that piece of money, so highly favoured, and so long in circulation, first received its name in this country.

HOCUS-POCUS.

"With a sleight

Convey men's interest, and right,
From Stiles's pocket into Nokes's

As easily as hocus pocus."-Hudibras, Part iii. c. iii. 1. 713.

Archbishop Tillotson tells us, that "in all probability these common juggling words of hocus-pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus, by way of ridiculous imitation of the priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of Transubstantiation."

HOST.

This term, used in the Roman Catholic Church, is derived from the Latin word Hostia, meaning a victim. It is a consecrated wafer, of a circular form, composed of flour and water.

HAGGIS.

The savoury Scotch haggis (from hag to chop) is a dish commonly made in a sheep's maw, of its lungs, heart, and liver, mixed with suet, onions, salt, and pepper; or of toasted oatmeal mixed with the latter, without any animal food.

HAVERSACK.

Cobbett says, "A soldier's haversack means a thing to put havings into. It is made up of two French words, avoir and sac. Avoir means, to have; when used as a noun, it means property, goods, things possessed, or havings; and when a soldier has once got any thing into this sack, be it lamb, or fowl, or goose, the having is very safe, I can assure you!"

HONOUR.

Honour's but a word

To swear by only in a lord,
In other men 'tis but a huff,

To vapour with instead of proof,
That like a wen, looks big and swells,
Is senseless, and just nothing else."

HONESTY.

The term honesty is derived from Honestus, a Grecian slave whose integrity was such, that although liberty, and an immensity

of gold awaited him, would he but betray a secret he possessed, refused so to do, alleging that liberty and gold were of little value to him who had lost self-esteem.

Honesty, however, is a very different matter now:

"O monstrous world!

Take note, take note, O world!

To be direct and honest, is not safe."-Othello.

HOB AND NOB.

This phrase, according to Grose, "originated in the days of good Queen Bess. When great chimneys were in fashion, there was at each corner of the hearth or grate, a small elevated projection, called hob, and behind it a seat. In winter-time the beer was placed on the hob to warm, and the cold beer was set on a small table, said to have been called the nob: so that the question, Will you have hob or nob? seems only to have meant, Will you have warm or cold beer? i.e., beer from the hob, or beer from the nob." But Nares in his Glossary, s. v. Habbe or Nabbe, with much greater reason, shows that hob or nob, now only used convivially to ask a person whether he will have a glass of wine or not, is most evidently a corruption of the old hab-nab, from the Saxon habban, to have, and nabban, not to have.

HUSTING.

The term Husting or Hustings, as applied to the scaffold erected at elections, from which candidates address the electors, is derived from the Court of Hustings, of Saxon origin, and the most ancient in the kingdom. Its name is a compound of hus and ding, the former implying a house, and the latter a thing, cause, suit, or plea; whereby it is manifest that Husding imports a house or hall, wherein causes are heard and determined; which is further evinced by the Saxon dingere or thingere, an advocate or lawyer.

HERMAPHRODITE.

This term, as applied to one partaking of the nature of the two sexes, is derived from Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Venus. The nymph Salmacis fell in love with him, and begged of the gods that their bodies might be always united, and make but one.

HAMMOCK.

The natives of Brazil used to sleep in nets composed of the rind of the Hamack Tree, suspended between poles fixed tight in the ground. Hence the Sailor's Hammock derived its name.

HURLY-BURLY.

Hurly-burly is said to owe its origin to Hurleigh and Burleigh, two neighbouring families, that filled the country around them with contest and violence.

JUSTICE.

This word is derived from Justitia, an heathen godess. She is represented by the figure of a young virgin, holding in one hand a balance, in the other a naked sword, and blindfold, to show that Justice must be without distinction of persons. She was also, says Heathen Mythology, called Themis.

JANIZARY.

As the Mamelukes are the militia of the Egyptian Pachas, so the Janizaries are the militia of the more immediate empire of Turkey; and although the Sultans of the Turks are more powerful than the Pachas, yet the Janizaries have ever exercised over them a great control.

Another writer says, the recent insurrection and subsequent suppression of the corps of Janizaries, whose name hereafter is by proclamation devoted to execration in the Turkish dominion, had their rise in the time of Amurath I., who made a successful irruption into the provinces on the Danube, and he was there advised to incorporate the body of his youthful captives into his army, instead of looking for new recruits to the original seat of his tribe. The advice was followed, says Gibbon, the edict was proclaimed, many thousands of the European captives were educated in religion and arms, and the militia was consecrated, and named by a celebrated dervish. Standing in front of their ranks, he stretched the sleeve of his gown over the head of the foremost soldier, and his blessing was delivered in these words: "Let them be called Janizaries (Yeniaskeri, or new soldiers); may their countenance be ever light; their hand victorious; their sword keen. May their spears always hang over the heads of their enemies, and wheresoever they go may they return with a white face." Such, adds the historian, was the origin of those haughty troops; the terror of the nation, and sometimes of the Sultans themselves. For 200 years, namely, from the end of the 14th to that of the 16th century, the force thus obtained by incorporating in the Mussulman army the fifth of Christian captive youths, and the tenth of the youths of the conquered villages, with the slaves of the Sultan, composed the flower of the Turkish armies; and so long as the first Sultans ruled their nation from the heart of their camps, and declared their decrees from the Imperial Stirrup, their obedience was secur d, and there never

was a fitter instrument of war and conquests. In the year 1826, the late Sultan on the occasion of a mutiny dissolved the whole corps, after a bloody struggle in his capital, in which 20,000 were said to have perished, but that number is now thought to be exaggerated.

KLOCKE, i. e., CLOCK, OR BELL.

Baron Holberg says, he was in company of men of letters, when several conjectures were offered concerning the origin of the word campana, a klocke (i. e., bell) in the northern tongues. On his return home, he consulted several writers. Some, he says, think the word klocke to be of the northern etymology; these words, ut cloca habeatur in ecclesia, occurring in the most ancient histories of the north. It appears from hence, that in the infancy of Christianity the word cloca was used in the north instead of campana. Certain French writers derive the word cloca from cloche, and this again from clocher, i. e., to limp; for, say they, as a person who limps falls from one side to the other, so do klockes (bells) when rung. Some have recourse to the Latin word clangor, others to the Greek naλew, I call; some even deduce it from the word cochlea, a snail, from the resemblance of its shell to a bell. As to the Latin word campana, it was first used in Italy, at Nola, in Campania; and it appears that the greater bells only were called campana, and the lesser nola.

The invention of them is generally attributed to bishop Paulinus, but this certainly must be understood only of the religious use of them; it being plain, from Roman writers, that they had the like machines, called tintinnabula.

KEEL.

This term, as applied to vessels, is derived from ceol, a term for ships among the Anglo-Saxons. Another writer says, we fetch the origin of the word keel from the keles of the Greeks, and the celox of the Romans; a small swift-sailing vessel.

LACK-A-DAISY.

In Todd's Johnson it is explained as "a frequent colloquial term implying alas; most probably from the forgotten verb lack, to blame. The expression, therefore, may be considered as blaming, finding fault with, the day on which the event mentioned happened."

LADY.

It was formerly the custom in those families whom God had blessed with affluence, to live constantly at their mansion-house in the country, and that once a week, or oftener, the Lady of the manor distributed to her poor neighbours, with her own hands,

a certain quantity of bread, and she was called by them the leff-day, i. e., in Saxon, the bread-giver. These two words were in time corrupted, and the meaning is now as little known as the practice which gave rise to it; yet it is from that hospitable custom, that to this day the ladies, in this kingdom alone, serve the meat at their own tables.

LAMB'S WOOL.

This constant ingredient of a merry-making on Holy Eve, especially in Ireland, and which is a preparation of roasted apples and ale, is thus etymologized by Vallancy: "The first day of November was dedicated to the angel presiding over fruits and seeds, &c., and was therefore named La Mas Ubhal, i. e., the day of apple fruit, and being pronounced lamasool, the English have corrupted the name to lamb's wool.

LIBRARY.

Library is derived from liber, which signifies the inner bark of trees, of which the Egyptians made their records. The oldest public library of antiquity of which we have any credible account, is that founded by Pisistratus at Athens; which was carried by Xerxes into Persia, and recovered by Seleucus Nicanor.

LITERATI.

The word which now confers honour had at one time a very different signification. Among the Romans it is usual to affix some branding or ignominious letter on the criminal, when the crime was infamous in its nature; and persons so branded were called inscripti, or stigmatici, or by a more equivocal term, literati. The same expression is likewise adopted in stat. 4 Henry VIII., which recites "that diverse persons lettered had been more bold to commit mischievous deeds," &c.

LIVERYMEN.

Upon the demise of Canute, a witena gemote, or convention of wise men, was held at Oxford; where earl Leofric, and most of the Thanes on the north side of the river Thames, with the Lidymen of London, chose Harold king. Lidymen is, by the translator of the Saxon annals, rendered nautæ, i. e., mariners. This translation seems very inconsistent with the honour of the city, to choose one of its fraternities to represent it on so solemn an occasion; but as I take Lidymen (says Maitland) to mean Pilots, which the directors or governors of cities may not improperly be called, I am of opinion, that the city representatives at Oxford were the magistrates, and not the mariners of London. Be that as it will,