That CHANCE* ("high Arbiter † ("high Arbiter†" as Milton calls him) and his twin-brother ACCIDENT, are merely the participles of Escheoir, Cheoir, and Cadere. And that to say-" It befell me by CHANCE, or by ACCIDENT,”— is absurdly saying-" It fell by falling." And that an INCIDENT, a CASE, an ESCHEAT, DECAY, are likewise participles of the same verb. "E pure Trovasi ancor chi, per sottrarsi a' Nuni, Forma un Nume del CASO: e vuol ch'il mondo Da una mente immortal retto non sia." Metastasio, Ciro riconosciuto, att. 2. sc. 2. "I can giue no certaine iudgement, whether the affaires of mortall men are gouerned by FATE and immutable NECESSITIE, or haue their course and change by CHANCE and FORTUNE." well "Others are of opinion thate FATE and DESTINY may stand with the course of our actions, yet nothing at all depend of the planets and starres; but proceed from a connexion of naturall causes as from their beginning."-Annales of Tacitus, translated by Greenwey. 1622. 6 booke. p. 128. "Oh! come spesso il mondo Nel giudicar delira, Ma la cagion non sa. E chiama poi FORTUNA Cangiato in Deità. Metastasio, Il Tempio dell' Eternità.] * CHANCE-(Escheance). "The daie is go, the nightes CHAUNCE Hath derked all the bright sonne." Gower, lib. 8. fol. 179. pag. 1. col. 2. "Next him, high Arbiter CHANCE governs all." Paradise Lost, book 2. I agree with you that PROVIDENCE, PRUDENCE, INNOCENCE, SUBSTANCE, and all the rest of that tribe of qualities (in Ence and Ance) are merely the Neuter plurals of the present participles of Videre, Nocere, Stare, &c. &c. That ANGEL, SAINT, SPIRIT are the past participles of ayyekhew, Sanciri, Spirare*. ["Some think that CHANCE rules all, that NATURE steers The moving seasons, and turns round the years." 66 Juvenal, Sat. 13. by Creech. Sunt qui in FORTUNÆ jam casibus omnia ponant, "Queste gran maraviglie falsamente Son state attribuite alla FORTUNA, Con dir, che in questa cosa ell' è potente Juv. Sat. 13. Orlando Innamorato (da Berni), cant. 8. st. 4.] In the same manner Animus, Anima, Пvevμa, and ʊx”, are participles. "Anima est ab Animus. Animus vero est a Græco Aveuos, quod dici volunt quasi Aeμos, ab Aw, sive Aeu, quod est Пlvew: et Latinis a spirando, Spiritus. Imo et Vuxn est a Tux, quod Hesychius exponit Πνεω. "Animam pro vento accipit Horat. "Impellunt Anima lintea Thraciæ." "Pro Halitu accipit Titinius; "Interea fœtida Anima nasum oppugnat." "Et Plautus-Asin. act 5. sce. 11. "Dic, amabo, an fœtet Anima uxoris tuæ." "A posteriori hac significatione interdum bene maleve animatus dicitur, cui Anima bene maleve olet. Sic sane interpretantur quidam illud Varronis, Bimargo: "Avi et atavi nostri, cum allium ac cœpe eorum verba olerent, tamen optime animati erant." Vossii Etym. Lat. "1. In the military sense, on guard, watchful, vigilant, ready at a call. "2. In the common sense, brisk, pert, petulant, smart; implying some degree of censure and contempt." By what possible means can any one extract the smallest degree of censure or contempt from this word? Amyot, at least, had no such notion of it; when he said. -"C'est une belle et bonne chose que la prevoyance, et d'estre touiours A l'herte,” (Καλον δε ἡ προνοια και το aopaλes.) most appositely translating ɑopɑλɛs, i. e. not prostrate, not supine, by A l'herte, i. e. In an erect posture. See Morales de Plutarque. De l'esprit familier de Socrates. I see that POST-aliquid POSIT-um (as well as its compounds Apposite, Opposite, Composite, Impost, Compost, Deposit, Depot, Repose, and Pause), however used in English, as substantive, adjective, or adverb, As A POST in the ground, A military POST, A POST under government, The POST for letters, Post chaise or POST horses, To travel POST, is always merely the past participle of Ponere. And thus, in our present situation, intelligence of the landing of an enemy will probably be conveyed by POST: for, whether positis equis, or positis hominibus, or positis ignibus, or positis telegraphs or beacons of any kind; All will be by Posit or by POST. I agree with Salmasius, Vossius, Ferrarius, and Skinner (though Menage feebly contests it), that POLTROON and Paltry are likewise past participles. "Iidem imperatores (scil. Valentinianus et Valens) statuerunt flammis ultricibus comburendum eum, qui, ad fugienda sacramenta militiæ, truncatione digitorum damnum corporis expetisset. Multi enim illo tempore, quia necessitate ad bellum cogebantur, præ ignavia sibi Pollices truncabant, ne militarent. Inde Pollice truncos hodieque pro ignavis et imbecillibus dicimus; sed truncata voce POLTRONES." Similar times, similar practices. We too have many POLTROONS in this country; qui sacramenta militiæ fugiunt; for want of rational motive, not want of courage. In October 1795*, "One Samuel Caradise, who had been committed to the house of correction in Kendal, and there confined as a vagabond untill put on board a King's ship, agreeable to the Late Act, sent for his Wife, the evening before his intended departure. He was in a Cell, and she spoke to him through the Iron Door. After which he put his hand underneath, and she with a mallet and chissel, concealed for the purpose, struck off a finger and thumb, to render him unfit for his Majesty's servicet." * [The Times.] + There was some affection between this able bodied vagabond and his wife.-(Able bodied was the crime which by the operation of a Late Act, cast him into this Cell with the Iron door.)-To avoid separation they both subjected themselves to very severe treatment. Some lawyers maintained that they were both liable I see that CLOSE, a CLOSE, with its diminutive a CLOSET, a CLAUSE, a RECLUSE, a SLUICE, are past participles of Claudere and Clorre. ["The thirty horse should face the house on that side next Nottingham; and the foote should march a private way through the CLOSINGS."—Life of Colonel Hutchinson, pag. 206. The Editor, in a note, says-" Vulg. Notts. CLOSEN."] "He rose fro deth to lyfe in his sepulture CLOSE." Lyfe of our Lady, by Lydgate, pag. 59. "And whan the angell from her departed was, And she alone in her tabernacle, Right as the sonne percssheth thorowe the glasse, Or any wemme unto her maydenhede any syde, in party or in all." Ibid. pag. 54. DUCT, AQUEDUCT, CONDUCT, PRODUCE, PRODUCT, CONDUIT, of Ducere and Conduire. FACT, EFFECT, DEFECT, PREFECT, PERFECT, FIT, & FIT, FEAT, a FEAT, DEFEAT, COUNTERFEIT, SURFEIT, FORFEIT, BENEFIT, PROFIT, of Facere and Faire. to death, under the Coventry Act. The husband and wife, would have thought it merciful "To take them both, that it might neither wound.” Such a sentence however, in such a case, has not yet, I believe, been put in execution. For a similar performance now, upon a husband in his Majesty's service-(I submit it to the Attorneys general) might not a wife, by a still Later Act, be condemned to death for this new method of seduction? Or will a new Statute be necessary (it would soon be made, and may be expected) flammis ultricibus comburendum eum-et eam. |