Harlequin-Influenza. 9 orrowed splendor.--Wade, (Chronological History of England,) in describing the coronation of George IV., says: "The crown worn by the king was of unexampled brilliance and richness. The jewels of the crown were valued at £65,000; and ten per cent. interest was paid to Rundell and Bridge for the loan of them." Harlequin.-From the Devil in the Mystery, they took the Vice or Iniquity of the Morality, who usually personified some bad quality incident to human nature, as pride, malice, gluttony, or any other evil propensity. The Italian Pantomime thus became possessed of their Alichino (the Demon inciting to rapacity, mentioned by Dante), corrupted to Arlichino and Arlecchino, whence the Harlequin of the modern stage, who preserves the memory of the "dagger of vice" in his sword of lath. Homilies. A homily signified a sermon or discourse upon some head or point of religion, in the composition of which the plainest language was used, for its being more easily understood by the common people. At the time of the Reformation in England, there were several made and printed, and ordered to be read in those churches that were not furnished with sufficiently learned ministers to compose proper discourses themselves, and also as a prevention of unsound doctrine being taught in the more remote and less frequented country places. 10 Optimism-Maudlin. ptimism.-In Moral Philosophy and Theology, the system which regards physical and moral evil as elements of the universal order of things; so that everything is good, viewed in relation to the whole; or, in the ordinary phrase, in which the doctrine is expressed, "all is for the best." This system was justified, with philosophical inductions, by Leibnitz in his Theodicea, and is popularly illustrated by Pope in his Essay on Man; but it is best known (as far as the name is concerned), by the irony of Voltaire, in his celebrated romance of Candide. The optimism of Leibnitz was based on the following trilemma: If this world be not the best possible, God must either-1, not have known how to make a better; 2, not have been able; 3, not have chosen. The first position contradicts his omniscience, the second his omnipotence, the third his benevolence. Autumn.-The season so named, because the wealth of man is augmented by the fruits of harvest. Latin, Auctumnus, from augeo. In the United States, it is seldom called otherwise than "Fall;" i. e., of the leaf which, if not as classical as the legitimate name, is far more poetical. Maudlin.-As applied when the eyes are watery and the countenance swollen with sottishness, &c., is a corruption of Magdalen, (which Sir Thomas More writes Mawdleyne,) who is depicted with eyes wet and swollen with tears. Pillow of Hops-Cold. 11 illow of Hops.-The prescribers of this homely remedy may be pleased to learn that it has done royal service in its time. Dodsley's Annual Register of March 12, 1801, tells us, "The king's (George III.) illness was distressing to the royal family, particularly as none of the regular medicines administered could induce repose. In this emergency, when professional skill was baffled, the casual observation of Mr. Addington, afterwards Lord Sidmouth, upon the virtue of a pillow of hops, was acted upon, and had the effect of relieving the sufferer from his malady." West Indies. The name by which these islands have been so long known, was originally given to them in mistake. Columbus, when he discovered them in 1492, considered them as the western part of those vast regions in Asia, comprehended under the general name of Indies, to reach which, by a course due west across the Atlantic, had been the great object of his voyage. Even after the error was detected, the name was still retained. Cold. The extremes of heat and cold are found to produce the same perceptions on the skin; and when mercury is frozen at 40° below zero, the sensation is the same as touching red-hot iron. The coldest day ever known in London was 25th December, 1796, when the thermometer was 16° below zero. Quicksilver was frozen hard at Moscow, 13th January, 1810. 12 Litera scripta manet-Buxom. itera scripta manet.-Little did Cicero suspect, when he wrote to his friend Atticus of the poverty of Britain in silver as well as in learning, that he would be thus taken to task, some sixteen centuries after, by Roger Ascham. "But now, master Cicero, blessed be God, and his sonne Jesus Christ, whom you never knew, except it were as it pleased him to lighten you by some shadow; as covertlie in one place ye confesse, saying, Veritatis tantum umbram consectamur, as your master Plato did before you blessed be God, I say, that sixteen hundred yeare after you were dead and gone, it may trewly be sayd, that for silver, there is more comme plate in one citie of Englande, than is in four of the proudest cities in all Italie, and take Rome for one of them: and for learning, beside the knowledge of all learned tonges and liberal sciences, even your owne books, Cicero, be as well read, and your excellent eloquence is as well liked and loved, and as trewly followed in Englande at this day, as it is now, or ever was since your own time, in any place of Italie, either at Arpinum, where you was borne, or els at Rome, where you was brought up. And a little to brag with you, Cicero, where you yourselfe, by your leave, halted in some point of learning in your own tonge, many in Englande at this day go streight up, both in trewe skill and right doing therein." Buxom.-In old English, bough-some-i. e., easily bended or bowed to one's will; obedient. Five Shilling Dollars-Alkoran. 13 ive Shilling Dollars.-In 1798, one year after the Bank of England had suspended specie payments, silver tokens made their appearance, and Spanish dollars were sent to the mint, where the head of George III. was stamped on the neck of Charles IV.; they then passed, by law, for five shillings sterling; but the coin itself was not more current at the time, than the following doggerel, to which the transaction gave rise: "To make a dollar of Spain for five shillings to pass, Some of these dollars, at this day, are in circulation among us, although the peculiarity of the stamp is perhaps seldom remarked. Alkoran. The Koran of Mahomet, written about A. D. 610. Its general aim was to unite the professors of idolatry, and the Jews and Christians, in the worship of one God, (whose unity was the chief point inculcated,) under certain laws and ceremonies, exacting obedience to Mahomet as the prophet. Mahomet asserted that the Koran was revealed to him during a period of twenty-three years, by the angel Gabriel. He admitted the divine mission both of Moses and Jesus Christ. Dr. Jortin says that the style of the Koran is beautiful, fluent, and concise, and where the majesty and attributes of God are described, it is sublime and magnificent. |