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Ravish is ravage in the book of psalms.

Rops, ropes. Rops are so called from their length and similitude to ropes, as is plain from our calling the guts of Woodcocks and Snipes ropes.

Robert, Rotbert, and Rupert, are the same names. Wood's Hist. and Ant. p. 81; Tanner's Bibl. p. 345; Thoresby, p. 350.

Rodolph, Radulph, Randolph, Ranulph, Ralph." These, I presume, are all the same. In Wood, Hist. Ant. p. 72, Coleberg is called Rodolphus, and p. 85, Radulphus.

Rohais, in Lat. Rohesia; Hawise, in Lat. Hawisia; Avise or Avice, in Lat. Avicia; appear to be the same name. Hawise and Avise being only the latter syllable of the first name, used in the way of familiarity or endearment. Thus we now say Mun for Edmund, Than for Jonathan.

Ramp, romp, rawm. A lion is rampant when reared as if going to fight; and to romp, is to play rudely and boistereusly. A wall is said to ramp, when it rises from the level, and is the French ramper, to climb or mount. Hence also to rawn, which a dog is said to do when be either fawns upon you, or stretches himself to take victuals placed high on a shelf.

Rout and rut. In rutting time, bucks keep a continual routing or bellowing, whence it is obvious to imagine the two words to be the same.

Rout, road, rota, rut. Rout is road, and road is rout; so that these are plainly the same words. By rote means by course, in a direct road, as when a thing is gotten by heart, without knowing or understanding the meaning of it; and therefore seems to signify by road, or by rout. Rut, at first, I imagine, was cart-rut i. e. rout or track, and afterwards rut, per se.

Roll and row; to roll and to row. A roll is in fact a row, and is sometimes pronounced row, whence we have both rigmanroll and rigmanrow. As to roll, and to row; the land ll are very commonly omitted in pronunciation in the north. See Glossary to Douglas's Virgil, v. Rowit, where, however, the author is mistaken in talking of w and being alike in

the MS. as pronunciation is the sole cause.

Rattle and ruttle. Ruttle is that noise people make in the throat when they breathe with difficulty, especially when dying; and I take it to be the same word with rattle. In Birch's Life of Prince Henry, p. 355, it is called ratling.

Reeme and rime. The first signifies to weep in Cheshire; the second is the name of the white frost, in Kent, that

adheres to the trees (in Derbyshire called Ime); query, therefore, if not the same word?

A set of horses, china, &c. A suit of cloaths, armour, &c. I regard these as the same word, and both from French suite. This seems to be apparent from the orthography of the latter, and the former may be a corruption of it.

To split, to splint or splinter. These I conceive to be the same, since in the Life of the Duke of Newcastle, to splint means to split.

Souce and sauce. As the first is a kind of pickle, it may be thought a species of the latter.

A shed, a covered place. A shade, the same. The first seems to be only a short or quick pronunciation of the latter.

To swill; to swallow. As the first means to drink lustily, it appears to be a cant-word for swallow.

Set and sit. The first is a verb active, the second a verb neuter; but I esteem them the same originally, though I approve of the present mode of differencing them. In Romance of St. Degaré, verse 679, sett means sat.

He sett hym down on the Deyse.

Seek and beseech. Be is often an unmeaning prefix in our language, as it was in the Saxon. These words are otherwise the same, as is plain from the imperfect tenses sought and besought. Ch and k are perpetually substituted one for another; and it is remarkable that seek, in Lancashire, is pronounced seech. Vide Dike above.

Sleight and slight. First is a substantive, the second an adjective. Harsnet against Darrell, p. 127, has sleight; in Dodsley's Plays, V. p. 223, to sleighten, is to despise; and Ephes. IV. 14. sleight is the translation of KC, and consequently is used in the same sense as slight, when we say slight of hand; and no doubt, by whatever means the e has crept in, the words are the same, and are both derived from the verb sly.

Strait and Streight. Some make a difference between these, using strait for directus, and streight for arctus, for which, however, I think, there is no good foundation. Isaiah xl. 3, you have make streight, and Matth. vii. 13. what is called straight is, v. 14, strait.

Stark and Starch. It is the property of starch to stiffen Finen, and I suspect that to be stark or stiff after riding, or other exercise, is the same word with starck, or vice versa. V. Dike, above.

Sunk and stinch or stench. There can be no difference

V.

between these but what arises from pronunciation. Dike, above. Fairfax, x. 61, xviii. 84, has stinch; in the first of these places the edit. of 1749 has stench, malè, stinch being the old word for stench.

Son and sun. The former in Saxon is sunu, and the latter was formerly often written sonna; so that there is no real difference between the words, though a diversity must needs be useful. The sun is termed son in Hearne, Cur. Disc. p. 184. and in Willis's Cathedrals ii. p. 9, the name of Monson is thus given.

Lunam cum Phobo jungito, nomen habes. Vide omnino Baxteri Gloss. p. 36, 145.

See, sedes; sea, mare. Carleton, p. 58, 73, alibi, writes the first sea, as do Cavendish and Speed. In Ames, p. 8. sea is written see; as also in Hall, Skelton, and Sir Thomas More, and in the two latter we have se. The sea is in fact aquarum sedes, or place, as it is expressed Genes. i. 9.

Sup and soup. Bishop Wilkins, on the moon, p. 238, uses soop, for sup, whence it should seem that a soop, a liquid to be supped, is the same as sup, both from French soup.

Spill and spoil. The first is used for the latter in Kent; hence "better one house fill'd than two spill'd:" Ray, p. 47. Spilling is now confined to liquids, but still what is shed is effectually spoiled.

Sound and swoon. Sound occurs for swoon in Skelton, and I think is the same word; thus, to swoon, imperfect swooned, and, d inserted euphonie gratia, swooned; after which the present, swoond or sound, would soon be formed. Thus from drown, drowned, drownded, comes the northern word to drownd.

Suet and sweat. As what we copiously perspire passes under the name of sweat, and is of a greasy, unctuous nature, one has reason to think it the same word with suet, though this is a dissyllable.

Stew pan. V. Pound.

Scot, as Romescot, scot and lot. Shot, proportion of a payment. Sheet of lead, copper, &c. All these are the Saxon sceat.

Say and saw. As say is a substantive as well as a verb, it is obvious to imagine that saw, in the sense of a saying or proverb, may be the same word.

Shell and scale. These appear to be the French ecaille. Springe and spring. No difference probably here, since the springes for woodcocks (Pennant 2d. Tour, p. 32,) operate, I presume, by a spring.

Story and history differ only a little in sense.

Then, adverb of time. Than a particle used in comparison. In Latin quam. The distinction of these is doubtless extremely useful, as tending to facilitate the sense of an author to a reader. The distinction, however, is but of late, since in our older writers then is promiscuously used for than, which shews it to be originally the same word. I need not quote for this.

This and thus. This was formerly used for thus, as Skelton, p. 13, 115, alibi. Hall in Rich. III. f. 28, 29. Sir Tho.. More, p. 3. Which shews, that though it may be useful that a distinction should be made between these words, yet originally they were the same.

Troth and truth both have place in our dictionaries, but seem to be the same, from Saxon, treoth, or treotha.

Trow and trough. A swine-trow is called in the north a swine-trough the difference consists in pronunciation, gh, being sometimes quiescent, and sometimes having the power of ff.

Tend is the tail or final syllable of attend, and means the same; it is spoken tent in the north, where it signifies to hinder or prevent, by watching, and observing; so that it is the same word as tend, for which see Dr. Johnson. V. Vend. V. Brand.

Task and tax. Tusk is an imposition as tar is. Rossus, p. 55. explains tallagium by task; whence they appear to be

the same.

Tone and tune. Ton is French for tune; they are consequently the same words, Life of Lord Clarendon, p. 64. 65. Treacle and theriacal. From Ong a beast, or venomous beast, comes Ingos and theriacal, a medicine to expel poison, which since has been corrupted into treacle. This at present generally signifies molasses, but in the apothecary's shop it still retains its primitive sense, as in Venice-treacle.

Unloose and loose. First has the sense of the second. Mark i. 7. Luke iii. 16. John i. 27, Some have questioned the propriety of this, the prefix un seeming to carry an opposite sense to what the simple word bears, as in tying and untying, drawing and undrawing, &c. but un in the present case is a meer pleonasm; on among the Saxons, to which un is here equivalent, being often used epitatively, or rather superfluously, and without any intention of altering the meaning of the word.

Vend and vent. Both are in Johnson, but are unquestion ably the same, V. Tend.

Weal and Wealth. These are the same words: substantives of the adjective well; hence some will say commonweal, others common-wealth.

Wheen-cat. V. Queen.

I am, Sir, yours,

T. Row.

1778, July, Aug. Sept. and Oct.

LXVIII. Criticism on Gray's Bard.

MR. URBAN,

IN reading over very lately the finest ode in the world, the Welsh Bard of Gray, I was struck with a trifling inaccuracy of expression, which I could not account for to my own sa tisfaction. After a series of the most alarming imprecations, which had impressed terror and dismay on the minds of the bravest officers in Edward's army, the Bard is suddenly seized with prophetic enthusiasm, and in the sublime strains of rapture foretels the future glory of the Tudor race of Kings. The royal form of Elizabeth seems to arise before his strong and creative imagination, and immediately an illustrious train of heroes and statesmen,

"In bearded majesty appear."

Had the poet spoken in his own character, this expression of "bearded majesty" would certainly have had great force and propriety; butsurely the short and curled beards generally worn in England about two hundred years ago, could not be thought strikingly expressive of dignity by the venerable Bard, whose own loose beard, according to the lively and picturesque description which had just before been given us of his dress and attitude,

"Stream'd like a meteor to the troubled air."

I will even venture to assert, that this great difference in the appearance of the worthies of Elizabeth's reign would rather have disgusted the aged prophet, if such a trivial circumstance could in the least have engaged the attention of a man under the complicated agitations of grief, revenge, and despair. In the earlier and less refined ages, any diminution or alteration in this emblematic ornament of the human face was beheld with detestation, and guarded against

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