Axe.—When I see a merchant over-polite to his customers, begging them to taste a little brandy, and throwing half his goods on th counter, thinks I, that man has an AXE to grind.-C. MINER, Who'll turn Grindstones?

No hammers fell, no ponderous AXES rung;
Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung.
Majestic silence!-HEBER's Palestine.

No man saw the building of the New Jerusalem, the workmen crowded together, the unfinished walls and unpaved streets; no man heard the clink of trowel and PICK-AXE; it descended OUT OF HEAVEN FROM GOD.-Ecce Homo, last sentence.

B.

Babe.-Oh! when a Mother meets on high
The BABE she lost in infancy,

Hath she not then, for pains and fears,

The day of woe, the watchful night,

For all her sorrow, all her tears,

An over-payment of delight?-SOUTHEY, Curse of Kehama.

Back.-BACK and side go bare, go bare,

Both foot and hand go cold;

But, belly, God send thee good ale enough,

Whether it be new or old.-STILL, Gammer Gurton.

Bacon.-If parts allure thee, think how BACON shin'd,
The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind!
Or, ravish'd with the whistling of a name,
See Cromwell, damn'd to everlasting fame!

POPE, Essay on Man.

Baited. His hook he BAITED with a dragon's tail,
And sat upon a rock, and bobbed for whale.

WILLIAM KING.

Ballad-mongers.—I had rather be a kitten and cry mew,
Than one of these same metre BALLAD-MONGERS.

SHAKESPERE, Henry IV.

Ballads.-BALLADS are the gipsy children of song, born under green hedge-rows, in the leafy lanes and by-paths of literature, in the genial summer-time.-LONGFELLOW.

I knew a very wise man that believed that, if a man were permitted to make all the BALLADS, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation.

FLETCHER OF SALTOUN, Letter to Montrose,

Ballads. And tell prose writers, stories are so stale,
That penny BALLADS have a better sale.

BRETON, Pasquil, 1600.

Ballot-box.-A weapon that comes down as still

As snow-flakes fall upon the sod;
But executes a freeman's will,
As lightning does the will of God;

And from its force, nor doors nor locks

Can shield you;-'tis the BALLOT-BOX.-J. PIERPONT.

Bank. I know a BANK whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.

SHAKESPERE, Midsummer Night's Dream

Barbarians.-There were his young BARBARIANS all at play,
There was their Dacian mother, -he, their sire,

Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday.-BYRON, Childe Harold. Barebones Parliament.-A nickname conferred upon the PARLIAMENT convened by Cromwell, July 4, 1653. It was composed of 139 persons, who resigned their authority Dec. 12, 1653; and it was so called from a leather-seller named Praise-God BAREBONE, who was one of the principal members.

Barleycorn, Sir John.-In England and Scotland, a jocular name for ale or beer, which is made of barley. Sir John is the subject of a famous old ballad of the same name. In a whimsical English tract of ancient date, entitled "The Arraigning and Indicting of SIR JOHN BARLEYCORN, Knt.," he is described as of "noble blood, well beloved in England, a great supporter of the crown, and a maintainer of both rich and poor.'

Inspiring bold JOHN BARLEYCORN,
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Wi' tippenny we fear nae evil;

Wi' usquebae we'll face the devil!-BURNS.

JOHN BARLEYCORN has given his very heart to this liquor [the "Archdeacon "]: it is a superior kind of ale, the Prince of Ales, with a richer flavour and a mightier spirit than you can find elsewhere in this weary world.-HAWTHORNE.

Barren.-I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry, 'Tis all BARREN.-STERNE, Sentimental Journey.

Bashfulness.-BASHFULNESS is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.-ARISTOTLE.

Bastion.--And topples round the dreary west

A looming BASTION fringed with fire.

TENNYSON, In Memoriam.

Battle.-BATTLE's magnificently stern array.

BYRON, Childe Harold.

The next dreadful thing to a BATTLE lost is a battle won.

WELLINGTON.

Battle of the Books.-The subject of a satirical composition by Swift, entitled the "Battle between the Ancient and Modern Books in St. James's Library," alluding to the controversy regarding the respec. tive merits of ancient and modern learning.

Battles.-Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain;
Fought all his BATTLES o'er again;

And thrice he routed all his foes; and thrice he slew the slain.

Beard. And dar'st thou then

TO BEARD the lion in his den,

DRYDEN, Alexander's Feast,

The Douglas in his hall?-SCOTT, Marmion.

Beaten. Some have been BEATEN till they know
What wood a cudgel's of by th' blow!
Some kick'd until they can feel whether

A shoe be Spanish or neat's leather.—BUTLER, Hudibras.
Beauty.-A thing of BEAUTY is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams and health, and quiet breathing.

BEAUTY, blemish'd once, for ever's lost.

KEATS, Endymion.

SHAKESPERE, P. Pilgrim.

BEAUTY is truth, truth beauty,-that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

KEATS, On a Grecian Urn.

BEAUTY is valuable or worthless according as you invest the property to the best advantage.-LYTTON, Lady of Lyons.

BEAUTY stands

In the admiration only of weak minds

Led captive.-MILTON, Paradise Regained.

Could I come near your BEAUTY with my nails,
I'd set my ten commandments in your face.

SHAKESPERE, Henry VI.

Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare,
And BEAUTY draws us with a single hair.

POPE, Rape of the Lock.

Her BEAUTY hangs upon the cheek of night

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear.-SHAKESPERE, Romeo.

She walks in BEAUTY, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

BYRON, Hebrew Melodies.

Beauty. Who hath not proved how feebly words essay
To fix one spark of BEAUTY's heavenly ray?
Who doth not feel, until his failing sight
Faints into dimness with its own delight,
His changing cheek, his sinking heart confess
The might the majesty of loveliness?

Bed. He that will to BED go sober,

BYRON, Bride of Abydos.

Falls with the leaf still in October.-ROLLO, Duke of Normandy.

He who goes to BED, and goes to BED sober,

Falls as the leaves do, and dies in October;

But he who goes to bed, and goes to bed mellow,

Lives as he ought to do, and dies an honest fellow.-Anon.

Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber!

Holy angels guard thy BED!

Heavenly blessings without number

Gently falling on thy head.--WATTS, Cradle Hymn.

Bee.-How doth the little busy BEE

Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day,

From every opening flower.-Ibid., Song xx.

Beef.-Oh! the roast BEEF of Old England,

And oh the old English roast beef.-FIELDING.

Beer.-What two ideas are more inseparable than BEER and Britannia? What event more awfully important to an English colony than the erection of its first brewhouse?—Sydney Smith.

Begging the Question.-This is a common logical fallacy, petitio principii; and the first explanation of the phrase is to be found in Aristotle's Topica, viii. 13, where the five ways of BEGGING the QUESTION are set forth. The earliest English work in which the expression is found is "The Arte of Logike planlie set forth in our English Tongue, &c., 1584."

Behaviour.-BEHAVIOUR is a mirror, in which everyone shows his image.-GOETHE.

Belief. 'Tis good to doubt the worst,

We may in our BELIEF be too secure.-WEBSTER AND ROWLEY. Bell.--The BELL strikes one. We take no note of time,

But from its loss.-YOUNG, Night Thoughts.

Bells.-Ring out wild BELLS to the wild sky.

TENNYSON, In Memoriam.

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.—Ibid.

Bench.-A little BENCH of heedless bishops here,
And there a chancellor in embryo.-SHENSTONE.
Bevy.-A BEVY of fair women. -MILTON, Paradise Lost.
Bezonian.-Under which king, BEZONIAN? speak or die.

SHAKESPERE, Henry

Bible. Just knows, and knows no more, her BIBLE true,
A ruth the brilliant Frenchman never knew.--CowPER, Truth
Bigotry.-BIGOTRY murders religion, to frighten fools with
ghost.-COTTON.

Biography.-BIOGRAPHY is the most universally pleasant, univer profitable of all reading.-CARLYLE.

Bird.—And, as a BIRD each fond endearment tries
To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies,
He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay,
Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way.

GOLDSMITH, Deserted Vill

Birth. Our BIRTH is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar;

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter darkness,

But trailing clouds of glory, do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy.

At length the man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.

WORDSWORTH, Intimations of Inmortalit

While man is growing, life is in decrease;
And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb.
Our BIRTH is nothing but our death begun.

YOUNG, Night Thoughts.