Chapter 13

Now am I yonge, stoute and bolde,Now am I Robert, now Robyn,Now frere menour, nowjacobyn.Romaunt of the Rose, 6339 (Morris, vi. p. 193).Agent for England, send thy mistress word,What this detestedJacobinhath done.Marlowe,The Massacre at Paris, act iii. sc. 4.A certainJacobinoffered himself to the fire to prove that Savonarola had true revelations, and was no heretic.—BishopTaylor,The Liberty of Prophesying, The Epistle Dedicatory.

Now am I yonge, stoute and bolde,Now am I Robert, now Robyn,Now frere menour, nowjacobyn.

Now am I yonge, stoute and bolde,

Now am I Robert, now Robyn,

Now frere menour, nowjacobyn.

Romaunt of the Rose, 6339 (Morris, vi. p. 193).

Agent for England, send thy mistress word,What this detestedJacobinhath done.

Agent for England, send thy mistress word,

What this detestedJacobinhath done.

Marlowe,The Massacre at Paris, act iii. sc. 4.

A certainJacobinoffered himself to the fire to prove that Savonarola had true revelations, and was no heretic.—BishopTaylor,The Liberty of Prophesying, The Epistle Dedicatory.

Jolly.For a long time after its adoption into the English language, ‘jolly’ kept the meaning of beautiful, which it brought with it from the French, and which ‘joli’ in French still retains.

Then sete thei thre to solas hem at the windowe,Even over thejolyplace that to that paleis longed.William of Palerne, 5478.I know myself to beAjollyfellow: for even now I did behold and seeMine image in the water sheer, and sure methought I tookDelight to see my goodly shape and favour in the brook.Golding,Ovid’s Metamorphosis, b. 13.When all the glorious realm of pure delight,Illustrious Paradise, waited on the feetOfjollyEve.Beaumont,Psyche, iv. 4.

Then sete thei thre to solas hem at the windowe,Even over thejolyplace that to that paleis longed.

Then sete thei thre to solas hem at the windowe,

Even over thejolyplace that to that paleis longed.

William of Palerne, 5478.

I know myself to beAjollyfellow: for even now I did behold and seeMine image in the water sheer, and sure methought I tookDelight to see my goodly shape and favour in the brook.

I know myself to be

Ajollyfellow: for even now I did behold and see

Mine image in the water sheer, and sure methought I took

Delight to see my goodly shape and favour in the brook.

Golding,Ovid’s Metamorphosis, b. 13.

When all the glorious realm of pure delight,Illustrious Paradise, waited on the feetOfjollyEve.

When all the glorious realm of pure delight,

Illustrious Paradise, waited on the feet

OfjollyEve.

Beaumont,Psyche, iv. 4.

Kindly.Nothing ethical was connoted in ‘kindly’ once; it was simply the adjective of ‘kind.’ But it is God’s ordinance that ‘kind’ should be ‘kindly,’ in our modern sense of the word as well; and thus the word has attained this meaning. See ‘Unkind.’

This Joon in the Gospel witnesseth that thekyndelisone of God is maad man.—Wiclif,Prologe of John.Forasmuch as his mind gave him, that, his nephews living, men would not reckon that he could have right to the realm, he thought therefore without delay to rid them, as though the killing of his kinsmen could amend his cause, and make him akindlyking.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III.The royal eagle is called in Greek Gnesios, as one would say, true andkindly, as descended from the gentle and right aëry of eagles.—Holland,Pliny, vol. i. p. 272.Whatsoever as the Son of God He may do, it iskindlyfor Him as the Son of Man to save the sons of men.—Andrewes,Sermons, vol. iv. p. 253.Where are they? Gone to their own place, to Judas their brother; and, as is mostkindly, the sons, to the father, of wickedness, there to be plagued with him for ever.—Id.,Of the Conspiracy of the Gowries, serm. 4.What greater tyranny and usurpation over poor souls would he have than is now exercised, since the perjured prelates, thekindlybrood of the Man of sin, have defiled and burdened our poor Church?—Jus Populi Vindicatum, 1665.

This Joon in the Gospel witnesseth that thekyndelisone of God is maad man.—Wiclif,Prologe of John.

Forasmuch as his mind gave him, that, his nephews living, men would not reckon that he could have right to the realm, he thought therefore without delay to rid them, as though the killing of his kinsmen could amend his cause, and make him akindlyking.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III.

The royal eagle is called in Greek Gnesios, as one would say, true andkindly, as descended from the gentle and right aëry of eagles.—Holland,Pliny, vol. i. p. 272.

Whatsoever as the Son of God He may do, it iskindlyfor Him as the Son of Man to save the sons of men.—Andrewes,Sermons, vol. iv. p. 253.

Where are they? Gone to their own place, to Judas their brother; and, as is mostkindly, the sons, to the father, of wickedness, there to be plagued with him for ever.—Id.,Of the Conspiracy of the Gowries, serm. 4.

What greater tyranny and usurpation over poor souls would he have than is now exercised, since the perjured prelates, thekindlybrood of the Man of sin, have defiled and burdened our poor Church?—Jus Populi Vindicatum, 1665.

Knave.How many serving-lads must have been unfaithful and dishonest before ‘knave,’ which meant at first no more than boy, acquired the meaning which it has now! Note the same history in the German ‘Bube,’ ‘Dirne,’ ‘Schalk,’ and see ‘Varlet.’

If it is aknavechild, sle ye him; if it is a womman, kepe ye.—Exodusi. 16.Wiclif.The tyme is come, aknavechilde sche bere.Chaucer,The Man of Lawes Tale(Morris, ii. p. 192).O murderous slumber,Lay’st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy,That plays thee music? gentleknave, good night.Shakespeare,Julius Cæsar, act iv. sc. 3.

If it is aknavechild, sle ye him; if it is a womman, kepe ye.—Exodusi. 16.Wiclif.

The tyme is come, aknavechilde sche bere.

Chaucer,The Man of Lawes Tale(Morris, ii. p. 192).

O murderous slumber,Lay’st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy,That plays thee music? gentleknave, good night.

O murderous slumber,

Lay’st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy,

That plays thee music? gentleknave, good night.

Shakespeare,Julius Cæsar, act iv. sc. 3.

Knuckle.The German ‘Knöchel’ is any joint whatsoever; nor was our ‘knuckle’ limited formerly, as now it well nigh exclusively is, at least in regard of the human body, to certain smaller joints of the hand.

Thou, Nilus, wert assigned to stay her pains and travels past,To which as soon as Io came with much ado, at last,With wearyknuckleson thy brim she kneeled sadly down.Golding,Ovid’s Metamorphosis, b. 1.But when‘his scornful muse could ne’er abideWith tragic shoes heranclesfor to hide,’the pace of the verse told me that her maukinknuckleswere never shapen to that royal buskin.—Milton,Apology for Smectymnuus, p. 186.

Thou, Nilus, wert assigned to stay her pains and travels past,To which as soon as Io came with much ado, at last,With wearyknuckleson thy brim she kneeled sadly down.

Thou, Nilus, wert assigned to stay her pains and travels past,

To which as soon as Io came with much ado, at last,

With wearyknuckleson thy brim she kneeled sadly down.

Golding,Ovid’s Metamorphosis, b. 1.

But when

‘his scornful muse could ne’er abideWith tragic shoes heranclesfor to hide,’

‘his scornful muse could ne’er abide

With tragic shoes heranclesfor to hide,’

the pace of the verse told me that her maukinknuckleswere never shapen to that royal buskin.—Milton,Apology for Smectymnuus, p. 186.

Lace.That which now commonly bears this name has it on the score of its curiously woven threads; but ‘lace,’ Old French ‘las,’ ‘laqs,’ identical with the Latin ‘laqueus,’ is commonly used by our earlier writers in the more original sense of a noose.

And in my Mynde I measure pace by pace,To seeke the place where I myself had lost,That day that I was tangled in thelaceIn seemyng slacke that knitted ever most.Earl of Surrey,The Restless State of a Lover, p. 2 (ed. 1717).Yet if the polype can get and entangle him [the lobster] once within his longlaces, he dies for it.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 973.

And in my Mynde I measure pace by pace,To seeke the place where I myself had lost,That day that I was tangled in thelaceIn seemyng slacke that knitted ever most.

And in my Mynde I measure pace by pace,

To seeke the place where I myself had lost,

That day that I was tangled in thelace

In seemyng slacke that knitted ever most.

Earl of Surrey,The Restless State of a Lover, p. 2 (ed. 1717).

Yet if the polype can get and entangle him [the lobster] once within his longlaces, he dies for it.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 973.

Landscape.The second syllable in ‘landscape’ or ‘landskip’ is only a Dutch example of an earlier form of the same termination which we meet in ‘friendship,’ ‘lordship,’ ‘fellowship,’ and the like. As these mean the manner or fashion of a friend, of a lord, and so on, so ‘landscape’ the manner or fashion of the land; and in our earlier English this rather as the pictured or otherwise counterfeited model, than in its very self. As this imitation would be necessarily in small, the word acquired the secondary meaning of a compendium or multum in parvo; cf.Skinner,Etymologicon, s. v.Landskip: Tabula chorographica, primario autem terra, provincia, seu topographica, σκιαγραφία; Phillips,New World of Words, s. v.; and Earle,Philology of the English Tongue, § 327, who suggests that the word has been borrowed by us from the Dutch painters, which would account for the termination ‘-scape,’ ‘-skip’ instead of the native suffix ‘-ship.’ See Skeat’s Dictionary.

The sins of other women show inlandskip, far off and full of shadow; her [a harlot’s]in statue, near hand and bigger in the life.—SirThomas Overbury,Characters.London, as you know, is our Ἑλλάδος Ἑλλάς, our England of England, and ourlandskipand representation of the whole island.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 59.The detestable traitor, that prodigy of nature, that opprobrium of mankind, thatlandscapeof iniquity, that sink of sin, and that compendium of baseness, who now calls himself our Protector.—Address sent by the Anabaptists to the King, 1658, inClarendon’sHistory of the Rebellion, b. xv.

The sins of other women show inlandskip, far off and full of shadow; her [a harlot’s]in statue, near hand and bigger in the life.—SirThomas Overbury,Characters.

London, as you know, is our Ἑλλάδος Ἑλλάς, our England of England, and ourlandskipand representation of the whole island.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 59.

The detestable traitor, that prodigy of nature, that opprobrium of mankind, thatlandscapeof iniquity, that sink of sin, and that compendium of baseness, who now calls himself our Protector.—Address sent by the Anabaptists to the King, 1658, inClarendon’sHistory of the Rebellion, b. xv.

Latch.Few things now are ‘latched’ or caught except a door or casement; but the word was formerly of much wider use. It is the O.E.lœccan.

Those that remained threw darts at our men, andlatchingour darts, sent them again at us.—Golding,Cæsar, p. 60.Peahens are wont to lay by night, and that from an high place where they perch; and then, unless there be good heed taken that the eggs belatchedin some soft bed underneath, they are soon broken.—Holland,Pliny, vol. i. p. 301.

Those that remained threw darts at our men, andlatchingour darts, sent them again at us.—Golding,Cæsar, p. 60.

Peahens are wont to lay by night, and that from an high place where they perch; and then, unless there be good heed taken that the eggs belatchedin some soft bed underneath, they are soon broken.—Holland,Pliny, vol. i. p. 301.

Lecture.Where words like ‘lecture’ and ‘reading’ exist side by side, it is very usual for one after a while to be appropriated to the doing of the thing, the other to the thing which is done. So it has been here; but they were once synonymous.

After thelectureof the law and of the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Good brethren, if ye have any sermon to exhort the people, say on.—Actsxiii. 15.Coverdale.That may be gathered out of Plutarch’s writings, out of those especially where he speaketh of thelectureof the poets.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 982.In mylectureI often perceive how my authors commend examples for magnanimity and force, that rather proceed from a thick skin and hardness of the bones.—Florio,Montaigne’s Essays, p. 72.

After thelectureof the law and of the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Good brethren, if ye have any sermon to exhort the people, say on.—Actsxiii. 15.Coverdale.

That may be gathered out of Plutarch’s writings, out of those especially where he speaketh of thelectureof the poets.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 982.

In mylectureI often perceive how my authors commend examples for magnanimity and force, that rather proceed from a thick skin and hardness of the bones.—Florio,Montaigne’s Essays, p. 72.

Legacy.This now owns no relation except with ‘lēgatum,’ which meant in juristic Latin a portion of the inheritance by testamentary disposition withdrawn from the heir, and bestowed upon some other. It was formerly used as a derivative of ‘legatus,’ ambassador, in the sense of embassage.

They were then preaching bishops, and more often seen in pulpits than in princes’ palaces: more often occupied in hislegacy, who said, Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to all men, than in embassages and affairs of princes.—Homilies, Against Peril of Idolatry.Otherwise, while he is yet far off, sending alegacy, he asketh those things that belong to peace.—Lukexiv. 32. Rheims.And his citizens hated him, and they sent alegacieafter him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.—Lukexix. 14. Ibid.

Otherwise, while he is yet far off, sending alegacy, he asketh those things that belong to peace.—Lukexiv. 32. Rheims.

And his citizens hated him, and they sent alegacieafter him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.—Lukexix. 14. Ibid.

Levy.Troops are now raised, or ‘levied,’ indifferently: but a siege is only raised, and not ‘levied,’ as it too once might have been.

Euphranor havingleviedthe siege from this one city, forthwith led his army to Demetrias.—Holland,Livy, p. 1178.

There are three distinct stages in the meaning of the word ‘lewd;’ of these it has entirely overlived two, and survives only in the third, namely in that of wanton or lascivious. Without discussing here its etymology or its exact relation to ‘lay,’ it is sufficient to observe, that, as ‘lay,’ it was often used in the sense of ignorant, or rather unlearned. Next, according to the proud saying of the Pharisees, ‘This people who knoweth not the law are cursed’ (Johnvii. 49), and on the assumption, which would have its truth, that those untaught in the doctrines, would be unexercised in the practices, of Christianity, it came to signify vicious, though without designating one vice more than others. While in its present and third stage, it has, like so many other words, retired from this general designation of all vices, to express one of the more frequent, alone.

Archa-Dei in the olde law Levites it kepten;Hadde neverelewedman leve to leggen honde on that chest.Piers Plowman, B-text, Passus xii. 115 (Skeat).For as moche as the curatis ben often solewed, that thei understonden not bookis of Latyn for to teche the peple, it is spedful not only to thelewedpeple, but also to thelewedcuratis, to have bookis in Englisch of needful loore to thelewedpeople.—Wycliffe Mss., p. 5.Of sondry thoughtes thus they jangle and treteAslewedpeple demeth comunlyOf thinges that ben maad more subtilyThan they can in herlewdenescomprehende.Chaucer,The Squieres Tale(Morris, ii. p. 361).Joon was alewdefischere and untaught in scolys.—Purvey,Preface to Epistles of St. Jerome, p. 65.Neither was it Christ’s intention that there should be any thing in it [the Lord’s Prayer] dark or far from ourcapacity, specially since it belongeth equally to all, and is as necessary for thelewdas the learned.—A Short Catechism, 1553.This is servitude,To serve the unwise, or him who hath rebelledAgainst his worthier, as thine now serve thee,Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled,Yetlewdlydarest our ministering upbraid.Milton,Paradise Lost, vi. 178.If it were a matter of wrong or wickedlewdness[ῥᾳδιούργημα], O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you.—Actsxviii. 14. (A.V.)

Archa-Dei in the olde law Levites it kepten;Hadde neverelewedman leve to leggen honde on that chest.

Archa-Dei in the olde law Levites it kepten;

Hadde neverelewedman leve to leggen honde on that chest.

Piers Plowman, B-text, Passus xii. 115 (Skeat).

For as moche as the curatis ben often solewed, that thei understonden not bookis of Latyn for to teche the peple, it is spedful not only to thelewedpeple, but also to thelewedcuratis, to have bookis in Englisch of needful loore to thelewedpeople.—Wycliffe Mss., p. 5.

Of sondry thoughtes thus they jangle and treteAslewedpeple demeth comunlyOf thinges that ben maad more subtilyThan they can in herlewdenescomprehende.

Of sondry thoughtes thus they jangle and trete

Aslewedpeple demeth comunly

Of thinges that ben maad more subtily

Than they can in herlewdenescomprehende.

Chaucer,The Squieres Tale(Morris, ii. p. 361).

Joon was alewdefischere and untaught in scolys.—Purvey,Preface to Epistles of St. Jerome, p. 65.

Neither was it Christ’s intention that there should be any thing in it [the Lord’s Prayer] dark or far from ourcapacity, specially since it belongeth equally to all, and is as necessary for thelewdas the learned.—A Short Catechism, 1553.

This is servitude,To serve the unwise, or him who hath rebelledAgainst his worthier, as thine now serve thee,Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled,Yetlewdlydarest our ministering upbraid.

This is servitude,

To serve the unwise, or him who hath rebelled

Against his worthier, as thine now serve thee,

Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled,

Yetlewdlydarest our ministering upbraid.

Milton,Paradise Lost, vi. 178.

If it were a matter of wrong or wickedlewdness[ῥᾳδιούργημα], O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you.—Actsxviii. 14. (A.V.)

Liberal.Often used by Shakespeare and his contemporaries as free of tongue, licentious or wanton in speech.

There with fantastic garlands did she come,Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,Thatliberalshepherds give a grosser name,But our cold maids do dead-men’s-fingers call them.Shakespeare,Hamlet, act iv. sc. 7.Desdemona[ofIago]: Is he not a most profane andliberalcounsellor?—Id.,Othello, act ii. sc. 1.But that we know thee, Wyatt, to be true,Thy overboldness should be paid with death;But cease, for fear yourliberaltongue offend.Webster,The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt.

There with fantastic garlands did she come,Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,Thatliberalshepherds give a grosser name,But our cold maids do dead-men’s-fingers call them.

There with fantastic garlands did she come,

Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,

Thatliberalshepherds give a grosser name,

But our cold maids do dead-men’s-fingers call them.

Shakespeare,Hamlet, act iv. sc. 7.

Desdemona[ofIago]: Is he not a most profane andliberalcounsellor?—Id.,Othello, act ii. sc. 1.

But that we know thee, Wyatt, to be true,Thy overboldness should be paid with death;But cease, for fear yourliberaltongue offend.

But that we know thee, Wyatt, to be true,

Thy overboldness should be paid with death;

But cease, for fear yourliberaltongue offend.

Webster,The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Libel.This, properly a little book, is with us any defamatory speech or writing; but was not formerly so restricted; indeed, in the legal language of Scotland, where an indictment is in technical language a ‘libel,’ it still retains a wider meaning.

Forsoothe, it is said, Who evere shal leeve his wyf, geve he to hir alibel.—Matt.v. 31.Wiclif.Let the Allmightie geve me answere, and let him that is my contrary party sue me with alybell.—Jobxxxi. 35.Coverdale.Here is alibeltoo accusing Cæsar,From Lucius Vectius, and confirmed by Curius.Ben Jonson,Catiline, act v. sc. 4.

Forsoothe, it is said, Who evere shal leeve his wyf, geve he to hir alibel.—Matt.v. 31.Wiclif.

Let the Allmightie geve me answere, and let him that is my contrary party sue me with alybell.—Jobxxxi. 35.Coverdale.

Here is alibeltoo accusing Cæsar,From Lucius Vectius, and confirmed by Curius.

Here is alibeltoo accusing Cæsar,

From Lucius Vectius, and confirmed by Curius.

Ben Jonson,Catiline, act v. sc. 4.

Libertine.A striking evidence of the extreme likelihood that he who has no restraints on his belief will ere long have none upon his life, is given by this word ‘libertine.’ Applied at first to certain heretical sects, and intended to mark the licentiouslibertyof their creed, ‘libertine’ soon let go altogether its relation to what a man believed, and acquired the sense which it now has, a ‘libertine’ being one who has released himself from all moral restraints, and especially in his relations with the other sex.

That the Scriptures do not contain in them all things necessary to salvation, is the fountain of many great and capital errors; I instance in the whole doctrine of thelibertines, familists, quakers, and other enthusiasts, which issue from this corrupted fountain.—BishopTaylor,A Dissuasive from Popery, part ii. b. 1, § 2.It is not to be denied that the saidlibertinedoctrines do more contradict the doctrine of the Gospel, even Christianity itself, than the doctrines of the Papists about the same subjects do.—Baxter,Catholic Theology, part iii. p. 289.It is too probable that our modernlibertines, deists, and atheists, took occasion from the scandalous contentions of Christians about many things, to disbelieve all.—A Discourse of Logomachies, 1711.

It is not to be denied that the saidlibertinedoctrines do more contradict the doctrine of the Gospel, even Christianity itself, than the doctrines of the Papists about the same subjects do.—Baxter,Catholic Theology, part iii. p. 289.

It is too probable that our modernlibertines, deists, and atheists, took occasion from the scandalous contentions of Christians about many things, to disbelieve all.—A Discourse of Logomachies, 1711.

Litigious.This word has changed from an objective to a subjective sense. Things were ‘litigious’ once, which offered matter for going to law; persons are ‘litigious’ now, who are prone to going to law.Both meanings are to be found in the Latin ‘litigiosus,’ though predominantly that which we have now made the sole meaning.

Dolopia he hath subdued by force of arms, and could not abide to hear that the determination of certain provinces, which were debatable andlitigious, should be referred to the award of the people of Rome.—Holland,Livy, p. 1111.Of the articles gainsaid by a great outcry, three and no more did seem to belitigious.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 140.No fences parted fields, nor marks nor boundsDistinguished acres oflitigiousgrounds.Dryden,Virgil’s Georgics, b. i. 193, 4.

Of the articles gainsaid by a great outcry, three and no more did seem to belitigious.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 140.

No fences parted fields, nor marks nor boundsDistinguished acres oflitigiousgrounds.

No fences parted fields, nor marks nor bounds

Distinguished acres oflitigiousgrounds.

Dryden,Virgil’s Georgics, b. i. 193, 4.

Lively.This had once nearly, if not altogether, the same meaning as ‘living.’ We have here the explanation of a circumstance which many probably have noted and regretted in the Authorized Version of the New Testament, namely that while λίθον ζῶντα at1 Pet.ii. 4 is ‘alivingstone,’ λίθοι ζῶντες, which follows immediately, ver. 5, is only ‘livelystones,’ ‘living’ being thus brought down to ‘lively’ with no correspondent reduction in the original to warrant it. But when our Version was made, there was scarcely any distinction between the forces of the words. Still it would certainly have been better to adhere to one word or the other.

Mine enemies arelively(Heb. living), and they are strong.—Ps.xxxviii. 19. (A.V.)Was it well done to suffer him, imprisoned in chains, lying in a dark dungeon, to draw hislivelybreath at the pleasure of the hangman?—Holland,Livy, p. 228.Had I but seen thy picture in this plight,It would have madded me; what shall I doNow I behold thylivelybody so?Shakespeare,Titus Andronicus, act iii. sc. 1.That his dear father might interment have,See, the young man entered alivelygrave.Massinger,The Fatal Dowry, act ii. sc. 1.

Mine enemies arelively(Heb. living), and they are strong.—Ps.xxxviii. 19. (A.V.)

Was it well done to suffer him, imprisoned in chains, lying in a dark dungeon, to draw hislivelybreath at the pleasure of the hangman?—Holland,Livy, p. 228.

Had I but seen thy picture in this plight,It would have madded me; what shall I doNow I behold thylivelybody so?

Had I but seen thy picture in this plight,

It would have madded me; what shall I do

Now I behold thylivelybody so?

Shakespeare,Titus Andronicus, act iii. sc. 1.

That his dear father might interment have,See, the young man entered alivelygrave.

That his dear father might interment have,

See, the young man entered alivelygrave.

Massinger,The Fatal Dowry, act ii. sc. 1.

Livery.It need hardly be observed that the explanation of ‘livery’ which Spenser offers (see below) is perfectly correct; but we do not any longer recognize the second of those uses of the word there mentioned by him. It is no longer applied to the ration, or stated portion of food, delivered at stated periods (the σιτομέτριον ofLukexii. 42), either to the members of a household, to soldiers, or to others.

To bed they busked them anon,Theirliveryeswere served them up soone,With a merry cheer.Ballad of John de Reeve, 155.WhatLiveryeis, we by common use in England knowe well enough, namelye, that it is, allowaunce of horse-meate, as they commonly use the woord in stabling, as to keepe horses atliverye, the which woord, I gess, is derived of livering or delivering foorth theyr nightlye foode. Soe in great howses theliveryeis sayd to be served up for all night. AndLiveryeis also called the upper garment which serving-men weareth, soe called (as I suppose) for that it is delivered and taken from him at pleasure.—Spenser,View of the State of Ireland, p. 623 (Globe edition).The emperor’s officers every night went through the town from house to house, whereat any English gentleman did repast or lodge, and served theirliveriesfor all night; first the officers brought into the house a cast of fine manchet, and of silver two great pots, and white wine, and sugar, to the weight of a pound, &c.—Cavendish,Life of Cardinal Wolsey.

To bed they busked them anon,Theirliveryeswere served them up soone,With a merry cheer.

To bed they busked them anon,

Theirliveryeswere served them up soone,

With a merry cheer.

Ballad of John de Reeve, 155.

WhatLiveryeis, we by common use in England knowe well enough, namelye, that it is, allowaunce of horse-meate, as they commonly use the woord in stabling, as to keepe horses atliverye, the which woord, I gess, is derived of livering or delivering foorth theyr nightlye foode. Soe in great howses theliveryeis sayd to be served up for all night. AndLiveryeis also called the upper garment which serving-men weareth, soe called (as I suppose) for that it is delivered and taken from him at pleasure.—Spenser,View of the State of Ireland, p. 623 (Globe edition).

The emperor’s officers every night went through the town from house to house, whereat any English gentleman did repast or lodge, and served theirliveriesfor all night; first the officers brought into the house a cast of fine manchet, and of silver two great pots, and white wine, and sugar, to the weight of a pound, &c.—Cavendish,Life of Cardinal Wolsey.

Whatever may be the derivation of ‘to loiter,’17it is certain that itformerly implied a great deal more and worse than it implies now. The ‘loiterer’ then was very much what the tramp is now.

God bad that no such strong lubbers shouldloyterand goe a begging, and be chargeable to the congregation.—Tyndale,Works, p. 217.He that giveth any alms to an idle beggar robbeth the truly poor; as S. Ambrose sometimes complaineth that the maintenance of the poor is made the spoil of theloiterer.—Sanderson,Sermons, 1671. vol. i. p. 198.Yf he be but once taken soe idlye roging, he [the Provost Marshal] may punnish him more lightlye, as with stockes or such like; but yf he be founde agayne soeloytringhe may scourge him with whippes or roddes; after which yf he be agayne taken, lett him have the bitterness of the marshall lawe.—Spenser,View of the State of Ireland, p. 679 (Globe Edition).They spend their youth inloitering, bezzling, and harlotting.—Milton,Animadversions on Remonstrants’ Defence.

God bad that no such strong lubbers shouldloyterand goe a begging, and be chargeable to the congregation.—Tyndale,Works, p. 217.

He that giveth any alms to an idle beggar robbeth the truly poor; as S. Ambrose sometimes complaineth that the maintenance of the poor is made the spoil of theloiterer.—Sanderson,Sermons, 1671. vol. i. p. 198.

Yf he be but once taken soe idlye roging, he [the Provost Marshal] may punnish him more lightlye, as with stockes or such like; but yf he be founde agayne soeloytringhe may scourge him with whippes or roddes; after which yf he be agayne taken, lett him have the bitterness of the marshall lawe.—Spenser,View of the State of Ireland, p. 679 (Globe Edition).

They spend their youth inloitering, bezzling, and harlotting.—Milton,Animadversions on Remonstrants’ Defence.

Lover.This word has undergone two restrictions, of which formerly it knew nothing. A natural delicacy, and an unwillingness to confound under a common name things essentially different, has caused ‘lover’ no longer to be equivalent with friend, but always to imply a relation resting on the difference of sex; while further, and within these narrower limits, the ‘lover’ now is always the man, not as once the man or the woman indifferently. We may still indeed speak of ‘a pair of lovers,’ but then datur denominatio a potiori. ‘Leman’ had something of the same history, though that history ended in leaving this a designation of the woman alone.

If ye love them that love you, what thank have ye therefore? for sinners also love theirlovers.—Lukevi. 32.Coverdale.For Hiram was ever aloverof David.—1 Kin.v. 1. (A.V.)This Posthumus,Most like a noble lord in love, and oneThat had a royallover, took his hint.Shakespeare,Cymbeline, act v. sc. 5.If I freely may discoverWhat would please me in alover,I would haveherfair and witty,Savouring more of court than city.Ben Jonson,The Poetaster.

If ye love them that love you, what thank have ye therefore? for sinners also love theirlovers.—Lukevi. 32.Coverdale.

For Hiram was ever aloverof David.—1 Kin.v. 1. (A.V.)

This Posthumus,Most like a noble lord in love, and oneThat had a royallover, took his hint.

This Posthumus,

Most like a noble lord in love, and one

That had a royallover, took his hint.

Shakespeare,Cymbeline, act v. sc. 5.

If I freely may discoverWhat would please me in alover,I would haveherfair and witty,Savouring more of court than city.

If I freely may discover

What would please me in alover,

I would haveherfair and witty,

Savouring more of court than city.

Ben Jonson,The Poetaster.

Lucid interval.We limit this at present to the brief and transient season when a mind, ordinarily clouded and obscured by insanity, recovers for a while its clearness. It had no such limitation formerly, but was of very wide use, as the four passages quoted below, in each of which its application is different, will show.18

East of Edom lay the land of Uz, where Job dwelt, so renowned for his patience, when the devil heaped afflictions upon him, allowing him nolucid intervals.—Fuller,A Pisgah Sight of Palestine, b. iv. c. 2.Some beams of wit on other souls may fall,Strike through, and make alucid interval:But Shadwell’s genuine night admits no ray,His rising fogs prevail upon the day.Dryden,Mac-Flecknoe.Such is the nature of man, that it requireslucid intervals; and the vigour of the mind would flag and decay, should it always jog on at the rate of a common enjoyment, without being sometimes quickened and exalted with the vicissitude of some more refined pleasures.—South,Sermons, 1744, vol. viii. p. 403.Thus he [Lord Lyttelton] continued, giving his dying benediction to all around him. On Monday morning alucid intervalgave some small hopes; but these vanished in the evening.—Narrative of the Physician, inserted in Johnson’s Life of Lord Lyttelton.

Some beams of wit on other souls may fall,Strike through, and make alucid interval:But Shadwell’s genuine night admits no ray,His rising fogs prevail upon the day.

Some beams of wit on other souls may fall,

Strike through, and make alucid interval:

But Shadwell’s genuine night admits no ray,

His rising fogs prevail upon the day.

Dryden,Mac-Flecknoe.

Such is the nature of man, that it requireslucid intervals; and the vigour of the mind would flag and decay, should it always jog on at the rate of a common enjoyment, without being sometimes quickened and exalted with the vicissitude of some more refined pleasures.—South,Sermons, 1744, vol. viii. p. 403.

Thus he [Lord Lyttelton] continued, giving his dying benediction to all around him. On Monday morning alucid intervalgave some small hopes; but these vanished in the evening.—Narrative of the Physician, inserted in Johnson’s Life of Lord Lyttelton.

Lumber.As the Lombards were the bankers, so also they were the pawnbrokers of the Middle Ages; indeed, as they would often advance money upon pledges, the two businesses were very closely joined, would often run in, to one another. The ‘lumber’ room was originally the Lombard room, or room where the Lombard banker and broker stowed away his pledges; ‘lumber’ then, as in the passage from Butler, the pawns and pledges themselves. As these would naturally often accumulate here till they became out of date and unserviceable, the steps are easy to be traced by which the word came to possess its present meaning.

Lumber, potiuslumbar, as to put one’s clothes tolumbar,i.e.pignori dare, oppignorare.—Skinner,Etymologicon.And by an action falsely laid of troverThelumberfor their proper goods recover.Butler,Upon Critics.They put up all the little plate they had in thelumber, which is pawning it, till the ships came.—LadyMurray,Lives of George Baillie and of Lady Grisell Baillie.

Lumber, potiuslumbar, as to put one’s clothes tolumbar,i.e.pignori dare, oppignorare.—Skinner,Etymologicon.

And by an action falsely laid of troverThelumberfor their proper goods recover.

And by an action falsely laid of trover

Thelumberfor their proper goods recover.

Butler,Upon Critics.

They put up all the little plate they had in thelumber, which is pawning it, till the ships came.—LadyMurray,Lives of George Baillie and of Lady Grisell Baillie.

Lurch.‘To lurch’ is seldom used now except of a ship, which ‘lurches’ when it makes something of a headlong dip in the sea; the fact that by so doing it, partially at least, hides itself, and so ‘lurks,’ explains this employment of the word. But ‘to lurch,’ generally as an active verb, was of much more frequent use in early English; and soon superinduced on the sense of lying concealed that of lying in wait with the view of intercepting and seizing a prey. After a while this superadded notion of intercepting and seizing some booty quite thrust out that of lying concealed; as in all three of the quotations which follow. See Skeat’s Dictionary.

It is not an auspicate beginning of a feast, nor agreeable to amity and good fellowship, to snatch orlurchone from another, to have many hands in a dish at once, striving a vie who should be more nimble with his fingers.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 679.I speak not of many more [discommodities of a residence]: too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; or too near them, whichlurchethall provisions, and maketh every thing dear.—Bacon,Essays, 45 (ed. Abbott, ii. p. 50).At the beginning of this war [the Crusades] the Pope’s temporal power in Italy was very slender; but soon after he grew within short time without all measure, and didlurcha castle here, gain a city there from the emperor, while he was employed in Palestine.—Fuller,Holy War, b. i. c. 11.

I speak not of many more [discommodities of a residence]: too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; or too near them, whichlurchethall provisions, and maketh every thing dear.—Bacon,Essays, 45 (ed. Abbott, ii. p. 50).

At the beginning of this war [the Crusades] the Pope’s temporal power in Italy was very slender; but soon after he grew within short time without all measure, and didlurcha castle here, gain a city there from the emperor, while he was employed in Palestine.—Fuller,Holy War, b. i. c. 11.

Lust.Used at this present only in an ill sense, not as ἐπιθυμία, but as ἐπιθυμία κακή (Col.iii. 5), and this mainly in one particular direction. ‘Lust’ had formerly no such limitations, nor has it now in German. The same holds good of the verb.

Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hareWas al hislust, for no cost wolde he spare.Chaucer,Canterbury Tales, 192.Through faith a man is purged of his sins, and obtainethlustunto the law of God.—Tyndale,Prologue upon the Epistle to the Romans.It was not because of the multitude of you above all nations that the Lord hadlustunto you and chose you.—Deut.vii. 7.Coverdale.Mylustto devotion is little, my joy none at all.—BishopHall,Letters, Dec. 2, Ep. 1.Thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soullustethafter.—Deut.xii. 15. (A.V.)

Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hareWas al hislust, for no cost wolde he spare.

Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hare

Was al hislust, for no cost wolde he spare.

Chaucer,Canterbury Tales, 192.

Through faith a man is purged of his sins, and obtainethlustunto the law of God.—Tyndale,Prologue upon the Epistle to the Romans.

It was not because of the multitude of you above all nations that the Lord hadlustunto you and chose you.—Deut.vii. 7.Coverdale.

Mylustto devotion is little, my joy none at all.—BishopHall,Letters, Dec. 2, Ep. 1.

Thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soullustethafter.—Deut.xii. 15. (A.V.)

‘Luxuria’ in classical Latin was very much what our ‘luxury’ is now. The meaning which in our earlier English was its only one, namely indulgence in sins of the flesh, it derived from the use of ‘luxuria’ in the medieval ethics, where it never means anything else but this. The weakening of the influence of the scholastic theology, joined to a more familiar acquaintance with classical Latinity, has probably caused its return to the classical meaning. In the definition given by Phillips (see below), we note the process of transition from its old meaning to its new, the old still remaining, but the new superinduced upon it.

O foule luste, Oluxurie, lo thin ende!Nought oonly that thou feyntest mannes mynde,But verrayly thou wolt his body schende.Chaucer,The Man of Lawes Tale(Morris, ii. p. 198).Luxuryand lust fasten a rust and foulness on the mind, that it cannot see sin in its odious deformity, nor virtue in its unattainable beauty.—Bates,Spiritual Perfection, c. 1.Luxury, all superfluity and excess in carnal pleasures, sumptuous fare or building; sensuality, riotousness, profuseness.—Phillips,New World of Words.She knows the heat of aluxuriousbed.Shakespeare,Much Ado about Nothing, act iv. sc. 1.Again, that many of their Popes be such as I have said, naughty, wicked,luxuriousmen, they openly confess.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. ii. c. 14.

O foule luste, Oluxurie, lo thin ende!Nought oonly that thou feyntest mannes mynde,But verrayly thou wolt his body schende.

O foule luste, Oluxurie, lo thin ende!

Nought oonly that thou feyntest mannes mynde,

But verrayly thou wolt his body schende.

Chaucer,The Man of Lawes Tale(Morris, ii. p. 198).

Luxuryand lust fasten a rust and foulness on the mind, that it cannot see sin in its odious deformity, nor virtue in its unattainable beauty.—Bates,Spiritual Perfection, c. 1.

Luxury, all superfluity and excess in carnal pleasures, sumptuous fare or building; sensuality, riotousness, profuseness.—Phillips,New World of Words.

She knows the heat of aluxuriousbed.

Shakespeare,Much Ado about Nothing, act iv. sc. 1.

Again, that many of their Popes be such as I have said, naughty, wicked,luxuriousmen, they openly confess.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. ii. c. 14.

Frequently used by our elder writers where we should employ munificent or generous. Yet there lay in the word something more than in these; something of the μεγαλοπρέπεια of Aristotle; a certain grandeur presiding over and ordering this large distribution of wealth. Behind both uses an earlier and a nobler than either may be traced, as is evident from my first quotation.

Then comethmagnificence, that is to say when a man doth and performeth gret werkes of goodnesse.—Chaucer,The Persones Tale.Every amorous person becometh liberal andmagnificent, although he had been aforetime a pinching snudge; in such sort as men take more pleasure to give away and bestow upon those whom they love, than they do take and receive of others.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 1147.Am I close-handed,Because I scatter not among you thatI must not call my own? know, you court-leeches,A prince is never somagnificentAs when he’s sparing to enrich a fewWith the injuries of many.Massinger,The Emperor of the East, act ii. sc. 1.Bounty andmagnificenceare virtues very regal; but a prodigal king is nearer a tyrant than a parsimonious.—Bacon,Essays, Of a King.

Then comethmagnificence, that is to say when a man doth and performeth gret werkes of goodnesse.—Chaucer,The Persones Tale.

Every amorous person becometh liberal andmagnificent, although he had been aforetime a pinching snudge; in such sort as men take more pleasure to give away and bestow upon those whom they love, than they do take and receive of others.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 1147.

Am I close-handed,Because I scatter not among you thatI must not call my own? know, you court-leeches,A prince is never somagnificentAs when he’s sparing to enrich a fewWith the injuries of many.

Am I close-handed,

Because I scatter not among you that

I must not call my own? know, you court-leeches,

A prince is never somagnificent

As when he’s sparing to enrich a few

With the injuries of many.

Massinger,The Emperor of the East, act ii. sc. 1.

Bounty andmagnificenceare virtues very regal; but a prodigal king is nearer a tyrant than a parsimonious.—Bacon,Essays, Of a King.

Maid.A word which, in its highest sense as = virgin, might once be applied to either sex, to Sir Galahad as freely as to thePucelle, but which is now restricted to one. Compare παρθένος in Greek.

To him [John the Apostle] God hangyng in the cross bitook his modir, that amaydeschulde kepe a mayde.—Wiclif,Prolog of John.I wot wel that thapostil was amayde;But natheles, though that he wrot or saydeHe wold that every wight were such as he,All nys but counseil to virginité.Chaucer,Prologe of the Wyf of Bathe, 79.Sir Galahad is amaidand sinner never; and that is the cause he shall achieve where he goeth that ye nor none such shall not attain.—SirT. Malory,Morte D’Arthur, b. xiii. c. 16.

To him [John the Apostle] God hangyng in the cross bitook his modir, that amaydeschulde kepe a mayde.—Wiclif,Prolog of John.

I wot wel that thapostil was amayde;But natheles, though that he wrot or saydeHe wold that every wight were such as he,All nys but counseil to virginité.

I wot wel that thapostil was amayde;

But natheles, though that he wrot or sayde

He wold that every wight were such as he,

All nys but counseil to virginité.

Chaucer,Prologe of the Wyf of Bathe, 79.

Sir Galahad is amaidand sinner never; and that is the cause he shall achieve where he goeth that ye nor none such shall not attain.—SirT. Malory,Morte D’Arthur, b. xiii. c. 16.

The very early use of ‘maker,’ as equivalent to poet, and ‘to make’ as applied to the exercise of the poet’s art, is evidence that the words are of genuine home-growth, and not mere imitations of the Greek ποιητής and ποιεῖν, which Sir Philip Sidney, as will be seen below, suggests as possible. The words, like the French ‘trouvère’ and ‘troubadour,’ the O.H.G. ‘scof,’ and the O.E. ‘sceop,’ mark men’s sense that invention, and in a certain sense, creation, is the essential character of the poet. The quotation from Chaucer will sufficiently prove how entirely mistaken Sir John Harington was, when he affirmed (Apology for Poetry, p. 2) that Puttenham in hisArt of English Poesy, 1589, was the first whogave ‘make’ and ‘maker’ this meaning. Sir Walter Scott somewhere claims them as Scotticisms; but exclusively such they certainly are not.

And eke to me hit is a greet penaunce,Sith rym in English hath swich scarsitee,To folowe word by word the curiositeeOf Graunson, flour of hem thatmakein Fraunce.Chaucer,Compleynt of Venus, 79 (Skeat).The God of shepherds, Tityrus, is dead,Who taught me homely, as I can, tomake.Spenser,The Shepherd’s Calendar, June.The old famous poete Chaucer, for his excellencie and wonderful skil inmaking, his scholler Lidgate (a worthy scholler of so excellent a maister) calleth the Loadestarre of our language.—E. K.,Epistle Dedicatory to Spenser’s Shepherd’s Calendar.There cannot be in amakera fouler fault than to falsify his accent to serve his cadence, or by untrue orthography to wrench his words to help his rhyme.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. ii. c. 8.The Greeks named the poet ποιητής, which name, as the most excellent, hath gone through other languages. It cometh of this word ποιεῖν, to make; wherein I know not whether by luck or wisdom we Englishmen have met well with the Greeks in calling him amaker.—SirP. Sidney,Defence of Poesy.

And eke to me hit is a greet penaunce,Sith rym in English hath swich scarsitee,To folowe word by word the curiositeeOf Graunson, flour of hem thatmakein Fraunce.

And eke to me hit is a greet penaunce,

Sith rym in English hath swich scarsitee,

To folowe word by word the curiositee

Of Graunson, flour of hem thatmakein Fraunce.

Chaucer,Compleynt of Venus, 79 (Skeat).

The God of shepherds, Tityrus, is dead,Who taught me homely, as I can, tomake.

The God of shepherds, Tityrus, is dead,

Who taught me homely, as I can, tomake.

Spenser,The Shepherd’s Calendar, June.

The old famous poete Chaucer, for his excellencie and wonderful skil inmaking, his scholler Lidgate (a worthy scholler of so excellent a maister) calleth the Loadestarre of our language.—E. K.,Epistle Dedicatory to Spenser’s Shepherd’s Calendar.

There cannot be in amakera fouler fault than to falsify his accent to serve his cadence, or by untrue orthography to wrench his words to help his rhyme.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. ii. c. 8.

The Greeks named the poet ποιητής, which name, as the most excellent, hath gone through other languages. It cometh of this word ποιεῖν, to make; wherein I know not whether by luck or wisdom we Englishmen have met well with the Greeks in calling him amaker.—SirP. Sidney,Defence of Poesy.

Mansion.This is a finely selected word, suggested no doubt by the ‘mansiones’ of the Vulgate, whereby our Translators, and Tyndale before them, rendered the μοναί of John xiv. 2. Knowing, however, as we do that μοναί never meant ‘mansions’ in our modern, or auctioneers’ sense of the word, we cannot doubt that by this word they intended places of tarrying, which might be for a longer or a shorter time; resting places which remained for the Christian travellerwho should have reached at length his heavenly home. This use of ‘mansion’ as a place of tarrying is frequent enough in our early literature, although our modern use is by no means unknown.

They [the Angels] be pure minds and were never neither blinded through sin, ne hindered through any earthlymansionand corruptible body.—Hutchinson,Works, p. 160 (ed. 1842).Before the starry threshold of Jove’s courtMymansionis, where those immortal shapesOf bright aerial spirits live unsphered,In regions mild of calm and serene air.Milton,Comus, i. 4.

They [the Angels] be pure minds and were never neither blinded through sin, ne hindered through any earthlymansionand corruptible body.—Hutchinson,Works, p. 160 (ed. 1842).

Before the starry threshold of Jove’s courtMymansionis, where those immortal shapesOf bright aerial spirits live unsphered,In regions mild of calm and serene air.

Before the starry threshold of Jove’s court

Mymansionis, where those immortal shapes

Of bright aerial spirits live unsphered,

In regions mild of calm and serene air.

Milton,Comus, i. 4.

Manure.The same word as ‘manœuvre,’ to work with the hand; and thus, to till or cultivate the earth, this tillage being in earlier periods of society the great and predominant labour of the hands. We restrain the word now to one particular branch of this cultivation, but our ancestors made it to embrace the whole.

Themanuringhand of the tiller shall root up all that burdens the soil.—Milton,Reason of Church Government.It [Japan] is mountainous and craggy, full of rocks and stony places, so that the third part of this empire is not inhabited ormanured.—Memorials of Japan(Hakluyt Society), p. 3.A rare and excellent wit untaught doth bring forth many good and evil things together; as a fat soil, that liethunmanured, bringeth forth both herbs and weeds.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 185.Every man’s hand itching to throw a cudgel at him, who, like a nut-tree, must bemanuredby beating, or else would never bear fruit.—Fuller,Holy War, ii. 11.

Themanuringhand of the tiller shall root up all that burdens the soil.—Milton,Reason of Church Government.

It [Japan] is mountainous and craggy, full of rocks and stony places, so that the third part of this empire is not inhabited ormanured.—Memorials of Japan(Hakluyt Society), p. 3.

A rare and excellent wit untaught doth bring forth many good and evil things together; as a fat soil, that liethunmanured, bringeth forth both herbs and weeds.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 185.

Every man’s hand itching to throw a cudgel at him, who, like a nut-tree, must bemanuredby beating, or else would never bear fruit.—Fuller,Holy War, ii. 11.

O.E. ‘gemǽne,’ Goth. ‘gamains’ (compare Germ. ‘gemein’), cognate with Latin ‘communis’ (our ‘common’)—all with a historyvery closely corresponding to that of the Greek κοινός (seeActsx. 14). The connotation of moral baseness only accrued to the word by degrees.

Back to Index Next