58G P L A 
Traite de la Pefte, publifned by the phyficians of Mar- 
leilles; the Loimologia of Dr. Hodges; and particularly 
aninterefting “Journal of the Plague Year, being Ob- 
lervations or Memorials of the molt remarkable Occur¬ 
rences, as well public as private, which happened in Lon¬ 
don during the iaft great Vifitation in 1665.” This jour¬ 
nal, indeed, has been laid to be the production of Daniel 
De Foe, and not, as its title-page expreffes, “ written by 
a citizen, who continued all the while in London;” but 
it contains a true picture of the general confequences of 
the peltilence. 
PLAGUE, f State of mifery.—I am fet in the plague, 
and my heavinefs is ever in my light. Pfalm xxxviii. 17. 
—Any thing troublefome or vexatious.—’Tis the time’s 
plague, when madmen lead the blind. ShakeJ'peare. —Good 
or bad company is the greateft bleffing or greateft plague, 
of life. L’EJlrange. 
I am not mad, too well I feel 
The different plague of each calamity. Shakefpeare. 
Sometimes my plague, fometimes my darling, 
Killing to-day, to-morrow fnarling. Prior. 
To PLAGUE, v. a. To infedt with peftilence. To 
infeft with difeafe; to opprefs with calamity.—Thou art 
not honeft, and the gods will plague thee. Shahcfpeare. 
Thus were they plagu’d, 
And worn with famine. Milton’s P. L. 
To trouble; to teaze; to vex; to harafs; to torment; 
to aftlidl; to diftrefs; to torture; to embarrafs; to ex¬ 
cruciate; to make uneafy ; to difturb. In this fenfe it 
is ufed ludicroufly.—People are (formed out of their rea- 
fon, plagued into a compliance, and forced to yield in 
their own defence. Collier. — When a Neapolitan cavalier 
has nothing elfe to do, he gravely Units himfelf up in his 
clofet, and falls a tumbling over his papers, to lee if he 
can Hart a law-fuit, and plague any of his neighbours. 
Addifon. 
If her nature be fo, 
That (lie will plague the man that loves her mod, 
And take delight to encreafe a wretch’s woe, 
Then all her nature’s goodly gifts are loft. Spenfer. 
PLA'GUE-WATER, f. One of the compound waters 
of the (hops, diftilled from mint, rofeinary, angelica-root. 
See. 
PLA'GUEFUL, adj. Infedling with plagues; abound¬ 
ing with plagues. Not in ufe. 
Heaven did behold the earth with heauie cheare, 
And plague full metors did in both appeare. Mir. for Mag. 
PLA'GUILY, adv. Vexatioully ; horribly. A low word. 
—This whifpering bodes me no good ; but he has me fo 
plaguily under the lalh, I dare not interrupt him. Dryden. 
You look’d fcornful, and fnift at the dean; 
But he durft not fo much as once open his lips, 
And the doflor was plaguily down in the hips. Swift. 
PLA'GUY, adj. Full of the plague; relating to the 
plague.—Difpenling for the pox and plaguy houfes. B. 
Jonfon’s Alchemijl. 
What merchants’ fliips have my lighs drown’d ? 
Who fays my tears have overflow’d his ground ? 
When did my colds a forward fpring remove ? 
When did the heats, which my veins fill, 
Add one more to the plaguy bill ? Donne's Poems. 
Vexatious; troublefome. A low word. 
What perils do environ 
The man that meddles with cold iron ? 
What plaguy mifehiefs and mifhaps 
Do dog him ftill with after-claps ? Hudibras. 
PLAIAR', a town of European Turkey, in Romania; 
fix miles fouth of Gallipoli. 
P L A 
PLAICE,, or Plaise,/. [plate, Dutch.] Aflat filh. 
See Pleuronectes. — Of flat-filh there are foies, flowkes, 
dabs, and plaice. Carew. —His mouth (brinks tideways, 
like a fcornful plafe. Up. Hall's Sat. 
PLAI'CE-MOUTH, f A wry mouth.—Some innocent 
out of the hofpital, that would ftand with her hands thus, 
and a plaice-mouth, and look upon you. B. JonJ'on’s 
Epiccene. 
PLAID,/, [faid to be a Gaelic wmrd ; but Dr. Jamiefon 
doubts it, and cites the M. Goth, plat, a patch or piece of 
cloth. The Su. Goth, plaeta, to weave, to braid, may be 
added. Sir W. Temple writes the word, plad. Dr. 
Johnfon offers neither etymon nor example.] A ftriped 
or variegated cloth; an outer loofe garment worn much 
by the highlanders in Scotland : there is a particular 
kind worn too by the women.—The mantle, or plad, 
feems to have been the garment in ufe among the weftern 
Scythians; as they continue ftill among the northern 
Irifli, and the highland Scots. Temple’s Hi ft of Eng. 1695. 
—The belted plaid confifts of twelve yards of tartan, 
which are plaited, bound round the waift by a leathern 
belt, the upper part being attached to the left (boulder. 
In the regulations relative to the clothing and halt- 
mountingof the Britilh infantry, it is directed, that “ in a 
Highland corps ferving in Europe, in North America, or 
at the Cape of Good Hope, each ferjeant, corporal, 
drummer, and private man, (hall have fix yards of plaid 
once in two years; and a purfe every feven years.” James’s 
Military Difl. 
PLAID, adj. Checkered, variegated in fluff. 
PLAIDEU'R, f. [French.] An old law term. An 
attorney who pleaded the caufe of his client; an advocate. 
Phillips. 
PLAI'LLY, a town of France in the department of the 
Oife : 6 miles fouth of Seniis. 
PLAIN, a town of the archbifhopric of Salzburg : two 
miles north of Salzburg. 
PLAIN, adj. [ planus, Lat.] Smooth; level; flat; 
free from protuberances or excrefcences. In this fenfe, 
efpecially in philofophical writings, it is frequently 
written plane; as, a plane fuperficies.—Hilly countries 
afford the molt entertaining profpedls, though a man 
would chufe to travel through a plain one. Addifon. —It 
was his policy to leave no hold behind him ; but to make 
all plain and wafte. Spenfer. —They were wont to make 
their canoes or boats plain without, and hollow within, 
by the force of fire. Heylyn . 
Thy vineyard mu ft employ thy fturdy fleer 
To turn the glebe; befides thy daily pain 
To break the clods, and make the lurface plain. Dryden. 
Open; clear; flat.—Our troops beat an army in plain 
fight and open field. Felton. —Void of ornament; (imple. 
—It is a maxim in heraldry, that the plainer the coat the 
nearer to antiquity. Plain coats are fuch as are leaft 
encumbered with figures, or charges, and which have 
nothing in them but what is natural. Chambers. 
A man of fenfe can artifice difdain, 
As men of wealth can venture to go plain. Young . 
Artlefs; notfubtle; not fpecious; not learned; (imple. 
—The experiments alledged with fo much confidence, 
and told by an author that writ like a plain man, and one 
whole proteffion was to tell truth, helped me to refolve 
upon making the trial. Temple. —In choice ofinftruments> 
it is better to chufe men of a plainer fort, that are like to 
do that that is committed to them, and to report faith¬ 
fully the fuccefs, than thofe that are cunning to contrive 
fomewhat to grace themfelves, and will help the matter 
in report. Bacon's Ejf. 
My heart was made to fit and pare within, 
Simple and plain, and fraught with tendernefs. Rowe. 
Honeftly rough ; open ; fincere ; not foft in language.— 
Give me leave to be plain with you, that yourfelf give no 
juft caufe of fcandal. Bacon. —Mere: bare.—He that 
beguil’d 
