terpreted to mean a hidden writing, from apo, from, and kryptein (kryph), to hide. But why should not the apo here have the same meaning as in apocalypse, and so reverse the import of kryptein (Eng. crypt), to hide, and thus signify the disclosed, discovered, or detected writing? Any way, apocryphal is equivalent to spurious, and opposed to canonical or authentic.

"Now, beside the Scriptures, the bookes which they called ecclesiasticall were thought not unworthy sometimes to bee brought into publicke audience; and with that name they intituled the bookes which we term apocryphall."-Hooker," Ecclesistical Polity."

CONVERSATIONS ON ENGLISH GRAMMAR.-No. III.

The substance of our two conversations are pretty clear to me now."-"I am glad you have carefully studied them, but you havI just committed a grammatical error."-"You do not say so? fear I shall never get right."-"Yes, you will get right by perscverance. The error into which you have fallen is a very common one; I have heard it even from the lips of persons who do not think themselves ignorant of grammar."-" Wherein does it lie?"-"You have used a plural verb where you should have used a singular one."- "But conversations' is in the plural."" It is; that word, however, is not the subject to the verb of the sentence; it comes immediately before the verb, and so has led you to put the verb into the plural, by a kind of latent attraction, against the influence of which I must put you on your guard." What, then, is the subject?"-"Substance' is the subject, or, what in common grammars is called, the nominative case, and the sentence should have stood thus: The substance of our two conversations is pretty clear to me now.' 'Substance,' I repeat, is the subject. What is clear? You do not mean that the conversations' are clear."-"No, for there are some things in them that I do not quite comprehend; but they are clear on the whole."-"Yes, your language expressed your meaning correctly, though your grammar is at fault. This I have often observed in persons of defective education. Right in their logic, and having a good command of words, they are unable to put them together correctly, and so lose a large part of the advantage they ought to derive from their efforts at self-culture. Observe, now, 'conversations' is dependent on the preposition of; in the ordinary phraseology, it is governed by that preposition; and being governed by it is in what is called the objective case, it cannot be the nominative, or the subject to the ensuing verb. In fact, the word 'conversations' is a part of the compound subject of the sentence, as you may see exhibited thus:COMPOUND SUBJECT.

PREDICATE.

Verb. Attribute,

is clear to me now.

The substance of our conversations Take another instance: The majority of us are stone masons.' Is that correct?"-"No."-"I beg your pardon, it is quite correct."-"How so?"-"Because the word 'majority' is what is called a noun of multitude-a noun, that is, which being singular in form, is plural in signification. In a majority, you know, there must be more than one. Now nouns of this kind, as they imply more than one, are constructed according to their sense, and not according to their form. Consequently, 'majority' requires its

verb to be in the plural."-"Then it would be right to say 'the fleet have sailed,' for a fleet consists of many ships."--" No, it would be wrong; 'the fleet has sailed' is correct English. The true rule in this matter is this: nouns of multitude require their verb to be in the plural when the mind dwells on the individual objects which they comprise, but when those objects are presented or contemplated as a whole, than the verb must be in the singular. In the phrase, the majority of us,' the idea of plurality is made prominent, you of necessity think of several persons, therefore, your verb must be in the plural; but in the phrase, 'the fleet has sailed,' you conceive of the component parts as forming a whole, several elements coalesce into one, unity is the predominant feeling, and consequently you must employ a singular verb. I give you another instance: The imprisonment of us is wrong.' What say you to that ?"-" It is correct."-"Yes, it is correct. Now do you not see that the words 'of us' hold in this sentence precisely the same relation or position that is held in the first sentence by the words of our conversations?' Look at this arrangement:COMPOUND SUBJECT. PREDICATE.

The imprisonment of us

Verb.
is

Attribute.'
wrong.

'Us,' you see, is not the nominative case (or, as I prefer putting it, is not the subject), for we, you know, is the nominative, and us is in the objective case. You would not say us are."-" O, no, that would be ridiculous."-" And yet I heard a man, the other day, say we is; nay, I am not sure that you yourself-speaking of the potatoes we had to-day for dinner-did not say, they is good;' what think you?"-"It is not impossible; these things are very perplexing."-"Yes, at first, they are troublesome, but study and practice will remove all difficulties; they have done so in my own case, why not in yours?"-" Well, I am not going to yield.""Certainly not; Buonaparte is reported to have said that the French had not such a word as 'impossible' in their language; however this may be, you, as an Englishman, will not, I am sure, easily admit the idea into your mind, or the thing itself into your conduct. 'Impossible?' No, nothing that is good and honest is impossible; what man has done, man may do. Now I must put you to rights in regard to this verb is and are; it is a word against which many, very many, persons sin grievously. Study this form :

This, surely, is not very complicated, yet it contains all you need know in order to speak and write correctly, so far as this point is concerned. Take care, then, not to separate the pronouns from the proper forms of the verb. Take care not to mix together verbs and pronouns that should be kept apart. Do not take the first

person I, and put it before the third person is. In other terms, 1 and i. must go together; 1 and iii. must not be combined. You must say we were (1 and i.), and not they was (iii. and 1). Before I conclude, let me impress it on your mind that you will never speak grammatically, or, at any rate, never be sure that you speak grammatically, unless you take the trouble to make yourself familiar with the terms and the laws of grammar. Many, finding the study somewhat difficult, after a little while, give it up in a sort of confident spirit, thinking such drudgery beneath them, and fancying they can do all that is necessary by a sort of nondescript grammatical feeling. This is silly. Accurate knowledge is not obtained by genius, or inspiration, or any other fancied short cut to science. If you would know, you must condescend to learn, and all true learning demands, as it well rewards, diligent and constant labour.""Well, I do not know that I am in that danger; I never thought myself a 'genius;' and as for 'inspiration,' that belongs to a subject too sacred for me to venture on-a subject on which I had rather worship than speculate, much less be over confident."-" Those are wise words; the man who is without reverence will be a small man to the end of his days."

GREEK STEMS (Continued).

Unhappily there prevails a certain disesteem of verbal studies. Words and facts are put into broad contrast, if not into contradiction, and, with much self-satisfaction, men, especially young men, declare that for their part they prefer realities to sounds. The contrast is a creation of the imagination. In making it the basis of your conduct, you stand on a sound not a reality. Words are the signs of things. Words are the tickets which by one sound or two sounds make known the qualities of things. Words are the church bells which announce facts to the whole parish. As no bell, no service; so no word, no idea. And if you have an idea, you cannot be sure of retaining that idea, still less can you be sure of turning that idea to any good account, until you have found form and pressure for that idea in a suitable word. It is its clothing which makes an idea recognisable. It is its clothing which makes an idea presentable. Bearing a certain mark and likeness in a word, you can look at your thought; you can turn it over and over; you can subject it to microscopic inspection; you can ring it to ascertain if it is "good;" you can weigh it to learn if it has been clipped or "sweated;" you can compare it with similar or different tokens ; you can even toss it into the crucible and reduce it to its elements. Yes, words are the signs and the representatives of realities. If you would have knowledge of realities, you must not neglect the knowledge of their tokens and equivalents.

Laity denotes the people as contradistinguished from the clergy. In ancient times the laity were ignorant, the clergy learned. Hence arose a broad contrast, exhibiting the people as wicked as well as untaught, and the clergy (clerks) no less holy than instructed. These usages are found in the substance of our language, and still linger amongst us in both thought and feeling.

"He entended (intended) to set forth Luther's heresy, teaching that presthed (priesthood) is no sacrament, but the office of a lay-man or a lay-woman appointed by the people to preache."-Sir F. More.

"No wonder though the people grew profane,

When churchmen's lives gave laymen leare to fall.”

Drayton.

Synthesis is properly the putting together, as analysis (ana, up; and luein, to undo, to loosen) is the undoing. A watchmaker performs an act of analysis when he takes a watch to pieces, and an act of synthesis when he puts the parts together again.

"Synthesis consists in assuming the causes discovered and established as principles, and by them explaining the phenomena proceeding from them, and proving the explanations.”—Newton, “ Optics."

"Analysis consists in making experiments and observations, and in drawing general conclusions from them by induction.”—Newton, "Optics."

Analysis is the way of discovery, synthesis is the way of teaching or communication. By synthesis men put together and exhibit what they have ascertained by analysis.

Metamorphosis denotes a change of form.

"Thus men (my lord) be metamorphosed

From seemly shape to byrds and ougly beasts.” Gascoigne. Metempsychosis (meta, change; en, in; and pyché, the soul) has for its Latin equivalent transmigration (trans, over; migro, I change my place).

"The sages of old live again in us, and in opinions there is a metempsychosis. We are our re-animated ancestors, and antedate their resurrection."-Glanvill.

Metathesis is a change of position or a transposition. Thus what we write bird was formerly bryd, the i and the r changing places.

Mythology is the science of fable, and is applied to the religion of the Greeks, the Romans, the Hindoos, &c., in opposition to the pure religion of the Gospel. German philosophy has introduced amongst us the new term myth, as denoting a legend, or a version of facts, shaped and coloured by opinion, fancy, prejudice, by the workings of the intellect, the workings of the imagination, or the workings of the heart. In origin, myth, fable, and legend are one, for the words severally denote a word, something spoken, something narrated. But as old stories soon lose their primitive form, and acquire new shapes and hues, so words pass into legends, and legends are corrupted into fables.

Necromancy is the fancied art of learning and disclosing facts by communication with the dead. The witch of Endor dealt necromantically with Samuel at the request of Saul. (1 Sam. xxviii, 7; compare Deut. xviii. 9.)

Neology, or new doctrine, conveys with it the same tacit blame as new light, on the ground that what is old is more likely to be true than what is new, and that what is new may be fanciful.

66 They endeavour, by a sort of neology of their own, to confound all ideas of right and wrong."-Boothby, “On Burke."

Neos supplies also the first syllable to neophyte, one newly born, or created anew by grace, a convert.

"In effects of grace, St. Paul makes a difference between those he calls neophytes—that is, newly grafted into Christianity—and those that are brought up in the faith."-Bacon.

In 1 Tim. iii, 6, the Greek word neophytes is rendered novice.

Astronomy, from the Greek words in the preceding list, means the allotment or distribution of the stars into classes, and not the laws of the stars, which is a modern idea.

In the word parochial, the original form of the Greek root is seen better than in parish; which, however, is of the same deriva