This word digraph is impurely used: it is as applicable to two consonants written together, as to two vowels; and the same is true of the term trigraph, which occurs in the e next page. At p.42. the word: monopthong is proposed instead of the word vowel; and a similar rage for neology bursts on us every where. Atp.54. we hear of lingui-dental consonants, and at p. 60. of palatal obstructions but the most curious of the author's theories is his doctrine of the significance of single consonants.

Any thing connected with the language of Scripture must be interesting to all enquirers after truth; we cannot, therefore, have recourse to a more proper mode of proving the reality of the different consonant significations, and of determining the meanings of words by their constituent characters, than that of comparing their assigned properties with the names of the most conspicuous individuals whose actions are recorded in the Bible,

ADAM. D signifies that he was a noted character, and M that he was the father of many, or that many things are related of him. [The word gate, as explained in REES'S Cyclopedia, comes within the meaning of D, but we must not confine it within such narrow bounds as to limit it to any precise object.]

NOAH. N, the reduction of the human race; H, his laborious undertaking.

1

ABRAHAM. Br implies plurality in various ways; H, his power and his numerous offspring; and M, his greatness." Thy name shall be AbraHAm; for a father of many nations have I made thee, &c." Gen. xvii.

ISRAEL. S, his obedience; R, his strength, exemplified in his wrestling; (Gen. xxxii. 28.) L may relate to his life, his family, his riches, or his numerous adventures, but more particularly to the origin of this name.

MOSES. M, his greatness; S repeated, his meekness of disposition, and great forbearance. [The Hebrew Mem, in a limited acceptation, signifies water: a remarkable coincidence as it regards the birth of Moses.]

JOSHUA. J, his valour; Sh, long continued. [See the additional J and H to this name. Numb. chap. xiii.]

DAVID. D, V, and D repeated, all relate to his dignity, and the openness with which it was displayed.

JOHN. J, his prudence and propriety; H, his influence; N final, though the greatest of the prophets, he was no more than a messenger, and accounted himself nobody.

JESUS. J, perfect in wisdom; S repeated, and an extraordinary example of humility and condescension.

CHRIST. Chr, his important mission; St, his omnipotence. MESSIAH, M, his greatness; Ss, as in JESUS; H, his miracles, &c.

'IMMANUEL. M, his greatness, as the Son of GOD; N, his littleness, as the son of man; L, his immortality.'

It cannot be necessary to proceed with an analysis of such cabalistical whims, which appear to us to have been derived from the grammar of a sort of lunatic, named Charles Wiseman, who, REV. JULY, 1825.

Ꮓ

in

in 1764, published polyglot tables of comparative nomenclature, designed to prepare an universal language."

Mr. Martin's is the reverse of condensed: but it may supply some new collocations of analogous examples. P.129. word is said to signify express identity: but we do not understand this definition. On Bell's, Pestalozzi's, and Gaultier's systems, much criticism is ventured: but the highest merit that we can discover in Mr. Martin is his most comprehensive consultation of his predecessors, of which the catalogue extends from p. 265. to p. 279. He seems to have perused, however, only to disapprove, and may incur from his own readers a vindictive retaliation.

Art. 12. An Analytical Dictionary of the English Language, in which the Words are explained in the Order of their natural Affinity, independent of Alphabetical Arrangement; and the Signification of each is traced from its Etymology, the present Meaning being accounted for, when it differs from its former Acceptation: the Whole exhibiting, in one continued Narrative, the Origin, History, and modern Usage of the existing Vocabulary of the English Tongue; to which are added, an Introduction, containing a new Grammar of the Language, and an Alphabetical Index for the Ease of Consultation. By David Booth. Part II. 4to. 7s. 6d. Boards. Hunter.

As we noticed at great length, and with detailed analysis, the first part of this Dictionary; and as a similar character applies to this continuation, it may suffice to refer our readers back to the former article on the subject, in our hundredth volume, p.22.

We still think that the plan is somewhat too encyclopedic. Etymology is one thing, and synonymy is another; and that extensive sort of definition, which enters into the natural history of the objects mentioned, is a third: yet this Dictionary often attempts all the three departments.

We will make one extract from the article breeches, which perhaps ought to have been spelled breechers, and which signifies any article of dress that covers the breech. The Latin bracca is not the root of the Celtic brogues, but is derived from it.

The place of separation between a Bough of a tree and its trunk, or between one Bough and another, is, in Scotland, called a BREEK, that is, the Break of the tree; and the same idea is preserved in the denomination of the junction of the human body to its lower limbs. The hinder part of this union, that part on which we sit is called the BREECH; and the front part, or hollow of that joint, between the Body, and either thigh, where the latter grows out of the former, is the GROIN. There are, therefore, two Groins, the right and the left. The adjective INGUINAL, belonging to the Groin, is from the Latin inguen. The garment which covers these parts of a Man is called in Latin Bracca, in Saxon Brac, in Scotch BREEKS, and in English BREECHES. This, in our times and country, is a close garment, surrounding the thighs, separately, and uniting at top, so as to cover, both before and behind, the whole of the junction, including the thighs, knees, and part of the body; and the word is, therefore, one of those dual plurals that have no singular. TROUSE,

TROUSE, OF TROUSERS, are long Breeches extending to the ancles. [See HOSE.]

Breeches, being wholly a masculine dress, has given rise to the phrase of "the Wife wears the breeches," which informs us that she rules over her husband, and the same feeling of incongruity induced the revisers of the English translation of the Bible to change the word breeches, in the third Chapter of Genesis, into APRONS. An Apron, however, is only a partial covering, being a loose piece of Cloth or of Leather, hung over the belly and front of the thighs, by either sex, for the purpose of keeping clean, or preserving from injury, the more permanent dress which it covers. The word may be from the Saxon aforan, before; in the same manner that our nursery-maids now call a child's bib a PINAFORE. The Danish Apron is a Forklæde. APRONED and BREECHED are in the Dictionaries to denote being clothed respectively with those articles; and the same sort of participial adjectives may, if we will, be extended to all the other parts of dress.

The scriptural renderings, above mentioned, show the difficulty of translating from an ancient tongue. The furniture, dress, &c. of the early ages are continued matters of dispute among Antiquarians; and it is not to be doubted, that customs and manners were then very different from what they now are. What sort of femoral habiliments was indicated by the Hebrew chegoroth has been a subject of controversy; but it is generally believed, that the Jews, in the days of Moses, as well as the Greeks and Romans of after times, wore garments similar to the Kilts of the Scotch mountaineers. The KILT of the Highlander is a petticoat which extends little more than half down the thighs, leaving the knees wholly bare. The name is Erse, from celt, clothes; or ceilam, to conceal. The PHILLABEG, or FILLABEG, is another name for the same piece of dress. It is the Lowland pronunciation of Filleadh-beg, (filleadh, a cloth, and beg, small,) which, literally translated, means SMALLCLOTHES; a name lately introduced, for Breeches, by simpering affectation. Breech, in the sense of the hinder part, is applied occasionally to quadrupeds; and Engineers speak of the Breech of a piece of ordnance.

From the Latin brachium, in its direct usage, we have To EMBRACE, literally to surround with the arms; or, as the Germans say, umarmen, and the French embrasser, from bras, their name for the arm. An EMBRACE is a mark of affection. A HUG is a close embrace, To HUG, or, as it were, to hook, a person into one's bosom. BRACELETS, which were formerly used as defensive armour for the warrior, are now merely ornaments for the wrists of the fair.

TO BRACE, is to put or tie together, as if two things were held or pressed between the hands, so as to become one. In a consequent sense, it is to strengthen. Certain Birds and other animals are reckoned in pairs; and are especially so conjoined when sent to market. We speak of a BRACE of Partridges, Moorfowl, Ducks, Hares, &c. because they are so tied together when sold for the table. Printers use a BRACE (,

Z 2

to

conjoin

conjoin two or more lines, and BRACKETS ([]) to include a word or sentence which it is wished to distinguish from the body of the page. A BREAK is with them a dash, or line (—), and denotes that the sentence is interrupted or broken, by the intro duction of extraneous or unexpected matter. A Drum has its parchment head BRACED, or UNBRACED, by means of drawing together, or slackening, its cords or BRACERS; and the Invalid is alike deluded and solaced by a Metaphor, when he is made to hope that his nerves will be Braced by a change of atmosphere, or by the tonic medicines that are prescribed by his physician.'

The words are arranged by order of matter rather than alphabetically; and yet some sort of attention seems to have been paid to the order of the letters at every fresh starting-place.— The work is more entertaining than we could expect from a verbal dictionary, and displays great variety of information in the writer. He has undertaken a long task, and we trust that he will lack neither encouragement nor perseverance.

MISCELLANEO U S.

Art. 13. Testimonies in favor of Salt as a Manure, and a Condiment for Horse, Cow, and Sheep. With Testimonies of its vast Importance in the Arts, in Manufactures, and in the Fisheries; accompanied by Testimonies in favor of Agriculture. By the Rev. B. Dacre, A.L. S. 8vo. pp. 288. Manchester.

1825.

66

Collegisse juvat" is not a bad motto for this collection of savoury scraps. When the ingenious Mr. Parkes published his pamphlet on the inestimable value and various uses of salt*, we really supposed that he had exhausted its praises: but the industry of Mr. Dacre has shewn our mistake. He has collected from north, east, south, and west, from the antients and from the moderns, from sacred writers and profane, from poets and philosophers, such a multiplicity of testimonies in favor of the virtues of salt, that we might think it is not only the summum bonum but the solum bonum of animal and vegetable life. This publication is also very opportunely edited. Mr. Parkes's pamphlet appeared when the duties on salt were so enormously heavy, that it would have been as well to recommend farmers to drink claret and champagne as to scatter salt over their fields: but, happily, all these duties are at length removed; and if the gentlemen of the plough do not make two ears of corn grow now where one only grew before, they cannot lay the blame on government.

There are not perhaps three pages of original matter in this book: but Mr. Dacre professes only to give the testimonials of other people; and as it would be too much to exact from him a responsibility for their accuracy, it may be right to caution them against frequent exaggerations and occasional inconsistencies. We find one gentleman stating that salt answers best as a manure for green crops, especially turnips and clover; and he adds, "it

* See Monthly Review, vol. xciv. p. 444.

is not of much benefit to barley or wheat if sown, but in compost it proves very advantageous." Another gentleman says within half-a-score pages, that he has "twice used it on a barley tilth, sowing the salt immediately after the barley. The event was perfectly satisfactory: the verdure of the spring exceeded any thing of the kind I ever saw; and the ripened appearance was whiter by many shades than I ever beheld." Among such conflicting testimonies how is a poor farmer to know what to do? This latter gentleman adds, that salt is noxious both to weeds and vermin; and according to him it must possess a very discriminating tact indeed.

Very great care, also, must be taken in the use of salt; for, like most other things, it is a food or a poison according to the quantity administered. A lump of salt will totally destroy the grass on which it is suffered to lie. So large a discretionary range is left between the highest and the lowest quantities in the following directions that perhaps they are not very useful: but, being better than none, we transcribe them:

• Directions for the Use of Salt, communicated by Cuthbert W. Johnson, Chemist.

"As it may afford assistance to the agriculturist, I have drawn up the following table of directions, as the nearest rules for adoption, under our present imperfect state of information.

"In consequence of the valuable experiments made by Mr. Sinclair, which claim particular attention, and from some recent experiments made by my brother, it is recommended to the agriculturist, to notice the superior advantages which appear to result from mixing the salt in the soil, previous to the seed being

sown.

"For fallows, 15 to 40 bushels, according to soil and state of land.

"For wheat and rye 5 to 20 bushels per acre, put on after the seed has been harrowed in, the earlier the better, but may be done until March.

"For barley, oats, peas, and beans, 5 to 16 bushels per acre; for these crops it has been found beneficial, in the west of England, to put it on after the seed has been harrowed in; but in counties less frequented by rain, it would be more advantageous to put it on in January or February.

For turnips and all green crops, 5 to 15 bushels per acre, put on in January or February, as it cannot be too well mixed with the soil, and will meet the insects in their weakest state.

"For meadows or other grass land, 10 to 15 bushels per acre, in the autumn, and ought not to be delayed later than November, but may be put on without injury until February.

"For potatoes, 10 to 20 bushels per acre, to be put on in January or February, if no other manure be used; but if a light dressing of manure should be intended, at the time of planting, then to spread a part of the quantity of salt mentioned, after the plants have been covered in.

"For hops, 15 to 20 bushels per acre, in November or December.

"N. B.