EXCI'SE. n.s. [accijis, Dutch; excisum, Latin] A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.
The people should pay a ratable tax for their sheep, and an excise for every thing which they should eat. Hayward.
Ambitious now to take excise
Of a more fragrant paradise. Cleaveland.
Excise,
With hundred rows of teeth, the shark exceeds,
And on all trades like Caffawar she feeds. Marvel.
Can hire large houses, and oppress the poor,
By farm'd excise. Dryden's Juvenal, Sat. 3.

GRU'BSTREET. n.s. Originally the name of a street in Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems ; whence any mean production is called grubstreet.
The first part, though calculated only for the meridian of grubstreet, was yet taken notice of by the better sort. Arbuthn.
I'd sooner ballads write, and grubstreet lays. Gay.

IMPO'RTANT.adj. [important, French.] 1. Momentous; weighty; of great consequence.
The most important and pressing care of a new and vigorous king was his marriage, for mediate establifhment of the royal line. Wotton.
This superadds treachery to the crime : 'tis the falsifying the most important trust. Decay of Piety.
O then, what interest shall I make
To save my last important stake,
When the most just have cause to quake. Roscommon.
The great important end that God designs it for, the government of mankind, sufficiently shews the necessity of its being rooted deep in the heart, and put beyond the danger of being torn up by any ordinary violence. South
Examine how the fashionable practice of the world can be reconsiled to the important doctrine of our religion. Rogers
Important truths still let your fables hold,
And moral mysteries with art unfold. Granville
Th' important hour had pass'd unheeded by. Irene.
2. Momentous ; forcible ; of great efficacy. This seems to be the meaning here.
He fiercely at him flew,
And with important outrage him assail'd;
Who soon prepar'd to field, his sword forth drew,
And him with equal value countervail'd. Fairy Queen.
3. Importunate. A corrupt use of the word.
Great France
My mourning and important tears hath pitied. Shakespeare

OATS. n.s. [a_en, Saxon.] A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
It is of the grass leaved tribe ; the flowers have no petals, and are disposed in a loose panicle : the grain is eatable. The meal makes tolerable good bread. Miller.
The oats have eaten the horses. Shakespeare
It is bare mechanism, no otherwise produced than the turning of a wild oatbeard, by the insinuation of the particles of
moisture. Locke.
For your lean cattle, fodder them with barley straw first, and the oat straw last. Mortimer's Husbandry.
His horse's allowance of oats and beans, was greater than the journey required. Swift.

PA'TRON. n.s. [patron, Fr. Patronus, Latin.]
1. One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with indolence, and is paid with flattery.
I'll plead for you, as for my patron. Shakesp.
Ne'er let me pass in silence Dorset's name;
Ne'er cease to mention the continu'd debt,
Which the great patron only would forget. Prior.
2. A guardian saint. Thou amongst those saints, whom thou do'st see,
Shall be a saint, and thine own nation's friend
And patron. Fairy Queen, b, i
St. Michael is mentioned as the patron of the Jews, and is
now taken by the Chrsitians, as the protector general of our
religion. Dryden.
3. Advocate ; defender ; vindicator.
We are no patrons of those things ; the best defence where-
of is speedy redress and amendment. Hooker, b. ii.s. I.
Whether the minds of men have naturally imprinted on
them the ideas of extension and number, I leave to those who
are the patrons of innate principles. Locke.
4. One who has donation of ecclesiastical preferment

PE'NSION. n.s: [pension, Fr.] An allowance made to any one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.
A charity bestowed on the education of her young subjects has more merit than a thousand pensions to those of a higher
fortune. Addison's Guardian, N° 105.
He has liv'd with the great without flattery, and been a frined to men in power without pensions. Pope