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Milton, &c. At the same time it is but just to observe that this selection of authorities has been made by an actual perusal of the authors, without the assistance of Johnson's Dictionary.

For the sentiments which are scattered through this work I offer no apology, as I think none necessary; although I am aware that they will not fall in with the views of many who may be competent to decide on its literary merits. I write not to please or displease any description of persons; but I trust that what I have written according to the dictates of my mind will meet the approbation of those whose good opinion I am most solicitons to obtain. Should any object to the introduction of morality in a work of science, I beg them to consider, that a writer whose business it was to mark the nice shades of distinction between words closely allied, could not do justice to his subject without entering into all the relations of society, and showing, from the acknowledged sense of many moral and religious terms, what has been the general sense of mankind on many of the most important questions which have agitated the world. My first object certainly has been to assist the philological enquirer in ascertaining the force and comprehension of the English language; yet I should have thought my work but half completed had I made it a mere register of verbal distinctions. While others seize every opportunity unblushingly to avow and zealously to propagate opinions destructive of good order, and tending to sow disension among men, it would ill become any individual of contrary sentiments to shrink from stating his convictions, when called upon as he seems to be by an occasion like that which has now offered itself. As to the rest, I throw myself on the indulgence of the public, conscious that this work will call for it in no small degree. Although I have obtained their approbation on other occasions, yet it is not without some degree of diffidence that I appear before them on the present; notwithstanding the favorable sentence which private friends have passed upon my work. Conscious, however, that I have used every endeavour to deserve their approbation, and satisfied that in such case no one makes his appeal to their candor in vain, I leave my cause in their hands, fully assured that it will meet with all the attention that it deserves.

London, March 8, 1816.

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TO ABANDON, DESERT, FOR-
SAKE, RELINQUISH.

THE idea of leaving or separating
one's self from an object is common to
these terms, which differ in the cir-
cumstances or modes of leaving. The
two former are more solemn acts than
the two latter.

ABANDON,* from the French abandonner, is a concretion of the words donner à ban, to give up to public blame. This phrase was used in former times both in a civil and religious sense; as the ban of the empire for a civil interdict, and the ban of the kirk for ecclesiastical excommunication. The former of these practices still continues under the name of outlawry. To abandon then is to expose to every misfortune and evil which results from a formal and public denunciation; to set out of the protection of law and government; to deny the privileges of citizenship; to leave with solemnity, which ought to be equivalent, as Johnson observes, to diris devovere.

DESERT, in Latin desertus, participle of desero, that is, de privative and sero to sow, signifying unsown, unplanted, cultivated no longer. To desert then is to leave off cultivating, and as there is something of idleness and improvidence in ceasing to render the soil productive, ideas of disapprobation accompany the word in all its metaphorical applications. He who leaves off cultivating a farm usually removes from it; hence the idea of removal and blameworthy removal, which usually attaches to the

term.

FORSAKE, in Saxon forsecan, is compounded of the primitive for and sake, seek, secan, signifying to seek no more, to leave off seeking that which has been an object of search.

RELINQUISH, in Latin relinquo, is compounded of re or retro behind, and linquo to leave, that is, to leave what we would fain take with us, to leave with reluctance.

To abandon is totally to withdraw ourselves from an object; to lay aside all care and concern for it; to leave it altogether to itself: to desert is to withdraw ourselves at certain times when our assistance or co-operation is required, or to separate ourselves from that to which we ought to be attached; to forsake is to withdraw our regard for and interest in an object, to keep at a distance from it; to relinquish is to leave that which has once been an object of our pursuit.

Abandon and desert are employed for persons or things; forsake for persons or places; relinquish for things only.

With regard to persons these terms express moral culpability in a progressive ratio downwards; abandon comprehends the violation of the most sacred ties; desert, a breach of honour and fidelity; forsake, a rupture of the social bond.

We abandon those who are entirely dependent for protection and support; they are left in a helpless state exposed to every danger; a child is abandoned by its parent; we desert those with whom we have entered into coalition; they are left to their own resources; a soldier deserts his comrades; a partisan deserts his friends;

* Vide Taylor: "To forsake, neglect, desert, abandon."

B

we forsake those with whom we have been in habits of intimacy; they are deprived of the pleasures and comforts of society; a man forsakes his companions; a lover forsakes his mistress.

We are bound by every law human and divine not to abandon; we are called upon by every good principle not to desert; we are impelled by every kind feeling not to forsake.

Few animals except man will abandon their young until they are enabled to provide for themselves. Interest, which is but too often the only principle that brings men together, will lead them to desert each other in the time of difficulty. We are enjoined in the gospel not to forsake the poor and needy.

When abandoned by our dearest relatives, deserted by our friends, and forsaken by the world, we have always a resource in our Maker.

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With regard to things (in which sense the word relinquish is synonymous) the character of abandoning varies with the circumstances and motives of the action, according to which it is either good, bad, or indifferent; deserting is always taken in an unfavourable or bad sense; the act of forsaking is indifferent; that of relinquishing is prudent or imprudent.

A captain may abandon his vessel when he has no means of saving it, except at the risk of his life; but an upright statesman will never desert his post when his country is in danger, nor a true soldier desert his colours. Birds will mostly forsake their nests when they discover them to have been visited. Men often inadvertently relinquish the fairest prospects in order to follow some favourite scheme which terminates in their ruin.

Some persons abandon their projects as soon as they are formed. It is the common consequence of war that the peaceable and well disposed are compelled to desert their houses and

their homes. Animals that are pursued by the sportsman will forsake their haunts, when they find themselves much molested. It is sometimes better to relinquish our claims than to contend for them at the expense of our peace.

Having abandoned all hopes of bettering their condition; they forsook the place which gave them birth, and relinquished the advantages which they might have obtained from their rank and family.

Men who abandon all pretensions to reputation will desert their post when interest or safety call them aside, and relinquish the honours which attend steadiness and fidelity.

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TO

ABANDON, RESIGN, RE-
NOUNCE, ABDICATE.

The idea of giving up is common to these terms, which signification, though analogous to the former, admits, however, of a distinction; as in the one case we separate ourselves from an object, in the other we send or cast it from us.

ABANDON, v. To abandon, desert. RESIGN, from re and signo, signi fies to sign away or back from one's self. RENOUNCE, in Latin renuncio, from nuncio to tell or declare, is to declare off from a thing.

ABDICATE, from dico to speak, signifies likewise to call or cry off from a thing.

We abandon and resign by giving up to another; we renounce by sending away from ourselves; we abandon a thing by transferring our power over to another; in this manner a debtor abandons his goods to his creditors: we resign a thing by transferring our possession of it to another; in this manner we resign a place to a friend: we renounce a thing by simply ceasing

ABANDON.

to hold it; in this manner we renounce a claim or a profession. As to renounce signified originally to give up by word of mouth, and to resign to give up by signature; the former is consequently a less formal action than the latter; we may renounce by implication; we resign in direct terms; we renounce the pleasures of the world when we do not seek to enjoy them; we resign a pleasure, a profit, or advantage, of which we expressly give up the enjoyment.

To abdicate is a species of informal resignation. A monarch abdicates his throne who simply declares his will to cease to reign; but a minister resigns his office by giving up the seals by which he held it.

A humane commander will not abandon a town to the rapine of the soldiers. The motives for resignations are various. Discontent, disgust, or the love of repose, are the ordinary inducements for men to resign honourable and lucrative employments. Men are not so ready to renounce the pleasures that are within their reach, as to seek after those which are out of their reach. The abdication of a throne is not always an act of magnanimity, it may frequently result from caprice or necessity.

Charles the Fifth abdicated his crown, and his minister resigned his office on the very same day, when both renounced the world with its allurements and its troubles.

The passive gods bebeld the Greeks defile
Their temples, and abandon to the spoil
Their own abodes.

DRYDEN.

It would be a good appendix to "the art of living and dying," if any one would write “the art of growing old," and teach nien to resign their pretensions to the pleasures of youth.

STERLE.

For ministers to be silent in the cause of Christ is to renounce it, and to fly is to desert it.

SOUTH.

Much gratitude is due to the Nine from their favoured poets, and much hath been paid; for even to the present bour they are invoked and worshipped by the sons of verse, whilst all the other deities of Olympus have either abdicated their thrones, or been dismissed from them with contempt. CUMBERLAND.

We abandon nothing but that over which we have had an entire and lawful control; we abdicate nothing but

ABASE.

that which we have held by a certain right; but we may resign or renounce that which may be in our possession only by an act of violence. A usurper cannot abandon his people, because he has no people over whom he can exert a lawful authority; still less can he abdicate a throne, because he has no throne to abdicate. The use of this word, therefore, in application to the late usurper of France is obviously incorrect and worthy of animadversion, lest the future historian of our times should fall into the error of applying to self-constituted rulers the fanguage which exclusively belongs to legitimate sovereigns.

Of the usurper referred to it may be said, that he resigned the supreme power, because power may be unjustly held; or that he renounced his pretensions to the throne, because pretensions may be fallacious or extravagant.

Abandon and resign are likewise used in a reflective sense; the former to express an involuntary or culpable action, the latter that which is voluntary and proper. The soldiers of Hannibal abandoned themselves to effeminacy during their winter quarters at Cumæ.

It is the part of every good man's religion to resign himself to God's will. CUMBERLAND.

TO ABANDON, v. To give up, abandon.

ABANDONED, v. Profligate,

TO ABASE, HUMBLE, DEGRADE,

DISGRACE, DEBASE.

To ABASE expresses the strongest degree of self-humiliation, from the French abaisser, to bring down or make low, which is compounded of the intensive syllable a or ad and baisser from bas low, in Latin basis the base, which is the lowest part of a column. It is at present used principally in the Scripture language, or in a metaphorical style, to imply the laying aside all the high pretensions which distinguish us from our fellow creatures, the descending to a state comparatively low and mean.

To HUMBLE, in French humilier, from the Latin humilis humble, and

humus the ground, naturally marks a prostration to the ground, and figuratively a lowering the thoughts and feelings.

According to the principles of Christianity whoever abaseth himself shall be exalted, and according to the same principles whoever reflects on his own littleness and unworthiness will daily humble himself before his Maker.

To DEGRADE, in French degrader, from the Latin gradus a step, signifies to bring a step lower; figuratively, to lower in the estimation of others. It supposes already a state of elevation either in outward circumstances or in public opinion.

DISGRACE is compounded of the privative dis and the noun grace or favour. To disgrace properly implies to put out of favour, which is always attended more or less with circumstances of ignominy, and reflects contempt on the object.

DEBASE is compounded of the intensive syllable de and the adjective base, signifying to make very base or

*

low.

The modest man abases himself by not insisting on the distinctions to which he may be justly entitled; the penitent man humbles himself by confessing his errors; the man of rank degrades himself by a too familiar deportment with his inferiors; he disgraces himself by his meannesses and irregularities, and debases his character by his vices.

We can never be abased by abasing ourselves, but we may be humbled by unseasonable humiliations, or improper concessions; we may be degraded by descending from our rank, and disgraced by the exposure of our unworthy actions.

The great and good man may be abased and humbled, but never degraded or disgraced. His glory follows him in his abasement or humiliation; his greatness protects him from degradation, and his virtue shields him from disgrace.

It is necessary to abase those who will exalt themselves; to humble those who have lofty opinions of themselves; to degrade those who act inconsistently with their rank and station; to dis

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It is very disingenuous to level the best of mankind with the worst, and for the faults of particulars to degrade the whole species.

HUGHES. You'd think no fools disgraced the former reign, Did not some grave examples still remain. POPE.

The great masters of composition know very well that many an elegant word becomes improper for a poet or an orator when it has been debased by common use. ADDISON.

TO ABASH, CONFOUND, CONFUSE.

ABASH is an intensive of abase, signifying to abase thoroughly in spirit. CONFOUND and CONFUSE are derived from different parts of the same Latin verb confundo and its participle confusus. Confundo is compounded of con and fundo to pour together. To confound and confuse then signify properly to melt together or into one mass what ought to be distinct; and figuratively, as it is here taken, to derange the thoughts in such manner as that they seem melted together.

Abash expresses more than confound, and confound more than confuse.

Shame contributes greatly to abashment: what is sudden and unaccountable serves to confound, bashfulness and a variety of emotions give rise to confusion.

The haughty man is abashed when he is humbled in the eyes of others; the wicked man is confounded when his villainy is suddenly detected; a modest person may be confused in the presence of his superiors.

Abash is always taken in a bad sense. Neither the scorn of fools, nor the taunts of the oppressor, will abash him who has a conscience void of offence towards God and man. To be confounded is not always the consequence of guilt; superstition and ignorance are liable to be confounded by extraordinary phenomena: and Providence sometimes thinks fit to confound the wisdom of the wisest by signs and

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