608 PER 
an ear,for harmony and the accuracy of tones, feem to 
he totally different gifts of nature; and it frequently 
happens that a perfon who dances perfectly well in time, 
knows not one tune or tone from another. 
Perez, like Handel, was corpulent and gourmand, a 
propenfity which has been fuppofed to have fomewhat 
Shortened his days. After living much admired, beloved, 
and refpe&ed, twenty-feven years in Portugal, where he 
was maeftro di capella to his mod faithful majedy, and 
mailer to the royal family, at a falary exceeding 2000I. 
per annum, he died extremely regretted at the age of 
lixty-feven. Like Handel, he was likewife blind during 
the latter years of his life ; but after this calamity, when 
confined to his bed, he frequently dictated, without an 
inllrument, compositions, in parts, to an amanuenfis. 
His remains were depofited in the church of the Italian 
Barbadindros ; and ai'olemn dirge of his own compofition 
was performed at his funeral, by a concourfe of the bed 
muficians in Lilbon. Burney's Hi ft. Mujic. 
PER'FECT, adj. [parfait, Fr. perfedus, Lat.] Com¬ 
plete; confummate; finilhed ; neither defective nor re¬ 
dundant ; as, Perfect numbers, for which fee voh xvii. p. 
316, 17,—We count thofe things perfect, which want no¬ 
thing requifite for the end whereto they were inftituted. 
Hooker. 
Whoever thinks a perfed work to fee, 
Thinks what ne’er was, nor is, nor e’er lhall be. Pope. 
Fully informed; fully fkilful.—I do not take myfelf to 
be fo perfect in the privileges of Bohemia, as to handle 
that part; and will not offer at that I cannot mailer. 
Bacon. 
Our men mor c perfed in the ufe of arms, 
Our armour all as llrong, our caufe the bed ; 
Then reafon wills our hearts Ihould be as good. Shakefp. 
Pure 5 blarnelefs; clear; immaculate. A fenfe chiefly 
theological.—Thou lhalt be perfed with the Lord thy 
God. Dent, xviii. 
My parts, my title, and my perfed; foul, 
Shall manifed me rightly. S/iakefpeare's Othello. 
Confident; certain.—Thou art perfed, then, our Ihip hath 
touched upon the deferts of Bohemia. Shakefpeare's Wint. 
Tale. 
To PER'FECT, v. a. To finilh ; to complete; to con¬ 
fummate ; to bring to its due date.—If we love one ano¬ 
ther, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfeded in us. 
1 John, iv. 12.—Endeavour not to fettle too many habits 
at once, led by variety you confound them, and fo perfed 
none. Locke. 
What toil did honed Curio take 
To get one medal wanting yet, 
And perfect all his Roman fet ? Prior. 
To make fkilful; to indruCt fully: 
Her caufe and your’s 
I’ll perfed him withal, and he lhall bring you 
Before the duke. Shakefpeare's Metif. for Meaf. 
PER'FECTER, f. One that makes perfeCt.—Looking 
up unto Jefus, the Captain and Perfeder of our faith. 
Barroiv. —The perfon, whofe condition marked her out 
as the defender and perfeder of our reformation. Bur¬ 
net's Hijl. of his own Times. —This practice was altered ; 
they offered not to Mercury, but to Jupiter the perfeder. 
Broome on the Oayffey. 
PERFECTION, /! The date of being perfeCt.—Man 
doth feek a triple perfedion: fird a fenfual, confiding in 
thofe things which very life itfelf requireth, either as 
neceffary lupplements or as ornaments thereof; then an 
intellectual, confiding in thofe things which none under¬ 
neath man is capable of; laflly, a Ipiritual and divine, 
confiding in thofe things whereunto we tend by fuper- 
natural means here, but cannot here attain. Hooker. — 
True virtue being united to the heavenly grace of faith 
PER 
makes up the highed perfedion. Milton on Education .— 
No human underdanding being abfolutely fecured from 
midake by the perfedion of its own nature, it follows 
that no man can be infallible but by fupernatural affid- 
ance. Tillolfon. —The quedion is not, whether gofpel per¬ 
fedion can be fully attained ; but whether you come as 
near it as a fincere intention and careful diligence can 
carry you. Law. 
Many things impolfible to thought, 
Have been by need to full perfedion brought. Dryden. 
Something that concurs to produce fupreme excellence. 
In this fenfe it has a plural.—An heroick poem requires, 
as its lad perfedion, the accomplilhment of fome extra¬ 
ordinary undertaking, which requires more of the aCtive 
virtue than thefuffering. Dryden . 
What tongue can her perfedions tell, 
In whofe each part all pens may dwell ? Sidney. 
Attribute of God.—If God be infinitely holy, jud, and 
good, he mud take delight in thofe creatures that reflm- 
ble him mod in thefe perfedions. Alterbury. —ExaCt re- 
femblance. 
PERFEC'TIONAL, adj. Made complete.—Now this 
life eternal may be looked upon under three coniidera- 
tions; as initial, as partial, and as perfedional. I call 
that perfediorial, which lhall be conferred upon the eleCt 
immediately after the blefling pronounced by Chrifl, 
“ Come, ye bleffed children of my Father, receive the 
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world.” Pearfon on the Creed. 
To PERFECTION ATE, v. a. To make perfeCt; to 
advance to perfection. A word propofed by Dryden, but 
not received nor worthy of reception. Dr. Johnfon.— 
Dryden mod probably adopted it from Butler, who uies 
it in his Remains ; and I think I have feen this unwor¬ 
thy word in employment long before the time of Butler. 
Todd. —Painters and fculptors, chufing the mod elegant 
natural beauties, perfedionate the idea, and advance their 
art above nature itfelf in her individual productions ; the 
utmod madery of human performance. Dryden. —He has 
founded an academy for the progrefs and perfedionating 
of painting. Dryden. 
PERFEC'TIONIST, f. One pretending to extreme 
perfection ; a puritan.—Amongd the mod feraphical illu- 
minati, and the highed puritan perfedionifis, you fliall 
find people of fifty, threefcore, and fourfeore, years old, 
not able to give that account of their faith, which you 
might have had heretofore from a boy of nine or ten. 
South's Serm. —One who thinks perfection attainable by 
man.—The perfedionifis may be refuted in their preten¬ 
tions from their own avowed principles. Conyleare. 
PERFECTIS'SIMATE, J'. A quality or dignity, men¬ 
tioned in the Judinian Code. Perfedifjimi were thofe to 
whom the emperors truded the prefidentlhip of any pro¬ 
vince. Alciat imagined the name had been only given 
to the governors of Hifpania Tarraconenlis and Nori- 
cum; but Calvin has fliown the contrary in his Lexicon 
Juridicum. The perfeCtiflimi were inferior to the clarif- 
limi, though the former word implies “ mod perfeCt.” 
PERFECTIVE, adj. Conducing to bring to perfection: 
with of. —Praife and adoration areaCtions perfedive of our 
fouls. Mortimer. —Eternal life lhall not conlid in endlefs 
love ; the other faculties fliall be employed in aClions 
fuitable to, and perfedive of, their natures. Ray on the 
Creation. 
PERFEC'TIVELY, adv. In fuch a manner as brings 
to perfection.—As virtue is feated fundamentally in the 
intellect, fo perfedively in the fancy; fo that virtue is the 
force of realon in the conduCt of our aClions and paffions 
to a good end. Grew. 
PER'FECTLY, adv. In the highed degree of excel¬ 
lence. Totally; completely, — Chawing little fponges 
dipt in oil, when perfedly under water, he could longer 
fupport the want of refpiration. Boyle.— ExaCtly; accu¬ 
rately. 
