Chapter 19

Commonly it is seen that they that be rich are lofty andstout.—Latimer,Sermons, p. 545.Istoutand youstout,Who will carry the dirt out?Old Proverb.Come all to ruin; letThy mother rather feel thy pride, than fearThy dangerousstoutness; for I mock at deathWith as big heart as thou.Shakespeare,Coriolanus, act iii. sc. 2.

Commonly it is seen that they that be rich are lofty andstout.—Latimer,Sermons, p. 545.

Istoutand youstout,Who will carry the dirt out?

Istoutand youstout,Who will carry the dirt out?

Istoutand youstout,Who will carry the dirt out?

Istoutand youstout,

Who will carry the dirt out?

Old Proverb.

Come all to ruin; letThy mother rather feel thy pride, than fearThy dangerousstoutness; for I mock at deathWith as big heart as thou.

Come all to ruin; letThy mother rather feel thy pride, than fearThy dangerousstoutness; for I mock at deathWith as big heart as thou.

Come all to ruin; letThy mother rather feel thy pride, than fearThy dangerousstoutness; for I mock at deathWith as big heart as thou.

Come all to ruin; let

Thy mother rather feel thy pride, than fear

Thy dangerousstoutness; for I mock at death

With as big heart as thou.

Shakespeare,Coriolanus, act iii. sc. 2.

Stove.This word, which was probably introduced from Holland, has much narrowed its meaning. Bath, hothouse, any room where air or water was artificially heated, was a ‘stove’ once.

When a certain Frenchman came to visit Melanchthon, he found him in hisstove, with one hand dandling his child in the swaddling-clouts, and the other holding a book and reading it.—Fuller,Holy State, b. ii. c. 9.How tedious is it to them that live instovesand caves half a year together, as in Iceland, Muscovy, or under the pole!—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2.When most of the waiters were commanded away to their supper, the parlour orstovebeing nearly emptied, in came a company of musketeers, shot every one his man, and so proceeded to an apothecary’s house, where Wallenstein lay.—Letters and Despatches of Thomas Earl of Strafford, vol. i. p. 226.

When a certain Frenchman came to visit Melanchthon, he found him in hisstove, with one hand dandling his child in the swaddling-clouts, and the other holding a book and reading it.—Fuller,Holy State, b. ii. c. 9.

How tedious is it to them that live instovesand caves half a year together, as in Iceland, Muscovy, or under the pole!—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2.

When most of the waiters were commanded away to their supper, the parlour orstovebeing nearly emptied, in came a company of musketeers, shot every one his man, and so proceeded to an apothecary’s house, where Wallenstein lay.—Letters and Despatches of Thomas Earl of Strafford, vol. i. p. 226.

Street.This, one of the words which the Romans left behind them when they quitted Britain,and which the Saxons learned from the Britons, is more properly a road or causeway (‘viastrata’) than a street, in our present sense of the word; and as late as Coverdale was so used.

For they soughte them thorow everystrete, and yet they founde them not.—Josh.ii. 22.Coverdale.But when one sawe that all the people stode there still, he removed Amasa from thestreteunto the felde.—1 Sam.xx. 12.Coverdale.

For they soughte them thorow everystrete, and yet they founde them not.—Josh.ii. 22.Coverdale.

But when one sawe that all the people stode there still, he removed Amasa from thestreteunto the felde.—1 Sam.xx. 12.Coverdale.

Sublime.There is an occasional use of ‘sublime’ by our earlier poets, a use in which it bears much the meaning of the Greek ὑπερήφανος, or perhaps approaches still more closely to that of μετέωρος, high and lifted up, as with pride; which has now quite departed from it.

For the proud Soldan, with presumptuous cheerAnd countenancesublimeand insolent,Sought only slaughter and avengément.Spenser,Fairy Queen, v. 8, 30.Their hearts were jocund andsublime,Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine.Milton,Samson Agonistes, 1669.

For the proud Soldan, with presumptuous cheerAnd countenancesublimeand insolent,Sought only slaughter and avengément.

For the proud Soldan, with presumptuous cheerAnd countenancesublimeand insolent,Sought only slaughter and avengément.

For the proud Soldan, with presumptuous cheerAnd countenancesublimeand insolent,Sought only slaughter and avengément.

For the proud Soldan, with presumptuous cheer

And countenancesublimeand insolent,

Sought only slaughter and avengément.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, v. 8, 30.

Their hearts were jocund andsublime,Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine.

Their hearts were jocund andsublime,Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine.

Their hearts were jocund andsublime,Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine.

Their hearts were jocund andsublime,

Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine.

Milton,Samson Agonistes, 1669.

Sue.One now ‘sues’ orfollowsanother into the courts of law, being, as in the legal language of Greece, ὁ διώκων, the ‘pursuer;’ but ‘to sue’ was once to follow, without any such limitation of meaning.

If thou wolt be perfite, go, and sille alle thingis that thou hast, and come, andsueme.—Matt.xix. 21.Wiclif.And anoon thei leften the nettis andsuedenhym.—Marki. 19. Id.

If thou wolt be perfite, go, and sille alle thingis that thou hast, and come, andsueme.—Matt.xix. 21.Wiclif.

And anoon thei leften the nettis andsuedenhym.—Marki. 19. Id.

Sure.Used once in the sense of affianced, or, as it would be sometimes called, ‘hand-fasted.’ See ‘Assure,’ ‘Ensure.’

The king wassureto dame Elizabeth Lucy, and her husband before God.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III.

The king wassureto dame Elizabeth Lucy, and her husband before God.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III.

To ‘suspect’ is properly to look under, and out of this fact is derived our present use of the word; but in lookingunderyou may also lookup, and herein lies the explanation of an occasional use of ‘suspect’ and ‘suspicion’ which we find in our early writers.

Pelopidas being sent the second time into Thessaly, to make accord betwixt the people and Alexander, the tyrant of Pheres, was by this tyrant (notsuspectingthe dignity of an ambassador, nor of his country) made prisoner.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 927.If God do intimate to the spirit of any wise inferiors that they ought to reprove, then let themsuspecttheir own persons, and beware that they make no open contestation, but be content with privacy.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 330.Cordeilla, out of mere love, without thesuspicionof expected reward, at the message only of her father in distress, pours forth true filial tears.—Milton,History of England, b. i.

Pelopidas being sent the second time into Thessaly, to make accord betwixt the people and Alexander, the tyrant of Pheres, was by this tyrant (notsuspectingthe dignity of an ambassador, nor of his country) made prisoner.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 927.

If God do intimate to the spirit of any wise inferiors that they ought to reprove, then let themsuspecttheir own persons, and beware that they make no open contestation, but be content with privacy.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 330.

Cordeilla, out of mere love, without thesuspicionof expected reward, at the message only of her father in distress, pours forth true filial tears.—Milton,History of England, b. i.

Sycophant.The early meaning of ‘sycophant,’ when it was employed as equivalent to informer, delator, calumniator, ‘promoter’ (which see), agreed better with its use in the Greek than does our present. Employing it now in the sense of false and fawning flatterer, we might seem at first sight to employ it in a sense not merely altogether unconnected with, but quite opposite to, its former. Yetindeed there is a very deep inner connexion between the two uses. It is not for nothing that Jeremy Taylor treats of these two, namely ‘Of Slander and Flattery,’ in one and the same course of sermons; seeing that, as the Italian proverb has taught us, ‘He who flatters me before, spatters me behind.’

The poor man, that hath nought to lose, is not afraid of thesycophantor promoter.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 261.He [St. Paul] in peril of the wilderness, that is of wild beasts; they [rich men] not only of the wild beast called thesycophant, but of the tame beast too, called the flatterer.—Andrewes,Sermon preached at the Spittle.Sanders, that malicioussycophant, will have no less than twenty-six wain-load of silver, gold, and precious stones to be seized into the king’s hands by the spoil of that monument.—Heylin,History of the Reformation, 1849, vol. i. p. 20.

The poor man, that hath nought to lose, is not afraid of thesycophantor promoter.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 261.

He [St. Paul] in peril of the wilderness, that is of wild beasts; they [rich men] not only of the wild beast called thesycophant, but of the tame beast too, called the flatterer.—Andrewes,Sermon preached at the Spittle.

Sanders, that malicioussycophant, will have no less than twenty-six wain-load of silver, gold, and precious stones to be seized into the king’s hands by the spoil of that monument.—Heylin,History of the Reformation, 1849, vol. i. p. 20.

Symbol.The employment of ‘symbol’ in its proper Greek sense of contribution thrown into a common stock, as in a pic-nic or the like, is frequent in Jeremy Taylor, and examples of it may be found in other scholarly writers of the seventeenth century.

The consideration of these things hath oft suggested, and at length persuaded me to make this attempt, to cast in my mite to this treasury, mysymbolumtoward so charitable a work.—Hammond,A Paraphrase on the Psalms, Preface.Christ hath finished his own sufferings for expiation of the world; yet there are ‘portions that are behind of the sufferings’ of Christ, which must be filled up by his body the Church; and happy are they that put in the greatestsymbol; for ‘in the same measure you are partakers of the sufferings of Christ, in the same shall ye be also of the consolation.’—BishopTaylor,The Faith and Patience of the Saints.There [in Westminster Abbey] the warlike and the peaceful, the fortunate and the miserable, the beloved and the despised princes, mingle their dust and pay down theirsymbolof mortality.—Id.,Holy Dying, c. i. § 2.

The consideration of these things hath oft suggested, and at length persuaded me to make this attempt, to cast in my mite to this treasury, mysymbolumtoward so charitable a work.—Hammond,A Paraphrase on the Psalms, Preface.

Christ hath finished his own sufferings for expiation of the world; yet there are ‘portions that are behind of the sufferings’ of Christ, which must be filled up by his body the Church; and happy are they that put in the greatestsymbol; for ‘in the same measure you are partakers of the sufferings of Christ, in the same shall ye be also of the consolation.’—BishopTaylor,The Faith and Patience of the Saints.

There [in Westminster Abbey] the warlike and the peaceful, the fortunate and the miserable, the beloved and the despised princes, mingle their dust and pay down theirsymbolof mortality.—Id.,Holy Dying, c. i. § 2.

Table.The Latin ‘tabula’ had for one of its meanings picture or painting; and this caused that ‘table’ was by our early writers used often in the same meaning.

Thetablewherein Detraction was expressed, he [Apelles] painted in this form.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. iii. c. 27.You shall see, as it were in atablepainted before your eyes, the evil-favouredness and deformity of this most detestable vice.—Homilies: Against Contention.Learning flourished yet in the city of Sicyon, and they esteemed the painting oftablesin that city to be the perfectest for true colours and fine drawing, of all other places.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 843.

Thetablewherein Detraction was expressed, he [Apelles] painted in this form.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. iii. c. 27.

You shall see, as it were in atablepainted before your eyes, the evil-favouredness and deformity of this most detestable vice.—Homilies: Against Contention.

Learning flourished yet in the city of Sicyon, and they esteemed the painting oftablesin that city to be the perfectest for true colours and fine drawing, of all other places.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 843.

Taint.This and ‘tint’ or ‘teint,’ the one connected more closely with the French, the other with the Italian form of the word, have divided off from one another, but own a common origin—‘tingo,’ ‘tinctus.’ The fact that discoloration commonly accompanies decay explains our present use of ‘taint.’

A most delicate and beautiful young lady, slender of body, tall of stature, fair oftayntand complexion.—Reynolds,God’s Revenge against Murther, b. i. hist. 1.But in the court be quainter dames than she,Whose faces are enrich’d with honour’staint.Greene,Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, sc. 1.And Nero will betaintedwith remorse.Shakespeare,3 Henry VI., act iii. sc. 1.

A most delicate and beautiful young lady, slender of body, tall of stature, fair oftayntand complexion.—Reynolds,God’s Revenge against Murther, b. i. hist. 1.

But in the court be quainter dames than she,Whose faces are enrich’d with honour’staint.

But in the court be quainter dames than she,Whose faces are enrich’d with honour’staint.

But in the court be quainter dames than she,Whose faces are enrich’d with honour’staint.

But in the court be quainter dames than she,

Whose faces are enrich’d with honour’staint.

Greene,Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, sc. 1.

And Nero will betaintedwith remorse.

And Nero will betaintedwith remorse.

And Nero will betaintedwith remorse.

And Nero will betaintedwith remorse.

Shakespeare,3 Henry VI., act iii. sc. 1.

Talent.The original meaning, as of ‘talent’ in Old French, ‘talento’ in Italian, ‘talante’ in Spanish, was will, inclination, from ‘talentum’ (τάλαντον), balance, scales, and then inclination of balance; thus in Spenser (Fairy Queen, iii. 4, 61), ‘maltalent’ is grudge or ill-will (compare Old French ‘maltalant’ in theChanson de Roland, 271). It is probably under the influence of the Parable of the Talents (Matt.xxv.) that it has travelled to its present meaning. Clarendon still employs it very distinctly in its older sense.

Whoso then wold wel understonde these peines, and bethinke him wel that he hath deserved these peines for his sinnes, certes he shold have moretalentfor to sighe and to wepe than for to singe and playe.—Chaucer,The Persones Tale.The meaner sort rested not there, but creating for their leader Sir John Egremond, a factious person and one who had of a long time borne an illtalenttowards the king, entered into open rebellion.—Bacon,History of King Henry VII.Though the nation generally was without any illtalentto the Church, either in the point of the doctrine or the discipline, yet they were not without a jealousy that Popery was not enough discountenanced.—Clarendon,History of the Rebellion, b. i. c. 194.

Whoso then wold wel understonde these peines, and bethinke him wel that he hath deserved these peines for his sinnes, certes he shold have moretalentfor to sighe and to wepe than for to singe and playe.—Chaucer,The Persones Tale.

The meaner sort rested not there, but creating for their leader Sir John Egremond, a factious person and one who had of a long time borne an illtalenttowards the king, entered into open rebellion.—Bacon,History of King Henry VII.

Though the nation generally was without any illtalentto the Church, either in the point of the doctrine or the discipline, yet they were not without a jealousy that Popery was not enough discountenanced.—Clarendon,History of the Rebellion, b. i. c. 194.

Tall.[This word occurs in earlier English with a great variety of meanings. A very common meaning is seemly, fine, elegant; for examples see Oliphant’sNew English(index). In old plays it often meant valiant, brave, great (Halliwell). In theComplaint of Mars‘talle’ occurs, apparently in the sense of obedient, docile (see Skeat,Minor Poems of Chaucer, iv. 38). The word in the sense of lofty in stature mayperhaps be distinct from the above ‘tall’; at any rate the modern sense of tall seems to be the primary one in the Welsh and Cornishtal, high. See Skeat’sDictionary.]

Tal, or semely, Decens, elegans.—Promptorium.He [the Earl of Richmond’s] companions being almost in despair of victory were suddenly recomforted by Sir William Stanley, which came to succours with three thousandtallmen.—Grafton,Chronicle.Tamburlaine.Where are my common soldiers now, that foughtSo lionlike upon Asphaltis’ plains?Soldier.Here, my lord.Tamburlaine.Hold ye,tallsoldiers, take ye queens apiece.Marlowe,Tamburlaine the Great, part ii. act iv. sc. 4.He [Prince Edward] would proffer to fight with any mean person, if cried up for atallman.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iv. c. 29.

Tal, or semely, Decens, elegans.—Promptorium.

He [the Earl of Richmond’s] companions being almost in despair of victory were suddenly recomforted by Sir William Stanley, which came to succours with three thousandtallmen.—Grafton,Chronicle.

Tamburlaine.Where are my common soldiers now, that foughtSo lionlike upon Asphaltis’ plains?Soldier.Here, my lord.Tamburlaine.Hold ye,tallsoldiers, take ye queens apiece.

Tamburlaine.Where are my common soldiers now, that foughtSo lionlike upon Asphaltis’ plains?Soldier.Here, my lord.Tamburlaine.Hold ye,tallsoldiers, take ye queens apiece.

Tamburlaine.Where are my common soldiers now, that foughtSo lionlike upon Asphaltis’ plains?

Tamburlaine.Where are my common soldiers now, that fought

So lionlike upon Asphaltis’ plains?

Soldier.Here, my lord.

Soldier.Here, my lord.

Tamburlaine.Hold ye,tallsoldiers, take ye queens apiece.

Tamburlaine.Hold ye,tallsoldiers, take ye queens apiece.

Marlowe,Tamburlaine the Great, part ii. act iv. sc. 4.

He [Prince Edward] would proffer to fight with any mean person, if cried up for atallman.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iv. c. 29.

Tarpaulin.Not any longer used in the sense of sailor, except in the shorter form of ‘tar.’ See the quotation from Smollett,s. v.‘Companion.’

The Archbishop of Bordeaux is at present General of the French naval forces, who though a priest, is yet permitted to turntarpaulinand soldier.--Turkish Spy, Letter 2.

The Archbishop of Bordeaux is at present General of the French naval forces, who though a priest, is yet permitted to turntarpaulinand soldier.--Turkish Spy, Letter 2.

Tawdry.‘Tawdry’ laces and such like were cheap and showy articles of finery bought at St. Etheldrida’s or St. Awdry’s fair; but it is only in later times that this cheapness, showiness, with a further suggestion of vulgarity, made themselves distinctly felt in the word. [The Old English form of ‘Etheldrida’ was ‘Æthelthry̅th,’ which means noble strength. See Sweet,Oldest English Texts, p. 638.]

Bind your fillets fast,And gird in your waistFor more fineness with atawdrylace.Spenser,Shepherd’s Calendar, Fourth Eclogue.Come, you promised me atawdrylace and a pair of sweet gloves.—Shakespeare,Winter’s Tale, act iv. sc. 3.

Bind your fillets fast,And gird in your waistFor more fineness with atawdrylace.

Bind your fillets fast,And gird in your waistFor more fineness with atawdrylace.

Bind your fillets fast,And gird in your waistFor more fineness with atawdrylace.

Bind your fillets fast,

And gird in your waist

For more fineness with atawdrylace.

Spenser,Shepherd’s Calendar, Fourth Eclogue.

Come, you promised me atawdrylace and a pair of sweet gloves.—Shakespeare,Winter’s Tale, act iv. sc. 3.

Temper.What has been said under ‘Humour,’ which see, will also explain ‘Temper,’ and the earlier uses of it which we meet. The happy ‘temper’ would be the happy mixture, the blending in due proportions, of the four principal ‘humours’ of the body.

The exquisiteness of his [the Saviour’s] bodilytemperincreased the exquisiteness of his torment, and the ingenuity of his soul added to his sensibleness of the indignities and affronts offered to him.—Fuller,A Pisgah Sight of Palestine, vol. i. p. 345.Concupiscence itself follows the crasis and temperature of the body. If you would know why one man is proud, another cruel, another intemperate or luxurious, you are not to repair so much to Aristotle’s ethics, or to the writings of other moralists, as to those of Galen, or of some anatomists, to find the reason of these differenttempers.—South,Sermons, 1744, vol. ii. p. 5.

The exquisiteness of his [the Saviour’s] bodilytemperincreased the exquisiteness of his torment, and the ingenuity of his soul added to his sensibleness of the indignities and affronts offered to him.—Fuller,A Pisgah Sight of Palestine, vol. i. p. 345.

Concupiscence itself follows the crasis and temperature of the body. If you would know why one man is proud, another cruel, another intemperate or luxurious, you are not to repair so much to Aristotle’s ethics, or to the writings of other moralists, as to those of Galen, or of some anatomists, to find the reason of these differenttempers.—South,Sermons, 1744, vol. ii. p. 5.

Temperament.The Latin ‘temperamentum’ had sometimes very nearly the sense of our English ‘compromise’ or the French ‘transaction,’ and signified, as these do, a middle term reached by mutual concession, by atemperingof the extreme claims upon either side. This same use of ‘temperament’ appears from time to time in such of our writers as have allowed their style to be modified by their Latin studies.

Safest, therefore, to me it seems that none of the Council be moved unless by death, or just conviction of some crime. However, I forejudge not any probable expedient, anytemperamentthat can be found in things of this nature, so disputable on either side.—Milton,The Ready and Easy Way to establish a Free Commonwealth.Manytemperamentsand explanations there would have been, if ever I had a notion that it [Observations on the Minority] should meet the public eye.—Burke,Letter to Lawrence.

Safest, therefore, to me it seems that none of the Council be moved unless by death, or just conviction of some crime. However, I forejudge not any probable expedient, anytemperamentthat can be found in things of this nature, so disputable on either side.—Milton,The Ready and Easy Way to establish a Free Commonwealth.

Manytemperamentsand explanations there would have been, if ever I had a notion that it [Observations on the Minority] should meet the public eye.—Burke,Letter to Lawrence.

Termagant.A name at this present applied only towomenof fierce temper and ungoverned tongue, but formerly to men and women alike; and indeed predominantly to men; ‘Termagant’ in the popular notion being the name of one of the three gods of the Saracens. [See Mayhew-Skeat,Dict. of Middle English(s. v.‘Tervagant’).]

Art thou so fierce, currish, and churlish a Nabal, that even when thou mightest live in the midst of thy people (as she told Elisha [2 Kingsiv. 13]), thou delightest to play the tyrant andtermagantamong them?—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 270.This would make a saint swear like a soldier, and a soldier likeTermagant.—BeaumontandFletcher,King or No King.

Art thou so fierce, currish, and churlish a Nabal, that even when thou mightest live in the midst of thy people (as she told Elisha [2 Kingsiv. 13]), thou delightest to play the tyrant andtermagantamong them?—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 270.

This would make a saint swear like a soldier, and a soldier likeTermagant.—BeaumontandFletcher,King or No King.

Thews.It is a remarkable evidence of the influence of Shakespeare upon the English language, that while, so far as yet has been observed, every other writer, one single instance excepted, employs ‘thews’ in the sense of manners, qualities of mind and disposition, his employment of it in the sense of nerves, muscular vigour, has quite overborne the other; which, once so familiar in our literature, hasnow quite passed away. See a valuable note in Craik’sEnglish of Shakespeare, p. 117.

To alle godethewesborn was she;As lyked to the goddes, or she was born,That of the shefe she sholde be the corn.Chaucer,Legend of Good Women(Skeat, p. 118).For well ye worthy bene forworth and gentlethewes.Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 1, 33.Faire Helena, the fairest living wight,Who in all godlythewesand goodly prayseDid far excell.Id.,ib., 10, 59.

To alle godethewesborn was she;As lyked to the goddes, or she was born,That of the shefe she sholde be the corn.

To alle godethewesborn was she;As lyked to the goddes, or she was born,That of the shefe she sholde be the corn.

To alle godethewesborn was she;As lyked to the goddes, or she was born,That of the shefe she sholde be the corn.

To alle godethewesborn was she;

As lyked to the goddes, or she was born,

That of the shefe she sholde be the corn.

Chaucer,Legend of Good Women(Skeat, p. 118).

For well ye worthy bene forworth and gentlethewes.

For well ye worthy bene forworth and gentlethewes.

For well ye worthy bene forworth and gentlethewes.

For well ye worthy bene forworth and gentlethewes.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 1, 33.

Faire Helena, the fairest living wight,Who in all godlythewesand goodly prayseDid far excell.

Faire Helena, the fairest living wight,Who in all godlythewesand goodly prayseDid far excell.

Faire Helena, the fairest living wight,Who in all godlythewesand goodly prayseDid far excell.

Faire Helena, the fairest living wight,

Who in all godlythewesand goodly prayse

Did far excell.

Id.,ib., 10, 59.

Many, as they read or hear in our English Bible these words of our Lord, ‘Take nothoughtfor your life’ (Matt.vi. 25; cf.1 Sam.ix. 5), are perplexed, for they cannot help feeling that there is some exaggeration in them, that He is urging here something which is impossible, and which, if possible, would not be desirable, but a forfeiting of the true dignity of man. Or perhaps, if they are able to compare the English with the Greek, they blame our Translators for having given an emphasis to the precept which it did not possess in the original. But neither is the fact. ‘Thought’ is constantlyanxiouscare in our earlier English, as the examples which follow will abundantly prove; and ‘to think,’ though not so frequently, is to takeanxiouscare. To this day they will say in Yorkshire, ‘it wasthoughtthat did for her,’ meaning that it was care that killed her.

Cleopatra.What shall we do, Enobarbus?Enobarbus.Thinkand die.Shakespeare,Antony and Cleopatra, act iii. sc. 13.Yet, for his love that all hath wrought,Wed me, or else I die forthought.Skelton,Manerly Margery.He so plagued and vexed his father with injurious indignities, that the old man for verythoughtand grief of heart pined away and died.—Holland,Camden’s Ireland, p. 120.In five hundred years only two queens have died in childbirth. Queen Catherine Parr died rather ofthought.—Somers’ Tracts(Reign of Elizabeth), vol. i. p. 172.Harris, an alderman of London, was put in trouble, and died ofthoughtand anxiety before his business came to an end.—Bacon,History of Henry VII.Othoughtfulherte, plungyd in dystres.Lydgate,Lyf of Our Lady.

Cleopatra.What shall we do, Enobarbus?Enobarbus.Thinkand die.

Cleopatra.What shall we do, Enobarbus?Enobarbus.Thinkand die.

Cleopatra.What shall we do, Enobarbus?

Cleopatra.What shall we do, Enobarbus?

Enobarbus.Thinkand die.

Enobarbus.Thinkand die.

Shakespeare,Antony and Cleopatra, act iii. sc. 13.

Yet, for his love that all hath wrought,Wed me, or else I die forthought.

Yet, for his love that all hath wrought,Wed me, or else I die forthought.

Yet, for his love that all hath wrought,Wed me, or else I die forthought.

Yet, for his love that all hath wrought,

Wed me, or else I die forthought.

Skelton,Manerly Margery.

He so plagued and vexed his father with injurious indignities, that the old man for verythoughtand grief of heart pined away and died.—Holland,Camden’s Ireland, p. 120.

In five hundred years only two queens have died in childbirth. Queen Catherine Parr died rather ofthought.—Somers’ Tracts(Reign of Elizabeth), vol. i. p. 172.

Harris, an alderman of London, was put in trouble, and died ofthoughtand anxiety before his business came to an end.—Bacon,History of Henry VII.

Othoughtfulherte, plungyd in dystres.

Othoughtfulherte, plungyd in dystres.

Othoughtfulherte, plungyd in dystres.

Othoughtfulherte, plungyd in dystres.

Lydgate,Lyf of Our Lady.

Thrifty.The ‘thrifty’ is on the way to be the thriving; yet ‘thrifty’ does not mean thriving now, as once it did. It still indeed retains this meaning in provincial use; as I have heard a newly-transplanted tree, which was doing well, described as ‘thrifty.’ See ‘Unthrifty;’ and the quotation from Tusser,s. v.‘Family.’

No grace hath more abundant promises made unto it than this of mercy, a sowing, a reaping, athriftygrace.—BishopReynolds,Sermon 30.

No grace hath more abundant promises made unto it than this of mercy, a sowing, a reaping, athriftygrace.—BishopReynolds,Sermon 30.

Tidy.This, identical with the German ‘zeitig,’ has lost that reference totimewhich in ‘noontide,’ ‘eventide,’ and some other compounds still survives.

Seven eares wexen fette of corenOn an busk ranc and weltidi.Genesis and Exodus, 2104.Lo an erthetilier abidith preciouse fruyt of the erthe, paciently suffrynge til he resseyve tymeful and lateful fruit—that istidiand ripe.—Jamesv. 7.Wiclif.

Seven eares wexen fette of corenOn an busk ranc and weltidi.

Seven eares wexen fette of corenOn an busk ranc and weltidi.

Seven eares wexen fette of corenOn an busk ranc and weltidi.

Seven eares wexen fette of coren

On an busk ranc and weltidi.

Genesis and Exodus, 2104.

Lo an erthetilier abidith preciouse fruyt of the erthe, paciently suffrynge til he resseyve tymeful and lateful fruit—that istidiand ripe.—Jamesv. 7.Wiclif.

Tinsel.This (the Old French ‘estincelle,’ a spark) is always nowcheapfinery, flashing like silver and gold, but at the same time pretending a value and a richness which it does not really possess. There lay no such insinuation of pretentious splendour in its earlier uses. A valuable note in Keightley’sMilton, vol. i. p. 126, makes it, I think, clear that by ‘tinsel’ was commonly meant ‘asilvertexture, less dense and stout than cloth of silver;’ yet not always, for see my first quotation.

Under a duke, no man to wear cloth of goldtinsel.—Literary Remains of King Edward VI., 1551, 2.Every place was hanged with cloth of gold, cloth of silver,tinsel, arras, tapestry, and what not.—Stubbes,Anatomy of Abuses, p. 18.[He] never cared for silks or sumptuous cost,For cloth of gold, ortinselfigurie,For baudkin, broidery, cutworks, nor conceits.Gascoigne,The Steel Glass.Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold,And all her steed withtinsel-trappings shone.Spenser,Fairy Queen, iii. 1, 15.

Under a duke, no man to wear cloth of goldtinsel.—Literary Remains of King Edward VI., 1551, 2.

Every place was hanged with cloth of gold, cloth of silver,tinsel, arras, tapestry, and what not.—Stubbes,Anatomy of Abuses, p. 18.

[He] never cared for silks or sumptuous cost,For cloth of gold, ortinselfigurie,For baudkin, broidery, cutworks, nor conceits.

[He] never cared for silks or sumptuous cost,For cloth of gold, ortinselfigurie,For baudkin, broidery, cutworks, nor conceits.

[He] never cared for silks or sumptuous cost,For cloth of gold, ortinselfigurie,For baudkin, broidery, cutworks, nor conceits.

[He] never cared for silks or sumptuous cost,

For cloth of gold, ortinselfigurie,

For baudkin, broidery, cutworks, nor conceits.

Gascoigne,The Steel Glass.

Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold,And all her steed withtinsel-trappings shone.

Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold,And all her steed withtinsel-trappings shone.

Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold,And all her steed withtinsel-trappings shone.

Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold,

And all her steed withtinsel-trappings shone.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, iii. 1, 15.

Tobacconist.Now the seller, once the smoker, of tobacco.

Germany hath not so many drunkards, Englandtobacconists, France dancers, Holland mariners, as Italy alone hath jealous husbands.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sect. 3.Hence it is that the lungs of thetobacconistare rotted.—Ben Jonson,Bartholomew Fair.But let it be of any truly said,He’s great, religious, learned, wise or staid,But he is lately turnedtobacconist,Oh what a blur! what an abatement is’t!Sylvester,Tobacco Battered.

Germany hath not so many drunkards, Englandtobacconists, France dancers, Holland mariners, as Italy alone hath jealous husbands.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sect. 3.

Hence it is that the lungs of thetobacconistare rotted.—Ben Jonson,Bartholomew Fair.

But let it be of any truly said,He’s great, religious, learned, wise or staid,But he is lately turnedtobacconist,Oh what a blur! what an abatement is’t!

But let it be of any truly said,He’s great, religious, learned, wise or staid,But he is lately turnedtobacconist,Oh what a blur! what an abatement is’t!

But let it be of any truly said,He’s great, religious, learned, wise or staid,But he is lately turnedtobacconist,Oh what a blur! what an abatement is’t!

But let it be of any truly said,

He’s great, religious, learned, wise or staid,

But he is lately turnedtobacconist,

Oh what a blur! what an abatement is’t!

Sylvester,Tobacco Battered.

Tory.It is curious how often political parties have ended by assuming to themselves names first fastened on them by their adversaries in reproach and scorn. The ‘Gueux’ or ‘Beggars’ of Holland are perhaps the most notable instance of all; so too ‘tories’ was a name properly belonging to the Irish bogtrotters, who during our Civil War robbed and plundered, professing to be in arms for the maintenance of the royal cause; and from them transferred, about the year 1680, to those who sought to maintain the extreme prerogatives of the Crown. There is an Act of the 6th of Anne with this title: ‘For the more effectual suppressingToriesand Rapparees; and for preventing persons becomingToriesor resorting to them.’ For the best account of the ‘tories’ see Prendergast,Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland, pp. 163-183; and compare Carte’sLife of the Duke of Ormonde, vol. ii. p. 481.

That Irish Papists who had been licensed to depart this nation, and of late years have been transplanted into Spain, Flanders, and other foreign parts, have nevertheless secretly returned into Ireland, occasioning the increase oftoriesand other lawless persons.—Irish State Papers, 24th January, 1656.Let such men quit all pretences to civility and breeding. They are ruder thantoriesand wild Americans.—Glanville,Sermons, p. 212.In the open or plain countries the peasants are content to live on their labour; the woods, bogs, and fastnesses fostering and sheltering the robbers,tories, and woodkerns, who are usually the offspring of gentlemen, that have either misspent or forfeited their estates; who, though having no subsistance, yet contemn trade, as being too mean and base for a gentleman reduced never so low.—MS. Account of the State of the County of Kildare, of date 1684, in Trinity College Library, Dublin.Mosstroopers, a sort of rebels in the northern part of Scotland, that live by robbery and spoil, like thetoriesin Ireland, or the banditti in Italy.—Phillips,New World of Words, ed. 1706.

That Irish Papists who had been licensed to depart this nation, and of late years have been transplanted into Spain, Flanders, and other foreign parts, have nevertheless secretly returned into Ireland, occasioning the increase oftoriesand other lawless persons.—Irish State Papers, 24th January, 1656.

Let such men quit all pretences to civility and breeding. They are ruder thantoriesand wild Americans.—Glanville,Sermons, p. 212.

In the open or plain countries the peasants are content to live on their labour; the woods, bogs, and fastnesses fostering and sheltering the robbers,tories, and woodkerns, who are usually the offspring of gentlemen, that have either misspent or forfeited their estates; who, though having no subsistance, yet contemn trade, as being too mean and base for a gentleman reduced never so low.—MS. Account of the State of the County of Kildare, of date 1684, in Trinity College Library, Dublin.

Mosstroopers, a sort of rebels in the northern part of Scotland, that live by robbery and spoil, like thetoriesin Ireland, or the banditti in Italy.—Phillips,New World of Words, ed. 1706.

Trade.Properly that path which we ‘tread,’ and thus the ever recurring habit and manner of our life, whatever this may be.

A postern with a blinde wicket there was,A commontradeto passe through Priam’s house.Earl of Surrey,Translation of the Æneid, b. ii. l. 592.For him that lacketh nothing necessary, nor hath cause to complain of his present state, it is a great folly to leave his old acquaintedtradeof life, and to enter into another new and unknown.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 53.Teach a child in thetradeof his way, and when he is old, he shall not depart from it.—Proverbsxxii. 6. Geneva.There those five sisters had continualltrade,And used to bath themselves in that deceiptful shade.Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 12, 30.As shepheardes curre, that in darke evenings shadeHath tracted forth some salvage beastestrade.Ib., ii. 6, 39.

A postern with a blinde wicket there was,A commontradeto passe through Priam’s house.

A postern with a blinde wicket there was,A commontradeto passe through Priam’s house.

A postern with a blinde wicket there was,A commontradeto passe through Priam’s house.

A postern with a blinde wicket there was,

A commontradeto passe through Priam’s house.

Earl of Surrey,Translation of the Æneid, b. ii. l. 592.

For him that lacketh nothing necessary, nor hath cause to complain of his present state, it is a great folly to leave his old acquaintedtradeof life, and to enter into another new and unknown.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 53.

Teach a child in thetradeof his way, and when he is old, he shall not depart from it.—Proverbsxxii. 6. Geneva.

There those five sisters had continualltrade,And used to bath themselves in that deceiptful shade.

There those five sisters had continualltrade,And used to bath themselves in that deceiptful shade.

There those five sisters had continualltrade,And used to bath themselves in that deceiptful shade.

There those five sisters had continualltrade,

And used to bath themselves in that deceiptful shade.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 12, 30.

As shepheardes curre, that in darke evenings shadeHath tracted forth some salvage beastestrade.

As shepheardes curre, that in darke evenings shadeHath tracted forth some salvage beastestrade.

As shepheardes curre, that in darke evenings shadeHath tracted forth some salvage beastestrade.

As shepheardes curre, that in darke evenings shade

Hath tracted forth some salvage beastestrade.

Ib., ii. 6, 39.

Treacle.This at present means only the sweet syrup of molasses, but was once of far wider reach and far nobler significance, having come to us from afar, and by steps which are curious to trace. Theyare these. The Greeks, in anticipation of modern homœopathy, called a fancied antidote to the viper’s bite, which was composed of the viper’s flesh, θηριακά—from θηρίον, a name often given to the viper (Actsxxviii. 5); of this came the Latin ‘theriaca,’ from the Old French form of which—namely, ‘triacle’—came our ‘triacle’ and ‘treacle.’ SeePromptorium, and Mayhew-Skeat,Dict. of Middle English, p. 237.

For a most strongtreacleagainst these venomous heresies wrought our Saviour many a marvellous miracle.—SirT. More,A Treatise on the Passion, Works, p. 1357.There is no moretriacleat Galaad, and there is no phisician that can heale the hurte of my people.—Jer.viii. 22.Coverdale.At last his body [Sir Thomas Overbury’s] was almost come by use of poisons to the state that Mithridates’ body was by the use oftreacleand preservatives, that the force of the poisons was blunted upon him.—Bacon,Charge against Robert, Earl of Somerset.The saints’ experiences help them to a sovereigntreaclemade of the scorpion’s own flesh (which they through Christ have slain), and that hath a virtue above all others to expel the venom of Satan’s temptations from the heart.—Gurnall,The Christian in Complete Armour, c. ix. § 2.Wonderful therefore is the power of a Christian, who not only overcomes and conquers and kills the viper, but like the skilful apothecary makes antidote andtriacleof him.—Hales,Sermon on Christian Omnipotence.Treacle; a physical composition, made of vipers and other ingredients.—Phillips,New World of Words.

For a most strongtreacleagainst these venomous heresies wrought our Saviour many a marvellous miracle.—SirT. More,A Treatise on the Passion, Works, p. 1357.

There is no moretriacleat Galaad, and there is no phisician that can heale the hurte of my people.—Jer.viii. 22.Coverdale.

At last his body [Sir Thomas Overbury’s] was almost come by use of poisons to the state that Mithridates’ body was by the use oftreacleand preservatives, that the force of the poisons was blunted upon him.—Bacon,Charge against Robert, Earl of Somerset.

The saints’ experiences help them to a sovereigntreaclemade of the scorpion’s own flesh (which they through Christ have slain), and that hath a virtue above all others to expel the venom of Satan’s temptations from the heart.—Gurnall,The Christian in Complete Armour, c. ix. § 2.

Wonderful therefore is the power of a Christian, who not only overcomes and conquers and kills the viper, but like the skilful apothecary makes antidote andtriacleof him.—Hales,Sermon on Christian Omnipotence.

Treacle; a physical composition, made of vipers and other ingredients.—Phillips,New World of Words.

Tree.This might once have been used of the dead timber, no less than of the living growth; this use surviving still in ‘roodtree,’ ‘axletree,’ ‘saddletree.’

In a greet hous ben not oneli vessels of gold and of silver, but also oftree[lignea, Vulg.] and of erthe.—2 Tim.ii. 20.Wiclif.He had a castel oftre, which he cleped Mategrifon.—Capgrave,Chronicle of England, p. 145.Take down, take down that mast of gowd,Set up a mast oftree;Ill sets it a forsaken ladyTo sail sae gallantlie.Old Ballad.

In a greet hous ben not oneli vessels of gold and of silver, but also oftree[lignea, Vulg.] and of erthe.—2 Tim.ii. 20.Wiclif.

He had a castel oftre, which he cleped Mategrifon.—Capgrave,Chronicle of England, p. 145.

Take down, take down that mast of gowd,Set up a mast oftree;Ill sets it a forsaken ladyTo sail sae gallantlie.

Take down, take down that mast of gowd,Set up a mast oftree;Ill sets it a forsaken ladyTo sail sae gallantlie.

Take down, take down that mast of gowd,Set up a mast oftree;Ill sets it a forsaken ladyTo sail sae gallantlie.

Take down, take down that mast of gowd,

Set up a mast oftree;

Ill sets it a forsaken lady

To sail sae gallantlie.

Old Ballad.

Triumph.A name often transferred by our early writers to any stately show or pageantry whatever, not restricted, as now, to one celebrating a victory. See Bacon’sEssay, the 37th, with the heading ‘Of Masks andTriumphs,’ passim.

Our daughter,In honour of whose birth thesetriumphsare,Sits here, like beauty’s child.Pericles, Prince of Tyre, act ii. sc. 2.You cannot have a perfect palace except you have two several sides, the one for feasts andtriumphs, the other for dwelling.—Bacon,Essays, 45.This day to Dagon is a solemn feast,With sacrifices,triumph, pomp, and games.Milton,Samson Agonistes, 1311.

Our daughter,In honour of whose birth thesetriumphsare,Sits here, like beauty’s child.

Our daughter,In honour of whose birth thesetriumphsare,Sits here, like beauty’s child.

Our daughter,In honour of whose birth thesetriumphsare,Sits here, like beauty’s child.

Our daughter,

In honour of whose birth thesetriumphsare,

Sits here, like beauty’s child.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, act ii. sc. 2.

You cannot have a perfect palace except you have two several sides, the one for feasts andtriumphs, the other for dwelling.—Bacon,Essays, 45.

This day to Dagon is a solemn feast,With sacrifices,triumph, pomp, and games.

This day to Dagon is a solemn feast,With sacrifices,triumph, pomp, and games.

This day to Dagon is a solemn feast,With sacrifices,triumph, pomp, and games.

This day to Dagon is a solemn feast,

With sacrifices,triumph, pomp, and games.

Milton,Samson Agonistes, 1311.

Trivial.A ‘trivial’ saying is at present a slight one; it was formerly an often-repeated one, or one containing an elementary truth; it might be trite, on the ground of the weight and wisdom which it contained; as certainly the maxim quoted by Hacket is anything but ‘trivial’ in our sense of the word. Gradually the notion of slightness was superadded to that of commonness, and thus an epithetonce of honour has become one of dishonour rather. See Mayhew-Skeat,Dict. of Middle English(s. v.‘Trivials’).

Others avouch, and that more truly, that he [Duns Scotus] was born in Downe, and thereof they guess him to be named Dunensis, and by contraction Duns, which term is sotrivialand common in schools, that whoso surpasseth others either in cavilling sophistry or subtle philosophy is forthwith nicknamed a Duns.—Stanyhurst,Description of Ireland, p. 2.Æquitas optimo cuique notissima, is atrivialsaying, A very good man cannot be ignorant of equity.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 57.These branches [of the divine life] are three, whose names thoughtrivialand vulgar, yet, if rightly understood, they bear such a sense with them that nothing more weighty can be pronounced by the tongue of men or seraphims, and in brief they are these, Charity, Humility, and Purity.—H. More,Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. ii. c. 12.

Others avouch, and that more truly, that he [Duns Scotus] was born in Downe, and thereof they guess him to be named Dunensis, and by contraction Duns, which term is sotrivialand common in schools, that whoso surpasseth others either in cavilling sophistry or subtle philosophy is forthwith nicknamed a Duns.—Stanyhurst,Description of Ireland, p. 2.

Æquitas optimo cuique notissima, is atrivialsaying, A very good man cannot be ignorant of equity.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part i. p. 57.

These branches [of the divine life] are three, whose names thoughtrivialand vulgar, yet, if rightly understood, they bear such a sense with them that nothing more weighty can be pronounced by the tongue of men or seraphims, and in brief they are these, Charity, Humility, and Purity.—H. More,Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. ii. c. 12.

Trumpery.That which is deceitful is without any worth; and ‘trumpery,’ which was formerly deceit, fraud (tromperie), is now anything which is worthless and of no account. Was Milton’s use of the word in his well-known line, ‘Black, white and gray, with all theirtrumpery’ (P. L.iii. 475), our present, or that earlier?

When truth appeared, Rogero hated moreAlcyna’strumperies, and did them detest,Than he was late enamourèd before.SirJ. Harington,Orlando Furioso, b. vii.Britannicus was now grown to men’s estate, a true and worthy plant to receive his father’s empire; which a grafted son by adoption now possessed by the injury andtrumperyof his mother.—Greenwey,Tacitus, p. 182.

When truth appeared, Rogero hated moreAlcyna’strumperies, and did them detest,Than he was late enamourèd before.

When truth appeared, Rogero hated moreAlcyna’strumperies, and did them detest,Than he was late enamourèd before.

When truth appeared, Rogero hated moreAlcyna’strumperies, and did them detest,Than he was late enamourèd before.

When truth appeared, Rogero hated more

Alcyna’strumperies, and did them detest,

Than he was late enamourèd before.

SirJ. Harington,Orlando Furioso, b. vii.

Britannicus was now grown to men’s estate, a true and worthy plant to receive his father’s empire; which a grafted son by adoption now possessed by the injury andtrumperyof his mother.—Greenwey,Tacitus, p. 182.

Turk.It is a remarkable evidence of the extent to which the Turks and the Turkish assault uponChristendom had impressed themselves on the minds of men, of the way in which they stood as representing the entire Mahometan world, that ‘Turk,’ being in fact a national, is constantly employed by the writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a religious, designation, as equivalent to, and coextensive with, Mahometan; exactly as Ἔλλην in the New Testament means continually not of Greek nationality, but of Gentile religion.

Have mercy upon all Jews,Turks, infidels, and heretics.—Collect for Good Friday.It is no good reason for a man’s religion, that he was born and brought up in it; for then aTurkwould have as much reason to be aTurkas a Christian to be a Christian.—Chillingworth,Religion of Protestants, part i. c. 2.

Have mercy upon all Jews,Turks, infidels, and heretics.—Collect for Good Friday.

It is no good reason for a man’s religion, that he was born and brought up in it; for then aTurkwould have as much reason to be aTurkas a Christian to be a Christian.—Chillingworth,Religion of Protestants, part i. c. 2.

The ‘tutor’ of our forefathers was rather a caretaker and guardian than an instructor: but seeing that one defends another most effectually who imparts to him those principles and that knowledge whereby he shall be able to defend himself, our modern use of the word must be taken as a deeper than the earlier.

This is part of the honour that the children owe to their parents andtutorsby the commandment of God, even to be bestowed in marriage as it pleaseth the godly, prudent and honest parents ortutorsto appoint.—Becon,Catechism, Parker Soc. ed., p. 871.What shall become of the lambs under thetuitionof wolves?—Adams,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 117.Tutorsand guardians are in the place of parents; and what they are in fiction of law they must remember as an argument to engage them to do in reality of duty.—BishopTaylor,Holy Living, iii. 2.As though they were not to be trusted with the king’s brother, that by the assent of the nobles of the land were appointed, as the king’s nearest friends, to thetuitionof his own royal person.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III., p. 36.Afterwards turning his speech to his wife and his son, he [Scanderbeg] commended them both with his kingdom to thetuitionof the Venetians.—Knolles,History of the Turks, vol. i. p. 274.

This is part of the honour that the children owe to their parents andtutorsby the commandment of God, even to be bestowed in marriage as it pleaseth the godly, prudent and honest parents ortutorsto appoint.—Becon,Catechism, Parker Soc. ed., p. 871.

What shall become of the lambs under thetuitionof wolves?—Adams,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 117.

Tutorsand guardians are in the place of parents; and what they are in fiction of law they must remember as an argument to engage them to do in reality of duty.—BishopTaylor,Holy Living, iii. 2.

As though they were not to be trusted with the king’s brother, that by the assent of the nobles of the land were appointed, as the king’s nearest friends, to thetuitionof his own royal person.—SirT. More,History of King Richard III., p. 36.

Afterwards turning his speech to his wife and his son, he [Scanderbeg] commended them both with his kingdom to thetuitionof the Venetians.—Knolles,History of the Turks, vol. i. p. 274.

‘To take umbrage’ is, I think, the only phrase in which the word ‘umbrage’ is still in use among us, the only one at least in which it is ethically employed; but ‘umbrage’ in its earlier use coincides in meaning with the old French ‘ombrage’ (see the quotation from Bacon), and signifies suspicion, or rather the disposition to suspect; and ‘umbrageous,’ as far as I know, is constantly employed in the sense of suspicious by our early authors; having now no other but a literal sense. Other uses of ‘umbrage,’ as those of Fuller and Jeremy Taylor which follow, must be explained from the classical sympathies of these writers; out of which the Latin etymology of the word gradually made itself felt in the meaning which they ascribed to it, namely as anything slight andshadowy. [For the development of meaning of the French ‘ombrage’ from shadow to suspicion, see Darmesteter,Vie des Mots, p. 77.]

I say, just fear, not out ofumbrages, light jealousies, apprehensions afar off, but out of clear foresight of imminent danger.—Bacon,Of a War with Spain.To collect the several essays of princes glancing on that project [a new Crusade], were a task of great pains and small profit; especially some of them beingumbragesand staterepresentations rather than realities, to ingratiate princes with their subjects, or with the oratory of so pious a project to woo money out of people’s purses.—Fuller,Holy War, b. v. c. 25.You look for it [truth] in your books, and you tug hard for it in your disputations, and you derive it from the cisterns of the Fathers, and you inquire after the old ways; and sometimes are taken with new appearances, and you rejoice in false lights, or are delighted with littleumbragesor peep of day.—BishopTaylor,Sermon preached to the University of Dublin.There being in the Old Testament thirteen types andumbragesof this Holy Sacrament, eleven of them are of meat and drink.—Id.,The Worthy Communicant, c. ii. § 2.At the beginning some men were a littleumbrageous, and startling at the name of the Fathers; yet since the Fathers have been well studied, we have behaved ourselves with more reverence toward the Fathers than they of the Roman persuasion have done.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, p. 557.That there was none other present but himself when his master De Merson was murdered, it isumbrageous, and leaves a spice of fear and sting of suspicion in their heads.—Reynolds,God’s Revenge against Murther, b. iii. hist. 13.

I say, just fear, not out ofumbrages, light jealousies, apprehensions afar off, but out of clear foresight of imminent danger.—Bacon,Of a War with Spain.

To collect the several essays of princes glancing on that project [a new Crusade], were a task of great pains and small profit; especially some of them beingumbragesand staterepresentations rather than realities, to ingratiate princes with their subjects, or with the oratory of so pious a project to woo money out of people’s purses.—Fuller,Holy War, b. v. c. 25.

You look for it [truth] in your books, and you tug hard for it in your disputations, and you derive it from the cisterns of the Fathers, and you inquire after the old ways; and sometimes are taken with new appearances, and you rejoice in false lights, or are delighted with littleumbragesor peep of day.—BishopTaylor,Sermon preached to the University of Dublin.

There being in the Old Testament thirteen types andumbragesof this Holy Sacrament, eleven of them are of meat and drink.—Id.,The Worthy Communicant, c. ii. § 2.

At the beginning some men were a littleumbrageous, and startling at the name of the Fathers; yet since the Fathers have been well studied, we have behaved ourselves with more reverence toward the Fathers than they of the Roman persuasion have done.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, p. 557.

That there was none other present but himself when his master De Merson was murdered, it isumbrageous, and leaves a spice of fear and sting of suspicion in their heads.—Reynolds,God’s Revenge against Murther, b. iii. hist. 13.

Uncouth.Now unformed in manner, ungraceful in behaviour; but once simply unknown. The change in signification is to be traced to the same causes which made ‘barbarous,’ meaning at first only foreign, to have afterwards the sense of savage and wild. Almost all nations regard with disfavour and dislike that which is outlandish, and generally that with which they are unacquainted; so that words which at first did but express this fact of strangeness, easily acquire a further unfavourable sense.

The vulgar instruction requires also vulgar and communicable terms, not clerkly oruncouth, as are all these of theGreek and Latin languages.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. iii. c. 10.Wel-away the while I was so fonde,To leave the good that I had in hondeIn hope of better that wasuncouth;So lost the Dogge the flesh in his mouth.Spenser,The Shepherd’s Calendar, September.‘Uncouthe, unkiste,’ sayde the old famous poete Chaucer; which proverb very well taketh place in this our new poete, who for that he isuncouthe(as said Chaucer) is unkist; and,unknownto most men, is regarded but of a few.—E. K.,Epistle Dedicatory prefixed to Spenser’s Shepherd’s Calendar.

The vulgar instruction requires also vulgar and communicable terms, not clerkly oruncouth, as are all these of theGreek and Latin languages.—Puttenham,Art of English Poesy, b. iii. c. 10.

Wel-away the while I was so fonde,To leave the good that I had in hondeIn hope of better that wasuncouth;So lost the Dogge the flesh in his mouth.

Wel-away the while I was so fonde,To leave the good that I had in hondeIn hope of better that wasuncouth;So lost the Dogge the flesh in his mouth.

Wel-away the while I was so fonde,To leave the good that I had in hondeIn hope of better that wasuncouth;So lost the Dogge the flesh in his mouth.

Wel-away the while I was so fonde,

To leave the good that I had in honde

In hope of better that wasuncouth;

So lost the Dogge the flesh in his mouth.

Spenser,The Shepherd’s Calendar, September.

‘Uncouthe, unkiste,’ sayde the old famous poete Chaucer; which proverb very well taketh place in this our new poete, who for that he isuncouthe(as said Chaucer) is unkist; and,unknownto most men, is regarded but of a few.—E. K.,Epistle Dedicatory prefixed to Spenser’s Shepherd’s Calendar.

Unequal.From the constant use made of ‘unequal’ by our early writers, for whom it was entirely equivalent to unjust, unfair, one might almost suppose they were influenced by sense association with ‘iniquus’ in their naturalization of ‘inæqualis.’ At any rate they had no scruple in using it in a sense, which ‘inæqualis’ never has, but ‘iniquus’ continually.


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