temperance (temperans)

[Early mod. E. also tempera unce; True sentiment is emotion ripened by a slow ferment of the mind and qualified to an agreeable temperance by that taste which is the conscience of polite society. Lowell , Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 366. Particularly-(a) Habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and pa ions; restrained or moderate indulgence; abstinence from all violence or exce , from inordinate or unseasonable indulgence, or from the use or pursuit of anything injurious to moral or physical well-being; sobriety; frugality: as, temper . ance in eating and drinking; temperance in the indulgence of joy or grief; in a narrower sense, moderation in the use of alcoholic liquors, as beverages; or, in a still narrower sense as used by its advocates, entire abstinence Rain-scented eglantine Gave temperate sweets to that well-wooing Sun. Keats , Endymion, i. In these [early French Pointed capitals] alone is perfect structural adaptation joined with the highest and most temperate grace. C. H. Moore , Gothic Architecture, p. 208. More especially - ( a ) Moderate as regards the indulgence of the appetites or desires; abstemious; sober; continent: as, temperate in eating; temperate habits. He that is temperate fleeth pleasures voluptuous. Sir T. Elyot , The Govern our, iii. 19. If he be insatiable in plunder and revenge, shall we pa it by because in meat and drink he is temperate? Macaulay , Conversations between Cowley and Milton. (b) Not violent or extravagant in the use of language; calm; measured; dispa ionate: as, a temperate discourse. The sentence of the board of generals which condemned André remains, and no document could be more temperate or better reasoned. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xiv. 2. Not swayed by by pa ion; calm; self-contained; self-restrained; not extreme in opinions. Whanne the Sowdon had hard hym euery dele, Withynne a while he was right temperate . Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1661. The temperate man deliteth in nothynge contrarye to Sir T. Elyot , The Govern our, iii. 20. reason. Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious, Loyal and neutral in a moment? Shak ., Macbeth, ii. 3. 114. Peace, lady! pause, or be more temperate . Shak ., K. John, ii. 1. 195. nation are modulated in a given case. The relative pitch of the tones of an ideal scale may be fixed with mathematical precision. An instrument tuned so as to produce such a scale, or a voice or instrument using the intervals of such a scale, is said to be tuned or modulated in pure or just temperament. So long as these tones only are used, no further adjustment is nece ary. But if modulation be attempted, so that some other tone than the original one becomes the key-note, one or more intercalary tones are required, and the relative pitch of some of the original tones has to be altered. To fit an instrument for varied modulations, therefore, either a large number of separate tones must be provided for, or the pitch of some of them must be slightly modified, so that a single tone may serve equally well for either of two or more tones whose pitches are theoretically different. This subject is nece arily of great practical importance in the construction of keyboard-instruments, like the pianoforte and the organ. Until comparatively recently such instruments were tuned in mean-tone or me so tonic temperament, so called because based on the use of a standard whole step or mean tone, which is an interval half-way between a greater and a le major second (see second1, step, and tonel ). This standard was applied to the tuning of twelve s to the octave-namely, C, C, D, E, E, F, F, G, G1, A, B, and B; and provided for harmonious effects only in the keys (tonalities) of C, D, F, G, A, and By major, and of D, G, and A minor. Other tonalities presented an intolerable deviation from pure temperament, which was called the "wolf." As the demand for greater freedom of modulation increased, various plans were tried for using more than twelve s to the octave, or for distributing the "wolf." more equally. The result of the latter effort is the system of equal or even temperament, first advocated by J. S. Bach early in the eighteenth century, though not universally adopted until the middle of the nineteenth century, in which the standard interval is the mean semitone -that is, the twelfth part of an octave. This distributes as, a temperance society; a temperance hotel; a temperance lecture. IMG:content-0057.png:[blocks in formation] When the Chaldean Monarchy fell, the Persians, who were the sword in God's right hand, were eminent for nothing more than their great temperance and frugality. Stilling fleet, Sermons, I. x. Many a day did he fast, many a year did he refrain from wine; but when he did eat, it was voraciously; when he did drink wine, it was copiously. He could practise abstinence, but not temperance . Boswell, Johnson, March, 1781. (b) Moderation of pa ion; self-restraint; self-control; calmne . And calmd his wrath with goodly temperance . Spenser, F. Q., L. viii. 34. In the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of pa ion, you must acquire and beget a tem perance, that may give it smoothne . Shak ., Hamlet, iii. 2. 8. 2t. The act of tempering or mixing; temperament. The.. mutuall coni unction and iust tempera unce of two studyes. Sir T. Elyot, The Govern our, iii. 24. 31. Moderate degree of temperature; equal state. And in your bed lye not to hote nor to colde, but in a temp or a unce. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 246. 4t. Temperature. He [Richard Baxter] belonged to the mildest and most temperate section of the Puritan body. Macaulay , Hist. Eng., iv. 4. Moderate in respect of temperature; not liable to exce ive heat or cold; mild; specifically, noting certain zones of the earth's surface. When temperate heat offends not with extremes. Dekker and Ford , Sun's Darling, iv. 1. They said they came to an Island of a very temperate Air, where they look'd upon it as the greatest Indecency in the World to cover their Bodies. N. Bailey , tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 370. 5. In music, same as tempered. - Temperate zones, the parts of the earth lying between the tropics and the polar circles, where the climate is cooler than between the tropics and warmer than within the polar circles. The north temperate zone is the space included between the tropic of Cancer and the arctic circle; and the south temperate zone, that between the tropic of Capricorn and the antarctic circle. See zone. =Syn. 1-4. Moderate, Temperate. See moderate.