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X is the twenty-second letter of our alphabet, and a doubleconsonant. U was not used by the Hebrews or ancientGreeks: for as it is a compound letter, the ancients, who usedgreat simplicity in their writings, expressed it by its componentletters c or k. Neither have the Italians this letter, but expressit by is. X begins no word in our language but such as are ofGreek original : and is in few others but what are of Latin deriva-tion : as perplex, reflection, defluxion, fyc. We often expressthis sound by smgle letters, as eks, in backs, necks; by ks, inbooks, breaks ; by cc,.in access, accident ; by ct, action, unc-tion, Sfc. The English and French pronounce it like cs or ks ;the Spaniards like c before a, viz. Alexandra, as if it were Ale-candra. As a numeral it expressed 10, whence in old Roman]VJ. SS. it is used for denarius ; and as such seems to be made oftwo V’s placed one over the other. When a dash is added overit, thus X, it signifies 10,000. As an abbreviation, X was longused by the learned throughout Europe , for Christ, because theGreek capital x, the first letter of his name in Greek, is the samein form with our X: and in analogy with this, Xtian was used asan abbreviation for Christian-, and in both these abbreviations thecross-form of this letter suited the Roman Catholic taste.

XAB1ER, the Chief province of Whidah.

Xabier, the capital of the above province, and of the wholekingdom of Whidah.

XACCA, or SACCA, a town of Sicily , in the valley of Ma-zara, 41 miles S. W. of Palermo . Lon. 13. 2. E. Lat. 37. 41. N.

XAGUA, a sea-port on the S. coast of Cuba , between the islesofPinosand Espiritu Santo. Lon. 81. 20. W. Lat.22. 10. N.

XAL1SCO, a province of Mexico, in the audience of Guada-lajara .

Xalisco, the Capital of Xalisco, on the coast; 15 miles N. W.of Compostella Nuova. Lon. 110. 5. W. Lat. 22. 30. N. j

XANTHE, a genus of plants of the class and order dioeciasyngenesia. Flowers dioecious ; calyx five parted : corolla 5-6-petaled. There are two species, shrubs of Guiana.

XANTHIUM, in botany, a genus of plants of the class mo-ncccia, and order pentandria ; natural order, Composite. Male flow-ers composite, common calyx imbricated ; corollute monopetalous,tubular, cjuini|ueikl. Female: calyx involuemm of two leaves,containing m o flowers: corolla none ; drupa dry, prickly ; nucleusbilocular. There are five species.

XANTII lORZA, a genus of plants of the class and orderpentandria polygamia. There is no calyx ; petals five : nectarinesfive, pediceiled; capsules five, one-seeded. There is one species,a shrub of North America .

X A NTH O X YLU M, IbeTooTH-A che-Tb f.e, agenusof plants■of the class and orider diecia pentandria. Caiyx five-parted; nocorolla: fem. pistils fire; capsules five, one-seeded. There isone species, a tree of Jamaica .

XANTHUS, in fabulous history, one of the horses of Achilles,■who, when chid with severity, spoke to his master, and told himlie would soon be killed.

XANTlPPE, the wife of Socrates , proverbially famous as ascold. But while this foible is often repeated, her virtues are for-got. No wife, ever shewed more affectionate grief than she did ■at her husband's death. See Socrates .

XANTUTUS, or XANTHIPPE'S, a celebrated Athenian general and admiral, who defeated the Persian fleet at Mycale, inconjunction with Leotychides king ot Sparta ; and was appointedalong with Aristides to judge of T bemistocle’s secret proposal.See Attica, and Mycale. He married Agariste, the niece ofClisthenes , who expelled the Pisistratids; by whom he had thecelebrated Pericles . He also conquered the Thracians, A statuewas erected to his honour in the citadel of Athens .

XAIIVA, a town of Spain, in Valencia , 32 miles S. W. ofValencia . Lon.0. 14. W. Lat. 39. 4. N.

XAVIER, St. Francis, the apostle of the Indies, was borain 1506, and educated at Paris, where he formed an intimacy withIgnatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits . Seized with a simi-lar zeal, he bound himself with some others, to attempt to convertthe heathens. In 1541, he embarked at Lisbon for Goa , and la-boured with great zeal in Japan and various parts of India . Hewas even preparing for a voyage to China, when he died at Goa ill1552. Pope Gregory XV . enrolled him among the saints in 1622,His works are, 1. Five Books of Epistles , Paris, 8vo. 1631. 2*

A Catechism. 3. Opuscula.

Xavier, St. a town of Paraguay , in the province of LaPlata, 200 miles W. of Rio Janeiro . Lon. 50. 6 . W. Lat. 24.0. S.

XEBEC, or ZEBEC, a small three-masted vessel, navigated,in tlie Mediterranean Sea, and on the coasts of Spain, Portugal ,and Barbarv-

XENAGORAS ; 1. An ancient historian. Dion. Hal. 2. Aphilosopher who measured the height of mount Olympus.

XENARCHUS ; 1. an ancient comic poet. 2. A peripatetic;philosopher, who taught philosophy at Alexandria and Rome, and.was intimate with Augustus. 3, A praetor of the Aclisan league,who favoured Perseus .

XENIADES, a Corinthian, who went to buy Diogenes ,the Cynic, when sold as a slave. Upon asking him, What hecould clor he replied, Command freemen; on which he gavehim his freedom, and made him tutor to his children. Gellius ii„c. 18.

XENOCRATES, a celebrated ancient Grecian philosopher ,born atChalcedon in the 95th Olympiad. At first he attachedhimself to iEschines, but afterwards became a disciple of Plato ,who .took much pains in cultivating his genius, which was naturallydull. His temper was gloomy, his aspect severe, and his mannerslittle tinctured with urbanity. These material defect? Plato tookgreat pains to correct, advising him to sacrifice to the Graces,Xenocrates was patient of instruction, and, as long as Plato lived,wasone of his most esteemed disciples; after his death he adheredto his doctrine ; and, in the second year of the 110th Olympiadlie took the chair in the academy, as the successor of Speusippus ,Xenociates was celebrated among the Athenians , not only for his'wisdom, but for his virtues. So eminent was his reputation forintegrity that when he was called upon to give evidence in a judi-cial transaction, in which an oath was usually required, the judgesagreed, that his simple asseveration should be taken as a'publictestimony to his merit. Even Philip II. of Macedon found it im-possible to corrupt him. So abstemious was lie with respect tofood, that his provision was often spoiled before it was used. Hischastity was invincible. Phryne, the celebrated Athenian cour-tezan, attempted without success to seduce him. Of his huma-nity even to brutes, he gave proof, by protecting a sparrow pur-sued by a hawk, which flew into his bosom. He was economicof his time, mid allotted a certain portion of each clay to its properbusiness. One of these he employed in meditation. He was anadmirer of the mathematical sciences. He lived to the first year ofthe 116th Olympiad, or the 82d of his age, when he lost his lifeby falling, in the dark, into a reservoir of water.

'XENOPHANES, the founder of the Eleatic sect of philoso-phy among the Greeks, was bom at Colophon about the 65thOlympiad. From some cause or other he left his country early,and took refuge in Sicily , where he supported himself by recit-ing, in the court of liiero, elegiac and lambic verses,which lie had written in reprehension of the theogonies of He-siod and Homer.' From Sicily he passed over into MagnaGrxcia, where he took up the profession of philosophy, and be-came