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(1 b.) An answer to Dr. Blackstone's reply [anon. ?by Dr. Priestley].

This was first printed in The St. James's Chronicle and reprinted Dublin 1771, and Philadelphia 1772, and in The Works of Priestley, xxii. 328. And see "A view of the principles. . . of Protestant dissenters, 1769," reprinted in P.'s Works, xxii. 335.

(2.) A letter to Dr. Blackstone occasioned by a passage in his Commentaries, concerning the character of the ecclesiastics of the present age [Lond. 1769?], 8vo, pp. ?, 6d.

Month. Rev. xlii. 245. In Lowndes. I cannot find it at the Brit. Mus. Anonymous? Is this possibly by Dr. Furneaux?

(3.) *The case of the late election for the county of Middlesex considered on the principles of the constitution and the authorities of the law [attributed to Blackstone]. Printed for F. Cadell 1769, 4to, 44.

Blackstone is referred to, refuted or reconciled in every tract in this controversy.

(4.) A letter to the author of the Question Stated. By Another M.P. [attributed to B.], [June] 1769, 8vo, pp. ?, 6d. Gent. Mag. xxxix.

394.

(4 a.) Letter to Dr. B., by the author of the Question Stated [Sir W. Meredith]. To which is prefixed Dr. B.'s letter to Sir W. M. [concerning the charge of inconsistency brought against him by Sir W. Meredith], 1770, 8vo, 60, 1s. 6d.

Month. Rev. xlii. 60. This pamphlet is the subject of the 18th Letter of Junius, which, and the 20th, are erroneously stated by Woodfall in his note to vol. i. 191, to be in reply to the "Answer to the Question Stated," by Sir W. B. The 18th letter is in reply to "B.'s letter to Sir W. Meredith," as above stated; and the 20th is in reply to the "Answer to the Question Stated."

(4 b.) An answer to the "Question Stated"; with a P.S. to Junius [by Nath. Foster, M.A., Rector of All Saints, Colchester, &c. (')], 1770, 8vo?, pp. ?, 18. 6d.

This has been erroneously attributed to B., the only reason for inserting it here.

his celebrated C. on the Laws of E. By Philip Furneaux, D.D., 1770. 8vo, xv. 166, 2s. 6d.; 2nd edit., to which is appended a speech of Lord Mansfield's on the subject, 1771, 8vo, 4s.

Reviewed, Gent. Mag. vols. li. and liii. Month. Rev. xlii. 332. "Tedious Letters." :-" Since the first publication of these letters, Mr. Justice B. hath made considerable alterations in some of the most obnoxious passages that had been objected to by Dr. Priestley and Dr. Furneaux " (Month. Rev. xliv. 187.)

(7.) An interesting appendix to Sir W. B.'s Commentaries. . . containing. [Nos. 1, 1 a, b, 3, 6.] .. America, 1773, 8vo.

(8.) The Palladium of conscience, or the formation of religious liberty displayed, asserted, and established, agreeable to its true and genuine principles, above the reach of all petty Tyrants who attempt to Lord it over the human mind. Containing [Nos. 6, 1, 1a, 3] some other curious tracts Being. teresting appendix to B.'s Commentaries America, Phila., 1774.

...

with an in

· • •

(9.) A declaration of the People's natural right to a share in the legislature, &c. . . By Granville Sharp. 1774, 8vo.

A laboured argument in reply to Blackstone, to prove that the laws of Edw. III. obliged the King to call a new Parliament every year. Edin. Rev. xxviii. 133.

(10.) *A fragment on government; being an examination of what is delivered on the subject of government in general in the introduction to Sir W. B.'s Commentaries, with a preface, in which is given a critique of the work at large [by Jeremy Bentham], 1776, 8vo, lvii. 208, 3s. 6d.

We cannot avoid expressing our disgust at the severity with which the justly admired Commentary is treated in the critique now before us. Month. Rev. lv. 329. Numerous editions, two in French, 1776 and 1790.

(11.) *Considerations on the game laws, together with some strictures on Dr. B.'s Commentaries relative to this subject, 1777, 8vo, 64.

A letter to Lord Chatham on American affairs, and wherein the doctrine of Judge B. in his cele(5.) *Objections drawn from the act of Union brated C. . . . is opposed to the present system in several letters to a divine of the Church of politics; new edition . . . By M. Dawes of England [?]. submitted to the impartial... 1777, 8vo, ii. 91. after thoughts of W. B., Esq., 1770, 8vo, 100, 18. 6d.

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At p. 97, begin "some candid declarations of Dr. B. (which appear much to his credit) in his reply to Dr. Priestley.' The advertisement is dated Oct. 1st, 1766, and says that the author had had the tract by him for some years.

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(6.) [VII] Letters to the Hon. Mr. Justice B. concerning his exposition of the act of Toleration, and some positions relating to religious liberty in

(1) This gentleman also wrote "A Defence of the proceedings of the House of Commons in the Middlesex Election, &c., 2s. 6d.," and "A letter to the author of An essay on the Middlesex Election, 1s.'" See a list of his works at the end of " A sermon, 1770, 4to."

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(12.) *An enquiry into the nature and property of estates in which are considered the opinions of Mr. Justice B. etc. [By Ralph Bradley], 1779, 8vo.

Watt attributes this to John Reeves, F.R.S. A note of Francis Hargrave to Bradley.(1)

(1) He seems totally unnoticed in any Dictionary or Bibliotheca. He was, I believe, as the following title of his only other work that I know says, an eminent conveyancer. He resided at Stockton in Durham :

Practical points or maxims in conveyancing drawn from the daily experience of a very extensive practice by a late eminent conveyancer [Ralph Bradley]. To which are added critical observations on the various and essential parts of a Deed. By the late J. Ritson [and edited by?], 1804, 8vo; vii. 147.

(13.) *Remarks on the laws of descent and on the reasons assigned by Mr. Justice B. for rejecting in his table of descent, a point of doctrine laid down in Plowden, Lord Bacon, and Hale. [By W. Osgood], 1779, 4to; 47.

W. H. Rowe, in "Obs. on the Rules of Descent, 1803," p. 2, says this pamphlet is "generally supposed to be by the Chief Justice of Canada." Was this Osgood?

(14.) Observations on the doctrine laid down by Sir W. B. respecting the extent of the power of the British Parliament particularly with relation to Ireland. In a letter to Sir W. B. By C. F. Sheridan. Dublin, 1779, 8vo; 87.

The London edition same year is anonymous. Month. Rev. lxii. 359.

(15.) A comparative view of the differences between English and Irish statute and common law, in a series of analogous notes on the Commentaries of Sir W. B.; with an introduction, discussing the power of the British Parliament to bind Ireland. By W. T. Ayres. Dublin (print.); Lond. (reprint.), 1780, 8vo; 2 vols.

The author has borrowed the main part of his work from Blackstone's Commentaries, inserting here and there a paragraph or a note, with reference to decisions and Irish statutes. Month. Rev. Ixiv. 258.

(16.) The biographical history of Sir W. B., late one of the justices of both benches-a name as celebrated at the University of Oxford and Cambridge, as in Westminster Hall. And a catalogue of all Sir W. B.'s works, MS. as well as printed; with a nomenclature of Westminster Hall, the whole illustrated with notes . . . a preface and index to each part. By A Gentleman of Lincoln's Inn. [Dr. Douglas ?], 1782, 8vo, 68.

Preface xxix. Authorities explained x. The biography, pp. 125. Index. The "Catalogue" has a separate title-page. Preface iv. Then follow 4 pages of an advertisement of " A Review" (1), &c. Catalogue, pp. 148. Index. The half-title to be "nomenclature," and a separate title-page as follows:-The nomenclature of Westminster Hall, containing a chronology of all the Chancellors, Keepers, Commissioners, Judges, . . . Serjeants and Recorders of the City of London, with occasional remarks, etc., from 1746 to... 1779... the whole time in which Sir W. B. attended the Courts. Preface xxxvii.

44. Index. Errata, 2 pages, which "the student is desired to correct before reading, if he had an opportunity," which apparently he never had.

The awful title-page, or rather pages, to this much abused, but useful work, have no doubt prevented any one from giving them as fully as I have here, though it is evidently important. I believe copies of this work are frequently imperfect. I have given Dr. Douglas' name as the compiler, from his name being on the title-page

(1) The following is the advertisement: - Intended speedily to be published, by the same author, A Review of the following works of Sir W. B. never before pub lished-viz. The Customary oration in honour of Thomas Sutton, the munificent founder of Charter-House.-Then follow four pages of contents of this proposed work, which was never published, the first not being sufficiently encouraged perhaps.

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the preliminary part of a course of lectures on the (17.) Elements of Jurisprudence treated of in laws of England, 1783, 4to.

This is under Blackstone's name in the Bodleian Cata

logue, but I have an idea that it ought not to be.

A German work from Hume, Blackstone, &c. By A. A. F. Hennings. Kopenhagen, 1783. For title see Kayser's Index Librorum.

(18.) Blackstone considered-(in Bentham's Defence of Usury, 1790, pp. 84.)

(19.) An inquiry into the question whether the brother of the paternal grandmother shall succeed to the inheritance of the son, in preference to the brother of the paternal great-grandmother? The affirmative having been advanced by Mr. Justice Manwood; acceded to by Mr. Justice Harper... adopted by Bacon... Hale Gilbert; and the negative maintained by Mr. Robinson... Blackstone. By Charles Watkins . . . 1798, 8vo, 138.

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I find that I am encroaching on so much space that I must reserve the continuation of this list for another note. RALPH THOMAS.

1, Powis Place, W.C.

The following list is taken from the published catalogue of the law library belonging to the late John Lee, Q.C., LL.D. of Hertwell House, Aylesbury:

Commentaries. 3rd Edition, 4 vols. 4to, Oxford, 1768. In this edition only Vols. 1 and 2 are marked in titlepage (3rd Edition). Vols. 1, 2, 3, bear date 1768, and Vol. 4, 1769.

Idem. 6 Edition, 4 vols. folio. London, 1774.
Idem. by E. Christian, 1 vol. 8vo. London, 1816.
Analysis of the Law (3rd Edition), 1 vol. Oxford,

1758.

Oxford, 1762.

Idem. (5th Edition), 1 vol. Law Tracts, 2 vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1762. On the Law of Descents in Fee Simple. 1 vol. 8vo, Oxford, 1759. Biographical History of Sir W. Blackstone and a Catalogue of all his Works, with a Nomenclature of Westminster Hall. 1 Vol. 8vo. London, 1782.

As these extracts do not exactly correspond with the list forwarded to "N. & Q." by SERJEANT THOMAS, they may be the means of eliciting a correct version of the matters they refer to.

J. WILKINS, B.C.L.

CHAUCER'S "CANTERBURY TALES."

I was in the act of reading the Canterbury Tales, and had finished "The Rime of Sire Thopas,' when the note by MR. FURNIVALL appeared. I shall not enter upon the subject of the groups and order of the Tales, which MR. FURNIVALL

is so well qualified to discuss, which I do not pretend to be, and, in fact, in which I do not feel much interest. MR. FURNIVALL intimates that Chaucer is but sparingly read. This I am not prepared to deny, more particularly when I reflect that my present perusal of the Tales occurs after the lapse of fifty years since I have read

them.

I am an uncritical reader, but this perusal has suggested to me one or two observations which possibly may, and possibly may not, be thought worthy of a place in " N. & Q."

Had Chaucer been so happy as to live in an age which supplied him with a perfectly formed language, read by a people to whom it was not merely antiquated but to some extent obsolete, it seems to me difficult to say what English poet (not of course disturbing the supremacy of Shakspeare and Milton) would have been placed above him. But I am not going to offer any criticisms, but to make an observation or two. The general familiarity with Bible history (including of course the apocryphal portion) is very remarkable, and leads, I think, to the inference that in Chaucer's time the Church was more liberal in promoting or permitting the reading of the Scriptures by the laity than it afterwards became. It is true that all the knowledge shown in the Tales is the knowledge of the poet. But he had too much judgment to put into the mouths of the tellers of his stories a kind of knowledge which it would have been out of character in them to possess.

My next observation is, that every age seems to credit some former age with a superstition which it (the later age) has outlived. Thus the Wife of Bath says:

"In olde dayes of the King Artour,

Of which that Bretons speken gret honour,
All was this lond fulfilled of faerie;
The Elf-quene, with hire joly compagnie,
Danced ful oft in many a grene mede.
This was the old opinion as I rede;

I speke of many hundred yeres ago;

But now can no man see non elves mo."

supposed, I presume, to have come from fairyland

"Call us good neighbours, good neighbours we'll be ; Call us fairies, fairies we'll be."

the word "fairy" meaning a malicious imp. But the most extraordinary case of the belief in the existence of fairies was that of a clergyman of the Church of England, and a graduate of the University of Oxford, well known to the writer. He had no preferment of his own, but a little money, and had married a wife who also had a little money. He firmly believed in fairies; indeed he could not well do otherwise, for he assured me that with his own eyes he had seen the Queen of the Fairies and all her court pass before him through a field, and pass over a stile. They were all dressed in green, and of the traditional size-the common people something better than half a foot in height, the queen being taller. I questioned and cross-questioned him about his health before and after this vision, but I could not shake him in the least. He was a sober, thrifty, unimaginative man, and I have known no one less likely to indulge in any freaks of fancy. But, unless my memory deceives me, he had no incredulity as to the existence of fairies previously to the vision I have spoken of. He was frequently applied to to preach, and acquitted himself in the pulpit with average ability.

There is another superstition which I think is peculiar to Scotland. It is a superstition of ancient date, and certainly was not extinct fifty years ago. For a worthy man, a miller, who lived on the banks of a river from which the waterpower turning his mill was derived, told me many stories of his encounters with Water Kelpie, of whose existence he had no more doubt than of any fact told in the Bible, and he was a good religious man of the Presbyterian persuasion. I feel bound, however, to mention that the miller's chief encounters with Water Kelpie occurred in crossing a ford with his horse and cart on his way home from the market. I must further add, that my

The Wife of Bath accounts for the change from friend the miller was a perfectly sober man.

the

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Another observation is suggested by the "Pardoneres Tale." This tale, addressed to a body of Catholic pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas, details the tricks and frauds by which the Pardonere extracts money from his dupes with the air, and no small share of the humour with which Autolycus might be supposed to relate his commercial transactions at the shepherd sheepshearing:

"And for to stere men to devotion.

Than shew I forth my longe cristal stones, Ycrammed ful of cloutes and of bones, Relikes they ben, as wenen they echon," and so forth. All this seems to have been received with acquiescence and amusement by the Catholic auditory.

This was the state of Catholic popular faith and feeling four hundred years ago. Now, mark the contrast. In this year, 1868, every aristocratic drawing—nay, every drawing-room table in France, and even in Protestant England, is provided with a copy of Récit d'une Sœur· -a work in which every thing which, in the "Pardoneres Tale," is treated as a fraud and a folly, is dealt with most reverently and with the deepest faith.

"Je lui dis que le remède que lui avait donné B. lui avait fait du bien" (writes Alexandrine of her dying husband). Non,' me répondit-il (avec un délicieux sourire, et en baisant la relique de St. François de Sales), 'voilà ce qui m'a fait du bien.'"

The picture of this dying young man, with a Paris physician by his bedside, and the relic in his hand, seems to be regarded by all the readers of the book-nay, even by such leaders of public opinion as Montalembert-with the deepest reverence and interest. The present age is often stigmatised as a sceptical age. I do not believe that it deserves the reproach. It appears to me that the belief in fairies, in water kelpies, and the faith in the virtue of relics, are as widely diffused as they were in any former age. J. H. C.

THE MANCHESTER LUNATIC ASYLUM. Since the death of my lamented friend, Mr. John Harland, F.S.A., a number of his papers have fallen into my hands. Some of them are of his own composition; others are of older date, and in handwriting which I do not recognise. Amongst the poetical scraps is one relating to some local attack-whether in words or deeds I am unable to say-upon a public institution in Manchester. The writer has couched his thoughts in Hudibrastic verse and phrase, and has rendered himself amusing, if not intelligible. I beg to offer it for insertion in "N. & Q." in the hope that something may follow by way of illustration :

THE STORMING OF THE LUNATIC HOSPITAL: A PICTURE
TO BE EXHIBITED ON THE SPOT.
December 2nd, 1802.

"Full in the front th' assailants stood,
All charged with gall, if not with blood;
In rank and file, in dread array,
They wait the signal of the day:

The strong, the weak, the wise, the silly,
Throng Lover's Row and Piccadilly.
The Hospital they meant to storm,
And vaunted loud what they'd perform!
For thus they cried, with loud bravadoes:
What mean those iron pallisadoes?
We'll in a minute overleap 'em,
Pursue the foe and hence we'll sweep 'em.'
As to the Windmill said Don Quixote,

So said the foe :- We'll pull those bricks out;
The place dispeople, and dismantle,

And drive those miscreants from their ant-hill;
We'll fix the patients at a distance,

Far from our notice or assistance;

Out of the town :-no person near 'em,
Where we can neither see nor hear 'em.
Out of the Walks we'll drive our gentry,
With fear of fever bar their entry;
And when a solitude we've made 'em,
We will Ourselves in state parade 'em.'
Backed by a hundred gallant names,
A Chief in lofty sounds proclaims:-
'Come out ye Lunatics and flee,
This house I challenge is for me.
Not that I mean to settle in it;
I should not like it for a minute:
I mean to fill it full of fever,

To clear the town of noisome savour;
Here, pent up close, just in the middle,
Fever will sink as through a riddle.
It joins th' Infirmary 'tis true,
But what is that to me or you?
Fools! If you dread, or think of danger,
To Me and Magic you're a stranger!

I can the force of fever charm,
And all the patients 'gainst it arm;
And though the beds should almost touch,
I see no danger-or not much!'
By all this gasconade unmoved,
Within the house a champion-proved-
Stood ready to sustain th' attack,
Nor from the hot assault drew back.
For he a Colonel fierce had been,
And though no carnage he had seen,
Yet brave and bold, he scorned to shrink,
Or from their anger-or their ink.
Against their rage he had, with prudence
(And had he not, he'd been a true dunce),
Prepared a battery of cannon,

:

Which all their thoughts and fancies ran on :
For they had heard a dreadful rumour
Of these grim guns-which like a tumour
Had swelled, inflamed, and grown so large,
That all with terror stood the charge;
And it was thought, that when one gun
Was fired amongst them, all would run.
But Falstaff-like, the more they trembled
In louder tones was fear dissembled.
Thus they, the more they feared and doubted,
In stronger notes of challenge shouted :-
That when the Colonel gave command,
They straight would rush in sword in hand;
His cannon they would spike, or turn 'em
Against himself-or, else would burn 'em.
For loud they said- They all were wooden'!
Thus did they vaunt! when on a sudden
(After a short but awful pause)
His mighty sword the Colonel draws,
When all at once, as they were gazing,
The dreadful cannons 'gan a blazing;
At once six guns pour deadly vomit,
Nor can the enemy fly from it.
Now thundering balls the foemen struck,
And laid them sprawling in the muck,
Which just behind in round rows placed
By the street-sweepers thus were graced.
First fell the leader on his back,

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For he had felt a dreadful thwack,
Which all at once had laid him sprawling,
And there he lay with piteous bawling:

One eye was plastered up with mud,

The other full of water stood;

For sore he felt the dreadful shame

Which would henceforth attend his name. Beside him lay, all soused in mire,

A busy, bustling, babbling squire,

Who not of long orations sparing
(For other place 'twas said preparing),
His head had plump'd against a stone,
But did not crack the solid bone.

His friends affirm'd his hat preserved him :
It might be so, and well it served him!
Down fell a barrister i' th' dirt,

But, thank his stars, not greatly hurt;
For he by other friends persuaded,
Not meaning ill, the house invaded.
But let us learn from his misfortune,
The loss that springs from ill-assorting!
Beside these fell, in black mud floundering,
In which they each had made a round-ring-
A learned tribe, who all lay sticking,
But flaskering, rolling, bellowing, kicking.
Around them lay a heap of blisters,
With pills and purges, vomits, clysters;
Spasmodics, opiates, and cathartics;

Doses for earaches, headaches, heartaches;
(All these a nimble wight was picking,
And will be soon in's window sticking).
What others fell, and how they stumbled,
What gallant names in terror tumbled,"

Here the rhymes close abruptly, but we may perhaps be permitted to fill up the lacuna thus:["What other hands were smeared with grime,

The Muse may tell some other time."] Probably there are some literary readers of "N. & Q." still resident in Manchester who may be able to annotate the preceding. It would be interesting to know the persons to whom allusion is made, the places indicated, and also the history of this local squabble.

Burnley.

THE PROPERTIES OF A GOOD WIFE.

She that is not bold, that doth not offend her husband, that may and will not, that hateth the doore and the windowe, that careth not for feasts and bancquets, nor for dancinge, nor to be curious in apparrell, that heareth noe Messuages, nor receveth letters nor presents from lovers, that esteemeth above alle others her husband whatsoever he be, that laboreth truly to provide for her Familye, that feareth God, and praieth often to him willingly, and is the laste that speaketh, and the first that holdeth her peace.-P. 157.

AN EPITAPH [FOR AN HONEST MAN].
Here lieth a honnest man.
If thou wouldest have more,
Thou art not for thy selfe,
For honnestie is store

Of Commendacions: tis much more praise
To be a honnest man then live maine dayes.

FINIS.

P. 156. F. J. FURNIVALL.

POPULAR PHRASEOLOGY: USE OF THE WORD POWER. I have been often struck with the fact, expressions in daily use amongst our country how purely of classical derivation are many of the people. Take, for a single instance, the word power, as signifying quantity or number. Nothing is more common than to hear one person say of another, that he has a power of money, or a power of friends, or a power of hands: = workmen, which is simply synonymous with the peculiar use of vis in Latin, and duvauis in Greek. Thus in Cicero we find "vis auri," "vis innumerabilis servorum"; in Horace, "vis hedera"; in Virgil, canum vis;" in Juvenal, "verborum tanta vis"; in Livy, "vis navium"; in Tacitus, "vis locustarum"; and, as its Greek equivalent, we have in Herodotus κοίην δὲ χρημάτων δύναμιν ; and in Thucydides, π' ὀλίγης δυνάμεως χρημάτων.

66 T. T. WILKINSON, F.R.A.S., ETC.

PIECES FROM MANUSCRIPTS.-No. IV. (From the Ashmole MS. 781, A.D. 1620–31.) [WHAT IS A CUCKOLD?] Whats a Cucold, learne of mee, For fewe can tell his Pedigree, or his subtile nature conster: borne a man, yet dyes a monster. God in Edens happie shade Never such a Creature made. then, to cut of alle mistakinge, Cucolls are of woemens makinge.-P. 143.

A WIFE.

Such as I have to my owne harte propounded,
And labored to obtaine as Earths cheefe good,
A wife made all of wishes, and compounded
of choice Ingredients both for mind and blood;
A Maide, yet willinge to become a Mother,
Younge, yet full ripe: A faire one, and yet blacke;
The white side turnd to me, blacke vnto others;
Silent, yet one that noe good tounge doth lacke;
Rich onely to Contentment, not to excesse;
Holy strivinge with love her faith to expresse;
Wise not to teach, but her owne wants to knowe;
Well-borne, yet not soe high to set mee lowe;

Such, whilst I fancied to my self a wife,
Freind, I doe heare you have her to the life. FINIS.

P. 157.

Other similar instances, of which there are doubtless many, I may note from time to time as leisure serves, and the Editor of "N. & Q." will courteously accord me a little space.

EDMUND TEW.

"YEDE," MISUSED BY SPENSER. — It is strange that no one seems to have remarked the curious blunder made by Spenser respecting the verb yede. In yielding to his propensity for archaic diction, he has, in this instance at least, not perfectly learnt his lesson, and fallen into a remarkable grammatical error. Yede and yode are both, as every student of Early English should know, various forms of the past tense of the verb to go; in fact, they are both equivalent to goed, formed from the verb by adding -ed; though, in modern times, we have renounced the use of this preterite, supplying it by that of the verb to wend, for which we have found a new one by writing wended. But Spenser, observing the differing forms of the word, came to the extraordinary, yet somewhat logical, conclusion that yede must be the infinitive mood, and

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