T E S 
testern. “ You cannot give him less than a shilling in con¬ 
science ; for the book he had it out of cost him a test on at 
least.” B. Jonson. —“ Such another piece as our testerne." 
Latimer. —It was of the value of a shilling in our eighth 
Henry’s time, and sunk first to nine-pence, then to six¬ 
pence in Edward the sixth’s.] A sixpence.—Come manage 
me your caliver: hold, there is a tester for thee. Shak- 
speare. —The cover of a bed. 
Each hole and cupboard they explore, 
Each creek and cranny of his chamber, 
Run hurry-skurry round the floor. 
And o’er the bed and tester clamber. Gray. 
TE'STERN,-.,?. A sixpence. See Tester. 
To TE'STERN, v. a. To present with sixpence. Not in 
use. —To testify your bounty, I thank you, you have tes- 
terned me. Shakspeare. 
TESTERTON, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 2| miles 
south-east-by-south of Fakenham. 
TESTI (Fulvio, Count), an Italian poet, was born in 
1593, at Ferrara, and settling, when young, at Modena, 
he rose to the highest offices and honours of the state. Ne¬ 
vertheless, alternate prosperity and adversity visited him: 
inconstant and ambitious, he fell into disgrace with Fran¬ 
cis I., who imprisoned him in the citadel of Modena, where 
he died in 1646. His poems are chiefly of the lyric 
class. The productions of his maturer judgment are distin¬ 
guished above those of his contemporaries for vigour and po¬ 
etical spirit; and some of them, with respect to elevation of 
sentiment and beauty of imagery, will bear comparison with 
the productions of the best Italian poets. He also attempted 
tragedy, in two compositions, intitled “ Arsinda,” and 
** L’lsola d’Alcina;” but their style is lyric rather than 
dramatic composition. Tirabosc/ii. Gen. Biop. 
TE'STICLE, s. [ testiculus , Lat.] Stone.—That a bea¬ 
ver, to escape the hunter, bites off his testicles or stones, is 
a tenet very ancient. Brovin. 
TESTIFICATION, 5 . [ testificatio , Lat.] The act of 
witnessing. 
TE'STIFICATOR, s. [from testijicor, Lat.] One who 
witnesses. 
TE'STIFIER, s. One who testifies. 
To TE'STIFY, v. n. [ testijicor , Lat.] To witness; to 
prove; to give evidence. 
Th’ event was dire, 
As this place testifies. Milton. 
To TE'STIFY, v. a. To witness; to give evidence of 
any point.—We speak that we do know, and testify that we 
have seen, and ye receive not our witness. St. John. 
TESTIGOS, Los, a cluster of small islands, about ten 
leagues from the continent of South America, and the same 
distance from the island of Grenada. Lat. 11. 25. N. long. 
62.5. W. 
TE'STILY, adv. Fretfully; peevishly; morosely. 
TESTIMONIAL, s. [ testimonial , Fr.; testimonium, Lat.] 
A writing produced by any one as an evidence for himself. 
—Hospitable people entertain all the idle vagrant reports, 
and send them out with passports and testimonials, and 
will have them pass for legitimate. Gov. of the Tongue. 
TESTIMONY, s. [ testimonium , Lat.] Evidence given; 
proof by witness.—If I bring you sufficient testimony, 
my ten thousand ducats are mine. Shakspeare. —Public 
evidences.—We maintain the uniform testimony and tradi¬ 
tion of the primitive church. White. —Open attestation; 
profession. 
Thou for the testimony of truth hast borne 
Universal reproach. Milton. 
To TESTIMONY, v. a. To witness. A word not 
used. —Let him be but testimonied in his own bringings 
forth, and he shall appear a scholar, a statesman, and a sol¬ 
dier. Shakspeare. 
TE'STINESS, s. Moroseness; pevishness.—He may be a 
little angry for my so rough usage; but my mother, having 
T E S 911 
power of his testiness, shall turn all into my commenda¬ 
tions. Shakspeare. 
TE'STON, s. [teston, Fr.] A sixpence; a tester. See 
Tester. 
Lo! what it is that makes white rags so deare, 
That men must give a teston for a queare. Bp. Hall. 
Testoons, or shillings, were first coined in Scotland about 
the year 1553, and they bore the bust of the queen and the 
arms of France and Scotland on the reverse: they were of the 
same intrinsic value with those of England, and were worth 
four shillings; the half-testoon two; Scottish money. The 
silver testoon of Mary, chiefly of 1553 or 1562, with her 
bust, are rare, and now worth about 30s.; half still more 
rare, valued at 31. Pinkerton on Medals. 
The teston, testoon, or tester, among us, succeeded the 
groat, which was introduced by Edward III. in 1354. It 
was also called shilling, and first coined by Henry VII. in 
1503 ; and was rated at 12d. in the reign of Henry VIII., 
and afterwards reduced to fid. The testoon of the first year 
of Edward VI. is extremely rare. 
t TESTON, a parish of England, in Kent; 4 miles west-by 
south of Maidstone. 
TESTOON, or Testone, a silver coin in Italy, and also 
in Portugal. In Florence, the testoon, or testone, as a money 
of account and a silver coin, is worth two lire, or three paoli. 
The testoon is a money of account at Lisbon, and is valued 
at 100 rees. And of the gold coins struck since 1722, 
there are the Dezeseis testoon of 1600 rees, and the Oito 
testoon of 800 rees. The silver coins are testoons of 100 
and halves of 50 rees. 
TESTU'DINATED, adj. [testudo, Latin.] Roofed; 
arched. 
TESTUDI'NEOUS, adj. [testudo, Latin.] Resembling 
the shell of a tortoise. 
TESTUDO, in Antiquity, was particularly used among 
the poets, &c., for the ancient lyre, or lyre of Amphion; be¬ 
cause it was said to have been originally made, by its inventor 
Mercury, of the back or hollow shell of a testudo aquation, 
or sea-tortoise, which he accidentally found on the banks of 
the river Nile. 
Mr. Molyneux has an express discourse, in the Philoso¬ 
phical Transactions, to shew that the tortoise-shell was the 
basis of the ancient lyre, and that the whole instrument had 
thence the denomination testudo; which account throws 
some light on an obscure passage in Horace, ode iii. lib. 4., 
mistaken by all the commentators:— 
“ O, testudinis aureae 
Dulcem quae strepitum, Pieri, temperas! 
O mutis quoquae piscibus 
Donatira cygni, si libeat, sonum!” 
TESTUDO, The, was also a kind of cover, or screen, 
which the soldiers, e. gr. a whole company, made themselves 
of their targets, by holding them up over their heads, and 
standing close to each other. 
Thus, if we suppose the first rank to have stood upright 
on their feet, and the rest to have stooped lower and lower by 
degrees, till the last rank kneeled down on their knees, so 
that every rank covering with their targets the heads of all in 
the rank before them, they represented a tortoise-shell, or a 
sort of sloping roof. 
TESTUDO, Tortoise, in Zoology, a genus of animals of 
the class of Amphibia and order of Reptiles; the generic 
characters of which are, that the body is furnished with a 
tail, and defended by a bony or coriaceous integument above 
and below, or above by scales; and that the upper mandible 
of the mouth closes over the lower; without distinct or 
proper teeth, the teeth, as they are called in the generality 
of tortoises, being no other than the serratures of the man¬ 
dibles. 
I.—Marine Tortoises, or Turtles with pinniform feet, the 
former being longer. 
The animals of this class are distinguished from the land 
tortoises 
