: :"■: v. U.i : '::.:* Glass. Book. jef££ Engraved ty IV 'Sharp XDuim "breris else lalboro, oJbseurixs lie, fr EnEA nTEPOENTA \>/ OR, THE DIVEBSIONS OF PUBLEY. JOHN HORNE TOOKE. WITH NUMEROUS ADDITIONS FROM THE COPY PREPARED BY THE AUTHOR EOR REPUBLICATION : TO WHICH IS ANNEXED HIS V *> LETTER TO JOHN DUNNING, ESQ.- REVISED AND CORRECTED, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, BY BICHABD TAYLOB, F.S.A.,F.L.S. LONDON: m^ WILLIAM TEGG & CO., 85, QUEEN-STREET, CHEAPSIBE. 1857. ,T"y 5 i ? 57 i QtODALE AND CO., PKINTKBS, LONDON WORKS, NEWTON. 9? TRANSFER CONTENTS. PAGE. Editor's Preface v Editor's Additional Notes . . .................... \i PA11T I. CHAP. Introduction 1 I. Of the Division or Distribution of Language 9 II. Some Consideration of Mr. Locke's Essay 15 III. Of the Parts of Speech 22 IV. Of the Noun 26 V. Of the Article and Interjection 29 Advertisement 37 VI. Of the Word that 41 Advertisement ... 50 VII. Of Conjunctions , 52 VIII. Etymology of the" English Cdnj uiicfi'ons 78 IX. Of Prepositions „.,.. y .. v g*. 154 X. Of Adverbs ...! 251 PAUT II. CHAP. I. The Eights of Man ., 301 II. Of Abstraction 311 III. The same subject continued ... 326 IV. The same subject continued 385 V. The same subject continued .... 604 VI. Of Adjectives G24 VII. Of Participles G47 VIII. The same subject continued 658 Appendix — Letter to Mr, Dunning 685 Index ., 725 THE EDITOR'S PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1829. In preparing for the press and printing this enlarged edition of Mr. Home Tooke's Diversions of Purley, an undertaking assigned to me by the Publisher, on his becoming possessed, by assignment from the Author's representatives, of the copy containing his last cor- rections and additions, it has been my endeavour in the first place to remove the many inaccuracies of the former Edition, by a collation of the citations in which the work abounds with the originals, so far as they were within my reach ; and, next, to incorporate in it, as well as I was able, the new materials, in such a manner as should not interfere with the integrity of the former text. As these additions, written in the Author's in- terleaved copy, and which, especially in the Second Part, are very abundant, were wholly without any re- ferences connecting them with the text, and sometimes written at a distance of several pages from the passages to which they seemed to belong. I must beg the Reader's indulgence if I should at any time have failed in this part of my task ; reminding him that, all the new matter being distinguished by brackets 1 [ ], he may use his own judgement as to its relation to the text. A work of such celebrity, connected with studies to 1 The brackets in p. 201 — 212, do not, as elsewhere, denote new matter. Vi ADDITIONAL NOTES. which I had been much attached, having been thus intrusted to my care, I was tempted, during its progress, to hazard a few notes in my capacity of Editor : and though it may have been presumptuous in me to place any observations or conjectures of mine on the pages of Mr. Tooke, yet I must plead in excuse the interest excited by the investigations which they contain. ADDITIONALNOTES BY THE EDITOR. 1 P. 38. GKIMGBIBBEK. " Mankind in general are not sufficiently aware that words without meaning, or of equivocal meaning, are the everlasting engines of fraud and injustice: and that the grimgribber 2 of Westminster Hall is a more fertile^ and a much more formidable, source of imposture than the abracadabra of magicians." — - Mr. Tooke makes this remark after having stated that his first publication on language was occasioned by his having Cl been made the victim " in a Court of Law " of Two Prepositions and a Conjunction," or and concerning, and that, "the abject x The number of these notes lias been considerably increased in the present Edition. 2 I know not whence Mr. Tooke got this word, which was also used by Mr. Bentham, to mean, I suppose, the jargon used as a cover for legal sophistry. It may be connected with Grimoire, respecting which Dr. Percy has the following note :• — " The word Gramarye, which occurs several times in the foregoing poem (King Estmere), is probably a cor- ruption of the French word Grimoire, which signifies a Conjuring Book in the old French romances, if not the art of necromancy itself."—- Yol. i. p. 77. Perhaps both are referable to " Grammar," which might have been looked upon as a kind of magic. The French Grimaude is a grammar-school boy.- May not also the Scotch Glamer, Glamour, a charm, have the same origin % ADDITIONAL NOTES. Vll instruments of his civil extinction." In a recent case the Preposition upon seems to have played a similar part in the hands of some who " perche iron erano grammatici, eran percio cattivi legisti." The point at issue was the meaning of upon, as a preposition of Time, that is, as employed to express the relation as to time be- tween two acts; the Declaration now required of magistrates, &c, by the Act 9th Geo. IV., being directed to be subscribed " within one calendar month next before, or upon admission to office." If then the Declaration shall not have been subscribed within the space of one month next before admission, it is to be sub- scribed upon admission. " The words c next before/ of course," says the Attorney-General, " are clear ; next before must make it antecedent to his admission." — Q. B. p. 68. 1 And let us be thankful that next before is still permitted to mean antecedent. But alas for the doubts and difficulties in which the other al- ternative is involved ! Does upon also mean antecedent to f or subsequent? " That * upon ' may mean before there can be no doubt at all; " says the Attorney- General. — Q. B. p. 1 6. ■■' Now here it is ' upon his admis- sion' that lie is to do this. I say that that is 'before he is admitted.'" " I do not say that ' upon' is always synonymous with ' before.' It may possibly be after, it may be concurrent, but it may he prior" 2 — ib. p. 1 5. " One of your Lordships mentioned," adds Sir J. Campbell, " looking to this very Rule, that it was drawn up ' upon" reading the affidavit of David Salomons.' The affidavit had been read before your Lordships granted the Rule. Now your Lordships will read ' upon' as meaning be- fore, if in that way the intention of the legislature will best be effected." — p. 16. " Lord Denman.— - ' Upon reading the affidavits' is ' after read- ing the affidavits.' Then if the two are analogous, ' upon admission' is ' after admission ;' so that it will be after his admission that he is to make the Declaration. Attorney-General. — Suppose it were, that upon making the Declaration he is to be admitted. Mr. Justice Pat- teson. — That would be intelligible : and then I should say the Decla- ration would be first. Mr. Justice Coleridge. — But here it is, that upon admission he is to make the Declaration : You say, it means before. Read it so ; then it is ' shall within one month next before^ or before his admission.'" — Q. B. 17, 18. 1 The extracts marked Q. B. are from the arguments in the Queen's Bench, 1838 ; and those marked Exch. are from the Proceedings in the Exchequer Chamber on a Writ of Error, 1839 ; both printed from the Notes of Mr. Gurney. 2 Sir F. Pollock says, with perfect truth, it has " no meaning in John- son bearing the import of before'' Vlli ADDITIONAL NOTES. " Sir F. Pollock. — Now, my Lords, the question is, What is the meaning of the word ' upon"? In the first place, in plain English, among a number of meanings given to * upon'-— upwards of twenty, I think. Mr. Justice Littledale. — Twenty-three, I think : and there may be a great many more enumerated from Johnson's Dic- tionary. 1 Mi\ Justice Coleridge. — It could hardly mean either inde- finitely before, or indefinitely after, for that would be no time; then you must add something to the words before or after. Sir F. Pollock. ■ — My Lord, there is no meaning in Johnson bearing the import of before. Mr. Justice Littledale. — There is one which means ' concurrently :' ' 2 that is, I think, the eighteenth! Sir F. Pollock. — There is one which is 'in consequence of;' then if it is to be in consequence of admission, admission is to come before it. There is another, ' supposing a thing granted :' here admission was not granted, but refused. There is an- other, ' in consideration of,' which certainly does not import that the act done in consideration, is to go before the act in consideration of which it is done : and there is another, which is ' at the time of, or on occasion of.' Mr. Justice Littledale. — That is the one I meant to refer to. Sir F. Pollock.— But there is a general observation in Johnson in con- nection with all these. ' It always retains an intimation, more or less obscure, of some substratum, something precedent.'' Now, my Lord, let us see what are the legal instances in which the word 'upon' is used. I am quite surprised, I own, that nry learned friend should refer to the expression ' on payment of costs,' and ' upon reading the affidavit,' to show that the'ad mission is to come after, because the payment of costs comes before ; and it is the second time 3 he has fallen into the error. Says my learned' friend, ' upon the payment of costs 'Jmeans that pay- ment of costs is to come first, and therefore ' on admission ' means that admission is to come last; that is really my learned friend's argument. . . . ' Upon reading the affidavit' certainly imports that the rule is granted after that ; and that is one instance in which it is impossible not to perceive that i upon must import the precedence of the act which is so introduced"— Q. B. pp. 39, 40. 1 Several of these are, as is usual with Johnson, meanings not of the word he explains, but of some other word in the sentence : thus, 2. Thrown over the body. " Thrown her night gown upon her." 3. By way of imprecation. " My blood upon your heads ;" — " Sorrow on thee." 5. Hardship or mischief. " If we would neither impose upon ourselves." In these it is clear that throtv, body, imprecation, mischief blood, or sorrow, are no meanings of upon. As well might it be said that upon means blessing. " Blessings on thee ! " — or ink, " Ink upon paper." 2 The example quoted is from Swift : " The king upon this news marched." The news obviously preceded the marching ; and they were not concurrent. — Ed. 3 It will be seen in the subsequent proceedings, that Sir J. Campbell does not abandon this mode of reasoning, by which it might as well be proved that after means before. " B comes after A : then A comes before B : Therefore after means before. — Q. E, D." ADDITIONAL NOTES. IX Notwithstanding Sir J. Campbell's suggestion that the law was to be expounded " without very nicely scanning' or criticiz- ing the language employed," — p. 24 ; and l< without entering into any very nice criticism of the words," — p. 65 ; " the lan- guage employed " being " not very happily selected" p. 68, the Court of Queen's Bench gave the following clear and straight- forward judgement : — u We are of opinion that, as the Declaration is to be made upon ad- mission, the Admission is the Jirst thing to be done." — Judgement of the Court, delivered by Lord Chief Justice Denman, p. 54. This judgement has, however, since been reversed by the other Judges in the Exchequer Chamber, and the question decided on grounds quite independent of philology. Sir J. Campbell thus objects to it, in the proceedings on the Writ of Error, 1839 ;— * " The effect of this decision of the Court of Queen's Bench is, that a Jew or a Mahometan may be Lord Mayor of London." — Exeh. p. 12. " My Lords, can your Lordships suppose that those who framed that Act of Parliament really had it in contemplation that there might be a mayor of any corporation in England who was a Mahometan or a Pagan 1 " — p. 71 " There certainly was the greatest anxiety that no one should be admitted until he had made a declaration in the form given ; so that no one who was not a Christian — that neither Jew nor Papist nor Infidel — should be allowed to be admitted." — p. 12. " Sir F. Pollock. — My learned friend seems to me to have a pious and a Christian horror of a Jew wearing the Lord Mayor's chain : " yet " a Jew may be Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer." . . . — Exch. p. 37. " The Court of Queen's Bench have chosen to put their Judgement upon the broad plain ground ; they say ' upon ' means after ; and we can give no sensible construction to the Act unless we so read it." — p. 59. "There is nothing in which the dexterity of an advocate is so conspicuous as in turning the question. In the Court below, my learned friend said the question was this : — whether corporations should be inundated with Jews, Turks, and Atheists : at any rate, my Lords, that is not the legal question." — p. 70. " Att. Gen. — I acknowledge that my learned friend will find no difficulty in citing instances where ' upon ' means after; where ' upon ' doing an act means after doing the act ; but there are others where 'upon' doing the act means before the act is done. Suppose a new trial granted ' upon ' payment of costs ; the costs are to be paid before the new trial takes place. Sir P. Pollock. — The payment of costs comes first : — and here we say the admission comes first." — Exch. p. 27. " Att. Gen. — There are, I think, thirty meanings given in John- son's Dictionary to the word * upon.' Baron Aldehson. — If one man is to do one thing upon another man's doing another, then each X ADDITIONAL NOTES. is to do his part." 1 — p. 30. " Sir F. Pollock. — My Lords, I say that the meaning of the Act is, that ' upon ' means after ; and if yoa are to take it that it is concurrently, and at the same time, and on the same occasion, still that that which is to be done upon something else taking place, is, ia point of order, to come after it." — p. 55. " The law says that upon conviction the party shall be hanged. Does that mean that lie is to suffer the penalty before or after conviction 1 The word upon occurs more frequently in that way than in any other ; * upon refusal,' * upon receipt.' Mr. Justice Vaughan. — A reward to be paid 'upon conviction.' Lord Chief Justice Tindal. — A copyhold fine is payable upon admission ; which means, and is decided to mean, after admission. There the admission is the consideration upon which the fine becomes due. You will however find it. have a double meaning in many cases. Sir F. Pollock. — It never means before. Baron Alder- son. — It may mean at the time 'upon admission' must mean before, or immediately after, or at the time," ! ! — p. 57. Lord Chief Justice Tindal. — " The words of the Act, ( upon his admission,' do not, as it appears to us, mean after the admission has taken place, but upon the occasion of or, at the time of admission." " We hold it to be unnecessary to refer to instances of the legal mean- ing of the word ' upon,' which in different cases may undoubtedly (! !) either mean before the act done to which it relates, or simultaneously with, or after it." — p. 93. " We therefore think that the Judgement of the Court of Queen's Bench ought to be reversed." — Judgement de- livered by Lord Chief Justice Tindal. — -Exch. pp. 93, 96. Should the philologist complain that this Decision is in complete violation of the nature and use of language, let him remember that the cause was removed out of the province of grammar ; the great consideration being, not the true and plain meaning of words, but how religious exclusions should best be perpetuated. And although upon was pro hac vice tortured and sacrificed, Grammarians will nevertheless recur to the manifest truth, that, when used to mark the relation of Time between two acts not simultaneous, the act which is governed by the preposition is always that which is first in order. P. 79. IF. — The derivation of IF from the imperative Give, seems very plausible so long as we limit our view to the English form of the word, especially as taken in connexion with the Scotch gin, supposed to be the participle Given. But we cannot arrive at a correct opinion without viewing the word in the forms in 1 Undoubtedly : But in what order 1 ADDITIONAL NOTES. XI •which it appears in the cognate dialects, and which do not seem at all referable to the verb To Give. Thus, in Icelandic we have ef, si, modo, with the verb efa, ifa, du- bitare ; and the substantive eft, dubium, and its derivatives. See Hire, v. Jef, dubium. In old German it is ibu, ipu, ube, oba, jef, &c. ? and in modern German ob, in the sense only of an, num, all of which must surely be identified with the Gothic IJ5A iJSAl' anc * Q^K Al> w hich latter Grimm (Deutsche Grammatik, vol. iii. p. 284.) considers as a compound ofja and 'ibdi, and supposes that the sense of doubt is included in the Gothic word, and that ibdi may be the dative of a substantive 'iba, dubium, with which also he jconjectures some ad- verbs may be connected (ib. p. 110.) In old German, he remarks, the substantive iba, dubium, whose regular dative is ibu, was preserved in the phrases, mit ibo, tine iba, p. 150, 157. Wachter gives the same account, and adds, " Usee particula apud Francos eleganfcer transit in substantivum ibu, et tunc dubium significat : " as in the Athanasian Creed, ano ibu in euuidhu faruuirdhit, " without if he shall perish ever- lastingly :" — that being considered a matter of so great certainty as not to admit of a doubt. 1 In the A.-S. gir., Grimm considers the g prefixed as representing the Gothic Q in.jab.ai; and the old Frisic has ief gef iefta, iof which Wiarda considers the same with the Francic oba and ibu. Mr. Kichardson, in his lately published Dictionary, and the writers of several recent grammars, implicitly follow Mr. Tooke in this ety- mology of IF, adopted from Skinner ; but which appears more than doubtful, and inconsistent with the Teutonic or Scandinavian forms of the word. — See Jamieson, Hermes Scyihicus, p. 122. P. 82. The following particulars of the author of Criticisms on the Diversions of Parley, published under the assumed name of I. Cassander, are taken from a memoir in the Gentleman's and Monthly Magazines for 1804 ; probably written by the late Mr. William Taylor of Norwich, the authenticity of which I have no doubt may be relied on. I well remember Mr. Bruckner, who had been my Father's preceptor in the French and Dutch languages ; and I believe Mr. Tooke had no other reason for coupling him with Mr. Windham, ("my Norwich critics, for I shall couple them," see pp. 123, 126 and Note 1 See Dr. Hook's Letter quoted at p. 186. Xll ADDITIONAL NOTES, 132, &C.) than that he resided in the city for which Mr. Windham was returned to Parliament. " The Kev. John Bruckner, born in the island of Cadsand, 1726 — educated at Franeker and Leyden, where he obtained a pastorship, and profited by the society of Hemsterhuis, Valckenaer, and the elder Schultens. In 1753 he became minister of the Walloon Church at Norwich, and afterwards of the Dutch— till his death, May 12, 1804. In 1767 was printed at Leyden his ' Theorie du Systeme Animal] in the 7th and 10th chapters of the second part of which there is much anticipation of the sentiments lately evolved and corroborated in the writings of Mr. Malthus. " In 1790 he published, under the name Cassancler, from his birthplace, those Criticisms on the Diversions of Purley which attracted some hostile flashes from Mr. Home Tooke in his subsequent quarto edition. This pamphlet displays a pro- found and extensive knowledge of the various Gothic dialects, and states (p. 16.) that the same theory of Prepositions and Conjunctions so convincingly applied in the Epea Pteroenta to the Northern languages, had also been taught concerning the Hebrew and other dead languages by Schultens/'' Mr. Bruckner can hardly be considered an opponent of Mr. Tooke, as might be inferred from the style in which he is an- swered by the latter. He imputes a want of care, of know- ledge, or of success in some particular instances, (and, indeed, Mr. Tooke made no pretensions to much acquaintance with the northern languages, see p. 251,) but concurs with him in the main, and bestows great praise on Ids work assigning as his motive for publication a regret " that a performance, in other respects valuable, and well calculated to open the eyes of the learner with regard to false systems, should remain in its pre- sent state, and not be rendered as perfect as the nature of the subject will permit." To the same purpose he adds, in p. 5 : — " You have not given your system the consistency and solidity of which it is susceptible, and which you were very able to give it, had you been willing to bestow a little more thought upon it." At p. 22, alluding to some alleged mistakes, u I have been ex- amining your outworks again ; and, as I find them absolutely untenable, I would advise you to abandon them in case of a ADDITIONAL NOTES. Xlll regular attack, and to shut yourself up in your capital work, which is of good design and workmanship, and will stand the best battering-ram in the world, provided, however, you bestow a little repairing upon it. In what follows, I shall point out to you the places where this is most wanted." And in p. 73 "I have read with pleasure, and even with some advantage, your ninth and tenth chapters, which treat of prepositions and adverbs. The light in which you place these parts of speech is new, and well calculated to turn the attention of the stu- dious in general from idle and endless subtleties to the contemplation of truth, and acquisition of real knowledge." " Truth, as you say, has been improperly imagined at the bottom of a well : it lies much nearer the surface. Had Mr. Harris and others, instead of diving deeper than they had oc- casion into Aristotelian mysteries, contented themselves with observing plain facts, they would soon have perceived, that prepositions and conjunctions were nothing more than nouns and verbs in disguise ; and the chapter of the distribution and division of language would have been settled and complete long ago, to the contentment and joy of every body : whereas, in the way they proceeded, their labour was immense, and the benefit equal to nothing/' — p. 77. I may wuth propriety add here a candid estimate of Mr. Tooke's work from the Annual Eeview for 1805. " Few good books have been written on the theory of lan- guage : this is one of them. Philosophic linguists have mostly pursued the Aristotelic, the antient, method of reasoning, a priori; they have rarely recurred to the Baconian, the modern, method of reasoning, a posteriori. They have examined ideas instead of phasnomena, suppositions instead of facts. The only method of ascertaining in what manner speech originates, is to inquire historically into the changes which single words undergo ; and from the mass of instances, within the examina- tion of our experience, to infer the general law of their forma- tion. This has been the process of Mr. Home Tooke. He first examined our prepositions, conjunctions, and adverbs, all those particles of speech foolishly called insignificant, and shewed that they were either nouns or verbs in disguise, which had lost the habit of inflection. He now examines our adjec- Xiv ADDITIONAL NOTES. tives and abstract substantives, and shows that they too are all referable to nouns or verbs, describing sensible ideas. u Whether this opinion is strictly new, scarcely merits in- quiry ; it was never applied before on so grand a scale, and in so instructive a manner." After mentioning the suggestions of Schultens, Lennep, and Gregory Sharpe, the writer proceeds: — "Such scattered soli- tary observations may have prepared and do confirm the com- prehensive generalizations of Mr. Home Tooke ; but to him the English language owes the pristine introduction of just principles, and a most extensive, learned, and detailed applica- tion of them to the etymology of its terms. He has laid the groundwork of a good Dictionary/' " The good sense with which all the phenomena are ex- plained, the sagacity with which the difficulties are investigated, the force of intellect displayed in every conjecture, these con- stitute the essence of the treatise, and will cause it to outlast the compilations of a more laborious erudition. This work is the most valuable contribution to the philosophy of language which our literature has produced ; the writer may be charac- terized in those words which Lye applied to Wachter : ad or- nandam, quam nactus est, Spartam, instructissimus venit : in intima artis adyta videtur penetrasse, atque inde protulisse quodcunque potuerit illustrando ipsius proposito inservire." — p. 675. The following note by Mr. Price, the late editor of Warton's History of English Poetry, 1824, records the judgement, not exactly in accordance with the preceding, of one whose inti- mate knowledge of northern and early English philology gives a value to his observations. Having occasion to notice that Mr, Tooke had overlooked the use of the genitive absolute, Mr. Price adds : " Nor is it mentioned here with a view to disparage the great and important services of this distinguished scholar ; but as a collateral proof, if such be wanting, of his veracity in declaring, that all his conclusions were the result of reasoning a priori, and that they were formed long before he could read a line of Gothic or Anglo-Saxon. To those who will be at the trouble of examining Mr. Tooke's theory and his own peculiar Illustration of it, it will soon be evident that ADDITIONAL NOTES. XV though no objections can be offered to his general results, yet his details, more especially those contained in his first volume, may be contested nearly as often as they are admitted. The cause of this will be found in what Mr. Tooke has himself re- lated, of the manner in which those results were obtained, combined with another circumstance which he did not think it of importance to communicate, but which, as he certainly did not feel its consequences, he could have no improper motive for concealing. The simple truth is, That Mr. Tooke, with whom, like every man of an active mind, idleness — in his case perhaps the idleness of a busy political life — ranked as an enjoyment, only investigated his system at its two extremes— the root and summit — the Anglo-Saxon, and English from the thirteenth century downwards ; and having satisfied himself, on a review of its condition in these two stages, that his previous convictions were on the whole correct, lie abandoned all fur- ther examination of the subject. The former I should feel disposed to believe he chiefly studied in Lye's vocabulary ; of the latter he certainly had ample experience. But in passing over the intervening space, and we might say for want of a due knowledge of those numerous laws which govern the Anglo- Saxon grammar — and no language can be familiar to us without a similar knowledge — a variety of the fainter lines and minor features, all contributing to give both form and ex- pression to our language, entirely escaped him ; and hence the facilities with which his system has been made the subject of attack, though in fact it is not the system which has been vulnerable, but Mr. Tooke's occasionally loose application of it. This note might have been spared ; but it has been so much the fashion of late to feed upon what Leisewitz would call 'the corse of Mr. Tooke's reputation/ that I may stand excused for seeking this opportunity of offering a counter statement to some opinions of rather general currency." Vol ii. p. 493. P. 100. THOUGH is placed by Grimm in his class of pronominal adverbs, as being one of the numerous particles originating from the demonstrative pronoun that, ifijlTA' on w kich, an d their relation to each other and their common source, he treats fully in vol. iii. p. 165-177;— see also p. 285. Mr. Bruckner XVI ADDITIONAL NOTES. objects that $eah, the A.-S. form, is not the imperative of Bajzian; and indeed Mr. Tooke has not shown how his ety- mology of though is applicable to the forms of the word in the cognate languages, and which must have had the same origin. Besides those which he mentions, there are the Gothic *jlj\l(lll and its compounds, the Icelandic po, the old Frisic tach, thach (Wiarda), and the Frantic tholi. Hire also considers it as an oblique case of the demonstrative pronoun : v. Then, Thy (quamvis), Ty. It is material to observe that Mr. Tooke's account of Though will only suit it in the sense of Although, licet ; but not at all as veruntamen, Germ. Dock; — in which sense also, as he admits in the note, p. 100, it is constantly used. This is a sense which it has always borne ; as for example : peah hyp a nan ne cpse<5, ppset recrfc ]m. Yet [though] none of them saith, What seekest thou? — John, 4. 27. Snb cps&S, plapopb, ic ga, 3 ne eobe ppa J?eah. And said, I go, sir, and went not, though. — Matt. 21. 30. peah hpae'Sepe, 11a ppa ppa ic pille. Thoh-wid&vu, nalles thaz ih willi. — Tatian, clxxxi. 2. Doch, niet gelijck ick wil. Het Nieuwe Test. Dordrecht, 1641. Though, not as I will.— Matt, 26. 39. Here I cannot help being led by the literal correspondence of the Frantic with the A.-Saxon, to suspect that the con- junction ]?eah-hpae , $ene is a remarkable substitution for ]?eah- prSep, verum e contra, or veruntamen, &§ it is in the Frantic : and as it is now in the German, doch daivider, sed ex ad- verso. See Schilter v. Widar. A curious instance of the confluence of like-sounding words. Perhaps in the instance which Wachter gives of Weder used as quam, it has been confounded with Wider. Ten Kate, v. ii. 618, conjectures though to be the imperative of fticgean, accipere ; thus, "5eah, licet, q. d. ' Take it so/ Jamieson considers it as the past part, of To think. Rich- ardson gives only Mr. Tooke's etymology ; as if this were an established truth, and not merely an ingenious conjecture. Grimm's account appears to be that which is founded on the most comprehensive survey, and an extensive knowledge of the shades of meaning produced by inflexion. With regard to ^apian, Wiarda gives Thavigan and Toven, ADDITIONAL NOTES. XVII expectare, as its old Frisic representatives ; and Bruckner quotes Doogen and Gedoogen as having the same meaning in Dutch. P. 179. 275. Verbs compounded with FOR. — The particle for prefixed to Verbs seems to have various significations, which can only be studied with advantage by bringing together all the Verbs and Participles in the Teutonic languages compounded with it. See Lamb, ten Kate's Anleidlng, ii. 53 ; Jamieson's Hermes Scythicus, ch. vii. and viii. ; and Grimm's Deutsche Gram- matik, ii. 850, where a large collection and able comparison is given. "Ver; Gothis far et fra, A. S./ra etfor, Francis et Alam. far, fer, fir, fora, furi, per omnes vocales, et s&pe etiam cum Vau. Particula inseparabilis, vario et multipiici significatu pollens, in compositis, extra composita nullo." — Wachter, Pro- leg. § v. 1 The following are some of those which occur in English writers : Forbarred, forbear, forbid, forbrahe, forbrenne, 2 for- 1 Mr. Richardson refers to the passage which I had quoted from Wach- ter, but its import, "particula vario et multipiici siguificatu," seems to have been lost upon him, and his explanations of these compounds are made to suit the hypothesis that for means forth, and not the context of his examples. Thus Forbear, he says, is forth-bear, i. e. to bear forth or away from : Forbid, to bid forth or away from : Fordry, forth or utterly dry : Forbreak, "forbrake [abrupi] the intention of her," &c. Chauc. Boet. iv. ; for, i. e. forth, utterly brake : but, if for were forth, for- brake would be " brake forth " [erupi]. Forget, to get forth or out, (sc.) of the mind ; — whereas it is the mind that forgets ; the thing that goes out of the mind does not forget ; otherwise, instead of " the boy forgets his lesson," we should have to say " the lesson forgets the boy." Forlay, to lay forth ; " the thief forlays the traveller " — way- lays him, not lays him forth. Forgo, to go forth or away from. Bat forth neither means " away from," nor " utterly," and is out of the ques- tion here, having compounds of its own. Mr. Richardson is right in his orthography of forgo, to give up ; but he wholly omits the other word forego, to precede, which Johnson confounds with the former, yet gives for it the authority of Raleigh and Shakspeare. They are just as distinct as abire and p/reiYe. In subservience to this same un- founded hypothesis respecting forth, we find Forsooth, "utterly sooth, entirely true," thus strangely made into an adjective. Robert of Gloucester has vergaf vergon, vergyte, verlore, &c. Also vorbed, vorlay, vorsoke, vorlore. 2 " fier shall forbrenne." P. PI. 44; — vorbamde. Rob. Glouc. b XV111 ADDITIONAL NOTES, bruised [intensitive], forclosef, forclarked, fordewed, fordo, 1 fordreden, fordrive, fordronken, for dry, fordidled, fbrdwined, forefeebled, forfaite, 2 forfare, for fend, forfered, forfreteth, forget, forgive, Jorgo, forgrowen, 3 forhent, forholn, forjudge* forkerve, forladen [overburthened, Golding's Ovid, in War ton, iy. 237], forloft, forlent, forlese, forlete, for lie, forlore, 5 for- pyned, forsake, for say, fo?*set, for shame, forshapen [monstrous], forshent, for slack, forsleuthede, for song en, forspeak 6 [as a witch does], forstow, forstraught, for swat, forswear, forswonk, for- think, 7 fortorne, fortread, for waked, forwandred, * for wasted, 1 " this is the night That either makes me, or fored-.es me quite."' — Othello /act v. sc. 1. Mr. Tooke's account oiforedone, p. 275, " turned out of doors," cannot be brought to suit this passage, or the others in which it occurs, by the explanation, that " he that is forth-done, turned out of house and home, is, consequently, undone." 2 Perhaps forfeit does not belong to this class. — See Note, p. 179. 3 " Twoo forgrowen fathers resemblyng Enocke and Hely." — Fa- byan, 383. 4 Coke Litt. sec. 142, foris judicatus ! — Abjuclicare, Fleta. "Those pleas are insufficient in the law to forejudge [foi judge] or exclude the mayor, commonalty, and citizens from being a corporation." — Plead- ings in the Quo Warranto. 5 « forlorn of thee, Whither shall I betake me, where subsist ? " — Par. Lost, b. x. 6 Under Fore-speak, Dutch Veur-spreken, to predict, Mr. Richardson erroneously places the following: " That my bad tongue Forespeaks their cattle, doth bewitch their corn." Ford's Witch of Edmonton. Notwithstanding the orthography, the word is doubtless For speak, to set a spell upon, to curse, like fraquithan, pojicpseo'an, maledicere, increpare. Perhaps verspreken may have had that sense, Ten Kate, vol. ii. p. 408. Fiirs'prechen, to intercede, is different from either. 7 " . shall move your Ladyshypp forthynk your curtesye in thys behalfe" — Cavendysshe's Letter, in Hunter's Ilallamshire, p. 81. " Then did his father by and by forethink [forthink] him of his oth," . — Golalincfs Ovid, B. ii. " He shall aby or forthink it or I drink." — Palsgrave. And, under the word Repent, " I repent me, I forihynke me/' "I have forethought it sithe." Kob, Glouc. has of pongee, from OfSencan, poenitere, and Layamon ajnnche]?. " Neither 1 shall repent me, for that I haue giuen you counsaill, nor vet you shall foreihinke yourselfe that you have obeyed." — Wilson, Art of Rhetorique, This Mr. Richardson places among the compounds of fore, confounding it with, forethink, prsemeditari, an entirely distinct word. The subs tan tive forethought he does not give. ADDITIONAL NOTES. XIX forway, foricearied, 1 forwelked, forwept, forwon, fomoondred ' forwounded, forwrapped, foryelde, &c. &c. The compounds of for and fore have evidently been con- founded, as in the cases of forego, to precede, and forgo (as it should be written), 2 to give up : so, j:ojij*eon, Flem. ver~ sien, to overlook, to despise ; jzojiej'eon, Flem. veursien, to foresee : forethought, premeditation, and forthought, repented. When the particle has a privative signification, it probably represents the Gothic fra : also in popjijian, Flem. vergeeven, To forgive ; s which are the collaterals of J^Ji^XlJ^ AH* The explanation given by Mr. Tooke will not apply to the generality of cases. P. 220.— SUBSTANTIVE PREPOSITIONS. Prepositions are thus classed by Grimm, vol. iii. 251. I. Simple Prepositions ; (as to several of which Mr. Tooke states that he had not been able to satisfy himself. — p. 251.) With one consonant : — as In, on, out, of, at, up, by, to. With more than one: — as For, from, till, nigh, with. II. Derivative Prepositions. — After, over, under, hinder. III. Compounded, of two Prepositions. — Upon, out of, ivithin, behind, before, about, above, beneath : on mnan, on npari, on uppan, be-upan, on-bujzan. v. p. 250. {Substantive Prepositions. — Against, among. [To this class belongs oj: bune, adown.~] Adjective Prepositions. — Betwixt, between, amid, an heh, on high, below, toward. Among, is not L-emanj, as Somner has it, but On ge- xnang, this being a substantive (ccetus) and not the participle, which is gemeir^eb. See p. 227. Against, which Mr. Tooke would refer to a supposed participle, Grimm derives from a substantive gogen, gegen, apparently governed by the different prefixes : — thus ingagen, entgegen, zugegen, begagene, onjejen, to-jejnej', and, in Layamon, to-gen, to-geines. 1 " Repose is best tasted by bodies forewearied." Byrd's Psalms, 1583. t Forewearied in affayres of great importance." Byrd's Songs, 1589, Ded. 2 See the Errata to Lord Holland's Life of Lops de Vega, 1806. 3 Mr. Forby's East Anglian Vocabulary has " Forgive, To begin to thaw j " " Forhinder, To prevent," as still in use : and my Norfolk nurse used " I little forthought " simply in the sense of " I little thought " So pngipan is used simply for To give. Burns uses forgather, to meet. Forswear is both to abjure and to perjure, XX ADDITIONAL NOTES. P. 234. e To LONG or BELONG. Lelan S . ALONG on : LONG of: ALONG with. The distinction between the two senses of the word Along, (or rather of the two words,) as shown in the passage from Gower, " I tary forth the night alonge. For it is nought on me alonge To slepe," is attributed by Mr. Tooke wholly to the difference of their prefixes, as being respectively the representatives of Anblanj and Delanj. He refers the LANG or LONG in the latter as well as in the former to Lenjian, To make long, lengthen. It seems to me however that in these words, thus written alike, the second syllable in each is as entirely distinct in meaning and origin as the prefix. " To slepe is nought on me alonge." We shall in vain, I think, attempt to make out any relation to the notion of length, here, any more than in the word BE- LONG, which word also, it is remarkable that Junius does not notice, and Skinner merely says of it, " a Teut. Belangen, Anlangen." I conclude therefore that the root to which. Irelanj is to be referred is not Lenjian, To lengthen, but Langen, pertinere, for which see Wachter. From this we have also, in Kilian, " Belangh, Verlangh, necessitas, res ne- cessaria, res momentosa — Een saecke van groot verlangh ; " and " Belanghen, pertinere : " — in Schilter, " Gilengido, affi- nitates ; Gilanger, propinquus ; " and, in Ten Kate, vol. ii. p. 84 and 261, " Belang, Gelang, quod alicui quid refert : — Belangen, spectare ad aliquid ; " to which he refers the termi- nation ling ; the idea conveyed in all of which is that of close and intimate connection, and not at all of longitudinal dimension. Of the termination LING Somner says, " adjuncti cui additur notat subjectum," as in Foundling, Hireling, Duckling, Nestling, Firstling, Groundling, Fatling, Sapling, Worldling, indicating that the quality or circumstance closely belongs to the subject. 1 That Cling and Clench may be con- 1 " LING oritur a langen, spectare, pertinere, et hinc, substan- tivis annexum, ex substantivo supposition facit personale, et quodvis subjectum denominations, quatenus subjectum, illud ad substantivum, sub aliqua ratione pertinere creclitur." And, " Ex adjectivo tacit sub- stantivum, ea qualitate prseditum cui annectitur." Wackier, Prolegom. Sect. vi. e. g. Youngling, Darling. See also Grimm, ii. 352, and 356 for adverbs in lings .-—Scotch, Blindlins, Scantlins ; and Darkling, Milton. ADDITIONAL NOTES. XXI nected with this root as intensities, I would only submit as a hasty conjecture ; and Fling and Sling in a contrary sense. Our early writers frequently use Long as a verb, without the prefix Be, in the sense of pertain. So Chaucer : " That appertainetli and longeth all onely to the judges." Tale of Melibeus. A long, in the sense of length, was formerly written Alonsgt. And it is to be remarked that A long, when the representative of Erelanj, is always followed by on, upon, at, of, or the Noun in the genitive case, as in " on pjieopte jelanj :" — " 8ec J?e i)' upe lip gelan^." Our life is along at Thee. — " hit ip aec Erobep borne jelanj." — " Which was upon 'the kynge alonge," — Gower. iC ye bjunca hip jelang" — Oros. 5. 8. Along with should seem also to be from Langen, perti- nere, as well as Along of, and to have no relation to Length. Latimer and Ridley were sentenced along loith Cranmer. u And he to England shall along with you." — Hamlet, iii. 3. John- son, explaining the expression in Pope, "■ Come along," by onward, absurdly derives it from the French Allons. Richard- son gives Along and Belong as verbs, in the sense of To lengthen ; but with no instances of either in that sense : none, I should think, exist. He also gives the following senses of Belong : To reach, To attain, To appertain : the last being the only real one — the others imagined, merely to make out a sup- posed etymology. The other senses of Langen mentioned by Wachter, are trahere, expetere, prolongare, porrigere, tangere, and, metaphorically as he supposes, pervenire, from which he would derive the sense, pertinere : but the connection seems very remote and doubtful, and a confusion of the agent with the object. P. 243. ABOUT. — Mr. Tooke seems to have gone astray in his account of this word ; and very strangely, as its history seems tolerably clear. He appears to have been put on a wrong scent by Spelman, who derives it from the French Bout and Abouter; and overlooking Skinner's derivation of it, which he quotes, and Junius's, which he omits, he says, in p. 243, " Spelman, Junius, Skinner, and Menage all resort to Franco- Gall, for their etymology." This is certainly not true with regard to Junius and Skinner, however some of the passages XXII ADDITIONAL NOTES. as quoted by him from them may have this appearance. What is given from Junius relates to a different word, ' But, Scopus/ and has no reference to About ; his account of which, being omitted by Mr. Tooke, I here insert : " About, circum, circa. A.-Saxones abutan vel abuton dicebant ; quae videri possunt facta ex illo embe utan quod occurrit Marc. 14. 47 ; Sn oj: 'Sam j?e J?ap embe utan peobon, TJnus ex circumstantibus. Vide tamen Spelmanni Glossarium in Abuttare." Skinner, as will be seen in the Jirst quotation from him, (p. 242.) which is the whole of what he says upon the word About, derives it unhesitatingly from A.-S. abutan, ym- bufcan. The other passages which Mr. Tooke quotes from Skin- ner treat of Abutt and But, which he derives from the Franco- Gall. Bout ; and have no reference whatever to About. Skinner errs in compounding Bhutan of the Latin prepo- sition Ah and the Saxon utran ; for analogy obviously leads us to consider the A as a contraction of the Saxon On (as Again, onjean ; Away, on pej ; Aback, on baec, &c.) and it is some- times written with On, which requires butan, and not ucan. The word is found in the following forms : onbutan, on- bufcon, aburan, abuton; embe utan, embucan, ymbe- utan, ymbufcan, ymbucon; all orthographical variations of two, onbufcan and ymbutan ; and these, though really di- stinct words, as being compounds of bucan and utan with the distinct prepositions On and Ym or Ynxbe, yet seem to have coalesced 1 in the course of time, not greatly differing in sense or sound, to form our present word About, which is the repre- sentative of both. Of this I think no one will doubt who at- tends to the idiomatic features in which it exactly resembles its progenitors, as the following phrases of King Alfred and the 1 The tendency of similar words to coalesce in the course of time, and from being confounded in popular use, is one of the phenomena of language to be noticed : For example mystery (fxvcfr^iov), and mistere, oninisterium, maisterie, inesiiero, metier, an art or crafb :^the French ]sle, Ital. Isola, Lat. Insula, confounded with Island, (properly Hand) A.-S. Galonb, Giclanb. So Unter, and Liter, Beorn and Beam. Thus has Weremuth been transformed into Wormwood, 2ru bune by an elision of the prefix. As abuna, abune, with their compounds, are also found, we can have no "doubt that the A in this case has arisen from the Or. rapidly pronounced ; 3 and instead of Adown being from a and the preposition down, as Dr. Johnson tells us, the fact is just the reverse — Down is contracted from Adown or Sbiine, and Jfbune is from Or. bune. 4 As the instances which I have as yet found of the use of Oj: bune are but six, of which Lye gives references only to five, and those dispersed under different heads, and, unlike his gene- ral practice, without the context, I have thought it might be satisfactory if I furnished the reader with the following : Under Or.bune, Deorsum, Lye only refers us to Or. and Dun. " Of. Of De."— " Oj: J>am munfce." " Op heoponum, De ccelo." " Op bune. Deorsum ; Oros. 3.5. Boet. 25." 1 " Conjecture cannot supersede historical fact ; and it ought never to be adopted in etymology, unless to explain those words of which the existence precedes record. Mr. Tooke, who had more intellect than northern lore, frequently advances a rash though always an ingenious conjecture : but Mr. Richardson pursues the same untracked course with still less caution, and often connects (like Mr. Whiter in his Etyinolo- gicon) words as obviously distinct in pedigree as a negro and a white." — Monthly Review, for Jan. 1817, N. S. vol. lxxxii. p. 86. 2 So in the case of "De cJwz" p. 162, where chez is the substantive CASA. 3 Thus Ashamed from oppceamob ; Athirstfrom opoyppte; aj>mchej> from op]>mcheJ?, Layam. 4 So DecliviSj from de and clivus, ADDITIONAL NOTES. XXV "Dun. bune. A down. Mons ; Mf. Gl. 18. gr. 5. Matt. 24. 3. Ps. 67. 16. — p bune. Downward, down. Deorsum ; Oros. 3. 5. R. Luc. 4.9. itoe*. c. 33. §. 4. 1. 86." "Khun, abuna. abune. Deorsum; Bed. 1. 12. (7. Luc. 4. 9." " Kbunapecc, Depositus ; Bed. 4. 6." Abuneapcigan. abunepcijan. Descendere ; C. Luc. 19. 5. Ps, 71. 6. 87. 4." "Abunpeapb. Deorsum; C. Sax. 1083." To which I subjoin so much of the context of the passages referred to as will be sufficient for the satisfaction of the reader. King Alfred's Orosius, 3. 5. p. 94. — Anb hi lecon heopa hpsegl op bune Co pocum. And they let their garments down to their feet. King Alfred's Boethius, 25. — Spa bi<5 eac ]?am cpeopum oe him £e- cynbe bij) up heah to pcanbanne. J?eah ou ceo hpelcne boh op bune Co J?sepe eop]?an. ppelce ]m be^an msege. ppa J>u hine alaecpc. ppa pppmc]? he up. ~\ ppigaS pi]? hip gecynbep. 1 So it is also with the trees, to which it is natural to stand erect. Though thou tug each bough down to the earth with all thy might ; when thou lettest it go, then springeth it up, and stretcheth according to its nature. Anb nip hipie Sonne e]>ne Co peallanne op-bune Sonne up. — 33. §. 4. 1. 86. And it is not to them easier to fall downwards than upwards. 2 To these should be added another, given under the word ftealb, which Lye thus explains ; " Propensus, proclivis, de- vexus, incurvatus. 'Siben healb. Istuc proclivis, (thereto in- 1 " Yalidis quondam viribus acta, Pronum flectit virga cacumen; Hanc si curvans dextra remisit, Recto spectat vertice ccelum." — De Consol. lib. 3. metr. 2. " The yercle of a tre that is haled adowne by mightie strength boweth redily the croppe adown : but if that the hande that is bente let it gone againe, anon the croppe lokethe vpright to the heuen." — Chaucer str an si. 2 " Aut mersas declucant pondera terras," — De Consol. lib. 3. metr. 9. " ne flye nat ouer hie, ne that the heuinesse ne draw nat adoune ouerlowe the yerthes that be plonged in the waters." — Chaucer s transl. where observe that he uses Adoun. In the King of Tars we have, " His robe he rente adoun." Warton, ii. 25. 8vo. " The table adoun riht he smot." Ibid. " Al that he hitte he smot doun riht." Ibid. " He hem a-dun leide." Layamon, 1. 551. " And descended a doun to the derk helle." P. Plouhman's Crede. " That hongen adoun to theo grounde." Davie's Alisaundre, Warton, ii. 54. " Theo duyk feol doun to the grounde." Ibid. 59. XXVI ADDITIONAL NOTES. elined) ; Boet 24. 4. oj: bune healbe. Be monte devexus ; 41. 6." It will be seen that lie lias here fallen into a singular mistake in rendering the phrase literally " de monte," which he never could have done if the context had not escaped his attention : Alfred's Roethius i 41. 6. 1 — Xnb fume bij? tpiopece, j-ume piopeppete ; fume pleogenbe. 3. ealle J?ean bio]? op bune healbe pi]? J?sepe eoppan. And some be two-footed, some four-footed ; some flying : and yet all be downwards inclined towards the earth. 2 Matt. 24. 3. — pa lie rsec uppau Oliuetyp bune. As he sate uppona mount of Olives. — Fox's Gospels. Fsal. 67. 15' — 17. Spelman. — Dune Gobep, munt pa&t. Munt ge- punnon, bune pset. co hpy pene ge muntap jepunnene. Dune on J^am gelicob ip God punian on hme. Mons Dei, mons pinguis. Mons coagulatus, mons pinguis, ut quid suspicamini montes coagulatos 1 Mons in quo beneplacitum est Deo liabitare in eo. R. Luc. 4. 9. op bune. C. Luc. 4. 9. abune. In these two versions of Luke 4. 9. (If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down from hence) we see abune in the Cambridge MS. (Wanley's Cat. p. 152. Lye's G) supplying the place of op bune in his R., which, is the Rush- worth MS. in the Bodleian Library, Ward. p. 82. In Mareschal's edi- tion the passage is thus rendered, typ ]?u py Eobep punu, arenb ]?e heo- nun nyj>eji. 8 Gothic, yj^ljtlll Cf)flK ^A^Kj? d^AA^' * 1 " Sunt qnibus alarum levitas vaga, verberetque ventos, Et liquido longi spatia setheris enatefc volatu. Hsec pressisse solo vestigia gressibusque gaudent, Vel virideis campos transmittere vel subire sylvas. Quad variis videas licet omnia discrepare for mis ; Prona tamen facies hebetes valet ingravare sensus. Unica gens hominum celsum levat altius cacumen," &c. Be Consol. lib. 5. met. 5. 2 The following is the passage answering to this in Alfred's metrical paraphrase, p. 197 : Sume potum tpam Some with two feet polban petSSaJ). tread the ground : fume pieppete, some fourfooted. Sume pleogenbe Some flying pm be]? unbep polcnum, wind under the welkin, Bij? j?eah puhta jehpilc Yet is each creature onhnigen to lipupan. inclined to the ground, hnipaj? op bune. boweth adown, on peopulb plite]?. on the world looketh, pilna)> to eoyip&n, tendeth to the earth. 3 The representatives of which still remain in the Dutch neder, down, daalen, to descend; Germ, thalwdrts, downhill. Mr. Gwilt, in his Saxon Rudiments, cannot be right in giving to nitiep and abune the signification of backwards. ADDITIONAL NOTES. XXVli: Bede 1. 12. — Tugan hi eapmhce abun op oam pealle. Miserrime de muris tracti, solo allidebantur. Bede 4. 6. — Baet abune apetton op Sam bipcop pice pmjrpipe. Uh deposito Winfrido, &c. G. Luc. 19. 5. — Abuneaptijan {Cambridge MS.) And in the Durham Book Got. Nero, I find — Anb cuoeS to him Zache oeperca (1 oepepthce) abune ptig. popoon to baeje in hup mn gebaepneb lp me to punian. J oepiptube opptaj abune. Et dixit ad eum, Zacchee, festinans descende, quia hodie in domo tua oportet me manere. Et festinans descendit. Psalm 71. 6. — pe abunearcah ppa ppa pen on plyp. Descendet sicut pluvia in vellus. Psalm 87. 4. — Eepeneb ic eom mib abunertijenbum on peape. — JEstimatus sum cum descendentibus in lacum. Psalm 73. 3. — Mount Sion is called ]?sepe bune. Matth. 4. 8. — Junius says that the Rushworth MS. has oune instead of bune. — On oune heh puiSe : where Mareschal has Ou ppioe heahne munt. Chron. Sax. an, 1083.-— Anb pcotebun abunpeapb mib apepan. And shot downwards with arrows. — Anb J?a oope ]?a bupa bpeecon ]?aep abuiie. And the others broke down the doors. I believe it will be found that the adverb and preposition Down exists in none of the other Teutonic dialects, but solely in the English language. With regard to the substantive, Wachter derives it from Dunen, turgere. [Since the publication of the Edition of 1829, I have met with one more instance, in the poem of Judith : Pi oa hpeopig-moba puppon hypa psepen op bune. — Thwaites, Hept. p. 25. Also, in the third volume of Grimm's Grammatik, 1831, I find op bune classed in his division of Prepositional Adverbs formed of Substantives, p. 151. seq. with others exactly analogous: e. g. aba berge, aba hirnile, deorsum ; and the converse, formed in the same manner, ze tale, deorsum, ze berge, sursum ; Old French and Italian, amont, aval, a monte, a voile, up, down ; — and Ger. bergaafxmd bergab gehen, To walk up and down hill. The matter seems now so perfectly plain, that I wonder Mr. D. Booth, in the ^Introduction to his Analytical Dictionary, 1830, p. cxxviii. should have kept in the path of difficulty.] P. 265. GENITIVAL ADVEKBS. The adverbs formed from the oblique cases of substantives and adjectives are collected by Grimm in great number from the Teutonic languages in all the periods of their history, and classed according to their origin XXV111 ADDITIONAL NOTES. from the genitive, dative, or accusative case. — Grammatik, vol. iii. p. 88 et seq. Such as the following are evidently to be referred to the genitive : a anep baejep re ahhobe eobe." One day the abbot went. — Sax. Chron. an 1083. Therwith the nightspel said he anon rihtes. — Ohauc. Miller's Tale, 3480. By rights. Unawares. Athwart-ships. Amidships, His thankes. Now adayes, (P. PI. 186. Whit.) Now on dayis, (G. Dougl. b 5, 140.) Besides. Betimes. Straightway s. (This Richardson omits ; and Webster, I know not why, says it is obsolete.) Ways occurs as the genitive singular, " any icays afflicted," Com. Prayer. (Always, however, Grimm says is from the plural. Else, he considers as the genitive ellep, p. 61. 89.) Go thy ways. " Irepaenbe }?a3r f^ey ]?e he aep com." He turned the way that he before came. — Apollonius, ed. Thorpe, p. 13. Of late; of old '? " Nipep oJ?J?e ealber." — Conybeare, p. 246. Among those which are to be referred to the Dative plural, Grimm, iii. p. 136, mentions ftpilum, aliquando. So that our whilom has come down to us with its datival inflexion entire, like some fossil among the debris and alluvium of our lan- guage, with all its original characters unobliterated : — and the substantive While supplies us with two adverbs — Whiles, from the genitive singular, and Whilom, from the dative plural. Yet Lennie, among the conceited absurdities of his grammar, twentieth edition, Eclinb., 1839, gravely tells us that "while should not be used as a noun ! " Alas for the poor children who are doomed to be tormented out of their mother tongue by these Grammar-makers ! P. 266. 678. 680. FUTURE INFINITIVE. Such expressions as the follow- ing evidently have their origin from the ancient Derivative or Future Infinitive. The house is to build. There are many things to do, trees to plant, fences to make, &c. Hard to bear. Fair to look on. Easy to learn. Good to eat. Difficult to handle. Sad to tell. So, u J^ii: if rceame to tellanne, ac hit ne ]?uhte mm nan pceame to bonne." — Chr. Sav. an. 1085. " rpi]?e gebpolpum to nasbenne." — Thwaites, Hept. 4. u bejan to bobienne; psejen on to locianne." — Oros. II. ADDITIONAL NOTES. XXIX iv. 68. A house to let : (for which some folks, thinking to show their grammar, write A house to be let.) Ages to come. He is to Maine. What is to be. " pe dede ]?at is to drede." — Langtoft, 399. " ]?e day is for to iviten."—lh. 2. 341. " That is the robe I mean, iwis, 1 Through which the ground to praisen is." — Bom. of the Rose, 1. 69. " That is a frute full wel to like:'— lb. 1. 1357. " Nought wist he what this Latin was to say." — Prioresses T. 1 34. 53. " Thynges that been to Jlien, and thynges that been to desiren" — Poet. 5, 2. "And is hereafter to cowmen." — P. Ploughm. Creed. "Where- fore it is to presuppose that it was for a more grevous cause." — Fabyan, 389, A.D. 1285. " And this is not to seek, it is absolutely ready." " I do not think my sister so to seek." — Comus. It seems to have been first altered by accenting the vowel, in- stead of using the nne, as to puman, and then to have been written like the simple infinitive, but with to prefixed ; " ruo- nen J?e pair to halben." — Chron. Sax. an. 1140. Originally the simple infinitive was not preceded by to : thus we still say, I bade him rise. I saw him fall. You may let him go. They heard him sing. See Grimm, iv.. 91 and 104 ; Pure Infinitive and Prepositional Infinitive. With regard to Lye's statement (referred to in the note, p. 192.) that to was sometimes prefixed, though redundantly, to the simple infinitive, it will be found that he is not borne out by the passages to which he refers, and which, as he has not given them, I insert. (i Tfnb rsette ]?agp munecap Lrobe to )?epian." — Chron. Sax. 118. 10; — ad inserviendum Deo; — evidently not the simple bat the future infinitive. " pa pe- onbe he f man pceolbe ]?a pcipu to heapan." — Ibid. 134, 10. — ut naves confringerent. Here the to is not* the prefix to the infinitive ; which is clearly governed by pceolbe ; but the verb is a compound, toheapan. tl Gobon heom to heojia gayipan peonme," egressi sunt ad qugerendum sibi 1 Iwis, ywis, gepir, certainly, indeed ; (not as Somner supposes, / wis, scio)- The verb pitan. therefore, gives us these two adverbs : From the past participle, gepir, Fr. Th. kewisso, — rwis ; From the future infinitive, to pitanne, — to wit : The near relation of pitan to viclere, visere, s'/dw, s/Vo/xa/, has been pointed out by Junius, Waehter. and others. XXX ADDITIONAL NOTES. victum : the sense is here mistaken ; it should be C{ they went to their ready retreat ;" and the passage is not to the purpose, "fre onbpeb ]?ybep to jzapanne," — Matt. 2. 22. ("to }:a- jienbe/' — Fox.) and i( To papenne 3 bebypijean mmne jzsebep," — lb. 8. 22. are obviously future. Thus, in Ger- man, zu is prefixt to a verb governed by another verb that precedes it, except in the case of auxiliaries and some others. Some writers of the present day have a disagreeable affec- tation of putting an adverb between to and the infinitive. Grimm considers the Infinitive as declinable, and makes the Future Infinitive a Dative Case, vol. ii. p. 1022. iv. 61. 105. The form which occurs in Wiclif, " Thou that art to co- mynge." — Matt. 11. 3., would seem to be a corruption of the future infinitive, as it answers to pu j?e to cumenne eapt ? &c. Yet we find to makienbe in Hickes, ii. 171. xxiii. ; and, in the Saxon Chronicle, an. 654, instead of " Botulj: onjon ]?set mynj-ten- tmibpian," MS., Got. reads, " agan to ma- cienbe f myirptep : " a form which often occurs in old Platdeutsche : " Wultu uns uthclryven, so vorlove uns inn de herde swyne tlio varende." — Matt. 8. " Crist Ihesu that is to demynge the quyke and deed." — 2 Tim. 4 1. " Ihesu Christo, de dar tliokamende ys, tho richtende de levendigen und de doden." — Platdeutsche Bible, Magdeburg, 1545. "Do began he to bevende." — Bruns Gedichte, 360 : From which it would seem to have been confounded with the present parti- ciple ; unless there should have been a form in which the par- ticle to was used with the Present Participle, in the same manner as with the Past and with the Future Infinitive : — as to-bpecenb, to-bpocen, to-b]iecanne. See Grimm, iv. 113. P. 292. 559. 609. ENGLISH IMPEKSONALS. METHINKS. Mr. Richardson in his Dictionary thus explains Methinks : " It causes me to think," which is as little to the purpose as to explain Me seemeth, It causes me to seem, instead of, It seems to me. 1 1 Other instances may be noted where the pronoun follows the verb in the Objective case; as " Woe is me." — ■ " Oh, wel is him that hath his quiver Furnish t with such artillery." — Stemhold and Hopkins, Psalm 1 27 . ADDITIONAL NOTES. XXXI Thus Shakspeare : " Prince. Where shall we sojourne till our coronation? Glo, Where it thinks best unto your royal selfe." Richard the Third, act 3. sc. 1. as it stands in the first copies, though since altered to seems. Thinks, in this case., is the representative of Dunken, 1 To appear and not of Denken, To think. We have therefore in German mich dunkt, as in English methinks, i. e. It appears to me. Several Iropersonals of a similar kind may be enumerated. " Me seemeth good that with some little traine Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetcht," Richard the Third, act 2. sc. 2. " Let him do what seemeth him good." — 1 Sam. iii. 18. " Her thought it all a vilanie." — Ghauc. R. Rose, 1. 1231. " Him oughtin now to have the lese paine." — Leg. Good Worn. 429. " Him ought not be a tiraunt." — lb. 1. 377. " The gardin that so likid me." — Ghauc. R. Rose, 1. 1312. " So it liked l the emperor to know which of his daughters loved him best." — Gesta Rom. ed. Swan, i. Ixxii. ch. 20. " He should ask of the emperor what him list. — lb. lxxxv. ch. 41. " Me mette"—(I dreamt;) Chancer, Millers T. 3684: Nonnes Pr. 1. 14904 ; Piers Plowm. p. 1. &c. If this be from Mecan, To paint. To image, it would seem from its impersonal form to be q. d. " It imaged to me." In some instances, however, " Quelle " occurs governed by the pronoun in the nominative case. " Well me quemeth" (pleaseth) Chauc. Con/. Am. 68. Also our common expression " If you please ;" where you is evidently not the nominative to the verb, but is governed by it, q. d. u If you it please :" yet, by a singular perversion of the phrase, we say " I do not please," " If she should please," for " It does not please me," " If it should please her." " Stanley. Please it your majestie to give me leave, He muster up my friends and meete your grace, Where and what time your majestie shall please.'''' Richard the Third, act 4. sc. 4. " Me opSmcjV pcenitet me. — Somner. " 2fnb hit Jmhte him peapa baja." — Gen. 29. 20. And it seemed unto him but a few days. " Da Fmnar, him ]?uhce, y ]?a Beopmap )-ppa?con neah an je^eobe/' — Oros. p. 22. It seemed to him that the Finnas and the Beormas spoke nearly one language, ]7unbephc Jnncan. Boet. ] 6. 2. To seem wonderful. 1 " In fcbir gilicheta mir." — Schilter. Goth. " Thatei leikaith imma." —John 8. 29. TOV v/jlTv XXXU ADDITIONAL NOTES. ©At£VlS mc3 exactly correspond- ing to hoxzT, to which word, indeed, Wachter supposes Dunhen videri, to be related; whilst Denken, cogitare, he derives from ding, sermo, " sensu a sermone externo ad internum translate. Quid enim est cogitare, nisi intus et in mente sermocinari?" 1 See Ihre, v. Ting, Tinga, colloquium. It is clear, notwithstand- ing the occasional writing of ]?mcan for j?encan, that, from the earliest existing records of all the Teutonic dialects, these have come down to us as two entirely distinct words ; — they are al- ways kept distinct in the praeterite; — and no mere conjecture of a common origin can warrant us in confounding them. 2 Goth, CJSj^PJCCJjlM To think. prat. t|ljUiTJV. Luc. i. 29. A.-S. J?encean, )?encan, Juncan, praat. ]?ohte. Franc. Thenken, praet. thahta. Germ. Denken, praet. dachte. Icel. at peckia, praet. J?eckti. Suio-G. Ta3iika. ^IHTKQjUfT, To seem. praet, tfWllTA- Luc - 19 - H. pmcan, praet. Jmhte. Thunken. Dunken, praet. diinkt. at pykia, praet. J?6tti. Tycka. All these when impersonal govern the person in the dat. or ace. 1 The quotation which he adds, may be interesting, in reference to the observations on Mr. Locke's Essay in Chap. II. p. 1 9, 20, &c. " Eleganter Tertullianus, cap. v. con. Prax. — Vide quum tacitus ipse tecum congrederis, ratione hoc ipsum agi intra te, occurrente ea tibi cum sermone ad omnem cogitatus tui motum, et ad omnem sensus tui pulsum. Quodcunque cogitaveris sermo est, quodcunque senseris ratio est. Loquaris illud in animo necesse est : Et chun loqueris, conlocu- torem pateris sermonem, in quo in est hsec ipsa ratio, qua cum ea cogi- tans loquaris, per quam loquens cogitas. Ita secundus quodammodo in te est sermo, per quern loqueris cogitando, et per quern cogitas lo- quendo." 2 Junius (Gloss, to Goth. Gospels) and Lye confound them. But they are clearly distinguished by Wachter; and by I lire, v. Tcenka, and Tycka, as to which he says, " eo cum discrimine, quod hoc mentis sit cognitio, illud sententia:" the one signifying perception, the other de- liberation and all the operations of the mind, as relating to the past and future as well as the present. Mig tyckes, impers. mihi videtur." Mer thickir, Gloss, to Edda, part ii. 1818,. v. pickia, potti, ]?6kti : and v, patti pro feckti, and peckia. Also Biorn Ealdorsen, v. Jwki and }>enki. ADDITIONAL NOTES. XXxiii P. 338. 346. 431. WHINID. — i{ 'Tis a common expression in the western counties to call an ill-natured, sour person, vinnid. For vi- newed, vinoived, vinny, or vinew (the word is variously written) signifies mouldy. In Troilus and Cressida, act 2nd, Ajax speaks to Thersites, ' Thou vinned'st leaven,' i. e. thou most mouldy sour dough. Let this phrase be transplanted from the west into Kent, and they will pronounce it whined! st leaven/' — a Mr. Theobald reads, you unioinnow'dst leaven ; others, you unsalted leaven. But vinnedst is the true reading, ab Anglo-Sax. fyriig, mucidus. Wachterus, l finnen, soides, finnig, mucidus, putridus, finniger speck, lardum fcetidum. Idem Anglo - Saxonibus fynig apud Somner et Benson, et inde fynigean, mucescere/ This word I met with in Herman's Yulgaria, printed in 1519, folio 162. ' This bredde is olde and venyed: hie panis cariosa est vetustate attactus,' which not a little confirms my correction and explication." — Uptons Critical Observations on Shakespear, p. 213. P. 3S9. 437. BOND, BOUND. —That the different senses of Bond, Bound, &c.j are to be traced to distinct roots, and are not all of them connected with the word To bind, will appear, for in- stance, from Bond, which now forms a part of the word Hus- band, Husbond, but which was formerly used instead of it. In Somner we have " Bonba, Paterfamilias, Maritus. The good man of the house : a husband. Vox (forte) origine Danica, hoc enim sensu occurrit apud Olaum Wormium, Monum. Danic. 1. 3. p. 233." Somner cites no authority ; but we find the following in the Laws of Canute, WiTkins, 144 (on Intestates, Heriots, &c). 70. Gonjux incolat eandem sedem quam Maritus. Anb ])te]i pe Bonba raat uncpyb j imbecnapob, pitte f pip 3 (5a cilb on Sam ylcan unbepacen. And £ip pe Bonba sen he beab psene, &c. And where the Husband resided undisputed and unquestioned, let the wife remain, and the chiicl in the same spot, without dispute. And if the Husband, ere he were "dead, &c. (So in Laws, Hen. I. c. 14. p. 245. " Et ubi Bunda manserit sine calumpnia, sint uxor et pueri in eodem sine querela.") Also, p. 74. Goiijux qum furata recepit furti non tenetur. Ne niaeg nan pipe hijie Bonban popbeoban f he ne moce into hip cotan gelaman f f he pille. Nor may no wife her husband forbid that he might not into his cot bring what he will. XXXIV ADDITIONAL NOTES. Spelman and Skinner have recourse in their etymology to the verb Bmban, to bind ; considering Husband as domus vinculum : and Mr. Bosworth, as " one bound by rules/' Skin- ner, however, also gives huj and honba, Paterfamilias, after Somner. But Junius, 1 who has been followed by Jamieson, Webster, and Bichardson, rightly refers it to the Saxon and Danish Bnenb or Bonde, an inhabitant or occupier ; being the present 2 participle of Bya, By an or Bnpan, habitare, incolere ; and rendered by manens, as Sir Francis Palgrave informs us, in the Latin charters. So WiTkins, p. 134, Spa Sam Bunban ry relort. As may be best for the inhabitants. The similarity of the Pres. Participle of this Yerb to the Past Part, of To Bind, to which it can have no relation, may have occasioned ambiguity and perhaps led to mistakes as to another use of the word Bond. In Ducange, 8vo edit., we have " Bondus, servus obnoxise conditionis, qui alias nativus ex Saxon. bonb, ligatus, obligatus." He cites among others Walsingham : " Rus- tic! naruque quos Natives vel Bondos vocanms." " Servitia bondoruni." Monast. Angl. "Bohdi regis" in Legibus Forestarum Scoticarum. Bundones in Danish and Swedish historians. In the same work we have also " Bondagium, conditio servilis, vel colonica : " for which also Walsingham is quoted : " manumisimus universos ligeos, aepe bupij : but Can- capup pe beoph, 1 2nt J?£eni beopgum Caucapup, Xthlanp J?aem beopje. Bergen, beopgan, to hide, keep, defend, always agrees in its characteristic vowels with Lairg, beopj, berg, a hill ; hence kornberg, heuberg, and our Barn. The origin of bound in the sense of limit does not seem clear. P. 492. LOOSE and LOSE, however nearly they resemble each other in the present English orthography, have come down to us as representatives of two quite distinct families ; and I see no evi- dence of their common parentage. The hasty assumption, that words which are similar in appearance or sound are always to be referred to the same source, will frequently mislead. Truth is to be obtained, not by such conclusions a priori, but by an accurate examination of the facts which appear in the history of any words under examination. It is only in the absence of historical facts that conjecture and hypothesis are to be ad- mitted. There are indeed several instances which seem to countenance the paradoxical opinion of a very profound phi- lologist, the late Mr. William Taylor, that languages are con- fluent ; for some words bearing a near resemblance to each other, instead of having diverged from a common root, appear on the contrary to have converged towards a similarity of orthography and a certain adaptation or confusion even of meaning. Instances are to be found of the tendency of popu- 1 Mr. Dalnes Barrington translates beophte, " parched by the sun : " p. 4. I have no doubt it means " mountainous," from beoph. See the context. ADDITIONAL NOTES. XXXY11 lar usage to confound words having a resemblance to the ear, by changes in orthography or modifications of their original sense ; and though it would be unreasonable to make the ex- ceptions the rule, yet this tendency should be borne in mind, as sometimes giving the right clue to the truth. The distinct families to which Loose and Lose respectively belong are to be traced from the earliest records of the Teu- tonic languages, each having throughout its appropriate and clearly distinct signification. To begin with Ulphilas : M.Goth, A.linSQiiM, ^-AlflSjliy, perdere, destruere : rare, solvere : Laus, Fra?wsan, &c. liber, fr&lausjsui, &c. A. Sax. Ler an, Lyran, On-leran. Leoran,Lorian,puleoran,pnlonen. Suio. G. Losa, Lossa Lisa, perdere (Hire). Alam. Losan, Yerloosan . . Forliosan, Firliusan. Belg. Lossen, Loozen . „ . Liezen, Yerliezen, Yerlieren : [rfors, Adj. Los as in was, were; freeze, frore?^ Germ, Losen, loste, gelost, Yerlieren, Yerlor, Yerloren : Subst. Auflosen, Adj. Los. . Yerliess, (duugeon, oubliette.) (Ten Kate, ii. 267.) Formerly Yerleuseu and Yerlie- sen for Yerlieren; whence still in !N". Germany Yerlesen for Yerloren. Engl. Loose, Loosen. Lose, lese. Forlorn : Subst. Loss, Lorel, Losel. Mr. Kichardson, following his theory of the identity of words that resemble each other, gives Loose and Lose as u the same word, somewhat differently applied," and this he supports by the following novel and extraordinary explanation of To Lose: "To dismiss, to separate, part or depart from; to give up, to quit, to resign, relinquish, or abandon the hold, property, or possession of; to dispossess., deprive, to diminish, to waste, to ruin, to destroy ;" which are evidently very wide of the real meaning of the word, and serve only to favour a fancied and erroneous etymology, which derives Loose from liusan, To lose, To destroy ; whereas, on the contrary, the root from which it really comes signifies, To free, redeem, 'regain, and gives the German appellation for our Saviour. A dictionary formed on such principles can only bewilder and mislead. P. 594. MANY.— " GOycel meni 5 u."— Mark 5, 24. P. 607. 610. TKUTH.— « Many a fats treuthe."—P. PI. ed. Whit. 398. XXXVIII ADDITIONAL NOTES. P. 624. " We apprehend that Horne Tooke was mistaken in. as- signing a verbal origin (as being derived from 3rd pers. sing, indie.) to our abstract substantives in ih; and that they are mostly formed from adjectives. Thus from long, length, &c. — Now this terminative ih is as likely to be a coalescence of the article with the adjective, as to be the person of a verb. The long, &c. is a natural expression for length, &c. ; but in order to support Tooke's derivation, we must suppose a verb To long, &c. and define length, that which longeth; which would be absurd. Though H. T. was not learned in the northern tongues, his sagacity is still admirable when he is pursuing a wrong scent. Another argument against his opinion is, that those substantives in th, which appear to have a verbal origin, assert a passive rather than an active sense. Thus math means the thing rnoiun, not that which motveth; so broth, ruth, stealth, and in all these cases the in- finitive in coalescence with the article forms a natural equivalent expression : the mow of hay, &o. We infer that .the formative ih is a transposed article." — Monthly Beview, for Jan. 1817? N. S. vol. Ixxxii. p. 83, In Suio-Gothic the definite article is a suffix. Stealth, how- ever, is the act of stealing, not the tiling stolen : birth is either the act of bearing, or the thing borne. For a very full exami- nation of substantives terminating in t, d, and th, in all the Teutonic languages, see Grimm, ii. pp. 193, 224, 241. P. 639. CHURCH. KIRK Mr. Tooke adopts without hesitation the common opinion with regard to the Greek origin of the word CHURCH. A friend has suggested, that in order to make this probable, it ought first to be shown that the word xug/axaj was in use in that signification among the Greek and Latin ecclesiastical writers, so as that the Teutonic tribes could have borrowed it from them. Walafrid Strabo alleges Athanasius, Vita S. Antonii, as using nvgiazoy to signify a temple. Ulphilas merely adopts the Greek word ecclesia. Ephes. 5. 25. &c. j^IKKABSQ^* Kirch, therefore, had not been introduced in his time. In the Glossary to Schilter's Thesaurus, v. Chirk, some very ancient forms are given, as, Chirilih, . Kirihh, from the prefix pjii, or ge, and rihhe, regnum, sc. Christi, as is well suggested. ADDITIONAL NOTES. XXXIX by Diecmanii in his dissertation on the word; — others, favour- Ing the doctrine of election, refer it to Jcir } and Mr en, eligere ; Lipsius to cirhj circus. — — Wachter gives instances of kilch for church, which he conjectures may be derived from Jcelilc, used for a Tower, and for the chamber where Christ ate the last supper with his disciples. He also refers to Uorg, Hearh, fanum, del libra m, common to all the Teutonic tribes in the times of idolatry, and which he says differs very little from kirch, but thinks it improbable (perhaps without sufficient reason) that the first christian missionaries among them should have borrowed it. See the Glossary to the Edda, Part II., 1818, v. IXavkgr, fteajvg, sgxos. There is a much stronger objec- tion to this etymology, inasmuch as temple is but a subordinate sense of the word. P. 651. 654. THE PKESENT PARTICIPLE.— [" It was formerly known in our language by the termination -and. It is now known by the termination -ing."] The substitution of the Present Participle in ing for the an- tient one in ancle or ends has not, I believe, been satisfactorily accounted for. Mr. Tyrwhitt, speaking of the language of Chaucer, says ; " the participle of the present time began to be generally terminated in ing, as loving ; though the old form which terminated in ende or ande was still in use, as lovende or lovande." Mr. Grant, in his excellent Grammar, p, 141, con- jectures that this change may have arisen from the nasal sound given by the Normans to and or ant having led to their being written with a g. But this necessarily supposes the ter- mination ing not to have existed before the Conquest ; 1 whereas it had always been employed in Anglo-Saxon and in other Gothic dialects to form a large class of Verbal Substantives, such as A.-S pununj, mansio, zooning, Chaucer; 2 Germ, die wohnung ; Dutch, wooning ; a dwelling. Instead, therefore, of ende being changed into ing, both these terminations coex- isted in Anglo-Saxon and Old English, as they still do in Dutch and German, the one being used for forming the Present Par ticiple and the other the Verbal Substantive. 1 Ande should also have disappeared when ing was established. W shall however find both in use together down to the 1 6th century. 2 " His wonyng was ful fayr upon an heth."— Prologue, 1. 608. Xl ADDITIONAL NOTES. It follows then that what we are often told by grammarians of the Present Participle being used to form Verbal Substan- tives cannot be true : 1 for substantives in ing had been com- mon in our language for ages before ever the participle had had this termination : and the correspondent verbals in ing or ung in German and Dutch cannot possibly have any relation to the Present Participle, which in those languages has no such ending. Yet Greenwood and others 2 tell us that " this parti- ciple is often used as a substantive/ 5 p. 142 ; and that the participle " is turned into a substantive." But let us see whether exactly the reverse may not be the true account of the matter, and try whether, instead of the Participle being used as a Substantive, it be not the fact that the Substantive is used as a Present Participle ; and that our antient Participle in ende has been displaced 3 and superseded by the Verbal Substantives in ing. Greenwood adds : " This Participle is used in a peculiar manner, with the Verb To Be, &c, as I was writing, &c, and in this case a is often set before the participle (participle he must have it) ; as, He was a dying, She came here a crying, &c. Dr. Wallis makes this a to be put for at* denoting as 1 Mr. Tooke's conjecture, at p. 894, that the Verbal Substantive originated from the Past Participle, as Buildings, q. Buildens, is quit® unfounded. 2 " From to begin comes the participle beginning; as / am beginning the work ; which is turned into a substantive, as, In the beginning" p. 145» " Participles sometimes perform the office of substantives, and are used as such : as, The beginning, Excellent writing : " Lindley Murray's- Grammar, p. 77. "The present participle, with the definite article the before it, becomes a substantive:" Ibid. p. 183. " Terminations of the? substantive of the thing, from the Saxon : — ing is obviously the termi- nation of the imperfect participle." — Baldwin's very useful New Guide? [by the late Mr. Godwin,] p. xliik Dr„ Lumsden considers it as a great defect in our language, " that most of the nouns ending in ing- are at once participles and substantive nouns." — Per. Gram. Pref. xxy. 3 " Replaced " would be the term, in the current jargon of the day ? Introduced by clumsy translators from the French,, who confound re- placer and remplacer, and use Replace as an ugly hybrid to signify in- discriminately either supersede or reinstate. — ' Wellington, ay ant rem- place [succeeded] Melbourne, replacait Peek' 4 Here Greenwood is inaccurate ; for Wallis says, " valet at, sen in ; ,5? and that it would be a participle if the a were away. " A-twisting, in torquendo, inter torquendum, torquendo jam occu- patus. A non est hie loci articulus numeralis, sed particula prse posit iva, sen. -Prsepositio quae in connexions valet at, seu in ; prsefigitur verbal! ADDITIONAL NOTES. xli much as while ; e. g. a-dying, &c, i. e. ivliile any one is dying. Perhaps a is here redundant/' p. 143. Supposing his writing, and crying, and dying to be indeed participles, he might well consider the a redundant. But they are substantives, and to this the a bears witness. This a, he rightly states, " is undoubtedly the remains of the preposition on rapidly pronounced," and gives as instances, a fisschinge, JR. Glouc, 186. An huntyng, 199 ; on rlep, an jiep, asleep, Sax. Chron. Is not dying then the verbal substantive? He was a-dying. Ille fait in obitu — a mode of expression, which being in many cases capable of representing the Present Par- ticiple in ende, was used for it, and at length, by a subaudition of the on or a, gradually supplanted it. The following instances, taken from among a number which were collected in an attempt to investigate the subject, may throw some light on the progress of this change : and it will be seen that I have not met with any case of verbals in ing being employed strictly as Present Participles before the 14th century ; 1 though in the writers of that period, this use is exceedingly prevalent, almost to the exclusion of the participle in ande, which, however, kept its ground in the Scottish and Northern writers to a much later period. 1. Present Participle in ande, ende. 2 Matt. 8. 32.— GotMc, i>j) eis bspAxtAij&Ans-- rA~ ■ twisting a verbo twist, addita terminatioue formativa ing. Si abesset. prsefixumo., foret Participiuin Activum, Agentem innuens, contorquens. Sed, propter prsefixam prsepositionem, est hie loci nomen verbale in- imens Actionem ; quod et Gerundiorum vices supplet ; adeoqne expo- nendum erit in torsione existens, seu in torquendo, aut inter torquendum ; innuitque Agentem jam in ipso opere occupatum." — Gram.Angl. p. 243. 1 Layamon, however, has since the above was written supplied me with instances in the 1 3th century. 2 " D. est litera participialis, et nota originis ex participio. Solent enim Prisci ex participiis formare substantiva, et terminationem partici- pialem derivatis relinquere, tanquam custodem originis. Hnec una litera nos quasi manu ducit ad permulta vocabulorum secreta intelligenda,, qua? certe suam significant vim non aliunde habent quam a prsesentis temporis participio a quo oriuntur. Hujusmocli sunt, abend vespera, ab aben deficere ; heiland servator, ab heilen servare ; freund amicus, &freyen amare ; feind inimicus, a,jien odisse ; wind ventus, a wehen flare ; mond luna, a manen monere." — Wachter, Proleg. § vi. See also Lamb, ten Kate, ii. 77 : and Grimm, vol. iv. p. 64. xlii ADDITIONAL NOTES. AltyflN 111 hAljt&A SV6IM6— A. Sax. Anb hi X 8a utjangenbe pepbon on 8a rjnn. — Franco-Tli. Sie tho uzgangawfo fuorun in tliiu swin. — Flemish, Antw. i 542. En wten menscen g&ende, zy in de cudde der verckenen gegaen. And they going out, went into the swine. Matt. 9. 2.-JUSA Airl^A A.irANdAN- On bebbe licjenbe. Liccenbe in bepe. — Durham B. Liggynge in a bed. — TFic?. Bypnenbe pyji. Gcedm. 83. burning fire. Tpa men. . . coman pibenb. CAr. #«&■. an. 1137. Two men came riding. — iiii willis in the abbei ever emend. Riches, p. 11. Four wells in the abbey ever running. Versions of the Gospels (14th century) : — " And heprechycle saycmde, a stalwortlier thane I schal come eftar me, of whom I am not worthi downf-dllande, or knelande, to louse the thwonge of his chaucers." — Mark 1. 7. Balers Wiclif, Pre/. " — — - ruschyt amang thai in sa rudly, Btekand thaim so dispitously, And in sik fusoun herand doun, And slay and thaim forowtyn ransoun." — Barb. Bruce, b. 9. 1. 250. 2. Verbal Substantive in ing. 1 A. S. Pmeb heom untellenblice pminj. Chron. Sax. an. 1137. Tor- mented them with unutterable tortures. Bpennung, combustio ; hale- 1 "Ung. — Omnibus veterum dialectis, si Gothicam excipias, usitatum. Quid significet non liquet. Sed non ideo meram et arbitrariam vocis desi- nentis flexionem esse existimem, cum quia vetustas etlongus sseculorum ordo multa delevit quae hodie ignorantur, turn quia jam ssepe vidimus multis particulis quosdam inesse secretes significatiis, quos neque nostra neque superior aetas animadvertit. Prsecipuus ejus usus est in formandis substantivis, non omnibus promiscue, sed iis quae actionem aut passio- nem rei significant. Ita Anglosaxonibus thancung est gratiarum actio, Francis et Alamannis auchung augmentatio,Germanis samlung collectio, et alia innumera, a verbis oriunda. Ssepe etiam uni composito duplicem sensum, activum et passivum communicat. Inde verachtung contemtus, tarn is quern quis contemnit, quam quo contemnitur." — ■ Wachler. Prol. § vi. " On der de allergemeenzaemsten onzer uitgangen behoort ons Inge (bij inkort. Ing) dat, agterhet worteldeel der Verba gevoegt zijnde, een Substant. Fcemininum uitmaekt, om de dadelijke werking te verbeelden ; als DoENiNGtf, Doening Actio, van Boen agere. Zoo mede in 't F-Th. Hung, bij ons Ylinge, festinatio, van 't F-Th. Ilan festinare ; en F-Th. Heilizung salutatio, van 't F-Th. Ileilizan, salutare, enz : en in 't A-Sax- isch heeft men Unge & Ung king ; als A.-S. Wilnunge desiderium, van't A.-S. Wilnian desider 1 ^ cel " freistwigr. Fr. Theot. 'kbovunka, chovunga, inchor?m&c&, costunga. Dano-Sax. cortnung? cording, curtnung. Germ, bechovimge, versuchim^'. Sioiss. fersuoch- ung. Augsb. versuacho^, ferseclwn<7. Fries. versiekwi^. Molkw. voar- siekyng. Hindelop. bekoorie?i#. Netherland. becoringhe, Yevsoeckinge. Nether Sachs. versiichung, bekoringe, be&oeringe, betkevung. Ober- Sachs. versuchw?!^, anfechiung, &c. Hampole (14th century) : — ■" In the expownm^ I felogh holi doctors." — Prologue to Psalter. beelden of medegetuigen van dezen uitgang. Bij 't M-Gottisch en 'fc Oude Kimbrisch, nogte ook in de Grammatica van het tegenwoordige Yslandsch laet hij zig niet zien. In het Engelsch gaet het Participium Praisens Adjectiv. op ING in stee van ENDE, dat bij ons en anderen van Duitsche en Kimbrische afkomst zig vertoont ; als Eng. Loving bij ons Lievende, in 't H-.D. Liebende. Dog-voor 't Eug. Love aniare, heeft men in ' t Zweedsch, Deensch, en Ysl. Elska amare, welks Particip. Prces. Activ. is in 't Zweedsch Elskande, in 't Deensch Elskendis, en in 't Ysl. Flskende, amans, enz, Uit welken hoek nu, of uit wat voor een eigen stain, ons INGE gesproten zij, heb ik nog niet tot mijn ge- noegen konnen opspeuren. Zo men 't van ons Innige intimum, zou willen afleiden, zo blijffc de zin nog te gewrongen ; behalven dit, zo ken ik geene oudheid claer dit innig in stee van ons TNG zig vertoont, niet tegenstaende de volledigheid onder 't Oude minst gekreukt is. De M-Gottische terminatie aiks of eins of ons, als M-G. Libains (Leving), Fodeins (Yoecling), en Salbons (Zalving), enz. zijnde van gelijk geslagt gebruik en zin, zou wel met in, of un, of on, of an, beantword schijnen, dog de agterste G ontbreekt 'er dan nog ; en zou 'er seclert in stee van IG moeten bij gekomen zijn ; maer met deze onderstelling' zag ik dit op ons voorgemelde Innig wederom uitdraeijen ; 't gene om de bij ge- bragte rede niet aennemelijk is. Ik staek dan liever het verder gissen, zo lang ik nog niets bedenken kan, dat op een' goeden schijn rust> ofte proeve van overweging' mag uitstaen." — Lamb, ten Kate, ii. 81. See also Grimm's Grammatik, ii. 349. 359. Yerbal substantives were formed with each of these terminations ; but those in end denoted the agent, as re pselenb, the Saviour ; and those in ing the action, or its effect, as building, the act or what is produced by it ; chepyng, traffic, or the place appropriated for it. Wachter says, " actionem aut passionem rei." Thus we have Cloathing, Coating, Firing, Grating, Paling, Schooling, Sheeting, Stabling, Shavings, Savings. 1 " Die endung ubnja scheint miser ung zu seyn." — Addungs Mithri- dates, ii. 188. See Grimm, ii. 366; Gothic termination in bn. xliv ADDITIONAL NOTES. " His apparell is souldier-lyke, better knowen by hys fearce doynges then by hys gay goyng." — JR. Ascham, p. 26. " For avoiding of the playhouse : " — a noun, governing that which follows in the genitive, — " Will by the pulling down of the said [GreshamJ College be put an end to." — Act, 8th Geo. III. 3. In the following passages both the terminations occur, but each is employed appropriately — ende for the Present Participle, and ing for the Verbal Substantive. Alfred's Bede : — pe ne psej* onbpebenbe (5a beotunge J?ser ealbon- manner. lib. 1. c. 7. Nequaquam minas principis metuit. Gospels, Ilarl. MSS. 5085. Translation in a Northern Dialect (14th century) : — " This is the testimonwi^e of Ion." " I am a uoice of a criand in desert." " Ther ne is no waspe in this world that wil folloke styngen For stsap-pyng on a too of a sty noand frere." — P. Ploughmanes Grede. "... such thyngis that are likand Tyll niannys kevyng ar plesawe?." — Barb. Bruce, (1357.) b. 1. 1. 9. " Hors, or hund, or othir thing That war plescmd to thar liking" 1. 207. " Full low inclincmc? to their queen full clear, Whom for their noble nourishing they thank." Dunbar: Bills' 's Spec. i. 389. Lord Herries (1588) : — " Our sovereign h&vand her majesty's pro- mise be writing of luff, friendship," &c. — Robertsons Scotl. App. xxvii. Bishop of St. Androus (1572) : — "]mt ge kennand the faultis and how thai suld be amendit, for ]?air is na buke sa perfitly prentit, bot sum faultis dois eschaip in the print-m^ thairof." " He plainly for- biddis al scismes and discord in teachm^, s&yand, Let na scismes be amang gow." — Gatechisme, Pref p. 2. 4. The following are instances of the indiscriminate use of ende and ing as terminations of the Present Participle. " herdis of oxin and of fee, Fat and tydy, mkand over all quhare, In the rank gers pasturm^ on raw." Gatvin Douglas, b. 3. p. 75. " the tender nouris I saw Under dame Naturis mantill lurky ng law. The small fowlis in nokkis saw 1 ne, To Nature rn.ak.and greit lamentatiouu." Sir D. Lyndsay, (1528.) i. 191. " Cksbiagyng in sorrow our sang melodious, Quhilk we had wont to sing, with glide intent, ResoundcwcZ to the hevinnis firmament." Ibid, i, 192. ADDITIONAL NOTES. xlv Lord Berries (1568) : — " Or, Mling hereof, .... that she would per- mit her to return in her awin countrie, .... seeand that she was corned in her realm upon her writings and promises of friendship." — Uhi sup- 5. The following are passages from the earliest authors, so far as I have been able 1 to find, in whose writings the Present Participles are formed by ing : Plampole (middle of the J 4th century) : — "Thou fattide myn heued in oyle : and my chalys drunken?/^ what is cleer." 2 — Ps. 23. I sup- pose this to be the participle. The version is from the Vulgate : " Et calyx meus inebrians quam prseclarus est !." and comes remarkably near the Saxon : 7\nb cahc mm bpuncnenb hu beaphfc ip. — Spelmaitfs Pscdt. Piers Plouhman (about 1302) : — Each of the three of which Dr. Whitaker gives specimens has present participles in ing : but he says that in some MSS. both of that poem and of Wiclif s Bible the En- glish has been somewhat modernized : " Therme a waked Wrathe, whit to white eyen, Whit a nyvylinge nose, uyppyng hus lyppes." MS. A. " Snevelyng wij) his nose, and his nekke h&TLgyng." 31 S. B. " And nyvelynge wij? ]?e nose, and his necke h&ngynge." MS. Oriel. « — al the foure ordres Trechynge the peple, for profit of the wombe, And glosynge the godspel, as hem good lykecle." 1 Chaucer : — " Alas, I weipyng am constrained to begin verse of so- roweful matter, that whilom in florishyw^ studie made delitable ditees. For lo, tendyng muses of the poetes enditen to me thinges, to be regretted that he has been very unsuccessful in making use of the store of materials which he has amassed. This may in part be attributed to the erroneous view which he appears to have taken of the proper object of a Dictionary, which should be, to give faithfully the actual meanings of the words of our language, or the senses in which they are or have been in use, and not such as may suit a pre- conceived hypothesis or fancied etymology, thus leading those who may Hi ADDITIONAL NOTES. Anti-Tooke ; and which, as coming from a declared opponent, should receive some notice here. " I am a coming, — means, I exist in space— I on-ing (pne-ing) com- ing : Tn which instance, as in every other, the pronoun, (or noun,) have to consult it into difficulty and error. Of Johnsons Dictionary Mr. Richardson says, " It is needless, and it would be invidious, to ac- cumulate especial instances of failure; — the whole is a failure :" and he describes it as "a collection of usages from English authors, ex- plained to suit the quotations." It would have been well if Mr. Richardson had given such " explanations as suited the quotations," and were in accordance with usage ; his sweeping censure would not then have been more applicable to his own work than to Johnson's, the design of which is to give actual and not imputed meanings. After this utter condemnation of his celebrated predecessor, Mr. Richardson adds, that "no author is known to have undertaken the composition of a new work, nor even to have engaged in the less honourable, but still arduous and even praiseworthy enterprise of remoulding and re- forming the old." His contempt for Mr. Todd*s labours he had long ago expressed in his Illustrations : and does he consider as beneath his notice, or can he have been ignorant of the existence of Dr. Webster's Dictionary, a work unquestionably much superior to his own, and indeed to every English Dictionary that has yet appeared 1 in which, whilst abundance of valuable etymological information is supplied,, fidelity and accuracy in recording the meanings according to actual usage is not sacrificed in order to accommodate them to a preconceived system or to etymological conjecture. As the basis of the theory which it seems to be the object of Mr. Richardson's Dictionary to uphold, and which is to be found in his Preliminary Essay, he announces " with no assumption of unfelt diffi- dence" the following axioms. That oil men, in all ages having had the same organs of speech and sense of hearing, every distinct articulate sound had a distinct meaning ; that among all people having written language, each sound has a corresponding literal sign ■ and that " each letter was the sign of a separate distinct meaning, — of a word previously familiar in speech," p. 5. His principles must, he indeed informs us, p. 36, " be considered as exoteric doctrines intended only for the scholar ( ff esoteric' he must be supposed to mean : but in the Dictionary exoteric is mixed up with exotic). Whether the philological student will be aided or misled by viewing the subject through such a medium I shall not discuss ; but with regard to those who have to consult a dictionary for the real meaning of words, foreigners for instance, strange indeed will be the perplexities into which some of Mr. Richardson's explanations must lead them. — -The safe application of "the great first principle " upon which he states that he has proceeded in the expla- nation of words, " that a word has one meaning, and one only, from which all usages must spring and be 'derived, — and that in the ety- mology of each word must be found this single intrinsic meaning, n — • involves in each ease previous questions not only as to which is this single intrinsic meaning, but as to the unity of the word under con- ADDITIONAL NOTES. liii which is the sign of the grammatical agent of the adjective action, is, or ought to be, repeated to form the nominative or agent of that action. " In the small variety of names for beginning actions which thus ap- pears, there is perhaps not one that is more logical, although at the same time none more vulgar, or debased, than the phrases, ' I am a coming,' ' I am a going.' Thus, when children or servants or other dilatory persons, are called upon to do any thing which they must commence forthwith, but which they have not yet begun, and proceed to do with hesitation or reluctance, the ordinary reply is, ' I am a coming ; ' — ' I am a going to do it.' Now it is agreed among etymologists that A means on, and on means One. 1 Hence the real import of the phrase I am a coming is — I am on — (onning) — {one-ing) — the Act of coming, — that is {figuratively, and feigneclly also,) I am making Myself One with the Act of coming, — which amounts to feigning, ' I am coming This Moment,' " It is equally usual, likewise, to say, He is a fishing. He is a riding, — He is a fighting ; even during the continuation of either of these actions : in which case, it is plain, the expression is less figurative, or feigned ; because the agent is actually at the moment doing the action, although he cannot be literally One with it." — P. 345. Whatever the reader may make of all this, I confess that, of the various ways of treating the subject, I must prefer the Ba- conian mode pursued by Mr. Tooke. 2 As in Physics, so in Philology, we shall attain truth by an accurate investigation of facts and phenomena, and not by ingenious and too often absurd conjectures which are independent of, or opposed to, them. Reasonings on language not deduced from the real sidevation ; lest what is taken for " a word " should really be two or more distinct words lurking under the appearance of one. And the in- dividuality or identity of a word consists neither in the sound, the spell- ing, nor the sense — paradoxical though this may seem, for these all undergo modifications — but in its historical continuity, with regard to which facts must be our guide. — According to Mr. Richardson, Tell and Till are " the same word,"- — to raise, the ground, or the voice : so, also, Love and Lift, to pick up : Fear and Fare, to run away. Pre/, p. 49. 1 Mr. Fearn here travels too fast for me to keep pace with him. 2 We are told, however, by Dr. Murray, that if Mr. Tooke " had not been misled by some erroneous parts of Locke's philosophy, and the weaker materialism of some unintelligible modern opinions, he would have made a valuable accession to moral as well as grammatical inqui- ries." — Vol. ii. p. 342. For such a writer to bring a charge of "' un- intelligible opinions " is ludicrous enough. If Locke's philosophy, and what is here called Materialism, kept Mr. Tooke clear of such airy con- ceits as Dr. Murray's, that at least is something in their favour, bee this subject very ably treated in "A Letter on the Immateriality of the Soul, in reply to Mr. Rennel," (Hunter, 1821,) ascribed to a cler- gyman of the Irish church ; also in Wallace's " Observations on Lord Brougham's Natural Theology," (Ridgway, 1835.) liv ADDITIONAL NOTES. history of words are of about the same value as speculations in astronomy or chemistry unsupported by an acquaintance with the phenomena of nature. 1 With facts, then, for our guides, we find that we need not have recourse to the remotest ages and to nondescript fictitious dialects in the investigation of the change of termination in our Present Participle and its relation to Verbals in ing ; nor to subtile spe- culations and extravagant assumptions : but that the field of inquiry may be limited to our own language, and nearly to the period of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries : — and I recommend those who have opportunity to note any instances prior to the age of Chaucer where a verbal in ing is used strictly and unequivo- cally as a Present Participle. I trust that these notes, and the few that are scattered through the work, will not be thought foreign to its de- sign, whether they coincide with Mr. Tooke, or propose explanations differing from those which he has given. Jt is one of his great excellencies that he always places honestly and fully before the reader all the data from which his deductions are made ; so that even where he may be thought to err he is sure to be instructive. I have now only to acknowledge with thanks the ad- vice and assistance which I have received in the prepa- ration of this edition from my friends Sutton Sharpe, Esq., and Richard Price, Esq., the able editor of Warton's History of English Poetry ; and shall conclude with ex- pressing a wish that the work in its present form may prove acceptable to such as are fond of the studies which it was designed to promote. Red ^t^'iS? Street ' RICHARD TAYLOR. 1 The wit and mind of man, if it work upon matter, which is the contemplation of the creatures of God, worketli according to the stuff, and is limited thereby : but if it work upon itself, as the spider work- etli his web, then it is endless, and brings forth indeed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no sub- stance or profit." — Bacons Adv. of Learning. EI1EA 1ITEP0ENTA, PART I. TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE One of her grateful Sons — -who always consider acts of voluntary justice towards himself as Favours, 1 — dedicates this humble offering. And particularly to her chief ornament for virtue and talent, the Reverend Doctor Beacon, Master of Jesus College. 1 Notwithstanding the additional authority of Plato's despicable say- ing — Gum omnibus solvam quod cum omnibus debeo 2 — the assertion of Maehiavel, that — Nissuno confessera rnai haver obligo con uno chi non Voffenda? — and the repetition of it by Father Paul, that — Mai alcuno si pretende obligate a chi Vhabbi fatto giustitia; stimandolo tenuto per se stesso difarla 4 — are not true. They are not true either with respect to nations or to individuals : for the experience of much injustice will cause the forbearance of injury to appear like kindness. 2 Senec. de Benefic, lib. vi. 2 Discor. lib. i. cap. xvi. 4 Opinione del Padre Fra Paolo, in qual modo clebba governarsi la Eepublica Yeneta per haver perpetuo dominio. Non ut laudemur, sed ut prosimus. Equidem sic prope ab adolescentia animatus fui, ut inania famse contemnam, veraque consecter bona. In qua cogitatione ssepius de- fixns, facilius ab animo meo potui impetrare, ut (quamvis, scirem sor- descere magis et magis studia Literarum, niaximeque ea quae proprie artem Gramniaticen spectant) nihilominus paulisper, non quidem se- ponerem, sed remissius tamen tractarem studia graviora; iterumque in manus sumerem veteres adolescentia labores, laboreque novo inter tot Curas divulgareni. — G. J. Vossius. Le grand objet de Fart etymologique n'est pas de rendre raison de l'origine de tous les mots sans exception, et j'ose dire que ce seroit un but assez frivole. Get art est principaleraent recommendable en ce qu'il fo urnit a la pliilosophie des materiaux et des observations pour elever le grand edifice de la tlieorie generale des Langues. — M. Le President de Brosses. EHEA IIXEPOENXA THE DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY INTRODUCTION, B. — The mystery is at last unravelled. I shall no more wonder now that you engross his company at Parley, 1 whilst his other friends can scarce get a sight of him. This, you say, was President Bradshaw's seat. That is the secret of his attachment to the place. You hold him by the best security, his political prejudices and enthusiasm. But do not let his veneration for the memory of the ancient possessor pass upon you for affection to the present. H. — Should you be altogether so severe upon my politics ; when yon reflect that, merely for attempting to prevent the effusion of brother s blood and the final dismemberment of the empire, I stand the single legal victim during the contest, and the single instance of proscription after it ? But I am well contented that my principles, which have made so many of your way of thinking angry, should only make you laugh. Such however as they are, they need not now to be defended by me : for they have stood the test of ages ; and they will keep their ground in the general commendation of the world, till men for- get to love themselves ; though, till then perhaps, they are not likely to be seen (nor credited if seen) in the practice of many individuals. 1 The seat of William Tooke, Esq., near Croydon, Surrey. [The persons of the dialogue are, B. Dr. Beadon, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester; //. the author; and T. William Tooke, Esq.— Edit.] B 2 INTRODUCTION. But are you really forced to go above a hundred years back to account for my attachment to Purley ? Without considering the many strong public and private ties by which I am bound to its present possessor, can you find nothing in the beautiful prospect from these windows? nothing in the entertainment every one receives in this house ? nothing in the delightful rides and walks we have taken round it ? nothing in the cheerful dis- position and easy kindness of its owner, to make a rational man partial to this habitation ? T. — Sir, you are making him transgress our only standing rules. Politics and compliments are strangers here. We al- ways put them off when we put on our boots ; and leave them behind us in their proper atmosphere, the smoke of London. B. — Is it possible ! Can either of you — Englishmen and patriots ! — abstain for four-and-twenty hours together from politics ? You cannot be always on horseback, or at piquet. What, in the name of wonder, your favourite topic excluded, can be the subject of your so frequent conversations ? T. — You have a strange notion of us. But I assure you we find more difficulty to finish than to begin our conversations. As for our subjects, their variety cannot be remembered ; but I will tell you on what we were discoursing yesterday when you came in ; and I believe you are the fittest person in the world to decide between us. He insists, contrary to my opinion, that all sorts of wisdom and useful knowledge may be obtained by a plain man of sense without what is commonly called Learn- ing. And when I took the easiest instance, as I thought, and the foundation of all other knowledge, (because it is the begin- ning of education, and that in which children are first em- ployed,) he declined the proof of his assertion in this instance, and maintained that I had chosen the most difficult : for he says that, though Grammar be usually amongst the first things taught, it is always one of the last understood. B. — I must confess I differ from Mr. H. concerning the diffiodlty of Grammar ; if indeed what you have reported be icaily his opinion. But might he not possibly give you that answer to escape the discussion of a disagreeable dry subject, remote from the course of his studies and the objects of his in- quiry and pursuit ? By his general expression of — ivhat is com- monly called Learning— and his declared opinion of that, I can INTKODUCTIOjST. 3 pretty well guess what he thinks of grammatical learning in particular. I dare swear (though he will not perhaps pay me so indifferent a compliment) he does not in his mind allow us even the poor consolation which we find in Atkenaaus — u m /argot rrfav — but concludes, without a single exception, ovdsv I must however entreat him to recollect, (and at the same time whose authority it bears,) that — " Qui sapientise et lite- rarum divortium faciunt, nunquam ad solidam sapientiam per- tingent. Qui vero alios etiam a literarurn linguaruinque studio absterrent, non antique sapientue sed novas stultitire doctores sunt habendi." . H. — Indeed I spoke my real sentiments. I think Gram- mar difficult, but I am very far from looking upon it as foolish : indeed so far, that I consider it as absolutely necessary in the search after philosophical truth ; which, if not the most useful, perhaps, is at least the most pleasing employment of the human mind. And I think it no less necessary in the most important questions concerning religion and civil society. But since you say it is easy, tell me where it may be learned. B. — If your look and the tone of your voice were less seri- ous, the extravagance of your compliment to grammar would incline me to suspect that you were taking your revenge, and bantering me in your turn by an ironical encomium on my favourite study. But, if I am to suppose you in earnest, I answer, that our English grammar may be sufficiently and easily learned from the excellent Introduction of Doctor Lowth : or from the first (as well as the best) English grammar, given by Ben Jonson. H. — True, Sir. And that was my first slight answer to our friend's instance. But his inquiry is of a much larger compass than you at present seem to imagine. He asks after the causes or reasons of Grammar : 2 and for satisfaction in them I know 1 Ov yao Ttaxug nvi ruv Iraiouv tj/amv i\iyjr\ ro, si /jy/j targoi 7]dav, ovdzv av 7]v ruv yga(£{/ja,rix,ojv ftuoorsoov. — Deijmosojih. lib. 15. 2 " Duplex Grammatica j alia civilis, alia philosophica. " Civilis, peritia est, non scientia : constat enim ex auctoritate usuque clarorum scriptoram. " Pkilosophica, vero, ratione constat ; et hsec scientiam olet. " Grammatica civilis habet setatem in qua viget, et illani amplectun- 4 INTRODUCTION. not where to send him ; for, I assure, you, he has a trouble- some, inquisitive, scrupulous mind of his own, that will not take mere words in current payment. B. — I should think that difficulty easily removed. Dr. Lowth, iu his Preface, has done it ready to your hands. " Those," he says, " who would enter more deeply into this subject, will find it fully and accurately handled, with the great- est acuteness of investigation, perspicuity of explication, and elegance of method, in a treatise entitled Hermes, by James Harris, Esq., the most beautiful and perfect example of Analysis that has been exhibited since the days of Aristotle/' T. — The recommendation no doubt is full, and the authority great ; but I cannot say that I have found the performance to correspond : nor can 1 boast of any acquisition from its perusal, except indeed of hard words and frivolous or unintelligible dis- tinctions. And 1 have learned from a most excellent authority, that " tout ce qui varie, tout ce qui se charge cle termes dou- teux et envelopes, a toujours paru suspect; et non seulement frauduleux, mais encore absolument faux: parcequil marque u n embarras que la verite ne connoit point." x B. — And you, Sir ? H. — I am really in the same situation. B. — Have you tried any other of our English authors on the subject ? H. — I believe all of them, for they are not numerous ; 2 but none with satisfaction. tur Grammatici, dicunt enim sub Cicerone et Cassare adultam linguam, &c. At philosojjhica non agnoscit setatem lingua?, sed rationalitatem ; ainplectiturque vocabula bona omnium temporum." — Campanella. 1 Bossuet des Variations des Eglises Proteslantes. 2 The authors who have written professedly on this subject, in any language, are not numerous. Caranmel, in the beginning of his Gram- viatica Audax, says, — " Solus, ut puto, Sco'us, et post eum Scaliger et Campanella (alios enim non vidi) Grammaticam speculativam evulga- runt ; vias tamen onmino cliversas ingressi. Multa mihi in Scaligero, et plura in Campanella displicuerunt ; et pauciora in Scoto, qui vix alibi subtilius scripsit quam cum de Grammaticis Modis Significandi." f Jhe reader of Caranmel (who, together with Campanella, may be found in the Bodleian Library) will not be disappointed in him ; but most egregiously by him, if the smallest expectations of information are excited by the character which is here given of Scotus — whose De Modis tiignificandi should be entitled, not Gixtmmatica Speculativa, but — an INTRODUCTION. B. — You must then give up one at least of your positions. For if, as you make it out, Grammar is so difficult that a know- ledge of it cannot be obtained by a man of sense from any. authors in his own language, you must send him to what is commonly called Learning, to the Greek and Latin authors, for the attainment of it. So true, in this science at least, if not in all others, is that saying of Eoger Ascham, that — " Even as a hawke fleeth not hie with one wing, even so a man reacheth not to excellency with one tongue." H. — On the contrary,. I am rather confirmed by this instance in my first position. I acknowledge philosophical Grammar Exemplar of the subtle art of saving appearances, and of discoursing deeply and learnedly on a subject with which we are totally unac- quainted. Quid enim subtilius vel magis tenue, quam quod nihil est ? Wilkins, part 3. chap. 1. of his Essay towards a Real Character, says, after Caramuel, — " The first of these (i. e., philosophical, rational, uni- versal Grammar) hath been treated of but by few ; which makes our learned Yerulam put it among his Desiderata. I do not know any more that have purposely written of it, but Scotus in his Grammatica Sptecu- lativa, and Caramuel in his Grammatica Audax, and Campanella in his Grammatica Philosophica. (As for Scioppius his Grammar of this title, that doth wholly concern the Latin tongue.) Besides which, something hath been occasionally spoken of it by Scaliger in his book De Gausis Lingua? Latino?, and by Vossius in his Aristarchus." So far Wilkins : who, for what reason I know not, has omitted the Minerva of Sanctius ; though well deserving his notice, and the declared foundation of Sciop- pius. But he who should confine himself to these authors, and to those who, with Wilkins, have since that time written professedly on this subject, would fall very short of the assistance he might have, and the leading hints and foundations of reasoning which ho might obtain, by reading even all the authors who have confined themselves to particular languages. The great Bacon put this subject amongst his Desiderata, not, as Wilkins says, because "few had treated of it ;" but because none had given a satisfactory account of it. At the same time, Bacon, though evidently wide of the mark himself, yet conjectured best how this know- ledge might most probably be attained ; and pointed out the most pro- per materials for reflection to work upon. " Ilia demum (says he), ut arbitramur, foret nobilissima Grammaticse species, si quis in linguis plurimis, tarn eruditis quam vulgaribus, eximie doctus, de variis lingua- _rum proprietatibus tractaret ; in quibus quseque excellat, in quibus defi- ciat ostendens. Ita enim et linguae mutuo commercio locupletari pos- sint ; et net ex iis quae in singulis linguis pulchra sunt (tanquam* Venus Apellis) orationis ipsius qusedam formosissima imago, et exemplar quod- dam insigne, ad sensus animi rite exprimendos." — De Augment. Scient. lib. 6. cap. 1. b INTRODUCTION. (to which only iny suspected compliment was intended) to be a most necessary step towards wisdom and true knowledge. From the innumerable and inveterate mistakes which have been made concerning it by the wisest philosophers and most dili- gent inquirers of all ages, and from the thick darkness in which they have hitherto left it, I imagine it to be one of the most difficult speculations. Yet, I suppose, a man of plain common sense may obtain it, if he will dig for it ; but I cannot think that what is commonly called Learning, is the mine in which it will be found. Truth, in my opinion, has been improperly imagined at the bottom of a well : it lies much nearer to the sur- face : though buried indeed at present under mountains of learned rubbish ; in which there is nothing to admire but the amazing strength of those vast giants of literature who have been able thus to heap Pelion upon Ossa. This at pre- sent is only my opinion, which perhaps I have entertained too lightly. Since therefore the question has been started, I am pleased at this occasion of being confirmed or corrected by you ; whose application, opportunities, extensive reading, acknow- ledged abilities, and universal learning, enable you to inform us of all that the ancients have left or the moderns have written on the subject. B. — Oh ! Sir, your humble servant ! compliments, I per- ceive, are banished from Purley. But I shall not be at all en- ticed by them to take upon my shoulders a burthen which you seem desirous to shift off upon me. Besides, Sir, with all your caution, you have said too much now to expect it from me. It is too late to recall what has passed your lips : and if Mr. T. is of my sentiments, you shall not be permitted to explain yourself away. The satisfaction which he seeks after, you say is to be had; and you tell us the mine where you think it is not to be found. Now I shall not easily be persuaded that you are so rash, and take up your opinions so lightly, as to advance or even to imagine this ; unless you had first searched that mine yourself, and formed a conjecture at least concerning the place where you suppose this knowledge is to be found. Instead therefore of making me display to Mr. T. my reading, which you have already declared insufficient for the purpose, is it not much more reasonable that you should communicate to us the result of your reflection ? INTRODUCTION. 7 H. With all my heart, if you chuse it should he so, and think you shall have patience to hear me through. I own I prefer instruction to correction, and had rather have been in- formed without the hazard of exposing myself ; but if you make the one a condition of the other, I think it still worth my ac- ceptance ; and will not lose this opportunity of your judgment for a little shame. I acknowledge, then, that the subject is not entirely new to my thoughts : for, though languages themselves may be and usually are acquired without any regard to their principles, I very early found it, or thought I found it, impos- sible to make many steps in the search after truth and the nature of human understanding, of good and evil, of right and wrong, without well considering the nature of language, which appeared to me to be inseparably connected with them. I own therefore I long since formed to myself a kind of system, which seemed to me of singular use in the Yery small extent of my younger studies, to keep my mind from confusion and the impo- sition of words. After too long an interval of idleness and pleasure, it was my chance to have occasion to apply to some of the modern languages ; and, not being acquainted with any other more satisfactory, I tried my system with these, and tried it with success. I afterwards found it equally useful to me with some of the dead languages. Whilst I was thus amusing myself, the political struggle commenced ; for my share in which you so far justly banter me, as I do acknowledge that, both in the outset and the progress of it, I was guilty of two most egregious blunders ; by attributing a much greater portion of virtue to individuals, and of understanding to the generality, than any experience of mankind can justify. After another interval therefore (not of idleness and pleasure), I was again called by the questions of our friend Mr. T. (for yesterday is not the first time by many that he has mentioned it) to the consideration of this subject. I have hitherto declined attempt- ing to give him the satisfaction he required : for, though the notion I had of language had satisfied my own mind and an- swered my own purposes, I could not venture to detail to him my crude conceptions without having ever made the least in- quiry into the opinions of others. Besides, I did not at all suspect that my notions, if just, could be peculiar to myself: and I hoped to find some author who might give him a clearer, 8 INTRODUCTION. - fuller, and more methodical account than I could, free from those errors and omissions to which I must be liable. Having therefore some small intervals of leisure, and a great desire to give him the best information ; I confess I have employed some part of that leisure in reading every thing I could easily and readily procure that has been suggested by others. I am afraid I have already spoken with too much pre- sumption : But when I tell you that I differ from all those who with such infinite labour and erudition have gone before me on this subject ; what apology — — B. — Oh ! make none. When men think modestly, they may be allowed to speak freely. Come — Where will you begin ? — Alpha — Go on. H. — Not with the organical part of language, I assure you. For, though in many respects it has been and is to this moment grossly mistaken, (and the mistakes might, with the help of some of the first principles of natural philosophy and anatomy, be easily corrected,) yet it is an inquiry more of curiosity than immediate usefulness. R. — •You will begin then either with things or ideas : for it is impossible we should ever thoroughly understand the nature of the signs, unless we first properly consider and arrange the things signified. Whose system of philosophy will you build upon ? H. — What you say is true. And yet I shall not begin there. Hermes, yon know, put out the eyes of Argus :■ and I suspect that he has likewise blinded philosophy : and if I had not ima- gined so, I should never have cast away a thought upon this subject. If therefore Philosophy herself has been misled by Language, how shall she teach us to detect his tricks ? i> a — Begin then as you please. Only begin. EUEA IITEPOENXA, &c. PART I. CHAPTER I. OF THE DIVISION OR DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGE. H. — The purpose of Language is to communicate our thoughts B. — You do not mention this, I hope, as something new, or wherein you differ from others ? H. — You are too hasty with me. ISTo. But I mention it as that principle, which, being kept singly in contemplation, has misled all those who have reasoned on this subject. B. — Is it not true, then ? H. — I think it is. And that on which the whole matter rests. B. — And yet the confining themselves to this true principle, upon which the whole matter rests, has misled them ! II. — Indeed I think so. B. — This is curious 1 H. — Yet I hope to convince you of it. For thus they rea- soned Words are the signs of things. There must there- fore be as many sorts of words, or parts of speech, as there are sorts of things. 1 The earliest inquirers into language pro- ceeded then to settle how many sorts there were of things ; and from thence how many sorts of words, or parts of speech. Whilst this method of search strictly prevailed, the parts of 1 " Dictio rerum nota : pro rerum speciebus partes quotqne suas sor- tietur." — J. C. Scaliger cle Causis L. L. 10 OF THE DIVISION OR [PART I. speech were very few in number : but two. At most three, or four. All things, said they, must have names. 1 But there are two sorts of things : 1. Res quce permanent, 2. Res qucefluunt. There must therefore be two sorts of words or parts of speecli : viz. — 1. Notce rerum quce permanent. 2. Notce rerum qucefluunt. Well ; but surely there are words which are neither notes rerum permanentium, nor yet notce rerum fiuentium. What will you do with them ? — We cannot tell : we can find but these two sorts in rerum natural call therefore those other words, if you will, for the present, particles? or inferior parts of speech, till we can find out what they are. Or, as we see they are constantly interspersed between nouns and verbs, and seem therefore in a manner to hold our speech together, sup- pose you call them conjunctions or connectives* This seems to have been the utmost progress that philo- sophical Grammar had made till about the time of Aristotle, when a fourth part of speech was added, — the definitive, or article. 1 From this moment Grammar quits the daylight ; and plunges into an abyss of utter darkness. 2 A good convenient name for all the words which we do not under- stand; for, as the denomination means nothing in particular, and con- tains no description, it will equally suit any short word we may please to refer thither. There has latterly been much dispute amongst Gram- marians concerning the use of this word, particle, in the division and distribution of speech : particularly by Girard, Dangeau, the authors of the Uncy dope die, &c. In which it is singular that they should all be right in their arguments against the use made of it by others ; and all wrong in the use which each of them would make of it himself. Dr. S. Johnson adopts 2ST. Bailey's definition of a particle — " a word un- varied by inflection." And Locke defines particles to be — " the words whereby the mind signifies what connection it gives to the several affirmations and negations that it unites in one contiuued reasoning or narration." 3 The Latin Grammarians amuse themselves with debating whether 'SvvdzfyJLog should be translated Convinctio or Conjunctio. The Danes and the Dutch seem to have taken different sides of the question : for the Danish language terms it Bindeord, and the Dutch Koppelwoord. CH. I.] DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGE. 11 Here concluded the search after the different sorts of words, or parts of speech, from the difference of things ; for none other apparently rational, acknowledged, or accepted difference has been suggested. According to this system, it was necessary that all sorts of words should belong to one of these four classes. For words being the signs of things, their sorts must necessarily follow the sorts of the things signified. And there being no more than four differences of things, there could be but four parts of speech. The difficulty and controversy now was, to determine to which of these four classes each word belonged. In the at- tempting of which, succeeding Grammarians could neither satisfy themselves nor others : for they soon discovered some words so stubborn, that no sophistry nor violence could by any means reduce them to any one of these classes. However, by this attempt and dispute they became better acquainted with the differences of words, though they could not account for them ; and they found the old system deficient, though they knew not how to supply its defects. They seem therefore to have re- versed the method of proceeding from things to signs, pursued by the philosophers ; and, still allowing the principle, (viz.., that there must be as many sorts of words as of things,) they tra- velled backwards, and sought for the things from the signs : adopting the converse of the principle ; namely, that there must be as many differences of things as of signs. Misled therefore by the useful contrivances of language, they supposed many imaginary differences of things : and thus added greatly to the number of parts of speech, and in consequence to the errors of philosophy. Add to this, that the greater and more laborious part of Grammarians (to whose genius it is always more obvious to re- mark a multitude of effects than to trace out one cause) con- fined themselves merely to notice the differences observable in words, without any regard to the things signified. From this time the number of parts of speech has been variously reckoned : you will find different Grammarians con- tending for more than thirty. But most of those who admitted the fewest, acknowledged eight. This was long a favourite number ; and has been kept to by many who yet did not include the same parts to make up that number. For those who re- 12 OF THE DIVISION OR [PART I. jected the article reckoned eight : and those who did not allow the interjection still reckoned eight. But what sort of difference in words should entitle them to hold a separate rank by them- selves, has not to this moment been settled. B. — You seem to forget, that it is some time since words have been no longer allowed to be the signs of things. Modern Grammarians acknowledge them to be (as indeed Aristotle called them, tv^BoXa cra^ctrwv) the signs of ideas : at the same time denying the other assertion of Aristotle, that ideas are the likenesses of things. 1 And this has made a great alteration in the manner of accounting for the differences of words. H. — That has not much mended the matter. No doubt this alteration approached so far nearer to the truth ; but the nature of Language has not been much better understood by it. For Grammarians have since pursued just the same method with mind, as had before been done with things. The different operations of the mind are to account now for what the different things were to account before : and when they are not found sufficiently numerous for the purpose, it is only supposing an imaginary operation or two, and the difficulties are for the time shuffled over. So that the very same game has been played over again with ideas, which was before played with things. No satisfaction, no agreement has been obtained. But all has been dispute, diversity, and darkness. Insomuch that many of the most learned and judicious Grammarians, disgusted with absur- dity and contradictions, have prudently contented themselves with remarking the differences of words, and have left the causes of language to shift for themselves. B. — That the methods of accounting for Language remain to this day various, uncertain, and unsatisfactory, cannot be denied. But you have said nothing yet to clear up the paradox you set out with ; nor a single word to unfold to us by what means you suppose Hermes has blinded Philosophy. H. — I imagine that it is, in some measure, with the vehicle of our thoughts as with the vehicles for our bodies. Necessity produced both. The first carriage for men was no doubt in- vented to transport the bodies of those who from infirmity, or 1 Etfn jaw ovv ra zv rr\ .— You said some time ago, very truly, that the number of Parts of Speech was variously reckoned : and that it has not to CH. III.] OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 23 this moment been settled, what sort of difference in words should entitle them to hold a separate rank by themselves. By what you have since advanced, this matter seems to be ten times more unsettled than it was before : for you have dis- carded the differences of Things, and the differences of Ideas, and the different operations of the Mind, as guides to a division of Language. Now I cannot for my life imagine any other principle that you have left to conduct us to the Parts of Speech. H, — I thought I had laid down in the beginning, the prin- ciples upon which we were to proceed in our inquiry into the manner of signification of words. B. — Which do you mean ? H. — The same which Mr. Locke employs in his inquiry into the Force of words : viz. — The two great purposes of speech. B. — And to what distribution do they lead you ? H. — 1. To words necessary for the communication of our Thoughts. And, 2. To Abbreviations, employed for the sake of despatch. B. — How many of each do you reckon ? And which are they ? H. — In what particular language do you mean ? For, if you do not confine your question, you might as reasonably expect me (according to the fable) u to make a coat to fit the moon in all her changes/' B. — Why ? Are they not the same in all languages ? H. — Those necessary to the communication of our thoughts are. B. — And are not the others also ? H. — No. Very different. B. — I thought we were talking of Universal Grammar. H. — I mean so too. But I cannot answer the whole of your question, unless you confine it to some particular language with which I am acquainted. However, that need not disturb you : for you will find afterwards that the principles will apply universally. B. — Well. For the present then confine yourself to the ne- cessary Parts : and exemplify in the English. H. — In English, and in all Languages, there are only tioo 24 OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH. [PART I. sorts of words which are necessary for the communication of our thoughts. B. — And they are ? II.— 1. Noun, and 2. Verb. B. — These are the common names, and I suppose you use them according to the common acceptation. II — I should not otherwise have chosen them, but because they are commonly employed ; and it would not be easy to dis- possess them of their prescriptive title : besides, without doing any mischief, it saves time in our discourse. And I use them according to their common acceptation. B. — -But you have not all this while informed me how many Parts of Speech you mean to lay down. H. — - That shall be as you please. Either Two, or Twenty, or more. In the strict sense of the term, no doubt both the necessary Words and the Abbreviations are all of them Parts of Speech ; because they are all useful in Language, and each has a different manner of signification. But I think it of great consequence both to knowledge and to Languages, to keep the words employed for the different purposes of speech as distinct as possible. And therefore I am inclined to allow that rank only to the necessary words : l and to include all the others (which are not necessary to speech, but merely substitutes of the first sort) under the title of Abbreviations. B. — Merely Substitutes ! You do not mean that you can discourse as well without as with them ? II. — -Not as well. A sledge cannot be drawn along as smoothly, and easily, and swiftly as a carriage with wheels; but it may be dragged. B. — -Do you mean then that, without using any other sort of word whatever, and merely by the means of the Noun and Verb alone, you can relate or communicate any thing that I can relate or communicate with the help of all the others ? II- — Yes. It is the great proof of all I have advanced. And, upon trial, you will find that you may do the same. But, 1 " lies necessarias pliilosopluis primo loco statuit : accessorias autem et vicarias, mox," — J. C. Scaliger de Causis L. L. cap. 110. ch.-iil] of the parts of speech. 25 after the long habit and familiar use of Abbreviations, your first attempts to do without them will seem very awkward to you ; and you will stumble as often as a horse, long used to be shod, that has newly cast his shoes. Though indeed (even with those who have not the habit to straggle against) without Ab- breviations y Language can get on but lamely : and therefore they have been introduced, in different plenty, and more or less happily, in all Languages. And upon these two points — Ab- breviation of Terms, and Abbreviation in the manner of signifi- cation of words — depends the respective excellence of every Language. All their other comparative advantages are trifling. B. — I like your method of proof very well ; and will certainly put it to the trial. But before I can do that properly, you must explain your Abbreviations ; that I may know what they stand for, and what words to put in their room. H. — -Would you have me then pass over the two necessary Parts of Speech ; and proceed immediately to their Abbre- viations ? B. — If you will. For I suppose you agree with the common opinion, concerning the words which you have distinguished as necessary to the communication of our thoughts. Those you call necessary, I suppose you allow to be the signs of different sorts of Ideas, or of different operations of the mincl. H. — Indeed I do not. The business of the mind, as far as it concerns Language, appears to me to be very simple. It extends no further than to receive impressions, that is, to have Sensations or Feelings. What are called its operations, are merely the operations of Language. A consideration of Ideas, or of the Mind, or of Things (relative to the Parts of Speech), will lead us no further than to Nouns : i. e., the signs of those impressions, or names of ideas. The other Part of Speech, the Verb, must be accounted for from the necessary use of it in communication. It is in fact the com- munication itself: and therefore well denominated 'P^«, Dictum. For the Verb is quod loquimur ; 1 the Noun, de quo. B. — Let us proceed then regularly; and hear what you have to say on each of your two necessary Parts of Speech. 1 " Alteram est quod loquimur ; alteram de quo loquimur." — Quinctil, lib. 1. cap. 4. ^•J 2(y OF THE NOUN. [rART I. CHAPTEK IV. OF THE NOUN. II — Of the first Part of Speech — the Noun — it bein the best understood, and therefore the most spoken of by others, I shall need at present to say little more than that it is the simple or complex, the particular or general sign or name of one or more Ideas. I shall only remind you, that at this stage of our inquiry concerning Language, comes in most properly the considera- tion of the force of Terms : which is the whole business of Mr. Locke's Essay ; to which I refer you. And I imagine that Mr. Locke's intention of confining himself to the con- sideration of the Mind only, was the reason that he went no further than to the Force of Terms ; and did not meddle with their Manner of signification, to which the Mind alone could never lead him. B.— Do you say nothing of the Declension, Number, Case and Gender of Nouns ? II — At present nothing. There is no pains-worthy diffi- culty nor dispute about them. B. — Surely there is about the Gender. And Mr. Harris particularly has thought it worth his while to treat at large of what others have slightly hinted concerning it : l and has supported his reasoning by a long list of poetical authorities. What think you of that part of his book ? H. — That, with the rest of it, he had much better have let it alone. And as for his poetical authorities; the Muses (as I have heard Mrs. Peachum say of her own sex in cases of murder) are bitter bad judges in matters of philosophy. 1 " Pythagorici sexum in cunctis agnoscunt, tfec. A gens, Mas ; Patiens, Foemiua. Quapropter Deus dicunt masculine ; Terra, femi- nine : et Ignis, masculine; et Aqua, fosminine : qnoniam in his Actio, in istis Passio relucebat." — Campanella. " In rebus inveuiuntur duse proprietates generates, scilicet pro- pvietas Agentis, et proprietas Patieniis. Genus est modus significandi nominis sumptus a proprietate activa vel passiva. Genus masculinum est modus significandi rem sub proprietate agentis : Genus foeraininum est modus significandi rem sub proprietate patientis." — Scotus Gram. Spec. cap. 16. CH. IV.] OF THE NOUN. 27 Besides that Keason is an arrant Despot ; who, in his own dominions, admits of no authority but his own, And Mr. Harris is particularly unfortunate in the very outset of that — " subtle kind of reasoning (as he calls it) which discerns even in things without sex, a distant analogy to that great natural distinction," For his very first instances— the sun and the moon — destroy the whole snbtilty of this kind of reasoning. 1 For Mr. Harris ought to have known, that in many Asiatic Languages, and in all the northern Languages of this part of the globe which we inhabit, and particularly in our Mother- language the Anglo-Saxon (from which sun and moon are immediately derived to us), sun is Feminine, and moon is Masculine. 2 So feminine is the Sun, [" that fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffata, 3;; ] that our northern Mythology makes her the Wife of Tuisco. And if our English poets, Shakespeare, Milton, &c. have, by a familiar prosopopeia, made them of different genders ; it 1 It can only have been Mr. Harris's authority, and the ill-founded praises lavished on his performance, that could mislead Dr. Priestley, in his thirteenth lecture, hastily and without examination to say — " Thus, for example, the sun having a stronger, and the moon a weaker influence over the world, and there being but two celestial bodies so remarkable ; All nations, I believe, that use genders, have ascribed to the Sun the gender of the Male, and to the Moon that of the Female^ In the Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, German, Dutch, Danish and Swedish, sun is feminine : In modern Russian it is neuter. 2 " Apucl Saxones, Luna, Mona. Mona autem Germanis superior- ibus Mon, alias Man ; a Mon, alias Man veterrimo ipsorum rege et Deo patrio, quern Tacitus meminit, et in Luna celebrabant. — Ex hoc Lunam masculino (ut Hebrcei) dicunt genere, Der Mon ; Dominamque ejus et Amasiam, e cujus aspectu alias languet, alias resipiscit, Die Son; quasi hunc Lunam, lianc Solem. Hinc et idolura Lunse viri fingebant specie ; non, ut Verstegan opinatur, fceminse." — Spelmans Gloss. Mona. " De generibus Nominum (qua3 per articulos. adjectiva, participia, et pronomina indicantur) hie nihil tradimus. Obiter tamen observet Lector, ut ut minuta res est, Solem (Sunna vel Sunne) in Anglo- Saxonica esse foeminini generis, et Lunam [Mono) esse masculini." — ■ G. Riches. - " Quomodo item Sol est virile, German icum Sunn, foemininum. Dicunt enim Die Sunn, non Der Sunn. Uncle et Solem Tuisconis uxoreni fuisse fabulantur." — 67; J. Vossius. s First part of Henry IV. 28 OF THE NOUN". [PART I. is only because, from their classical reading, they adopted the southern not the northern mythology ; and followed the pattern of their Greek and Eoman masters. Figure apart, in our Language, the names of things without sex are also without gender. l And this, not because our Seasoning or Understanding differs from theirs who gave them gender ; (which must be the case, if the Mind or Eeason was concerned in it, 2 ) but because with us the rela- tion of words to each other is denoted by the place or by Prepositions ; which denotation in their language usually 1 " Sexus enim non nisi in Animali, aufc in iis quae Animalis naturam imitantur, ut arbores. Bed ab usn hoc factum est ; qui nunc mascu- linum sexum, nunc foemminum attribuiss'et. Proprium autem ge- nerum esse pati mutationeni satis patet ex genere incerto ; ut etiam Armentas dixerit Ennius, quae nos Armenia."- — J. G. Scaliger de Causis, cap. 79. " No minum quoque genera mutantur, acleo ut privatim libros super liac re veteres confecerint. Alterum argumentum est ex iis quae Dubia sive Incerta vocant. Sic enim dictum est, Hie vel lime Dies. Tertium testimonium est in quibusdam : nam Plautus Galium masculino dixit. Item Jubar, Palumbem, atque alia, diversis quam nos generibus esse a priscis pronunciata." — Id. cap. 103. "Amour qui est masculin au singulier, est quelquefois feminin au pluriel : defolles amours. On dit au masculin Un Gomte, Un Duche ; et au feminin Une Gomte pairie, Une Duche pairie. On dit encore De bonnes gens et Des gens malheureux. Par oii vous voyez que le sub- s tan t if Gens est feminin, lorsqu'il est precede d'un adjectif; et qu'il est masculin, lorsqu'il en est suivi." — L Abbe de Gondillac, part 2. chap. 4. The ingenious author of — Notes on the Grammatica Sinica of M. Fourmont — says, " According to the Grammaire Raisonnee, les genres ont ete inventes pour les terminaisons. But the Mess, du Port Royal have discovered a different origin ; they tell us, that — Arbor est femi- nine, p>arceque commie une bonne mere elle porte du fruit. — Miratur non sua. How could Frenchmen forget that in their own la meilleure des langues possibles, Fruit-trees are masculine and their fruits feminine ? Mr. Harris has adopted this idea : he might as well have left it to its legitimate parents." — P. 47. 2 " Sane in sexu seu genere physico omnes nationes convenire de- bebunt ; quoniam natura est eadem, nee ad placitum scriptorum mu- tatur. At Poetae et pictores in coloribus non semper conveniunt. Ventos Romani non solum fiuxerunt esse viros, sed et Deos : at He- brasi contra eos ut Nymphas pinxerunt. Arbores Latini specie foeminea pinxerunt ; virili Hispani, &c. Regiones urbesque Deas esse voluit Gentilinm Latinorum Theologia ; at Germani omnia haec ad neutrum rejecerunt. Et quidem in Genere, seu sexus distinctione grammatica, CH. V.] OF THE AKTICLE AND INTERJECTION. 29 made a part of the words themselves, and was shewn by cases or terminations. This contrivance of theirs, allowing them a more varied construction, made the terminating gen- ders of Adjectives useful, in order to avoid mistake and misapplication. CHAPTER V. OF THE ARTICLE AND INTERJECTION. B. — How t eyer connected with the Noun, and generally treated of at the same time, I suppose you forbear to mention the Articles at present, as not allowing them to be a separate Part of Speech ; at least not a necessary Part ; because, as Wilkins tells us, " the Latin is without them." 1 Notwith- standing which, when you consider with him that " they are so convenient for the greater distinctness of speech ; and that upon this account, the Hebrew, Greek, Sclavonic, and most other languages have them ; " perhaps you will not think it improper to follow the example of many other Grammarians : who, though, like you, they deny them to be any part of speech, have yet treated of them separately from those parts which they enumerate. And this you may very consistently do, even though you should consider them, as the Abbe Girard calls them, merely the avant-coureurs to announce the approach or entrance of a Noun. 2 magna est inter authores differentia : non solum in diversis lingnis, sed etiam in eadem. In Latina, ne ad alias recurrarn, aliter Oratores, et aliter Poetse : aliter veteres, et aliter juniores sentiunt, &c. Iberes in Asia florere dicuntur, et linguam habere elegantem, et tamen nullam generum varietatem agnoscunt." — Caramuel, lxii. 1 Essay, part 3. chap 3. 2 J'abanclonne 1'art de copier des mots dits et repetes mille fois avant moi ; puisqu'ils n'expliquent pas les choses essentielles que j'ai dessein de faire entendre a mes lecteurs. Une etude attentive faite d'apres l'usage m'instruit bien mieux. Elle m'apprend que f Article est im mot etabli pour annoncer et particulariser simplement la chose sans la nommer : c'est a dire, qu'il est une expression indefinie, quoique posi- tive, dont la juste valeur n'est que de faire naitre l'idee d'nne espece subsistente qu'on distingue de la totalite des etres, pour etre ensuite 30 OF THE ARTICLE AND INTERJECTION. [PART I. II. — Of all the accounts which have been given of the Article, I must own I think that of the very ingenious Abbe G-irard to be the most fantastic and absurd. The fate of this very necessary word has been most singularly hard and unfor- tunate. For though without it, or some equivalent invention, 1 men could not communicate their thoughts at all ; yet (like many of the most useful things in this world) from its un- affected simplicity and want of brilliancy, it has been ungrate- fully neglected and degraded. It has been considered, after Scaliger, as otiosum loquacissimce gentis Instrumentum ; or, at best, as a mere vaunt-courier to announce the coming of his master : whilst the brutish inarticulate Interjection, which has nothing to do with speech, and is only the miserable refuge of the speechless, has been permitted, because beautiful and gaudy, to usurp a place amongst words, and to exclude the Article from its well-earned dignity. But though the Article is denied by many Grammarians to be a Fart of Speech : it is yet, as you say, treated of by many, separately from those nominee. Cette definition en expose clairement la nature et le service propre, au quel on le voit constamment attache clans quel que circon- stance que ce soit. Elle m'en clonne une idee nette et determinee : me le fait reconnoitre par tout : et m'empeche de le confondre avec tout autre mot d'espece differente. Je sens parfaitement que lorsque je veux parler d'un objet qui se presente a rues yeux ou a mon imagina- tion, le genie de ma langue ne m'en fournit pas toujours la denomina- tion precise dans le premier instant de 1'execution de la parole : que le plus souvent il m'offre d'abord un autre mot, corame nn commencement de sujet propose et de distinction cles autres objet s ; en sorte que ce mot est un vrai preparatoire a la denomination, par lequel elle est annoncee, avant que de se presenter elle-meme : Et voila X Article tel que je l'ai defini. Si cet Avant-coureur diminue la vivacite du langage, il y met en recompense une certaine politesse et une delicatesse qui naisseut de cette idee preparatoire et mden'nie d'un objet qu'on va nommer : car par ce moyen Fesprit etant rendu attentif avant que d'etre instruit, il a le plaisir d'aller au devant de la denomination, de la desire r, et de 1'at- tendre avant que de la posseder. Plaisir qui a ici, com me ailleurs, un merite flatteur, propre a piquer le gout. — Qu'on me passe cette meta- phore ; puisqu'elle a de la justesse, et fait connoitre d'une maniere sen- sible une chose tres-metapkysiqiie." — Disc, 4, 1 Fur some equivalent invention, see the Persian and other Eastern languages ; which supply the place of our Article by a termination to those Nouns which they would indefinitely particularize. This circumstance of fact (if there were not other reasons) suffi- ciently explodes Girard's notion oi Avant-coureur s. CH. V.] OF THE ARTICLE AND INTERJECTION. 31 parts which they allow. This inconsistency 1 and the cause of it are pleasantly ridiculed by Buonmattei, whose understanding had courage sufficient to restore the Article ; and to launch out beyond quelle faiali colonne die cjli antichi avevan segnate col—Non phis ultra. "Dodici" says he, (Tratt. 7. cap. 22, 23.) "afferroiamo esser le Parti dell' orazione nella nostra lingua. Ne ci siam curati che gli altri quasi tutti non ne voglion conceder pin d' otto ; mossi, come si vede, da una certa soprastiziosa ostinazione (sia detto con pace e riverenza loro) che gli autori pid antichi hanno stabilito tal niunero : Quasi che abbiano in tal modo proibito a noi il passar quelle fatali colonne che gli antichi avevan segnate col — Non plus ultra. Onde perch e i Latini dicevan tutti con una voce uni- forme — Partes Orationis sunt oeto : — quel che intorno a cent' anni sono scrisson le regole di questa lingua, cominciavan con la medesirna cantilena. 11 che se sia da commenclare o da biasimare non diro : Basta che a me par una cosa ridicolosa, dire — Otto son le parti delT orazione — e subito soggiugnere — ■ Ma innavzi die to di quelle incominci a ragionare, fa mestiero che sopra gli Artieoli alcuna cosa ti dica. " Questo e il medesimo che se dicessimo — Tre son le parti del mondo : Ma prima ch' io ti ragioni di quelle, fa mestiero che sopra 1'Europa alcuna cosa ti dica." B. — As far as respects the Article I think yon are right. But why such bitterness against the Interjection ? Why do you not rather follow Buonmattei's example ; and, instead of excluding both, admit them both to be Parts of Speech ? 2 1 What Scaliger says of the Participle may very justly be applied to this manner of treating the Article. " Si non est Nota, imo vero si nonnullis ne pars qui clem orationis ulla, ab aliis separata, judicata est ; quo consilio ei rei, qua9 nusquam extat, sedem statuunt."- — Lib. 7. cap. 140. 2 " Interjectionem non esse partem orationis, sic ostenclo. Quod naturale est, idem est apud omnes : sed gemitus et signa lsetitise idem sunt apud omnes : sunt igitur naturales. Si vero naturales, non sunt partes orationis. Nam ese partes, secundum Aristotelem, ex institute, non natura, debent const-are. Interjectionem Grrseci adverbiis adnume- rant, sed falso : nam neque Grsecis literis scribantur, sed signa tristitiae, ant lsetitiss, qualia in avibus, aut quadrupedibus, quibus tamen nee vocem nee oration em concedimus. Yalla interjectionem a par lib us orationis rejicit. Itaque Interjectionem a partibus orationis excludi- 32 OF THE AETICLE AND INTERJECTION. [PART I. H. — Because the dominion of Speech is erected upon the downfall of Interjections. Without the artful contrivances of Langaage ; mankind would have nothing but Interjections with which to communicate, orally., any of their feelings. The neighing of a horse, the lowing of a cow, the barking of a dog, the purring of a cat, sneezing, coughing, groaning, shrieking, and every other involuntary convulsion with oral sound, have almost as good a title to be called Parts of Speech, as Inter- jections have. Voluntary Interjections are only employed when the suddenness or vehemence of some affection or passion returns men to their natural state ; and makes them for a moment forget the use of speech: 1 or when, from some cir- cumstance, the shortness of time will not permit them to mus : tantura abest, ut earn primam et precipuam cum Csesare Scali- gero constituamus." — Sanctii Minerva, lib. 1. cap. 2. De paribus ora- tionis, page 17. Edit. Amst. 1711. 1 The industrious and exact Cinonio, who does not appear ever to have had a single glimpse of reason, speaks thus of one interjection : — " I varj affetti cui serve questa interiezzione Ah et AM, sono piii di venti : ma v' abbisogna d' un avvertimento ; che neb" esprimerli sempre diversificano il suono, e vagliono quel tanto che, presso i Latini, Ah; Proh; Oh; Vah; Hei; Pape; &c. Ma questa e parte spettante a chi pronunzia, che sappia dar loro 1' accento di quell' affetto cui servono ; e sono d' esclamazione. di dolersi. di svillaveggiare. di prepare. di gridare minacciando. di minacciare. di sospirare. di sgarare. di maravigliarsi d' incitare. di sdeguo. di desiderare. di reprendere. di vendicarsi. di raccomandazione. di commovimento per allegrezza. di lamentarsi. di befFare. et altri varj." Annotazioni aW trattato, delle Parlkelle, di Cinonio, capitolo 11. Cli. V.] OF THE ARTICLE AND INTEKJEGTION. 33 exercise it. And in books they are only used for embellish- ment, and to mark strongly the above situations. But where Speech can be employed, they are totally useless; and are always insufficient for the purpose of communicating our thoughts. And indeed where will you look for the Inter- jection ? Will you find it amongst laws, or in books of civil institutions, in history, or in any treatise of useful arts or sciences ? No. You must seek for it in rhetorick and poetry 3 in novels, plays, and romances. B. — If what you say is true, I must acknowledge that the Article has had hard measure to be displaced for the Inter- jection. For by your declamation, and the zeal you have shewn in its defence, it is evident that you do not intend we should, with Scaliger, consider it merely as otiosum Instru- mentum. H. — Most assuredly not : though I acknowledge that it has been used otiose by many nations. 1 And I do not wonder that, keeping his eyes solely on the superfluous use (or rather abuse) of it, he should too hastily conclude against this very necessary instrument itself. B. — Say you so ! very necessary instrument ! Since then you have, contrary to my expectation, allowed its necessity, I should be glad to know how the Article comes to be so neces- sary to Speech : and, if necessary, how can the Latin language be without it, as most authors agree that it is ? 2 And when 1 " II seroit a souhaiter qu'on supprimat 1' Article, toutes les fois que les noms sont suffisamment determines par la nature de la chose ou par les circonstances : le discours en seroit plus vif. Mais la grande habitude que nous nous en sommes faite, ne le permet pas : et ce n'est que dans des proverbes, plus anciens que cette habitude, que nous nous faisons une loi de le supprimer. On dit — Pauvrete nest pas vice : au lieu cle dire — La pauvrete n'est pas un vice." — CondiMac, Gram, part 2. chap. 14. Without any injury to the meaning of the passage, the article might have been omitted here by Condillac twelve or thirteen times. 2 ' Clg ho%ii [MCi crsg/ 'Pwfiouwv Xsysiv ogoj /xsaaoi vjv o/Jbov ri Travrsg ctvQoutfoi ygwvrai. Kgodstszig rs yao atp7)P7]/ts, tfXrjv oXr/ojv arfatrag, tcjv rs KaXovfLSVOJV agdgwv, ovfev ffgoGd^irai to craga-ray. — UXaroj- vixcc ZrjTrtfjjara, d. " Articulus nobis nullus et Grsecis supernuus." "Satis constat Graecoi'um Articulos non neglectos a nobis, sed eorum usum superfluum." — J. 0. Scaliger de Causis L. L. cap. 72. — 131. It is pleasant after this to have Scaliger's authority against himself, D 34 Or THE ARTICLE AND INTERJECTION. [PART I. you have given me satisfaction on those points, you will permit me to ask you a few questions further. H. — You may learn its necessity, if you please, from Mr. Locke. And that once proved, it follows of consequence that I must deny its absence from the Latin or from any other Language. 1 B. — Mr. Locke ! He has not so much as even once men- tioned the Article. H. — Notwithstanding which he has sufficiently proved its necessity ; and conducted us directly to its use and purpose. For in the eleventh chapter of the second book of his Essay, sect. 9, he says, — " The use of words being to stand as out- ward marks of our internal ideas, and those ideas being taken from particular things ; if every particular idea should have a distinct name, names would be endless/' So again, book 3. chap. 3. treating of General Terms, he says, — " All things that exist being particulars, it may perhaps be thought reason- able that words, which ought to be conformed to things, should be so too ; I mean in their signification. But yet we find the quite contrary. The far greatest part of words that make all languages, are General Terms. Which has not been the effect of neglect or chance, but of reason and necessity. For, first, it is impossible that every particular thing should have a distinct peculiar name. For the signification and use of words depending on that connection which the mind makes between its ideas and the sounds it uses as signs of them ; it is necessary, in the application of names to things, that the mind and to hear him prove that the Latin not only lias Articles ; but even the very identical Article 'O of the Greeks : for he says (and, notwith- standing the etymological dissent of Vossius, says truly) that the Latin Qui is no other than the Greek %ai 6. " Arliculum, Fabio teste, Latinus sermo non desiderat : inio, me judice, plane ignorat." — G. J. Vossius. " Displeased with the redundance of Particles in the Greek, the Romans extended their displeasure to the Article, which they totally banished." — Notes on the Grammatica Sinica of M oris. Fourmont, p. 54. 1 " L' Article indicatif se supplee sur tout par la terminaison, dans les langues a terminaisons, comme la langue Latin e. C'est ce qui avoit fait croire mal-a-propos que les Latins n'avoient aucun Article ; et qui avoit fait conclure plus mal-a-propos encore que 1' Article n'etoit pas une partie du discours." — Court de Gebelin, Gram. Universelle, p. 192. The Latin quis is evidently x«/ og; and the Latin terminations us, a, urn no other than the Greek article og, ~n, ov. CH. V.] OF THE ARTICLE AND INTERJECTION. 35 should have distinct ideas of the things, and retain also the peculiar name that belongs to every one, with its peculiar appropriation to that idea. We may therefore easily find a reason why men have never attempted to give names to each sheep in their flock, or crow that flies over their heads ; much less to call every leaf of plants, or grain of sand that came in their way by a peculiar name. — Secondly, If it were possible, it would be useless : because it would not serve to the chief end of Language. Men would in vain heap up names of par- ticular things, that would not serve them to communicate their thoughts. Men learn names, and use them in talk with others, only that they may be understood; which is then only done, when, by use or consent, the sound I make by the organs of speech excites in another man s mind who hears it, the idea I apply to it in mine when I speak it. This cannot be done by names applied to particular things, whereof 1 alone having the ideas in my mind, the names of them could not be significant or intelligible to another who was not acquainted with all those very particular things which had fallen under my notice." — And again, sect. 11. — " General and Universal belong not to the real existence of things : but are the inventions and crea- tures of the Understanding, made by it for its own use, and concern only signs. Universality belongs not to things them- selves, which are all of them particular in their existence. When therefore we quit Particulars, the Generals that rest are only creatures of our own making ; their general nature being nothing but the capacity they are put into of signifying or representing many Particulars." Now from this necessity of General Terms, follows imme- diately the necessity of the Article: whose business it is to reduce their generality, and upon occasion to enable us to employ general terms for Particulars. So that the Article also, in combination with a general term, is merely a substitute. But then it differs from those substi- tutes which we have ranked under the general head of Abbre- viations : because it is necessary for i\\o, communication of our thoughts, and supplies the place of words which are not in the language. Whereas Abbreviations are not necessary for com- munication ; and supply the place of words which are in the language. 36 OF THE ARTICLE AND INTERJECTION". [PART I. B. — As far then as regards the Article, Mr. Harris seems at present to be the author most likely to meet with your approbation : for he not only establishes its necessity, in order " to circumscribe the latitude of genera and species," and therefore treats of it separately ; but has raised it to a degree of importance much beyond all other modern Grammarians. And though he admits of only two Articles, " properly and strictly so called," viz. A and the ; yet has he assigned to these two little words full one-fourth part in his distribution of language : which, you know, is into — " Substantives, Attri- butives, Definitives, and Connectives." Jj t — If Mr. Harris has not entirely secured my concurrence with his doctrine of Definitives, I must confess he has at least taken effectual care to place it completely beyond the reach of confutation. He says, 1. " The Articles have no meaning, but when associated to some other word." 2. "Nothing can be more nearly related than the Greek article '0 to the English article the." 3. " But the article A defines in an imperfect manner." 4. " Therefore the Greeks have no article correspondent to our article A." 5. However, " they supply its place." — And How, think you ? 6. " By a Negation" — (observe well their method of supply) — u by a negation of their article '0; " (that is, as he well explains himself,) — " without any thing prefixed, but only the article c withdrawn." 7. " Even in English, we also express the force of the article A, in plurals, by the same negation of the article the. 1 " 1 " It is perhaps owing to the imperfect manner in which the Article A defines, that the Greeks have no article correspondent to it, but supply its place by a negation of their Article c 0. — '0 uv&gums ztzgzv, the man fell ; avQewirog s-ttsgsv, a man fell ; — without any thing pre- fixed, but only the article withdrawn." " Even in English, where the article A cannot be used, as in plurals, its force is expressed by the same negation. — Those are the men, means, Those are individuals of which we possess some previous know- ledge.- — Those are men, the Article apart, means no more than they are so many vague and uncertain individuals ; just as the phrase — A man, in the singular, implies one of the same "number." Book 2. chap. 1. CH. V.] ADVERTISEMENT. 37 Now here I acknowledge myself to be completely thrown out ; and, like the philosopher of old, merely for want of a firm resting-place on which to fix my machine : for it would have been as easy for him to raise the earth with a fulcrum of ether, as for me to establish any reasoning or argument on this sort of negation. For, " nothing being prefixed" I cannot imagine in what manner or in what respect a negation of '0 or of the, differs from a negation of Harris or of Pudding. For lack however of the light of comprehension, I must do as other Grammarians do in similar situations, attempt to illustrate by a parallel. I will suppose Mr. Harris (when one of the Lords of the Treasury) to have addressed the Minister in the same style of reasoning. — a Salaries, Sir, produce no benefit, unless asso- ciated to some receiver : my salary at present is but an imper- fect provision for myself and family: but your salary as Minister is much more complete. Oblige me therefore by withdrawing my present scanty pittance ; and supply its place to me by a negation of your salary." — I think this request could not reasonably have been denied: and what satisfaction Mr. Harris would have felt by finding his theory thus reduced to practice, no person can better judge than myself; because I have experienced a conduct not much dissimilar from the Rulers of the Inner Temple : who, having first inticed me to quit one profession, after many years of expectation, have very handsomely supplied its place to me by a negation of the other. ADVEBTISEMENT. The three following chapters (except some small alterations and additions) have already been given to the public in A Letter to Mr. Dunning in the year 1778 : which, though published, was not written, on the spur of the occasion. The substance of that Letter, and of all that I have further to com- municate on the subject of Language, has been amongst the loose papers in my closet now upwards of thirty years ; and would probably have remained there some years longer, and 38 ADVERTISEMENT. have been finally consigned with myself to oblivion, if I had not been made the miserable victim of — Two Prepositions and a Conjunction. The officiating Priests indeed 1 were themselves of rank and eminence sufficient to dignify and grace my fall. But that the Conjunction that, and the Prepositions of and concerning (words which have hitherto been held to have no meaning) should be made the abject instruments of my civil extinction, (for such was the intention, and such has been the consequence of my prosecution,) appeared to me to make my exit from civil life as degrading as if I had been brained by a lady's fan. For mankind in general are not sufficiently aware that words without meaning, or of equivocal meaning, are the everlasting engines of fraud and injustice : and that the grimgribber of Westminster-Hall is a more fertile, and a much more formidable, source of imposture than the abracadabra of magicians. Upon a motion made by me in arrest of judgment in the Court of King's Bench in the year 1777, the Chief Justice adjourned the decision : and instead of arguments on the merits of my objection, (which however by a side-wind were falsely represented by him as merely literal jlaios, 2 ) desired that Pre- cedents might be brought by the Attorney-General on a future day. None were however adduced but by the Chief Justice himself; who indeed produced two. (Thereby depriving me of the opportunity of combating the Precedents and their application, which I should have had if they had been pro- duced by the Attorney- General. 3 ) And on the strength of these two Precedents alone, (forgetting his own description 1 Attorney-General Thurlow — since Chancellor and a Peer. Solicitor-General Wedderbume — since Chancellor and a Peer. Earl Mansfield, Chief Justice. Mr. Buller — since a Judge. Mr. Wallace — since Attorney-General. Mr. Mansfield — since Solicitor- General and C. J. of the C. Pleas. Mr. Bearcroft — since Chief Justice of Chester. 2 " Lord Mansfield, " If the Defendant has a legal advantage from a Literal flaw, God forbid that he should not have the benefit of it." — Proceedings in K. B. The King against Home. 3 " Lord Mansfield, " I fancy the Attorney-General was surprised with the objection." ADVERTISEMENT. 39 and distinction of the crime to the Jury,) he decided against me. 1 I say ? on the strength of these two precedents alone. For the gross perversion and misapplication of the technical term de bene esse, was merely pour eblouir, to introduce the proceed- ings on the trial, and to divert the attention from the only point in question— the sufficiency of the charge in the Record. — And I cannot believe that any man breathing (except Lord 1 The Attorney-General, in his reply, said to the Jury, " Let ns a little see what is the nature of the observations he makes. In the first place, that I left it exceedingly short : and the objection to my having left it short, was simply this ; that I had stated no more to you but this, that of imputing to the conduct of the King's troops the crime of murder. Now I stated it, as imputed to the troops, ordered as they were upon the public service." Lord Mansfield to the Jury : " Read the paper. What is it % Why it is this ; that our beloved American Fellow-subjects — in rebellion against the State — not beloved so as to be abetted in their rebellion.*' Again, — " What is the em- ployment they (the troops) are ordered upon 1 Why then what are they who gave the orders 1 Draw the conclusion." Again — "The unhappy resistance to the legislative authority of this kingdom by many of our Fellow-subjects in America : the legislature of this kingdom have avowed that the Americans rebelled : Troops are employed upon this ground. The case is here between a just Government and rebellious subjects." — Again — " You will read this paper; yon will judge whether it is not denying the Government and Legislative authority of England r And again — " If you are of opinion that they were all murdered (like the cases of undoubted murders, of Glenco, and twenty other massacres that might be named), why then you may form a different conclusion." And again — " If some soldiers, Without authority, had got in a drunken fray, and murder had ensued, and that this paper could relate to that, it would be quite a different thing from the charge in the information : because it is charged — as a seditious Libd tending to dis- quiet the minds of the People'' (See the Trial.) A man must be not only well practised, but even hackneyed in our Courts of Justice to discover the above description of my crime in the Prepositions of and concerning. Be that as it may : It is evident that the Attorney-General and the Chief Justice did not expect the Jury to be so enlightened ; and therefore (when I had no longer a right to open my lips) they described a crime to them in that plain language which I still contend I had a right to expect in the Information ; because — " A seditious Libel tending to disquiet the minds of the people," — has been determined to be mere paper and packthread, and no part of the Charge. 40 ADVERTISEMENT. Mansfield), either in the profession or out of it, will think it an argument against the validity of my objection— that it was brought forward only by myself, and had not been alleged before by the learned Counsel for the Printers. This, however, I can truly tell his lordship ; that the most learned of them all (cibsit invidia), Mr. Dunning, was not aware of the objection when I first mentioned it to him ; that he would not believe the infor- mation could be so defective in all its Counts till I produced to him an Office Copy : when to his astonishment he found it so, he felt no jealousy that the objection had been missed by himself; but declared it to be insuperable and fatal: and bade me rest assured, that whatever might be Lord Mansfield's wishes, and his courage on such occasions, he would not dare to overrule the objection. And when, after the close of the first day, I hinted to him my suspicions of Lord Mansfield's inten- tions by the " God forbid ;" and by the perverted and misap- plied " Be bene essep in order to mix the proceedings on the trial with the question of record ; he smiled at it, as merely a method which his lordship took of letting the matter down gently, and breaking the abruptness of his fall. Strange as it may appear ! One of those precedents was merely imagined by the Chief Justice, but never really existed. And the other (through ignorance of the meaning of the Con- j unction that) had never been truly understood; neither by the Counsel who originally took the exception, nor perhaps by the Judges who made the decision, nor by the Reporter of it, nor by the present Chief Justice, who quoted and misapplied it. Mr. Dunning undertook to prove (and did actually prove in the House of Lords) the non-existence of the main precedent. And I undertook, in that Letter to Mr. Dunning, to shew the real merits and foundation, and consequently Lord Mansfield's misapplication of the other. And I undertook this, because it afforded a very striking instance of the importance of the mean- ing of words ; not only (as has been too lightly supposed) to Metaphysicians and School-men, but to the rights and happi- ness of mankind in their dearest concerns — the decisions of Courts of Justice. In the House of Lords these two Precedents (the foundation of the Judgment in the Court of King's Bench) were abandoned : and the description of my crime against Government was ad- OF THE WORD THAT. 41 judged to be sufficiently set forth by the Prepositions of and CONCERNING. Perhaps it may make my readers smile ; but I mention it as a further instance of the importance of inquiry into the mean- ing of words ; — that in the decision of the Judges in the House of Lords, the Chief Justice De Grey (who found of and con- cerning so comprehensive, clear, and definite) began by declaring that — " the word Certainly [which the Law requires in the description of Crimes] is as indefinite [that is, as Un- certain'] as any word that could be used." Now, though certainty is so uncertain, we must suppose the word Libel to be very definite : and yet, if I were called upon for an equivalent term, I believe I could not find in our language any word more popu- larly apposite than Calumny; which is defined by Cicero, in his Offices, to be — " callida et malitiosa Juris interpretation If there was any Mistake (which, however, I am very far from believing) in this decision, sanctioned by the Judges and the House of Lords ; I shall be justified in applying (with the sub- stitution of the single word Grammatici for Istorici) what Giannone, who was himself an excellent lawyer, says of his countrymen of the same profession : — " Tanta ignoranza avea loro benclati gli occhi, che si pregiavano d'essere solamente Legisti, e non Grammatici ; non accorgendosi, che perche non erano Grammatici, eran percio cattivi legisti." — 1st. Civil, di Napoli Intro. CHAPTER VI. of the word that. B. — But besides the Articles, "properly and strictly so called/' I think Mr, Harris and other Grammarians say that there are some words which, according to the different manner of using them, are sometimes Articles and sometimes Pro- nouns : and that it is difficult to determine to which class they ought to be referred .* 1 " It must be confessed indeed that all these words do not always appear as Pronouns. When they stand by themselves and represent 42 OF THE WORD THAT. [PART I. H. — They do so. And, by so doing, sufficiently instruct us (if we will bat use our common sense) what value we ought to put upon such classes and such definitions. B. — Can you give us any general rule by which to distin- guish when they are of the one sort, and when of the other ? H. — Let them give the rule who thus confound together the Manner of signification of words, and the Abbreviations in their Construction : than which no two things in Language are more distinct, or ought to be more carefully distinguished. I do not allow that Any words change their nature in this manner, so as to belong sometimes to one Part of Speech, and sometimes to another, from the different ways of using them. I never could perceive any such fluctuation in any word whatever: though I know it is a general charge brought erroneously against words of almost every denomination. 2 But it appears to me to be all, Error: arising from the false measure which has been taken of almost every sort of words. Whilst the words themselves appear to me to continue faith- fully and steadily attached, each to the standard under which it was originally inlisted. But I desire to wave this matter for the present ; because I think it will be cleared up by what is to follow concerning the other sorts of words : at least, if that should not convince you, I shall be able more easily to satisfy you on this head hereafter. some Noun, (as when we say — this is virtue, or deizrrAoog, Give me that,) then are they Pronouns. But when they are associated to some Noun, (as when we say — this habit is virtue, or dsixrixag, that man defrauded me,) then, as they supply not the place of a Noun, but only serve to ascertain one, they fall rather into the species of Definitives or Articles. That there is indeed a near relation between Pronouns and Articles, the old Grammarians have all acknowledged ; and some words it has been doubtful to which class to refer. The best rule to distin- guish them is this. — -The Genuine Pronoun always stands by itself, assuming the power of a noun, and supplying its place. — The genuine Article never stauds by itself, but appears at all times associated to something else, requiring a noun for its support, as much as Attribu- tives or Adjectives." — Hermes, book 1. chap. 5. 1 "Certains mots sont Aduerbes, Prepositions, et Conjonctions en meme temps : et repondent ainsi au nieme temps a diverses parties d'oraison selon que la grammaire les emploie diversement." — Puffier, art. 150. And so say all other Grammarians, CH. VI,] OF THE WORD THAT. 43 B. — I would not willingly put you out of your own way, and am contented to wait for the explanation of many things till you shall arrive at the place which you may think proper for it. Bat really what you have now advanced seems to me so very extraordinary and contrary to fact, as well as to the uniform declaration of all Grammarians, that you must excuse me if, before we proceed any further, I mention to you one instance. Mr. Harris and other Grammarians say, that the word that is sometimes an Article and sometimes a Pronoun. However, I do not desire an explanation of that [point] : because I see how you will easily reconcile that [difference], by a subauditur or an abbreviation of Construction : and I agree with you there. But what will you do with the Conjunction that ? Is not this a very considerable and manifest fluctuation and difference of signification in the same word ? Has the Con- junction that, any the smallest correspondence or similarity of signification with that, the Article, or Pronoun f PL. — In my opinion the word that (call it as you please, either Article, or Pronoun, or Conjunction) retains always one and the same signification. Unnoticed abbreviation in con- struction and difference of position have caused this appearance of fluctuation ; and misled the Grammarians of all languages, both ancient and modern : for in all they make the same mis- take. Pray, answer me a question. Is it not strange and improper that we should, without any reason or necessity, employ in English the same word for two different meanings and purposes ? B. — I think it wrong: and I see no reason for it, but many reasons against it. H. — Well ! Then is it not more strange that this same im- propriety, in this same case, should run through all languages ? And that they should all use an Article, without any reason, unnecessarily, and improperly, for this same Conjunction ; with which it has, as you say, no correspondence nor similarity of signification ? B. — If they do so, it is strange. PL — They certainly do ; as you will easily find by inquiry. Now, does not the uniformity and universality of this supposed mistake, and unnecessary impropriety, in languages which 44 OF THE WORD THAT. [PART I. have no connexion with each other, naturally lead us to suspect that this usage of the Article may perhaps be neither mistaken nor improper ? But that the mistake may lie only with us, who do not understand it ? B. — No doubt what you have said, if true, would afford ground for suspicion. H. — If true ! Examine any languages you please, and see whether they also, as well as the English, have not a supposed Conjunction which they employ as we do that ; and which is also the same word as their supposed Article, or Pronoun. Does not this look as if there was some reason for employing the Article in this manner ? And as if there was some con- nexion and similarity of signification between it and this Con- junction ? B. — The appearances, I own, are strongly in favour of your opinion. But how shall we find out what that connexion is? II. — Suppose we examine some instances ; and, still keep- ing the same signification of the sentences, try whether we cannot, by a resolution of their construction, discover what we want. Example. — " I wish you to believe that I would not wil- fully hurt a fly." Resolution. — " I would not wilfully hurt a fly; I wish you to believe that [assertion]/' Ex. — "She, knowing that Crooke had been indicted for forgery, did so and so." Resol. — "Crooke had been indicted for forgery; she, know- ing that [fact], did so and so." l Ex. — " You say that the same arm which, when con- tracted, can lift — ; when extended to its utmost reach, will not be able to raise — . You mean that we should never for- get our situation, and that we should be prudently contented to do good within our own sphere, where it can have an effect : and that we should not be misled even by a virtuous benevo- lence and public spirit, to waste ourselves in fruitless efforts beyond our power of influence." Resol. — " The same arm which, when contracted, can lift— ; when extended to its utmost reach, will not be able to raise — : King v. Lawley. Strange's Reports, Easter T. 4 Geo. II. CH. VI. OF THE WORD THAT. 45 you say that. We should never forget oar situation ; you mean that : and we should be contented to do good within our own sphere where it can have an effect ; you mean that : and we should not be misled, even by a virtuous benevolence and public spirit to waste ourselves in fruitless efforts beyond our power of influence ; you mean that." Ex. — " They who have well considered that kingdoms rise or fall, and that their inhabitants are happy or miserable, not so much from any local or accidental advantages or disadvan- tages ; but accordingly as they are well or ill governed ; may best determine how far a virtuous mind can be neutral in politics." Besol. — " Kingdoms rise or fall, not so much from any- local or accidental advantages or disadvantages, but accord- ingly as they are well or ill governed ; they who have well considered that [maxim], may best determine how far a vir- tuous mind can be neutral in politics. And the inhabitants of kingdoms are happy or miserable, not so much from any local or accidental advantages or disadvantages, but accordingly as they are well or ill governed ; they who have considered that, may best determine how far a virtuous mind can be neutral in politics." 1 1 " Le despotisme ecrase cle son sceptre cle fer le plus beau pays du monde : II semble que les malheurs des hommes croissent en proportion des efforts que la nature fait pour les renclre heureux." — Savary. " Dans ce paradis terrestre, an milieu cle tant cle richesses, qui croi- roit que le Siamois est peut-etre le plus miserable des peuples ? Le gouvernement de Siam est despotique : le souverain jouit seul du droit de la liberte naturelle a tons les hommes. Ses sujets sont ses esclaves; cliacun d'eux lui doit six mois de service personnel chaque anne'e, sans aucun salaire et meme sans nourriture. II leur accorcle les six autres pour se procurer de quoi vivre." [Happy, happy England, if ever thy miserable inhabitants shall, in respect of taxation, be elevated to the condition of the Siamois ; when thy Taskmasters shall be contented with half the produce of thy industry !] " Sous un tel gouvernement il n'y a point de loi qui protege les particuliers contre la violence, et qui leur assure aucune propriete. Tout depend cles fantaisies dun prince abruti par toute sorte d'exces, et surtout par ceux du pouvoir ; qui passe ses jours enferme dans un serrail, ignorant tout ce qui se fait hors de son palais, et sur tout les malheurs de ses peuples. Cependant ceux-ci sont livres a la cupidite cles grands, qui sont les premiers esclaves, et approchent seuls a des jours marques, mais toujours en tuemblant, cle la personne du despote, qu'ils aclorent comme une divinite 46 OF THE WORD THAT. [PART I. Ex. — " Thieves rise by night that they may cut men's throats." Besot — " Thieves may cut men's throats ; {for) that (pur- pose) they rise by night." After the same manner, I imagine, may all sentences be resolved (in all languages) where the Conjunction that (or its equivalent) is employed : and by such resolution it will always be discovered to have merely the same force and signification, and to be in fact nothing else but the very same word which in other places is called an Article or a Pronoun. — sujette a des caprices dangereux." — Voyages oVun Philosophe [Mons. Poivre]. Londres, 1769. The above heart-rending reflections which Savary makes at the sight of Egypt, and Mods, Poivre at the condition of Siam, might serve as other examples for the Conjunction in question : but I give them for the sake of their matter. And I think myself at least as well j nstified (I do not expect to be as well rewarded) as our late Poet Laureat ; who, upon the following passage of Milton's Conius, li And sits as safe as in a Senate-house" adds this flagitious note : " .Not many years after this was written, Milton's Friends shewed that the safety of a Senate-house was not inviolable. But when the people turn Legislators, what place is safe against the tumults of inno- vation, and the insults of disobedience ?" I believe our late Laureat meant not so much to cavil at Milton's expression, as to seize an impertinent opportunity of recommending himself to the powers which be, by a cowardly insult on the dead and persecuted author's memory, and on the aged, defenceless constitution of his country. A critic who should really be displeased at Milton's expression, would rather shew its impropriety by an event which had happened before it was used, than by an event which the poet could not at that time fore- see. Such a critic, adverting to the 5th of November, 1605, and to the 4th of January, 1641, might more truly say — " Not many years, both before and after this was written, Warton's Friends shewed that the safety of a Senate-house was not inviolable." With equal impertinence and malignity (pages 496, 538,) has he raked up the ashes of Queen Caroline aud Queen Elizabeth ; whose private characters and inoffensive amusements were as little connected with Milton's poems, as this animadversion on Warton is with the sub- ject I am now treating. Perhaps, after all, the concluding line of Milton's epitaph, " Rege sub august o fas sit laudare Catonem," is artfully made by Mr. Warton the concluding line also of his Notes; in order to account for his present virulence, and to soften the resent- ment of his readers at the expense of his patron. CH. VI.] OF THE WORD THAT 47 B. — For any thing that immediately occurs to me, this may perhaps be the case in English, where that is the only Con- junction of the same signification which we employ in this manner. But your last example makes me believe that this method of resolution will not take place in those languages which have different Conjunctions for this same purpose. And if so, I suspect that your whole reasoning on this subject may be without foundation. For how can you resolve the original of your last example ; where (unfortunately for your notion) ut is employed, and not the neuter Article quod ? " Ut jugulent homines surgunt de nocte latrones." I suppose you will not say that ut is the Latin neuter Article. For even Sanctius, who struggled so hard to withdraw quod from amongst the Conjunctions, yet still left ut amongst them without molestation. 1 1 It is not at all extraordinary that ut and quod should be indiffer- ently used for the same conjunctive purpose : for as ut (originally writ- ten uti) is nothing but 6rt : so is QUOD (anciently written quodde) merely Kai hrri. " Quodde taas laudes culpas, nil proficis hilum." — Lucilius. (See Note in Havercamp's and Creech's Lucretius ; where quodde is mistakenly derived from orrids.) QU, in Latin, being sounded (not as the English but as the French pronounce qu, that is) as the Greek K j Ka/ (by a change of the character, not of the sound) became the Latin Que (used only enclitically indeed in modern Latin.) Hence Ka/ err/ became in Latin Qu'otti — Quoddi — Quodde — Quod. Of which, if Sanctius had been aware, he would not have attempted a distinction between UT and quod : since the two words, though differently cor- rupted, are in substance and origin the same. The perpetual change of t into D, and vice versa, is so very familiar to all who have ever paid the smallest attention to Language, that I should not think it worth while to notice it in the present instance ; if all the etymological canonists, whom I have seen, had not been remark- ably inattentive to the organical causes of those literal changes of which they treat. Skinner (who was a Physician) in his Prolegomena Etymologica, speaking of the frequent transmutation of s into z, says very truly " Sunt sane literse sono fere esedem." But in what does that^/ere consist 1 For s is not nearer in sound to z, than P is to b, or than t is to d, or than f is to v, or than k is to g, or than th (G) in Thing, is to th (D) in That, or than sh is to the French J. (N.B. — th and sh are simple consonants, and should be marked by single letters, j, as the English pronounce it, is a double consonant ; and should have two characters.) 48 OF THE WORD THAT. [PART I. B ~ P 1 G — K Z D — T - S — e Without the Compression V — F J — SH j H. — You are not to expect from me that I should, in this J. ) place, account etymologically for the different words which some languages (for there are others beside the Latin) may sometimes borrow and employ in this manner instead of their own common Article. But if you should hereafter exact it, I shall not refuse the undertaking : although it is not the easiest part of Etymology : for Abbreviation and Corruption are alivays busiest with the ivords ivhich are most frequently in use. Letters, like soldiers, being very apt to desert and drop off in a long march, and especially if their passage happens to lie near the confines of an enemy's country. 1 Yet I doubt not For these seven couple of simple consonants, viz. f With the Compression differ each from its partner by no variation whatever of articulation ; but singly by a certain unnoticed and almost imperceptible motion or compression of or near the Larynx ; which causes what Wilkins calls " some kind of murmure? This compression the Welch never use. So that when a Welchman, instead of " I vow, by God, Dat Jenkin iz a Wizzard," pronounces it thus, "I fow, py Cot, Oat Shenkiniss a Wissart ;" he articulates in every other respect exactly as we do ; but omits the compression nine times in this sentence. And for failing in this one point only, changes seven of our consonants : for we owe seven addi- tional letters (i. e., seven additional sounds in our language) solely to the addition of this one compression to seven different articulations. 1 " Nous avons deja dit, que l'alteration du derive, augmentoit a niesure que le temps l'eloignoit du primitifj et nous avons ajoute — ■ toutes choses dailleurs egales — parceque la quantite cle cette alteration depend aussi du cours que ce mot a dans le public. II s'use, pour ainsi dire, en passant dans un plus grand nombre de bouches, sur tout dans la bouche du peuple : et la rapidite de cette circulation equivaut a une plus longue duree. Les noms des Saints et les noms de bapteme les plus communs, en sont un exemple. Les mots qui reviennent le plus souvent dans les langues, tels que les verbes etre, faire, votdoir, aller, et tous ceux qui servent a lier les autres mots dans le discours, sont sujets a de plus grandes alterations. Ce sont ceux qui ont le plus be- C1I. VI.] OF THE WORD THAT. 49 that, with this clue, you will yourself be able, upon inquiry, to account as easily (and in the same manner) for the use of all the others, as I know you can for ut ; which is merely the Greek neuter Article or/, 1 adopted for this conjunctive pur- pose by the Latins, and by them originally written uti : the o being changed into u, from that propensity which both the antient Koinans had, 2 and the modern Italians still have, 3 upon many occasions, to pronounce even their own o like an u. Of which I need not produce any instances. 4 The Resolution therefore of the original will be like that of the translation : " Latrones juguleiit homines (A/) on surgunt de nocte." soin d'etre fixes par la langue ecrite." — Encyclopedie {Etymologie) par M. de Brosses. 1 "Uti est mutata on." — J. G. Scaliger de Causis L. L. cap. 173. 2 So in the antient form of self-devotion. " VTEI. EGO. AXIM. PRAI. ME. FORMIDINEM. METOM. QUE. OMNIOM. DIRAS. SIO. VTEI. VERBEIS. NONCOPASO. ITA. PRO. REPOPLICA. POPOLI. ROMANI. QUIRITIOM. VITAM. SALUTEM. QUE. MEAM. LEGIONES. AUXSILIA. QUE. HOSTIOM. MEOM. DIVE1S. MANEBOUS. TELLOURI. QUE. DEVOVEO." So in the laws of Numa, and in tlie twelve tables, and in all antient inscriptions, o is perpetually found where the modern Latin uses u. And it is but reasonable to suppose, that the pronunciation preceded the change of the orthography. 3 " Quant a la voyelle u pour ce qu'ils (les Italiens) l'aiment fort, ainsi que nous cognoissons par ces mots Ufficio, Ubrigato, &c. je pense bien qu'ils la respectent plus que les autres." — Henri Estiene, de la Precell de la L. F. 4 " L'o a stretta amicizia coll' v, usandosi in molte voci scambie- volmente." — Menage. Cambiamenti delle Letter e, page 16. Menage quotes Quinctilian, Festus, Velius Longus, Victorinus, Cas- siodorus, Servius, Priscian, Yirgil, Jul. Cses. Scaliger. " La v par che prevalesse ne' primi tempi e piu remoti, quando i Latini, memori della Eolica origine, o imitando gli Umbri e gli Etrus- chi, literam v pro o efferebant :* e pronunziavano Funtes, Frundes, Acherunte, Humones, e simili.f Quindi Ovidio, avendo detto che una volta il nome di Orione era Urion, soggiugne — perdidit antiquum litera prima so?ium.\ Ne' tempi posteriori si andb all' altro estremo ; e all' antica lettera fu sostituita quasi sempre la o, come vedesi in Novios Plautios, e in altre voci della tavola seconda. Prisciano ne da per ra- gione : quia multis Italice popidis v in usu '/ton erat, sed e contrario ute~ bantur o : § clicendosi verbigrazia, Colpa, Exsoles, per Culpa, Exudes, &c."|| — Lanzi Saggio di Lingua Etrusca, torn. i. pag. 124. * Fest. vid. Orcus. t Quinct. 1.4. % Fast. v. § Pag. 554. || Cassiod. 2284. 50 OF THE WORD THAT. [PART I. B. — You have extricated yourself pretty well out of this scrape with ut. And perhaps have clone prudently, to decline the same sort of explanation in those other languages which, as well as the Latin, have likewise a double Conjunction for this purpose, not quite so easily accounted for, because not ready derived to your hands. But I have not yet done with the English : for though your method of resolution will- answer with most sentences, yet I doubt much whether it will with all. I think there is one usage of the conjunction that which it will not explain. H. — Produce an instance. B. — The instances are common enough. But I chuse to take one from your favourite Sad Shepherd : in hopes that the difficulty it may cause you will abate something of your ex- treme partiality for that piece. Which though it be " such wool As from mere English flocks his Muse could pull," you have always contended obstinately, with its author, is "a Fleece To match or those of Sicily or Greece." Example. " I wonder he can move ! that he's not fix'd ! If that his feelings be the same with mine." So again in Shakespeare, 1 ." If that the king Have any way your good deserts forgot, He bids you name your griefs." How will you bring out the Article that, when two Con- junctions (for I must still call that a Conjunction, till all my scruples are satisfied) come in this manner together ? ADVERTISEMENT. I presume my readers to be acquainted with French, Latin, Italian and Greek ; which are unfortunately the usual boun- daries of an English scholar's acquisition. On this supposi- tion, a friend of mine lamented that, in my Letter to Mr. Dunning, I had not confined myself to the common English character for the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic derivations. 1 First Part of Henry IV. act. 4. scene 5. GH. VI.] OF THE WORD THAT. 51 In the present publication I should undoubtedly have con- formed to his wishes, if I had not imagined that, by inserting the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic characters in this place, I might possibly allure some of my readers to familiarize themselves with those characters, by an application of them to the few words of those languages which are here introduced : and thus lead the way to their better acquaintance with the parent lan- guage, which ought long ago to have made a part of the edu- cation of our youth. And I flatter myself that one of the con- sequences of my present inquiry will be, to facilitate and abridge the tedious and mistaken method of instruction which has too long continued in our seminaries : the time which is at present allotted to Latin and Greek, being amply sufficient for the acquirement also of French, Italian, Anglo-Saxon, Butch, German, Danish, and Swedish. Which will not seem at all extraordinary, when it is considered that the five last men- tioned (together with the English) are little more than differ- ent dialects of one and the same language. And though this was by no means the leading motive, nor is the present object of my inquiry ; yet I think it of considerable importance : although I do not hold the acquisition of languages in so very great estimation as the Emperor Charles the Vth did ; who, as Brantome tells us, "disoit et repetoit souvent, quand il tomboit sur la beaute des langues, (selon l'opinion des Turcs) — qu'autant de langues que l'homme scait parler, autant de fois est-il homme." Anglo -Saxon Moeso-Gothic. K a a N n n 1 A a N 11 B b b o K b & E c k P P P % >k n p D b d * * * d d a cw e e e R P r e e K 1 E p f S r s P f s s D 3 g T t t r g T t ]> h h DE « \ th Ji h th * * * u u u hw n 11 I i i V p w I i V w * * * X X x Q j and y X ch K k k Y y y K k * * L 1 1 Z z z A 1 z z 00 m m M m 52 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PART I. CHAPTER VII. OF CONJUNCTIONS. H. — I was afraid of some such instances as these, when I wished to postpone the whole consideration of this subject till after we had discussed the other received Parts of Speech. Because, in order to explain it, I must forestall something of what I had to say concerning Conjunctions. However, since the question is started, perhaps it may be as well to give it here. The truth of the matter is, that if is merely a Verb. It is merely the Imperative of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb FlJbjVbij Iripan. And in those languages, as well as in the English formerly, this supposed Conjunction was pronounced and written as the common Imperative, purely FlJ^, Lij:, Gif. Thus: — — — " My largesse Hath lotted her to be your brother's mistresse gif shee cau be reclaimed ; gif not, his prey." 1 And accordingly our corrupted if has always the signifi- cation of the English Imperative Give; and no other. So that the resolution of the construction in the instances you have produced, will be as before in the others. Resolution. — " His feelings be the same with mine, give that, I wonder he can move," &c. (i The King may have forgotten your good deserts, give that in any way, he bids you name your griefs." And here, as an additional proof, we may observe, that whenever the Datum, upon which any conclusion depends, is a sentence, the Article that, if not expressed, is always un- derstood, and may be inserted after if. As in the instance I have produced above, the Poet might have said, " Gif that she can be reclaimed," &c. For the resolution is — "She can be reclaimed, Give that; my largesse hath lotted her to be your brothers mistresse. She cannot be reclaimed, Give that; my largesse hath lotted her to be your brother's prey." 1 Sad Shepherd, act 2. scene 1 . CH. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 53 But the Article that is not understood, and cannot be inserted after if, where the Datum is not a sentence, but some Noun governed by the Verb if or give. As — Example. — " How will the weather dispose of you to- morrow ? if fair, it will send me abroad ; if foul, it will keep me at home." Here we cannot say — " if that fair it will send me abroad ; if that foul it will keep me at home." — Because in this case the verb if governs the Noun ; and the resolved construction is, " Give fair weather, it will "send me abroad ; give foul wea- ther, it will keep me at home." But make the Datum a sentence, As — "if it is fair wea- ther, it will send me abroad ; if it is foul weather, it will keep me at home : " And then the article that is understood, and may be inserted after if ; As — " if that it is fair weather, it will send me abroad ; if that it is foul weather, it will keep me at home." The resolution then being, " It is fair weather, give that ; it will send me abroad ; It is foul weather, give that; it will keep me at home." And this you will find to hold universally, not only with if, but with many other supposed Conjunctions, such as, But that, Unless that, Though that, Lest that, &c. (which are really Verbs) put in this manner before the Article that. B. — One word more to clear up a difficulty which occurs to me concerning your account of if, and I have done. We have in English another word which (though now rather obsolete) used frequently to supply the place of if. As — " an you had any eye behind you, you might see more detraction at your heels, than fortunes before you. 1 " In this and in all similar instances, what is an ? For I can by no means agree with the account which Dr. S. Johnson gives of it in his Dictionary : and I do not know that any other person has ever attempted to explain it. H. — How does he account for it ? B. — He says, — " an is sometimes in old authors a con- traction of And if." Of which he gives a very unlucky in- 1 Twelfth Night, act 2. scene 8. 54 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PART I. stance from Shakespeare ;* where both an and if are used in the same line. " He cannot flatter, He ! An honest mind and plain : he must speak Truth : An they will take it — So. if not ; He's plain." Where, if an was a contraction of and tf; an and if should rather change places. H. — I can no more agree with Dr. S. Johnson than you do. A part of one word only, employed to shew that another word is compounded with it, would indeed be a curious method of con-traction. Though even this account of it would serve my purpose. But the truth will serve it better : and therefore I thank you for your difficulty. It is a fresh proof, and a very strong one in my favour, an is also a Verb, and may very well supply the place of if ; it being nothing else but the Im- perative of the Anglo-Saxon verb itnan, which likewise means to Give, or to Grant. B. — It seems indeed to be so. But, if so, how can it ever be made to signify as if ? For which also, as well as for And if Johnson says an is a con-traction. 2 H. — It never signifies As if: nor is ever a contraction of them. B. — Johnson however advances Addison's authority for it. • -" My next pretty correspondent like Shakespeare's Lion in Pyramus and Thisbe, roars an it were any nightingale." II. — If Addison had so written, I should answer roundly, that he had written false English. But he never did so write. He only quoted it in mirth and ridicule, as the author wrote it. And Johnson, an editor of Shakespeare, ought to have known and observed it. And then, instead of Addison's or even Shakespeare's authority, from whom the expression is bor- rowed ; he should have quoted Bottoms, the Weaver : whose language corresponds with the character Shakespeare has given him — - 1 Lear, act 2. scene 6. 2 This arbitrary method of contraction is very useful to an idle or ignorant expositor. It will suit anything. S. Johnson also says " an'Tj a contraction for And it ; or rather And ifit; as — An't please you — that is, And if it please your It is merely — an it please you. CH. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 55 " The shallow st thickskidl of that barren sort, viz. A crew of Patches, rude Mechanicals, That work for Bread upon Athenian Stalls, x " " I will aggravate my voice so (says Bottom) that I will roar you as gently as any sucking Dove : I will roar you an ''twere any nightingale." 2 If Johnson is satisfied with such authority as tbis 3 for the different signification and propriety of English words, he will find enough of it amongst the clowns in all our comedies; and Master Bottom in particular in this very sentence will furnish him with many new meanings. But,. I believe, Johnson will not find an used for As if either seriously or clbwnishly, in any other part of Addison or Shakespeare ; except in this speech of Bottom, and in another of Hostess Quickly — u He made a finer end, and went away an it had. been, any Christom child." 3 B. — In English then, it seems, these two words which have been called conditional Conjunctions (and whose force and manner of signification, as well as of all the others, we are directed by Mr. Locke to search after in "the several views, postures, stands, turns, limitations, and exceptions, and several other thoughts of the mind, for which we have either none or very deficient names") are, according to you, merely the original Imperatives of the verbs to Give or to Grant. Now, let me understand you. I do not mean to divert you into an etymological explanation of each particular word of other languages, or even of the English, and so to change our conversation from a philosophical inquiry concerning the nature of Language in general, into the particular business of a poly- glot Lexicon. But, as you have said that your principles will apply universally, I desire to know whether you mean that the conditional conjunctions of all other languages are likewise to be found, like if and an, in the original Imperatives of some of their own or derived verbs, meaning to Give f H. — No. If that was my opinion, I know you are ready instantly to confute it by the Conditionals of the Greek and Latin and Irish, the French, Italian, Spanish, Portugueze and 1 Midsummer Night's Bream, act 3. scene 2. 2 Ibid, act 1. scene 2. 3 Henry V, act 2. scene 3. 56 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PAET I. many other Languages. But I mean, that those words which are called conditional conjunctions, are to be accounted for in all languages in the same manner as I have accounted for tf and an. Not indeed that they must all mean precisely as these two do — Give and Grant ; but some word equivalent : Such as — Be it, Suppose, Allow, Permit, Put, Suffer, &c. Which meaning is to be sought for from the particular etymo- logy of each respective language, not from some un-named and tin-known " Turns, Stands, Postures, &c. of the mind." In short, to put this matter out of doubt, I mean to discard all supposed mystery, not only about these Conditionals, but about all those words also which Mr. Harris and others distinguish from Prepositions, and call Conjunctions of Sentences. I deny them to be a separate sort of words or Part of Speech by them- selves. For they have not a separate manner of signification : although they are not devoid of signification. And the par- ticular signification of each must be sought for from amongst the other parts of Speech, by the help of the particular etymo- logy of each respective language. By such means alone can we clear away the obscurity and errors in which* Grammarians and Philosophers have been involved by the corruption of some common words, and the useful Abbreviations of Construction. And at the same time we shall get rid of that farrago of useless distinctions into Conjunctive, Adjunctive, Disjunctive, Subdis- junctive, Copulative, Negative copulative, 1 Continuative, Sub~ continuative, Positive, Suppositive, Casual, Collective, Effective, Approbative, Discreiive, Ablative, Presumptive, Abnegative, Completive, Augmentative, Alternative, Hypothetical, Extensive, Periodical, Motived, Conclusive, Explicative, Transitive, Inter- rogative, Comparative, Diminutive, Preventive, Adequate Pre- ventive, Adversative, Conditioned, Suspensive, Illative, Con- ductive, Declarative, &c. &c. &o, which explain nothing ; and (as most other technical terms are abused) serve only to throw a veil over the ignorance of those who employ them. 2 1 " Ron, Non, non minus disjungifc, quam Ntc, Nee. Quanquam neutruni ego Disjunclivimi appello, sed copidativum potius negativwm." ■ — Aristarchus Anti-Bentltianus. Pars secimda. Pag. 12. 2 Technical terms are not invariably abused to cover the ignorance only of those who employ them. In matters of law, politicks, and Government, they are more frequently abused in attempting to impose CH. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 57 B. — You mean, then, by what you have said, flatly to con- tradict Mr. Harris's definition of a Conjunction ; which he says, is — a a Part of Speech devoid of signification itself, but so formed as to help signification, by making two or more signi- ficant sentences to be one significant sentence." H. — I have the less scruple to do that, because Mr. Harris makes no scruple to contradict himself. For he afterwards acknowledges that some of them — " have a kind of obscure signification when taken alone ; and appear in Grammar, like Zoophytes * in nature, a kind of middle Beings of amphibious character ; which, by sharing the attributes of the higher and the lower, conduce to link the whole together." Now I suppose it is impossible to convey a Nothing in a more ingenious manner. How much superior is this to the oracular Saw of another learned author on Language (typified by Shake- speare in Sir Topaz 2 ) who, amongst much other intelligence of equal importance, tells us with a very solemn face, and ascribes it to Plato, that — -" Every man that opines, must opine some- thing: the subject of opinion therefore is not nothing." But the fairest way to Lord Monboddo is to give you the whole passage. " It was not therefore without reason that Plato said that the subject of opinion was neither the ro ov, or the thing itself, nor was it the ro ^ ov, or nothing ; but something betwixt these two. This may appear at first sight a little mysterious, upon the ignorance of others ; and to cover the injustice and knavery of those who employ them. 1 These Zoophytes have made a wonderful impression on Lord Mon- boddo. I believe (for I surely have not counted them) that he has used the allusion at least twenty times in his Progress of Language ; and seems to be always hunting after extremes merely for the sake of introducing them. But they have been so often placed between two stools, that it is no wonder they should at last come to the ground. 2 " As the old Hermit of Prague, that never saw pen and ink, veiy wittily said to a niece of king Gorboduc, — That that is, is : So I being Master Parson, am Master Parson. For what is that, but that ? And is, but is f" — Twelfth Night, act 4. scene 3. John Lily's Sir Tophas monboddizes in the same manner — "Sir Tophas. Doest thou not know what a poet is 1 Epiton. No. Sir Tophas. Why, foole, a poet is as much as one should say — a poet." — Endimion, act 1. scene 3. 58 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PAItT I. and difficult to be understood ; but, like other things of that kind in Plato, when examined to the bottom, it has a very clear meaning, and explains the nature of opinion very well : 1 for, as he says, Every man that opines ; must opine something ; the subject of opinion therefore is not nothing. At the same time it is not the thing itself, but something betwixt the two. 2 " His 1 " Lucincle. Qu'est-ce que c'est que ce galimatias ? Frontin. Ce galimatias ! Vous ny comprenez done rien 1 Lucinde. Non, en verite. y,^.J Frontin. Ma foi, ni moi non plus : je vais pourtant vous 1'expliquer si vous voulez. Lucinde. Comment m'expliquer ce que tu ne comprends pas? Frontin. Oh ! Dame, j'ai fait mes etudes, moi." — L'Amant de lui~ meme. [Rousseau,) scene 13. 2 Origin and Progress of Language, vol. 1. p. 100. "II possede 1'antiquite, comme on le peut voir par les belles remarques qu'il a faites. Sans lui nous ne scaurions pas que dans la ville d'Athenes les enfans pleuroient quand on leur donnoit le fouet. — Nous devons cette decou- verte a sa profonde erudition." But his lordship's philosophical writings are full of information, ex- planations and observations of equal importance. Vol. 1. p. 136, he informs us, that — Porphyry, the greatest philosopher as well as best writer of Ids age, "relates that crows and magpies and parrots were taught in his time not only to imitate human speech, but to attend to what was told them and to remember it ; and many of them, says he, have learned to inform against those whom they saw doing any mischief in the house. And he himself tamed a partridge that he found somewhere about Car- thage to such a degree, that it not only played aud fondled with him, but answered him when he spoke to it in a voice different from that in which the partridges call one another : but was so well bred, that it never made this noise but when it was spoken to. And he maintains, that all animals who have sense and memory are capable of reason : and this is not only his opinion, but that of the Pythagoreans, the greatest philosopliers in my opinion that ever existed, next to the masters of their master, I mean the Egyptian priests. And besides the Pythagoreans, Plato, Aristotle, Empedocles, and Democritus, were of the same opi- nion. One thing cannot be denied, that their natures may be very much improved by use and instruction, by which they may be made to do things that are really wonderful and far exceeding their natural power of instinct." — So far we are obliged to the greatest of all philosophers that ever existed. And thus far the judgment of the extract can alone be called in question. Now for the further confirmation of this doc- trine by their illustrious disciple. — " There is a man in England at pre- sent, who has practised more upon them and with greater suecess than any body living:" — (I suspect his Lordship means the owner of the learned Pig) — "and he says, as I am informed" — (Ay, Right, my lord, be cautious how you take an assertion so important as this upon your CIT. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 59 Lordship, you see, has explained it very clearly ; and no doubt must have sweated much to get thus to the bottom. But Mr. Harris has the advantage of a Simile over this gen- tleman : and though Similes appear with most beauty and pro- priety in works of imagination, they are frequently found most useful to the authors of philosophical treatises : and have often helped them out at many a dead lift, by giving them an ap- pearance of saying something, when indeed they had nothing to say : For Similes are in truth the bladders upon which they float ; and the Grammarian sinks at once if he attempts to swim without them. As a proof of which, let us only examine the present in- stance; and, dismissing the Zoophytes, see what intelligence we can draw from Mr. Harris concerning the nature of Con- junctions. First he defines a Word to be a " sound significant." 1 Then he defines Conjunctions to be words (i. e. sounds significant) " devoid of signification." — Afterwards he allows that they have — " a kind of signification " But this kind of signification is — "obscure" (i. e. a sig- nification unknown) : something I suppose (as Chillingworth couples them) like a secret Tradition, or a silent Thunder : for it amounts to the same thing as a signification which does not signify: an obscure or unknown signification being no signi- fication at all. But, not contented with these inconsistencies, which to a less learned man would seem sufficient of all con- science, Mr. Harris goes further, and adds, that they are a — own authority ! Well, He says 1 What 1) — " That, if they lived long enough, and pains sufficient were taken upon them," — (Well, what then ?) — " it is impossible to say to what lengths some of them might be carried" Now if this, and such stuff as this, be Philosophy ; and that too, of the greatest philosophers that ever existed ; I do most humbly entreat your Lordship, if you still continue obstinate to discard Mr. Locke, that I may have my Tom Thumb again. For this philosophy gives to my mind as much disgust, though not so much indignation, as your friend and admirer Lord Mansfield's law. [Were Mr. Tooke now living, he might have a chance of seeing a revival of Tom Thumb, if we may judge from some things that have lately been said of Mr. Locke at Cambridge and elsewhere. — Ed.] 1 And (page 329) he defines a word to be "a voice articulate, sig- nificant by compact." GO OF CONJUNCTIONS. [jPART I. u kind of middle beings" — (lie must mean between signification and no signification) — u sharing the Attributes of both" — (i. e. of signification and no signification) and — " conduce to link them both" — (i. e. signification and no signification) " together." It would have helped us a little, if Mr. Harris had here told us what that middle state is ; between signification and no sig- nification ! l What are the attributes of no signification ! And how signification and no signification can be linked together ! Now all this may, for aught I know, be c6 read and admired as long as there is any taste for fine writing in Britain." 2 But 1 If common reason alone was not sufficient to keep Mr. Harris and Lord Monboddo from this middle state between the to ov and the ro /atj ov, and between signification and no signification ; they should at least have listened to what they are better acquainted with, Authority. u 'Oca ds tojv svavnuv roiavra itiriv, usts tv oig vepvxs yivstfQai, 7j ojv xaTYiyoQzi-ai, avayxouov uvtojv Qarzoov viraoy^siv * — tovtojv oudsv sariv ava {jLetfov." — Aristot. Categ. " Inter affirmationem et negationem nullum medium existit." — J. C. Scaliger, lib. 5. cap. 114. [" When a man is conscious that he does no good himself, the next thing is to cause others to do some. I may claim some merit this way, in hastening this testimonial from your friends above-writing : their love to you indeed wants no spur, their ink wants no pen, their pen wants no hand, their hand wants no heart, and so forth, after the man- ner of Rabelais; which is betwixt some meaning and no meaning; and yet it may be said, when present thought and opportunity is wanting, their pens want ink, their hands want pens, their hearts want hands, &c, till time, place, and conveniency concur to set them a-writing, as at pre- sent, a sociable meeting, a good dinner, warm fire, and an easy situation do, to the joint labour and pleasure of this epistle. — Humble servant, A. Pope."— ParneWs Works.) 2 " The truly philosophical language of my worthy and learned friend Mr. Harris, the author of Hermes, a work that will be read and ad- mired as long as there is any taste for philosophy and fine writing in Britain." — Orig. and Prog, of Language, vol. 1. p. 8. " But I can hardly have the same indulgence for the philosopher, especially one who pretended, like Mr. Locke, to be so attentive an observer of what passed in his own mind, and has written a whole book upon the subject. — If Mr. Locke would have taken the trouble to study what had been discovered in this matter by the antients, and had not resolved to have the merit of inventing himself a whole system of phi- losophy, he would have known that every material object is composed of matter &n&form" — Id. vol. 1. p. 38. " Mr. Locke wrote at a time when the old philosophy, I mean the scholastic philosophy, was generally run down and despised, but no other come in its place. In that situation, being naturally an acute man, CH. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 61 with such unlearned and vulgar philosophers as Mr. Locke and his disciples, who seek not Taste and elegance, but truth and common sense in philosophical subjects, I believe it will never pass as a " perfect Example of Analysis ;" nor bear away the palm for " acuteness of investigation and perspicuity of explica- tion" For, separated from the Fine Writing, (which however lean no where find in the book) thus is the Conjunction ex- plained by Mr. Harris. — A sound significant devoid of signi- fication, Having at the same time a kind of obscure signification ; And yet having neither signification nor no signification ; But a middle something between signification and no signi- fication, Sharing the attributes both of signification and no significa- tion ; And linking signification and no signification together. If others, of a more elegant Taste for Fine Writing, are able to receive either pleasure or instruction from such truly philo- sophical language, 1 I shall neither dispute with them nor envy and not a bad writer, it was no wonder that his Essay met with great applause, and was thought to contain wonderful discoveries. And I must allow that I think it was difficult for any man, without the as- sistance of books, or of the conversation of men more learned than him- self, to go further in the philosophy of mind than he has done. But now that Mr. Harris has opened to us the treasures of Greek philo- sophy, to consider Mr. Locke still as a standard book of philosophy, would be, to use an antient comparison, continuing to feed on acorns after corn was discovered." — Or. and Pr. of Lang. vol. 1. p. 53. " It was the misfortune of us in the western parts of Europe, that after we had learned Greek, and got some taste of the Greek philosophy, we immediately set up as masters ourselves, and would needs be invent- ors in philosophy, instead of humble scholars of the antient masters. In this way Descartes philosophized in France, Mr. Hobbes and Mr. Locke in England, and many since their time of less note. I would fain hope, if the indolence and dissipation that prevail so generally in this age would allow me to think so well of it, that Mr. Harris would put a stop to this method of philosophizing without the assistance of the antients, and revive the genuine Greek philosophy among us." — Id. vol. 1. page 54. 1 " Clarus ob obscurara linguam magis inter inanes Quamde graveis inter Graios, qui vera requirunt. Omnia enim stolidi magis admirantur amantque Inversis qua? sub verbis latitantia cernunt : 62 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PART I. them: But can only deplore the dullness of my own appre- hension, who, notwithstanding the great authors quoted in Mr. Harris's treatise, and the great authors who recommend it, cannot help considering this " perfect example of analysis/' as — An improved compilation of almost all the errors which Grammarians have been accumulating from the time of Ari- stotle down to our present days, of technical and learned affec- tation. 1 B. — I am afraid, my good friend, you still carry with you your old humour in politics, though your subject is now dif- ferent. You speak too sharply for Philosophy. Come, Con- fess the truth. Are not you against Authority, because Au- thority is against you ? And does not your spleen to Mr. Harris arise principally from his having taken care to fortify his opi- nions in a manner in which, from your singularity, you cannot? II — I hope you know my disposition better. And I am persuaded that I owe your long and steady friendship to me, to the conviction which an early experience in private life afforded you, that — Neminem libenter nominem, nisi ut laudem ; sed nee peccata reprehenderem, nisi ut aliis prodessem. — Indeed you have borne your testimony for me in very trying situations, where few besides yourself would have ventured so much ho- nesty. At the same time, I confess, I should disdain to handle any useful truth daintily, as if I feared lest it should sting me ; and to employ a philosophical inquiry as a vehicle for interested or cowardly adulation. I protest to you, my notions of Language were formed be- fore I could account etymologically for any one of the words "Veraque constituunt, quae belle tangere possimt Aures, et lepido quse sunt fucata sonore." Lucretius, lib. 1. 640. I I must however do Mr. Harris aDcl Dr. Lowth the justice to acknow- ledge, that the Hermes of the former has been received with universal approbation both at home and abroad ; and has been quoted as unde- niable authority on the subject by the learned of all countries. For which however I can easily account ; not by supposing that its doctrine gave any more satisfaction to their minds who quoted it than to mine ; but because, as Judges shelter their knavery by 'precedents, so do scholars their ignorance by authority :. and when they cannot reason, it is safer and less disgraceful to repeat that nonsense at second hand, which they would be ashamed to give originally as their own. CH. VII ] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 63 in question, and before I was in the least acquainted with the opinions of others. I addressed myself to an inquiry into their opinions with all the diffidence of conscious ignorance ; and, so far from spurning authority, was disposed to admit of half an argument from a great name. So that it is not my fault, if I am forced to carry instead of following the lantern : but at all events it is better than walking in total darkness. And yet, though I believe I differ from all the accounts which have hitherto been given of Language, I am not so much without authority as you may imagine. Mr. Harris himself and all the Grammarians whom he has, and whom '(though using their words) he has not quoted, are my authorities. Their own doubts, their difficulties, their dissatisfaction, their contradictions, their obscurity on all these points are my au- thorities against them: 1 for their system and their difficulties vanish together. Indeed unless, with Mr. Harris, I had been 1 " Profecto in Grarnniaticorum prope omnium commentis, qua) ayeoixoi immensum extollunt, pene ovdsv vyisg ; cum paginse singular ^aepe plures contineant errores, quam Sicinius ille Dentatus vulnera toto habuit corpore." — G. J. Vossii Aristarchus, lib. 3. cap. 2. lxxiv. " Capienda etiam sunt signa ex incrementis et progressibus philosophiarum et scientiarum. Quae enim in natura fundata sunt, crescunt et augentur : quaa autem in opinione, variantur ; non augen- tur. Itaque si istse doctrinse plane, instar plantae, a stirpibus suis revulsas non essent, sed utero naturse adhaererent, atque ab eadem ale- rentur, id minim e eventurum fuisset quod per annos bis mille jam fieri videmus : nempe, ut scienti-SB suis haereant vestigiis, et in eodem fere statu maneant, neque augmentum aliquod memorabile sumpserint." lxxv. " Etiam aliud signura capiendum est (si modo signi appellatio liuic competat ; cum potius testimonium sit, atque acleo testimoniorum omnium validissiinum) hoc est, propria confessio auctorum quos homi- nes nunc sequuntur. Nam et illi, qui tanta fiducia de rebus pronun- ciaut, tamen per intervalla cum ad se redeunt, ad querimonias de naturce subtiliiate, rerum obscuritate, humani ihgenii infirmitate se convertunt. Hoc vero si simpliciter fieret, alios fortasse qui sunt timidiores ab ulte- riori inquisitione deterrere, alios vero qui sunt ingenio alacriori et magis fidenti ad ulteriorem progressum acuere et incitare possit. Verum non satis illis est cle se coufiteri, sed quicquid sibi ipsis aut magistris suis incognitum aut intactum fuerit, id extra terminos possibilis ponunt : et tanquam ex arte, cognitu aut factu impossibile pronunciant : Summa superbia et invidia suorum inventorum infirmitatem, in naturae ipsius calumniam et aliorum omnium desperationem vertentes. Hinc schola Academiaa novae, quae Acatalepsiam ex professo tenuit, et homines ad sempiternas tenebras damnavit." — Novum Organum. 64 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PART. I. repeating what others have written, it is impossible I should quote any direct authorities for my own manner of explanation. But let us hear Wilkins, whose industry deserved to have been better employed, and his perseverance better rewarded with discovery ; let us hear what he says. — " According to the true philosophy of speech, I cannot conceive this kind of words" (he speaks of Adverbs and Con- junctions) " to be properly a distinct part of speech, as they are commonly called. But until they can be distributed into their proper places, I have so far complied with the Grammars of instituted languages, as to place them here together." — And again, " For the accurate effecting of this [i. e. a real character] it would be necessary that the theory itself [i. e. of language'] upon which such a design were to be founded, should be exactly suited to the nature of things. But upon supposal that this theory [viz. of language] is defective, either as to the fulness or the order of it ; this must needs acid much perplexity to any such attempt, and render it imperfect. And that this is the case with that common theory already received, need not much be doubted." It appears evidently therefore that Wilkins (to whom Mr. Locke was much indebted) was well convinced that all the accounts hitherto given of Language were erroneous. And in fact, the languages which are commonly used throughout the world, are much more simple and easy, convenient and philo- sophical, than Wilkins' s scheme for a real character; or than any other scheme that has been at any other time imagined or proposed for the purpose. Mr. Locke's dissatisfaction with all the accounts which he had seen, is too well known to need repetition. Sanctius rescued quod particularly from the number of these mysterious Conjunctions, though he left ut amongst them. And Servius, Scioppius, G. J. Vossius, Perizonius, and others, have explained and displaced many other supposed Adverbs and Conjunctions. Skinner (though I knew it not previously) had accounted for if before me, and in the same manner ; which, though so palpable, Lye confirms and compliments. Even S. Johnson, CH. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 65 though mistakenly, has attempted and ; and would find no difficulty with therefore. In short there is not such a thing as a Conjunction in Any Language, which may not, by a skilful Herald, be traced home to its own family and origin ; without having recourse to con- tradiction and mystery with Mr. Harris : or, with Mr. Locke, cleaving open the head of man, to give it such a birth as Minerva's from the brain of Jupiter. B. — -Call you this authority in your favour — when the fall stream and current sets the other way, and only some little brook or rivulet runs with you ? You know very well that all the authorities which you have alleged, except Wilkins, are upon the whole against you. For though they have explained the meaning, and traced the derivation of many Adverbs and Conjunctions ; yet (except Sanctius in the particular instance of quod — whose conjunctive use in Latin he too strenuously denies) they all acknowledge them still to be Adverbs or Con- junctions. It is true, they distinguish them by the title of reperta or usurpata. But they at the same time acknowledge (indeed the very distinction itself is an acknowledgment) that there are others which are real, primigenia, nativa, pura. H. — True. Because there are some, of whose origin they were totally ignorant. But has any Philosopher or Gram- marian ever yet told us what a real, original, native, pure Ad- verb or Conjunction is ? or which of these Conjunctions of Sen- tences are so? Whenever that is clone, in any language, I may venture to promise you that I will show those likewise to be repertas and usurpatas, as well as the rest. And till then I shall take no more trouble about them. I shall only add, that though Abbreviation and corruption are always busiest with the ivords which are most frequently in use ; yet the words most frequently used are least liable to be totally laid aside. And therefore they are often retained — (I mean that branch of them which is most frequently used) — when most of the other words (and even the other branches of these retained words) are, by various changes and accidents, quite lost to a Language. Hence the difficulty of accounting for them. And hence (because only one branch of each of these declinable words is retained in a language) arises the notion of their being indeclinable; and a separate sort of words, or Part of F 66 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PART I. Speech by themselves. Bat that they are not indeclinable, is sufficiently evident by what I have already said. For Irip, !3!n, &c. certainly could not be called indeclinable, when all the other branches of those Verbs, of which they are the regular Imperatives, were likewise in use. And that the words if, an, Sue, (which still retain their original signification, and are used in the very same manner and for the same purpose as' formerly) should now be called indeclinable, proceeds merely from the ignorance of those who could not account for them ; and who therefore, with Mr. Harris, were driven to say that they have neither meaning nor inflection : whilst notwithstanding they were still forced to acknowledge (either directly, or by giving them different titles of conditional, adversative, &c.) that they have a " kind of obscure meaning!' 1 How much more candid and ingenuous would it have been, to have owned fairly that they did not understand the nature of these Conjunctions; and, instead of wrapping it up in my- stery, to have exhorted and encouraged others to a further search ! B. — You are not the first person who has been misled by a fanciful etymology. Take heed that your derivations be not of the same ridiculous cast with theirs who deduced Constanti- nople from Constantine the noble — Breeches from bear-riches — Donna from dono — Honour from hon and aurum — and King Pepin from octsp. 2 1 " Efc quelle ideeest excitee dans Fesprit en entendant prononcer les particules et, aussi? On voit bien que ces mots signifient une espece de connexion ; mais quel que peine qu'on se donnat a decrire cette connexion, on se serviroit d'autant d'autres mots, dont la signifi- cation seroit aussi difficile a expliquer : et voulant expliquer la signifi- cation de la particule et, je me servirois plusieurs fois de cette me me particule." — Lettres a une Princesse d! Allemagne, by Euler, letter 101. 2 " Then this Constantyne removed the emperyall see unto his cytye of Constantyne the noble : and there for the more party e kepte his em- peryall honoure ; and other emperours in lyke wyse after hym, By reason whereof the emperours were longe after called emperours of Constantyne noble." — Fabians Chron. ch. 69. " Hed. But why Breeches now 1 (i Pita. Breeches, quasi bear-riches ; when a gallant bears all his riches in his breeches." — B. Jonson, Cynthia's Bevels, act 4. scene 3. " Placano i Doni il ciel ; placan 1' inferno. E pur non son le Donne CH. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 67 H. — If I have been misled, it most certainly is not by Ety- mology : of which I confess myself to have been shamefully ignorant at the time when these my notions of language were first formed. Though even that previous ignorance is now a circumstance which confirms me much in my opinion concern- ing these Conjunctions: For I knew not even the character of the language from which my particular proofs of the English conjunctions were to be drawn. And (notwithstanding Lord Monboddo's discouraging sneer 1 ) it was general reasoning a Men avare clie il cielo, Pin crude che 1' inferno. II Don, credimi, il Bono Gran ministro d' amove, anzi tiranno Egli e, clie a suo voler impetra e spetra. Non sai tu cio cli' Elpino, II saggio Elpino dicea 1 Clie fin cola nella primiera eta,de, Qnand' anco semplicetti Non sapean favellare Clie d' un linguaggio sol la lingua e '1 core, Allor le amanti Donne altra canzona Non s' udivan cantar clie — Do?ia, Dona. Quindi 1' enne acldoppianclo Perche non basta un Don — Donna fu detta." — Guidobaldo de Bonarelli. " On connoit le jeu de mots d'Owen, assez mauvais, mais qui ren- ferme un grand sens : Divitias et opes, Hon lingua Hebraa vocavit : Gallica gens, Aurum-or ; indeque venit Honor." — Mirabeau, Essai sur le Despotisme. ,c ' Oc-tts^ — fjtfeg — o-TTiP — Diaper — Napkin — Nipkin — Pipkin — Pippin-king — King Pepin." I forget my merry author of this etymology ; but it is altogether as plausible as even Menage's derivation of chez from Apud. 1 " Now as I am not able from Theory merely, and a priori to form the idea of a perfect language, I have been obliged to seek for it in the study of the Greek. — What men of superior Genius may do in such speculations, I cannot tell ; but I know well that ordinary men, with- out the study of some model of the kind, would be as unable to con- ceive the idea of a perfect language, as to form a high taste in other arts, such as sculpture and painting, without having seen the best works of those kinds that- -are to be found. — It would be doing injustice to those superior minds who have in themselves the standard of perfection in all the Arts, to judge of them by myself; but I am confident that my idea of perfection iu language would have been ridiculously imperfect, GS OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PAET I. priori, that led me to the particular instances ; not particular instances to the general reasoning. This Etymology, against whose fascination you would have me guard myself, did not occur to me till many years after my system was settled : and it occurred to me suddenly, in this manner: — "If my reason- ing concerning these conjunctions is well founded, there must then be in the original language from which the English (and so of all other languages) is derived, literally such and such words bearing precisely such and such significations/' — I was the more pleased with this suggestion, because I was entirely ignorant even of the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic characters : and the experiment presented to me a mean, either of disabusing myself from error (which I greatly feared) ; or of obtaining a confirmation sufficiently strong to encourage me to believe (what every man knowing any thing of human nature will always be very backward in believing of himself) that I had really made a discovery. For, if upon trial I should find in an unknown language precisely those very words both in sound, and signification, and application, which in my perfect igno- rance I had foretold ; what must I conclude, but either that some Daemon had maliciously inspired me with the spirit of true prophecy in order the more deeply to deceive me ; or that my reasoning on the nature of language was not fantastical ? The event was beyond my expectation : for I instantly found, if I bad known no other language than the modern languages of Eu- rope." — Origin and Progress of Language, vol. 2, p. 183. Read this, Mr. Burgess, and then complain of illiberality to Lord Monboddo : who places himself ansatus in cathedra, and thus treats all other men in advance. Whoever, after his lordship, shall dare to reason on this subject apriori, must assume then, it seems — to have in his own superior mind the standard of perfection in All the Arts ! — Do you, Mr. Burgess, acquiesce to this condition 1 If it were possible (which 1 am very far from believing) that the same sentiments should pervade any considerable part of the very learned and respectable body to which you belong ; I should be sorrowfully compelled to join in the exclamation — Of aurita Arcadia pecora f qui, Homed, hujus cuculi vocem veluti lusciniolce melos, in aures admittere sustinetisf And perhaps Mr. Burgess himself may have reason hereafter to regret, that (with all his real or pretended admiration of Lord Monboddo's writings) he neg- lected to avail himself of the only useful lesson to be drawn from them : viz. To be at least as well bred as Porphyry s partridge ; and to have forborne his noise, until he was himself spoken to. CH. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 69 upon trial, all my predictions verified. This has made me presumptuous enough to assert it universally. Besides that, I have since traced these supposed unmeaning, indeclinable Conjunctions with the same success in many other languages besides the English. And because I know that the generality of minds receive conviction more easily from a number of par- ticular instances, than from the surer but more abstracted arguments of general proof; if a multiplicity of uncommon avocations and engagements (arising from a very peculiar situation) had not prevented me, I should long before this have found time enough from my other pursuits and from my en- joyments (amongst which idleness is not the smallest) to have shown clearly and satisfactorily the origin and precise meaning of each . of these pretended unmeaning, indeclinable Conjunc- tions, at least in all the dead and living languages of Europe. B. — Men talk very safely of what they may do, and what they might have done. But, though present professions usually outweigh past proofs with the people, they have never yet passed current with philosophers. If therefore you would bring me over to your opinion, and embolden me to quit the beaten path with you, you must go much beyond the example of Henry Stephens, which was considered by Mer. Casaubon as the ne plus ultra on this subject/ and must clo what Wilkins required before he would venture to differ from the Grammars of instituted languages : that is, you must distribute all our English Conjunctions at least into their proper places. And if it should seem unreasonable in me thus to impose upon you a task which—" no man, however learned or sagacious, has yet been able to perform;" 2 — you must thank yourself for it, and 1 " Henricus Stephanus (author immortalis operis, quod Thesaurus Linguse Grsecse indigitavit) ita omnes orationis particulas (quarum quanto in omni lingua difficilior, tanto utilior observatio), omnes idiotis- mos excussit, emit, explicavit, sirailia cum similibus comparavit, ut exemplum quidem in hoc genere aliis ad imitanduin reliquerit absolu- tissimum ; sed quod pauci sint assecuturi." — Mer. Cas. de Lingua Sax- onica. 2 " The Particles are, among all nations, applied with so great latitude, that they are not easily reducible under any regular scheme of explication : this difficulty is not less, nor perhaps greater, in Eng- lish than in other languages. J have laboured them with diligence, I hope with success : such at least as can be expected in a task which no 70 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [rART I. the peremptory roundness of your assertion. Besides, T do really think that after you have professed so much of all the languages of Europe, I may fairly expect you to perform a little in your own. H.— If it must be so, thus then : I say that If 1 '% 1 ^Irijzan To Give. An Kn Snan To Grant. Unless Chile]* Onlej'an To Dismiss. Eke Gac Gac an To Add. Yet Bee Cretan To Get. Still Sfcell Stellan To Put. Else c3 Klej- CD > 2fteran To Dismiss. Tho' Impe] Dap > t < Bap an 1 To Allow. or or On or Though Daps CD Bapgan But CD Boc '53 Botan To Boot. But tf Be-utan Beon-utan To Be-out. Without pypS-ucan pypiSan-utan To Be-out. And Sn-ab !Snan-ab f Dare con- \ geriem. Since i > is the participle of Seon, To See. J Lest is the past participle Lej-eb of Lej-an, To Dismiss. SrS^an Syne Seanb-er SrS'Se or ^Sm-er That is the Article or Pronoun Dat. These, I apprehend, are the only Conjunctions in our lan- guage which can cause any difficulty ; and it would he imper- tinent in me to explain such as— Be so( a ). Be it. AlbeitC). man however learned or sagacious, has yet heen able to perform."— Pre/, to S. Johnsons Diet. ( a ) " Set forth (quod she) and tell me how. Shew me thy sekenes euery dele. Madame, that can I do wele : Be so my lyfe therto woll laste." Gower, lib. 1. fob 8. p. 2. col. 1 CH. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 71 Albeit so( c ). $ET( d ). Notwithstanding. Nevertheless. Save that if). Saving that. Except that. Excepting that. i: For tliese craftes (as I fincle) A man maie do by waie of kinde: Be so it be to good entent." Gower, lib. 5. fol. 134. p. 2. col. 1. " For suche men that ben vilayns The lawe in such a wise ordeineth, That what man to the lawe pleyneth, Be so the judge stande upright, He shall be serued of his right." Gower, lib. 7. fol. 159. p. 1. col. 1. " The mast to-brake, the sayle to-roofe, The ship upon the wawes droofe, Till that thei see the londes coste. Tho made a vowe the leste and moste Be so thei mighten come alonde." Gower, lib. 8. fol. 177. p. 1. col. 2. ( b ) " Saturne anon, to stynten stryfe and drede, All be it that it be agayne his kinde, Of all this strife he can remedy fynde." Chaucer, Knyghtes Tale, fol. 8. p. 2, col. 1. " The quhilk Juno nowthir lang dayis nor geris, Nor nane diuyne sacrifice may appeis ; Sche restis neuir, nor may sche leif at eis, Albeit the power and charge of Jupiter Resistis sche wat, and fat is war hir contrare." Douglas, 5th booke, p. 154. " Frejnd serly not, na cause is to compleyne, Albeit thy wit grete god may not atteyne." Douglas, Prol. to 10th booke, p. 309. ( c ) " Another remedy is that a man eschewe the company e of hem by whiche he douteth to be tempted : for albeit so that the dede is wythstonde, yet is there greate temptacyon." — Chaucer, Person's Tale, fol. 115. p. 2. col. 2. " Al be it so that of your pride and high presumpcion and folye, ye haue misborne you, yet for as mikell as I se and beholde your greate humilyte, it constrayneth me to do you grace and mercy." — Tale of Chaucer, fol. 83. p. 1. col. 1. ( d ) " Bot sen I am compellid the to translait, And not onlie of my curage, God wate, Durst I interprise sic outragious folie, Quhare I offend, the lesse reprefe serf I, And that ge knaw at quhais instance I tuke For to translate this niaist excellent buke, I mene Yirgillis volum maist excellent, Set this my werk full febill be of rent." Douglas, Pre/, p. 4. 72 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PAET I- Bating that. If case^. In cASE( g ). Put CASEf h ). Set caseQ. I POSE( k ). Because. To wit. Forseeing thatQ). " Sic plesand wordes carpand, he lias forth brocht, Sett his roynd troublit mony greuous thocht." Douglas, 1st booke, p. 19. " Betwix glide hope and drede in doute they stude, Quhither thay war lewand, or tholit extreme dede al, Thay ansuerit not, set thay oft plene and cal." Douglas, 1st booke, p. 19. " And set it be not louable nor semely thocht To punys ane woman, but schamefull hir to sla, Na victory, but lak following alsa, git netheles I aucht lonit to be, Vengeaimce to take on hir deserais to de." Douglas, 2d booke, p. 58. " Virgill is full of sentence ouer all quhare, His hie knawlege he schawis, that euery sorte Of his clausis comprehend sic sentence, Thare bene thereof, set thou think this but sporte, Made grete ragmentis of hie intelligence.' 5 Douglas, Prol. to 6th booke, p. 158. " To name the God, that war ane manifest lee, Is but ane God, makar of euery thing : Set thou to Vulcane haue ful grete resembling." Douglas, Prol. to 6 th booke, p. 161. " Thare suld na knicht rede but ane knichtly tale. Quhat forcis him the bussart on the brere 1 Set wele him semes the falcone heroner." Douglas, Prol. to 9th booke, p. 271. " Turnus, behakl on cais reuoluit the day, And of his fre wyl sendis the perfay Sic auantage and oportunite, And set thoii wald haif askit it, quod sche, There was neuer ane of al the goddis ding Quhilk durst have the promittit sic ane thing." Douglas, 9th booke, p. 273. " Set our nature God has to him unyte, His godhede incommyxt reman is perfite." Douglas, Prol. to 10 th booke, p. 308, " Angellis, scheiphardis, and kingis thy godhede kend, Set thou in crib bet nix twa beistis was laid." Douglas, Prol. to 10th booke, p. 310. " Drances, forsoith, quod he, euer has thou bene Large and to mekil of speche, as weil is sene, Bot not with wourdis suld the court be fyllyt, Set thou be grete tharin, and fiil euill wyllit." Douglas, 11th booke, p. 378, CH, VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 73 Foreseen thatQ*), Provided that. Being that, Ac. Which are evident at first sight. " I put the cats set the Etholianis List not to cum in our help nor supple ; git than the bald Messapus wele wylle." Douglas, llth booke, p. 378. "With stout enrage agane him wend I will, Thocht he in proues pas the grete A chill, Or set in cais sic armour he weris as he Wrocht be the handis of God Vulcanus sle." Douglas, llth booke, p. 378. " Bot Juno tho doun from the hicht, I wys, Of the mountane that Albane clepyt is Now in our dayis (set then this hillis down Had nouther name, honour, nor renowne) Scho did behald amyd the feildis plane." Douglas, 12th booke, p. 411. " For set we preis us fast to speike out braid, Ne voce, nor wourdis folio wis nocht is Raid." Douglas, 12th booke, p. 446. " And set that empty be my brane and dull, I haue translatit ane volume vvounderfull."' Douglas, 13 th booke, p. 483. u Fra tyme I thareto set my pen to wryte, It was compilyt in auchtene monethis space : Set I feil syith sic twa monethis in fere Wrate neuir ane wourd, nor micht the volume stere." Douglas, p. 484. ( e ) " Saufe onely that I crie and bidde, I am in tristesse all amidde." — Goiver, lib. 4. fol. 82. p. 2. col. 1. " Almoste ryght in the same wise the phisiciens answerd, Saue that they sayden a fewe wordes more." — Tale of Chaucer, fol. 74. p. 1. col. 2. " Tyl she gan asken him howe Hector ferde That was the townes wal, and Grekes yerde. Ful wel I thanke it God, sayde Pandarus, Saue in his arme he hath a lytle wounde." Chaucer, 2d booke of Troylus, fol. 164. p. 1. col. 1. " Behynd thame for uptaking quhare it lay Mony bricht armoure rychely dycht thay left, Sauf that Eurialus with him tursit away The riall trapouris, and mychty patrellis gay." Douglas, 9 th booke, p. 288. " Bot al this time I bid na mare, I wys, Saif that this wensche, this vengeabil pest or traik, Be bet doun dede by my wound and scharp straik." Douglas, llth booke, p. 393. 74 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PART I. B. — Well. Whether you are right or wrong in your con- jectures concerning Conjunctions, I acknowledge that this is " All the air a solemn stillness holds ; Save that from yonder ivy-mantled bower The moping owl does to the moon complain," — Gray's Elegy. ( f ) " I do not like these paper-squibs, good master, they may undo your store — I mean of credit, and fire your arsenall; if case you do not in time make good those outer works, your pockets." — B. Jonson, /Staple of News, act 1. scene 3. Chaucer also uses if cace. ( g ) " The dignite of king John wold have distroyed al Englande, therfore mokel wisedome and goodnes both, nedeth in a person, the malyce in dignite slyly to bridell, and with a good byt of arest to with- draw, in case it wold praunce otherwise than it shuld." — Chaucer, Testament of Lone, 2d booke, fol. 817- p. 2. col. 1. " Forsoith, in cais the auenture of battal Had bene doutsum j wald God it war assale." Douglas, 4th booke, p. 121. ( b ) " And put the cais that I may not optene From Latyne land thaim to expel! all clene, jit at leist thare may fall stop or delay In sa grete materis for ane gere or tvvay." Douglas, 7th booke, p. 217. Put case, though now out of fashion, was frequently used by Chil- lingworth and other good authors. tt p UT THE CASE the Pope, for a reward of your service done him in writing this book, had given you the honour and means of a cardinal, would you not have professed, that you have not merited such a re- ward V'—Chillingworth, chap. 4. p. 211. § 36. ( ! ) " He is worthy to lose his priuylege, that misuseth the might and power that is giuen hym. And I sette case ye might enjoyne hem that payne by right and la we, whiche I trowe ye may not do : I saye ye might not put it to execution." — Tale of Chaucer, fol. 82. p. 2. col. 2. " Yet sette I case ye haue lycence for to venge you, I saye that there ben full many thinges that shall restrayne you of vengeaunce takyng."— Ibid. fol. 79. p. 2. col 1. ( k ) " Auauntour and a Iyer, al is one, As thus. I pose a woman graunt me Her loue, and sayth that other wol she none, And I am sworne to holden it secre, And after I tel it two or thre ; I wys I am auauntour at the leest And Iyer eke, for I breke my beheest." Chaucer, 3d boke of Troylus, fol. 174. p. 1. col. 2. " Sone after this, she to him gan rowne, And asked him if Troylus were there : He swore her nay, for he was out of towne, CII. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 75 coining to the point: and is fairer than shuffling them over unnoticed, as the greater part of grammarians have done ; or than repeating after others, that they are not themselves any parts of language, bat only such accessaries as salt is to meat, or ivater to bread ; or that they are the mere edging or sauce of language ; or that they are like the handles to cups, or plumes to helmets, or binding to books, or harness for horses ; or that they are pegs and nails and nerves and joints, and ligaments and glue, and pitch and lime, and mortar, and so forth. 1 In And saycl, "Nece : I pose that be were there You durst neuer haue the more feere." Chaucer, 3d boke of Troylas, fob 175. p. 2. col. 1. (*) " It may be ordered that i i or i i i of our owne shippes do see the sayde French e soldiers wafted to the coast of France ; forseing that our sayd shippes entre no hauen there." — Queen Elizabeth to Sir W. Cecil and Dr. Wotton, Lodge's Illustrations, vol. 1. p. 339. ( m ) "Whan he made any ordinary judges, advocates or proctoures, he caused them to be openly named, requirynge the people and gy vynge them courage, if there were cause to accuse them, to prove the cryme by open wytnesse : foreseste if they dyd not sufficiently prove it, and that it semed to be maliciouse detraction, the accusour shulde forth- with be beheaded." — Sir T. Elliott, Image oj Goveruaunce, chap. 17. 1 " Pour quoy est-ce que Platon dit, que 1' oraison est teraperee de noms et de verbes ? — Mais advisons que nous ne prenions autrement les paroles de Platon que comme il les a difctes : car il a dit que 1' oraison estoit tempe'ree De ces deux parties, non Par ces deux parties ; que nous ne facions la faulte que feroit celuy qui calomnieroit un autre pour avoir dit, que un oignement seroit compose de cire et de gal ba- il urn, alleguant qu 'il auroit obmis a dire le feu et le vase, sans lesquels on ne sgauroit niesler lesdites drogues: aussi semblablement si nous le reprenions pour autant qu 'il auroit obmis a dire les coirjonctions, les prepositions, et autres telles parties. Car le parler et V oraison n' est compose De ces parties la, mais Par icelles, et non sans elles. Car comme celuy qui prononceroit baitre, ou estre battu ; ou d'ailleurs So- crates et Pythagoras, encore donneroit-il aucunement a entendre et a penser quelque chose : mais celuy qui profereroit Car ou De simplement et seulement, on ne pourroit imaginer qu 'il entenclist aucune chose ny aucun corps, ains s'il n'y a quelques autres paroles qui soient proferees quant et quant, elles ressembleront a, des sons et des bruits vains sans aucune signification ; d- autant que ny a par elles ny avec d' autres sem- blables, elles ne peuvent rien signifier. Mais a fin que nous conjoignons ou meslions et assemblions tout en un, nous y adjoustons des preposi- tions, conjonctions, et articles, voulans en faire un corps de tout. — Comment done pourra dire quelqu' un, ces parties-la ne servent-elles de rien a r oraison? Quant a, moy, je tiens qu' elles y servent autant comme le Set a la viande, et 1' eau a faire le Pain. Evenus souloit dire que le 76 OF CONJUNCTIONS. [PART I. which kind of pretty similes Philosophers and Grammarians seem to have vied with one another; and have often endea- voured to amuse their readers and cover their own ignorance, by very learnedly disputing the propriety of the simile, instead of explaining the nature of the Conjunction. But, pray, have you any authority for the derivation of these words ? Are not all former etymologists against you ? H. — Except in if, and but (in one of its meanings), I be- lieve they are all against me. But I am persuaded that all future etymologists, and perhaps some philosophers, will ac- Feu estoit la meilleure Saulse du Monde ; aussi sont ces Parties 1' assai- sonnement de nostre langage, ne plus ne moins que le feu et le Sel des breuvages et viandes, dont nous ne nous scaurions passer ; excepts que nostre parler n' en a pas touj ours necessairement a faire : comme 1' on pent dire du langage des Pomains, duquel anjourd' huy tout le monde presque use; car il a oste presque toutes les prepositions excepte bien pen; et quant aux articles que 1' on appelle, il n' en recoit pas un tout seal, ains use de noms sans bordure, par maniere de dire; et ne s'en fault pas esmerveiller, attendu qu' Horaere a peu de noms prepose des articles, comme si c etoient anses a des vases qui en eussent besoign, ou des pennaches sur des morions. — Or que les Dialecticiens aient plus besoign de conjonctions, que nuls autres homines de lettres, pour la liaison et tissure de leurs propositions, ou les disjonctions d' icelles, ne plus ne moins que les cochers ont besoign d' attelages pour atteler de front leur chevaux ; ou comme Ulysses avoit besoign Cozier en la caverne de Cyclops pour lier ses moutons; cela n' argue ni ne preuve pas que la conjonction soit autrement partie d' oraison, mais bienun outil propre a conjoindre selon qu' elle en porte nom, et a contenir et assembler non pas toutes choses, ains seulemenfc celles qui ne sont pas simplement dites : si 1' on ne vouloit dire que la C horde ou courroye dont une balle seroit liee fust partie de la balle: ou la colle d' un papier ou d'un livre qui est colle; et les donnees et distributions des deniers partie du gou- vernement : comme Demades disoit que les deniers que 1' on distribuoit manuellement par teste a- chasque citoyen d' Athenes, pour veoir les jeux, estoient la colle du gouvernement de 1' estat populaire. Et quelle est la conjonction qui face de plusieurs propositions une. en les cousant et liant ensemble, comme le marbre fait le fer quand on le fond aveclui par le feu ; mais pour cela le marbre n' est pas pourtant, ny ne 1' appelle Ion pas partie de fer; combien que ces choses-la qui entrent en une composition et qui sont fondues avec les drogues que 1' on mesle, ont accoustume de faire et de souffrir ne scay quoi de commun, compose de tous les ingrediens. — Quant aux prepositions on les peultaccomparer aux pennaches ou autres Ornemens que Ion met an dessus les habillemens de Testes, ou bien aux bases et soubassement que Ion met au dessoubs des Statues ; pour ce qu' elles ne sont pas tant parties d' oraison, comme alentour des parties." — Plutarch, Platonic Questions, — 9th. Amyot. CH. VII.] OF CONJUNCTIONS. 77 knowledge their obligation to me. For these troublesome conjunctions, which have hitherto caused them so much mis- taken and unsatisfactory labour, shall save them many an error and many a weary step in future. They shall no more expose themselves by unnatural forced conceits to derive the English and all other languages from the Greek, or the He- brew ; or some imaginary primaeval tongue. The Particles of every language shall teach them whither to direct and where to stop their inquiries : for wherever the evident meaning and origin of the Particles of any language can be found, there is the certain source of the whole. B. — Without a moment's reflection, every one must per- ceive that this assertion is too general and comprehensive. The mixture which is found in all cultivated languages ; the perpetual accession of new words from affectation as well as from improvement, and the introduction of new Arts and Habits, especially in learned nations ; and from other circum- stances ; forbid the deduction of the luliole of a language from any one single source. H. — Most certainly. And therefore when I say the ivhole, I must beg to be understood with those exceptions. And, that I may not seem to contradict myself when we shall here- after come to treat of them, I beg you likewise to remember, that I by no means include in my assertion, the Abbreviations of language : for they are always improvements superadded by language in its progress ; and are often borrowed from some other more cultivated languages. Whereas the original Mo- ther-tongue is always rude and tedious, without those advan- tages of Abbreviation. And were he once more in being, I should not at all doubt of being able to convince even Junius himself (who with many others could so far mistake the course and progress of speech, as to derive an uncultivated from a cultivated language) that, instead of referring the Anglo-Saxon to his favourite Greek as its original, he must seek out (and I suppose he would easily find) a Parent for the latter. But, I beg pardon, this is rather digressing from my pur- pose. I have nothing to do with the learning of mere curi- osity : l nor am any further concerned with Etymology, than 1 " II y a un point, passe lequel les recherclies ne sont plus que pour 78 ETYMOLOGY OF THE [PART I. as it may serve to get rid of the false philosophy received con- cerning language and the human understanding. If you please, therefore, I will return to the Conjunctions I have de- rived ; and, if you think it worth the while, we will examine the conjectures of other persons concerning them ; and see whether I have not something better than the authorities you ask after in my favour. B. — I should be glad you would do so. CHAPTER VIII. ETYMOLOGY OF THE ENGLISH CONJUNCTIONS. IF. H. — If and an may be used mutually and indifferently to supply each other's place. Besides having Skinner's authority for if, I suppose that the meaning and derivation of this principal supporter of the Tripod of Truth, 1 are so very clear, simple, and universally allowed, as to need no further discourse about them. Skinner says — u If (in agro Line. Gif) ab A. S. trip, si. Hoc a verbo Lrrpan, dare, q. d. Dato." Lye, in his edition of Junius, says — " Hand inscite Skin- nerus, qui deduxit ab A. S. Lijzam dare, q. d. Dato." Gif is to be found not only, as Skinner says, in Lincoln- shire, but in all our old writers. G. Douglas almost always uses Gif: once or twice only he has used If; once he uses la curiosite. Ces verites ingenieuses et iimtiles ressemblent a, des etoiles, qui, placees trop loin de nous, ne nous donnent point de clarte." — Voltaire, Sur la Societe Roy ale et sur les Academies, 1 See Plutarch n^/' rov EI rov sv AsXpoig. Ev ds AiaXsKrixp hv\ ffov /Asyitiryjv lyji dvva/Aiv o tivyatfnmg ovroffi (jUvdsGuoc, ars d'/j ro Xoyixurarov ff^/z-ar/^aij/ a'^iM/xa. — To yap rszvizov %«/ Xoyixov, uti'Trsg zi^rai, yvuffig axoXovOiag, rv\v hi ttpogXyi-^iv i\ at- ffdqtfig rui Xoyw dtdojaiv, ofov a zai aiaypov stemv, ovz aKOTPs^oftc/.i rovro aval rov rr\g aXqOsiac r^iftoha rov Xoyov, ov ttjv rov Xzyovrog itoog ro 'TTPOTjyov/jjSvov azoXovfaav Qs/asvog, ara tfoogXafiw rr t v btfag^iv, lit ay a ro 6v t u,'7CiPa6;j J a rqg airodsi^sug. Tov ovv UvOicv si hr\ fjboixfixr) rs qdzrai, zai xvxvoov (pujvaic %ai xt&aoag -^ocpoig, ft daviiatirov sffrj AiaXzxr r/.r { g CH. VIII.] ENGLISH CONJUNCTIONS. 79 gewb, and once giffis, and sometimes in case and in cais for GIF. '• Gif luf be vertew, than is it leful thing ; Gif it be vice, it is jour undoing.'" Douglas, Prol. to 4 th boke, at p. 95. " Thocht sum wald swere, that I the text haue waryit, Or that I haue this volume quite myscaryit, Or threpe planelie, I come neuer nere hand it, Or that the werk is werst that euer I fand it, Or jit gewe Virgil stude wele before, As now war tyme to schift the werst ouer skore." Douglas, Pref. p. 11. " Be not ouer studyous to spy ane mote in niyn e, That in jour awin ane ferrye bot can not se, And do to me, as je wald be clone to ; Now hark schirris, thare is na mare ado : Quha list attend, gyffis audience and draw nere." 1 Douglas, Pref. p. 12. Chaucer commonly uses if ; but sometimes yeue, yef ? and yf. " Lo here the letters selid of thys thyng That I mote beare in all the haste I may ; Yeue ye woll ought unto your sonne the kyng, I am your seruaunt bothe nyght and day." Chaucer, Man of Lawes Tale, fol. 22. p. 1. col. 2. " And therfore he of full auisement Nolde neuer write in non of his sermons Of suche unkynde abhominacions, Ne I ne wol non reherce, yef that I may." Chaucer, Man of Lawes, prol. fol. 18. p. 2. col. 1. " She was so chary table and so pytous She wolde wepe yf that she sawe a mous Caught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde." Prol. to Canterbury Tales. Prioresse. And it is to be observed that in Chaucer and in other old la tovto atfKa^sffdai rev Xoyov to ftspog xa/ aya-~av, w /AaX/tfra zai fXsitfroj KPO(r%g<»{jLSVovg bga rovg piXotfotpovg- 1 [In this instance, however, it is plain that giffis is not used con- junctively: "Give audience and draw near." For information upon the Gothic, Teutonic, and Norse representatives of If and Gif see Ad- ditional Note. — Ed.] 80 ETYMOLOGY OF THE [PART I. writers, the verb to give suffers the same variations in the manner of writing and pronouncing it, whether used con- junctively or otherwise: as does also the Noun derived from it. " And after on the daunce went Largesse, that set al her entent For to ben honorable and free, Of Alexanders kynne was she, Her most joye was ywis Whan that she yafe, and sayd : Haue this. Not Auarice the foule caytyfe Was halfe to grype so entenfcyfe As Largesse is to yeue and spende, And God alway ynowe her sende, So that the more she yaue awaye The more ywis she had alwaye : Great loos hath Largesse, and great prise, For both wyse folke and unwyse Were wholy to her bandon brought, So wel with yeftes hath she wrought." Chaucer, Romaunt of the Rose, f. 125. p. 2. c. 1. " A wyfe is Goddes yefte verely ; Al other maner yeftes hardely As londes, rentes, pasture, or commune, Or mouables, all ben yeftes of fortune That passen, as a shadowe on a wall ; But dred nat, yf playnly speke I shall, A wyfe wol laste and in thyn house endure Wel lenger than the lyst parauenture." Chaucer, Marchauntes Tale, fol. 28. p. 2. col. 2. " Forgiff me, Yirgill, gif I thee offend." Douglas, Pref. p. 1 1 . " Gif us thy ansueir, quharon we sal depend." Douglas, 3d booke, p. 70, " And suffir Tyrianis. and all Liby land Be gif in dowry to thy son in hand." Douglas, 4th booke, p. 103, " In the raene tyme, of the nycht wache the cure We gif Messapus." — Douglas, 9th booke, p. 280. In Henry the Vllth's will, dated 1509, you will also find CH. VIII.] ENGLISH CONJUNCTIONS. 81 yeve used where we now employ give ; and in the time of Queen Elizabeth it was written in the same manner. "Yeoven under our signet." — Lodge's Illustrations. The Queen to Sir W. Cecil and Dr. Wotton, vol. i. p. 343. " Yeven under our seale of our order, the first day of April 1566, the eight year of our reign." — Lodge's Illustrations. Quene Elizabeth to the Erie of Sherowsbury, vol. 1. p. 362. G-in 1 is often used in our Northern counties and by the Scotch, as we use if or an : which they do with equal pro- priety and as little corruption : for gin is no other than the participle Given, Gi'en, Gi'n. (As they also use Gie for Give, and Gien for Given, when they are not used conjunctively.) And Hoc dato is of equal conjunctive value in -a sentence with Da hoc, " Then wi' his spear he turn d hir owre, O gin hir face was wan ! He turn'd her owre and owre again, gin hir skin was whyte." Percy s Reliques, vol. i. Edom d Gordom Even our Londoners often pronounce Give and Given in the same manner : As, " G% me your hand." "I have Gin it him well." So Wycherly, Love in a Wood, act 5. " If my daughter there should have done so, I wou'd not have gin her a groat." AN. I do not know that an has been attempted by any one except S. Johnson : and, from the judicious distinction he has made between Junius and Skinner, 2 I am persuaded that he 1 Ray says — " Gin, Gif in the old Saxon is Gif; from whence the word //"is made per aphceresin literal G-. Gif, from the verb Gijran, dare ; and is as much as Dato." 2 " Junius appears to have excelled in extent of learning, and Skinner in rectitude of understanding. Junius was accurately skilled in all the northern languages ; Skinner probably examined the antient and re- moter dialects only by occasional inspection into dictionaries : But the learning of Junius is often of no other use than to show him a track by which he may deviate from his purpose; to which Skinner always presses forward by the shortest way. Skinner is often ignorant, but G 82 ETYMOLOGY OF THE [PART I. will be the first person to relinquish his own conjecture : l espe- cially when he notices his own self-contradiction: for after having (under the article an) told us that " an is a contraction of And if; " and given the following instance, . " Well I know The clerk will ne'er wear hair on's face that had it. He will asC if he live to be a man — " he very truly (under the article and) says — "In And if the And is redundant; and is omitted by all later writers." As . " I pray thee, Launce, An' if thou seest my boy, bid him make haste." The author of " Criticisms on the Diversions of Parley"' 2 who publishes under the feigned name of Cassander, (I suppose, because he was born in the island of Cadsan, in Dutch Flan- ders) and who is a Teacher and Preacher in the City of Nor- wich, thus elegantly amuses his readers. Pages 36, 37, 38. " I have known a public speaker who would now and then take a survey of his audience, and call out (if he espied any drooping noddles or falling jaws) — Brethren, I ivill tell you a story. — As I think this an excellent method of rousing the at- tention of a reader or hearer, for ever inclined to grow drowsy when the subject is so, I shall not scruple to make use of it upon this occasion. " It is well known that the Boors in Friesland, one of the United Provinces, have so far retained ancient customs, as to be, in dress, language, and manners, exactly the same people which they were five hundred years ago ; a circumstance that induced Junius the son to pay them a visit, and to pass a few months among them. In a tour I made to that country some never ridiculous : Junius is always full of knowledge ; but his variety distracts his judgment, and his learning is very frequently disgraced by his absurdities." — Preface to Dictionary. 1 Immediately after the publication of my letter to Mr. Dunning, I was informed by Mr. S. (an intimate friend of Dr. Johnson) that I was not mistaken in this opinion ; Dr. Johnson having declared, that if he lived to give a new edition of bis Dictionary, he should certainly adopt my derivations. 2 [The late Rev. John Bruckner, for many years the much-esteemed minister of the Dutch church, and of the Walloon or French church in Norwich. See Additional Notes. — Ed.] CH. VIII.] ENGLISH CONJUNCTIONS. 83 years ago, I was at a gentleman's house, from which I made frequent excursions into the inner part of the province. In one of these I was obliged to take the first sheltering place in my way, being overtaken by a violent shower. It was a farm- house, where I saw several children : and I" shall never forget the speech which one of them, an overgrown babe, made to his mother. He was standing at her breast ; and after he had done with one, I heard him say to her — Trientjen, yan my foor — i. e. Kate, give me t'other. — I little thought at the time, I should have so good an opportunity of making use of the story as I have at present." This story of the babe, he says, is certainly in my favour. ; I think it is decisively. But the Critic proceeds — " But we should not fancy that words exist, or must have existed, because, having adopted a certain method of finding out origins, we cannot possibly do without them. I have been looking out with some anxiety for the Anglo-Saxon verb TCnan, but can get very little informa- tion about it. I find, indeed, in King Alfred's Will, the follow- ing article : — 2?Ejiirfc ic an Eabpajibe mmuni elbpa puna. — First I give to Edward my eldest son — And from the -expres- sion Ic an, it should seem as if there really existed such a verb in the Anglo-Saxon as Snan. But as this is the only sign of life it has given, as one may say, for these thousand years, I am inclined to look upon that sign as being rather equivocal, and suspect that the true reading of the Will is, not Ic an, but Ic un, from Unnan, ceclere, concedere ; this last verb being common in the Anglo-Saxon, and nothing more easy than to mistake an u for an a, in that language, as well as in English. However, as I have not seen hitherto any manuscript, on whose authority I can ground- the justness of my conjecture, I do not give it you as any thing certain ; and if you persist in giving the preference to the old reading, the story of the babe is cer- tainly in your favour ; for there is as little difference between ^n and Yan, as between Un and 7?n. With me it will remain a matter of doubt, whether there ever existed such a verb as 3man, the same in signification, and yet different in origin, with Gijzan. It is by no means probable, that a people, who had hardly a conveyance for one idea in a thousand, should 84 ETYMOLOGY OF THE [PART I. have procured two such noble conveyances for one single idea. This is a piece of luxury, which even the most civilized nations seldom allow themselves." 1 To this I answer, that 2Cnan, TCnnan, and Unnan, are all one and the same word differently spelled (as almost all the Anglo-Saxon and old English words are) because differently pronounced. But " he has been looking for Snan, he says, with some anxiety, and can get very little information about it." If he looks so carelessly when he is anxious, we may pretty well guess with how much accuracy he looks upon other occasions. I will relieve his anxiety. I know he has Lye's collection of Anglo-Saxon words before him (for he quotes it in his 66th page) ; let him put on his spectacles and open the book : he will there find Snan, and Snnan, with references to places where they are used. And if, after that, he should still continue anxious, I will furnish him with more. " Nothing, he says, is more easy than to mistake an u for an a, in that language as well as in the English." — It is not so easy to mistake the Anglo-Saxon character U for S, or u for a ; as it is to mistake the written English character u for a. It is not true that any people are now, or ever were, in the condition he represents the Anglo-Saxons ; viz. of having " hardly a conveyance for one idea in a thousand ; " unless he means to include in his expression of, one idea, each man's particular perception. iNo. Cheer up, Cassander : your lot is not peculiar to yourself: for the people who have the poorest and scantiest language, have yet always many more words than ideas. And I leave the reader to judge whether to have two words for one idea, be " a piece of luxury which even the most civilized nation seldom allows itself." UNLESS. Skinner says — " Unless, nisi, prater, praaterquarn, q. d. 1 Reprehensor audaculus verboram — qui perpauca eaclemque a yulgo protrita legerat, habebafcque noimullas discipline granmiaticse inaudi- tiunculas, partim rudes inchoatasque, partim non probas ; easque quasi pulverem ob oculos, quum adortus quemque fuerat, adspergebat ; — neque rationem verbum hoc, inquit, neque auctoritatem liabet. CH. VIII.] ENGLISH CONJUNCTIONS. 85 One-less, i. e. uno dempto sen excepto: vel potius ab Onlepan, diinittere, 1 liberare, q. d. Hoc dimisso." It is extraordinary, after his judicious derivation of if, that Skinner should have been at a loss about that of unless; especially as he had it in a manner before him : For Onler, dimitte, was surely more obvious and immediate than Onlereb, dimisso. — As for One-less, i. e. uno dempto seu excepto, it is too poor to deserve notice. So low down as in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, this con- junction was sometimes written Oneles and Onelesse. And this way of spelling it, which should rather have directed Skinner to its true etymology, might perhaps contribute to mislead him to the childish conjecture of One less, uno dempto. — But in other places it is written purely onles; and sometimes onlesse. Thus, in tlie Trial of Sir John Oldcastle, An. 1413, " It was not possible for them to make whole Christes cote without seme, onlesse certeyn great men were brought out of the way." So Thomas Lupset, in the early part of Henry the Vlllth's reign ; " But alway, sister, rememhre that charitie is not perfect onles that it be burninge." — Treatise of Charitie, p. 8. " This peticion cannot take effect onles man be made like an aungel." — Ibid. p. 66, " Eayth cannot be perfect, onles there be good workes." — A com- pendious Treatise teachynge the Waye of Diynge well, p. 160. " The more shamfully that men for the most parte feare to die, the greater profe there is, that such extreme poyntes of feare against all shame shuld not in so many dayly appere, whan death approcheth, onles bi natur some just feare were of the same." — Ibid. p. 166. In other places Lupset spells it oneles and onlesse. So in The Image of Governance by Sir T. Elliott, 1541, " Men do feare to approche unto their soverayne Lorcle, oneles they be called." " This noble empire is lyke to falle into extreme ruyne and perpe- tuall infamy e, onelesse your moste excellent wysedomes wyll dilygently and constantly prepare yourselfes to the certayne remedy." So in — A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Chris* 1 [Mr. Bruckner says, " it is not susceptible of this sense ; it is solvere." — Ed.] 86 ETYMOLOGY OF THE [PAET I. ten Man, set furthe by the Kynges Majestie of Englande. 1543. " Onles ye beleve, ye shall not understande." " No man shall be crowned, onles he lawfully fight." " Neyther is it possible for any man, onelesse this holy spirite shall first illumine his hart." " True honour shall be gyven to none, oneles he be -worthy." " Who can have true penance, onles he beleve stedfastly that God is?" " Who so ever doth forsake his lawful wyfe, oneles it be for adultery, commytteth adulterye in so cloynge." " They be bound so to do, onles they se reasonable cause to the contrary." " The soule waxeth feble, onlesse the same be cherished." " In vayne, onlesse there were some facultie." " It cannot begynne, onelesse by the grace of God." So in the " $upplicatio?i to King Henry VIII." by Barnes. " I shall come to the councell when soever I bee called, onles I be lawfully let." So in the " Declaration against Joye" by Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. " No man commeth to me, onlesse my father draweth hym." " Can any man further replye to this carpenter, onles a man wolde saye, that the carpenter was also after the thefe hymselfe?" " For ye fondely improve 1 a conclusion which myght stande and be 1 To improve (i. e. to censure, to impeach, to blame, to reprove.) A word perpetually used by the authors about Shakespeare's time, and especially in religious controversy. — " Whereas he hath spoken it by his own mouth, that it is not good for man to be alone, they have im- proved that doctrine and taughte the contrarye." — The Actes of English Votaries by Ihon Bale. Dedicated to Edward the 6th. 1550. " A wonderful thyng, that this shoulde be cryed lawful in their ca- thedrall church with ryngyng, syngynge,and sensynge, and in their yelde halle condemned for felony and treason. Ther did they worshyp it in their scarlet gownes with cappe in hande, and here they improved it with scornes and with mockes, grennyng upon her lyke termagauntes in a playe." — Actes of English Votaries. The word is taken by us from the French, who used it and still con- tinue to use it in the same meaning. — " Elles croient que le corps et le sang sent vrairnent distributes a ceux qui mangent ; et improuvent ceux qui enseignent le contraire." — Bossuet des Variat. des Eglises Prot. " lis sont indignes de jamais comprendre ces sortes cle beautes, et CH. VIII.] ENGLISH CONJUNCTIONS. 87 true, with your fonde paradox of only faytb justifieth, onlesse in teach- ing ye wyl so handel the matter, as, &c." " We cannot love God, onles he prepareth our harte and geve us that grace ; no more can we beleve God, onlesse he giveth us the gift of belefe." " In every kyncle the female is commonly barren, onlesse it con- ceyveth of the male ; so is concupyscence barren and voyde of synne, onlesse it conceyve of man the agreymente of his free wyll." " We may not properly saye we apprehend justification by fayth, onlesse we wolde call the promisse of God, &c." " Such other pevisshe wordes as men be encombred to heare, onles they wolde make Goddes worde the matter of the Pevylles strife." " Who can wake out of synne, without God call him ; and onlesse God hath given eares to heare this voyce of God ? How is any man beyng lame with synne, able to take up his couche and walke, onlesse God sayeth, &c, 1 " 80 in the " Answeare to Fekenham toucldnge the Othe of the Supremacy" by Home, Bishop of Winchester. " I coulde not choose, oneles I woulde shawe myselfe overmuch un- kinde unto my native countrey, but take penne in hande and shape him a ful and plaine answeare, without any curiositie." " The election of the pope made by the clergie and people in those daies, was but a vaine thing, onles the emperour or his lieutenant had confirmed the same." sont condamnez au malheur de les impronver, et d'etre improuvez aussi des gens d'esprit." — Leltres de Bussy Rabutin, torn. 4, p. 278. " La bourgeoisie de Geneve a droit de faire des representations dans toutes les occasions 011 elle croit les loix lesees, et oii elle improuve la conduite de ses magistrats." — Rousseau, vol. 2, p. 440. " Je ne pouvois en effet me dissimuler qu'en improuvant les travaux qu'on venoit de faire ; ceux qui les avoient ordonnes en rejetteroient le blame sur les deux architectes." — Memoires du Baron de Tott, torn. 2, p. 123. " Arretons-nous sur les inculpations faites a Roland dans cette acte d'accusation, qui sera la honte du siecle et du peuple qui a pu, 011 Tapprouver, ou ne pas hautement Yimprouver." — Observations par Amar. The expression in Hamlet (act 1, sc. 1.) — " Of unimproved mettle hot and full" — ought not to have given Shakespeare's commentators any trouble : for unimproved means unimpeached ; though Warburton thinks it means "unrefined;" Edwards, "unproved;" and Johnson (with the approbation of Malone) " not regulated nor guided by know- ledge or experience : " and in his Dictionary he explains it to be " not taught, not meliorated by instruction." 88 ETYMOLOGY OF THE [PATtT I. " The pope would not consecrate the elect bishop, onles he had first license therto of the emperour." " No prince, no not the emperour hiniselfe, should be present in the councell with the cleargie, okles it were when the principall pointes of faith were treated of." " He sweareth the Romaines that they shall never after be present at the election of any pope, onles they be compelled thereunto by the emperour." "Who maketh no mencion of any priest there present, as you un- truely report, onles ye will thinke he meant the order, whan he earned the faction of the Pharisees." "So that none should be consecrate, onlesse he were commended and investured bishop of the kinge." " And further to commaunde the newe electe pope to forsake that dignitie unlawfully come by, onlesse they woulde make a reasonable satisfaction." " That the pope might sende into his dominions no legate, onlesse the kinge shoulcle sende for him." " What man, onlesse he be not well in his wittes, will say that, &c." "To exercise this kinde of jurisdiction, neither kinges nor civill magistrates may take uppon him, onlesse he be lawfully called." " That from hencefborth none shoulde be pope, onelesse he were created by the consent of the emperour." " Ye cannot finde so muche as the bare title of one of them, onelesse it be of a bishoppe." So in the " Whetstone of Witte" by Robert Recorde, 1557. " I see moare menne to acknowledge the benefite of nomber, then I can espie willyng to studie to attaine the benefites of it. Many praise it, but fewe dooe greatly practise it ; onlesse it bee for the vulgare practice concernyng Merchaundes trade." " Yet is it not accepted as a like flatte, onles it be referred to some other square nomber." I believe that William Tyndall, our immortal and matchless translator of the Bible, was one of the "first who wrote this word with an u ; and, by the importance and merit of his works, gave course to this corruption in the language. * 1 Shakespeare, in Othello, act 2, sc. 3, writes, . " What's the matter, That you Unlace your reputation thus, And spend your rich opinion for the name Of a night brawler 1 " CH. VIII.] ENGLISH CONJUNCTIONS. 89 " The scripture was geven, that we may applye the medicine of the scripture, every man to his own sores, unlesse then we entend to be idle disputers and braulers about vaine wordes, ever gnawyng upon the bitter barke without, and never attayniDg unto the sweete pith within, &c." — Prol. before the 5 b. of Moses. " My thoughts have no veines, and yet unles tliey be let blood I shall perish." — Endimion. By John Lilly, act 1. sc. 1. " His frendes thought his learning theire sufficient (unles he should proceed Doctor and professe some one studie or science.") — Lord Burleys Life in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. 1. pag. 4. " No man's cattell shall be questioned as the companies, unles such as have been entrusted with them or have disposed of them without order." — Articles signed and sealed by the Commissioners of (he Councill of State for the Commonwealth of England the twelveth day of March, 1651. I do not know that Onlep is employed conjunctively by the Anglo-Saxon writers, as we use Unless; (though I have no doubt that it was so used in discourse ;) but instead of it, they frequently employ nynrSe or nenrSe : (which is evidently the imperative nym or nem of nyman or neman, to which is subjoined %e, i. e. That. 1 ) And nynrSe — Take away that — may very well supply the place of — Onlep (Se expressed or understood) — Dismiss that Les, the imperative of Lepan (which has the same mean- ing as Onlepan), is likewise used sometimes by old writers instead of unless. " And thus I am constrenit, als nere as I may, To halcl his verse, and go nane uthir way ; Les sum historie, subtell worde, or ryme, Causis me mak degressioun sum tyme." G. Douglas. Preface. In a note on this passage S. Johnson says — " Slacken or loosen. Put in danger of dropping ; or, perhaps, strip of its ornaments." And in his Dictionary he says, — " To make loose ; to put in danger of being lost. — Not in use." But he gives no reason whatever for this inter- pretation. I believe that Unlace in this passage means — " You unless or onles your reputation," from the same verb Onleran. 1 It is too singular to be left unnoticed, that the ancient Romans used JVemut, instead of JVisi. For which Festus cites Cato de Potestale Trib. ; but the passage is lost. 90 ETYMOLOGY OF THE [PART I. " Gif he Commyttis any tressoun, suld lie not de ; Les than his prince of grete humanite Perdoun his fault for his long trew service." G. D. Prol to 10th book. " Sterff the behunis, les than thou war unkynd As for to leif thy brothir desolate." G. D.JSnead, 10th book. In the same manner it is used throughout Ben Jonson. " Less learn'd Trebatius Censure disagree." — Poetaster. " First hear me — Not a syllable, less you take." Alchymist, act 3. scene 5. " There for ever to remain Less they could the knot unstrain." — Masque. " To tell you true, 'tis too good for you, Less you had grace to follow it." — Barthol. Fair. " But will not bide there, less yourself do bring him." Sad Shepherd. 1 1 It is this same imperative les, placed at the end of nouns and coalescing with them, which has given to our language such adjectives as hopeless, restless, deathless, motionless, &c. i. e. Dismiss hope, rest, death, motion, &c, The two following lines of Chaucer in the Beve's Tale, in Wyllyam Thynne's edition, " And when the horse was lose, he gan to gon Towarde the fen, there wylde mares rynne" — ■ are thus printed in Mr. Tyrwhit's edition, " And whan the hors was laus, he gan to gon Toward the fen, ther wilde mares renne." I am to suppose that Mr. Tyrwhit is justified for this reading by some manuscript ; and that it was not altered by himself merely for the sake of introducing " Laus, Island, and the Consuetud. de Beverley," into his Glossary. " Laus (says Mr. Tyrwhit) adj. Sax. Loose. 4062. Laus, Island. Solutus. This is the true original of that termination of adjectives so frequent in our language, in les or less. Consuetud. de Beverley. M.S. Harl. 560. — Hujus sacrilegii emenda non erat determinata, sed dicebatur ab Anglis Botalaus, i.e. sine emenda. — So Chaucer uses Boteles, and other words of the same form ; as Betteles, Drinkeles, Gilteles, &c." I think, however, there will be very little doubt concerning this de- rivation, when it is observed that we say indifferently either sleep-less, or without-sleep, &c. i. e. Dismiss sleep or Be-out sleep, .gjj^t.otfui/jj was the word Alms extended into six. 4 So, I suppose, the Greek word Tlooog has given the Latin and Italian preposition Per, the French Par, and the Spanish Por. CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 181 the first instance it was more easy for you to perceive the nature of the French preposition chez ; because, having no preposition corresponding to it in English, there was so much prejudice out of your way ; yet I am persuaded you will not charge this to me as a fantastical or far-fetched etymology, when I have placed before you, at one view, the words employed to signify the same idea in those languages to which our own has the nearest affinity. Substantive, Preposition. English \ Door. 1 Thorruke. 1 C Thourough. Thorough. ] Thurgh. 2 Thorow. 1 Through. Thro. 3 Anglo-Sax. ( Dopa. Dupu. < Dupe. Dupe. (Bupa. 4 3 Dupuh. Buph. 1 Dpuh. Dop. Goth. 1 djVnK- } *M?eii- Dutch j Deure. Deur. ( Door. Dore. > Deur. Door. German ) Thure. \ Thur. Thor. parch. 1 " Than cometh ydelnesse, that Is the yate of all liarmes. This ydlenesse is the Thorruke of all wycked and vylayne thoughtes." — - Chaucer, Persons Tale, fol. 3. p. 1. col. 2. 2 " So in an antient roll in verse, exhibiting the descent of the family of the lords of Glare in Suffolk, preserved in the Austin Friary at Clare, and written in the year 1356. " — So conioyned be Ulstris armes and Glocestris thurgli and thurgh. As shewith our wyndowes in houses thre." Warton's Hist, of Engl. Poetry, vol. 1. p. 302. " Releued by thynfynyte grace and goodness of our said lord thurgh the meane of the rnediatrice of mercy." — The Diotes and Saying es of the Philosophers, 1477. 3 The Greeks abbreviated in the same manner as the English : and as we use Thro for Thorough, so they used P)ca for Qvpa. Thus we find OvpTj^a, the Urethra, or urine passage, compounded of Ovgov and ©voa, and by abbreviation ©g a . 4 Thp hipan heopa cypicean mape Seapr. haebben. healb lime mon on ojmum Mr. anb J>at naebbe bonne ma oupa ftonne reo cypice. — ■ .ZElppeber se. cap. 5. Lambard. A^a/ovo/ua, fol. 30. 182 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PAET I. Substantive. Preposition. r Thurah. r Thuruh. Thurah. niton J TllUr - Tll0r - J Tliur. D uruch. 1 Tura. Dura. I Dunic. Duruli. 1 Dure. iDurch. Durh. Though it is not from Asia or its confines, that we are to seek for the origin of this part of our language ; yet is it worth noticing here, that the Greek (to which the Gothic has in many particulars a considerable resemblance) employs the word &vpa for Boor. And both the Persian (which in many particulars resembles the Teutonic) x and the Chaldean, use Thro for Door. You will observe, that^the Teutonic uses the same word Thurah both for the substantive (Door), and for what is called the preposition (Thorough). The Dutch, which has a strong antipathy to our 27?, uses the very word Door for both. The Anglo-Saxon, from which our language immediately descends, employs indifferently for Door either Dure or Thure. The modern German (directly contrary to the modern English) uses the initial Th (Thur) for our substantive (Door), and the initial D (Durch) for our preposition (Thorough) : and it is remarkable, that this same difference between the German and the English prevails in almost all cases where the two languages employ a word of the same origin having either of those initials. Thus Distel und Dorn — in German — are Thistles and Thorns in English. So the English Dear, Dollar, Deal, are in German Theu.r, Thaler, Theil. Minshevv and Junius both concur that Door, &c. are de- rived from the Greek ©via : Skinner says, perhaps they are all from the Greek ©uga : and then without any reason (or rather as it appears to me against all reason) chuses rather uselessly to 'derive the substantive Door from the Anglo- Saxon preposition Thor, Thruh, Thurh. But I am persuaded that Door and Thorough have one and the same Gothic origin 1 " On n'est pas etonne de trouver du rapport entre YAnglois et le Persan : car on scait que le fond de la langue Angloise est Saxon ; et qu'il y a ime quantite d'exemples qui montre une affinite marquee entre l'Allemand et le Persan.". — Form, Median, des Langues, torn. 2. art. 166. CXI. IX.] OF PEEPOSITIONS. 183 AlJVUKvRj mean one and the same thing ; and are in fact one and the same word. B. — There is an insuperable objection, which, I fear, you have not considered, to this method of accounting for the Prepositions : for if they were really and merely, as you imagine, common Nouns and Verbs, and therefore, as you say, the names of real objects, how could any of them be employed to denote not only different 1 but even contrary relations ? Yet this is universally maintained, not only by Mr. Harris, but by Messrs. de Port Koyal, 2 by the President cle Brosses, and by all those writers whom you most esteem ; and even by Wilkins 3 and Locke. Now if these words have a meaning, as you contend, and are constantly used according to their meaning, which you must allow, (because you appeal to the use which is made of them as proof of the meaning which you attribute to them ;) how can they possibly be the names of real and unchangeable objects, as common nouns and verbs are ? I am sure you must see the necessity of reconciling these contradictory appearances. H. — Most surely. And I think you will as readily acknow- ledge the necessity of first establishing the facts, before you call upon me to reconcile them. Where is the Preposition to be found which is at any time used in contrary or even in different meanings ? B. — Very many instances have been given ; but none 1 "Certains mots sont Adverbes, Prepositions, et Conjonctions en meme temps. Et repondent ainsi en meme temps a diverses parties d'oraison, selon que la Grammaire les employe diversement." — Buffieb, art. 150. 2 " On n'a suivi en aucune langue, sur le sujet des prepositions, ce que la raison auroit desire : qui est, qu'un rapport ne fut marque que par une preposition ; et qu'une preposition ne marquat qu'un seul rap- port. Car il arrive au contraire clans toutes les langues ce que nous avons vu dans ces exemples pris de la Fran90i.se, qu'un meme rapport est signifie par plusieurs prepositions : et qu'une meme preposition marque divers rapports." — MM. de Port Royal. 3 " Some of these prepositions are absolutely determined either to mo- tion or to rest, or the Terminus of Motion. Others are relatively appli- cable to both. Concerning which this rule is to be observed : that those which belong to motion cannot signify rest ; but those which belong to rest may signify motion in the terminus.'''' — Wilkins, part 3. chap. 3. 184 or PREPOSITIONS. [part I. stronger than those produced by Mr. Harris of the Preposition from ; which he shows to be used to denote three very different relations, and the two last in absolute contradiction to each other. " From/' he says, " denotes the detached relation of Body ; as when we say — These Figs came from Turkey. — So as to Motion and Best, only with this difference, that here the pre- position varies its character with the Verb. Thus if we say — That lamp hangs from the deling — the preposition from assumes a character of quiescence. But if we say — That lamp is falling from the deling — the preposition in such case assumes a character of motion!' Now I should be glad you would show me what one Noun or Verb can be found of so versatile a character as this prepo- sition : what name of any one real object or sign of one idea, or of one collection of ideas, can have been instituted to convey these different and opposite meanings ? IT. — Truly, none that I know of. But I take the word from (preposition, if you chuse to call it so) to have as clear, as precise, and at all times as uniform and unequivocal a meaning, as any word in the language. From means merely beginning, and nothing else. It is simply the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic noun Fjiuni, f?|£inM,. Beginning, Origin, Source, Fountain, Author. 1 Now then, if you please, we will apply this meaning to Mr. Harris's formidable instances, and try whether we cannot make from speak clearly for itself, with- out the assistance of the interpreting Verbs; who are sup- posed by Mr. Harris, to vary its character at will, and make the preposition appear as inconsistent and contradictory as himself. Figs came from Turkey. Lamp falls from Cieling. Lamp 1 tangs from Cieling. Came is a complex term for one species of motion. Falls is a complex term for another species of motion. Hangs is a complex term for a species of attachment. 1 ' Ne ji3sbb £e re $e on jrpumman popkte. he ponkte paepman anb pipman." That is, Annon legistis, quod qui eos in principio creavit, creavit eos marem et foeminam 1 St. Matt. xix. 4. [See Grimm's Grammatik, ii. 732. hi 265. for the wov& from. — Ed.] CH. IX.] OF PKEPOSITIONS. 185 Have we occasion to communicate or mention the com- mencement or beginning of these motions and of this attachment; and the place where these motions and this attachment commence or begin? It is impossible to have complex terms for each occasion of this sort. What more natural then, or more simple, than to add the signs of those ideas, viz. the word beginning (which will remain always the same) and the name of the place (which will perpetually vary) ? Thus, " Figs came — beginning Turkey. . Lamp falls — beginning Cieliug. Lamp hangs — beginning Cieling." That is Turkey the Place of beginning to come. Cieling the Place of beginning to fall. Cieling the Place of beginning to hang. B. — You have here shown its meaning when it relates to place; but Wilkins tells us, that "from refers primarily to place and situation : and secondarily to timer So that you have yet but given half its meaning. — -" From morn till night th' eternal larum rang." — There is no place referred to in this line. H. — From relates to every thing to which beginning re- lates, 1 and to nothing else : and therefore is referable to Time 1 Is it unreasonable to suppose that, if the meaning of this word from, and of its correspondent prepositions in other languages, had been clearly understood, the Greek and Latin Churches would never have differed concerning the Eternal Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father, or from the Father and the Son 1 And that, if they had been determined to separate, they would at least have chosen some safer cause of schism 1 " Apeltes. I have now, Campaspe, almost made an end. Campaspe. You told me, Apelles, you would never end. A p. Never end my love : for it shall be Eternal. Cam. That is, neither to have Beginning nor ending." Campaspe by John Lilly, act 4. sc. 4. " Eternal sure, as without end Without Beginning.'' Paradise Regained, book 4, line 391, 18 G OF PKEPOSITIONS. [PART T. as well as to motion : without which indeed there can be no Time. " The larum rang beginning Morning : " i. e. Morning being the time of its beginning to ring. B. — Still I have difficulty to trust to this explanation. For Dr. S. Johnson has numbered up twenty different meanings of this Preposition from. He says, it denotes, "1. Privation. 2. Reception. 3. Descent or Birth. 4. Transmission. 5. Abstraction. " To say that Immensity does not signify boundless space, and that Eternity does not signify duration or time without Beginning and end ; is, I think, affirming that words have no meaning." — Dr. Sam. Clarke's fifth Reply to Leibnitz s fifth Paper, sect. 104-10G. Is it presumptuous to say, that the explanation of this single prepo- sition would have decided the controversy more effectually than all the authorities and all the solid arguments produced by the wise and honest bishop Procopowicz ? and thus have withheld one handle at least of reproach, from those who assert — " Que Ton pourroit justement definir la theologie — -I/art de composer des chimeres en combinant ensemble des qualites impossibles a concilier." — Systeme de la Nature, torn. 2, p. 55. [In order to see how far this reproach is applicable to some of the theology of the present day, take the following : " But, alas ! here proud men, by attempting to explain what is inex- plicable, have rendered it necessary for the Church to be more explicit." — p 18. "The Church is now compelled, by the perverseness of dis- puters, to state plainly what has been revealed to her .... Still, observe, that the Church is not attempting to explain. She only asserts." — p. 1 5. And again, " This verse is not added as an explanation of an inexpli- cable mystery, but simply to shoiv what the Church means, &c." — p. 22. ■ — Letter on the Athanasian Creed, by Walter Farquhar Hook, D.D. 1888. Thus, she can " shoio what she means' 1 '' without " explanation ," • — can " mean " that which is " inexplicable" — can be " explicit " with- out " explaining" — and " state plainly" that which she does " not attempt to explain? "She only asserts" what is "inexplicable," (and therefore unintelligible,) but without which "it is impossible to understand Scripture ; " — p. 8. : i.e. Scripture cannot ^understood but in a sense that is unintelligible.' — The " proud men," and " perverse dis- puters," are doubtless such as lack " that prostration of the understand- ing and will, which are indispensable in Christian instruction." See the Charge delivered at his Primary Visitation, 1815, by his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. — Ed.] CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 187 6. Succession, 7. Emission, 8. Progress from premises to inferences. 9. Place or Person from whom a message is brought. 10. Extraction. 11. Reason or Motive. 12. Ground or Cause. 13. Distance. 14. Separation or Recession. 15. Exemption or Deliver an ee. 16. Absence. 17. Derivation. 18. Distance from the past. 19. Contrary to. 20. Removals To these he adds twenty-two other manners of using it. And he has accompanied each with instances sufficiently numerous, as proofs. 1 i7. — And yet in all his instances (which, I believe are above seventy) from continues to retain invariably one and the same single meaning. Consult them : and add to them as many more instances as you please ; and yet (if I have explained myself as clearly as I ought, and as I think I have done) no further assistance of mine will be necessary to enable you to extract the same meaning of the word from from all of them. 1 Greenwood says — " From signifies Motion from a place ; and then it is put in opposition to to. "2. It is used to denote the Beginning of time. "3. It denotes the Original of tilings. " 4. It denotes the Order of a thing. ("And in these three last senses it is put before Adverbs:') "5. It signifies Off" The caprice of language is worth remarking in the words Van (the Dutch From) and Rear, both of which we have retained in English as Substantives, and therefore they are allowed with us to have a meaning. But being only employed as Prepositions by the Dutch, Italian and French, our philosophers cannot be persuaded to allow them any trans- marine meaning. — Animum mutant qui trans mare currant. And thus Van in Holland, Von in Germany, Avanti in Italy, and Avant and Der- riere in France, are merely des petits mots inventes pour etre mis avant les Noms, or. in the van of Nouns. 188 OF PKEPOSITIONS. [PAET I And you will plainly perceive that the (C characters of quies- cence, and of motion" attributed by Mr. Harris to the word from, belong indeed to the words Hang and Fall, used in the different sentences. And by the same manner of transferring to the preposition the meaning of some other word in the sen- tence, have all Johnson's and Greenwood's supposed different meanings arisen. B. — You observed, some time since, that the Prepositions with and without were directly opposite and contradictory to each other. Now the same opposition is evident in some other of the prepositions : And this circumstance, I should imagine, must much facilitate and shorten the search of the etymologist: For having once discovered the meaning of one of the adverse parties, the meaning of the other, I suppose, must follow of course. Thus — Going to a place, is directly the contrary of — Going from a place.— If then you are right in your explanation of from, (and I will not deny that ap- pearances are hitherto in your favour ;) since from means Commencement or Beginning, to must mean End or Termina- tion, And indeed I perceive that, if we produce Mr. Harris's instances, and say, 6( These figs came from Turkey TO England. The lamp falls from the deling TO the ground. The lamp hangs from the deling TO the floor ;" as the word from denotes the commencement of the motion and hanging ; so does the word to denote their termination : and the places where they end or terminate, are respectively Eng- land, Ground. Floor. And since we have as frequently occasion to mention the termination, as we have to mention the commencement of motion or time ; no doubt it was as likely that the word denoting End should become a particle or preposition, as the word which signified Beginning. But in the use of these two words to and from, I observe a remarkable difference. From seems to have two opposites ; which ought therefore to mean the same thing: and, if meaning the same, to be used indifferently at pleasure. We always use from (and From only) for the be- ginning either of time or motion : bat for the termination, we OH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 189 apply sometimes to and sometimes till : 1 to, indifferently either to place or time; but till to time only and never to place. Thus, we may say, " From mom to night ill eternal larum rang." or, From mom till night, &c. But we cannot say, — From Turkey till England. FT. — The opposition of Prepositions, as far as it reaches, does undoubtedly assist us much in the discovery of the mean- ing of each opposite. And if, by the total or partial extinction of an original language, there was no root left in the ground for an etymologist to dig up, the philosopher ought no doubt to be satisfied with reasoning from the contrariety. But I fear much that the inveterate prejudices which I have to encounter, and which for two thousand years have universally passed for learning throughout the world, and for deep learning too, would not easily give way to any arguments of mine a priori. I am therefore compelled to resort to etymology, and to bring for- ward the original word as well as its meaning. That same etymology will very easily account for the peculiarity you have noticed : and the difficulty solved, like other enemies subdued, will become an useful ally and additional strength to the con- queror. The opposition to the preposition from, resides singly in the preposition to. 2 Which has not perhaps (for 1 am not clear that it has not) precisely the signification of End or Termination, but of something tantamount or equivalent. The preposition to (in Dutch written toe and tot, a little nearer to the original) is the Gothic substantive tATIX or TjVrtlTS, i. e. Act, Effect, Result, Consummation. Which Gothic substantive is indeed itself no other than the past par- ticiple TAtlld 0/ TAjMciS, of the verb T/VDQ^N 3 agere. And what is done, is terminated, ended, finished, 4 1 [Till seems to be the Scandinavian form — See Ihre : — also Grimm, iii. 257.— Ed.] 2 [See Grimm, ii. 722. iii. 254 : du, tu, zu, ze, zi, to. — Ed.] 3 In the Teutonic, this verb is written Tuan or Tuon. whence the modern German Thun, and its preposition (varying like its verb) Tu. [Zu.] In the Anglo-Saxon the verb is Teojan, and preposition To. 4 " Dativus cuicunque orationi adjungi potest, in qua acquisitio vel 190 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. After this derivation, it will not appear in the least myste- rious or wonderful that we should, in a peculiar manner, in English, prefix this same word to to the infinitive of our verbs. For the verbs, in English, not being distinguished, as in other languages, by a peculiar termination, and it being sometimes impossible to distinguish them by their place, when the old termination of the Anglo-Saxon verbs was dropped, this word TO (i. e. Act) became necessary to be prefixed, in order to distinguish them from nouns, and to invest them with the verbal character : for there is no difference between the noun, Love, and the verb, to Love, but what must be comprised in the prefix to. The infinitive, therefore, appears plainly to be, what the Stoics called it, the very verb itself; pure and uncompouncled with the various accidents of mood, of number, of gender, of person, and (in English) of tense ; which accidents are, in some languages, joined to the verb by variety of termination; and in some, by an additional word signifying the added c ircumstance. And if our English Grammarians aud Philosophers had trusted something less to their reading and a little more to their own reflection, I cannot help thinking that the very awkwardness and imperfection of our own language, in this particular of the infinitive, would have been a great benefit to them in all their difficulties about the verb : and would have led them to un- derstand and explain that which the perfection of more arti- ficial and improved languages contributed to conceal from others. For I reckon it a great advantage which an English philosopher has over those who are acquainted with such lan- guages only which do this business by termination. For though I think I have good reasons to believe, that all these Terminations may likewise be traced to their respective origin ; and that, however artificial they may now appear to us, they were not originally the effect of premeditated and deliberate art, but separate words by length of time corrupted and coa- lescing with the words of which they are now considered as the Terminations : Yet this was less likely to be suspected by others. And if it had been suspected, they would have had ademtio, commodum aut incommodum, aut finis, quern in scholis Logici Finem cm dicunt, significatur." — Scioppii Gram. Philosophy p. xiii. CH. IX.] OF PEEPOSITIONS. 191 much further to travel to their journey's end, and through a road much more embarrassed ; as the corruption in those lan- guages is of much longer standing than in ours, and more complex. And yet, by what fatality I know not, our Grammarians have not only slighted, but have even been afraid to touch, this friendly clue : for of all the points which they endeavour to shuffle over, there is none in which they do it more grossly than in this of the Infinitive. Some are contented- to call to, a mark of the infinitive mood. 1 But how, or why, it is so, they are totally silent. Others call it a Preposition. Others, a Particle. Skinner calls it an Equivocal Article. 2 And others 3 throw it into that common sink and repository of all heterogeneous unknown corruptions, the Adverb. And when they have thus given it a name, they hope you will be satisfied : at least they trust that they shall not be arraigned for this conduct ; because those who should arraign them, will need the same shift for themselves. There is one mistake, however, from which this Prefix to ought to have rescued them : they should not have repeated the error, of insisting that the Infinitive was a mere Noun : 4 1 Lowth (page 6Q) says — " The Preposition to placed before the Verb makes the Infinitive Mood."'' Now this is manifestly not so: for to placed before the Verb loveih, will not make the Infinitive Mood. He would have said more truly, that to placed before some Nouns makes Verbs. But of this I shall have occasion to speak hereafter, when I come to treat of the Verb. 2 " Melius infmitiva sua Anglo-Saxones per term, an, quam nos hodie cequivoco illo articulo to prsemisso, ssepe etiam omisso, distinxerunt." — ■ Canones Etymologici. 3 S.Johnson says— " To, adverb, [to, Saxon; Te, Dutch.]" And then, according to his usual method, (a very convenient one for making a bulky book without trouble,) proceeds to give instances of its various significations, viz. " 1, A particle coming between two verbs, and noting the second as the object of the first. 2. It notes the intention. 3. After an adjective it notes its object. 4. Noting futurity" 4 "The words Actiones and Lectlones (Wilkins says) are but the plural number of Agere, Leg-eve." However, it must be acknowledged that Wilkins endeavours to save himself by calling the Infinitive, not a mere noun, but a Participle Substantive. — " That which is called the Infinitive Mode should, according to the true analogy of speech, be styled 192 OF PBEPOSITIONS. [PAKT I. since it was found necessary in English to add another word (viz.) to, merely to distinguish the Infinitive from the Noun, after the Infinitive had lost that distinguishing Termination which it had formerly. 1 B. — I do not mean hastily and without further considera- tion absolutely to dissent from what you have said, because some part of it appears to me plausible enough. And had you confined yourself only to the Segnacaso or Preposition, I should not suddenly have found much to offer in reply. But when instead of the Segnacaso (as Buonmattei classes it), or the Preposition (as all others call it), or the mark of the Infinitive (as it is peculiarly used in English), you direct me to consider it as the necessary and distinguishing sign of the verb, you do yourself throw difficulties in my way which it will be incumbent on you to remove. For it is impossible not to observe, that the Infinitive is not the only part of our English verbs, which does not differ from the noun : and it rests upon you to explain why this necessary sign of the Verb should be prefixed only to the Infinitive, and not also to those other parts of the verb in English which have no distinguish- ing Termination. II. — The fact is undoubtedly as you have stated it. There are certainly other parts of the English verb, undistinguished a Participle Substantive. There hatli been formerly much dispute among some learned men, ivhither the notion called the Infinitive Mode ought to be reduced according to the philosophy of speech. Some would have it to be the prime and principal verb; as signifying more directly the notion of action : and then the other varieties of the verb should be but the inflexions of this. Others question whether the Infinitive Mode be a verb or no, because in the Greek it receives articles as a noun. Scaliger concludes it to be a verb, but will not admit it to be a Mode. Vossius adds, that though it be not Modus in Actu, yet it is Modus in Potentia. All which difficulties will be most clearly stated by asserting it to be a Substantive Participle." Peal Character, part 4, chap. 6. Mr Harris without any palliation says, — " These Infinitives go fur- ther. They not only lay aside the character of Attributives, but they also assume that of Substantives." — Hermes, book 1, chap. 8. 1 [It should be noted that in Anglo-Saxon the sign to had always been prefixed to the Future Infinitive :, and Lye adds, "interdum, re- dundanter tamen, puris, i. e. primitivis Infinitivis : ut, To ftepian, ser- vire, Chron. Sax. 118. 10, &c." — See Additional Notes.— Ed.] CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 193 from the noun by termination; but this is to me rather a circumstance of confirmation than an objection. For the truth is, that to them also {and to those parts only which have not a distinguishing termination) as well as to the Infini- tive, is this distinguishing sign equally necessary, and equally 'prefixed. Do (the auxiliary verb as it has been called) 1 is derived from the same root, and is indeed the same word as to. The difference between a t and a d is so very small, that an Etymologist knows by the practice of languages, and an Anatomist by the reason of that practice, that in the 1 -"The verb to no (says Mr. Tyrwhitt, Essay, Note 37) is con- sidered by Wallis and other later- grammarians, as an auxiliary verb. It is so used, though very rarely, by Chaucer. It must be confessed that the exact power which do, as an auxiliary, now has in our lan- guage, is not easy to be defined, and still less to be accounted for from Analogy." In Chaucer's time the distinguishing terminations of the verb still remained, although not constantly employed ; and he availed himself of that situation of the language, either to use them or drop them, as best suited his purpose, and sometimes he uses both termination and sign. Thus, in the Wife of Bathes Tale, he drops the Infinitive termi- nation ; and uses to. " My liege lady : generally, quod he, Women desyren to have soveraynte As well over her husbondes as her love." And again a few lines after, he uses the infinitive termination, ex- cluding to. " In al the court nas there wife ne mayde Ne widow, that contraried that he saide, But said, he was worthy han his lyfe." So also, " I trowe that if Envye, iwys, Knewe the best man that is On thys syde or beyonde the see, Yet somwhat lacken him wold she." Eomaunt of the Eose. The same may be shown by innumerable other instances throughout Chaucer. B. Jonson, in his Grammar, says — " The Persons plural keepe the termination of the first person singular. In former times, till about the reigne of King Henry the Eighth, they were wont to be formed by adding en. But now (whatsoever is the cause) it hath quite growne out of use, and that other so generally prevailed that I dare not pre- sume to set this afoot againe." This is the reason why Chaucer used both to and do more rarely than we use them at present. O 194 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. derivation of words it is scarce worth regarding. 1 And for the same reason that to is put before the Infinitive, do used formerly to be put before such other parts of the yerb which likewise were not distinguished from the noun by termination. As we still say — I do love, — instead of — I love. And I" doed or did love — instead of I loved But it is worth our while to observe, that if a distinguishing termination is used, then the distinguishing do or did must be omitted, the Ter- mination fulfilling its office. And therefore we never find — / did loved; or He doth loveth. But I did love; lie doth love. It is not indeed an approved practice at present, to use do before those parts of the Verb, they being now by custom sufficiently distinguished by their Place: and therefore the redundancy is now avoided, and do is considered, in that case, as unnecessary and expletive. However it is still used, and is the common practice, and should be used, whenever the distinguishing Place is disturbed by Interrogation, or by the insertion of a Negation, or of some other words between the nominative case and the verb. As — He does not love the truth. Does he love the truth ? He does at the same time love the truth. And if we chuse to avoid the use of this verbal Sign, do, we must supply its place by a distinguishing termination to the verb. As — He loveth not the truth. Loveth he the truth ? He at the same time loveth the truth. Or where the verb has not a distinguishing termination (as in plurals) — They do not love the truth ; Do they love the truth ? They do at the same time love the truth — Here, if we wish to avoid the verbal sign, we must remove the negative or other intervening word or words from between the 1 See the Note, page 47. CH. IX.] OF PKEPOSITIONS. 195 nominative case and the verb ; and so restore the distinguishing Place. As — They love not the truth. Love they the truth ? At the same time they love the truth. 1 And thus we see that, though we cannot, as Mr. Tyrwhitt truly says, account for the use of this verbal sign from any Analogy to other languages, yet there is no caprice in these methods of employing to and do, so differently from the practice of other languages : but that they arise from the peculiar method which the English language has taken to arrive at the same necessary end, which other languages attain by distinguishing Termination. B. — I observe, that Junius and Skinner and Johnson have not chosen to give the slightest hint concerning the derivation of to. 2 Minshew distinguishes between the preposition to, and the sign of the Infinitive to. Of the first he is silent, and of the latter he says — "to, as to make, to lualk, to do, a Graeco articulo to ) idem est ut to ^oistv, to vsgiirareiv, to KgaTTziv." But Dr. Gregory Sharpe is persuaded that our language has taken it from the Hebrew. And Vossius derives the corre- spondent Latin Preposition ad from the same source. H. — Yes. But our Gothic and Anglo-Saxon ancestors were not altogether so fond of the Hebrew, nor quite so well acquainted with it, as Dr. Sharpe and Yossius were. And if Boerhaave could not consent, and Yoltaire 3 thought it ridi- culous, to seek a remedy in South America for a disease which was prevalent in the North of Europe, how much more would they have resisted the etymology of this pretended Jewish 1 It is not however uncommon to say — " They, at the same time, love the truth." Where the intervening words (at the same time) are considered as merely parenthetical, and the mind of the speaker still preserves the connexion of place between the nominative case and the verb. 2 [" Zu, ad, Goth, at and du ; Franc, za, ze, and az, &c. Omnia affinia Latino ad. Nam ad et to se mutuo producunt per anastro- phen." — Wachter. Grimm supposes that to and at may be identical, and have the same origin with the Latin ad. Grammai. iii. p. 253, 254.— Ed.] 3 " La Quinquina, seul specifique contre les fievres intermittentes, 196 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. Preposition ! For my own part, I am persuaded that the correspondent Latin Preposition ad has a more natural origin, and a meaning similar to that of to. It is merely the past participle of Agere, 1 (Which past participle is likewise a Latin Substantive.) C ClGDUm ClGtB — AD agitum-agtum < or — or — or ( acTum — acT — at. The most superficial reader of Latin verse knows how easily the Eomans dropped their final um : for their poets would never have taken that licence, had it not been previously jus- tified by common pronunciation. And a little consideration of the organs and practice of speech, will convince him how easily Agd or Act would become ad or at/ as indeed this preposi- place par la nature clans les inontagnes du Perou, tandis qu'elle a mis la fievre clans le reste du moncle."— Voltaire, Hist. Generate. " II nieurit a, Mocha dans le sable Arabique Ce caffe necessaire aux pays des frimats ; II met la fievre en nos climats, Et le remede en Amerique." Voltaire, Lettre au Roi de Prusse. 1 My much valued and valuable friend Dr. Warner, the very inge- nious author of Metronariston, or a New Pleasure recommended, in a dissertation upon Greek and Latin prosody, has remarked that — " C and G were by the Romans always pronounced hard, i. e. as the Greek K and r, before all vowels : which sound of them it would have been well if we had retained ; for, had this been clone, the inconvenience of many equivocal sounds, and much appearance of irregularity in the language, would have been avoided." — Perhaps it may seem superfluous to cite any thing from a book which must assuredly be in every classical hand : but it is necessary for me here to remind the reader of this cir- cumstance ; lest, instead of Aggere and Aggitum he should pronounce these words Adjere and Adjitum, and be disgusted with a derivation which might then seem forced and unnatural, 2 If the reader keeps in mind the note to page 47, he will easily per- ceive how actum became the irregular participle of agere, instead of agitum or agtum. For it depended entirely on the employment or omission of the compression there noticed, And it is observable, that in all languages (for the natural reason is the same) if two of the letters (coupled in that note) come together, in one of which the compression should be employed and in the other omitted, the speaker for his own convenience will either employ the compression in both, or omit it in both ; and that without any regard to the written character. Thus (amongst innumerable instances) an Englishman pronounces — oBzerve — CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 197 tion was indifferently written by the antients. By the mo- derns the preposition was written ad with the d only, in order • to distinguish it from the other corrupt word called the conjunc- tion at ; which for the same reason was written with the T only, though that likewise had antiently been written, as the preposition, either ad or at. 1 B. — You have not yet accounted for the different employ- ment of till and to. H. — That till should be opposed to from, only when we are talking of Time, and upon no other occasion, is evidently for this reason, (viz.) that till is a word compounded of to and . While, i. e. Time. And you will observe that the coales- cence of these two words, To-hpile, took place in the language long before the present wanton and superfluous use of the article the, which by the prevailing custom of modern speech is now interposed. So that when we say — " From morn till night" — it is no more than if we said — " From morn to time night?' I When we say — Ci From morn to night" the word Time is omitted as unnecessary. So we might say — a From Turkey to the place called England ;" or "to place Eng- land." But we leave out the mention of Place, as superfluous, and say only — " to England." B. — You acknowledge then that the opposition of preposi- tions is useful, as far as it reaches. But, besides their opposi- and a Frenchman — opserver. So we learn from Quinctilian (lib. ]. cap, 7.) that the Romans pronounced oBtinuit, though they wrote OBtinuit. — " Cum dico obtinuit, secundam B literam ratio poscit ; aures magis audiunt P." — In the same manner a Roman would pronounce the word either aQimm or aCTum, that he might not, in two letters coming close together, shift so instantly from the employment to the omission of the compression. 1 " Ad et At, non tantum ob significationem, sed et originem diversam, diversimode scribere satius est." — G. J. Vosskcs, Etymol. Ling. Lat. 2 It is not unusual with the common people, and some antient authors, to use While alone as a preposition ; that is, to leave out to, and say — I will stay while Evening. Instead of — till Evening ; or, to while Evening. That is — / will stay time Evening, — instead of — ■ to time Evening. Thus — ■" Sygeberte wyth liys two bretherne gave backe whyle they came to the ryver of Sigoune." — " He commaunded her to be bounden to a wylde horse tayleby the here of her hedde and so to be drawen whyle she were dede." 198 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. tion and absolute contradiction , I should imagine that the marked and distinguished manner also, in which different pre- positions are sometimes used in the same sentence, must very much tend to facilitate the discovery of their distinct significa- tions. u Well ! His e'en so ! I have got the London disease they call Love. I am sick of my husband, and for my gallant." x Love makes her sick of, and sick for. Here of and for seem almost placed in opposition ; at least their effects in the sentence are most evidently different ; for, by the help of these two prepositions alone, and without the assistance of any other words, she expresses the two contrary affections of Loath- ing and Desire. II. — No. Small assistance indeed, if any, can be derived from such instances as this. I rather think they tend to mis- lead than to direct an inquirer. Love was not here the only disease. This poor lady had a complication of distempers ; she had two disorders : a sickness of Loathing— and a sick- ness of Desire. She was sick for Disgust, and sick for Love. Sick of disgust for her husband. Sick of love for her gallant. Sick for disgust of her husband. Sick for love of her gallant. Her disgust was the offspring of her husband, proceeded from her husband, was begotten upon her by her husband. Her gallant was the cause of her love. I think I have clearly expressed the meaning of her declara- tion. And I have been purposely tautologous, that by my indifferent application of the two words of and for — both to her disgust and to her love, the smallest appearance of oppo- sition between these prepositions might be done away. Indeed, the difference between them (thus considered) appears to be so small, that the author, if it had pleased him, might have used of, where he has put for. And that he might so have done, the following is a proof. 1 Wycherley's Country Wife. CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 199 " Marian. Come, Amie, you'll go with us. " Amie. I am not well. " Lionel. She's , sick of the young shejSard that behist her." 1 In the same manner we may, with equal propriety, say — " We are sick of hunger" — or, " We are sick for hunger!' And in both cases we shall have expressed precisely the same thing. B. — 'Tis certainly so in practice. But is that practice jus- tifiable ? For the words still seem to me to have a very different import. Do you mean to say that the words of and for are synonymous ? H. — Very far from it. I believe they differ as widely as cause and consequence. I imagine the word for (whether denominated Preposition, Conjunction, or Adverb) to be a Noun, and to have always one and the same single signifi- cation, viz. cause, and nothing else. Though Greenwood attributes to it eighteen, and S. Johnson forty-six different meanings : for which Greenwood cites above forty , and John- son above two hundred instances. But, with a little attention to their instances, you will easily perceive, that they usually attribute to the Preposition the meaning of some other words in the sentence. Junius (changing p into f, and by metathesis of the letter r) derives For from the_ Greek Uoo. 2 Skinner from the Latin Pro. But I believe it to be no other than the Gothic substantive £j\l]llN/l> cause. I imagine also that Of (in the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon fi\Z and Tfr.) is a fragment of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon AT\AKA> posteritas, &c. 2?j:ojia, proles, &c. 3 That it is a 1 Sad Shepherd, act 1. sc. 6. 2 [Dr. Jamieson adheres to this opinion ; and gives the Gothic faur and Tsl. fyrer, as having the same origin. — Hermes Scythicus, p. 95. See also Grimm, iii. 256. Ed.] 3 « Of, a, ab, abs, de. A.S. Op. D. Aff. B. Af. Goth, fife, Exprimunt Gr. uko, ab, de : prsesertim cum uko ante vocabulum ab adspiratione incipiens, fiat ap\" Junius. Minshew and Skinner derive of from the Latin ab, and that from the Greek a-ro. 200 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. noun substantive, and means always consequence, offspring, successor, follower, &c. And I think it not unworthy of remark, that whilst the old patronymical termination of our northern ancestors was SON", the Sclavonic and Eussian patronymic was of. Thus whom the English and Swedes named Peterson, the Russians called Pe- terJwf. And as a polite foreign affectation afterwards induced some of our ancestors to assume Fils or Fitz (i. e. FUs or Films) instead of son ; so the Eussian affectation in more modern times changed of to Vitch (i. e. Fitz, Fils or Filius) and Peterlwf became Petrovitch or Petroivitz. So M. de Brosses (torn. 2. p. 295.) observes of the Ro- mans — il Benrarquons sur les noms propres des families Eo- rnaines qui! n'y en a pas un seul qui ne soit termine en ius ; desinence fort semblable a 1' vtog des Grecs, c'est a dire filius." x B. — Stop, stop, Sir. Not so hasty, I beseech you. Let us leave the Swedes, and the Eussians, and the Greeks, and the Romans, out of the question for the present; and confine yourself, if you please, as in the beginning you confined my enquiry, to the English only. Above tivo hundred instances, do you say, produced by Johnson as proofs of at least forty- six different meanings of this one preposition for, wdien Harris will not allow one single meaning to all the prepositions in the world together ! And is it possible that one and the same author, knowing this, should in the same short preface, and in the compass of a very few short pages, acknowledge the former to be u ihe person best qualified to give a perfect Grammar" 2 and yet compliment the grammar of the latter, as the standard of accuracy, acuteness and perfection ! 3 H. — Oh, my dear Sir, the wise men of this world know full well that the family of the Blandishes* are universal favourites. 1 " Et qnamvis nunc dierum habeant quidem, acl Anglorum fmita- tionem, familiarum nomina ; sunt tamen ea plerumque mere patrony- rnica : sunt eirim Price, Powel, Bowel, Bo-wen, Pugh, Parry, Penry, Prichard, Probert, Proger, &c. nihil aliud quam Ap Rhys, Ap Howel, Ap Owen, Ap Hugh, Ap Harry, Ap Henry, Ap Richard, Ap Robert, Ap Roger, &c ap, hoc est mab, filius." Wallis, Preface. 2 »*ee A Short Introduction to English Gram. Preface, p. 6. 8 See id. p. 1 4. 4 See the Heiress, (one little morsel of false moral excepted.) the CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 201 Good breeding and policy direct us to mention the living only with praise ; and if we do at any time hazard a censure, to let it fall only on the dead. B, — Pray, which of those qualities dictated that remark ? if—Neither. But a quality which passes for brutality and ill-nature : and which, in spite of hard blows and heavy burdens, would make me rather chuse in the scale of beings to exist a mastiff or a mule, than a monkey or a lapdog. But why have you overlooked my civility to Mr. Harris 1 Do you not perceive, that by contending for only one meaning to the word for, I am forty-five times more complaisant to him than Johnson is? B— He loves every thing that is Greek, and no doubt therefore will owe you many thanks for this Greek favour. — Danaos dona ferentes.—Bui confirm it if you please ; and (if you can) strengthen your doubtful etymology (which I think wants strengthening) by extracting your single meaning of for from all Greenwood's and Johnson's numerous instances. E. — That would be a tedious task; and, I trust, unneces- sary ; and for that reason only I have not pursued the method you now propose, with all the other particles which I have before explained. But as this manner of considering the Prepositions, though many years familiar to me, is novel to you, I may perhaps suppose it to be easier and clearer than it may at first sight appear to others. I will risque therefore your impatience, whilst I explain one single instance under each separate meaning attributed to for. Greenwood says— " The Preposition for has a great many significations, and denotes chiefly for what purpose, end, or use, or for whose benefit or damage any thing is done ; As — Christ died for us" 1 [i. e. Cause us ; or, We being the Cduse of his dying.] "1. For serves to denote the End or Object which one proposes in any action ; As — To fight for the public good." [i. e. cause the public good ; or, The public good being the Cause of fighting.] most perfect and meritorious comedy, without exception, of any on our stage. 1 [The Brackets here and in the following 1 1 pages, do not, as else- where, denote new matter. — Ed.l 202 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. u 2. It serves to mark the Motive, the Cause, the Subject of any action ; As — He does all things for the love of virtue." [i. e. The love of virtue being the Cause.] " 3. It is used to mark the use for which a thing is done ; As — Chelsey Hospital teas built for disabled soldiers." [i. e. Disabled soldiers being the Cause of its being built.] Ci 4. It is used likewise to denote Profit, Advantage, In- terest; As — I write for your satisfaction." [i. e. Your satis- faction being the Cause of my writing.] "5. It is used to denote for what a thing is Proper, or not ; As — It is a good remedy for the Fever." In which. last example to cure is to be understood, [i. e. Curing the Fever being the Cause that it is called a good remedy.] " 6. This preposition is used to denote Agreement or Help ; As — The Soldier fights for the King." [i. e. The King being the Cause of his fighting.] "7. It is used to denote the Convenience or Inconvenience of a thing ; As — He is big enough for his age." [i. e. His age being the Cause that he is big enough ; or that his size answers our expectation.] " 8. It is used to denote Exchange or Trucking, Recom- pence, Retribution or Requited, and Payment; As — He re- warded him for his good services." [i. e. His good services being the Cause of reward.] (i Hither we may likewise refer these phrases, Eye for Eye" &c. [i. e. An eye (destroyed by malicious violence) being the Cause of an eye taken from the convict in punish- ment.] "9. It is used to denote Instead of In the place of; As — I will grind for him." [i. e. He being the Cause of my grinding.] " Sometimes it serves to denote a Mistake ; As — He speaks one word for another." [i. e. Another word being the Cause of his speaking that word which he speaks.] Ci 10. It is used to denote the Distribution of things by Proportion to several others ; As — lie sets down twelve Acres for every man." [i. e. Every or each man being the Cause of his setting down twelve acres.] "11. It denotes the Condition of Persons, Things, and Times; As— He was a learned man' for those times." [i.e > CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 203 The darkness or ignorance of those times being the Cause why he may be considered as a learned man.] " 12. It is likewise used to denote In the quality of; As — He suborned Mm for a witness." [i. e. For that he might be a witness ; or, for to be a witness. — That he might be a witness ; or. to be a witness being the Cause of his suborning him.] "It signifies likewise as much as Because of, By reason of; As— To punish a man for his crimes" [i. e. His crimes being the Cause of punishment.] " It signifies As, or To he ; As — He was sent for a pledge." [i } e. That he might be a pledge, or to be a pledge being the Cause of his being sent.] "During; to denote the Future Time; As — He ivas chosen [to some office] for life." [i. e. To continue in that office for life ; or, for the continuance of his life — The con- tinuance of his life being the Cause of the continuance of his office.] " Concerning, About ; As — As for me." [The sentence here is not complete ; but it shall be explained amongst Johnson's instances.] " Notwithstanding ; As, after having spoken of the faults of a man, we add, for all that, he is an honest man." [i. e. Though all that has been said may be the Cause of thinking otherwise, yet he is an honest man.] S. Johnson says, " For, Preposition : "1. Because of— That which we for our unworthiness [i. e. our unworthiness the Cause'] are afraid to crave, our prayer is, that God for the worthiness of his Son [i. e. the worthiness of his Son being the Cause'] would notivithstanding vouchsafe to grant" — • "2. With respect to, with regard to; As — " Lo, some are vellom, and the rest as good foe all his lordship knows, but they are woody [i. e. As far as all that his lordship knows is the Cause of their being denominated good or bad, the rest are as good.] " 3. In this sense it has often As before it ; As — As for Maramaldus the general, they had no just cause to misliTce Mm being an old captain of great experience." [i. e. As far as 204 OF PKEPOSITI01S T S. [FART T. Maramaldus the general might be a Cause of their discontent, they had no just cause to imslike him.] " 4. In the character of ; As — " Say, is it fitting in this very field, This field, where from my youth Tve been a carter, I in this field should die for a deserter ? " [i. e. Being a Deserter, being the Cause of my dying.] " 5. With resemblance of; As — " Forward hefieio, and pitching on his head, He quiver d with his feet, and lay FOR dead." [i. e. As if Death, or his being dead, had been the Cause of his laying ; or, He lay in that manner, in which death or being dead is the Cause that persons so lay.] " 0. Considered as; in the place of; As — "Read all the Prefaces of Dry den : for those our critics much confide in : Though merely writ at first for filling, To raise the volume's price a shilling^ [i. e. Bead, &c. the Cause why you should read them, being, that our critics confide in them. Though to fill up and to raise the volume's price was the Cause that they were at first written.] " 7. In advantage of; For the sake of; As — " Shall I think the world locts made for one, And men are born for kings, as beasts for men ? " [i. e. Shall I think that one man was the Cause why the world was made ; that kings are the Cause why men were born ; as men are the Cause why there are beasts ?] iC 8. Conducive to; Beneficial to; As — It is for the gene- ral good of human society ■, and consequently of particular per- sons, to be true and just : and it is for mens health to be temperate.'" [i. e. The general good, tc. is the Cause why it is fit or a duty to be true and just : and men's health is the Cause why it is fit or a duty to be temperate.] "9. With intention of going to a certain place; As— We sailed directly for Genoa." [i. e. Genoa, or that we might go to Genoa, being the Cause of our sailing.] " 10. In comparative respect ; As — for Tusks with Indian elephants he strove." [i. e. He contended for a superiority CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 205 over the elephants ; Tusks, or the claim of a superiority in point of Tusks, being the Cause of the striving or contention.] "11. In proportion to; As — As he could see clear, for those times, through superstition, so he would be blinded, now and then, by human policy" [i. e. The darkness, or ignorance, or bigotry of those times being the Cause, why even such sight, as he then had, may be called or reckoned clear.] " 12. With appropriation to ; As — Shadow will serve for summer. Prick him : for toe have a number of Shadows to fill up the Ifust-er-book." [i. e. Summer is the Cause why Shadow will serve, i. e. will do ; or will be proper to be taken. Prick him : the Cause (why I will have him pricked, or set down) is, that we have many Shadows to fill up the Muster- book.] " 13. After 0, an expression of Desire; As — " ! for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention T [i. e. ! I wish foe a Muse "of fire, &c. i. e. A Muse of fire being the Cause of my wishing.] " 14. In account of; In solution of; As — Thus much FOE the beginning and progress of the deluge." [i. e. The beginning and progress of the deluge is the Cause of thus much, or of that which I have written.] N. B. An obsolete and aukward method of signifying to the reader, that the subject mentioned shall not be the Cause of writing any more. It is a favourite phrase with Mr. Harris, repeated perpetually with a disgust- ing and pedantic affectation, in imitation of the Greek philo- sophers ; but has certainly passed upon some persons, as "elegance of method, as Beauty, Taste, and Fine Writing." "15. Inducing to as a motive; As — There is a natural, immutable, and eternal reason for that ivhich ice call virtue; and against that which we ccdl vice." [Or, That which we call virtue, we call virtue for a natural, eternal, and immu- table reason, i. e. a natural, eternal, and immutable reason being the Cause of our so calling it. — Or, There is a natural, eternal, and immutable reason the Cause of that which we call virtue.] " 16. In expectation of; As — He must be back again by one and twenty, to marry and propagate: the father cannot 206 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. stay any longer for the portion, nor the mother FOR a new set of babies to play with." [i. c. The Portion being the Cause why the father cannot stay any longer: a new set of babies to play with being the Cause why the mother cannot stay longer.] Ci 17. Noting Power or Possibility; As — for a holy per- son to be humble; FOR one, whom all men esteem a saint, to fear lest himself become a devil, is as hard as FOR a prince to submit himself to be guided by Tutors.'' [i. e. To be humble is hard or difficult Because, or, the Cause being, he is a holy person : To fear lest himself become a devil is difficult Because, or, the Cause being, he is one whom all men esteem a saint : To submit himself to be guided by Tutors is difficult Because, or, the Cause being, he is a Prince. And all these things are equally difficult.] "18. Noting Dependence; As — The colours of outward objects, brought into a darkened room, depend FOR their visi- bility upon the dimness of the light they are beheld by." [i. e. Depend upon the dimness of the light as the Cause of their visibility.] "19. In prevention of , for fear of ; As — " Corn being had down, any way ye allow, Should wither as needeth for burning in Mow." [i. e. Burning in Mow, the Cause why it needeth to wither.] " And for the time shall not seem tedious Til tell thee ivhat befell me on a day." l [i. e. The Cause of my telling thee, is, that the time may not seem tedious.] tl 20. In remedy of; As — Sometimes hot, sometimes cold things are good for the tooth-ach." [i. e. Their curing the tooth-ach the Cause of their being called good.] 1 So Chaucer, " This dronken my Her hath ytolde us here Howe that begyled was a carpentere Perauenture in skorne for I am one." Reues prol. fol. 15. p. 2. col. 1. "For tli ey seemed philosophers, they weren pursued to the dethe and slayne." — Boecius, boke 1. fol. 221. p. 1. col. 1. CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 207 "21. In exchange for; As — He made considerable progress in the study of the law, before he quitted that profession for this of Poetry." [i. e. The profession of Poetry, the Cause of his quitting the profession of the law.] "22. In the place of Instead of; As — To make him copious is to alter his character; and to translate him line FOR line is impossible." [i. e. Line Cause of line, or, Each line of the original being the Cause of each line of the translation.] " 23. In supply of to serve in the ylace of; As — Most of our ingenious young men take up some cried-up English poet for their model." [i. e. To be their model the Cause of taking him.] "24. Through a certain duration ; As — ■ " Since hird for life thy servile Muse must sing Successive conquests and a glorious Icing.' 1 '' [i. e. The continuance of your life the Cause of the con- tinuance of your hire.] Cl 25. In search of in quest of; As — Some of the philo- sophers have run so far back for arguments of comfort against pain, as to doubt whether there were any such thing" [i. e. Arguments of comfort against pain the Cause of running so far back] "26. According to; As—Chymists have not been able, for might is vulgarly known, by fire alone to separate true sulphur from antimony" [i. e. Any j thing which is vulgarly known, being the Cause of ability, or of their being supposed to be able.] "27. Noting a State of Fitness or Readiness; As™ Nay if you be an Undertaker, I am for you." [i. e. I am an Un- dertaker, an Adversary, a Fighter, &c. for you ; or, I will undertake you ; i. e. You the Cause of my being an Under- taker, &c] " 28. In hope of for the sake of, noting the final Cause ; As — Scholars are frugal of their ivords, and not willing to ht any go foe ornament, if they ivill not serve for use" [i. e. Ornament the Cause; Use the Cause.] " 29. Of tendency to, Towards; As — It were more FOR his honour to raise the siege, than to spend so many good men in the winning of it by force" [i. e. His honour the Cause 208 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. why it were more expedient, fitting, proper, &c. to raise the siege.] tl 30. In favour of, on the pari of, on the side of; As — It becomes me not to draw my pen in the defence of a bad cause, when I have so often drawn it FOR a good one." [i. e. A good one being the Cause of drawing it.] "31. Noting Accommodation, or Adaptation; As — Persia is commodiously situated FOR trade both by sea and land." [i. e. Trade the Cause of its being said to be commodiously situated.] " 32. With intention of; As— " And by that justice hast removed the Cause Of those rude tempests, which, for rapine sent, Too oft alas involvd the innocent." [i. e. Eapine the Cause of their being sent.] " 33. Becoming, Belonging to ; As — " It were not foe, your quiet, nor your good, N~or for my manhood, honesty and wisdom, To let you know my thoughts" [i. e. Your quiet is a Cause, your good is a Cause, my man- hood, my honesty, my wisdom, each is a Cause, why it is not fit or proper to let you know my thoughts.] " 34. Notwithstanding; As — Probability supposes that a thing may or may not be so, FOR any thing that yet is certainly determined on either side." [i. e. Any thing yet determined being the Cause of concluding.] " 35. For all. Nohoithstanding ; As — For all his exact plot, down was he cast from all his greatness" [i. e. His exact plot being, all of it, a Cause to expect otherwise ; yet he was cast down.] " 36. To the use of, to be used in ; As — " The Oak for. nothing ill ; The Osier good for twigs; the Poplar for the Mill." [i. e. Not any thing the Cause why the oak should be pro- nounced bad ; Twigs the Cause why the osier should be called good ; the Mill the Cause why the poplar should be esteemed useful.] " 37. In consequence of; As — " For love they force through thickets of the wood." CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 209 [i. e. Love the Cause.] " 38. In recompense of; As — " Now for so many glorious actions done For peace at home, and for the public wealth, I mean to crown a boivl to Ccesar's health : Besides in gratitude for such high matters, Know I have voiv'd two hundred Gladiators." [i. e. I mean to crown a bowl to Caesars health, the Cause — so many glorious actions ; the Cause — peace at home ; the Cause — the public weal. Besides, I have in gratitude vowed two hundred gladiators, such high matters being the Cause of my gratitude.] "39. In proportion to; As — He is not very tall, yet for Ms years he 's tall." [i. e. His years the Cause why he may be esteemed tall.] "40. By means of; by interposition of; As — 'Moral con- siderations can no way move the sensible appetite^ were it not for the will" [i. e. Were not the will the Caused] "41. In regard of; in preservation of; As — 1 cannot FOR my life." [i. e. My life being the Cause; or, To save my life being the Cause why I should do it : i. e. though my life were at stake.] " 42. For to ; As — / come for to see you" [i. e. To see you being the Cause of my coming.] " A large posterity Up to your happy palaces may mount, Of blessed saints for to increase the count.'''' [i. e. To increase the number being the Cause of their mount- ing. 1 ] For. Conjunction ; 2 As — 1 [Matth. xi. 8, " But what went ye out for to see % " Matth. xi. 14, " Elias, which was for to come." Acts xvi. 4, "They delivered them the decrees for to keep." Acts xvi. 10, " The Lord had called us for to preach the gospel." — Ed.] 2 So the French correspondent Conjunction car (by old French authors written Quhar) is no other than Qua re, or. Que (i. e. Kai) ea re. " Qu and c (says Laurenbergius) communionem habuere apud an- tiquos, ut Arquus, oquulus, pro arcus, oculus. Prise. Vicissim anticus, eculus, pro antiquus, equulus, antiqui libri. Cum et quum, cui et qui. Terentius Andria : Qui mihi expurgandas est, pro cui : annotat Donatus. Querquera febris, Lucilius : Quercera, Gellius, lib. 20. Cotidie, non P 210 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PAET I. " Ileavn doth with us as we with torches deal, Not light them for themselves: for if out virtues Did not go forth of us, H were all alike As ifive had them not." [i. e. Themselves not being the Cause of lighting them. If our virtues did not go forth of us, 't were all alike as if we had them not : That is the Cause why heaven doth deal with us, as we deal with torches.] " 2. Because ; on this account that ; As — I doubt not but great troops would be ready to run ; yet for that the worst men are most ready to move, 1 would wish them chosen by discretion of wise men." [i. e. The worst men are the most ready to move. That is the Cause why I would wish them (not the worst men, but the troops) chosen by discretion of wise men.] u 3. For as much. In regard that; in consideration of; As — For as much as the thirst is intolerable, the patient may be indulged the free use of Spate water" [i. e. As much as the thirst is intolerable, is the Cause why the patient may be in- dulged.] "4. For why. Because; For this reason that; As — Solyman had three hundred field pieces^ that a Camel might well carry one of them, being taken from the carriage : for "WHY, Solyman ^purposing to draw the emperor unto battle, had brought no greater pieces of battery with him." [i. e. the Cause, that.] Quotidie, scribnnt Quint il. et Victorinus. Stercilinium, pro sterquilinio, habent libri veteres Catonis de R. R. et Terentius Pkormione : Insece efc Inseque. Ennius, Livius, Cato : ut disputat Gellius, lib. 18. cap. 19. Ilujusce, et hujusque, promiscue olim scribebant. Hinc For tuna hujusce diei, apud Plinium, lib. 34. et For tuna hujusque diei, apud Ciceronem, lib. 2. de legibus. Et Victor de regionibus urbis : vicus. hujusque. diei. fort. mb. Lex vetus sedificii : dies operis k. novemb. primeis dies peqvvn. pahs dimidia dabitur vbi prjedia satis subsignata erunt. Altera pars dimidia solvetur opere perfecto probato que." Of which innumerable other instances might also be given. And the Latins, in cutting of the E at the end of Que, only followed the example of the Greets, who did the same by Ka; (as should have been men- tioned before in the note to page 47). Thus in Sappho's ode to Venus, H£S OTTl d' 7}V TO TTZffOvQa, % OTTl Asvgo TtaKoifLi. K? otti y s/xw ua\i6T eOsXto yin^ai. A/ ds /LL7j (piXsi Tayjtog (pi\rj6si K' otti %z7.zvr\g. CH. IX.] OP PREPOSITIONS. 211 B. — For, is not yet your own, however hard you have struggled for it : for, besides Greenwood and S. Johnson, you have still three others to contend with. Wilkins assigns two meanings to for. He says it denotes — " the efficient or final cause, and adjuvancy or agreement with" Lowth asserts that — "• for, in its primary sense, is loco alte- rius, in the stead or place of another." And he therefore cen- sures Swift for saying — " Accused the ministers for betraying the Dutch : " And Dryden for saying—" You accuse Ovid for luxuriancy of verse." Where, instead of for, he says of should be written. And Mr. Tyrwhitt, in his Glossary, says — "For. Prep. Sax. sometimes signifies against." Of which he gives three instances. " He didde next his white lere Of cloth of lake fin and clere ; A breche and eke a sherte ; And next his sliert an haketon, And over that an habergeon For percing of his lierte." Mr. Tyrwhitt says — " Against, or to prevent piercing." " Therfore for stealyng of the rose I rede her nat. the yate unclose." Mr. T. says — " Against stealing." " Some shall sow the sacke For shedding of the wheate." Mr. T. says — " to prevent shedding/' H. — As Wilkins has produced no instances, he has given me nothing to take hold of. And let any ingenuity try whether it can, with any colour of plausibility, apply Dr. Lowth's mean- ing of loco alterius, or any other single meaning (except Cause) to the instances I have already explained. His corrections of Swift and of Dryden are both misplaced. For the meaning of these passages is — Betraying the Butch ) r . j. rr } Cause oi the accusation. Luxuriancy of verse ) So also in Mr. Tyrwhitt's instances, though their construc- tion is aukward and faulty, and now out of use, yet is the mean- ing of for equally conspicuous. The Cause of putting on the 212 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. Habergeon, of the advice not to open the gate, of sowing the sack — being respectively — that the heart might not be pierced, that the rose might not be stolen, that the wheat might not be shed. B. — I will trouble you with only one instance of my own. How do you account for this sentence — (i To the disgrace of common sense and common honesty, after a long debate concern- ing the Rohillas, a new writ was moved FOR FOR Old Sarum : and every orator was tongue-tied. Although it is as much tlie duty of the House of Commons to examine the claim of repre- sentation, as of the other House to examine the claim of Peer- age? Is the repetition of for tautologous, or only aukward ? PI. — Only aukward. For here are two Causes mentioned. The Cause of the writ, and the Cause of the motion. By a small transposition of the words you may remove the aukward- ness and perceive the signification of the phrase. — " A motion ivas made for a new writ for Old Sarum." [i. e. A new writ — Cause of the motion. Old Sarum, or a vacancy at Old Sarum — Cause of the writ.] And you will perceive that for may be repeated in a sentence as often as you mean to indicate a Cause ; and never else. As, " A motion ivas made for an order for a writ FOR the election of a burgess for to serve in parliament for the borough of Old Sarum" 1 . An order — Cause of the motion. 2. A writ — Cause of the order. 3. Election of a burgess — -Cause of the writ. 4. To serve in Parliament — Cause of the election. 5. Borough of Old Sarum — Cause of the service in Parliament. So in these lines of Butler — " The Devil 's master of that office "Where it must pass, if t be a drum ; He'll sign it with Cler. Pari. Bom. Com. To him apply yourselves, and he Will soon dispatch you for his fee." i. e. his fee the Cause. B. — But if the words for and of differ so widely as you say ; if the one means Cause and the other means Consequence ; by what etymological legerdemain will you be able to account for that indifferent use of them which you justified in the in- stances of CH. IX,] OF PREPOSITIONS. 213 " Sickness of hunger ; and Sickness FOR hunger." " Sickness of love ; and Sickness for love." H. — Qualified as it is by you, it is fortunate for me that I shall not need to resort to Etymology for the explanation. Between the respective terms " Sickness =■ Hunger, Sickness ■ Love," it is certainly indifferent to the signification which of the two prepositions you may please to insert between them ; whether of or for : this being the only difference, — that if you insert OF, . it is put in apposition to Sickness ; and Sickness is an- nounced the Consequence : — if you insert for, it is put in apposi- tion to Hunger or to Love; and Hunger or Love is announced the Cause. 1 B. — I do not well understand how you employ the term Apposition. Scaliger, under the head Appositio, (Cap. clxxvii. de caussis) says — u Caussa propter quani duo substantia non ponuntur sine copula, e philosophia petenda est. Si aliqua sub- stantia ejusmodi est, ut ex ea et alia, unum intelligi queat ; earum duarum substantiarum totidem notee (id est nomina) in oratione sine conjunctione coheerere potemnt." H. — What Scaliger says is very true. And this is the case with all those prepositions (as they are called) which are really substantives. Each of these — ejusmodi est, ut ex ea et alia (to which it is prefixed, postfixed, or by any manner attached) unum intelligi queat. D. — If it be as you say, it may not perhaps be so impos- sible as Lord Monboddo imagines, to make a Grammar even for the most barbarous languages : and the Savages may possibly have as complete a syntax as ourselves. Have you considered 1 The Dutch are supposed to use Van in two meanings ; because it supplies indifferently the places both of our of and from. Notwith- standing which Van has always one and the same single meaning, viz. Beginning. And its use both for of and from is to be explained by its different apposition. When it supplies the place of from, Van is put in apposition to the same term to which from is put in apposition. But when it supplies the place of of, it is not put in apposition to the same term to which of is put in apposition, but to its correlative. And between two correlative terms, it is totally indifferent to the meaning which of the two correlations is expressed. 214 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. what lie says upon that subject; vol. I. book 3. of his Origin and Progress of Language ? 1 H. — I could sooner believe with Lord Monboddo, that there are men with tails like cats, as long as his lordship pleases ; 2 and conclude with him, from the authority of his 1 " The last thing I proposed to consider was, the expression of the relation or connexion of thing?, and of the words expressing them : which makes what we call Syntax, and is the principal part of the grammatical art." " Now let ever so many words he thrown together of the most clear and determinate meaning, yet if they are not some way connected, they will never make discourse, nor form so much as a single proposi- tion. This connexion of the parts of speech in languages of art is either by separate words, such as prepositions and conjunctions, or by cases, genders, and numbers, in nouns, ossible to make a Grammar of them. With respect to syntax, the Hurons appear to have none at all : for they have not prepositions or conjunctions. They have no genders, numbers, or cases, for their nouns ; nor moods for their verbs. In short, they have not, so far as I can discover, any way of connecting together the words of their dis- course. Those savages, therefore, though they have invented words, use them as our children do when they begin to speak, without connecting them together : from which we may infer, that Syntax, which com- pletes the work of language, comes last in the order of invention, and perhaps is the most difficult part of language. It would seem, however, that persons may make themselves understood without syntax. And there can be no doubt but that the position of the word will commonly determine what other word in the sentence it is connected with." 2 As his Lordship (vol. 1. p. 238) seems to wish for further authori- ties for human tails, especially of any tolerable length, I can help him to a tail of a foot long, if that will be of any service. il Avant que d'avoir vii cette ile, j'avois souvent oiiy dire qu'il y avoit des hommes a longues queues comme les betes ; mais je n'avois jamais pu le croire, et je pensois la chose si eloignee de notre nature, que j'y eus encore de la peine, lorsque- mes sens m'oterent tout lieu d'en douter par une avanture assez bizarre. Les habitans de Formosa CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 215 famished friend, that human flesh (even to those who are not famished) is the sweetest of all viands to the human taste, than etant accoutumez a nous voir, nous en usions ensemble avec assez de confiance pour ne rien craindre de part ni d'autre ; ainsi quoy qu'e- trangers nous nous croyons en seurete, et marcliions souvent sans escorte lorsque l'experience nous (it connoitre que c'etoit trop nous hazarder. tin jour quelques uns cle nos gens se promenant ensemble, nn de nos ministres, qui e'toit de la compagnie, s'en eloigna d'un jet de pierre pour quelques besoms naturels ; les autres cependant marclioient toujours fort attentifs a un recit qu'on leur faisoit ; quand il fat fini ils se souvinrent que leministre ne revenoit point, ils l'attendi rent quelque temps ; apres quoy, las d'attendre, ils allerent vers le lieu ou ils crurent qu'il devoit etre : lis le trouverent mais sans vie, et le triste etat ou il Stoit fit bien connoitre qu'il n'avoit pas langui long-temps. Pendant que les uns le gardoient, les autres allerent de clivers cotez pour de- couvrir le meurtrier : ils n'allerent pas loin sans trouver un liomme, qui se voyant serre* par les notres, ecumoit, hurloit, et faisoit compreiidre qu'il feroit repentir le premier qui l'approclieroit. Ses manieres desespe- rees firent d'abord quelqu'impression ; mais en fin la frayeur ceda, on prit ce miserable qui avotia qu'il avoit tue le ministre, mais on ne put scavoir pourquoy. Comme le crime etoit atroce, et que 1'impunite pouvoit avoir de facheuses suites, on le condamna a etre brule. II fut attache a un poteau ou il demeura quelques heures avant l'execution ; ce fut alors que je vis ce que jusques-la je n'avois pu croire ; sa queue etoit longue de plus d'un pied toute couverte d'un poil roux, et fort semblable a, celle d'un boeuf, Quand il vit que les spectateurs etoient surpris de voir en lui ce qu'ils n'avoient point, il leur dit que ce cle'faut si e'en etoit un, venoit du climat, puisque tons ceux de la parte meri- clionale de cette ile clout il etoit, en avoient comme lui." — Voyages de Jean Struys, An. 1659, torn. 1. chap. 10. The meek, modest, sincere,* disinterested and amiable Doctor Horsley, Lord bishop of Koch ester, could have furnished the other Lord with an authority for Tails nearer home, in his own metropolitan city : — " Ex hujus modi vocibus, fuerunt improbi nonnulli, quibus visa est occulta voluntas regis esse, ut Thomas e medio tolleretur ; qui prop- terea velut hostis regis habitus, jam turn ccepit sic vulgo negligi,contemni ac in odio esse, ut cum venisset aliquando Strodum, qui vicus situs est ad Medveiam flumen, quod fl umen Rocestriam alluit, ejus loci accolaa cupidi bonum patrem ita despectum ignominia aliqua afiiciendi, non clubitarint amputare caudam equi quern ille equitaret ; seipsos perpetuo probro ob- ligantes : nam postea, nutu clei, ita accidit, ut omnes ex eo hominum genere, qui id facinus fecissent, nati sint instar brutorum animal ium caudati." — As this change of shape may afford a good additional rea- son why such fellows should have " nothing to do with the laws, but to obey them," the bishop perhaps will advise to sink what Polydore kindly adds in conclusion, — " Sed ea infamise nota jam priclem, una * [Mr. Baron Maseres used to relate, that he had often known the bishop to make a jest of doctrines which he strenuously defended in his writings.— Ed.1 216 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART T. admit that " every Idnd of relation is a pure idea of intellect, which, never can be apprehended by sense; and that those par- ticularly which are expressed by cases are more abstract and metaphysical than the others." But his lordship and his fautors will do well to contend stoutly and obstinately for their doctrine of language, for they are menaced with a greater clanger than they will at first ap- prehend : for if they give up their doctrine of language, they will not be able to make even a battle for their Metaphysics : the very term Metaphysic being nonsense ; and all the systems of it, and controversies concerning it, that are or have been in the world, being founded on the grossest ignorance of words and of the nature of speech. As far as relates to Prepositions and Conjunctions, on which (he says) Syntax depends, the principal and most difficult part (as he calls it) of the Grammatical art, and which (according cum gente ilia eorum hominum qui peccarint, deleta est." — JPolyd. Virg. Urb. Anyl. Hist fol. 218. " But who considers right will find indeed, 'Tis Holy Island parts us, not the Tweed. Nothing but Clergy could us two seclude ; No Scotch was ever like a Bishop's feud. All Litanys in this have wanted faith, There's no — Deliver us from a Bishop's wratlu Never shall Calvin pardon'd be for sales ; Never for Burnet's sake, the Lauderdales ; For Becket's sake Kent always shall have tales." The Loyal Scot By A. Marvell. ■" Iolian Capgraye and Alexander of Esseby sayth, that for castynge of fyshe tayles at thys Augustyne, Dorsett Shyre menne hackle tayles ever alter. But Poly dor us applieth it unto Kentish men at Stroud by Rochester, for cuttinge of Thomas Becket's horses tail. Thus hath England in all other land a perpetuall infamy of tayles by theyr wrytten legencles of lyes, yet can they not well tell, where to bestowe them truely."— p. 37. And again, p. 98. — " The spirituall sodomites in the legencles of their senctified sorcerers have diffamed the English posterity with tails, as I have shewed afore. That an Englyshman now cannot travayle in an other land, by way of marchandyse or any other honest occupyinge, but it is most contumeliously thrown in his tethe, that al Englishmen have tailes. That uncomly note and report have the nation gotten, without recover, by these laisy and idle lubbers the Menkes and the Priestes, which could find no matters to advance their canonised gains by, or their saintes as they call them, but manifest lies and knaveries." —lohan Bale. Actes of English y^ ?<-"'-- CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 217 to him) is the last in the order of invention, and completes the work of language : As far as relates to these prepositions and conjunctions, I hope it is by this time pretty evident that, instead of invention, the classes of them spring from corruption; and that, in this respect, the Savage languages are upon an equal footing with the languages (as they are called) of art, except that the former are less corrupted : and that Savages have not only as separate and distinct ideas of those relations as we have, but that they have this advantage over us (an advantage in point of intelligibility, though it is a disadvantage in point of brevity,) that they also express them separately and distinctly. For our Prepositions and Conjunctions, like the languages of the Savages, are merely — a so many words of the most clear and determinate meaning thrown together/' or (as he afterwards strangely expresses it), " thrown into the lump with the things themselves." 1 1 What Lord Monboddo has delivered concerning Syntax, lie has taken, in his own clumsy way, from the following erroneous article of M. de Brosses. — 147. Fabrique des Syntaxes barbares. — " Dans son origine, elle n'a d'abord eu qu'un amas confus de signes epars appliques selon le besoin aux objets a mesure qu'on les decouvroit. Peu a peu la necessite cle faire connoitre les circonstances des idees jointes aux circon- stances des objets, et de les rendre dans 1'ordre ou 1'esprit les place, a, par une logique naturelle, commence de fixer la veritable signification des mots, leur liaison, leur regime, leurs derivations. Par l'usage recu et in- vetere, les tournures habituelles sont devenues les preceptes de l'art bons ou mauvais, c'est a dire bien ou mal faits selon le plus ou lemoins de logique qui y a preside : et comme les peuples barbares n'en ont gueres, aussi leurs langues sont elles souvent pauvres et mal con- struites : mais a mesure que le peuple se police, on voit mieux l'abus des usages, et la syntaxe s'epure par de meilleures habitudes qui de- viennent de nouveaux preceptes. Je n'en dis pas davantage sur l'eta- blissement des syntaxes ; et meme si j'y reviens dans la suite, ce ne sera qu'en peu de mots. C'est une matiere immense dans ses details, qui demanderoit un livre entier pour la suivre dans toutes les opera- tions mechaniques du concept, qui en general la renclent necessaire en consequence de la fabrique du sens interieur, mais tres arbitraire dans ses petits details, par le nombre infini de routes longues ou courtes, droites ou tortues, bonnes ou mauvaises, que Ton pent prendre pour parvenir au meme but. Au surplus toutes ces routes bien ou mal faites servcnt egalement dans l'usage lorsqu'elles sont une fois frayees et con- nues." This matiere immense, as M. de Brosses imagines it, is in truth a very small and simple business. The whole of cultivated languages, as well as of those we call barbarous, is merely " un amas de signes epars appliques selon le besoin aux objets.'" 218 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. B. — Well, Sir, after this tedious investigation of for, (one half of which I think might have been spared,) let us now, if you please, pause for a moment, and consider the ground which we have beaten. The Prepositions if, unless, but, without, since, you had before explained amongst the Con- junctions, To these you have now added the prepositions with, sans, through, from, to, while, till, of, and for. Though we have spent much time, we have made but little progress, compared with what still remains to be clone : at least if our language is as fertile in prepositions as Bnffier supposes the French to be. H. — I rather think we have made great progress. And, if you have nothing to object to my derivations and explanations, I must consider the battle as already won. For I am not here writing a dictionary (which yet ought to be done, and of a very different hind, indeed from any thing ever yet attempted any lohere), but only laying a foundation for a new theory of language. However, though the remaining prepositions are numerous, the greater part require but little, and many of them no explanation. By. By (in the Anglo-Saxon written Br, Be, B13) is the Impe- rative l Bye) of the Anglo-Saxon verb Beon, to be. And our ancestors wrote it indifferently either be or by. "Damville be right ought to have the leading of the army, but, BYcause thei be cosen germans to the Admirall, thei be mistrusted." 1568. — See Lodge's Illustrations, vol. 2. p. 9. This prepo- sition is frepuently, but not always, used with an abbreviation of construction. Subauditur, instrument, cause, agent, &c. Whence the meaning of the omitted word has often been im- properly attributed to by. With (when it is the imperative 1 [ByS is the third person singular of the optative, present and future ; Elstop and Rawlinson give it as the Imperative, but not Bask. It would seem to be an objection to Mr. Tooke's opinion, that hi or be is also a common prefix to verbs. " par Brutus bi-feng Al ]>at him bi-foren WQ$"-—Layam. v. 329. — Ed ] CH. IX.] OF PEEPOSITIONS. 219 of pyjrSan) is used indifferently for By l (when it is the impe- rative of Beon) and with the same suhauditur and imputed meaning : As — " He ivas slain by a sivord, or, he ivas slain with a sword? — " Kemvalcus was warreyd with the King of Britons.'" Wallis ; confounding together the imperative of pyjrSan with the imperative of yityj^N, says— "With indicat instrumentum, ut Latinorum ablativus instrumenti ; atque etiam concomitantiam, ut Latinorum cum." By was also formerly used (and not improperly nor with a different meaning) where we now employ other prepositions, such, as Foi% In, During, Through. As ; — '-' Aboute the xvni yere of the reygne of Ine dyed the holy byshop Aldelme. Of him it is written, that when he was styred by his gostly enymy to the synne of the flesh, he to do the more torment to himselfe and of hys body, wolde holde within his bedde by him a fayre mayden by so long a tyme as he myght say over the hole sauter." Fabian, LXXVI. " The which by a longe time dwelled in warre." XL v. " To whom the fader had by hys lyfe commytted him." lxxii. " He made Clement by hys lyfe helper and successour." lv. "Whom Pepyn by his lyfe hadde ordeyned ruler of Guian," lxxxiii. "Sleynge the people without mercy by all the ways that they passyd." lxxviii. So also of was formerly used, and with propriety, where we now employ by with equal propriety. " These quenes were as two goddesses Of arte magike sorceresses 1 In compound prepositions also, the Anglo-Saxon uses indifferently either ]n'S or Be ; as, piS-septan Be-aeptan piS-popan Be-jroanji piS-geonban Be-^eonban pio-mnan Be-mnan piS-neoSan Be-neo(5an piS-upan Be-upan piS-iitan Be-utan piS-hmban Be-hmban though the modern English has given the preference to Be : having retained only two of the above prepositions commencing with piS, and dropped only two commencing with Be* 220 or prepositions. [part i. Thei couthe inuche, lie coutlie more : Tliei shape and cast ay ens t hym sore, And wrought many a subtile wile. But yet thei might hym not begyle. Such crafte thei had aboue kynde, But that arte couth thei not fyncle, Of whiche Ulisses was deceived." Gower, lib. 5. fob 135. p. 1. col. 2. Between. Betwixt. 1 Between (formerly written Tiuene, Ativene, Bytwene) is a dual preposition, to which the Greek, Latin, Italian, French, &c, have no word correspondent ; and is almost peculiar to ourselves, as some languages have a peculiar dual number. It is the Anglo-Saxon Imperative Be, and Tpejen or twain. Betwixt (by Chaucer written Byttoyt 2 ) is the imperative Be, and the Gothic TV&S, or two: and was written in the Anglo-Saxon Becpeohs, Betpeox, Betpux, Betpyx, and Befcpyxt. Before, Behind, Below, Beside, Besides. These Prepositions are merely the imperative be, com- pounded with the nouns fore, hind, low, side, which— re- maining still in constant and common use in the language ; as — The fore part, the hind part, a low place, the side — require no explanation. 3 Beneath. Beneath means the same as Below. It is the imperative Be compounded with the noun, Neath. Which word Neath (for any other use but this of the preposition) having slipped away from our language, would perhaps have given some trouble, had not the nouns Nether and Nethermost (corrupted from NeoSemert, NrSemaept), still continued in common 1 Grimm's Grainmat. iii. 269. 2 " Thy wife and thou mote hange fer atwynne, For that Bytwyt you shall be no synne." — Miller s Tale. 3 [These and the like are what Grimm classes as substantive-prepo- sitions, as being compounded with nouns ; the prefix, however, being itself a preposition, and not, as Mr. Tooke supposes, a verb j this class including such words as again, anciently also to-gen (Layam.), among, A.S. on-jemanj, &c. See Additional Notes. — Ed.] CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 221 use. 1 The word Nether is indeed at present fallen into great contempt, and is rarely used but in ridicule and with scorn : and this may possibly have arisen from its former application to the house of commons, anciently called (by Henry VIII.) " The nether house of parliament" 2 That the word should thus have fallen into disgrace is nothing wonderful : for in truth this Nether end of our parliament has for a long time |3ast been a mere sham and mockery of representation, but is now become an impudent and barefaced usurpation of the rights of the people. Neath, Neo^an, NeoSe, (in the Dutch Neden, in the Danish Ned, in the German Niedere, and in the Swedish Nedre and Neder) is undoubtedly as much a substantive, and has the same meaning as the word nadir ; which Skinner (and after him S. Johnson) says, we have from the Arabians. This etymology (as the word is now applied only to astronomy) I do not dispute ; but the word is much more antient in the northern languages than the introduction of that science amongst them. And therefore it was that the whole serpentine class was denominated M j^llf? in the Gothic, and Nebjie in the Anglo-Saxon. If we say in the English — " From the top to the bottom," — the nouns are instantly acknowledged : and surely they are to the full as evident in the collateral Dutch, " Van boven tot BEN EDEN.— BENEDEN stad" &C. Under. Under (in the Dutch Onder,) which seems by the sound 1 " yet higher than their tops The verd'rous wall of paradise up sprung : Which to our general Sire gave prospect large Into his nether empire neighboring round." Par. Lost, book 4. ver. 445. " among these the seat of men, Earth with her nether, ocean circumfus'd Their pleasant dwelling-place." — Ibid, book 7. v. 624. " In yonder nether world where shall I seek His bright appearances, or footstep trace 1 " Ibid, book 11. "v. 328. 2 " Which doctrine also the lordes bothe spirituall and temporall, with the nether house of our parliament, have both sene, and lyke very wel." — A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christen Man. Setfurthe by the Kynges maiestie of Englande, 1543. 222 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. to have very little connexion with the word Beneath, is yet in fact almost the same, and may very well supply its place : l for it is nothing but On neder, and is a Noun. " Nor engine, nor device polemic, Disease, nor Doctor epidemic, I Though stor'd with deletory med'cines (Which whosoever took is dead since) E'er sent so vast a colony To both the under worlds, as He." — Hudib. can. 2. v. 320. Beyond. Beyond (in the Anglo-Saxon prSjeonban, Brgeonb,, Begeonb) means be passed. It is the Imperative Be, compounded with the past participle jeonb, jeoneb, or joneb, of the verb Iran, Ii-anjaii, or Erongan, to go, or to pass. So that — " Beyond any place" means — Be passed that place, or ? Be that place passed. Ward. Ward, in the Anglo- Saxon j?anb or peapb, is the imperative of the verb papbian or peapbian to look at; or to direct the view. It is the same word as the French garder: 2 and so Chaucer uses it, where it is not called a preposition. " Take rewarde of [i. e. Pay regard to, or Look again at] thyn owne valewe, that thou ne be to foule to thy selfe." — Parsons Tale, fol. 101. p. 2. col. 2. " And yet of Danger cometh no blame In reward [i. e. in regard] of my daughter shame." Rom. of the Rose, fol. 135. p. 2. col. 1. 1 [Unter, onder, in some cases also represents inter, both alone and in compounds : e. g. Ger. unterhrechen, interrupt; Dutch, ondermengen, intermingle ; " onder weghen, inter eunduni ;" Kilian, under way ; A.S. Unbeji Sssm, inter ea ; unSen beojigen, among (?) hills, Layam. 20854. — Wachter considers this sense to have been brought in by early trans- lators, " ex affectaticne LatinismV Haltaus says it is also sometimes confounded witli Hinder. Ihese show the occasional tendency of lan- guage to be confluent; and that words which appear alike, or even the several senses of the same word (if same it can be called) are not always to be traced to one source. To this cause may perhaps be referred the relation between the words undertake and entreprendrc, understand (yer- staen) and intelligere. — Ed.] 2 " Literarum g et w frequentissima est commutatio," &c. — Wallis 's Preface. " Galli semper G utuntur pro Sax. p. id est, pro w." — Spelman Gloss. (Garantia.) CH, IX.] OF PEE POSITIONS. 223 " Tins shuld a rigtwise lord haue in his thoujt Arid nat be like tirauntes of Lombardy That han no rewakde [i. e. regard] but at tyranny." Legende of good Women, fol. 206. p. 2« col. 2. " Wherfore God him self toke rewakd to the thynges, and theron suche punyshinent let fal." — Testament of Lone, boke 2. fol. 322. p. 2. c. 1. Our common English word To reward, 1 which usually, by the help of other words in the sentence, conveys To recompence, To benefit in return for some good action done ; yet sometimes means very far from benefit : as thus, — iC Beivard them after their doings" — where it may convey the signification of pun- ishment ; for which its real import is equally well calculated : for it is no other than Regarder, i. e. To look again, i. e. To remember, to reconsider ; the natural consequence of which will be either benefit or the contrary, according to the action or conduct which we review. In a figurative or secondary sense only, Garder means to protect, to keep, to watch, to ward, or to guard. It is the same in Latin : Tutus, guarded, looked after, safe, is the past participle of Tueor, Tuitus, Tutus. So Tutor, he who looks after. So we say either, — Guard him well, or, Look well after him. In different places in England, the same agent is very properly called either a Looker, a Warden, a Warder, an Overseer, a Keeper, a Guard, or a Guardian. Accordingly this word ward may with equal . propriety be joined to the name of any person, place, or thing, to^ov from which our view or sight may be directed. " He saicle he came from Barbarie To Romewarde" Gower, lib. 2. fol. 34. p. 1. col. 1. 1 Skinner says — "Reward q. d. Re Award (i e. contra seu vicissim assignare. ab A. S. peanb, versus, erga. v. award.") And under Award, he says — " Award, a part, initiali otiosa A, et A. S. peajib, versus, erga. q. d. erga talem (i. e.) tali addicere, assignare." S. Johnson says, " reward [Re and Award] to give in return. Skinner." Which is the more extraordinary because under the article Award, Johnson says, that it is " derived by Skinner, somewhat im- probably, from peapb Sax. towards." I suppose award to be a garder, i. e. a determination a qui c'est d garder, the thing in dispute ; i. e. to keep it — not custodire, as Spelman imagined ; but to have or hold it in possession : for garder in French is used both ways, as keep is in English, and in both properly. 224 OF PEEPOSITIONS. [PAET I. " This senatour repayreth with victorye To Romewarde." Chaucer, Man of Laiues Tale, fol. 23. p. 2. col. 1. " Kynge Demophon whan lie by ship To Troiewarde with felauship Seyland goth upon his weie." — Gower, lib. 4. fol. 67. p. 1. col 1. " Agamemnon was then in waye To Troiwarde."—Ibid. lib. 5. fob 119. p. 1. col. 1. " He is gon to Scotlondwarde." Chaucer, Man ofLawes Tale, fol. 22. p. 1 . col 1. " The morrow came, and forth rid this marchant To Flaundersivard, his prentes brought him auaunt Til he came to Bruges." — Shypmans Tale, fol. 70. p. 1. col. 1. " His banner he displayed, and forth rode To Tlwbeswarde." — Knyghtes Tale, fol. 1. p. 2. col. 1. "And certayne he was a good felawe ; Ful many a draught of wine had he drawe From Burdeuxiuard, while the chapmen slepe." Chaucer, ProL to Cant. Tales. " That eche of you to shorte with others way In this viage, shal tel tales tway To Canterbury war Je I meane it so, And Homwardes 1 he shal tel tales other two." Ibid. " and forth goth he To shyppe, and as a tray tour stale away Whyle that this Ariadne a slepe lay, And to his countreywarde he sayleth blyue." Ariadne, fob 217. p. 2 cob 1. " Be this the son went to, and we forwrocht Left desolate, the wyndis calmit eik : "We not bekend, quhat rycht coist mycht we seik, War warpit to Seywart by the outivart tyde." Douglas, booke 3. p. 87. " The mone in till ane w r auerand carte of licht Held rolling throw the heuynnis middilwaede." Ibid, booke 10. p. 322. " The Lanclwart hynes than, bayth man and boy, For the soft sessoun ouerflowis ful of ioy." Ibid, booke 13. p. 472. 1 [This genitive termination should lead us rather to consider ivard as a substantive, than as the imperative of a verb. See Needs, and Add. Notes.— Ed.] CH. IX.] OF PKEPOSITIONS. 225 li Lo Troylus, right at the stretes ende Came ryding with, his tenthe sornme yfere Al softely, and thyderwarde gan bende There as they sate, as was his way to wende To Paleyswarde" Chaucer, Troylus, boke 2. fol. 189, p. 2. col. 2. " As she wold haue gon the way forth right Towarde the garden, there as she had hight, And he was to the Gardenwarde also." Frankeleyns Tale, fol. 55. p. 2. col. 1. " And than he songe it wel and boldely Fro worde to worde according to the note, Twise a day it passeth through his throte To Scolewarde, and Honuvarde when he went." Prioresses Tale, fol. 71. p. 2. col. 1. " To Mewarde bare he right great hate." Romaunt of the Rose, fol. 138. p. 1. col. 1. " He hath suche heuynesse, and suche wrathe to uswarde, bycause ot our offence."- — Tale of Chaucer, fol. 82. p. 1. col. 1. " Bat one thing I wolde wel ye wist That neuer for no worldes good Myne hert unto hirvoarde stood, But onely right for pure loue." Goioer, lib. 5. fol. 97. p. 2. col, 2. " But be he squier, be he knight Whiche to my Ladyewarde pursueth, The more he leseth of that he seweth, The more me thinketh that I wynne." Ibid. lib. 2. fol. 28. p. 2. col. 2. " Wheras the Poo, out of a wel small Taketh his first spring and his sours That Estwarde euer increseth in his cours To Emelleward, to Ferare, and to Venyse." Chaucer, Gierke of Oxenf. Tale, fol. 45. p. 1. col. 2. " If we turned al our care to Godward, we shuld not be destitute of such things as necessarili this presente lyfe nedeth." — Tho. Lupset, Of diynge ivell, p. 203. " It is hard for a man in a welthy state to kepe his mind in a due order to Godward.'" — Ibid. p. 205. " The which is with nothing more hurted and hyndered in his way to Gracewarde than with the brekinge of loue and charitie." — Lupset, Exhortacion to yonge Men. So we may bid the hearer look at or regard either the End Q 226 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. or Beginning of any action or motion or time. Hence the compound Prepositions toward and from ward, and Adverbs of this termination without number : in all of which, ward is always the imperative of the verb, and always retains one single meaning ; viz. Regard, Look at, See, Direct your view. Minshew, Junius, and Skinner, though they are very clear that ward and garder are, on all other occasions, the same word ; (and so in Warden and Guardian, &c.) yet concur that ward, the Affix or postpositive preposition, is the Latin Versus: Skinner, with some degree however of doubt, saying — " A. S. autem peajib, si a Lat. Vertere deflectererm quid scelerls esset ? " — Surely none. It would only be an error to be corrected. The French preposition Vers, from the Italian Verso, from the Latin Versus (which in those languages supply the place of the English ward, as Adversus also does of To-ward), do all indeed derive from the Latin verb Vertere, to turn; of which those prepositions are the past participle, and mean turned, And when it is considered that, in order to direct our view to any place named, we must turn to it ; It will not seem extraordinary, that; the same purpose should in different languages be indifferently obtained by words of such different meanings, as to look at, or, to turn to. Athwart. Athwart (i. e. Athiveort, or Athweoried), wrested, twisted, curved, is the past participle of Bpeojuan, To wrest, To twist ; ffexuosum, sinuosum, curvum reddere ; from the Gothic verb TH^V^OK-A^"' ^ ience a ^ so ^ ie Anglo-Saxon Bpeoji, Bpeojih, the German Zwercli, Zwar, the Dutch Dwars, Zwerven, the Danish Tverer, Tvert, Tver, the Swedish Twert, and Swarfwa, and the English Thwart, Swerve, and Veer. 1 Among, Amongst, Ymell. Minshew says—" ex Belg. Gemengt, i. e. niixtus." Skinner says — " ab A. S. Eremang, hoc a verbo De- menTan." 2 1 Junius derives Swerve from the Hebrew. And. all our Etymologists Veer from the French Virer. 2 In the Dutch Mingen, Mengen, Immengen. German Mengen. Danish lllceuger. Swedish Menga. CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 227 Junius says — " Manifeste est ex A. S. Maengan, Menjian, miscere." Here all our Etymologists are right in the meaning of the word, and therefore concur in their etymology. Mr. Tyrwhitt alone seems to have no notion of the word. For he says — " / suspect the Saxon Demang had originally a termination in an." But Mr. Tyrwhitt must not be reckoned amongst Etymologists. EMONGE, 1 AMONGE, 2 AMONGES, amongest, 3 amongst, among, is' the past participle te-mEencjeb, Ire-niencjeb, (or, as the Dutch write it, Gemengd, Gemengt ; and the old Eng- lish authors, Meynt,)* of the Anglo-Saxon verb Iremaencgan, Eremencjan, and the Gothic verb F/\.MJll^QA^* ® r rather, it is the praeterperfect Eemanj, L-emoirg, Denning, or Amang, Among, Araung (of the same verb Msengan, Mengan), used as a participle, without the participial termina- tion ob, ab, or eb : and it means purely and singly Mixed , Mingled. It is usual with the Anglo-Saxons (and they seem 1 " The kynge with all his hole entent Then at laste hem axeth this, What kynge men tellen that he is Emonge the folke touchinge his name, Or it be price, or it be blame." Goiver, lib. 7. fol. 18-5. p. 1. col. 2. 2 " And tho she toke hir childe in honde And yafe it souke ; and euer amonge She wepte, and other while songe To rocke with her childe aslepe." lib. 2. fol, 33. p. 2. col. 1. 8 " I stonde as one amongest all Whiche am oute of hir grace fall." lib, 8. fol. 187. p. 2. col. 1. 4 " Warme milke she put also therto With hony meynt, and in suche wise She gan to make hir sacrifice." lib. 5. fol. 105. p. 2. col 1. " That men in eueryche myght se Bothe great anoye, and eke swetnesse, And ioye meynt with bytternesse, Nowe were they easy, nowe were they wood." Chaucer, Rom. of the Rose, fol 180. p. 1. col. 1. " For euer of loue the sickenesse Is meynt with swete and bitternesse." Ibid. fol. 130. p. 2, col 2. 228 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. to be fond of it) to prefix especially to their past participles R, M, Be, Fop, Ire. 1 Chaucer uses this participle amonges in a manner which, I suppose, must exclude all doubt upon the subject; and where it cannot be called a preposition. " Yf tliou castest thy seedes in the feldes, thou shuldest haue in mynde that the yeres bene amonges, otherwhyle plentuous, and other- why le bareyn." — Seconds Boke ef Boecius, fob 225. p. 2. col. 2. This manner of using the prseterperfect as a participle, without the participial termination ed or en, is still very com- mon in English ; and was much more usual formerly. 2 In the similar verbs, To sink De-peiican, To drink Ere-bpencan, To stink Ire-pfcencan, To hang fteirgan, To spring K- pppingan, To swing Spenjan, To ring Rinjan, To shrink ^-rcpmcan, To sting Sfcmgan, and in very many others, the same word is still used by us, both as prasterperfect and participle ; Sunk, Drunk, Stunk, Hung, Sprung, Swung, Rung, Shrunk, Stung. All these were formerly written with an o (as Among still continues to be), Sonk, Dronk (or A- dronk), Stonk, Hong (or A-hong 5 ), Sprong (or Y-sprong), Swong, Hong, Shronk, Sto?ig. But the o having been pro- nounced as an u 5 the literal character has been changed by the moderns, in conformity with the sound. And though Among (by being ranked amongst prepositions, and being un- suspected of being a participle like the others) has escaped the change, and continues still to be written with an o, it is always sounded like an u ; A mung, Amunkst. In the Eeve's Tale, Chaucer uses the Preposition ymell instead of among. 1 [Also On, of which A is frequently the representative. So On- mang, and On gemang ; Gemanje as a substantive meaning a company. —Ed.] 2 Doctor Lowth is of a different opinion. He says — " This abuse has been long growing upon us, and is continually making further incroachments," &c. But Doctor Lowth was not much acquainted with our old English authors, and still less with the Anglo-Saxon. It is not an abuse, but coasval with the language, and analogous to the other parts of it j but it must needs have been highly disgusting to Doctor Lowth, who was excellently conversant with the learned lan- guages, and took them for his model. 3 [An-lionge, Weber's Romances, hi. 49 ; an-hongen, Layamon, 1020.— Ed.] CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 229 " Herdest thou ever slike a song er now 1 Lo wliilke a complin is ymell hem alle." Bat this will give us no trouble, but afford a fresh con- firmation to our doctrine : for the Danes use Mellem, Imellem, and Iblandt, for this preposition Among, from their verbs llegler, Melerer, (in the French Mesler or Meier,) and Iblander, To mix, To blend ; and the Swedes Ibland, from their verb Blanda, To blend. Ymell means y-medled, i. e. mixed, mingled. A medley is still our common word for a mixture. Ymeddled, ymelled, and ymell by the omission of the participial termination, than which nothing is more common in all our old English writers. " He drinketh the bitter with the swete, He medleth sorowe with likynge And liueth so, as who saieth, diynge." Gower, lib. 1, fol. 17. p. 1. col. 2. " mighty lorde, toward my vice Thy mercy medle with justice." lib. 1. fol. 24. p. 2. col. 2. " But for all that a man maie finde No we in this tyme of thilke rage Full great disease in mareiage, Whan venim medleth with the s'ugre, And mariage is made for lucre." lib. 5. fol. 99. p. 1. col. 1. " Thus medleth she with ioye wo, And with her sorowe myrth also." lib. 5. fol. 116. p. 1. col. 1. " Whan wordes medlen with the songe, It doth plesance well the more." lib. 7. fol. 150. p. 1. col. 2. " A kinge whiche hath the charge on honde The common people to gouerne If that he wil, he maie well lerne Is none so good to the plesance Of God, as is good governance. And euery gouernance is due To pitee, thus I maie argue, That pitee is the foundemente Of euery kynges regiment e. If it be medled with Justice, Thei two remeuen all vice, And ben of vertue most vailable To make a kinges roylme stable." lib. 7. fol. 166. p. 2. col 1. 230 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. " But lie whiche hath his lust assised With medlid lone and tyrannic" Gower, lib. 7. fol. 170. p. 2. col. 1. " And medleth sorowe with his songe." Tib. 8. fol. 182. p. 2. col. 2. " We haunten no tauernes, ne hobelen abouten, Atfc markets and miracles we medeley us neuer." Pierce Plowmans Crede. " There is nothyng that sauoureth so wel to a cliylde, as the my Ike of his nouryce, ne nothyng is to him more abhomynable than the my Ike, whan it is medled with other meate." — Chaucer, Persons Tale, fol. 101. p. 2. cob 1. " His garment was euery dele Ypurtrayed and ywrought with floures By dyuers medelyng of coloures." Bom. of the Bose, fol. 124, p. 1. col. 2. "0 God (quod she) so worldly selynesse Whiclie clerkes callen false felicite Ymedled is with many a bytternesse Ful anguyshous," — Troylus, boke 3. fol. 177. p. 1. col. 1. " Some on her churches dwell . Apparailled porely, proude of porfce, The seuen sacramentes they done sell, In cattel catchyng is her comfort, Of eche matter they vvollen mell." Plowmans Tale, fol. 97. p. 2. col. 1. " Arnang the Grekis mydlit than went we." Douglas, booke 2. p. 52. " And reky nycht within an litil thraw Gan thikkin oner al the cauerne and ouerblaw, And with the mirknes mydlit sparkis of fire." Ibid, booke 8. p. 250. " Syne to thare werk in manere of gun powder, Thay mydlit and they mixt this fereful souder." Ibid, booke 8. p. 257. "And steclis thrawand on the ground that weltis, Mydlit with men, quhilk geilcl the goist and sweltis." Ibid, booke 11. p. 387. " With blvithnes mydlit hauand paneful drede." Ibid, booke 11. p. 394. " Quhii blude and brane in haboundance furth scliede Mydlit with sand under hors fete was trede." Ibid, booke 12. p. 421. CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 231 " Above all utheris Dares in that stede Thame to behald abasit wox gretumly Tharwitli to mell refusing aluterlie." Douglas, booke 5. p. 141. " Quben Turnus all the chiftanis trublit saw, And Eneas sare woundit liym withdraw ; Than for this hasty hope als hate as fyre To mell in fecht he cancht ardent desyre." Ibid, booke 12. p. 420. Against. Against (in the Anglo-Saxon Onjegen) 1 is derived by Junius from jeonb. "Dr. Mer. Casaubonus mirabiliter (says Skinner) deflectit a Gr. zar a." Minshew derives it from xarevavn. I can only say that I believe it to be a past participle de- rived from the same verb (whatever it be, for I know it not), from which comes the collateral Dutch verb Jegenen, To meet, rencontre?*, To oppose, &c. And I am the more confirmed in this conjecture, because in the room of this preposition the Dutch employ Jegens from Jegenen : and the Danes Mod and Imod, from their verb Mode? of the same meaning : and the Swedes Emot from their verb Mota of the same meaning. The Danish and Swedish verbs from the Gothic M&TQAN ; whence also our verb to meet, and the Dutch Moeten, Gemoeten. Amid or Amidst. These words (by Chaucer and others written Amiddes) speak for themselves. They are merely the Anglo-Saxon On-mibban, On-mibbej*, in medio : and will the more easily be assented to, because the nouns Mid, Middle (L e. CPib-bael) ? and Midst, are still commonly used in our language. Along. On long, secundum longitudinem, or On length : " And these wordes said, she streyght her On length (i. e. she stretch- ed herself along) and rested awhile." — Chaucer, Test of Loue, fol. 325. p. 1. col. 2. The Italians supply its place by Lungo : " Cosi Lungo 1'amate rive andai." — Petrarch. 1 [A. S. also Onjean and To-geaner ; Mem. Teghen. — -Ed.] 232 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. And the French by the obvious noun and article Le Long : " Joconde la dessus se remet en cliemin Revant a son inalheur tout Le Long du voyage." — La Fontaine. So far there is no difficulty. But there was another use of this word formerly ; now to be heard only from children or very illiterate persons : " King James had a fashion, that lie would never admit any to near- ness about himself, but such an one as the queen should commend unto him, and make some suit on his behalf ; that if the queen afterwards, being ill treated, should complain of this Bear one, he might make his answer-—' It is long of yourself, for you were the party that com- mended Mm to me.' " — Archbishop Abbot's narrative; in RushwortKs Collections, vol. 1. p. i5Q. The Anglo-Saxon used two words for these two purposes, Snblang, Snblong, Onblong, for the first; and E-elang for the second : and our most antient English writers observed the same distinction, using endlong for the one, and along for the other. " She slough them in a sodeine rage Endelonge the borde as thei ben set." Gower, lib. 2. fol. 31. p. 1. col. 2. " Thys kynge the wether gan beholde, And wist well, they moten holde Her coura endlonge the marche right," lib. 3. fol. 53. p. 1. col. 1. " That nigh his house he lette deuise Endelonge upon an axell tree To sette a tonne in suclie degree That he it might tourne about." lib. 3. fol. 54. p. 1. col. 1. " And euery thyng in his degree Ekdelonge upon a bourde he laide." lib. 5. fol. 100. p. 2. col. 2. " His prisoners eke shulden go Endlonge the chare on eyther honde." lib. 7. fol. 155. p. 1. col. 1. " Than see thei stonde on euery side Endlongb the shippes borde." lib. 8. fol. 179. p. 1. col. 2. " Loke what day that endelong Brytayne Ye remeue all the rockes, stone by stone, That they ne let shyppe ne bote to gone, Than wol I loue you best of any man." Chaucer, Frankeleyns Tale> fol. 53. p. 1, col. 2. CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 233 " This lady rometli by the clyffe to play With her meyne, endlonge the stronde." Hypsiphile, fol. 214. p. 1. col. 2. " I sette the point ouer endelonge on the label." Astrolabie, fol. 286. p. 2. col. 1. " I sette the poynte of p, endelonge on my labell." Ibid. fol. 286. p. 2. col. 2. " We slyde in fluddes endlang feill coystes fare." Douglas, booke 3. p. 71. " Syne eftir endlangis the sey coistis bray Up sonkis set and desis did array." " Endlang the coistis side our nauy rade." " Bot than the women al, for drede and affray, Fled here and there, endlang the coist away." " In schawis schene endlang the wattir bra. " Endlang the styll fludis calme and bene." " For now thare schippis full thik redely standis, Brayand endlang the coistis of thar landis." " The bront and force of thare army that tyde Endlang the wallis set on the left syde." " Endlang the bankis of nude Minionis." " The bankis endlang al the fludis dynnys." " Before him cachand ane grete flicht or oist Of foulis, that did hant endlang the coist." " For euer whan I thinke amonge, Howe all is on my selfe alonge, I saie, O foole of all fooles." — Gower, lib. 4. fol. 66. p. 2. col. 1. " I wote well ye haue long serued, And God wote vdiat ye haue deserued, But if it is alonge on me, Of that ye unauanced be, Or els if it be longe on you, The soth shall be preued no we." lib. 5. fol. 96. p. 1. col. 2. " And with hir selfe she toke such strife, That she betwene the deth and life Swounende lay full ofte amonge : And all was this on hym alonge, Whiche was to loue unkinde so." lib. 5. fol. 113. p. 1. col. 2. booke 2 '• I ». 75. booke c >■! i.77. booke 5. P- 151. booke 7. P- 236. booke 8. P- 243. booke 8. P- 260. booke 9. P- 293. booke 10. P- 320. booke 11. P- 372. booke 12. P« 416. 234 or PREPOSITIONS. [part I. " But thus this maiden had wronge Whiche was upon the kynge alonge, But ageyne hyni was none apele." Gower, lib. 7. fol. 172. p. 2. c. 1. " Ye wote your selfe, as wel as any wight Howe that your loue al fully graunted is To Troylus, the worthy est wyght One of the worlde, and therto trouth ypliglit, That but it were on him alonge, ye nolde Him neuer falsen, whyle ye lyuen sholde." Chaucer, Troylus, booke 3. fol. 176. p. 2. col. 2. Once indeed (and only once, I believe) Gower has confounded them, and has used along for both purposes : " I tary forth the night alonge, For it is nought on me alonge To slepe, that I soon go."— lib. 4. fol. 78. p. 2. col. 1. Snblanj or endlong is manifestly On long; But what is telairj; 1 or along ? S. Johnson says it is — " a word now out of use, but truly English." He has no difficulty with it : according to him it is — "Eelanj, a fault, Saxon." — But there is no such word in Saxon as Lelanj, a fault. Nor is that, at any time, the meaning of this word long (or along, as I have always heard it pro- nounced). Fault or not Fault, always depends upon the other words in the sentence : for instance, " Thanks to Pitt : it is along of him that we not only keep our boroughs, but get peerages into the bargain." " Curses on Pitt : it is along of him that the free constitution of this country is destroyed." I suppose that Lord Lonsdale, Lord Elliot, and the father of Lady Bath, would not mean to impute any fault to the minister in the former of these sentences: though the people of Eng- 1 [Mr. Tooke has clearly pointed out the distinction between these two senses of Along; but I suspect that he has missed of the complete explanation of the latter, Helanj, which, I believe, is not to be referred to any root signifying Length; but to an entirely distinct one, whence comes our word Belong, and which it is singular that so acute an ob- server as Mr. Tooke should have overlooked. It is pointed out by Wacliter (v. Langen), of whose invaluable work he does not appear to have availed himself. Mr. Bichardson, in his Dictionary, however, has consulted Wachter upon this word, but to no purpose, as he makes very light of his authority, alleging that he here " has several unneces- sary distinctions /" See Additional Notes; — Ed.] CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 235 land do certainly impute an inexpiable crime and treachery to him in the latter. But Johnson took carelessly what he thought he found, without troubling himself about the fact or the meaning ; and he was misled by Skinner : 1 as he was also concerning the verb To Long. I mention the verb To Long, because it may possibly assist us in discovering the meaning of the other word. — Ci To Long," says Skinner, " valde desiderare, ut nos dicimus, to think Hie time long till a man has a thing" The word long is here lugged in by head and shoulders, to give something of an appearance of connexion between the verb and the noun. But when we consider that we have, and can have, no way of expressing the acts or operations of the mind, but by the same words by which we express some cor- responding (or supposed corresponding) act or operation of the body: when (auioogst a multitude of similar instances) we consider that we express a moderate desire for any thing, by saying that we incline (i. e. Bend ourselves) to it ; will it sur- prise us, that we should express an eager desire, by saying that we long, i. e. Make long, lengthen, or stretch out oar- selves after it, or for it ? especially when we observe, that after the verb To incline we say To or Toivards it ; but after the verb To Long we must use either the word For or After, in order to convey our meaning. Lenpan in the Anglo-Saxon is To Long, i. e. To make long, To lengthen, To stretch out, To produce, Extendere, pro- tendere. W " LangaJ? $e apuhfc, ^bani, up to Lobe." i. e. Longeth you, Lengtheneth you, Stretcheth you up to God. Lang or Long is the prgeterperfect of Lengian. The Anglo-Saxon and old English writers commonly use the praa- terperfect as a participle, especially with the addition of the prefixes a or ge. — "Nota secundo," says Hickes, "has pra^positiones saspe in vicem commutari, praesertim Le, Be, et !S." — May we not 1 Skinner says — "Long ab A.S. Lelanj, causa, culpa, ut dicimus It is long of him.'''' Which were evidently intended by Skinner to be understood causa, cutyod. So Lye says — " Lelan^, Long of; Opera, causa, impulsu, culpa cu- jusvis. — sec fSe yr ujie lype gelang, ut Anglice dici solet, It is long of thee that we live." Here is no Fault. 236 . OF PREPOSITIONS. [part I. then conclude that Ire-lanj or A-long is the past participle of Lenjian, and means Produced ? Bound, Around : Whose place is supplied in the Anglo-Saxon by ftpeil and On-hpeil 1 In the Danish and Swedish by Omkring. In Dutch by Own-ring; and in Latin by Circum, a Gr. K^xog, of which circulus is the diminutive. Aside, Aboard, Across, Astride, require no expla- nation. DuRTNG. The French participle Durant ; from the Italian; from the Latin. The whole verb Dure was some time used commonly in our language. 11 And al his luste, and al his besy cure Was for to loue her while his lyfe mai dure." Chaucer, Man of L awes T. fol. 19. p. 1. col. 2. " How shuld a fyshe withouten water dure." Troylus, boke 4. fol. 186. p. 2. col. 1. " Elementes that bethe discordable Holden a bonde, perpetually duryng, That Phebus mote his rosy day forthbring And that the mone hath lorship ouer the nightes." Ibid, boke 3. fol. 172. p. 1. col. 1. " Euer their fame shall dure." Testament of Loue, boke 2. fol. 315. p. 1. col. 1. u This affection, with reason knytte, dureth in eueryche trew herte."— Ibid, boke 3. fol. 331. p. 1. col. 1. " Desyre hath longe dured some speking to haue." Ibid, boke 1. fol. 306. p. 1. col. 2. Pending. The French participle Pendant ; from the Italian ; from the Latin. Opposite. The Latin participle Oppositus. MOIENING. The French participle Moyennant; from the Italian Me- diants ; from the Low Latin. 1 [Qu. ppael, On-hpael ?— Ed.] ch. ix.] of prepositions. 237 Save. The imperative of the verb. This prepositive manner of using the imperative of the verb To save, afforded Chaucer's Sompnour no bad equivoque against his adversary the Friar ; " God save you all, save this cursed Frere." OlJTCEPT. The imperative of a miscoined verb, whimsically composed of Out and capere, instead of Ex and capere. "I 'Id play hurt 'gaine a knight, or a good squire, or gentleman of any other countie i' the kingdome — outcept Kent : for there they landed all Gentlemen." — B. J orison, Tale of a Tub, act 1. sc. 3. OtJTTAKE, OuTTAKEN. The imperative, and the past participle, speak for them- selves ; and were formerly in very common use. " Problemes and demaundes eke His wised ome was to finde and seke : Whereof he wolde in sondrie wise Opposen them that weren wise. But none of them it might beare Upon his worde to yeue answere Outtaken one, whiehe was a knight." Grower, Conf. Am. fob 25. p. 1. col. 2. " And also though a man at ones Of all the worlde within his wones The treasour might haue euery dele : Yet had he but one mans dele Towarde hymselfe, so as I thynke, Of clothynge, and of meate and drinke. For more (outtake vanitee) There hath no lorde in his degree." — Ibid. fol. 84. p. 2. c. 2. " For in good feith yet had I letter, Than to coueite in suche aweye, To ben for euer till I deye As poore as Job, and loueles, Outtaken one." Ibid. lib. 5. fob 97. p. 1. col. 2. " There was a clerke one Lucius, A courtier, a famous man, Of euery witte somwhat he can, 238 OF PKEPOSITIONS. [PART I. Outtake that hym lacketh rule, His owne estate to guyde and rule." Gower, Gonf. Am. lib. 5. fol. 122. p. 2. col. 2. "For as the fisshe, if it be drie, Mote in defaute of water die : Rifflit so without aier on Hue o No man, ne beast, might thriue, The whiche is made of flesshe and bone, . There is not, outtake of all none." Ibid. lib. 7. fol. 142. p. 1. col. 2. " Whiche euery kynde made die That upon middel erthe stoocle, Outtake Noe, and his bloode." Ibid. lib. 7. fol. 144. p. 1. col, 1. " All other sterres, as men fynde, Ben shinende of her owne kynde : Outtake onely the mocne light, Whiche is not of him selfe bright." Ibid. lib. 7. fol. 145. p. 1. col. I. " Till that the great water rage Of JSToe, whiche was saide the flood, The worlde, whiche than in synne stood, Hath dreinte, outtake Hues eight." Ibid. lib. 8. fol. 174. p. 1. col. 1. " And ye my mother, my soueraigne plesance, Ouer al thing, outtake Christ on lofte." Chaucer, Man of L awes T. fol. 19. p. 2. coL 2. " But yron was there none ne stele, For all was golcle, men myght se, Outtake the fefchers and the tre." Romauni of the Rose, fol. 124. p. 2. col. 1. " Sir, say den they, we ben at one By euen accord e of eueryche one, Outtake rychesse al onely." Ibid, fol 147. p. 2. col. 2. " And from the perrel saif, and out of dout Was al the navy, outtake four schippis loisfc." Douglas, booke 5. p. 351. u And schortly euery thyng that doith repare In firth or feilcl, flnde, forest, erth or are, Astablit lyggis styl to sleip and restis, Be the small birdis syttand on thare nestis, Als wele the wyld as the tame bestiall, And euery uthir thingis grete and small ; CH. IX.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 239 Outtak the mery nychtyngale Philomene, That on the thorne sat syngand fro the splene." Douglas, prol. to booke 13. p. 450. " And also I resygne all my knyghtly dygnitie, magesty and crowne, with all the lordeshyppes, powre and pryuileges to the foresayd kingely dygnitie and crown belonging, and al other lordshippes and posses- syons to me in any maner of wyse pertaynyuge, what nams and con- dicion thei be of; outtake the landes and possessions for me and mine obyte purchased and boughte." — Fabian's Chronicle, Richard the Second, Nigh. Near, Next. Nigh, Near is the Anglo-Saxon adjective Nih_, Neh^ Neah, Neahg, vicinus. And Next is the Anglo-Saxon su- perlative Neahjepfc, Nehpfc. K Forsoth this prouerbe it is no lye, Men say thus alway, the nye slye Maketh the ferre loue to be lothe." Chaucer, Myllers Tale, fol. 13. p. 1. col. 1. " Lo an olde prouerbe alleged by manye wyse : Whan bale is great- est, than is bote a nye bore." — Test, of Loue, boke 2. fol. 320. p. 2. c. 2. Mr. Tyrwhitt in his Glossary says well—" Hext, Sax. highest. Hegh. HeghesL Hegst. Hext. In the same manner Next is formed from Negh." — But he does not well say that — " Next generally means the nighest following, but some- times the nighest preceding ." For it means simply the nighest, and never implies either following or preceding. As ; " To Sit NEXT," &G. Instead. From the Anglo-Saxon On ptebe, In rtebe, i. e. In place. In the Latin it is Vice and Loco. ♦ In the Italian In luogo. In the Spanish En In gar. And in French Au lieu. In the Dutch it is either In stede or In plaats. In the German On statt. In the Danish Maiden. And in the Swedish (as we either Home stead or Home stall) it is Istaellet. Our oldest English writers more rarely used the French word Place, but most commonly the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon word ST^.d.S, Steb, Stebe, The instances are so abundantly numerous that it may seem unnecessary to give any. 240 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PART I. " But take this lore into thy wit, That all thyng hath tyrne and stede : The churche serueth for the bede, The chambre is of an other speche," Goiver, lib. 5. fol. 124. p. 1. col. 1. " Geffray, thou wottest wel this, That euery kyndely thynge that is Hath a kyndely stede there he May best in it conserued be." Chaucer, Fame, boke 2. fol. 295. p. 2. col. 2. " Furth of that stede I went." Douglas, boke 2. p. 59. " But ge, unhappy men, fle fra this stede." Ibid, boke 3. p. 89. The substantive stead is by no means obsolete, as S. John- son calls it ; nothing being more common and familiar than — " You shall go in their stead." It is likewise not very uncommon in composition ; as Homestead, Bedstead, Read- stead, 1 Grrdlestead, 2 Noonsted? Steadfast, Steady, eah. But our English words Head and Heaven are evidently the past participles Heaved and Heaven of the verb To Heave: as the Anglo-Saxon }>eaj:ob, fteajzb, caput, and faeojzen, fteajzen, coelum, are the past participles of the verb freajzan, fteo^an, to heave, to lift up. Whence U]:on also may easily be derived, and with the same signification. And I believe that the names of all abstract relation (as it is called) are taken either from the adjectived common names of objects, or from the participles of common verbs. The re- lations of place are more commonly from the names of some parts of our body ; such as, Head, Toe, Breast, Side, Bach, Womb, Shin, &c. Wilkin s seems to have felt something of this sort, when he made his ingenious attempt to explain the local prepositions by the help of a man's figure in the following Diagram. But confining his attention to ideas, (in which he was followed by Mr. Locke,) he overlooked the etymology of words, which are their signs, and in which the secret lay. " For the clearer explication of these local prepositions (says he) I shall refer to this following Diagram. In which m&qf \34fer Wfft't7iout 250 OF PREPOSITIONS. [PAUT I. by the oval figures are represented the prepositions deter- mined to motion, wherein the acuter part doth point out the tendency of that motion. The squares are intended to signify rest or the term of motion. And by the round figures are represented such relative prepositions, as may indifferently refer either to motion or rest." In all probability the Abbe de l'Epee borrowed his method of teaching the prepositions to his deaf and dumb scholars from this notion of Wilkins. "Tout ce que je puis regarder directeinent en Face, est Devant moi : tout ce que je ne peux voir sans retourner la tete de l'autre cote, est Derriere moi. " S'agissoit-il de faire entendre qu'une action etoit' passee ? II jettoit au hasard deux ou trois fois sa main du cote de son epaule. Enfin s'il desiroit annoncer une action future, il faisoit avancer sa main droite directeinent devant lui." — Des Sourds et Muets, 2 edit. p. 54. You will not expect me to waste a word on the prepositions touching, concerning, regarding, respecting, relating to, saving, except, excepting, according to, granting, allounng, considering, notwithstanding, neighbouring, &c, nor yet on the compound prepositions In-to, Un-to, Un-till, Out-of, Through-out, From- off, &o. B. — I certainly should not, if you had explained all the simple terms of which the latter are compounded. I acknow- ledge that the meaning and etymology of some of your prepositions are sufficiently plain and satisfactory: and of the others I shall not permit myself to entertain a decided opinion till after a more mature consideration. Pedetentim progredi, was our old favourite motto and caution, when first we began together in our early days to consider and converse upon philosophical subjects ; and, having no fanciful system of my own to mislead me, I am not yet prepared to relin- quish it. But there still remain five simple prepositions, of which }^ou have not yet taken the smallest notice. How do you account for Ik, Out, On, Off, and At ? H. — Oh ! As for these, I must fairly answer you with Martin Luther, — " Je les defendrois aisement devant le Pape, niais je ne scais comment les justifier devant le Diable." With the common run of Etymologists, I should make no bad figure by repeating what others have said concerning them; but I CH. X.] OF ADVEEBS. 251 despair of satisfying you with any thing they have advanced or [ can offer, because I cannot altogether satisfy myself. The explanation and etymology of these words require a degree of knowledge in all the antient northern languages^ and a skill in the application of that knowledge, which I am very far from assuming : and, though I am almost persuaded by some of my own conjectures concerning them, 1 I am not willing, by an apparently forced and far-fetched derivation, to justify your imputation of etymological legerdemain. Nor do I think any further inquiry necessary to justify my conclusion concerning the prepositions ; having, in my opinion, fully intitled myself to the application of that axiom of M. de Brosses (Art. 215.) — " La preuve connue d'un grand nombre de mots dune espece, doit etablir une precepte generale sur les autres mots de meme espece, a 1'origine desquels on ne peut plus remonter. On doit en bonne logique juger des choses que Ton ne peut connoitre, par celles cle meme espece qui sont bien connues ; en les ramenant a un principe dont 1' evidence se fait appercevoir par tout ou la vue peut s'etendre." CHAPTER X. OF ADVEEBS. B. — The first general division of words (and that which has been and still is almost universally held by Grammarians) is into Declinable and Indeclinable. All the Indeclinables except the Adverb, we have already considered. And though Mr. Harris has taken away the Adverb from its old station amongst the other Indeclinables, and has, by a singular whim of his own, made it a secondary class of Attributives, or (as he calls them) Attributes of Attributes; yet neither does he nor any other Grammarian seem to have any clear notion of its nature and character. 1 In the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon, liJ^vfA, inna, means uterus, viscera, venter, interior pars corporis. (Inna, mne, is also in a secondary sense nsed for cave, cell, cavern.) And there are some etymological reasons which make it not improbable that out derives from a word originally meaning skin. I am inclined to believe that iisr and out come originally from two Nouns meaning those two parts of the body. 252 OV ADVERBS. [PART I. B. Jonson * arid Wallis and all others, I think, seem to con- found it with the Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections. And Servius (to whom learning has great obligations) advances something which almost justifies you for calling this class, what you lately termed it, the common sink and repository of all heterogeneous, unknown corruptions. For, he says, — " Omnis pars orationis, quando desinit esse quod est, migrat in Adverbium." 2 H. — I think I can translate Servius intelligibly- — Every word, quando desinit esse quod est, when a Grammarian knows not what to make of it, migrat in Adverbium, he calls an Adverb. These Adverbs however (which are no more a separate part of speech than the particles we have already considered) shall give us but little trouble, and shall waste no time : for I need not repeat the reasoning which I have already used with the Conjunctions and Prepositions. All adverbs ending in ly (the most prolific branch of the family) are sufficiently understood : the termination (which alone causes them to be denominated Adverbs) being only the word like corrupted ; and the corruption so much the more easily and certainly discovered, as the termination remains more pure and distinguishable in the other sister languages, the German, the Dutch, the Danish, and the Swedish ; in which it is written lich, lyh, lig, liga. And the Encyclopaedia Britannica informs us, that — " In Scotland the word Like is at this clay frequently used instead of the English termination Ly. As, for a goodly figure, the common people say, a goodlike figure." Adrift is the past participle Adrifed, Adrif'd, Adrift, of the Anglo- Saxon verb Djuj:an, S'bpir.aii, To Drive. 1 " Prepositions are a peculiar kind of Adverbs, and ought to be referred thither. — B. Jonson s Grammar. " Interjectio posset ad Adverbium reduci ; sed quia rnajoribus nostris placuit illam distinguere ; non est cur in re tarn tenui haereamus." — Caramuel. " Chez est plutot dans notre langue un Adverhe qu'une Particule.'" — De Brasses. 2 " Recte dictum est ex onini adjecfcivo fieri adverbium."— Campanella. CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 253 '* And quhat auenture has the hiddir driffe 1 " Douglas, booke 3. p. 79. i. e. Drlffed or Driffen. Aghast, Agast, may be the past participle A gazed. " The French exclaim'd — The Devil was in arms. All the whole army stood agazed on him." First Part of Henry VI., act 1. sc. 1, Agazed may mean, made to gaze : a verb built on the verb To gaze. In King Lear (act 2. sc. 1.) Edmund says of Edgar, «« s, „ Gasted by the noise I made, Full suddenly he fled." Gasted, i. e. made aghast : which is again a verb built on the participle aghast. This progressive building of verb upon verb is not an uncommon practice in language. In Beaumont and Fletchers Wit at several Weapons, (act 2.) " Sir Gregory Fopp, a witless lord oj land," says of his clown, " If the fellow be not out of his wits, then will I never have any more wit whilst I live; either the sight of the lady has gasteeed him, or else he's drunk." I do not bring this word as an authority, nor do I think it calls for any explanation. It is spoken by a fool of a fool ; and may be supposed an ignorantly coined or fantastical cant word ; or corruptly used for Gasted. An objection may certainly be made to this derivation : because the word agast always, I believe, denotes a consider- able degree of terror ; which is not denoted by the verb To Gaze : for we may gaze with delight, with wonder or admira- tion, without the least degree of fear. If I could have found written (as I doubt not there was in speech) a Gothic verb formed upon the Gothic nouns J^FlS, which means Fear and Trembling (the long-sought etymology of our English word Ague) ; 1 I should have avoided this objection, and with full 1 Junius says — " Ague, febris, G. Aigu est acutus. Nihil nempe usitatius est quam acutas dicere febres." 254 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. assurance have concluded that agast was the past participle of AriSAM, i. e. AnSed , AriS& ; AriST, l. e. made to shudder, terrified to the degree of trembling. There is indeed the verb ^TQANs timere; and the past participle ^TldS, territus; and it is not without an appearance of probability, that, as Whiles, Amonges, &c. have become with us Whilst, Amongst, &c. so j\Mc3LS might become Agidst, Agist, Agast ; or ^JPIclS might become Agisd, Agist, Agast. And the last seems to me the most probable etymology. Ago. Go, Ago, Ygo, Gon, Agon, Gone, Agone, are all used in- discriminately by our old English writers as the past participle of the verb To Go} But Skinner, a medical man, was aware of objections to this deriva- tion, which Junius never dreamed of. He therefore says — "Fortasse a Fr. Aigu, acutus. Quia {saltern in paroxysmo) acutus (quodammodo) morbus est, et acutis doloribus exercet : licet a medicis, durationem magis quam vehementiam hujus morbi respicientibus, non inter acutas, seel chronicas febres numeretur." But Skinner's qualifying paroxysmo, quodammodo, acutis doloribus, by which (for want of any other etymology) he endeavours to give a colour to the derivation from Aigu, acutus, will not answer his pur- pose : for it is not true (and I speak from a tedious experience) that there are any acute pains in any period of the ague. Besides, S. Johnson has truly observed, that — "The cold fit is, in popular language, more particularly called the Ague ; and the hot, the fever." And it is commonly said — " He has an Ague and fever.". I believe our word Ague to be no other than the Gothic word A.T i S 5 f ear > trembling, shuddering : 1. Because the Anglo-Saxons and English, in their adoption of the Gothic substantives (most of which terminate in s), always drop the terminating s. 2. Because, though the English word is written Ague, the common people and the country people always pronounce it Aghy, or Aguy. 3. Because the distinguishing mark of this complaint is the trem- bling or shuddering; and _ from that distinguishing circumstance it would naturally take its name. 4. Because the French, from whom the term Aigu is supposed to have been borrowed, never called the complaint by that name. 1 " Questi e un cavaliere Inglese che ho veduto la scorsa notte alia testa di ballo." — Goldoni, La Vedova ScaUra, vol. 5. p. 98. CH. X.] OF ADYERBS. 255 Go. " But netkeles the thynge is Do, This fals god was soone go "With his deceite, and held him close." Gower, lib. G. fol. 138. p. 2. col. 2. " The daie is GO, the nightes chaunce Hath derked all the bright sonne." Ibid. lib. 8. fol. 179. p. 1. col. 2. " But soth is sayed, go sithen many yeres, That feld hath eyen, and wode hath eres." Chaucer, Knyghtes Tale, fol. 4. p. 1. col. 2, " How ofte tyme may men rede and sene The treson, that to women hath Be Do : To what fyne is suche lone, I can not sene. Or where becometh it, whan it is go." Ibid. Troylus, boke 2. fol. 167. p. 1. col. 2, Ago. "Of louers now a man male see Ful many, that unkinde bee Whan that thei haue her wille Do, Her loue is after soone ago." Gower, lib. 5. fol. 111. p. 2. col. 2. " As God him bad, right so he dede And thus there lefte in that stede With him thre hundred, and no mo, The remenant was all ago." — Ibid. lib. 7. fob 163. p. 2. col. 2. " Thus hath Lycurgus his wille : And toke his leue, and forth he went. But liste nowe well to what entent Of rightwisnesse he did so. For after that he was ago, He shope him neuer to be founde." Ibid. lib. 7, fol. 158. p. 2. col. 1. " For euer the latter ende of ioye is wo, God wotte, worldely ioye is soone ago." Chaucer, Nonnes Priest, fol. 90. p. 1. eol. 1. " For if it erst was well, tho was it bet A thousande folde, this nedeth it not enquere, Ago was euery sorowe and euery fere." Troylus, boke 3. fol. 181. p. 2. col. 1. 256 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. " That after whan the storme is al ago Yet wol the water quappe a day or two." Lucrece, fol. 215. p. 2. col. 1. " Ful sykerly ye wene your othes last No ledger than the wordes ben ago." La Belie Dame, fol. 2G7. p. 2. col. 2. " Trouth somtyme was wont to take auayle In euery matere, but al that is ago." Assemble of Ladyes, fol. 277. p. 1. col. 1. Ygo. " A clerke tliere was of Oxenforde also That unto Logike had longe Ygo." Prol. to Cant. Tales. il To horse is al her lusty folke Ygo." Chaucer, Dido, fol. 212. p. 2. col. 2. Gon. " Thou wost thy selfe, whom that I loue parde As I best can, gon sythen longe whyle." Tropins, boke 1. fol. 161. p. 1. col. 1. Agon. " And euermore, whan that hem fell to speke Of any thinge of suche a tyme agon." Troylus, boke 3. fol. 180. p. 1. col. 1. " Thou thy selfe, that haddest habundaunce of rychesse nat longe AGOK"—JBoecius, boke 3. fol. 232. p. 2. col. 2. " Ful longe agon I might haue taken hede." Annelyda, fol. 273. p. 1. col. 1 . Gone. " I was right no we of tales desolate, Nere that a marchant, gone is many a yere, Me taught a tale, which ye shullen here." Man of L awes Tale, fol. 19. p. 1. col. 1. " But sothe is said, gone sithen many a day, A trewe wight and a thefe thynketh not one." Squiers Tale, fol. 28. p. 1. col. 2. Agone. " Of suche ensamples as I finde Upon this point of tyme agone I thinke for to tellen onQ."—Goiver, lib. 5. fol. 87. p. 1. col. 1, CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 257 " But erly whan the sonne shone, Men sigh, that thei were agone, And come nnto the kynge, and tolde, There was no worde, but out, alas, She was AGO, the mother wepte, The father as a wood man lepte." Gower, lib. 5. fol. 104. p. 2. col. 2. "Whan that the mysty vapoure was agone, And clere and fayre was the mornyng." Chaucer, Blacke Knyght, fol. 287. p. 1. col, 1. " For I loued one, ful longe sythe agone With al mvn herte, body and ful might." Ibid, fol. 289. p. 1. col. 2. " And many a serpent of fell kind, With wings before and stings behind, Subdu'd ; as poets say, long agone, Bold Sir George, Saint George did the dragon." Hudibras, part 1. col. 2. " Which is no more than has been done By knights for ladies, long agone." Ibid, part 2. col. 1. Tillotson, in a Fast sermon on a thanksgiving occasion, 31st January, 1689, says, " Twenty years agone." Asunder is the past participle ^j-unbpen or Spimbneb, separated (as the particles of sand are), of the. verb Sonbjiian, Simbpian, Synbpian, Kpnnbpian, &c. To separate. " In vertue and holy almesedede They liuen all, and neuer asonder wende Tyll deth departeth hem." Chaucer, Squiers Tale, fol. 24. p. 2. col. 1. " And tyl a wicked deth him take Hym had leuer asondre shake And let al his lymmes asondre ryue Than leaue his richesse in his lyue." Ibid. Rom. of the Rose, fol. 145. p. 2, col. 2. " These ylke two that bethe in armes lafte Ho lothe to hem asonder gon it were." Ibid. Troylus, boke 3. fol. 179. p. 2. col. 2. " This yerde was large, and rayled al the aleyes And shadowed wel, with blosomy bowes grene 258 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. And benched newe, and sonded all the wayes In which she walketh." Chaucer, Troylus, boke 2. fol. 167. p. 2. col. 1. This word (in all its varieties) is to be found in all the northern languages ; and is originally from A. S. Sonb, i. e. Sand. Astray is the past participle ^rfcjise^eb of the Anglo-Saxon verb Sfcpsegan, spargere, dispergere, To Stray, To scatter. " This prest was drunke, and goth astrayde." Gower, lib. 4. fol. 84. p. 2. col, 1. " And oner this I sigh also The noble people of Israel Dispers, as shepe upon an hille Without a keper unaraied : And as they wenten about astraied I herde a voyce unto hem seyne." Ibid. lib. 7. fol. 156. p. 2. col. 1. " Achab to the batayle went. Where Benedad for all his shelde Him slough, so that upon the felde His people goth aboute astraie." Ibid. lib. 7, fol. 156. p. 2. col. 2. S. Johnson says — To Stray is from the Italian Straviare, from the Latin extra viam. But STjvj\.^^N, Scpeapian, Stpeopian, Sfcpepian, Stpegian, Stnsegian: and Sfcpap, Sfcpeop, Sfcneo, Stnea, Sfcpe, were used in our own mother tongues, the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon, long before the existence of the word Straviare, and the beginning of the corrupted dialect of the Latin called Italian, and even of the corrupted dialect of the Greek called Latin. And as the words To Sunder and Asunder proceed from Sonb, i. e. Sand; so do the words To Stray, To Straw, To Stroiv, To Strew, To Straggle, To Stroll, and the well-named Strawberry (i. e. Strata d-herry, Stray-berry), all proceed from Strata, or, as our peasantry still pronounce it, Strah. 1 And Astray, or 1 " Me lyst not of the chaife ne of the Stree Make so longe a, tale, as of the come." Chaucer, Man of Lawes Tale, fol. 22. p. 1. col. 1. CH. X.] OF ADVEKBS. 259 Astratfdy means Strawed, scattered and dispersed as the Straw is about the fields. " Reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed" — St, Matthew, chap. xxv. ver. 24, Atwist. The past participle Ire-tpn/eb, ^tpipeb, Stprpb, of the verb Tprpan, Tpypan, De-tpyj-an, torquere : Tpipan from Tpa 5 Tpae, Tpi, Tpy, Tpeo, two. Awry. The past participle ^ppySeb, Kypyftb of the verb ppy^San, Ppi^an ? To Writhe. In the late Chief-Justice Mansfield's time, for many years I rarely listened to his doctrines in the Court of King's Bench without having strong cause to repeat the words of old Glower ; " Howe so his moutlie be comely His worde sitte euermore awkie." Lib. 1. fol. 29. p. 2. col. 2. Askew. In the Danish, Shicev is wry, crooked, oblique. Skicever, To twist, To wrest. Skicevt, twisted, wrested. " And with that worde all sodenly She passeth, as it were askie, All cleane out of the ladies sight." Gower, lib. 4. fol. 71. p. 1. col. 1, Askant. Askance. [Probably the participles Aschuined, Aschuins."] In Dutch, Schuin, wry, oblique. Schuinen, To cut awry. Schuins, sloping, wry, not straight. Aswoon. The past participle TCj-uanb, 2Cpuonb of the verb Suanian, ^j'punan^ deficere animo. " Whan she this herd, aswoune down she falleth For pitous ioy, and after her swounyng She both her yong children to her calleth." Gierke of Oxenfordes Tale, fol. 51 p. 1 col. 1. 260 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. " And witli that word she fel aswoune anon, And after, whan her swounyng was gon She riseth up," Doctour of Phisikes Tale, fol. 65. p. 1. col. 1. Astound. The past participle Estonne [Estonned] of the French verb Estonner (now written Etonner), To astonish. " And with this worde she fell to grounde Aswoune, and there she laie astounde." Gower, lib, 4. fol. 83. p. 1. col. 2. Enough. In Dutch Genoeg, from the verb Genoegen, To content, To satisfy. S. Johnson cannot determine whether this word is a substantive, an adjective, or an adverb ; but he thinks it is all three. " It is not easy," he says, a to determine whether this word be an adjective or adverb ; perhaps, when it is joined with a substantive, it is an adjective, of which Enow is the Plural} In other situations it seems an adverb ; except that, after the verb To have or To be, either expressed or understood, it may be accounted a substantive." According to him, it means — " In a sufficient measure, so as may satisfy, so as may suffice. 2. Something sufficient in greatness or excellence. 3. Something equal to a maris poiver or abilities. 4. In a sufficient degree. 5. It notes a slight augmentation of the positive degree. 6. Sometimes it notes Diminution ! 7. An exclamation noting fulness or satiety." In the Anglo-Saxon it is trenoj or Denoli : and appears to be the past participle Erenogeb, multiplication, manifold, of the verb Irenojan, multiplicare. Fain. The past participle Feejeneb^ Fssgen, Fs&gn ? hetus, of the verb Fsejenian, Faejnian, gaudere, laatari. 1 In his Grammar, he says — " Adjectives in the English language are wholly indeclinable ; having neither case, gender, nor number ; being added to Substantives, in all relations, without any change." CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 261 " Of that men speken here and there, How that my lady beareth the price, How she is faire, how she is wise, How she is womanliche of chere : Of all this thing whan I maie here What wonder is though I be faine." Gower, lib. 1. fol. 23. p. 1. col. 2. " For which they were as glad of his commyng As foule is faine whan the sonne upryseth." Chaucer, Shypmans Tale, fol. 69. p. 1. col. 1. " Na uthir wyse the pepyl Ausoniane Of this glade time in hart wox wounder fane." Douglas, booke 13. p. 472. Lief. Liever. Lievest. Leor., Leopne, Leojzert. 11 1 had as lief not be, as live to be in awe Of such a thing as I myself." — Shakespeare 's Julius Ccesar. No modern author, I believe, would now venture any of these words in a serious passage : and they seem to be cautiously shunned and ridiculed in common conversation, as a vulgarity. But they are good English words, and more frequently used by our old English writers than any other word of a corresponding signification. Leor. (Leopeb, or Lupab, or Lupob or Lur.) is the past parti- ciple of Lirpan, To love ; and always means beloved} " And netheles by daies olde, Whan that the bokes were leuer, Writyng was beloued euer Of them that weren vertuous." Gower, Prol. fol. 1. p. 1. col. 1. " It is a unwise vengeance Whiche to none other man is lefe And is unto him selfe grefe." — lib. 2. fol. 18. p. 1. col. 2. u And she answerd, and bad hym go, And saide, howe that a bed all warme Hir liefe lay naked in hir arine." — lib. 2. fol. 41. p. 1. col. 2. 1 " The Fader Almychty of the heuin abuf, In the mene tyme, unto Iuno his luf, Thus spak ; and sayd — " — Douglas, booke 12. p. 441. 262 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. " Thre pointes whiche I fynde Ben leuest unto mans kynde ; The first of hem it is delite, The two ben worship and profite." Gower, lib. 5. fol. 84. p. 2. col. 2. " For euery thyng is wel the leuer, Whan that a man hath bought it clere." lib, 5. fol. 109. p. 2. col 1. " Whan Rome was the worldes chiefe, The sooth sayer tho was leefe, Whiche wolde not the trouth spare, ~ But with his worde, playne and bare, To themperour his sothes tolde." lib. 7. fol. 154. p. 2. col. 2. " Of other mens passion Take pitee and compassion And let no thyng to the be leef Whiche to an other man is grefe." — lib. 8. fol. 190. p. 2. col. 1. " They lyued in ioye and in felycite For eche of hem had other lepe and dere." Chaucer, Monhes Tale, fob 85. p. 1. col. 2. " In the swete season that lefe is." Rom. of the Rose, fol. 120. p. 2. col. 1. " His leefe a rosen chapelet Had made, and on his heed it set." Ibid. fol. 124. p. 1. col. 1. " And hym her lefe and dere hert cal." Troylus, boke 3. fol. 176. p. 2. col. 2. " Had I hym neuer lefe 1 By God I wene Ye had neuer thyng so lefe (quod she)." Ibid, boke 3. fol. 1 77. p. 1. col. 2. " Ye that to me (quod she) ful leuer were Than al the good the sunne aboute gothe." Ibid, boke 3. fol 178. p. 2. col. 1. " For as to me nys leuer none ne lother." Leg. of Good Women, Prol. fol. 205. p. 2. col. 2. " Remembrand on the mortall anciant were That for the Grekis to hir leif and dere, At Troye lang tyme sche led before that day." Douglas, booke 1. p. 13. CH. X.] OF ADVERBS, 263 " Gif euir ony tlianke I deseruit toward the Or ocht of rayne to the was leif, quod sche." Douglas, booke 4. p. 110. " thou nymphe, wourschip of fludis clere, That to my saul is hald maist leif and dere." Ibid, booke 12. p. 410. Adieu. Farewell. The former from the French a Dieu, from the Italian Addio : the latter the imperative of Fajian. To go, or To fare. So it is equally said in English — How fares it ? or, How goes it ? The Dutch and the Swedes also say, Vaarwel, Farivcd : The Danes Lev-vel, and the Germans Lebet-ivohl. Halt means — Hold 3 Stop, (as when we _say — Hold your hand,) Keep the present situation, Hold still. In German Still halten is To halt or stop ; and Halten is To Hold. In Dutch Still houden, To halt or stop ; and Houden, To hold. Menage says well — " Far Alto, proprio di quel fermarsi che fanno le ordinanze militari : Dal Tedesco Halte, che vale, Ferma la; dimora la; imperativo del verbo Halten, cioe, ar- restarsi" The Italians assuredly took the military term from the Germans. Our English word halt is the imperative of the Anglo-Saxon verb ftealban,T<9 hold; and Hold itself is from ftealban, and was formerly written halt. " He leyth downe his one eare all plat Unto the grounde, and halt it fast." Gower, lib. 1. fol. 10. p. 1. col. 2. " But so well halte no man the plough, That he ne balketh otherwhile." — lib. 2. fol. 50. p. 1. col. 1. " For what thing that he niaie enbrace, Of gold, of catell, or of londe, He let it neuer out of his honde, But gette hym more, and halt it fast." " To seie liowe suche a man hath good, Who so that reasone understoode, 264 OF ADVEBBS. [PART I. It is unproperliche sayde : That good hath hym, and halt him taide." Goicer, lib. 5. fol. 83. p. 2. col. 2 ; fol. 84. p. 1. col. 1. " — Enery man, that halt him worth a leke, Upon his bare knees ought all hys lyfe Thanken God, that him hath sent a wyfe." Chaucer, Marchauntes Tale, fol. 29. p. 1. col. 1. " For euery wight, whiche that to Rome went, Halte not o pathe, ne alway o manere." Troylus, boke 1. fol. 163. p. 1. col. 2. " Lone, that with an holsome alyaunce Halte people ioyned, as hym lyste hem gye." Ibid, boke 3. fol. 182. p. 1. col. I. Lo. The imperative of Look. So the common people say corruptly, — " Lc? you there now " — " La you there." Where we now employ sometimes look and sometimes lo, with discrimination ; our old English writers used indifferently Lo, Loke, Loketh, for this imperative. Chaucer, in the Pardoners Tale, says " — Al the souerayne actes, dare I say, Of victories in the Okie Testament Were don in abstynence and in prayere ; Loketh the Byble, and there ye mowe it lere." " Loketh l Attyla the great conqueronr Dyed in his slepe, with shame and dishonour." " Loke l eke howe to kynge Demetrius The king of Parthes, as the boke sayth us, Sent him a payre of dyce of golde in scorne." " Be/wide and se that in the first table Of hye Gods hestes honourable, Howe that the seconde heste of him is this, Take not my name in ydelnesse amys. Lo, he Rather 2 forbyddeth suche swering Than homicide, or any other cursed thing." Pol. 66. p. 2. col. 2 ; fol. 67. p. 1. col. 1. 1 In both these places a modern writer would say Lo. 2 Sooner, earlier. — He forbids such swearing Before he forbids homi- cide : i. e. in aforegoing part of the table; CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 265 So B. Jonson. (AlcJiymist, act 2. sc. 3.) " For look, how oft I iterate the work, So many times I add unto Iris virtue." Here, if it had pleased him, he might have said — Lo how oft, &c. And again. " Subtle. Why, rascall— Face. Lo you here, sir." Here, if it had pleased him, he might have said — Look you here. . The Dutch correspondent adverb is Siet, from Sien, To look or see. The German Siehe, or SiJie, from Selien, To see. The Danish See, from Seer, To look or see. The Swedish Si, or Si der, from Se, To look. Needs. Need-is, 1 used parenthetically. It was antiently written Nedes and Nede is. Certain is was used in the same manner, equi- valently to certes. " And certaine is (quod she) that by gettyng of good, be men maked good." \ " I haue graunted that nedes good folke moten ben myghty." — Boecius, boke 4. fol. 241. p. 1. col. 1, 2. " The consequence is false, nedes the antecedent mote ben of the same condicion." — Test. of Loue, boke 2. fol. 316. p. 1. col. 2. " None other thynge signifyeth this necessite but onelye thus ; That shal be, may nat togider be and not be. Euenlyche also it is sothe, loue was, and is, and shal be, not of necessyte ; and nede ts to haue be al that was, and nedeful is to be al that is." — Test, of Loue, boke 3. fol. 328. p. 1. col. I. 2 1 [Mr. Tooke does not seem to have been aware of the formation of adverbs from the genitive absolute, which prevails in the Teutonic lan- guages ; otherwise he would probably have given a different account of this word. Needs, genitive of Need, of 'necessity ; as in Straightway 's, and in German N acids, by night, Theils, partly, but the derivative or future infinitive terminating in nne and always preceded by to, and which in Anglo-Saxon, as well as in Francic, answers to gerunds, supines, and future participles. Nor is it neces- sarily Passive. Soumer has " hit lr to picanne, sciendum est ; it is to wit, or to be knowne : " also lr eac to picanne f. — Heptateuch. Prmfat. JElfr. p. 5. ed. TJiwaites. Thus we say, The house is yet to build. Lye gives the following instances : eop lr ger ealb to pitanne, Vobis datum est ad sciendum, Mar. 4. 1 1 : ]>& com hit to pitemie ; ubi evenit id cognoscendurn, Chr. Sax. 1 65. 26. And adds, " Ab hac voce pitan, speciatim vero ab Infinitivo derivativo, To pitanne, phrasis ista, / do you to wit, q. d. Ic bo eop co pitanne, Facio vos scire ; Scire licet ; Videre licet : uncle contractures istse scribendi formulas tarn Anglorum quam Latinorum, To wit ; Scilicet, videlicet." See Additional Note on the Infinitive Future. — Ed.] 2 " False fame is not to drede, ne of wyse persons to accepte." — Test. ofLoue, boke 1. fol. 308. p. 2. col. 2. Instances of this use of the Active Infinitives in English are very numerous ; but the reason of it appears best from old translations. " Quod si nee Anaxagorse fugam, nee Socratis venenum, nee Zenonis tormenta novisti ; at Ganios, at Senecas, at Soranos scire potuisti. Quos nihil aliud in cladem detraxit, nisi quod nosfcris moribus instituti, stud iis improborum dissimillimi videbantur. Itaque nihil est quod admirere, si in hoc vitae salo circuniflantibus agitemur procellis, quibus hoc maxime propositum est, pessimis displicere. Quorum quidem tam- etsi est numerosus exercitus, sperne^dus tamen est." — Boethius de Consol. lib. 1. prosa 3. Thus translated by Chaucer : " If thou hast not knowen the exilynge of Anaxagoras, ne the en- poysoning of Socrates, ne the turmentes of Zeno ; yet mightest thou haue knowen the Senecas, the Canios, and the Soranos. The whiche men nothing els ne brought to the deth, but only for they were enformed of my maners and senteclen most unlyke to the studies of wicked folke. And forthy thou oughtest not to wondren, though that CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 267 those of the Latin and French, Videlicet, scilicet, a scavoir. And it is worth noting, that the old Latin authors used the abbreviated Videlicet for Videre licet, when not put (as we call it) adverbially. 1 PERCHANCE. Par-escheant, Par-escheance, the participle of Escheoir, Echeoir, Echoir. to fall. Percase. Per-casmn, participle of cadere. Antiently written Parcas, Parcaas. PERAD VENTURE. Antiently Peraunter, Paraunter, Inaunter, Inaventure. Maybe. Mayhap. In Westmoreland they say and write Happen, i. e. may happen. Habnab. Hap ne hap — happen or not happen. " Philautus determined hab nab to send his letters." Euphues. By John Lilly, p. 109. Perhaps. Uphap. By or through Haps. Upon a Hap. " The happes ouer mannes hede Ben honged with a tender tlirede." Gower, lib, 6. fol. 135. p. 2. col. 2. " In heuen to bene losed with God hath none ende, but endelesse endureth : and thou canste nothynge done aryght, but thou desyre the rumoure therof be healed and in euery wightes eare ; and that dureth but a pricke, in respecte of the other. And so thou sekest reward e of I in the bitter see be driuen with tempestes blowing aboute. In the which thys is my moste purpose, that is to sayne, to displesen wicked men. Of whiche shrewes al be the hooste neuer so great, it is to dispise."— Fol. 222. p. 1. col. 1. 1 " Pam. Videlicet parcum ilium fuisse senem, qui dixerit : Quoniam ille illi pollicetur, qui eum cibum poposcerit. Ant. Videlicet fuisse ilium nequam adolescentem, qui illico, Ubi ille poscit, denegavit se dare granum tritici." Plautus. Stichus, act 4. sc. 1. 268 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. folkes smale wordes, and of vayne praysynges. Trewely therein thou lesest the guerdon of vertue, and lesest the grettest valoure of con- scyence, and uphap thy renome euerlastyng." — Chaucer, Test, of Loue, boke I. fol. 311. p. 1. col. 1. Belike. This word is perpetually employed by Sir Philip Sydney, Hooker, Shakespeare, B. Jonson, Sir. W. Kaleigh, Bacon, Milton, &c. But is now only used in low language, instead of perhaps. In the Danish language Lykke, and in the Swedish Lycka, mean Luck, i. e. chance, hazard, Hap, fortune, adventure. " Dionysius. He thought belike, if Damon were out of the citie, I would not put him to death." — Damon and Pythias. By R. Edwards. — " Brutus and Cassius Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome. Ant. Belike they had some notice of the people How I had moved them." — Julius Ccesar, act 3. sc. 2. " How 's that 1 Yours if his own ! Is he not my son, except he be his own son 1 Belike this is some new kind of subscription the gallants use." — Every Man in his Humour, act 3. sc. 7. " Than she, remembering belike the continual and incessant and confident speeches and courses that I had held on my lord's side, be- came utterly alienated from me." — Sir F. Bacons Apology. " Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire, Belike through impotence, or unaware, To give his enemies their wish % " Paradise Lost, book 1. v. 156. Afoot. " Many a freshe knight, and many a blisful route On horse and on fote, in al the felde aboute." Chaucer, Annelida, fol. 270. p, 2. col. 1. " Sum grathis thame on fute to go in feild, Sum hie montit on horsbak under scheild." Douglas, booke 7. p. 230. Of the same kind are the adverbs Foot to foot. Vis a vis. Petto a petto. Birimpetto. The Hanoi and Foot, being the principal organs of action and motion, afford a variety of allu- sions and adverbial expressions in all languages ; most of CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 269 which are too evident to require explanation : as when, of our blessed senators, we say 5 with equal truth and sorrow — They assume the office of legislation illotis pedibus^ and proceed in it with dirty hands. So foot hot ; which Mr. Warton has strangely mistaken in page 192 of his first volume of the History of English Poetry: [8vo. edit. vol. ii. p. 25.] " The table adoune rihte lie smote, In to the Hoore foote hot." Misled by the word foot, Mr. Warton thinks that foote hot means " Stamped" So that he supposes the Soudan here to have fallen upon the table both with hands and feet : i. e. first he smote it with his fist ; and then he stamped upon it, and trampled it under foot. But foot hot means immediately, instantaneously, without giving time for the foot to cool : so our court of Pie Poudre, pied poudre ; in which matters are determined before one can wipe the dust off one's feet. So E vestigio, &c. " There was none eie that might kepe His heade, whiche Mercurie of smote, And forth with all anone fote hote He stale the cowe whiche Argus kepte." Gower, lib. 4. f'ol. 81. p. 2. col. 1. " And Custaunce han they taken anon fotekot." Chaucer, Man of L awes Tale, fol. 20. p. 2, col. 1. " Whan that he herde ianglyng He ran anon as he were wode To Bialacoil there that he stode, Which had leuer in this caas Haue ben at Keynes or Amyas, For fote hote in his felon ye To him thus said Jelousye." Ibid. Bom. of the Hose, fol. 138. p. 1. col. 2. " And first Ascaneus, As he on hors playit with his feris ioyus, Als swyft and feirsly spurris his stede fute hote, And but delay socht to the trublit flote." * Douglas, booke 5. p. 150. 1 "Primus et Ascanius, cursus ut Isetus equestres Ducebat, sic acer equo turbata petivit Castra." Virgil. 270 OF ADVEEBS. [PART I. " I sail declare all and reduce fute hate l From the beginning of the first debate." Douglas, booke 7. p. 205. " The self stound amyd the preis fute hote 2 Lucagus enteris into his chariote." Ibid, booke 10. p. 338. " Wyth sic wourdis sclio ansueris him fute hate." 3 Ibid, booke 12. p. 443. " All with ane voice and hale assent at accorde, Desiris the as for thare prince and lord ; And ioyus ar that into feild fute hate 4 Under thy wappinis Turnus lyis doun bet." Ibid, booke 13. p. 468. Aside. " Now hand to hand the dynt lichtis with ane swak, Now bendis he up his burdoun with ane mynt, On syde he bradis for to eschew the dynt." Douglas, booke 5. p. 142. I suppose it needless to notice such adverbs as Aback, Abreast, Afront, Ahead, At hand, Beforehand, Behindhand, &c. Ablaze. " That casten fire and flam aboute Both at mouth and at nase So that thei setten all on blase." Gower, lib. 5. fol. 102. p. 2, cob 2. Aboard. " This great shyp on anker rode : The lorde cometh forth, and when he sigh That other ligge on bob.de so nighe." Goiver, lib, 2. fob 33. p. 2. col, 2. 1 " Ex-pedi-am : et prima? revocabo exordia pugnse." Virgil. Notice Ex-ped-ire. 2 Interea. — Virgil. 3 Talibus occurrit dictis. — Ibid. 4 There is no word in the original of Maphseus to explain or justify the fute hate of Douglas in this passage : he barely says, " Turnumque sub armis Exultant cecidisse tuis." But the acer petivit, expediam, and occurrit dictis of Virgil are sufficient. CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 271 " What helpetli a man haue mete, Where drinke lackethe on the boede." Gower, Kb. 4. fol. 72. p. 2. col. 1. " And howe he loste hys steresman Whiche that the sterne, or he toke kepe, Smote over the boede as he slepe." Chaucer, Fame, boke 1. fol. 294. p. 1. col. 2. " We war from thens affrayit, durst nocht abide, Bot fled anon, and within bued has brocht That faithful Greik." Douglas, booke 3. p. 90. " The burgeonit treis ON bued they bring for aris." Ibid, booke 4. p. 113. " The stabill aire has calmyt wele the se, And south pipand windis fare on hie Challancis to pas on boed ? and tak the depe." Ibid, booke 5. p. 153. Abroad. " The rose spred to spannishhynge, To sene it was a goodly thynge, But it ne was so sprede on beede That men within myght knowe the sede." Chaucer, Rom. of the Rose, fol. 137. p. 1. col. 2. " Als fer as his crop hie on beede Strekis in the are, as fer his route dois sprede." Dougla?, booke 4. p. 115. " his baner quhite as floure In sing of batel did on beede display." Ibid, boohe 8. p. 240. Ad ays. 1 " But this I see on daies nowe." Gower, lib. 4. fol. 72. p. 2. col. 1. " Thus here I many a man cornpleine, That nowe on daies thou shalte finde At nede few frencles kinde." Ibid. lib. 5. fol. 110. p. 1. col. !. " But certanly the dasit blude now on dayis Waxis dolf and dull throw myne unweilcly age." Douglas, booke 5. p. 140. 1 [This and the following, from their termination, should probably be referred to the genitive singular, like Needs, &c. See Additional Note,]— Ed. 272 OF ADVERBS. [PAUT I. Anights. " He mot one of two thynges chese, Where lie woll liaue hir suche on night, Or els upon dales light ; For he shall not haue Loth two." Gower, lib. 1. fol. 17. p. 2. col. 2. " For though no man wold it alowe, To slepe ieuer than to wowe Is his maner, and thus on nightes When he seeth the lusty knightes Reuelen, where these women are Awey he scuiketh as an hare." Ibid. lib. 4. fol. 78. p. L col. 1. " For though that wines ben ful holy thinges, They must take in patience a nyglit Suche maner necessaryes as ben plesinges To folke that han wedded hem with ringes, And lay a litell her holynesse asyde." Chaucer, Man of Lawes Tale, fol. 22. p. 1. col, 1. " Madame, the sentence of this Latyn is, Woman is mannes ioye and his blis, For when I fele on nyght your soft syde, Al be it that I may not on you ryde, For that our perche is made so narowe, alas, I am full of ioye and solas." Ibid. Nonnes Priest, fol. 89. p. 2. col. 2. Afire. " Turnus seges the Troianis in grete yre, And al thare schyppis and nauy set in fyre." Douglas, booke 9. p. 274. Alive. On live, i. e. In Life} ' For as the iisshe, if it be drie, Mote in defaute of water die : Right so without aier, on liue No man ne beast might thriue." Gower, lib. 7.. fol. 142. p. 1. col. 2. 1 In the first book of the Testament of Love, fol. 305. p. 1. col. 1, Chaucer furnishes another adverb of the same kind, to those who are admirers of this part of speech. — " Wo is nyni that is Aloue." CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 273 " For prouder woman is there none on ltue." Chaucer, Troylus, boke 2. fol. 143. p. 2. col. 2. " The verray ymage of my Astyanax ging : Sic ene bad he, and sic fare handis tua, For al tbe warld sic mouth and face perfay : And gif he war on life quhil now in fere, He had bene euin eild with the, and hedy pere." Douglas, booke 3. p. 84. Aloft. On Loft, On Luft, On Lyft, i. e. In the Luft or Lyft ; or, (the superfluous article omitted, as was the antient custom in our lan- guage, the Anglo-Saxon) In Lyft, In Luft, In Loft. " The golde tressed Phebus hygh on lofte." Chaucer, Troylus, boke 5. fol. 196. p. 2. col. 1. " Bot, lo anone (ane wounder thing to tell) Ane huge bleis of nambys brade doun fel, Furth of the cluddys at the left hand straucht, In manere of an ly chtning or fyre flaucht : And did alycht richt in the samyn stede, Apoun the croun of fare Lauinias hede ; And fra thine hie up in the lyft agane It glade away, and tharein did remane." Douglas, booke 13. p. 476. « — With that the dow Heich in the lift full glaide he gan behald, And with her wingis sorand mony fald." Ibid, booke 5. p. 144. In the Anglo-Saxon, Lypt is the Air or the Clouds. In St. Luke — " in lypte cummenbe" — coming in the clouds. In the Danish, Luft is air, and " At spronge i luften"—To blow up into the air, or Aloft. In the Swedish also Luft is air. So in the Dutch, Be loef hebben, To sail before the wind ; loeven, To ply to windward ; loef the weather gage ; &c. From the same root are our other words, Loft, Lofty, To Luff, Lee, Leeward, To Lift, &c. Anew. " The hattellis war adionit now of new, Not in manere of landwart folkis bargane, But with scharp scherand wappinnis made melle." Douglas, booke 7. p. 225. T 274 OF ADVEEBS. [PART I. " Was it honest ane godly diuine wycht With ony niortall straik to wound in ficht ? Or jit ganand the swerd ioist and adew To rendir Turnus to his brand of new, And strength increscis to thame that vincust be 1 " Douglas, booke 12. p. 441. Arow. " And in the port enterit, lo, we see Flokkis and herd is of oxin and of fee, Fat and tydy, rakand oner all quhare, And trippis eik of gait but ony kepare, In the rank gers pasturing ox raw." Ibid, booke 3. p. 75. '• The pepil by him vincust niycht thou knaw. Before him passand per ordour all ox raw." Ibid, booke 8. p. 270. Asleep. 1 " Whan that pyte, which longe on slepe doth tary, Hath set the fyne of al my heuynesse." Chaucer, La belle dame, fol. 269. p. 1. col. 1. " Apoun the earth the uthir beistis al, Thare besy thochtis ceissing grete and smal, Ful sound on slepe did caucht thare rest be kind." Douglas, booke 9. p. 283. " In these provynces the fayth of Chryste was all quenchyd and in slepe."- — Fabian. Awhile. A time. Whil-es, i. e. Time, that or which. Whilst is a cor- ruption ; it should be written as formerly, Whiles? " She died, my lord, but whiles her slander liv'd." Much Ado about Nothing. Aught, or Ought, The Anglo-Saxon ft pit : a whit, or o whit. K B. was formerly written for the article A, or for the numeral one. So Naught or Nought : Na whit, or No whit. 1 [" For David — fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers." Acts, 13, 36.— Ed.] 2 [This has the genitive form ; see Grimm, iii. 134:. — Ed.] CH. x.] or ADVERBS, 275 Forth. " Againe tlie knight the olde wife gan arise And said ; Sir knight, here forth lyeth no way." Chaucer, Wife of Bathes Tale, fol. 38. p. 2. col. 2, " Alas (quod he) alas, that euer I beheyght Of pured gold a thousande pounde of weight Unto this phylosopher ! ho we shall I do 1 I se no more but that I am fordo : l Myn herytage mote I nedes sell, And ben a beggar, here may I no lenger dwell." Franheleyns Tale, fol. 55. p. 2. col. 2* " Loke out of londe thou be not fore, 2 And if suche cause thou haue, that the Behoueth to gone out of countre, Leaue hole thyn hert in hostage." Rom, of the Rose, fob 132. p. 2. col. 2. From the Latin Fores, Foris, the French bad Fors (their modern Hors). And of the French Fors, our ancestors (by their favourite pronunciation of Th) made popS, forth : as from the French Asses or Assez, they made asseth, i. e. enough, sufficient. " Rychesse ryche ne maketh nought Hym that on treasour sette his thought : For rychesse stonte in suffysaunce, And nothyng in haboundaunce : For suffysaunce al onely Maketh menne to lyue rychely. For he that hath mytches tweyne Ne value in hys demeyne, Lyueth more at ease, and more is riche, Than dothe he that is chiche And in his barne hath, soth to sayne, An hundred mauis of whete grayne, Though he be chapman or marchaunt, And haue of golde many besaunt : 1 For-do, i. e. Forth-done, i. e. Bone to go forth, or caused to go forth, i. e. Out of doors. In modern language, turned out of doors. — [It should rather be explained in connection with other verbs com- pounded with for ; see Additional Notes. — Ed.] 2 Fore, i. e. Fors or forth. — [Rather the past participle of fare, to go. — Ed.] 276 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. For in the gettyng he hath suche wo, And in the kepyng clrede also, And sette euercnore his besignesse For to encrese, and nat to lesse, For to augment and multiply e, And though on heapes that lye him by, Yet neuer shal make rychesse Asseth unto hys gredynesse." * Bom. of the Bose^ fol. 146. p. 2. col. 2. The adverbs Outforth, Inforth, Witlioutforth, Withinforth (which were formerly common in the language), have appeared very strange to the moderns ; but with this explanation of forth, I suppose, they will not any longer seem either unnatural or extraordinary. " Within the hertes of folke shall be the biting conscience, and with- outforth shal be the worlcle all brenniug." — Chaucer, Persons Tale, fol. 102. p 1. col. 2. " Whan he was come unto his neces place, Where is my lady, to her folke (quod he); And they him tolde, and Tnforth in gan pace, And founde two other ladyes sit and she." Troylus, boke 2. fol. 163. p. 2. col, 1. " And than al the derkenesse of his misknowing shall seme more evidently to the sight of his understandyng, than the sonne ne seemeth to the sight Without for they — Boecius, boke 3. fol. 238. p. 2. col. 2. " Philosophers, that hyghten Stoiciens, wende that ymages and sen- sibilities war emprinted into soules fro bodies Withoutforth. n — Ibid. boke 5. fol. 250. p. 2. col. 2. " There the vaylance of men is denied in riches Outforth, wenen men to haue no proper good in them selfe, but seche it in straunge tlringes." — Test of Loue, boke 2. fol. 316. p. 2. col. 2. 1 I have been compelled to make the above long extract, that my reader's judgement may have fair play; and that he may not be misled by the interpretation given of asseth in the glossary of Urry's edition of Chaucer; where we are told, that asseth means — " Assent, to Answer; from the Anglo-Saxon Sre'Sian, affirniare" When the reader recollects the suffysaunce which is spoken of in the first part of the ex- tract, he will have little difficulty, I imagine, to perceive clearly what asseth here means : for the meaning of the whole passage is — suffisance alone makes riches ; which suffisance the miser's greediness will never permit him to obtain. CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 277 " Tho goodnesse (quod she) of a person maye not ben knowe Outforth, but by renonie of the knowers." — Test, of Loue, boke 2. fol. 319. p, 1. col. 2. " But he that Outforth loketh after the wayes of this knot, connyng with which he shuld knowe the way Inforth, slepeth for the tyme j wherfore he that wol this way know, must leave the lokyng after false wayes Outforth. and open the eyen of his conscyence and unclose his herte.' 5 — Ibid, boke 2. fol. 322. p. 1. col. 2. " Euery herbe sheweth his vertue Outforthe from wythin." — Ibid. boke 2. fol. 323. p. 1. col. 1. " Loue peace Withoute forth, loue peace Withinforth, kepe peace with all men." " There is nothinge hid from God. Thou shalte be found gilty in the judgmentes of God, though thou be hid to mens judgementes : for he beholdeth the heit, that is Withinforth." — Tho, Lupset, Gathered Counsails. Gadso. Cazzo, a common Italian oath (or rather obscenity, in lieu of an oath), first introduced about the time of James the First, and made familiar in our language afterwards by our affected travelled gentlemen in the time of Charles the Second. — See all our comedies about that period. Ben Jonson ridiculed the affectation of this oath at its com- mencement, but could not stop its progress. "These be our nimble-spirited Catso's, that ha' their evasions at pleasure, will run over a bog like your wild Irish ; no sooner started but they'll leap from one thing to another, like a squirrel. Heigh ! dance and do tricks in their discourse, from fire to water, from water to air, from air to earth : as if their tongues did but e'en lick the four ele- ments over and away." — Every Man out of his Humour, act 2. sc. 1. Much. More. Most. These adverbs have exceedingly gravelled all our etymologists, and they touch them as tenderly as possible. Much. * Junius, and Skinner (whom Johnson copies), for much, irra- tionally refer us to the Spanish Muclio. More. Under the article more (that he may seem to say something 278 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. on the subject), Junius gives us this so little pertinent or edifying piece of information: — "Anglicum interim more est inter ilia, quee Saxonicum A in o convertunt ; sicuti videmus usu venisse in ban, bone, os, ossis ; hal, whole, integer, sanus ; ham, home, dornus, habitatio ; ptan, stone, lapis," &c. Skinner says — a More, Mo, ab A.S. QDa, GDana, GDaene, GDane,, &c. Quid si omnia a Lat. Major?" 8. Johnson finds more to be adjective, adverb, and sub- stantive. The adjective, he says, is — The comparative of Borne or Great" The adverb is — " The particle that forms the comparative degree." — "Perhaps some of the examples which are adduced under the adverb, should be placed under the substantive." — " It is doubtful whether the word, in some pases, be noun or adverb." Most. Junius says, untruly — "Most: Ex positivo nempe maene, fuit comparativus maenne, et superlativus nicenept, et contracte nicej-c. Skinner — " Teut. 3 feist feliciter alluclit Gr. fisntrov, plurimum, maximum, contr. a /xeyisrov" S. Johnson again finds in most an adjective, an adverb, and a substantive. Of the adverb he # says, it is — ■" The par- ticle noting the superlative degree. Of the substantive he says — "This is a hind of substantive, being according to its signification, singular or plural." And he gives instances, as he conceives, of its plurality and singularity. 1 have wasted more than a page in repeating what amounts to nothing. Though there appears to be, there is in reality no irregu- larity in much, more, most •: nor indeed is there any such thing as capricious irregularity in any part of language. In the Anglo-Saxon the verb CD apan, meter e, makes regularly the praaterperfect GDop, or CTDope (as the praaterperfect of Slagan is Sloh), and the past participle Mowen or GQeoper, by the addition of the participial termination en, to the pra> terperfect. Omit the participial termination en (which omis- sion was, and still is, a common practice through the whole language, witli the Anglo-Saxon writers, the old English writers, and the moderns), and there will remain CDope or CI I. X.] OF ADYERBS. 279 Mow ; which gives us the Anglo-Saxon ODope and our modern English word Mow : which words mean simply — that which is Mowed or Mown, And as the hay ; &c. which was mown, was put together in a heap ; hence, figuratively, ODope was used in Anglo-Saxon to denote any heap : although in modern English we now confine the application of it to country produce, such as Hay-mow, Barley-moiv, &C. 1 This participle or substantive, (call it which you please ; for, however classed, it is still the same word, and has the same signification,) Mow or Heap, was pronounced (and therefore written) with some, variety, CDa, GOee, OOo, ODope, Mow ; which, being regularly compared, give QDa . . . Ma-er (i. e. majie) . . . Ma-est (i. e. msej-t) Xm . . . Mce-er (i. e. maepe) . . . Mce-est (i. e. maepfc) OOope . . Moiv-er(i, e. mope) . . . Mow-est{\. e. mopfc) Mo . . . Mo-er (i.e. more) . . . Mo-est (i.e. most) I have here printed in the Anglo-Saxon character, those words which have come down to us so written in the Anglo- Saxon writings : and in Italics, the same words in sound ; but so written, as to show the written regularity of the com- parison : and in capitals, the words which are used in what we call English ; though indeed it is only a continuation of the Anglo-Saxon, with a little variation of the written cha- racter. Mo (mope, acervus, heap), which was constantly used by all our old English authors, has with the moderns given place to much : 2 which has not (as Junius, Wormius, and Skinner 1 Gawin Douglas uses the word Mowe, for a heap of wood, or a funeral pile. " Under the oppin sky, to this purpois, Pas on, and of treis tbou mak an bing To be ane fyre, &c. Tharfore scho has hir command done ilk dele. But quhen the grete bing Avas upbeildit wele Of aik treis, and fyrren schidis dry "Wythin the secrete cloys under the sky, A bone the mowe the foresaid bed was maid." Booke4. p. 117. 2 [But GOa.or Mo is never found except as the comparative; thus mycle ma, much more, ma Sonne, more than : while GO sen a, CDtepe, 280 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. imagined of MioMe) been borrowed from fnyaXog } but is merely the diminutive of mo, passing through the gradual changes of Molel, Mylel, Mochil, MucJiel {still retained in Scotland), Moche, much. '• Yes certes (quod she) Who is a frayler thynge than the fleshly body of a man, oner whiche haue often tyme flyes, and yet lasse thynge than a flye, mokel myght in greuaunce and anoyenge." — Chaucer, Test. ofLoue, boke 2. fol. 319. p. 1. col. 1. " Opinion is while a thinge is in non certayne, and hydde frome mens very knowlegyng, and by no parfyte reason fully declared, as thus : yf the sonne be so mokel as men wenen, or els yf it be more than the erth."— Ibid, boke 3. fob 325. p. 2. col. 2. " A lytel misgoyng in the gynning causeth mykel errour in the end."— Ibid, boke 2. fol. 315. p. 2. col. 1. " O badde and strayte bene thilke (richesse) that at their departinge maketh men teneful and sory, and in the gatheryng of hem make men nedy, Moche folke at ones mowen not togider moche therof haue." — Ibid, boke 2. fol. 316. p. 2. col. I. " Good chylde (quod she) what echeth suche renome to the con- science of a wyse man, that loketh and measureth hys goodnesse not by aleuelesse wordes of the people, but by sothfastnesse of conscience : by God, nothynge. And yf it be fayre a mans name be eched by moche folkes praysing, and fouler thyng that mo folke not pray sen," — Ibid. boke 2. fol. 319. p. 2. col. 1. " Also ryght as thou were ensample of moche folde errour, righte so thou must be ensample of many folde correctioun."~-~/6id boke 1, fol. 310. p. 1. col. 2. Nevertheless. In our old authors written variously, Na-the-les, Ne-the-les,_ Nocht-the-les, Not-the-les, Never4he-later : its opposite also was used, IVel-the-later. " Timely I say for me, sythe I came thys Margarit to serue, durst I neuer me discouer of no maner disease, and wel the later hath myn herte hardyed such thynges to done, for the great bounties and worthy magnus, is positive, answering to the Teutonic Mar, Mer, and the Cel- tic Mawr. With regard to Mickle, it constantly occurs in all the ear- liest Teutonic dialects :— Goth. MIKI A.S- Francic Mihhil, A.S. Micel, Isl. Mikle, Su. G. Magle. — Ed.] CH. X] OF ADVERBS. 281 refresh men tes that she of her grace goodly without anye desert on my halue ofte hath me rekened." — Test, of Loue, boke 3. fol. 332. p. 2. col. 1. " Habyte maketh no monke, ne wearynge of gylte spurres maketh no knyghte : neuerthelater in conforte of thyne herte, yet wol I otherwyse answere." — Ibid, boke 2. fol. 322. p. 2. col. 2. Bather. In English we have Hath, Bather, Bathest ; which are simply the Anglo-Saxon RaS, Ra^oji, Ra^opt. celer, velox. Some have derived this English word rather from the Greek ; as Mer. Casaubon from ogOgog, u quod sane (says Skinner) longius distat quam mane a vespere : " and others, with a little more plausibility, from 'Vahsog. The Italians have received this same word from our North- ern ancestors, and pronounce it Ratio, with the same mean- ing : which Menage derives either from Baptus or from Bapi- dus, " Bapdus, Bapdo, Baddo, Batto." Skinner notices the expressions Bath fruit, and. Bath wine, from the Anglo-Saxon Ra$ ; of which, after Menage, he says — " Nescio an contract, a Lat. Bapidus" Minshew derives rather from the Lat. Ratus. Ray has a proverb — " The Bath sower never borrows of the late." S. Johnson cites Spenser (except himself, the worst possible authority for English words) — " Thus is my harvest hasten'd all to Rathe" And May — " Bath ripe and purple grapes there be." u Rath ripe are some, and some of later kind," And Milton— li Bring the Rathe primrose that forsaken dies." And he adds most ignorantly — " To have Bather. This I think a barbarous expression, of late intrusion into our language ; for which it is better to say — will rather." Dr. Newton, in a note on Lycidas, says of the word Bathe — " This word is used by Spenser, B. 3. cant. 3. st. 28. — ' Too Rathe cut oif by practice criminal.' " And Shepherd's Calendar, 1 The Rather lambs been starved with cold.' " 282 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. T. Warton, in bis note on the same passage of Milton, says- — " The particular combination of, Rathe primrose, is perhaps from a pastoral called a Palinode by E. B. (probably Edmond Bolton), in England's Helicon, edit. 1614. signal. B. 4. ' And made the Rathe and timely primrose grow.' u In the west of England, there is an early species of apple called the Rathe-ripe. We have— : Rathe and late ' — in a pastoral, in Davison's Poems, edit. 4. London, 1621. p. 177. In Bustard's Epic/rams, printed 1598, I find— ' The Bashed primrose and the violet' Lib. i. epigr. 34. p. 12. 12mo. Perhaps Bashed is a provincial corruption from Rathe." By the quotations of Johnson, Newton, and Warton, from Spenser, May, Bolton, Davison, and Bastard, a reader would imagine that the word rathe was very little authorized in the language ; and that it was necessary to hunt diligently in obscure holes and corners for an authority. " And netheles there is no man In all this world e so wise, that can Of loue temper the measure : But as it falleth in auenture. For witte ne strength male not helpe" And w niche els wolcle him yelpe, Is eathest thro wen under foote." Gower, lib. 1. fob 7. p. 2. col. 2. " Some seyne he did well enough, And some seyne, he did amis. Diners opinions there is. And commonliche in eueiy nede The werst speclie is hathest herde." lib. 3. fol. 59. p. 1. col. 1. " That euery loue of pure kynde Is fyrst forth drawe, well I fynde : But netheles yet ouer this Deserte clothe so, that it is The bather had in many place." — lib. 4. fol. 72, p, 1. col. 1. " Who that is bolde, And dar travaile, and undertake The cause of loue, he shall be take The rather unto loues crace." — lib. 4. fol. 75. p. 1. col. 2. CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 283 " But fortune is of suclie a sleyght, That whan a man is most on height, She maketh hym rathest for to falle." Gower, lib. 6. fol. 135. p. 2. col 2. " Why ryse ye so rathe 1 Ey, benedicite, "What eyleth you?" — Chaucer, Myllers Talc, fol. 15. p. 1. col. 1. " O dere cosyn, Dan Johan, she saycle, What eyleth you so rathe to a ryse 1" Shypmans Tale, fol. C9. p. 1. col. 2. " For hym my lyfe lyeth al in dout But yf he come the rather out." Rom. of the Rose, fol 141. p. 2. col. 1. u They wolde eftsones do you scathe If that they myght, late or RxITHe." — Ibid. fol. 152. p. 1. col. 1. " And haue my trouth, but if thou finde it so, I be thy bote, or it be ful longe, To peces do me drawe, and sythen honge. Ye, so sayst thou 1 (quod Troylus) alas : But God wot it is naught the rather so," Troylus, boke 1. fol. 161. p. 2. col. 1. " Loke up I say, and tel me what she is Anon, that I may gon about thy nede, Knowe iche her aught, for my loue tel me this, Than wold I hope rather for to spede." Ibid, boke 1. fob 161. p. 2. col. 2. li And with his salte teeres gan he bathe The ruby in his signet, and it sette Upon the wexe delyuerlyche and rathe." Ibid, boke 2. fol. 169, p. 1. col. 1. " But now to purpose of my eatiier speche." Ibid, boke 3. fol. 179. p. 2. col. 2. " These folke desken nowe delyuerauu ce Of Antenor that brought hem to mischaun.ee. For he was after traytour to the toun Of Troy ajas ; they quitte him out to rathe." Ibid, boke 4. fol. 183 ? p. 2. col. i. ' f But he was slayne alas, the more harme is, TJnhappely at Thebes al to rathe." Ibid, boke 5. fol. 195. p. 2. col. 1. " Yf I (quod she) haue understonden and knowen utterly the causes and the Jiabite of thy malady, thou languyshest and art defected for desyre and talent of thy rather fortune. She that ylke fortune onelye 284 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. that is chaunged as thou faynest to thewarde, hath perverted the clerenesse and the estate of thy corage." — Boecius, boke 2. fol. 225. p. I. col. 2. " "Why lorn, there was a man that had assayed with stryuynge wordes an other man, the which not for usage of very vertue, but for proude vayne gloiye, had taken upon him falsely the name of a phylosophre. This rather man that I spake of, thought he wold assay, wheder he thilke were a phylosophre or no." — Ibid, boke 2. fol. 230. p. 2. col. 2. " Diuyne grace is so great that it ne may not ben fill praysed, and this is only the maner, that is to say, hope and prayers. For which it semeth that men wol speke with God, and by reson of supplycacion bene conioyned to thy Ike clerenesse, that nys nat approched no rather or that men seken it and impetren it." — Ibid, boke 5. fol. 249. p. 2. col. 1. " Graunt mercy good frende (quod he) I thanke the, that thou woldest so ; But it may neuer the rather be do, ISTo man may my sorowe glade." JDreame of Chaucer, fol. 256. p. 1. col. 1. " The rather spede, the soner may we go, Great coste alway there is in taryenge, And longe to sewe it is a wery thynge." Assemble of Lady es, fol. 275. p. 2. col. 2. " Thilke sterres that ben cleped sterres of the northe, arysen rather than the degree of her longytude, and all the sterres of the southe, arysen after the degree of her longytude." — Astrolabye, fol 280. p. 2. col. 1. " But lesynges with her flatterye, With fraude couered under a pytous face Accept be no we rathest unto grace." Blaclce Knyght, fol. 289. p. 2. col. 2. " That shal not nowe be tolde for me, For it no nede is redily, Folke can synge it bet than I, For al mote out late or rathe." Fame, boke 3, fol. 302. p. 1. col. 2. " Who was y crowned ? by God nat the strongest, but he that rathest come and lengest abode and continued in the iourney and spared nat to trauayle." — Test. ofLoue, boke 1. fol. 307. p. 1. col. 2. " Euery glytteryng thinge is not golde, and under colour of fayre speche many vices may be hyd and conseled. Therfore I rede no wight to trust on you to rathe, mens chere and her speche right guyleful is ful ofte."— Ibid, boke 2. fol 314 p. 2. col. 2. CH. X.] OP ADVERBS. 285 " Veryly it is proued that rychesse, dygnyte, and power, been not tfewe waye to the knotte, but as rathe by suche thynges the knotte to be unbound." " - — — - Than (quod she) wol I proue that shrewes as rathe shal ben in the knotte as the good." — Test, of Lone, boke 2, fol. 319. p. 1. col. 1. " Ah, good nyghtyngale (quod I then) A lytel haste thou ben to longe hen, For here hath ben the leude cuckowe And songen sondes rather than hast thou." Cuckowe and Nyghtyngale, fol. 351. p. 1, col. 2. " His feris has this pray ressauit raith, And to thare meat addressis it for to graith." Douglas, booke 1. p. 19. " Quhen Paris furth of Phiyge, the Troyane bird Sockt to the ciete Laches in Sparta, And thare the douchter of Leda stal awa, The fare Helen e, and to Troy tursit raith." Ibid, booke 7. p. 2 1 9. (< And sche hir lang round nek bane bowand raith, To gif thaym souck, can thaym culze bayth." Ibid, booke 8. p. 266. " The princis tho, quhilk suld this peace making, Turnis towart the bricht sonnys uprisyng, With the salt melder in thare haudis raith." Ibid, booke 12. p. 413. Fie; The imperative of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb, l?Ijl!J, Fiam To hate. Quickly. Quick-Mice : from Epic, cpicu, cpicob, vivus, (as we still oppose the Quick to the Bead.) Epic is the past participle of Epiccian, vivificare. Quickly means, in a life-like or lively manner ; in the manner of a creature that has life. Scarce. The Italians have the adjective Scar so : " Queste parole assai passano il core Al tristo padre, e non sapea die fare 286 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. Di racquistar la sua figlia e Y onore, Perche tutti i rimedj erano scarsi." II Morgante, cant. 10. st. 128. which Menage improbably derives from Exparcus. The same word in Spanish is written Escasso. Both the Italian and the Spanish words are probably of Northern origin. In Dutch Skaars is, rare, infrequent. It is still commonly used as an adjective in modern English ; but anciently was more common. " Hast thou be so arse or large of gifte Unto thy loue, whom thou seruest 1 And saith the trouth, if thou hast bee Unto thy loue or scars e or free." Gower, lib. 5. fob 109. p. 1. col. 2. " What man that scarse is of his good, And wol not gyue, he shall nought take." Ibid, fob 109. p. 2. col. 1. " That men holde you not to scarce, ne to sparyng." Tale of Chaucer, fob 80. p. 2. col. 1. " Loke that no man for scarce the holde ? For that may greue the manyfolde." Rom. of the Rose, fob 131. p. 1. col. 1. Seldom. " I me reioyced of my Iyberte That selden tyme is founde in manage," Gierke ofOxenf Tale, fob 46. p. 1. col. 1. The Dutch have also the adjective Zelden, Selten : The Germans Selten : The Danes Seldsom : The Swedes Sellsynt : — rare, unusual, uncommon. Stark. According to S. Johnson this word has the following signi- fications — Stiff, strong, rugged, deep, full, mere, simple, plain, gross. He says, " It is used to intend or augment the sig- nification of a word : as ? Stark mad, mad in the highest de- gree. It is now little used but in low language." In the Anglo-Saxon Stapc, Sfeeapc, German Starch, CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 287 Dutch Sterk, Danish Stcerk, Swedish Stark, as in the English, all mean Strong. It is a good English word ; common in all our old writers, still retaining its place amongst the moderns, and never had an interval of disuse. " And she that helmed was in starke stonres, And wan by force townes stronge and toures." Chaucer, Monkes Tale, fol. 85. p. 2. col. 2. " But unto you I dare not lye, But niyght I felen or espye That ye perceyued it nothyng. Ye shulde haue a starke leasyng." Rom. of the Rose, fol. 154. p. 2. col. 2. " This egle, of which T haue you tolde, Me flyeng at a swappe he hente, And with his sours agayne up wente Me caryeng in hys clawes starke As lyghtly as I had ben a larke." Fame, boke 1. fol. 294. p. 2. col. 2. " The followand wynd blew sterke in our tail." Douglas, booke 3. p. 71. " So that, my son, now art thou souir and sterk, That the not nedis to haue ony fere." Ibid, booke 8. p. 265. " Turn us ane litil, thocht he was stark and stout, Begouth frawart the bargane to withdraw." Ibid, booke 9. p. 306. " Sa thou me saif, thy pissance is sa stark, The Troianis glorie, nor thare victory e Sail na thing change nor dymynew tharby." Ibid, booke 10. p. 336. " And at ane hie balk teyt up sche has With ane loupe knot ane stark corde or lace, Quharewith hir self sche spilt with shameful dede." Ibid, booke 12. p. 432. " As fast lock'd up in sleep, as guiltless labour, When it lies starkly in the traveller's bones." Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, act 4. sc. 2. " 1 Boor. Come, English beer, hostess. English beer, by th' belly. " 2 Boor. Stark beer, boy : stout and strong beer. So. Sit down, lads, and drink me upsey-dutch. Frolick and fear not.*' — Beaumont and Fletcher, Beggars Bush, act 3. sc. 1. 288 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. Very; Means True. " And it is clere and open that thilke sentence of Plato is very and sotlie."— Chaucer. Boecius, boke 4. fol. 241, p. 2. col. 2. It is merely the French adjective Vrai, from the Italian, from the Latin. When this word was first adopted from the French, (and long after,) it was written by them, and by us, veray ; which they have since corrupted to Vrai, and the English to very. " For if a kynge shall upon gesse Without veray cause drede, He maie be liche to that I rede." Gower, lib. 7. fol. 162. p. 2. col. 2. " Constantyne then sample and myrrour To princes al, in humble buxumnesse To holy church e o veray sustaynour." Prologue to Cant. Tales. " But as Christe was, whan he was on lyue, So is he there vehement" — (vraimeni). Plowmans Tale, fol. 99. p. 2. col. 1. " thou, my chyLl, do lerne, I the pray, Vertew and veray labour to assay."' Douglas, booke 12. p. 425. " Disce, puer, virtutem ex me Verumque laborem : Fortunam ex aliis." 1 — Virgil. Once. At once. Twice. Thrice. Antiently written anes, axis, anys, ones, onys, twies, 1 The word Aliis in this passage, should in a modern version be translated Lord Grenville, Mr. Rose. Mr. Dundas, Mr. Wyhdham, Mr. Pitt, Lord Liverpool, &c. — who only assert modestly (what our pilfer- ing stewards and bailiffs will shortly tell us), that they hold their emoluments of office by as good a title, as any man in England holds his private estate and fair-earned property; and immediately after prove to us, that they hold by a much better title. — Their proof is, for the present only a triple or quadruple (they may take half or two thirds of our income next year) additional assessment upon our innocent pro- perty ; whilst their guilty emoluments of office (how earned we know) remain untouched. CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 289 twyis, twyise, thries, theyis, &c, are merely the Genitives l of ffine, TCn, TyjlX, T P a > T P e 3> Tpi 5 , Djii, Djiy, &o., i. e. One, Two, Three (The substantive Time, Turn, &c, omitted). The Italian and French have no correspondent adverb : they say Tine fois, deux fois, Una volta, due volte, &c. The Dutch have Eens for the same purpose ; but often forego the advantage. " For ones that he hath ben blithe He shal ben after sorie thries."' Gower, lib. 5. fol. 117. p. 1. col. 1. " For as the wylde wode rage Of wyndes maketh the sea sauage, And that was caulme bringeth to wawe, So for defant and grace of lawe The people is stered all at ones." Ibid. lib. 7. fol. 166. p. 1. col. 1. " Ye wote yovr selfe 3 she may not wedde two At ones." — Knyghtes Tale, fol. 5. p. 2. col. 2. " Sythen Christ went neuer bnt onys To weddyng."— Wyfe of Bathe, Prol fol. 34. p. 1. col. 1. " And first I shrew myself, both blode and bones, If thou begyle me ofter than ones." Nonnes Priest, fol. 91. p. 1. col, 1. " Sen Pallas mycht on Grekis tak sic wraik, To birn thare schyppis, and all for anis saik Droun in the seye." — Douglas, booke 1. p. 14. " My faddir cryis, How ! feris, help away, Streik airis attanis with al the force ge may." Ibid, booke 3. p. 8. " The feblit breith ful fast can bete and blaw, Ne gat he lasare anys his aynd to draw." — Ibid, booke 9. p. 307. " Thries she turned hir aboute And thries eke she gan downe loute." Gower, lib. 5. fol. 105. p. 1. col. 1. 1 [See Mr. Price's note ( 20 ) in p. 493 of his Edition of Warton's History of English Poetry, 8vo, Vol. ii. Appendix; and Mr. Stephen- son's note in Boucher's Glossary, v. Anes, Atwyx, &c. Grimm points out a distinction between the genitival eines and the abstract einst, ' olim,' of the old German, still existing in the Swiss dialect, and probably in our provincial one'st, yanst. See Grammat. iii. 227, 228 ; Zahladverbia ; and Additional Notes. — Ed.] U 290 OF ADVEKBS. [FART I. " She made a cercle about hym thries, And efte with fire of sulphur twies." Gower, lib. 5. fol. 105. p. 2. col. 2. " That hath been twyse hotte and twyse colde." Chaucer, Cokes Prol. fol. 17. p. 2. col. 2. " For as Senec sayth : He that ouercometh his hert, ouercometh twise."— Tale of Chaucer, fol. 82. p. 2. col. 2. ei In gold to graif thy fall twyis etlit he, And twyise for reuth failgeis the faderis handis." Douglas, booke 6. p. 163. " He sychit profoundlye owthir twyis or thryis." Ibid, booke 10. p. 349. Atwo. Athree. On fcpa. On ftjiy. In two; In three. The Dutch have Intween; the Danes Itu. " And Jason swore, and said ther, That also wis God hym lielpe, That if Medea did hym lielpe, That he his purpose might Wynne, Thei shulde neuer part atwynne." * Gower, lib. 5. fol. 102. p. 2. col. 1. " That death us shulde departe atwo." Ibid. lib. 4. fol. 84. p. 1. col. 1. " And eke an axe to smyte the corde atwo." Myllers Tale, fol. 14. p. 1. col. 1. " Ne howe the fyre was couched fyrst with Stre, And than with drye stickes clouen athre." Knyghtes Tale, fol. 11. p. 1. col. 1. Alone. Only. All-one. One-like. In the Dutch, Een is one: AU-een, alone : and All-een-lyk, only. " So came she to him priuely, And that was, wher he made his mone, Within a gardeine all him one." Gower, lib. 1. fol. 25. p. 2. col. 1. " The sorowe, doughter, which I make, Is not all onely for my sake, But for the bothe, and for you all." Ibid. lib. 1. fol. 25. p. 2. col. 2. ^"The vail of the temple was rentm twain." — Matt, xxvii. 51. — Ed.] CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 291 " All other leches lie forsoke, And put him out of auenture Alonly to God's cure." — Gower, lib. 2. fol. 45. p. 2. col. 2. " And thus full ofte a daie for nought (Saufe onliciie of niyn owne thought) I am so with my seluen wroth " — Ibid. lib. 3. fol. 47. p. 2, col. 1. " Thre yomen of his chambre there All only for to serue hym were." Ibid. lib. G. fol. 137. p. 1. col. 2. " For all onslyche of gentill loue My courte stont all courtes aboue." Ibid. lib. 8. fol. 187. p. 1. col. 2, " Thou wost well that I am Venus, Whiche all onely my lustes seche." Ibid. lib. 8. fol. 187. p. 2. col. 1. Anon. Junius is right. Anon means In one (subauditur instant, moment, minute). " For I woll ben certayne a wedded man, And that anon in all the hast I cam" Marchauntes Tide, fol. 29. p. 1. col. 2. " Than Dame Prudence, without delay or tarieng, sent anone her messanger." — Tale of Chaucer, fol. 82. p. 1. col. 2. All our old authors use anon for immediately, instantly. Mr. Tyrwhitt, vol. 4. note to verse 381 (Prol. to Canterb. Tales), says — c; From Pro nunc, I suppose, came For the nunc ; and so, For the Nonce} Just as from Ad nunc came anon." — I agree with Mr. Tyrwhitt, that the one is just as likely as the other. In the Anglo-Saxon, Sn means One, and On means In : which word On we have in English corrupted to An before a vowel, and to A before a consonant ; and in writing and speak- ing have connected it with the subsequent word : and from this double corruption has sprung a numerous race of Adverbs ; 1 [The reader is referred to Mr. Price's explanation of this phrase in his Appendix to Vol. ii. of Warton, 8vo edition, p. 496 ; where ho shows it to be "for then ames," "for the once," by transference of the final consonant of the article in the oblique case then to the initial vowel of the following word — as in u at the nende," " at the nale," for "at than (the) end," &c. See also Grimm, iii. 107, in ein : and Boucher's Glossary, v. Atten. — Ed.] 292 OF ADVERBS. [PART I which (only because there has not been a similar corruption) have no correspondent adverbs in other languages. 1 Thus from On bseg, On inlic, On len^e, On bpa&be, On baec, On lanbe, On hpe, On rmbban, On pihte, On tpa, On peg ; we have A day, Anight, Along, Abroad, Aback, Aland, Alive, Amid, Aright, Atwo, Away: and from On Kn, ANON". Gower and Chaucer write frequently In one : and Douglas, without any corruption, purely on ane. " Tims sayand, scho the bing ascendis ox ane." Douglas, booke 4. p. 124. In a Trice. Skinner, not so happily as usual, says — " In a Trice, fort, a Dan. at reyse, surgere, se erigere, attollere, q. d. tantillo temporis spatio quan to quis se attollere potest." S. Johnson — " believes this word comes from Trait, Fr., cor- rupted by pronunciation. A short time, an instant, a stroke." The etymology of this word is of small consequence ; but, I suppose, we have it from the French 2 Trots : and (in a manner similar to anon) it means — In the time in which one can count Three — One, Two, Three, and away. — Gower writes it Treis. " All soclenly, as who saith Treis, Where that he stode in his paleis, He toke him from the mens sight, Was none of them so ware, that might Set eie where he become." — Gower, lib. 1. fob 24. p. 2. col. ]. .The greater part of the other adverbs have always been well understood : such as, Gratis, Alias, Amen, Alamode, Indeed, In fact, Methinks, 3 Forsooth, Insooth, &c. 1 [Here Mr. Tooke appears to he in error. A collection of them is given by Grimm, under the head (V.) Prcepositionale substanlivische adverbia ; such as, in rihtt, enrihte, enwege, a brant. &c. — Gramniat. iii. 144, 155.— Ed.] 2 [ But see Grimm, iii. 232-3.] 3 [Methin/ts : — ' it appears to me :' Germ. ' inich dunkt? It is the verb impersonal, governing the prefixed pronoun as Webster correctly says, in the dative : " Dampnith and savith as him thinlce." — Plowmans Tale, 21G4. The explanation in Richardson's Dictionary, " It thinketh or caus- eth me to think," is absurd. Wachter distinguishes between dunken CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 293 B. — But I suppose there are some adverbs which are merely cant words ; belonging only to the vulgar ; and which have therefore no certain origin nor precise meaning ; such as spick and span, &c. Spick, Span. H. — I will not assert that there may not be such ; but I know of none of that description. It is true S. Johnson says of Spick and Span, that " he should not have expected to find this word authorized by a polite writer." " Span new" he says, " is used by Chaucer, 1 and is supposed to come from j-paiman, To stretch, Sax., expandere, Lai., whence span. Span new is therefore originally used of cloth, new extended or dressed at the clothier's: and spick and span new, is, newly extended on the spikes or tenters. It is, how- ever, a low word/' In spick and span, however, there is nothing stretched upon spikes and tenters but the etymolo- gist's ignorance. In Dutch they say Spikspelder-niemv. And spyker means a warehouse or magazine. Spil or Spel means a spindle, schiet-spoel, the weaver's shuttle ; and spoelder the and denken, which he says Junius has confounded. Is this one of those which Mr. Richardson terms Wachter's " unnecessary distinctions?" See Additional Notes. — Ed.] 1 Chaucer uses it, in the third book of Troylus, fol. 181. p. 2. col. 1. " This is a worcle for al, that Troylus Was neuer ful to speke of this matere. And for to praysen unto Pandarus The bounte of his right lady dere, And Pandarus to thanke and maken chere. This tale was aye span newe to begynne, Tyl that the nyght departed hem atwynne" But I see no reason why Chaucer should be blamed for its use; any more than Shakespeare for using Fire-new, on a much more solemn occasion. " Maugre thy strength, youth, place and eminence, Despight thy victor sword, and Fire-new fortune, Thy valour and thy heart, — thou art a traitor." King Lear, act 5. sc. 3. [" Armado is a most illustrious wight, A man of fire-new words, fashion's own knight." Love's Labour s Lost, act i. sc. 1. " Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current." Richard III., act 1. sc. 3.] 294 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. shuttle-thrower. In Dutch, therefore, Spik-spelder-nieuw means, new from the warehouse and the loom. In German they say — Span^neu and Fwickel-neu. Spcmge means any thing shining ; as Funckel means, To glitter or sparkle. In Danish, Funkcelnye. In Swedish, Spitt spangande ny. In English we say Spick and Span-neio, Fire-new, Brand- new. The two last Brand and Fire speak for themselves. Spick and Span-neio means shining new from the warehouse. Aye. Yea. Yes. Br — You have omitted the most important of all the Ad- verbs — aye and no. Perhaps because you think Greenwood has sufficiently settled these points — " Ay" he says, ic seems to be a contraction of the Latin word Aio, as Nay is of Nego. For our Nay, Nay ; Ay, Ay; is a plain imitation of Terence's Negatquisf Nego. Ait? Aio." Though I think he might have found a better citation for his purpose — " An nata est sponsa pnegnans 1 Vel ai, vel nega." H. — I have avoided aye and no, because they are two of the most mercenary and mischievous words in the language, the degraded instruments of the meanest and dirtiest traffic in the land. I cannot think they were borrowed from the Bo- mans even in their most degenerate state. Indeed the Italian, Spanish and French 1 affirmative adverb, Si, is derived from the Latin, and means Be it (as it does when it is called an hypothetical conjunction). But our Aye, or Tea, is the Im- perative of a verb of northern extraction ; and means — Have it, possess it, enjoy it. And yes, is Ay-es, Have, possess, enjoy that. More immediately, perhaps, they are the French singular and plural Imperative Aye and Ayez; as our cor- 1 The French have another (and their principal) affirmative adverb, Oui : which, Menage says, some derive from the Greek ovroci, but which he believes to be derived from the Latin Hoc est, instead of which was pronounced Hoce, then Oe, then One, then Oi, and finally Ouy. But (though rejected by Menage) Oui is manifestly the past participle of Ouir, to hear : and is well calculated for the purpose of assent: for when the proverb says — "Silence gives consent" — it is always understood of the silence, not of a deaf or absent person, but of one who has both heard and noticed the, request. CH. X.] OF ADVEBBS. 295 rupted O-yes of the cryer, is no other than the French Impera- tive Oyez, Hear, Listen. 1 Danish, Ejer, To possess, have, enjoy. Eja, Aye or yea. Eje, possession. Ejer, possessor. Swedish, Ega, To possess. Ja, aye, yea. Egare, pos- sessor. German, Ja, aye, yea. Eigener, possessor, owner. Eigen, own. Dutch, Eigenen, To possess. Ja, aye, yea. Eigenschap, Eigendom. possession, property. Eigenaar, owner, proprietor. Anglo-Sax. ^Lgen, own. JXgenbe, proprietor. S^ennyrre, property. Not. No. As little do I think, with Greenwood, that not, or its ab- breviate no, was borrowed from the Latin ; or, with Minshew, from the Hebrew ; or, with Junius, from the Greek. The in- habitants of the North could not wait for a word expressive of dissent, till the establishment of those nations and languages ; and it is itself a surly sort of word, less likely to give way and to be changed than any other used in speech. Besides, their derivations do not lead to any meaning, the only object which can justify any etymological inquiry. But we need not be any further inquisitive, nor I think doubtful, concerning the origin and signification of not and no, since we find that in the Danish Nodig, and in the Swedish Nodig, and in the Dutch Noode, Node, and No, mean, averse, unwilling?' 1 " And after on the daimce went Largesse, that set al her entent For to ben honorable and free, Of Alexander's kynne was she. Her most ioye was ywis, Whan that she yafe, and saycl : Haue this." Rom. of the Hose, fol. 125. p. 2. col. 1. "Which might, with equal propriety, have been translated, " When she gave, and said yes." 2 M. L'Eveque, in his " Essai sur les rapports de la langue des Slaves avec celle des anciens habitans du Latium," (prefixed to his History of Russia,) has given us a curious etymology of three Latin adverbs ; which I cannot forbear transcribing in this place, as an addi- 296 OF ADVERBS. [PART. I. And I hope I may now be permitted to have done with Ety- mology : for though, like a microscope, it is sometimes useful to discover the minuter parts of language which would other- iional confirmation of my opinion of the Particles.—" Le cbangement de To en A doit a peine etre regarde comme une alteration. En effet ces deux lettres ont en Slavon tant d'affinite, que les Russes pronon- cent en a le tiers au nioins des syllabes qu'ils ecrivent par un o. " Le mot qui signifioit auparavant (before Terra was used) la surface de la terre ; ce mot en Slavon est pole ; qui par l'afBiiite de To avec 1'a, a pu se changer en pale. Ce qui me fait presumer que ce mot se trouvoit aussi en Latin, c'est qu'il reste un verbe qui paroit forme de ce substantif; c'est le verbe palo ou palare, errer dans le cam pagne : palans, qui erre de cote et d'autre, qui court les champs. L'adverbe palam tire son origine du meme mot. II signifie manifeslement, a de- couvert. Or, qu'est ce qui ce fait a decouvert pour des hommes qui habitent des tentes ou des cabannes? C'est ce qui se fait en plein champs. Ce mot palam semble meme dans sa formation avoir plus de rapport a la langue Slavonne qu' a la Latine. II semble qu'on dise palam pour polami par les champs, a travers les champs. Ce qui me confirme dans cette idee, c'est que je ne me rappelle pas qu'il y ait en Latin d'autre adverbe qui ait une formation semblable, si ce ii'est son oppose, clam, qui veut dire secretement, en cachette ; et qui me paroit aussi Slavon. Clam se dit pour kolami, et par une contraction tres conforme au genie de la langue Slavonne, klami, au milieu des Pieux : c'est a dire dans des cabannes qui etoient formees de Pieux revetus d'ecorces, de peaux, ou de branchages. " J 'oubliois l'adverbe coram, qui veut dire Deva?it, en presence. — ' II difiere de palam (dit Ambroise Calepin) en ce qu'il se rapporte seulement a quelques personnes, et palam se rapporte a toutes : il entraine d'ailleurs avec lui l'idee de proximite.' — II a done pu marquer autrefois que Taction se passoit en presence de quelqu'un dans un lieu circonscrit ou ferme. Ainsi on aura dit coram pour korami, ou, Mejdou Korami ; parce que la cloture des habitations etoit souvent faite d'ecorce, Kora." I am the better pleased with M. L'Eveque's etymology, because he had no system to defend, and therefore cannot be charged with that partiality and prejudice, of which, after what I have advanced, I may he reasonably suspected. Nor is it the worse, because M. L'Eveque appears not to have known the strength of his own cause : for clam was antiently written in Latin calim : (though Festus, who tells us this, absurdly derives clam from clavibus, " quod his, quae celare vo- lumus, claudimus : ") and cola was an old Latin word for wood, or logs, or stakes. So Lucilius (quoted by Servius), " Scinde, puer, Calam, ut caleas." His derivation is also still further analogically fortified by the Danish correspondent adverbs : for in that language Geheim, geheimt, I Hemmelighed (from Hiem, home), and / enrum (i. e. in a room), supply the place of Clam, and Fordagen (or, in the face of day) supplies the place of Palam. CH. X.] OF ADVERBS. 297 wise escape our sight ; yet is it not necessary to have it always in our hands, nor proper to apply it to every object. B. — If your doctrine of the Indeclinables (which I think we have now pretty well exhausted) is true, and if every word in all languages has a separate meaning of its own, why have you left the conjunction that unclecyphered ? Why content yourself with merely saying it is an Article, whilst you have left the Articles themselves unclassed and unexplained ? H. — I would fain recover my credit with Mr. Burgess, at least upon the score of liberality. For the freedom (if he pleases, harshness) of my strictures on my " predecessors on the subject of language/' I may perhaps obtain his pardon, when he has learned from Montesquieu that — " Kien ne recule plus le progres des connoissances, qu'un mauvais ouvrage d\m auteur ceiebre : parcequ'avant d'instruire, il faut de- tromper:" or from Voltaire, that — "La faveur prodiguee aux mauvais ouvrages, est aussi contraire aux progres de l'esprit, que le dechainement contre les bons." But Mr. Burgess him- self has undertaken to explain the Pronouns : and if I did not leave the field open to him (after his undertaking) he might perhaps accuse me of illiberality towards my followers also. I hope the title will not offend him ; but I will venture to say that, if he does any thing with the pronouns, he must be con- tented to follow the etymological path which I have traced out for him. Now the Articles, as they are called, trench so closely on the Pronouns, that they ought to be treated of together ; and I rather chuse to leave one conjunction unex- plained, and my account of the Articles imperfect, than forestall in the smallest degree any part of Mr. Burgess's future dis- covery. There is room enough for both of us. The garden of science is overrun with weeds; and whilst every coxcomb in literature is anxious to be the importer of some new exotic, the more humble, though (at this period of human knowledge especially) more useful business of sar dilation (to borrow an exotic from Dr. Johnson) is miserably neglected. B. — If you mean to publish the substance of our conversation, you will probably incur more censure for the subject of your inquiry, than for your manner of pursuing it. It will be said to be U-7TS0 ovov cxiag. H. — I know for what building I am laying the foundation : 298 OF ADVERBS. [PART I. and am myself well satisfied of its importance. For those who shall think otherwise, my defence is ready made : " Se questa materia non e degna, Per esser piu leggieri, D' un liuom die voglia parer saggio e grave, Scusatelo con questo ; clie s' ingegna Con questi van pensieri Fare il suo tristo tempo pin suave : Perche al trove non have Dove voltare il viso ; Che gli e stato inlerciso Mostrdr con altre imprese altra virtute." END OF THE FIRST PART, EEEA HTEPOENTA, PART II. TO MESSIEURS JAMES HAYGARTH. THOMAS HARRISON. EDWARD HALE. THOMAS DRANE. MATTHEW WHITING. NORRISON COYERDALE. ROBERT MAIRIS. WILLIAM COOKE. CHARLES PRATT. MATTHIAS DUPONT. WILLIAM HARWOOD. HENRY BULLOCK. To you, Gentlemen of my Jury, I present this small portion of the fruits of your integrity; which decided in my favour the Bill of Chancery filed against my life ; 2 And to my learned Counsel, THE HON. THOMAS ERSKINE. VICARY GIBBS, Esq. ; And their Assistants, HENRY DAMPIER, Esq. FELIX VAUGHAN, Esq. JOHN GURNfiY, Esq. 1 [These three were challenged by the Attorney-General.] 2 The fears of my printer* (which I cannot call unfounded, in the present degraded state of the press) do not permit me to expose (as ought to be done) the circumstances producing, preceding, accompany- ing, and following my strange trial of six clays for High Treason ; or to make any remarks on the important changes which have taken place in our criminal legal proceedings ; and the consequent future (inse- curity) of the lives of innocent English subjects. [ * Mr. Deodatus Bye.— Ed.] M De rnoy voyant n'estre faict aulcun prix digne d'oeuvre, et consi- derant par tout ce tres-noble voyaulme ung chascun aujourd'huy soy mstamment exercer et fcravailler, part a la fortification de sa patrie, et la deffendre : part au repoulsement cles ennemis, et les offendre — le tout en police tant belle, en ordonnance si mirificque, et a: proufit, tant evident pour Vadveuir. Par doncques n'estre adscript et en ranc mis des nostres en partie offensive, qui m'ont estime trop imbecille et im- potent : de l'aultre qui est deffensive n'estre employe aulcunement : ay impute a honte plus que mediocre, estre veu spectateur ocieux de tant vaillans, diserts et chevalereux personaiges qui en veue et spectacle de toute Europe jouent ceste insigne Fable et Tragique-comedie, ne m'esver- tuer de moy-mesme, et non y consommer ce rien mon tout, qui me restoit." — Rabelais, Prol. to 3rd book: edit. Du Chat. 1741. " The better please, the worse despise, I aske no more." Last line of the Epilogue to the Shepheards Calender. EHEA HTEPOENTA, &o. PART II. CHAPTER I. EIGHTS OF MAN. F} — But your Dialogue, and your Politics, and your bitter Notes H. — Cantantes, my dear Burdett, minus via l^edit. F. — Oantantes, if you please ; but bawling out the Rights of Man, they say, is not singing. H. — -To the ears of man, what music sweeter than the Rights of man ? F. — Yes. Such music as the whistling of the wind before a tempest. You very well know what these gentlemen think of it. You cannot have forgotten " Sir, Whenever I hear of the word rights, I have learned to consider it as preparatory to some desolating doctrine. It seems to me, to be productive of some wide-spreading ruin, of some wasting desolation." — Canning s Speech. And do you not remember the enthusiasm with which these sentiments were applauded by the House, and the splendid rewards which immediately followed this declaration ? For no other earthly merit in the speaker that GBdipus himself could have discovered. H. — It is never to be forgotten. Pity their ignorance. F. — Punish their wickedness. H. — We shall never, I believe, differ much in our actions, 1 [The persons of the dialogue : H. the author ; F. Sir Francis Burdett, Bart.— Ed.1 302 RIGHTS OF MAN. [PART II. wishes, or opinions. I too say with you — Punish the wickedness of those mercenaries who utter such atrocities : and do you, with rne, pity the ignorance and folly of those regular governments who reward them : and who do not see that a claim of rights by their people, so far from treason or sedition, is the strongest avowal they can make of their subjection : and that nothing can more evidently show the natural disposition of mankind to rational obedience, than their invariable use of this word right, and their perpetual application of it to all which they desire, and to every thing which they deem excellent. F. — I see the wickedness more plainly than the folly ; the consequence staring one in the face : for, certainly, if men can claim no rights, they cannot justly complain of any wrongs. H. — Most assuredly. But your last is almost an identical proposition ; and you are not accustomed to make such. What do you mean by the words right and wrong ? F. — What do I mean by those words ? What every other person means by them. H. — And what is that ? F. — Nay, you know that as well as I do. H. — Yes. But not better : and therefore not at all. F. — Must we always be seeking after the meaning of words ? H. — Of important words we must, if we wish to avoid important error. The meaning of these words especially is of the greatest consequence to mankind ; and seems to have been strangely neglected by those who have made the most use of them. F. — The meaning of the word right ?— Why— It is used so variously, as substantive, adjective, and adverb; and has such apparently different significations (I think they reckon between thirty and forty), that I should hardly imagine any one single explanation of the term would be applicable to all its uses. We say — A man's right. A right conduct. A right reckoning. A right line. The right road. To do right. To be in the right. CH. I.] RIGHTS OF MAN. 303 To have the right on one's side. The right hand. Eight itself is an abstract idea : and, not referring to any sensible objects, the terms which are the representatives of abstract ideas are sometimes very difficult to define or explain. H. — Oh ! Then you are for returning again to your conve- nient abstract ideas ; and so getting rid of the question. F. — No. I think it worth consideration. Let us see how Johnson handles it. He did not indeed acknowledge any rights of the people ; but he was very clear concerning Ghosts and Witches, all the mysteries of divinity, and the sacred, indefeasible, inherent, hereditary rights of Monarchy. Let us see how he explains the term. Eight Eight — — Eight No. He gives no explanation : 1 — Except of right hand. H. — How does he explain that ? F. — He says, rtght hand means- -" Not the Left." H. — You must look then for left hand. What says he there ? F. — He says — left "sinistrous, Not right" H. Aye. So he tells us again that right is — "Not wrong" and wrong is — " Not right!' 2 But seek no further for intelligence in that quarter ; where nothing but fraud, and cant, and folly is to be found — mis- 1 Johnson is as bold and profuse in assertion, as lie is shy and sparing in explanation. He says that right means — "True!' Again, that it means — " passing true judgment" and — " passing a judgment according to the truth of things." Again, that it means — " Happy? And again, that it means — " Perpendicular!'' And again, that it means — " In a great degree" All false, absurd, and impossible. 2 Our lawyers give us equal satisfaction. Say they — " Droit est, ou lun ad chose que fuit tolle d'auter per Tort ; le challenge ou le claim de luy que doit aver ceo, est ternie droit." " Eight is, where one hath a thing that was taken from another wrongfully; the challenge or claim of * him that ought to have it, is called right." — Termes de la Ley. [See how Dr. Taylor sweats, in his chapter of law and right, in his Elements of Civil Laiv. t " Jus is an equivocal word, and stands for many senses, according to 304 RIGHTS OF MAN. [PART II. leading, mischievous folly; because it has a sham appearance of labour, learning, and piety. Eight is no other than hect-um (JRegitum), the past par- ticiple of the Latin verb Begere. 1 Whence in Italian you have ritto ; and from Dirigere, diritto, dritto : whence the French have their antient droict, and their modern droit. The Italian dritto and the French droit being no other than the past participle Direct-um. 2 its different use and acceptation. Some lawyers reckon up near forty. From whence it follows that the Emperor and his lawyers, who begin their works with definition, would have done better if they had pro- ceeded more yhilosopliico, and distinguished before they had defined. " Therefore, in this great ambiguity of signification, what relief can be expected must be had from the most simple and natural distribu- tion ; and this is what I am endeavouring." — Taylor'' s Elements of Civil Law, p. 40. " Juri operam daturum, prius nosse oportet, unde nomen Juris descendat." — lb. p. 55. " Jus generale est : sed Lex juris est species. Jus ad non scripta etiam pertinet, Leges ad Jus scriptum." So says Servius, ad Virg. 1. JSiVi. 511. In this Dr. Taylor thinks Servius mistaking. I think the Doctor greatly mistaking, and Servius a good expositor.] 1 It cannot be repeated too often, that, in Latin, g should always be pronounced as the Greek r • and o as the Greek K. If Begere had been pronounced.in our manner, i. e. Redjere; its past participle would have been Redjitum, Retchtum, not Rectum. And if Facere, instead of Fakere, had been pronounced Fassere ; its past participle would have been Fassitum, Fastum ; not Fakitum, Fahtum. [XEIP, Manus. Xzig-siv — Xs/£-s££, i. e. Ger-ere. Rem, or Res- gerere, Re-gerere — Re-gere. So Gerere — Gessi — Re-gessi, Regsi, Rexi. " Et quiclem, initio civitatis nostra?, populus, sine Lege certa, sine Jure certo, primum agere instituit ; omniaque manu a regibus guber- nabantur." Bis. lib. 1. Tit. 2. lex 2. § 1. u Manus (says Dr. Taylor) is generally taken for power or author- ity, for an absolute, despotic, or unlimited controul. So Cicero (pro Quintio) — ' Omnes quorum in alterius manu vita posita est, ssepius illud cogitant, quod possit is, cujus in ditione et potestate sunt, quam quid debeat, facere.' And Seneca (hi. Gontrov.) — ' Nemo potest alium in sua manu habere, qui ipse in aliena est.' To bring home the word therefore, and to our purpose, manus, when applied to govern- ment, is that arbitrary kind of administration, which depends rather upon the will of one than the consent of many." — Taylor's Elements of Civil Laiv, p. 6.] [The following are from -ZElfric's glossary : " Fas, Gober nihfc. Jus, manirc pint. Jus naturale, Gecynbe piht. Jus publicum, Ealbopmanna pint. Jus Quiritum, ^eala runbep piht." — Ed.] 2 This important word Rectum is unnoticed by Vossius. And of CH. I.] RIGHTS OF MAN. 305 In the same manner our English word just is the past participle of the verb jubere. 1 the etymology of Justum he himself hazards no opinion. What he collects from others concerning Rego and Jus, will serve to let the reader know what sort of etymology he may expect from them on other occasions. " Rego, et Rex (quod ex Regis contractum) quibusdam placet esse a esfoj, id est, facio. Isidorus Regem ait dici a recte agendo. Sed hsec Stoica est allusio. Nam planum est esse a Rego. Hoc Caninius et Nunnesius non absurde pro Rago dici putant : esseque id ab aoyjj)^ zara /ubirotdsGiv. Sed imprimis assentio doctissimo Frcincisco Junio, qui suspicatur Rego, omniaque ejus conjugata, venire a nomine Rag, quod Babyloniis Regem notabat, &c. " Jus forense a juvando ant jubendo dici putant. Alii jus quidem cidinariumz, juvando deducunt ; forense autem & jubendo. Recentiores quidam mirincas originationes commeuti sunt. Sane Franciscus Oo- n&mis jus civile dici ait a juxla ; quia juxta legem sit, et ei adaequetur et accommodetur, veluti suas regulse : quod etiam etymon adferfc Jod. de Salas. At Galeotus Martius et Franciscus Sanctius tradunt, jus prima sua significatione signare olera aut pultem : sed quia in conviviis pares unicuique partes dabantur, icleo metaphorice jus vocatum. quod suicm unicuique tribuit. Scipio Gentilis scribit — cum prisci in agris viverent, ssepeque infirmiores opprimerentur a potentioribus, eos qui afficerentur, ad misericordiarn excitandam too too solitos exclamare. Vult igitur ab /oj, Jous (ut veteres loquebantur) dictum esse : quia in- jirmiores nil nisi jus cupiaut atque expostulent. " Alteram quoque gru/xoXoy/av idem aclfert ; ut a Jove sit jus ; queni- admodum Graecis <3/%jj (ut aiunt) quasi Aiog xovptj, Jovisfilia. Sane verisimilior hsec etymologia quam prior ; quam et ii sequuntur, qui to'jg dici volunt quasi Jovis Os ; quia nempeid clemum justum sit, quod Deus sit profatus." 1 [" Quod si populorum jussis, si principum decretis, si senientiis judicum Jura constituerentur." — Cicero de Leg. lib. 1. 5. " Qui perniciosa et injusta populis Jussa descripserint." — Ibid. 1. 10. " The old Romans used iusa [i. e. lussa] for what we now write jura. Quinctilian, 1 — 7, says the same." See Dr. Taylor, Civil Law, p. 42. " Nel priu cipio del mondo, sendo li habitatori rari vissono un tempo dispersi a similitudiue delle bestie : dipoi multiplicando la generazione, si ragunorno insieme, et per potersi meglio difendere, cominciarno a riguardare fra loro, quelle clie fusse piu robusto et di maggior' cuore, et fecionlo come capo, et 1'obedivano. Da questo nacque la cognizione delle cose honeste et buone, difFerenti dalle pernitiose et ree : perch e veggendo che se uno noceva al suo benefattore, ne veniva odio et com- passion e tragli huomini, biasmando gliingratiet honorando quelli che fussero grati, et pensando ancora che quelle medesime ingiurie potevano essere fatte a loro ; per fuggire simile male, si riducevano a fare leggi, ordinare punizioni a chi contra facesse ; donde venne la cognizione della Justitia.''' — Alacchiavelli, Discorsi sopra Tito Livio, lib. 1. cap. 2.] x 306 RIGHTS OF MAN. [PART II. Decree, edict, statute, institute, mandate, precept, are all past participles. F.— What then is law ? H. — In our antient books it was written Laugh, Lagh, Lage, and Ley ; as Inlaugh, Ullage, Hundred- Lagh, &c. It is merely the past tense and past participle Lag or Lsej, 1 of the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon verb \JiTQjif$, Lecjan, ponere : and it means (something or any thing, Chose, Cosa, Aliquid) Laid down — as a rule of conduct. Thus, When a man demands his right ; he asks only that which it is Ordered he shall have. A right conduct is, that which is Ordered. A right reckoning is, that which is Ordered. A right line is, that which is Ordered or directed— (not a random extension, but) the shortest between two points. The right road is, that Ordered or directed to be pursued, (for the object you have in view.) 2 To do right is, to do that which is Ordered to be done. To be in the right is, to be in such situation or circumstances as are Ordered. To have right or law on one's side is, to have in one's favour that which is Ordered or Laid down. A right and just action is, such a one as is Ordered and commanded. A just man is, such as he is commanded to be — qui Leges Juraque servat 3 — who observes and obeys the things Laid down and commanded. 1 [On Sam pip boeum (5e CDoyrer appac Lemticur ip reo <5pibbe. Nu- rnepur peopSe. peo pipte yp jehaten Deuteponomiurn. (Sa&c yr 0(5ep VRVAJ.jEIfric. De Veteri testamento.] 2 [" All keepe the broad high way, and take delight With many rather for to goe astray, And be partakers of their evill plight, Then with a few to walke the rightest way." /Sjjensers Faerie Queene, booke 1. canto 10. stanza 10.] 3 It will be found hereafter that the Latin Lex (i. e. Legs) is no other than our ancestors' past participle Lesj. But this intimation (though in its proper place here) comes before the reader can be ripe for it. In the mean time he may, if he pleases, trifle with Yossius, concern- ing Lex : — " Lex, ut Cic. 1 de Leg. et Yarro, v. de L. L. testantur, ita dicta ; CH. I.] RIGHTS OF MAN. 307 The right hand is, that which Custom and those who have brought us up have Ordered or directed us to use in preference, when one hand only is employed : and the left hand is, that which is Leaved, Leav'd, Left ; or, which we are taught to Leave out of use on such an occasion. So that left, you see, is also a past participle. F. — But if the laws or education or custom of any country should order or direct its inhabitants to use the left hand in preference ; how would your explanation of right hand apply to them ? And I remember to have read in a voyage of De Gama's to Kalekut, (the first made by the Portuguese round Africa,) that the people of Melinda, a polished and flourishing people, are all Left-handed. 1 H. — "With reference to the European custom, the author describes them truly. But the people of Melinda are as Eight-handed as the Portuguese: for they use that hand in quia Legi soleat, quo omnibus innobescat. Sunt quibus a Legendo quidem dici placeat ; sed quatenus Legere est Eligere. Augustinus, sive alius, in qusest. Novi Testam. ' Lex ab electione dicta est, ut e multis quod eligas sumas.' Aliqui etiam sic dici volunt, non quia populo Legeretur, cum ferretur : — quod verum etymon putamus : — sed quia scriberetur, Legendaque proponeretur. At minime audiendus Thomas, qusest. xc. art. 1. ubi legem dici ait a Ligando. Quod etymon plerique etiam Scholasticorum adferunt." [" Lex (says Dr. Taylor in his Civil Law) is a general term, including every law enacted by a proper authority." — p. 146. ^The Greek words No/xoj and ©ztf/Aog have similar derivations from Ns/^w, rego ; and T/%x/, pono. In page 147, Dr. Taylor says — " Lex, in the large idea of it, includes every law enacted by a proper authority, and is applicable to the Law of Nature, as well as the Civil Law ; and to customary, or unwritten law, with the same propriety, as to written. It means a Rule, a Precept, or Injunction : a number or system of which, as we have seen above, gives us the idea of Jus." " Hac lege tibi meam adstringo ficlem." — Terence, Eunuch. " Ea lege atque omine, ut, si te inde exemerim, ego pro te molam." Terence, Andr. See Dr. Taylor, how he boggles, p. 151.] 1 [" When the Grecians write, or calculate with counters, they carry the hand from the left to the right ; but the ^Egyptians, on the con- trary, from the right to the left : and yet pretend, in doing so, that 308 RIGHTS OF MAN. [PART II. preference which is Ordered by their custom, and Leave out of employ the other ; which is therefore their left hand. 1 F. — Surely the word right is sometimes used in some their line tends to the right, and ours to the left." — LiUleburfs Trans- lation of Herodotus, Euterpe, book 2. p 158. " Boys crown'd the beakers high With wine delicious, and from right to left Distributing the cups, served ev'ry guest." Cowpers Iliad, vol. 1. cd. 2. p. 29. " He from right to left Rich nectar from the beaker drawn alert Distributed to all the powers divine." Ibid. vol. 1. ed. 2. p. 35. " Then thus Eupithes' son Antinoiis spake.' From right to left, my friends ! as wine is given, Come forth, and in succession try the bow." Cow per s Odyssey, vol. 2. book 21. p. 230.] 1 [In the 8th canto of the 1st book of the Faerie Queene, Spenser in the 10th stanza tells us, that Arthur, in his combat with the giant, " smott off his left arme." " With blade all burning bright He smott off his left arme, wh.ch like a block Did fall to ground." — Faerie Queene, booke 1. canto 8. st. 10. After which he tells us, in the 17th and 18th stanzas, that this same giant, " all enraged with smart and frantick yre, Came hurtling in full tiers, and forst the knight retyre : The force, which wont in two to be disperst, In one alone left hand he now unites, Which is through rage more strong than both were erst." Ibid, booke 1. canto 8. st. 18. This force in the left hand, after the left arme had been smitten off, puzzled the editors of Spenser ; accordingly, in four editions right hand is substituted for left. Ou this last passage Mr. Church says — " So the first and second editions, the folio of 1609, and Hughes's first edition, read : which is certainly wrong ; for it is said, st. 10, ' He smott off his left arme' — I read with the folios 1611, 1679, and Hughes's second edition — EIGHT HAND." On which Note Mr Todd says—" Mr. Church, I believe, has fol- lowed too hastily the erring decision of those editions which read — right hand. The "poet means left as a participle : the giant has now but one single hand left ; in which, however, he unites the force of CII. I.] RIGHTS OF MAN. 309 other sense. And see, in this Newspaper before us, 1 M. Portalis, contending for the Concordat, says — " The multitude are much more impressed with what they are commanded to obey, than what is proved to be eight and just." This will be complete nonsense, if right and just mean Ordered and commanded. H. — I will not undertake to make sense of the arguments of M. Portalis. The whole of his speech is a piece of wretched mummery, employed to bring back again to France the more wretched mummery of Pope and Popery. Writers on such subjects are not very anxious about the meaning of their words. Ambiguity and equivocation are their strong holds. Explana- tion would undo them. F. — Well, but Mr. Locke uses the word in a manner hardly to be reconciled with your account of it. He says — " God has a right to do it, we are his creatures." //. — It appears to me highly improper to say, that God has a right : as it is also to say, that God is just. For nothing is Ordered, directed, or commanded concerning God. The ex- pressions are inapplicable to the Deity ; though they are com- mon, and those who use them have the best intentions. They are applicable only to men ; to whom alone language belongs, and of whose sensations only Words are the representatives ; to men who are by nature the subjects of Orders and commands, 2 and whose chief merit is obedience. F. — Every thing, then, that is Ordered and commanded is right and just ! two. Mr. Upton's edition, and Tonson's of 1758, follow the original reading — In one alone left hand." Mr. Todd lias well explained the meaning of the passage ; but is not at all aware that left is equally a participle in both its applica- tions. But Mr. Todd no where shows himself a Conjurer.] 1 Morning Chronicle, Monday, April 12, 1802. 2 What Ariosto fabled of his horses, is true of mankind : " Si che in poche ore fur tutti montati, Che con sella e confreno erano nati." Orl. Fur. canto 38. st. 34. 310 RIGHTS OF MAN. [PART II. Jj t — Surely. For that is only affirming that what is Ordered and commanded, is — Ordered and commanded} F. — Now what becomes of your vaunted rights of man ? According to you, the chief merit of men is obedience: and whatever is Ordered and commanded is right and just ! This is pretty well for a Democrat ! And these have always been your sentiments ? H. — Always. And these sentiments confirm my demo- cracy. F. — These sentiments do not appear to have made you very conspicuous for obedience. There are not a few passages, I believe, in your life, where you have opposed what was Or- dered and commanded. Upon your own principles, was that right? H.— Perfectly. F. — -How now 1 "Was it Ordered and commanded that you should oppose what was Ordered and commanded '? Can the same thing be at the same time both right and wrong ? II. — Travel back to Melincla, and you will find the difficulty most easily solved. A thing may be at the same time both right and wrong, as well as right and left. 2 It may be commanded to be clone, and commanded not to be done. The Law, Laeg, Taj, i. e. That which is Laid down., may be different bv different authorities. 1 [Dr. Taylor, in his Elements of Civil Law, erroneously condemns "Ulpian's Definition of the Law of Nature. The Doctor's error springs froin his not having been aware of the meaning of the words jus, .rect- um, LEX. " Jus naiurale est quod Natura omnia animalia dociiit? Digest, book 1. tit. 1. law 1. parag. 3. Instead of docuit, he might have said jussit.] 2 In an action for damages the Counsel pleaded — " My client was travelling from Wimbledon to London : he kept the left side of the road, and that was right. The plaintiff was travelling from London to Wimbledon : he kept the right side of the road, and that was WRONG." " The rule of the road is a paradox quite : In driving your carriage along, If you keep to the left, you are sure to go right ; \ If you keep to the right, you go whong." CH. II.] OF ABSTRACTION. 31 L I have always been most obedient when most taxed with disobedience. But my right hand is not the right hand of Melinda. The right I revere is not the right adored by sycophants ; the Jus vagum, the capricious command of princes or ministers. I follow the law of God (what is Laid doivn by him for the rule of my conduct) when I follow the LAW r s of human nature ; which, without any human testimony, we know must proceed from God: and upon these are founded the rights of man ; or what is ordered for man. I revere the Constitution and constitutional laws of England ; because they are in conformity with the laws of God and nature : and upon these are founded the rational rights of Englishmen. If princes or ministers, or the corrupted sham representatives of a people, order, command, or lay down any thing contrary to that which is ordered, commanded, or laid down by God, human nature, or the constitution of this government ; I will still hold fast by the higher authorities. If the meaner authorities are offended, they can only destroy the body of the individual ; but can never affect the right, or that which is ordered by their superiors. 1 CHAPTER II. OF abstraction. F. — Well, Well. I did not mean to touch that string which vibrates with you so strongly: I wish for a different sort of 1 [" Qusedam jura non scripta, sed omnibus scriptis certiora" — Seneca (the father) I. Controv. 1. quoted by Dr. Taylor in his Elements cf Civil Law, p. 241. Custom. " Ante Legem Moysi scriptam in tabulis lapideis, legem fuisse con- tendo non scriptam, quae naturaliter intelligebatur ; et a patribus custodiebatur." — Tertullian. adversus Judoeos, edit. Bigalt. p. 206. — Also quoted by Dr. Taylor. " No custom can prevail against right reason, and the law of nature." — Dr. Taylor, Elements of Civil Law, p. 245. Again, p. 246 : " The will of the people is the foundation of custom. But if it be grounded not upon reason, but error, it is not the will of the people. Quoniam non velle videtur, qui erravit."] 312 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. information. Your political principles at present are as much out of fashion as your clothes. H. — I know it. I have good reason to know it. But the fashion must one day return, or the nation be undone. For without these principles, it is impossible that the individuals of any country should long be happy, or any society prosperous. F. — I do not intend to dispute it with you. I see evidently that, not He who demands rights, but he who abjures them, is an Anarchist. For, before there can be any thing rect-ww there must be Keg-ens, Reg's, Bex/ i. e. Qui or Quod Reg-it. And 1 admire more than ever your favourite maxim of — Rex, Lex loquens ; 2 Lex, Rex mutus. I acknowledge the senses he has given us — the experience of those senses — and reason (the effect and result of those senses and that experience) — to be the assured testimony of God : against which no human testi- mony ever can prevail. And I think I can discover, by the help of this etymology, a shorter method of determining dis- putes between well-meaning men, concerning questions of eight : for, if right and just mean ordered and commanded, we must at once refer to the order and command ; and to the authority which ordered and commanded. But I wish at present for a different sort of information. Is this manner of explaining right and just, and law and droit and dritto, peculiarly applicable to those words only, or will it apply to others ? Will it enable us to account for what is called Abstraction, and for abstract ideas, whose existence you deny ? jy. — I think it will : and, if it must have a name, it should rather be called subaudition than abstraction ; though I mean not to quarrel about a title. 1 The following lines have more good sense than metre : " Dum Rex a regere dicatur nomen habere, Nomeu habet sine re, nisi studet jura ten ere." So Judicans. — Judic's. Judix. Judex. Vindicans. — Yindic's. Yinclix. Vindex. Ducens. — Due's. Dux. Xndicans. — Indie's. Indix. Index. S'implicans. — Simplic's. Simplix. Simplex. Duplicans. — Dnplic's. Duplix. Duplex. Sup-plicans. — Supplic's. Supplix. Supplex, &c. 2 [Buchanan, Be Jure Regni a/pud Scotos.] CII. II.] OF ABSTRACTION. 313 The terms you speak of, however denominated in construction, are generally (I say generally) Participles or Adjectives, used without any Substantive to which they can be joined ; and are therefore, in construction, considered as Substantives. An Act ■ — (aliquid) ^rf-um. A Fact — ■ (aliquid) Fact-ma. A Debt — (aliquid) Debit-urn. Bent — (aliquid) Rendit-ma. redditum. Tribute — (aliquid) Tribut-ma. An Attribute — (aliquid) Attribut-wm. Incense — (aliquid) Incens-um. An Expanse — (aliquid) Expans-rxm. &C 1 Such words compose the bulk of every language. In English those which are borrowed from the Latin, French, and Italian, are easily recognized ; because those languages are sufficiently familiar to us, and not so familiar as our own : those from the Greek are more striking ; because more unusual : but those which are original in our own language have been almost wholly overlooked, and are quite unsuspected. These words, these Participles and Adjectives, not understood as such, have caused a metaphysical jargon and a false morality, which can only be dissipated by etymology. And, when they come to be examined, you will find that the ridicule which Dr. Conyers Middleton has justly bestowed upon the Papists for their absurd coinage of Saints, is equally applicable to ourselves and to all other metaphysicians ; whose moral deities, moral causes, and moral qualities are not less ridiculously coined and imposed upon their followers. Fate Providence Spirit Destiny Prudence True Duck Innocence False Lot Substance Desert Chance Fiend Merit Accident Angel Fault Heaven Apostle &C. &C. Hell Saint 1 It will easily be perceived, that we adopt the whole Latin word, omitting only the sequent Latin Article ; because we use a precedent Article of our own. For a similar reason we properly say — The Coran, and not the Al-coran. 314 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. as well as just, right and wrong/ are all merely Participles poetically embodied, and substantiated by those who use them. So Church, 2 for instance (Dominicum, aliquid), is an Adjective; and formerly a most wicked one; whose misinterpretation caused more slaughter and pillage of mankind than all the other cheats together. F. — Something of this sort I can easily perceive ; but not to the extent you carry it. I see that those sham deities Fate and Destiny — aliquid Fatum. quelque chose Destinee — are merely the past participles of Fari and Destine/: 3 1 [" These two Princes beyng neighbours, the one at Milan the other at Parma, shewed snial frendshyp the one to the other. But Octavio was evermore wrong to the worse by many and sundry spites." — R. Ascham's Letters, p. 12.] 'Kvgia,x-og, -ov, -o/ : edifice, or sect, or clergy, &c] " Quid enim aliud est fatum, quani quod cle unoquoque nostrum Deus Fatus est." — Minucius Felix, Octavius. " Id actum est, mihi crede, ab illo, quisquis formator universi fuit ; sive ille Deus est potens omnium ; sive incorporalis Patio, ingentium operum artifex ; sive divinus spiritus per omnia maxima ac minima sequali intention e diffusus; sive fatum et immutabilis caussarum inter se cohserentium Series." — Senecce Gonsolatio ad Helviam, edit. Lipsii, 4to. 1652. p. 77. " On fate alone man's happiness depends, To parts conceal'd fate's prying pow'r extends : And if our stars of their kind influence fail, The gifts of nature, what will they avail !" Dry den's Juvenal, Sat. 9. " 'Tis fate that flings the dice ; and, as she flings, Of kings makes pedants, and of pedants, kings." — Ibid. Sat. 7. " And think' st thou Jove himself with patience then Can hear a pray'r condenm'd by wicked men? That, void of care, he lolls supine in state, And leaves his bus'ness to be done by fate?" Dryden's translation of Persius, Sat. 2. " E pure Trovasi an cor chi, per sottrarsi a' Numi, Forma un Nume del caso : e vuol ch'il mondo Da una mente immortal retto non sia." Aletastasio, Giro riconosciuto, att. 2. sc. 2. " T can giue no certaine iudgement, whether the affaires of mortall men are gouerned by fate and immutable necessitie, or haue their course and change by chance and fortune." " Others are of opinion thate fate and destiny may well stand with the course of our actions, yet nothing at all depend of the planets and CH. II.] OF ABSTRACTION. 315 That Chance 1 ( c * high Arbiter" 2 as Milton calls him) and his twin-brother Accident, are merely the participles of Es- cheoir, Cheoir, and Cadere. And that to say — " It befell me by chance, _or by accident," — is absurdly saying — " It fell by falling." And that an incident, a case, an escheat, decay, are likewise participles of the same verb. I agree with you that providence, prudence, innocence, substance, and all the rest of that tribe of qualities (in Ence and Ance) are merely the Neuter plurals of the present parti- ciples of Videre, Nocere, Stare, &c. <&c. That angel, saint, spirit are the past participles of ayysWziv, Sanciri, Sjn'rare. 3 starres ; but proceed from a connexion of naturall causes as from their beginning." — Annates of Tacitus, translated by Greenwey. 1622. 6 booke. p. 128. • " Oh ! come spesso il mondo Nel giudicar delira, Perch e gli effetti ammira, Ma la cagion non sa. E chiama poi fortuna Quella cagion che ignora ; E il suo difetto adora Cangiato in Deita." Metastasio, 11 Tempio deW Eterm'ta.] 1 Chance — (Escheance), " The daie is go, the nightes chaunce Hath derked all the bright sonne." Gower, lib. 8. fob 179. p. 1. col. 2. " Next him, hi^h Arbiter Chance governs all." — Paradise Lost, book 2. [" Some think that chance rules all, that nature steers The moving seasons, and turns round the years." Juvenal, Sat. 13. by Creech. " Sunt qui in fortune jam casibus omnia ponant, Et nullo credant mundum rectore moveri, Natura solvente vices et lucis et anni." — Juv. Sat. 13. " Queste gran maraviglie falsamente Son state attribuite alia fortuna, Con dir, che in questa cosa ell' e potente Sopra quelle che son sotto la luua." Orlando Innamorato {da Bemi), cant. 8. st. 4.1 8 In the same manner Animus, Anima, TIvsv/a/x, and Yv^yj, are par- ticiples. " Anima est ab Animus. Animus vero est a Grseco Avs/tiog, quod dici volunt quasi Asfiog, ab Kb), sive As/x/, quod est rivsw : et Latiuis a 31C) OF ABSTRACTION. [PAliT II. I see besides that adult, 1 apt, 2 and adept are the past participles of Adoleo and Apia. That cant, chaunt, accent, canto, cantata, are the past participles of Canere, Cantare, and Chanter. That the Italian Cucolo, a cuckow, gives us the verb To Cucol, (without the terminating d,) as the common people rightly pronounce it, and as the verb was formerly and should still be written. " I am cuckolled and fool'cl to boot too." B. and Fletcher, Women pleased. " If he be married, may he dream he 's cuckoVcV Ibid. Loyal Subject. To Cucol, is, to do as the cuckow does : and Cucol-ed, CucoTd, Cricoid, its past participle, means Cuckow-ed, i. e. Served as the cuckow serves other birds. 3 spirando, Spiritus. Imo et Yvyrj est a Yu^/oj, quod Hesy chins expouit Hvsoo. " Animam pro vento accipit Horat. 'Impellunt Anvmce lintea Thracise.' " Pro Ilalitu acci])it Titinius ; 'Interea foetida Anima nasum oppugnat.' "Et Plautus — Asin. act. 5. sc. 11. ' Die, amabo, an fcetet Anima uxoris tuse.' " A posteriori hac significatione interdum bene maleve animatus dicitur, cui Anima bene maleve olet. Sic sane interpretantur quidam illud Varronis, Bimargo : "Avi et atavi nostri, cum allium ac coepe eorum verba olerent, tamen optime animati erant." — Vossii Etym. Lett. 1 " Achieve proprie est crescere, ut scribit Servius ad Eel. viii. Unde et Adultum pro Adoltum, sive Adol'dam" — Vossii Etym. Lat. 2 " Apia, sive Apo, antiquis erat Adiigo, sive vinculo comprehendo : prout scribit Festus in Apex. Servius ad x. .ZEn. Isidorns, lib. xix. cap. xxx. Confirmat et Glossarium Arabico-Latinum ; ubi legas — Apio, Ligo. Ab Apio quoque, Festo teste, Aptus is dicitur, qui convenienter alicui junctus est, &c. "Ab Apio est Apiscor : nam quse Apimus, id est, comprehendimus, ea Apiscimur. Ab Apisci, Adipisci, &c." — Vossii Etym. Lat. 3 Nothing can be more unsatisfactory and insipid than the labours (for they laboured it) of Du Cange, Mezerai, Spelman, and Menage, concerning this word. Chaucer's bantering etymology is far preferable. " that opprobrous name cokold ; Ransake yet we wolde if we might Of this worde the trewe ortography, The very discent and ethymology ; CTI IT.] OF ABSTRACTION. 317 A date is merely the participle Datum, which was written by the Romans at the bottom of their Epistles. As debt [i. e. Debit] is the past participle of Debere ; so due is the past participle of Devoir, and value of Valoir. [" Like as (O captaine) this farre seeing art Of lingring vertue best beseemeth you, So vigour of the hand and of the hart Of us is lookt, as debet, by us dew." Godfrey of Bulloigne, cant. 5. st. 6. translated by R. C. Esq. printed 1594.] Ditto (adopted by us together with the Italian method of The wel and grounde of the first inuencion To knowe the ortography we must deryue, Which is coke and cold, in com posy cion, By reason, as nyghe as I can contryne, Than howe it is written we knowe belyue, But yet lo, by what reason and grounde Was it of these two Y/ordes compounde. " As of one cause to gyue very iudgement Themylogy let us first beholde, Eche letter an hole worde dothe represent, As c, put for colde, and o, for olde, K, is for hiaue, thus diures men holde, The first parte of this name we haue founde, Let us ethymologise the seconde. "As the first finder mente 1 am sure C, for Calot, for of we haue o, L, for Leude, d, for Demeanure, The crafte of the enuentour ye may se, lo, Howe one name signyfyeth persons two, A colde olde Knaue cokolde him selfe wening, And eke a Calot of leude demeanyng." Remedye of Loue, fob 341. p. 2. col. I. Junius, Vossius, and Skinner were equally wide of the mark. " Inepte autem CeltaB, eosque imitati Belgae, cuculum vocant ilium qui, uxorem habens adulteram, alienos liberos enutrit pro suis : nam tales Cwrrucas dicere debemus, ut patet ex natura utriusque avis, et contrario usu vocis cuculi apud Plautum." — Vosni Elym. Lat. " Hi plane confuderunt cuculum et Currucam " — Junius. " Certum autem est nostrum cuckold, non a Cuculo ortum duxisse : tales enim non Cuculi sunt, sed Currucos: non sua ova aliis supponunt; sed e contra, aliena sibi supposita incubant et fovent." — Skinner. The whole difficulty of the etymologists, and their imputation upon us of absurdity are at once removed by observing that, in English, we do not call them cuculi, but cuculati (if I may coin the word on this occasion), i. e. We call them not Cuckows but cuckowed. 318 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART IT. Bookkeeping), ditty (in imitation of the Italian verses), ban- DITE, BANDETTO, BANDITTI, EDICT, VERDICT, INTERDICT, are past participles of Dicere and Dire. " No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaneer Will dare to soil her virgin purity." — Comus, ver. 42 6. " A Roman sworder and bandetto slaue Murder'd sweet Tally."— 2nd Part of Henry VI 1st foL p. 138. Alert (as well as Erect) is the past participle of Erigere, now in Italian Ergere : AW erecia, AW ercta, AW erta. [" Rinaldo stava all' erta, attento e accorto." Orlando Innamorato ( da Bemi), lib. 1. cant. 5. st. 0, " Fra se pensando il modo e la maniera Di salir sopra al scoglio erto e villano." Ibid. lib. 1. cant. 5. st. 73. " Veggonsi in varie parti a cento a cento Quei, clie per 1' alta disastrosa strada Salir 1' eccelso colle anno talento. La difficile irapresa altri non bada, Ma tratto dal desio s' inoltra, e sale, Onde avvien poi clie vergognoso cada : Altri con forza al desiderio uguale Supera 1' ert/V." Metastasio, La Strada della Gloria, edit. Parigi. 1781. vol. 8. p. 317. " Tu rendi sol la maesta sicnra Di sorte rea contro 1' ingiurie usate, Non le fosse profonde, o 1' erte mura." Metastasio. Edit. 1781. La Puhblica Felicita, torn. 9. p. 321.] " II palafren, ch' avea il demonio al fianco, Porto la spaventata Doralice, Che non pote arrestarla fiume, e manco Fossa, bosco, palude, erta, o pendice." Orlando F arioso, cant. 27. st. 5. u Tu vedrai prima A l' erta andare i fiunii, Ch' ad altri mai, ch' a te volga il pensiero." Ibid. cant. 33. st. GO. " Chi mostra il pie scoperto, e chi gambetta, Chi colle ganibe all' erta e sotterrato. ' Morga?Ue, cant. 19, st. 173. CH. TT.] OF ABSTRACTION". 319 " Or ritorniamo a Pagau, chi stupiti Per maraviglia tenean gli occLi all' erta." Mcrgante, cant. 24. st. 114. AIT ercta (by a transposition of the aspirate) became the French A Vherte, as it was formerly written ; and (by a total suppression of the aspirate) the modern French Alerte. S. Johnson says — Alert, adj. [Alerte Fr. perhaps from Alacris; but probably from A Fart, according to Art, or rule.] " 1. In the military sense, on guard, watchful, vigilant, ready at a call. "2. In the common sense, brisk, pert, petulant, smart ; imply- ing some degree of censure and contempt" By what possible means can any one extract the smallest degree of censure or contempt from this word ? Amyot, at least, had no such notion of it ; when he said — u G'est une belle et bonne chose que la prevoyance, et d'estre touiours A rherte" (KaXov de n wgovo/a jcai to aone hpienban Gob 'Sonne punbon hi je~ hengobe an £> co hoppe jebonne ppam haeSenum leobnm <5e him abutan eapbobon. 6pt Sonne hi cbpobon on eopnopt to Gobe mib po'Spe baebbote Sonne penbe he him pultum ounh rumne beman Se piSpette heopa F60KD JJCO anb hi ahpbe op heopa YRjCQ&e.—Jfilfric. de Veteri Testa/mento, p. 12. L' Isle's Monuments, 4to. 1638. Snb he betsehte hig on haeoenna hanbum. anb heojia FY1NTD poShce hsepbon heojia gepealb. anb hig ppioe ge bjiehton Sa bepienbhca F YJND. —Id. p. 23.] 2 [The following is the foolish derivation of Menage, which he spells ill to get nearer to his etymology : — " Friant defrigente, ablatif de frigens, participe) de frigere — Charles de Bouvelles : Friant ; id est, delicatus ; vel incertse originis est, vel dictus a verbo Frigo, frigis : a quo Frixurcie, ciborum delicise : quod ejasmodi frixuras is amet quern vulgus friant appellat." It is the same Anglo-Saxon ppianb. See also Johnson's foolish derivation of Friend from the Dutch.] z 338 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. enter into that question now. A proper time will arrive for it. Nor would I meddle witli it at all ; but that some foolish me- taphysics depend upon it. F. — There is a word in Shakespeare, ending with a d, which has exceedingly troubled all his editors and commentators. [ wish much to know whether your method will help us on this occasion. In Troylus and Cress Ida, Ajax, speaking to Ther- sites, says (according to the first Folio), " Speake then, thou wldnitVst leauen, speake." Not knowing what to make of this word Whinid, subsequent editors have changed it to Unsalted. And thus Mr. Malone alters the text, with the Quarto editions, " Speak then, thou unsalted leaven, speak." H. — The first Folio, in my opinion, is the only edition worth regarding. And it is much to be wished, that an edition of Shakespeare were given literatim according to the first Folio : which is now become so scarce and dear, that few persons can obtain it. For, by the presumptuous licence of the dwarfish commentators, who are for ever cutting him down to their own size, we risque the loss of Shakespeare's genuine text ; which that Folio assuredly contains ; notwithstanding some few slight errors of the press, which might be noted, without altering. This is not the place for exposing all the liberties which have been taken with Shakespeare's text. But, besides this unwarrantable substitution of unsalted, for ivhinid'st, a passage of Macbeth (amongst innumerable others) occurs to me at pre- sent, to justify the wish I have expressed. " Approach thou like the rugged Russian beare, The arm'd rhinoceros, or th' Hircan tiger, Take any shape but that, and my firme nerues Shall neuer tremble. Or be aliue again e, And dare me to the desart with thy sworcle, If trembling I Inhabit then, protest mee The baby of a girle." Pope here changed Inhabit to Inhibit. Upon this correc- tion Steevens builds another, and changes Then to Thee. Both which insipid corrections Malone, with his usual judgment, inserts in his text. And there it stands " If trembliug I inhibit thee.'" CH. III.] OF ABSTRACTION. 339 " The emendation Inhibit (says Mr. Malone) was made by Mr. Pope. I have not the least doubt that it is the true reading. By the other slight but happy emendation, the reading Thee instead of Then, which was proposed by Mr. Steevens, and to which I have paid the respect that it deserved by giving it a place in the text, this passage is rendered clear and easy." But for these tasteless commentators, one can hardly suppose that any reader of Shakespeare could have found a difficulty; the original text is so plain, easy, and clear, and so much in the author's accustomed manner. — " Dare me to the desart with thy sworde," " If I inhabit then" — — i. e. If then I do not meet thee there : if trembling I stay at home, or within doors, or under any roof, or within any habitation : If, when you call me to the desart, I then House me, or, through fear, hide myself from thee in any dwelling ; " If trembling I do House me then — Protest me, &c." But a much stronger instance of the importance of such a strictly similar edition (in which not a single letter or supposed misprint should be altered from the original copy) offers itself to me from the two following passages : " He blushes, and 'tis hit." AWsioell that Ends well, p. 253. col. 1. Mr. Malone has altered the text to " He blushes, and 'tis it." And he adds the following note : 6t The old copy has — 'tis hit.- The emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. In many of our old chronicles I have found hit printed instead of it. Hence probably the mistake here.''' " Stop up th' accesse and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of naturej Shake my fell^purpose, nor keep peace between Th' effect and hit."— Macbeth, p. 134. Upon this passage Mr. Malone (having again altered the text, from hit to it) says, " The old copy reads — Between the effect and htt — the cor- rection was made by the editor of the third Folio." The Correcter and the Adopter deserve no thanks for their 340 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. mischievous alteration : for mischievous it is ; although no al- teration can. at first sight, appear more trivial. I can suppose one probable mischief to have resulted from it to my former castigator, Mr. Burgess — (I beg his pardon, the present Lord Bishop of St. David's). It is possible that he may not have seen the first Folio, and may have read only the corrected text of Shakespeare. If so, by this alteration he may have missed one chance of a leading hint ; by which, if followed, he might have been en- abled to fulfil his undertaking, concerning an explanation of the Pronouns, which he promised : no unimportant part in the philosophy or system of human speech. For I can easily sup- pose that, with his understanding and industry, (for I have heard a very favourable mention of him, in all respects,) he might have been struck with this hit in Shakespeare, and might, in consequence, have travelled backward; and have found that, not only in our old chronicles, but in all our old English authors, down to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the word was so written, and that it was not, as poor Malone imagined, any mistake of the Printer. " And whan the bisshop aright hyra bethoughte, He gan reinembre playnly in his mynde That of disclayne and wylful necligence The yerde of Joseph was left beliynde ; Wherby he knewe that he had done offence, And gan alone to brynge hit in presence, And toke hit Joseph deuoutely in his honde." Lydgate. Lyfe of our Lady, p. 27. " The bisshoppe hath the cuppe fyrste directe Unto Joseph, and hym the parell tolde, And manly he gan it holde And dranke het up, and chaungednat his chere." — Ibid. p. 91. " Whiche ordinaimce of Moses was afterward established in the citie of Athens, and from thens the Homaines receiued hit." — Dr. Martins Confutation of Poynett, chapiter 4. " Not that matriraonie is of the church abhorred, for the churche doeth reuerence and alowe hit." — Id. chap. 7. " He useth not the ooely tearme of womanne by hit selfe." — Id. chap. 13. " I geue my regall mairyer called Wie, with al thappertenaimces longinge to my regall crowne, with al liberties priuilegies and regal CH. III.] OF ABSTRACTION. 341 custoines as fre and gayet as I hadde hit fyrste." — The true Dyfferences of Regall Power. By Lord Stafford. [" Much in his glorious conquest suffred hee : And hell in vaine hit selfe opposde." Godfrey of Bulloigne, translated by R. C. Esq. p. 2. " Molto soffri nel glorioso acquisto : E in van 1' Inferno a, lui s' oppose." — Gierus. liberata, cant. 1. " Wheregainst when Persians passing number preast, In battaile bold they hit defended thanne."— God. of Bull. p. 5. " L'havea poscia in battaglia incontra gente Di Persia innumerabile difesa." " And in this course he entred is so farre, That ought but that, hit seemes of nought he weyes." — Ibid, p, 6. " E cotanto internarsi in tal pensiero, Ch' altra impresa non par, che piu rammenti." " His shape unseene, with aire he doth inuest, And unto niortall sence hit subject makes." — Ibid. p. 9. " La sua forma inuisibil d' aria cinse, Et al senso mortal la sottopose." " But he her warlike image farre in hart Preserued so as hit presents aliue." — Ibid. p. 26. " Ma I' imagine sua bell a e guerriera Tale ei serbb nel cor, qual essa e viva." " He past th' Egean sea and Greekish shore, And at the campe arriues, where far hit stayes." — Ibid. p. 33. " Sarcb 1' Egitto, passb di Grecia i liti, Giunse ne 1' campo in region remote." " On that chast picture seyz'd in rau'ning wise, And bare hit to that church, whereof offence Of fond and wicked rites prouokes the skyes." Ibid. p. 53. cant. 2. st. 7. " e irreverente II casto simulacro indi rapio ; E portollo a quel tempio, ove sovente S' irrita il ciel col folle culto e rio." Th' aduised chieftaine with a gentle bit Guideth, and seconds their so bent desire, To turne the course more easie seemeth hit Of winding waue that rouls Caribdis nire, Or Boreas when at sea he ships doth slit." Godfrey of Bulloigne, p. 98. cant, 3. st. 2. 342 or ABSTRACTION. [part II. " Where is the kyngedome of the dyuelle, yf hit be not in warre?" — Helium Erasmi, by Berthelet, 1534. p. 15, " In warre if there happen any thynge luckely, hit perteyneth to verye fewe: and to theym, that are unworthye to haue it.". — Ibid. p. 19. " Fyrste of all consider, howe lothelye a thynge the rumour of warre is, when hit is fyrste spoken of. Then howe enuious a thing hit is unto a prince, whyles with often denies and taxes he pilleth his sub- jectes." — Ibid, p. 19. 2 j and in eighteen other places in this very small treatise of thirty -nine small pages. " For myself, gracious Soveraigne, that if HiT'mishappe me, in any thinge heerafter that is on the behalfe of your Commons in your high presence to be declared." — Life of Syr Thomas More, by Mr. Roper, p. 35.] I must suppose that when lie had noticed innumerable such instances, he would then have gone still further back, to our original language : and there he would have found this same word written Jjifc, l^} 7 ^ an( i })&t : which might perhaps have plainly discovered to him, that this pronoun was merely the past participle of the verb Jl^JET^if, f) — is Cleaved, Cleav'd, Cleft. Cliff J " Adowne he shofth his hand to the clyfte In hope to fynde there some good gyfte." Sompners Tale, fol. 44. p. 2. col. 1. " But yet this clifte was so narrowe and lyte It was nat sene." — Tysbe, fol. 210. p. 2. col. 1. "And romyng on the cleuis by the see." Hypsiphile, fol. 214. p. 1. col. 1. " This lady rometh by the clyffe to play." Ibid, fol 214. p. 1. col. 2. " In tyme of Crystus passyon the veyl of the Jewes temple to rente and cleef in two partes." — Dines and Pauper, thyrde Comm. cap. 3. " She found e that moneye hangynge in the craueyses and clyftes of the half bushel." — Ibid, fourth Comm. cap. 4. " Loue led hyra to his deth and cleef his hert atwo." Ibid, tenthe Comm. cap. 3. " Rob Doner's neighbouring cleeves of sampyre." Poly-olbion. Song 18. [„_ a As an aged tree, High growing on the top of rocky clift, Whose hart-strings with keene Steele nigh hewen be ; The mightie truncke halfe rent with ragged rift Doth roll adowne the rocks, and fall with fearefull drift." Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 8. st. 22. " So downe he fell, as an huge rocky clift, Whose false foundacion waves have washt away, With dreadfull poyse is from the mayneland rift, And, rolling downe, great Neptune doth dismay." Ibid, book 1. cant. 11. st. 54. CH. III.] or ABSTRACTION. 349 " Whiles sad Celeno, sitting on a clifte, A song of bale and bitter sorrow sings, That hart of flint asonder could have eifte." Faerie Queene, book 2. cant. 7. st. 23.] Thrift — is Thrived, Thrived, Thrift. Shrift — is Shrived, Shriv'd, Shrift. Drift — is Drived, Driv'd, Drift. " Be plaine, good son, rest homely in thy drift, Ridling confession findes but ridling shrift." Romeo and Juliet, p. 6 1. " It could no more be hid in him Than humble banks can go to law with waters That drift winds force to raging." B. and Fletcher, Two Noble Kinsmen, " Some log perhaps upon the waters swam An useless drift, which, rudely cut within, And hollow'd, first a floating trough became." Dry den, Annus mirabilis, st. 156. Theft— is Theved, Thev'd, Theft. Weft — is Weved, Wetfd, Weft. Heft — is Heved, Hev'd, Heft. " There may be in the cup A spider steep'd ; and one may drinke, depart, And yet partake no venome (for his knowledge Is not infected) ; but if one present Th' abhor'd ingredient to his eye, make knowne How he hath drunke, he cracks his gorge, his sides, With violent hefts." — Winter's Tale, p. 282. " In the hert there is the Hefde, and the hygh wyll." Vision of Pierce Ploughman, fol. 7. p. 1. [" Inflam'd with wrath, his raging blade he hefte, And strooke so strongly, that the knotty string Of his huge taile he quite asonder clefte." Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 11. st. 39. " The other halfe behind yet sticking fast Out of his head-peece Cambell fiercely reft, And with such furie backe at him it heft." Ibid, book i. cant. 3. st. 12.] Haft — is Haved, Hav\l, Haft. The haft, of a knife or poniard, is the Haved part ; the part by which it is Haved. 350 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. " But yet nefond I nought the haft Whiche might unto the blade accorde." Gower, lib. 4. fol. 68. p. 1. col 1. [" Forgo th' advantage which thy arms have won, Or, by the blood which trembles through the heart Of her whom more than life I know thou lov'st, I'll bury to the haft in her fair breast This instrument of my revenge." — Dry dens (Ed'qous, act 5. sc. 1.] Hilt — is Held, HeU, Hilt. The hilt of a sword is the Held part, the part which is Held. [" If Tindall save, nay : let him shew me which olcle holy Popes were they, that euer hild that the sacramentes of the Auter is suche a bare simple signe." — Sir T. Mores Workes, p. 471, " And in her other hand a cup she hild, The which was with Nepenthe to the brim upfilcl." Faerie Queene, book 4. cant. 3. st. 42. " But what do I their names seeke to reherse, Which all the world have with their issue fild ? How can they all in this so narrow verse Contayned be, and in small compasse hild 1 " Faerie Queene, book 4. cant. 11. st. 17.] Tight — is Tied, Ti'd, Tight, of the Anglo-Saxon verb Tian, vincire. To Tie. " To seie howe suche a man hath good Who so that reasone understoode It is unproperlicke sayde : That good hath hym, and halt him taide That he ne gladdeth nought with all, But is unto his good a thrall." — Gower, fol. 84. p. 1. col. 1. [" And in the midst of them he saw a knight, With both his hands behinde him pinnoed hard, And round about his necke an halter tight, And ready for the gallow tree prepard." Faerie Queene, book 5. cant. 4. st. 22. " Therewith he mured up his mouth along, And therein shut up his blasphemous tong, And thereunto a great long chaine he tight, With which he drew him forth, even in his own despight." Ibid-, book 6. cant. 12. st. 34.] Desert — is Deserved, Deservd, 'Desert. Fart, a very innocent word (the Egyptians thought it CH. III.] OF ABSTRACTION. 351 divine), 1 Fared, Far'd, Fart, i. e. Fared, Gone ; the past parti- ciple of pajian, To Fare, or To Go. The meaning of this word appears to have been understood by those who introduced the vulgar country custom of saying upon such an occasion " And joy go with you." Twist — is Twiced, Twicd, Twist. Quilt — is Quilled, QuilVd, Quilt. Want — is Waned, Wand, Want, the past participle of pamam decrescere, To Wane. To fall away. Gaunt — is Ge-waned, Geivand, Gewant, G'want, Gaunt; the past participle of Ire-panian, To Wane, To decrease, To fall away. Ge is a common prefix to the Anglo-Saxon verbs. Gaunt was formerly a very common word in English. " As gant as a greyhound." — Rays proverbial Similies. " How is't with aged Gaunt $ Oh how that name befits my composition : Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being old : Within me greefe hath kept a tedious fast, And who abstaynes from meate, that is not gaunt? For sleeping England long time haue I watch t, "Watching breeds leannesse, leannesse is all gaunt. The pleasure that some fathers feede upon Ts my strict fast, I mean my chilclrens lookes, And therein fasting hast thou made me gaunt. Gaunt am I for the graue, gaunt as a graue, Whose hollow wombe inherits nought bat bones." Richard the Second, p. 28. — " This man, If all our fire were out, would fetch down new Out of the hand of Jove ; and rivet him To Caucasus, should lie but frown : and let His own gaunt eagle fly at him, to tire." — B. Jonson, Catiline. 1 " Crepitus ventris pro numinibus habendos esse clocuere." Clemens Romanus. v. Eecosnit. " Iidem iEgyptii cum plerisque vobiscum non magis Isidem quain ceparum acrimonias metuunt ; nee Serapidern magis quam strepitus, per pudenda corporis expressos, extremiscunt." — Minucius Felix, Oc- tavius. [" Eleganter Demetrius noster solet dicere, Eodem loco sibi esse voces imperitorum, quo ventre redditos crepitus. Quid enim. inquit, mea refert, sursum isti an deorsum sonent?" — Seneca, Epist. xcii. edit, 4ta. Lipsii. p. 583, 584.] 352 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. " Two mastiffs gaunt and grim her flight pursu'd, Ami oft their fastened fangs in blood embru'd. And first the dame came rushing through the wood, And next thefamistid hounds." — Dryden, Theodore and Ilonoria. Draught — the past participle of Djiajan, To Draugh (now written To Draw)-, Drauglied, DraugUd, Draught. Rent — Bended, RencFd, Rent;, of the verb To. Rend. [ il But thou, viper, Hast caiicell'd kindred, made a kent in nature." Dryden, Don Sebastian, act 2, sc. 1.] Bent — A persons Bent or Inclination. Bended, Bend'd, Bent. Tilt — of a boat or waggon : the past participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb Tilian, i. e. To raise, or To lift up. To Till the ground is, To raise it, To turn it up. A tilt is well said of a vessel that is raised up ; but we ought to say To Tilly and not To Tilt a vessel. " Many wynter men lyued, and no meate ne tiltden." Vision of Fierce Ploughman, pass. 15. fol. 72. p. 2. u Turned upsidowne, and ouer tilt the rote." Ibid. pass. 21. fol. 112. p. 1. " He garde good fayfch flee, and false to abyde, And boldly bare downe with many a bright noble Much of the wit and wisedome of Westminster hal, He jus tied tyll a justice, and iusted in his eare And oueutilt al his truth." Ibid. pass. 21. fol. 113. p. 2. " O hye God, nothyng they tell, ne howe, But in Godcles worde telleth many a bal'ke." Chaucer, Plough-mans Tale, fol. 95. p. 2. col. 2. [The old French verb Attiltrer (used by Amyot 1 and others, and whose signification is mistaken by Cotgrave), means susciter, To excite, To raise up : it is derived from the A.-S. Tilian.] 2 F— What is malt ? H. — Mould and Malt, though now differently pro- nounced, written, and applied by us, are one and the same 1 [Plutarch's Life of Pericles.] 2 [So the Till of a shop ; so the Thill horse : and so perhaps a Tile. Query, may it not be from Tegola, Italian 1 [Tegl. from Lat. Tegula. — Ed.] Consider also the French Tilleul.'] - CH. III.] OF ABSTRACTION. 353 French word Mouille ; the past participle of the verb Mouiller, To wet or To moisten. Mouille, anglicized, becomes Mouilled, Mouill'd, Mould : then Moult, Mault, Malt. Wetting or moisten- ing of the grain is the first and necessary part of the process in making what we therefore well term malt. " He had a cote of christendome as holy kyrke beleueth And it was moled in mani places." Vision of P. Ploughman, pass, 14. fol. 68. p. 2. il Shal neuer chest bymolen it, ne mough after byte it." Jbid. pass, 15. fol. 71. p. 2. " This leper loge take for thy goodly hour And for thy bed, take nowe a bunch of stro, For wayled wyne and meates thou hadst tho, Take mouled breed, pirate, and syder sour." Complaynt of Creseyde, fol. 204. p. 1. col. 1. " And with his blode shall wasshe undefouled The gylt of man with rust of synne ymouled." Lydgate (1531). Lyfe of our Lady, boke 2. p. 45. " Whan mamockes w r as your meate , With mould bread to eat." Shelton. (Edit. 1736.) p. 197. F. — En, as well as ed, is also a common participial termi- nation, and our ancestors affixed either indifferently to any word. Sir Thomas More appears to have had a predilection for en, and he writes Understands ( Works, vol. 2. p. 550), whilst his contemporary Bishop Gardner preferred ed, and therefore wrote Understand^ : We have deserted both, and now use the past tense Understood instead of the participle. But will not a final en or 'n likewise direct us to some of these concealed participles ? PP. — Surely, to many. After what we have noticed in Poltroon, Bastard, and Coward, we cannot avoid seeiog, that Ckaven — is one who has craved or craven his life from his antagonist — dextramque precantem protendens. Leaven — is from the French Lever, To raise ; i. e. That by which the dough is raised. So the Anglo-Saxons called it |>aj:en, the past participle of their own verb fteajzan, To raise. Heaven — (subaud. some place, any place) Heav-en or Heav-ed. 2 A 354 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. " They say that this word heuen in the article of our foy th, ascendit ad coelos, signifieth no certaine and determinat place. Som tyme it signifieth only the suppre place of creatures." — A Declaration o/Christe, cap. 8. by Johan Hoper. 1547. Bacon— is evidently the past participle of Bacan, To Bake ; or To dry by heat. " Our brede was newe baken, and now it is hored, our hotels and our wyne weren newe, and now our hotels be nygh brusten." — Diues and Pauper, 2d Conira. cap. 20. " And there they dranke the wine and eate the venison and the foules baken." — Hist of Prince Arthur, 1st. part, chap. 133. " As Abraham was in the playn Of Mamre where he dwelt, And beakt himselfe agaynst the sunne Whose parching heat he felt." Genesis, chap. 18. fol. 34. p. 1. By W. Hunnis. 1578. " Crane, beinge rested or baken, is a good meate." Castel ofHelth, fol. 21'. p* 1; By Syr Thomas Elyot. " Whosoeuer hath his mynd inwardly ameled, baken, and through fyred with the loue of God." Lupset's Workes, Of Charite, p. o. Barren — i. e. Barr-ed, stopped, shut, strongly closed up, which cannot be opened, from which can be no fruit nor issue. " God shall make heuen and the ayer aboue the, brasen ; and the erthe byneth the, yreny; that is to saye, bareyne, for defaute of rayne." • — Diues and Pauper, 10th Comm. cap. 8. " For God thus plagued had the house Of Bimelech the king, The matrix of them all were stopt, They might no issue bring," — Genesis, By W. Ilunnis. 11 For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of A bimelech," — Genesis, chap, 20, v. 18. So, in an imprecation of barrenness, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Woman Hater, act 5. sc. 2 : " Mayst thou be quickly old and painted ; mayst thou dote upon some sturdy yeoman of the Wood-yard, and he be honest ; mayst thou be barrd the lawful lechery of thy coach, for want of instruments; and last, be thy womb unop&rtd? Stern — Ster-en, Stern, i. e. Stirred. It is the same word and has the same meaning, whether we say — a stern CH. III.] OF ABSTRACTION. 355 countenance, i. e. a moved countenance, moved by some pas- sion : or the stern of a ship, i. e. The moved part of a ship, or that part by which the ship is moved. It is the past par- ticiple of the verb rtyjian, j-tipan, rnovere ; which we now in English write differently, according to its different appli- cation, To Stir, or To Steer. But which was formerly writ- ten in the same manner, however applied. " The sterne wynde so loude gan to route That no wight other noyse might here." Troylus, boke 3. fcl. 176. p. 2. col. 1. " There was no more to skippen nor to praimce, But bodden go to bedde with mischaunce, If any wight steryng were any where And let hem slepen, that a bedde were." Ibid, boke 3. fob 176. p. 1. col. 2. " And as the newe abashed nightyngale That stynteth first, whan she begynneth syng, Whan that she hereth any heard es tale, Or in the hedges any wight steryng." Ibid, boke 3. fob 179. p. 1. col. 2. " She fell in a grete malady as in a colde palsey, so ferforth that she myght neyther stere hande nor fote." — Nychodemus Gospell, chap. 8. " Whan I sawe the sterynges of the elementes in his passyon, I byleued that he was Sauyour of the worlde." — Ibid. chap. 17. " He dyd se as he thought oure blessed lady brynge to hym fayre mylke in a foule cuppe, and stered hym to ete of it." — Myracles of our Lady, p. 10. (1530.) " Yf the chylde steare not ne moue at suche tyme." Byrthe of Mankynde, fob 15. p. 2. (15^0.) " Warne the woman that laboureth to stere and moue herselfe." — Ibid, fob 23. p. 2. " I suffre, and other poore men lyke unto me, am many a tyme steryd to grutche and to be wery of my lyfe." — Diues and Tauper, 1st Comm. cap. 1. " Yf a man wyll styre well a shyp or a bote, he may not stande in the myddes of the shyp, ne in the former ende ; but he muste stande in the last ende, and there he may styre the shyp as he wyb" — Ibid. 9th Comm. cap. S. " This bysshop sterith up afreshe these olde heresies." Gardners Decl. against Joye, fob 25. p. 1. (1546.) " He sterid against himselfe greate wrath and indignation of God." — Dr. Martin. Of Fries tes unlawful Marriages, ch. 8. 356 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. " It is yourselfes that steire your fleash." Dr. Martin. Of Pries tes unlawful Marriages, ch. 11, " Let the husbande geue hys wyfe hit- dutie, that is if she craue for it, if they feare otherwise that Sathan wyll stiere in thera the deuileshe desyre to Hue incontinentlie." — Ibid. ch. 11. "■ Let hyin that is angry euen at the fyrste consyder one of these thinges, that lyke as he is a man, so is also the other, with whom he is angry, and therefore it is as lefnll for the other to be angry, as unto hym : and if he so be, than shall that anger be to hym displeasant, and steke hym more to be angrye." — Gastel of Helth, by Syr T. E. fol. 63. p. 1. " Rough deeds of rage and sterne impatience." 1st Part Henry 6. p. 113. *' The sea, with such a storme as his bare head In Hell-blacke night indur'd, would have buoy'd up And quench'd the stelled fires, Yet, poore old heart, he holpe the heauens to raine. If wolues had at thy gate howl'd that sterne time, Thou should'st haue said, good porter turne tho key." Lear, p. 300. '•' He that hath the stirrage of my course Direct my sute." Romeo and Juliet, p. 57. " Tread on a worm and she will steir her tail." Rays Scottish Proverbs. [ " Goe we unto th' assault, and selfe instant, Before the rest (so said) first doth he steare." Godfrey of Bulloigne, translated by R« C. Esq. Windet 1594. p. 122. cant. 3. st. 51. " His steed was bloody red, and fomed yre, When With the maistring spur he did him roughly stire." Faerie Queene, book 2. cant. 5. st. 2.] Dawn — is the past participle of Dagian, lucescere. " Tyll the daye dawed these damosels dauncecl." Vision of P. Ploughman, pass. 19, fob 103. p. 2. " In the dawynge and spryngyng of the daye, byrdes begynne to synge." — Diues and Pauper, 1st Comm. cap. 28. " And on the other side, from whence the morning daws." Poly-olbion, song 10. Born — is the past participle of Beapan, To bear ; formerly written boren, and on other occasions now written borne. Born is, Borne into life or into the world. Bearn (for a child) is also the past participle of Beapan, CH. III.] OF ABSTRACTION. 357 To bear ; with this only difference : that Born or Bor-en is the past tense Bore with the participial termination en : and bearn is either the past tense Bare, or the Indicative Bear, with the participial termination en. " For Maris loue of heuen That bare the blissful barne 1 that bought us on the rode.'* Vision of P. P. pass. 3. fol. 8. p. 1. [Bad and Good. To Bay, i. e. To vilify, To bark at, To reproach, To express abhorrence, hatred, and defiance, &c. Bayed, Baecl, i. e. Bayd^ Bdd, abhorred, hated, defied, i. e. bad. Bay en, Bayn, Baen, write and pronounce bane. Abbaiare, It. Abboyer, Fr. Abbaubare, Lat. &c. Greek, Boaw. When the Italians swarmed in the French court, not being able to pronounce the open sound of Oy or Oi, they changed the o into a ; as in Francais, Anglais. See Henri Etienne. So also Nivernais. Abayer. To Ban, i. e. to curse. Bas, Fr. Base. Ge-owed perhaps Gowed, written and pronounced Good, which the Scotch pronounce and write gude.] Churn — (Chyren, Chyr'n, Chyrn) is the past participle of E-ynan, agitare, vertere, revertere, To move backwards and forwards. Yarn — is the past participle of Jj-yppan, L-ypian, To prepare, To make ready. In Antony and Cleopatra, p. 367. — " Yare, yare, good Iras " — is the Imperative of the same verb ; the D and 5 of the Anglo-Saxons, however pronounced by them, being often (indeed usually) softened by their descendants to y. When Valeria in Coriolanus, page 4, says — " You would be another Penelope : yet they say, all the yearne she spun in Ulysses absence did but fill Athica full of mothes," — Yearne (i. e. Yaren) means Prepared (subaud. Cotton, Silk, or Wool) by spinning. 1 [" The A.S. has two similar words which have been confounded : Beopn, masc. ' a chieftain,' pi. beojmar ; and Beajm, neut. ' a child/ sing, and pi. alike." — Kembles Glossary to Beowulf.'] 358 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. F. — Is Brawn one of these participles ? H. — Ed and en are Adjective as well as Participial terminations : for which, by their meaning (for all common terminations have a meaning, nor wonld they otherwise be common terminations) they are equally qualified. Thus we say~ Golden, Brazen, Wooden, Silken, Woolen, &c, and formerly were used Silver-en, Ston-en, Treen-en, Eos-en, Glas-en, &c. " Thei worskipiden not deuelys and symylacris, goldun, silueren, and brasone, and stonen, and treenen ; the whiche nether mown se nether here nether wandre." In the modern translation, " That they should not worship Devils and Idols of gold \ and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood ; which neither can see nor hear nor walk."— Apocalips, ch. 9. v. 20. " And I saw as a glasun see meynd with fier, and hem that ouer- camen the beest and his ymage, and the noumbre of his name stondynge aboue the glasun sse." In the modern translation, " And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire : and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass." — Ibid. ch. 15. v. 2. " Whan Phebus the sonne begynneth to sprede hys clerenesse with rosen charlottes." — Chaucer, Boecius, boke 2. fol. 227. p. 1. col. 1. " The day the fayrer ledeth the rosen horse of the sonne." Ibid, boke 2. fol. 231. p. 2. col. 2. " That er the sonne tomorrowe be rysen newe And er he haue ay en rosen he we." Chaucer, Blacke Knyght, fol. 291. p. 1. col. 1. " In their time thei had treen chalices and golden prestes, and now haue we golden chalices and treen prestes," — Sir T. Mores Works. Dialogue, &c. p. 114. " Sir Thomas Rokesby being controlled for first suffering himselfe to be serued in treene cuppes, answered — These homely cups and dishes pay truely for that they containe : I had rather drinke out of CH. III.] OF ABSTRACTION. 359 tkeene, and pay gold and siluer, than drinke out of gold and siluer, and make wooden payment." — Gamdens Remains, p. 241. [Strawen. " Let him lodge hard, and lie in strawen bed, That may pull downe the courage of his pride." Faerie Queene, book 5. cant. 5. st. 50. EuGHEN. " Or els by wrestling to wex strong and heedfull, Or his stiffe amies to stretch with eughen bowe." Spenser, Mother Hubberds Tale.'j Our English word boar is the Anglo-Saxon Bap, which they pronounced broad as Baior ; and so our Northern countrymen still call it, and formerly wrote it. So they wrote Bar, and pronounced Baior, what we now write and pronounce Boar. " The bersit baris and beris in thare styis Earing all wod." Douglas, booke 7. p. 204. " Or with loud cry folowand the chace 23. Efter the fomy bart :." Ibid, booke 1. p. 2 So the Anglo-Saxon Bac " Boat " '" Baivl Ban Bone Baton J)am Home Hawm ftbab which we Abode are still pro- Abawd Balb > now call < Bold ► nounced in < Baivld Dpan and write Drone the North Brawn Scan Stone Stawn La3 Loth Laivth Fam Foam Fawm Cold — — Cawld. Ealb j Bar-en or Bawr-en, Bawr'n, was the antient adjective of Bar, Bawr ; and, by the transposition of R, Bawrn has become BRAWN. Brawn therefore is an Adjective, and means Boar-en or Boar's (subaud.) Flesh. F. — Is not this a very singular and uncommon kind of transposition ? 360 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. H. — By no means. Amongst many others, what we now call and write Grass Bright Profile fGers 1 A.- Ital Porfilo -S. traenr Byphfc Brothel was formerly Bordel To Thresh > called and «> - - « Dejij'cian Threshold Thrilled written Thirled - - Beprcolb Wright Nostril, &c. J ^ Neisthyr l,&0. - pyphc Grass. " His uthir wechty harnes, gude in nede, Lay on the gers besyde him in the inede." Douglas, booke 10. p. 350. " The grene gers bedewit was and wet." Ibid, booke 5. p. 138. " Unto ane plesand grund cumin ar thay, With battil gers, fresche herbis and grene swardis." Ibid, booke 6. p. 187. Brothel. " One Leonin it herde telle, Wlriche maister of the bordel was." Gower, lib. 8. fol. 181. p. 2. col. 2. 1 [To the instances given above of the transposition of the r, as in Gers for Grass, may be added Kerse for Cress : — whence the harm- less sayings " Not worth a Kerse " (cress) — " I don't care a Kerse" haye been first changed for " I don't care a Curse" &c, and then whimsically metamorphosed into "I don't care a Damn;' 1 '' — "Not worth a Damn off a common." " Wysdom and wytt now is nat worthe a kerse." Fierce Ploughman, Dowell, pass* 2. " I sette not a straw by thy dreminges." Chance?", Nonnes Preestes Tale. " Of paramours ne raugkt he cot a kers." — Milleres Tale. So also " ne raughte not a bene" ibid., is used in the same sense :— and " nought worth a pease," Spenser, Shep. Cal. Octob. — where note, that pease is the true singular (like riches, richesse ; bellows, baleise), pea being formed on a misconception. The ancient plural peasen was long preserved, probably to avoid the cacophony of the second s, as in housen, hosen, still in use in Norfolk : so Daniel iii. 2 1 , " bound in their hosen and hats." — Ed.] CH. III.] OF ABSTKACTION. 361 " He hath liir fro the bokdell take." Gower, lib. 8. fol. 182. p. 1 . col. 2. These harlottes that haunte bokdels of these foule women." Chaucer, Parsons Tale, fol. 114. p. 2. col. 1. "She was made naked and ledde to the bokdell house to be de- fouled of synfull wretches." — Dines and Pauper, 4th Comm. cap. 23. Thrill. " Quhare as the swelth had the rokkis thirllit." Douglas, booke 3, p. 87. " The cald drecle tho gan Troianis inuaide, Thirlland throwout hard Banis at euery part." Ibid, booke 6. p. 164. " The prayer of hym that loweth hym in his prayer thtrleth the clowdes." — Diues and Pauper ■, 1st Comm. cap. 56. " It is a comon prouerbe, that a shorte prayer thyrleth heuen." — Ibid. 1st Comm. cap. 56. Nostril. " At thare neisthyrles the fyre fast snering out." Douglas, booke 7. p. 215. [" Flames of fyre he threw forth from his large nosethrill." Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 11. st. 22.] And what we now write and call Burnt Bird Third Thirty Thirst Burst Thorp, dc. were formerly written and called Brent Brid Thrid Thritti Thrust Brast ^Thrope, &c. Burn. " Forsothe it is beter for to be weddid than for to be brent." Corinthies, ch. 7. v. 9. " The great clamour and the weymentyng That the ladyes made at the brennyng- Of the bodyes." Knyghtes Tale, fol. 1. p. 2. col. 2. " By the lawe, canone 26, suche wytches sholde be heded and Brente."— Diues and Pauper, 1st Comm. cap. 34. " God hath made his arowes hote with brennynge thynges, for they that ben brente with synne shall brenne with the fyre of helle." —Ibid. 8th Comm. cap. 15. 362 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. " But would to God these hatefull bookes all Were in a fyre brent to pouder small." — Sir T. Mores Workes. Bird. " Foxis han Borwis or dennes, and briddis of the eir han nestis." — Mattheu, ch. 8. (ver. 20.) " Whan euery brydde upon his laie Emonge the grene leues singeth." Gower, lib. 7. fol. 147. p. 1, col. 1. "Houndes shall ete thy wyfe Iesabell, and houndes and bryddes shall ete thy bodye." Diues and Pauper, 9th Comrn. cap. 4, Third. " He wente efte and preiede the thridde tyme." Mattheu, ch. 26. (v. 44.) Thirty. " Thei ordeyneyde to him thritty plates of siluer." Mattheu, ch. 26. (v. 15.) " Judas solde Cryste, Goddes Sone, for thrytty pens." Diues and Pauper, 9th Comm. cap. 4. Thirst. " I hun gride and ye gauen not to me for to ete ; I thristide, and ye gauen not to me for to drinke. — Lord, whanne saien we thee hun- gringe, ether thristinge ?" — Mattheu, ch. 25. (v. 35. 37.) " He that bileueth in me shal neuer thriste." — John, ch. 6. (v. 35.) " There spronge a welle freshe and clere, Whiche euer shulde stonde there To thrustie men in remembrance." Gower, lib. 6. fol. 129. p. 2. col. 2. " Neither hunger, thrust, ne colde." Parsons Tale, fol. 118. p. 1. col. 2. " Tantalus that was distroyed by the woodenesse of longe thruste." — Boecius, boke 4. fol. 240. p. 1. col. 1. " And in deserte the byble bereth wytnesse The ryuer made to renne of the stone The thriste to staunche of the people alone." Lydgate, Lyfe of our Lady, p. 65. " The thriste of Dauid to staunche." Ibid. p. 164. " They gaaf mete to the hungrye, drynke to the thrustye." Diues and Pauper, Of holy Pouerte, cap. 11. " I hadde thryste, and ye gaue me drynke." . Ibid. 8th Comm. cap. 17. CH. III.] OF ABSTKACTION. 363 " Ther shal be no wepynge, no ciyeng, no hongre, no thrust." Diues and Pauper, 10th. Comm. cap. 10. " Their thrust was so great They asked neuer for meate But drincke, still drynke." Skelton, p. 132. [" His office was the hungry for to feed, And thristy give to drinke." Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 10. st. 38. " Is this the ioy of armes ? be these the parts Of glorious knighthood, after blood to thrust?" Ibid, book 2. cant. 2. st. 29.] Burst. "All is to brust thylke regyon." Knyghtes Tale, fol. 10, p. 1. col. l t " The teares braste out of her eyen two." Doctour of Physickes Tale, fol. 65. p. 1. col. 1. " Haue here my trueth, tyl that my hert breste." Frankelyns Tale, fol. 52. p. 1. col. 2. " And in his brest the heaped woe began Out bruste." Troylus, boke 4. fol. 183. p. 2. col. 1. " Brosten is mine herte." Dido, fol. 213. p. 1. col. 2. " And with that worde he -brest out for to wepe." Lydgate, Lyfe of our Lady, p. 78. " The great statue Fell to the erthe and braste on peces smale." Ibid. p. 139. " The false idolis in Egipte fell downe And all to braste in peces." Ibid. p. 147. " Wherefore his mother of very tender herte Out braste on teres." Ibid. p. 167. " The blood braste out on euery syde." Diues and Pauper, 1st Comm. cap. 2. " Our hotels and our wyne weren newe, and now our hotels be nygh brusten." — Ibid. 2nd Comm. cap. 20. " Sampson toke the two pylers of the paynims temple, which bare up all the temple, and shooke them togydre with his armes, tyl they brosten, and the temple fell downe." — Ibid. 5th Comm. cap. 22. " Esau hym met, embraced hym And frendly did him kysse, They both br ast forth with teares and wept." Genesis, ch. 33. fol, 83, p. 2. 364 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. " Here ye wyll clap your liandes and extolle the strength of truth, that bresteth out, although we Pharisais (as ye Saduces call us) wolde oppresse it." — Gardners Declaration, &c., against Joye, fol. 122. p. 2. " The doloure of their heart braste out at theyr eyen." Sir T. More, Rycharde the Thirds, p. 65. " Such mad rages runne in your heades, that forasldng and brust- ing the quietnesse of the common peace, ye haue heynously and tray- torously encamped your selfe in fielde," — Sir John Cheke. Hurt of Sedition. [" No gate so strong, no locke so firme and fast, But with that percing noise flew open quite, or brast." Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 8. st. 4. " Still, as he fledd, his eye was backward cast, As if his feare still followed him behynd : Als flew his steed, as he his baiides had brast." Ibid, book 1. cant. 9. st. 21.] Thorp. " There stode a thrope of syght ful delectable In whiche poore folke of that village Hadden her beestes." — Gierke of Oxenf Tale, fol. 46. p. 1. col. 2. " As we were entring at the thropes ende," [Parsons Prol. fol. 100. p. 2. col. 1. So of ®%mri%os the Italians made Fametico ; and of Far- netico we make Frantick; and of Chermosino we make Crim- son. 1 In all languages the same transposition takes place; as in the Greek Ka^/a and Kpadr/i, &c And the Greeks might as well have imagined these to be two different words, as our etymologists have supposed board and broad to be ; though there is not the smallest difference between them, ex- cept this metathesis of the letter r : the meaning of board and broad being the same, though their modern application is different. F. — Well. Be it so. I think your account of brawn 1 [So in Italian : Ghirlanda, Grillanda. — Orlando, Roldano, Bolando. " How my blood cruddles ! " — Dryden. CEdipus, act 1. sc. 1.] [" I will not be Grubbed? — Gol. Wilson, in the House of Commons? "Crulle was his here." — Millers Tale, 3314. — Ed.] CH. IV.] OF ABSTRACTION. 365 has an advantage over Junius and Skinner: 2 for your journey is much shorter and less embarrassed. But I beg it may be understood, that I do not intirely and finally accede to every thing which I may at present forbear to contest. CHAPTER IV. THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. F. — I see the etymological use you would make of the finals D, t 5 and N. But you said, early in our conversation, that wrong was a past participle, as well as eight; yet wrong does not fall within any of those three classes. H. — True. It belongs to a much more numerous and less obvious class of participles ; which I should have been sorry to enter upon, till you had been a little seasoned by the foregoing. Wrong — is the past participle of the verb To Wring, Pjimjan, torquere. The word answering to it in Italian is 2 Junius says — " Brawn, callum ; inde Brawn of a boar est callum apr lignum . Videntur autem brawn istud Angli desumpsisse ex ac- cusative Gr. ttojpo^ callus ; ut ex kojpov, per quandam contractionem et literse R trauspositionem, primo fuerit irguv, atque inde brawn." Skinner says — " Brawn, pro Apro, ingeniose deflectit amicus qui- dam doctissimus a Lat. Aprugna, supple Caro ; rejecto initiali a, p in B mutato, G eliso, et a finaii per metathesin rov u premisso. " 2 Brawn autem pro callo declinari posset a Gr. irvgoj/Aa, idem sig- nante ; cr in (3 mutato, w priori propter contractionem eliso, w poste- riori in au, et m in N facillimo deflexu transeunte. " 3. Mallem tamen brawn, pro Apro, a Teut, Brausen, fremere ; vel a Brummen, murmurare. Seel neutrum placet. "4 Brawn etiam sensu vulgatissimo callum aprngnuni signat. Vir rev. deducit a Belg. Beer, aper, et Rauw, Rouw, in obliquis Rautven, Rouwen, crudus : quia exteri omnesliujus cibi insueti (est enim Anglise nostras peculiaris) carnem hanc pro crudo liabent ; ideoque modo co- quunt, modo assant, modo frigunt, modo pinsunt. Sed obstat, quod nullo modo verisimile est, nos cibi nobis peculiaris, Belgis aliisque gen- tibus fere ignoti nomen ab insueti s sumsisse. " 5. Possit et deduci (licet nee hoc plane satisfaciat) ab A.-S. Bap, aper, et pun, contr. pro punnen vel ge-punnen, concretus, q. d. Barrun (i. e.) pars Apri maxime concreta, pai*s durissima." 366 or ABSTRACTION. [PART II. Torto, the past participle of the verb Torquere ; whence the French also have Tort. It means merely Wrung, or Wrested from the right or Ordered — line of conduct. F. — If it means merely Wrung, the past participle of To Wring , why is it not so written and pronounced ? Doctor Lowth, in his account of the English verbs- H. — 0, my dear Sir, the bishop is by no means for our present purpose. His Introduction is a very elegant little treatise, well compiled and abridged for the object which alone he had in view ; and highly useful to Ladies and Gen- tlemen for their conversation and correspondence ; but affording no assistance whatever to reason or the human understanding : nor did he profess it. In the same manner an intelligent tasty milliner, at the court end of the town, may best inform a lady what the fashion is, and how they wear the things at present ; but she can give her little or no account perhaps of the materials and manufacture of the stuffs in which she deals ; — nor does the lady wish to know. The bishop's account of the verbs (which he formed as well as he could from B. Jonson and Wallis) is the most trifling and most erroneous part of his performance. He was not himself satisfied with it ; but says — " This distribution and account, if it be just." He laid down in the beginning a false rule : and the con- sequent irregularities, with which he charges the verbs, are therefore of his own making. Our ancestors did not deal so copiously in Adjectives and Participles, as we their descendants now do. The only me- thod which they had to make a past participle, was by adding ed or en to the verb : 1 and they added either the one or the other indifferently, as they pleased (the one being as regular 1 [" Being a people very stubborne and untamed, or if it were ever tamed, yet now lately having quite shooken off their yoake." — Spenser 8 View of the State of Ireland. Todd's Edit. 1805. p. 303. "The shepheards boy (best knowen by that name)." Spenser. Colin Clouts come home agen, 1st line. " That every breath of heaven shared it." — F. Queene,h. 1. c. 4. st. 5. " Who reapes the harvest sowen by his foe, Sowen in bloodie field, and bought with woe." — Ibid. b. 1 . c. 4. st. 42. "Old loves, and warres for ladies doen by many a lord." Ibid, book 1. cant. 5. st. 3. CH. IV.] OF ABSTRACTION. 367 as the other) to any verb which they employed : and they added them either to the indicative mood of the verb, or to the past tense. Shak-ed or Shak-en, Smytt-ed or Smytt-en, Grow-ed or Grow-en, Hold-ed or Hold-en, Stung-ed or Stung-en, Buyld-ed or Bayld~en, Stand-ed or Stand-en, Mow-ed or Mow-en, Know-ed or Know-en, Throw- ed or Throw-en, Sow-ed or Sow-en, Com-ed or Com-en, were used by them indifferently. But their most usual method of speech was to employ the past tense itself, without participializing it, or making a participle of it by the addition of ed or en. So likewise they commonly used their Substantives without adjectiving them, or employing those adjectives which (in imitation of some other languages, and by adoption from them) we now employ. Take as one instance (you shall have more hereafter) the verb To Heave, fteaj:an. By adding ed to the Indicative, they had the par- ticiple Heaved By changing d to T, mere matter of pronunciation . Heaft By adding en, they had the participle Heaven Their regular past tense was (|>ap frop) .... Hove By adding ed to it, they had the participle . . . Hoved By adding en, they had the participle Hoven And all these they used indifferently. The ship (or any thing else) was And these have left behind them in our modern lan- guage, the supposed < substantives, but really unsuspected Participles Heaved or Heaved Heaft Heaven Hove Hoved or Hovd Hoven : Head Heft Heaven Hoof, Huff, and the diminutive Hovel Howve or Hood, Hat, Hut Haven, Oven. " Thou wouklst have heard the cry that wofull England made ; Eke Zelands piteous plaints, and Hollands token heare." Spenser. The Mourning Muse of Thestylis. " That kiss went tingling to my very heart. When it was gone, the sense of it did stay ; The sweetness cltng'd upon my lips all day." jDryden's Marriage A-la-Mode, act 2. sc. 1.] 368 OF ABSTRACTION, [FART H. You will observe that this past tense ft-ap, froj^ Hove,, was variously written, as Heff, Hafe, Howve. " Whan Lucifer was heff in heuen And ought moste haue stonde in euen," Gower, fol. 92. p. 2. col. 2, " And Arcite anon his honde up hafe." Knyghtes Tale, fol. 8. p 2. col. 1. " Yet hoved ther an hundred in howves of silke Sergeaunts yt besemed that seruen at the barre." Vision of P. Ploughman, fol. 4. p. L " Nowe nece myne, ye shul wel understonde, (Quod he) so as ye women demen al, That for to holde in loue a man in honde And hym her lefe and dere hert cal, And maken hym an howue aboue a call, I mene, as loue another in this mene whyle, She doth herselfe a shame, and hym a gyle." Troylus, boke 3. fol. 176. p. 2. col. 2. " Nowe, sirs, quod this Qswolde the Reue, I pray you al, that ye not you greue That I an s were, and som dele set his houfe For lefull it is with force, force of shoufe." Reues Prol. fol. 15. p. 2. col. I. N.B. In some copies, it is written Howue. To set his Houfe or Howue, is equivalent to what the Miller says before, " For I woll tell a legende and a lyfe Both of a carpenter and hys wyfe, Howe that a clerke set a wryglites cappe. Millers Tale, fol. 12. p. 1. col. 1. u In this case it shal be very good to make a perfume underiieth of the houe of an asse." — Byrih of Mankynde, fol. 30. p. 1. " Also fumigation made of the yes of salt fysshes, or of the houe of a horse."— Tbid. fol. 33. p. 1. " Strewe the powder or asshes of a calfes houe burnt." Ibid. fol. 54. p. 2. " The stone houed always aboue the water." Historie of Prince Arthur, 1st part, ch. 44. " Monkes and chanones and suche other that use grete ouches of syluer and golde on theyr copes to fastene theyr hodes ayenst the wynde."— Dims and Pauper, 7th Comm. cap. 12 a CH. IV.] OF ABSTRACTION. 369 If you should find some difficulties (I cannot think they will be great) to make out to your satisfaction the above derivations ; it will be but a wholesome exercise ; and I shall not stop now to assist in their elucidation ; but will return to the word weong. I have called it a past participle. It is not a participle. It is the regular past tense of the verb To Wring. But our ancestors used a past tense, where the languages with which we are most acquainted use a participle : and from the gram- mars of the latter (or distribution of their languages) our present grammatical notions are taken : and I must there- fore continue with this word (and others which I shall hereafter bring forward) to consider it and call it a past par- ticiple. In English, or Anglo-Saxon (for they are one language), the past tense is formed by a change of the characteristic letter of the verb. By the characteristic letter I mean the vowel or diphthong which in the Anglo-Saxon immediately precedes the Infinitive termination an, ean, lan ; or jan, jean, jian. To form the past tense of pninjan, To Wring (and so of other verbs), the characteristic letter i or y was changed to A broad. But, as different persons pronounced differently, and not only pronounced differently, but also used different written characters as representatives of their sounds ; this change of the characteristic letter was exhibited either by a broad, or by o, or by u. From Alfred to Shakespeare, both inclusively, o chiefly prevailed in the South, and a broad in the North. During the former part of that period, a great variety of spelling ap- pears both in the same and in different writers. Chaucer complains of this : " And for there is so greate diuersyte In Englyshe, and in writynge of our tonge." Troylus, boke 5. fol. 200. p. I. col. 1. But since that time the fashion of writing in many instances has decidedly changed to ou and u ; and in some, to oa and oo and ai. But, in our inquiry into the nature of language and the meaning of words, what have we to do with capricious and 2b 370 OF ABSTEACTION. [PART II, mutable fashion ? Fashion can only help us in our commerce ■with the world to the rule (a necessary one I grant) of Loquendum ut valgus. But this same fashion, unless we watch it well, will mislead us widely from the other rule of Sentiendum ut sapientes, F. — Heretic ! What can you set up, in matter of language, against the decisive authority of such a writer as Horace ? . " TJsus, Quern penes arbitrium est et jus et norma loquencli." D. — I do not think him any authority whatever upon this occasion. He wrote divinely : and so Vestris danced. But do you think our dear and excellent friend, Mr. Cline, would not give us a much more satisfactory account of the influence and action, the power and properties of the nerves and muscles by which he performed such wonders, than Vestris could ? who, whilst he used them with such excellence, did not perhaps know he had them. In this our inquiry, my dear Sir, we are not poets nor dancers, but anatomists. F. — Let us return then to our subject. H. — To the following verbs, whose characteristic letter is i, the present fashion (as Dr. Lowth truly informs us) continues still to give the past tense in o. Abide Drive Ride Rise Shine Shrive Abode Smite Drove 1 Stride Rode Strive Rose Thrive Shone Write Shrove Win Smote Strode Strove Throve Wrote Won i [« What franticke fit, quoth he, bath thus distraught Thee, foolish man, so rash a doome to give % What iustice ever other iudgement taught, But he should, dye, who merites not to live? None els to death this man despayring drive But his owne guiltie mind, deserving death." Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 9. st. 38. Todd's Edit. GH. IV.] OF ABSTRACTION. 371 To which he properly adds (though no longer in fashion) Chide ■ Chode And Climb Clomb "Jacob chode with Laban." — Genesis xxxi. 36. " And the people chode with Moses." — Numb. xx. 3. " And shortly clomben up all thre." Millers Tale, fob 14. p. 1. col. 2. " Sens in astate thou clomben were so hye." Monkes Tale, fob 87. p. 2. col. 1. " The sonne he sayde is clombe up to heuen." Tale of Nonnes Priest, fob 90. p. 1. cob 1. " So effated I was in wantonnesse, And clambe upon tbe fychell whele so hye." Testam. of Greseyde, fob 204. p. 2. cob 1. " Up I clambe with muche payne." 3d Bohe of Fame, fob 297. p, 2. col. 1. " High matters call our muse ; inviting her to see As well the lower lands, as those where lately she The Cambrian mountains clome." — Poly-olbion, song 7. " It was a Satyr's chance to see her silver hair Flow loosely at her back, as up a cliff she clame."— Ibid, song 28. [" Who, well them greeting, humbly did requight, And asked, to what end they clomb that tedious hight 1 " Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 10. st. 49. " Which to behold he clomb up to the bancke." Ibid, book 2. cant 7. st. 57. " Tho to their ready steecles they clombe full light." Ibid, book 3. cant. 3. st. 61. " She to her waggon clombe : clombe all the rest, And forth together went." Ibid, book 3. cant. 4. st. 31. " Then all the rest into their coches cltm." Ibid, book 3. cant. 4. st. 42. " And earely, ere the morrow did upreare His deawy head out of the ocean maine, " That the bold prince was forced foote to give To his first rage, and yeeld to his despight : The whilest at him so dreadfully he drive, That seem'd a marble rocke asunder could have rive." % Faerie Queene, book 5. cant, 11. st. 5.] 372 OF ABSTRACTION. [PAKT II. He up arose, as halfe in great disdaine, And CLOMBEimto his steed." — Faerie Queene, b. 3. cant. 4. st. 61. " Unto his lofty steede he clombe anone." Ibid, book 4. cant. 5. st. 46. " Thence to the circle of the moone she clambe, Where Cynthia raignes in everlasting glory." Ibid. Two cantos of Mutabilitie, cant. 6. st. 8.] You will please to observe that the past participles of the above verbs Abide, Drive, Shrive, and Ride, besides the sup- posed substantives drift, shrift (which we before noticed), furnish also the following ; viz. Abode, i. e. Where any one has Abided. Drove, i. e. Any number of animals Driven. Shrove — As Shrove-tide. i. e. The time when persons are Shrived or Shriven. Eoad. i. e. Any place Ridden over. This supposed substantive road, though now so written (perhaps for distinction sake, to correspond with the received false notions of language), was for- merly written exactly as the past tense. Shakespeare, as well as others, so wrote it. " The martlet Builds in the weather, on the outward wall, Euen in the force and rode of casualtie." Merchant of Venice, (1st Folio) p. 172. " Here I reade for certaine that my ships Are safelie come to rode." — Ibid. p. 184. " Atheeuish liuing on the common rode." — As you Like it, p. 191. " I thinke this is the most villanouse house in al London rode for fleas." — 1st Part Henry 4. p. 53. " Neuer a man's thought in the world keepes the rode-way better than thine." — 2d Part Henry 4. p. 80. " This Dol Tearesheet should be some rode, I warrant you, as com- mon as the way betweene S. Albans and London." — lb. p. 81. " I haue alwaye be thy beest, and thou haste alwaye roden on me, and I serued the neuer thus tyll now." Pines and Pauper, 9th Oomm. cap. 5. " They departed and road into a valey, and there they met with a squier that roade upon a hackney." Ilistorie of P. Arthur, 3d part, ch. 66. CH. IV.] OF ABSTRACTION-. 373 [" Now, strike your sailes, yee iolly mariners, For we be come unto a quiet bode." Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 12. st. 42. "Such was that hag which with Duessa roade." Ibid, book 4. cant. 1. st. 31.] But ; together with the unfashionable Glomb and Chode, the bishop should also have noticed, that by a former (and gene- rally not more distant) fashion, the following verbs also (though now written with a, u, ou, or i short) gave us their past tense in o. 1 Begin Bid Forbid Bind Bite Cling Drink Find Fling Fly Give Glide Ring Rive [Shine Slwink Sing Beg on Sink Bod Slide Forhode Sling Bond Spin Bote Spring Clonge Stick Dronk Sting Fond Stink Flong Strike Flow Swim Gove Sioing Glode Swink Rong Will Rove Wind Shone] Wit Shronk Wring Song Yield Sonk Slode Slong Spon Sprong Stoke, Stock Stong Stonk Stroke Sworn Sivong Sioonk Woll Wond Wot Wrong Void. Begin. An hyne that had hys hyre ere he begonne." Vision of P. Ploughman, pass. 15 e fol. 74. p. 1, 1 [Mr. Tooke has added the following in the margin ; — Rear, Hard; Dread, Brad; Drip, Drop, or Dripped; Eat, Ate; Bylban; String; Thring. Also, To Mete. " For not by measure of her owne great mynd And wondrous worth, she mott my simple song." Spenser, Colin Clouts come home again.] 374 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. " The miglitie God, which unbegqnne Stont of hymselfe, and hath begonne All other thinges at his will." — Gower, lib. 8. fol. 183. p. 2. col. 2. " His berde was well begonne for to spring," Knyghtes Tale, fol. 7. p. 1. col. 2. Ci Now I praye the for Goddes sake for to perfourme that thou haste begonnen." — Blues and Pauper, 4th Comm. cap. 1. " This doctrine for priestes marriages tendeth to the ouerthrowe of Christes relligion, &c. And bothe this and all other lyke newe fangled teachynges be now euiclently knowen, to haue begon with lecherie, to haue continued with couetise, and ended in treason." — Dr. Martin, De- dication to Queene Marie. " The temple of God in Hierusalem was begon by Dauyd and fynyshed by Salomon." — True Differences, &c. By Lord Stafforde. " Folow this godd worke begon." A Declaration of Christe, By Johan Iloper, cap. 13. " God will, as he hath begon, continue your hignes in felicitie." An Epitome of the Kynges Title, <$&c. (1547.) [ — " But this same day Must end that worke the Ides of March begun." l Julius Ccasar, p. 128. col. 1.] Bid. 2 " Whan Christe himselfe hath bode pees And set it in his testament." — Gower, Prol. fol. 2. p. 1. col. 2. " He was before the kynges face Assent and bob-en." — Ibid. lib. 1. fol. 24. p. 1. col. 1. " And saith, that he hymselfe tofore Thinketh for to come, and bod therfore That he him kepe."— Ibid. lib. 2. fol. 32. p. 1. col. 1. " Whan Lone al this had boden me." Pom. of the Pose, fol. 133. p, 1. col. 1. " He ete of the fobboden tree." Lydgate, Lyfe of our Lady, boke 2. p. 37. " Hadde he bode them stone hyr, he hadde sayd ayenst his owne prechynge." — Diues and Pauper, 6th Comm. cap. 6. 1 [To this passage the sapient Malone subjoins the following note : " Our authour ought to have written — Began. For this error, I have no doubt, he is himself answerable."] 2 [Bod is used as the preterite in Norfolk.— Ed.] CH. IV.] OF ABSTRACTION. 375 " For couetyse Nackor was stoned to deth, for lie stalle golde and clothe ayenst Goddes forbode." — Blues and Pauper, 9 th Comni. cap. 4. " But yet Lots wife for looking backe Which was to her forbod Was turnde into a pyller salt By mightie worke of God." — Genesis, ch. 19. fol. 39. p. 1. " Up is she go And told hym so As she was bode to say." — Sir T. Mores Workes, [" So piercing through her closed robe a way, His daring thought to part forbodden got." Godfrey of Balloigne, translated by R. C, Esq. 1594. cant. 4. st. 28.]' Bind. " But Jupiter, which was his sonne, And of full age, his father bonde." — -Gower, fol. 88. p. 1» col. 1. " He caught hir by the tresses longe With the whiche he bonde both hir armes." Ibid. lib. 5. fol. 114. p. 2. col. 1. " And with a chayne unuisibkTyou bonde Togider bothe twaye." Chaucer, Blacke Knyghte, fob 290. p. 2. col. 2. " The fende holdeth theym full harde bounde in his boundes as his chatties and his thralles." — Diues and Pauper, 1st Gomm, cap. 35. " Moche more it is nedeful for to unbynde this doughter of Abraham in the sabbat from the harde bounde in the whiche Sathanas had holden her bounden xviii yere longe," — Ibid. 3d Comm. cap. 14. " Onely bodely deth may departe them, as ayenst the bounde of wedloke. Goostly deth breketh that bounde." Ibid. 6th Comm. cap. 7. " God bonde man to haue cure of woman in hyr myschief." Ibid. 6th Comm. cap. 24. " The moneye that thou hyclest in the erthe in waste is the raunsome of the prysoners and of myscheuous folke for to delyuere them out of pryson and out of boundes, and helpe them out of woo." Ibid. 7th Comm. cap. 12. " He hath leffte us a sacrament of his blessid body the whiche we are bond to use religiously." A Declaracion of Christe. By Johan Roper, cap. 8. [" Upon a great adventure he was bond, That greatest Gloriana to him gave." Faerie Queene, book 1 . cant. 1. st. 3. Todd's Edit. 376 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. " Therefore since mine he is, or free or bond. Or false or trew, or living or else dead." Faerie Queene,h. 1. c. 12. st. 28.] " And I will make my band wyth him, An euerlasting band, And wyth his future seede to come That euermore shall stande." — Genesis, ch. 17. fol. 33. p. 1. ■ " Sister, proue such a wife, As my thoughts make thee, and as my farthest band Shall passe on thy approofe." — Antony and Cleopatra, p. 352. "Tell me, was he arrested on a band ? " " Not on a band, but on a stronger thing — a chain." " I, Sir, the sergeant of the band ; he that brings any man to answer it, that breakes his band." — Comedy of Errors, p. 94. Bite. " He bote his lips, And wringing with the fist to wrek himself he thought." Vision of P. Ploughman, pass. 6. fol. 21. p. 2. ••' Whan Adam of thilke apple bote, His swete morcell was to hote." Goiver, lib. 6. fol. 127. p. 1. col. 2, " Whan a mannes sone of Rome sholde be hanged, he prayed his fader to kysse hym, and he bote of his faders nose." Diues and Pauper, 7th Comm. cap. 7. " The hart went about the table round, as he went by other bordes the white brachet bote him by the buttocke and pulled out a peece." — Historie of Prince Arthur, 1st part, chap. 49. " Bartopus was hanged upon a galos by the waste and armys, and by hym a mastyfe or great curre dogge, the whyche as soon euer he was smytten, bote uppon the sayde Bartopus, so that in processe he all to rent hym." — Fabian, fol. 156. p. 2. col. 2. " He frowned as he wolde swere by cockes blode, He bote the lyppe, he loked passynge coye," Skelton, p. 68. (Edit. 1736.) " The selfe same hoimde Might the confound That his own lord bote Might bite asunder thy throte."— Ibid. p. 224. Cling. " And than the knyghtes dyde upon hym a cloth of sylke whiche for haboundaunce of blode was so clonge to hym that at the pullynge of it CH. IV.] OF ABSTRACTION. 377 was an hondred folde more payne to hym than was his scourgynge." — Nychodemus Gospell, ch. 6. Drink. a But with stronge wine which he dronke Forth with the trauaile of the daie Was Dronke."— Gower, lib. 2. fol. 33. p. 1. col. 1. " And thus full ofte haue I bought The lie, and dronke not of the wyne." Ibid. lib. 3. fol. 52. p. 1. col. 2. " They nolde drinke in no maner wyse No drinke, that dronke might hem make." Sompners Tale, fol. 43. p. 1. col. 2. " Noe dranke wyne soo that he was dronke, for he knewe not the myght of the wyne." — Diues and Pauper, 4th Comm. cap. 1. " Mvlke newe mylked dronke fastynge." Castel of Helth, M. 14. p 2. Find. " Thus was the lawe deceiuable, So ferforth that the trouth fonde Rescous none." — Gower, lib. 2. fol. 37. p. 1. col. 1. " Among a thousande men yet fonde I one, But of all women fonde I neuer none." Marchauntes Tale, fol 33. p. 1. col. 2. [" Thence shee brought into this Faery loud, And in an heaped furrow did thee hyde ; Where thee a ploughman all unweeting fond." Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 10, st. 66. Todd's edit.] Fling. " And made him blacke, and reft him al his songe And eke his speche, and out at dore him flonge Unto the dyuel." — Manciples Tale, fol. 92. p. 2. col. 2. " Matrons flong gloues, ladies and maids their scarries." Coriolanus, p. 11. " And Duncan's horses Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, Turn'd wilcle in nature, broke their stalls, flong out, Contending 'gainst obedience," — Macbeth, p. 138. [" At last whenas the Sarazin perceiv'd How that straunge sword refns'd to serve his neede, But, when he stroke most" strong, the dint deceiv'd ; He flong it from him."— Faerie Queene, book 2. cant. 8. st. 49. 378 OF ABSTRACTION". [PART II. " So when the lilly-handed Liagore whereof wise Pseon sprong, Did feele his pulse, shee knew there staled still Some little life his feeble sprites emong ; Which to his mother told, despeyre she from her flong." Faerie Queene, book 3. cant. 4. st. 41. " A dolefull case desires a dolefull song, Without vaine art or curious complements ; And squallicl fortune, into basenes flong, Doth scorne the pride of wonted ornaments," Spenser, Teares of the Muses.] Fly. " And the fowles that flowe forth." Vision of P. Ploughman, fol. 44. p. 1. " But this Neptune his herte in yayne Hath upon robberie sette. The Brid is flowe, and he was let, The fay re maide is hym escaped." Gower, lib. 5, fol. 117. p. 1. col. 2. " But I dare take this on honde, If that she had wynges two, She wolde haue flowen to hym tho." Ibid. lib. 5. fol. 104. p. 1. col. 1. " He flowe fro us so swyfte as it had ben an egle." JSTychodemus Gospell, ch. 15. Give. " Hadde suffrid many thingis of ful manye lechis, and hadcle goue alle hir thingis, and hadde not profited eny thing." Mark, ch. v. (v. 26.) " Eorsoth the traitour hadde goue to hem a signe." Ibid. ch. xiv. (v. 44.) u He seicle to hem it is gouun to you to knowe the misterie, ether priuyte, of the rewme of God." — Ibid. ch. iv. (v. 1 i.) " Forsothe it shal be gouun to him that hath." Ibid. ch. iv. (v. 25.) " The kynge counsailed in the case, Therto hath youen his assent." Gower, lib. 1. fol. 14. p. 1. col. 1. " With that the kynge, right in his place, An erleclome, whiche than of Eschete Was late falle into his honde, Unto this knight, with rente and londe, Hath youe." Ibid. lib. 1. fol. 26. p. 2. col. 2. CH. IV.] OF ABSTRACTION. 379 " Pallas whiche is the goddesse And wife to Mars, of whom prowesse Is youe to these worthy kiiightes." Gower, lib. 5. fol. 117. p. 1. col. 1. " The high maker of natures The worde to man hath youe alone." Ibid. lib. 7. fol. 169. p. 2. col. 2. Glide. " She glode forth as an adder doth." Gower, lib. 5. fol. 105. p. 1. col. 1. " The vapour, which that fro the erthe glode Maketh the sonne to seme ruddy and brode." Squiers Tale, fol. 26. p. 2. col. 1. [ • " Fiercely forth he rode, Like sparke of fire that from the andvile glode." Faerie Queene, book 4. cant. 4. st. 23. King. " If he maie perce hym with his tonge, And eke so loude his belle is ronge." Gower, lib. 2. fol. 49. p. 2. col. 2. " The rynges on the temple dore they ronge." Knyghtes Tale, fol. 8. p. 2. col. 1. " A fooles belle is soone ronge." Rom. of the Rose, fol. 145. p. 1. col. 2. " They wyll not suffre theyr belles be eokgen but they haue a cer- tayn moneye therfore." — Diues arid Pauper, 7th Comm. cap. 23. " Be man or woman deed and doluen under claye, he is soone for- geten and out of mynde passed a waye. Be the belles ronge and the masses songe he is soone forgeten."— Ibid. 8th Comm. cap. 12. " The great Macedon, that out of Persie chased Darius, of whose huge power all Asia bong, In the rich arke Dan Homers rimes he placed, "Who fained iestes of heathen princes song." Earle of Surreys Songes and Sonets, fol. 16. p. 1. " Than shall ye haue the belles rong for a miracle." Sir T. Moris Works. A Dialogue, &c, p. 134. [" It is said, the evill spiryfces that ben in the regyon of thayre, doubte moche when they here the belles rongen : and this is the cause why the belles ben rongen when it thondreth, and when grete tempeste and outrages of weather happen." Golden Legend, by W. de Worde.] 380 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. Rive. " And for dispayre, out of his witte he sterte And roue hymselfe anon throughout the herte." Leg. of Good Women, Cleopatra, fol. 210. p. 1. col. 2. " Therewith the castle roue and walls brake, and fell to the earth." — Historic of Pr. Arthur, 1st part, ch. 40. " He roue himselfe on his owne sword." — Ibid. ch. 42. " The thick mailes of their halbeards they carued and roue in sun- der." — Ibid. 1st part, ch. 54. " The boore turned him sodainely and roue out the lungs and the heart of Sir Launcelots horse, and or euer Sir Launcelot might get from his horse the boore roue him on the brawne of the thighe up to the huckle bone." — Ibid. 3d part, ch. 17. Sheink. " Her lippes shronken ben for age." Gower, lib. 1. fol. 17. p. 1. col, 1. " Somtyme she constrayned and shronke her seluen lyke to the commen mesuro of men : and somtyme it seemed that she touched the heuen with the hight of her hed. And whan she houe her heed hyer, she perced the selfe heuen." Chaucer, Boeciits, boke 1. fol. 221. p. 1. col. 1. " Because the man that stroue with him Did touch the hollow place Of Jacob's thighe, wherein hereby The shronken synewe was." — Genesis, ch. 32. fol. 83. p. 1. " A nother let flee at the lorde Standley which shronke at the stroke and fel under the table, or els his lied had ben clefte to the tethe : for as shortely as he shranke, yet ramie the blood aboute hys eares." — Sir T. More, By char de the Thirde, p. 54. Sing-. " And therto of so good measure He songe, that he the beastes wilde Made of his note tame and milde," Gower, Prol. fol. 7. p. 1. col. 2. " On whiche he made on nyghtes melody So swetely, that all the chambre rong And Angelus ad virginem he song, And after that he songe the kynges note." Myllers Tale, fol. 12. p. 1. col. 2, " So loude sange that al the woode rong." Blade Knyght, fol. 287. p. 2. col. 2. CH. IV.] OF ABSTRACTION. 381 " Some songe loude, as they had playiied." Cuckowe and Nyghtingale, fol. 351. p. 1. col. 1. " For here hath ben the leude cuckowe And songen Songes rather than hast thou." Ibid. fol. 351. p. 1. col. 2. " The Abbot songe that same daye the bye masse." Myracles of our Lady, p. 7. (1530.) " Euery note so songe to God in the chirche is a prayeynge to God." — Diues and Pauper, 1st. Comm. cap. 59. " By this nygtyngale that syngeth soo swetely, I understande Cryste, Goddes sone, that songe to mankynde songes of endeles loue." Ibid. 9th Comm. cap. 4. " Which is song yerly in the chirch." Declaracion of Ghriste. By Johan Roper, cap. 5. (1547.) " If Orpheus had so play'd, not to be understood, Well might those men have thought the harper had been wood ; Who might have sit him down, the trees and rocks among, And been a verier block than those to whom he song." Poly-olbion, song 21. [" And to the maydens sownding tymbrels SONG In well attuned notes or ioyous lay." Faerie Queene, book 1. cant. 12. st. 7.] Sink. " They sonken into hell." Vis. of P. Ploughman, pass. 15. fol. 72. p. 2. " And all my herte is so through sonke." Goiver, lib. 6. fol. 128. p. 1. col. 1. " And wolde God that all these rockes blacke Were sonken in to hell for his sake." FranMeyns Tale, fol. 52. p. 2. col. 2. " His eyen drouped hole sonken in his heed." Test. ofCreseyde, fol. 202. p. 2. col. 1. " The trees hath leaues, the Bowes done spread, new changed is the yere, The water brookes are cleane sonke downe, the pleasant banks appere." Songes and Sonets by the Earle of Surrey, doc., fol. 62. p. 2. (1587.) " Our ship is almost sonke and lost." Ibid. fol. 91. p. 2. Slide. " The sword slod downe by the hawberke behinde his backe." Hist, of Prince Arthur, 1st part, ch. 14. " His sword SLODE down and kerued asunder his horse necke." Ibid. 2d part, ch. 59. 382 OF ABSTRACTION. [PART II. " In hys goynge oute of his shyp, and takying the land, hys one fote SLODE, and that other Stache faste in the sande." Fabian, fol. 139. p. 2. col. 1. Sling. " This Pandarus came leapyng in at ones And sayd thus, who hath ben wel jhete To day with swerdes and slong stones." Troylus, boke 2. fol. 168. p. 1. col. 1. Spin. " O fatall sustren, whiche or any clothe Me shapen was, my destyne me sponne, So helpeth to thys werke that is Begonne." Troylus, boke 3, fol. 176. p. 2. col. 1. "Or I was borne, my desteny was sponne By Parcas systerne." Blacke Knyght, fol. 300. p. 1. col. 1. " Thende is in hym or that it be Begonne, Men sayne the wolle, whan it is well sponne, Doth that the clothe is stronge and profitable." Ballade to K. Henry 4. fol. 350. p. 1. col. I. " If that thy wicked wife had sponne the threade, And were the weauer of thy wo." Songes and Sonets by the Parle of Surrey,