ever. Bij, according to; heet, hiet, order, command; voegen, to adapt, to suit, to fit together, its substantive is voege, manner, way of doing, and the source of the Italian foggia in the same sense. It is useless to be always repeating, b and p intermutate in sound, and the same in regard to v and ƒ. But sound b as p, and v as f, and by heet voeg'er is pettifogger, once spelt petivoguer. I suspect our term a pet, as a ruling favourite, one who does as he likes with the one to whom he is the pet, is as er beheet, q. e. there's power, there you see the effect of power over another, what he is there he is by influence. Beheet is a very old term for power, command, jurisdiction. Pettish, is as he who acts with the froward and overweening manner of a favourite, and thus as one spoilt by indulgence. JOHNSON brings pettifogger out of the French epithet petit, and the verb voguer, to float on, to go on by the force of oars. Now what can these two words have to do with that term? Did he ever ask himself that question? Or did he impute some meaning to them unknown to others?

"The worst conditioned and least cliented PETIVOGUERS, get, under the sweet bait of revenge, more plentifull prosecu. tion of actions."-CAREW'S SURVEY OF CORNWALL.

"Your PETTIFOGGERS damn their souls,

To join with knaves in cheating fools."-HUDIBRAS.

A LIBEL.

As that by the making public of which, another may suffer, whether true or false. Er lye b'el [by el]; q. e. there is that by which another may suffer; there is that by which injury may be inflicted on another; that from which another may be pained. The term has been by JOHNSON and others held to be as the Latin libellus, in French libelle, as a book or writing for the purpose of exposing a person to shame; but in itself meaning simply a small book or writing, and never a libel, in our

sense, except from the contents or epithet, as libellus famosus, in French libelle diffamatoire, and with that adjunct carmen becomes a satire under the phrase carmen famosum. But libel requires no context or subaudition, to convey the full meaning of an injurious composition, and may be spoken, or even acted or painted, as well as written; nor do I believe it to be grounded in any other than the above phrase; which at once constitutes it in its full sense. We say an infamous libel in the import of one more virulent than common, as we say an infamous scoundrel, infamous rascal, though each of those terms are pretty explicit without this additional epithet. Libellus may be a good source for libel as used in the civil law practice.

Er,

there. Bij, by. Lijden, lyden, lijen, lyen, to be in pain, to suffer, to grieve; and er lye b' el sounds a libel. From libel we have formed to libel, libeller, &c. &c.

"Etiam sparsos se je in curia FAMOSOS LIBELLOS, nec expavit, nec magna cura redarguit Ac ne requisitis quidem auctoribus id modo censuit, cognoscendum post hac de iis, qui libellos aut carmina ad infamiam cujuspiam sub alieno nomine ederent."-SUETONIUS.

"Who wote if al that Chaucer wrate was trewe?

Nor I wote not if this narracion

Be authorised, or forgid of the newe,
Of some Poet by his invencion,
Made to reporte the lamentacion,
And wofull ende of this Creseide,

And what distresse she was in or* she diede.

Whan Diomede had al his appetite

And more fulfilled of this faire lady;

Upon another sette was his delite,

And sende to her a LIBEL repudy, t
And her excluded fro his company,

Than desolate t she walked up and doun

As some men faine, in the courte as commune."-CHAUCER. Ere, before.

A writing to inform her he renounced her connection. Driven by the villainy of Diomede to starve or turn prostitute.

*

"The same lawe that joyneth by wedloke, wythout forsakyng the same lawe, geveth LIBEL of departition by cause of divorse, both demed and declared."CHAUCER.

"Good heaven! that sots and knaves should be so vain,

To wish their vile resemblance may remain !

And stand recorded at their own request

To future days, A LIBEL †, or a jest."-DRYDEN.

LIABLE.

Subject to, chargeable [burthenable] with, obnoxious to. Lije er b' el [by el]; q. e. suffering there [in the case] is from another quarter; enduring, in this instance, is independent of self-will or choice; and implies the being, on the point in question, subject to some infliction over which our will or consent has in that case no controul, no power of evading; as in the expressions, we are all liable to death; he is liable to fits; he has made himself liable for another by so doing; his plan is liable to many defects, &c. &c. Lye, as in the preceding article has the sense of enduring an injury, a misfortune, pain. El, another, another thing or person, and, adverbially, elsewhere, another quarter. Er, there, in this case, here, and by representing a in sound and sense, gives to lye er b' el, the same utterance as that with which we utter liable. JOHNSON derives the term from the French lier, to tie ; unless by calling it old French, he refers to some other import, if it ever had one, that would suit this word. But where? It is a mere guess suggested by the first syllable li, and a groundless one.

"But what is strength without a double share
Of wisdom? Vast, unwieldy, burthensome,
Proudly secure, yet LIABLE to fall

By weakest subtleties."

* Sentence of separation.

MILTON.

+ Evidently without reference to either writing or printing.

HE PUTS THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE.

To ill-time what is to be done, to do something out of its place [unseasonably]; to put in its wrong place [out of order]. Hij put's; die keert bij, voor de hij o' er's; q. e. he is exhausted; he turns aside [leaves off] before the job [hard work, labour] is done [finished]; and thus implies he does so at a wrong time, before the stated period, before it is proper; and which carries with it in other terms, an analogous sense with that the travesty is used in; the literal form of which imports that which nobody ever thought of doing since language was formed. No popular phrase used for the communication of a social circumstance was ever grounded in sheer buffoonery. Popular phrases are the expressions of the common sense of society, in regard to the point in question, not the extravagancies of buffoons. Put, geput, the participle past of putten, to exhaust, whence the French puit (a well) as that which is drawn out of or made by being drawn from, and puiser, épuiser, to exhaust, as well as our pit, and the Latin puteus, and the Italian pozzo, and Spanish pozo. Keeren bij, to turn aside, to turn off near to. Voor, veur, before. Hije, as the participle. present of hijen, to labour hard, to pant from fatigue, and thus as hard work. O'er, over, over, ended. 'S, is, is. Hije o'er 's, sounds horse.

LEGERDEMAIN.

As in the expression, it was quite legerdemain [all legerdemain] and in the import of, it was quite successful, answered completely, to which, by a misconception of the true form of the word, we have imparted the notion of, as if done by magick [enchantment]. Ley er die met inne; q. e. there's the way by which profit [success] is certain; that's the road by which you are sure to be brought home [to succeed in what you intend]; that's the true

path to gain; the infallible way to obtain what you desire. Ley, way, manner, mode, mean; and the source of our terminal ly, as in mannerly, manly, mainly, purely, closely, &c. &c. where it imports like, in the way of, in the form of; y and g are intermutating sounds; to give was formerly spelt by Chaucer and others, to yeve; and our to yield, formerly spelt to gelde, in the sense of to produce, to give up, or out, or in, is the same word with Dutch gelden, gilden, to be worth, to requite [return] in value. Die, which. Meé, mede, wherewith, with, by which, at the same time. Inne, as inning, the old form of the participle present of innen, to furnish, or bring in profit, gain, revenue, and here used in a substantive sense. Sound y as g, and ley er die mee inne, comes out legerdemain, JOHNSON, led by the sound, fancied the term might be as legéreté de main, of course implying as a thing done by sleight of hand [conjuration]; but legéreté de main has not even that import; it may be used in regard to a good writing master or fiddler, but never in regard to a conjuror. Il a le main leger, may be said of a surgeon. We don't say light of hand, in allusion to conjuration, but sleight of hand, where sleight is as sleght, slecht, smooth. In fact, the English term merely means unembarassed, free, ready, something completely done, well performed, done in a sure way; and the idea of magic has been combined with the term simply from this mistaken notion of the source of the word. Leger de main will never bring into any Frenchman's head the idea of conjuration, and when the term is so used by us, it is wrongly used.

A SAILOR.

In the known sense of the word, is evidently from the Dutch seghel, seyl, sail [formerly seyll]. And seyl, zeil, is properly gezeil or gezeul, from zeulen,