W^a vlT^^yAf^^e/i c tm.mu oji i'rk i/l/UL- m ifu ' I' ■ -V a. USEFUL KNOWLEDGE ; A BOOK FOR ALL. Rev. J. DOUGLAS BOBTHWICK. Author of " Cyclopedia of History and Geography ;" " The British American Reader ;" " The Harp of Canaan,^' and "^he Battles qf the Worldl' ^ ■• v.. •,' ." ; :;...;.:^; ;. . '. • . . I ;-;-;— — >■ > . . ;. . : . Publisl\ed by G. & W. CLAI^KE, BOOKSBLLERS, STATIONERS, AND NeWS AgEXTS, 222 St. James iStreet, Montreal. L^-fv^"..* .*iWi.W«^ «.<»*< y*y ■» t»^. V- '- ■ ^ ■>;' ■-. " '••: • • ; B. Q. R,, fS ,-." Vf T^Tffty- miM'im Md^m^ U ik or USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. BOOK I. The Why and the Where/ore of Peculiar Names, Man- ners, Customs and Derivation of Words not generally/ known — Remarkable Historical and Geographical Fa^ts and Events, and Notes on the Sciences — Alphabetically Arranged, ready for Reference. Achilles — He was so called from his tutor the Centaur Chiron having fed him without any vegetable food, (a, not, and chilos, vegetable food.) When he was a child his mother, Thetis, dipped him in the river Styx, which rendered him invulnerable in every part, except the heel, by which she held him. Paris, at the siege of Troy, slew Achilles, by sending an arrow into the only vulnerable part of his body, hence that part to this day is called tendon Achilles. jElius P^tus — He received the name Catus from the circumstance of a woodpecker perching on his head in the Senate, when a soothsayer exclaimed that, if he preserved the bird his house would flourish and Rome decay, he immediately bit off the head of the bird. Alexander the Great — The following is Dean Swift's funny derivation of Alexander the Great's name : " The Prince of Macedon was fond, from his youth upwards, of roasted eggs. His servants used to make them ready for him ^y heating them slowly among the ashes ; and as their master was rather a testy gentle- man) and hated to be kept waiting for dinner, whenever r^Mfflr'^r' ' I p-r^^'iJin^ ^^a ^, . they saw him coming home from the hunt or the review, they used to cry out in chorus, from kitchen to attic ^All eggs under the grate f ' And this in time hecame the appellation by which their heroic prince was univer- sdly known." Almanac — The Saxons originated the term Almanac. These ancients paid much attention to the moon, and used to engrave or cut upon square sticks, about a foot in breadth, the course of that luminary for each year. The tablet thus marked with the moon's periods, got the name of Al-mon-aght; in the Saxon dialect, Al- mon-heed signified All must heed, and the injunction indicated the necessity of attending to the celebration of the festivals and holy days mentioned in the calendars. Amazons — The ancient female warriors of Pontus ; so called because they cut oflF their right breast to handle the sword more easily, or hurl the javelin or bend the bow. Amen — This word is as old as the Hebrew itself. Employed in devotions at the end of a prayer, it implies — so be it; at the termination of a creed — so it is. It has been generally used, both in the Jewish and Christian churches, at the conclusion of prayer. Amethyst — It comes from the Greek words signify- ing not to be inebriated, because in former times, according to Plutarch, it was thought to prevent drunkenness, and hence a ring with an amethyst stone was considered a sure protection against inebriety. Ammoniac — The salt called ammoniac abounds in the refuse of several species of animals, and particularly of camels. Once upon a time there stood on the African coast of the Meterranean, a little to the west of Egypt, a magificent temple dedicated to the principal deity of the heathen mythology, Jupiter, under his Egyptian surname of Ammon. To this temple crowds of pilgrims used to come from all quarters of the ancient world, and, as the country in the neighborhood consisted in many parts of sandy deserts, large inns were erected here and there for the convenience of the travellers, and the accommodatioD of the camels on which they rode. In the course of this pilgrimage track, the volatile salt alluded to was first discovered, having become concrete in those places where camels had rested, or by which they had passed. From the deity in whose honor the pilgrimage was made, the substance was called Ammoniac. Apirl Fool — Butler says the origin of the jokes played under this name is conjectured to rest with the French, who term the object of their mockery un poisson d'Avril, a name which they also give to mackerel, a fish caught in great quantities at this season. The English are said to have borrowed the practice, changing the appllation from fish to fool. Arbiter — Comes from the Latin words ara, an altar, and iter, a going to, applied originally to those Romans who touched the altar or swore when they were about to decide any matter of importance. Arena — Is a word now in common use. The word is Latin, and means simply sand. It acquired its present signification from the circumstance of the amphitheatre at Rome being strewn with sand, in order to fit the ground for the combats of the prize fighters, and also to drink up their blood ! Arras — A kind of tapestry, so called because first made in Artois, a town of France. Assassins — A famous order among the Mahometans, A.D. 1090 ; hence our word assassin or murderer ; their king was styled the Ancient of the Mountain ; and The Old Man of the Mountain. Some aflSrm that the etymology of this word is from haschischim, an in- toxicating preparation of henbane and hemp, which, when smoked or otherwise inhaled, excites a violent delerium or a plesant trance. Attorney — The word Attorney seems to have primarily signified one who appeared at the tourney, and did battle in the place of another. The term, however, did not arise from these appearances at --W common tournaments, but from a similar thing taking place at certain biennial meetings held by the shire- reeve, or sheriflF, of each of the English counties, in the times of our Saxun ancestors, and which meetings were called the sheriffs' torns or tourns. These re- sembled ordinary tourneys, in so far as the law permitted accusations to be maintained or repelled by personal contests, and these must have been frequently determined by deputy, in such oases as those already alluded to. By-and-bye, matters came to be settled at the sherifFs' torns by words, not blows ; and as parties in causes could not all be orators, the practice of employing substitutes who had the gift of ready speech, must have speedily been found convenient. Those who thus appeared and spoke for others were named attorneys. Aurora Borealis — These meteoric displays are unquestionably of electro-magnetic origin, as they may be artificially imitated by passing a current of electricity through an exhausted receiver ; violent disturbances of the Magnetic needle accompany its appearance ; and light has been evolved by Faraday through magnetic power. The earth's magnetism is subject to vast and unaccountable commotions or storms of immense extent, which occur at irregular intervals, and are of short duration. Avalanches — The dislodgments of mountain masses, which fall in a heap of ruins into the subjacent valleys, or a simple slide to a lower level without entire derangement, are not uncommon with certain forma- tions of a loose and solvent texture. Though the work of a few moments as to the actual catastrophe, the predisposing process for the event extends through a series of ages. It is generally due to the solvent power of the water percolating by rents and fissures to a stratum of soft sandstone, limestone, or conglomerate, the bases of other strata, and gradually carrying away its material. B Bards —They were the ancient Minstrels of Britain ; The Scalds of Scandinavia ; The Troubadours of France, The Glee-men or Harpers of the Ancient Saxons. Baubee — This coin, which is a half-penny, and so called in Scotland and the North of England, received its name from the following circumstance. When James, one of the kings of Scotland, was engaged in the coining of a large number of half-pence, a son was bom to him, which, when he heard, he said, " Let the coin be called a baubee, (from baby) in honor of my son," and it has continued to be so called ever since. Bankrupt — This word comes from two Italian words bancOf rotto, broken, bench. Bankers and Merchants used formerly to count their money and write their bills of exchange upon benches in the streets, and when a merchant or banker lost his credit and was unable to pay his debts, his bench was broken. Bayonet — It was invented at Bayonne in 1641 ; and employed in 1670, in the regiment of the King's Fusileers. It sensibly modified the system of military art in Europe, as it made cavalry less redoubtable to infantry, and caused the fires of lines of battle to cease to be regarded as the principal means of action. According to a local tradition, it was in a small hamlet in the environs of Bayonne that this arm was invented. What led to the invention of it was, that in a fierce combat between some Basque peasants and some Spanish smugglers, the former having exhausted their ammunition, and thereby at a disadvantage, fastened their long knives to their muskets, and by means of the weapon so formed, put their enemies to fiight. The first battle at which the bayonet was seriously employed was that of Turin, in 1692. ' - Beaver — The word Beaver, is not derived, as most people imagine, from the animal of the same name, the fur of which is used in the manufacture of modern hats. %tk 4i ■8 -^ It is derived from the Italian word hevere^ to drink, and the appellation had its origin in the practice, followed by the knights formerly, of converting the helmet into a di||^ing vessel, when more suitable cups were not at hamr. Our English word Leverage comes from the same Italian root. Bigot — Camden gives the following account of the origin of the word Bigot : — " "When Rollo, Duke of Normandy, received Gisla, the daughter of Charles the Simple, King of France, in marriage, together with the investiture of the Norman dukedom, he would not sub- mit to kiss Charles's feet ; and when his friends urged him to comply with that ceremony, he made answer in the English tongue, * Not so, by God.' Upon which the king and his courtiers, deriding the duke, and repeating his answer corruptly, from ignorance of the language in which he spoke, called him 'Bigot,' whence the Normans were named the Bigodi or Bigots." Malone thinks that its original signification was that of '* a rude and barbarous " person, and that it is a corruption from Visigoth : thus,Visigoth, Bisigot, Bigot. Blackguard —In all great houses, but particularly in Royal residences, long ago, there were a number of dirty dependents, whose office it was to attend the wood-yard, sculleries, &c. Of these, the most forlorn wretches seem to have been selected to carry coals to the kitchen, halls, &c. To this smutty regiment, who attended the progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and the kettles, which, with every other article of furniture, were then moved from palace to palace, the people in derision gave them the name of blackguards. Blanket — ^When the Flemings came over to England they introduced the making of all kinds of woollen cloth, and one of them, Thomas Blanket, having made one of those woollen shawls, called it a Blanket, after his name, which it still bears. Bohemians — Many persons are a good deal puzzled to know what is meant by the term Bohemian, which has become a word of very frequent use in our literature. A Bob'• ^ ^^ 22 inoreaaed. T^e motto Honi soit qui mal y pense, is said to have arisen from the Countess of Salisbury dropping her garter, which the king picked up, an4 said the above words to some of his courtiers, whom he observed to smile. Another account: "Here was the first idea of the Order of the Garter to which Richard the First afterwards gave its motto in his French wars, and made exclusively an English order, from being common to all Christians, as it till then had been. In one of the battles on St. George's Day, 1192, Saladin and his brother Safadin were on a hillock directing the Moslems, who had repulsed the English, when from the right wing up hastens King Kichard on Fanville, and springing from the saddle puts himself at the head of the archers, and stooping down to one of his companions, who had just been slain, loosens the small tape with which the Kentish men used to tie their sheaves of arrows in their quivers, and winding it round his leg, just below the knee, bids all the Chief Knights (who were indeed his associates, and of all Christian countries) do the like and fight the day in honor of St. George ; for it was St. George's feast, whose mass he had heard that morning, and received the host at it, and truly, though these gentlemen always fought well, they never performed such heroic actions as on that day." Another story is that Edward III. at the battle of Cressey, ordered his garter to be displayed as a signal of battle, in commemoration whereof he made a garter the principal ornament of the order created in memory of this signal victory, and the symbol of the indissoluble union of the knights. 'O" Gasconade — This word it derived from Gasoony — a province of France, the inhabitants of which were famous for boasting. Gauze — It takes its name from Guya, a city of Pa- lestine, where it was first manufactured. ' Gazette — It comes from the Venetian word gazetta, a small coin. The newspaper first published at Venice, xjm h ffp l/J" ^ log sold for a gazetta, took its name therefrom; whence our word gazette. -K}as — The terra gas sprang from the same source as gkaiit or ahoit^ both being from a Teutonic word sig- nifying ipxrit or supernatural being, and variously spelt gnst^ gh; ist, or otherwise, according to the diflferent Teutonic dialects. Now, some of the mineral springs of Germany exhale a vapour, which hangs above them in the semblance of a light thin cloud. This, being seen, was occasionally taken for a ghats or ghost, but those who had a little more wit at their finger-ends, knew the thing to be neither more nor less than a vapour. From this deceptive appearance, however, arose the custom of applying the term ghats to all vapours or aeriform bodies, and, being adopted by the continental chemists, ihe word soon became universal in this sense. Genealogy op the British Sovereigns — The following is the Genealogy of the Sovereigns : — Victoria was the Niece of William IV. ; William IV. brother of George IV. ; George the Fourth was the son of George the Third, who was the grandson of George the Second, who was the son of George the First, who was the cousin of Anne, who was the sister- in-law of William the Third, who was the son-in-law of James the Second, who was brother of Charles the Second, who was the son of Charles the First, who was the son of James the First, who was the cousin of Elizabeth, who was the sister of Mary, who was the sister of Edward the Sixth, who was the son of Henry the Eighth, who was the son of Henry the Seventh, who was the cousin of Richard the Third, who was the uncle of Edward the Fifth, who was the son of Edward the Fourth, who was the cousin of Henry the Sixth, who was the son of Henry the Fifth, who was the son of Henry the Fourth, who was the cousin of F»ichard the Second, who was the grandson of Edward the Third, who was the son of Edward the Second, who was the son of Edward the first, who was the son of V^V v-N ^ ^^ y Henry the Third, who was the son of John, who was the brother of Richard the First, who was the son of Henry the Second, who was the cousin of Stephen, who was the cousin of Henry the First, who was the brother of William Rufus, who was the son of William the Conqueror. Geysers — Hot springs, common in the neighbor- hood of volcanoes, occur in a remarkable group of fifty or more in Iceland, about 36 miles from Hecla. The most important of these is the Great Geyser, or Strokr. It is a circular mound of silicious deposits, with a basin at the summit, 60 feet in diameter, and six or seven deep. At the bottom of the basin there is a well ten feet wide at the mouth, but gradually narrowing to seven or eight, with a perpendicular descent of 70 feet. The grand eruptions are often after intervals of a day or more. Hollow rumbling sounds announce their approach and warn the spectator to retire to a safe dis- tance. The water in the bisin boils furiously, and is projected into the air in a succession of jets, accom- panied with immense volumes of steam The power of the Geyser varies, and also the height of the aqueous column. Gin — It comes from Geneva, by contraction, because first made there. Gloves — Gloves, perfumed or embroidered, were commonly bestowed as a mark of personal favour. Dr. Glisson received from Elizabeth a pair of Spanish lea- ther gloves, embossed and fringed with gold plate ; and when Sir Thomas Pope founded Trinity College, Oxford, the University presented him and his lady with a pair of rich gloves, the cost of which is stated by Warton to have been 6s. 8d. Ladies' sleeves, as well as gloves, were often given as tokens of gallantry ; and, in such cases, were usually pinned upon the sleeve of the receiver ; hence the expression, ** I wear my heart upon my sleeve," and " pinning one's faith upon another's sleeve." In the time of Charles II. there was a i)eculiar style of glove called Martial Gloves, J&xJYL /> y?^£ c J^Si frequently alluded to iu the comedies of Moliere, Sed- ley, and Etherege, and so called after the maker, who •> lived in Paris. Gloves, like salt, Iiave acted many // parts in their time ; thus, they are given away at wed- dings as a pledge of regard ; hung uj) in churches as a ^j public challenge ; thrown down in the lists for a like ,, purpose; sent round at the country assizes when the j^ judge invites the justices to dinner, every person so ^ invited dropped a shilling into the glove ; employed to a convey bribes, from whence a bribe is called a pair of :.^ gloves, or glove-money ; and often sworn by in the old \ plays by all manner of people, in virtue, probably, of , their multifarious uses and significitions. Good^Friday. — The day on which our Saviour suf- fered. He was crucified at 3 o'clock p.m. Friday, ■> April 3rd, A.D. 33. From the earliest period of [ Christianity this day has beer observed as a solemn : fast, in memory of the cruclilsion of our Saviour. Its [ appellg,tion goodis of no very rcmofe origin, and appears ^ to be peculiar to the English Church. Our Saxon a forefathers called it Long Friday^ from the length of ,; the ofl&ces and fastings on this day ; but its ancient jy title, and that by which it is known in, the We^t^m Church, is Holy Friday. ■" ■ •'" " r GoLooTHA OP Calvary. — The place of a skull, ] not from any skulls found lying there, but from its-} fancied resemblance to a human head. Another account says, Golgotha or Calvary, from the latin, CalvnSf •> bald, the ordinary place of execution for malefaotori, ^ derived its name from tho number of exposed skulls, on / its top. ' ^'^^^- :Y>ii»--"^»f «Jtt-^:M' ^i'.i'iGi'j-im'U > -v/^cvim^ ci'k Gipsy. — The Gipsies called over Europe Cingari and. '-^ in Spain Gitanos, are a race of vagabonds who infest- j Europe, Africa and Asia; strolling about and subsist- ing mostly by theft, robbery, and fortune-telling. The name is supposed to come from Egypt where the tribe jt^ first originated. They n^cd to have a regular king in. ... the British Islands ; called in Scotland The Gaherltmzie\,. man, B Grain. — A grain was originally the weight of a grain of com, taken from the middle of the ear ; a penny- weight, that of the silver penny formerly in use. Grog. — Admiral Vernon was called Old Grog by his sailors. Grog is a phrase that sprang up among sailors, and is applied to the mixture of ardent spirits and water, which forms part of their daily mess-allow- ance. This compound beverage received its name from Admiral Vernon, who was the first that made such a dilution imperative on board a ship. The old naval hero used to wear a grogram cloak in foul weather, which first gained the appellation of Old Grog for him- self, and finally for the liquor whicli he introduced. GuELPH AND Ghibet^line. — Said to be corrupted words for Welf and Wibelung ; the first having been Duke of Bavaria and the latter a town in Franconia ; at the battle which was fought A.D. 1140, between the Imperialists of Germany and their opponents, the latter was the battle cry of the one party, (the Emperor's) and the former that of the great vassals. Queen Vic- toria is descended from the first, (the Guelphs). They were also called the Blacks and Whites. Another story of the origin of Guelph, House of Brunswick. The first who bore this name was the eldest son of Isembald of A.ltdorf, near Ravensburgh, in Swabia, and Irmintrud, the sister of Charlemagne. Isembald was the attendance on the Emperor when a messenger informed him of the birth of a son. He requested permission to go and greet his first born. " Why in such haste to see the wolpe (whelp)" said the Emperor Charlemagne ? This jocosely used epithet the Imperial Godfather was requested to repeat at the font, where it was indelibly stamped on the infant and his descendants. ' "^ r^ H -V Hallelujah — It signifies " Praise the Lord." It was introduce by the Prophet Haggai, B. C. 548, and adopted by the Christian Church, A. D. 390. The adoption is ascribed^to St. Jerome. '0/cJt^' Hanse Towns, Frankfort, Bremen, LuBec & | Hamburgi — Certain free towns of Germany, being ^ anciently infested with barbarians, for their better , defense entered into a mutual league, and gave them- \ selves that name, from the ceremony of plighting their faith by a grasp of the hand (hansa) . j, Halos — Coloured circles of varying diameter are -* occasionally seen surrounding the sun and moon when :^ the sky is invested with light clouds. They are more -4 frequently observed around the moon, but this is simply '-^^ owing to the sun's light being generally too dazzling to * admit of colours being distinguished near his disc, -f They are caused by the inflection of light by the ^ globules of visible vapour, minute crystals of ice and '} snow ; or that property of rays to bend and divide as they pass near the borders, ridges and angles of surfaces. , When the halos are well defined, and closely encircle '; the luminous body, it is because the atmosphere is .' surcharged with humidity, large globules being formed. ;' And hence there is truth in the popular remark, that a dense halo portends rain. ,. ..i - i -,.,,.. .^csrii Harlequin — This name is derived from a famous V comedian who frequented Mr. Harley's house before he created Earl of Oxford, and to whom his friends gaw. „ the name of Harlequino, hence harlequin, a merry ^ fellow or comic performer. ■" ^ •■' -■ i^ Harmattan — This is a name given to a singular ;. wind, which blows periodically from the interior parts ,^^^ of Africa, towards the Atlantic ocean. It privails in ■ December, January, and February, and is generally accompanied by a fog or haze, that conceals the sun for whole days together. Extreme dryness is the charac- taristic of this wind : no dew falls during its continuance, > which is sometimes for a fortnight or more. The whole ' "^ vegetable creation is withered, and the grass becomes at OQce like hay. The dryness is so extreme, that house- hold furniture is damaged. The human body is also affected by it, so as to cause the skin to peel off ; but in C)ther respects it is deemed salutary to the constitution, mB r S4 by stopping the progress of infection, and curing almodt all cutaneous diseases. -^^.-if » 1] Hock — IIocJc is a word derived from Hocheim, in ^ Germany, where hock is made. > x i.^i^TCiir* i»«iiTr.M! HuRRIC.^NES — Have been supposed to be of 'iMctric origin. A large vacuum is suddenly created in the ' atmosphere, into which the surrounding air rushes with immense rapidity, sometimes from opposite points of ..> the compass, spreading the most frightful devastation ' along its track, rooting up trees, and levelling houses > with the ground. They are seldom experienced beyond => the tropics, or nearer the equator than the 9th or 10th parallels of latitude; and they rage with the greatest fury near the tropics, in the vicinity of land or islands, ., while far out in the open ocean they rarely occur. , They are most common among the West India Islands, near the east coast of Madagascar, in the Islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, in the Bay of Bengal, at the + changing of the monsoons, and on the coasts of China. Husband — Derived from house and band — for the b'read-winner is emphatically the husband which binds the family in one. ' . ',.-]k -•:' : . . --.-•«: „,{;.■■ ,, :-. :-, Ichneumon — From ichneuein, to watch; because , this animal is said to watch the movements of the : crocodile, to break the eggs. Pliny thus describes it : " When it sees him asleep with his mouth wide open, it whippeth into his throat, and shooteth himself down as ■ quick as an arrow, and then gnaweth his bowels, eateth ; a hole through his body and so killeth him." —f Icebergs — The term icebergs has commonly been applied to those immense bodies of ice situated on the land, " filling the valleys between the high mountains," and generally exhibiting a square perpendicular towards the sea. They recede backward inland to an extent never explored. Martin, and others, have described those wonders of nature, and all agree as to their manner of formation, in the congelation of the sleet and rains o^ m £ w 1.29 summer, and of the accumulated snow, partly dissolved by the summer sun, which, on its decline, freezes to a transparent ice. They are as permanent as the rocks on which they rest ; for although large portions may be fVoquently separated, yet the annual growth replaces the loss, and probably on the whole, produces a porpetual increase. Large pieces may be separated from those icebergs in the summer season, when they are particularly fragile, by their ponderous overhanging masses over- coming the force of cohesion ; or otherwise by the powerful expansion of the water, jfilling any excavation or deep-seated cavity, when its dimensions are enlarged by freezing, thereby exerting a tremendous force, and bursting the whole asunder. Pieces thus or otherwise detached, are hurled into the sea with a dreadful crash ; if they are received into deep water, they are liable to be drifted off the land, and, under the form of ice-islands, or ice-mountains, they likewise still retain their parent name of ice-bergs. '.J. James Goodfellow — During the cessation in the English invasions of France, the peasantry, stung beyond endurance by the outrages and cruelty of their lords, rose in a general sanguinary outbreak. It was called the Jacquerie, from Jacques Bonhomme, or James Goodfellow, — a term applied to the E'x'eiich peasant as John Bull is to the English. r w.v .!•*'- f..> Jesuits — Members of the Society of Jesus, are a religious order in the Roman Catholic Church, which at different periods has possessed very considerale influence and power. It was founded by one Ignatius Loyola, in Spain, who, in the year 1528, assembled ten of his companions at Rome, and made a proposal to form a new order; when, after many deliberations, it was agreed to add to the three ordinary vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, a fourth, which was, to go i^t9.a|1^9Pjiqt!rieg,.v{h§tUfir,tli« .:Pope. ^kould^^nd H. ■ ■ '■ A \ so Jew's Harp or Trump — This instrument is of very ancient origin. There appears to be some allusion in the name to the inhabitants of Judea ; in the plate, however, of Jewish musical instruments, in Calmet's Dictionary, nothing of this kind occurs ; so that perhaps there is a corruption here of the word Jeu trompe, a plaything, or play trump, as it is now only used by boys for that purpose ; or it may be a corruption of Jew's Harp, from the circumstance of it£ being played when placed between the teeth. ,?' v- .^ - > John Bull — Dr. John Bull was the first Gresham Professor of Music, and organist and composer to Queen Elizabeth. John, like a true Englishman, travelled for improvement ; and having heard of a famous musician at St. Omers, he placed himself under him as a novice ; sometime after, he showed him a song which he had composed in /orti/ parts I telling him at the same' time, he defied the whole world to produce a person capable of adding another part to his composition. Bull desired to be left alone, and to be indulged for a short time with pen and ink ; in less than three hours he added forty parts more to the song, upon which the Frenchman was so much surprised, that he swore in great ecstacy he must be either the Devil or John Bull ; which has ever since been proverbial all over England and wherever the Anglo-Saxon race is found. */JuAN Fernandez — It is uninhabited, but is found convenient for cruizers to touch at and water. This island is famous for having given rise to the celebrated romance of Rohinson Crusoe ; though it appears that it was one Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, who was left ashore in this solitary place by his captain where he lived some years, till he was discovered by Captain Wood Rogers, in 1709. ,;^.... Judas Iscasiot — Because 4ie was Ishkarioth an in- habitant of Iscaria or Karioth in the tribe of Ephraim ; or because he was Ishscariota, the man who had the bag ; or Jshcarat, the man that cut off; or Ishshakrat, the man of the reward or bribe. ^iV^.y .,-_i. ^King's Evil — Edward the Confessor was so called f6r his great attention to religion. This Prince was the last of the Saxon line. Though he had no great abil- ities as a Soverign, his reign was peaceable and fortunate. His character was so great for sanctify, that the people superstitiously believed his touch would cure the Scrofula, called, for this reason. King's Evil, . ,,, .^^ To Kick the Bucket — This slang expression for dying, originated from tke mode of self-destruction adopted by a suicide who stood with his neck in a halter on a bucket inverted, and then, kicking the article from him, remained sus. per. coll. . ' . . ,, ... Kirk's — Lambs. Shocking cruelties were exercised after the battle of Feversham, by colonel Kirk, who seemed to make a sport of death. He caused numbers to be hanged without any trial, and encouraged his soldiery, whom he called his Lambs, to commit all kinds of outrages. .. ..„..,..> - Lady — Is a word which gives us a most plea, g idea of the customs of our S.;xon ancestors. Tho* term is compounded of Saxon words, leaf or laf signi- fying a loaf of bread, and dian, to give or to serve. Now, it must be known that it was the fashion in times of old for those families whom heaven had blessed with affluence, to give away regularly a portion of bread to those poor neighbours who might stand in need of assistance, and on such occasions the mistress of the household herself officiated, distributing with her own hands the daily or weekly dole. Hence was she called the laf-day, or the bread-giver, and, in course of time, the word was abbreviated to its present form. Larch — (A species of pine) so called because first coming from Larissa, a town in ancient Thessaly. Lakes Different Kinds-— First, some have no apparent affluents or outlets. They commonly occupy hollows, extinct volcanic craters, and depend upon springs to s apply the waste occasioned by evaporation. A second class have outlets, but no apparent affluents deriving their supplies from subterranean sources. A third alass have both affluents and outlets — the common arrangement. A fourth class receive affluents, but have no outlets; the Caspian Sea, Lake Aral, and the Dead Sea are instances. * •' ^" . " "r ■ • ' ' 'ttf^^Jtt ^Landau — A kind of carriage ; so called because first made in the town of Landau in Germany. *' Landlord — A sad misnomer is presented by the word Landlord, as applied to the keeper of an inn. Formerly, wayfaring guests were for the most part entertained by the proprietors of the land, the lords of the manor through which they journeyed, and in those times the application of the name landlord to the enter- tainer was well known. Imnde — The landes of France occur between the Gironde and Pyrenees. They are vast sandy downs and levels, either wholly barren, or clothed with heath or pines, interspersed with fens and marshes, and at distant intervals, with meadows and cultivated fields. f, . Language Peculiarities of — In all hot countries men use in speaking, a multitude of vowels which are 11 pronounced by greater or less apertions of the mouth, in breathing and speaking, and use very few consonants, all of which are produced by more or less complete interruptions of the breath, and contact, or even closure, of parts among the organs of speech. Any one who examines the Italian language will find therefore about 60 vowels in every 100 letters; and in the Otaheitan (Tahitian) language, which sounds very like Italian, there are even more ; it is said about 75 or 80 vowels n every 100 letters. The proportion is very diiFerent in English, in which consonants preponderate ; and if we examine the language of Lapland or Greenland, or of the Arctic American Esquimaux, we shall find there an eiormous number of consonants in their words, and that most of these consonants are guttural, as they do not like to open their mouths to the cold air sufficiently to pronounce the labial, dental, or lingual consonants, much less the vowels, and least of all, the more open of the vowels. This is an universal law; though immi- gration or colonisation, or the ancient transplantation of a whole nation by a tyrant conqueror, may sometimes present an apparent exception or anomaly, by our finding a language or a people, originally temperate or torrid, in a frigid zone, or vice versa. Lanquages, Number op — The number of languages and dialects spoken in the world amounts to 3,023, of which 587 are in Europe, 896 in Asia, 276 in Africa and 1264 in America. The Letters £. s. d. — The letters jE, s, d, and qr. are the initials of the Latin words, libra, soliduSj dena- rius, and quadrans, which respectively signify & pound, a shilling, & penny, and a farthing, or quarter. The mark ], which sometimes separates the shillings and pence, is a corruption of the long / (s), arising from the rapidity with which it is made. The Letters I II S V and I H S, often seen in ancient churches and on crosses, &c. The first four letters are supposed to be the initial letters of the words which the Emperor Constantine thought he saw in the heavens the night previous to his great victory over heathenism : In Hoc Signo Vinces ! — under this sign thou shalt conquer. And the I H S are supposed to be a contraction of the Greek word IHSOUS — Jesus^ or the initials of Ignatius Loyola's motto, under a cross (f ) : In Hoc Sahis — in this is safety. There is another reason given which is as follows: These three letters signify Jesus Hominum Salvator: Jfsus the Saviour of Men : as good a definition perhaps as any of the other two. ' ... Light — Philosophers are not agreed as to the nature of light. Some maintain the opinion that it is a body . consisting of detached particles, which are emitted by luminous bodies, in which case the particles of light must be inconceivably minute ; since, even when they cross each other in every direction, they do not inter- b2 u fere with each other. Others suppose it to be produced like sound, by the undulation s of a subtle fluid diffused throughout all known space. ^Llanos — The plains of Venezuela and New Grenada, chiefly on the left of the Orinoco, are called llanos, or level fields. Often in a space of 270 square miles, the surface does not vary a single foot. They are studded here and there with solitary palms, and undergo remark- able changes in appearance. In the wet season, from April to the end of October, the tropical rains pour down in torrents, and hundreds of square miles of the Llanos are inundated by the floods of the rivers. The water is sometimes 12 feet deep in the hollows, in which so many horses and another animals perish, that the ground smells of musk, an odor peculiar to South American quadrupeds. When the waters subside, these plains, manured by the sediment, are soon covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. When the dry weather returns, the reptiles hibernate beneath the surface ; the grass is burnt to powder ; the air is filled with dup<^ ^ised by currents occasioned by difference of temper le even where there is no wind. If, by accident, a ^ark of fire falls on the scorched plains, a conflagration spreads from river to river, des- troying every animal, and leaves the clayey soil sterile for years, till vicissitudes of weather crumble the brick- , like surface into earth. , . Louis IX — Was called St. Louis. The Hunter for Pilgrims & Fisher of Men, on account of the annexed episode in his life. The following incident indicated the king's zeal for a crusade: One night, during the Christmas festival, Louis caused magnificent crosses fabricated by gold- smiths, to be sewn upon the new dresses, which, as, usual upon such occasions, had been bestowed upon the courtiers. The next day the cavaliers were surprised at the religious ornaments that had been affixed to their cloaks; piety and loyalty combined to prevent them from renouncing the honours which had been thrust t: .' •/■„»■' ■ y-' lot upon them, and the good king obtained the title of The Hunter for Pilgrims and Fisher of Men. LoNGOBARDS OR LoNGEARDS — HcDce Lombardy. The Longobards or Longbeards, who had ovt-rrun and taken possession of the great plain of the basin of the Po, retained to some extent their separate independence even under the empire of Germany. They had their own laws and customs, and were in the habit of crown- ing the Emperor, or whoever else was acknowledge, as King of Lombardy. Hence, too, Napoleon wore the iron rrown of their kings. The famed symbol ot kingohip was deposited in the Cathedral of Monza ; ti is a broad circle of gold, set with large rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, and was secured in an ornamented cross placed over an altar, closely shut up within folding doors of gilt brass. The crown is kept in an octagonal aperture in the centre of the cross. It is composed of six equal pieces of beaten gold, joined together by close hinges, and the jewels and embossed gold ornaments are set in a ground of blue and gold enamel, interesting as exhibiting an exact resemblance to the workmanship of the enamelled part of a gold ornament now in the Ashmolean Museum, which one belonged to King Alfred. Bi.: for those who have an appetite for relics, the most important part of this crown is a narrow iron rim, which is attached to the inside of it all round. The rim is about three-eighths of an inch broad, and a tenth of an inch thick, made out of one of the nails used in the Crucifixion. The crown is said to have been presented to Constantino by his mother St Helena ; - and the sacred iron rim, from which it has its name, '" was to protect him in battle. And, although this iron has now been exposed more than fifteen hundred years, -• there is not a speck of rust upon it. Lord — This word is abbreviated from two words, or ' rather two syllables ; it was originally Ilia Ford, which, by dropping the aspirate, because La Ford ; and after- wards, by contraction. Lord. It is derived from hla/,"'- a loaf of bread ; and ford, to give or afford, because 36 great men fed the poor, or were givers of bread. The nickname of " My Lord," given by vulgar persons to hunch (hump) backed persons, is from the Greek word hrdos, crooked. Thou Liest — The great affront of giving the lie arose from the phrase, '' Thou liest," in the oath takon by the defendant in judicial combats before engaging in the ordeal of battle. ,- ir,-,f';',.* v,> o-5f.f(i,.-> .,^•5 '{■^.:,t:yr n'^7- The Lion and Unicorn — James I. was the first who united the lion and unicorn heraldically, adopting the latter beast from the supporters of the Scottish sovereigns. The conjonction of these animals on an ecclesiastical vestment at the period of the Reformation, must be attributed to religious symbolism rather than to any heraldic arrangement ; the lion typifying forti- tude and strength, while the unicorn is emblematical of fortitude and chastity. As such, the former may have reference to our Lord "The Lion of Judah," and the latter may be an emblem of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Lyceum — Took its name from having been originally a temple of Apollo Lyceus. It was a celebrated spot near the banks of the llissus in Attica whence Aristotle taught philosophy, ar^l ught his pupils while he walked they were ca i . peri tetics, B.C. 342. / .>| M .-i.-- Maccabees — Derivation of; During the war between Antiochus the Mad, of Syria, and the Jews, Judas, eon of Matathias, det.< 38 Mamelukes — The name of a dynasty which ruled over Egypt after the possession of that country by the Romans. They were originally slaves from Circassia and Turkey, and were established by the Emperor Saladin, A,D. 1246 ; They fought against Napoleon in Egypt, and were all massacred by Mahomet Ali, A.D. 1811 (that is the chiefs or beys, or bags, to the number of nearly 500). Manes — The name applied by the ancients to the soul when separated from the body. Some say that the word comes from manis, an old Latin word for good or propitious. The Romans always superscribed their epitaphs with the letters D. M., Dis Manibus, to remind the sacrilegious and profane not to molest the tenaments of the dead. Mariner's Compass — Discovered by Flavio de Gioja or Griovia, of Naples, A.D. 1392 ; Columbus first discovered the variations of the needle, A.D. 1492 ; and it wag observed in London, A.D. 1580 ; Charles of Anjou being at the time of th(^ 4iscovery, King of Sicily, the ^eur de lis was made die ornament of the northern radius of the compass in compliment to him. The Marseillaise — When the Prussians and Austrians marched against France in 1792, to restore Louis XVI. to his throne, the National Assembly declared that the country was in danger, and called upon all Frenchmen to enlist under the banners of Liberty to repel the invaders. Marseilles furnished a legion of twelve hundred turbulent spirits, and Lamar- tine gives a graphic account of their triumphant entry into Paris, on their way to the frontier. Their bronzed faces, with eyes of fire, their uniforms covered with the dust of their journey, their red woollen caps shaded with green boughs, their lack of discipline, and their harsh provincial accent — all struck the imagiaation of the Parisians with great force. The revolutionary idea seemed impersonated, to be marching to the last assault of royalty, chanting an air whose notes seemed to come from the breast with sullen mutterings of national anger and then with the joy of victory. Since kmcM then, when France has been in danger, the Marseillaise has never failed to arouse and animate her sons for " Liberty or Death." ^ . , ^ . , • :- -4- Maps and Charts — They were invented by Anax ihiander, B.C. 520; Sea Charts were first brought to England by Bartholomew Columbus, to illustrate his brother's theory respecting a Western Continent, A.D. 1489. The earliest Map of England was drawn dy Georg^ Lilly, in A.D. 1520. Mercator's chart or projection (from Mercator) in which the world was taken as a plain, (plane) vi: •t ^^ ^ ' • .v .i.' ^u, • '■.■• ■ ..J J '' '■ H "-'-■' Nabob — The Nabob is derived from nawab, the plural of naib, a deputy or lieutenant ; but in the popular language of India, from which the word has come to us, the plural is used for the singular. Sir T. Herbert, whose travels were published in 1664, spells the word nabboh, and defines it," a nobleman in the language of the Mogul's kingdom, which hath mixed up with it much of the Persian." . ' Names of American States — 1. Maine, so called in 1638 from the Province of Maine in France, of which Queen Henrietta Maria was the proprietix. 2. New Hampshire, bought by the Plymouth Company from Capt. Masson, received its name of " Hampshire" from that county in England, of which Capt. Masson was Governor. 3. Vermont, so called by its inhabitants in their declaration of independence, Jan. 16, 1777 — Vermo7it, means green hill. 4. Massachusetts, from a tribe of Indians inhabiting the neighbourhood of Boston ; the meaning of the word is *' Blue Mountains." 5. Rhode Island, so named after the Island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean. 6. Connecticut, the Indian name of the principal river in that State. 7. New York, after the Duke of York and Albany, to whom the ter- ritory had been conceded. 8. Pennsylvania, in 1681, after Mr. Penn, the name of the Quaker who purchased It from the Indians, and $ylva, a wood; it was called ,•44 •it^i \ till bis death, Sylvania. 9. Delaware, in 1703, from the bay of that name, on the shores of which the State is situate, and where Lord Delaware died. 10. Mary- land, called so by Lord Baltimore, after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charjes I., in the Annals of Parliament of June 30, 1682. 11. Virginia, so named in 1584, after Queen Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. 12. Carolina, 60 called by the French in 1564, in honour of Charles IX. Another account says that both Carolinas were named by the English from Carolus, Charles II. 13, Georgia, 1772, after George II., or George III. 14, Alabama, 1817, from the principal river traversing that State. Alabama signifies in the Indian language " Here we rest." A story is told of a tribe of Indians who fled from a relentless foe in the trackless forest of the south-west. Weary and travel-worn they reached a noble river which flowed through a beautiful country. The chief of the band stuck his tent pole in the ground and exclaimed : " Alabama ! Alabama !" ('' Here we shall rest!") 15. Mississipin, in 1800, from its affluents and western borders. Mississippi, in Indian language, means a river formed of several rivers. 16. Louisiana, so name in honour of Louis XIV, 17. Tennessee, 1796. 18. Kentucky, 1782. 19. Illinois, 1809, from their principal rivers. Illinois, in the lan- guage of the Indians, means R iver of Men. 20. Indiana, 1802, from its American Indian population. 21. Ohio, 1802, from the name of its southern frontier. 22 Miasonri, 1821, from the river. 23. Michigan, 1803, from the name of its lake. 24. Arkansas, 1819, from its principal river. 25. Florida, so named in 1572, by Juan Ponce de Leon, because its shores were discovered ^ on a Pa^ ' Sunday, or " PSques Fleuri," or ^' Pasqua Florida. 26. New Jersey, called from the island of that name in the English Channel oflF the North Coast of France ; one of the original 13 States. 27. District of Columbia; from Columbus. 28. Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin, from their fivers. ''^'' ' " '■ 'r* / National Anthem — The question of the origin of the National Anthem being raised at the period of the e.^^ M muK^JT 45 Queen's visit to France, and certain French papers having stated alternately that the air was composed by Haydn and by Sully in honour of Louis XIV., a Belgian correspondent replied by the following statement^)^. .. which seems to possess sufficient interest, and to present enough appearance of probability \a be repeated : — ■ . *' The music," says this authority, " which bears but a "' slight resemblance to the air of Sully, was composed by an English musician named John Bull, (sufficiently ' national, this, at all events!) on the occasion of James I.'s discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. The words, written, as is stated, at the same time, seem to tend towards a confirmation of this assertion. John Bull, some years later, retired to Antwerp, where he was named organist to the cathedral, and where he died ; and there, but a short time since," says this corres- pondent, " an examination of the archives having, under the permission of the Government, been gone through, 'i the original manuscript of the air, with the history of the circumstances under which it was composed, was, among other documents, discovered ; and there it now exists." Negus — This word is said to have derived its appellation from a gentleman of the name of Francis Negus, a r^rsoa of considerable consequence in the reign of George I. Party spirit ran high at that -; period, and even intruded itself at convivial meetings. ' On one occasion, when Mr. Negua was present, a set of political opponents fell out over their cups, and came to hot words, when Mr. Negus interfered, by recommend- ing the disputants in future to dilute their wine ; . which suggestion fortunately diverted their attention ^ from the subject of dispute to a discussion on the merits of wine and water. The argument ended in a general resolve to qualify their potations in future, and ,,. also to give the beverage the nickname of Negus, which . ultimately became universally used. New Style — Ordered to be used in England, A.D. ' 1751 ; and the next eleven days were left out in the calendar ; the 3rd of Sept. being reckoned as the 14th, i- to make it agree with the Gregorian Calendar. The *^^ difference in the old and new styles accounts for the -' difference of many dates in historical facts and biographical notices. -^News — If one turns up Dr. Johnson, or any other >. etymologist, the term News is found ascribed to the^^ Latin novus, new. We cannot help admitting that this derivation is a very probable one ; still he must certainly have been an ingenious fellow who hit upon • another way of accounting for the origin of the word, .^^, by representing it, namely, as compounded of the first letters of the cardinal points, North, East, West and South ; whereby is to be understood that news signifies information from all quarters ? In Haydn occurs the following about news: — "The word news is not as many imnginc derived from the adjective new, Latin novus. In former times, between the years 1595 and 1730, it was a prevalent practice to put over the periodical publications of the day, the initial letters of the cardinal points of the compass, thus N. E. W. S., importing that these papers contained intelligence from the four quarters of the globe." Newspapers. — Newspapers took their birth in that principal land of modern politicians, Italy, and under the government of that aristocratical republic, Venice. The first paper was a Venetian one, and only monthly ; but it was the newspaper of the government only., Other governments afterwards adopted the Venetian .*,vV name of it; and from one solitary government Gazette,- we see what an inundation of newspapers has burst out upon us. --mc'^Kr New Year's Gifts — Nonius Marcellus refers the origin of New Year's Gifts among the Romans to Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines, who reigned at Rome conjointly with Romulus, and who, having considered as a good omen a present of some branches cut in a wood consecrated to Strenua, the Goddeess of strength, which he received on the first day of the new year, JcrV^f^j 4T'^-. authorized this custom afterwards, and gave to these presents the name of Strenoe. The Romans on that day celebrated a festival in honor of Janus, and paid their respects at the same time to Juno ; but they did not y. pass it in idleness, lest they should become indolent during the rest of the year. They sent presents to one ^ another of figs, dates, honey, &c., to show their friends that they wished them a happy and agreeable life. Clients, or those who were under the protection of the great, carried presents of this kind to their patrons, . adding to them a small piece of silver. Under A ugustus, the senate, the knights, and the people, presented such gifts to him, and in his absence deposited them in the Capitol. Of the succeeding princes, some adopted this custom, and others abolished it ; but it always continued . among the people. The early Christians condemned it, because it appeared to be a relic of paganism, and a species of superstition ; but when it began lo have no , other object than that of being a mark of esteem, the church ceased to disapprove of it. ,-...\ Nine op Diamonds — Called the Curse of Scotland; owing, it vr, said, to a Scotch Member of Parliament, part of whose family arms was the nine of diamonds, / having voted for the introduction of the malt tax into t that country. Anothvjr reason why it is so styled, is, that the Duke of Cumberland, called the Butcher, from inhuman cruelty to officers after the battle of Culloden, wrote out the order for the execution of a large number of Jacobites on the back of that card. Noon — From the Latin nona, s. c. hora, meal-time ; ' literally the nmth hour or three o'clock, and because the time was applied by succeeding nations to their ^ dinner time, which was usually about the middle of the day, noon came to signify twelve o'clock. ' Neighbour — This word is derived from nighj or . next, and boor, which formerly meant a farmer — hence ' to this day the settlers in South Africa are called the Dutch Boors. The word now signifies the nearest person living to you. .' • :■/ ;.~ ".- r ' .;,■•.; .■> ■.' . ,' , ■; ■, ,,■- :t , ■. .. I*. : » .: ' ■ . - 48.. OBELisii:— Iti architecture, is a truncated, quadran- gular, and slender pyramid, raised for the purpose of ; ^ ornament, and frequently charged with either inscrip- *' tions or hieroglyphics. Obelisks appeaY to be of very . great antiquity, and to have been first raised to transmit *' to posterity precepts of philosophy, which were cut in ' hieroglyphical characters : afterwards they were used ^ to immortalize the grent actions of heroes, and the ' memory of persons beloved and venerated for having '' performed eminent services to their country. The first mentioned in history was that of Rameses of Egypt, B.C. 1486. The Arabianscall them Pharaoh's Needles, and the Egyptian priests, Fingers of the Sun. Augustus erected a magnificient one on the Campus Martins on which was a great sun dial to mark the time of day. The Egyptian priests called them The Fingers of the Sun because they were made in that countfy to serve as stiles or gnomons, to mark the hour on the ground. The ' Arabs still call them Pharaoh's Needles, hence the Italians call them Aguglia and the French Aiguilles. Obolus — An ancient silver coin of Athens, about the value of l^d. sterling," Date oholum Belisario" is a phrase often applied to fallen greatness : on account of the story of that renowed general having been reduced to beg his bread at the Constantinopolitan gates, A. D. 560. Old Dominion — Few things are so well calculated . to awaken in the mind of the proud Virginian, when wandering in foreign lands, touching reminiscences of home and kindred, as the simple mention of the Old -^^ Dominion." And yet there are comparatively few who <* are aware of the term which has bo long and so gen- • erally been applied to Virginia. It originated thus : During the protectorate of Cromwell, the colony oi' Virginia refused to acknowledge his authority, and declare itself independent. Shortly after, when Crom- well threatened to send a fleet and army to reduce Virginia to subjection, the alarmed Virginians sent a M-//// .* messdngcr to Charles IT., who was then in exile in Flanders, inviting him to return in the ship with the messenger, and be King of Virginia. Charles accepted the invitation, and was on the eve of embarkation, when he was called to the throne of England. As soon as he was fairly seated on his throne, in gratitude for the loyalty of Virginia, he caused her coat of arms to be quartered with those of England, Scotland, and Ireland, as an independent member of the empire, a distinct portion of the " Old Dominion." Hence arose the origin of the term. Copper coins of Viginia were issued as late as the reign of George III., which bore on one side the coats of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia. The Ocean's Depth — The depths of the Pacific are as yet imperfectly explored ; those of the Atlantic, however, have been better ascertained ; and from Maury's map we may derive a good general idea of this great sea-bed. " The deepest depression of the Atlantic basin seems to lie betwen 33 deg. and 40 deg. north latitude, where the plummet (though we must allow for errors occasioned by the deflection of the line) has been lowered to the depth of 30,000 and even 40,000 feet. At short distances from Madeira, the Cape de Verd Islands, and the Bermudas, the sea deepens to 12,000 and 15,000 feet, so that, seen from the ocean ground, yon isle-clusters would appear as the summits of mighty mountain lands, grand and imposing as the Andes." Pointing out how, towards the north, the bed of the Atlantic rises, and forms, between Ireland and New- foundland, a plain, the depth of which seems nowhere to exceed 11,000 feet, the author comments on the self-multiplying benefits of speculative knowledge, remarking, that a discovery which, twenty years ago, might have been considered valueless to mankind, now Justifies the hope " that one day the bold idea of uniting the two worlds by means of the electric telegraph may be realised 1" He has, indeed, lived to see it fully realised. The enclosed European seas are comparatively very shallow. The depth of the Baltic seldom exceeds km^'i 00 250 feet, and there is only one spot where the sounding line finds a depresBion of 840 feet. Between the Orkney Isles and Norway, the North 8ea has its maximum depth of 800 feet. The Mediterranean, in some parts, attains a depth of more than 6,000 feet ; the Black Sea, with the same reservation, of more than 3,000 ; while the waters of the Adriatic everywhere roll over a shallow bed. Olympiad — The Greek method of computing their time. It was the space of four complete years : and the first Olympiad from which chronologers reckon, begins in the year of the world 3228, and 776 years before the birth of our Saviour. Olympic and other Games — They are said to have been instituted by Hercules, among the Greeks, in honour of Jupiter, upon the plains of Elis, near the city of Olympia ; they consisted of boxing, running, chariot-races, wrestling, and quoiting, and were cele- brated at the commencement o^ every fifth year ; at first no women were permitted to be present, but this law was repealed. The Isthmean Games. They were oelcbrated every third (some say every fourth) year, in honour of Neptune, by the Greeks, upon the Isthmus of Corinth. The Pythian and Ncmce.an games. The Pythitln were celebrated every fourth year, in honour of Apollo, after he had slain the serpent Python, insti- tuted by the assembly of Amphictyons ; and the Ncmaean derived its name from Nemoea, a city of Pel- oponnesus; they were celebrated every third year in honour of Hercules who had slain the Nemaean lion. J^RDEAL — Called ' '"he Jr Igment of God;" it was first used by Edward the Confessor, and disused by the royal proclamation of Henry III., A.D. 1261. This superstitious custom was anciently very prevalent in Britain. There were three kinds of ordeal — that by fire, that by cold water, and that by hot water. In that by fire, the accused was to walk blindfolded and barefooted over nine red-hot ploughshares, placed at unequal distances; in that by cold water, the person accused was bound hand and feet,' thrown into a pond, or river, and was then to clear himself by escaping drowning ; in that by hot water, the hands and feet were thrown into scalding water. • ' ' .- • Organ — The history of the organ is'involved in mystery. Some say Pope Vitalian, A.D. 670, first introduced the organ into the Roman Church. Others say the most ancient organ mentioned in history is that sent by the Greek Emperor to Pepin, King of Franco, in 755. Bingham says they were not used for ecclesi- astical purposes till A.D. 1290. But organs are men- tioned by Vitruvius before the Christian era. St. Jerome (fourth century) mentions one with twelve pair of bellows. But, as usual, this passage is disputed by those who doubt the fact. In the ninth century, Gregory, a Venetian priest, commenced the building of organs in Europe. In fine, organs have been known from the times of Jewish and Romish antiquity, but it was not till the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that they began to be generally employed in sacred worship in the western empire. Orchestra — Every one knows that this term is now- applied to the place set apart, in theatres and other resorts of the kind, for the band of musicians. The haughty patricians of Rome, could they become eye or ear-witnesses of this employment of the word, would feel very indignant, seeing that orchestra had once the honour to signify the seats or gallery (next the stage in the theatre, and next the arena in the amphitheatre) appropriated to the use of their lordly order in the places of assembly of their city. . ). . t , Ostracism — Ostracism is a term, in our own and other tongues, synonymous with banishment or exile. The word is derived from the Greek ostracon., a tile. Banishment was decreed in Athens, at the will of a fierce and often ungrateful populace, in the following way : — In a certain part of the market-place of the city there was a spot of ground, inclosed with wooden rails, and having ten gates leading into it, that being • * * 62 tlie number of the Athenian tribes. When the doom of banishment \^a8 80up;ht against one or more persons, and a popular vot^* was to be taken on the subject, each citizen provided himself with a tile, or, frequently, a piece of a broken earthen pot, and, after marking on ii. the name of the man against whom he voted, carried it to the market place, where it was deposited in a heap with others, within the inclosure. If less than 6,000 tiles in the gross were collected, the vote was void ; if more, the accused was banished. If, again, two persons of opposite sides were put on their trial at the same time, the one whose name appeared on the majority of the tiles was banished. And thio balloting, by tiles and broken flower pots, gave rise to the term ostracism. A similar practice prevailed in other parts of Greece, as well as in Athens. In the latter city the custom was put an end to by a trick of Alcibiades, a celebrated Athenian captain, and the pupil of Socrates. Alcibi- ades was the head of a powerful faction in his native city, at the same time that his rivals, Nicias and Phaeax, headed two other parties of considerable strength. The whole three of these chiefs, however, were put in danger by a demagogue named Hyperbolus, who persuaded the people to put them to the tile-trial, believing himself certain of thus getting rid oi' one of them at least. But Alcibiades and his two rivals secretly laid their heads together, and induced all their friends to write Hyporbolus's own name on their tiles. The consequence was, that when the tiles were divided into four lot;;, Hyperbolus, to his extreme surprise, had more votes against him than any of the others mdi- vidually, and was accordingly banished. The Athenians felt offended and aftVonted, and nexGi' ostracised another person afterwards. ... .,, . OssiPRAGi': — The Scavenger of Egypt; so called because it eats up all the offal, &c., which otherwise would rot and vitiate the air. The word comes from frungo, I break, and ossa, bones. It has powerful muscles in its head wherewith it can break up the bones, &c., lying about, especially in the streets of *j^if^^-J^ Grand Cairo, where it is contrary to the law to molest or kill the birds. f» a?, a; >^^i u.^ ;• "*;.»■ ' Ovations — A kind of inferior triumph among the Romans, conferred upon those whose victories were not very considerable ; Posthumius was the first honored with one ; in the Ovation, the general walked on foot in his common habit, and was met by the knights and citizens ; he was not allow a sceptre, and instead of drums and trumpets, fifes and flutes were played before him. ,,. ,...•, y. -,,..•,,- - ^-r- - . - .• ■ • .,■.•■: r; ;,.' :^/:--: i ; . ■ ;||h: ;. Pagans — The word Pagans is not very often used, though formerly it was the common and current designa- tion for heathen, or infidels — for all, in short, without the pale of Christianity. In its true acceptation, the word signified merely villagers. It received its new appellation upon the public establishment of Christianity in the Roman empire by Constantine, when the pursuit of the ancient worship was prohibited in the cities, and the old temples shut up. Those who were attached to the forbidden religion fled to the country, and secretly performed their former rites in the secrecy of the villages {pagoruni); hence they were called Pagans. Palace — On a hill near which Rome was founded, cows grazed. They lowed, whether more loudly than usual, it is hard to say, but from hearing this natural sound, the early Romans came to call the hill the place of " lowing," or, to translate their language in a suitable way, the hill halatan^ ; balatant, by degrees, was cor- rupted into palatine ; the hill became a portion of the site of the city, and on it Augustus Caesar, the first emperor, liad a royal residence, called from its position the domus Palatine (Palatine house) or the Palatium (palace) ; and, finally, the influence of Rome made the word palace the common appellation of a kingly dwelling over a great part of the world. Palladium — The statue of Pallas ; some say it fell from heaven near the tent of Ilus, as he was building 54 Troy, and on its preservation depended the safety of that city. This fatality being made known to the Greeks, they contrived to steal it away during the Trojan war, B.C. 1184 ; but some say that it was only a pretended one which they took, and that ^'Eneas brought the real one to Italy, B.C. 1183, and that it was preserved with great caie in the temple of Vesta. Pampas — This Indian term, signifying flats, desig- nates the third great level region of South America, extending about 1,800 miles south from the selvas, and from the iitlantic to the Andes. It consists of treeless plains, which are, in some instances, sandy or saline wastes, but mostly beds of alluvium, covered with a strong grass, lucerne, thistles, and gaudy flowers, presenting also vast lagoons and swamps. Panic — The word Panic (fear) is represented as having originated in a curious way. Bacchus, the famous god of wine, made a military expedition to India, if we may credit the old Greek poets, at the time he was playing the part ot a hero on earth, previously to his deification. His lieutenant-general in the enterprise was Pan, who oice extricated his leader from a very great strait by a stroke of simple but effective ingenuity, which has immortalized, or at least perpetuated, its author's name. The army of Bacchus being encom- passed in a valley by an army far superior in numbers. Pan advised the chief to order his men in the night to give a general shout, which was done, and so surprised the opposite army, that they immediately fled from their camp ; whence it came to pass, that all sudden fears impressed upon men's spirits without just reason existing for alarm, were called by the Greeks and Romans, panic terrors. It was on this expedition that Bacchus indulged so deeply in wine, and played so many fantastic tricks under its influence, as to procure his subsequent elevation to the *'bad eminence" of wine-god, and to give rise to all the train of words — such as Bacchanalian— that unite his name with the subject of drinking, in almost uU languages. Paper — Paper is a word deriving its origin from a plant called Pap;^ rus, of Egypt, and from which a kind of paper was made in ancient times. The papyrus was a reed several yards in height, and had several coats or skins above one another, like an onion, which were separated with a needle. One of these coats or layers was placed on a table longwise, and another placed above it across. They were then moistened with the muddy water of the Nile, which acted like a species of glue, and were afterwards put under a press and dried in the sun. These sheets, thus prepared, were put together, sometimes to the number of twenty in one leaf or roll, or in proportion to the required thickness of the paper. By smoothing it with a shell, or the tooth of a wild boar, or some other instrument, it became fit for use. ' ■ Paper Money — The Count de Tendilla, while be- sieged by the Moors in the fortress of Alambra, was destitute of gold and silver wherewith to pay his soldiers, who began to murmur, as they had not the means of purchasing the necessaries of life from the people of of the town, " In this dilemma," says the historian, " what does this most sagacious commander ? He takes a number of little morsels of paper, on which he inscribes various sums, large and small, and signs them with his own hand and name. These did he give his soldiery in earnest of their pay," "How," you will say, "are soldiers to be paid with scraps of paper?" " Even so, and well paid to, as I will presently make manifest, for the good Count issued a proclamation, ordering the inhabitants to take these morsels of paper for the full amount, promising to redeem them at a future time with gold and silver. Thus, by subtle nnd almost miraculous alchemy did this cavalier turn worth- less paper into gold and silver, and make his late im- poverished *army abound in money." The historian adds: "The Count de Tendilla redeemed his promise like a true knight; " and this miracle, as it appeared in the eyes of the worthy Agapida, is the first instance on reoord of paper money, which has since spread through- •, -'ir ■ * V ) 66 out the civilized world. This happened in 1484 ; and thus wc see that paper money was the adjunct of the invention of printing, the Western World, and the Protestant Reformation. ' Paraphernalia — It is most often applied by us, and with unconscious correctness, to female attire, trinkets, and a groat many other things of the sort, in a bundle. Now, it is derived from para beyond, and ji)herne, dowery, and means the goods which a woman brings to her husband, hevond or besides her dowery. yvPARLiAMENT — This word derives its origin from the Saxon general assemblies. It is taken from parler la ment, which in Norman law-style means to speak ont^i mind, Parma — A town in Italy, situated in the midst of a delightful country. The pasturage is so fine that there is produced here the most expensiT e cheese in the world, Parmasan, called after the name of the city. • ; Pasquinade — So called from a cobbler of Rome, Pasquin, at whose stall a number of idle fellows used to assemble to listen to the pleasant sallies of the man, and to relate little anecdotes in their turn, and indulge themselves m raillery at the expense of the passers by. After the death of the cobbler, in the 16th century, the statue of a gladiator was found near his stall, to which the people gave his name, and on which the wits of the time used to stick their lampoons ; small poems and satirical writings were so called, A.D, 1533. Peacock — Avis Junonls, the Bird of Juno, because sacred to that Goddess. Johnson says the word is from peak cock, from the tuft of feathers on its head. Per- haps it comes from the French beaucoq, from the lustre of its spangled tail. Pearls — Styled the Jewels of the Sea. An ancient pearl was valued by Pliny at £80,000. The pearl which is called the Incomjiarable weighed 5 dwts. That one in the possession of the Emperor of Persia is worth j61 10,000. The Island of Ceylon is the renown- cV/t/j'-^ i I- ..> 57 ed place for the pearl fisheries. Queen Cleopatra had earrings valued at $800,000 ; and she dissolved a pearl worth jG10,000 in vinegar for Antony to drink. These jewels, of animal origin, so hi'^hly prized for their chaste beauty, are only the rejected or superabundant secre- tion of a shell-fish, consisting of concentrically disposed layers of animal matter and carbonate of lime. In most instances they are the consequences of the attempts pf irritated and uneasy mollusks to make the best of an unavoidable evil ; for, rendered uncomfortable, and their ease of body destroyed by some intruding and extraneous substance, a grnin of sand perchance, or atom of splintered shell, the creature encloses its tor- turing annoyance in a smooth-coated sphere of gem- like beauty. Peloponnesus — The lower part of Greece. It signi- fies the Island of Pelops. Its modern name is the Morea, from the Greek word morea^ or the Latin morus, a mulberry tree, which is found there in great abun- dance ; or, according to others, because the configura- tion of the land resembles a mulberry leaf. Peninsula — The continents of South America and Africa are peninsulas on a gigantic scale, all tending towards thesouth. The Peninsula of Alaska, California and Florida, in North America ; the European Penin- sulas of Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece ; the Asiatic Peninsulas of India, Indo China, Corea and Kamschatka, all tend in the same direction. Another peculiarity in the structure of the Peninsulas is, that they generally terminate boldly, in bluflfs, pro- montories or mountains. Greenland's southern termi- nation is the elevated bluff of Cape Farewell ; South America terminates in the high promontory of Cape Horn ; Africa with the Cape of Good Hope ; India with Cape Comorin, the last of the Ghauts ; Australia, with Van Dieman's Land. : This singular analogy of structure seems to disclose , an arrangement which must have been due to a single cause, which Reinhold Foster conceives to be a great c2 58 deluge, or cataclysm rushing from the south-west, dashing violently against the continents, grinding away their sides, till its force was spent against their moun- tain barriers. This hypothesis, however, is regarded as untenable by modern geologists. ■ ^, • •,/> Penny — The penny is a coin of vast antiquity. Its familiar copper shape, as may be generally known, is a comparatively modern alteration of the silver form in which it was known to our forefathers. The silver penny is derived from the Greek drachma of ^gina, which has been traced to a date of 600 years antecedent to the Christian era. The Drachma was afterwards coined, not only in Greece, but in Sicily, Syria and Persia. The same coin, under the name of denarius, was struck by the high consular families during the Koman Republic, and by the Emperors. From Rome, the Denarius was transferred to Saxon England, in 750, being there coined by the Kings of Kent, Mercia, and the other departments of the Heptarchy. Under the name of penny, and comparatively rudely executed, it was kept up by the Saxon, Danish and Norman dynasties in succession, and was the chief coin in circulation down to the reign of John. David I. was the first King of Scotland who is known to have issued the penny. In the course of its existence from Roman times to the present, the penny has been gradually reduced much in bulk. In the days of the Republic it weighed from 2 dwts. 10 grains, to 2 dwts. 13 grains. In the reign of the Emperor Trajan it weighed barely 2 dwts. 2 grains. The later Emperors reduced it nearly one-half; and the earliest Saxon specimens weigh less than a pennyweight. The penny of Edward IV. was 15 grains; that of Henry VIII. 10 grains ; and that of William IV. only 7 grains. i*ENNY-BOYS. — Penny-boys were a class of men and boys who attended the market for the purpose of driving to the slaughter-house the animals purchased by the butcher, receiving one penny per head as remuneration. They had another name, which would infinitely more n mystify our readers — " Ankle- beaters," from their driving the animals with long "wattles," and beating them on the legs to avoid spoiling or bruising the fleah. ■ P'f.NNY Post — It was devised in 1683 by Mr. David Murray, an upholder of Paternoster Row. It soon became an object of attention to the Government, but so low were the profits that one Dockwra, who had suc- ceeded Murray, had a pension of only £200 a year given him in lieu of it. This occurred in 1716. Pennant — Van Tromp, the great Dutch Admiral, when ho came into action at the Downs with Admiral Blake, had a broom at his mast-head significant of his bravado, that he would "sweep the seas." " Ah," said Blake, " run up my hunting whip ; if he sweeps the seas, ril flog him out of the chanoel." Up went the whip. It streamed out its thongs, and was the first of British pennants which have ever since held their own on the masts of our men-of-war. "♦"Pentecost — It literally signifies the ordinal number 50th; and is the solemn festival of the Jews, so called because it was celebrated 50 days after the feast of the Passover ; Lev. 23, 15. It was also called the feast of Weeks ; Exod. 34, 22 : because it was kept seven weeks after the Passover. Perfume of Flowers — There are extensive flower farms in the neighbourhood of Nice, Grasse, Montpelier, and Cannes, in France ; at Adrianople, Turkey in Europe ; at Broussa and Uslak, Turkey in Asia ; and at Milcham, in England ; all for the perfumery to be extracted from the flowers. One of the large perfumers of Grasse and Paris, employs annually 50,000 pounds of orange flowers, 60,000 pounds of cassia flowers, 54,000 pounds of rose-leaves, 32,000 pounds of jasmine blossoms, 32,000 pounds of violets, 20,000 pounds of tuberrose, 16,000 pounds of lilac, besides rosemary, mint, lemon, citron, thyme and odorous plants in large proportion. ^^ :, , :v;9 ,..:Uu.;iw Persecutions — There are ten great persecutions mentioned by Historians of the Christians. , ,,. *^^\ ^\A'^ ^^^ 60 1. The persecution under Nero occurred 31 years after our Lord's Ascension. When the Emperor set fire to the city of Rome, he threw the odium of that execrable action on the Christians, and made it the pre- text of persecuting them. Accordingly, they were hunted like wild beasts, and torn to pieces by devouring dogs, and in innumerable other ways, were vexed, tor- tured, and put to death. 2. The persecution which Domitian instituted took place in the year 95. It is computed that 40^000 per- sons suffered martyrdom at that time. 3. The persecution which existed in the reign of Trajan began in the year 100, and was carried on with violence for several years. 4. The persecution which was permitted by Antoni- nus commenced in the year 177. Many indignities, deprivations and sufferings, were inflicted on the Christ- ians in this persecution. 5. The persecution under Severus began in the year 197. Great cruelties were committed at this time against the patient followers of Christ. 6. The persecution which Maximinus ordered began in 235. It was the more severe to the sufferers on account of the indulgence they had enjoyed under the reign of his predecessor, Alexander Severus. 7. The persecution under Decius, began in 250. It was the most dreadful hitherto known. The Christians were in all places driven from their habitations, stripped of their estates, tormented with racks, &c. 8. The date of the persecution under Valerian is 257. Both men and women suffered death, some by scourging, some by the sword, and some by fire. 9. The persecution by Aurelian was in 274. But this was inconsiderable, compared with the others before mentioned. 10. The persecution in which Diocletian was con- cerned, commenced in 295. This was a terrible persecution. It is related that 17,00 were slain in one jnonth's time. The enemies of Christianity had the pre- m^jrf sumption to think '' that the name and superstition of the Christians" had been eflFaced from the empire. Peruke — An old clever French writer, named Menage, who was a great collector of old scraps of information upon all subjects, took it into his head once on a time to investigate the origin of the word Penihe. The result of his inquiry he gravely gave to the world in the following shape : — Pllus signifies hair in the Latin, and by various progressive mutations, the word thus reached peruke: pilus, pelutus, peluticus, pelutica, peruke. In imitation of this splendid piece of etymology. Professor Person, a wit and scholar of the first ordter, traced the word cucumber to Jeremiah King; thus, Jeremiah King, Jeremy King, Jerking, Grerkin, cucumber. Nothing could better illustrate and ridicule strained etymologies than this. But though Menage deserved to be laughed at on this »point, he was a meritorious and pleasing writer. He was the first person to use the terminative ana, now so often employed ; as in Walpoliana, Johnsoniana, &c. The concluding ana has indeed almost become an indepen- dent word, having been sometimes used in an isolated from to designate collections of loose thoughts or casual hints upon literature, or upon things in general. In short, the term is synonymous with onim'gatherum, the etymology of which it would be superfluous to point out. Petrels Stormy. — This bird was so called from the Scriptural f^ct of St. Peter walking on the water of the sea of Galilee — called Peterels, then Petrels. Macedonian Phalanx — Consisted of a number of men disposed in such close array, that their shields or targets met, above their heads. Their pikes or spears were of such a length, that those of the fifth rank would reach three feet beyond the front. The pikes*of the three last ranks lay over the shoulders of those before them, and served to lock or knit them so firmly together, that they were able to bear a prodigious shock, or advancing in this united u^anner could break 62 „ ' the ranks of the enemy and force their way through very great opposition. The Phalanx of Thebes was called the " Sacred B.ittaliou." Pharisees — They were also called Separatists ; founded by Hillel, a Doctor of Law, B.C. 150. They believed in the immortality of the soul, the resurrec- tion, and futurity ; that the souls of the wicked went directly to Hell, and that their bodies never rose again, and they believed that all things were subject (save God's fear) to Fate. Philippics — This species of satire derived its name from the orations of Demosthenes against Philip II., King of the Macedonians. The Philippic (ff Cicero against Mark Antony, is called by Juvenal, Divinus. Phosphorescence — The phosphorescence of the ocean is manifested by the bright scintillations of its waves and the dark green sparks in the wake of a ship, are also caused by minute organic beings, which are phosphorescent while alive. Plains — Different Names — Barrens, as the Alleghany Barrens ; Desert, as the Desert of Gobi ; Heaths, as the Heaths of Germany ; Landes, as the Landes of France ; Llanos, as the Llanos of South America ; Llanos, a Spanish word signifying level country ; Pampas, as the Pampas of Columbia ; Para- meras of Spain ; Prairies, as the Prairies of the United States ; Puszta, as the Puszta of Hungary ; from the local word signifying a plain ; Savannahs, as the Savannahs of the Southern States of America ; Selvas or Si/Ivas, as the Selvas of the Amazon — so called from the forests growing there ; and Steppes, as the Steppes of Jutland or Russia. Plantagenet — So called from the family device ; a sprig of broom, (plan'a genista, plants a genet.) 'i^LEDGiNG — The stabbing of Edward, who from this circumstance was called the Martyr, gave rise to pledging. While the Danes bore sway in England, if a native drank, they would sometimes stab him with. a dagger or a knife ; and because of this, persons would ^b itpfc ys 6g not drink in company, unless some one present would be their surety, or pledge that they should not be hurt while they took their drink. When, therefore, a person was about to drink, he asked some one near to be his pledge, or if he would pledge him, on which he answered he would, and held up his knife or sword to defend him while he drank. Plumbago. — The discovery of this substance which took place about two centuries ago, was not alto- gether a matter of chance. After a thunder-storm of more than usual violence a number of trees were blown down, and the gap made by the tearing up of the roots exposed a piece of plumbago to view. The value of the article, however, was not known, and for nearly a hundred years it was employed only for marking sheep and polishing steel articles. In the course of time some Jews in London discovered its utility for drawing, and it was by them first made into crayons, or what we now call blacklead pencils. Poles, (Barbers') painted red and white. — Origi- nally surgery and shaving were carried on in London by the same person. In 1512 an Act was passed to prevent any besides barbers practising surgery within the city and seven miles round. In 1640 they were united into wue corporate body — but then all persons practising shaving were forbidden to intermeddle with surgery, except to draw teeth and let blood — whence Barber-Surgeons. They became separate companies in 1745 — the surgeons removing to their Hall in the Old Bailey and then to the Royal College in Lincoln's- Inn. Barbers, however, continued to let blood and draw teeth until not a very great many years ago, as many men living still remember the great heaps of teeth in the window of Middleditch, one of this class, Great Suffolk Street, Southwark. PONTIP. — Pontiff, as every one knows, is a synonym for the Pope, or head of the Roman Catholic Church. Pontifex, from which it springs, bore a precisely similar signification, being applied to the high-priest of thei 64 heathen religion, in the older days of the city of Rome. What does the reader think the word Pontifex or Pon- tiflF signifies, in its plain, true, and original acceptation ? A bridge-maker! Pontem facer e, in the Latin, signifies to make a bridge; and from this, according to the usual fashion of compounding words in that language, comes j>ontifex, a bridge-maker or builder. All trace, however, of this sense of it merged early in that of high-priest, though ii. what the change had its origin is doubtful. Some etymologists think that the chief priests in Rome had the charge, attached to their oflBce, of repairing and maintaining in good order a certain bridge of the city, and others say that one high religious official built a splendid bridge at his own cost, and had the name of Pontifex perpetuated, in connection with the priestly ofl&ce, in token of public gratitude. Porter. — Porter got i«-s name from being chiefly used at one time by the class of people in London called by that title. '' Premises — Premises is a singular word — if a word used almost in the plural may be called so. It is an irrefutable testimony that the law is, in some instances, inclined to curtail and abbreviate, instead of extending and expanding, what passes through its hands, as it is generally held to do. In one sense, the term premises expresses the first part or foundation of an argument, the data from which the inference is drawn. This sense is near to the original etymological meaning, which is, " things sent or gone before," things already or first passed, as the premises in an argument precede the inference. Premises, in the signification which the law was the first to assign to it, indicates the precincts of a house, a manufactory, or, in short, almost any place that man lives in or about. We may suppose this meaning to have sprung up in this way : — A lawyer is pleading, either orally or in writing, relative to the rights of a mansion-house, with garden, stables, and other appendages ; this house may have to be mentioned in every sentence of the speech or deed, and, legally speaking, it may be necessary to mention the appur- '■A:%: ff ■;■. m '^ tenances also ; but this would be tedious, and therefore the lawyer looks for some phrase to express the whole. Premises, in the sense of *' the aforesaid things," or the " things gone before," is the word that legal custom has selected for such purposes, and so long has this applica- tion of it lasted, that the word now signifies a '* house and its precincts "as distinctly as the term "house" Uself. -j- Printing — Various cities have claimed the honor of tnis invention ; but it is now generally admitted to be due to Haerlem, a town of Holland. It is attributed to Lawrence Koster, an alderman of that city, in 1440. Amusing himself one day in the neighbouring wood, with cutting the barks of trees into letters that formed the initials of his name, he is said to have laid them on paper, and afterwards observed that from the sap their form was impressed on the paper. This accident induced him to make further experiments ; he next cut his letters in wood, and dipping them in a glutenous liquid, impressed them on paper, which he found an improvement; and soon after, substituting leaden and pewter letters, erected a press in his house ; thus laying the foundation of this noble art, which has thus gradually risen to its present excellence. This art, it is said, was stolen from him by his servant, John Faustus, who conveyed it to Mentz, and from the novelty of the discovery, soon acquired the title of doctor and conjurer. Protestants. — The Emperor Charles V., of Ger- many, called a diet at Spiers, A.D., 1529, to request aid against the Turks, and to devise means for allaying the religious disputes which then raged. Against a decree of this diet, to support the doctrines of the Church of Rome, six Lutheran princes formally and solemnly protested : hence the term Protestants was given to followers of Luther, Calvin, and all other sects which separated themselves from the Romish Church. Proverb. — " There is many a slip between the cup, and the lip." — This was originally a Grecian proverb which is said to have originated thus : The owner of a vineyard having overworked his slaves in digging and dressing it, one of them expressed a hope that his master might never taste the produce. The vintage came, and the wine was made, and the master, having a cup of it in his hand, taunted the slave ; who replied in the words which afterwards became a proverb. The master, before he had tasted the wine, was told sud- denly of a wild boar which had just burst into the vineyard, and was rooting it up. He ran out to drive away the beast, which turned on him and killed him ; so that he never tasted the wine. Punch. — Punch is directly derived from the Persian nvLUierul jmnji, in the BanBcrit puncha. Jive, indicating the number of the ingredients. , ..?..*' Punishments. — Some of the ancient punishments were horrible, viz. : — 1. That which was awarded to Mithridates, the eunuch who murdered Xerxes, B.C., 465. He was enclosed in a box, except his head, hands and feet, which being confined through apertures left for the purpose, were smeared with honey. In this condition, he was exposed with his face towards the hot sun. The honey attracted the bees, wasps and other in- sects, which by their stings inflicted excruciating pains, while the maggots produced within the box, from his excrements, ate into his flesh, and even to his very en- trails. He was daily fed with nourishing food, to pro- long life. Mithridates lived 17 days; and when, during that time, he at any period refused food, his eyes were pricked with small bodkins till he complied. .,,;.,; 2. That 'of Bessus, Governor of Bactria, who mur- dered Darius Codomannus, B.C., 331. Bessus was taken and bound naked, hand and foot, and four trees having been by main force bent down to the ground, and one of the criminal's limbs tied to each of them, the trees, as tliey wore sufl'rcd to return to their na- tural position, flew back with prodigious violence, each carrying with it one of the limbs. 3. A brass-founder of Athens, named Perillo, know- j^ ing the cruel disposition of Phalaris cast a brazen bull larger than life, and capable of containing a human victim, so contrived that a fire being placed beneath the bull, the unhappy man was burnt to death ; Phal- aris having admired it, caused the inventor to make the first trial himself. 4. Regulus, the Roman General, had his eyebrows cut olf in a dark cellar, and then exposed for some time to the heat of a meridian sun, and afterwards confined in a barrel, the sides of which were everywhere filled with sharp spikes, in which he was rolled down a f tcep hill into the sea. His wife, to retaliate, confined the Carthagenian prisoners, who were given to her by the Senate, in large presses filled with sharp iron spikes. 5. Ravaillac, the fanaticol monk, who murdered Hery IV., of France, was punished thus : — He was tied to the rack, a wooden machine in the shape of a St. Andrew's Cross, his right hand, within which was the knife with which he had assassinated the king, was first burned at a slow fire ; then the fleshy and most deli- cate parts of his body were torn with hot pincers, atid into the gaping wounds melted lead, oil, pitch, and rosin were poured, ^^is body was so robust that he endured this extreme pain, and his strength resisted that of the four horses by which his limbs were to be pulled to pieces ; the executioner in consequence, cut him into quarters, and the spectators dragged the remains through the streets. i • .i We may add to the above the following terrible pun- ishments of more recent times. The Czar Nicholas ordered one of his soldiers for mutinous conduct to have an iron wheel barrow attached to him and loaded with irons, and night and day encumbered with the wheel barrow the soldier after some time begged to be killed, and in the short time of a fortnight was a raving madman and a little after dead. The other is a des- scription of a cruel mode of punishment peculiar to, and we believe, original with the Chinese. It appears that a Chinese merchant had been convicted of murder- ^ 'Y .■ ing his wife and was sentenced to die by being totally deprived of the privilege of going to sleep. This pain- ful and singular mode of quitting an earthy existence was carried into execution at Amoy under the follow- ing circumstonce : — " The condemned was placed in prison under the care of 3 of the police guard who relieved each other every alternate hour, and who prevented the prisoner from falling asleep, night or day. He thus lived 19 days without enjoying any sleep. At the commencement of the 8th day, his sufferings were 60 intense that he implored the authorities to grant him the blessed opportunity of being strangulated, garroted, guillotined, burned to death, drowned, shot, quartered, blown up with gunpowder, or put to death in any conceivable way which their ingenuity or ferocity could invent. This will give a slight idea of the horrors of death from want of sleep. ^f.J • PuRPLt — Discovered at Tyre ; It is said to have been found out by a dog having by charnce eaten the murex or purpura and upon returning to his master, Herculus Syrius, he observed his lips tinged, and proper use was made of the discovery. There was a chamber appropriated to the Roman Queens when confined at Corstuntinople, covered and lined with purple or porphyry ; hence the princes born in that chamber are called Porphyrogenitus. PuszTA — The great plain of the Middle Danube, occupying the interior of former Hungary, locally called puszta, consists of tracts of rich black loam, with districts of deep sand, susceptible of cultivation ; but for many miles, not a tree, shrub, stone or living thing is to be seen, the monotony of the scene being alone varied by the sand-hillocks shifting with the wind. Punic — The wars between the Romans and the Carthagenians were called "Punic" from the term Poeni, applied by the former to the latter on account of their Phoenician origin. .^r ■' f- ■ > . c/om hjapi^ II f >. Q J;- ■ : Queen Annes Farthing — This coinage is the subject of a fable almost universally believed throughout the empire. It is supposed there never were more than three, the die breaking at the third, and consequently that a Queen Anne farthing is, from extreme rarity, the most valuable coin in existence. How this notion should have been impressed at first, and since become so prevalent, is incomprehensible. In reality, there were seven coinages of farthings in Queen Anne's reign, and the numbers of each were by no means small, though only one was designed for general circulation. Specimens of these may be seen in the British Museum, and a collector in London possesses from fifteen to twenty of that designed for circulation. On one, dated 1713, there is a word Utrecht. In consequence of the prevailing belief, it often happened that a poor peasant in some remote part of the country, who chanced to obtain a Queen Anne farthing, set off with it to London, in the hope of making his fortune by selling it. Even from Ireland, journeys of this kind were sometimes undertaken ; on one occasion, a man and his wife travelled thence to London with a Queen Anne farthing. It is needless to say that these poor people were invariably disappointed, the ordinary farthing of this sovereign being only worth about seven shillings to the colleetor. , Queens Ancient, Most Celebrated — Dido, said to be the founder and Queen of (Carthage (Virgil makes i^ilneus her lover and cotemporary, though this is certainly an anachronism) ; Artemisia, (jueen of Caria, and widow of Mausolus, to whose memory she erected a noble monument ; Thalrstris, queen of the Amazons, in the time of Alexander the Great; Clcopatrtt, queen of Egypt ; and Zenohia, queen of Palmyra ; Tomyria, queen of the Scythians, who slew Cyrus, the Elder, and Semiramis, queen of Babylon, who built the celebrated Gardens and Walls. , Queens, British — Who have given the great«gt proofs of intrepidity. Boadicea, queen of the loeni ; Philippa, wife to Edward the Third ; Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry the Sixth ; and Elizabeth, who reigned in her own right. ; ; Queens op France — There are but 13 out of 67 on whose memory there is no regret. A modem historian in summing up the statement, says: "Seven were divorced ; two died by the executioner ; nine died very young ; seven were soon widowed ; three were cruelly traduced ; three were exiles ; three were bad in diflferent degrees of evil ; the prisoners and the heart- broken made up the remainder. Twenty who were buried at St. Denis since the time of Charlemagne, were denied the rest of the grave. Quoits — This amusement origii.ated withthe Greeks. It was first played at the Olympic Games by the Idaei Dactyli, B.C. 1453. He who threw the discus (quoif) farthest, and with the greatest dexterity, gained the prize. ; . \ H Races — Adam and Eve were, as the Scriptures inform us, the first parents of the human race. All • the inhabitants of the earth, therefore are originally of the same race or descent. It is true that the inhabitants of some countries dificr widely from those of others in color, features, habits, and general appearance; but these differences and peculiarities are the eifects of climate, diflferent modes of living, education, and other causes which we cannot enter into here. The colour of the skin, quality of the air, form of the features, and shape of the skull, are the traits by which the different, races of men are usually distin- guished. The HUMAN FAMILY is usually divided into branches or varieties as in the following illustration. 1. The Cavcasian race, with features like ours, includes Europeans, and their descendants, as the Americans, with the Moors of Africa, abd the people of Asia, west of the river Oby, the Bolur Tag Moun ,li ■ tains, and the Ganges. The Caucasians are 6f all complexions, according to the climate, but white is their natural colour. 2. The Mongolian race comprises the natives of Asia east of the river Oby, the Belur Tag Mountains, and the Ganges, (except the inhabitants of Malacca). The colour of the skin is of a de^ yellow, their hair lank and black, their eyes small and oblique, and their cheekbones high or prominent. The inhabitants of the frigid zone are like the Mongolians, except that they are dwarfish. I .'*>»;.>. I 3. The Ethiopian or African race comprises all south of the Sahara, and Abyssinia ; also the natives of New Holland, Van Diemen's Land, Papua, or New Guinea, and other islands in the Indian Archipelago. Their skin is hlacJc. their noses large and flat, their hair frizzled and woolly, their lips thick, particularly the upper one, their forehead low and retreating, their eyes black, and their cheek-bones prominent. 4. The Indian or American race comprises all the native American tribes, except the Esquimaux. They are of a reddish or cinnamon colour, their hair is black and lank, their beard thin and scanty, their eyes sunk, and their cheek-bones high. 5. The Malay race, found in Malacca, and in some of the Asiatic islands, are of a hrvwn or tawny colour, with strong, hlack, curled hair, and broad mouths. The Malay race approximates to the Ethiopian, and the Indian to the Mongolian. • • ■ v/ Rainbow — A pencil of light on entering a rain-drop undergoes refraction ; this pencil or ray consisting of diflFerent colors which possess different degrees of refrangibility, emerges, after being reflected at the back part of the trop decomposed into its primitive colors. Reckon, Time — The different manner in which some nations reckoned time is as follow : The Babylonians, Persians, and Syrians, began their day at sun-rising, and counted 24 hours. The ancient Jews, Athenians, N-^ >v, ti ^- t V and Italians, reckoned from sun-setting. The Egyptians, like the English, began at midnight. Astronomers and seamen begin the day at noon, and reckon 24 hours to the next day at noon ; and according to this method of reckoning are all the cal6ulationB of the sun, moon, and planets, made in an ephemeric almanac. Reckoning the Time — For the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the Roman way of reckon- ing the days of the month , we may explain that, taking January as an example, the 1st day was called the Kalends, the 5th the Nones, and the 13th the Ides of the month ; the days onward from the Kalends being reckoned the 4th from the Nones, the 3rd from the Nones, the 2nd from the Nones, the Day before the Nones ; those onward from the Nonos being reckoned in the same manner, as the 8th from the Ides, the 7th from the Ides, &c. ; while, after the Ides, the reckoning was, the 19th from the Kalends of February, the 18th, and so on. Whence this system of anticipation ? It is submitted that it originated in the habits of the Romans, which mainly referred to war, and to festival- keeping and shows. The Kalends, the Nones and Ides, were the grand days of the public shows, in which the people were so much interested. Eager for this periodical enjoyment, they had it, of course, much in their minds, and it must have a general feeling amongst them to long for the arrival of these periods of the month. Hence would rise a habit of counting the days onward to these festivals, as 4 days from the Nones, 3 days from the Nones, and so forth. P]very school-boy has a ready illustration of this supposition in his own practice with regards to holidays and vacations. He rackons 5 weeks from- Christmas, 4 weeks fromChristmas, 3, &c. ; and afterwards 5 days from Christmas, 4 days from Christmas, and finally, the Day before Christmas, equivalent exactly to the Pridic Nonas, or Idus^ or Kalendas, or Roman Chronology. yQ Rhodes — The Colossus of Rhodfes was a brazen statue of Appollo, one of the wonders of the world. It was the workmanship of Chares, a disciple of Ly~ JatrA- .^/?af€.^)^l 73 sippus, who spent 12 years in making it ; and was at length overthrown by an earthquake, B.C. 224, after having stood about 66 years. Its height was 105 feet; there were few people who could encompass its thumb, which is said to have been a fathom in circumference, and its fingers were larger than most statues. It was hollow, and in its cavities were larger stones, employed by the artificer to counterbalance its weight, and render it steady on its pedestal. Roman Emperors — Who came against Britain in person. — Julius Caesar, who first landed on the Island in the year 55, before the Birth of Christ. Caligula, in the year of our Lord 16. Claudius, in the year 43. Adrian, in the year 79. Severus, in the year 197. CoNSTANTiUS, arrived in Britain in the year 293, and died at York in the year 296. Constantine THE Great was a native of Britain. He was born at Colchester, in Essex. His mother was a British lady named Helena. Conbiantine visited Britain in the year his father died, but did not reside there. Roman Legion — The Legion was a body of the Roman army, consisting of 10 companies, placed always in the van, or rear ; containing from 3,000 to 6,000 men. During the campaign in which the battle of Cannae was fought, the Romans for the firU time raised 8 Legions ; the usual levy had been 4. Rotundity op the World— The Rotundity or roundness of the earth may be proved by various argu- ments: 1. The appearance of a ship at sea, either approaching to or from, an observer on the shore. In the former case, the vessel seems to rise out of water, and in the latter to sink beneath it, — a phenomenon that can only bo accounted for by the convexity of the earth's surface. 2. Several navigators, among whom are Magellan, Drake, Cavendish, Anson, Biron, Boug- ainville, Wallis, Carteret, and Cook, have sailed quite round the en th ; not indeed in an exact circle, the winding of the shores preventing them from keeping a D 74 direct course. 3. Eclipses of the moon, which are caused by the shadow of the earth falling on that planet, demonstrate that the earth is of a globular figure ; for this shadow is always circular, t > matter what position the earth may be in at the liine. 4. All the appearances, of the heavens, both on land and at sea, are the same as they would be were the earth a globe ; which proves that it really is such. — Nor are the mountains and valleys on the earth's teurface any material objection to its being considered as a round body ; since the highest mount^iins bear a less proportion to the bulk of the earth than the slight protuberances on the skin of an orange bear ti that fruit, or a grain of sand to an artificial globe of 12 inches diameter. The earth, indeed, is not a perfect sphere, being flattened or compressed at the two poles, so as to form what mathematicians call an oblate spheroid. The longest diameter of the earth is to the shortest nearly as 312 to 313, making the circumference of the equator 40 miles greater than that of the meridian, and the equatorial 26 miles greater than the polar diameter. That the other planets, the sun, and the sTiirs are globular bodies, analogy and observation justify us in believingi/^ s /- Sadducees — So called from Zadok or Sadoc, B.C. 280. They believed that God was the only immaterial being, that there was no angel or spirit, and no resur- rection of the dead. They reject all the books of the Bible but the five books of Moses. Sahara, or the Great Desert — Africa. The most striking natural feature of Africa consists in the immense deserts which pervade many parts of its surface, and may be said to comprise nearly one-half of its entire extent so far as yet known. Of these the chief is that called by eminence Sahara, or the Desert j stretching from the shores of the Atlantic, with few interruptions, to the confines of -^^gypt ; a space of about 2,000 miles, by a breadth of 800. This ocean of sand defies every exertion of human power or ^rfk./^d 76 industry ; but it is interspersed with various islands (oases) of different sizes, of which Fezzan is the chief that has yet been explored. St. Andrew — He suffered martyrdom by crucifixion, at Patrae, Nov. 30th, A.D. 69. The titular Saint of Scotland ; as his cross (&n X) was blended with St. George's, (f ) all English fli^s have the two ; St. George's stands for the sign of Addition and St. Andrew's for that of Multiplication. This saint was bound on the cross with thongs, that his death might be the more dreadful and prolonged. St. Swithin — Origin of the Old Adage. " If it rains on Saint Swithin's Day, it will rain for forty days afterwards." In the year 875, St. Swithin, bishop of Winchester, dying, was canonized by the then pope. He was singular in his desire to be buried in the open church-yard, and not in the chancel of the minster, as was customary with the bishops ; which request was complied with : but the monks, on his being canonized, taking it into their heads that it was disagreeable for the saint to lie in the open church-yard, resolved to move his body into the choir, which was to have been done in solemn procession on the 15th July. It rained, however, so violently on that day, and foi forty days succeeding, as had hardly ever been known, which made them set aside their design, as contrary to the will of Heaven ; and instead of removing the body, they shewed their veneration by erecting a chapel over his grave. "^Salic Law— From the Salians, among whom it originated ; it excluded women from mounting the throne, &c. Saltness of the Ocean — Various theories have been advanced to account for the saltness of the ocean. Some assert the existence of vast beds of salt at its bottom. Others have suppowed that the sea may have originally received all its saline particles from those existing on the surface of the earth, which were dissolved and carried down to the ocean by the action of the Jcek 76 rivers. The most probable solution of tbe matter is, that it is an essential and absolute quality impressed upon it from the creation of the world by the Great Author of naturer.^ Sarcasm — The word Sarcasm has a fearful deri- vation. It comes from the Greek Sarkadso, to pick the flesh off ; jmd,.in truth, sarcasm may be justly said to pick the flesh, not oif the body, but the mind — if such an expression is allowable. Savannas or Prairies, Barrens or Pine Barrens — The (;eiitral part of North America, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, may he called a continuous plain, estiiniitcd t(» contain 2,430,000 square miles. In the southern part of this tract, on both sides of the Mississippi, but principally on the west, the prairies occur, apparently boundless plains, of which three kinds are noticed : 1. Bushy prairies, where there are springs, grass, small shrubs, grape vines, and an infinite variety of flowers. 2. Dry prairies, the most common, having neither wood nor water, and no vegetation but grass, weeds, and flowers — called also rolling prairies, from their wavy surface. 3. Moist and wel^watered prairies, abounding in pools without issue, left by the floodings of the rainy season, producing tall, rank grass. The barrens, near the Allcghaneys and Rocky IMountains, resemble the prairies in being grassy and treeless, but are more elevated and dry. The pine barrens, situated on the south-west of the United States, and also in the interior, are monotonous tracts of sand covered with gigantic pine trees. Scotland — The Roman arms were first carried into Scotland by Agricola, A.D. 80 ; and in the works of Tacitus, the inhabitants of the northern part of Britain are for the first time distinguished from the southern by the special application of Caledonii, a name said to be derived from a Cymraic word signifying woodlands ^ forests, or perhaps rather a mountainous country ; for the ancients often blended the ideas of forest and 77 mountain. Bede, the fatlicr of Enjijlish history, who flourished in the beginning of the eighth century, denominates the conntry Provincia l*ictorum, the ^peovince or region of the Picti. The Saxon writers, and among them King Alfred, called the people Peohts, and the country Peohtlnid. These distinctions con- tinued till the 11th century, when the name of Scotia was taken from Ireland, and applied to modern Scothipd. Saw — This instrument was invented by Daedalus, according to Pliny ; by Talus, according to Apollodorus. Talus, it is said, having found the jaw-bone of a snake, employed it to cut through a piece of wood, and then lade one of iron. Saturday Half-Holiday — It comes from the ancient custom of keeping holy that portion of time. All labor ceased at noon on Saturday, and the peasants and workmen did not resume their toils till Monday morning. To mark this time, a bell tolled on Saturday at mid-day, vespers or evening service was then attended, and those who did not attend to, and observe these rules were in danger of punishment. Thus the people had time for sober and serious thought before the coming of the Sabbath. Selvas, (Forests) — The plains of the Amazon form the second division of the South American low-lands. They are estimated to comprise upwards of 2,000,000 of square miles, of which nearly one-half is woodland, the rest being occupied by clear grassy spaces, lagoons, and marsh lands. -yt Seven — The 7 Wonders of the World: — 1. The coIossHfi at Rhodes, a statue of the sun, 70 cubits high, placed across the mouth of the harbour ; a man could not grasp its thumb with both his arm.s ; Its legs were stretched out to such a distance that a large ship under sail might easily pass into the port between them ; its construction occupied twelve years, and cost 300 talents. (A Rhodiun talent is worth £322, 18s.) It stood fifty years, and at last was thrown down by an earth(]^uake. — 2. The temple of Diana at Ephesus wag 78 a work of tho greatest magnitude : 220 years were spent in finishing it. It was "supported by 127 pillars, raised by as many kings, and each 60 foet high. Of these colunms, 37 were engraven. The image of the goddess was made oi ebony. — 3. The Mausoleum or sepulchre of Mdusolus, king of Caria, built by his queen, Artemisia, of the purest marble ; and yet the workmanship of it was much more valuable than the materials. It was, from North to South, 63 feet long, almost 411 feet in compass, and 25 cubits (that is about 35 feet) high, surrounded by 36 columns, beautiful in the highest degree. — 4. An ivory statue of Jujnterf in the temple of the city OJjprqiia, carved with the greatest art by Phidias, and of a prodigious size. — 5. The walls of Babylon (the metropolis of Chnldea) , erected by queen Semiramis. Their circumference was 60 miles, their height 200 feet, and their breadth 50 feet (^Plin. /ti. 6. c. 26.) ; so that 6 chariots abreast might conveniently pjiss upon them. — 6. The Pyranids of Egypt ; 2 of which, remarkable for their height, still remain. The first has a square basis 763 feet each way, and is 460 feet high ; it is constructed of great stones, the least of which is 30 feet in length : 360,000 men were employed in building it for the space of 20 years. The other two pyramids, which are somewhat smaller, attract the admiration of all spectators. In these pyramids, it is reported, the bodies of tho kings of Egypt lie interred. — 7. The royal palace of Cyrus, king of the Modes, made by Menon., witli no less prodigality than art ; for he cemented the stones with gold. The 7 Wise Men of Greece, viz : — Thales, Solon, Chilo (a Lacedemonian), Pittacus, Bias, Cleobulus, Periander ; Anacharsis (the Scythian) has also been classed among the sages, and he appears to merit tho distinction, being called the eighth wise man, Octavus Sapientum,. > The Buddhists have 7 principal gods who rule the 7 days of the week. The Buddhists, the most numerous of the Indian natives, who still count 150 millions of **- fXfjKJf^t people, divide their weeks in the followinp; way : — thus the say, Hiru^ the sun rules Sunday ; Kandu, the Moon, Monday ; Anga/iaru, Mars, Tuesday ; Btulfihu, Mercury, Wednesday; BruHpatl, Jupiter, Thursday; Sicura, Venus, Friday; and JJtnaharu, Saturn, Saturday. The 7 Hills of Rome — Hence Rome called Septicollis and SeptemcoUis, viz : Aventinc, Capitoline, Esquiline, Janiculum, Palatine, Quirinal and Viminal, The 7 Kings op Rome, viz: — Romulus, Numa Pompilius, TuUus Hostillius, Ancus Martins, Priscus Tarquinius, Servius TuUius, Lucius Tarquiuius Snperbus. The 7 Kingdoms of the Saxons: the Heptarchy — The Saxon Heptarchy conUiined the following King- doms : Kent, Northumberland, East Anglia, Mercia, Essex, Sussex, Wesscx. Shalloon — So called because first made in Chalons, in France. Shamrock — The emblem of Ireland. It was intro- duced by Patrick McAlpine, since called St. Patrick, as a simile of the Trinity, A.D. 432. When he could not make the Irish understand him by words he showed them a stem of the clover or trefoil, thereby exhibiting an ocular demonstration of the possibility of trinity in unity and unity in trinity. The trefoil was denominated shamrock in contradistinction of Peter the true rock, as represented by the Church of Rome. Signature op the Cross — The mark which persons who are unable to write are required to make, instead of their signature, is in the form of a cross ; and this practice having been formerly followed by kings and nobles, is constantly referred to as an instance of the deplorable ignorance of ancient times. This signature is not, however, invariably a proof of such ignorance ; anciently, the use of this mark was not confined to illiterate persons ; for amongst the Saxons the mark of the cross is an attestation of the good faith of the person signing, and was required to be attached to the '^.■A-- I ^fl^ /t 80 signature of those who could write, as well as to stand in the place of the signature of those who could not write In these times if a man could write or e\ en read, his knowledge was considered proof presumptive that he was in holy orders. The word clericus or clerk was synonymous with penman ; and the laity, and the people who were not clerks, did not feel any urgent necessity for the use of letters. The ancient use of the cross was, therefore, universal ; alike by those who could and could not write ; it was the symbol of an oath from its holy associations, and, generally, the markf Sirloin — This word come from the Frensh surlonge^ which is compounded from the Latin super, above, and lumbus, a loin. The general opinion, however, is that this word owes its first syllable to Charles II., who, it is said, in one of his merry moods, knighted a loin of beef, and hence they say this joint is called the str-loin. KEDADDLE — A Confederate soldier says that the word skedaddle is neither Greek or Sanscrit, nor any old world waif, but that it originated on Virginia soil, and among men who, " rund mit Siegel," in this wise : In the earlier days of the war, when Mosby and other guerilla partisans were making the Federal troops much trouble, it was customary for both parties to send out companies of skirmishers, to act as circum- stances might require. Of course they frequently encountered each other in very pretty little fights. On one of these occasions Mosby's men got the worst of it, and their leader sung out " Scatter; boys, scatter," every one running his own way then, into the bushes, and vanishing like rabbits from the exulting enemy. A few days afterwards there was another encounter, in which tlie Federals were overpowered, and their German commander, who understood English very imperfectly, but remembered the magic rebel words, ** Scatter, boys, scatter," attempted to give the same order. But either in his ignorance of the words, or his excitement, he could only say " Ske-dad-dle, boys, ske-dad-dle," which they did to fuch good purpose that the joke and the ^(^-ii m(Ll^fi order have been very popular ever since, and saved, wc may hope, as they say, '' many valuable lives." Skipper — Peter the Great chanced one day to meet at the house of a certain merchant, a captain of a trading vessel, a Dutchman, of the name of Schipprry who was there, with some of his crew. Peter had just dined, he desired that the captain might sit down to table, and that his people should also remain in the apartment and enjoy his presence ; he had them served with drink, and he amused himself with their seaphrases, as coarse as they were artless. One of these sai' s, emboldened by the indulgence of the monarch, thought proper to drink the health of the Empress, with all the zeal of gratitude. After a moment's pause, he took up the jug, bent his head in advance, scraped his feet awkwardly behind him, and said, " Mj/ Lord, the Great Peter, long live your wife, Madam the Empress.^' Captain Schipper turned himself round, looked at the sailor, shrugged his shoulders, and to show the Czar that he, for his part, understood the usages, politeness, and style of the Court, rose up, jogged the sailor with his elbow, tviok the jug, advanced towards Peter, bent his body very low, and tlius correcting the phrase of the mariner, said : — Sir lie Great Peter, long live her Excellency, Madam, the Empress^ your spouse.'^ The Czar smiling, replied, " Schipper, that is very well, indeed, I thank you ;" and hence arose the word Skip2)er, as applied to the master of a sailing vessel. Snow — Snow is simply the visible vapour of which the clouds are composed, frozen. A quantity ot very minute crystals of ice having been formed, they arc enlarged by the condensation and freezing of vapour, and merging together, constitute flakes, which increase in size during the period of their descent. When the quantity of moisture, separated from the al^mosphere, is not great, flakes are not formed, but the crystals remain detached, float in the air, and give rise to what is called the frost smoke in high latitudes. Snow falls to the ground when the temperature of the atmosphere down to the earth's surface is sufficiently cold ; but if d2 82 the lower strata of air is too warm, it melts in travers- ing; them, and then wc have rain below while it snows above. Hence, snow is never seen at the level of the sea within the tropics, and it becomes more abundant with the decrease of temperature towaids the poles. Spa — A watering place, so called from the town of Spa in Liege (Belgium) famous for its mineral waters, hence any watering place is called a Spa. Spinister — The term "spinster" is derived from the custom prevalent before the introduction of machinery, that a maiden should have spun a certain tale or task of woollen yarn before she was considered a qualified housewife. Springs — The rains and melted snows are partly drained from the surface of high grounds into rills and streams, or returned again to the at»r:osphere by evapora- tion, or devoted to the purposes of animal and vegetable life. But a large portion is received into soil by minute absorption, or percolates through cracks and fissures in the rocks, pursuing a downward course, till arrested by clays and impenetrable strata, where the water accumulates, and is forced by hydrostatic pressure to find its way to the surface, occasioning the pheno- mena of natural springs. Some springs are perennial or constant, discharging a great volume of water, and show no diminution during seasons of drought ; others are intermittent, depending upon the character of the season. Reciprocating springs, or those which ebb and flow, are rare. The celebrated ebbing and flowing Well of the Peak and the far-famed Pool of Siloam, are instances. The temperature of spring water varies from that of ice-water to the boiling point. Springs of fresh water sometimes issue from the bed of the ocean. A pviwerful jet of this kind occurs in the Gulf of Spezzia, a branch of the Gulf of Genoa. In the bay of Xagua, on the south-east coast of Cuba, similar springs gush up with such force as to endanger small canoes, while vessels sometimes take in w^ter Mill Mf^M from them ; and the lamcrtine, or fresh water cetacea, abound in the vicinity. There are other instances. Standards — The Ensign of Constantine the Great. While meditating one evening in his tent upon the dangers which surrounded him, and praying for Divine guidance and protection amidst them, there is said to have appeared over against him in the heavens, a pillar of light, in the form of a cross, bearing the inscription, "By this overcome " (//i lioc (signo) vinces.) Those who were attached to paganism looked upon this as a most inauspicious omen ; but it made a different impres- sion on the mind of the emperor. He caused a royal standard to be made, like the appearance he had seen in the heavens. The Great Standard of France, called Auriflamma, or, Oriflammo, a holy and golden banner, of St. Denis, which hung suspoudt'd over his tomb; Louis the Fat, first took it to battle. At the battle of Agincourt, A.D. 1415, it is said to have appeared for the last time. The ensign of the Danes, &c., in English History. This was called the Raven, which the pirates believed to have magic power, it having been woven, as they said, in one afternoon, by the three daughters of their great chief, Ragnor Lordbrock, and that it would announce victory by appearing like a live raven flying, and defeat by hanging down and drooping. It was captured by Alfred the Great. Stars and Stripes — The American flag originated in a resolution of Congress, June 13th, 1777, " That the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternately red and white ; and the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new con- stellation." The combinition is thought to have boon derived from the arms of General Washington, which contain three stars in the upper portion and three bars running across the escutcheon ; if this is not correct, the coincidence is very striking. There were several flags used before 'he striped one ; formerly a new stripe '^\V. » " 84 was added for each new State admitted into the Union, until the flag became too large ; when, by an Act of Congress, the stripes were reduced to the old thirteen ; and now a star is added to the Unoin at the accession of each new State. A paper says : The flag of the United States will hereafter have thirty-three stars on its union. By the Act of Congress approved 4th of April, 1818, the flaji^ was to be of thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white, and the Union thirty stars in a blue field ; and on the admission of every new State, one more star was to be added, and this addition ordered to be made " on the 4th of July next succeed- ing such admission." Sterling — Camden gives the following account of the origin of the word. About the time of Richard I., money coined in the eastern part of Germany came into special request in England, on account of its purity, and was called Easterling money, as all tjie inhabi- tants of that region of Germany were called Eastcrlings. Ultimately, some of these people, skilled in coining, were sent for to London, to bring the English coin to perfection ; and to the new issues under their direction, the name of Easterling, contracted afterwards to Ster- ling, continued to be applied. The word thus became fixed in the language. Stocks, Barnacles, and Bilboes — Barnacles, or Bernicles, appear to be first mentioned by Joinville, the chronicler of St. Louis : — " And the Saracens, seeing that the king would not comply with the demands, threatened to put him in the hemidea, which is the most grie . ous torture they can put any one to. And these are two great beams of wood which are fastened to a head ; and when they put any one in them, they lay him on his side between the two beams, and pass his legs across great pins ; then shut down the piece of wood that is uppermost, and make a man sit down on the beams, from whence it comes that there remains not half a foot of bones in the body that are not crushed and broken ; and still worse to make the matter, at the end of three days they put the legs, which are all swollen. Sfdit mU/'^ 85 ^ e - ^ , V back again into these bcrnicles, and break them anew, which is a most cruel thing, as well as you may believe, and with bullock's sinews they tie down his head for fear he should move himself therein." The two holes for the feet must have suggested the namrfof "barnacles' ' for a pair of spectacles, used as a conventional jestword by the London populace. Stoics — A sect of heathen philosophers, who took their rise from Zeno, a Cyprian. From his teaching his scholars in the stoa or porch at Athens, they came to be called Stoics or Poachers. They believed that God, as a kind of soul, actuated all things ; that wisdom alone made men happy ; that pains and poverty were fancied evils, and thqteffected much stiffness, patience, austerity and insensibility. Students Wearing Silver Tassels at Oxford. — All colleges at Oxford which contributed their plate for the use of the Royal Mint have the privilege of wearing the silver tassel in their cap. Style — The ancient Romiins used an instrument, sharp at one end and blunt at the other, named a stilus, for writin J on their tablets of wax, and hence style became a word of the signification which it now bears. The phrase vertere stj/lum, to turn the stylus, was to express blotting out. Sybarite — The inhabitants of the town of Sybaris were famed for their luxurious and effeminate lives. Their weakness was betrayed in this manner. They decreed marks of distinction to such an excelled in giving magnificent entertainments ; they removed from their city those citizens and artizans whose work was noisy ; and even the cocks were expelled, lest their shrill cries should disturb the peaceful slumbers of the inhabitants. From this circumstance, any lazy and effeminate person is called a Syharite. Sycophant — Parasite and Sycophant are terms descriptive severally of characters of a very contemp- tible kind. Parasite is compounded of the Greek words para, near, and sitos, corn ; and Potter, in his ' ' Anti- J-f-fk. ' M quities of Greece," presents the following account of * the way in which the compound term acquired its present signification. After telling us that the name of parasiti at first denoted simply those persons who held the honorable office of collection of the corn allotted for public sacrifices, " the public storehouse, he continues, where they kept the grain was called parasitiun." Diodorus, the Sinopesian, says that in every village of the Athenians, they maintained at the public charge certain parasiti, or {.- in-collectors, in honour of Herculus; but afterwai .s, to ease the commonwealth of this burden, the magistrates obliged some of the wealthier of the inhabitants to take them to their tables, and entertain them at their cost; whence this word seems in later ages to have signified a trencherman, a fiatterer, or one that for the sake of a dinner conforms himself to every man's humour." — This is a very rational account of the way in which gentlemen who looked after the corn of the gods came to have their designation of parasites, changed in meaning so as to' signify toad-eaters, as we call gentlemen of the parasi- tical order now-a-days. The mode, however, in which the word sycophant acquired its odious meaning, is much more simple and clear, ^ut we defy our unclassical readers to guess from its etymology how sycophant came to bear the sense of a flattering tale- bearer. It is composed of two words, suon, a fig, and phiano, to show. From this pair of roots, one might expect sycophant to have meant a grocer, for he is your true fig-exhibitor. I^evertheless, mark how simple and appropriate the origin of the present signification is. It was forbidden by law to export figs from Athens. Man, however, has always been a smuggling animal, and as the Athenians did not like the restrictive enact- ment in question, they were apt now and then to try and evade it in a quiet way. But wherever smugglers are, there will be found informers also, and occordiugly the poor fig exporters werje sometimes caught. The only revenge they could take was to fix on these informers the title of sycophants, or fig-showers, in a ^fi(k .87 coiitcniptuouH sense, and by and by the word was applied to denote all contemptible tale-bearers and flatterers whatever. K A Tailor said to be the Ninth Part op a Man — This contemptuous expression has been toolonj; tolerated as an offensive imputation on a respectable trade, from which it is not likely to have taken its ori«j;in. The English word coward is derived from the Italian antardo, which comes from coda — a tail — a codardo or coward being one who hangs behind. The literal mejining of coward is therefore a tailer ; and may not the proverbial vulgarism now connected with the trade of a tailor be traceable to a pun on this word ? When we speak with contempt of a tailor, we really mean a poltroon of any kind, who is a codardo or tailer ; and if we knew our etymology better, we should not regard it as an aspersion on the useful fraternity of the shears and thimble, although ignorant usages has for generations so perverted the term. Tantalise — Tantalus was condemned to undergo a punishment for certain crimes, viz., to be immersed in water to his chin and surrounded with the most fragrant flowers aiil splendid fruits, but suffering dreadful pangs of hunger and thirst, not allowed to taste any ; hence came the word tnntaUse. Tariff — The puzzling name ''tariff" is derived from the town of Tarifa, at the mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar, and the most southern point in Europe, not excepting Cape Matapan, at the foot of the Morea. Tarifa was the last stronghold which the Moors disputed with the Christians, and is still within three leagues of the empire of Morocco. When the Moors held possession of both the pillars of Hercules, it was here that they levied contributions for vessels entering the Mediterra- nean — hence the name. \ Te Deum — A hymn of the Anglican, Koman and Greek Churches, beginning with the words Te Deum X 88 laudamus, We praise Thcc, God. It is generally supposed to have been the composition of St. Augiistin, A.D. 390. Is is sung as a national thanksgiving for a victory, a bounteous harvest, or the removal of some signal evil. Teetotaller — An artisan of Preston, Lancashire, England, named Richard Turner, in addressing tem- perance meetings made constant use of this word, for want of one to express how great a drunkard he had once been, and how great an abstainer he then was. He used to exclaim, " I am now Teetotaller." This is the origin of the word. Tenement — The word tenement has undergone a mutation of sense. It originally sigified a '^ holding :" and so many were the houses at one time "held " of superiors, that the term came into frequent use in this signification, and ultimately was applied to houses whether held of a superior or not. Tinkers — Tinkers, were originally so called, because the itinerant members of that profession used to give notice of their approach to villages and farmhouses by making a tinkling noise on an old brass kettle. This was the custom of our ancestors, and ought to have been continued, seeing that the fact of the vicinity of tinkers, or tinklers, as the Scotch called them with a nearer approach to the true etymology, is a piece cf information very serviceable and necessary in more respects than one. Topaz — It comes from the Greek topazion, and has its name, according to Pliny, from the Island Topazium. There were two kinds of this stone, the one opaque and green, the other of a golden hue, hence called by the exact Greeks chrysopasius. From abounding in these stones, the river Topajos, in Brazil, has its name. To Tremble Like an Aspen Leap — The asp or aspen is a species of the poplar which from the per^ petual quiver of its foliage, is designated the trembling poplar. The idea is still prevalent among the peasantry Tnk ^ 89 of England, fhat our Savour's cross was made of this wood, which accounts for the shudder. Troy Weioht — It is so called from Troyes, a city in France, where it was first employed ; it is used in philosophy, in weighing gold, &c. y^ Teeth of the Elephant — There is a very curious difference in the disposition of the enamel in the African and Asiatic elephant, which is worth notice. In the African, it is always in the form of transverse lozenges, which touch each other in the middle of the tooth ; in the Asiatic, it is in the form of transverse flattened ovals ; and this difference is so constant, that it may be always known, by a slight inspection, whether the tooth has belonged to the one or the other of the species. Three Number — The 3 ways of writing or printing languages. Most languages are written from the left hand of the page, across to the right, like our own ; but the Arabic, Persian, and some other languages of Asia are written from the right to the left, and the Chinese in columns from the top to the bottom. The twice 3 ways by which heat is produced viz ; by combustion— hy friction, by percmnion, — by the mixture of two or more substances, as when sulphiiric acid is poured upon water or magnesia — by electricity and galvanism, and by the sun. The earth has three different motions ; it revolves round the sun, — it revolves upon its axis, — and it revolves round the point towards which the moon attracts it ; and this is the case with every planet which is attended by satellites. The moon has three motions : one round the earth, in about four weeks, which causes the moon's apparent increase and decrease, and produces the eclipses of the sun and moon ; another, round its own axis, in the same time ; and a third, round the sun, along with the earth, in a year. There are three different kinds of levers ; in the first, the fulcrum is between the power and the weight. 90 In levers of the second kind, the weight, instead of being at one end, is situated between the power and the fulcrum. In levers of the third kind, the fulcrum is also at one of the extremities, the weight or resistance at the other, and the power is applied between the fulcrum and the resistance. There are three kinds of copper, the common, rose- copper, and virgin copper : copper olso mixed with a large quantity of tin, makes what we call bell-metal : with a smaller proportion, bronze for statues, &c. ; and when mixed with zinc, pinchbeck. The ensues of the heat and dryness of Africa may be accoimtod for — (1.) By its position, extending almost eqwiliy on each side of the equator, and by far the greater part within the tropics ; only a strip of coast N". of Mt. Atlas (the Barbary States), and that S. of the Snow Mts. (part of Cape Colony), being even slightly removed from the influences of the burning atmosphere of the central mass. — (2.) The little elevation, Africa having comparatively few and unim- portant ranges of mts. — (3.) The want of water; it having few large rivers, and not one considerable opening of the sea into the land. It is thought that the Sahara, Senegambia, and Guinea, are the hottest countries of the globe. The Spartans were divided into three classes. The highest, or Dorians, despised every pursuit save arms, to which they were rigidly trained. The second class were the Perioeci, who supplied a certain number of hopletes, but were not exclusively warriors : these, too, were the shopkeepers and men of business, performing functions to which the Dorians would not condescend. The third class were the Helots or slaves. The Roman People were divided into three orders or classes, viz : 1st class Senatorian, 2nd Equestrian, and 3rd Pleboan. ^jfif^c^ JUS Among the Saxons wc read that there were three divisions of the inhabitants. The people were divided into Nobles, Freemen and Serfs. All oflBces in the states were reserved for the nobles or Thanes ; but a Freeman might become a Thane by the possession of five hides of land, and by success in agriculture, commerce, learning, or arms. The Serft were disposed of with the lands, together with the cattle and other stock. Vhunder and Ltohtnino — These awful phenomena are occasioned by electricity. Lightning consists of an apparent stream of the electrical fluid, passing between the clouds and the earth; and the thunder is nothing more than the explosion, with its echoes. Thunder and lightning bear the same relation to each other, as the flash and the report of a cannon ; and by the space of time which occurs between them in both cases, their distance from a particular spot may be known, reckoning 1,142 feet for every second. The color of lightning is variously white, orange and blue. Its hue appears to depend on its intensity, and height in the atmosphere. There is a class of interesting and harmless and meteorological phenomena duo to the communication of electricity in a strong degree. It becomes visible in the form of pale colored flames, quivering on the extremities of bodies which are non-conductors, as the points of spears and other military weapons, the manes and tails of horses, the top-masts and yard-arms of ships, called Mariners' Lights, or St. Elmo's Fire. In showers of rain and snow, the drops have been observed to be luminous, owing to a strong charge of electricity in the air. Tides — The tides are the alternate flux and reflux of the sea, which generally takes place every six hours. The tides are occasioned by the united action, exercised by the moon and sun, upon the earth and its waters. The tide movement of the ocean is indicated by a great marginal wave or swell which. rises and falls generally * %"■ » ' ' 92 twice every day on all coasts of the globe, except on those of the Mediterranean Sea where it is sometimes not perceptible. The height to which successive tides rise differs exceedingly in different quarters of the globe, and is everywhere variable. In the open ocean they attain only a few feet ; but in confined seas, as in the Bay of Fundy, they sometimes rise 60 or 70 feet. The greatest rise is called the spring-tide and the least the neap-tide. Tornado — This is a sudden and vehement gust of wind from all points of the compass, and frequent on the coast of Guinea. A tornado seems to partake much of the nature of a whirlwind, or perhaps of a waterspout, but is more violent in its effects. It com- mences very suddenly : several clouds being previously drawn together, a spout of wind proceeding from them, strikes the ground in a round spot of a few rods or perches in diameter, and proceeds thus half-a-mile or a mile. The proneness of its descent makes it rebound from the heart, throwing such things as are moveable before it, sideways, or in a lateral direction from it. A vapor, mist, or rain, descend with wf by which the path of it is marked with wet. ' ' Tricolor — The flag of the Bourbons was white. The tri-coloured flag, which consists of a stripe of blue, white, and red, owes its rank as a national emblem to chance. At the first French revolution, a distinguish- ing sign was wanted, and the readiest which occured was that of the colours borne by the City of Paris, blue and red. This was forthwith adopted ; but, to conciliate certain influential members of the national guard who were not hostile to the king, white, the colour of the Bourbons, was afterwards added. Thus arose the flag which was borne throughout the wars of the revolution, and which Louis XVIII., by an unfort- unate stroke of policy, did not continue at the re; toration. The obligation to maintain the tricolour is now engrossed in the charter*/ %-l v. 93 u ^(rvf^ ^ ^/ML^cf Under the Rose — There has arisen much petty controversy about the expression, " Under the rose," diflferent origins have been assigned. Some assert that it ought to be spelt, " Under the rows," for in former days almost all towns were built with the second story projecting over the lower one, a piazza or row as they termed it, which may still be seen at Chester, and other old towns, and whilst the elders of the families were sitting at the windows, their sons and daughters were making love " under the rows." The other is more elegant, Cupid, it is said, gave a rose to Harpocrates, the God of Silence ; and from this originated the practice that prevailed amongst Northern nations of suspending a rose from the ceiling over the table when it was intended that the conversation was to be kept secret. Another origin is the following : — This phrase, implying strict secrecy, is thus explained in the British Apollo. " You must know, sir, the Rose was an emblem of old. Whose leaves by their closeness taught secrets to hold; And 'twas thence it was painted o'er tables so oft As a warning, lest when a frankness men scoft . >v At their neighbour, their lord, their fat priest, or their nation. Some amongst 'em/jnext jjay, should betray convers- ation." /¥. ,/..'/ vV^v-/ Union Jack — Wh : : ; : .«jfiKK/ • 'i l Valentine's Days — l4th February; Valentine waa a pope or bishop of Rome in the 9th century, who, on the 14th February, established an annual custom of the poorer clergy drawing patrons by lot for the 'com- menced year — and these patrons and benefactors were called Valentines. After his death he was canonized as a saint, and his feast-day was kept on that day which was thought to be his birth-day. The custom of sending valentines, seems to have been copied by the laity from the clergy, and is of very ancient date in Britain, being almost of 1,000 years standing. Value op Feasts in the Olden Times — William the Conqueror, after he was peaceably settled on the throne of England, sent agents into different countries, to collect the most rare dishes for his table ; by which means, says John of Salisbury, this island, which is naturally productive of plenty and variety of provisions, was overflowed with everything that could inflame a luxurious appetite. The same writer informs us that he was present at an entertainment which lasted from 3 p.m. to midnight, at which delicacies were served up, which had been brought from Constantinople, Babylon, Alexandria, Palestine, Tripoli, Syria and Phoenicia. These delicacies were doubtless very expensive. Thomas Becket (says his historian, Fitz-Stephen) gave £5, equivalent to £75 at present, for one dish of eels. ^ The coronation feast of Edward III. cost £2,835 18s. 2d., equivalent to about £40,000 of our money. At the installation of V alpli, Abbot of St. Augustine, Canterbury, A.D. 1309, 6,000 guests were entertained with a dinner consisting of 3,000 dishes, which cost £287 5s., equal in value to £4,300 in our times. *'It would require a long treatise (says Matthew Paris) to describe the astonishing splendor, magnificence, and festivity, with which the nuptials of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and Cyncia, daughter of Raymond, Earl of Provence, were celebrated at London, A.D. 1243. To give the reader some idea of it, in a few words, above Scrlr-^ '^i^^ A 30,000 dishes were served up at the marriage dinner." Claudius, the son of Esopus, the comedian, swallowed one worth £8,000. One single dish cost Esopus £80,- 000. Caligula spent, for one supper, £80,000, and Heliogabalus, £20,000. The usual cost of a repast for Lucullus was £20,000. Misalla gave de400,000 for the house of Antony. The fish from Lucullus's fish-pond were sold for £35,000. Scaurus's country house was destroyed by fire, and his loss was estimated at £850,000. Otho, to finish a part of Nero's palace, spent £487,500. Value of Insects — Who thinks of it ? And yet in the economy of nature, of what immense importance they are in all seasons, every naturalist knows, while in commerce the amount derived from them is t^stounding. We have no figures to produce in regard tx) our own trade, for our statistics do not reach that high state of perfection which will admit of it ; but Great Britain pays annually $2,000,000 for the dried carcases of that tiny insect known ar> the cochineal ; while another, also peculiar to India, gum shellac, or rather its production, is scarcely less valuable. More than 1,500,000 human beings derive their sole support from the culture and manufacture of the fibres spun by the silkworm, of which the annual circulating medium is said to be $200,000,000. In England alone, we say nothing of the other parts of Europe, $500,000 are spent every year for the purchase of foreign honey, while the value of that which is native is not mentioned ; and all this is the work of the bee ; but this makes no mention of the 10,000 pounds of wax imported every year. Beside all this, there are the gall-nuts, used for dyeing and making ink ; the cantharides, or Spanish fly, used in midicine. In fact every insect is contributing, directly or indirectly, in swelling the amount of our commercial profits. Even those which in some cases, prove a plague and become destructive, have their place in the economy of nature, and prevent worse. Vandalism — Among the wretched intrigues at Rome, Actius was put to death by the nominal emperor 96 Valentinian. He was by himself slain by PetroniuSi who succeded him, and desired the hand of his widow. She invited the Vandals of Africa to avenge the murder of hor husband ; and under Genseric they landed at Ostia, and marched to Rome. The new Emperor was murdered in the streets ; and again, in 455, the imperial city was plundered. There was little treasure to tempt the barbarians ; and thus, perhaps in disappointment they destroyed the works of art, the last relic of the the glories of Rome. Hence has arisen the expression Vandalism, as applied to those who are inimical to fine arts. Vatican — The word *' Vatican" is often used, but there are many who do not understand its import. The term refers to a collection of buildings, containing 7,000 rooms, on one of the 7 hills of Rome, which covers a space of 1,000 feet in length, and about 1,000 in breath. 1 is built on the spot once occupied by the garden of the cruel Nero. — It owes its origin to the Bishop of Rome, who, in the early part of the 6th century, erected an humble residence on its site. About the year 1060, Pope Eugenius rebuilt it on a magnifi- cent scale. Innocent II., a few years afterwards, gave it up as a lodging to Peter II., King of Aragon. In 1605, Clement v., at the instigation of the King of France, removed the Papal See from Rome to Avignon, when the Vatican remained in a condition of obscurity and neglect for many years. It is now the repository of multitudinous treasures of art. Vatican comes from vates, a prophet, because it was here that the Roman Augurs foretold future events. The " Thunders of the Vatican." This term was first used by Voltaire, tl ; Great French poet, A.D. 1747. Velocity and Magnitude of the Planets — Astronomy presents some astonishing facts. The velocity of the planets is wonderful. A ship seldom goes more than 12 miles an hour — a race horse 20 to 30 miles — a bird, say 50 — and the most violent storm blows but 80 or 100 miles — even a cannon ball only moves at the rate of 480 to 800 miles an hour — but these immense bodies move 30, 100, and even 200 times faster than the swiftest cannon ball. The velocity of Mercury is 105,000 miles an hour, or 200 times swifter ; and we who live on the earth, pass every minute over a space of 1000 miles! The magnitude of the planets is astonishing to our weak minds. From the top of some mountains we may see 40 miles in every direction, or 5000 square miles. But the surface of the whole earth is 20,000,000 square miles, or c((ual to 40,000 such landscapes. Were we to see one such landscape every hour, for 12 hours each day, it would t»ke more than 9 years to see the whole surface of the e irth in this slight way. If we should attempt to cross every square mile, travelling 30 miles a day, it would take 18,000 years. Velocity op Winds — A gentle breeze moves about 4 miles an hour ; a common brisk wind about 15 miles ; a high wind 30 ; a storm 60 ; a violent hurricane 100 miles an hour. Velocity op a Falling Body — The velocity of the falling body is always the effect of the moving force, and is, 'ceteris paribus, proportional to the force of gravitation, A body falling freely, acquires at the end of one second a velocity of 30 feet. The same body, if falling on the moon, would acquire in one second only a velocity of 30-3.■• •• 1 • :• , ,,,.. . .,. . , ,,,,, .. ,. ' ,. r ■ -■ • . . - ( V . , . . . ^ . c ^1 otherwise he would be entitled to the whole property. That a funeral passing over any place makes it a public highway. That the body of a debtor may be taken in execution after his death. That a man marrying a woman who is in debt, if he takes her from the hands of the priest clothed in a single under garment will not be liable for her engagements. That those who are born at sea belong to Stepney parish. That second cousins may not marry, though first cousins may. That the husband has j^ower of divorcing his wife by selling her in open market with a halter round her neck. That a woman's marrying a man under the gallows will save him from execution. That if a criminal has been hanged and revives, he cannot afterwards be executed. That a ring made from the hinge of a coflBn will cure the cramp. w Wales Prince of — The 1st Prince of Wales was Edward II., who having been born at Caernarvon Castle, on the 25th April, 1284, was called Caernarvon. Im- mediately after his birth, his father presented him to the Welsh Barons after their future sovereign, and exclaimed, ^' Eich Dyn ;" literally in English, " This is your man ;" but signifying " This is your King." Water-Spouts — These singular phenomena, so frequently observed on the ocean, result when two winds of different temperatures meet. The winds condense the vapor and give it a whirling motion, so that it descends tapering towards the "^ea below, and causes the surface of the water to ascend in a pointed spiral form still it joins that from above, assuming the appearence of an upright and an inverted cone, being thinner in the centre than either above or below. When a water-spout has a progressive motion, the upper and under part must move in the same direction, and with equal velocity, otherwise it breaks, which frequently happens, when a noise is heard, resembling the falling of a cataract. The following is a general description: " V L Of 102 Under a dense cloud the sea becomes agitated with violent commotions, the waves dash rapidly towards the centre of the agitated waters, on arriving at which, they rise whirling round in a spiral direction towards the clouds. This conical ascending column is met by another descending column, which moves towards the water and joins it. In many instances the lower column is from 18 to 30 rods in diameter near the base. P}ach column, however, diminishes towards the centre, where they often unite, their diameters being no more than 4 or 5 feet. If a ball is discharged from a gun or cannon into the centre, it causes the water-spout to break, and its progressive motion is arrested. Light- ning is frequently seen to issue from the centre and sides of the water-spout, particularly when it breaks, but no thunder is heard. Weights in England — The original of all weights used in England, was a grain of wheat, taken out of the middle of the ear, and well dried, 32 of which were to be considered as a pennyweight. But it was after- wards thought sufl&cient to divide the same penny- weight into 24 equal parts, still called grains, being the least now in use. Wealth of the Ancients — Croesus possessed in landed property a fortune equal to £1,700,000, besides a large amount of money, slaves and furniture, which amounted to an equal sum. He used to say that a citi- zen who had not a sufficient sum to support an army or a legion, did not deserve the title of a rich man. The Philosopher Seneca had a fortune of £3,500,000. Tiberias, at his death, left £29,624,000, which Cali- gula spent in 12 months. Vespasian, on ascending the throne, estimated all the expenses of the Stat« at £35,000,000. The debts of Milo amounted to £600,- 000. Caesar, before he entered upon any office, owed £2,995,000. He had purchased the friendship of Curio for £500, and that of Lucius Paulus for J6300,- 000. At the time of the assassination of Julius Caesar, Antony was in debt for the amount of £3,000,000 ; he owed this sura on the Ides of March, and it was paid by :Uifk^ // 103 the Kalends of April ; he squandered £147,000,000. Appius scjuandered in debauchery, £500,000; and finding, on the examination of the state of his affairs, that he had only £80,000, poisoned himself because he considered that sum insufccient for his maintenance. Caesar gave SatuUa, the mother of Brutus a peirl of the value of £10,000. Cleopatra, at an entertainment she gave to Antony, dissolved in vinegar a pearl worth £8,000 and he swallowed it. Whig and Tory — Burnet, who was contemporary with the introduction of these terms, gives the follow- ing account of the former : "The south-west counties of Scotland have seldom corn enough to serve them through the year ; and the northern parts producing more than they need, those in the west come in the summer to buy at Leith, the stores that come from the north ; and from a word (whiggan) used in driving their horses, all that drove were called Whiggamors, and, shorter, the Whigs, Now, in that year, before the news came down of the Duke of Hamilton's defeat, the ministers animated the people to rise and march to Edinburgh ; and they came up, marching at the head of their parishes with an unheard-of fury, praying and preaching all the way as they came. This was called the Whiggamor's inroad; and ever after, all that opposed the court came in contempt to be called Whigs." Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, quotes this passage : yet by placing against the term Whig, the Saxon word (Ehccg, synonymous to whey or sour milk, he seems not to reject another derivation, which has been assigned to it by some writers. Echard says — *' Great animosities were created by these petitioners and abhorrers, and they occasioned many feuds and quarrels in private conversations ; and about the same time, 1680, and from the same cause, arose the pernicious terms and distinctions of Whig aul Tory, both exotic names, which the parties invidiously bestowed upon each other. All that adhered to the interest of the crown and lineal succession, were by the m- 104 contrary branded with the title given to the Irish robbers ; and they, in return, gave the others the appellation of Whig, or our milk, formerly appropriated to the Scotch presbyterians and rigid convenanters." Tindal, in his introduction to the continuation of Rapin's History, notices the distinction between the principles of the parties, but does not incjuire into the etymology of the terms. Toland, in his State Anatomy, considers the words as mere terms of reproach, first applied to each party by its enemies, and then adopted by each as a distinction. The words themselves are but late nicknames given by each party to the other in King Charles the Second's reign ; Tories in Ireland, and Whigs in Scotland, being what we in England call Highwaymen ; and you, public robbers. Hume, the historian, says : — " This year, 1080, is remarkable for being the epoch of the well-known epithets Whig and Tory, by which, and ^5. metimes without any material difference, this island has been so • long divided. The court party reproached their antagonists with their affinity to the fanatical conven- ticlers who were known by the name of Whigs ; and the country party found a resemblance between the courtiers and the banditti in Ireland, who were known by the name of Tories." These are the principal writers in which the origin of the termf< is noticed. Whirlpools — Scylla and Charybdis. A rock and gulf which form the straits of Messina : the poetical fiction recorded of them is, that Scylla was formerly a beauti- ful woman, changed by the envy of the enchantress Circe into a monster ; Scylla, in despair, threw herself into the sea, and was turned into a rock. Charybdis was said to be a ravenous women, changed by Jupiter into a gulf beneath the rock. Spallanzani has explained the wonders of Scylla and Charybdis ; the former being a lofty rock on the Cala- brian shore, with some cayerns at the bottom, which 105 by the agitation of the waves, emit sounds reseuiblinj^; the barking of dogs. The only danger is when the current and winds are in opposition, so that vessels are impelled towards the rock. Chary bd is is not a whirl- pool or involving vortex, but a spot where the waves are greatly agitated by pointed rocks, and the depth does not exceed 500 feet. The Maelstrom is a remarkable whirlpool off the shore of Norway which engulfs boats and even ships ; nay, the struggles of the whale have not always saved him from the danger. The bottom is full of craggy spires, and the noise truly tremendous. The third whirlpool is a small one, on the west side of Scotland, between the islands of Scarba and Jura, called Cori/vrechan. It is caused by a conical rock rising abruptly from the bottom, where the depth is GOO feet, aud reaching to within 90 feet of the surface of the water. When the tide sets in, with a fresh breeze in an opposite direction, the eddying waters rise in short, heavy waters, which are very dangerous. Whirlwinds — Whirlwinds sometimes arise from winds blowing among lofty and precipitous mountains, the form of which influences their direction, and occa- sions gusts to descend with a spiral or whirling motion. They are frequently, however, caused by two winds meeting each other at an angle, and then turning upon a centre. When wind thus encounter one another, any cloud which happens to be between them is of course condensed, and turned rapidly round ; and all substan- ces sufi&ciently light are carried up into the air by the whirling motion which ensues. The action of a whirl- wind at sea, occasions the curious phenomenon called a water-spout. Wigs — The luxurious lapygians in Southern Italy invented them. The Louvian theologians who published a French version of the Bible affected to discover the first mention of perukes in a passage in the 4th of Isaiah. The Vulgate has these words, " Decalvabit Domus verticem filiarum Sion, et Domus crinem earum e2 106 nudabit." This the Louvian gentlemen translated into French as follows : — " Le Seigneur d^ch^velera les t^tes des fiUes de Sion, et Ic Seigneur d(^couvira leurs perruques," which translated into English implies that, "The Lord will pluck the hair from the heads of the daughters of Sion and will expose their periwgs." Winds Different Names — Bay-a-rish or the Black Wind of Arabia ; Etesian or Periodical Wind, generally applied to the north wind of the Mediter- ranean ; Euroclydon of Crete, it means " the wave stirring east wind." (r^?/c^o of Spain : Harmattan, of Senegambia and Guinea ; Hurricane of the West Indies ; Khamsin of Egypt ; Monxoons or the season- hreczes of the Southern and Indian Oceans : Simoon, Scrmiel or Shumc of the Sahara, Africa; Sirocco of Italy ; Skai. of Denmark ; Solano of Spain ; Tornado of the West Indies ; and the Ti/2)hoon of China and the Chinese Seas. Word Making — No permission has been so much abused in our days as that of Horace for the manufac- ture of words. He allows men to mould one now and then with a modest discretion and caution, but he is addressing poets, not vendors of patent leather or dea- lers in marine stores. Would he not have stood aghast at the term " antigropylos ?" Would it not puzzle a Scaliger or Bentley ? It is time, we protest, to put a stop to these vile coinages when every breeches-maker or blacking-manufacturer invents a compound word of six syllables as expressive of his wares. Ladies do not wear petticoats now-a-days, but crinolines. Men do not ride horseback as aforetime — they take equestrian exer- cise ; women are not married like their grand-mothers — they are led to the hymeneal altar. A book seller, forsooth, becomes a bibliopole; and a servant is con- verted into a manciple. Barbers do not sell tooth powder and shaving soap as their fathers did, but odonto and dentifrice, and rypophagon ; hair wash has passed away — it is capillary fluid. Can anyone tell us what is the meaning of " diagnosis," as applicable to disease ? If it has a signification at all, we will gua- 107 rantee to find half-a-doz'»n Saxon monosyllables expres- sive of the same. Who would believe that " epistaxis'* means simply bleeding at the nose ? Fancy one school- boy doubling his fist at another, and teiling him to look out for epistaxis. What is n^eant by that fashionable word "aesthetics?" We take up the first book wii.iin reach and open it at random. It is William Words- worth : a Biography by Edwin Paxton Hood. Well, what do we read ? ''By aesthetic biography," he says, ''is simply intended a life in its ideal attitudes." Simply intended ! Did ever mortal man listen to such verbiage run ni d ? What, again, are we to understand by the words 'objective" and "subjective," which every goose with his sham metaphysics has now-a-days on his lips? The titanic GilfiUanism wUl certainly be the death of us. Yankee and Yankee Doodle — The first is derived from the manner in which the Indians endeavoured to pronounce the word m English, which they rendered Yenghees, whence the word Yankee. In a curious book on the Round Towers of Ireland, the origin of the term " Yankee Doodle" is traced to the Persian phrase, " Yanki doniah," or " Inhabitants of the new world." , 'tj' ' ■ Zenith and Nadir — The Zenith is the uppermost pole of the horizon, an imaginary point in the heavens, directly over our head. On the artificial Gobe, it is the most elevated point on its surface, in which the eye of the spectator can be placed. The Nadir is the lowest pole of the horizon ; that is, an imaginary point directly under the feet, and consequently diametrically opposite to the zenith. Zodiac, The, or The Ecliptic — Represents that path in the heavens which the sun seems to describe by the earth's annually revolving round it. It is divided into 12 e<]ual parts, called signs, and each sign contains • ■ 108 ' 30 o , corresponding to th(^12 monihs of the year, and the days of the months. It is called the ecliptic, because the eclipses must necessarily happen in this line, where the sun always is. The names and characters of the 12 signs, with the time of the sun's entrance into them, are as follows: Ariej<, or the Ram; March 20th. Taarus, the Bull; April 20th. Gemini, the Twins; May 21st. Cancer, the Crab ; June 21st. Leo, the Lion ; July 23rd. Virgo, the A^irgin ; August 23rd. Libra, the Balance; September 23rd Scorpio, the Scorpion ; October 22nd. Sagittarius, the Archer ; November 22nd Capricornus, the Goat ; December 22nd Aquarius, the Waterman; Januaay 28tli. Pisces, the Fishes ; February 19th. Tliey are thus explained by Dr. Watts. The Ram, the Bnll., the heavenly Ttrins, And next the Croh, the Lion shines. The Virgin and the Scales ; The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea Goat, The man that holds the Watcriitg Pot, And Fish with glittering tails. .' li'. V ..,. ^h/^ Aml l^ ^ BOOK II. A Dictionary of the princijxil Ter,ns iLiedin RhetorU' Composition and Belles Lrttres, with numerous examples, and illustrations, all alphaheti cully arranged, A Accent — This is a particular stress or force of voice upon certain syllables or words, which distinu;uishes them from the others ; Accent is of two kinds, primary, and secondary, as is seen in the word aspiration : Acute accent (^) is used to denote a .s7to?Y syllable ; the grave (^) a long. Account — This is a synonymous word for narrative, and means a statement of facts, either verbal or written ; as *' An account of the Revolution in France." Acrostic — An Acrostic is a number of verses so contrived that the initial or first letter of each line from top to bottom make up a word or phrase; gene- rally a person's mame or a motto. EXAMPLES. TO LOUISA. Love On Until I Seek Again Once more my pledges to recal ; •. Until yon sun no longer reign, , •. . I vow to thee my life — my all, ji- < , » , So that thy constant heart may prove > , ; A Soul Is Unity Of. Love. U nite and untie are the same, so say yoU, N ot in wedlock I ween, has the unity beeN ; I n the drama of marriage each wandering gouT T o a new face would fly — all except you andl ; E ach seeking to ajter the spell in their scenE. \v %\rK[^\^- Adage — This word just signifies a precept or pro- verb and the Proverbs of Solomon may be mentioned as fcmiliar examples . The following are a few of the adages in use at the present day. 1. A use for every thing, and every thing to its pro- per use. 2. A place for every thing, and every thing in its proper place. ' 3. A time for every thing, and every thing in its proper time. 4. A straw best shows how the wind blows, 5. A penny saved is a penny gained. 6. The last straw breaks a horse's back. 7. A rolling stone gathers no moss. 8. A stitch in time saves nine. 9. A man will never change his mind, if he has no mind to change. 10. A good when lost is valued most. The French say, Bien perdu, Men I'onnii. 11. To spend, or to lend, or to give in, 'Tis a very good world that we live in ; But to borrow, or beg, or get one's own, 'Tis the very worst world that ever was known. 12. When the weather is fair, Of your cloak take care. The French say, " Quand il fait beau, porte ton manteau; Quand il pleut, fais ce que tu veux." Address — This figure of composition is nearly allied to Apostrophe or. Personification and consists in ad- dressing things real or fictitious as if they were endowed with reasonable faculties, to see and hear what was spoken to them. EXAMPLES. virtue's address to pleasure. Vast happiness enjoy thy gay allies ! A youth of follies, an old age of cares ; ■ ' 4^ i]^ fiff^^j't Young yet enervate, old yet never wise, V ice wastes their vigour, and their mind impairs. Vain, idle, delicHte, in thoughtless ease, Reserving woes for ago, their prime they spend ; All wretched, hopeless, in the evil days. With sorrow to the verge of life they tend. Grieved with the present, 0/ the past asham'd. They live and are despis'd ; they die, nor more are nam'd. ' ii ■ Admiratton — Admiration (!) or Exclamation, is used to express any sudden emotion of the mind. Agreement — In Grammar this signifies the concord or agreement of words to each other and is synonymous to harmony or conformity. Album — A book in which foreigners or strangers insert their autographs, or in which friends insert short pieces of poetry generally as memorials of each other. It was so called from the Romans having white boards or tables for this purpose — Alhus-white. Alexandrine — This term is applied to the sixth form of Iambic verse which is sometimes introduced among heroics, or verses of the fifth form. It consists of twelve syllables or of twelve or thirteen alternately. One of the Poets says : — r " A needless Alexandrine ends the line. And like a wounded snake drags its whole length along." Alliteration — This is the recurrence of the same letter in several words, or in several syllables of the same word, and sometimes every word of the line begins with the same letter ; the following are the principal and are also remarkable instances of Alliteration : — 1. The one upon Cardinal Wolsey, of English History — Begot By Butchers But By Bishops Bred, How High His Honor Holds His Haughty Head. 2. The Lordly Lion Leaves his Lonely Lair, 3. Round Rugged Rocks, Rude, Ragged Rascals Ran, 112 4. Approach ! thou like the i^ugged Russian Bear, The armed RhiDoceros or the Hyrcan Tiger. 5. The Tottering Towers with Twisted ivy Twined, 6. Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pepper off a Pewter Plate. 7. I Thrust Three Thousand Thistles Through The Thick of my Thumb. Allusion — Allusion is that figure of speech by which some word or phrase in a sentence calls to mind, as if by accident, another similar or analogous subject. f:XAMPLES. 1. You cannot be to them " Vich Ian Vohr" and these three magic words are the only ''open sesame' ' to their feelings and sympathies." Here the words ojyen sesame,*' reca]\ to mind the eharm, by which the robbers' dungeon in the Arabian tale of "the Forty Thieves" was opened. 2. There are many religionists of the present day who make it their shibboleth to be able to tell the precise moment when the heart was converted to God. Sep the Book of Judges, chapter XII, verses 5, 6. 3. *' I was surrounded with difficulties and possessed no clew by wnich I could eiFect my escape. Here the allusion is to Theseus in the Labyrinth of Crete, who made his escape by means of a clew furnished by Ariadne. 5. In recommending exercise for the cure of the .sjoifeew , Green says — " Fling but a stone, the giant dies." Here as every one knows the allusion is to David killing Goliath the giant. Ambages — This figure is the same as circumlocution and is the opposite of laconic or curt ; It is a circuit of words to express ideas which may be expressed in fewer words. • Ambiguity — This term signifies doubtfulness or uncertainty of signification, from a word's being sus- ceptible of different meanings. EXAMPLES. 1. Belisarius was general of all the forces under the Emperor Justiniun the First, a min of rare valour. 2. Lisias promised to his father never to abandon his friends. Anachronism — This signifies an error in chronology, by which events are misplaced in regard to the order of their occurrence. Amphibrach — The Amphibrach is a figure in pop- tri/, and consists of a short, a long, and a short syllable ; as, delightful ; removal ; coeval. Amplification — This term may be defined an enlargement of a subject or diffusive description, or a dilating. AnAC(EN08IS — " Anacaenosis tries another's mind, ' The better counsel of a friend to find." EXAMPLES. 1. Were it your case, what would you do? 2. What shall I do ; Must I be asked, or must I ask ? Analiplosis— In Rhetoric this figure ends the former line with the word or words, which begin the following. EXAMPLES. 1. Prize Wisdom; Wisdom is a precious jewel, 2. Has he a gust for blood f Blood shall fill his «-uj). Anagram — An Anagram is the transposition oC iliv^ letter of a word or a short sentence, so as to form ano- ther word or phrase, with a different meaning. The word itself is derived from the Greek ana gramma. Trifling as the invention of anagrams may seen to us, it was beyond doubt, once the favourite recreation of erudite and ingenious minds, as the works of several great writers satisfactorily show. It was also called by the ancients o)wmantia, and the learned Camden, V-^v 114 in his * Remains,' has bequeathed U) this world a trea- tise on this curious subject. ' The only quintescence,' Siiys the learned author, * that hitherto the alchymy of wit could draw out of names, is anagram'nwtismc or metagrammntisme, which is a dissolution of a name, truly written, into the let- ters as its elements, and a new connection of it by arti- ficial transposition, without addition, subtraction, or change of any letter, into different words, making some perfect sense appliablc to the person named.' The origin of the invention is not clearly defined. Some feel disposed to refer it to the time of Moses, conceiving that it might have formed some part in the mystical traditions, call Calaha, communicated by that divine Lawgiver to the chosen Seventy. One writer indeed observes that the Cabalists among the Jews were professed anagrammatists — their art consisting in divini;ig the hidden and mystical import of names, which they did by transposing and diiferently combin- ing the letters composing those names. This they called Themura that is ' changing.' Leaving this point to be settled by those who are more deeply versed in biblical learning, it is certain that the anagrammatic art can be traced to the age of Lycophron, the Greek tragedian, who live under Ptolemy Philadelphus, about three hundred years before the Christian era. EXAMPLES. The following are rather interesting amagrams : — Napoleon Bonaparte — No : appear not at Elba. Napoleon Bonaparte : — Bona rapta, lene pone. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Imperator : — Subaltero Nerone arma capiunt populi. The famed rival with Bonaparte furnishes a no less apt anagram : — Arthur Wellesly, Duke of Wellington : — Let well foil'd Gaul secure thy renown. Arthur Wellesly : —Truly he'll see war. '/?^c f ff "i Amendment : — Ten mad men. Apothecary : — * try a peach. Astronomers: — Moon starers ; or no more stars. Breakfast : — Fat bakers. Breath :— The bar. Caroline : — Lion race. Catalogue : — Got as a clue. Charades : — Hard case. Embargo : — grab me. Encyclopedia: — A nice cold pie. Enigmatical : — In magic tale. Festival:— Evil feast. Funeral : — Real fun. To these may be added the following: — Revolution : — Love to ruin. Telegraph : — Great help. Lawyers : — Sly ware. Horatio Nelson : — Honor est a Nilo. The letters of the alphabet (taking j and v as dupli- cates of i and u) — Styx, phlegm, quiz, frown'd, back. Old England:— Golden land. Victoria Regina in Old England : — I reign a victor in a golden land ! Analogy : — Analogy, as defined by Johnson, is a resemblance between two things with regard to some circumstances or effects. There are many beautiful analogies in the English writers, and the following one may serve as an illustration : — " Thou lookest on the waters, and they glow, And take them wings and mount aloft in air." Anapest. — This, in poetry , is a foot, consisting of three syllables, the first two short, the last long, as contravene. Anaphora — This figure represents the same word or words as repeated at the beginning of two or more succeeding lines, verses, or clauses of a sentence, which impresses the idea more distinctly on the mind. It is the same as repetition. 116 EXAMPLES. 1 "Peace crowns our life; Peace does our plenty breed." 2 By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed. By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed, By foreign hands thy humble grave adorned, By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned. 3 My daughter ! with thy name my song began, My daughter ! with thy name thus much shall end. Byron's Chihh' ILnold. 4 Slave, do thine office ! Strike as I struck the foe ! strike as I would Have struck those tyrants ! strike deep as my curse, Strike! and but once. Byron's Doge of Venice. Anastrophe. — This is the inversion of the natural order of words. EXAMPLES. 1 He travelled England through ; for, through England; 2 " I have travelled the wide world all over;" for, all over the wide world. Anecdote. — This is the relation of some little incident of an interesting nature. Antanaclasis. — This contains in one sound, more meanings than one, which the various sense explains. EXAMPLES. 1 . While we live ; let us live. 2. Care for those things, which may discharge you of care. Antanagoge — This figure in rhetoric consists in replying to an adversary, by way of recrimination. Antecedent — In grammar this signifies the noun to which a relative pronoun or other substantive refers. '. ■ 'r * v. f(^(Li>c. f 117 Antepenult — This signifies the last syllable of a word cxecpt two. Anteposition — lu grainnuir, this signifies the plac- ing of a word before another. Anthem — A hymn sung in alternate parts; in modern usage it means a sacred tune or piece of music set to words. Anthorism — In rhetoric, this signifies a descrip- tion or definition, contrary to that which is given by the adverse party. Antibacchius — In poetry; this is a foot of three syllables, the first two long and the last short. Anticlimax. — The descent from great things to to small is called anticlimax. It is the opposite of climax and is found chiefly in ludicrous compositions : — EXAMPLES. 1. And thou, Dalhousie, the great god of war, Lieutenant-Colonel to the Earl of Mar. 2. Under the tropic is our language spoke, And part of Flanders hath received our yoke. Antiphrasis — This signifies the use of words in a sense opposite to their proper meaning — as, when Ptolemy, King of Egypt, is styled Pilometor, or Mother Lover, Ivjiuse ho slew his mother, Cleopatra. Antimetabole — This figure means the setting of two things in opposition to each other — as, '' A poem is a speaking picture ; a picture is a mute poem." Antiptosis— By Antiptosis you may freely place One, if as proper for another case ; As, The City which I mean is yours, for the City is yours, which I mean. Antispast — In prosody, this is a fooi of four syl- lables, in which the first and last sac short and the two middle ones long. Antistropiie — The changing of things mutually depending on-each other ; reciprocal conversion. m\^ W V. ;v. 118 Antithesis — This is the counterpart of Comparison and is founded on the contrast or opposition of two objects. By contrast, objects opposed to each other, appear in a stronger light, and their peculiar beauties or defects appear in bold relief. EXAMPLES. 1. I can command the lightnings, — and am dust. 2. Though deep — yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull. Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full. 3. Behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry ; shall drink but ye shall be tldrsty ; shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed. 4. If you wish to enrich a person, study not to increase his stores, but to diminish his desires. 5. Though poor, luxurious ; thongh submissive, vain. Antonomasia. — Antonomasia is the name applied to that form of expression when the title, office, dignity, profession, science or trade is put instead of the true name of the person or place. EXAMPLES. geographical antonomasias. Aden — The Gibraltar of the East ; The Key of the Red Sea. Baltimore — The Monumental City. Boston — The Literary Emporium ; The Edinburgh of America; The Modern Athens. Aairo— The City of Victory; Daughter of the Fatimites ; Bride of Saladin ; The Tyre of Saracen Commerce; City of 1001 Lights. Cape of Good Hope. — Cape of Storms; The Lion of the Sea ; The Head of Africa. Cleveland — The Forest City. Nashville — The City of Rocks. Detroit. — The City of the Straits, . : . 1 4-^ Dover, Hastings, Hythe, Romily and Sand- wich, of England ; — The Cinque Ports. Geneva — City of Watches. . Gibraltar — Key of the Mediterranean ; The Babel of Nations. Hamilton. — The Ambitious Little City. MECCA—The Noble ; The Holy City ; The Mother City ; The Blest. Medina— The City of the Prophet. Metz — The Woolwich of France. Mexico City — The Finest City in the New World. Perthshire — The Garden of Scotland. Raleigh — The City of Oaks. SiDoN — The Daughter of Tyre. Sierra^Leone — The White man's Grave. St. Francisco — The Golden Gate. ' Stockholm — The Venice of the North. THERMoPYLiE- -The Key of Greece. Thibet — The Switzerland of Asia. Vancouvers Isle — The Gibraltar of the Fiica Straits. Venice — The Queen of the Adriatic ; The Swan of the Adriatic. Washington — The City of Magnificent Distances. historical antonomasias. Arnold of Winkelreid — The Codrus of Switzer- land; Of Battle Martyrs Chief. Arsaces, King of Persia — King of Kings. Artaxerxes, 1, do— -Macrochir and Longimanus; because one hand was longer than the other, and stand- ing upright he could touch his knee. Charles XII of Sweden, A. D. 1G97— Modern Alexander ; The Quixote ; The Military Madman ; The Madman of the North, v^ >-( • • i.' -l \^ . > •^'^ \ Edgar, of England — The Peaceable; not from his want of character, but from his injunction " In peace prepare for war." Homer— The Blind Bard ; The Blind Man of Scio's Rocky Isle; The Prince of Poets; The Father of Poets. Louis Philippe — Chas. Smith ; The Citizen King ; The King of the Barricades ; The Napoleon of Peace. Louis Napoleon — The Eldest son of the Church. The Saviour of Society : Modern Augustus ; The Messiah of Order ; The Master Spirit of the Age. Oliver, of Denmark — Burnakal : The Preserver of Children, from his forbidding his soldiers tossing children on their spears. The Queen — The Fountain of Mercy. Queen Anne, of England — Good Queen Anne. Queen Cleopatra — Last of the Ptolemies. Queen Elizabeth, of England— Occidental Star ; Good Queen Bess. QuiNTUS Lucius — Cincinnatus or Curly Headed ; Serranus, because he was snowing his fields when elected dictator. Shakespeare — Bard of Avon ; Poet of Nature ; Fancy's Child ; Honey Tongued Shakespeare. Washington — Father of hii* Country ; Father of the People ; Sage of Mount Vernon. Zenobia — Queen of the East ; Star of the East. Aphaeresis — This is the taking of « letter or syllable from the beginning of a word, as till for until; gan for began ; though for although ; squrt for esquire; gainst for against. Aphoris3I — This^sigr'fiesa short saying, containing some great truth* .' • -. -> . , .„ EXAMPLES. ^ ' .:''■■ ^^'■'^/^"" ;4S0;U; aphorisms FEOM GOETHE.' 1. The immorality of the age is a standing topic of complaint with some men. 2. But if any one likes to be moral, I can see nothing in the age to prevent him, 3. Art is a serious business ; most serious when employed on grand and sacred objects. 4. The artist stands higher than art, and higher than the object. 5. He U3es for art his purposes, and deals with the object after his own fashion. The aphorism of Cato is well worth inserting as an example, viz : — " Men by doing nothing, soon learn to do mischief." Apocope — Signifies the cutting oflF or omitting the last letter or syllable of a word j as, Tho' for though ; Thro' for through, &c. . , t ' >-.■,[.: i <-. Apodosis — In grammar the principal clause of a conditional sentence, expressing the result as distin- guished from the protasis which expresses the condition. Thus in the sentence " Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him," the latter clause is the apodosis and the former the protesis. . .,;, - . ,_ ." „;- ,. Apologue — This a sort of allegorical fiction, from which a separate p' aning or moral lesson may be drawn. It is in fact, uut another name for a fable or parable in which animals, vegetables, stocks and stones, speak and act as monitors to mankind — ^^Esop's Fables are good examples of apologues. ^ ,, .,,/ v , : i,. Apophasis — This in Khetoric signifies a wavering or omission of what one, speaking ironically would plainly indicate ; as, " I say nothing of your Idleness, and other things, for which you cannot excuse yourself." Apophthegm or Apothegm — This signifies, a remarkable saying, a short sententious instructive remark. ' ' ' ' - _ ^ v,-/ Aporia — This is a doubting or being at a loss where to begin or what to say on account of the variety of matter : as " Then what shall I ask." . , , Aposiopesis — This word signifies reticency or sup- pression. When a public speaker for instance, from some cause as fear, sorrow or anger, suddenly breaks p k n ^> 122 off his discourse, before it is ended the sentence or clause thus broken is called Aposiopesis. EXAMPLES. . ^ ^- 1. " Whom I but it is better to compose the swelling waves." VirgiVs jEneAd. " •^■■"- ^- ;■"•"■'' '"/ ■■•;/ Shakespeare.;.:' . 9. " Attemper'd to the lyre, your voice employ, Such the pleased ear icill drink with silent joy." Pope. Cedilla or Cerilla — This is a mark which is ^^/^ 129 used to show that the letter c is pronounced like an s — as Iva^a pronounced Ivasa. Charade — A Charade is a species of riddle in which word consisting of several syllables is indicated, first by an enigmatical description of each syllable, taken separately, and then by a similar description of the whole. The word charade, is said to be derived from the name of the inventor of this particular species of enigma. Although generally defined to be a word of two syllables — there is no necessity that it should be so restricted. It should, however, be so con- trived that the ideas employed to denote or suggest the several syllables and the whole word, shall be in some way connected together, or arise naturally the one out of the other. The following given in one of the edi- tions of the French Academy is a good example of the true charade — " My first makes use of my second to cat up my whole;" — the translation being the word ckiendent (dog's grass.) It is stated that the celebrated Anne Stewart left in her will a bequest of £50 sterling, to be given to the person who should solve this charade, and that the reward has never been claimed. We cannot vouch for the correctness of either of the statements, but here is the charade itself, which may be found worthy of in- vestigation : , The noblest object in the world of art, / ^^^^^/ .,^ , The brightest gem that nature can impart. *i-AyfU^<^'^l.^.^^^ ^■ The point essential in a lawyer's case, iJxV-t^'j^r^t, / The well known signal in the time of peace, ^f^Z^'Pi'^^ The former's prompter when he drives the Dlough, J^V /»/^< " The soldier's duty and the lover's vow; ^Ht^liiM't'lt^^ The planet seen between the earth and sun— f^At-ih>f^- A The prize that merit never yet has won ; .>-,, C. {j^.p^l^-yu.oi The miser's treasure nnd the badge of Jews/'^ ^^^^(_r, , The wife's ambition .md the parson's dues, ^l-^ * 'n/€JC< . Now, if your noble spirit can divine 5 ' A corresponding word for every line, By the first letters quickly will be shown/ Ot /'J . >^y \ An ancient city of no small renown. if'^t^fJ^'^utTX^' p2 ff 130 In the Edinburgh Ladtet' Journal^ we find the fol- lowing ingenious solutions of this celebrated charade or enigma. They cannot both be correct, but they may give the key to the true solving of the mystery. The noblest object in the world of art, C ompass. The brightest gem that nature can impart, A miablencss. The point essential in a lawyer's case, Proof. The well-known signal in the time of peace, P lenty. The farmer's prompter when he drives the plough, A bundance. The soldier's duty and the lover's vow, D evotedness. The planet seen between the earth and sun, rion. The prize that merit never yet has won, C ontentmcnt. The miser's treasure and the badge of Jews, 1 ncome. The wife's ambition and the parson's dues, A pproval. Now, if your noble spirit can divine, A corresponding word for every line. By the first letters quickly will be shown, "* An ancient city of no small renown. 4 Cappadocia. The noblest object in the world of art, A rchitecture. The brightest gem that natnre can impart, in -rr L ight. ''J J The point essential in a lawyer's case, E vidence. The well-known signal in the time of peace, . , X (cross.) The farmer's prompter when he drives the plough, A bundance. J^ih iff Jb The soldier's duty and the lover's vow, (e) N durance. The planet seen between the earth and sun, . • D ay star. The prize that merit never yet has won, R ighteousness The miser's treasure and the badge of Jews, I tinerant. The wife's ambition and the parson's dues, A uthority. I have now endeavoured to divine A corresponding word for every line, -^ By tlio first letters of which will be shown, That ancient city of no small renown. Alexandria, 2. My first may be a man ; but yet I'm sure it is not that. A lady wears my second, where Her husband wears his hat. Ans. — Boyhood. 3. Take 6 and 10, two-thirds of 10 And place them in rotation, And you will find the plague of men And source of much vexation. j1w«.— VIXen ; ::».'. . ;. Charientismus — This signifies the choosing of the softer for the harsher words in conversation, as. Be not so angry ; Heaven send better news. Chorus — The word literally signifies a hand ; but it is used to represent the persons who are supposed to behold what passes in the acts of a tragedy, and sing their sentiments, between the acts. ■ ,, - - ' i. Cipher — See autograph. '' " Circumlocution — This signifies the use of a num- ber of words to express an idea instead of a simile term. It is the same as periphrase or periphrasis Climax — This consists in an artful exaggeration of all the circumstances of some object or action which 132 wo wish to place in a strong light. It operates by a gradual rise of one circumstance above another till our idea is raised to the highest pitch. EXAMPLES. 1 . Boisterous in speech, in action prompt and bold, He buys, he sells, he steals, he kills for gold. 2. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Snail tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? Nay, &c. See also Eom. viii. 38, 39. 3. The cloud capt towers, the gorgeous palaces. The solemn temple, the great globe itself. Yea, all that it inhabits, shall dissolve, And, like the baseless fabric of a vision. Leave not a wreck behind. Shakespeare. 4. It is a crime to bind a Roman citizen in bonds; it is the height of guilt to scourge him ; little less than parricide to put him to death ; what name, then, shall I' give to the act of crucifying him ? Cicero. 5. Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue know- ledge ; and to knowledge temperance ; &c. See 2 Pet. 1 : 5—7. 6. Folly breeds laughter ; laughter disdain ; disdain makes shame her daughter. 7. "We feel the strength of mind through the beauty of style ; we discern the man in the author, the nation in the man, and the universe at the feet of the nation." Madame De Stael. 8. " What a piece of work is man ! How noble in reason I how infinite in faculties 1 in form and moving how express and admirable ! in action, how like an angel ! in apprehension, how like a God. ' • '• Shakespeare's J?am?ejf. ^k^i, 1 133 Colloquy — This is a species of dialogue. The colloquy differs from the conference in not being con- fined to any particular subjects nor to any number of persons. Colon : — The colon is used to divide a sentence into two or more parts less connected than those which are separated by a semicolon ; but not so independent as separate, distinct sentences. Comedy — The Comedy is a dramatic composition in which the common incidents of life are introduced ; it is the opposite of tragedy. Comma — The Comma represents the shortest pause ; the Semicolon, a pause double that of the comma ; the Colon, double that of the semicolon j and the Period, double that of the colon. Punctuation is a modern art, The ancients were entirely unacquainted with the use of points ; and wrote, not only without any distinction of members and periods, but also without any distinction of words. This custom continued till the year 860 before Christ. How the ancients read their works, written in this manner, it is not easy to conceive. After the practice of joining words together, had ceased, notes of distinc- tion were placed at the end of every word. This practice continued a considerable time. As it appears that the present usage of points did not take place while manuscripts and monumental inscriptions were the only known methods of conveying knowledge, we must conclude, that it was introduced with the art of printing. The introduction was, how- ever, gradual ; all the points did not appear at ones. The colon, semicolon, and note oi admiration, were produced some time after the others. The whole sett, as they are now used, became established, when learning and refinement had made considerable progress. The great importance of acquiring a thorough knowledge of punctuation, and of attending strictly to the application of its rules, is established by the single fact that the meaning of a sentence is often totalltf >aN X 1^ •134 'perverted hy the omission or misapplication of points. To illustrate the correctness of this remark, uumerous examples might be selected. The following border on the ridiculous: "Mr. Jared Hurton having gone to sea his wife, desires the prayers of this church;" " Tryon, who escaped from the jail on Friday last, is 22 years of age, has sandy hair, light eyes, thin visage, with a short nose turned up about six feet high, &c." Corrected ; " Mr. Jared Hurton having gone to sea, his wife desires the prayers of this church ;" *' thin visage, with a short nose turned up, about six feet high, &c." The importance of correct punctuation may be seen by the following extract from the London Times of Semptember, 1818. " The contract lately made for lighting the town of Liverpool, during the ensuing year, has been thrown void by the misplacing of a comma in the advertise- ment, which ran thus : 'The lamps at present are about 4050 in number, and have in general two spouts each, composed of not less than twenty threads of cotton.' The contractor would have proceeded to furnish each lamp with the said twenty threads ; but, this being but half the usual quantity, the commissioner discovered that the diflference arose from the comma following, instead of preceding, the word cacli. The parties agreed to annul the contract, and a new one is now ordered." Again ; the meaning of the following sentence is materially affected by the punctuation : " I said that he is dishonest it is true and I am sorry for it." Now the pause placed after dishonesty will imply that it is true that he is dishonest, thus : " I said that he is dishonest; it is true, and I am sorry for it." But, if the pause be placed aft.er true, the sentence im- plies that it is true that I said dishonest, and I am sorry that I said so, thus : "I said that he is dishonest, it is true ; and I am sorry for it." . , ^'^ ej, . This misplacing of a comma, by a Mr. Sharpe, con- verted an innocent remark into a piece of horrid '■.■y"T "-"■•'• iTT"*,''' . ' blasphemy ; " Believing Richard Brothers to be a prophet sent, by God I have engraved his portrait." Had the comma been removed two words forward, the assertion would have been innocent. r -; j The word comma is derived from the Greek language, and properly designates a segment, section, or part cut off from a complete sentence. In its usual acceptation, it signifies the point, which marks the smaller segments, or portions of a period. It, therefore represents the shortest pause, and consequently marks the least cons- tructive or most dependent parts of a sentence. Comparison — Comparison isj when the resemblance between two objects, whether real or imaginary, is expressed in form. Thus we use a comparison when we say in the fol- lowing: EXAMPLES. 1. '' The actions of princes are like those groat rivers, the course of which every one beholds, but their springs have been seen by few." 2. " As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people." 3. " The music of Caryl was like the memory of joys that are past, pleasant and mournful to the soul." 4. *' Our Indians are like those wild plants which thrive best in the shade, but which wither when exposed to the influence of the sun." 5. " The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold. And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold : And the sheen, of their spears was like stars ,on the sea. . " When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. Concord — See Agreement. . . ,. . , u,;: Conference — This is a discoursing between two or more persons, for the purpose of instruction, consul- tation or deliberation. It is generally confined to particular subjects. 136 Conformity — Likeness, correspondence to or with a model in form or manner ; resemblance ; agreement ; congruity with something else. Construction — This is applied either to the form- ation of sentences, or the mode of understanding them. Contrast — This signifies the placing of opposite things in view, to exhibit the superior excellence of one to more advantage. Conundrum — This is a sort of riddle, in which some odd resemblance is proposed for discovery be- tween things quite unlike, as : Why are the Canadians a sanguinary people. Answer — Because they are fond of sleighing (slay- ing.) What part of an animal is his elegy ? Answer — His L.E.Gr. If a demon had lost his tail, where would he go to have it replaced ? Answer — To the place where they retail bad spirits. Crotchets — See Brackets. Curt — See Laconic. Dactyle — This consists of one long syllable and two short ones, as holiness, thundering. Dagger— See Obelisk. Dash — The Dash ( — ) is used to denote abrupt- ness — a significant pause — an unexpected turn in the sentiment — or that the first clause is common to all the rest, as in this definition of a dash. Description — Webster defines this word thus : " A representation of names, natures, or properties, that give to another a view of the thing." DiiERESis. — The Diaeresis (••) is used to divide a diphthong into two syllables ; as, aerial. Dialogue — The dialogue signifies a speech between two persons. It is mostly fictitious, and is written as /?^A.^f if it were spoken. It is always formal, and contains an assertion or question, with a reply and a rejoinder. DiASTRMUS — This signifies the showing: of ill nature, and the constant, chance of insulting a foe — as " You cackle like a goose among the tuneful swans." Didactic — This kind of writing is that which is designed for the purpose of instruction. Diminution — This is the same as Liptotes, and is a figure by which in seei^png to lessen, we increase the force of the expression. Thus, when we say, "The man is a fool," we are understood to assert that he is wise. " I cannot praise such conduct," means that I despise it. — " I neither praise your gifts, nor despise them ; i. e. I dispraise your gifts, yet I accept them. Discussion — A discussion is the treating of a subject by argument, to clear it of difficulties, and to separate truth from falsehood. It is generally carried on botween two or more persons who take contrary sides and defend them by arguments and illustrations. Disputation — Disputations are exercises in which parties reason in opposition to each other on some question proposed. They are verbal contests respecting the truth of some fact, opinion, proposition or argument. As literary exercises they are principally of two kinds Philosophical and Forsenic, philosophical disputations are those in which some philosophical fact, principle or theory is discussed ; forsenic disputations are those in which some legal, moral or political subject is argued. DiiQUisiTiON — A disquisition is a formal or system- atic inquiry into any subject by arguments, or discussion of the facts and circumstances that may elucidate truth. The disquisition differs from the dissertation in its form and extent. \ dissertation may be more diflFuse in its character, and consequently is generally pro- tracted to a greater length. A disquisiton should be characterized, by its unity. Nothing should be intro- • duced but what is strictly to the point, while in a dissertation any collateral subjects may be introduced which have a leaning upon the point to be proved or , V 138 the subject to be elucidated. Disquisitions may be ethical, political, scientific, or litarary, according to the nature of their subjects. Dissertation — A dissertation is a formal discourse intended to illustrate a subject, and the term is properly applied to performances of an argumentative nature. Dissertations are principally employed on disputed points of literature and science. Bentley's ** Disser- tation upon the Epistles of P4ialaris" and De Pau's " Dissertations on the Egyptians and Chinese" are good examples of this subject. Distich — This is also called a couplet, and consists of two verses ; a hemistich is the half of a verse. Doggerel — This signifies a kind of loose, irregular measure in burlesque poetry like that of Hudibras. The couplet on Jack Cade's standard in English History is a familiar example, " When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then a gentleman ?" Drama — A Drama is a poem of the epic kind, but so compressed and adapted, that the whole tale, instead of requiring to be read, or recited at intervals, by an individual, ma be exhibited as actually passing before our eyes. Every actor in the poem has his represen- tative on the stage, who speaks the language of the poet as if it were his own ; and every action is literally performed or imitated as if it were of natural occur- rence. These compositions are of two kinds. Tragedy and Comedy. Duet — This is sometimes called duetto, and means a piece of music composed for two performers whether vocal or instrumental. • ■ ■ ■ r • .\- ^ Eclogue — An Eclogue is the conversation of shep- hA-ds. The words literally mean a select piece, and , the art of the poet lies in selecting the beauties with- "^ out the grossness, of rural life. The Ecloguea of Virgil are familiar examples. ' ' •; .? -^nk ) 139 EcPHONESis — This signifies the sudden raisins; of the mind, when seized by a flow of passion, as — Alas ! Oh banished Piety, Oh ! corrupted nation ! EoTHLiPSis — This is a figure of prosody in which a final m with the preceding vowel is cut off" when the next word begins with a vowel. Elegy — A mournful or plaintive poem, or a funeral song ; a poem or song expressive of sorrow and lament- ation. Perhaps the most beautiful elegy in the English language is Gray's Elegy written in a country Church Yard and recited by Gen. Wolfe the evening before he fell at Quebec, when sailing down the St. Lawrence in his boat. Elision — This signifies the cutting off or suppression of a vowel at the end of a word, for the sake of sound or measure, when the next word begins with a vowel ; as th' embattled plain. Elleipsis or Ellipsis — This means the omission of some parts not absolutely essential to express the meaning, but necessary to complete the grammatical construction Elliptial Passage — When certain words are left out to be supplied afterwards by the pupil — this is called ellipsis. Emblem — This literally means " something inserted in the hody of another ;'' but the word is used to express " a picture representing one thing to the eye and another to the understanding ; " or a painting or representation, intended to hold forth some moral or political instruction. Thus a balance is an emblem of justice ; a crown is an emblem of royalty ; a sceptre^ of power or sovereignty. Anything which represents another thing in ito predominant qualities is also an emblem. Thus a looking-glass, which shows spots, without magnifying them, is an emblem of a true friend who will show us our faults without exaggera- tion. A torch, reversed and expiring, with the motto, " My nourishment is my iane," is an emblem of the improper use we are too apt to make of things when 140 either by using them improperly or too freely we sub- vert the design for which they were at first intended. " The oil thus feeds, thus quenches flame : So love gives honour: — love gives shame." Emphasis — This is the same as stress or accent, It means a peculiar impressiveness of expression or weight of thought when reading, and when rightly used much conduces to correct declamation. A writer on English grammar gives the following example on wrong emphasis : — A clergyman, on reading the twenty-seventh verse of the eighteenth chapter of the first book of Kings, generally placed the emphasis on the words denoted by italics. " And he spake to his sons, saying. Saddle me the ass, and they saddled him r Enallage — This is the use of one part of speech for another. EXAMPLES. 1. "Blue through the dusk the smoking currents shine." 2. " The fearful hare limps awkwardP 3. And where He vital breathes there must bo joy. 4. Who shall attempt with wandering feet The dark, unbottomed, infinite abyss, And through the palpable obscure find out His uncouth way, or spread his airy flight, Upborne with indefatigable wings. Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive The happy isle ? Paradise Lost 5. Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought : And thus the god-like angel answered mild. 6. The lovely young Laviniaonce had friends, And fortune smiled deceitful on her birth. 7. When even at last the solemn hour shall come . .^ To wing my mystic flight to future worlds, , ,- I cheerful will obey ; there, with new powers, ,^^ , Will rising wonders sing. .„„,.«. %m. ^ ■I •-■■: :■?», ? I4l 8. The rapid radiance instantaneous strikes Th' illumined mountain. ' 9. Gradual sinks the breeze , Into a perfect calm. 10. Each animal, conscious of some danger, fled Precipitate the loathed abode of man. 11. But I lose myself in him, in light ineffable. 12. Induces thought and contemplation still. 13. They fall successive and successive rise. Enantiosis — ** Enantiosis poiseth diflTrent things. And words and sense as into balance brings." 1. Truth brings Foes. 2. Flattery brings Friends. Enigma. — An Enigma is an obscure speech or say- ing, in a kind of allegorical form, and written either in prose or verse ; designed to exercise the mind in dis- covering a hidden meaning, or it is a dark saying, in which some known thing is concealed under obscure language which is proposed to be guessed. EXAMPLES. 1. Byron's poem on the letter E is a good example of the enigma. 2. The letter M is concealed in the following Latin enigma by an unknown author of very ancient date : " Ego sum principium mundi et finis seculorum j Ego sum trinus et unus, et tamen non sum Deus." 3. The letter E is thus enigmatically described : " The beginning of eternity, ■ • The end of time and space, The beginning of every end, And the end of every place." 4. The celebrated enigma or riddle of the sphinx, in classic story, was this : — "What animal walks on 142 four legs in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening?" The answer is Man, who in infancy or the morning of life, walks or creeps on his hands and feet, at the noon of life he walks erect, and in the evening of his days, or in old age, supports himself on a staff. 5. I'm a strange contradiction ; I'm new and I'm old, I am often in tatters, and oft deck'd with gold — Though I never could read, yet letter'd I'm found; Though blind, I enlighten ; though loose, I am bound — I am always in black, and I'm always in white ; T am grave and I'm gay, I am heavy and light-^ In form too I differ, — I'm thick and I'm thin, I've no flesh and no bone, yet I'm covered with skin ; I've more points than the compass, more stops than the flute ; . , I sing without voice, without speaking confute ; I'm English, I'm German, I'm French, and I'm Dutch ; Some love me too fondly, some slight me too much ; I often die soon, though I sometimes live ages. And no monarch alive has so many pages. Ans. — A Book. Hannah More. Enthymene — This is a syllogism with one premise suppressed. It is the abridged form of argument, and is the ordinary form of speaking and writing. EXAMPLES. 1. Caesar was a tyrant, therefore he deserved death. 2. How can ye believe who receive honour one of another. 3. The Epicureans cannot be regarded as true phil- osophers, for they did not reckon virtue as a good in itsell. - .iHl^t • ■,i: » i ->v i! .; v>;y^i v,i .- 4. Some reviewers do not refrain from condemning books which they have not read, they are, therefore, not candid. y^k./^s' U3 Epanadiplosis — This means repetition and there- fore is allied to tautology ; or it means a figure of sjDeech bv which a sentence begins and ends with the same words — as 1. " Able was I ere I saw Elba." This on Napoleon can be read backwards without changing the position of the letters. 2. ''Sins stain thy beauteous Soul ; forsake thy Sins." Epanalopsis — This means resumption ; It means the repetition of the same word in resuming the subject after a long parenthesis. Epanados — This is the inversion of a sentence, putting the last first ind the first last, as, Whether the worst? the Child accursed, or else the cruel Mother? The Mother worst, the child accursed ; as bad the one as the other. Epanorthosis — A figure of Rhetoric in which a speaker recalls what he has said for the sake of making it stronger, as, Most brave ; brave, said I ? most heroic act. Epenthesis — This is that figure which inserts into the middle of words an additional syllable, as Blacka- moor for Blackmoor. Epic — This is a term applied to a poem which narrates a story real or fictitioo ., or both, representing in an elevated style some signal action or series of actions and events, usually the achievements of some distinguished hero, and intended to form the morals and aflfect the mind with the love of virtue. The three greatest epic writers are Homer, Virgil and Milton; and their poems are respectively called Homer's '• Iliad," Virgil's "^neid" and Milton's " Paradise Lost." ■ •" ^ - ■ : ::^ '■: : Dryden thus describes them : — " Three Poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy ; <1 England did adorn ; The first in loftiness of thought surpassed. The next in majesty ; in both the last; The force of nature could no further go ; * To makE a third, she joined the former two." 144 Epigram — The Epigram in the ordinary English acceptation of the term, signifies a short poera, contain- ing some point, or unexpected turn of thought. The Epigram had a diflFerent signification among the Greeks — from whom we have the word — which property means, a writing on — an inscription. The merit of the Grecian epigram consisted in the justness of a single thought, conveyed in harmonious language. They were rarely humorous or satirical. The English epigram is humorous or serious as the case requires. The following is Henry Kirke White's epigram on Robert Bloomfield — the Author of the Farmer's Boy. 1. Bloomfield, thy happy omen'd name Ensures continuance to thy fame ; Both sense and truth this verdict give, • While fields shall bloom, thy name shall live. Here is the definition of an epigram given by Curran the great Irish orator. 2. An epigram — what it is, honey ? A little poem, short and funny ; About four lines in length — no more ; Then this is one, for here are four. 3. A Painter lad was once employed, To paint upon a Monday A sign — the motto of it was " Sic transit gloria mundi. Undone he left it — came back next (To finish all his dues) day ; And after much wise thought he put " Sic transit gloria Tuesday." 4. I cannot comprehend, said Dick, ' What makes my ancles grow so thick : You do not recollect, said Harry, What a calf they have to carry. 145 5. They say thine eyes, like sunny skies, Thy chief attraction form ; I see no sunshine in those eyes, They take one all by storm. 6. A quack to Charon would his penny pay ; The grateful ferryman was heard to say, " Return, my friend, and live for ages more; Or I must haul my useless boat ashore." 7. Men dying make their wills — but wives Escape a work so sad, Why should they make what all their lives The gentle dames have had f 8. The following elegant couplet was pronounced by Boileau to be the best epigram on record : " Ci git ma femme ; ah ! qu'elle est lien Pour son repos, et pour le mien." As an epigrammatic epitaph it is certainly perfect. A literal translation quite spoils the charm of the rhyme and rhythm; and any paraphrase in English verse must vary the sense and mar the delicacy of the original. The following couplet may serve, for want of a better version : " Here lies my wife ; what better could she do For her repose, and for her husband's too !" Epigraph — This signifies a citation from some author, or a sentence framed for the purpose, placed at the commencement of a book or work, or of its separate divisions. • t ' Epilogue — This is a speech or short poem, addressed to the spectators by one of the actors after the con- clusion of a play or of some recitations. Epiphonema — This signifies an exclamatory sentence or striking reflection as : "Of so great momeat was it to raise the Roman nation. ^- - r -: ■■ r^ '^~ ^^ - .0 \:!i\ 146 EpiplexIs — This is a figure, in which the speaker endeavours to convince and move by a gentle upbraid- ing. Epiploce — In Rhetoric this is a figure by which one aggravation or striking circumstance is added in due gradation to another. Epiphora — This means the emphatic repetition of a word or phrase at the end of several sentences or stanzas. Episode — This is a separate story, incident, or action, introduced for the purpose uf giving variety to the events related in the poem. Epistropiie — This figure in Rhetoric signifies when several successive sentences end with the same word or sentence, as — We are born in sorrc^n ; pass our time in sorrow ; and end our days in sorrow. Epitaph — This is an inscription on a monument in honour of or in memory of the dead. EXAMPLES. 1. The epitaph which the Earl of Rochester made on Charles II., of England, " The Merry Monarch." — " Here lies our mutton eating King, Whose word no man relied on ; He never sjiid a foolish thing, And never did a wise one." 2. Shield's Epitaph— Shields, the Irish orator made his own epitaph : — Here lie I at reckon and my spirit at aise is With the tip of my nose, and the end of my toes Tzirn'd up 'gainst the roots of the daisies. "^^' ,/: ^. ■ ,•' ■ ; ^ >/jr* '■';■■' :i -^ ■ ^i 3. The following is in St. Alban's cliurch-yard. Wood Street, London : . ■T":^ r-^' .■:■ . ■ ■ — ,/■( t . ' Hie jacet Tom Shorthose, Sine tombe, sine sheets, sine riches : Qui vixit sine gowne, Sine cloaks, sine shirts, sine breeches. 4. ON A GREAT TALKER. Beneath this silent stone is laid A noisy antiquated maid, Who from her cradle talked till death, And never yet was out of breath. 5. ON ANOTHER. Here lies, returned to clay, Miss Arabella Youn^, Who, on the first of May , Began to hold her tongue. 6. On a stone in the ruins of an old church near Boughton Green, Northamptonshire, England. — '' Time was, I stood where thou dost now. And viewed the dead as thou dost me ; Ere long thou'lt lie as low as I, And others stand and look on thee." 7. An epitaph on a well known auctioneer's tomb- stone was: — Going — Going — gone. 8. Here lies the tongue of Godfrey Lill, Which always lied and lies here still. Epitasis — In the ancient drama that part which embraces the main action of a play and leads on to the catiistrophe. This term has sometimes been applied to that part of an oration which is addressed to the pas- sions. "''"'. ' '' •' '■ '" ' ' ,"''/■ Epithalamium — This is a nuptial song or poem, in praise of the bride and bridegroom and praying for .> their prosperity. A beautiful example is found in the 45th psalm which is an epithalamium to Christ and the Church. Epithet — An adjective expressing some real quality of the thing to which it is applied, or an attribute expressing some quality ascribed to it. It is quite improper to use this word for titles name or phrase, as is sometimes done. Epitome — An abridgment; a brief summary or abstract of any book or writing, or a compendium. Epitrite — In Prosody, this is a foot consisting of three long syllables and a short one. Epitrope — In Rhetoric, this is a figure by which a thing is granted with the view to obtain an advantage as, " Go, take \ our course, I will not stop your ram- bles." Epizeuxis — A figure, in Ivlietoric, in which a word is repeated wi -h vehemence ; as j/oit, you. Antony I ah ! poor, Swain ! Epode — In lyric poetri/ ^ this is the third or last part of the ode, that which follows the strophe and antis- trophe. The word is now used as the name of any little verse or verses that follow one or more great ones. Epopea — This is merely a learned name for an epic poem. Epopee —An epic poem ; more properly, the his- tory, action or fable which makes the subject of an epic poem. Erotesis — By Erotesis what we know" we ask. Proscribing to ourselves a needless task, as. Was ever virtue \, to harder tasks. Essay — This is a composition intended to improve, or prove or illustrate a particular subject. Etiology. — That figure which gives a reason to every think, as " Despise pleasure, for pleasure bought with pain, hurts." Eulogy or Eulogium —This is a speech or writing ,,,. T_.,^,^-,, jj^j.;. in commendation of some person ; Praise or encomium or applause. ■ . ;. j , • Euphemism — This is a figure by which a dch'cate word or expression is substituted for one which is offensive. For instance it is more decorous to the memory of the departed, to say that " he perished on the scaffold'^ than that '* Ac was hanged.^' All such exJ)re8sions are called euphemisms, from a Greek word signifying a kind speech. . . ^ EXAMPLES. 1. The room smells badly, should be, there is an unpleasant eflSuvium in the room. ;- -. 2. Mary is a great slut, should be, Mary is inattentive to her personal appearance, or is careless in her per- sonal habits. 3. He is a very dirty fellow ; should be. He is des- titute of neatness. 4. You lie ; should be, you labour under a mistake. 5. The man was drunk when he used these indecent words ; should be, the man was intoxicated, when he used that improper language. 6. That man eats his victuals like a pig, and guzzles down his drink like a fish ; should be. That man is unrefined in his manners at the table, and is too fond of his cup. 7. He has on dirty stockings and muddy shoes ; should be. His hose are not neat and his shoes are soiled. 8. I consider him an impudent puppy, should be, I consider him rude in his manners. 9. He behaved like a boor ; should be. He behaved in an improper manner. 10. He thought the man a scoundrel; should be, He thought the man dishonest. 11. Major Andre was hanged, should be, Major Andre perished on the scaffold. . , f • * u > • 12. A true gentleman is known as well by his talk VA 150 as by his clothes ; should be, a man of refinement is known as well by his conversation as by his dress. Evocation — This means, as the word implies a calling forth. Exclamation — Exclamations are the effect of strong emotions of the mind ; such as surprise, admiration, joy, grief and the like. It is also one of the figures used in punctuation and is marked thus ! EXAMPLES. 1 . Oh Liberty ! oh sound once delightful to every Roiaan ear. Oh sacred privilege of Roman citizen- ship! — once sacred, how trampled upon. 2. Oh time ! time ! it is fit thou shouldst thus strike thy murderer to the heart ! How art thou fled for ever ! a month ! oh for a single week ! I ask not for years ! though an age were too little for the much I have to do ! Voltaire 8 exclamation on his dead bed. 3. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God ! 4. "Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of way -faring men" ! 5. " Oh that I had the wings of a dove ! for then would I fly away and be at rest" ! ExoRDiUiM — This in Oratory, means the introduc- tory part of a discourse ; or the preface or proemial part of a composition. Expletives — These are words inserted merely for ornament, or to fill a vacancy in the measure of a time of poetry. Extempore — This signifies without previous study or meditation. It is used as an adjective improperly or at least without necessity for extempcyraneoiis. ' ' ' Fable —This is the same as apologue. It means a fictitious narrative, intended to enforce some useful truth or precept. Farce — The farce is the caricature of comedy, and is restrained by no law, not even those of probability and nature. Its object is to excite mirth and uproarious laujii^hter. But in some of its forms, such as personal satire, occasional grossness and vulgarity, it has rendered itself so obnoxious to reprobation, that the very name is an abomination. It is commonly written in prose. Figurative Language — Parker thus defines a fig- ure. " In the sicnce of language, it is a departure from the common forms of words, from the established rules of syntax or from the use of words according to their literal signification. They are divided into the etym- ological, syntactical, and the rhetorical figures. There are other names for this figure, as tropes, metaphors, and comparisons." EXAMPLES. 1. Figurative. — She had been the pupil of the village pastor, the favourite lamb of his little flock. Plain. — She had been the pupil of the village clergyman, the favourite child of his small congregation. 2. Figurative. — Man ! thou pendulum between a smile and tear. Plain. — Man ! thou who art always placed between happiness and misery, but never wholly enjoying the one nor totally afflicted with the other. 1. " The meek-eyed morn appears, mother of dews." 2. The tempests of fortune. 3. The last steps of day. 4. The storms of adversity. 5. The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground. 6. " So saying, her rash hand in evil hour, ' ' Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluck 'd, she a Heroics — This is the fifth form of Iambic verse and is exemplified in the following couplet* ; / // P I J) Ul " How lov'd, I how val | u'd once | avails | thee not By whom related, or by whom begot." Hexameter — This is a verse of 6 feet ; the first four of which may be either dactyles or spondees ; the fifth must regularly be a dactyle and the sixth a spondee. Coleridge thus describes it, " In the Hexameter rises the i untains silvery column, In the Pentameter aye falling in melody back." Hiatus— This signifies the chasm made in a manuscript on account of some part being lost or effaced. History — This is the rrcnrd of events, in the order in which they happened, with :i notice of their causes and effects. It is divided into three gieat divisions, viz. Ancient, Middle and lodern. Homoioptoton — This is a figure in Rhetoric in which several parts of the sentence end with the same case or a tense of like sound. Homoioteluton — Homoitelcuton makes the meas- ure chime, AVith like sounds in the end of fetter'd rhyme. Hymn — This is a song or ode in honour of God and among Pagans in honour of some deity. Hypallages — This signifies a changing from one case to another ; as " Cups, to which I never moved my lips," for, *' cups, which I never moved to my lips." Hyperbation — This is the making of the words and sense run in a disturbed order and not with harmony and concord, as, EXAMPLES. 1. " Wealth, which the old man had raked together, now the boy doth game and drink away : for, now the boy doth game and drink away the wealth, which the old man had raked together. ' 2. The Muses fair, these peaceful shades among. 3. We wander earth round. . . Hyperbole — An hyperbole is a figure that repre- sents things as greater or less, better or worse, than q2 a 154 they really arc : as, when David says of Saul and Jona- than. 1. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 2. I saw their chief, tall as a rock of ice ; his spear the blasted fir : his shield the rising moon ; he sat on the shore like a cloud of mist on the hill. Ossian. 3. " A rescu'd land. Sent up a shout of victory from the field. That rocked her ancient mountains." 1 4. " I found her on the floor, In all the storm of grief, yet beautiful. Pouring out tears at such a lavish rate. That, were the world on fire, they might have drown'd. The wrath of Heaven, and quench' d the mighty ruin." Hyperbole or Exaggeration is a remarkable feature of Eastern poetry. Moore, in his Lalla Rookh, has some extravagant instances, which may be pardoned in that work, written as it was in imitation of the Eastern style, but they should not be exhibited as objects of imitation. The following is one of the instances from Lalla Rookh : " Yet, one relief this glance of former years Brought, mingled with its pain, tears, floods of tears. Long frozen at her heart, but now like rills. ]jct loose in Spring time from the snowy hills. And gushing warm, after a sleep of frost, Through valleys where their flow had long been lost." Hyperbole ought to be very carefully as well aa sparingly used ; for it is requisite that the mind of the hearer, as well as that of the speaker, should be strongly excited, else it degenerates into Bombast. It is usually the flash of an overheated imagination, and is seldom consistent with the old canons of criticism. Hypermeter — Any thing greater than the ordinary standard of measure ; applied particularly ^ to a verse J'-r.'i.p.- in poetry which has a redundant syllable as maiden for maid at the end of a poetical line. Hyphen — Hyphen (-) is used at the end of a line, to show that the rest of tlie word is at the bejii^inning of the next line. It also connects compound words ; as, Teapot. , , , Hypotyposis — This is that figure of speech where the descussion of things is given in strong and lively colours. We have a beautiful example from the Old Testament — in these words: "The head is sick; the heart is faint ; from the sole of the foot, even unto the head there is no soundness, but wounds, bruises and putrefying sores." Hysteron Proteron— In gntmmar, this is a figure, in which the word which should follow comes first; as valet atque vivit ; he is well and lives; It is sometimes used to denote an anachronism or the putting of a later historical event before an earlier one. Other example is. He was bred and born at London ; /or, He was born and bred at London. I .. ■ . Iambus — An iambus consists of a short syllable and a long one, as, betray. . ,. , . EXAMPLES. *- '^ 1. How blithe | when first | from far | I came | to woo j and win | the maid. 2. Which like | a wound | ed snake | drags its | slow length | behind. Index — The Index (i®") is used to point out any thing remarkable. Idiom — This mearis^ ^e mode of expression whif^h is peculiar to a language. Idyl — This is a short pastoral poem. Tennyson's " Sea Dreams" may be given .as ajgood illustration of this kind of poem, " ""^' ' '^ ''^^^- ^^ - t^\ ; ;- .• A^f^, 156 Imaqery — This is a term applied to the use of figurative language. ' "' Impromptu — An impromptu is an extemporaneous composition, that is, one made at the moment or with- out previous study. Incrementum — This is a form of amplification and consists in a gradual rise of ideas from a low to a lofty pitch ; as : The wickedness of a mob, the cruel force of a tyrant, storms and tempests, even Jupiter's thun- der ; nay, if the world should fall, it cannot disturb the just man, nor shake his solid resolution. Inquiry — This is a term applied to a composition which examines into facts and principles, by proposing and discussing questions, by solving problems, or by experiments and other modes. Interrogation — The unfigured and literal use of interrogation is to ask a question ; but when men are strongly moved, they naturally put into the form of a question what ever they would afl&rm or deny with great earnestness. EXAMPLES. 1. Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook, or his tongue with a cord that thou lettest down ; Bible. The Book of Job abounds in beautiful instances of this figure. 2. He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ! 3. How long Cataline will you abuse our patience ? Do you not perceive that your designs are discovered ? &c. Cicero^s Orations. 4. Can storied urn, or animated bust, Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? ,;. Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust, n, . Or flattery soothe, the dull, cold ear af death : Gray^s Elegy. 5. Hath the Lord said it; and shall He not do it ? Hath He spoken it ? and shall He not make it good ? cf^^ 6. '' The Lord is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. Hath He said it ? and shall He- not do it ? Hatli Ho spoken it? and shall He not make it good ? 7. Hast thou an arm like God ; or canst thou thun- der with a voice like Him. Interrogation (?) is used when a question is asked. Invective — This is a railing speech or expression, It differs from reproof as the latter may come from a friend and be intended for the good of the person reproved ; but invective proceeds from an enemy and is intended to give pain or to injure. \^ Inversion — This just signifies a change of words, from their natural order as *' Had I killed him, as you report, I had not staid to bury him." Jest — This means something ludicrous uttered and only excites laughter. In ancient times the King's, Jester was an important personage at every court. Joke — this is the same as jest, It is derived from the Latin jocut. L Laconic — Laconic Replies and Letters — The word laconic is derived from Laconia (Sparla) because the Lacedemonians delivered themselves in as few words as possible. The following are remarkable examples of such. In the reign of George I., of England, we read that Sir George Byng was sent with a fleet into the Mediterranean, where he totally destroyed a Spanish fleet of 27 sail of the line, off" the coast of Sicily. The following despatch of Captain Walton, whom the admiral had sent in pursuit of some of the enemy's ships, is deserving of notice : — " Sir, we have taken and destroyed all the Spanish ships and vessels which were upon the coast ; the number as per margin. I am, &c., G. Walton." The celebrated reply of Leonidas king of Sparta to Xerxes, who, with his army of over a million of men, was opposed by Leonidas, with only three hundred. When Xerxes sent to him with the haughty direction to lay down his arms, the Spartan kinf^ replied, with characteristic brevity, " Come and take them." Another instance of the same is afi'orded in the celebrated letter of Dr. Franklin, which iS in these words : Philadelphia, July 5th, 1775. Mr. Strahan, You are a member of that Parliament, and have formed part of that majority, which has condemned my native country to destruction. You have begun to burn our towns, and to destroy their inhabitants. Look at your hands, they are stained with the blood of your relations and yonr acquaintances. You and I were long friends : yoa are at present my enemy, and I am yours. Benjamin Franklin. The celebrated letter of Julius Caesar to the Senate, after he had defeated Phurnaces, king of Pcntus at the battle of Zela ; ** vent, vidi, vici, I came, I saw, I conquered." The reply of the hero of Saragossa, (Palafox) to the French demand of laying down their arras " War to the knife." The speech of Lord Nelson before the great battle of Trafalgar, '• England expects each man this day to do his duty." The celebrated reply of David Gam whom Henry sent at Agincourt, to view the strength of the enemy, " There were enough to be killed, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away." And the replies of Alarie as under : — The ambas- sadors sent to Alarie, at first assumed a lofty tone, and warned him against driving the Romans to despair, saying, that unless honourable terms were given, the besieged would sally forth in a body when they could scarcely fail to overpower their enemies, — " The thicker 159 the grass, the easier it is cut," was the cool reply of the barbarian, but he at la»t condescended to fix the terms of his retreat at iill the j^old and silver in the city, all the rich moveables, and all the slaves who could prove their claim to the name of barbarian. " If such," said the ambassadors, '* king, be your demands, what do you intend to leave us ?" " Yourlivos," replied the haughty conqueror. But his demands gradually relaxed, and he was induced to raise the siege on the immediate payment of 5,000 pounds of gold, 3,000 pounds of silver, 4,000 robes of silk, 3,000 pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and 3,000 pounds of pepper. Lampoon — A lampoon or pasquinade, is a personal satire written with the intention of reproaching, irritating or vexing the individual, rather than to reform him. It is satisfied with low abuse and vituperation, rather than with proof or argument. Lay — This is a species of song — and one of the finest examples of this kind of poetry is Sir Walker Scot's " Lay of the Last Minstrel " Legend — A chronicle or register of the lives of saints, formerly read at matins, and at the refectories of religious houses. LiGoaniPii — This is a kind of riddle. Long Metre — When each line of a stanza has eight syllables, it is called Long Metre. Lyric — This is a term applied to poetry intended to be sung and accompanied by the lyre or, some other musical instrument. M Machinery — This is the name of a term applied to the introduction of superhuman beings, to solve diffi- culty, or perform some exploit which exceeds power. Madrigal — This is a little poem, sometimes called a pastoral poem, containing a certain number of free unequal verses, and some tender or d^elioate thought suitably expressed. t 160 To a Lady 6f the County of Lani Lancaster, with a White Rose. If this fair rose oflFend thy sight, It in thy bosom wear ; 'Twill blush to find itself less white And turn Lancastrian there. The allusion here is evident. The " Wars of the rival Houses of York and Lancaster," are brought to remembrance and their badges, the red and white roses seom to mingle in the presentation of the white (York) rose to the Lancastrian belle. Maxim — This is the same as adage or proverb ; and just means a well-known saying. Metalepsis — By Metalepsis, in one word combin'd, More tropes than one you easily can find. The followine: is an example of this figure of speech — Euphrates (i. e. Mesopotamia, i. e. its inhabitants) moves war. Metaphor — A meta2)hor is a simile *fithout the sign (like or as, &c.) of comparison ; as, 1. He shall be a tree planted by, &c. 2. A tide (excess) of passion. 3. Breathe on (favour) my enterprize. 4. The golden (pure, untainted) age. 5. I will be unto her a wall of fire round about. 6. Thou art my rock and my fortress. 7. Thy word is a lam]) to my feet and a light to my path. When I say of some great minister, " That he up- holds the state like a pillar which supports the weight of an old edifice," I fairly make a comparison ; but when I say of such a minister, " That he is the pillar of state," the word pillar becomes a metaphor. In the latter construction, the comparison between the minis- ter and a pillar, is made in the mind; but it is expressed without any of the words that denote com- msc- n Metaphors abound in all writings. In the Scriptures they may be found in vast Vapiety". Thus, Our Blessed Lord is called a vine, a lamb, a lion, &c. ; and men, according to their diflferent dispositions, are styled wolves, sheep, dogs, serpents, vipers, &c. Washington Irving, in speaking of the degraded state of the American Aborigines who linger on the borders of the "white settlements," employs the fol- lowing beautiful metaphor: "The proud pillar of their independence has been shaken down, and the whole moral fabric lies in ruins." Metathesis — This means a transposition and is exemplified in the word cruds for curds. Metonymy — A metonymy is a figure by which we put the cause for the effiect, or the effect of the cause ; as, when we say, 1. He reads Milton ; we mean Milton's works. 2. Grey hairs should be respected, heie the effect is put for the cause ; meaning by "gray hairs," old age, which produces gray hairs. 3. In the phrase, " The kettle boils," the container is substituted for the thing contained. 4. "He addressed the chair;" that is, the person in the chair. 5. They read Cowper, that is the poetry of Cowpcr. Metre — Metre is the measure by which verses arc composed ; This measure depends on the number of the syllables and the position of the accent. Modulation — Modulation is judiciously applying those significant inflections of the voice, which con- stitute the main excellencies of utterance in the accomplished reader and speaker. Rule 1. In addition to tlie foregoing instructions on the inflections, a clear perception of the sentiments ut- tered, and the emotions implied in the language, are indispensable guides to a correct modulation of the voice. Rule 2. The pitch of the voice, and the volumes of sound, must not only be regulated by the spirit and import of the lanji^uago, but with reference also to the occasion, place, and circumstances. Note. The voice has three pitches ; the high, in calling aloud ; the low, a little above a whisper ; and the middle, or conversational voice. Each admits of various degrees, more or less intensive. Rule 3. The pitch of the voice must be such as to give the most natural range of slide, above and below the key tone. Monologue — This is a soliloquy, or something uttered by a person alone. N N.vkrative — This means that part of a discourse, which recites ihe time, manner or consequences of an action or simply states the facts connected with the subject. Novel — This is a fictitious narrative in prose intended to exhibit the operation of the passions, particularly of love. o Obelisk — A mark used in composition and the same as the dagger. It is marked thus f The double obelisk or dagger |. Ode — The highest of the modern lyric compositions is the ode. The word ode is from the Greek, and is generally translated a song, but it is not a song, as wo use the term in our language. The ode was the result of strong excitement, a poetical attempt to fill the hearts of the auditors with feelings of the sublime. Odes that were sung in honor of the gods were termed Hymns, from a Greek word hi/mnco, which signifies to celebrate. The name is now applied to those sacred songs that are sung in churches. The Hebrew hymns which bear the name of King David are termed Psalms, from the Greek word psallo, which signifies to sing. The Greek Ode, when complete, was composed of three parts, the Strophe, the Antistrope, and the 163 Epode. The two former terms indicated the turnin^^H of the priest round and about the altar. The Epode was the end of the song, and was repeated standing still, before the altar. For examples of the English ode, the student is referred to the well-known piece, " Alexander's Feast," by Dryden, and the " Ode on the Passions," by Collins. - •~- Onomatopoeia or Onomatopy— This means sound adapted to the sense : Thus the words buzz, cacJde, crash, rattle, roar, hiss, whistle, and click, are evidently formed to imitate the sounds themselves. Sometimes the word expressing an object, is formed to imitate the sound produced by that object, as wave, cuckoo, whip- 2>oorwill, hum, and whisper. EXAMPLES. 1. Flies buzz, i. c., make a humming noise. 2. Tantarrara, i. e., noise of trumpets, fill the round. 3. The white wash'd wall, the nicely sanded floor, The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door, Goldsmtth. 4. These, equal syllables alone require. Though oft the ears the open vowels tire. Poj^e. 5. While expletives their feeble aid do join, And ten low words oft creep in one dull line. . ' i? Pope. 6. *' On the ear Drops the light drip of the suspended oar." 7. " The string let fly Twang'd short and sharp, like the shrill swal- low's cry." 8. '' Exoritur clamorquc virum, clangorque tuba- rum." This is one of the finest lines tnat ever was made to image sense in the sound. The words and syllables are rough, hoarse and sonorous, and so artfully put ■■" ■.vj:Jh'^ • together as to strike the ear like the thrilling notes of the trumpet which they describe. - VirgiVs Aeneid. Oration — This is a speech or discourse, composed according to the rules of oratory and spoken in public. Cicero's Orations are familiar examples. Ornament — This is the use of figures and other modes of expression, designed to give beauty to the composition. This by every composer whould be care- fully attended to. Oxymoron — This signifies a witty foolish saying, and is used when we make contradictions as proud hu- mility. P PiEAN — A song of triumph. Poeans were songs of triumph sung in procession in honor of Apollo, on occasions of a victory, &c,, or to the other gods as thanksgivings for the cessation or cure of an evil. The word is derived from a word signifying to heal or cure. Paneotric — This signifies an oration or eulogy in praise of some distinguished person or achievement. Parable — This is the same as fable or allegory and familiar examples are found in the Parables of Our Saviour. Parachronism — This signifies a chronological error, in making the date of an event later than it really was. Paracrostio — A poetical composition in which the first verse contains, in order all the letters which commence the remaining verses of the poem or division. -. Paradiastole — This signifies discrimination, and may be exemplified in the following sentence, viz ; Virtue may be overshadowed, but not overwhelmed. Paragooe — This is the addition of a letter or syllable at the end of a word. 165 / / 165 EXAMPLES. I ^ Chicken for chick. Withouten for without. ' ;; ■' Crouchen for crouch. •< - ' • Stilly for still as in Shakespcar's line " Oft in the stilly night." ,, Bounden for bound, i * " Paeaqmenon— This is a kind of tautology and signifies the using of words all derived from the same root; as, I write friendly of friendship to a friend. Pabaoraph — Paragraph (^) is used to denote the beginning of a new subject. Paraleipsis — This signifies a figure in Rhetoric where the speaker pretends to pass by what at the same time he really mentions, as, 1. " I omit the bribes you received : I let pass your thefts and robberies." 2. Horatius was once a very promising young gen- tleman, but in process of time he became so addicted to gaming, not to mention his drunkenness and debau- chery^ that he soon exhausted his estate and ruined his constitution. ^ Paralipomena — Things omitted ; a supplement containing things omitted in the preceding work. This word is sometimes applied to the two books of Chroni- cles. Pahallel — One of the figures used in composition. It also signifies a resemblance between two characters or writings. The parallel is sometimes diversified by an- tithesis to show in a strong light the points of indivi- dual distinction. Paranomasia — Paranomasia to the sense alludes When words, but little vary'd, it includes. EXAMPLES. -10 1. "^rtctiJa are turned /?f?j(?«," 2. Six groat* s worth of oats, ;, , 3. The devil is the source of all evt7, ! •,' ^if'h^^ i '\, 166 4. I dwell near that toe??, ' 5. One of them has gone^ 6. Are you able to lift that a > Tf> The period should follow every abbreviated word ; as, " A. D. N. B. U. S. Va. Md. Viz. Col. Mr." The word period is derived from the Greek language, and means " a circuit.'* Periphrase or Periphrasis — This is the same as circumlocution, and just means " a round about expres- sion" which explanation is itself an example of the figure because it denotes in three words what periphrase does in one. EXAMPLES. ^ ' 1 . Grammar. The science which teaches the proper use of language. 2. Woman. The gentle sex ; or, the famale sex. 3. Arithmetic. The science of numbers. 4. To disappoint. To frustrate one's hopes. 5. The skies. The blue empyrean. 6. Zoology. That department of natural ; ' science which treats of the habits of animals. Personification or Prosopop(Eia — Prosopopceia or personification, is that figure of speech by which we attribute life and action to inanimate objects ; ' EXAMPLES. : ., ' 1. The sea it and fled. ' 2. Jordan was driven back ! The mountains skip- ^ ped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. 'Lld^ o. Rome for empire far renowned Tramples on a thousand States ; Soon her pride shall kiss the ground — Hark ! the Gaul is at her gates. 4. The very stones of the street speak your wicked ness. 5. The mountains clap their hands and the hilla sing for joy. Perspicuity — Thin just means clearness of mind, easiness to be understood, and freedom from obscurity or ambiguity. It should be the fundamental quality of style. Pleonasm — Pleonasm is the use of more words than are necessary to express the meaning. EXAMPLES. 1. Peace ^ virtue! Peace is all thy own. 2. I saw it with mjf own eyes. 3. The rain is over and gone. 4. My banks, the]/^ are furnish'd with bees. ; . 5. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 6. The end soon approached. 7. In the Attic commonwealth it was the privilege of every citizen to rail aloud in public. Ploce — This signifies the repeating of a proper noun in a sentence, and the treating of it as a common noun, as — In that victory, Cocsar was Caosar, i. e., a most serene conqueror. Poem — This signifies a composition in verse. A man who writes poems, apvet, a woman, 2i poetess, and one who is an inferior scribbler a poetaster. PoLYTOTON — This is the placing of the same word in different cases in the same sentence. EXAMPLES. .'.(' 1. Face to face. = ,5 2. Foot to foot. "' ■"'''"'^ 3. Hand to hand. ' ' " ' ' 'V'^ I H i-l'v »•'•'' ,». .,' .~) y ivf^/ ■ * I- 170 4. Theu foot to foot with points opposed, ' , . In deadly fight they darkly closed. l*OLYSYNDET0N — The meaning of this figure is, " many copniatives," as in the following example ; fear and joy, a?j(i hatred, and love seized the mind by turns. Precision — This employed in composition, signifies exactness and accuracy in the use of words. Prolepsis — Prolepsis your objection doth prevent, "With answers suitabh nd pertinent. EXAMPLE. What then ? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but grace ?— God forbid. Prologue — This a short poem, designed as an intro- duction to a discourse or performance ; chiefly the discourse or poem spoken before a dramatic performance or play begins. Prosody — Prosody is that part of Grammar which teaches the true pronunciation of words ; comprising Accent, Quantity, Emphasis, Pause and Tone, and the measure of Verses. ; ,„; . . , m. ^i Prosthesis — This is the opposite of paragoge, and signifies the addition of a syllable or letter to certain words without altering their meaning. EXAMPLES. , .^•: t.,;.,r r 1. FcZrtc? in armour — for clad &c " f «'.'^ 2. Begirt for girt with a sword '" • <' " '"'"» 3. Beloved by all men for loved &c ■ "•'' >'» 4. Appertinent for ^rtinent. Provencal — Tales of the Troubadours, relating chiefly to the military archievements of the Crusades were principally recited in a corrupted Latin dialect called the Provencal or Provincial, hence the name. Psalm — A sacred hymn or song; the Psalms of David are familiar examples. . -v * \.'y.^- Punctuation — Punctuation is the art of pointing written composition in such a manner as may naturally lead to ite proper meaning, construction, and deliyery. Pun — An expression in which a word has at once different meanings ; called also Paronomasia. Purity — Purity consists in the use of such words, and such constructions, as belong to the idiom of the language which we speak. Pybrhic — This consists of a word having two short syllables or of two words each short ; as, on the tall tree. Quantity — The quantity of a syllable is, whether it is long or short without reference to the words. Quartette — In niusic a composition in four parts, each part performed by a single voice olr instrument. In poetry it signifies a stanza of four lines. Quarto — When a sheet of paper is folded by the printer and makes fours leaves or eight pages it is said to be in Quarto form ; eight leaves or sixteen pages, in Octavo ; twelve leaves or twenty four pages, Duodecim ; eighteen leaves Octodecim. These terms are shortened thus and are almost always written and printed in the abbreviated form viz, fol., for folio, 4to, for quarto ; 8 vo, for octovo ; 12mo, for duodecim ; 18mo, 24s, 32s, 64, signify respectively that the sheet is divided into eighteen, twenty four, thirty two, or sixty four leaves. Quatrains — One of the parts of a Sonnet — A Sonnet is generally divided into two divisions and the quatrains are those which come first. , ■ ; ^ ^ Quotation — Quotation(^^") is used to show that a passage is quoted in the author's words. i Rebus — This is a kind of enigmatical representation of one name by using figures or pictures, instead of words. It comes from the Latin language and literaliy •^N y-^' . \\ \ 172 signitieb " hy things." An example may be given thus. A gallant in love with a woman named Hose Mill painted on the border of his gown a rose, a hill, an eye, Cupid or Love, and a well which reads Rose Hill I love well. Redundancy — This signifies superfluity in the words and members of a sentence. The following sentence exemplifies the fault of redundancy. '< The very first discovery of it strikes the mind with inward joy, and spreads delight through all its faculties." In this example little or nothing is added by the second member of the sentence, to what was expressed in the first. Repetition — Repetition seizes some emphatical word or phrase, and to mark its importance makes it recur frecjueutly in the same sentence. It is significant of contrast and energy. It also marks passion, loving to dwell on the object by which it is excited. EXAMPLES. "(' . I ; 1. He sung Darius, great and good. By too severe a fate, Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen, ' Fallen, from his high estate. And weltering in his blood. Dri/deu^8 Alexander's Feast. 2. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying. Blow bugle, answer echoes, dying, dying, dying. Ten7ii/8on. 3. Oh Mary, go and call the cattle home, And call the cattle home. And call the cattle home, ' i. Across the sands of Dee. Kingsley. Report — A statement of facts given in reply to inquiry or by a person authorized to examine and make return to his enployer. a .,!,. .. : r.m r,,-^ BEPRESBNTAflON— That which exhibits the form or // operations of a thing by something resembling it, m a mass, a plan &c. Repboaoh — Contumelious or opprobrious language toward any person. Requiem — A Hymn sung for the dead for the rest of the soul or a grand musical composition performed in honor of some deceased person. Research — A diligent and protracted seeking of facts and principles. Retention — The faculty of the mind by which it retains ideas. Rhapsody — Originally a portion of an epic poem fit for recitation at one time as for instance a book of Homer which was rehearsed by a rhapsodist — In modern usaae a confused jumble of sentences or statements without dependence or mutual connection. Rhetoric — This means the science of oratory or the art of speaking with propriety elegance and force. Rhythm or Rhythmus — In the widest sense — a division of time into short portions by a regular suc- cession of motions, impulses, sounds &c., producing an agreable effect "is in the dance or music. In Grammar^ a division of time into short portions by a regular succession of arses and theses or percussions of voice on words or syllables. It belongs peculiarly to poetry but is found likewise to some extent in well-constructed prose. Romance — A fabulous relation or story of adven- tures and incidents designed for the entertainment of readers. Romance differs from the novel as it treats of acting and adventures of an unusual or wonderful character or soars beyond the limits of fact and real life and often of probability. Rondeau or Rondo — A kind of poetry commonly consisting of 1.3 verses of which 8 have one rhyme and and 5 another. Roundel or Roundelay — A kind of ancient poem consisting of 13 verses of which 8 were in one ^ 174 kiiid of rhyme of 5 in another and the same word at the beginning and end. , . ^ -.'.;. Rubric — The names given to the directions printed . in prayer books, because anciently printed in red ink. Sappho — A kind of verse so called from Sappho the Grecian poetess. Sarcasm — A keen reproachful expression. Satire— A poem or discourse in which ain or folly, is severely exposed, as the satires of Horace. Singular — The opposite of plural in grammar. Skeleton — The outlines or heads of a discourse. Sketch — An outline or general denomination of a thing. Sophistry — Fallacious reasoning, or exercise in logic. Specimen — Sample, or small portion intended to exhibit the kind and quality of the whole. Strophe — In ancient lyric poetry, the former of two stanzas was called strophe, and the latter antestrophe. Superfluous — More than is wanted, the same as redundant. Syllepsis — A figure by which we conceive the sense of the words othprwise, than they import, and construe them ccording to the intention of the author. It is also called substitutioo. Syllogism — A form of reasoning consisting, of 3 fyropositions, the first two are called premises, and the ast conclusion. ^ Synchronism — This means a concurrence of two or more events in time. Syncopatim or Syncope— The contraction of a word by taking a letter or a syllable from the laiddle as — every, ev'ry — never, ne'er &c. , . , j^mJf>Y Synecdoche — A figure or trope by which the whole of a thing is put for the part or vise versa. Synepy — The interjunction of words in uttering the clauses of a sentence. Synecphonesis — Contracting two syllables into one. Synoraph — A writing signed by both parties to a bond or contract. Synon I — A word having the same meaning — mansion, dwelling, domicile, habitation, abode are synonyms of house. Syntaxis — The construction of sentences. Synthesis —That process of reasoning in which we advance by a regular chain from first principles and pro- positions proved to the conclusion. Systole — In grammar this means the shortening of a long syllable. T Tale — A story or narrative as Wilson's Tales of the Borders. Text — A discourse or it means a verse of Scripture selected by a preacher as the foundation of his sermon. Theory — The exposition of the general principles of a service. Thesis — A thesis is a subject for school or university exercise. Title — The inscription at the beginning of a book. Tmesis — A figure by which a compound word is sep- arated by the insertion of one or more words. Tradition — The delivery of opinions, doctrines, rit«s and customs from father to son. Traoedy — A dramatic poem of .some signal action and ending fatally, the opposite of comedy. Tranposition — The change of the natural order of words in a sentence. Travesty — A parody, or burlesque. ick ^ ^ 176 Triplet — In poetry this means three lines rhyming together. Trivium — The arts of Grammar, Logic and Rhe- toric ; so the quadrivium is the four arts of Music, Arithmetic, Geology and Astronomy ; these form the seven liberal sciences. Trope — A word or expression used in a different sense from that which it pioperly signifies or a word changed from its oigninal signification to another for the sake of giving life or emphasis to an idea. EXAMPLES. 1. A shrewd man, is called a fox. li. A wicked man, " a Nero. 3. A strong man, " a Samson, &c., &c. Valedictory — An oration spoken by a member of the class about to receive degrees and separate. Verse — Opposite of prose — poetry or metrical language. Vignette — The first picture or embellishment of a book. z Yarn — A story spun out by a sailor for the amuse- ment of his companions. Zeugma — A figure in grammar by which an adjective or verb which agrees with a nearer word is by way of supplement referred also to another more remote. THE END. AcbilUs ; iElius Peetus ; Alexander the Great ,,,, 8 Almaoao \ Amazons ; Amen ; Ametbjst ; Ammoniac 4 April Fool ; Arbiter; Arena; Arras ; Assassins ; Attorney. 5 Aurora Borealis ; Avalanches 6 Bards ; Baubee ; Bankrupt ; Bayonet ; Beayer 7 Bigot ; Blackguard ; Blanket ; Bohemians 8 Book ; Boss ; Bottled Bear 9 Brandy; Britzska; Brown Study; Bull; That's a Bull ... . 10 Bully Boy ; Bumper ; Blue-Stockings ; Beacon Fires ; By Hook and by Crook 11 Cabal; Csesar; Calus; Calendar.. 12 Canada ; Candidate ; Cape 13 Cardinal ; Cards ; Carouse ; Catching a Tartar. 14 Cauliflower ; Caverns ; Cheese ; Chiltern Hundreds 15 Christmas Carols ; Cioque Ports ; Cordwainer and Cordo- van... .' 16 Corporal ; Country dance ; Cuirass ; Cyclopes ; Curfew Bell 17 Czar or Tzar; Daisy; Damascus ; Domesday or Doomsday Book ; Do not care n Rush 18 Dun; D'Ypres; Easter; Eating Humble Pie ; Epicurean.. 19 Eureka ; Fabii ; Fairy Rings ; Fiords 20 Franciscans; Foolscap; Galley Slave ; Garter 21 Gasconade ; Gauze ; Gazette . . . < 22 Gas ; Genealogy of the British Sovereign:^ 23 Geysers ; Gin ; Gloves 24 Good Friday ; Golgotha ; Gipsy 25 Grain; Grog; Guelph and Ghibelline ; Hallelujah 26 Han^e T^w^us ; Hr1o6': Harleliiiiii : l^armattan 27 • 1 1 1 1 « ' t ■ . . . .'■••••. t «' • ^itru y'\!. ^ 178 Hock; Hurricanes; Husband; Icbeumon ; Icebergs 28 James G3odfellow ; Jesuits 29 Jew's Harp ; John Bull ; Juan Fernandez ; Judas Iscariot. 30 King's Evil ; To Kick the Bucket ; Kirk's Lambs ; Lady ; Larch ; Lakes Different Names 31 Landeau ; Landlord ; Lande ; Language Peculiarities of. . 32 Languages Number of; Letters £. s. d.; Letters I H S V andlHS; Light 33 Llanos ; Louis IX 34 LoDgobards ; Lord 35 Thou Liest ; Lion and Unicorn ; Lyceum ; Maccabees ; Magna Gharta 3G Mail; Majesty 37 Mamelukes ; Manes ; Mariner's Compass ; The Marseillaise Hymn 38 Maps and Charts ; Maypoles and Garlands 39 Marquess ; Masaniello ; Maunday Thursday ; M Iterra- neau Sea ; Merino ; Merry Andre nr ; Mesmerism 40 Milliner ; Mind Your P's and Q's ; Money ; Moors ; Monsoon ; 41 Months ; Mottoes , 42 Muskets ; Muslin ; Nabob ; Names of American States. ... 43 National Anthem 44 Negus ; New Style • 46 News/, Newspapers ; New Year's Gifts 4G Nine of Diamonds ; Noon; Neighbour 47 Obelisk ; Obolus ; Old Dominion 48 Ocean's Depth 49 Olympiad ; Olympic and other Games ; Ordeal 50 Organ; Orchestra; Ostracism. 51 Ossifrage , 62 Ovations ; Pagans ; Palace ; Palladium 63 Pampas; Panic v... . ., ..,,,..... 64 Paff. Paper ; Paper Money 65 Paraphernalia ; Parliament ; Parma ; Pasquinade ; Peacock ; Pearls 5G Peloponnesus ; Peninsula 57 Pennj; Penny-Boys 58 Pennant; Pentecost; Perfume of Flowers ; Persecutions. 51) Pemke ; Petrels Stormy ; Phalanx Macedonian G 1 Pharisees ; Philippics ; Phosphorescence ; Plains ; Planta- genet ; Pledging C2 Plumbago ; Poles Barbers' ; Pontif 63 Porter ; Premises (> 4 Printing ; Protestants ; Proverb 65 Punch; Punishments Ancient 66 Purple ; Puszta ; Punic 67 Queen Anne's Farthing; Queens Ancient; Queens British. 60 Queens of France ; Quoits ; Races of Men 70 Rainbow ; Reckon the Time 71 Reckoning the Time ; Rhodes I'l Roman Emperors Ar.; Roman Legion; Rotundity of the World 7.1 Sadducees ; Sahara 7 i St. Andrew; St. Swithin ; Sulic luw ; Saltncss of the Ocean 75 Sarcasm ; Savannas ; Scotland 76 Saw; Saturday Half-Holiday ; Selvas; Seven-7 Wonders. 77 7 Wise Men of Greece ; 7 Buddhist gods. 78 7 Hills of Rome; 7 Kings of Rome; 7 Kingdoms of the Saxons; Shalloon; Shamrock; Signature of tlic Cross. 79 Sirloin; Skedaddle 80 Skipper ; Snow 81 Spar ; Spinster ; Springs 82 Standards ; Stars and Stripes 83 llUrling; Btocki H Stoics ; Students wearing tMsels ; Style ; SyUrite ; Sy- cophant. ., 85 Tailor 9th part of a man; Tantalise; Tariff; TeDeum... 86 Teetotaller ; Tenement ; Tinkers; Topas ; To Tremble Ac. 88 Troy Weight ; Teeth of Elephant ; Three ways of printing . languages . 3 ways of heat ; 3 motions of tba earth ; 3 do moon; 3 kinds of lerers 89 3 kinds of copper ; 3 causes of dryness in Africa ; 3 clasMS ofSpartans;3 do Romans • 90 3 do Saxons; Thunder; Tides 91 Tornado ; Tricolor 92 Under the Rose ; Union Jack 93 Valentine's Day ; Value of Feas 8 &c 94 Value of Insects ; Vandalism 95 Vatican; Velocity of planets 96 Velocity of Winds ; Velocities Comparative •• 97 Volcano 98 iEtna; Ilecia ; JoruUo; Kirauea 99 Stromboli; Vesuvius ; Volcanoes ; Vulgar Errors 100 Wales Prince; Water Spouts 101 Weights; Wealth of the Ancients 102 Whig and Tory 103 Whirlpools 104 Whirlwinds; Wigs 106 Winds; ^ rd Making 106 Yankee ; Zenith ; Zodiac 107 AUTIM'S N*TI01f. A few typographical errors have crept into the work notwithstanding all the care bestowed upon it, both by author and printer. They can easily be corrected by hand. As the 1st Book contains a very large amount of different items on various subjects, a Full Index is appended, so that with little trouble any item of infor- mation required to be known, can be easily found out by reference to the Index. As the 2nd Book is wholly upon one subject, no Index is considered necessary. It was originally intended to have printed the Book in Small Pica, but the present form of type is con- sidered better for this particular kind of book and the work has been printed in Long Primer accordingly. '^uii' si}r >; a^;MXJ^ 'I . Ml » LIST OF WORKS BY THI t REV. J. DOUGLAS BORTHWICK. A few copies of the Author's former works are still on hand — consisting of " The Cyclopaedia of History of Geography." "The British American Reader," The Harp of Canaan, " and The Battles of the World." Any of the above will be scot (post paid) at half-price or the whole sett for $4. The Battles of the World is a large Octavo of 500 pages, containing a complete history of all the great engagements of modem and ancient times, both by land and sea ; a valuable book for every man's Library, selling price $2.50, reduced to f 1.25. Address, REV. J. DOUGLAS BORTHWICK, Montreal. " THE HARP OF ^CANAAN." By Revd. J. Douolas Bobthwick. A NEW AND KEVISED EDITION. Published, Printed, and Stereotyped by George E. Desbarats, at the office of the Canadian lUui- trated News, and V Opinion PubUque, Montreal. Notices of the Press, and Testimonials in favour of the Work. From His Lordship the Anglican Bishop or Montrkal and MiTBOPOLITAN OF CANADA. "The compilation seems to be a good one, and the selec- tions to be made both with judgment and in good taste." . ' ' From the Rev. Canon Laiiarchi, Montreal. Ey£che de Montreal, ce 26 feyrier, 1871. ' Cher Monsieur, " Cbaque page de votre ourrage est une des plus brillantes de la litterature chretienne et I'ensemble forme un tableau complet de I'histoire des Deux Testaments trace vraiment de main de maitre. — J'admire comme '^ous arez pu rapprocher et lier ensemble tant de pieces detachees sans rien forcer pourtant, ni rien sacrifier dn r^cit. C'est, k mon sens, un rare m^rite, et je vous felicite de tout coeur." From the Hon. Pierre J. 0. Chauvsau, L.L.D., Minister of Instruction for the Province of Quebec, in the " Journal of Education," " The Compiler has collected, in a pretty volume' a selection of poetry on Scriptural Historical Subjects. In it we find such names as Mrs. Leprohon, McQee, Reade, and Darnell main* taining the honour of Canada." From the " True Witness," G. E. Clerk, Esq., Editor. " A handsome volume. Great pains hare been bestowed on it to avoid all cause of offence to either Catholic or Protestant, and in this object the Compiler has, we think, been quite suc- cessful, and has thus produced a work which both Catholic and Protestant may ])eruse with pleasure and profit." From R«r. J. M. Gniov, H. 1., Ertkine Clrarcb, Montr**!. « I consider th« " Harp of CanMo," a raluabla adition to our coUectioni of sacred poetry. The principle uf arrange- ment is very felecitous, and fitted to secure important advan* tages. From the Rer. Stb. Marii Jbannk, Superior-General, Convent of Villa Anna, Lacbine. " Nous ne pouroos qu'admirer le cboix judicieux des excel- leuts po^mes consign^s dans rotre Hvre, " The Harp of Cana- an," et, pour t6moigner de la haute consideration que nous y attachoDs, nous I'introduirons en Septembre procbain, comma lirre de lecture pourles eleves des premieres classes." From Sister Thbresa, Convent of Notre Dame du S. C, Ottawa City. " I sball be most bappy to introduce tbe « Harp of Canaan" as a Text-Book into oor Institution here in September next." From the Rev. Motbxr Thireba, of Jesus and Mary, Hochelaga. « Your judicious collection of Sacred Poetry is highly appre- ciated in our Institution, and we will be most bappy to intro- duce it for tbe benefit of tbe pupils in our senior classes, jj From F. S. Haight, Esq., Montreal Academy, and others. " We approve of the " Harp of Canaan," and will recommend Its use to the pupils under our charge as a Book of Elocution, and introduce it as occasion occurs." F. 8. Hakjht, M.A., Montreal Academy, The Misses Turner, Young Ladies' Seminary. Mary Kelson, do do M. S. I. >GE, do do From the Rev. J«hn May, M.A., Ottawa City, Principal of » Select School for Boys." « I have much pleasure in confidently recommending the ' ' Harp of Canaan" to the attention of Teachers as a Text- Book on Elocution, and I intend to introduce it into my School at an early date." The present edition has been expressly prepared as a Book of Klooution for Schools. Teachers wishing to introduce the work, will please communicate with either the Author or the Publisher. The price is $7.20 ])er dozen to schools, and 75 cents retail. Any person sending for a copy must remit 75 cents. .,jj. Sole Acfents for the Dominion of Caoada of^ ,^?' W. H. JEWET & Co. CELEBRATED PIANO FORTES. « « > > p All who contemplate purchasing a Piano, Parlor or Vestry Organ, should not fail to call at our Warerooms, 282 & 284 Notre Dame St., PIANOS SOLD ON INSTALMENTS. FIAHOS TO LET ON REASONABLE TERMS. P. S. — We pride ourselves of being able to seU PIANOS and ORGxiNS for less money than any other Dealer. Why we can do so, is simply because we do not pay a commission to Agents on Pianos imported into Canada, as other Dealers are in the habit of doing. Therefore we are able to undersell. 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