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S P O 
SPOTLESS, adj. Free from spots.—Free from reproach 
or impurity; immaculate; pure; untainted. 
So much fairer. 
And spotless shall mine innocence arise. 
When the king knows my truth. Shakspeare. 
SPO'TLESSNESS, s. State or quality of being spotless.— 
Lord, if thou look for a spotlessness, whom wilt thou look 
upon. Donne, Dev, 
SPOTS WOOD, a village of the United States, in Mid¬ 
dlesex county. New Jersey. It contains an Episcopal 
church, and upwards of 30 houses; 9 miles south-east of 
Brunswick. 
SPOTSYLVANIA, a county of the United States, in 
Virginia, bounded north by the Rappahannock, south-east 
by Caroline county, south-south-west by Hanover and Lou- 
isinia counties, and north-west by Orange county. Popu¬ 
lation 13,296, including 7135 slaves. 
SPOTT, a parish and village of Scotland, in East-Lo- 
thian, about 10 miles long and 5 broad. The village 
contains about 180 inhabitants, and is 5 miles from Dunbar. 
Population 561. 
SPOTTED ISLAND, an island in the North Atlantic 
ocean, on the east coast of Labrador. Lat. 53. 30. N. long. 
55. 20. W. 
SPOTTER, 5. One that spots; one that maculates. 
SPO'TTINESS, s. State or quality of being spotty. Unused. 
SPOTTISWOODE (John), a prelate and ecclesiastical 
historian of Scotland, descended from an ancient family in 
that country, was born in 1565. His father, who was a 
minister of Calder, sent him to the university of Glasgow to 
be educated for the church; and his proficiency in his stu¬ 
dies was such, that at the age of eighteen he was thought to 
be qualified to be his father’s successor. When Lodowick, 
duke of Lenox, was sent, in 1601, on an embassy to France, 
for the purpose of confirming the ancient amity between the 
two countries, Spottiswoode, with the hope of conciliating 
the two nations, accompanied him as chaplain, and returned 
with him to England. His reputation was at that time so 
high, that, on the accession of king James to the crown of 
England in 1603, he was one of the persons appointed to at¬ 
tend his majesty to his new’y acquired-kingdom; and in the 
same year he was promoted to the archbishopric of Glasgow', 
and nominated a privy-counsellor for Scotland. It was the 
favourite object of James to assimilate as much as possible 
the church of Scotland to the model of that of England; and 
archbishop Spottiswoode was very eager in promoting this 
intention, and is said to have made fifty journies to London 
on that account. Having held the see of Glasgow eleven 
years, he was translated, in 1615, to that of St. Andrews, the 
metropolitan of Scotland ; and he presided at various assem¬ 
blies for the restoration of the episcopal form of government. 
He continued in high favour with king James during his 
whole reign; and Charles I., after his accession, was crowned 
by him in the abbey church of Holyrood House. In 1635 
he was appointed chancellor of Scotland. When the civil 
commotions broke out in that country in 1639, the arch¬ 
bishop withdrew to England, where he died, and was interred 
in Westminster Abbey. He was author of “ A History of 
the Church of Scotland,” beginning with the year 203, and 
continued to the end of the reign of James Vi., which was 
published in London in 1655. This work was undertaken 
at the command of king James, who, when Spottiswoode told 
him some passages might bear hard on the memory of his 
mother, said, “Write the truth, and spare not.” Spottis¬ 
woode was also the author of “ Refutatio Libelli de Regimine 
Ecclesiae Scoticanse,” written in defence of the ecclesiastical 
establishment of Scotland. 
SPOTTY, adj. Full of spots: maculated. 
The moon whose orb 
Through optick glass the Tuscan artist views 
At evening from the top of Fesole, 
Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands. 
Rivers or mountains on her spotty globe. Milton. 
SPOU'SAGE, s. Act of espousing.—In the old manual 
S 'P R 
for the use of Salisbury, before the minister proceeds to 
the marriage, he is directed to ask the woman’s dowry, viz. 
the tokens of spousage. Wheatley. 
SPOU'SAL, adj. Nuptial; matrimonial; conjugal; con¬ 
nubial ; bridal. 
Sleep’st thou, careless of the nuptial day ? 
Thy spousal ornament neglected lies; 
Arise, prepare the bridal train, arise. Pope. 
SPOU'SAL, s. [ espousailles , Fr., sponsalia, Lat ] Mar¬ 
riage nuptials. 
The spousals of Hippolita the queen, 
What tilts and tourneys at the feast were seen. Dryden. 
SPOUSE, s. [sponsa, sponsus, Lat., espouse, Fr. We had 
formerly like the Latins, the masculine and feminine distinc¬ 
tion of this word; spousess being the wife, and spouse the 
husband. Wickliffe uses spousess, and it continued to be 
used in the seventeenth century: “ Commanding her his 
spousesse to write to a certaine king.” Sheldon, Mir. of 
Antichr. 1616, p. 304.] One joined in marriage; a hus¬ 
band or wife. 
She is of good esteem; 
Beside so qualified as may beseem 
The spouse of any noble gentleman. Shakspeare. 
At once farewell, O faithful spouse! they said; 
At once the encroaching rinds their closing lips invade. 
Dryden. 
To SPOUSE, v. a. To espouse; towed; to join toge¬ 
ther as in matrimony. 
The world the temple was, the priest a king. 
The spoused pair two realms, the sea the ring. B. Jonson. 
SPOU'SELESS, adj. Wanting a husband or wife. 
To tempt the spouseless queen with am’rous wiles, 
Resort the nobles from the neighb’ring isles. Pope. 
SPOUT, s. [spuyt , Teut.] A pipe, or mouth of a pipe 
or vessel out of which any thing is poured..—In whales that 
breathe, lest the water should get unto the lungs, an ejection 
thereof is contrived by a fistula or spout at the head. Brown. 
—Water falling in a body; a cataract, such as is seen in the 
hot climates when clouds sometimes discharge all their water 
at once. 
Not the dreaded spout , 
Which shipmen do the hurricano call, 
Constring’d in mass by the almighty sun, 
Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune’s ear 
In his descent than shall my prompted sword 
Falling on Diomede. Shakspeare. 
To SPOUT, v. a. [ spuyten , Teut.] To pour with vio¬ 
lence, or in a collected body, as from a spout. 
Next on his belly floats the mighty whale; 
He twists his back, and rears his threatening tail; 
He spouts the tide. Creech. 
To pour out words with affected grandeur; to mouth.— 
Pray, spout some French, son. Beaum. and FI. 
To SPOUT, v. n. To issue as from a spout.—They laid 
them down hard by the murmuring music of certain waters, 
which spouted out of the side of the hills. Sidney. 
SPRACK. See Sprag. 
SPRAG, adj. Vigorous; spritely. Obsolete. —A good 
spray memory. Shakspeare. 
SPRAG, s. A young salmon. North. 
To SPRAIN, w. a. [Referred by Serenius to the Swedish 
spraenga, to tear asunder : spraenga en haest,- to over-ride 
a horse, to lame him by riding him beyond his strength; and 
hence, I suppose, our springhalt, the lameness of ahorse. 
Todd.] —To stretch the ligaments of a joint without disloca¬ 
tion of the bones. 
Should the big last extend the shoe too wide. 
The sudden turn may stretch the swelling vein. 
Thy crackling joint unhinge, or ancle sprain. Gay. 
SPRAIN, s. Extension of ligaments without dislocation 
of 
