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T E S 
Denmark, and France, and also to the States of Holland, to 
announce the accession of Frederic I. to the Swedish throne; 
and in 1725 he was sent to Vienna, to solicit the attention of 
that court to the new treaty of alliance between Sweden and 
Russia. On the death of his father, in 1728, he succeeded him 
as principal intendant of the court, and in order to qualify 
himself for the office, he undertook a new tour at his own ex¬ 
pense. In 1735, he was again dispatched to the court of 
Vienna, where he remained two years. He was chosen by 
the nobility speaker at the famous diet of 1738, on which 
occasion he obtained, in recompence of his conduct, a gold 
medal, bearing on one side his crest, and on the other the 
motto “ Conscius Recti.” He was appointed in 1739 to con¬ 
duct an embassy from this diet to France, and resided at 
Paris till the year 1742, concluding during this interval an 
advantageous treaty of commerce with the king of the two 
Sicilies, and terminating a subsidiary treaty of alliance with 
Franee, by which Sweden was to receive, in the course of 
three years 27 tons of gold. In 1743 he was sent to Den¬ 
mark, and in the following year to Berlin, on business of 
great importance. At Berlin he was honoured with the 
Prussian order of the Black Eagle. He occupied several 
other stations of dignity and trust, the duties of which he 
discharged with singular wisdom and fidelity. But the most 
important office assigned him, was that of preceptor to the 
crown prince, Gustavus III., to which he was appointed in 
1747. On this occasion he wrote his “ Letters addressed to 
a Young Prince,” for the use of his royal pupil, which were 
afterwards translated into most of the languages of Europe. 
Retiring from public business in 1761, he lived on his 
estate till the time of his death, which happened in January 
1770. Gen. Biog. 
TESSIURSAK, an island near the west coast of West 
Greenland. Lat. 61. 10. N. long. 47. 30. W. 
TESSOWA, a considerable town of Fezzan, in Central 
Africa ; 100 miles east-south-east of Mourzouk. 
TESSY, a small town in the north-west of France, de¬ 
partment of La Manche. Population 1700; 12 miles south 
of St. Lo, and 17 east of Coutances. 
TEST, s. [test, Fr.; testa, Ital.] The cupel by which 
refiners try their metals.—Our ingots, tests, and many 
things mo. Chaucer.— Trial; examination: as by the 
cupel. 
All thy vexations 
Were but my trials of thy love, and thou 
Hast strangely stood the test. Shakspeare. 
Let there be some more test made of my metal, 
Before so noble and so great a figure 
Be stampt upon it. Shakspeare. 
Means of trial. 
To be read for herself she need not fear: 
Each test, and every light, her muse will bear. Dryden , 
That with which any thing is compared in order to prove 
its genuineness. 
Unerring Nature, still divinely bright. 
One clear, unchang’d, and universal light, 
Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart, 
At once the source, and end, and test of art. Pope. 
Discriminative characteristic. 
Our penal laws no sons of yours admit. 
Our test excludes your tribe from benefit. Dryden. 
Judgment; distinction. 
Who would excel, when few can make a test, 
Betwixt indiff’rent writing and the best ? Dryden. 
TESTA (Pietro), called It Lucchesino, from having been 
born at Lucca. His birth took place in 1611, and he was 
first instructed in painting by Pietro Paolini; afterwards he 
studied at Rome, under Domenichino and Pietro da Cortona. 
The principal objects of his study were antique marbles, and 
the remains of ancient architecture; in which employment 
such was his assiduity, that few vestiges of antiquity were 
T E S 
known which had escaped his pencil. His extreme poverty 
made him morose and melancholy. From this state of trou¬ 
ble he was relieved by Sandrart, who clothed and entertained 
him, and introduced him to the prince Justiniani. After 
this he succeeded; and the great freedom and ease of his 
pencil procured him many patrons. Several of the churches 
and palaces at Rome are adorned with his productions: 
the best are esteemed to be the Death of St. Angelo, in 
the church of St. Martino a Monti, and the Death of 
Iphigenia, in the Palazzo Spada. His works, however, are 
more frequently to be met with at Lucca. As a designer, 
Pietro Testa was unequal: he frequently tacked to antique 
torsos ignoble heads, and extremities copied from vulgar 
models. Of female beauty he appears to have been ignorant, 
though he adopted a character and form which are peculiar 
to himself. Of his compositions, generally perplexed and 
crowded, the best known and most correct is that of Achilles 
dragging Hector from the walls of Troy to the Grecian 
fleet. He delighted in allegoric subjects, and produced 
many of picturesque effect and attitudes: but in their mean¬ 
ing, as obscure as the occasions to which they allude. Of 
expression, he only knew the extremes, grimace, or loath¬ 
someness and horror. As a colourist, he was frequently rich 
and effective, harmonious and warm; and his execution 
bears the stamp of incredible freedom; while his chiaro¬ 
scuro is managed with great breadth and depth. His just 
character is that of a powerful machinist. He was drowned 
in the Tyber, in 1650, endeavouring to recover his hat, which 
the wind had blown into the water; though some suspect 
that he threw himself in, in a fit of despondency, to which 
he was prone. 
He was an eminent engraver as well as a painter, and the 
number of his works in both arts attest his industry and inge- 
unity, considering the short'period of his life. 
TE'STABLE, adj, [testable, Fr.] Capable of witness¬ 
ing or bearing witness. Cotgrave. 
TESTA'CEOUS, adj. [testaceus, Lat.; testacee, Fr.] 
Consisting of shells; composed of shells. Having conti¬ 
nuous, not jointed shells: opposed to crustaceous. —Several 
shells were found upon the shores, of the crustaceous and 
testaceous kind. Woodward. 
TE'STAMENT, s. [testament, Fr.; testamentum, Lat.] 
A will; any writing directing the disposal of the possessions 
of a man deceased.—Me ordained by his last testament, that 
his iEneid 'should be burnt. Dryden. —-The name of each 
of the volumes of the Holy Scripture.—It is not out of any 
satiety that I change from the Old Testament to the New: 
these two, as they are the breasts of the church, so they 
yield milk equally wholesome, equally pleasant unto able 
nurselings. Bp. Hall. 
TESTAMENTARY, adj. [testamentaire, Fr.; testa- 
mentarius, Lat.] Given by will; contained in wills.— 
How many testamentary charities have been defeated by the 
negligence or fraud of executors ? by the suppression of a 
will ? the subornation of witnesses, or the corrupt sentence 
of a judge? Atterbury. 
TESTAMENTATION, 's. The act or power of giving 
by will.—By this law the right of testamentation is taken 
away, which the inferior tenures had always enjoyed. Burke. 
TE'STATE, adj. [testatus, Lat.] Having made a will. 
—By the canon law, the bishop had the lawful distribution 
of the goods of persons dying testate and intestate. Ayliffe. 
TESTATION, s. [testatio, Lat.] Witness; evidence. 
—How clear a testation have the inspired prophets of God 
given of old to this truth. Bp. Hall. 
TESTATOR, s. [testator, Lat.; testateur, Fr.] One 
who leaves a will.—He bringeth arguments from the love or 
good will which always the testator bore him. Hooker. 
TESTATRIX, s. [I.at.] A woman who leaves a will. 
TE'STED, adj. Tried by a test.—Not with fond shekels 
of the tested gold. Shakspeare. 
TE'STER, 5. [The Italians and French had their testone , 
and teston; the latter of which Cotgrave states to be of the 
value of eighteen-pence. Our word was also teston, and 
testern. 
