I N T 
TNTEI/LIGENCING, adj. Conveying intelligence.— 
A molt intdligmcing bawd ! Shakefpeare. 
INTELLIGENT, adj. [Fr. intelligens, Lat-] Know¬ 
ing; inftrufted; flcilful.—It is not only in order of na¬ 
ture for him to govern that is the more intelligent, as Arif- 
totle would have it; but there is no lefs required for go¬ 
vernment, courage to protect, and, above all, lionelty. 
Bacon. 
He, of times 
Intelligent, th’ harlh hyperborean ice 
Shuns for our equal winters ; when our funs 
Leave the chill’d foil, he backwards wings his way. Phillips. 
It has of before the thing : 
Intelligent of feafons, they fet forth 
Their airy caravan. Milton. 
Giving information: 
Servants, who feem no. lefs, 
Which are to France the fpies and fpeculations 
Intelligent of our ftate. ■ .. Shakefpeare. 
INTELLIGEN'TIAL, adj. [from 'intelligent. ] Confut¬ 
ing of unbodied mind : 
Food alike thofe pure 
Intelligential fubftances require. 
As doth your rational. Milton. 
Intellectual; exercifing understanding: 
In at his mouth 
“The devil enter’d; and his brutal fenfe, 
His heart or head polTelfing, foon infpir’d 
With aft intelligential. Milton. 
INTELLIGIBILITY,/ [from intelligible.] Poffibility 
to be underltood. The power of underftanding intellec¬ 
tion. Not proper. —The foul’s nature confifts in intelligi¬ 
bility. Glanville. 
INTEL'LIGIBLE, adj. [Fr. intelligibilis, Lat.] To be 
conceived by the underftanding; poffible to be under- 
ftood.—Many natural duties relating to God, ourfelves, 
and our neighbour.*, would be exceeding- difficult for the 
bulk of mankind to find out by reafon ; therefore it has 
pleafed God to exprefs them in a plain manner, intelligible 
to fouls of the lowelt capacity. Watts. 
INTEL'LIGIBLENESS, / Poffibility to be under- 
flood; perfpicuity.-—It is in our ideas that both the right- 
nefs of our knowledge and the propriety or inteliigibienefs 
of our fpeaking confirt. Locke. 
INTEL'LIGIBLY, adv. So as to be underltood; clearly; 
plainly.—To write of metals and minerals intelligibly, is a 
talk more difficult than to write of animals. Woodward. 
The genuine fenfe, intelligibly told, 
Shows a translator both difereet and bold. Ro/common. 
INTEM'ERATE, adj. [ intemeralus , Lat.] Undefiled ; 
tmpolluted. 
INTEM'PERAMENT, /. [in and temperament.'] Bad 
conftitution.—Some depend upon the intemperament of the 
part ulcerated, and others upon the afflux of lacerative 
humours. Harvey. 
INTEM'PERANCE, f. [Fr. intemperantia, Lat.] Want 
of temperance ; want of moderation : commonly excels in 
meat or drink.—The Lacedemonians trained up their 
children to hate drunkennefs and intemperance , by bring¬ 
ing a drunken man into their company. Watts. 
Some, as thou faw’ft, by violent ftroke lhall die; 
By fire, flood, famine, by intemperance more 
In meats and drinks, which on the earth lhall bring 
Bifeafes dire, of which a monflrous crew 
Before thee lhall appear; that thou may’ft know 
What mifery th" inabftinence of Eve 
Shall bring on men. Milton. 
jsxceffive addiction to any appetite or affeflion. 
It is univerfally agreed, that temperance and exercife 
Vol. XI. No. 74-2. 
I N T 157 
are the two bell phyficians in the world; and that, if thefe 
were duly regarded, there would be little occalion for any 
other. Temperance may juftly be called the parent of 
health 5 yet numbers of mankind aft as if they thought 
dileafes and death too flow in their progrefs, and, by in¬ 
temperance and debauch, feem, as it were, to lolicit their 
approach. The danger of intemperance appears from the 
very conftruftion of the human body. Health depends 
on the ftate of the folids and fluids which fits them for 
the due performance of the vital functions; and, while 
thefe go regularly on, we are found and well; but what¬ 
ever difturbs them neceffarily impairs health. Intem¬ 
perance never fails to difofder the whole animal oeco- 
nomy ; it hurts the digeltion, relaxes the nerves, renders 
the different fecretions irregular, vitiates the humours, and 
occafions numberlefs difeales. 
The analogy between the nourilhment of plants and 
animals affords a ftriking proof of the danger of intem¬ 
perance. Moifture and manure greatly promote vegeta¬ 
tion’; yet an over-quantity of either will entirely deftroy 
it. The belt things become hurtful, nay deftruftive, 
when carried to excefs. Hence we learn, that the high eft 
degree of human wifdom confifts in regulating our appe¬ 
tites and paffions fo as to avoid all extremes. It is that 
chiefly which entitles us to the character of rational be¬ 
ings. The flave of appetite will ever be the difgrace of 
human nature. The Supreme Being hath endued us with 
various paffions, for the propagation of the fpecies, the 
prefervation of the individual, &c. Intemperance is the 
abufe of thefe paffions; and moderation confifts in the 
proper regulation of them. Men, not contented with-fa- 
tisfying the Ample calls of Nature, create artificial wants, 
and are perpetually in fearch of fomething that may gra¬ 
tify them; but imaginary wants can never be gratified. 
Nature is content with little: but luxury knows na 
bounds. Hence the epicure, the drunkard, and the de¬ 
bauchee, feldom ftop their career, till their money, or 
their conftitution, fails: then indeed they generally fee 
their error when too late. 
It is impoffible to lay down fixed rules with regard to 
diet, on account of the different conftitutions of man¬ 
kind. The moft ignorant perfon, however, certainly 
knows what is meant by excefs; and it is in the power of 
every man, if he choofes, to avoid it. The great rule of 
diet is to ftudy fimplicity. Nature delights in the moft 
plain and fimple food ; and every animal, except man, 
follows her dictates. Man alone riots at large, and ran- 
facks the whole creation in queft of luxuries, to his own 
deftru&iom An elegant writer of the laft age fpeaks thus 
of intemperance in diet: “For my part, when I behold a 
falhionable table fet out in all its magnificence, I fancy 
that I fee gouts and dropfies, fevers and lethargies, with 
other innumerable diftempers, lying in ambufeade among 
the diffies.” Nor is intemperance in other things lefs de- 
ftruftive than in diet. How quickly does the immoderate 
purluit of carnal pleafures, or the abufe of intoxicating 
liquors, ruin the belt conftitution! Indeed thefe vices 
generally go hand in hand. Hence it is that we fo often 
behold the votaries of Bacchus and Venus, even before 
they have arrived at the prime of life, worn out with dil- 
eafe, and hailing with a fwift. pace to an untimely grave- ■ 
Did men reflect on the painful difeafes, and premature ; 
deaths, which are daily occaiioued by intemperance, it • 
would be fufficient to make them ftirink back with, hor¬ 
ror from the indulgence even of their darling pleafures. ■ 
But intemperance does not hurt its votaries alone;'the 
innocent too often feel the direful effefts of it. 'How of- ; 
ten do we behold the miferable mother, with her he 1 p 1 elk 
Infants, pining in want, while the cruel father is indul- •. 
ging his infatiate appetites ? Families are not only re- ■ 
duced to mifery, but. even extirpated, by intemperance. 
Nothing tends, f'omuch to prevent propagation, and to' 
Ihor.ten the lives- of children, as the intemperance of pa¬ 
rents. The poor man who labours all day, and at night 
lies down contented with his humble fare, can-boaft a nu- 
S f meroua 
