TO ASK (A. S. áscian) is to seek to obtain by words. But the character of these words may vary from the bumblest entreaty to a demand. Its further sense of obtaining information by words of inquiry is not here considered. It is the simplest and broadest term for making a request. It implies no particular sort of relationship, as of superiority or inferiority between parties. The master asks the servant, and the servant the master, to do a thing. It is the ordinary term for expressing ordinary require ments. some degree of dependence is involved. The term beg is a useful one when the speaker wishes to combine impressiveness of entreaty with deference or respect. "In begging other inferior things it may become us to be reserved, indifferent, and modest; but about these matters wherein all our felicity is extremely concerned, it were a folly to be slack or timorous."BARROW. Neither ask, request, nor beg, are so strong as BESEECH (be- and Ő. E. sechen, to seek). To beseech and to ENTREAT (0. Fr. entraiter, to treat of) are much the same, but beseech belongs more to feeling, entreat to argument. We entreat an equal by what he knows, feels, or can understand; we beseech a superior by his goodness or his greatness. There is condescension when we entreat an inferior, as a father may entreat a sou to be more diligent for his own sake. This is to urge on grounds of affection and argument combined. "The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, prostrated himself at his master's feet, and in the most moving terms besought him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will pay thee all.'"-BISHOP PORTEUS. "So well he woo'd her, and so well he wrought her With fair entreaty and sweet blandish ment." SPENSER. TO SUPPLICATE (Lat. supplicare, lit. to ask with bended knees) and to IMPLORE (Lat. implorare, to beg with tears) both imply extreme distress and earnestness; but we may implore equals, we supplicate only superiors; for supplication denotes abject humility, as in a slave, or an offender, supplicating for pardon. We commonly beseech on the ground of personal influence, as in the phrase, "I beseech you for In immy sake." ploring we strive to move the feelings as of pity, sympathy, or compassion. To SOLICIT (Lat. sollicitare) has lost its classic force of causing anxiety, though it appears prominently in the cognate adjective, solicitous. To solicit, with us, is to ask with a feeling of strong appreciation or interest in what we ask, and implies what a superior only can grant, or at least what we can receive only from the favour of another. We solicit not matters of vital importance, as the necessaries of life, but rather that which pleasant, desirable, or advantageous to procure, such, for instance, as places of trust and emolument. It is TO CRAVE (A. S. crafian) is to ask with eagerness so as to gratify a desire or satisfy a natural want. the expression of a longing oL the part of one who is reduced to the condition of a suppliant by the urgency of that for which he asks. "Whose mercy the most opulent of us all must one day supplicate with all the earnestness of abject mendicity."-KNOX. "With piercing words and pitiful implore." SPENSER. "To solicit by labour what might be ravished by arms was esteemed unworthy of the German spirit."-GIBBON. "For my past crimes my forfeit life receive, No pity for my sufferings here I crave.' ROWE. ASPECT. VIEW. VIEW (Fr. vue) is subjective, being the application of the faculty of sight to an object considerable or complex. ASPECT (Lat. aspicere, part. aspectus, to look at) is objective, being the way in which the thing contemplated presents itself to our view. I have a view from my window. This view may have a fertile, a barren, a harsh, or a smiling aspect. The aspect is often of an individual object in detail. A thing may have a singular aspect. The view is permanent, the aspect variable. I have from the same window a view of the sea; on no two successive days is its aspect the same. A false view is an error of one's own observation. A false aspect is a deceptive character in the object contemplated, though it is possible that something in ourselves may so invest it. Passion and prejudice may be said to lead to false views of things, or to present things under false aspects. to inanimate objects also. Where they refer to persons, ASSEMBLY implies: voluntary, ASSEMBLAGE an involuntary, collection. A number of persons skating on the ice is not an assembly because, though their employment is common, their object is not. The assemblage might become an assembly, should some topic of interest suggest itself to be discussed. As the objects in an assemblage possess a certain amount of conspicuousness, assemblage is said of illustrious, assembly of ordinary, persons. large assembly may be often observed a striking assemblage of characters, countenances, figures, dresses. In a "He scarce had finish'd, when such mur murs fill'd Th' assembly, as when hollow rocks retain The sound of blustering winds, which all night long Have roused the sea." MILTON. "In sweet assemblage every blooming grace Fix Love's bright reign on Teraminta's face." FENTON. GROUP (Fr. groupe) is applied to objects both animate and inanimate. A group is an assemblage of no considerable number, regarded with an eye to its configuration, or such relations of the parts as might be noticed for their artistic effect in colour or form. A group has a completeness of outline which isolates it from surrounding objects. "Da Fresney tells us that the figures of the groups must not be all on a side; that is, with their faces and bodies all turned the same way, but must contrast each other by their several positions."-DRYDEN. COLLECTION (Lat. collectionem) expresses a number of persons or things brought together by some force external to themselves, which has made them one either as to unity of nature, or by identity of place, while AsSEMBLY denotes a meeting purposely made and purposely sustained. A collection of persons may be the result of a common object, or it may be fortuitous. ASSEMBLAGE points rather to the unity of the time and place at which the gathering occurs; COLLECTION to the variety and diversity of quarters from which the component members of it have come. Collection may be fortuitous and mechanical. "They (the Collects) are generally so MEETING, a body met together (A.S. métan, to meet, obtain), is of many persons, though in its abstract sense of a coming together, it may refer to two only. It conveys the idea of involuntary union, or of persons finding themselves together. It also implies more strongly the idea of a specific point or locality at which the meeting takes place. Where a meeting of persons has been purposely convened, it is still a term of less dignity than assembly. We speak of the meeting of Parliament in the general sense of the reunion of its members. Parliament itself may be regarded as an august assembly. Local matters are discussed at local meetings. A meeting conveys also the idea of fewer numbers and greater familiarity among its constituents than assembly. "Understand this Stethva to be the meeting of the British poets and minstrels for trial of their poems and music sufficiences, where the best had his reward, a silver harp."-DRAYTON. ASSERT. AFFIRM. ASSEVERATE. AVER. AVOUCH. PROTEST. TO ASSERT (Lat. assèrère, to take to oneself) and AFFIRM (Lat. affirmāre) both denote the making of a statement, but ASSERT, true to its origin, is subjective,AFFIRM objective in its character. I assert a thing as a truth, or as a conviction of my own mind. I proposition. Assert affirm it as a therefore has a metaphysical, affirm a logical foree. I assert boldly, I affirm distinctly. The opposite to ASSERT would be to suppose or to imply. The opposite to AFFIRM is to deny; or again, we confute an assertion and deny an affirmation. A man may affirm a thing because he would rather do so than deny it, or he may affirm it for the sake of discussion upon it. But when he asserts it he takes upon himself the consequences of his statement. Hence bold assertions commonly indicate a combination of ignorance and rashness. In deliberative assemblies a resolution of fact is said to be affirmed, not asserted by the meeting, because the moral responsibility of individuals is not the idea of it, but a proposition unanimously assented to. to move. "I can hardly believe that anyone wil. assert that a parcel of mere matter left altogether to itself could ever of itself begin If there is any such bold asserter let him fix his eyes upon some lump of matter, for instance, a stone, piece of timber, or a clod cleared of all animals, and peruse it well."-WOOLASTON. "If one writer shall affirm that virtue added to faith is sufficient to make a Christian, and another shall zealously deny this proposition, they seem to differ widely in words, and perhaps they may both really agree in sentiment, if by the word virtue the affirmer intends our whole duty to God and man, and the denier by the word virtue means only courage, or at most our duty toward our neighbour, without including in the idea of it the duty which we owe to God."-WATTS' Logic. TO ASSEVERATE (Lat. asseverare) is to assert or affirm in a peculiarly earnest and forcible manner for the purpose of inducing conviction thereby, or possibly as being one's self under the influence of energetic persuasion. "I will come, and some of you shall see me coming. Can it be supposed that in such an asseveration the word to come may bear two different senses?"-HARLEY. AVER (Fr. averer, Lat. ad-vērare, vërus, true) is the more solemn, as asseverate is the more energetic term. I aver that which I formally declare to be true. To aver, in the technical language of pleading, is to state what one is prepared to prove. It belongs, therefore, to matters of knowledge and fact. aver that a thing is so, which I have no right to do unless I am prepared with positive demonstration for it. "I shall only aver what myself have sometimes observed of a duck when closely pursued by a water-dog. She not only dives to save herself, but when she comes up again, brings not her whole body above water, but only her bill and part of her head, holding the rest underneath, that so the dog, who in the meantime turns round and looks about him, may not espy her till she have recovered breath."-RAY. TO PROTEST (Lat. protestām, to declare publicly, to protest) is to aver in a serious and public manner, indicating not only the truth of the thing, but one's own sincerity in making the statement. Protestation, when it is relative,becomes antagonistic; and so the noun PROTEST has come to convey the idea of a declaration against some other thing or person; but this is accidental, not essential, to its meaning, which is open and solemn declaration with the energy of sincerity, expressive of the importance as well as the truth of the thing said. It belongs commonly to cases in which the individual is, as it were, on trial, or where he writes to obtain credit for purity of motive. Affirmation, averment, and assertion, are of facts generally; protestation is of such facts as are closely connected with one's self, and so matters even more of feeling than of fact. One protests that he has or has not taken such a part in a transaction, or that he was innocent, or that he is influenced by certain feelings, as of sympathy or regret in regard to it. Protestations sometimes stand in contradiction to actions, and seem to express one motive while they indicate another. "Collecting an army on the borders of Normandy, he protests that his measures are pacific."-LANDON. AVOUCH (Fr. à, i.e. ad, to, and Eng vouch, Lat.vocare) is to make a declaration, not only in a positive manner, but in favour of some person, or in maintenance of some cause. To avouch a thing is to place one's self in the position of a witness for it. So Shakespeare uses the noun Avouch in the sense of simple evidence. "Before my God I might not this believe ASSISTANT. COADJUtor. ASSISTANT (Fr. assister, to assist) and COADJUTOR (Lat. coadjutor, a colleague) differ only in quality. The menial servant, or one much younger, may be an assistant, but the coadjutor is in a measure on a level with him whom he aids, and with whom he is associated in some honorable office. The assistant aids by doing many things which the principal does not do. The coadjutor aids by doing the same kind of things, and so sharing the burden of duty. "In one respect, I'll thy assistant be.” SHAKESPEARE. "The plebeian ædiles were chosen out of the common, and were in some respects a sort of coadjutor to the Tribunes."-MELMOTH. ASSOCIATION. SOCIETY. COM MUNITY. All these terms have both an abstract and a concrete signification. It is in the latter that they are here compared. ASSOCIATION (Lat.associare, to make a companion of) is literally the institution of companionship. This may be between two or more. An association, as compared with a SOCIETY, is less strictly organized. It is the result of a common interest in an object or subject. It springs from a feeling that the efforts of individuals are likely to be more efficient when they are cooperative, and expresses a stage short of that which is expressed by society. Societies are in the main literary, scientific, moral, philanthropical, or religious. In the society the tentative condition of the association has been passed, and it has grown into an institution upon a large and public scale. So we speak of the Zoological Society, the Humane Society, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In its widest sense society is co-extensive with the human race. A COMMUNITY (Lat. communitātem) is a society having reciprocal rights, privileges, interests, manners, and customs; in short, a common way of living together. This may be on a large or a small scale, beyond that of the family. Some communities are states; some are like large families, as "God, having designed man for a sociable ASYLUM. REFUGE. SHELTER. ASYLUM (Lat. asylum, Gr. àchov, manent. The REFUGE (Fr. refuge, Lat. refigium), the SHELTER (connected with shield) affords some protection against specific violence or hostile force, as the storm-tost ship seeks shelter from the storm, or men and women in old times sought shelter in monasteries from the lawlessness and violence of the times. an A RETREAT (Fr. retraite) is a place where we may find rest, quiet, or retirement; as an escape from toils, a cessation of responsibilities, or opportunity for leisurely reflexion, as the man of active and public life loves some rural retreat for his old age or in the intervals of work. The term asylum is not used but in an honourable sense, which is not the case with refuge. The contemplative find an asylum in solitude. Robbers and wild beasts have their places of refuge. The haunts of idlers, gamblers, thieves, and vagabonds are not called asylums." Certain sacred places, as churches or religious institutions, had, and in some countries still have, a right of asylum; that is, the criminal or accused who could fly to them might claim not to be removed. Of this character were the Mosaic cities of refuge. "Earth has no other asylum for them than its own cold bosom."-SOUTHEY. "The hapless unbeliever, while disordered nature is sounding in his ears, hath nowhere to fly for refuge from its terrors." -WARBURTON. From sudden April showers, a-shelter from the heat.' DRYDEN. AFFECTION, FONDNESS. LOVE ATTACHMENT. A feeling of love may be expressed by ATTACHMENT (Fr. attacher, to fasten or AFFECTION (Lat. affectionem). Affection is the state of one who feels towards another with warmth and tenderness. Attachment, that of one who is bound to another by strong and lasting ties. Affection may spring from natural relationship, as the affection of a child to its parent, or from personal predilection, as in the companionship of the purest friends. Attachment is the result of circumstance, ase.g. association, congeniality of disposition, tastes, pursuits, or kindness shown. Affection is more a thing of sentiment. Attachment involves principle also. A strong affection, a lasting or faithful attachment. So strongly does the element of habituation belong to attachment, that the term is applicable to many things to which affection is inapplicable, as the memory of another, one's own principles, profession, country, or even the locality in which one resides, or places of favourite resort. Affection is attachment combined with a higher degree of warmth. It is also a wider term. Attachment is not felt towards inferiors, while affection may be felt towards all. I feel affection towards a favourite dog, which is strong in proportion to his attachment to his master. A mother feels affection, but hardly attachment to her child. Conjugal affection, Prevailing over fear and timorous doubt." MILTON. "There is no man but is more attached to one particular set or scheme of opinions in philosophy, politics, and religion, than he is to another. I mean, if he hath employed his thought at all about them. The question we should examine then is, how came we by those attachments?"—MASON. TENDERNESS (Fr. tendre, tender) has, as a synonym in this connexion, its active and its passive side. In the latter it has the force of tender-hearted. |