COM 
fuch ns they fhall To licence, under t!ie penalties of the 
laws of Gfeat Britain. A fpecial oath is prefer!bed to be 
taken in future by the directors of the company, prohi¬ 
bitory of their afting as direftors when concerned in buy¬ 
ing from, or felling to', the company any goods, and 
prohibitory of their being concerned in any (hipping em¬ 
ployed by the company, or accepting any prefent for 
any appointment of office, or of being concerned in any 
private trade contrary to the aft. For an account of the 
'Brit-ith territory in India, the company’s wars with the 
natives, and the progrefs of the Brififh arms in Ada up 
to the conqueft and partition of the dominions of Tippoo 
Sultaun, fee the article Hindoostan. 
8 . Hudson’s Bay Company. The vail countries 
which furround Hudfon’s Bay abound with animals whole 
furs and (kins are excellent, being far iuperior in quality 
to thofe found in lefs northerly regions. In 1670, there¬ 
fore, a charter was granted by Charles II. to the governor 
and company of adventurers of England trading to Hud¬ 
fon’s Bay : they were to have the foie trade and commerce 
of and to all the feas, bays, (traits, creeks, lakes, rivers, 
and (bunds, in whatfoeverlatitude, thatJie within the en¬ 
trance of the Streights commonly called Hudfon’s Streights ; 
together with all the lands, countries and territories upon 
the coafts of fuch feas, bays, and (freights, which were 
then poffeffed by any Englifh fubjeft, or the fubjefts of 
any other Chriftian (late ; together with the (idling of all 
forts of fifti, of whales, (turgeon, and all other royal fifh, 
together with the royalty of the fea. The company have 
ieveral forts, which the French, in May 1782, took and 
deftroyed, to repair which coft the company five hundred 
thoufand pounds. This commerce affords immenfe pro¬ 
fits to the company, and fome advantages to Great Bri¬ 
tain; for the commodities we exchange with the Indians 
for their (kins and furs, are all manufadlured in Britain ; 
and, as the Indians are not very nice in their choice, fuch 
things are bartered of which we have the greateft plenty, 
and which, in the mercantile phrafe, are drugs with us. 
On the other hand, the (kins and furs we bring from 
Hudfon’s Bay, enter largely into our manufaftures, and 
afford us materials for trading with many nations of Eu¬ 
rope to great advantage. Thefe circumflances tend to 
prove incontellably the immenfe benefit that would re¬ 
dound to Great Britain, by extending the trade to Hud- 
f'on’s Bay, fince this charter has never received any par¬ 
liamentary confirmation or fanftion. The only attempt 
made to trade with Labrador has been direfted towards 
the fifhery, the annual produce of which exceeds forty- 
nine thoufand pounds. 
9. Sierra Leona Company, eftablifhed by 31 G.IU. 
c. 55. for carrying on a trade between Great Britain and 
the coafts and countries of Africa; for which purpofe a 
colony is eftablifhed on the peninfula of Sierra Leona. 
This company is intended to fuperfede, in time, the ne- 
ceflity of the African (lave-trade, by railing fugars there 
by native Africans; it being one of the conditions of the 
aft, that the company (hall not deal in or employ Haves. 
The grant to this company is for thirty-one years, from 
July 1, 1791. Befides fugars, the company have under¬ 
taken the growth of fpices, coffee, cotton, indigo, rice, 
and every other fpecies of tropical produce, by which they 
might encourage the native negroes to induftry, reclaim 
them from their favage ferocity, humanize their minds, 
and teach them the arts of civilized life. In the third 
veat after the eftablifnment of this colony, they were.'at- 
tatked by a fquadron of republican French, foon after 
the revolutionary war began, who demolifhed all the 
buildings on the fettlement, deftroyed the company’s 
fhipping, and drove their fervants and fettlers into the 
woods, defacing the plantations, and fetting their (tores 
on fire. The direftors, however, in 179s, re'ftored the co¬ 
lony to its former (late, and have projedted a town on the 
peninfula, called Free-toivn, which now bids fair to en- 
creafe and fiduriili. 
C O M 883 
Artillery CCMTANY. See the article Artil¬ 
lery, vol. ii. p. 236. 
To COMTANY, v. a.' To accompany ; to attend ; to 
be companion to ; to be affociated with : 
Thus, through what path foe’er of life we rove, 
Rage companies our hate, and grief our love. Prior. 
To COM'PANY, v. n. To affoeiate one’s feif with.—« 
I wrote to you not to company with fornicators. 1 Cor. 
v. 9.—To be a gay companion. Obfolete: 
For there thou needs muft learn to laugh, to lye, 
To face, to forge, to feoff, to compa?iy. Spenfer. 
COM'PARABLE, adj. Worthy to be compared; of 
equal regard ; worthy to contend for preference.—This 
prefent world affordeth not any thing comparable unto the 
public duties of religion. Hooker .—There is no blefiing of 
life co 7 nparable to the enjoyment of a difereet and virtuous 
friend. Addifon. 
COMRARABLY, adv. In a manner or degree worthy 
to be compared.—There could no form for inch a royal 
ufe be co:tiparably imagined, like that of the aforefaid na¬ 
tion. Watton . 
COMPARATES,/ In logic, the two things compared 
to one another. 
COMPA'R ATIV’E, adj. \_cotnparatlvus , Lat.] Eftimated 
by companion ; not poiitive ; not abfoiute.—The bloffom 
v is a pofitive good ; although the remove of it, to give 
place to the fruit, be a comparative good. Bacon. 
Thou wert dignified enough, 
Ev’n to the point of envy, if ’tftere made 
Comparative for your virtues, to be (filed 
The under hangman of his realm. Sbakefpcare. 
Having the power of comparing different things.—Beauty 
is not known by an eyeornofe ; it confifts in a fynimetry, 
and it is the comparative faculty which notes it. Clan- 
ville. —[In grammar.] When an adjeftive is expreffed 
either with augmentation or with a degree of diminution, 
it is called comparative. 
COMPARATIVE, f. One that makes Iiimfelf anotheCs 
equal.—Gerard ever was his fail comparative. Beaum. and 
Fletcher. 
And (land the pufli 
Of ev’ry beardlefs vain cornparativc. Sbakefpcare. 
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, a term ufed by 
anatomifts to imply the diffeftion of brute animalsfor 
particulars of which fee Anatomy, vol. i. p. 652. 
COMPARATIVELY, adv. In a (late of companion 3 
according to eftimate made by companion ; not pofitive- 
ly.—In this world, whatever is called good, is compara¬ 
tively with other things of its kind, or with the evil min¬ 
gled in its compofition ; fo he is a good man that is better 
than men commonly are, or in whom the good qualities 
are more than the bad. Temple. 
To COMPARE, v, a. [ comparo , Lat.] To make one 
thing the meafure of another; to eftimate the relative 
goodnefs or badnefs, or other qualities, of any one thing, 
by obferving how it differs from fomething elfe.—They 
meafuring themfelves by thernfelves, and comparing them- 
felves among themfelves, are not wife. 2 Cor. x. ,12.—No 
man can think it grievous, who coniiders the pleafure and 
fweetnefs of love, and the glorious viftory of overcoming 
evil with good ; and then compares thefe with the reftlels 
torment, and perpetual tumults, of a malicious and re¬ 
vengeful fpirit. Tillotfin .— It may be obferved, that when 
the companion intends only fimilitude or illuffraticn by 
likenefs, we ufe to before the thing brought for illultia- 
tion ; as, he compared anger to a fire. — Soion compared tire 
people imio the fea, and orators and counfellors to the 
winds; for that the fea would be calm and quiet, if the 
winds did not trouble it. Bacon.— When two peribns or 
things are compared, to difcover their relative proportion 
of any quality, vjjth is ufed before the thing uled as a 1 
meafure.— 
