I think S. Paul spake these words [‘who mind earthly things’]bythe clergymen that will take upon them the spiritual office of preaching, and yet meddle in worldly matters too, contrary to their calling.—Latimer,Sermons, p. 529.Thou hast spoken evil wordsbythe Queen.No man living upon earth can prove any such thingsbyme.Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of ElizabethYoung by Martin Hussie.This angry prior told the archbishop to his face, in a good audience, concerning what he had preached of the bishop of Rome’s vices, that he knew no vicesbynone of the bishops of Rome.—Strype,Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, b. i. c. 8.For all the wealth that ever I did see,I would not have him know so muchbyme.Shakespeare,Love’s Labour’s Lost, act iv. sc. 3.I know nothingbymyself [οὐδὲν ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα]; yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord.—1 Cor.iv. 4 (A. V.) R. V. has here ‘againstmyself.’God is said to be greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things. He knows morebyus than webyourselves.—Gurnall,The Christian in Complete Armour, iii. 2, 8.
I think S. Paul spake these words [‘who mind earthly things’]bythe clergymen that will take upon them the spiritual office of preaching, and yet meddle in worldly matters too, contrary to their calling.—Latimer,Sermons, p. 529.
Thou hast spoken evil wordsbythe Queen.No man living upon earth can prove any such thingsbyme.
Thou hast spoken evil wordsbythe Queen.No man living upon earth can prove any such thingsbyme.
Thou hast spoken evil wordsbythe Queen.No man living upon earth can prove any such thingsbyme.
Thou hast spoken evil wordsbythe Queen.
No man living upon earth can prove any such thingsbyme.
Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of ElizabethYoung by Martin Hussie.
This angry prior told the archbishop to his face, in a good audience, concerning what he had preached of the bishop of Rome’s vices, that he knew no vicesbynone of the bishops of Rome.—Strype,Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, b. i. c. 8.
For all the wealth that ever I did see,I would not have him know so muchbyme.
For all the wealth that ever I did see,I would not have him know so muchbyme.
For all the wealth that ever I did see,I would not have him know so muchbyme.
For all the wealth that ever I did see,
I would not have him know so muchbyme.
Shakespeare,Love’s Labour’s Lost, act iv. sc. 3.
I know nothingbymyself [οὐδὲν ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα]; yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord.—1 Cor.iv. 4 (A. V.) R. V. has here ‘againstmyself.’
God is said to be greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things. He knows morebyus than webyourselves.—Gurnall,The Christian in Complete Armour, iii. 2, 8.
By and by.Now a future more or less remote; but when our Version of the Bible was made, thenearest possible future. The inveterate procrastination of men has put ‘by and by’ farther and farther off. Already in Barrow’s time it had acquired its present meaning.
And some counselled the archbishop to burn meby and by, and some other counselled him to drown me in the sea, for it is near hand there.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of William Thorpe.Give meby and by[ἐξαυτῆς] in a charger the head of John the Baptist.—Markvi. 25 (A.V.) [R. V. hasforthwith.]These things must first come to pass; but the end is notby and by[εὐθέως].—Lukexxi. 9 (A.V.) [R. V. hasimmediately.]When Demophantus fell to the ground, his soldiers fledby and by[εὐθὺς ἔφυγον] upon it.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 308.
And some counselled the archbishop to burn meby and by, and some other counselled him to drown me in the sea, for it is near hand there.—Foxe,Book of Martyrs; Examination of William Thorpe.
Give meby and by[ἐξαυτῆς] in a charger the head of John the Baptist.—Markvi. 25 (A.V.) [R. V. hasforthwith.]
These things must first come to pass; but the end is notby and by[εὐθέως].—Lukexxi. 9 (A.V.) [R. V. hasimmediately.]
When Demophantus fell to the ground, his soldiers fledby and by[εὐθὺς ἔφυγον] upon it.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 308.
[Caitiff.According to present usage the word expresses contempt, often involving strong moral disapprobation. It means a base, mean, despicable wretch, a contemptible villain. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the word has often a tinge of pity, meaning a wretched, miserable person. Originallycaitiffmeant a captive, a prisoner, being in fact the same word ascaptive, the latter being derived directly from the Latincaptivus, whilecaitiffis its Anglo-Norman formcaitif, used in the sense of captive, weak, miserable; cp. It.cattivo, captive, lewd, bad, and Mod. Fr.chétif, of little value, wretched, miserable.]
Aristark, myne evenecaytyf[concaptivus meus, Vulg.], greetith you wel.—Col.iv. 10.Wiclif(earlier version).The riche Cresus,caytifin servage.Chaucer,The Knightes Tale.Avarice doth tyrannize over hercaitiffand slave, not suffering him to use what she commanded him to win.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 208.Alas, pooreCaitiffe.Shakespeare,Othello, act iv. sc. 1.
Aristark, myne evenecaytyf[concaptivus meus, Vulg.], greetith you wel.—Col.iv. 10.Wiclif(earlier version).
The riche Cresus,caytifin servage.
The riche Cresus,caytifin servage.
The riche Cresus,caytifin servage.
The riche Cresus,caytifin servage.
Chaucer,The Knightes Tale.
Avarice doth tyrannize over hercaitiffand slave, not suffering him to use what she commanded him to win.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 208.
Alas, pooreCaitiffe.
Alas, pooreCaitiffe.
Alas, pooreCaitiffe.
Alas, pooreCaitiffe.
Shakespeare,Othello, act iv. sc. 1.
Capitulate.There is no reason why the reducing of any agreement to certain heads or ‘capitula’ should not be called to ‘capitulate,’ the victor thus ‘capitulating’ as well as the vanquished; and the present limitation of the word’s use, by which it means to surrender on certain specified terms, is quite of modern introduction.
Gelon the tyrant, after he had defeated the Carthaginians near to the city Himera, when he made peace with them,capitulated, among other articles of treaty, that they should no more sacrifice any infants to Saturn.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 405.He [the Emperor Charles V.] makes a voyage into England, and therecapitulateswith the King, among other things, to take to wife his daughter Mary.—Heylin,History of the Reformation.Wonder He will condescend to it! Tocapitulatewith dust and ashes! To article with his own creature, with whom He may do what He will!—Howe,The Redeemer’s Dominion, &c.
Gelon the tyrant, after he had defeated the Carthaginians near to the city Himera, when he made peace with them,capitulated, among other articles of treaty, that they should no more sacrifice any infants to Saturn.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 405.
He [the Emperor Charles V.] makes a voyage into England, and therecapitulateswith the King, among other things, to take to wife his daughter Mary.—Heylin,History of the Reformation.
Wonder He will condescend to it! Tocapitulatewith dust and ashes! To article with his own creature, with whom He may do what He will!—Howe,The Redeemer’s Dominion, &c.
Captivate.This is not used any longer in a literal, but always in a more or less allegorical sense.
They that are wise had rather have their judgments at liberty in differences of readings, than to becaptivatedto the one when it may be the other.—The Translators [of the Authorized Version] to the Reader.How ill beseeming is it in thy sexTo triumph, like an Amazonian trull,Upon their woes whom Fortunecaptivates.Shakespeare,3 Henry VI.act i. sc. 4.O tame my heart:It is thy highest artTocaptivatestrongholds to Thee.Herbert,The Temple.
They that are wise had rather have their judgments at liberty in differences of readings, than to becaptivatedto the one when it may be the other.—The Translators [of the Authorized Version] to the Reader.
How ill beseeming is it in thy sexTo triumph, like an Amazonian trull,Upon their woes whom Fortunecaptivates.
How ill beseeming is it in thy sexTo triumph, like an Amazonian trull,Upon their woes whom Fortunecaptivates.
How ill beseeming is it in thy sexTo triumph, like an Amazonian trull,Upon their woes whom Fortunecaptivates.
How ill beseeming is it in thy sex
To triumph, like an Amazonian trull,
Upon their woes whom Fortunecaptivates.
Shakespeare,3 Henry VI.act i. sc. 4.
O tame my heart:It is thy highest artTocaptivatestrongholds to Thee.
O tame my heart:It is thy highest artTocaptivatestrongholds to Thee.
O tame my heart:It is thy highest artTocaptivatestrongholds to Thee.
O tame my heart:
It is thy highest art
Tocaptivatestrongholds to Thee.
Herbert,The Temple.
Now, full of diligence and attention; but once of anxiety.
The stretes of Sion mourn; her priests make lamentacions, her maydens arecarefull, and she herself is in great hevynesse.—Lament.i. 4.Coverdale.He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, ... and shall not becarefulin the year of drought.—Jer.xvii. 8. (A.V.)Pale as he is, here lay him down,Oh, lay his cold head on my pillow;Take off, take off, these bridal weeds,And crown mycarefulhead with willow.Hamilton,The Braes of Yarrow.This petition is a remedy against this wickedcarefulnessof men when they seek how to get their livings, in such wise like as if there was no God at all.—Latimer,Sermons, p. 400.
The stretes of Sion mourn; her priests make lamentacions, her maydens arecarefull, and she herself is in great hevynesse.—Lament.i. 4.Coverdale.
He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, ... and shall not becarefulin the year of drought.—Jer.xvii. 8. (A.V.)
Pale as he is, here lay him down,Oh, lay his cold head on my pillow;Take off, take off, these bridal weeds,And crown mycarefulhead with willow.
Pale as he is, here lay him down,Oh, lay his cold head on my pillow;Take off, take off, these bridal weeds,And crown mycarefulhead with willow.
Pale as he is, here lay him down,Oh, lay his cold head on my pillow;Take off, take off, these bridal weeds,And crown mycarefulhead with willow.
Pale as he is, here lay him down,
Oh, lay his cold head on my pillow;
Take off, take off, these bridal weeds,
And crown mycarefulhead with willow.
Hamilton,The Braes of Yarrow.
This petition is a remedy against this wickedcarefulnessof men when they seek how to get their livings, in such wise like as if there was no God at all.—Latimer,Sermons, p. 400.
Carp.ThePromptoriumgives ‘fabulor,’ ‘confabulor,’ ‘garrulo’ as Latin equivalents; nor do we anywhere before the sixteenth century find the subaudition of fault-finding or detraction, which now is ever implied in the word.
Ac tocarpemoore of Cryst, and how He come to that nameFaithly for to speke, his firste name of Iesus.Piers Plowman, B Passus, xix. 65 (Skeat).Now we leven the kyng, and of Josephcarpen.—Joseph of Arimathie, 212.So gone thei forthe,carpendefastOn this, on that.Gower,Confessio Amantis, 1.
Ac tocarpemoore of Cryst, and how He come to that nameFaithly for to speke, his firste name of Iesus.
Ac tocarpemoore of Cryst, and how He come to that nameFaithly for to speke, his firste name of Iesus.
Ac tocarpemoore of Cryst, and how He come to that nameFaithly for to speke, his firste name of Iesus.
Ac tocarpemoore of Cryst, and how He come to that name
Faithly for to speke, his firste name of Iesus.
Piers Plowman, B Passus, xix. 65 (Skeat).
Now we leven the kyng, and of Josephcarpen.—Joseph of Arimathie, 212.
So gone thei forthe,carpendefastOn this, on that.
So gone thei forthe,carpendefastOn this, on that.
So gone thei forthe,carpendefastOn this, on that.
So gone thei forthe,carpendefast
On this, on that.
Gower,Confessio Amantis, 1.
Carpet.The covering of floors only at present, but once of tables as well. It was in this sense that a matter was ‘on the carpet’ (i.e. of the council-table). For the etymology see N.E.D.
In the fray one of their spurs engaged into acarpetupon which stood a very fair looking-glass and two noble pieces of porcelain, drew all to the ground, broke the glass.—Harleian Miscellany, vol. x. p. 189.Private men’s halls were hung with altar-cloths; theirtablesand beds covered with copes, instead ofcarpetsand coverlets.—Fuller,Church History of Britain, b. vii. § 2, 1.And might not these [copes] be handsomely converted into private uses, to serve ascarpetsfor their tables, coverlids to their beds, or cushions to their chairs or windows?—Heylin,History of the Reformation, To the Reader.
In the fray one of their spurs engaged into acarpetupon which stood a very fair looking-glass and two noble pieces of porcelain, drew all to the ground, broke the glass.—Harleian Miscellany, vol. x. p. 189.
Private men’s halls were hung with altar-cloths; theirtablesand beds covered with copes, instead ofcarpetsand coverlets.—Fuller,Church History of Britain, b. vii. § 2, 1.
And might not these [copes] be handsomely converted into private uses, to serve ascarpetsfor their tables, coverlids to their beds, or cushions to their chairs or windows?—Heylin,History of the Reformation, To the Reader.
Carriage.Now, that which carries, or the act of carrying; but once, that which was carried, and thus baggage. From ignorance of this, the Authorized Translation, at Acts xxi. 15, has been often found fault with, but unjustly.
Spartacus charged his [Lentulus’] lieutenants that led the army, gave them battle, overthrew them, and took all theircarriage[τὴν ἀποσκευὴν ἅπασαν, LXX.].—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 470.And David left hiscarriage[τὰ σκεύη αὐτοῦ, LXX.] in the hand of the keeper of thecarriage.—1 Sam.xvii. 22 (A.V.)An index is a necessary implement, and no impediment of a book, except in the same sense in which thecarriagesof an army are termedimpedimenta.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Norfolk.
Spartacus charged his [Lentulus’] lieutenants that led the army, gave them battle, overthrew them, and took all theircarriage[τὴν ἀποσκευὴν ἅπασαν, LXX.].—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 470.
And David left hiscarriage[τὰ σκεύη αὐτοῦ, LXX.] in the hand of the keeper of thecarriage.—1 Sam.xvii. 22 (A.V.)
An index is a necessary implement, and no impediment of a book, except in the same sense in which thecarriagesof an army are termedimpedimenta.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Norfolk.
[Cattle.This and ‘chattel’ are only different forms of the same word. In Middle English as in Old French the formscatelandchatelare dialectal variants of the same Late Latin originalcapitale, theword in all its forms meaning simply capital, principal, property, substance, wealth. In the time of Chaucer and Wiclifcatelwas still used in the sense of wealth, substance generally, whereas now its equivalentcattleis only used to express property in living animals, the formchattelbeing reserved for non-living personal property. It may be here noted that we have in the wordfeeanother interesting instance of the intimate connexion between the ideas of property generally and of cattle (live stock). The wordfeemeans now a reward or payment in money, in Middle English it meant property in general, including money and live stock; the Old Englishfeoh, the phonetic equivalent of the Latinpecus, meant originally cattle, live stock; see Kluge, s.v.vieh.]
Though a man give al thecatelof his hous [omnemsubstantiam, domûs suæ, Vulg.] for love, he schal despise thatcatelas nought.—Cant.viii. 7.Wiclif.A womman that hadde a flux of blood twelve yeer, and hadde spendid all hircatel[omnemsubstantiamsuam, Vulg.] in leechis.—Lukeviii. 43, 44.Wiclif.The avarous man hath more hope in hiscatelthan in Jhesu Crist.—Chaucer,The Persones Tale(Morris, p. 330).
Though a man give al thecatelof his hous [omnemsubstantiam, domûs suæ, Vulg.] for love, he schal despise thatcatelas nought.—Cant.viii. 7.Wiclif.
A womman that hadde a flux of blood twelve yeer, and hadde spendid all hircatel[omnemsubstantiamsuam, Vulg.] in leechis.—Lukeviii. 43, 44.Wiclif.
The avarous man hath more hope in hiscatelthan in Jhesu Crist.—Chaucer,The Persones Tale(Morris, p. 330).
Censure.It speaks ill for the charity of men’s judgments, that ‘censure,’ which designated once favourable and unfavourable judgments alike, is now restricted to unfavourable; for it must be that the latter, being by far the most frequent, have in this way appropriated the word exclusively to themselves.
Take each man’scensure, but reserve thy judgment.Shakespeare,Hamlet, act i. sc. 3.His [Richard, Earl of Cornwall’s] voyage was variouslycensured; the Templars, who consented not to the peace,flouted thereat, as if all this while he had laboured about a difficult nothing; others thought he had abundantly satisfied any rational expectation.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iv. c. 8.Which could not be past over without thiscensure; for it is an ill thrift to be parsimonious in the praise of that which is very good.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 13.
Take each man’scensure, but reserve thy judgment.
Take each man’scensure, but reserve thy judgment.
Take each man’scensure, but reserve thy judgment.
Take each man’scensure, but reserve thy judgment.
Shakespeare,Hamlet, act i. sc. 3.
His [Richard, Earl of Cornwall’s] voyage was variouslycensured; the Templars, who consented not to the peace,flouted thereat, as if all this while he had laboured about a difficult nothing; others thought he had abundantly satisfied any rational expectation.—Fuller,Holy War, b. iv. c. 8.
Which could not be past over without thiscensure; for it is an ill thrift to be parsimonious in the praise of that which is very good.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, part ii. p. 13.
Chaffer.Once, simply to buy, to make a bargain, now to higgle or dispute about the making of a bargain.
That no man overgo, nethir disseyve his brothir inchaffaring[in negotio, Vulg.].—1 Thess.iv. 6.Wiclif.He comaundide his servauntis to be clepid, to whiche he hadde yive monei; to wite hou myche ech hadde wonne bichaffaryng.—Lukexix. 15.Wiclif.Where is the fayre flocke thou was wont to leade?Or bene theychaffred, or at mischiefe dead?Spenser,Shepherd’s Calendar, September.
That no man overgo, nethir disseyve his brothir inchaffaring[in negotio, Vulg.].—1 Thess.iv. 6.Wiclif.
He comaundide his servauntis to be clepid, to whiche he hadde yive monei; to wite hou myche ech hadde wonne bichaffaryng.—Lukexix. 15.Wiclif.
Where is the fayre flocke thou was wont to leade?Or bene theychaffred, or at mischiefe dead?
Where is the fayre flocke thou was wont to leade?Or bene theychaffred, or at mischiefe dead?
Where is the fayre flocke thou was wont to leade?Or bene theychaffred, or at mischiefe dead?
Where is the fayre flocke thou was wont to leade?
Or bene theychaffred, or at mischiefe dead?
Spenser,Shepherd’s Calendar, September.
Chaos.The earliest meaning of χάος in Greek, of ‘chaos’ in Latin, was empty infinite space, theyawningkingdom of darkness; only a secondary, that which we have now adopted, namely, the rude, confused, indigested, unorganized matter out of which the universe according to the heathen cosmogony was formed. But the primary use of ‘chaos’ was not strange to the scholars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Beside all these things, between us and you there is fixed a greatchaos, that they which will pass from hence to you may not.—Lukexvi. 26.Rheims.And look what other thing soever besides cometh within thechaosof this monster’s mouth, be it beast, boat, or stone, down it goeth incontinently that foul great swallow of his.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 975.To the brow of heavenPursuing, drive them out from God and blissInto their place of punishment, the gulfOf Tartarus, which ready opens wideHis fierychaosto receive their fall.Milton,Paradise Lost, vi. 51.
Beside all these things, between us and you there is fixed a greatchaos, that they which will pass from hence to you may not.—Lukexvi. 26.Rheims.
And look what other thing soever besides cometh within thechaosof this monster’s mouth, be it beast, boat, or stone, down it goeth incontinently that foul great swallow of his.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 975.
To the brow of heavenPursuing, drive them out from God and blissInto their place of punishment, the gulfOf Tartarus, which ready opens wideHis fierychaosto receive their fall.
To the brow of heavenPursuing, drive them out from God and blissInto their place of punishment, the gulfOf Tartarus, which ready opens wideHis fierychaosto receive their fall.
To the brow of heavenPursuing, drive them out from God and blissInto their place of punishment, the gulfOf Tartarus, which ready opens wideHis fierychaosto receive their fall.
To the brow of heaven
Pursuing, drive them out from God and bliss
Into their place of punishment, the gulf
Of Tartarus, which ready opens wide
His fierychaosto receive their fall.
Milton,Paradise Lost, vi. 51.
The steps by which ‘escheat’ has yielded ‘cheat,’ and ‘escheatour’ ‘cheater,’ are interesting to trace. The ‘escheatour’ was an officer in each county who took notice of fines and forfeitures technically called ‘escheats’ on the royal manors, which hadfallen into the Crown, and certified these to the Exchequer. But he had commonly such a reputation for fraud and extortion in the execution of his office, that by an only too natural transition the ‘escheatour’ passed into the ‘cheater,’ and ‘escheat’ into ‘cheat.’ The quotation from Gurnall is curious as marking the word in the very act of this transition.
And yet the taking off these vessels was not the best and goodliestcheatof their victory; but this passed all, that with one light skirmish they became lords of all the sea along those coasts.—Holland,Livy, p. 444.This man who otherwise beforetime was but poor and needy, by these windfalls and unexpectedcheatsbecame very wealthy.—Id.Plutarch’s Morals, p. 1237.Falstaff.Here’s another letter to her. She bears the purse too; she is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. I will becheatersto them both, and they shall be exchequers to me.—Shakespeare,Merry Wives of Windsor, act i. sc. 2.By this impudence they may abuse credulous souls into a belief of what they say, as acheatermay pick the purses of innocent people, by showing them something like the King’s broad seal, which was indeed his own forgery.—Gurnall,The Christian in Complete Armour, 1639, vol. ii. p. 201.
And yet the taking off these vessels was not the best and goodliestcheatof their victory; but this passed all, that with one light skirmish they became lords of all the sea along those coasts.—Holland,Livy, p. 444.
This man who otherwise beforetime was but poor and needy, by these windfalls and unexpectedcheatsbecame very wealthy.—Id.Plutarch’s Morals, p. 1237.
Falstaff.Here’s another letter to her. She bears the purse too; she is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. I will becheatersto them both, and they shall be exchequers to me.—Shakespeare,Merry Wives of Windsor, act i. sc. 2.
By this impudence they may abuse credulous souls into a belief of what they say, as acheatermay pick the purses of innocent people, by showing them something like the King’s broad seal, which was indeed his own forgery.—Gurnall,The Christian in Complete Armour, 1639, vol. ii. p. 201.
Cheer.Cicero, who loves to bring out superiorities, where he can find them, of the Latin language over the Greek, urges this as one, that the Greek has no equivalent to the Latin ‘vultus’ (Leg.i. 9, 27); the countenance, that is, ethically regarded, as the ever-varying index and exponent of the sentiments and emotions of the soul (‘imago animi vultus est,’De Orat.iii. 59, 221). Perhaps it may be charged on the English, that it too is now without such a word. But ‘cheer,’ in its earlier uses, of which vestiges still survive, was exactly such.
In swoot of thicheerthou schalt ete thi breed, till thou turne ayen in to the erthe of which thou art takun.—Gen.iii. 19.Wiclif.And Cayn was wrooth greetli, and hischeerfelde doun.—Gen.iv. 5.Wiclif.Each froward threateningcheerof fortune makes us plain;And every pleasant show revives our woful hearts again.Surrey,Ecclesiastes, c. 3.
In swoot of thicheerthou schalt ete thi breed, till thou turne ayen in to the erthe of which thou art takun.—Gen.iii. 19.Wiclif.
And Cayn was wrooth greetli, and hischeerfelde doun.—Gen.iv. 5.Wiclif.
Each froward threateningcheerof fortune makes us plain;And every pleasant show revives our woful hearts again.
Each froward threateningcheerof fortune makes us plain;And every pleasant show revives our woful hearts again.
Each froward threateningcheerof fortune makes us plain;And every pleasant show revives our woful hearts again.
Each froward threateningcheerof fortune makes us plain;
And every pleasant show revives our woful hearts again.
Surrey,Ecclesiastes, c. 3.
The distinction between the alchemist and the ‘chemist,’ that the first is the fond searcher after the philosopher’s stone or the elixir vitæ, the other the follower of a true and scientific method in a particular region of nature, is of comparatively recent introduction into the language. ‘Chemist’ is = ‘alchemist’ in the quotations which follow.
Five sorts of persones he [Sir Edward Coke] used to foredesign to misery and poverty;chemists, monopolizers, concealers,10promoters, and rythming poets.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Norfolk.I have observed generally ofchymistsand theosophists, as of several other men more palpably mad, that their thoughts are carried much to astrology.—H. More,A Brief Discourse of Enthusiasm, sect. 45.Visions and inspirations some expect,Their course here to direct;Like senselesschemiststheir own wealth destroy,Imaginary wealth to enjoy.Cowley,Use of Reason in Divine Matters.Hence the fool’s paradise, the statesman’s scheme,The air-built castle, and the golden dream,The maid’s romantic wish, thechemist’sflame,The poet’s vision of eternal fame.Pope,The Dunciad, b. iii. 9-12.He that followschemistrymust have riches to throw away upon the study of it; whatever he gets by it, those furnaces must be fed with gold.—South,Sermons, 1644, vol. ix. p. 277.
Five sorts of persones he [Sir Edward Coke] used to foredesign to misery and poverty;chemists, monopolizers, concealers,10promoters, and rythming poets.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Norfolk.
I have observed generally ofchymistsand theosophists, as of several other men more palpably mad, that their thoughts are carried much to astrology.—H. More,A Brief Discourse of Enthusiasm, sect. 45.
Visions and inspirations some expect,Their course here to direct;Like senselesschemiststheir own wealth destroy,Imaginary wealth to enjoy.
Visions and inspirations some expect,Their course here to direct;Like senselesschemiststheir own wealth destroy,Imaginary wealth to enjoy.
Visions and inspirations some expect,Their course here to direct;Like senselesschemiststheir own wealth destroy,Imaginary wealth to enjoy.
Visions and inspirations some expect,
Their course here to direct;
Like senselesschemiststheir own wealth destroy,
Imaginary wealth to enjoy.
Cowley,Use of Reason in Divine Matters.
Hence the fool’s paradise, the statesman’s scheme,The air-built castle, and the golden dream,The maid’s romantic wish, thechemist’sflame,The poet’s vision of eternal fame.
Hence the fool’s paradise, the statesman’s scheme,The air-built castle, and the golden dream,The maid’s romantic wish, thechemist’sflame,The poet’s vision of eternal fame.
Hence the fool’s paradise, the statesman’s scheme,The air-built castle, and the golden dream,The maid’s romantic wish, thechemist’sflame,The poet’s vision of eternal fame.
Hence the fool’s paradise, the statesman’s scheme,
The air-built castle, and the golden dream,
The maid’s romantic wish, thechemist’sflame,
The poet’s vision of eternal fame.
Pope,The Dunciad, b. iii. 9-12.
He that followschemistrymust have riches to throw away upon the study of it; whatever he gets by it, those furnaces must be fed with gold.—South,Sermons, 1644, vol. ix. p. 277.
Chest.I am not aware that ‘cista’ was ever used in the sense of a coffin, but ‘chest’ is continually so used in our early English; and ‘to chest,’ for to place in a coffin, occurs in the heading of a chapter in our Bibles,Gen.l. 26: ‘He [Joseph] dieth, and ischested.’
He is now deed and nayled in hischest.Chaucer,The Clerkes Prologue.Your body is now wrapt inchest,I pray to God to give your soul good rest.Hawes,Pastime of Pleasure, cap. 14.
He is now deed and nayled in hischest.
He is now deed and nayled in hischest.
He is now deed and nayled in hischest.
He is now deed and nayled in hischest.
Chaucer,The Clerkes Prologue.
Your body is now wrapt inchest,I pray to God to give your soul good rest.
Your body is now wrapt inchest,I pray to God to give your soul good rest.
Your body is now wrapt inchest,I pray to God to give your soul good rest.
Your body is now wrapt inchest,
I pray to God to give your soul good rest.
Hawes,Pastime of Pleasure, cap. 14.
Chimney.This, which means now the gorge or vent of a furnace or fire, was once in frequent use for the furnace itself: in this more true to its origin; being derived from the Greek κάμινος, a furnace, as it passed into the Latin ‘caminus,’ whence the Late Latincaminata, a room with a stove, the French ‘cheminée.’ The fact that it is the ‘chimney,’ in the modern use of theword, which, creating a draught, alone gives activity or fierceness to the flame, probably explains the present limitation of the meaning of the word. In Scotland ‘chimney’ still is, or lately was, ‘the grate, or iron frame that holds the fire’ (Scoticisms, Edinburgh, 1787).
And hise feet [were] lijk to latoun as in a brennyngechymney.—Rev.i. 15.Wiclif.The Son of Man shall send his angels, and shall gather all hindrances out of his kingdom and all that worketh unlawfulness, and shall cast them into thechimneyof fire.—Matt.xiii. 50. SirJohn Cheke.
And hise feet [were] lijk to latoun as in a brennyngechymney.—Rev.i. 15.Wiclif.
The Son of Man shall send his angels, and shall gather all hindrances out of his kingdom and all that worketh unlawfulness, and shall cast them into thechimneyof fire.—Matt.xiii. 50. SirJohn Cheke.
Chivalry.It is a striking evidence of the extent to which in the feudal times the men-at-arms, the mounted knights, were esteemed as the army, while the footmen were regarded as little better than a supernumerary rabble,—another record of this contempt probably surviving at the other end in the word ‘infantry,’—that ‘chivalry,’ which of course is but a doublet of ‘cavalry,’ could once be used as convertible with army. It needed more than one Agincourt to teach that this was so no longer. ‘Knighthood’ in like manner is continually used by Wiclif as a rendering of ‘exercitus;’ thus Gen. xxi. 33.
Abymalach forsothe aroos, and Phicol, the prince of hischyvalrye[princepsexercitûsejus, Vulg.], and turneden ayen into the loond of Palestynes.—Gen.xxi. 33.Wiclif.Sobach, the prynce ofchyvalrye[principemmilitiæ].—2 Kingsx. 18.Wiclif.
Abymalach forsothe aroos, and Phicol, the prince of hischyvalrye[princepsexercitûsejus, Vulg.], and turneden ayen into the loond of Palestynes.—Gen.xxi. 33.Wiclif.
Sobach, the prynce ofchyvalrye[principemmilitiæ].—2 Kingsx. 18.Wiclif.
Chouse.The history of the introduction of this word into the popular, or at all events the schoolboy, language of England, and the quarter from whence derived, are now sufficiently well known. A ‘chiaus,’or interpreter, attached to the Turkish Embassy, in 1609 succeeded in defrauding the Turkish and Persian merchants resident in England of 4,000l.From the vast dimensions of the fraud, vast, that is, as men counted fraudulent vastness then, and the notoriety it acquired, a ‘chiaus’ (presently spelt ‘chouse’ to look more English) became equivalent to a swindler, and somewhat later to the act of swindling.11It is curious that a correspondent of Skinner (Etymologicon, 1671), though quite ignorant of this story, suggests a connexion between ‘chouse’ and the Turkish ‘chiaus.’ The quotation from Ben Jonson gives us the word in its passage from the old meaning to the new; while the ‘errant chouse’ in Butler’sHudibras, iii. 1, 1249, is rather the cheated than the cheater.
About this time the Turks proposed at the instigation of the French ambassador to send achiausinto France, England, and Holland, to acquaint those princes with the advancement of Sultan Solyman to the throne.—Rycaut,History of the Turks, vol. iii. p. 261.Dapper.What do you think of me,That I am achiaus?Face.What’s that?Dapper.The Turk was here;As one would say, do you think I am a Turk?Ben Jonson,The Alchemist, act i. sc. 1.
About this time the Turks proposed at the instigation of the French ambassador to send achiausinto France, England, and Holland, to acquaint those princes with the advancement of Sultan Solyman to the throne.—Rycaut,History of the Turks, vol. iii. p. 261.
Dapper.What do you think of me,That I am achiaus?Face.What’s that?Dapper.The Turk was here;As one would say, do you think I am a Turk?
Dapper.What do you think of me,That I am achiaus?Face.What’s that?Dapper.The Turk was here;As one would say, do you think I am a Turk?
Dapper.What do you think of me,That I am achiaus?
Dapper.What do you think of me,
That I am achiaus?
Face.What’s that?
Face.What’s that?
Dapper.The Turk was here;As one would say, do you think I am a Turk?
Dapper.The Turk was here;
As one would say, do you think I am a Turk?
Ben Jonson,The Alchemist, act i. sc. 1.
By ‘Christendom’ we now understand that portion of the world which makes profession of the faith of Christ, as contradistinguished from all heathen and Mahomedan lands. But it was often used by our early writers asitself the profession of Christ’s faith, or sometimes for baptism, inasmuch as in that this profession was made; which is also the explanation of the use of ‘christen’ as equivalent to ‘christianize’ below. In Shakespeare our present use of ‘Christendom’ very much predominates, but once or twice he uses it in its earlier sense, as do authors much later than he.
Most part of England in the reigne of King Ethelbert waschristened, Kent onely except, which remayned long after in mysbeliefe andunchristened.—E. K.,Glossary to Spenser’s Shepherd’s Calendar, September.12Sothli we ben togidere biried with him bichristendom[per baptismum, Vulg.] in to death.—Rom.vi. 4.Wiclif(earlier version).He that might have his body wrapped in one of their old coats at the houre of death, it were as good to him as hischristendom.—Tyndale,Exposition upon Matthew VI.They all do come to him with friendly face,When of hischristendomthey understand.SirJ. Harington,Orlando Furioso, b. xliii. c. 189.The draughts of intemperance would wash off the water of mychristendom; every unclean lust does as it were bemire and wipe out my contract with my Lord.—Allestree,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 161.
Most part of England in the reigne of King Ethelbert waschristened, Kent onely except, which remayned long after in mysbeliefe andunchristened.—E. K.,Glossary to Spenser’s Shepherd’s Calendar, September.12
Sothli we ben togidere biried with him bichristendom[per baptismum, Vulg.] in to death.—Rom.vi. 4.Wiclif(earlier version).
He that might have his body wrapped in one of their old coats at the houre of death, it were as good to him as hischristendom.—Tyndale,Exposition upon Matthew VI.
They all do come to him with friendly face,When of hischristendomthey understand.
They all do come to him with friendly face,When of hischristendomthey understand.
They all do come to him with friendly face,When of hischristendomthey understand.
They all do come to him with friendly face,
When of hischristendomthey understand.
SirJ. Harington,Orlando Furioso, b. xliii. c. 189.
The draughts of intemperance would wash off the water of mychristendom; every unclean lust does as it were bemire and wipe out my contract with my Lord.—Allestree,Sermons, vol. ii. p. 161.
Church.Our Translators are often taxed with an oversight in that they have allowed ‘robbers ofchurches’ to remain atActsxix. 37, as the rendering of ἱεροσύλους, sounding, as this does, like an anachronism on the lips of the town-clerk of Ephesus. Doubtless ‘spoilers oftemples,’ or some such phrase, would have been preferable; yet was there not any oversight here.The title of ‘church,’ which we with a fit reverence restrain to a Christian place of worship, was in earlier English not refused to the Jewish, or, as in that place, even to a heathen, temple as well.
And, lo, the veil of thechurchwas torn in two parts from the top downwards.—Matt.xxvii. 51. SirJohn Cheke.To all the gods devoutly she did offer frankincense,But most above them all thechurchof Juno she did cense.Golding,Ovid’s Metamorphosis, b. xi.These troops should soon pull down thechurchof Jove.Marlowe,First Book of Lucan.
And, lo, the veil of thechurchwas torn in two parts from the top downwards.—Matt.xxvii. 51. SirJohn Cheke.
To all the gods devoutly she did offer frankincense,But most above them all thechurchof Juno she did cense.
To all the gods devoutly she did offer frankincense,But most above them all thechurchof Juno she did cense.
To all the gods devoutly she did offer frankincense,But most above them all thechurchof Juno she did cense.
To all the gods devoutly she did offer frankincense,
But most above them all thechurchof Juno she did cense.
Golding,Ovid’s Metamorphosis, b. xi.
These troops should soon pull down thechurchof Jove.
These troops should soon pull down thechurchof Jove.
These troops should soon pull down thechurchof Jove.
These troops should soon pull down thechurchof Jove.
Marlowe,First Book of Lucan.
The tendency which there is in the meaning of words to run to the surface, till they lose and leave behind all their deeper significance, is well exemplified in ‘civil’ and ‘civility’—words of how deep an import once, how slight and shallow now. Acivilman now is one observant of slight external courtesies in the intercourse of society; acivilman once was one who fulfilled all the duties and obligations flowing from his position as a ‘civis,’ and his relations to the other members of that ‘civitas’ to which he belonged, and ‘civility’ the condition in which those were recognized and observed. The gradual departure of all deeper significance from ‘civility’ has obliged the creation of another word, ‘civilization,’ which only came up toward the conclusion of the last century. Johnson does not know it in his Dictionary, except as a technical legal term to express the turning of a criminal process into a civil one; and, according to Boswell, altogether disallowed it in the sense which it has now acquired. A ‘civilian’ in the language of the Puritandivines was one who, despising the righteousness of Christ, did yet follow after a certain civil righteousness, a ‘justitia civilis’ of his own.
That wise andcivilRoman, Julius Agricola, preferred the natural wits of Britain before the laboured studies of the French.—Milton,Areopagitica.As for the Scythian wandering Nomades, temples sorted not with their condition, as wanting bothcivilityand settledness.—Fuller,The Holy State, b. iii. c. 24.Then were the Roman fashions imitated and the gown; after a while the incitements also and materials of vice and voluptuous life, proud buildings, baths, and the elegance of banquetings; which the foolisher sort calledcivility, but was indeed a secret art to prepare them for bondage.—Milton,History of England, b. ii.Let us remember also thatcivilityand fair customs were but in a narrow circle till the Greeks and Romans beat the world into better manners.—BishopTaylor,Ductor Dubitantium, b. ii. c. 1, § 19.The last step in this [spiritual] death is the death ofcivility.Civilmen come nearer the saints of God than others, they come within a step or two of heaven, and yet are shut out.—Preston,Of Spiritual Death and Life, 1636, p. 59.I proceed to the second, that is to the mere naturalist orcivilian; by whom I mean such an one as lives upon dregs, the very reliques and ruins of the image of God decayed.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 104.
That wise andcivilRoman, Julius Agricola, preferred the natural wits of Britain before the laboured studies of the French.—Milton,Areopagitica.
As for the Scythian wandering Nomades, temples sorted not with their condition, as wanting bothcivilityand settledness.—Fuller,The Holy State, b. iii. c. 24.
Then were the Roman fashions imitated and the gown; after a while the incitements also and materials of vice and voluptuous life, proud buildings, baths, and the elegance of banquetings; which the foolisher sort calledcivility, but was indeed a secret art to prepare them for bondage.—Milton,History of England, b. ii.
Let us remember also thatcivilityand fair customs were but in a narrow circle till the Greeks and Romans beat the world into better manners.—BishopTaylor,Ductor Dubitantium, b. ii. c. 1, § 19.
The last step in this [spiritual] death is the death ofcivility.Civilmen come nearer the saints of God than others, they come within a step or two of heaven, and yet are shut out.—Preston,Of Spiritual Death and Life, 1636, p. 59.
I proceed to the second, that is to the mere naturalist orcivilian; by whom I mean such an one as lives upon dregs, the very reliques and ruins of the image of God decayed.—Rogers,Naaman the Syrian, p. 104.
Clergy.[The use ofclergyin the abstract for learning is quite obsolete. Strictly speaking, it is not the same word asclergy, the collective name for the ministers of God.Clergy(learning) represents Old Frenchclergie, whereasclergy(ministers) is due to Old Frenchclergié(nowclergé) = Late Latinclericatum.]
Ne alle the clerkes that ever had witteSen the world bigan, ne that lyfes yit,Couth never telle biclergyne arteOf these payns of helle the thousand parte.Richard Rolle de Hampole,Pricke of Conscience, 4832.Was not Aristotle, for all hisclergy,For a woman wrapt in love so marvellouslyThat all his cunning he had soon forgotten?Hawes,Pastime of Pleasure.Also that every of the said landlords put their second sons to learn someclergy, or some craft, whereby they may live honestly.—State Papers, State of Ireland, 1515, vol. ii. p. 30.
Ne alle the clerkes that ever had witteSen the world bigan, ne that lyfes yit,Couth never telle biclergyne arteOf these payns of helle the thousand parte.
Ne alle the clerkes that ever had witteSen the world bigan, ne that lyfes yit,Couth never telle biclergyne arteOf these payns of helle the thousand parte.
Ne alle the clerkes that ever had witteSen the world bigan, ne that lyfes yit,Couth never telle biclergyne arteOf these payns of helle the thousand parte.
Ne alle the clerkes that ever had witte
Sen the world bigan, ne that lyfes yit,
Couth never telle biclergyne arte
Of these payns of helle the thousand parte.
Richard Rolle de Hampole,Pricke of Conscience, 4832.
Was not Aristotle, for all hisclergy,For a woman wrapt in love so marvellouslyThat all his cunning he had soon forgotten?
Was not Aristotle, for all hisclergy,For a woman wrapt in love so marvellouslyThat all his cunning he had soon forgotten?
Was not Aristotle, for all hisclergy,For a woman wrapt in love so marvellouslyThat all his cunning he had soon forgotten?
Was not Aristotle, for all hisclergy,
For a woman wrapt in love so marvellously
That all his cunning he had soon forgotten?
Hawes,Pastime of Pleasure.
Also that every of the said landlords put their second sons to learn someclergy, or some craft, whereby they may live honestly.—State Papers, State of Ireland, 1515, vol. ii. p. 30.
Climate.At present the temperature of a region, but once the region itself, the region, however, contemplated in itsslopeorinclinationfrom the equator toward the pole, and therefore, by involved consequence, in respect of its temperature; which circumstance is the point of contact between the present meaning of ‘climate’ and the past. We have derived the word from the mathematical geographers of antiquity. They were wont to run imaginary parallel lines, or such at least as they intended should be parallel, to the equator; and the successive ‘climates’ (κλίματα) of the earth were the spaces and regions between these lines. See Holland’sPliny, vol. i. p. 150.
The superficialtee of the erthe is departed in 7 parties for the 7 planetes, and tho parties ben cleptclymates.—Mandeville, p. 186.The longitude of aclymatys a lyne ymagined fro est to west, illike distant by-twene them alle.—Chaucer,Treatise on the Astrolabe, 2, 39, 17 (Skeat,E.E.T.S.xvi).Almost fiveclimateshenceward to the south,Between the mainland and the ocean’s mouthTwo islands lie.The Funerals of King Edward VI.When these prodigiesDo so conjointly meet, let not men say,‘These are their causes—they are natural;’For, I believe, they are portentous thingsUnto theclimatethat they point upon.Shakespeare,Julius Cæsar, act i. sc. 3.Thisclimateof Gaul [hanc Galliarumplagam] is enclosed on every side with fences that environ it naturally.—Holland,Ammianus, p. 47.Climate, a portion of the earth contained between two circles parallel to the equator.—Phillips,New World of Words.
The superficialtee of the erthe is departed in 7 parties for the 7 planetes, and tho parties ben cleptclymates.—Mandeville, p. 186.
The longitude of aclymatys a lyne ymagined fro est to west, illike distant by-twene them alle.—Chaucer,Treatise on the Astrolabe, 2, 39, 17 (Skeat,E.E.T.S.xvi).
Almost fiveclimateshenceward to the south,Between the mainland and the ocean’s mouthTwo islands lie.
Almost fiveclimateshenceward to the south,Between the mainland and the ocean’s mouthTwo islands lie.
Almost fiveclimateshenceward to the south,Between the mainland and the ocean’s mouthTwo islands lie.
Almost fiveclimateshenceward to the south,
Between the mainland and the ocean’s mouth
Two islands lie.
The Funerals of King Edward VI.
When these prodigiesDo so conjointly meet, let not men say,‘These are their causes—they are natural;’For, I believe, they are portentous thingsUnto theclimatethat they point upon.
When these prodigiesDo so conjointly meet, let not men say,‘These are their causes—they are natural;’For, I believe, they are portentous thingsUnto theclimatethat they point upon.
When these prodigiesDo so conjointly meet, let not men say,‘These are their causes—they are natural;’For, I believe, they are portentous thingsUnto theclimatethat they point upon.
When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say,
‘These are their causes—they are natural;’
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Unto theclimatethat they point upon.
Shakespeare,Julius Cæsar, act i. sc. 3.
Thisclimateof Gaul [hanc Galliarumplagam] is enclosed on every side with fences that environ it naturally.—Holland,Ammianus, p. 47.
Climate, a portion of the earth contained between two circles parallel to the equator.—Phillips,New World of Words.
Clumsy.Although of no very frequent use in our early literature (it does not once occur in Shakespeare), this word cannot be said to be very rare; and where it occurs, it is in a sense going before its present, namely, in that of stiff, rigid, contracted with cold. It is familiar to all how ‘clumsy,’ in our modern use of the word, the fingers are when in this condition, and thus it is easy to trace the growing of the modern meaning out of the old. On its probable etymology see Mätzner’s Dictionary (s. v.clumsen).
Rigido: Starke, stiffe, or num through cold,clumzie.—Florio,New World of Words(A.D.1611).Havi de froid: Stiffe,clumpse, benummed.—Cotgrave,A French and English Dictionary.The Carthaginians followed the enemies in chase as far as Trebia, and there gave over; and returned into the camp soclumsyand frozen [itatorpentes gelu] as scarcely they felt the joy of their victory.—Holland,Livy, p. 425.This bloome of budding beauty loves not to be handled by such nummed and soclomsiehands.—Florio,Montaigne’s Essays, b. iii. c. 5, p. 536 (ed. 1603).
Rigido: Starke, stiffe, or num through cold,clumzie.—Florio,New World of Words(A.D.1611).
Havi de froid: Stiffe,clumpse, benummed.—Cotgrave,A French and English Dictionary.
The Carthaginians followed the enemies in chase as far as Trebia, and there gave over; and returned into the camp soclumsyand frozen [itatorpentes gelu] as scarcely they felt the joy of their victory.—Holland,Livy, p. 425.
This bloome of budding beauty loves not to be handled by such nummed and soclomsiehands.—Florio,Montaigne’s Essays, b. iii. c. 5, p. 536 (ed. 1603).
Coffin.The Greek κόφινος, the Latin ‘cophinus,’ is not in our early English, exclusively a funeral chest for the dead, but as often used of any basket or maund.
And that that lefte to hem of brokun metis was takun up, twelvecofyns.—Lukeix. 17.Wiclif.Tibin, a baskette orcoffynmade of wyckers or bull-rushes, or barke of a tree; such oone was Moyses put in to by the daughter of Pharao.—SirT. Elyot, quoted in Way’sPromptorium, p. 85.
And that that lefte to hem of brokun metis was takun up, twelvecofyns.—Lukeix. 17.Wiclif.
Tibin, a baskette orcoffynmade of wyckers or bull-rushes, or barke of a tree; such oone was Moyses put in to by the daughter of Pharao.—SirT. Elyot, quoted in Way’sPromptorium, p. 85.
The verb ‘comfortare,’ not found in classical Latin, but so frequent in the Vulgate, is first, as is plain from the ‘fortis’ which it embodies, to make strong, to corroborate, and only in a secondary sense, to console. We often find it in our early literature employed in that its proper sense. In the truce between England and Scotland, in the reign of Richard III., it is provided that neither of the kings shall maintain, favour, aid, orcomfortany rebel or traitor (Hall,Richard III.).
And the child wexide, and wascoumfortid[confortabatur Vulg.] in spirit.—Lukei. 80.Wiclif.And there appered an angell unto Hym from heven,confortyngeHym [ἐνισχύων αὐτόν].—Lukexxii. 43.Tyndale.Ocomfortablefriar! where is my lord?—Shakespeare,Romeo, act v. sc. 3.
And the child wexide, and wascoumfortid[confortabatur Vulg.] in spirit.—Lukei. 80.Wiclif.
And there appered an angell unto Hym from heven,confortyngeHym [ἐνισχύων αὐτόν].—Lukexxii. 43.Tyndale.
Ocomfortablefriar! where is my lord?—Shakespeare,Romeo, act v. sc. 3.
Common sense.The manner is very curious in which the logical, metaphysical, and theological speculations, to which the busy world is indifferent, or from which it is entirely averse, do yet in their results descend to it, and are adopted by it; while it remains quite unconscious of the source from which they spring, and counts that it has created them for itself and outof its own resources. Thus, many would wonder if asked the parentage of this phrase ‘common sense,’ would count it the most natural thing in the world that such a phrase should have been formed, that it demanded no ingenuity to form it, that the uses to which it is now put are the same which it has served from the first. Indeed, neither Reid, Beattie, nor Stewart seems to have assumed anything else. But in truth this phrase, ‘common sense,’ meant once something very different from that plain wisdom, the common heritage of men, which now we call by this name; having been bequeathed to us by a very complex theory of the senses, and of asensewhich was thecommonbond of them all, and which passed its verdicts on the reports which they severally made to it. This theory of κοινὸς νοῦς, familiar to the Greek metaphysicians (see Cicero,Tusc. Quæst.i. 20), is sufficiently explained by the interesting quotations from Henry More and Burton. In Hawes’Pastime of Pleasure(cap. 24) the relation between the ‘common wit’ and the ‘five wits’ is at large set forth. For an interesting history of the phrase, see Sir William Hamilton’s edition of Reid’sWorks, appendix A, especially pp. 757, &c.; and for some classical uses of it Horace,Sat.i. 3. 65; Juvenal, 8. 73; Seneca,Ep.5. 3; 105. 4;De Benef.i. 12. 3; Quintilian, i. 2. 20.
The senses receive indifferently, without discretion and judgement, white and black, sweet and sour, soft and hard; for their office is only to admit their several objects, and to carry and refer the judgement thereof to thecommon sense.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 732.But for fear to exceed the commission of an historian (who with the outward senses may only bring in the species,and barely relate facts, not with thecommon sensepass verdict or censure on them), I would say they had better have built in some other place, especially having room enough besides, and left this floor, where the Temple stood, alone in her desolations.—Fuller,Holy War, b. i. c. 4.That there is some particular or restrained seat of thecommon senseis an opinion that even all philosophers and physicians are agreed upon. And it is an ordinary comparison amongst them, that the external senses and thecommon senseconsidered together are like a circle with five lines drawn from the circumference to the centre. Wherefore, as it has been obvious for them to find out particular organs for the external senses, so they have also attempted to assign some distinct part of the body to be an organ of thecommon sense; that is to say, as they discovered sight to be seated in the eye, hearing in the ear, smelling in the nose, &c., so they conceived that there is some part of the body wherein seeing, hearing, and all other perceptions meet together, as the lines of a circle in the centre, and that there the soul does also judge and discern of the difference of the objects of the outward senses.—H. More,Immortality of the Soul, b. iii. c. 13.Inner senses are three in number, so called because they be within the brain-pan, ascommon sense, phantasy, memory. Their objects are not only things present, but they perceive the sensible species of things to come, past, absent, such as were before in the sense. Thiscommon senseis the judge or moderator of the rest, by whom we discern all differences of objects; for by mine eye I do not know that I see, or by mine ear that I hear, but by mycommon sense, who judgeth of sounds and colours; they are but the organs to bring the species to be censured; so that all their objects are his, and all the offices are his. The fore part of the brain is his organ or seat.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2.
The senses receive indifferently, without discretion and judgement, white and black, sweet and sour, soft and hard; for their office is only to admit their several objects, and to carry and refer the judgement thereof to thecommon sense.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 732.
But for fear to exceed the commission of an historian (who with the outward senses may only bring in the species,and barely relate facts, not with thecommon sensepass verdict or censure on them), I would say they had better have built in some other place, especially having room enough besides, and left this floor, where the Temple stood, alone in her desolations.—Fuller,Holy War, b. i. c. 4.
That there is some particular or restrained seat of thecommon senseis an opinion that even all philosophers and physicians are agreed upon. And it is an ordinary comparison amongst them, that the external senses and thecommon senseconsidered together are like a circle with five lines drawn from the circumference to the centre. Wherefore, as it has been obvious for them to find out particular organs for the external senses, so they have also attempted to assign some distinct part of the body to be an organ of thecommon sense; that is to say, as they discovered sight to be seated in the eye, hearing in the ear, smelling in the nose, &c., so they conceived that there is some part of the body wherein seeing, hearing, and all other perceptions meet together, as the lines of a circle in the centre, and that there the soul does also judge and discern of the difference of the objects of the outward senses.—H. More,Immortality of the Soul, b. iii. c. 13.
Inner senses are three in number, so called because they be within the brain-pan, ascommon sense, phantasy, memory. Their objects are not only things present, but they perceive the sensible species of things to come, past, absent, such as were before in the sense. Thiscommon senseis the judge or moderator of the rest, by whom we discern all differences of objects; for by mine eye I do not know that I see, or by mine ear that I hear, but by mycommon sense, who judgeth of sounds and colours; they are but the organs to bring the species to be censured; so that all their objects are his, and all the offices are his. The fore part of the brain is his organ or seat.—Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2.
Companion.This had once the same contemptuous use which its synonym ‘fellow’ still retains (for a curious use of this see2 Pet.ii. 14, Geneva Version), and which ‘gadeling,’ a word of the samemeaning, had, so long as it survived in the language. Clarendon speaks of the Privy Council as at one time composed of upstarts, factious, indigentcompanions(b. iv.). The notion originally involved in companionship, or accompaniment, would appear to have been rather that of inferiority than of equality. A companion was an attendant.