Chapter 12

In the quer was aherssemad of tymbur and covered with blake, and armes upon the blake.—Diary of Henry Machyn, 1550-1563, p. 44.A cenotaph is an empty funeral monument or tomb, erected for the honour of the dead; in imitation of which ourhearseshere in England are set up in churches during the continuance of a year or for the space of certain months.—Weever,Ancient Funeral Monuments, p. 32.Hearse, an empty tomb erected for the honour of the dead.—Phillips,New World of Words.The beating of thy pulse, when thou art well,Is just the tolling of thy passing bell.Night is thyhearse, whose sable canopyCovers alike deceasëd day and thee.And all those weeping dews that nightly fallAre but the tears shed for thy funeral.BishopKing,Poems, p. 19.

In the quer was aherssemad of tymbur and covered with blake, and armes upon the blake.—Diary of Henry Machyn, 1550-1563, p. 44.

A cenotaph is an empty funeral monument or tomb, erected for the honour of the dead; in imitation of which ourhearseshere in England are set up in churches during the continuance of a year or for the space of certain months.—Weever,Ancient Funeral Monuments, p. 32.

Hearse, an empty tomb erected for the honour of the dead.—Phillips,New World of Words.

The beating of thy pulse, when thou art well,Is just the tolling of thy passing bell.Night is thyhearse, whose sable canopyCovers alike deceasëd day and thee.And all those weeping dews that nightly fallAre but the tears shed for thy funeral.

The beating of thy pulse, when thou art well,

Is just the tolling of thy passing bell.

Night is thyhearse, whose sable canopy

Covers alike deceasëd day and thee.

And all those weeping dews that nightly fall

Are but the tears shed for thy funeral.

BishopKing,Poems, p. 19.

Help.‘To help’ used not unfrequently to designate an assisting in one particular manner, in that namely of healing. A recent editor of Shakespeare, not having this present in his mind, has said of those lines first quoted below: ‘We cannot but believe Shakespeare wrote, Do woundssalvewounds, &c., or Do woundshealwounds, &c.’ There is indeed nothing here needing to be set right.

Why, Collatine, is woe the cure for woe?Do woundshelpwounds, or griefhelpgrievous deeds?Shakespeare,Lucrece.Love doth to her repair,Tohelphim of his blindness,And beinghelptinhabits there.Id.,Two Gentlemen of Verona, act iv. sc. 2.Still she retainsHer maiden gentleness, and oft at eveVisits the herds along the twilight meadows,Helpingall urchin blasts and ill-luck signsThat the shrewd meddling elf delights to make.Milton,Comus, 842.

Why, Collatine, is woe the cure for woe?Do woundshelpwounds, or griefhelpgrievous deeds?

Why, Collatine, is woe the cure for woe?

Do woundshelpwounds, or griefhelpgrievous deeds?

Shakespeare,Lucrece.

Love doth to her repair,Tohelphim of his blindness,And beinghelptinhabits there.

Love doth to her repair,

Tohelphim of his blindness,

And beinghelptinhabits there.

Id.,Two Gentlemen of Verona, act iv. sc. 2.

Still she retainsHer maiden gentleness, and oft at eveVisits the herds along the twilight meadows,Helpingall urchin blasts and ill-luck signsThat the shrewd meddling elf delights to make.

Still she retains

Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve

Visits the herds along the twilight meadows,

Helpingall urchin blasts and ill-luck signs

That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make.

Milton,Comus, 842.

Hereafter.This word, while it looks on to a future, always looks on to one more or less divided by an interval of time from the present. But it was often employed as equivalent to ‘from this time forth’ in our Elizabethan literature; it is so in the examples which follow.

Hereafter[ἀπ’ ἄρτι] ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man.—St. Johni. 51. (A.V.)We will establish our estate uponOur eldest, Malcolm; whom we namehereafterThe prince of Cumberland.Shakespeare,Macbeth, act i. sc. 4.

Hereafter[ἀπ’ ἄρτι] ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man.—St. Johni. 51. (A.V.)

We will establish our estate uponOur eldest, Malcolm; whom we namehereafterThe prince of Cumberland.

We will establish our estate upon

Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we namehereafter

The prince of Cumberland.

Shakespeare,Macbeth, act i. sc. 4.

Hide.This word is at present only contemptuously applied to the skin of man, being reserved almost exclusively for that of beasts; but it had once the same extent of meaning as by the German ‘haut’ is still retained, which is ‘cutis’ and ‘pellis’ both.

The ladye fayre of hew andhydeShee sate downe by the bedside.Eger and Grine, 263.Her kerchers were all of silk,Her hayre as white as any milke,Lovesome of hue andhyde.Ballad of John de Reeve, 226.

The ladye fayre of hew andhydeShee sate downe by the bedside.

The ladye fayre of hew andhyde

Shee sate downe by the bedside.

Eger and Grine, 263.

Her kerchers were all of silk,Her hayre as white as any milke,Lovesome of hue andhyde.

Her kerchers were all of silk,

Her hayre as white as any milke,

Lovesome of hue andhyde.

Ballad of John de Reeve, 226.

Hobby.The ‘hobby’ being the ambling nag ridden for pleasure, and then the child’s toy in imitation of the same, had in these senses nearly passed out of use, when the word revived, by a very natural transfer, in the sense which it now has, of a favourite pursuit which carries a man easily and pleasantly forward.

They have likewise excellent good horses (we term themhobbies), which have not the same pace that other horses in their course, but a soft and round amble, setting one leg before another very finely.—Holland,Camden’s Ireland, p. 63.King Agesilaus, having a great sort of little children, was one day disposed to solace himself among them in a gallery where they played, and took a littlehobby-horse ofwood, and bestrid it.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. iii. c. 24.Ahobby-horse, or some such pretty toy,A rattle would befit you better, boy.Randolph,Poems, p. 19.

King Agesilaus, having a great sort of little children, was one day disposed to solace himself among them in a gallery where they played, and took a littlehobby-horse ofwood, and bestrid it.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. iii. c. 24.

Ahobby-horse, or some such pretty toy,A rattle would befit you better, boy.

Ahobby-horse, or some such pretty toy,

A rattle would befit you better, boy.

Randolph,Poems, p. 19.

Homely.The etymology of ‘homely’ which Milton puts into the mouth of Comus,

‘It is forhomelyfeatures to keephome;They had their name hence,’

‘It is forhomelyfeatures to keephome;

They had their name hence,’

witnesses that in his time it had the same meaning which it has in ours. At an earlier day, however, it much more nearly corresponded to the German ‘heimlich,’ that is, secret, inward, familiar, as those may be presumed to be that share in a commonhome. ‘Homeliness’ is more than once the word by which Wiclif translates ‘mansuetudo:’ thus,2 Cor.x. 1;Jam.i. 21.

And the enemyes of a man ben thei that benhomeliwith him.—Matt.x. 36.Wiclif.[Cf.Judg.xix. 4, and often.]God graunte the thinhomlyfo espye:For in this world nys worse pestilenceThanhomlyfoo, alday in thy presence.Chaucer,The Marchaundes Tale(Morris, ii. p. 335).Such peple be able and worthi to be admytted into thehomelireding of Holi Writt.—Pecock,Repressor, c. 3.With all these men I was righthomely, and communed with them long time and oft.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of William Thorpe.

And the enemyes of a man ben thei that benhomeliwith him.—Matt.x. 36.Wiclif.[Cf.Judg.xix. 4, and often.]

God graunte the thinhomlyfo espye:For in this world nys worse pestilenceThanhomlyfoo, alday in thy presence.

God graunte the thinhomlyfo espye:

For in this world nys worse pestilence

Thanhomlyfoo, alday in thy presence.

Chaucer,The Marchaundes Tale(Morris, ii. p. 335).

Such peple be able and worthi to be admytted into thehomelireding of Holi Writt.—Pecock,Repressor, c. 3.

With all these men I was righthomely, and communed with them long time and oft.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of William Thorpe.

Hoyden.Now and for a long time since a clownish ill-bredgirl; what is vulgarly called in America a ‘gal-boy,’ yet it is only another form of ‘heathen.’ Remote as the words appear at starting, it will not be hard to bring them close together. Inthe first place, it is only by a superinduced meaning that ‘heathen’ has its present sense of non-christian; it is properly, as Grimm has abundantly shown, as indeedPiers Plowmanhad told us long ago, a dweller on the heath; then any living a wild savage life; thus we have in Wiclif (Actsxxviii. 1), ‘And thehethenemen [barbari, Vulg.] diden to us not litil curtesie;’ and only afterwards was the word applied to those who resisted to the last the humanizing influences of the Christian faith. This ‘heathen’ is in Dutch ‘heyden’ (see Sewel); while less than two hundred years ago ‘hoyden’ was by no means confined, as it now is, to the female sex, the clownish ill-bred girl, but was oftener applied to men.

Shall I argue of conversation with thishoyden, to go and practise at his opportunities in the larder?—Milton,Colasterion.Falourdin,m.A lusk, lowt, lurden, a lubberly sloven, heavy sot, lumpishhoydon.—Cotgrave,A French and English Dictionary.Badault,m.A fool, dolt, sot, fop, ass, coxcomb, gapinghoydon.—Id.ib.A rudehoidon; Grue, badault, falourdin, becjaune; Balordo, babionetto, rustico; Bouaron.—Howell,Lexicon Tetraglotton.

Shall I argue of conversation with thishoyden, to go and practise at his opportunities in the larder?—Milton,Colasterion.

Falourdin,m.A lusk, lowt, lurden, a lubberly sloven, heavy sot, lumpishhoydon.—Cotgrave,A French and English Dictionary.

Badault,m.A fool, dolt, sot, fop, ass, coxcomb, gapinghoydon.—Id.ib.

A rudehoidon; Grue, badault, falourdin, becjaune; Balordo, babionetto, rustico; Bouaron.—Howell,Lexicon Tetraglotton.

The four ‘humours’ in man, according to the old physicians, were blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy. So long as these were duly tempered, all would be well. But so soon as any of them unduly preponderated, the man became ‘humourous,’ one ‘humour’ or another bearing too great a sway in him. As such, his conduct would not be according to thereceived rule of other men, but have something peculiar, whimsical, self-willed in it. In this the self-asserting character of the ‘humourous’ man lay the point of contact, the middle term, between the modern use of ‘humour’ and the ancient. It was his ‘humour’ which would lead a man to take an original view and aspect of things, a ‘humourous’ aspect, first in the old sense, which in some of our provincial dialects still lives on, and then in that which we now employ. The classical passage in English literature on ‘humour’ and its history is the Prologue, or ‘Stage,’ as it is called, to Ben Jonson’sEvery Man out of his Humour; it is, however, too long to cite; an earlier occurs in Gower’sConfessio Amantis, lib. 7, in init. See ‘Temper.’ ‘Humourous’ has been sometimes used in quite another sense, as simply equivalent to moist; so in the passage from Chapman’sHomer, quoted below.

In which [kingdom of heaven] neither such high-flown enthusiasts, nor any dry churlish reasoners and disputers, shall have either part or portion, till they lay down those gigantichumours, and become (as our Saviour Christ, who is that unerring Truth, has prescribed) like little children.—H. More,Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. viii. c. 15.Good Humouris not only the best security against enthusiasm, but the best foundation of piety and true religion. For if right thoughts and worthy apprehensions of the Supreme Being are fundamental to all true worship and adoration, ’tis more than probable we shall never miscarry in this respect except throughIll Humouronly.—Shaftesbury,Works, 1727, vol. i. p. 22.Yet such is now the duke’s condition,That he misconstrues all that you have done;The duke ishumourous.Shakespeare,As You Like It, act i. sc. 2.The people thereof [Ephraim] were active, valiant, ambitious of honour; but withal hasty,humourous, hard to be pleased; forward enough to fight with their foes, and too forward to fall out with their friends.—Fuller,A Pisgah Sight of Palestine, b. ii. c. 9.Or it may be (what is little better than that), instead of the living righteousness of Christ, he will magnify himself in somehumourouspieces of holiness of his own.—H. More,Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. viii. c. 14.Upon his sight of the first signs and experiments of the plagues which did accompany them, he [Pharaoh] demeaned himself like a proud phantastichumorist.—Jackson,Christ’s Everlasting Priesthood, b. x. c. 40.The seamen are a nation by themselves, ahumourousand fantastic people.—Clarendon,History of the Rebellion, b. ii. in init.Wretched men, that shake off the true comely habit of religion, to bespeak them a new-fashioned suit of profession at anhumourist’sshop!—Adams,The Devil’s Banquet, p. 52.This eased her heart and dried herhumourouseye.Chapman,Homer’s Odysseis, b. iv. l. 120.

Good Humouris not only the best security against enthusiasm, but the best foundation of piety and true religion. For if right thoughts and worthy apprehensions of the Supreme Being are fundamental to all true worship and adoration, ’tis more than probable we shall never miscarry in this respect except throughIll Humouronly.—Shaftesbury,Works, 1727, vol. i. p. 22.

Yet such is now the duke’s condition,That he misconstrues all that you have done;The duke ishumourous.

Yet such is now the duke’s condition,

That he misconstrues all that you have done;

The duke ishumourous.

Shakespeare,As You Like It, act i. sc. 2.

The people thereof [Ephraim] were active, valiant, ambitious of honour; but withal hasty,humourous, hard to be pleased; forward enough to fight with their foes, and too forward to fall out with their friends.—Fuller,A Pisgah Sight of Palestine, b. ii. c. 9.

Or it may be (what is little better than that), instead of the living righteousness of Christ, he will magnify himself in somehumourouspieces of holiness of his own.—H. More,Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. viii. c. 14.

Upon his sight of the first signs and experiments of the plagues which did accompany them, he [Pharaoh] demeaned himself like a proud phantastichumorist.—Jackson,Christ’s Everlasting Priesthood, b. x. c. 40.

The seamen are a nation by themselves, ahumourousand fantastic people.—Clarendon,History of the Rebellion, b. ii. in init.

Wretched men, that shake off the true comely habit of religion, to bespeak them a new-fashioned suit of profession at anhumourist’sshop!—Adams,The Devil’s Banquet, p. 52.

This eased her heart and dried herhumourouseye.

Chapman,Homer’s Odysseis, b. iv. l. 120.

Hunger.It was long before this and ‘famine’ were desynonymized, and indeed the great famine year is still spoken of in Ireland as ‘the year of the hunger.’ Still in the main the words are distinguished, ‘famine’ expressing an outward fact, the dearth of food, and ‘hunger’ the inward sense and experience of this fact.

And aftir that he hadde endid alle thingis, a stronghungrewas maad in that cuntre.—Lukexv. 14.Wiclif.Pestilences andhungersshall beAnd erthedyns in many contré.Richard Rolle de Hampole,Pricke of Conscience, 4035.Oon of hem roos up, Agabus bi name, and signefiede bi the spirit a greethungurto comynge in al the world, whichhungurwas maad undur Claudius.—Actsxi. 28.Wiclif.Behold the tyme commeth that I shal sende anhungerin to the earth; not thehungerof bread, nor the thyrst of water.—Amosviii. 11.Coverdale.

And aftir that he hadde endid alle thingis, a stronghungrewas maad in that cuntre.—Lukexv. 14.Wiclif.

Pestilences andhungersshall beAnd erthedyns in many contré.

Pestilences andhungersshall be

And erthedyns in many contré.

Richard Rolle de Hampole,Pricke of Conscience, 4035.

Oon of hem roos up, Agabus bi name, and signefiede bi the spirit a greethungurto comynge in al the world, whichhungurwas maad undur Claudius.—Actsxi. 28.Wiclif.

Behold the tyme commeth that I shal sende anhungerin to the earth; not thehungerof bread, nor the thyrst of water.—Amosviii. 11.Coverdale.

Husband.This, the Old Norse ‘hús-bondi,’ is much more nearly the Latin ‘paterfamilias’ than ‘vir.’ As the house, above all that of him who owns and tills the soil, stands by a wise and watchful economy, it is easy to see how ‘husband’ came to signify one who knows how prudently to spare and save.

All goodhusbandsagree in this, That every work should have the due and convenient season.—Holland,Pliny, vol. i. p. 556.They are too goodhusbands, and too thrifty of God’s grace, too sparing of the Holy Ghost, that restrain God’s general propositions, Venite omnes, Let all come, so particularly as to say that when God saysall, he means some.—Donne,Sermon 33.Thou dost thyself wise and industrious deem;A mightyhusbandthou wouldst seem;Fond man, like a bought slave thou all the whileDost but for others sweat and toil.Cowley,The Shortness of Life and Uncertainty of Riches.After we come once to view the seam or vein where the hidden treasure lies, we account all we possess besides as dross; for whose further assurance we alienate all our interest in the world, with as great willingness as goodhusbandsdo base tenements or hard-rented leases, to compass some goodly royalty offered them more than half for nothing.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of the Scriptures, b. iv. c. 8.

All goodhusbandsagree in this, That every work should have the due and convenient season.—Holland,Pliny, vol. i. p. 556.

They are too goodhusbands, and too thrifty of God’s grace, too sparing of the Holy Ghost, that restrain God’s general propositions, Venite omnes, Let all come, so particularly as to say that when God saysall, he means some.—Donne,Sermon 33.

Thou dost thyself wise and industrious deem;A mightyhusbandthou wouldst seem;Fond man, like a bought slave thou all the whileDost but for others sweat and toil.

Thou dost thyself wise and industrious deem;

A mightyhusbandthou wouldst seem;

Fond man, like a bought slave thou all the while

Dost but for others sweat and toil.

Cowley,The Shortness of Life and Uncertainty of Riches.

After we come once to view the seam or vein where the hidden treasure lies, we account all we possess besides as dross; for whose further assurance we alienate all our interest in the world, with as great willingness as goodhusbandsdo base tenements or hard-rented leases, to compass some goodly royalty offered them more than half for nothing.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of the Scriptures, b. iv. c. 8.

A word with a very interesting and instructive history, which, however, is only fully intelligible by a reference to the Greek. The ἰδιώτης or ‘idiot’ is first the private man as distinguished from the man sustaining a public office; then, inasmuch as public life was considered an absolutely necessary condition of man’s highest education, the untaught or mentally undeveloped, as distinguished from the educated; and only after it had run through these courses did ‘idiot’ come to signify what ἰδιώτης never did, the man whose mental powers are not merely unexercised but deficient, as distinguished from him in full possession of them. This is the only employment to which we now put the word; but examples of its earlier and more Greek uses are frequent in Jeremy Taylor and others. See mySynonyms of the N.T.§ 79.

And here, again, their allegation out of Gregory the First and Damascene, That images be the laymen’s books, and that pictures are the Scripture ofidiotsand simple persons, is worthy to be considered.—Homilies; Against Perils of Idolatry.It is clear, by Bellarmine’s confession, that S. Austin affirmed that the plain places of Scripture are sufficient to all laics, and allidiotsor private persons.—BishopTaylor,A Dissuasive from Popery, part ii. b. i. § 1.Christ was received ofidiots, of the vulgar people, and of the simpler sort, while He was rejected, despised, and persecuted even to death by the high priests, lawyers, scribes, doctors, and rabbies.—Blount,Philostratus, p. 237.It [Scripture] speaks commonly according to vulgar apprehension, as when it tells of ‘the ends of the heaven;’ which now almost everyidiotknows hath no ends at all.—John Smith,Select Discourses, vi.,On Prophecy.Truth is content, when it comes into the world, to wearour mantles, to learn our language: it speaks to the mostidioticalsort of men in the mostidioticalway. The reason of this plain andidioticalstyle of Scripture it may be worth our farther taking notice of.—Id.,ibid.

It is clear, by Bellarmine’s confession, that S. Austin affirmed that the plain places of Scripture are sufficient to all laics, and allidiotsor private persons.—BishopTaylor,A Dissuasive from Popery, part ii. b. i. § 1.

Christ was received ofidiots, of the vulgar people, and of the simpler sort, while He was rejected, despised, and persecuted even to death by the high priests, lawyers, scribes, doctors, and rabbies.—Blount,Philostratus, p. 237.

It [Scripture] speaks commonly according to vulgar apprehension, as when it tells of ‘the ends of the heaven;’ which now almost everyidiotknows hath no ends at all.—John Smith,Select Discourses, vi.,On Prophecy.

Truth is content, when it comes into the world, to wearour mantles, to learn our language: it speaks to the mostidioticalsort of men in the mostidioticalway. The reason of this plain andidioticalstyle of Scripture it may be worth our farther taking notice of.—Id.,ibid.

This is now rather one special evil quality, as κακία is often in Greek; it was once the complex of all, or more properly the natural substratum on which they all were superinduced. See ‘Good-nature,’ and, in addition to the passage from South, quoted below, a very instructive discussion on both words in hisSermons, 1737, vol. vi. pp. 104-111.

I may truly say of the mind of an ungrateful person, that it is kindness-proof. It is inpenetrable, unconquerable; unconquerable by that which conquers all things else, even by love itself. And the reason is manifest; for you may remember that I told you that ingratitude sprang from a principle ofill-nature; which being a thing founded in such a certain constitution of blood and spirit, as being born with a man into the world, and upon that account callednature, shall prevent all remedies that can be applied by education.—South,Sermons, 1737, vol. i. p. 429.King Henry the Eighth was anill-naturedprince to execute so many whom he had so highly favoured.—SirT. Overbury,Crumbs fallen from King James’ Table.He is the worst of men, whom kindness cannot soften, nor endearments oblige; whom gratitude cannot tie faster than the bands of life and death.—He is anill-naturedsinner.—BishopTaylor,The Miracles of the Divine Mercy, serm. 27.

King Henry the Eighth was anill-naturedprince to execute so many whom he had so highly favoured.—SirT. Overbury,Crumbs fallen from King James’ Table.

He is the worst of men, whom kindness cannot soften, nor endearments oblige; whom gratitude cannot tie faster than the bands of life and death.—He is anill-naturedsinner.—BishopTaylor,The Miracles of the Divine Mercy, serm. 27.

Imp.Employed in nobler senses formerly than now. ‘To imp’ is properly to engraft, and an ‘imp’ a graft, scion, or young shoot; and, even as we now speak of the ‘scions’ of a noble house, so there wasin earlier English the same natural transfer of ‘imps’ from plants to persons.

I was sum-tyme a frere,And the coventes gardyner for to graffeympes.Piers Plowman, B-text, Passus v. 136 (Skeat).Of feble trees ther cometh febleympes.Chaucer,The Monkes Prologue(Morris, iii. p. 200).The sudden taking away of those most goodly and virtuous youngimps, the Duke of Suffolk and his brother, by the sweating sickness, was it not also a manifest token of God’s heavy displeasure towards us?—Becon,A Comfortable Epistle.The king returned into England with victory and triumph; the king preferred there eighty nobleimpsto the order of knighthood.—Stow,Annals, 1592, p. 385.

I was sum-tyme a frere,And the coventes gardyner for to graffeympes.

I was sum-tyme a frere,

And the coventes gardyner for to graffeympes.

Piers Plowman, B-text, Passus v. 136 (Skeat).

Of feble trees ther cometh febleympes.

Chaucer,The Monkes Prologue(Morris, iii. p. 200).

The sudden taking away of those most goodly and virtuous youngimps, the Duke of Suffolk and his brother, by the sweating sickness, was it not also a manifest token of God’s heavy displeasure towards us?—Becon,A Comfortable Epistle.

The king returned into England with victory and triumph; the king preferred there eighty nobleimpsto the order of knighthood.—Stow,Annals, 1592, p. 385.

The inner connexion between weakness and violence is finely declared in Latin in the fact that ‘impotens’ and ‘impotentia’ imply both; so once did ‘impotent’ and ‘impotence’ in English (see Spenser’sFairy Queen, ii. 11, 23), though they now retain only the meaning of weak.

AnimpotentloverOf women for a flash; but his fires quenched,Hating as deadly.Massinger,The Unnatural Combat, act iii. sc. 2.The Lady Davey, everimpotentin her passions, was even distracted with anger, that she was crossed in her will.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 194.The truth is, that in this battle and whole business the Britons never more plainly manifested themselves to be right barbarous; such confusion, suchimpotence, as seemed likest not to a war, but to the wild hurry of a distracted woman, with as mad a crew at her heels.—Milton,History of England, b. ii.If a great personage undertakes an action passionately and upon great interest, let him manage it indiscreetly, let the whole design be unjust, let it be acted with all the malice andimpotencyin the world, he shall have enough to flatter him, but not enough to reprove him.—BishopTaylor,Holy Living, c. 2, § 6.

AnimpotentloverOf women for a flash; but his fires quenched,Hating as deadly.

Animpotentlover

Of women for a flash; but his fires quenched,

Hating as deadly.

Massinger,The Unnatural Combat, act iii. sc. 2.

The Lady Davey, everimpotentin her passions, was even distracted with anger, that she was crossed in her will.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 194.

The truth is, that in this battle and whole business the Britons never more plainly manifested themselves to be right barbarous; such confusion, suchimpotence, as seemed likest not to a war, but to the wild hurry of a distracted woman, with as mad a crew at her heels.—Milton,History of England, b. ii.

If a great personage undertakes an action passionately and upon great interest, let him manage it indiscreetly, let the whole design be unjust, let it be acted with all the malice andimpotencyin the world, he shall have enough to flatter him, but not enough to reprove him.—BishopTaylor,Holy Living, c. 2, § 6.

Improve.So long as the verb ‘to improve’ was directly connected in men’s thoughts with the Latin ‘improbare,’ it was inevitable that it should have a meaning very different from that which now attaches to it; and so we find it used as equivalent to the Greek ἐλέγχειν, the Latin ‘reprobare,’ to disapprove of, to disallow.

If tho thre [opinions] be sufficientlyimproved, that is to saie, if it be sufficiently schewen that the thre be nought and untrewe and badde, alle the othere untrewe opiniouns bilded upon hem muste needis therebi take her fal.—Pecock,Repressor, part 1, c. 1.For love of the world the olde pharesies blasphemed the Holy Ghost, and persecuted the manifest truth which they could notimprove.—Tyndale,Exposition on the First Epistle of S. John.If ye cannotimproveit [my doctrine] by God’s word, and yet of an hate and malicious mind that you bear to the truth, labour to resist it and condemn it that it should not spread, I ensure you your sin is irremissible and even against the Holy Ghost.—Frith,Works, 1572, p. 3.Be instant in season and out of season;improve[ἔλεγξον], rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.—2 Tim.iv. 2. (Geneva Version.)

For love of the world the olde pharesies blasphemed the Holy Ghost, and persecuted the manifest truth which they could notimprove.—Tyndale,Exposition on the First Epistle of S. John.

If ye cannotimproveit [my doctrine] by God’s word, and yet of an hate and malicious mind that you bear to the truth, labour to resist it and condemn it that it should not spread, I ensure you your sin is irremissible and even against the Holy Ghost.—Frith,Works, 1572, p. 3.

Be instant in season and out of season;improve[ἔλεγξον], rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.—2 Tim.iv. 2. (Geneva Version.)

Incense.Now to kindleangeronly; but once to kindle or inflame any passion, good or bad, in the breast. Anger, as the strongest passion, finally appropriated the word, just as in Greek it made θυμός and ὀργή its own.

He [Asdrubal] it was, that when his men were weary and drew back,incensed[accendit] them again, one while by fair words and entreaty, another while by sharp checks and rebukes.—Holland,Livy, p. 665.Prince Edward struck his breast and swore, that though all his friends forsook him, yet he would enter Ptolemais, though only with Fowin, his horsekeeper. By which speech heincensedthe English to go on with him.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iv. c. 28.

Prince Edward struck his breast and swore, that though all his friends forsook him, yet he would enter Ptolemais, though only with Fowin, his horsekeeper. By which speech heincensedthe English to go on with him.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iv. c. 28.

Incivility.See ‘Civil.’

By this means infinite numbers of souls may be brought from their idolatry, bloody sacrifices, ignorance, andincivility, to the worshipping of the true God.—SirW. Raleigh,Of the Voyage for Guiana.

In Low Latin, and in ages of a blind unintelligent faith, ‘credulitas’ came to be regarded as equivalent to ‘fides,’ and ‘credulity’ to ‘faith.’ The two latter, with their negatives, ‘incredulity’ and ‘unbelief,’ have been usefully desynonymized in our later English; but the quotations which follow will show that this was not always the case.

For we also were sometime unwise,incredulous, erring, serving divers lusts and voluptuousnesses.—Tit.iii. 3. Rhemish Version.And we see that they could not enter in because ofincredulity.—Heb.iii. 19. The same version.But let us take heed; as God hates a lie, so He hatesincredulity, an obstinate, a foolish, and pertinacious understanding.—BishopTaylor,Sermon at the Funeral of the Lord Primate.

For we also were sometime unwise,incredulous, erring, serving divers lusts and voluptuousnesses.—Tit.iii. 3. Rhemish Version.

And we see that they could not enter in because ofincredulity.—Heb.iii. 19. The same version.

But let us take heed; as God hates a lie, so He hatesincredulity, an obstinate, a foolish, and pertinacious understanding.—BishopTaylor,Sermon at the Funeral of the Lord Primate.

It is a striking testimony of the low general average which we assume common to most things, that a thing which does notdifferfrom others, istherefore qualified as poor; a sentence of depreciation is pronounced upon it when it is declared to be ‘indifferent.’ When in Greek διαφέρειν means ‘præstare,’ and τὰ διαφέροντα ‘præstantiora,’ we have exactly the same feeling embodying itself at the other end. But this use of these words is modern. ‘Indifferent’ was impartial once, notmakingdifferences where none really were.

God receiveth the learned and unlearned, and casteth away none, but isindifferentunto all.—Homilies: Exhortation to the Reading of Holy Scripture.If overseer of the poor, he [the good parishioner] is careful the rates be madeindifferent, whose inequality oftentimes is more burdensome than the sum.—Fuller,Holy State, b. ii. c. 11.Come Sleep, O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe,The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release,Theindifferentjudge between the high and low.SirP. Sidney,Astrophel and Stella, 39.Requesting that they might speak before the senate, and be heard withindifference.—Holland,Livy, p. 1214.That they may truly andindifferentlyminister justice.—Book of Common Prayer.

God receiveth the learned and unlearned, and casteth away none, but isindifferentunto all.—Homilies: Exhortation to the Reading of Holy Scripture.

If overseer of the poor, he [the good parishioner] is careful the rates be madeindifferent, whose inequality oftentimes is more burdensome than the sum.—Fuller,Holy State, b. ii. c. 11.

Come Sleep, O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe,The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release,Theindifferentjudge between the high and low.

Come Sleep, O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,

The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe,

The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release,

Theindifferentjudge between the high and low.

SirP. Sidney,Astrophel and Stella, 39.

Requesting that they might speak before the senate, and be heard withindifference.—Holland,Livy, p. 1214.

That they may truly andindifferentlyminister justice.—Book of Common Prayer.

Individual.Properly not capable of division; indivisible, as is an atom; then, undivided, inseparable, and so used in the quotations which follow. We, using ‘individual’ as = person, have in fact recurred to the earlier meaning.

Then long eternity shall greet our blissWith anindividualkiss,And joy shall overtake us like a flood.Milton,On Time.Anacreon,Myindividualcompanion.Holyday,Marriages of the Arts, act ii. sc. 6.

Then long eternity shall greet our blissWith anindividualkiss,And joy shall overtake us like a flood.

Then long eternity shall greet our bliss

With anindividualkiss,

And joy shall overtake us like a flood.

Milton,On Time.

Anacreon,Myindividualcompanion.

Anacreon,

Myindividualcompanion.

Holyday,Marriages of the Arts, act ii. sc. 6.

Indolence.‘Indolentia’ was a word first invented by Cicero, when he was obliged to find some equivalent for the ἀπάθεια of certain Greek schools. That it was not counted one of his happiest coinages we may conclude from the seldom use of it by any other authors but himself, as also from the fact that Seneca, a little later proposing ‘impatientia’ as the Latin equivalent for ἀπάθεια, implied that none such had hitherto been found. The word has taken firmer root in English than it ever did in Latin. At the same time, meaning as it does now a disposition or temper of languid non-exertion, it has lost the accuracy of use which it had in the philosophical schools, where it signified a state of freedom from passion and pain; which signification it retained among our own writers of the Caroline period, and even later. To this day, indeed, surgeons call certain painless swellings ‘indolenttumours.’

Now, to begin with fortitude, they say it is the mean between cowardice and rash audacity, of which twain the one is a defect, the other an excess of the ireful passion; liberality between niggardise and prodigality, clemency and mildness between senselessindolenceand cruelty.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 69.Now though Christ were far from both, yet He came nearer to an excess of passion than to anindolency, to a senselessness, to a privation of natural affections. Inordinateness of affections may sometimes make some men like some beasts; butindolency, absence, emptiness, privation of affections, makes any man, at all times, like stones, like dirt.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, p. 156.The submission here spoken of in the text is not a stupidindolence, or insensibility under such calamities as God shall be pleased to bring upon us.—South,Sermons, 1744, vol. x. p. 97.

Now though Christ were far from both, yet He came nearer to an excess of passion than to anindolency, to a senselessness, to a privation of natural affections. Inordinateness of affections may sometimes make some men like some beasts; butindolency, absence, emptiness, privation of affections, makes any man, at all times, like stones, like dirt.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, p. 156.

The submission here spoken of in the text is not a stupidindolence, or insensibility under such calamities as God shall be pleased to bring upon us.—South,Sermons, 1744, vol. x. p. 97.

We are now pretty well agreed in our use of these words; but there was a time when the uttermost confusion reigned amongst them. Thus, in the first and second quotations which follow, ‘ingenious’ is used where we should now use, and where oftentimes the writers of that time would have used, ‘ingenuous,’ and the converse in the third; while in like manner ‘ingenuity’ in each of the succeeding three quotations stands for our present ‘ingenuousness,’ and ‘ingenuousness’ in the last for ‘ingenuity.’ In respect of ‘ingenious’ and ‘ingenuous,’ the arrangement at which we have now arrived regarding their several meanings, namely that the first indicatesmental, the secondmoralqualities, is good; ‘ingenious’ being from ‘ingenium’ and ‘ingenuous’ from ‘ingenuus.’ But ‘ingenuity,’ being from ‘ingenuous,’ should have kept the meaning, which it has now quite let go, of innate nobleness of disposition; while ‘ingeniousness,’ against which there can be no objection to which ‘ingenuousness’ is not equally exposed, might have expressed what ‘ingenuity’ does now.

Now as aningeniousdebtor desires his freedom at his creditor’s hands, that thereby he may be capable of paying his debt, as well as to escape the misery which himself should endure by his imprisonment; so aningenioussoul (and such is every saint) deprecates hell, as well with an eye to God’s glory as to his own ease and happiness.—Gurnall,The Christian in Complete Armour, part ii. c. 54, § 2.Here let us breathe and haply instituteA course of learning andingeniousstudies.Shakespeare,Taming of the Shrew, act i. sc. 1.Aningeniousperson will rather wear a plain garment ofhis own than a rich livery, the mark of servitude.—Bates,Spiritual Perfection, Preface.Thou art true and honest;ingeniouslyI speak;No blame belongs to thee.Shakespeare,Timon of Athens, act ii. sc. 2.Since heaven is so glorious a state, and so certainly designed for us, if we please, let us spend all that we have, all our passions and affections, all our study and industry, all our desires and stratagems, all our witty andingenuousfaculties, towards the arriving thither.—BishopTaylor,Holy Dying, c. 2, § 4.Christian simplicity teaches openness andingenuityin contracts and matters of buying and selling.—Id.,Sermon24. part ii.When a man makes use of the name of any simple idea, which he perceives is not understood, or is in danger to be mistaken, he is obliged by the laws ofingenuityand the end of speech, to declare his meaning, and make known what idea he makes it stand for.—Locke,An Essay concerning Human Understanding, b. iii. c. 11, § 14.It [gratitude] is such a debt as is left to every man’singenuity(in respect to any legal coaction) whether he will pay it or no.—South,Sermons, vol. i. p. 410.By hisingenuousnesshe [the good handicrafts-man] leaves his art better than he found it.—Fuller,Holy State, b. ii. c. 19.

Here let us breathe and haply instituteA course of learning andingeniousstudies.

Here let us breathe and haply institute

A course of learning andingeniousstudies.

Shakespeare,Taming of the Shrew, act i. sc. 1.

Aningeniousperson will rather wear a plain garment ofhis own than a rich livery, the mark of servitude.—Bates,Spiritual Perfection, Preface.

Thou art true and honest;ingeniouslyI speak;No blame belongs to thee.

Thou art true and honest;ingeniouslyI speak;

No blame belongs to thee.

Shakespeare,Timon of Athens, act ii. sc. 2.

Since heaven is so glorious a state, and so certainly designed for us, if we please, let us spend all that we have, all our passions and affections, all our study and industry, all our desires and stratagems, all our witty andingenuousfaculties, towards the arriving thither.—BishopTaylor,Holy Dying, c. 2, § 4.

Christian simplicity teaches openness andingenuityin contracts and matters of buying and selling.—Id.,Sermon24. part ii.

When a man makes use of the name of any simple idea, which he perceives is not understood, or is in danger to be mistaken, he is obliged by the laws ofingenuityand the end of speech, to declare his meaning, and make known what idea he makes it stand for.—Locke,An Essay concerning Human Understanding, b. iii. c. 11, § 14.

It [gratitude] is such a debt as is left to every man’singenuity(in respect to any legal coaction) whether he will pay it or no.—South,Sermons, vol. i. p. 410.

By hisingenuousnesshe [the good handicrafts-man] leaves his art better than he found it.—Fuller,Holy State, b. ii. c. 19.

Inn.This has always meant a lodging, a place to which one turnsin; but it is now, and for a long time has been, restricted to one which yields food and shelter, or it may be only the last, in return for payment. Such terms as Lincoln’s Inn, Gray’s Inn, attest the older use of the word.

Arcite anoon unto hisinneis fare,As fayn as foul is of the brighte sonne.Chaucer,Knightes Tale, 1578 (Morris, ii. p. 75).The honey-makers’ busy buzzing swarmFiercely assail and wound the naked skinsOf such as come to rob their curiousinns.Sylvester,Du Bartas, his Divine Works,The Capitaine, 369.

Arcite anoon unto hisinneis fare,As fayn as foul is of the brighte sonne.

Arcite anoon unto hisinneis fare,

As fayn as foul is of the brighte sonne.

Chaucer,Knightes Tale, 1578 (Morris, ii. p. 75).

The honey-makers’ busy buzzing swarmFiercely assail and wound the naked skinsOf such as come to rob their curiousinns.

The honey-makers’ busy buzzing swarm

Fiercely assail and wound the naked skins

Of such as come to rob their curiousinns.

Sylvester,Du Bartas, his Divine Works,The Capitaine, 369.

The ‘insolent’ is properly no more than the unusual. This, as the violation of the fixed law and order of society, is commonly offensive, even as it indicates a mind willing to offend; and thus ‘insolent’ has acquired its present meaning. But for the poet, the fact that he is forsaking the beaten track, that he can say,

‘peragro loca,nullius anteTrita solo,’

‘peragro loca,nullius ante

Trita solo,’

in this way to be ‘insolent’ or original, as we should now say, may be his highest praise. The epithet ‘furious’ joined to ‘insolence’ in the second quotation is to be explained of that ‘fine madness’ which Spenser as a Platonist esteemed a necessary condition of the poet.

For ditty and amorous ode I find Sir Walter Raleigh’s vein most lofty,insolent, and passionate.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. i. c. 3.Her great excellenceLifts me above the measure of my might,That, being fild with furiousinsolence,I feele myselfe like one yrapt in spright.Spenser,Colin Clout’s come Home again, 619(Morris, v. p. 105).

For ditty and amorous ode I find Sir Walter Raleigh’s vein most lofty,insolent, and passionate.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. i. c. 3.

Her great excellenceLifts me above the measure of my might,That, being fild with furiousinsolence,I feele myselfe like one yrapt in spright.

Her great excellence

Lifts me above the measure of my might,

That, being fild with furiousinsolence,

I feele myselfe like one yrapt in spright.

Spenser,Colin Clout’s come Home again, 619(Morris, v. p. 105).

These all had once in English meanings coextensive with those of the Latin words which they represent. We now inform, instruct (the images arenearly the same), but we do not ‘institute,’ children any more.

A painful schoolmaster, that hath in handToinstitutethe flower of all a land,Gives longest lessons unto those, where HeavenThe ablest wits and aptest wills hath given.Sylvester,Du Bartas; Seventh Day of the First Week.Neither did he this for want of better instructions, having had the learnedest and wisest man reputed of all Britain, theinstituterof his youth.—Milton,History of England, b. iii.A Short Catechism for theinstitutionof young persons in the Christian Religion.—Title of a Treatise by Jeremy Taylor.

A painful schoolmaster, that hath in handToinstitutethe flower of all a land,Gives longest lessons unto those, where HeavenThe ablest wits and aptest wills hath given.

A painful schoolmaster, that hath in hand

Toinstitutethe flower of all a land,

Gives longest lessons unto those, where Heaven

The ablest wits and aptest wills hath given.

Sylvester,Du Bartas; Seventh Day of the First Week.

Neither did he this for want of better instructions, having had the learnedest and wisest man reputed of all Britain, theinstituterof his youth.—Milton,History of England, b. iii.

A Short Catechism for theinstitutionof young persons in the Christian Religion.—Title of a Treatise by Jeremy Taylor.

The inveterate habit of procrastination has brought us to say now that we ‘intend’ a thing, when we mean hereafter to do it. Our fathers with a more accurate use of the word ‘intended’ that which they were at that moment actually and earnestly engaged in doing. The same habit of procrastination has made ‘by-and-bye’ mean not straightway, but at a comparatively remote period; and ‘presently’ not at this present, but in a little while. ‘Intention’ too, or ‘intension,’ for Jeremy Taylor in the same work spells the word both ways, was once something not future but present.

The Devil sleepeth not. He everintendethto withdraw us from prayer.—Latimer,Sermons, vol. i. p. 342.So often as he [Augustus] was at them [the games], he did nothing else butintendthe same.—Holland,Suetonius, p. 60.He [Lord Bacon] saw plainly that natural philosophy hath beenintendedby few persons, and in them hath occupied the least part of their time.—Bacon,Filum Labyrinthi, 6.It is so plain that every man profiteth in that he mostintendeth, that it needeth not to be stood upon.—Id.,Essays, 29.I suffer for their guilt now, and my soul,Like one that looks on ill-affected eyes,Is hurt with mereintentionon their follies.Ben Jonson,Cynthia’s Revels.But did you notObserve with whatintentionthe dukeSet eyes on Domitilla?Shirley,The Royal Master, act ii. sc. 1.According as we neglect meditation, so are our prayers imperfect; meditation being the soul of prayer, and theintentionof our spirit.—BishopTaylor,Life of Christ, part i. § 5.

The Devil sleepeth not. He everintendethto withdraw us from prayer.—Latimer,Sermons, vol. i. p. 342.

So often as he [Augustus] was at them [the games], he did nothing else butintendthe same.—Holland,Suetonius, p. 60.

He [Lord Bacon] saw plainly that natural philosophy hath beenintendedby few persons, and in them hath occupied the least part of their time.—Bacon,Filum Labyrinthi, 6.

It is so plain that every man profiteth in that he mostintendeth, that it needeth not to be stood upon.—Id.,Essays, 29.

I suffer for their guilt now, and my soul,Like one that looks on ill-affected eyes,Is hurt with mereintentionon their follies.

I suffer for their guilt now, and my soul,

Like one that looks on ill-affected eyes,

Is hurt with mereintentionon their follies.

Ben Jonson,Cynthia’s Revels.

But did you notObserve with whatintentionthe dukeSet eyes on Domitilla?

But did you not

Observe with whatintentionthe duke

Set eyes on Domitilla?

Shirley,The Royal Master, act ii. sc. 1.

According as we neglect meditation, so are our prayers imperfect; meditation being the soul of prayer, and theintentionof our spirit.—BishopTaylor,Life of Christ, part i. § 5.

Jacobin.The great French Revolution has stamped itself too deeply and terribly upon the mind of Europe for ‘Jacobin’ ever again to have any other meaning than that which the famous Club, assembling in the hall of the Jacobin convent, has given it; but it needs hardly to say that a ‘Jacobin’ was once a Dominican friar, though this name did not extend beyond France.

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