U N I
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U NT
The firft Author, according to 'Pliny, who wrote of the Unicorn, was one Crefius, whom Arijhtle mentions as a ve- ry fufpicious Author. JElian only fpcaks of it in very doubt- ful Terms. The other Authors on the Subject are Pbiloflra- tzts, and Soli?ius ; JEneas Sylvius, who is Pope 'Pius II. Marcus Paulus, Aloefius, Gejher, Garcias ab Horto, 8cc. Of thefe, fome fay it refembles a Horfe, others an Afs, o- thcrs a Goat, by its Beard ; others an Elephant, others a Rhinoceros, others a Grey-hound, &c.
Munjler and ^thevct will have it an amphibious Animal, and its Horn to be moveable at pleafurc. Others make all its Strength to confift in its Horn, and add, that when pur- fued by the Hunters it precipitates its felf from the tops of the higheft Rocks, and pitches upon its Horn, which fuftains the whole Effort of its Fall fo that it receives no damage thereby. In effect, the feveral Authors do all give feveraj Accounts of the Figure and Colour, both of the Ani- mal and of its Horn, and all its Parts.- And hence the
more knowing among the Moderns do unanimoufly hold it a fabulous Animal,
TheLegend adds, that it is wonderful fond of chaftePer- fons ; and therefore, in order to take it, a Virgin is placed in its way, whom when the Unicorn fpies, he lies down by her, and lays his Head on her Lap, and fo falls a-fleep ; upon which the Virgin making a Signal, the Hunters come in and take theBeali; which could never be caught any other way, becaufe it would either cafe it felf head long from a Rock, or die.
What ordinarily paffes among us for Unicorn 's Horn, and is.fh.ewn for fuch in the Collections of Curiofities, and ufed for fuch by feveral Phyficians, we are affured by Pereyra, in his Account of Greenland, to be the Tooth of a large Fifh of the Whale Kind, call'd by the Wanders Narwal ; and, in other Places, Walrus and Robart $ frequent enough in the icy Sea.
This Tooth, or Hern, turn'd, channel'd, and terminating in a Point, as it is, fprings out of the middle of the fore- part of the upper-Jaw, where it has a Root a Foot long, as thick as the Horn itfelf : 'tis the only Tooth the Animal has in the upper-Jaw ; and ferves it as a Weapon of Defence,
wherewith it dares to attack the largeft Whale.' It can
ftrike it with fuch violence as even to pierce the Side of a ftrong built Ship.
There is a fine Horn of this kind preferv'd in the Repofitory of St. tDenis at Paris, given by And. T"bevet, and pretended to have been a Prefent to him from the King of Monomo- tapa, who carried him to hunt the Unicom 5 which is fre- quent in that Country : This Horn fome have fufpected to be an Elephant's Tooth, carved in that manner. At Strasbourg there is another, between feven and eight Foot long. In the Repofitory at Venice, there is a good Numbers all different from each other.
The Antients held the Unicornis Horn to be a Counter- poifon ; and, that the Animal ufed to dip it in the Water, to purify and fweeten it ere it wou'd drink ; 'Tis added, that for the fame reafon other Beafts wait to fee it drink before 'em. Thence, as alfo from the Rarity of the Thing, People have taken Occafion to attribute divers medicinal Vermes thereto.
ButAmb. Pare has proved it a mere piece of Charletanery, and all the Virtues attributed to it to befalfe; and yet the Price it has bore is almoft incredible : Andrea Racci, aPhy- fician of Florence, affirms, the Pound of 16 Ounces, to have been fold in the Apothecaries Shops for 153d Crowns, when the fame weight of Gold was only worth 14.S Crowns.
Unicorn, in Heraldry, is r cpveknted paf/ant, and fome- times rampant : When in this i a ft Action, as in the Englijh Arm r , it is properly faid to be faillanti, Argent : an Unicorn feiant fable, armed and unguied, Or. Borne by the Name of Harding.
The Unicom is one of the Supporters of the Arms of Eng- land. See Supvorter.
UNIFORM, Uniformis, denotes a thing to befimilar, or confident either with another thing or itfelf, in refpect of Figure, Structure, Proportion, and the like. — In which fenfe it Hands oppofed to 1)ijform. See Similitude.
Uniform, or Equable Motion. See Motion.
Uniform Flowers of Plants, are fuch as are of the fame Figure all around, having their fore and back-parts, as alio their right and left-parts exactly a like. See Flower.
When they are otherwife, they are term 'd dijform Flo-zvcrs. See Difform.
UNIFORMITY, Regularity* a Similitude or Refemblance
between the Parts of a Whole. Such is that we meet
withal in Figures of many Sides and Angles refpectively e- qual and anfwerable to each other. See Regular.
A late Ingenious Author makes Beauty to con fi ft in Uni- formity, join'dor combined with Variety. See Beauty.
Where the Uniformity is equal in two Objects, the Beau- ty, he contends, is as the Variety; and where the Variety is equal, the Beauty is as the Uniformity. See Deformity.
Uniformity, is particularly ufed for one and the fame Form of Public Prayers, and Adminiitration of Sacra- ments, and other Rites, &c. of the Church of England* prefcribed by the famous Stat. iEUz. and 14 Car. II. call'd the AB of Conformity.
UNION, a Junction, Coalition, or Aflemblage of feveral Things in one.
Philofophers are exceedingly to feek about the manner of the Vnion of Soul and Body, or by what Medium it is that two fuch heterogeneous Beings are kept fo clofely together. — 'Tis one of the great Laws of this Vnion, that fuch and fuch an Impreflion on the Brain be follow 'd by fuch and fuch a Senfation, or Perception in the Soul. See Soul, Sensa- tion, Motion, $3c.
Union, in an Ecclefiaftical Senfe, is a combining or con- folidating of two Churches into one. See Church, Bene- fice, Consolidation, &c.
This is not done without the Confent both of the Bifhop, the Patron, and the Incumbent. See Patron, $$c.
The Canonifts diftinguifh, three kinds of Vnion, that of Acceffion, that of Confufion, and that of Equality.
The Vnion of Acceffion is the moll ufual : by this the united Benefice becomes a Member, and acceffory of the Principal.
The Vnion by Confufion, is that where the two Titles are fupprefs'd, and a new one created including both.
In the Vnion of Equality the two Titles fubfiil; but e- qual, and independent.
By Stat. 37 Hen. VIII. it is enacted, That an Vnion, or Confolidation of two Churches, may be admitted, provided the annual Value of one of them, in the King's Books, don't exceed 6 I. and the diftance between them, be not a-
bove one Mile.' And by another, Stat, 17 Car. II. it is
enacted, That the Vnion of two Churches or Chapels in any City or Town, /hall be valid, unlefs the Value of the Churches, fo united, exceed 100 /.
Union, or theVnion by way of Eminence, is particular- ly ufed, among us, to exprefs the Act whereby the two fe- parate Kingdoms of England and Scotland were incorporated into one, under the Title of the Kingdom 0/ Great Britain.
This happy Vnion, in vain attempted by King James I. was at length effected in the Tear 1707, by the general Con- fent of the Queen, and the Eftates of each Realm.
The Act, or Treaty of Vnion, confifts of Twenty-five Articles 5 which eleven Engti/b Commiflioners and eleven Scotijh ones, examin'd, approved, and iign'd on the 3d of Auguft, 1705. The Parliament of Scotland approved it on the 4th of February, 17075 and the Parliament of Eng- land, the 10th of March in the fame Year. — On the 17th following, the Queen went to Parliament, where ihe ap- proved the fame Treaty, with the Act of Ratification.
Since that time, there is only one Privy-Council and one Parliament for the two Kingdoms : The Scotifb Parliament is fupprefs'd, or, rather fuper added to the Engliff?, both of them only conftituting one, under the Title of the Parlia- ment of Great Britain.
The Number of Members which by the Articles of the Vnion the Scots are to fend into the Houfe of Commons, to reprefent the Commons of that Country, are 45 5 and the Number of Peers whereby their Peerage is to be reprefent- ed, is 16.
The great Officers of the Crown of Scotland, before the Vnion, were the Lord High Chancellor, Lord High The- faurer or Treafurer, Lord Privy- Seal, and Lord Regiiter. Their lefler Officers of State were, the Lord Regifter, Lord Advocate, Lord Thefaurer Depute, and Lord Juftice- Clerk.
The four firft Officers are diflblv'd by the Vnion, and in- ftead thereof new Officers are erected, ferving for both Countries under that Title of Lord High Chancellor of Great 'Britain, l$c. See Chancellor, Treasurer, &c.
The four latter Offices ftiil fubfift. See Advocate, Register, £5?c.
Union, in aphilo'bphic Senfe, is ufed, by Dr. Grew, for one of the three ways of Mixture ; being the Joining to- ther of Atoms or infenfible Particles fo as to touch in a Plane, as is fuppofed to be the Cafe in the Cryttallizations of Salts, and the like Bodies. See Mixture, Crystalliza- tion, £J?c.
Union-Pearls, are fuch Pearls as grow in the Couples j the belt fort of Pearls. See Pearl.
Union, in Architecture, is particularly ufed for a Har- mony between the Colours in the Materials of a Building.
Union, among Painters, exprefles a Symmetry and Agree- ment between the feveral Parts of a Painting $ when, e.g, there is a deal of Relation and Connexion between them, both as to the Figures, and the Colouring : fo that they ap- parently coufpire to form one thing. See Symmetry.
When this Union is fineU manag'd, fomecallit Suavity.
UNISON, in Mufick, is the Effect of two Sounds, which are equal in degree of Tune, or in point of Gravity and Acuteneis. See Tune.
Or,
