UN I

829

U N O

countries. The established religion here before the French revolu-tion was the Presbyterian, or Calvinism: none but Presbyterians were admitted into any office or post in the government, except-’ng the army ; all religious sects, however, were tolerated, and hadtheir respective meetings or assemblies for public worship, amongwhich the Papists and Jews were very numerous. For a considera-ble period, from 1795 to 1813, these provinces were annexed tounder the controul of France , during which their trade, pre-viously on the decline, suffered too much to be recovered, eventhe restoration of Peace, and of the Orange family to the throne°f the N ethcrlands.

United States of America. When the United States ofNorih America first published their declaration oliincjependency,4ih July 1776, there were only thirteen states in the union; butthis great commonwealth now consists of seventeen states, all'inited in a firm federal union, under the same general system oflaws and of liberty viz. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con-necticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, NewJersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maine, Maryland ,Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina ,a ennassef., and Georgia . See these articles. No part of theS'obe is so supplied with rivers, great and small springs and lakes,as the United Slates, so that a communication by water, from oneex tremity to the other, is more easy than in England, and a greatmultitude of bays and excellent harbours are on the coast of every•flantime stale. In the large towns, the houses are of brick; inthe others, and their environs, the half, and often the whole ofthem, are of planks; but eighty miles from the sea, in the centraland southern slates, and still more paiticularly in those west of theAllegany mountains, seven-tenths of the inhabitants live in log-bouses. The thirteen original slates long flourished as provinces°f Great Britain : hut parliament attempting to tax them by itssole authority, without the intervention of their assemblies, a civilWar ensued. The Americans formed a congress which, in 1776,disclaimed all dependence on the mother country; the French king entered into an alliance with them in 1778 ; the colonies,powerfully assisted by Fiance, were successful ; Great Britain ac-knowledged their independence by the peace of 1783. The fede-ral constitution of the United States is governed by a congress,consisting of a president, vice-president, senate , and house of re-presentatives. I he representatives are elected every second year •the senators are chosen for six years, and the president and "vice-president for four.

UNITY, in poetry. Aristotle laid it down as a rule, that thereare three unities to be observed, viz. the unity of action, of time,and of place. .

Unity of Possession, in law, signifies a joint possession of tworights by several titles.

UNIVALVE SHELLS, in natural history, a term used to ex-press one of three general classes of shell-iish ; the other two beingHie Bivalves ami Multivalves. See CoffCHOLOGY, Shells, &c.

UNIVERSAL, that is common to many things; or it isone thing belonging to many, or all things. In logic, uni-versal is either complex or incomplex. A complex universal iseither an universal proposition, as every whole is greater than itsPait; or whatever raises a manifold conception in the mind, as thedefinition of a reasonable animal. An incomplex universal, isWhat produces only one conception in the mind, and is a simplething respecting many ; as human nature, which relates to every

‘‘'dividual wherein it is found. .

UNIVERSALITY , that quality which denominates a thingUniversal. See the preceding article.

wNlV ERSE, is a collective name, signifying the whole world;b^the assemblage of heaven and earth, with all tilings therein. See

Utmt N omy ’ a,K * Geography.edi ERSITY, is the name of a corporation formed for theto 1C > at '?fl °f youth in the liberal arts and sciences, and authorizedfacuip such as *’ ave studied in it to certain degrees in differentScie * leS ’ which not only serve as certificates of proficiency inI lr ivi\ C . e> ^ Ut a * so confer on those who obtain them considerableWitho f^ S the university, as well as some rank in the stale

Or mo ut Universities generally comprehend within them onesity c °Heges; but this is not always the case; for the univer-’s was in being before either of its colleges wasVoi 2 anc * wo »ld continue in being with all its privilegesiv—xo. 214.

though both its colleges were levelled with the dust. In everyuniversity with which we are acquainted, there are four faculties,viz. Theology, Law, Physic , and the Arts and Sciences, compre-hending mathematics, natural and moral philosophy, &c. and inOxford, Cambridge, and some other universities, Music is consi-dered as a fifth faculty. In each of these there are two degrees,those of Bachelor and Doctor; for though in the universities ofGreat Britain and Ireland we have no such degree as Doctor inArts and Sciences, our Master of Arts answers to the degree ofDoctor in Philosophy, which is conferred by many of the univer-sities on the continent. Universities, in their present form, andwith their present privileges, are institutions comparatively modern.They sprang from the convents of regular clergy, or from thechapters of cathedrals in the church of Rome , where young menwere educated for holy orders, in that dark period when the clergypossessed all the little erudition which was left in Europe . Theseconvents were seminaries of learning probably from their first in-stitution-, and we know with certainty, that in Old Aberdeen therewas a monastery in which youth were instructed in theology, thecanon law, and the school-philosophy, at least 200 years before theuniversity and King's College were founded. The same wasdoubtless the case in Oxford and Cambridge, and probably inevery town in Europe where there is now a university, which liasany claim to be called ancient; for it was not till the more eminentof the laity began to see the importance of literature and science,that universities distinct from convents were founded, with the pri-vilege of admitting to degrees, which conferred some rank in civilsociety. These universities have long been considered as lay cor-porations ; but as a proof that they had the ecclesiastical originwhich we have assigned to them, it will he sufficient to observe,that the pope arrogated to himself the right of vesting them withall their privileges ; and that, prior to the Reformation, every uni-versity in Europe conferred its degrees in all the faculties by au-thority derived from a papal bull. The most ancient universitiesin Europe are those of Oxford, Cambridge, Paris , Salamanca, andBologna; and in the two English universities, the first foundedcolleges are those of University , Baliol, and Merton, in the former,and St. Peter’s in the latter. Oxford and Cambridge, however,were universities, or, as they were then called, studies, some hun-dreds of years before colleges or schools were built in them; forthe former flourished as a seminary of learning in the reign of Al-fred the Great , and the other, could we believe its partial partizans,at a period still earlier. The universities of Scotland are four, St.Andrew’s Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh. In Ireland thereis but one university, viz. that of Dublin , founded by queen Eliza-beth, and very richly endowed.

University Courts, in England. The two universities enjoythe sole jurisdiction, in exclusion of the king’s courts, over all ci-vil actions and suits whatsoever, where a scholar or privileged per-son is one of (he parlies; excepting in such cases wiipre the rightof freehold is concerned. And then by the university-charterthey are at liberty to try and determine, either according to thecommon law of the land, or according to their own local customs,at their discretion; which, has generally led them to carry on theirprocess in a course much conformed to the civil law.

UNIVOCAL, in the schools, is applied to two or more names,or terms, that have but one signification, in opposition to equivo-cal, which is where one term has two or more significations. SeeEquivocal.

UNLAWFUL, ILLEGAL, prohibited by, or contrary to,the terms of law, either divine or human. See Law.

Unlawful Assembly, the meeting of three or more personstogether, by force to commit some unlawful act, as to assault anyperson, to enter his house or land, &c. and thus abiding together,whether they attempt the execution or not. See Riot.

UNLIMITED, or INDETERMINATE PROBLEM, issuch a one as is capable of infinite solutions. See Problem, andAlgebra ,

UN MOOR, a term used at sea. vv hen a vessel which was rid-ing at anchor weighs the same, or gets it up, in order to sail, theysay she is unmooring.

UNONA, in botany, a genus of the polyandria polygynia classand order; natural order, Coadunal®. Calyx three-leaved ; pe-tals six; berries two or three-seeded, jointed like a necklace.There are four species,,

10 B UNXIA,

i