is thus translated: "A freeman shall not be amerced for a small fault, but after the manner of the fault, and for a great fault after the greatness thereof, saving to him his contenement, and a merchant likewise saving to him his merchandise; and any other's villain than ours shall be likewise amerced, saving his wainage." The correspondent article in the charter of Edward I., A. D. 1275, is in French; and the words sauve son contenement are translated "saving his freehold." But it is evident that this cannot be right; for a man might have a very large freehold, and no other property; and then, if his freehold were excepted from amercement he would not be amerced at all, however great his offence might be. It is to be observed, also, that in this French Charter, we have gainage, as corresponding to wagnagio. SELDEN, in his Table Talk, is reported to have said that the word contenementum signifies the same with countenance, as used by the country people, when meaning to receive a person with hospitality, they say, "I will show you the best countenance," &c.; and in this exposition the Hon. DAINES BARRINGTON agrees. But the reporters of the Table Talk of celebrated men are seldom accurate. It is much more probable that Selden said contenementum signified the same as continentia; for in his own edition of Fleta, the latter word is actually used in immediate quotation of the rule of the Charter:-" Qualiter fieri debent amerciamenta declarant hæc statuta; liber homo non amercietur nisi secundum modum delicti, et hoc salvâ sibi continentia." Furthermore, on a minute inspection of the Articuli Magne Carte, from which the Great Charter, after much debate, was drawn up, it may be seen that the word in question is spelt continementum,' which removes it further from the notion of a tenement, or freehold, and approximates it to continentia, which, as Fleta was written less than a century after the event, and by an author of very great ability and accuracy, was probably the word really intended. We have, therefore, to inquire the meaning attached to the word continentia. And here it is to be observed, that, in the barbarous Latin of that period, the terminating particles entia or antia, and mentum, were employed quite arbitrarily, and without any regard to classical authority; and the same may said of the corresponding Italian, French, and English particles. We find in Italian, penitenza and pentimento, continenza and contentamento, sostenenza and sostentimento. In old French, parlance and parlement, both signified "talking." So in English, we find Milton using cumbrance, and the old romancers cumberment in the same sense : be In fact, the word continentia, answered to our modern word sustenance, 1 Report Com. Public Records, 1819, ut sup. pl. 2. Concluding remark. being derived from continere, in the sense of "alere, sumptus suppeditari;" 71. From the preceding remarks it will be manifest, that in order to comprehend any language thoroughly, both in itself and in its relation to other tongues, it is not sufficient to confine our attention to the works of the most esteemed authors, or the discourses of the polite and learned; but we must carefully examine the local dialects, the obsolete and technical terms, and even the expressions of the vulgar, among which may often be found words and phrases connecting the particular language under examination with others, by affinities, which, but for such research, might have remained unknown. 1 Ducange, voc. Continentia. 2 Glanvill, 1. 9, c. 8. CHAPTER III. OF IDIOMS. 66 66 the term. 72. THE word Idiom, as employed by different writers, is involved Meaning of in no less uncertainty than the words Language and Dialect are. JOHNSON, as usual with him in all cases of doubt, heaps together several inconsistent explanations. Idiom," he says, is " a mode of speaking peculiar to a language or dialect;" or it is "the peculiar cast of a tongue;" or a phrase;" or " phraseology.' "The various modes of speech in use among the Tatarian tribes are called, by STRAHLENBERG and others, "Languages;" but they are designated by Mr. LUMLEY DAVIS, whose premature death was so great a loss to Glossology," Idiomes Turks." Again, ZEUNIUS has justly observed, that the very learned Treatise which VIGER entitled 'De præcipuis Græcæ dictionis Idiotismis,' should have been entitled ' De Idiomatibus;' for Idiotismus is properly defined to be locutio seu forma orationis sordida et plebeia; "a sordid and plebeian talk or form of speech;" that is to say, it belongs to the class of vulgarisms which Ị have reckoned among the personal dialects; whereas Idioma, an Idiom, is briefly defined proprietas linguæ; that is, a peculiarity of a language, as Hebraisms are idioms peculiar to the Hebrew language, Hellenisms to the Greek, Anglicisms to the English, and the like. To this description, however, two observations are to be added, with reference at least to the more cultivated languages; first, that the proper idiom must be determined by the agreement of the best writers and speakers; and, secondly, that it must refer to a definite period of time. English, as of all living tongues,' says Dr. Johnson, "there is a double pronunciation-one cursory and colloquial, the other regular and solemn:" the former "always vague and uncertain;" the latter "less liable to capricious innovation."5 And what the learned critic says of pronunciation may be applied to all the peculiarities of the language. Neither the cursory nor the solemn modes of speech, however, are permanent, and hence we have a different idiom of the age of Chaucer from that of the age of Shakspeare, of Addison, &c. "Of 73. The Idiom of a language consists in some peculiar form, signi- Modes, form fication, or effect given to its words, or in the construction of its sen 1 Johnson's Dict. ad vocem. 2 Grammaire Turke, p. xlvii. of words. Signification. tences. In regard to form, the words of a language may be monosyllabic or polysyllabic, as the Chinese is said to be monosyllabic, and the Cherokee to be polysyllabic. On this distinction I shall hereafter speak more at large. For the present it may suffice to observe of the Chinese, that there are two senses of the word monosyllabic; it may signify either that every word in a given language consists of a single syllable; or that every syllable is a complete word. M. Rémusat contends that the Chinese language is not monosyllabic in the first sense, but is in the second.' Its polysyllables (according to him) are formed by the junction of two or more monosyllabic words: in so far, therefore, the Chinese idiom is assimilated to what occurs in English; as in our words wel-come, wil-ful, and numberless others. In the Cherokee language, on the other hand, words of nine and ten syllables often occur, and one is even mentioned of seventeen, viz.: Wi-ni-to-tige-gi-na-li-sko-lv-ta-no-ne-li-ti-se-sti; but this probably, when analyzed, would be found to comprehend many words and particles combined. Thus we might employ, in English, a long phrase, instead of an adjective, agreeing with a substantive, as "my never-to-be-sufficientlylamented Parent;" "my never-to-be-too-gratefully-remembered Patron," &c. But what the idiom of one language employs as a word of one syllable, may require two or more separate words in that of another. The French monosyllabic word chez, for instance, cannot be rendered by any single English word; but we translate chez moi, by the phrase at my house. On the other hand, we use the monosyllabic word home adverbially, where the Germans say nach hause, as in the phrase nach hause gehen (literally, to go to the house). Now, in London, "to go to the House" is understood, among the higher classes at least, to mean going to the House of Lords, or the House of Commons. Hence a German nobleman returning from an evening visit in London, and ordering his coachman to drive “to the house" (meaning home), was surprised to find himself conveyed to one of the Houses of Parlia ment. 74. As to signification, it often happens, that where a word of a certain meaning in an original language is thence derived to two or more other tongues, it receives, in the latter, idiomatic differences of signification which differ from, or are wholly irreconcilable with, each other. Take, for instance, our word fatigue and the French word fâcher. They are alike derived from the Latin fatigare; whence also come our word fag (which Mr. HALLIWELL calls a schoolboy's term), and the Italian facchino and French faquin, a labouring porter. The original, fatigare, in its primary classical sense, is defined "ad lassitudinem deducere,' "to weary out;" as Veloces jaculo cervos cursuque fatigat. Virgil, En. v. 253. English idiom. But in the lower Latin, fatigare appears to have been Quo pacto Rhodium tetigerim in convivio, Terent. Eun. iii. 1, 30. Did I ne'er tell you how I touch'd the Rhodian Once at a feast? 66 Donatus, in the language of the fourth century, explains Terence's word tetigerim, by luserim, fatigaverim. Fatigare in this sense, was corrupted to fascher, and thence to fâcher; but, in the course of time, it was applied to various kinds of vexation. The amusing comedy of Les Facheux, by Molière, is founded on the annoyance caused by persons forcing themselves upon one's time and company in the manner so well described by Horace, in his "Ibam forte viâ sacrà," and so coarsely imitated by Donne, in his fourth satire. Molière, however, has expanded the original conception into a lively sketch of no less than ten characters, by whom, in different ways, his hero, Eraste, is annoyed. In the medieval Latin fatigare is explained " vexare, præsertim de litigatorum vexationibus," to annoy, spoken particularly of the annoyances of litigators. The word fash, though unknown to idiomatic English, has been borrowed in the Scottish dialect, from the French, and is used as an active verb, signifying to trouble the body or mind, or to molest generally; or, as a neuter, to take trouble, to be weary of, or to intermeddle so as to subject one's self to trouble; and a fashous person is, like the fâcheux of Molière, one who causes trouble and annoyance to others. Take again a word which in the French idiom is not merely different from the English in signification, but directly opposite to it, although of the same form and origin. The word concurrent comes in both cases from the Latin con and currere "to run together." But persons may run together in opposition, or side by side. So in Latin, concurrere is used in both senses : 1. Abnueram bello Italiam concurrere Teucris. I would forbid Italia to oppose In war the Trojans. Virgil, En. x. 8. 2. Concurrunt multæ opiniones quæ mihi animum exangeant, Locus, occasio, ætas, &c. Terent. Heaut. act ii. sc. 2, v. 3. Many circumstances concur to strengthen my opinion, The place, the occasion, her age, &c. 66 Now a concurrent, is in the French idiom, a competitor;" whilst in English the adjective concurrent is explained "acting in conjunction, conjoined, associate." 75. With respect to the effect of words in marking idiomatic accuracy, Effect. great stress has always been laid on the proper use of the words called Synonyms. Words of this class accordingly attracted the attention of the early Glossologists. AMMONIUS, a Greek Grammarian, of the fourth century, wrote a treatise, still extant, entitled " Περὶ ὁμοίων |