To traffic.—Ezekiel in the de- 
feription of Tyre, and of the exceeding trade that it had 
with the Eaft, as the only mart town, recileth both the 
people with whom they commerce , and alfo what commo¬ 
dities every country yielded. Raleigh. —To hold inter¬ 
courfe with : 
Come, but keep thy wonted (late, 
With even Hep and muling gait, 
And looks commercing with the Ikies, 
Thy rapt foul fitting in thine eyes. Milton, 
To a commercial intercourfe with foreign nations, we 
may juIlly attribute the (lability of empire, and the opu¬ 
lence of a people ; becaufe it encourages an univerfal fpirit 
of induftry, removes local prejudices, and elevates the 
mind to magnanimity and wifdoin. Whatever leems ne- 
ceffary for Jenfual or intellectual gratifications; for the 
eafe, convenience, or elegance, of life.; are primarily, or 
mediately, communicated by commerce. And, in pro¬ 
portion as commerce hath been encouraged or deprtfled 
by different Hates, their progrefs in arts, manufactures, 
and fcience, is correCHy marked ; and by them the vir¬ 
tues of their princes, and the vigour of their laws. No¬ 
thing more amply demonllrates the truth of this remark 
than the profperity of the Britilh empire, which is pecu¬ 
liarly indebted to commerce, for its improvement in 
knowledge and the polite arts, for its riches and grandeur, 
for the glory of its arms, and, in (hort, for the great bulk 
of all its (olid comforts and conveniences. The neceffity 
of commerce, as the fountain of induftry and focial inter¬ 
courfe, is a principle of nature implanted in our human¬ 
ity, feconded by a wife ordination of the deity, in grant¬ 
ing to particular parts of our earth, what other parts do 
not.afford ; whence an exchange of one commodity for 
another, in the primitive ages of the world, leeir.s to have 
laid the foundation of peace and good will amongft na¬ 
tions, upon principles of reciprocal advantage and mu¬ 
tual convenience, the llrongell cements the univerfe af¬ 
fords, when cultivated as they ought. And fuch indeed 
was the fimplicity of earlier times, that the people of 
one nation were wont to leave their merchandife in pri¬ 
vate places, on the frontiers of another nation with whom 
they wanted to deal, and who were to take it away, in ex¬ 
change for what they (liould think an equivalent of their 
own merchandife, relying lolely on each other’s honour. 
Tnis method, however, did not long hold, but in time 
gave way to a direit commercial correipondence by pro¬ 
per barter. 
It is not precifely known when the commerce by buy¬ 
ing and Idling firlt began; nor when coins, and the feve- 
r»L 
Donne. 
