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"Now strike the golden lyre again,
A louder yet and yet a louder strain.
Break his bands of sleep asunder,

And rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder.”

A word or two before I conclude as to synonyms; or words having similar meanings. And let me first observe that synonyms in the strict sense of the word, that is, words having exactly the same signification, are scarcely to be found in the language. But there is a very large number of words having a general similarity, but differing in their special application. Many of these were probably strictly synonymous in the first instance, differing only in the circumstance of their being derived from different languages, but in the course of time shades of distinction have been imperceptibly introduced, which have ultimately become established in the language-a process which has been aptly termed one of de-synonymising or rendering dissimilar. As an instance take the word "shepherd" and "pastor," the first of which is AngloSaxon, and the second Latin. They signify the same thing, but a distinction has grown up between them by the requirements of the language, or at any rate to the advantage of the language; and "shepherd" is now applied to one who literally tends sheep, while pastor" is the common appellation of a minister, as one who has the charge of a spiritual flock; (though, by-the-way, the adjective "pastoral" is applicable to both.) Two other familiar words will illustrate the same thing, "legible" and "readable." The words have etymologically the same meaning, but the process of de-synonymising has been applied to them, so that we speak of "legible" writing as something that can be easily deciphered; while a "readable book is a book that contains matter worth reading, having no relation to ease in deciphering the characters. The words "voluntarily" and "willingly," one an English, and the other a corresponding Latin word, would appear to imply the same thing, and originally

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they were no doubt used in precisely the same sense; but we know very well that many things are done voluntarily that are not done willingly. A man does a thing voluntarily when he does it in freedom-without compulsion; but to do a thing willingly, implies that the inclination goes with it. We go voluntarily to the dentist's to have a tooth extracted; few of us submit to the operation willingly. We speak of "illuminating" a town or a house, but to "enlighten"-which is simply the English form of the same word-is employed only in a figurative sense. Again, we see how the words "observance" and "observation-originally the same,-have gradually separated in meaning. We speak of the "observance" of the law, not of the "observation.” Observation" refers merely to taking cognisance of, and is employed in a secondary sense to signify a casual remark. these diversities of signification the etymology is often disregarded; the distinctions being arbitrary, growing out of custom and the want of greater definitness of expression. In some cases, however, the origin of the words will be a valuable guide to their judicious employment. I once heard an eminent Chancery judge call a barrister to task for using the term "injure" instead of "damage." He was speaking of land which was threatened with damage in consequence of certain works proposed to be carried on in the neighbourhood. Few persons would see the impropriety of the word "injure" who were unable to connect it with jus and injuria which refer to the rights and privileges of persons.

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In speaking of synonyms, one is led to refer to that numerous class of words to which several different, and sometimes contradictory meanings, are attached. It is singular that we should speak of a "fine" needle or a "fine" thread, and a "fine" man, where the meanings are so widely diverse. The word "fast" tells several tales. A "fast man" does not often “fast." A person in rapid motion is said to be running

"fast;" if he puts his feet in the mud he may be stuck" fast," though his locomotion has ceased. You remember the Frenchman's consternation on hearing the number of significations attached to the word "box." A box seat on the coach; a box at the theatre; a Christmas box; a box tree; a box on the ears; a wooden box; and the like. "Post" is another word of many meanings. There is the lamp-post; the posting of a ledger, the post bag; and others; all of which, however, may be distinctly traced to the Latin word positum-placed. The diversity of signification belonging to the same words is the source of a great deal of punning, and not unfrequently of mistakes in translating from one language to another. It often happens, of course, that the two or three meanings attached to a particular word in one language are expressed by entirely distinct words in another, and, this circumstance being overlooked, some droll mistakes are now and then made in translating An Englishman is said to have gone into a furniture shop in Paris to order a chest of drawers, and asked for a poitrine de caleçons, which was a chest of drawers, indeed, but, unfortunately, poitrine meant the chest of the body, and caleçons an article of attire. I heard a similar mistake made by a Frenchman with whom I was speaking some years ago in Paris. I was asking him the ingredients of a popular beverage sold about the streets at a sou the glass; and he seriously informed me that it was made of "lemon-gravy." The mistake was easily accounted for-the French word for gravy is the same as that used for the juice of fruits. About the same time a handbill was given to me in which an odd mistake of a similar kind was printed. The bill was issued from a tailor's shop in the Palais Royal, which was dedicated to the Arms of England, and an English translation was given at the back, in which the first line, “Aux armes d'Angleterre," was printed in very conspicuous characters, "To the weapons of England!" Still more singular was the

translation in a carte at one of the Paris restaurants, in which the phrase "les diners ne se partagent pas" (the charge was so much a head, and the dinners could not be divided): "The dinners are not partaken.” A gratifying announcement to a hungry Briton! Our words "Mr." and "Sir" are both expressed in German by Herr, which explained to me the reason of a German friend, some time since, presenting me with a book, and inscribing on the fly-leaf "To Sir T. A. Reed, with the author's compliments." Few foreigners understand the proper use of our word "Sir;" and Esquire" is a mystery to all.

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There can hardly be two opinions as to the interesting nature of etymological investigations. It is true that in pursuing them many persons have indulged in an immense amount of surmise and vague speculation, which has led some writers to condemn the study altogether. Dean Swift has written an amusing satire in which he ridicules the fanciful conceits of etymologists, and affects to prove that instead of the English language being derived from the Greek and Latin, the Greek and Latin were derived from the English. This theory is supported mainly by a reference to a number of classical proper names which, after his whimsical fashion, he traces to a British origin. Thus in regard to Andromache, the wife of Hector, he says, "Her father was a Scotch gentleman of a noble family still subsisting in that ancient kingdom. Being a foreigner in Troy, to which he led some of his countrymen in the defence of Priam, Hector fell in love with his daughter. The father's name was Andrew Mackay, and the young lady was called by the same name, only softened to the Grecian accent.' As to Alexander the Great, he tells us that "he was very fond of eggs roasted in hot ashes. As soon as the cooks heard that he was come to dinner or supper, they called aloud to their under officers, 'All eggs under the grate!' which repeated every day at noon and evening made strangers think that it was

that stranger's real name, and therefore they gave him no other; and posterity has ever since been under the same delusion." In like manner, "Strabo was a famous geographer, and to improve his knowledge he travelled over several countries, as the writers of his life inform us; who likewise add that he affected great niceness and finery in his clothes, from whence people took occasion to call him the stray beau,' which future ages have pinned down upon him much to his dishonor." We can afford to laugh at this amusing satire, while we are not the less convinced of the real interest attaching to the study of the derivation of words.

There are many other aspects in which this subject might be regarded, such as the bearing of the study of words on ethnology and other sciences; but I must speedily draw my remarks to a close. I would only for a moment refer to the illustration which is afforded us in the meanings attached to common words of every day use, of the doctrine of "correspondences," as it has been called, of which Swedenborg was the great modern expounder. According to this theory every external object has its internal counterpart in the human mind, with which, by a fixed law of creation, it is inseparably connected; and this correspondence between the inner and the outer world is amply illus trated in the common forms of speech adopted by all nations. This is noticeably the case in regard to the various faculties of the mind and body. We employ the verb to "see" not only in relation to external vision, but to the apprehension of truth by the mind, which is indeed sight on another plane of existence. "Light" is employed in the same double sense, because of the connection between light in the outer world and truth in the inner: so that when we speak of an "enlightened" man, we do not employ a mere figure of speech, but we recog nise the great bond of connection subsisting between the two brilliant emanations from the same divine source, the one in a higher, the other in a lower state

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