Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/287

 BUT

ventsjts flattening, and preferves its BofTe of Defign. Or- dinarily, indeed, they content themfelves to cover the na- ked Mould with the Shell ; and in this Cafe, for the faf tening, pais a Thread or Gut acrois thro the middle of the Mould.

BUTTRESS,a kind of Butment built archwife 5 or a Mafs of Stone or Brick, ferving to prop or fupport the Sides of a Building, Wall, &c. on the Outfide, where it is either very high, or has any considerable Load to fuftain on the other fide, as a Bank of Earth, &c. The Theory and Rules of Buttrejfes, are one of the 2)efiderata in Archi- tecture-

Buttress, or Buttrice, is likewife a Tool, that Far- riers make ufe of to pierce the Sole of an Horfe's Foot,

c ni >

B Y L

which is overgrown 5 to pare the Hoof 5 to fit the Shoe, and to cut off the Skirts of the faid Sole, that oVercaft the Shoe.

BY-LAWS, or BILAWS, Orders made in Court-Leer^ Court-Barons, £5?c. by common Confent, for the Good of thofe who prefcribe them ; and which extend further than the Publick Law binds. In Scotland, they are call'd Laws of Burlaw, or Birlaw ; which are made and determin'd by Confent of Neighbours, elected by common Confent in Burlaw- Courts - 7 wherein Cognizance is taken of Com- plaints 'twixt Neighbour and Neighbour. The Men thus chofen are Judges or Arbitrators, and call'd Burlaw- Men\

CAB

CTHE third Letter of the Alphabet ; fcrm'd, according to Scaliger, from the k of the a Greeks, by retrenching the Stem or right ^ Line : Others derive it from the 3 Capb of the Hebrews, which has, in efteft, the fame form ; allowing only for this, that the Hebrews, reading backwards, and the Latins, &c. forwards, each have turn'd the Letter their own way. However, the c not be- ing the fame as to Sound with the Hebrew Capb j and it being certain the Romans did not borrow their Letters im- mediately from the Hebrews, or other Orientals, but from the Greeks ; the Derivation from the Greek K is the more probable. F. Montfaucon, in his -Tal£ographia, gives us dome Forms of the Greek K, which come very hear that of our C 5 this, for Initance, C : And Suidas calls the C, the Roman Kappa. All Grammarians agree, that the Ro- mans pronoune'd q like our c, and c like our k. F. Ma- Villon adds, that Charles the Great was the firft who wrote his Name with a C; whereas, all his Predeceflbrs of the fame Name wrote it with a K : The fame Difference is obferv'd in their Coins.

C was a Numeral Letter among the Romans, signifying an hundred : according to the Verfe,

Non fins qitam centum C litera fertur habere.

Some add, that a Daih over it, made it dignify an hun- dred thoufand ; but it wou'd be hard to find an Initance hereof among the Antlents. In proper Names, C. was us'd for Caius ; as, C. Cefar, &c. Their Lawyers us'd it An- gle for Codice and Confide, Sec. double, CC, for Confiilibus. C was alfo us'd in their Courts, as a Letter of Condemna- tion, and Hood for condemno ; in oppofition to A, which iignify'd abJUvo. See A.

In Mufick, a Capital C denotes the higheft Part in a thorough Bafs.

CABBALA, or CABALA, or KABBALA, a Term us'd in various Senfes, which Authors generally confound. It is originally Hebrew, TTOp Kabbalah; and, properly, fignifics tradition : whence the Verb h3p Kibbel, to re- ceive by Tradition, or from Father to Son ; efpecially in the Chaldec and Rabbinical Hebrew. Hence Cabbala is primarily ufed for a Sentiment, Opinion, or Explication of Scripture ; or a Cuftom or Practice tranfmitted from Fa- ther to Son.

As to the Origin of the Cabbala : The Jews believe, that God gave to Mofes on Mount Sinai, not only the Law, but alfo the Explication of that Law ; and that Mofes, after his coming down, retiring to his Tent, tehears'd to Aaron both the one and the other. When he had done, Aaron Hand- ing on the Right Hand, his Sons, Elcazer and Ithamar, were introdue'd to a fecond Rehcarfal : This over, the 70 Elders that compos'd the Sanhedrim were admitted ; and laftly the People, as many as pleas'd : To all which, Mo- fes again repeated both the Law and Explanation, as he receiv'd 'em from God. So that Aaron heard it four times, his Sons thrice, the Elders twice, and the People once. Now, of the two Things which Mofes taught 'em, the Laws, and the Explanation, only the firft was committed to Writing ; which is what we have in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers : As to the fecond, or the Explication of thofe Laws, they were contented to imprefs it well in their Memory, to teach it their Children ; they, to theirs, &c. Hence, the firft Part they call fimply the Law, or the Written Law • the fecond, the Oral Law, or Cabbala. Such is the original Notion of the Cabbala.

Some Rabbins, however, pretend their Fathers receiv'd the Cabbala from the Prophets, who receiv'd it from the Angels. R. Abr. ben Dior fays exptefsly, that the Angel Razicl was Adam's Matter, and taught him the Cabbala ;

C AC

that jfaphiel was Sbem y s Matter ; Tfedckiet, Abraham's 5 Raphael, Ifaac's • 'Pcliel, Jacobs ; Gabriel, Jofepb's 5 Meratron, Mofes's ; Malathiel, Alias's, $£c.

Among thefe Explications of the Law, which, in reality, are little elfe but the fevcral Interpretations and Decisions of the Rabbins on the Laws of Mofes, fome arc Myjlical ; confifting of odd abftrufe Significations given to a Word, or even to the Letters whereof it is compos'd : whence, by different Combinations, they draw Meanings from Scrip- ture, very different from thofe it feems natural.y to im- port. The Art of interpreting Scripture, after this man- ner, is call'd more particularly Cabbala ■■ And 'tis in this laft Senle the Word is more ordinarily us'd among us.

This Cabbala, call'd alfo Artificial Cabbala, (to diftin- guifh. it from the firft Kind, or fimple Tradition) is diftin- gutfh'd into three Sorts : The firft, call'd Gcmatria, confifts in the taking Letters as Figures, or Arithmetical Num- bers, and in explaining each Word by the Arithmetical Va- lue of the Letters whereof it is compos'd 5 which is done various ways. See Gem atria.

The fecond is call'd Notaricon ; and confifts either in the taking each Letter of a Word for an entire Diclion j v-g- rPt*W13 the firft Word of Gene/is, for ntDln '•T3n □'TO tf~lt£> y'iTD = Or in making one entire Diclion out of the Initial Letters of many 5 as out of thefe, nnx 'JIN trAly 1 ? "ICTJ = tfhou art great in Eternity, Lord - 7 by only taking the Initial Letters, they form the Cabbalijitc Name of God, N^JX ^ a > mention's! by Gala- tine. See Notaricon,

The third kind, call'd c fhe?nura, q.d. changing, confifts in the changing and tranfpofing the Letters of a Word j which is done various Ways : 1. By feparating 'em ; and thus, v. g. from Brefchit, i 1. e. in ^rincipio, they make Bres-chit, i. e. pofuit Vundamentum - 7 juft as in playing with Words, we fometimes feparate Sum-mm, Ter-minus, Sus-ti?iea-7?ziis. 2. By tranfpofing the Letters, and ranging 'em in a different manner: thus, from the fame Word Bref- chit, they make another Signification, i a in 'J'hifri 5 and becaufc this is taken from the firft Word in the Hiftory of the Creation of the World, they thence conclude, the World was created on the firft Days of the Month otT'bif ri. 3. By taking one Letter for another, with refpeft to the different Relations they acquire, in considering the Al- phabet different Ways : thus, by dividing the Hebrew Alpha- bet of 22 Letters, into two Parts, and taking the firft of either of thefe for the firft of the other, the fecond for the fecond, &c. by this means, oflabeel, an unknown Name mentioned in Jfaiah^ they form Remla, the Name of a King of Ifrael. Another manner of changing the Letters, is by taking the Alphabet two ways, firft in the common way, then backwards, and changing mutually the two firft Let- ters, then the two fecond, £TC; By this means, of »*Dp the Hearts of thofe who rife againjl me, they make c^nti*" the Chaldeans ; and thence conclude, that thofe God here fpake of are Chaldeans. Thefe two laft Kinds are alfo call'd trjn'S Affociation, Combination.

The Cabbala hitherto fpoke of, may be call'd Specula- tive Cabbala 5 in oppofition to the following, which may be call'd 'Pratlical Cabbala. ..

Cabbala, is alfo taken for the Ufe, or rather Abuie, which Magicians make of fome Paffages of Scripture. All the Words, Terms, Magic Figures, Numbers, Letters, Charms, SSfc.ufed in Magic, as alfo in the Hermetic*! Science, are compriz'd under this Species of Cabbala. But 'tis only the Chriftians that call it by this Name, on account of the Refemblance this Art bears to the Explications of the 7ewijb Cabbala : For the Jews nevcr ute the Word ?f J 'N rr, Uk