BLOAT-BODKIN.

His sparkling sword about his head he bless'd,
And smote off quite his right leg by the knee.

It is twice blessed,

SPENSER.

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.

Bloat.

35

SHAKSPEARE, Merchant of Venice, iv. 1.

To smoke-dry; probably from blozen:

now, to puff up.

For herrings in the sea are large and full,

But shrink in bloating and together pull.-SYLVESTER. Boswell. Servile and impertinent, shallow and pedantic, bloated with family pride, yet stooping to be a tale-bearer, an eaves-dropper, a common butt in the taverns of London.

Yet the Life of Johnson' is assuredly a great-a very greatwork. Homer is not more decidedly the first of heroic poets, Shakspeare is not more decidedly the first of dramatic poets, Demosthenes is not more decidedly the first of orators, than Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second, he has distanced all his competitors so decidedly, that it is not worth while to place them. Eclipse is first, and the rest nowhere.-MACAULAY.

Bodkin. A sword, or dagger.

But on a time Brutus and Cassius
That ever had of his estat envie,
Full privilie had made conspiracie
Against this Julius in subtil wise:

And caste the place wherein he should die
With boydèkynes, as I shal you devise.-CHAUCER.

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin.-SHAKSPEARE, Hamlet, iii. 1.

He is, you must know, one of those familiar coxcombs who have observed some well-bred men with a good grace converse with women and say no fine things, but yet treat them with that sort of respect which flows from the heart and the understanding, but is exerted in no professions or compliments. This puppy to imitate this excellence takes upon him to try this

talent upon me, insomuch that he contradicts me upon all occasions, and one day told me that I lied! If I had struck him with my bodkin, and behaved myself like a man, since he won't treat me like a woman, I had, I think, served him right.— Spectator.

Boot. Formerly used for booty as well as profit ; plunder.

And every grass that groweth upon root,

She shall eke know to whom it mot do boot.

CHAUCER.

Others like soldiers armed in their stings
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds.

SHAKSPEARE, Henry V, i. 2.

He might have his mind and manners formed, and be instructed to-boot in several sciences.-LOCKE.

Borrow. Once a security for a loan, a pledge. The substantive is now obsolete.

And Love said, I trust thee without borrow, for I wol none.CHAUCER.

Like valiant champions advance forth thy standard, and assay whither your enemies decide and try the title of bataile by dint of sword. Advance, say; forward, my captains-now St. George to borrow! Let us forth.-HOLINSHED.

I pray God and St. Nycholas that was thy borrowe that hard vengeance come to thee.-Dives and Pauper.

The style of Bunyan is delightful to every reader, and invaluable as a study to every person who wishes to obtain a wide command over the English language. There is no book in our literature on which we would so readily stake the fame of the old unpolluted English language, no book which shows so well how rich that language is in its own proper wealth, and how little it has improved in all that it has borrowed.-MACAULAY.

Bottle. A loosely-tied bundle of hay. The expression is still used in some of the northern counties. Is that a cook of London, with meschance? Do him come forth, he knoweth his penance,

BRAG-BRAND.

For he shall tell a talé by my fay,

Altho' it be not worth a botel hay.

37

CHAUCER, The Manciple's Tale.

Titania. Or, say, sweet love, what thou desirest to eat. Bottom. Truly a peck of provender: I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks, I have a great desire to a bottle of hay good hay, sweet hay hath no fellow.-SHAKSPEARE, Midsummer Night's Dream, iv. I.

But I should wither in one day and pass

To a cock of hay, that am a bottle of grass.-FLETCHER.

Looking for a needle in a bottle of hay.-RAY's Proverbs.

Brag. Applied in the following instance to lambs, apparently in the sense of noisy.

The early sun came lively dancing out,
And the brag lambs ran wantoning about
That heaven and earth might seem

In triumph both to shout.-FLETCHER.

The motions of the mind of lovers are nowhere so well described as in the works of skilful writers for the stage. The scene between Fulvia and Curius in Johnson's Catiline is an excellent picture of the power of a lady over her lover. She plays with his affections, and as a man wishes to make a good figure with his mistress, upon her upbraiding him with want of spirit, he alludes to enterprises which he cannot reveal but with the hazard of his life. When he is worked thus far, with a little flattering of his gallantry and a desire to know more, he brags to her till his life is in her hands.-STEELE.

Brand. Formerly used for a sword, from the flash and glitter of the steel.

They looking back all the Eastern side beheld

Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,

Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate
With dreadful faces throng'd and fiery arms.

MILTON, Paradise Lost.

Napoleon. The kind of admiration which his name inspired even in free countries is a bad omen. The greatest crime against society, that of spoiling it of its rights and loading it with chains, still fails to move that deep abhorrence which is its due, and which if really felt would fix on the usurper a brand of indelible infamy. Regarding freedom as the chief interest of human nature, we look on men who have signalised themselves by their hostility to it with an indignation at once stern and sorrowful, which no glare of successful war can induce us to suppress.-W. E. CHANNING.

Brave. Showy, fine, ostentatious, in word or dress. Enter Tranio, bravely apparelled.--SHAKSPEARE, Taming of the Shrew, i. 2.

Grumio [To the Tailor]. Face not me: thou hast braved many men brave not me: I will neither be faced nor braved.Id. iv. 3.

They were all in goodly gilt armors, and brave purple cassocks upon them, spicke and span new.-NORTH.

Prince of Wales, afterwards George II. I told him that before his coming hither I and my children had constantly drunk his health by the name of young Hanover Brave,' which was the title Mr. Congreve had given him in a ballad.—Lady CowPER'S Diary.

There still remained in his party many acute intellects, many brave and honest hearts; the valour and energy of Cromwell, the discernment and eloquence of Vane, the humanity and moderation of Manchester, the stern integrity of Hale, and the ardent public spirit of Sidney. But in Hampden and Hampden alone were united all the qualities which at such a crisis were necessary to save the State.-MACAULAY.

Bray. To utter aloud; to break into clamour : now an ass only can bray.

Whiles the sad pang approaching she doth feel,

Brays out her latest breath, and up her eyes doth seal.

SPENSER.

As if nine or ten thousand men had bray'd out all their breath.-CHAPMAN.

A devotee is one of those who disparage religion by their indiscreet and unseasonable mention of virtue on all occasions. We have an eminent lady of this stamp who pretends to amusements very much above the rest of her sex. When she went to the famous Ass-race it was not, like other ladies, to hear those poor animals bray, or see fellows run half naked, but to pray heartily that nobody might be hurt in the crowd, and to see if the poor fellow's face that was distorted with grinning might any way be brought to itself again. Folly and vanity in this case is like vice in a clergyman, it does not only debase him, but it makes the inconsiderate part of the world think the worse of religion.-STEELE.

What signifies a lion's skin,

If it conceal an ass within?

If thou'rt a lion, prithee roar;

If ass, bray once, and stalk no more.

LLOYD'S Letters.

Breast. Once used for the voice and lungs.

Pray ye stay a little, let's hear him sing; he has a fine breast.--BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, Pilgrim, iii. 6.

Which said quiresters after their breasts are changed, &c.— STRYPE, Life of Archbishop Parker.

A man's breast giveth a great ornament to all these instruments.-HOBBY's Castilio, i. 3.

The Three Misses Dennett. Such figures no doubt gave rise to fables of the heathen mythology, and might be worshipp'd. They revive the ancient ideas of classic grace, life, and joy-each owes a double charm to her reflection of the other two it is the principle of harmony and proportion personified. Not to feel the force of their united charm, united yet divided, different and yet the same, is not to see the beauty of three red roses on a stalk, or of the mingled hues of the rainbow, or of the halcyon's breast reflected in the stream.-HAZLITT.