^ *" ^ ^ ^'..*:..S^ ^, AavaaiH"^ "^^Auvaain^ ^TiuoNvsoi^^ '^^/smm 'a o ^s ^lOSANCElfx^ so > so mkis.^ ^;^ AOSANCElfj:; ^aOSANCElfj> ^OFCAllFORi^ ^.OFCALI ,5MF!i^: .'AYURRARY^/ JO^ \$ U-l "s \t 3i >»L^ rM -3; Ho =0 ^^OJIWDJO^ <: i --75 li ) i ■^-QB'JNViUl"'" o J CI >\,OFCAtlF0fi>^ i X(f=^ o ^ ^WEUNIVERS'//) -a: 0«- .\WEUNIVER% g .^ vvlOSANCElfjv, 8 . ^S 00 so > %il3AINfl3WV .-^ '%OJI1V3JO^ >- - - '^ ^lOSANCElfJV^ ^OFCAllFOi?^ TAYLOR'S SYNONYMS. " The greatest beauty of writing is precision of expression. It is essentially connected with correctness of thinking ; for who can transfer his thoughts with entire exactness of contour and significancy of accessory ideas, who does not form them definitely, and who cannot find up among the whole mass of kindred terms the only word which represents the very shade and shape of the idea in his mind ? " — Eberhard. " The study of synonymy is adapted to teach more thar precision of style. By a necessary consequence it bestows ac- curacy of thinking ; it exercises the comparison while it sharpens the critical skill ; and it tends to diminish and to settle those verbal disputes which, in theology, morality, science, and indeed in all the branches of philosophy, have so often divided men into parties for want of their understand- ing each other." — Preface. " The object of synonymy is to collect sets of media, or of words, which have such a general resemblance as frequently to be interchanged and misapplied ; then to assort them, and stamp each respectively with the mark of its intellectual cor- relative. Were this generally effected, and the use of it ge- nerally adopted, it is not possible to convey any idea of the consequent rapidity and forcible impression in mental commu- nication, and of the reflex influence of these on the precision and energy of thought itself, that would follow. " It is the progress to indistinctness, through the multipli- city of relations in which words are used, that debars later authors from that pith and raciness of style peculiar to the early writers ; when the currency of language, yet fresh from the mint, presents the image as distinct as the superscription is legible. " The original copiousness of our Saxon with importations from the continent, enriched from the treasures of Greece and Rome, became fully competent to express all that antiquity had conceived, or improvements, refinements, and abstractions of modern times could suggest. " The office of the synonymist is not to expose the gross errors of the ignorant, but to fix the vagueness of classic com- position. For this office Mr. Taylor is well qualified, by a nicely discriminating perception of the shades of meaning superinduced by custom, even when the ground of etymology is the same, and by a competent knowledge of languages where their assistance is required — especially of those northern dialects which form the warp and woof of English, and on which the flowers of Greece and Rome have been embroidered. In our own tongue he is master of all its powers ; truly con- veying that strong and distinct view of objects to others, in which his perspicacity exhibits them to himself." — Quarterly Review, Vol. 35. " This publication is just the kind of work wanted — a de- sideratum in our literature — but not at all proportioned to the copiousness of our language. We could, with pleasure to ourselves and our readers, multiply extracts ; but we conclude by expressing a hope that Mr. Taylor may be induced to ap- ply, to the further illustration of British synonymy, the powers which so eminently qualify him for the task, and that he will consider a proof of our admiration of those powers the hints we have presumed to give." — Quarterly Review, No. 70. " Taylor's ' Synonyms Discriminated ' will prove his lasting monument ; they excited very general attention, and raised his reputation far higher than it had ever before stood." — Quarterly Review, No. 145. ENGLISH SYNONYMS DISCRIMINATED BY W. TAYLOR, OP Norwich. WITH ^ CDopious EnKex. Nur selten wird ein AVort, Oder eine Bedeutung, in alien den eia- zelnen Fallen gebraucht, in welchen sie doch gebraucht werden k6un- ten : alle diese unmerklich kleinen Schattierungen in den Bedeutun- gen durch Worteauszudriicken, ist unmOglich; und alle die Falle anzufuhren, in welchen ein Wort gebraucht werden kann, ist es nicht weniger, wenn maun auch die unabsehliche Weitlaufigkeit, die solches . wurde verursachet haben, nicht mit in Rechnung bringen wollte. Adelcno. LONDON: E. LUMLEY, 126, HIGH HOLBOKN. 1856. INTRODUCTION. The word synonym is compounded of the greek preposition auv cum, and ovofia nomen: it means therefore a, fellow-name. Those terms are called synonymous, which describe the same things by other names : to synonymize is to express one thought in different phrases ; synonymy is the use, a synonymist the user of synonyms, and synonymicon describes a dic- tionary of them. Some languages, like the greek and ger- man, are self-derived. When they have occa- sion to designate fresh objects, they do it by joining, in a new and definitive manner, terms already in use. They have been taught, for instance, to name the elements of modern chemistry by internal resources : oxygen, sau- erstojf. In such languages no two words are a-'i '■■Z-^ SZ-^ o VI equipollent, no distinct expressions have quite the same significance. Other languages, like the english, have been formed by the confluence of several tongues. A gothic dialect, the Caledonian probably, forms the basis of our speech ; and the french, which with the italian and Spanish may be considered as a latin dialect, has mixed with it so abundantly, that it de- pends on a writer''s choice, whether the north- ern or southern diction shall predominate. In such languages many words are wholly equi- valent. Our tongue abounds especially with dupli- cates, one of which is borrowed from some gothic, and the other from some roman, dia- lect. Freedom, happiness, are saxon, liberty, felicity, are latin, terms, which are not merely similar, but identical, in meaning : so are the adjectives friendly, amical; and the verbs to lessen, to diminish. In commercial nations, in seaport towns, in hybrid families, it often happens that the names given to the same things in different countries both become cur- rent. Wherein lies the difference between a gotch and a pitcher, but that the one is a hoi- vn landish and the other a french term for a water-crock : or between a sharoot and a segar, but that the first is an east-indian and the second a west-indian name for a rolled tobacco leaf. Such double terms are always at first commutable, and may continue so for genera- tions : but when new objects are discovered, or new shades of idea which such words are fitted to depict, it at length happens that a separation of meanings is made between them. Thus, to hlanch and to whiten are insensibly acquiring a distinct purport ; to hlanch being now only applied where some stain, or colour- ing matter, is withdrawn which concealed the natural whiteness. Thus, again, whole and entire ; worth and merit ; understanding and intellect ; are tending to a discriminable meanmg. A language begins with being too poor. In rude ages the same word performs many ser- vices. Thus, in Hebrew, ruakh spirit, stands for breath, for temper, for soul, and for ghost. During periods of intercourse, whether occa- sioned by conquest or by commerce, many foreign expressions are imported, which en- rich but encumber the national vocabulary. viii At this stage of growth a language may be- come too wealthy. After a further advance of circulation, of record, of selection, and of refinement, a distinct office comes to be as- signed to every individual term. The english language has not yet completed this last spire of the progress. Our double nomenclature is still too numerous ; it frequently tempts our writers into idle pleonasm, and favours a use- less tautology. Once in a while an echo may amuse, but it is usually an unwelcome com- panion. Cicero, the greatest artist in composition, willingly employed himself in the discrimina- tion of synonyms. He thus analyzes the sub- stantives labour and dolour. " Interest aliquid inter lahorem et dolorem ; sunt finitima omnino, sed tamen differt ali- quid : labor est functio quaedam vel animi vel corporis gravioris operis vel muneris ; dolor autem motus asper in corpore Aliud, inquam, est dolere, aliud laborare. Cum va- rices secabantur Cneio Mario, dolebat ; cum aestu magno ducebat agmen, laborabat.'' He thus contrasts the verbs amare and di- ligere. IX *' Quis erat qui putaret ad eum amorem quem erga te habebam posse aliquid accedere ? Tantum accessit, ut mihi nunc denique amare videar, antea dilexisse.'''' Again: "Quid ego tibi commendem eum quem tu ipse diligis ? Sed tamen ut scires eum non a me diligi solum, verum etiam amari, ob eam rem tibi hoc scribo." Quintilian, wlio lectured on rhetoric at Rome, with an applause which his printed Institutes rather account for than justify, has occasionally digressed to examine synonyms. In the sixth book, for instance : " Pluribus autem nominibus in eadem re vulgo utimur ; quae tamen si diducas, suam propriam quandam vim ostendent. Nam et urbanitas dicitur : qua quidem significari video sermonem prse se ferentem in verbis et sono et usu, propriam quendam gustum urbis, et sumptam ex conversatione doctorum tacitam eruditionem, et denique cui contraria sit rusti- citas. Venustum esse, quod cum gratia qu^- dam et venere dicatur, apparet. Salsum in consuetudine pro ridicuio tantum accipimus ; natura non utique hoc est ; quanquam et ridi- cula oporteat esse falsa. Nam et Cicero orane quod salsum sit ait esse Atticorum, quia sunt X maxime ad risum compositi : et Catullus cum (licit. " Nulla in tarn magno est corpore mica salis : Hoc dicit, nihil in corpore ejus esse ridiculum. Salsum igitur erit, quod non erat insulsum ; velut quoddam simple^ orationis condimen- tum, quod sentitur latente judicio velut palato, excitatque et a tsedio defendit orationem. Sane tamen, ut ille in cibis paullo liberalius asper- sus, si tamen non sit immodicus, afFert aliquid propriffi voluptati ; ita hi quoque in dicendo habent quiddara, quod nobis faciat audiendi sitim. Facetum quoque non tantum circa ri- dicula, opinor consistere : neque enim diceret Horatius facetum carminis genus naturae con- cessum esse Virgilio. Decoris banc magis et excultaB cujusdam elegantiae appellationem puto. Ideoque in epistolis Cicero haec Bruti refert verba ' Nse illi sunt pedes faceti, ac de- liciis ingredient! molles."' Quod convenit cum illo Horatiano. " Molle atque facetum Virgilio. Jocum vero accipimus, quod est contrarium se- rio. Nam et fingere et terrere, et promittere iii- eri ni jocus est. Dicacitas sine dubio a dicendo XI quod est omni generi commune, ducta est : propria tamen significat sermonem cum risu aliquo incessentem. Ideo Demostlienem ur- banum fuisse dicunt, dicacera negant." Nonius Marcellus of Tibur, by his work De Proprietate Sermonum, attained eminence as a grammarian about the close of the fourth century. Many latin synonyms are examined in his fifth section, and instructively distin- guished. The earliest book, however, which was expressly devoted to the discrimination of synonyms, is a greek work of Ammonius, the son of Hermias, who flourished in the sixth century. The original edition of this treatise is appended to a greek dictionary, printed at Venice in 1497 ; but it was edited with the works of other grammarians at Leyden by Valcknaer in 1739; and published apart at Erlangen in 1787 by a namesake of the au- thor, under the title A/jbfMwvtov irepi 6/u,olcov /cat BuKpopcov Xe^ecov. Under the reign of Harold, and about the year 1040, flourished John Garland, an Eng- lishman, whose manuscript treatise entitled Synonyma et Equivoca was long much in re- Xll quest, and was printed at Cologne in 1490. Among the Auctores Lingua Latince, collected and edited by Dionysius Gotliofredus, there is a chapter on synonymy picked from ancient grammarians. Several moderns, Popma, Rich- ter, Braun, have compiled in this department of latin glossology, additional materials : of the continental writers, Dumesnil is the most celebrated ; of our native writers, Hill. The earliest regular treatise of the moderns, exclusively consecrated to the comparison of vernacular synonyms, seems to have been that of the abbe Girard ; the publication of which obtained for him a seat amid the academicians of France: its first edition is dated in 1718, the enlarged edition in 1747. His work is generally known, and is certainly executed with ele^fance. The refinements of usasje he detects with sagacity, and records with perspi- cuity ; if he sometimes errs in the valuation of a word, he seldom fails in communicating exactly his estimate ; but he omits to analyze the causes of his results, and never seeks in historic etymology for the reasons which ne- cessarily attach to the several synonyms differ- ent sets of accessory ideas. This work was xin republished in 1770, and in 1776, with addi- tional articles by Beauzee ; and with other supplementary matter derived from the Ency- clopedy. A distinct treatise on french synonyms, by the more careful and more learned Roubaud, appeared in 1785 at Paris, and again in 1787 at Berlin. Girard had relied too much on metropolitan and social usage ; half his dis' tinctions are since gone out of fashion. Rou- baud relied preferably on latin usage : though assailed at first as pedantic, he is now obeyed by every writer, and is even become the canon of fashionable conversation ; so versatile is custom, so immutable is etymology. The more lively, satisfactory, and enduring articles of these several french synonymists have been collected by M. de Levizac at London, in 1807, and republished with neat abbreviation. At Bologna, in 1732, appeared Sinonimi ed a(jgianli Italiani raccolti da Carlo Costanzo Mabbi, of which a second augmented edition was given at Venice in 1764, by Alessandro Maria Bandiera. As records of practice these volumes have a value, which they do not as- sert as authorities for conduct. Imprecision, b XIV however, -.s not often chargeable on the au- thors of southern Europe. A Frenchman or an Italian has only to learn latin in order to know thoroughly his whole narrow range of words. But an english writer, in order com- pletely to understand his vocabulary, must study so many languages, that he less fre- quently accomplishes the tas' Dr. Trusler published at London in 1766 a partial abstract of Girard's work. Those words which were common to the french and english languages, and which retained in both the same relative value, were numerous enough to supply a large stock of translated articles : these were interspersed with original defini- tions of some contiguous terms peculiar to ourselves. His neat and useful, though not wholly trustworthy book, attained a second edition in 1783. It will not be superseded by the subsequent but inferior attempt of Mrs. Piozzi. Blair has deposited in his Rhe- toric, (lecture X.,) and Dawson in his Philo- logia Anglica, some further contributions to an english synonymicon. The Germans have not neglected this branch of grammatical literature, and have XV furnished perhaps the completest european treatises on the subject. In 1783 was print- ed Stosch's Essay toward defining German Words of like Meaning. Without Girard's dexterous choice of examples, which makes instruction both amuse and tell, the german synonymist has produced a work of sounder information. It may be scholastic, diffuse, and too metaphysical ; but it frequently ex- plains the reason of the collected facts. So much of meaning as inheres in the radical and primary signification of a word is neces- sarily immortal ; but that which has accrued from casual application may die out and dis- appear. Eberhard, another german glossologist, pub- lished at Halle, in 1802 and the following years, a still more comprehensive synonymi- con of his language. The previous labours of Stosch he has employed and condensed ; the masterly dictionary of Adelung he has con- sulted for corrective and additional matter , and by the composition of new articles he has extended to more than eight volumes hl^ instructive work. Yet even Eberhard leans too much on usage, which is transient ; too XVI little on etymology, which is immutable : he oftener supplies the what than the wliy of practice, and sharpens instinct instead of un- folding reason. He is a neater, not a clearer, writer than Stosch ; his matter is ampler, not purer ; his instances are more lively, not al- ways more convincing ; he excels Stosch in taste of redaction, and comprehension of terms. " The greatest beauty of writing," says Eber- hard, " is precision of expression. It is essen- tially connected with correctness of thinking ; for who can transfer his thoughts with entire exactness of contour and significancy of ac- cessorv ideas, who does not form them defi- nitely, and who cannot find up among the whole mass of kindred terms the only word which represents the very shade and shape of the idea in his mind ? " The beauty of precision derives from many sources ; but principally from a grati- fication of the reason, which lies at the bottom of most pleasures of the mind. This feeling is ])roduced by that just harmony between thought and expression, the result of a rational choice, which leaves nothing to blind chance, XVll but is decided even in the least things by the best motives. "To this sympathy with an author's judi- cious and perpetual exertion of his intellect may be added the exercise of personal pene- tration, as another source of our delight in precision of style. Whatever renders remark- able to us a hitherto unobserved difference betvreen terms, bestows new powers of defi- nition, and gives to the mind a lesson, as it were, in the art of drawing. Lessing, who in the fulness, grace, and vividness of his ima- gery, is excelled by other stylists, surpasses them all in precision ; this it is which gives to his most fugitive essays and unmethodized productions, nay, to every private letter, a charm, which others vainly emulate. "The study of synonymy is adapted to teach more than precision of style. By a necessary consequence it bestows accuracy of thinking ; it exercises the comparison, while it sharpens the critical skill ; and it tends to diminish and to settle those verbal disputes, which in the- ology, morality, science, and indeed in all the branches of philosophy, have so often divided men into parties for want of their understand- ing each other." XVIU Our english books of synonymy would per- haps admit of some amendment by an approx- imation to foreign models. I have thought fit at least to make the experiment, and to write anew several definitions of the terms, which are most commonly examined and compared in the circulating catalogues of synonyms. This task has proved an agreeable relaxation to me during^ the intervals of severer but less popular studies. Many of the ensuing pages travel over the ground of Dr. Trusler : whenever our esti- mates agree, I have preferred to avail myself of his instances : whenever they disagree, I have thought some note of precaution against my own decision due to his established au- thority. In the Athenccnm and in the Monthly Ma- gazine^ several of the following articles were successively inserted during the progress of composition. They are here assembled after some revisal and some abridgment. It is hoped they may be found useful not to young persons only, but to all those who aspire to write the english language with precision. Keeping in view the remark of Mr. Gilbert Wakefield, that a good word can have but two XIX senses, a proper and a metaphoric, and that he who understands the proper sense of a word can never be at a loss how to employ it in metaphor, I have habitually endeavoured, by etymologic investigation, to ascertain of every analyzed word the primary sense. Sometimes it is difficult to detect, in the very root, the seminal meaning of terms, and to trace that specific and inherent tendency which guides their subsequent ramification. Every word in- deed must at first have represented a sensible idea ; but often, in the elemental phrases of language, metaphor begins so early as to elude analysis and decomposition. Researches into the derivation ©f words have usually been noted at length when liable to controversy, and concisely when the point is established. This etymologic method may occasionally appear too formal, and be felt as tedious ; it will be found however to confer on the stylist a great command over the words analyzed. Understanding them exactly, he can henceforth employ them with confidence in combinations hitherto untried. Nor can it be wholly insignificant to the diffusion and preservation of our language, to XX have recorded its peculiar use of many terins common to the european nations : the foreigner will thereby more easily discern what insulates our practice, and the critic what characterizes oiir age. ENGLISH SYNONYMS. Synonymous. Homonymous. Words allied in signification are called synony- mous, words allied in name only are called homony- mous : synonym (from avf and ovofxa) meaning a fellow-name, and homonym (from ofxoQ and orof-ia) meaning a same-name. In Latin, the words tauriis, bull, and bos, ox, are synonyms ; but the words Tau- rus, a mountain so called, and taurus, a bull, are ho- monyms. In English, the words lead-pigs and plum- beous ingots are synonymous ; but lead-pigs and lead, pigs (in the sense * guide swine') are homonymous. Synonyms busy the ingenuity of the grammarian ; homonyms, of the punster. To WHITEN. To BLANCH. To whiten is to superinduce a white color. To blanch is to withdraw some colouring matter, or stain, which concealed the natural whiteness. To whiten a house. A whitened sepulchre. To blanch wax. To blanch almonds. The whitenings of flat- tery will not conceal his vices from posterity. My cheek is blanched with fear. Shakspeare. 22 To WISH FOR. To HAVE A MIND FOR. To LONG FOR. To HANKER AFTER. The desire of something unpossest is an idea com- mon to these verbs. To ivish for is a mere senti- ment of the soul, unaccompanied with exertion. To have a mind for imphes additionally the intention to pursue. To long for includes animal desire, of the stomach, or other intestines. To hanker after (to hanker is the frequentative of to hang) marks a repeated expression of intreative pantomime. He wishes to be married, who in the abstract prefers the married to the single state. He has a mind to be married, whose dodging gallantry indi- cates that intention. He longs to be married, who having concluded the contract hastens the realization of it. He hankers after matrimony, who, notwith- standing repulse, renews his application. Lazy people often sit down and content them- selves with wishing for those things they would presently obtain, if diligent and assiduous. Trusler. Princes have sometimes a mind to gratify their ambition at the expence of their future welfare. Trusler. Women with child frequently long for things they see. Trusler. Some children will hanker a long time after thoir nurses, and it is with the greatest difficulty they can be brought to forget them. Trusler. Tray. Waiter. Voider. A tray (tragen to carry) is a portable shelf: a waiter is a tray used to offer meats or drinks upon, to ivait on company with : a voider is a tray used to empty {viiider, to empty) the table, or the side-board. Hence, 23 the tray is of all sizes, the waiter small, and the voider large. Doubt. Uncertainty. Suspense. Douht has not studied, uncertainty has not judged, suspense has not determined. Doubt regards our knowledge, uncertainty our inference, suspense our volition. Doubt is the hesitation of ignorance, uncertainty of irresolution, and suspense of in- decision. Doubt is open to enquiry, uncertainty to conviction, and suspense to action. Story. Tale. Romance. Novel. A story (laropia) professes to be true ; a tale pro- fesses to have the amusement of the hearer for its object : both describe short narrations within the compass of conversational convenience. A romance narrates adventures of the age of chivalry, such inci- dents as occupied the writers in the provemal, or provincial-roman (romanzo, romish), language of the middle age ; a novel narrates adventures of our own times, incidents which have novelty for their charac- teristic ; both describe extensive narrations, which are prepared for the reader rather than the hearer. Stories are not to be marvellous ; tales are not to be insipid ; romances are not to be vulgar ; and novels are not to be old-fashioned. Endeavour. Effort. Endeavour is labour directed to some specific end ; effort is a laborious endeavour. When we would accomplish a design, we use our endeavours ; if we meet with any considerable and unexpected obstacles in the way, wc apply our utmost efforts. Truster. 24 To DISSERT. To DISCUSS. To dissert is to expatiate, to engraft (dis and severe) consequential matter on the original question. To discuss is to examine throughout, to shake to the bottom {(lis and cutere) the topic of controversy. Authors dissert, and critics discuss. Disagreement. Dissension. Division. Discord. Variation of opinion is usually progressive in this order. Disagreement is the cessation of acquies- cence, dissension a contrariety of sentiment, division a separation of conduct, and discord an alienation of affection. We m?y disagree before we proclaim our dissent, dissent without dividing, aud divide without discord. Sumptuous. Sumptuary. That which causes expense is sumptuous ; that which relates to expense is sumptuary. A sump- tuous feast, a sumptuous campaign. Sumptuary ledgers, sumptuary laws. To CONFUTE. To REFUTE. To pour cold water upon hot freely, so as to make a tepid mixture, is confutare ; to pour cold water upon hot cautiously, so as to prevent the dissipation, but not the boiling, is refutare ; futare being the frequentative of fundere to pour. To confute, then, is to pour together, aud to refute is to pour against ; but in our language these words in their proper sense do not occur. In metaphor, to confute is to neutralize argumentation by the reply opposed ; and to refute is to thwart continually without allaying the character of the original propositions. For either party he'd dispute, Confute, change hands, and still confute. Butler. It was impossible to refute such multitudes. Addison. 25 Fight. Combat. Engagement. Battle. Fight is applicable alike to the combat of two, to the engagement of several men, or to the battle of multitudes. A fight maj;- be accidental ; a combat, an engagement, is pre-arranged. A battle is usually preceded by the engagement of subordinate wings of the army. Fight and engagement do not neces- sarily imply the use of weapons ; combat and battle do. Engagement is applied to naval conflict, battle only to territorial. Fight is supposed by Adelung to derive from some word signifying fist. Engagement comes from gage a pledge. Combat is from con together and battre to strike or beat with a weapon • and of battre battle is the frequentative. Dumb. Silent. Mute. He is dumb, who cannot speak ; he is silent, who does not speak ; he is mute, whose silence is com- pulsory. Alute is a participle which means rendered dumb, from whatever cause. Eastern slaves, whose tongues have been cut away that they may be safe confidants, are called mutes. Those only are called dumb, who are so from birth. The poet should personify observation as silent : secrecy as mute ; ignorance as dumb. Benediction. Beatitude. Blessing. Bliss. Benediction bears that relation to beatitude which benevolence bears to beneficence ; the one is the wish, the other the reahzation. The benediction of the priest. The beatitude of heaven. Blessing and bliss are saxon words, answering nearly to the latin words benediction and beatitude The blessing of the priest. The bliss of heaven. Yet there is this difference between benediction and blessing ; that whereas benediction is oulv used B 2 26 of good wishes (being derived from bene dicere, to say good) blessing is used of good things. The blessings of a plentiful harvest. The blessing of sunshine. And w^hereas beatitude is only used of those who have been rendered happy (being derived from the participle heatus, made happy) bliss is used of those who make themselves so. The bliss of intoxication. The bliss of love. If the latin word had taken, which Cicero coined and could not naturalize, beatitus, we should probably have imported it, and have had two more synonyms, beatity and blessedness, to include in this list. These two words would have been identical in meaning. Choaked. Throttled. Strangled. Stifled. Smothered. Suffocated. Here are six words, describing stoppage of breath. lie is choaked, whose respiration is interrupted from within, whose wind-pipe is irritated or closed by food swallowed am.iss, or by such internal affection as produces an effort at coughing. He is throttled, whose respiration is checked in the throat, whether from without or within. He is strangled, whose respiration is interrupted from without by squeezing the neck, whose wind-})ipe is compressed by a noose, or a bowstring. He is stifled, whose respiration is stopped by repeated efforts. He is smothered, whose respiration is interrupted at the orifice by covering the mouth and nostrils. He is suffocated, whose respiration is attacked in the lungs by the introduc- tion of irrcspirable or azotic airs. Clouds of dust 4id choak Contending troops. Waller. The throttling quinsey 'tis my star appoints. D;*y^/eK. Staring full ghastly like a strangled man. Shakspeare. Tiie air we drew out leit the more room for the stilling steam of the coals, Jioi/le. 27 Children have been smothered in bed by the carelessness of nurses. Trusler. Miners are often suffocated by damps. Aceocan (whence to choak) is to swell out the cheek, to cough. Throttle, more properly throttel, is the throat in- strument, the larynx, or uvula ; from this siibstantive derives the verb, which has corruptly assumed a frequentative form, le for el. At the upper extreme it hath no larynx, or throttel, to quahfy the sound. Brown s Vulgar Errors. Strangle is the frequentative of stringere, to com- press, to grasp. Stifle is the frequentative of to stop ; the French etoufer and etouper, whence our stifle and stop, are both derived from etoupe and estovpe (Latin stupa), a bunch of moss or tow, with which the chinks of vessels are caulked or stopped. Smut, whence to smother, is the silth of a chimney. Smutty herrings, smutty haras, are such as have been smoke-dried. The inside is so smutted with dust and smoke, that neither the marble, silver, nor brass works show themselves. Addison. To smother is to cover, as with soot and ashes ; hence an idea of concealment adheres to the word. Smother the embers that they may not burn out before our return. He must smother that scandalous anecdote, as he can. To suffocate is to put under fire (sub foco) and thence to destroy, as air-damps destroy. Flesh. Meat. Victuals. Flesh is the natural composition of an animal ; meat is any kind of food, although commonly used of flesh-meat, or butcher's meat ; victual is a ratio of provision, meat served in portions. The flesh of a woodcock is an exquisitely delicate meat. Grain 28 is the meat of birds. Fish and vegetables, according^ to the Catliolics, are the proper meats during Lent. He was not able to keep that place three days for lack of victuals- You had musty victuals, and he holp to eat them. Flesh is a word common to all the gothic dialects. Wachter thinks it etymologically connected with leik, body ; in which case animal origin is the essen- tial idea. Hire thinks it etymologically connected with fiek, bacon : in which case cutting up is the essential idea. Flitch and flesh may have been one word ; yet it is less harsh to suppose it connected with the verb to flush, and to place in redness the essential idea. Meat signifies nourishment : in the following pas- sage milk is called a meat. Le linge, orne de fleurs fut convert pour tous m^ts, D'un pen de lait, de fruits, et des dons de Cere. Lafontaine. Victual is from the French victuaille, which is from the Italian victuaglia and this from the Latin vectigal, which is apparently derived from vescor, to feed, and meant, first a requisition of provisions, then a requisition of money, then tribute. Austerity. Severity. Rigour. " Austerity (says Blair) relates to the manner of living ; severity, of thinking ; rigour, of punishing. To austerity is opposed effeminacy : to severity, re- laxation : to ligour, clemency. A hermit is austere in his life ; a casuist, severe in his decision ; a judge rigorous in his sentence." In this attempt at discrimination there is little exactness. Austerity is apj)lied not only to habit, but to doctrine, and to infliction. Solitary confine- ment is a severe form of life, and a severe punishment. l{igid observances, rigid opinions, are oftener s|)okcn of lliau rigid sentences. 29 A hermit is austere, ■who Hves harshly ; is severe, who lives solitarily ; is rigid, who lives unswervingly. A casuist is austere, who commands mortification ; severe, who forbids conviviality ; rigid, whose ex- actions are unqualified. A judge is austere, who punishes slight transgressions ; severe, who punishes to the utmost ; rigid, who punishes without respect of persons and circumstances. Why this ? Austerity is an idea of the palate ; it means crabbedness. Vinum austerius. The meta- phorical use of the word keeps this in view. Those modes of life which are painful to the moral taste, are called austere. To shun luxury, to incur mortifi- cation, to fly from cheerful social enjoyments, is to live austerely. Those doctrines which are painful to the moral taste, are called austere. To reprobate fornication, to command flagellation, to stimulate perpetually the ruminations of remorse, is to preach austerely. To lay information for sabbath-breaking, for swearing, for gambling, is to execute the laws austerely. Austerity is opposed to suavity. Severity is not easily traced back to the sensible idea in which the word originates. Se and vereor, to bend down apart, are perhaps the component ideas. The lying prostrate apart is not only cha- racteristic of the praying anchoret, and of public penance, but of cruel infliction ; and to all these cases severity is accordingly applied. Severa vir- ginitas. Sanctitude severe and pure. Milton. "What made the church of Alexandria be so severe with Origen? StilUngfieet. The soldier was severely flogged. If this be the true theory of the signification of 30 BPvere*, it ought not to be followed by the preposition tvith, as in Stillingflcet, but rather by the preposition against, which is consistent with the metaphor im- plied. To severity is opposed remissness. Rigor is stiffness : rigid means frozen : stiff with cold : aqua in grandines riyescnnt, rain hardens into hail, Thawless unmelting obstinacy is the metaphor implied in rigor. Ferri rigor. To rigor is opposed pliancy. Religious competition renders sects austere, priests severe, and establishments rigid. Gentle. Tame. Gentle animals are the naturally docile ; tame animals are made so by the art of man. The dog, the sheep, are gentle animals ; the wolf, the bear, are sometimes tame. Gentle means well-born, as in gentleman ; tame is ctymologically connected with zanm, bridle, and with team, yoke, or harness ; it means broken-in to carry, or draw. Haughtiness. Disdain. Haughty is rightly deduced by Dr. Johnson from the French hautain, and ought therefore to havp been spelt without the gh — hauty. Iluutain is a derivation of haut, high, and describes that disposi- tion of mind which stimulates an erect and lofty de- portment. From the Latin dignari, to worship, and the pri- vative syllable dis, derives the French verb dedaigtier, or the Italian substantive sdegno, from one of which * The word is employed by Dryden, as if it derived from scevire, to rage. Hydra stands within, Whose jaws with iron teeth severely grin. We also say " severe weather." 31 comes our disdain, which signifies, to withdraw from worship, to desist from reverence. Haughtiness is founded on the high opinion we entertain of ourselves ; disdain on the low opinion we have of others. Blair. Weariness. Fatigue. Lassitude. Tiredness is a word common to all these words , the tired horse whose skin is chafed bare, whose hoofs are road-worn, suffers weariness ; the tired horse, whose hide has been lashed, whose side has been gored by the spur, suffers fatigue ; the tired horse, who while intoxicated with corn and with the passions of the chase, performed prodigies, but who is coy for want of stimulants, suffers lassitude. Wear, tear, and whetting cause weariness, fatigue, and lassitude. Weariness ia derived from wear, and means the state of being worn away : it is not applied now to inanimate objects, but Spenser writes, and properly, " His weary waggon to the western vale ; " nor is there any grammatical impediment to our calling thread-bare clothes weary. To fatigue is to pierce with a goad. Fastigium meant — 1, the point or needle of a goad or pike, and is the root both of fatisco and fatigo ; 2, a spire, needle, or pyramidal temple, usual on great houses ; 3, the blade, or ridge of any house. Jaculo cervos cursuquefatigat. Qimdrupedem ferratd cake fatigat. Dentem in dente fatigare. Vejsaque juvencum terga fatigamus hasfA. The verb to tire is probably an orthographic variety of to tear, which means to lacerate with the teeth ; but the verb to jade, if rightly derived by Skinner from goad, is the very metaphor oi fatigare analogously employed. Lassitude rather denotes indirect than direct de- bihty. Lnssiis stomachus. The barrenness which results from over-cropping is called by Columella 32 lassihido soli. Horace describes his mercliant laxsi's maris. Where there is lassitude there is previous exertion. The soldier is weary of his march, fatigued by frequent orders of removal, and sinks after intemper- ance into lassitude. To LOATH. To HATE. To ABHOR. To DETEST The radical signification of loathing is nausea of the stomach ; of hate is angry warmth or heat ; of abhorrence, is a shuddering back from ; and of de- testation is bearing witness against. In loathing, there is something of passive disgust ; in hatred, something of active hostility. Loathing may be increased into abhorrence ; and hatred into detestation. We loath the food by which we have been surfeited. We hate the person who has injured us. We abhor the filthy vices. We detest the poli- tical apostate, in order to render him infamous. He may abhor infidelity, who tolerates it ; he may de- test smuggling, who practices it ; but the terms are not convertible. A prudent man abhors being in debt ; a creditor detests it. The loyalist abhors, the informer detests treason. When we loath, we do not hate our own excesses. When we abhor, we do not detest our own crimes. Je m'abhorre encore plus que tu ne me detestes. Racine. Accent. Emphasis. Strain. Stress. All these words denote an increased effort of voice. Accent (which is derived from cantiis, song) describes that sort of exertion which varies the utterance from low to high, from grave to acute, from flat to sharp, from hoarse to shrill. Emphasis (which is derived from (pmi'eir, to indicate) describes that sort of exertion which varies the utterance from soft to 33 loud, from quick to slow, from faint to marked, from slurring to distinct. Strain is the english word for accent ; stress is the english word for em- phasis. Strain is derived from the saxon strenge, strength, and means a strengthening of the voice ; stress is the substantive of to stretch, which is the intensive of to stride ; it means therefore, a stride of voice, which excludes the idea of gradual or musical intonation. Tt may be remarked that accent, though closely united with the quantity, is not only distinct from it, but in the formation of the voice really antecedent to it. The pitch or height of the note is taken first, and then the continuance of it is settled ; by the former of these the accent is determined, by the latter the quantity. Foster on Accent and Quantity/. Accent, in the greek names and usage, seems to have regarded the tone of the voice ; the acute accent raising the voice in some certain syllables to a higher or more acute pitch or tone, and the grave depressing it lower. Holder. Emphasis not so much regards the time as a cer- tain grandeur, whereby some letter, syllable, word, or sentence is rendered more remarkable than the rest, by a more vigorous pronunciation, and a longer stay upon it. Holder. This english system, which has distinguished accent, quantity, and emphasis, by separate marks, shews that the emphasis or poize, divided into the heavy and the light, is the most important and the most characteristic in our language. Steel's Prosodia Rationalis. Though long and short, or short and long syl- lables may sometimes form the rhythm of english verse, yet that which invariably and essentially forms it, is the interchange of emphatic and non- emphatic syllables. Beattie's Theory of Language. 34 Our words flow from us in a smooth, continued stream, without those strainings of the voice, mo- tions of body, and majesty of the hand, which are so much celebrated in the orators of Greece and Rome. Atterhury. Throughout the gothic dialects the stress falls ou the radical syllable. Many english words, such as subject, contract, are substantives when the stress is laid on the first syllable, and verbs when it is laid on the second. The most common faults respecting emphasis are, laying so strong an emphasis on one word as to leave no power of giving a particular force to other words, which though not equally, are in a certain degree emphatical, and placing the greatest stress on con- junctive particles and other words of secondary importance. Enfield on Elocution. Envoy. Resident. Plenipotentiary. Ambassador. An Envoy is one sent, a Resident one who' resides, on behalf of his country in a foreign state ; a Pleni- potentiary is one sent with full powers ; an Ambas- sador (low-latin amhasciator, waiter) is one resident about the highest authorities. Avowed deputation from a government into a foreign state for {)ublic purposes is the idea common to all these offices : an Envoy and a Plenipotentiary are occasional delegates ; a Resident and an Ambassador are permanent func- tionaries. An Envoy and a Resident are subordinate employments ; a Plenipotentiary and an Ambassador imply the highest representative rank. Surprised. Astonished. Amazed. Confounded. I am surprised at what is unexpected ; I am as- tonished by what is striking ; I am amazed in what is incomprehensible ; I am confounded with what is embarrassing. 35 Surprised means overtaken ; astonished means thunderstruck ; amazed means lost in a labyrinth ; and confounded means melted together. For want of bearing in mind the original signification of these words, our writers frequently annex improper prepo- sitions, such as are inconsistent with the metaphor employed. Capacity. Ability. Capacity is the gift of nature, ability of education ; the one answers to that quick retentive comprehen- sive perception which may be born with the organs of sense ; the other, to that dexterity in the use of them which is acquired by experiment, comparison, and tradition. Capacity is requisite to devise, and ability to execute a great enterprise. For they that most and greatest things embrace, Enlarge thereby the mind's capacity. Davies. Burke had a mind more copiously. Fox more selectly stored ; Burke had most of the imaginative. Fox most of the reasoning faculty ; Burke had greater ability. Fox greater capacity. Pride. Vanity. " Pride (says Blair) makes us esteem ourselves ; vanity makes us desire the esteem of others." Is Blair in the second instance right 1 Pride means swollenness, moral tumidity. He who makes himself bigger than is usual or natural to him, who is great in his own conceit, displays pride Pride is in fact the expression of self-esteem. But what has vanity to do with the esteem of others ? Vanity means emptiness ; being used only in a metaphorical, abstract, or moral sense, it may be defined empty-mindedness. Are the emp- tiest minds most covetous of the esteem of others ? Surely not. They are often covetous of noisy, in- discriminate, present applause, and snatch at glory 36 ■without apprccinting the nature of the effort ; but this is an accident, not the essence of empty-miiid- edness. When the author of Ecclesiastes writes, " The work that is wrought under the sun is griev- ous vmto me, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit," he describes a feeling of annoy by the word vanity. Now it is necessarily characteristic of emptiness of mind to be very liable to tedium. That yawning craving appetite for amusement, which turns toward every one and every thing for gratifi- cation, is the essential feature of vanity. Milton has well chosen his epithet — " Wandering Vanity." Pride is more common among men, vanity among women. The old writers apply the word more defensibly than the moderns. Here I may well shew the vanity of that which is reported in the story of Walsingham. Sir J. Davies. The ground-work thereof is true, however they, through vanity, do thereupon build many forged histories of their own antiquity. Spencer. In these passages vanity is, I think, not used for vain-gloriousness, but for emptiness of fact, absence of information, lack of truth. The misuse of the word began early, and is au- thorized by our best writers. Shakspeare writes^ " I must bestow upon the eyes of this young couple some vanity of mine art." Here it may be contended, that the unsubstantial fabric of a vision, the empty pageantry of magic, may fitly be called a vanity ; but the speaker is evidently announcing the splendor of his exhibition. Perhaps Shakspeare wrote vanity from the French, vanterie, a thing to be boasted of. Milton still more inexcusably says, that " Sin with vanity had fiU'd the works of men." This is 37 a bull, an unperceived contradiction in terms, an expression strictly nonsensical — filling with emptiness — but it is kept in countenance by Swift's analogous metaphor — " Vanity's the food of fools ;" as if empti- ness could be swallowed. To LEAVE. To QUIT. To RELlNaUISH. We leave that to which we are to return ; we quit that to which we return no more. We may leave a place with joy, with indifference, or with regret ; but we always relinquish with reluctance. We quit per- sons or things ; we relinquish things only. I shall leave the house for a month this autumn ; I am not obliged to quit before christmas ; but I shall then relinquish it with sorrow. Leave seems to be derived from the same root as the gothic lofa, which means the hollow of the hand (latin void), and to describe the gesture used at parting. In the word furlough (german urlaub) the second syllable is this leave, as it were fare-leave, leave to go. Quit is of Italian origin. He who takes a discharge for a debt repaid, does it to quiet his mind, to se- cure himself in an easy manner against the trouble and risk of repeated application. It is natural, there- fore, that quietare, quietanza (whence the italian quitare, quitanza seem to be contracted) should have eventually signified to give a formal release : and in this sense we have borrowed, through the french, the verb to acquit, and the adverb quits. It is also natiiral that the fuor' usciti of the Italian republics, that those banished for sedition, should be said to have quieted, when they had quitted their country. This euphemism passed into the French language : tl a quitt^ son pais ; and has supplied our verb to quit ; which the lawyers now use as if derived from vuider, to empty, to leave void. c 2 38 Relinquish is latin for to leave behind ; it is de- rived from the verb Uquere, to leave, and the insepa- rable preposition re, back. The parent substantive to linquere being Jingua, tongue, this verb originally meant to leave off tasting : hence, no doubt, the accessary idea of disinclination, which cUngs to the term. Print. Cut. Copper-plate. Gay. Etching. Mezzotinto. Engraving. All these words are occasionally employed to de- note an impression taken off in ink, representing a drawing or ])icture. Print is the most general term : whether the im- pression be from wood, copper, pewter, or marble ; whether the delineation be traced with a solvent, a style, or a graver : whether it be stamped on linen, silk, or paper, the word print is equally applicable. It is derived from the latin imprimere, to press upon, and describes the one process common to all these methods of taking likenesses. Cuts are impressions taken from blocks of wood, cut or carved for that purpose, and are worked off with the letter-press. Copper-plates are impressions taken from engrav- ings in copper ; they require to be worked alone, and that in a rolling-press. Gavs are cuts or copper-plates, coloured over with a })ainting brush : the ap|)ellation is chieily applied to the stained cuts in children's books, which are gay vvith many Inies. Etchings are impressions of delineations traced by means of a solvent in copper, or in marble : (stzen or (Etschen is to eat into, to corrode ; it is the inten- sive of the verb to eat. IVIczzotintos are impressions from those copper- plates, where the middle tints, or average degree of 39 illumination, had been traced mechanically by right lines crossing each other, and the artist has only been employed to polish the white spaces with the smooth end of his style, and to deepen the dark parts with its pointel, in order to produce the ex- treme tints. ■^ Engravings {ein graben) are those prints which are obtained from plates dug in or indented by the tool ; in contradistinction to those obtained from embossed blocks. Books with prints are daily becoming more com- mon : many forms of instruction are greatly facili- tated and accelerated by the help of delineation. Cuts are more conveniently interspersed with the text of a book than engravings. There may be a something childish in the taste for gays ; yet in works respecting botany, natural history, the cos- tume of diiferent countries, or the fashions of our own, it would be difficult, or impossible, to teach without colours. Etchings, mezzotintos, engravings, define the diiferent methods in which copper-plates have been executed. Numerous. Numerose. The latin word numerus signifies not only number but measure : it is applied both to arithmetical and to syllabic reckoning. In the one sense it is englished by the substantive number, in the other sense by the substantive numerus. The number of melodious prose-writers in our language is not considerable : the prose of Gibbon is remarkable for a numerus highly gratifying to the ear. The adjective of number is numerous ; the adjective of numerus is numerose. Numerous errors. Nume- rose sentences. In works composed to be read aloud, such as sermons, it is important to study a numerose diction. 40 Date. Epocha. Era. Period. Date is the specified time at which any event happened. Epocha is a date from which subsequent time is computed. Era is tlie range or duration of a specific form of annal computation. Period is a cycle, or round of time, which, when ended, begins anew. The 25 th December is commemorated as the date of Christ's birth-day ; but neither the month nor the year have been satisfactorily ascertained. The supposed year of the nativity of Christ is become the epocha of European chronology : it would heve been better to date from the year of the crucifixion, be- cause that is capable of definite ascertainment. The Christian era has been in use about 1290 years: it was introduced in the sixth century. Toaldo ima- gines that the revolutions of the weather coincide with the lunar period, and that the seasons return every nineteen years. Date means given. Formerly letters and contracts were subscribed " Given under my hand and seal, this 29th February ; " hence the word given, in italian dato, came to designate the day of issue. Epocha, in greek fnoyj), signifies a posture of the stars. Era is arabic for time appointed. Period, in greek irtpiocoQ, means way around, circuit, orbit. To AID, To ASSIST. To HELP. To SUCCOUR. To RELIEVE. Aid is immediately french, but is a contraction of the latin adjutare or adjuvare : jtivare is derived from some obsolete adjective etyniologically connected with juvenis young, and Jovialis wanton. To aid, is to be a young man to another. To assist is latin for to stand hy ; not in the sense of to look on, but of to give svpport. Help is derived from heal, us the latin salvare^ 41 from salus ; its primary meaning is to alleviate dis- ease. Metaphorically it is applied to other forms of useful assistance, especially to the participation of labour. Succour is a nmning-up-to, and implies celerity of exertion. Relief is from the french relever, to lift again, and were better spelled releef and to releve ; it is the service rendered after an unfortunate catastrophe. We aid the sluggish ; we assist the combatant j we help the sufferer ; we succour the endangered ; we reheve the disappointed. The aider should be active ; the assistant, strong ; the helper, wise ; the succourer, sf)eedy ; the reliever, bountiful. Actor. Player. Both these words describe one who performs on a theatre ; the first with relation to the character, the second with relation to the profession. Friends, who on a domestic stage allot parts to each other, and repeat a drama, are actors, but not players. j\|any a libertine has taken to the stage for a main- tenance, and has become a player without becoming an actor. The great theatres engage those who act well ; the strolling companies those who play cheap. The actor is he who represents a fictitious personage ; the player he who does it for the diversion of an audience. Actor excites the idea of an artist who imitates human manners ; player, of an hirehng amuser. We say a gi-eat actor,' not a great player : we say a company of players, not a company of actors. In english, comedian is one who acts in comedy ; the tragedian, one who acts in tragedy : but in french, comedian answers to our word player, and is applied to actors of either description. 42 Resemblance. Conformity. Things alike in appearance have resemblance ; things ahke in reality have conformity. A portrait resembles the original : a bust is conformable with the plaster-cast. Semblance is the object of compa- rison in the one case ; form in the other. There is a resemblance between the doctrines of Luther and Calvin, not an entire conformity. There is much conformity in the structure of animals, between which there is little resemblance. Junction. Union. The latin jungere is etymologically connected with jugum, yoke ; jungere equos curru, is to harness horses in a chariot. To join, is to bring into juxta- position, in circumstances which favour a suspicion of compulsion. Union is derived from iifius, one, and means a making into one. Junction implies a less intimate connection than union. Union implies a less separable connection than junction. Travellers, armies, join : partners, lovers, unite. An unhappy couple is joined, but not united : an unmarried couple is united, but not joined. The union of two rivers, not the' junction of two rivers, if their confluence is the thing described. The junction of two rivers, not the union of two rivers, if the canal, which cotinects them, is the thing de- scribed. Parallel roads can never unite ; but they may be joined by a cross road. To ACCUMULATE. To AMASS. Things which when heaped together do not miite, are said to be accumulated : things which when heaped together do unite, are said to be amassed. The avaricjons mail accumulates guineas ; he amasses 43 landed property. Abuses accumulate. Conquests amass. Such at least is the french and english use of these two words. I cannot perceive that the latin etymon cumulus necessarily means a heap of things separate, but rather a high heap, being etymologically con- nected with culmen. Virgil has aquce cumulus. In this case one ought to say, to accumulate honours ; to amass sordid gains. Essay. Dissertation. Disquisition. Tractate. Tract. Treatise. Memorial. Investigation. All these words are employed by authors to en- title compositions of lesser or greater length. Essay means trial, attempt, and implies that a writer con- siders his production as immature or incomplete, as the harbinger of some future effort or performance. Bisserere is to debate or argue ; dissertation, there- fore, signifies a discussion, or argumentation : it is with propriety applied to compositions having a lo- gical form. I)isqui7'ere is to search out ; disquisition answers to the enghsh word search; it is fitly ap- phed to the examinations of the antiquary or of the experimentalist. Tractutus signifies a handling, or, by a natural metaphor common to the classical lan- guage, a handling in the mind, a comprehension of the different parts of a subject. Cicero mentions a tractatus artium ; and Pliny quotes other books similar in title. Treatise is an impure corruption of tractate, to which the ignorance of Shakspeare has given currency. " The time has been my fell of hair Would at a dismal treatise rouse." The latin verb tractare becomes traiter in french ; thence the substantive traite, whence Shakspeare ought to have formed the word treaty ; but he gives a plural termination to a singular substantive. The word treaty is sometimes used with propriety, as 44 ■when we say " the European cabhiets are all employ- ed in the treaty of peace," that is, in the handling, or negociating, of peace ; but the contract, or agreement, is not so correctly called "the treaty." To handle is not to shake hands. The word treatise should be banished as impure, and the word treaty employed as identical in meaning with tractate, which by some writers has been in- conveniently abridged into tract, and thus becomes confoundable with another tract, from tractus, region. Hume called the first collection of his enquiries concerning the principles of morals, treatise of human nature ; but to the second and emended edi- tion he prefixed the too modest denomination, Essaxjs. There are many admirable dissertations among the Traces of Thomas Cooper, of Manchester. Sayers's Disquisitions offer models of attic grace and sim- plicity. Milton's Tractate of Education recommends an italian pronunciation of the latin vowels. The word essay has been essayed so often, that it is become a tri\dal title, and will probably give place to attempts or endeavours. The word memoir, or memorial, is httle used in England, much on the continent, for the designation of those disquisitions of the archaeologists, which have for their object to define or preserve memorable particulars. There is a mixture of toil and thought, of research and speculation, in the business of the etymologist, which adapts his labours for the epigraph investigations from vestigium, footstep ; he pursues his quarry step by step. On. Upon. The preposition notwithstanding, and the conjunc- tion inaamuchas have not lost the meaning implied in their component parts, though they are often written as single words ; neither ought upon. It can 45 "only be used with propriety where the words up and on may both be employed. " Set the sugar-basia upon the shelf; " but not " Set down the coalshoot upon the ground." Upon means up, on the top of, and is applied to matter ; as upon the table, upon the ch'air. Trusler. The use of iqwn for on is so common in the sacred books, that wherever a scripture-style is aimed at, it must be purposely affected : the translators of the bible were better Hebreeans than Anglicists. A similar remark might be applied to the words unto and until, which are compounded of on and to, and of on and till. Entertaining. Diverting. That is entertaining which keeps up mirth between us ; that is diverting which turns aside our attention. 1 am entertained by the conversation within ; I am diverted by the bustle in the street. A well-placed anecdote entertains ; a pun diverts. An entertaining man is a correct companion ; a diverting man is often a troublesome one. Preparations are made to enter- tain ; that which is unexpected diverts. Perspiration. Sm^eat. That moisture which passes invisibly through the pores of the skin, which is breathed through, is called perspiration ; that moisture which passes visibly through the pore's of the skin, which issues through, is called sweat. We perspire naturally, as in our sleep ; neat and exercise make us sweat. The word perspiration, not exciting any indelicate idea, is sub- stituted for sweat, when such idea is to be shunned. That lady perspires with dancing. Landscape. Prospect. The english formative syllable ship like the ger- 46 man formative syllable schaft, is derived from, the verb to shape, in german schaffen, it is used to form, those abstract substantives which denote shaping, or constituting. Thus lordship is that which constitutes a lord, stewardship that which constitutes a steward, friendship that which constitutes a friend, Jdnship or (if the more usual, but hybrid word, be pre- ferred) relationship that which constitutes a relative. To the english* words lordship, friendship, kinship, brothership, partnership, correspond the german words herrschaft, freundschaft, verwandtschaft, hru- derschaft, geseUschaft. To this class of words belongs landscape : it is collateral with the german landschaft ; it ought rather to have been written landship ; inasmuch as words inflected by the same rule of analogy should agree in their spelling. The French have a formative syllable age, which we employ in vassalage, pontage, usage, murage, ad- vantage, which approaches in signification the Saxon ship, and by means of which the french word pa7j- sage, answering to our landscape, has been fashioned. This word in anglo-saxon is spelled landscipe, which in fact answers to landship ; for the Saxons got their alphabet from modern Italy, and pronounced their c before e and i, after the italian manner, like ch. Landscape, or landship, signifies therefore a shape of land, that which constitutes, or makes into a whole, a given land. In some gothic dialects, what we call the landed interest is called the landship ; in english, the visible whole of a region is called the landscape — the prospect of the country. It also means the imitation of a prospect in painting An extensive prospect makes a bad landscape for the painter. A landscape-painter. Prospect signifies that which we overlook : we can • Haiihhip is an impurely formed word of this class. A7 say the prospect of the sea, the prospect of the starry heavens, but we can only apply the word landscape where the thing overlooked is land. At- tempts have been made to introduce sea-skip, or sea- scape, sky-skip, and off-skip, for the portion of prospect which respect the sea, the sky, or the offing. Perhaps it would be better to desert in these combi- nations the formative syllable for the substantive ety- mon, and to write land-shape, sky-shape, sea-shape. Other analogous combinations would be found con- venient by writers on the theory of picturesque art. Why not fore-shape and side-shape for fore-ground and side-screen ? A foreground of tall trees — a side- screen of transparent colonnade — would be incorrect ; yet such expressions are not scrupled by the news- paper critics of our exhibitions. Fear. Fright. Terror. Consternation. Fear (swedish, faro) signifies trembling, shudder- ing : in Otfried the allied verb forahtan is used for to shiver. Fear, therefore, in its abstract or meta- physical sense, describes that emotion of the mind which accompanies trembling, an uneasiness at the thought of future evil. Fright, in Ulphilas faurght, is derived from to fear, and is apparently its inten- sive form ; as from to wring, to wrench ; or from to cling, to clinch ; or from to hear, to hearken. Fright is strong fear, sudden fear ; but as men consider strong or sudden fear as indecorous, this word is insensibly come to describe a displeasing and contemptible emotion. The principal fear was for the holy temple, Maccabees. To bear you from your palace-yard by night, And put your noble person in a fright. Dryden. Terror is that degree or kind of fear which 48 prompts to flight ; and consternation that degree or kind of fear which occasions people to fall confusedly upon the ground. Terrere means primarily to drive away ; S07iitu terrehis ewes : and sternere, (whence the causative verb consternare) means primarily to sti-ike down, to strow, sternite omnia f err o. Plague occasions fear ; ghost-stories, fright ; a tiger, terror ; and a thunder-storm, consternation. Fear may be well-timed, and prepare a firmer re- sistance. Fright is perturbed and excessive. Terror is in earthquake the best, in battle the worst pre- servative. The consternation of superstition is well described in the first scene of Sophocles' (Edipus in Thebes. Learning. Literature. Erudition. He is a man of learning, who excels in what is taught at the schools ; he is a man of literature, who excels in what is generally read ; he is a man of erudition, who excels in recondite information. Without some degree of learning, it is im])ossible to pass well through the world. There was a time when the nobility piqued themselves on being men of literature. A taste for erudition will furnish in- finite amusement for a tranquil and retired life. Trusler. To BIND. To TIE. We bind to prevent motion on the spot ; we tie to prevent motion from the spot. We bind the hands and feet of a criminal ; and we tie him to the stake. We are boxmd by honour ; we are tied by party. Tie those sticks into faggots, and bind them tight. Even. Level. That is even which is free from iiollows and risings ; that is level which is parallel with the 49 plane of the horizon. The side of a hill may be even ; it cannot he level. A field of ice may be level, and not even, A bowling-green should be both even and level. Stale. Sharp. Sour. Acid. These four words express different degress of oxy- genation ; wine and beer, when they begin to change, grow stale, then sharp, then sour ; by acid is under- stood an artificial, concentrated, corrosive sourness. Stale porter, sharp verjuice, sour vinegar ; the sul- phuric acid, acid of lemons. Stale meant originally urine ; the word, therefore, describes an incipient tendency to putrefaction, an ammoniacal odorousness. Sharp means cuttiny, it is applied metaphorically to an object of taste. Sour is of unknown derivation : though common to the cimbric, gothic, and Slavonian dialects, neither Junias nor Adelung have been able to detect the sensible idea which it originally described. Acid, like sharp, is a metaphor from cutting ; the word came from abroad with the processes of artists, hence the technical ideas therewith associated. Valour. Courage. Bravery. Intrepidity. Prowess. Valour is derived from vulere, to be well, and pro- perly answers to the english word " stoutness." It is used correctly in the bible : " Show not thy valiant- ness in wine." Vahant soldiers are those who can abide fatigue and privation, without ceasing to be efficacious. An innate valour appeared in him. Howel, For in those days might only shall be admired. And valour, and heroic virtue, call'd. Milton. from this last passage it appears, that to the mere D 2 60 idea of corporal strength, of bodily validity, some further accessory idea of praiseworthy disposition, of intellectual merit, of daring and spirit, is become associated in the word valour. This is natural ; for health and strength are so essentially conducive to beauty, to courage, and to success in war, that they can hardly be contemplated without some of that approbation which is bestowed on virtue ; inasmuch as they result from exercise and temperance, and are qualities acquired or preserved by moral discipline, they are certainly meritorious. Courage is derived from cor, heart, and denotes that warmth of temper, connected with a full and vigorous circulation, and with a firmness and com- mand of the bodily organs which disposes one animal to encounter another. We say, *' a horse of courage, a dog of courage." The ruder nations, and the ruder classes of a nation, are naturally more courageous than the refined. Hope arms their courage. Dryden. Bravery comes from the Italian verb signifying to challenge, to defy. It is used, in contradistinction to animal courage, for mental daring and honourable spirit. The accessory Ideas of boasting and parade are often associated with the word bravery ; no doubt, because the challengers, or prize-fighters, were apt to have these weaknesses. Morat's too insolent, too much a brave. Dri/den. I'll wear my dagger with a braver grace. Shakspeare. The bravery of the higher classes of society more than atones for their relative inferiority of courage. The courageous are often baffled from deficient skill, and sometimes disheartened by sudden panics ; but the brave display pre})aration for conflict and constancy In difficulty. Intrepidity means " without trembling." Many 51 persons who are cantious in avoiding risks, face dan- ger with intrepidity : coolness of temper predisposes both to foresiglit and to fortitude. I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture to walk on my body without trembling. Swiff s Gulliver. The word "prowess" was once common to the italian, the Spanish, the french, and tlie english lan- guages ; it was frequently used in them all, and employed as a term of praise by gentlemen of gen- tlemen. But usage, however general and however genteel, is no pledge for the duration of a word : prowess is obsolescent in every language to which it has belonged : and for what reason ? Its meaning is become vague, because its derivation is unknown : it therefore shares the fate of all words of uncertain signification. Those who think before they write, and who choose to knovv- what they say, cannot make any use of such words ; yet these are the only writers who outlive their generation. Prowess, french prouesse : italian prodesza : so far the historical filiation of the word is known. But what is prodezza ? Is it a mere dialectic variation of j)ru- denza, and is prowess the better part of valour ? This is unlikely. The adjective prode is used by Bocca- cio indifferently from pro : he applies it sometimes as a mere expletive, sometimes for valorous, and sometimes for healthy — ^ bagni fat to gli avesser pro. There are cases in which it appears to be a contrac- tion of prodigo, liberal, lavish ; there are other cases in which it appears to be a dialectic variation of proho, from the latin probus, honest, which is a contraction of probatus, vir prceliis prohatus, a tried man. To this last sentiment Junius inclines. Be it observed, that prowess in itt. oldest forms includes a d. The french wrote prei'x chevalier, but preud" Iiomme. The italians wrote prode before they abbre- 52 viated the adjective into 'pro. Tne italian substan- tive prodezza appears earlier than the Spanish sub- stantive proeza. What forbids the supposal, that this is one of the many gothic words which the Lombards introduced into the itahan language. In this case the gothic prude, whence our adjective proud, is the real root. Proud means tumid, swelling : proud flesh is a red inflamed swollen excrescence ; prowess is occasionally used for salacity in all the europeaa tongues. Pride, prowess, may at first have desig- nated a plethoric state of body; and next the connected disposition to courage, to lust, and to overbearance. Courage is the natural concomitant, bravery the acquired associate of valour. Education evolves braverv, experience confers intrepidity. Prowess is a virtue of romance, the theme of poets, the claim of pancratic knighthood. Custom. Habit. Fashion. Usage. Custom is a frequent repetition of the same act ; habit is the effect of such repetition : fashion is the custom of numbers ; usage is the habit of numbers. It is a good custom to rise early ; this will pro- duce a habit of so doing ; and the example of a distuiguished family may do much toward reviving the fashion, if not toward re-establishing the usage. Suere, apparently, means to dwell, to go under the same roof; consuetudo (whence custom), is therefore a common path, the way of the house, as we analo- gously say. Habit means dress ; fashion the cut of dress. Usage comes from utor, uti, to use, an ab- stract verb, of which the sensible idea is indecent. Customary, habitual, fashionable, usual, are the appertaining adjectives ; but fashionable is impurely formed, and ought to mean able to be fashioned: fa^hiony would be more analogous. 53 Distinction. Diversity. Difference. Discrimination. Separation, by the touch {dis and tango) makes a distinction ; by turning apart {dis and verto) makes a diversity; by carrying asunder {dism\i\.fero) makes a difference ; by affixing a mark {dis and c?'imen) makes a discrimination. Distinction, therefore, is applied to delicate variations ; diversity to glaring contrasts ; difference to hostile uulikeuess ; and discrimination to formal criticism. A distinction without a diff"erence is a pretended separation of what has not actually been separated. So long As he could make me with this eye or ear Distinguish him from others, he did keep The deck. Sha/cspeare. Maids, women, maids, without distinction fall. Drj/deu. They cannot be divided, but they will prove op- posite ; and not resting in a bare diversity, rise into a contrariety. South, A waving glow his bloomy beds display. Blushing in bright diversities of day. Poj}e. We'll never diifer with a crouded pit. Rome. A man of judgment shall sometimes hear ignorant men diff'er from one another, and know well within himself that those who so diff'er mean one thing. Bacon. Nothins; could have fallen out more uiduckv than that there should be such diff'erences among them, about that which they pretend to be the only means of ending diff'erences. Tillotson. Take heed of abetting any factions, or applying any public discriminations, in matters of religion. King Charles. Letters arise from the first original discriminations of voice by way of articulation. Holder. Discriminative providence ! More. 54 To differ from is applied to opinion, to differ with is applied to conduct : from supposes the cause, with supposes the company to be present. Almanack. Calendar. Ephemeris. All these words describe date-books for the cur- rent year. According to Golius, al manakh signifies "the reckoning," and is the arable designation given to a table of time, which the astrologers of the east pre- sent to their princes on new-year's day. Calendar is so called from the latin calendce, a roman uame for the first day of the month. Ephemeris is a greek word, signifying for the day. Almanack, therefore, is a divider of time by the year ; calendar by the month ; and ephemeris by the day. Nature's almanack is the orbit of the earth ; her calendar the circuit of the moon ; her ephemeris the circumference of the globe. The French name their annual anthologies of poetry. Almanacks of the Muses. The gardening book, which directs what work is to be done, what seeds are to be sown, every month, is fitly called the gardener's Calendar. A daily newspaper might aptly be denominated the Political Ephemeris. Verstegan fancies that almanack is derived from all-monath; but if the etymon was saxon, the present form of the word would be "allmonth." The first european date-book, which assumed the title of al- manack, is the almanac royal de France of 1579 ; it includes notices of post-days, fairs, and festivals. Benevolence. Beneficence. Of these two words one is the intention, the other is the act : benevolence {loeli-wiUing) being the desire of doing good ; beneficence {well-doimj) being the realization of that desire. A benevolent man de- lights in beneficence. 55 Adjacent. Contiguous. Proximate. Immediate. Adjacent and contiguous are applied exclusively to physical space : adjacent means lying beside, and contiguous touching with. Proximate and imme- diate are only applied to moral order : proximate means next to, and immediate without intervention. Adjacent villages. Contiguous rooms. Proximate causes. Immediate effects. There is no satisfactory reason in etymology for this habit. Wliy not " adjacent motives 1 " Why not " contiguous ideas ? " Why not " proximate cities 1 " Why not " immediate seas ? " The words adjacent and contiguous vi^ere, no doubt, imported by geographers, who had material objects to describe ; the words retain their original precise application, but the real meaning not being known to the unlearned, a metaphorical or abstract application of them has never been hazarded. The words proximate and immediate were, no doubt, imported by philosophers, who had metaphy- sical ideas to define ; the words retain their original apt application, but the real meaning not being known to the unlearned, a specific or physical application of them has seldom been risked. Pope delighted to restore abstract words to their sensible signification. Their glowing lips immediate kisses print, would be a line in his manner ; so would in some degree Prayer with her fingers proximately claspt. But such latin verbiage, for the very reason that it veils the sensible idea which it expresses, makes cold and faint poetry. Saxon words, on the contrary, though commonly less euphonious, by presenting distinct images to the reader, have a more impressive and picturesque character. 56 Steeple. Spire. Steeple is the turret of a church, and is derived from steep : it was originally applied to any high building, or to any part of a building higher tlian the rest. The steep part was the steeple. Spire, according to Junius, is etymologically con- nected with the danish word spib', a hood, or high- crowned hat: in this case it is applicable to the dome, or cupola of a church, as well as to those conical and pyramidal erections, which architects often place on the summit of steeples. But this hypothesis wants corroboration. The popular use of the word is confined to those towers which terminate in needles ; a slender taper height is essential to the idea of a spire. Perhaps it is the word spear with another spelling, and that the original spire was a signal post upon a turret. The greek obelisk signifies a spit ; why may not the english spire have signified a pole? In lower Sax- ony the same word designates spire and spear ; and the town Speier is so called from the obelisk on its cathedral. A spire of grass is a spear of grass. To ABDICATE. To DESERT. The celebrated speech of Lord Somers in 1683, on King James's vacating the throne, is a curious specimen of the use, even in public affairs, of synony- mic discrimination. " What is appointed me to speak is your lordships' first amendment, by which the word abdicated in the Commons' vote is changed into the word deserted; and I am to acquaint your lordships what some of the grounds are, that induced the Commons to insist on the word abdicated, and not to agree to your lordships' amendment. " The first reason, your lordships are pleased to de- liver, for your changing the word, is, that the word abdicated your lordships do not find is a word kuowu 57 to the common law of England, and therefore ought not to be used. The next is, that the common ap- plication of the v/ord amounts to a voluntary express renunciation, which is not in this case, nor what will follow from the premises. " My lords, as to the first of these reasons, if it be an objection that the word abdicated hath not a known sense in the common law of England, there is the same objection against the word deserted ; so that your lordships' first reason hath the same force against your own amendment, as against the term used by the Commons. " The words are both latin words, and used in the best authors, and both of a known signification ; their meaning is very well understood, though it be true their meaning is not the same. The word ab- dicate doth naturally and properly signify, entirely to renounce, throw off, disown, or relinquish any thing, or person, so as to have no further to do with it ; and that, whether it be done by express words, or in writing (which is the sense your lordships put upon it, and which is properly called resignation or cession), or by doing such acts as are inconsistent with the holding or retaining of the thing, which the Commons take to be the present case, and therefore make choice of the word abdicate, as that which they thought did, above all others, most properly express that meaning. And in this latter sense it is taken by others ; and that this is the true significa- tion of the word I shall shew your lordships out of the best authors. " The first I shall mention is Grotius, De jure Belli et Pacts, 1. 2, c. 4, s. 4. Venit enitn hoc non ex jure civili, sed ex jure naturali, quo (pdnque suum potest abdicare, et ex naturali presumptione, qua voluisses qui creditur quod sufficienter signiji- cavit. And then he goes on, Ilecusari hcereditas, £ o8 non iantnm verhis, sed etiam re, potest, et quoins imlicio voluntatis. " Anotlicr instance which I shall mention, to shew, that for abdicating a thing, it is sufficient to do an act which is inconsistent with retaining it, though there be nothing to express renunciation, is out of Calnn's Lexicon Juridicum, where he says, Genei'um ahdicat qui sponsum repudiat. Here is an abdication without express words, but is by doing such an act as doth sufficiently signify his purpose. " The next author that I shall quote is Brissonius de verborum significatione, who hath this })assage : Homo liber qui seipsum vendit, ahdicat se statu suo. That is, he, who sells himself, hath thereby done such an act as cannot consist with his former state of freedom, and is therefore properly said, se abdicasse statu suo. " BudiTJus, in his commentaries, Ad Legem se- cundam de Orii/ine Juris, expounds the words in the same sense, Abdicare se magistratu est idem quod abire jjenitus magistratu. He that goes out of his office of magistracy, let it be in what manner it will, has abdicated the magistracy. " And Grotius, in his book De Jure Belli et Pads, 1. 1, c. 4, s. 9, seems to expound the woi I abdicare by manifeste habere jif'O derelicto. Tluit is, he who hath abdicated any thing, hath so far relinquished it, that he hath no right of return to it. And that is the sense the Commons put upon the word. It is an entire alienation of the thing abdicated, and so stands in opposition to dicare. Dicat qui projmvm aliquod facit, ahdicat qui alienat. So says Pralejus in his Jjcxicon Juris. It is therefore insisted on as the ])ropei word by the Commons. " But the word deserted (which is the word used in the amendment made by your lordships) hath not only a very doubtful signification, but, in the com- 59 mon acceptance both of the civil and canon hiw, doth signify only a bare withdrawing, a temporary t[uit- ting of a thing, and neglect only, which leaveth the party at liberty of retnrning to it again. Desertum pro necjlecto, says Spigelius in his Lexicon. But the difference between deserere and derelhiquere is expressly laid down by Bartolus on the 8th law of the 58th title of the 1 1th book of the Code ; and his words are these : Nota diligenter ex hue lege, quod aliud est eyrum deserere, aliud derelinquere, qui own derelbiquif, ipsum ex penitentia noii revocat, sed qui deserit, intra biennium potest. " Whereby it appears, my lords, that is called de- sprtion which is temporary and relievable ; that is called dereliction where there is no power or right to return. " So in the best latin authors, and in the civil law, deserere exercitum is used to signify soldiers leaving their colours : and in the canon law, to de- sert a benefice signifies no more than to be a non- resident. " In both cases, the party hath not only a right of returning, but is bound to return again ; which, my lords, as the Commons do not take to be the pre- sent case, so they cannot think that your lordships do, because it is expressly said, in one of your rea- sons given in defence of the last amendment, that your lordships have been, and are willing to secure the nation against the return of king James ; which your lordships would not in justice do, if you did look upon it to be no more than a negligent with- drawing, which leaveth a liberty to the party to return. " For which reasons, my lords, the Commons cannot agree in the first amcudii>ent, to insert the word deserted instead of abdicated, because it doth not in any sort come up to tlieir sense of the thing. So they do apprehend it doth not reach your lord- 60 slaps' meaning as it is expressed in your reasons : wliereas they look upon the word ahdicated to ex- press properly what is to be inferred from that part of the vote to which your lordships have agreed, viz. ' That king James II. by going about to subvert the constitution, and by breaking the original con- tract between king aud people, and by violating the fundamental laws, and withdrawing himself out of the kingdom, hath thereby renounced to be a king, according to the constitution.' By avowing to go- vern by a despotic power unknown to the constitution and inconsistent therewith, he hath renounced to be a king according to the law : such a king as he swore to be at the coronation ; such a king to whom the allegiance of an english subject is due ; and hath set up another kind of dominion, which is to all intents an abdication, or abandoning of his legal title, as fully as if it had l)een done by express words. " And, my lords, for these reasons the Commons do insist upon the word abdicated, and cannot agree to the word desert ed^ To DIE. To EXPIRE. To die (from the icelandish ek det, I fall,) is the more comprehensive term : it describes that general failure of the powers of life, of which to expire, or to breathe one's last is a single symptom. There are living beings, as trees, which do not breathe ; these cannot expire, but they may die. There are other beings, which absorb and emit air, but which do not live : such is the flame of a lamp, which can be said to expire, but not to die ; at least this last ex- pression would be strongly metaphorical. To expire is often and properly used for to exhale, without any reference to its being a final exhalation. So Dry den : The linstock's touch the pond'rous ball expires. This chaf 'd the boar, his nostrils flames expire. 61 There is less propriety in a more common phrase : — Tliis bond expires next montli. Lamentable. Deplorable. These words differ as cries and tears. Tiie latin substantive lamentum signifies a shriek ; and tliere was, no doubt, some latin substantive collateral with the trench i^eMr, a tear. Who laments, grieves aloud ; who deplores, grieves silently. We lament an honourable, we deplore a disgraceftil misfortune. She laments the loss of her husband, she deplores the loss of her gallant. Laconic. Concise. The Spartans, a rude people, affected to give short answers ; hence a reply, more remarkable for brevity than civility, came to be called in Greece laconic, iVom the province in which such answers prevailed. Concise means cut closes anyustis et concisis dis- putationihus illigari. Laconic implies few words ; concise, only the ne- cessary wOrds : a work may be long and concise ; a reply cannot be long and laconic. Laconic excites an accessory idea of affectation and of incivility ; concise is a term of unmixed praise. Wit. Humour. Dr. Trusler says, that wit relates to the matter, humour to the manner ; that our old comedies abounded with wit, and our old actors with humour ; that humour always excite laughter, but wit does not ; that a fellow of humour will set a whole com- pany in a ruar, but that there is a smartness in wit which cut while it pleases. Wit, he adds, always implies sense and abilities, while humour does not ; himiour is chiefly relished by the vulgar, but educa- tion is re(juisite to com])rehend wit. E 2 62 This is a fair record of the popular acceptance of the words, accordins; to which, humour is a low and local, hut wit a hit;h and cosmopolite accom- plishment. What delights the clown disgusts the gentleman ; and the same things which excite a langh at home, excite a sneer ahroad. Humour and wit are both addressed to the comic passion ; but humour aims at the risibility, and wit at the admi- ration. Humour is the seasoning of farce, and wit of comedy. jNIoliere's Medecin malyre lid, is a piece of humour too coarse for a polished audience ; his Misanthrope is a piece of wit too refined to be interesting among the multitude. Humour seems to exclude, and wit to include the idea of thou2;ht, stiidy, and difficulty conquered ; yet both are exerted with apparent instantaneity. Humour judges by in- stinct, wit by comparison. Wit is etymologically connected with the old en- glish verb / iveet, I u'ot, I have ivitten : and to weet, or to vnt, for it occurs in both forms, means to know, to })erceive, or something like this. All abstract terms ac(juire a vague signification, when the sensible idea is forgotten of which they are the ghosts. Is it in this instance irrecoverably lost? There is a german verb, technical among hunters, vnttern to smell. "Das wild icittert den ja(/er. The game smells the huntsman. JFie schiffer pjlegen, sieht er nach In ft und loind, vnd wittert sfurm und reyen. As sailors use, he looks at the sky and wind, and smells storm and rain." Wit then is tliat faculty of the mind which answers to the sense of smelling ; a sagacity somewhat impercepti])ly exerted in detecting delicate and concealed phenome- na, whose inferences are mostly stated in hints, or in pantomime, but which is not the less trust-worthy, from the difficulty, or inexpediency, of translating into language, and bringing to definition its percep- tions. G3 Humour means moisture. When snu.ff, mustard, or onions, are applied to the nose, an increased se- cretion is occasioned in the sahval glands : thev make the mouth water, as the phrase is. When the wit is occupied in coarse and stimulant discriminations, surely the same organic affection comes on insensi- bly — laughter cures thirst. However, this is ety- mology which Plato would class among the illustra- tive. Historically speaking, humour was applied by physicians to designate the various fluids secreted and circulated in the human frame. The predomi- nance of a choleric or phlegmatic, of a sanguine or melancholy, temperament, was supposed to depend on a greater or less abundance of particular humours. Hence humour came to signify disposition, charac- ter. By degrees it stood for prominent tendencies : he was called a humorist who indulged his genius. At length it was applied to ludici'ous peculiarity, and thus took its present station in english nomen- clature. I wish Hartley had written better on the meta- physics of the smell — on the ideas abstracted from the perceptions of that sense — he might have main- tained that to be born with a good nose constitutes a predisposition to wit ; but these were a class of ideas to which his attention was not prone. Obsce- nity may be natural to men of wit ; the musky odors of sensuality caimot but be attentively absorbed, where the sense of smell predominates ; writers of this class abstain from it, evidently more from decency than inclination. How strong a disposition men of humour have for attending to ideas physically nasty, may be in- ferred from the writings of Swift. How much more frequently the wit is evolved in the perfumed classes of society, may be deduced from the turn of Pope. Shift the places of these two men — fling Pope among 64 barbarians, and station Swift in the metropolis, the author of the Dunciad would have given us a wed- ding-night ; and the author of Gulliver would have hazarded nothing coarser than the memoirs of Scrib- lerus. Voltaire had a good nose, which turned aside from the disgusting and the faintly perceivable ; he sel- dom choaks with a maw-wallop, he seldom attempts to make his reader die of a rose in aromatic ])ain. Lucian had a quick nose, but he records too n^any of his insipid perceptions. Wieland had too fine a smell ; his reader must be practised to be aware of his far-fetch. Dale. Valley. Vale. Dale (german that) signifies a hollow between high grounds. Valley (latin vdllls, trench vuUee) sig- nifies a hollow between high grounds. The one is a northern, and the other a southern word for the same idea. But, as it is esteemed a perfection in english writing to construct an antithesis with words of a coUocal origin, it is become xisual to oppose dale to hill, which is .also a word of saxon descent ; and to oppose valley to mountain, which is also a word of french descent. Hence we are accustomed to attach ideas of inferior magnitude to dale, and of su})erior magnitude to valley : by standing in oppo- sition to the word hill and mountain they have ac- (piired the same relative character for dimension. Vale, says Dr. Johnson, is a poetical word, and no otherwise distinct from valley. In this case it is needless, for dale is also monosyllabic, and fitted to tlie same rhymes. Vale, says Dr. Trusler, signifies a sj)ace more extended, a broader, a less ])ai'allelly bounded hollow than valley, lie is probably right, for vale is derived from the french vallon, which comes from the Italian vallune : so that au augmentative 6.0 syllable forms part of the etyinon. Vallone is a great valley ; a little vale would be a contradiction in terms ; yet such phrases as " snug vale" occur in the poets and novelists. Valoon would have been the proper form of importing the word.* Sin. Vice. Crime. Actions contrary to the precepts of religion are called sins ; actions contrary to the principles of morals are called vices ; and actions contrary to the laws of the state are called crimes. Sin meant ori- ginally a speck, spot, or pollution {sunfa, macula ; synselen urinam reddere) ; vice (vitium) a blemish or defect of body ; crime (crimen) a badge, a note, a mark, a stigma : the relation of these sensible ideas has been retained in the abstract terms to which they are respectively reduced. The society called " for the suppression of vice" is not named with precision : the actions which it has attacked are sins and crimes, but not all of them are vices. A sin, a vice, a crime, are the objects of theology, ethics, and jurisprudence. Whenever their judg- ments agree, they corroborate each other ; but as often as they differ, a prudent legislator appreciates the guilt and punishment according to the measure of social injury. Gibbon. Persuasion. Conviction. Both these words express an assent of the mind to what has been presented to it as true, with an accessory idea of the determining cause of such ac- quiescence. * Vale is also employed for money given to servants on quitting a house, from vale farewell : to this use the word should be limited, and it should be pronounced as a dissyllable. 66 Persuasion is an assent founded on proofs imper- fectly evident, and is commonly produced by an address to the feelings and the imagination. Con- viction is an acquiescence founded on proofs evident and satisfactory, and is commonly produced by an address to the reason, by forcible argument. That which is sweet (suadri) persuades ; that which is binding (inncere) convinces. Persuasion, says a french writer, is a more active principle of conduct than conviction : the persuaded man deals in asseverations and bustle, in order that he may pass for convinced ; but the convinced man awaits, with a sort of pity, the accession of others to his o])inion. A barrister has to persuade the audience and to convince the judge : a sentence is willingly pro- nounced, when jinblic sentiment is prepared to approve it ; but it is imwillingly pronounced, when there is only a persuasion, and not a conviction, of its justice. Discovery. Invention. If the art of encaustic painting on glass were to be revived in its ancient perfection, we should call the process a discovery : had it never yet been prac- tised, we should call the process an invention. The discoverer of galvanism. The inventor of brandy. That which existed before, but in an unnoticed state, is said to be discovered : that which is called into being for the first time, is said to be invented. Magnetism was discovered long before the compass was invented. Galileo invented the telescope : Har- vey discovered the circidation of the blood. This use of the terms is cori'ect ; we uncover that which is hidden ; we come at new objects. Cure. Remedy. A cure is the clFcct of a remedy : the one describes 67 a beneficial constitutional change in the body, and the other the drug, application, or process which brought on the change. These words would not require explaining, had not Dr. Trusler mis-stated their application ; yet their derivation would justify some confusion in their use ; for cur a, care, is an efficacious remedy ; and remedy, the thinff curing, has acquired an abstract termi- nation. Abasement. Baseness. Levizac begins his neat collection of french syno- nyms with the words Ahuissement and Bassesse. Lowering and lowness are the corresponding english words. Abasement is the passage downwards ; baseness the state of being low. Bas is french for low. Abasement, as Christianity maintains, may be meritorious ; it may be a voluntary stooping, a con- quest over haughtiness, arrogance, pride. "There is an abasement because of glory," say the transla- tors of the Ecclesiasticus. Abasement, ajiplied to the condition of men, means degradation r but there are those who bear abasement, so as to make it a reproach to the degrader. Baseness, though it properly means lowness, is always used for lowness that displeases. Shakspeare talks of the baseness of a bastard's birth, Dryden of the baseness of mistrust. Swift of the baseness of alloyed metal. This association of idea is not un- natural ; the base of a building is usually filthy. In the cimbric, hasa dow implies false gods. Baseness is applied to musical sound, without any association of displeasure. A base voice. Lord Bacon opposes baseness to trebleness of tone. lu base notes the vibrations are slov.'er. To ABOLISH. To ABROGATE. To abolish is to wash-out (ab4uere), and to abro- 68 gate is to ask-ojf, (ab-rogare) . Abolition is a more gradual, a less sensible and formal process, than ab- rogation. Disuse abolishes ; positive interference i& necessary to abrogate. Customs are abolished ; laws are abrogated. The mischievous authority of spi- ritual courts has in a great degree been abolished, but has not been abrogated. Christianity has been abrogated at Paris, without being abolished : it has been abolished in some german universities, without being abrogated. Vision. Apparition. *'The organs of sense (says a modern ideologist) apparently consist of bundles of tubulated fibres, the one extremity of which communicates with ex- ternal surfaces, and the other with the seat of the soul : a sensation is a motion at the external extre- mity, an idea a corresponding motion at the internal extremity of these organs." The words vision and apparition bear to each other the same relation as these sensations and ideas ; but are applicable only to the phenomena of the sense of sight. Vision describes a train of sensations, appa- ritions a train of ideas, of sight. Vision takes place in the presence of the exterior illuminated objects, which it copies ; apparition takes place in the ab- sence of the objects, which it represents. What we behold during dream is not vision, but apparition : it is not sight, or reality, but reminiscence, or semblance. Apparitions are the only ghosts. Vision in the next life is the ])erfecting of faith in this ; our faith here is turned into vision there, as hope into enjoying. Hammo7id. Suddenly stood at my head a dream, Whose inward apparition gently mov'd My fancy. Milton. These words are not always used with equal preci- sion ; but in general the poet, the orator, or the 69 theologer, wlio would ascribe peculiar vividness to an apparition, calls it a vision ; and a vision, of which it is wished to enfeeble the impression, is called by reversing the hyperbole, the apparition ; the ideal being avowedly less trustworthy than the sensitive perceptions. Dr. Trusler has given an opposite ac- count of these terms. Village. Hamlet. Tow^n. The privation of a market, says Beauzee, distin- guishes a village from a town ; and the privation of a church distinguishes a hamlet from a village. This french usage corresponds with our own, but is not based on etymologic propriety ; for town being derived from tunan, to shut, ought to mean a village walled in ; hamlet being a diminutive, and village a collective, they ought rather to differ in size than in kind. Seat. Residence. Dw^elling. Mansion. Seat and residence are applied when the situation is in question ; dwelling and mansion, when the ha- bitation is considered. A beautiful seat ; a pleasant residence; a handsome dwelling; a spacious mansion. That is a seat or a mansion, which habitually ap- pertains ; that is a residence or a dwelling, which is actually occupied. Dwelling being a native and mansion a foreign word, higher ideas of grandeur are attached to the latter : the dwelling of a cottager ; the mansion of a mayor. Reformation. Reform. Reformation is the forming again; reform is the new form : the first is the process, the second the result. The words are at home in a pottery, where the vases, which by any accident becomes dinted in the drying, are cast again into the mould, or placed anew on the turn, to be reformed. F 70 La reformation est V action de reformer ; la refonve en est Vefet. Gii'urcL The reformation of popery undertaken by Luther (lid Uttle honour to his sense, or to his taste ; but it produced a beneficial reform in the method of public instruction. In the period of reformation, men are applying remedies to social disorders ; in a period ot reform, the cure is effected, the comj)laints have vanished. Reform is too often of shorter endurance than reformation. The reformation of Parliament should be accomplished piecemeal : subdivide York- shire into three shires, consoUdate Rutland and Lei- cester into one ; grant charters of representation to the po})ulous towns of recent growth ; anel add to the number of metropolitan members : — but, if you wish to preserve the constitution, beware of realizing suddenly an extensive reform. Justice of the peace. Justiciary. JuSTICER. The resident magistrate of a parish, or a hundred, is named in England a justice. They were called wardens, or keepers, of the peace, says Blackstone, until the statute of 34 Edward III. crave them the j)o\ver of trying felonies ; and then tliey acquired the ap{»ellation of justices of the jieace. This vulgarism deserves reprobation. Translate it into any other language, justitia pads, or tme jus- tice de la pair, and every one will be shocked at the barbarism of the deuomiuation. There are two ways of curing the blemish ; the one is to liberalize the word justicer, which in many places is used by the common people ; the other, to modernize the w rd justiciary. Of each magistrate who is called justi- ciarius forestee, &c. it might be convenient to say justiciary ; and of the provincial or district magis- trate, justicer. 71 To STAY. To REMAIN. To stay, is to desist from motion ; to remain, is to persevere in I'est : the stayer and the remainer are both standing still ; but the former intends to go forwards, the latter intends to be left behind. He stays in the country until after Christmas. They remain in London this whole year. The packet-boat stays for me. The books have been sold; but the rest of the furniture remains.* To stay (german, stehen) means to stand, which, as it is the preparation for stopping, becomes its natural designative. Staith, a quay or wharf, is where one stayeth. To remain (latin, manere) is to dwell, which implies no cessation of previous mo- tion. Sedition. Uproar. Tumult. Riot. Sedition is derived from sed, apart, and ire, to go, and means a separation of the people. New opinions in theology or politics occasion seditions. Uproar is derived from avf, up, and ruhren, to stir, and means a stirring up of the people. He who evulgates new opinions in theology or politics, occasions uproar. Tumult is derived from tumulus, a heap of earth raised by barrowfuls, and means an accumulation of people, a gathering of the croud. When bread is dear, hostile tumults often take place at the bakers' shops and at the corn-mills. Riot is derived from riotta, a quarrel, and means the change from vocifer- ous collection to violent interference. When a riot begins, the magistrate must cause the riot- act to be read aloud, before he may employ the soldiery to disperse the people. Some of our writers have imagined that the word * Remainder, for that which re^nams, is impurely formed ; remaint would be more aualogous witli cuiuplaiut, attaint, restraint, paint, &c. 72 uproar is derived rom to roar (saxon, raroii), and therefore suppose it includes the idea of noise, which is a mistake. So HoUday : " The uproar was so loud, that the accusation itself could not he heard." Tlie word ought to have been spelt uproor. To IMPROVE. To MELIORATE. To EMEND. To BETTER. The \vL\m prohiis'is a contraction of probatus, tried : the english verb to improve is said by Skinner to be derived from in and j^fobus, and to mean probum fa- cere ; now as probus is used in a good sense for ap- proved, so probum facere may signify, it should seem, to make trial of successfully, by experience to sanc- tion. But the latin infinitive improbare, whence to improve, is the natural and real derivative, means no such thing ; on the contrary, it signifies to disapprove, to find fault loith, to disalloiv, to disrelish, to re- proach : the in of the compound is not the preposition into, but the privative against. The substantive improbatio, whence our improbation, always means, as defined by Johnson, the act of disallowing, and censuring. To improve, therefore, is a wholly vitious word, of which the signification attributed to it by english writers has no parallel, no corroboration, in the lan- guage whence it has been imported, nor even in the modern french. Perhaps it is a corruption of to imp- groove, deriving from the falconers, who were wont to insert imps, or adscititious feathers, in a groove, or slit, made in th-e hawk's wing. Gardeners again imp-groove, or ingraft, fruit-trees, and may have lent the term to agriculturists, who apply it very freely to their method of bettering the produce of land. In the one case a new meaning, in the other case a new spelling should be given to the word: in its present form it probal)ly is the rustic vulgarism. Pope has it, ileaven seems improved with a superior ray. 73 which line is otherwise worthy of an irish poet : how should rays from above fall on heaven? And Dr. Watts has it, no less unintelligibly. How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour ! Is the Improved Version so called, because it is found fault with, or because it is emended, or because it is much recurred to for edification ? From the latin 7neHor,* better, or from the french amel'wrer, to better, derives the legitimate word to meliorate, or to ameliorate. From the latin emendare, to efface blemishes (the etymon is menda, a spot), derives the euglish verb to amend, or rather to emend. To meliorate supposes or not denies that a thing is well already : to emend implies something wrong. Incorrect writing requires emendation ; dull writing requires melioration. To better is the saxon word for to meliorate, and differs only in being plainer, less refined, less affected. Although our etymologists agree in deriving the english verb to mend from the latin emendare, I sur- mise the existence of a saxon infinite mcendan, from mand a basket. To mend shoes is not to remove a * How comes it that the comparatives, milior and better, are used in a sense diametrically opposite to their positives, malus and bad ? Perhaps these two words at first signified alrong. The savage views strength in another as an odious quality, because it is likely to prove hostile and inconvenient ; but, in comparing two strange individuals, he will give the preference to the stronger ; self being no longer the secret object of comparison, he will regard with complacence the very quality which he before viewed with apprehension ; and thus strony man may excite the feeling expressed by bad man; and stronger man the feeling expressed by better man. So.iu the greek, Kaprepos has sometimes an obnoxious sense ; but KpfiacTcou and Kpariaros a good one. Tsreiice has male mciuo for / aironijlij Jmr. F 2 7-4 blemish ; this idiom cannot have grown out of the latin etymon. The shoes of our forefathers were a basket-work of lindel bark, and were spliced into repair. Mcende means a wicker rattle. To COPY. To IMITATE. To COUNTERFEIT. By what gradations of metonomy the latin word copia nan have attained the signification of the english copy, there is difficulty in guessing. The train of modification was laid early, for Plautus has Tnam copiam eccam ! Perhaps the scribes first call(;d their text, then their task or allowance, and lastly their transcript, by the name copia. To copy now means to transcribe ; and also to trans- fer a delineation. A copy is a transcript of a writ- ing, or the likeness of a picture. Imitate derives from the latin imitare, to make a likeness. Counter- feit derives from the french contrefaire, to make against, or in competition Avith, something else ; to mock, to ape, to simulate, to parody. We copy a writing when we transcribe the words ; we imitate a writing when we transcribe the fashion of the letters ; we counterfeit a writing when we put off the likeness for the original. We copy an author when we transcribe his words ; we imitate an author when we adopt the peculiarities of his style ; we counterfeit an author when we impose a forged for a real ])rodiiction. One copies from sterility ; one imitates from esteem ; one counterfeits for pastime. To copy with servility ; to imitate with embellish- ment ; to counterfeit with caricature. Mist. Fog By mist, says Dr. Trusler, is understood a thin cloud hanging very low ; or rain so extremely small as not to be perceived in drops. By fog is implied a moist vapour near the surface of the laud ; or 75 •water so dense as to obscure the sight. The mist falls, the fog rises. The anglo-saxon mist signifies gloom ; the danish fog means cloud ; the hollandish fok is a worsted gauze of which streamers are made : so that dim transparency seems to be the radical idea in both words. Wholly to account for the usage indicated by Dr. Trnsler, mist should mean cloud, and fog should mean smoke. Justness. Precision. That is just which is jussum, commanded ; which is according to law, to rule, to order. He writes with justness who obeys the prescript of the gram- marian or of the rhetorician. Prcecidei'e is to note or mark with a stroke, as carpenters do before they saw ; to cut a little before, as drapers do who are to rend the residue ; to pare awav with purpose and foresight. Precision of style is apt brevity. That is precise which is close cut so as to fit. Justness prevents our running into errors ; preci- sion removes every thing that is useless. Trusler. Precision of discourse is a mark of justness of mind. Trusler. The rhetorists have employed the word precision to designate the highest perfection of composition ; and class aptness, or putting the right word in the right place, under the head precision. Perhaps hif- tingness deserves to become a word of art : to hit the mark, to err on neither side, to attain the very end at which one aims, whether of amplification or condensation, whether of clearness or obscurity, whether of panegyric or satire, whether of nakedness or ornament, is the criterion of skill. Precision of style is often, but not always, conducive to a writer's purpose. 76 Painting. Picture. Painting is derived from paint, which signifies the colouring material ; hence the presence of such colours constitute a painting. The sign of the chequer is a painting. Picture is derived from pingere, which means to delineate, and is perhaps originally but an orthogra- phic variety of fiwjere ; hence the presence of repre- sentative delineation or design constitutes a picture. Embroidery is called 2iictura textilis. We say pictures in tapestry, pictures in mosaic. The painting is almost the natural man : He is but outside. Ska/cspeare. Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects, and please or displease but in memory. Bacon. West's works are rather good pictures than good paintings : he excels in drawing and composition, he fails in colouring ; his drab-coloured creations are shapen in fine moulds. School. Academy. Schola was used of the lobby to a bath-house, of a piazza, and of other inclosed places, where philoso- phers occasionally gave lessons. Academus was a citizen of Athens, who kept a gymnasium, or school of bodily exercises, and who finally bequeathed his house and garden to the public ; it became a favou- rite walk for students. School, therefore, excites an idea of confinement, where the lessons are given between four walls ; and academy an idea of liberty, where instruction is picked up on the saunter. Schools begin the education ; academies finish it. Tnisler. School is generally applied to any house of dis- cipline and iustnution, where admission is venal. Academy is applied technically to those voluntary 11 combinations of men of letters, who aspire not to teach, but to advance the arts and sciences. Regularity. Order. Regula means rule ; and ordo rank. Whatever is done by rule, be that rule good or bad, is done with regularity. Whatever is done by rank, that is, with a present sense of proportion and relative value, is done with order. Regularity implies repetition ; but a precedent may be set with order. A good order once established deserves to be acted on with regularity. Regularity is often departed from for the sake of order. To PREFER. To CHOOSE. To prefer is an act of the judgment ; and to choose is an act of the will : the one describes intellectual, and the other practical, decision. To prefer is to put before, and to choose is to take hold of. We may prefer a luxurious table with its gaudy guests ; but we often choose the unrestrained society of the club-room. Many a man prefers the fairer and chooses the richer mistress. To OBSERVE. To REMARK. To observe is to record with the eye, and to re- mark is to record with the pen ; the one requires patient attention {ob and servare), the other marked notice. We observe the weather-glass in order to remark the level of the quicksilver ; we may remark the indications of to-day in order to observe the va- riation of to-morrow. It is the part of a general to observe the motions of the enemy, and to remark those of his men who distinguish themselves in battle. In old times there were more observers than remarkers ; in the present state of literature there are more remarkers than observers. The statement 78 ot an individual fact is called a remark ; and the statement of an inference, an observation. Pellucid. Transparent. That is called pellucid, which is pervious to light ( per and lucidus ) ; that is called transparent, which is pervious to the shapes {trans and parere) of objects. Ground-glass is rather pellucid than transparent ; smoked-glass is rather transparent than pellucid. Farewell. Adieu. Both these forms of taking leave are applied daily and vaguely ; yet we oftener bid farewell to those who quit us, and adieu to those whom we quit. Farewell is employed on light occasions ; adieu should be reserved for those formal and serious sepa- rations, when it is natural to invoke the blessing of God. Prevalent. Prevailing. What habitually prevails is prevalent, what ac- tually prevails is prevailing. Among the Orientals, turbans — among the Europeans, hats — are prevalent. Commerce and war sometimes transplant so many Franks into the east, that at Smyrna and at Alexan- dria it has occasionally been questioned, whether hats or turbans were the prevailing wear. To HOPE. To EXPECT. Anticipation of futurity is an idea common to both words : in proportion as that anticipation is welcome, we hope ; in proportion as it is certain, we expect. To hope is to open the arms ; to c\poct is to behold from afar. The young man hopes to marry, the old man expects to die. Acquisition. Acquirement. Acquisition is applied to material, or physical, and 79 acquirement to moral, or spiritual, attamments. We say acquisitions of fortune, but acquirements of lite- rature. To win a province is an acquisition ; to learn a language, an acquirement. The merit, that leads to wealth, passes for an acquisition, that leads to fame, passes for an acquirement. To FORSAKE. To NEGLECT. To DESERT. To ABANDON. Forsake is derived from a low-dutch verb collate- ral with the english to seek, in composition with the inseparable preposition for, which has a privative* meaning. To forsake then signifies originally not to seek, or to desist from seeking ; and forsaken, that which is sought no longer. Last summer you came frequently to London, but now you quite forsake it. The latin negligere is a privative of legere, to pick, cull, or choose ; so that to neglect closely resem- bles in etymologic growth the english verb to forsake. But as that means primarily *' not to select,*' and this *' not to visit," the one inattention implies contempt, and the other only indifference. The apartments and gardens remain in the nicest order ; though the villa is forsaken, it is not neg- lected. Besertor is used in latin of a soldier who leaves his colours ; hence an idea of blameworthy and dis- graceful separation adheres to the word. Thou mean deserter of thy brother's blood. Pope. * This privative inseparable preposition also occurs in forbear, forget, forgo, forlorn, foi-swear, forworn, &c. : some writers ignorantly confound this preposition with fore, and spell forego. To forego is to go before, aad to forgo is to go without. 80 Abandon is derived from the frencli abandonner, a concretion of the words donner a ban, to give up to piibUc blame. This phrase was used in early times both in a civil and religious sense ; for we read of the ban of the empire for civil interdict, and of the ban of the kirk for ecclesiastical excommunication. To abandon, then, is to expose to that desertion, which results from public and formal denunciation ; to forsake with solemnity. It is used of things as well as persons. The passive gods beheld the Greeks defile Their temples, and abandon to the spoil Their own abodes. Dry den. He has forsaken his home, and deserted his wife ; it is said his affairs are so neglected, that the pro])erty must be abandoned to public auc- tion. * To GIVE UP. To CEDE. To YIELD. To give up is to give in an attitude, which an nounces the siiperiority of the receiver ; it implies therefore humiliating, if not unwilUng, cession. Give up your sword. He gives up London to re- side wholly in the country. That fellow is given up to every vice. To cede, although omitted in Johnson's dictionary, is in common use ; it originally meant merely to go aside, to give {)lace. Ex transversa cedit, quasi can- cer solet. It is therefore not accomj)anied, like " to give up," with any accessory idea of humiliation. Un grand cccur cede un trone, et le cede avec gloire. CorneiJlc. Of a lawsuit the cost is certain, the event doubt- ful ; you will do ])etter to cede than to proceed. 13y the peace of Amiens, Malta was ceded to its original sovereigns, but was never given up to them. To yield, from the anglo-saxon yldan, to grow old, 1 expresses a gradual reluctant cession, a giving up from faintness. He yields not in his fall. But fiailitina; dies. Daniel. An arguer cedes the point which he gives up without controversy, and yields the point which he has struggled for in vain. In course. Of course. In course descrihes the succession of order : of course, the succession of dependence : in course an- nounces a sequence merely ; of course, a consequence : in course suggests a regular, of course a necessary connection. The nobility attended in course ; that is, according to the order of their precedence. The nobility attended of course ; that is, in virtue of their office. I praised him in course ; that is, when it came to his turn. I praised him of course ; that is, because his merit required it. The soldiery marched out of town in course ; that is, in regular ranks. The soldiery marched out of town of course ; that is, because at assize or election times the law requires their absence. Scud. Rack. Two layers of clouds are often visible ; the lower one moving quickly with the wind which is felt at the surface of the earth ; the upper one moving slowly in a direction apparently opposite. The interior stratum of clouds is called the scud ; the superior stratum is called the rack. Scud is a common word among sailors ; rack, among poets : the first may be found in Falconer's Shipwreck, and the second in Shakspeare's Tempest : but these terms have not yet passed, as they deserve to do, into the language of science. 6 82 Little. Small. Etymologically, little suggests an idea of levifij, and small of s/enderness : but both words are used of material objects without much discrimination. Lit- tle is more contemptuous, and is ofteuer applied metaphorically. A short thread is a little thread ; only a slender thread is a small thread. A fat lit- tle man ; never a fat small man. It was a mean thing, a little action ; never a small action. A cot- tage is a small house ; a privy is called a little house. Train. Retinue. Any procession including drawn carriages was formerly called a train (from trainer to draw) in contradistinction to the spectators who formed no part of the moving show. The german zuff has a like root, and a like meaning. A train of artillery. It has become customary to give the name of " train" to that part of a procession which follows the principal figure, and in this sense only it borders in signification on the word retinue ; but the reti- nue denotes the engaged, or retained, followers only. Our candidate is to be hoisted in a chair, and parad- ed round the market-place ; a retinue of bludgeon- men is engaged, that his voters may be able securely to follow in the train. It was customary at a Ro- man triumph to have captive slaves in the train. The train of a lady's gown is fitly so called, be- cause it is drawn, or dragged, after the person. The po])ularity of this term has occasioned the limitation of the word "train" to the cue of a procession. Untruth. Lie. Falsehood. An untruth is an involuntary, a lie is a voluntary, falsehood. Plenty. Abundance. Plenty (jilenitus) is fulness ; abiuidance {ab and 83 undare) is overflow. Both words in our language are metaphorically applied to the provisional state of the country, to its eatable stock. A year of plen- ty is a year in which more than the average crop of food has been produced. A year of abundance, how- ever grateful to the consumers, vrill often occasion discontent among farmers and land-owners. Burden. Load. Burden*, says the german synonymist Eberhard, is etymologically connected with the verb " to bear," as is "load" with "to load." The one means a weight borne, the other a weight imposed ; both include the idea of weight lifted : load excites the active, burden the passive idea. The porter sweats under his burden. The wag- gon creaks beneath its load. To him who is unused to labour, a light load is a heavy burden. The trusses •weighed for the mule's back already form a load, but can only be a burden while they are carried. When we are considering in a ship its power of bearing or lifting, we talk of its burden ; when we are considering the means of stowing and heaving the cargo, vi^e talk of its loading. Dr. Trusler says, erroneously, that by burden we understand a weight possible to be borne ; but by load, a weight more than we are able to bear. The following phrases are both usual and correct. "What do you ask for that load of wood? you * Dryden writes, At every close she made, th' attending throng Reply'd, and bore the burden of the song. He evidently considers the word " burden," when it means a bob or chorus, as identical with the word under discussion, and therefore describes it as borne. It ought to be written lurdon, and derives from bourdon, from the drone of a br.g- pipe, which serves as accessory music, like a chorus. — " The burden of a song." 84 have employed plenty of cattle to draw it," "The burden was too much for him ; he has got an injury." " You are to carry back the hampers empty ; you will have a light load." Breakers. Surges. Billows. Waves. Those huge waves whose summits break into foam at a distance from the shore are called breakers. The breakers in the Bay of Biscay are formida- ble to mariners. Those waves which rise higher than others are called surges, from the latin word sui'gere, to rise. He flies aloft, and with impetuous roar Pursues the foaming surges to the shore. Dryden. Those waves which swell out more than others are called billows. This term is derived from the verb "to bulge," or "to bilge," which is itself a deri- vative from the substantive "belly;" in anglo-saxon hUig. Bilge-water is the water contained in the belly of a ship. Bailey is incorrect in deriving billow from bellen, to bark or roar. "Were he right, billows would signify the noisier waves. The waves are so called from the anglo-saxou word waeg, which is connected with weagan, to weigh. A balancing or oscillatory motion is there- fore the radical or essential idea ; and a wave may be defined a ridge of water in a state of oscillation. The wave behind impels the wave before. Pope Fluctuations. Waverings. Undulations. Fluctuation is derived from fiuctvs, of which the etymon is connected vi\\.\\ fucre, to flow, and Jlumen, flood. Those waves which flow faster than others are the Jtuctiis. jNIovement, tossing, is the promi- nent feature described. The fluctuations of the tide. The greatest part of his estate has hitherto been of an unsteady and F.I volatile nature, either tost upon seas or fluctuating in funds, but it is now fixed and settled in substan- tial acres and tenements. From the substantive " wave" comes a verb "to wave ;" and from the verb " to wave" comes a fre- quentative verb " to waver." From " to waver" is formed the verbal substantive " a wavering." Undulation is identical in form with wavering. From unda, wave, comes the frequentative verb m/j- dulare, and hence the verbal substantive undulatio. But as in wave the fundamental idea is oscillation, whereas in unda the fundamental idea is swelling, the metaphorical use of wavering and undulation is different ; although when applied to sensible ob- jects the meaning of these words is not always dis- tinguishable. We say " the wavering of boughs," because they oscillate ; but not " the undulation of boughs," be- cause they do not upswell. " Undmis JEtna." " Vn- dat equisT " TJndulata toga." The waverings of hesitation. The uudidations of pride. The fluctuations of opinion. Clergyman. Parson. Minister. Priest. There are three ranks of clergymen below that of a dignitary, — parson, vicar, and curate. Parson is the first, meaning a rector, or he who receives the great tithes of a benefice. By the word parson then is implied one of a particular class of clergy, where- as by the word clergyman is understood any person ordained to serve at the altar. Parsons are always ]>riests ; many clergyman are only deacons. Every bishop, dean, prebend, &c., is a clergyman, though not always a parson. So far Dr. Trusler, and well ; but he omits to no- tice the remaining synonyms. A minister is one who actually or habitually serves at the altar. The S6 clergyman who delegates his functions is not a minister. The dissenting clergy are all ministers ; for as ordination with them confers no indelible character, on ceasing to officiate they revert into laymen. A priest is one of the second order in the hierarchy, above a deacon and below a bishop ; it is a title bestowed by specific ordination, which confers a privilege of consecrating the sacrament. Only j)i*iests are capable of being admitted to any parson- age, vicarage, benefice, or other ecclesiastic promotion. The word priest is derived from •n-peafeurtpoc, an elder, a legate, and is applied to the sacerdotal offices of any religion. IMinister means servant, and therefore retains the idea of actual employ. Parson is probably from parochianus, and implies one whose liglits extend over a parish. Clergyman, like fish- erman for fisher, is a somewhat awkward substitute for the clerc of our ancestors, which meant a gra- duate, a man regularly educated. Continuation. Continuance. Continuity, continuality. Continuation, continuance, continuity, continua- lity, are all derived from con and tenere, and have consequently for their primary sense or radical idea "a holding together." Continuation is used of space, continuance of time, continuity of substance, and continuality of motion. Thus we say, " The continuation of a march." "The continu- ance of a war." "The continuity of a rampart." "The continuality of explosions." "The Padding- ton canal is to have acoutinuation into the Thames." " Durins; our continuance in .iny office we are industriously to discharge its duties." "As in the natiu'al l)ody a woimd or solution of continuity is worse than a corrujit humour, so in the spiritual." 87 " The continuality of the noise in the street makes me wish to remove into the Temple." Are there adequate grammatical reasons for this practice ? Continuation and continuance derive from the verb "to continue." The formative ending ation began in actio, signifying " doing." The formative ending ance is probably corrupted from an obsolete substantive of the Latins entia, signifying " being.'"* The first therefore has something of a transitive, the second of a passive meaning. '* The continuation of your hostility is unbecom- ing." "The continuance of my deafness grows te- dious." This accessory idea of action attached to the word continuation renders it fitter for use wherever effort is implied. "The continuation of the thunder-claps." "The continuation of Rapin's History." " The continua- tion of the species." But to all passive substantives an accessory idea of state, condition, duration, easily attaches, which renders the prevalent application of continuance natural and proper. "The continuance of moonshine." "A longer continuance here is impossible." " Continuance in such company is a continuation of his imprudence." Continuity and continuality derive respectively from the adjectives "continuous" and "continual." The formative termination ity began perhaps in itus, gait, from " to go.'.' As generosity signifies the qua- lity or property of being generous, so continuity signifies the quality of being continuous, and conti- nuality the quality of being continual. Continuous is derived from the latin, in which language it Tuoans " immediately successive." Continual is de- rived from the french, in which language it means 88 " incessant." The one is oftener an attribute of sub- stance, the other of motion. " Continuous waves." " A continual stream." The shades of meaning attached to these four words are such as their derivation requires : their habitual employment corresponds with their essen- tial significancy : it is likely therefore to be perma- nent. BiSHOPRiCK. Diocese. Both these words describe the extent of an episco- pal jurisdiction ; the first with relation to tlie over- seer, the second with relation to the charge. This is implied in their derivation ; the one being com- pounded of bishop and of 7-ick, which in anglo-saxon signifies empire, or jurisdiction ; and the other being compounded of dia, through, and oikesis, manage- ment. The jurisdiction of a synod of presbyters may aptly be described as a diocese, but not as a bishop- rick. The titular jurisdictions attributed to catholic prelates in countries where their religion is not recognized, are bishopricks, but not dioceses. The bishoprick of Rome may be said to pervade the dioceses of all the catholic bishops : but the diocese of Rome is limited to that district which has no other bishop than the pope. Tlie archbishop of Canterbury has more than a hundred peculiars, or churches, in the several dio- ceses of London, Winchester, Lincoln, Rochester, Norwich, Oxfortl, and Chichester, where he exer- cises episcopal jurisdiction ; his oishoprick compre- hends a part of those dioceses, but his diocese does not comprehend any part of those bishopricks. Bishop. Diocesan. lie is a bishop, who superintends a diocese any 89 where ; he is the diocesan, who superintends tliis diocese : the first is a general, the second a local designation. Diocesan properly means "belonging to the dio- cese." In english, this word is applied only to the diocesiarch, or chief of the diocese. In french, it is applied only to the dependent clergy. " Un eveque lie pent donuer la tonsure ni les ordres qu'a son dio- cesain." There is always a difficulty in preserving distinct usages of the same word in two nations •whose literature intercirculates ; the arbitrary ap- plication "will in both countries probably expire, and diocesan will become applicable both by the clergy to their bishop, and by the bishop to his clergy. Among the ancients bishop and diocese de- scribed civil institutions. Cicero was episcojms oi'ce Campanice. Strabo says the Romans had divided Asia into dioceses, in each of which sat a judicial court. The office of episcojms among the Latins passes for military, and is supposed to correspond with commissary of provisions, or victualler. It it com- prehended the superintendence over distributions of corn among the people, the transfer of the term to an ecclesiastical almoner would be more explicable. IMiddleton throws no light on this topic in the rela- tive note which occurs (vol. ii. p. GD) in his life of Cicero. Arms. Weapons. Originally arms meant instruments of offence ; and weapons, instruments of defence. A sword, a spear, is as it were an artificial arm ; a hauberk, a shield, is as it were a coat : wepa, in icelaudish, means a coat ; and wapen, in german, means a shield, and a coat of arms. Furo?- arma ministrat. O let not woman's wea- pons, water-drops, stain my man's cheeks. 90 Men should leani the use of arms. In Marshal Snxe's opinion the hreast-plate is a weapon unwisely disused. We say fire-arms, never fire-weapons ; he- cause fire is not employed defensively. Our poets have deserted this application of the terms, and employ " weapons " for instruments of offence, whenever they want a dissyllabic word. So Spencer : His weapon huge that heaved was on high. And Shakspeare : The cry of Talbot serves me for a sword ; For I have loaden me with many spoils. Using no other weapon than his name. They also employ " arms" for instruments of de- fence, whenever they want a monosyllabic word. So Dryden : His surcoat o'er his arms was cloth of Thrace. And Shakspeare, without any motive of prosody ; Their wounded steeds Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters. These words, therefore, are become identical in meaning : yet caprice has consecrated some peculi- arities in their employment. We call those instru- ments arms which are made on purpose to fight with ; but we call those instruments loeapons which are accidentally employed to fight with. Nigh. Near. Next. The angio-saxon verb hnigan, collateral with the german neigen, signifies to lean, to incline : from its participle derives the adjective " nigh," which means leaning against, and thence contiguous. The colla- teral german adjective is nach and nah : the english adjective occurs with other vowels in neighbour. Near, (teutonic ncecher) and next, (teutonic ncechsi) 91 are the comparative and superlative degrees of this same adjective. Nigii is that which leans against ; near that which leans more against ; and next that which leans most against. My next neighbour, my near neighbour, my nigh neighbour, describe the superlative, the secondary, and the less definite de- gree of contiguity. Near has corruptly become positive, and is itself compared in the forms nearer and nearest. Nigh is also compared in the forms nigher and nighest ; and next remains a superlative, a mere variation of nigh- est. The instinctive impatience of redundance in lan- guage is attempting to introduce distinctions be- tween terms, which are in fact different forms or dialects of the same word ; we seldom use nigh metaphorically, but we say near relations, and next of kin. We apply nigh to time, and near to place. The purist will prefer nigh, nigher, nighest, as the most defensible of the usual forms of employing this adjective ; and will be somewhat disposed to spell nighbour, instead of neighbour, in order to preserve in the alUed words a family resemblance. Tongue. Language. Speech. Dialect. The gothic tong, like the latin lingua, is the name of that organ with which speaking is principally performed : tongue and language therefore were originally identical in meaning, and differed only in that the one had a northern, and the other a southern derivation. But as the word tongue is also in use among us for the name of the organ of speech, whereas the word lingua is not, we are continually reminded that tongue must mean spoken language, whereas we are never reminded that language should. The consequence is that the idea of spokenness has been progressively detached from the word language. 92 and is now omitted altogether : so that we say, " The philosophic language of Bishop Wilkins :" whereas in the word tongue the idea of spokeuness is retain- ed. "The vulgar tongue." "A mother tongue." " A dead language." " The written language of the Chinese is under- stood by the people of Japan in their own tongue : like the arithmetical figures of Europe." Adelung has ingeniously shown that the word to speak is etymologically connected with words signi- fying to split and to break ; and that speech con- templates language as broken or cut into words. Hence the Accidence rightly says, " Speech has eight parts :" where tongue or language would be improper. Every thing is speech which is articu- late ; " the speech of your parrot is very distinct :" but only that which is intelligible is a tongue. Where the same language is spoken or written with variations, such variations are called dialects. In Great Britain the Ilumber is the limitary line of dialect : north of it every thing tends to the Scottish pronunciation and idiom ; south of it every thing tends to the english pronunciation and idiom. Edinburgh and London have distinct dialects. A dialect is a subdivision of a language. Bush. Tree. Shrub. A bush differs from a tree in that its branchiness begins at the very root ; whereas a tree rises on a single stem. The same plant, according to its form or growth, may be a bush or tree. The hawthorn, which commonly forms a bush, may be educated into a beautiful tree. The willow, which naturally grows forth into a tree, may be profitably cultivated as a bush. Shrub, like bush, is a denomination of underwood. Bush respects the accidental, shrub the habitual, form of growth. Whatever sprouts with 93 many stems, whether a beach or an oak, is a bush ; whatever grows up usually m the form of a bush, as the laurel and the rose, is a shrub. Bush is etymologically connected with bauscken, to tie up in faggots ; tree with true, which means strait ; and shrub with shremman, to impede. Bough. Branch, Twig. Sprig or Sprey. Bough, being derived from bugan, to bend, is one of those portions of the stem which bends sideways, an arm of a tree. Branch, being derived from brancke, paw, is one of the finger-like subdivisions of a bough. Twig, being derived from two, (as zweig from swey,) properly means one of those side-branches which shoot in couples. Sprig, spray, or rather sprey, are various spellings of the same word, which is etymologically connected with to spread, to sprit and to sprout ; they describe the expanding extremities of a twig. The wind that whistles through the spreys. Dryden. A denuded stalk is not called a sprey ; a crooked sprout is not called a twig ; a leading shoot is not called a branch ; an upright stem is not called a bough. Heavy. Weighty. Hea\-y, being derived from to heave, to lift with labour, signifies hard to be lifted ; whereas weighty means having specific gravity. A poke of bran may be heavy without being weighty ; a bag of money may be weighty without being heavy; a sack of coals is hkely to be both heavy and weighty. In metaphor these words preserve the same rela- tion. An inconvenient burden is termed heavy ; an important burden is termed weighty. H 94 •' A sickly family is a heavy drawback upon a man's comfort." " A conspicuous official situation is a weighty un- dertaking." "A light wife makes a heavy husband." " His agents speak weightily and sententiously." Ditch. Trench. Cut. Drain. Channel. Hollow length is an idea common to all these words. Where the earth dug out of the hollow is thrown up beside it, we usually call it a ditch ; where the earth is spread on each side so as to leave no heap, we call it a trench ; where the hollow is continued athwart a whole isthmus, we call it a cut ; where its object is to lay the land dry, we call it a drain ; inasmuch as it affords passage to water, we call it a channel. Ditch, being derived from to dig, is naturally used where that operation is obvious. Trench, from tranche}', to slit, is applicable to a furrow cut by the plough. Cut is a section ; it implies continuity to the boundary. Drain {lachryma,) defines the use, to draw off water. Channel comes from canna, a tube, and therefore suggests the idea of perviousuess. To I.ESSEN. To DIMINISH. The saxon adjective less, and the latin adjective minus, signify small : from the one is formed the verb to lessen, and from the other, to diminish ; which both mean, when active, to make smallei', and when neuter, to become smaller. These words are identical in their proper and in their metaphorical sense, and are an instance of idle copiousness in the english language. " Lessen your garden. Lessen your expenses." " Diminish your park. Diminish your outgoings." 95 " An object seemingly lessens in proportion to the distance we recede." " An object seemingly diminishes in proportion to the distance we recede." " A mean action lessens us in the sight of men." " Impiously they thought Thee to diminish." " The reUgious spirit has lessened on the Conti- nent." "A diminishing reputation." Dealing. Trade. Merchantry. Commerce. Traffic. These words are used with so little precision, that one must rather inquire what ought to be, than what is, their respective employment. Deal means part. A deal is part of a fir tree. A deal at cards is a partition of the cards. Dealing is subdivision. Collateral words are the german theil, part, and theilen, to part. A dealer therefore is he who subdivides what he purchases, who tells out anew his commodities. Dealing is retale. A wholesale-dealer, though a common expression, is a contradiction in terms: a retale-dealer, though a common expression, is a pleonasm. Trade {tratta, draught,) implies drawing from the source. He who imports his wine from Portugal, trades : he who buys candles of the chandler, trades : he who sends for cutlery to Birmingham, trades. Immediate supply is the radical idea, whether do- mestic or foreign aid be invoked. Merchantry began with the latin words merere to purchase, to earn, and merx, any thing purchased : but having been brought hither from abroad, it came to be applied, not, as on the Continent, to all those who purchase for profit, but only to those who pur- ciiase or sell in foreign countries. In Great Britain the foreign trader is called a merchant : we say a 96 wine-merchant, a silk-merchant, of those who im- port wine and silk : we call those manufacturers "merchants" who export the stuffs they make: we apply the term " merchant" to all those who fetch or carry alien wares. A corn-chandler, or chalander, (from enchalander, to cantle, to parcel out,) is he who buys corn for distribution in the home market : a corn-merchant is he who buys corn for or from the foreign market. Commerce in the french language answers to merchantry in the english : it means a trading with other countries. We apply the term still more in- clusively, and reckon brokerage and banking among the departments of commerce, although no purchases are made by such agents of interchange. The Italian verb trafficare was introduced by the Lombards, and it is etymologically connected with the gothic treffan, to meet. Traffic consequently signifies that commerce which is conducted by per- sonal interview. Those who make bargains at the Exchange, traffic. Those who inspect the commo- dities they buy, traffic. Those supercargoes who make contracts on the spot for their loading, traffic. A pedlar traffics. A broker traffics. Good manners. Good breeding. Good manners are confined to address and conduct ; good breeding includes the fashionable accomplish- ments ; good manners are the effect of intercourse ; good breeding of education : good manners imply more of observation ; good breeding more of indus- try. Good manners usually result from good breed- ing ; yet the former are more to a man's own praise, and the latter to that of his tutors. Low. Mean. Abject. Low is the reverse of high ; mean of noble ; ab- 07 ject of upstart. He is low who never was far ele- vated ; he is mean* who has the disposition of the vulgar ; he is abject who is cast down by fortune. The low man creeps ; the mean man grovels ; the abject man stoops. Why, but to keep you low and ignorant. Milton. Great Caesar found Our fathers no mean foes. Philips. Jesus Christ a vecu dans la derniere abjection. Width. Wideness. " The wideness of this paper is so great, that it will cover the chimney-board, without our pasting two widths together." In the foregoing example, width could be substi- tuted for wideness ; but not wideness for width. It follows, that the words in ness have always an ab- stract sense ; but that the words in th are also ap- plicable to concrete being. In like manner, we say, " The broadness of the road. A breadth of calico." Appear. Seem. Quintilian, comparing Sallust with Cicero, said. They were rather to be called equcd than alike : — Pares eos magis quam similes dicebat. In this sen- tence the two adjectives occur, whence the french verbs paroitre and semhler take their origin. To appear is as much a sti'onger term than to seem, as equality is stronger than likeness. The shining * Beside the adjective mean, which derives from the anglo- saxon mcene, vulgar, and is akin to many ; there is another adjective, deriving from the French moyen, vsrhich is so pro- nounced in Yorkshire, and which might expediently be so written : as, when we say, in the mean while ; why not, in the moyen while ? In some provinces, midwhile is used for mean- uhile. 98 fantasm, which rivals reality, appeal's to the imagi- nation ; the faint copy, which only recalls the origi- nal, seems to be. As the impressions of sense are stronger than those of reminiscence, external pheno- mena are usually described as appearing, and internal phenomena as seeming. An object appears less, the further it is off. Many things seem practicable, which are attempted in vain. Mirth. Cheerfulness. Mirth is an effort, cheerfulness a habit of the mind ; mirth is transient, and cheerfulness perma- nent ; mirth is like a flash of lightning, that glit- ters with momentary brilliance ; cheerfulness is the day-light of the soul, which steeps it in perpetual serenity. Those are often raised into the greatest transports of mirth, who are subject to the greatest depressions of melancholy ; whereas cheerfulness, though it does not give the mind such exquisite gladness, prevents our falling into any depths of sorrow. Addison. ]\Iirth is derived from the adjective merry, which is itself a contraction of marrowy, it having, of old, been supposed, that the orgasms of excitement pe- netrated to the marrow ; and that the men who had most marrow in their bones were the most liable to be exhilarated by wine, or love : merry, therefore, describes a gaiety bordering on intoxication ; while cheerful only describes the satisfaction which accom- panies a comfortive digestion. Assurance. Impudence. Assurance is the faculty of self-possession ; or of saying and doing critical things, without uneasi- ness or perturbation of body or mind. Assurance, unaccompanied by a sense of propriety and a taste for decorum, oitcn degenerates into imj)u- 99 dence, or sliamelessness. Yet they are not neces- sarily connected. Among the vulgar, imjjudence may be found without assurance ; and, among the polished, assurance may be found without impu- dence. Intercourse witli the world progressively bestows assurance ; iutercourse with the licentious suffices to bestow impudence. Will. Testament. If a man, before his death, gives directions, either by word of mouth, or in writing, about the disposal of his property, such authentic directions constitute his last will ; but they do not constitute his testa- ment, unless they are reduced to writing, and attest- ed. A testament is a witnessed will. The lawyers have sought to introduce another distinction, and to limit the word testament to person- al property, to the distribution of goods and chattels ; and the word ivill to real property, to the devise of land. In this technical sense, an infant at fourteen may make a testament, but cannot make a will : a testament requires esecutors, but a will requires no executor. Every testament is a will ; but every will is not a testament. Brute. Beast. Both these words are appHed to animals, as dis- tinguished from birds, insects, fishes, and man ; but the terra brute is confined to the untamed quadru- peds. We say beasts of burden, never brutes of burden. The beasts of the field ; the brutes of the forest. The man who abuses domestic indulgence, and gets drunk, is called a beast ; the man who abuses his strength, and behaves cruelly, is called a brute. 100 Dr. Trusler gives an opposite account of these words. Fast. Hard. Fast and hard are both adverbs of motioii. But as the momentum of a moving body is compounded of its rate of velocity, and its weight of matter, ac- cording to philosophers ; so, according to common talk, to run, to ride, or to rain, fast, describes the rate of velocity ; while to run, to ride, or to rain, hard, describes the weight of matter called into ac- tion. He who works fast will soon have done ; he who works hard will soon be weary. Religion. Devotion. Piety. Sanctity. Religion is the bond which ties us to the Deity ; it is the external contract, the alliance made by others. Devotion is the wish to become obedient to the Deity ; it is the internal subjection of man to his God. Piety is that filial sentiment, which we feel for the Father of all. Sanctity is the habit of interior coercion, which a constant sense of duty to the Godhead inspires. He is religious, who adheres to the ordinances of his country, or his sect. He is devout, whom this adherence has trained to allegiance. He is pious, who regards the Deity as his father. Sanctity is to piety what devotion is to religion— the state of mind which results from actpiiescence in the feeling. Some men are pious, without being religious ; and some are religions, without being pious. For a worldly person it is suiHcicnt to be religious. Those are devout whose purposes embrace their interests in other worlds. There is a fear of God observable in these times among Calvinists, which is no less hostile to piety, than that rude familiarity with the Almighty which 101 is observable among Methodists. Yet all these sen- timents grow out of rehgion. Religion is considered as a duty ; piety as a merit : devotion and sanctity as equivocal excesses. This arises from the scepticism of' the world, which ques- tions the eventual retribution of the industry spent in devotion, or of the privations incurred from sanc- tity. One may infer a man's creed from his using the words devotion and sanctity with deference, or with a sneer. Kingdom. Empire. Etymologically speaking, a country governed by a king, is a kingdom ; and a country governed by a successful general, or imperator, is an empire. In this sense, England is now a kingdom, but was, un- der Cromwell, an empire ; as France was under Bona- parte. Usage, however, defines an empire to mean an accumulation of distinct sovereignties under one ru- ler. The french empire. The british empire. Extent, not title, constitutes the essential character ; yet monarchy is implied in either designation. We do not say. The empire of North America. The roman dominion was originally a kingdom, then a republic, then an empire. Affliction. Chagrin. Affliction is to chagrin what a habit is to an act. The death of a wife causes affliction. The loss of a law-suit causes chagrin. The mother was so afflicted at the loss of a fine boy, who was her only son, that she died of grief for ^f-* " Addison. Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin ; That single act gives half the world the spleen. Pope, 102 Oblong. Oval. Oblong, from the latin ohlongus, means longer than broad ; oval, from the latin ovum, egg, means egg-shaped. It is usual to call figures rectilinearly bounded oblong, and figures curvilinearly bounded oval, when the length exceeds the breadth ; but, in strictness, the term oblong is applicable to curvili- near figures, although the term oval is not applicable to rectilinear figures Put. Place. To put is to place in any situation ; to place is to put in a specific situation. Columns, though put to supjiort an edifice, should be placed with symmetry. Equivocal. Ambiguous. "When a saying {cequa and vox) is equally intelligi- ble in two distinct senses it is equivocal*. Such would be this phrase : " The son of that blacksmith at lladchffe, who broke into the banking-shop" — where the relative who may have for its antecedent, either the nominative of the sentence, or the contiguous substan- tive, either son, or blacksmith ; so that it remains questionable whether house-breaking is imputed to the youth or to the father. Such a<>;ain is this freach punning epigram : Delisle, ta fureur Contre ton procureur Trop vitement s'allunie ; Cesse d'en mal parler, * The word "equivocal" has been viciouslj' applied by men of science as an epithet to generation : tliey call tliat " equi- vocal (generation " where the parentage is supposed to be heterogeneous, or the production spontaneous. 103 Tout ce qui porte plume Est cree pour voler. These two last lines comprise the equivoque : they may be construed, " Whoever bears feather is born to fly ;" or, "Whoever bears pen is born to rob :" and thus a satire on the attorneys is sheathed in the case of an idle truism ; and a bitter expression is read as an innocent one. The latin verb ambic/ere, to doubt, is derived by Ainsworth from am, about, and agere, to drive ; the primitive meaning of ambiguous, therefore, is drift- less ; going this way, going that way, for want of knowing the right direction ; or, as we say in eng- lish, at a loss. Of the two instances just given of equivocal expression, the first, the unintentional equivoque, may with propriety be called ambiguous ; but where the equivoque is intentional, the metaphor implied in ambiguity seems inapplicable. Ambiguity, if it excludes the idea of purpose and design, must always describe a vice of diction : it is a learned word for what the english call bothering, which is derived from both, and is applied to phraseology, that may be taken both ways, " that palters with us in a double sense." Trusler and Blair have undertaken to discriminate these words — after reading their explanatory phrases, I am still much at a loss to perceive the diflPerence they would assign. Equivocation has two senses : the one natural, in which we would have what we say understood, and in which the hearer does absolutely understand us ; the other perverted, and understood only by the per- son speaking. Ambiguity has one general sense, susceptible of different interpretations; it always creates a difficulty in getting at the true sense of the author, and sometimes an impossibility. Trusler. An honest man will never employ an equivocal 104 expression ; a confused man may often utter ambi- guous ones, without any design. Blair. In the foregoing passages, Trusler and Blair have expressed themselves conformably with the defini- tions inferred from etymology : but when Trusler goes on to say : " We make use of an equivocation to de- ceive ; of an ambiguity to keep in the dark :" — and Blair, " An ambiguous expression, when it is used with design, is with an intention not to give full in- formation ;" they rather supply examples than defini- tions. He talks ambiguously who blunders into double meaning ; he equivocates, who purposely recurs to it. Clear. Distinct. We see an object clearly whenever it is sufficiently illuminated to enable us to form a general idea of its figure ; but we see it not distinctly until we can re- cognize its parts. Clarare is to grow bright, distin- guere is to separate by the touch : the one dissipates obscurity, and the other confusion. Old men oftener see clearly, than distinctly. Short-sighted persons see contiguous objects distinct- ly, distant objects clearly. Strong light favours clear vision. A faint one-side light favours distinct vision. To BARTER. To CHAFFER. To EXCHANGE. To TRUCK. The french words barat and baraterie are terms of maritime law, and describe that injury which com- modities suffer in a voyage, not from the peril of the sea, but from the negligence of the ship-captain. The insurer (says the french Ordonnance of 1G81) shall not be liable to pay for damage accruing by the carelessness of the mate or captain ; unless, iu the policy, surety be expressly given against baraterie de patron. From the french verb baratter, to deduct. 105 m or to abate for baratry, comes the english to barter. Barter, therefore, ought to mean nearly the same as fare. Merchants often charge commodities by the gross weight ; they then deduct, under the name tare, a percentage, or allowance, on so much of the com- modity as is supposed to be injured by the package, or journey ; and charge only the neat weight or un- injured portion, at the full price. So again, in the potteries, an allowance is often made for breakage, which is deducted from the invoice, whether the wares arrive broken or entire. Barter, instead of meaning an allowance made on the price of merchandize for supposed injury at sea, now means the interchange of commodities for com- modities ; it is corruptly become identical with truck. He who corrupteth english with foreign words is as wise as ladies, who change plate for china ; for which the laudable traffic of old clothes is much the fairest barter. FeJton. To chaffer is a frequentative verb formed from the obsolete verb to chap, to purchase, to buy. Chap and chapman are collateral with the german kauffen and kauffman : but neither of these words, though common, are recorded in Johnson's dictionary. To chaffer does not however signify, as in strictness it ought, to purchase frequently, but to purchase at frequent attempts, to higgle. Chaffery, that is buying and selling. Spenser. To chaffer for preferments with his gold. Dryden. The after-latins had excambiare, whence the French made t changer, and we to exchange : it means to give one thing for another. Commodities are exchanged for commodities. Wares are exchanged : for wares. Money is exchanged for money. Tech- nically, a bill of exchange is a payment for money received in one place by a draft on another : so 106 tliat the permutation of different currencies consti- tutes the especial business of the exchanger. While bulUon may be had for a small price more than the weight of our current cash, these exchang- ers generally choose rather to buy bullion than run the risk of melting down our coin. Locke. From Constantinople to Barcelona, travelled ma- ny technical words of commerce, which were known m the ancient and resumed in the modern world. Of this class probably is to truck, which we take from the triieco of the Spaniards, and which they take from the rpiojEiv of the Greeks. To exchange goods with a view to profit, is to truck. Go, miser, go ; for lucre sell thy soul ; Truck wares for wares, and trudge from pole to pole. Dry den. I will not exchange even-handed ; but, to make an end of chaffering, I will truck with you the bale of calicoes for the hogshead of sugar, if you will throw off ten per cent, for barter. Saying. Saw. By-word. Proverb. Sentence. Sentiment. Maxim. Adage. Axiom. Truism. Aphorism. Apophthegm. Here are twelve words which all denote phrases, that affirm, not a particular fact, but a general pro- position. Say and saw are dialectic variations of the same word, which is collateral with the icelandish saya, and is the root of the german verb sagen, to say or to affirm. Saw being the provincial, and saying the metropolitan mode of utterance, the former word has acquired a contemptuous and coarser accepta- tion. The saws of the vulgar. The sayings of philosophers. Strict age and sour severity With their grave saws in slumber lie. Milton. 107 Many are the sayings of the wise, Extolling patience as the truest fortitude. Milton. Any phrase, which is often repeated for the sake of eking out conversation, is called a by-word ; but a proverb is an entire sentence, a short observation, or moral rule, in popular use. Oaths and proverbs are by-words, so are various familiar similes and nick-names. But although a by-word does not ne- cessarily consist of a complete sentence, the term includes every proverbial expression. I knew a wise man who had it for a by-word, when he saw people hurrying to a conclusion : Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner. Bacon. It is in praise and commendation of men, as it is in gettings and gains ; the proverb is true, that light gains make heavy purses ; for light gains come thick, whereas great come but now and then. Bacon. Sentence answers nearly to the word perception, or thought, and was applied by the ancient gram- marians to any affirmation or series of words con- taining a complete sense. It is used emphatically for a memorable period, for a moral instruction shortly expressed ; yet, even in this sense, it rather draws attention to the grammatical construction and oracular formality of the advice, than to the counsel itself. Sentence is to sentiment, what form is to matter. The sentences of Johnson are well rounded to the ear, and often contain sentiments worthy to become rules of life. Young is a poet ambitiously sententious ; his sentimental character is sublime but gloomy, pious but austere. From the latin maximum, that which is greatest, most important, comes the english word maxim, which designates a sentiment singled out for its im- portance, a leading truth. 108 From the latin adagium, a saying handed down from antiquity, comes the english adage, which de- signates an antique proverb. Fenelon compiled " Maxims of the Saints ;" but the adages of religion- ists seldom supply an unadulterated morality : the church censured him for teaching heterodoxy, and the court censured him for teaching asceticism. From the greek 'a^ioe, worthy, derives the word axiom, which ought, therefore, in signification, to approach the latin word maxim, and to mean a saying of worth : the greek adjective axiomatic is used for august, having authority. It has been cus- tomary to teach mathematic science by placing in the fore-ground certain trustworthy or self-evident propositions, on which subsequent demonstrations are based. Such recognised assertions were called axioms, as being worthy of peculiar notice. Insen- sibly the propositions unaccompanied with proof were called axioms, in contradiction to theorems in which the proof was detailed : and thus axiom has come to signify a proposition evident at first sight. The english word truistn gives this very idea of a proposition e\'ideut at sight, with the accessory idea of the assertion being superfluous. An intuitive truth, which it is proper to detail, is an axiom ; which it is needless to detail, is a truism. Aphorism means limitation ; apophthegm means a sounding apart : the words differ as definition and separation. A precise aphorism. A detached apophthegm. The aphorisms of Hippocrates define the symptoms of disease. The apophthegms of Plutarch are but a disorderly compilation. Do the sentiments of the modern theatre surpass the apoph- thegms of the ancient chorus? The most popular proverbs and the oldest adages are not always the soundest maxims. Silly saws and quaint sayings often become by-words amonjr the vukar. Of the 109 select sentences in the Speaker the first is a mere truism: "To be active in laudable pursuits is the distinguishing characteristic of a man of merit. Deux corps nepeuvent occuper d la/ois le meme espace : voila un axiome. L'aphorisme est un enseigneraent doctrinal, qui expose ou resume en peu de mots, en precepte, enabrege, ce qu'il s agit d'apprendre ; c'est la substance d'une doctrine. Boubaud. Public-house. Hotel. Tavern. Inn. Ale-house. All places which receive guests for hire are pub- lic-houses : an hotel receives them only to lodge ; a tavern receives them only to feed ; an inn receives them both to lodge and feed ; an ale-house is with- out a whie licence, and sells only beer. A gentleman may not frequent an ale-house ; a lady may not frequent a tavern. The master of an hotel disdains, the master of an inn dislikes, to hear his place of entertainment called a public-house : this word is falhng in respectability. Abstinence. Fast. Among religious people abstinence implies a for- bearance from certain prohibited food ; and fast, an omission of all food. Fridays are appointed by the church as days of abstinence ; and Good Friday as a day of fast. Room. Chamber. Parlour. Room is a general, chamber and parlour are par- ticular expressions : a room appropriated to sleep in is a chamber ; a room appropriated to converse in is a parlour. French rooms are often so con- trived as to conceal the bed, and to serve at once both for a chamber and a parlour. In the parlour of a convent a grate separates the visitor from the visitee. I 2 no Style. Diction. Style is greek for a sort of aiol, with which the aucients wrote on wax : diction is latin for saying : these terms, therefore, differ as the english words penning and wording. Style is applicable to written composition only ; whereas diction is also applicable to spoken eloquence. The style of Burke was supe- sior to his unpremeditated diction. The parliamen- tary diction of Fox had more energy than his closet style. Tome. Volume. A tome may form many volumes, and a volume may contain many tomes ; for the di^-ision of the work makes the tome, and the division of the bind- ing makes the volume. The French are fonder of the word tome, and the English of the word volume ; because the French affect system, and the English convenience, in their subdivision of publications. Young. New. Fresh. The gardener is actually crying in the street, " young peas," " new peas," " fresh peas ;" — is this tautology ? His green peas are young, inasmuch as they are not full-gro^Mi ; they are new, inasmuch as they have not been long in season ; and they are fresh, inasmuch as they have not been long gathered. Young is etymologically connected with to shoot, to grow : Vires cogimus juvenescere, Pliny. Neiu is etymologically connected with nitere, to glister ; niti- dus, shining, looking bright. Fresh is etymological- ly connected with to freeze, and means originally unthawcd, cool, and hence uukept, uncorrupt. A young widow is one who loses her husband early in life ; a new widow is one who has recently lost her husband. A coat looks new which seems lately made ; it looks fresh, if it appears unfaded. New butter is that which we did not use to take; fresh Ill butter, that which is lately churned. A young man is ungrown ; a new man, unacquainted ; a' fresh man, untainted. To OVERTHROW. To DEMOLISH. To RUIN. To DESTROY. That is overthrown, which had been upright ; that is demolished, which had formed one mass of build- ing ; that is ruined, which has fallen in shoots rush- ingly ; and that is destroyed, whose component parts are scattered about, and indistinguishable. "The columns overthrown, the demolished walls, the ruin- ed arcades, of yon venerable cloister, form so im- pressive an object, that it would be barbarous to destroy the venerable remain." L'idee propre de renverser est de coucher par terre ce qui etait sur pied ; celle de demoUr est de rompre la liaison d'une masse construite ; celle de ruiner est de faire tomber par morceaux ; et celle de detruire est de dissiper entir^ment I'apparence et I'ordre des choses. Roubaud. Sea. Ocean. By sea is designated a large body of water opposed to laud, confined within certain bounds : by ocean a much larger body, whose verge is not particularly known. Thus we say, the Baltic sea; the Medi- terranean sea ; the Adriatic sea : but the Atlantic ocean ; the Pacific ocean. Pillar. Column. By pillar is understood a permanent prop, of whatever shape, employed by builders to support an arch or a roof; and by column is understood a round pillar : thus every column is a pillar, though every pillar is not a column. Pillar meant originally a pile of bricks, and column the entire shaft {columis) of a tree. 112 In stately buildings the columns are generally in- sulated by the architect ; but the pillars are often engaged within the wall. To HONOUR. To REVERE. To WORSHIP. To ADORE. Originally honour signifies a slight gift or present ; reverence, a bow or prostration ; loorship, a hoisting or extolling ; and adoration, a praying-to or invok- ing. These are all symptoms of veneration, which rise on each other in significance. " Honour the king." " Merit should be honoured in every condition." " Divum templis indicit hono- rem." In these instances the word honour is in its place. We are to pay our taxes ; we are to remunerate uti- lity ; oblations are to be carried to the temple. The primary or radical idea of offering a gift is here an applicable metaphor. But in that sentence of the decalogue. Honour thy father and thy mother, the word revere would have been more proper, it being the place of parents to make gifts and to endow their children, and not the reverse. We may honour an equal, or an inferior ; but we revere only a superior. The slang of fashion often uses the word honour perversely. A man expresses himself rationally when he accepts the honour of dining with another : he accepts the gift of a dinner. But when Lord Carrington enquires of Mr. Bankes at what hour Lord Essex may do himself the honour of a visit, the metaphor is surely violent. The word revere is more fortunate ; it is correctly used by all our writers. They forthwith to the place Repairing where he judg'd them, prostrate fell Before him reverent. Milton. Lucius Verus would omit no opportunity of doing 113 honour to Marcus Aurelius, whom he rather revered as his father than treated as his partner in the em- pire. Addison. Worth means an eminence, in which sense it is often attached to names of parishes : hence worthy means eminent ; and worthiship, or worshijj, a lifting into eminence. Those magistrates and public cha- racters who were chaired on being appointed, had anciently the title of worshipful, which is still ap- plied to the mayors of boroughs. His worship is the rustic title of a village justice. The forms of civil exaltation are in all countries transferred to the gods. Not only candidates for the wittena-gemote, but the statues of saints, were put on hoistings or hustings, were carried about in procession, and exhi- bited at the upper end of the temple. By degrees the term worship passed, with the practices which it designated, altogether into the service of the church, and now means, venerating with religious rites. He wav'd a torch aloft, and madly vain. Sought godlike worship from a servile train. Dryden. Adoration (from ad and orare) is that rite of wor- ship which consists in addressing prayer ; and implies a belief in the continued existence and superhuman power of the being so invocated. The catholics adore the mother of God. The unitarians confine their adorations to the Supreme Being. The anglican litany concludes with repeated and earnest adorations of Christ. Intelligent beneficence is the purest attribute of mind : in our equals it should be honoured, in our elders revered ; in the heroes of our country, or of the world, it may fitly be worshipped ; and in the- Author of the universe it is devoutly adored. Memory. Remembrance. Reminiscence. Recollection. Memory, says Locke, is the power to revive again 114 in our minds those ideas which, after imprintment, have disappeared. The train of ideas so revived constitutes a remembrance. What sensibiUty is to sensation, memory is to remembrance. Reminiscence is the act of recovering, and recol- lection the act of combining remembrances. Those eminences to vrhich we attach the subordinate parts of an object come first into reminiscence ; when the intervening portions present themselves in order, the recollection is complete. Affection. Love. Affection is love unaccompanied with desire ; and love is affection accompanied with desire : both im- ply good-will, benevolence, well-wishing toward the object of attachment; but the one excludes and the other includes corporeal longing. Affection unites a man to his child ; love to his concubine. In married life, affection fills up the pauses of love, and often succeeds to it. Love is fitful ; affection, constant. This distinction has been copied from the latin. Simiarum generi prsecipua erga foetum aflfectio. Pliny. Non sum praeceptor amoris. Ovid. Shakspeare often uses the word "affection" vaguely and impurely. Discredit. Disgrace. Disrepute. Who is out of money falls into discredit ; who is out of favour falls into disgrace ; who is out of fame falls into disrepute. A bankrupt merchant incurs discredit ; a dismissed minister, disgrace ; an unsuc- cessful author, disrepute. Pile. Heap. lioth these words describe an accumulation, with this difference, that pile indicates things put up regularly, whereas heap im})lies the want of orderly iirrangemcnt. A pile of wood. A heap of rubbish. 115 We say a pile of bricks, when they are the materials prepared for building ; and a heap of bricks, when they are the remains of an edifice overthrown. To SHUN. To AVOID. To shun (german, schenen,) is to turn aivay from; and to avoid (french, vuider,) is to leave empty : hence the word shun is oftener applied to persons, and avoid to things. We shun those whose presence reminds us of any mortifying incident. Let no man make himself a confidant of the foibles of a beloved companion, lest he find himself shunned by the friend of his heart. Avoid the gaming-house. Those who indulge their appetites, but avoid intemperance, commonly enjoy better health than the affectedly abstemious. Six of us only stayed, and the rest avoided the room. Bacon. Of late it has been imagined that the verb avoid derives from the french eviter, or the latin vitare ; and it has consequently been confounded by modern writers with to shnn. Avoid the room no longer means, as in Lord Bacon's time, quit the room, hut yo not itito the room. Forefathers. Ancestors. Predecessors. Our forefathers and our ancestors are those from whom we descend ; but forefathers include and an- cestors exclude parents. Predecessor is not a natu- ral but a civil denomination for one who precedes ; it does not imply genealogic affinity. An hereditary monarch succeeds to his ancestors ; an elective, to his predecessors. She lies buried with her ancestors. Each in his narrow cell for ever laid. The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. Gray. We are the children of our forefathers, the desceu- dants of our ancestors, the followers of our prede- cessors. Tlie word ancestor is never applied to illegitimate parentage : the word forefather is. Lodgings. Apartments. He lets lodgings, who offers bed-rooms only for hire : he lets apartments, who offers sitting-rooms besides. An apartment is a suite of rooms. In my apartment the lodgings are good. Those who have apartments in the inns of court are usually better accommodated with sitting-rooms than with lodg- ings. Arbour. Bower. From herhcrr/, a haven or harbour, comes arbour ; and from bough, a branch, comes boughery or bower. A nook which slielters is an arbour ; a nook formed of branches is a bower. An arbour of rock-work. A bower of faggots. To AFFRONT. To INSULT. To affront, is to strike at the forehead ; to insult, is to jump upon : the one is the hostile pantomime of an angry equal, the other of a contemi)tuous su- perior. In their metaphorical and metaphysical sense these words retain the same relation. Fearless of danger, like a petty god I walk about adinir'd of all, and dreaded On hostile ground, none daring my affront. Milton. Insultingly he made your love his boast, Gave me my life and told me what it cost. Dryden. To AGGRANDIZE. To AUGMENT. He aggrandizes his family who adds to their rank, their wealth, their reputation ; he augments his family who increases the number of his children. 117 Tlie english word c/rand, whence to aggrandize, sig- nifies excelling in dignity; and the word avr/ere, whence agmen and to augment, signifies to increase by breeding. In french aggrandir corresponds with the english word to enlarge ; because the etymon grand has in that language a vague sense which includes all sorts of greatness. The new suburb contains only shabby buildings ; the town is en- larged and augmented, but not aggrandized, by this addition. By reading the loftier writers our concep- tions become aggrandized, and our sources of ideal pleasure augmented. Cave. Cell. The sense in which these words are esteemed sy- nonymous is that of the retired dwelling of some religious person. Cave is a habitation under-ground, made either by art or nature. Cell is a little dwelling raised above- ground. We dig a cave : we build a cell. Through this a cave was dug with vast expense. Dry den. Then did Religion, in a lazy cell. With empty airy contemplations, dwell. Denham. Luck. Hap. Fortune. Chance. In the north of England to take means to play, to game. The collateral gothic infinitive laikan means to exult. Food staked any where, in order to draw wild animals into a snare, is called lockspeise in ger- man. The Scandinavian god Lok is a god of for- tune, and therefore said to have been the cause of Balder's death, who was killed by an accident. From these indications it seems probable, that the substantive luck must originally have meant the stake, the thing played for ; next, the game, or criti- cal point which determines success; and, lastly, the unknown cause of casual event in general. Good luck. K 118 Bad luck. When this word is used without an epi- thet, it has a favourable sense ; " he has a run of luck," that is, of good luck : "he is a lucky man," that is, he wins, he succeeds. Hap is welsh, and fortune is latin, for luck. The adjectives happy and fortunate are taken in a fa- vourable sense. Mishap and misfortune are the antithetic substantives ; but unhappy and unfortu- nate are the antithetic adjectives. What games were in early use among the Welsh and the Latins is of difficult investigation. It should seem that hap must have meant a stake raised by the contribution of numbers; for the venture, or haj) hazarded, seems not to be a very stimulant idea : perhaps I may suc- ceed. On the contrary, the thing won must have borne a large relation to the venture : the happus, the winner, or happy man, announces a complete satisfaction. Hapnap, whence our hobnob, is cim- bric for rashly. A tnishap, a disappointment as to the prize, describes but a subordinate degree of vexation. Fors, whence fortune, means a lot ; and probably describes a stake at some principal game, in which the venturers were fewer than at the game of hap ; for a misfortune is a more serious evil than a mishap ; yet to he fortunate is less gratifying than to be happy. Hap is a determinative, fortune a recoverable con- tingency. In a raffle, sixes is a fortunate throw, if conducive to success ; a happy throw, if decisive of it. Luck, then, seems to be the abstract expression, or personification, of even chance ; fortune, of chance moderately uneven ; and haji, of very uneven risk. To be lucky is less than to be fortunate ; to be fortu- nate is less than to be happy : yet to be unlucky is more constantly mortifying, and to be unhappy is more decidedly pungent, than to be occasionally un- fortunate. Chance means a die. It is consequently applicable 119 to even or uneven risks, to siso-ace or ambs-ace competitions. Whatever results from causes as un- certain in their operation, as the resting of a die on any one of its six bases, is said to happen, or take place, by chance. Uncommon chances common men can't bear. The adjective chance excites no favourable idea : chance medley is accidental slaughter : the meeting of chance companions may be unlucky or lucky. Mischance is tjlie antithetic substantive. Rhe- tors call fortune fickle, and chance blind. Hajily means by chance ; happily means by good chance. He vpho gains riches is said to acquire a fortune, even when they are attained by slow industry. Mis- hap excites the idea of a somewhat ridiculous dis- tress ; as when a man bruises his nose, or is jilted by his mistress. Luck is not used, like hap and fortune, of a man's general lot or destiny in life : but only of particular occurrences. To YIELD. To YELD. To WIELD. To WELD. It is much to be wished that some orthographic variation could be introduced, for the purpose of distinguishing two verbs so diiferent in origin and meaning as those commonly spelled to yield. Among the blacksmiths and armourers were cur- rent the verbs weldan, to take hold, and yldan, to let go. This anglo-saxon verb loeldan has bequeathed to ustwoenglish verbs : {}.) to weld, which we apply only to hot iron ; and (2.) to wield, which we apply only to cold iron. To weld a poher, is to join on an additional piece of hot iron : to wield a poker, is to employ it for stirring the fire. A welding heat. To wield a sword. The other verb, yldan, to let go, has bequeathed to i!S one, to yield, which signifies to leave hold, to give up, to surrender. 120 And courage never to submit, or yield. He saw the fainting Grecians yield. But there is another verb, which would be better spelled to yeld, and which signifies to afford, to sup- ply, to produce in value, to pay in money ; it is de- rived from goldy money, and, by a vowel-change common in saxon verbs, is written geldan in the infinitive. Chaucer often employs this verb, wdth the pure and original orthography, in the phrase God yeld you, for God reward you. This is the verb intended to be used by Arbuth- not in the sentence, " Strabo tells us the mines at Carthagena yielded daily to the value of twenty-five thousand drachms." The translators of the Bible have also authorized the like corruption ; " The wilderness yielded food fur them." Surely it would be better to restore the spelling to yeld, whenever to yield is used for to afford, to suji- ply, to reward. In the follovdng lines of Dryden it is not obvious which to yield is employed. Air That yields a passage to the whistling sword. And closes when 'tis gone. Land. Field. Acre. "We say corn-land, pasture-land ; corn-fields, hay- fields ; acres of corn, acres of clover ; these words all denote occasionally a portion of cultivated ground. Land does not imply inclosure, or admea- surement ; nor does it exclude these ideas. Field implies inclosure, but not measurement ; yet does not exclude the latter idea. Acre implies measure- ment, but not inclosure ; without, however, exclud- ing the latter idea. I do not understand the word land, l^ossibly it comes from to lend, in which case it describes a dis- 121 trict allotted, or lent, to an individual by the com- InIlnlt3^ Eine Jlur landen is to mark the boundaries of an open territory. Field is the participle feWd ; it means land cleared of its trees. Acre is a spe- cific measure of extent, which, no doubt, comes to us from the east, since it is a word common to the persian and the gothic languages. Gulf. Abyss. Gulf {KoXiToq) is greek for hollow; and abyss (a^Kcro-oe) is greek for bottomless ; hence the essential character of a gulf is concavity, and of an abyss is l)rofundity. The gulf of Triest. The gulf of Ta- rento. The gulf of Genova. The abysses of ocean. The abyss of hell. The inscrutable abysses of me- taphysics. To GAZE. To STARE. Both these verbs describe fixing the eyes intently and perseveringly on an object ; but to stare is an unwelcome, and to gaze is a welcome attention. A woman will complain she is stared at by a man who thinks he is gazing. To stare another in the face is a breach of good manners. "When Christ first ap- peared to his disciples after the resurrection, they gazed on him with astonishment and joy. A star- gazer. My enemies, who come to stare At my affliction. Milton. To SOAR. To SWOOP. To FLY. To PLANE. To HOVER. Motion in the air is an idea common to these words : soar is the effort to ascend, swoop the effort to descend, flight the effort at progress, plane the effort at horizontal gliding, hover the effort to sup- port a nearly stationary position. The sky-lark K 2 122 sings as it soars. The flight of the swallow is swift and incessant. The sea-mew planes along the wave. Tlie hawk hovers long over its prey before it swoops to seize it. Paralogism. Sophism. An argument unintentionally fallacious is called a paralogism : intentionally fallacious is called a so- phism ; the one word being greek for mis-reasoning ^ and the other for wiseness. If a syllogism agree with the rules given for the construction of it, it is called a true argument : if it disagree with these rules, it is a paralogism, or false argument. Watfs's Logic. When a false argument is purposely made to put on the appearance of a true one, then it is properly called a sophism. Watts' s Logic. Yet the word sophist has not always such odious meaning, but is applied to ancient professors of phi- losophy, without prejudging the fallacy of their sys- tems. Nation. People. Nation marks the connection of birth, and people that of common subordination : the one beins; derived from natus, born, and the other from jwpulus, a stock of bees. A nation is a great family ; a people a great corporation. We do not yet oppose the Ame- rican nation to the British nation, because the ties of kindred, the marks of common birth and descent, are not yet withdrawn ; but we oppose the American ))eople to the British people, because the tics of common subordination are wholly cut asunder. The word nation excludes, the word people includes, fo- reign residents. The people of Prussia, the people of Saxony, are parts of the gcrman nation. 123 Trip. Jaunt. Excursion. Ramble. Tour. To trip is to move lightly on the feet : Come, and trip it as you go, On tlie light fantastic toe. Milton. A trip, therefore, is properly pedestrian amusement ; but is applied to any short journey, which might have come within the limits of a walk. Jante is french for the felly of a wheel. Hence janter, to put the fellies in inotion ; to go abroad in a carriage. Those are said to be ^on^i oi jaunting, who under slight pretences get themselves moved about upon wheels. A jaunt is any needless ride in a carriage. Excursion is latin for a running out. Celerity of removal, departure from the strait course, and return to the starting-place, are ideas essential to the term. To ramble is the frequentative of to roam : it means to roam repeatedly . A trip made up of many strolls is a ramble. Tour is french for a ttirn, or circuit. The essen- tial idea is, that the return takes place by a different road from the setting out. A journey made to and fro the same way is not a tour. Faire le tour du monde. " Many a pious pilgrimage has been undertaken, because it promised an amusing trip." " Country families often intervisit as much for the sake of the jaunt as of the society." " We shall stop on our way to Edinburgh, and make an excursion to the lakes : to ramble among mountains is always delightful ; we are reading Espriella's tour, that none of the ce- lebrated points of view may escape us." Old. Ancient. Antique. These words rise upon one another : antique is more than ancient ; ancient is more than old. An old man : an ancient family ; an antique cameo. 124 An old record : an ancient record ; an antique re- cord. Old, according to Wachter, is the participle of alen, to grow : it describes what has long been, but what still exists. Ancient and antique are both de- rived from the latin preposition ante, before ; they describe that which is of other times, which existed before us. The word ancient coming to us from the french, ancien, and the word antique from the latin, antiqiius, an accessory idea of remoter and of clas- sical antiquity is attached to the latter term. A fashion is old when it is decaying ; ancient, when its use has been some time past ; antique, when it is of greek or roman time. How inferior to antique sculpture are the ancient carvings in go- thic cathedrals. L'antique a toujours He la regie de la beaute. Ancient is opposed to modern : old to new. An old family is one, where the individuals are stricken in years : an ancient family is one, whose pedigree has been preserved for many generations ; an antique family is one, which, like the houses of Courtenay and Colonua, can connect its genealogy with impe- rial or patrician families of antiquity. The French say, II est mon ancien dans le parlement ; "He is my senior in parliament." The English never use the word ancient in that manner. My copper lamps at any rate For being true antique 1 bought ; And wisely melted down my plate On modern models to be wrought. Prior. There is, however, so much of caprice in the use of these words, that by ancient history we mean, not the history of our forefathers, but greek or roman history. Apotheosis. Deification. Apotheosis is greek for placing among the gods ; 125 deification is latin for maJdng into gods. Apotheo- sis is the ceremony which announces a deification. The funeral of a roman emperor was an apotheosis. The apotheosis of a catholic saint is called a cano- nization. Fancy personifies the powers of nature : and paganism deified them. During the transub- stantiation of the eucharistic wafer, the bread under- goes deification and obtains apotheosis. Perfume. Aromatic. Perfume is the odour which ascends from sweet- smelling substances. Aromatic is a body which supplies perfume, especially of the spicy kind. Aro- ma means spice, andpar/wm a fine smoke. Sailor. Seaman. Mariner. Waterman. All these words denote persons occupied in navi- gation. Sailor is mostly applied to the common men, or, in the sea-phrase, to those before the mast. Seaman is mostly applied to the superior class of the crew, to the oflficers and pilot. Mariner is ap- plied to those who gain their living at sea, but are their own masters, as fishermen. Waterman desig- nates a fresh-water sailor, a man who, on rivers, lakes, or canals, exercises any department of the nautical profession. Sailors are generally ignorant of scientific naviga- tion, and are they who work the vessel by the direc- tion of others ; seamen are supposed to understand it, and are they who direct. Mariners work their own vessels, and adhere to their own coasts ; they do not, like sailors and seamen, undertake long voyages. Watermen make use of the sail and oar ; but still more of the quant, or long pole, with whicii in shallows they push their barges along. To SEND. To carry. To bring. To fetch. To send is to convey by deputy ; to carry, to 126 bring, to fetch, is to convey under one's own care. To carry, is to go with a burden ; to bring, is to come with a burden. To fetch, implies movement in two directions ; it is to go and bring. To send away ; to carry out ; to bring home ; to fetch back. Residing in the country, what I forward to Lon- don by another, I send ; what I take to Loudon, I carry ; what I take from London, with me, I bring ; what I went to take, I fetch. If I send for a work- man, he brings his tools ; should he leave any behind, he goes back to fetch them : when his job is done, he carries them home. If you would have your business done, go ; if not, send. Carry it home, implies that I am from home : bring it home, implies that I am at home. We may bring without fetching ; but we cannot fetch without bringing. To fetch breath is to make the double effort of exhalation and inhalation. He sends an answer who forwards it by another ; he carries an answer who bears it thither himself; he brings an answer who bears it hither himself; he fetches an answer who went for it and returns with it. Send (gothic sendjan) is the causative form of the old verb sinan, to go ; in anglo-saxon, sithian : according to Wachter, mid means a path. As from to fall comes to fell, to cause to fall ; so from sinan, to go, comes sindian, to cause to go. Carry is from the french charier, which is from the latin carrus, and originally implied to transport on a wheeled carriage ; hence an idea of facilitv i^ conveying still attaches to the word. You can lift that weight, but you cannot carry it. Carry it pro- perly, do not drag it along. A dog is said to fetch and carry well, who will run for a stick, which is thrown before him, and bring it to his master w-ith- out trailing. This sense of the verb to carry is unnoticed by Johnson. 127 Bring is contracted from the preposition by, which originally meant the lap, and rinyen, to reach : r'mgt uns unser swcer is frankish for reach us our sword. To bring, is to hand into the lap. Fetch is from the anglo-saxon feccian, which means to hit with an arrow. Hence the ideas of sending out as well as bringing back, coalesce in the word. Content. Satisfied. Content is latin for contained : it does not imply fulness, it excludes the idea of running over. Satisfied is latin for having done enough : it im- plies that further exertion would pass the limits of comfort. Content with a moderate income. Satisfied with moderate exercise.,-* Do not content yourselves with obscure and confused ideas, where clearer are to be attained. Watts. My lust shall be satisfied upon them. Exodus. Mine. My own. Mine suggests a dependence of habit, my own a dependence of property. The house I hire is ?nine : the house I buy is my own. A workman, to whom certain tools have been allotted by his master, may with propriety say these tools are mine, although they are not his own, being the property of his mas- ter. The clothes of a wife are hers, though in the eye of the law they are not her own, but the proper- ty of her husband. Own is a contraction of owen, the past participle of the verb to owe. Anterior. Antecedent. Anterior means prior as to time, and antecedent prior as to space. Anterior is opposed to posterior, 128 and antecedent to subsequent, Such at least is the tendency of usage, and the verdict of the etymolo- gist Roubaud ; yet the ajjplication of the word ante- rior to time only, is neither based on ancient prac- tice nor etymonic necessity. The Latins say, anteire aliqnem virtutibus, to excel one in virtue ; anteire opibiis, to excel in wealth ; from the analogy of which expressions one might seemingly be justified in writing, anterior in wealth, anteriority of virtue. Yet as anteire is to go before on the same level, and as that which presents itself first must have advanced first in point of time, the present use of the word is natural. Lord's Supper. Eucharist. Communion. Sacrament. Shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus Christ cele- brated with his disciples the anniversary Phasah feast, which consisted in supping on lamb and unlea- vened bread. After the repast, he took wine, and, having returned thanks, drank to them an affection- ate farewell ; desiring in like manner to be remem- bered by them at their future meetings. This last supper of Chnst has been imitated in different ways by different sects of Christians. The Corinthians were reproached with so celebrating it, as to make it subservient to intemperate pleasures of the table : they thought a Lord's Supper could not be too frequent, or too hearty, or too jovial. Other sects have supposed, not that the supper, but that the returning thanks {tv)(api.aTia) constitutes the essence of the rite ; and that the psychological effects wliich Christians have derived from the exe- cution and resurrection of Christ, are the fittest objects at that time of human gratitude. Such Christians naturally prefer the term eucharist, as drawing attention to what they consider as the chief part of the ceremony. 129 Others have supposed that brotherly love is in all cases the purest motive for conviviality ; and vpas especially so in the incident related. These place in the common participation of Christian feelings the utility of the rite ; they would object to a solitary celebration, and insist on the duty of communion. Sacrament means an oath, and, in general, any religious pledge publicly given. The ceremony of marriage is a sacrament. Taking the oath of alle- giance is a sacrament. Taking the test is a sacra- ment. The church of Rome has seven sacraments. Those, who call their peculiar imitation of the Lord's Supper emphatically the sacrament, either regard that rite as the most important of the ceremonies enjoin- ed by Christianity ; or allude to its local selection by the magistrate, as the test of allegiance. Mount. Mountain. Mount, says Roubaud, is an elevated mass detach- ed from any other ; but mountain implies a chain, or series, of elevations to be ascended. This may be true of the french words mont and montagne, of which the latter has a collective termination. Ac- cording to this definition, Hecla, Schehallion, and other insulated high hills are mounts. But in english the word mount, when used apart, is more commonly applied to artificial elevations. The mount in your garden commands a fine prospect. In conjunction with a proper name the word mount is employed ; alone, the word mountain. Did you pass mount Cenis ? We crossed that mountain in snowy weather. Effective. Efficient. Efficacious. Effectual. Causes, which have usually a share in pro- ducing a given effect, are called effective; which have actually a share, are called efficient; which L 130 have a large share, are called efficacious ; which have a decisive share, are called effectual. Nor do they speak properly who say, that time consumeth all things ; for time is not effective, nor are bodies destroyed by it. Bacon. The magnetic fluid may be an efficient cause in occasioning the inclination of the earth's axis : yet no variation of this dip has ever been observed. The remedy was so efficacious as to put an effectual stop to the disease. Bargain. Agreement. Contract. Bargain is a cimbric word for contentious conver- sation. The French apply baragouin to the debates in courts of law. It should seem, therefore, that while people higgle about the price of transfer, they haryain ; that when they come to terras, they agree ; and that when they reduce those terms to writing, they contract. Bargain, agreement, contract, are the progressive steps to purchase ; the discussion, the assent, and the formal ratification. A noisy bargain. They bargained for the horse, but could not agree. To make the best of a bad bargain, is to sell for the most that can be gotten, when less than the value has been bid. Such is the unsteadiness of mankind, that, after a deliberate bargain, we are frequently obliged to enter into contract, in order to bind them to their agreement. Meager. Lean. Meager, says Dr. Trusler, signifies wanting Jlcsh ; and lean, wanting /«^. A man may be lean, yet not meager. The lean are usually strong, the meager are commonly weak. Activity attends tlie lean, indolence the meager. Meager, from the latin macer, signifies soaked, and indicates that clammy appearance which over-bath- ing produces. Lean is proI)ably from the same root 131 as line, and means slender, thread-like. Ek linni, I waste, is applied to streams in icelandish. Junius and Adelung, unsatisfactorily, deduce lean from dean. The diminutive sjdlable lin, which occurs in goslin, dumplin, ducklin, kitlin, younglin, is no doubt an allied word. The Swedish linne, a snake, preserves the radical meaning of the etymon : in german like- wise schlan/c, slender, is derived from schlanye, a snake. Artisan. Artist. Artificer. He who exercises any mechanical art is called an artisan ; he who exercises any fine art well, is called an artist. A sign-painter is denominated an artisan, and a painter of furniture-pictures an artist ; al- though there is no other difference in their employ- ment than that a higher degree of skill is claimed in the latter occupation. A carpenter, a blacksmith, are artisans ; a sculptor, a musician are artists, at least when they excel, for a carver of barber's blocks, or a fiddler a? country wakes, would not be called by that name. An artist educated in Italy. The unwash'd artisan. Shakspeare. The word artificer neither suggests the accessory ideas of vulgarity and venality which adhere to the term artisan, nor the accessory ideas of refinement pud liberality which adhere to the term artist. Any manufacturer is an artificer. South, in his sermons, calls the Author of the universe, the Great Artificer. Asylum. Kefuge. An asylum is a place of safety provided and con- secrated for that purpose, which may not be broke into : a refuge is a place of safety recurred to from pressingness of danger. In Italy pursued assassins fly for refuge to an asylum. Where indigence abounds, the workhouse is an annual refuge for the young, and 132 a permanent asylum for the old. At all times a haven is an asylmn ; during a storm it is a refuge. A place of refuge shelters only from pursuit ; but a place of asylum from danger. Astronomy. Astrology. Astrography. astroscopy. Astronomy treats of the motions, astrology of the influence of the stars : the one discusses the laws (ronoc, law), the other the purpose (Xoyoc, reason), of their course. The one is retrospective, observing and recording the past ; the other is prospective, announcing and foretelling the future. Astronomers build on mathematical demonstration, and are pecu- liarly trustworthy, when, as in cases of eclipses, they venture to predict. Astrologers build on supposed influences, calculate horoscopes and prophecy seasons, without any credible grounds for conjecture. The desire of knowledge occasions astronomy to be studied ; curiosity about the future, astrology. Astrography describes the stars ; astroscopy observes the stars ; but these two words, although preserved in Johnson's dictionary, have not passed into currency. League. Confederacy. Alliance. Coalition. A league attaches men to some common cause, or principle ; a confederacy is the union of several in- depeadant leagues ; an alliance is an agreement between different nations to co-operate ; a coalition is the co-operation of national parties, naturally hostile. The covenanters in Scotland were to Calvinism, what the league in France was to Catholicism. The confederacy of provincial corporations in Holland, and in America, constituted a government sufficiently stron"- to carry through their defections from the 133 metropolitan country. The alliance of England and Spain has revived the hopes of independence in Eu- rope ; which the coahtion of France and Russia had nearly extinguished. Instantly. Immediately. Directly. Presently. By-and-by. All these words are used in familiar English as adverbs of time : all express imminent moments, intervening between }iow and soofi, but overshoot one another in the order of their arrangement. In- stantly implies without any intervention of time ; immediately, without any interposition of other oc- cupation ; directly, without any diversion of atten- tion ; presently, without previous separation of the parties conversing ; and by-and-by, with unrelenting approximation. To AFFRANCHISE. To DELIVER. To affranchise is to set free, and to deliver is to set free ; but affranchisement is applied only to those who were parties to the compact dissolved, and deli- verance only to those who were not parties. The master, who manumits a slave, affranchises him. The sovereign, who ransoms a prisoner, delivers him. Louis XVI. affranchised France from the religious intolerance of the church ; Cromwell deli- vered England from it. King John, by granting the great charter, affranchised, king William, by accom- plishing the revolution, delivered this country. Apprehension. Alarm. Apprehension arises from expected, and alarm from announced danger. Apprehension may be so- litary ; alarm must be social. Apprehension often chooses to be patient ; alarm always stimulates to resistance. Apprehension is the calmer and more L 2 134 permanent, alarm the more boisterous and transient feeling. To AMUSE. To DIVERT. To amuse is to entertain by drawing attention to, and to diA'ert is to entertain by drawing attention from flur present occupation. He who sits down to read the Rape of the Lock is amused by it ; he who sits down to read a sermon, and turns aside to read the Rape of the Lock is diverted by it. That which amuses does not always divert ; that which diverts always amuses. To APPEASE. To CALM. To appease is to put an end to a violent motion ; to calm is to produce a great tranquillity. The storm must first be appeased, before the sea can be calmed. Submission appeases anger. Returning hope calms anxiety. Applause. Praise. Applause is manual, praise is verbal approbation. We applaud the actor at the theatre ; we praise him in the drawing-room. The verbal praise, which is given on sudden impulse, without due deliberation, which is rather warm than apt, may by a natural metaphor be termed applause. He is said to court applause, who seeks instantaneous rather than en- during effect. Application. Meditation. Application is an external, meditation an internal attention. We apply to mathematics, to greek : we meditate a theory, an expression. We apply over a table, we meditate during a walk. Those who apply much, commonly meditate little ; hence erudition so often appears to impair the judgment. 135 To APPRECIATE. To ESTIMATE. To PRIZE. To appreciate is to judge of the current value of things ; to estimate is to judge of their intrinsic va- lue ; and to prize is to define the value, at which things are appreciated, or estimated. The gewgaws of fashion, though appreciated high are estimated low : while rare they are prized in gold ; when common, in copper. To FIND. To MEET WITH. To INCUR. We find things sought for : we meet with things unsought for : we incur things unwelcome. The unfortunate always find some resource in their very adversity. A desultory reader meets with more un- expected combinations than a systematic student. People too soon attached are liable to incur inconve- nient acquaintance. Approbation. Consent. Ratification. We approve a contract before we consent to it ; and consent to it, before we ratify it. To approve is an assent of the judgment, to consent is an act of the bodily organs, to ratify is formally to repeat consent. Marriage ratifies the consent given to an approved wooer. To associate. To aggregate. Equals are associated, inferiors are aggregated. The National Institute associates whom it elects j Bonaparte aggregates whom he attaches to the Na- tional Institute. The pastor aggregates, the congre- gation associates, new communicants. Affirm. Confirm. To affirm is a solitary, to confirm is an assisted asseveration. A man affirms what he declares solemnly ; he confirms what he aids another to prove. 1S6 Trust Belief. Faith. Credit. Confidence. To trust is to rest on another. We sometimes trust ice that is unsoHd, opinions that are unsound, depositaries that are unsafe, and virtues that are un- rcaL Trust in opinion is called belief, in religious opinion is called faith, in pecuniary worth is called credit, and in moral probity is called confidence. Many have a belief in a future state, who have no faith in the atonement of Christ. Where we intrust our money we give credit ; where we intrust our se- crets we put confidence. Superstition. Credulity. Bigotry. Enthusiasm. Fanaticism. Those are called superstitious, who are too much attached to ritual observances of religion. Those are credulous wlio are too easy of belief; those are bigoted who are too obstinate in their creed. En- thusiam is the zeal of credulity, jind fanaticism the zeal of bigotry. Of our sects the Catholics tend most to supersti- tion ; the Methodists to credulity ; and the Calvin- ists to bigotry. Enthusiasm is commonly a solitary, and fanaticism a social passion. Credulity is the reverse of scepticism, and bigotry of indifference. Superstition is humble and industrious ; enthusiasm proud and capricious. Credulity is the most in- constant, fanaticism the most intolerant of the reli- gious affections. Honour. Glory. Fame. A love of honour is the pursuit of that contiguous praise which raises us in the value of those with w hom we associate ; a love of glory is the pursuit of that diffusive praise, which raises us in the value of the comnnniity to which we belong ; a love of fame is the pursuit of that lasting praise, which raises UE 137 in the value of successive generations of men. Ho- nour is the more intense, glory the more enticing, fame the more permanent stimulus. Notions of honour vary in different classes and associations of men. Glory is rather attached to excellence than to virtue ; rather to success in those competitions which inter- est large bodies of men, than to success in those competitions which only the few can criticize and enjoy. Fame, on the contrary, attaches more to useful exertion ; and hicludes the rarer and select forms of excellence. The voice of honour is loud- sounding, of glory far-sounding, of fame long-sound- ing. Indifference to honour is considered as a vice, because honour embraces actions which every one can perform ; but indifference to glory is only a vice in those whom nature has lifted high above medi- ocrity. Honour is more necessary to glory than to fame. Privilege. Prerogative. Private laws which bind a peculiar body of men might be called privileges ; but we confine the term to laws which are advantageous to such individuals ; as when we say, the privileges of noblemen. A right of asking first for any place, or power, might be called a prerogative ; but we confine the term to such rights of proceeding as are peculiar to the crown. In cases of debt it is a privilege of the peerage to escape arrest. In cases of bankruptcy it is a prerogative of the crown to pay itself first and entirely. Some privileges of parliament are useful to the people ; such is the privilege of not being punishable for sentiments advanced in debate : some preroga- tives of the crown are useful to the people ; such is tiiat of being personally irresponsible for measures 138 advised by ministers. In general, privileges and prerogatives are public nuisances : equal laws and equal rights have been found more conducive to equitable conduct. Parliament might advantageously abandon many of its own privileges ; and might ad- vantageously coerce many remaining prerogatives of the crown. Why should members of parliament be privileged against arrests for debt ? Why should the crown not suffer, in cases of bankruptcy, in the same degree as the subject ? The whigs have been too con- tentious for the privileges of parliament ; the tories have been too contentious for the prerogatives of the crown. The right of admission to various public offices is confined to members of the auglican church. This right is to the candidate a prerogative, and to churchmen at large a privilege. To make a gallant offer is considered as the prero- gative of the male, to decline a gallant offer is consi- dered as the privilege of the female. When Dryden calls Freedom an enyVsh subject's sole freroyative, he uses unintelligible words. Appropriation. Impropriation. These words equally denote a division of the great tithes of a parish from the small, in favour of some other person or persons distinct from him who ])cr- forms the parochial duty of the church. It is called appropriation, when such tithes are in the hands of a bishop, a college, or religious house. It is called impropriation, when, as Blackstone says, they are improperly in the hands of a layman, or lay corpo- ration. Appropriation was invented by monastic men as a curb on the secular clergy, and took place before the conquest. Impropriation originated on the sup- pression of monasteries, when Henry Vlll. disposed 139 of the great tithes in several parishes among his favourites. To BALANCE. To HESITATE. When tilings are to be weighed, we balance; when obstacles are to be overcome, we hesitate. lu the first case we know not what to do ; in the second case, we dare not do it. While we balance, nothing determines us ; while we hesitate, something impedes us. Doubt makes us balance ; fear makes us hesi- tate. Failure. Bankruptcy. Failure is the act which necessitates bankruptcy : bankruptcy is the result of acknowledged failure. He has failed, who omits to discharge when due accepted bills. He is a bankrupt, who, in consequence of such omission, has been deprived of the superin- tendance of his property. Failures are often com- promised without a formal bankruptcy. A failure is but i\iQfall, a bankruptcy the breaking up, of a com- mercial concern. A. failure does not imply, a bank- ruptcy does imply, the interference of the magistrate in behalf of the creditors. Attention. Exactness. Vigilance. We are attentive, when we look to what we are about ; exact, when we look to it according to some preconceived idea of perfection ; vigilant, when we look to it with vivacity and zeal. Attention re- quires presence of mind ; exactness, memory ; and vigilance, action. To attribute. To impute. Both these terms express laying a thing to ano- ther ; but to attribute is to assign mere causation, and to impute is to assign evil causation. You at- 140 tribute a work to an author, of which you merely refer the compositiou to him. You impute an epi- gram, or a libel, to an author, when you attribute it to him as a demerit. Hasty. Passionate. Hastiness describes a tendency to the pantomime which indicates passion : passion describes the men- tal emotion which accompanies hastiness. The hasty man and the passionate man are soon excited to anger ; the first is apt to lift his hand, the second to be over-zealous during his indignation. We should be on our guard with hasty people. "We should have patience with the passionate, and give them time to cool. He is hasty who wants command of body, he is passionate who wants command of mind. To BEaXJEATH. To DEVISE. Whatever a man gives away in his will he be- queaths ; but he devises only that of which he orders the partition. To devise {diviser) is to divide by will. Dr. Truslcr, however, gives a differ- ent account of the words, and says that we diA'ise land, and bequeath goods. Is the lawyer, or the etymologist, to decide this question of propriety 1 Or, rather, is the etymon ascertained ? To DECLINE. To DECAY. To decline (declhwre) is to /enn aside, and to decay (dechoir) is to fall off. Decline is prepara- tory to decay. The prop declines when it bends, and decays when it rots. In metaphor a like rela- tion is preserved : Gibbon, who details the progres- sive debility of the Roman Em{)ire, writes on its Decline ; and Montesquieu, in sketching its very dis- solution, animadverts on its Decay {Decadence). 141 Decadency. Decay. Decadency, though authorized by Johnson, is seldom employed ; but it may be distinguished from decay, in that it does not include ideas of putrescence. The decay of cheese, not the decadency. Of a cadaverous man, the decay ; of a paralytic man, the decadency ; is sensible. To PREVENT. To HINDER. To prevent is to impede by goinff before, and to hinder is to impede by going behind. I prevent your reading the Tales of Yore, if I get the book tirst at the circulating library : I hinder your read- ing them, if I snuflF out the candle while you have the book in your hand. We prevent what is unbe- gun, we hinder what is unfinished. The partnership should have been prevented; the consequent ruin can no longer be hindered. Correct. Exact. Correctness applies to the style, exactness to the matter. He is a correct writer, who attends to the laws of grammar and the usages of language ; he is an exact writer, who attends to truth of fact and precision of idea. Odour. Smell. An odour is the emanation which affects the organ of sense ; a smell is the action of that emanation on the sense. Odour belongs to the body supplying, and smell to the body receiAdng, the impression. Odours may exhale unsmelt ; as when a flower wastes its sweetness on the desert air : and there are diseased states of the olfactory nerves, in which smells are excited independently of odours from with- out. Odour is to the sense of smelling, what light is M 142 to tlie sense of seeins;. The civet-cat has a stronsior odour, but a weaker smell, than other cats. Odour is a newer word in english than smell, which originally served for both ; hence, in the older wTiters, these words are often confounded and misap- plied. Of inodorous bodies it is still common to say, they have no smell ; instead of saying, they have no odour. Strong and disagreeable odours are called smells ; their action on the sense is at once the prominent idea. Perfumes are called odours and not smells, by the perceiver ; their origin is at once the prominent idea. The sense of smelling is called the smell, and so is any one of its perceptions ; in like manner, the word sight is used for the sense of seeing, and for the thing seen. These are imperfections in language, which retard the progress of ideology : an easy remedy would be to say, the smelling, the seeing, when the sense is designated, as we already say, the hearing. Odorous. Odoriferous. Odorous means having odour ; odoriferous means scattenng odour. Flowers are most odoriferous in wettish air ; they are probably most odorous during sunshine. Le corps odorifcrant est naturellement tris odorant. Roubaud. Contentment. Satisfaction. Contentment is the sufficiency which prevents desire, and satisfaction the sufficiency which grati- fies it. He is content who holds enough (con and tenerr) ; he is satisfied who gets enough (satis and facpre). You are content with what you have, and satisfied with what you obtain. Passion pursues satisfaction ; indolence invites to content- ment. 1 13 Bounty. Benignity. Bounty is free, benignity dexterous, in its benefi- cence. Bounty gives what it can, benignity as it would be given to. Bounty endows ; benignity attaches. Bounty pardons readily ; benignity, gently. Bounty and benignity differ nearly as the english words goodness and kindness ; but imply more of inuirificence, of active service. Sure. Certain. That is sure, which results from laws of nature ; that is certain, which results from inferences of reason. Men are sure of what they have seen ; and certain of what they have heard. I am sure of a fact ; I am certain of a theory. We are sure of this life, and certain of the next. Chastisement. Punishment. Both these words describe the penalty of miscon- duct : but chastisement is inflicted for the sake of the sufferer, in order to mend ; and punishment for the bystander, in order to warn. Fathers chastise their children ; and magistrates punish a criminal. Civility. Urbanity. Politeness. Civility is that deferential attention to others, which arises from being under civil subordination. Urbanity is that easier and less crouching deport- ment, which the habit of residing in cities brings on. Politeness is the still more exquisite smoothness and propriety, which is acquired by moving in the higher circles or in various nations. A man of civility is often too ceremonious, and fatigues by the affectation of useless attentions. A man of urbanity is often too free, and though he bears raillery with recripro- city, will hazard it with teazing sincerity. A man 144 of politeness is not so courteous to his superiors as the man of civility ; nor so affable to his inferiors as the man of urbanity : but he satisfies all by a beha- viour, which discriminates, and values each aright. Urbanity is less graceful in a woman than in a man. Monarchy tends to make men civil ; republicanism, to make them urbane ; aristocracy, to make them polite. We teach civility to children ; young men acquire urbanity from their promiscuous way of life ; married men grow polite from being removed into circles more select and more refined. Without a previous basis of civility, urbanity is too intrusive and sarcastic ; without a previous basis of urbanity, ])oliteness is too leisurely and stately. Civility is inconsistent with arrogance, urbanity with reserve, and politeness with rudeness. Clearness. Perspicuity. Clearness is a quality of thought, perspicuity of style : he is a clear writer whose ideas are distinct, he is a perspicuous writer whose diction is easy. Johnson is a clear writer, though fond of hard words. Priestley has treated perspicuously of materialism, even where his notions are confused. Cloister. Convent. Monastery. All these words describe institutious, or founda- tions, for religious persons to dwell in. The essential idea of a cloister is to be shut up, of a convent is to be a community, and of a monastery is to contain single people. On s^ evferme dans un cloitre ; on se met duns tin convent ; on se retire dans tin inonastere. Roubaud Deference. Complaisance. Condescension. Deference is an ascensive, condescension a descen- sive, and complaisance a level attentivcness. Defer- ence is due to sujieriors, complaisance to equals. 145 and condesceusiou to interiors. Skilful condescension wears the mask of complaisance. Complaisance has its limits ; in order to please we may not cease to be estimable. Deference invites condescension. Contrition. Repentance. Remorse. Sins demand contrition; vices, repentance ; and crimes, remorse. Contrition is the feebler pain of mind, and regards the conscience : repentance is a sharper feeluig, which recurs oftener and lasts longer, and is adapted to counteract not an accidental lapse merely, but a bad habit : remorse is the acutest pang of the memory, and has for its object a vindictive self-punishment. Etymology exhibits contrition (tristis) as sad, repentance {poena) as in pain, and remorse {re and rnordo) as gnashing his teeth. Posture. Attitude. Posture and attitude both describe the visible dis- position of the limbs ; posture {positura) relates to their position merely, attitude {aptitudo) to the purpose of their position. Posture is attitude with- out an object ; and attitude is expressive posture. A negligent posture. The attitude of admiration. Those foreign teachers of attitudes are mere posture - masters. Painters must study gesture in active na- ture ; the attitude dictated to a model soon sinks into an unmeaning posture. To review. To criticise. To censure. To review a work is to overlook it for the pur- pose of giving some account of its contents. A re- viewal may be a mere analysis without any com- mentary. To criticise is to appreciate, to give a motived judgment, whether favourable or unfavour- iible. To censure is to pass a sentence of blame. M 2 146 An author wishes to be reviewed with attention, criticised with taste, and censured with moderation. Complicated. Implicated. CompHcated means folded together, and imph- cated means folded into. Affairs are comphcated which are mixed, and are impHcatcd which are en- tangled, with each other. During every tumult many curious loiterers are rather complicated than implicated in the riot. In a complicated conspiracy all the persons implicated are not guilty of the same offence. Grave. Serious. Grave and serious differ as heavy and slow. He is grave, who appears weighed down with care. He is serious, whose actions succeed each other with de- liberate solemnity. The grave man smiles not ; the serious man dances not. Some are grave from deco- rum, and some are serious from stupidity. Wisdom will make a man grave, and religion will make him serious. A judge should be grave, a preacher serious. Gravity is opposed to levity ; and seriousness to fri- volity. Grave describes an exterior phenomenon ; serious includes more of interior disposition. I am grave, when I do not laugh ; I am serious, when I am not in joke. Incident. Accident. Event. Casualty. Whatever happens, whether by chance or by de- sign, may be called an incident. Accident excludes the idea of design, and event excludes the idea of chance. An event is more important than an inci- dent ; and it describes the catastrophe rather than the progress. A casualty is an unwelcome accident ; being a law-term, it suggests the idea of those acci- dents for which a deodaud is inflicted, or a coroner invoked. 147 To PART. To SEPARATE. To DIVIDE, To SUNDER. To part is to put in pieces, to separate is to dis- tance what was parted, and to divide is to allot what was separated ; to sunder is to detach an infe- rior from a superior portion. We part what was whole, we separate what was contiguous, we divide what was joined, and we sunder what was compre- hended. "When both the chiefs are sunder'd from the fight, Dryden, Cosmogony. Cosmography. Cosmology. Cosmof^ony treats of the birth, cosmography or the description, and cosmology of the theory of the world (KocTfiog), Cosmogony applies only to the be- ginning (yoj/7/) ; cosmography only to the actual state (ypa(pu)) ; but cosmology (Xoyog) to the doctrine of all possible conditions of the earth. A PAIR. A COUPLE. A BRACE. A pair is two united by nature (par), a couple by an occasional chain (cojnda), and a brace by a noose or tie. A pair of swans. A couple of hounds, A brace of partridges. A pair is male and female ; a couple, two accidental companions ; a brace, tied together by the sportsman. He keeps a pair of pheasants in the hen-roost. We saw a couple of pheasants feeding on the bank. You shot a brace of pheasants. This brace of pheasants is a beautiful pair, yon other is a vile couple of hens, meagre and mangled. A pair of gloves, a couple of right-hand gloves. To APPREHEND. To FEAR. To DREAD. Expectation of future evil is the idea common to these words. A faint emotion is called aj)i)rehen- 148 sion ; a stronger is called fear ; the strongest, dread. About to visit a friend, I may apprehend he is gone out ; I may fear he is unwell ; I may dread to find him in danger. Hurry. Haste. Speed. Dispatch. Hurry implies a noisy hallooing {hurrah .' ) haste. Haste implies a wish for quickness {hitze, heat) ; and speed {spitz, a point,) its attainment. Dispatch carries further than speed the idea of result ; the spear is parted with {dis and piscor) which has dis- patched its errand. A man of sense may be in haste, but he is never in a hurry ; convinced that hurry is the way to make that which he undertakes speed ill. Trusler. Dispatch is baffled by hurry, is motived by haste, and is the consequence of speed. Dregs. Sediment. Dregs (from tragen, to draw,) are the remains when liquor is drawing off ; sediment (from sedere, to settle,) is that which subsides to the bottom. Hence dregs signify an inherent, but sediment may signify an accidental deposition. The hme, which sometimes subsides from a bottle of Madeira, is the sediment, and the film is the dreg. The sedi- ment of water. The dregs of wine. After the dregs are taken away, there will frequently remain a sediment. Rough. Rugged. Rough is the reverse of smooth ; rugged, a parti" cipial adjective from the same root, signifies ren' dered roMtjh. The metaphor is from riuje, wrinkle* A rough road is so from its construction ; a rugged road is indented by ruts. The open sea is rougher than a lake, even when it is not rugged with storm. A rough hand. A rugged field. 149 Graces. Charms. Graces result from corporeal, charms from intel- lectual, polish. We say of a lady that she walks, dances, sings, with grace ; hut that her conversation is full of charms. The eye charms inasmuch as it expresses sensibility. Grace is itself a charm, when it puts in motion the associated ideas of kindness, delicacy, and taste. Graces aim at the desire, charms at the admiration. The young prefer the graces, and fancy there is pedantry in the attempt to charm ; tlie mature prefer the charms, and com- plain of affectation in the women who display their graces too long. Risk. Peril. Danger. A risk is a doubtful, a peril is an imminent, a danger is an important, contingent evil. Do you risk a whole ticket in the lottery ? Mv book is ad- vertised ; I am in peril of being reviewed. He sails in the autumn, and is in danger of foul weather. The general, who runs the risk of a battle, is in danger of losing it, if his soldiers abandon him in peril. All. Every. All is a collective, every a distributive word ; all describes every one taken together, every describes all taken singly. All is, as it were, the plural of every ; all signifies ivhole, every is contracted from ever each. A singular use of all is made by bowlers : " Yours is the all bov.l ; it lies nearer the jack than every other." Laughter. Ridicule. Derision. Laughter may be sympathetic or hostile ; we laugh with, and we laugh at. Ridicule is always hostile, but describes a merry, good-humouied hostility. Derision is ill-humoured, is scornful ; it is anger 150 wearing the mask of ridicule, and only adopts the \()ice of laughter that its contemptuous and bitter words may be heard the further. We laugh to en- joy ; we ridicule to correct ; we deride to expose. Pedigree. Genealogy. An enumeration of descent in the order of succes- sion is called a pedigree, if it records the male line only ; and is called a genealogy, if the names of the wives be also inserted in their proper places. A pe- digree suffices to prove nobility in England ; but in many noble chapters of Germany a complete gene- alogy is necessary ; the candidate nntst show four spotless generations of parentage on each side. Ma- ternal nobility is required in several orders of knight- hood ; which has occasioned the composition of curious genealogies. To trace a pedigree ; to com- pile a genealogy. Vocabulary. Dictionary. Lexicon, Glossary. Vocabulary describes any word-book ; but dic- tionaries, lexicons, and glossaries are word-books alphabetically arranged. In vocabularies for spell- ing, the words are often classed according to the number of syllables. A dictionary may be confined to the words and phrases of a language ; or it may be set apart for mythology, science, biography. Lexicon, being a word derived from the greek, is more commonly used of a dictionary for the greek, or some other dead language. A glossary is a col- lection of obsolete or unusual expressions, a supple- ment to the dictionary of current and living speech, intended to facilitate the perusal of antiquated or provincial or technical writings. Diffuse. Prolix. He who spills over his ink (dis and fundo) is dif- fuse ; and he who drenches it into faintness (/jro and 151 liqneo) is prolix : hence the wi'iter who wanders aside from his object is charged with diflPuseness ; and he who approaches it too leisurely, with prolix- ity. Digression renders a style diffuse ; circumlo- cution, prolix. Diffuse is opposed to precise, and prolix to concise. Diligent. Expeditious. A readiness to accomplish their task distinguishes alike the diligent and the expeditious man ; but the diligent man loves his work, and is assiduous at it from attachment ; whereas the expeditious man begins soon and finishes rapidly from a secret impa- tience of his occupation. A man of sense is expe- ditious in trifling, and diligent in weighty, concerns. Sincere. Frank. t Sincerity is unvarnished {sine cerd), frankness is unchecked discourse. The sincere man advances no untruth ; the frank man advances home truths. The sincere man disguises nothing ; the frank man exposes every thing. Public intercourse is more facilitated by frankness than by sincerity ; private intercourse by sincerity than by frankness. Patriotism. Civism. Patriotism (from patria) is the love of one's country, and civism (from civis) the love of one's fellow-citizens. He who renders a service to his native land is deservedly praised for his patriotism ; he who renders a service to his native city, for his civism. Those duties to the whole state which grow out of our being born in a particular country are called the patriotic duties ; those duties to the whole state which grow out of our being burghers, or citizens of a particular corporation, are called the civic duties. To vote at an election, rather 152 than stand neutral, is a civic duty ; to vote at an election for the candidate, whose judgment eml)races tlie purest interests of the country, is a patriotic duty. • Occurrence, Opportunity. Occasion. Whatever happens so as to force itself on our notice, and to run against us as it were (ob and air- ro), is an occurrence ; the occurrence, which brings gC4)d luck within our reach {ob and fortuna), which opens a door to advantage, is an opportunity ; the opportunity, whose consequences are contemplated, of which we are considering how it fell out {ob and cadere), is called an occasion. Propitious occurrence is opportunity ; eventful occurrence, occasion. The death of a relation is a melancholy occurrence, but his legacy is often opportune ; and thus the event miiy occasion as much satisfaction as displeasure. Social. Sociable. Social implies active, sociable passive aptness for society : he is social, who willingly associates with others ; he is sociable, who is able to be associated with. The gay and extravagant are social, the prudent and respected are sociable, companions. Sociality is allied to generosity ; sociability only to discretion. Silence. Taciturnity. Silet qui desinit loqiii, tacet, qui ne loqui quidem in' cepit, says Valckenaer in his Philological Observa- tions. He is silent, who does not speak ; he is ta- citurn, who shuns to speak. The loquacious man may be sitting in silence ; and the taciturn man may be making an effort at conversation. Silence describes the actual, and taciturnity the habitual, disposition. ]53 Conversation, Discourse. Dialogue. Verbal intercourse, when accidental, is called con- versation ; when premeditated, is called discourse ; and when recorded, is called dialogue. A cheerful conversation. A formal discourse. An interesting dialogue. The conversation of yesterday occasioned our meeting by agreement this morning in Chapel- field to talk out the controversy ; if old Fransham had heard the discourse, he would have made a dia- logue of it. Resolution. Determination. Decision. A choice between action and inaction is a resolu- tion, and between compared motives is a determina- tion : an irrevocable choice is a decision. When we have considered, we resolve ; when we have de- liberated, we determine ; when we have decided, we look back no more. Resolution is opposed to doubt ; determination to uncertainty ; and decision to hesi- tation. Chat. Prate. Talk. Chat is welcome, prate is unwelcome talk. At the same time a gossip prates with the husband, chats with the wife, talks with the daughter ; to the first she is troublesome, to the second agreeable, to the third indifferent. Familiar. Intimate. Easy intercourse is familiarity, close intercourse is intimacy. To be familiar implies facility of ac- cess ; to be intimate implies opportunity of confi- dence. A familiar is a friend of the house, and an intimate a bosom-friend. Inexorable. Inflexible. He is inexorable, whom intreaty, he is inflexible, whom interest or fear, cannot bend. 154 Evident. Notorious. That is evident wliicli is seen, that is notorious which is known. Many a frailty is evident, which is not notorious, because the witnesses of it are cha- ritable. Notorious infamy does not always repose on satisfactory evidence; it may be the proclama- tion of interested calumniators. Ready. Prompt. He is ready who is prepared at the time ; he is prompt who is prepared before the time. The ready man provides his own repartee ; the prompter suggests that of others. Promptness is officious readiness. The ready man should not be made to wait ; the prompt man should be made to wait. Rebus. Charade. Riddle. Enigma, logogriph. The rebus is an acrostic, the charade a syllabic, and the riddle a verbal, puzzle. Each letter is de- signated enigmatically in the rebus, each syllable in the charade, and the entire word in the riddle. AH these are enigmas ; and so is a logogriph, which describes not a word only, but all the included words which any portion of its letters can spell. Opponent. Antagonist. Adversary. Enemy. Foe. Those who are pitted against each other {oh and pono) on any occasion, are opponents ; those who struggle against each other {avn and aywi/toTTjc) are antagonists. Habitual opposition, or antagonism, forms the adversary {adversarius). Unfriendly sen- timents characterize the enemy {in and amicus) ; and active hostility the foe {fah, avenger). Such tame opponents do not deserve the name of antagonists. Though antagonists in this debate, they are not adversaries. Adversaries throughout 155 life, they esteem each other too much to he enemies. The French, says an antigaUican, are our enemies even in peace, and our foes in every war. Metropolitan. Archbishop. Primate. The hishop of the capital city is the metropoh- tan. A bishop who has other bishops under his inrisdiction is an archbishop. The bishop who ranks first among all the bishops is the primate. In England, the bishop of London is the metropoli- tan ; the bishop of York, an archbishop ; and the bishop of Canterbury, our primate. One. Only. Alone. Lonely. Lonesome. Unity is the common idea which pervades all these words. That is one, of which there are any. That is only, of which there are no more. That is ;lone, which is actually unaccompanied. That is lonely, or lonesome, which is habitually unaccom- panied. One child. An only child. A child alone. A lonely child. For the adjective lonesome authorities can be ad- duced ; but it is impurely formed ; the syllable some, being the imperative mood of samnian, to gather, can only unite with substantive etymons, as in sportsome, irksome, healsotne, lengthsonie, buxome, Jloatsome, jetsome, ligsome, toilsome, lightsome, tire- some, gamesome, &c. ; here it occurs in union with the adjective lone, and forms an insignificant compound, like the words with-alone. To study. To learn. Studere, to study, appears to be a privative of the impersonal verb tcedere, to grow weary : he studies who does not tire of application. Leornan and laeran, to learn, are etymologically 156 connected with words signifying to horrovi : he learns who borrows from his master intellectual stores. To study implies uniform application in pursuit of knowledge ; to learn implies successful applica- tion. We study to learn ; we learn by study. Lively men study with difficulty, but learn with ease. The more we learn the more we know. There are those, who the more they study the less they know. He has studied well who has learned to doubt. There are many things we learn without study ; there are others we study without learning. Those are not the wisest who have studied most, but who have learned most. Youth is the time for study, but manhood is the time for learning. To ACKNOWLEDGE.* To CONFESS. To AVOW. To acknowledge, is to make known ; to confess, is to make known by speaJdng with another ; to avow, is to make known by declaration before the gods {ad and vovcre). Simple exposure, private participation, and public promulgation, are the ideas respectively suggested. We acknowledge our f^iults to one another ; we confess them to the priest ; we avow them in public worship. To acknowledge attachment ; to confess intercourse ; to avow marriage. A gentleman acknow- ledges his mistakes. A prisoner confesses his crimes. A patriot avows his opposition. Difficulty. Obstacle. A difficulty renders our progress uneasy {dis and * Dr. Johnson chanicterizes to achtnw/edge as a hybrid >vord, produced between latin and english : it is of wlioliy cn(;Iisli seuealogy, and formed by the same rule of analo{;y as to accompany, to accoiijj/e, to accustom, to affront. 157 facilis), an obstacle ivithstands it {oh and stare) : we surmount the one ; we remove the other. The first describes impediment arising from the nature and circumstances of the affair ; the second describes hinderance from a foreign cause. Phihp found a difficulty in managing the Athenians, from the na- ture of their dispositions ; he found an obstacle in the eloquence of Demosthenes. Prudence. Wisdom. Prudence is a contraction of providence, which means foresight. Wisdom, being derived from wis- sen, to know, signifies knowledge. Prudence is hy- pothetical wisdom ; and wisdom is realized prudence. Cautious people, who act from prospective motives, are called prudent. Prudent people, who attain their ends, are called wise. Success is the mark which conduct has to hit : the prudent take a safe and a right direction, but commonly undershoot their aim ; the rash fling sideways, or fly beyond, they commonly overshoot their aim ; the wise choose fitly, both their direction and their effort. The prudent excel in coUineation, the rash tend to hyperbole ; but every unforeseen contingency effectually disappoints the prudent, and may bring the rash to the precise goal. It is wiser to trust in the prudent than in the rash, if you value the means ; wiser to trust the rash than the prudent, if you value the end. Profusion. Extravagance. He is profuse, who pours forth his whole supply ; he is extravagant, who wanders from his right di- rection. The profuse man errs by the quantity, the extra- vagant man by the quality, of his expenditure. He, who praises excessivelv, is profuse ; he, who praises N 2 158 inappropriately, is extravagant, in his flattery. The writer who sticks too long to his topic, is profuse ; he who quits it too often, is extravagant. Presuming. Presumed. Presumptuous. Presumptive. He is presuming, who takes rank hefore it is al- lotted him. That is presumed, which is taken i'or granted hefore it is proved. To presume, is to take beforehand. " The presumption of good fame is a motive for authorship." Participial adjectives bear to participles the rela- tion of habituality to actuality. Presumptuous, is habitually presuming ; presumptive, is habitually presumed. Presumptuous priest. Shakspeare. Presumptive hope. Milton. In the technical language of lawyers, both french and english, the presumptive heir is used for the heir at law ; not, as Johnson and Trusler say, in op- position to the heir apparent : but this word, being impurely formed, is, in both languages, obsolesceut. Enough. Enow. Sufficient. Enough and enow are different spellings of the same adjective ; but these orthographic variations liave acquired an useless distinction. Caprice has made enow into the j)lural of enough. " He has meat enough," " He has had meats enow." Enow being the more cuphonous, should become the only form of the word. " Enow of reasons ;" why not also " enow of argument ?" In othtr gothic dialects, to enow is the verb for to satisfy. Nor/ is strong beer ; probably enovyh described originally the sfi- tisfaction which precedes intoxication. The french assez, seated, .ilso describes an after-dinner feeling. Sufficient is contracted from satis faciens ; and 159 satis means filled with food, not with liquor. It de- scribes therefore a calmer comfort, mere content- ment. He has sufficient, who has just what he wants ; he has enough, who has any thing less than too much. The covetous man never has enough, although he has more than a sufficiency. If my host is helping me to wine, " that is sufficient," permits him to stop ; " that is enough,' ' forhids him to proceed. Peace. Calm. Tranquillity. Peace, being derived from the same root as pause, means a cessation of trouble. From the Italian ca- tare, to sink, to abate, comes the substantive calamen- to, declension, descent, decay : and hence probably the verb calmare, to cause to abate, aud the substan- tive calma, calm. Tranquillity means smoothness, and does not, like peace and calm, imply pervious perturbation. Peace is opposed to war; calm to storm ; and trauquiUity to agitation. Whole. Entire. Whole derives from the same root as to heal, and was at first synonymous with healthy : so the ger- mau (/am comes from the same root as gesund. Entire, in latin integer, m.eans covered in, and de- scribes that sort of health which consists in a whole skin. To be free from wounds, from sores, from mutilations, constitutes the primary idea of whole- ness, entirety, or integrity. Whole and entire are both opposed to parted and to deficient ; and in their metaphorical application are identical : but whole is sometimes used for healthy, whereas entire is not. They abode in the camp till they were whole. Joshua. 160 Sympathy. Compassion. Pity. Commiseration. Sympathy is greek, and compassion is latin, for undergoing-together . But the greek verb, being more frequently applied to emotions both of the pleasing and painful kind, than the derived latin verb, which is confined to unwelcome sensations : sympathy is com.e to signify participation in the affections of others, without regard to their nature : whereas, compassion implies participation in the painful per- ceptions of another. Sympathy is fellow-feeling ; and compassion is fellow-suffering. Whether we re- joice with those who rejoice, or mourn with those who mourn, we indulge sympathy : but our com- passion is exercised only in the house of grief. Pity describes pain occasioned by the pain of another, but not pain of the same kind. We pity a man in disgrace, without feeling involved in his woe : we pity a family in want, without any appre- hension of identical calamity. There is a self-com- placence, a secret triumph, connected with that ten- derness for uneasiness, which is called pity. The gods are supposed to pity the misfortunes of man- kind ; but compassion belongs to those who are lia- ble to a like fate. Commiseration means fellow- pity : pity felt in common with others. The spec- tators of a tragedy commiserate the distresses of the hero. Hooker uses this word impurely, where he says : " These poor seduced creatures, whom I can nei- ther speak nor think of, but with much commisera- tion and pity." "Where there is no one to partake the emotion, there can be no commiseration. Locke, on the contrary, uses the word with preci- sion : " We should commiserate our nuUual ignorance. >> Clock. Dial. These are both time-pieces, with this difference, that the clock strikes ; the dial does not. Clock is derived from cJocke, a bell ; dial, from dies, day. The clock tells the hour, the dial shows it. Dials were long in use before the invention of clocks. The plate, on which the hours are numbered, is called sometimes the dial of a clock ; but hour-plate is more correct. Those time-pieces which do not strike, when fitted up in a manner to resemble strik- ing clocks, are often called clocks. The annalist Muratori resembles a clock ; always exact, distinct, complete, his chapter finishes when the year strikes, and he points out the httle or the great figures in the area with an equally gradual im- partiality. The historian Roscoe has illustrated, but flattered, the Medici ; his pen, like the gnomon of a sun-dial, notices no hours but the serene. WirjD. Breeze. Blast. Gale. Gust. Storm. Tempest. Hurricane. Of these words, wind is the most comprehensive and indefinite : it signifies a stream of air, and is etymologically connected with wehen, to blow, of which verb it is probably the contracted participle present, the thing blowing. Breeze is a gentle orderly wind : the word is Spa- nish, or Italian, and is associated with ideas of soft airs, such as slide under southern skies. Blast is an effort of blowing, the exhalation of a trumpet, the breath of bellows, the eruption of a cannon, the sweep of the storm-wind ; it is the past particijjle of blasen to blow, the thing blown. Gale is a sonorous steady wind : the word is ety- mologically connected with to call and to yell : the wind that sings in the shrouds, that keeps the sail stiff uninterruptedly, is a gale. Addison makes a bull. 162 in talking of Umbria's green retreats, Where western gales eternally reside ; that is, where motion eternally rests. Gust is a fit of wind ; it is derived from the ice- landish, and is therefore associated with phenomena familiar in the northern skies. Winter-gusts ; fretted with the gusts of heaven : the showery gusts of April. As when fierce northern blasts from alps descend. From his firm roots with struggling gusts to rend, An aged sturdy oak. Storm includes other accidents than violent wind : it is etymologically connected with to stir, and may be defined a noisy rapid commotion of the atmo- spheric elements ; a wind which disturbs the clouds, woods, and seas ; it exceeds a gust in continuance, in vehemence, in darkness, in destruction. Storm, like gust, being of northern origin, is applied to the phenomena of northern climates. A hail-storm, a storm of snow, the storms of December. Here may thy storm-beat vessel safely ride. Stir, commotion, being the radical ideas in the word storm, it is extended, by a natural metaphor, to the assault of fortifications, and to seditious movements. Tempest, being of southern origin, describes that sort of storm common in warm countries ; wind ac- companied with rain, lightnings and thunder. Hurricane, being not merely of southern, but of tropical origin, it is a Caribee word, describes that sort of storm common between the tropics, the most violent form of summer storms. Variation. Vakiety. Successive changes in the same object constitute variation : the multipHcity of different objects con- stitutes variety. Variations of dress are chiefly ac- complished by variety of colours. 1()3 To LIE. To LAY. There are traces in many gothic dialects of a cau- sative inflection for the infinitive moods of verbs. So from to sit is formed to set, which signifies to cause to sit. So again from to rise - to raise, to cause to rise, to fall - to fell, to cause to fall, to fly - to fleet to cause to fly ; but a corrupt and confused use of this last word has prevailed. To this same class of modification must be referred to lie, and to lay, to cause to lie. Lege, low, is the etymon of both words. I will lie with my fathers. Lay me with my fathers. These words are used in composition in a manner very idiomatic. To lie by implies to remain still ; to lay by, to reserve for future use. To lie down im- plies to repose oneself; to lay down is to deposit a pledge, a proposition, an employment. To lie in im- plies to be in child-bed ; to lay in, to store. To lie with, implies to sleep with ; to lay with, to bet or wager with. It would be more convenient if the past tense of to lie were spelled ley, and not lay, which is a com- bination of letters otherwise appropriated. Abdication. Resignation. Dicare is to promise ; abdicare, to call off : sig- nare, is to sign, or seal ; resignare, to sign again, or against. Abdication, then, is giving up by word of mouth ; and resignation is giving up by signature. He resigns a crown, who ratifies his abdication. Swindler. Sharper. These words are in common use to describe per- sons who take unfair advantages ; the man who buys goods which he is aware he cannot pay for, or bor- rows money under false pretences, is called a swind- ler ; the man who stakes at cards what he never 164 means to pvotlnce, or who cheats by his method of play, is called a sharper. From the germaii schwin- den to disappear, comes the frequentative to sioindle, and hence swindler, a soft appellation for those who have often to disappear. Sharper is from the eng- lish verb to sharp, according to Johnson ; but there is a verb to shark, to devour, to prey upon, from shark, a voracious fish, which is a no less probable, and is a more descriptive, etymon. High. Tall. Lofty. These words describe size above the average, and are mostly applied to magnitude perpendicularly ex- tended. High, was originally the same word as hill : a high man was a hill of a man ; a high church, a hill of a church. When the Lilliputians called Gul- liver the man-mountain, they employed the same metaphor as our forefathers in coining the adjective hiffh. Great part of the sensible idea has been gra- dually omitted ; the term has become very abstract, and now retains only the narrow image of length stretching upwards. Tall, is only used of that which grows, and is no doubt the past ])articinle of a verb signifying to groiv. A tall Lilliputian, not a high Lilliputian. A tall horse, never a tall mountain. Tall grass, not a tall mole-hill. A high obelisk, but a tall tree. A high may-pole : tall soldiers. Lofty, being derived from loof, or loft, the air, or sky, is confined to elevation stretching upwards from the observer, to elevation measurable by the atmo- spiiere. Standing at the foot of a mountain, we call it lofty ; standing at its summit, we call it high. Standing on the floor of a cavern, we call it lofty ; peeping down from the ceiling, we call it deep. High water ; a high tide : never a lofty tide. A lofty room. Lofty thoughts. 165 High is the reverse of low ; tall, of stinted ; and lofty, of deep. The height which results from accre- tion is tallness ; that which results from position is loftiness. Broad. Wide. Thick. Large. Broad and wide describe superficial extent ; thick and large include one dimension more of solidity : all four exclude the consideration of length. A broad river, a broad road, a broad cloth ; a wide lake, a wide prospect, a wide circle. A thick cheese, a thick board, a thick rope ; a large man, a large ele- phant, a large room. Broad, wide, and thick are definable ; large is always indefinite. A ribband half an inch broad. A yard-wide handkerchief. A plank two inches thick. We say of a tree, that it is six feet in girth ; but never that it is six feet large : we should be at a loss to know whether six feet large was intended to mean six feet through, or six feet round. In french, large admits of definition, fosse large de six pieds. Broad differs from wide in describing that extent which is perpendicular to the length, cross dimen- sion ; whereas wide describes extent each way. A broad brim, a wide hat. Of a long room we define the breadth ; of a square room, the width ; so of a field. A broad ditch ; a wide pond. Broad lips ; a wide mouth. There is a tendency to employ wide of all hollow extent, of inside measure. A wide cup. Dr. Trusler even approves " a wide ditch." A broad horse-shoe is one whose rim is broad ; a wide horse- shoe is one whose aperture is considerable. Those pales are wide asunder. Thick differs from large, in that it respects only the third dimension, not including the idea of length or breadth ; whereas large includes the idea of breadth. A small cheese may be thick, a narrow })lank may be thick ; but they cannot be large. o 166 Broad is the reverse of narrow ; wide of close ; thick of thill ; and large of small. In Otfried, bi-elt is a noun of number ; flocks a hundred broad : it is probably connected etymologi- cally with to breed, meant at first, numerous by breediug, and, in consequence of the expatiatory tendency of cattle, came to signify " covering super- ficial extent." A broad family would thus be as sound an expression as a large famihj. Wide is referred by Adelung to the french vuide ; it would in this case not be common to all the gothic dialects. Junius guesses it may have meant sioell- ing. Perhaps from the substantive warj a road, is derived weyen to travel, whence the german bewegen to remove. The participle of the verb to travel may well have become a word of measurement. By Wachter, thick is considered as a participle of the verb to take : it means therefore palpable, which can be taken hold of. Large can be traced through the french to the latin, and is commonly considered as connected with the greek Xavpog. This explains nothing. Perhaps the latin largiri, to give, meant originally to feed, which is the most usual form of giving. In this case lar a kettle, or platter, is the radical idea. The veneration for the lares was originally a fetiche-wor- ship, like that of the negroes for their pots and pans. Large then '\% platter-shaped. Gross. Bulky. Stout. Huge. Gross excites the idea of coarse corpulency : it came to us from France with that association : it is originally the same word with the low-dutch groot and the euglish great, which are past participles of to grow ; but as the Germans are a corpulent, and the Gauls a slender race, their word for grown means fat, whereas the french grand (also a participle of grandir) means tall. 167 Bulky is from the substantive hulk, which is used for the torso, or trunk, of a man, as well as for size in general. Authorities derive it from half/, belly ; but it is more likely to be the same word as bullock, or bull-ox, a castrated bull, a steer gelding. These animals being remarkable for growing fat and large, would naturally supply the descriptive adjective : a man-bullock for a corpulent man, a bullock-pack of wool for a large or bulky bale. Yet the sea-phrase "to break bulk" favours the derivation from belly. Stout is said by Johnson to mean striking : it de- scribes an appearance characteristic of strength and vigour : it is metaphorically become a word of di- mension. A stout cloth, for a thick strong texture. A stout timber, for a tree in its prime, which pro- mises to grow large. A stout plank, for a thick strong board. A stout vessel, for a tight strong ship. The ideas of thick and strong seem to have coalesced in the word. Adelung is not for referring this word, like Jolmson, to the gothic etymon stau- tan, to strike ; but rather, with the Swedish stolt, and the german stolz, to some root signifying to up- swell. Opitz has a passage : Die stolze Jluth ver- schivemmet gam und gar : the stout river swims quite away : where the fundamental idea turgid, not the fundamental idea striking, can be accommodated to the epithet. On the other hand the Flemings say of an ox that tosses : Die as is stootsch : where strik- ing, and not turgid, is applicable. Pei-haps some such idea as horny lies at the bottom of this adjec- tive. The Latins use cornea corpora for stout bo- dies : and the Hebrews use the derivatives of horn for proud, which is the meaning of the german stolz. Stosstange is a pitch-fork, which would be naturally named if the words signify horn-pole. Stot is old english for a bull. These indications being converg- ed, it seems that some word, which in majso-gothic 168 would have been spelled staut, signified (1) a bull, (2) a horned beast, (3) a horn ; and that from this sense was derived the verb stautan or sto&sen, to thrust, push, or toss. Bull being the largest animal among the Goths, is often used by them for an aug- mentative ; bull-linch, bull-fly, bull-rush, bull-trout, bull-weed : — the adjective into which such a prefix would gradually be shapen must signify large. But if, by a process of abstraction, the word bull had acquired the meaning horn before it was employed as an epithet, the adjective, into which such a prefix would gradually be shapen, might mean strong, over- bearing, 2J^oitd ; or it might mean tough, enduring, robust : the Germans have employed it in the former, the English in the latter, sense. And thus by pre- supposing the etymon staut bull, all the significations of the alhed words in the different gothic dialects may be accounted for naturally. Iluge is derived by Johnson from the hoUandish hoogh, high ; but this does not explain the use of the word. Part, huge of bulk. Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait. Tempest the ocean. Where is there any symptom that height makes a part of the idea of the word ? A high tree is one whose stem is tall ; a huge tree, one whose trunk is large. High forests consist of tall trees, huge forests of spreading woods. The word is not applied to graceful, but only to awkward bulk and unseemly appetites. A huge whale. A huge mountain. A huge serpent. And Shakspeare : a huge feeder. Hooch is w'elsh for a hog ; and this is no doubt the true beginning of the adjective. A huge man is a hog of a man ; a huge mountain, a hog of a moun- tain ; a huge feeder, a hog of a feeder. Bulky, stout, and liuge, are all epithets borrowed from cattle : the ox tends to corpulency, tlie bull to strength, and the hog to awkwardness ; and these ac- cessory ideas are accordingly mingled with the gene- ral idea of large-sized, which they all convey. Quickness. Activity. Swiftness. Celerity. Quickness is a saxon word answering nearly to the latin, activity ; and swiftness is a saxon word answering precisely to the latin, celerity. Quickness and activity may be displayed by motions on the same spot. Swiftness and celerity can be displayed only by motion from one spot to another : they de- scribe velocity of progress. Quickness and activity define the motive-force exerted ; swiftness and cele- rity the movement produced. Quickness announces swiftness ; as celerity results from activity. In their proper acceptation, quickness and activity are nearly uudistinguishable ; not so in their meta- phoric employment. As quick originally signifies alive, sensatious, animated ; and active originally signifies busy, hasty, stirring ; quickness of mind denotes rapidity of perception, whereas activity ot mind denotes restlessness of attention. He is intel- lectually quick, who conceives readily ; he is intel- lectually active, whose mind is always busy. Men- tal quickness is the reverse of stupidity ; mental activity, of indolence. The adjectives swift and celer, on the contrary, being originally of like meaning, and both signifying speedy, the words swiftness and celerity do not differ in their metaphoric application. Swift of foot. Swift of speech. Swift of inference. Velocitas corporum celcritas appellatur. Cicero. Celeritas verborum. Quintilian. Celeritas percipiendi. Quin- tilinii. o 'J 170 To APPROACH. To ACCOST. To ADDRESS. To approach is to draw nigh (fr. proche) ; to ac- cost is to approach the side (fr. eoste) in order to gain the ear ; and to address is to approach straight forwards (sp. dere^ar) for the purpose of obtaining attention. To approach imphes previous distance ; to accost suggests some intimacy ; and to address announces solemnity of purpose. We cannot approach the great without some kind of ceremony. Education teaches us to accost the ladies with civility ; but to approach them requires some assurance. Our address shall sometimes please ; when our deportment shall disgust. Trusler. Forest. Wood. Plantation. Grove. All these words describe land begrown with trees ; of which a forest is the largest, and a grove the smallest, assemblage. Foresta e.luogo di fuori sepa- rate dall'abitazione degli huomini. Bella Criisca. Of a forest the extent is vague and the growth wild. Of a wood the trees are already thick. A plantation is produced by the art of man. A grove is a hol- lowed privacy {grabe), a walk covered by trees meet- ing above : so at least says Johnson. But as the derivation may be from the saxon yrowan to grow, I should prefer to define grove, a cluster of coeval trees, a small wood of the same groivth. Forest. Chase. Park. Technically these words describe habitations for beasts to be hunted. Forests and chases he open ; parks are inclosed. The forest is the most noble of all, being a franchise pertaining to the king : if he transfer one to a subject, it becomes a free chase. If any one offend in a park or chase, which are pri- vate property, he is punishable by the common law ; but a forest has laws and officers of its own, as fo- resters, vcrderers, rangers and agisters. 171 Velocity. Rapidity. Velocity and rapidity differ nearly as the english adjectives swift and sudden ; velocity being a com- mand of space, and rapidity a command of time. The velocity of lightning — when you wish to draw attention to the quantity of space it traverses in a given time ; the rapidity of lightning — when yau wish to draw attention to the shortness of time in which it traverses a given space. The chariot- wheel has velocity, in proportion to the ground it travels over ; rapidity, in proportion to the number of its rotations on the axle. Dingle. Dell. Dingle, says Sardine, is an unexpected little valley in a flat country : a dell is that dingle ornamented. Both words are provincial, or obsolescent ; but they are employed by Milton. I know each lane and every valley green, Dingle or bushy dell of this wild wood. Comus. Intention. Project. Design. Purpose. From incipient to decisive volition the progressive steps are many, and are successively described by these words. Intention is the feeblest effort, a mere stretching {in and tendo) of the mind toward its ob- ject ; in a project {pro and jacere) the object is al- ready flung before the contemplation. When the mind has planned an entire scheme, it is said to have formed a design {dessein) : and when the means of execution are put forth {propositum) the purpose is complete. Contemplative benevolence is a soothing pastime; we intend relief to our suffering fellow- creatures, we project aerial castles of consolation, and design such good deeds as are within reach of our means ; but how often indolence frustrates the kindness of our purposes. 172 Archetype. Model. Likeness. Copy. Apelles paints a head of Jupiter. The statue of Phidias was his archetype, if he paints after it from memory, from idea. It was his model, if he paints after it in presence of the statue. He paints a like- ness, if the resemblance is striking. If he makes a second painting in imitation of the first, he takes a copy. The grie\ang soldier in Vandyke's Belisarius was the archetype of the grieving soldier in West's Death of Wolfe. Barry was in painting what Glo- ver was in poetry : he chose his models in heroic and classical art ; his costume is greek, his deli- neation has a cast of the antique ; but his colouring is flat, his expression cold, and his works escape popularity, notwithstanding the omnipresence in them of his tasteful and accomplished mind. In Rafael's accurate likeness of Po})e Julio II. there is something of the stiffness and anxious precision, as well as of the finish and detail, of Holbein. Julio ]{()mano made many copies which have the value of originals. To rise. To get up. To rise is to lift the head ; to get up is to lift the person. He rises, who, having lain along on a sofa, is about to sit up on it. He gets up, who, hav- ing been lying or sitting, is about to stand npright. To rise is but a part of the effort to get up. The sun rises ; not, the sun gets up. To get up a ladder. He gets up in the world, whose fortune, he rises in the world, whose rank, is progressive. Who acquires money by vile means may get up in the world with- out rising in it. The saxon risan means to shoot upwards, to grow tall, and is allied to reis a sprout, and to riese a giant ; hence some idea of relative rank adheres to the word, ivise is opposed to sink ; and get up to go down. 173 Adjective. Epithet. Adjective is a technical term of the grammarians ; ej)ithet, of the rhetoricians. The same word is an adjective, inasmuch as it is a part of speech ; and an epithet, inasmuch as it is an ornament of diction. In the distich. Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll ; Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul : the word pretty is an adjective and an epithet ; it is a part of speech, and an ornament of diction needless to the sense. In the phrase. Severe virtue does not attract aifection : the word severe is an adjective, not an epithet ; Avith- out it the sense would be incomplete : it is employed not for decoration but for definition. In the line of Dryden, With plume and scarf, jack-boots and bilbo blade, the word jack is an epithet, though perhaps not an adjective. Satire. Lampoon. Both words describe censure ambitiously com- posed in rhyme or with comic eloquence. Censure written to reform, and not to vex, is called satire ; written to vex, and not to reform, is called lampoon. Of course, lampoon is the meaner, and satire the nobler, expression and employment. Satire is usu- ally general, lampoon usually personal. Pope could elevate lampoon into satire, and degrade satire into lampoon. Generosity. Magnanimity. Noble, disinterested, great, and lofty actions flow both from generosity and magnanimity ; yet gene- rosity {yenerosus, of good race) is more an aft'ection of the heart, a;) innate tendency ; and magnanimity (niaffnus great, and animus mind) more a character 174 of tlie head, an acquired habit. Generosity is mu- nificent, is forgiving, from the abundance of its kindness ; magnanimity, because it despises httleness in giving and in hating. Generosity endows others in order to indulge its genius ; magnanimity, in order to merit admiration. Generosity is less select in its objects, magnanimity in its means. Generosity lias more of humanity, and magnanimity more of hero- ism. Generosity is the virtue of opulence, magna- nimity is the virtue of power. Death. Decease. Dkparture. Release. Death is the final lot of all things living ; of man, bird, beast, fish, tree. Decease is only used of the human species, and only of natural cessations of being. A violent death is not called a decease. Departure implies acquiescence in the doom, a friendly taking leave of life. The suicide and the aged man depart ; not he who is killed in battle, or is led to execution. Release includes the idea of unwelcome continuance in existence. Those who suffered pain, and who sutTer it no longer, are said to have been released. The Christian, who feels his body to be a prison, may pray for release, but would tliink it sinful to depart before the beckon of Nature. Word. Term. Expression. A term is a technical, an expression is an empha- tic, word. All the parts of speech, whether material or connective, are words. Only the material, not the connective, parts of speech are terms. Entire |)hrases, forced out with effort, are expressions. Word is a participle signifying uttered, and is ety- mologically connected with forth. Term is from terminus, a boundary-post, a mark of appropriation. Expression is from ex and premere to press forth. The j)urity of language depends ou its words ; the 175 precision, on its terms ; and the brilliancy, on its expressions. Tnisler. Elaborate discourses require the words to be eng- lish, the terms proper and the expressions noble. Trusler. Keeping is a bad word, though a painter's term for figural perspective ; it is a false expression, which ought to describe stability of colour ; probably it originated in an attempt to translate the french tenue, holding, which is used of attitude. Cathedral. Collegiate Church. Both these terms describe temples in which choir- service is performed ; but a cathedral is the chief church of a diocese, whereas a collegiate church is no seat of jurisdiction, although a college of clergy is attached. St. George's chapel at Windsor is a collegiate church ; but St. Paul's is the cathedral of the diocesan bishop. Insufficiency. Incapacity. Holding less than enough is the sensible idea common to both words ; but insufficiency defines the contents, and incapacity the containing power, of the vessel to be estimated. What is insufficient may be rendered sufficient ; but what is incapable cannot acquire capacity. Hence, insufficiency des- cribes the lack of means, and incapacity the lack of power. The insufficiency of a ministry which is un- supported, the incapacity of a ministry which is un- skilled. Devil. Demon. Between interior realities the distinction must be imaginary ; the habits, or fashions, of fancy are nevertheless capable of description. Devil, says Girard, and I know not that the conceptions of the age have changed, is always taken in a bad sense : 170 it designates an evil spirit, who tempts with skill, and prompts to vice. Demon is often used in a good sense : it designates a powerful spirit, who liurries beyond the limits of moderation, who pushes with vehemence, and controls liberty. The first is connected with ideas of ugliness and horror ; the second, of power and ascendancy. ]\Ialice character- izes the devil ; despotism the demon. De^ils are sly ; demons, wayward. The devil deigns to seduce ; the demon chooses to rule. He is possessed by a devil, whose insane inclinations are mischievous but capricious ; he is possessed by a demon, whose in- sane inclinations are of equivocally meritorious ten- dency but uncontrollable. Cardanus had a devil , Tasbo, a demon. Inequality. Disparity. Inequality, says Diderot, describes difference in quantity ; and disparity, difference in quality. Things varying in size are unequal ; things varying in kind are unlike. Diurnal. Quotidian. Both these words may be ex])lained by the phrase, "That which returns each day." But, in order to de- fine diurnal, it is necessary to lay the eraj)hasis en returns ; and, in order to define quotidian, it is neces- sary to lay the emphasis on each. The idea of perio dicity is prominent in diurnal, the idea of frequency in quotidian. They differ as the adverbs daily and every day. Hence, diurnal docs not, and quotidian does, excite an associated idea of annoy. The " How do you do ?" " It is a fine morning ;" " Did you rest well last night ?" of the breakfast-table, is diurnal conversation, inasmuch as it regularly recurs ; and quotidian couAersation, inasmuch as its triviality disgusts. The Morning Chronicle is a diurnal, not quotidian, newspaper. The emperor who was 1/7 awaked by the sentence, " Reflect what good you can do to-day I" had chosen a diurnal, but not a quo- tidian, remembrancer. Prop. Stay. Shore. Buttress. These words describe several kinds of adventitious support ; like caryatids, they agree in purpose, but differ in form. A prop is a perpendicular, a stay is an inclined, and a shore is a horizontal lifter : they are placed only to be withdrawn. But a buttress is a permanent structure, which abuts against ano- ther in order to prevent its sinking ; a sloping wall, or pillar, built up to strengthen a standing edifice. In the dutch language, proppe signifies a plvg ; and is applied to those bits of wood, of rag, of tow, of cork, with which leaks in ships, cannon, barrels, chinks in wainscoting, or necks of bottles, are occa- sionally stopped. It also signifies a graft, an in- serted twig. Proppen, in Holland, is to eat vora- ciously, to cram sausages, to stuff. This word, on which Junius avoids to dilate, may have been meta- phorically employed by some of the gothic nations to designate " that which intrudes ; " and, by others, to designate "that which is erect." In this last sense the English use the word : a prop is an upright support. The french substantive etai is a derivative of the gothic stay, and describes the cable by which a ves- sel is fastened to her anchor. That which stays, or resists progressive motion, by pushing as well as j)ulling, is also called a stay, une Haie : of this kind are the inclined timbers which support a roof during the reconstruction of the wall beneath. L'etaiement de cette tnaisoti etait fort necessaire, outrement elle serait tombte. " Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands." Exodus. 178 Tlie branc'lies serve as so many stays for their vines ; which hang, Uke garlands, from tree to tree. Addison. Schoor is the name given by the Hollanders to those transverse blocks which are laid upon props, in order to diffuse the pressure over a wide surface of the incumbent weight, and thus to prevent perfo- ration, or local indentation ; ship-builders support the sides of vessels with shores. In many gothic dialects the mantel-piece of a chimney is called the shoor-stone. The word is probably a contraction of shoulder, in dutch sckouder ; as shores operate after the manner of shoulders, and extend the lifting sur- face on each side of the trunk.* liuttress, if derived from the french ahoutissement, is impurely formed, and ought to signify frontier- walls, frontier-corners, parts which abut against each other, in short, an abutment, which word we possess already. The saxon words but out, and treo tree, may be the component parts ; in this case buttress originally siguitied outside-trees, exterior lean-tos, * Watts says, in his Logic, " When I use the word shore, I may intend thereby a coast of land near the sea, a drain to carry off water, or a ])rop to support a building." S/iore is the proper and undisputed spelling for sea-coast. Suer is the proper spelling for a drain ; it is derived from the french suer to sweat, or exude : the verb is in common english use, though unnoticed by Bailey or Johnson. " The water surs through the brick-work." This word is spelt, by Milton, iewer. " Like one who long in populous city pent. Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air." Bnt shoor is the proper spelling for a horizontal support, as we have unquestionably borrowed the word from the ship- carpenters of Holland. As soon as an orthographic distinc- tion is introduced, we shall cease to confound them, like Watts, to the e?.T. 179 placed to prevent a hut from falling sideways ; what we now call stays. Act. Action, Act {actum) is a thing done ; action (actio) is doing : act therefore is an incident ; an action a process, or habit. A virtuous act ; a course of vir- tuous actions. The act of nodding ; an action of nodding. An act of parliament ; the action of the laws. Dr. Trusler perversely mistakes act and action : he maintains that an elegant speaker will not say "a good, or a virtuous act:" he adds, "the senti- ments of the heart are not so much to be judged of from words as from actions ;" in both these cases act is the fit word ; single deeds, not habits of conduct, being in question. Form. Figure. Fashion. Forma signifies a mould external or internal : it is applied to a shoe-last, or a cheese-vat ; to a rule of words, or the model of a building. Figura is exter- nal form, the fixed, not the moveable mould or frame, from f()o, surely, not from finyo. Fashion {fagon) is a modern derivative o^ /actio, making. Form includes construction and internal arrange- ment ; figure describes visible contour and outline ; fashion implies labour, and results from workman- ship, A dress well cut, has a fine fashion ; a statue well- shaped, has a fine figure ; a man well-grown, has a fine form. A tree is fashioned by the pruning- hook and the shears ; it figures well in a landscape, if its branches and foliage are agreeably disposed : it has no deformity, if its trunk is sound and pro- portioned to its ramification. lie hath no form, nor comeliness. Isaiah. Paganism pictures deity under all kinds of figures j 180 whereas Christianity confines it to those of a man and of a dove. Trusler. The fashion of a work frequently exceeds in vahie the price of the materiah Trusler. Tlie Farnesian Hercules, seen in front, is a com- plete figure ; but its form behind has a feebler mus- cular expression : the fashion, too, is more laborious in the fore-part, as if it were intended to stand in a niche. To LIFT. To RAISE. That is lifted which is hoisted into the air {hiff, air) : that is raised which continues in contact with the ground (raise is from 7'ise, to get upright). We lift a weight ; we raise a mast. We lift a ladder, when we carry it on the shoulder ; we raise a ladder, when we heave only the one end, which is to lean up against the house. The favouritism of sovereigns often lifts a bad *a o' minister ; their discrimination sometimes raises a good one. Way. Path. Track. Road. Street. Way is the most comprehensive of these terms, and designates any line made use of for conveyance. Which is the way to Hampton ? The shortest way is the path across the fields. The worst way is the old track. The surest way is the high-road. The roughest way is through the street. The pleasantest way is to go by water. The quickest way of sending a note is by a pigeon. Adelung deduces this substantive from the inter- jection weg, which he considers as an onomatopcia for aioaij ! via ! off I The interjection should rather be deduced from the substantive ; and accordingly it differs in every language. Way is written, in gothic, v^Kj ; in Swedish, lody ; in high and low dutch, wrc/ ; in auglo-saxon, ivea(j, of whicli word another early 181 form is wag, a bank, mound, or wall. Way there- fore means, like the french chausste, a causey, a raised path or road ; weaxan, to heap up, to increase ; weagan^ to move, or convey ; and wcegan, waggon, are etymologically connected. This filiation of the word is corroborated by the analogy of the icelandish language, where vega means earth, at vega to heap up, and vegr a mound, or way. Path is a foot-way, where one paddeth. A pod, or liadder, is one who walks on foot, as in the tauto- logous combination foot-pad. A horse which excels in a foot pace, as we also say, is called a fad-nag. To paddle is to use the feet frequently. As oar means a hand, so paddle, or r&thev paddel, means a foot, and is a sort of oar used perpendicularly. The feet of web-footed animals are called paddels. In short, some such etymon as pad (answering to the latin pes, pedis) must have been left by the Romans ia Britain. The word j}(t^d is used for a foot-cushion, and for other small cushions ; but this is perhaps a curruption of bed : it is also used for a hind-saddle, a sort of pillion, consisting of a mere cushion. Track, from the Italian traccia, is a hunter's term, signifying the line of footsteps left on the ground by game ; the temporary path of an animal. We say the track of a horse, the track of a wheel, when the vestige has resulted from a single impres- sion. A path is a beaten track, a track is a new path. Where there are few tenants, the heath may be pathless ; for it to be trackless, there must be none. Road* is a horse-way ; ground rode or ridden upon. A turn-pike road. A causey should consist of a road and a path. The Loudon road. * This woril is not, as Jolmsoa thinks, the iVench rade, 182 Street (via lapidibus strata) is a paved road : mauy fragments of the roman roads are still called streets in this country, where they are not bordered by houses ; but, as our roads are seldom paved, un- less in towns, the word street commonly suggests the idea of a road passing between rows of houses. Some streets, such as Middle Row, Holborn, are pur- posely rendered impervious to horses : in this case we might observe ; " There is no road through that street." We say, the track of purity, as if its vestiges were narrow and evanescent ; the path of virtue, as if it were trudged in only by humbler natures ; the road to power, as if those were lordly mounted who at- tempt it ; and the streets of libertinism, as if where men are crowded vice is welcome. To HINT. To SUGGEST. To INTIMATE. To INSINUATE. Skinner is for deriving hint from the french enter, to engraft, to dovetail : it seems rather to have sprung from the same root as hinder, and behind, and to signify a sensation from behind ; a word indis- tinctly heard in the rear, knowledge given the back way, obliquely murmered information. In german, einem etwas hinterhrivgen is to hint a thing to a person ; verbally, to bring a thing to a man behind. To suggest {sub and yerere) is also to carry under- hand information, but not to carry it behind or un- perceived. A suggestion is given visibly and entire, to the persons receiving it, although the communica- tion is concealed from others. which is a dutch word etymo!ogically connected with ready, with the german reede, and the hoUandish ree. Nor is it, as Ji>hu.son also inconsistently suggests, the trench route, a wheel- way, whence we have both rnt the track of a wheel, and route the prescribed march of a baggage waggon. 183 The hiuter shuns respousibility, the siiggester claims sratitudc. "NVillmg to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate disUke. Pope. "We must suggest to the people in what hatred Ue still hath held them. Shakspeare. To intimate is to give separate secret intelligence. Councils of the church were convoked by private notice, or intimation, in order that they might appear to assemble through an influence of the Holy Ghost : this was called intimer un concile. To suc^est aiiart IS to intmiate. To insinuate is to introduce gently into the bosom (^siiius) or la]i, to wind about the aftectious. To ren- der a hint, or suggestion, or intimation, agreeable bv the arts of flattery, or the coaxings of apparent fondness, is to insinuate it. He may have intimated his intentions to the fa- ther, but if he has not insinuated himself into the daughter's favour, his chance is still precarious ; two letters spell papa, but two letters do not spell iced. Suggerer emporte quelquefois dans sa valeur quel- q»ie chose de frauduleux : iusinuer dit quelque chose de plus delicat ; pour iusinuer, il fant menager le temps, I'occasion, Tair, et la maniere de dire les choses. Girard. Glib. Slippery. Skinner derives plih from the greek Xuoq which is improbable. Through books we import our greek words ; but glib is in vulgar use, and includes the ideas of smooth and sliding, which \uoq does not suggest. The Hollanders have glibberig, which, like the saxon plith, is derived from an infinitive coUatend with to glide ; a word borrowed from the motion in the air of the hawk, or glidde. Adeluns, but not Junius, gives a false pedigree of this familv 184 of words. Slippery derives from the dutch sUhheren, the frequentative of to slip. That ice is ghb where one ghdes, that is sUppery where one sUps, frequently. A gUb shde. A shppery puddle. The streets are rendered slip- pery by frost, where they are too rough to be glib. To glide is a welcome, and to slip an unwelcome, movement. A glib man describes one who bargains without higgling, who agrees quickly and smoothly. A slippery man describes one who hitches from his contract, who, when you have rested on him, disap- points. A flatterer is said to have a glib tongue ; a woman of gallantry, to be a slippery dame. Regular. Methodical. He is regular who does things according to order ; he is methodical who does things according to sys- tem. It is worth while to carry order into little things ; hence it is a merit to be regular. It is worth while to carry system only into things of importance ; hence it is ridiculous to be methodical in trifles. A man may regulate his expenses, with- out being so methodical as to keep his kitchen-bills by double entry. Antipathy. Repugnance. Aversion. Antipathy {am against, and Tradog feeling,) is an interior sentiment of discordance ; repugnance (re against, and pnffna?is fighting,) a transient oj)position ; and aversion (a from, and versio turning,) an acknow- ledged dislike. While dejected under the loss of those we loved, we feel antipathy to mirth, and may fitly exhibit repugnance to it, without harbouring a settled aver- sion. Antipathy, though it leads to hostile feelings, does not imply them ; between the lewd and the 185 austere there is often antipathy without aversion. Tliat which causes us to lose most of our time is the repugnance we have for labour. Dry den. Fate. Destiny. These are pagan terms for the ideas which our theologians translate by the words necessity and providence. That which is spoken {fatum) by the voice of nature, is fate ; that which it chained to- gether {destination) by the hand of Jove, is destiny. Inasmuch as a man's condition has resulted from laws of the material world, it is his fate ; inasmuch as it has resulted from the ordainment of more pow- erful beings, it is his destiny. Fate is blind ; des- tiny has foresight. The atheist talks of fate ; the theist of destiny. Circa deos et religiones negligentior, quippe ad- dictus mathematicse, persuasionisque plenus, cuncta fato agi. Suetonius. Prelia non tantum destinato, sed ex occasione sumebat. Suetonius, In the following distich of Dryden, the word fate is employed where destiny would have been better placed. When empire in its childhood first appears, A watchful fate o'ersees its rising years. Excellence. Excellency. Both these words are variations of the same terra, excellency being the older form, excellence, from the progressive abbreviation of utterance, the more cur- rent. As highness not only signifies the state of being high, but is also applied as a personal title ; so excellency not only signifies the state of overtop- ping {excellere to outgrow) but is also applied as the title of aml)assadors and governors. From the ha- bitual formalitv of official address the older form of 186 the word is most usual as a title, and the newer form of the word in the general sense of surpassinguess. Hence perhaps an idea of intrinsical worth adheres to excellence, and an idea of titular eminence to ex- cellency. The excellency of the poet laureat. The excellence of the poet Southey. Low-spiritedness. Dejection. Melancholy. Low-spiritedness is a common name, both for the dejection caused by misfortune and for the melan- choly which is the effect of constitution. of an afflicted man we say that he is low-spirit- ed ; and of a hypochondriacal man we also say that he is low-spirited. Dejection is appropriated to the occasional sorrow over disappointment. Melancholy is appropriated to the habitual gloom of the ideal scenery within. The reverse of dejection is joy ; the reverse of melancholy is cheerfulness ; and the reverse of low- spiritedness is gaiety. To END. To finish. To complete. To end is to discontinue, to finish is to work at for the last time, and to complete is to end finishing. The end of a chapter ; the finis, or finish, of a volume ; the completion of an entire work. What is ended may not be finished ; what is finished may not be complete ; but whatever is finished or com- plete is ended. The author of the Prolepsis Philolo- (fice Anglicance seems to nave ended his dictionary at the letter A. Dictionaries may be completed by in- terpolations ; they are finished at the last letter of the alphabet. According to the milleuarians, at the end of the world, this earth is to be finished up into one vast terrestrial paradise ; where the wise and good ot every nation and age are to assemble in last- ing communion, aud, by dwelling together a thousand 187 years, are to refine and purify each other for that su- perior station of fehcity, the completion of which is reserved for the eternal heavens. Defect. Fault. Defect, being the supine of dejicere, means undone ; and fault, oi fuillir, means failed. What is wanting is defective ; what is mismade is faulty: a defect is a blemish of omission, and a fault is a blemish of commission ; a defect is a negative, a fault is a positive, imperfection. The tooth that projects makes a fault, the tooth that drops out makes a defect, in the set. Defect, as it implies no blame, is a frequent euphemism for fault. Fault includes in its idea a relation to the maker ; defect expresses something imperfect in the thing without any relation to the maker. Trusler. Defects result from human imperfection, being absences of expected qualities ; faults result from human weakness, being transgressions of the rules of duty. Trusler. To RECALL. To REPEAL. To REVOKE. To CALL BACK. To recall is english, to repeal is french (rapeller), and to revoke is latin (revocare), for the same idea fo call back. Our conversation is english : we recall our directions to servants, and other family arrange- ments. Our laws are french : we repeal acts of parliament, and exiles of the state. Our oratory is latin : we revoke a panegyric, a denunciation, a pro- mise, or a threat. To repeal is legally, and to re- voke is solemnly, to recall. We recall things ; we call back persons. To LISTEN. To HEAR. To HEARKEN. To OVERHEAR. To hsten (german list, artificial stillness, cunning) 188 is to assume the attitude most favourable for hear- ing. To hear is to succeed in catching sound. To hearken (^orman horchen) is the intensive form of to hear, and signifies to strain at hearing, to swallow eagerly with the ear, to hear with welcome. To overhear is to catch what was not intended for the hearer. One may listen without hearing ; hear without hearkening ; and hearken without overhearing. We listen for expected music : we hear and criticize : we hearken to it, if delightful : we overhear it, when it comes on us unintentionally. We may listen while we hear, while we hearken, while we overhear. We may hear without listening ; but we cannot hearken without hstening. To listen is the effort to attain, to hearken is the effort to absorb, sound. We may overhear without listening, and perhaps without hearkening. Listen, and I will tell you a secret. Hear, and judge. Hearken, and I will sing you a song. Never overhear scandal. Listen for information. Hear all sides. Hearken to advice. What you overhear, consider as unheard. Footstep. Vestige. Trace. A footstep is the place where a foot has been set ; a vestige (yestiyium has probably the same root as stigma, and is contracted from pedis-stigium,) is the mark left by a foot ; and the Italian treccia, whence trace, is a line or series of prints of the feet. A footstep therefore may have the foot in it ; but a vestige is something left behind ; and a trace has been so long left behind that the cause of the impres- sion may be undiscoverable. In democratic govern- ments popularity is the footstep of ambition. Last- ing celebrity is a vestige of greatness. The traces of the four rivers of paradise are still distinct in D' Anville's map of the country about Eden. Crowd- 189 ed temples are the footsteps, ruined temples are the vestiges, of superstition. The Oxford almanack has rubbed out all traces of astrologiccreduhty ; but the Cambridge almanack still teaches over what parts of the human body the planets daily preside. Keenness. Sharpness. Acuteness. Keen (german hiihv) is etymologically connected with the icelandish Mnn the jaw, the grinders, in saxon cin-teth, and with the enghsh chin : it origi- nally signifies strong of jaw, able to bite, hungry, voracious. The keen shark. A keen stomach. Metaphorically it is applied to those who know how to get their bread in the world ; who possess a some- what eager appetite for the means of maintenance ; and exert a dangerous skill in providing for them- selves. Junius and Johnson and Adelung have mis- taken the meaning of this word. As a poetical epithet it answers to biting : The keen blade, the biting blade ; the keen blast, the biting blast. Sharp is etymologically connected with share, the cutter of a plough, and shears, large scissors, and signifies having a cutting edge : in saxon mylen- scearji means sharpened with a grindstone. A sharp sword, but an acute dart. Acute, from acus a needle, signifies having a subtile thornlike extre- mity, pointed. He is sharp who is cutting, he is acute who is piercing, in his observations ; he is keen who has an interested purpose in making them. Acuteness announces penetration ; sharpness, an ungentle tem- per ; and keenness, a selfish rapacity. Keenness is a quality of which we notice the possession with more complacence than the exertion : hke a strong set of teeth, we know it will tell in the long run ; but it may snap at a plateful of our own. 190 Soon. Quickly. Speedily. Soo7i is an adverb of time, quickly of motion. That is to be done soon, which is to be done after a sliort time ; that is to be done quickly, which is to be done in a rapid manner. Sjjeedily is an adverb both of time and motion, uniting the ideas soon and quick. That is to be done speedily which is to be done after a short time, and in a rapid manner. The reverse of soon is late ; the reverse of quickly is slowly ; and the reverse of speedily is leisurely. Advice. Counsel. Advice is the information of individual attention, and counsel the result of concerted deliberation : advice is a solitary, and counsel a social, present. One physician advises ; two physicians consult. A bar- rister is supposed to confer with the client's attor- ney, and hence his advice is called counsel. Advice, being given tete-a-tete, is not always so guarded as counsel. The translators of the Bible use the word coun- sellor impurely, instead of adviser. His mother was his counseller to do wickedly. 2 Chron. xxii. 3. Lovely. Amiable. Lovely is saxon and amiable is latin for the same idea ; but as our latin words are of later importa- tion, they mostly belong to the written or oratoric style, and are applied only in metaphor. Physical good we can call lovely ; moral qualities we call amiable. A lovely figure. An amiable disposition. The loveliest of her sex. The most amiable of bro- thers. Around their lovely breast and head Fresh flowers a mingled odour shed. Prior, D 191 And toUl hc-i" while she kept it 'Tu'ould make her amiable, subdue my father Entirely to her love. Shakspeai-e. At the ordinary, you may hear a hungry farmer term a roasted fillet of veal, lovely ; you will not hear him term it amiable. Fat beauty also is em- phatically called lovely by those who have acquired a turkish taste in female form. Something of vul- garity attaches to the epithet occasionally. Friendly. Amical. Amicable. Friendly is saxon and amical is latin for the same idea : native sincerity employs the word friendly, oratoric parade employs the word amical. He has done me many friendly services. Nations, grown amical as the flocks and herds, shall depute their monarchs to meet at a festival of the world for com- memorating the jubilee of a fifty years peace. Amicable, though not uncommon, appears to have been originally either an impure word for ami- cal, or a misprint for amiable. Flexible. Pliable. Ductile, Malleable. What is easily bent is flexible ; what is easily folded is pliable ; what is easily drawn out is duc- tile ; what is easily beaten out is malleable. Flec- tere is to bend, plicare to fold, ducere to draw, and mallcare to hammer. Not so much in their proper as in their metaphoric use are these words liable to be confounded. A flexible disposition is one which bends this way and that way at every slight impulse of sur- rounding nature. A pliable disposition is one in which new folds or impressions are easily made permanently. A ductile disposition is one which is willingly drawn along after the natural guide of its conduct. A malleable disposition has never yet been characterized in our language by that appella- tion. A numerous class of men exists, however. iy2 whose opinions and conduct altogether depend on the muhipUcity of shght strokes with the hammer of assertion, which the tongues of men, or the types of newspapers, can contrive to apply. As far as pub- lic sentiment is the creature of mechanical agency the british is a malleable people. The metaphor is common in homely english : " Your master will hammer it into you at last." Pythagoras has detected the efficacy of repetition, and had observed how malleable is a disciple, when lie wrote over the door of his school-room : " Wor- ship Echo." Religion makes great use of the mal- leability of human nature. Childhood is flexible ; adolescence, ductile ; youth, pliable ; and maturity, malleable. Embarrassed. Ti:\iid. Embarrassed and timid differ as doubt and fear. Those are embarrassed who are at a loss how to act : those are timid who fear to act amiss. Embarrass- ment is a transient, timidity an habitual, state of mind. To be embarrassed results from circum- stances, to be timid results from character. One may be embarrassed without being timid ; or timid without being embarrassed ; or owe embarrassment to timidity. Embarrassment is the reverse of assur- ance, and timidity of forwardness. Ay. Yes. Both these words derive from the french impera- tive ayez, have it so ! Ay being the first syllable suspends the sense after uttering as it were the have, and yes being the concluding syllable completes the assent and subjoins the so. Ay therefore should be a weaker and less entire assentation than yes : in- deed it is often merely suspensive, and not at all atfirmative. " lie is gone off." "Ay' — In debt ^'* " Yes." 193 We say in familiar talk, that Diana counselled her sister Flora against such a match ; " Did she not. Sir?" " Yes, I believe she did." " Counselled her!" exclaims a stander-by — ^"ay, and controlled her too, or she had been his wife now." Mrs. Piozzi. Blaze. Flame. Blaze is ignited vapour, and flame is ignited vapour ; but blaze is that which dazzles, and flame is that which bvirns, in the tongue of fire. Blaze is saxon for a torch. E flamma cibum petere. The street was in a blaze the night of the illumi- nation ; the street was in a flame the night of the fire. The mistress he sported at the opera was his blaze ; the lady he wooed and forsook was his flame. Blue. Azure. Sapphire. Blue describes the various shades of a prismatic colour. Azure is the name of a stone brilliantly blue, but not transparent. Sapphire is the name of a stone less brilHantly blue, but more transparent. Hence the poets, having any thing blue and glitter- ing to describe, call it azure — azure eyes, aztire blade : and having any thing blue and pellucid to describe, call it sapphire — sapphire skies, sapphire lakes. To GROW. To INCREASE. To grow is defined by Dr. Johnson, to have vege- table motion, to increase by vegetation : and to this sense of the word is also referable its application to animal accretion, as when bone, or hair, or the entire child, is said to grow. The idea of evolution from within, of augmentation from inherent powers, is still discoverable in the phrases " to grow wet," " to grow dry." Gioove (grube matrix) includes the q2 original idea of to grow ; and hence the intenuility of action, which accompanies the signification of the word. To grow (saxon (/rowan) is to be aug- mented from within. Augmentation from without is termed increase : in and cresco to get upon {ex testamento crevi hce- reditatem, I have got a legacy,) are the component parts of the word. The stream grows, whose source affords addi- tional water ; the stream increases, of which showers supply the abundance. A growing trade, but not a growing treasure ; because in the first case the aug- mentation is from within, in the second case from without. The capital of a banking-house grows, while it is successfully employed ; it increases, by the accession of a moneyed partner. A debt increases by fresh loans, it grows by leaving the interest un- discharged. As the custom of a shop increases, the returns grow. A child grows in stature, increases in acquirement. The imagination increases, inas- much as memory adds resources ; it grows, inas- much as exercise bestows facility. The growth of theoretical, the increase of experimental, know- ledge. The growth of a city which expands from native resources ; the increase of a city which re- ceives a foreign colony. To grow is to be added to from within ; to increase is to be added to from without. Littleness. Meanness. Littleness and meanness both produce paltry ac- tions ; but littleness is narrow from ignorance or timidity, and meanness from a sordid unprincipled selfishness. Littleness dissembles for want of spirit, meanness for want of honesty. Littleness is the lovorse of magnanimity, and meanness of genero- iiitv. 195 General. Universal. What is general includes the greater number, the kind {genus) ; what is universal {wiiversus) includes every individual. The faculty of speech is general, not universal, among men. The foresight of govern- ment includes the general welfare ; the providence of God contemplates the universal good. General is opposed to particular ; and universal to indivi- dual. Talent. Genius. Intellect. Talent describes power of acquisition, excellence of memory ; genius describes power of representa- tion, excellence of fancy ; intellect describes power of inference, excellence of reason. Talent is the basis of reputation in learning ; genius the basis of reputation in poetry and decorative oratory ; intellect the basis of reputation in argumentative debate, or literature, and in science. An historian of talent, a poet of genius, a philosopher of intellect. The ta- lent of Warburton, the genius of Pope, the intellect of Hume. A talent for imitation, a genius for in- vention, an intellect for discovery. Burke had more genius than Fox ; Fox more intellect than Burke : Sir William Jones had more talent than either ; but fell short of Burke in genius, as of Fox in intel- lect. The parts of human learning have reference to the three parts of man's understanding, which is the seat of learning ; history to his memory, poesy to his imagination, and philosophy to his reason. Bacon. Gentile. Pagan. Gentiles are those who do not believe in revealed religion ; pagans are those who worship false gods. 196 The pagans are all gentiles, but the gentiles are not all pagans. He who does not adhere to Jesus Christ, but who worships no false gods, is a gen- tile merely ; he, who is positively attached to a reli- gion inconsistent with the christian, is a pagan. The idolatrous nations are pagan ; the mahometan nations are only gentile. Gentile signifies foreigner, and pagan signifies villager. When the jews determined to preach Christianity beyond the limits of their hereditary church ; they first addressed the gentiles, or foreign- ers, many of whom, especially in the east, held, in common with the church of Jerusalem, a mani- chean faith. Thev found it easier to convert this class of opinionists, than the pagans, or villagers of the polytheistic and idolatrous countries ; and have accordingly associated with the latter term ideas of a more obstinate hostility. To KEEP. To RETAIN.* We keep what we do not choose to give ; we re- tain what we do not choose to restore. We keep our property ; we retain a pledge. The miser keeps his hoard. The debtor retains the loan of his cre- ditor. To retain {retenir) is a french word for to keo{) back ; and there is more of gallicism, than of cuglish idiom, in employing it. Version. Translation. Bcauzee says, that a book, rendered word for word into another language, undergoes a version ; and that a book, freely rendered into another language, under- * To retain, in the sense to remember, to have by heart, however commnn in conversation, has escaped the record of Dr. JobnaoD. Do you retain rojje's Univeisal I'lajer? 197 goes a translation. A version is made to facilitate learning a particular language, or to facilitate un- derstanding a particular author ; but a translation is made as an agreeable substitute for the original book. A version is an interpretation, a translation is an imitation, of a given production. The greek classics are usually accompanied with a latin ver- sion anxiously verbal ; but so close and servile a copy cannot be hazarded in vernacular translations. The Odyssey of Voss approaches nearer to a ver- sion than any other beautiful translation of Homer. It is the fault of ordinary translators to neglect version excessively. The foregoing account appears to me just ; but Dr. Trusler says, that version describes the turning into a dead, and translation the turning into a living, language. Vibration. Oscillation. Vibration describes a movement to and fro, whose cause resides in elasticity ; and oscillation describes a movement to and fro, whose cause resides in gravitation. The vibration of a fiddlestring. The oscillation of a pendulum. To TOLERATE. To PERMIT. We tolerate a thing, when, having sufficient pow- er, we do not hinder it. We permit it, when we authorize it by express consent. Toleration is an informal, and permission a formal, allowance granted to actions, which the magistrate declines to sanction. It is not enough to tolerate, it is a duty to permit, every one's worshipping his own way. Toujours il est certain, qu'avec I'intolerance vous ouvrez une source intarissable de maux. Des-lors chaque parti s'arrogera les memes droits, chaque secte em])loieraila violence et la contrainte, les plus 108 foibles opprim^s dans im lieu deviendront oppressenrs daus I'autre ; les vainqueurs auront toujours droit, les vaincus seront les seuls heretiques, et ne pour- ront se plaindre que de leur foiblesse. II ne faudra qu'une puissante armee pour etablir ses sentimens, et confondre ses adversaires. Le destin de la verite suivra celui des combats, et les plus feroces mortels seront aussi les meilleurs croyans. On ne verra done de toutes parts que des bftchers, des echaf- fauds, des proscriptions, des supplices. Calvinistes, roraains, lutheriens, juifs, et grecs, tous se devore- ront comme des bfetes feroces. Les lieux on regne, I'evangile seront marques par le carnage et la deso- lation. La croix de Jesus Christ deviendra I'etend- ard du crime, et ses disciples s'enivreront du sang de leur freres. Jtomilly. Should. Ought. Originally the maeso-gothic skalan and the low- dutch scholen signified to owe ; so that both should and ought are past tenses of synonymous infinitives : but to shall being obsolete, its other te-ises have a somewhat vague and indistinct meaning, arising from the oblivion of the original idea. The first of these verbs, says Dr. Trusler, im- plies an obligation of custom, and the second an obligation ofduty. AVe should follow the fashion. We ought to serve those who have served us. Shall. Will. To shall is to owe, and to will is to purpose. Men have a stronger disposition to insist on jus- tice from others than to perform it themselves : hence, I shall is but a faint promise ; Avhile thou shall, and he shall, are positive ones. Men can answer for their own interior purposes, but not tor those of their neighbours : hence, I ivill 199 is a positive promise ; while thou wilt, and he will, are but faint ones. To "shall you go ?" the answer is, " I will." To "will you go ?" the answer is, " I shall." There is no use is putting two els to shall ; ety- mology does not require it ; the analogy of pronun- ciation resists it. Shal we drop the one ? Besides. Moreover. An additional reason is introduced with besides; a superfluous reason with moreover. Holy Scripture teaches us the unity of the God- head, and reason points it out to us ; besides, all nature makes us perceive it. Trusler. There will always be war among men, because they are naturally ambitious ; moreover, zeal for religion makes them captious. Trusler. To these synonyms Dr. Trusler adds furthermore ; but it is an impure word, the comparative more being already included in further. Often. Freq,uently. " Often" says Dr. Trusler, " relates to the itera- tion of the same act ; frequerdly, to a plurality of objects." The barber shaves himself often, and customers frequently. The house-eaves drop often, when many drops fall in a given time ; the house- eaves drop frequently, where many water-channels occur in a given space. He is often at church, who revisits the same church ; he is frequently at church, who attends at many churches. To dine out often at a given house ; to dine out frequently at various houses. Often describes a successive, frequently a scattered, repetition. Price. Cost. Worth. Value. The price is what is asked for a thing, the cost 200 • is what is given, the worth is what it will fetch, and the value is what it oumht to fetch. The price of my horse is eighty guineas ; the cost was only forty : his worth results from his matcii- ing a curricle-horse of my neighbour's : the intrinsic value is about fifty. The price of a thing usually exceeds the worth ; and the cost of a thing usually exceeds the value. To INTRODUCE. To PRESENT, To introduce is to lead up to, and to present is bring into the presence of; the one denotes equality, and the other inequality, of rank. A man of letters is presented to a sovereign, and introduced to ano- ther man of letters. Always. Constantly. Continually. Incessantly. Perpetually. That which we do along the whole road of life {alla-wcBga all the way, Ital. tutta via,) we do al- ways. That which we invariably persist in, which we stand to doing, we do constantly (con and stare). That which we do without leaving hold, or laying aside, or interrupting the practice, we do continually (con and tenere). That which we do without ces- sation, or pause, we do incessantly (in and cessans). That which we do with regular leaning, with unde- creasing tendency, with uniform inclination, we do perpetually (per, and petitus sinking). To please in company we should always talk well, but not continually. Truster. Now through the land his care of souls he stretch'd. And like a ])rimitive apostle pieach'd, Still cheerful, ever constant to his call. Dryden. It is better to be incessantly on the watch, than perpetually in danger of surprise. 201 Pied. Dappled. Mottled. These words describe distinct sorts of mixt co- louring. Animals, whose coating is variegated by large masses of white and black, are called pied, from the french pie, a magpie, which is so coloured. Animals, whose coating is smeared as it were by nature with frequent streaks and stains, are called dappled, from the hoUandish dabbelen, which, being a frequentative of to daub, means to smear repeat- edly. Animals, whose coating is painted of many hues, are called mottled, and motley, from the inoth, or butterfly, which is so coloured. All the yeanlings which were streak' d and pied Should fall as Jacob's hire. Shakspears. The gentle day Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray. Shakspeore, They come to see a fellow In a long motley coat guarded with yellow. Shakspeare. Dr. Johnson m.isdefines dapple in consequence of mistaking the derivation. Fleckered. Speckled. Freckled. Having many spots is the idea common to these words ; but fleckered describes larger spots than speckled, and speckled describes larger spots than freckled. The word Jleck, a spot, is common to most of the gothic dialects — to the Swedish, the german, and the icelandish. Hence the verb to fleck, to spot, used, by Dryden. Fleck' d in her face and with disordered hair. From to fleck is formed the frequentative to flecker, by the same rule of analogy as from to chat, chatter ; R 202 to beat, batter; to spit, sputter ; to flit, flutter ; to fly (saxonfliffan), flicker ; to mould, moulder; to ff learn, glimmer ; to tvave, waver. To flecker, therefore, means to spot frequently ; and fleckered is many-spotted. This word is still in vulgar use, though rare in books : the sign of the fleckered bull represents a white animal with large black spots. Yon flecker- ed dog is a Pomeranian. A german poet says : Die bunt-gefleckte haut der Schlange ; the snake with gaily-fleckered skin. Speckled is the participle of a frequentative verb to speckle, derived from speck, a small spot, and con- sequently signifies having many small spots. Spec- kled porphyry. Freckled is, again, the participle of a frequentative verb to freckle, derived from the cimbric frech, a pimple, a skin-spot : it consequently signifies hav- ing many frecks, or skin-spots. The freckled cow- slip. Shakspeare. Marriage. Wedding. Nuptials. Marriage (from maritare to join) brings foremost the idea of vmion ; wedding (from wed a pledge) brings foremost the idea of contract ; and nuptials (from nubere to cover) brings foremost the idea of intercourse. A treatv of marriage is agreed. The wedding is to take place at St. George's in Hanover Square. After the matrimonial service they will get into a chaise, and go to celebrate the nuptials at the villa of the uncle. The friendship which results from long marriage. The reciprocal constancy promised at wedding. The august nuptials have not given a male heir to the crown. Ripeness. Maturity. Ripeness is saxon and maturity is latin for the same idea ; both describe fulness of growth in fruit. But, with the usual fortune of such duj)licates in our 203 language, the native word is commonly applied in the proper, and the foreign word in the metaphoric, sense. The ripeness of an orange. The maturity of a project. A ripe apricot. A mature judgment. These applications could change places ; but there would be something of pedantry in saying " a mature apricot," the derivation would be to recollect : and there would be something of eloquence in saying " a ripe judgment," the metaphor would be thrust into observation. Enmity. Rancour. Hostile feelings are described by both words ; but enmity may be generous and open, rancour is ma- lignant and private. After violent quarrels sincere reconciliations are rare : the forms of enmity may be laid aside, but something of rancour is apt to remain behind. Penates. Lares. Idolatry, says INIeiners in the history of all reli- gions, has everywhere begun in fetiche-worship, in a mysterious veneration for the houshold kettles, pots, and pans, such as still prevails among the African negroes. Perhaps the first dishes and cooking vessels were of earthenware — brittle, and difficult to procure: and the ceremonies used by savages in approaching them may have been a pantomime, copied from those precautions of the civilized which were neces- sary to secure cleanliness, and to prevent breakage. Among the Romans, a relic of their primoeval fetiche-worship was a reverence shown to the penates and lares. The penates were the utensils kept in the pantry ; and the lares were the utensils kept in the chimney-corner : the latter term was progressively extended to the furniture in general. The manes of ancestors, who had provided these 204 ut:^nsils, watched over them, it was supposed, with solicitude, kept the milk from turning sour, the paucakes from burning, or the robber from intrud- ing. Meat, killed and cooked at home, was said to be sacrificed to the lares. The mantel-piece of the chimney was called the lararium, and, along with the festival dishes, waxen or wooden miniature images of forefathers were placed, as we hang up family portraits. He who inherited little, was said to be paterni laris inops, or to be born parvo sub lore — with a small sideboard. But the Phillis of Horace ■penates mceret iniquos. As the penates naturally came most under the superintendence of the women, they were worship- ped in the innermost parts of the house, and were commended to the protection of Juno, Ceres, Mi- nerva. As the lares naturally came most under the care of the men, they were worshipped anywhere — iu the camp, at sea, or along pubhc roads ; and were commended to the protection of Jupiter, Mars,^ and the manes of ancestors. The perpetual fire of the house— which, until the art of striking a hght was invented, naturally was held of great import- ance — seems to have been reckoned among the pe- nates, not among the lares. This, no doubt, was a care of the women ; and, whether it consisted of a lighted lamp or of charcoal embers buried in ashes — was commended to their vigilance by many su- perstitious denunciations. Certain persons were admitted to the worship of the lares in a family, who were not admitted to that of the penates ; as among ourselves, a man is said to dine in a family who is the acquaintance of the husband, and to drink tea in a family who is the acquaintance of the wife. Joy. Gaiety. Joy is in the heart ; gaiety, in the manners. Joy > 205 is opposed to grief, gftiety to sadness. Grief and joy are situations ; gaiety and sadness are charac- ters ; but as the most settled dispositions are liable to be interrupted by incident, it may happen to the sad man to feel joy, and to the gay man to feel grief. Insurgent. Rebel. The insurgent is one who rises against an esta- blished authority, the rebel is one who makes ivar against his sovereign. Armament against the state, or some component parts of it, constitutes insur- rection ; belligerance against it constitutes rebellion. Insurrections are meritorious, when they oppose a great threatened oppression, or tend to produce a stable freedom. Rebellions may begin from good intentions ; but the necessary use of military coer- cion too often converts a rebel party into a tyrannic authority. A french writer calculates that a hun- dred insurgents produce about ten rebels : so much more prone are the people to bully than to butt at their rulers. By not redressing the grievances of insurgents, they are often driven to become rebels. Apology. Justification. The apology is but the defence of the accused ; his justification consists in the proof of his inno- cence. Justification is the object of apology ; and apology the effort at justification. How many great men have needed apology ! how many innocent men have been unable to accomplish their justification ! An apology supposes an attack ; but an aggressor may advance a justification. Incredible. Paradoxical. Incredible is latin for not to be believed ; and para- doxical is greek for beside belief: we presume the R 2 206 falsehood of what we call incredible ; we only doubt the probability of what we call paradoxical. Incre- dible is applied to fact ; paradoxical, to opinion. An incredible incident. A paradoxical hypothesis. Negligence. Indolence. Laziness. The negligent (nee and legere) omit to choose ; the indolent {in and doles, breed,) indulge their ge- nius ; the lazy forget their original intention, re- lapse into ease, and lose {losig) their opportunity. Men are negligent from inattention, indolent from insensibility, lazy from inalacrity. To the negligent it is difficult to apply stimulants ; on the indolent they do not act ; on the lazy they act only for a mo- ment. Negligence is a defect of art, indolence of nature ; laziness involves more of bodily, indolence more of mental, remissness ; negligence has a heed- less, laziness a tardy, gait The young should be- ware of negligence, the middle-aged of indolence, and the old of laziness. A neo;h2;ent lover. An indolent author. A lazy magistrate. Intrusion. Inroad. Incursion. Irruption. Invasion. Unallowed entrance is an idea common to these words. One may commit intrusion unaccompanied, and push oneself into {in and trudere) a garden or alcove, of whose privacy the proprietor is jealous. I make an inroad on my neighbour's territory, if I head the trespass of a shooting party : I make an incursion if I head the trespass of a hunting party. In the first case, attention is drawn to. my attempt- ing a road in another's land ; in the second case, to the celerity of my intrusion (m and ciirro) to my running in. I make an irruption if I break through his pales and fences {in and riunpere), and I make an invasion {in and vadere) if I go into it with the purpose of establishing myself there. 207 Employed on the large scale to the conduct of nations, these words retain their relative meaning. The legitimate king of Sweden has reason to lament Bernadotte's intrusion into the royal palace of Stock- holm. From Scotland we have had in former times some alarms, and inroads into the northern parts of this kingdom. Bacon. \J incursion est Faction de faire une course sur un objet etranger pour en rap- porter quelque avantage. JJ irruption est Taction de forcer les barriferes, et de fondre avec impetuosite sur un nouveau champ, pour y porter et y repandre le ravage. \Jincursion est brusque et passagere ; V irruption est violeute et soutenue. JJincia'sion est faite comme dans un esprit de retour. Uirruption dans un esprit de destruction et de conqu^te. R'juhaud. Let other monarchs with invasive bands Lessen their people, and extend their lands ; By gasping nations hated and obeyed. Lords of the desarts which their swords have made. Arbiithnot. Impertinence. Impudence. Insolence. The impertinent man meddles with what does not belong to him {in and pertinens) ; the impu- dent man {in and piidens, unblushing,) behaves with- out decency ; the insolent man {in and solens) for- gets the usual regard to rank and station. Imper- tinence is no respecter of propriety ; impudence is no respecter of delicacy ; insolence is no respec- ter of persons. Impertinence is the reverse of re- serve, impudence of modesty, and insolence of meek- ness. To CPcY. To WEEP. To cry, is to lament ; to weep, is to deplore : (see 208 page 6 ] :) the one is audible, the other is silent, sor- lOW. Children commonly cry ; grown persons generally weep. " 'Tis not the noise we make which denotes a greater or lesser measure of grief; for the silent weeper may be more distressed than she who cries aloud." Trusler. Subsidy. Tribute. Both these words describe an agreed periodical payment made by one nation to another : the subsi- dy is paid to an ally for assistance ; the tribute is paid to an enemy for forbearance. Impost. Assessment. Rate. Tax. Duty. Contribution. Toll. Charges levied by the state have these various denominations : they are all contributions, inasmuch as they are jointly given {con and tribuere) ; they are all imposts, inasmuch as they are put on {in and ponere) by public authority. They are all taxes, inasmuch as they are commutations for per- sonal service withheld. Tax meant originally a stripe with a whip, an infliction of the public scourge, a penalty : in like manner, to rate signifies both to fine and to reprove; and the ideas census and censure are etymologically allied. An impost, which is distributed by the intervention of assessors, of local commissioners, is called an assessment. When the list of payers and payments is allowed {ratus) by the parish concerned, it is a rate. Duty, though applicable to any public obligation, is technically applied to the class of taxes on im- ported merchandise which are levied at the custom- houses in our seaports, as tolls due from the fo- reign merchant. Toll is a local tax, levied for the repair of havens and roads on those who use them. 209 The window-duty is an impost, as soon as it is granted by parliament ; it is an assessment, as soon as it is individually distributed by the parish- officers ; it is a rate, as soon as the list and scot of the payers is completed ; it is a contribution, as soon as the money is collected : though a heavy, it is an equitable tax ; but was reviled by a pamphleteer as a toll on day-light. Understanding. Intellect. Intelligence. Understanding is saxon and intellect is latin for nearly the same idea : perhaps understanding describes rather the power of inference, a quick- ness at perceiving that which stands under the object of contemplation ; perhaps intellect describes rather the power of judgment, a quickness at choosing be- tween {inter and legere) the objects of contempla- tion. Understanding being a native word is applied to cases of practical life ; intellect being a learned word is applied to cases of literary definition : in choosing his stud well, a man is said to show his understanding ; in choosing his studies well, he is said to show his intellect. In diiferent languages the same idea is expressed by different words, Wiroq, equus, cheval, pferd. Now, that common substratum, that ideal picture, that miniature image, that hieroglyph of a horse, which in the mind stands under each of these different words, constitutes the proper and peculiar object of the understanding, or intellect. The understanding is conversant with objects, not in the form in which sensation presents them, but in the form into which idea reduces them. While the sense is assailed with the distinct sound and sight of linroq, equus, cheval, pferd, the understanding is translating each of the terms, whether presented to the eye or the ear, into an internal symbol which represents them all alike. To understand many languages favours a precise use 210 of the intellect. Understanding is the interpreter of experience. Sensations differ in kind. The eye measures the intensity and velocity of light ; the ear measures the shape and swiftness of the vibrations of air ; the nose and palate measure the chemical mixtures in volatile and liquid applications ; but ideas translate into one homogeneous character the experience of the different senses. As we record in words the phenomena of sight, in words the phenomena of sound, in words the phenomena of taste ; so the understanding records in one sort of imagery, in a uniform charactery, the phenomena of all sensation. The organ of idealization, which is the home or seat of the understanding, is alike stimulable by each spe- cific class of sensations ; whereas the organ of sense is only irritable to its appropriate stimulus. Hence it happens that although sensations are nowise linked together, a vivid action on the eye producing none on the ear, and reversely ; yet ideas are always linked together, a vivid excitement of any idea bringing out the contiguous, or cotemporarily im- pressed, ideas, from whatever sense derived. Such association is the work of the understanding, or in- tellect ; and, if automatic at first, becomes with su- perior minds in a high degree voluntary. Intellect and intelligence are used by our older writers with as little discrimination as by their latin prototypes ; but of late, intelligence has been a popular word, a name for newspaper information : it is become more akin to knowledge and less akin to reason than intellect. It seems to me that intel- lectus ought to describe act or power, and inteUiyentia ought to describe use or hahit, of tlic understanding ; such being the tendency of the inflections in which the words terminate. In this case, intellect, or under- standing power, is a gift of nature ; and intelligence, or understanding habit, an accumulation of time. 211 So discriminated, intellect is inspired, intelligence is acquired. The Supreme Intellect when we are speaking of the wisdom, the Supreme Intelligence when we are speaking of the knowledge, of God. Eveiy man is endowed with understanding ; but it requires reading to become a man of intelligence. Trust er. Cudworth names his book the intellectual system of the universe ; considering his topic as an object, not of the senses, but of the intellect. Johnson. Indifference. Insensibility. Indifference describes a state in which the soul is not actually moved by any passion ; and insen- sibility descriiies a state in which the soul is not capable of being moved by any passion. Indiffer- ence is to the mind what tranquillity is to the body ; and lethargy is to the body what insensibility is to the mind. Indifference permits and favours the un- biassed operation of the reason ; but that absence of feeling, in which insensibility consists, leaves the selfish propensities to operate without control : hence, says Diderot, indifference make the sage ; in- sensibility the monster. Irresolute. Uncertain. Perplexed. I am irresolute about acting, uncertain about the consequences of acting, perplexed about the method of acting : I am irresolute what to determine, uncer- tain what to expect, perplexed what to do. The will is irresolute, the opinion uncertain, the beha- viour perplexed. It is the penalty of wisdom to be irresolute about the present, uncertain about the future, and to become perplexed by the very compass of its resources. Inadvertence. Inattention. Your eyes were not turned toward {in, ad, and ver^ 212 tere^) the object, which escapes you from iaailvert- t-nce ; you have not yet looked for it : but you miss seeing that, which escapes you from inattention {in, ad, and tendere,) by not giving heed to it ; you have looked, and you overlook. Inadvertence is an in- voluntary accident; but inattention is a reprehen- sible neglect. Lively people are inadvertent ; weak people are inattentive. The vigilantly polite are frequently captious ; and although aloud they may denominate inattention and inadvertence, yet within they are apt to feel an inadvertence, as inattention. Daricness. Obscurity. Gloom. Darkness is the reverse of light; obscurity of serenity ; and gloom of dawn. The sky is dark, whether the privation of light results from clouds or from the absence of the moon : it is obscure, only when it is overcast ; it is gloomy, only when the shade is progressive. The darkness of igno- rance, the obscurity of error, the gloom of supersti- tion. Deportment. Carriage. Etymologically, deportment reposes on a man's own legs, and his carriage on artificial support. Accordingly we talk of his deportment in private life, and of his carriage in official life. Many a one has an agreeable deportment, whose carriage is uneasy. Some men are formed for ceremony: their carriage has uniform dignity, while their deportment vibrates between stiffuess and famili- arity. Deportment is more native, carriage more acquired ; deportment paints the disposition, carriage the education. The coldness of his temper, and the gravity of his deportment, carried him safe through many difficul- ties. Swift. lie advised the new governor to have so much dis- 213 cretion in his carriage, that there might he no notice taken of the exercise of his rehgion. Clarendon. Clkverness. Ingenuity. A readiness at nicely accomplishing actions not hahitual is termed cleverness where bodily activity predominates, and ingenuity where mental activity predominates. Cleverness is ingenuity of the body, and ingenuity is cleverness of the mind. Hence, cleverness is applied to the execution, and ingenuity to the conception of things. A clever Harlequin, An ingenious punster. He contrives ingeniously ; he manages cleverly. More men are ingenious with- out being clever, than clever without being ingenious: for a skilful use of the body implies presence of mind ; but a skilful use of the mind does not imply command of body. Attractions. Allurements. Attractions draw {ad and trahere), allurements beckon {ad and leurrer\ toward the possessor ; at- tractions are natural, and allurements are contrived, invitations. The attractions of beauty. The allure- ments of coquetry. Those ordinary graces, which nature has bestowed on the sex, are called attractions ; those cultivated graces, which art practises with a view to entice, are called allurements. Pleasure attracts, while enjoyment is a want ; but pleasure must con- descend to allure, when satiety is desisting from pur- suit. Good-humour. Good-nature. By good-humour is meant that cheerful state of spirits, which at the time promotes the gaiety of others, and partakes the glee which it inspires. By good-nature is meant that plastic disposition, which s 214 naturally shares the joy of others, and therefore pro- motes the gratification of every one within reach of its ability. Good-humour is an occasional, good-nature is a permanent, quality. Good-humour is often suc- ceeded by a fit of peevishness, the reaction of over-sti- mulated hilarity. Good-nature often leans to a costly complaisance, of which it has afterwards to repent the imprudence. To LACK. To WANT. To NEED. These words rise above each other: the super- fluities, which I am without, I lack ; the conveniences, which I am without, I want ; the necessaries, which I am without, I need. We lack prospective support ; we want actual support; we need the means of paying a debt. Lack is the privation of excess ; want, of comfort ; and need, of sufficiency. Soon give ; long lack. He, that will waste, will want. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Poverty. Indigence. The reverse of riches is poverty, and the reverse of superfluity is indigence, which carries further than poverty the idea of deficiency. Poverty is permanent want ; and indigence is permanent need. Poverty hopes, indigence craves. Poverty should be borne with patience, and indigence with impatience. Prodigy. Wonder. Miracle. A prodigy is an unusual effbrt of nature. A wonder is what appears an unusual eff'ort to the apprehen- sion of man. A miracle is an occurrence so extra- ordinary as to pass for supernatural. The birth of a calf with two heads, the elevation of a volcanic island from the sea, are prodigies. The transmutation of cards, and the phantasmagoric 215 evocations, are wonders. The instantaneous cure of dumbness, or the multiphcation of dead fishes, are miracles. Philosophers show prodigies ; jugglers show wonders ; prophets show miracles. World. Universe. World conveys the idea of a single being ; though it in fact describes the earth and its inhabitants, or any of those analogous bodies which astronomers infer to be inhabited earths. Universe conveys the great collective idea of all substance whatever, the entire mass of worlds and suns, and all the other discoverable bodies which intervene between system and system. To the ancients, this world was the universe. To us, the universe consists of more worlds than we can reckon. That world, that collective mass of which we form a portion, that great whole which includes whatever is likely to influence our condition, becomes a natural emblem of whatever at the moment absorbs our entire attention and interest. The man of fashion talks of the fine world, the man of piety talks of the reli- gious world, the man of ambition talks of the great world, the man of letters talks of the reading world. French hyperbole outstrips such modest eloquence, and extravagantly ventures to talk of a poet, a beauty, or a hero, commanding the admiration of the universe. Human. Humane. Dr. Johnson, with specious ingenuity, is for deriv- ing human from limnain, and humane from humaine, which is the feminine gender of the same French adjective. He would consequently define, human "having the qualities of a man," and humane "having those qualities of the species which are especiivlly remarkable in the female sex." And certainly tlie 216 words are applied accordingly. A human creature means any being in the form of man : an humane creature means a kind-hearted, tender being, 'Tis human to be angry; 'tis humane to forgive. The word human is pronounced with the hard aspirate; the word humane with the soft aspirate, and therefore requires the article an. Humanity serves for a substantive for both adjec- tives ; but it would be more accurate to employ humaneness, where the feminine virtue is to be de- scribed. Good-fortune. Prosperity. Good-fortune is the effect of chance, and comes unexpectedly; prosperity is the result of conduct, and comes by degrees. Good-fortune is an unhoped, prosperity {pro and spero) a hoped, success. As fools have sometimes good-fortune ; so wise men do not always prosper. Trusler. Eternal. Immortal. That is eternal, which is to incur no end ; that is immortal, which is to incur no death : inaninwite beings may be eternal, living beings alone can be im- mortal. The eternal heavens ; the immortal angels. The eternity of matter; the immortality of God. Metaphorically speaking, that may be said to last for ever, which influences the future destiny of man ; and that may be said never to die, which preserves among men an undecaying celebrity. Hence there is point in the epigram which describes the poet, Dr. Watts, as having written for eternity rather than immortality. Happiness. Felicity. Bliss. Happiness, says Dr. Trusler, consists in the pos- 217 session of wealth, honour, friends, and Iiealth; but it is the satisfaction of the mind in the enjoyment of these things which constitutes fehcity : as to bhss, it is the portion of the godly, and depends in each religion on the persuasion of the soul. Our happiness glares in the eyes of the world, hut exposes us often to envy ; our felicity, if known only to ourselves, be- stows interior satisfaction ; bliss is but an idea here, our fitness for which is only known to the Supreme Being. Prey. Booty. That which carnivorous animals seize in chase is called prey ; that which soldiers seize in war is called booty. Prey is intended to be devoured, booty to be hoarded. Game is the prey of the hunter ; wax is the booty of the bee. The gamester is said to make a prey of his dupe, and a booty of his win- nings. End. Extremity. Both words describe the last of those parts which constitute a thing ; but the end announces the ter- mination of its length, and the extremity the greatest distance from its centre. The end is opposed to the beginning, and the extremity to the middle. The end of a journey. The extremity of the island. If a piece of cloth be stretched double on the tenter- hooks, both ends are at one extremity. When a man is falling into the condition the most remote from his average or central state of health or prosperity, he is said to be coming to an extremity, so long as there is any chance of return toward that central state : he is said to be coming to an end, only when the chance of return is gone by. 218 Thankfulness. Gratitude. Thankfulness is saxon for the same radical idea vvliich gratitude expresses in latin ; yet the distinct grammatical structure of the words favours some shades of difference in their significance. There is more of lip-service in thankfuhiess ; and more of heartfelt remembrance in gratitude. The one is ^ull of thanks, the other may silently indulge a feel- ing of obligation. Thankfulness publishes, gratitude retaliates, a service. Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thank- fulness. Instant. Moment. Both these names are given to the shortest ima- ginable division of time ; but instant describes time present, whereas moment may describe time past or future. Much depends on perceiAing the favourable mo- ment ; decision, taken an instant too soon or too lute, often makes the difference between success or disappointment. To awake. To WAKEN. Properly to awake is a verb neuter ; and to waken is a verb active ; both deriving from the same root as watch. I awake, when I cease to sleep ; I waken my neighbour, when I cause him to cease to sleep. Awake Argantyr, Hervor, the only daughter Of thee and Suafua, wakens thee. Hickes. So much confusion prevails in the habitual use of these words, that a distinction is almost hopeless. Letter. Epistle. Letter is said of those acts of correspondence which grow out of the practical business of life ; epibLle is a name given to a literary letter, to a let- 219 ter designed for publication. The letters of Cicero, of Pliny. The epistles of Ovid, of Paul. A fami- liar letter. A pedantic epistle. Art, Trade. Profession. Those exercise an art, who exchange manual labour for money ; those follow a trade, who ex- change commodities for money ; and those practise a ])rofession, who exchange intellectual exertion for niuncy. The art of the bricklayer, of the painter. The trade of the shopkeeper, of the merchant. The profession of the priest, of the barrister. Yon baker understands his art, inasmuch as he makes good bread ; he understands his trade, inas- much as he sells many loaves. Yon schoolmaster un- derstands his trade, inasmuch as he derives profit from boarding his scholars ; he understands his {)rofession, inasmuch as he instructs them skil- fully. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Transformation is latin and metamorphosis is greek for change of figure : but perhaps the root forma, form, rather draws attention to the external appearance, and perhaps the root /^cip0»j, shape, ra- ther draws attention to the internal structure. Transformation then is a change of visible appear- ance : The transformation of an actor. And meta- morphosis is a change of internal organization also : Narcissus was metamorphosed into a flower. The story of Vertumnus wooing Pomona in the disguise of an old woman rather relates a transformation than a metamorphosis. Worth. Merit. Worth describes the qualities, merit the services, of a man. Superiority of disposition constitutes 220 worth ; superiority of performance constitutes merit. Worth is the flower, merit is the fruit, of excellence. Public offices, which require capacity, should be given to worth ; sinecure places, which endow re- pose, should be given to merit. To REGARD. To CONCERN. To TOUCH. These words rise above each other : the first two are rarely applied in the proper, often in the meta- phoric, sense. He regards me, who looks at me from a distance {regarder to look at) ; he concerns me, at whom I also look {con and cernere) ; he touches me, who is placed much nearer than a looker-on. The conduct of a sovereign seldom regards the people so much as it concerns them. Relations should cultivate a regard for each other ; because the conduct of each touches the family. Concern becomes a duty, when what regards us is likely to touch us. Though we have the least part imaginable in a thing, it may be said to regard us ; to concern us we must have a greater : but, when we are sensibly affected by it, it may be said to touch us. Trusler. Some people make themselves uneasy about that which does not regard them ; meddle with what ought not to concern them ; and at the same time are culpably indifferent to things which touch them nearly. Trusler. Vivacity. Promptness. These two substantives correspond with the two adjectives, alive and ready. Vivacity is a native tcndenc)^, promptness an acquired habit. Vivacity is a form of sensation ; promptness, of action. Sti- mulated expression characterizes vivacity ; instan- taneous expression characterizes promptness. Vi- vacity is the basis of promptness j and promptness 221 is an indication of vivacity. Vivacity is o})posed to indolence, and promptness to sloth. Mercenary. Venal. Mercenary is that which is to let ; venal, that which is to sell. At Rome the proetorian guards were venal, and the barbarian soldiers mercenary. My pen is venal, said Brissot, that it may not be mercenary ; meaning thereby — I sell m.y writings, iu order not to have to sell my opinions. Le carac- t^re de la venalite est de transmettre sa propiiete ; celui du mercenaire n'est que de la louer a temps. Roubaud. Mercenary is only applied to voluntary agency. We do not say a mercenary house for a house to let. Miserly. Niggardly. Avaricious. Covetous. All these words describe excesses of selfishness. The miserly and niggardly clench the fingers ; they withhold what they ought to let go. The avaricious and covetous spread their claws ; they snatch at what they ought to let alone. The miser is grudg- ing to himself ; the niggard to others. The avari- cious is rapacious for himself; the covetous at the expense of others. The self-denial of the miser has for its object to hoard, and is but too sure a prepa- ration for that meanness, which is niggardly to the prayer of distress, and even to the claim of justice ; it might else be thought to border on the virtue of abstemiousness. Avarice has for its object to ac- quire and not to dispense, and is apt to overlook purity of means ; it might else be thought to border on the laudable ambition of making pecuniary pro- vision for a family. The miser who punishes only himself, and starves in the midst of ])lenty, is laughed at ; but the niggard is despised, aiul often hated. Avarice is merely greedy ; but envy is implied in 222 covetousness, the gratification of which consists in depriving another of his right. We pity the cares of avarice ; we mistrust the compassings of covet- ousness. To DEPRIVE. To DEPOSE. Deprivation ta-kes from a man the exercise of an office, deposition takes from him the office itself. A king is depiived of his crown, who has temporarily to vacate the regal office ; he is deposed only when he is completely unkinged. A bishop may be de- prived of his see ; but, where the several orders of priesthood are indelible, he cannot be deposed. Our laws have unjustly rendered the clerical character indelible : when a man excommunicates himself from the holy profession, he should recover the privileges of a layman, and find himself not merely deprived, but deposed. Tenderness. Kindness. Humanity. Philanthropy, Benignity. Tenderness (from tener soft) describes a softness of disposition, which yields indeed to the gentlest pressure, but is apt to yield too easily : it is a sus- ceptibility of nature, amiable in children and in females, but somewhat allied to weakness. Harsh- ness is the opposite quality. The tenderness of a parent has often been the ruin of a child. Trusler. Kindness (from kiyi) describes that relation-like affection, that cordial good-will, which accompanies friendship for our own species, and extends to the animal creation. Where kindness ceases, estrange- ment besins. He is kinder to his horse, than to his wife. Be kindly affcctioned one to another with brotherly love. Romans, xii. 10. Humanity (from homo man) describes those tender 223 and those kind feelings, which are peculiar to the human race ; though they extend beyond it. Hu- manity to animals accompanies a benignant disposi- tion. Humanity is opposed to brutality. How few, like thee, inquire the wretched out. And court the offices of soft humanity ; Like thee, reserve their raiment for the naked, Reach out their bread to feed the crying orphan, Or mix their pitying tears with those that weep ! Rowe. Philanthropy is the love of mankind, (from ^tXtw and arBpoTToo), the benevolent affection felt for our own species. The duties of philanthropy are often opposed to those of nationality. Benignity (from henignus, fertile, productive,) de- scribes rather a generous than a sympathetic feeling, a bounteous condescension. The benignity of a sovereign. The Turk is benignant to animals, who endows an hospital for them ; he is kind to animals, when he personally takes care of them. From the instant of our birth we experience the benignity of heaven, and the malignity of corrupt nature. Trusler. Delicacy. Sagacity. Penetration. To discriminate between ideas feebly distinct, requires delicacy ; to detect connexions curiously complex, requires sagacity ; to fathom consequences abstrusely remote, requires penetration. Delicacy is an attribute of the taste ; sagacity of the wit ; and penetration of the intellect. Delicacy sees every shade of hue ; sagacity sees at a glimpse ; penetra- tion sees at a distance. To add. To augment. To add is to put together what was before apart ; equal quantities may be added. To augment is to 224 enlarge what was before less ; it is to put a smaller quantity to a greater. Addition terminates separa- tion ; augmentation begins increase. Addition is the reverse of subtraction ; and augmentation of diminution. Admonition. Reproof. Reprimand. Admonitio, says Cicero, est quasi lenior objurgatio. Admonition is gentle reproof : it is also prospective in its character, and has prevention for its object. Reproof is more retrospective in its character, and has comdction for its object. Reprimand is more vindictive in its character, and has punishment for its object. We admonish for the first fault, we reprove for the second, we reprimand for the third. For the same aberration, a favourite gets admo- nished, an indifferent person reproved, and a depend- ant reprimanded. Reproof, in the form of advice, is admonition, and, in the form of censure, is reprimand. To have. To possess. To have describes a temporary, to possess de- cribes {possidere is from potis and sedere) a seated power. A married man has continual torment, when the demon of jealousy possesses him. Trusler. Pretty. Handsome. Beautiful. Pretty is commonly applied to describe good fea- tures ; handsome, to describe good limbs ; and beau- tiful, to describe a good person : the beautiful woman is both pretty and handsome. It has been the misfortune of many a pretty woman to be crooked. Truster. Many a handsome man has a forbidding counte- nance. Trvsler. 225 A beautiful figure is a rarity in nature. Metaphorically, we say a pretty villa, of one which catches the eve ; a handsome edifice, of one whose proportions and symmetry are impressive ; a beautiful building, of one whose details and whose entirety are alike praiseworthy. Immoderate. Excessive. He is immoderate who flies out of bounds ; he is excessive who goes beyond them : the immoderate want guiding, the excessive want stopping. Immo- derate desires lead to excessive indulgence. Those eat immoderately, who indulge their appe- tites further than the average wants or inclinations of human nature require ; those eat excessively, who risk incurring surfeit or apoplexy. A wine-glass is filled immoderately, when the limits of convenience are passed ; and excessively, when it runs over. Im- moderate is the reverse of temperate ; and excessive, of defective. Historiographer. Historian. He who is employed to write history is an histo- riographer ; he who has accomplished an historic work is an historian. Robertson was an historio- grapher, inasmuch as the booksellers engaged him to write the age of Charles V. ; he was an historian, inasmuch as he completed a true and epic account of that period. I'or being the historian of Venice, Sabellicus was appointed its historiographer. Levizac, after Voltaire, defines these words incor- rectly. Heterodoxy. Heresy. To be of a different persuasion (krepoq other, and lo^a faith,) constitutes heterodoxy ; to have chosen a faith for one's self {a'tptaiQ choice) constitutes heresy. T 226 Heterodoxy is negative, heresy is positive, dissent. The heterodox differs, the heretic separates. Hete- rodoxy endangers conformity; heresy destroys I'nion. Extensive heterodoxies produce heresy. All distinct sects are heterodox with respect to each other ; jew, catholic, calvinist, and socinian. That sect only is heretical, which has a newer creed than the party from which it dissents. In Christian countries the jews are not heretics ; but they are heterodox. In protestant countries the church of Rome is not a heresy ; but it is a heterodoxy. So- cinianism, while secretly entertained, is but a hete- rodoxy ; when embodied as an unitarian sect, it is a heresy. Truth may form a heresy, and so may error. Christianity was a jemsh heresy, until it became established by law. Heresy begins in schism, and ends in the sanction of the magistrate. To FELICITATE. To CONGRATULATE. These are words borrowed from french books of synonomy. With the progress of that politeness of the head, which is the reverse of perfidious, and v/hich chooses to be precise as well as civil, they will find their way to other tongues. To felicitate is merely to wish happy ; to congratulate is to profess partaking, through sympathy, the pleasure of the incident noticed. I may felicitate a rival on his marriage with my mistress ; when I cannot, without ingallantry, con- gratulate him. Politeness felicitates ; friendship congratulates. There are unen\'iable elevations, on the attainment of which wisdom may felicitate the possessor, but congratulates him not. Les felicitations ne sont que des complimens, ou des discours obligeans faits a quelqu'un sur un evene- ment heureux ; les congratulations sont des temoigu- 227 ages particuliers du plaisir qu'on en ressent avec lui, ou d'une satisfaction commune qu'on eprouve. Roubaud. Curse. Imprecation. Malediction. Execration. Anathema. Curse (a barking, from cur,) proclaims hostility restrained by fear. Imprecation invokes power against an object (in and precor). INIalediction an- nounces woe to it {male and dico). Execration devotes it to religious vengeance {ex and sacro). x\nathema (aradEfia, cutting oflF, excommunication,) holds it up to the detestation of the Christian church. He who cannot revenge himself curses his enemy, in order to denounce him to the neighbourhood, and to arouse against him a confederate ill-will. He who abuses his power over the defenceless with im- punity draws on himself imprecations ; the weak must call for help from the mighty. He who takes delight in plaguing others will incur maledictions ; complaints disdained engender hatred. He who audaciously tramples tmder foot what is held sacred is pursued vrith execration. Not only persons, errors also, have been anathematized. The curses of the people in Holland became im- precations, when they invited the interference of a foreign power. Buckingham lay under millions of maledictions, which on the prince's arrival did vanish into praises. The execrations of the Christian church are technically called anathemas by our ecclesiastics. Multitude. Crowd. Throng. Any great number of persons (multus many) form a multitude ; persons planted so thickly as to elbow one another {crwd elbow, and also an elbow-harp, or fiddle,) form a crowd ; persons planted so thickly 228 as to press against each other {dningen to press) form a throng. A dispersed multitude. A crowded table. A throng of carriages. We cannot say, " a dispersed crowd, or throng :" nor can we say, " a thronged table, or a crowd of carriages." To PARDON. To FORGIVE. Etymologically, the idea of giving up a debt in- curred must inhere in both words ; but to pardon is used of civil, and to forgive of religious, delinquency. To pardon is employed by the state ; to forgive, by the church. To pardon the trespass of a poacher ; to forgive the trespass of a sabbath-breaker. To pardon a crime. To forgive a sin. We petition the king for pardon to a condemned wretch. We implore forgiveness of our transgressions from heaven. A consequence of this habitual appropriation of the words is, that we attach ideas of superior rank to one who pardons, and of superior purity to one who for- gives. For a rude expression, pardon, for an impure allusion, forgiveness, is solicited : pardon me, sir ; forgive me, madam. Excuse. Apology. An excuse is an unsuccessful, an apology is a suc- cessful defence of conduct deemed in the first instance blameworthy. A good excuse may be a bad apology. Malady. Disorder. Disease. Distemper. Complaint. Malady is the more vague, comprehensive, and learned of these terms ; though a])pliable to all the subdivisions of bad health, in conversation it is sel- dom applied. Disorder describes any malady in which the oi'ganization is supj)oscd to be in fault, ill which the orderly secretions, or extravasations, ate 229 interrupted. Disease describes auy malady attended with loss of ease, whether pain or languor predomi- nates. Distemper describes a malady, which disturbs rather the humours, or temperature, than the solid parts of the system. Complaint describes a malady arising from the sympathy of the different organs. A common malady. A consumptive disorder. A painful disease. A catching distemper. A sneezing complaint. Duty. Obligation. Duty is an obligation imposed from within ; obli- gation is a duty imposed from without. To attend pubhc worship is a duty, inasmuch as piety inspires it ; and an obligation, inasmuch as the magistrate enjoins it. The priest considers it as a duty to offi- ciate ; as an obligation to officiate in black. Disaster. Calamity. Misfortune. A disaster is an uiducky accident attributed to the stars (dis and astrvm), or order of nature : a calamity is a sudden evil of the same class {calami- tosus, storm-crushed) : a misfortune is an important loss, or suffering, attributed to chance; but the in- fliction rather of man and circumstance, than of nature and fate. A sad disaster happened : the chaise-horse took fright, and they were overturned. My neighbour has incurred a great calamity : fire-balls fell in his stack-yard, during the tempest, and the whole crop of his farm is consumed. Our rector had the mis- fortune to lose his wife the year they married. To CALL. To NAME. Both these words signify to utter an appellation ; but we call in order to proclaim, and we name iu order to distinguish. t2 230 The Lord ciilled every living creature bef;)re Adam, and he named them. Genesis. To call is the reverse of to whisper, and to name is the reverse of to mutter. To ACQUIESCE. To CONSENT. To AGREE. To acquiesce (quies rest) announces an indolent, to consent (co7i and sentir), a sympathetic, and to agree [grc liking), a forward, acceptance. We ac- quiesce in what is proposed, by conforming ; we consent to the will of others, by permitting ; we agree to what is said, by approvi-ng. To acquiesce implies some submission ; to consent indicates some independence ; to agree denotes some aversion to dispute. Parties acquiesce in the decree of a judge. Daugh- ters, parents, consent to a mai'riage. Well-bred persons can agree in circumstances which would embroil the vulgar. To FEEL. To HANDLE. To feel is to exercise the sense of touch ; to han- dle is to exercise the instrument of caption. We feel with the finger-ends ; we handle with the full hand. We feel the heat of a poker, before we ven- ture to handle it. A piece of stuff must be handled, in order to teel its substance. Feeling is diffused over the whole skin ; handling can only be accom- plished at the extremity of the arms. I may feel an adversary's sword, I can handle only my own. Being. Existence. Being is saxon, and existence is latin, for the same universal predicament : but, as being has been more commonly ai)plicd in the proper, and existence in the metaphoric, sense ; being is got to describe a sensible, and existence an abstract, idea. 231 A y)erishable human being. The beings which surround us. The Supreme Being. Frail human existence. The existence of innu- merable worlds. The existence of God. In the first three phrases, a substitution of the word existence would be felt as a violation of the habits of our language ; existence not being used to describe a sensible idea. But in the next three phrases, the word fjeinff could be substituted for the word existence without any sentiment of innovation ; being is often used to designate an abstract idea. Mien. Air. Mien (fr. mine) describes the countenance ; air, (ital. aria) the attitude. These words are no longer common, but are consecrated by the use of our best writers, such as Milton, Dryden, Pope. A mien of good humour. An air of activity. Address. Manners. Behaviour. Conduct. What of exterior deportment is displayed on ac- cess, we term the address ; what is unfolded in the progress of intercourse, we term the manners. Be- haviour and conduct include more than exterior i'orms : behaviour describes the spirit of the man- ners on a particular occasion ; conduct describes their perpetual spirit. As first impressions may occasion habitual im- pressions ; so a man's address often decides the re- j)utation of his manners. Behaviour is versatile, and founded on a regard to the admiration of others; conduct is steady, and founded on self-criticism. We should suit our behaviour to our company ; and our conduct to our station. Equity. Justice. Ec^uity contemplates the mass of rights growing 232 out of the law of nature ; and justice contempUvxfS the mass of rights growing out of the law of society. Equity (from cequus) treats of our dues as equals ; justice (from jussuni) treats of our dues as fellow- subjects. The purpose of equity is respect for hu- manity ; the purpose of justice is respect for pro- perty. Equity withstands opression ; justice with- stands injury. To LIVE. To DWELL. Both these words are used to describe residence : we live in a place ; we dwell in a building. To live in London. To dwell in a cottage. A lodger lives in a street ; only the housekeepers dwell there. We are living by the sea-side ; but we dwell far inland. The words diifer as to lie and to house : to live pro- bably derives from lib, body ; and to dwell probably from schwelle, threshold. In vain. To no purpose. Ineffectually. He labours in vain, who attains not the expected reward ; he labours to no purpose, who toils with driftless industry ; he labours ineffectually, whose exertions are of little importance. These phrases are somewhat differently defined by Dr. Trusler. Against. In spite of. Against announces physical antagonism, in spite of moral defiance : against announces a level opposi- tion, in spite of a contemptuous opposition. To plane wood against the grain. The saw-mill goes on cutting notwithstanding the nails in the plank ; the sawyer goes on cutting in spite of the nails in the plank. To speak against a turnpike bill. He divides with the opposition in spite of the minister's intreaty. Though we have lost this 233 match at cricket, we will hold thera once more mau aj;ainst man ; in spite of their present superiority we do not despair. To SEE. To LOOK AT. To BEHOLD. To VIEW. We see, involuntarily sometimes, whatever is within our ken of vision ; there is a voluntary direc- tion of the eye toward that which we look at ; there is a prolongation of the regard on that which we behold ; there is a comprehensive circulation of the glance over that which we view. The four interjections ah ! lo ! behold ! there ! with which we occasionally indicate objects, denote severally these four gradations of visual attention. The eyes open to see ; turn to look at ; fix to behold ; and roll to view. Truster. We see all the objects before our eyes ; we look at those which excite our curiosity ; we behold such as cause our admiration ; we view those we are desirous to examine. Truster. Head. Chief. Head is saxon, chief is french, for the same part of the body ; and both words are employed meta- phorically to designate the superior, the conducting person of an undertaking. The head of a battalion. The chief of a battalion. A head-officer. A com- mander-in-chief. If any diflFerence gains ground between these words, it is, that the saxon appellation, having been immemorially prevalent here, mingles more readily with our civil institutions and domestic habits ; whereas the french term, having been imported by military men, remains technical for strategic affairs. Hence to the word head ideas of mere pre-eminence are attached ; but to the word chief ideas of active spirited soldier-like efficacy. A head-borough. Is the lawyer or the parson the head of that ])arish 1 23-1 He will go to the reformers' dinner, if they will make him head of the company. You may make him head of the company : but the orator Rightman will remain its chief. To TEACH. To LEARN. To teach is to give instruction ; and to learu is to take instruction. These terms are rather antithetic than synonymous ; but they are misdefined by Dr. Trusler. Impediment. Obstacle. Obstruction. An impediment {in and pes) shackles the feet ; an obstacle \ch and stare) withstands the person ; an obstruction {ob and struo) blocks the passage. The impediment slays ; the obstacle resists ; the obstruction stops. We must stoop to remove an impediment ; we remain erect to surmount an obsta- cle ; we make exertions to pull down an obstruction. The political equality of religious sects is gaining ground, notwithstanding the impediments of vulgar bigotry, the obstacles of sordid prejudice, and the obstructions of governmental hostility. Brightness. Splendour. The moon is said to shine bright when there is no mist in the air, when its rays reach us without perturbation ; but the quantity of light which ema- nates from the moon, at its greatest brightness, does not amount to splendour. Splendour is that fulness of light, which in some degree dazzles the human eye. The brightness of dawn. The splen- dour of noon. The brightness of a taper. The splendour of a patent lamp. Brightness is opposed to dulness, and splendour to obscurity. To receive. To accept. To receive is to take in, and to accept is to take 235 for one's self. I have received the pheasants, and accept them thankfully. What we take in deposit, we receive ; what we take in gift, we accept. We receive what is sent us for another, we accept what is sent us for ourselves. To receive a favour, which is to be returned ; to accept a favour, which is not to be returned. Roundness. Rotundity. Roundness describes circularity, and rotundity describes sphericity. The roundness of a wheel, the rotundity of a turnip. A painter expresses the roundness of an orange by means of the line which bounds the figure ; he expresses its rotundity by means of the shadowing which gives apparent pro- tuberance. A round flat face. The rotundity ot Sir John Falstaff. On dit la rondeur, et la roton- dite, de la terre ; la rondeur pour designer sa figure, la rotondite pour designer sa capacite. Roubaud. Management. Direction. Management (from mener) and direction (from dirigere) diifer as leading and ruhng. That which is conducted by example is managed ; that which is conducted by authority is directed. To manage the affairs of a partnership : to direct the affairs of a company. The manager of a theatre, when he is himself an actor : the director of the opera, when he is not one of the performers. Outside. Appearance. The outside is the external surface of a thing : and the appearance is the effect produced by that external surface on the organ of sight. In the dark, objects have still an outside, but no appearance. His present appearance does not harmonize with his general outside ; yet I think you caught him ux a characteristic undress. 236 Qualities. Talents. Qualities denote the moral, talents the intellectual, properties of men. A man is bad or good, accord- mg to his cpialities ; and weak or witty, according to his talents. Qualities are supposed to have their source in the heart, talents in the head ; superior qualities are esteemed, superior talents are admired. In the singular number these words do not pre- serve the same relation. A man of quality means a man of rank. A man of talent is one who excels in the power of acquirement. Clarendon calls horsemanship and fencing quali- ties ; we should now employ the word qualifications. Rural. Rustic. Rural is derived from rus, country, and describes the face of nature, which is lovely there ; rustic is derived from rusticns, boor, and describes the face of man, who is rude there : rural, therefore, is a panegyrical, and rustic a satirical, epithet for what appertains to the country. A rural landscape. A rustic ale-house. Dispute. Difference. Dispvxte describes hostile verbiage, and difference describes hostile conduct : those dispute who think, apart {clis and putare), those differ who act apart {dis and/e?Te). Contrariety of opinion produces dispute ; opposition of interest produces difference. Disputes often arise from prejudice, and differences from envy. We end a dispute. We make up a difference. Strife. Quarrel. Strife and quarrel both describe an angry contest ; but in strife the anger, and in quarrel the contest, is accidental. Emulous contention generates strife ; 237 harshness of disposition generates quarrel. In strife there is more of transient animosity, in quarrel more of habitual crossness. The purpose of strife may be honourable, however discordant the conduct ; the purpose of quarrel is discord, however honourable the pretext. Thus Gods contended, noble strife. Who most should ease the wants of life. Congreve. On open seas their quarrels they debate. In hollow wood their floatuig armies bear. Dryden. III. Sick. When a disease is supposed to proceed from with- out, a man is said to be ill ; when it is supposed to proceed from within, he is said to be sick. 111 of the measles. Ill of his wounds. Sick of the palsy. Sick of the stomach. He is said to look sickly, whose appearance announces internal disease : he is said to look ill, whose bad symptoms have a more transient and external character. So in the other gothic dialects : wasser-suchtigy sick of the dropsy ; lungen-sdchtig, sick of pulmo- nary consumption : das blattern-uhel, the smallpox illness ; iibel an einem fusse haben, to be ill of pain in the foot. In metaphor the like distinction is observed. He is said to be ill- stationed, who is sick of his employ- ment. In the first phrase the external relation ot the situation to the man, in the second phrase the internal relation of the man to his situation, is con- templated. To ASK. To QUESTION. To JNTEH,ROQsVTiSa To ENQUIRE. la order to know we apply to others : the simp 238 application is to ask ; a more curious assiduity is to question ; a more authoritative research is to interro- gate ; a more laborious investigation is to enquire. The wanderer asks his way. The spy qutstions his companions. The magistrate interrogates a culprit. The philosopher enquires concerning a phenomenon. Charming. Fascinating. Charms are addressed to any sense ; fascinations to the eye only. A charming odour. A fascinating dance. The charming tone of sympathy. The fas- cinating eye of desire. Maniac. Lunatic. Both words describe a person deprived of the use of reason, a man of insane mind. Maniac excites an idea of greater fury and violence in the disorder. Lunatic excites an idea of periodicity, of regularity, in the attacks. The maniac is more vehemently, the lunatic more habitually, a madman. We restrain the maniac ; we tend the lunatic. Piercing. Penetrating. To pierce is to make a hole through, and to pene- trate is to pass through along, many pores. To pierce is a more pointed and sudden, to penetrate a more comprehensive and gradual, process. During a foggy morning the sun penetrates the mist in dispelhng twilight ; and pierces the mist in becoming locally visible. A piercing mind is one, which precisely and speedily goes to the object of its search. A pene- trating mind is one, which comprehensively and fun- damentally attains the knowledge within its reach. To BID. To order. To bid is to request {Inddan to pray), and to crdor 230 (ordonne?-) is to arrange, beforehand ; for the one there is verbal, for the other practical, provision. Hence, to omit doing as we are bid disappoints less than to omit doing as we are ordered. To bid is a gentler, to order a more pressing, and authoritative command, nowEVER. Yet. Notwithstanding. Nevertheless. These may be called subtractive conjunctions ; they all concede something and deduct something else. When the concession is large, and the deduc- tion small, we use however and i/et ; when the con- cession is s.mall, and the deduction large, we use notwithstanding and nevertheless. Addison was an unsuccessful speaker ; he was however a successful author. Some fathers are strict about the morals of their sons, who yet indulge themselves in many gaieties. He is rich, notwithstanding his loss. Churchill was a bad liver, and nevertheless a good citizen — asserting liberty, ridiculing vice, and lashing venality. Common. Ordinary. That is common which occurs frequently ; that is ordinary which occurs often. Scattered repetition makes a thing common ; successive repetition makes it ordinary. The common accident of death. The ordinary course of nature. Dissimulation is common at court : i. e. practised by many individuals. Dis- simulation is ordinary at court : i. e. practised by immemorial usage. The table at an inn is common, inasmuch as all the guests have an equal right at it ; and is ordinary, inasmuch as it is regularly offered daily or on set days. A common man describes one o-f the numerous class. An ordinary man describes one of the usual exterior. A common book, of which 240 there are many copies : an ordinary book, of which there are many as good. To RETURN. To RESTORE. We return what is borrowed or lent ; we restore what is taken or given. We ought to return punc- tually, and to restore wholly. The alienation was transient and conditional of what we return ; the alienation was not expressed, or was unconditional, of what we restore. Civilities, presents, are return- ed. Confidence, deposits, are restored. Of what we return we admit the guardianship to vest in another ; of what we restore we assume the guar- dianship to vest in ourselves. That may be returned which has been commuted, a present of fish for a present of game. That only is restored which goes back in its original form. Clothes. Dress. Clothes are made to cover, dress is iijade to adorn, the body. The same habits, considered as useful may be called clothes, considered as ornamenta] may be called dress. Warm clothes. Rich dresses. Those pieces of apparel which do not serve to inwrap, but only to deck, the person, belong to the dress, and not to the clothes ; such as a sword and cockade. Sober. Temperate. Abstemious. A man may be sober, yet not temperate ; and temperate, yet not abstemious. To be sober is to shun the overpowering effect of strong drink : to be temperate is to observe habitual moderation in drinking : to be abstemious is to refrain with more than usual caution from the inebriating liquids. In abstemiousness there is self-denial ; in temperance there is wisdom ; in sobriety there is decorum. 241 Many sober men owe their freedom from intoxication to strength of stomach, and not to nicety of gauge. Temperance brings health ; but the abstemious man is often valetudinary. To GO BACK. To RETURN. We go back from the place we have reached. We return to the place whence we started. He who is on a visit at London must go back, in order to re-: turn home. Idea. Notion. What the mind perceives at the external surface of the body, is called a sensation : the corresponding perception, wliich takes place at the internal extre- mity of the organs of sense, is called an idea. I look at the moon. The impression, which that ob- ject, while present, makes on the eye, is a sensation. I shut mv eyes, or turn aside, and recollect the moon. Tills image, present to my fancy, and now independent of the cause which first excited it, is an idea. Two or more ideas associated together, so as to constitute an affirmation, form a notion. The moon is spherical. This is a notion. Ideas are faint or vivid, vague or distinct ; no- tions are true or false, simple or complex. When we associate ideas united by natiuT, our notions are called true ; when we associate ideas necessarily or naturally incoherent, our notions are called false. In a complex notion, we often associate three or more ideas necessarily united with one or two ideas natu- rally therewith incoherent ; and contemplate the entire compound with the same confidence in its truth, or in its conformity to experience, with which we are entitled to contemplate that part of it which is really copied from sensation. Thus erroneous notions come to pass for true ; and can only be cor- i; 2 242 rectcd by laboriously disentangling the component parts, and comparing each and its concatenation anew with experience. Imagination. Fancy. A man has imagination, in proportion as he can distinctly copy in idea the impressions of sense : it is the faculty which images within the mind the phenomena of sensation. A man has fancy, in pro- portion as he can call up, connect, or associate at pleasure these internal images, {(pavTat,£Lv is to cause to appear) so as to complete ideal representations of absent objects. Imagination is the power of depict- ing, and fancy of evoking and combining. The ima- gination is formed by patient observation ; the fancy by a voluntary activity in shifting the scenery of the mind. The more accurate the imagination, the more safely may a painter, or a poet, undertake a delinea- tion, or a description, without the presence of the objects to be characterized. The more versatile the fancy, the more original and striking will be the decorations produced. There arc some writers whose imagination is dull, and who consequently deal in vague and indistinct imagery ; but who possess great command of fancy, and employ in a striking manner the indefinite shapes with whicih they think. The author of Os- siaoi is almost of this class. There are other writers whose imagination is too plastic, and supplies in superfluous detail every minute trait of the object of recollection, which in consequence is described with excessive minuteness ; but who possess little com- mand of fancy, and can reproduce nothing, unless in the pre-established forms of combination. Chaucer is almost of this class. Macphersou had more fancy than imagination, and Chaucer more i,Tiafi;inatior. than idiiC) . 243 Right. Just. Right defines duties of nature, just defines duties of institution. It is right to reheve the sufferer; it is right to withstand the oppressor. It is just to levy a poor's rate ; it is just to fine a magistrate for false imprisonment. Equity awards what is right ; law awards what is just. Natural morality may consider reciprocity as right ; and may encou- rage men to be generous toward the generous, but to use false and harsh means toward the perfidious and the cruel : Christian morality gives no such lati- tude ; it commands us to be just, and to be kind, without reference to the conduct of the adversary. Favourable. Propitious. We seek the ear of those, whose favour {favere and fari are etymologically connected) we would obtain : we sink down before those, whom we would propi- tiate {iwo and petitus). That which is well-disposed towards us, which seconds our endeavours, and serves our purposes, is favourable to us : that which eifica- ciously protects us, which speeds our exertions, and decides our success, is propitious to us. To be favour- able is to lend the aid of an equal ; to be propitious is to vouchsafe in our behalf the powerful benignity of a superior. Cato favoured Pompey ; the gods were propitious to Caesar. Charity is favourable ; clemency is propitious. Opportunity is favourable ; destiny is propitious. A season somewhat better than usual is called favourable ; a very plentiful season is called propitious. Strong-headed. Headstrong. He is said to be strong-headed, who displays force of mind ; he is said to be headstrong, who displays an unruly character. A strong head does not imply a bold heart. 244 Ife ill aspii-es to rule Cities of men, or headstrong multitudes, Subject himself to anarchy within. Milton. Firmness. Constancy. Firmness is a natural, and constancy is a volun- tary, stability. A tower is firm {frmus, steadfast) ; but there is choice in standing by {con and stems) one's object. Firmness belongs to character ; con- stancy to conduct. Firmness is an ingredient of constancy ; and constancy an exertion of firmness. A firm friend is one, on whom you may rely during the friendship. A constant friend is one, on whose friendship you may rely during a length of time. A firm husband is little moved by the tears, or clamours, of his wife. A constant husband adheres to his wife, notwithstanding the allurements of other women. Weakness is opposed to firmness ; and fickleness to constancy. Supple. Pliant. What bends easily is supple, what folds easily is pliant. The supple snake. A supple thread. Sup- ple osier. Pliant wax. A pliant paper. The pliant wave. Metaphorically, the supple man twines about your afiFections ; the pliant man takes his bent from your example. The suftple and the pliant both ac- commodate themselves to you ; but the supple man retains his elasticity, and intends to resume his natural attitude ; whereas the pliant man has accepted the fi)ld, and will in future wear the posture super- induced. To WHIP. To SCOURGE. To FLOG. To whip is the most general term ; it is applied to the stroke of a thong, or of a rod ; it is applied to men, to animals, to things. Children and criminals. 245 horses and dogs, are whipped ; and so is cream, to make it froth. To scourge is appHed to persons only ; for purposes of correction men are scourged by the magistrate. To flog is apphed to children and soldiers, and is a lower word than to scourge. - Brittle. Frail. Brittle (from a frequentative of briitan to break) signifies apt to break, breaking frequently. Frail (fr. frele, contracted from fragilis) also signifies apt to break, breakable. The idea of frequency inheres more in the structure of the word brittle ; the idea of weakness in the structure of the word frail : hence we call that brittle, which easily breaks into many parts ; and we call that frail, which easily breaks in two. The vine-stalk, while green, is frail, when dry, is tough. Glass drinking-cups are beau- tiful, but brittle, utensils. The woman is called frail, who has listened to one seducer, brittle, who has hearkened to many. Toughness is the reverse of brittleness ; and tenacity of frailty. Funeral. Obsequies. Funeral draws attention to the mourning, obse- quies to the procession ; the funeral belongs to every death, the obsequies to an important burial. Grief accompanies the funeral ; piety conducts the obse- quies. Dialectic. Logic. Dialectic (diaXeicriKr) rc)/''^) is the art of dissecting, and logic (XoyiKi] reyinj) is the art of reasoning. How to divide and sub-divide and dissect and analyze a topic, so as to be directed to the various roads of argument, by which it may be approached, inves- tigated, defended, or attacked, is the province of (dialectic. How to criticise those arguments, so as 246 to reject the sophistical, and to allow their exact weight to the solid, is the province of logic. The dialectician is praised in proportion as his method is exhaustive ; that is, in proportion as it supplies every possible form of argument applicable to the matter under discussion. The logician is praised in propor- uon as his method is demonstrative ; that is, in pro- portion as it determines unanswerably the value of every argument applied to the matter under discus- sion. Dialectic provides, and logic appreciates, ar- gumentation ; dialectic exercises the invention, and logic the judgment. ^Bavle excelled more as a dialectician, than as a logician. Hobbes excelled more as a logician, than as a dialectician. List. Roll. Catalogue. Register. List {lisiere a border or salvage) is a marginal in- dication, a concise enumeration of the names, or sums, or substances, to be recorded. Roll (holland- ish rollen to wind) is a list made on a single length of paper, or parchment, a muster so written as to be rolled up, or unrolled. Catalogue («(ra\oyoc) is a specification of objects one by one, written according to some systematic order. Register (from the root reyerc) is a solemn list, or roll, or catalogue, made for purposes of government or public order. A narrow list. A rattling roll. A particular catalogue. A formal register. A hst of books, when only the titles are quoted ; a catalogue of l)ooks, when the dates of impression and the size of edition are specified. The short roll of friends that is writ in my heart. Bonne. It was ordered that Scribonianus's name and con- sulate should be eflfaced out of ail public registers. Addison, 247 Dispute. Altercation. Contest. Dispute is declared difference of opinion, and al- tercation is the alternate expression of it. Disputes and altercations take place between the parties ; when they call in witnesses (^con and testari) to be umpires of the controversy the debate becomes a contest. Altercations involve but two persons, dis- putes may involve more. At the beginning of a conversation there will be many arguers ; but a mixed dispute usually becomes an altercation between the two abler champions ; the rest turn audience, and listen to the contest, Man and wife should never allow their altercations to gene- rate contest. Literary disputants should be urged to undertake a contest ; the strife of intellect glows in vain, when it instructs only the wranglers. House. Tenement. House describes a distinct dwelling ; a tenement is part of a house divided off for the vise of another family. A spacious house. A snug tenement. Large houses, which the owners find it difficult to let entire to one family, are frequently converted into tenements, and let to several. To declare. To aver. To assert. To attest. To vouch. To declare {(ledarare) is to set in open view, to publish, an opinion : to aver {avtrer') is to engage for its truth : to assert {assercre) is to accept its consequences : to attest {attcstari) is to corroborate it by witnesses : and to vouch {avouer) is to sunnort it with documents. The decalogue is declared eveiy saboath at the altar ; its divine origin is averred oy the priesthood, is asserted by entire nations, is attested by vario-is prophets, and is vouched by tiie Jewish scriptures. 218 To UNCOVER. To DISCOVER. To DETECT. To uncover is saxon, to discover {decouvrir) is french, and to detect (detecjere) is latin, for the same action of removing a cover ; but to uncover is merely to take off the covering, to discover is to lay bare that which was covered, and to detect is to lay bare that which the covering was to have concealed. To uncover a boiler ; to discover a dumpling in the boiler ; to detect soot in the boiler. To uncover a bed. To discover a person in the bed. To detect a person who ought not to be in the bed. Guess. Con.iecture. Supposition. Hypothesis. To guess is to presume what is unknown ; a ha- zarded guess is a conjecture ; a rational guess is a supposition ; a supposed theory is an hypothesis. Guess (hollandish gissen) probably derives from gist, froth ; and as the mariners infer the shoal from the foam of the breakers ; or as the brewers infer the quality of the ale from the yeast ; so the froth of a riddle may have seemed a natural metaphor for de- scribing the showy, superficial envelope, beneath which the real object of interest lies concealed. To guess is to remove the froth, or rather to see through it. Shakspeare writes : I have a letter guessingly set down ; that is, frothily, so as to throw dust in the eyes. Among the methods of divination used by the roman augurs, one was to cast cubic lots inscribed with marks, or letters, and to infer futurity from perceiving the upper surfaces : this ominous raffling with magical dies, this throwing together of the lots, was called conjecture. To foretel from insufficient preaisposiiion, to form an unproved opinion, to ima- ^ne with no adequate basis of probabiUty, is not conjectuie. 249 Supposition is latin {sub and ponere) for putting Under, and describes that process of the mind by which it attempts to support what it sees and knows on foundations which it could not witness. To ima- gine with probability, to concatenate naturally, to infer from observation, is to suppose. Hypothesis (hrro^ec-ic) is greek for the latin word supposition ; but the term having been imported by the schools of philosophy, it is exclusively applied to philosophic supposition, to theories discussed in the schools of learning. Cool. Cold. Chilly. Frosty. These words sink below each other in frigidity. Cool is a middle term between warm and cold, and as it derives from a verb (hollandish Jwelen) signify- ing to grow cold, it includes, perhaps, an idea of progression toward coldness. A cool evening ; not a cool forenoon. Bodies which withdraw heat from the skin faster than it is supplied from within are termed cold. The air is cold until about sixty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermoipeter : water and metals are cold at a higher temperature. Cold water is opposed to water artifi- cially heated. Chilly is a middle term between cold and frosty : it describes a temperature which occasions a shrug, or shivering (saxon cele, shivering) of the skin, but not a shudder, or numbness. A chilly sweat. Bodies which by their great coldness occasion a shuddering on being touched (hollandish fresen, to shudder) are said to freeze, to occasion frost, to be frosty. The air is frosty, at about thirty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer ; water until about forty- four : indeed it withdraws heat faster from the skin at its greatest condensation, than at a temperatui"e X 250 more contiguous to its freezing point. The Germans uscjieber-frost for the cold fit in a fever. A cool judge. A cold reception. A chilly answer. Dryden's und Addison's trauerspicle sind in hohem grade frostig. Eherhard. Dryden's and Addison's tragedies are in a high degree frosty. In the english language, more than in the other gothic dialects, frosty is a definite idea ; and is used for gelid, or ha\nng the power of congelation : hence it is seldom applied metaphorically, unless to describe the silvery whiteness of the hairs of age. Where is loyalty ? If it be banished from the frosty head. How shall it find a harbour in the eartli. Shakspeare. Surf. Breakers. Surf is a word omitted in Johnson's dictionary ; it describes those portions of the sea-waves, which curl into foam contiguously to the shore ; whereas breakers are sea-waves, which curl into foam at a distance from the shore. Observance. Observation. Actions which result from observing a rule are called observances : recollections which result from observing a fact are called observations. The pharisees were curious in external observances. The astronomers are curious in celestial observations. About precedence, more is learnt in an hour from the red book, tlian in a year from mixed company ; you will do better to lean on observance, than on obser- vation. Censorian. Censorial. Censorious. The romans appointed magistrates called censors, who hud the right of inflicting degradation, or fine, 251 on citizens stigmatized for misconduct. What relates to a censor, is called censorian ; what operates as a censor, is called censorial ; what feels like a censor, is called censorious. I'he censonau institution at Rome had morals for its pretext, but taxation for its purpose. The cen- sorial influence of the press is a powerful corrective of morality among the elevated. Those, who com- plain much of the censoriousness of the world, have rcrnmonly a secret inclination to defy it. Bulwark. Rampart. Towns were anciently fortified b}^ surrovmding tliem with a bank between walls. Such immured i/iounds were called in the gothic dialect bulwarks, and in french ramparts. The german bohverk is from bol building and werk work, built work. An altered method of fortification introduced some dif- ference between the words ; bulwark being now ap- plied to- the outer, and rampart to the inner works of defence. A single bastion is a bulwark ; but the rampart includes the whole interior circuit of ter- ras, the entire platform behind the parapet, which it was necessary to protect in assailable places by projecting outworks. Bulwark suggests the idea of a more formidable, and rampart of a more emiron- ing, fortification. Edges. Confines. Borders. — Limits. Boundaries. Term. Edges, confines, borders, agree in expressing an indefinite idea ; liinits, boundaries, and term, in ex- pressing a definite idea. Edges, confines, borders are strips of territory of uncertain breadth, lying near to the precise limit, or boundary. The edges are either side ; the confines are both sides. The borders are a broader district than the confines, and 252 the confines than the edges. The limits are either side; the boundaries are both sides; the term is a single indivisible point of the limit, or boundary. Rich. Opulent. Adelung thinks that rich is originally an idea of the ear, and that it describes the rustling or buzz occasioned by a multitude of any things : he is for referring it to the same root as regen rain, which presents at once ideas of noise and number. Rich showers. Meseems it rather to be a derivative of to reach; and that the man is rich, whose reach extends over many things. Opulence is a frequen- tative of opis plenty, which is akin to opimus fat, thriving. In riches the idea of power, in opulence the idea of possession, predominates. He is rich who has the command of wealth, he is opulent who is plentifully surrounded with its gifts. Rich is opposed to poor, and opulent to needy. ' Burke was rich of intellect ; his opulence of allusion asto- nishes. The substantive riches (from the french richesse) is properly singular ; but Pope employs it as a plu- ral. What riches give us let us first inquire. Meat, fire and clothes. What more ? Meat, clothes and fire. Discernment. Judgment. To discern is to observe the difference, and to judge is to award the preference, between objects of comparison. Men readily acquiesce in the judgment of a discerning man. Speculation requires discern- ment ; action requires judgment. Temple. Fane. Temple originally signified the eminence to which 253 augurs climbed in order to inspect (tueri) the neigh- bourhood, and advise proceedings. From being the name of those high places which were habitual sta- tions of sacrifice and worship, it came to designate the holy houses built there. Fane is the consecrated (/ari) precinct in which a temple, or chapel, stands. The words belong to pagan religion, and differ, nearly, as our church and church-yard. The temple of Fame. The fane of Contemplation. One cannot well say, " A humble temple ;" or, " A. fane unblest ;" as the ideas would be nearly incompatible. To APPLY. To ANNEX. To ATTACH. To apply is to clap against ; to annex is to hoc^k upon ; and to attach is to tie on. Applicarc scalas muis. Aurea coccineas annectit fibula vestes. At- tacher ses souliers. A phrase is applied, of which the original purpose differed from the actual employ. A dissertation, separably though firmly joined to a treatise, is an- nexed. Those persons, whom ties of obligation or affection unite, are attached. To FOUND. To CONSTRUCT. To EDIFY. These words describe the beginning, the continu- ance, and the completion of architectural processes. He, who builds, lays the foundations first ; then he constructs the walls ; and lastly he covers in the edifice. In metaphor this distinction should be preserved. A statement is well-founded ; a syllogism is well-con- structed ; a result is well-edified. Sympathy founds, discipline constructs, and principle edifies the moral character. 254 To GIVE. To PRESENT. To OFFER. All these words describe forms of donation : to give is used in a familiar, to present in a respectful, and to offer in a religious, sense. We give to our inferiors, we present to our equals, we offer to our superiors. The gifts of nature. The presents of friendship. The offerings of piety. Frugal. Economic. Those who are sparing of expense about their food {frvges) are frugal ; those who are sparing of expense about their household {olkoc and vojjlcq) are economic. A frugal traveller. An economic family. Economy includes frugality ; but frugality does not include eco- nomy. The Italians are more frugal than economic ; though content with a spare diet and inhospitable board, they willingly expend on a stately mansion, and supernumerary servants. To UTTER. To ARTICULATE. To PRONOUNCE. What is spoken audibly is uttered, and not whis- pered. What is spoken with syllabic distinctness is articulated, and not cluttered. What is spoken with verbal propriety is pronounced, and not slubbered. In great pain the silent lobster utters a cry. Few singers articulate accurately ; and few foreigners pro- nounce correctly. Birds will learn to articulate par- ticular syllables ; but seldom attain that dcgi-^e of proportion whicli is requisite to pronounce entire words or phrases. Coast. Shore. Strand. Coast, from tlie latin costa side, is that part of the land which is visible from the sea. Shore {shear shore, and slieorf surf, are akin) is that edge of land over wliich tlu- sea-waves wash. Strand (probably 255 contracted from side-rand) is the strip of shore inter- vening between high and low water mark. A moun- tainous coast. A yellow shore. The flatter the shore, the broader the strand. In Prussia strand-riders are appointed to prevent the amber, or the wreck, from being picked up on the shore, and appropriated by the inliabitants of the coast. Probity. Integrity, Virtue. The essence of probity consists in having been put to the proof {prohus tried) and found worthy of reli- ance. The essence of integrity consists in its unbro- ken, uncorrupt persistence {integer whole, entire,) in right, in being nowhere deficient of ability or exer- tion. The essence of virtue consists in manliness {vir man), in humanity, in daring to do all that may become a man. Fidelity to the obligations of law and duty suffice for probity ; an habitual regard to the principles of morality and conscience belongs to integrity'; virtue, superior to either, inspires and performs beneficence. Probity has a more passive, integrity a more ba- lanced, and virtue a more active, character. Probity is trusted, integrity esteemed, virtue thanked. Pro- bity loves order, integrity loves completeness, virtue loves bounty. Probity is the nursling of justice, in- tegrity of principle, and -vdrtue of generosity. Averse. Adverse. Averse (« and versus turned from) describes a hos- tility, which shuns conflict, though it betrays dis- union. Adverse {ad and versus turned towards) describes a hostility, which affronts and resists face to face. Those are averse who dislike ; those are adverse who oppose. The adverse are more open in their antagonism than the averse. 256 Sound, Tone. The sound of the voice is determined by the phy- sical structure of tlie organ ; its tone, by the tem))o- rary aifections. The sound is weak or strong, smooth or rough, shrill or hoarse. The tone is low or loud, soothing or pathetic, gay or angry : a weak voice may vary from low to loud ; and so may a strong one. In women and children the sound of the voice is shrill ; in men it is comparatively hoarse. The tone of irony has something of shrillness ; the tone of anger something of hoarseness. Affluence. Abundance. Redundance. These words describe a progression from assemblage to fulness and excess. Affluence is that Howiug towards {ad and finere) which announces speedy re- pletion. Abundance {ab and iinda) is that bursting over of the waves, or higher ridges of water, where the banks barely suffice to contain the stream. Re- dundance {re and undo) is the backwater, the reflected wave, the current which had tried to escape, and which is sent back by the reaction of the confining cause. Affluence is the harbinger of prosperity. Abun- dance makes waste. The redundance of juvenile spirits. His affluence may be great at present ; but he spends too fast to establish his situation. In the oratory of Jeremy Taylor there is at times a trouble- some abundance. The glory of the pupil redounds (.m his instructor. Acute. Subtle. Acute means pointed, and subtle means slender. As there is more strength, more penetrating force, but less flexibility and adaptation, ii: a needle than, a 257 wire, in a skewer than a twig ; so, in metaphor, snbtie describes an accommodating, and acute a piercing, intellect. Applause. Acclamation. Applause is expressed with the hands, acclama- tion with the lips ; applause is a clapping, accla- mation is a shouting, for encouragement. Applause , is given by an audience as a proof of admiration ; but acclamation as a pledge of support. We ap- plaud the delivery, we acclaim the sentiment, of a speech. The actor draws applause ; the demagogue acclamation. Just. Legitimate. That is just which theoretical law, that is legiti- mate which positive law, prescribes. A just cause. The legitimate age of majority. It is legitimate, but unjust, to punish unitarians for writing against the trinity. To DESIST. To RENOUNCE. To QUIT. To LEAVE OFF. Each of these words implies the relinquishment of some pursuit or object, but from different motives. We desist from what is impracticable ; we renounce what is disreputable ; we quit what is noisome ; we leave off what is habitual. The ministers of the crown have desisted from aiming at the partition of France, and have renounced their maxims of religi- ous intolerance. lie is quitting political in favour of literary activity, and leaves off the coffee-house for the bookseller's shop. As we stand still {de and sistere) when we can go no further; so we desist from what is impracti- cable. As we call off {re and nunciare) from what it is glorious to shun ; so we renounce what is dis- 258 reputable. As we leave quiet (qmefare) that in which we cease to stir ; so we quit what is noisome. As we let alone a worn dress ; so we leave off what is habitual. Exterior. External. Extraneous. Strange. From the latin preposition extra without, derive the adjectives exterior outer, externus outward ; whence external, and extraneus, lying without ; whence extraneous. From this last latin adjective the french have formed their estrange, which is the root of strange. That which is outer is part of, and that which is outward is contiguous to, but that which lies without may be separate from the surface covered. Hence exterior and external both imply connection ; whereas extraneous is opposed to attached or adhe- rent, and implies disconnection. Exterior is opposed to interior, and external to internal. The skin is the exterior, the dress is the external, covering of our bodies. Extraneous is used metaphorically of things not growing out of the subject, not native as it were to the soil, present as straying strangers not as con- vened guests. Odes are often filled with extraneous ideas. Extranea bona sunt corporis et animi, honos, pecuuia, potentia. Strange is especially applied to national relations, and is used for foreign, unusual, unknown, and hence unwelcome. A man's internal religion is that which resides in his mind and sentiments ; his external religion is that which displays itself in his worship and con- duct : the establishment of the magistrate is the ex- ternal religion of many an unbeliever. In the foregoing instance, our english idiom ap- pears to differ from that of the latin language, whence are borrowed the words employed : externa 259 religio, in Cicero, signifying a foreign religion. But the real anglicism consists principally in the use of the word religion, which, with us, stands for piety, or sanctanimity. Obscurity. Offtjscation. Obscurity is the privation, and offuscation the dis- colournient, of light. The moon is obscure during the dark quarter, and offuscated during eclipse. Painted windows obscure the church by lessening, and offuscate it by tinging, the light within. The obscurity of ignorance. The offuscation of supersti- tion. Breathing. Sighing. Blowing. Puffing. Panting. Gasping. Sucking. Whiffing. Breathing describes the natural play of the respi- ratory organs, the regular movement of the air in and out of the lungs. Panting is a forced state of the respiratory organs, an irregular palpitating move- ment, and is also applied both to inhalation and exhalation. Pluto pants for breath. Bryden. She heaved the name of father Pantingly forth. Shakspeare. Sighing, blowing, puffing are forms of exhalation ; but gasping, sucking, w^hiffing are forms of inhala- tion. Sighing describes a gradual, blowing a vehe- ment and abundant, and puffing a sudden discharge of air from the lungs. Gasping describes a gradual, sucking a vehement and abundant, and whiffing a sudden absorption of air by the lungs : so that gasp- ing is the reverse of sighing, sucking of blowing, and whiffing of puffing. Present. Gift. Unconditional donations made with a view to 2d0 compliment are called presents, made with a view to benefit are called gifts. The present does an ho- nour, the gift a service. He has made me a present of the hunter. He has made me a gift of the cart- horse. Princes make presents to one another. Sub- jects make gifts to a king. Usage. Custom. Usage has relation to space, and custom to time ; usage is more universal, and custom more ancient ; usage is what many people practice, and custom is what people have practised long. A vulgar usage ; an old custom. Dining late is the usage of the higher classes, inasmuch as it is general ; and their custom, inasmuch as it is established. Savage. Ferocious. Man is savage for want of culture, ferocious for want of native kindness ; the one springs from si- tuation, the other from character. The savage man can be polished by education and intercourse ; the ferocious man may conceal, but will rarely conquer, his fierceness. Savagism is the absence of those acquirements which are necessary in civilized life ; when removed by instruction it returns no more. Ferocity is not indiscipline, but inhumanity : it may slumber, but it is ready to awake at any adequate provocation. Zone. Girdle. Belt. Zone is greek for girdle, and describes a bandage above the waist. As the greek men wore the belt lower, calling it Trtpt^w/m belhj-bond, the zone became a{>propriated to female attire. And in english, though we apply the word girdle to the dress of either sex, we still limit the word zone to that of 2fil ^omen. The girdle of a monk. The zone of a vestal. Belt differs from girdle in being broader and flatter ; a girdle may be a string, a belt must be a strap. Oppression. Tyranny. In oppression the idea of bearing hard {ob and premere) upon the people ; in tyranny the idea of in- trusive dominion (rvpavvia usurpation) is prominent. The legitimate sovereign is too often an oppressor, llepublicans will call any king a tyrant. Oppression might rationally be made an object of penal jurisdic- tion ; but tyranny is sufficiently punished by forfei- ture, since it is thereby remedied. Peculiar. Particular. Singular. He is peculiar, who follows a way of his own ; he is particular, whose way is that of but a part of man- kind ; he is singular, whose way is that of one only. Peculiarity is self-chosen ; particularity may arise from the imitation of that fraction we belong to in the community ; in absolute singularity there is mostly something of affectation, or something of mad- ness. The word singularity is applied by a natural hyperbole to any rare form of behaviour, to any un- usual degree of peculiarity. Aristophanes and Foote have occasionally satirized singularity ; but such mordacity is more painful to the individual than beneficial to the public. Particu- larity affords a fitter scope for ridicule, because the exposure of it corrects an entire class of men. Every human character has its peculiarity, which the dra'- matist should render remarkable in proportion to its influence on his action or plot. Faithless. Perfidious. Breach of faith constitutes faithlessness ; the hy- 262 pocrisy of fidelity constitutes perfidy. The woman is faithless, who is known to be so by the person inter- ested ; she is only perfidious while she disguises her want of fidelity. Impunity. Pardon. Impunity is the omissien of punishment ; pardon is the sanctioned omission of punishment. We may confer impunity, says Cicero, without pardoning. Anguish. Anxiety. Care. Solicitude. Anguish {anrjor) is the settled pain of disease, and that acute suffering of mind which is analogous to it. Anxiety {anxietas) has a more interrupted character ; it is the intermitting pain, the busy inquietude of disease, and that ever-recurring uneasiness of mind, which is analogous to it. Care {curd) and solicitude {solicitudo) are applied to the mind only. Care is as steady but less painful than anguish. Solicitude is as billowy but less painful than anxiety. Anguish and anxiety are retrospective ; they have a cause, but not a purpose. Care and solicitude are prospective ; they have a purpose as well as a cause. Answer. Reply. Repartee. An answer is given to a question, a reply to an objection, a repartee to a jocose, observation. Au answer should be clear, a reply conclusive, a repartee hitting. Defendant. Defender. Defendant is he who defends a law-suit ; defender is he who defends any thing else. Defendant is op- posed to plaintiff, and defender to assailant. 263 Definition. Description. Definition may be compared with outline, and description with colouring. To point out the limits {finis edge) which separate any one thing from others is to define it ; and to trace out {scrihere to write) the character of its contents is to describe it. De- finition separates, description exhibits. Definition should never be vague ; description should never be faint. Deputy. Delegate. Representative. A deputy, a delegate, a representative, is one em- ployed to act in behalf of others ; the appointment makes the deputy, the being sent elsewhere to act makes the delegate, the presenting again, or the faithful transmission, of the sense of the constituent body, makes the representative. A member of par- liament is the deputy of the people the moment he is returned {deputatus separated) ; their delegate, when he is gone to the metropolis {delegatus sent off) to watch over their affairs ; and their representative, while he copies his pattern {reprcesentatio likeness), or transmits an undiscoloured reflection of the original trust. Mutual. Reciprocal. Affection is mutual, when both parties fall in love at once ; it is reciprocal, when the previous affection of the one has drawn forth the attachment of the other. Properly, mutuum is a loan procured by ex- change, a commutation ; hence that is mutual for which an equivalent is given. Properly, reciprocatio is a flowing and ebbing, a compensation alternately accomplished. Melody. Harmony. Melody, says Rousseau in hisDictionary of Music, 264 is the succession, and harmony is the consonance, of musical tones. In sounds related by the laws ot' modulation, melody contemplates their alternate, ana harmony their simultaneous, impression. The melo- dious song of the nightingale ; the mingled harmony of the grove. Ambrosia. Nectar. Ambrosia (from a privative, and ftporoQ mortal,) was the food, and nectar (from re privative, and Kreivu) kill,) was the drink of the greek gods : both are so named from their supposed power of bestowing au everlasting life. Entire. Whole. Entire excludes division ; whole excludes subtrac- tion. The entire orange is not yet cut : after being sliced, the whole orange is still in the plate, if none of the pieces have been withdrawn. Barbarism. Solecism. The Greeks called all foreign nations barbarous : to barbarize in language was consequently to speak or write like a foreigner, or barbarian ; and a bar- barism was a vicious form of speech worthy of a foreigner. A king of Cyprus, by Solon's advice, privileged a city culled Soloi, in which so many Athenian emi- grants came to settle, that they permanently influ- enced the dialect of the natives. To solecize was to sj>eak, or write, like the inhabitants of Soloi, that is, to ape the Athenians affectedly ; and a solecism was an unsuccessful attemj)t, a degenerate effort, to copy the most refined dialect of the Greeks. A barbarism then is a fault of speech, or style, ori- ginating in rudeness, strangeness, and ignorance ; and a solecism is a fault of speech, or style, originating 265 in affectation, anxiety, and over-refinement. Shak- speare sometimes laulters into barbarism, and Ben Jonson into solecism. Stream. Current. A fluid body in progressive motion is the purport common to these words ; but in stream the length, in current the running, is the prominent idea. A lazy stream. A shifting current. A stream of wind, when the length of space it moves over is obvious ; a current of air, when merely its motion through a chink is apparent. A long and narrow pennon is called a streamer. The main stream of the Missis- sipi flows from north to south ; but where it is most rapid, a reflex current forms itself near the banks, which slides in a contrary direction. Spring. Rivulet. Brook. River. Springs, says Locke, make rivulets ; those united make brooks ; and those coming together make rivers, which empty themselves into the sea. In springs, the idea of immediate origin {springan to rise), in rivulets, the idea of minuteness {riindus is a diminutive), in brooks, the idea of rifted, or bro- ken, sides is prominent ; and in rivers, that of having banks {rknis bank). Mountain-streams are mostly brooks, which flow in scooped abrupt hollows below the level of the ground ; but, in flat countries, the streams are mostly rivers, which have embanked themselves with alluvion-soil, and flow above the level of the meadow-land. Torrent. Brook. Most torrents are brooks, and most brooks are torrents ; but a torrent diflPers from a brook in that it sometimes dries up {torrere to dry up) ; whereas brooks often retain a perpetuity of water. Torrents, y2 2G6 beiug subject alike to excess and defect, to sudden overflow and rapid desiccation, are, in metaphor, often used to describe an overwhebning as well as a temporary effort ; but the overwhelming character is their accident, and the subsequent exhaustion their essence. The French have not overflowed Europe like a torrent, but like a river which supplies its sta- tions with water, and retains the power of periodic iimndation. Cautious. Discrete. The cautious man is always wary (caveo) ; the dis- crete man distinguishes (discerno) when to be on and when to be off his guard. In caution there is timid mistrust ; in discretion there is prudent adaptation. Cautious people seldom become frank ; but frank peo- ple are often disciplined into discretion. The miser will lend cautiously, the banker discretely. Jealousy. Envy. We are jealous of our own possessions, envious of another man's. Jealous of a mistress, envious of a rival. Jealous of honour, envious of glory. A king is jenlous of his domestic power, envious of his neigh- bour's dominion. There is in jealousy more of zeal, but it is compatible with good will ; there is in envy more of patience, but it implies ill will. Jealousy is a niggardly, and envy a rapacious, passion. Spell. Charm. Incantation. Enchantment. Words of occult power are spells ; rhythmical words of occult power are charms : in the appellation, charm {carmeri), the idea of musical, or melodious, arrange- ment is implied. Incantation is the process, and en- chantment the result, of influencing by charms. Eloquence is the spell, poetry tlie charm, most able to sway the cultivated mind. Some rhymers are so 2d 7 diffuse, that the longer their incantation, the shorter the enchantment prockiced. Circumspection. Consideration. Circumspection is looking round {circumspicere) on earth ; and consideration is {sidus star) taking counsel of the heavens. Hence circumspection is used of the common conduct of life ; while consideration is ap|)lied to weightier topics, to the calling in of high autho- rities, and to the regard with which we look up to a superior. She is too circumspect to risk setting her foot in the gutter, or exposing her conduct to an equivocal rumour. A man looks up to his patron and adviser with sentiments of consideration. Peace and war is left to the consideration of a privy council. Divines consider a question of theology. Mind. Soul. Both these words describe the thinking principle in animals, the seat of perception and vohtion. But, among metaphysicians, mind is becoming a generic, jind soul an individual, designation. Mind is opposed to matter; soul to body. Mind is soul without regard to personality ; soul is the appropriate mind of the being under notice. Etymologically, mind is the principle of volition, and soul the principle of animation. "I mean to go" was originally "I mind to go." Soul, at first identical with self, is from scllan, to say, the faculty of speech being its characteristic. Dumb, and without a soul, beside such beauty ! He has no mind to marry. Meditation. Contemplation, Meditation is that internal rehearsal which precedes 268 the performance of an intellectual effort. Medifan means originally, to practise on an instrument. Con- templation is that adhesive attention which is bestowed on lofty, solemn, and interesting topics. ContempJari means originally, to gaze on a shire of the heavens marked out by the augur. The musician meditates ; the astronomer contemplates. I meditate the ode I am composing ; I contemplate the ode which has been shown to me. Meditation applies to the future, contemplation to the extant. To meditate mischief is to prepare it ; to contemplate depravity is to ob- serve it. We meditate what we are about to do ; we contemplate what is already done. Before its crea- tion the universe was an object of meditation, since its creation it has been an object of contemplation, to the divine mind. Meditation, says the Jesuit Richeome, is less clear, less sweet, and more painful than contemplation ; it is as the reading of a book, which must be done sen- tence after sentence ; but contemplation is like casting the eyes upon a picture, discerning all at once. When Swift, in order to ridicule the turgid and vicious style of a pious popular enthusiast, wrote his " Meditations on a Broomstick," he purposely mis- employed, like Ilervey, the word meditation for con- templation. Staff. Crutch. Crook. Crosier. Staff is a straight walking-stick : crutch is a walk- ing stick, or prop, one end of which is hooked : crook is a stick used by shepherds, one end of which is hooked : crosier is a crook used by bishops, as a symbol of their pastoral office. A staff and a crutch are walking-sticks, of which the first is without and the second with a cross-bar at the top. A staff pre- vents the body from falling, a crutch assists in lifting it. A crook and a crosier are sheep-hooks, of which 269 the first is used by lay, and the second by ecclesiastic, hands. Staff is etymologically connected with to stay ; crook and crutcli with the Swedish krock, a hook ; and crosier with croix, cross. Aim. End. View, Scope. Drift. Each of these words is employed to indicate the subject of a man's pursuit, the purpose of his effort, ^m* denotes an immediate, end an ultimate, object ; view marks an included, scope a comprehensive, pur- pose : all these may be intentions merely, designs under contemplation ; but the drift of a man is that for which he is set out, and towards which he is in progress. Some persons aim at getting a fortune, as a step to rank ; with others, wealth is itself the end. His views in life are vague, but his scope is vast ; so endowed, if he is a seizer of opportunities, he will attain a splendid advancement. No wonder the city member is become ministerial, his avowed drift is a baronetage. To OVERCOME. To CONQUER. To SUBDUE. To overcome announces but the superiority of the moment ; to conquer (co7iqua-it') includes the idea of acquisition ; to subdue {subdiicere) is to lead under the yoke, and complete a tame submission. Strive to overcome evil with good. It requires * To take aim is to direct a missile weapon ; and to carry aim is to move in a course to hit. Dr. Trusler improperly uses " to lay an aim." Neither Junius nor Skinner succeeded in ascertaining the root of the word aim ; but, as home is spelled haini in Ulphilas, it may be a mere variety thereof. The " strike home " of the broad-swordsmen, and the " with aim'' of the archers, are parallel expressions. Aim is the blot, or fiome, to which an arrow is to be sent. 270 courage, combination, and alacrity, to conquer ; per- severance, clemency, and accommodation, to subdue. Inclination. Bias. Inclination is a leaning toioard {in and cUnare) any person, or thing : bias is the weight lodged in one side of a bowl, which turns it {biaiser to swerve) from the straight direction. There is aflfection, there is voluntarity, where there is inclination ; bias is an unconscious, but a more regular, impulse. The inclination of a body at rest ; the bias of a body in motion. Inclination is applied to tendencies of the gentler, and bias of the uncontrollable, kind : incli- nation to influence from without, bias to influence from within. The prince was aliened from all inclination to the marriage. Clarendon Morality influences men's lives, and gives a bias to all their actions. Locke. The inclination of his judgment, not the bias of his prejudice, gave the award. To PEEL. To PARE. The peel of an orange, of a peach, of a pear, is that rind which surrounds the pulp of the fruit. To peel, is to withdraw the rind by pulling ; to pare, is to remove it in strips, and with an instrument. Apples, when roasted, peel best ; when raw, pare best. Take my silver knife ; the melting peach will peel ; but these October peaches require paring. The bark peels of itself off the plane-tree ; but the oak must have been cut down some time, before it can be pared clean. Preternatural. Supernatural. Preternatural signifies beside nature ; and super- natural, above nature. What is extraordinary, un- usual, out of the habitual course of things, is preter- 271 natural : what is superior to the inherent powers of matter, and contrary to the established laws of the uuiverse, is supernatural. The birth of a calf with two heads is preternatural. The miracles ascribed to Arabian magicians are supernatural. To SLIP. To SLIDE. To slip is an involuntary, to slide is a voluntary, lateral motion, which displaces the body without affecting the relative position of the limbs. Those slip on the ice, who intend to tread firm ; those slide on the ice, who adopt by choice a gliding mo- tion. In life, he is said to slip, who did not intend to forget himself: he is said to slide into other ways, who warily and smoothly forsakes the plan of conduct previously superinduced. Drunk. Fuddled. During excesses of the table, intoxication assumes in diiferent persons a distinct form. Among the slim, the active, and the young, a disposition ap- pears to speak much, and gloriously, and angrily ; among the corpulent, the indolent, and the elderly, an inclination comes on to indulge an idiotic fond- ness and bounty. Our forefathers ascribed the vo- ciferous and boastful intoxication to the effect of drink, and called it being drunk : they ascribed the slavering and affectionate intoxication to the eifect oifood, and called it hem^ fuddled. Many get drunk before they get fuddled ; while the stimulation is confined to the stomach, they are noisy ; when it reaches the kidneys, they are coaxing. The ancients wisely called a fuddling dose, a philtre. Divination. Prediction. To divine is to guess, and to predict is to foretel ; they are terms of the augurs, and imply the assump- tion of supernatural illumination. Divination is pre- 272 paratory to ]1rellicti^n. There is something; of mystery in divination, and something of impudence in prediction. Divination can be used of the past, prediction only of the future. To SHAKE. To TREMBLE. One vibration is a shake : to tremble, being a frequentative verb, includes the idea of many vibra- tions ; to tremble is to shake repeatedly. To shake is a more powerful and single motion ; to tremble is a weaker and more recurring passion. To shake, being of native origin, is applied both to sensible and to metaphoric painting ; to tremble, being an imported verb, is rather less usual in its proper than in ite metaphoric sense. To shake is often a verb active ; to tremble is always a verb neuter : we shake a tree, we shake hands ; we shake with cold, we shake with anger : at the sound of thunder, at the thought of danger, the timid tremble. Trick. Device. Finesse. Artifice. Stratagem. Trick is english, devisa italian, finesse french, arti- ficium latin, and stratayema greek for a sly fraud. With the hospitality characteristic of our language all these words have been naturalized, and are striv- ing to acquire variety of meaning. The writers of James the first's tim.e, who were formed by italian models, employ device, and the writers of Charles the second's time, who were formed by french models, employ finesse, as synony- mous with trick : but in such sense both these words are obsolescent. Device is gradually becom- ing a technical term in heraldry ; and describes the hieroglyph by means of which the name of a chief- tain is enigniatlcally written on his shield. Finesse is gradually becoming a technical term at whist ; and describes a manaMivre by which the third ])layer passes off his second-best card for his best. Artifice 273 is properly a mechanical contrivance, and stratagem a warrior's feint. In a snare a bird is caught by ar- tifice ; when decoyed, by stratagem. To PART "WITH. To LOSE. To part with announces simple separation ; to lose, unwilling separation. I part with my wife because her father is ill, and wants her : I lose my wife's company, but I feel she is where duty re- quires. Cicero, speaking of Decius, who devoted himself for the republic, says : Amisit vitam, non perdidit. He parted with life, but did not lose it ; with a slight thing he purchased a great one ; with a worthless breath of air, a lasting station among the benefactors of his country. Warm. Hot. Warm is mild and welcome, hot a strong and unwelcome, degree of heat. Milk is warm as it comes from the cow, hot as it boils on the fire. Warm is opposed to cool, and hot to cold. Sleepy. Drowsy. He is sleepy, who tends to fall asleep anywhere ; he is drowsy, who tends to fall asleep while he is sitting up. To be sleepy is often welcome ; to be drowsy is always indecorous. Hopelessness. Despair. Despondency. Hopelessness is english, and despair is french (dts privative, and espoir hope), for an idea, expressed with other associations by the latin word despon- dency. The hopeless man may never have hoped. I continue hopeless. The despairer has parted with his hope. Plunged from the heights of hope into the depths of despair. The despondent man is to . hope no more. There is no sure remedy for super- stitious and desponding weakness. V Estrange^ z 274 The latin words animum desponrlere sigaifv to pledge, or betroth, the soul. While demonology was accredited, and a melancholy man was thouglit to have made a contract with the devil, to have sold his soul, and pledged it to perdition, this latin- ism was well adapted to pass into European lan- guage ; but a correct and classical use of to despond and its derivatives, is no longer easy. Dexterous. Adroit. Dexterous is latin and adroit is french, for right- handed : he who uses the right hand uses the more skilful hand of the two ; hence these words, when employed metaphorically, signify ingenious. Dexterous is apphed both to bodily and mental cleverness. Dexterous at manual exercises. Sabine. The same protestants may by their dexterity make themselves the national religion. Swift. Adroit is applied both to bodily and mental clever- ness. An adroit stout fellow would sometimes destroy a whole family. Jervas. To manage adroitly. Sabine. In what then does dexterous differ from adroit ? In this : dexterous is used directly, and adroitly ironi- cally. An adroit fencer is an unfair fencer ; a dex- terous fencer may be an honourable one. An adroit pickpocket. An adroit witness. That handiness is jeered at, that ingenuity is sneered at, which is described as adroit. An adroit negotiator may outwit his adversary ; but he prepares by his very success the instability of his compact. Famoits. Renowned. Celebrated. Illustrious. He is famous who is spoken of {fart) ; he is re- /lowned who is named often {re, and nom name) ; he is celebrated who is praised with solemnity {cele- hrare) ; he is illustrious who is shone upon {illus- tratus). Of course, a man may become famous for 275 incidents in which he is passive ; as Empedocles for having been swallowed by a volcano, or Tarquiu for his expulsion. But those are only renowned, who are themselves principals in some exploit, and architects of their own reputation. Joan of Arc is more renowned than known ; she was a tool of the cordelier Richard, and her extolled saccesses were principally due to the connivance of the duke of Burgundy's agents. Celebrity is not always propor- tioned to merit. Hector, perhaps a hero of ro- mance, is more celebrated than Alexander, the mi- racle of history. The praise of the poet and the orator bestows celebrity ; the notice of the state, and the record of the historian, render illustrious. To MANIFEST. To PROCLAIM. To PUBLISH. Open solemn declaration is an idea common to these words : to manifest is to render evident, to proclaim is to call aloud, and to publish is to ac- quaint the many with the transaction. In order to justify the dismissal of old servants, a master may choose to manifest their embezzlements, without wishing to proclaim, or to publish, them. A sultan of Egypt on his death-bed commanded, that his winding-sheet should be carried at the end of a lance by a herald, who was to proclaim : Here is all that Saladin will carry with him out of the world. Pro- clamation is a short-lived form of publication : wall- bills even are more effectual, without assembling so great a crowd they publish intelligence to greater numbers. Duration. Durability. Duration is the act of lasting, durability the power of lasting. No individual being has eternal duration ; yet the matter of which it is formed may have eternal durability. 276 Yearly. Annual. Annal. Anniversary. Yearly is the english and annual the latin adjec- tive of year, annus; and both signify, happening every year. Yearly seasons. Annua cultura. Why the changing oak should shed The yearly honour of his head. Prior. We use the word annual, but not the VFord yearly, for that which lasts only a year. Plants that are annual, will superannuate, if they stand warm. Bacon. We use the word yearly, but not the word annual, in composition, as half-yearly. Annal signifies that which regards the year. The annal law is that which reformed the calendar. The annual laws are those which are passed every year. Anniversary signifies returning with the revolution of the year. Anniversary holidays. Born the 2!)th of February, it is but once in four years that the poor boy comes in for an anniversary plum-cake. Basis. Foundation. The basis is the lowest part of a statue, or column, that which supports the whole : the foundation is that arrangement of materials in the ground, on which a wall or edifice is to be erected. If Diocle- siau's pillar were to be removed into Europe, the foundation would remain in Egypt, the base would be brought with it. Prosperous. Fortunate. He is prosperous who hoped for his success ; he is fortunate who owed it to good luck. Expected advantage must have regular causes ; prosperity therefore describes a more stable and honourable well-being than fortune. 277 Flock. Herd. Cattle. Flock, in latia grex, is a collection of small cat- tle ; herd, in latin arinentum, is a collection of large cattle ; whereas cattle, in latin pecus, comprehends both the large and small stock of the grazier. A flock of sheep, a herd of bullocks : swine are trouble- some cattle. Two-foot. Two-footed. A two-foot ruler has two feet in length ; a two- footed animal has two feet to walk with : the first (like the latin bipedalis) is an adjective of measure ; the other (like the latin bipes) is an adjective ot number. The Corsican fairy was a bipedal biped ; a two-foot and a two-footed dwarf. To tell. To disclose. To reveal. To divulge. To make known that which was unknown is the common signification of these words. To tell is to declare things purposely with a design to inform the listener. To disclose what was before concealed may happen inadvertently. To reveal is to lay open a secret, to remove the veil, or curtain, from before the precious object it protected. To divulge is to scatter abroad and among the multitude the know- ledge of what was hitherto hidden. From the sheer love of prattling some persons tell every thing they hear. Alertness is requisite to keep a secret well : confidants often disclose what thev are intrusted with from a lazy nesrlisience. Confessors sometimes reveal to the magistrate the misdeeds of their penitents. The malignity of party often divulges the foibles of the great. Persons. People. There were five persons at table beside myself. There were five people at table beside myself. This z 2 278 last expression is idiomatic, and peculiar to our language, and insinuates that the five people alluded to were of inferior note. We look up with more consideration to those whom we denominate persons, than to those whom we denominate people. In or- der to describe a company, we should be able to mention the quality of the persons, and the number of people present. We speak of the many as disaf- fected people : we speak of the eminent as discon- tented persons. We say persons, when each indivi- dual left an impression ; people, when only the col- lection was perceived. Danger. Risk. Hazard. Venture. All these words imply chance of harm : danger and risk relate to the evil that may come ; hazard and venture to the good that may go. We are in danger, we run a risk, when we are in fear of some impending ill. We hazard, we venture, when we expose to jeopardy some possessed good. A danger is a nearer and surer ground of fear, than a risk. A hazard is a slighter and feebler ground of hope, than a venture. The danger of death in battle. The risk of health in hot climates. To hazard the cost of a lottery ticket. To venture capital in the South-sea trade. Danger and hazard are more contiguous ; risk and venture are more prospective. Danger is a neigh- bour, and a bad one ; Risk a distant acquaintance of uncertain value. Hazard is a gambler spiritedly indifferent to loss or gain ; Venture is a sjjcculative trader, whose boldness asked advice of prudence. Nothing venture, nothing have. Celebration. Celebrity. Celebration is the act of frequenting ; and ce- lebrity the state of being frequented. The cele- 279 bration of a poet's birth-day. The celebrity of a poet's writings. The celebration is the perform- ance, the celebrity is the famousness, of the Olym- pic games. Boldness. Audacity. Boldness marks the ready, audacity, the daring, character. He is bold who is forward, prompt, decisive ; he is audacious who is venturous, enter- prising, insolent. Boldness meets, audacity pro- vokes, conflict : there is in boldness more of action, in audacity more of wordiness. Bold signifying in other gothic dialects forward, quick, (Swedish baella to be able, german bald soon,) seems to describe that agile strength which strikes or wards at once. Command of body and presence of mind are the forms of courage which constitute boldness. The word audacious (latin audax) signifies enterprising, and describes that incautious hazardous spirit, which without delibera- tion undertakes to try to vanquish. Si deficiant vires, audacia certe laus erit. Propertius. Wonderful is the use of boldness in civil business : what first 1 boldness. What second and third 1 bold- ness. And yet boldness is a child of ignorance and rashness, far inferior to other parts. Bacon. In the bay of Biscay the coast is as bold, as the sea is audacious. ' Courtesy. Complaisance. Courtesy is attention to please by a deferential officiousness ; complaisance is attention to please by sympathetic accommodation. The assiduities of courtesy (from cour court) may be addressed to persons unlike ourselves ; the assiduities of com- plaisance imply a falling in with one another's ha- bits, a behig pleased {con and placere) w\th the same things. Courtesy wins patronage and complai- . 280 sauce attachment. A lover is courteous ; man and wife are complaisant. Star. Constellation. Planet. Satellite All the luminaries of the nocturnal heavens, es- pecially the fixed, are called stars; and a knot of stars, which the eye habitually connects too:ether, (con and stella) is called a constellation. Planets (from TrXavT] wandering) are those stars which change their relative places ; and a satelHte is an attendant, or secondary, planet, such as the moon, which, like a body-guard (satelles guard), obeys the motions of its principal. A shooting star is still said of a meteor ; but philosophy is narrowing the application of the term to the permanently revolving heavenly bodies. Viewed through a telescope, the planet Saturn, with his ring and his satellites, expands into a beautiful constellation. Artery. Vein. In the lungs the blood is oxygenated, and is push- ed into circulation by the heart : the arteries dis- tribute over the body this purer and redder blood, and the veins carry back for re-puration the blood Avhich has expended its oxygen. Thus, as to the source of circulation, the arteries export, the veins import, blood : the arteries transport a red and vi- vid, the veins a purple and impure, fluid : the ar- teries are active, the veins are passive, vessels. Before the theory of circulation was understood, much absurd metaphor was current about the veins. Horace has vena benigna inffenii ; and Waller Invokes the Muses to improve his vein. One would rather say : the arteries of genius, and the veins of learning. It is genius which animates, propels, and diffuses ; it is learning which imbibes, detains, and collects. 281 Argument. Argumentation. An argument is a reason alleged for or against a donbtful point : argumentation is the process ot adducing arguments. In argumentation, one strong argument outweighs many weak ones. Argumen- tationis nomine tota disputatio ipsa comprehenditur, constans ex argumento et argumenti confutatione. Cicero. Effrontery. Impudence. There is a confusion of face connected with the detection of mean qualities, such as lying, or cow- ardice, which blushes at the forehead ; and there is a confusion of face connected with the detection of lewd qualities, such as lasciviousness, or indecency, which blushes at the cheek. The man of effrontery has overcome this sensibility of forehead ; the man of impudence this sensibility of cheek. Effrontery marks a want of the nobler, and impudence of the chaster, feelings : effrontery offends more in a man, impudence offends more in a woman. Blow. Bruise. Wound. Scar. That injury of the skin and flesh which results from percussion, is called a blow, which results from pressure, is called a bruise, which results from cutting, is called a wound ; and that which remains after the healing is called a scar. The words an- swer respectively to the latin plaga, ulcus, vuinus, cicatrix. Useful. Beneficial. Profitable. Advan- tageous. Serviceable. That is useful, which we habitually want ; that is beneficial, which does us good ; that is profitable, by which we gain ; that is advantageous, by which 282 we get forwards ; and that is serviceable, which is of rare but important accommodation. Useful is more applicable to handiness ; beneficial to health ; profitable to lucre ; advantageous to honour ; and serviceable to patronage. Every-day furniture is termed useful ; the plate, or porcelain, which aj)- pears only on festival days, is termed serviceable. Change of place is beneficial in fever. Many light profits make a heavy purse. A well-timed com- mendation is often more advantageous than pecu- niary service. Suspicion. Surmise. Suspicion is formed by peeping (sub and sjiecere) ; surmise by documents submitted {sous and mis) to attention. Suspicion implies personal anxiety ; sur- mise an official via;ilance. I surmise dishonestv in the servant of another ; I suspect it in my own. Both words denote the imagination of some ill with- out authoritative proof. Pathless. Devious. Impervious. Impass- able. Inaccessible. The course is pathless, where no road is traced ; devious, where the road leads out of the way ; im- pervious, where there is no road tlirough ; impassa- ble, where there is no passage ; and inaccessible, where the very approach is impracticaljle. A pathless desert. Devium oppidum. Cicero. Amnis impervius. Ovid. The river is impervious which cannot be forded, and impassable which cannot be crossed. An inaccessible summit. Cruel. Atrocious. Dire. Cruel (from crurhts) answers originally to the onglish word /itir.s/i ; atrocious (from frux) answers originally to the cuglish word roii(//i ; and dire (from 283 dirce) answers to the etiglish word cursed. But all these three words, having been borrowed from the oratory of a learned language, excite ideas more noble and heroic than the corresponding native terras : they colossalize the qualities which they translate. A harsh schoolmaster ; a cruel tyrant. A rough press-gang ; an atrocious inqviisition. A cursed accident ; a dire misfortune. Barbarous. Inhuman. The Greeks called every foreigner a barbarian ; possibly from the specific name of the African tribe of Barbari, or Marmari, who bordered on the Alex- andrian Greeks. Barbarism now designates that intermediate state between savagism and civiliza- tion, in which settlement is begun, and refinement not attained. Yet we sometimes apply the word to what is outlandish, as " a barbarous expression ;" and sometimes to what is uncivilized, as " a barba- rous torture." Inhuman properly means without humanity, without the sympathies of kindness. In- humana crudelitas. Livy. The Cossacks are de- scribed by a late traveller as less inhuman though more barbarous than the Russians. Barbarous is opposed to refined, and inhuman to merciful. Area. Arena. Area is a dry place {arere to dry) left vacant before a public building ; arena is a sanded place {arena sand) left vacant for the struggle of com- batants. The area of the Capitol. The arena of the amphitheatre. The area is a square, the arena a pit. To PRECEDE. To anticipate. To precede is to go before (j>rce and cedere); to anticipate is to take before (ante and caper e); the 284 one marks priority of order, and the other of inter- ference ; the one is of course and the other of choice. Who precedes me is before me ; who anticipates me is before hand with me. Let justice precede generosity, lest generosity should anticipate jus- tice. Aqueous. Aquose. Aquatic. Aquatile. That is aqueous, which consists of water ; that is aquose, which abounds with water ; that is aqua- tic, which delights in water ; and that is aquatile, which subsists in water : the latin aqua, water, is the common root. An aqueous potation pompously describes water- drinking. The land has been so well drained, that, though aquose, it is no longer wet. Nubes aquosa. Vii'gil. An aqueous cloud would be a tautology. Horace terms the dropsy langor aquosus. Aquatic plants. Aquaticus Auster. Ovid. The aquatile frog. Fervour. Ardour. Fervour is a boiling heat, and ardour a burning one. The fervour of hot water, the ardour of hot sunshine. Hence in metaphor the warm passions, when ex- plosive, are termed fervent, when persevering, are termed ardent. Fervent anger. Ardent friendship. Love calls itself ardent ; when observation suspects it of being only fervent. Porch. Portico. Vestibule. Hall. A porch is a covered station, and a portico is a covered walk, on the outside of a building : a porch is placed at the entrance to shelter those who wait at the door ; a portico covers the whole side to shel- ter the passenger. A vestibule is a fore-room, and a hall is the first large room, within a building ; both serve as an entrance, a thoroughfare, a com- 285 mon apartment, but the vestibule announces a small- er space used to uncloak in. Vestibulum, from vestts, garment, means a cloak-room. By the translators of the Bible the word porch is used for portico incor- rectly. 1 Kings vi. 3. And the porch before the tem.ple, twenty cubits was the length thereof, ac- cording to the breadth of the house. In porticibus deambulantes disputabant philosophi. Cicero. Pri- me aditu, vestibuloque prohibere aliquem. Cicero. The idea of a common, or public, room seems es- sential to hall ; for in Swedish, and in west-gothic, a temple is called an «//-room, a room for all. There are etymologists who derive it from the la- tin aula, in which case it would mean a curtained space previous to the inner apartment : but this does not account for the use of the word in such combinations as town-hall, fishmongers^ hall, or for our calling every manorial house a hall. Insolent. Arrogant. Fastidious. Superb. He is insolent, who assumes an unwont superi- ority ; he is arrogant, who asks for more than his due ; he is fastidious, who is easily disgusted ; and he is superb, who lifts his head higher than is welcome . Insolence is capricious ; arrogance, noisy ; fasti- diousness, squeamish; and superbness, oppressive. The word superb is not often applied in our language to human character, but is often applied to material objects : a superb equipage, a superb service of plate. Insolens infamise, semper in laude versatus. Cicero. Arrogans beneficiorum prsedicatio. Cicero. In rebus prosperis superbiam magnopere, fastidium, arrogantiamque fugiamus. The insolent offend by giving themselves airs, the arrogant by advancing claims, the fastidious by an omissive disdain, and the superb by a haughty repulsion. A A 28G Sentiment. Opinion. By means of our sensations we feel, by means of our ideas we think : now a sentiment (from sentire) is properly a judgment concerning sensations, and an opinion (from opinari) is a judgment concerning ideas : our sentiments appreciate external, and our opinions internal, phenomena. On questions of feeling, taste, observation, or report, we define our sentiments. On questions of science, argument, or metaphysical abstraction, we define our opinions. The sentiments of the heart. The opinions of the mind. It is my sentiment that the wine of Burgundy is the best in the world. It is my opinion that the religion of Jesus Christ is the best in the world. Our sentiments are liable to fewer causes of error than our opinions. There is more of instinct in sentiment, and more of definition in opinion. The admiration of a work of art which results from first impres- sions is classed with our sentiments ; and when we have accounted to ourselves for the approbation, it is classed with our opinions. State. Condition. Situation. State {status standing) describes our habitual, con- dition {conditio plight) our accidental, and situation {situs place) our relative, circumstances. A building is in a bad state, when it is downfally ; in a bad condition, when it wants decorative repair ; and in a bad situation, when its emplacement is ill-chosen. Diseases which are constitutional, imply a bad state of health ; which are transitory, imply a bad condi- tion of health ; which are local, imply a bad situa- tion of health. jMy financial affairs are in a bad state, inasmuch as the deficiency is likely to be permanent ; they are in a bad condition, inasmuch as the pressure is immediate ; they are in a bad si- tuation, inasmuch as they are comparatively worse 287 than tliey were. Beneficence is the condition, excel- lence the situation, and virtue the state, of character which constitutes human merit. Anger. Ire. There is a connexion, physical as well as etyniolo- gical, between anger and hunger ; all animals, while fasting, being more prone to anger than when well- fed : extreme anger commits cannibalism, striving to devour its object. The latin word ira being derived from the same source as urere, to burn, describes a tendency to warmth, to heat, to catch fire. Hence there is in anger a something sour and enduring, and in ire a sonnething burning and explosive. The angry man is more apt to bear malice ; the irascible man is more terrible at the moment of irritation. Anger is often persevering ; ire is always hasty. Anger is never satisfied ; ire is never cool. "Weight. Sway. Both these words are used for influence over the mind of another : weight describes a heavj^, not always a motive, force ; sway describes a gentler but more absolute power, which both begins and guides action. This is metaphorically correct ; a weight disposes the scale to overpoise ; to wave and wield a massy weapon is to sway it. Robust. Strong. Stout. Sturdy. Rohitr in latin signifies the heart of oak, the hard- est part of timber ; and is applied metaphorically to describe that more than average toughness of sinew which distinguishes human bodies that are made for endurance. The robust man can bear heat or cold, excess or privation, toil or confinement, with less in- jury than his neighbour. Strong describes muscular ability : the strong man can lift, or draw, or hurl a 288 greater weight than his neighbour ; he can give a heavier blow, a harder gripe, a further spurn. The stout man (from stot an ox) has the proportions of an ox ; he is corpulent, fat, and fleshy in relation to his size. The sturdy man is one whose presence excites a start of perturbation. Dr. Johnson is for deriving this word from the french estourdi ; but, in my judgment, it rather belongs to the gothic family of words, stiiren to stir, sturzen to start, sturz over- throw, stutziy startling. A sturdy beggar is not the indiscrete, but the alarming, petitioner. Robust is the reverse of frail ; strong of weak ; stout of slim ; and sturdy of fascinating. Deformed. Crooked. Humpy. He is deformed who wants or over-has any feature essential to the form ; he is crooked who has a cur- vature of the spine or of the legs ; he is humpy who has an excrescence on the back, or head, or side. Circle. Orb. Sphere. Globe. One point moving round another in the same plane, so as to keep everywhere an equal distance, describes a circle. Draw a circle with the compasses. An orb is a circular plane, a surface bounded by a circle. In the floor of heaven the smallest orb. Sha/ispeare. A sphere is a circular envelope, an imaginary plane formed by the revolution of a circle on its diameter. Alternate spheres of attraction and repulsion surround every particle. A globe is a solid body, every part of whose surface is alike far from the centre. The terrestrial globe. Rotundity is the common property of all these figures ; but the circle is a hoop ; the orb, a disk ; the sphere, a shell ; and the globe, a ball. Circulos suos conficiunt celeritate mirabili stellse. Cicero. 289 The Trojan chief, who held at bay from far, On his Vulcanian orb sustained the war. Brydeji. Within the visible diurnal sphere. Milton. Ex solidis globus, ex planis autem circulus aut orbis. Cicero. Radiancy. Brilliancy. That is radiant which emits beams, that is brilliant which emits gleams ; radiancy being a settled, and brilliancy an intermitting, splendour. The radiance of the moonshine, the brilliance of the streamlet which reflects it. The radiance of a lamp. The brilliance of a diamond. The discourses of Lord Bacon are radiant with intellect, and brilliant with eloquence. Man of quality. Man of fashion. The man of quality is one whose rank, the man of fashion is one whose habits, class him in the higher circles of society. The first of these expressions, says Dr. Trusler, is applied to the nobility ; by the other is only understood the gentry. Ambitious manners constitute the man of fashion ; they fre- quently adorn the man of quality. Nothing is the fashion which has not the applause of the quality ; yet it often happens that the quality are not leaders of the fashion. Firm. Fixed. Solid. Stabile.* That is firm which is not easily shaken, that is fixed which is fastened to something else and not easily uptorn, that is solid which is not hollow, and * Dr. Johnson writes this word stable, in vehich form it is liable to be confounded with stable, a room for cattle. The laiia root is stabilis, and the kin cnglish suhstdtiiivc slabilili/, A A 2 290 that is stabile which is not easily removed. Yon pillar is firm on its base, fixed to the wall, of solid oak, and likely to be stabile. The power of the law is firm in proportion as it is uniformly and permanently active ; it is fixed in pro- portion as it is connected with a constitution in which it is difficult to innovate. Conjugal attachment is solid, when it is not founded on disguise or reciprocal mistake ; stabile, when it is not liable to decline with the progress of age or the pressure of circumstance. That friendship is firm, which depends not on the o])inion of others ; fixed, which has decided its inser- tion ; solid, which is not in danger from mistrust ; and stabile, which is patiently stedfast. Decorum. Dignity. Decorum is what becomes, dignity is what exalts : in decorum there is evitation of impropriety, in dig- nity there is assertion of importance. Decorum an- noimces a graceful temper and moderation of beha- viour ; dignity arrogates a lofty majesty and pomp of carriage. Among the licentious, there is a dignity in decorum ; on the magisterial bench, there is a deco- rum iu dignity. To DEFEND. To PROTECT. To defend is to keep off", and to protect is to cover over : hence there is in defence rather the aid of an equal, and in protection that of a superior. Defen- dcbat hostes ab oppido. Gellius. Ego jacentem et spoliatum defcndo, et protego. Cicero. A town is defended by its fortifications, and protected by its citadel. To defend a culprit is to be his advocate ; to protect a culprit is to lend him shelter against the magistrate. 291 To DEBILITATE. To ENERVATE. To EFFEMINATE. That debilitates which occasions temporary weak- ness, that enervates which permanently injures the strength, and that effeminates which gives a womanish complexion. Debilitatum vulnere jacnisse. Curtius. Non plane me enervavit senectus. Cicero. EflPoemi- nata vox. Cicero. The young man debilitated by excesses does well to reform before they have enervated his vigour. That sensibility effeminates which flinches at helping to relieve. To DISSIPATE. To DILAPIDATE. To dissipate is to scatter away, and to dilapidate is to destroy stone by stone. What is dissipated cannot be collected again, but what is dilapidated may be repaired. Moveables are dissipated, fixtures are dila- pidated. In dissipation there is more of levity, in dilapidation more of ruin. Is there not a judicious profusion, which dissipates only what is tasteless, and dilapidates only what is burdensome ? Humble. Submissive. Vile. Abject. Humble describes a native, and submissive a su- perinduced lowliness. Humble myrtles ; submissive vines. Vile is an excessively humble, and abject an excessively submissive, disposition. Vile cowardice ; abject superstition. Languor. Torpor. Languor marks the weakness of want, torpor the stiffness of fatigue. Languor indicates the direct debility of inanition, torpor the indirect debility of excess. The morning sleep of animals has languor, their autumnal sleep has torpor, for its cause. 292 Discipline. Doctrine. Discipline (from discipulus) is the instruction which a learner receives ; doctrine (from doctor) is the in- struction which a teacher bestows : discipline is the lesson taken, and doctrine the lesson given. Hence, in metaphor, discipline describes those me- chanical arrangements, to which disciples recur ; and doctrine describes that hoard of knowledge, which masters promulgate. The discipline of the hierarchy designates its code of regulations ; the doctrine of the church is its creed. Order. Series. Order means rank, series means succession : hence there is in order something of voluntary arrange- ment, and in series something of unconscious catena- tion. The order of a procession. The series of ages. A series of figures in uniform. Soldiers in order of battle. To READ, To recite. To declaim. To read, to read aloud, to say by heart, are the native phrases for this climax. We can read in si- lence ; we recite onl}'^ aloud ; we declaim without book. It suffices if the reader uses his eyes, and the reciter his eyes and tongue : but the declaimer em- ploys his memory also. To recite is to read aloud. To declaim is to recite without book. Scripta legere secnm. Ovid. Literas in senatu recitare. Cicei'o. Ad fluctum aiunt declamare solitum Demosthenem. Cicero. Invalid. Infirm. The invalid is accidentally, the infirm is habitually, indisposed. Invalidity is a temporary infirmity, a constitutional deficiency of health or strength. Weak- ness makes the infirm, illness the invaud. 293 Noxious. Pernicious. Noxious describes the power of hurting (from no- cere), and pernicious (from per and nex) the power of destroying. Noxious rats. Pernicious vipers. All intoxicating drinks are noxious, the more concen- trated are pernicious. Credible. Probable. That is credible which is hkely to be believed, that is probable which is likely to happen. The credible agrees with what we hear, the probable with what we see. To be consonant with habits of assertion con- stitutes credibiUty, to be consonant with habits of observation constitutes probability. Narrations, when expected to gain confidence, are credible ; and when they imitate the course of nature, are probable ; yet the true may appear incredible, and the real impro- bable. To desire. To desiderate. We desire that which we have not yet possessed, and we desiderate that which we possess no longer. Both imply a wish for what is absent ; but desire is aroused by hope, while desideration is inflicted by re- miniscence. He desiderates his last wife so feelingly as to desire another. To efface. To obliterate. To abolish. To efface is to destroy the surface, to obliterate is to scratch out, and to abolish is to extinguish the very odour. We efface to mend ; we obliterate to forget ; we abolish to destroy. This signature has been ef- faced. The image on a coin is obliterated by cir- culation. Corpus igni abolere. Tacitus^ Abolish thy creation. Milton. 294 Persistknce. Perseverance. Pertinacity. Contumacy. Obstinacy. There is in persistence a continual, and in perse- verance a separate, effort : a continual and a separate effort : each perseveres, not all : to persevere is to go on, but not in concert. I persevere ; we persist. Pertinacity is the holding-to {per and tenere), or, as the english metaphor has it, the sticking-to one's pur- pose excessively. Quse pertinacia quibusdam eadem aliis constantia videre potest. Cicero. Contumacy is a swelling {con and tvmere), affronting, injurious resistance. Obstinacy is a pertinacitj'^ opposed to contradiction {ob against and tenere to hold out), or hostility. They persist in their islamism, they persevere in their ablutions. The persistence which I would praise I call steadiness, the persistence which I woiild blame I call pertinacity ; but am I an infallible judge of the moment to withstand or to yield 1 The wise man offends no one by contumacy, unless in order to avert an evil greater than his offence. Pertinacity thwarted without effect becomes obstinacy. Contagious. Epidemic. Pestilential. Diseases, which are communicated by contact, are called contagious {cinn and tungere) ; those, which include extensive portions of the people, are called epidemic (etti and oojjLog) ; and those, which originate in affections of the atmosphere, are called pestilen- tial. Inter locorum naturas quantum intersit, vide- nuis alios esse salubres, alios pcstilentes. Cicero INDEX. PAGE PAGE A. Adage 106 Add . ' . 223 Abandon . 79 Address . . 170,231 Abasement 67 Adieu . 78 Abdicate . bG Adjacent . 55 Abdication 163 Adjective . 173 Abhor . 32 Admonition 224 Ability 35 Adversary . 154 Abject Pf), 291 Adore 112 Abolish G7, 293 Adroit . 274 Abrogate . 67 Advantageous 281 Abstemious 240 Adverse . 255 Abstinence . 109 Afl'ection . 114 Abundance 82, 256 Affirm . 135 Abyss . 121 AfSiction . 101 Academy . 76 Affluence . 256 Accent . 32 Affront 116 Accept 234 Affranchise . 133 Accident . 146 Against 232 Acclamation 257 Aggrandize . 116 Accost . 170 Agree 230 Accumulate 42 Agreement ib. Acid . . 49 Aggregate 135 Acknowledge 156 Aid . . 40 Acquiesce . 230 Aim 269 Acquirement 78 Air . . 231 Acquisition . ib. Alarm 133 Acre 120 Alehouse . 109 Act . . 179 All 149 Action ib. Alliance . 132 Actor . 41 Allurements . 213 Acute 256 Almanack . . 54 Acuteness . 189 Alone 155 296 INDEX. PAGE Altercation . 24 7 Approbation Always 200 Appropriation Amass . . 42 Aquatic Amazed 34 Aquatile Ambassador . . ib. Aqueous . Ambiguous 102 Aquose Ambrosia . 264 Arbour Amiable . 190 Archbishop Amicable . 191 Archetype Amical ib. Ardour Amuse . 134 Argument . Anxiety . 262 Argumentation Anathema . 227 Area Anguish , 262 Arena Ancestor . 115 Arms Anger 287 Aromatic Ancient . 123 Arrogant . Anterior . 127 Art . Antique . 123 Artifice Antecedent 127 Articulate Antagonist . 154 Artificer . Antipathy . 184 Artisan Anticipate 283 Artist Annal . 276 Artery Annex 253 Ask Anniversary . . 276 Assert Annual ib. Assessment Answer . 262 Assist Apartment 116 Associate . Aphorism . 106 Assurance Apology . 205, 228 Astonished Apophthegm . 106 Astrography . Apotheosis 124 Astrology . Apparition . 68 Astronomy Appear 97 Astroscopy Appease . 134 Asylum Appearance 235 Atrocious . Applause 134, 257 Attach Application 134 Attention . Apply . 253 Attest Apprehend 147 Attitude . Apprehension . . 133 Attractions . Appreciate 135 Attribute . Approach . . 170 Audacity INDEX. 'Z\)7 PAGE PAGE Augment . . 116, 223 Bind 48 Austerity Avaricious . 28 221 Bishop Bishopric . . 88 ib. Aver . . 247 Blanch . 21 Averse 255 Blaze 193 Aversion . 184 Blessing . 25 Avoid 115 Bliss 02,216 Avow . . 156 Blow . . 281 Awake 218 Blowing . 252 Axiom . 106 Blue . . 193 Ay 192 Boldness . 279 Azure . 193 Booty Borders . . 217 251 B. Balance . 139 Bough Bounty Bower . 93 143 . 116 Bankruptcy ib. Boundaries 251 Barbarism . 264 Brace . 147 Barbarous 283 Branch 93 Bargain Barter . 130 104 Bravery Breakers . . 49 . 84, 250 Basis Baseness . . 276 67 Breathing Breeze . 259 161 Battle . 25 Brilliancy . 289 Beast 98 Bring 125 Beatitude . 25 Brittle . 245 Beautiful . 224 Brightness 234 Behaviour . 231 Broad . 165 Behold . 233 Brook 11,265 Being . 230 Bruise . 281 Belief 136 Brute 98 Belt . . 260 Bulky . 166 Benediction 25 Bulwark . 251 Beneficence . . 54 Buttress . 177 Beneficial 281 Burden 83 Benevolence . . 54 Bush . . 92 Benignity Bequeath Besides . 143, 222 . 140 199 By-and-by Byword 133 . 106 Better . 72 Bias 270 C. Bid . . 238 Bigotry Billows 136 . 84 Calamity . Call . 229 . ib. B B 29S INDEX. PAGE PAGR Call back . . 187 Civisra 151 Calm 134, 159 Clear . . 104 Calendar . 54 Clearness . 144 Capacity . 35 Clergyman . 85 Carriage . 212 Cleverness 213 Carry . 125 Clock . 161 Care 262 Cloister . 144 Casualty . 146 Clothes . 240 Catalogue . 246 Coalition . 132 Cathedral . 175 Coast . 254 Cattle 277 Cold 249 Cave . . 117 Column . HI Cautious . 266 Collegiate . 175 Cede . . 80 Combat . 25 Celebrated 274 Complaisance . 144, 279 Celebration . 278 Commerce . 95 Celebrity . ib. Commiseration 160 Celerity 269 Communion . . 128 Cell ' . 117 Common . 239 Censorial . 250 Complicated . . 146 Censoriaa . ib. Complete . 186 Censorious ib. Compassion . . 160 Censure . 145 Complaint 228 Certain 143 Concise . 61 Chagrin . 101 Concern . 220 Chaffer 104 Condescension . 144 Chamber . 109 Condition . 286 Channel 94 Conduct . 231 Chance 117 Confederacy 132 Charade . 154 Confess . 156 Charm 266 Confidence 136 Charming 238 Confines . 251 Charms 149 Confirm . 135 Chase. 170 Conformity . 42 Chastisement 143 Confounded 34 Chat . 153 Confute . 24 Cheerfulness 98 Congratulate 226 Chief . 233 Conjecture . 248 Chilly 249 Conquer . 269 Choaked 26 Consideration . . 267 Choose 77 Consent . 135, 230 Circle 288 Constancy . 245 Circumspectioi 1 267* Constaiitlv 200 Civility 143 Constellation . . 280 INDEX. :^yy PAGE PAGE Consternation 47 Cry . . 207 Construct . 253 Cure . . .66 Contagious 294 Current . . 265 Contemplation . 267 Curse. . . 227 Contest 247 Custom . . 52, 260 Content . 127 Cut . . 38, 94 Contentment 142 Contiguous . 55 Continuality 86 D. Continually . . 200 Continuance 86 Demon . . 175 Continuation . ib. Dale . • . 65 Continuity ib. Danger • . 149, 218 Contract 130 Dappled . 201 Contribtition 208 Darkness 212 Contrition . 145 Date . . 40 Contumacy 294 Dealing 95 Convent 144 Death . 174 Conversation 153 Debilitate 291 Conviction 65 Decadency . 141 Cool 249 Decay . 140, 141 Copperplate . 38 Decease . 174 Copy . . 7 4, 173 Decision 153 Correct 141 Declaim . 292 Cost 199 Decline 140 Cosmology . , . 147 Declare . 247 Cosmogony ib. Decorum . 290 Cosmography . ib. Defect . 187 Covetous . 221 Defend 290 Counsel 190 Defendant . 262 Counterfeit 74 Defender . ib. Courage 49 Deference . 144 Courtesy . 279 Definition 263 Credit 136 Deformed . 288 Credible . 293 Deification 124 Credulity ib. Dejectiou . 186 Crime 65 Delegate . 263 Criticize 145 Delicacy . 223 Crook 268 Deliver 133 Crooked 288 Dell . . 171 Crosier 268 Demolish . 111 Crowd 227 Departure . 174 Cniol 282 Deplorable 61 Criueh . 268 Deportmcu t . . 212 300 INDEX. PAGE PAGE Depose 222 Disaster . 229 Deprive . ib. Discernment . . 252 Deputy 263 Discipline . 290 Derision . 149 Disclose . 277 Description 263 Discord 24 Desert 56, 79 Discourse . 153 Desiderate 293 Discover . 248 Design . 171 Discovery . 66 Desfre 293 Discredit . 114 Desist . 257 Discrete . 266 Despair 274 Discrimination 53 Despondency . . 273 Discuss . 24 Destiny 185 Disdain 30 Destroy . Ill Disease . 228 Detect 248 Disgrace . 114 Determination . 153 Disorder . 228 Detest 32 Disparity . 176 Device . 272 Dispatch . 148 Devise 140 Dispute . . 23 6,247 Devil . 175 Disquisition . . 43 Devious . 282 Disrepute . 114 Devotion . 100 Dissension 24 Dexterous 274 Dissert ib. Dial . . 161 Dissertation . . 43 Dialect . 91 Distemper 228 Dialectic . 245 Dissipate 291 Dialogue . 153 Distinct 104 Diction . no Distinction 53 Dictionary 150 Ditch 94 Die . . 60 Diurnal 176 Difference . 53, 236 Diversity 53 Difficulty . 156 Divert 134 Diffuse 150 Diverting 45 Dignity . 290 Divide 147 Dilapidate 291 Divination 271 Diligent . 151 Division 24 Diminish . 94 Divulge 277 Dingle . 171 Doctrine . 292 Dire 282 Doubt 23 Diocesan . 88 Drain 94 Diocese ib. Dread 147 Directly . 133 Dregs 148 Direction . 235 Dress 240 Disagreement . . 24 Drift 269 INDEX. '6^)K PAGE PAGK Drowsy . 273 Ephemeris . . 54 Drunk 271 Epidemic .- 294 Ductile . 191 Epithet 178 Dumb 25 Epistle 210 Duration . 275 Epocha 41 Durability 275 , 208, 229 Equity 232 Dwell 232 Equivocal 100 Dwelling . 69 Era Erudition Essay 48 43 45 E. Estimate Etching . 135 38 Economic . 254 Eternal 216 Edges 251 Eucharist . 128 Edify . . 253 Even . 48 Efface 229 Event 146 Effective . 139 Every 149 Effectual . ib. Evident . 154 Effeminate . 291 Exact 141 Efficacious ib. Exactness . 139 Efficient . ib. Excellence 185 Effrontery 281 Excellency ib. Effort . 23 Excessive 225 Embarrassed 192 Exchange . 104 Emend . 72 Excursion 123 Emphasis . 32 Excuse 228 Empire . 101 Execration 227 Enchantment 266 Existence . 230 End . 186 217, 269 Expect 78 Endeavour . 23 Expeditious 151 Enemy 154 Expire 60 Enervate . 291 Expression 174 Engagement 25 Exterior 258 Engraving . 38 External . ib. Enigma 154 Extraneous ib. Enmity . 203 Extravagance 157 Enough 159 Extremity 217 Enow . ib. Enquire . 237 Enthusiasm . . 136 F. Entire 159, 265 Entertaining 44 Failure . - 139 Envoy . 36 Faith . . .136 Envy 204 Faithless . 261 30'^ INDEX. PAGE Falsehood . 82 Forefather Fame 136 Forest Famous . . 274 Form . Familiar . 153 Forsake Fanaticism . 136 Fortunate Fancy 242 Fortune . Fane . . 252 Found Farewell . 78 Foundation Fascinating . 238 Frail . Fashion 52, 179 Frank Fast . 100, 109 Freckled Fastidious 285 Frequently Fate . . 185 Fresh . Fatigue 31 Friendly . Favourable . 243 Fright Fault 187 Frosty . Fear . 47, 147 Frugal Feel 230 Fuddled Felicitate . 22(i Funeral Felicity . 216 Ferocious . 2(i0 Fervour 284 G. Fetch . 125 Field 120 Gaiety Figure . 179 Gale Fight 25 Gasping Find . . 135 Gay Finesse 272 Gaze . Finish . 186 Genealogy Firm 289 General Firmness . 244 Generosity Fixed 289 Genius Flame . 193 Gentile Fleckered . 201 Gentle Flesh . . 27 Get up Flexible . 191 Gift . Flock . 277 Girdle Flog 244 Give . Fluctuations' . . 84 Give up . Fly 121 Glib . Foe . . 154 Globe Fog 74 Gloom Footstep . 188 Glory Forgive 228 Glossary INDEX. ,iUa PAGE PAGE Go back 241 Hesitate , 139 Good-breeding 96 Heterodoxy . 225 Good-fortune . 216 High 165 Good-humour 213 Hinder . 141 Good-manners 96 Hint 132 Good -nature 213 Historian . 225 Graces 149 Historiographer tb. Gratitude . 218 Homonymous . 21 Grave 146 Honour 112, 136 Gross 166 Hope 78 Grove 170 Hopelessness . . 273 Grow 193 Hot ib. Guess 248 Hotel . . 109 Gulf 121 House 247 Gust . 161 Hover . 121 However . 239 Huge . . 166 H. Human 215 Humane ib. Habit 52 Humanity . 222 Hall 284 Humble . 291 Hamlet 69 Humour . 61 Handle 230 Humpy . 288 Handsome 224 Hurricane 161 Hanker 22 Hurry . 148 Hap . 117 Hypothesis 248 Happiness 216 Harmony 263 Hard 100 I. Haste 148 Hasty 140 Hate . . 32 Idea . . 241 Have 224 Ill 237 Haughtiness . . 30 Illustrious . 274 Hazard 278 Imagination 242 Head . . 233 Imitate . 74 Headstrong 243 Immediate 55 Heap 114 Immediately . . 133 Hear 187 Immoderate 225 Hearken . ib. Immortal , 216 Heavy 93 Impassable 282 Help . . 40 Impediment . . 234 Herd 277 Impertinence 207 Heresy 225 Impervious . 282 304 INDEX. Implicated Impost Imprecation Impropriation Improve Impudence Impunity . Impute Inaccessible Inadvertence Inattention Incantation Incapacity Incessantly Incident . Inclination In course . Incredible Increase . Incur . Incursion . Indifference Indigence . Indolence Ineffectually Inequality Inexorable Inflexible Infirm Ingeniiity Inhuman . Inn Inroad Insinuate Insolence . Insolent In spite of Instant Instantly . Insensibility Insufficiency Insult Insurgent . Intellect 98 PAGE 14G 208 227 138 72 , 207,281 262 139 282 211 ib. 266 175 200 146 279 81 205 193 135 206 211 214 206 232 176 153 ib. 292 213 283 109 206 182 207 285 232 218 133 211 175 116 205 5, 209 19 Intelligence Intention Interrogate Integrity Intimate . Introduce Intrepidity Intrusion In vain Invasion Invalid Investigation Invention . Ire . Irresolute Irruption PAGE 20i) . 171 237 . 255 153,182 . 200 49 . 206 232 . 206 292 . 43 66 . 287 211 . 206 Jaunt . 123 Jealousy . 266 Joy Judgment Junction . 204 252 . 42 Just 257 Justice . 231 Justice of peace 70 Justicer . ib. Justiciary . Justification . ib. . 205 Justness . 75 K, Keenness Keep Kindness Kingdom Lack . Laconic 189 195 222 101 114 61 INDEX. 305 PAGE Lamentable . . 61 Lampoon . Land . 173 . 120 Landscape Language Languor . Lares 45 . 91 2yi . 203 Large Lassitude 165 . 31 Laughter . Lay . Laziness . 149 . 163 206 League Lean . . 132 130 Learn 155, 234 Learning . Leave 48 . 37 Leave off . 257 Legitimate Letter . 218 ib. Lessen . 94 Level 48 Lexicoa . 150 Lie 82, 163 Lift . . 180 Likeness . 172 Limits . 251 List 246 Listen . 187 Literature 48 Little . 82 Littleness . 195 Live . . 232 Load 83 Loath . 32 Lodging . Lofty . Logic Logogriph Lonely Lonesome 116 . 164 245 . 154 ib. . ib. Long for . 22 Look at . 233 Lord's Supper 128 Lose . Love Lovely Low Low spirited Luck Lunatic M. PAGE 273 114 190 96 186 117 238 Magnanimity . . 173 Malady 228 Malediction . . 227 Malleable 191 Management . . 235 Maniac 238 Manifest . 275 Manners . 231 Man of fashion . 289 Man of quality ib. Mansion . 69 Mariner . 125 Marriage . 202 Maturity . ib. Maxim . 106 Meager 130 Meat . . 27 Mean 96 Meanness . 194 Meditation . 134,267 Meet with . 135 Melancholy 186 Meliorate . 72 Melody . 263 Memorial . 43 Memory . 113 Mercenary . 221 Merchantry 95 Merit . 219 Metamorphosis ib. Methodical . 184 Metropolitan 155 Mezzotinto . 38 am INDEX. PAGE c V PAGE Mien 231 \j. Mind . 267 Obligation . 229 Mind for . 22 Obliterate 293 Minister . 85 Oblong . 102 Mine 127 Obscurity . 112,259 Miracle . 214 Obsequies . 245 Miserly 221 Observable 250 Misfortune . 229 Obser\'ation . ib. Mirth 74 Observe 77 Mist . . ib. Obstacle 156,234 Model 172 Obstinacy 294 Moment . 218 Obstruction . ib. Monastery 144 Occasion . 152 Moreover . 199 Occurrence . ib. Mottled . 201 Ocean Ill Mount . 129 Odour , 141 Mountain ib. Odoriferous 142 Multitude . 227 Odorous . ib. Mutual 26;5 Of course . 81 Mute . . 25 Offer . . 254 My own . 127 Offuscation 259 Often . 199 Old 123 N. Opinion . 286 Oppression 261 Name . 229 Opponent . 154 Nation 152 Opportunity 152 Near . . 90 Opulent . 252 Need 214 On 144 Nectar . 264 One . . 155 Neglect . 79 Only ib. Negligence . 206 Orb . . 288 Nevertheless 239 Order 77,288,292 New . . 110 Ordinary . 239 Next 90 Oscillation 197 Niggardly . 221 Oval , . 102 Nigh 90 Overcome . 269 Notion . 241 Overhear . 187 Notwithstanding . 239 Ought 198 Novel . 23 Outside . 235 Noxious . 293 Nuinerose 39 P Numerous ib. " Nuptials . 202 Pagan . 195 INDEX. 30? PAGE PAGE Pair 147 Piercing . 238 Painting . 76 Piety . . 100 Panting 259 Pile 114 Paradoxic . 205 Pillar . . Ill Paralogism 122 Pity 160 Pardon 228, 26-2 Place . . 102 Pare 270 Plane 121 Park , . 170 Plantation . 170 Parlour 109 Plenipotentiary 34 Parson . . 85 Plenty . 82 Part 147 Pliable . 191 Particular . 261 Pliant . 244 Part with . 270 Player 41 Passionate . 140 Politeness . 143 Path 180 Porch 284 Pathless . 282 Portico . ib. Patriotism 151 Possess 224 Peace . . 159 Posture . 145 Peculiar . 261 Poverty 214 Pedigree . 150 Praise . 134 Peel 270 Prate 153 Pellucid . 78 Precede . 283 Penates 203 Precision . 75 Penetrating . 238 Predecessor . 115 Penetration 233 Prediction 271 People 122, 277 Prefer . 77 Peril 149 Prerogative 137 Period . 40 Present 200 , 254, 259 Perfume . 125 Presently . 133 Permit . 197 Prevent 141 Pernicious 293 Prevalent . 78 Perpetually . 200 Prevailing ib. Perplexed . 211 Presumed . 158 Persistence . 294 Presuming ib. Perseverauce ib. Presumptive . . ib. Persons . 277 Presumptuous ib. Perspicuity 144 Preternatural . . 270 Perspiration . . 45 Pretty , 224 Persuasion 05 Prey . . 217 Pertinacity . 294 Price 199 Pestilential ib. Pride . . 35 Philanthropy . . 222 Priest 85 Picture 76 Primate . 155 Pied . . 200 Print 38 oOB INDEX. Privilege Prize Prolix Probity Proclaim Probable . Profitable Profusion . Prodigy Profession Project Prompt Promptness Pronounce Prop . Propitious Prospect Prosperity Prosperous Protect Proverb Prowess . Proximate Prudence . Public house Publish . Puffing Punishment Purpose Put Q. Qualities Quarrel Question Quit Quickly Quickness Quotidian Rack PAGE 137 I3r> 150 255 275 293 281 157 214 219 171 154 220 254 177 243 45 216 276 290 106 49 55 157 109 275 259 143 171 102 . 236 ib. . 237 37, 57 . 190 169 . 176 R. 81 Radiancy Raise Ramble Rampart . Rancour Rate Rapidity Ratification Read . Ready Rebel Rebus Recall Receive Reciprocal Recite Recollection Redundance Reform Reformation Refuge Refute Regard Register . Regular Regularity Release Relieve Religion . Relinquish Remain Remark Remedy Remembrance Reminiscence Remorse Renounce . Renowned Repartee . Repeal Repentance Reply Representative llefrimand INDEX. 3uy PAGE PAGE Reproof . 224 Sanctity . 100 Repugnance . . 184 Sapphire . 193 Resemblance 42 Satellite . 280 Retain . 196 Satire . . 173 Retinue 82 Satisfaction 142 Return 240, 241 Satisfied . 127 Residence 69 Savage 260 Resident . 34 Saw . 106 Resignation 163 Saying ib. Resolution . 153 Scar . . 281 Restore 240 School 76 Reveal . 277 Scourge . 244 Revere 112 Scope 269 Review . 145 Scud . . 81 Revoke 187 Sea 111 Rich . . 252 Seaman . 125 Riddle 154 Seat 69 Ridicule . 149 Sediment . 148 Rigour 28 Sedition . 71 Riot . . 171 Seem . . 97 Ripeness . 203 See 283 Rise . . 172 Send . . 125 Risk 149 Sentence , 106 River . . 265 Sentiment 106, 286 Rivulet . ib. Separate . 147 Road . . 180 Series . 292 Roll 246 Serious 146 Robust . 287 Serviceable . 281 Romance . 23 Severity . 28 Room . 109 Sharpness . 189 Rotundity 235 Sharp 49 Rough . 148 Sharper . 163 Roundness 235 Shrub 92 Rugged . 148 Shore 177, 254 Ruin 111 Shake 272 Rural . 236 Shall . . 198 Rustic ib. Should 198 Shun . . 115 Sick 237 S. Sighing . 259 Silence 152 Sacrament . 128 Sin . . 65 Sagacity . 223 Sincere 151 Sailor . 125 Singular . 261 c c 310 INDEX. PAGR Situation . 206 Strangled Silent 25 Strand Sleepy . 273 Strain Slip 271 Strange Slippery . 183 Stream Slide 271 Stress Small . 82 Strife . Smell 141 Strongheaded Smothered . 26 Stratagem Soar 121 Strong Sober . . 240 Street Sociable . 152 Study Social . 162 Sturdy Solecism . 264 Style Solicitude . 262 Subdue Solid 289 Subsidy Soon . . 190 Subtle Soul 267 Submissive Sound . 256 Succour Sour 49 Sucking . Sophism . 122 Suffocated Speckled . 203 Sufficient . Speech . 91 Suggest Speed 148 Sumptuary Speedily . 190 Sumptuous Sphere 288 Sunder . . Spell . . 266 Superb Spire 56 Supernatural Splendour . 234 Superstitious- Sprey 93 Supple Sprig . . ib. Supposition Spring 265 Sure Stabile . 289 Surf . Stale 49 Surges Stare . . 121 Surmise State 286 Surprised . Stay . 71, 177 Suspicion Staff 268 Suspense . Star . . 280 Sway . Steeple 56 Sweat Stifled . 26 Swindler Storm 161 Swiftness . Story . . 23 Synonymous . Stent 166, 287 22 INDEX. 6il PAGE PAGE T. Train e2 Tranquillity . . 159 Taciturnity 152 Transformation 219 Tale . . 23 Translation . 196 Talent 195 Transparent 78 Talents . 236 Tray . . 22 Tall 164 Treatise . 43 Talk . . 153 Tree . . 92 Tame 30 Tremble . 272 Tavern . 109 Trench 94 Tax 208 Tribute , 208 Teach . 234 Trick . 272 Tell 277 Trip 123 Temperate . 240 Truck . 104 Tempest . 161 Truism 106 Temple . 252 Trust . . 136 Tenderness 222 Tumult . 71 Tenement • 247 Twig . . 93 Testament 99 Twofoot . 277 Term . 174, 251 Twofooted . ib. Terror 47 Tyranny . 261 Thankfulness . . 218 Thick 165 U. Throng . 227 Throttled . Tie . Timid Tolerate Toll 26 . 48 192 . 197 208 Uncertain . 211 Uncertainty Uncover Understanding 23 . 248 209 Undulations . 84 Tome . . 110 Union 42 Tone 256 Universal . 195 To no purpose . 232 Universe , 215 Tongue 91 Untruth 82 Torpor Torrent Touch Tour Towu . . 291 265 . 220 123 . 69 Upon Uproar Urbanity . Usage Useful 44 . 71 143 52, 260 281 Trace Track 188 . 180 Utter . . 254 Tract 43 Tractate . lb. V. Trade 95,219 Traffic . 96 Vale b4 312 INDEX. PAGE PAGE Valley . 64 Weariness . 31 Valour 49 Wedding . 207 Value . 199 Weep . ib. Vanity 35 Weighty . 93 Variation . 162 Weld . . 119 Variety ib. Weight . 287 Vein . . 280 Whiffing . 259 Velocity . 171 Whip 244 Venal . 221 Whiter . 21 Venture • 278 Whole . 159, 264 Version . 196 Wide. . 97 V^estibule . 284 Wideness . 165 Vestige . 188 Width . 97 Vibration . 197 Wield 119 Vice . . 65 Will . 99, 198 Victuals . 27 Wish for . 22 View . 233, 269 Wit . • 61 Vigilance . 139 Wind 161 Vile . . 291 Wisdom , 157 Village 69 Wood 170 Virtue . 255 Word . 174 Vivacity . 220 Wonder 214 Vision . 68 Worship . 112 Vocabulary 150 Worth . 199,219 Voider . 22 Wound . 281 Volume 100 Vouch . 237 Y • Vi ^ Yearly 276 Waiter . Waken 22 . 218 Yeld . Yes Yet . . 119 192 . 239 Want 214 Yield . 80, 119 Warm Waterman . 273 125 Young . 110 Waverings . 84 Waves ib. Z . Way . . 180 Weapons . 89 1 Zone 260 Stevens and Co., Printers, Bell Varil, Temple Bur. loolis tonibiiiinTf litstntttioii ^' %m\m\mi\\. ALL MOST CAREFULLY EDITED, SUITABLE FOR LENDING-LIBRARIES, PRIZES, FIRESIDE, STEAIVI-BOAT, RAILWAY READING, TO BE HAD AT E. LTJMLEY'S, LONDON; OR OF ALL RESPECTABLE BOOKSELLERS. ABDIEL; OR, EAELY CHEISTIANS. An historical and most instrnctive Tale. Ammon, or City of the Waters; The Mysteries, Journey, The Hermit's Profession, Bap- tism, Trials, The Pestilence, Jerusalem, A Jewish Family, Jewish Worship, cloth, neat, engraving, Is. imh. 2s. Crf. 1853 ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. New Edition, in One Volume, carefully revised. Cloth, very handsomely and richly gilt, numerous exquisite engravings, 5s. edition ' of a work which is the delight of half the Inhabitants of the Globe :' Mankind have in all ages delighted in Works of Fiction, and this fascina- tion is greatly increased by the pro- ductions of the sunny regions of the South and East — the Dazzling Gor- geouaness of Eastern Scenery, History, Manners, Opinions, Prejudices, Reli- gion, &c." One of the most eminent clergj-men and authors of the present day, ex- pressed his satisfaction in the present edition. An Eminent Modern Author was so anxious that his Children should read the Arabian ^Nights, that he was about to destroy his own libraiy copy by preparing it for their use, when he joyfully heard of this edition. It seems needless to observe that the "Arabian Nights" is, in its original form, a sealed hook to the young, and that this is the only edition which can for an instant be allowed in their hands. " Who at all concerned in the Education of the Young, or careful for their Amusement, will not rejoice at this ' expurgated ASLATJGA'S KNIGHT AND TWO CAPTAINS. Two Eomances, hy Fouque, translated, five fine engravings, 6cZ. " Original in their design, and beau- 1 are nature itself, replete with fine tiful m execution. The descriptions | thoughts and reflections."— T/ijmm. LUMLEY, LONDON. BALLADS, ANCIENT METKICAL TALES. " The Poetry and Music of the Heart." Edited, with full Notes and Copious Glossary, ten fine Wood engravings, by Tenniel,Selous, Corbould, Franklin, Pickersgill, dx., cloth gilt, 2s. LEGENDS of aU LANDS, and SONGS of all TIMES; but chiefly those which have excited most interest in the old days of England. Selected from the very costly and scarce Collections of Percy, Ritson, Evans, Jamieson, Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, &e. "The first time I could scrape a few shillings together, I bought unto myself Percy's beloved volumes; nor do I believe I ever read a book half so frequently, or with half the en- thusiasm."— .Sir Walter Scott. "The most agi-eeable compilntion in any age or country." — Evans. " A work which carries its own recommenda- tion." BALLADS AND SONGS: FROM THE GERMAN. A " charming volume," compiises forty-six Poetical Pieces, best Ti'anslations (mostly new) from Uhland, Schiller, Burger, Fouque, Komer, Schmid, Goethe, Chamisso, Becker, Von Stoter- forth ; also Originals. 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First Series. — Contents: Introduction, and Adventures of Fairy Tale. Cinderella. The Three Soldiers. White Enchanted Hind. Jack the Giant Killer. Snow Drop. Blanch and Eosahnd. Second Series. — Sleeping Beauty. Invisible Prince. White Cat. Yellow Dwarf. Beauty and the Beast. Goody Two Shoes. Third Series. — Little Red Riding Hood. Prince Cherie. Golden Goose. Giant with the Golden Hairs. Blue Beard. Childi'en in the Wood. Valentine and Orson. Whittington and his Cat. " Tnath is, I woukl not give one tear shed over Little Red Riding Hood for all the benefits to be derived from a hundred histories of Jemmy GoodcMld. Our own wild fictions — like our own simple music — will have more eflfect in awakening the fancy and elevating the disposition, than the colder and more elaborate compositions of modern authors and composers." — Sir W. Scott. " The text book for fairy lore." " We have here three very pretty little tomes, each complete in itself, consist- ing of the old friends and favourites of childhood, such as 'Cinderella,' 'Jack the Giant-Killer,' ' Prince Cherrie,' 'Whittingtou and his Cat,' ' Beauty and the Beast,' &c., &c. How channing they all are, with their quaint and delicate fancies, and wise or humane morals! There is, indeed, no finer moral tale in the language than 'Goody Two-Shoes,' which iu small compass contains the essence of volumes. This kind of nursery literature affords far more wholesome nutriment for the juvenile mind than the modern stories, satires, travesties, and caricatures, which are converting, or rather perverting, chil- dren into precocious, shrewd, sharp-wit- ted little men and women of the world." — Tait's ]\lanazine. " This is the prettiest and most neatly got up of all possible collections of I'aiiy Tales, without being too expensive in ju'ice "We have here all the old-es- tablished favourites of the nursery; and not of the nursery only — why disguise it? — there are sometimes few recrea- tions more acceptable to grown-up chil- dren than to revive early recollections of this kind. In some oases they have been improved by the addition of new matter from foreign sources ; an experi- ment managed with good taste and dis- cretion." — Morning Chronicle. CHERRIES, AND OTHER STORIES. The Nightingale, The Canary Bird, Castle of Falkenburgh, The Rose-bush, The Wren. Cloth, gilt leaves, fine Woodcuts, 2s. i LUMLEY, LONDON. CHILDEEN'S BOOKS, At THREEPENCE each, in Sewed Wrappers. Adventuees of a Fly, inculcating humanity to Insects. Beautiful Little EosE,from the German of Guide Gorres. The Brothers, from the German of Schmidt. Canary Bird, or Valley of Schwarzenfels. Cherries, or Overseer of Mahlboueg, and Heinkich and Blanca. Dove, or Castle of Falkenboueg. Henry of Eichenfels. Lost Child, a Tale from the German of Schmidt, 1848. Louis, the Little Emigrant, Child Lost in tlie Wood, Night's Lodging, Mother's Grief, Peasant of the ViUage, Clergyman, Country Life, Foreign Soldiers, Wounded Man, etc. Lucius and his Children, from the German of Schmidt. Frontis- piece. Marion Mereton, or See and Judge. May Day. Nightingale, or Count Sternfeld. Pinchpenny (Isaac), or Unmasked Hypocrite. E,ed and White Eoses. Rose Bush. Select Allegories, neat cuts. Stories and Fables, cuts. Stories from Bede, with his Life, neat cuts. Valley of Aime-rja, frontisjnece. The Wren, or the Fairy of the Green House, 18 beautiful wood engravings. CHURTON (Archdeacon of Cleveland). History of the Early English Church from the earliest records of old times to Henry VIII. Cloth, maps and woodcuts, 4s. A faithful picture of our Christian ancestors; shewing how from time to time Christianity gained ground among om- Saxon, Danisli, and Norman forefathers ; pointing out the changes it wrought in governors and people, and how its own condition was improved or made worse by the changes in the sovereignty. Depicting thus examples of characters and manners, and leaving to general liistory the records of more public events, good or bad (see companion work, "Palmer's Church History"), and touching on wars and conquests, victories or defeats, only so far as the state of the Church, or the character of some eminent Cliristion, is concerned in them. A plan recommended by the pattern of Scripture, the historical books of which are as much a record of private, as of public life. Authorities.— Contemporary Authors, Saxon Histories and LUMLEY, LONDON. 6 Chronicles from time of Bede, Alcuin; and Norman, from Ingulph, Eadmer, Malmesbury, Usher, Tanner, Stillingfleet, Collier, War- burton, Soames, Kemble, Guizot, Maitland, Fuller, Foxe, Southey, Libraries of Oxford, York Minster, etc. Contents : Ancient British Churches ; Saxons ; Augustine ; Conversion of Kent and North umbria, from death of King Edwin to Archbishop Theodore; Establishment of Christianity; Early English Monasteries ; Effects, Benefits, Defects, Pilgrimages, Hermits ; Eminent Teachers — Adhelm, Acca, Venerable Bede ; Early Missionaries; Conversion of Friesland and Saxony; Willord, first Archbishop of Utrecht; Winfrid, ditto of Mayence; Progress of Arts and Learning; School of York; Egbert, Albert, Alcuin, Chaiiemagne ; State of Church at Close of the Seven Kingdoms ; Egbert, Ethelwolf, and his Sons; Inroads of Danes; Destruction of Churches in the North : Alfred to Archbishop Dunstan ; Troubles in Dark Ages ; Edmund to Ethelred ; Rise of Benedictine Monks ; Dunstan; Religious Noblemen of Old England; Troubles and Changes by Norman Conquest ; Last Saxon Bishops ; Beginning of Poperj' in England; Norman Monasteries and New Religious Orders; Becket; S. Langton ; King John; Clergy forbidden to Marry; Popery at its height; Privileged Monasteries; Begging Friars; Conniptions; Persecutions; Good Men in Evil Times; Bishop Grosteste and Friends; Pious Founders of Churches and Colleges ; Tyranny of Henry VIII. " Wo need not say that coming from this author, it is a volume of much learning and research; containing in a small space a great deal of information which it is difficult otherwise to obtain, and by its candid and temperate tone will do good service to ecclesiastical students." — British Critic, 1840. DOMESTIC TALES FOR THE YOUNG. Contents : Friend in Disguise, Fate of a Favourite, Right Thing to Do, Bob and Dog Quiz, Woodman and Family, Adventures of a Fly, neat illustrations, 2s, cloth. Fascinating little book, imparting in- I and delight the young, even when weary struction and amusement, will attract | with other books. DON QUIXOTE. Motteux's excellent translation, adapted, retaining all the point, humour, and pathos, without the improprieties, edited, with Life of Cervantes, remai-kably neat, well-printed edition, cloth, handsomely gill, very clever cuts, 4s. pub. 6s. " The most popular, the most charm- ing book that has ever appeared." " One of the books aboVe all others to be read and studied, both for its amuse- ment, with which it abounds, but still more for the picture it aribrds of the true Christian gentleman, virtue, ima- gination, genius, kind feeling; brave, faithful, elevated soul; atfectiouate heart, teacbingus that this is a world of Action, not Fancy, our duties arouitd and within us." LUMLEY, LONDON. " A most fitting book for a Present for the Youug of either sex." "The Editor trusts that he has placed in the hands of the mass of our reading population, and especially the youtli of England, an edition of Cervantes' im- mortal work in a convenient, hut not too condensed form — retaining all the point, humour, and pathos of the ori- ginal, without any of the prolixity or the improprieties of expression which have heretofore disfigured it. The judgment passed upon one of the hooks in our hero's library, may well be applied to DRAWING BOOKS, by PEOGRESSrVE FRAGMENTS. Oblong 4 to. luO objects on 2-i j;iad. LUMLEY, LONDON. MAGIC RING. A kuightly Eomance of Love and War, and Minstrel Song, trans- lated by A. Piatt, cloth, Jine illustrations by Temiiel, As., new bs " We have frequently boruetestimouy to the wild genius and fanciful im- agination of Fouque, but of his works this appears the most luterestiug and the best." — New Monthly Magazine. This famous production, — the first that established Fouque's reputation as a Romance writer, and from which " Siutram'' was a kind of offshoot, — has here been entirely re-translated. The only previous translation (printed in Edinburgh, in 3 vols.) was most loosely and inadequately rendered, and omitted all the poetry! It is hoped that the present cheap, and itis believed thoroughly correct edition, will be ac- ceptable, and make better known so remarkable a production. The work has appeared in several other modern lan- guages ; and it is even said that the beautiful episode of the Emir Xureddin has been translated into Arabic, to gratify an Ottoman prince. mNiTSEL LOVE, Translated. " Beautiful romance of Chivalry, singular and ex- quisite purity," 9 Illustrations by CORBOULD, cloth, gilt, is. to a tale has perhaps never been con- ceived, or a more lovely incident than that of the clouds parting at the moment of Arnold's dissolution, and the star of " Perhaps there is no modern romance which requires for its enjojTneut so complete an abnegation of self, of seltish- ness, and of that system of seliish- ness which is called civilised life, as ' Minstrel Love.' The author in the very outset draws an adamantine waU between his heroes and the beings of the present ; and the reader, who, in his impatience or his criticism, wilfully places himself on the world-side of that muniment, instantly loses sight of Fouque's creations. .The singular and ■exquisite purity of the work is sustained to the very close, where the minstrel warrior expu-es: not amid the fires or from the wovmds of battle, but in a cloudy sunset, and exhausted and worn out by the exertions of a pilgrimage un- dertaken to save the life of a sick child. A more beautifully written termination his mistress shining down upon his death-damp brow. " The more familiar such composi- tions become to the English reader the better, and the greater will be his con- temptforthe ordinaiymawkish whinings of the circulating library. The transla- tion before us is elegantly written, and the poetrj', abundantly interspersed, gracefully rendered. '• The high-toned sentiment, glowing descriptions, and impassioned language of this beautiful romance of chivah-y (' Minstrel Love'), are well preserved in this translation. The designs are by C orbould, who shews clever drawing, and taste without mannerism." — Spectator. E0MA2TTIC FICTION. Twelve most beautiful of the shorter Tales, most perfect speci- mens in any language : the Eagle and Lion, Prince's Sword, Eose, the Victor's Wreath, the Unkno^-n Patient, etc., cloth, beautiful il- lustrations, 4s., neiD lUs. takes this direction, he stands alone. But it is less of Fouque we are here called upon to speak than of the form in which he is now made more extensively known in England. The volumes before us, which form a collection of his best works, are 'got up' with considerable elegance, and in a spirit worthy of the design. The tales are illustrated with a strength and delicacy of character, which leaves nothing to be desired." — Court. Journal. " Fouque is not as familiar as he de- serves to be with the general English reader. He is the great master of the mysterious poetical romance of the chivalrous ages, the only romance writer who knows how to mingle sublime allegories with strange picturesque ad- ventures. He may be said to have in- vented this species of wi-iting. Like all other men of original genius, he has had hundreds of imitators, but not one rival. Even in Germany, where all invention 10 LUMLEY, LONDON. SINTSAM AND HIS COMPANIONS. Choice Library Edition. Cloth, elegant, superior engravings, fine paper, 5s. People's Edition. Paper cover. Is. " Nothing has affected Guy so much as 'Sintram.' T never saw anything like it. He took it up by chance, and stood reading, till at last he fairly cried over it so much, that he was obliged to fly out of the room. How often he has read it I cannot tell. I believe he has bought one for himself; and it is as if the Frontispiece had a fascination for him; he stands looking at it as if he was in a dream." — The Heir of Bed- clup'e. '" ' Sintram,' a new translation of a justly popular romance, and illustrated by eugi'avings of the most characteristic description by H. Selous. Of a tale, so universally a favoui-ite, we need say nothing more than that in its present dress, literary and ai'tistic, it is pro- duced in a manner well calculated to spread its fame yet more widely and more delightfully." — Literary Gazette. " The work is got up in the best style. The illustrations are finely executed — simple in outline, yet full of truth and vigorous effect." — Atlas. THIODOLF THE ICELANDER. Curious interesting picture of Northern and Byzantine manners of the Tenth Century, translated, "/wil of interest," — cloth gilt, fine Illustrations, As. "This romance of La Motte Fouque, now, we believe, for the first time pre- sented in an English dress, is the best, though not the most popular of that author's productions. Certainly it is the most cai-efully \vritten, the most artisti- cally designed and executed. 'Thiodolf was a favourite with Sir Walter Scott, who doubtless took from it the idea, and perhaps rather more than the idea, of ' Count Kobeit of Pai'is." It is observed in the preface, that ' the contrast of the luxurious Byzautinecourtwiih the rough and self-denjing > so I '^/5a3AlNa-3UV^ H;OFCMIFO/?^ M 'm\m//y ^lOSANCElfj^. o CO > vAa3AiNa]Wv inc «iirci r. . r 1 1 n n < nv ^ .»c ilDDAnvn.