earnest and urgent that once at length they would set on to describe and put down some lawes. And agreed it was that there should be created decemvirs above all appeale."-Holland, Livy."

Demi, of Latin origin, in the forms demi, semi, hemi, a half, is found in demy, in semibreve, and in hemisphere.

"Thou wouldst make an absolute courtier, and the firm fixture of thy foot, would give an excellent motion to thy gait, in a semi-circled farthingale.".-Shakspeare," Merry Wives of Windsor."

A farthingale is a hooped petticoat or gown.

Dia, of Greek origin, through (so as to divide), is found in diameter, a measure through, from one side of the circle to the opposite; in diagonal (from dia and gonia, Gr. a corner or angle), a line drawn from corner to corner; in dialogue (from dia and logos, Gr. a discourse), &c.

Var. How dost, fool?

Ape. Dost dialogue with thy shadow?

Var. I speak not to thee."-Shakspeare, "Timon."

Dia is abbreviated into di, as in dichotomy (from dia and temno, Gr. I cut), a twofold division, or class.

"All things reported are reducible to this dichotomie: 1, the fountain of invention; 2, the channell of relation."-Fuller, "Worthies." Dis, that is, dia in another form, may be rendered by the phrase, in two directions, or in different ways, as in distract (from dis and traho, I draw); to distract is to draw a person's mind in two or more directions so as to produce confusion and pain. Dis is found in these forms; namely, di, dif, div.

Di, dif, &c., as in diverse (from di and versus, turned), turned in opposite directions, different, opposed;

"And for there is so great diversitie

In English, and in writing of our tong,
So pray I God that none miswrite thee,
Ne misse the metre for defaut of song."

Chaucer, "Troilus."

Dif, as in difficult, where the dif (dis) has a reversing force; difficult comes from dis and facilis; facilis is the Latin for easy, the a being changed into as is customary in compounds of facio; so that difficult is equivalent to our uneasy; that is, not easy.

Dir (of Latin origin), as in dirge, a sacred song, so called from the beginning of the Psalm, " Dirige nos, Domine" (Direct us, O Lord), and accustomed to be sung at funerals.

"The raven croak'd, and hollow shrieks of owls,

Sung dirges at her funeral."

Ford, "Lover's Melancholy."

Down, of Saxon origin, is the expression of descent; hence motion from a higher to a lower level; and hence, perhaps the application to "the downs;" that is, hillocks viewed in relation to their declivities. Down was formerly used as a verb.

"The hidden beauties seem'd in wait to lie,

To down proud hearts that would not willing die."

Sir P. Sidney, "Arcadia."

Dun, in Saxon, signifies an elevation, a hill, and even a mountain; it may be the origin of our ton as in Broughton a fortified height. Downs may be hence derived. In Webster's Dictionary Downs are defined as "ridges of high land, such as lie along the coasts of Essex and Sussex, in England; hence roads in which ships lie off these hilly coasts at anchor." What is called " Salisbury Plain" is, in the parts near the city, a chalky down, famous for feeding sheep.

The student will do well to continue his study of the Saxon elements of our language. For this purpose I recommend to him the poetry of Wordsworth, the simpler portions of which are preeminently Saxon. In order that he may have a specimen under his eyes, I transcribe a short poem for the next

EXERCISES FOR PARSING.

LUCY GRAY.

Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray:
And, when I cross'd the wild,
I chanced to see at break of day
The solitary child.

No mate, no comrade, Lucy knew ;
She dwelt on a wide moor,

The sweetest thing that ever grew
Beside a human door!

You yet may spy the fawn at play,
The hare upon the green;
But the sweet face of Lucy Gray
Will never more be seen.

'To-night will be a stormy night-
You to the town will go
And take a lantern, child, to light
Your mother through the snow."

"That, father! will I gladly do:
'Tis scarcely afternoon-

The Minster-clock has just struck two,
And yonder is the moon."

At this the father raised his hook,
And snapp'd a fagot-band;

He plied his work;-and Lucy took,
The lantern in her hand.

Not blither is the mountain roe:
With many a wanton stroke

Her feet disperse the powdery snow,
That rises up like smoke.

The storm came on before its time:
She wandered up and down;

And many a hill did Lucy climb;
But never reach'd the town.

The wretched parents all that night
Went shouting far and wide;
But there was neither sound nor sight
To serve them for a guide.

At daybreak, on a hill they stood
That overlook'd the moor;

And thence they saw the bridge of wood,
A furlong from the door.

They wept, and turning homeward, cried,
"In heaven we all shall meet :"
-When in the snow the mother spied
The print of Lucy's feet.

Half breathless from the steep hill's edge
They track'd the footmarks small;
And through the broken hawthorn-hedge
And by the long stone-wall;

And then an open field they cross'd;
The marks were still the same;
They track'd them on, nor ever lost;
And to the bridge they came.

They follow'd from the snowy bank,
Those footmarks, one by one,
Into the middle of the plank;
And further there were none !

Yet some maintain that to this day
She is a living child;

That you may see sweet Lucy Gray
Upon the lonesome wild.

O'er rough and smooth she trips along

And never looks behind;

And sings a solitary song

That whistles in the wind.

EXERCISES IN COMPOSITION.

HISTORICAL THEME.

Jacob's Journey to Padan-aram.

Form sentences having in them the following words :

Compound; simple; primitive; derivative; departure; substitution; suffix; prefix; distinction; ahead; amain; affection; allow; attract; ambiguity; anarchy; antichrist; antechamber; apothecary; autocrat; benefactor; malefactor; conversion; collusion; contravene; dialogue; distraction.

Before proceeding further with these prefixes we may now expose a common error. It is generally thought that words have several disconnected significations. Several significations many words have, but these significations are all allied one with another. And they are allied one with another in such a way that a genealogical connexion runs through them all. I mean that the second ensues

from the first, and conducts to the third. The meanings of words flow from a common source like the waters of a brook. That common source, or parent-signification, is, in all cases, one that denotes some object of sense, for objects of sense were named before other objects. Our first duty then is to ascertain the physical meaning of a word. From that meaning the other meanings flow as by natural derivation. Those secondary or derivative significations then can scarcely be termed meanings; they are not so much meanings as modifications of the primary import of the root. Certainly they are not independent significations. Thus viewed, words have not two or more senses, but in the several cases the one sense is varied and modified. Even in instances in which opposite meanings are connected with the same word, the filiation may be traced, as both Jacob and Esau sprang from the same stock. I will take an example in the word prevent. Prevent means both to guide and to hinder, to lead to, and to debar from. The opposition is sufficiently decided. Yet these two opposed meanings are only modifications of the root-sense of the word. First I will exhibit the diversity and then explain it. Prevent, signifying to guide, aid forward :—

"Prevent us, O Lord, by thy grace." Book of Common Prayer." "Love celestial whose prevenient aid Forbids approaching ill."

Prevent, signifying to hinder, obstruct.

"Where our prevention ends, danger begins."

Mallet.

Carcu.

"Which though it be a natural preventive to some evils, yet without either stop or moderation, must needs exhaust his spirits."-Reliq. Wottonianae.

Physick is either curative or preventive; preventive we call that which preventeth sickness in the healthy."-Brown, "Vulgar Errors."

"Prevent us, O Lord, by thy grace," means "aid us forward." "Preventive of sickness," signifies that which causes sickness not to come. There is the contrariety. Now for the explanation. Prevent is made up of two Latin words,-namely, prae, before, and venio, I come or go. Now, you may go before a person for two opposite purposes. You may go before him in order to guide, aid, and conduct him onward; or you may go before him to bar up his way, to hold him back, to prevent his advance. And as either of these two purposes is prominent in the mind of the speaker, so the word is used by him to signify, to guide, or to hinder. The proper meaning, then, of prevent is, to come before: hence, 1, to guide, or, as a natural consequence, 2, to aid; or again, 1, to obstruct, and as a natural consequence, 2, to stop, &c. And how the

moral and spiritual imports come out of the physical, is also seen in the diverse applications of the word; for, as we have just read of preventive medicine, so in divinity you may read of "prevenient grace."

These remarks, illustrations of which occur in what has just preceded, and will occur in what is about to follow, may serve to

show you that language must be studied genealogically. Indeed every word has a history; and in the dictionaries, every account given of a word ought to be a complete history of the word; a history of its origin, uses, and applications, the one traced from the other logically, or according to the laws of thought, and philologically, or agreeably, to the laws of language. Very different, and very inferior is the character of most dictionaries. To resume the subject.

ENGLISH PREFIXES (continued).

E, of Latin, or rather Greek origin, in the forms e, ef, cx, denotes out of, as in egress (e and gradior, Lat. I walk), a walking out; excess (ex and cedo, Lat. I go), a going beyond, that is, too far; effect (ef and facio, Lat. I do), a thing made out, produced; a result.

E." All occasions must be taken of sending forth pious heavenly ejaculations to God."-Bishop Hall.

ExThe ecclesiastical courts possessed the power of pronounc ing excommunication; and that sentence, besides the spiritual consequences supposed to follow from it, was attended with immediate effects of the most important nature. The person excommunicated was shunned by every one as profane and impious; and his whole estate, during his lifet me, and all his moveables, forever were forfeited to the crown."Hume, "History of England."

Ef. "Two white sparry incrustations, with efflorescencies in form of shrubs, formed by the trickling of water."-Woodward," On Fossils." En is a prefix found in the English, the French, and the Greek languages. Into the English it appears to have come from the Latin, through the French. Many words of Latin origin have passed through the French into the English. En is the form in Greek. In Latin, en becomes in. In French both en and in are used. The same is the case with the English. Though en and in are the same particle, it may be advisable to handle them separately, in order that their respective usages may become apparent.

En is found in the forms en, em, The prefix signifies in or into, e. g.,

"He (Samson) rises and carries away the gates wherein they thought to have encaged him."-Bishop Hall.

So in encamp, encase, enchain, enchant, enclose (or inclose), endemic (en and demos, Gr. a people), peculiar to a district. En sometimes has an intensive or augmentive effect on the verb of which it forms a part; as in encourage, enfeeble, enkindle (candle), encrease (increase), encumber (incumber, from the French en. combre, Lat, cumulus, a heap).

"Encumber'd soon with many a painful wound,
Tardy and stiff he treads the hostile round;
Gloomy and fierce his eyes the crowd survey,
Mark where to fix and single out the prey."

Rowe, "Pharsalia."

En has also, though seldom, the force of a negative; as in enemy.