Chapter 9

Wherefore God hathdetestedthem with his own mouth, and clean given them over unto their own filthy lusts.—Bale,The Image of both Churches, c. 11.She cast herself upon him [her dead husband], and with fearful criesdetestedthe governor’s inhuman and cruel deceit.—Grimeston,History of Lewis XI., 1614, p. 228.Satyrs were certain poems,detestingand reproving the misdemeanours of people and their vices.—Holland,Explanation of certain obscure words.E’en to viceThey [women] are not constant, but are changing stillOne vice but of a minute old, for oneNot half so old as that. I’ll write against them,Detestthem, curse them.Shakespeare,Cymbeline, act ii. sc. 5.

Wherefore God hathdetestedthem with his own mouth, and clean given them over unto their own filthy lusts.—Bale,The Image of both Churches, c. 11.

She cast herself upon him [her dead husband], and with fearful criesdetestedthe governor’s inhuman and cruel deceit.—Grimeston,History of Lewis XI., 1614, p. 228.

Satyrs were certain poems,detestingand reproving the misdemeanours of people and their vices.—Holland,Explanation of certain obscure words.

E’en to viceThey [women] are not constant, but are changing stillOne vice but of a minute old, for oneNot half so old as that. I’ll write against them,Detestthem, curse them.

E’en to vice

They [women] are not constant, but are changing still

One vice but of a minute old, for one

Not half so old as that. I’ll write against them,

Detestthem, curse them.

Shakespeare,Cymbeline, act ii. sc. 5.

Diamond.This, or ‘diamant’ as it used to be spelt, is a popular form of ‘adamant.’ The Greek ἀδάμας, originally used of the hardest steel, was, about the time of Theophrastus, and, so far as we know, first in his writings, transferred to the diamond, as itself also of a hardness not to be subdued; the cutting or polishing of this stone being quite a modern invention; and the Latin ‘adamas’ continued through the Middle Ages to bear this double meaning. But if ‘adamant’ meant diamond, then ‘diamond,’ by a reactive process frequent in language, would be employed for adamant as well. So far as I know, Milton is the last writer who so uses it.

Have harte as hard asdiamaunt,Stedfast, and nauht pliaunt.Romaunt of the Rose.This little care and regard did at length melt and break asunder those strongdiamondchains with which Dionysiusthe elder made his boast that he left his tyranny chained to his son.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, 1656, p. 800.But wordes and lookes and sighes she did abhore,As rock ofdiamondstedfast evermore.Spenser,Fairy Queen, i. 6. 4.Prince Arthur gave a boxe ofdiamondsure.Spenser, ib. i. 9. 19.Zeal, whose substance is ethereal, arming in completediamond, ascends his fiery chariot drawn with two blazing meteors, figured like beasts, but of a higher breed than any the zodiack yields, resembling two of those four, which Ezekiel and St. John saw, the one visaged like a lion to express power, high authority, and indignation; the other of countenance like a man to cast derision and scorn upon perverse and fraudulent seducers; with these the invincible warrior Zeal shaking loosely the slack reins drives over the heads of scarlet prelates, and such as are insolent to maintain traditions, bruising their stiff necks under his flaming wheels.—Milton,Defence of Smectymnuus.On each wingUriel and Raphaël his vaunting foe,Though huge and in a rock ofdiamondarmed,Vanquished, Adramelech and Asmodai.Id.,Paradise Lost, vi. 363.

Have harte as hard asdiamaunt,Stedfast, and nauht pliaunt.

Have harte as hard asdiamaunt,

Stedfast, and nauht pliaunt.

Romaunt of the Rose.

This little care and regard did at length melt and break asunder those strongdiamondchains with which Dionysiusthe elder made his boast that he left his tyranny chained to his son.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, 1656, p. 800.

But wordes and lookes and sighes she did abhore,As rock ofdiamondstedfast evermore.

But wordes and lookes and sighes she did abhore,

As rock ofdiamondstedfast evermore.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, i. 6. 4.

Prince Arthur gave a boxe ofdiamondsure.

Spenser, ib. i. 9. 19.

Zeal, whose substance is ethereal, arming in completediamond, ascends his fiery chariot drawn with two blazing meteors, figured like beasts, but of a higher breed than any the zodiack yields, resembling two of those four, which Ezekiel and St. John saw, the one visaged like a lion to express power, high authority, and indignation; the other of countenance like a man to cast derision and scorn upon perverse and fraudulent seducers; with these the invincible warrior Zeal shaking loosely the slack reins drives over the heads of scarlet prelates, and such as are insolent to maintain traditions, bruising their stiff necks under his flaming wheels.—Milton,Defence of Smectymnuus.

On each wingUriel and Raphaël his vaunting foe,Though huge and in a rock ofdiamondarmed,Vanquished, Adramelech and Asmodai.

On each wing

Uriel and Raphaël his vaunting foe,

Though huge and in a rock ofdiamondarmed,

Vanquished, Adramelech and Asmodai.

Id.,Paradise Lost, vi. 363.

‘Diffidence’ expresses now a not unbecoming distrust of one’s own self, with only a slight intimation, such as ‘verecundia’ obtained in the silver age of Latin literature, that perhaps this distrust is carried too far; but it was once used for distrust of others, and sometimes for distrust pushed so far as to amount to an entire withholding of all faith from them, being nearly allied to despair; as indeed inThe Pilgrim’s ProgressMistress Diffidence is Giant Despair’s wife.

Of the impediments which have been in the affections, the principal whereof hath been despair ordiffidence, andthe strong apprehension of the difficulty, obscurity, and infiniteness, which belongeth to the invention of knowledge.—Bacon,Of the Interpretation of Nature, c. 19.Every sin smiles in the first address, and carries light in the face, and honey in the lip; but when we have well drunk, then comes that which is worse, a whip with ten strings, fears and terrors of conscience, and shame and displeasure, and a caitiff disposition, anddiffidencein the day of death.—BishopTaylor,Life of Christ.That affliction grew heavy upon me, and weighed me down even to adiffidenceof God’s mercy.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, vol. i. p. 311.Mediators were not wanting that endeavoured a renewing of friendship between these two prelates, which the haughtiness, or perhaps thediffidenceof Bishop Laud would not accept; a symptom of policy more than of grace, not to trust a reconciled enemy.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, pt. ii. p. 86.It was far the best course to standdiffidentlyagainst each other, with their thoughts in battle array.—Hobbes,Thucydides, b. iii. c. 83.

Every sin smiles in the first address, and carries light in the face, and honey in the lip; but when we have well drunk, then comes that which is worse, a whip with ten strings, fears and terrors of conscience, and shame and displeasure, and a caitiff disposition, anddiffidencein the day of death.—BishopTaylor,Life of Christ.

That affliction grew heavy upon me, and weighed me down even to adiffidenceof God’s mercy.—Donne,Sermons, 1640, vol. i. p. 311.

Mediators were not wanting that endeavoured a renewing of friendship between these two prelates, which the haughtiness, or perhaps thediffidenceof Bishop Laud would not accept; a symptom of policy more than of grace, not to trust a reconciled enemy.—Hacket,Life of Archbishop Williams, pt. ii. p. 86.

It was far the best course to standdiffidentlyagainst each other, with their thoughts in battle array.—Hobbes,Thucydides, b. iii. c. 83.

Digest.Scholars of the seventeenth century often employ a word of their own language in the same latitude which its equivalent possessed in the Greek or the Latin; as though it entered into all the rights of its equivalent, and corresponded with it on all points, because it corresponded in one. Thus ‘coctus’ meaning ‘digested,’ why should not ‘digested’ mean all which ‘coctus’ meant? but one of the meanings of ‘coctus’ is ‘ripened;’ ‘digested’ therefore might be employed in the same sense.

Repentance is like the sun; it produces rich spices in Arabia, itdigeststhe American gold, and melts the snows from the Riphæan mountains.—BishopTaylor,Doctrine and Practice of Repentance, ch. 10, § 8.Splendid fires, aromatic spices, rich wines, and well-digestedfruits.—Id.,Discourse of Friendship.

Splendid fires, aromatic spices, rich wines, and well-digestedfruits.—Id.,Discourse of Friendship.

Disable.Our ancestors felt that to injure the character of another was the most effectual way of disabling him; and out of a sense of this they often used ‘to disable’ in the sense of to disparage, to speak slightingly of.

Farewell, mounsieur traveller. Look, you lisp, and wear strange suits:disableall the benefits of your own country.—Shakespeare,As You Like It, act. iv. sc. 1.If affection lead a man to favour the less worthy in desert, let him do it without depraving ordisablingthe better deserver.—Bacon,Essays, 49.

Farewell, mounsieur traveller. Look, you lisp, and wear strange suits:disableall the benefits of your own country.—Shakespeare,As You Like It, act. iv. sc. 1.

If affection lead a man to favour the less worthy in desert, let him do it without depraving ordisablingthe better deserver.—Bacon,Essays, 49.

Discourse.It is very characteristic of the slight acquaintance with our elder literature—the most obvious source for elucidating Shakespeare’s text—which was possessed by many of his commentators down to a late day, that the phrase ‘discourse of reason,’ which he puts into Hamlet’s mouth, should have perplexed them so greatly. Gifford, a pitiless animadverter on the real or imaginary mistakes of others, and who tramples upon Warburton for attempting to explain this phrase as though Shakespeare could have ever written it, declares ‘“discourseofreason” is so poor and perplexed a phrase that I should dismiss it at once for what I believe to be his genuine language;’ and then proceeds to suggest the obvious but erroneous correction ‘discourseandreason’ (see hisMassinger, vol. i. p. 148); while yet, if there be a phrase of continual recurrence among the writers of our Elizabethan age and down to Milton, it is this. I have little doubt that it occurs fifty timesin Holland’s translation of Plutarch’sMoralia. What our fathers intended by ‘discourse’ and ‘discourse of reason,’ the following passages will abundantly declare.

There is not so great difference and distance between beast and beast, as there is odds in the matter of wisdom,discourseof reason, and use of memory between man and man.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 570; cf. pp. 313, 566, 570, 752, 955, 966, 977, 980.If you mean, bydiscourse, right reason, grounded on Divine Revelation and common notions, written by God in the hearts of all men, and deducing, according to the never-failing rules of logic, consequent deductions from them; if this be it which you mean bydiscourse, it is very meet and reasonable and necessary that men, as in all their actions, so especially in that of greatest importance, the choice of their way to happiness, should be left unto it.—Chillingworth,The Religion of Protestants, Preface.As the intuitive knowledge is more perfect than that which insinuates itself into the soul gradually bydiscourse, so more beautiful the prospect of that building which is all visible at one view than what discovers itself to the sight by parcels and degrees.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Canterbury.Whence the soulReason receives, and reason is her being,Discursive or intuitive;discourseIs oftest yours, the latter most is ours.Milton,Paradise Lost, v. 486.You, being by nature given to melancholicdiscoursing, do easilier yield to such imaginations.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 830.The other gods, and knights-at-arms, all slept, but only JoveSweet slumber seized not; hediscoursedhow best he might approveHis vow made for Achilles’ grace.Chapman,Homer’s Iliad, b. ii.

If you mean, bydiscourse, right reason, grounded on Divine Revelation and common notions, written by God in the hearts of all men, and deducing, according to the never-failing rules of logic, consequent deductions from them; if this be it which you mean bydiscourse, it is very meet and reasonable and necessary that men, as in all their actions, so especially in that of greatest importance, the choice of their way to happiness, should be left unto it.—Chillingworth,The Religion of Protestants, Preface.

As the intuitive knowledge is more perfect than that which insinuates itself into the soul gradually bydiscourse, so more beautiful the prospect of that building which is all visible at one view than what discovers itself to the sight by parcels and degrees.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Canterbury.

Whence the soulReason receives, and reason is her being,Discursive or intuitive;discourseIs oftest yours, the latter most is ours.

Whence the soul

Reason receives, and reason is her being,

Discursive or intuitive;discourse

Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours.

Milton,Paradise Lost, v. 486.

You, being by nature given to melancholicdiscoursing, do easilier yield to such imaginations.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 830.

The other gods, and knights-at-arms, all slept, but only JoveSweet slumber seized not; hediscoursedhow best he might approveHis vow made for Achilles’ grace.

The other gods, and knights-at-arms, all slept, but only Jove

Sweet slumber seized not; hediscoursedhow best he might approve

His vow made for Achilles’ grace.

Chapman,Homer’s Iliad, b. ii.

Discover.This word has lost the sense of uncover, which once it had, and in which it occurs several times in our Bible.

Whether any man hath pulled down ordiscoveredany church, chancel or chapel, or any part of them.—ArchbishopGrindal,Articles of Enquiry, 1576.The voice of the Lorddiscovereththe forests.—Ps.xxix. 9. A.V. and P.B.V.

Whether any man hath pulled down ordiscoveredany church, chancel or chapel, or any part of them.—ArchbishopGrindal,Articles of Enquiry, 1576.

The voice of the Lorddiscovereththe forests.—Ps.xxix. 9. A.V. and P.B.V.

Disease.Our present limitation of ‘disease’ is a very natural one, seeing that nothing so effectually wars against ease as a sick and suffering condition of body. Still the limitation is modern, and by ‘disease’ was once meant any distress or discomfort whatever, and the verb had a corresponding meaning.

Wo to hem that ben with child, and norishen in tho daies, for a greetdiseese[pressura magna, Vulg.] schal be on the erthe and wraththe to this puple.—Lukexxi. 23.Wiclif.Thy doughter is deed; whydiseasestthou the master eny further?—Markv. 35.Tyndale.This is now the fourteenth day they [the Cardinals] have been in the Conclave, with such pain anddiseasethat your grace would marvel that such men as they would suffer it.—State Papers(Letter to Wolsey from his Agent at Rome), vol. vi. p. 182.His double burden did him soredisease.Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 2, 12.

Wo to hem that ben with child, and norishen in tho daies, for a greetdiseese[pressura magna, Vulg.] schal be on the erthe and wraththe to this puple.—Lukexxi. 23.Wiclif.

Thy doughter is deed; whydiseasestthou the master eny further?—Markv. 35.Tyndale.

This is now the fourteenth day they [the Cardinals] have been in the Conclave, with such pain anddiseasethat your grace would marvel that such men as they would suffer it.—State Papers(Letter to Wolsey from his Agent at Rome), vol. vi. p. 182.

His double burden did him soredisease.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, ii. 2, 12.

Dismal.Minsheu’s derivation of ‘dismal,’ that it is ‘dies malus,’ the unlucky, ill-omened day, is exactly one of those plausible etymologies which one learns after a while to reject with contempt. Yet there can be no doubt that our fathers so understood the word, and that this assumed etymology often overrules their usage of it.

Why should we then be bold to call them evil, infortunate, anddismaldays? If God rule our doings continually, why shall they not prosper on those days as well as on other?—Pilkington,Exposition on Aggeus, c. 1.Then began they to reason and debate about thedismaldays [tum de diebusreligiosisagitari cœptum]. And the fifteenth day before the Kalends of August, so notorious for a twofold loss and overthrow, they set this unlucky mark upon it, that it should be reputed unmeet and unconvenient for any business, as well public as private.—Holland,Livy, p. 217.The particular calendars, wherein their [the Jews’] good ordismaldays are distinguished, according to the diversity of their ways, we find, Leviticus 26.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. i. c. 22.

Then began they to reason and debate about thedismaldays [tum de diebusreligiosisagitari cœptum]. And the fifteenth day before the Kalends of August, so notorious for a twofold loss and overthrow, they set this unlucky mark upon it, that it should be reputed unmeet and unconvenient for any business, as well public as private.—Holland,Livy, p. 217.

The particular calendars, wherein their [the Jews’] good ordismaldays are distinguished, according to the diversity of their ways, we find, Leviticus 26.—Jackson,The Eternal Truth of Scriptures, b. i. c. 22.

Disoblige.Release from obligation lies at the root of all uses, present and past, of this word; but it was formerly more the release from an oath or a duty, and now rather from the slighter debts of social life, to which kindness and courtesy on the part of another would have held us bound or ‘obliged;’ while the contraries to these are ‘disobliging.’

He did not think that Act of Uniformity coulddisobligethem [the Non-Conformists] from the exercise of their office.—Bates,Mr. Richard Baxter’s Funeral Sermon.Many that are imprisoned for debt, think themselvesdisobligedfrom payment.—BishopTaylor,Holy Dying, c. 5, § 3.He hath a very great obligation to do that and more; and he can noways bedisobliged, but by the care of his natural relations.—Id.,Measures and Offices of Friendship.

He did not think that Act of Uniformity coulddisobligethem [the Non-Conformists] from the exercise of their office.—Bates,Mr. Richard Baxter’s Funeral Sermon.

Many that are imprisoned for debt, think themselvesdisobligedfrom payment.—BishopTaylor,Holy Dying, c. 5, § 3.

He hath a very great obligation to do that and more; and he can noways bedisobliged, but by the care of his natural relations.—Id.,Measures and Offices of Friendship.

Ditty.By the ‘ditty’ were once understood the words of a song as distinguished from the musical accompaniment.

They fell to challenge and defy one another, whereupon he commanded the musician Eraton to sing unto the harp, who began his song on this wise out of the works of Hesiodus:—Of quarrel and contentionThere were as then more sorts than one;for which I commended him in that he knew how to apply thedittyof his song so well unto the present time.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 786.So that, although we lay altogether aside the consideration ofdittyor matter, the very harmony of sounds being framed in due sort, and carried by the ear to the spiritual faculties of the soul, is by a native puissance and efficacy greatly available to bring to a perfect temper whatsoever is there troubled.—Hooker,Ecclesiastical Polity, b. v. c. 38.

They fell to challenge and defy one another, whereupon he commanded the musician Eraton to sing unto the harp, who began his song on this wise out of the works of Hesiodus:—

Of quarrel and contentionThere were as then more sorts than one;

Of quarrel and contention

There were as then more sorts than one;

for which I commended him in that he knew how to apply thedittyof his song so well unto the present time.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 786.

So that, although we lay altogether aside the consideration ofdittyor matter, the very harmony of sounds being framed in due sort, and carried by the ear to the spiritual faculties of the soul, is by a native puissance and efficacy greatly available to bring to a perfect temper whatsoever is there troubled.—Hooker,Ecclesiastical Polity, b. v. c. 38.

Document.Now used only of thematerial, and not, as once, of themoralproof, evidence, or means of instruction.

They were forthwith stoned to death, as adocumentunto others.—SirW. Raleigh,History of the World, b. v. c. 2, § 3.This strange dejection of these three great apostles at so mild and gentle a voice [Matt. xvii. 6], gives us a remarkabledocumentor grounded observation of the truth of that saying of St. Paul, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.—Jackson,Of the Primeval State of Man, b. ii. c. 12.It was a raredocumentof divine justice to ordain, and of divine wisdom so to contrive, that the dogs should lap King Ahab’s blood in the same place where they had lapped the blood of Naboth.—Id.,Of the Divine Essence and Attributes, b. vi. ch. iii. 3.

They were forthwith stoned to death, as adocumentunto others.—SirW. Raleigh,History of the World, b. v. c. 2, § 3.

This strange dejection of these three great apostles at so mild and gentle a voice [Matt. xvii. 6], gives us a remarkabledocumentor grounded observation of the truth of that saying of St. Paul, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.—Jackson,Of the Primeval State of Man, b. ii. c. 12.

It was a raredocumentof divine justice to ordain, and of divine wisdom so to contrive, that the dogs should lap King Ahab’s blood in the same place where they had lapped the blood of Naboth.—Id.,Of the Divine Essence and Attributes, b. vi. ch. iii. 3.

Dole.This and ‘deal’ are one and the same word, and answer to the German ‘Theil,’ a part orportion.14It has now always the subaudition of ascantyportion, as ‘to dole’ is to deal scantily and reluctantly forth (‘pittance’ has acquired the same); but Sanderson’s use of ‘dole’ is instructive, as showing that ‘distribution or division’ is all which once lay in the word.

There are certain common graces of illumination, and those indeed are given bydole, knowledge to one, to another tongues, to another healings; but it is nothing so with the special graces of sanctification. There is no distribution or division here; either all or none.—Sanderson,Sermons, 1671, vol. ii. p. 247.

Draught.Many ‘draughts’ we still acknowledge, but not the ‘draught’ or drawing of a bow.

A largedraughtup to his eareHe drew, and with an arrow groundSharpe and new, the queene a woundHe gave.Chaucer,Dreame, 788.Then spake another proud one, Would to heavenI might at will get gold till he hath givenThat bow hisdraught.Chapman,The Odysseis of Homer, xxi. 533.

A largedraughtup to his eareHe drew, and with an arrow groundSharpe and new, the queene a woundHe gave.

A largedraughtup to his eare

He drew, and with an arrow ground

Sharpe and new, the queene a wound

He gave.

Chaucer,Dreame, 788.

Then spake another proud one, Would to heavenI might at will get gold till he hath givenThat bow hisdraught.

Then spake another proud one, Would to heaven

I might at will get gold till he hath given

That bow hisdraught.

Chapman,The Odysseis of Homer, xxi. 533.

Dreadful.Now that whichcausesdread, but once that whichfeltit. See ‘Frightful,’ ‘Hateful.’

Forsothe the Lord shall gyve to thee there adreedfulherte and faylinge eyen.—Deut.xxviii. 65.Wiclif.And to a grove faste ther besideWithdredfulfoot than stalketh Palamon.Chaucer,The Knightes Tale.All mankind lo! thatdreadfulis to die,Thou dost constrain long death to learn by thee.Heywood,Translation of Seneca’s Hercules Furens.Thou art so set, as thou hast no cause to beJealous, ordreadfulof disloyalty.Daniel,Panegyric to the King.

Forsothe the Lord shall gyve to thee there adreedfulherte and faylinge eyen.—Deut.xxviii. 65.Wiclif.

And to a grove faste ther besideWithdredfulfoot than stalketh Palamon.

And to a grove faste ther beside

Withdredfulfoot than stalketh Palamon.

Chaucer,The Knightes Tale.

All mankind lo! thatdreadfulis to die,Thou dost constrain long death to learn by thee.

All mankind lo! thatdreadfulis to die,

Thou dost constrain long death to learn by thee.

Heywood,Translation of Seneca’s Hercules Furens.

Thou art so set, as thou hast no cause to beJealous, ordreadfulof disloyalty.

Thou art so set, as thou hast no cause to be

Jealous, ordreadfulof disloyalty.

Daniel,Panegyric to the King.

This word has slightly shifted its meaning. In our earlier English it was used exactly as its German cognate ‘traurig’ is now, to designate the heaviness at once of countenance and of heart; very much the σκυθρωπός of the Greeks, though not admitting the subaudition of anger, which in that word is often contained. [Its Old English form wasdréorig.]

And the king seide to me, Whi is thi cheredreri, sithen I see thee not sick?—2 Esdrasii. 2.Wiclif.Alldrerywas his chere and his loking.Chaucer,The Clerkes Tale, pt. 3.Bowe down to the pore thin ere withoutedreryness[sine tristitiâ, Vulg.]—Ecclus.iv. 8.Wiclif.Now es a man light, now es he hevy,Now es he blithe, now es hedrery.Richard Rolle de Hampole,Pricke of Conscience, 1454.

And the king seide to me, Whi is thi cheredreri, sithen I see thee not sick?—2 Esdrasii. 2.Wiclif.

Alldrerywas his chere and his loking.

Chaucer,The Clerkes Tale, pt. 3.

Bowe down to the pore thin ere withoutedreryness[sine tristitiâ, Vulg.]—Ecclus.iv. 8.Wiclif.

Now es a man light, now es he hevy,Now es he blithe, now es hedrery.

Now es a man light, now es he hevy,

Now es he blithe, now es hedrery.

Richard Rolle de Hampole,Pricke of Conscience, 1454.

Drench.As ‘tofell’ is to make tofall, and ‘tolay’ to make tolie, so ‘todrench’ is to make todrink, though with a sense now very short of ‘to drown;’ but ‘drench’ and ‘drown,’ though desynonymized in our later English, were once perfectly adequate to one another.

He isdrenchedin the flod,Abouten his hals an anker god.Havelok the Dane, 669.Thei that wolen be maad riche, fallen in to temptacioun, and in to snare of the devil, and in to many unprofitabledesiris and noyous, whichedrenchenmen in to deth and perdicioun.—1 Tim.vi. 9.Wiclif.Well may men knowe it was no wyght but heThat kepte peple Ebrayk fro hirdrenching,With drye feet thurgh-out the see passing.Chaucer,The Man of Lawes Tale, 488 (Skeat).

He isdrenchedin the flod,Abouten his hals an anker god.

He isdrenchedin the flod,

Abouten his hals an anker god.

Havelok the Dane, 669.

Thei that wolen be maad riche, fallen in to temptacioun, and in to snare of the devil, and in to many unprofitabledesiris and noyous, whichedrenchenmen in to deth and perdicioun.—1 Tim.vi. 9.Wiclif.

Well may men knowe it was no wyght but heThat kepte peple Ebrayk fro hirdrenching,With drye feet thurgh-out the see passing.

Well may men knowe it was no wyght but he

That kepte peple Ebrayk fro hirdrenching,

With drye feet thurgh-out the see passing.

Chaucer,The Man of Lawes Tale, 488 (Skeat).

Drift.A drove of sheep or cattle was once a ‘drift;’ so too the act of driving.

Hoc armentum, Anglice, adryfte.—Wright-Wülcker, Vocab.814. 11.By reason of the foulness and deepness of the way divers of the said sheep died in driving; partly for lack of meat and feeding, but especially by mean of the said unreasonabledriftthe said sheep are utterly perished.—Trevelyan Papers, p. 130.And Anton Shiel he loves me not,For I gat twadriftsof his sheep;The great Earl of Whitfield he loves me not,For nae gear fra me he could keep.Scotch Ballad.

Hoc armentum, Anglice, adryfte.—Wright-Wülcker, Vocab.814. 11.

By reason of the foulness and deepness of the way divers of the said sheep died in driving; partly for lack of meat and feeding, but especially by mean of the said unreasonabledriftthe said sheep are utterly perished.—Trevelyan Papers, p. 130.

And Anton Shiel he loves me not,For I gat twadriftsof his sheep;The great Earl of Whitfield he loves me not,For nae gear fra me he could keep.

And Anton Shiel he loves me not,

For I gat twadriftsof his sheep;

The great Earl of Whitfield he loves me not,

For nae gear fra me he could keep.

Scotch Ballad.

Duke.One of Shakespeare’s commentators charges him with an anachronism, the incongruous transfer of a modern title to an ancient condition of society, when he styles Theseus ‘Dukeof Athens.’ It would be of very little consequence if the charge was a true one; but it is not, as his English Bible might have sufficiently taught him;Gen.xxxvi. 15-19. ‘Duke’ has indeed since Shakespeare’s time become that which this objector supposed it to have been always; but all were ‘dukes’ once who were ‘duces,’ captains and leaders of their people.

He [St. Peter] techith christen men to be suget to kyngis anddukis, and to ech man for God.—Wiclif,Prologe on the first Pistel of Peter.Hannibal,dukeof Carthage.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. i. c. 10.These were thedukesand princes of availThat came from Greece.Chapman,Homer’s Iliad, b. ii.

He [St. Peter] techith christen men to be suget to kyngis anddukis, and to ech man for God.—Wiclif,Prologe on the first Pistel of Peter.

Hannibal,dukeof Carthage.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. i. c. 10.

These were thedukesand princes of availThat came from Greece.

These were thedukesand princes of avail

That came from Greece.

Chapman,Homer’s Iliad, b. ii.

Dunce. I have sought elsewhere (Study of Words, 20th edit. p. 143) to trace at some length the curious history of this word. Sufficient here to say that Duns Scotus, whom Hooker styles ‘the wittiest of the school divines,’ has given us this name, which now ascribes hopeless ignorance, invincible stupidity, to him on whom it is affixed. The course by which this came to pass was as follows. When at the Reformation and Revival of Learning the works of the Schoolmen fell into extreme disfavour, alike with the Reformers and with the votaries of the new learning, Duns, a standard-bearer among those, was so often referred to with scorn and contempt by these, that his name gradually became that byeword which ever since it has been. See the quotation from Stanyhurst,s. v.‘Trivial.’

Remember ye not how within this thirty years, and far less, and yet dureth unto this day, the old barking curs,Dunce’sdisciples, and like draff called Scotists, the children of darkness, raged in every pulpit against Greek, Latin, and Hebrew?—Tyndale,Works, 1575, p. 278.We have setDuncein Bocardo and have utterly banished him Oxford for ever with all his blind glosses.... The second time we came to New College after we had declared your injunctions, we found all the great Quadrant Court full of the leaves ofDunce, the wind blowing them in every corner.—Wood’s Annals,A.D.1535, 62.WhatDunceor Sorbonist cannot maintain a paradox?—G. Harvey,Pierce’s Supererogation, p. 159.As for terms of honesty or civility, they are gibberishunto him, and he a Jewish Rabbin or a Latinduncewith him that useth any such form of monstrous terms.—Id.,ib.p. 175.Maud.Is this your tutor?Tutor.Yes surely, lady;I am the man that brought him in league with logic,And read theDuncesto him.Middleton,A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, act iii. sc. 1.

We have setDuncein Bocardo and have utterly banished him Oxford for ever with all his blind glosses.... The second time we came to New College after we had declared your injunctions, we found all the great Quadrant Court full of the leaves ofDunce, the wind blowing them in every corner.—Wood’s Annals,A.D.1535, 62.

WhatDunceor Sorbonist cannot maintain a paradox?—G. Harvey,Pierce’s Supererogation, p. 159.

As for terms of honesty or civility, they are gibberishunto him, and he a Jewish Rabbin or a Latinduncewith him that useth any such form of monstrous terms.—Id.,ib.p. 175.

Maud.Is this your tutor?Tutor.Yes surely, lady;I am the man that brought him in league with logic,And read theDuncesto him.

Maud.Is this your tutor?

Tutor.Yes surely, lady;I am the man that brought him in league with logic,And read theDuncesto him.

Tutor.Yes surely, lady;

I am the man that brought him in league with logic,

And read theDuncesto him.

Middleton,A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, act iii. sc. 1.

Till late in the seventeenth century ‘Dutch’ (‘deutsch,’ lit. belonging to the people) meant generally ‘German,’ and a ‘Dutchman’ a native of Germany, while what we now term a Dutchman was then a Hollander. In America this with so many other usages is retained, and Germans are now often called ‘Dutchmen’ there.

Though the root of the English language beDutch, yet she may be said to have been inoculated afterwards upon a French stock.—Howell,Lexicon Tetraglotton, Preface.Germanyis slandered to have sent none to this war [the Crusades] at this first voyage; and that other pilgrims, passing through that country, were mocked by theDutch, and called fools for their pains.—Fuller,Holy War, b. i. c. 13.At the same time began theTeutonicOrder, consisting only ofDutchmen, well descended.—Id.ib.b. ii. c. 16.

Though the root of the English language beDutch, yet she may be said to have been inoculated afterwards upon a French stock.—Howell,Lexicon Tetraglotton, Preface.

Germanyis slandered to have sent none to this war [the Crusades] at this first voyage; and that other pilgrims, passing through that country, were mocked by theDutch, and called fools for their pains.—Fuller,Holy War, b. i. c. 13.

At the same time began theTeutonicOrder, consisting only ofDutchmen, well descended.—Id.ib.b. ii. c. 16.

The physical and literal sense of ‘eager,’ that is, sharp or acrid (Fr.aigre, Lat.acrem), has quite departed from the word. It occasionally retained this, long after it was employed in the secondary meaning which is its only one at present.

She was lyk thyng for hungre deed,That ladde hir lyf oonly by breedKneden with eisel15strong andegre.Romaunt of the Rose, 215.Bees have this property by nature to find and suck the mildest and best honey out of the sharpest and mosteagerflowers.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 43.Now on theeagerrazor’s edge for life or death we stand.Chapman,Homer’s Iliad, b. x.Asproso, full of sowrenesse oreagernesse.—Florio,New World of Words(A.D.1611).

She was lyk thyng for hungre deed,That ladde hir lyf oonly by breedKneden with eisel15strong andegre.

She was lyk thyng for hungre deed,

That ladde hir lyf oonly by breed

Kneden with eisel15strong andegre.

Romaunt of the Rose, 215.

Bees have this property by nature to find and suck the mildest and best honey out of the sharpest and mosteagerflowers.—Holland,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 43.

Now on theeagerrazor’s edge for life or death we stand.

Chapman,Homer’s Iliad, b. x.

Asproso, full of sowrenesse oreagernesse.—Florio,New World of Words(A.D.1611).

Ebb.Nothing ‘ebbs,’ unless it is figuratively, except water now. But ‘ebb,’ oftenest an adjective, was continually used in our earlier English with a general meaning of shallow. There is still a Lancashire proverb, ‘Cross the stream where it isebbest.’

Orpiment, a mineral digged out of the ground in Syria, where it lieth veryebb.—Holland,Pliny, vol. ii. p. 469.This you may observe ordinarily in stones, that those parts and sides which lie covered deeper within the ground be more frim and tender, as being preserved by heat, than those outward faces which lieebb, or above the earth.—Id.,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 747.It is all one whether I be drowned in theebbershore, or in the midst of the deep sea.—BishopHall,Meditations and Vows, cent. ii.

Orpiment, a mineral digged out of the ground in Syria, where it lieth veryebb.—Holland,Pliny, vol. ii. p. 469.

This you may observe ordinarily in stones, that those parts and sides which lie covered deeper within the ground be more frim and tender, as being preserved by heat, than those outward faces which lieebb, or above the earth.—Id.,Plutarch’s Morals, p. 747.

It is all one whether I be drowned in theebbershore, or in the midst of the deep sea.—BishopHall,Meditations and Vows, cent. ii.

Ecstasy.We still say of madmen that they arebeside themselves; but ‘ecstasy,’ or a standing out of oneself, is no longer used as an equivalent to madness.

This is the very coinage of your brain;This bodiless creationecstasyIs very cunning in.Shakespeare,Hamlet, act iii. sc. 4.

This is the very coinage of your brain;This bodiless creationecstasyIs very cunning in.

This is the very coinage of your brain;

This bodiless creationecstasy

Is very cunning in.

Shakespeare,Hamlet, act iii. sc. 4.

Edify.‘From the Christian Church being called the temple or house of God, this word acquired a metaphorical and spiritual meaning, and is appliedin the N. T. and in modern language to mental or spiritual advancement. Old English writers used it in its original sense ofbuild’ (Bible Word Book). For some quotations which mark the coming up of the secondary or metaphorical meaning see myEnglish Past and Present, 14th edit. p. 186.

I shall overtourne this temple, and adown throwe,And in thre dayes afteredifieit newe.Piers Plowman, B-text, Passus xvi. 131 (Skeat).And the Lord Godedifiedethe rib, the which he toke of Adam, into a woman.—Gen.ii. 22.Wiclif.What pleasure and also utility is to a man which intendeth toedify, himself to express the figure of the work that he purposeth, according as he hath conceived it in his own fantasy.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. i. c. 8.A little wydeThere was an holy chappelledifyde.Spenser,Fairy Queen, i. 1, 34.

I shall overtourne this temple, and adown throwe,And in thre dayes afteredifieit newe.

I shall overtourne this temple, and adown throwe,

And in thre dayes afteredifieit newe.

Piers Plowman, B-text, Passus xvi. 131 (Skeat).

And the Lord Godedifiedethe rib, the which he toke of Adam, into a woman.—Gen.ii. 22.Wiclif.

What pleasure and also utility is to a man which intendeth toedify, himself to express the figure of the work that he purposeth, according as he hath conceived it in his own fantasy.—SirT. Elyot,The Governor, b. i. c. 8.

A little wydeThere was an holy chappelledifyde.

A little wyde

There was an holy chappelledifyde.

Spenser,Fairy Queen, i. 1, 34.

Egregious.This has generally now an uncomplimentary subaudition, which it was very far from having of old.

Egregiousviceroys of these eastern parts!Marlowe,Tamburlaine the Great, part i. act i. sc. 1.It may be denied that bishops were our first reformers, for Wickliffe was before them, and hisegregiouslabours are not to be neglected.—Milton,Animadversions upon the Remonstrants’ Defence.

Egregiousviceroys of these eastern parts!

Marlowe,Tamburlaine the Great, part i. act i. sc. 1.

It may be denied that bishops were our first reformers, for Wickliffe was before them, and hisegregiouslabours are not to be neglected.—Milton,Animadversions upon the Remonstrants’ Defence.

Elder.The German ‘eltern’ still signifies parents; as ‘elders’ did once with us, though now the word has quite let this meaning go.

And hise disciplis axiden hym, Maistir, what synnede, this man or hiseeldris, that he schulde be borun blynd?—Johnix. 2.Wiclif.And hiselderswent to Jerusalem every year at the feast of Easter.—Lukeii. 41.Coverdale.Disobedient to their elders [γονεῦσιν ἀπειθεῖς].—Rom.i. 30.Coverdale.So, or much like, our rebeleldersdrivenFor aye from Eden, earthly type of heaven,Lie languishing near Tigris’ grassy side.Sylvester,Du Bartas, The Handycrafts.

And hise disciplis axiden hym, Maistir, what synnede, this man or hiseeldris, that he schulde be borun blynd?—Johnix. 2.Wiclif.

And hiselderswent to Jerusalem every year at the feast of Easter.—Lukeii. 41.Coverdale.

Disobedient to their elders [γονεῦσιν ἀπειθεῖς].—Rom.i. 30.Coverdale.

So, or much like, our rebeleldersdrivenFor aye from Eden, earthly type of heaven,Lie languishing near Tigris’ grassy side.

So, or much like, our rebeleldersdriven

For aye from Eden, earthly type of heaven,

Lie languishing near Tigris’ grassy side.

Sylvester,Du Bartas, The Handycrafts.

Element.The air, as that among the four elements which is most present everywhere, was frequently ‘theelement’ in our earlier literature.

When Pompey saw the dust in theelement, and conjectured the flying of his horsemen, what mind he was of then it was hard to say.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 553.The face therefore of theelementyou have skill to discern, and the signs of times can you not?—Matt.xvi. 3. Rheims.There is no stir or walking in the streets,And the complexion of theelementIn favour is like the work we have in hand,Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.Shakespeare,Julius Cæsar, act i. sc. 3.I took it for a faery visionOf some gay creatures of theelement,That in the colours of the rainbow live,And play in the plighted clouds.Milton,Comus, 298.

When Pompey saw the dust in theelement, and conjectured the flying of his horsemen, what mind he was of then it was hard to say.—North,Plutarch’s Lives, p. 553.

The face therefore of theelementyou have skill to discern, and the signs of times can you not?—Matt.xvi. 3. Rheims.

There is no stir or walking in the streets,And the complexion of theelementIn favour is like the work we have in hand,Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.

There is no stir or walking in the streets,

And the complexion of theelement

In favour is like the work we have in hand,

Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.

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

I took it for a faery visionOf some gay creatures of theelement,That in the colours of the rainbow live,And play in the plighted clouds.

I took it for a faery vision

Of some gay creatures of theelement,

That in the colours of the rainbow live,

And play in the plighted clouds.

Milton,Comus, 298.

Elephant.I have little doubt that ‘elephant’ as an equivalent for ivory is a Grecism not peculiar to Chapman, in whose translations from Homer it several times occurs; but I cannot adduce an example from any other. The use of ‘olifant’ in this sense is quite common in the older French (see Didot’sGlossaryin Ducange, ed. 1887).

I did last affordThe varied ornament, which showed no wantOf silver, gold, and polishedelephant.Chapman,The Odysseis of Homer, b. xxiii. l. 306.

I did last affordThe varied ornament, which showed no wantOf silver, gold, and polishedelephant.

I did last afford

The varied ornament, which showed no want

Of silver, gold, and polishedelephant.

Chapman,The Odysseis of Homer, b. xxiii. l. 306.

Elevate.There are two intentions with which anything may be lifted from the place which it occupies; either with that of setting it in a more conspicuous position; or else of removing it out of the way, or, figuratively, of withdrawing all importance and significance from it. We employ ‘to elevate’ now in the former intention; our ancestors for the most part, especially those whose style was influenced by their Latin studies, in the latter.

Withal, he forgat not toelevateas much as he could the fame of the foresaid unhappy field fought, saying, That if all had been true, there would have been messengers coming thick one after another upon their flight to bring fresh tidings still thereof.—Holland,Livy, p. 1199.Audience he had with great assent and applause; not more forelevatingthe fault and trespass of the common people, than for laying the weight upon those that were the authors culpable.—Id.,ib.p. 1207.Tully in his oration Pro Flacco, toelevateor lessen that conceit which many Romans had of the nation of the Jews, objects little less unto them than our Saviour in this place doth, to wit that they were in bondage to the Romans.—Jackson,Of the Primeval Estate of Man, b. x. c. 14.

Audience he had with great assent and applause; not more forelevatingthe fault and trespass of the common people, than for laying the weight upon those that were the authors culpable.—Id.,ib.p. 1207.

Tully in his oration Pro Flacco, toelevateor lessen that conceit which many Romans had of the nation of the Jews, objects little less unto them than our Saviour in this place doth, to wit that they were in bondage to the Romans.—Jackson,Of the Primeval Estate of Man, b. x. c. 14.

Embezzle.A man can now only ‘embezzle’ another man’s property; he might once ‘embezzle’ his own. Thus, while we might now say that the Unjust Steward ‘embezzled’ his lord’s goods (Lukexvi. 1), we could not say that the Prodigal Son ‘embezzled’ the portion which he had received fromhis father, and which had thus become his own (Lukexv. 13); but the one would have been as free to our early writers as the other. There is a form, ‘to imbecile,’ used by Jeremy Taylor and others, which has the same meaning as this word.

Mr. Hackluit died, leaving a fair estate to an unthrift son, whoembezzledit.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Herefordshire.The collection of these various readings [is] a testimony even of the faithfulness of these later ages of the Church, and of the high reverence they had of these records, in that they would not so much asembesellthe various readings of them, but keep them still on foot for the prudent to judge of.—H. More,Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. vii. c. 11.If we are ambitious of having a property in somewhat, or affect to call anything our own, ’tis only by nobly giving that we can accomplish our desire; that will certainly appropriate our goods to our use and benefit; but from basely keeping or vainlyembezzlingthem, they become not our possession and enjoyment, but our theft and our bane.—Barrow,The Duty and Reward of Bounty to the Poor.Be notprodigalof your time on earth, which is so little in your power. ’Tis so precious a thing that it is to be redeemed; ’tis therefore too precious to beembezzledand trifled away.—Howe,The Redeemer’s Dominion over the Invisible World.

Mr. Hackluit died, leaving a fair estate to an unthrift son, whoembezzledit.—Fuller,Worthies of England: Herefordshire.

The collection of these various readings [is] a testimony even of the faithfulness of these later ages of the Church, and of the high reverence they had of these records, in that they would not so much asembesellthe various readings of them, but keep them still on foot for the prudent to judge of.—H. More,Grand Mystery of Godliness, b. vii. c. 11.

If we are ambitious of having a property in somewhat, or affect to call anything our own, ’tis only by nobly giving that we can accomplish our desire; that will certainly appropriate our goods to our use and benefit; but from basely keeping or vainlyembezzlingthem, they become not our possession and enjoyment, but our theft and our bane.—Barrow,The Duty and Reward of Bounty to the Poor.

Be notprodigalof your time on earth, which is so little in your power. ’Tis so precious a thing that it is to be redeemed; ’tis therefore too precious to beembezzledand trifled away.—Howe,The Redeemer’s Dominion over the Invisible World.

Emulation.South in one of his sermons has said excellently well, ‘We ought by all means to note the difference between envy and emulation; which latter is a brave and noble thing, and quite of another nature, as consisting only in a generous imitation of something excellent; and that such an imitation as scorns to fall short of its copy, but strives if possible to outdo it. The emulator is impatient of a superior, not by depressing or maligning another but by perfectinghimself. So that while that sottish thing envy sometimes fills the whole soul, as a great fog does the air: this on the contrary inspires it with a new life and vigour, whets and stirs up all the powers of it to action.’ But ‘emulation,’ though sometimes used by our early writers in this nobler sense, to express an honourable and generous rivalry, was by no means always so; it was often an exact equivalent to envy.

Zeal to promote the common good is welcomed with suspicion instead of love, and withemulationinstead of thanks.—The Translators’ Preface to the Authorized Version.So every step,Exampled by the first step that is sickOf his superior, grows to an envious feverOf pale and bloodlessemulation.Shakespeare,Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3.And the patriarchs throughemulation[moved withenvy, A.V.] sold Joseph into Egypt.—Actsvii. 9. Rheims.

Zeal to promote the common good is welcomed with suspicion instead of love, and withemulationinstead of thanks.—The Translators’ Preface to the Authorized Version.

So every step,Exampled by the first step that is sickOf his superior, grows to an envious feverOf pale and bloodlessemulation.

So every step,

Exampled by the first step that is sick

Of his superior, grows to an envious fever

Of pale and bloodlessemulation.

Shakespeare,Troilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3.

And the patriarchs throughemulation[moved withenvy, A.V.] sold Joseph into Egypt.—Actsvii. 9. Rheims.

Endeavour.This, connected with ‘devoir,’ is used as a reflexive verb in our version of the New Testament and in the Prayer Book. Signifying now no more than to try, it signified once to bend all our energies, not to the attempt at fulfilling, but to the actual fulfilment of a duty. The force of such passages as Ephes. iv. 3, ‘endeavouringto keep the unity of the Spirit,’ is greatly weakened by giving to ‘endeavour’ its modern sense. Attaching to it this, we may too easily persuade ourselves that the Apostle does no more than bid us to attempt to preserve this unity, and that he quite recognizes the possibility of our being defeated in this attempt.

This is called in Scripture ‘a just man,’ thatendeavourethhimself to leave all wickedness.—Latimer,Sermons, p. 340.One thing I do, I forget that which is behind, andendevourmyself into that which is before.—Phil.iii. 13. Geneva.

This is called in Scripture ‘a just man,’ thatendeavourethhimself to leave all wickedness.—Latimer,Sermons, p. 340.

One thing I do, I forget that which is behind, andendevourmyself into that which is before.—Phil.iii. 13. Geneva.

Engrave.This word has now quite lost the sense of ‘to bury,’ which it once possessed. See ‘Grave.’

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