H !^> ILLUSTRATIONS OF ISnghsl) i3i)tio!ogi>. BY CHARLES RICHARDSON, ESQ. CONSISTING OF I. A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF DR. JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY. Ridebis, deinde indignaberis, deinde ridebis, si legeris, quod, nisi legeris, non potes credere. Plinii Epist. II. REMARKS ON MR. DUGALD STEWART'S ESSAY " ON THE TENDENCY OF SOME LATE PHILOLOGICAL SPECULATIONS." Verba obstrep PRINTED FOR GALE AND FENNER, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1815. W. Flint, Printer, Old Bailey, London. "» i €7 / 5-U 9^0 1 m CONTENTS. Page 1. Letter the First. The Plan of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary 1 2. Analysis of the Grammatical Principles of the Diversions of Purley 21 3. A Critical Examination of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary '. 37 4. Letter the Second. Mr. Todd, the Editor of Johnson's Dictionary 233 6. Letter the Third. Mr. Ddgald Stewart, " On the Tendency of some late philological Speculations." 251 ERRA TA. P. 28, 1.6, .... dele the hyphen after Golden. 40, 1. 26, 27, dele " the past participle to be." 48, 1. 24, .... read To straggle. 64, 1.6, .... read I ut. 74, 1. 15, .... for us read as. 75, 1. 6 from the bottom, read writes. 124, 1. 26, .... read a parer. 213, 1. 8, «... read sensations or ideas. INTRODUCTORY LETTER. v v or THE DEAR LAMBRICK, ^&7jl l> * 1 have long been in possession of your high opinion of the Diversions of Purley ; and of your very low opinion of the Dictionary of Doctor Johnson. With respect to the former, we are not, I believe, singular in considering that, as a work of Grammar merely, it stands without a rival. The learning and abilities of the author are generally allowed to have been fully equal to his subject ; and even the ardent imagination of Mr. Erskine* presents no exaggerated picture of the laborious diligence with which Mr. Tooke pursued his philological researches. This I take to be the general sentiment ; and it was not, surely, a very unreasonable expectation that such a work should be regarded in some degree as an authority ; that it should be pretty commonly read, and studied, and understood. * See Tooke's Trial for High Treason, Vol. I. p. 406. B 2 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. I do not know what opportunities you may have had, or what disposition you may have felt, to ascertain the fact ; but I can declare for my own part, that I have, in the course of my inquiries, met with ample cause to persuade myself, that if I had asserted a conclusion the very reverse of that which (I confess) I adopted : if I had inferred that because every page of the efiea iitepoenta presents materials for deep reflection, therefore it would not be studied ; that, because the reasoning is direct and perspicuous, the language plain and forceful, the illustrations numerous and pertinent, there- fore the doctrines would be misunderstood ; that because the work absolutely abounds in the most interesting and important discove- ries, it would therefore be neglected : if such had been my infer- ences, I say, I might indeed have been ashamed of my own cynical mordacity, but I should have formed a more accurate estimate of the zeal of this age in the encouragement of curious, original, and profound investigations in metaphysical philosophy. I have now before me that stupendous ff monument of vanished minds," the last variorum edition of Shakspeare ; and although six and thirty years have passed since the publication of the far-famed Letter to Mr. Dunning, in which the etymology of the English conjunctions was so firmly established as to preclude the necessity of additional proof ; you will scarcely believe it, — but it is an un- questionable truth, — not one single etymology has crept into the brains of one single annotator or commentator upon our great bard; and modern editions of our older dramatists are still continuing to be published by modern editors, with a blind adherence to their INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 3 blind precursors. You would think me unconscionable, if I were to require from editors of plays that they should seriously bestow their best faculties upon the eiiea fitepoenta, with a view to the comprehension of those high metaphysical principles, which may be derived from it ; but, I assure you, I found it necessary to acquire some familiarity with this race of writers, before I could satisfac- torily account to myself for the perversity, with which they refuse to gather the tempting fruits of etymology, which in that work are so profusely scattered before them. — In proceeding through the " Critical Examination," you will find that I have taken sufficient, if not more than sufficient, notice of this incorrigible set : Some beams of wit on other souls may fall, Strike through, and make a lucid interval. You probably, as well as myself, have fearfully anticipated that editors of plays are not the only persons willing to evince their inability duly to appreciate the masterly production of Home Tooke. You must indeed have felt such an apprehension from the moment of perusing the Advertisement of the Reverend Henry J. Todd ; an advertisement, which may have been composed in the press-room of the printer ; — never certainly amid the records of the Archbishop of Canterbury. You would observe from that advertisement, that it is Mr. Todd's intention to present us with the Dictionary of Johnson with numer- ous corrections, and with the addition of many thousand words ; and further that emendations are to be admitted from Home Tooke, and b 2 4 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. (risum teiieas /) from Mr. Malone. — Madame de Stael, who* is now the Cynosure of the critics, has very oddly — to English ears — com- bined the names of Milton and Young : this we must excuse in a foreigner, and a lady ; but that a learned Englishman should thus jumble a Malone into equal place with a Home Tooke, does really augur so ill of his discernment and good sense, that the impulse to mirth at the oddity of such a classification of emendators was repressed by my apprehensions of some fatal influence from its absurdity. Whatever may be Mr. Todd's abilities in explaining the signi- fication of words, I cannot, from the specimen which this adver- tisement presents, consider him as very successful in the expression of his own meaning. " In these labours also" (he informs us) " it may not be omitted, the plan of Dr. Johnson has been respectfully followed ; and if it shall be found that in the construction of the present work the Editor has been at all successful, he must gratefully attribute his success to having built upon so noble a foundation." I must confess that I am a little at a loss to collect with clearness any thing from this sentence except great humility of profession. Is this, I ask, to be the Dictionary of Henry J. Todd alone, or of Samuel Johnson, merely with the corrections and additions of Mr. Todd ? The passage which I have just quoted countenances the • " Perhaps the grammarians may already reproach me for the use of an improper tense." — Gibbon's Vindication. INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 5 former supposition ; the preceding part of his advertisement con- firms the latter. If, then, Mr. Todd be merely the Editor, what pretence will he have either to the merit or demerit of the construction of the work ; unless he not only follow the plan of Johnson in his own portion of the performance, but actually in the execution of his editorial office presume to reduce the original Dictionary of Johnson to the scale which that plan supplies ? If he blend, — and probably this is all that he intends, — his own corrections and addi- tions really constructed upon Johnson's plan, (imperfect and super- ficial as it is) with the original Dictionary in an unaltered or in a partially altered state, it may instantly be foreseen that Mr. Todd is about to present to the world as complete a tissue of discordant materials ; of errors preserved and errors corrected ; of plan violated and plan adhered to, as the most enthusiastic idolater. of confusion can covet or desire. It is scarcely necessary to apprize you, that all my apprehensions of this incongruous intermixture, originate in the supposition that Mr. Todd really does design to follow strictly the plan, to which Johnson had pledged himself to conform, and that, if I were well satisfied of Mr. Todd's intention to pursue the example, and not the direction, of Johnson, my fears on this head would be dissipated in an instant. — I should look forward with composure, if not with perfect apathy, to the production of one uniform and consistent mass of ignorance and absurdity. As I have already intimated my opinion that this plan, of which 6 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. so grateful mention is made by Mr. Todd, is in itself imperfect and superficial, it is proper that I should claim your attention to some remarks upon it, notwithstanding it was wholly renounced by Johnson in the preparation of the Dictionary. — That it was so renounced, I shall have very little trouble, in the next place, to convince you. Every reader of this extraordinary composition must be struck with the deep consciousness, which, it is manifest from the first paragraph to the last, was never absent from the mind of Johnson, of his utter inability to execute a work, undertaken, as he candidly confesses, with no higher expectation than the price of his labour. This consciousness oppressed him at the commencement ; and to the very close still clouded his imagination. It must have haunted him at every step of his progress. Having laid it down as a rule for his guidance in explaining the words, " that their natural and primitive meaning should be first exhibited," he had but this choice : — either to renounce the rule, or abandon the Dictionary. He chose the former. — He little imagined that the " origin of ideas" was the proper starting-post of the grammarian, who is to treat of their signs, and of the lexicographer who is to interpret them.* He had not that rectitude of thought, that well disciplined under- standing ; he kneiv he had not the learning requisite to insure his success. He himself acknowledges, ie that he found it too late to * On Mr. Tooke's principle of etymology, " that a word has but one meaning, however various its applications" I shall have occasion to enlarge hereafter. INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 7 look for instruments, when the work called for execution ; and that whatever abilities he brought to the task, with those he must finally perform it ; that to deliberate whenever he doubted, to inquire whenever he was ignorant, would have protracted the work without end, and perhaps without much improvement. " It will try your ingenuity to discover, in this description of his unceremonious neglect of deliberation and inquiry, any very striking proof of a mind, intent (as Johnson professes his mind to have been) upon accuracy. — To proceed, however, with the plan. " When the orthography and pronunciation" (he informs us) " are adjusted, the etymology or derivation is next to be con- sidered, and the words are to be distinguished according to their different classes, whether simple, as Day, Light, or compound, as Daylight ; whether primitive, as, to act, or derivative, as Action, actionable, active, activity " Such, according to Johnson, is the first important object of ety- mology ! ! " When this part of the work is performed, it will be necessary to inquire how our primitives are to be deduced from foreign lan- guages, which may be often very successfully performed by the assistance of our own etymologists." " When the word is easily deduced from a Saxon original, I shall 8 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. not often inquire further, since we know not the parent of the Saxon dialect ; but when it is borrowed from the French, I shall shew whence the French is apparently derived. Where a Saxon root cannot be found, the defect may be supplied from kindred lan- guages, which will be generally furnished with much liberality by the writers of our glossaries." You have now before you all that I find of Johnson's Principles of etymology : a sad abuse of terms, I do not deny. After stating these principles, however, he confidently proceeds : " By tracing in this manner every word to its original — " In this manner ! In what manner ? Have you caught a glimpse of any manner in which a word is to be traced to its original? Do you discern the least allusion to any manner ? Manner and object are by me equally undistinguishable. And here it is incum- bent upon me to observe, that in this particular, viz. the etymology, he appears in his Dictionary to have executed all that he has described in his plan ; all that he ever considered it to be the duty of an etymologist to attempt. What then, I ask, has he attempted ? — " Barely to refer us to some words in another language, either the same or similar ;" and never dreaming of the necessity of shew- ing the manner of the derivation, or the meaning of the word in such other language ; or even that it was the province of etymology to fix "the natural and primitive signification of words." INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 9 An instance occurs to me, (in addition to the number you will find in the Criticism,) which will sufficiently illustrate how imper- fect and superficial is such etymology as Johnson's. " Ablution, n. s. (ablutio, Latin) the act of cleansing. " Pollution, n. s. {pollutio, Latin) the act of dejiling." Whence ablutio, and pollutio, and what their meaning ? The Latin etymologists, to whom the English reader must refer, may perhaps supply an etymology and a meaning for the former, which will account for its application* ; but with respect to the latter, they are themselves divided, and it was not for Johnson to compose the strife. We have learnt, then, nothing at all by our consultation of Johnson, except that he probably was as ignorant as . those who applied to him for information ; and such must be inevitably our fate whenever we resort to a lexicographer whose principle it is to present no better assistance. Here, then, I take my stand. — With full confidence of your entire acquiescence, and in perfect fearlessness of opposition from any other quarter, I affirm that this " noble foundation" is itself baseless. " In explaining the general and popular language," continues the * Verborum explicatio probabatur, id est, qua de causa qu«que essent ita nominata ; tjuam etymologiam appellabant. Cic. Acad. Quasi, lib. i. c. 8. C 10 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. Plan, " it seems necessary to sort the several senses of each word, and to exhibit first its natural and primitive signification ; as, " To arrive, to reach the shore in a voyage : he arrived at a safe harbour." This indispensable rule, so hesitatingly advanced, it was not possible for Johnson to observe with the help of such etymology, as I have already shewn you that it was his system to employ ; and so crude and indigested, you will not fail to remark, were his prin- ciples of language, that, in the very instance which he produces in illustration of his rule, his explanation and example are completely at variance. Shall I, then, proceed with this Plan ? Not, surely, to establish the truth of my assertion, that it is imperfect and superficial, for you must already have condemned me for applying epithets so weak and indescriptive ; but it is necessary that I should proceed in pursuit of that other object which I have in view : I mean, an exposition of the strange discrepancies between the Plan and per- formance. The subsequent rules then are, to exhibit 2. " The accidental or consequential signification. (*Arrive.) 3. " The remoter or metaphorical signification. (* Arrive.) 4. " The poetical sense. (* Want on.) 5. "To the poetical sense may succeed the familiar. (*Toast.) 6. " The familiar may be followed by the burlesque. (*Mellow.) INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 11 7. " And lastly may be produced the peculiar sense in which a word is found in any great author. (*Faculties.)" Such is Johnson's distribution of the different senses in which words are used ; and our curiosity is very naturally awakened to attend to the instances which he will adduce of such practical usage : exhibiting the same word in all the variety of significations. But this would have required some little accuracy of discrimination, and Johnson disdained the toil. As the word M Arrive" is selected by Johnson himself, for a spe- cimen of the manner in which he intended to proceed, as an inter- preter of the primitive signification of words, and as you are already acquainted with the consistency of his illustration in his Plan, let us refer to this same word in the Dictionary : we shall find, " To Arrive, v. n. (arriver, Fr. to come on shore.) " 1. To come to any place by water." In the first place, he has not performed his promise, " to shew, when a word is borrowed from the French, whence the French is apparently derived. " In the second place, " To come on shore," and " To come to * The various words adduced as instances in the Plan. c 2 12 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. any place by water," are not one and the same thing, as many an unfortunate being has wretchedly experienced. In the third place, take his example : and you will find that it is of one, who did not " come to any place by water ;" but who actually did come to water by land. At length, arriving on the banks of Nile, Wearied with length of days, and worn with toil, She laid her down " Dryden. This poor wearied being was no other than Io, nitens juvenca, whom Juno Profugam per totum terruit orbem. Ultimus immenso restabas, Nile, labori. Quern simul ac tetigit, positisque in margine ripae Procubuit genibus. Is this one of " The blemishes not of that kind, quas incuria fudit , but the result of too much nicety and exactness." I can assure you, that such nicety and exactness pervade the whole work. By the Plan, you recollect, seven divisions of meaning are the full portion allowed by Johnson ; — from the Dictionary I could select you half a dozen starveling monosyllables, to which he has allotted four hundred and sixty-four explanations, that is, about seventy to each (upon the average) more than the Plan concedes to INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 13 them as their due. An adherence to the Plan, then, would have diminished the bulk of the Dictionary in rather an unwelcome degree ; — for these six little words occupy the space of forty folio columns. By the Plan we perceive that the metaphorical sense was always carefully to be distinguished from the primitive ; and of course we may infer, each was to be supported by distinct and proper exam- ples. Not so in the Dictionary — There he tells us, that " A Mite is a small insect found in cheese or corn :" and for example we find, " Virginity breeds mites." Blanket, he also informs us, means " A woollen cover, soft and loosely woven, spread commonly upon a bed, over the linen sheet, for the procurement of warmth." And this is his first example : Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark To cry, Hold, hold ! Again. — I must assure you, that such nicety and exactness per- vade the whole Dictionary ; — and you will find abundant proof that they do so in the Criticism. " The Verbs (says the Plan) are likewise to be distinguished according to their qualities, as actives from neuters ; the neglect of which has already introduced some barbarities in our conversation, which, if not obviated by just animadversions, may in time creep into our writings." 14 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. When you have sufficiently contemplated the solemn dogmatism with which this most momentous distinction is ordained, peruse this instance of the manner in which it is exemplified. " To Ask, v. a. 1. To petition; to beg; sometimes with an accusative only, sometimes withjfor. When thou dost ask me blessing y I'll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness." Shakspeare. '* To Ask, v. n. 1. To petition; to beg; with for before the thing. " My son, hast thou sinned ? Do so no more, but ask pardon for thy former sins." Ecclus. In the first place, I observe, that for is not expressed in the example I have transcribed to the verb active, nor in either of the other two, which you may find in the Dictionary, but may be sup- plied in all of them. In the second place, that, if in the expression " Ask forgiveness," the verb " Ask" is an active verb, common sense informs me, that in the expression " Ask pardon," it must be so likewise. And, in the third place, that in the example to the verb neuter, for is not before the thing, i. e. the thing asked. I think you must now be sufficiently acquainted with Johnson's qualifications as a lexicographer, to hear without surprize that this neuter Ask does not appear in the first edition, but is an improve- ment introduced into some subsequent edition. INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 15 Another of his rules, and one which he has taken no pains to honour with the observance, is this : " That the difference of sig- niftcation in words generally accounted synonymous ought to be carefully noticed, as in Pride, Haughtiness, Arrogance." Do be patient, and have the perseverance to refer to all these words. You will unexpectedly find, that some slight attempt is actually made to mark a distinct meaning under the word Arrogance, but do not fear: — your wonder will subside as you advance ; the efforts of this mind, intent upon accuracy, are relaxed, when it undertakes the adjective, Arrogant ; and are wholly relinquished in the inter- pretation of Haughtiness. iVre you in search of a short and infallible recipe to write sheer nonsense ? I will present you with one in an instant. — " The rigour of interpretative lexicography, (says Johnson) requires that the explanation, and the word explained, should be reciprocal." Obey this rule, in your use of his Dictionary, and your success is en- sured. I will give you an instance ; — That stumbling-block to all keen metaphysicians, the word Cause. " A Cause is that which produces or effects any thing." To effect is — " To produce as a Cause." To produce is — " To cause." Substituting the explanations for the words explained : — " A Cause is, that which causes or causes as a cause — any thing." Joy to great Chaos ! — Do you wish for any further proofs of the value of my nostrum? 16 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. After Johnson had exhausted the Dictionaries already published, to form his vocabulary, he confesses that his only reliance for the enlargement of it, was upon fortuitous and unguided excursions into books. Mr. Todd unquestionably must have resorted to surer methods, for he has evinced in his edition of Milton that he does not consider it as a degrading employment of his abilities to stoop to the drudgery of arranging an index. I am curious to learn to what period that gentleman will carry his researches into the history of our language. Johnson excluded from his work all words "but such as are to be found in authors who wrote since the accession of Queen Elizabeth ;" and yet he absurdly pretends " to give to every word its history, and inform the reader of the gradual changes of the language." I hope that Mr. Todd's deference to the authority of his admired predecessor will not induce him to adopt the same law of exclusion. Whatever that gentleman may have intended or accomplished, I have long indulged the hope that I should be doing some benefit to literature by entering into a Critical Examination of the Dictionary of Johnson ; and I have no doubt that I shall fully establish the justice of the sentence already passed upon it : " That though it appears to be a work of great labour, it is in truth one of the most idle performances ever offered to the public, and that its author pos- sessed not one requisite for the undertaking." I have also a strong persuasion, that I shall not only be able to clear up some grammatical doubts and difficulties which have INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 1J embarrassed, and to correct some errors which have misled, the un- derstandings of some of the readers of the eiiea iitepoenta ; but that I shall impress a deep conviction, — that no man can possibly succeed in compiling a truly valuable Dictionary of the English Language, unless he entirely desert the steps of Johnson, and pursue the path which Tooke has pointed out. And here Mr. Todd and myself are completely at issue. He has chosen Johnson's Plan as the " noble foundation," upon which he is willing to rest his own fame as a lexicographer. Be it so. Were " my dearest foe" to make such a choice, I should compassionate his folly. I am, I confess, almost entirely ignorant of the abilities or attainments of Mr. Todd. — He is, it is true, loud in his praise of the Dictionary of Dr. Johnson : and — he ranks John Home Tooke with Mr. Malone. Surely " his discernings are lethargied." Hitherto, I believe, he was principally to be known as an Editor ; and I never yet was so lost to shame as to waste that time upon an annotator which is so much better bestowed upon the Poet. Some of those gentlemen have, however, occasionally contributed much to my amusement. Tom Warton, for instance, is an encyclopaedia of wit. I mean in the effect he produces. I cannot conceive of what stuff that man must be made, who can read Warton's notes on " Trip and go," cum similibus, without shaking with laughter. I fear that Mr. Todd has not proved himself so sincere a lover of a good joke, as respectfully to preserve, in his edition of Milton, all the entertaining lucubrations of Thomas Warton. At any rate, I mean not to speak too disparagingly of an author with whose productions D 18 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. I am so little acquainted. But yet I may, — I must, be permitted to regret, that the labours of Mr. Tooke were not brought to a close : and to express my suspicions, that if the Dictionary of John Home Tooke had been completed, the united labours of Samuel Johnson and Henry J. Todd might have been spared to warm the baths of Alexandria. In a few months, I understand, I shall, by the publication of a portion of Mr. Todd's work, be either confirmed in my suspicions, or ashamed of them ; and I will not fail to apprize you of the result, whatever it may be. — In the mean time, I send you a portion of my Criticism ; — a sufficient one, I hope, to enable you to enter fully into my design, and to judge with what success my exertions have been crowned. You will find that I have thought it necessary to enter with con- siderable minuteness into examples, exhibiting in detail the manner in which Johnson's work is executed ; and that the necessity of contrasting the two writers has led to the selection of those words chiefly, which Tooke in his etymological researches has also inter- preted. These examples, though thus limited in the selection, will be amply sufficient not only to decide our opinion of Johnson's accomplishments in tracing the original of words ; which he con- siders as the first portion of the duty of that harmless drudge, a lexicographer ; but also to ascertain in what degree he has suc- ceeded in the second portion; viz. the explanation of the meaning. INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 19 I have taken care, as you will not fail also to observe, to be accompanied in every stage of my progress by Skinner and Junius, the two great authorities of Johnson, that I might make my readers in some measure acquainted with the services, which those authors have rendered both to Johnson and to Tooke ; and how very fre- quently the former has neglected to avail himself of their useful labours. When I have proceeded through the Dictionary (a most appalling enterprize), another object will demand my attention. I shall have to notice a writer for whom, I know, you entertain a very consider- able degree of respect : — I mean Dugald Stewart. I shall no fur- ther anticipate the observations which I have to make upon the Philological Essays of that gentleman, than to express myself not a little indignant at those airs of superiority which he affects when speaking of the labours of Home Tooke ; and to assure him, that his former productions had raised him sufficiently in my esteem to render his entire misconception of the doctrines established in the Diversions of Purley wholly unexpected and surprizing. Would you conceive it possible that a man, whose whole life has been devoted to literary pursuits, should — but soft — not yet. — I must not forget my resolution. I must dispose of the lexicographer before I undertake the metaphysician. Farewell. March, 1814. To Samuel Lambrick, Esquire, d 2 21 AN ANALYSIS OF THE GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES OF THE DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY. *• x here is not, nor is it possible there should be, a word in any language, which has not a complete meaning and signification, even when taken by itself. Adjectives, Prepositions, Adverbs, &c. have all complete, separate meanings, not difficult to be dis- covered." The author's notions upon language were formed from general reasonings, which led him to the discovery of the particular in- stances ; and not from a knowledge of the particular instances, leading him to the general principle. His system had been fixed for many years before etymology occurred to him as the means, whence his particular proofs were to be drawn ; and of this branch 22 ANALYSIS OF THE GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES of learning he was so utterly ignorant, that he could not account etymologically for one single conjunction ; he was not even acquainted with the characters of the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic languages ; in which, as the parent languages of the English, it subsequently occurred to him, — that if his reasonings were well founded, there must exist such and such words with precisely such and such significations. To the study of those languages, then, he devoted himself, and found all his predictions verified. The first aim of language is to communicate our thoughts ; the second, to do it with dispatch. Many words, therefore, are abbre- viations, so used for dispatch ; the signs of other words, and not immediately the signs of ideas. This latter purpose of speech has much the greater share in accounting for the different sorts of words. Words justly deserve to be called winged, when the progress of speech, with the aid of abbreviations, is compared with that which it would make without them ; but not when compared with the celerity of thought. The invention of all ages has with reason been exerted to enable speech to keep pace in some measure with the mind. The inquiry, then, into the manner of signification of words leads — OF THE DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY. 23 1st. To words necessary for the communication of speech. These are the same in all languages. 1st. Noun. 2. Verb. 2d. To abbreviations employed for the sake of dispatch. These abbreviations might strictly be called Parts of Speech, as they have a different manner of signification ; but, for the sake of distinction, that rank is refused them, because they are not necessary words, but substitutes for necessary words. The business of the mind, as far as it concerns language, is only to receive impressions ; that is, to have sensations or feelings. A consideration of the mind, or of ideas, or of things (relative to the parts of speech), will lead us no further than to Nouns ; t. e. the signs of those impressions or names of ideas. The Verb must be accounted for from the necessity of it in communication. It is well called ?n(xot, dictum; it is the communication itself; — Quodloqui the noun, de Quo. A Noun is the simple or complex, the particular or gei or name of one or more ideas. Declension, Gender, Number^ and Case, present no difficulties. Figure apart, in our language the names of things without sex are also without gender. Connected with the Noun is the Article ; the necessity of which, or of some equivalent invention, follows from the necessity of general terms. The Article reduces the generality of terms, and enables us to employ them for particulars. The Article, then, 24 ANALYSIS OF THE GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES combined with the general terms, is merely a substitute supplying the place of words, which are not in the language ; and therefore to be distinguished from those substitutes (classed under the general head of abbreviations) which supply the place of words that are in the language. Relinquishing the further discussion of the Noun, and postponing that of the Verb, and of the Abbreviations in sorts of words, the Conjunctions are taken into consideration. These are not a separate sort of word or part of speech ; they have not a separate manner of signification. Each may be traced in every language to its origin among the other parts of speech ; and in English may be reduced to one scheme of explication. Those which have created the greatest embarrassment to etymologists, — If, An, Unless, Eke, Yet, Still, Else, Tho' or Though, But, But, Without, And, are all imperatives of their respective Anglo-Saxon Verbs ; — Lest and Since are participles ; — That is the pronoun That*; — As and So mean That; — Or means Other. The rest are obvious at first sight. Prepositions are also to be found among the other parts of speech. The necessity of them follows from the impossibility of having a different complex name for each different collection of ideas. The addition or subtraction of one idea makes the collection different from what it was. To use a different complex name for each different * Mr. Stewart seems to have strangely imagined that all the Conjunctions are shewn to be Pronouns or Articles. Essays, p. 174. OF THE DIVERSIONS OF PlTRLEY. 25 collection of ideas, would (if there were degrees of impossibility) be more impossible, than to use a different particular term for each different particular idea. When, therefore, we have occasion to mention a collection of ideas, for which there is no single com- plex term, we either take that complex term, which includes the greatest number, though not all of the ideas we wish to communicate, and supply the deficiency, by the help of a Preposition, or we take that which includes all, and the fewest ideas more than we would com- municate, and by the help of a Preposition retrench the superfluity. The great grammatical distinction between Prepositions and Conjunctions is, that the first are applied to words, the latter to sentences. Some words (But, And, Since, If, Unless, &c.) are applied to both ; and, according to the application, are Prepositions or Conjunctions. With regard to their etymology : — By and With are Verbs ; Of, For, To, From, Through, are Nouns. Others are compounded of Verbs and Nouns. Others may be found more immediately in the Noun or Verb, adjectived. The Adverbs likewise may be found among the other parts of speech. Those terminating in ly, receive that termination from the corruption of like. Like is still used in Scotland for ly. And thus we arrive at the conclusion of theirs* volume. r; £6 ANALYSIS OF THE GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES The inain object of the first five chapters of the second volume, is to account for what is called Abstraction, and for abstract ideas. As a general term, Subaudition is proposed in lieu of Abstraction. Those terms, which are usually considered as the signs of abstract ideas, are generally Participles or Adjectives used without a Sub- stantive, and therefore in construction considered as Substantives. Such words form the bulk of every language ; those which we borrow from the Latin, French, and Italian, are easily recognized ; those from the Greek more so : but those which are original in our own language have been overlooked, and have remained unsuspected. The Latin Verbs agere, adolere, cadere, canere t capere, cedere, cin- gere, claudere, currere, debere, dicere, ducere, fucere, Jinire, Jiuere, gradi, ire, jacere, legere, mittere, ponere, pellere, portare, qucerere, queri, salire, sancire, sentire, specere, spirare, scribere, statuere, stri?i-> gere, tangere, tendere, tenere, trahere, — have much enriched our vocabulary. The names of qualities in ence and ance are from the neuter plurals of present Latin Participles. We are led to a discovery of our own Participles and Adjectives, thus grammatically converted into Nouns ; 1st, By the participial terminations in ed, and en; which are also adjective terminations : y d is very commonly changed into t . OP THE DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY. Qj 2d. By the change of the characteristic letter of the Verb ; i. e. of the vowel, or diphthong, which in the Anglo-Saxon immediately precedes the infinitive termination, an, ean, or ian, jan, geaii, or jian. Thus, to form the past tense and participle of Wrinjan, to wring, the characteristic, i or y, was changed to a broad ; but as different persons both spoke and wrote differently, this change was exhibited by a broad, or by o, or by u. From Alfred to Shakspeare o chiefly prevailed in the South, and a in the North ; but since that time the change, in some instances to ou, and in others to oa, oo, ax, has decidedly prevailed. Another source of general terms is in the third person singular of the indicative ; of which person, th was the regular termination. More than one thousand instances are produced in the original work ; and a sufficient number will be found in the Critical Exami- nation of Johnson's Dictionary. The three remaining chapters are devoted to Adjectives and Par- ticiples ; more properly discriminated by the names of Noun Adjective and Verb Adjective : and now we shall find ourselves arrived at those abbreviations, which are substitutes for words that are in the language, and not necessary for communication, but only for dispatch. An Adjective is the name of a thing which is directed to be joined to some other name of a thing. In adjectives ending in en, ed, and e 2 28 ANALYSIS OF THE GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES ig, (our modern y) the terminations convey, by their own intrinsic meaning, that they are to be joined, and nothing else, for they mean give, add, join ; and the single additional circumstance of " pertaining to," Wilkins truly says, is the only difference between a Substantive and an Adjective ; between, for instance, gold and golden. We say, a gold-ring, or, a golden-ring. The hyphen in the one case, and the termination in the other, equally shew these to be Substantives, adjective posit a* An Adjective, therefore, cannot stand by itself, because in it a termination is added to the sign of an idea, which by conven- tion signifies that it is to be joined to some other sign; and that other sign is always expected to follow. It is called a Noun Adjec- tive, because it is the name of a thing, which may very well coalesce, with another name of a thing. Adjectives in ly, ous, full, some, les, ish, &c. are compound words, the termination being originally a word added to other words, and still retaining its original meaning. Our ancestors incor- porated many terminations into our language, which we did not, as well as which we did, want. Thus, in some words we have a choice ; Bountiful, Bounteous ; Beautiful, Beauteous. We have also borrowed, in great numbers, adjectived signs from other languages, without always borrowing the unadjectived signs of the same ideas, neglecting to improve our own language by the same contrivance within itself. Mental, Magnanimous, are in- OF THE DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY. 29 stances ; and about two hundred more are adduced in the original work. Adjectives, then, though convenient abbreviations for dispatch, are not necessary for communication, and, therefore, not ranked among the parts of speech. The Mohegans, a North American tribe, have no adjectives. From the misapprehension of this use- ful and simple contrivance of language, we have been bewildered with false philosophy about qualities, accidents, substances, sub- strata, essence, the adjunct nature of things, &c. Participles, also, are abbreviations, for dispatch, and of these we had formerly only two, — the present and the past ; but our ancestors incorporated, from other languages into our own, four other partici- ples of equal value. Again, (as with the Adjectives,) they did not abbreviate their own language, but took them ready made. This sort of word is not the same as the Noun Adjective ; it is the Verb Adjective. It is equally useful to adjective the Verb as the Noun ; and not only the Verb itself, but every mood and tense of the Verb may be adjectived by a distinguishing termination. Some languages have adjectived more, some fewer of these moods and tenses, by these distinguishing terminations. We are in great measure obliged to perform these modal and temporal abbreviations by auxiliaries. We now use six of these . Verb-Adjectives in English :-— the 30 ANALYSTS OF THE GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES simple verb-adjective, two adjective tenses, and three adjective moods. 1. The simple verb-adjective, formerly terminating in and, now in ing. — As the noun-adjective signifies all that the unadjectived noun signifies, and no more, (except the circumstance of adjection,) so must the verb-adjective signify all that the unadjectived verb signifies, and no more, (except the circumstance of adjection.) There is no adsignification of manner or time in what is called the indicative mood, present tense ; and none of time in what is called the present participle. 2. The past tense adjective. — This does adsignify the circumstances of time and maimer ; in Latin by terminations only, and in English by termination and auxiliaries. In English we sometimes add the terminations ed, or en, and sometimes use the past tense itself, without any change of terminations ; though this latter custom has gradually decreased. The Latin makes an adjective of the past tense, as of the noun, by adding its article, o?, *, mi 3. The potential passive adjective. — This was the first of the four which our ancestors adopted. It is obtained by the termination able or ib le, and the contraction He, a termination having one com- mon signification, and derived from the Latins, who received it from the Gothic Abal, robur ; whence, also, our English word able. Those words in ble, which are used without a passive signification, are taken from the French, who took them corruptly from the OF THE DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY. 31 Italian, and in the following manner : — Our Anglo-Saxon full, which with the Germans is vol, became the Italian vole, which the French, by a slovenly pronunciation, not distinguishing between bile and vole, transformed into ble, as from capeiw/e, capable, &c. In this manner our own word, full, passing through the German, Italian, and French, comes back to us again under the corrupt shape of ble ; confounding those terminations, whose distinct application is so im- portant to the purposes of speech. Thus we have senseful, sensitive, sensible, which, properly interpreted, mean, Full of sense ; — Which can feel ; — Which may be felt : and yet we hear " of a sensible man, who is very sensible of the cold, or of any sensible change in the weather." 4. The potential active adjective. — For this we have two termi- nations : ive, borrowed from the Latin, as a provocate, a palliat- ive ; any thing that can or may provoke, that can or may palliate : and ic, from the Greek, as critic, any one who can or may discern. Ive and ic are from vis and Io-^u?. Of these abbreviations also there are corrupt applications. 5. The official mood passive adjective, is a name adopted from distress. — It is intended to signify that mood or manner of using the verb, by which we might couple the notion of duty with it ; by which we might at the same time, and in conjunction with it, ex- press rx $iov\», the things which ought, and the things which ought not to be done. The words, which we have adopted in this mood, are 3£ ANALYSIS OF THE GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES merely Legend, Reverend, Dividend, Prebend, Memorandum and several of these are abused in their application. — This kind of word we awkwardly and ambiguously supply by a circumlocution ; the expression is to, or is to be, being all that we have of our own to supply the place of this adjective, as well as of the potential pas- sive adjective ; and also of 6. The future tense adjective. — In this latter we have only two words, Future, and Venture, or Adventure. The awkwardness of our substitutions for this future tense adjective, will be manifest upon examining the ancient and even the modern versions of pas- sages, where this future abbreviation is to be found, and which we ought at once to snatch immediately from the Latin. For these abbreviations are of great importance. A short, close, and compact method of speech answers the purposes of a map upon a reduced scale. It assists greatly the comprehension of the under- standing ; and in general reasoning frequently enables us, at a glance, to take in very numerous and distant important relations and con- clusions, which would otherwise totally escape us. " And here," says the author, V if you please, we will conclude our discussion for the present. It is true, that my evening is now fully come, and the night fast approaching ; yet, if we shall. have a tolerably lengthened twilight, we may still perhaps find time enough for a further conversation on this subject. And, finally, if OF THE DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY. 33 the times will bear it, to apply this system of language to all the different systems of metaphysical (that is, verbal) imposture." That this twilight, which is now sunk in darkness, was so em- ployed, is most devoutly to be hoped ; and as the author declared, in 1798, that all, which he had further to communicate on the subject of language, had been then among his loose papers for up- wards of thirty years, we may indulge a reasonable confidence that we shall yet be enabled to accompany him " to a very different sort of logick and critick than what we have hitherto been acquainted with." The work is thus closed upon us for the present, and we are left wholly unsatisfied respecting the second part of speech necessary for communication, the Verb. Conjunctions, Prepositions, Adverbs, Adjectives, and Participles, have been sufficiently explained to us. We have been informed that a Verb is (what every word also must be) a Noun* : but that it is something more, and that the title of Verb was given to it on account of that distinguishing something more than the mere Nouns convey. " What, then, is the Verb ? What is that peculiar differ- * Aula (Jttv wv xo9' aula beyoptva ta ^pala, ovcpala tali, tcai ffifiaim 1i. Aristot. de Inter, cap. lii. 34 ANALYSIS OF THE GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES ential circumstance which, added to the definition of a Noun, con- stitutes the Verb ?" li How bold" (says one Critick*) " is it on the part of the author thus to terminate ? Will no philosopher anticipate the discovery, which trie sage of Wimbledon refuses as yet to impart to the world ? Does the problem baffle the sagacity of every man but one ? The challenge is singular in the history of letters." " The truth is" (another confidently asserts!) " he had no further discoveries to make." And what is the ground of this assertion ? The Critick looked within his own breast for an answer. — " His vanity would have insured the production of them." Confining ourselves to the Verb, does this writer really imagine that Mr. Tooke, who, upon every other branch of his subject, has displayed such stores of profound and original research, would here have entirely disappointed expectation ; that he, who till now had been strong, would in an instant have sunk into imbecillity ? Does he think that former grammarians, who have exhibited so erroneous and confused and imperfect views upon the other parts of speech, can present to us, with a steady hand, the torch of truth, to guide * Monthly Review, Vol. LI. p. 406. The different criticisms upon Tooke's Philo- logical Works which have appeared in this Review, have uniformly been distinguished for candour and good sense. t Quarterly Review, June, 1812. OF THE DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY. 35 our inquiries into the nature of the Verb ? In the writings of what ancient or modern grammarian may the needful information be obtained ? From Criticks of this description it is vain to seek a reply : for " Boldness* is an ill keeper of promise, Nevertheless it doth fasci- nate" (as Reviewers well know) " and bind hand and foot those that are either shallow in judgment or weak in courage. Yet is it a child of ignorance and baseness." * Bacon, Essay the 12th. END OF THE ANALYSIS. F 2 37 OF THE '' [university; felFOl CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. A. is placed before a participle, or participial noun ; and is considered by Wallis as a contraction of at, when it is put before a word denoting some action not yet finished : as, I am a walking. A, in composition, seems sometimes to be con- tracted from at, as, Aside, Aslope, &c. (Johnson.) In Anglo-Saxon, An means One, and On means In ; which word On we have in English corrupted to An before a vowel, and to A before a consonant ; and in writ- ing and speaking have connected it with the subsequent word : and from this double corruption has sprung a numerous race of adverbs, which have no correspondent adverbs in other languages, because there has been no similar corruption. (Tooke.) Of these the following are among the most common : ABLAZE ; (not in Johnson.) On blaze, Gower. (T.) ABOARD ; on borde ; on the borde ; Gower. Over the borde ; Chaucer. Within burd, on burd, on bord ; Douglas. (T.) About this word Johnson is not a little perplexed. " Bord is itself (he thinks) a word of very doubtful original, and perhaps, in its different acceptations, is dedu- cible from different roots." The reader may probably have his doubts satisfied under the word Broad, hereafter. ABROAD, adv. (compounded of a and broad. See Broad.) J. It was hardly worth while to follow Johnson's directions, for there is nothing to be found under Broad, in his Dictionary, except Bjiab, Saxon. In Chaucer and Douglas, for Abroad, we find On brede. (T.) 38 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION ACROSS, adv. (from a for at, and cross.) J. It is On cross. (T.) ADAYS, (not in J.) is in Gower written, On daies, and in Douglas, On dayis. (T.) AFIRE, (not in J.) is in Douglas written, In fyre. (T.) AFOOT, adv. (from a and foot.) J. In Chaucer it is On fote ; in Douglas, On fute. (T.) ALIVE, adj. (from a and live.) J. In Gower it is On live ; in Chaucer, On lyve ; in Douglas, On life ; and means merely, In life. (T.) AMID, }prep. (from a and mid, or midst.) J. These words, which are written by AMIDST, 3 Chaucer and others, Amiddes, are merely the Anglo-Saxon On mibbej\ in mediis. (T.) ANEW, adv. (from a and new.) J. In Douglas it is Of new. (T.) ANIGHTS, adv. (from a for at, and nights.) J. In Gower, On night, On nightes ; in Chaucer, A nyght, On nyght. (T.) ANON. Johnson copies without preference from Junius, Skinner, and Minshew. Junius was right in Tooke's opinion. — Anon means In one: (subauditur instant, moment, minute.) Gower and Chaucer frequently write In one: and Douglas, without any corruption, purely On Ane. It is from On Kn. (T.) AROW, adj. (from a and row.) J. — In Douglas it is On raw. (T.) ASIDE, adv. (from a and side.) J. — In Douglas it is On syde. (T.) ASLEEP, adv. (from a and sleep.) J. — In Chaucer and Douglas it is On slepe ; in Fabian, In slepe. (T.) ASTRIDE, adv. (from a and stride.) J. It is merely, On stride. (T.) AT WO, £ (neither in J.) On twa, On thry. In two, In three. In Gower we find ATHREE, 3 Atwynne ; Atwo : in Chaucer, Atwo, Athre. (T.) I have deviated a little from the alphabetical arrangement, to place these words in regular succession before the reader, that he may at the very outset have an opportunity of observing the absurdity of Johnson's rule to carry his researches to no remoter period than the reign of Elizabeth ; a rule which he first announced in the plan, and which plan has been adopted by Mr. Todd. Johnson's inconsistency with himself must not pass unnoticed : a (with him) is sometimes for at, and sometimes a undisguised. ABJECT, adj. (abjectus, Lat. thrown away, as of no value.) Such is Johnson's etymology ; and then, as if ashamed of such accidental cor- rectness, he gives as the primary meaning of the word, " Mean, worthless," &c. ab- surdly reversing the truth of his own etymology ; but this is one of the constant blunders of the Dictionary. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 39 We have already seen iu the Analysis that, in Tooke's opinion, our English word Able is derived from the Gothic ; that the Latins derived their ter- minations in Bills from the same source ; that from them we have imme- diately our own terminations able and ible y and the contraction in He ; and that to adjectives with this termination he applies the name of the po- tential passive adjective. We have also seen in what manner (by the corruption of full) we have obtained those adjectives in ble, which we use actively: the origin and force of the terminations ive and ic, and the appropriation of the name, — the potential active adjective, — to those adjectives, which we have adopted with those latter terminations, have also sufficiently, though concisely, been explained. Full is free from any difficulty. Tooke is not original, nor does he pretend that he is, in deriving Able from Kbal, Robur. Junius (Johnson's great authority) anticipates him, and declares that the English do not owe their word Able to the Romans: but Johnson in opposition to this, and alarmed, as it should seem, at the northern scenery, which is thus opened to him, turns his view to Italy for Habilis, and to France for Habile. He takes not the slightest notice of the etymology of Junius. Other stores of information were accessible to him, which he equally disre- garded. Scaliger distinctly points out to him the force of the two terminations His, and ivus: " Duas habuere apud Latinos, totidem apud Grsecosterminationes: In ivus, activam, in His passivam. Sic Grsci aiaSvltKov, quod sensu prseditum est : aicrSfiJw, quod sensu percipi potest." De Causis, lib. iv. c. 98. Yet Johnson pre- serves no consistent mode of explanation according to the termination ; he did not know, or he did not heed, that one ought to be preserved. Defensible and Defensive he distinguishes tolerably in his explanation ; but offers defendens as the etymology of defensive. With Visible and Visive he makes sad work ; Visive (which occurs repeatedly in Berkeley in its proper signification, viz. Which can see,) he explains " Formed in the act of seeing ;" and as if his " Defensive" had, in his own estimation, a poor chance of adoption, he tries ano- ther for Visive, i. e. Visus. Both Conduced and Conducive he interprets ac- tively. And all this appears to pass without creating the least suspicion of any thing wrong or inconsistent ; and yet the words which have been adjectived by the addition of both terminations, as in the instances already given, are numerous, and might have roused the attention of the most sluggish. But Johnson knew that deliberation and inquiry would occupy time, and of this he had none to spare. The difficulties which our old translators felt in rendering the Latin verbals in bilis, are worthy of remark. They could not translate them without a periphra- sis ; and when they began to take a few of the words as they found them, they 40 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION thought it necessary to explain them. From a MS. New Testament in Tooke's possession, and which he supposes to have been written about the time of Edward III., he produces the following examples of such words with the expla- nation, which accompanies them : Unenarrable, or that may not be told ; occurs twice. Amyable, or able to be lovyd. Insolible, or that may not be undon. Swadible, or esi for to trete, and to be tretid. Upon comparing the translation of Wiclif with the passages in which the above words and their attendant explanations are to be found, it appears that Wiclif has not ventured to adopt the words, but uses merely the circumlocutions. And yet if Tooke's conjecture as to the age of the translator of his MS. be right, Wiclif must have been his cotemporary. Facts of this nature are important in the his- tory of a particular language ; but where shall we find them in the work of Johnson? ABODE, Johnson derives from abide, and according to Tooke it is the past participle of that verb, and means " Where any one has abided." Neither Skinner, nor Junius, nor Johnson, nor indeed any other English gram- marian, or lexicographer, had any idea that the past participle in our own lan- guage was an abundant source of general terms ; the discovery was Tooke's ; and it becomes necessary to remark that we shall find Junius and Skinner in many in- stances (particularly Skinner) referring to the same Anglo-Saxon or old English verb, which Tooke has also fixed upon as the parent of some English noun ; but the difference is this : Skinner refers generally to the verb, not unfrequently with a mere Mallem deflecti y and knows neither in what manner, nor from what part, of the verb, such noun is immediately obtained ; Tooke establishes the past participle to be the part of the verb, and explains the general manner of the adop- tion. ACCESS. The application of this word to the approaches of disease, seems to Johnson to be scarcely admitted into the language. He only finds it so used in Hudibras. Junius has pointed out to him an instance in Chaucer : and Skinner, himself a phy- sician, explains it : Paroxysmus seu Morbi Accessio. For upon him he had an hote accesse, That day by day him shook full pitously. Bl. Kn. Com. 136. ACCIDENT. Johnson adopts the definition of the logician for his first meaning ; just as he OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 41 describes " Bit," like a bridle-maker, and " Lock," like a locksmith : without a glance at the intrinsick signification. ADDLE, *} Addle, adj. (from Abel, a disease, Sax. according to Skinner and Junius ; AIL, T perhaps from Ybel, idle, barren, unfruitful.) IDLE, CTo Ail, v. a. (Gglan, Sax. to be troublesome.) ILL, j Idle, adj. (from Ybel, Sax.) Ill, adj. (contracted from Evil, and retaining all its senses.) So far J . Though (T.) Mer. Casaubon and Junius would send us for Ail to axvsw mserore, aflici, or to aKyttv, dolere; and for Idle to «/9*oj, nugae; and for III to the Greek, itoof, strabo ; or even to the Hebrew ; I am persuaded that these are only one word, differently pronounced and written ; and that it is the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Siblian, aegrotare, exinanire, irritum facere, corrumpere. Addle becomes Ail, as Idle becomes III by sliding over the d in pronunciation. — Skinner would have conducted Johnson to this same verb for both Addle and Ail. ADRIFT. We must expect no more from Johnson than a and drift; without one word as to the manner of formation even of Drift. Adrift (T.) is the past participle, Adrifed, Adrif'd, Adrift, of the Anglo-Saxon verb, Dnipan, TCbnipan, to drive. ADVENTURE; adventura, supple fortuna vel hora, says Skinner. Johnson pro- nounces it to be French. This Tooke calls the future tense adjective, as we have already seen in the Analysis. AFFABLE ; " Obvius afifari volentibus." Junius. " Easy of manners," saith Johnson, deserting his guide, when guiding him aright. AFFIX ; affix-um (subaud. aliquid). Johnson insists that it means something united to the end of a word. AFTER, prep. (TCpren, Sax.) Of the existence of such a word as Aft, Johnson appears utterly ignorant ; yet he might have found it in Skinner, though with the limitation of " vox nautica." After (T.) is used as a noun adjective in Anglo-Saxon, in English, and in most of the northern languages. I suppose it to be no other than the comparative of the noun Aft, (Anglo-Saxon, Apt), for the retention of which latter noun in our language we are probably obliged to our seamen. Hind, Aft, and Back, have all originally the same meaning. AGHAST, } Johnson is in doubt, whether it be the participle of Agaze, or from a and AGAST. J Gast, a Ghost. He first thinks Aghast is not improbably the true word, and then he thinks that perhaps they were originally two words ; he also thinks that the orthography Aghast favours the derivation (which is Skinner's) from a and G 42 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Gfast ; and then that this orthography, favouring this etymology, took its rise- from a mistaken etymology. The word, however, is not without difficulty. There is (T.) the Gothic verb Agjan, timere ; and the past participle Agids? territus ; and it is not without an appearance of probability, that as Whiles, Amonges, &c. have become with us Whilst, Amongst, &c. ; so Agids might become Agidst, Agist, Agast; or Agids might become Agisd, Agist, Agast. And the last seems to me the most probable etymology. AGUE, Johnson and his two authorities, Skinner and Junius, say from Aigu, acutus. Tooke thinks the long-sought etymology of this word is the Gothic noun Agis, fear, trembling. ALE, n. s. (Gale, Sax.) a liquor made by infusing malt in- hot water, and then fer- menting the liquor. Such are Johnson's etymology and Johnson's explanation of the radical meaning of the word. u Non absurdi potest deduci ab JEl&n, accendere, inflammare, quia sc. ubi gene- rosior est, qualis majoribus nostris in usu fuit, spiritus et sanguinem copioso sen> per, ssepe nimio calore profundit." Skinner says this with no advantage to John- son: Skinner does here tell him the meaning of the word, and the reason of the application, though not how the word was derived. Ale (T.) was in Anglo-Saxon, Sloth, i. e. Quod accendit, inflammat. The third person singular of the indicative of ^Elan. — -The discriminating termination th of this third person being lost, as in many other words. ALERT, adj. (alerte, Fr. perhaps from alacris, but probably from a Vart, according to art or rule.) Johnson then explains it in a common sense to mean, " brisk, pert, petulant, smart :" which are not usually applied to things that are " according to art or rule." The writer of the article " Grammar" in Rees' Cyclopedia, tries his hand : " We presume, that Alert is all-ert, or all-art ; that is, all active." Alert (T.) (as well as Erect) is the past participle of Erigere, now Ergere ; AW erecta, AlV ercta, AW erta. AW ercta (by a transposition of the aspirate) became the French A Vherte, as it was formerly written ; and by a total suppression of the aspirate, the modern French Alerte. — ALGATES, adv. (from all and gate, Skinner. Gate is the same as via, and still used? for way, in the Scottish dialect.) On any terms ; every way. Obsolete. Algate (T.) and Algates I suppose to mean no other than All-get. To Get is sometimes spelled by Chaucer, Geate. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 43 ALOFT, adv. {loffter, to lift up, Dan; Loft, air, Icelandish : so that aloft is, into the air.) Lnfter, Johnson takes from Skinner ; and Loft, from Lye. Aloft (T.) On Loft, On Luft, On Lyft, i. e. In the Luft or Lyft; or (the super- fluous article omitted, as was the antient custom in our language, the Anglo- Saxon,) In Lyft, in Luft, in Loft. In Anglo-Saxon, Lypt is the Air or the Clouds. In Danish and in Swedish, Luft is air. From the same root are our other words, Loft, Lofty, To Luff, Lee, Lee- ward, To Lift, &c. — This root, it afterwards appears, is the Anglo-Saxon verb plipan, to raise ; but of this verb no traces appear in Skinner and Junius, and of course none in Johnson. Mer. Casaubon (whom even Johnson calls a dreamer,) and our Cyclopaedist (par nobile) derive Loft and Aloft from *opof, a hill. ALONG, ^ Along, adv. {au longue, Fr.) 1. At length, &c. LONG, >Long, adv. (Iielanj, a fault, Sax.) By the fault, by the failure. — TO LONG, 3 The etymology is Skinner's ; but there is no such word as Gelang, a fault. Fault or not fault depends upon the other words in the sentence. To long, v. n. {Gelanger, German, to ask*, Skinner.) To desire earnestly ; to wish with eagerness continued. Though Johnson gives Skinner's authority for this etymology, it must be noticed that Skinner first mentions the Anglo-Saxon verb Lsenjian. Along, Junius and Lye derive from Tfnb-lanj, which Lye asserts " esse compositum ex prepositione 2£nb, quse est plane Goth : Atib, per, ac lang, longum." Along (T.) On long, secundum longitudinem, or On length. — But there was another use of this word formerly. " It was long of yourself." The Anglo-Saxons used two words for these two purposes : Tfnblan 5, ftnb lonj, Onblong, for the first ; and Lelang for the second : and our most ancient writers observe the same distinction, using Endlong for the one, and Along for the other. Snblanj or Endlong is manifestly On long ; but what (continues Tooke) is Irelanj or Along ? His answer must be given entire. " When we consider that we have, and can have, no way of expressing the acts or operations of the mind, but by the same words by which we express some cor- responding (or supposed corresponding) .act or operation of the body : when, amongst a multitude of similar instances, we consider that we express a moderate desire for any thing, by saying that we incline (i. e. bend ourselves) to it ; will ll surprize us, that we should express an eager desire by saying that we long, i. e. Make long, lengthen, or stretch out ourselves after it, or for it? especially when we observe that after the verb To incline, we say to or towards it ; but after the Skinner goes farther: he tells him that Eremang is from Iremengan, YMELL, 3 miscere, and that Lremenceb is mixtus; and Junius, that Amang is from Meengan, miscere; and both agree that the verb, To mingle, had the same origin : and yet when Johnson arrives at this verb, it is given without any ety- mology. Emonge, (T.) Amonge, Amonges, Amongest, Amongst, Among, is the past part. Eremsencgeb, Eremencgeb, of the Anglo-Saxon verb Iremencgan, and the Go- thic verb, Gemainyan. Or rather the pret. per. Lremang, Eremong, Eremung or Amang, Among, Amung (^of the same verb meengan, mengan,) used as a parti- ciple, without the participial termination ob, ab, or eb: and it means purely and singly Mixed, Mingled. Chaucer uses the prep. Ymell instead of among; and it means Y-medled, i. e. mixed, mingled. A medley is still our common word for Mixture. — " Medley, n. s. (from meddle/or mingle,)" says Johnson. AN, the conjunction (T.) is the imperative of the Anglo-Saxon verb, Anan, to grant, and means, Grant or Give. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 45 Junius and Skinner are silent upon this word, and Johnson says that it is some- times a contraction of And if; sometimes of And before if; and sometimes of As if; though (as Tooke has observed) under the word And, Johnson admits in the expression And if, the And to be redundant. Mr. Steevens (Shak. 1813,Vol.IV.349) says that An means As if; and Mr. Reed affirms that An if was a common phraseology in Shakspeare's time, and this we are told again, and the same autho- rity is quoted again, and by such repetitions (among other arts) is an edition of Shakspeare eked out to one and twenty volumes: and yet not a niche could be found for an atom of common sense from Home Tooke. AROYNT, adv. (of uncertain etymology, but very common use.) Be gone; a*faa^&^ a word of expulsion, or avoiding. /•- »**»«. c TO ROYNE, v. a. (Rogner, French,) to gnaw, to bite. \f , /y ' ROYNISH, adj. (Rogneux, French, mangy, paltry,} Paltry, sorry, mean, rr J RONION, n. s. (Rognon, Fr. the loins. I know not certainly, " (i. e. not at a meaning of this word.) A fat bulky woman. — Thus far Johnson in his Dictionary. But we must hear him further as a commentator upon Shakspeare ; and one or two of his colleagues must not be refused a moment's attention. " Aroynt thee, witch, the rumpe-fed Ronyon cries." Macbeth, fo. 132. " My lord, the Roynish clown, at whom so oft your grace was wont to laugh, is also missing." As you like it, fo. 190. " And Aroynt thee, witch ; Aroynt thee, witch." Lear, fo. 298. In a note upon Macbeth, (Reed's Shak. 1813, Vol. X. p. 29,) Pope says, " Aroint or avaunt, begone." Johnson follows, and he confesses that hefrst thought Anoint to be the proper reading; which, he seems to have convinced himself, by his own peculiar logick, signified " Away, witch, to thy infernal assembly." By chance, it should seem, however, he peeped one day into Hearne's Collections, and there he espied, or fancied that he espied, a drawing, representing good St. Patrick on a visit in hell; — and not a very peaceable one ; for he was confounding the very devils, and driving the miserable damned before him with a prong, and vociferating, (as appears per label) " Out, Out, Arongt:" and hereupon Johnson declared for Aroynt; being satisfied that the witch and St. Patrick must have one and the same meaning, whatever they meant. Mr. Steevens succeeds ; and he makes it manifest that the Doctor is all in the wrong ; that he, whom Johnson imagined to be the tutelary Saint of Ireland, is no other than Satan himself in propria persona ; and that as to the Prong, it was — he knew not what: Ecce signum, he exclaims; and further he maintains that there 46 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION was not a condemned soul in the whole company. But Mr. Steevens, nevertheless) leaves us, as Johnson had done before him, in utter ignorance of the meaning of the word, which is the subject of the note. Ronyon, in the same passage, Steevens explains, " A scabby or mangy woman. Fr. Rogneux, Royne, scurf." Roynish, in As you like it, he derives and explains in a similar manner. And, lastly, Mr. Malone, in a note upon Lear, assures us, that " Aroint thee (Dii te averruncent) has already been explained;" and he refers to the notes upon Macbeth, in which not one word of explanation is to be found. Tooke then must supply, — and he will do it easily, — what these pretenders could not. " A raynous \j. e. roynous, from Ronger, Rogner, whence also Aroynt,) Scall, is a separation or disconuity of the skin or flesh by a gnawing, eating forward, malady." Mr. Steevens found this word Aroynt, without the A prefixed, in a northern proverb ; " (JRynt thee, Witch, quoth Bessy Locket to her mother :)" and yet he never suspected it to have the same origin as Royne, which the north country people would now call Ryne, as they pronounce Oil, He, and Anoint, Nynt. Ronion, (which, according to Johnson, means etymologic ally the Loins, but poetically, I presume, A fat, bulky woman) is applied to one who has, or who is suspected or accused of having, some gnawing, eating forward, malady ; and (to continue in the style of Mr. Malone) is employed by Shakspeare, with his usual propriety, as a retort by the Witch upon the Sailor's wife, who had imprecated upon her (the Witch) a visitation of the same gnawing malady, wherewith she (the Sailor's wife) was then or ought, for her ungracious refusal of a few chesnuts, to be immediately visited. AS. Johnson adopts Skinner's Als, Teutonick, and gives, as he imagines, twenty -five different meanings of the word. Junius derives it from the Greek us, and in this he is followed by our Cyclopsedist, who sagaciously adds, that wj inverted is so. Mr. Tyrwhitt says, that " our As is the same with Als, Teutonick and Saxon. It is only a further corruption of Also." " As (according to Tooke) is an article, and means the same as It, or That, or Which. In the German, where it still evidently retains its original signification and use, (as So also does) it is written Es. It does not come from Als; any more than Though, and Be it, and If (or Gif) come from Although, and Albeit, and Algif, &c. For Als, in our old English, is a contraction of al, and es, or as. And this Al (which in comparison used to be very properly employed before the first es or OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 47 As, but was not employed before the second) we now, in modern English, sup- press: As we have also done in numerous other instances; where All (though not improper) is not necessary." And this he supports by an example from Gower. I will subjoin a similar resolution of a passage in the First Part of King Henry the Fourth (fo. 65) which is quoted by Johnson ; and I invite the reader to try his own ingenuity upon the rest of Johnson's examples. Fal. " Why, Hal ? thou know'st, as thou art but a man, I dare : but, as thou art a prince, I feare thee, as I feare the roaring of the lyons whelpe." In the last case Shakspeare might without impropriety have used Als. — The re- solution will be thus : " Why, Hal? thou knowest (because) that thou art but a man, I dare ; but (i.e. boot, add,) that thou art a prince ; I fear thee (in) that (degree, or with all that fear, wherewith) I fear the roaring of the lion's whelp." In vulgar speech as is constantly used for that : " I cannot say as I did," &c. Cor that I did, &c. In Lord Bacon's Apophthegms, (No. 109, 120, 213,) similar instances of the use of as occur. ASKANT, v Johnson offers no etymology. Probably (saysTooke) they are the par- ASKANCE. > ticiples Aschuined,, Aschuins. In Dutch, Schuin, wry r oblique. Schui- nen, to cut away. Schuins, sloping, wry, not straight. — In Anglo-Saxon the verb Scuman, fffcunian, to shun, vitare, seems to present an etymology nearer home. ASKEW, adv. (from a skew.) Should any one be desirous to know what this word Skew means, he may look, but he will not find. In Gower it is written, Askie. In (T.) the Danish Skiecev, is wry, crooked, oblique. Skicever, to twist, to wrest. Skicevt, twisted, wrested. ASTRAY, adv. (from a and stray.) In Gower it is written, Astrayde, Astraied, Astraie. Astray (T.) is the past participle Sj-tj^aegeb of the Anglo-Saxon verb, Stneejan, Sparge re, dispergere, to stray, to scatter. S. Johnson says, To stray, is from the Italian Straviare, from the Latin Extra Viam. But Strawan, Streawian, Streo- wian, Strewian, Stregian, Straegian ; and Straw, Streow, Streoh, Strea, Stre, were used in our own mother tongues, the Gothic and" Anglo-Saxon, long before the existence of the word Straviare; and the beginning of the corrupted dialect of the Latin called Italian, and even of the corrupted dialect of the Greek called Latin. And as the words to sunder and asunder proceed from sond, i. e. sand; so do the words to stray, to straw, to strow, to strew, to straggle, to stroll, and the well-named straw-berry, {\. e. straw' d-berry, stray-berry,) all proceed from straw, or as out 48 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION peasantry still pronounce it, strah. And astray or astray'd means strawed, that is, scattered and dispersed as the straw is about the fields." Sir Joseph Banks, who has the character of being an excellent gardener, has resorted to etymology in vindication of a favourite mode of cultivating the straw- berry. It is his practice to lay straw under the leaves of the plants, when the fruit begins to swell : ergo, our ancestors did the same ; and not having a name for the plant, till they had discovered the best means of improving the fruit, they gave a name from this horticultural experiment. Johnson says, " Strawberry, n. s. (fragaria, Lat.) a plant. Strawberry Tree, n. s. {ar- butus, Lat.)" I will not undertake to say that he did not mean these for etymolo- gies, yet Skinner says, " Bacca stramineae, fort, quia prope humum crescunt, (i. e.) instar straminis humi insternuntur." We must now exhibit a few of Johnson's exertions when he felt a difficulty and laboured to remove it. " To Strew, v. a. The orthography of this word is doubtful. It is sometimes written strew, and sometimes strow : I have taken both. Skinner proposes strow, and Junius writes straw ; their reasons will appear in the word from which it may be derived. Strawan, Gothic ; Stroyen, Dutch ; Stneajnan, Saxon ; Strawen, German; Strden, Danish. Perhaps strow is best, being that which reconciles etymology with pronunciation." It is strange, but no less true, that Skinner does not propose strow, but very properly gives, " To strew, or strow," and leaves it quite a matter of indifference in which manner the word is written. " To Struggle, v. a. (Of this word no etymology is known ; it is probably a frequentative of stray, from stravviare, Italian, of extra viam, Latin.) — " Vel. q. d. to straggle, a verbo to stray." Skinner. Stroll is not found in Skinner or Junius, and no etymology is attempted by Johnson. ASUNDER, (T.) is the past participle Krunbnen, or Xj-unbneb, separated (as the particles of sand are) of the verb Sonbruan, Sunbnian, Synbnian, Krunbpian, &c. to separate. This word, in all its varieties, is to be found in all the northern lan- guages ; and is originally from Anglo-Saxon Sonb ; i.e. Sand. — With such an etymology it would be no difficult matter to give a consistent ex- planation of the different words from the same source. Junius and Skinner guide Johnson to the proper Anglo-Saxon verb for Asunder : they both, however, had an idea that Sand had some affinity with the Greek fan/Aos; but neither of them imagined that Sand was the origin of Sunder, Asunder. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 49 •* To SUNDER, v. a. (Synbruan, Saxon,) to part, to separate, to divide. u Sunder, n. s. (Sunbep, Sax.) two; two parts. " Sundry, adj. (Sunbejt, Sax.) Several, more than one." If to Sunder, means " to separate," generally *, and Sundry, " more than one ;" without limit ; how comes it that Sunder, the noun, means " two, two parts," and no more ? ASWOON, is neither in Johnson nor his two authorities. It is, according to Tooke, " the past participle i£j-uanb, Tfj-uonb, of the verb Suaman, Hj-)>unan, deficere animo." In Chaucer it is written Aswoune. Skinner, and after him Johnson, agree in taking the verb to swoon from this Anglo-Saxon verb. " Swoon, (T.) — This word was formerly written Swough, Swowe, Swowne, Aswowne, Swond, Sowne, and Sownd. — Swoon, &c. is the past participle of SJujan, stupere ; whose regular past tense is Swog, or Swoug, written by Chancer, Swough and Swowe : adding to which the participial termination en, we have Swowen, Swowne ; and with the customary prefix A ; Aswowne." Skinner says, " Swoon, ab. Anglo-Saxon Xj-punan, animo deficeTe, Kj-uanian, Teaman, Languere, 2£j-uanb, Languidus, Enervatus." Does Mr. Tooke mean that 8)anian and SJnjan are the same words? ATHWART, prep, (from a and thwart.) Thwart, adj. (DJ>yn» Sax. Dwars, Dutch.) Athwart, adv. a tort. Athwart, (T.) i. e. Athweort, or Athweoried, wrested, twisted, curved, is the past participle of Dpeonian, to wrest, to twist ; Jiexuosum, sinuosum, curvum reddere. ATWIST, (which is omitted by Johnson) " is the past participle rjetjuj-eb, Xtjnj-eb, Ktjnj-'b, of the verb T)?yj-an, Tjnj-an, Iretjjyran, torquere." Skinner, Lye, and Johnson, agree to derive Twist from this Iret;j)y)-an ; but our Cyclopaedist is not swayed by their union : he asserts that it is from Tortus or Tostus. Twist (T.) is Twiced, Twic'd, Twist. AVAST, (from basta, Italian,) it is enough : says Johnson, deserting Skinner, who takes it from the Latin prep, ab ; and the Belgic Hasten, festinare. (T.) Like the Italian Avacci, / think, it means — Be attentive, Be on the watch; i. e. Awake. AUGHT, pron. (TCuht, Sphc, Saxon. It is sometimes improperly written Ought.) Any thing. Aught or Ought, (T.)(the Anglo-Saxon ppit, a whit, or o whit. — N. B. O was for- H 50 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION merly written for the article, A ; or for the numeral One. So, Naught or Nought ; Na whit or No whit. To AWARD, v. a. (derived by Skinner, somewhat improbably, from UJeanb, Saxon, Toward.) To adjudge ; to give any thing by a judicial sentence. Johnson ought to have noticed, that Skinner also informs us of Spelman's deri- vation from the Anglo-Norman Agard, Fr. Garder. I suppose (T.) Award to be a garder, i. e. a determination a qui c'est a garder, the thing in dispute ; i. e. to keep it. AY, adv. (perhaps from aio, Lat.) Yes ; an adverb of answering affirmatively. Oyes, {Oyez, hear ye, Fr.) Yes, adv. (gi]-e) Saxon. — In the two latter etymologies Skinner leads the way. Junius says that yes seems to be contracted from yea is. " Our Aye, or Yea (says Tooke) is the imperative of a verb of northern extrac- tion, and means, have it, possess it, enjoy it. And yes, is Ay-es, have, possess, or enjoy that. More immediately, perhaps, they are the French singular and plural imperative Aye and Ayez ; as our corrupted O yes of the cryer, is no other than the French imperative Oyez; hear, listen." B. BACON ; Johnson, judiciously, in this instance, forsaking both Skinner and Junius, shrewdly guesses, that Bacon is probably from Baken ; — that is, dried flesh. Tooke says, that it is the past participle of Bacan, to bake, or to dry by heat. BAR. (T.) Our English verb to Bar is the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb Bainjan, Beongan, Bingan, Bypgan ; which means to defend, to keep safe, to protect, to arm, to guard, to secure, to fortify, to strengthen. And the past participle of this verb has furnished our language with the following supposed substantives : 1. A Bar, (T.) which in all its uses is a defence; that by which any thing is fortified, strengthened, or defended. Bar, n. s. [barre, Fr.) 1. A piece of wood, iron, or other matter, laid across a passage to hinder entrance. This is Johnson's primitive signification ; his next explanation is equally descrip- tive. In his third and fifth he does aim at some general meaning. 2. A Barn (T.) Bar-en, Bar'n, is a covered enclosure, in which the grain, &c. is protected or defended from the w r eather, from depredation, &c. Barn, n. s. (Benne, Sax.) a place or house for laying up any sort of grain, hay, or straw. OP THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 51 Bern; fortasse (says Skinner) Ab Anglo-Saxon Bepe, j3onbeum, and 6nne, locus, q. d. popbeapium : and Junius thinks this — Luce clarius. 3. A Baron (T.) is an armed, defenceful, or powerful man. Baron, according to Johnson, is of very uncertain etymology, and he collects much trash from Skinner and Junius, which is not worth transcription. He points out the particular applications of the word— to a degree of nobility, to the barons of the Exchequer, of the Cinque Ports ; not forgetting a baron of beef. 4. A Barge, (T.) is a strong boat. Barge, n.s. (Jbargie, Dutch, from barga, Low Latin.) 1. A boat for pleasure. 2. A sea commander's boat. 3. A boat for burden. 5. A Bark (T.) is a stout vessel. 6. The Bark of a tree is its defence ; that by which the tree is defended from the weather. 7. The Bark of a dog is that by which we are defended by that animal. Bark, n.s. (barck, Dan.) 1. The rind or covering of a tree. 2. A small ship, (from barca, Low Latin.) — Either these are two words, or they are not. If they are two, they ought not to be placed as interpretations of the same one word. If they are not two, they cannot have two different etymologies. The bark of a dog (the noun) is not in the Dictionary ; the verb is there, with a Saxon etymology. Skinner thinks, that Barky a vessel, may be so called from the Bark of a tree ; " quia sc. multee bar- barse gentes ex corticibus arborum sibi cymbas parant." 8. A Bargain (T.) is a confirmed, strengthened agreement. After two persons have agreed upon a subject, it is usual to conclude with asking — Is it a bargain ? Is it confirmed ? Mallem (says Skinner) ab It. Per, Pro, et verb. Gagnare, pro Guadagnare, Lucrari, qui enim licitatur, lucrum quserit. Johnson derives it from the Welsh bargen, and the French bargaigne, and ex- plains it to mean merely a contract or agreement, (not confirmed, strengthened ;) but adds, with his usual perversity, " concerning the sale of any thing." 9. A Barken, (T.) according to Skinner, Vox in comitatu Wilts usitatissima, Atrium, a yard of a house, vel a verbo To Barr, vel a Germ, Bergen, abscon- der : Anglo-Saxon, Beopjan, munire, q. d. locus clausus, respectu sc. agrorum. This word is not in Johnson. 10. A Hauberk. Vossius, Wachter, and Caseneuve concur (says Tooke) in its ety- mology ; viz. from Hals, collum, et Bergen, munire. The French (he continues) changing in their accustomed manner the I in Hals to u, made the word Hauberg ; and the Italians, in their manner, made it Usbergo. H 2 52 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION This etymology Johnson might have found both in Junius and Skinner ; but he is content with the old French, Hauberg. 11. A Burgh, (T.) or Borough, meant formerly a fortified town. 12. A Borowe, (T.) was formerly used for what we now call a security, any person or thing by which repayment is secured, and by which the lender is defended or guarded from the loss of his loan. Borough, n. s. (Bonhoe, Saxon.) 1. It signified anciently a surety, or a man bound for others. 2. A town with a corporation. So says Johnson, and afterwards gives this same word differently spelt, viz. Burrow, Berg, Burg, Burgh ; and then he finds a different etymology from the Saxon Bung, Byng, a city, tower, or castle ; and properly informs us from Cowell, " That all places, which in former days were called Boroughs, were such as were fenced ox fortified;" yet is this quite useless to him in his explanation of the word. 13. A Burrow (T.) for rabbits, &c. is a defended or protected place ; to which a Warren is synonymous, meaning the same thing : for Warren is the past participle of Ulepan, defendere, protegere, tueri. This word Johnson places as the second meaning of Burrough, from Bung. Warren he derives from the Dutch Waerande, and the French Guerene, and calls it " A kind of park for rabbits." It is true that both Skinner and Lye plainly direct to the Anglo-Saxon verb ; but Johnson will not be directed. 14. Burial, (T.) Byrtjel, is the diminutive of Byni£, or Burgh, a defended or for- tified place. To bury, Byrijan, sepelire, means to defend. Sepelire has the same meaning. To Bury, v. a. (Bynigean, Saxon,) to inter, to put into the grave. Burial, n. s. (from to bury.) Johnson offers not a word in interpretation of his Saxon verb, though if he had consulted Skinner with any care he might have been led to Beongan, munire. Barren, (T.) i. e. Barr-ed, stopped, shut, strongly closed up, which cannot be opened, from which can be no fruit or issue. — When we apply this word either to land or to females, we assert, the passage either from the womb or from the earth to be Barr-en, or Barr-ed, from bearing any thing into the world or into life. Johnson adopts Skinner's bare, nudus, and says, that it is properly applied to trees or ground unfruitful. But our Cyclopsedist attains a pitch of absurdity which must be recorded. Barron, in Arabick, is the earth, or that which pro- duces all things ; and therefore means, that which will produce nothing : and bar- ren meant primarily an animal having produced ; and therefore means, an animal OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. * 53 which never will produce. — It is very possible to understand Arabick, and to have but a slender provision of common sense. BATEFUL, adj. (from Bate and full) contentious. And Bate, Johnson says, seems to have been once the preterite of Bite. Though he arrives at this etymology, he does not learn from it the meaning of the word. Batful is a favourite word in Drayton, a writer not anterior to Johnson's limited period of authority, and Tooke produces several instances of his use of it ; in all which it is applied to the earth, or glebe, or turf, which are not usually actuated by a very contentious spirit. BEAD. Spherula precatoria, say Junius and Skinner ; and the latter adds, " parum deflexo sensu ab Anglo-Saxon, Beabe, oratio, iude, Bibban, precari." Johnson adopts this Beade, oratio. Instead, however, of Bibban, precari, being from Beade, oratio, — Bead, (T.) is the past participle of Bibban, orare, to Bid, to invite, to solicit, to request, to pray. — Bead (something prayed) is so called, because one was dropped down a string every time a prayer was said, and thereby marked upon the string the number of times prayed. BED, i. e. Stratum, (T.) the past participle of Bebbian, stemere. Therefore we speak of a garden bed, and a bed of gravel, &c. And in the Anglo-Saxon, Bebb is sometimes used for a table. Johnson gives as the primitive meaning, " Something made to sleep on ;" and after five more particular applications, he does approach the real signification. Junius and Skinner ramble strangely. BELIKE, adv. (from like, as by likelihood.} 1. Probably, likely, perhaps. 2. It is sometimes used in a sense of irony, as it may be supposed. What sense of irony the words " it may be supposed" convey, must be found, if any where, in the rest of the sentence. Belike. (T.) This word is perpetually employed by Sir Philip Sidney, Hooker, Shakspeare, B. Jonson, Sir VV. Raleigh, Bacon, Milton, ain. Betwixt, (T.) (by Chaucer written Bytwyt,') is the imperative Be, the Gothic Twos, or two; and was written in the Anglo-Saxon Bet)?eox, Betjmx, Betjux, and BetJ^yxt. For Between, Johnson is content with BetJ?eonan, Betjunan, Saxon, from the original word cj;a ; though Skinner guides him to the correct etymology, and both Skinner and Junius furnish him with the changes of Betwixt : but by his plan he had saved himself the trouble of using such information. He was aware of the duality peculiar to Between. BEYOND, (T.) (in the Anglo-Saxon VUrSgeonban, Bi;z;eonb, Begeonb,) means be passed. It is the imperative Be, compounded with the past participle Ireonb, Ijeoneb, or Ironeb, of the verb Dan, Iranian, or Irongan, to go, to pass. So that " Beyond any place," means — Be passed that place, or Be that place passed. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 55 Johnson says, that Beyond means Before ; and half a dozen other such explana- tions may be found in his Dictionary. Yonne, or Yonder, is classed by B. Jonson in his English Grammar among the pronouns ; and it is constantly used as one to this day in the north of England. BIRTH. Skinner refers Johnson to the verb to bear, parere ; but Johnson prefers his BeojvS, Saxon. . It is., according to Tooke, the third person singular of the pre- sent indicative of trie verb to bear, from the Anglo-Saxon Beajmn. BIT, > Bit, n. s. (from bite.) 1. As much meat as is put into the mouth at once. BAIT. 3 2. A small piece of any thing. Bait, n. s. (from the verb.) Bait, v. a. (Batan, Saxon; baitzen, German.) 1. To put meat upon a hook, in some place, to tempt fish or other animals. J. The first meat which Johnson puts upon his hook is a saint, and the animal to be tempted is another saint. 2. To give meat to one's self, or horses, on the road. The only horses which Johnson could find to feed are those of the sun. To Bait, v. n. to stop at any place for refreshment : perhaps this word is now pro- perly bate, to abate speed. Bit, Bait, (says Tooke,) whether used (like Morso, Morseau, Morsel,} for a small piece, part, or portion, of any thing ; or for the part of a bridle (imboccatura) put into a horse's mouth ; or for that hasty refreshment which man or beast takes upon a journey ; or for that temptation which is offered by treachery to fish or fool ; is but one word differently spelled, and is the past participle of the verb to Bite. Johnson derives To Bite, from Saxon, Bitan, and Bait, from Batan ; Junius says, " Bait valde affinis Anglo-Saxon, Bitan, mordere." BLAZE, > A Blaze, (T.) or Blase, is the past tense of Anglo-Saxon Blaeran, flare. BLAST. 3 By adding the participial termination ed, we have Blaz'd, Blas'd, Blast. Blast, the noun, Johnson derives from Blaej-t, Saxon ; Blasen, German, to blow: and he indulges in a few nonsensicalities worth our notice. Blast means " 1. A gust or puff of wind. 2. A sound made by blowing any instrument of wind mu- sick. 3. The stroke of a malignant planet ; the infection of any thing pestilential, (from the verb, to blast.)" The reader may probably not be satisfied with this etymology, and may wish to learn whence the verb to blast ; and if he will cast his eye down two lines only, Johnson will tell him thus: " To blast, v. a. (from the noun,) to strike with some plague or calamity." — Such etymology as this seems borrowed from the irreverent divine, who, appalled at the long series of genera- 56 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION tions in the first chapter of St. Matthew, after reading a verse or two, concluded thus summarily : " And so they begat each other to the end of the chapter." BLIND, (T.) Blined, Blin'd, is the past participle of the Old English verb, To Blin, (Anglo-Saxon, Bhnnan,) to stop. Lye says, in Junius, " Blinn, vet. Angl. Cessare, desistere, desistere. Anglo- Saxon, Bhnnan." And Mr. Tyrwhitt says, that to Blin means to cease. In Chaucer it is written Blynne, and by Lord Surrey, Blin. Johnson has not the verb, and therefore he gives the particular application of the participle to the sense of sight, as " the natural meaning." Under the verb To blind, we are taught that " To darken the understanding, and to obscure the understanding," are ex- pressions of different meanings. BLOW, I (T.) Sir Walter Raleigh, in his History of the World, instead of Blow BLOWTH. S uses Blowth, (the third person singular of the indicative of Bloj^an, flo- rere,") as the common expression of his day. Johnson saw that Blowth must be from blow ; but he knew nothing about the third person indicative. BLUNT, adj. (etymology uncertain.) Johnson could not relish what Skinner or Junius supply. " Potius immediate a Belg. Plomp,Obtusus, mediate ab eodem(sc. F.Plomb) et Lat. Plumbum." Skinnei. As Blind (T.) has been shewn to be Blin-ed ; so Blunt is Blon-ed, the past parti- ciple of the Anglo-Saxon verb, Bhnnan, to blin, to stop. Blon is the regular Anglo-Saxon past tense ; to which, by adding ed, we have Blon-ed, Blon'd, Blont or Blunt, i. e. stopped in its decreasing progress towards a point or an edge. The reader may now judge for himself, whether the etymology be so very un- certain. BOLD, \ Johnson carries us no farther than to Balb, Saxon, for bold; and to Boult, BOLT, > Dutch, (Sotvj;, for bolt ; but he can find eight divisions of meaning for the first, and for the latter he attempts no more than particular applications. Perhaps, with Mr. Tyrwhitt, he thought it primarily meant, " an arrow." Our Cyclopaedist says, that Bold originated in Validus, and Bolt is fates or M>;, the thing cast. Bold (T.) is the past participle of the verb To build. Bolt is the same. Our English word, to build, is the Anglo-Saxon Bylban, to confirm, to establish, to make firm and sure and fast, to consolidate, to strengthen ; and is applicable to all other things, as well as to dwelling-places. And thus a man of confirmed cou- rage, i. e. confirmed heart, is properly said to be a builded, built, or bold man ; who in the Anglo-Saxon is termed Bylb, Bylbeb, Ire-bylb, Ere-bylfceb, as well as Balb. The Anglo-Saxon words Bolb and Bolr, i. e, Builded, Built, are both OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 57 likewise used indifferently for what we now call a building [builden) or strong edifice. BOND, -\ (T.) however spelled, and with whatever subaudition applied, is still one BAND, > and the same word, and is merely the past participle of the verb to Bind. BOUND, 3 Bundle, i. e. Bondel, Bond-dsel, is a compound of two participles, Bond and Dcel, i. e. a small part or parcel bound up. — See Deal. Bond, n. s. (Bonb, Saxon, bound; it is written indifferently in many of its senses Bond or Band. See Band.) After this association of Bond and Band, it was not unreasonable to expect that a common origin should be assigned them ; but no — Band is from bende, Dutch ; Banb, Saxon. — Bound is, to be sure, from the verb to bind, and that again is from Binban, Saxon. Bundle, n. s. (Bynble, Saxon, from Bynb.) Band and Bond are both by Skinner derived from to Bind ; and he and Junius also give the same derivation to the first part of Bundle, in which Johnson fol- lows them: BORN, > Johnson has with one orthography, Born, and they are the same word, i. e. BORNE, > the past participle of Beapan, Anglo-Saxon, to bear. It was formerly written Boren. — Born (adds Tooke) is borne into life, or into the world. Beam, — vox toti septentrionali Angliae communis, says Skinner ; — yet it is not in Johnson. Beam (T.) (for a child) is also the past participle of Bearan, to bear, with this only difference, that J3orrc or Bor-en is the past tense Bore, with the participial termination en ; and Beam is either the past tense, Bare, or the indicative Bear, with the participial termination, en. BOW, "}(T.) This word (for it is but one word differently spelled) whether ap- BOUGH, f plied to the inclination of the body in reverence ; or to an engine of war ; BAY, C or an instrument of music ; or a particular kind of knot ; or the curved BUX-OM. j part of a saddle, or of a ship ; or to the Arc-en-ciel ; or to bended legs ; or to the branches of trees; or to any recess of the sea-shore, or in buildings, in barns, or windows, always means one and the same thing; viz. bended or curved; and is the past tense, and therefore the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Byjan, flec- tere, incurvare. It will not at all surprize you that this word should now appear amongst us so differently written as Bote, Bough, and Bay, when you consider that in the Anglo-Saxon the past tense of Bygan, was written Bogh, Bug, and Beah. Note. — I would recQmmeud the above quotation from the Diversions of Purley to the serious consideration of Mr. Dugald Stewart, and his fulsome flatterers, who do not yet understand the difference between the meaning, and, what they call, I 58 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION the import of a word ; which import must always depend upon the application and subaudition, and of course be subject to numerous variations ; whereas the meaning never changes. Buxom, (T.) in the Anglo-Saxon Bog-rum, Boc-rum, Buh-rum ; in old English Bough-some, i. e. easily bended or bowed to one's will, or obedient. Junius and Skinner led Johnson to the true meaning of this word Buxom, and he is not a little proud of his learning. In his Life of Gray, he affirms, " His epithet * buxom health' is not elegant; he seems not to understand the word." Whether it be elegant or not is a matter of taste, and in matters of taste Johnson is no authority. I think it quite clear, however, that Gray knew the meaning of the word, and has here applied it in its proper meaning. Health may correctly be called buxom, when it may be easily bowed or bended to the will, or made obedient to the inclinations of youth for the enjoyment of those active sports and exercises, which health alone can enjoy. In the explanation and etymology of Bay, Bow, Bough, Johnson made little use of the good sense of Skinner. BAY, (says Skinner,) petendum est, a verb, Anglo-Saxon, Bugan, Bygan, flectere ; nihil enim aliud est Sinus, quara littoris qucedam flexura et curvatura. And this is adopted by Lye. Baye, (Dutch,) satisfies Johnson ; and he says that it means, " an opening into the land, where the water is shut in on all sides, except at the entrance." The verb to bow. Skinner derives from the same Anglo-Saxon verb ; and Bow, arcus, from the verb to bow ; Johnson gives no etymology for this noun. Bow, " the doubling of a string in a slip knot," he thinks is corruptly used for bought ; and bought^ he tells us, is from bow. The Bough of a tree, also, Skinner seems inclined to derive " a flexibilitate," from the verb to bow. Johnson is content with Bog, Saxon, and has no idea of the meaning of the word. He says it means " An arm or large shoot of a tree, bigger than a branch, yet not always distinguished from it." A bay window, (which is no other than a bow or bowed window) Mr. Tyrwhit thinks is probably a large window ; so called, because it occupied a whole bay, i. e. the whole space between two cross beams. Mr. Steevens, and even Minshew, could have told him better. (Reed, V. 384.) Johnson says that Bay in architec- ture is " a term used to signify the magnitude of a building." BRAND, ^ (T.) Brand, in all its uses, whether fire-brand, or a brand of infamy, (i.e.. BROWN, > stigma, itself a participle of but i. e. exist, stand, &c. the system cannot have been eternal. " In the divisions I have made, I have endeavoured the test I could to govern myself by the diversity of matter." i. e. Be the diversity of matter, or the diver- sity of matter being — that which governed, guided, or ruled my conduct. " Judge the event By what has passed." i. e. What has passed being the cause of the judgment formed. M Her brother Rivers Ere this lies shorter by the head at Pomfret." i. e. Be the head, or the head being (when cut off) that by which the shortness was caused. " By her he had two children at one birth." i. e. Be her, or she being the means. Johnson's first explanation of the word by, is, " It notes the agent." And poor Lancelot is produced as the agent who, suis viribus, it should seem in Johnson's opinion had generated one likeness of himself: for Johnson declares that when two children are produced at one birth it notes co-operation ; but when only one, an agent merely. " Having been in possession thereof by the space of seven hundred years." i. e. Be seven hundred years the space of time elapsed, &c. " By this time, the very foundation was removed." i. e. Be this time come, or this time being come. " Sail by it." i. e. Be it (sub. the place, which you pass in sailing.) 72 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION " The church stands by thy tabour, if thy tabour stand by the church." i. e. Thy tabour being — the church being, (sub. the proximate object.) " Sitting in some place by himself." i. e. Be himself, (sub. alone.) " He kept then some of the spirit by him, to verify what he believes." i. e. Him- self being (sub. the keeper.) " His Godhead I invoke, by him I swear." i. e. Be he (sub. the witness of what l swear.) " Now by your joys on earth, your hopes in heaven, O spare this great, this good, this aged king." i.e. Be your joys, be your hopes (sub. causes for sparing or motives to spare.) "And cruel calls the gods, and cruel thee, By name i. e. You being named. " The gods were said to feast with Ethiopians : that is, they were present with them by their statues." i. e. Be their statues, or their statues being (sub. present as their representatives.) Thus I have passed through one example to each of Johnson's twenty-five sup- posed meanings ; and if the reader's patience has not been exhausted by but and by, I heartily congratulate him on his abundant stock. As an exercise for the residual portion, let him transcribe Johnson's explanations, and endeavour to arrange the preceding examples into the places allotted to them by Johnson. Or if that should be too severe a task, let him at least satisfy himself, that the word by has but one meaning, and that the meanings imputed to it by Johnson, whether of agent, or instrument, or cause, or means, or manner, (for all these does he distin- guish as separate meanings,) or of quantity, place, permission, proof, conformity, ground of judgment, sum of the difference, co-operation, time, passage, prox- imity, &c. which he has huddled together ; — that all these meanings are to be sought in the context of the sentence, or in some subaudition to be inferred from it. In such resolutions of sentences as above, we have no choice but this : — Either the word explained must contain within itself, as part of its own intrinsick mean- ing, the various meanings attributed to it by Johnson ; or it must preserve one uniform meaning, and the variety of meaning must be in the other words, or a sub- audition of others. The mode of supplying the subaudition may not unfrequently be somewhat harsh to our ears ; but harshness must be endured to escape absurdity. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 73 c. Cage, n. s. (cage, French ; from cavea, Latin.) An enclosure of twigs or wire, in which birds are kept. Six examples of this meaning are thought necessary. One is the cele- y brated reason of Swift, why so few marriages are happy ; viz. " Because young ladies spend their time in making nets, not in making cages ;" i. e. substituting, according to Johnson's own rule, the explanation for the word explained ; " in making textures, woven with large interstices or meshes, not in making enclosures of twigs or wire." Of Gage, Wages, Gag, Keg, Quay, Key, he merely gives the French, Ger- man, and Dutch similar words. Key, n. «. (Coej, Saxon.) 1. An instrument formed with cavities, correspondent to the wards of a lock, by which the bolt of a lock is pushed backward or for- ward. In support of this mechanical description, Johnson has thought it necessary to produce six examples ; and, accordingly, we have, 1. The Key of hell-gate ; 2. The Key of fortune ; 3. St. Peter's Keys ; 4. The Key of eternity ; and, 6. The Key of conscience. All of which, I presume, it is intended that we should believe to be " instruments formed with cavities," &c. &c. Let us hear Mr. Tooke. — Cage, a place shut in and fastened ; in which birds are confined. Also a place in which malefactors are confined. Gage, by which a man is bound to certain fulfilments. Wages, by which servants are bound to perform certain duties. Gag, by which the mouth is confined from speaking. Keg, in which fish or liquors are shut in and confined. Key, by which doors, &c. are confined and fastened. Quay, by which the water is confined and shut out. All these (says Tooke) I believe to be the past participle of the verb Caejgian, obserare. " From the same Anglo-Saxon verb are the French Cage, Gage, Gages, Ga~ geure, Engager, Quai ; the Italian Gaggia, Gaggio, Gabbia ; and the ancient Latin Caiare ; which have so much bewildered the different etymologists." Skinner and Junius consider the Latin Cavea to be the parent of the French L 74 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION and Italian ; and thence of the English Cage. Skinner says of Gage, " a Fr. G. Gage ; Italian, Gaggia, pignus, Gaggiare, pignorare, omnia a Lat. Vas vadis." Of Quay, or, as he writes it, Kay, Junius observes, " Nonnulli post Cajetam in littore Baiani sinus ab ^Enea in memoriara nutricis suce Cajetce conditam, quasvis alias moles in litore maris aut ripa fluvii, onerandarum exonerandarumque naviunx gratia extructas nomen suum Kaey ab hoc nobilissimo portu desumpsisse putant." Skinner prefers the Latin Cavea both for Quay and Gaol. CANT ; (T.) Chaunt, Accent, Canto, Cantata, are the past participles of Canere^ Cantare, and Chanter. Skinner is sadly puzzled for the etymology of Cant. Nescio an a Teut. Cand ; vel a Lat. cento ; — vel a Belg. Kond ; a cantando ; ab Anglo-Saxon fjeneat : — " Sed nihil horum satisfacit." Lye decides for Cantando ; and Johnson thinks that it is " probably from Cantus, Lat. implying the odd tone of voice used by vagrants ; but imagined by some to be corrupted from quaint." And he gives us the primi- tive meaning : — " 1. A corrupt dialect used by beggars and vagabonds." Chant he derives from Chanter, and Accent from Accentus. CARDINAL ; Johnson merely gives Cardinalis, Latin ; though the example which he quotes from Ayliffe carries him to Cardo, the noun, and supplies him with the reason of the application. " A Cardinal (says Ayliffe) is so styled, because serviceable to the apostolick see, as an axle or hinge, on which the whole government of the church turns." For the etymology of Cardo, see Char, &c. CELL, n.s. (cella, Lat.) L A small cavity or hollow place, &c. 2. The cave or little habitation of a religious person. " Then did religion, in a lazy cell, In empty, airy contemplation dwell." Den ii AM. 3. Any small place of residence; a cottage. " Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell Of Fancy, my internal sight." Milton. M In cottages and lowly cells True piety neglected dwells." Somerville, Religion and Piety might surely have been allowed to dwell in the same cell, even to the exclusion of Fancy. CHAP, (T.) Cheap, Chop. — The past participle of Cypan, mercari, to traffick, to bargain, to buy, or sell. CHAIR, AJAR, CHEWR, CHUR, CAR, CART, CHURN. J > OF THE DICTIONARY OF DK. JOHNSON. ^& Good-cheap or bad-cheap, i. e. well or ill bargained, bought, or sold : such were formerly the modes of expression. The modern fashion uses the word only for good-cheap, and therefore omits the epithet good, as unnecessary. To chop and change — means to bargain and change. A Chap or Chapman, — any one who has trafficked. For chop and cheap, Skinner refers to cheapen ; and under cheapen, after enu- merating the Saxon, Belgick, and Teutonick similar words, he exclaims, " Quod ssi omnia a Lat. Captare, deflecterem ?" Cheaping, Johnson says, is an old word for market ; and that a chapman is a cheapener, one who offers as a purchaser. 4t Mer. Casaubon deflectit nostrum chapman a Gr. Kawnixof." Skinner. HAR, 1 We must listen awhile to TA EK TOT TPIIIOAOr. " Churn (Chyren, Chyr'n, Chyrn, is the past participle Cyren, of the Anglo-Saxon verb, Cynan, Xcynan, vertere, revertere ; and it means, turned, turned about, or turned backwards and forwards. This same verb gives us also the following : Char, &c. Menage, Minshew, Junius, Skinner, &c. have no resource for the derivation of Chair, but the Greek xaSttya; in which they all agree. But, though they travel so far for it, none of them has attempted to shew by what steps they proceed from ttaSttya to Chair. The process would be curious upon paper. But xo&etya, though a seat, is not a chair , nor does it convey the same meaning. Chair is a species of seat. It is not a fixed, but a moveable seat ; turned about and returned at pleasure : and from that circumstance it has its deno- mination. It is a chair-se&t. Car, Cart, Chariot, &c. and the Latin Carrus, are the same participle. This word was first introduced into the Roman language by Caesar, who learned it in his war with the Germans. Vossius mistakingly supposes it derived from Currus. So Char-coal is wood turned coal by fire. We borrow nothing here from Car- bone ; but the Latin etymologists must come to us for its meaning, which they cannot find elsewhere ; as they must likewise for Cardo ; that on which the door is turned and returned. A chur-worm is so called, because it is turned about with great celerity. To set the door or the window achar, which we now write ajar, (or as Douglas rit es it, on char,) is to put it neither quite open nor quite shut, but on the turn or return to either. A char- woman is one who does not abide in the house, where she works, as a constant servant, but returns home to her own place of abode, and returns again to her work when she is required. A char, when used alone, means some single, separate act, such as we call a L 2 76 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Turn or a Bout, not any unintermitted coherent business or employment of long continuance. And in the same sense as Char was formerly used, we now use the word Turn. — I'll have a Bout with him. — I'll take a Turn at it. — That Turn is served — (which is equivalent to — That Char is char'd ; though not so quaintly ex- pressed as it would be by saying — That Turn is turned.} — One good Turn deserves another. Char, the fish, I believe with Skinner, is so called — quia hie piscis rapide et celeriter se in aqua vertit." So far Tooke. Char, the fish, so well accounted for by Skinner, is declared by Johnson to be of uncertain derivation. Of chur-worm, Skinner also says, " Nescio an ab Anglo-Saxon Cejinan, Cyri- nan, vertere, quia hie vermis prae aliis celeriter se vertit." And as this is a good reason, Johnson takes no notice of it. Ajar, Chewr, and Chur, are not found so written in Junius, Skinner, or Johnson. In Beaumont and Fletcher, Love's Cure, fo. 174, Vol. II. he might have seen the expression : " Here's two chewres chewr 1 d." Upon which expression in Weber's edition, (Vol. VIII. p. 430) we have this learned and sagacious note : " That is, here are two businesses dispatched. Chewr may be a South country word for business ; but in the North we should say, — Here's two chares char'd" " All's chared, when he is gone ;" that is, " My task is done then." Chare is frequently used for task work. (Weber's B. and F. Vol. XIII. p. 70.) Mr. Steevens also explains Chares to mean task work. Hence, he adds, our term chare- woman. (Shak. Vol. XVII. p. 256.) Johnson, in his Dictionary, says, " Char, n.s. (Cynne, work, Saxon, Lye. It is derived by Skinner either from Charge, Fr. business ; or Cane, Saxon, care ; or Keeren, Dutch, to sweep ;) Work done by the day ; a single job or task. To Char, v. n. (from the noun) To work at others' houses by the day, without being a hired servant," (i. e. without being a servant, " procured for temporary use at a certain price, or engaged in temporary service for wages ;") such being Johnson's explanation of the word " to hire." — But to proceed — Charwoman, n. s. (from Char and woman) A woman hired ( — hired — but hired — ) " accidentally," (i. e. according to himself, his only parallel, — nonessentially,) " for odd work, or single days." To Char, v. a. (see Charcoal.) To burn wood to a black cinder. Charcoal, n. s. (imagined by Skinner to be derived from Char, business ; but by Lye, from to chark, to burn ;) Coal made by burning wood under turf. Of Churn, (Skinner says,) " potius ab Anglo-Saxon Cynnan, Cennan, quia ad separandum butyrum clava hue illuc valde circumagitur." And in this he is not followed by Johnson. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 77 To Carry, v. a. (charier, French ; from currus, Latin.) To convey from a place ; opposed to bring, or convey to a place : — " And devout men carried Stephen to his burial." Acts. To Charge ; To impute : with on before the person to whom any thing is imputed. Johnson gives five examples, with each a different person, nominatim. 1. Na- tive sloth. 2. Peripatetick doctrine. 3. The account of labour. 4. Absolute decree. 5. Necessity. CHICK, n. s. (&c.) 1. The young of a bird, particularly of a hen, or small bird. Johnson deemed it necessary to illustrate this explanation by six His first deserves to be selected : — * All my pretty ones ! ((UNIVERSITY What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam, ^ ^ 03 . . At one fell swoop " Shakspeare. >^ilF0B-^l^ The hen, or small bird, whose young these chickens were, I need scarcely add, was Macduff: — " Lay on, Macduff; And damn'd be him that first cries, Hold, enough." See Swoop. CHILL, -\ Mr. Tooke sufficiently exposes the commentators upon Shakspeare who have COOL, > written about the word to keele : but he has not noticed that Johnson, COLD, J in his Dictionary, — upon the authority of Goldsmith, it should seem, — charges Shakspeare with writing Irish. Thus : — " In Ireland, to keel the pot is to scum it. M While greasy Joan doth keel the pot." Shakspeare. Johnson also treats us with Hanmer's notable explanation, (for explanation Johnson calls it,) which is this : " To keel, seems to mean to drink so deep as to turn up the bottom of the pot, like turning up the keel of a ship." And yet Johnson de- rives the word, after Skinner, from Coelan, refrigerare. As Tooke used the first folio of the Dictionary, he might not be aware of this charge against Shakspeare ; it is one of Johnson's improvements in his subsequent editions. In the first folio he also had said, that " to keel probably means to cool," which he afterwards expunged. For Chill, Skinner refers to Cold, and Cold he traces to Coelan. Junius also derives Chill, Cold, and Cool, from the same Anglo-Saxon verb ; and in this they are not followed by Johnson. 78 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION CHOICE, (T.) was formerly written Chose, and is the past participle of Cij-an, eligere, to cheese, at it was formerly written. Johnson derives it from Choix, French. To Choose, v. n. To have the power of choice between different things. It is ge- nerally joined with a negative, and signifies must necessarily be. CLACK, } Are, in Tooke's opinion, the past participle of the verb to click. Johnson CLOCK, 3 imagines Click to be the diminutive of Clack; but Clock he fetches from Wales and Armorica, with Junius for his guide. CLOSE. (T.) A Close, with its diminutive a Closet, a Clause, a Recluse, a Sluice, are past participles of Claudere and Clorre. Johnson derives the noun and the adjective Close, from the verb ; and the verb from the Armorick, the Dutch, the French, and the Latin; Recluse, the adj. from the French Rectus, and Latin Reclusus ; and Sluice, with the aid of Junius and Skinner, from Sluyse, Dutch ; Escluse, French ; and Sclusa, Italian. CLOUGH,} (T.) As well as Cleeve, Cleft, Clift, Cliff, and Cloven, are the past par- CLOUT, 3 ticiple of Chopan, findere, to cleave. Clouve, Clough, cleaved or divided — into small pieces. Clouved, Clouv'd, Clout. Clouted cream is so called for the same reason. Cleft, Clift, Cliff, is Cleaved, Cleav'd, Cleft. — In Chaucer they are written Clyfte, Cleuis, Clyffe. Johnson allows Cleft to be from the verb to Cleave ; but Cliff and Clift he re- fers to the Latin Clivus : though Skinner tells him that it also is from the English verb to Cleave; and Junius guides him quite home to the Anglo-Saxon Chopan, findere. Clough, Johnson derives from Clough, Saxon. — Skinner again directing him to the verb to Cleave. Clouted, particip. adj. Congealed, coagulated: corruptly used for clotted. CLUB, n. s. has, according to Johnson, five distinct meanings, three of which have one etymology assigned them, and two have another. His fourth meaning is — " An assembly of good fellows, meeting under certain conditions." — His example shows his loyalty, and what more ? It is this ; — " What right has any man to meet in factious clubs to vilify the government?" Dryden. TO COIN. 3. To make or forge any thing, in an ill sense. " Those motives induced Virgil to coin his fable." Dryden. " Some tale, some new pretence, he daily cont'd, To sooth his sister, and delude her mind." Dryden. " A term is coined to make the conveyance easy." Atterbury. OP THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 79 It would be difficult to shew any marks of an ill sense in any of these ex- amples. COLOURABLE, Johnson says, is now little used in the sense of specious, plausible; but in this he is not correct : it is constantly so used at the English bar. COME, A kind of adverbial word, for when it shall come, as, " Come Wednesday, when Wednesday shall come." COMFORTABLE, adj. (from comfort.) 1. Receiving comfort; susceptible of com- fort ; cheerful ; of persons. Not in use. " For my sake be comfortable ; hold death Awhile at arm's end." Shakspeare. As you like it. " My lord leans wondrously to discontent: His comfortable temper has forsook him ; He is much out of health." Shakspeare. Timon. Johnson was not aware that this use oi comfortable, i. e. " Able to be comforted," is the only one which etymology justifies. COWARD, (T.) i. e. Cowred, Cowered, Cower'd. One who has cower'd before an enemy. It is of the same import as Supplex. To cowre, or to cower, were for- merly in common use; and of this verb Coward is the past participle. Coward, n. s. (couard, French, of uncertain derivation.) To Cower, v*n. (cwrrian, Welsh ; courber, French ; or perhaps borrowed from the manner in which a cow sinks on her knees.) To Cow, v. a. (from Coward, by contraction.) CRAVEN, (T.) is one who has craved or craven his life from his antagonist — dex- tramque precantem protendens. Craven, n. s. (derived by Skinner from crave, as one that craves or begs his life : perhaps it comes originally from the noise made by a conquered cock.) The annotator upon Beaumont and Fletcher, (Weber's edit. Vol. X. p. 211,) says, " This term ^a craven) was used generally to denote a dastardly coward ; and was derived from the ancient judicial trials by combat, where the person van- quished, upon becoming recreant, and uttering the horrible word ' Craven,' saved his life, but became ever after infamous." What this horrible word meant, the writer cares not to inquire. In a note on Ford, by the same editor, (Vol. I. p. 13,) we have a long account of the ancient custom of Appeal of Battle, duly supported by a reference to Blackstone's Com- mentaries, which is gravely closed with this cautious declaration: " I am informed, that amongst cock-fighters the word is still in use." Reed. 80 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Mr. Steevens (Reed, Vol. IX. p. 85,) says, " A craven is a degenerate, dis- pirited cock." CRISP. (T.) In the Anglo-Saxon, Cinpj*, (the past participle) of Cijipj-ian, crispare, torquere." And Tooke also considers the Anglo-Saxon to be the root of the La- tin crispare. Johnson derives the adjective Crisp, from Crispus, and the verb from Crispo. CRUM. (T.) Mica, is the past participle of Cnymman, ftcnymman, friare. Skinner gives the Saxon, Dutch, and German similar words, in which he is fol- lowed by Johnson ; and also the Anglo-Saxon verb TCcnymman, in which he is not followed by Johnson. " Videntur esse ex tyw**, mutato t into «," (says Junius. To Crumble, is a corrupt termination in ble, from the Dutch Krammelen. CUCKOLD, n. s. (cocu, French, from coucoo.) CUCKOO, n. s. (cuculus, Latin; cwccw, Welsh; cocu, French; kockock, Dutch.) 1 . A bird, which appears in the spring, and is said to suck the eggs of other birds, and lay her own to be hatched in their place : from which practice, it was usual to alarm a husband at the approach of an adulterer, by calling cuckoo ; which, by mistake, was at last applied to the husband. If Tooke's etymology be correct, (and doubtless it is,) there is no mistake in the case : he says, — " The Italian cucolo, a cuckow, gives us the verb to cucol, (without the termi- nating d,) as the common people rightly pronounce it, and as the verb was for- merly, and should still, be written : — " I am cuckolled and fool'd to boot too." B. and Fletcher, Woman Pleased. " If he be married, may he dream he's cuckoVd." B. and Fletcher, Loyal Subject. To cucol, is, to do as the cuckow does : and cucol-ed, cucoVd, cucold, its past participle, means-— cuckow-ed ; i. e. served as the cuckow serves other birds. Nothing can be, more unsatisfactory and insipid than the labours (for they laboured it) of Du Cange, Mezerai, Spelman, and Menage, concerning this word. Chaucer's bantering etymology is far preferable." Remedy of Love, fo. 34, p. 2, col. 1. Junius, Vossius, and Skinner, were equally wide of the mark. Inepte autem Celtae, eosque imitati Belgse, cuculum vocant ilium qui, uxorem habens adulteram, alienos liberos enutrit pro suis : nam tales currucas dicere OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 81 debemus, ut paret ex natura utriusque avis, et contrario usu vocis cuculi apud Plautura. Vossii etym. Lat. Hi plane confuderunt Cuculum et Currucam. Junius. Certum autem est nostrum Cuckold, non a Cuculo ortum duxisse : tales enim non Cuculi sunt, sed Currucce : non sua ova aliis supponunt ; sed e contra, aliena sibi supposita incubant et fovent." Skinner. The whole difficulty of etymologists, and their imputation upon us of absur- dity, are at once removed by observing, that, in English, we do not call them Cuculi, but Cuculati, (if I may coin the word on this occasion,) i. e. we call them not Cuckoxo8, but cuckowed. — Thus far Mr. Tooke ; and I have been the more copious in extracting the notes accompanying this etymology, for the purpose of giving effect to the contrast which the Cyclopaedist supplies, and which I shall present with a single and short remark. " Few people," (he declares,) " know how the Cuckow does ; but all know how a Cock acts on such occasions. Kokoraa is an eastern word, which, coming into Italy, gave birth to cicurio, to crow ; and changing r into the connate I, as is often the case, to kokalaa, which, in Celtic, is kilog and kilogee, to act as a cock does with a hen. This, we presume, is the origin of Cuckold." If this be the meaning of Cuckold, then is it no longer a word of fear ; and surely there is not a married man in Christendom to whom the name may not justly be applied, and without being indebted for it to " Sir Smile, his neighbour.*" CUD. To chew the Cud, (says Tooke,) is to chew the chew'd. And so Dr. Thomas Hickes and Skinner would have taught Johnson, had he possessed any docility. D. DAM, n. 8. (dam, Dutch.) A mole or bank to confine water. To Dam, v. a. (oemman, ponebemman, Saxon; dammen, Dutch.) 1. To confine, or shut up, water by moles or dams. " Home I would go, But that my doors are hateful to my eyes ; FHPd and damin'd up with gaping creditors." OtwaV. This is one of Johnson's examples of confining water. He found the word * See Winter's Tale. M 82 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION used by Shakspeare of fire, and by Milton of light. Yet this did not assist him to discover that the word had one meaning with many applications. The editor of Ford (Vol. I. p. 249,) assures us, that damm'd up " is a verb formed from the dams or dikes, raised to defend flat countries from inundations." Of the word Dumb, Johnson gives four different interpretations, attributing in each a meaning to the word, which belongs to the context, and he proffers He- brew, Gothick, Saxon, Danish, and Dutch similar words, as etymology. Dam (T.) and Dumb, are the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Daeman, Demman, obturare, obstruere, to dam. — Dumb means dammed, i. e. obstructed, or stopped. It was formerly written Dome and Dum, without the 6.— In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakspeare writes, fo. 344, — " So he nodded, And soberly did mount an arme-gaunt steede, Who neigh'd so hye, that what I would have spoke Was beastly dumbe by him " Upon which we have the following notes, — Reed, Vol. XVII. p. 56 : " Was beastly dumb'd by him.] The old copy has dumbe. The correction was made by Mr. Theobald. " Alexis means (says he) the horse made such a neighing, that if he had spoke he could not have been heard." Malone. " The verb which Mr. Theobald would introduce is found in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1609 : " Deep clerks she dumbs" &e. Steevens. There needs (says Tooke) no alteration. Dumbe is the past tense. — What I would have spoke was, in a beastly manner, obstructed by him. DAMN, Johnson derives from Damno ; and Tooke, Damno from the Anglo-Saxon Daman. If Johnson's explanations of this word, and of the adjectives and nouns immediately from it are right, there is an end to all discussion among theologians, as to the duration of future punishments. The lexicographer has settled that they must be " eternal, never-ending," and the objects of them of course " excluded from divine mercy." At Delphis oracula cessant. DASTARD, n. s. (Xbaj-rruga, Saxon,) is all that Johnson supplies. " Fortasse ab Anglo-Saxon Sbarrjiigan, deterrere." Lye. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 83 " Dastard, pusillanimous, ab Anglo-Saxon Hbaj-tnigan, deterrere." Skinner. Dastard, (T.) i. e. Terrilus, the past participle of Daj-tnijan, ffbaj-tnigan, terrere. Dastriged, Dastriyed, Dastried, Dastred, Dastr'd." DATE, (T.) is merely the past participle datum, which was written by the Romans at the bottom of their letters. Johnson says, that it means the time at which a letter is written. He might with as much propriety have said, that it means the place. It in fact means nei- ther, but may be applied with a subaudition either of time or place. DAY, n. s. (Dffig, Saxon.) Dawn, n. s. (from the verb.) To Dawn, v. n. (supposed by etymologists to have been originally to dayen, to ad- vance towards day.) He should have added the opinion of Skinner: — " Mihi magis probatur ab Anglo-Saxon Deegian, diescere." Day, (says Tooke,) is the past participle Daj, of the Anglo-Saxon Daejian, lucescere. By adding the participial termination en to Dag, we have Dagen, or Dawn. DEALE, ^Deal, n.s. (deel, Dutch.) DELL, / Skinner and Junius both conduct Johnson to the Anglo:Saxon verb DOLE, y Dselan, dividere, partiri. Dell, in this application, is not in his Diction- DOULE, V ary, and not at all in Skinner and Junius. JPOWLE, -^Dole, n.s. (from deal — Deelan, Saxon.) 1. The art of distribution or dealing. 2. Any thing dealt out or distributed. " Fal. Now, my master, happy man be his dole, say I, every man to his busi- ness." Shakspeare. In this last explanation Johnson has a manifest advantage over the commenta- tors on Shakspeare, who are exposed by Tooke ; but Johnson cannot escape with- out an absurdity. He gives as the fifth explanation of this word — Dole. U 5. (from dolor,) Grief, sorrow; misery." Dowle and Doule are not in Skinner nor in Johnson. Junius says, " Doule Chaucero usurpatur pro Deale t Pars, Portio. «• The gryffon grinned as he were wode, And loked lovely as an owle, And swore by cockes herte and blode, He would him tere every doule." PI. T. 1259. This very passage is produced by Mr. Steevens (Vol. IV. p. 118,)— who does not appear to be aware of the use which Junius had made of it, — in support of his M 2 84 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION adoption of Bailey's explanation of Dowle to be " a feather, or rather the single particles of the down." Tooke supports the opinion of Junius. " What think you (he asks) is contained in this threat of the gryffon ? That he will tear off the feathers or the small particles of down from the pelican ? Surely not. But that he would tear him, as we say ; piecemeal; tear every piece of him, tear him all to pieces." In a note upon the word Dole, in the passage cited by Johnson, Malone requires us to refer to Vol. V. p. 145, n. 1. And when the reader has taken the trouble to do so, what does he learn ? This : " Happy man be his dole ! A proverbial expression." Steevens. But what this proverbial expression may mean, neither Mr. Steevens nor Mr. Malone inform us. All the above words Tooke concludes to be " the past tense and past par- ticiple of the (G.) verb Dailyan, (S.) Daelan, dividere, partiri, to Deal, to divide, to distribute." After many other examples, he gives the following : — " We rede in holy wryte, Deut. xxvii. Cursed be he that flytteth the boundes and the Boles or termes of his neyghbour, and putteth him out of his ryght." — Dives and Pauper, 10th comm. cap. 7. In this last passage, (he observes) Dole is applied to a land-mark, by which the lands of different occupants are divided and apportioned. Dal, (T.) Doel, Dole, Doule, Dowle, Deal, Dell, are all but one word differ- ently pronounced and differently written ; and mean merely a part, piece, or por- tion, without any adsignification of feather or down or alms, or any other thing. And when the cards are dealed or dealt round to the company within doors ; each person may as properly be said to receive his dole or dowle, (i. e. that which is dealed out, distributed, or dealt to him,) as the attendant beggars at the gate. — Johnson shuts his eyes to the rational suggestion of Skinner, that dollar is from fesel, portio " quia sc. est Aurei seu Ducati dimidium." Tooke agrees with Skinner. DEARTH, n. s. (from dear.} 1. Scarcity, which makes food dear. Dear, adj. (beon, Saxon.) 1. Beloved; favourite; darling. Perhaps " the rigour of interpretative lexicography" may require, that the pri- mitive meaning of this adjective and that of the substantive, (which according to Johnson himself is derived from the adjective,) should bear some evidence of their affinity ; but Johnson heeds not such trifling difficulties. His fourth explanation of the adjective is thus : — " 4. It seems to be sometimes used in Shakspeare for deer sad, hateful ; grievous." But of Deer we find no account in the Dictionary. The commentators on Shakspeare were distressed by this word, as will suffi- ciently appear from the following extracts. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 85 Duke. " Notable pyrate, thou salt-water theefe, What foolish boldnesse brought thee to their mercies, Whom thou in termes so bloudie, and so deere, Hast made thine enemies ? " Twelfth Night, fo. 272. f Dear is immediate, consequential. So, in Hamlet l " Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven," &c. Steevens. «< Then, if sickly eares, Deaft with the clamours of their owne deare grones, Will bear your idle scornes," &c. Love's Labour's Lost, fo. 144. " Dear should here, as in many other places, be dere, sad, odious." Johnson. " I believe dear in this place, as in many others, means only immediate, conse- quential. So, already in this scene : .Full of dear guiltiness." Steevens. ** How canst thou urge God's dreadful law to us, When thou hast broke it in such dere degree." Richard III. fo. 181. " This is a word of mere enforcement, and frequently occurs with different shades of meaning in our author. So, in Timon of Athens." Steevens. And in a note on Troilus and Cressida (Vol. XV. 449,) Mr. Steevens repeats that " Dear, on this occasion, seems to mean important, consequential." " Our hope in him is dead : let us returne, And straiue what other means is left unto us In our deere perill " Timon of Athens, fo. 97. " In our dear peril.] So the folios, and rightly. The Oxford editor alters dear to dread, not knowing that dear, in the language of that time, signified dread, and is so u«ed by Shakspeare in numberless places." Warburton. " Dear, in Shakspeare's language, is dire, dreadful. So, in Hamlet, (ut su- pra.)" Malone. '* Dear may, in the present instance, signify immediate, or imminent. It is an enforcing epithet, with not always a distinct meaning. To enumerate each of the seemingly various senses in which it may be supposed to have been used by our author, would at once fatigue the reader and myself. " In the following situations it cannot signify either dire or dreadful :— 86 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION " Consort with me in loud and dear petition." Troilus and Cressida. " .Some dear cause Will in concealment wrap me up a while." King Lear. Steevens. I have deemed it best to let these editors display their own uncertainty and con- fusion. Mr. Steevens would have been much relieved from his difficulties in this and other instances, had he learned the first duty of a commentator ; viz. To settle the meaning of the word from its etymology : — that being done, it would have cost his sagacity little trouble^ to perceive the reason of the various appli- cations. Dearth (says Tooke) is the third person singular of the English (from the Anglo- Saxon verb, Denian, nocere, laedere) to Dere. It means some, or any, season, weather, or other cause, which Dereth, i. e. maketh dear, hurteth or doth mis- chief. — The English verb to Dere, was formerly in common use." He then produces about twenty examples. The last is the one from Hamlet, in which Mr. Steevens interprets the word to mean, " immediate, consequential." Tooke continues. — " Johnson and Malone, who trusted to their Latin to ex- plain his (Shakspeare's) English, for Deer and Deerest would have us read Dire and Direst ; not knowing that Dene and Depienb meant hurt and hurting, mis chief and mischievous ; and that their Latin Dirus is from our Anglo-Saxon Dene, which they would expunge.' 1 Dere, then, is properly applied to any object which excites a sensation of hurt, pain, and, consequently, of anxiety, solicitude, care, earnestness, &c. DEED, is Dab, Anglo-Saxon ; Daed, Dutch ; according to Skinner, Junius, and Johnson. Deed, (T.) (like actum and factum,) means — something, any thing done. It is the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Don, to do. Do-ed, did, deed, is the same word differently spelled. It was formerly written Dede, both for the past tense and past participle. DEEP, adj. (beep, Saxon,) Having length downwards, &c. Depth, n.s. (from deep; of diep, Dutch.) Dabchick, n. 8. (Colymbus,) A small water-fowl, called likewise Dobchick, and Di- dapper, and Dipchick. Deep, (T.) which some (Junius for one) derive from BvSog, fundum ; primis tri- bus Uteris inversis, and others from Awla, (Skinner for one,) is merely the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Dippan, mergere, to dip, to dive. In Doh-chick, or Dob-c/iick, Dab or Dob, (so pronounced for Dap or Dop,) is OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 87 also the past participle of Dippan ; by the accustomed change of the charac- teristic i to a or o. Depth, also, is- the third person singular of the same verb: — Dippeth, Depth.— DIM, is, according to Junius, from AufMxBat ; Skinner from Demmen, obturare ; and Johnson from Dow, Erse. It is (T.) the past participle of Dimnian, Xbimnian, obscurare. It Was for- merly written Dimn. DIN, -\ Din, n. 8. (byn, a noise ; bynan, to make a noise, Saxon ; dyna, to thunder, DINT,> Iceslandick.) A loud noise, a violent and continued sound. DUN, y Dint, n.s. (byne, Saxon.) 1. A blow, or stroke. To Dun, v. a. (bunan, Saxon, to clamour.) Dun, n. 8. (from the verb,) A clamorous, importunate, troublesome creditor. The substantives (T.) are all the past participle of Dynan, strepere, to din. A Dun is one who has dinned another for money, or any thing. To Dun, " Debitoris auribus obstrepere," says Skinner. " Cujus originem videre licet in Dinn, sonitus," says Lye. DITCH, -\ Ditch, n. s. (bic, Saxon ; diik, Erse.) A trench cut in the grounds, usually DYCHE,C between fields. DIKE. 3 Dike, n. 8. (bijc, Saxon ; dyk, Erse.) Skinner gives Johnson much better information. He refers him to the Anglo- Saxon Dician, for Ditch or Dike ; and declares it to be clearer than the sun at noon day : — " Ortum esse a verbo to dig, omniuo ut fossa a fodiendo." Tooke asserts, that they are all three the same word : — The past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Dician, fodere, to dig ; as the Latin reputed substantive Fossa, is the past participle of fodere. In these words, (he continues,) Dig, Dike, Dyche, Ditch, we see at one view how easily and almost indifferently we pronounce the same word either with g, k, or ch. DITTY and DITTO, Tooke thinks, are the past participle of Dicere, and so says Skinner of Ditty; but Johnson prefers the Dutch, Dicht. DOOM, " Vide etymon in Deem," says Skinner ; and Deem he derives from the Anglo- Saxon Deman, judicare ; with little advantage, however, to Johnson. Doom, n. 8. (bom, Saxon ; doem, Dutch.) — This is his etymon of the noun ; though he derives the verbs, To deem and To doom, from the same source as Skinner does. Doom (T.) is the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb, Deman, judicare, censere, decernere, To deem. 88 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION DOT, n. s. (This is derived by Skinner from Dotter, German, the white of an egg ; and interpreted by him a grume of pus. It has now no such signification, and seems rather corrupted from jot, a point.) A small point or spot made to mark any place in a writing. — He also gives — To Dot, v. a. To mark with specks ; — and, To Dot, v. n. (from the noun,) To make dots or spots. The three words stand without example in the Dictionary. Dot (T.) is merely the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Dyttan, occlu- dere, obturare, to stop up, to shut in. It has the same meaning as Dytteb, Sax. Ditted, occlusum. It is not " made to mark any place in a writing ;" but is what we call a full stop. The verb To dit, to stop up, is used, in its participle, by Douglas, Booke v. p. 155. DOTARD, > Johnson derives both from the verb To dote, and the former, accord- DOTTEREL. 3 ing to him, means " A man whose age has impaired his intellects." Dotard, Tooke believes to be Doder'd, (i. e. Befooled,) the regular past partici- ple of Dybenian, Dybjtian, illudere, to delude. Dotterel is its diminutive. DOUGH, n.s. (bah, Saxon; deegh, Dutch.) 1. The paste of bread or pies yet un- baked. Dew, n. s. ($eaj>, Saxon ; daaw, Dutch.) The moisture upon the ground. « Never yet one hour in bed Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep, But with his tim'rous dreams was still awak'd." Shakspeaue. «' The churchman bears a bounteous mind, indeed ; A hand as fruitful as the lands that feed us ; His dew falls every where. " Id. Such are some of Johnson's instances of moisture upon the ground. Dough (T.) is the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon Deajnan, to moisten or to wet. Dough, therefore, or Dow, means wetted. — Dew, (Anglo-Saxon, DeaJ?,) though differently spelled and pronounced, is the same participle with the same meaning. After the bread has been wetted, (by which it becomes Dough,) then comes the leaven, (which in the Anglo-Saxon is termed Haej: and Hsepen,) by which it becomes Loaf. — See Bread, Loaf, and Leaven. Skinner derives Dew from Deajuan, in which he is not followed by Johnson. DOUGHTY, " a nom. DuguS, virtus, et hoc a Dugan, valere." So says Skinner ; but not Johnson. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DH. JOHNSON. 89 Duguth (T.) is the third person singular of the indicative of Dujan, and from DuguS we have Doughty. DOWN, > " S. Johnson, (says Tooke) in point of etymology and the meaning of A DOWN, y words, is always himself. Adown, the adverb, he says, is from a and down, and means, On the ground. Adown, the preposition, means, towards the ground. But though Adown comes from a and down, — Down, the preposition, he says, comes from Sbuna, Saxon, and means, 1st, Along a descent; and, 2dly, Towards the mouth of a river. Down, the adverb, he says, means, — On the ground. But Down, the substan- tive, he says, is from Dun, Saxon, a hill ; but is used now as if derived from the adverb, for it means, 1st, A large open plain or valley. And as an instance of its meaning a valley, he immediately presents us with Salisbury Plain : " On the downs, as we see, near Wilton the fair, A hasten' d hare from greedy greyhound go." He then gives four instances more, to shew that it means a valley ; in every one of which it means hills or rising grounds. To compleat the absurdity, he then says, it means, " 2dly, a hill, a rising ground, and that, this sense is very rare ;" although it has this sense in every instance he has given for a contrary sense ; nor has he given, nor could he give any instance where this substantive has any other sense than that which he says is so rare. — But this is like all the rest from that quarter ; and I repeat it again, the book is a disgrace to the country." The later editions of the Dictionary are not chargeable with the same absurdi- ties with which the first is. In the ninth, a down is not said to be a valley, but " A large open plain, properly a flat ou the top of a hill ;" and the second defini- tion, quoted by Tooke, is entirely omitted : but the example is introduced among those to the first, and now only, explanation. It is this : — " Hills afford pleasant prospects ; as they must needs acknowledge who have been on the downs of Sus* sex." And now let Johnson's admirers estimate the value of this improvement. Mr. Tooke does not seem to be confident in his own etymology. " If," (ho says,) " with Camden, we can suppose the Anglo-Saxon Dun to have proceeded through the gradations of Dufen $ Duven, Duvn, Dun, Don, Down, ' Daven, Davn, Dan, N 90 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION " / should think it more natural to derive both the name of the rivers, and the preposition from Dirpen, the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon Dupan, mergere, to sink, to plunge, to dive, to dip." But Johnson has some further extravagancies under the word Down. He says — Down, (to go,) To be digested ; to be received. " If he be hungry, more than wanton, bread alone will down," &c. Locke. To Down, v. a. (from the particle,) To knock ; to subdue ; to suppress ; to con- quer. " The hidden beauties seem'tl in wait to lie, To down proud hearts that would not willing die." Sidney. DRAUGHT, according to Johnson, is from Draw, and its first meaning is, " The act of drinking ;" but the first meaning of To draw, is, " To pull along ; not to carry." And he can discover fifty-six meanings of this verb. Draught, (says Tooke,) is the past participle of Dpagan, To draugh, (jiow written To draw,) Draughed, DraugKd, Draught. DROP, n.s. (ojioppa, Saxon.) 1. A globule of moisture. Drop, (T.) any thing dripped ; the past participle of To drip. DROSS, according to Tooke, is the past participle of the Gothic Driusan ; Anglo- Saxon Dneoj-an, dejicere, precipitare. Johnson informs us, that it is from Djioj-, Saxon ; and, for the instruction of the unlearned reader, that it means, " The recrement or despumation of metals." And, according to his custom, produces one example, in which there is merely a figurative allusion to metals. DROUGTH, lDrougth, (T.) Anglo-Saxon DnujoS. It was formerly written Dryeth, DRY, f Dryth, and Drith. — Drougth is that which dryeth, the third person DRONE, C singular of the indicative of Drugan, Dpugan, arescere. DRAIN, * Dry, Anglo-Saxon, Djug, is the past participle of the same verb ; as is, also, Drugs, a name common to all Europe, and which means dryed, (sub- aud. Herbs, roots, plants, &c.) When we say any thing is a mere drug, we mean dryed up, worthless. — Drought, n.s. (Dnu^ofte, Saxon.) 1. Dry weather, want of rain. Drug, n.s. (Drogue, French.) 1. An ingredient used in physicks, says Johnson; but whether wet or dry, he says not. For Drug, Skinner refers to Dry, and there we find the Anglo-Saxon verb A>vp.igan : " Mer. Casaubon (he adds) nostrum Dry deflectit a Lat. Aridus, sane rairo, nee laudando artificio." OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 91 Dry, Drone, Drain. — These words, (T.) though differently spelled, and differ- ently applied, are the same past tense and past participle of the Anglo-Saxon Dnygan, excutere, expellere, and, therefore, siccare. Dry, siccus, in the Anglo-Saxon Dnyg, is manifestly the past tense of Djiygan, used participially. Drone, excussus, expulsus, (subaud. Bee,) is written in the Anglo-Saxon, Djian, Djiane. Dnaen, Dnaej, (y in Djiygan being changed into a broad,) is the regular past tense of Dnygan ; — by adding to it the participial termination en, we have Dnajen, Djiag'n, Dnan, (the a broad,) pronounced by us in the south, Drone. Drain is evidently the same past participle, differently pronounced, as Dneen ; being applied to that by which any fluid (or other thing) is expulsura or excus- sum. — Drain, the verb, Johnson derives from the French trainer; and Drain, the substantive, from the verb ; and Drone, from Dnoen, Saxon. — Of Drone, Skinner says, " Crediderim potius contr. a Droven, part, verbi, To drive, quia sc. ab api" bus alveari abiguntur fuci." DRUDGE, Johnson after Skinner, derives from Dneccan, to vex. Tooke derives it from the past participle of Dpeogan, Ire-bneogan, agere, tolerare, pati, sufferre- Dneogenb, the present participle. DULL, > (T.) Dull, Dol, is the regular past tense of DJjehan, D)olan, hebere, hebe- DOLT, 5 tare. And Dolt, i.e. dulled, (or bol-eb, bol'b, bole,) is the past participle of the same verb. To dull was formerly in good use. Johnson presents Teutonick, Welsh, Saxon, and Dutch similar words, and is rather acrimonious in his account of a Dolt. Nor does he appear to have forgotten that his own employment was not his own choice : Dull, (he says,) means, " Not exhilarating ; not delightful : as, To make Dictionaries is dull work." DUNG, n. 8. (Dmej, Saxon,) The excrement of animals used to fatten ground. — Johnson is referred by Skinner to Dyngan. Dung, (T.) (or as it was formerly written Dong,) is the past tense, and, there- fore, past participle of the verb Dyngan, dejicere, to cast down. It therefore means dejectum, and in that meaning only is applied to stercus. DURING, (T.) the French participle durant ; from the Italian ; from the Latin. The whole verb Dure was some time used commonly in our language. Even Johnson says, that this word During, is rather a participle from the verb Dure, than a preposition. N 2 92 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION E. EAR, n. s. (Gape, Saxon ; Oer, Dutch.) 1. The whole organ of audition or hearing. There are eight more explanations, the last of which is, " The spike of corn ; that part which contains the seeds." We must proceed to Eared, adj. (from ear.) 1. Having ears or organs of hearing. 2. Having ears or ripe corn. The first explanation is unaccompanied by any example : the last is in a still worse predicament. It has this for an example : " .The covert of the thrice-ear'dJ field Saw stately Ceres to her passion yield." The passage is from the 5th book of the Odyssey, (v. 125 in the original, and 159 in the translation.) And I am afraid that it will appear, upon consulting the ori- ginal, that Pope very well knew the meaning of Homer, and has expressed it in English undefiled ; and that Johnson has been guilty of a most egregious blunder. The Greek expression is New m rpiTro^a. The word rfinoxov occurs also in the 18th Iliad, v. 542, and there it is translated by Pope, " thrice-laboured :" and, in fact, the scene described is that of labourers in the very act of ploughing, or earing, the field. The Scholiast, upon the word in both passages, interprets rgurodog, to mean Tf i$ or r^flov salqaiqjLtvn. Now, to complete the matter, Johnson has the verb " To ear, to plow, to till ;" which he derives from the Latin Aro ; and yet he gives this obvious past participle of this verb To ear, i. e. to plow, as an adjective from the noun, — the name of the organ of the sense of hearing, and explains it accordingly. He was also entirely unsuspicious that " Earth," was any part of this verb ; but upon this head we must hear Tooke. " Earth, that which one ereth or eareth, i. e. plougheth. It is the third person of the indicative of Gruan, arare, to ere, to eare, to plough. Instead of Earth, Douglas and some other ancient authors use Erd ; i. e. Ered, Er'd, that which is ploughed ; the past participle of the same verb. Where we now say Earth, the Germans use Erd; which Vossius derives from the Hebrew : ' Ab Hebraeo est etiam Germanicum Erd' From the Hebrew also he is willing to derive Tellus. But both Erd and Tellus are of Northern origin, and mean — OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR./OHNSON. 93 Erd, that which is Er-ed < " ' t Ar-are. Tell-us, that which is TilUed \ ' * Tol-ere. And it is a most erroneous practice of the Latin etymologists to fly to the He- brew for whatever they cannot find in the Greek ; for the Romans were not a mixed colony of Greeks and Jews, but of Greeks and Goths ; as the whole of the Latin language most plainly evinces." One of Johnson's explanations of Earthly may be selected as a specimen of his own peculiar strain. It means, 4. Any thing in the world; a female hyperbole." EAST, from 6ort, Anglo-Saxon, says Johnson, after Skinner and Junius. The latter indeed would derive the Anglo-Saxon from the Greek Has vel Eug, Aurora. Vest, Johnson says, is from kej r, Saxon, and means 1. The foam, spume, or flower of beer in fermentation ; barm. 2. The spume on a troubled sea. Yesty, adj. (from Fes/,) Frothy, spumy. " Though you untie the winds, and let them fight Against the churches ; though the yesty waves Confound and swallow navigation up." Shakspeare. Macbeth. East, according to Tooke, is the past participle of Yppan, or Jeppan, irasci : thus formed — Ypj-eb, Ypr'b, Ypj-tr, — dropping the p, it becomes Yj-c, and so it is much used in Anglo-Saxon. Supplying the place of r by a, which is usual with those who cannot pronounce the r, we have East, which means " Angry, en- raged." And hence alsoYesty, in Anglo-Saxon Yj-tig, Jeprig, procellosus, stormy, enraged. " The enraged waves" is an expression rather more suitable to Shnkspeare's " high-charged description, than the wretched allusion to fermenting beer." To EBB, v. a. To flow back towards the sea. So the first edition of the Dictionary ; which was afterwards improved by this addition: — " Opposed to flow;" which, I presume, means to intimate, that to flow back is not to flow at all: and this is one of Johnson's improvements upon his first edition. However, Johnson could find no instance of the tide of water flowing in this manner, and therefore he makes the tide of blood, and the tide of fortune, serve his purpose. EKE, the adverb, Johnson derives from Gac, Saxon; Ook, Dutch: though Junius thinks that it may more correctly be taken from the Gothic Aucan, and Anglo- 94 a\CRITICAL EXAMINATION Saxon Gacan ; whence the verb Eake, Eeke, augere. And Tooke fixes upon the imperative Gac, of the same Anglo-Saxon verb, as the part of the verb, to which we are indebted for this supposed conjunction. Skinner, who had the good sense to derive Dip from Lrijmn, would here derive Gacan from Gac. ELSE. Unless, Else, Lest, have all (says Tooke) one meaning ; (viz. of separation,) and are all portions of the same word, Lej-an, i. e. of On-lej-an, X-lej-an, Lej-an. Else is the imperative Kley of the verb Slej-an, to dismiss. On-les ........ of . . . On-lej*an. Les of . . . Lej-an. It is the same imperative Les placed at the end of nouns and coalescing with them, which has given to our language such adjectives as homeless, restless, death- less, motionless, &c. i. e. dismiss hope, rest, death, motion, &c. The adjective Less, and the comparative Less, are the imperatives of Lejan ; and the superlative Least is the past participle, and so is the conjunction. — Upon these words, and the opinions of different writers respecting them, Mr. Tooke has written very fully ; and no reader, who has any desire for information, will forbear to consult the Diversions of Purley. But from this Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb Lej an, he also derives the follow- ing words : — To Lose, — Lost, — A Loss. To Loose, — Loose. To Un-loose. To Loosen. To Un-loosen. To Lessen. To Lease, — A Lease. To Re-lease, — A Release, — A Lease and Release. To go a Leasing, i. e. Loosing, i. e picking up that which is loose, (i. e. loosed,) separate, (i. e. separated,) or detached, (detache) from the sheaf. And however (he adds) this word (for they are all one) may be now differently spelled, and differently used and applied in modern English, the reader will easily perceive that separation is always invariably signified in every use and application of it.— Let us see, then, what Johnson has to say upon these words. — To Lose, v. a. (Leoran, Saxon,) has ten explanations, and the first, the most re- mote from the intrinsick meaning ; viz. " To forfeit by unlucky contest." Lost, participial adj. (from lose,) No longer perceptible. For To Loose, v. a. Johnson, after Skinner, does refer to the Anglo-Saxon OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 95 Lej-an, but explains it to mean, first, " To unbind; to untie auy thing fastened ; r and has the following, for one of his examples : " Who is worthy to loose the seals thereof." Rev. v. 2. Lease, n. s. (laisser, French, Spelman.) 1. A contract by which, in consideration of some payment, a temporary possession is granted of houses or lands. " Lords of the world have but for life their lease." Dknham. 2. Any tenure. «* Thou, to give the world increase, Shortened hast thy own life's lease." MiltoM. Though Johnson gives the legal application of the word Lease, as its first mean- ing, he does not appear to have known the legal application of the word Release to any thing but the acquittal from a debt. To Unloose, v. a. To loose. A word, perhaps, barbarous and ungrammatical, the particle prefixed implying negation. So that to Unloose is, properly, to bind. On, the Anglo-Saxon particle, (as Johnson calls it,) implies no such thing. Lease, v. n. (lesen, Dutch.) To glean, to gather what the harvestmen leave. ENOUGH. (T.) In Dutch, Genoeg : from the verb Genoegen, to content, to satisfy. — In the Anglo-Saxon it is Lreno^;, or Lrenoh, and appears to be the past participle Lrenogeb, multiplicatum, manifold, of the verb Irenogan, multiplicare. — This word puzzles Johnson : he thinks it not easy to determine whether it be an adjective or an adverb ; and he therefore concludes, that it is not only both adjec- tive and adverb, but a substantive also : that when it is an adjective, Enow is the plural of it ; though in his Grammar he informs us that adjectives have no num- ber. And when it is an adverb, he says that sometimes it notes " a slight aug- mentation," and sometimes " a diminution," &c. Ac. EXCISE. The patriotick indignation of Johnson, though so well known, deserves to be preserved in this collection of the curiosities of his Dictionary. — "A hateful tax, levied upon commodities, and adjudged, not by the common judges of pro- perty, but by wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid." I shall subjoin one of his examples : it is of that unsparing collector of this hateful tax, THE BEE errant, which, " Having rifled all the fields Of what dainties Flora yields ;'' becomes, according to the extract in Johnson, 96 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION «' Ambitious now to take excise Of a more fragrant paradise." CleavelaK 1>. And proceeds, therefore, to the sleeves of the poet's mistress, " Where all delicious sweets are hived." F. FAIN, adj. (pea^n, Saxon.) 1. Glad; merry; chearful ; fond. It is still used in Scotland in this sense. 2. Forced ; obliged ; compelled. This signification seems to have arisen from the mistake of the original signification in some ambiguous expressions ; as, I was fain to do this, would equally suit with the rest of the sentence, whether it was under- stood to mean / was compelled, or / was glad to do it for fear of worse. Thus the primary meaning seems to have been early lost. It has very much the appearance of what Johnson calls " a risible absurdity," for him, at this stage of the Dictionary, to talk about " original signification" and " primary meaning." But the reader may be assured that the primary meaning is not lost in any one of the examples produced by Johnson; in every one of which the word " glad" may be substituted without any alteration of sense, and " the fear of worse" may be collected from the contest. Fain, (says Tooke,) is the past participle pegeneb, pegen, pegn, laetus, of the verb pegeman, pejnian, gaudere, laetari. — And from this Anglo-Saxon verb Skinner derives it, but not Johnson. FANCY, > Fancy, n. s. (contracted from phantasy, phantasia, Latin IMAGINATION, > ipaulomot. It should be Phansy.) I. Imagination; the power by which the mind forms to itself images and repre- sentations of things, persons, or scenes of being. Imagination, n. s. (imaginatio, Latin ; imagination, French ; from imagine.) 1. Fancy; the power of forming ideal pictures; the power of representing things absent to one's self or others. To Fancy, v. n. (from the noun,) To imagine ; to believe without being able to prove. To Fancy, v. a. 1. To portray in the mind ; to image to himself; to imagine. To Imagine, v. a. (imaginer, French ; imaginor, Latin.) OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 97 1. 'To fancy, to paint in the mind. Thus Johnson attempts to distinguish between words " generally accounted synonymous." Mr. Stewart, in his Elements, has condescended to appear in the character of the despised philoioger ; and endeavours to settle the distinction between these two words, — Fancy and Imagination. According to his explanation, " The office of fancy is to collect materials for the imagination ; and, therefore, the latter power presupposes the former ; while the former does not necessarily suppose the latter. A man whose habits of association present to him, for illustrating or embellishing a subject, a number of resembling or of analogous ideas, we call a man of fancy ; but for an effort of imagination," (Mr. Stewart means a successful effort, which can have no influence upon the distinction between the two supposed powers,) " various other powers are necessary, particularly the powers of taste and judg- ment ; without which we can hope to produce nothing that will be a source of pleasure to others : — It is the power of fancy which supplies the poet with meta- phorical language, and with all the analogies that are the foundation of his allu- sions ; but it is the power of the imagination that creates the complex scenes he describes, and the fictitious characters he delineates. To fancy we apply the epi- thets of rich or luxuriant ; to imagination, those of beautiful or sublime." Surely we might say, without any impropriety, and without even violating any established modes of expression, — That the fancy of Collins (and of his genius fancy may be emphatically styled the characteristick,) was beautiful and sublime ; the imagination of Thomson, rich and luxuriant. But Mr. Stewart's meaning requires illustration. 25. " Yet such the destiny of all on earth ; So flourishes and fades majestick man : Fair is the bud his vernal morn brings forth ; And fostering gales awhile the nursling fan. O smile, ye heavens, serene ; — ye mildews wan, Ye blighting whirlwinds, spare his balmy pride, Nor lessen of his life the little span. Borne on the swift, though silent wings, of Time, Old age comes on apace to ravage all the clime." Beattie's MinstreL As I understand Mr. Stewart, — Fancy suggests the analogy between the destiny of man and vegetable nature ; as exposed to sudden and resistless destruction.! Imagination creates the scenes. Fancy supplies the language. O 98 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION This I believe to be Mr. Stewart's intended distinction ; a distinction, which appears to me not only perfectly nugatory, but even to involve a contradiction. Imagination, Mr. Stewart affirms, necessarily presupposes fancy ; but fancy does not necessarily suppose imagination : fancy supplies the analogies and the language ; and imagination creates the scenes. The language, — for what purpose, — if not to describe these scenes — to express that which, according to Mr. Stewart, imagination must present to the eye of fancy ? Fancy is dumb ; she knows no language, till imagination bid her speak : and yet are we assured that the former power does not necessarily suppose the latter. — What analogies, I would also ask, can fancy distinguish, until imagination has presented the scenes from which those analogies are to be drawn ? This latter power is, indeed, undoubtedly competent to the full performance of the whole task, which Mr. Stewart has so uselessly divided between the two. If imagination " lodged in any mortal mixture of earth's mould," can create the scenes, she will be at no loss to describe them. I will venture, then, an attempt to mark the boundaries of the provinces, which we might fairly allot to these two conflicting powers, with a little more clearness and precision, than, I think, Mr. Stewart has been so fortunate as to attain ; first premising, that the object to be accomplished is simply this : to fix the distinct application of two words, whose real meaning might allow an indiscriminate ap- plication ; and that, in endeavouring to do this, we are restricted to no other rule, than to preserve a cause of the application inviolate. Our poets must lend me also their " artful aid." 38. « But who the melodies of morn can tell ? The wild brook babbling down the mountain side ; The lowing herd ; the sheepfold's simple bell ; The pipe of early shepherd dim descried In the lone valley ; echoing far and wide The clamorous horn along the cliffs above ; The hollow murmur of the ocean tide ; The hum of bees, the linnet's lay of love ; And the full choir that wakes the universal grove. 39. The cottage curs at early pilgrim bark ; ' Crown'd with her pail the tripping milkmaid sings ; The whistling ploughman stalks a field ; and, hark ! Down the rough slope the ponderous waggon rings ; Through rustling corn the hare astonish'd springs ; OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 99 Slow tolls the village clock the drowsy hour : The partridge bursts away on whirring wings; Deep mourns the turtle in sequester' d bower, And shrill lark carols clear from her aerial tower." All the pictures exhibited in these exquisite stanzas are pure and unmixed pic- tures of imagination. " How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, By all their country's wishes blest ! When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, Returns to deck their hallow'd mould, She there shall dress a sweeter sod, Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. " By fairy bauds their knell is rung, By fairy forms their dirge is sung ; There Honour comes a pilgrim gray, To bless the turf that wraps their clay, And Freedom shall a while repair To dwell a weeping hermit there." Coluns's Ode, written in the year 1746. These are the pictures of fancy. " Still is the toiling hand of Care ; The panting herds repose : , Yet, hark ! how through the peopled air The busy murmur glows ! The insect youth are on the wing, Eager to taste the honied Spring, And float amid the liquid noon : Some lightly o'er the current skim, Some show their gaily gilded trim Quick glancing to the sun." Gray. Ode on Spring. These are the pictures of imagination. " The dangerous passions kept aloof Far from the sainted growing woof; But near it sat extatic Wonder, Listening the deep applauding thunder : O 2 100 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION And Truth in sunny vest array' d, By whose the Tarsel's eyes were made ; All the shadowy tribes of mind In braided dance their murmurs join'd ; And all the bright uncounted powers, Who feed on heaven's ambrosial flowers. Collins. Ode on the Poetical Character. These are the pictures of fancy. " And let us On your imaginarie forces worke. Suppose within the girdle of these walls, Are now confin'd two mightie monarchies, Whose high, upreared, and abutting fronts, The perillous narrow ocean parts asunder. Peece out our imperfections with your thoughts : Thinke when we talke of horses, that you see them Printing their prowd hoofes i'th' receiving earth." Shakspeare. Chorus to Henry V. These again are pictures of imagination. In Collins's Ode to Evening the two classes of pictures are most beautifully in- termixed : M Or if chill blustering winds, or driving rain Prevent my willing feet, be mine the hut, That from the mountain side Views wilds and swelling floods, And hamlets brown, and dim-discover' d spires, And hears their simple bell, and marks o'er all TJiy dewy fingers draw The gradual dusky veil." The sole business of fancy, then, as distinct from the imagination, consists in personification, and in supporting imagery appropriate to such personification ; a distinction wholly neglected by Mr. Stewart, but which, as it appears to me, has the merit of being clear and precise ; and by observing which we shall, I think, add considerably to those enjoyments of poetical composition, that result from just and elegant discrimination. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 101 FANG, v. a. (pangan, Saxon ; vangen, Dutch.) Fang, n. «. (from the verb.) The long tusks of a boar or other animal, [with which the prey is seized and held ;] any thing like 'em. The words inclosed are not in the first folio. This eking out of an explanation by the comprehensive addition, " Any thing like 'em," has no small policy in it, and I wonder that it is not more frequently repeated. It supplies all deficiencies, and obviates all objections. For instance, if the icy fang of the winter's wind be not exactly " the long tusks of a boar or other animal," it may be, and in Johnson's estimation is, " very much like 'em." There is no disputing such points. Fang, Tooke pronounces to be the past tense and past participle of Fengan, capere, prehendere, and Finger, quod prehendit. FARTHING, n. 8. (jzeon/Shnj, Saxon ; from peo)>en, four ; that is, the fourth part of a penny.) Farthing (T.) is also a participle, and means merely, fourthing, or dividing into four parts. FEAT, n. s. (fait, French.) Fit, n. s. (from fight, Skinner ; every fit of a disease being a struggle of nature ; from viit, Flemish, frequent. Junius.) Such is Johnson's indifference to the primary meaning of words. Feat and Fit, in Tooke's opinion, are the past participle from the French faire, from the Latin facere. FEN, -\Fen, n.8. (penn, Saxon ; venne, Dutch.) 1. A marsh, &c. FAINT, J Faint, adj. (fane, French.) I. Languid, &c. FENOWEDT Vinnewed, or Vinney, adj. Mouldy. Ainsworth. VINEWED, f Such is all the information which Johnson gives, and that in this or m instance he preferred the authority of Ainsworth to that of Skinner, WHINID. J can only be attributed to his idleness. His authorities, however, sup- ply something more, and something better, than he has taken the pains to pro- duce. — Junius says, — " Fustie, foistie, mucidus, situm recipiens. Cantianis fennow vel finnow est mucidus — Anglo-Saxon pynig, est mucidus, pynegian, mucescere." Under Vinny, Lye says, " Ita damnonii panem, caseum, &c. mucore seu situ corruptos amant vocare. Est idem ac Finnow" In the first folio of Shakspeare, (Troilus and Cressida,) we find — " Speake, then, thou yohinid'st leaven, speake." In Mr. Steevens's edition of Twenty Plays of Shakspeare from the quarto, for 102 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION " whinid'st" we find " unsalted ;" and this unsalted keeps its place in the text of Malone's and Reed's edition, notwithstanding it is accompanied by notes, which shew that the word " whinid" is properly applied, and though " unsalted''' evi- dently murders the metre. Fan or Fen, (says Tooke,) is the past tense, and therefore past participle of Fynigean, ; and means corrupted, spoiled, decayed, withered. In modern speech we apply Fen only to stagnated or corrupted water ; but it was formerly applied to any decayed or spoiled substance. Faint is Faned, Fand, Fant, or Fened, Fend, Fent. The French participle FanS, of the verb Faner or Fener, is also from Fynigean. Whinid, Vinew'd, Fennowed, Vinny, or Finie, is a past participle, and of the verb Fynigean, to corrupt, to decay, to wither, to fade, to pass away, to spoil in any manner. Finie .plap, in Anglo-Saxon, is a corrupted or spoiled loaf, whe- ther by mould or any other means. — FIELD. (T.) This word, by Alfred, Gower, Chaucer, &c. was always written Feld (Saxon, Felb.) It is merely the past participle Felled, FelVd, of the verb To fell, (Faellan, Be-pellan,) and is so universally written Feld by all our old au- thors, that I should be ashamed to produce you many instances. Field-lsaid is opposed to Wood-land, and means, — Land where the trees have been felled. — Of this opposition of Woodes and Feldes he then produces four instances from Gower and Chaucer ; and proceeds. — In the collateral languages, the German, the Dutch, the Danish, and the Swed- ish, you will find the same correspondence between the equivalent verb and the supposed substantive. German. Fellen . Feld. Dutch. Vellen . Veld. Danish. Fselder . Felt. Swedish. Falla . Felt. What does the Cyclopsedist say upon this word ? He writes in this manner : — " One of those broad analogies, by which the Latin separated from the Greek, is to convert a guttural into a labial, as in p^ow, flos, %Xa>? mology, and the remaining fifth under another. And in the verb To File, FOUL. J he rises in absurdity, he gives three explanations, and a separate etymology prefixed to each. To File, v. a. (from jilum> a thread.) 1. To string upon a thread or wire. 2. (from rjeolan, Saxon.) To cut with a file. 3. (from rjllan, Saxon.) To foul ; to sully ; to pollute. This sense is retained in Scotland. Filth, n. s. (pVS, Saxon.) 1. Dirt; nastiness ; any thing that soils or fouls. Foul, adj. (fuls, Gothick ; jrul, Saxon.) 1. Not clean ; jilthy ; &c. What idea Johnson had of the etymological connection which these three words have, it is scarcely possible to form a conjecture. Yet with respect to two of them, Junius and Skinner are explicit enough ; though erroneous, inasmuch as they consider the one to be derived from the other, instead of giving them one common origin, as different parts of the same verb. Foul, (says Tooke,) the past participle of jrylan, apylan, bepylan, to file, which we now write to defile. Filth, whatsoever fileth, anciently used where we now say defileih. — FLAW, n. s. (fhau, to break ; ploh, Saxon, a fragment ; flauw, Dutch, broken in mind.) Flay, v. a. (adflaa, Islandick ; jlae, Danish ; vlaen, Dutch.) Such are Johnson's etymologies. Tooke says, — Flaw, the past participle of plean, excoriare, To flay. FLOOD, is Flowed, Flowed, according to Tooke; but Johnson says, that " To flow, is from j:loj>an, Saxon ; and Flood is from rjloo, Saxon ; jlot, French." To FLOUT, Junius and Johnson derive from Fluyten, Dutch; and Flouwe, Frisick. Skinner prefers the Dutch, Bluiten, stultus. Tooke decides, that it is the past participle of phtan, jurgari, contendere. FOAM, n. 8. (fam, Saxon.) The white substance which agitation or fermentation gathers on the tops of liquors ; froth, spume. 104 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION " The foam upon the itwter." Hosea x. 7. " Whitening down their mossy tinctur'd stream Descends the billowy foam." Thomson's Spring: Water, it must be observed, is the only liquor of which Johnson produces any example : and it is therefore proper for the reader to know, that Johnson himself declares the word Liquor to be " commonly used of fluids inebriating, or impreg- nated with something, or made by decoction." Foam, (T.) Faem ; the past participle of paeman, spumare. FOOD, } The first of these two words Johnson does derive from the Anglo-Saxon FAT. 3 pseban ; but under the second he exhibits the common absurdity of giving different etymologies for what he himself considers as merely different significations of the same word. Food and Fat, (says Tooke,) are in Anglo-Saxon Fob and Feet, and they are the past participle of Feban, pascere. And Junius, also, derives Feet; from this Anglo-Saxon verb, Feban. FIE, \Fie, (T.) is the imperative of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb pan, to FIEND, / hate. FOE, \ Fiend, Goth, fiands ; Anglo-Saxon panb ; the past participle of the same FOH, V verb, and means (some one — any one) hating. FAUGH. J Foe, Anglo-Saxon, pa, by the regular change of the characteristick letter of the verb, is the past tense, and, therefore, past participle of the same verb, pan, and means (subaud. Any one) hated. Foh, Faugh, (the nauseating interjection, as it is called,) is the same past participle. Such are the opinions of Home Tooke : I must now exhibit those of Samuel Johnson. Fy, interj. (fy, French and Flemish ; Qeu, Greek ; vah, Latin.) A word of blame and disapprobation. Fiend, n.s. (panb, ponb, Saxon, a foe.) 1. An enemy; the great enemy of man- kind ; Satan ; the Devil. 2. Any infernal being. Foe, n. s. (pah, Saxon ; fae, Scottish.) 1. An enemy in war. 2. A persecutor ; an enemy in common life. 3. An opponent ; an ill wisher. Foh, interject, (from pah, Saxon, an enemy.) An interjection of abhorrence ; as if one should at sight of any thing hated cry out, " J foe ,'" OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 105 It does not appear that Johnson had any knowledge of the existence of the Anglo-Saxon verb, pan ; and yet had he not been so fully persuaded " that to search was not always to find," as seldom to think the search worth the trouble, he might have found some nearer approach to correct etymology than he has now- given. Junius, after mentioning the various northern words similar to the English Fiend, continues, " A. S. jzeojan, pean, pan. Al. pen, sunt odisse ;" and ob- serves, that the Devil, on account of his signal hatred of mankind, was emphati- cally called peonb, in Anglo-Saxon ; but he knew better than to assert that such was the meaning of the word. And this etymology is recognized by Skinner; and both agree that Foe has its origin in the same verb, though, as usual, without attempting to fix upon the part of the verb. Under Fie, vel Fye, after the display of much useless learning by Junius, Lye remarks, " Non alienum erit fortasse hoc in loco notare, quod pan A. Saxonibus est Odisse." Johnson, however, must not be degraded to any comparison with the Cyclopce- dist, who asserts that, " Fiend, Foe, is the participial termination of @ia, /3 Of Frame, the verb, Johnson gives no etymology, and Frame, the noun, FORM. 3 he says, is from the verb. Both Junius and Skinner, however, supply him with the Anglo-Saxon verb Fjieman, facere ; and of this verb Tooke thinks 110 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION that both Form and Frame are the past participles. For the etymology of Form, the Latin Forma, of conrse, satisfies Johnson. To FREAK, v. a. (A word, I suppose, Scotch ; brought into England by Thomson.) Could none of Johnson's amanuenses remind him of Milton's ** ¥&imes freak' t with jet ?" FRIEND, n. s. (Friend, Dutch; Fneonb, Saxon.) Of this word, Johnson imagines six meanings, one of which is — "A familiar compellation." Friend, Junius says, is, " Manifeste a Goth. Frigon, amare, diligere ; cujus par- ticipium est Frigonds, amans, diligens. inde medio G. liquescente, factum est Frionds, Friond, (^and) Fpeonb, (Sax.)" &c. It is remarkable that Junius should not have noticed the Anglo-Saxon verb Frieon, amare, of which Fneonb is the present participle. Lye has, Fpeon, amare, Fneonb, amans, amicus. And this etymology is adopted by Tooke. The Cyclopsedist asserts, that Friend is the participial termination of " Frau, a woman, (from pef«, i. e. the bearing animal,) and seems at first to mean, A female loved" " FROM," Mr. Harris says, " denotes the detached relation of body, as when we say — These figs came from Turkey. So as to motion and rest, only with this difference, that here the preposition varies its character with the verb. Thus, if we say, — That lamp hangs from the cieling, — the preposition from assumes the character of quiescence. But if we say, That lamp is falling from the cieling ; — the preposition in such case assumes a character of motion." So far Harris, as quoted by Tooke, who is asked, " What one noun or verb can be found of so versatile a character as this preposition ; what name of any one real object or sign of one idea, or of one collection of ideas can have been insti- tuted to convey these different and opposite meanings ?" " Truly," he replies, " None that I know of. But I take the word from (pre- position, if you chuse to call it so,) to have as clear, as precise, and at all times as uniform and unequivocal a meaning as any word in the language. From means merely beginning, and nothing else. It is simply the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic noun Fjium, Frum — Beginning, origin, source, fountain, author" He then proposes to try whether From cannot be made to speak clearly for it- self, without the assistance of the interpreting verbs. " Figs came from Turkey. Lamp falls from cieling. Lamp hangs from cieling. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. Ill " Came is a complex term for one species of motion. Falls is a complex term for another species of motion. Hangs is a complex term for a species of attachment. " Have we occasion to communicate or mention the commencement or beginning of these motions and of this attachment ; and the place where these motions and this attachment commence or begin? It is impossible to have complex terms for each occasion of this sort. What more natural then, or more simple, than to add the signs of those ideas ; viz. the word beginning, (which will remain always the same,) and the name of the place, (which will perpetually vary) ? Thus: " Figs came — beginning Turkey. Lamp falls — beginning cieling, Lamp hangs — beginning cieling. That is,— 11 Turkey the place of beginning to come. Ceiling the place of beginning to fall. Cieling the place of beginning to hang. " From relates to every thing to which beginning relates, and to nothing else ; and therefore is referable to time, as well as motion; without which, indeed, there can be no time" I have again permitted Mr. Tooke to speak the more fully for himself; because I must again present the Cyclopaedist to the reader's notice. He asserts that Mr. Tooke happens to be right in the meaning of from, merely because the Gothic corruption of J rum has correctly retained the sense of primus. But whence, he sagaciously enquires, " did this Frum originate ?" From Araby the blest, no doubt. — Phraa, Arabic ; tt^iv, tt^oh, Greek ; prce, Latin ; &c. &c. He has the condescension to acknowledge, that Tooke's explanation of Harris's three examples is " rational and just ;" but he proceeds to say, — " When Mr.Tooke adds that came and falls are complex terms for different species of motion ; and hangs a complex term for a species of attachment ; this, though very true, is no- thing to the purpose." I am in very confident hope, that the reader, who has sufficiently attended to Mr. Tooke to understand his purpose, will clearly perceive that the explanations in question were indispensable, and will further be convinced that the Cyclopaedist himself had not observed what that purpose was. The reader will remember, that Mr. Harris, (quite in consistency with his prin- 112 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION ciples of Grammar,) considers the preposition to vary its character with the verb . and to assume a character of quiescence from the verb hang; and of motion from the verbs came and falls. Either the Cyclopaedist had forgotten this, or he did not perceive, (which is quite as likely,) that the purpose of Tooke was,— to shew that the characters of quiescence and motion, attributed by Harris to the preposition from, belonged to the verbs hang and fall, and to them only. The Cyclopaedist for a moment happened to be right ; but having a disposition of mind quite unsuitable to such fortuitous occurrences, he hastens to become himself again ; and in this there was no difficulty. FROST, n. s. (Fnoj-t, Saxon.) The last effect of cold, the power or act of con- gelation. This explanation wants the addition — " Any thing like it." His example is from the beautiful, but figurative, language which Shakspeare appropriates to Cardinal Wolsey. Frost, (T.) is the past participle of Fnyj-an, to freeze. By the change of the characteristic y, the regular past tense is Frose, which we now write Froze; add- ing the participial termination ed, we have Frosed, Fros'd, Frost. FULL, (T.) is the past tense, used as a past participle of the verb j:yllan, to fill ; and may at all times have its place supplied by Filled. Full, adj. (pille, Saxon; vol, Dutch.) 1. Replete; without vacuity; without any space void: — and fourteen other explanations. G. GAIN, (T.) i. e. any thing acquired. It is the past participle of Irejran, of the verb I/e-Jnnnan, acquirere. Gain, Johnson derives from the French Gain ; but Junius (as well as Menage,) conceives the French, and also the Italian and Spanish, to have been adopted from the Saxon. GAUDE, n. s. (The etymology of this word is uncertain. Skinner imagines it may come from Gaude, French, a yellow flower, yellow being the most gaudy colour. Junius, according to his custom, talks of ayavog, and Mr. Lye finds Gaude, in Douglas, to signify deceit or fraud, from Gwawdio, Welsh, to cheat. It seems to me most easily deducible from Gaudium, Latin, joy ; the cause of joy ; a token of joy ; thence aptly applied to any thing that gives or expresses pleasure. In Scotland this word is still retained, both as a showy bauble, and the person fooled. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 113 It is also retained in Scotland to denote a yellow flower.) An ornament; a fine thing ; any thing worn as a sign of joy. Gewgaw, n. s. (gegaj:, Saxon ; joyau, French.) A showy trifle ; a toy ; a bauble ; a splendid plaything. What we (T.) write Gewgaw, is written in the Anglo-Saxon Eejap. It is the past participle of the verb Eie-gipan, and means any such trifling thing as is given away, or presented to any one. Instead of Gewgawes, it is sometimes written Gigawes and Gew-gaudes. Gaud has the same meaning, and is the same as the foregoing word, with only the omission of the prefix Ge, Gi, or Gew. It is the past participle of Dipan ; Gaved, Gav'd, Gavd, Gaud. — Such is the plain and satisfactory etymology of Tooke. Even Johnson might have suspected some affinity between Gaud and Gewgaude, had he found the lat- ter word so written ; and it is so written in Beaumont and Fletcher ; in the folio, (1679 J Vol. II. p. 235. In Weber's edit. Vol. V. p. 293. GLEAM, > Gleam, n. *. (L7ehoma, Saxon.) Sudden shoot of light; lustre; bright- GLOOM.3 uess. Gloom, n.s. (Erlomang, Saxon, twilight.) 1. Imperfect darkness ; dismalness ; ob- scurity ; defect of light. In these etymologies Johnson follows Lye. Skinner says, " Gleam, warm gleams, ab Anglo-Saxon Leoma, Lux, Jubar, Leoman, lucere ; Leqma autem, et Leoman credo, a Lat. Lumen." And Gloomy, he also derives from the same Anglo-Saxon Leoma. Gleam and Gloom, says Tooke, are the past participle of Anglo-Saxon Leo- man, Lioman, Ere-leoman, Ire-lioman, radiare, coruscare, lucere. The Latin Lumen is the past participle of Lioman. GRASS, n. s. (L7ri»j-, Saxon.) Graze, v.n. (from Grass.} And of this word, with this etymology, Johnson gives three interpretations ; and, for a fourth, he feels obliged to resort to the French Baser. Grass, (T.) that which is grazed or fed upon by cattle ; the past participle pf Drtapan, to Graze. Irjiar:r: and Hj\tey_j:, (T.) serve equally in the Anglo-Saxon for Grave or Grove. Grave, Grove, Groove, are the past tense, and, therefore, past GROOVE, participle of Irjiajran, fodere, insculpeye, excavare. GRAFT, f Graft, (sometimes written Graff,} is the same past tense I/riaj:, with GROT, the participial termination ed. Graf-ed, Grafd, Graft. GROTTO, J In Grot, from Graft, (a broad,) the f is suppressed, and Grotto, (or rather Grotta,) is obliged to the Italians for its terminating vowel. — So far Tooke. Q GRAVE, .GROVE, 114 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Grave, n. s. (Lrnae]:, Saxon.) The place in the ground in which the dead are re- posited. To Grave, v. a. (graver, French ; y^pa.) 1. To insculp ; to carve a figure or in- scription in any hard substance. " Cornice with bossy sculptures gravm." Milton. Cornice may pass very well for a hard substance, and " bossy sculptures" for figures carved : but what are we to say to his two subsequent examples ; the first of which speaks of gravings made upon men's souls by just and lawful oaths ; and the second, of the sum of duty graven on the heart ? Grove, n. s. (from Grave.) A walk covered by trees meeting above. Groove, n.s. (from Grave.) A deep cavern, or hollow in mines. Graff, n. s. (see Grave.) A ditch ; a moat. Graff, } n. s. (Greffe, French.) A small branch inserted into the stock of another Graft, 3 tree, and nourished by its sap, but bearing its own fruit ; a cyon. His first example of these small branches is this : " God gave unto man all kind of seeds and graffs of life ; as the vegetative life of plants, the sensual of beasts, the rational of man, and the intellectual of angels." And the same absurdity is committed under the verb to Graff, more than once. Grot and Grotto he derives from the same French and Italian, and says that the one is made for coolness and pleasure, and the other for coolness only. In all this we find no traces whatever of the Anglo-Saxon verb Irnajmn. Yet Skinner tells him that to grave is from Irnajzan, sculpere ; and Lye that Graff may be derived from the same verb. Junius also says, that Grove is from the Dutch graven^ fodere. " Arbusta nempe fovea circumjecta plerumque muniebantur." Skinner would derive Grove from the verb to grow, though aware that in Lin- colnshire it was used for a Ditch, — fossa. GREEN. For Green, the noun, Johnson gives no etymology, and the verb accord- ing to him is from the noun ; but the adjective from Grun, German ; Groen, Dutch. Green, says Tooke, is the past participle of Lrjvenian, virescere ; as viridis of virere, and prasinus from nqao-ov. Junius thinks it is from the Anglo-Saxon Ernojmn ; and Skinner from the Eng- lish, to Grow. * In Lye, Johnson might have found for his editions, subsequent to the publica- tion of Lye, — OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 11,5 Irpene, Green, . . viridis. Irjien-hffi]>en, . . viridis colons, lineman . . . virescere. And thus he might have been led to introduce an improvement of a description somewhat different from those which I have before noticed. GRIP, (T.) and its diminutive, Grapple, are the past participle of Djiipan, pre- hendere. To Gripe, Johnson first derives from the Gothic, the Saxon, the Dutch,. and the Scotch, and with these etymologies he gives one interpretation. To his second interpretation he prefixes Gripper, French ; but to which of these etymologies his third and fourth interpretations belong, he does not say. GRUB, n. s. (from grubbing or mining.) To Grub, v. a. (Grab-an, preterite Grdb, to dig, Gothic.) And Tooke thinks it the past tense, and, therefore, past participle of thjff- QGf ( thic verb, Graban, fodere. J!^&* l *°^^l ' * JP V V OF TUB '' Grub Street was Johnson's Ithaca. He exclaims — jy TT u.. TT1T .M rm Tr NIVERSITY XcUp, ISoxJi, ptT aiSxa, (xeT ahyta 7rwf« ^^T«<4 T TT7AT3 ^\^ > ' 'Ao-ttcwius liov »3aj wavojuaj. ^ — GRUDGE, the noun, Johnson derives from the verb, and of the verb he writes in this strange manner : — To Grudge, v. a. (from Gruger, according to Skinner, which, in French, is to grind or eat. In this sense we say of one who resents any thing secretly, he chews it. Grwgnach, in Welsh, is to murmur, to grumble. Grunigh, in Scotland, de- notes a grumbling morose countenance.) When he arrives at his fifth explanation of the verb neuter, viz. " To give or have any uneasy remains," he adds, " I know not whether the word in this sense be not rather Grugeons, or remains ; Grugeons being the part of corn that re- mains after the fine meal has passed the sieve." Grudge, (T.) written by Chaucer, Grulche, Gruche, and in some copies Groche, is the past participle of Jjjieojnan, (Ere-hneoJrz;an,) ppeo)>rian, Ere-hpeoJ>j*ian, do- lere, ingemiscere, poenitere. GUN, n. s. (Of this word there is no satisfactory etymology. Mr. Lye observes that Gun in Iceland signifies Battle ; but when guns came into use we had no com- merce with Iceland.) Gun, (T.) formerly written Gon, is the past participle of Irynian, hiare. Q 2 116 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION H. HAFT, n. 9. (pasjit, Saxon ; heft, Dutch ; from to have or hold ) A handle ; that part of any instrument that is taken into the hand. Haft (T.) is Haved, Hav'd, Haft. The haft of a knife or poniard is the haved part ; the part by which it is haved. HALT, (T.) means, Hold, stop ; and is the imperative of the Anglo-Saxon verb pealban, to hold ; and Hold itself is from Healban, and was formerly written Halt. To Halt, v. a. (pealt, Saxon, lame, healtan, to limp.) 1. To limp; to be lame. 2. To stop in a march. (T.) In German, Still halter, is to halt or stop ; and Halten is to hold. In Dutch, Still houden, to halt or stop ; and houden to hold. HAND, ^ Of Hand, Johnson imagines that he has found upwards of forty different HINT, v meanings ; he tells us, that it is panb, ]3onb, Saxon ; and in all the HANDLE, 5 Teutonick dialects ; and that Handle is panble, Saxon ; that Hint, the noun, is from the verb, and the verb from Enter, French. Hint, says Lye, G. Douglas est idem quod Ghaucero Hent. — Hent: henten, hende, Chaucero est capere, assequi, prehendere, arripere, ab Anglo-Saxon penban. Hint, (T.) something taken. Hand, that limb by which things are taken. The past tense, and past participle of pentan, capere. Handle, or Hand-del, is a small part taken hold of. HANDSEL, n. s. (hansel, a first gift, Dutch.) The first act of using any thing ; the first act of sale. " Vox est originis A. Saxonicae, liquetque compositam ex hanb et rellan. Quum tamen j-ellan illud non tantum vendere, sed et Dare, significat, manifestum quo- que est postremam acceptionem locum hie habere." Junius. Sale, (T.) Handsel, the past participle of rylan, dare, tradere, to sell. In our modern use of the word a condition is understood. Handsel is something given in hand. Sale, Johnson derives from Saal, Dutch, though the first meaning that he gives it is the act of selling. The verb to sell, from rylan, Saxon ; sela, Islandic ; — " To give for a price : the word correlative to buy ; to vend." HANK, -\ One (T.) and the same word, only with a different final pronunciation, HAUNCH, V- common throughout the language, either of k, ch, or ge. All the three HINGE, 3 words are merely the past participle of pangan, pendere, to hang. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 117 To have a Hank upon any one, is, to have a hold upon him ; or to have some- thing hank, hankyd, hanged, or hung upon him. The Haunch, the part by which the lower limbs are hankyd or hanged upon the body or trunk. Hence also the French Hanche, and the Italian and Spanish Anca. Hinge, that upon which the door is hung, heng, hyng, or hynge; the verb be- ing thus differently pronounced and written. — And that the word was so written he produces examples. As Tooke exposes Skinner's derivation of Haunch from Ayxjj, he should have acknowledged that he (Skinner) derives Hank from to hang, and hinge also, " sic dictus, quia Janua ab eo pendet." Hang, Johnson, directed by Junius and Skinner, derives from Hangan. Hank, uninfluenced by Skinner, he says, with Lye, is from Hank, Islandic, a chain or coil of rope ; and it means, " 1. A skein of thread. 2. A tye ; a check ; an in- fluence. A low word." Hinge, n. s. (or Hingle, from Hangle or Hang.} Junius furnished him with Hingle; though Tooke believes that no one ever be- fore saw or heard of it, till produced by Johnson. Haunch, Johnson derives from the French, Italian, and Spanish. HARANGUE, n. 8. (harangue, French. The original of the French word is much questioned. Menage thinks it a corruption of hearing, English ; Junius imagines it to be discours au rang, to a circle, which the Italian arringo seems to favour. Perhaps it may be from orare, or orationare, orationer, oraner, oranger, haranguer.*) This is certainly one of the most curious specimens of Johnson's more elaborate attempts at etymology. The last, says Tooke, in order of time, — the first in fatuity. Skinner (T.) briefly mentions a conjecture of Menage ; and spells the word properly Harang; and not (& la Francoise) Harangue. The word itself is merely the pure and regular past participle J?nang, of the Auglo-Saxon verb ppingan, to sound, or to make a great sound. As ppno is also used. So far has the manner of pronunciation changed with us, that if the commencing aspirate before r was to be preserved, it was necessary to introduce an a between h and r ; and instead of Hrang, to pronounce and write the word Harang. — HARM. (T.) Our modern word Harm was in the Anglo-Saxon YjinrS, or JepnrS, i.e. whatsoever harmeth or hurteth: the third person singular of the indicative of Ynman, or Jenraan, lsedere. Johnson is satisfied with taking the Saxon J?eanm, from Junius and Skinner; 118 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION and he gives, as the first meaning of the word, " Injury ; crime ; wickedness :" and as the second, " Mischief; detriment ; hurt." And under the verb To harm, and the adjective Harmful, he blends the two explanations into one. HEARSE, n. s. (of unknown etymology.) 1. A carriage, in which the dead are conveyed to the grave. 2. A temporary monument set over the grave. Hurst, n. s. (Pypj*t, Saxon.) A grove or thicket of trees. Ains. Hearse, (T.) Hurst, are the past participle of pynj-tan, ornare, phalerare, de- corare. Hearse is at present only applied to an ornamented carriage for a corpse. Hurst is applied only to places ornamented by trees. — And in Lye, Johnson might have found this Hyprtan, ornare, and Hyrij-t, orna- tus ; but for his Hurst, a grove, &c. he is entirely indebted to the Dictionary of Ainsworth. HEAT, n. s. (peat, peet, Saxon ; heete, Danish.) Of this word Johnson gives eleven explanations. Hot, adj. (pat, Saxon ; hat, Scottish.) Of this there are seven explanations. Heater, upon the authority, no doubt, of the good woman who got up his linen, is said to be, " An iron made hot, and put into a box iron, to smooth and plait linen." He might as well have said that to get up means to iron and starch linen, and prepare it for use, &c. Heat, (T.) in Anglo-Saxon paet, pat ; i. e. heated; is the past participle of the verb psetan, calefacere. Hot, as a participle, is sufficiently common. Heat is rarely so used. B. Johnson, however, so uses it in Sejanus, Act III. (Vol. I. p. 351. line the last.) To HEAVE, peapin, Anglo-Saxon. " Our ancestors," (says Mr. Tooke,) " did not deal so copiously in adjectives and participles as we their descendants now do. The only method which they had to make a past participle was by adding ed or en to the verb ; and they added either the one or the other indifferently, as they pleased (the one being as regular as the other,) to any verb which they em- ployed ; and they added them either to the indicative mood of the verb, or to the past tense. — But their most usual method of speech was to employ the past tense itself, without participializing it, or making a participle of it, by the addition of ed or en. So likewise they commonly used their substantives without adjectiving them, or employing those adjectives which (in imitation of some other lan- guages, and by adoption from them,) we now employ. By adding ed to the indicative, they had the participle . . Heaved. By changing d to t, mere matter of pronunciation .... Heqft. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 119 By adding en, they had the participle Heaven. Their regular past tense was (J?ap, pop) Hove. By adding ed to it, they had the participle Hoved. By adding en, they had the participle lloven. And all these they used indifferently. The ship (or any thing else) was — Heaved or Heavd. Heaft. Heaven. Hove. Hoved or Hov'd. lloven. And these have left be- hind them in our mo- dern language the sup- posed substantives, but really unsuspected par ticiples, J "Head. Heft. Heaven. Hoof, Huff, and the diminutive Hovel. Howve or Hood. Hat, Hut. Haven, Oven. This past tense Hap, Hop, Hove, was variously written, as Heff, Hafe, Howve. And of this Tooke produces examples from Gower and Chaucer. Head, (T.) then, means that part (of the body, or any thing else,) which is heav'd, raised, or lifted up, above the rest. In Edward the Third's time it was written Heved. Heaven, (subaud. some place, any place,) Heaven, or Heav-ed. — Tooke leaves the rest to the reader as a wholesome exercise ; and now, as an exercise, not quite so wholesome perhaps, but equally necessary, I must present him with the labours of Johnson. Head, n.8. (heapob, heap'©, Saxon; hoofd, Dutch; heved, Old English; whence, by contraction, Head.} 1. The part of the animal that contains the brain or the organ of sensation or thought. Such is the primitive meaning of Head, according to Johnson, though J?eapob, Saxon, Johnson's own etymology, is the past participle of peapan, and means merely Heav'd, (subaud. aliquid) " Elevatum, sc corporis pars sublimior et ma- gis elevata." Lye. Johnson has thirty-one divisions of meaning. Heft he derives from Heave. Heaven, n. s. (heopon, which seems to be derived from heopb, the places over head, Saxon.) 1. The regions above, the expanse of the sky: — and five other meanings. Skinner says, " Heaven, ab A. S. hepen, iElfrico heopen, coelum utr. a verbo heapian, elevare." 120 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Hoof, n. s. (hop, Saxon ; hoef, Dutch.) The hard, horny substance on the feet of graminivorus animals. Huff, n. s. (from hove, or hoven, swelled ; he is huffed up by distempers. So in some provinces we still say the bread huffs up, when it begins to heave or ferment. Huff, therefore, may be ferment. To be in a huff is, then, to be in a ferment, as we now speak.) 1. A swell of sudden anger or arrogance. Hood, n.s. (hob, Saxon, probably from hepob, head.) 1. The upper covering of a woman's head. — And three other explanations. Hat, n. s. (haet, Saxon ; hatt, German.) A cover for the head. Hut, n. s. (hutrre, Saxon ; hute, French.) A poor cottage. Skinner would derive the two last words from the Teutonick huten, custodire. Hovel, (Johnson says,) is the diminutive of hope, house, Saxon, and means — 1. A shed open on the sides, and covered over head. 2. A mean habitation, or cottage. This etymology belongs to Dr. Thomas Hickes. Skinner will not swear that Hovel is not from the Latin Caveola. It is well he did not swear that it was. Haven, n.s. (haven, Dutch; havre, French.) 1. A port, a harbour; a safe station for ships. 2. A shelter, an asylum. Here follow two of Johnson's examples ; let the reader guess to which explana- tion: if he permit his own common sense to influence his decision, he will probably decide wrong. " Love was threatened and promised to him, and so to his cousin, as both the tempest and haven of their best years." Sidney, B. II. " [All near approaches threaten death,] We may be shipwreck'd by her breath : Love favour' d once with that sweet gale Doubles his haste and fills his sail, Till he arrive, where she must prove The haven, or the rock of love." Waller. Night Piece. " All places, that the eye of heaven visits, Are to a wise man ports and happy havens," Shakspeare. Richard IT. I must farther caution the reader not to imagine that the three examples are pro- duced under the same explanation. Oven, n.s. (Open, Saxon.) An arched cavity, heated with fire to bake bread. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 121 " He loudly bray'd, the like was never heard, And from his wide devouring oven sent A flake of fire, that flashing on his beard, Him all amaz'd " Fairy Qucetu This " arched cavity heated with fire to bake bread," was the mouth of the "Old Dragon," with whom the "faithful knight of the fair Una," is engaged in his first day's combat. B. I. c. xi. s. 26. HELL, 1 To the reader who is so unfortunate as to be yet unacquainted with the HEEL, Diversions of Purley, such an assemblage of words so differently applied HILL, ' will be a source of no inconsiderable surprize. " They are all," says HALE, Tooke, " merely thef same past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb pelan, WHOLE, . tegere ; in Old English, to hele, to heal, or to hil.' Hell, (T.) any place or some place covered over. Hell, n. 8. (helle, Saxon.) 1. The place of the Devil and wicked souls. 2. The place of separate souls, good or bad. 3. Temporal death. 4. The place at a running play to which those who are caught are carried. 5. The place into which the tailor throws his shreds. 6. The infernal HALL, HULL, HOLE, HOLT, HOLD. J powers. Johnson's arrangement of these explanations should not pass unobserved. " Hell ab A. S. JJelle, &c. mallem ab A. S. J?elan, tegere." Skinner. Junius says, that it received its name from Holl, Antrum, and for the origin of Holl we are referred by Lye to Hole, and there we are told by Junius that some derive Hole from pelan, celare. Heel, (T.) that part of the foot which is covered by the leg. Johnson says, it is " that part of the foot that protuberates behind ;" i. e. beyond the part covered by the leg ; and, of course, is uncovered by it. Hill, (T.) any heap of earth or stone, &c. by which the plain or level surface of the earth is covered. Hill, n. 8. (hil, Saxon.) An elevation of ground less than a mountain. " My sheep are thoughts, which I both guide and serve ; Their pasture is fair hills of fruitless loce." Sidney, B. II. Hale, (T.) i. e. healed or whole. Hale, adj. (This should rather be written Hail, from hael, health.) Healthy, sound ; hearty ; well complexioned. Whole, (T.) the same as Hale, i. e. covered. It was formerly written Hole, without the w ; as a wound or sore is healed or whole; that is, covered over by R 122 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION the skin. Which manner of expression will not seem extraordinary, if we con- sider our use of the word re-cover. Under Heal, Skinner says, " Ab A.S. pelan tegere, quia sc. quae a chirurgis sanantur, cicatrice clauduntur et obteguntur." And again : " Quod enim sana- tur, prius laceratum aut divulsum, ad pristinam integritatem reducitur." Whole, adj. ( UJalj, Saxon; heal, Dutch.) 1. All; total; containing all. 2. Un- injured ; unimpaired. 3. Well of any hurt or sickness. Hall, (T.) a covered building, where persons assemble, or where goods are protected from the weather. Hall, n. s. (hal, Saxon; halle, Dutch.) 1. A court of justice. 2. A manor-house, so called, because in it were held courts for the tenants. 3. The public room of a corporation. 4. The first large room of a house. Hull, (T.) of a nut, &c. that by which the nut is covered. Hull, (T.> of a ship, that part which is covered in the water. Hull, n.s. (hulgan, Gothic, to cover.) 1. The husk or integument of any thing ; the outer covering ; as the hull of a nut covers the shell. (Hule, Scottish.) 2. The body of a ship, the hulk. Hull and Hulk are now confounded, but hulk seems originally to have signified not merely the body or hull, but a whole ship of bur- then, heavy and bulky. Hole, (T.) some place covered over. Hole, n. s. (hoi, Dutch ; hole, Saxon.) 1. A cavity narrow and long, (i. e. it must by no means be round or square,) either perpendicular or horizontal, (i. e. by no means oblique.) There are four other explanations. — We have already seen what Junius says of the etymology of Hole. Holt, (T.) Holed, HoVd, Holt, a rising ground or knole covered with trees. Holt is not in Johnson ; though it is in both Junius and Skinner. " Holt," (says Skinner,) " Nemus seu arborum quarumvis densius consitarum multitudinem de- isignat." Hold, (T.) as the hold of a ship : in which things are covered ; or the covered part of a ship. Hold, Johnson derives from the verb to hold, and Hold of a ship is placed as the seventh explanation. Thus : " all that part which lies between the keelson and the lower deck." HELP, (T.) the past participle of _pylpan, adjuvare : which Minshew derives from EMng ; and Junius from " avxtaGeiv, sibilo tantum modo in aspiratam commutato." Skinner from pelpan, Anglo-Saxon ; and Johnson after him. HIGHT, (This is an imperfect verb, and only in the preterite tense with a passive OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 123 signification, haran, to call, Saxon ; hessen, to be called, German.) It is some- times used as a participle passive. Mr. Tyrwhitt says, " It is difficult to determine precisely what part of speech it is ; but, upon the whole, I am inclined to consider it as a word of a very singu- lar form, a verb active with a passive signification." Lye says, " Hight, in Old English, means vocatus, nominatus, promissus, Anglo-Saxon patan ; Goth, haitan." And Tooke concludes that it is the past tense, and, therefore, past participle of the Anglo-Saxon and Goth, verbs, and has the same meaning as Hit or It, (the pronoun,) viz. nominal um. HILDING, n. s. (hilb, Saxon, signifies a lord ; perhaps Hilding means a little lord in contempt, for a man that has only the delicacy or bad qualities of high rank ; or a term of reproach abbreviated from hinderling, degenerate. Hughes's Spenser.) Steevens, (Shakspeare, 1813, Vol. VIII. p. 323,) "A Hilding is a paltry, cow- ardly fellow." Johnson, (Shakspeare, 1813, Vol. IX. p. 72.) " The word Hilding or Hinder- ling is a low wretch ; it is applied to Katharine for the coarseness of her beha- viour." This "low wretch," Johnson repeats in Vol. XII. p. 446. Reed, (Vol. XII. p. 13.) " Hilderling, degener ; vox adhuc agro Devon, fami- liaris. Spelman." Maloue, (Vol. XVIII. p. 482.) " A hilding for a livery.] A low fellow, only fit to wear a livery." And in Beaumout and Fletcher, (Weber's edit. Vol. XI1L p. 80,) we are told in a note that " Hilding is a common term of contempt from hilderling, which is still common in some counties." After all this, I believe we shall remain in quite as much ignorance as the edi* tors themselves were, unless we accept the better aid which Tooke affords us. pylbinj, (T.) (like coward,) is either the past participle of the verb pylban, inclinare, curvare, to bend down, to crouch, or to cower ; (and then it should be written Hilden,) or it is the present participle pybinj (pylbanb) of the same verb. Some have supposed Hilding to mean Hinderling, (if ever there was such a word,) and some Hilderling ; which Spelman says is familiar in Devonshire. It is true, that pylbeji is a term of reproach in the Anglo-Saxon, furnished by the same verb> and means — a croucher or cowerer. — pylbing is interpreted by Lye, " Inclinatio, declinatio, curvatura." HILT, n. s. (hilt, Saxon, from healban, to hold.) The handle of any thing, particu- larly of a sword. R 2 124 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Hilt, (T.) is Held, Hell, Hilt. The kilt of a sword is the held part, the part which is held. HOARD, -\ Hoard, (T.) Haurd, (Goth.) popb, (Sax.) is the past participle of HERD, > pypban, custodire. HURDLE, 3 Herd is the same past participle, and is applied both to that which is guarded or kept, and to him by whom it is guarded and kept. We use it both for Grex and Pastor. Hurdle, pynbel, is the diminutive of the same participle hypb ; for the past tense of J?ynban was written either j3ojib, )?ynb, or J?enb. — Hoard, n. s. (hopb, Saxon.) A store laid up in secret ; a hidden stock ; a trea- sure. Herd, n. s. (heonb, Saxon.) 1. A number of beasts together. It is peculiarly ap- plied to black cattle. Flocks and herds are sheep and oxen, or kine. 2. A company of men, in contempt or detestation. 3. It anciently signified a keeper of cattle, and in Scotland it is still used : (hypb, Saxon,) A sense still retained in composition ; as, Goat-herd. Hurdle, n. s. (hypbel, Saxon,) A texture of sticks woven together ; a crate. It was not likely that Junius should be ignorant of this pypban, custodire ; and we find him writing thus strangely under Heard, Grex — Pastor. " Quod si quis tamen pynban, curare, custodire, primo de cura pastorali, postea vero de quavis alia cura putet intellectum, is fortasse contendet .pyjiban dici quasi .pynbelan, ab pynbel crates ; quod, &c." HONE, n. s. (This word M. Casaubon derives from axovri; Junius from hogsaen, Welsh ; Skinner, who is always rational, from heen, Saxon, a stone ; haenan, to stone.) A whetstone for a razor. ** A hone and a arer, to pare away the grass." Tusser's Husband. A razor, Johnson says, is " A knife with a thick blade and fine edge, used in .•shaving." The compliment to Skinner invites an unseasonable comparison. A knife, he tells us, is an instrument edged and pointed, wherewith meat is cut, and animals killed. Hone, (T.) (petrified wood.) The past participle of psenan, lapidescere. HOWL, ^ OWL, > (T.) The past participle of Eryllan, Iriellan, ululare, to yell. YELL. 3 Howl, v.n. (huglen, Dutch; ululo, Latin.) 1. To cry as a wolf or dog. 2. To utter cries in distress. 3. To speak with a belluine cry or tone. 4. It is used poetically of many noises loud and horrid. OF THE DICTIONARY OP DR. JOHNSON. 125 And the substantive he derives from the verb. Skinner, after enumerating all the similar words he can collect, says, " Omnia a souo ficta." Owl, } n.s. (ule, Saxon ; hulote, French and Scotch.) A bird that flies about in Owlet, > the night, and catches mice. Thus, then, Owl is derived from one language, and its diminutive, Owlet, from another. Skinner and Junius are inclined to give the same origin to Howl and Owl. HUNGER, (T.) the past participle of pyngruan, esurire. And from this verb Skinner derives the English verb ; but Johnson derives the English verb from the noun, and the noun from hunjeji, Saxon ; hanger, Dutch. HURT, n. s. (from the verb.) Hurt, v. a. (hypt, wounded, Saxon; heurter, to strike, French.) " Si Grsecus essem," says Skinner, " deflecterem ab alau, vulnero." Hurt, (T.) the past participle of J?yp]?ian, injuria afficere, vexare. «' ICE, n. s. (I]% Saxon; eyse, Dutch.) 1. Water or other liquid made solid by cold. 2. Concreted sugar. " Thou art all tie, thy kindness freezes." Shaksp. Richard III. ICY, adj. (from ice.) 1. Full of ice; covered with ice ; cold ; frosty. 2. Cold; free from passion. u But my poor heart first set free, Bound in these icy chains by thee." Shaksp. Meas.for Meat. ** Thou would'st have never learn'd The icy precepts of respect." Shaksp. Timon. I leave the reader to assort the examples with the explanations. And again, Johnson explains — JEWEL, Any ornament of great value, used commonly of such as are adorned with precious stones. One example is — " The jewel, life, By some damn'd hand was robb'd and ta'en away." Shakspeare. 126 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION IF, conjunction, (jep, Saxon.) 1. Suppose that, allowing that. A hypothetical par- ticle. Edit. 1755. 1. Suppose it to be, or it were so, that. A hyp. &c. Ed. 1805. 2. Whether or no. Both Ed. 3. Though I doubt whether ; suppose it be granted that. Ed. 1755. 4. Allowing that, suppose, &c. Ed. 1805. Johnson, it is manifest, was aware that his explanations of this word were in need of improvement, yet did he continue to close his understanding to the light which even Skinner and Lye might have cast upon it. Skinner says, " If in agro, Line. Gif ab A. S. Lnf, si hoc a verbo Enpan, dare, q. d. dato." And this is quoted with approbation by Lye, in his edition of Junius. G if> (T.) is to be found not only, as Skinner says, in Lincolnshire, but in all our old writers. G. Douglas almost always used gif: once or twice he has used if; once he uses Gewe, and once Giffis, and sometimes in case, and in cats for Gif The Glossarist to Douglas says, " Gijfis, Give, Date." And in the instance quoted by Tooke from Douglas it does not appear to be used conjunctively ; as Dr. Jamieson has justly observed; — at the same time he erroneously ascribes to Tooke the assertion, that Douglas uses Giffis in the sense oilf. If (T.) is the imperative Lnj:, of the verb Lnjzan, to Give. After the observations above quoted respecting Douglas, and the examples in sup- port of them, Tooke informs us, that " Chaucer commonly uses If ; sometimes Yeue, Yef, Yf. And it is to be observed, that in Chaucer, and in other old wri- ters, the verb to give suffers the same variations in the manner of writing and pro- nouncing it, whether used conjunctively or otherwise, as does also the noun de- rived from it. Ray says, " Gin, Gif, in old Saxon, is Gif ; from whence the word if is made per aphaeresin liter© G. Gif, from the verb Gifan, dare, and is as much as Dato." Hoc dato is of equal conjunctive value in a sentence with Da hoc. — IMP, n. s. (imp, Welsh; a shoot, a sprout, a sprig.) 1. A son; the offspring; pro- geny. 2. A subaltern devil, a puny devil. In this sense it is still retained. To Imp, v. a. (impio, to engraff, Welsh.) To lengthen or enlarge with any thing adscititious. It is originally a term used by falconers, who repair a hawk's wing with adscititious feathers. Tooke sufficiently notices the explanations which the commentators on Shak- speare attempt, and then adds, " Imp is the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Impan, to plant, to graft." OF THE DICTIONARY OF OK. JOHNSON. 127 The editors of Massiuger and Beaumont and Fletcher think this etymology be- neath their notice, or are ignorant of its existence ; and continue to infer a mean- ing from the application of the word to falconry. " To imp," says the compiler of Falconer's Dictionary, " is to insert a feather into the wing of a hawk or other bird, in the place of one that is broken." To this practice our old writers, who seem to have been, in the language of the present day, keen sportsmen, perpetu- ally allude." Mass. Vol. II. p. 230. Lye, in his Dictionary, says, " Impan, impian, to imp. Plantare, inserere. Impod, plantatus." And Junius, though he first refers to the Welsh, also mentions the Anglo-Saxon Impian. IMPROVE, v. a. (in and probus. Quasi probwn facere. Skinner.) 1. To advance any thing nearer to perfection ; to raise from good to better. We amend a bad, but improve a good thing. 2. (In and prove; improuier, French; improbo, Latin.) To disprove. To Improve, (says Tooke,) i. e. to censure, to impeach, to blame, to reprove. A word perpetually used by the authors about Shakspeare's time, and especially in religious controversy. The expression in Hamlet, (Act I. sc. i.) •' of unimproved mettle hot and full," ought not to have given Shakspeare's commentators any trouble, for unimproved means unimpeacked ; though Warburton thinks it means " unrefined ;" Edwards " unproved;" and Johnson, (with the approbation of Malone,) " not regulated nor " guided by knowledge or experience ;" and in his Dictionary he explains it to be, " not taught, not meliorated by instruction." — IN. Johnson is moderate. He gives ten explanations, only, of the preposition, and six of the adverb. In (T.) the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Inna, means uterus, viscera, venter, inte- rior pars corporis. (Inna, inne, is also in a secondary sense used for Cave, Cell, Cavern.) And there are some etymological reasons which make it not improbable that Out derives from a word originally meaning skin. I am inclined to believe that In and Out came originally from two nouns, meaning those two parts of thc- body. INHABIT, Shakspeare, Macbeth, fo. 142: " Or be aliue againe, And dare me to the desart with thy sworde; If trembling I inhabit then, protest mee The baby of a girle " 128 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Upon this, Johnson remarks, " Inhabit is the original reading, which Mr. Pope changed to inhibit, which inhibit Dr. Warburton interprets refuse. The old read- ing may stand, at least as well as the emendation." Henley says, " Inhabit is the original reading ; and it needs no alteration. The obvious meaning is, — Should you challenge me to encounter you in the desert, and I, through fear, remain trembling in my castle, then protest me," &c. Upon which Mr. Steevens acknowledges that " It is not impossible that by in- habit, our author capriciously meant — stay within doors. If when you have chal- lenged me to the desart, I skulk in my house, do not hesitate to protest my cowardice." Upon the correction of Pope, Steevens had built another ; and changed Then into Thee. " Both which insipid corrections Malone (says Tooke,) with his usual judgment, inserts in his text. And there it stands — '* If trembling I inhibit thee." But for these tasteless commentators, one can hardly suppose that any reader of Shakspeare could have found a difficulty ; the original text is so plain, easy, and clear, and so much in the author's accustomed manner : — " Dare me to the desart with thy sworde, If I inhabit then, i. e. If, then, I do not meet thee there : if trembling I stay at home, or within doors, or under any roof, or within any habitation : If, when you call me to the desart, I then house me, or through fear hide myself from thee in any dwelling ; «* If trembling I do house me then, Protest me," &c. INSTEAD OF, prep. (A word formed by the coalition of in and stead.} Stead, n. s. (Steb, Saxon.) 1. Place. Obsolete. So says Johnson, and then proceeds to produce examples of its use, under this and other explanations, from Spenser, Hooker, Butler, Dryden, Locke, and Atterbury. Instead, says Tooke, is from the Anglo-Saxon On jrebe, In stead, i. e. In place. In the Latin it is vice and loco. Our oldest English writers more rarely used the French word, place, but most commonly the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon word, Stads, Steb, 8tebe. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 129 " Step, in composition," says Johnson, " signifies one who is related only by marriage. (Steop, Saxon, from Scepau, to deprive, to make an orphan ; for the Saxons not only said a step-mother, but a step-daughter, or step-son ; to which it, indeed, according to this etymology, more properly belongs : but as it is now sel- dom applied but to the mother, it seems to mean, in the mind of those who use it, a woman who has stepped into the vacant place of the true mother.)" " One easy corruption (says Tooke) of the word Sted, in composition, has much puzzled all our etymologists ;" and Johnson, he thinks, instead of discover- ing an etymology, has produced a pun. In the Danish collateral languages, he continues, the compounds remain uncor- rupted, and there they are, with a clear and unforced meaning applicable to all : JSfed/ader, Stedmoder, Stedbroder, Stedsoster, Stedbarn, Stedson, Steddotter ; i. e. vice, loco, in the place of, instead of a father, a mother, a brother, &c. — IRON, n.s. 1. A metal common to all parts of the world. 2. Any instrument or utensil made of iron ; as a flat iron ; a box iron. " O thou ! whose captain I account myself; Look on my forces with a gracious eye : Put in their hands thy bruising irons of wrath," &c. Shakspeare, Richard III. A. V. sc. ii. IT, pron. (pit, Saxon.) 1. The neutral demonstrative used in speaking of things. Thus it stands in the first edition. In the ninth is this addition : — " For it, our ancestors used he, as the neutral pronoun ; and for its they used his. Thus, in the Accidence, a noun adjective is that which cannot stand by himself, but requireth another word to be joined with him to shew his signification." It, (T.) anciently written pir, pytr, and paet, is the past participle of the (G.) verb Haitan, (S.) paetan, nominare : and this meaning, viz. nominatum, i. e. the said, perfectly corresponds with every use of the word It in our language. Mr. Malone says, that in many of our old chronicles he had found Hit printed instead of It : and hence infers, that it was a mistake in the first folio, in the following passages : " He blushes, and 'tis Hit." AWt well that ends well, p. 253. ** Stop up th' accesse and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th' effect and Hit " Macbeth, p. 134. S 130 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Mr. Malone's discovery of the word Hit in the old chronicles ought to have led him to an inference very different from the supposition of a mistake. It, (continues Tooke,) or the said, is (like all our other participles) as much mas- culine as feminine, and as plurally applicable as singularly. Not only in all the old chronicles, but in all our English authors, down to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the word was written Hit. It, Mr. Tyrwhitt says, is used instead of He and She • — " What, who art there? It am I, Absolon." Miller's Tale, v. 37G4. " I am your daughter Custance (qd. she) That whilom ye han sent into Surrie It am I father, that in the salt see Was quite alone, and dampned for to die." Man of Lawe's Tale, v. 5529. " Qui est la," quod he—" Peter, It am I," Quod she " Shipmanne's Tale, 13,144. J UST, adj. (juste, French ; Justus, Latin.) Upright ; incorrupt ; equitable in the distribution of justice. Johnson originally gave ten other divisions of meaning, the last of which was supported by a quotation from his own poem on the Vanity of Human Wishes. 11. Exact in retribution, " See nations slowly wise, and meanly just, To bury'd merit raise the tardy bust." This was subsequently omitted ; and now there are twelve explanations. Just (T.) is the past participle of the verb jubere. A right and just action is, such a one as is ordered and commanded. A just man, is such as he is commanded to be — qui leges juraque servat — who observes and obeys the things laid down and commanded — the things ordered, com- manded, or laid down by God, human nature, or the constitution of the govern- ment. But more of this hereafter. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 131 K. KNAVE, n.8. (Cnapa, Saxon.) 1. A boy; a male child. 2. A servant. Both these are obsolete. 3. A petty rascal ; a scoundrel ; a dishonest fellow. 4. A card with a soldier painted on it. Johnson also preserves this latter mode of interpretation in " King ;" viz. " A card with the picture of a king :" but not being very careful to observe uniformity, he neglects to inform us that a Queen is " A card with the picture of a queen." Clubs and spades he also informs us are suits of cards, but disowns the hearts and the diamonds. Surely the Rape of the Lock would have furnished him with couplets for the two rejected, as well as for the two chosen, suits. Knave, (T.) (A. S. Cnapa,) was probably Napaft, i. e. Ne-hapift, Irenajza'S, qui nihil habet: the third person singular of Nabban, i. e. Ne-haban. — Nequam is held by the Latin etymologists to mean Ne-quicquam, i. e. one who hath nothing ; neither goods nor good qualities. KNEE, \ I believe (T.) the Gothic Hnaiwyan, Hneiwan, and- the Anglo- NECK, T Saxon J?nigan, which have all the same meaning ; viz. incurvare, KNUCKLE, C inclinare, to bow, to bend, to incline, to be the same verb; though NOD. J something differently pronounced ; and I suppose Kniw, (G.) Cneoji, (S.) and our English Knee, to be the past tense of the verb. Neck, in the Anglo-Saxon )?necc, (or pnejg,) may perhaps also be the past tense of pnigan. Knuckle, in Anglo-Saxon Cnucl, (perhaps formerly pnujel,) I suppose to be the diminutive of pnug, which may likewise have been the regular past tense of pnijan. I offer the foregoing to you barely as conjecture. But we know that J?nah is perpetually used in the Anglo-Saxon as the past tense of pnigan : by adding to it the participial termination, we have _pnaheb, pnah'o, (A broad); from which, I doubt not, we have our English Nod, i. e. an inclination of the head. — Knee, n. 8. (Cneoj>, Saxon ; Knee, Dutch.) 1. The joint of the leg, where the leg is joined to the thigh. Neck, n.8. (pneca, Saxon ; Neck, Dutch.) 1. The part between the head and the body. Knuckle, n.8. (Cnucle, Saxon; Knockle, Dutch.) 1. The joints of the fingers protuberant when the fingers close. S 2 l, c 32 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION To Knuckle, v. n. (from the noun.) To submit. / suppose from an odd custom of striking the underside of the table with the knuckles, in confession of an argu- mental defeat. Nod, n. 8. (from the verb.) 1. A quick declination of the head. To Nod, v. a. (of uncertain derivation, vuu, Greek; nuto, Latin; amneidio, Welsh.) To decline the head with a quick motion. Knee, according to Skinner and Junius, is from the Latin genu ; the Greek yotu ; and the former adds, ita^a to eij yyv vevuv. Knuckle, Skinner is inclined to derive from Knock, because when men fight they knock with the knuckles. Neck, Junius and Skinner derive from the Teutonick Nicken, " prorsum retror- sumque obvertere, et in omnes partes facili motu circumagere :" and this Nicken Junius says is from nuu, vmuna. KNOLL, } Knell, n.s.(cnil, Welsh, a funeral pile ; cnyllan, to ring, Saxon.) The KNELL, j sound of a bell rung at a funeral. " When he was brought again to the bar, to hear His knell rung out, his judgment, he was stirr'd With such an agony, he sweat extreamly ;" [And something spoke in choler, ill and hasty.] Shaksp. Henry VIII. To Knoll, Johnson derives from Knell. In (T.) the Anglo-Saxon, Cnole, Cnyll, is the past participle of Cnyllan, to strike a bell. KNOT, -\ Are (T.) the past participle of Cnyttan, to knit, nectere, alligare, KNIGHT, C attacher. NET, J Knight, is Cnyt, Saxon, un attache. Net, is (subaud. something) knitted. For Knot, n. s. Johnson gives the Saxon, German, Dutch, and Erse similar words, without noticing Skinner's reference to Cnyttan, nectere, ligare : and he says that it means — " 1. A complication of a cord or string, not easily to be dis- entangled. . " He found that reason's self new reasons found To fasten knots, which fancy first had bound." Sidney. " Tir'd with the walk, she laid her down to rest And to the winds exposed her glowing breast, OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 133 To take the freshness of the morning air, And gathered in a knot her Jloicing Itair." Addison. Knight, Johnson, after Skinner, derives from Cuiht, Saxon ; Knecht, German ; a servant. Net, n. s. (Nati, Gothic ; Nee, Saxon.) A texture woven with large interstices or meshes, used commonly as a snare for animals. Net, Minshew and Junius derive from the Greek v»}9«, and Skinner from the Latin rete. Johnson's explanation of Network is well known: "Any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections." Let the reader, who may like such an amusement, substitute the explanation of each term for the term explained ; and let him not be surprized if he should receive at the outset such an accession to his knowledge as this : — " That Network is any thing made of network." To Knit. 1. To make or unite by texture without a loom. " Sleep, that knits up/' &c. L. LACE, 1 Lace, n. 8. (Lacet, French ; Laqueces, Latin.) A string, a cord. LATCH, T ATCHFT "- There the fond fly entangled, struggled long, t T-rr^L?" Himself to flee thereout; but all in vain; LUCK., _ . . , •-' < • For striving more, the more in laces strong ' I Himself he tied, and wrapt his winges twain CLUTCHES J . In limy snares, the subtil loops among." Spenser. His authority is from the last stanza but one of the Muiopotmos ; and is nothing more than the description of a fly entangled in the web of a spider. A Cord, Johnson says, is a Rope; and a Rope, of course, is a cord. Latch, n. 8. (letse, Dutch ; laccio, Italian.) A catch of a door moved by a string or handle. Latchet, n. 8. (lacet, French.) The string that fastens the shoe. To Clutch, v. a. (of uncertain etymology.) Clutch, n. s. (from the ver6.) 1. The gripe ; grasp ; seizure. 134 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION 2. Generally, in the plural, the paws, the talons. 3. Hands, in a sense of rapacity or cruelty. Luck, n. 8. (Creluck, Dutch.) 1. Chance; accident; fortune, &c. The opinions of Junius, Skinner, and Minshew are sufficiently detailed by Mr. Tooke. Lace (T.) and Latch, are the past tense and past participle Leeccan, Laecgan, Lseccean, prehendere, apprehendere. The Latch of a door, or that by which the door is caught, latched, or held, is often called a Catch. Luck (good or bad) is merely the same participle, and means (something, any thing,) caught. Instead of saying that a person has had good Luck, it is not un- common to say, he has had a good Catch. Clutch is, also, the past participle of Geleeccean, capere, arripere. So Clutches, i. e. Clutchers, (Gelatchers) : as, Fangs and Fingers, from Fengan, and Hand, from J? en tan. — LAMENT, Johnson considers as a verb neuter and a verb active. To lament/or Josiah ; to lament King Henry's corse. In the first expression it is, according to him, neuter ; and in the latter, (where there is merely an ellipsis of for, the cause,) a verb active. LASH, (T.) (French, Lasche,) of a whip, i. e. that part of it which is let loose, let go, cast out, thrown out; the past participle of French Lascher ; Ital. Lasciare. Lash, n. s. (The most probable etymology of this word seems to be that of Skinner, from Schlagen, Dutch, to strike ; whence Slash and Lash.') 1. A stroke with any thing pliant and tough ; and three other. LAST, > (T.) in the Anglo-Saxon pl&yce, and Be-hlsej-te, are the past participles BALLAST, 5 of plse/tan, Be-hlaej-tan, onerare." Skinner. " Last, ponderis apud nos genus, ab Anglo-Saxon ^laejtan, Be-lheej'tan, onerare." " Ballast, saburra, fort, ab A. S. Be-hlsej-tan, plaej-tan, &c." Junius. " Last, origo vocabuli petenda est ab A. S. pleej-tan, et Be-hlaej-tan, onerare." So say Johnson's authorities, What says he himself? Last, n. s. (Laej-t, Saxon.) 1. The mould on which shoes are formed. 2. (Last, German.) A load ; a certain weight or measure. Ballast, n. s. (Ballaste, Dutch.) 1. Something put at the bottom of the ship, to keep it steady to the centre of gravity. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 135 LATTICE. Of this word Johnson supplies an etymology peculiarly his own. " I have sometimes derived it from let and eye; let-eyes, that which lets the eye ;" and he calls it a reticulated window. LAUGH. Skinner had no doubt of there being such a word as plapan, though he could not find it in Somner. Johnson has no scruples, and boldly gives plajian as the etymology of Laugh. Had Skinner (says Tooke) been aware of the regular change of the charac- teristic letter in all the Anglo-Saxon verbs, he would have been well contented with phhan. — Laugh is the regular past tense and past participle of the Anglo- Saxon verb )3lihan, ridere ; viz. J?lah, which we write Laugh. Johnson says that Laugh, the noun, means " The convulsion caused by merri- ment ; an inarticulate expression of sudden merriment ;" and Merriment means " Gaiety, chearfulness," &c. " Si quemadmodum oris habitus cernitur oculis, inquit (Annibal), sic animus intus cerni posset, facile vobis appareret, non Iceti, sed prope amentia malis cordis hunc, quem increpatis, risum esse." Liv. xxx. 44. LAW, -\ In (T.) our ancient books it was written Laugh, Lagh, Lage, and Ley ; as LOG, > Inlaugh, Ullage, Hundred-lagh, &c. LOAD. 3 It is merely the past tense and past participle Lag or Lseg, .of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb Laj-yan, Lecgan, ponere : and it means (something or any thing, Chose, Cosa, Aliquid,) Laid down — as a rule of conduct. Lag (a broad, and retaining the sound of the g.) Log, from the Anglo-Saxon, corresponds with Post, from the Latin. We say indifferently, " To stand like a post," or " To stand like a log," in our way. Lag-ed, or Lag'd, (dismissing the sound of the g,) becomes Lad (a broad) or Load. And you will not fail to ob- serve, that, though weight is subaud. and therefore implied in the word Load ; yet weight is not Load, until cuivis imposilum. — Johnson barely refers to the Saxon Laja, for Law ; and Skinner believes Law to be from the Latin Lex; which Lex, (i. e. Legs,} is, in Tooke's opinion no other than the Anglo-Saxon past participle, Lseg. Log, n. s. (The original of this word is not known. Skinner derives it from Liggan, Saxon, to lie ; Junius from logge, Dutch, sluggish. Perhaps the Latin lignum is the true original.) A shapeless bulky piece of wood. Load, n. s. (J?labe, Saxon.) A burthen ; freight ; lading. LAY, } Lay, n. s. {lay, French. It is said originally to signify sorrow or complaint, LEWD. > and then to have been transferred to poems written to express sorrow. It is derived by the French from Lessns, Latin, a, funeral song : but it is found like- wise in the Teutonick dialect ; Ley, LeoS, Saxon ; leey, Danish.) 136 . A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Such is Johnson's account of the etymological meaning of the word Lay ; and then he gives, as the first meaning, "A song, a poem." Resolved to outrage consistency still more grossly, this is the first example which he produces : " To the maiden's sounding timbrels sung, - tn well attuned notes, a. joyous lay." Spenser. Nor has any one of his seven other examples any application to any thing sor- rowful. Lay, adj. (laicus, Latin ; *«<*.) Not clerical ; regarding or belonging to the people as distinct from the clergy. Skinner would, at least, give this adjective and substantive the same origin. Junius seems to think that he can discover Lay, Cantus, in K^je, itewov. But though Johnson derives the adjective Lay from the Latin and Greek ; Lewd he takes from LaeJ>ebe, Saxon, and explains it — 1. Lay, not clerical. 2. Wicked ; bad ; naughty. Mr. Tyrwhitt explains Lewd to mean ignorant, unlearned, lascivious. " Leude (says Junius) Chaucero plerumque est stolidus atque imperitus." And yet every example that he quotes will confirm the etymology of Mr. Tooke, which is this : — Lewd, in Anglo-Saxon Lsejjeb, is almost equivalent to wicked ; except that it includes no agency of infernal spirits : it means misled, led astray, deluded, im- posed upon, betrayed into error. Lew'd is the past participle, and Lay is the past tense, and, therefore, the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Laej?an, pro- dere, tradere, to delude, to mislead. Lewd, in its modern application, is confined to those who are betrayed or misled by one particular passion : it was anciently applied to the profanum vulgus at large, too often misled through ignorance. — LEAVEN, (T.) is from the French Lever, to raise ; i. e. That by which the dough is raised- So the Anglo-Saxons called it J2aj:en, the past participle of their own verb peapan, to raise. — (See Dough.) Leaven, n. s. (levain, French ; levare, Latin.) Ferment mixed with any body to make it light ; particularly used of sour dough mixed in a mass of bread. LEFT. (T.) The left hand is that which is Leaved, Leav'd, Left; or which we are taught to leave out of use. Left, according to Johnson, is, 1st, the participle preter of Leave; and, 2nd, an adjective, from lufte, Dutch ; Icevus, Latin ; and this latter means, " Sinistrous, not right." OF THE DICTIONARY OP DR. JOHNSON. 137 LEGEND, (T.) That which ought to be read, is, from the early misapplication of the term by impostors, now used by us as if it meant — That which ought to be laughed at. Legend, n.s. (JLegenda, Latin.) 1. A chronicle or register of the lives of saints. 2. Any memorial or relation. 3. An incredible unauthentick narrative. 4. Any inscription ; particularly on medals or coins. LENGTH, n. s. (from leng, Saxon,) — from the Latin longus, Skinner adds. Long, adj. (long, French ; longus, Latin.) Length (T.) is the third person singular Lenje^, of the indicative of Lenjian, extendere ; of which Long is the past participle. Nor can any other derivation be found for the Latin Longus. LID, }Lid, n. 8. (pli*, Saxon; lied, German.) LOT, / 1. A cover, &c. BLOT, ^Lot, n. s. (hlaut, Gothic; plot, Saxon; lot, Dutch.) GLADE,y 1. Fortune, state assigned. CLOUD. J These words (T.) have all but one meaning, — covered, hidden. And their only difference is in their modern distinct application or different sub A audition. plib and plot, are the regular past tense and past participle of pliban, tegere, operire, to cover. The Anglo-Saxon participle plib, suppressing the aspi- rate, is the English Lid; i. e. that by which any thing (vessel, box, &c.) is covered. The Anglo-Saxon participle plob or plot, suppressing the aspirate, is the Eng- lish Lot, i. e. (something) covered or hidden. " Witches, in foretime named ^-tellers," i.e. tellers of covered or hidden things. — Blot, n. s. (from the verb.) The verb from blottir, French, to hide. 1. An obliteration of something written. Indifferently (T.) with pliban our ancestors used Be-hliban and lie-lhiban ; and of Be-hliban, tegere, the regular past tense and past participle is Be-hlob or Be- hlot, which is become our English Blot ; and a blot upon any thing extends just as far as that thing is covered, and no farther. Glade, n. s. (from Iilo}>an, to be hot, or to shine : whence the Danish, Gled, and the obsolete English Gleed, a red hot coal.) A lawn or opening in a wood. Lucus. — Johnson should have added, — a non lucendo. Lre-hlyb, De-lhit), Ixe-lhob, ISe-lhab, (T.) is the regular past tense and past participle of lie-lhiban ; and lie-lhab is become the English Glade, applied to a spot covered or hidden with trees or boughs. CLOUD, n. 8. (The derivation is not known, Minshew derives it frcm claudo, to T 138 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION shut ; Somner from clod ; Casaubon from a%xv$, darkness ; Skinner from kladde, Dutch, a spot.) 1 . The dark collection of vapours in the air. 3. Any state of obscurity or darkness. " Now are the clouds that lower'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried." Shakspeare. Do not imagine this example to be to the third explanation From the same participle, I suppose, says Tooke, is formed our English word Cloud — Gehlod, Gehloud, Gloud, Cloud. As Nubes from Nubere to cover. Quia coelum Nubit, i. e. operit ; says Varro. And Nupta, (i. e. Nubita, Nubta,) is Femme couverte. LIEF, adj. (leoj:, Saxon ; lief, Dutch.) Dear, beloved. Obsolete. Lief, (T.) Liever, Lievest, Leoj:, Leopie, Leo^ert. Leof, (for Leopeb or Lupab, or Luj:ob or Luj:,) is the past participle of Lu- pan, to love, and always means beloved. LIMB, Johnson derives from lim, Saxon ; and lem, Danish : and when so derived means, " A member, a jointed or articulated part of animals." But it also means " An edge, a border ;" and then it is " a philosophical word," and owes its origin to limbe, French ; limbus, Latin. Limb, the verb, means, first, to supply with limbs; but this verb also has a second meaning, which is, " to dismember ;" i. e. " to divide member from member." — Johnson, how r ever, produces no example for this latter meaning. Limb, Limbo, (T.) in A. S. written Lim and Limb, b being written for p. It is the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Limpian, pertinere ; and it means, quod pertinet, or, quod pertinuit ; — what belongeth or hath belonged to some- thing : Limb of the body ; limb of the law ; limb of an argument. Hence also Limbus and Lembus. LO, interj. (la, Saxon.) Look ; see ; behold. It is a word used to recal the atten- tion generally to some object of sight ; sometimes to something heard, but not properly ; often to something to be understood. Lo (T.) the imperative of Look. So the common people say corruptly " Lo' you there now — La' you there." Where we now employ sometimes Look and sometimes Lo, with discrimination ; our old English writers used indifferently Lo, Loke, Lokeih, for this imperative. — And that they did so, Mr. Tooke produces examples. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DO. JOHNSON*. 139 LOAF, "\Loaf, n. e. (from plap, or lap, Saxon.) A mass of bread as it is formed by LORD,/ the baker ; a loaf is thicker than a cake. LADY,Vlord, n. s. (JJlarjojib, Saxon.) 1. Monarch; ruler; governor. And eight LIFT, \ other explanations. LOFT, -/Lady, n. s. (pleepbiq, Saxon.) 1. A woman of high rank, &c. LIFT, n. s. (from the verb.) And the verb from tifla, Swedish ; lofter, Danish. Lift means, 1. The act of lifting ; the manner of lifting. 2. In Scottish, the sky ; for in a starry night they say, How clear the Lift is. Loft, n. s. (Lloft, Welsh ; or from lift.) 1. A floor. 2. The higher floor. 3. Rooms on high. Such are the derivations and explanations of Johnson ; and true it is that his authorities, Junius and Skinner, supply him with nothing better. We must resort to H. Tooke. Loaf, in Anglo-Saxon J?laj:, (a broad, ") is the past participle of phpan, to raise; and means, merely, raised. So in the Meeso-Gothic, Hlaibs is Loaf, which is the past participle of Hleibyan, to raise, or to lift up. Lye says, Hleibyan is perhaps from Hleibs, i. e. the verb from the participle. Lord, (T.) i. e. J?laj:onb, is a compound word of J?laj:, {raised or exalted,) and Onb, ortus, source, origin, birth. Lord, therefore, means high born, or of an ex- alted origin. Lady, i. e. Lapbig, signifies and is, merely, Lofty ; i. e. raised or exalted : her birth being entirely out of the question ; the wife following the condition of the husband. pl&f, JJlapob, plap'b, ftfcfttg, omitting the incipient H, is Laf, Lafed, Laf'd, Lafd-y. If the f is retained in the word, the immediately subsequent d is, as usual, changed to t ; and the word will be Lofty, (a broad,) or Lofty. If the/ is suppressed, no cause remains for changing the d, and the word will be Lady. — Of Lift and Loft enough has already been said under Aloft, q. v. LOAM, n. s. Fat, unctuous, tenacious earth. *' The purest treasure Is spotless reputation, that away Men are but gilded loam or painted clay." Shak^pearf. LOCK, } In Anglo-Saxon (T.) Lac, Beloc, are the regular past participles of BLOCK, 3 Lycan, Be-lycan, obserare, claudere, T 2 140 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION To Block up, says Skinner, Dr. Th. Hickes deflectit ab A. S. Be-luccan, clau^ clere, v. Lock. And, Lock, ab Anglo-Saxon Loc, sera, Belucan ; Belg. Locken, Luycken, claudere, obserare. And in Junius, Block-up, Belucan, A. S. obserare, ex Be and Loc. sera. Lock, Johnson says, is from Loc, in both senses. Block, the noun, from block, Dutch ; bloc, French. And, Block, the verb, from blocquier, French. And his explanations are as good as his etymologies. LOUD, adj. says Johnson, and attempts no etymology. Skinner derives it from the Anglo-Saxon J3lub ; and not knowing whence plub. he thinks it better to write Loud than Lowd. But the word is the past participle of the verb to Low or to Bellow, (plolpan, Be-hlo)an,) Lowed, Low'd. And it was written Low'd formerly ; of which Tooke produces instances from the first folio of Shakspeare. LOW, ^ Low, adj. says Johnson, and again attempts no etymology. His first expla- LOWN,> nation is a palpable truism — " Not high." LOWT. 3 Lown, n. s. [Hun, Irish ; loen, Dutch, a stupid drone) A scoundrel ; a rascal. Not in use. Lout, n. s. (loete, old Dutch, Mr. Lye.) A mean awkward fellow ; a bumpkin ; a clown. But though the noun is from the old Dutch, not so the verb : — To Lout, v. n. (plutan, to bend, Saxon.) To pay obeisance ; to bend ; to bow. Obsolete. It was used in a good sense. In Scotland they say, A fellow with low- tan or luttan shoulders ; that is, one who bends forwards his shoulders or back. To Lout, v. a. This word seems in Shakspeare to signify, to overpower. " I am lowted by a traitor villain And cannot help the noble Chevalier." Shakspeare. Henry VI. Act IV. sc. iii. The commentators upon this passage demand a hearing. To lowt may signify to depress, to lower, to dishonour ; but I do not remember it so used. We might read — I am flouted, I am mocked, and treated with con- tempt. Johnson. To lout, in Chaucer, signifies to submit. To submit is to let down. So, Dryden : — " Sometime the hill submits itself a while In small descents," &c. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 141 To lout and uuderlout, in Gawin Douglas's version of the JEneid, signifies to be subdued, vanquished. Steevens. A lowt is a country fellow, a clown. He means, — that Somerset treated him like a hind. Ritson. I believe the meaning is : I am treated with contempt like a lowt; or low coun- try fellow. Malone. Mr. Malone's explanation of the word — lowted, (says Mr. Steevens, with his usual candour,) is strongly countenanced by the following passage in an ancient libel upon priests, intitled, " I playne Piers which cannot flatter, a Ploweman Men me call," 0Ca)>an, metere. And from this verb Skinner derives our English substantives, which again is wholly unnoticed by Johnson. — Junius from the Teutonick Mayeu, metere.-— Minshew ab antiquo B. Maeden, metere. Johnson explains the word to mean, — {f Ground somewhat watery, not ploughed, but covered with grass and flowers." MEAT, -\ Meat, n.s. [met, French.) 1. Flesh to be eaten. 2. Food in general. MOUTH, C Mouth, n.s. (GQuS, Saxon,) we are told means, 1. The aperture in the MOTH. 3 head of any animal at which the food is received ; and, 3. The instrument of speaking. Moth, n. s. (OQo^, Saxon.) A small winged creature, that eats cloths and hangings. Johnson's etymologies are the best which he could find in Skinner and Junius. Meat, (T.) in Anglo-Saxon CO&t, (whatever is eaten,} is the past participle of the verb Matyan, CIDecian, edere, to eat. Mouth, that which eateth. Moth, the name of an insect that eateth ; the third person singular of the same word. MEMORANDUM, n. s. (Latin.) A note to help the memory. That (T.) which ought to be remembered. MESS, n.s. [mesy old French; messo, Italian; missus, Latin; mee, Gothick, GDej*e, Saxon, a dish.} A dish ; a quantity of food sent to table together. " [The oaks bear mast, the briars scarlet hips :] The bounteous huswife, nature, on each bush Lays her full megs before you." Shaj£speare. Timon of Athens. 1 have supplied the first line, that nature's disk might be better understood. A dish, according to Johnson, is, 1. A broad wide vessel, &c. 2. A deep hol- low vessel. And, 3. The meat served in such vessel. Mess (T.) is the past participle of (IQetpan, cibare, to furnish meat or food. In French Alels ; in Italian Messo, from the same verb. MESSENGER, n. 8. (mtssager, French.) One who carries an errand ; one who comes 144 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION from another to a third ; one who brings an account or foretoken of any thing ; a harbinger, a forerunner. A harbinger is a forerunner, and a forerunner a harbinger. This settled, take two examples to the same explanation :— *« Yon grey lines That fret the clouds, are messengers of day." Shakspeare. " The earl dispatched messengers one after another to the king, with an account of what he heard and believed he saw, and yet thought not fit to stay for an answer." Clarendon. MIGHT. Johnson merely gives the same word in Saxon. Junius says that it is from the Anglo-Saxon verb OQajan, posse ; and Tooke that it is the third person singular of the indicative of this OQagan, posse, valere ; which the Anglo-Saxons wrote OOsege^, or GQaeg^e, i. e. What one mayeth. Quantum potest aut valet aliquis. MILK, ? (T.) One and the same word differently pronounced, (either ch or k,) MILCH, S is the past participle of the verb OQelcan, mulgere. Skinner writes Meolcian. Johnson merely cites the Saxon and Dutch similar words. His explanations and examples demand a moment's pause. Milk means, — " 1. The liquor with which animals feed their young from the breast." His first animal is a woman, Lady Macbeth ; his second, Macbeth him- self. These are the lines : — " I fear thy nature ; It is too full o'the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way." Shaksp. Macbeth. (Act I. sc. v.) His third animal is a sheep ! " To fold, my flock ! when milk is dried with heat, In vain the milk-maid tugs an empty teat." All these animals, however, feed their young with this " liquor from the breast." — Where, then, (to say nothing of the Lady and the milky Thane,) where is the breast of the silly sheep ? It is between the fore legs. Johnson declares, (and who will gainsay ?) that the breast is " That part of a beast that is under the neck, between the fore legs." And thence, of course, the young of animals are supplied with milk. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 145 MINT, > Mint, n.s. (munte, Dutch ; ODynetian, to coin.) 1. A place where money MONEY. * is coined. 2. Any place of invention. Money, n. s. (inonnoye, French ; moneta, Latin.) Mint and Money (T.) are the past participle of (TDynejian, OQyngian, uotare, to mark, or to coin, Mineyed, Minyed, Mirtd, Mint : and Money, merely by chang- ing the characteristic y to o. — The Latin moneta, is the past participle of the same Anglo-Saxon verb. MIRTH, v Mirth, (n. s. (CDynlvoe, Saxon.) Merriment; jollity; gaiety; langh- MURTHER,! ter. MORROW, > For Merry, Johnson gives no etymology. MORN, V Murder, n. s. (ClDorrSoji, ODonben, Saxon; murdrum, Latin. The MORNING. * etymology requires that it should be written, as it anciently often was, murther ; but of late the word itself has commonly, and its derivatives uni- versally, been written with stantive. Most is adjective, adverb, and a kind of substantive: and the MOST. 3 reason why it is a kind of substantive is, because it is, " according to its signification, singular or plural." " Though there appears to be, (says Tooke,) there is in reality no irregularity in much, more, most ; nor, indeed, is there any such thing as capricious irregularity in any part of language. In the Anglo-Saxon the verb CTQaj^an, metere, makes regularly the preterperfect OOoJ), or C0o]>e, (as the preterperfect of Slagan is Sloh,) and the past participle Mowen, or CDeoJ?en, by the addition of the participial termination en, to the pre- terperfect. Omit the participial termination en, (which omission was, and still is, a common practice through the whole language, with the Anglo-Saxon writers, the old English writers, and the moderns,) and there will remain G0o)>e or Mow ; which gives us the Anglo-Saxon GQo)>e, and our modern English word Mow ; which words mean simply — that which is mowed or mown. And as the hay, &c. which was mowm, was put together in a heap, hence, figuratively, OQoj^e was used in Anglo-Saxon to denote any heap ; although in modern English we now confine the application of it to country produce, such as hay-mow, barley-mow, &c. This participle or substantive, (call it which you please, for, however classed, it is still the same word, and has the same signification,) Mow or Heap, was pronounced (and therefore written) with some variety, ClQa, OQse, OQo, GQowe, Alow ; which, being regularly compared, give — GQa . . . Maer (i. e. OOane) . . . Maest (i. e. OQaert.) CD® . . . Mceer (i. e. GQeene) . . . Mce-est (r. e. OOsert.) 0Qo]?e . . Mower (i. e. GQone) . . . Mowest (i. e. QQortr.) Mo . . . Mo-er (i. e. More) . . . Mo-est (i. e. Most.) Mo, (GQoJ^e, acervus, heap,) which was constantly used by all our English authors, has with the moderns given place to Much ; which has not (as Junius, Wormius, and Skinner imagined of Mickle,} been borrowed from peyahos; but is merely the diminutive of Mo, passing through the gradual changes of Mokel, Mykel, Mochil, Muchel, (still retained in Scotland,) Moche, Much." MUCK, n.s. (ODeox, Saxon ; myer, Islandick.) 1. Dung for manure of grounds. Muck (T.) is the past tense, and, therefore, past participle of (Dicgan, meiere, mingere. Hence the common saying, " As wet as muck." So the hay and straw, &c. which have been staled on by the cattle, make the Muck heap, or heap of materials which have been staled upon by the cattle. Junius and Skinner confounded Muck with Mixen, q. v. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 149 N. NARROW, ^ Nanji, (T.) Neajij?, NeanJ'e, the past participle of Nypjuan, coarc- NEAR, > tare, comprimere, contrahere, to draw together, to compress, to con- NORTH. J tract. North, i. e. Nyjijje^, or Nyn)* 1 ?), the third person singular. In the Anglo-Saxon NinJ/S, or NypJrS, is also the name for a prison, or any place which narroweth or closely confines a person. — " Narrow, angustus, arctus, A. S. Neajm est arctus, Nyn^an, coangustare," says Junius; but of this verb Johnson takes no account. Narrow, adj. (Neapu, Saxon, from Nyn, near.) Not broad, &c. North, is from NojvS, Saxon, and means — the point opposite to the sun in the me- ridian. Nigh, (T) Near, is the Anglo-Saxon adjective Nih, Neh, Neah, Neahj, vici- nus. And Next is the Anglo-Saxon superlative, Neahgej-t, Nehj-tr. Next means simply the nighest, and never implies either following or preceding ; as, To sit next. i Near, the prep., according to Johnson, means Nigh; and Nigh the adj. means Near: but he appears not to have any idea of their being the same word, though Junius has " Nigh, Neah, Near, Neer." Johnson says, that " sometimes it is doubtful whether near be an adjective or adverb." Next, adj. (Next, Saxon, by a colloquial change from Nehj-e, or Nyhj-tr, the su- perlative of Neh, or Nyh ; neest, Scottish.) 1. Nearest in place; immediately succeeding in order. In one of his examples it is not even applied to succession ; i. e. according to himself, " To consecution ; the series of one person or thing following another." M The queen already sat High on a golden bed ; her princely guest Was next her side, in order sat the rest." Dryd. Virg. JEn. NOSE, n. 8. 1. The prominence on the face, which is the organ of scent, and the emunctory of the brain. " Our decrees, Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead ; And liberty plucks justice by the tiose." Shaksp. Merch. of Venice. 150 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION And the emunctories are " Those parts of the body where any thing excrementi- tious is separated and collected to be in readiness for ejectment." NEED, >Need, n. s. (Neob, Saxon; nood, Dutch.) 1. Exigency; pressing dif- NEEDLE. 5 ficulty; necessity. Needle, n.s. (Neebl, Saxon.) 1. A small instrument pointed at one end to pierce cloth, and perforated at the other to receive the thread used in sewing. Need, Nybbe, (T.) the past tense and past participle of Nybian, cogere, com- pellere, adigere. Needle, (the diminutive of Need,) a small instrument, pushed or driven. To Knead, is merely Ee-nyban, (Lmyban,) pronounced Erneban, — K for G. — Knead, v. a. (Cnaeban, Saxon ; kneden, Dutch.) To beat or mingle any stuff or substance. NESH, > Nesh, adj. (Nej-c, Saxon.) Soft, tender, easily hurt. Skinner. NICE. S Nice, adj. (Nej-c, Saxon, soft.) But though soft is the etymological meaning of Nice, it is not the primitive meaning; for Johnson's first explanation is, " 1. Accurate in judgment to minute exactness ; superfluously exact. It is often used to express a culpable delicacy." But Skinner has something a little more to the purpose than Johnson produces from him. He says— . " Nesh, vox agro Wigorniensi et vicinis usitatissima, idem quod Nice, (i. e.) delicatulus. " Nice, Wigorn. dial. Nesh, delicatus. Ab A. S. Nej-c, mollis, Xhnej-cian, emollire." Nesh, however, is not confined to Worcestershire and the neighbouring coun- ties. It occurs in Chaucer, and in Fabian ; and in the translation of Peter of Langtoft by Robert of Brunne. Nesh and Nice (T.) are merely the Anglo-Saxon pnej-c, differently pronounced and written, and is the past participle of .pnej-cian, mollire. NOTCH, -\Notch, n. s. (nocchia, Italian.) A nick ; a hollow cut in any thing. NOCK, #Nock, n. s. (nocchia, Italian.) A slit ; a nick ; a notch. NOOK, vNook, n. s. (from een hoeck, German.) A corner ; a covert made by an NICHE, L angle or intersection. NICK. INiche, n.s. (French.) A hollow in which a statue may be placed. Nick, n.s. (nicke, Teutonick, the twinkling of an eye.) 1. Exact point of time, at which there is necessity or convenience. 2. A notch cut in any thing, (corrupted from nock or notch.) 3. A score or reckoning. 4. A winning throw, (niche, French, a ludicrous trick.) OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 151 All these words, (T.) which vary respectively in sound only by the immaterial difference of ch or ck, have all one common meaning ; and I believe them to be the past participle of the verb To Nick, incidere. NUMB, > The word (T.) was formerly written Num. — It is the past tense and NUMSKULL. 3 past participle of Niman, capere, eripere, to Nim. Skinner says truly, — " Eodem fere sensu, quo Lat. dicitur membris captus : i. e. membrorum usu, sc. motu et sensu privatus." Skinner derives Num from this verb — Niman, but Johnson from Benumen, Be- numeb, Saxon. Numskull, (T.) in Italian mentecatto. Animo captus. Ndmskull, n.s. (probably from numb, dull, torpid, insensible; and skull.) 1. A dul- lard ; a dunce ; a dolt ; a blockhead. " Or toes and fingers, in this case, Of numskuWs self should take the place." Prior. 2. The head. In burlesque. " They have talked like numskulls" Arb. and Pope. Thus it stood in the first edition ; i. e. the Doctor's examples were pasted in the wrong places. I do not know when they were removed to their proper places. o. ODD, Johnson says, is from udda, Swedish ; and means, " Not even." Odd (T.) is the participle Owed, Ow'd. Thus, when we are counting by cou- ples, or by pairs, we say — One pair, two pairs, &c. and one Owed, Ow\l, to make up another pair. It has the same meaning when we say — An odd man or an odd action; it still relates to pairing ; and we mean — Without a fellow, unmatched, not such another ; one owed to make up another. OF. I imagine (says Tooke) that Of, (in the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Af and Aj:,) is a fragment of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Afara, posteritas, &c. 7£j:ona, proles, &c. That it is a noun substantive, and means always consequence, offspring, successor, follower, &c. And I think it not unworthy of remark, that whilst the old patronymical termi- nation of our northern ancestors was Son, the Sclavonic and Russian patronymic was Of. Thus, whom the English and Swedes named Peterson, the Russians 152 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION called Peterhof. And as a polite foreign affectation afterwards induced some of our ancestors to assume Fils or Fitz, (i. e. Fils or Filius,) instead of Son ; so the Rus- sian affectation in more modern times changed Of to Vitch, (i. e. Fitz, Fils, or Filius,~) and Peterhof became Petrovitch or Pelrowitz. — Now as to 2?j:ona, (the Cyclopsedist declares,) it is nothing but the Greek (T.) The past tense and past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Ylfean, ELD, 3 Ilban, to remain, to stay, to continue, to last, to endure, to delay, to defer. And this verb was commonly used in the Anglo-Saxon with that meaning, without any denotation of long antiquity. As we now say — A week old, Two days old, A minute old. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON Johnson says, — /T ° F rU * Eld, n.s. (Gal©, Saxon; eld, Scottish.) 1. Old age, decrepitude. [(UNIVERSITY 2. Old people, &c. Old is from the same 6alb, Saxon ; but disclaims kindred with Eld,* courts the alliance of Alt, German. k$& Old, according to Johnson, has ten different meanings. His sixth explanation is, " Of any specified duration." And he produces examples in which there occur these expressions : — " How old art thou ?" — *' Two hours old." — " Nine years old" &c. » • ONCE, adj. (from one.) 1. Onetime. 2. A single time. 3. The same time. And four other distinctions just as judicious. To which is added this philological re- flection — Once seems to be rather a noun than an adverb, when it has at before it, and when it is joined with an adjective : as, this once, that once. Once, (T.) anciently written Anes, Anis, Anys, Ones, Onys, is merely the genitive of Ttne, Kn ; i. e. One, (the substantive time, turn, &c. omitted.) OPE, -x Ope (T.) is the regular past tense of Yppan, aperire, pandere. Open, OPEN, i the regular past participle. GAP, f Gap and Gape, the regular past tense and past participle of De-yppan. GAPE, r From which— CHAP, m Chap and Chaps vary only by pronouncing Ch instead of G. But the CHAPS, J meaning and etymology are the same. — Ope and Open, the verb, Johnson derives (but without the circumspection of Ju- nius,) from on*, a hole^ Ope, ^ adj. (Ope is scarcely used but by old authors, and by them in the primitive Open. > and not figurative sense.) And for this adjective Johnson gives ten explanations. Gap is from Gape, and Gape from L7eapan, Saxon. Gape has twelve explanations. The first is, " To open the mouth wide )" and the last, " To stare irreverently ;" i. e. " To look with fixed eyes." — But the ex- ample to this last explanation — " They have gaped upon me with their mouth." Job. Another explanation is — ** 9. To make a noise with open throat." And the example is — ** And, if my muse can through past ages see, That noisy, nauseous, gaping fool is he." Roscommon. 154 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION ORTS, n. 8. seldom with a singular. (This word is derived by Skinner from Ort, Ger- man, the fourth part of any thing; by Lye, more reasonably, from Orda, Irish, a fragment. In Anglo-Saxon, Onb signifies the beginning ; whence, in some pro- vinces, Odds and Ends, for Ords and Ends, signify remnants, scattered pieces, refuse. From Ord thus used probably came Ort.) Ort. (T.) This word is commonly used in the plural, only because it is usually spoken of many vile things together. Shakspeare, with excellent propriety for his different purposes, uses it both in the singular and plural. Oris is, throughout all England, one of the most common words in our lan- guage, which has adopted nothing from the Irish, though we use two or three of their words, as Irish. Orts is merely the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon Oriettan, turpare, vilefacere, deturpare. Oret, Ort, means (any thing, something) made vile or worthless. — Hence it is plain, that the reasonable derivation of Lye, (as Johnson calls it,) explains nothing at all :— that Ort is not applicable to every part or portion of a thing ; that every fragment is not an Ort. P. PACK, PATCH, PAGE, PAGEANT, j PISH, PSHAW, Pack, n.s. (pack, Dutch.) To Pack, v. n. To tie up goods. " The marigold (whose courtier's face Echoes the sun, and doth unlace Her at his rise, at his full stop Packs and shuts up her gaudy shop,) [Mistakes her clue, and doth display : Thus Phillis antedates the day."] Cleaveland, (1687, p. 14.) Patch, n.s. (Pezzo, Italian.) I. A piece sewed on to cover a hole. 5. A paltry fellow. Obsolete. Page, n.s. [Page, French.) 1. One side of the leaf of a book. 2. (Page, French.) A young boy attending on a great person. « Prosperity be thy page." Sh aksp. Coriolanus. Pageant, n.s. (Of this word the etymologists give us no satisfactory account. It OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 155 may perhaps be Payen Geant, a Pagan Giant; a representation of triumph used at return from holy wars ; as we have yet the Saracen's Head. Pish, interj. A contemptuous exclamation. This is sometimes spoken and written Pshaw. I know not their etymology, and imagine them formed by chance. — The opinions of the different commentators on Shakspeare respecting the word Patch are fully stated by Tooke, and among them that of Warton, who imagined this opprobrious term, viz. Patch, " to have taken its rise from Patch, Cardinal Wolsey's fool." To which Mr. Tooke replies, by producing an instance of the use of the word in the reign of Henry the Seventh, " before Wolsey was a Car- dinal, or had a fool." The editor of Massinger, however, continues to repeat, " That Patch was the cant name of a fool kept by Cardinal Wolsey, and that he has had the honour of transmitting his appellation to a very numerous body of descendants : he being, (as Wilson observes in his Art of Rhetorique, 1553,) a notable fool in his time." — Mass. Vol. III. p. 553, n. Pack (T.) and Patch, in both its applications, (viz. to men or to clothes,) and Page, are the same past participle Pac, (differently pronounced, and, therefore, differently written with k, ch, or ge,) of the Anglo-Saxon verb Pa?can, Paeccean, to deceive by false appearances, imitation, resemblance, semblance, or representa- tion ; to counterfeit ; to delude ; to illude ; to dissemble, to impose upon. And that Pageant is (by a small variation of pronunciation) merely the present parti- ciple Paecceanb, of the same verb, — Pacheand, Pacheant, Pageant. The ejaculations Pish and Pshaw, are the Anglo-Saxon Paec, Pseca ; pronounced Pesh, Pesha, (a broad,) and are equivalent to the ejaculation — Trumpery! i.e. Tromperie, from Tromper. As servants were contemptuously called Harlot, VarUt, Valet, and Knave, so were they called Pack, Patch, Page. And from the same source is the French Page and the Italian Paggio. — PAIN, n. 8. {Peine, French; Pin, Saxon; Poena, Latin.) 1. Punishment de- nounced. This is Johnson's first explanation. His etymologies are from Skinner ; but Skinner also has the Anglo-Saxon Piman, punire. " Omnia," he adds, " a Lat. Poena, Gr. noivn." We need not, however, says Tooke, have recourse to Poena and llotrti. It is the past participle of our own Anglo-Saxon verb Pinian, cruciare. PATH, (T.) The past tense and participle of Pe^ian, conculcare, pedibus obterere. Johnson is satisfied with the Anglo-Saxon Paft ; and classes the Path to the house of darkness and to the town of St. Marino under one and the same expla- nation ; having first informed his readers that the word " in conversation is used X 2 156 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION of a narrow way to be passed on foot ; but that in solemn language it means any passage." PIT, } Pit, n. s. (Pit, Saxon.) 1. A hole in the ground. 2. Abyss; profundity. POT. 3 3. The grave. 4. The area on which cocks fight. 5. The middle part of the theatre. We have yet two more explanations ; to the first of which is prefixed a new etymology : — 6. (Pi's, Peis, old French, from Pectus, Latin.) Any hollow of the body; as the pit of the stomach, the arm pit. 7. A dint made by the finger. Pot, n. s. {Pot, French, in all the senses, and Dutch ; Potte, Islandick.) 1. A vessel in which meat is boiled on the fire. 2 Vessel to hold liquids. 3. Vessel made of earth. 4. A small cup. 5. To go to pot. To be destroyed or devoured ; a low phrase. And it is a low phrase, whether applied to the farms of John Bull or the Dic- tionary of S. Johnson ; and — To Pot, v. a. (from the noun.) 1. To preserve seasoned in pots. Pit, (T.) Pot, are the past tense and past participle of the verb to Pit, i. e. To excavate, to sink into a hollow. PLOUGH, (T.) (Anglo-Saxon Plog and Plo]?,) is the past participle of Pleggan, in- cumbere. — Our English word to ply, is no other than Pleggan. Johnson produces the Saxon, Danish, and Dutch similar words for Plough, and he gives the authority of Skinner and Junius for deriving the verb TO ply from the old Dutch plien; yet in Junius we find it said — " Plie his books, studere, libris sedulo incumbere. — Plie manifeste videtur fac- tum ex A. S. Pleggan. 2£c plegge on his bocum — sed libris incumbat." The whole passage from the Can. sub. Edg. as quoted by Tooke, is given by Junius. Under the word Plough, Junius also refers to what he had already said, under " Plie his books," of the Danish Ploye, incumbere aratro. PLOT, (T.) i. e. Plighted. A plighted agreement ; any agreement to the performance of which the parties have plighted their faith to each other. Pledge, i.'e. Pleght, the past participle of the same verb to plight. The thing plighted; from the Anglo-Saxon verb Plihtan, exponere vel objicere periculo, spondere, oppignerare. — I beg the reader's patient attention to Doctor Johnson. Plot, n.s. (Plot, Saxon. See Plat.) 1. A small extent of ground. 2. A plantation laid out. 3. A form ; a scheme ; a plan. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 157 4. (Imagined by Skinner to be derived from Platform, but evidently derived from Complot, French.) A conspiracy ; a secret design formed against another. 5. An intrigue ; ap affair complicated, involved and embarrassed; the story of a play, comprizing an artful involution of affairs, unravelled at least by some unex- pected means. 6. Stratagem ; secret combination to any ill end. 7. Contrivance ; deep reach of thought. — u Who says he was not A man of much plot," &c. For Plight, the verb, we have two explanations, and a separate etymology for each. For Plight, the noun, we have five explanations, and three different ety- mologies. POINT. Of this word Johnson furnishes twenty explanations. The first is, " The sharp end of any instrument :" and the first example is — " The thorny point Of bare distress hath ta'en from me the show Of smooth fidelity " Sh.yksp. As you like it. Poke and Pock, (T.) the regular past tense and past participle of the An- glo-Saxon Pykan, to pike, or to peck. Pock is so applied as we use it ; because where the pustules have been, the face is usually marked as if it had been picked or pecked. We therefore say pitted with the small pocks (or pox.) — Pox, n. 8. (properly Pocks, which originally signified small bags or pustules; of the same original, perhaps, with Powke or Pouch. We still use Pock for a single pus- tule ; Poccaj - , Saxon; Pocken, Dutch.) Such is Johnson's etymology ; now take his explanation : — I. Pustules ; ejjlorencies ; exanthematous eruptions. Johnson also informs us, that a " Pustule is a small swelling," and that " To pit," is " to mark with small hollows, as by the small Pox," i. e. " by a small swelling." POND, 'jPond, n. s. (supposed to be the same with pound ; Pinban, Saxon, to shut up.) A small pool or lake of water ; a basin ; water not running or emitting any stream. Skinner supplied this etymology ; and a reason for the application of the word, which Johnson wholly disregards : — " Turn quia in eo pisces, POUND, PEN, PIN, BINN. 158 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION tanquam in carcere, includuntur ; turn quia vivarium agro vel horto inclu- ditur." Lye also says, that Pond has the same etymon as Pound: — " In hoc differunt quod alterum bestias terrenas, alteram aquaticas includit." Of Pound, Johnson has three explanations and two etymologies : the word in its two first significations, is, according to him, from Pondo, Latin ; and only in its third, viz. " A prison in which beasts are inclosed ;" from the Saxon Pmban, includere. The beast, however, whom he exhibits thus inclosed, is a minister of state ; Harley, perhaps, " The nation's great support." " .1 hurry Not thinking it is levee-day, And find his honour in a pound, Hemm'd by a triple circle round." Swift's Miscel. (Imitation of Horace, b. ii. s. 6.) But though the substantive Pound, a prison, is from Pynban, yet the verb to Pound, to imprison, is from the Saxon Punian, (pinsere, conterere.) Pen, n. s. is first from the Latin Penna; and under this etymon there are three explanations ; and then from Pennan, Saxon, with one explanation. Skinner derives a Pen for sheep from Pynban, includere. To Pen is from Pennan or Pinban, Saxon, with one explanation ; and then, " from the noun :" but whether from the noun derived from Penna, or Pennan, the reader must discover for himself. PIN, n. s. (espingle, French ; spina, spinula, Latin ; spilla, Italian ; rather from pennum, Low Latin. Isidore.') 1. A short wire with a sharp point, and round head, used by women to fasten their clothes. Skinner supplied Johnson with his French, Latin, and Italian etymologies for Pin, acicula, only. Johnson has ten explanations, and adheres to these etymolo- gies throughout. The reader shall have an opportunity of observing his blindness to the information which Skinner contains :— 3. Any thing driven to hold parts together ; a peg ; a bolt. Skinner. — " A Pin, impages lignea sen ferrea Verisimilius ab A. S. Pynban, includere." 5. That which locks the wheel to the axle ; a linch pin. In this application it is also derived by Skinner from the same Anglo-Saxon verb. 7. The pegs by which musicians intend or relax their strings. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 159 Skinner. — " A pin of a musical instrument — Vel ab A. S. Pynban, includere, quia suis alveis, seu foraminibus inseruntur et clauduntur." 9. A horny induration of the membranes of the eye. Hanmer. Skinner seems likewise to say the same. I should rather think it an inflamma- tion, which causes a pain like that of a pointed body piercing the eye. — As Skinner was himself a physician, perhaps he knew better than Doctor Johnson to what affection of the eye this word was properly applied. These are his words: — " A Pin or Web in the eye, potius Pterygium seu unguis credo ab A* S. Pynban, includere, sic dictum quia totum oculum claudit et circumvestit." Bin, n. 8. (Binne, Saxon.) A place where bread, or corn, or wine is reposited. Again, Skinner says, " Binn — Mallem deducere ab A. S. Pynban, includere." The (T.) modern English verb to Pin or to Pen, is the Anglo-Saxon verb Pyn- ban, includere ; whose past participle is Pond, Pound, Penn, Pin, Bin ; and the old Latin Benna, a close carriage. PROOF, though used as an adjective, (says Johnson,) is only elliptically put for of Proof : but Tooke declares it to be the regular past participle of the old English verb to preve. PROUD, (T.) (Anglo-Saxon, Pnut.) The past participle of Pjiytian, superbire. Skinner. — " Proud, ab A. S. Pnut, superbus, Pryde, superbia, tumor, Prutian, supeibire." Proud, adj. (Pnub or Pnut, Saxon.) 1. Too much pleased with himself — and eight others. PROMPTER, n. 8. (from prompt.) 1. One who helps a publick speaker, by suggesting the word to him when he falters. «' Were it my cue tofght, I should have known it Without a prompter." Shaksp. Othello. Such is Johnson's first example to his first explanation ; and yet he proceeds — 2. An admonisher, a reminder. PUMP, (T.) An engine by which water, or any other fluid, is obtained or procured. It is the past participle of the verb to Pimp, i.e. To procure or obtain. Pump, n.s. (Pompe, Dutch, and French.) 1. An engine by which water is drawn up from wells ; its operation is performed by the pressure of the air. 2. A shoe, with a thin sole and low heel. PUDDLE, > (T.) Puddle was anciently written Podell. It is the regular past tense POOL. 3 and past participle of the verb to piddle. — Pool is merely the contraction of Podel, Poodle, Pool. 160 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Mr. Tooke acknowledges, that he cannot produce any Anglo-Saxon or ancient authority for the use of to piddle ; yet he conceives that it cannot be of very mo- dern introduction, since it long ago furnished a name for one of our rivers. Dray- ton, Polyolbion, Song ii. p. 244. Of Piddle, Johnson acknowledges the etymology to be obscure. " Perhaps (he adds,) it comes from Peddle, for Skinner gives for its primitive signification to deal in little things." Respecting the etymology of Peddle, however, he offers not a word. Puddle, n. s. (from Puteolus, Latin, Skinner ; from Poil, dirt, old Bavarian, Ju- nius ; hence Pool.) A small muddy lake, a dirty plash. Pool, n. s. (Pul, Saxon ; Poel, Dutch.) A lake of standing water. " Love oft to virtuous acts inflames the mind, Awakes the sleepy vigour of the soul, And brushing o'er, adds vigour to the pool." Dryden. PURSUIVANT, n. s. (Poursuivant, French.) A state messenger ; an attendant on the heralds. '* These grey locks, the pursuivants of Death, Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer." Shakspeare. Q. QUARRY, n. s. (quarre, French.) 1. A square. 2. (Quadreau, French.) An arrow, with a square head. 3. (from Querir, to seek, French, Skinner; from carry, Kenneth) Game flown at by a hawk. To pass the common absurdity of the Dictionary, viz. the assigning of different etymologies for different explanations of the same word, this third explanation and its attendant examples demand a moment's pause. Game, according to Johnson, means "Animals pursued in the field; animals appropriated to legal sportsmen." A Hawk is " a bird of prey used much anciently in sport to catch other birds." This premised, mark his examples ; and you will find, that we have successively, OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. lGl as birds of prey, the friend of Macduff; Death; some English ships; the great fire of London ; Gens humana ; Deus arcitenens ; and Reason. Then, as " the animals pursued in the field," — Macduff's children ; " the mortal change on earth ;" some Spanish ships ; the remaining half of London ; Vetitum nefas ; et te quoque, maxime Python. QUICK, (T.) The past participle of CJnccian, vivificare. Quickly, Quicklike, from c)>ic, cjncu, cjncob, vivus, (as we still oppose the quick to the dead.) Quickly means, in a life-like or lively manner ; in the manner of a creature that has life. — Quick, adj. (cjic, Saxon.) 1. Living, not dead. To Quicken, v. a. (cjuccan, Saxon.) 1. To make alive. Quickly, adv. (from quick.) Nimbly ; <&c. QUOTH, v. imperf. (This is only part of Cwo^an, Saxon, retained in English, and is now only used in ludicrous language. It is used by Sidney irregularly in the second person.) Johnson does not say what part of the verb he considers it to be. Mr. Tooke affirms, that it is the past tense of CJ^an, and that Quoth I, is strictly accurate for Said I. R. RACK, n.s. (racke, Dutch; from racken, to stretch.) 1. An engine to torture. «• Vex not his ghost ; let him pass ! he hates him That would, upon the rack of this rough world, Stretch him out longer." Shakspeare. King Lear. Such are Johnson's first explanation and first example. 2. Torture ; extreme pain. 8. Any instrument by which extension is performed. 4. A distaff; commonly a portable distaff, from which they spin by twirling a ball : it is commonly written and spoken Rock. 5. (jRacXre, Dutch, a track.) The clouds as they are driven by the winds. 6. (prtacca, the occiput, Saxon ; racca, Islandick, hinges or joints.) A neck of mutton cut for the table. Y 162 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION 7. A grate ; the grate on which bacon is laid. — (The two last explanations stand without examples.) 8. A wooden grate, in which hay is placed for cattle. Johnson has here managed to confound four words of very different origin, and of as different meaning : — 1. Rack, from lUnican, persequi, &c. 2. Rack, from UJjugan, tegere. 3. Rack, from Recan, exhalare. 4. Rack, from Ricjan, congerere. I. Rack, Wreck, Wretch, Wretched. UJjiac, UJnaec, Ulnec, (T.) the past participle of UJnican, (Goth, and Sax.) persequi, affiigere, punire, vindicare, ulcisci, leedere, perdere. The different pronunciation of ch or ck, (common throughout the lan- guage,) is the only difference in these words. They have all one meaning. And though, by the modern fashion, they are now differently applied and differently written, the same distinction was not anciently made. Johnson's three first explanations belong to this word : he had no idea that Wreck, &c. had any relationship to Rack. He says — Wreck, n. s. (UJnecce, Saxon, a miserable person ; Wracke, Dutch, a ship broken.) 1. Destruction, by being driven on rocks or shallows by sea; destruction by sea. To Wreck, v. a. (from the noun.) 1. To destroy, by dashing on rocks or sands. Wrack, n. s. ( Wrack, Dutch ; tUnaecce, Saxon, a wretch ; the poets use wrack or wreck indifferently, as the rhyme requires : the later writers of prose commonly Wreck. See Wreck.) 1. Destruction of a ship by winds or rocks. To Wrack, v. a. (from the noun.) 1. To destroy in the water; to wreck. After this attempt to settle that the primitive meaning of this word includes within it a particular means of destruction, viz. rocks or shallows, or seas, or wind or water, the reader must not be surprized to find such examples as the following : '* Like those that see their wreck E'en in the rocks of death ; and yet they strain That death may not them idly find t' attend To their uncertain task, but work to meet their end." Daniel, [On the Civil IVars, B. III.) OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. U) .> " Have there been any more such tempests, wherein she hath wretchedly been wrecked?" Spenser on Ireland, Works, fo. 1679, p. 207. The tempest here alluded to was the attack upon Ireland by Edward, brother of Robert le Bruce, N wherein she (i. e. Ireland,) had wretchedly been wracked." II. Rack, (which Johnson says is most commonly written and spoken Rock,') is from lUrujan, tegere. See Rogue. III. Rack, which means (T.) merely that which is Reeked. And whether writ- ten Rak, Wraik, Reck, Reik, Roik, or Reeke, is the same word differently pro- nounced and spelled. It is merely the past tense, and, therefore, past participle, Reac, Rec, of the Anglo-Saxon verb Recan, exhalare, to reek ; and is surely the most appropriate term that could be employed by Shakspeare in the Tempest ; to represent to us, that the dissolution and annihilation of the globe, and all which it inherit should be so total and complete, — they should so " melt into ayre, into thin atjre" — as not to leave behind them even a Vapour, a Steam, or an Exltala- tion, to give the slightest notice that such things had ever been. Johnson, in support of his explanation that the Rack means the clouds as they are driven by tJie winds, produces, among others, the two following examples : " We often see against some storm A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still, The bold winds speechless, and the orb below As hush as death " Shakspkare, Hamlet. " As wintry winds contending in the sky, With equal force of lungs their titles try ; They rage, they roar ; the doubtful rack of heaven Stands without ?not ion, and the tide undriv'n." Dryden. IV. Rack. A Rack of hay, (T.) and a Rick of hay, are the past participle of* the Gothic Ricyan, congerere, colligere, to collect, to draw together, to rake together. A Rake, the same past participle, it being the tool or instrument by which the hay is collected. Rich and Riches are the same participle. Throughout the language different pro- nunciation of ch and ck is not to be regarded. Thus, what we pronounce Rich and Riches, (tch,) the French pronounce Riclie and Ric/icsse, (sA,) and the Italians — Ricco and Richezza. (Jc.) But it is the same word in the three languages ; and it applies equally to any things, collected, accumulated, /leaped, or (as we frequently express it,) raked together, whether to money, cattle, lands, knowledge, &c. — Whether Johnson meant to derive his Rack, a grate, a wooden grate, from the Y 2 164 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION occiput, I will neither affirm nor deny : but it will be proper to exhibit some por- tion of what he has said respecting Rake, Rick, Rich, and Riches. Rake, n. s. (rastrum, Latin ; pace, Saxon ; racche, Dutch.) 1. An instrument with teeth, by which the ground is divided, or light bodies are gathered up. 2. (Macaille, French, the low rabble ; or rekel, Dutch, a worthless cur dog.) A loose, disorderly, vicious, wild, gay, thoughtless fellow ; a man addicted to plea- sure. — *' But every woman is at heart a rake." Pope. To Rake, v. a. (from the noun.) 1. To gather with a rake. " Harrows iron teeth shall every where Rake helmets up " May's VirgiVs Georgicks. But there would be no end to the task of pointing out the inconsistencies be- tween Johnson's explanations and examples. Rick, n. s. See Reek. 1. A pile of corn or hay regularly heaped up in the open field, and sheltered from wet. 2. A heap of corn or hay piled up by the gatherer. In obedience to Johnson let us see Meek. Reek, n. s. (peck, Saxon ; reake, Dutch.) 1. Smoke; steam; vapour. 2. (Meke, German, any thing piled up.) A pile of corn or hay, commonly pro- nounced Rick. A reference to this " Reek" would have had some propriety after the fifth ex- planation of " Rack ;" but here it serves no other purpose than to bring before our view an old and perpetually repeated absurdity of the Dictionary. Mich is from riche, French ; ricco, Italian ; pica, Saxon : and Miches from ri- chess, French. RAFT, -\ As Mift is (T.) Mived, Miv'd, Mift, the past participle of To Rive, so RIFT, > Maft, (Mafed,} is the past participle of Repan, Reapan, rapere, To Rive, ROUGH. 3 to reave or bereave, to tear away. Rough, (Rop,) and Miff-raff, are the same past participle. Raft, n. s. (probably from ratis, Latin.) A frame or float made by laying pieces of timber cross each other. Raft, past participle of reave or raff, Spenser. Torn ; rent. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 165 Rafter, n. s. (paprep, Saxon ; rafter, Dutch; corrupted, says Junius, from roof- tree.) The secondary timbers of the house ; the timbers which are let into the great beam. ** The rafters of ray body, — bone, Being still with you, the muscle, sinew, and vein, Which tile this house, will come again." Donne. Rift, n. s. (from rive.) A cleft ; a breach ; an opening. Rough is from the Saxon ppuhje, and the Dutch rouw, and means, — " not smooth." Rive, Skinner says, is perhaps from the Anglo-Saxon Reapan, rapere. Johnson that it is from pyptr, broken, Saxon ; rij'ven, Dutch ; river, French, to drive. Riff-raff, (which is not in the first folio,) Johnson derives from the Latin Recre- mentum. Skinner, perhaps from theTeut. Raffen. ROGUE, ah these, says Tooke, are the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon ROCK, verb UJpigan, tegere, to Wrine, to Wrie, to cover, to cloak. ROCHE, To Wrine, or to Wrie, was formerly a common English verb. — ROCHET, it W as too old for Johnson. Lye, in Junius, says, " Wrie, Wrien, te- ROCKET, gere, velare. Anglo-Saxon UJpeon, IDpyon, UJpigan." RUG, The disuse of this verb, continues Tooke, VUpijan, has, I believe, RUCK, caused the darkness and difficulty of all our etymologists, concerning ARRAY, l the branches of this word which are left in our language. And yet, I RAIL, think, this should not have happened to them ; for the verb UJjujan is RAILS, not sointirely lost to the language, but that it has still left behind it the RIG, verb to Rig, with the same meaning; w r hich Johnson (with his wonted RIGGING, sagacity) derives from Ridge, the back. Because, forsooth, " clothes RIGEL, are proverbially said to be for the back, and victuals for the belly." RILLING, Rogue, (according to the usual change of the characteristick i,) is RAY. J the past tense, and, therefore, past participle, of UJpigan, and means covered, cloaked; most aptly applied to the character designated by that term. It happens to this verb, as to the others, that the change of the characteristic i was not only to o, but to a. What we call Rogue, Douglas therefore calls Ray, g beiug softened to y. — Rogue, n. 8. (of uncertain etymology.) 1. A wandering beggar; a vagrant; a vagabond. 2. A knave ; a dishonest fellow ; a villain ; a thief. 3. A name of slight tenderness and endearment. 4. A wag. 166 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION A Rock (T) (k instead of g) is the covered part of the machine which spin- sters use ; I mean covered by the wool to be spun. It was formerly written Rok, c before k being always superfluous. We have already seen that Johnson classes this Rock as the fifth explanation of Rack; but he also places it as the third explanation of Rock, a mass of stone, with a different set of etymologies, an explanation not exactly the same, and with three different examples. Thus : Rock, n. s. {roc, roche, French ; rocca, Italian ) 1. A vast mass of stone fixed in the earth. 2. Protection ; defence. A scriptural sense. 3. {Rock, Danish; rocca, Italian; rucca, Spanish; spinrock, Dutch.) A distaff held in the hand, from which the wool was spun by twirling a ball below. Johnson's authority for his scriptural sense is taken, oddly enough, from King Charles : — the words " fixed in the earth," in the first explanation, are an improve- ment upon the first edition. Rocket, or RocJiet, (T.) part of the dress of a bishop, and formerly of women, is the diminutive of the Anglo-Saxon Roc, exterior vestis, (the same participle,) or that with which a person is covered. Rochet, n. s. {rochet, French ; rochetum, from roccus, low Latin, a coat.) 1. A surplice ; the white upper garment of the priest officiating. Rug, (T.) in the Anglo-Saxon, jiooc, indumentum, is also the same past participle of Ulrugan ; the characteristic i, as usual, being changed also to oo and u. Rug, n. s. (rugget, rough, Swedish.) 1. A coarse, nappy, woollen cloth. 2. A coarse, nappy coverlet, used for mean beds. 3. A rough woolley dog. Ruck, (T.) also, (a very common English word, especially amongst females, though I find it not in any English collection,) is the same participle as jiooc, and means covered. It is commonly used when some part of silk, linen, &c. is folded over, or covers some other part, when the whole should lie smooth or even. We may notice in passing, that the old English words to Rouk and to Ruck, are likewise formed from the past tense of UJnigan, and mean (not as Junius sup- poses) to lie quiet or in ambush, but simply to lie covered. — Mr. Tyrwhitt says, " Rouk, v. Saxon, to lie close." Ray, used by Douglas for Rogue, is likewise used for Array. Ray for Array, Spen- ser, (says Johnson.) Array, n.s. (arroy, French; arreo, Spanish; arredo, Italian; from reye, Teut. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 167 order. It was adopted into the middle Latin, — mille horainum arraitorum. — Knighton.) 1. Order, chiefly of war. 2. Dress. Array (T.) means covered, dressed ; and is applied by us both to the dressing of the body of an individual, and to the dressing of a body of armed men. — Arayne is the foresaid past tense Aray, with the addition of the participial termi- nation en. Arayen, Aray'n, — clotted, dressed, covered. A woman's night-xoW, in the Anglo-Saxon Rsegel, is the diminutive of Rffig, or Ray, the past tense of UJjugan. As Rochet, so Rail means thinly or slenderly covered. Rails, by which any area, court-yard, or other place is thinly (i. e. not closely, but with small intervals) covered, is the same word Rsejel. Rilling, (for Rillen, as Railing for Raiten,) that with which the feet are co- vered. — Not in Johnson. Rail, n. 8. (riegel, German.) 1. A cross beam fixed at the ends in two upright posts. 2. A series of posts connected with beams, by which any thing is inclosed : a pale is a series of small upright posts rising above the cross beam, by which they are con- nected ; a rail is a series of cross beams supported with posts, which do not rise much above it. Johnson would puzzle any carpenter in England. 4. (Reejle, Saxon.) A wc man's upper garment. This is preserved only in night rail. Rig, (T.) Rigel, Rigil, Rigsie, is a male (horse or other animal) who has escaped with a partial castration, because some part of his testicle was covered, and so hid from the operator's view. Not in Johnson. — Mr. Weber says, " A rigel or ridgling is a ram, half castrated." B. and F. Vol. IX. p. 309. Rigging, n. s. (from Rig.) The sails or tackling of a ship. Rigging, (T.) (written, I suppose, corruptly for Riggen, i. e. UJjuggen,) is that with which a ship, or any thing else, is Rigged, (i. e. lUpiggeb,) or covered. It is not necessary (continues Tooke) to shew what I think of Rock in the sea ; or of Sky-rocket ; or of Raiment, Arraiment, to Rail, and to Rally ; the real meaning of all which, I believe, the etymologist will find no where but in UJrugan. — Skinner and Junius present nothing worthy of notice. RAIN, v. n. (penian, Saxon ; regenen, Dutch.) 1. To fall in drops from the clouds. 168 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION " [III bears the sex a youthful lover's fate, "When just approaching to the nuptial state;] But, like a low hung cloud, it rains so fast, That all at once it falls, and cannot last." Dryden. • I have prefixed the first couplet to Johnson's example, that the reader might have an opportunity of judging of its propriety. Perhaps it is pasted in the wrong place, and was intended for the second, explanation, which is — 2. To fall as rain. " They sat them down to weep ; not only tears Rain'd at their eyes, but high winds rose within." Milton. Skinner derives Rain from Reman, and Junius from ^yiytufii. Rain, (T.) in the Anglo-Saxon Rsegn, is the past participle of Gothic Rignyan pluere. As the Latin Pluvia is the unsuspected past participle formed from Pluvi, the an tient past tense of Pluere. RATH, adj. (Ra$, Saxon, quickly.) Early, coming before the time. Rather, adv. (This is a comparative of Rath; Ra^, Saxon, soon. Now out of use. One may still say, by the same form of speaking, / will sooner do this than that; that is, / like better to do this.) I. More willingly ; with better liking. 2. Preferably to the other; with better rea- son. 3. In a greater degree than otherwise. 4. More properly. 5. Especially. 6. To have rather. (This is, I think, a barbarous expression of late intrusion into our language, for which it is better to say, will rather.) To desire in preference. In English (T.) we have, Rath, Rather, Rathest, which are simply the Anglo- Saxon Ra$, Ra^en, Ra^oj-tr, celer. velox. After noticing the opinions of Skinner, Menage, and Minshew, and also of John- son and the commentators on Milton, Tooke proceeds : — By the quotations of Johnson, Newton, and Warton, from Spenser, May, Bolton, Davison, and Bastard, a reader would imagine that the word Rathe was very little authorized in the language; and that it was necessary to hunt diligently in obscure holes and corners for an authority. He then produces ten instances of Rathe from Chaucer, and four from Douglas, (who writes it Raith,) and eighteen of Rather and Rathest, from Gow T er and Chaucer ; many of which would have supplied such a Lexicographer as Johnson with new meanings. RIGHT, Johnson considers to be an adjective, and an interjection, and an adverb, and a noun, and a verb. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 169 I must content myself with stating here, Mr. Tooke's opinions respecting this word, without comment. Right is no other than Rect-um (Reg-itum,} the past participle of the Latin verb Regere. Whence, in Italian, you have Ritto ; and from Dirigere, Dirilto, Dritto; whence the French have their ancient Droict, and their modern Droit. The Italian Dritto, and the French Droit, being no other than the past participle Directum. Thus, when a man demands his right, he asks only that which it is ordered that he shall have. A right conduct is, that which is ordered. A right reckoning is, that which is ordered. A right line is, that which is ordered or directed, (not a random extension, but) the shortest between two points. The right road is, that ordered or directed to be pursued (for the object you have in view.) To do right, is to do that which is ordered to be done. To be in the right, is, to be in such situation or circumstances as are ordered. To have right or law on one's side, is, to have in one's favour that which is ordered or laid down. . . A right and just action is, such a one as is ordered and commanded. A right hand is, that which custom and those who have brought us up have ordered or directed us to use in preference, when one hand only is employed. — See Left. RIPE, adj. (ripe, Saxon ; rijp, Dutch.) 1. Brought to perfection in growth ; mature. " Macbeth Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above Put on their instruments " Sh akspbare. «* The time was the time of the first ripe grapes." Numb. xiii. And yet his second explanation is " Resembling the ripeness of fruit ;" which might have saved him from the folly of classing " Macbeth and the grapes" under the same application of this word. Skinner derives Ripe from the Anglo-Saxon Ripian, maturescere; and of that verb, Tooke considers it to be the past participle. ROAD, n. 8. (jade, French ; route, French : route is via trita.} 1. Large way ; path. Z 170 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION As examples we have, first, the road on which we ride ; then the road to God's eternal house ; then the road to error ; then the road by which the " stupid atoms" might proceed ; and then the road to the republick of St. Marino. 2. (Rade, French.) Ground where ships may anchor. 3. Inroad, incursion. 4. Journey The word seems, in this sense at least, to be derived from Rode, the preterite of Ride; as we say, a short ride ; an easy ride. It is quite a principle with Johnson to seek a different etymology for the same word, whenever he imagines it to have a different application. Road, (T.) i. e. Any place ridden over. This supposed substantive, Road, ^ though now so written, (perhaps for distinction sake, to correspond with the received false notions of language,) was formerly written exactly as the past tense. Shak- speare, as well as others, so wrote it. — (And that not only in the instances pro- duced by Tooke, but in the very example given by Johnson to his second ex- planation.) ROOF, (T.) in the Anglo-Saxon pnop , the past participle of J3n»j:nan, sustinere. Minshew, Skinner, and Junius derive it from the Greek Ofcpoj. Johnson is con- tent with pnoj:, Saxon. ROOM, -\ (T.) Are the past participle of Ryman, Be-nyman, dilatare, amplificare, RIM, > extendere. BRIM, 3 Room means dilatum, extended, place, space, extent. Rim, (of Ryman,) is the utmost extent in breadth of any thing. Brim, (of Be-nyman,) is also the extent of the capacity of any vessel. Large Brimm'd, (or Be-nym'b,) is widely extended in breadth. Roomth, (in the Anglo-Saxon RynxSe,) the third person singular of Ryman, is the favourite term of Drayton. — Room, n.s. (Rum, Saxon; rums, Gothic.) 1. Space, extent of place; and five others. Rim, n. s. (Rima, Saxon.) 1. A border, a margin. 2. That which encircles some- thing else. Brim, n.s. [brim, Icelandish.) 1. The edge of anything. 2. The upper edge of any vessel. 3. The top of any liquor. 4. The bank of a fountain. RUTH, (T.) the third person of To rue, )}nyj>ian, misereri. Ruth, n. s. (from rue.) Mercy ; pity ; tenderness ; sorrow for the misery of an- other. OFTHE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 171 s. SAFE, adj. [sauf, French ; salvus, Latin.) Johnson's fourth explanation is, " iso longer dangerous ; reposited out of the power of doing harm." " Banquo's safe," i. e. " Reposited out of the power of doing harm ;" which means here, — murdered and thrown into a ditch ; — " with twenty trenched gashes on his head." Safe, (T.) formerly written Saffe ; the past participle of the verb To save. SAW, (T.) (Any thing, something) said. The past tense and past participle of Seejan, Sejau, Secjan, dicere, to say. Of the word Saw, Johnson gives two explanations, with each its separate ety* niology. 1. A dentated instrument, by the attrition of which wood or metal is cut. 2. A saying ; a sentence ; a proverb. Skinner and Junius had set him the example of considering Saf, serra, and Saw, dictum, as two different words of different origin ; and had traced the latter to the Anglo-Saxon verb Ssegan ; yet does Johnson class them as a first and second meaning of the same word, deriving them, nevertheless, from separate sources. SCRAP, n. s. (from scrape, a thing scraped or rubbed off.) And — It is (T.) the past participle of Scpeopan, scalpere, radere, to scrape. It means (any thing, something) scraped off. SCUM, n. s. (jescume, French; schiuma, Italian; skume, Danish; schuym, Dutch.) This etymology is from Skinner. 1. That which rises to the top of any liquor. 2. The dross ; the refuse ; the recrement ; that part which is to be thrown away. Lye — " Videntur esse a skim." Scum, (T.) that which is skimmed off'; the past participle of the verb To skim. — Hence the Italian Schiuma, and the French tiscume, Ecume. A SHADE, \ (T.) Which our etymologists unnecessarily derive from the Greek A SHADOW,/ cKia, mean, (something, any thing) secluded, separated, retired ; or A SHAW, y (something) by which we are separated from the weather, the sun, A SHED, \ &c. They are the past tense, and, therefore, the past participle of SHEATH, J Sceaban, separare, segregare, dividere. And of this word Sheath is the third person singular indicative. Z 2 172 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Shade, n.s. (Scabu, Saxon ; schade, Dutch.) 1. The cloud or opacity made by in- terception of the light. And nine other explanations. Shadow, n.s. (Scabu, Saxon; schadowe, Dutch.) 1. The representation of a body by which the light is intercepted. And nine other explanations. Shaw, n. s. (Scua, Saxon ; schawe, Dutch ; skugga, Islandick.) A thicket ; a small wood. A tuft of trees near Lichfield is called Gentle Shaw. Shed, n.s. (supposed by Skinner to be corrupted from Shade.) I. A slight tempo- rary building. And of this meaning it was thought necessary to produce eight examples ; and subsequently a ninth was added. 2. In composition, Effusion, as blood-shed. To Shed, Skinner derives from Sceaban, separare, and so does Johnson ; and instantly explains it, " To effuse, to pour out, to spill." Of Shed, the noun, Skinner says, " Parum deflexo sensu a shadow, q. d. um- braculum ;" which Johnson translates " Corrupted from shade." Lye — "A. S. Sceaban est separare, dirimere, disjungere. — G.Douglas more suo scribit Sched, Schede. Hinc Chaucerianum Shede, et A. B. to Shead, distinguere, ut et no Shed, nulla differentia." Sheath, Johnson says, "is the case of any thing," and merely refers to the An- glo-Saxon Scse^e ; Lye, " Fortasse ab A. S. Scelan, separare." SHARP, (T.) the past participle of Scynpan, acuere. Skinner — " Ab A. S. Sceajip, acutus, Scynpan, acuere. Junius — " Ex exa^tpos — stipula. Notum est illud Senec», Ep. 12. ' Nihil est acutius arista'." Sharp, adj. (j-ceanp, Saxon; scherpe, Dutch.) 1. Keen, piercing; having a keen edge; having an acute point; not blunt. And fifteen other explanations. SHEAF > Sheaf, (T.) (Anglo-Saxon j-ceaj: ; Dutch, schoof) is the past participle SHAFT, j j-ceaj:, (or jrceapob,) from the verb j-cupan ; which past participle in mo- dern English we write shove, or shoved. Shaft, (Anglo-Saxon j-cearjt,) is the same past participle j-ceajiob, j-ceaj-b, j-eeapr. — Shaft, as well as Sheaf, means that which is shoved. Sheaf, n.s. (j-cearj, Saxon; schoof, Dutch.) 1. A bundle of stalks of corn bound together, that the ears may dry. Take his first example : — " These be the sheaves, that honour's harvest bears, The seed thy valiant acts, the world the field." Fairfax, ■ OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 173 Shaft, n. s. (j-ceap:, Saxon.) 1. An arrow, a missive weapon. 2. {Shaft, Dutch.) A narrow, deep, perpendicular pit. 3. Any thing straight ; the spire of a church. SHEEN, adj. (This was probably only the old pronunciation of Shine.) Bright ; glittering ; shewy. A word now not in use. Sheen — " Ita Damnonii pronuntiant Shine, fulgere." Lye. Skinner omits the word Sheen, in his Et. Gen., but in his Onomasticon he has — Shene nunc Richmond — a splendore sic dicta v. Shine. " Shine, ab A. S. Scinan, — splendere, fulgere." And of this Anglo-Saxon verb Tooke thinks it to be the past participle. SHEER, SHERD, SHRED, SHORE and SCORE, SHORT, SHORN, SHOWER, SHARE and SCAR, SHARD, SHIRE, (T.) All these, so variously written and pronounced, and now so differently and distinctly applied, a.re yet merely the past participle of Scijian, to shear, to cut, to divide, to sepa- rate. And they were formerly used indifferently. And of this indifferent usage Mr. Tooke supplies ex- }~ amples. Sherd, (T.) is Shered, Shefd. Shred, is Shered, SKred. Sheer, as we now use it, means separated from every thin^ else. As when we say " Sheer ignorance," i. e. separated SHIRT and SKIRT. J from any the smallest mixture of information ; or separated from any other motive. In the instance from Beaumont and Fletcher — «' I had my feather shot shaer away :" Vol. II. p. 65. it means that the feather was so separated by the shot, as not to leave the smallest particle behind. — The modern editors chuse to write it Sheer. Johnson says, — Shred, (from the verb.) 1. A small piece cut off. 2. A fragment. The verb he derives from Scneaoan, Saxon. Skinner tells him, — " Vel a verb. To shear." Sherd, n.s. (j-ceajib, Saxon.) The fragment of broken earthen ware. Skinner — " Satis autem manifestum est A. S. j-ceapb, et Fr. escharde, orta esse, ab A.S. j-ceanan, scindere." Skinner writes it Sheard ; which Johnson says is " now written Shard, and ap- plied only to fragments of earthen ware," and yet he proposes a separate etymology for this same word differently written. 1^4 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Of Shardborn, Johnson says, " Born or produced among broken pots or stones. Perhaps Shard, in Shakspeare, may signify the sheaths of the wings of insects." The commentators on Shakspeare have furnished two pages of lucubration upon this word ; and the reader will find a fresh reason to regret that Mr. Steevens was not an etymologist, and at the same time to admire his good sense. Sheer, adj. (j-cyn, Saxon.) Pure ; clear ; unmingled. Sheer, adv. (from the adjective.) Clean ; quick ; at once. Shore, (T.) as the sea-shore, or shore of a river, (which latter expression Dr. Johnson, without any reason, calls "a licentious use" of the word,) is the place where the continuity of the land is interrupted or separated by the sea or river. — Observe, that shore is not any determined spot, it is of no size, shape, nor dimen- sions, but relates merely to the separation of land from land. Shore, (j-cone,* Saxon.) 1. The coast of the sea. 2. The bank of a river. A licentious use. Shored, (T.) Shofd, Short, (or, as Douglas has written it, Schorit,) cut off, is opposed to Long, which means extended. Short, adj. (j-ceopc, Saxon.) 1. Not long; commonly not long enough. And thirteen other explanations ; the last of which is, " not bending." SHORT, n.s. (from the adjective.) A summary account. Short, adv. (It is, I think, only used in composition.) Not long. Shirt (T.) and Skirt, (i. e. j-cineb,) is the same participle, differently pronounced, written, and applied. Shirt, n. s. (j-hient:, j*cynt, j-cyjut, Saxon.) The under linen garment of a man. Skirt, n. s. (skiorte, Swedish.) 1 . The loose edge of a garment ; that part which hangs loose below the waist. 2. The edge of any part of the dress. 3. Edge ; margin ; border ; extreme part. Shower, (T.) (in Anglo-Saxon j-cyup and j*cun,) means merely broken, divided, separated: (subaud. Clouds.) Junius says, — " B. Scheure, vel Regen-scheure est vehemens pluvia, guttae ple- niores nubis disruptce." Skinner — " B. Scheure, ruptura, significat pluviam violentam ; q. d. Eruptionem aquarum, seu nubium." Shower, n. s. (scheure, Dutch.) 1. Rain, either moderate or violent. And Rain means, " The moisture that falls from the clouds." Of this first ex- planation here is the first example : — OF THE DICTIONARY OF DK. JOHNSON. 1 ?5 " If the boy have not a woman's gift, To rain a shower of commanded tears, An onion will do well for such a shift." Sh,ikspeabe. 2. Storm of any thing falling thick. 3. Any very liberal distribution. To Shower, v. a. (from the noun.) I. To wet or drown with rain. (The reader must recollect the meaning of the word Rain.) " Caesar's favour, That showers down greatness on his friends, Will raise me to Rome's first honours." Addison's Cato. So it stood in the first edition ; but subsequently this example was removed to the third explanation, which is, " To distribute or scatter with great liberality." And thus could I produce, (if I stood in need of it,) Johnson's own authority, which is of little value, except against himself, for his own condemnation in all in- stances of the same description as that which he has here attempted to correct. Score, (T.) when used for the number twenty, has been well and rationally ac- counted for, by supposing that our unlearned ancestors, to avoid the embarrass- ment of large numbers, when they had made twice ten notches, cut off the piece or talley [taglie) containing them ; and afterwards counted the scores or pieces cut off; and reckoned by the number of separated pieces, or by score. Score, for account or reckoning, is well explained, and in the same manner ; from the time when divisions, marks, or notches, cut in pieces of stick or wood, were used instead of those Arabian figures we now employ. — Score, n. «. (skora, Islandick, a mark, a cut, a notch.) 1. A notch of long incision. 2. A line drawn. 3. An account ; which, when our writing was less common, was kept by marks or tallies, or by lines of chalk. After four other meanings, we come at last to this : — 8. Twenty. I suppose, because twenty, being a round number, was distinguished on tallies by a long score. But, though the primary meaning of Score, the noun, is a " Notch of long in- cision," yet the primary meaning of the verb is " to set down as a debt." Share, (T.) Shire, Scar, one and the same past participle, mean separated, divided. — Share, any separated part or portion. — Shire, a separated part or portion of this realm. And though we now apply Scar only to a cicatrix, or the remaining mark of separation, it was formerly applied to any separated part. 176 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Gower says, " A littel Skare upon a banke that lets in the stream." In Ray's North Country words, what we now call Pot-sherds, or Pot-shards, are likewise called Pot-scars, or Pot-shreds. In Ray's Proverbs, also, Score is used where we now use Scar, with the same meaning : " Slander leaves a score behind it." So the Cliffe of a rocke (i. e. the cleaved part of it,) as Ray informs us, is still called a " Scarre." Douglas calls it " ane Scliore rolkis syde." — Now let the reader observe the extent of Johnson's information, and the clear- ness of his discernment. To Share, v. n. ( rceanan, j-cynan, Saxon.) 1. To divide; to part among many. 2. To partake with others, to seize or possess jointly with another. 3. To cut ; to separate ; to sheer ; (from j-cean, Saxon.) Share, n. s. (from the verb.) 1 . Part ; allotment ; dividend. 2. A part. 3. (Scean, Saxon.) The blade of the plough that cuts the ground. Shire, n.s. (rein, from j-cynan, to divide, Saxon; skyre, Erse.) A division of the kingdom ; a county ; so much of the kingdom as is under one sheriff. Scar, n. s. (from eschar, escare, French ; tv%a%a.) A mark made by a hurt or fire ; a cicatrix. Share-bone (T.) is so called, because it is placed where the body is separated or divided. Johnson, with his usual partiality for the ignotum per ignotius, tells us, that the Share-bone (share and bone) is the os pubis. Plough-share (T.) is a plough-sheerer, contracted to avoid the repetition er, er. A pair of sheers, a pair of sheerers. Plough-share, n. s. (plough and share.) The part of the plough that is perpendi- cular to the coulter. And the coulter he says is — " perpendicular to the share." Shear, > n. s. (from the verb.) It is seldom used in the singular, but is found once Shears, Y in Dryden. 1. An instrument to cut, consisting of two blades moving on a pin, between which the thing cut (he means to be cut,) is intercepted. Shears are large, and Scissars a smaller instrument of the same kind. " Why do you bend such solemn brows on me ? Think you I bear the shears of destiny ? Have I commandment on the pulse of life ?" Shakspeare. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 177 " The fates prepar'd their sharpen'd sheers.** Dryden. '* That people live and die, I knew, An hour ago as well as you ; And if fate spins us longer years, Or is in haste to take the sheers, I know, we must both fortunes try, And bear our evils, wet or dry." Prior. Among these examples are intermixed others, in which the word is applied to' sheep-sheering, clipping a bird's wings, &c. Then we have— 2. The denomination of the age of sheep. And then — 3. Any thing in the form of the blades of sheers ; — without examples. And then— • 4. Wings, in Spenser. SHOCK, (T.) the past participle of j-cacan, to shake. Shock, n.s. (choc, French; schocken, Dutch.) Skinner — " Slwck, a Belg. &c. &c. v. Shake." Lye the same. SHOP, -\ (T.) The past tense, and, therefore, past participle of the Anglo-Saxon SHAPE, > verb j-cyppan, to fashion, to form, to prepare, to adapt. SHIP, J A Shop—formatum aliquid, (in contradistinction from a stall,} for the purpose of containing merchandize for sale, protected from the weather. — Shop, n. s. (]-ceop, Saxon, a magazine ; eschoppe, French ; shopa, low Latin. Ainsworth.) 1. A place where any thing is sold. 2. A room in which manufactures are carried on. And the first room in which, &c. is that of " Your most grave belly." A Ship—formatum aliquid, (in contradistinction from a raft,') for the purpose of conveying merchandize, &c. by water, protected from the water and the wea- ther. Ship, n.s. (j-cip, Saxon ; schippen, Dutch.) A ship may be defined a large hollow building, made to pass over the sea with sails. To Ship, v. a. means, 1. To put into a ship. 2. To transport in a ship. " Andronicus, would thou wert shipt to hell Rather than rob me of the people's hearts." Shakspeare. To Shipwreck, is nicely distinguished into three separate significations. The last is " to throw by loss of the vessel ;" and the example is — " Shipwrecfc'd upon a kingdom, where no pity, No friends, no hope! no kindred weep for me." Suakspeare. A a 178 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION The words are spoken by the luckless consort of Henry VIII., and would not have been very inapplicable to the condition of a luckless consort of the present day. SHOT, SHOTTEN, SHUT, SHUTTLE, SHUTTLEcor£, SHOOT, SHOUT, SHITTLE, SHEET, SCOT, SCOUT, SCATES, SKIT, SKITTISH, SKETCH, (T.) Are all the past participle Sceat, of the Anglo-Saxon and English verb j-citan, j-cytan, projicere, dejicere, to throw, to cast forth, to throw out. A Shot from a gun, or bow, or other machine, means some- thing cast or thrown forth. A shot window means a projected window, thrown out beyond the rest of the house ; what we now call a bow window. — Mr. f Tyrwhitt says, a shot window is, I suppose, a window that was shut. For one shot of five pence ; i. e. For five pence cast down, for one cast of five pence, &c. — Shot, n. s. (schot, Dutch ; from shoot.*) 1. The act of shooting. 2. The missive weapon emitted by any instrument. ** I shall here abide the hourly shot Of angry eyes." 3. The flight of a shot. 4. (Escot, French.) A sum charged ; a reckoning. A shotten herring, (T.) is a herring which has cast or thrown forth its spawn. Johnson seems to imagine that shotten can only be applied to the herring, for he explains the word to mean, '* Having ejected its spawn ;" and supports his expla- nation by examples, in which it is applied to the herring. Mason (Beaumont and Fletcher, Vol. II. p. 69, Weber's edit.) says, " A shotten fish is one that has spent his roe." A shoot (T.) of a tree is, that which the tree has cast forth or thrown forth. Johnson derives the verb To Shoot from Scebtan, Saxon ; and the noun in two significations from the verb : but in the third signification he derives it from scheu- ten, Dutch. — " Branches issuing from the main stock." Branch — is " The shoot of a tree from one of the main boughs." Bough — is " An arm or large shoot of a tree, bigger than a branch." Thus, according to his own authority, a branch never does issue from the main stock. Shoots, however, may issue from bough, branch, or stock, as any gardener knows. A Shout (T.) is no other than the same participle differently spelled, and ap- plied to the sound thrown from the mouth. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 179 Shout, v. n. (A word of which no etymology is known.) To cry in triumph or exhortation. " They shouted thrice ; what was the last cry for?" Shakspeare. «' There had been nothing but howlings and shoutings of poor naked men, belabouring one another with snagged sticks." More. " All clad in skins of beasts the jav'lin bear, And shrieks and shoutings rend the suffering air." Dryden. Shout, n. s. {from the verb.) A loud and vehement cry of triumph or exlvortation. m The Rhodians, seeing the enemy turn their backs, gave a great shout in derisioJi." — Knolles's History of the Turks. With such admirable propriety does Johnson adapt his examples to his expla- nations. Skinner thinks that Shout may be from Shoot, q. d. Vocis content® ejaculatio. To shut (T.) the door, which the common people generally pronounce — more properly and nearly to the original verb, to shet the door, — means, to throw or cast the door to. To Shut, v. a. (rcittan, Saxon; schotten, Dutch.) 1. To close, so as to prohibit ingress or regress; to make not open. His first example is — ** Kings shall shut their mouths at him." Isaiah liii. 15. i. e. Shall " close so as to prohibit ingress or regress." He has four other explanations. To get (T.) shut of a thing, means, To get a thing thrown off or cast from us. Shut, participial adjective,— Rid ; clear; free. A weaver's (T.) shuttle or shittle, (shut-del, shit-del,) means a small instrument shot, i. e. thrown or cast. Shuttle, n. s. (schutspoele, Dutch ; skutul, Islandick.) The instrument with which the weaver shoots the cross threads. " I know life is a shuttle." Shakspeare. A shuttle-cork or shittle-cork, i. e. A cork thrown or cast (backward and forward.) Shittlecock, n. s. (commonly and perhaps as properly Shuttlecock. Of Shittle or Shuttle the etymology is doubtful. Skinner derives it from schutteln, German, to *hake ; or j-ceatan, Saxon, to throw. He thinks it is called a cock from its fea^ Aa 2 180 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION thers. Perhaps it is properly Shuttlecork, a cork driven to and fro, like the in- strument in weaving, and softened by frequent and rapid utterance from Cork to Cock.) A cork stuck with feathers, and driven by players from one to another with battledores. Junius says — " Shuttle, Skittle, manifeste est ex A. S. j-ceotan et j-cytan." Sheet, (T.) (whether a sheet for a bed, a sheet of water, a sheet of lightning, a sheet anchor, &c.) is also the same participle j-ceat. — What we now write sheet an- chor, was formerly written shot anchor. Sheet, according to Johnson, is A broad and large piece of linen ; and, The linen of a bed ; and, As much paper, &c. &c. As (T.) the Anglo-Saxon yc was pronounced both as sh and sk, the participle of Scitan, has given us Scot, Scout, Scate, and Skit. Scot and Shot are mutually interchangeable. Scot free, Scot and lot, Rome-scot, &c. are the same as Shot free, Shot and lot, Rome shot, &c. Scot, n. s. (ecot, French.) 1. Shot, payment. 2. Scot and lot ; parish payments. A Scout (T.) means (subaud. some one, any one,) sent out ; say before an army, to collect intelligence by any means ; and to give notice of the position, &c. of an enemy. Sent out is equivalent to thrown or cast. Send, in old English, is used indifferently for throw or cast. Johnson, after Skinner, supposes Scout to belong to the verb ecouter, escouter, auscultare, to listen ; " merely," says Tooke, " because of a resemblance in the sound and letters of that verb. But is listening the usual business of a scout ? Are his ears all, and his eyes nothing? Is he no good scout who returns with in- telligence of what he has seen of the enemy, unless he has likewise overheard their deliberations ? Is an outscout at cricket sent to a distance, that he may the better listen to what is passing ?" Skit (T.) means (subaud. something) cast or thrown. The word is now used for some jest or gibe or covered imputation thrown or cast upon any one. The same thing is called a fling. The adjective skittish, applied to a horse or jade of any kind, is common enough. Skit is not in Johnson, and Tooke acknowledges that he cannot recollect an in- stance of its use in liberal writings. Skittish, adj. (skye, Danish : schew, Dutch.) 1. Shy ; easily frighted. 2. Wanton ; volatile ; hasty ; precipitate. 3. Changeable ; fickle. Our (T.) English word Sketch, the Dutch schets; the Italian schizzo; and (though farther removed) the French esguisse, are all the same participle. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 18] And so in Tooke's opinion are also the Italian scotto, the French escot, ecot, the Italian schiofta, the Dutch scheet, and the Latin, sagitta. SHROWD, > Shroud (T.) in Anglo-Saxon j-cjiu>>, vestitus, though now applied SHROWDS. * only to that with which the dead are clothed, is the past participle of j-criban, vestire ; and was formerly a general term for any sort of clothing whatever. The Shrowds&re any things with which the masts of ships are dressed or clothed. Shroud, n. s. (j-cpufc, Saxon.) 1. A shelter ; a cover. 2. The dress of the dead ; a winding sheet. 3. The sail ropes. It seems to be taken sometimes for the sails. As the fourth meaning of the verb To shroud, Johnson says, " To clothe, to dress ;" but produces no authority. Skinner — " Shroud ab A. S. j-cj\ub, vestitus, j-cjiyban, vestire." Junius — " Shroud, amiculum ferale, manifeste ex A. S. j-cnub, vestis, et fcnyban, indui." SHROVE, (T.) Shrovetide; i. e. The time when persons are shrived or shriven. — Shrift is Shrived, Shriv'd, Shrift. Of Shrift, Johnson says, " Confession made to a priest." Out of use. To Shrive, " To hear at confession." Shrovetide, " The time of confession." In Chaucer's Dreams, (Speght's edit- fo. 366, 1598,)— " Fairest of faire, and goodliest on live All my secret to you I plaine, and shrive." i. e. confess, not hear at confession. SHRUB. (T.) By an easy corruption of y to h, Syrop becomes Shrop, Shrup, Shrub. Johnson calls it a cant word, meaning, " Spirit, acid, and sugar mixed." SKILL, SCALE, SCALD, SHALE, SHELL, SHOAL, SCOWL, SCULL, SHOULDER, SHILLING, SLATE. (T.) At first sight these words may seem to have nothing in com- mon with each other ; little, at least, in the sound, and less in the meaning. Yet are they all the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb j-cylan, to divide, to separate, to make a difference, to discern, to skill; and have all one common meaning. This English verb, To skill, though now obsolete, has not been long lost to the language ; but continued in good and common use down to the reign of Charles the First. Skill, as now commonly used, is manifestly discernment; that faculty by which things are properly divided and separated one from another. — 182 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Skill, n. s. [skil, Islandick.) 1. Knowledge of any practice or art ; readiness in any practice ; knowledge; dex- terity; artfulness. 2. Any particular art. To Skill, v. n. (skilia, Islandick.) 1. To be knowing in ; to be dextrous at : with of. 2. (Skilia, Islandick, signifies to distinguish.) To differ ; to make difference ; to interest ; to matter. Not in use. Scale, (T.) in all its various applications, as well as Shale, Shell, Shoal or Shole, Scowl, and Scull, will be found to be merely the past participle of j-cylan, by the usual changes of the characteristick. " Now here he fights on Galathe his horse, And there lacks worke ; anon he's there a foote, And there they flye or dye, like scaled sculs Before the belchiDg whale " Troilus and Cressida, p. 103, if paged. The fishes come in shoals, sholes, or sculs ; that is, they come in separate divi- sions or parts divided from the main body ; and any one of these divisions, {shoals or sculs,~) may very well again be scaled, i. e. divided or separated by the belch- ing whale. ** By this your brother is saued, your honour untainted, the poore Mariana ad- vantaged, and the corrupt deputy scaled." Meas. for Meas. p. 72. The corrupt deputy was scaled (or shaled) by separating from him or stripping off his covering of hypocrisy. " I shall tell you A pretty tale, it may be you haue heard it, But, since it semes my purpose, I will venture To scale 1 1 a little more. Coriolanus, Act I. sc. i. fo. 1. The tale of Menenius was " scaled a little more," by being divided more into par- ticulars and degrees ; told more circumstantially, and at length. " Holinshed," (says Mr. Steevens,) " Vol. II. p. 499, speaking of the retreat of the Welshmen, during the absence of Richard II., says, they would no longer abide, but scaled and departed away ;" i. e. says Tooke, separated and departed. In the Historie of Clyomen, " The hugie heapes of cares that lodged in my minde, Are sfcaled from their nestling place, and pleasure's passage find." OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 183 i. e. Separated from their nestling place. " The Tyriane menye skalis wyde quhare, And all the gallandis of Troy fled here and there." Douglas, Booke IV. p. 105. i. e. separated themselves wide quhare. In Ray's Scottish Proverbs, p. 280, " An old seek is ay skailing:" i. e. parting, dividing, separating, breaking. We have, (continues Tooke,) Scale, a ladder. Aud thence — Scale of a besieged place. A pair of scales. A scale of degrees. Scale of a fish, or of our own diseased skin. Scale of a bone. Scale and scaled (or scald) head. We have also — Shale of a nut, &c. Shell of a fish, &c. Shoal, Shole, or Skcl of fishes. Scull of the head. Scowl of the eyes. Shoulder. And finallv, Skill. Shilling. Slate. Now in every one of these, as well as in each of the instances produced of the ancient use of the word Scale, one common meaning (and only one common meaning) presents itself immediately to our notice ; viz. divided, separated. Scowl, i. e. separated eyes, or eyes looking different ways, which our ancestors termed 8ceol-eage. We only say 8ceol ; i. e. Scowl, subaud. eyes. Shoulder, which formerly was, and should still be, written Shoulde, is also the past participle of the verb jxyllan. I think it probable that Shilling, (Dutch Schelling,*) may be corruptly written for Shillen or 8cylen, an aliquot part of a pound. What we now call Slate was formerly SclaL I suppose the word to have pro- ceeded thus : — Skalit, Sklait, Sklate, Slate. — Slates are thin flakes of stone sepa- rated or scaled from each other. — In Mr. Tooke's old version it is written Sclatis ; in Wiclif, Sclattis ; and in Fabian, Sclate. 184 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Of the one common meaning discoverable in all these words, not the slightest notice is given either by Johnson, or Junius, or Skinner. Johnson shall speak for himself. Scale, n. s. (j-ceale, Saxon ; schael, Dutch ; skal, Islandick.) 1. A balance; a vessel suspended by a beam, against another vessel; the dish of a balance. 2. The sign Libra in the zodiack. S. (Escaille, French ; squama, Latin.) The small shells or crusts which lying one over another make the coats of fishes. 4. Any thing exfoliated or desquamated ; a thin lamina. 5. (Scala, a ladder, Latin.) Ladder ; means of ascent. " • Love refines The thoughts, and heart enlarges ; hath his seat In reason, and is judicious ; is the scale By which to heav'nly love thou may'st ascend." Milton, P. L. VIII. 589. " On the bending of these mountains the marks of several ancient scales of stairs may be seen, by which they used to ascend them." Addison. 6. The act of storming by ladders. 7. Regular gradation ; a regular series rising like a ladder. 8. A figure subdivided by lines like the steps of a ladder, which is used to measure proportions between pictures and the thing represented. 9. The series of harmonick or musical proportions. «' The bent of his thoughts and reasonings run up and down this scale" (i. e. this series of harmonick or musical proportions, viz.) " that no people can be happy but under good go- vernments." Temple. 10. Any thing marked at equal distances. To Scald, v. a. {scaldare, Italian ; calidus, Latin.) 1. To burn with hot liquor. ** I am scalded with my violent motion And spleen of speed to see you." Shakspeahe, King John, (sc. the last.) ** O majesty ! "When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit Like a rich armour in the heat of day, That scalds with safety." Shaksp. Hen, IV. Part II. (Act IV. sc. x.) OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 185 2. A provincial phrase in husbandry. Scald, n. s. (from the verb.) Scurf on the head. « Her head, altogether bald, Was overgrown with scurf and filthy scald" Spenser. A Scall or Skaled head, says Tooke, is called a Scald head. Shale, n. s. (corrupted, I think, for Shell.) The husk ; the case of seeds in siliquou* plants. 14 Behold yon poor and starved band, And your fair shew shall suck away their souls, Leaving them but the shales and husks of men." Shakspeare. Shell, n.s. (ryll, rceal, Saxon; schale, schelle, Dutch.) 1. The hard covering of any thing; the external crust. 2. The covering of a testaceous or crustaceous animal. 3. The covering of the seeds of siliquous plants. 4. The covering of kernels. 5. The covering of an egg. Though Shell, the noun, means a cover, yet to shell, the verb, means not lo cover, but to uncover; — i. e. " to take out of the shell," (i. e. the covering ;) " to strip of the shell." A Shelter, Johnson says, is " A cover from any external injury or violence ;" and To shelter is " To coyer from external violence." And though this latter noun and verb immediately succeed the former, yet this con- tradictory manner of explanation passes without remark. Johnson saw no absur- dity in explaining the noun and verb to have meanings directly opposite. Shift, the noun, he explains " A woman's under linen ;" and To Shift, " To change, as clothes." Shoal, n. s. (rcole, Saxon.) 1. A croud ; a great multitude ; a throng. 2. A shal- low ; a sand-bank. Scowl, v. n. (j-cylan, to squint, Saxon ; skeela sig, to look sour, Islandick.) To frown, lo pout ; to look angry, sour, or sullen To Pout, means " To look sullen, by thrusting out the lips." Scull, n. s. (It is derived by Skinner from shell, in some provinces called shull ; as testa and teste, or tile, signify the head. Mr. Lye observes, more satisfactorily, that skola is in Islandick the skull of an animal.) 1. The bone which incases and defends the brain ; the arched bone of the head. 2. A small boat ; a cockboat. Bb 186 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION 3. One who rows a cockboat. 4. (Sceole, Sax. an assembly.) In Milton's style, a shoal or vast multitude of fish. Mr. Lye's etymology may have assisted Johnson, but him only, to understand the reason of the application of the word — to a cockboat and to one who rows a cockboat. Shoulder, n. s. (jculbne, Saxon ; scholder, Dutch.) 1. The joint which connects the arm to the body. 2. The upper joint of the foreleg. 3. The upper part of the back, &c. &c. Shilling, n. s. (j-cylhng, Saxon and Erse ; schelling, Dutch.) A coin of various value in different times. — It is now twelve pence. SIGHT, (T.) which the Anglo-Saxon wrote 8rS and 8rSe, i. e. that faculty which seeth, is the third person singular of the indicative of j-eon, videre. The regular termination of this person is tk, which in this and some other words has become corrupted into ht. Sight, n. s. (jep^e, Saxon ; sicht, gesickt, Dutch.) With seven explanations, and the examples to them, Johnson fills nearly one folio column. SINCE, (T.) is the participle of j-eon, To see. In Anglo-Saxon j-i^an, ryne, feanb- ej", yiW&e, or pn-ep Since, in modern English, is used four ways : two, as a preposition, connecting or (or rather affecting} words ; and two, as a conjunction, affecting sentences. As a preposition. — 1. Since, for p^an, p^ence, or seen and thenceforward. 2. Since, for ryne, sene, or seen. As a conjunction. — 3. Since, for j-eanb, seeing, seeing as, or seeing that. 4. Since, for yv8*8e, p^, seen as, or seen that. Since is likewise used adverbially, as when we say, — It is a year since ; i. e. a year seen. Sithence and Sith, though now obsolete, continued in good use down even to the time of the Stuarts. — Johnson considers Since as an adverb, and preposition, and not as a conjunc- tion ; though in the very first explanation of his adverb, and the three examples to it, it is, according to the acknowledged distribution of the parts of speech, ma- nifestly a conjunction and nothing else ; and belongs to Tooke's third division, — " seeing that." Since, adverb, (formed by contraction from Sithence, or Sith thence, from SrSe, Saxon.) 1. Because that. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 187 u Since, (i. e. seeing that,) the clearest discoveries we have of other spirits, besides God and our own souls are imparted by revelation, the information of them should he taken from thence." Locke. " Since" (i. e. seeing that) " truth and constancy are vain, Since" (i. e. seeing that) " neither love nor sense of pain, Nor force of reason can persuade, Then let example be obey'd." Granville. In the second explanation and the examples to it, Since is also a conjunction, and belongs to Tooke's fourth division. It is only in the third explanation that Since is used adverbially. Johnson has but one explanation of Since, the preposition, and two examples. His first example belongs to Mr. Tooke's second division, Seen; and his second to Tooke's first division, " Seen, and thenceforward." " He since the morning hour," (i. e. seen the morning hour, or the morning hour being seen,) " set out from heav'n." Milton. " If such a man arise, I have a model by which he may build a nobler poem than any extant since the ancients." (i.e. Seen the ancients, and thenceforwards.) Djryden. Since (T.) is a very corrupt abbreviation, confounding together different words and different combinations of words. When used as a preposition, it has always the signification either of the past par- ticiple seen joined to thence, (i. e. seen, and thenceforward ;) or else it has the sig- nification of the past participle seen only. When used as a conjunction, it has sometimes the signification of the present participle seeing or seeing that ; and sometimes the signification of the past parti- ciple seen, or seen that. — SLACK, "] For Slack, Johnson is content with the Saxon, Islandick, Welsh simi- SLOUCH, I lar words, and the Latin laxus. Skinner conducts him to the verb SLOUGH, I Xj-laeian, laxare, remittere. SLUG, y Slouch, n.s. {sloff, Danish, stupid.) SLOW, 1. A downcast look; a depression of the head. SLOVEN, 2. A man who looks heavy and clownish. SLUT. J Slough, n.s. (floj, Saxon.) 1. A deep miry place ; a hole full of dirt. 2. The skin which a serpent casts off at his periodical renovation. Take an example or two of this serpent at his periodical renovation : — The first Bb2 188 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION is Malvolio ; the second the organs of the human frame ; the third the human body itself. 3. The part that separates from a foul sore. Slug, n. s. [slug, Danish, and slock, Dutch, signify a glutton, and thence one that has the sloth of a glutton.) 1. An idler; a drone; a slow, heavy, sleepy, lazy wretch. 2. An hindrance ; an obstruction. 3. A kind of slow creeping snail. 4. (Slecg, a hammerhead, Saxon.) A cylindrical or oval piece of metal shot from a gun. Slow, Johnson says, is " not swift," and eight or nine other " nots." Sloven, n. s. (sloef, Dutch ; yslyvn, Welsh, nasty, shabby.) Slut, (slodde, Dutch.) 1. A dirty woman. 2. A word of slight contempt to a woman. All the words (T.) above enumerated, (in the Anglo-Saxon 81aec, Sleac, 8I05, Slffiji, Slea]>, and 81a]),) are the same past participle (differently pronounced and written,) of the Anglo-Saxon verb 81eacian, Sleacgian, Slaeian, (a broad,) tar- dare, remittere, Telaxare, pegrescere. Slouch, j-kec, (cA for &,) i.e. A slow (pace.) Slough, flog, (g-A for ch,) i. e. Slow (water.) Slug^ rlog, (g for £,) i. e. Slow (reptile.) Slow, rla)>, (w for g.) Such changes of pronunciation are perpetual and uniform throughout the whole language. Slow-en, Slou-en, Sloven ; and Slow-ed, Slow'd, Sloud, Slout, Slut, are the past participle of the verb, 81ajuan, To slow; i. e. to make slow, or cause to be slow. There is no reason but the fashion for the distinction which is at present made be- tween Sloven and Slut, by applying the former of these words to males only, and the latter only to females ; Gower and Chaucer apply Slut to males. — SLEET, n. s. (perhaps from the Danish slet.) A kind of smooth small hail or snow, not falling in flakes, but single particles. Johnson's first example is from the Annus Mirabilis of Dryden: " Now van to van the foremost squadrons meet, The midmost squadrons hast'ning up behind, Who view, far off, the storm of falling sleet, And hear their thunder rattling in the wind." OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 189 Sleet (T.) is the past participle 81e-eb, Sleeb, Sleet, of 81ean, projicere ; and has no connection (as Johnson imagined,) with the Danish Slet, which means smooth, polished. SLEEVE. This word seems to have involved Johnson in more than usual perplexity. Sleeve, n. s. (rlij:, Saxon.) 1. The part of the garment which covers the arm. 2. Sleeve, in some provinces, signifies a knot or skein of silk, which is by some very probably supposed to be its meaning in the following passage : «« Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care," &c. Shakspeare, Macbeth, Act II. sc. i. 3. Sleave, Dutch, signifies a cover ; any thing spread over; which seems to be the sense of the sleeve in the proverbial phrase : — " John laughed heartily sleeve," &c. jf%&>^ 4. To hang on a sleeve ; to make dependent. 1/ Sleeveless, adj. (from sleeve.) K * liIvERSITY 1. Wanting sleeves ; having no sleeves. N^qT H?r\T3 ^\^** 2. Wanting reasonableness, wanting propriety, wanting solidity. (This ^rtffrr, nY which the word has been long possessed, I know not well how it obtained. Skin- ner thinks it properly liveless, or lifeless; to this I cannot heartily agree, though I know not what better to suggest. Can it come from sleeve, a knot or skein, and so signify unconnected, hanging ill together? or from sleeve, a cover; and there- fore means plainly absurd ; foolish, without palliation ?) " This sleeveless tale of transubstantiation was brought into the world by that other fable of the multipresence." Hall. " My landlady quarrelled with him for sending every one of her children upon a sleeveless errand, as she calls it." Spectator. In Tooke's opinion it certainly does come from Sleeve, a cover : and in that meaning there appears not the slightest difficulty in the application of the word. The reader may, if he pleases, consult the commentators on Shakspeare, (Macbeth, Act II. sc. ii.) In Chaucer we read, "Good child (qd. she) what echeth such renoume to the conscience of a wise man, that loketh and measureth his goodnes, not by slevelesse words of the people, but by soothfastnesse of conscience : by God nothing." Testament of Love, B. II. fo. 302, c. 1. Mr. Tyrwhit says, " Sleeveless seems to signify idle, unprofitable, as it does still in vulgar language." 190 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Sleeve, (T.) Anglo-Saxon Slyjr, formerly called Gapm-j-life, that with which the arm is covered. The past participle of 81ej:an, induere. Sleeveless means without a cover or pretence. SLIT, > (T.) Fissura pedis cervini, — is the past participle of Shtan, findere, To SLOT.} slit. Slit, the noun, Johnson derives from the Saxon Slit, and Slot from the Islandick Slod, " the track of a deer." SLOP, } Are (T.) the past participle of rlipan, to slip. SLOPE, > To Slip, v.n. (j-lipan, Saxon; slippen, Dutch. SLIP, f. 1. To slide ; not to tread firm. 2. To slide; to glide. And 5. To glide. In all — eight. To Slip, v. a. 1. To convey secretly. And seven more explanations. Slip, n. s. (from the verb.) 1. The art of slipping ; false step ; — and five more. To Slop, v. a. (from lap, lop, slop.} To drink grossly and greedily. Slop, n. s. (from the verb.) Mean and vile liquor of any kind. Generally some nauseous or useless medicinal liquor. Slop, n. s. (flop, Saxon ; slove, Dutch, a covering.) Trowsers ; open breeches. Johnson's Lap is borrowed from Skinner, who thinks both Lap and Slop, " a sono ficta." Slope, adj. (This word is not derived from any satisfactory original. Junius omits it. Skinner derives it from slap, lax, Dutch ; and derives it from the curve of a loose rope. Perhaps its original may be latent in loopen, Dutch, to run, slope being easy to the runner.) Oblique ; not perpendicular. It is generally used of ac- clivity or declivity, forming an angle greater or less with the plane of the horizon. After all these pains to discover the etymology and settle the meaning, we are informed that slope, the substantive, means, — 2. Declivity; ground cut or formed with declivity. And then we are presented with this example : — " My lord advances with majestick mien, And when up ten steep slopes you've dragg'd your thighs, Just at his study door he'll bless your eyes." Pope. A very excellent instance, " that slope is easy to the runner." But further. — " The ascent of a hill" (says Johnson,) " is the acclivity. The descent is the declivity." Acclivous means " rising with slopes," — easy to the runner. SMEAR, (T.) The past participle of j-mynian, ungere, illinere. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 191 This noun is not in the first folio of Johnson ; it appears in subsequent editions, but still unsupported by authority. It is interpreted thus :— Smear, n. 8. An ointment ; any fat liquor or juice. SMITH, (T.) One who smiteth scil. with a hammer, &c. This name was given to all who smote with a hammer. Smith, n. s. (j-miS, Saxon ; smeth, German ; smid, Dutch ; from j-mitan, Saxon ; 1 (not to smite, but)' To beat.) 1. One who '(not even who beats, but who)' forges with his hammer. One who works in metals. SMOKE, (T.) is the regular past tense and past participle of j-mican, fumare. Johnson copies Welsh, Saxon, and Dutch, from Junius and Skinner, and ex- plains thus : " The visible effluvium, or sooty exhalation from any thing burning." SMOOTH, (Skinner,) ab A. S. j-marSe, planus, laevis, j-maVSian, complanare. — Alludit Gr. MaJbf, lsevis, glaber. Of this Anglo-Saxon verb, Johnson makes no mention. Smooth, (T.) (j-mseS,) The past participle of Sme^ian, polire, planare. SMUG, adj. (smuck, dress ; smucken, to dress, Dutch.) Nice ; spruce ; dressed with affectation of niceness, but without elegance. The first edition had only this adjective ; subsequently the verb was inserted. It ie also used as a substantive by Beaumont and Fletcher in the Pilgrim. Johnson explains To smug, which he terms a verb active, by To spruce, which he terms a verb neuter. Smug, (T.) is the past participle of j-maegan, fmeagan, deliberare, studere, considerare. Applied to the person or to dress, it means studied; that on which care and attention have been bestowed. SMUT, (Skinner,) ab A. S. Be-j-mj tan, inquinare ; and this Lye has no hesitation to adopt. -^ Smut, n. s. (j-mitta, Saxon ; smette, Dutch.) 1. A spot made with soot or coal. (Without example.) 2. Must or blackness gathered on corn ; mildew. To Smut, v. a. (from the noun.') Smut, (T.) Is the past participle of j-mitan, Be-j-mitan, polluere, inquinare, contaminare. SNACK, n. 8. (from snatch.) A share; a part taken by compact. Snatch, n. 8. (from the verb.) A hasty catch. Snack, (T.) something snatc/ied, taken hastily, is the past participle of To snatch. 192 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION SNAKE, } Snake, (T.) Anglo-Saxon j-nac, is the past participle of j-nican, serpere, SNAIL, > repere, to sneak; as serpens in Latin is the present participle of serpere. SNUG, 3 To Sneak, Johnson does take from the Anglo-Saxon verb ; but Snake, from j-naka, Saxon ; snake, Danish : yet Junius tells him, " Omnino derivata ab Anglo-Saxon j-nican, repere, serpere." And in this Skinner concurs. Snail, (T.) Snsejel (or Snakel) the diminutive of Snake; g being sounded and written instead of k in the Anglo-Saxon, and both g and k dropped in the English. Snail, n.s. (Sne^l, Saxon; snegel, Dutch.) A slimy animal, &c. " Hoc credo," says Skinner, " ab Anglo-Saxon Snican, repere." Snug, (T.) (i. e. Snuc,) is likewise the past participle of Snican ; the charac- teristick i changed to u, and g sounded for k. Snug, (from sniegen, Dutch, says Johnson.) SNITE. Lye— " Snytan, tosnite; emungere." Skinner — " To snit, nares mungere." Johnson — " To snite, v. a. (Snytan, Saxon.) To blow the nose." From the same Anglo-Saxon Snytan, Lye in Junius derives Snout: Johnson from Snuyt, Dutch. And Snot, from Snoce, Saxon ; snot, Dutch. Junius, and perhaps Skinner, from the Greek Noli;, humor, prefixo S. Snot (T.) is the past participle of the verb To snite, Anglo-Saxon Snycan, emungere, to wipe. Snot, the matter suited or wiped away ; Snout, the part suited or wiped. SNOW, (T.) (in the Anglo-Saxon 8naJ>, and the same in Douglas,) is the regular past tense, and, therefore, past participle of Snican, which Gower and Chaucer write To snew. It means, that which is sniwed or snewed. Snow, n.s. (8na)>, Saxon ; snee, Dutch.) The small particles of water frozen before they unite into drops. Junius would derive the Anglo-Saxon Snican, ningere, from the Greek Nipa. SNUFF, n. s. [snuf, Dutch, snot.) 1. Snot. In this sense it is not used. 2. The useless excrescence of a candle. * (e. g. King Lear.y 3. A candle almost burnt out. 4. The fired wick of a candle remaining after the flame. 5. Resentment expressed by snifting ; perverse resentment. 6. Powdered tobacco, taken by the nose. Such are Johnson's meanings of this noun, Snuff. He has the verb To snuff, and the verb To sniff ; the first from the Dutch snufen, and the last from sniffa, OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 193 Swedish. One of his explanations of To snuff, is to snift in contempt. — There is no such verb as To snift in his Dictionary. Snuff, (T.) that which is sniffed up the nose ; the past participle of the verb To sniff. SOMERSAULT, }n.s. (Somerset is the corruption. Sommer, a beam, and sault, SOMERSET, 3 French, a leap.) A leap, by which a jumper throws himself from a height, and turns over his head. The word stands without authority. Soprasalto, (T.) which the French have corrupted to Soubresault, and the Eng- lish to Sumersault, Somersalt, Summersaut, and then to Somerset. " What a somersalt When the chair fel, she fetched, with her heels upwards." B. and F. Tamer Tamed, fo. 241, Vol. II. In the first folio, Sober-salt; corrected in the second, says Mr. Weber. Vol. V. p. 331. SONG, (T.) any thing singed, sang, or sung, is the past participle of the verb To sing : as Cantus is of Canere, and Ode of Aejda. Johnson derives To sing, from the Anglo-Saxon pngan ; but Song from Ixe- j-ungen. Under the word Sonnet, we have a curious instance of Dr. Johnson's hatred of Milton and of sonnets — He copies, into his Dictionary, Milton's eleventh sonnet, — on his Tetrachordon, — and has the barbarity (not indeed in the first folio,) to offer it as a specimen of Milton's sonnets. SORROW, "} The three first, (T.) by change of the charadteristick, are the past par- SORR V, / ticipie of the Anglo-Saxon verb j-ynj'an, ryjie)>an, j-ynejuan, to vex, to mo- SORE, / lest, to cause mischief to, — This past participle was written in the Anglo- SHREWD,V Saxon participle ron] 1 , ]"on)>e, j-ojih. — Sonhg, ropg, rape, r&j\. And SHREW. J long after that time in English, Sorwe, Sorewe, Soor, &c. and was, and is, the general name for any malady or disease, or mischief, or suffering : any thing generally by which one is molested, vexed, grieved, or mischieved. And whoever attempts to pronounce the Anglo-Saxon participle r on]>, will not wonder that it should have been so variously written. Shrewd, is the same past participle, not by change of the characteristick letter, but by adding ed to the indicative; — it is j-ynjieb, j-yjie)>eb. Shrewe, or Shrew, is yyji\>e, yy)\c]>e, the indicative of rynej>an, and means one who vexes or molests. Shrew was formerly applied indifferently to males as well as to females, C c 194 A CKITICAL EXAMINATION Beshrew thee! (Be-j-ynej>e, the imperative of Be-j-yne]?ian,) i. e. Be thou J"yn]>e, j-yjiej>e, i. e. vexed ; or, May'st thou be vexed, molested, mischieved, or grieved. — Sorrow, Johnson derives from sorg, Danish ; and To Sorrow, from saurgan, Gothic ; j-ojigian, Saxon. Sorry, from j*aru£, Saxon ; and Sore, from rap, Saxon. Shrew, n. s. (schreyen, German, to clamour.) A peevish, malignant, clamourous, spiteful, vexatious, turbulent woman ! ! (It appears in Robert of Glocester, that this word signified anciently any one perverse or obstinate of either sex.) Johnson need not have gone to Robert of Glocester to find that Shrew was ap- plied to males as well as females. In Chaucer's Testament of Love, (fo. 300, Speght, 1598,) it occurs at least a dozen times so applied. Though Shrew is from the German, Shrew-mouse is from the Saxon ; of which little animal Johnson writes thus : — Shrewmouse, n. s. (j-cp.eaj:a, Saxon.) A mouse, of which the bite is generally sup- posed venomous, and to which vulgar tradition assigns such malignity, that she is said to lame the foot over which she runs. / am informed, that all these re- ports are calumnious, and that her feet and teeth are equally harmless with those of any other little mouse. Our ancestors, however, looked on her with such ter- ror, that they are supposed to have given her name to a scolding woman, whom from her venom they call a Shrew. To Beshrew, v. a. (The original of this word is somewhat obscure ; as it evidently implies to wish ill : some derive it from heschryen, German, to enchant. Topset, in his Book of Animals, deduces it from the shrew mouse, an animal, says he, so poisonous, that its bite is a severe curse. A shrew, likewise, signifies a scolding woman ; but its origin is not known.) To beshrew, and to shrew, Mr. Tyrwhitt says, means to curse ; and a shrew, an ill tempered curst man or woman ; and shrewed, wicked ; and shrewednesse, ill nature. SOUTH, (T.) is the past tense and past participle of j-eo^an, coquere, to seethe. The French sud, and our English word suds, is the same as sod or sodden. South, n. s. (fuS, Saxon ; suyd, Dutch ; sud, French.) 1. The part where the sun is to us at noon. SPAN, n. s. (j-pan, sponne, Saxon ; spanna, Italian ; span, Dutch.) [Perhaps origi- nally the expansion of the hand.] 1. The span from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger extended.— [Nine inches.] The words enclosed thus [ ] are not in the first folio. The (T.) German spanne ; the old French espan, mentioned by Cotgrave ; the OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. J95 Italian spanna; and the low Latin spannum, together with the Dutch, the Da- nish, the Swedish, and the Islandic, are all, as well as the English word, merely the past tense, and, therefore, past participle Span, Spon, of the Anglo-Saxon verb j-pinan, to spin, extendere, protrahere. SPEECH, (T.) Any thing spoken, and the faculty by which any thing is spoken; the past tense and past participle fpaec, j-paece, of j-pecan, to speak. This Johnson can subdivide into seven different meanings. " Any thing spoken" stands the fourth ; " liberty to speak" the seventh ; and in the example the " liberty" is actually expressed by the word "leave." •« 1, with leave of speech implor'd, reply'd." Milton. SPICK and SPAN new, means, in Tooke's opinion, "Shining new from the ware- house." — In Dutch they say, Spick spelder nieuw. And spyker means a warehouse or magazine. Spil or spel means a spindle, schiet-spoel, the weaver's shuttle; and spoelder, the shuttle-thrower. In Dutch, therefore, Spick spelder nieuw means, new from the warehouse and the loom. In German they say — Span neu and funckel neu. Spange means any thing shining ; as funckel means to glitter or sparkle. In Danish, funckelnye ; in Swedish, spitt spangande ny ; in English we say spick and span new ; fire new; brand new. The two last, brand and fire, speak for themselves. — Spick and Span. (This word I should not have expected to have found authorized by a polite writer. Span new is used by Chaucer, and is supposed to come from j-panuan, to stretch, Saxon ; expandere, Latin, whence Span. Span new is, there- fore, originally used for cloth new extended or dressed at the clothiers ; and spick and span is newly extended on the spikes or tenters. It is, however, alow word.) " Span new," Mr. Tyrwhitt says, " seems to signify quite new ; but why it does so I cannot pretend to say." SPOIL, to spoil, v. a. (#polio, Latin ; spolier, French.) 1. To rob; to take away by force. 2. To plunder ; to strip of goods. 3. To corrupt; to mar ; to make useless. (This is properly spill, from j-pillan, Saxon.) Though Johnson gives two etymologies from Junius, for his verb, yet he takes his noun in all its explanations — " Plunder, robbery, and corruption," from the Latin spolium. Mr. Tooke considers the Latin spolium to be itself from the Anglo-Saxon j-pillan, C c 2 196 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION privare, consumere, and the English Spoil, to be the past participle of the same word. " To spill or spoil, (Skinner also says,) ab Anglo-Saxon j-pillan, consumere, viti- are, corrumpere." SPOT, > *(T.) The past participle of the verb To spit. Anglo-Saxon j-pittan. SPOUT, y Spot, is the matter spiiten, spate, or spitted ; and Spout is the place whence it was spitten or spate. Spot, n.s. [spette, Danish; spotte, Flemish.) 1. A blot; a mark made by discoloration. To Spot, to mark with discolorations ; to maculate. Spout, n. s. (from spuyt, Dutch.) \. A pipe, or mouth of a pipe or vessel, out of which any thing is poured. " She gasping to begin some speech ; her eyes Became two spouts" Shakspeake's Winter's Tale, (Act III. sc. iii.) SPROUT, > Anglo«Saxon (T.) Spjioce, Sppaut. Sprout is the past participle of SPURT, S j-pnitan, rpnytan, germinare, to shoot out, to cast forth. Spurt is the same word, by a customary metathesis. Johnson derives Sprout, the verb, from the Anglo-Saxon j-pnyttan, and the Dutch spruyten ; but Spirt he derives from sprwyten, Dutch, to shoot up, (with Skinner,) and from spritta, Swedish, to fly out, (with Lye.) Certainly, (says Tooke,) these words do not at first sight appear to have the least connection with each other. And till the clue is fur- nished, you may perhaps wonder why I have thus assembled them together. The verb j-tigan, ascendere, to which we owe these w r ords, is at present lost, but has not been long lost. Instances may be found of the use of it from the time of Edward III. dow r n even to the end of the fifteenth century. — Tooke then produces sixteen examples, in which this verb is used, from his old MS. translation of the New Testament; but it should seem that even then it w r as going out of use, for in Wiclif it is only used in four of them. Johnson appears to have found the verb To Sty, in Spenser, though he does not produce the passage : he explains it, " to soar ; to ascend." He has also To Sty, v. a. (from the noun) " to shut up in a sty ;" i. e. " A cabbin to keep hogs STAGE, STAG, STACK, STALK, STAY, STAIRS, STORY, STYE, STILE, STIRRUP, ETAGE. r OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 197 in ; or, A place of bestial debauchery." Caliban, however, was shut up in neither : — «« Here you sty me In this hard rock, while you do keep from me The rest of th' island " Shakspearv.'s Tempest, Act I. sc. ii. Stage. (T.) 1. We apply Stage to any elevated place, where comedians or moun- tebanks, or any other performers, exhibit ; and to many other scaffoldings or buildings raised for many other purposes. 2. We apply Stage to corporeal progress. As, At this stage Of my journey ; — (observe, that travelling was formerly termed " steiging" to Jerusalem, or any other place ;) — At this stage of the business ; — At this stage of my life. 3. We apply Stage to degrees of mental advancement in or towards any know- ledge, talent, or excellence. 4. And besides the above manners of applying this word Stage, our ancestors likewise employed it where the French still continue to use it ; for their word Estage, Etage, is merely our English word Stage ; though, instead of it, upon this occasion, we now use Story. Ascent, (real or metaphorical,) is always conveyed by the word Stage. — Stage, n. s. (estage, French. \ 1. A floor raised to view, on which any show is exhibited. 2. The theatre ; the place of scenick entertainments. 3. Any place where any thing is publicly transacted or performed. 4. A place in which rest is taken on a journey ; as much of a journey as is per- formed without intermission. [Statio, Latin.) 5. A single step of gradual progress. Stage — Skinner — " Mallem ab A. S. Stigan, ascendere." Stag, (T.) is the same past participle ; and the name is well applied to the ani- mal that bears it. His raised and lofty head being the most striking circumstance at first sight of him. Stag, n. s. (Of this word I find no derivation.) The male red deer ; the male of the hind. Stack, (T.) is the same past participle — (Jc for g,) — applied to hay, wood, raised. Stack, n. s. [stacca, Italian.) 1. A large quantity of hay, corn, or wood, heaped up regularly together. 2. A number of chimnies or funnels standing together. 198 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Stalk, (T.) applied by us at present only to plants, I believe to be the same participle. Stalk is by Skinner deduced from the Teutonic stiel; and that again from j-tigan, ascendere. Johnson derives the verb To Stalk, from j-talcan, Saxon ; and the noun from the verb, in its first meaning ; viz. 1. High, proud, wide, and stately step. — And the 2. (Stele, Dutch.) The stem on which flowers or fruits grow. Stay, (T.) is the same past participle of j-tugan, without either g or k, and means merely Steig, raised, high, lofty. " Rochis full stay," in Douglas, are very high rocks. A " stay brae," is a high bank. This word is not in Johnson. Stair, (T.) means merely an ascender. Chaucer wrote it Steyer; and the verb To steig, he wrote to stey. Stair, n. s. (j-taegen, Saxon ; steghe, Dutch.) Steps by which we ascend from the lower part of a building to the upper. Stair was anciently used for the whole order of steps ; but stair now, if it be used at all, signifies, as in Milton, only one flight of steps : — " Satan now on the lower stair, That scal'd by steps of gold to heav'n gate, Looks down with wonder at the sudden view Of all this world " Milton. Story, (T.) is merely Stagery, Stayery, Stawry, or Story; i. e. A set of Stairs. Story, n. s. (j-toen, Saxon ; storie, Dutch ; storia, Italian.) 1 . History ; account of things past, &c. 2. Small tale, &c. 3. An idle or trifling tale, &c. 4. (Stop, place, Saxon.) A floor ; a flight of rooms. He tells us, that " to story" is from the noun ; and that it means — 1. To tell in history ; to relate. 2. To range one under another. Sty, (T.) on the eye. Skinner says well — " Tumor palpebrse phlegmonodes, vel ab A. S. rrigan, ascendere ; quia sc. continuo crescit, nisi per medicamenta co- hibeatur." This word, so applied, was not in the first folio. It was inserted subsequently, thus : — 3. {I know not how derived.) A humour in the eye lid. Sty, (T.) for hogs, in the Anglo-Saxon f trige, denotes a raised pen for those filthy animals, who even with that advantage can scarcely be kept in tolerable cleanliness. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 199 We have already seen Johnson's explanations of this word. A Stile, (T.) in Anglo-Saxon jtigel, the diminutive of sty. Stile, n. s. (ftigele, from j-ci^an, Saxon, to climb.) 1. A set of steps to pass from one enclosure to another. 2. (Stile, French.) A pin to cast the shadow in a sun dial. This should rather be written Style. As both Skinner and Lye present the first etymology to Johnson, he has not re- fused it ; but this is the only mention of the Anglo-Saxon j-rijau to be found in Johnson, except in the next word. Stirrup, (T.) in Anglo-Saxon j-tij-nap. In the derivation of this word our etymologists (with the exception of Minshew) could not avoid concurrence. It is a mounting rope ; a rope by which to mount. Notwithstanding Johnson's concurrence in this etymology, he immediately ex- plains the word to mean, — " An iron hoop suspended by a strap, in which the horseman sets his foot when he mounts or rides." Skinner tells him — " Fumis ascensorius," but he prefers the example of Junius. STERN, STORE, STOUR, STURT, START, STIR, STURDY, ETOURDI. • Stern, (T.) Steren, Ster'n, i. e. Stirred, the past participle of the verb j-tinan, to stir, to steer, to move. — To steer and to stir, the same word now differently written and applied. To Steer, v. a. (j-teonan, j-trynan, Saxon ; slieren, Dutch.) To di- rect ; to guide in a passage. To Stir, v. a. (j-tinian, Saxon ; slooren, Dutch.) To move, &c. But though Stir, the verb, is from the Anglo-Saxon and the Dutch, Stir, the noun, is from the Runick stur ; ystwrf, Welsh. A stern (T.) countenance is a moved countenance, moved by some passion. Johnson, after Junius, says, — " ftynn, Saxon." Skinner — " fort, a verbo, to stare." The (T.) Stern of a ship, — the moved part of a ship, or that part by which the ship is moved. Johnson, after Junius, says, — " Steop, Saxon, of the same original with steer." And explains it, — 1. The hind part of a ship, where the rudder is placed. 2. Post of management; direction. 3. The hinder part of any thing. A Store, (T.) is the collective term for any quantity or number of things stirred or moved into some one place together. Store, n. s. (sldr, in old Swedish and Runick, is much, and is prefixed to other words to intend their signification ; stor, Danish ; sloor, Islandick, is great. The 200 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Teutonick dialects nearer to English seem not to have retained this word.) — And he then gives four meanings in his usual manner. Stour, (T.) (Anglo-Saxon ytujx,) formerly in much use, means moved, stirred; and was applied equally to dust, to water, and to men ; all of them things easily moved. Stour, n. s. (stur, Runick, a battle ; j-teopan, Saxon, to disturb.) Assault, incur- sion, tumult. Obsolete. Sturt, (T.) is formed in the usual manner from Stour, Stup. Stur-ed, Stur'd, Sturt. This word is not in Johnson, nor Skinner, nor Junius. A start and a stir, (says Tooke,) require neither instance nor explanation. Start, the noun, Johnson says, is from Start, the verb; and the verb from startzen, German. And this verb he thus explains : — 1 . To feel a sudden and involuntary twitch or motion of the animal frame, on the apprehension of danger. And six more. Junius imagines Start to be derived from the Dutch steert, cauda ; and the Eng* lish verb To start, and the Dutch steerten, mean nothing else " quam caudam ob- vertere iis, quibuscum nobis res est." By (T.) the accustomed addition of ig or y, to stour or stur, we have also the adjective sturdy, and the French Estourdi, Etourdi. Sturdy, " Mer. Casaubonus ceuset desumptum ex the Anglo-Saxon Scriynan, gignere, procreare, acquirere. YESTER-DAY. J Chaucer writes streen and strene ; Douglas, strynd, from stryned, stryn'd. The participle Get, i. e. Begotten, is used in the same manner, as a substantive, and also as a participle for Begotten. A cock's stride is corruptly so pronounced, instead of a cock's strynd. — Skinner says, — " A cock's stride, vel ut melius in agro Line, efferunt, a cock's strine, — ab A. S. rrrtinb, stirps, — Strjiynan, gignere." Johnson has not the word, written in either way. Dd2 204 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Strain, n. s. (from the verb.) 1. An injury by too much violence. 2. (Stnenge, Saxon.) Race, generation, descent, and six other explanations. To Strain, v. a. (estreindre, French.) 1. To squeeze through something. Strain, the noun, is derived by Skinner from the same Anglo-Saxon j-cninb, stirps — j-tjiynan, gignere. Strain, Streen, Strene, Strynd, are all traced by Lye to the same origin. Yesterday, (T.) is in the Anglo-Saxon Irej-trnan Daej. Irej-trnan is the past tense and past participle of Erej-tninan, to acquire, to get, to obtain. But a day is not gotten or obtained, till it is passed ; therefore Lrerrjien Daeg is equivalent to the passed day. Gestran, Yestran, Yestern, Yester. STUM, which Johnson, with Lye, supposes to be contracted from mustum, Tooke says, is the past tense and past participle of Scyman, fumare, to steam, and means fumigated, steamed. STUNT, (T.) i. e. stopped in the growth, the past participle of Stintan, to stop. Johnson has nothing to offer but the Islandic, stunta. SWOOP, 7 (T.) The Anglo-Saxon verb is j-jnpan, to sweep; and Swoop and Swop SWOP. 3 are its regular past participle. Swoop has nothing to do with the descent of a bird, or with any descent or ascent ; but it may be applied to either ; for it has to do with a body in motion, either ascending, descending, or horizontal ; and with a body removing all obstacles in its passage. Swoop, n. s. (from the verb.') Fall of a bird of prey upon his quarry. His example is the passage already quoted under the word Chick. The verb Johnson supposes to be formed from the sound. A swop (T.) between two persons, is where, by consent of the parties, with- out any delay, any reckoning, or counting, or other adjustment of proportion, something is swept off at once by each of them. To Swop, v. a. (of uncertain derivation.) To change ; to exchange one thing for another. A low word. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 205 T. TAG, (T.) as well as Tight, is the past participle of Tian, vincire, to tie. Tag, n. s. (tag, Islandick, the point of a lace.) 1. A point of metal put to the end of a string. (Without authority.) 2. Any thing paltry and mean. 3. A young sheep. Tight, (T.) is Tied, T€d, Tight. Tight, adj. (Ticht, Dutch.) 1. Tense; close; not loose. 2. Free from fluttering rags ; less than neat. TALE, } (T.) A tale, the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb tellan, some* RE-TAIL, > thing told. To sell by tale, i. e. by numeration, not by weight or mea- sure, but by the number told. — Retail, told over again. Tale, n. s. (tale, from tellan, to tell, Saxon.) 1. A narrative ; a story. Commonly a slight or petty account of some trifling or fabulous incident ; as a tale of a tub. 2. Oral relation. 3. (Talan, to count, Saxon.) Number reckoned. 4. Reckoning ; numeral account. 5. Information ; disclosure of any thing secret. To Retail, v. a. {Retailler, French.) 1. To sell in small quantities, in consequence of selling at second hand. Observe his only example : — •* All encouragement should be given to artificers; and those, who make, should also vend and retail their commodities." LoeKE. Retail, n.s. (from the verb.) Sale by small quantities, &c. Junius appears to have had some suspicion that tellan, narrare, and tellan, numerate, were the same word : and though Skinner does not, yet he avoids the absurdity of classing them as one word, and then assigning separate etymologies to them. In Beaumont and Fletcher, (Weber's edit. Vol. I. p. 45 :) — " Being a merchant venturer as he is, and there such excellent trading, methinks, ere this he might have made return by tale or wholesale." This passage the editor thus accommodatingly, if not luminously, expounds : — " Tale seems to be used here for retail. If this is not allowed, we must read Sale." 206 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Tilth, (T.) is the third person indicative, and the rest are the past par- ticiple of the Anglo-Saxon verb tihan, To lift up, To till. To till the ground is to raise it, to turn it up. Tall, and the French word taille, (as applied to stature,) i. e. raised, lifted up. Toll, and the French word taille, (as applied to goods,) is a part lifted off, or taken away. To raise taxes, to levy taxes — Lever des impots — &c. are common expressions. Tall, adj. (tdl, Welsh.) 1. High in stature. 2. High; lofty. 3. Sturdy; lusty. Toll, n. s. (This word seems derived from tollo, Latin ; toll, Saxon ; tol, Dutch ; told, Danish ; toll, Welsh ; taille, French.) An excise of goods ; a seizure of some for permission of the rest. Toll (T.) of a bell, is its being lifted up, which causes that sound which we call its toll. To Toll, Johnson says, is from the noun ; but his third explanation, — " To sound as a single bell," — he introduces with a declaration, that he knows not whence de- rived. Yet immediately after we find — To Toll, v. a. [tollo, Latin.) 1 . To ring a bell. He appears to have had an idea that there is so wide a difference between " sounding as a single bell," and " ringing a bell," that no one word can be applied to both. Tool, (T.) is (some instrument, any instrument) lifted up, or taken up, to work with. Tool, n. s. (tol, tool, Saxon.) 1. Any instrument of manual operation. 2. A hireling ; a wretch who acts at the command of another. " Verum autem et ultimum etymon (says Skinner,) turn nostri tool, turn A. S. fcole, est ab A. S. trihan." Toil, (T.) (for labour,) applied perhaps at first principally to having tilled (or lifted up) the earth ; afterwards to other sorts of labour. This verb was formerly written in English — Tuail, and Tueil. Toil, (for a snare,) is any thing lifted up, or raised, for the purpose of en- snaring any animal. As, a spider's web is a Toil, (something lifted up,) to catch flies ; springes and nets, Toils for other animals. — To Toil, v. n. (tihan, Saxon ; tuylen, Dutch.) To labour ; perhaps originally to labour in tillage. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 207 Toil, n. s. (from the verb.) 1. Labour ; fatigue. 2. (Toile, toiles, French; tela, Latin.) Any net or snare woven or meshed-. " She looks like sleep, As she would catch another Antony In her strong toil of grace." Shakspeare. Antony and Cleopatra. " Fantastiek honour, thou hast fram'd a toil Thyself, to make thy love thy virtue's spoil." Drtden. Tilly (T.) of a boat or waggon. A tilt is well said of a vessel that is raised up; but we ought to say To till, and not to tilt a vessel. Tilt, the noun, Johnson derives from the Saxon tylo, and Tilt, the verb, from the noun ; but at the fourth meaning of this same verb he offers a new etymology, tillen, Dutch. Tilth, (T ) Any operation which lilleth, i. e. lifteth or turneth up, or raiseth up the earth. Johnson derives this from Till, and Till from tyhan, Saxon, " to cultivate ; to husband ; commonly used of the husbandry of the plough." To TARRE. To Tar, "to teaze, to provoke, (T«fa77«,)" is placed by Johnson as the second meaning of the verb To Tar, from the noun, Tar, " liquid pitch." In a note on Hamlet, (Reed, Vol. XVIII. p. 137,) Johnson says, " To provoke any animal to rage, is to tarre him. The word is said to come from the Greek Tafaaffu." In a note on King John, (Vol. X. p. 468,) Mr. Steevens says, " To stimulate, to set him on. Supposed to be derived from ratafia, excito." Tooke produces two passages from his MS. Testament, in which the word is written terre; and it is so written in the same places in Wiclif. Typan, (T.) exacerbare, irritare, exasperare, To tar. And Tart is the past parti- ciple Tared, Tar'd, Tart. THACK, £ Thatch, n.s. (Sace, straw, Skinner, from Sac, a roof; in Islandick, THATCH, 3 thak, Mr. Lye.) Straw laid upon the top of a house to keep out the weather. To Thatch, v. a. (Saccian, Saxon.) To cover as with straw. Thacle, (T.) Thatch, (Anglo-Saxon Sac,) is the past tense and past participle of Secan, tegere. THAT, } That, (T.) (in the Anglo-Saxon Suet, i. e. Seab, Seat,) means taken, assumed, THE. > being merely the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb, Sean, Sejan, 208 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION ^lon, [thihan, G.,) ftic^an, Fijian ; suraere, assumere, accipere, to t/te, to get, to take, to assume. " 111 mote he the That caused me To make myself a frere." Sir Thomas More's Works, p. 4. It and that always refer to some thing or things, person or persons, taken, as- sumed, or spoken of before. It is a good action, i. e. The said (action) is a good action ; or That is a good action, i. e. The assumed (action) is a good action ; or, the action, received in discourse, is a good action. The (our article, as it is called,) is the imperative of the same verb $ean ; which may very well supply the place of the correspondent Anglo-Saxon article j-e ; which is the imperative of j-eon, videre ; for it answers the same purpose in discourse to say, See man, or Take man. For instance — " The man that hath not musick in himself,-—— Is fit for treasons, stratagems," &c. _ Or, " That man is fit for treasons," &c. Take man, (or see man,) taken man hath not musick, &c. Said man, or taken man, is fit for treasons, &c. That (call it article, or pronoun, or conjunction,) has always one meaning. " Thieves rise by night that they may cut men's throats." Thieves may cut men's throats ; (for) that (purpose) they rise by night. — Carrying Tooke's resolution a step farther, agreeably to his own explanation of the word That, we shall have — " Thieves may cut men's throats; (for) that, i. e. taken, assumed, (purpose) they rise by night." Junius and Mr. Tyrwhitt say, that To the means To thrive: and in support of this explanation the former produces, among others, the following from Chaucer's Romance of the Rose : — 44 Well evill mote they thrive and thee, And evill arived mote they be." R. R. 1067, (Speght, fo. 121, c. ii.) OB 1 THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 209 Mr. Tyrwhitt, speaking of the state in which the English language appears to have been in the time of Chaucer, says, — " The prepositive article se, soe, that, (which answered to the o, w, 7o, of the Greeks, in all its varieties of gender, case, and number,) had been long laid aside, and instead of it an indeclinable the was prefixed to all sorts of nouns in all cases, and in both numbers." In his Glossary Mr. Tyrwhitt writes thus : — " The, when prefixed to adjectives or adverbs, in the comparative degree, is generally to be considered as a corrup- tion of thy, which was commonly put by the Saxons for tham, the ablative case singular of the article that, used as a pronoun. — The merier, 716 — eu Icetius ; the more merry, 804, eo ketiores. Of the same construction are the phrases — Yet fare they the werse, 4348 ; — Yet fare I never the better, 7533. — When the is repeated with a second comparative, either adjective or adverb, the first the is to be under- stood in the sense of Latin quo. See v. 5955. Tlie more it brenneth, the more it hath desire — to consume every thing ;— quo magis — eo magis." The etymological discoveries of Home Tooke will rise in importance incalculably in the estimation of a reader of common understanding, when he finds such a man as Mr. Tyrwhitt write in this manner, and publish such notions for the instruction of the publick. THEFT, (T.) is Theved, Thev'd, Theft. THIEF, n. s. (thiubs, Gothick ; Seorj, Saxon ; die/, Dutch.) It was anciently written thieof, and so appeareth to have been of two syllables ; thie was wont to be taken for thrift, so that (" I beg attention to this so THAT,") thie of is he that TAKES of or from a man his thie ; that is, his thrift or means whereby he thrives. Thie of, then, means, etymologically, thrift of; and, according to the interpre- tation founded upon this etymology, those two harmless words, as they have hitherto been supposed, Thereof and Whereof, must lose " their character of qui- escence," and be branded with " the infamy of their connections :" so that, thereof is he that takes of or from a man his there, &c. &c. Thief, however, means — 1. One who takes what belongs to another. 2. An excrescence in the snuff of a candle. " Their burning lamps the storm ensuing show, Th' oil sparkles, thieves about the snuff do grow." May. A Candle means, " A light made of wax or tallow, surrounding a wick of flax or cotton." And — A Lamp means, " A light made with oil and a wick." Ee 210 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION That such is the meaning, — the primitive meaning,— of this latter word, the Lady in Comus shall testify : " O thievish night, Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end, In thy dark lanthorn, thus close up the stars That nature hung in heaven, and fill'd their lamps With everlasting oil, to give due light To the misled and lonely traveller." What will Mr. Stewart say to this ? — He, — whose poetical associations were so sorely rent in his unhappy researches after the meaning of the word Har- binger. But besides the Lady, Johnson produces a Philosopher to confirm his assertion that Lamp means " A light made with ozY;" and he — the Philosopher — says, " In lamp furnaces I used spirits of wine — instead of oil." Boyle. After this we are informed that Lamp also means — 2. Any kind of light, in poetical language, real or metaphorical. And " the light of life," and " Cynthia's silver lamp," are adduced as examples. Johnson, moreover, being saving of his thie, i. e. of " his thrift, or means whereby he thrived," produces the same passage from Comus as an instance that Lant- horn, which by the Lady is expressly denominated a dark one, means " A trans- parent case for a candle ! !" THICK, -\ For Thick, Johnson gives the Northern similar words, and truly says, THICKET, C that it means, 1. Not thin. And Thin, with equal truth, he says, means THIGH. 3 1. Not thick. Thicket, n. s. (^lccetu, Saxon.) A close knot or tuft of trees ; a close wood or copse. Thigh, n. s. (^eoh, Saxon ; thieo, Islandick ; die, Dutch.) The thigh includes all between the buttocks and the knee. Of Thicket, Skinner says, " A nom. Thick, q. d. A place thick set with trees or shrubs." Thick, (T.) Thicket, Thigh, are the past participle of Diccian, densare, con- densare. Thicket for thicked, i. e. with trees. Thigh (gh for ck) is sometimes in the Anglo-Saxon written Deoh, (for Deoc,) by change of the characteristick letter. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 211 THING, -\ Thing, n.s. (Sing, Saxon ; ding, Dutch.) THINK, y 1. Whatever is; not a person. THINKER. S " Do not you chide ; I have a thing tor you. You have a thing for me ! It is a common thing Ha ? ——To have a foolish wife." Shakspeare. 2. It is used in contempt. 3. It is used of persons in contempt, or sometimes with pity. 4. It is used by Shakspeare once in a sense of honour. Such is the whole of the information which we can obtain respecting this most important word from our great Lexicographer. To Think, v. n. pret. thought, (Jhank-gan, Gothick ; Sencean, Saxon ; dencken, Dutch.) 1. To have ideas; to compare terms or things; to reason; to cogitate; to perform any mental operation, whether of apprehension, judgment, or illation. 2. To judge; to conclude; to determine. 8. To doubt. To which of the mental operations enumerated by Johnson does the latter ex- planation apply ? Thinker, n. s. One who thinks in a certain manner. c Me Thinketh, It seems to me. 1 I Me Thought, It appeared to me. > These are (continues Johnson,) anomalous phrases of long continuance and great au- thority, but not easily reconciled to grammar. In Me thinketh, the verb, being of the third person, seems to be referred not to the thing* and is therefore either ac- tive, as signifying to cause to think ; or has the sense of seems ; me thinks, it seems to me. " Res, a thing, (says Tooke,) gives us Reor, i. e. I am thinged ; Vereor, I am strongly thinged; for ve in Latin composition means Valde, — i. e. Valide. — And Verus, i. e. strongly impressed upon the mind, is the contracted participle of Vereor. — Where we now say, / think, the ancient expression was, Me thinketh ; i. e. Me thingeth — It thingeth me. ** Where shall we sojourn till our coronation ? Where it thinks best unto your royal self." Richard III. p. 180. Ee 2 212 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION The terminating; k or g is the only difference, and that little enough, between Think and Thing. Is not that circumstance worth consideration here ? Perhaps you will find that the common vulgar pronunciation of Nothink instead of Nothing is not so very absurd as our contrary fashion makes it appear. Bishop Hooker so wrote it : — " Men's yeyes be obedient unto the Creatour, that they may se on think, and yet not another." A Declaration of Christe. By Johan Hooper, cap. viii. Mr. Locke speaks of things " which never came within the reach of our senses;" and yet I think it a plain inference from Mr. Locke's own reasonings, that there can be no such things. The passage is somewhat long, but too important to be omitted. " All * our simple ideas are adequate. Because, being nothing but the effects of certain powers in things, fitted and ordained by God to produce such sensations in us, they cannot but be correspondent and adequate to those powers : and we are sure they agree to the reality of things. For if sugar produce in us the ideas which we call whiteness and sweetness, we are sure there is a power in sugar to produce those ideas in our minds, or else they could not have been produced by it. And so each sensation answering the power that operates on any of our senses, the idea so produced is a real idea (and not a fiction of the mind, which has no power to produce any simple idea :) and cannot but be adequate, since it ought only to answer that power ; and so all simple ideas are adequate. It is true, the things pro- ducing in us these simple ideas are but few of them denominated by us, as if they were only the causes of them ; but as if those ideas were real beings in them. For though fire be called painful to the touch, whereby is signified the power of pro- ducing in us the idea of pain, yet it is denominated also light and hot ; as if light and heat were really something in the fire more than a power to excite those ideas m us ; and therefore are called qualities in or of the fire. But there being nothing, in truth, but powers to excite such ideas in us, I must in that sense be understood, when I speak of secondary t qualities, as being in things ; or of their ideas, as being the objects that excite them in us. Such ways of speaking, though accom- modated to the vulgar notions, without which one cannot be well understood, yet * Locke's Works, Vol. I. p. 224. t This is an unfortunate restriction. Mr. Locke's primary qualities are those which " convey themselves into the mind by more senses than one ;" secondary, those u which come into the mind by one sense only." There is no other difference. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 213 truly signify nothing but those powers which are in things to excite certain- sensa- tions or ideas in us ; since, were there no fit organs to receive the impressions fire makes on the sight and touch, nor a mind joined to those organs to receive the ideas of light and heat by those impressions from the fire or sun, there would yet be no more light or heat in the world, than there would be pain, if there were no sensible creature to feel it." Are we not thus led to a just understanding of the word Thing ? — that (sub- aud. aliquid) — which causes or produces sensation or idea. Every word, we have been told by Mr. Tooke, is a noun ; and a noun is the sim- ple or complex, the particular or general name or sign of one or more ideas. Lan- guage, then, cannot carry us beyond sensations or ideas ; whenever we attempt to advance farther, we inevitably talk nonsense. Simple and particular names will express simple and particular ideas ; complex and general names will express collections of simple and particular ideas ; but there is no necessity to presume a composition or combination of ideas. Mr. Locke constantly confounds these terms. What is the meaning of Mr. Locke's expression — " The reality of things" — Realitas rerum ? It is no more than the " Thingality of things." A real being — The reality of external objects — The reality of matter. All these are phrases of similar import, and, if used for the purpose of distinction, of equal impropriety ; inasmuch as all things, all beings, are and must be REAL: ALL ex- ternal objects, all matter, are and must be real : that is, able to thing, or to cause sensations. " I am thing-ed!" echoes Mr. Stewart ; " whoever used such language before?" We must at present disregard Mr. Stewart. A thing is: — a cause of a sensation is. What mean we by this word is? What is the meaning of the verb to be? I believe Mr. Tooke was accustomed to illustrate his opinion upon this point by some such instances as the following. — But let all errors and imperfections and absurdities rest upon my own head. The rose is sweet. "\ /*" sweet. The grass is green. § \ green. The sound is harsh. \ That is, causes sensations, — / harsh. The fruit is sour. L A our. The road is rough, j £ rough. Perhaps, then, by the verb — To Be, — we mean no other than " To cause a sensa* 214 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION tion." — And " as the rigour of interpretative lexicography requires that the ex- planation and the word explained should be reciprocal," — let us try a few more instances, and substitute the explanation for the word explained. " Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet With charm of earliest birds." i. e. The breath of morn causes sensations — sweet. " To be contents his natural desire ; He asks no angel's wings, no seraph's fire." i. e. To cause sensations to himself contents, &c. f* Now conscience wakes despair That slumber'd ; wakes the bitter memory . Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse r i. e. Of what sensations he did cause to himself ; what he does, and what he must cause to himself. Non sum, qualis eram. — i. e. I cause not the same sensations that I did cause. " Thou art not holy to bely me so ; I am not mad ; this hair, I tear, is mine ; My name is Constance ; I was Geffrey's wife, Young Arthur is my son, and he is lost : I am not mad : — I would to Heaven I were ! — If I were mad, I should forget my son : Or madly think, a babe of clouts were he; I am not mad ; too well, too well I feel The different plague of each calamity." The reader (a personage to whom I never allude, without a lively recollection of Porson's ill-omened Si quis erit, — ) the reader will translate this passage for himself. THONG, } Where Johnson found " Thrang, Throng" which he gives as etymolo- THIN. 3 gies for Thong, I know not. Junius says, " Lancastrienses adhuc retinu- erunt suum Thwang, ex A. S. D]>ang, vel DJxmj." And Skinner — " Ab A. S. DJ^anj." OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 215 For Thin, Johnson gives from Skinner the Northern similar words. Thong, (T.) Thin, are the past participles of Th>ynan, Djnnan, decrescere, mium. Thong, (in the A. S. DJjonj, D^anj,) was still written Thwong, long after our language ceased to be called Anglo-Saxon. Thin, also, appears to have been written with a w. Thwong is used in Wiclif as well as in Tooke's MS. Testament. THOROUGH, prep. (The word Through extended into two syllables.) What, (says Tooke,) could possibly be expected from such an etymologist as this? He might with as much verisimilitude say, that Saiuala (Goth.) was the word Soul, extended into three syllables, or that Easw/aoo-ww was the word Alms extended into six. Through, prep. (Sunh, Saxon ; door, Dutch ; durch, German.) Thro\ contracted by barbarians from Through. — The barbarian cited is Dryden. But though in Johnson's opinion Through and Thorough differ in nothing but the number of syllables, they still do not mean exactly the same thing. Through, means " From end to end of." And Thorough, " By way of making passage or penetration." The (T.) English preposition Thorough, Thourough, Thorow, Through, or Thro\ is no other than the Gothic substantive Dauro, or the Teutonic substantive Thu- ruh ; and, like them, means door, gate, passage. Mr. Tooke places before the reader, at one view, the words employed to signify the same idea in those languages to which our own has the greatest affinity. THOUGH. (T.) Tho\ Though, Thah, (or as our country folks more purely pro- nounce it, Thaf, Thauf, Thof,) is the imperative Daj: or Dapg, of the Anglo- Saxon verb Dapan or Dap^an, to allow, permit, grant, yield, assent ; and Dapj becomes Thah, Though, Thoug, (and Thoch, as G. Douglas and other Scotch authors write it.) Tho', adv. (Sonne, Saxon.) i^V* or the 1. Then. Spenser. 2. Tho\ contracted for though. Though, conjunction, CSeah, Saxon ; thauh, Gothick.) ^**S|£lF0R^J> x 1. Notwithstanding that ; although. Does Johnson mean, that when Tluough is contracted into Tho\ it becomes an adverb, and loses its origin from Deah, and acquires one from Donne ? If not, what does he mean ? TILL, (T.) is a word compounded of to and while ; i. e. Time. It is not unusual with the common people, and some antient authors, to use while alone as a preposition ; that is, to leave out to, and say, I will stay while evening, instead of Till evening, 216 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION or To while evening. That is, I will stay time evening, — instead of To Time evening. In Gifford's edition of Massinger, Vol. II. p. 414, — " You have waked him ; softly, gracious madam, While we are unknown ; and then consult at leisure." [Exeunt.] Upon this plain passage we have the following sagacious note : " While— i. e. Until; a very common acceptation of the word in our old. writers." Now though it is very true, that while is frequently used in our old writers, (as Tooke has well explained,) without to or unto ; yet in this passage I believe it to be equally true, that the insertion of to or unto— that is, the use of till or until, — would render the passage complete nonsense. In the same work, Vol. IV. p. 476, — " Cleanthes, if you want money, to morrow use me ; I'll trust you while your father's dead." i. e. Until your father be dead. It is as clear, that while is used here for till, i. e. to while, as that in the former passage it is not. In Reed's Shakspeare, (Vol. V. p. 395,)— " He shall conceal it, Whiles you are willing it shall come to note." Whiles, says Johnson, is until. This word is still so used in the northern coun- tries. It is, I think, used in this sense in the preface to the Accidence. In his Dictionary, however, he writes — Until, adv. I. To the time that. 2. To the place that. And, Until, prep. To. Used of time. The other use is obsolete. And, While, Whiles, Whilst, adv. (Jtyile, Saxon. Whiles is now out of use.) 1. Dur- ing the time that. 2. As long as. 3. At the same time that. A While, (says Tooke,) is a time. Whil-es ; time, that or which. Whilst is a corruption ; it should be written as formerly, Whiles. See As. To TIRE, v. a. (tynian, Saxon.) 1. To fatigue ; to make weary; to harass; to wear out with labour or tedious- ness. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 217 So says Johnson in his Dictionary ; but as a commentator on Shakspeare he writes otherwise. (Reed, Vol. XIV. p. 23.) " Like an emptie eagle, Tyre on the flesh of me, and of my sonue." Fo. 149. ** To Tire, is to fasten, to fix the talons, from the French tirer." Johnson. We must attend likewise to his coadjutors for a moment. " To tire is to peck. So, in Decker's Match me in London : *' The vulture tires Upon the eagle's heart." Steevens. In Timon of Athens, (fo. 89,) Reed, Vol. XIX. p. 116,— '* Upon that were my thoughts tyring when wee encountred." " A hawk, I think, is said to lire, when she amuses herself with pecking a phea- sant's wing, or any thing that puts her in mind of prey. To tire upon a thing if, therefore, to be idly employed upon it." Johnson. " I believe Dr. Johnson is mistaken. Tiring means here, I think, fixed, fastened^ as the hawk fastens its beak eagerly on its prey. So, in our author's Venus and Adonis : *' Like as an empty eagle, sharp by fast, Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh and bone." Ma lone. i " Dr. Johnson's explanation, I believe, is right. Thus, in Winter's Tale, Anti- gonus is said to be woman-fo'r'tf, i. e. pecked by a woman, as we now say, with a similar allusion, hen-pecked." Steevens. Commeutator-pecked we are, at all events. There is a certain past participle, (which my regard for the delicacy of Mr. Stewart forbids me to mention,) derived by Tooke from the Anglo-Saxon verb Tyjian, to feed upon. And he quotes the very lines from Venus and Adonis which Mr. Malone has also quoted. The thoughts of the Lord, the trencher friend of Timon, instead of being idly employed, as Johnson imagines, were most anxiously employed ; were feeding upon a bait, which (as he suspected) Timon had thrown before him. A mere reference to Lye's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary would have enabled Mr. Steevens to put an end to the idle controversy between Malone and Johnson. F f '218 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION The editor of Beaumont and Fletcher repeats, " To tire means to peck at ; the phrases are again from falconry ;" and that he should do so is nothing strange. The wonder is, that Mr. Steevens should not think it necessary to search for the cause of the application of the term to falconry ; which he would easily have found in the real meaning of the word. Lye — " Tinan, Tyjian, Tyruan, Tynijan, Tynjuan, to tear. Mordere, ureie, lacessere, vexare, exasperare, exacerbare, irritare, irridere." TO. (T.) The preposition To, (in Dutch, toe and tot, a little nearer to the original,) is the Gothic substantive, Taui or Tauhts, i. e. act, effect, result, consummation. Which Gothic substantive is indeed itself no other than the past participle Tauid or Tauids, of the verb Tauyan, agere. And what is done, is terminated, ended, finished. In the Teutonick this verb is written Tuan or Tuon, whence the modern Ger- man Thun, and its preposition (varying like its verb) tu. In the Anglo-Saxon verb is Teogan, and the preposition To. After this derivation, it will not appear in the least mysterious or wonderful that we should, in a peculiar manner, in English, prefix this same word to to the infi- nitive of our verbs. For the verbs, in English, not being distinguished, as in other languages, by a peculiar termination, and it being sometimes impossible to distinguish them by their place, when the old termination of the Anglo-Saxon verbs was dropped, this word to, (i. e. act,} became necessary to be prefixed, in order to distinguish them from nouns, and to invest them with the verbal charac- ter : for there is no difference between the noun Love, and the verb To love, but what must be comprized in the prefix to. The infinitive, therefore, appears plainly to be what the Stoicks called it, the very verb itself; pure and uncompounded with the various accidents of mood, of number, of gender, of person, and (in English) of tense ; which accidents are, in some languages, joined to the verb by variety of termination ; and in some by an additional word signifying the added circumstance. There is one mistake from which this prefix to ought to have rescued our Eng- lish Grammarians ; they should not have repeated the error of insisting that the infinitive was a mere noun; since it was found necessary in English to add another word, (viz.) to, merely to distinguish the infinitive from the noun, after the infinitive had lost that distinguishing termination which it had formerly. There are certainly other parts of the English verb, undistinguished from the noun by termination ; and to them also, {and to those parts only which have not a distinguishing termination,) as well as to the infinitive, is this distinguishing sign equally necessary, and equally prefixed* Do (the auxiliary verb, as it has been OF THE DICTIONARY OF Dtt. JOHNSON. 219 called,) is derived from the same root, and is indeed the same word as To. The difference between a t and a d is so very small, that an etymologist knows by the practice of languages, and an anatomist by the reason of that practice, that in the derivation of words it is scarce worth regarding. And for the same reason that to is put before the infinitive, do used formerly to be put before such other parts of the verb, which likewise were not distinguished from the noun by termination. As we still say, I do love, instead of I love; and I doed or did love, instead of I loved. But it is worth our while to observe, that if a distinguishing termination is used, then the distinguishing do or did must be omitted, the termination fulfil- ling its office. And therefore we never find I DID loved, or He doth loveth. But I did love, He doth love. It is not, indeed, an approved practice at present to use do before those parts of the verb, they being now by custom sufficiently distinguished by their place; and therefore the redundancy is now avoided, and do is considered, in that case, as unnecessary and expletive. However, it is still used, and is the common practice, and should be used when- ever the distinguishing place is disturbed by interrogation, or by the insertion of a negation, or of some other words between the nominative case and the verb. As, — He does not love the truth. Does he love the truth ? He does at the same time love the truth. And if we chuse to avoid the use of this verbal sign, do, we must supply its place by a distinguishing termination to the verb. As, — He loveth not the truth. Loveth he the truth ? He at the same time loveth the truth. Or where the verb has not a distinguishing termination (as in plurals,) — They do not love the truth. Do they love the truth ? They do at the same time love the truth. Here, if we wish to avoid the verbal sign, we must remove the negative, or other intervening word or words from between the nominative case and the verb, and so restore the distinguishing place. As, — F f 2 220 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION They love not the truth. Love they the truth ? At the same time they love the truth. It is not, however, uncommon to say, They, at the same time, love the truth. — Where the intervening words (at the same time) are considered as merely paren- thetical, and the mind of the speaker still preserves the connection oi place between the nominative case and the verb. And thus we see that, though we cannot, as *Mr. Tyrwhitt truly says, account for the use of this verbal sign from any analogy, to other languages, yet there is no caprice in these methods of employing to and do, so differently from the prac- tice of other languages ; but that they arise from the peculiar method which the English language has taken to arrive at the same necessary end, which other languages attain by distinguishing termination. — Mr. Tooke, also, is persuaded, that the correspondent Latin preposition ad, is merely the past participle of agere ; which past participle is likewise a Latin sub- stantive. — After perusing these remarks upon the word to (i. e. act,) it may be worth the trouble of the reader to refer to the word Thing. TOOTH, n. s. plural teeth, (to^, Saxon ; taud, Dutch.) Tooth, (T.) (Goth. Tauyith.) That which tuggeth; the third person singular of the indicative of Tauyan, Teogan, to tug. TOWN, ~\ (T.) Are but one word, with one meaning ; viz. inclosed, encompassed, TUN, > shut in; and they only differ (besides their spelling) in their modern dif- TEN, 5 ferent application and subaudition. It is the past tense and therefore past participle (ton, tone, tun, tyne, tene,) of the Anglo-Saxon verb Tynan, to in- close, to encompass, to tyne. The modern subaudition, when we use the word Town, is restricted to — any number of houses inclosed together. Formerly the English subaudition embraced — Any inclosure, any quantity of land, &c. inclosed. A Tun (tunne) and its diminutive Tunnel, (tsenel, tenel,) is the same participle with the same meaning ; though now usually applied to an inclosure for fluids. The number of fingers is still the utmost extent of numeration. The hands, doubled, closed, or shut in, include and conclude all number ; and might well, therefore, be denominated Tyn, or Ten. For therein you have closed all nume- ration : and if you want more, you must begin again — ten and one, ten and two, &c to twain tens ; when you again recommence twain-tens and one, &c. — * Essay on the Language, &c. of Chaucer, n. 37. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 221 Town, n. s. (tun, Saxon ; tuyn, Dutch ; from cinan, Saxon, to shut.) 1. Any walled collection of houses. Junius precedes Johnson in this derivation from the Anglo-Saxon Tman. Skinner says, " To tyne, adhuc pro sepire quibusdara Anglise partibus usur- patur, si Verstegano fides sit." Tun, n.s. (cunne, Saxon; tonne, Dutch; tonne, tonneau, French.) 1. A large cask. And six other meanings. Skinner says, — " Omnia a Lat. Tina;" but Tina is itself from Tynan, in Tooke's opinion. Ten, adj. (tyn, Saxon ; tien, Dutch.) The decimal number, pan, fidem dare, to pledge one's faith, to plight one's troth. — The French Treve (formerly written Tresves,) is the same word. Truce, n. 8. (truga, low Latin ; tregua, Italian ; truie, old French.) 1. A temporary peace ; a cessation of hostilities. TRULL, (T.) in Anglo-Saxon Dypel, Dynl, is the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Dyplian, perforare. And as Dynhan, or Diplian, by a very common trans- position of the r, is in English Thrill ; so the regular past participle of Dyplian. viz. Dynl or Dupl, is become the English Throll, Thrul, or Trull. Johnson, after Lye, derives Thrill and Drill from the Anglo-Saxon Dyplian ; but Trull from the Italian trulla. w. WANE, "\To Wane, v. n. (]?anian, to grow less, Saxon.) WAN, /Wane, n. s. (from the verb.) 1. Decrease of the moon. 2. Decline, dimi- WAND, /" nution ; declension. WANT, V Wan, adj. (J?ann, Saxon ; gwan, weakly, Welsh.) Pale as with sickness ; GAUNT. J languid of look. " Sad to view his visage pale and wane Who erst in flowers of freshest youth was clad." Fa. Queen. Wand, n. 8. (vaand, Danish.) 1 . A small stick, or twig ; a long rod. 3. A charming rod. To Want, v. a. (];ana, Saxon.) For the noun Want, he does not even refer to the verb. Gaunt, adj. (as if gewant, from je^aman, to lessen, Saxon.) Thin ; slender ; lean ; meagre. For his etymology of Wane and Gaunt, Johnson is indebted to Skinner. According to Tooke, all these words are the past participle of lUanian, To wane, to decrease, to fall away ; and mean decreased, or fallen away. The moon OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 223 in the wane is the moon in a decreased state. Shelton says, " The waters were wan;" i. e. decreased. Want, is Waned, Wan'd, Want. Gaunt, is Gewaned, Gewand, Gewant, G'want, Gaunt. WAKE, >To Wake, v. a. (>eccian, Saxon; weeken, Dutch.) WATCH, 3 1. To rouse from sleep. Wake, n. 8. (from the verb.) 1. The feast of the dedication of the Church, formerly kept by watching all night. So consistent are Johnson's explanations of the verb and of the noun, — which noun, according to him, is from the verb. And if Wake, the noun, is from Wake the verb, why is not Watch, the noun, from Watch, the verb? Watch, n.s. (}>8ecce, Saxon.) 1. Forbearance of sleep, &c. To Watch, v. n. Qaccian, Saxon.) 1. Not to sleep ; to wake, &c. Junius — " Wake, vigilare ; Goth, wakan; A. S. J-acian, )acijan. — Watch, vigilia, (see Wake, vigilare.") Skinner is to the same purport ; and Tooke says, " that though accounted sub- stantives in construction, they are merely the past participles of the verb UJecan, Uleccean ; vigilare, excitare, suscitare, expergisci, solicitare." WALL, n. s. (wal, Welsh ; vallum, Latin ; >all, Saxon ; walle, Dutch.) 1. A series of brick or stone, or other materials carried upwards, and cemented with mortar ; the side of a building. Skinner derives the Anglo-Saxon )>all from the Latin vallum ; but " Vallum it- self, (says Tooke,) is no other than our word Wal, with the addition of the article um, (or the Greek ov,) tacked to it." Wall(TJ) is the past participle of VUilan, connectere, copulare, to join together, to consolidate, to cement. And its meaning is singly, consolidated, cemented, or joined firmly together. The Anglo-Saxon Uleal is sometimes applied by them in the same manner in which alone we now use it ; viz. for any materials, brick, stone, mud, clay, wood, &c. consolidated, cemented, or fastened together. But it is also sometimes used by them for the cement itself, or that by which the ma- terials are connected. WARD, A syllable much used as an affix in composition, as heavenward, with ten- dency to heaven ; hitherward, this way ; from UJeanb, Saxon : it notes tendency to or from. To Ward, v. a. Qeajibian, Saxon ; waren, Dutch ; garder, French ) To Reward, v. a. (re and award, to give in return. Skinner.) To Award, v. a. (derived by Skinner, somewhat improbably, from J>eajib, Saxon, toward.) To adjudge, &c. — See Award. 224 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Ward, (T.) in the Anglo-Saxon UJanb, lUeanb, is the imperative of the verb IDanbian or UJeanbian, to look out ; or to direct the view. It is the same word as the French Garder, and so Chaucer uses it, where it is not called a prepo- sition. Our common English word To reward, which usually, by the help of other words in the sentence, conveys To recompence, to benefit, in return for some good action done, yet sometimes means very far from benefit ; as thus : — " Reward them after their doings ;" where it may convey the signification of punishment, for which its real import is equally well calculated ; for it is no other than Regarder, i. e. To look again ; i. e. To remember, to reconsider ; the natural consequence of which will be, either benefit or the contrary, according to the action or conduct which we review. — This syllable, as Johnson calls it, was formerly joined to the names of places, persons, and things, with much more freedom than is now customary. Romewarde, Troiewarde, Scotlondwarde, F launder sward, Thebeswarde, Bur- deuxwarde, with others, are found in Gower, Chaucer, and Douglas. Ward (T.) always retains one single meaning ; viz. Regard, Look at, See, Direct your view. WARM, ^ Warm, (T.) UJapm, UJeapm, and UJynmeb, i. e. Warmed, are the WARMTH, f past tense and past participle of the verb UJypman, calefacere. LUKEWARM, C The Anglo-Saxon UJlaec, tepidus, (which we corruptly pronounce LEWWARM. J and write Luke,) is the past participle of Ullacian, tepere, tepescere. And Lew, in the Anglo-Saxon ph}>, and pleo>, is the past participle of plijmn, J?leo):an, tepere, fovere. To say Luke or Lew warm, is merely saying warm-warm. Lukewarm, adj. (The original of this word is doubted. Warmth, in Saxon pleoS ; in old Frisick hlij ; in Dutch liewte ; whence probably our luke, to which warm may be added, to determine, by the first word, the force of the second ; as we say, boiling hot.) Skinner mentions the Anglo-Saxon verb UJIsecian, but prefers the Greek too. WATH, vox septentrionali Angliae propria, says Skinner, who is inclined to derive it, with Wade, from the Latin Vadum. Waih, (T.) i. e. where one wadeth, the third person singular of VUaban, To wade, is used commonly in Lincolnshire, and the North, for a Ford. To Wade, v. n. (from vadum, pronounced wadum.) WEIGHT, (T.) Anglo-Saxon UJeje^, the third person singular of the indicative of OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 225 UJwgan, to weigh. The weight of any thing is that which it weigheth. The ter^ minuting h is lost. For the verb, Johnson produces this Anglo-Saxon IDsejan ; but for the substan* tive merely " Uhht, Saxon." WELL, (T.) Is the past participle of Uhllan, ebullire, effluere, to spring out, to well. It means (any or some place) where water or other fluid hath sprung out or welled. Johnson gives merely the Saxou similar words from Skinner, without Skinner's addition, " Hsec ab A. S. Uleallan, erumpere, ebullire, scaturire." Junius also says, — " Sunt ab A.S. UJeallan, VUellan, Wyllan," &c. WELKIN,^ Welkin, n.s. (from ]?ealcan, to roll; pelcen, clouds, Saxon.) WHEEL, > 1. The visible regions of the air. Out of use except in poetry. WHILE. S *' Ne in all the welkin was no cloud." Chaucer. 2. Welkin eye is, I suppose, blue eye ; sky-coloured eye. Chaucer evidently distinguishes in the line quoted by Johnson himself, between " Cloud and Welkin ; he also, as Junius has observed, manifestly distinguishes between Welkin and Skie. * He let a oertaine winde ygo, That blew so hidously and hie, That it ne lefte not a skie In all the welkin long and brode.'' The House of Fame, lib. iii. v. 508. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Tyrwhitt says in his Glossary, " Welkin, n. Saxon* the sky." Welkin, (T.) is the present participle Uhlhgeno, or Ulealcynb, (i. e. volvens, quod volvit,) of the Anglo-Saxon verb Uhlligan, UJealcan, volvere, revolvere ; which is equally applicable to any eye of any colour, to what revolves or rolls over our heads, and to the waves of the sea. A welkin eye, then, is a rolling or wandering eye. Wheel, n.s.ihweol, Dutch; wiel, Dutch; hioel, Islandick,) 1, A circular body that turns round upon an axis. E. g. Carnality is the great wheel, &c. Wheel, (T.) quod volvitur. In Anglo-Saxon Jtyeogl, Jtyeohl, J?j>eoj>ol, (by transposition for UJeolij or Uleolj,) is the past participle of Uhlhjan. In Beaumont and Fletcher we read — *' Heaven's grace inwheel ye : And all good thoughts and prayers dwell about ye.** The Pilgrim, Act I. sc. ii. Gg 226 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION Upon this the editor informs us, that the older dramatists were fond of using or coining such extraordinary words as the present verb. While, n. s. (weil, German ; J?jule, Saxon.) Time, space of time. While, (T.) In the Anglo-Saxon Jtyile, (for Jtyiol,) is the same past participle. We say indifferently, — Walk a while, or, Take a turn. WENCH, according to Johnson, is from lUenche, Saxon, and means a young woman. And then, A young woman in contempt ; a strumpet. And then again, A strumpet. Junius says — " Ego quoque originem Angl. Wench olim petieram ex Augl. to Wince, Proterve repngnare et indomitorum equorum instar contrectantium manus aversari. Solent enim virguncularum plurimae vera quandoque reluctatione, scepius dissimulata, palpantes eludere ; haud aliter atque equi nondum satis edomiti, non sine maligna ssevi acutique clamoris minacia resilire solent ab agasonibus pectora eorum ventresque defricare parantibus." Wench, (T.) is the past participle of lUincian, To wink, i.e. One that is winked at ; and, by implication, who may be had by a nod or a wink. WEST, n. s. Qeyt, Saxon ; west, Dutch.) The region where the sun goes below the horizon at the equinoxes. Wesed, (T.) Wes'd, West, is the past participle of U)ej-an, macerare, to wet. WHARF, } (T.) Are the past participles of .pj^yjvpan, Ulynpan, ambire, projicere. WARP, 3 Wharf, n. s. (warf, Swedish ; werf, Dutch.) A perpendicular bank or mole, raised for the convenience of lading or emptying vessels. So says Johnson, with utter neglect of Junius. Wharf, " Moles ultra nativam ripae litorisve crepidinem in aquas projecta, ne naves littoralium vadorum brevibus prohibeantur appellere. Goth. Wairpan est projicere. A. S. UJeonpan, UJynpan, IDunpan." And from this Anglo-Saxon UJyjipan, Junius derives the verb To warp, and Lye the noun Warp, in cloth. Warp, n. s. ()>eanp, Saxon ; werp, Dutch.) That order of thread in a thing woven that crosses the woof. WHORE, "} Whore, says Skinner, " Verstegan optime deflectit ab A. S. pynan, _pyruan, HARLOT/ conducere." VARLETX Johnson is satisfied with J?ort, Saxon; hoere, Dutch. VALET, j Harlot, says Skinner, — " Doct. Th. H. scite, ut solet, dictum putat quasi Whorelet, vel Horelet." Johnson is in perplexity, whether it be from herlodes, Welsh, a girl ; horelet, a little whore ; or Arietta, the mother of William the Conqueror. Varlet and Valet, Johnson derives from the French. Whore, (T.) is the past participle of Syrian, to hire. The word means simply (subaud. some one, any one,) hired. It was formerly written without the w. OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 227 Ilarloty I believe with Dr. Th. Hickes, is merely Horelet, the diminutive of Hore. The ancient Variety and the modern Valet, for Hireling, I believe to be the same word as Harlot ; the aspirate only changed to v, and the r, by effeminate and slovenly speech, suppressed in the latter. — Mr. Tooke produces an example from Shakspeare of the use of Varlot and Whore as synonymous terms, and instances from different authors of the ancient application of Harlot, to men " merely as persons receiving wages or hire." WIDTH, (T.) Anglo-Saxon UJabe'S, is the third person singular of the Anglo-Saxon verb lUaban, procedere. Johnson has merely Width from Wide, and Wide from Uhbe, Saxon. WILD, ^T.) is Willed, WilVd, (or self-willed) in opposition to those (whether men or beasts,) who are tamed or subdued (by reason or otherwise) to the will of others or of society. For Wild, the adjective, (from jnlb, Saxon,) Johnson gives eleven explana- tions ; and Wild, the substantive, he derives from the adjective. WILE, j (T-) In the Anglo-Saxon Uhglian, Lre-Jujlian — Be-jnglian means to con- GUILE,r jure, to divine, consequently to practice cheat, imposture, and enchant- GU1LTA ment. GULL. 5 Wile, (from Julian,) and Guile, (from ge-Jnjhan,) is that by which any one is deceived. Guilt is L7e-)>igleb, Gulled, GuiVd, Guilt, the past participle of Ere-)>iglian. To find Guilt in any one, is to find that he has been guiled, or, as we now say, be- guiled ; as wicked means witched or bewitched. Gull is the past tense, (by the change of the characteristick letter,) and means merely a person guiled or beguiled. — In Ford's Works, by Weber, Vol. I. p. 128, we read—" That gull, that young old gull, is coming this way." " A gull," (as Mr. Steevens observes,) " is a bird remarkable for the poverty of its feathers." Metaphorically, the word was used for a blockhead, a person of a poor understanding, as well as a person good for nothing. Cotgrave explains Naquemouche, a fly-catcher, a gaping hoydon, an idle gull." Wile, n. 8. (jnle, Saxon ; wiel, Islandick.) A deceit, a fraud ; &c. Guile, n. 8. (guille, gille, old French, the same with Wile,) Deceitful, cunning, &c. Guilt, n. 8. {jilt, Saxon, originally signified the fine or mulct paid for an offence, and afterwards the offence itself.) Guilty, adj. (jiltij, Saxon, one condemned to pay a fine for an offence.) 1. Justly chargeable with a crime ; not innocent. Gg 2 228 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION To Gull, v. a. (gniller, to cheat, old French.) To trick, to cheat. Gull, n.s. (from the verb.) 1. (Mergus.) A sea bird. 2. A cheat, a fraud, a trick. 3. A stupid animal ; one easily cheated. WITCH, } Witch, n. s. (j-icce, Saxon.) A woman given to unlawful arts. WICKED. 3 Wicked, adj. (of this common word the etymology is very obscure : J?icca is an enchanter; j^aeccan, is to oppress ; Jnccian, to, curse; Jnceb, is crooked: all these, however, Skinner rejects for vitiatus, Latin. Perhaps it is a compound of wic, vile, bad, and head ; malum caput.) According to which latter wise supposition, (says Tooke,) a wicked action means a malum, caput action ; but nothing is too ridiculous for this undertaker. Witch is the past tense, used as a participle, of the Anglo-Saxon verb jaccian, incantare, veneficiis uti. And wicked, i. e. witched, (k for cA,) is the same past tense, with the participial termination ed. The word witch is therefore as appli- cable to men as to women. And that it was so applied, Tooke produces examples. WIZEN, (T.) the past participle of Uhj-ni-an, marcescere. This word, still common in our Northern counties, is not in Johnson, though in both Junius and Skinner ; and Skinner and Lye agree to derive it from VUeor- nian, (or lUirnian,) marcescere. WITH, } (T.) With is the imperative of UlrSan, to join. It is sometimes also WITHOUT. 3 the imperative of UJyjvSan, to be; and is then synonymous with By, the imperative of Beon, to be. Johnson has eighteen explanations of With, but shews no suspicion that these are two words of separate origin. He acknowledges that " it is not always easy to distinguish with and by, nor perhaps is any distinction always observed-." But, (T.) (as distinguished from Bdt,) and Without, have both exactly the same meaning, that is, in modern English, neither more nor less than Be-out. They were both originally used indifferently either as conjunctions or preposi- tions. In approved modern speech, Without is now entirely confined to the office of a preposition ; and But is generally, though not always, used as a conjunction. Without is nothing but the imperative Wyp/Sutan, from the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic verb Uleon^an, Wairthan ; which in the Anglo-Saxon and English lan- guages is yoked and incorporated with the verb Beon, esse. And this will account to Mr. Tyrwhitt for the remark which he has made, viz. that " By and With are often synonymous." Our old English authors frequently employed this verb UJeojvSan, instead of Be, in every part of the conjugation.— OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 229 And of this use Mr. Tooke produces instances from Gower, Chaucer, and Douglas. WREST,} To Wrest, v. a. (J-paej-tan, Saxon.) To twist, &c. WRIST. > Wrist, n. a. ()>yjirt, Saxon.) The joint by which the hand is joined to the arm. Johnson omits to notice Skinner's — " Vel a verbo to wrest." Wrest, (T.) is the past participle of the verb UJpyrtan, torquere, intorquere, to wrest. Wrist, which is the same past participle, was formerly called paub^ypj tr, i. e. Handwrist, or Handwrest. — WRIGHT, -\ Wright, n. s. (J-nita, UJyphta, Saxon.) A workman, &c. WORK, > Work, n. s. (UJeopc, Saxon ; werk, Dutch.) Toil, &c. WROUGHT. 3 Wrought, (Jmojb, Saxon. The pret. and part, passive, as it seems, of work ; as the Dutch werchen makes gerocht.^) This is all the information which Johnson supplies. Skinner tells him that Wright is from the verb UJeopcan, UJypcan, operari ; and under Work he directs him to the same verb. Wright, (T.) i. e. One that worketh. The third person of the indicative UJyp- can, operari. As, Shipwright, Carlwright, Wainwright, Wheelwright. One that worketh at ships, carts, waggons, wheels. R and H, the canine and the aspirate, are the two letters of the alphabet more subject to transposition than any other. So Work, — aliquid operalum, — which we retain as our substantive, is the regular past tense of UJypcan ; which, by the addition of the participial termination ed, became Worked, Work'd, Workt. This our ancestors, by substituting h for k or c, wrote UJojiht, and by transposition Ulnoht ; which we now write Wrought, and retain both as past tense and past participle of UJyjican, to work. For UJynce 1 © 1 our ancestors wrote UJypht ; and, by a transposition similar to the foregoing, Wryht, which with us becomes Wright As the eighth interpretation of the verb To work, Johnson gives— ■8. To act internally ; to operate as a purge, or other physick. " Work on, My medicine, work ! Thus credulous fools are caught." The reader will easily imagine the kind of purge or physick which had been administered, when he is apprized that the patient, — the credulous fool, — upon whom it was thus to work, was Othello; and the doctor — honest Iago. WRONG, (T.) is the past participle of the verb to wring, UJninjan, torquere. The 230 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION word answering to it in Italian is torto, the past participle of the verb torquere; whence the French also have tort. It means merely wrung, or wrested from the right or ordered line of conduct. Johnson says, that Wrong is UJnange, Saxon, and means — 1. An injury ; a designed or known detriment. 2. Errour ; not right. In Junius we may find—" Wring, A. S. UJnnrjan, B. Wringen.— Wrong— Belgis a Wringen, torquere, est Wrong, quod et contortionem et injuriam denotat." And Skinner derives Johnson's Wnan^e, from the same A. S. verb UJjunjan, torquere. WROTH, -v Wroth, adj. QnaS, Saxon ; vrod, Danish.) Angry. Out of use. WRATH, J Wrath, n. s. (jjpa^, Saxon ; wrede, Danish ; wreed, cruel, Dutch.) Anger ; WREATH/ fury; rage. RADDLE, f Wreath, n.s. Qneo^, Saxon.) WRY, m 1. Any thing curled or twisted. RIDDLE. ./Riddle, n. s. (naebdj-, Saxon, from Rsede, counsel, perhaps a trial of wit.) 1. An enigma. And, 3. A coarse or open sieve. Under the verb To riddle, Johnson says, " There is something of a whimsical analogy between the two senses of the word Riddle, but their derivations differ.'* And To riddle, he tells us, means To ww-riddle. Wry, adj. (from Writhe.) For this derivation Johnson is indebted to Skinner. Wrath, says Skinner, — " Mallem tamen deducere ab A. S. tUny^an, torquere, To^riy^an, distorquere ; quia sc. Irati vultus distorquent." Wreath, Skinner traces to the same verb. Tooke says, — All these words are the past tense, and, therefore, the past par- ticiple of UJru^an, torquere, to writhe. The two former are applied to the mind, and together with Wreath, (or Writhe,') speak for themselves. A raddle-hedge is a hedge of pleached or plash'd or twisted or wreathed twigs or boughs. I suppose Raddle to be so pronounced for VUna^el, the diminutive of Uljia^. So Riddle metaphorically. Wry I suppose to be so pronounced for UJnrS. — OF THE DICTIONARY OF DR. JOHNSON. 231 Y. YARD, GARDEN, GIRTH, GARTER, GIRDLE, GARLAND. y- Yard, n. s. (gyanb, Saxon.) 1. Inclosed ground adjoining to a house. 2. (gynb, Saxon.) A measure of three feet. 3. The support of the sails. Johnson, to the last, adheres to the absurdity of giving different etymologies to different explanations of the same word— I mean the same, according to his arrangement. For in the present instance it happens that there are two words, actually different in meaning and origin, as will shortly be seen. (See the next article.) Girth, Johnson, after Skinner, derives from Gird ; and Gird from the Anglo- Saxon Irynban. For Garden, Garter, Girdle, Garland, we have, in Johnson, Welsh, French, and Italian similar words. Yard, (T.) in the Anglo-Saxon Iryanb, is the past tense and past participle of the verb Erynban, cingere, to gird, to surround, to inclose ; and. it is therefore applicable to any inclosed place. Garden is the same past tense with the addition of the termination en. Girth is that which girdeth or gird'th any thing. Garter is a Girder : Girdle is in Anglo-Saxon the diminutive Erynbel. — Hence Tooke supposes the verb Eryjibelan, whose present participle would be Ijynbeland, encircling, surrounding; and he doubts not that Irynbelanb, Erypb- lanb, Ereplanb, has become our modern Garland. YARE, } Are (T.) the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Erypjan, ISynian, to YARD,> prepare ; formed by changing the characteristick letter y to a. — Yare means YARN, 3 prepared. A Yard, to mete, or to measure with, (before any certain extent was designated by the word,) was called a Met-jeanb or Mete-jynb, or Mete-yard ; i. e. some- thing prepared to mete or measure with. This was its general name : and that prepared extension might be formed of any proper materials. When it was of wood, it was formerly called a yard-wand, i. e. A wand prepared for that pur- pose. By common use, when we talk of mensuration, we now omit the preceding word Mete, and the subsequent wand, and say singly a yard. 232 A CRITICAL EXAMINATION, &C. ¥aren, Yar'n, Yarn, means prepared (subaud. cotton, silk, or wool.) Yare, is also the imperative of the same Anglo-Saxon verb. — In Nottinghamshire, yardwand is still in common use. Johnson manages to confound the imperative and past participle. Yare, adj. (geanj^e, Saxon.) Ready, dextrous, eager. " Yare, yare," (i. e. Prepare, prepare,) " good Iros, quick." Shaksp. Antony and Cleopatra. '* I do desire to learn ; and I hope, if you have occasion to use me for your turn, you shall find me yare." (i. e» prepared.) Shakspeare* Of Yarn he has no more to say than " Lreajin, Saxon ; spun wool, woollen thread." " Yare," says Skinner, " nobis Avidus, a Teut. &c. vel parum deflexo sensii ab A. S. Ireano, E-eanjje ; Chaucero etiam yare, paratus, promtus, verb. A. S. Erean- ]>ian, parare." " Yare" says Junius, " he let make his shippes. Instruebat classem ;" and he refers it to the Alamannic — Garuuen; afterwards observing, " A Saxonibus Lreap])ian et Lregeanjnan easdem fere acceptiones habent, quas Garuuen Alamannis." Of this Anglo-Saxon verb, however, Johnson makes no mention. YOKE, (T.) the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Ere-ican, addere, adjicere, augere, jungere, gives us the English verb, to ich, (now commonly written to eke.J By the change of the characteristic we have Geoc, which we now write Yok or Yoke. Yoke, n. &. (geoc, Saxon ; jock, Dutch ; jugum, Latin ; joug, French.) 1. The bandage placed on the neck of draught oxen. Such is Johnson's primitive meaning. — The Latin jug-um Tooke derives from the same Saxon verb. And Johnson perseveres in his habitual disregard of propriety in the selection cf examples to his different interpretations. THE END OF THE CRITICAL EXAMINATION. 233 LETTER THE SECOND. DEAR LAMBRICK, X he time necessarily occupied in the printing this work having allowed me sufficient opportunity to inspect the Dictionary of Dr. Johnson, edited by the Reverend Henry J. Todd, I will now, in discharge of my promise, proceed to inform you in what measure my anticipations of its merits are confirmed by my examination of the book. The attention you have bestowed upon the preceding pages, saves me from the ungracious task of occu- pying any considerable portion of your time. To this book, then, is prefixed an advertisement ! — which reduces me at once to the humiliating necessity of " playing the recanter." — .1 must fairly acknowledge, that I was in errour in attributing the former advertisement to an inhabitant of the press-room of the printer. The writer of that production and of this, must be one and the same person ; and this is so decorated with quotation, and fortified with reference, that I cannot forbear to ascribe it to the Hh 234 LETTER THE SECOND. learned Editor himself, — calm and collected in his own private study. Thus far, then, I admit the thoughtless hastiness of my judgment. Multa promissa, — says the old adage, — levant jidem ; and, on the other hand, it may with safety be affirmed, that he who knows not what he should promise, cannot be very well acquainted with what he should perform. Mr. Todd promises, " that the fruits, such as they are, of his employment, will be found in an abundant supply of words, which have been hitherto omitted ; in a rectification of many which etymology, in particular, requires ; and in exemplifying several which are without illustration." — Such is the sum total of his promised benefactions to the literary publick. My first object has been to assure myself, that the plan which Mr. Todd has followed is the plan which Johnson followed : — the same in its principles of etymology, — the same in its manner of explaining the signification, — and of illustrating the explanation by examples. This being done, — and it was very soon done, — the same, said I, {hand incerta cano,) the same must be its fate. Mr. Todd himself acknowledges, in the simplicity of his heart, that "all that he has done is but as dust in the balance, when*weighed against the work of Dr. Johnson." * Whether this word is to be understood in the poetical, metaphorical, familiar, or burlesque sense, I pronounce not ; certainly, not in the literal : for as two 4to. volumes are to be increased to four, Mr. Todd's portion will weigh just as much as Dr. John- son's. And this, perhaps, will satisfy Mr. Todd's proprietors. LETTER THE SECOND. 235 There are, perhaps, one or two points upon which you may have some desire to obtain more immediate satisfaction. In the first place, you may, I imagine, be curious to learn whether the rectifying hand of Mr. Todd has been employed to remove those more bare- faced absurdities, which might be supposed to command the atten- tion even of an editor of Mr. Todd's school of philology ; those, for instance, which I exposed to your view, under the words " To ask and To arrive. " The answer is decisive of the degree of cri- tical acumen, with which he has scrutinized into the defects of that work, upon which his editorial labours have been exerted. They remain untouched. And there is scarcely a fault, however glaring, that this editor has hitherto corrected.* I was, and you perhaps may also be, willing to inquire, what licence he allowed himself in expunging from his vocabulary those barbarous words,t with which Mr. Tooke was so disgusted. I found * An attempt is made under the word " Eared" which I have just had an oppor- tunity of seeing, in time to acknowledge it. The explanation is corrected, but the etymology stands unaltered. t Mr. Todd, it seems, has no objection to augment the number ; and one of his own introduction, viz. To calamistrate, will supply the reader with an instance of the wit with which Mr. Todd sometimes seasons the insipidity of his ordinary labours. " The hair torturers of modern times," (he observes,) " may be glad of the word," (viz. To Calamistrate,) " especially when I add, that a Calamist, in James the First's time, was ' one having his hair turned upwards ;' a definition that will suit those who have recently studied how, in this respect, to set their hair on end /" " Bock," (Mr. Todd also tells us,) " is a cant word for a bold, ostentatious, or for- H ll 2 236 LETTER THE SECOND. it short, yet characteristic]*. He will expunge no words, " except" (mark this exception,) " except where no such words in reality exist." Differing from Dr. Johnson, and agreeing with Dr. Ash, he is of opinion, that " appellatives, derived from proper names, will not be thought intruders ;" and upon this head he seems almost inspired with sufficient courage to accuse Dr. Johnson of inconsistency ; inasmuch as the said Dr. Johnson " admits a Pagan, though he has rejected a Quaker ." By the adoption of this class of words, Mr. Todd has at least ensured the enlargement of the bulk of his work, and it would be no small gratification to me to perceive the informa- tion of his readers augmented in proportion. An example or two will put it into your power to judge for yourself. Antinomian, n. s. One of the sect called Antinomianism. Antinomianism, n. s. The tenets of those who are called Anti- nomians. See Antinomian. Arian, n. s. One of the sect of Arius, who denies that Christ is the eternal God.* Arianism, n, s. The heresy or sect of Arius. Arminian, n. s. He who supports the tenets of Arminius. Arminianism, n. s. The tenets of Arminius. ■ ward person; a blood; whom Johnson calls a man of fire /— Serenius has observed, that the Gothick bocke is a great man ! Who is a greater, one may add, in his own estimation, than a buck . ? " * Are Socinians and Deists— Arians ? LETTER THE SECOND. 237 I am afraid that, upon comparison, Mr. Todd will be found to be somewhat inferior to his chosen exemplar, Dr. Ash. — Observe the good Doctor : Antinomian, s. One who denies the obligation of the moral law ; one who pays no regard to the law. After Dr. Ash has given what he considers a sufficient explanation of this word, there is some plausibility in the subsequent reference to it ; and when he has informed us that — Arminius was the leader of a sect, who held general redemption, and the merit of good works : he is equally warranted in explaining the appellative Ar mini an to be " One who holds the doctrines of Arminius." Mr. Todd, however, might as well have rejected his Antinomian and Armi- nian altogether, as have introduced them with such non-explanatory explanations. Though I feel myself exempted from the toil of descending very minutely into a criticism of Mr. Todd's share of this performance, you will scarcely be satisfied, if I do not enter so far into a detail, as to enable you to decide yet a little better upon the style of the artist. For this purpose I proceed. It was undoubtedly to be expected, that Mr. Todd would at 238 LETTER THE SECOND. least have the prudence to accept of the bounteous aid of Mr. Tooke in separate etymologies, notwithstanding the Diversions of Purley had so totally failed to clear the film from his sight ; and to enable him to view The Dictionary of the English Language in its full deformity. What then are the facts ? Some of Mr. Tooke's etymologies he rejects ; and he certainly not only had a right, but it was his duty, to do so, upon good cause shewn. A greater number he neglects, and this, I think, it was his indis- pensable duty not to do. Some he adopts, with due acknowledgment ; and for so doing, lamely as it is done, he deserves the thanks of his readers. In a greater number of instances he accepts the assistance of Mr. Tooke, without any acknowledgement ; and for so doing, I will leave it to Mr. Todd to determine how far the observations of the elder Pliny are applicable to himself.* I will present you with a specimen or two of those " sufficient reasons," which have convinced Mr. Todd of the propriety of rejecting certain etymologies of Mr. Tooke ; and I have to return that gentleman my thanks for having expressed those reasons in form so palpable, as to render any comment from me wholly superfluous. * Obnoxii profecto animi, &c. — Nat. Hist. Lib. 1. LETTER THE SECOND. 239 " Sapiens, vitatu quidque petitu Sit melius, causas reddet tibi." Bacon : Todd states the etymologies of Johnson and Tooke, (which for once coincide,) and then proceeds thus : " I may, however, refer perhaps as strongly to the old French — Bacon." Barren : Todd states the etymology of Tooke, and proceeds — " I pass from this assertion to the old French, baraigne, which is precisely correspondent to our own word, meaning sterile" &c. Bold : " Mr. Tooke's remark that bold is the past participle of to build, cannot easily be admitted." Bread : Todd states the etymology of Tooke, and proceeds : — " It is full as probable* I think, that the Saxon Breod, whence our Bread, is from the verb Bredan, to nourish." Broach, Todd declares, suo periculo, " is more probably from the low Latin Broca, from Verruculum, a little spit," than from the English verb To Break. Breeches, n.s. Braec, Saxon, from Bracca, an old Gaulish word ; so that Skinner imagines the name of the part covered with * I am afraid that Mr. Todd was not aware of the reason, which makes Mr. Tooke's etymology probably correct. See the word Malt, in the Diversions of Purley, Vol. II p. 70. 240 LETTER THE SECOND. Breeches to be derived from that of the garment. — Mr. H. Tooke inclines to the Saxon, Bryce, ' because/ he says, 'Breeches cover those parts where the body is broken into two parts.' — But from this ludicrous refinement of etymology, i" pass on to direct the reader to the Celtic and Gothic languages. — On let him pass. I have already presented you with the etymology which Skinner preferred, and which was not merely inclined to, but actually adopted, by Tooke. Neither Skinner nor Tooke were conscious of that " ludicrous refinement," which the sportive humour of Mr. Todd is so quick to perceive. But : Todd states the etymology (if so it must be called) of Johnson ; and then those, which Tooke has proposed for the two words Bot and But, and thus proceeds : il However the word may be derived, it has hitherto, in our dictionaries, been very inaccurately explained." The quietude and indifference which is thus manifested by this gentleman, whose professed duty it is to settle (as far as he is able,) the etymology of words, will excite in minds differently constituted emotions of a very different description. My own are of little moment. I pass on, therefore, to claim your attention to an instance of the sagacity evinced by him in his efforts to correct an inaccu- racy of explanation, which Johnson and Dr. Adam Smith have sanctioned by their authority. This is the example : — LETTER THE SECOND. 241 " Thus fights Ulysses, thus his fame extends, A formidable man, but to his friends." I need not tell you, (I hope, for the sake of common sense, that Mr. Todd did not know it,) that these are the words of Ajax ; — of Ajax, who has previously charged Ulysses with basely flying from the fires of Hector ; and who has proclaimed, that he can scarcely deem it an honour to obtain that prize, which such an abject rival as Ulysses had but hoped to gain. This Ajax, in the opinion of Johnson and Smith, was not a very likely person to give Ulysses the best of all characters, as a soldier ; and they accordingly ima- gined it to be the intention of that hero to pronounce Ulysses a coward in the field of battle, and formidable to his friends alone * for thus they interpret his meaning. Strange mistake ! in the judg- ment of Mr. Todd. Although Ajax has just informed us, that the Grecian host had been deprived of the aid of the two cham- pions, Philoctetes and Palamedes, by the villainous treachery of Ulysses, — " Aut exilio vires subduxit Achivis Aut nece." Nevertheless, (quoth Mr. Todd,) it is the apparent intention of this same Ajax to declare this same Ulysses, who, though he had not strength to stand, had strength to run away, — * Formidable; Ulysses formidable!! To whom? But (i. e. boot, superadd,) to his friends. — Such is the explanation which correct etymology presents. i i 242 LETTER THE SECOND. " Cui standi vulnera vires Non dederant, nullo tardatus vulnere fugit." to declare this man to be formidable to all, except his friends ! ! " Sic pugnat, sic est metuendus Ulysses." After this specimen of the acuteness of Mr. Todd's understand- ing, a similar specimen of its soundness will follow in due course. He professes, you know, to have limited his exemplifications to several words in Johnson, which are without illustration. He ought to have exemplified all. An architect, capable of benefiting by experience, and having any ambition to raise a durable structure, would, if building upon an old foundation, make it his first care to complete what he knew had been left deficient. Such, however, is not the proceeding of Mr. Todd ; as he manfully avows. And when I tell you that in the letter A there are nearly one thousand* explanations unexemplified, you may be inquisitive to ascertain how many and what words he has supplied with examples. I will not undertake to satisfy you. I will announce the first word which he does so supply ; and you will not ask me for another. It is this :— A taken materially, or by itself, (says Johnson,) is a noun ; as, a great A, a little a. * Among these are about one hundred words introduced by Mr. Todd, and un- supported by any authority whatever ; not by Diet., nor Huloet, nor even by Mr. Todd's great favourite, Prompt. Par. LETTER THE SECOND. 243 Through this " ludicrous refinement," Tooke, in his copy of the Dictionary, had struck his pen ; with what feelings you will be at no loss to conjecture. Not so Mr. Todd ; he respectfully preserves it ; nay, he does more ; he carefully furnishes an example. I have a few words to say upon one more topick, and then I have done with Mr.Todd. This gentleman acknowledges that the propri- etors of his work had, with unsolicited ! kindness, procured for his in- spection the papers of the late Mr. Home Tooke, and his copy of Johnson's Dictionary, with some marginal remarks. But (he adds,) M these have yielded no great harvest of information." I for my part never expected, — it was indeed impossible to indulge a hope for a moment, — that they could afford the least advantage to the writer, who was already known, with a blindness more than Chalcedonian, to have adopted for the foundation of his labours The Dictionary of the English Language,* when the eiiea iitepoenta was pre- sented to his choice. I myself had an opportunity of inspecting, though but very slightly, the papers of Home Tooke, and his copy of Johnson's Dictionary. From some MS. observations in the blank pages of the latter I collected that it was his intention to trace the words historically from the earliest authors to their present usage ; that he would * Though Mr. Todd lavishes the most extravagant praise upon this Dictionary, yet, when an excuse for his own indolence is to be given, he declares it to be " a difficulty insurmountable" to correct every mistake in that " wonderful achievement of genius and labour." I i 2 244 LETTER THE SECOND. have commenced with Robert of Gloucester ; and that, as a pre- paratory measure, he deemed it necessary to construct an index to all those works, which he should determine to adopt as authorities. Whe- ther Mr. Todd has resorted to such certain means of perfecting his vocabulary; or whether, like Johnson, after exhausting the published vocabularies, and published indexes, he relied upon fortuitous and unguided excursions into books ; he supplies me not with one sin- gle hint for conjecture.* Among other materials, which Mr. Tooke had collected, was his vocabulary, merely in a state to receive the etymologies, explana- tions, and examples. And, in addition to this vocabulary, were an Index Expurgatorius ; and the Cards described by Mr. Erskine, as a contrivance to elude the frailty of memory, and the shortness of human life. * The principal additions which Mr. Todd appears to have made to the vocabulary, consist of derivative and compound words. There are upwards of seventy words com- pounded with All, and nearly fifty with Arch. Among these compounds are two, which I receive with a very lively sense of grati- tude ; they are — Addle-headed and Arch-botcher. They associate together with the most graceful ease imaginable, and are constantly, yet unaccountably, sporting before my fancy, when musing over the lexicographical labours of the Reverend Henry J. Todd. There is another compound with which I have less reason to be satisfied ; it is, " Catch-penny, (from Catch and penny,) A worthless pamphlet, merely calculated to gain a little money." I deny that it means a pamphlet, and so would any of Mr. Todd's proprietors. LETTER THE SECOND. 245 Mr. Tooke, you know, has expressed his opinion, that " nearly one-third of Johnson's Dictionary is as much the language of the Hottentots as of the English." And he appears to have compiled this Index Expurgatorius to preserve his own work from intruders of so offensive a character. You are already apprized that it would have been quite " contrary to the proclaimed edict and continent canon" of Mr. Todd, to have derived any harvest of infor- mation from this portion of Mr. Tooke's labours.* The Cards now alone remain. Upon each card was written one word, sometimes more, transcribed, I imagine, from an alphabe- tical vocabulary, and then sorted and packed according to the terminations ; those in ment, full, ive, &c. collected into separate parcels : and so collected, no doubt, with this important view ; that all words having one and the same termination, might be ex- plained in one and the same consistent manner, agreeably to the meaning of the termination.^ Whether Mr. Todd had any concep- tion that such was Mr. Tooke's design, and that to him it appeared useless, or erroneous, or impracticable ; or whether he considered Mr. Tooke, in such an assortment of the words, to have no higher object than Walker had in his Rhyming Dictionary, viz. " To an- swer the purposes of spelling and pronouncing," I will not venture to * Mr. Todd is not very nice in his authorities. A Critical or Quarterly Reviewer, a British Critick, or "A Declaration of the Prince Regent of Great Britain and Ireland, Jan. 1813," are selected for his purpose. t " One word or one termination should be used with one signification, and for one purpose." Div. of Pur. Vol. II. p. 491. 246 LETTER THE SECOND. give any opinion. Of this I am confident, that had Mr. Todd fully understood, and duly estimated the purposes of Mr. Tooke, he would never have permitted his Dictionary to be disgraced by such con- tradictory explanations as the following words exhibit : — Adjunctive, n.s. That which is joined. Adjunctive, adj. That which joins. Attributive, adj. That which attributes. Attributive, n.s. The thing attributed. Consistently with such a manner of explanation, I will suggest an improvement to the Dictionary, upon authority which, I think, Mr. Todd would be unwilling to encourage an inclination to dis- pute. Johnson gives only two explanations of the verb To exhaust. The second is, — 2. To draw out totally ; to draw until nothing is left. Let me persuade Mr. Todd to subjoin a third : — 3, To fill up totally ; to fill up until no more can be contained. And to subjoin this happy illustration : — " He is content, if his countrymen admit that he has contributed somewhat towards that which many hands will not exhaust ; that his efforts, though imper- fect, are not useless.*" * Todd's Advertisement, p. iv. LETTER THE SECOND. 247 At last then, I hope, I may congratulate you and myself upon my complete deliverance from the thorny paths of Lexicography. I am no etymologist ; and, (you must be well assured,) 1 never should have involved myself so long and so earnestly in the discus- sions of etymology, if I had not been convinced that the proofs of a new Theory of Language would be thence most satisfactorily deduced. You know me too well to harbour the slightest suspicion, that it can communicate any pleasure to me to wound the reputation of Dr. Johnson, or to blight the budding honours of Mr. Todd ; but the cause of sound learning demands, that the Dictionary of the former should be stripped of its unmerited reputation, and not only that the hand of the latter should be palsied in its attempts to support the tottering fabrick, but even that his own proclaimed pretensions to distinction should be scrutinized, and, if false and hollow, be peremptorily rejected and condemned. With these views have I entered so minutely and so laboriously into a particular examination of so great a number of words, their etymology, their explanation, and mode of illustration ; and the plain and incontestible result is, that the only Dictionary to which the English nation allows any authority, is destitute of every single quality which could entitle it to approbation. My exertions, then, I hope, will have this good effect, — they will enforce a conviction upon the publick, that if a good English Dictionary is ever completed, (and there is a demand for the com- pletion of such a work,) it must be in a far different plan of con- 248 LETTER THE SECOND. struction, and manner of performance from those which Johnson pursued, and which Mr. Todd is toiling to imitate and uphold ; and that to complete it, is required the possession of abilities and attainments of the highest order, — of learning, deep, extensive, various, and well assorted ; of a mind indeed strictly disciplined in philosophy, fearless of labour, and able to endure it. Was Dr. Johnson, is Mr. Todd (proh pudor/) in the enviable enjoyment of a character so exalted and so rare I You have noticed, no doubt, in passing, that I have almost uni- formly contented myself with barely stating the etymologies of Tooke, and have permitted them to remain entirely unquestioned. That all without exception are correct, and that I might not upon investigation give a decided preference to others, is more than I would wish you to understand. My intention, as far as the writings of Mr. Tooke are concerned, was, to illustrate by their example the principles upon which philological researches should be con- ducted ; not to criticise the accuracy of every individual deriva- tion ; and, as far as the Dictionary of Dr. Johnson is concerned, to substantiate my opinion, that the author was totally ignorant or regardless of every just principle of philology, and to illustrate by his example the inevitable consequence of such ignorance or disre- gard : — etymology, trifling or erroneous, to a ridiculous extent ; explanations, without a shadow of the real meaning ; subdivisions of explanation, without end, ff false, absurd, and impossible ;" — and examples, in illustration of these explanations, selected with a total contempt of propriety and common sense. LETTER THE SECOND. 249 All this, I think, I have established by examples so numerous and unequivocal, that I should insult your understanding if I hesi- tated to anticipate your judgment upon the qualifications, by which that writer must be distinguished, who still avows his conviction, that " the Dictionary of Dr. Johnson has been rightly pronounced a wonderful achievement of genius and labour." This avowal, singly and alone, declares the man ; yet I do not demand your judgment upon this solitary ground ; other means for forming an opinion have I presented in abundance before you : and as you have already decided the author to be bad, I have, I think, made you sufficiently acquainted with his editor to induce you to admit that he is worse. TAT©' OTTilS OMOAOrOTMENA *ATE ; H IU2S ; March, 1815. To Samuel Lambrick, Esquire. Farewell. LI or THJE !^ y [UNIVERSITY Kk 9o\ LETTER THE THIRD. y". or ths n * 'UNIVERSITY DEAR LAMBRICK, JT rom Mr. Todd, then, we pass on to Mr. Dugald Stewart, who is, I believe, the only writer of any celebrity, who has made a direct attaok upon the philological speculations of Mr. Tooke ; and he appears to regard those speculations with cer- tain melancholy forebodings of their tendency and effect. I shall not deny that Mr. Stewart has reasonable grounds of apprehension ; for Mr. Tooke, after ample proof of the vigour of his arm, and the steadiness of his aim, has uttered his menaces against the prevailing systems of metaphysicks, with the confidence of a man strong to perform, and in full possession of the means of performance. Mr. Stewart has, however, as I shall soon convince you, not only mistaken the meaning and the object of Mr. Tooke's reasonings in several points of detailed grammatical discussion ; but he appears to remain wholly unacquainted with some of the most important general principles of philosophical grammar ; and some, which the etymolo- k k 2 252 LETTER THE THIRD. gies, throughout the latter volume of the Diversions of Purley, remove, in my opinion, beyond the possibility of contention. I. In the first place, then, Mr. Stewart declares, " That it is a leading inference, drawn by Mr. Tooke himself, that the common arrangements of the parts of speech in the writings of Grammarians being inaccurate and unphilosophical, must contribute greatly to retard the progress of students in the acquisition of particular lan- guages.*" In what part of Mr. Tooke's writings this inference has been detected by Mr. Stewart, I am wholly unable to discover ; but several passages present themselves to my recollection, which con- vey, as I understand them, a meaning directly the reverse. And these passages I produce. — Schultens "condemns the subdivision of particles into declin- able and undeclinable, and proposes to divide them into separate and inseparable. In my opinion, neither of these distributions is blame- able in the grammar of a particular language, whose object is only to assist a learner of that language ; but the one subdivision is just as unphilosophical as the other.t" Thus clearly does he distinguish between those distributions and arrangements, which may be adopted in a particular language to aid * Philosophical Essays, p. 173. t Diversions of Purley, Vol. I. p. 244. LETTER THE THIRD. 253 the memory of the learner, and the philosophical distribution of language in general. Again : — Mr. Tooke admits, that, " to the pedagogue indeed, who must not trouble children about the corruption of words, the distinction of prepositions and conjunctions may be useful enough, (on account of the cases which they govern, when applied to words, and which they do not govern when applied to sentences,) and for some such reason, perhaps, both this and many other distinctions were at first introduced. Nor would they have caused any mischief or confusion, if the philosopher had not adopted these distinctions ; taken them for real differences in nature, or in the operations of the human mind ; and then attempted to account for what he did not understand. And thus the grammatist has misled the grammarian, and both of them the philosopher.*" Again : — " The doctrine of deponents is not for men, but for children, who, at the beginning, must learn implicitly, and not be disturbed or bewildered with a reason for every thing ; which rea- son they would not understand, even if the teacher was always able to give it-t" After a consideration of these extracts, you will agree with me, that the inference, attributed to Mr. Tooke, is not drawn by him, but by Mr. Stewart himself ; — hastily, incautiously, and unwarrant- ably. * Div. of Pur. Vol. I. p. 327. t Ibid. Vol. II. p. 405. 254 LETTER THE THIRD. II. Mr. Stewart also asserts, — " That Mr. Tooke has not hesi- tated to draw this inference also : viz. That no grammatical distinc- tion exists between those two parts of speech, the substantive and the adjective, in such tongues as the Greek, the Latin, and the English.*" And Mr. Stewart facetiously continues: — " This inference is drawn in my own opinion with nearly as great precipitation as if he had concluded, because savages supply the want of forks by the fingers, that therefore a finger and a fork are the same thing ! !" Let me beg of you to refer either to the original work of Mr. Tooke, or to the observations, which I have compressed together respecting the adjective ; to mark carefully with what plainness he asserts the real distinction (with Wilkins) to be the simple circum- stance of " pertaining to ;" to observe also that the adjective is considered by him not to be (like the noun) necessary for com- munication, but convenient for dispatch ; and further to recollect the admission which he makes at the very outset of his inquiries, that, " in the strict sense of the term, no doubt, both the neces- sary words, and the abbreviations, are all of them parts of speech, because they are all useful in language, and each has a different manner of signification :j" and you will then be at no loss to deter- mine, whether the charge of precipitation should not, with justice, be retorted upon Mr. Stewart himself. * Philosophical Essays, p. 174. t Div. of Pur. Vol. I. p. 48. LETTER THE THIRD. 255 III. " Mr. Tooke," (says Mr. Stewart,) " has shewn that some words, which are now banished even from decent conversation, are very nearly allied in their origin to others, which are unexception- able, and he seems disposed to ascribe our prejudices against the former to false delicacy. I should be glad to know what practical inference Mr. Tooke would wish us to draw from these discoveries. Is it that the latter should be degraded on account of the infamy of their connections ? or that every word which can claim a common descent with them from a respectable stem, is entitled to admission into the same society.*" From the solemn tone with which these sage and tasteful obser- vations are introduced, a stranger to the writings of Mr. Tooke might be led to suppose, that words of the description alluded to had been searched after by him with great diligence, were to be found in considerable numbers in the pages of his work, and were there pressed upon the reader's attention with an earnestness pro- portionate to some important end. There are, however, but three of these words — " which fell in his way and he found them." Such, indeed, are the airs of affectation displayed throughout the whole of this extract from Mr. Stewart, that I cannot imagine with what feelings a man of a grave understanding could commit it to paper. The first question deserves, and shall receive, no answer. To the second, (captious and uncalled for as it is,) I answer, and * Philosophical Essays, p. 193. 256 LETTER THE THIRD. upon Mr. Tooke's authority, No : — though they were innocent and decent words, they are now otherwise. Perhaps I ought not to have considered this as a grammatical misconception, but as a mere hal- lucination of taste. These, however, you may consider as misunderstandings of small importance, and I should indeed have scarcely thought it worth the trouble to produce them, did not they strikingly exemplify the carelessness with which the very elaborate productions of Mr. Tooke have been examined, and that too, by an author who takes upon himself to controvert the doctrines they are intended to establish. IV. But there yet remains another misconception, as it appears to me, (and I call it by this name with an utter abhorrence of that malignant spirit of controversy which allows of no misconception, but imputes every misinterpretation to design and artifice,) there is, I say, another misconception,* upon which, as it affects the most important principles of Mr. Tooke's etymological speculations, it is necessary for us to bestow a more deliberate and enlarged consider- ation. And in order to do this with the greater certainty of arriving at a right conclusion, it seems proper to collect a few of the general observations, which are scattered through the pages of the Diversions of Purley, and not noticed in my short Analysis, and which will enable us to discover for ourselves the opinions of Mr. Tooke upon the grammatical use and importance of Etymology. * Into which Mr. Stewart's " friendly critick" has also fallen. LETTER THE THIRD. * 257 " Interpreters, who seek the meaning of a word singly from the passages in which it is found, usually connect with it the meaning of some other word or words in the sentence. A regard to the indi- vidual etymology of the word would save them from this error, and conduct them to the intrinsick meaning of the word, and the cause of its application. " All etymological pursuit beyond this is merely for the gratifica- tion of a childish curiosity, in which the understanding takes no share, and from which it can derive no advantage. — " That word is always sufficiently original in that language where its meaning, which is the cause of the application, can be found. " Nor should it occasion surprize or discouragement, that words so different in their present application should be traced to the same origin, for it is the necessary condition of all languages ; it is the lot of man, as of all other animals, to have very few different ideas, (and there is a good physical reason for it,) though we have many words, and yet even of them we have by no means so many of dif- ferent significations as we are supposed to have. " One word, or one termination should be used with one signifi- cation, and for one purpose." You have now before you the sum of Mr. Tooke's declared opi- nions upon the grammatical use and importance, and even upon l1 258 LETTER THE THIRD. certain results of etymology. The further doctrines that may be attributed to him by other writers, are matters of inference ; — and the question immediately arises, — Are these inferences fairly deducible from the expressed principles and reasonings of his work ? After quoting, at great length, the etymologies and the applica- tions of the past participles just, right, and wrong,* Mr. Stewart proceeds thus : — " Through the whole of this passage Mr. Tooke evidently assumes as a principle, that, in order to ascertain, with precision, the philosophical import of any word, it is necessary to trace its progress historically through all the successive meanings — " I must beg of you to observe, that the phrase " philosophical import" is not employed by Mr. Tooke ; and also to bear in mind, that Mr. Tooke has, in all the uses of the words cited, shewn each of them to have and to preserve one meaning, and one alone. Where, then, did Mr. Stewart stumble upon these successive mean- ings ? — Let Mr. Stewart, however, proceed : — " Through all the successive meanings which it has been em- ployed to convey, from the moment that it was first introduced into our language ; or, if the word be of foreign growth, that we should prosecute the research till we ascertain the literal and primitive sense of the root from whence it sprung. It is in this literal and * See these words in the Critical Examination. LETTER THE THIRD. 259 primitive sense alone, that, according to him, a philosopher is entitled to employ it, even in the present advanced state of science ; and whenever he annexes to it a meaning at all different, he imposes equally upon himself and others.*" Such is the sweeping inference of Mr. Stewart, wholly unautho- rized by any thing to be found in the Diversions of Purley, and founded entirely upon an error, which it requires no great portion of critical sagacity to detect. It proceeds from this : — That Mr. Stewart has not comprehended, indeed I do not recollect that he has one single allusion to, the distinction which is so cautiously preserved through the volumes of Mr. Tooke, and so clearly ex- pressed in the passages which I have transcribed, between the intrinsick meaning of a word, and the application of it to things, differing, perhaps, in all respects, except one, which will authorize such application. If Mr. Stewart had possessed a clear understanding of this most important distinction, he would, I think, have perceived that the only grammatical inference which can be fairly drawn from the quotations which he has made, (and upon which he has rested his deduction,) connected as they should be in his mind with the general principles, upon which the etymological inquiries of the whole work are conducted, is barely this : — That from the etymology of the word we should fix its intrinsick meaning ; that that meaning * Philosophical Essays, p. 165 and 190. L 12 260 LETTER THE THIRD. should always (as in the instances* quoted by Mr. Stewart,) furnish the cause of the application ; and that no application of a word is justifiable, for which the meaning will not (as in those instances also it does) supply a reason. I raise no objection to the phrase " Philosophical import of a word ;" I merely require that it should be thoroughly understood, and then used consistently. The intrinsick meaning of a word is not the whole, but it is a necessary part of this " philosophical import ;" to the application and subaudition we must resort for the rest. Mr. Stewart disavows all homage to the etymological, that is, the real meaning of words, and points to ever fleeting usage, (" which so oft doth construe things clean from the purpose of the things them- selves/') as the only authority to which he will consent to own his fealty, or to pay his obedience. He, it should seem, or I must confess myself wholly at a loss to comprehend his criticisms upon the writings of Mr. Tooke, following the example of Dr. Johnson, imagines the " meaning" of a word, and its "philosophical import," to be the same ; and he further maintains, that a knowledge of this meaning or import is not to be acquired from etymology, but " by that habit of accurate and vigilant induction, which, by the study of the most approved models of writing and of thinking, elicits gradually the precise notions, which our best authors have annexed * Except one application of the word Just. LETTER THE THIRD. 26l to their phraseology." Mr. Tooke, on the other hand, cautiously and constantly exhibits the difference between the real sense, which etymology alone enables us to discover, and that variety of appli- cation which necessity exacts, and usage must tolerate and adopt ; admitting, by his own practice, that for competent information of the extent to which usage may have carried her sufferance, we cer- tainly must have recourse to a careful study of the most deservedly approved compositions. But Mr. Stewart not observing the care- ful preservation of this distinction, imputes to Mr. Tooke a corol- lary, which, (with the premises from which he derives it,) exists only in the errors of his own understanding. Bear with me a few moments longer, while I illustrate this view of the subject ; for as it has so entirely escaped the notice of Mr. Stewart, it is not improbable that it may require explanation to the generality of readers. Mr. Tooke says, that the Anglo-Saxon MojvSe signifies Quod dissipat ; and that from this word we have immediately the two Eng- lish words Mirth and Murther : in short, that the three words are but one word differently written. Mirth and Murther, then, have the same intrinsick meaning, that which dissipateth, (subaud. aliquid,) but they have a most essen- tially different application and subaudition ; the first is applied to that which dissipateth, (subaud. care, grief, &c ) ; the second is applied to that which dissipateth (subaud. life.) 262 LETTER THE THIRD. I do not presume that Mr. Stewart will controvert the correct- ness of this etymology : but in consistency with himself, — because these applications and subauditions are so firmly established by general usage, and appear to him to have been introduced so early, " that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," — he will explain Mirth actually to mean, That which dissipates care or grief, &c. ; and Murther actually to mean, That which dissipates life : and then, considering these to be the two " literal and primi- tive senses" of the two words, he condemns Mr. Tooke for main- taining, that in these respective senses alone is a philosopher now entitled to employ them * But Mr. Tooke must not be accused of extending to the meaning and application and subaudition com- bined, (though such combination be confirmed by usage the most ancient and general,) a law, which he guardedly and rigidly restricts to the meaning alone. The meaning is uniform, unvarying, and invariable ; the application and subaudition as unlimited as the numberless necessities of speech. It is, too, because Mr. Stewart has permitted this important gram- matical distinction wholly to elude his attention, that he is thrown into such surprize by the climax which Johnson's explanations of the word Right extort from Mr. Tooke : — " All false, absurd, and impossible." * I employ these two words only as instances in illustration of Mr. Tooke's opinions, not as words about the application of which there is any dispute ; and indeed that there is not, is one reason for my selecting them. LETTER THE THIRD. 263 Mr. Stewart does not intimate a disposition to dispute, that John- son's explanations are false and absurd ; but he thinks that he " may be permitted to ask, upon what ground Mr. Tooke has concluded his climax with the word impossible >" Mr. Stewart is already- answered : — it is quite impossible for any word to have so many different meanings ; and his surprize will perhaps subside into assent and approbation, if I have rendered clear and intelligible the doc- trine upon which I have so strongly insisted. He may now also be able to satisfy himself of the gross inaccu- racy of his own assertion,* " that our words, when examined sepa- rately, are often as completely insignificant as the letters of which they are composed ; deriving their meaning solely from the connec- tion or relation in which they stand to others.f " He will, I encou- rage the hope, perceive how erroneously he has attributed that to the meaning, which pertains merely to the subaudition and appli- cation of a word ; and he will then acknowledge the meaning, what- ever may be the case with the import, to have not the slightest dependency upon that connection or relation, from which he has rashly asserted it to be solely derived. It is one among the many alarms which agitate the spirits of Mr. Stewart, that by the strict disciplinarians of Mr. Tooke's school of * Stewart's Philosophical Essays, p. 155. t This assertion is made in opposition to those who maintain that " every word is the sign of an idea." Surely Mr. Stewart does not impute this notion to Tooke. 264 LETTER THE THIRD. philology, the graces of his elocution should be too severely re- strained, and the flowers of his rhetorick be stripped by a barba- rous and unsparing hand. For my own part I cannot sympathize with him in his fears, persuaded, as I am, that from the writings of Mr. Tooke himself, (for of the disciples I know nothing,) he might derive a lesson upon style, which, if properly applied, could have no other effects than such as would materially contribute to the improvement of his own. One quality (only one I acknow- ledge,) there is of good composition, in which, in a great degree, he must be pronounced to be deficient, — I mean, intelligibility. In reading the works of Mr. Stewart and of Dr. Reid likewise, I am constantly reduced to the necessity of acquitting them of the absurd consequences, which must result from the plain and obvious inter- pretation of the language in which their opinions are expressed, and of endeavouring !* to elicit their precise notions by vigilant induction.*" * For instance : — Dr. Reid defines judgment to be " An act of the mind by which one thing is affirmed or denied of another." He then admits, " That this affirmation or denial is not essential." This definition, however, Mr. Stewartt pronounces to be " concise and perspicuous, notwithstanding this imperfection." The conciseness and perspicuity of a definition, which is admitted to contain only that which is not essential; concise indeed, for it omits all that it ought to express, and perspicuous, inasmuch it explains nothing at all. These, surely, cannot be the precise notions which Dr. Reid and Mr. Stewart " annex to their phraseology." Again : — Mr. Stewart asserts, that " it is impossible to conceive either an intelligent or an active being to exist," without a belief of personal identity, p. 53. * Stewart's Elements of Philosophy, Vol. II. p. 18. LETTER THE THIRD. 265 I am not alluding to those vices, which must crowd the pages of every writer of Mr. Stewart's principles of metaphysical philoso- phy, but to such as might be banished without any change in his system. That a very radical and widely-extended alteration would be accomplished in the works of philosophers by an adoption of Mr. Tooke's principles of language, — because their philosophy itself must assume a very different form, — is manifest enough. But I must be permitted to withdraw Mr. Tooke from the idle discussion into which Mr. Stewart has thought it wise to enter respecting " incongru- ous metaphors.*" Mr. Tooke had higher aims and nobler views : he had an entirely new Theory of Language to demonstrate, and to apply that theory to the prevailing systems of metaphysical, that is, of verbal, imposture. He, and all, who with him have their minds fixed upon an object .of such importance, would willingly leave it to Mr. Stewart to dispute, or, if he should be so successful, to settle, whether the objections urged against the use of the phrases Yet — " it (i. e. personal identity) forms an object of knowledge to nobody but a, metaphysician." p. 54. Yet again : — " It is not to the metaphysician alone that the ideas of identity and personality are familiar." p. 55. To discover what Mr. Stewart really means would "dizzy the arithmetick of me- mory," and in my exertions to acquire a conception of his meaning, I have found myself in the predicament of the poor Clown : — " Marry, now I can tell ; mass, I can- not tell." * It should not be forgotten, that much of language, commonly thought to be meta- phorical, is merely — particular application of general meaning. m m 266 LETTER THE THIRD. " handle a subject,"-^" go to," — " fertile source/' may or may not be ascribed to the caprice of taste. For into such investigations does Mr. Stewart introduce his readers. Yes ; — this gentleman, who is inspired with such grand ideas of the nature of those spe- culations which should engage the attention of the philosopher, and so mean an opinion of the humble province of the philologer, does actually occupy some pages of Essays, entitled philosophical, with such frivolities as these. But against Mr. Stewart I have a very heavy accusation still un- told. He has had the hardihood to assert,* that Mr. Locke prepared the way for Mr. Tooke's researches, and the disingenuousness to insinuate, that Mr. Tooke suppressed, or, if it suit him better, for- bore to take any notice of the passage to which he was so much indebted. And not satisfied with these imputations, Mr. Stewart is desirous that Hobbes should participate of those honours which he is desirous to withhold from the name of Tooke. " Hobbes (he says) seems to have been the first, or at least one of the first, who started the idea of this sort of etymological metaphy sicks." I willingly allow, that much excellent sense may be collected from the works of Hobbes ; and I could refer to many particular passages upon which Mr. Stewart might reflect with essential advantage. " There be two kinds of knowledge," saith the philosopher of * Stewart's Philosophical Essays, p. 56Q. LETTER THE THIRD. 267 Malmsbury, " whereof the one is but sense, or knowledge original, and the remembrance of the same : the other is science or know- ledge of the truth of propositions, and how things are called, and is derived from understanding. It is a great ability in man out of the words, contexture, and other circumstances of language, to deliver himself from equivocation, and to find out the true meaning of what is said ; and this we call understanding." The ill success, which has attended Mr. Stewart in the employ- ment of his understanding to discover " the true meaning of what is said," is to be attributed to that ignorance of philology, in which his disdain for the labours of the philologer has permitted him to remain immured. This contemned competitor for renown must confine his discussions to grammar and etymology ; — he must not usurp the honours of philosophy ; and, as if the am- bition of Mr. Stewart to strip a cotemporary of his hard-earned honours were insatiable, he unblushingly affirms,* " That, how much soever Mr. Tooke's discoveries may astonish those who have been accustomed to confine their studies to grammar alone, they must strike every philosopher as the natural and necessary conse- quence of that progressive order, in which the mind becomes ac- quainted with the different objects of its knowledge, and of those general laws which govern human thought in the employment of arbitrary signs." The discovery, I believe, to which Mr. Stewart here alludes, is * Stewart's Philosophical Essays, p. 161. m m 2 268 LETTER THE THIRD. expressed by himself thus, " That even the terms which express our most refined and abstracted thoughts were borrowed originally from some object of external perception." You will smile, then, at the overweening confidence with which this declaration is made, when you observe, as you undoubtedly must, how utterly unacquainted with those very discoveries which he here pretends to be so evident, Mr. Stewart to this moment con- tinues. If to suggest the possibility that a certain discovery might be made, be to prepare the way for it, and if Mr. Stewart could be admitted to have stated fully the sum and substance of Mr. Tooke's discoveries, then indeed I might be inclined to confess that Mr. Locke was the preparer of his way, — but upon no other conditions. In his zeal to degrade still lower, if possible, the writings of Mr. Tooke, Mr. Stewart is betrayed into a forgetfulness of the repu- tation of his own : for he subsequently declares, that the numerous examples produced in the Diversions of Purley, do not appear to him* " to establish any one general truth, but the influence of fancy, and of casual association on the structure of speech." Thus, in an instant, — with a contempt of consistency, which per- haps you might expect to excite a stronger emotion than surprize, — is the formation of language, which every philosopher must know to be " the natural and necessary consequence of the progressive * Stewart's Philosophical Essays, p. 181, LETTER THE THIRD. 269 order in which the mind becomes acquainted with the different objects of its knowledge, and those general laws which govern human thought," pronounced to be the creature " of fancy and of casual association ;" the fancy too of rude unlettered men, whose senses, and whose organs of articulation, (the raw materials for the manufacture of speech,) would be rather more interestingly preoccu- pied by their urgent necessities. When you recal to your recollection the instances of ♦misconcep- tion of which Mr. Stewart has been guilty, the efforts which he has made to lower the literary reputation of the most truly learned and sagacious philosopher of his age, and the airs of superiority which he assumes over the philologer and the grammarian, I shall not be censured by you, I think, 'if I present to his notice the indignant remarks with which Mr. Tooke concluded his Letter to Mr. Dunning, and which he has carefully preserved in a note to the thirty-first page of the first volume of the Diversions of Purley. — " Perhaps it was for mankind a lucky mistake, (for it was a mis- take,) which Mr. Locke made when he called his book ' An Essay on Human Understanding.' For some part of the inestimable bene- * Mr. Stewart very gravely assures us that he was allured to the study of metaphy- sicks by considering the phenomena of dreaming. Ut vidi, ingenui. But though he has written upon this seductive topick with strong feelings of partiality, I will not venture to assert that he has made any distinguishable advancement beyond the poetical philosophy of Lucretius. Lib. iv. v. 959. et seq. 270 LETTER THE THIRD. fits of that book has merely on account of its title reached to many thousands more than, I fear, it would have done, had he called it (what it is merely) A Grammatical Essay, or a Treatise on Words, or on Language. The Human Mind, or the Human Understanding, appears to be a grand and noble theme ; and all men, even the most insufficient, conceive that to be a proper object for their contem- plation ; whilst inquiries into the nature of language, (through WHICH ALONE THEY CAN OBTAIN ANY KNOWLEDGE BEYOND THE beasts,) are fallen into such extreme disrepute and contempt, that even those who " neither have the accent of christian, pagan, or man," nor can speak so many words together with as much propriety as Balaam's ass did, do yet imagine words to be infinitely beneath the concern of their exalted understanding." Mr. Stewart takes so much delight in veiling his meaning under a variety of vague and undiscriminating expressions, that in his par- ticular charge against Mr. Tooke, I feel myself in great embar- rassment to fix with precision upon the meaning of the phrase, " prepared the way." It is certainly susceptible of a variety of interpretations. Does he mean that Mr. Locke prepared the way for the researches of Mr. Tooke, as a teacher of the alphabet prepares the way for the loftiest attainments in literature ? Or that Mr. Locke has ac- tually developed such premises as lead immediately and obviously ex concessis either to the philological inquiries, or the philological conclusions, which Mr. Tooke has published to the world ? If the LETTER THE THIRD. 271 former, the charge amounts to nothing ; — if the latter, it is quite unwarranted. There is an ambiguity also in Mr. Stewart's use of the word M research/' which consists in this : that it is usually and properly applied to the " inquiry," and appears to be applied by Mr. Stewart to the " conclusions," which are established in consequence of inquiry. To inquire is not always to learn, to research is not always to discover ; and I cannot think that you will allow hiin to be the best judge of what might or might not guide Mr. Tooke to his researches, since it is so evident that he has entirely misconceived the principles upon which they are conducted, and the conclusions to which they lead. It is literally true, as Mr. Stewart has remarked, that Mr. Tooke has not any where noticed the particular passages quoted by Mr. Stewart from the Essay on Human Understanding ; but it is neces- sary that you should keep in your recollection a circumstance equally true, viz. that he does notice the whole of the book, in the first chapter of which those passages are to be found ; that he spe- cifies the objects of the great author in composing that book ; and asserts his subsequent abandonment of one of those objects. — *He tells us, that in this book Mr. Locke " has really done little else but enlarge upon what he had said before, when he thought he was treating only of ideas, that is, he continued to treat of the * Div. of Pur. Vol. I. p. 39. £72 LETTER THE THIRD. composition of terms. For though he says,* ' that unless the force and manner of signification of words are first well observed, there can be very little clearly said, and pertinently, concerning know-, ledge ;' and though this is the declared reason of writing his third book, concerning language, as distinct from ideas, yet he continues to treat singly as before of the force of words, (which depends upon the number of ideas of which each word is a sign,) and has not advanced one syllable concerning their manner of signification. " Thus fully does Mr. Tooke present to the view of his readers this portion of Mr. Locke's work, in perfect fearlessness of any deduc- tion from his claims to originality. Nay more, he admits that Locke points out the propriety of an inquiry into the manner of signification ; and, though he himself has prosecuted that inquiry, he never suspected that Mr. Locke had been his guide, for he affirms that Mr. Locke has not advanced one syllable upon the subject. Mr. Tooke's researches or inquiries were, in the first place, you well remember, carried into the Etymology, and thence into the true meaning of the English Conjunctions, Prepositions, and Ad- verbs, which were commonly supposed to have no meaning ; and the principle upon which this inquiry proceeded was, " That every word in every language must have a complete meaning and signifi- cation, even when taken by itself." Does Mr. Stewart mean that * Locke, B. III. c. ix. s. 21. LETTER THE THIRD. 273 Mr. Locke prepared the way for this inquiry ? Mr. Locke no where intimates any conception that words of this class, these indeclin- able and insignificant particles, were even " the names of things* that fall not under our senses," (for Mr. Locke, as well as Mr. Stewart imagined that there were such things,) — he even declares that "they are not by themselves the names of any ideas."! How then could he entertain a suspicion " that by tracing them to their sources we should find them to have had their rise from sensible ideas >" The only inquiry which Mr. Locke was persuaded to be necessary with respect to those particles was, " into the right use of them, their force and significancy." In short, there is not the slightest suggestion of any occasion for such an inquiry as that which Mr. Tooke has conducted to a conclusion, so unexpected by all except himself ; and even Mr. Stewart, I think, will hot contend that he, who does not drop one hint with respect to the propriety of a particular research, can be pronounced to have prepared the way fer the conclusions to which that research may have conducted. M He only" (says Dr. Paley,) " discovers, who proves;" and it is upon this ground alone that Mr. Locke can rest his claim to the discovery of the origin of our ideas. He was not singular in refer- ring them all to the senses : about half a century before the publi- cation of the Essay on Human Understanding, Hobbes had distinctly maintained the same doctrine ; and " nihil intellectu, quod non prius * See the word Thing, in the Critical Examination. t Locke's Works, Vol. I. p. 290. n n 274 LETTER THE THIRD. in sensu, is, as well as its converse, an ancient and well known position." Mr. Locke, by applying the law of Sir Isaac Newton, discarded the doctrine of innate ideas : the supposition was unnecessary ; and the originality of Mr. Locke consists in the adoption of this unan- swerable argument, which he so powerfully and efficaciously em- ployed. But he saw not that this same argument might be used with equal force against the composition of ideas ; — that the suppo- sition of their existence was equally unnecessary ; — that every purpose, for which the composition of ideas was imagined, could more easily and naturally be answered by the composition of terms : yet is this the only argument which at the outset of his inquiry Mr. Tooke thought it necessary to produce. Mr. Locke treats of the composition of ideas in firm belief that such composition actu- ally takes place in the human mind ; and Mr. Tooke commences his inquiries with denying the possibility of such composition ; and with asserting, that " the only composition is in the terms." Was it for this that Mr. Locke prepared the way ? But this phrase — " prepared the way," — assumes an aspect of still more momentous import, when it is recollected that, in the opinions of Mr. Stewart and of his avowed master in metaphysicks, Dr. Reid, the principles of Locke prepared the way for the scepti- cism of Hume. Locke proved that from our senses, and from them alone, we receive all our ideas ; Berkeley endeavoured to mark the extent to which our senses could carry us in the acquisition of Ideas ; LETTER THE THIRD. 275 and ill doing so effectually banished *" a substratum of material qualities," from the jargon of verbal delusion. This I consider to be the generally acknowledged achievement of Berkeley : — " The only thing" (he asserts,t) " whose existence we deny, is that which philosophers call matter or material substance." Again : — *' If the word substance be taken in the vulgar sense, for a combination of sensible qualities, such as extension, solidity, weight, and the like, this we cannot be accused of taking away. But if it be taken in a philosophic sense, for the support of acci- dents or qualities without the mind, then indeed I acknowledge we take it away, if one may be said to take away that which never had any existence, not even in the imagination." And subsequently, X" It is utterly impossible there should be any such thing (as matter) so long as that word is taken to denote an unthinking sub- stratum of qualities or accidents, wherein they exist without the mind." For this achievement, however, Mr. Locke may be truly said to have prepared the way. He had divided our simple ideas into §" Those which come into our minds by one sense only," and into * T do not forget the ability with which Berkeley opposed Locke's doctrine of abstract ideas ; but unfortunately he left complex ideas untouched. t Berkeley's Works, Vol. I. p. 40. J Id. p. 60. § Locke's Works, Vol. I. p. 55—69. N n 2 2J6 LETTER THE THIRD. those " that convey themselves into the mind by more senses than one." Among the former he enumerates colours, sounds, tastes. &c. Among the latter, extension, figure, motion, &c. He after- wards *distributes the qualities of body into primary and secondary; but fails to observe that those qualities, to which he gives the name of primary, are those " which convey themselves into the mind by more senses than one," and that the secondary are those " which come into the mind by one sense only." Had not this plain fact passed unnoticed, I think he would have made a most essential change in his speculations into the manner in which the ideas of primary and secondary qualities are produced. For the inference, I think, is plain, that the only difference is, not in the manner of their production, (for they are all by sense,) but in the number of senses which contribute to their production. And had Berkeley perceived this fact, and drawn this inference, it would have made an essential change too in the method of his reasoning. When Mr. Locke, however, has compounded these simple ideas together, and created certain complex ideas of substance, he is then reduced to the necessity of explaining the nature of the process. And thus he writes : — f § 1. " The mind, being furnished with a great number of simple ideas, conveyed in by the senses, as they are found in exterior things, or by reflection on its own operations, takes notice also, that a certain number of these simple ideas go constantly together ; * Locke's Works, Vol. I. p. 64. t HH p. 169, et seq. LETTER THE THIRD. 277 which being presumed to belong to one thing, and words being suited to common apprehensions, and made use of for quick dis- patch, are called, so united in one subject, by one name ; which, by inadvertency, we are apt afterwards to talk of, and consider as one simple idea, which indeed is a complication of many ideas to- gether ; because not imagining how these simple ideas can subsist by themselves, we accustom ourselves to suppose so?ne substratum wherein they do subsist, and from which they do result, which therefore we call substance. § 2. " So that if any one will examine himself concerning his notion of pure substance in general, he will find he has no other idea of it at ally but only a supposition of he knows not what support of such qualities, which are capable of producing simple ideas in us ; which qualities are commonly called accidents." Instead of concluding, as the whole tenour of his observations leads us to expect, that we have, and can have, no idea of this sup- posed substratum, he talks of our making " an obscure and relative idea of substance in general ;" that we have " a confused idea of something to which simple ideas belong," and finally contents him- self with acknowledging, that of that something, " it is certain we have no clear or distinct idea." For the inference of Berkeley, however, Mr. Locke may with propriety be said to have prepared the way. Hume succeeded: and he, — founding his system upon the principle 278 LETTER THE THIRD. of Mr. Locke with respect to the origin of our ideas, that all our ideas are derived from our senses, and from them alone, — he, I say, after some proemial artifices, which it is far from my intention at this time to expose, inferred, and roundly asserted, that it was contrary to reason to rely upon the evidences of our senses at all ! ! Is it possible that such an inference can have been deduced from such premises, whatever may have been the intermediate gradations, without the grossest perversion of terms ? Is it possible that the whole reasoning of this dexterous juggler can be aught better than verbal imposture ? But so confounded was Dr. Reid by the sub- tility of his countryman, that, instead of exerting his faculties to lay bare the sophistry of Hume's deductions, he never suspected the fallacy to lurk merely in his adroit use, or rather abuse, of lan- guage ; but he attributed the mischief to Locke himself, and began instantly to unlearn the philosophy which he had before adopted. He did more ; he satisfied himself that he had detected the errors of his former teacher ; and upon the downfall of these errors he imagined that he could erect a bulwark, upon which the sceptical assaults of Hume were too feeble to effect an impression. For my own part, I do not entertain a very flattering opinion of the Doctor's rock of defence.* I rather suspect that he has not * I do not wish to slight Dr. Reid's controversial accomplishments ; he appears to have been distinguished by some truly formidable. He declares that " We (i. e. He) can clearly and distinctly conceive things impossible.!" Being in possession of this f Essays on the Intellectual Powers. Essay V. c. ri. LETTER THE THIRD. $79 without justice been accused of throwing some advantages into the hands of his adversary ; and, indeed, it appears scarcely susceptible of doubt, that as long as philosophers continue to conduct the con- troversy upon the presumption of the existence of complex and abstract ideas, the security of the philosophical sceptick from a disgraceful discomfiture must depend upon the force and the skill with which he — (who draws his arrows from that exhaustless store of " ambiguous words," which his opponents have collected for his use, as well as for their own,) — may wield his weapons of annoyance and defence. But I am permitting myself to be hurried beyond my prescribed bounds. To return. — " It may (says Tooke) appear presumptuous, but it is necessary here to declare my opinion, that Mr. Locke in his Essay never did advance one step beyond the origin of ideas and the composition of terms." In this opinion I fully coincide ; and (I must farther confess, at whatever risk,) I feel myself quite unable to discover that any advancementf has been made by Mr. Stewart beyond the point which terminated the progress of Mr. Locke. Mr. Stewart may issue uncommon talent, and being also avowedly inspired with a certain efficacious " prin- ciple of credulity," it was judicious in Hume (if I may use an expression of his own upon a different occasion,) to resile from all contest with so gifted an antagonist. t Mr. Stewart is too familiar with the writings of Lord Bacon to misapply this word. 280 LETTER THE THIRD. forth from the press volume after volume, but until he has cleared from his understanding the doctrine of the composition of ideas, his course is ended. It was to the assumption of this doctrine that Locke's failure was owing ; and to the artful abuse of it that Hume is indebted for the rank he is allowed to maintain among metaphysical writers. Mr. Locke saw that complex terms were the signs of certain col- lections of simple ideas ; he then imagined, that of those collec- tions a combination* was formed ; and that by this combination a complex idea was created : so that for every complex term there existed a correspondent complex idea : and this, although he had previously admitted that " the simple ideas" {received by one sense) " united in the same subject," (softness and warmth in wax, for in- stance,) " are as perfectly distinct as those that come in by different senses -t" Mark then an extravagance or two into which he is consequently plunged. " We have" (he says) "negative names, which stand not directly for positive ideas, but for their absence, such as Insipid, Silence, Nihil, &c. which words denote positive ideas ; v. g. Taste, Sound, Being, with a signification of their absence.^" * In the crucible of Mr. Harris, " where truths are produced by a kind of logical chemistry." Stewart on the Human Mind, Vol. I. p. 96. t Locke's Works, Vol. I. p. 53. J Id. p. 63. And this he repeats, p. 243. LETTER THE THIRD. 281 Notwithstanding this declaration, giving himself up to these complex ideas, he writes a whole chapter upon the kind of idea to which we give the name of infinity ; in the course of which we are directed carefully to distinguish between the idea of the infinity of space, and the idea of space infinite : we are told that though the idea of the infinity of number is clear, yet the idea of an infinite number is absurd ; that we have this clear idea of infinity, with- out ever completing it ; and, in fact, that though this idea of infinity is clear, yet " the clearest idea we can get of it is the confused incomprehensible remainder of endless *addible numbers." * Let it not be imagined that these are exploded doctrines — exploded for their absur- dity. We are told, in a very modern digest of logical and metaphysical perplexity, that " From the perpetual addibility of the ideas of number, space, duration, the idea of infinity is acquired.f In this same work we are told, J" That being is the highest genus, which logicians call Genus Generalissimum." That " Being is a simple idea." That " it is a com- mon property to all things which exist." That " Universal ideas are representatives of these properties." And we are assured, " That universal ideas in their ascent from individuals to genus generalissimum become gradually more simple." And that " Universal ideas in their descent from genus generalissimum to individuals become gradually more complex." And this is from a writer who adopts the opinion of Dr. Darwin, " That Mr. Tooke has unfolded, by a single flash of light, the whole theory of language.||" f Belsham's Elements, Logic, p. xv. % Id. p. xix. § Id. p. xxx. || Belsham's Elements, Philosophy, p. 114, n. O O 282 LETTER THE THIRD. From such gross confusion as this a sound theory of language is sufficient to deliver us ; but I see no relief for those who believe in the existence of complex ideas ; and though the opinion of Mr. Stewart, as well as of Mr. Locke, that causation, number, personal identity, power, are the names of single simple ideas, may not to the careless thinker wear the appearance of so obvious an absurdity ; yet if it be considered, (and by the Diversions of Purley it is proved,) that these words are complex and general terms, each not expressive of an idea, but of various collections of ideas — never combined, by any chemical process, either into one complex or into one simple idea, — the absurdity is not the less wild and ridiculous. I have ever been at loss to reduce within comprehensible limits the precise sentiments which Mr. Stewart entertains upon the ques- tion of Abstraction. At sometimes he appears to confine this sup- posed distinct faculty to the power of attention, in the sense ad- mitted by Berkeley ; at other times to rush into the unlimited wilderness of Locke, and to suspect that the soundness of general conclusions is endangered by the rejection of this supposed operation of the mind. In his last chaotick volume he declares, " * that the dispute concerning abstract general ideas is now reduced to this simple question of fact, Could the human mind, without the use of signs of one kind or another, have carried on general reasonings, or formed • Stewart's Elements of Philosophy, Vol. II. p. 126. LETTER THE THIRD. 283 general conclusions }" — For my own part I cannot discover for those who believe in the existence of abstraction as an operation of the mind, and consequently of abstract ideas as creations of the mind, any preservation from the triangle of Locke. Locke is at least consistent with himself; he shuns no consequences, however out- rageous, to which his principles evidently tend : and Mr. Stewart will be an unthrifty guardian of his own honourable fame, if he prefer the imposing arts of controversy to the fairness of philoso- phic inquiry. If there is such a power of mind as abstraction, it must manifest itself in the creation of abstract ideas : if there are abstract ideas, this power of Abstraction must create them. Are there, then, or are there not, abstract ideas ? If there are, what are they, what can they be, except such as Mr. Locke has described ? Where is the line of separation to be drawn ? I see no point where discrimination is possible ; ail appears one continuous deptr breadth of error, that cannot be disunited. To these topicks, then, I would invite the earnest atten Mr. Stewart. If he has any anxiety to render an essential service to the cause of sound philosophy, let him retrace his steps ; let him direct his faculties to the right understanding, and the full comprehension of a just theory of language ; let him re-study, and I think I must have satisfied even him that he has very superficially studied, that matchless production, the EnEA IITEPOENTA; — and re- study it with a more willing disposition to be instructed ; let him not waste his time in idle lamentations for the imperfections of speech, o o 2 284 LETTER THE THIRD. while so many of its perfections remain unnoticed and unknown ;* and let him bend faithfully and zealously the whole force of his mind to the investigation of these plain but indispensable questions t Is there, or is there not, such an operation of the mind as the com- position of ideas ? Is not the only composition in the terms ? Is there, or is there not, such an operation of the mind as the abstrac- tion of ideas ? Leaving these questions, then, to the consideration of Mr. Stewart, in the hope that he will bestow upon them that deliberate attention which I have ventured to claim for them, I will proceed to particularize a few of the valuable consequences, which might result to him from an unprejudiced investigation of the Theory of Language, as inculcated in the Diversions of Purley ; and among these I do not hesitate to predict this unquestionably, — that he would be awakened to a lively perception of the gross absurdity of an hypothesis which he has hazarded, and which, expressed in unequivocating and undisguised plainness, is no other than this : — that the fewer the senses, the better the metaphysician.* He would learn, that if a race of beings (for to suppose one such being is nugatory,) " were formed in every other respect like man, but pos- * " The perfections of language, not properly understood, have been one of the chief causes of the imperfections of our philosophy." Diversions of Purley, Vol. I. p. 37. * Stewart's Elements, Vol. I. p. 100, et seq. - LETTER THE THIRD. 285 sessed of no senses except those of hearing and smelling," instead of possessing what he calls ' ' a language appropriated to mind solely, and not borrowed by analogy from material phenomena," they could not possess a single word in their whole vocabulary, which would not be " the simple or complex, the particular or general sign or name of one or more ideas/' derived from those senses of hearing and smelling, and from them alone. Another error of no trifling nature, and which originates in Mr. Stewart's entire unacquaintance with the just principles of philology is this : — he conceives it to be one and the same thing, to inquire,* In what manner it was first settled that certain names should be imposed ? and, In what manner those names, when once intro- duced, should be explained to a novice ? Questions, to my mind, of a totally opposite nature. By the first, we are required to ascer- tain the means by which a language was originally invented ; or, to adopt Mr. Stewart's phraseology, " by which savages would com- pose a conventional dialect ;" by the second, the way in which a knowledge of their native tongue is acquired by children. The business of the savage is to invent words for ideas ; that of the child to obtain ideas for words. To the first question he attempts no answer ; but directing his views solely to the second, to that alone are his observations at all * Stewart's Philosophical Essays — Essay V. c. i. 286 LETTER THE THIRD. applicable. " The meaning of many words" (he says,) " is gradu- ally collected by a species of induction." Induction, however, it is clear, can only be made from a number of particular instances, and the first question requires that he should account for the manner in which the particular instances obtained an existence ; but instead of doing this, he assumes their existence, and then endeavours to account for the means by which a " progressive approximation" is made " towards their precise import," — by a child, — a novice, — or a learner of a foreign language, unsupplied with a Dictionary. I cherish the hope also, that, by the means which I have proposed, the mind of Mr. Stewart will be restored to its accustomed serenity, and rescued from the strange fears with which it is overcast, lest the theory of morals should, by the philological hypothesis* of Mr. Tooke, be founded upon some nostrum concerning past participles. Does Mr. Stewart mean to allege, that we are required by Mr. Tooke to acknowledge the will of God as the law of moral actions, because right means ruled, and wrong, wrung from the right, and * This " philosophical hypothesis" (to use the phraseology of Mr. Stewart,) would " decide in a very few sentences," that the following distinction, to which Mosheim, " exemplo summorum et celeberrimorum theologorum," declares his assent is merely verbal : — " Leges divinas non ideo tantum servandas esse quia auctoritate divina mu- nitse sunt, verum etiam quia in se justissimae sunt et cum divina sanctimonia congruunt, nee idcirco mandata Dei justa esse, quia ipse vult, sed idcirco a Deo sancita, et rogata, quoniam sanctitas et justitia ferri ea postulavit." De ^Etern. et Imm. Rei Mor. Cud- wortb, Pref. Moshemii, Vol. II. p. 620. LETTER THE THIRD. 287 just means ordered. Perhaps in his zeal to disparage the system of his adversary, he did not weigh very nicely the full force of his expression. What theory, he, who is so peremptory a dissentient from this origin of moral obligation, may have embraced, it is not at present of much importance to inquire. But what, I ask, are the theories of some, at least, of our best modern writers on moral philosophy ? Do they not found them upon the will of God, upon what God has ordered and commanded ? And what has Mr. Tooke superadded to these theories more than this : — that the strict appli- cation of the words in question to the moral conduct of man is per- fectly consistent with " those general laws which govern human thought in the employment of arbitrary signs ?" When, however, under the influence of these causeless apprehen- sions, he arrives at the definition of truth, then indeed does the prospect of some most paradoxical and alarming consequences, which open upon his fancy, so far affright him from his propriety, that the powers of his elocution advance too faintly and tardily to the aid of his reason to enable him to deprecate the violence of an assailant, whose march seems directed to the extirpation of all law, morality, and religion. Whether Mr. Stewart will entrust himself to the guidance of Johnson, (for he consults the Dictionary of Johnson for the meaning of words,) or whether he is wandering in the pathless mazes of Locke, his volumes supply me not the means to determine : they furnish no standard of truth which might spare me the exertion of my own understanding ; and I must still there- 288 LETTER THE THIRD. fore be content to inquire, and learn and judge for myself; and whatever I shall firmly think and believe, must still to me continue to be TRUTH. Fears and perturbations still thicken around us. Obscure hints* (it is alleged) have been thrown out of the momentous consequences, to which the discoveries of Mr. Tooke were to lead, and they were hailed with gratulations by the author of Zoonomia, and by other physiologists of the same school ; and thus no doubt is left with respect to the ultimate purpose to which they have been supposed to be subservient. Nature, it has been said, abhors a vacuum. The late Emeritus, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, abhors a materialist. Nihil magnificum, nihil generosum sapit. He has made man according to his own fancy, and those specula- tions, which tend to discover that he has arrayed this creature of his own creation with qualities, which God may have judged to be use- less and unnecessary ; useless for this mortal life, and unnecessary for the life immortal ; are to his mind ignoble and degrading to the nature of man. Man must not soar on material wings : like the mechanist in Rasselas he may mount the promontory, he may wave his pinions to gather the air ; but, if he leap from his stand, in an instant he will fall to the ground. * Stewart's Philosophical Essays, Vol. II. p. 185. LETTER THE THIRD. 289 " All the great ends of morality and religion," (says the immortal author of the Essay on Human Understanding,*) " are well enough secured without philosophical proofs of the soul's immateriality ; since it is evident, that he who made us at first begin to subsist here, — sensible intelligent beings, — and for several years continued us in such a state, can and will restore us to the like state of sen- sibility in another world, and make us capable there to receive the retribution he has designed to men according to their doings in this life. It is a point which seems to me to be put out of the reach of our knowledge." So wrote the excellent Mr. Locke ; but the guarded propriety of expression, and unfeigned humility and resignation of spirit which he displays, could not protect him from the misapprehension and attack of a dignitary of the English church. Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, resting the philosophical demonstration of the soul's immortality upon its supposed immateriality, and imagining the creed of a Christian imperfect, unless his faith were strengthened by certain deductions of general reasoning, — after dexterously mingling the name of Locke with those of Hobbes and Spinoza, — requires of Mr. Locke to consider whether his opinions did " not a little affect the whole article of resurrection." Mark the calm yet triumphant reply f of this truly Christian * Locke's Works, Vol. I. p. 337. t Id. p. 758. P P 290 LETTER THE THIRD. Philosopher ; it deserves the serious reflection of the controvertists of the present age. — " This your accusation of my lessening the credibility of these articles of faith is founded on this : that the article of the immor- tality of the soul abates of its credibility, if it be allowed that its immateriality (which is the supposed proof from reason and philo- sophy of its immortality,) cannot be demonstrated from natural reason. Which argument of your Lordship's bottoms, as I humbly conceive, on this, — that divine revelation abates of its credibility in all those articles it proposes, proportionably as human reason fails to support the testimony of God. And all that your Lordship has said, when examined, will, I suppose, be found to import thus much ; viz. Does God propose any thing to mankind to be believed ? It is very fit and credible to be believed, if reason can demonstrate it to be true. But if human reason comes short in the case, and cannot make it out, its credibility is thereby lessened : which is in effect to say, that the veracity of God is not a firm and sure foun- dation of faith to rely upon, without the concurrent testimony of reason ; i. e. with reverence be it spoken, God is not to be believed on his own word, unless what he reveals be in itself credible, and might be believed without him." Again : — " God has revealed that the souls of men shall live for ever : but, says your Lordship, ' from this evidence it takes off very much, if it depends wholly upon God's giving that which of LETTER THE THIRD. 291 its own nature it is not capable ofY that is, the revelation and tes- timony of God loses much of its evidence, if this depends wholly upon the good pleasure of God, and cannot be demonstratively made out by natural reason, that the soul is immaterial, and con- sequently in its own nature immortal." To the force of these observations I have nothing to add ; but upon the philosopher, I mean the Christian philosopher, I would most earnestly press a careful examination of the real value of the inquiry into the nature of the human soul. Is it within the reach of the human faculties to ascertain, (to state the question in terms that may be approved by the disputants themselves,) whether our " vital spark" be the mere result of material organization, or whe- ther we are endowed with a distinct immaterial spirit ? Must we not remain in the same ignorance of the substratum of our mental qualities, as we are of the substratum of material qualities, and for the same reason ? May we not rest piously, and, if piously, happily in our ignorance ? Is the decision of the question of any importance to our well being in this world, or to our happiness in the next ? Our hopes of immortality rest not upon the subtilities of our own poor and perishable intellects. God, who made us, by his word alone has brought life and immortality to light ; and whatever may be the wild imaginations or the rash conclusions of human under- standing, our destinies are immutably declared by the promises of God, made known to us in the revelations of the gospel, " Had Jesus Christ," (says Dr. Paley, in a passage which has been 292 LETTER THE THIRD. justly distinguished * for comprehension of remark, solidity of thought, and solemn grandeur of diction,") — " Had Jesus Christ delivered no other declaration than the following, ' The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good unto the resurrec- tion of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation/ he had pronounced a message of inestimable impor- tance, and well worthy of that splendid apparatus of prophecy and miracles with which his mission was introduced and attested ; a message, in which the wisest of mankind would rejoice to find an answer to their doubts, and rest to their inquiries. It is idle to say, that a future state had been discovered already. It had been discovered, as the Copernican system was — it was one guess among many. He alone discovers who proves; and no man can prove this point, but the teacher who testifies by miracles that his doc- trine comes from God." Farewell. March, 1815. . V To Samuel Lambrick, Esquire. THE END. W. 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