VII. Better than all measures Of delightful sound, That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground! VIII. Teach me half the gladness That thy brain must know, ... Such harmonious madness From my lips would flow, The world should listen then, as I am listening now. ... ... ... SHELLEY. ... ... SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.—Animosity: L. animos'itas; fr. an'imus, the mind; h., animadvert (v. AVERT), equanimity (æquus, equal), magnanimity (mag'nus, great), pusillanimous (fr. pusil'lus, very little, dim. of pu'sus, a little boy, dim. of pu'er, a boy), unanimous (u'nus, one). . . Archetype (ar'ke-): Gr. archětů'pòn, a pattern; fr. archětŭ'pos stamped first and as a model; fr. ar'chē (àpxý), beginning, and tu'pòs, stamp; fr. tup'tein, to strike. Cinque-ports (sink-põrts): F. cinque, five; fr. the L. quin'que, five. The Cinque-ports of England were originally those of Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover, Sandwich. . . . Continent: L. con'tinens; fr. contin'eo, conten'tum, to hold together; fr. con and ten'eo, I hold: v. TENURE. Homogeneous: of the same kind: Gr. homògē'nēs; fr. hòm'òs (òμós), the same, and gěn'Ŏs (yévos), race, kind; fr. gèn'ein, to beget. . . Hymeneal: fr. the L. Hy'men, the god of marriage. Imprecation: v. DEPRECATE. . . . Inflict: L. infli'go, inflic'tum, to strike one thing on or against another; fr. in, upon, and fli'go, I strike; h., af-flict, con-flict, etc.... Jurisprudence: L. jurispruden'tia; fr. jus, ju'ris, right, law, and prudentia, a foreseeing: v. PROVIDENT; from jus come in-jure, juris-diction (v. DICTION), jurist, etc.... Languid: L. lan'guidus, faint; fr. lan'gueo, I am faint; h., languish. Moral: L. mora'lis; fr. mos, mo'ris, manner, custom; h., demoralize, im-moral. Obscure: L. obscu'rus, covered over, dark. Peculiar: L. peculia'ris, of or relating to private property; fr. pec'us, cattle. . . . Reconcile: L. reconcil'io, reconcilia'tum, to bring together again; fr. re and concil'io; fr. concil'ium, a collection of people, a council; h., conciliate, etc. . . . Satiety : L. sati'etas; fr. sat'is, enough; h., in-satiable, satis-fy, saturate, etc... Sterile L. ster'ilis; fr. the Gr. stei'ròs, stiff, hard. Subaltern, an inferior officer; fr. the L. sub, under, alter, another. . . . Surmise: fr. the F. surmettre, to lay upon, to accuse; fr. the L. sup'er, upon, mis'sus, sent. . . . Symptom: fr. the Gr. sumptōma, what happens with another thing, a casualty; fr. sun, together, and ptōma, a fall ... ... ... ... 1. We have a faith in the imperishable dignity of man; in the high vocation to which, throughout this his earthly history, he has been appointed. However it may be with individual nations, whatever melancholic speculators may assert, it seems a well-ascertained fact that in all times the happiness and greatness of mankind at large have been continually progressive. 2. Doubtless this age also is advancing. Its very unrest, its ceaseless activity, its discontent, contain matter of promise. Knowledge, education, are opening the eyes of the humblest— are increasing the number of thinking minds without limit. Indications we see, in other countries and in our own, that mechanism is not always to be our hard task-master, but one day to be our pliant, all-ministering servant; that a new and brighter spiritual era is slowly evolving itself for all men. 3. This is as it should be; for not in turning back, not in resisting, but only in resolutely struggling forward, does our life consist. Nay, after all, our spiritual maladies are but of opinion; we are but fettered by chains of our own forging, and which ourselves also can rend asunder. Not the invisible world is wanting, for it dwells in man's soul, and this last is still here. 4. Meanwhile, that great outward changes are in progress can be doubtful to no one. The time is sick and out of joint. Many things have reached their height, and it is a wise adage that tells us, "The darkest hour is nearest the dawn." Wherever we can gather indication of the public thought, whether from printed books or from rebellions and political tumults, the voice it utters is the same. The thinking minds of all nations call for change. There is a deep-lying struggle in the whole fabric of society, a boundless, grinding collision of the new with the old. 5. The French Revolution, as now visible enough, was not the parent of this mighty movement, but its offspring. Those two hostile influences which always exist in human things, and on the constant intercommunion of which depend their health and safety, had lain in separate masses, accumulating through generations, and France was the scene of their fiercest explosion; but the final issue was not unfolded in that country; nay, it is not yet anywhere unfolded. 6. Political freedom is hitherto the object of these efforts; but they will not and cannot stop there. It is toward a higher freedom than mere freedom from oppression from his fellowmortal that man dimly aims. Of this higher, heavenly freedom, which is man's "reasonable service," all his noble institutions, his faithful endeavors and loftiest attainments are but the body and more and more approximated emblem. 7. On the whole, as this wondrous planet, earth, is journeying with its fellows through infinite space, so are the wondrous destinies embarked on it journeying through infinite time, under a higher guidance than ours. For the present, as our astronomy informs us, its path lies toward Hercules, the constellation of physical power. But that is not our most pressing concern. Go where it will, the deep heaven will be around it. Therein let us have hope and sure faith. To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man will undertake; and all but foolish men know that the only solid, though a far slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects on himself. CARLYLE. ... SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.—Adage : L. ădă'gium; lit., a saying apt for acting, i. e., suitable for use; fr. ad, to, and ag'o, ac'tum, to move, to act: v. EXACT. Approximate: L. approx'imo; fr. ad and prox'imus, nearest, superl. of prop'ior, nearer, fr. prop'e, near; h., approach, propinquity, propitious, proximate, reproach (lit., to come back to in blame), etc. . . . Collision: L. collis'io; fr. colli'do, colli'sum, to clash, to collide; fr. con, together, and læ'do, I strike; h., e-lision (a striking out), etc. . . . Destiny: fr. the L. de'stino, I make fast, I appoint. Emblem: Gr. ĕmblēma, that which ... is put in or on; fr. em=en, in, and bal'lein, to throw. . . . Explosion: L. explo'sio; fr. explo'do, explo'sum, to drive out or off by clapping; originally, a scenic word said of a player; fr. ex, out, and plau'do, plau'sum, to clap; h., ap-plause (ap=ad), explode, plaudit, plausible (fitted to win applause), etc. Hercules: a constellation so called fr. the most famous of the Greek heroes.... Hostile: L. hosti'lis; fr. hos'tis, an enemy. . . . Indication: L. indica'tio; fr. in'dico, indica'tum, to point out; fr. in and dic'o, dica'tum (an intens. form of di'co, dic'tum, to say), to proclaim, to give up, to devote; h., ab-dicate (to proclaim that a thing does not belong to one), dě-dicate, in-dex, in-dicate, preach, pré-dicate (to assert to belong to something), pre ... ... dicament (a class described by any definite marks, a particular situation) etc.: v. EDICT... Limit: L. li'mēs, lim'itis, a cross-path between fields. Parent: L. păr'ens, paren'tis; fr. păr'io, par'itùm, to bring forth, to beget. Rebellious: fr. the L. rebello, rebella'tum, to wage war again; fr. re and bel'lo, I war; fr. bel'lum, war; h., bellicose, belligerent (gèr❜o, I bear). . . . Revolution: L. revolutio; fr. rěvoľ'vo, rěvolu'tum; fr. re, again, volvo, volutum, to roll; h., con-volve, de-volve (to roll down or pass over), e-volve (to roll out of, to unfold), evolution, revolt, revolve, vault, voluble (apt to roll, fluent), volume (primarily a roll of parchment or bark for writing on), voluminous, volute (a spiral scroll), etc. ... LV. THE PRIVILEGED CLASSES. We translate the following eloquent passages from two of Mirabeau's addresses-one delivered February 3, 1789, the other published January 9, 1790. The first four paragraphs have reference to the refusal of certain magistrates of Rennes to obey the decrees of the National Assembly. The remaining passages are from an address to Mirabeau's constituents, in which he rebukes the nobility and clergy of Provence who had tried to prevent his election as a deputy to the National Assembly. He consequently hired a warehouse and put up the sign, "Mirabeau, woolendraper," and was elected deputy from the third estate of Aix. His contemporaries speak of the effect of his eloquence as surprising and irresistible. The GRACCHI were two brothers who, though sprung from the aristocracy, nobly devoted themselves to the rescue of popular liberty in ancient Rome. MARIUS, chief of the plebeian party, obtained a great victory over the CIMBRI, and was hailed as the third founder of Rome. The CIMBRI were a Celtic people who occupied a region now a part of Denmark. BRITTANY was one of the thirty-three provinces into which France was divided before the Revolution of 1789. Pronounce AIX āks, RENNES rěn. 1. WHEN, during our session of yesterday, those words which you have taught Frenchmen to unlearn―orders, privileges—fell on my ears; when a private corporation of one of the provinces of this empire spoke to you of the impossibility of consenting to the execution of your decrees, sanctioned by the king; when certain magistrates declared to you that their conscience and their honor forbade their obedience to your laws,—I said to myself, Are these, then, dethroned sovereigns, who, in a transport of imprudent but generous pride, are addressing successful usurpers? No; these are men whose arrogant pretensions have too long been an insult to all ideas of social order; cham pions, even more interested than audacious, of a system which has cost France centuries of oppression, public and private, political and fiscal, feudal and judicial, and whose hope it is to make us regret and revive that system. 2. The people of Brittany have sent among you sixty-six representatives, who assure you that the new constitution crowns all their wishes, and here come eleven judges of the province who cannot consent that you should be the benefactors of their country. They have disobeyed your laws, and they pride themselves on their disobedience and believe it will make their names honored by posterity. No, gentlemen, the remembrance of their folly will not pass to posterity. What avail their pigmy efforts to brace themselves against the progress of a revolution the grandest and most glorious in the world's history, and one that must infallibly change the face of the globe and the lot of humanity! Strange and silly presumption that would arrest liberty in its course and roll back the destinies of a great nation! 3. It is not to antiquated transactions, it is not to musty treaties, wherein fraud combined with force to chain men to the car of certain haughty masters, that the National Assembly have resorted in their investigation into popular rights. The titles we offer are more imposing by far; ancient as time, sacred and imprescriptible as nature! What! Must the terms of the marriage contract of one Anne of Brittany make the people of that province slaves to the nobles till the consummation of the ages? 4. These refractory magistrates speak of the statutes which "immutably fix our powers of legislation." Immutably fix! Oh how that word tears the veil from their innermost thoughts! How would they like to have abuses immutable upon the earth and evil eternal? Indeed, what is lacking to their felicity but the perpetuity of that feudal scourge which unhappily has lasted only six centuries? But it is in vain that they rage. All now is changed or changing. There is nothing immutable save reason, save the sovereignty of the people, save the inviolability of its decrees. |