THE WEAK SIDE.

He took (attacked) him on his (the) weak side; he tried to overcome him by his susceptibility, by his tender part in other words, he tried whether he had any feeling, whether he was endowed with the internal qualities of a man as well as the external form of one. De weeck sijde; q. e the side of the milt (spleen), the reputed seat of susceptibility. A splenetic person is tantamount to a person easily affected [excited]. Weeck, weijck, and weak are the same word; which has also the sense of soft, yielding. De weeck der sijden is the technical term for the hypochondria [milt] as the soft viscus par excellence and which is also placed in that region of the body where there is no bone [hardness]. Weecksinnigh and saftsinnigh are both used as weak-minded [soft-headed].

TO HANG AN ARSE.

To be deficient or dilatory in regard to what the occasion requires, not to come up to that which was expected on your part. T'u hange een erre's; q. e. retarding is here a not doing of that which ought to be done on your part; on such an occasion the being tardy is in you a committing of yourself, an omitting of that which was your part to do. We say "he hangs behind" in the same direction of sénse. T'u, you. Hange, as the participle present of hangen to suspend, to hang, retard. Erre, the contraction of the participle present of the antiquated erren, to err, to mistake, in German irren and the root word of the Latin errare. Erre's sounds arse formerly spelt by us erse.

"For Hudibras wore but one spur,
As wisely knowing could he stir
To active trot one side of 's horse
The other would not HANG AN ARSE."

HUDIBRAS.

"Yes quoth this Angell, many millioune
Unto Sathanas ladd he him doune,
And now bath Sathanas, said he, a taile
Broader than of a Carike* in the saile.
Hold up thy taile, thou Sathanas, quoth he,
Shew forth thyn ERSE, and let the Freret se,
Where is the nest of Freris in this place.
And er that half a forlong wey of space
Right so as bees swarming out of a hive,
Out of the Devil's ERSE they gan to drive,
Twenty Thousand Freris all on a rout."
CHAUCER.

HE IS AS MAD AS A MARCH HARE.

Applied to some domineering vexatious personage; some abuser of delegated authority, and consequently a nuisance and torment to those within his reach. Hij is als mad als er mae's heer; q. e. he acts like maw-worm when it has possession of the stomach; he rages and torments like the worm which has got possession of a place where it ought not to be. The worm alluded to is that which is generated in the under bowels, but has slipped into the stomach, where it is a more disquieting concern even than when in its proper place. And maw

worm is the worm here intended; whence the metaphorical expression of maw-worm as miser, secret devourer, self tormentor, heautontimoreumenos. Tape worm is I suspect grounded in the same direction of sense, and as teppe worm ; q. e. tormenting, harassing, teazing worm; and not as a worm like tape. Teppe being as the participle present of teppen, to vellicate, to tease, to pull about. The phrase at the head of this article in both forms is evidently burlesque. Made, maede, maeye, maaije, maade, maggot, worm, devouring reptile. Mat, maeghe, maag, the same word with our maw, as stomach. Heer, master.

* A large ship. + Friar, Friars.

As he whose increase of size por approach to the maturity of manhood. de hoy; q. e. it is by being formed [by heapings] that grass matures into ing that with the various gradations and gradual increasings of size [we haymakers], grass, in the last and la forms, becomes hay, and is considere intended use. Neither man nor boy, is accompaniment, by way of illustration which the origin has been eclipsed by t heap, haycock, Beldin, bildin, beeld to make into, to effigiate, whence our all its appliances. Hoy, hooi, hay.

"Lo here the blosme*, and the budde of
Of whiche the prophet so long spake of
Lo here the fame that was in memorie,
Of Esai, so long ort she was y borne !
Lo here of David the delicious corne.
Lo here the ground of life in to BILDE
Becomyng man our ransome for to yilde
"Where I myne eyen

Were treis clad with leves that aie shal last
Eche in its kinde, with colour fresh and gr
As Emeraude, that joie it was to sene."
"The BILDIR Oke, and eke the hardie Asso
The pillir Elme, the coffir unto caraine,
The Box § pipe-tree, the Holme to whippis
The sailing Firre, the Cypress deth to pla
The shotir Ewe, the Aspe for shaftes¶ pla
The Olive pece, and eke the dronkin Vine
The victor Palm, the Laurir to divine."-ID

* Virgin Mary. + Before, ere.
The trees to make fifes with.
Shooter, to make bows with

Our S

THAN A COW DOES OF A NEW SHILLING.

Said in reference to something impossible, to some infeasible thing. Dan er kou dus haaf een nieuw siel inne; q. e. no more than riches can put a new soul into a man ; no more than money [estate] can change a cold-natured niggard into a warm-hearted and generous person; no more than a long purse can change one who is by nature a BLACKGUARD (see below) into a GENTLEMAN (see below) and thus implying a physical impossibility. Kou, kau, koud, kaud, cold, insensible, unfeeling. Dus, thus, by this. Haaf, haeve, have, riches, power, possessions. Een, a. Nieuw, new. Siel, soul. Inne, can put into, bring in, fetch in.

A FINGER IN THE PIE.

An undue share; a share taken by intrusive meddling. Er ving gher' in de paije; q. e. there covetousness clawed out a part of the fund; cupidity fixed her claw into the sum (that which was coming to another); greediness grasped a portion of another's due. Vangen, to seize, to set the fangs into, in the præterite tense ving. Gher', ghere, greediness, voracity. Paije, amount paid as due, the settlement of a concern.

THAN A CAT IN HELL WITHOUT CLAWS.

He is like a cat in hell without claws, implies there can be no doubt in regard to what is to become of him in the case spoken of, not that when he gets to hell he is not to be in a condition to fight its proprietor. Dan er guit in hel wis houdt klaars; q. e. then [so that] the existence of the villain [villainy] contains within itself a clear proof there must be a hell [a counteracting mean]; when we see the ruffian abroad we are certain there must be somewhere [though unseen] a due check to him; that there is a duly counterbalancing good to every evil, the very existence of things is a proof;

the order of nature testifies. Imply system of countervailing equivalents, the apparently accidental and irregul of existences and appearances which regard to all physical phenomena. simply as invisible punishment, hidde and has no relation to geographical pos quality is its everlasting and inevitable eured by unseen means means indepe For instance, the hell of a bad consc earthly power can save the most pot from that? Imperial protection, judici and servility, benefit of clergy, ri friends, are all as chaff before it. I to be simply as the participle prese to hide, to conceal, and as an ell cealed means, power, effect, or som adjunct, and thus as hel, helle, hell hiding, a concealing; subaudito mea both then and than, and in the first ca word with the Latin tum, tunc, dum Italian dunque and French doncques. villain; by token villainy; and possib word at bottom with quaet, kwaet, wicked. In all the travesties of guit, represented by cat, a nearer form of le than to guit. Wis houden, keeps certain of, leaves without doubt; and wis h without. Klaar, clear, evident. 'S, is, sounds claws.

Expressive of one in a state of anx conduct himself in the affair in quest who does not know what to do on the view, and thus one in distress. Hoore'n worn out by doubts how he ought to this occasion; tired of thinking what is in this case. Hoore, as the contract