The etymological force of ABANDON (Teutonic ban, which appears in the old French bandon, outery, procla mation, as vendre a bandon; the low Latin abandonnare; the old English bandown, meaning possession, juris. diction; and the modern English ban and banns;) has well-nigh disappeared from this word. To abandon is now, in the most comprehensive sense, to give up finally and absolutely, with the implied idea, in many cases, of transference to some power or person external to ourselves. A trace of the old meaning, that of placing beyond jurisdiction or outlawry, and so disclaiming possession, appears in Shakespeare:

"Madame, wife, they say that I have dreamed

And slept alone some fifteen years or more. Lady. I (for aye) and the time seems thirty unto me,

Being all this time abandoned from your bed."

Spenser used the form aband. No praise or blame is absolutely expressed by the term abandon, which is one of the widest in the English language, though it has a tendency to imply blame when used of persons without qualification. So to abandon friends sounds blameworthy, because, under this simple expression the mind contemplates nothing but the deserted friendship. Yet it is right to abandon friends if they betake themselves to what is dishonest or disgraceful. We may abandon persons or things; in particular, places, positions, ideas,

opinions, hopes, expectations, offices, possessions, good or evil habits, as the case may be. Where loss or injury is entailed on the person abandoned, or the abandonment is a dereliction of duty, this moral colouring belongs not to the force of the term, which is, essentially speaking, no more than that of final leaving, but to the circumstances of the case, as in the following from Milton:

"See how he lies at random carelessly diffused,

As one past hope, abandoned,
And by himself given o'er."

It is only when all efforts to save his ship are hopeless that the captain abundons her to the rocks and waves. In times of early Christianity, men were called upon to abandon houses, lands, and relatives, in such a way as would be now not only uncalled for, but an unjustifiable desertion of them. We may observe that a twofold idea seems inherent in abandonment (for the noun follows all the forces of the verb). We may abandon directly or indirectly, by actively transferring or putting away from ourselves; or by merely avoiding and taking ourselves off. It is the former force which was the more predominant in the old English, the latter in the

new.

FORSAKE is the Saxon forsacan, being compounded of the prefix for, which has the negative sense of forth, or away from, as in forbid, and sacan, from sacu, säc, strife, contention, connected with the English seek. Its radical force, therefore, is

B

the opposite of seek, namely, to aim at separation. In usage it implies some degree of antecedent habituation or association which is given up. We forsake relatives to whom we were naturally bound, friends with whom we once associated, habits which we had contracted, opinions which we had constantly entertained, places which we used to frequent. The term does not go beyond this breaking off of previous habit or association; the making that a matter of avoidance which before was matter of seeking; and like abandon, implies, in itself, neither praise nor blame, which depend upon the circumstances of the forsaking:

"Then answered Peter and said, "Behold we have forsaken all and followed Thee."Bible.

There is implied in forsake a former personal connexion with ourselves; hence we are not commonly said to forsake abstract forms of good. It would be natural to say to forsake houses, lands, or friends, but not rank, station, or wealth. Here we should use the widely-available term abandon, or renounce.

TO DESERT (Lat. deserere, de and serere, to join or bind together, as opposed to asserere, to fasten; fasten hand to hand and so assert a claim) is applicable to persons, places, causes, principles, or joint undertakings. We abandon, not desert, efforts or undertakings of our own. It always implies blame, except when used of localities. To desert a person, a principle, or a cause, for instance, is, by the force of the term, blameworthy. Not so to desert a locality, which may be indifferent, justifiable, or compulsory. It was from overlooking the fact that places might be deserted that some have laid it down that all desertion is disgraceful. A "deserted fortress," a "deserted village." On the other hand, it is opprobrious in the following, where the word "land" means more than locality:

"No more excuses or delays. I stand

In arms prepared to combat hand to hand
The base deserter of his native land."

Dryden.

ABANDONED.

Like forsake, desert implies some degree of previous habituation and reciprocal association, and is not applicable to cases in which a mere momentary relationship attaches to the thing given up; hence we cannot say to desert a statement, or a presumption, or an expression; but we are said to desert principles as having stood by and supported them.

To RELINQUISH (Lat. relinquere, re and linquere, to leave) is to give up under pressure of some influence, power, or physical compulsion. We relinquish as an act of prudence, judg ment, or necessity, that which, had we been left to ourselves, we should have held. The voluntary and involuntary are blended together in relinquish. A wounded hand may be compelled to relinquish its grasp. I relinquish my scheme on finding it impracticable, or my opinion on finding it untenable, or my hope on finding it vain. Some degree of previous struggle with ourselves has been gone through before we finally resolve to relinquish :

"The Disdaine met him, and brought to him from Her Majesty letters of revocation, with commandment to relinquish for his own part the intended attempt."-Huckluyt.

It may be observed that abandon and desert are more positive acts of the mind than forsake and relinquish.

ABANDONED. PROFLIGATE. REPROBATE. UNPRINCIPLED. DE

PRAVED.

an

ABANDONED (see ABANDON) is strictly a participle passive of the verb abandon, though used as independent adjective. In the former capacity it follows, of course, all the meanings of its verb. As an adjective, it has the meaning of selfabandoned, and that to vice. It is used of persons and character, and so, reflexively, of life and conduct. denotes a voluntary surrender of self to a life of self-indulgence; self-control, and the estimation of others being disregarded and defied. The abandoned man is emphatically not the misguided, seduced, or over

It