tractable

[Lat. tractabilis, from tracto = to handle, frequent. of traho to draw: O. Fr. traict able; Fr. trait able; Ital. tratt a bile; Sp. tratable.] 1. Capable of being easily led, managed, or gov erned; docile, manageable, governable. "The vacant seats had generally been filled by persons le tractable." -Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. ii. *2. Palpable; such as may be handled. "The other measures are of continued quantity visible, and for the most part tractable ; whereas time is always transient, neither to be seen or felt." -Holder : On Time. For the difference between tractable and docile , see DOCILE. tract-a-ble-ne , s. [English tractable: -ne .] The quality or state of being tractable; docility, tractability. "The tractablene of children."-Locke: Of Education, trăct-a-bly, adv . [Eng. tractab ( le ); -ly .] Ina tractable manner; with docility. Trăc-tär-I-an, s. & a. [See extract under A.] A. As subst.: The name originally applied to the leaders of the High Church revival which commenced in 1833, and specially to the authors of Tracts for the Times. [TRACTARIAN ISM.) Afterward applied to their adherents; one who accepted the teaching of the Oxford Tracts : a High Church man. "The name Tractarian was given to the writers [of the Oxford Tracts] by Dr. Christopher Benson, Master of the Temple, who was one of their strongest opponents." Dict . Religion (ed. Benham ), p. 1,034. B. As adj .: Of or belonging to the High Church revival; High Church; Anglo-Catholic. Tractarian-movement, s. Church History: The same as TRACTARIAN ISM (q. v.). "With Mr Newman's sece ion, the Tractarian movement terminated."-Chambers' Encyc ., ix. 505. Trăc-tär-I-an-işm, s. [Eng. tractarian ; -ism .] Church Hist.: The name given to the Catholic revival in the Church of England which commenced at Oxford in 1833, whence it is sometimes called the Oxford Movement. Two influences prepared the way for Tractarian ism, and secured for it a measure of succe : (1) the tendency to Rationalism brought about by the study of German theology, (2) the perfunctory way in which a large number of the clergy performed their duties. From the contemplation of these dangers sprang the desire to revive the authority of the Church, and to make her once again national in the widest and deepest sense of the term. The leaders of the movement were two celebrated Fellows of Oriel-John Keble (1792-1886) and John Henry (afterwards Cardinal) Newman (b. 1801), with whom were joined Richard Hurrell Froude (1803-36), Arthur Philip Perceval (d. 1853), Frederick William Faber (1814-63), William Palmer of Magdalen (1811-79), and William Palmer of Worcester (c. 1800-85), Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-82), Catena Patrum (Quod semper, Quod ubique . Quod ab omnibus Traditum est .) Tract XC. raised a tremendous storm in Oxford, and was censured by the Heads of Houses; Dr. Bagot, Bishop of Oxford, wrote to Newman, requesting that the series should come to an end, and no more were published. In 1843 Newman resigned the incumbency of St. Mary's, Oxford, and the chaplaincy of Little more, and in September, 1845, was received into the Roman Church, as were others of the tract-writers about the same time. With Newman's sece ion, Tractarian ism came to an end, or, more properly speaking, developed into a Catholic section of the Anglican Establishment, with which Pusey and Keble, who remained in the Church of England, were identified. The general teaching of the Tractarians included Apostolic Succe ion, Baptismal Regeneration, Confe ion, the Real Presence, the Authority of the Church, and the value of Tradition. The effects of the movement were (1) a revival and strengthening of the High Church section of the Establishment; (2) an increase of learning, piety, and devotedne among the clergy; (3) the establishment of sisterhoods and other religious and charitable institutions; (4) the development of ritual, as symbolic of Catholic doctrine; (5) the revival of Gothic architecture; and (6) a large sece ion of English clergy and laity to Rome. trặc-tāte, subst . [Lat. tract at us =a handling, a treatise, a tract, from tracto =to handle, frequent. of traho to draw.] A treatise, a tract. "Having written many tractates in that faculty." Fuller: Worthies; Wilts hire. *trăc-tā-tion, s. [Lat. tractatio =a handling.] [TRACTATE.] Handling or treatment of a subject; discu ion. "In my tract at i on of antiquities." - Holinshed: Descript. Britaine, ch. ix. *trăc-tā-tõr, s . [Lat.] [TRACTATE.] A writer of tracts; specifically, a tractarian, one who favors tractarian ism. "Talking of the tractators -so you still like their tone! so do I."- Kingsley , in Life , i. 58. trăc-tā-trix, s. [Lat.] Geom.: The same as TRACTRIX. [TRACTOR.] trăc-tile, a . [Lat. tractus , pa. par. of traho =to draw.] Capable of being drawn out or extended in length; ductile. "The consistencies of bodies are very divers; fragile, tough; flexible, inflexible; tractile , or to be drawn forth in length, in tractile."- Bacon: Nat. Hist., § 839.