Chapter 10

So both agree their bodies toengrave;The great earthes womb they open to the sky; ...They lay therein those corses tenderly.Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 1, 60.And now with happy wish he closely cravedFor ever to be dead, to be so sweetingraved.Britain’s Ida, iv. 2.Thou death of death, oh! in thy deathengraveme.Phineas Fletcher,Poetical Miscellanies.

So both agree their bodies toengrave;The great earthes womb they open to the sky; ...They lay therein those corses tenderly.

So both agree their bodies toengrave;

The great earthes womb they open to the sky; ...

They lay therein those corses tenderly.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 1, 60.

And now with happy wish he closely cravedFor ever to be dead, to be so sweetingraved.

And now with happy wish he closely craved

For ever to be dead, to be so sweetingraved.

Britain’s Ida, iv. 2.

Thou death of death, oh! in thy deathengraveme.

Phineas Fletcher,Poetical Miscellanies.

Enjoy.Not, when Wiclif wrote, nor till some time later, distinguished from ‘rejoice,’ which see.

And the pees of Cristenioye[pax Christiexsultet, Vulgate] in youre hertis.—Col.iii. 15.Wiclif.

Now only applied to that which is irregularin excess, in this way transcending the established norm or rule. But departure from rule or irregularity inanydirection might be characterised as ‘enormous’ once.

O great corrector ofenormoustimes,Shaker of o’er-rank states, thou grand deciderOf dusty and old titles, that heal’st with bloodThe earth when it is sick.BeaumontandFletcher,The Two NobleKinsmen, act v. sc. 1.Wild above rule or art,enormousbliss.Milton,Paradise Lost, v. 297.Pyramids, arches, obelisks, were but theirregularitiesof vain-glory, and wildenormitiesof ancient magnanimity.—SirT. Browne,Hydriotaphia.

O great corrector ofenormoustimes,Shaker of o’er-rank states, thou grand deciderOf dusty and old titles, that heal’st with bloodThe earth when it is sick.

O great corrector ofenormoustimes,

Shaker of o’er-rank states, thou grand decider

Of dusty and old titles, that heal’st with blood

The earth when it is sick.

BeaumontandFletcher,The Two NobleKinsmen, act v. sc. 1.

Wild above rule or art,enormousbliss.

Milton,Paradise Lost, v. 297.

Pyramids, arches, obelisks, were but theirregularitiesof vain-glory, and wildenormitiesof ancient magnanimity.—SirT. Browne,Hydriotaphia.

Ensure.None of our Dictionaries, as far as I can observe, have taken notice of an old use of this word, namely, to betroth, and thus to makesurethe future husband and wife to each other. See ‘Assure,’ ‘Sure.’

After his mother Mary wasensuredto Joseph, before they were coupled together, it was perceived she was with child.—Matt.i. 18. SirJohn Cheke.Albeit that she was by the king’s mother and many other put in good comfort to affirm that she wasensuredunto the king; yet when she was solemnly sworn to say the truth, she confessed that they were neverensured.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III.

After his mother Mary wasensuredto Joseph, before they were coupled together, it was perceived she was with child.—Matt.i. 18. SirJohn Cheke.

Albeit that she was by the king’s mother and many other put in good comfort to affirm that she wasensuredunto the king; yet when she was solemnly sworn to say the truth, she confessed that they were neverensured.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III.

Epicure.Now applied only to those who devote themselves, yet with a certain elegance and refinement, to the pleasures of the table; ‘gourmets’ rather than ‘gourmands.’ We may trace two earlier stages in its meaning. By Lord Bacon and others the followers of Epicurus, whom we should call Epicureans, are often called ‘Epicures,’ after the name of the founder of their sect. From them it was transferred to all who were, like them, deniers of a divine Providence; and this is the common use of it by our elder divines. But inasmuch as those who have persuaded themselves that there is nothing above them, will seek their good, since men must seek it somewhere, in the things beneath them, in sensual delights, the name has beentransferred, by that true moral instinct which is continually at work in speech, from the philosophical speculative atheist to the human swine for whom the world is but a feeding-trough.

So theEpicuressay of the Stoics’ felicity placed in virtue, that it is like the felicity of a player, who if he were left of his auditors and their applause, he would straight be out of heart and countenance.—Bacon,Colours of Good and Evil, 3.Aristotle is altogether anEpicure; he holdeth that God careth nothing for human creatures; he allegeth God ruleth the world like as a sleepy maid rocketh a child.—Luther,Table-Talk, c. 73.TheEpicuregrants there is a God, but denies his providence.—Sydenham,The Athenian Babbler, 1627, p. 7.

Aristotle is altogether anEpicure; he holdeth that God careth nothing for human creatures; he allegeth God ruleth the world like as a sleepy maid rocketh a child.—Luther,Table-Talk, c. 73.

TheEpicuregrants there is a God, but denies his providence.—Sydenham,The Athenian Babbler, 1627, p. 7.

Equal.The ethical sense of ‘equal,’ as fair, candid, just, has almost, if not altogether, departed from it. Compare ‘Unequal.’

O my mostequalhearers, if these deedsMay pass with suffrance, what one citizenBut owes the forfeit of his life, yea, fame,To him that dares traduce him?Ben Jonson,The Fox, act iv. sc. 2.Hear now, O house of Israel; is not my wayequal? are not your ways unequal?—Ezek.xviii. 25. (A. V.)

O my mostequalhearers, if these deedsMay pass with suffrance, what one citizenBut owes the forfeit of his life, yea, fame,To him that dares traduce him?

O my mostequalhearers, if these deeds

May pass with suffrance, what one citizen

But owes the forfeit of his life, yea, fame,

To him that dares traduce him?

Ben Jonson,The Fox, act iv. sc. 2.

Hear now, O house of Israel; is not my wayequal? are not your ways unequal?—Ezek.xviii. 25. (A. V.)

The calling two or more differentthingsby one and the samename(æque vocare) is the source of almost all error in human discourse. He who wishes to throw dust in the eyes of an opponent, to hinder his arriving at the real facts of a case, will often have recourse to this artifice, and thus ‘to equivocate’ and‘equivocation’ have attained their present secondary meaning, very different from their original, which was simply the calling of two or more different things by one and the same word.

This visible world is but a picture of the invisible, wherein as in a portrait, things are not truly, but inequivocalshapes, and as they counterfeit some real substance in that invisible fabric.—SirT. Browne,Religio Medici.Which [courage and constancy] he that wanteth is no other thanequivocallya gentleman, as an image or a carcass is a man.—Barrow,Sermon on Industry in our several Callings.He [the good herald] knows when indeed the names are the same, though altered through variety of writing in various ages; and where theequivocationis untruly affected.—Fuller,The Holy State, b. ii. c. 22.All words, being arbitrary signs, are ambiguous; and few disputers have the jealousy and skill which is necessary to discussequivocations; and so take verbal differences for material.—Baxter,Catholic Theology, Preface.

Which [courage and constancy] he that wanteth is no other thanequivocallya gentleman, as an image or a carcass is a man.—Barrow,Sermon on Industry in our several Callings.

He [the good herald] knows when indeed the names are the same, though altered through variety of writing in various ages; and where theequivocationis untruly affected.—Fuller,The Holy State, b. ii. c. 22.

All words, being arbitrary signs, are ambiguous; and few disputers have the jealousy and skill which is necessary to discussequivocations; and so take verbal differences for material.—Baxter,Catholic Theology, Preface.

‘To err’ is still to wander; but it is now used always in a figurative and ethical sense, to deviate morally from the right way. In my first quotation from Chapman, it is Telemachus who speaks, and of course Ulysses of whom he speaks.

To thy knees therefore I am come, to attendRelation of the sad and wretched endMyerringfather felt.Chapman,Homer’s Odysseis, b. iv. 435.Even he iserror-driven,If yet he lives, and sees the light of heaven.Id.,ib.xx. 323.The extravagant anderringspirit hiesTo his confine.Shakespeare,Hamlet, act i. sc. 1.The characters of signs anderringstars.Marlowe,Faustus, sc. 3.

To thy knees therefore I am come, to attendRelation of the sad and wretched endMyerringfather felt.

To thy knees therefore I am come, to attend

Relation of the sad and wretched end

Myerringfather felt.

Chapman,Homer’s Odysseis, b. iv. 435.

Even he iserror-driven,If yet he lives, and sees the light of heaven.

Even he iserror-driven,

If yet he lives, and sees the light of heaven.

Id.,ib.xx. 323.

The extravagant anderringspirit hiesTo his confine.

The extravagant anderringspirit hies

To his confine.

Shakespeare,Hamlet, act i. sc. 1.

The characters of signs anderringstars.

Marlowe,Faustus, sc. 3.

Essay.There is no particular modesty now in calling a treatise or dissertation an ‘essay;’ but from many passages it is plain that there was so once; which indeed is only agreeable to the proper meaning of the word, an ‘essay’ being a trial, proof, specimen, taste of a thing, rather than the very and completed thing itself.

To write just treatises requireth leisure in the writer, and leisure in the reader; and therefore are not so fit neither in regard of your highness’ princely affairs, nor in regard of my continual service; which is the cause which hath made me choose to write certain brief notes, set down rather significantly than curiously, which I have calledEssays. The word is late, but the thing is ancient.—Bacon,Intended Dedication of his Essays to Prince Henry.Yet modestly he does his work survey,And calls a finished poem anessay.Dryden,Epistle 5, To the Earl of Roscommon.

Yet modestly he does his work survey,And calls a finished poem anessay.

Yet modestly he does his work survey,

And calls a finished poem anessay.

Dryden,Epistle 5, To the Earl of Roscommon.

Exemplary.A certain vagueness in our use of ‘exemplary’ makes it for us little more than a loose synonym for excellent. We plainly often forget that ‘exemplary’ is strictly that which serves, or might serve, for an exemplar to others, while only through keeping this distinctly before us will passages like the following yield their exact meaning to us.

We are not of opinion, therefore, as some are, that nature in working hath before her certainexemplarydraughts or patterns.—Hooker,Ecclesiastical Polity, b. i. c. 3.When the English, at the Spanish fleet’s approach in eighty-eight [1588], drew their ships out of Plymouth haven, the Lord Admiral Howard himself towed a cable, the leastjoint of whoseexemplaryhand drew more than twenty men besides.—Fuller,The Holy State, b. iv. c. 17.

We are not of opinion, therefore, as some are, that nature in working hath before her certainexemplarydraughts or patterns.—Hooker,Ecclesiastical Polity, b. i. c. 3.

When the English, at the Spanish fleet’s approach in eighty-eight [1588], drew their ships out of Plymouth haven, the Lord Admiral Howard himself towed a cable, the leastjoint of whoseexemplaryhand drew more than twenty men besides.—Fuller,The Holy State, b. iv. c. 17.

Exemplify.The use of ‘exemplify’ in the sense of the Greek παραδειγματίζειν (Matt.i. 19) has now passed away. Observe also in the passage quoted the curious use of ‘traduce.’

He is a just and jealous God, not sparing toexemplifyandtraducehis best servants [i.e.when they sin], that their blur and penalty might scare all from venturing.—Rogers,Matrimonial Honour, p. 337.

Explode.All our present uses of ‘explode,’ whether literal or figurative, have reference to bursting, and to bursting with noise; and it is for the most part forgotten that these are all secondary and derived; that ‘to explode,’ originally an active verb, means to drive off the stage with loud clappings of the hands: and that when one of our early writers speaks of an ‘exploded’ heresy, or an ‘exploded’ opinion, his image is not drawn from something which, having burst, has so perished; but he would imply that it has been contemptuously driven off from the world’s stage—the fact that ‘explosion’ in this earlier sense was with a great noise being the connecting link between that sense and our present.

A third sortexplodethis opinion as trespassing on Divine Providence.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iii. c. 18.A man may with more facility avoid him that circumvents by money than him that deceives with glosing terms, which made Socrates so much abhor andexplodethem.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy; Democritus to the Reader.Thus was the applause they meantTurned toexplodinghiss, triumph to shame,Cast on themselves from their own mouths.Milton,Paradise Lost, x. 545; cf. xi. 699.Shall that man pass for a proficient in Christ’s school, who would have beenexplodedin the school of Zeno or Epictetus?—South,Sermons, vol. i. p. 431.

A third sortexplodethis opinion as trespassing on Divine Providence.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iii. c. 18.

A man may with more facility avoid him that circumvents by money than him that deceives with glosing terms, which made Socrates so much abhor andexplodethem.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy; Democritus to the Reader.

Thus was the applause they meantTurned toexplodinghiss, triumph to shame,Cast on themselves from their own mouths.

Thus was the applause they meant

Turned toexplodinghiss, triumph to shame,

Cast on themselves from their own mouths.

Milton,Paradise Lost, x. 545; cf. xi. 699.

Shall that man pass for a proficient in Christ’s school, who would have beenexplodedin the school of Zeno or Epictetus?—South,Sermons, vol. i. p. 431.

This now signifies to destroy, to abolish; but our fathers, more true to the etymology, understood by it to drive men out of and beyond their own borders.

Most things do either associate and draw near to themselves the like, and do also drive away, chase, andexterminatetheir contraries.—Bacon,Colours of Good and Evil, 7.We believe it to be the general interest of us all, as much as in us lies, with our common aid and succour to relieve ourexterminatedand indigent brethren.—Milton,Letter written in Cromwell’s name on occasion of the persecutions of the Vaudois.The state of the Jews was in that depression, in that conculcation, in that consternation, in thatexterminationin the captivity of Babylon.—Donne,Sermons, 19.

Most things do either associate and draw near to themselves the like, and do also drive away, chase, andexterminatetheir contraries.—Bacon,Colours of Good and Evil, 7.

We believe it to be the general interest of us all, as much as in us lies, with our common aid and succour to relieve ourexterminatedand indigent brethren.—Milton,Letter written in Cromwell’s name on occasion of the persecutions of the Vaudois.

The state of the Jews was in that depression, in that conculcation, in that consternation, in thatexterminationin the captivity of Babylon.—Donne,Sermons, 19.

It is certainly not a little remarkable that alike in Greek, Latin, and English, words expressive of witty festive conversation should have degenerated, though not all exactly in the same direction, and gradually acquired a worse signification than that with which they began; I mean εὐτραπελία, ‘urbanitas,’ and our own ‘facetiousness;’ this degeneracy of the words warning us how easily the thing itself degenerates: how sure it is to do so, to corrupt and spoil, if it be not seasoned with the only salt which will hinder this. ‘Facetiousness’ has already acquired the sense of buffoonery, of the making of ignoble mirth for others; there are plain indications that it will ere long acquire the sense ofindecentbuffoonery: while there was a time, as the examplesgiven below will prove, when it could be ascribed in praise to high-bred ladies of the court and to grave prelates and divines.

He [Archbishop Williams] demonstrated that his mind was the lighter, because his friends were about him, and hisfacetiouswit was true to him at those seasons, because his heart was true to his company.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 32.A grave man, yet without moroseness, as who would willingly contribute his shot offacetiousnesson any just occasion.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Oxfordshire.The king easily took notice of her [Anne Boleyn]; whether more captivated by the allurements of her beauty, or thefacetiousnessof her behaviour, it is hard to say.—Heylin,History of Queen Mary, Introduction.

A grave man, yet without moroseness, as who would willingly contribute his shot offacetiousnesson any just occasion.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Oxfordshire.

The king easily took notice of her [Anne Boleyn]; whether more captivated by the allurements of her beauty, or thefacetiousnessof her behaviour, it is hard to say.—Heylin,History of Queen Mary, Introduction.

Fact.This and ‘act’ or ‘deed’ have been usefully desynonymized. An ‘act’ or ‘deed’ implies now always a person as the actor or doer; but it is sufficient for a ‘fact’ that it exists, that it has been done, the author or doer of it falling altogether out of sight.

All the world is witnesse agaynst you, yea, and also your ownefactesand deedes.—Barnes,Works, 1572, p. 251.But, when the furious fit was overpast,His cruelfactshe often would repent.Spenser,Fairy Queen, 1, iv. 34.Icetes took but a few of them to serve his turn, as if he had been ashamed of hisfact, and had used their friendship by stealth.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, 1656, p. 228.

All the world is witnesse agaynst you, yea, and also your ownefactesand deedes.—Barnes,Works, 1572, p. 251.

But, when the furious fit was overpast,His cruelfactshe often would repent.

But, when the furious fit was overpast,

His cruelfactshe often would repent.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, 1, iv. 34.

Icetes took but a few of them to serve his turn, as if he had been ashamed of hisfact, and had used their friendship by stealth.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, 1656, p. 228.

Fairy.In whatever latitude we may employ ‘fairy’ now, this Romance word is generally restricted to the middle beings of Teutonic and Romanic popularmythology; being in no case applied, as it used to be, to the δαίμονες of classical antiquity.

Of thefairyManto [daughter of Tiresias] I cannot affirm any thing of truth, whether she were afairyor a prophetess.—SirJ. Harington,Orlando Furioso, b. lxiii.So long as these wisefairiesΜοῖρα and Λάχεσις, that is to say Portion and Partition, had the ordering of suppers, dinners, and great feasts, a man should never see any illiberal or mechanical disorder.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 679.

Of thefairyManto [daughter of Tiresias] I cannot affirm any thing of truth, whether she were afairyor a prophetess.—SirJ. Harington,Orlando Furioso, b. lxiii.

So long as these wisefairiesΜοῖρα and Λάχεσις, that is to say Portion and Partition, had the ordering of suppers, dinners, and great feasts, a man should never see any illiberal or mechanical disorder.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 679.

Fame.This is now generally applied to the reputation derived from the report of great actions, but was constantly used in our Authorized Version (Gen.xlv. 16;1 Kin.x. 7;Jer.vi. 24;Matt.ix. 26), and in contemporary writings, as equivalent to report alone. Compare the distinction in Quintilian (v. 3) between ‘fama’ and ‘rumor.’

The occasion which Pharaoh took to murder all the Hebrew males was from a constantfameor prenotion that about this time there should a Hebrew male be born that should work wonders for the good of his people.—Jackson,Christ’s Everlasting Priesthood, b. x. c. xl.And hisfame[ἡ ἀκοὴ αὐτοῦ] went throughout all Syria.—Matt.iv. 24. (A. V.)

And hisfame[ἡ ἀκοὴ αὐτοῦ] went throughout all Syria.—Matt.iv. 24. (A. V.)

Family.It is not a good sign that the ‘family’ has now ceased to include the servants; but for a long while the word retained the largeness of its classical use, indeed it has only very recently lost it altogether.

The same care is to extend to all of ourfamily, in their proportions, as to our children: for as by S. Paul’s reasoning the heir differs nothing from a servant while he is in minority, so a servant should differ nothing from a child in thesubstantial part of the care.—BishopTaylor,Holy Living, 3, 2.He [Sir Matthew Hale] kept no greater afamilythan myself.—Baxter,Life, part 3, § 107.A just master may have an unconscionable servant; and if he have a numerousfamilyand keep many, it is a rare thing if he have not some bad.—Sanderson,Sermons, 1671, vol. i. p. 115.To join to wife goodfamily,And none to keep for bravery ...These be the steps unfeignedlyTo climb to thrift by husbandry.Tusser,Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, 9.

He [Sir Matthew Hale] kept no greater afamilythan myself.—Baxter,Life, part 3, § 107.

A just master may have an unconscionable servant; and if he have a numerousfamilyand keep many, it is a rare thing if he have not some bad.—Sanderson,Sermons, 1671, vol. i. p. 115.

To join to wife goodfamily,And none to keep for bravery ...These be the steps unfeignedlyTo climb to thrift by husbandry.

To join to wife goodfamily,

And none to keep for bravery ...

These be the steps unfeignedly

To climb to thrift by husbandry.

Tusser,Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, 9.

Fancy.The distinction between ‘fancy’ and ‘imagination,’ for which Wordsworth so earnestly contended, has obtained full recognition. It was the more easy for it to find acceptance from the fact that it fell in with a certainclinamen, a disposition already obscurely working in the minds of men, to ascribe different domains of meaning to these several words. But while what has been thus done has been well done, it would be a mistake to regard this as an old distinction that was now recovered from the oblivion into which it had fallen. The Greeks ascribed no such subordination of φαντασία (‘phantasy,’ ‘phansy,’ ‘fancy’) to some other word, as we now ascribe to ‘fancy’ in its relation to ‘imagination.’ Φαντασία was for Plato and Aristotle (see too Longinus, c. 15), all that ‘imagination’ is for us, the power which summons up before the mind’s eye of the poet, and of as many as he can carry along with him, the forms of things not present, shaping and moulding, dissolving and reuniting and fusing these at his will; while ‘fancy,’ as we now understand the word, with thehumbler offices assigned to it, as the aggregative and associated power, more playful but less earnest, dealing often in prettinesses rather than in beauties, had not obtained any special word to express it. At the Revival of Learning both words found themselves in our English vocabulary; but far down into the seventeenth century there was no sense of any distinction between them; they were simply duplicates, one from the Greek and one from the Latin. They are constantly employed by Henry More as absolutely convertible; and where Milton makes any difference between them, it is to the advantage of ‘fancy,’ which includes ‘imagination’ as a greater includes a less. At a later day it was felt to be a waste of wealth to have two words absolutely identical in meaning for one and the same mental operation; above all, while another went without any to designate it at all; and thus the instinct which is ever at work in a language for the making the most of its resources began to work for the desynonymizing of ‘imagination’ and ‘fancy.’ This could only be effected by the coming down of one or the other from its height of place. The lot naturally fell on ‘fancy,’ the grand φαντάζεσθαι, on which it rested, being far more obscured to such as were not scholars, than the Latin ‘imago,’ on which ‘imagination’ reposed.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,Such shapingphantasies, that apprehendMore than cool reason ever comprehends.Shakespeare,Midsummer Night’s Dream, act v. sc. 1.In the soulAre many lesser faculties that serveReason as chief; among themFancynextHer office holds; of all external thingsWhich the five watchful senses representShe formsimaginations, airy shapes.Milton,Paradise Lost, v. 300.The devil can act upon the soul by suggesting the ideas and spiritual pictures of things to theimagination. For this is the grand repository of all the ideas and representations which the mind of man can work either upon or by. So that Satan, our skilful artist, can as easily slide his injections into thefancyas present a deluding image to the eye.—South,Sermons, 1737, vol. i. p. 110.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,Such shapingphantasies, that apprehendMore than cool reason ever comprehends.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,

Such shapingphantasies, that apprehend

More than cool reason ever comprehends.

Shakespeare,Midsummer Night’s Dream, act v. sc. 1.

In the soulAre many lesser faculties that serveReason as chief; among themFancynextHer office holds; of all external thingsWhich the five watchful senses representShe formsimaginations, airy shapes.

In the soul

Are many lesser faculties that serve

Reason as chief; among themFancynext

Her office holds; of all external things

Which the five watchful senses represent

She formsimaginations, airy shapes.

Milton,Paradise Lost, v. 300.

The devil can act upon the soul by suggesting the ideas and spiritual pictures of things to theimagination. For this is the grand repository of all the ideas and representations which the mind of man can work either upon or by. So that Satan, our skilful artist, can as easily slide his injections into thefancyas present a deluding image to the eye.—South,Sermons, 1737, vol. i. p. 110.

Fastidious.Persons are ‘fastidious’ now, as feeling disgust; things, and indeed persons too, were ‘fastidious’ once, as occasioning disgust. The word has shifted from an objective to a subjective use. ‘Fastidiosus’ had both uses, but our modern quite predominated; indeed the other is very rare.

That thing for the which children be oftentimes beaten, is to them ever afterfastidious.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. i. c. 9.

Feature.This, the Old French ‘faiture,’ Latin ‘factura,’ is always the part now of a larger whole, a ‘feature’ of the landscape, the ‘features’ of the face; but there was no such limitation once; anythingmade, any ‘fattura,’ was a ‘feature’ once. ‘Facies’ in Latin, according to Aulus Gellius (xiii. 29), underwent a not very dissimilar change of meaning. In addition to the examples which follow, see Spenser,Fairy Queen, iv. 2, 44; iii. 9, 21.

A body so harmoniously composed,As if nature disclosedAll her best symmetry in that onefeature.Ben Jonson,The Forest, xi.We have not yet found them all [the scattered limbs of Truth], nor ever shall do, till her Master’s second coming;He shall bring together every joint and member, and shall mould them into an immortalfeatureof loveliness and perfection.—Milton,Areopagitica.So scented the grimfeature, and upturnedHis nostril wide into the murky air.Id.Paradise Lost, x. 278.But this youngfeature[a commentary on Scripture which Archbishop Williams had planned], like an imperfect embryo, was mortified in the womb by Star-chamber vexations.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 40.

A body so harmoniously composed,As if nature disclosedAll her best symmetry in that onefeature.

A body so harmoniously composed,

As if nature disclosed

All her best symmetry in that onefeature.

Ben Jonson,The Forest, xi.

We have not yet found them all [the scattered limbs of Truth], nor ever shall do, till her Master’s second coming;He shall bring together every joint and member, and shall mould them into an immortalfeatureof loveliness and perfection.—Milton,Areopagitica.

So scented the grimfeature, and upturnedHis nostril wide into the murky air.

So scented the grimfeature, and upturned

His nostril wide into the murky air.

Id.Paradise Lost, x. 278.

But this youngfeature[a commentary on Scripture which Archbishop Williams had planned], like an imperfect embryo, was mortified in the womb by Star-chamber vexations.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 40.

Feminine.The distinction between ‘feminine’ and ‘effeminate,’ that the first is ‘womanly,’ the second ‘womanish,’ the first what becomes a woman, and under certain limitations may without reproach be affirmed of a man, while the second under all circumstances dishonours a man, as ‘mannish’ would dishonour a woman, is of comparatively modern growth. Neither could ‘feminine’ now be used as an antithesis of ‘male,’ as by Milton (Paradise Lost, i. 423) it is.

Till at the last God of veray rightDispleased was with his condiciouns,By cause he [Sardanapalus] was in every mannes sightSofemynynein his affectiouns.Lydgate,Poem against Idleness.But Ninias being esteemed no man of war at all, but altogetherfeminine, and subject to ease and delicacy, there is no probability in that opinion.—SirW. Raleigh,History of the World, b. ii. c 1, § 1.Commodus, the wanton andfeminineson of wise Antoninus, gave a check to the great name of his father.—BishopTaylor,Apples of Sodom.

Till at the last God of veray rightDispleased was with his condiciouns,By cause he [Sardanapalus] was in every mannes sightSofemynynein his affectiouns.

Till at the last God of veray right

Displeased was with his condiciouns,

By cause he [Sardanapalus] was in every mannes sight

Sofemynynein his affectiouns.

Lydgate,Poem against Idleness.

But Ninias being esteemed no man of war at all, but altogetherfeminine, and subject to ease and delicacy, there is no probability in that opinion.—SirW. Raleigh,History of the World, b. ii. c 1, § 1.

Commodus, the wanton andfeminineson of wise Antoninus, gave a check to the great name of his father.—BishopTaylor,Apples of Sodom.

Firmament.We now use ‘firmament’ only for that portion of the sky on all sides visible above thehorizon, having gotten this application of the word from the Vulgate (Gen.i. 6), or at any rate from the Church Latin (‘firmamentumcæleste,’ Tertullian,De Bapt.3), as that had derived it from the Septuagint. This by στερέωμα had sought to express the firmness and stability of the sky-tent, which phenomenally (and Scripture for the most part speaks phenomenally) is drawn over the earth; and to reproduce the force of the original Hebrew word,—in which, however, there is rather the notion of expansion than of firmness (see H. More,Defence of Cabbala, p. 60). But besides this use of ‘firmament,’ totally strange to the classical ‘firmamentum,’ being derived to us from the ecclesiastical employment of the word, there is also an occasional use of it by the scholarly writers of the seventeenth century in the original classical sense, as that which makes strong or confirms.

I thought it good to make a strong head or bank to rule and guide the course of the waters; by setting down this position orfirmament, namely, that all knowledge is to be limited by religion, and to be referred to use and action.—Bacon,Of the Interpretation of Nature.Religion is the ligature of all communities, and thefirmamentof laws.—BishopTaylor,Ductor Dubitantium, iii. 3, 8.

Religion is the ligature of all communities, and thefirmamentof laws.—BishopTaylor,Ductor Dubitantium, iii. 3, 8.

Flicker.This, with its variant ‘flacker,’ can only be used now of the wavering motion of flames; but it was not so once.

But being made a swan,With snowy feathers in the air toflickerhe began.Golding,Ovid’s Metamorphosis, b. vii.And the Cherubinsflackeredwith their wings, and lift themselves up from the earth.—Ezek.x. 19.Coverdale.

But being made a swan,With snowy feathers in the air toflickerhe began.

But being made a swan,

With snowy feathers in the air toflickerhe began.

Golding,Ovid’s Metamorphosis, b. vii.

And the Cherubinsflackeredwith their wings, and lift themselves up from the earth.—Ezek.x. 19.Coverdale.

Flirt.This, or ‘flurt,’ as it used to be spelt, is a slightly contracted form of the French ‘fleureter,’ from ‘fleur,’ a flower, to flirt meaning to go as a bee from flower to flower, daintily sipping the sweets of one flower, and then passing on to another (see Cotgrave). At the same time much graver charges came to be often implied in the word than are implied at the present. See on it A. S. Palmer’sLeaves from a Word-hunter’s Note Book, pp. 33-40.

For why may not the mother be naught, a peevish, drunkenflurt, a waspish choleric slut, a crazed piece, a fool, as soon as the nurse?—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2.Gadrouillette,f.A minx, gigle,flirt, callet, Gixie; (a feigned word, appliable to any such cattell).—Cotgrave,A French and English Dictionary, ed. 1673.

For why may not the mother be naught, a peevish, drunkenflurt, a waspish choleric slut, a crazed piece, a fool, as soon as the nurse?—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2.

Gadrouillette,f.A minx, gigle,flirt, callet, Gixie; (a feigned word, appliable to any such cattell).—Cotgrave,A French and English Dictionary, ed. 1673.

Flounce.This word, meaning ‘to plunge about,’ must not be confused with ‘flounce’ (a part of a dress); see Skeat’s Dictionary.

After an exhortation to his army, he [the Emperor Conrad] commanded them all at once toflounceinto the river.—Fuller,Holy War, b. ii. c. 28.Launch now into the whirlpool, or ratherflounceinto the mud and quagmire.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, vol. ii. p. 200.

After an exhortation to his army, he [the Emperor Conrad] commanded them all at once toflounceinto the river.—Fuller,Holy War, b. ii. c. 28.

Launch now into the whirlpool, or ratherflounceinto the mud and quagmire.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, vol. ii. p. 200.

Fondling.‘Fond’ retains to this day, at least in poetry, not seldom the sense of foolish; but a ‘fondling’ is no longer a fool.

An epicure hath some reason to allege, an extortioner is a man of wisdom, and acteth prudently in comparison to him; but thisfondling[the profane swearer] offendeth heaven and abandoneth happiness he knoweth not why or for what.—Barrow,Sermon15.We have many suchfondlings, that are their wives’ pack-horses and slaves.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sect. 3.

We have many suchfondlings, that are their wives’ pack-horses and slaves.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sect. 3.

Forgetful.Exactly the converse of what has happened to ‘dreadful’ and ‘frightful’ (which see) has befallen ‘forgetful.’

It may be theforgetfulwine begotSome sudden blow, and thereupon this challenge.Webster,A Cure for a Cuckold, act iii. sc. 1.If the sleepy drenchOf thatforgetfullake benumb not still.Milton,Paradise Lost, ii. 73.

It may be theforgetfulwine begotSome sudden blow, and thereupon this challenge.

It may be theforgetfulwine begot

Some sudden blow, and thereupon this challenge.

Webster,A Cure for a Cuckold, act iii. sc. 1.

If the sleepy drenchOf thatforgetfullake benumb not still.

If the sleepy drench

Of thatforgetfullake benumb not still.

Milton,Paradise Lost, ii. 73.

There are two points of difference between the past use of ‘forlorn hope’ and the present. The first, that it was seldom used,—I can recall no single example,—in that which is now its only application, namely, of those who, being the first to mount the breach, thus set their lives upon a desperate hazard; but always of the skirmishers and others thrown out in front of an army about to engage. Here, indeed, the central notion of the word may be affirmed to agree with that it has now. These first come to hand-strokes with the enemy; they bear the brunt of their onset; with less likelihood therefore that they will escape than those who come after. This is quite true, and it comes remarkably out in my first quotation from Holland; just as in a retreat they are the ‘forlorn hope’ (Swedish Intelligencer, vol. i. p. 163), who bring up the rear. But in passages innumerable this of the greater hazard to which the ‘forlorn hope’ are exposed, has quite disappeared, and the ‘forlorn’ (for ‘hope’ is often omitted) are simply that part of thearmy which, being posted in the front, is first engaged. The phrase is an importation from Holland, and ‘hope’ is the Dutch ‘hoop,’ a heap, band, troop. I find it first in Gascoigne’sFruits of War, st. 74.

The fearful are in theforlorn[seeRev.xxi. 8] of those that march for hell.—Gurnall,The Christian in Complete Armour, c. 1.They [the Enniskillen horse] offered with spirit to make always theforlornof the army.—Dryden(Scott’s edition), vol. vii. p. 303.These [the Roman Velites] were loose troops, answerable in a manner to those which we call now by a French nameEnfans Perdues, but when we use our own terms,The Forlorn Hope.—SirW. Raleigh,History of the World, v. 3, 8.Before the main battle of the Carthaginians he sets the auxiliaries and aid-soldiers, a confused rabble and medley of all sorts of nations, who, as theforlorn hope, bearing the furious heat of the first brunt, might, if they did no other good, yet, with receiving many a wound in their bodies dull and turn the edge of the enemy’s sword.—Holland,Livy, p. 765.Upon them the light-armedforlorn hope[qui primi agminis erant] of archers and darters of the Roman host, which went before the battle to skirmish, charged forcibly with their shot.—Id.,ib.p. 641; cf. pp. 1149, 1150, 1195.Christ’s descent into hell was not ad prædicandum, to preach; useless, where his auditory was all theforlorn hope.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Hampshire.

The fearful are in theforlorn[seeRev.xxi. 8] of those that march for hell.—Gurnall,The Christian in Complete Armour, c. 1.

They [the Enniskillen horse] offered with spirit to make always theforlornof the army.—Dryden(Scott’s edition), vol. vii. p. 303.

These [the Roman Velites] were loose troops, answerable in a manner to those which we call now by a French nameEnfans Perdues, but when we use our own terms,The Forlorn Hope.—SirW. Raleigh,History of the World, v. 3, 8.

Before the main battle of the Carthaginians he sets the auxiliaries and aid-soldiers, a confused rabble and medley of all sorts of nations, who, as theforlorn hope, bearing the furious heat of the first brunt, might, if they did no other good, yet, with receiving many a wound in their bodies dull and turn the edge of the enemy’s sword.—Holland,Livy, p. 765.

Upon them the light-armedforlorn hope[qui primi agminis erant] of archers and darters of the Roman host, which went before the battle to skirmish, charged forcibly with their shot.—Id.,ib.p. 641; cf. pp. 1149, 1150, 1195.

Christ’s descent into hell was not ad prædicandum, to preach; useless, where his auditory was all theforlorn hope.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Hampshire.

It has been observed already,s. v.‘Common Sense,’ that a vast number of our words have descended to us from abstruse sciences and speculations, we accepting them often in a total unconsciousness of the quarter from which they came. Another proof of this assertion is here; only, as it was metaphysics there, it islogic here which has given us the word. It is curious to trace the steps by which ‘formality,’ which meant in the language of the Schools the essentiality, the innermost heart of a thing, that which gave it its form and shape, the ‘forma formans,’ should now mean something not merely so different, but so opposite.

Be patient; for I will not let him stir,Till I have used the approved means I have,With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayersTo make of him aformalman again.Shakespeare,Comedy of Errors, act v. sc. 1.Next day we behold our bride aformalwife.—Fuller,Of the Clothes and Ornaments of the Jews, § 6.There are many graces required of us, whose material andformalpart is repentance.—BishopTaylor,Doctrine and Practice of Repentance, i. 3, 47.It is not only as impious and irreligious a thing, but as senseless and as absurd a thing to deny that the Son of God hath redeemed the world, as to deny that God hath created the world; and he is asformallyand as gloriously a martyr that dies for this article, The Son of God is come, as he that dies for this, There is a God.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, p. 69.According to the rule of the casuists, theformalityof prodigality is inordinateness of our laying out, or misbestowing on what we should not.—Whitlock,Zootomia, p. 497.When the school makes pertinacy or obstinacy to be theformalityof heresy, they say not true at all, unless it be meant the obstinacy of the will and choice; and if they do, they speak impertinently and inartificially, this being but one of the causes that make error become heresy; the adequate and perfectformalityof heresy is whatsoever makes the error voluntary and vicious.—BishopTaylor,Liberty of Prophesying, § 2, 10.Strong and importunate persuasions have not the nature andformalityof force: but they have oftentimes the effectof it; and he that solicits earnestly, sometimes determines as certainly as if he did force.—South,Sermons, 1744, vol. viii. p. 288.

Be patient; for I will not let him stir,Till I have used the approved means I have,With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayersTo make of him aformalman again.

Be patient; for I will not let him stir,

Till I have used the approved means I have,

With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayers

To make of him aformalman again.

Shakespeare,Comedy of Errors, act v. sc. 1.

Next day we behold our bride aformalwife.—Fuller,Of the Clothes and Ornaments of the Jews, § 6.

There are many graces required of us, whose material andformalpart is repentance.—BishopTaylor,Doctrine and Practice of Repentance, i. 3, 47.

It is not only as impious and irreligious a thing, but as senseless and as absurd a thing to deny that the Son of God hath redeemed the world, as to deny that God hath created the world; and he is asformallyand as gloriously a martyr that dies for this article, The Son of God is come, as he that dies for this, There is a God.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, p. 69.

According to the rule of the casuists, theformalityof prodigality is inordinateness of our laying out, or misbestowing on what we should not.—Whitlock,Zootomia, p. 497.

When the school makes pertinacy or obstinacy to be theformalityof heresy, they say not true at all, unless it be meant the obstinacy of the will and choice; and if they do, they speak impertinently and inartificially, this being but one of the causes that make error become heresy; the adequate and perfectformalityof heresy is whatsoever makes the error voluntary and vicious.—BishopTaylor,Liberty of Prophesying, § 2, 10.

Strong and importunate persuasions have not the nature andformalityof force: but they have oftentimes the effectof it; and he that solicits earnestly, sometimes determines as certainly as if he did force.—South,Sermons, 1744, vol. viii. p. 288.

We consider now, and consider rightly, that there was properly no ‘France’ before there were Franks; and, speaking of the land and people before the Frankish conquest, we use Gaul, Gauls, and Gaulish; just as we should not now speak of Cæsar’s ‘journey intoEngland.’ Our fathers had not these scruples (North,Plutarch’s Lives). See the quotation from Milton,s. v.‘Civil.’

When Cæsar saw his army prone to war,And fates so bent, lest sloth and long delayMight cross him, he withdrew his troops fromFrance,And in all quarters musters men for Rome.Marlowe,First Book of Lucan.AFrenchmantogether with aFrenchwoman, likewise a Grecian man and woman, were let down alive into the beast-market into a vault under the ground, stoned all about.—Holland,Livy, p. 467.

When Cæsar saw his army prone to war,And fates so bent, lest sloth and long delayMight cross him, he withdrew his troops fromFrance,And in all quarters musters men for Rome.

When Cæsar saw his army prone to war,

And fates so bent, lest sloth and long delay

Might cross him, he withdrew his troops fromFrance,

And in all quarters musters men for Rome.

Marlowe,First Book of Lucan.

AFrenchmantogether with aFrenchwoman, likewise a Grecian man and woman, were let down alive into the beast-market into a vault under the ground, stoned all about.—Holland,Livy, p. 467.

Fret.This, the A.S. ‘fretan,’ the German ‘fressen,’ to eat, is with us restricted now, though once it was otherwise, to the eating of the heart through care, according to an image which we all can only too well understand; and which has given the Pythagorean ‘Cor ne edito,’ the French ‘dévoré de chagrins.’

Adam afterward ayeines his defenceFretteof that fruit.Piers Plowman, B-text, xviii. 193 (Skeat).He [Hercules] slough the cruel tirant Buserus,And made his hors tofretehim fleisch and boon.Chaucer,The Monkes Tale(Morris, iii. p. 205).I saugh how that his houndes han him [Actæon] caught,Andfretenhim, for that they knewe him naught.Id.,Knightes Tale(Morris, ii. p. 64).Thou makest his beauty to consume away, like as it were a mothfrettinga garment.—Ps.xxxix. 12. P. B. V.

Adam afterward ayeines his defenceFretteof that fruit.

Adam afterward ayeines his defence

Fretteof that fruit.

Piers Plowman, B-text, xviii. 193 (Skeat).

He [Hercules] slough the cruel tirant Buserus,And made his hors tofretehim fleisch and boon.

He [Hercules] slough the cruel tirant Buserus,

And made his hors tofretehim fleisch and boon.

Chaucer,The Monkes Tale(Morris, iii. p. 205).

I saugh how that his houndes han him [Actæon] caught,Andfretenhim, for that they knewe him naught.

I saugh how that his houndes han him [Actæon] caught,

Andfretenhim, for that they knewe him naught.

Id.,Knightes Tale(Morris, ii. p. 64).

Thou makest his beauty to consume away, like as it were a mothfrettinga garment.—Ps.xxxix. 12. P. B. V.

Frightful.Now always active, that which inspires fright; but formerly as often passive, that which is, or is liable to be, frightened. See ‘Dreadful,’ ‘Hateful.’

The wild andfrightfulherds,Not hearing other noise, but this of chattering birds,Feed fairly on the lawns.Drayton,Polyolbion, Song 13.

The wild andfrightfulherds,Not hearing other noise, but this of chattering birds,Feed fairly on the lawns.

The wild andfrightfulherds,

Not hearing other noise, but this of chattering birds,

Feed fairly on the lawns.

Drayton,Polyolbion, Song 13.

Frippery.Now such trumpery, such odds and ends of cheap finery, as one might expect to meet at an old-clothes shop; but in our early dramatists and others of their time, the shop itself where old clothes were by the ‘fripper’ or broker scoured, ‘interpolated,’ and presented anew for sale (officina vestium tritarum, Skinner); nor had ‘frippery’ then the contemptuous subaudition of worthlessness in the objects offered for sale which its present use would imply. See Littré,Dictionnaire, s. v.Friperie.

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