of good wishes (being derived from bene dicere, to say ́ good) blessing is used of good things. The blessings of a plentiful harvest. The blessing of sun

shine.

And whereas beatitude is only used of those who have been rendered happy (being derived from the participle beatus, made happy) bliss is used of those who make themselves so. The bliss of intoxication. The bliss of love.

If the latin word had taken, which Cicero coined and could not naturalize, beatitas, we should probably have imported it, and have had two inore synonyms, beati y and blessedness, to include in this list. These two words would have been identical in meaning. Choaked. Throttled. Strangled. Stifled. Smother ed. Suffocated.

Here are six words, describing stoppage of breath. He is choaked, whose respiration is interrupted from within, whose wind-pipe is irritated or closed by food swallowed amiss, or by such internal affection an prodaces an effort at coughing. He is throttled, whose respiration is checked in the throat, whether from without.or within. He is strangled, whose respiration as interrupted from without by squeezingthe neck, whose wind-pipe is compressed by a noose, or a bowstring. He is stifled, whose respiration is stopped by repeated efforts. He is sinothered, whose respiration is interrupted at the orifice by covering the month and nostrils. He is suffocated, whose respiration is attacked in the lungs by the introduc tion of irrespirable or azotic ains.

Clouds of dust. did choak..

Waller

.b... Contending troops. The throttling quinsey 'tis my star appoints. Dryden. Starnig full ghastly hke a strangled man. Shakspeare. The air we drew out left the more room for the stifling steam of the coals.

Boyle.

Children have been smothered in bed by the care lessness of nurses.

Miners are often suffocated by damps.

Trusler.

Aceocan (whence to choak) is to swell out the cheek, to cough.

Throttle, more properly throttel, is the throat instrument, the larynx, or uvula; from this substantive derives the verb, which has corruptly assumed a frequentative form, le for el. At the upper extreme it hath no larynx, or throttel, to qualify the sound. Brown's Vulgar Errors.

Strangle is the frequentative of stringere, to compress, to grasp.

Stifle is the frequentative of to stop; the French etouffer and etouper, whence our stifle and stop are both derived from etoupe or estoup (latin stupa) a bunch of moss or tow, with which the chinks of vessels are caulked or stopped.

Smut, whence to smother, is the silth of a chim◄ ney. Smutty herrings, smutty hams, are such as have been smoke-dried. The inside is so suurted with dust and smoke, that neither the marble, silver, nor brass works show themselves. Addison.

To smother is to cover, as with soot and asbes; hence an idea of concealment adheres to the word. Smother the embers that they may not burn out before our return. He must smother that scandalous anecdote, as he can.

To sufio ate is to put under fire (sub foco) and thence to destroy as file-damps destroy.

Flesh. Meat. Victuals.

Flesh is the natural composition of an animal; meat is any kind of food, although commonly used of flesh-meat, or butcher's meat; victual is a ratio of provision, meat served in portions. The flesh of a woodcock is an exquisitely delicate meat.

Grain is the meat of birds.

Fish and vegeta'bles, according to the Catholics, are the proper meats during Lent. He was not able to keep that place three days for lack of victuals. had musty victuals, and he holp to eat them.

You

Flesh is a word common to all the gothic dialects. Wachter thinks it etymologically connected with leik body; in which case animal origin is the essential idea. Ihre thinks it etymologically connected with flek, bacon: in which case cutting up is the essential idea. Flitch and flesh may have been one word; yet it is less harsh to suppose it connected with the verb to flush, and to place in redness the essential idea.

Meat signifies nourishment: in the following passage milk is called a meat.

Le linge, orné de fleurs fut couvert pour tous mêts, D'un peu de lait,.de fruits, et des dons de Ceres. Lafontaine.

Victual is from the French victuaille, which is from the Italian victuaglia, and this from the Latin vecti gal, which is apparently derived from vescor, to feed, and meant, first a requisition of provisions, then a requisition of money, then tribute.

Austerity. Severity. Rigour.

Austerity (says Blair) relates to the manner of living; severity, of thinking; rigour, of punishing. To austerity is opposed effeminacy: to severity, relaxation; to rigor, clemency. A hermit is austere in his life; a casuist, severe in his decision; a judge, rigorous in his sentence."

In this attempt at discrimination there is little exactness. Austerity is applied not only to habit, but to doctrine, and to infliction. Solitary confinement is a severe form of life, and a severe punishSent. Rigid observances, rigid opinions, are oftener spoken of than rigid sentences.

A hermit is austere who lives harshly; is severe, who lives solitarily; is rigid, who lives unswervingly. A casuist is austere who commands mortification; severe, who forbids conviviality; rigid, whose exactions are unqualified. A judge is austere, who punishes slight transgressions; severe, who punishes to the utmost; rigid, who punishes without respect of persons and circumstances.

Why this? Austerity is an idea of the palate; it means crabbedness. Vinum austerius. The metaphorical use of the word keeps this in view. Those modes of life which are painful to the moral taste, are called austere. To shun luxury, to incur mortification, to fly from cheerful social enjoyments, is to live austerely. Those doctrines which are painful to the moral taste, are called austere. To reprobate fornication, to command flagellation, to stimulate perpetually the ruminations of remorse, is to preach austerely. To lay information for sabbath-breaking, for swearing, for gambling, is to execute the laws austerely. Austerity is opposed to suavity.

Severity is not easily traced back to the sensible idea in which the word originates. Se and vereor, to bend down apart, are perhaps the component ideas. The lying prostrate apart is not only cha racteristic of the praying anchoret, and of public penance, but of eruel infliction; and to all these cases severity is accordingly applied. Severa virgini

tas.

Sanctitude severe and pure.

Milton.

What made the church of Alexandria be so severe with Origen? Stilling fleet.

The soldier was severely flogged.

If this be the true theory of the signification of

severe", it ought not to be followed by the preposition with, as in Stillingfleet, but rather by the preposition against, which is consistent with the metaphor implied. To severity is opposed remissuess.

Rigor is stiffness: rigid means frozen, stiff with cold: aqua in grandines rigescunt, rain hardens into hail. Thawless unmelting obstinacy is the metaphor implied in rigor. Ferri rigor. To rigor is opposed pliancy.

Religious competition renders sects austere, priests severe, and establishments rigid. 1

Gentle. Tame.

Gentle animals are the naturally docile; tame animals are made so by the art of man. The dog, the sheep, are gentle animals; the wolf, the bear,

are sometimes tame.

Gentle means well-born, as in gentleman; tame is etymologically connected with zaum, bridle, and with team, yoke, or harness; it means broken-in to earry, or draw.

Haughtiness. Disdain.

Haughty is rightly deduced by Dr. Johnson from the french hautain, and ought therefore to have been spelt without the gh-hauty. Hautain is a derivative of haut high, and describes that disposition of mind which stimulates an erect and lofty deportment.

From the latin dignari, to worship, and the pri vative syllable dis, derives the french verb dedaigner, or the italian substantive sdegno, from one of which

*The word is employed by Dryden, as if it derived from savire to rage.

Hydra stands within,

Whose jaws with is on teeth severely grin. We also say 'severe weather.'