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to fupport thefe haughty pretentions, fo inconfiftent with 
the ancient rules of church-government, it was neceffary 
to produce the authority of ancient deeds, to lilence fuch 
as were difpofed to fet bounds to their ufurpations. 
Among the conventions, afts of councils, epiitles, and 
other records, which their partifans invented for this pur- 
pofe, were the decretal epiftles publifiied under the name 
of Ifidore; which were triumphantly appealed to in con¬ 
firmation of the claims of,the Roman pontiffs to fupre- 
macy. And though, from the character which we have 
given of thefe decretals, it appears that the forgery was 
clumfdy contrived, yet, being intended to produce an ef¬ 
fect on ignorant minds, it anfwered its purpofe, and con¬ 
tributed to enrich and aggrandize the Roman pontiffs, 
and exalt them above all human authority and jurifdiftio'n. 
The fpurioufnefs of thefe decretals has been (hown in the 
moil latisfaftory manner by the learned Blonde], in his 
Pfeudo-lfidorus & Turrianus Vapulantes ; and in our time 
js acknowledged by all thofe Roman-catholics who poffefs 
any tolerable degree of judgment and impartiality. 
ISIDO'RUS of CHA'RAX, a Grecian writer, lived 
about B.C. 300. He wrote various hiftorical works, and 
a geographical work on Parthia, cited by Athenceus. Of 
this a part remains, entitled Manfiorus Parthiue, which was 
was firft publifhed by David Hoelchelius. It is contained 
jn the Geographi Minores, Oxon. 1703. Vcffii. Hifi.Grac. 
ISIGNY', a town of France, in the department of the 
Channel: nine miles weft of Mortain, and nine fouth- 
fouth-eaft of Avranches. 
ISIGNY', a town of France, in the department of the 
Calvados : five miles eaft of Carentan, and twenty-nine 
■weft-north-weft of Caen. Lat. 49.19. N. Ion. 1. W. 
ISIKO'VA, a town of Japan, in the illand of Niphon : 
twenty miles louth-fouth-weft of Kanazava. 
ISI'MA, a town of France, in the department of the 
Dora: nineteen miles eaft of Aofta. 
IS'IME, a town of Thibet twenty-five miles eaft of 
Harachar. 
I'SING, f. in cookery, a kind of pudding; a faufage. 
I'SINGLASS,/ [from ice, or ife, and «7a/s.] A tough, 
firm, and light, fubftance, of a whitifh colour, and in 
fome degree tranfparent, much refembling glue. See 
Ichthyocolla, and the articles there referred to. 
Ifinglafs may be ufed for taking impreftions of coins or 
medals, in the following manner: Take an ounce of 
ifinglafs, beat it in a mortar, then pick it into (mail 
pieces, and put them into a half-pint phial, and fill it up 
with a fpirituous liquor; (common brandy or geneva will 
do;) put a cork into the phial with a notch cut in one 
fide of it for a paffage for air, and fet it by a fire for 
three or four hours, fliaking it often in that time ; the 
heat fhould be great enough to keep it near boiling all 
the while. The ifinglafs will then be fufficiently diffolved, 
and the whole mult be poured into a cloth and ftrained 
off; it is then to be put into a clean phial, well corked, 
and kept for ufe. When you propofe to ufe it, take the 
glue and fet it by the fire, and it will foon liquefy, or 
become fluid; then, having made the medal clean and 
placed it quite level, pour on fo much of the glue as will 
cover it all over and lie without running off; you then 
let it ftand to dry, which in the fummer time and dry 
■weather will be in one day, at other times it will take 
near two ; when it is quite dry, it is fcarcely feen on the 
medal, and muft be taken off by entering the point of a 
pen-knife under one fide, and it will eafily life off the 
medal in a clear, tranfparent, and perfect, refemblance of 
the whole, and every the minuted part of it. 
I'SINGLASS STONE, f A foffil which is one of the 
pureft and fimpleft of the natural bodies. The maffes 
are of a brownifh or reddifh colour; but, when the plates 
are feparated, they are perfectly colourlefs, and more 
bright and pellucid than the finelt glafs. It is found in 
Mufcovy, Perfia, the ifland of Cyprus, in the Alps and 
Apennines, and the mountains of Germany. Hill's Mat. Med. 
I'SIS, a celebrated deity of the Egyptians, daughter of 
Saturn and Rhea, according to Diodorus of Sicily. Some 
fuppofe her fo be'the fame as io, who was changed into a 
cow, and reltored to heriiuman form in Egypt, where fhe 
taught agriculturl, and governed the people with mild- 
nefs and equity, for which reafons (he received divine 
honours after death. According to fome traditions men¬ 
tioned by Plutarch, His married her brother Ofiris, and 
was pregnant by him even before fhe had left her mo¬ 
ther’s womb. Thefe two ancient deities, as fome authors 
oblerve, comprehended all nature and all the gods of the 
heathens. Ifis was the Venus of Cyprus, the Minerva oi 
Athens, the Cybele of the Phrygians, the Ceres of Eleu- 
fis, the Proferpine of Sicily, the Diana of Crete, the Bel- 
lona of the Romans, &c. Oliris and Ifis reigned con¬ 
jointly in Egypt; but the rebellion of Typhon, the bro¬ 
ther of Ofiris, proved fatal to this fovereign. The ox and 
the cow were the fymbols of Ofiris and Ifis; becaufe 
thefe deities, while on earth, had diligently applied them- 
felve's to cultivating the earth. As Ifis was fuppofed to 
be the moon, and Ofiris the fun, (lie was reprefented as 
holding a globe in her hand, with a veffel full of ears of 
corn. The Egyptians believed that the yearly and regu¬ 
lar inundations of the Nile proceeded from the abundant 
tears which Ifis filed for the lofs of Ofiris, whom Tiphon 
had bafely murdered. The word Ifis, according to fome, 
fignifies ancient, and on that account the inferiptions on 
the ftatues of the goddefs were often in thefe words: “ I 
am all that has been, that fiiall be; and none among 
mortals has hitherto taken off my veil.” The worfhip of 
Ifis was univerlal in Egypt; the priefts were obliged to 
obferve perpetual chaftity, their head was clofely fhaved, 
and they always walked barefooted, and clothed them- 
felves in linen garments. See Isiaci. They never ate 
onions, they abfiained from fait with their meat, and 
were forbidden to eat the flefii of (beep and of hogs. 
During the night they were employed in continual devo¬ 
tion near the ltatue of the goddefs. Cleopatra, the beau¬ 
tiful queen of Egypt, was wont to drefs herfelf like this 
goddefs, and aftefted to be called a fecond Ifis. 
Among the works of art which were carried from 
Turin to Paris in the year 1799, is the famous Table of 
Ifis, a monument of bronze, fo called from being believed 
to reprefent many of the ceremonies performed in honour 
of Ifis. It was difeovered at Rome in 1525, by labour¬ 
ers employed in digging in the gardens of the houfe of 
Cafarelli. Cardinal Bembo -purchafed it, and on his 
death bequeathed it to the duchefs of Mantuh, in whofe 
poffefiion it remained until Mantua was taken by the 
Germans ; when the foldiers, who feized it as their booty, 
endeavoured to tear from it the filver threads of which 
the figures are compofed ; but, finding that impracticable, 
they refolved to fell the table by the pound to the Pied- 
montefe, and by them it was purchafed, and afterwards 
prefented to the duke of Savoy. For many years it was 
thrown by negle&ed in a corner of the hall in,the ducal 
palace at Turin, and confidered as a common piece of 
furniture, until it was happily feen by the learned Mont- 
faucon, who, infpeffing it with the eye of genius and 
tafte, difeovered its beauties; and, by deferibing them, 
gave it fuch value to the proprietor, that he caufed it to 
be removed to a more refpeftable fituation in the palace, 
where, with the fanftion of fo great a name as that of 
Montfaucoru it attrafted fo much attention, and acquired 
fuch confequence, that feveral Englifh travellers who law 
it wiftied to purchafe it, and at almoft any price: it is 
even afferted that offers were more than once made of an 
equal weight in gold. The time when it was made has 
not yet been afeertained. Some have fuppofed that it was 
engraved long before the time when the Egyptians wor- 
fhipped the figures of men and women. Others, among 
whom is bifhop Warburton, apprehend, that it was made 
at Rome by perfons attached to the worfhip of Ifis. Dr. 
Warburton confiders it as one of the molt modern of the 
Egyptian monuments, on account of the great mixture 
of hieroglyphic characters which it bears. 
z. rsxs. 
