UC-NRLF $B bOS E7M Digitized by tine Internet Arcinive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.arcliive.org/details/anecdotesofengliOOpeggricli ANECDOTES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: CHIEFLY REGARDING THE LOCAL DIALECT OF Honoon ano its (2Bnbiron0; Whence it will appear that the Natives of the Metropolis, and its Vicinities, have not Corrupted the Language of their Anuestors. IN A LETTER FROM SAMUEL PEGGE, Esq. F.S.A. TO AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE, AND CO-FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTftUARIES, LONDON. THE SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED AND CORRECTED. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A SUPPLEMENT TO THE PROVINCIAL GLOSSARY OF FRANCIS GROSE, Es«« Oar sparkefull Youth laugh at their Great-Grand-Fathers' Engljih j *♦ who had more care to do well, than to speake Mimon-like." Camden's Remains, p. 22. I LONDON: PBINTED BY AND FOR J. NICHOLS, SON^ AND BENTLEY, RED LION PASSAGE, FLEET STREET. I8I4. ( HI ) ADVERTISEMENT in 1803. The little Essay here presented to the Publick was found among the Papers of its deceased Author ; who seems to have made it thPb amusement of a leisure hour; and probably laid aside or resumed his pen as his health and spirits ebbed and flowed. Such as it is, the Editor presumes it will be taken in good part, and create good-humour in its Readers ; who cannot but be aware of the difficulty of reducing Language or Taste to a common standard. POSTSCRIPT IN 1814. The former Edition of this Volume was submitted to the Publick under an express injunction in the last Will of its worthy and learned Author ; and its reception was such as would have fully gratified him could a 2 he ( 5v ) he have witnessed it. At its first appear- ance, the Editor did not feel hini^elf at liberty to make any material alterations in Mr. Pegge's original arrangement ; but, amidst a large mass of Papers connected with this and other subjects entrusted to hris revisal, were many nearly finished ar- ticles congenial to the present enquiry, which have furnished the Additions and Corrections in the present Edition ; which is improved by a vfery copious Index. The Provincial Glossary also is art appendage which, it is hoped, will prove ac- ceptable to the Philologist; and is printed separately, for the accommodation of former Purchasers, either of Mr. Pegge's " Anec- " dotes of the English Language," or of Mr. Grose's " Provincial " Glossary.'* ( V ) TESTIMONIALS. '' Philology offers few subjects more curious than the history of the Enghsh Language ; which has been derived from various sources, has re- ceived numerous admixtures in its progress, has been the sport of whim and caprice, and is at present far from being completely grammaticized. The late ingenious Mr. Pegge amused himself, and will doubtless amuse his .Readers, while, under a feigned zejl for the credit of the common Lon- don or Cockney dialect, he discussed the aukward state of our Language at a period not very remote from the present day, and adduced written au- thorities, of no mean rank, to justify expressions which are now regarded as evidences of vulgarity and want of education. With much grave hu- mour, he pleads the cause of ' old, unfortunate, and discarded words and expressions, which are now turned out to the world at large by persons of education (without the smallest protection), and acknowledged only by the humbler orders of mankind ; who seem charitably to respect them a 3 as VI TESTIMONIALS. atf decayed Gentlefolks that have known better days ;' and he insists that those modes of speech, which Dr. Johnson treated with so much con- tempt as mere * colloquial barbarisms* claim re- spect on account of their pedigree, though not for the company which they are now forced to keep. Formerly these were of good repute ; and though they be now melted down and modernized by our present literary refiners, the Cockney evinces his partiality to the old Family Language, and is not ashamed of being some centuries be- hind the present fashion. Cockneys, then, are intitled to some favour from an Antiquary, and their dialect will supply him with food adapted to his taste. ^' 'Ihisjbndled creature is so much Mr.PEGGE's darling, that he will not permit the fashionable world to abuse him as they have done. The sneering Courtier is reminded that the dialect in use among the Citizens, within the sound of Bow-bell, is that of Antiquity ; and that ' the Cockneys, who content themselves with the re- ceived Language and pronunciation which has descended to them unimpaired and unaugmented through a long line of ancestry, have not cor- rupted their native tongue, but are in general luckily right, though upon unfashionable princi- ples.' TESTIMONIALS. y.\ll pies.' These peculiarities of expression^ the shib- boleths of the common citizens, are here termed Londonisms. ^^ For some of the modes of pronunciation em- ployed by the Cockneys, the Author attempts no defence; thinking- that it is better to throw them on the mercy of the Court : but he artfully endea- vours, befoi^e he leaves them to their fate in this respect, to put a smile on the countenances of their Judges. " If this learned Antiquary does not think it worth his while to rescue the Londoner's pecca- dillos of pronunciation, yet of his ordinary words and expressions he sets up a bold defence. The use of redundant negatives, in ' I don't know nothing about it,' or ^ Worser and more worser ;' and ' Mought' for might — ' Ax' for ask — * Fetch a walk'^ — ' Learn* for teach -^' Shall us' — ' Sum- mons'd' for summon'd — ' A-dry' — ' His-self for himself, and ' theirselves' for themselves — ^ This here,' ^ that there' — ' Because why' — ' Ourn, Yourn, Hern, Hisn' — ' A few while' — ' Com'd' for came — ^ Gone with,' ' went with,' — ^ gone dead' — have more said in their favour than Cock- neys themselves would suppose ; and the sneer of the beau rnonde is rebutted by the sanction of re- spectable men, who gave the ton to our great great grandfathers. * In some ir^stances, indeed, the VUl TESTIMONIALS, the Cockney appears, without perhaps being con- scious of it, to have kept nearer to the true ety- mology, and to have more closely followed the genius of our language, than even the Courtier. Let the matter, however, turn out as it may ; by thus adverting to their etymology, which is in fact, as Mr. Pegge terms it, the history of words, and by considering their parentage, intermar- riages, and collateral family-connexions, we shall obtain some correct notions of the nature of our language, and be better enabled to perfect its grammar. *' Mr. Pjcgge has so managed his defence of Londonisms, as not to controvert Quintilian's principle respecting language, — Consuetudo ser- monis est consensus eruditorum, '^ In the Additamenta, are some judicious strictures on the Dictionary of Dr. Johnson ; who, it is truly observed, not aware of the au- thenticity of dialectical expressions, has be^" guilty of many omissions, and blundered in his etymologies. Mr. Pegge is induced to believe that more may be said in support of the Poticary of the Cockney, thaw the Apothecary of the learned and fashionable world, which has usurped its place *. * See p. 72, of the present Edition. « Whether TESTIMONIALS. IX^ ** Whether the Fasliionable World will take the hints here given by our deceased Antiquary, to correct their expressions, and to guard against the perversion of grammar, we cannot pretend to say : but of this we are confident, that, if they read his Essay, they will be amused by the play- fulness of his verbal criticisms, and by the vari- ous anecdotes with which he has enlivened his pages." Monthly Review, 1805, XLFIL 242. ** This Essay, as we are told by the Editor, was probably ' the amusement of the Author's leisure hours, who laid aside or resumed his pen, as his health and spirits ebbed and flowed.* It was found among his papers after his decease ; and is given to the Publick by his friend Mr. Nichols, who doubtless felt a just confidence that the genera- lity of Readers must be pleased with the union of so much curious information, with such easy jocularity of humour. The Author professes to undertake the defence of Cockney dialect, as it is called ; and shows, in fact, that the chief part of the peculiarities which characterize that dia- lect are not so properly corruptions, as the re- mains of a more antient mode of speaking, now in general disused. He sets out with a sort of genealogy of our Language, which is so well de- duced. 1^ TESTIMONIALS. duced, that it deserves a place in this acconnt of the book *. " The Author then mentions Dr. Meric Casau- bon, the Rev. G. W. Lemon, Junius, and others, who are fond of deriving our language from the Greek : he notices also, from Dr. Hickes, Sir John Fortescue Aland, &c. the affinity between the Greek and the Gothic languages, and con- cludes his enquiry in these terms -f, " It might be added, that Philosophy, for the last three centuries, has imported many Greek terms directly from the Writers of that Language; but that these are easily distinguished, as being in general terms of science : and with this ad- junct we shall have altogether a very sensible view of the sources of our language, conveyed in a few paragraphs. No notice is taken, we may observe, of the Oriental words supposed by some Writers to have been engrafted into our Language; because (excepting about thirty or forty words which are names of things produced in the East) ho rational conjecture can be formed, how we should obtain such additions. Similarities of this kind must therefore be regarded as casual coin- cidences. * See it in pp. 4—7, of the present Edition. t See pp. 10, 11. ^^This TESTIMONIALS. XI *^ This agreeable Author then lays it down as a previous principle, that ' the most unobserved words in common use are not without fundamen- tal meanings, however contemptible they may appear in this age of refinement.' To illustrate this, he exemplifies in the two very humble words ge and wo^ used by waggoners and car- men. The former he derives from the same source as to go, which has the same meaning ; and even points out the existence of it to ge, in that sense, in some of the Northern dialects. This illustration is sufficiently ingenious ; but being still more pleased with the deduction of the carter's wo, we shall copy that, for the benefit of our Readers *, *^ As the Language of t|ie Cockney is the chief object of research in this Essay, the Author, un- dertaking to prove that his Hero is no corrupter of words, but only a staunch adherent to ancient forms, we are amused [at page 2l] with a well- digested collection of the usual learning on the name Cockney ; with some additions, and a final conjecture, that it may be derived from coqueliner, to fondle or pamper, which has some probabi- lity, but does not carry conviction. [At p. 55,] a small collection of erroneous words, which the * See it in pp. 13 — 16, of the present Edition. Autbor ::^l TESTIMOJJMAI^S* Author does not undertake formally to defend ; such as necessuated (or rather necessiated) cur- ositi/, stupendiowi, unposslble, leastwise, ag- gravate, conquest (for concourse) of people, at- tacted, shay and poshay, gownd, &c. &c. on most of which, however, there are notes of some interest. The whole collection is extremely amusing ; but the regular plan of the Essay begins at page 8o, from which place the Author num- bers his instances, and forms them into a kind of chapters. Our Readers will smile to be told, that the phrases and words which this Antiquary se- lects for defence are, 1. I don't know nothing about it. 2, lVo7*ser, lesser, more worser, 3. Knou'd and see'd, 4. Mought for might. 5. Aks for ask. 6. Took for taken, and other irregular participles. 7. Fetch a walk, 8. Learn for teach, and remember for remind, p. Fit for fought. 10. Shall us, &c. 11. Summonsed iox summoned. Here, however, the charge of cor- J ruption will hardly be made. 12. A-dry, a-hun- gry, a-cold, &c. 13. His self for himself, their selves for themselves. We must here protest, as we pass, against a phrase which the Author calls regular, namely, " let he do it his self,*' which should certainly be ' let him do it ;' Let being ^n Active Verb governing an Accusative ; let me come. o TESTIMONIALS. klil come, let them go, &c. 14. Ourn, yourn^ hern^ &c. 15. This here, that there, &c. &c. \6, A few while. This \Ve cannot recognize as an ex- pression current among Cockneys, with whose language we conceive ourselves to he acquainted. 17. Com*6? for came, &c. 18. Gone with, gone dead, &c. These divisions extend till we meet with some Addit anient a, containing cursory re- marks on Johnson's Dictionary, and other en- tertaining matters. " On the whole, we have never seen a book of philological amusement put together in so original a style, or containing more unexpected, yet apposite i*emafks, and authorities from a variety of books. The Author chats with his Reader, but his chat is always agreeable ; it is the garrula senectSy but the garrulity is full of humour and original pleasantry ; and we regret when it is at length silenced by the aweful word Finis,'' British Critic, 1803, vol, XXI. /?. 418. *^ This posthumous Letter is written with sin- gular spirit and humour. Its object is to show that the dialect of London is the only uncor- rupted English ; or, if corrupted, that its cor- ruptions have merely risen from an attempt to render it more musical, or from the accidental changes XIV TESTIMONIALS. changes inseparable from an oral tongue. — Thisi view of our Language [that given in pp* 4 — 6,] is not perhaps strictly correct. In the West there are some traces of the Cumraig, or the \r\s\i Gaelic ; and in the North, the Saxon is not the exclusive source of the vernacular dialect. Yet, on this point, it is not easy to speak with accuracy, since we have so few Provincial Glossaries. We have often expressed a wish that our various dialects might be rescued from oblivion, while yet in existence *, Even at this moment they are gra- dually vanishing; and, unless the last vestiges be speedily caught, it will be in' vain to seek for them hereafter. Independently of the dialects, the metaphors should also be preserved (one of these occurs to us while writing). In the late popular play, ^ The Soldier*s Daughter,' to ^ rap or rend' is a phrase employed for procuring a thing by any means. The words should be rip or rind, a metaphor taken from barking (ripping and rinding) trees. A similar one we lately met, equally corrupted, thus, ' more and mould.' It means ^ entirely eradicated.' More \s root; and the phrase implies torn up with such violence, that the earth (mould) is separated with the * This desideratum is partly supplied by an Appendix to the present Volume. ' more. I TESTIMONIALS. XV more. One other remark we would add, that there are few Provincialisms which do not lead to the etymology. This is certainly true with re- spect to the names of places, and it is true also in other terms. It is brought to our recollection by a word noticed in p. 72, 'poticary for apothe- cary : the etymon of the latter may be apotheca ; but this is not the old word, which is evidently botica, — -Mr. Pegge labours to discover the de- rivation of the word Cockney *, which he thinks is from the participle of the verb coqueliner, to fondle or pamper : coquelin^ may be softened by pronunciation to coquen^. ' The king of Cock- ney,' in the old ballad, evidently meant the Lord Mayor of London, not the King of Eng- land. — We should with much pleasure en- large on this Letter, which has greatly enter- tained us, and affords many valuable remarks on the old English Language, were not various works, that equally claim our attention, in arrear. We must content ourselves, therefore, with this* general commendation, and conclude our article with one of the shortest specimens tliat we can discover among such as are characteristic of the work in general." Critical Review, 18 04, vol, II. p, 214. * See p. 9,7, of the present Edition, « The X vi tFiSTIM ONI A LS. " The aim of this pleasant Writer, the second Antiquary of the House of Pegge, is, to vindi- cate the dialect of London, or the ' Cockney Language,' from the imputation of vulgarisms and ungrammaticalness, and justify, by a happy selection of examples from writers of the Eliza- bethan age, that it rather has preserved the ori- ginal character of our Language than adulterated it by corruptions. — This little Essay, alike di- verting and informing, concludes with various examples of Etymology/' Mr. Gough, in Gent, Mag, 1803, vol, LXXIII, p, 145. " A singular exception to the dryness of phi- lological enquiry ! Mr. Pegge has defended the cockney dialect from the charge of baseness and corruption, by endeavouring to shew that its pe- culiarities are rather the remains of an antient legitimate mode of speaking, than sheer unau- thorised vulgarisms. Mr. Pegge displays a great deal of odd out-of-the-way knowledge ; and his work is extremely amusing." Monthly Mag, 1803, vol XV, p, 617, ANECDOTES I ANECDOTES ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN A LETTER TO AN ANTIGlUARY. DEAR SIR, i30 much has been said of the Enghsh language since the death of Dr. Johnson, that I have been induced to look minutely into one branch of it, which has had the misfortune to be severely reprobated, " The JLOCAL Dialect of London and its En- virons." I am well aware that the subject is too trivial to be brought before the Tri- bunal of the Society of Antiquaries at large ; and therefore throw it into the world, to find advocates under your benevolent pro- B tection, 2 ANECDOTES OF tection, and as a closet- amusement for indi- viduals in a vacant hour. The charge against the Londoners is, that they have corrupted and debased our Language ; to support which, the accusers bring forward the dialect of the present age as the standard, which, on examination, will be found to be very far from the truth. Not being myself a Cockney, if I pro- duce evidence sufficient to acquit the Lon- doners, I shall at least escape the impu- tation of partiality, if I am not honoured with the Freedom of the City in a gold box. Few people trouble themselves about the daily provincial seeihing jargon of their own County, because, being superficially under- stood, it answers the purposes of the Natives without farther investigation : though, I be- lieve, it may be affirmed that every dialect in the kingdom of England has (for the most part) a radical existence in one or other of the languages whereof our own is com- pounded. I dare at least confidently assert, that there is a less number of Provincial words and expressions in London and its vicinities (withiu trttE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 6 (within twenty miles), than in any other part of the kingdom, from a given centre ; that the verbal peculiarities are comparatively few; and that what is called vulgarity/ is barely a residuum of what was antiently the established natioaal dialect, at different pe- riods, from time immemorial*. In support of this asseveration I shall not refer you to Dictionaries, which seldom give us more than one descent of the word in ques- tion ; whereas, if extended higher, they would contain the genealogical history of a lan- guage. This will appear from the following remarks, whereby some original words, in more languages than our own, will unex- pectedly transpire. Do not be alarmed by supposing that I am leading you into a dogmatical detail re- garding the English language in general: but suffer me to say two or three words on it, whether they have, or have not, been said an * Mr. Ray has given us a considerable number of North Country words, and left a vast many behind Inm j whereas the dialect of London (as far as my penetration goes) pro- duces comparatively but few. B 2 hundred 4 ANECDOTES OP hundred times before. Dr. Johnson was scarcely at all aware of the authenticity of antient dialectical words, and therefore Seldom gives them any place in his Dic- tionary. He seems not to consider them i^^ free-horn^ or even as dem%€7is; but rather treats them as out-laws, who have lost the protection of the comnfonwealth : whei^as they generally contain more originality than most of the sputioufe words of tnodern date. I do txotj, Sir, contend for the strict legi- timacy of our language ; for the provincial branches of it are not all by one common parent. Thus, for instance, if you would seek for the terms and expressions of the Northern people of England, it will be in vain to ratisack the British tongue, which fied with, the natives into the fastnesses of Wales : for the Northern dialect (Scotland included) is for the most part Saxon. On the other hand, it would be as fruitless to search iif the Saxon forests of the North for, the language of the Western counties of England, which (except by transplantation) is THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 5 is of British growth. In Kent and Sussex, and the immediate Southern counties (coast- wise at least) our pursuit may be directed in a great degree to Gallicisms, in point of idiom as well as words: and lastly, in London (the great Babel of them all) every language will be found incorporated ; though that of the true Cockney is, for the most part, com- posed of Saxonisms, The Danes left us some traces of their language, though .it is but a dialect of that extensive tongue, which, under the different names of Teutonick, Gothick, Celtick, &c. was known in every region of what is called the North of JEurope, As to the irruption of words from the Southern parts of the Continent, we have the French, which came in with the Conqueror, and con- tinued in full force, so long as our Law Pleadings ran in that language, and our Sta- tutes were penned in it. From Italy w^e have gathered a few words (not a great many), introduced perhaps first by the Lombards, then by Nuncios who came hither ft'om the Pope, aiid by Ecclesiasticks who were perpe- tually scampering to Rome before the Re- formation ; 6 ANECDOTES OP formation; to which may be added other words imported by our Merchants trading to Italy and the Levant. Of modern date we have a few more, that have been smuggled over by our fine tra- velled Gentlemen, or which have made their entree with the Singers, Fidlers, and Dancers at the Opera. The Spanish language will aiFord more adopted words (especially in the military branch) than the Italian; a circumstance perhaps to be attributed to our Royal Inter- marriages. Katharine of Arragon lived here many years, even after her divorce, in whose suite were probably many Spaniards; and King Philip must have contributed a large re-inforcement of Spanish words and phrases, as he had an hundred Spanish body-guards in daily pay. Katharine, the Queen of King Charles II. may be supposed to have intro- duced a few Portuguese terms ; but those are so nearly allied to the Spanish, as to be scarcely discernible from them. Many Flemish and Dutch words might also- be imported by Emigrants, who fled hither THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. / hither from persecution on the score of Re- ligion at different periods. These, Sir, I conceive to have formed the apparently component parts of our language ; but not without a retrospect to the Latin and Greek tongues : and yet, notwithstanding that the Romans were in possession of this Island for four hundred years as a Colony, I rather imagine that the reliques of their lan- guage have, for the most part, been derived to us through the media of the Northern nations, with the addition of the French, Italian, and Spanish. As to the Greek, Dr. Meric Casaubon *, and after him more co- piously the Rev. George William Lemon in his Dictionary -j-, have laboured to bring our language in a very great degree to the stan- dard of the Greek. Mr. Camden concurs as to a strong plausibility in the deduction of some words in his Remains J, but cautions us against an implicit belief, Franciscus Junius was of opinion that the Gothick was really a dialect of the Greek; and Junius, * De Lingii^ SaxonicSl. t 1783, 4to. X P. 29. from S ^ ANECDOTES OP from the turn of his studies, was perhaps a better judge than Camden. Dr. Hickes, the great Saxonist, also allows that the Gothick language has a bold mixture of the Greek in it ; for, says he, " Gothic A Lingua in 7nultis locis grcecissat^J' To this opinion the Rev. William Drake (late vicar of Isle*!- worth), a very accurate Critick of the pre- sent day, says he is much inclined to accede, as it seems to be the only rational way to account for that variety of Greek idioms and terms that are so plentifully interspersed in his own language f. Sir John Fortescue Aland likewise, in his elaborate notes on Sir John Fortescue's Treatise on Monarchy;};, insinuates that the Gothick and Greek tongues probably originated from one com- mon language, and carries his supposition so far as to imagine that this common language was that spoken by the sons of Japhet ; and rrfers us to the Book of Genesis, Ch. x. 1, 2, S, 4, 5. * Saxon Grammar. t See Mr. Drake's Memoir in Archseologia, Vol. V. p. 31 1. X P. 20. This, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 9 This, if you please, we will leave to the decision of others, and of this Dr. Parsons will tell you more perhaps than you want to know. As to the Latin tongue, Dr. Black- well, in his " Court of Augustus *,*' observes, that the body and general structure of that language is, " clipped Greek.'' Apart from the surmise of Dr. Hickes and Sir John Fortescue Aland, if you have suf- ficient curiosity to collate the formation of the major part of the capital letters (about 15) in the AToeso- Got hick alphabet (as given by Dr. Hickes) with the correspond- ing letters in the Greek alphabet, you will find an internal evidence of the affinity, if not of the consanguinity, between the two languages. Dr. Hickes, however, goes far- ther, and points out a very striking feature of resemblance in the similar pronunciation of G. G. when in contact, by observing that, in this situation, the first G. had, in the Moeso-Gothick, the sound of N. as it has in the Greek. This he exemplifies in the Go- * Vol. 1. 4to. p. 78. thick 10 ANECDOTES OP thick verb Gaggan (to go) which, he tells us*, from such pronunciation produced the Saxon verb Gangan f . The Goths here spoken of w^ere those v^ho inhabited Moesia, not far from the Northern borders of Greece (a vast tract of country now comprehended in Turkey), whose lan- guage, with different dialects, probably ex- tended over all the North of Europe, nearly in the same latitude, from the coast of Nor- way to the Black Sea. To compound the matter. It is hence pretty clear that there was formerly either a Grcecitas in the Gothick, or a Gothicitas in the Greek language ; or, in other words, it becomes a question whether the Goths spoke Greeks or the Greeks spoke Got hick ? Who shall decide which was the parental lan- guage ? Be this as it may, it would not be to my purpose to enter into an investigation of such a nature ; and therefore let the sub- ject be dismissed with an observation, that, * Grammatica Anglo-Saxonica, p. 43. t Whence our verb ^' to G I « 14 ANECDOTES OF which will be found to be a term of high degree, anciently applied to valorous knights and combatants in armour (or harness as it was called), though now it is degraded to horses in the harness of the present day. When, therefore, a waggoner uses this in- terjection to his horses, he speaks in the Danish language, it being a broad pronun- ciation of the word Ho ! which is a word commanding cessation and desistance. It had anciently, as I have hinted, an honour- able attachment to tilts and tournaments ; for when the King, or President at the combat, gave the signal of discontinuance, by throw- ing down his warder (or bat6n), the Heralds cried out to the combatants Ho ! * that is, stop f . The French have enlarged the term * Ha ! in Fencing is a corruption of Hai — thou hast it. Ital. See Johnson's note to Romeo and Juliet, act ii. sc. 4. t See a note on a passage in the Tragedy of Macbeth, in the edition by Dr. Johnson and Mr. Steevens, 177S, p. 4*8 j and also a note to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, by Mr. Tyr- whitt, lines 1708 and 2658, where Holinshed is cited. See also the Reliques of ancient English Poetry, vol. I. p. 20. 3d Edition. Dr. Johnson likewise, in his Dictionary, pro- duces authorities for it both &om Shakespeare and Dryden. to I THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 15 to a dissyllable by the assistance of their favourite adjunct Xa, and used the compound word Ho'la (or stop there) in combats, and which we have adopted in common language, when we call to a person to stop, " Mettre entre eux le Hola^^ is a French expression, borrowed from the Tilt-yard^ used for put- ting an end to a dispute or verbal contro- versy *. Shakspeare gives us the word Hola in one passage, where it is closely connected in metaphor with a horse's motion, when Celia says, in *' As you like it,'' (Act III. sc. 2.) — " Cry Hola ! to thy tongue, I prythee ; it curvets unseasonably." Of the simple term Ho ! uncompounded, in the sense of stop, you have these two instances in Gawin Douglas's Translation of Virgil f: " Forbiddis Helenus to speik it — and cries Ho !" In this example it appears in the proper form of an interjection ; but in the second * See Huetiana^ Art. 87. t Book IIL p. 80. line 60. It 16 ANECDOTES OP it is used as a verb, where speaking of Juno he says : <* That can of wraith and malice never Ho *." In nautical language it still exists insen- sibly, and in its pure and natural state, with a very trifling expansion ; for when one ship hails another, the words are — " What ship ? Hoy r^ — that is, ^^ Stop^ and tell the name of your ship, &c. \^^ Take this little disquisition as a specimen of the dry matter with which I am proceed- ing to encumber you; and do not let your patience too hastily throw down its warder, and cry Ho ! But to return. Your long and intimate acquaintance with every thing relating to our forefathers gives me the boldness to ask an eleemosynary patronage of the following address. It is in behalf of some old, unfor- * Book V. fol. 148. line 2. t Perhaps the little trading vessel, termed a JHby, may have received its original name from stopping at different small places in its voyage, to take in goods or passengers, when called to or bailed from the shore. tunate, THE ENGLISH X-ANGUAOE* 1^ tunate, and discarded words and expressions^ turned out to the world at large by persons of education (without the smallest protection), and acknowledged only by the humbler or- ders of mankind, who seem charitably to respect them as decayed Gentlefolks that have known better days. I am confident, Sir, that you, as an Antiquary, whose vo- luntary office it is to succour and preserve the Aged from perdition, will not withhold your attention from hearing me In defence of the injured parties which I shall bring before you in your judicial capacity as a literary man ; when I hope to prove that my Clients are not mere Certificate-men , but that they have whilom gained legal settle'inents by long service, though now ousted by usurpers, to the verification of the adage, that " Might overcomes Right/' Though the subject of the following pages be too trivial for the consideration of the great tribunal of the Society of Antiquaries collectively, it may, nevertheless, serve to amuse you for an hour as an individual. c The 18 >ANBCDOTES OF The ear, Sir, is equally negligent with the feyei.and we- takejno! mpre, note of sounds )vhich we daily hear, than of objects which we daily see. Thus, while we^ are comment- ing on Shaikspea RE, mending or marring his text, the dialect of the hour passes by our ears unheeded. The language of every country is as sub- ject to change,, a^. the inhabitants, property, buildings, &c. 9; and while Antiquaries are groping for the vestiges of tottjering Castles, and poring over fragpfientary Inscriptions just risen from the grave ; — why not advert also to Words and Phrases vvhich carry with them th^ like stamp of age ? Such will these be with which I am now going to trouble you ; and which, though current every day, and suspected of a base alloy, will be found to bear the fire, and come up to the standard. I know it is Felony, without benefit of Clergy, to scour an old coin, be the legend ever so illegibly ; ^lut t|ie ^phjects before us w^ill ap- pear more ^ antient for th^ ^operation, when the modern dust and dirt which obscure them shall have been brushed away. By THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 19 By all that has been hitherto observed, I would prepare you, Sir, for what follows ; meaning only to insinuate that there is food for an Antiquary in the daily dialect of London, which, with all its seeming vul- garity, owes its birth to days of yore, as much as any other object of the senses on which Time has laid his unfeeling hand. Bishop Wilkins remarks, that " All lan- *^ guages which are vulgar (or living Ian-* " guages) are subject to so many alterations, " that in tract of tijiie they will appear to ^^ be quite another thing than they were at *^ first *.'' Every school-boy knows (and perhaps very feelingly) the debasement of the Greek tongue, the subdivisions of which into Dialects have occasionally brought him to the block. The Bishop adds, that ^' every " change is a gradual corruption, partly by ^' refining and mollifying old words for the " more easy and graceful sound f .'^ This is so far from an accusation that can be * Wilkins's Real Character, p, 6. f Idem, ibid. c 2 brought go ANECDOTES OF brought against the parties before you, that it operates strongly in their favour ; for, if a Cockney chuses to adhere to the dress of hi« ancestors, or to their language, he cannot, in either case, be called an Innovator. Most people admire family plate ; but family lan- guage (forsooth !) must be melted down and modernized. If the Cockney merely speaks according to the usage of his progenitors, — what shall be said of a man who actually wrote such language two hundred years ago, on a con- viction that it was stronger and more ener- getic than that of his own time, which he had courage enough to despise, though it was then reputed to be in a state of refine- ment ? The Author I point at is Spenser, whose language, both In his Pastorals and in his Faery Queen, is evidently not of the age when he wrote (the reign of Queen Eli- zabeth), but is professedly introduced in imitation of Chaucer. The reason for this is given by a Commentator) (known by the Initials E, K.J who was Spenser's contem- porary and friend, and therefore knew his motives. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 2'\ motives. To all this Mr. Thomas Warton accedes *. This Commentator, to use his own words, gives the Poet great praise, for that — " he " laboured to restore, as to their rightful " heritage, such good and natural English *^ words as have been long time out of use, " and almost cleane disherited f," Some of these insulted parties it is now my province to endeavour to vindicate, and to replace them in their patrimonial respec- tability and rights of primogeniture. And now, Sir, before I move a step far- ther, you have a natural right to call upon me for an explanation of the word — " Cock- " NEY :) but, alas ! it is confessed to be of most others the least definable. Bailey iii his Dictionary, and after him Dr. Johnson, give it as a term the origin of which is much controverted. Glossarists have written about * E. K. means Edward Kerke, as appears from Mr. War- ton's note on a passage, in Act IL Sc. 1. of Shakspeare*s fir3t part of Hen. IV. Edit. Johnson and Steevens, 1778. t Observations on Spenser's Faeiy Queen^ Vol. I. p. 12^. 1762, 12mo. it 22 ANECDOTES OF if and about it; — the game has been started; but not one of them has had the satisfaction o£ hunting it down *. Dr. Meric Casau- BON would persuade us, as he attempts to do in most possible cases, that it and its article taken together, fa Cockney), com- plete the Greek word — ^' Oicogenes,'' horn and bred at' homef. The learned Doctor may not indeed be far from the meaning, however he may err in the etymon. The Greek word, to be sure, is picturesque, and the combined sounds approximate : but, as far as derivation is concerned, I beg to take my leave. Dr. Hickes deduces it from the old French " Cokayne," now " Coquin," to which last Cotgrave (among other senses of the Word) gives us that of *^ A Cockney;'* and Cotgrave seems to have seen farther into the intrinsic meaning of the word than he here expresses, as will be shewn before we ^ The French have, at Paris, the word Badaud, according to Boyer, exactly in the same situation as our word Cockney ,• this is confirmed by Mr. Menage. The French word, by the way, is equally obscure and unaccounted for. (Menage, pic- tionaire Etymologique.) ^^ -J- Efe lingu^ Saxonic^. quit THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 23 quit ^hc subject. To obtain Dr. Hickes's point/ the word '^ Cokayne" must become a tri-syllable ; but he gives no authority by accent in prose, or by metre in verse ; though his conjecture may find support hereafter. ' If, Sir, you will insist upon the vulgar and received opinion, as delivered by story-tellers vivd'Voee, we learn that the word is com- pounded of Coc^ knd wez^A ; for that, once upon a time, a true-born and true-bred Lon- doner went into the country, and, on first hearing a horse neigh, cried out — " How " the horse laughs !" but, being told that the noise made by the Horse was called neighing, he stood corrected. In the morn- ing, when the CoeA: crew, the Cit immedi- ately exclaimed, with confident conviction, that the cock neighed! This traditional history is mentioned by Dr. Skinner, who treats it, deservedly, as a mere forced con^ ceit — " de quo," says he, " nota Fabula ^* est, revera Fabula *." It might have passed well-enough among Dean Swift's jocular etymons. ^ Etytnologicoiij lu voc^ Cockney. . " ■■•^ . . Let 24 ANBCDOTES OF Let US not, however, so rashly favour the story as to believe that the first exclamation produced the common term, *^ Jl horse- ** laugh ;*' for that expression, I think, rests upon different ground. Some Etymologists contend that it is a conniption of hoarse laugh ; but in such case it must be confined to those who either naturally have a very rough voice, or have got a violent cold, neither of which circumstances are abso- lutely necessary ; for what we call a hor^se^ laugh depends rather upon loudness, rude vehemence, or vulgarity of manner. It seems to be, in fact, no more than an expression of augmentation, as the prepositive horse is applied variously to denote several things lar^e and coarse by contra-distinction. Thus in the vegetable system we have the horse- radish^ horse-walmcty and horse-chesnut. In the animal world there is the horse-emmet (or Jhrmica-leojy the horse-muscle, and the horse- crab ; not forgetting that a fat, clumsy, vulgar tvoman is jocularly termed a horse-godmother. To close all, we say, ^' j^s sick a HorsCy' to express a great discharge THE ENGLISH LANGUAGJ^. 25 discharge by vomiting, whereas a horse never experiences that sort of sickness. Notwithstanding the definition lies so re* mote, yet most interpreters seem to agree ia the meaning of the word, that the term Cock- ney is intended to express a person bred up and pampered in the City of London, and ig- norant of the manners and ideas of all the rest of the world ; which agrees with Dr. Skin- ner's description (and coincides with other writers) that a Cockney is, " Vir urbanus, '^ re rum rusticarum prorsus ignarus.*' Dr, Hickes, indeed, carries the criterion to another point, collaterally not very foreign, when he says that the old French word Cockayne im- plied one who loved good eating and drink- ing, " Guise et ventri deditus.'' The Glos- sarist to Chaucer *, however, goes abundantly too far in annexing any degree of derogation to the word, which he renders as expressive of very opprobrious qualities, such as rogue knave, &c. terms which are never of necessity implied : for, though many rascals may per- * Urry's Edkicm. hap$ 25 ANECDOTES OF haps be Cockneys, yet the converse will by no means hold good *. On the other hand, from the situation in which we find the word in written language (taken with the context) it applies merely to the fondled Citizen, whose notions are confined within the walls of the Metropolis f . In Chaucer it imports no mote than a silly fellow, devoid of wit or courage, — I shall be held a dafFe (i. e. a fool) or a Cockney %. The antiquity of the word may be carried up much higher ; for Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, in the reign of King Stephen, had a strong Castle at Bungay in. Suffolk, which he held to be impregnable ; andy when speaking of the wars between that King and the Em^ jpress, whose partisan it is evident he was, he said, . * Grey's Notes on Shakspeare, I. p.-23f4, from Dr. Hickes. f It seems very odd at this day to suppose that any man born in London should never have been in the country ^ but we must take the state of the roads in. former times, and va-f rious other things into the consideration: — but the term Cockney itself is now pretty ^vell woj-n out. ■^ The Reeve's Prologue, line 1100. '■^ '" «Were THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 27 '* Were I in my Castle of Bungay, " Upon the river Wavenay, " I would not value the king of Cockney^:'' By Cockney, I presume, the Earl meant to express the whole City of London indiscri- minately. The Earl of Dorset, in his Poems, uses the term to denote a native of the Metropolis. Shakspeare, in one passage, seem^ to con- trast the idea of a Cockney s cowardice with a swaggering Braggadocio, wherCj in Twejfth- night, the Clown says, *' I am afraid this great lubber the world will prove " a Cockney \y ' ' r In another place he paints the party in bolder colours, and in exact conformity with the received opinion. The words are from the Tragedy of King Lear. In an agony of despair, the King exclaims, " Oh me, my heart, my rising heart ! — but, down I'' to which the Fool replies, ** Cry tpjit, Nunclq, sis the Cockney did to the Eels, ** when she put, them into the pasty alive: — she * Camden, and Magna Britajinia, Suffolk. fActlV. Sc. 1. *• rapped ^ ANECDOTES OP *' rapped them o*th' coxcombs with a stick, and cried, " Down, wantons, down! It was her brother that, in ** pure kindness to his horse, buttered his hay*." Eels being always sold alive, the ignorant maid, who we are to presume had not dressed any of them before, never thought of killing them ; but treated them as rebellious crea- tures, wondering that they did not submit themselves as quietly as other fish, which came dead to her hands. The above-cited instances point strongly at the — " Rerum rusticarum ignarus :" and as to the ^' buttering the hay,'^ it is no bad sympathetic type of the — "Guise et ventrl " deditus/' Thus much for traits of our own Cockneys; and, as I have hinted at those of Paris, I give you the following specimen of French Cock- ney-ship (Badauderie) from Mr. Menage, A Parisian, who could not swim, bathing in the Seine, got out of his depth, and would have been inevitably drowned had not some swimmers been at hand to save him. On recovering, he protested that he would never * Act II. Sc. 10. venture THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 29 venture into the water again till he had learned to swim *. Upon the whole. Sir, the term Cockney, being one of those inexplicable words which has puzzled the greatest Glossarists, I may well be excused from any investigation ; with observing that the established criterion of this class of people (as to the natale solurn) is the having been bom within the sound of Hoiu bell; that being taken, I presume, as the most central point of the antient City of London within the Walls. In support of this test, the fantastic and aspiring daughter of honest Touchstone (the Goldsmith of Cheap- jBide), in the Comedy of '' Eastward Hoe !" (printed 1605), says, in contempt of her birth, family, and at the horrid thought of being a Cockney, that she used — '' to stop •' her ears at the sound of Bow bell f ." For the honour of the Cockneys, be it remembered, that in the Christmas feasts, * Menaglana, Vol. III. p. 114. Edit. Anist. 1716. One l!(ould have thought that the scene must have lain on the- banks of the Liffey. t Act y. ad calcem. See Old Plays, Vol. IV. 2d Edit. which 50 ANECDOTES OF which were formerly held with so much foolish expence at our Inns of Court, the King of Cockney s (an imaginary Lord Mayor of London, chosen froih their own Commu- nity) was entertained with extraordinary re- spectability ; of which we have a full account in Dugdale's *'■ Origines Juridiciales :" -rr for in >the 9th year of King Henry VIII. it was ordered that — '^ The King of Cockneys *^ should sit, and have due service ; and that ^' He, and his Marshal, Butler^ and Con- " stable-marshal, should have their lawful " and honest commandments, by the delivery " of the Officers of Christmas */' After all that has been said, Sir, let us not be unmindful of some real and substantial benefits which have arisen to society, from this order of Citizens in particular who have thus innocently fallen into such unmerited contempt. At the time when Mr. Strype published an enlarged edition of Stowe's Sui-vey of London and Westminster f, there * P. 247. Some of these childish feasts cost the Prince, as he was called, 2000 Z. t A. D. 1720. was THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 31 was an annual feast, held at Stepney, ex- pressly ealleld:/' The Cockney's Feast;-' on which da,y .a contribution was made, either at church or» at. dinner (or at both), i with which the parish children were apprenticed/ Mr. Strype (who was himself a Cockney) adds, that he had more than once preached before the Society on the occasion *. Mr. Lysons f says, that the principal purpose of the Society was, the apprenticing poor chil- dren to the sea- service ; and that the insti- tution was patronized by several persons of distinction ; . among which he adds, that the Duke of Montagu and Admiral Sir Charles Wager were the Stewards for the year 1734. It gave place at length to a more general in- stitution, " The Marine Society," established 1756. So long as the primary Fraternity lasted, a secondary "effect was produced, as i| certainly tended to, keep up the breed of true and genuine Cockneys, and thereby operated toward the preservation of the purity of the * First Appendix to Strypc's Stowe, p. 101. -f Enviroos of London, Vol. IIL p. 408. English 32 ANECDOTES OF English language, as will appear from th« circumstance and examples which follow. Having said thus much, Sir, to no purpose ; 1 will have the boldness to throw out one word of comfort, that seems to point at the semblance of an etymon, and will risque a conjecture, which, as far as I know, has not been hazarded before. The French have an old appropriated Verb (not to be met with in the modern Dictionaries — but you w ill find it in Cotgrave) viz. ^' Coqueliner un eiifant^'* to fondle and pafnpei' a child. The Parti- ciple Passive of this Verb will therefore be *^ Coqueline/* which, by no great violence, may, I think, be reduced to " Coquen^ ;'' for, in pronunciation, the penultimate syllable (lij will easily melt in the mouth, andf accord, in our spelling, with the word Cockney*. Thus I have brought together every thing material that I can find relative to the term in question ; — nor had I urged so much, but * Baret, in his Alvearie, says, that a child which sucks long used to be called " A Cockney, after St. Augustine/' meaning tlie well-known Doctor of the Church. that I'HE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 33 that I felt myself amenable to you for some- thing on the subject — and here I leave it. A plain, honest, true-bred Cockney then. Sir, though he has often a quaint affectation of what he takes to be wit, and in conver- sation tires you to death with the repetition of some favourite word or expression, is perfectly innocent of the personal crime of fabricating new ones, leaving that to men of greater genius. Words unheard before, if analogi- cally formed, give a zest to language ; while at the same time new epithets and new me- taphors heighten the flavour still more. The late Mr. Boswell, Dr. Johnson's friend, exulted much in the sanguine hopes that he had procreated the word equitation, till he found that the word had been foaled by Henry Earl of Pembroke, who published a book expressly on the subject of Horseman- ship with this very word in the title-page *. Dr. Johnson has pleaded guilty to the charge of coining three or four words in- serted in his Dictionary, though he has not ■• Boswell's Journal of Dr. Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides, B specified St ANECDOTES Ot specified them: but who looks for words, unread before, in any Dictionary ? We are told likewise that he issued as many more new words during his Tour to the Hebrides *. There are many words in his writings, which are not found in his Dictionary ; Pelfry for example. Queen Elizabeth was very successful in miinting the Latin word ^^ Fceminilis/* which is reputed to have carried with it great ele- gance. It is found in her Majesty's Speech to the University of Cambridge, when she visited it A. D. 1564, which begins *' ISitsiJ'oeminilis pudor, &c. f '* Dr. Thomas Fuller, who is well known to every body, and quaint In every possible in- stance, styles himself, in his ^' Appeal of ^' Injured Innocence," (fol. Part III. p. 47.) " Prebendarius Prehendarides J." I suppose the Doctor's father was a Pre- * Boswdl's Journal of Dr. Johnson's Tour, pp. 141, 429. t Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, where the Speech is printed at length, lib. VII. It may be seen also in Mr. Nichols's Collection of the " Progresses of Queen Elizabeth." % See Granger, vol, II. 8vo. p. 171. bendary. ^liE ilNClLlSti LANGUAGE. 3S bendary *. So FItz-Stephen is Latinized by Stephanides^ on the principle of the Greet PatronydeSk Such incursions into tegular and esta- blished language have been made in every language living and dead, though few of the more antient have reached our time. The first new-coined word that I know of was struck by Demosthenes ; who, having heard that King Philip of Macedon had bribed the Oracle In order to dispirit the Athenians, accused the Priestess of Philipizing, Per- haps this was not the first time that Philip had been tampering with her Holiness, to carry his designs by means of her predictions. On the other hand, Demosthenes afterwards received a mortiiying retaliation, by another new-coined word from one of Alexander's partlzans, from whom he had received a bribe, when, having unluckily a complaint in his throat (whether accidental or conve- * He was only Rector of Aldwinckle, in the County of Northampton. His mother was sister to Bishop Davenant, who does not appear to have held any Prebend. jD 2 nient S4 ANECDOTES Ot niejit we will not say), he was not able to speak on the occasion. Upon this his si- lence, some one lamented aloud that the Orator had been suddenly seized with a To return to our own language : I have annexed a receipt (which you may read or not as you please) for fabricating new words in as full and ample a manner as a made-dish can be produced upon the principles of any culinary pharmacopoeia whatever, by the as- sistance of certain compound ingredients, without any foreign assistance at all. Take the privative un, add it to a positive adjective or adverb, and you have as good a negative as any in the world. The dis or the de will answer equally well. The un has been added to a Verb, as in " Chrononhotontologos," where it is said of the King, that " Fatigu*d with the tremendous toils of war, ** Himself he w/jfatigues with gentle slumbers." Sc. 1. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 3? jd, no doubt, must be, in compliance with sense, a substitute for of: — but of is itself very frequently a redundancy, used after the Participle Active. If it has any sense after them, it expresses concerning, viz. speaking of it, hearing of it : — but we cannot properly say tasting of it, telling of it, or seeing of it; these last being Verbs Active, that require something to act upon. The factitious terminations admissible in words are numberless ; and therefore I shall mention but a few. Take the terminative — ism, mix it with any word to your taste, and it will chemically produce a tertium quid. We hear of t7me- ism now and then in Parliamentary language ; but — ism sounds more melodiously when it follows a Consonant rather than a Vowel. Thus dinner-m/i and supper-mw are pre- ferable to tea-z>m or coffee-ism, on account of the hiatus. Trxxe-ism was not, however, used for the first time in our Houses of Parliament ; for it occurs in Swift's " Remarks on the Rights ANECDOTES OIP ** of the Christian Church," ch. VIII. p. 232. — and in Berkeley's '^ Alciphron," II. p. 208 *. — Ity and — ety are terminations, which will assist the epithet very much. Miserabil- ity, for instance, is as regular a word as irri- tabil-e(y; scouhdrel-2Vy as ^cxixvW-ity ; and uxori-e^j/ as vari-e^j^, &c. We sdij paucity ; why not tm^dity ? Or, gloriosity, from generosity ; Miserability, from inability; Uocorietyy from notoriety? ' — Oics is a termination which carries weight with it, and might be admitted, as in multitudinous, and other similar words in which it has pbtained a situation; as, — • uiagnitudinow^, gratitudinow^, solitudinow^, plenitudinoM^, &c. This leads to — ousify and asity, an ex- tension of an Adjective into a Substantive, as monstrousity, — Ation is a modern finish, which has been in much use since stdixwation was heard in Parliamentary language. It will splice * Gentleman's Magazine, 1786, vol. LVL p. 104S. very THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 39 very conveniently with either a Verb or a Noun, which has carried it even to bother- ation. At a roMt-ation you may meet with a great deal of talk-a^^07^ and scandaliz-a^zon; — at a concert, much fiAdle-ation and faddle- ation; — and at a city entertainment, much eat-a^zo?2, Axiuk-ation, breakfast-a/zow, boil- atioYiy ToeLst-ationy and every kind of luxurious anti-starv-a/^o?^. I meet with savation in the Paston Let- ters, published by Sir John Fenn, Knight ; and again with skeusacion, i. e. excusation or excuse, in vol. II. p. 259. Shakspeare in Othello, Act IV. Sc. 1. and in the Merchant of Venice, IV. Sc. 1. has 'scuse for excuse; but a still more bold elision appears in Henry IV, Part I. where we find 'scarded for discarded, Jllucrative-^ Some offices may be called honourable, though they are illucrative. j4pprizals, as well as reprisals, GreatishnesSy from selfishness. Language in general, modes of speech, or the particular application of words. Sir, w^ere never held to be the manufacture of the 40 ANECDOTES OF the mob ; but to have been decided and esta- blished by the usage of the superior orders of mankind *. The consent, therefore, of men of every age, who speak and write with pro- priety, stamps the currency of words; and though such words may thereafter grow out of date, or be vitiated by habit and mis-pro- nunciation, there yet remains a trace of them, to ascertain their intrinsick value. Fashion has long been the arbiter of language, as well as of dress, furniture, &c. ; all which have varied, nobody knows why, nor how the innovations have crept in, because the aggressors against the old fashions have never been detected f. So vague was the state of the French lan- guage when Mons. Vaugelas wrote (between the years 1585 and 1650), that, during his translation of Quintus Curtius, which occu- pied him for thirty years, it had varied so much, that he was obliged to correct the ■* " Consuetiidinem sermonis vocabo consensum Erudi^ torum:* [Quintilian, lib. I. cap. 12.] f Consuetudo vicit, quae, cum omnium Domina reruni, turn maxime Verborum, est Aulus Gellius^ lib. XII. cap. 13. former THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 41 former part of his work, to bring it to the standard of the latter. This occasioned Mons, Voiture to apply to it the epigram of Martial Upon a Barber, who was so slow in his ope- ration, that the hair began to grow on the first half of the face, before he had trimmed the other*. It is no very easy matter to read and un- derstand Chaucer, and the Poets of that age, currently in their old-fashioned spelling (apart from their obsolete w^ords), even when translated, as I may term it, into modern types ; and much less so in their ancient garb of the Gothick or black letter, till their lan- guage becomes familiarized by habit. I con- ceive farther, that the antiquated French tongue would be still more unintelligible to a Frenchman of the present age ; to evince which, it may be only necessary to compare the " Grand Coutumier de Normandie," or " Les Assizes de Jerusalem," with more mo- dern writers; or even Rabelais with Voltaire, * Anecdotes Litteraires j Paris, 1750, 8vo. torn. I. p. 115/ *' Entrapelus tonsor, dum circuit ora Luperci, V Expungitq\;e genas j altera barba subit." Martial, Epig. vii. S3. Ortho- 42 ANECDOTES OP •^ Orthography, therefore, is as the fashion- able literary world for the time being shall have been pleased to make it ; but with this latitude, that formerly our English spelling was, for a long time, happily governed by the ear, without any solicitude about the position or number of letters in a word, so that there were plenty of them. Since ortho- graphy has been attempted to be curbed by rule, deviation from the ancient open prac- tice has been studiously affected ; in conse- quence of which, the mode established as perfectly right at the commencement of a century, may perhaps be discarded as palpably wrong before it is half expired. We need not recur to the case of Mons. Vaugelas before given ; for such of us who can recall thirty or forty years to remem- brance, may bear testimony to many varia- tions in our own language both in phrase and spelling. It is no part of my plan or intention to trouble you, Sir, with a descant on Ortho- graphy ; but give me leave to say (as it were in a parenthesis), that our language has undergone t THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 43 undergone some considerable alterations very lately, Honour, favour, &c. are now cut down to honor, favor, &c. Dr. Johnson, however, our latest Dictionarian (if you will allow me to use the term) gives no instance of these words being written with such de- falcations ; neither does he leave it at all doubtful, by Indulging them with an alias*. Again, Sir, it is now the ton to write phy^zc, mwsic, pubZ/c, &c. without the old final letter h, which no schoolboy dared to have done with impunity forty years ago. But this is not the first time that these, and other such words, have lost a limb ; for physick, musick. Sec, were written, in older Pnglish, physicke, musicke, &c. What a crime of leze-antiquite would It be, were I by a letter to invite you to view a very curious antic vase now in my posses- sion ! — - and yet T can support my spelling, on the modern principle, thus — antique — * We remember to have heard that, in the Library of St. ♦fohn's College, Cambridge, is a copy of Dr. Middleton's Life pf Cicero, in which some member of the House took the pains to re-insert the w in all such words. Mr. GoucH, in Gent. Mag. 1803, vol. LXXHI. p. 146. anticke 44 ANECDOTES OP . anticJce — antick — antic ; and which is per- fectly analogous to the words above given. Mr. Nares * softens the matter, by ob- serving that two letters can better be spared out of dissyllables than one out of mono* syllables ; which is so far true, that our monosyllables would make a very paltry appearance were they to be curtailed of their final letters. We will contrast two sen- tences, consisting of the same words, the one written with the final ^, and the other without it, and observe the effect they will have to the eye upon paper; though they are identically the same to the ear in point of sound. " Dick gave Jack a kick ; — when Jack '^ gave Dick a knock on the back with a '' thick stick:' Per contra, " Die gave Jac a kic ; — *' when Jac gave Die a knoc on the bac " with a thic stic," Dr. Johnson, however, decidedly avers that in English orthography no word whatsoever, long or short, ends with the letter c ; - — nor * Orthoepy, p. 91, &c. are lliE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 43 are the French, who eat so much of their language in speaking, hardy enough to abridge their spelhng by writing i^hysiq^ muszy, or publzy. This our modern mode of writing is still more singular and excentrick, if we will observe that no other words ending with the consonants c k have been deprived of their final letter k. For example, we do not write attac, ransac, &c. — bedec, &c. — nor traflF/c, frohc, &c. — nor bulloc, hemloc, &c. — nor wild-dwc, good-lwc, &c. Innovations have been sometimes dangerous in supposed orthography, where established error has long prevailed. Dr. Fuller assures us, that an under-clerk in the culinary de- partment of the Royal Household (^in his own time) was threatened with a summons before the tribunal of the Board of Green-cloth to answer for the crime of writing (in his offi- cial accounts) the term Sinapi (i, e. mustard), as it should be spelt, contrary to the estab- lished mode of the Court, which had been, for time immemorial, to write it Cinapi *. In * Fuller's Church History, Book IV p. 150. another 46 ANfiCDOl'ES Of another case, which I have before me, the most serious consequences once actually fol- lowed a very trifling mistake in orthography, and by which the offending party lost no inconsiderable property. Mons. Varillas, a French author well known among Divines, had a nephew, whom he proposed to make his heir; but who, in a letter to his uncle, was unfortunate enough to close it with — " votre tres Aobeissant,'' instead of " obeis- *^ sant." This little error so exasperated Mons. Varillas, that he never forgave it, — set his nephew down for an egregious block- head, unworthy to be the successor to the fortunes of a man of learning, and left his estate to pious uses*. Thus much for orthography. Idiom is the dress and fashion of expres- sion, in which I suppose every language has its peculiarities. Let not then the inhabi- tants of a Metropolis, who are conceived to be an order of men superior to the vassalage of the remoter parts of the kingdom, and * Anecdotes Litteraries, Paris, 1750^ torn. II. p. 138. whose THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 47 whose manners have been expressly handed down to us in the words " politeness" and *' urbanity/' be denied a few singularities, new or old, while every other part of the Island abounds with so many. All Courts (and our own among the rest) have ever affected a toriy or refined dialect of their own; wishing, no doubt, to differ as much as possible from the bourgeoisie: but it does not follow that the language of the City is without a basis; though, like the founda- tions of the City itself, it may lie deep. As to to7t, Sir, be pleased to accept the following anecdote. In the reign of Louis XIV. a very alarming little revolution took place in the application of an epithet in the French language ; for it had become a ruling fashion to give to every thing great the term gros, as — " un gros plaisir," — ^' una " grosse qualite," ^' une grosse beauts," &c. The King took an occasion to intimate a dis- like to these expressions, because, in fact, he was frightened out of his wits, lest he, who had been for some time styled Louis le Grand, should exchange his title for that of a second 48 ANECDOTES Ot*^ a second Louis le Gros, Mons. Boileati, however, upon perceiving the King's alarm, had the address to observe how impossible it was for the world even to think of Louis le Gros in the reign of Louis le Grand ; — when the Royal mind was quieted, the ton had its course, and soon vanished *. The French Court, ever fond of novelty, once carried its innovations in language even to the subversion of grammar, in one notable instance, so far as to alter the gender of a Substantive, in compliment to an infantine mistake of their Grand Monarque. This circumstance I have elucidated in a little memoir published in the Antiquarian Reper- tory *}-, which is in substance briefly this : The word Carosse (a coach) was originally feminine, as its termination implies, and is so found in Cotgrave's Dictionary ^ ; but, when Mons. Menage published his Diction- aire Etymologique §, he gives it as avowedly masculine, but not without remarking that it had been formerly feminine — " du quel * Menagiana, Amsterdam, 1716, 12mo. Vol. IV. p. 3. t Vol. III. p. 155. X Edit. 1611. § 1650. ^' genre THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 49 ^^ genre ce mot ^tolt autrefois." The revo- lution, as to the gender of this word, arose from the following trivial grammatical error. Louis XIV. came to the Crown, A. D. 1643, at the age of about five years; and soon after- wards, on enquiring for his coach, happened t'j confound the sex of it by calling out — *' Oil est mon carosse ?" This was sufficient to stamp the word CcarosseJ masculine, of which gender it has continued to the present moment. Such a trifling puerile error is not to be wondered at ; but that a whole Nation should adopt a change of gender in compli- ment to it, is a palpable absurdity, of no common magnitude. " Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis" used to be held as most courtly doctrine ; but seldom more ridiculously than in the fore- going Instance, except in that which follows. The former was a bagatelle ; the latter gave so diiFerent a cast to tlie features of a whole Nation, that, one may suppose it might be difficult for a moment to discriminate a man from his former self. When Louis XIII. E succeeded so ANECDOTES OF succeeded Henry IV. at tbe age of nine years, the Courtiers, because the new King could have no beard, resolved that they would have none themselves ; and every wrinkled face appeared as beardless as possi- ble, reserving only whiskers, and a small tuft of hair beneath the under lip. The honest Duke de Sully was the only courtier who was hardy enough to appear In the Royal presence with his beard In the form of the late reign *. Louis XIV. (as has been observed) ac- ceded to the Throne of France at five years of age ; and his education was neglected, to * Pogonologia, London, 1786, 12mo. p. 29. This is confirmed by existing portraits, which are in his Majesty's collection, and now in the presence-chamber at St. James's, xvhere Heniy IV. appears with a portly beard, in the style of his ancestors, and Louis XIII. (an adult) with only the tuft on the lower lip and whiskers. This persecution, we are told, was carried by the Courtiers even to the curtailing of horses* tails : which two circumstances occasioned the Marechal Bas- sompiere (who had been imprisoned in the Bastile by Henry IV. where he continued twelve years, till the accession of i^ouis XIII.) to observe on coming to the Court again — " that be saw no change in the world, since he had been secluded from it, but that meti had lost their beards, and horses their tails" give THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 51 give way to the intrigues of state, under the regency of his mother, Anne of Austria, and of thfe administration of Cardinal Mazarine, during a long minority ; — and I have been well assured that the lUiterature of this Grand Monarque went so far that, to the last, he could hardly write his name. He formed it out of six straight strokes, and a line of beauty which first stood thus, I I I I 1 I S ; these he afterwards perfected, as well as he was able, and the result was LOUIS. Thus much for the endowments of that King in the art of writing : — how far they went in the art of reading I cannot ascertain; but to his honour be it said, that he w^as so sensible of a general defect in his own edu- cation, as to take all possible care to preclude every default in that of his Son ; circum- stances which French Writers themselves do not affect to conceal *. * See Dictionaire Historique, Lilteraire, et Critique. Art. Louis XIV J where speaking of Louis, the son of Louis XIV. the woids are — '^ Son Pere, qui sentoit tout le defaut de ^' I'education qu'il avoit re^ue, n' oubHa rien pour en donner " une ineillieure a son fils, et mit aupres de lui tout ce que la " France avoit de plus eclair^.'* e2 It Sfif ANECDOTES OF ^ It IS matter of no great surprize that the Gonstiible du Guesclin in the fourteenth cen- tury, though both a warrior and a statesman, should not be able either to write or read* : — but that the Constable Montmorency, in the reign of Henry IV. of France, which terminated 1610, should be equally ignorant of both writing and reading, shews that scholastick accompHshments, even at that period, were not thought necessary to form any part of the characters of those who were accounted great men f . But what is most extraordinary, and in cases where we should have expected rather more than the usual literary qualifications, we are told that, even among the Bishops, in the seventh century, there was so great a general want of even the meanest learning, that it was scarcely deemed opprobrious to acknowledge their ignorance ; and that, in the article of writing, several of them have * St. Palaye, Memoires sur I'ancienne Chevalerie, torn. II. p. 84. 4to; Paris, I78I. ■\ Horace Earl of Orford's note, in the Life of Lord Herbert i>f Cherbury, p. 58. been THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 53 been found, who actually could not sign their names. I rest my authority upon the Rev. Dr. Joseph White, Laudian Professor of Arahick in the University of Oxford, who gives two instances (from among many others which he could have produced) selected from the Acts of the Councils of Ephesas and Chal- cedon, where subscriptions of some Bishops are to be found in the following terms : — " I, A. B. (Bishop of ) have sub- ^' scribed by the hand of C. D. because I " cannot writer And again ; — " Such, a *' Bishop having said that he could not ^* write ; I, whose name is under-written, " have subscribed for him *." Allow me another word concerning Louis XIV. ; for, to do him still more justice, though both he and his Minister Colbert were illiterate, yet were they patrons of men of learning; and it is owing to the sense which Louis entertained and felt of the meanness of his own literary accomplish" * See the notes and illustrations at the end of Dr. White s Sermons, preached at Bampton Lectures, 1784, p. vi, ments, 54. ANECDOTES OP ihents, that the world received the Delphin edition of the Latin Classicks, which, by that King's order, was prepared for the more easy information of the Dauphin*. But to return, Sir, and confine myself to the subject ; which is, to shew, that the humble and accepted dialect of London, the Londonisms as I may call them, are far from being reproachable in themselves, however they may appear to us not born within the sound of JBoiu-bell ; nay, farther, that the CochiCTjs, who content themselves with the received language and pronuncia- tion which has descended to them unim- paired and unaugmented through a long line of ancestry, have not corrupted their native tongue, but are, in general, luckily right, though upon unfashionable principles ; — and, moreover that even those very words which appear to be distorted in pronuncia- tion are, for the most part, fairly and analo- gically formed. * Huetiana. THE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 55 The pronunciation and use of some few words, it must be confessed, are a little de- formed by the Natives of London, ofwhich I candidly give you the following catalogue; but, as they are words of inheritance, and handed down from ear to ear without inter- mediate assistance, they may admit of much vindication. Vulgw?arity — for vulgarity ^ Nece55wated, for nece^^iYated ^. Thus also they say dehiliated for debilitated, Curosity for curiosity. Cxxwus for cvivious^. On the other hand, they say stupendzo?^^, » Or more properly 7/;M%ularity, of which initial more hereafter 5 precipitately formed to correspond with the fa- miliar words — popzfZarity, singuZarity, &e. '^ I will not decide that our word is correct, though more palatable to the ear. Shakspeare writes, " necessity-ed." All 's Well that ends Well, Act V, Sc. 3. However this may appear upon paper, it does not sound well, on accoimt of the hiatus, 3 The Cockney's adjective is curous, which, according to their formation, renders curosity perfectly regular. I do not vindicate the adjective. for 58 ANECDOTES OF for stupendow5. I find stupendioza in Der- ham's Physico-Theology, edit. 9th, p. 367. Perhaps it may be an error of the press. ZT/ipossible for ^mpossible ^. Milton uses 2i?iactive, and not 272active. Par. Lost, book IV. line 621. and book VIII. line 97. As also t^nsufferable, and not in- sufFerable, book VI, line 867. Sir Henry Nevile, in a letter to Sir Robert Cecil, 1602, uses the word, "It is an wwpossible thing *^ for me to do.'' Mr. Lodge's Illustrations of English History, III. p. 122. Least- wise for at least ^. Tf^eise is a German word, signifying mo/n- ner; and will as fairly combine with least as with those words which are its usual asso- ciates, viz. like-wise, other-v/he, &c. Aggravate for irritate ^. * " Is all wwpossible." Shakspeare, Rich, II. Act 11. Sc. 2. C7npartial for impartial, is used by writers in Shakspeare's time. The privative im in the place of un is modern refine- ment. See a note by Mr. Malone, in " Measure for Mea- sure," in the edition of Shakspeare, by Dr. Johnson and Mr. Steevens, 1778, 8vo. * ^' At least-wise." Life of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, p. 9. * The vowel at the beginning (though not the same) added to THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 5^ A conquest of people, for a concourse ^. Conimanc/ement, for commandment ^. Attack^ed, for attacked ^. Shay and po-shay, for chaise and post- chaise 10 GowncZ, for gown to the similarity of sound at tlie termination of the word, seems to account for the mistake. The measure and accent of the words are the same. ' The first syllable governs the second from inattention, there being a similarity in the whole sound of each word. * Shakspeare uses it : *' Be valued 'gainst your wife's commanrferaent." Merchant of Venice, Act IV. Sc. 1. " From him I have express commant/ement." Henry VLP. LActLSc.3. 5 The mistake lies on a supposition that the verb is to attach, similar to the verbs transact, contract, &c. on which idea the word attached is regularly formed. ^" They mistake chaise for the plural, and that the singular is chay (or s^ay) j and in post-chaise, the last letter of post is lost, whereby the s and the ch are blended together. I re- member a mayor of a country town, who had the same idea of plurality annexed to the word clause 5 and therefore, when- ever he spoke in the singular number, would talk of a claw in an Act of Parliament. " ITie final d is here introduced to give a finish to the word, analogous to ground, sound, pound, &c. Partender, 58 ANECDOTES OF Partender, for partner *^. Bacheklor, for bachelor '^. Obstropolous, for obstreperous ^^ Argufy, for signify ^^. Scrupulosity, for scruple *^. Commori -garden, for Covent-garden ^^. Pee-aches, for Piazzas ^^. Kingsington, for Kensington ^^. Kiver, for cover. Daater, for daughter. Saace, for sauce. Saacer, for saucer. Saacy, for saucy ^^. ^^ The expansion of this word, like the preceding, is merely intended to round it (pour le rondir), and to make it run smoother off the tongue. *3 Here again we have an interpolation, merely, as the Cockney thinks, to mend the sound. ** A good guess, and no bad imitation of a hard word. *5 Not a bad word, and analogous to beautify, &c. •* As curous forms its substantive curosity; so from scrupu' lous is derived scrupulosity. *7 The mistake is so natural, as hardly to require any apology. *^ This strange name is learned by the ear j for the Cock- ney would not know the word were he to see it on paper. ^5 This pronunciation has probably only obtained since our kings have made the mansion there a palace. *» All these, it must be confessed, savour rather of an af- fected refinement. Chimley, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 59 Chimley, for chimney ^\ There are very few words in English that have the letters m and n in this position. Walker's Dictionary of Terminations affords but one, viz. calum-ny ; whereas there are several very familiar words wherein the I follows the m, — as firmly, calmly, warmly, seemly, &c. Perdigious, for prodigious. Progidy, for prodigy ^^. Contagious, for contiguous ^^. Vox f raid of, instead of fox fear of ^^ Duberous, for dubious ^^ Musicianer, for musician ^^. *' This is not peculiar to London, though it prevails uni- versally J for it is found in Lancashire. See the Glossary to Tim Bobbin's Works. It may be observed that the n and the I are both consonants of the same organ. ^ Venial mistakes. ^3 Though the Cockneys apply contagious to buildings, I do not know that they say a disease is contiguous. ^* I have heard this expression drop from off the mouths of several who fancied themselves persons of distinction. ^ The interpolation of the letter r in this word may have been suggested by those of similar sound, such as timorous, slanderous, barbarous, &c. ^ Randle Holme, in his Academy of Armory (see the Con- tents of Ch. UL), has written musicianer; — but he was an illiterate 60 ANECDOTES OF Sqults, for quit ^^. Pillord, for pilloried 2«. Scrowdge, for crowd (the verb). Squeedge, for squeeze (both as a verb and a substantive) ^^. Anger (a verb), to make angry ^^. Whole-tote, the whole -^^ illiterate man. I have heard of a Cockney who could not be convinced that he was wrong in this word, till he was asked by a friend if he ever heard of a physicianer? — In Leicester- shire a mason is a masoner. ^^ Quits is as bad as squits. It is the language of school- boys. The plural seems to be brought forward from the ne- cessity of two persons being concerned in the tiansaction. ^ This is abbreviation : — but the participle is bad in either case. It is, however, the Cockney's term. «9 We are told by Phillips, in '' The New World of *' Words," that there is an obsolete verb, ''^ to scruse,'* im- plying to crowd or press hard. This, by heedless pronun- ciation, has probably been first corrupted into scrowdge; after which model the word squeedge may analogically have taken place of squeeze. '** Dr. Johnson gives this verb a place in his Dictionary, and quotes Hooker, Shakspeare, Lord Clarendon, and Pope. In the North, they say of one who keeps his servants on short commons, that he " hungers them," an expression very ap- posite to that before us. 3^ A pleonasm, ai-ising from ignorance, that a whole and a total are the same without any re-inforcement. We have heard /or all all that used in the same way. Vernon, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 61 Vernon, for venom. Vemonous, for venomous ^^. Sermont, for sermon ^^. Verment, for vermin ^^. Palaretick, for paralytick ^^. Postfes, and posteses, for posts ^^. Sitti-ation, for situation ^^. 3- Both by metxithesis. 33 The Scotish word is sermond. Glossary to Douglas's Virgil. 3* From Vermont, by analogy. They also call a surgeon, a surgeont. But how come they by surgeon for cAirwrgeon ? 3s Metathesis. 3^ So also ghostfes and ghbsteses; beastfes and be^teses. The first words in these three instances are ancient plurals preserved by old Scotish writers, as in Gawen Douglas's trans- lation of Virgil, &c. Mistes, a dysyllable, for mists, is used by Shakspeare in Midsummer Night's Dream, As to pdsteses, ghbsteses, &c. they are heedless pleonasms : but the conti-action of the old plurals (post^s and ghostbs, to posts and ghosts) is refinement, and rests with us. They have heard of gods and goddesses, and why not posts and posteses. 37 I am not clear (punning apart) whether, if the Cock- ney were put to his spelling, he would not write this word ci^3^-ation, which is intended to carry with it the latent meaning of a pleasant or unpleasant part of the City accord- ing to the epithet made use of. Portlngal, 62 ANECDOTES OF Portingal, for Portugal ^^. When the Portuguese money (Portugal- pieces as they were called) was current in England, this word was in the mouth of every Cockney who had a Poi^tingal-ipiece in his pocket. Somewheres, for somewhere. Oftens, for often. Nowheres, for nowhere ^^. Towards, for toward ^^, Every-wheres. Any-wheres. Any -hows. Some-hows. No-hows ^^ 3* Holinshed, Stowe, and most of the old Chroniclers, write it Portingale, So porcwpine was anciently written and pronounced porpewtine. (See Mr. Steevens's Note to Act. III. Sc. ult. of Shakspeare's Comedy of Errors.) The Portuguese are called the Portingalls, in a letter from the Earl of Salis-/ bury, A. D. 1607. Mr. Lodges Illustrations of English History, III. p. 348. '^ Artificial jjlurals. *° The former seems to be meant as a plural of the latter. Both are compounds, as appears from such words as. To God ward, &c. 4' These plurals are common in London, and in some of th^ Southern counties. Mislest, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE* 63 Mislest, for molest '^^. Scholard, for scholar ^^. Regiment, for regimen ^^. For marge^z^^^ — See Shakspeare in Love's Labour's Lost, Act 11. Sc. 1. — Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II. St. 2. — Hamlet, Act V. Sc. 2. — On the other hand, he uses margm in Romeo and JuHet, Act I. So. 3. Baret, in his Alvearie, printed 1580, gives us msrgent only ; and so does Dr. Skinner's Etymologicon, the imprimatur of which is dated 1668. Junius, published by Mr. Lye 1743, allows both, and so do Bailey and Dr. Johnson. We may then confine the change *" In conformity with mis-lcsid, W2w-tiiist, &c. taking tho- lest for a compound verb. « This is pretty general every where among the lower order of people, and formed from such familiar words as cowa?-^, dmnkard, &c. *^ The old term was regiment, which Bailey does not dis- card, though he admits it to be obsolete. Tliere are books in being with this word in their title-pages, viz. " The regi-. " mcnt of health." " The regimeni against the pestilence." " The regiment of life," &c. ^* Margenf, for margi/?, is used in Milton's Comus, and by other writers j and yet I do not remember to have heard of margental notes, as we do of marginal notes. Mr. Gray, in his Prospect of Eton College, uses (poetically) mar gent, to 64 ANECDOTES OF to the middle of the last century, at which time they were contemporaries ; — but of the two, margm has survived. Contrary, for contrary '*^. Blasphemous. ^^ I never heard a man ^' talk in such a blasphemous manner in all ^^ my life ;" which is an expression not uncommon among the lower order of Cock- neys who possess any tolerable degree of decency. Milton shall support the accent : ** Oh argument blasphemous, false, and proud !'* Par. Lost, book V. line 809. Howsomdever and whatsomdever, for however and whatever ^^. ^ The penultima is made long in some instances by more writers than one 3 as by Shakspeare in Hen. VI. P. I. Act in. sc. 1. " And themselves banding in contrary parts." And again by Milton : " And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds." Sampson Agonistes, line 971. This is called Poetical licence, 'tis true) — let then the Cockney have a Prose-licence. <7 The radical compounds are how-ever, and what-ever, first enlarged to how-so-ever and what-so-ever, and then ex- panded into how-som-ever and what-som-ever, for sound-sake by some, which last have been rounded oflf by the Cockney into how'Som-dever and what-som-dever. The French often throw THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 65 Dr. Johnson gives soever as a Compound Adverb in itself, and vi^hlch will mix with who — what — and how, &c. In the " El- '' tham-Statutes,^' published by the Society of Antiquaries, we meet with " whensomever." See chapters ^0. 55. 7^. Successfully, for successively ^^. Respectively, for respectfully. Mayoraltry, for mayoralty. Admlraltry, for Admiralty '^^. throw in a letter (as the Z and the t, in si I'-on, y-a-'t-il, &c.) to meliorate the sound -, and here, not to be out-done, the Londoner will not content himself with less than the two, let who-som-dever say to the contrary. *• " He did not pay me the money, though I called upon " him three days successfwi/y." This is the London lan- guage ; and though I will not answer for the promiscuous use of the words successfully and successively in any author, yet the words respectively and respectfwfly are found to have been synonymous in tiie days of Shakspeare. '' You are very respectively welcome. Sir." Timon of Athens, ILL Sc. 1. Again, " YoQ should have beie^ respective, and have kept it." Merchant of Venice, V. Sc. 1. See also other instances in '' Old Plays," 2d edit. 1780, vol. IV. p. 480. ^ This interpolation of a letter seems to arise from a sup- position that the /, in the penultima, necessarily requires to * F be S6 ANECDOTES OF Commonality, for commonalty '*^. Curious^ nice, severe, scrupulously-exact . This does not connect with cur oils before given. Properietof, owner, proprietor '^^ Non-plush'd, for non-plus'd -'^^ Unbethought, for recollected ^^. be followed by the letter r, in the last syllable. The stand- ards of such ideas seem to rest upon the words paltry, sultry, poultry, &c. ** Here they deviate from the preceding mode of pronun- ciation, and use another inter-literation (if I may be allowed the term), by taking for their precedent such words as — partiality, — equality, — mortality, &c. with which they are familiar. 5" This word, in the sense now before us, the Londoners pronounce as it is spelt ; and not curous, as they do in its usual sense. Dr. Johnson allows this to be one use of the word, and gives the authority of Shakspeare : " For curious I cannot be with you, " Signor Baptista, of whom I hear so well." Taming of the Shrew, Act IV. Sc. 4. It may also be found in othei- passages of Shakspeare. *' They do not, however, use properiety for property. ** A harmless interpolation of the letter h, to assimilate the word to such as legally possess the h, viz. push'd, bliish'd, flush'd, brush'd, &c. They also say (per crasin) '' at an un- *' plush." " The syllable be is redundant; — but the great misfortune here is, that the word before us does not convey the meaning it THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 6? i)iscommode, for incommode ^'*. Colloguing, for coUeaguing ^^ Docity, for docility ^^. Drownded, for drowned ^^» Despisable, for despicable ^^. it is intended to carry : for rather than say (upon recollection) •* / UNBETHOUGHT vfiyself,'' it ought to be said " I unforgot " my self y Perhaps, however, it should rather be, *' owbe- *' thought me," by a close pronunciation, coiTUpted to «nbe- thought: i.e. '' I bethought myself of it, or on it." 5* Dr. Johnson allows dwcommode, dwcommodious, and discommodity : but at present incommode, incommodious, and tncommodity, have the lead. Though dis seems to be the stronger privative of the two. 55 Dr. Johnson allows the verb colleague. The Londoner only widens the word in pronunciation. In the Variorum edition of Shakspeare, 1778, in a note on the word colleagued, (Hamlet, Act L Sc. 2.) Mr, Steevens vindicates Sir Thomas Hanmer's word colleagued, by several examples from writers contemporary with Shakspeare. 5* Formed from ferocity, velocity : to which may be added others of a different leading vowel j such as audacity, ca- pacity, &c. ^' Consonantly with other words ending with — ^ed, such -as sound-ed, bound-ed, wound-ed, &c. — In the 35th Article of the Church of England, the homilies are directed to be read in churches diligently and distinctly, that they may be understandcd of the people. ^ We must look a great deal farther into the history of words than a Cockney can be expected to do, if we tena- F ^ ciously Qi ANECDOTES OF I once overheard in the street one person say to another (but whether he was an Irishman I cannot pronounce), speaking, of a Captain of a ship, that he was a very good sort of man on shore ; but that when at sea, he was the most tyrannical, and the most despisable man upon earth. An-otomy, a skeleton ^^. Paragraft, for paragraph ^^. Stagnated, for stagger'd ^^ ciously adhere to despicable. To begin with the Verb specio, then to the same Verb with its privative despicio, and thence to the Adjective despicahilis, before we get at our word, is too circuitous a passage for the Londoner, who will take the shortest cut, and from the word despise, at once (per solium) gives you despisable, a term of strong and competent mean- ing, naturally formed. 5» Meaning something anatomized. The an is here mani- festly mistaken for an article. ** I do not know whether the Londoners say Epitaft for Epitaph : but they ought, for the sake of uniformity. *' This appears to be a much stronger and a more expres- sive Word than our stagger'd, which only intimates a quaking of the external frame ; whereas, stagnating implies that the circulation of the blood, and the operation of every vital function, were suspended for the moment. 1 do not, how- ever, give the Cockney credit for the force of the word j as it seems to have been a random shot, and as if the first sylla- ble had taken its chance for the rest of the word. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 69 Disgruntled, offended ^^. Ruinated, for ruin'd ^^. Solentary, for solitary ^^. Ingeniously, for ingenuously ^^. Eminent danger, for imminent danger ^. ®* A strange word, carrying with it an exaggehitiori of the ierm disconcerted. It seems to be a metaphor taken from a liog J which I cannot account for, unless naturalists say that hogs grunt from some pleasurable sensation. I have, how- ever, printed authority for it in Sir Philip Wai-wick's Me- moirs (p.22G), where, speaking of the Earl of Manchester being made a prisoner in the house of his daughter the Coun- tess of Rutland, the writer says, the lady was much *' dis- *' gruntled" at it. But, after all, the word, as used by the Knight, must have been an unguarded escape j for he was rather of humble birth in Westminster (see Granger's Bio- graphical History) ; a son of an organist of the Abbey^ and perhaps in early life a chorister. . ~ . , ^' We confined the word ruinated to a decayed building.' Lord Bacon, however, uses it in the same sense as the Lon- doner, 3S applied to personal impoverishment. ^' Philip and Kabis," says he, " were already ruinated. See the verb iii Bailey's Dictionary, folio. *^ Formed upon such words as voluntary, sedentary, &c. ®5 Used by Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in his Life, .p. 86. See also Dodsley's Old Plays, 2d edition, 1780, vol. VII. p. 392, and vol. VIIL p. 242, where in a note Mr. Reed ob- sei-ves that, in «ur antient writers, ingeniously and ingenuously^ are used for each other without the least distinction}, ^ The common people of France are accused by Mons. Vaugelas of making this identical mistake j '' Peril eminent ** pour y© ANECDOTES OP Intosticated, for intoxicated ^^. Perwent, for prevent ^^. — Per contra, a London attorney once told me, that he had pre -used the papers laid before him. Skrimidge, for skirmish ^^. — ^'Skrimage^ Is jocularly used for " slcirmishj^ by Dr. Johnson, in his 239th Letter to Mrs. Thrale. Refuge, for refuse "^, *' pour imipinent." Remarques sur Ij^ Lan^e Francoises, edit. 1737, Preface, p. 44, ^ For meliority of sound, and to soften the letter x, espe- cially if the party speaking should happen to be a little tipsy. They have another word not unlike it -, viz. confisticated for confiscated. *^ The first syllable consists of metathesis, and the second of the permutation of w for v, of which more anon. (See P;77.) , ^ Ascrimer is a fencer, and used hy Shakspeare in Hamlet, Act IV. Sc. 7. Hepce scrimish, hy transposition of letters made skirmish, became the encounter. — Escrime, French. See the next article. ,, "** it is a sort of rule with the Cockney to convert the — isk into — idge, and the same with other similar terminations. Besides skrimidge, they have radidges for raaXishes, ruhhidge for rubbj*^, furbidg^e for {nrhish, &c. The word refuge con- forms to deluge, of which most of them have heard ; and the rest rank with damage, cabbage, cribhage, luggage, &c. words whiph are perfectly smiilar to them. ITHE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. ^1 Nisi prisi, for nisi prius ^^ Taters, for potatoes "^^^ Vocation, for vacation '^^. Luxurious, for luxuriant ^^ Loveyer, for lover "'\ " A pretty good guess at terms imperfectly learned by the ear. '* One is almost induced to believe that the lower order of Londoners imagine that taters, as they constantly call them in their natural state, is a generical term, and that pot is a prefix which carries with it some specifick difference. If so, their idea is, that their taters are not to be considered as pot- taters till they are boiled. ^ Such is the force of use and long habit, even against almost daily opportunities of correction, that I never heard any bed-maker, &c. in a College or Inn of Court, that did not always talk of the long vocation. '* " LuxurioM.5 fields" is an expression that occurs twice in Evelyn's Sculptura, 2d edit. pp. 16. 33. Possibly luxuriov* and luxuriant were formerly synonymous ; and if so, the lat- ter is a refinement of the former, and does not impeach the Cockney. "5 Formed fi'om lawyer, which in the Scottish language was formerly written law-wer. Fortescue on Monarchy in the notes, p. 56. The letter ?/ rather softens the pronunciu" tion, and is perhaps found, for the same reason, in ftairiicr and howyer. Bower, as a proper name, is very common in several parts of the kingdom. In the Northerly counties of England, the term taylor is always sounded taylyor among the common people. tiuw^,. ITumorous 7?: ANECDOTES OF Humorous, for humoursome ^^. Pottecary, for apothecary ^^. '^ This occurs in the Spanish Tragedy, printed among the Old Plays i see the 2d edit. 1780, vol. 111. p. 137; and more instances might easily be given. — ** Women oft are humorous, '* These clouds will over blow with little wind." So in Shakspeare, Hen. IV. P. II. Act. IV. Sc.4. '' humorous as winter." Thus respective for respectful was anciently in use ; see p. 65. '7 Dr. Johnson and other lexicographers are pleased to de- rive this word from the Greek '' apotheca, a lepository ;" but how does that apply to one thing more than another ? Chaucer, and writers even so lately as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, write it potecary. I incline to believe that the Cockney is right ; and that it is radically the Spanish word boticario, as botica in that language more emphatically signi- fies the shop of an apothecary, as opposed to the itinerant empirick : and the permutation of b and p is very com- mon. The letter a I presume to have been the Article, which, in process of time, adhered uniformly to its Substan- tive. This coalition causing the word to begin with apo, it is no W'Onder that the sanguine advocates for Greek derivation should jump at it. — In the Comedy of the Four P's, by J. Hey wood, published 1569, one of them is the Poticary ; and I never heard that he was arraigned by the Critics for Pseudo- graphy. They are the Poticary, the Pedlar, the Palmer, and the Pardoner. Heywood, who was a man of learning, would hardly have made a Poticary one of his characters, had he not been conscious that he was rights when there were so many others with the same initial that would have answered the purpose, viz. Priests. — Q. If the aji — in Ap-prentice be not redundant ? See Old Plays. Nyst THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. JS^^^ Nyst and nyster, for nice and nicer. Clost and closter, for close and closer. Slnst, for since. Wonst, for once ^^. After having given the Positive the termi- nating sound of st, the Comparative naturally follows. Industerous, for industrious '^^, Sot, for sat ^^. Frags, i. e. fragments ^\ '' Nyst seems to be formed, by sound, from fast, last, moist ; and clost from most, post, toast, ^c. which positives beget the comparatives nyster, and cldster. If sinst has any better claim to originality, it may be con- sidered as the superlative of the old word sin, which is stiU in use in the Northern parts of England; though I rather incline to impute this pronunciation to mere vulgar habit. It has occurred to me in print, a fact which I did not expect, for the Earl of Shrewsbury (in Vol. II. Letter 52, in Mr. Lodge s Illustrations of British History,) has let it escape from him ; and, moreover, his lordship chose to spell it cinst. The Londoners also say loonst, instead of once : but whether they say twyst, for twice, I cannot determine. To the rest of these words I have been an ear-witness. ^9 Formed upon such words as boisterous — traiterous. *" Their Infinitive is set, and they have no notion of the Verb sit. From set then they form sot, as they find got is de- duced from get. *^ The refuse of the lower people considered among low people 74 ANECDOTES OF Chardcter, for character ^^. Moral, for model ®^. Jocotlous orjecotious, for jocose ^^ Hisn, hern, for his and her's. Ourn, yourn, for our's and your's ^^, people themselves as fi'agments of society, and of which this word is an abbreviation, and may be heard in Covent-garden market. It ranks very well with fag-ends, rags, tags, &c. ** Milton gives it this accent in the verb : ^ *' Charactered in the fece. This have I leamt." Comus, So also Shakspeare, " Are visibly character'd, and engrav'd." Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II. Sc. 7. The Cockneys, however, do not, I conceive, confound' the Substantive with the Verb j but take their accent from similar words, such as contractor, detractor, and malefactor. *3 Every Cockney hears morals talked of, though he is un- acquainted with models ; otherwise he would not say that a child is, by personal likeness, the very moral (meaning model) of its parent j which is an inversion of the order of things, because the model as the prototype must necessarily precede what is formed from it. He might say, that the father (or the mother) is the very moral (to use his own word) of the child. ** These words tally with the familiar words ferocious, atrocious. The Cockney does not say vwrosious, because morose is not a word that appears in his hemisphere. *5 These are reserved for a more respectable situation in the following pages. Article XIV. The THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. ^5 The t'other, for the other ^^. Nolus bolus, for jiolens volens ^'^. Waps, for wasp ^^. These, Sir, and a few other such " wul-* garities'' (to use the London v/ord), such vitia ser mollis, to be heard daily through- out the Bills of Mortality, I readily ^ This, that, and t'other (or the other), are allowable ; but the t'other is a redundancy, and in fact is the the other. ®^ Here the Cockney, being allowedly out of depth, lays hold on the first twig that offers, viz. on such words as come nearest in sound. He hears his apothecary talk of a bolus, and does not doubt but that there may be such a thing as a nolus (a stronger dose) in the Materia Medica, if the bolus does not operate. On the other hand, these words may be supposed to have no real meaning, like hiccius-doctius, or ** hocus-pocus ;" though the leained tell us, that the latter of them are corruptions of *' hoc est Corpus" and that the illiterate Romish priests, who gabble Latin which they do not understand, instead of " hoc est Corpus meum,'' have been taught to say '' hocus pocus meum.'" All this we may believe when we are told, that they call part of tlie funeral service, *' De Profundis" (the 130th Psalm), by the style and title of " Deborah Pundish .'" — after which we cannot be surprized that an ignorant imprisoned Cockney pick-pocket should call a " Habeas Corpus" a '^hctpoth ofCopperas^" which, 1 am told, is the language of Newgate. ^ The transposition of the letters i^ and p, is our own, and is not imputable to the Cockney ; for fVaps is the original Saxon word. admit ; 76 AKECBOTES OJti aHT admit: but then every body, understands their meaning ; and their language is not like the unintelligible gal^ble of ninc- tenths of the. provincial inhabitants of the :^moter parts of England, which none but the natives can , understand, though I doubt nQt but on close investigation such language (as I hinted before) might be radically justified. Bring together two clowns from Kent and Yorkshire * ; and I will wager a ducat that they will not be able to converse, for want of a dialect com- nion to them both. From the different enunciation of the vowels, the Latin tongue spoken by a Scot, a Frenchman, a German, or an Ita- lian, is with difficulty comprehended by an Englishman ; and so vice versa. Nay, we may go a step. farther ; for Scaliger, ha- ving been addressed for some time in I^a- tin by a gentleman of Scotland, made his excuse for not replying, by saying, '' he did not understand the Scottish language f." Though the enunciation of the vowels * Of these Provincialisms, see more hereafter. t Anecdotes Litteraires, Paris, 1750. vol. I. p. 60. by THE :ENGI.lSH LANGUAGE. ?7 by the Scot^ and the French is, the same, yet the tone of any vernacular language, which is always apt to prevail, dis(?om- poses £t Foreigner's immediate apprehen- sion; • The Jews of Spain and Portugal, we ate told, cannot converse with the German Jews, on account of their different pronunciation of the Hebrew */' But, after all, the most striking and most oiFensive erroF in pronunciation among the Londoners, I confess, lies in the transposi- tional use of the letters TV and V^ ever to be heard where there is any possibility of in^ verting them. Thus they always say, fVeulf instead of veaZ; and ff^mcgiir, instead of \inegar ; while, on the other hand, you hear /^icked, foi^ wicked — /^ig, for wig ; siild ^ few others. The following little dialogue is said to have passed between a citizen and his ser- vant : . I . Citizen. Villifini, I vants my vig. Servant. Vitch vig, Sir ? * =^ ToveJy^sAnglia Judaica, p,30i. Citizen. 78 ANECDOTES Ol? Citizen. Vy, the vite vig in tlie vooden vig-box, vitch I vore last vensday at the westrv. To these may be added their use of the letter ff^y in the place of the letter H, in compound words; for, instead of neigh-* bourAooc?, widowhoody livelyhood, and knight/ioorf, they not only say, but would even write, neighbour«;ooc/, widowwood, hyelytvoody and knight^t'oocf. Nay, they have been caught in the fact ; for the last of these words is so spelt in Dr. Fuller's Church History, and in Rymer's Fcedera. This oversight cannot, however, be charged upon either of those Writers ; but, as they both lived in or near London, it is most probable that their amanuenses were first- rate CockneySy and that, in collating the transcripts by the ear, allowances had been made for mere pronunciation, without sus- pecting error in the orthography. All that can be said upon these unplea- sant pronunciations taken together is, that letters of the same organ of speech have been mutually exchanged in several lan- guages. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 7^ guages. In the province of Gascoigne in France, the natives substitute the letters B and V^ for each other, which occa- sioned Joseph Scaliger to say of them — " Felices Populi, quibus bibexe est vzVere*." Take these then, Sir, as the foibles of the Cockney's dialect ; and let us proceed to the supposed daring crimes of , which he stands accused, and from which, I trust, his justification and acquittal will be effected from the evidence of Antiquity. Refinements began to creep in before the days of Mr. Camden (as my Motto f insinuates), who thought so meanly of them, that they provolved his resentment. Let it not, however, be understood, that I am contending for the re-establishment of the antient dialect ; for our Language now seems to be at its height of purity and energy. * Bohun's Geog. Diet, article Gascoigne. t See the Title-page. Having 60 ANECDOTES OP jjyx. Having admittted the preceding little peccadillos, we will produce those heinous ' charges and grievous offences, those par- ticular words and expressions, with which the Londoners are so heavily accused by the beau^monde and the scholastick part of mankind. The most notorious imputed crime is, the use of redundant Negatives ; such as — N°. I. " I don't know nothing about it." This is a luxuriance of no modern date among the Cockneys; but it is not of their own manufacture ; for there is evidence enough in the history of our Language, drawn from the old school, to shew that this mode of speech, this accumulation of ^ Negatives, is no new-fangled tautology. 1 One Negative is now accepted by us, and reputed as good as a thousand. The pre- sent Cockneys think otherwise ; and so did the Ancestors of us all. Taking the lan- guage I'HE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 8l guage of France for a moment as a model, a Frenchman answers your question nega- tively, by — " Je ne seal pas ;" and the Londoner, in the same phraseology, says — '^ I dont know nothing about it." Now, if the abundant use of Negatives be esteemed an elegance in the French language *, the * The tenacity of the Frenchman with respect to ne- gatives exceeds, if possible, his quondam attachment to his ci'devant Grand Monarque. If he is denied one species of Negative by an arrH of the Belles Lettres, he takes another — Thus, he may not say, '' Je ne I'aime, ni I'estime pas ;" the pas in this case being dis-allowed, not because it is unne- cessary, but because it is unfashionable j and therefore he re- I)eats the first Negative (viz. the nej in the latter part of the sentence differently situated j and according to Pere Bouhour* (whom Mr. Addison calls the most penetrating of the French Critics), the established phrase is — *^ Je ne Taime, ni ne Testime." Thus he will have the redundant Negative, coute qui coute. The superfluous ne is often idiomatically used by the French ; and their ears are accustomed to it, while it startles an Englishman in many instances, till he is fami- liarized vi^ith it : for in literal translation it frequently seems to reverse what is intended to be expressed. Thus a French- man, in telling you, " he is afraid his brother will die," says, when the sentence is rendered verbatim, "He is afraid his '* brother may not die :" — for his words would be, " Je crains *' que mon frere ne meurt." Such is the turn of theii- lan- guage wlien contrasted with the idiolti of the English j and such the force of this favourite Negative in many similar (\ cases 82 ANECDOTES OP Cockney will say — why not in English? and the more the better. I cannot help recounting a case in point, where a cluster of Negatives is said to have been disgorged by a Citizen, who, having mislaid his hat at a Tavern, enquired with much pompous vociferation — " if nobody had seen nothing " of never a hat no-wher^s f But, to be more serious. Here are but three out of four that are redundant : 1 will now then produce the same super-abundance, not indeed from an act of the whole Legislative Body of the Kingdom, though from Regal authority. In a Proclamation of King Henry V. for the apprehension of Sir John Oldcastle, on account of his contumacious behaviour in not accepting the terms before tendered to him, are these words : — ^^ Be it known e, as Sire John Oldcastell refuse, nor will not receave, nor sue to have non^ of the graces,'^ &c. * (£ (( cases } so that the French seem to us as if they sacrificed grammar and common sense in compliment to it. * Chronicle conceniing the examination and death of Syr John Oldecastell, by Bale j Appendix, p. \\% Though THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 83 Though we now exclude the double Ne- gative, yet we find it very common among Writers at different former periods, where the use of it was carried as far as the ear could possibly bear. An instance or two shall suf- fice. Thus Chaucer : " So lowly, ne so truily you serve " iV^'il * none of 'hem as L'* Troll, and Cress, lib. V. So also Shakspeare : " a sudden day of joy " That thou expect'st not, nor I lookM not for." Rom. and Jul. Act. IV. Sc. I. Examples occur so frequently in Shak- speare, that it would be troublesome to recount them. " No,^ nor think I never '^ shall/' is an expression used by Roger Ascham f . He was a Yorkshire-man, and there I have myself heard this similar lan- guage — " Noy I shall ?zo^ do 710 such thing." * I need not say that rCil n^ana will not. Chaucer also uses n'ald for would not. (Will he, n'il he, is still in com- mon use, implying whether he will or will not. Nolens vo- lens.) N'am, i. e. am noty and nas, i, e. wai not, occur in Chaucer. Jn the North, Tsl is a straiige mongrel corruption oU shall. + Toxophilus, Bennett's edition, p. 123, G 2 ' In 84 ANECDOTES OP In our general grammatical construction even the doul)le Negative has fallen into dis- use ; and was wearing out so fast early In the eighteenth century^ that its derlsional adoption is felt by every one who reads the distich at the end of the Epitaph of P. P. the Parish Clerk, printed in Pope's Works, •* Do all we can, Death is a man " Who never sparetli noney So far I have only produced the French language as the ostensible model ; but our Saxon progenitors made a plentiful use of Negatives before they had the honour of kissing the hand of the Norman Conqueror. The learned Saxonist Dr. Hickes tells us, that it was the fashion of Chaucer's time, when Saxonisms were not quite worn out, to make use of two Negatives to strengthen an expression *. After this, the Doctor, in support of his asseveration, produces some examples from the Saxon, wherein not only two, but three and ^bwr Negatives are found * Thesaurus Ling. Vet. Septent. cap. XII. " Notandum '* est, quod in Lingu^ Anglo-Saxonic^ negatio enuncietur per ** duo negativa." accu- THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 85 accumulated in one phrase. Tliis Idiom was therefore characteri stick In our Language above 7 00 years ago. Mr. Speght, in the Advertisement to the readers of his second edition of Chaucer, says — ^' It was his (Chaucer's) manner, " imitating the Greeks, by ttvo Negatives, '^ to cause a greater negation.'' This ob- servation Dr. HIckes very justly, I con- ceive. Imputes to Mr. Speght's want of skill In Antiquity Q' nihil antiqui sapiens") ; and then tells us (from himself) that Chaucer, not understanding Greek, fol- lowed the model of the Saxon language ; " LIterarum Graecarum ignarus, more sui " temporis. In quo Saoconisinus non penltus " exoleverat, duohics negativis usus est '^J* Dr. Hickes having acquitted Chaucer of the heavy charge of understanding Greek, of which Mr. Speght, his Editor, had ac- cused him ; give me leave to put In a word or two, by observing that Chaucer must have * Thesaurus Ling. Vet. Septent. cap. XII, See also Sir Jphn Fortescue- Aland's Pieface to Fortescue on Monarchy, p. Ixxix. and the notes on chapter III. of the work. ' been 86 ANECDOTES OF been perfectly innocent; for he was gathered to his fathers above half a century before Greek, as an independent language, was un- derstood In England *. All that can be said is, that " they lay in his way, and he found " them/' The ♦history of the Greek tongue, Sir, as a discriminated Language in England, seems to have been briefly this. We are told in the Preface to Ockley's " History of the Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Egypt, by the Saracens" (p. xiv.), that Greek was not understood in the Western parts of Europe till after Constantinople was taken by the Turks, A. D. 1453, the thirty-first year of our king Henry VI. Mr. Ockley farther says, that, as the Saracens advanced in their incursions into Syria, Persia, and Egypt, many learned Greeks fled, and, es- caping with their literary collections, sought an asylum in the West, whither they trans- ported their written language. Before this * Chaucer died in 1400. Greek was known in England in 1453. time, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. SJT time, he adds, that the Philosophers and Schoolmen among us contented themselves with Latin translations of Aristotle and other Greek Authors, not actually made from the originals, but from Arabick versions. The enlightened part of the Saracens were lovers of learning and science, which they diffused in every conquered country ; and thus, after they had penetrated into Africa, even the Moors, when they over-ran the greatest part of Spain, became undesignedly the restorers of much Learning which had slept during those barbarous ages w^hich fol- lowed the devastation of the Roman Empire. This, Sir, I consider as one epoch favour* able to the introduction of the Greek Lan- guage into England; or at least into the West of Europe. Mr. Camden tells us, that the French and Dutch (though I rather suppose that by the latter he means the Germans^ are proud of the affinity between their Lan- guages and the Greek *. It was approach- ing toward us from the East^ and therefore * Remains, p, 28. would 88 ANECDOTES OP would naturally touch at every place of Learning upon the Continent before it reached us.. At length it landed here ; and the first time that we hear any thing material con-? cerning it, was in the reign of king Henry VIII. when its introduction made no small bustle at Oxford. It appears that William Grocyn, an English Divine, educated at Winchestei' school, and New-college, Oxford, having heard much of the Greek Language (of which he had already acquired a random kind of knowledge) travelled into Italy to cultivate a closer acquaintance with it, and returned to Oxford full-fraught with Greek. Erasmus became the pupil of Grocyn, who read lectures on his newly- imported Language, which, however, was considered by many as a dangerous and alarming innovation. So different in all respects from the old School-learning, both as to character and sound, the students no doubt saw and heard them with astonish-^ ment, and treated them, as Jack Cade says in Shakspeare, — as '^ such abomin- able THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 89 ^^ able words as no Christian ear could en- ^^ dure to hear *." But this was not all ; for the intrusion created serious dissensions. The University became divided into two factions, distinguished by the appellations of Greeks and Trojans, who bore a violent animosity to each other, and proceeded to open hostilities, insomuch that the Trojans insulted Erasmus, who patronized the Greek Language, and read Lectures upon it in the Schools f , Thus matters stood at Oxford as to the Greek Language, when, about the year 1535, it was warmly patronized likewise at Cambridge by Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Cheke, of St. John's College, and by Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) Smith, of Queen's College, who, by their joint labours, settled the pronunciation, &c. Hitherto Mr. Strype tells us (in the " Life of Sir John Cheke") that every passage in Greek, which accidentally occuiTed in any Writer, was scouted, and consigned to oblivion with * Henry VL PartlL Act IV. Sc.r. t Granger's Biog. Hist. vol. \. 8vo. p. 101 , in the note. the 90 ANECDOTES OF the stigma of — " Grsecum est ; non potest u jggi */* These two learned Colleagues were succeeded by able advocates, who publicly supported the Greek tongue as established in all points by Sir John Cheke end Sir Thomas Smith f . Thus sanc- tioned at the time of which we have been speaking, and afterwards espoused by great and able men in the Church and in the State, of both Universities, the Language has been derived to us as pure as could have been supposed from so remote a source ; — not only as a scourge to us, Sir, when we were school-boys, and as a profit to peda- gogues : but (joking apart) to the splendour of universal science, and the melioration of mankind, both in sacred and profane learning. ♦ Life, p. 19. t Stiype'8 life of Sir Thomas Smith, eh. 11. N^ THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 91 " Worser" — " Lesser." " More worser/' &c. " Most agreeablest/' &c. I now proceed. Sir, to other boldnesses of expression in daily use among the Lon- doners ; — their enlarging the Comparatives and Superlatives. But what shall be said if they should herein be supported by Writers of no small account ? ** Let thy worser spirit tempt me again.'* King Lear, Act. IV. Sc. 6. ** Chang'd to a worser shape thou canst not be.'* K. Hen, VL P. L Act. V. Sc. 4. <« and worser far ' ** Than arms." Dryden, cited by Bishop Lowth. It is common also with the Cockneys to convert the Comparative better into a Verb ; as — " He is much better d in his circum- *^ stances." ^' A servant leaves his place to ^^ better himself," &c. They might like- wise transform the opposite Comparative ivbrse 92 ANECDOTES OP worse into the same shape, and quote Mil- ton : for both — " May serve to better us, and worse our foes." Par. Lost, B. VI. I. 440 *, Lesser (as an Adverb for lessj is another augmented Comparative to be found in Lon- don, and in Shakspeare. <* I think there 's ne'er a man in Christendom, " Can lesser hide his love or hate than he." K.Rich. III. Act III. Sc. 4. It is as common also as an Adjective in colloquial language, in London, as it is upon paper among many of our best Writers : ^* Attend to what a lesser Muse indites." Addison. You have it in both situations in Spen- ser, and others, to Pope inclusively f. Dr. Johnson blames the Poets for following and encouraging a vulgar error : for he says, that lesser is a barbarous expansion * To better, a Verb, is used by Shakspeare in Coriolanus, Act. m. Sq. 1. And slow is converted into a Verb (meaning to retard), in Romeo and Juliet, Act IV, Sc. 1. which is sup- ported in the Variorum edition, 1778, by a quotation from Sir Arthur Gorge's Translation of the 2d Book of Lucan -, ■ " " my march to slow.'" f Several instances may be found in Johnson's Dictionaiy, of THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 93 of less, formed by the commonalty, upon a persuasion that every Comparative must have — er for its termination. The like may be said, and on the same grounds, of vvorser, on which Bishop Lowtli remarks that, of the two (lesser and worser^, the latter " sounds more barbarous, only be- ^^ cause it has not been so frequently " used *." Dr. Wallis f allows both lesser and worser a place among the Compara- tives in a collateral degree J. I agree with Dr. Johnson, that the termination — er has much weight in forming a Cockney's Comparative ; to which I think we may subjoin, that the Londoners have no opi- * Introduction to English Grammar, p. 59. The same may be said of the Verbs lessen and greaten, the latter of which startles one a little at first sight. It is allowed by Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary, where he gives two examples, and you will find another in Dr. Fuller's Church History, book VI. p. 340. f Grammar, p. 95. X Lest.] Mr. Pennant writes the Superlative so, for which lie cites Wallis, p. 95, and Edwards's Canons of Criticism, 6th edit. p. ^78. vide Notes to Pennant's Synopsis, notes to p. 11. Mr. Pennant says it is a contraction of lesser ; but it seems rather to be contracted from lessest. We write least for the Adverb. nion 94 ANECDOTES OF nion of any Comparative that consists but of one syllable, nor are they always contented with two; for they are apt to give the sign of the Comparative and of the Superla- tive to Comparatives and Superlatives them- selves, as will presently appear. But first, however, give me leave to reprobate the rest of the world (ourselves included) for a similar partiality to the final — er in some terms (not indeed Comparatives, though with equal redundancy), which are heard every day among both gentle and simple. We all talk of upholster- e7'5, and poulter-er^, terminations which, on examination, will come equally under the charge of superero- gation : for, in fact, we might as well say hatter-er^ or glover-e?'5. Stowe, who had access to the Charters of Incorporation of all the Companies in the City of London, styles our up hols tERBRSy upholstERS ; and ourj^owZ^ERERS, poitlfEHS*; * Shakspeare (Henry IV. Part I. Act II. Sc. 4.) writei Poulter. Another authority is given in a note to the edition of Shakspeare, by Dr. Johnson and Mr. Steevcns. If you wish for Parliamentary sanction, see the Statute of tlie 2d and 3d of King Edward VI. chap. 25, the THE EKGLISH LANGUAGE. 95 the expansion of which words is attribut- able to us, who by a stammering kind of syllable (rhetorically called a TraulismitsJ , have added a final duplicate of the — er without the least reason or provocation. Fruiter-e?' seems to be equally redundant. Cater-er is written Cater in the margin of the Life of Gusman de Alfarache, folio edition, 1622, p. 125. As to worseVy it is no more than a double Comparative, with the usual termination, in a case which the ear will bear, and which it would abhor in many other words, such as better-er, happier -er, sooner -^r *. But to proceed. The Londoners are farther accused of inflaming the offence by sometimes saying more worser ; but, to shew how much the Comparatives, with the aux- iliary terui more, were once allowable, the following examples shall sufEce \ : * We may add to this the pronunciation of a master brewer in a market-town, " forgive us our trespasswse*." t Dr. Johnson has" a good passage, by way of banter, where he tells Mrs. Thrale that — *' nothing in all life now can be " more profigater (in Ttalicks) than what he is ; and if ift " case that so be that they persist for to resist him, he is re*' ** solved not to spare no nioney nor no time." Nor 96 ANECDOTES OP " Nor that I am viore better « Than Prospero." Tempest, Act. I. Sc. ^. ^' Ne'er from France arrived moi^e happier men." Hen. V. Act IV. Sc. ult. " More sharper than your swords.'* Hen. V. Act III. Sc. 5. Shakspeare has, in one instance, written very unguardedly "less happier;'' and where his metre does not exculpate him. *' The envy of less happier lands." Rich. II. Act II. Sc. 1. Dr. Johnson, in a note on this passage, has fairly imputed Shakspeare's mistake to the habitual use of something above the bare Comparative, which in his time formed the accustomed Language of the age. These examples, I think, Sir, are sufficient to support the Londoner in the general use of double Comparatives, with impunity, if he chuse to adopt them, though they are out of fashion. Let us now follow him in the double Su- perlatives ; such as — most impudentest, — most ignorantest, — most particular est, — most agreeablest, &c. and we shall find grounds THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. ,97 grounds equally ample for his justification. In the Psalms we meet with Most Highest y which is allowed to be an expression of great force, and properly applicable to the Divi- nity : but, admitting this to be a magnificent Eastern idiom, we have humbler authorities to produce. St. Paul, in the language of the Translation of the Acts of the Apostles (ch. XX vi. ver. 5.) says, in plain narrative, — " After the rnost strait est sect of our reli- '' gion, I*lived a Pharisee." There are also many profane sanctions to support the use of such expressions. Ben Jonson, in his English Grammar, gives us, from the writings of Sir Thomas More, " most basest ;" and, in his comment, to shew that he himself did not disavow the same phraseology, remarks that such mode of speaking is an English Atticism, after the manner of " the most antientest Grecians." John Lilly, whose style w^as in his time (about the middle of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth) thought to be the standard of purity, makes use of ^' most ** brightest.^' After this, Shakspeare sup- H plies 98 ANECDOTES OF plies us with the following examples : viz. ** most boldest * ;" — " most unkindest f ;" — ** mo5^ heaviest J ;" to which others, from the same writer, might be added. As every degree of signification beyond the Posi- tive is an augmentation, so is this the triple degree of it, which carries it a stage farther than the usual extent, to enforce the Super- lative. There is a strong and energetick example of this in Hamlet § : " but that I love thee best, O MOST /jestf believe it." " Very wester/ point." Leland's Itinerary, vol. III. p. 7, describing Scilly. Now, the naked truth is, that these Su- per-supeydatives are all Saxonisms, the mo- dern prefix wo5r being joined to the pure Superlative as an augmentation, instead of the ancient increment alder (Anglicb older or greater J, which the Saxons used for the same purpose, of enhancing the force of their Superlatives. u4ldirlevist Lord (i. e. most dear) occurs in Chaucer's Troilus * Julius Csesar, Act III. Sc. 1. f Idem, Act III. Sc. 2. % Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV. Sc. 3. § Act 11. Sc. 2. and THE ENGLISH LANGLTAGE. 99 and Creseide, lib. III. line 240. And even in Shakspeare's Henry VI. Part II. Act I. Sc. 1. we meet with Alderliefest Sovereign*, Alder-Jirst ^ and Alder -last are to be found in Chaucer, denoting strong contrarieties; for the terms first and last, being in them- selves extremes, may be considered as equally partaking of the nature of Super- latives. Dr. Skinner gives us alder-besty which tallies with Shakspeare's most best '; and Mr. Somner agrees that ealdor, elder, or alder (take which you please), are used adjectively -j*. Perhaps you may be surprized at seeing this word alder (or elderj compounded with the superlative best literally exempli- fied in Latin ; not classical Latin perhaps, but such as one of our Universities affords : — for what do we Cantabs mean by a Se- nior Optime, but one of the elder -best of the Graduats of the year ? To answer this, *■ Lief, I^efe, Leve, are the Positives, which become Su- perlatives by being combined with alder j but alder-lev i^f U a double Superlative. t Not to trouble you with quotations, you will find not lesf than seven of th'ese Compounds brought together in '' Verste- gan's Restitution of decayed Intelligence," 4to. 1634, p. 208. H 2 theV 100 ANECDOTES OP they have contrasted the factitious word Junior Optime (literally a ?/oz^??g'er-/>e5^, but of no Saxon authority), for the sake of a relative expression. The others, who merit no distinction at all, go gregariously as mere Graduats ; but a Saxon would call them the Alder 'last. I must, however, beg leave to go a step farther before I quit this Saxon Augmenta- tive, and produce to you the Positive^ or root of the Comparative alder ^ viz. auld or oZc?, which retains its force at this day in the Northern and Middle parts of the kingdom, where it is still used by the common people in the sense of great, Shakspeare gives us the word old with this meaning repeatedly, to whom, as a Warwick- shire-man, it was familiar : " Yonder 's old coil at home." Much Ado about Nothing, Act V. Sc. 2. " Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and "the King's English." Merry Wives of Windsor, Act I. Sc. 4. " If a man were porter to hell-gate, he would have " old turning of the key." Macbeth, Act II. Sc. 3. Shak- THE EKGLISH LANGUAGE. 101 Shakspeare was so well acquainted with the force of the word, that, according to the spirit of equivocation which prevailed in that age, he could not avoid playing upon it ; as where Grumio, in the Taming of the Shrew, enters, and proclaims — ^' News, old news, and such news as you " never heard of I'' Baptlsta replies — "Is " it new and old too ? how should that u be*?" You will find It In the Collection of Old Plays, published first by Mr. Robert Dodsley In twelve volumes 8vo. and afterwards by Mr. Isaac Reed (though without his name) In twelve volumes in a smaller size, with copious and interesting Notes, and a Glossa- rial Index. This Editor, relying upon a Commentator on Shakspeare, 177^? who gives several examples of this sense of the word old, does not do It justice, when he agrees with the Commentator to call it merely an Augmentative ; whereas It should seem, from what has been here said, that It was formerly an established and significant * Act III. Sc.i. Adjec- 102 ANECDOTES OF jidjective, liable to a comparative degree, and to all other incidental changes. I cannot be deceived in this particular/ for I have repeatedly heard the word used in the North, where the expression was " an old price/' meaning a great price, and where it could be nothing but an Adjective. There is another synonymous word in the Northern parts, to which I can bear equal testimony, viz. long: for '^ a long price" is as common a term as '' an o/c? price." I will pro- duce both these words in a conference be- tween two farmers in the centre of the king- dom. '^ A. Did you buy Mr. Smith's horse } '' B. Yes ; — and I gave him a long price for " it :• — but there was old talking about it *^ before we could agree." Shakspeare has the word long in this sense, where the Hostess, speaking of the quantum of Falstaff 's debt to her, says, " A hundred mark is a lon^ loan." Henry IV. P. 2. Act II. Sc. 1. The Scots have a proverb, which seems to attach this sense to the word. We call the day of judgment the great day ; — but their expression THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 103 expression is, appealing to thjit day in a matter of conscience, " Between you and the bng day be it *." Having brought forward Shakspear^, whom I shall have frequent occasions to cite hereafter ; let me apprize you, Sir, once for all, that I do it for the sake of the words and phrases of his time, and to support the dialect which I am defending. As to his Learning, about which (to borrow Mat- thew Prior's expression) there has been " such an effusion of Christian ink," it will make no part of my accusation, except in a few instances. That he has sometimes of- fended against the Rules of Grammar, you shall judge, from a few passages which I will produce hereafter ; but he has not often transgressed so much as deservedly to have drawn down the heavy sentence of Dr. John- son, who allowed him no more Latin than would serve to grammaticise his English f . But to return. Notwithstanding; that we disallow the use of one Comparative to strengthen another, as in " more better^'' * Kelly's Scotish Proverbs, 8vo. 1721, p. 71. ,t^^pQswell's J.ife of Dr. Johnson, vol. II. p. 338. and 104 ANECDOTES OP and ^^ mo7'e happier/' yet we do not think it incongruous to pile up a Superlative ter- mination on the top of a Comparative, as in the words " nppermost*' — " undermost^' — " uttermost/' Sec, * These exaggerations, the Glossarists tell us, are founded on Saxon authority ; and if that be the case, our Cockney has an analogy to warrant him in his Compounds, when he talks of " tKe ender- most house in a street," '^ the biggermost man in the parish" — - or of " his own better- most wig-j-." By the assistance of our faithful alHes more and most, we can, at this day, form Comparatives and Superlatives from any given Positive, without hazarding one crude or un melodious word ; — but, at the same * Authorities for all these, besides others which might be prodticed, may be seen in the Dictionaries of Bailey and Johnson. t I have heard the common people in the Northern parts of England talk of an indermore (that is an inner) room ; and of an indermost room, which I did not understand to mean an ejidermost, but an innermost room ; for which last word we have authority in Johnson's Dictionary. The letter d, in both cases, is inserted merely to round the word in pronunci- ation. ^ time, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 105 time, if the Londoners will not be con- tent with them, let them adhere to the oldermost mode of expression, and plead pre- scription. Though I do not, Sir, espouse such re- dundant Superlatives as we have exhibited in our own Language, yet I rather profess to admire a factitious Superlative in the Latin, when it carries force with it. Mr. Menage somewhere calls a very large folio volume foliissimo ; and again observes, in another place, that the getting money was " negotium negotiosissimum *." Dr. Fuller, in his Worthies, article Kenty mentions Haimo of Faversham, Provincial, and afterwards General, of the Franciscan order in England, in the thirteenth century, who went to Paris, where he was accounted — inter Aiistotelicos Aristotelissimus. Dean Swift had the same idea, when he calls Mr. Tick ell " JVhiggissimus f ." I shall close this article with an unsuc- cessful attempt in the manufacture of such Superlatives. When King James I. and * Menagiana. f Dr. Johnson's Life of Dean Swift. Charles 106 ANECDOTES OP Charles Prince of Wales, visited Cambridge, A. D. 1614, the Publick Orator addressed the Prince with the appellation of '^ Jacob- " 25527716 Carole." Though one would have thought that this new-fangled complimentary epithet might have flattered so vain a man as King James, yet (notwithstanding he might be inwardly gratified by it) the so-? lemnity of the occasion, and the freedom of the expression, produced a contrary effect; for both the King and the Auditory appeared to be displeased*. N« III. " KnowV for Knew and Known; AND ^^ Seed'' tor Saw and Seen. Knoivd passes currently, Sir, with the common people of London, both for our Perfect Tense knew, and our Participle Pas- sive known; and I conceive that each of them is regularly deduced from the Infini- tive. The modem Past Tense I knew, seems * Earl of Hardwicbe's State Papers, Vol. I. p. 395. to THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 107 to have been imported from the North of England, where the expressions are — ^' I sew (inste&A I sow'd) my corn :" — "I mew (that is, I moivd) my hay :*' — and " it snew^'' for it snow'd*. To the first and second of these words I have been an ear-witness ; and as to the last, the Writer of the Fragment at the end of Sprott's Chronicle (who probably was a Yorkshireman), speaking of the Battle of Tow ton, says — " and all the season it snewJ' Dr. Wallis, a Kentish-man, who lived in the last century, admits knew to be an imperfect Preterit, together with snew and many others f. In one similar instance we have returned from the irregular to the regular formation * Sew for sow'd is found in Cower de Confessione Amantis, lib. V. fol. 93. b. — and in Douglas's Virgil. See the Glossary. Holinshed uses snew under the year 1583, speaking of a Tragedy called Dido performed before Prince Alasco, where among other devices it is said that *' it snew an artificial kind '* of snow." This entertainment is given at large in Mr. Nichols's ''Progresses of Queen Elizabeth," under her Ma^' jesty's Progress, in that year. t Grammar, p. 1^, where he says — '' Sed 6t utrobique " snow'd,'* of 108 ANECDOTES OF of the Preterit ; for the Translators of the New Testament tell us, that the cock creiv^ whereas that wprrl is become obsolete, and we now say croiud, which Is allowed as to legitimacy, both by Dr. Wallls, and after him by Bp. Lowth*. Bailey likewise, in his DIctlonai-y, calls crew the Bastard Pre- terit, and allows croivd to be the right heir f . Dr. Johnson gives both ; but makes no decision. From these corruptions in such Verbs as grow, throw, bloiv, &c. we, and not the Cockneys, have formed the Preterits grew, threw, hleiu, &c. instead of the true ones, grow^d, throw^d, hlow^d, &c.; although we reprobate the direct formation, and quar- rel with the Londoners for retaining the natural Past Tense I know'd. It will be said that this is an Irregular Verb. Granted : — but who made it so ? Not the parties accused. Ihe received termination of such Preterits as Icneiv, &c. afford a pregnant example of the inconsistency of the English Language. * Introduction to English Grammar, p. 97. t Dictionary, in voce. Verbs THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 109 Verbs ending in — ow, have for the most part adopted the termination of — ew in the Perfect Tense ; as, bloiv, blew ; grow, grew, Sec. ; while at the same time we have the like Preterits from other Verbs, totally dif- ferent and incongruous in their Infinitives ; as from slai/ we meet with slew ; from fly, flewy and perhaps a few others : — while flow is obliged to be content with the regu- lar Preterit flowed; for we have never, I believe, heard of a river ikidJifleiv, Knoiud, as the Participle Passive, is ano- ther branch of this Verb, to which the Cock- ney is as partial as he is to the Perfect Tense, though it be so notoriously disavowed by us. I will give you instances of both, in one sen- tence. If a Londoner should be called upon to appear to the character of a Prisoner at the Bar of the. Old -Bailey, it is ten to one but that he will tell the Court — " that he " has know'd the Prisoner for seven years ; *' but never Tinoivd any harm of him.'' In like manner the Cockney, on all occa- sions, uses thi'ow'd for both Preterit and Par- ticiple dlO ANECDOTES OF ticiple Passive; as, '^ A. B/s horse throivd^ <^ him;" and "the Bill was throw' d"^ out " in the House of Commons." And again he analogically uses draw'd in like manner to serve both purposes ; as, " C. D. was " dratud * in to pay a sum of money, for " which he draw'd * upon his banker." Groivd is another instance ; for, speak- ing of an upstart, you may hear it said — - "that, since he grow'd* rich, he has ^^ growd* to be a very pompous man." The Preterit in this case is, however, sup- . portable by written evidence ; for in the Translation of the French Romance " Morte " Arthur" it is said (speaking of Sir Tris- tram) that — "he grov/d in might and " strength f ." According to the account given by Bp. Lowth, we have preserved our Passive Par- ticiple known from the irregular Saxon * All our Preterits and Participles Passive of throw, draw, and grow, are condemned as irregular by Dr. Wallis. Gram- j matica Linguae Anglicanae, p. 121. 1 t Mr. Warton's Notes on Spenser's Fairy Queen, vol. I. p. 21, 12mo. 1762. ^ know- en f i THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Ill knoiv-en, as likewise thrown and drawn from throw-en and draio-en by abbreviation, all equally repugnant to regular formation. The Cockney, on the other hand, who has been used to such Participles ^%Jtow'd^ soivdy mojv^d, &c. derived from their respective In- finitives, naturally forms a like Participle from knozv ; and we must not expect a Hackney -coachman, who is an Uhiquarj/y and who picks up his Language (as well as his Fares) in the streets, to be quite so correct as an Antiquary. Allow me then that / Jcnow^d is justly formed from / knoiv ; and you will readily grant that I see'd is as fairly deduced from I see, See'd passes currently with the common people of London, both for our Perfect Tense saWy and our Participle Passive seen, as branches of the Verb to see. They will say, for instance, — " I see'd him yester- " day ;'' and " he w^as see'd again to-day;" both which parts of the Verb are in fact re- gularly descended from the Infinitive. I am 112 ANECDOTES OP I am happily aware that our Participle seen is a contraction of the Saxon see-en^ which is condemned by Bp. Lowth, and stigmatized moreover by all Saxon Gram* marians, as anomalous, the natural termi- nation of such Participle being either in — ed, or — o(P, The Cockney, therefore, scorning all ob- ligation to Saxon deformity, confines himself to the truth, as followed by his forefathers, and by their antecessors from generation to generation, before this and other words (which will occur hereafter) were invaded by corruption. In short, if the Saxons themselves thus debased the Verb to see In its Participle, — how shall those Englishmen be warranted who have unnaturally introduced the Pre- terit saiv ? You will admit, no doubt, that in our language the Verb decree produces decree d in the Past Tense ; and that the Verb agree gives us agreed in the same situation. Now, * Dr. Hickes's Anglo-Saxon Grammar. Sir, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 113 Sir, it would produce the most unpalatable melody imaginable, if the Preterit of these Verbs were to correspond with that of the Verb see, according to our established mode of formation. How uncouth would it sound to my ear, even though I had gained a Chancery-suit, to be told that " the Lord '^ Chancellor decraiv in mv favour :' — or to your ear, after having heard that you had been at Tunbridge-Wells, were I to say, — " I hope the water agraiv with you." This last word, indeed, if ever it should be adopted, ought to be confined to a dose of physick ; and both of them might well be consigned to the language of the Q\\\c\i^aws and the Cdd.d}}aius. N° IV. ' " Mought" for Might. This word is allowed ' by Bailey in his Dictionary (Scott's edition), and by Dr. Johnson, to have been formerly used for the modern word might ; though they both observe that mousrht is now g-rowa obsolete. I So 114 ANECDOTES Of So much the hetter ; for professed Antiqua- ries, my dear Sir, of all men, ought not to reject a word on account of its Ancientry I Chaucer and other Writers of an early date use It repeatedly *. Dr. Wallis, speaking of mighty voluntarily adds — " olim mouglit ;^^ though he does not give us any farther part of its history. It is clear, however, that all these authorities must prevail, as being well-founded ; and that our word 7night is merely a delicate pronuncia- tion for female lips, or introduced by foppish refinements under the foolish French appel- lations of bon ton, instead of mought, which has stronger claims to regular formation. Now, Sir, the truth is, that the Preterit. mought had anciently for its radix the Saxon Verb mo7ve, which was In common use with Chaucer (for he had lio alternative), and which we have softened into may f. The Baodern word mi^ht Is indeed so weak an * See the Glossaries to Chaucer j Fairfax's Tasso ; and tlie Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. t See Mr. Tvrwhitt's Glossary to Chauoer. Reliques of Ancient English Poetry r Foitescue on Monarchy, chap. VI. enemy, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 115 enemy, that the Cockney has three to one against It; for, besides his own word mouglit^ he can produce both mot and matey on the authority of the Editor of the " Reliques of '^ Ancient Enghsh Poetry */' Mote will be found in Fairfax's Tasso, translated at thdkclose of the Reign of Queen EHzabeth -j*. It is also allowed by Dr. Hickes, in right of survivorship : and I cannot but think that ^nought is undoubtedly descended from a more ancient family than might ; and we find, moreover, that mought was not quite extinct early in the eighteenth century, when gentlemen wrote pretty much as they spoke, or at least what they thought more elegant language. Thus, then, mought occurs in a Letter from the Earl of Worcester to Lord Cranborne, dated 1604 J : and again, in a Letter from the Earl of Salisbury to Mr. Kirkham, dated 1605 §. * Glossary to Vol. L t " Within the postern stood Argantes stout " To rescue her, if ill rnote her betide." Book III. stanza 13. I Mr. Lodge's " Illustrations of Eng^lish History^" IIL % 266. • § Idem, III. 9,99. ^ . i2 N^ 116 ANECDOTES OF N^ V. " Aks/' or " Ax/' for Ask. A true-born Londoner, Sir, of either sex, always aa:es questions, axes pardon, and, at quadrille, axes leave. There is un- doubtedly a metathesis, or, at least, a trans- position of sound, in this little word ; and the Courtier lays it entirely to the charge of the Cockney, w^ho does not retaliate, but persists in his own patrimonial pronuncia- tion. If one wishes to know the etymology or the orthography of any given word, it is natural to have recourse to the w^orks of those who lived long before us, and in times when Language was most free from adulteration, and came simple and undisturbed from its fountain. Analyzation will, however, be necessary, that we may come at the truth. As to the Latin Language, Gerard John Vossius has produced as many examples of the permutation of letters as fill 44 pages in folio *. In our ow n, the number would not * Etymologicon Linguae l^tinae, fol. Lyojis, 1664, p. 1. be THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 117 be small, if they were fully collected toge- ther, which has been partly done by Dr. Skuiner in the Prolegomena to his " Ety- ^' mologicon." Though " a,r," in all its branches, is one great criterion in Language as to the verifica- tion of a Cockney ; yet the truth will be found to lie on his side, however uncourtly it may seem to refined ears ; for it is the con- federacy of the beau monde, which has trans- posed the sound, and converted the primi- tive Anglo-Saxon ^^ acs"^ (for so it should be spelt from the Infinitive " acsciari^J to our Anglo-barbarous " ask " *. In support of this, Sir, I shall shew you that the word " a 121 favour the word " ask,'^ have, in another example, committed ourselves by transform- ing the term '^ task" into that of " tax.'* The former occurs as synonymous in old Chronicles ; and Bailey, in his Dictionary, allows " task" to mean a pecuniary tribute, as well as a duty to be performed. Thus Holinshed says : "There was a new '^ and -strange subsidie or taske granted to be " levied for the Kind's use :" and farther, " tasks, customs, and tallages," are com- bined together in a Decree made in the Court of Exchequer, anno 21 Eliz. Reginse, touch- ing the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall*. Dr. Johnson thinks that the word " tax" is radically the British term " tdsq" a sub- sidy or tribute, which may very well resem- ble each other by the permutation of letters. In old leases, certain pecuniary imposts were called '' takes" as is observed bv the late Sir John CuUum, Bart, in his " History of " Haws ted," where he cites a lease made * See a Collection of the names of the several Princes of Wales, &c. collected by Richard Conhak, in the Reign of King James I, xeprinted in an octavo pamphlet, 1747, p. 12. 1589, 122 ANECDOTES OP 1589, and which term is easily compressed into the word taoc * ; but farther, in another lease dated 1580, the same mulct is called a " tasV' f . Shakspcare, w^ho flourished about the times last mentioned, will support us in proving that tax is a perversion of the word task : for he makes Hotspur reproach King Henry IV. (among other things) with having . Task'd the whole State.'* Hen. IV. P. 1. Act IV. Sc. 3. Now, Sir ; as to the equal import of these two words, I fancy both of us can recollect (long as it is since we left school) that we once thought the task imposed upon us during the holidays, was no small tax upon our juvenile engagements, ouf pleasures, and our pass -times. * History of Hawsted, second edition, 1813, p. 235. , t Ibid. p. 233. N" THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 123 Took for Taken. Rose for Risen. Fell for Fallen. Wrote for Written. It must be confessed that the Londoners are too apt to confound the Participle Passive with the Active Preterit, as in the instances above given, and some others : but their reading seldom extends farther than the News-papers of th^ day, wherein they find their own Language confirmed in most of these cases. In their common and daily col- loquial intercourse, they do not aifect accu- racy, and I presume they write as they talk. But let eminent Authors arise from their grave, and throw stones if they dare ; and their own pages shall confront them. If the Cockney be wrong in these instances, he does not err alone ; and if he be denied his Clergy^ let Writers of Rank look to their heads. The 124 ANECDOTES OF The following are some flagrant examples that occur in Writers of great celebrity. Took for taken. " Was tookr Shakspeare's Hen. IV. P. 2. Act I. Sc. 2. Milton's Comus. " Hath tookj' Milton's Verses on the Death of Shakspeare. ^ So also in the Compounds : Mistook for mistaken. " Have been mistook:' Hen. IV. P. 2. Act IV. Sc.2. .Twelfth Night, V. Sc. 1. ^^ Is mistook:* Love's Labour's Lost, III. Sc. 1. " To be mistook:* Milton, Arcades *. Overtook for overtaken. '' Never is oertooL" Macbeth, IV. Sc. 1. Again : Forsook for forsaken. " That hath forsook.'' Milton, II Pen- seroso, and Samson Agonistes. " Forsook by thee, in vain 1 sought thy aid." Pope's Odyssey. * More examples of these may be seen in Bishop Lowth's Introduction to English Grammar, p. IDS', fiom Swift^ Dr. Bentley, Prior j where also his Lordship cites Bolingbroke, and Atterbury, for the use of shook for shaken. There THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 125 There is something singular in this case. Happily for all parties concerned, both Dr. Johnson and Bailey, in their Dictionaries, very decidedly allow took and forsook to be Participles Passive, as well as Preterits of their respective Verbs, and cite some au- thority ; but then they give no reason how this confusion came to pass. I am inclined, therefore, to suppose (though I have nothing to sanction the hypothesis) that Verbs ter- minating in — ake^ like those ending in —eak, originally formed their Passive Par- ticiples from their Active Preterits by the simple addition of the Saxon final letter w ; which, being by degrees lopped off in pro- nunciation, would leave those two branches of the Verbs the same. The following ar- rangement favours the supposition where these Verbs are thus confronted. Speak, spoke, spoken. Break, broke, broken. Take, toke* (or tooke), token (or tooken). * Toke id found in several old writers, as in Douglas's Virgil, in Rogep- Ascham, &c. Mr. Pennant also wrote toke in the Preterit, and not took. Forsake, 126 ANECDOTES OP Forsake y far soke (ov forsookej , forsaken (or forsooken) *. Now, Sir, if this formation be admissible, all parties concerned will be j ustified ; and the Cockneys, being supported at all events, by their betters, ought to escape particular censure. In the following examples I apprehend that all will be found guilty ; but the illi- terate Cockney may, I hope, be recom- mended to mercy; if not, he falls in the best company, and " Solamen miseris socios habuisse,'* &c. Rose and Arose, for Risen and Arisen. *^ The Sun has ro5e." Swift. " Have roseJ' Prior. " Have arose.'' Dryden, on Oliver Cromwell. " Had not arose,'* Bolingbroke. > " Are arose/' Comedy of Errors. * And so perhaps of all other Compounds. Q. When the jfinal — en was broken off? and if not temp. Hen. VIII. ? Th IS THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 12^ This last, and those which follow, cannot, as I conceive, be justified upon the same principle. Fell for Fallen. Gay has tripped in this particular ; but it was Language he probably picked up in the shop ; for he once stood behind a counter. '' Sure some disaster has hefel" Fable III. There is less excuse to be made for Prior, an Academick, who has unguardedly tres- passed in the same point. " He should have/eZ/.^' Solomon, b. III. All that can be urged in vindication is, that they both stumbled against rhymes, which leaves Mr. Stanyan without excuse, who uses the word more than once. " Is thought to have/eZZ in this battle *." ^' Must have fell into their hands f .'' Wrote for Written. This oversight is to be found in many of our best and classical Authors, pointed out * Grecian History, I. p. 324. f Id. p. 336, by 128 ANECDOTES OP / by Bishop Lowth ; Milton, Dryden, Cla- rendon, Prior, Swift, Bolingbroke, Bentley, Atterbury, and Addison, besides Shaks- peare *. To these let me subjoin, if it be but for the sake of a little ill-nature, a Writer on Grammar itself, the late Richard Johnson, M. A. in his " Grammatical Com- " mentaries,'' p. 366. It is true, that his objects are the elements of the Latin tongue ; but, at the same time, he ought not to have quite forgotten the as in prcesenti of his Vernacular Language. Jt is observable that Bailey allows ivrofe to be the Participle Passive, as does Dr. Johnson (after him), on the sole authority of Dr. South, 7i Cockney. Notwithstanding which, however, Dr. Johnson was too cor- rect to adopt it in his own works, even after the combined examples of all the above- mentioned eminent Authors. I could, in- deed, with very little trouble, point out many excellent Writers, now living, who have run into the same error ; but delicacy for- * Introduction to English Grammar, p. lOG. bids THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 129 bids me to — *^ taunt them with the license « of ink *r Bishop Lowth complains bitterly of this confusion of Active Preterits and Passive Participles. " The abuse," says his Lord- ship, '* has long been growing upon us, and *Ms continually making further encroach- *' ments f /' Some of these errors the Bi- shop admits to have arisen from contraction, — others are, at least, excusable ; — while the rest are so wholly established by custom, as to have been consigned to the ward of In- curables without any hopes of recovery. But let us hear what his Lordship says in exte- nuation, as a general amnesty for all writers and talkers, past, present, and to come, and which has been sanctioned by prescription. " There are not in English so many as an " hundred Verbs, which (now) have a dis- " tinct and different form for the Past Tense *' Active and the Participle Passive. The " (present) general bent and turn of the '^ Language is toward the other form which * Twelfth Night, Act IIL Sc. 2. t Introduction to English Grammar^ p. 109. K " makes 130 ANECDOTES OI' " makes the Past Tense (Active) and the <^ Participle (Passive) the same. This con- " fusion prevails greatly in common dis- ** course, and is too much authorized by *' our best writers *." The force of habit is then exemplified by the Bishop in familiar cases, vrhere he ob- serves, how easily we forgive such expres- sions as, ^^ I have wrote,'^ and " I have ^^ bore;" while we should be startled at, " I have knew,'' or, " I have saw;" though, in fact, they are equally barbarous. After this, I can only repeat that, if the above good and classical Writers take advan- tage of the general confusion of Preterits Active and Participles Passive, it is but rea- sonable, nay just and equitable, that they should receive the Cockneys under their protection. Before w^e take our final leave of this article, I cannot but observe the confusion and perplexity which must necessarily arise \ to all learners of our language, whether * Introduction to English Grammar, p. 105. infant* THE iENGLISH LANGUAGlE. 131 infants or foreigners, from the modern promiscuous use of the Present and Perfect Tenses in some of our Verbs. Those which strike me at the moment are the words read and eat, wherein nothing but the context can decypher which tense is impKed. As to the former, the ancient mode of as- certainment put the matter out of doubt at once ; for the old preterit of read was red, deduced in the same manner as led is from lead. Now, Sir, the fact is, that the Infinitive and Present Tense were formerly written rede, from the Saxon ; as we see in Chaucer, and which continued in use till the time of Roger Ascham *. Here was sufficient dis- tinction both for the eye and the ear ; and by the same necessary discrimination of look and sound was deduced the Preterit red, which is not only to be observed in Chaucer and Ascham, but is adhered to by some mo- dern Writers even of this day f . * English Works, p. 193. 230. t Rede the old Verb, and its Preterit red, are both found in Gawen Douglas's Translation ofVirgil, Spede was the Verb K 2 of 133 AXFXDOTES or Lord Bolingbroke has adopted red in his " Study of History ]' and, to shew the ground of his faith, and that he would be analogically right, has cleared another Verb of similar obscurity, by writing spred as the Preterit of sjiread. Gill, in his " Logonomia,'* gives lis red ds the regular Past Tense. Sir John Hawkins adheres to it. Dr. Johnson does not seem to have been aware of either the old Infinitive rede, or the old Preterit red ; but contents himself with observing that " the verb read is pro- nounced reed, and the preterit and participle ''red*r Bishop Lowth only observes, that the Past Tense and Participle ^^ perhaps ought to ** be written red,'^ though his Lordship al- lows that ancient writers spelt it redde f . of which sped is the Past Tense, ami may be se^n in Chaucer. Possibly hleedy which has hied, and breed, which has bred, for their Preterits respectively, might have hlede and 6rede for their radicals. * IJictionary, in voce. t Bishop Horsley intrdduced redde in the " Philosophical Transactions." — Mr. PinkertoUj a very modern Writer, has THE ?asGLJSH |:.^j^GUAGE. 133 Eaty both as to the modern Preterit and the Passive Participle (though abbreviated from eaten), are open to the same general condemnation. The true Past Tense is ate^ and is still preserved by many Writers ; and I can but favour the distinction. We meet with it in Scripture, as may be seen by refer- ring to a Concordance ; and Dr, Johnson and many other Authors still preserve it. Square-toed and old-fashioned as it may be, it certainly weeds the sense at once of every equivocation, and assists the Reader; and it is to be wished that it was more attended to. As to read for a Preterit^or a Participle, compounded the matter, and spells it redd *, a mode which certainly distiniruishes the word more clearly from red the colour. Dr. Wallis wishes to have it written readd ; but that is not supported by any ancient authonty j neither does he produce any, but only to the Preterit read adds ** potius " readd quasi read^d.'* Now, Sir, tx) my ear readed is UQt the sort of word that will admit of an uiiostrophe in pronun- ciation. Mr. Nare^ sajs, red confounds it with the colour, p. 259, where Dr. Johnson is cited, I believe in the Gmraraar, q. v. Led from lead, Mr. Nares observes, clears a thfliculty — red from read makes one. * History of the Gothi. though 134 ANECDOTES OF though a distinction is certainly wanting, yet it must be given up : general consent is against the old practice, and there is a symptom of affectation in deviating from the now-received mode. Learners must, therefore, be contented to observe two dif- ferent pronunciations in each of these little words, and govern themselves by the con- text. N^ VII. *^ Fetch a Walk," and ^^ Faught a Walk." The Verb fetch, both in its Infinitive Mood, and in its Past Tense of the Indica- tive Mood, is, in the sense before us, gene- rally applied by the common people of Lon- don .to a walk for pleasure, — ^ a promenade. Thus a Cockney will say to his companions, on a Sunday after dinner, when the ennui is coming on, '' Let us fetch a walk." Again, ' THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 135 Again, in the Past Tense, he will tell them what ^^ a prodigious pretty walk he f aught " on the preceding Sunday." These expres- sions, Sir, sound very dissonantly to our ears ; for we should as soon think of carry-' ing, as oi fetching a walk. It is, however, the idiom of London ; — and it cannot be denied but that f aught is as fairly deduced from fetch y as caught is from catchy taught from teach y or the old word r aught j(^to be found in Shakspeare and other Writers about his time) from reach *. Our Ancestors seem to have affected what I have called broad words, as much as the present Cockneys. Thus, instead of '' dis- " tracted^^ and ^^ extracted,^ they wrote " distraught f " and " extraughf^,'' Raught *' from reacli^ I have just now mentioned ; and you will find " over-raughf^ for " over-- * Hen. V. Act. IV. Sc. 6. "He raught me his *' hand, &c. It is also found in Fairfax's Translation of Tasso. t Romeo and Juliet, Act IV. Sc. 4. Ri«h. III. Act. HI. Sc.5. X Hen.VL Part HI. Act II. Sc.2. reached.'* 138 ANECDOTES OF " reached *." These, proving offensive to the ear, have been gradually modified ; and, the abbreviates of the regular Participles of these Verbs being adopted, we then find in Shakspeare, '^ distract '' and ^' extract^ Milton adheres to these curtailed Participles, such as " distracf for dist7mcted f /' '' suS" " pect" for " suspected J ;" and ^* instruct'* for ^^ instructed §.'' The natural Preterits of these Verbs are fetclidy catclid, teaclidj and reaclid j|. Two of these we retain, while we reject the two others. Caught is no very modern sub- stitute for catcKdy or the Cockney would not have picked it up as an elegance, for it is found in Chaucer %, Apart from the Saxon verb, feccan^ the old English verb was fet^ seemingly both in the Infinitive, in the Preterit, and in the * Comedy of Errors, Act I. Sc. 2. t Sampson Agonistes, 1. 1556. X Par. Lost, b. 11. 1.399. § Idem, b. I. 1. 439. li I have heard the word teach' d among the common peo- ple in the Northernly parts of England." ^ See Mr. Tyrwhitt's Glossary. Parti- THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 137 Participle Passive, which could only be dis- tinguished by the context. Take the following examples : " Mr, Palmer WA'&fet from *, &c. « Did from Britain/^/ '* Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. III. Canto I. " And hear my deep;/if/ groans." Hen. TV. P. XL Act. IL Sc. 4. '* And from thence viefet a compass, and came to " Rhegium." Acts of the Apostles, ch. XVIIL printed 1677 t- This indistinction is so violent, that, where fet is used ^ the Infinitive, the Pre- terit or Participle Passive must have been an abbreviation of fet t eh. But this by the way. * See *' Informations gathered at Reading, A. D. 1571, " touching the storie of Juliue Palmer, Martyr," in the Ap- pendix, or Catalogue of Originals, at the end of vol. HI. of Strype's Memorials. f In Chaucer's time the Saxon Verb /eccan became /ecc/«€, the participle passive of which was both fette and/e^ See Mr. Tyrwhitt's Glossary. Fet is found in " Liber Festivalis," printed by Wynken de Worde, >vho died in the reign of Hen. VIII. It occurs also in the old translations of the Bible» as in the Book of Kings, L ch. ix. v. 28.— in Samuel, H. ch. ix. V. 5, and in some other places. Similar 138 ANECDOTES OF Similar to this is the Preterit let from letted in many instances. As, ^' I let him *^ go," &c. i. e. letted. Beset, i. e. besetted, overset, ^' The rain wet #him through." Now, Sir, if you are so little conversant with the dialect of London as never to have heard the verb '^ fetch!' applied to a walk, I dare be bold enough to say that you have read it, though the application of it has perhaps escaped your notice. I will therefore produce instances to your eye. Thus then Shakspeare, in Cymbeline, makes even the queen say : ** V\\ fetch a. turn about the garden, pitying ** The pangs of barr'd affections." Act I. Sc. 2. You may impute this, perchance, to Shakspeare as an unguarded escape ; but let us hear Milton, who has adopted the word in the most sober and solemn manner. *' When evening grey doth rise, \ fetch my round " Over the mount, and all thi^ hallow*d ground." Arcades. Hence THE ENGLISH JLANGUAGE. 139 Hence we may conceive this word, In the sense before us, not to have been disrespected in the days of Milton. At the commence- ment of the eighteenth century, however, it seems to have been a term in no repute in the poHte world ; for Congreve puts it into the mouth of Sir Wilful Witwou'd, in the Comedy of the ^' Way of the World," where he makes him say to a lady, in language in- tended to betray vulgarity, " If that how you were disposed to fetch a walk " this evening, 1 would have faught a walk with "you." Act IV. Sc. 4. The use of the Preterit ^^ faught ^^ is, among the Londoners, so sacredly confined to a walk, that they do not extend it to any thing portable ; as in that case they would say, '* Ifotch it.'* This is similar to their Past Tense of " catch ;" for they will tell you that, in ^' fetching^' a walk last Sunday, they '' cotcM' cold, — and, not thej'^caughf*. cold. Were I contending, Sir, for any thing more than the analogous formation of the word ''faiighf from the Verb ''fetch/' I might 140 ANECDOTES OF might add, that even they who apply either of them to a walk are guilty of great im- propriety, and do not conform to the dialect from which it is borrowed ; — for it is, in fact, a Sea-term, which came to the Land- men, above-bridge, from the meridian of Wapping. The word does not properly at- tach to the walk itself, more than it would to the voyage, but to the place whither the parties (to use Sea-language) are bound. The very Sailors offend against their own idiom when they use the phrase at land ; for, instead of saying '* let us fetch a walk in the Park," they ought to say, " let us take a walk, and fetch the Park," confor- mably with their language at sea, when they talk of '^fetching land, fetching the Chan- nel," &c. The fundamental meaning of this express sion, among Seamen, seems to have an allusion to the well-known saying concern- ing Mahomet and the mountain, as if the tars intended to suggest that — "If the *^ land will not come to us, we rau^tfetch it *^ by our own approximation." Thus again, : agree- THE ENGLISH LANGtJAGE. 141 agreeably to this Sea- term, a Cockney will tell you, " that he fetched a man a knock *^ on the face ;" now in this case the Cockney must of course advance toward the man to do it ; as I think that the man would hardly be fool enough to approach the Cock- ney in order to receive the blow. This term is to be found in technical use among all Writers of Voyages, as well as in the colloquial Language of Sailors, both at sea and on shore : — but, if a Land-man chuse io fetch a walk from Westminster to Wappng, or a Sailor at Wapping chuse to fetch the Park, I can have no possible ob- jection ; — so that I am not obliged to be of the party. N^ 142 ANECDOTES OE' N" VIII. ** Learn'* for Teach : and " Remember'' for to Remind, of Recollect. ;" Pray, Miss, who learns you to play upon "Me musick ?" is a very common Cockney expression. Here, Sir, I must divide my discourse into two heads ; first, as to the word " learn ;" and secondly, as to the term " the musick J*^ The substitution of " learn,'' in the place of " teach,' is the Family Dialect in the circle of the true Lon- doner, who speaks, without affectation, the Language of his forefathers. Our more en- lightened young ladies will titter, if not laugh, at such vulgarity, having been made to believe, by their Governesses, that the master teaches, and that the pupil learns. It must be confessed that, in modern accep- tation, the words are not equivocal. The City-Miss, however, is far from being without THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 143 without an advocate ; for, from the Trans- lators of the Psalms, in the common service of the Church, there is ample room for jus- tificatlon : " Lead me forth in thy truth, and learn me*." ** Them shall he learn his way f." " Oh, learn me true understanding |." Now, if Miss picked up this word at Church, I may insist upon it that she has been a very good girl, and minded what she was about ; though, after all, I am afraid, it will only prove to be an hereditary dis- order. The seat of the disease, as I am to call it in conformity with the present usage, may, however, be traced, and relief administered to the Londoner, saving the favour of mo- dern apostates from the ancient practice. In the Anglo-Saxon Language, Sir, the Verb ^' laeranj^ whence it came to us modified into " learn,'' had indiscriminately both senses, and implied " docere' (to teach)^ as well as '^ discere' (to learn) ; a circum- * Psalm XXV. ver.4. f Idem, ver.8.^. ^ Pialm cxix. Division ix. ver. 2. -vivi.v ; stance 144 ANECDOTES OF stance of no small import, as it gives th« Cockney as justifiable an opportunity of adopting one sense, as we have of embracing the other *. To descend considerably lower than tlie Anglo-Saxons, and at the same time to vindicate the Translators of the Psalmist, Chaucer uses the word ^^ lerne '* in the sense of ^' teach ■}-." Shakspeare, who comes much nearer to us in point of time, so far considered them as words of equal import, that he has naore than once used them in the same sentence^ merely, as it should seem, to vary the ex* pression : *' Unless you could teach me to forget a banish ei " father, you must not learn me to remember any eXf " traordinary pleasure.'* As you Like It, Act 1. Sc. 2. And again : ** You taught me language : — the red plague rid " you for learning me your language 1'* Tempest, Act I. Sc. 2. X- * See Junius. f Tyrwhitt's Glossary : and Dr. Johnson cites Spenser** Fairy Queen. X Again in Eichard II. Act IV. Sc. 1. The mstances in ! Shakspeare are too numerous to insist upon. i THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 145 If then these are to be considered as synonymous terms, the Translators of the Psalms use the simple word " learn^^ im- plying teaching as the cause of learning, — and say, at once, in the decisive and com- pact phrase — '^ Learn me true understand- ^^ ing :'' — and this carries with it both cause and effect. *^ As to the language of our Psalms, Mr. John Johnson observes, that — "If some " words and phrases seem strange, let it be *^ considered, that what we now count cor- " rect English may seem odd to our posterity ^' three or four ages downward */' And so it does, and in much less time than is in- cluded in Mr. Johnson's prediction. The Translators were men of great and acknow- ledged abilities, and every way competent ; of whom Mr. Johnson says that — " They " understood the English of the age they " lived in, or else none did f ." Our Lexi- cographer Dr. Samuel Johnson says on the * Johnson's Holy David. Notes, p. 34. t Johnson, in eodem, ,^ . L ,^ word 146 ANECDOTES OF word " learnj' that, " In many of the Eu- *' ropean languages * the same word signi- " fies to learn and to teach^ to gain or " impart knowledge." The question then is^ how to account for this hermaphroditical use of the same word ? Junius tells us that our Verb to learn imports also to teach^ — docere as well as discere. So say the Cockiseys ; but you will not be- lieve them. Dr. Scott, in his edition of Bai- ley's Dictionary, 1/64, seems to clear up the matter, by observing that the word learn operates as a Verb Neuter, where it imports to receive knowledge in the case of a Pupil ; -— and as a Verb Active, where it instructs or teaches on the part of a Tutor ; and then adds what we have cited from Dr. Johnson, as to the equivocal use of the word. Dr. Johnson does not exemplify any thing frorai our own Language to support his assertion ; but Dr. Scott gives the Verb from the Saxon, a the Danish, the Swedish, the Dutch, and * '* None of which he (Johnson) knew." John Horne Tooke's MS Note. ther THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 14/ the German, which the respective Diction- aries of those Languages confirm *. Dr. Johnson tells us, moreover, that the word learn in the sense of teach is obsolete : granted : — but the Cockney does not value it the less on that account ; for his Father learnt him to talk so, and his Grandfather learnt his Father, so that teaching has never been heard of from generation to generation. The second head of my discourse relates to ^^ the musickJ* Now, Sir, a fond Mother, proud of her Daughter's capacity, will ex- ultingly tell you that Miss " learned herself " to play upon the musick." As to the young ladle's abilities I make no farther com- ment than to pronounce that Miss had a very bad teacher. As to the term " the mitsick/' I was long contented with thinking that it was, by a little venial affectation, the French ^'larnusique ;^^ and congratulated myself that my fair clients * The same double sense is given to the French Verb ap- 'prendre, which is used by the Archbishop of Cambray in his Telemachus instead of enseigner, and is allowed by Beyer in his Dictionary. L 2 had 148 ANECDOTES OF had combined their French and their Musick po happily together, as to have retained a little of each in this expression ; for I take it as granted, that, in these refined times, every Female Cockney of tolerable respec- tability has been taught a morceau of French, as well as been learned to play upon the musick. Here, however, I am to stand corrected, and, as usual, to look back into Antiquity^ where I find substantial authority for the ex- pression, subject to a very trifling defalca- tion ; for, in fact, the term ought to be plu- talized, and should be the rnusicKS, I am informed by professed adepts in the science of musick, that after semi-tones (which, Miss will tell you, are expressed by the short keys of her harpsichord) were intro- duced, the difficulty of performing on such instruments was greatly increased. By the use ofjluts and sharps, modulation was very much expanded, insomuch that the natural keys (as they are called), and what may be termed artificial key§, became, as it were, two instruments ; and, when spoken of to- gether, were styled " the musicks,-' The: applicatioa THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 149 application necessary to overcome in practice these new positions of the Octave was more than doubled, or perhaps more than tripled ; so that every tone, and almost every semi- tone, in the Octave, became fundamental, — - — carried with it a distinct difficulty in the execution, — and, in the gross, might M^ell deserve a plural termination, under the ap- pellation of the musiclcs. Thus our Cockneys, when they talk of the musicJc, have merely dropped the final letter s. But this is not the only word whence the sign of the Plural has vanished, and that even in the science before us ; for what we now call an Organ was formerly styled the Organs, and so low as the last century a fair of Organs*. The old French term for this * In the Diary of Mr. Alleyne, the Founder of Diilwich College, is an article where he says that, in the year 16)18, he paid 8 /. for a pair of Organs. See Mr. Nichols's Illustrations of Antient Manners, &c. in the Churchwardens' Accompts j frequently. Is not Hogs Norton proverbially derived from the pigs play- ing on the organs there ? [Sir Thomas Cave conjectured that the adage, *' Hogs Norton, where pigs o' th' organs," might come upon this occasion ; *' Looking round for antiquities in this 150 ANECDOTES OF this instrument was '' les Orgues'^'' The Sea was formerly called the Seas, which occurs often in Milton. Money is a singular, cut down from a plural ; t< You have rated me "About my monies.'''' Merchant of Venice, Act I. Sc. 3. And again, in the same scene, *' Shylock, we would have ynonies.''^ I do not know how it has happened, Sir, but the letter s seems to have been peculiarly unfortunate, and, from its sibilance, has given offence in various Languages. In French pronunciation it is totally sunk as a final letter ; and the number of any word is to be governed by the Article, the Verb, or the Context. In the middle of words it is qui- *fescent nine times out of ten ; though to the eye it has the compliment of being frequently represented by a circumflex. this church, I found in a corner an old piece of a pair of or- gans, upon the end of every key whereof there was a boar cut ; the earls of Oxford (by Trusseli) sometime being owners of land there." Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. IV. p. 849*, or Gent. Mag. June 1813, p. 5i3. Edit.] * Huetiana, article CXI. Mr. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 151 Mr. Pasquier, who died A. D. 1615, at the age of eighty-seven, tells that, in the French \\ov(}ihonest (now pronounce 'l/i07z^/e), the letter 5 was sounded when he was ^ young man ; but he lived to hear the 5, wdth its preceding vowel, sunk into a long e, to the total abolition of the letter 5. * Could it well be dispensed with at the beginning of words, I w ould not ensure it from depredation. In the Latin Language it has likewise suffered much disgrace ; for Gerard- John Vossius tells us, that '* cano^ was primitively written ^'casno;' — '' carmen,'^ written '^cas- 771671;" — " came7icB,[' written " casmence;^^ and that — " aper^' was written " asper^^ To these may be added, on the authority of Mons. Moreri, the French Lexicographer, that '^ 7in77ierus' was anciently w^ritten " iius^ iiieriis ;" — " omen J' written " osmen;'^ — and " ide77i,'' ^yritten " isdem^,'' * Recherches, lib. Vllf. ch. I. edit. 1S33. See Mr. Bowie's Paper in Archeeoiogia, vol. VI. p. 77. T De Lilerarum Perniutatione, prefixed to his Etymologi- con Linguae Latinae. " X Dictionaire, letter S. Bat I iSi ANECDOTES OF But this, Sir, I give you by way of episode ; observing only, that, to the prudish ears of a French Tiian, the letter s has innocently al- most hiss'd itself out of literal society. I must now trouble you with another word in a similar predicament with the Verb " learn^' when it implies " teaching;'' — viz. the term " rememheVy' in the sense of ^' re- mind'' or " recollect," The common phrases in London are — " Will you remember me *^ of it ?'' — and again — '^ I will rememher ^' you of it :" but these are not peculiar to London ; for I have heard them in the Northern parts of England, where they have also similar expressions, viz. '^ Will you think " me of it ?" — and " I will thijik you of it.'' Both parties, North and South, sometimes use the Participle Passive in the sense of re- collection, as — '^ If you be remembered," Bailey, in his Dictionary, allows to this Verb (rememberj the force of to put in mind of; or, to bring a thing to remembrance : -— but he gives no examples. Dr. Johnson brings forward the following instances from Shalcspeare. Worcester. THE ENGLISH JLANGUAGB. 153 Worcester. " I must remember you, my Lord, *' We were the first and dearest of your friends." Hen. IV. P. I. Act V. So. 1. Const. " Grief fills the room up of my absent child, *< Lies in his bed ■ ** Rejnembers me of all his gracious * parts." King John, Act IIL Sc. 4. Queen. " It doth rtmember me the more of sorrow." Rich. IL Act. in. Sc. 4. In the play of Richard III. the little Duke of York says, using this word in the sense of recollection, " Now, by my troth, if I had been remember*dy ** I could have given my Uncle's Grace a flout ** To touch his growth, nearer than he touch'd mine." Act IL Sc. 3. It was the Language of the seventeenth century In both senses. Lord Clarendon has this expression — " Who might be thereby re- " membered of their duty." Bishop Burnet says, " The Queen wrote a letter to the ^' King, remeyribering him of his promise." * Gracious here means graceful. 154 ANECDOlfe OF It occurs in the Paston Letters, written 1:emp. Edward IV, published by Sir John Fenn, knight, l^S/ and 1789; so that you see the use of the verb '^ remember' is of no short standing. Except as Provincial Lan- guage, this word, in either of the senses be- fore us, has been voted obsolete ; notwith- standing which, Mr. Samuel Richardson has let it escape him in his celebrated and te- diously nonsensical story of Sir Charles Gran- dison*, where, speaking of somebody or other, he tells us that — "he rubbed his " hands, forgetting the gout ; but was re- *' membered by the pain, and cried ohf !"' Mr. Richardson had very strong pretensions to this word ; for he was born and had his early education in Derbyshire, where the use of it prevails, till he was translated to Christ's Hospital J. * Martin Sherlock, the celebrated English traveller, tliought very differently of this far-famed publication. Edit. t Vol. 111. 7th edit. 12ino. 1776, p. 1 57. See Mr. Bridgen's Memoirs of Richardson, in the Universal Magazine for January and February 17S6. X Memoirs of him in the Universal Magazine 3 and see the Biographical Dictionary, 179S. No IX. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 155 N° IX. " Fit" for Fought. Here, Sir, it must strike you that the Cockney, on the other hand, seems to ape the Fine Gentleman^ and to mince his Lan- guage, when, instead of saying, as we do, "t\iQ^ fought;' he tells you — " they ^7." You may, perhaps, be puzzled also to dis- cover how. Instead of our received Preterit *' fought ;' he should obtain such a maidenly and fribbllsh substitute as ''fit;'' though I humbly think that he came honestly by it, and that the violence rests with us, rather than with the Cockney. The true Preterit Q^^' fight" Is "fighted^' and the abbreviated ''fit" comes a great deal nearer to It than our broad word ''fought." Thus from ^' zvrite" we have '* ivrited" contracted into *' ivrit" In the Past Tense (though now much disused), which has been supplanted by the word '' ivrote" In fact, in the word ^'fought" we offend more against the natural Preterit 156 ANECDOTES OF Preterit of '\fight,'' in regular formation, (han the Cockneys transgress when they use " movgM' for *' might J' To sift this our word ^' fovghC a little farther, give nie leave to observe, that, ex- cepting the verb to '^ jiglii^^ there is scarcely any other word terminating in — ight^ which has a similar deduction as to its Past Tense, as far as has occurred to Bishop Lowth and Dr. Wallis : nor is there any Preterit endino: in — ought^ that has strictly an analogous root. To exemplify this last assertion, you will recollect that " br'ought^' comes from the Verb " hrhig;^^ — " sought'' from ^^seeh^ — '' bought'' from " biu/;" — and " thought" from '' think;" to which, perhaps, may be addedafewothers equally depraved in their PavSt Tenses. What astonisliing deformity ! Time and the norma loquendi have given a sanc- tion to these anomalous excrescences ; and that is the best that can be said in their vindication. Now, Sir, I apprehend that the Lon- PONISM before us is supportable by analo- gical formation ; because ^' Jit" is as justi- fiably THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 157 fiably used for the Preterit of '^ fight ^'^ as the Preterit " lif^ is derived from its own verb " to light, ^^ and for which we have the combined authorities of Locke and Addison, both which are admitted by Bp. Lowth. Thus we say, and from a Verb radically the same as to sound, " A bird lit upon a tree ;'• — and again, " he lit the candles/' But give me leave to try the question by a standard I have before made use of in the case of the word '^ seed;^ and I make no doubt but that you would be highly dis- gusted were I to insist that every Verb ter- minating in — ight should have a similar Past Tense with the Verb ^^ fight ;^ for then you would be under the necessity of saying that a bird lought on a tree ;" — and aga in, that " he lought the candles." You must also tell me how much the new Opera ^^ c?e- *' lought you;" — and that, on an Address from the City of London, the King " knoiight " the Lord Mayor." On the other hand, I will not contend that, at this day, it would be more pleasant language to say that the Operk ^^ cjelit you ;" or that the King " k7iit " the lo8 ANECDOTES Ol" ** the Lord Mayor/' I am only to justify the word Jit, and to prove that it has equal pretensions with the word fought. To effect this, it will be necessary to look a considerable way back into what I would presume to be the Genealogical History of the two words before us, and to compound the matter by clearing their several descents. The Saxon Verb is footan, which in the Pre- terit hasjichc : — the German Verb \sfochte7i, which giwesfochte in the Preterit. On taking these two into the question, both parties may he seemingly vindicated, as far as distance of time will allow us to judge ; for I am inclined to believe that the S^xon Juht was pronounced soft (as it were foite), while the German fochte, being sounded gutturally, comes very near to our usual word fought. Thus then, if you allow my conjecture, we seem to use the German, and the Cockney the Saxon Preterit ; but, as it is radically more natural for us to follow the Saxon than the German language (though they may both be derived from the same source), I am induced to be- lieve that Jit was at one time the received ^ and THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 159 and established Preterit oi Jight; for I have heard it made use of by the common people in Derbyshire (who seldom vary from the Language of their forefathers), to whom it must have descended, as natives, by lineal succession, long before there was any pro- bability of their going to London to fetch it. N° X. . ^^ Shall Us?'' &c.* This is either an ignorant use of the Plural Accusative us instead of the Nominative we, or an application of the sign of the Future Tense shall in the place of the Half-impe- rative Interrogatory let. Shall and us cannot with any degree of propriety be combined ; and the phrase must necessarily be either, *' Let us,'' or shall ive?'' I will be candid enough, Sir, to admit that in this instance the Londoners may be * The Londoner also will say — " Can us," — " 3Iai/ us,"' wad " Jiave ws." brought 160 ANECDOTES OF brought in guilty ; though at the same time I contend that, without any violence to Jus- tice, they may be recommended to mercy. The crime originates from nothing more than practice founded on inattention, the father of numberless errors among persons of every rank in colloquial Language ; nay, I may add among Writers also, w^hich will enable me to bring forward something material in ex- tenuation of the offence committed by the Cockney. The Accusative Case in the place of the Nominative is to be discovered in various familiar expressions little attended to, being, from their frequency, less glaring and per- ceptible ; though, in fact, equally arraignable. ^^ Let him do it himself y^ or " let him speak *^for himself;'^ and several other such phrases, which one hears every day, even from our own mouths, rise up in judgment against us. Shakspeare will not stand at the bar alone on this charge, but in company with divers accomplices, among whom the Translators of the New Testament, referred to by Bp. Lowth^ THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 161 Lowth, may be included *. From Profane Writers the following instances may be se- lected : ** Apemuntus. Art thou proud yet ? " Titnon. Aye, that I am not thee.'''' Timon of Athens, Act IV. Sc. 3. ** Is she as tall as me V Anthony and Cleopatra, Act III. Sc. 3. Again : ** That which once was thee.'''' Prior. " Time was when none would cry, that oaf was me.'''' Dryden. " Here's none but thee and /," says Master Shakspeare \ ; which, however, is not worse than ^' between you and //^ to be heard repeatedly every day, and which is as bad as if, speaking collectively in the Plural, one should say to another — ^'be- tween thein and we.^* * " Whom do men say that 1 amT St. Matthew^ xvi. iS. '* Whom say ye that I am ?" Idem, verse 15. Again, iu the Acts, St. John is made to say — " Uliom think ye that I am ?" Ch. xiii. v. 25. Introduction, p. 132. t Hen. VI. P. 2 Act J. Sc. 2. M All 162 ANECDOTES OF All this inaccuracy^ where the Pronouns / and me are thus confounded, arises, no doubt, from the French moi, a term of arro- gance peculiar to that language ; and from this source, I presume, we have adopted such grammatical expressions as these ; — S. Who's there? A, It's me, 2. Did you say so ? J. No ; it was not 7ne. Having introduced Mr. Dryden in the point before us, permit me to relieve you from the taedium of the subject by an anec- dote, which I have picked up I know not when or where. The Poet, in his Play of " The Conquest *' of Granada*," makes Almanzor say to Boabdelln, King of Granada : " Obey'd as sovereign by thy subjects be j *' But know, that /alone ain king of me." This expression incurred the censure of the Criticks, which the irritability of Dry- den's temper could not easily bear; and it was well retorted upon him by Colonel Hey- lyn, the Nephew of Dr. Heylyn the Cosmo- '^ Part I. Act I. grapher. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 163 grapher. Not long after the publication of his book, the Doctor had the little misfortune to lose his way upon a large common, which created an innocent laugh (among his friends) against him as a minute Geographer. Mr. Dryden, falling into the ColoneFs company at a Coffee-house, rallied him upon the cir- cumstance which had happened to his Uncle, and asked — where it was that he lost him- self? '' Sir," said the Colonel (who did not relish the question from such a Cynick), " I cannot answer you exactly ; — but I recollect that it was somewhere in the Kingdom of ME." Mr. Dryden took his hat, and walked off. I firmly believe that Shakspeare has suf- . fered more from his early Editors than his numerous modern Commentators can restore. I am therefore willing to attribute many grammatical escapes and errors to the first Publishers of his Works. But as to the word US now before you, I do not know well how to exculpate him, except as being a hasty mistake, originating from early vulgar con- nexions, which has been suffered to stand by M 2 the 164 ANECDOTES OP the Publisher, whose dally dialect co-ln elded in this particular celebrated speech to the Ghost : '* What may this mean ? " That thou, dead corse, again iu complete steel *' ReviBit'st thus the glimpses of the moon, " Making night hideous ; and we, fouls of nature, " So horribly to shake our disposition ** With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls!" Act 1. Sc. 4. The grammatical structure of the passage evidently requires us Instead of wCy as being governed by the Verb making *. But to return to the words of my i^xi, as I may call them, viz. " Shall us'' You would scarcely believe that any written au- thority can be produced in favour of the Cockney ; — but I desire leave to call Mas- ter William Shakspeare into Court again. When Fldele, hi the Play of Cymbeline, is supposed to be dead, old Gulderlus says, " Let us bury him !" To which Arviragus replies, " Where shall us lay him t ?'* * « No ! no !•• J. H Tooke's MS note, t Act IV. Sc. % Capell's edition. Again, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 165 Again, in the WiHter's Tale, Hermione, no less a personage than the Queen, says seriously to the King (for herself and at- tendants) <* Shall us attend you * ?" Thus far. Sir, for the Accusative in the place of the Nominative, on written evidence, in the exact position in which the Cockney would use it, and in similar expressions. On the other hand, several Writers have substituted the Nominative where the Accu- sative is demanded. Of this Bp. Lowth produces repeated instances (which for bre- vity I forbear to specify) from Prior, and even Milton : — but adds, that " no authority *' can justify so great a solecism f." His Lordship gives a trivial instance or two from Shakspeare, but not so glaring as those with which I am going to trouble you. * Act L Sc. <2. t Introduction to English Grammar^ pp. 48^ 49. The t6d ANECBOTES OF The following instances in Shakspeare are very conspicuous as to false concord, though not observed by Commentators in general. In Othello, the Moor accuses iEmilia with being privy to the supposed intrigue of Cassio with Desdemona; — she denies having any suspicion of it ; — Othello then taxes her more strongly, by confidently saying : *' Yes y you have seen Cassio and she together." Act IV. Sc. 2. 1 have another example of false compo- sition before me, though not turning on the same perversion of case. Anthonio says to Shy lock : " But lend it rather to thine enemy, " JVho, if he break, thou may'st with better face ** Exact the penalty." Merchant of Venice, Act I. Sc. 3. If^ho instead of from whorriy and the two preceding instances, are glaring infringe- ments of grammatical construction ; for which. Sir, w^e, when School-boys, should have re- ceived pretty severe reproofs, if not compli- mented with a rap on the knuckles. The ^JaiE ENGLISH LANGUAGE* 167 The following examples of ungrammatical texture would not be thought venial in a boy of twelve years of age : " Monies is your suit." Merchant of Venice, Act I. Sc. 3. ** Riches, iineless, is as poor as winter " To him who ever fears he shall be poor.'* Othello, Act III. Sc. 3. The Commentators would complaisantly term these instances merely Plural Nouns with SingidarY erhs (as they have discovered, on the other hand. Singular Nouns whh Plural Verbs) terminations * ; but I fancy any petty School-master would decidedly call them neither more nor less than ^cilse Concords. The Londoners, Sir, use also some infrac- tions of Moody as well as of Case, which may here not improperly fall under our observ- ation, and are connected with the point last before us. In asking a man's name, the question is — " What may his name be ?" — And again, as to his situation in life, — * See Art. Summonsed, p. 172. , u!-yii *^ What 168 ANECDOTES OF ^* What should he be ?" In these instances may and should, though apparently of the Conjunctive Mood, are to be understood as of the Indicative Mood, implying no more than — " What is his name ?" — and, " What is *' he ?'' i. e. by profession or occupation, &c. " It shoidd seem" is a modest and common way of expressing *' it seems" among various Writers, where any diffidence is intended. This latitude in Verbs is allowed by Bp. Lowth, who admits that sometimes, in si- milar situations, though used Subjunctively, they are nevertheless to be considered as be- longing to the Indicative Mood *. To the several examples brought forward by his Lordship, give me leave to add those which I find in Shakspeai'e, as coming nearer to Colloquial Language. *' What slwuld he be ?" is an expression in Macbeth, meaning only — " Who is he f ?" So also, in Othello, lago says — ** What may you be ? are you of good or eril ?" Act V. Sc. 1* * Introduction to English Grammar, p. 65. t Act IV. Sc 3. Again, THE ENGI.ISH LANGUAGE. 169 Again, in Shakspeare's Julius Caesar, Cassio says to Brutus : « . What should be in that Caesar *.'* Act I. Sc. 2. It 18 enough for me, Sir, to have adduced ^o many instances of the perversion of Gram- mar, from the more enlightened world, to support the parties whose cause I have un- dertaken, without the assistance of Shak- speare, whose example, though perhaps not his authority, is so exactly in point. We must recollect that Shakspeare cannot be al- lowed to have been a man of education ; and, therefore, one is not to wonder that he should, now and then, drop a hasty, a vulgar, or an ungrammatical expression. It is be- lieved he never revised his writings ; but, if he did, he was as tenacious as Pontius Pilate of what " he had written :" for Ben Jonson assures us, on his own personal knowledge, that, at least, he never blotted out any thing f . * See also the Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V. Sc. 5. — ' Anth. and Cleop. Act IV. Sc. 3. — Tettipest, Act I. Sc. 2. t " Discoveries." It 170 ANECDOTES OF It is to be lamented, with Ben Jonson, that he did not; for some passages cannot, for their indehcacles, be too severely reprobated. Let the warmest devotees of our Bard deny this if they can, and burn me in effigy as an heretick. I give all just admiration to our great Theatrical Luminary ; — but there are spots in the Sun. Notwithstanding the freedom I have here taken with Shakspeare, I wish it to be under- stood that I pay the utmost deference to those passages which contain the established Lan- guage of his time, which is easily to be dis- tinguished from the transient and heedless vulgarisms which ever and anon drop from his pen. I have accordingly made use of his authority in all such cases wherein I have the sanction of eminent Lexicographers. The examples which have been produced, I dare say, you will think quite sufficient to be insisted upon. We will therefore proceed to other charges against the Cockneys. N-XI. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. l/l N° XI. "Summonsed" for Summon 'i>. I did not put this term, Sir, into the cata* logue of supposed vitiated words ; because I have a high opinion of its rectitude : and, moreover, that upon" a close examination, we, and not the Cockneys, shall be found to transgress against the truth. A Gentleman will tell you, " that he has been summoiid *' to serve upon a Jury ;" while a London- tradesman, in a like case, will say '^ that he ^' was summons' d,^^ We allow the word summons as a Substantive, but not as a Verb ; for our Language is, " I will summon him," or " I will send him a summons to appear/' &c. The CocKJSEY, in the first instance, would say, suinmons him ;" though in the latter he would speak as we do. I am per- fectly sensible that it would be thought no small test of vulgarity were I to write or use summons as a Verb in any Mood or Tense ; though 172 ANECDOTES OF though 1 am confident that I should be ac- quitted, when the word shall have undergone a little investigation ; has been, as it were, viewed through a microscope ; and when its origin shall appear. Dr. Johnson gives no example in favour of the Londoner ; but allows summon to be the Verb in every mo- dification. Mr. Nares is of opinion, that what we call " a summons" is — " one of " the few instances of a Singular Substan- *^ tive with a Plural form *." But let me throw in a word to support my allega- tion. Writs in Law-processes for the most part take their names from the cardinal Verb on which their force turns, and which, from the tenor of them, is generally in the Conjunc- tive Mood, as being grammatically required by the context. The Writs I point at are those that have their terminations in as ; viz. Habeas^ CapiaSy Fieri-facias, Supersedeas, Distringas, &c. These being formerly in Latin, and issuing * Elements of Orthoepy, p. 3X6. in THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 1^3 in the King's name, the proper Officer was called upon, in the second person of the Sin- gular number (after a short preamble), — " quod habeas," ^^ quod capias/' Sec. called in familiar technical Language a Habeas, a Capias, &c. Among Writs of this sort, and with this termination, will be found one called, on the same account, a Siunmoneas, which brings the matter in question nearer to our view. We talk of a Writ of Sumynons (by which we mean a SiihmoneasJ , individually di- rected to each Member of the House of Commons. The case is virtually the same in other instances ; as, in Juries by the au- thority of the Sheriff, whose business it is to serve the Writ of Summoneas upon the party, who, when he speaks of it, ought to say, " that he wsls summoneas' d (or, by ab- ^' breviation. summonsed) to appear in con- ^^ sequence of such Writ of summoneas J^ The Cockney sees the word in full, and we only in profile ; for we throw out its leading feature (the letter 5), which the other -has preserved. The 174 ANECDOTES OE The two little words suh poendy which only appear at the fag end of a Writ, have had the honour to form both a Substantive and a Verb ; for every body knows what a sub poend is, if he has not been sub-poenaed. In this word, indeed, there is scarcely room for corruption ; otherwise it would hardly have escaped *. Among other strange Verbs, the following has arisen in Vulgar Language ; viz. to e«r- chequer a man ; whic)i is, to institute a pro- cess against him, in the Court o{Exchequei\ for non-payment of a debt due to the King, and in some other cases. i This disquisition will carry me a step far- ther, and lead me to controvert the pro- priety of calling the Officer, who delivers a summons, the Summoner (as he is termed by Shakspeare in King Lear f ), as a false * I need not say that the Latin Verb " suinmoneo" wa« originally *' sub-moneo." The fact seems to be, that we can more easily swallow the letter h in *' «M6-moneas/* than in " sufc-pcena," where, however, it seems to resolve into a duplicate of the letter p. t Act III. Sc. 2. deduc-" THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 175 deduction : for he ought to be styled at large a Suminoneas-er, which might, with very little violence, be curtailed into Sum- monser, thereby preserving the letter 5, which binds down and ascertains the ety- mon *, N^ XIL '' A-dry/'— ' " A-hungry/' — *' A^cold/* &c. These, Sir, are strong Londonisms, and extend Southward of the Metropolis. They are as justifiable as many other words with the like prefix, which are used every day ; such as — " a-coming/' — " a-going/* — '^ a-walking/' &c. In short, this little Pre- positive has insinuated itself into a familiar * The great Antiquary wrote his name Somner. Others of the name write Sumner, which seems to come nearer to truth. Chaucer gives the official name Sompnour. The in- terposition of the letter p, between the letters m and n, w^s anciently very common, as in solempne (our solemn), and folempnely (our solemnly), which are found in Chaucer, and where likewise you will meet with dampne, our word damn or condemn. acc^uaint- 176 ANECDOTES OF acquaintance with all sorts of words of vari- ous modifications, sometimes in one sense, and sometimes in another. It often precedes Verbs ; as, " a-hide^^ — ^' a-risey' — " a-wake^' &c. where it is plainly redundant ; though in many instances it has a meaning. Thus it expresses on in such words as ^^ a- shore ^^ — " a-hoard,'^ — '^ a-foot^' — ^^ a-horsehacky" &c. The best writers of Voyages will talk of " a-shorey' — ^and'^a-ioarc?;'' though the worst Writers of Travels w^ould not be hardy enough to say *^ a-footy^ or " a-horseback'' Dr. Wallis* thinks that the a in such cases has the force of at ; but Bp. Lowth, with more pro- bability, supposes it to imply on, the sense of which, his Lordship says, " answers " better to the intention of those expres- " sions," — and " that it is only a little dis» " guised by familiar use, and quick pro- *' nunciation f." The Bishop is justified by the authority of Chaucer, who has written at * Grammatica Linguae Anglicanae, p. 86. t Introduction to English Grammar, p. 113. length i THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 177 length " on hunting/' and " on hawk- *^ ing' */' Chaucer sometimes uses this Abbreviate for the Preposition at; as where, instead of *^ at night/' and " at work/' he writes — *^ a-nighf and " a-werke f /' Shakspeare has also " a-work/' for " at work J/' It has often likewise the effect of in, as Shak- speare uses it — '' a-making § ;" and again, ^^ a-dying ||." It sometimes also implies to, as in the phrase much-a-do, which Shakspeare has written at large, " much " to do ^," though the title of one of his Plays is — " Much a-do about Nothing **/* * See Mr. Tyrwhitt's Glossary, under the word on. f See Chaucer, ftequently. X Troilus and Cressida, Act V. Sc. 11. § Macbeth, Act III. Sc. 4. II Richard II. Act II. Sc. 1. % Othello, Act IV. Sc. 3. ** To those common instances which have been given, and will occur, the following are rather singular : A'high. Richard III. Act IV. Sc. 4. A-good (i. e. a great deal). Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV. Sc.4. A'Weary. Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and several other places in Shakepeare. A-neuter. Fuller's Holy War. N A-dreamt, 1^6 ANECl>0'r£S Of In some parts of the Kingdom, this Parti- cle, both anciently and modernly, has ope- rated as the Preposition of, particularly when prefixed to Surnames, and denoting a local derivation ; as " John-a-Gaunt." — " Hen- ^* ry-«-Wftlpot,*' the first Grand Master of the Teutonick order *. Not to mention the fictitious names of John a-Nokes, and Tom (^jStilesy let us above all remember our la- borious friend " Anthony a-ff^ood." Many name^ of this fedtt arfe still .known in Lanca- fehlre ; and Camden records several of his^ own time 5n Cheshire f. The Adjunct in such cases answers to the French c?e, which used to be so respectable a Prepositive in France, that the omission of it, where due, would, till lately at least, have given great offence. One word, Sir, by way of interlude. Such was the ridiculous attachment to long and high-sounding names and titles in Spain, A'dreamt. " I was a-dreamt," i. e, I dream'd. Old Plays> in ''The White Devil/' — and " The City Night-cap." * Fuller's Holy War, b.II. ch. 16. t Remains, p. 104. that THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 1^9 that, when an epidemical sickness raged in London 5 in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Spanish Ambassador (who I suppose en- joyed a sesquipedal name) was consigned for safety to the charge of Sir John Cutis, at his seat in Cambridgeshire ; the Don, upon the occasion, expressed some dissatisfaction, feeling himself disparaged at being placed with a person whose name was so short. An amnesty, however, was soon granted by the Spaniard ; for my Author says, " that what ^^ the Knight lacked in length of name, he " made up in the largeness of his entertain-^ '' ment */' To resume my subject. Thus^ Sir, has this little affix '^ A '' coalesced with almost every sort of word. It is observable that in Scripture we meet wdth an in qn^ of its situations, viz. " an- hungered,'' a turn which it seems to have taken to avoid an hiatus, a matter which would not have of- fended the ear of a Cockney, who has usually * Fuller's Worthies, Cambridgeshire. N 2 learned 180 ANECDOTES OF learned Ins Language merely by hear-say, like a Parrot *. This letter " A " is not, however, the only redundancy of the kind that adhered to our Language in the days of our Fore-i fathers ; for the letter ^' I " is found to have been anciently still more closely connected with it in numberless instances. Thus you have in Fairfax's Translation of Tasso's Je- rusalem — ^^ Ibore, Ibuilt^ Ibroiight,^' &c. where the letter " I *' is, according to mo- dern language, perfectly exuberant f . The still more antique affix, of the same sound, was the letter " Y ", of which you will find various examples in Spenser, an imitator of Chaucer (as has been formerly observed), and, no doubt, to conform to the model of his prototype, where, in Mr. Tyrwhitt's Glos- sary^ I find more than fifty words, chiefly j^ Participles Passive, with this Prepositive J. * Anhungefdi is to be found in the translation of Lazerillp dtp 'Tonnes, 12mo. 1653. sign. G. 4, b. Shakspeare has a-hungry ; Macbeth, II. So. 1. | t In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. f X See also the Glossary to Gawen Douglas's Virgil 5 — and I to Heame's Robert of Gloucester. The THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 181 The result of this business, as ta what re- lates to the letters / and JT, as excrescences in our Language, will, I apprehend, refer us to the Danish branch of it, in which, if it be not a redundancy, it appears to ope- rate toward the formation of such Adverbs as, with us, end in — " ly ;" thns, '^/-blind,'' means " blind^," and '^ /-smug " means ^^ secretZj^,'' &c. * To revert to the Prefix '' A, " to which we have given every possible chance of ob- taining a meaning. I am, however, afraid it will turn out in most cases to be an Anglo- Saxon superfluous -^- ?2oM^V^^ ; — but be so kind as to remember that, at the same time, it is a nothing of high descent ; for Bailey, in his Dictionary, calls it a redundant inse- parable Preposition, adduced from the Saxon, and gives some of the cases above cited in proof of his assertion. Dr. Skinner, in his Etymologicon, and Dr. Littleton, in his Dictionary, both speak to its antiquity, which ^ I chose t(» exemplify by this last word j because it ex- plains our verb to smuggle ^ and our substantive a smuggler. is 182 ANECDOTES OF is all that I am to evince, whether it ever had any actual meaning or not. Mr. Somner is a witness both to its ancientry and its in- significance (the former of which only in- terests my clients), when he calls it an idle, unmeaning, initial of many Anglo-Saxon words, " augmentum otiosum ;" which the English, in process of time, have cut off by their frequent use of the figure in rheto- rick, called ^j)hceresis *. To shew, how- ever, what rank this little expletive held formerly, Mr. Somner adds, that six hun- dred of our English words, adduced from the Anglo-Saxon, have thus suffered decapita- tion ; for, after exemplifying three of them, he subjoins — '^ et alia sexcenta f," Dr. Meric Casaubon tells us that the Saxons de- rived this Particle from the Greek, which is confirmed by Henry Stephens in his Thesau- rus, and others. Dr. Casaubon J adds, that not a few Latin words had it, perhaps by the samie channel. * Dictionarium Saxonico-Latijio-Anglicum, in principio. f Idem, in eodem loco. J De Lingu^ Anglic^ veterc; sive Saxonic^, p. 235. And THE ESTGLISH^LANGUAGE. 183 And thus you see, Sir, that this little busy adjunct feems to have crept into several Lan- guages with very slender pretensions to a meaning : and Boyer, in his French Dic- tionary, suggests that it is so volatile, that it cannot be " brought under any particular It would, therefore, be a laborious chace for a German Grammarian of the sixteenth century, to hunt this Particle through all its turnings and windings. Well then may I give up the scent, and plod no longer uport it *. But let me not forget the Corollary ; which is, that hence it is evident the Cock- ney is guiltless of making the addition, and has only piously preserved the remains of his Ancestors, which the rest of his country would willingly and mercilessly sTifFer to perish. * De Ungu^ Anglio^ veterc;, sive Saxonic&, p. 235. N° 184 ANECDOTES OP N« XIIL His-SELF for Himself. Thfjr-selves for Themselves, &c. A Courtier will say, " Let him do It ** himself;" but the Cockney has it, ** Let him do it Az^-self/' Here the latter comes nearest to the truth, though both he and the Courtier are wrong ; for the gram- matical construction should be — ^' het he ^^ do it A/5-self," — or, by a transposition of words, better and more energetically ar- ranged, " Let he hiS'Self do it." It must be allowed, that the Londonek does not use this Compounded Pronoun, in the mode before us, from any degree of conviction ; he has fortunately stumbled upon a part of the truth, which the Courtier has overleaped. But, throwing aside the correct phraseology, and confining ourselves to the received mode, let me observe how incongruous our Com- bined THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 185 bined Pronoun appears in this situation. Of these Double Personal Pronouns, as I may call them, the Nominative in the Singular Number is my-^^li, and not me-self ; and in the Second Person it is ^Ay-self, and not f Aee-self. ^ — Why then shall the Accusative in the Third Person (viz. Am-self ) be re- ceived in the Polite World, and by both the Universities, into the place of the Nomina- tive " /u5-self ?'' It is the same with us in the Plural Number; for we, very conve- niently, make the word '^ Memselves*' serve our purpose, both in the Nominative and in the Accusative ; while, on the other hand, the Cockney is right In his Plural Nomina- tive " ^/ieiV-selves,^' and only errs when he uses the same word for the Accusative. Dr. Johnson, unguardedly, but very oblig- ingly for me, admits '' his-soW to have been anciently (thougl^ he goes but a very little way back for his authority) the Nomi- native Case of this Double Pronoun ; and quotes the words of Algernon Sidney — ^' Every of us, each for A/.9-self." Time will not subvert a real Nominative Case, however W^ ^ incongruously 186 ANECDOTES OF incongruously It may be abused ; a»d I won- der that Dr. Johnson should doubt for a mo- ment, and (as his word anciently implies) ever suppose otherwise. Dr. Wallis, who published his gramma- tical work in 1653, lays the charge of vul- garity upon the Courtier, and acquits the Cockney : ^^Fateor tamen,'' says he, '' him^ ** self et ^Aemselves vulgo dici pro his-soM " et ^^e/r-selves *.^' Now, Sir, this matter might, upon the whole, l^e brought to a very easy compro- mise, if the Cockney would but adopt the Courtier s '^ ^Aem- selves" for his Accusative, and the Courtier would condescend to accept the Cockney's accusative '^ ^AeeV-selves," instead of his own Nominative " them- ^^ selves." The like exchange would as easily recon- cile them in their uses of the Singular Num- ber ; — for let the Courtier, instead of say- ing "He came himself/' use the Cock- i^ey' 8 expression " He came /^'^-self ;" and * Grammatica Lingusfe Anglicanae, edit. 1765, 6vo. p. 101. on THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 187 on the other hand, in the place of " He hurt /m-self */' 1^^ ^^^ Cockney say (with the Courtier) " He hurt hiimelf;'' — and all would be well, according to the present ac- ceptation of these phrases, and these jarring interests be happily accommodated ; but I am afraid that the obstinate and deep-rooted principles of education on one hand, and of habit on the other, must forbid the ex- change. I am sensible that it is accounted elegant and energetick language to use «^ Azm-self " Nominatively, when intended to enforce Personality, as in the following two exam- ples : " Himself hasted also to go out f." " HimseM an army J." No one, I believe, will be hardy enough to vindicate this as Grammar § ; but it is * *' Mr. Pegge little imagines that self is a Substantive." John Horne Tooke's MS Note. i 2 Chron. xxvi. 20. X Milton's Samson Agonistes, ver. 346. It will be found also in Par. Lost, b. IV. 397.— b. VIII. 251.— b. XIL 228. § " Oh ! yes. I will do it." J. H. Tooke's MS Note. 4v %i . allowed 188 ANECPOTES OF allowed, in all arts, to break through the trammels of rule, to produce great effects. Give me leave, farther, to trouble you with the opinion of Bp. Lowth in favour of the Cockney, and in corrobo;:ation of what you have heard from Dr. Wallis ; with which his Lordship entirely, accords, in condemning the Language pf the Courtier, by observing that, —" Amself and Memselves seem to " be used in the Nominative case by corrup- '^ tioUy ' instead of Az5-self and their- " selves *.'^ The Bishop then cites Alger- non Sidney for the trut;h (though not as an- cient authority) in the very passage given by Dr. Johnson ; to which his Lordship adds " ^A^zVselves'' in the same situation from a Statute of the second and third years of King Edward VL ch.. 21.' A: very late Writer (Mr. Ed ward- Ro we Mores) has, however, been so studiously accurate as to adopt kis-^oii and tkeir- selves for the Plural Nominatives respec- tively \. Though I am conscious of this % Introduction to English Gramiiiar, p. 54. t See his Dissertation upon English Typographical Foun- ders and .JFounderies, pp. 85. 87. London, 1778. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 189 correctness in point of Grammar as to the use of these Compound Pronouns^ I cannot persuade myself that they ought at this time to take place, as such an adoption would be going against the stream of the present re- ceived practice. Nay, the eye revolts at seeing them upon paper, as much as the ear does in hearing them; for they betray a fastidious- ness in ff^riferSy Q.S much as a want of know- ledge of the world in Speakers, Such is the effect of established error; — and as to the Cockney, he is only some centuries behind the fashion. Thus much, Sir, for the first syllable of these expanded Pronouns Possessive; but a word or two may also be said on the second syllable of some of them. Lord Coke (Inst. II. p. 2.) tells us, that King John introduced the Vluml nos and noster into his Grants, Confirmations, &c. (or, as some Writer has quaintly observed, thus found out the art of multiplying him- self) ; whereas all his Predecessors were humbly contented with ego and mens. Thus these instruments then ran most pompously — Nos 190 ANECDOTES OP — iVb^ .... ^obis .... Noster .... Nostri, &c. ; when, at the close of them, King John so far forgot his dignity (or his Clerkshipjy that the Monarch let himself down, from a Body Corporate to a paltry Individual, — from the pinnacle of Regal sublimity to the Plebeian Bathos, — by *' Teste ME-ipso;" or, in plain English, " I hi/ myself I* J' Take this by the way ; — and let us pro- ceed to such instruments of the present time ; and observe whether, at the first view, the Regal style In English has restored the dig- nity of the Monarch. They begin with We and proceed io Us and Our &c. but seem to jfall off by the termination of *' Wit- " ness Our -self 'J' Would you not rather have expected that the attestation should have run " Witness Ourselves?'' But here we must pause a little, and not decide too rashly. You will, perhaps, satisfy yourself that the Plurality is conveyed by the term owr* ; — but let me ask a free question. 3 * Rymer's Foedera, passim. If THE liNGLlSH LANdUAGE. l9l If a King should say, " TVe will ride this " morning; bring us our boot and our *^ spur:" — will this Pronoun ''our* flu* ralize the boot and the spur, and make a pair of Royal boots and spurs ? No : In this case, I am afraid, the King must ride (like a Butcher) with only one spur, upon Hudibrastick principles : " That if he spurr'd one half o' th' horse," &c. We must therefore look back into the old Saxon-English for this seeming inconsistency of style. You will then be apt to conceive that there must be something mysterious couched in the word self: — and so there is ; for the Saxon Grammarians tell us, that sylf .(now selfj in the Singular forms its Plural by the simple addition of the letter e, with a very feeble accent, viz. sylfe. This last vowel, in process of time, appears to have evapo- rated, and to have carried its accent with It ; after which, our word ^e^ became both Sin- gular and Plural, determinable only, as to number, by the accompanying Pronoun, la this situation, therefore, when a Subject used the 192 ANECDOT^ES OP the Double Pronoun Possessive Twy-SELF, the King might say our-SBLF without any vio- lence 'lo the then constitutional and esta- blished Laws of Grammar. • It would be extremely difficult to ascertain when this revolution began to take place*; but, to shew you that it is not visionary matter, I produce the authority of Robert of Gloucester, who uses Aem-SELF, which means Mem-SELF, in his Chronicle (edited by Tho- \ mas Hearne) repeatedly f. Robert of Glou- cester is allowed to have lived in the Reign of Henry III. who died A. D. 1272. From that time at the least (possibly for some centuries), this compound obtained, till self was supplanted by selves, Mr. Tyrwhitt has pointed it out in Chaucer, who died A. D. 1400. After this, I discover it in great per- J fection (viz. ^Aem-SELF) in Sir John Fortes- i cue's " Treatise on Absolute and Limited * " Never." J. H. Tooke's MS Note. t Hem is good Saxon ; and our abbreviation *em for them is the original hem, reckoning the h as nothing, or a mere aspirate. See the Glossary to vol. III. pf " The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry," 4th edition, 1794. <*Mo. THE 'ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 193 *' Monarchy/' written m the time of Henry VL (between the years 1422 and 1461), pubUshed by Sir John Fortescue- Aland*. We can still trace it a little farther ; for Bp. Fisher uses 02«'-selp (the very word in question) plurally in his " Sermon, preached '^ at the Month's-Mind of Margaret Countess ^' of Richmond and Derby," who died (in the reign of Henry VIII.) 151 2 -f-. Lower than this period 1 Avill not affect to pursue the word in question. What I have here given has occurred from looting into the old Story-books which I have quoted ; and dare say, that you would not wish me to ransack them farther in search of one little half- word ^^ but will rest not only satisfied, but fully convinced, with what I have thus loyally laboured to establish J. * hee Svo, p. 13^ 1719, second edition, f Printed originally by Wynken de Worde, and reprinted verbatim .by Rev. Thomas BaKer, B. D. 1708. For the autho- rJty, see p. 31. " Let us herein rejoyse o^t-self." :}: The approach of our present plural selves may be dis- cerned in the last century ; for " them-sel^" occurs twice in a letter from the £arl of Salifel?ury to tlie Ear^l of Shrewsbury, dated 1607- Mr. Lodge's Jllusti'ations of English f^istorj', vol. III. p. 326. , ' ■ I ' - - o Having 194 ANECDOTES OF Having thus vindicated our present Royal Attestations, allow me to dissent (with all due deference to Regal Dignity) from the long-established Royal Signatures, which consist of an heterogeneous mixture of an English Christian name followed by a Latin initial. When our Sovereigns began to write le- gibly, something expressive of Regality was generally thought proper to be added to the Christian name. Thus King Richard III. writes boldly in Latin — " Ricardus Rex.'' The two Henrys who succeeded did little more than make their marks ; though King Henry VIII> occasionally affected something more. Edward VI. wrote, simply and ma-» jestically, " Edw^ard." His Successor wTote " Mary the Quene,'' to denote emphati- cally that she was the Monarch, ^^d that Philip was only a King-consort. In these instances, we have either plain Latin or plain English ; — after which comes the learned Queen Elizabeth, who did not write either the one or the other : not " jBZ/- ** %abetha Eegina' (like King Richard III.) -— nor TH;B ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 195 — nor ^^ Elizabeth'' only (as her Brother Edward VI. wrote) — nor ^^ Elizabeth the *^ Qiiejie" (like her sister Queen Mary), but ^^ Elizabeth iZ." which is a glaring hybri- dous mixture of English and Latin. One is rather surprized that the pedantick King James I. did not write Jacobus; — but he aped Queen Elizabeth ; and this Sig- nature has prevailed inclusively to the Reign of his present Majesty — whom God pre- serve*! That they are absurdities cannot well be disallowed : but they now have pre- scription on their side. N« XIV. OuRN, YouRN, Hern, Hisn, &c. Here, Sir, it may be necessary to keep a little on our guard ; for it is natural enough •* For these signatures see a fac-simile of each, from King John (with some early omissions), till the accession of King George IIL in the Antiquarian Repertory, vol, II, between pp. 56 and 57. o2 tp 1*96 .aoAU ANECDOTES OH' to suppose that ourn^ yourn^ hern, hisn, &c. ai'e mere contractions of our-oivriy yoxir^ otvn, heV'Own^ his-own^ &c. But, even if it AVere so, Avhat constitutes the crime? I answer, nothing but the supposed contrac- tion, whereby a small portion of each word is lopped oiGF, in the fluency of speech, by the London lilR^ for dispatch of business. Were the Londoner pleading for him- self, he would take it for granted, and urge, that, mine and thine being supposed consoli- dations of my-own and thy-own^ it would be a hardship upon other Pronouns Possessive, that they should not have a similar termi- nation. He would argue farther, that it is stronger, and more emphatical, to say owr- 02^71 (or, by compression, ournj than ours ; and so of yours, where the final letter 5, he will tell you, is not warranted, while the letter n in the same situation seems to have great and legal pretensions. Dr. Wallis observes, that some people say ourn, — yourn, — hern, — and his'n, in- stead of ours — yours — hers — and his ; but that nobody would write such barbarous lan- guage. THE EKGLISH LANGUAGE. 19/ guage*. I will agree that no accurate Speaker would hazard such words in con- versation, and that no good Writer would venture to give you these Londonisms under his hand ; though I make no doubt but that many a Cockney of the last century, who used them in Colloquial Language, would not have hesitated at transplanting them into writing. Allow me to dip into the next preceding century ; and I will produce you an instance in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, not from the pen of a good Writer, but from one who effected scholar-like accomplishments -f-. * " NonnuUi etiam hern, oiirn, youfn, hisn, dicunt pro *^' hers y ours, yours, his; sedbarbaie: nee quisquam (credo) '' sic scribere solet." Gram. Ling. Anglic, p. 98. '^ t In the year 1575, Master R. [-.anehani, who seems to have been a Keeper of the Council Chamber, and a travelled marj (though perhaps by birth and breeding a Cockney), writes to his friend Master Hiimfrey Martin, a mercer, an account 6f yueen Elizabeth's reception and entertainment at Kenilworth Ctistle, wherein he describes some person, who, after praying for hei- Majesty's perpetuaJ felicity, finishes vvith the humblest subjection both of '' him and hizzen.'' See the Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, published by Mr. Nichols (in Ito), vol. I. sub anno 1575, p. 14. A Courtier 198 ANECDOTES OF A Courtier may say, " that is our -own *^ affair," or " your-own affair ;'^ but he must not say, " that is ourn affair,'^ or *' yourn affair,'' for the world ! On the other hand, the Cockney considers such words as our-own, and your-own, as Pronouns Pos- sessive, a Httle too much expanded; and therefore thinks it proper to curtail them, and compress them into the words ourn ^nA yourn (or bottle them up in smaller quantities), for common and daily use. Hence, Sir, you may possibly be induced to believe that the Cockney's arguments are conclusive. I will allow them to be, primd facie y very plausible ; though 1 do not conceive that they reach the truth, which will perhaps terminate more in his favour on a deeper research. Dr. Wallis has very cruelly lumped these four words ourn— yourn — hern — and hisn, together (under a general istigma of barbarisms), without having con- sidered any one of them ; and has therefore made it our province to do it ; and we will proceed to examine them. The THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 199 The collateral Pronouns Possessive ^^ mine* and " thine' are simjily and decidedly Saxon, without the least force of origuial combi- nation, or subsequent contraction. Oumv and yourn are also actual Saxon Pronouns Possessive ; for the Saxon xltg (our) in the Nominative Case has for its Accusative urne ; and the Saxon Pronoun eoiver (your) gives in the Accusative eowerne; and nothing is necessary to warrant the use of them, but a mutation of Case. Whe- ther urne be a Dissyllable, and eoiverne a Trisyllable, matters not ; because, by re- moving the final e (a letter of no weight in that situation), these Saxon words must ul- timately terminate in the letter — /z, a cir- cumstance which would soon be brought about by rapid pronunciation. To these, as if all Possessive Pronouns were bound to have the same finish, the Saxon hire (her) has, by the Cockneys, been made to assimilate, by becoming hern ; while his seems to have been gallantly length- ened to hisn in compliment to it. The 200 ANECDOTES OV The old Saxon terminations of ot^rn and yourn (though scouted by the Court) ought not to bring down any criminality on the Cockneys, if they chuse to retain them ; notwithstanding that they may have oblig- ingly fabricated the corresponding words hern and hisn, for the sake of uniformity *. Bp. Lowth urges something, not against the Cockney ; but in favour of us (and what I may call the old ModernsJ where he ob- serves that the letter 5 (instead of the letter n) has been added to the words our and your^ in compliment to our maigre capa- cities, to give them the characteristic desig- nations of the Genitive case, and in confor- mity to terminations more lately adopted f. One would think that, when the Saxon Pronouns Possessive ourn and yourn went out of use, to give way to oiu^s 'AnAyours^ the final letter 7i • had become offensive to the ear, grown unfashionable, and that * Add to these, that instead of whose, they say whosn, which is not so observable, as occurring less frequently, t Introductiou to English Grammar, p. 51. tJX some THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 210 some antipathy prevailed against it ; because, while ou7'n and yourn flourished as Pronouns, the Auxihary Verbs are and were had the terminations of aron and ivceron, the final letter of both which is found to have been preserved in some old Writers ; for we meet with anz (for are) and iveren (for wer'ej^ in the Selection from Hoccleve's Poems, pub- lished 1796* ; and also in Chaucer -j-. Tiiis termination in — an was not, how- ever, confined peculiarly to these Auxiliary Verbs ; for we are told in the Supplement to the Variorum Edition of Shakspeare, pub- lished 1 780, in the Appendix to the Second Volume, p. 7^^ (by a very learned Commen- tator), that our Ancestors had this Plural Number in some J of their Tenses, which is now lost out of the Language ; and the ex- ample there given is, Sing, Plural, I escape, We escapen. Thou escapest, Ye escapen, He escapeth, They escapen. * By George Mason, Esq. 4to. 1796. f See Mr. Tyrwliitt's Glossary. ; ^' In all." J.H.Toojk.b's JMSNote. It 202 ANECDOTES OT It is true, that these Plural Terminations are out of general use ; hut it is not true that they are absolutely lost ; for, on the Other hand, they still exist very forcibly and audibly in the Counties bordering on the North of England ; and in Derhyshire you may daily hear them among the com- mon people, if you have an opportunity of listening to their conversation. For in- stance, in a Vestry, a Church- warden will ask : " S. What say-^w ye all to this affair ? A. Why we tell-^n them, that we think-^w other* wise ; and that they talk-^n nonsense." This was the Language of Chaucer, who, in the revocation of some of his Works, uses the Plural Verbs red-en, and thank-e?^*. Again, what v\^as anciently a Plural Ter- mination (though it has actually vanished a* such) is now wholly confined to the Singu- lar Number, I mean the Saxon Verbs whose * See Hcarne's edition of Robert of Gk)iice$ter, vol.11, in the Appendix, p. 602. " They hau^' which you may read in Chaucer, and hear in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, is a contraction, hav-en. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, 203 Plurals formerly ended in — iath, which itt process of time were reduced to — yth and — eth. The mottp of William of Wykeham is in every one's mouth, viz. ^^ Manners *^ m^kyth man/' and its incongruity with present Grammar carries with it a strik- ing peculiarity to superficial observers *. He was a contemporary with Chaucer in the Reign of King Edward III. ; and it^ was the known Language of the time 'j'. But what havock would this Plural Termination make in the Grammar of the Reign of King- George III. were a News -paper to tell us *^ that the King and Queen goeth to Wlnd- ^^ sor to-day, and that all the Princesses fol- ^^ loweth to-morrow V It is rather difficult in our language to ex-* press the Genitive Plural in some cases where we speak Possessively, without a circumlo- * We find it in Shakspeare. " Need and oppression starv- " eth in thine eyes." Romeo and Juliet, Act V. So. I. Commentaitors allow this to be ancient concord. See thcf notes on the Son^ in Cymbeline. f Doth, i. e. do ye, is found in the Wife of Bath's Tale. Tf rvvhitt's Glossaiy. •— " Add, every where else." J. H. Tooke's MS note. cution, 204 ANECDOTES OF cvttion. . Take this example : " The reason ¥. of these gentlemen's going to Oxford ". was." Going to Oaford is a sort of Ag- gregate Substantive or Participle ; but what has the '5, an abbreviate of his^ to do with numbers ? Now, Roger Ascham has it, */ The reason of it, &c. their gomg^ &c.f' This. is"^ as correct as our Grammar will al- low ;. but we must here either leave the ex- pression bald/ or say, " The reason why/ ^^ these gentlemen weyt^tQjOxford, was ia *^ order to, &c." ., , But to revert to the subject ; viz. ourn^y yourn, &c. ; and as we have established the* two first of the four words at the head of this Article to have been originally Saxon, let us give some praise to the ingenuity of the Cockneys, for engrafting the two lo^t upon them. Thus then, as things are equal, and as we shall, no doubt, chuse to adhere to the present form of such words, let us bring it to a compromise ; and, while we have it our way, permit them (to use a word * *' Ourn, &c. the Genitive/' J. H. Tooke. which THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 205 which I think they have not so fully adopted) to have it — fheirm way. N^XV. This Here. That There. For To. For Why. Because Why. How. As How. If so be as How. And So. You have often, no doubt, Sir, heard luxuriant Orators in Parliament talking about it and about it, without your being able to understand the jet of the argument. Let me then introduce to you a true mercantile Cockney in the House of Commons ; one who has regularly risen, from sweeping the shop, and snoring under the counter, to ride in his coach, and dose in St. Stephen's Cha- pel, and who affects no language but such as, he would tell you, his father learnt him; he would shew a sovereign disdain of rheto- rick and elocution, and give his own reasons in his own words thus : On 206 ANECDOTES OT On a motion to adjourn, in order to get rid of the question, Mr, r , Mem- ber for Horsly-down, said, " I rise, Mr. *' Speaker, to say a word on the motion now *^ afore the House ; and that there is this *^ here. The point is, shall us adjourn, or <^ shall us not? Now, Sir, I never know'd *^ no good that ever comd from hasty de- ** cisions ; and therefore I shall support the ** motion, but upon a different ground from *^ that on which the Honourable Gentleman ^* stood when he made it, I would first ax ** the Honourable Gentleman, whether, if ** he had not seed that his question moitght *^ have been lost, he would have went so far ^^ as to have moved the adjournment : but ** that is his'n affair ; and I shall wote for ^* it, and because why ? Delays are not ^* always so dangerous to the good of the ** community as the Honourable Gentleman *^ may think. When I shall be ax'd by ^^ my constituents, what went with such a '* question ? can I, without blushing, say, <^ it was lost for want of due consideration I ** therefore, Sir, I wote that we adjourn ; ^^and. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 20? <* and, it being now early in the day, and *^ none of us perhaps either a dry or a hurt- ^^ S^y^ w^ shall thereby have an opportu- " nity of fetching a lealk for a few ivhile^ *^ and each may consider with his-self oni\iQ *^ main question, and how far it is attended " with profit or loss to his country." With such simplicity and honesty would the plain Cit, not discerning the insidious intent of the Motion, reason in his Native Language, without attempting to deviate into more modern paths of speech, where he might lose his way. This is Language at which the Parlia- ment would stare, and groan, and shuffle — but this is the Language I am going to defend, and hope your patience, if it is not gone already, w ill support me with a — Hear! Hear! Several of these are perfect Galltcisms, of which we have numbers in our Language which pass unnoticed. The two first are the ^' ecf-c^," and the '^ ce-fo," of the French, in the most unquestionable shape ; but are act to be imputed tp the Cockney even as pecu- 908 ANECDOTES OP peculiarities, mUch less as downright crimi**! iial redundances ^ for this mode of expressioi is very common among well-bred gentlemeffi on the Southern coast, where it passes mus^j ter at this day, ;without being accounted a vulgarism. The use of it by the inhabitants of those parts of the Kingdom (both gentle and simple) proves it to have been legally imported from France, and conveyed to London, however vehemently it may be de- cried by the Court as a contraband expres- sion. These little inoffensive Adjuncts (viz. Acre and there), when combined with this and that, are intended, both in the French and English, to carry with them force and energy, and to preclude all mis- apprehension and confusion ; although the Academy of Belles Lettres at the Court holds them in so great abhorrence. But, Sir, let us transpose the words, and we shall find that all this supposed barbarism arises from habit; for the following three words differ in nothing but in their situation in phrase ; for example — between '' that there ^^gentleman" and "^ that gentleman there." Suppose THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 209 Suppose we then that I am telling you a piece of interesting news, which I have just heard from a friend not yet out of sight ; — and that you ask me from whom I had my intelligence ? I may answer, with unim- peachable purity of diction, — " from that *^ gentleman there'^ (pointing to him) : — but it would be uncourtly in the extreme to have said, *^ from that there gentleman/* Here and there relate expletively in general to circumstances of place, and the situation of the moment ; but the Londoner has a .similar word, which refers to Time, and which takes the force of a Noun Substantive. Thus, if you ask a Mechanick ivhen he will come to take your instructions about a matter which you have in contemplation ? his an- swer will be, " Any when you please, Sir." Shakspeare has something very like this use of the word ivhen^ and which he applies io Place, in the terms here and ivhere, in the $peech of the King of France to Cordelia : *' Thou losest here a better wliere to find.'* King Lear, Act L Sc. 1. Dr. 210 ANECDOTES OF Dr. Johnson observes on this passage *, that the words here and where have, in this situation, the power of Nouns. " For to^^ the third of these expressions, so niuch used by the Londoners, is another Gallicism^ by which they usually strengthen their Infinitives by adding the expletive jfor^ which is neither more nor less than the French pour; — as what is ^^ pour voir," and " pour faire,'' but ^^ for to see,'V and ^* for to do ?*' By the way, the Italian per has the same import. This redundancy in our Language is of no modern date ; neither is it imputable to the Cockney; for, Mr. Tyrwhitt says, it is a Saxon Preposition, corresponding with the Latin pro^ and the French pour ; and adds, that it is frequently prefixed by Chau- cer to Verbs in the Infinitive Mood, in the French manner, of which he gives various examples ■}-. For other instances of more modern date, you will find, ^'for to supply,'* and ^^ for to * Vai'iorum Edition, 1778. f Glossary to Chaucer, in voce. prevent,''' THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 211 ^' prevent/' in Shakspeare ; — and other Writers of his time abound with similar phrases. In the Translation of the Psalms*, it is said that God " rained down manna " upon them^yb?' to eat^ The laugh would be against me, were I to cite the authority of Sternhold, in the 133d Psalm— "And ^' joyful for to see ;" but it has been shewn to be the Language of his day ; neither were he or his co-adjutors men devoid of learning and abilities. As Fersifiers (for I do not call them Poets) I agree with Dr. Fuller, that their piety inclined them to become Poetasters, and that they had drunk more of the waters of the River Jordan than of He- licon. Milton metrified some of the Psahns ; but did not succeed much better than his predecessors, Sternhold, Hopkins, &c. in point of melody. Dr. Johnson has decided upon all Milton's attempts in small Poetry in his " Table-talk;'* where, speaking of his Sonnets, he says, " Milton was a genius that could cut a Co- i Psalm Ixxviii. 25. p 2 " lossus ii^ Anecdotes of '^ lossus from a rock ; but could not carve *^ heads upon cherry-stones/* But let us hear Dr. Johnson, whose bu- siness it was (as a Lexicographer) to search into sucli minutiae ; and he tells us, that ''for " to^^ before a Verb in the Infinitive Mood, whereby the intention is denoted, was very common two centuries ago, and cites more recently Lord Bacon ; adding, " that it *^ corresponded in force with the French *^ Preposition pourJ^ He says also, '' that *^ it occurs frequently in the old Translation *^ of the Bible ;*' and subjoins — '^ that ** from a wrong use of it by some Authors, *^ it (the forj has been omitted, as super- ^^ fluous, by more modern and refined wri- «ters*." *^ For why ?" — and " because why." Again, Sir, if a Londoner wishes to give a reason for any thing, he very politely precludes you from the trouble of asking it, and goes on by adding — *^ and for why ?'' * DicUonary, in voce Fot. or THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 213 or '^ because why ?'' — after which, the rea- son follows spontaneously. A Frenchman will tell his story in the same manner, and with the same polite anticipation ; for, after having related what he did, or did not do, he will justify himself by proceeding (after a pause and a pinch of snuff) with — " Et '^ pour quoi ?" The remaining circumstances are then related, to which you are at liberty, to accede, or to combat at large, when he has finished his narrative. These little In- terrogations at least preserve the story entire to the relator ; prevent any infringement on the part of the auditor ; and preclude em- barrassment. As to the expression ^'Jbr why .^" — we meet with it in the 105th Psalm (verse 41.) in the precise situation where a Cockney would place it ; for, after speaking of God's goodness to the Israelites in delivering them from the bonds of the Egyptians, the Psalmist adds, " For why ? he remembered '^ his holy promise, and Abraham his ser- " vant." As it was the acknowledged mode of speech in Shakspe^re's day, I give you references 214 ANECDOTES OF references to several passages, without mul- tiplying quotations *. Regarding the words " because ivliy^^ I dismiss them, as being the same expression with an exchange of the Conjunction ^' because^' in the place of the word '^ for^ ^^ How ;" — '< As HOW ;" — '' If so be as '' how;"— "And so/' *^ Hoiv " is in itself a superfluity, and among other expletives was in use in the seventeenth Century in the writings of Au^ thors in estimation. Dr. Fuller has it, where he says, that Joan of Arc told the French King, •— r- " how that this was the time to " conquer the English f ." " Hoiu thaf is given us in the 10th chapter of 3t. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, ver. ], " Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye " should be ignorant how that all our fa- " thers, &c." Our Cockney, however, * Shakspeare's Richard II. Act IV. Sc. 2.-— Comedy of Errors, Act III. Sc. 3. — Taming of the Shrew, Act. III. Sc. 1. f Fuller's Prophane State, Book V. ch. 5. not THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 215. not quite content with this, has introduced the expletive as before the word how ; for which he has some precedent, if he knew where to find it. The redundancy is almost too trivial to be insisted on, even in a dis- quisition like this, but that it will acquit the Cockney from being the father of it, and prove, by written testimony, that he has ignorantly succeeded to it by adoption. Thus Michael Drayton, reputed no mean Poet of his time, in his Polyolbion, speaking of King Ryence, tells us, ** As how great Rithout's self he slew *." But we must go one step farther before we quit this important expression; for, when a Cockney speaks contingently of some fu- ture circumstance, his expression is — " If " so he as how J' This, however, does not strictly relate to the as how ; for it is a very enlarged pleonasm of the very little Conjunc- tion jTo?', as Dr. Johnson calls it, the hypo- * Drayton lived in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth , James I. J and Charles I. -, and^ though not actually and officially Poet-Laureat, was considered — tanquam laureatus; for his bust in Westminster Abbey is laureated. thetical $i« ANJECBOTES OF tlietlcal particle if, and whicli always pre- cedes the as how with the interpolation of the words so he, and is used thus : — '^ If ^' so be as how that Mr. A. comes to town, ^' I will speak to him on the subject ; but ^^ if so he as how that he does not, I will *' write to him.'' The next expression with which we hav^ to contend under tliis article is — ^^ and so." This undoubtedly is an unnecessary super- fluity, which occurs on every occasion where a true-bred Cockney (though not perfectly confined to him) relates a story which con- tains a variety of circumstances, w hen every process is preceded by so. Prolixity is the unfortunate attendant on most story-tellers, who, loving of all things in the world to hear themselves talk, can, by virtue of this little word, spin out the story of a Cock and a Bull to whatever length they please. You have heard many such, no doubt, carried on with — '^ so he said ;" — " 50 I " said ;" — '^ so this passed on ;" — " so " then as I was telling you ;" till he comes to the sum total — " and so that's all." Our Cockney, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 217 iCKNEY, however, may be supported in this his so-so language by respectable His- torians. Such repetition, even though spa^ ringly made, tends only to obscure what It is innocently meant to illucidate, and at the same time offends either Hearer or Reader. I have prepared you, Sir, for the word Jf^riter, by having thrown out the word Reader', Mr. Strype, then, for example, has made a copi- ous use of the superfluous so, aiming at pex*- spicuLty : — but Mr. Strype was a Cockn;5Y. Above all other Authors, however, commend me to Bp. Burnet, who, particularly in " his " Own Times,^' fatigues one to death with it* Another superfluous way of telling a Lon- don story is, by the interpolation of a reflec- tive verb generally following the so, in the outset of it, as — " and so says me, J, &c." , Then we come to action — * Horace ♦Earl of Orford seems to have felt the force of the Bishop's repeated sos to such a degree, that he has taken him off in the note to p. 37 of the Historic Doubts 3 —- where, after telling a political story (not to our purpose) in the Bi- shop's manner, the Earl concludes thus — " and so the Prince •* of Orange became King." "WeU; 218 ANECDOTES OF " Well ; what does me, / ?" In the !^rench Language there is a number of Verbs in this situation, which carry (I might say drag) the Pronoun Personal along with them in such a manner, as that, from supererogation, the Pronoun has become obligatory and in- separable. I will not say, or gainsay, that this our vulgar mode of speech was origi- nally a Gallicism ; but it prevailed long ago in our Language, and not without great latitude, even beyond the French idiom, wherein the Pronoun is confined to number and person, which is seldom the case in English ; for the me often follows where / does not take the lead. Thus you may hear it, in a narrative, — '^ So, says me, she, &c.'* followed by — " Then away goes me, he, &c/* — And when they met again, " What did " me, they ? &c/' Dr, Johnson treats the me, when thus j used, as a ludicrous expletive : but I do not ^ think so meanly of it ; for Shakspeare uses it in serious Language, as cited by Dr. Johnson himself, in one instance : «' Ht THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 219 " He presently, as greatness knows itself, *' Steps me a little higher than his vow ** Made to my father, while his blood was poor.** Shakspeare. Again, Shylock says in sober manner, " The skilful shepherd peel'd me certain wands, &c/* Merchant of Venice, Act I. Sc. 3. So also, in " Much Ado About Nothing," Borachio says, " Slit leans me out of her mistress' chamber window, ♦* And bids me a thousand times good-night." Act III. Sc. 3. These are certainly very unnatural and wanton uses of the reflective force of the Verb, by diverting the Pronoun Personal from the party spoken of to the party speak- ing, to whom it ought, if used at all, to appertain. Him in the two first instances, and her in the last, would have reconciled the passages as Gallicisms : but, by our ge- neral adoption of me in all situations, our expression appears ungrammatical and ri- diculous. The ANECDOTES O^ The French use their Verbs reflectively as often as possible, and the idiom of their Language allows it, even as an elegance; but then they adhere to the person spoken of. In the dialect of the seventeenth Century we meet with such expressions as, — " It *^ likes me well * ;" that is, " / like it ivell ;" — ajnd " It dislikes Tr^e i*' that is, " I like ^' it wo^f." These are Gallicisms^ con- sistent with the texture of the French Lan- guage, though they make but an awkward figure in ours ; for the position of their words does not correspond with the usual arrangement of such sort of words in the English Tongue. Thus then w^e must leave these expressions, as clumsy imitations of the French idiom, unguardedly introduced by our Fore -fathers. Perhaps, Sir, I may have been too prolix in what I have said upon this little Anglo- gallick redundancy ; but it is in vindication of the parties for whose Language I contend, • Hamlet, Act V. Sc. 2. f Othello, Act II. Sc. 3. and THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 221 and to shew that this reflective use of some Verbs (such as I have pointed out) was habi- tual and famihar in the seventeenth Century, in written language, and consequently not col- loquial interpolations of a modern date. This mode of expression is now faitly Wdrn out itl general (except in such phrafees as — '' so ^^ says me, /, &c." before mentioned), where it is affectionately preserved by the Cock- neys, and some other inhabitants of Great Britain ; though it was not reprehensible in itself, while our Ancestors were the umpires ©f our Language. N«XVI. A few While. " Stay a few ivhile,'^ a Londoner sayS; ^* and I will go with you." This expression, taken in the most uncharitable sense, impHeii a suh-auditur of minutes, or some short in- terval ; as if he had said — ^" Stay a fevT " miniates, 222 ANECDOTES OP " minutes, till I am ready ; and then I Will */ accompany you." The word whihy Sir, was once the re-^ speotable Saxon Substantive hwile, denoting an indefinite Interval of time ; and this is the character it bears in most of our best Writers, as may be seen in the quotations given in Dr. Johnson's Dictionary *. It is also rendered by Dr. Skinner, " Temporis " spatium f ;" and by Junius J, " Hora, ^^ tempus, momentum ;" which interpreta- tions shew that it may be qualified to express (with an auxiliary) any portion of minutes, hours, days, &c. which you shall please to allot to it. Thus we say, **' a little while '^ ago ; — a great while ago ; — a vast while *^ ago §." It would be endless to multiply exampks. It is clear then that the word while governs nothing ; has the honour of being * On the authority of Ben Jonson, and Archbishop Til- lotson. f Skinner's Etymologicon. X Junii Etymologicon. ^ " Season your attentioa for a while." Hamlet. accompanied THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 223 accompanied by an epithet ; and is a sub- stantive in itself; though, in hasty speech/ we often level it with the Preposition till or until; or debase it into an Adverb. I am aware that it is the combination of the adjunct jfew which startles us; and that the Substantive, in conformity to the Ad- jective, should be whiles ; for the vjovAfew^ being a Numeral, demands that the Sub- stantive should be in the Plural number. Admit then that our Londoner has only dropped the Plural sign, and the gramma- tical construction is restored. Similar ellipses with regard to the consonant 5, at the ter- mination of words, occur frequently (though in a different situation) in various parts of the North of England ; as, in Derbyshire. for example, the common people seldom fail to omit the sign of the genitive case ; and, instead of " Mr. Johnson's horse,'' or ^^ Mr. ^' Thompson's cow," will say " Mr. John- " son horse," and " Mr. Thompson cow*.'^ * Do not the French take the same liberty, by dropping the sign of the genitive case j as in Mappe-Monde, Maison- Dku, Chapeau Bras, &c. and again in Law language, Fer^ tre sa Mere ? , Among 224 ANECDOTES OF Among those words which, from being Plural in themselves, and carrying Plural Adjuncts, have adopted those of the Singular Number, take the term — News, Custom, as Trincalo says of necessity, makes words *^ acquainted with strange bed-fellows ;" for we are every day talking of Old News ; and it is now become sometimes necessary for us, by way of distinction, to speak of Old New*- Gate, and the New OZc?-Bailey. The French adhere to Plurality when they say, '^ Donnes^ ^^ moi des vos nouvelles ;*^ and ^' Avez vous ^^ des tiouvelles :" — and so did our English Ancestors; for, whereas we say and write this News and that NewSy our fore -fathers expressed themselves by these News and those News, Examples occur repeatedly in Shakspeare : ^« Thither go these news." Hen. VL P. H. Act I. Sc. 4. *' These news, my Lord, &c. Idem, P. I. Act V. Sc. J2. Shakspeare, it must be confessed, some- times writes this News * ; whence it may be * See Henry Vi. P. 1. Act V. Sc. 3. — Hemy IV. P. II. Act IV. Sc. 4. and eonicother passages. ^suspected THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 225 suspected that the Plural Affix (and a little bit of Grammar with it) was beginning to wear out in his time. Roger Ascham, who wrote about the middle of the sixteenth Cen- tury, was more tenacious of his grammatical construction. " There are News/' says he ; and again he speaks of many News ; and in another place he contrasts the word Neius : — " These be JVeius to you, but Olds to " that Country *.'' A later Writer than either of these, Mil- ton, shews that in his time the Plural sign was not quite extinct ; for he preserves his Relative in conformity to his Antecedent very forcibly in the following line, " Suspense in Nexvs is torture ; speak them out.'* Samson Agon, line 1569 f. There is another instance which occurs, wherein either the Singular affix has usurped * Ascham's English Letters, published fey Bennfet, 4t(? pp. 372. 374. 384. t Whether the Plural Verb is still preserved in North Bri- tain, I cannot say ; but Mr. Boswell, a native of Scotland, uses it in his History of Corsica (third edit. 1769, p. 224), where he tells us, that the Corsican Gazette was published -*• ** from time to time, as News are collected," Q the ANECDOTES OlP the place of the Plural, or the Plural sign has crept hi upon the Singular adjunct, when we say — " by this means," and " by that '* means :" for we ought to express it '^ by ** these means," and " by those means," to preserve the Plurality perfect ; or otherwise " by this mean,'' and " by that mean,'' if we would uniformly adhere to the Singular number, and which has been adopted by some modern Authors *. But to return. Sir, from this deviation : I cannot help observing one application of the word feWy peculiar to the Northern Counties, for which there seems to be no justifiable reason ; for, when speaking of hroth, the common people always say — " will you have a few broth ?" -— and, in commending the broth, will add — *' They * Bp. Burnet uses *' a mean." Own Times, II. 556 — aj does Shakspeare, Othello, Act 111. Sc. 1. We may observe here that the Scottish Writers are equally attentive to their Plurals ; for, in Legal Proceedings, if they refer to a num- bly of persons or things, their term is — the aforesaitZs. ile-. venges, spealiing of several occasions, used by Bp. Burnet. Tenent9 is common with them for Tenets, wbr«re more tha^^ one person is expressed. ** are. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 227 " are very good/^ This is also an appro- priation so rigidly confined to broth, that they do not say '^ a few ale ;^* — " a few ^* punch ;' — nor " a few milk ;" — " a few '' furmenty ;" — nor a few of any other liquid. I would rather suppose that they hereby mean, elliptically, a few spoonfuls of broth; for broth cannot be considered as one of those hermaphroditical words which are both Singular and Plural, such as sheep and deer, because we never hear of *^ a brotW in an independent and abstracted sense. There is likewise another dialectical use of the word few among them, seemingly tending to its total overthrow ; for they are bold enough to say — " a good few ^^ mean- ing a good many. On the contrary, they will, at the same time, talk of — " a little " feWy^ which, as a double diminutive, has its effect, and perfectly answers to the French expression — ^* un petit peu de.^' The Northern people of whom I have been speaking are not at all guilty of affixing the term few to the word while, in the sense Q % used 228 ANIiCDOTES Of used by the Londoner ; for their phrase U ' — '* stay a piece/' meaning a small portion of time : for ivhile has among them, almost invariably, the force of until, and herein they have Shakspeare on their side *. Thus they will say, " he will have no fortune *^ ivhile (or until) his father die ;'' whereas our expression would be — '^ while his father '* lives," or until his father dies. Out of the Plural whiles, used by Shak- speare and others, we have formed t* e word whilst, used also by Shakspeare -f^. If this be not meant as a superlative, to which it 4 bears a strong resemblance, it is at least the term whiles, used adverbially, with the let- ter t, added euphonice gratid ; though Dr. Fuller, in his " History of the Holy War," * . " While then, God be with you." Macbeth, Act III. Sc. 1. And again : " He shall conceal it, " Whiles you are willing it shall come to note." Twelfth Night, Act IV. Sc. ult. It is used also in this sense in the modern Ballad of Chevy Chace. See Reliques of Ancient English Poetiy, 4th edit, 1794. vol. I. p. 306. t Twelfth Night, Act V. Sc. 2, always THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 229 always writes it with a bold superlative ter- mination ^' w/iUest.** To go a step farther^ Sir, the word while, take it in the gross, has been the father of a Verb, which gives me an opportunity of lamenting (what I did not foresee in the outset) that I should have caused you to tvhile away so much time in perusing this Disquisition *. Before I quit this article, I must not, however, pass over entirely, as a piece of Antiquity, the ancient word, ivhilom, familiar to Chaucer, and the Poets of yore ; though it now seems to have been worn out by age, and is never heard of, save that perchance same waggish or imitative Poet adopt it — in piam meinoriam f. It is, in fact, the * Dr. Johnson quotes the Spectator for his authority to in- sert this Verb in his Dictionary. f You will find it seriously used by Spenser : *' Wliere now the studious Lawyers hare their bowers, *' There whilom wont the Templar Knights abide." And again in Milton's Comus. On the other hand, it is ludicrously introduced by the Au- thor of Hudibras. "In Northern clime a valorous Knight " Did whilom kill his bear in fight, '' And wound a fidler." Saxon 230 ANECDOTES OJ Saxon hwyluniy which both Skinner and Junius render by the Latin word olim. In short, it has had its day, and seems to have carried force with it, having the appearance of an Augmentative, implying not only years, but centuries. Upon the whole, Sir, allow me to observe, that though the word while has, in common acceptation, long been treated as a Plebeian Preposition or Adverb, yet that the Cockney (with the little inaccuracy of giving a Sin- gular Substantive to a Numeral Adjective) rescues it from those derogatory states of ob- scurity, and preserves it in the original dig- nity of a Substantive, without suflFering its nobility to sleep. No THE ENGI.ISH LANGUAGE. 231 N« XVIL " Com'b " for Came, and " Went '' for Gone. Comd in the London dialect is used both for the Preterit came, and for our false Par- ticiple comey with the same degree of fru- gahty as the word kiiotv'd (before given) is made to serve two purposes. I call it false \ because the true one would regularly terminate in — ed or — od ; or else irregularly in — en. Both these are in existence ; for, while the Cockney uses the regular, the common peo-^ pie of the North have adopted the irregular. Thus, the former will say, ^' How long ha^ " he been comd ?^^ while the latter asksj " How long has he been com^n * ?" We, on the other hand, have not the courage to use either the one or the other ; unless you * Kommen is the Danish Participle. See Wolff's Danish Dictionary. ■l£'n>. will 232 ANECDOTES or will suppose that our Participle come is an abbreviate of the irregular Saxon coinen, . Though these old terminations are worn out in the JBeau-monde^ yet the ceconomy of the Cockney only conceives them to be thread-bare, and, where necessary, has fine- drawn them. Thus the Londoner, if asked, ** when he returned to Town ?'* will answer, ^* I cornd yesterday ;" and if asked, " why '^ he returned so unexpectedly ?" will tell you, "he had not conid, but on parti - *^ cular business." The received Language is, " I came yesterday :" and, " I had not " come, &c.'* As to came, there is only this to be said, that both parties are wrong ; save that the Cock- ney approaches nearer to the truth : for the real Preterit of the Saxon Verb coman is com. Came is, therefore, a violent infringement; though it is impossible to detect the Innova- tor, or any of his accomplices. < ' Our Preterit came is also to be reprobated, as more notorious, because it is not brought about by the force of bad example ; for it is a Principal rather than an Accessary ; as no 1 - r other THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 233 other Verb (except it and its compounds, and indeed not all of them) ending in — ome in the Infinitive produces — ame in the Pre- terit. Such is the caprice of our Language, that, while we say overcame and hecame, we do not use welcome, but welcom'o?. Thus much, Sir, for the Cockney's coming to Town : — and now let us hear him on the subject of his going into the Country; when he will tell you that, except for such a reason, " he had not wentJ^ We use ivent as a Past Tense, but never as a Participle : — the Londoner, however, will be found to have much right on his side. It is singularly remarkable, though perhaps not obviously so, that the Verb signifying to go is irregular in many Languages, as well living as dead. The Greek, the Latin, the Saxon, the French, the Italian, the German, the Spanish, and the Portuguese, are, as well as our own, abundant proofs of it. These irregularities cannot be original and native deformities, as they appear in most of these Languages among the leading features, and 234 ANECDOTES Olf and often in the Present Tense of the Indica- tive Mood. The English Verb has the least of any of them, being only a little awry in its shape, with a tuist in its Preterit and Par- '4 ticiple Passive ; while most of the others i\fe ' absolutely lame, and limp even upon bor- rowed crutches. Omitting the other Foreign Verbs, give me leave to particularize the French Aller^ us being most familiar. Who then, from that Infinitive Mood, would expect, in the Present Tense Singular of the Indicative Mood, such an unnatural outset as — Je vaisy Tu vaisy and II va ? and again in the Plural, after two regular terminations from Aller, viz. — Nous Allons, and Vou^Allez; that in the Third Person the Verb should abruptly relapse to — lis vont ? One would hence be led to conclude that this Verb, as it now stands, must be compounded of two radical Verbs unhappily blended together without any original similarity in sound : and this will provs to be the fact. The THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 235 The branches of the whole Singular Num- ber of the First Tense of the Indicative Mood, viz. *^ Je vuisy' ^' Tti vais," and " II va,'^ fktfe deduced from an old-fashioned radical Verb " vader/' (to gb); while the first and second person of the Plural, ^^ Nous allons^'* and " Vous allez," have the more modern Verb *^ aller" for their fundamental ; after which the Third Person Plural " lis vont'* vouchsafes to acknowledge its primary an- cestor. The Future Tense irai wanders equally fi^orri either alleo^ or vdder, and seems to have been borrowed from the Spanish * Verb ir, which gives in its Future Tense — zV^ irds, irdy in the Singular, and irAnos, ireis^ irin, in the Plural. This Future Tense in the Spanish Verb zV, it may be observed, is the only one that is regular enough to claim affinity with its radix. Very little is now left of the Verb ^^vader^* (exclusive of the irregular parts of " aller'^ except the Imperative " vade' (i. e. pass) * " For Spanish, say Latin:' i. H> TooK.i'8 MS note. \vhicli 236 ANECDOTES OF which is preserved in the old game of Pri- m^ro, now obsolete in this country *. The irruption made by, what I have called the modern Verb, ^' aller^^ seems to have taken place not long after the Conquest ; for nothing of its antecessor '^ vader'' appears to remain, even in old Norman French, ex- cept the Third Person Singular of the Im- perative Mood, viz. *^ vadat ; — let him "goV If what I have here said is well founded, it appears that Mons. Vaugelas lies under a gross mistake, in saying that the anoma- lous French verbs are destitute of any reason for their irregularity, and more especially when he gives for example this very verb *^ alter ;^' and must have been ignorant ♦ This game was known in Shakspeare's time, and is men- tioned by him in the Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV. So. 5. and in Henry VIII. ActV. So. 1. See Cotgrave's French Dictionary, in voce. Though it was a Spanish game at cards, yet both the French term " vade" and the Italian " vada/* were used in it. For the last, see Florio's Italian Dictionary. t See Mr. Kelham's Dictionary of Norman French, 1779. that B O^HE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 23/ ^nat there ever existed such an old Verb as ^mvader */' On a view of these irregularities, we have a fair opportunity of observing some hete- rogeneous deductions from the Infinitive of a Latin Verb, with which we became formerly acquainted ; but did not then enquire whe- ther the fruit was natural to the tree, or produced by grafting, or any other forced or unnatural operation. What I point at is the Verb Fero, which has long produced tuli for its Preterit, latus for its Passive Participle, and latum for its Supine. These words vary too much, both to the eye and the ear, to be supposed to be derived from one common stock without in- oculation. Our old thumbed friend Littleton^s Dic- tionary tells us, that tuli was the Preterit of tuloy now obsolete, to which tollo has succeeded ; and further, we find tulere for tollerey in Du Cange f . Vossius also says * Remarques sur la Langue Fran^oise. ' Preface^ p. 44, 12mo edit. 1738. f la voce Tulere, that -998 ANii(;noTEs or ^th»t tuli is dv^d^ed from the Verb toUo, or rather tolo^ and that it has been borrowed by the Verb fero. To this he adds, that lattc7n, the present Supine oifero, is derived from the same stock (viz. toloj, for that the complement of the word is tolaium, which has been curtailed to latum *. Nay more, Sir, toward the detection of an unnecessary debt which Fera has contracted, Vossius af- firms that the old Supine oifero w^tsfertum; for, says he, " amUquj J^ertum pro latum di- ^^ Cerent, ^fero -j-." Doubtless, most of the other irregular Verbs in every Language are of a mixed treed, though it is scarcely possible to trace their pedigrees J. Analogous to the French Verb vader, the Italians have an ancient worn-out Verb *^ vadare^^ great part of which only survives in their hybridous Verb " nndare^^ while what remains of tlie radical word " vadare* is only applied to the fording a river, * See Tollo and Latum in Vossii Etymol. Lat. t Vossii Etymol. Lat. in voce Fertum. % Sum, fui, &c. liitleton, and Gregory Sharpe. as THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 239 as If it were formed from the Latin vadum^ ^ ford *, and from which we have ultimatjely obtained our verb to wade* All the rest of this unfortunate *' vadare' seems to have been drowned ; and, did not the fragments above mentioned shew themselves, it would not have left " a wreck behind." The Greek, the Latin, and all the other Verbs of this signification, I make no q[ues-r tion, have long-forgotten Relations, whicH cannot now be traced by the most skilful Grammatical Herald. After this excursion it is time, Sir, that we should return to London. As to the word in question, viz. luent, I shall now produce evidence of its descent from an ancient Family of the name of ivendy which Dr. Wallis allows to be the primary Ancestor. TVent^ says he, is derived " ab '^ antiquo xvendJ' From this Infinitive is naturally formed wended (or the irregular Saxon termination tvendenjy both in the Preterit and the Participle, which is a3 * Florio. easllr g40 ANECDOTES Of easily corrupted injto wented, as ivented is contracted into went. We have many other similar Past Tenses and Participles ; such as sent from se7id ; lent from lend ; bent from beiid, &c. Shakspeare uses blent for blend- ed *. This old Verb tvend was formerly very respectable, and well known to Chaucer, Lydgate, Spenser, Shakspeare, and others. But, not to trouble you with minute quota- tions at length, I dare believe that you will be content with the following references (thrown into a Note), wherein the Verb will be seen in various situations -j-. * Merchant of Venice, Act III. Sc. 2. f They " wend." Prologue to Chaucer's* Canterbury Tale?, and in various other places in his works. Doth " wend" Comedy of Errors. Shall *' wend." Midsummer Night's Dream. Did ''wend." Howell's Letters, 1621. " Wends y Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. Old Plays, 2d edition, see the Index. " Wendeth" Chaucer's Text of Love. Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. " Wend " you j imperatively. Comedy of Errors. Measure for Measure. Tanner of Tamworth, in the Reliques of An« cient English Poetry. ** Wend " we ; imperatively. Merry Devil of Edmonton^ X626, among the Old Plays, The THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 241 I shall now crave leave to mention two or three involuntary mistakes among the Mo* derns, though I confess to have despaired of ever seeing the Participle went seriously used in written Language since the com- mencement of the eighteenth Century. Dr. RadclifFe, in a Letter dated 1714, wherein he vindicates himself from the charge of not attending Queen Anne in her last illness, says * that, " had he been " commanded, he would have luent to the '^ Queen -f^." In the translation of Baron PufFendorff's *' Introduction to the History of Europe," published (with a Continuation), by the late Mr. Seijeant Sayer, A. D. 1748, you will find the following passage : " Portugal, con- ^^ sidering how many families have went *' from thence to Brazil, is pretty well The '' wending.'' Chaucer's Troilus and Creseide. Is "went." Chaucer's Testament of Love. *' Wentest." Milton, Par. Lost, b. XIL 1. 610. * " And well said." J. H. Tooke's MS note, t Life of Dr, Radcliffe, p. 74. edit. 1736. R *^ peopled." -f W. ■H^v^^v'U <^ ^^ ^i^i-y^^ 242 ANECDOTES OF ** peopled*." Could I persuade myself that the learned Serjeant had adopted the word ivent on any degree of conviction, I should think it an obligation ; but I am rather of opinion that it crept in by a slip of his own pen, or from rapid dictation to his Clerk, after having just parted with a Cockney Client* To come a little nearer to the present mo- ment, I shall add the words of a very good '^ Writer of a few years standing, and now alive (no matter who), in whose works I have dis- covered a similar hasty escape, where he tells us of a calamity which some Republick or other ^' hadf xxnAencent J/' Let all this, however, pass without far- ther ccrament, as arising from rapid writ- ing or dictation ; and allow me to tbjow in an anecdote. When Dr. Adam Littleton was compiling his Latin Dictionary, and announced tlie Verb " concurrd^ to his Amanuensis, the scribe, imagining that the * Vol. I. p. 137. t " Why not r J. H. Tookr's MS note. } Ml'. Wraxall'sToiir in France, p. 168, in a note. , varioup THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 243 various senses of the word would, as usual, begin with the most literal translation, said, ** concU7\ I suppose, Sir;" to which the Doctor replied peevishly — concur ! condog! The Secretary, whose business it was to write what his master dictated, accordingly did his duty ; and the word condog was in-, serted, and is actually printed as one inter- pretation of " concurro^ in the first edition, 16/8 (to be seen in the British Museum), though it has been expunged, and does not appear in subsequent Editions. Upon the whole of this article. Sir, the word went appears to be fit for a Cabinet ; as it was not minted in a die of yesterday, nor is it abased, or cast in sand. It has the true old, and genuine mint-mark upon It ; and is a relique which would have been lost to the curious, had not the dialect of London pre- served it with so much care. B 2 Ancient 244 ANECDOTES OF Anciemt Preterits, &c. SloWy Preterit of Slay, Drake, Archseo- logk, vol. V. p. 380. Runnd (i. e. Runned) for Ran. Strucken for Stricken, Julius Csesar, Actll. Sc. 1. Stove, Preterit of ^^ai;e. [^Sea language. J Hove, Preterit of Heave, [Sea language.] She hove off at the next flood. fFove, Preterit of Wave. [Sea language.] I wove my Hat. S2^et, Preterit of Spit, Merchant of Ve- nice. '^ You spet upon my Jewish gabar- dine.'' Stale, Preterit of Steal, Fragment at the end of Sprott's Chronicle, p. 290 ; and in " Liber Festivalis.'' Smate, Preterit of Smite, Fragment, ut supra, p. 301. TVrooke, Preterit of Wreake, Old Plays, sscond edition, I. 141. Stroke^ Preterit of Strike, Translation oi THE ^ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 245 bf Lazarillo de Tormes, 1653, 12m6. 'Signa- tttfe^t; 6. b. ' Woke (generally used with the affix A- woke), Preterit of TVake. ' Ware (now Wore), Preterit of Wear. Titus Andronicus, Act I. Sc. 1. ' *"•' Sivare (now Swore), Preterit df Swear, Joshua, eh. V. ver. 6. bis.* • Ijough^ Preterit of Laugh, Fisher's Ser- mon at the Month's Mind of Margaret Coun- tess of Richmond arid Derby, p. 30. Bode, Preterit of Bide. Old Plays, (2d edit. vol. I. p. 141. \_Boden, the Participle Passive, occurs in Liber Festivalis.J JPight, Preterit of Pitch (as a Tent is), Troilus and Cressida. - Our Language, by modern affectation, is rendered (to the eye at least) much more clouded and less intelligible upion the first glance or coup d' o^il, than it was anciently. Begt^w has taken place of Began in the Pre- terit ; Rim of Kan ; - — Drw?2k of Dr«nk ; — - Spr?/?2g of Spra?7g *, &c^ * See Lowth, Though 246 ANECDOTES OF Though Reflective Verbs were the usage of Shakspeare's time, and he as constantly adopts them ; yet he could not sometimes avoid playing upon them, according to the spirit of equivocation which prevailed in that age ; as, in " The Taming of the Shrew,'* Act. I. Sc. 2 ; where Petruclo orders his ser- vant to knock at Hortenslo's gate. PeL Knock me here soundly, Villain. Gru. Knock you here, Sir, &c. Wrote me, and write you, [Merchant's language.]] Sent me Is common * ; the da-« tive omitted. The French omit the genitive^ as Hotel Dieu, &c. The Third Person Plural of the Anglo Saxon Present Tense ends in etliy and of the Dano- Saxon in — es ; which accounts for some ex- pressions In old Writers, and even In Shak- speare, which appear to be ungrammatlcal f . " So long as the Sun and Moon endur^/A.'* * Johnson's Letters to Mrs. Thrale. t See Toilet's Note to the Song in Cymbcline, Act 11. Sc. 3. edit. Johnson and Steevens, 17"78. N» THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 24/" N« XVlII. " Gone " with, and " Went " witbt. ^' Gone'' dead, and " Went" dead. The London expression of enquiry after any body is — " What is gone with such-a- ^' one?" or, in speaking of a distant period — "What went with such-a-one ?" Our usual mode of speech is — " What is he^ *^ come of such-a-one ?" This, abstracted from its notoriety, seems to convey no dis- tinct idea at all, while the Londoner asks, by implication, — " What good or ill fortune *' has gone withy or has attended^ Mr. Such- ** a-one since we saw him ?" To give our received expression (viz. " what is Aecome *^of?") any force, the question, by changing the auxiliary Verb, should rather run thus — ** What has come of such-a-one ?'' as if we said — ' '* what has followed the late situation ** of his health, or his affairs .^" In the Paston Letters, published by Sir John Fenn, Knight, ^^48 ANECDOTES OF Knight, IS this expression, — " What shall ** come of him, God wot !" Vol. I. Letter XXV. The adjunct be in /the word become is a redundancy, which has been introduced somehow or other, and is used by various Writers, as well as in common Language. JBe-witch'd ; — Z>e-sought ; — he-mxuxA. ; — Ae-toolc,'are heard ever'y day, and are familiar to our ears; while Shakspeare has several unusual combinations ; such as, — Z>e-for- tune ; — i&e-netted ; — - fe-weep, &c. A true Cockney; therefore, not to be behind-hand with any of them, 'instead of the Verb ^^ grudge,^' always says " i&e-grudge," as an Augmentation, in conformity with 'the above authorities. Dr. Swift, in giving an account of his appointment to the Deanry of St. Pa- trick's, tells Stella, with his usual pleasantrj% that, having been at the Court to kiss hands, he was so ^^ fie-dean'd" by all his friends, &c. After these examples, one would be sur- prized that the Affix be should be employed to express privation, as in '^ Z)e-headed,'' which, in the Paston Letters, is several times written THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 249 written " headed." For one instance, see Vol IL Letter XXXII. These are all Positives ^ where the he Is a pleonasm. On the side of the Negatives^ we meet with wn-iefitting ; -^z^tz- befriended; — W72-ieseeming; — im-i6e\vailed, &e. (where- in there is an equal redundancy) in Writers of good account. Here again the Londoner meets them very justifiably on even ground; for, if he speaks his Family Dialect with precision, he always uses un-^behciown instead of ?^?zknown. In this circumstance he is analogically supported by the authority of Chaucer, who, in the Positive^ has the Verb "Z)e-know;" from which it follows that, had Chaucer wanted the Negative Participle, he would doubtless have written " un-be^ " known.'' For " Z>e-know/' see Mr. Tyrwhitt's Glos- sary to Chaucer. The " ie," in our common and universal word " iegin," is a superfluous Afiix, and in fact has no more pretensions than those al- ready mentioned. The Verb is gin^ and ought 250 ANECDOTES OF ought not to be written (as the Poets do) with an apostrophe, thus, ^gin. Poetical licence^ therefore, in this case, is poetical ignorance *. Similar to this word W7i-6eknown is an expression used in some parts of England, where the people say, '' I un-hethought my- " self:" i. e. I recollected f. " Unfojgot ** myself" would have been a better phrase. But to revert to the words '^ gone^ and *^ went;" and, as I am drawing very near to a close, I cannot finish more decisively than with the use of them in the following in- stances of " gone dead," and " went dead J." Shakspeare shall vindicate the expression in its general extent, where the party spoken of is dead, and most probably in the known and familiar phrase of the age ; for, in Timon of Athens, Ventidius says, * See Mr. Drake's learned Disquisitions in the Archaeo- logia, vol. IX. p. 334} and also vol. V. pp. 380, 381. t See the Glossary to the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. J I believe they tay, " gone married." "It THE ENGLISH LANOyAGB. 251 It hath pleas'd the Gods to remember <* My father's age, and call him to long peace, " He is gone happy, and has left me rich." Act I. Sc. 2, Dr. Johnson was aware of the present vulgar use of the word " gone'' among the lower order of Cockneys, when he jocularly tells Mrs. Thrale, in one of his Letters from Lichfield, " that Brill, Miss 's old *^ dog, is gone deaf*." The melancholy answer, however, to the Cockney's question of — " What is gone ^' with such-a-one ?" is too often, " He "s " gone dead !'* And, ^' how long has he been *^ dead ?" ** He ivent dead about three months ^' ago !" These expressions seem to be very^ analogous to '^ gone blind," and " went ^' blind ;" and the poor dog may, with equal vulgar precision, be seriously said to have ^^ gone deaf;" though the word may not have obtained a footing in that situation. Give me leave here to observe, Sir, that the expression before us has a strong, though * Letter CXIV, an 252 ANECDOTES 6%^' an oblique reference to the Latin phrase, without any natural or intended affinity : — for what is '^ mortem obilt" in the Latin, but, in plain English, " He is gone or he went to " death ?" Nay, if Gerard- John Vossius be right, the Latin word ohiit seems to have been a vitiation, and somehow or other (like death itself) to have bordered on corruption ; for he tells ns-—ohire mortem, propria est, adire mortem*. T^he Londonism and the original Latinism here approach very near to each other ; but, when both are compared with the French idiom, they will be found to differ from it — tpto ccelo. The old French (the Norman) expression was '^ ALLER c?e vie*' — to go from life; and to this we conform in our monumental language at this time, in which we read almost on every tomb-stone, that the person buried departed this life on the day and year there specified f . On the other hand, * Etymologicon Linguae Latinae, in voce Eo. f Aller de vie occurs frequently in the Grand Coustumier de Normandie. Another word is also there used to express difing, viz. trepasser ; which is also found in ancient monu- mental THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 253 Sir, the modern French phrase " Venir de *^ inourir^^ seems rather to bring the dying pian to life again, or at least to imply that he was much better at the time spoken of; if not in a fair way of recovery. I could not help thinking of the French expression " Venir de mourir," when I read a passage in the " Apology for the Life of " Mrs. George-Anne Bellamy," a once ce- lebrated Actress, published in 1/^5, wherein the following ludicrous theatrical incident is related *. She tells us, that Mrs. Kennedy, a Tragedian, who was announced in the play- bills for the character of Zara in the Mourn- ing Bride, being suddenly taken ill, her sis- ter Mrs. Farrell (who had seldom performed mental inscriptions in the French language, which have been discovered in various parts of England f . It seems to have been an abbreviation of the French outrepasser ; for, as tres" passing (which we have confined to a criminal sense) is going beyond the bounds of duty, so a dead man has passed the limits of life. Tramontane [" '/Vansraontane," John Hornr Tooke's MS Note.] seems, in like manner, to have been an abbreviate of the Iialian oltramontano. * See voh IV. p. 50. f See that grand national Work, Mr. Cough's Sepulchral Monu- ments, Century XIV. vol. I. p. 12i); and in several other places. any 254 ANECDOTES OT any part superior to that of an old Nurse), undertook to be Mrs. Kennedy's substitute. Mrs. Farrell^s performance was received with much disapprobation in general ; — but so indignantly in the dying-scene, that when she was to the imagination in agonies, and had nothing to do but to seem to expire ; — she rose from between the mutes (who were attending her in her last moments), and, advancing to the front of the stage, made an apology for her performance ; and thus, having come from dyingy she returned to the place from which she had risen, — threw herself down again between the mutes, — and completed her supposed death. And now, Sir, let me resume the sub- ject with a serious aspect, throw down my gauntlet, and ask, upon these comparative expressions, denotative of the same event, if there be not less incongruity in saying, that a man lately livif!g is ''gone dead;" than that a man, hond fide dead, is '' come *' from dying," which last is the literal in- terpretation of the French phrase — " venir *' de mourir?" For the exemplification of our THE EKGtISH LANGUAGE. 255 our English expression, attend to John a-Nokes, speaking of his deceased friend Tom a-Stiles ; — and for the French idiom, hear Mons. de Voltaire, who, in telling you that Cardinal Richelieu and Louis the Thir- teenth were dead, says — " Le Cardinal " Richelieu et Louis Treize venoient de " mourir *.'* Having thus brought the Cockney de- cently to his grave, whither he is gone to come no more, I shall, for your great conso- lation, take leave both of him and you, with a wish that this address may merit your Imprimatur ; and that you will accept these reveries with such grains of allowance as your charity shall please to bestow. You and I, Sir, jogged on together for several years, both at School and at the University, till we parted, and met again in that great mass of mankind, called Th^ fVorld^ where I had followed you (^non pas^ sibus cequis), and at length found you had long become F. S.A. In which capacity I novy address you, and crave your attention. * SiMe de Louis Quatorze, ch. II. Though 256 ANECDOTES OF Though you have been fed with Morsels of Criticism^ I hope you are not too proud to pick up a few Crumbs of Antiquity, After Cardinal Boromeo (usually called St. Charles) was canonized, a Monk, who had known him in his earthly tabernacle, begged his intercession, for old acquaintance-* sake * : so I trust you will patiently suiSer me to solicit your attention, for a moment, to the lucubrations (trifling as they are) of a quondam Play-mate and Fellow Collegian. With a true Antiquarian veneration for an old acquaintance, I am, dear Sir, Yours, &c. S. P. * See the " Menagiana.'* POSTSCRIPT. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 25? POSTSCRIPT. AS I have had the audacity to accuse our Senators, our Parliament -men ^ as the Cock- ney would call them, of coining new Words ; so I cannot but observe that others have sprung up lately, without doors, either im- properly formed, or with meanings annexed to them which, in their native state, they were never intended to convey. These words, it is true, have not yet taken deep root in the Language of the pen, but are found in common colloquial use every day. Some other words, not always correctly framed, though often adopted, will be found among them ; and I believe it would require full as much pains to reform the Language of us Moderns, as to vindicate that of o\xv jln- cestors. The few examples I shall present you with are these. s Con- 253 ANEcrroTES or Consequential* This word in no shape conveys the tnean- ing intended by those who use it to express a pompous, conceited, lordly man. It can never be applied to a Man, unless you were to say, that an Undertaker is a man conse- quential to Death ; for its use as to Men, must be as it is to Things, where one fol- lows another of course, as, this is conse- quential to that, and that is consequential to another *. If a word is wanted to express a man of fancied importance, it should na- turally have a termination denotative of the circumstance, formed analogous to other words : and I will agree to adopt the term consequentiousy which will take rank with such as these — contemptuous, litigious, con- tumacioits, Sec, The exact parallel to the terms consequen- tial and consequent ions ai-e the words of- ficial and officious ; for we might, with equal precision, call a busy, meddling Man, an * " Less consequential to the interests of life." Mr Steevens'8 Note to Twelfth Ni^ht, p. 189. official THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 259 official Fellow, as the pompous man come- quential. It will be urged, that the epithet officious has already obtained, and the dis* tinctlon is settled: — to which it may be answered, so ought consequentious ; and pro- bably that would have been the case, if it had been under the jurisdiction of an Aca- demy of Belles Lettres. The misfortune is, that sensible men have blindly followed the Ignorant in the adoption of consequential^ without adverting to the impropriety, and without considering that less injury is done to the purity of any Language by the crea- tion of a new word, if regularly formed, than by the application of an old one in an un- warrantable sense. To such as use this oeconomical word, and do not chuse to be at the trouble of adopting terminations of distinction, I beg leave to mention a couple of words, which, though entirely artificial, have served two purposes, and whose meaning has clearly appeared from the context. The one was ingeniously invented by a maid-servant, viz. '^ clantasti- '** c«?/' which she contrived should express s 2 both 260 ANECDOTES OF both fantastical and clandestine. Such an one she would say was " a clantastical crea* " ture ;'' — and again, she hated any ^^ clan- ^' tastical doings J^ The other was adopted by a person who ought to have been better informed ; but, for fear of confounding the words supercilious and superficial^ he made use of super ficious for either of them when occasion required. Among some of the lower people I think I have observed that '^ Crimes'' and ^^ FloW' " ers'' are said to be equally ^'flagrant ;" Bottles are ^'libeled'' as well as Ministers of State, though I never heard of a Minister being labeled. Ingenuity. This word has two very distinct meanings, viz. Wit and Invention on the one hand *, Frankness and Candour ^ on the other. In one situation, even the context will not give us the precise idea of the speaker, without circumlocution ; for when I say that A. B. is * Wotton } vide Bailey's Diet. t Dr. South. Bailey seems to mistake Dr.South's expression. a man THE ENGLISH JLANGUAGE. 261 a man of great " Ingenuity, '^ I must go still further to make you understand whether I mean an Ingenious, or an Ingenuous Man ; because the Word Ingenuity is the adopted Substantive of both. A. B. may be a Man of Genius, though far from a candid Man ; while C. D. may be very open and Ingenuous without a Ray of Geniics. There seems to have been no occasion for the equivocal Word Ingenuity to distinguish between Openness ^.nA Dissimulation, while we have the term Ingenuousness to answer the purpose dis- tinctly, without '^ leaving a loop to hang a " doubt upon'' — a Substantive which is formed consonant with many others from Ad- jectives of similar Terminations, as " Righ- " teous-7ie5/' from " Righteous ;" '^ Covet- " ous-7ze55" from '^ Covetous,^* &c. to which may be added many others, particularly of the Old School, which have been wearing out for some time, such as — Plenteous- ness*; Grievous-?!^^^^ ; Mischievous-Tze^^;^, &c. &c. But to return. * Holy Scriptures ; vide Concordance. f Ibid I Bailey's Dictionary. When 262 ANECDOTES OF When we lay aside an old Word (Inge*. nuous-?ie55 for example) on account of its cut and fashion (as we would a half-worn coat), the new one that succeeds should be made to fit well; otherwise, the old one, which sat well, and became us, should not have been discarded. Thus, one of these Words, whichever it may be, comes to us disguised, as wearing the dress of another, which does not become it at all, and mis- leads the eye *. But then, you will say, — to which of the Adjectives, " Inge7iioiis" or " Ingenuous ^^ does the Substantive " Ingenuity''^ belong? I answer, that it is not properly formed to represent either of them : for if it is to be modified from " Ingeni-ous,^' it should be written " Ingeni-ety,'' analogous to ^' Im- * This reminds me of a circumstance, that shews hov? much the eye expects to be gratified at the first glance among objects to which it has been accustomed. On the death of Counsellor Pitcairne (not many years ago). Coun- sellor Seare bought his tye-wig ; and when Scare appeared in it at the Chancery Bar, the Lord Chancellor (Hardwicke) addressing Mr. Seare (or rather the fVigJ, said^ " Mr. Pit^ " cairne, have you any thing to move ?" THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 263 *' pi'OUs, and Irnpi-ety ;" — " Notori-ous^ " and Notori-ety ;" — but if from " In- '^ genu'ous/' it should naturally produce " Ing 67111- osUt/," in the same manner as we have from " Imp etu- oils , Impetic-osityJ^ — I suspect that Ingenuity^ in the sense of Ingenuousness^ is full brother to Consequen- tial in its vitiated meaning of Pompous, &c. New Words, well formed and well distin- guished, enrich a language ; while one and the same Word with remote senses be- trays a mean economy, and tends to embar- rass and impoverish the diction. A little Periphrasis is better and more intelligible than 2ijine Word with but half a meaning, or a too compact phrase. Nervous, A Word which, till lately, when applied to a Man, was expressive of Musculous Strength, and a Brawny make ; and thence, metaphorically, a strong and forcible style is called nervous and energetic : whereas now it is used only, in a contrary sense, to express a man 264 ANECDOTES or a man whose nerves are weak, and even absolute JEnervation, To preserve a distinction when we speak of such a Man, and of the Disorder by which his strength is impaired, w^e should rather say a NeriJz^A Man, and a Nervz^A Disorder ; which termination conforms with similar words, such as Waspish, Devilish y JPeverish, jigueish ; all expressive of bad qualities, or disordered habits. Bailey gives it as denotative of Strength and Vigour in its natural sense ; and adds, that when applied to a person with weak Nerves, it is Medical cant, for which he cites Dr. Cheyney, who might perhaps first prescribe this use of the word. His expres- sion is — '' poor, w^eak. Nervous creatures." Dr. Johnson follows Bailey as to the vitiated use of the Word ; but gives us the primitive signification as implying Strength and Vi^ gour, and cites Pope in the Odyssey : ** What nervous arms he boasts, how firm his tread, ** His limbs how turned." Shakspeare whites Nervy in Coriolanus, Act II. Sc. 1. '' Sparta,'' THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 265 '^ Sparta/' says Mr. Bos well, " was a '^ nervous constitution, but deficient in gen- *' tleness and huinanity !^ Account of Cor- sica, p. 189. edit. 1769. False Orthography. This is an erroneous phraseology intp which writers have sometimes unguardedly stumbled : but a moment's recollection would have assured them that the epithet False can never be applied to Orthography ; for it is saying that the same thing is both true and false. One might as well talk of False Or^ thodoxy. — Mr. Walpole has made a little shp, in this particular, where he speaks of a letter from Queen Catherine Parr to the Lady Wriothesley, and observes that " from the ** orthography of this letter appears the " ancient manner of pronouncing the name (« JVriothesley ^ which her Majesty writes '^ TVresely *.^' This is to say, that wrong spelling is orthography : whereas Mr. Wal- pole should have written from the mode oT spelling, &c. * Royed and Noble Authors, -vol, i. p. 21. ^' Trewe 36(5 ANECDOTES OF " Treive Orthography'^ is found in the au- thor of the " Arte of English Poesie," cited by Mr. Warton *, and is only a venial redun- dance : but in the same passage he talks of Untrue and of False Orthography. Ill Success, and Bad Success. I do not cordially accede to this expression, though Bailey in his Dictionary says, that ^^ Success is the event or issue of an affair ^* or business, whether happy or not ;" Phi- lips adds, it is often applied to the former. Had he said oftener, I should have had a bet- ter opinion of his judgment, though I would totally banish the combination of 111 or Bad with the word Success, I know I have Writers of great account against me, but would appeal to their more deliberate deci- sions. Johnson however will, in some degree, defend me : he says, " It is the termination " of any affair happy or unhappy. Success *V without any epithet is commonly taken " for good success.'' * Notes on Spenser's Tsdry Queen, I. p. 118. Mr. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 267 Mr. Walpole is either strongly in oppo- sition to me, or has forgot himself, where he says, " the Marquis of Clanrickarde fol- *^ lowed the Marquis of Ormond in his Lieu- '' tenancy and III Success,'' In speaking of two Armies, they may be said to have fought battles with variou$ Success, sometimes one prevailing, sometimes the other ; but we cannot use that expression where we speak of one party only. That the Saxons and Danes, for example, fought with various success, may be said with great pro- priety ; but it cannot be applied indepen- dently to either one party or the other. These words (bad and ill success) sound to my ear just as harshly as False Or- thography ; and always put me in mind of the man, who said, '' his wife had enjoy' d a had state of health for many years." ** Ignorant of what Success shall follow.** Crisp, and Crispus, p. 64. edit. 1725. The word success makes the word folloiu re- dundant. It should run, ^' Ignorant of what " the success may be." " Succeed;'' used actively to prosper. Life of Dr. Fuller, p. 38. et antea. He 268 anecdotes of He is a worthy Character. We say of a man who has peculiarities in his behaviour, that " he is a Character,^* meaning, what the Italians call, a Caricaturay with something extravagant and outr(^ in the outline : but the epithet worthy cannot apply superficially to the man ; it must go to his heart and actions. We may say of one that — " he has b. had character," — and of another, that '' he has a good character:" but we cannot say, abstractedly, that ^' he ^^ is a good character/' or, " he is a had ^' character." The ellipsis is rather too forced in the latter cases. The French are much more happy in their expressions of " C'est ^^ un hon sujet ;" and '^ C'est un mauvais " siyeL" It is scarcely allowable to say, " He is a droll character," though we bor- row our metaphor from the stage ; for it re- quires more, and we should say '^ His is a *^ droll character," meaning that which he attempts to support : — neither can we strictly say, even that " FalstafF is a droll character" without an implied sign of the Genitive case, as if we had said, that " FalstafF 's character is a droll one." What THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 269 What is to be said then, say they who have been used to talk thus ? — I answer : if you know him well, call him ^' a worthy man ;" or, if only by report, say, ^^ He has the character of a worthy man:** but do not mix Verbs, Adjectives, and Substantives to- gether, which cannot be combined with any propriety. Repulsed ; — Convulsed. Repulsed is a Participle of an imaginary Verb, formed from the Substantive '^ A Re^ pulse:*' but the true Participle is ^^ Repelled,** We may say, "the Enemy was Repelled^* or " suffered a Repulse :** though I cannot agree to the Participle Repulsed ; — it is illegiti- mate, and comes in a crooked direction from the first Ancestor *. Shakspeare uses Eocpuls*d as the Participle of Expell, which is equally irregularly formed f . Our Dictionaries (viz. Bailey and Johnson) give us the Verb Re- pulse and Expulse, almost taking it for granted that a Participle must have a paren- * The Heralds denote bastardy (in descents) by a line that is crooked, or wavy, instead of a direct line. t Hen. VI. P. I. Act IIL Sc. 3, 2^0 ANECDOTES OP tal Infinitive. It is true the Italians have Hepulsare for the Infinitive, and conse- quently Repulsato for the Participle : and the French have their Verb Hepousser and its derivatives ; but these Participles in both Languages originate radically, without en- grafting. The French give their Verbs the force of Substantives by an article prefixed to the Infinitive, as, Le Pouvoir ; Le De- voir ; Le Repentir, &c. but in the case before us we have formed a piece of a Verb out of a Substantive. Analogous to these, we have convulsed as an Adjective, though not as a Participle, though it has been converted into the Pre- terit of an imaginary Verb ; as when we say, *^ ^n earthquake convulsed the country ;" >^here it had better be said, " the country tvas convulsed by an earthquake ;" for the Participle Passive is here more tolerable than the Preterit. In fact, we have no such Verb as convell from whence to form such a Participle : nor will such formation always hold good when we have a similar Infinitive; for though we have compell and dispell, yet we THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 2^1 We do not say compulsed or dispulsed in the Participle, but (more regularly) compelled and dispelled ; nor have we the Substantives Compulse or Dispulse, Refell^ makes RefeU led, and not Refulsedy as, according to these deductions, it might do. He refelled all my arguments, dispelled all my doubts, and compelled me to confess that he was right. Now let us read the above sentence with the Verbs according to the formation of the Verb repell, and it will run, he refulsed all my arguments, dispulsed all my doubts, and compulsed me to confess, &c. A Compassionate Case. This will often be told you with a long face^ and it does not remove one's pity ; but it is not grammar. A man may be compassionate in his nature, as an attribute : he may pity and compassionate the case as a result of his feelings ; but the case itself can only be said to be compassionable f, or worthy of pity, * To refell, i. e. to refute. Measure for Measure, Sc. L f The word Compassionable is not in Johnson ; but Mr. Pegge, ia his OinaZia, has used it j vide Part I L Edit. which 272 ANECDOTES OV which has the force of a Latin Gerund, or second Supine. Convene;. This Verb is seldom properly used : for it is generally considered as an jfictive^ w hereas it ought always to be found a Neutral Verb. A moment's attention to its origin will shew the force it must of necessity have, and that it can have no other. We read that " the *^ King conyend the Parliament :" — the ParHament is *' conv€7ied" to meet on such a day, &c. The King, in the first instance, may be the cause of their convening (or com- ing together) ; but their convention is an act of their own, as much as their adjournments: let it then be said, that the Parliament con- veiled, as well as that it adjourned. I have seen numberless examples of the improper use of this Verb, though but few where it is not considered as a Verb Active. Dr. Robertson is very attentive to the true meaning, where he says : *^ The Reform convened in great num- " hers." Hist of Scotland, I. p. 175. And THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 2^3 And again : ^' A Synod was soon to convene J^ Id. pp. 166. 810. Lilly (William) generally uses it pro- perly ; though sometimes he forgets him- self. Bailey once gives it the secondary sense of a Verb Active ; but I think he mistakes his Author [King Charles], where the Participle '^ convening " seems to be used for the sub- ttantive " Convention^ The other instance is of the Participle Passive, viz. *^ cannot he convened^^ which seems to me to be a disallowance. The misfortune sometimes is, that Lexico- graphers make use of unclassical authorities. In short, the 'Verb '^ convene'^ is gene- rally used in the sense of '' convoke i^ and therefore, in such cases as the Parliament, it should be said, " the King convoked \\\^ '^ Parliament, and it convened;^ thereby se- parating the two actions, which cannot well be included in the latter word as a Verb Active. T Anti- 274 ANECDOTES OF Anti-chamber. No Author, Sir, who ever learned Latin and Greek, one would think, could possibly use Anti'Qhamher for ^wfe-chamber ; yet such, and many, there are, who have had no regard to the difference between the Latin ^nte (before) and the Greek ^7iti (against*.) These Writers, though probably in their time they might have " forgot more Latin ^^ and Greek than you or I ever knew," have here, for our comfort, forgot themselves. Bailey observes, that the word in question is generally written ^nti-cha.mher ; but adds that it is improperly so. Dr. Johnson copies Bailey ; and quotes Dryden and Addison, in the following pas- sages : " The empress has the antichambers past, ** And this way moves with a disorder^ haste." Dryden. ** His Antz-chamber, and room of audience, are '* little square chambers wainscoted.'* Addison. * Anti-ch2L^el often occurs for Ante-chz^cl. Tliey are mixed and hybridous words at the best : but that is not our business. Author? THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 2^5 Authors never write Ai^Ticedent, Anti- diluvian^ or KnTipenultima ; or, on the other hand, A.W£i£.podes^ AwrEchrist, or ANTEcfo/e, as they might with equal pro-* priety. Shakspeare may be excused, but not so his Editors, where the scene is laid, as iu the opening of the Play of Henry VIII, in an jlnti'Yoom. in the Palace : and again in Act II. Sc. 2. it lies in the King's Anti- chamber *. If the Editors found it so writ- ten, their business was, for the sake of their own literary credit, to have corrected it, which they might safely have done, without any insult to the Poet's genius. The Latins ran into the same error, and used Ant^logium for Antelogium -j^ ; though Antelogium is condemned as Vox Hybrida bv Dr. Littleton : it should therefore be Ante- LOQUIUM, to preserve its regularity, which is given by Littleton. Something similar to this is the word mal- content, usually written ^a?e-content. The * Capell's edition, and Johnson and Steevens. t Vide Antilogium in Littleton's Dictionary. T 2 word 276' ANECDOTES Ot word is French, and not directly from the Latin, though the former have both it and mecontent in the same sense [v. P. Bou- hours and P. Girard]. Sliakspeare has male- content. [Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II, Sc. l.[] Goldsmitli has maZ-content. Sir William Temple somewhere uses Uis- contents, which no doubt is better ; for, when we write English, let it be as much so as pos- sible, except where we have no word of equal strength. [V. Boyer's Diet. voc. Mecontens,!^ Good Morning to You. When the families and friends of our fa- thers and grand-fathers met at breakfast, they mutually saluted each other by wishing a Good Mori'otv — as much as to say, " We ^' meet together well To-day , may we do "the like To-morrow V^ This, Sir, was the Language indeed even in our own remem- brance. All familiar Writers, except those of yesterday, give the same salutation ; as for instance, in Shakspeare — Pubhus says, " Good Morrow, Caesar;" afterwards, Caesar says, " Good MorrotVy Casca ;" and again, " Good THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 277 " Good Morroiv, Antony */' Emilia says to Cassio — " Good Morrow^ Lieiitenantf ." It occurs in an hundred other instances, need- less to be multiphed J. Another matutinal expression in ancient use was — " Give you (i. e, God) good Day,'^ implying a hope that the day might end as well as it had begun : but the most ancient and enlarged wish was Good Den ; that is, Good Days ; being a contraction of the Saxon Plural Day-e^z, a phrase which occurs several times in Shakspeare §. This will account for what one sometimes ignorantly smiles at among the children in country places, where, in passing a stranger in a morning, they seem to accost him with, ^' Good E'en ! Good E'en !" which is gene- rally mistaken for an Evening wish, though it is in fact Good Den^ a little softened in the pronunciation. These, with that of Good * Julius C^sar, Act IL Sc. 6. f Othello. X Good Morrow and Good E'ew.] See a Note, much to the point, in Johnson's and Steevens's Shakspeare, Timon of Athens, Act IL Sc. 2. § Capell's Glossary. — See Romeo and Juliet, Act IL Sc. 4. where it must mean Day-en, and »ot Even, as the Com- jnentators suppose. Night, 278 ANECDOTES OP Night, were all that our Ancestors thought necessary, and do not comprize some ab- surdities which modern refinement has in- troduced, and thereby inverted the order of things. We now begin with wishing our friends, if ever so early or late, even if it be Mid-day, a Good 3Iorning : but why wish him what he visibly enjoys ? for a wish al- ways has a regard to futurity ; and it would be much more sensible rather to say in a morning, " / ivish you a good Afternoon /*' The wish of the Morning should be, for a Good Day at least (if not a Good Morrow) ; in the Day, for a Good Night ; unless you chuse to divide the Day into three parts, and in the course of the Day wish a Good Even- ing, a la Francoise ; for the French have only the compliments of Bon Jour, Bon Soir, and Bon Jiepos, The misfortune with us is, that we wish the compliment of the time present ; for, in the Morning itself, we say. Good Morning ; in the Day-time, Good Day ; and in the Evening, Good Evening ; all which civil speeches come too late, except that Good Night has its proper place. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 279 jJace. The wish of the Morning should be for a Good Day ; of the Day for a Good Evening ; and of the Evening for a Good Night : but as to that of a Good Mornings it can have no place except between people who chance to jostle together in the Night. But, in none of these cases, do we extend our wishes so far as our Ancestors used, and lite- rally take no thought for the Morrow. Morn- ing and Evening are now such arbitrary di- visions of the twelve hours, that a wish may now and then actually relate to a past time. Thus, between six and seven o'clock in the Summer, when my Lord, going home to din- ner, meets his Taylor, who has dined at two, drank his tea at six, and is sallying to take his evening walk, his Lordship returns the Taylor's bow, moves his hat, and wishes him a Good Morning. Now the old phrase of a "Good Morrow would heal this anachronism. " A good morrow morning to you*" is an evening compliment, which I have heard mad^ use of, as well as a morning one, * " Good-morrow : for, as I take it, it is almost day." Measme for Measure, Act IV. Sc. 3. Premature. 230 ANECDOTES OF Premature. You and I tnow very well that this word, wheu metaphorically used, is adduced from fruit which either falls, or is gathered in a crude state, before it is ripe ; which it will in the event assuredly be, if not thus pre- vented. The metaphor cannot therefore be applied to any thing that is not certain to happen in due order of time. This should be its true situation ; but perhaps there are few words so misapplied as this is in the public prints : as a specimen of which, I give you instances, which, if not authentic in them- selves, are very similar to many which often occur. One News-paper will tell you that a marriage has taken place between " The Right " Honourable Lord A. of &c. and Miss B. *^ a. young lady of great beauty arwl fortune, *^ and possessed of every accomplishment *' necessary to render the marriage -state " happy :'■ when the Paper of the next day assures you, from authority, that the account of such marriage i^ Premature ; for that Lord A. and Miss B. never saw each other in ¥■ THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 281 in their lives. Would you not suppose that marriage must here go by destiny, and that this match must indispensably take place at some time or other, even though the parties should live unmarried to each other to the age of Methusalem ? Another Paper relates to you that " A lady ** with a child in her arms fell out of a win- " dow up two pair of stairs in .... street, ^^ and both were crushed to death :" — then the same Paper, of the next day's date, is extremely happy to acquaint the publick that the account given yesterday is Premature ; for that both the lady and the child are in perfect health, and that no such accident had happened ; from whence one is to infer, according to the true meaning of the meta- phor, that the lady was, of necessity, to fall out of such a window, with a child in her arms, and that both must be dashed to pieces. Indifferently is a word which, from two meanings, is re- duced to one. It is very unseasonably placed, where we pray that justice may be '^ truly '^and 282 ANECDOTES or *^^ and indifferently " administered by those who, &c. It reminds me of a Mayor, who pardoned a man for an offence, and said to him, "Now " am not I a pitiful Magistrate ?'' — " Yes, *' your Worship." Since. A Preposition, which ought to govern something. " It is so long since I came to town ;'' ^' since I left the country." It cannot well have the sense of ago; though it is often said that "a few days " since " a fire broke out, and such like ex- pressions, when it means a few days ago, or a few days past. Q. " When did you come to town ?" v^. About a fortnight since;" i. e. ago — sed male, Q. "When?" y^. " Not half an hour since." <* Twelve yej^rs since (bis) thy father was Duke of " Milan.*' Tempest, Act I. Sc. 2. * See Shakspeare's Comedy of j£rrors. Act II. Sc. 1. and Tempest, Act V. Sc. X. Precedent. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 283 I Precedent. It is a little singular, that one word with the identical meaning, and the same in all points, should be used with the penultima short when a Substantive, and long when an Adjective. Such, however, is the word Precedent and Precedent, Go TO. Dr. Johnson, as a Lexicographer, gives no further interpretation of these obsolete words, so common with Shakspeare, and other old Writers in dialogue, than that they are objurgatory ; and merely gives them the in- terpretation of " Come, come ; take the right " course ;" adding, that " it is a scornful ex- ^* hortation,'' which construction, by the way, he took verbatim from Bailey's Dictionary. The words certainly imply a departure from the subject of conversation, by the me- taphor of going ; as if it should be said, Go to some other place by which I shall be re- lieved from your company ; but, with all this implied going, it is strange that the Doctor should 284 ANECDOTES OF should chuse to render it by " Come, come ;" which IS as bad as the common phrase to a beggar, of " Come, come; Go about your ^^ business." Go to is generally passed over, as if it meant no more than 2ut, Tush, Pooh, or Pshaio, Tille-nalle *. And the Commenta- tors upon Shakspearef in particular, in whose Plays it occurs so often, treat It with great indifference, as unworthy of their notice. I cannot, however, help being of opinion that these two little words involve much aa- cient expressional history, if I may so speak^ and which will lead us farther than it at first points out. There is a context wanted; as two such de- pendent words, like an old illegible guide- post, point somewhere ; though it expired as a mere objurgation. '^ Go to the d — 1/' says a wag, " And the King of Syria said, Go to, go ; I will ** send » letter unto the King of Israel +." * Du Gueficlin. Robertson's Charles V. I. 27S. f See the Variorum Edition of Johnson and Steevens, •passim. . X 2 Kings, chap. v. The THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 285 The Bible was translated at different times ; begun in the reign of Henry VIII. but not completed till 1611. The answer to '' Go to God/' seems na- turally to have been '^ God he to you,' which may be our " Good bye to you :" but for this there is no present authority. The old manner of closing a Letter, ** I *' commit or I commend you to God," seems to be the same expression *. The latter means recommend ; as, ** Commend me to my brother Edmund York." Shakspeare's Richard II. Sc. 2. " To go to the world,'' t. e. to be mar- ried ; quasiy to depart from the jurisdiction of the Court of Wards f, Beatrice, in Much-ado About Nothing, says, " Every one goes to the world but I." *^ To go without day," is to be dismissed the court without trial—- So in the old phrase, " To go to God.'' Jacob, who cites Broke. Kitchin, 193. Blount also cites * See Lodge's Illustrations, vol. U, p. 24. t See note to ", As you lilce it." ( Broke, 286 ANECDOTES OT Broke, tit. Failer de Records, No. 1. Ire ad largum. And see Littleton's Dictionary, 3cl Part. Got a Mind. — A Month's Mind. *^ To have a mind " (as we say) to do any thing, and '^ to have got a mind " to do it, are the same expressions, excepting that the Cockney adheres to the true phrase, which leads to its meaning more forcibly than ours does. They both imply an inclination, almost amounting to an injunction, radically derived from an ancient custom, more fully explained when they say, as is frequently the case, — *' I have got a montlis mind " to do such a thing. This metaphorical expression is de- duced from old testamentary requisitions in the times of rigid Popery, whereby the party dying enjoined certain masses, &c. to be performed at a, or the month's end, for the good of his soul, for which he left a periodi- cal sum of money, as to a Chauntry Priest, &c. This, being a declaration of the will and mind of the deceased, was called ^^ his " month's mind.'' There was no danger of its THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 28/ its being neglected in the performance in those times, while it carried the reward with it : but, after the Reformation, when the bequest was pecuniarily abolished, the ** month! s mind'' no longer was attended, and the soul of the deceased was left to its fate in purgatory ; though the expression, once strong in its inducements, subsisted, to denote any bold inclination dependent on the party speaking, from the operations of his own wishes. Thus one Cockney will say to another, " I have got a good mind to go to the Play; " — have you ?" The month' s -minds, and other more fre- quent masses for the souls of the dead, have sometimes borne hard upon the property of the living. Dr. Smollett, in his Travels, relates the case of a poor gentleman of Nice, whose great grand-mother had founded a perpetual mass for her soul, at the rate of fifteen sols (about nine pence English) per diem, which at length was all that then re- mained of the family estate. This gentleman remarked the greatness of the hardship, by - observing. sm ANECDOTES OP observing, ^^ that, as she had been dead up-' ** wards of fifty years, her soul had, in all " probability, been released from Purgatory *' long before ; and that the continuance of " the mass was become an unnecessary ex- *^ pence, though it would be impossible to ** persuade the Church to relinquish the emo- « lument */' Masses were an article of traffick among the Monks : as, if the masses are very nume- rous at one Convent, the Priests hire those of another to perform them for a small sum, and pocket the difference -f^. Dr. Johnson passes it lightly over; and contents himself with interpreting a month's mind to express a longing desire to do any given thing. He cites Shakspeare, and a passage in Hudibras, in both of whose times it implied no more : but the true meaning lies farther back in the annals of time. A Priest has got " a inontlis mind to per-' form.'* — Grey's Notes on Shakspeare, 1. 80 ;J;. * Smollett's Travels, Letter XX. f Ibid. X See also the Two Gentlemen of Verona, p. 135, edit, . Johnson and Steevens. " The THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. ' 289 ** The montKs mind " of the two Dukes of Suffolk, 1551; see Strype's Mem. II. 281 1 of Sir William Laxton (late Lord Mayor), 1556 ; see Strype's Mem. III. 305 : of the Earl of Sussex ; idem, p. 314. ** A second years-mmdi " was performed for Master Lewyn, an iron-monger, June 29, 1557; idem, p. 378. Compliments Seem to mean Comply -ments, and there- fore cannot be used in the first instance of an invitation ; as it rather appears to be the language of the Invitd than of the Inviter. A asks B to dine with him. B returns for answer, "that he will comply withA's in- " vitation." Compliments, therefore, ought to be the cardinal word of Ceremony in the return, and not in the request. Wait upon. The answer to an Invitation from A to B is, " that B will do himself the pleasure of ^* waiting upon A." This is contrary to all the rules of etiquette ; for A, at whose house V the 290 ANECDOTJES OF the scene is to lie, is bound to wait upon B, his guest. I I'emember wlien the language w'as, that A should say to B, on inviting him to his house, " that he would be very " happy to wait upon him in St. James's " Square.'' Every man is to wait vipon his guests, by himself, or his sufficient deputy ; and not they upon him. In the first instance, to wait means to attend upon : just the re- verse of the French attendre, which signi- fies to wait foTy or expect. Prevent — Let, &c. There are some few words often heard by '•as in the Church Service, and in Holy Writ, ^hich, according to the present ideas an- nexed to them, are very unlucky in their situations. I do ii^it mean to jest on a se- rious subject ; but at the same time cannot conceive that above one in one thousand can possibly know the meaning of, " Prevent ^* us, O Lord, in all our doings ;" though all utter it with a supposition, perhaps, that it extends to our mis-doings. Such mental interpretation will do no harm. It rather means, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 291 means, according to one sense of prceveniOy " Go before," or '' Guide us/' Besides the Holy examples, Dr. Johnson cites Hooker : but the word has taken so dif- ferent a meaning at this time, that it stag- ' gers at first*. Mewarding for crimes y in Scriptural Lan - guage scepe ; as in one of the Psalms for the 6th day of the month, morning service, xxxi. 26. The Greek is, " will render or retri* " bute unto them.'' So Proverbs xi. 13, re- compence is applied both to the righteous and the wicked. The worst of these words of duplicity is Let, which frequently operates in direct op- position to its present meaning. In one of its old senses it only survives as a substitute in the tautological language of Law, a^ " without let, hindrance, or molestation ;" with which it is generally combined ; which words, like acres, are to be found (be the same more or less) in every lease. " V\\ make a ghost of him that lets me." Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 4. * See examples in Johnson. u 2 Redun- 292 ANECDOTES OP Redundancies. " He answered, and said :" — an amplifi- cation, by which a previous conversation had passed, and a question been propounded. *^ Kneeling on your knees, ^^ Communion Service. The HiLsteron-Proteron seems to have been common, or at least unheeded by our Ancestors. Thus Shakspeare, " BrM and Bomr Twelfth Night, Act I. Sc. 2. " Titus, thou shalt obtain and ask the Empery.*' Titus Andronicus, Act I. Sc. 11. edit. Johnson and Steevens. ** Read or TVrite,^ Robertson^s Charles V. Book I. p. 278; Book V. p. 21. Miscellaneous Remarks. JUai^ried. " He married her' — " she " married Am" — " Rev. Mr. A. married " them'^ — '^ II marria avec." Gentleman- THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 293 Gentlemanlike. *' He treated me In a *^ gentleman -like manner." It should ra- ther be " Gentleman^?/;" otherwise it is a reflection, as if his Gentleman ship was af- fected, or mine was doubtful. ^' He treated ^' me like a Gentleman," operates both ways* I have heard it pronounced Gentlemany, without the second I, Dr. Robertson writes £rieves, vol. II. p. 133. So Beeves, without a singular. The Printers say Prooves, To confuse, is used by Dr. Johnson in the note to As You Like It, p. 274. Accidence, Dr. Johnson, &c. spelt it so. I should rather write Accedence, as Inceptio ad Gram, as Leigh on Armory does. Which for fVho, Timon of Athens, Act II. Sc. 1. Mr.Steevens says, in the note, that the use of it is frequent in Shakspeare. . To like, is used both ways. " His coun- ** tenance likes me not." King Lear. Dislike and Mislike, synonymous, used both ways as above. Proportionably , Boswell's Account of Corsica, p. 368. Qu. if not proportionally. Amphitheatre, 294 ANECDOTES OF Amphitheat7^e, promiscuously used with Theatre — sed male. Equanimity of Mind — male. We might as well say Pusillanimity of Mind : thei | dnimity expresses the mind, i Keeps, in a College sense. Titus An- dronicus. Act V. Sc. 2. '^ We carried away our Mizen-mast* Byron's Narrative, p. 4, 17^0, 12mo ; i. e,^ " we lost our mast." Among and Amongst. — Among is the true word from the Saxon; and Amongst^ seems to be intended as a superlative, quasi amonge^if. liovAye. Romeo and Juliet, Act III. Sc. 2. . But, i. e. Without. Eltham Stat. art. Almonry, \ Per case, Perchance. Ibid. chap. 7^. Did off their Coats, Orders of Henry VII. for the Regulation of his Household. In no time; in a moment. Dover Dialect. At Afternoon, Eltham Stat. chap. 45, and chap. 7^, &c. >■ Before ; THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 295x Before I undertook this invesiigatiqii, I was not aware that w^e all speak so incorrectly in our daily colloquial Language as we do. The best of us generally use the Adjective for the Adverb where there is any degree of comparison to be expressed. How extreme cold the weather is ! for extremehY ; prodi- gious fine, for prodigiousLY fine ; and iu other cases w^here no comparison is implied, as previous for pneviousj^Y, JEocceedingly may be used independently as an Adverb ; but not as an Augmenting Adjective. As, " I like it eceeeedingly ;" but we cannot say ** exceedingly well */' and should say " exceeding well," i. e. more than well ; as Shakspeare does the word passing: " 'Tis strange, \is passing strange." The Prince in the Second Part of Henry IV. says, " I am exceeding weary.'' Act II. Sc. 2. [So " exceeding wise." Much Ado About Nothing, Act II. Sc. 3.] * " Yes we may." J. H. Toqkk's MS Note. The 296 ANECDOTES Ol? The old Adjective incontinent Is generally used for the Adverb incontinentLY. [Othello, IV. 3.] Contrary for ContrarihY ; as, " Contrary '* to our mtention," and " Contrary to Cus- *^ torn," after a Verb, are both ungramma- tical, and contrarily should be used as It Is by Dr. Johnson, [v. Tour to the Hebrides, p. 278, and In his Life of James Thomson.] Godly ^ adverbially, for godlily. Offertory. Ungodly y adverbially: '^ Vainly, detest- ** ably, and also ungodly employed." Ap- pendix to Mr. Pennant's Journey from Chester to London, 177^, 4to, No. III. In the resignation of the Prior and Convent of St. Andrew's, Northampton. " Of all their ungodly deeds which they *^ have WTJg'od/y committed." Jude, ver. 15. Insolent.] We say, an Insolent Fel- low : from the derivation of the word. It prop, fin.) We generally say he had better be without It. The full sense of Mr. Locke's expression Is, he would be better to be with- out It. It savours of the Italian, where the Verb esse Is conjugated by itself in the com- pound tenses. Mind, for Remind.] Locke on Educa- tion, sect. 71- Put ABOUT, for Put upon, or Set about.'] Ibid. sect. 72. A QUITE OTHER THING.] Lockc on Edu- cation, sect. 94. " And finding It a quite ^' other thing." The received expression Is quite another thing. Surfeit.] 298 ANECDOTES OF Surfeit.] Used as a Participle by Mr. Locke. '' By being made surfeit of it/' i. e^ surfeited with it. Education, sect. 1Q8. ToiwE,] to draw or decoy a person to a thing. Ibid, sect, 115. Averse from — Averse to.] Both are used ; but the first seems to be the most pro- per, in writing at least. The latter is mostly used in common speech. *' The English, ^' averse ^"om the dominion of Strangers.'* Robertson's Scotland, Svo. vol. I. 258. After,] should govern something, other- wise we ought to use afterwards: but we frequently meet with such expressions as these : *^ He died not long after.'* *^ He lived many years after J' " He paid the money qfter,'^ &c. i. e. after the time of which we have been speaking — but this is too great an ellipsis. There are many words and expressions in use among our Forefathers, which would make THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 29& make very strange liavock with our present modes of writing and speaking. " I have received the imvalued book you " sent me." — Milton s Verses on Shaks- fieare *. *^ Mr. A. keeps a very Ao.^pzVaZf table." *^ I have visited Mr. B. this Summer, and " feel great resentment of the treatment I " received J." *' I have lately read Mr. 's History f ^ of . It is a most fityful perform- " ance." Sir Thomas More's Edward V. 1641, is called his " PityfulUk of Edward V." * See a Note on Richard IH. Act T. Sc. 4. edit 1778. t Fuller, Church History, B. V. p. 197. Hospital and Hospitable. Hospitality should rather be Hos^itabiliiy , the former seeming to apply to the care taken of a patient in an Hospital. From Irritahh we have Irritabi- lity. PracticahXe. makes PracticabiWiy , and we have not the word Practicality. If Hospital were an Adjective, the Sub- stantive HospitaZiiy would follow : but the Adjective is Has- pitoble. + See Life of Dr. Radcliffe, p. 92, edit. 1736. — N. B. It is ill Johnson's Dictionary. , "King 300 ANECDOTES OT ^^ King Charles I. was very much reduced *^ indeed; but the Reduction of King Charles *' II. brought things right again *." '^ Mr. A. is as humoursome a man as I " ever met with ; though at certain times he ** can be as huinourous as any body -j-." " I never saw any man more important " than he was, when he came to beg I would ** do him the greatest favour in the world J.'* *' And I treated him respectively §." *^ But I afterwards found that he was a ** man of the greatest dissolution in the '' world ||.'' " Where does he live ?*' — " In a very in- *^ habitable part of shire, where his *^ father lived before him ^.'^ * Life of Dr. Thomas Fuller, London, 1661, 12mo. p. 104. t Shakspeare. See biefore, p. 72. X Comedy of Erroi's, Act V. Sc. 1. § Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Godwin's Henry VIIL p. 101. See before, p. 65. II Robertson's Charles V. vol. IV. p. 362. 1[ Richard IL Act L Sc. 1. Names THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 301 Names and Titles. To the affectation of new-fangled modes ^f spelling words, we may add what has of late years happened to names and titles, some of which have been expanded, or altered, in the position of letters, dr in their termina- tions, and in other particulars, contrary to long-established practice, however they may be warranted by antient usage, insomuch that one scarcely knows them again when seen in their old new cloaths. If every name of a person or place were to be restored to original spellings, we should not discover who was meant ; nay, the sim- plest names have been so mutilated, that the learned Editor * of the Northumberland * Household Book assures us that he has seen the plain, dissyllabical name of Percy ^ in various documents which have come before him, written fifteen different ways. The family name of the Earl of Dyso^rt has so long been spelt Talmash, that one * Dr. Percy, the late venerable Bishop of Droroore. stares 302 ANECDOTES OP stares at the first view of the present mocle of writing it — ToUemache, The Peerage of Scotland, Crawfurd, Douglas, &c. and the Heraldic Writers, Sir George Montague^ and Mr. Nisbett, give it as Tallmash. The name of Littleton is now studiously to be written Lytteltoriy under pain of dis- pleasure. The great Lawyer, the head of that name, wrote it Littleton ; and no Law- yer of the present age would scruple to do it ; as does his Commentator, Lord Chief Justice Coke. I fancy that our old friend Adam Littleton the Dictionarian would have whipped a boy for spelling it otherwise thar^ as we find it at the end of his Dedication, Littleton. Some words have got back again. Fau- conberg was for a long time Falconbridge, and is now got back again to Fauconberg. Shakspeare has it both ways. I love to learn, Sir ; but I hate to unlearn. To you and I, Sir, who have seen more than half a hundred years, it is re-fiinding. ADDITAMENTA. * THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 303 ADDITAMENTA CURSORY REMARKS ON JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY. It is not my purpose to comment upon Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. .. Thus much, how- ever, may be observed, that when he engaged in this laborious and voluminous work (for I will not call it otherwise greatj, it is ac- knowledged that he wrote for bread, and was paid by the sheet. It was not a task to which his refulgent genius ever prompted him ; his thoughts were too elevated to have selected such an ofl&ce ; and therefore it was submitted to, as an infliction necessary for the supply of his immediate occasions. Thus he devoured his Dictionary, as it grew, faster than he wrote it ; for at the close of it the balance was against him. He was honest, and did his best, I make uo doubt ; and therefore 304 ANECDOTES OF therefore Peace to his Shade ! He did not wilfully, like Baretti, secrete four thousand words for a second edition. I do not think Lexicography was \i\s forte. He submitted to it ; and we are at present highly obliged by his labours, painful as they must have been to him. This branch of erudition is enough for one man, however qualified. Criticism is equally out of Dr. Johnson's line. His Notes on Shakspeare are trifling and unsatisfactory, compared with those of Mr. Steevens ; for which it may be saidy and I hope without oiFence, that Dr. JoHif- SON had every thing else to do ; while Mr. Steevens was absorbed in the subject, and was totiLS in illo. Dr. Johnson's work, great as it is, can- not be called a perfect, or even a satisfactory work. He built on old foundations, some of which he pulled down, which should have remained; and left others standing, which he was able to have demolished. He worked for a body of Booksellers, called The Trade ; — ' was paid generally in ad- vance; THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 305 vance ; — and it is very discernible in many cases wherein he was dlhgent, and wherein he was indolent and inattentive. When money was w^anting, sheets were written apace; when money was in his pocket, he was more deliberate and investigative. He had too much vis inertice, and a want of enthusiastic zeal, founded on an independent love of his subject ; and passed things over, because he was not in a humour to examine them thoroughly, or when some other ob- ject called him from this laborious work to more pleasing and flattering subjects, better suited to the bent of his great and un- bounded faculties. Dr. Johnson w^as not at all aw^are of the authenticity of dialectical expressions, and therefore seldom attends to them, or con- siders them as natives, but as outcasts ; whereas they contain more originality than most words, &c. in common use at this day, which are begotten by Absurdity on its fantastical mistress Refinement. The Languages of our Ancestors, preserved in our Provinces, ar^ not all by one common X Parent ; 306 AKi:cf)oi?Es OF Parent ; for, if you would seek for the terms itnd expressions of the Northern people^ it will be in vain to ransack the British tongue j for it is all Saxoii, as is the Scotch. On the Other hand, it will be as fruitless to hunt for the language of the West of England^ which is entirely British, in the Anglo- Saxon mine of the North. A word more on this Dictionary, and I have done. It professes to be an English Dictionary, and is too much so ; for, though I do not wish such a work to contain e^j would do as well as Trumpets/' and DrumTwer. Many words will admit — ize for the ter- mination. A Hair-dresser powderzsie^, while a Chemist or Apothecary pulver/se^; why may not a Writer authorzse, and wdiy may not I (as such) hlxxxi^txizc ? Apo^ .314 ANECDOTES OF Apothecary, Dr. Johnson says, from jipothecay a re- pository * : and that it means " a man whose " employment is to keep medicines for sale ; " Greek AttoSi^^cij." Henry Knighton, who lived about 1393, had the word Ajwthecarius f . Chaucer, who wTote before the introduc- tion of Greek J, writes " PotecaryJ* In the Liber Niger Dom. Reg. Anglise, temp. Edward IV. who reigned from 1461 to 1483, it is written Poticary, Stevens's Dictionary has 13oticario, and derives it from Sote, a gallipot. Botica is a shop in Spanish (French Boutique), but emphatically the shop of an Apothecary. The ^ may be our Article, which use has added to the word, together with the Article an, which is a pleonasm. Pel' contra, we have appellatives, which by withdrawing a letter from the word per * See the note in p. 72. f Decern Scriptores, Col. 2726/ line 3^. + See before, p. 72. aphceresin THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 315 aphcer^esin in the article, has absorbed it, as — from a naranja^ we have formed a/a orange, — Jlvamia, we call a fan, which should be termed an avan ; from jdheli^ we say a lily : so, by dropping the A en- tirely, we have made soffi^on from assafran: all from the Spanish. Not content to say a ' lioticario, or, Anglice, a Boticary, but we must double the article and say an jibo^ ticary, Junius calls it vocahulum sumptum ex Grceco ; but adds, minus commode ; and refers us to Vossius, lib. I. de Vitiis Ser- monis, c. 32. Apothecaries anciently sold wine and cor- dials. '^ The I^mperor is somewhat amended, as **' his Poticarie saith*.'' A Bookseller who keeps a shop (a Bib-- liothecaj, might as well be called a Biblio^ thecari/, * See Letter XXIL in Lodge's Illustrations, vol. L p. 165, from Sir Richard Morysine to the Privy Council 3 and again, p. 1G9. Potikar occurs, vol, II. p. 25G. Perhaps 316 ANECDOTES OF Perhaps the JPoticary^ or lioiicario, \\. so called, to distinguish him from the iti- nerant Medicine-monger ; for I am willing to suppose there have been Quacks as long as there have been regular men in the pro- fession of Physick. Apollo was little more than an Empiric ; for it was one of his inferior occupations. Opifer per orbem. His son iEsculapius was a Physician. Q. If Apollo by the term Opifer was not a midwife } The Apothecaries proud of the> connexion, by his figure in Dutch tile in their shops. Mr. Nares says *, that Potecary is very low ; and so it is to our ears at present. You might as well say that periwig is Greek, from YIb^i, circuniy (Greece), and wig (Anglice) ; whereas it is only unfortunately a corruption of the French periique. The J3o^zcano (or Poticary) was perhaps to the Quack, who carried his medicines about for sale, as the Stationer (or Shop* keeper) was to the Hawker and Pedlar. * P, 266. Broker. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 31/ Broker. The verb is to Broke, as in All's Well that ends Well, Act III. Sc. 5. Butcher, Dr. Johnson says. Is from Bouchey quasi Boucher, But Boucheir seems to have been a retainer at board only, without pay. Hence the name corruptly spelt Bouchier. Skelton writes it Boucher* : " For drede of the Boucher's dog, " Wold wirry them like an hog.'* CaRPENTiER. From the French Charpentier, Johnson. Chandler. W'dX'chandler, Tallow -chandler, Cliand^ /er 5-company. Corn-Chandler is artificially formed, as Linen-draper, Green grocer. Q. At Canterbury, a Chandler ? * See Note to Henry VHI. Act L Sc. 1. Q. As 316 ANECDOTES OF Q. As to Candler In the North, wliero they have the name ? Clerk (originally in Orders). There are Clerks in Orders in several pa- rishes in London, as at St James's, St. Mar- tin's, St. Andrew's, Holborn, St. Clement- Danes, &c. There is a Clerk in orders also, I am told, at St. George's, Hanover Square : the parish is modern, though it is large. C'^AqA Amen- Clerk \i\ some places; and in Essex Church-Clerk, Cooper. Mr. Ray says. Coop was a general term for a vessel to enclose any thing. So a hen- coop ; I presume he means where it is made of wood. They have a Fish-coop, used for taking fish in the Humber, made of twigs ; such as are called Eel-pots in the South *. There are two noble family names of th!s sound, though differently written ; viz. The * See Ray's North-country words. Earl I'HE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 319 Earl of Shaftesbury, whose name is spelt Cooper; and Earl Coivper, whose title is no- minal, and not local. The arms of Earl Cowper have (I know not if allusive to the name of Cooper J three annulets on a chief. If these rings are to represent hoops, they ought to have been the arms of the Earl of Shaftesbury. Those of the Earl of Shaftes- bury fCoopej'J are three Bulls. CORDWAINER. Usually supposed to have taken the name from Cordovan leather, of which the finest shoes were made, perhaps in France, where the operator probably obtained the name of Cordovaniery easily corrupted into our Cord- wainer ; or Q. the Spanish term ? Currier. Cuir; Jack' dor; hardened leather. Draper. A dealer in woollen cloth ; from the French drap, and drapier. Dresser. 320 anecdotes op Dresser. Hair-dresscr, LeatheV'-dresser. Farrier. Ferrum. De Ferrariis, the name of a rery antlent noble family ; the arms three Horse-shoes on a bend ; now Ferrars, Glazier. This hardly wants any explanation ; the term in Yorkshire is a Glazener, from the re- tention of Saxon terminations in Verbs. Grocer. Dr. Johnson says, it should rather be written Gr^osser^ being one who dealt origi- nally by the great^ or by wholesale, as op- posed to those who sell by retail. It does not, therefore, seem confined to any particular commodity; but it may refer to the number of articles in the shop, such as we call now a Chandler's shop on a large scale. We call twelve dozen, z. e. twelve mul- tiplied by itself, a gross, or grose hy tale, :>] We THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 321 We have now a Green- grocer, for want of a better description, though a palpable re- tailer of greens, &c. by the single bunch, as well as turnips, carrots, parsnips, and vege- tables of every colour and variety. Dr. Johnson, to give the investigator two chances, says, it comes perhaps from grossus, Si Jig ; but, unluckily, that word means a green and not a dried fig *. In the Statute 3/ Edward III. cap. v. Merchants are mentioned, then called Gros-- sers, who are there accused of engrossing all sorts of merchandizes f. The Grocers were originally called Pep- per ers J. Haberdasher. Perhaps Fevre d^Acier, or Needle-makef. Dr. Johnson relies upon Minshew; but see Skinner, who makes another conjecture. Junius only gives Skinner's words. The term was in use in Chaucer's time, as in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. The Company was incorporated in 140/. * SeeNares, p. 291. t Nares/ ut supra. i See Stowc's Account of the Companies of Lonclon. Y Haw- I S22 ANECDOTES OF Hawkers and Pedlars. These go so properly and uniformly to- gether, that it would be unnatural to se- parate them — especially as, like the Barber- 'Surgeons, they are united in the Statute-Law. As to the former, Dr. Co well thinks '^ that •' the appellation seemeth to grow from their " uncertainty, like those that with Hawks ^^ seek their game where they can find it. " You may read the word," continues he, ** in 25 Henry VIII. ch. 6. — and 33 Henry " viiL ch. ir Phillips partly concurs with Dr. Cowell, after having used the same words ; and adds, " They are now commonly taken for a sort " of people who, waiting for the first pub- \^ lishing of News-books and other Pam- *^ phlets, run crying them about the streets, " as it were Hawks that hunt every where " for prey." Cowell adds, that when these were called HawkerSy the wholesale dealers were termed Mercuries. One would think they should be inverted. Spel. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 323 Spelman facet. Skinner and Junius both adhere to the idea of SL Hawk, and are not to be beat off from their game. Dr. Johnson seems to have given himself no trouble to search for a radical meaning of Pedlar ; but is contented to beUeve the word is an abbreviation of Petti/ Dealer, as a con- traction produced by frequent use. Minshew looks for it in the French by the same forcible means, and derives it from & pied aller. Skinner and Junius both incline to the Teutonic Betteler, which they render Men- dicus ; and Skinner intimates that it was ap- plied to these itinerant chapmen : — " quia '' istius modi mercatorculi, instar mendico- ^^ rum, vaa:antur.^' Junius writes the Teu- tonic word JBedeler, which comes rather nearer our word in substance, and gives al- most the same reason for adapting our mean- ing to it. In the Danish language there still remains the Verb better, to beg ; and betlere for a beggar *. \ 07 1\ ': m Wolfe-s Dictionary. y 2 HiG- - .oH 324 ANBCDOTES Ot Higgler. ^* One who sells provisions by retail/' Dr. Johnson : who says, that " to Higgle *Ms of uncertain etymology , probably cor- *' rupted from Haggle." Now, he supposes Haggle to be a corruption of Hackle or Hack ; which, from its primitive significa- tion, to cut or chop in a bad sense, he me- taphorically applies to being tedious in mak- ing a bargain. Here is corruption without end ! As to Higgle^ Philips facet ; but allows Haggle to mean, as he phrases it, to stand hard at a bargain. Skinner omninb tacet as to both ; but under Hegler he refers to the Danish jFJ^/ A- Zer, a flatterer. Junius tacet as to Haggle : and inHighr refers to Huckster, Higler has obtained the honour of giving a name to itinerants of a certain sort : but Hagler is only a general word, that has no rank whatsoever. A Higler' s cart is well understood. HosiEiu THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 325 Hosier. A maker of Hose, Stock, and StocJcens ; more properly in the plural Stocken, the An- glo-Saxon termination; our s being a redunr .dancy added to the Saxon Plural. The workmen are called Stockeners in the Northern and Midland Counties, where they say Beddiner, Hostler, or Ostler. From the French Hosteller. Huckster. This is a word of some respectability. Dr. Johnson interprets it to mean a dealer in small quantities ; and gives us the German word Hock, a Pedlar, for its derivation ; in which language, he says, Hockster is a Pedlar In the female line *. Swift writes Huckstered f , as quoted by Dr. Johnson. The Verb is, To Huck. * See Skinner, who quotes from Jlinshew. See also Junius, and consult the Acts of Parliament. t Holyoake writes it Iloukster, It 32S ANECDOTES OF It seems to mean a petty chapman, who haggles for the best price he can get ; which leads to the word Higler, quasi Hagler, Thus it is said in the Life of Gusman de Al- farache, folio 2622, p. 39. " A bad pay- ^^ master never stands hucking for what he ^^ takes upon trust." Dr. Johnson is partly right, for — ster is the female termination both in High and Low German, where we find the following examples : Koope7\ a buyer ; — Koopster, a woman-buyer. Spinner and Spinster *. J3a- ker has its female huckster. Tapper, has Tapster f . Q. As to TVehster and Malster ? Sewing was so peculiar to women formerly, that there is no such word as Seamoo^ but only Sempster, which we have enlarged and more feminized into Sempstress. Throwsters is written Throwers in the Charter of Incorporation of the Silk Throw- sters, See Edmondson's Heraldry. Bailey, in his Dictionary, 8vo., gives * See the PI \y of Henry VIII. Norfolk loquitur. f See Hexham's Dutch Dictionary 3 and the Note to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, by Tyrwhitt, line 2019. Shep' THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 327 Shepster for a Shepherd, or rather, by the above distinction, a Shepherdess. Brewster had no male collateral formerly ; for the business of brewing was carried on by women only in the Reign of Henry IV *. The term Brewer seems to have come in after brewing became an independent trade in the hands of men : so that our Ancestors were sensible of the male and female termi- nations. Hucksters might be originally women alone. I incline to think that in Poland the same name has a different termination for the male and female — as Mr. Boruwlaski (the Polish Dwarf) calls his sister Boruwlaska *}-. Limner. Luminer, Q. ( Dislimns is used by Shakspeare in Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV. Sc. 12. * See Henry's History of Britain, from Davies's Dramatic Miscellanies, I. 264. f See his Memoirs, p. 75. LiNEK- :'^' 328 anecdotes of Linen-draper is as incongruous as an Ale-dra'per in Ire- land ; for the Drap^ whence the Drapier, must be confined to Woolen-cloth. Hence our Drab-cloth, pure and undyed cloth ; and they call this a drab -colour in the trade. Ale-draper, from joke perhaps, has beeri seriously established ; or. It may arise from a corruption. Ale-drawer *. Loriner. Lorainer^ Q. ; or from Lorina, a Rein. Mason. Mason and Tyler\ once distinct. In Yorkshire they call bricks fFall-iiley and Tiles, Tkack-tile ; and what in London is called a Bricklayer y is there •}* regularly a Masoner, Mercer. Dr. Johnson confines it to ^^ one who sells •^ Silks" — "from the French Mercier.'' * London has its Ale-conners ; a very antient office, for regulating the measures of the Ale-sellers. Edit. t And also in i«icest«rshire. Edit. , But I THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 329 But Cotgrave says, that the Mercier is ge- nerally no more than " a tradesman that re- " tails all manner of small ware, and hath ^^ no better than a shed or booth for his " shop." " A chaque Mercier son Pannier/^ a pro- verb, signifying, " let every man bear his ** own burthen *." Skinner says, it implies a Silk-mercer^ by a little deviation from Its original meaning -^Q^ aliquantum deflexo sensit'J; which he derives either from the French Mercier, or the Italian Merciario, which with them signifies what we call a Pedlar ; and both, he thinks, are from the Latin '' Merx (Mer- " ciarius), i. e. minutarum mercium vendi- ^' tor." — Junius agrees with Skinner; and in Spanish Mercero means also a dealer in small wares of every kind f . ji Mans Mercer is one who furnishes small articles to Taylors, as twist, buckram, stay-tape, &c. Most of the streets in old towns, except the High-street as lord paramount, and those * Cotgrave, Diet, in voce, t See Barret's Alvearie, in voce. de- 330 ANECDOTES OF denominated from Churches, have their titles from their Merchantry — as, Mercery Lane at Canterbury, &c. &c. Midwife. *^ She made him as good an Housewife as " herself ;" Addison. See Johnson's Dic- tionary, in voce. So likewise Ale-wife^ Oyster-wife. MiLINER. Q. If from Milan ? A Milan-cap Is men- tioned in Don Quixote. A Horse-miliner, in use now, of which there are several in London. The word is used by Rowley-Chatterton. Monger. Iron-monger. Costar-monger, from Costard, an apple. Parson. Junius refers to Spelman, Skinner, Min- shew. Dr. Johnson, Parochianus, the Parson of the Parish, a Clergyman ; and also a Teacher of the Presbyterians. Per- THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 331 Personce Dei Representatio : mal^. Chaucer writes the Personnes Tale, in Tyrwhitt's edition. Perhaps, emphatically, Le Paroisnen, Registrars. Some Signatures have incongruously crept into our language within a few years, which have nothing but affectation and usurpation to support them. In the two Universities, where every public transaction is recorded in Latin ; viz. in Registro Academice (An- glic^ the Register *J the person who makes these entries is properly and consonantly styled Registrarius\ ; and it is likewise hoped that he always writes his Christian name hi La- tin J, whenever occasion officially requires * Dr. Johnson, without a moment's reflection, tells us that the term Register has two senses, *^ an account of any '' thing regularly kept," and *' the officer whose business it *' is to keep the Register." f But let it be remembered, that the name was also given in Latin ; as, Johannes A. B. Registrar' 3 Guilielmus C. Re- gistrar', &c. :J: Those who write themselves Registrars would do well to recollect, that their style of addition is but a piece of a Law Latin word, and which will not be found in any English Dic- tionary. ' it. 332 ANECDOTES OF it. There are, however, many instances where several gentlemen, who fill such mo- dem offices in public bodies, are fond of signing themselves RegistRAHS, and are so recorded (by suggestion no doubt) in the Court Kalendar, supported by their own oc- casional signatures in the News-papers ; while the, collateral Officers in the more an- cient departments are content to be written, and called Registers^ as in the Court of Chan- cery, Doctors Commons, &c. This is an attempt to recover the origi- nality of the term Register^ applied to the person, which, as far as the English Lan- guage is concerned, will fall to the ground ; and carries not only a false spirit of refine- ment, but a tincture of ignorance. Our English Ancestors were content to be called Registers ; though, while public instruments were written and recorded in Latin, they styled themselves, and were styled. Regis- trarii. The Booh wherein entries are made of Transactions and Records is the Register^ deduced from the French Registre ; w hence Re- THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 333 Registrum, a word of Base-Latinity, has been formed *. The place where such Megister -hooks are deposited, or the Office appropriated to the Officer whose business it is to make such en- triesy is the Registry, analogous to the old ^vord Revestry, now contracted into Vestry. The word is in itself a compound, from the obsolete French radical Gesir, to lie, with the iterative particle Re. Very little remains In familiar use of the old Verb Gesir, in its simple state, except the sepulchral words " Cy-gist," which we render exactly by our common monumental term " Here lies." The compound i?e- gistre is the laying, from time to time, memorials of periodical facts and incidental occurrences in the same place, that they iriay be found when occasion calls for them. That this may not seem chimerical and outre in the deduction, let us observe, that the in- terpreters tell us that Gesir in other words signifies ^tre couch^, and that a Register- book was antiently called a CoucheTy and par- * jRe-rum g^esiarum," J, H. Tooks's MS note. ticularly 334 ANECDOTES OP ticularly so in Monastic life, which has tempted some of the Lexicographers (Boyer for instance) to give the verb Coucher the independent sense of" to write doxvriy' though it is a more remote than a secondary mean- ing. As to the person, the French language seems to have no term analogically formed wherebv he is described, though the Latin of the middle ages gives us Registrarius* It should seem to the gentlemen above al- luded to, that we have no word but the equivoque Reguter to express both the book and the gentleman ; but, with leave, we might adopt Registrer *, or Registrar e ; and thus we might get a perfect French word, whereby the gentlemen would be expressed by an integral term, instead of the fraction of a Latin word. jRegistrary, after all, which tallies with Prebendary, is perhaps the best word, as literally Anglicised from Registrarius ; and * This is adopted by the '* Literary Fund for the Relief of Distressed Authors," Edit. so THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 335 SO I find it written by a very judicious Anti- quary *. The Clerk of the Parliament writes CZer. Par. and the Clerk of the House of Com- mons, Cler, Dom, Com, ; while the Speaker is content with an English signature, instead of the Latin Prolocutor. Salter. Now a Druggist y or Dry-salter; Scavenger. Anglo-Saxon Scapan. The word rounded from Scafan-er, Sexton. Corrupted from Saa^istan. Johnson. Scrivener. From the Italian Scrivano ; one who draws contracts ; or, whose business it is tp place money at interest. The profession under * Mr. Gough, Anecdotes of British Topography, edit. 1780, Tol. I. p. 304. the 336 ANECDOTES or the actual name of Scrivener is worn out in this country *. SoWTER. Some have thought it impHed a SoW" Gelder. I remember a person of the name. In the Pindar of Wakefield it is used for a Shoe-maker ; and by Chaucer for a Cobler. Shoe- makers are so called in Scotland. In a note on Twelfth Night, edit. John- son and Steevens, it is interpreted a Cobler, Capel says, it is ** a name given to a dog of ** a base kind, as fit only for worrying of " swine f ." Stationer. The term Stationers was appropriated to Booksellers in the year 1622. The trans- lation of Gusman de Alfarache of that year, part II. p. 27, folio. ^^ Many seek to be " held learned Clerks by quoting Authors, * The last surviving Scrivener was Mr. John Ellis, many years Deputy of the Ward of Bread-street, and well known by several literary productions. He died Dec. 31, 1791, in his 94th year. Edit. t Glossary, in voce. « not l^taE ENGLISH LANGUAGi;. SSJ '-' ilt)t considering that many Stationers have " far more (books) in number, though in " matter of knowledge mere ignorant men*/' Cupes is the character of an itinerant Bookseller crying his books. Cupa signi- fies a retail dealer f . The Company of Stationers existed long before the invention of Printing J. A Sta- tioner, therefore was a dealer who kept a shop, or a stall, as distinguished from ah itinerant vendor, whether of books or broom- sticks. , Taylor. Frenck Tailleur, i. e. the cutter §. A working Taylor is called a Cosier in Twelfth Night ||. * See the note to Act IL Sc. 3. (p. 76.) of Hawkins's .#dit. of Ignoramus^ where he cites Minshew, Skinner, and Junius. t See Holyoake's Dictionary, and Littleton's Dictionary. X Cough's Anecdotes of British Topography, 1780. vol.1, p. 597. § Q. If the Cutter and the Sewer were different ? See Old Plays, ^d edition. il Edit. Johnson and Steevens, p. 197^ in a cj^uotation in the note, it is written Cottyer. a Dr. N 338 ANECDOTES OF Dr. Johnson translates it a Botcher^ from the French, Corner , to sew ; rather Coudre ; Participle Cousu, Tinker. Per onomatopoeiam : from the sound. The Scots write it Tinklar. Vintner. Vineteur s under the name of Winter. Q. li Mid-Winter be not Mead- Vintner ? Undertaker. *• Give an Undertaking/' i. e. a Security. Q. As to times of Plague ? Upholsterer and Poulsteber. Written Upholder — and Upholster, Called in Derbyshire a Beddiner : and in some parts of the kingdom (I tliink the WestJ a Bedder, as they are also called in Lancashire. The terms Upholsterer and Poulterer are both redundant in the last syllable *. * See before, p. 94. NAMES Tafi ENGLISH LANGtTACE. 339 ■ 1 l^iKU"^^ OF PLACES. SoHo Square. I have somewhere picked up the following account of Solio Square and its environs : That it was first called Monmouth Square, or Place ; and the Duke had his house oa the South side of it ; and in the neighbour- hood is Monmouth' street to this day. Upon the Duke's defeat and execution (anno 1685) the Square was ordered to be called King's- Squar^e, and a statue of King Charles II. set up in the middle of it ; and so it is called in Strype's edition of Stowe's History of London ; and King' s- square Court still pre- serves the name. But the partlzans of the Duke of Monmouth, resenting this, and will- ing to preserve a distant remembrance of the unfortunate Duke, called it ^SoAo-Square — that being the watch-word at the battle in which the Duke was taken. z 2 Eeli>- 340 ANECDOTES OI* Bw.l-Savage Inn ; The Brawn's-head Lebeck's Head, &c. A friend of mine told me, he had seen a lease of this house to Isabella Savage, which overthrows the conjectures about a Bell and a Savage — La belle Sauvage, &c. (Little - Alice Lane, York). So the Brawns-head Tavern, in Bond- street, /is not so called from having formerly had the head of a Srawn *, or Boar, for the sign ; but from the head of a noted Cook, whose name was Theophilus, or Theodosius Braivn ; and who formerly kept the Rum- mer Tavern in Great Queen -street -j- ; and the article, as we have usually supposed The to be, is an abbreviate of one or other of those Christian names. * There is History in Words, as well as Etymology. Thus Brawn, being made of the Collar or breast-part of the Boar, is termed A Collar of Brawn, The Brawn {ov BoarJ begets Collar; which being rolled up, conveys the idea to anything else J and Eel, so dressed, takes the name of Collar d Eel ; a; does also Collar d Beef, &c. — so that every thing rolled bears the name and arms of Collar. Yaw Mackerel. — Yaw is an abbreviation of '' will you *^^iave" quasi will y" a9 t King's Works, 1776, vol. HI. p. 307. We THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 341 We all remember the hehecJcs Head In the Strand ; and have read of Lochet *, a no less celebrated Cook •\. This sort of sign was formerly very common, as Cicero's Head at a Printer's, Horace's Head at a Bookseller's, &c. to this day ; though whether Heads of the parties themselves are very antient, I will not say, or whether Taylor the Water-Poet was the first, when he kept a public-house in Phcenix-alley, near Long-acre ; his verses under it seem to suggest that he was : '' There 's many a Head stands for a sign : " Then, gentle Reader, why not mine | ?'* Chisw^ick. This name is corrupted, as most others are, and should properly be written Cheese- ivick^. TVic in the Saxon signifies PortuSy or Sinus, a little harbour, when applied to places seated on the banks of a river, at the * King's Works, 1776, vol. HL p. 84. t One of the first venders of Ice for the table. Edit. X The Portrait of Sir Paul Pindar, serving as a sign to his house in Eishopsgate-street, may be presumed original j and, as such, was drawn for the Society of Antiquaries. § The whole of this playful article on Chiswick, will doubtless remind the Reader of Dean Swift's Etymological banters. Edit. - samp 342 ANECDOTES OF same time that otherwise It means no more than a village when applied to an inland- situation *. This, therefore, was the great emporium for cream-cheeses, made upon the Meads of Twickenham, a circumstance tend- ing to explain the name of this last place, which has a manifest reference to the wic of cheese y and is compounded of The TViclcen Ham, Ham in the Saxon signifies a Farm, or a Village formed by a cluster of farms ; and here emphatically expresses the Village from whence the wic of cheese was principally supplied, en being the termination of the Saxon Genitive Case ; so that the name is, as plain as can be, The IVics, or The TVichen Ham, corrupted into Thivickenham^ and from thence to T'wickenham. This ap- pears from a Saxon Chronicle, once the pro- perty of Venerable Bede, and now is in the Library of the Emperor of Morocco. This, among some other extracts of a like kind, was made by Humphry Llhuyd, who, when he w^as abroad, turned Mahometan for about * See Somner's Diet. Sax. Lat. Angl. t Ibid, vol, VII . p. 84. a fort- \ THE ENGLISH JLANGUAGE. 343 a fortnight, on purpose to have a sight of this MS. from whence I am enabled to give several other extracts, as occasion may re- quire. To remove all doubts, my informant, who received this account from Mr. Llhuyd, assured me, on the same authority, that any Christian might have the privilege of seeing the MS. on the same terms. What I am going to mention will shew that the late Earl of Burlington had a respect to Antiquity as well as Taste. The anecdote I here give you is of equal authority, and as little understood, as the other. Dr. Blunderton, the Rector of Chis- wick at the time when the Earl of Burling- ton built his Italian Villa there, had been made to believe that the house was entirely formed of Cheese ; but the Doctor was a true Churchman, and swallowed every thing that was given him, whether true or false. Thus much for common report, which the Doctor had related so often,^ that he by de- grees had persuaded himself of its truth ; though he had nothing to have done but to have bored a hole with a Cheese -monger's taster 344 ANECDOTES OF taster to have convinced himself. By a se- ries of otal tradition we learn how this tale obtained a foundation ; which was thus : The Earl, who was determined to do some- thing extraordinary, had somehow or other discovered, that the etymon of Chiswick was Cheese-ivick; and therefore, to shew an atten- tion to Antiquity, or to persuade the world that he was an Antiquary, consulted w ith the best Architects in Itajy upon style, ele- vations, proportions, &c. ; but had not sa- tisfied himself about the article of materials. Brick was vulgar, and any body might have a brick house. Free-stoiie was excessively dear. At length, up6n consulting an Italian Abbate, who had an uncle In the province of Lodi, where the Parmesan Cheese is made; the Italian had the address, for the benefit of his uncle, who was the greatest Factor in the Province, to persuade the Earl to case his house with the parings of Parme- san cheese. The oddity of the Idea stmck the Earl, and some thousands of the oldest and largest Parmesan cheeses were selected for the purpose, and shipped from Venice for England, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 345 England. The house was cased with this curious envelope, with a cement brought from Italy ; and the EarFs cheese-monger's bill amounted to an enormous sum, Avhich exceeded the bills of all the other artificers put together. A fine Summer saw the house completed ; . but, from the damps, dewfe, and iains of the Winter, the c/iee^e-facades became soft, and, by their odour, attracted all the rats, in the parish, which, added to com- pany they brought with them from the Thames, so much undermined and damaged the casing of the house, that the Abbate was anathematised, and the crustation of the building was changed to what it now is. There is no living evidence to support this story, I must allow ; but George Goosecap, an old inhabitant of Chiswick, and a petty- school-master there, who died about thirty years ago, used to say, that he was well acquainted with the son of the Earl's coach- man, who. had heard a son of the Earl's gentleman declare, that his father had often told his mother, that his Lord, when he was with him at Milan, gave fin order for five 346 ANECDOTES OF five or six Parmesan-cheeses to be sent to England, and that they were all consigned to be delivered by water at his Lordship's seat at Chiswick. Hangman's Gains. A lane in the Precinct of St. Catharine, which is said to be a corruption of Hames and Guisnes, for a reason given by the learned Author of the History of St. Catharine's Hospital *. Lambeth. Lamb' Hy the. Uythe is Partus; whence any Landing-place f . Of Somerset House, originally called Denmark House, the pre- sent Writer may possibly take occasion to speak in a work of a more serious turn J. * Bibl. Topog. Brit. No. V. p. 22. t Ibid. No. XXVII. p, 1.. X This promise was admirably well performed in the Cu- rialia,. Part V ; a posthumous publication, left ready for the press by Mr. Pegge. Edjt. Horses. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 34/ Horses. In the account of the Horses in the time of Henry VI. contained in the Ordinances of the King's Household, are : 1. Dexters. 2. Bastards. 3. Coursers. 4. Trotters. 5. Palfreys. Dexters seem to have been what we should call Cliai^gers^ according to Du Fresne, who styles them " Equi majores *' et cataphracti, quibus utebantur potissi- ^^ mum in bellis et prseliis.'' Dextrier, or Destrier, Cotgrave renders a Steed, or Great Horse. The Latin w^ord is Deoctra^ rius, which, we learn from Du Fresne, re- ceived the name — " quia per Dextram du- " citur donee adesset tempus prselii." These are likewise styled Dextrales and Destrales, These Horses were of great price ; for it appears, from accounts of some expenditures in the eleventh year of King Edward II. that eighty marks f^B^S. 6s, Sd, sterling) were paid — '' pro uno Dextrario nigro, cum ^' duobus pedlbus posterioribus albis,'' bought by « William de Montacute, seneschal lus "domini 348 ANECDOTES OP ^' domini regis/' and delivered ^' custodi " equorutn domini regis." The white hind feet might be esteemed a beauty, and per- haps enhance the price. In fhis household was an officer, who had the charge of the Deccter&y called the Custos Dextrarioium, We retain the name of Dexter, JBastards. I have but a faint idea of this \vord, and from slight grounds only believe it to mean our Gelding, and metaphorically so called from the French Bastarde, which Cotgrave says is a Demi^Cannon. This I can only support by contrasting it with the Cheval entier, which, when castrated, bcr comes but a Demi Cheval in point of fire and spirit. Coursers, Du Fresne distinguishes this from the Dexter ; which last, he says, is '* un grand Cheval de guerre;" and the Cour- sier, ^' un Cheval de Lance." This agrees with accounts of Tilts and Tournaments, where one reads of Knights mounted on goodly Coursers, Trotters. I should imagine these to be ordinary Horses for the Saddle, and opposed by THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 349 by their name to Amblers, and possibly might be used as Sumpter-horses. Palfreys *. These, from an authority cited by Du Fresne, are Saddle-horses, but ge- nerally understood to be of the best kind ; such as Kings, and others who had large studs, kept for their own particular use, when they rode privately without state, or made short journeys. Du Fresne's authq^ rity places them between the Dexter dniA the Sumpter-horse, These Palfreys f were under a peculiar charge, as there was In the Houshold of King Edward II. the Gustos Palefridaiiorum. The other Horses fell under the general care of the officers of the stables. We have still the name of Palfrey-- man in use as a surname — as we have that oi Dexter, quasi i)e?tr^er-man. One of the former name wrote on Moral Philosophy. The latter name is more frequent in Ireland. * *' Par le frein." J. H. Tooke, MS Note. f In the Houshold Book of this King, anno 10, are Pale- fridariorum et Custodes Dextrariorum de Stahulo R^s. Thei'c occur also — Palefridi hadii — and Palefridi ferrandi — Pale- fridi grizelli — Equi bardi — Bruni badii — on which see Du Fresne, in vocibus Bagus, Ferrandus, and Griseus. Leash. 350 ANECBOTtlS Ot Leash. A Leash of Greyhounds — Leash of Hares — of Partridges, &c. — Perhaps from Lash- ing together ; opposed to a couple. — Cot- grave, Lesse ; Florio, Lasso and Lascia. Edward VI. had Yeomen of the Leash, Blount (Tenures, p. 51,) calls Greyhounds G^rehounds, or Hounds for the Hare. There was a Gyre Falcon, — Again, (p. 46,) he speaks of XeasA-hounds, or Park -hounds, such as draw after a hurt Deer in a Leash, pr Liam : as if they were linked together, in order to cover more ground in the search. C^re-Falcon, according to Philips, is the largest sort of Falcon, next in size to the Eagle. So, I conceive, the Greyhound was originally Gyre-hound, as being the largest, tallest, and swiftest species of Hound. The letter JR, being transposed into the place of the Y, will produce Grye-hound. The string wherewith we lead a Grey- hound is called a Leash, and is fastened to lus collar. In Hounds it goes by couples *. The crest of the Earl of Dundonald is a Greyhound leash' d and collar d. * GentlemaD's Recreation, p. '2. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 351 WORDS OF GOOD SIGNIFICATION FORMERLY^ BUT NOW PERVERTED TO BAP. Hussy, i. e. housewife, a bad woman. Quean, a female, a bad woman. A Youth, a wild young man. A Gentleman, a wild young man. A Knave, a servant, a rogue. Condign, It is generally applied to punish- ' ment for unworthy actions ; as Gloucester, in mitigation of his justice, says, ** Unless it were a bloody murtherer, ** Or foul felonious thief, that fleecM poor passengers, " I never gave them condign Punishment." Hen. VI. P. 2. Act in. Sc. 1. Sir Thomas More, however, says, ^^ condign *^ praise," in a letter to his daughter Mrs. Mar- garet Roper. Vide More's Life of Sir Thomas More, p. 140. THE NATURAL DEGREES OF COMPARISON, ARE Much *, Mo, mo-er, mo-est, contracted to most. Good, Bet, bett-er, bet-est, contracted to best, lesser, less-est, contracted to least or lest. Bad, Wo, wo-er, wo-est, contracted from it'o- erest to worst. * See Henley's Grammar. 352 ANECDOTES, ETC. ANCIENT TERMINATIONS. MODERN TERMINATIONS* Reconcilement =*, Reconciliation. Concern. Acceptance. Indifference. Precedence. Condescending* Unanimity. Neglect. Concerns. Innocence. Vehemence* Importance. Imperfection* Amazement. Intention. Simplicity, Iteration. Reproof. Dissoluteness. Inexpressible. Accuracy. Composition (literary)^ Content. Lieutenantcy. Concernment "^^ Acceptation ^, Indifferency, Precedency^ CondescensivCj Unanimousness, Neglection, Concernings, Innocency, Vehemency, Importancy, Unperfectness, Amazedness, Intendment, Simpleness, Iterance, Reprobance, Dissolution, Inexpressive, Accurateness, Composure, Contentation, Lieutenantry, * Locke on Education. f Milton, Sampson Agonistes, ver. 969. X Locke, ut supra. 353 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE PROVINCIAL GLOSSARY OF FRANCIS GROSE, Esq. RS.A. Abide, endure, suffer. You must grin and abide it. Addle, rotten^ as an addle egg. North. Agate. To set any thing a-gate is to begin it, or set it agoing; and any thing pending is said to be a-gate : as, we have brewing a-gate, washing a-gate, &c. L e, going on. York, and Derb. Ages, as, he ages, i. e, he grows old : and he begins to age, he is aged. North. A God'Cheeld ! Exclamation. God shield you ! God forbid ! ^v»H.u A A Agone. 354 A SUPPLEMENT TO AgonCy ago. Kent. Ails, beards of barley. Essex. See Bailey's Diet. 8vo, Aim, to design ; as, I aim to do so and so. Ale-stake, a may-pole. See Bailey's Diet. All-gates, See Bailey's Diet. A-rnany, a great number, pronounced Meyny. North. Ambry, a cup-board ; corrupted from Almonry. See Aumbray, in Grose, Amendment, dung or compost laid on land. West Kent. Andle, an anvil. Areawt, out of doors. Lane. Arle, or Earle, To arle, or earle, a bargain : L e, to close it. Even, British, to tie. Sei^ Borlase's Glossary. York. At-qfter, afterwards. North. Attercob, the venomous spider. Sax. ater^ poison. Aunt and Uncle, applied in Cornwall to all elderly persons. Awnters, scruples. He made aunters about it. North. ^'' . B. Badgery Grose's provincial glossary. 355 B. Badger, in Derbyshire, a mealman. Badli/y sick. Sadly-hadly , very ill. North. Band, a string of any kind. North. Band-Mtt, a kind of great can with a cover ; called in Yorkshire a Bow-hite. Banksman^ one who superintends the business at the coal-pit. Derb. Bargh, a horseway up a hill ; corrupted to Bar, in Derbyshire. Baslow-bar, Beely-bar, &c. Barnacles, spectacles. Borrowed from the instru- ment by which a horse's nose is held when he will not stand still to be shoed, &c. Barring-oat. The breaking-up of a school at the great holidays, when the boys within bar the door against the master. North. Barson, a horse's collar. York. Barth, a warm place or pasture for calves and lambs. South. Hence, perhaps, the sea-term, a Berth. Barton, a yard of a house, or backside. Sussex. In Cornwall it implies the demesne-lands lying close to tPe house of the lord of the manor, or soil. Carew's Cornwall, p. 36. Bass, a hassock to kneel upon at church. North. A A 2 Batch 356 A SUPPLEMENT TO Batch of Bread, as much as is baked at one time, be it more or less, analogous to a Clatch of Poultry. Baugh) a pudding of milk and flour only. Chesh. Beam, To beam a tub, is to put water into it, to stop the leaking by swelling the wood. North. Beating with Child, breeding. York. Becker, a wooden dish. Northumb. Beeos, a corruption of Beasts ; the general name for horned cattle in Derbyshire. Beethy. Meat under-done is so called in Here- fordshire. Beet-need, a help on extraordinary occasions. Lane. Belive. When it rains a little, and the shower is likely to increase, they say in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, It spits now, it will s|3ew belive. Belk, to belch. Derb. Belland, the gripes in cattle. North. Belly-wark, the gripes. Northl They also say Tooth'Wark, and Head-wark, Ber, force in general. Lane. Besom, a broom. North. Salop. Biel, or Bield, a shelter. York. Biggen, or Biggin^ the head-dress of an infant. Bilberries. North. The hortleberry, or whor- tleberry, in other parts. Billy- Grose's provincial glossary. 35/ B'dly^hiter. York. The bird called in general a Black-gap. Bishops Finger, a guide-post which shews the right way it does not go. Cant term. Black-worm, the black-beetle. Cornish. Blear e, to roar and cry. Hence Blear-eyed, Bleffin, a block, or wedge. A Bleffin-head, a block-head. Lane. Blin, to cease. North. Blinkard, a person near-sighted ; or one almost blind. North. Blur, a blot. North. Blush. At the first Blush, at first sight. Common. Bodily, with all one's strength. North. Bodword, an ominous, or ill-natured message. North. Boggle, to flinch, to start, as a horse does at a visible object. North. Boine, a swelling arising from a blow. Essex. Boke, or Bowhe, to nauseate. York, West Riding. See Skinner's Etym. Bohe and Bane, lusty and strong. York. Bolders, round flint stones used in the North for paving. Any roundish stone. Bolting-mill, a hand-mill. North. Bonny, 358 A SUPPLEMENT TO Bonny y pleasing and unaffected. York, and Derb. JBooke, corrupt pronunciation of Bulk. About the booke of: i. e. the size of. North. Boon-daySy days when statute-work on the high- ways is performed. York. Bosen, or Bossen, a badger, the animal. North. Or Bauson. Bother, to deafen. Cornish. Mostly used m Ireland. Perhaps Pother in King Lear, Act III. Sc. 2. (meaning the noise of thunder and storm) may be the same word. Bought, a bend. Bought of the elbow. Lane. •Bout, without. Northumb. York, and Derb. See Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV. Sc. 8. Bowdy-kitCy a person with a bow'd belly. So how or hoiv^d window. Bowety, or Bawafy, lindsey-wolsey. North. Bo wis, a cow-stall. York, West Riding. Boyrn, to wash, or rinse. Lane. Brad, opened and spread. Lane. Braid, to resemble. York, West Riding. Brain a Man, i. e. knock his brains out. North. Brake, a bush. North. Brand-new, quite new. They say, Bran-span- new, in Yorkshire. Brandritbi Grose's proviKciaj. glossary. 359 JBrandrith, or Brander. Also the stipporters of a corn-stack^ to keep off mice, rats^ &c. North. Brass, copper money. North. Brat, a child's pin-cloth. Bray, to beat or pound. North. Brazen, impudent. North. He is a brazen fellow. Bread-loaf, houshold bread; opposed to rolls, or bread in a smaller form. North. Break one's horn-book, to incur displeasure. South. Breau, spoon-meat : fat skimmed from the pot and oatmeal : the singular number of Brewis, Br^ee, broth without oatmeal. Lane. Breivster, a brewer. York. The Brewster Ses- sions, at Hull, mean the time when publicans are licensed, and are advertised by that name. Brichoe, brittle. Chesh. Brick-tiles, bricks. Bridle-sty, a road for a horse only. North. Bri- dle-ivay, and Bridle-road, Kent. Brig, an utensil used in brewing and in dairies to set the strainer upon. North. Briggs, irons to set over a fire. Lane. Brock, the insect that produces the froth called cuckow-spit. 360 A SUPPLEMENT TO Brod, a kind of nail, called Brads in the South. Likewise an Awl. Derb. Brogs, small sticks, used to catch eels, which is called Brogging, Lane. Broke, a rupture. Kent. Broody, spoken of a hen when inclined to sit. North. Broo-er, a corrupt pronunciation of Brvther, North. Bruart, blades of corn just sprung up. Also the brims of a hat. Lane. Bruzzled, applied to meat too much broiled. York. BucJcle-a-doing it, set about it. York. The common expression is Buchle-to. Bull-jumpings, milk drawn from the cow after the calf has sucked. Called also Stroakings, York. Bullocking, bully-ing, swaggering. North. Bull-stang, the upright stake in a hedge ; quasi Bole-stang. North. Buily-ing, strutting. Kent. Bunt, smut in corn. Northampt. Bunting, sifting flour. The Bunting Room, the Sifting Room. North. Burly, thick, clumsy. Lane. Burthensome-land, land that yields good crops in general. York, Busked, Grose's provincial glossary. 361 Bushed, dressed. North. Butter-Jingered. Said of persons who are to let things fall. Byne, malt. Cambridgesh. Byon, a quinsy. North. By -past, ago. York. •C." Caddy. Pretty caddy ; i, e. pretty well reco-? vered from an illness. Derb. Caf, chaff. York. Cagmag, bad food, or other coarse things. The word, in the language of Scotland, signifies an old goose. See Mr. Pennant's Tour, Ap- pendix, p. g. Call, to abuse by calling names. They called one another ! Called home, asked in the church. Sedgemoor. Calling-band, a leading-string, or back-string, for children. Sometimes called only a CaL York, West Riding. Cam, a- wry. Lane. Camm'd, crooked. Lane. Candling, a supper given in some parts by land- lords of ale-houses to their customers on the Eve of Candlemas-day : part of it is a pie, thence called a Candling-pie, Canking, gossiping. Derb. Carled- 362 A SUPPLEMENT TO Qarled-peas, parched-peas. York. -^^^^TA Cater^rass. Cross. A mis-pronunciation of quite across. CatheVy a cradle. Lane. Cawcky a nasty place. Nastinfes in general. Devon. Caiv-dawSy Jack-daws. Cawl, a coop. Cawsie-tail, a dunce. Rather Cawfe-tail, L e, calf- tail. Lane. Chamm^d, chewed. Glouc. Chare, a narrow lane or alley. Northumb. Chark, small-beer. York, West Riding. ChaveVdj chewed. York. Chaundler, a candlestick. Sheffield. Childer, children. North. Childermas-day , Innocents-day. North. Childing-woman, a breeding woman. North. Chillery^ chilly. Chiiver, mutton of a maiden sheep. Glouc. •^ Choler, soot. Choler'd, blackened. North. Chovee, a species of beetle, brown with a green head. Norf. and SufF. Chuck, 2i great chip, Suss. In other counties called a chunk. So a Chunk of beef. Church-clerk, the parish clerk. Essex. Churn-dash, the stafFbelonging to a churn. North. * J > Clag, r »>j ^uv^'- ij^JC i^%.iP ^^.i^ -^m t^ - - Claver, clover-grass, by corruption of pronun- ciation. \ Clearly quite, entirely. North. Clem, thirsty. York. 1 \ Cletch, a brood ; rather Clatch, See above. Click, to tick as a clock. Clout, a pole, or staff. Lincolnsh. Cluchish, said of a hen when inclined to sit. Kent. Clume, crockery. Devon. Also Clome, A clome-shop. Clunch, a species of chalk with which walls are built in Cambridgeshire. C/ww^er, a clod of earth. North. Clussurn, clumsy. Chesh. Coh, marl mixed with straw, used as walls to out-houses. Devonsh. Cobble, to cobble, to hobble in walking; the same as Cramble, Cob-irons, brand-irons. Cobler'S'lobster, a cow-heel. Cambridgesh. Cob-loaf, a crusty, deformed loaf. North. Coch-horse and Cock-loft. See Baxter's Glossary, in voce Cocidis. 364 A SUPPLEMEN'i:, TO Colts, or Qoits, a rural game. To coit is to throw any thing to a person as at coits. Coit it to me. North. Cold Firey a fire laid ready for lighting. York. Compersome, frolicksome. Generally applied to a horse. Derb. Condition, temper, humour. He is in better health than condition, spoken of a peevish n humourist. Conny, brave, fine. Bonny has nearly the sami meaning in the North, or rather Clever. Cotter, a linch-pin. Cotter the Windows ; L e, fasten them by an iron-pin, which goes through an iron-bolt on the inside. Leic. ^ Jt)A-fy% > Cover, pronounced Cativer, An abbreviation of Recover. North. Coulter, a plough-share. North. Court of Sour Milk Session. To be in disgrace with a person is, to get into the Court of Sour Milk Session. York. Cow, the moving top of the chimney of a hop- oast, or kiln. Kent. It is supposed to be a corruption of Cowl, being in the shape of the cowl or hood worn by some religious orders. Cow-blakes, cow-dung dried for fuel. North. Cowhes, the core of anything. Derb, Cowly a tub. Essex. ^ g f J Grose's provincial glossary. 365 Cracky she 's nought to crack on, i. e. not good for much. North. Cracker, A small baking-dish. Northumb. Crammer, A bowl-sewer. North, i. e. one who mends wooden-bowls with wire. York. A tinker. Cranks, Two or more rows of iron crooks in a frame used as a toaster. Northumb. Cranny, A little hole or crevice. North. Crap. Sometimes used for buck-wheat. Cratch, a rack. A Bottle Cratch, a bottle rack. North. Crates^ the game of Nine-holes, or Trou-ma- dame. 'North. Crease, loving, fond. Lane. Crevice, a small fissure. North. Crow, a crib for a calf. Lane. Called a Kid" croiv in Cheshire. Crunch, Cronch, and Cranch, to crush an apple, &c. in the mouth. North. Cri/d no-child, a woman cried down by her hus- band. Lane. No-child is supposed to be a corruption of Nichil, i. e. Nihil, Cucking-stool, or Ducking-stool, a stool placed over a river in which scolding women are seated and ducked. North. Currant-berries, currants. North. ^ 366 A SUPPLEME^I* TO Vurtainers, curtains. Lane. Custls, a school-master s ferule. Cornwall, North part. Cute^ sharp, adroit, clever. North. D. t)ab'ChicJcy the water-hen. North, j, DadacJci/, tasteless. Western. Daffish, sheepish. Dag, To dag a garden, to water it. Lane. Dagg'd, dirtied. North. Danch, dainty, nice in eating. North. Dar, contraction of Dearer, as nar is of nearer o Dark, blind. Quite dark, stone blind. North* Almost dark, nearly blind. Dausey-headed, giddy, thoughtless. Norf. and Suff. Dean, a dale or valley* Northumb. Deeavely, lonely. North. Deet is used by contraction ; as, Much good may it deet thee ; i, e. Much good may it do to thee. North. De^t, clever. Old Plays, second edit. vol. v. p. 175. Deftly, S^ Macbeth. Dicky, an ass. SuiF. Die Grose's provincial glossary. 36^ Die nor do. He'll neither die nor do ; spoken of a person in a lingering illness. See Daw, m Ray*s Words. Dight (pronounced Deet in Cheshire and York, West Riding), means dirtied, daubed, &c. DiJie, in Scotland, a bank ; or even a wall, es- pecially when it surmounts a ditch. Ditig, I cannot ding it into him : «. e, I cannot make him understand it. Derb. Dint, a stroke, force. North. Bi/ dint of', is a general expression. Dipf or Sweet-dip, butter, sugar, and verjuice, used as sauce to pudding, and particularly to barm dumplins. North. Dqffl do off, or put off. Doff^ your cloaths. North. The reverse of Don. Dog-whipper, a church beadle. North. Doll, a child's hand. North. Donhy, an ass. Essex. Dorm, to doze. North. Dosion, more properly Dough-sion, a vessel for the batter used in making oat-cakes to leaven them. North. Dowley, dingy, as applied to colour. York. Downdrins, afternoon's drinking. Derb. Ray. Draff] brewers' grains. Curab. Or rather the water 368 A SUPPLEMENT TO water wherein barley is steeped before it is malted. North. Draiting, drawling. A draiting manner of speaking. Derb. Droighf, a team of horses in a waggon or cart, both collectively taken. North. Often pro- nounced Drait, Droppings, an early apple. York. Called Per- cocks, in Derbyshire. Drumble, to drone : i. e, to be sluggiih. Drumbled, disturbed. North. The ale is drum- bled: L e, muddy. Ducking-stooL See Cucking-stooL Dully hard of hearing. Somersetsh. Dumble, a woody valley. North. Dumbledore, the brown cock-chafer. Cornish. Dunny, dull of apprehension. North, and Glouc. Dyze-maris-day, Childermas, or Innocents' Day. North. E. X Ears, the handles, particularly of a jug, or pit- cher. York, and Derb. North. Elvish, irritable, spiteful. The Bees are elvish to-day. Norf. and Suff. f Grose's provincial glossary. 369 Errish, a stubble field. Devon. Ersh, stubble, Sussex. Applied also to the af- ter-mowings of grass. Every foot anon, every now and then. Norf. and SufF. Every-lihe, See Like. Eye-breen, the eye-brows. Lane. F. Fadge, a burthen. Lane. Fair-fall, fare-well. Lane. False, sly, cunning, deceitflil. A false thief, one who will cheat you if he can. Far, ril he far if I do ; L e. I will not Derb. Fare, a cow fares a-calving, when near the time : and so of sheep. North. Farther, I wish you were farther ; or had been farther ; and then such a thing would not have happened. Derb. Fash, the tops of turnips, carrots, &c. Faugh, fallow. Favour, to resemble. Hefavours his father : i. e. he is like him in person. North. Feathering, binding a hedge, &c. Lane. Feausanfuzzen, spoken of any thing with a strong taste, generally used in a bad sense. North. 370 A SUPPLEMENT TO Feck, the greatest part. Feel a stinky to perceive it. Derb. Feft, enfeofTd. North. Put into possession of a purchase. Fell a Man, to knock him down. Til fell thee if, &c. a metaphor from Jelling timber. k/^ Fescue (pronounced also Fester), a bodkin, &c. to point with in teaching children to read, Cornwall. Quasi Verse-Cue, FesSy an abbreviation of confess. North. Few, often applied to broth — will you have a few broth ? York. A good few, a great many. York. Fewtrillsy little trifling things. Lane. Fire-elding, The word Fire is redundant; for Elding itself means fuel. Fire-potter, a poker. Lane. FitcheSy tares : a corrupt pronunciation of Vetches. ^ L Fttchety a pole-cat. Warwicksh. Flantum-Jlatherum, A Flantum-flatherum pie- bald dill : /. e. a woman fantastically dressed in a variety of colours. Flashy any little pool. North. k f Flasket, an oval tub with two handles, used in washing. York. Flaun-pot, a custard-pot. York. Fleake, a rack for bacon, &c. York. Fleiter, I Grose's provinciaIv glossary. 371 Fleiter, to prop the bank of a brook damaged by a flood. Derb. Flewy a narrovy out-let for smoke, to increase the draught of air. North. ^ Flop-jack, a small pasty, or turn-over. Glouc. Fhpper -mouthed, blubber-lipped. Lane. Fluggan, or Fruggan, a fussack, or coarse fat woman. York. Flunter, to be in a great hurry. Out of Flunter, unwell. Lane. Finish, washy, weak, &c. North. Flush, to fly at one, as fighting-cocks do. Lane. Fog, long grass : more properly after-grass. North. Coarse grass. Norf» and SuflT. Fold-garth, a fold, a farm-yard, taken simply. North. Fond, faint or fulsome, applied to smell or taste, in Norfolk and SuflTolk. Foo-goad, a play-thing. Lane. Forecast, to take proper measures to do any thing : to fore-think. Fore-end, the beginning of a week, month, or year. North. Fore-think, to be sorry for ; to repent. North. Forward, pretty forward : i. e. almost drunk. North. Foul, ugly. Derb. B B 2 ' Frag, ■^ 372 A SUPPLEMENT TO Frag, low, vulgar people. Middlesex. Frame, to set about a thing ; as, he frames well. North. Framput, an iron ring to fasten cows in their stalls. Lane. Fratch, to quarrel. Frawn, frozen. Norf. and Suff. Fraze of Paper, half a quarter of a sheet, or a fraction. North. Called in the South a Vessel of paper. J.- , ^^ ^ 4i^4>k'%j^^M*^ Fresh, tipsy. *^ North. Ft etched, cross, fractious. Heref. Froggam, a woman slatternly dressed. York. Funny, comical. North. Fur, a furrow. Rig and fur. Northumb. Furze-man-pig, a hedge-hog. Glouc. Futher, or Fudder, a load of coals of a certain quantity of bushels. Northumb. Fuzz-ball, called in some parts ^ Etigland a Puckfoist. rMf ^5>^- ^ j^viMywi G. K" Gable-end of a building, the end wall. General, See Baxter's Glossary, p. 1. Gad, a fishing-rod. Northumb. Gaffioch, an iron crow. Derb. Gain-shire, or Gain-shere, the barb of a fishrng- hook, Derb. A J^ Grose's provincial glossary. 3^3 Gally-hawh, rather Gallow-bawk, the same as Randle-hawh. See afterwards. See also Ray's Words. Gally'lands, rather Galty-landsy full of sand- galls. Gander-month, the month in which the wife lies-in. Derb. Gangway, a thoroughfare ; now almost pecu- liarly a sea term. Ganner, a gander.* ''T^olrth^' V^ *^ Gantrilj a stand for a barrel. North. Called also a ThrawL Garish, frightened. South. Gaul, a lever. Lane, Gaivd, a custom, or habit. An ugly gawd. Derb. Gawfin, a clownish fellow. Chesh. Gawm, Gawm well now ; i, e. take heed. Gawmless, stupid, awkward, lubberly. Yet a great gawming fellow means also awkward and lubberly. North. Gee, to agree, to suit. North. Gen (pronounced Ghen), a contraction of against. Gem (pronounced hard GhernJ, to snarl like a dog, to grin spitefully. North. — Grin, by transposition. -— A seam in a garment when unsewed is said to Gern. York. Gerse, g^ys^ by transposition, York. ^^^^^T ^^^^J^mj{^\^^^^^^ Geslings, ^ \ % '■■■'■' \' 3^4 A SUPPLEMENT TO Geslings, goslings ; i. e. geese-lings, as the lat- ter is goose-lings. North. Gib'Stqffl a hook-stick, pronounced Ghib. York. Gill, a narrow valley. North. Gimrn, neatly trimmed: perhaps the new word Jemmy should be Gimmy. Ginmly an alley, or narrow passage. Lane. Girdle^ a round iron plate for baking. Northumb. Gizzeriy the stomach of a fowl, &c. Lane. Gizzing, to be always grinning and laughing. Derb. Glazener, a glazier. York. Glenty a glimpse. Derb. I just had a glent of hiip. Gley, to squint. Lane. Gliders, snares. North. Glotten'd, surprised, delighted. Chesh. Glop- pen'd, as I have heard it. Glore, fat. North. Glur, soft fat. Lane. Glutch, to swallow. Somersetsh, Gnatter, to grumble and find fault with. Derb. Goads, customs : also play-things. Lane. Go-by 'ground, A little go-by-ground ; a dimi- nutive person. Gobhin, Gobslotch, a stupid fellow ; rather a dri- veller. Called also a Gob-thrust. Goblocks, large mouthfulls. York. '^'^ Goddardy GROSE*S PROVINCIAL GLOSSARY. 375 Goddard, a fool ; quasi Goatherd. North. Often pronounced Gotherd. Goddill! a Goddil ! i. e. If God will ! If it please God ! Derb. God-send, the wreck of a ship. Kentish coast. Gqffe, a mow of hay or corn. Essex. Gofe, in Norfolk and Suffolk ; where to gove is to stack the corn. Goke. See Gowk, Golore, plenty. South. See Borlase's Glossary. Good-da^, a holiday. StafFordsh. Gooding, To go a gooding, among the poor peo- ple, is to go about before Christmas to collect money or corn to enable them to keep the fes- tival. Derb. Goodness / an exclamation. North. Good to, good for. He's nought good to : spoken of a good-for-nothing man. Goose-man Chick, a gosling. York, and Glouc. The syllable man is redundant, as in Furze- man pig, a hedge-hog. ^ ^^^ Goping-full, as much as you can hold in your hand. North. A goppen-full, a large handfulL^ South. V Gor-cock, Gor-hen, grouse, according to the sex, York. Gorgey, to shake, or tremble. Sedgemoor. f •^-t^ ^ S V "" *^^ h^ H^Y^"k^ Gorrel- 376 A SUPPLEMENT To' -^'^^ Gorrel-helly'd, pot-belly'd. Derb. Gove-tushed, having some projecting teeth. Derb. Gowdy or Gaivd, a toy. Gowdies, play-things. North. Gowk, or Goke, the co^-e of an apple, &c. Cumberland. . ct-^ GoysteVy to brag and swagger. Goyty the stream of a water-mill. York, West Riding. Called Gowte at Bristol. Gozzard, a fool ; quasi Goose-herd. Line. Gra-mercy ! an exclamation. Fr. Grande-mer- cie. See Titus Andronicus, Act IV. Sc. 2. Gratten, in some parts means Eddish, or after- grass. Greawrn, a mouth. North. Greedy, a verb, to long for, as, I don*t greedy it. Green, raw, not done enough. The same as Rear, North. Grew-bitch, a greyhound bitch. York. Grey-parson, a layman who owns tithes ; calkd elsewhere Knights of the Grey-coat, or Grey- cloak. Grey of the morning, break of day. South. Grindle-stone, a grind-stone. North. Grindlet, a small ditch or drain. South. Grin and abide, to endure patiently. You must grin and abide it. North. Groaning, Grose's provincial glossary. 377 Groaning, the time of a woman^s delivery. North. Groin, the snout ; as of a hog, Derb. Ground-sill, ground ivy. Grout, wort of the last running. North. Sold by ale-house keepers to their inferior cus- tomers, and whom therefore they call Grouters. Derb. /AtW 00^n^v4l;t^ i^^ Groyne, a swine's snout. Pronounced Gruin in Yorkshire, and used for a mouth or snout in general. »-» v ^^ t ^%,.\ Gryze, a squeeze, Herefordsh. ; — swine^ North. Guess, to suppose. I guess so, Derb. Guile-vat. A guile of beer is a technical term for as much as is brewed at one time* Guill, to dazzle. Chesh. Guisers, mummers who go about at Christmas ; i, e, Disguisers. Derb. Gumtion, understanding, contrivance. He has no gumtion ; i. e, he sets about it awkwardly. Kent. From Gawm, H. Haft and Heft, the handle of a knife, &c. Hag, a mist. Also a quagmire* Northumb. JJale^ stjrong, healthy. Hammillf S78 A SUPPLEMENT TO Hammilly a hovel. Happen and Haply, perhaps. Happen I may go. Derb. Happy man he his dole ! a good wish ; as, may happiness be his lot. North. Har, higher. So Nar is nearer, and Dar is dearer. Derb. Jjm^^^ - Harden, coarse cloth. North. ^ flare-supper^ the harvest-home. Derb. Hark-ye-hut ! do but hear ! Harry, to teaze. Harried, weary. Lane. To plunder. Northumb. Hat'bruartSy hat-brims. Chesh. Haver-cahe, oat-cake. York. ' Haviours, manners. Do you think I have forgot my haviours ? K^jjhP'^^^ Hawns, or Hawms, horse-collars. North. ^"^^""^^ Hawps, a tall dunce. Lane. Hay-sale, hay-time. Norf. and SuiF. See Sales, Heads and plucks, the refuse of timber trees, as boughs, roots, &c. Derb. Heal, to cover. Berks. — A Bed-healing, a cover-lid. North. Healer, a slater, or tyler. West. Fr. Hellier, Hearken to the hinder end ; i. e. hear the rest of the story, York. See Hen. IV. P. J?. Act ii. Sc. ult. Heckle. I Grose's provincial glossary. 379 HecMe, To heckle, is to look angry ; as a cock raises his heckle when enraged. Derb. Hedy the preterit of heed. He ne'er hed me. Derb. Heed, to mind, to attend to. He hears better than he heeds. Derb. Heel-tap, the heel-piece of a shoe. North. Heir, a verb, to inherit. He heir*d his estate from his brother. North. Helm and Hawm, the handle of a spade, &c. Derb. JfeZi;^, the handle of a spade. Derb. Help, to mend or repair anything. North. Helt, likely. Hew, to knock one ancle against the other. North. He-witch, a wizzard. Lane. Hie, to make haste. Used substantively also : Make as much hie as you can. York. Hig, a passion. Var. Dial. He went away in a big. Hight, promised. Cumb. See Chaucer. Hinder-ends, the sweepings of a barn after win- nowing. North. See Hearhen, Hing, to hang. North. Scotch. See Gloss, to G. Douglas's Virgil. Hivy-shivy, helter-skelter. Line. Butcher's Survey of Stamford, p. 77. V'^;^ Hockey, 380 A SUPPLEMENT TO Hochey, the harvest-home. Norf. SufF. aiid Cambridgesh, i^ Hog-mutton, a sheep one year old. Lane. HoUy to throw. Kent, and Leic. Hollen, or Hollin, the shrub holly. North. Hone, stockings. A contraction of hosen. North. Honey, a term of endearment. North. Othello, Act I. Sc. 1. Honey-beam, the same applied rather to children. North. Hopper-cake, a seed-cake with plums in it, with which the farmers treat their servants when seed-time is finished, Derb. Hopping-derry, a diminutive lame person. Horse-block, Horse-stone, stones to mount on horseback. Lane. Host-house, an ale-house for the reception of lodgers. ffotch. To hotch beans is to separate them from peas after they are threshed. Derb. To Hotch, to limp. Lane. Hottered, provoked, vexed. Lane. Hottle, a cover for a sore finger. North. Jlouders, i. e, holders, sheaves placed as ridges on corn-stacks to hold the corn down before the thatching takes place. Derb, Hougher, the public whipper of criminals. Northumb. Hovel, Grose's jPRoviNciAL glossary. 381 Hovel, a shed in a field. North. Houghs, the legs and thighs. Hounces, the appendage to the collar of a cart- horse which covers his neck. Essex. Hoyts, long rods or sticks. Lane. Huch, a crook, a sickle ; quasi hook. Northumb. Hud'Stone, the side of a fire-grate, to set any thing upon. North. Hug, to carry. Humpstridden, a stride. Lane. Hungered, famished. North. To hunger a per- son ; not to allow sufficient food. Huph, a measure for corn, or dry goods. Nor- thumb. Hume, a hole behind a chimney. North. Hurry, (which Grose explains " a small load of hay or corn. North.") Rather the turn, as two or three hurries. A drawing or dragging. North. Hustlement, odds and ends. York, West Ri- ding. Perhaps corrupted from HousholdmenL 7/ Jack, a quarter of a pint. Jagger, one who carries ore from the mine to the smelting-mill. Derb. 'i^^^4 St 382 A SUPPLEMENT TO St. Jam's-mas, St. James's-day. St, Jeffery's-day, never. York. *X* Mly or Gill, half a pint. York. Imp, to rob, or dispossess a person. Lane. JocotiouSy jocose. York. Joist, a beam. North. Jossing-blocky steps to mount on horseback. Kent? Joy go with thee ! a favourable wish ; sometimes used ironically. Derb. Joys on thee ! sometimes Gooding on thee I an imprecation of blessing. Derb. /V, I am ; i. e. I are, and pronounced Ire. Lane. See Tim Bobbin. rsty I shall. York, W. Riding. Pronounced Yst. Jumpy a coat. Lane. Ize, (i, e, I is,) I am. York. June-bug, the green beetle. Kent K. Realty cowardly. He healsy he is cowardly. Lane. Keely a coal-barge. Northumb. The men be- longing to it Keel-men, Keel the pot, skim the pot. North. See Love's Labour's Lost. Keen- GROSE*S PROVINCIAL GLOSSARY. 383 Keen-bitten^ eager, hungry, sharp-set. Lane, Keep, to catch. Lane. Kelk, to groan ; rather, perhaps, to belch. North, ^i^^ Kennel-coal, a sort of coal. ^ Kestling, a calf produced before the usual time. Lane. A Slink, Kex, the stem of the teazle. North. As dry as a kex : — or water dock. Kibble, a strong thick stick. Lane. Kid-crow, a calf crib. Chesh. Kidder, a huckster. Essex. Called in the North a Badger. Kimnel, or Kemlin, a pickling tub ; used also for scalding hogs to get the hair off. North. Kind, intimate. North. Not kind, at enmity. They are not kind at present. Kindly, well. " He takes kindly to his business." Derb. King Harry, a goldfinch. Norf. and Suff. . -^^ Kink-haust, a violent cold with a cough. Lane. ^^^ Kipper, amorous. Lane. ^ Kirk-garth, a church-yard. York, West Riding. Kittle, to bring forth kittens. Derb. Knaggy, knotty. Lane. Knattle, cross, ill-natured. Lane. Knep, to bite gently. Lane. Knife-gate, a run at a friend's table. York. •w* Knoblocks, c^kW^ 384 A SUPPLEMENT TO Knoblocksy Knoblings, and Knaplings, small round coals. Lane. To Knock a man over, to knock him down. North, Kyke, or Keyke^ to stand awry. Lane. L. liace^ to thresh a person, " I laced his jacket for « him." North. Lackits, small sums of money. Oddments in general. North. Lade, to take water by hand out of a pond, &c. North. Ttttg, to stay behind. Laggins, staves. Northumb. Lake, to pour gently, to cast a little water on. Perhaps to leak. North. See Ray. Lamb-storms, storms which happen about the time when lambs fall. North and Norf. Landern, a grate in a fire-place. North. y%.$tr^»vW^«^^' ^"^P*^y- Devon. Vk'^l*' Lask, a looseness, or purging. North. \n^^ - £^^^^ ^^ gggjj York. North Riding. Latten, tin. North. Latterly, lately, or of late. North. Leach, a lake. Lane. Leach-road, the way peculiarly used for a funeral. West. Leasty Grose's provincial glossary. 385 Leasty weather^ dull, wet, dirty. Norf, and Suff. Left over, left off. Letts, the nominees for the office of sheriff. York. Lennock, slender, pliable. Lane. Lentedy sloped, or glanced off; a Verb formed from learCd. Let, to hinder. '' What lets ?" Lib, a basket. — A ^eed-lih, a basket used for sowing corn. South. Lies by the zoall, i. e. is dead. Spoken between the time of death and burial. Norf. and SufF. Lighted, a woman when brought to bed is said to be lighted, i, e, lightened. North. Like, in the common use of likely, i. e. well- looking — "A good like horse." Derb. Like, " Every like," i. e. every now and then. North, i. e. on similar occasions. Liken' d, '^ I had liken d," i. e. I was in danger of. North. Lillilo, a small blaze in ^ fire. North. Lilt, or Lilting, to do any thing cleverly or quickly. Lane. Limb-trimmer, ataylor. North. Limb-for, a man addicted to any thing is called « a limb for it." Norf. and Sujj; C c . Linch, T\aU^ 386 A SUPPLEMENT TO Linch, a small step. Lane. y Lr Lincher, a border of grass between divisions in '^^' ^ ploughing. Sedgemoor. Lissom^ limber, relaxed. North. List, will ; " I shall do my list ;" and, verbially, " Let him if he list." Derb. Liver, to deliver. Derb. Liver'd, bread that is heavy and under-baked ; called also sad. Lob-cock, a clumsy lubberly fellow. North. Lock'd, cards, when faced, are said to be lock'd. Derb. Loft, a chamber. North. Lone and Loning, a lane. York. . . fjong, tough meat is said "to eat long in the <^ mouth." North. Long dog, a greyhound. Derb. Loover, an opening at the top of a dove-cote. North. Lotch, to limp, to jump like a frog. Lane. Love, Of all Loves I a phrase of entreaty. Derb. Lowk, to beat ; " I'll lowk him if I catch him." North. To Lugg, to pull by the ears : ^' I '11 lugg thee if thou do'st so." North. Lum, the chimney of a cottage. Northumb. Lum-sweepers, chimney-sweepers. Northumb. Lumier^ Grose's provincial glossary. 387 Lumber, harm, mischief. Lane. X*^^l[ Lundy, clumsy, heavy. " A lundy fellow." Derb. LutteVy to scatter. Glouc. Used by Taylor the Water-poet, Mad, angry : " He made mad." " I was mad at "him." North. See Old Plays/ £d edit. vol. I. p. 65. Mafted, overpowered by heat. York. Magging, prating, chattering. Chesh. Make, or Mack, a match or equal. So MacMess is Matchless, North. Make the door, or ivindows, i. e. fasten them. <>^i^ H ^^--^^S*^ Mock the Church ; not to marry after the banns have been published. Norf. and SufF. Moling, clearing the ground from mole-hills. York. 3Iollarf, an oven-mop — a mawkin. Lane. 3Ioney and Gold, silver and gold. York. Moot-hall, a town-hall. North. >^ . . More of a tree, the bole. Somersetsh. /T^f^^^^:^^ Mothering- Sunday, Mid-lent Sunday. War- wicksli. Motty, the mark at which the quoits (or coits) are thrown. Derb. ^Ji<,i^i^pj'_.-'^ Moiv-bmmt hay, hay that has fermented in the stack. York. MoyVd, troubled, fatigued. Sedgemoor. Muggy, moist ; muggy weather. North. Mulch, straw half-rotten and almost dung. South. Mundle, a pudding-slice. Derb. Mung, to mix^ in some parts pronounced Ming^ and Meng, ^^ ^'^-- '"■ (■'■■ ' ■ - i^ N. Naf- 390 A SUPPLEMENT TO N. Naffing, grumbling; hagling in a bargain. North. Nag, to gnatter^ as a mouse does at any thing hard. North. Nan, used as an interrogation; as — Nan? i. e. What did you say ? Kent. Nang-nail, a piece of loose skin hanging from the top of the finger. North. Nation, a nation deal : — a nation many. Kent, Norf. and SufF. Nay-Say, to give the nay-say of a house, &c. i. e. the refusal. Nay then! an exclamation in^plying doubt, Derb. Nazzard, a silly foolish fellow. North. Near, covetous. North, as, He is a near man. Near now, just now, not long ago. Norf. Nedder, an adder. Derb. \% Neddy, an ass. Kingswood. Neer, or Nere, a kidney^;^*' I 1^ U / #V Neps, turnips. North. , .:..,• ..t-'ltl' - ' J ' 7 ' J^ " Nestling, the smallest bird of the nest or clutch ; called also the Nestle-cock, and Nestle-huhy North. Nether'd, starved with cold. North. Newst Grose's provincial glossary. 391 Newst of a Newstness, i.e. much of a muchness. Glouc. Newt, an effet, and so caljed in Kent, North, The water lizard. ../> % KVV^ ^ - Nice, in Derbyshire imphes the same as honny in Yorkshire. Nifle, a nice bit (or tit-bit) of any thing ; alsp to trifle. Lane. Nigh-hand, hard by. North. Nighest -about, the nearest way. North. Nomine, a long speech. Lane. Nook-shotten, spoken of a wall in a bevil, and not at right angles with another wall. Noon-scape, the time when labourers rest after dinner. Lane. Nope, a bull-finch. Suff. Nought that's aught, good for nothing ; pro- nounced, Nowt thafs owt. York. Nubbles, tanners' bark* when cut small. Derb. >*■ and York. sNmJt^*. Co pA^ ^y^^fK^i^ O. Oah-webb, the brown cock-chafer. Cornish. OaH, a kiln for drying hops. Kent; called in some parts an East, Ods-wowhs ! an exclamation. North, Oer-lay, a surcingle. Lane. Of all Loves, See Love. Oftens, 392 A SUPPLEMENT TO Of tens, plural of oft en, and generally used in the North. Old Lad and Old Youth, applied to an healthy man in years : He's a fine old youth. Derb. On, to be a little on is to be tipsy. Derb. Over, Upper, as — The pver side. The contrast is Nether. North. Over^ to recover from an illness : I am afraid he '11 not over it. North. Over-bodiedf When a new upper part (or body) is put to an old gown. Lane. Out-catch, to overtake. North. Out-cumbling, a stranger. Lane. Outen-ivorh, out-door work. North. Owler, the alder tree. Derb. Owse, an ox. Lane. Oxter, the arm-pit. York, W. R. Perhaps it should be written Hocks ter, quasi the Hock of the arm, or the lesser Hock. j^Wt^H^ Vv^ • i Pack-rag day, Michaelmas-day, when servants change their places, and remove their clothes. Norf.andSuff. Panshon, a milk-pan in a dairy. Pant, a fountain, or conduit. Northumb. Rather a cistern to receive falling water. Grose's provincial glossary. 393 Paramarrow, a sow-gelder. North. Parlous, dangerous. Also acute^ clevier. North. Pax- wax, the tendon of the neck, Norf. called in Lancashire Peaseivease, Peas and sport. See Scaddmg of Peas, Peck, tq stumble ; spoken of a horse. Hull. Peel, a pillow. West. Penny -frich, a sport; throwing at halfpence placed on sticks which are called hobs. Penvy-whip, very small beer. Lane, a penny per quart. Percock, a sort of ^arly apple, called in Yorkshire Droppings. Pes cods, pea-pods. North. Pet, — in a pet, in an angry ipood. North. So pettish. Milton uses it to express a fit or hu-. niour (Comus.) Pewit, a lapwing. North. Tewit is also used. ^^;Peyl, to strike, or beat. Lane. Phrase of paper. See Fraze. Pick, a spade. PicJi-forh, a pitch-fork. North. Piece, applied to time : Stay a piece ; i. e. a little while. York. Pig, a hog of any size, as well as a young hog. York and Derb. Piggin^ of the nature of a can^ holding about a pipt. trc^ oJbu>^* w V €A^- /' ^Atp ^ Pilhim^ IffAffP-''^ 394 A SUPPLEMENT TO P ilium, dirt, Devon. Pin-cod, a pincushion. Pingle, a small craft, or pycle ; i, e, a field. Called in Lancashire a Pinsot, inJc, the fish called the minnow. North. Pinsons, pincers. North. Pips, the spots on cards of every suit. North. Pissmote, ants. Plachet-hole^ a pocket-hole. York. From the . Scots. Plain, to complain. Derb. Plash of water, a small standing pool. North. Pleach, to bind a hedge. North. PVif, a plough. York ; pronounced rather Pleaff, Pochy, ground made wet by much rain is said to be pochy, swampy. Poch-ftetten, pitted with the small-pox. Pole-work, a long tedious business. North. Poorly, indifferent in health. P^ery poorly, very indifferent. North. Poor Body ! i.e. Poor Creature. Durham. Poss, to punch or kick. North. Possessioning, i. e. processioning ; going the bounds of a parish on Holy Thursday. North, In some parts of the kingdom it is called Ban- nering ; Grose's provincial glossary. 395 nering ; perhaps a flag or banner is carried in the procession. Potter, to poke : potter the fire. A potter is a poker. North. Pratty, to be pratty, (i. e, pretty) is to behave well, to be good; Pray, to drive the pray ; to drive the cattle home from the field. Sedgemoor. Fr. Pr^. Prime good, excellent. North. Priming a tree, pruning it. Norf. and SufF. Prog, to prick. Northumb. Prong, a fork ; as a hay-prong, a muck-prong. North. Proud, large. North. Puck-foist, a fuzzball, a species of fungus. Puggy, moist, arising from gentle perspiration. A puggy hand. North. Pug-mire, a quagmire. Derb. Pule, a pew. Lane. Puling, crying, whining. North. PulUng-timei the evening of a fair, when the country fellows pull the wenches about, Norf. and SufF. called pulling and hauling time in Yorkshire. Pumple, a pimple. Pumplenose. North. Pungar, a crab is called a pungar at Folkestone, and at Dover a ffeaver. Dr. Johnson has the word S96 A SUPPLEMENT TO word Pungar ; but only says it is a fish, on the authority of Ains worth. Purr, to kick. Puy, a pole to push forward a boat. Northumb. Pyming, and pytning about, peeping about, prying. North. Q- )%- f^MucLcMed, almost choaked, or sufFoe ated. Norf. and SufF. Quail, to fail, to fall sick, to farht. North. Quandary, a dilemma. Var. Dial. Quank, still, quiet. Chesh. a J Quave, to shake, or vibrate. Derb. /JJ^^ * Querhen, to choak. Derb, Quifting Pots, small drinking-pots, holding half a gill. Lane. Quoits, see Coits, K Hahblement, the mob. Var. Dial. Rack of mutton, the neck or crag. Lane. Racking Crook, a crane, or pot-hook. Northumb. Radlings, Long sticks used in hedging, &c. Var. Dial. Called in Kent Raddles, Raffle, or Raffling Pole, used to stir the fuel in an oven. Norf. and Suflf. Rag, to scold opprobriously : I ragg'd him for it. North. Rail, Grose's provincial glossary. 397 Rail, a revel, a country wake. Devon. Randle Bawk, an iron gibbet in a chimney, to hang the pot-hooks on. York. Called also a Gallow Bawk. Randle-pik'd, a tree whose upper branches are dead. Derb. Called also Stag- headed. Ranshackled, out of repair, applied to a building-— out of order and condition in general. Hampsh.^ ^h^t Rap and Ring (or Wrap and Wring), to scrape together. North. Ratck, to stretch. North. Ratched, stretched. Ratchet, Broken stones found under mould. Derb. Ratcher, a rock, and rocky. Lane. Rathe-ripe fruit , early fruit. SufF. Ratherly, for Rather. York. Rats, all to rats, all to pieces. Derb. Ravel-bread. Kent. Called in the North IVhity- hrown Bread, For Ravel-bread, see Cowel's Interpreter in voce Panis. Ravel-paper. Kent. A sort between white and brown, and called in the North whity-brown paper. Rawky Weather, raw, cold. North. Reach, to vomit. — Reachings, vomitings. North. Ready, to forward any thing: I'll ready your words or message. North. Ready, '&98 A SUPPLEMENT TO Ready, more ready, mote roasted or boiled. Unready, not done enough. Wilts. Ream-mug, a cream-pot. Lane. Rean, a gutter. Rear, under-roasted or boiled; not done enough. See above. Rear, or Rere, mice, bats. Derb. Reck, to care for; to repent. North. Reckans, rather Reiklns, from Reik, to reach ; and means rather the bavvk than the hooks, as it assists to reach the pot by turning partly round, and bringing it forward. Reckon, to imagine, to suppose : I reckon I shall. North. Reed, the fundament of a cow. Derb. Reeken- Creaks, pot-hooks. North. From Reek, smoke. Reez'd, rancid. North. Remedy, a half-holiday at Winchester-school. Remember, to put in mind of: If you will remem- ber me of it. North. Remlings, remnants. York. Renky, perhaps Ranky, from Rank, as applied to weeds, &c. Re-supper, a second supper. Lane. Retchup, truth. Somersetshire. Corruption of Rightsltip, Ribs, Grose's PROVINCIAL glossary. S99 Ribs, bindings in hedges. Kent. Rich, 2l stack. Var. Dial. Rick, to gingle ; also to scold. Lane. Rid and Ridden, dispatch and dispatched: It rids well. It goes on fast. It will soon be rid- den, i. €, got rid of. North. To part two people fighting. Lane. Ride, to hang one's self upon another. Lane' Rig, to run a rig upon a person is to banter harshly. To jeer. North. Riggot, a gutter. Also a half-gelded horse, &c. Lane. Rigshy, a romping girl. York. Rissom, or Rysom, a stalk of corn. North. "^ Rohh, a stiff jelly made from fruit, and denomi- nated accordingly, as Elder- Robb; called in the South Jam. Rooze, to praise. Lane. Rostle, to ripen. Lane. Rue, to repent. North. Rue-Bargain, applied to something given to be off the bargain. North. Runge, a long tub. Lane. Ryzen-Hedge, a fence of stakes and boughs. Lane. S. Sag: 400 A SUPPLEMENT TO Sag : He begins to sag ; i. e. to decline in his health. Norf. and SufF. Sainfs-BelL Kent. The same as the Tivg-Tang in the North. Sales, times or seasons : He's out all sales of the night. Norf. and SufF. Salt-Cat, or Cate, a cake of salt used to decoy pigeons. North. Sarnm, to put things in order. Lane. Sand-galls, spots of sand forced up by the oozing of water. Norf. and Suff. 5«r, to earn. Sedgemoor. Sauah. a willow. Lane. us Savver, a taste or morsel, i, e. savour : * Let have a savver with you. Will you have any thing to eat ? Ans. Not 3L^avver, Derb. Sawney, liquor. A man is said to have got a sup of Sawney, when a little fuddled. York. Scadding of Peas, a custom in the North of boiling the common grey peas in the shell, and eating them with butter and salt; generally called a Scalding of' Peas, The company usu- ally pelt each other with the pods. It is there- fore called in the South Peas and Sport. Scanty Grose's provincial glossary. 401 Scanty, shorty in want of : This is a scanty pat- tern. We are rather scant of it at present. North. Scape-gallows, a fellow whodeserves to be hanged. Var. Dial. Scawmy, gawdy. York. Sconce, a lantern. Lane. Scorn, to jeer. North. Scotch a wheel, to stop it from going backward. Lane. /L^ ■U^M^:l^^^t ^f - Scowl, to frown. North. Scrannel, a lean maigre person. Lane. Scrawn, to clamber up. North. Scutch' d, whipped. North. Scute, a reward. Devon. Scutter, to throw any thing to be scrambled for. North, i. e, to scatter. Seigh, a sieve. Lane. Serce, a strainer for gravy, &c. York. Serve, to relieve a beggar, Derb. Shacking, the ague. A hard pronunciation of shaking. North. Shackle, stubble. Herefordsh. Shaft, a lead-mine, or coal-pit. North. Shambling, awkward in the gait. Derb. Sham, dung. Lane. Shim, appearance. West. A transient view or first sight, the same as Bly in Kent. The white mark in a horse's forehead. Suff. D D Shinhi 402 A SUPPLEMENT TO S)iinhy a skimming-dish. Derb. Shinnej/, a stick rounded at one end to strike a small wooden ball with. Northumb. Shinney-hahy a game so called in Northumber- land. Shippen, a cow-house. Perhaps a corruption of sheep-pen. Shirl-cock, a thrush. Derb. Shog and Skoggle, to shake about : A shogging^ horse ; one that trots hard. North. Shoon, shoes. Shoon and Hone, shoes and stockings. North. Shore, to prop up any thing. North. ShrocJcled, withered. Kent. Shruff] light rubbish wood, a perquisite to hedg- ers. Norf. and SufK Side-Coat, a great coat. York, Sihe-lihe, such-like. North. Sile, to boil gently, to simmer. North. To sile down, to pour gently. North. Sile-dish, a milk-strainer. North. Sird Milk, skimmed milk. North. Silly, — to look silly is to look ill in health. York. As, you look main silly to-day. Silt, mud and slime left after a flood. Norf. and SufF. Simnel, a rich cake, the outer crust coloured with saflTron. Shropsh, Simper, Grose's provincial glossary. 403 Simper, to mince one's words. Lane. Singlet, an under waistcoat, used in a Derbyshire tailor's bill. Skeel, a milk-pail. York city. It differs from the Kit by having two handles. Northumb. Skeer the Fire, i.e. poke out the ashes. Derb. Skep, a basket wider at the top than bottom. Norf. and SufF. Also a hive for bees. Id. York. Skerry, shaley, of the nature of slate. Derb. Spoken of coals. Skew'd, a skew'd horse, one of two colours. North. Skiffs, to remove, in the sense of flit. York. W. R. Skillet, a small iron pot, with a long handle^ to boil any thing. Kent. Skimmer, — a skimmering light, ^. e. glimmering. York. Skreeds, borders for women's caps» Derb. and York ; quasi Skreens, Slake, — to slake a fire is to put on small coals, that it may not bum too fast. North. Slappy Bread, not baked enough. Norf. and Suff. S learn, slumber. Lane. Sleepers, baulks or summers that support a floor. Var. Dial. < • ' ' D D 2 ' Slice, ^K. 404 A SUPPLEMENT T6 Slice, a fire shovel. Bristol. So an Egg-slice^ Slifter, a crevice or crack. Lane. Slink, a calf produced before its time. Var. Dial. ^ ij^ }l 330. Month's Mind 286. Mood, Infractions of, 168. Moral for Model 74. More better, Morevvor3er,&?. 93—96. et seq. More and Mould xiv. Mortem obiit 252. Most Agreeablest, Most Im- pudentest, &c. 96. Most Highest 97. Mought for Might, from Mowe, 113. Musicianer 59. The Musick, The Musicks, 147—149. N'as, was not, 83. Necessuated 55. Negatives, redundant, 80. Negotiosissimum 105. Nervous 263. News 224, 225. N'il, will not, 83. Nisi prisi71. No-hows 62. N'old, would not, 83. Nolus bolus 75. Nominative for Accusative! 66. Non-plush'd 66. No-wheres 62. Numerus, Nusmerus, 151. Nyst for Nice 73. Obstropolous 58. Obtain and ask 292. Of, redundant after the par- ticiple active, 37. Often^ INDEX, 425 Often for Frequent 297. Oft ens 62. Old in the sense of Great 100. Omen, Osmen, 151. Orange 315. Organ, The Organs, A pair of Organs, 149. Our-selfl90, 192, 193. Oum 195. *— ous, — ousity, 38. — ow, verbs ending in, 109. Palaretick 61. Palfreys 347. Paragraft 68. Parson 330. Partender 58. Passing strange 295: Pee-aches 58. Pepperer 321. Per (Italian) 210. Per case 294. Percy 301. Perdigious 59. Periwig 316. Perwent 70. Piece, Stay a piece, 228. Pight, pret. of Pitch, 245. Pillord 60. Pindfir's Head 341. Pityful282, 299. Plural Nouns with Singular Verbs 167. Porcupine 62. Portingal 62. Post^s, Posteses, 61. Pottecary for Apothecary, 72. See Apothecary. Poulterer, orPoulter, 94, 338. Pour (French) 210, 212. Pour quoi 213. Prebendarides 34. Precedent 283. Premature 280. Preterits, Antient, &c. 244. Prevent 290. Previous for Previously 295. Pre-used 70. Pro (Latin) 210. Prodigious for Prodigiously 295. Progidy 59. Prooves 293. Properietor 66. Proportionably 293. Put about for Put upon, &c, 297. (Quean 351. A jQuite other thing 297. Radige for Radish 70. Rap or rend xiv. Raught, pret. of Reach, Over- raught, 135. Read, perfect tense Red, 131. Read or Write 298. Recom pence, to the righteous and to the wicked, 291. Red, Redd, or Redde, pret. of Read, 131—133. Reduced, Reduction, 300. Refuge for Refuse 70. Regiment for Regimen 63. Registrar, Register, Regis- gistrer, Registrary, 331. Registrum 333. Remember for Remind or Recollect 142, 152. Repulsed 269. Respective for Respectful 72. Respectively for Respectfully 65, 300. Revenges 226. Rewarding for crimes 291. Rose for Risen 123, 126. Royal Attestations, &c. 190. — .^. Signatures, 194, 195. Royal 426 INDEX. Riibbidge for Rubbish 70. Ruinated 69. Run, Ran, 245. Runn'd for Ran 244. S final dropped 148—151. Saace, Saacer, Saacy, 58. Saffi'on 315. Salter, Druggist, or Drysaltery 335. Savation 39. Says me, 1, &e. 217—220. 'Scarded 39. Scavenger 335. Scholaiil 63. Scrivener 335. Scrowdge 60. Scrupulosity 58. ScruSe 60. 'Scuse 39. The Sea, The Seas, 150. See'd for Saw and Seen 106. Self, Selves, 187, 191, 193. Sempster, Sempsteress, 326. Senior and Junior Optime 99, 100. Sent me 246. Sermont 61. Sew for Sow'd 107. Sexton 335. Shall us, &c. 159. Shay and Po-shay 57- Shepster, a Shepherd or Shep- herdess, 327. Shook for Shaken 124. Sick as a Horse 24. Sin, Sinst^ for Since, 73. Since, preposition, 282. Singular Verbs to plural Nouns 167. Sitti-ation 61. Skeusacion 39. Skrimidge, Skrimage, 70. i'Sletvfrom Slay 109. Slow, pret. of Slay, 244. Smote, pret. of Smite, 244. Smuggle 181. Snew for Snow'd 107. So— And so, 216. Soho Square, Monmouth Square, King's Square, 339. Solempne, solemn, 175. Solentary 69. Some-hows 62. Some-wheres 62. Somerset House 346. Somner, Sumner, Sompnour, 175. I Sot for Sat 73. ' Sowter 336. ' Sped 132. Spet, pret. of Spit, 244. Spinner, Spinster, 326. Spred, pret. of Spread, 132. Sprung, Sprang, 245. Squeedge 60. Squits 60. Stagnated for Stagger'd 68. Stale, pret. of Steal, 244. Stationer 316, 336. Stocken, Stockener, 325. Stove, pret. of Stave, 244. Streets, Names of, whence derived, 329. Stroke, pret. of Strike, 244. Strucken for Stricken 244. Stupendious 55. Subpoena, Subpoenaed, 174. Succeed (verb active), to prosper, 267. Success, 111, or Bad, 266. Successfully for Successively 65. Summons'd for Summon'd, &c. 171. Superficious 260. Superlatives, redundant, 91. Surfeit, INDEX. 4^7 Surfeit, participle, 298. Surgeont 61. Suspect for Suspected, 136. Sware, pret. of Swear, 245. Takes, impost's, 121. Tallemache, Talmash, 302. Tapper, Tapster, 326. Taters for Potatoes^ 71. Tax for Task, 121. Taylor, Taylyor, 71 > 337. Taylor the Water-poet's Head, 341. Teach'd for Taught, 136. Tenents, 226. Terminations, ity, ety, &c. 38. Terminations of the same words different, 352. Thack-tile, 328. That there, 205, 208. The t'other for The other, 75. Their-selves for Themselves, 184. Them-self, 192. Think, remind, 152. This here, 205, 208. This means, That means, 226. Thread for Third, 120. Threw, Throw'd, Thrown, 108—111. Thrower, Throwster, 326. Thurgh for Through, 120. — Thurghout,Thurghfare, ib. Thurst for Thirst, 120. Tinker, Tinklar, 338. Tole, to decoy, 298. Took for Taken— Mistook, Overtook, 123-125. Towards, 62. Tramontane, 253. Trepasser (French), 252. Trotters, 247. True-ism, 37. Twickenham, 342. U omitted in Honour, Fa- vour, &c. 43. Vadare (Italian), 238. Vade, and Vada, at Primero, 237. Vader (French), 234, 235. Vemon, Vemonous, 61. Venir de mourir, 253. Verment, 61. Vertre sa Mere, 223. Vestry, Revestry, 333. Vintner, 338. Un- in compounds, 36. Unpossible, Unpartial, Unac* tive, Unsufferable, 56. Unbeknown, 249, Unbethought for recollected, 66, 250. Undertaker, 338. Unfatigues, 36. Unvalued, 299. Upholsterer, Upholster, Up- holder, 94, 338. Uppermost, Undermost, Ut- termost, 104. Vocation for Vacation, 71. Vulgularity, or Wulgularity, 55. Us— Shall us, &c. 159. W for V in pronunciation, and vice versS,, 77- W for H in pronunciation, 78. Wade, 239. Wait upon, 289. Wall-tile, 328. Waps for Wasp, 75, 120. Ware, pret. of Wear, 245. We, Us, Our, the Regal style, 190, 191. Went for Gone, from the old word Wend, 233, 239. Went dead, 247, 250, 251. Went with, 247. What 428 INDEX. What does me, I ? &c. 218- 250. Whatsomdevei*,Whatsomever, 64. When, Any when, 209. Whensomever, 65. Where used as a Noun, 209, 210. Which for Who, 293. Whiggissimus, 105. While— A few while, &c. 221. While, until, 228. Whiles, Whilst, 228. Whilom, 229. Whole-tote, 60. Wife — Mid-wife, House-wife, Ale-wife, Oyster-wife^ 330. Wo, 11, 13. Wo, Wo-er> Wo-est, 351. Woke, pret. of Wake, 245. Wonst for Once, 73. Worse (verb) 92. Worser, More worser, 91. Wove, pret. of Wave, 244- Wriothesley, 265. Writ, 155. Wrooke, pret. of Wreake, 244. Wrote for Written, 123, 127, 130. Wrote me, 246. Y, an affix, 180. Yaw Mackarel, 340. Year's Mind, 289. Yourn, 195. Youth, 351. ERRATA. P. 24. last line, read As sick as a Horse. P. 66. line 2, insert reference to note *". P. 70. note, line 14, read — ish. 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