out, the watch; and of that which is all eyes the colander is no unapt emblem. The phrase he is a mere sieve, is well known as designating a person who lets out unduly that which is confided to him to be kept to himself; so that sieve is here the emblem of one unworthy of trust, and thus has a derogatory import which does not spring from the word itself, but from the way it is used in.

Avoir l'œil au guet, is a French phrase for to be on the watch, on the alert; but construed literally, to have the eye at the hole or opening, that is, the opening made by the withdrawing the eyelids; and thus answers to our phrase, to have the eyes open. I take the term guet to be the same word as gat [gate] in the sense of, an opening or hole. To open the eyes, is not to make a hole in them, but a hole or opening for the use of them. To open the eye is evidently the ellipsis of to open the eyelids, and so to make an opening or gateway to the sight (pupil) of the eye. The thema of eye is in the o of the original term for that organ, viz. ooghe; and o is still retained in the Latin and Greek terms for eye. O, is as the natural type of roundness. Of this in another page. No probable source of the above phrase, either in French or English, has been yet given, as far as I know. In Thompson's Etymology our own cat-in-pan is referred to the Dog-Latin catapanus as the corruption of capitaneus, mercenary captain, and so a turn-coat chief, one who owes his appearance to the Greek word καταπανω. For gatjepan (colander) see Idioticon Frisicum, door Wassenbergh. Te Leeuwarden ; 1802.

AS FINE AS A CARROT FRESH SCRAPED.

Said in ridicule of some one who is dressed outrageously fine, but known to have acquired the means of procuring his tawdry by severe and cruel subjection to others.

Als fyn aes er gar rood vere

Vereis

ische kreft; q. e. to be good eating [delicate food] the lobster requires to be of a bright red colour; that is, the poor devil must be well boiled [well tortured] before he can come by his scarlet outside appearance. To be properly dressed the lobster must be completely red; and dressing in this way requires either boiling or roasting and so torture. Fyn, fine, delicate, nice. Aes, food, fit to eat. Gar rood, a full red colour, quite scarlet. chen to require. Kreft, is either as lobster or crawfish, and answers to the Latin gammarus, and the French gamarre, a sea craw-fish. Als fyn aes, as fine food. Gar rood sounds carrot. Vereischen, to require; vereische in the potential mood, and sounds fresh. P and f, are the same. sound, the Dutch plat and our flat are the same word. So that vereisch kreft sounds fresh scraped, t and d being the same letter.

HE IS LAID BY THE HEELS.

In the sense of he is suffering imprisonment, he is in fetters. Hie is leed! boeye de ijl's; q. e. here is grief! fetters are the evil that cause it; this is a state of distress indeed! chains are the malady. Evidently as the apostrophe of some one on viewing the person in question, in the state described in the original expression. Leed, leyd, grief, melancholy. Hie, here. Boeye, fetters, bonds, chains. Ijl, evil, ill. 'S, is, is. Boeye sounds by broadly uttered. "One half of man, his mind,

Is sui juris, unconfined,

And cannot be LAID BY THE HEELS.- -HUDIBRAS.

OUT AT THE HEELS.

State of distress, penury, want; narrow circumstances, poverty. Houdt aet; dij ijl 's; q. e. here take the provision [I offer you]; thee seems in an uneasy state; accept my benevolence, you seem so restless. And thus as a sympathizing expression addressed to one in apparent anxiety about where

he shall find his next piece of bread. Houden is to hold, to take hold of. Aet, something to eat, and also something to provide food with, food's worth, and sounds at. Dij, thee. The expression is familiar, but friendly. It bears out the sound sense of compassion with its object in spite of the burlesque allusion of the travesty. No one uses it but in regard to some one who has his compassion. Johnson tells you the phrase originates in the heel of the stocking, and of course implies the state indicated by the person who wears stockings with unmended heels! A state bad enough if you will, but not so bad as that implied by the phrase. It is a mere whim of that excellent man's.

TO DINE WITH DUKE HUMPHREY.

In the meaning of, to be without eating, without the usual meal, to be dinnerless, to want a dinner. Te dyen wijse dij oock onvreé; q. e. you look as if you still wanted something to set you up, to do you good, something to fill your stomach; you look as if nourishment would do you good; it looks as if you were out of sorts for want of something which should do you good; to put into your stomach. Of dyen, dyghen, dijden [to prosper, to ameliorate, to make better] as the true ground of the French diner and our to dine, hereafter. Dyen sounds dine, and dijen as the French dine, je dine. Oock, even, yet, même encore, et etiam, vel nunc, even now. Onvrede onvreé, uneasiness, discontent. And when pronounced with the aspirate comes very close to Humphrey, the v being as f, and the f as ph. Wijse has the sound of with, but the import of, indicates, betrays, looks as if, and is the third person present of wijsen, to demonstrate, in the subjunctive mood.

SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHERE HER ARSE HANGS.

She is continually exposing herself by awkward conduct arising from change of habit; giving proofs

her present elevation is unsuited to her, from the restraint it imposes, and which she is perpetually breaking through, ignorantly, but absurdly, and ungainly. Schie dus in't nauw weer! huer eers ang's; q. e. so quickly again in distress [embarrassment]! hired honours are only plagues; always in some dilemma, when rank [station] is bought [unduly acquired] it ever proves a cause of uneasiness to the purchaser. The remark, for such it is, is evidently brought out upon seeing some one who has notoriously obtained, at the price of happiness and freedom, a position which is now, when too late, found a curse, and the price paid, a source of regret. Station, to be a source of happiness, should be such as the person feels himself suited for, either by habit or nature. The she in the phrase falls in as the travesty of schie (soon) else the original form applies no more to one sex than the other. It has been very ungallantly shifted by the accidental analogy of sound from common to both sexes, to the female in specialty. Dus, thus, in this way, so. In, in 't nauw, het nauw, embarrassment, distress, constraint. Weer, weder, again. Huer, hire, loan, price paid for. Huer eers ang's furnishes the concluding words of the travesty by analogy of sound. 'S, is, is.

A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK.

As in the phrase of "he is a chip of the old block;" and said of some ill conditioned young person, who appears to be likely to turn out as great a curse to society as the father. Er schap af de hol bol oock; q. e. there's the figure of " Madhead" [the father] again. Shap, shape, figure, form. Hol, mad, raving, furious. Bol, a man's head, and metaphorically himself. Hol-Bol, as an appropriate nickname of the father of the person in question. Oock, once again. The a in hap, changes with us into hip, hep; (see article HIPS AND HAWES).

So that schap becomes ship or chip. The phrase is never used but by way of joke, or when seriously angry. Bol oock sounds block.

BEHIND-HAND.

We say he is behind-hand in his learning; and in the sense of he does not get on [advance] in his learning; he is behind hand with his rent; he does not come forward, is in arrear with his rent. Beheind aen; q. e. enclosed, hemmed in, hedged in on all sides, and consequently cannot (does not) advance, come forward. I will not be hehind hand with him; is as, I will come (get, be) up (even) with him; in regard to him, I shall not be stopped (prevented) making an advance equal to that he makes. Beheinen, to enclose [surround, hem, hedge in], of which beheind is the participle past. Aen, in, on. Johnson says the term is composed of behind and hand! the terminal d is evidently paragogical, for hand can have no part in the import of the term. H no letter.

AS SNUG AS A BUG IN A RUG.

As descriptive of the highest degree of concealment; of a state where not even the existence, much less the value, of the person (object, subject) in question has been remarked (suspected to be). And is used in regard to some one who, to the speaker of the phrase, is known to be of great worth notwithstanding a rough uncouth appearance. Al's nog als er bag in de ruig; q. e. it is all yet there as with the diamond in its rough state; and thus as hidden value, worth not yet displayed to the eye. We say he is a rough diamond, in the same sense. Al's, all is there, so it is there. Nog, noch, yet, even now. And what truer type of value, not yet brought to light, than the external appearance and internal price of this jewel. Bag, bagghe, jewel, diamond, precious stone: hence the French bague. Ruijghe, ruig, rough; but in de