Chapter 17

[92]Engl. Lang.i. p. 356, 4th ed. St. Aldhelm’s Head, in Dorsetshire, is always pronounced and generally written St. Alban’s Head, although St. Alban had no connection with it. Penny-come-quick was a very natural corruption of Pen, Coombe, and Ick, the former name for Falmouth. These words form a curious chapter in the history of language. There is no doubt that the mythological legends of a later period are largely suggested by the corruption of names, as in the case ofAphrodite,Dionysus, &c. The fiction of an Oriental nation provided with a two-fold tongue (Diod. Sic. ii.) might easily spring from the wordδίγλωσσος. See many such instances in Lersch. iii. 6 fg. The GreekἹεροσόλυμαpresents adoubleinstance of this, being corrupted fromיְרוּשָּׁלַיִם, which is itself probably a corruption of the old Canaanite name for Jerusalem.Dict. of Bibl. Ant.s. v.

[93]The instance is a pure supposition, for sherbet, syrup, and shrub are from the same Arabic root, coming to us from three different sources.—Latham.

[94]We know of very few wordsinventedon simply arbitrary grounds. “Sepals” was devised by Neckar to express each division of the calyx (Whewell,Hist. Ind. Sc.ii. 535), and yet we see at once that it is only a very slight alteration of the word “petals,” and this no doubt was the reason, not only for the choice of it, but also for the ready currency which it obtained. The term “Od force” is another instance. Chemistry at one period affected to give to simple bodies only such names as were destitute of all significance; but it abandoned this practice in consequence of the absurdities and impossibilities which it involved. (v. Renan, p. 148.) Thus, “sulfite” and “sulfate” are due to Guyton de Morveau. (Charma, p. 66.) “Ellagic” acid is the name given by M. Braconnot to the substance left in the process of making pyrogallic acid, and it is derived from Galle read backwards (Hist. Ind. Sc.ii. 547); but such terms are justly reprobated by men of science. Even proper names, which some have supposed to be often arbitrary, are in almost every case found capable of a real etymology. “Ils n’ont pas, plus que les autres mots, été imposés sanscause, ni fabriquésau hasard, seulement pour produire une bruit vague.”—De Brosses.This was noticed very early; seeSchol. ad Hom. Od.xix. 406.

[95]Renan, p. 122.

[96]Nodier, p. 39. See, too, Garnett’sEssays, p. 89.

[97]Bunsen,Outlines, s. ii. 84. 78.

[98]Essais de Phil. Morale, p. 344. (The wordשָׁמַיִםcomes from a root signifying height.) Several of the instances in this paragraph are from M. Vinet.

[99]“Augustus himself, in the possession of that power which ruled the world, acknowledged that he could not make a new Latin word.”—Locke, iii. 2. 8.

[100]Renan, p. 143. “Though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, each word was at first a stroke of genius, and obtained currency, because for the moment it symbolised the world to the speaker and the hearer.... As the limestone of the Continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images and tropes, which now in their secondary use have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin.”—Emerson,Ess. on the Poet.

[101]Take, for instance, the word “fal-lals,” borrowed from the burden of a song, and often used to describe female vanities. Does not this word afford a curious analogy to the word “falbala,” the origin of which (to express similar articles) has occupied the attention of distinguished philosophers? It has been explained as follows. It is said that a witty prince of the eighteenth century once entered an elegant shop, and determined to try to the utmost the assurance of the (probably pretty) milliner. He therefore asked for afalbala, inventing the oddest vocable he could think of. With admirable but unconscious insight into the principle of language, the undisturbed female at once brought him the garniture de robe called volant, which ended in light floating points. She instinctively caught the notion involved in flabella, flammula, &c.—Nodier, p. 211. The story is told differently by De Brosses,Form Méch.ch. xvi. § 14. The word has excited much discussion. Leibnitz connects it withfald-plat, and Hoffman withfurbelow. Charma, p. 306. The murderer, Pierre Rivière, invented the wordennepharerfor the torture to which he used, when a boy, to subject frogs; and the wordcalibènefor the instrument which he constructed to kill birds. Charma, p. 66. Du Mérit notices the purely musical names which children instinctively give to those who inspire them with strongly marked feelings of love. “Rumpelstiltskin,” the name of the imp in the fairy tale, is a good instance of the reverse.

[102]It is mainly among the people, rather than with philosophers, that the power of inventing names has lingered. Some write the name Plonplon, and make it a familiar abbreviation of Napoleon; but accomplished Frenchmen give differing accounts of the word.

[103]“Ὄνομα ποίεω. Ὀνοματοποιΐαest dictio ad imitandum sonum vocis conficta, ut cum dicimushinnireequos,balareoves,striderevalvas.” Charis. iv. p. 245. Lersch, i. 129-232. The Latins call it “fictio nominis.”

[104]Renan, p. 136. We have already endeavoured to guard against the misconception that language is in any sense aresultof imitation: a mere power of imitating the sounds of nature belongs to animals as well as to man.—Heyse, s. 91, and supra ch. i.

[105]Wedgwood’sEtym. Dict.p. v. It is necessary to be cautious, of course, in deducing the processes of language from the observation of children. See Heyse, s. 47. The word moo-cow is a mixture of pure onomatopœia, and onomatopœia after it has become conventional.

[106]See the lists of such vocabularies in theTransactions of the Philol. Soc.

[107]Wedgwood, p. v.

[108]L. 45. “Proprium tigridis, a sono. Alii leg.raucant.”—Forcellini,Lex.

[109]Wedgwood, p. vi. The name is not native probably, for the native tribe-names mostly end in qua; as Griqua, Namaqua, &c.

[110]Nodier, p. 79 seq. Dr. Pickering quotes an account of theoriginal peopleof Malay, in which it is said that “their language is not understood by any one: they lisp their words,the sound of which is like the noise of birds.” (Races of Man. Bohn ed. p. 305.)

[111]Bunsen,Outlines, ii. 82. The poet Shelley implied the same thought inAlastor:“I wait breath, Great Parent, that my songMaymodulatewith motions of the air,And murmurs of the forest and the sea,And voice of living beings, and woven hymnsOf night and day, andthe deep heart of man.”

[111]Bunsen,Outlines, ii. 82. The poet Shelley implied the same thought inAlastor:

“I wait breath, Great Parent, that my songMaymodulatewith motions of the air,And murmurs of the forest and the sea,And voice of living beings, and woven hymnsOf night and day, andthe deep heart of man.”

“I wait breath, Great Parent, that my song

Maymodulatewith motions of the air,

And murmurs of the forest and the sea,

And voice of living beings, and woven hymns

Of night and day, andthe deep heart of man.”

[112]Lockeon the Human Understanding, iii.I.§ 1, 2.

[113]Harris’sHermes, bk. ii. ch. 2, 3rd ed. p. 325.

[114]Renan, p. 139, quoting Adelung,Mithrid.i. p. xiv. Grimm,Über die Namen des Donners. (Berlin, 1855.) If the words “tonitru,” “donner,” &c., be not originally onomatopœian, as some assert (who derive them fromtan, Gr.τείνειν), theybecameso from a feeling of the need that they should be.—Heyse, s. 93.

[115]Wedgwood, p. 5. The word “pouf” is also used of falling bodies, as in the Macaronic verse, “De brancha in brancham degringolat atque facit ‘pouf.’” It would be interesting to trace the causes for the divergencies in sound of obvious onomatopœian words in various languages: e.g. it is clear that “ding-dong” could only be used to denote the sound of a bell in a country possessing large heavy bells, and therefore churches. The soundbilor bell (Cf. tintinnabulum), expressive of a clear sharp tinkle, would naturally be used by a people, like the Galla, only accustomed to the small bells sold as trinkets by foreign traders. Among the Suaheli languages (out of five words given in Krapf’s vocabulary), no word for a bell at all resembles the sound. I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Garnett, for these remarks, as well as for other ingenious suggestions.

[116]Wedgwood,Etymol. Dict.

[117]Nodier, p. 41. Even when the sound is no guide,differentcharacteristics are chosen by different nations to furnish a name. The names “fledermaus,” “flittermouse,” are suggested like “chauve souris,” by the structure of the bat;νυκτερὶςandvespertilioby its habits; if the differentia of the animal beverymarked, its name will probably be derived from it in all languages, asnoctiluca, glow-worm,lucciolato, verluisant, &c.; yet even then not in all, asJohannis-wurm. Compare againσεισιπυγὶς,motacilla,cutretta,wagtail, withBachstelze,hoche-queue, &c. If the bird be rare, it is much more likely to have numerous names, because the observation of each casual observer as to its chief attribute is not liable to so much revision. Take as an instance the night-jar, which is also called fern-owl, churn-owl, goat-sucker, wheel-bird, dorhawk, &c. See, too, Garnett’sEssays, pp. 88, 89.

[118]“Thephysiognomy, however, of a group of languages remains unaffected by the divergency of their vocabularies; e.g. almost every word in the Ethiopic family of languages contains a liquid generally in connection with a mute as its most prominent and essential feature.”—R. G.

[119]It is represented as a punishment in some legends, as in the fragment of Abydenus, &c., quoted by Euseb.Præp. Ev.ix. 14. Joseph.Antt.I.iv. 3. Plat.Polit.p. 272. Plin. vii. 1. xi. 112. But see Abbt’s Dissertation, “Confusionem linguarum non fuisse pœnam humano generi inflictam.” Hal. 1758.

[120]καὶ περιΐστα δὲ κατ’ ὄλιγον εἰς τυραννίδα τὰ πράγματα.—Joseph.Antt.I.iv. 2.

[121]1 Cor. xiii. 8; Rev. vii. 9; Zach. viii. 23; Zeph. 9, &c.

[122]“Trotz alle dem,” is Freiligrath’s rendering of Burns’ “for a’ that.” I may remark here, that many of these instances are borrowed from Mr. Wedgwood’sEtymol. Dictionary, of which the first part only is yet printed. This work, although not free from errors, has the merit of having put forward some very clear and original views on this subject.

[123]Abridged from Mr. Wedgwood in thePhil. Transac.ii. 118.

[124]Lathamon the Engl. Lang.4th ed. p. xlix. Heyse,System, s. 73 fg.

[125]Traces of this feeling are found in Quinctilian (Instt. Orr.i. 5). “Sed minime nobis concessa estὀνοματοποιία.... Jamne hinnire et balare fortiter diceremus, nisi judicio vetustatis niterentur?” See, too, viii. 6. Other passages quoted by Lersch (Sprachphilosophie, i. s. 130), are Varro (L. L.v. p. 69); Diomed. iii. p. 453, &c. Plato calls itἀπείκασμα, and the Grammariansἀπὸ ἤχους.

[126]“La gentile alouette avec son tire lire,Tire l’ire aux fachez, et tire-lirant tireVers la route du ciel: puis son vol vers ce lieuVire, et désire dire à dieu Dieu, à dieu Dieu.”The verse seems to me too laboured and unnatural.

[126]

“La gentile alouette avec son tire lire,Tire l’ire aux fachez, et tire-lirant tireVers la route du ciel: puis son vol vers ce lieuVire, et désire dire à dieu Dieu, à dieu Dieu.”

“La gentile alouette avec son tire lire,

Tire l’ire aux fachez, et tire-lirant tire

Vers la route du ciel: puis son vol vers ce lieu

Vire, et désire dire à dieu Dieu, à dieu Dieu.”

The verse seems to me too laboured and unnatural.

[127]“Many at least of the celebrated passages that are cited as imitative in sound, were, on the one hand, not the result of accident, nor yet on the other hand of study; but the idea (?) in the author’s mind spontaneously suggested appropriate sounds.”—Archbp. Whately’sRhetoric, iii. s. 2.

[128]Essai sur les fondements de lapsychologie.The same psychologist in his Essay on the Origin of Language says of those who maintain a revealed language, that they give us “comme article de foi une hypothèse arbitraire et amphibologique.”—Œuvres Inéd. de Maine de Biran, iii. pp. 229-278.

[129]See some admirable remarks to this effect in Mr. F. Whalley Harper’s excellent book on thePower of Greek Tenses.

[130]Donaldson’sNew Cratylus, p. 220, 4th ed.

[131]Donaldson’sGreek Grammar, s. 67-79.

[132]For the development and more clear enunciation of these views, we must refer to the works quoted.

[133]Donaldson’sNew Crat.ch. ii. Plato (Crat.p. 435) thought the numerals offered a proof that at leastsomepart of language must be the result of convention and custom (συνθήκη καὶ ἔθος).

[134]Bopp’sComparative Grammar, § 311.

[135]Dr. Donaldson aptly compares (New Crat.§ 154) the vulgarism “number one” as a synonym for the first person, and “proximus sum egomet mihi.”

[136]Bopp’sComparative Grammar, §§ 309, 323. Donaldson’sNew Crat.ch. ii.;Greek Gram.§ 246. For the Hebrew numerals seeMaskil-le Sophir.pp. 41 sq. by the same author. Other works are Pott,Die quinäre und vigesimale Zählmethode.Halle, 1847. Mommsen, in Höfer’sZeitschr. für die Wiss. der Spr.Heft 2, 1846. In Greenland the word for 20 is “a man,” (i.e. fingers + toes = 20); and for 100 the word isfive men, &c.! It might have been thought that particles were eminently (what Aristotle calls them)φωναὶ ἄσημοι, and yet eventheirpedigree may be traced; and in fact no clear line of distinction can be drawn between them and theφωναὶ σημαντικαί.—Heyse, s. 108 ff.

[137]For instance, we find M. A. Vinet (Essais de Philos. Morale, p. 323) speaking of the verb as the word which founds, or, so to speak, creates an ideal world side by side with the real world, and of which the real world is either the expression or the type. The word “verb” has often been dwelt on as showing the importance attached to this part of speech; the German “zeitwort” is more to the purpose. The Chinese call itho-tseu, or the living word (Silvestre de Sacy,Principes de Gram. Gén.i. ch. 1.)

[138]Compare the Italianstare, Spanishestar. Prof. Key (Trans. of Phil. Soc.vol. iv.) quotes an anecdote of a lady who had to tell her African servant, “Go and fetch big teacup, helivein pantry.” We cannot, however, accept his derivations of “esse” from “edo,” and “vivo” from “bibo.”

[139]See Renan, p. 129. Becker,Organism der Sprache, p. 58. In point of fact, the conception of existence in untaught minds is generally concrete, and often grossly material. Vico mentions the fact, that peasants often say of a sick person “he still eats,” for “he still lives.” “In theLingua Francathe more abstract verbs have disappeared altogether; ‘to be’ is always expressed by ‘to stand,’ and ‘to have’ by ‘to hold.’‘NontenerhontaQuestostarla ultima affronta.’This shows the tendency of language to degradation when not upheld by literary culture and elevated thought. Barbarism proved as efficacious in materialising the conception of the Latin races, as in sweeping away the niceties of their grammar. To this day the Spaniards say,tengo hambre, foresurio.”—R. G.

‘NontenerhontaQuestostarla ultima affronta.’

‘Nontenerhonta

Questostarla ultima affronta.’

This shows the tendency of language to degradation when not upheld by literary culture and elevated thought. Barbarism proved as efficacious in materialising the conception of the Latin races, as in sweeping away the niceties of their grammar. To this day the Spaniards say,tengo hambre, foresurio.”—R. G.

[140]See Wedgwood, p. xvii.

[141]Who would have thoughtà priorithat the word “stranger” has its root in the single vowele, the Latin preposition for “from”? Yet we see it to be so, “the moment that the intermediate links of the chain are submitted to our examination,—e, ex, extra, extraneus, étranger, stranger.”—Dugald Stewart,Philos. Es.p. 217, 4th ed.

[142]Adelung,Mithridates, iii. 6, p. 325.

[143]Benloew,De la Science Comp. des Langues, p. 22.

[144]Essay on English Dialects, p. 64.

[145]Still more strange are the variations presented by the rootἄω. See Leibnitz,Nouv. Ess. sur l’Entendement Humain, iii. 2. 2; and Donaldson’sNew Crat.p. 476.

[146]New Crat.p. 80.

[147]The “lucus à non lucendo” principle, which explained various positive words as though they were derived from theabsenceof the quality they attributed, has long been given up by all sound scholars. Of course such names as Euxinus, Beneventum,Εὐμενίδες, “good folk,” “crétin,” “natural,” &c., arise in a totally different manner, as well as the name Parcæ, absurdly derived “a non parcendo.” The supposed instances of “Antiphrasis,” as the grammarians called it, are eminently absurd, e.g. Varro,L. L.iv. 8: “Cœlum, contrario nominecelatum, quod apertum est.” Donat.de Trop.p. 1778: “Bellum, hoc est minimè bellum.” They confused it with irony and euphemism. See Lersch, i. s. 132, 133.

[148]Essays, p. 284 sq.

[149]Dict. des Sciences Philosoph.p. 646. Lockeon the Under.III.ii. 6.

[150]Thus the long opposition to the Newtonian theory in France rose mainly from the influence of the word “attraction.”See Comte’sPos. Philos.(Martineau’s ed.) i. p. 182. For the tremendous consequences of the introduction of the term “landed proprietor” into Bengal, see Mill’sLogic, ii. 232. It caused “a disorganisation of society which had not been introduced into that country by the most ruthless of its barbarian invaders.” “Fetish,” as adopted by the negroes from the Portuguese, “feitição” (sorcery), is an instance of a word changing meaning with the feeling of the speakers.

[151]ἤθους χαρακτήρ ἐστι τ’ ἀνθρώπου λόγος.—Stob. The language of a people expresses its genius and its character.—Bacon,De Augm. Scient.vi. i. Cf. Diog. Laert. p. 58. Quinct. xi. p. 675. Cic.Tusc. Disp.v. 16.

[152]Ἔστι μὲν οὖν τὰ ἐν τῇ φωνῇ τῶν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ παθημάτων σύμβολα.—Arist.De Interp.I.i.

[153]Nodier, p. 65.

[154]Victor Cousin,Cours de Phil.iii.Leçon Vingtième.

[155]Φύσικα, i. 1. The name alligator (Spanish,ellagarto,thelizard) is another instance of the same kind of thing, as indeed is the Greekκροκόδειλος.

[156]See Renan, 120 sqq. Theocrit. ii. 18. The French wordcolèreis fromχόλος, bile; our word anger, from the root “ang” (ἄγχι, ἀγχονὴ, angle, angina, angustus, &c.) implyingcompression. The Greekστόμαχοςexplains itself.

[157]πρὸ ὀμμάτων ποιεῖν. For abundant instances of Hebrew metaphors see GlassiiPhilologia Sacra, where there is a long chapter on the subject.

[158]Emerson’sNature.

[159]Compareἐφιέμαι, ὀρέγομαι.

[160]Three derivations have been proposed:re-lego, Cic.de Nat. Deor.ii. 28;re-ligo, Lact.Div. Inst.4;re-eligo, Augustin,de Civ. Dei, x. 3. See Fleming’sVocabulary of Philosophy.

[161]See Bunsen’sOutlines, ii. 142 seqq. Dyaus,θεὸς, deus, &c., from the rootdiv, to shine. The derivation of our English word “God” is doubtful; but I fear the beautiful belief that it is deduced from “good” must be abandoned. Grimm (Deutsch Myth.p. 12) shows that there is a grammatical difference between the words in the Teutonic language signifying “God” and “good;”ifthe Persian “Khoda” can be derived from the Zend “qvadáta,” Sanskrit “svadata,”à se datus, increatus, a very appropriate etymology would be given.

[162]See Dugald Stewart’sPhilosoph. Essays, p. 217, 4th ed. Compare the widely different conceptions of happiness involved in the derivations of two such words as “beatus” and “selig.” Or take the word “poet;” if in these days of wider knowledge and shallower thought, we find it nearly impossible to frame a satisfactory definition of poetry, how should we have been able to invent the word itself, which goes to the very root of the matter, by at once attributing to “the maker” that divine creative faculty whereby he is enabled “to give airy nothing a local habitation and a name?”

[163]χαλκαίνω, πορφύρω.

[164]“Une lumière éclate, des couleurs crient, des idées se heurtent, la mémoire bronche, le cœur murmure, l’obstinationse cabre contreles difficultés.”—Nodier, p. 45.

[165]For the facts alluded to in this passage, see Herod. iii. 46, iv. 132. Liv. i. 54. Jerem. xix. 10, &c.

[166]Arist.Rhet.iii. 10.

[167]ἤστραπτ’, ἐβρόντα, κἀνεκύκα τὴν Ἑλλάδα.—Aristoph. “Proinde tona eloquio.”—Virg.Æn.xi.

[168]Sartor Resartus, ch. x. Compare Heyse, s. 97. “Die ganze Spracheist durch und durch bildlich. Wir sprechen in lauter Bildern ohne uns dessen bewusst zu sein.” He gives abundant instances, classified with German accuracy. See, too, Grimm,Gesch. d. d. Sprache, s. 56 ff. Pott,Metaphern vom Leben, &c.Zeitschr. für Vergleich. Sprachf. Jahrg.ii.Heft2.

[169]Luke, xii. 27.

[170]Mr. Kingsley has compared the ancient ballad,“Could harp a fish out of the water,Or music out of the stane,Or the milk out of a maiden’s breastThat bairns had never nane,”with the modern adaptation,“O there was magic in his voice,And witchcraft in his string!”The expression of Herodotus about the Libyan wild asses,ἄποτοι, οὐ γὰρ δὴ πίνουσι, contrasts forcibly the two styles.—R. G.

[170]Mr. Kingsley has compared the ancient ballad,

“Could harp a fish out of the water,Or music out of the stane,Or the milk out of a maiden’s breastThat bairns had never nane,”

“Could harp a fish out of the water,

Or music out of the stane,

Or the milk out of a maiden’s breast

That bairns had never nane,”

with the modern adaptation,

“O there was magic in his voice,And witchcraft in his string!”

“O there was magic in his voice,

And witchcraft in his string!”

The expression of Herodotus about the Libyan wild asses,ἄποτοι, οὐ γὰρ δὴ πίνουσι, contrasts forcibly the two styles.—R. G.

[171]“Verborum translatio instituta est inopiæ causâ.”—De Orator.iii. 39.

[172]Dr. Whewell’sPhilos. of the Inductive Sciences, ii. 460. Mill’sLogic, ii. ch. iv. p. 205.

[173]Take, for instance, the botanical description of theHymenophyllum Wilsoni; “fronds rigid, pinnate, pinnæ recurved subunilateral, pinnatifid; the segments linear undivided, or bifid spinulososerrate.”—Philosophy of Ind. Sci.i. 165. This is the perfection of scientific terminology, but how would it answer the purposes of common life? And how would poetry be possible with such clumsy terms as these? At the same time, inScience, dry precision of nomenclature is better than poetical terms like the mediæval “flowers of sulphur.”Fancywould only mislead in terminology which requires accuracy;e.g.δίπους, the Greek name forjerboamight easily have led to mistakes.

[174]Sir Thos. Browne,Christian Morals, ii.

[175]Berkeley,Principles of Hum. Knowledge, xxxv.

[176]“It is remarked by a great metaphysician, that abstract ideas are, in one point of view, the highest and most philosophical of all our ideas, while in another they are the shallowest and most meagre. They have the advantage of clearness and definiteness; they enable us to conceive and, as it were, to span the infinity of things; they arrange, as it might be in the divisions of a glass, the many-coloured world of phenomena. And yet they are ‘mere’ abstractions, removed from sense, removed from experience, and detached from the mind in which they arose. Their perfection consists, as their very name implies, in their idealism; that is, in their negative nature.”—Jowetton Romans, &c., ii. 88.

[177]Ecclus. xlii. 23.

[178]Nodier, p. 58 sqq.

[179]Ἔοικεν ὁ τὴν Ἴριν Θαύμαντος ἔκγονον φήσας οὐ κακῶς γενεαλογεῖν.—Plato,Theæt.p. 155.“La maravigliaDell’ ignoranza e la figliaE del sapereLa madre.”

[179]Ἔοικεν ὁ τὴν Ἴριν Θαύμαντος ἔκγονον φήσας οὐ κακῶς γενεαλογεῖν.—Plato,Theæt.p. 155.

“La maravigliaDell’ ignoranza e la figliaE del sapereLa madre.”

“La maraviglia

Dell’ ignoranza e la figlia

E del sapere

La madre.”

[180]Mr. Mill was the first to point out the soliloquising character of poetry.—Essays and Dissertations.

[181]Coleridge,Aids to Reflection.

[182]Nodier.

[183]SeePrécieux et Précieusespar Ch. L. Livet. 12o, 1860. Masson’sIntroduction to French Literature, ch. iv.

[184]“And the regeneration of a people is always accompanied by a rekindled interest in its early literature.” We can hardly overrate the effect produced by the publication of Bishop Percy’sReliques, and much may be hoped from the reproduction of the old romancers, &c., in Spanish, of late years.

[185]Essay on Human Understanding,III.i. 5.

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