IMP 
. IMPE'ACH, f. Hindrance; let; impediments 
Why, what an intricate impeach is this ! 
Tf here you hous’d him, here he would have been ; 
If he were mad, he would not plead fo coldly. Shakefpeare. 
IMPE'ACHABLE, adj. Acculable; chargeable.—Had 
God omitted by pofitive laws to give religion to the 
world, the wifdom of his providence had been impeachable. 
Crew. 
IMPE'ACHER, f. An accufer; one who brings an ac- 
cufation againft another.—Many of our fierceft impeachers 
would leave the delinquent to the merciful indulgence of 
a Saviour. Government of the Tongue. 
IMPE'ACHING, f. The aft of acculing. 
IMPE'ACHMENT, /. Hindrance; let; impediment; 
obdruftion. Not in ufe —Tell us what things, during 
your late continuance there, are mod offenfive, and the 
greatelt impeachment to the good government thereof. 
Spenftr. 
Tell thy king I do not feek him now; 
But could be willing to march on to Calais 
Without impeachment. Shakefpeare. 
Public accufation ; charge preferred.—The lord Somers, 
though his accufers would gladly have dropped their im¬ 
peachment, was indant with them for the profecution. 
Addifon. 
The king provoked to it by the queen, 
Devis’d impk—hment to imprilon him. Shakefpeare. 
Impeachment, in law, the accufation and profecution 
of a perfon for treafon, or other crimes and mildemeanors. 
Any member of the houfe of commons may not only im¬ 
peach any one of their own body, but alfo any lord of 
parliament, &c. And thereupon articles are exhibited on 
behalf of the commons, and managers appointed to make 
good their charge and accufation ; which being done in 
the proper judicature, fentence is palled, See. And it is 
obferved, that the fame evidence is required in an im¬ 
peachment in parliament as in the ordinary courts of 
juftice ; but not in bills of attainder. An impeachment 
before the lords by the commons of Great Britain, in 
parliament, is a profecution of known and eltablilhed 
law, and hath been frequently put in practice ; being a 
preientment to the mod high and fupreme court of cri¬ 
minal jurifdiftion, by the mod folemn grand inqued of 
the whole kingdom. A commoner cannot however be 
impeached before the lords for any capital offence, but 
only for high mildemeanors. Rot . Pari. 4 Edw. III. n. a & 6. 
a Brad. Hijl. 190. Selden Judic. in Pari. ch. 1. 
A peer may be impeached for any crime. The articles 
of impeachment are a kind of bills of indiftment, found 
by the houfe of commons, and afterwards tried by the 
lords; who are, in cafes of mildemeanors, confidered not 
only as their own peers, but as the peers of the whole na¬ 
tion. This is a cullom derived to 11s from the conditu- 
tiOn of the ancient Germans; who in their great councils 
fometimes tried capital acculations relating to the public. 
See Tac. de Mor. Germ. ia. 
By datute ia and 13 Will. III. c. a, it is enafted, that 
no pardon .under the great leal lhall be pleadable to an 
impeachment by the commons in parliament. But the 
king may pardon after conviftion on an impeachment. 
4 Comm. 400. and fee the article Pardon. 
On the impeachment of Warren Ballings for malcon- 
duft as governor-general of India, the trial of which lad¬ 
ed, by adjournment, for feven years, from 1787 to 1794, 
it was folemnly determined that an impeachment is .not 
abated, or put an end to, by the prorogation or dilfolu- 
tion of parliament. And a datute was palled to prevent 
prorogation or. didblution from having the effeft of put¬ 
ting a dop to the previous proceedings in the houfe of 
commons. 
Impeachment of Waste, {impeiitio vafli, Lat. from the 
Fr. empefehmeni, i.e. hindrance.] A reftraint from com¬ 
mitting of wade upon lands or tenements ; or a demand 
I M P 8G3 
of Fecompence for wade done by a tenant who hath but 
a particular edate in the land granted. He that hath a 
lead to hold without impeachment of wajlc, hath by that fuch 
an intered given him in the land, &c. that he may make 
wade without being impeached for it; that is, without 
being quedioned, or any demand of recompence for the 
wade done. 11 Rep. 82. b. 
To IMPE'ARL, v.a, To form in refemblance of pearls 3 
Innumerable as the dars of night. 
Or dars of morning, dew-drops, which the fun 
Impearls on every leaf and ev’ry flow’r. Milton. 
To decorate as with pearls.—The dews of the morninn- 
impearl every thorn, and fcatter diamonds on the verdant 
mantle of the earth. Digby. 
IMPECCABILITY, f. [impeccability Fr. from impecca¬ 
ble.'] Exemption from fin; exemption from failure._In¬ 
fallibility and impeccability are two of his attributes. Pope. 
IMPECCABLE, adj. {impeccable, Fr. in and pecco, Lat.] 
Exempt from poflibility of fin.—'That man pretends he 
never commits any aft prohibited by the word of God, 
and then that were a rare charm to render him impeccable, 
or this is the means of conlecrating every fin of his. 
Hammond. 
IMPEC'CANCE, f. Impeccability. Scott. 
To IMPE'DE, v. a. [ impedio, Lat.] To hinder ; to let; 
to obdruft.—All the forces are mudered to impede its paf- 
fage. Decay of Piety. 
The way is open, and no dop to force 
The dars return, or to impede their courfe. Creech. 
IMPEDIMENT, J. {impedimentum, Lat.] Hindrance 5. 
let; impeachment; obdruftion ; oppolition.—The life is 
led mod happily wherein all virtue is exercifed without 
impediment or let. Hooker. 
But for my tears, 
The nioift impediments unto my fpeech, 
I had foredall’d this dear and deep rebuke. Shakefpeare. 
Impediments, in law, are fuch hindrances as put 
a dop or day to a perfon’s feeking for his right by a due 
courfe of law. Perfons under impediments are tliofe un¬ 
der age or coverture, non compos mentis, in prifon, beyond 
lea, See. who, by a having in. our laws, have time to claim- 
and profecute their rights, after the impediments are re¬ 
moved, in cafe of lines levied, See. 
IMPE'DING, f. The aft of hindering. 
To IMPEL', v. a. {impello, Lat.] To drive on towards 
a point; to urge forward ; to prefs on.—The lurge im¬ 
ped'd me on a craggy coall. Pope. 
A mightier pow’r the drong direftion fends. 
And fev’ral men impels to lev’ral ends. Pope. 
IMPEL'LENT, adj. Impullive, driving forward. 
IMPEL'LENT,/! [ impcllcns, Lat.] An impullive pow¬ 
er; a power that drives forward.—How fuch a variety of 
motions lliould be regularly managed, in fuch a wilder- 
nefs of palfages, by mere blind impellents and material con¬ 
veyances, 1 have not the lead conjefture. Glanville. 
To IMPEN'D, v. n. [ impendco, Lat.] To hang over ; 
Dedruftion fure o’er all your heads impends ; 
Ulylfes comes, and death his deps attends. Pope. 
To be at hand ; to prefs nearly. It is ufed in an ill fenfe- 
—It expreffes our deep lorrow for our pad fins, and our 
lively fenie of God’s impending wrath. Smalridge. 
No dory I unfold of public woes. 
Nor bear advices of impending foes. Pope. 
IMPENDENCE, f. [from impendent.] The date of 
hanging over; near approach..-—Good iometimes is not 
fafe to be attempted, by reafon of the impendence of a 
greater fenfible evil. Hale. 
IMPENDENT, adj. \impendens, Lat.] Imminent; hang¬ 
ing ever; preffing cloiely. In an ili fenie.—If the evil 
feared or impendent be a greater fenfible evil than the good, 
it over-rules the appetite to averfation- Hale. 
Dreadful 
