sets of words have, in each case, either (a) very different meanings, or (b) different shades of meaning. There is no likeness of meaning in cadence and chance, except the common meaning of fall which belongs to the root from which they both spring. And the different shades of meaning between history and story, between regal and royal, between persecute and pursue, are also quite plainly marked, and are of the greatest use in composition.

44. Latin Triplets.-Still more remarkable is the fact that there are in our language words that have made three appearances one through Latin, one through Norman-French, and one through ordinary French. These seem to live quietly side by side in the language; and no one asks by what claim they are here. They are useful: that is enough. These triplets are— regal, royal, and real; legal, loyal, and leal; fidelity, faithfulness,1 and fealty. The adjective real we no longer possess in the sense of royal, but Chaucer uses it; and it still exists in the noun real-m. Leal is most used in Scotland, where it has a settled abode in the well-known phrase "the land o' the leal."

45. Greek Doublets.-The same double introduction, which we noticed in the case of Latin words, takes place in regard to Greek words. It seems to have been forgotten that our English forms of them had been already given us by St Augustine and the Church, and a newer form of each was reintroduced. The following are a few examples:

1 The word faith is a true French word with an English ending-the ending th. Hence it is a hybrid. The old French word was fei-from the Latin fidem; and the ending th was added to make it look more like truth, wealth, health, and other purely English words.

2 The accusative or objective case is given in all these words.

It may be remarked of the word fancy, that, in Shakespeare's time, it meant love or imagination

"Tell me, where is fancy bred,

Or in the heart, or in the head?"

It is now restricted to mean a lighter and less serious kind of imagination. Thus we say that Milton's 'Paradise Lost' is a work of imagination; but that Moore's 'Lalla Rookh' is a product of the poet's fancy.

46. Characteristics of the Two Elements of English.—If we keep our attention fixed on the two chief elements in our language the English element and the Latin element-the Teutonic and the Romance-we shall find some striking qualities manifest themselves. We have already said that whole sentences can be made containing only English words, while it is impossible to do this with Latin or other foreign words. Let us take two passages one from a daily newspaper, and the other from Shakespeare:

(i) "We find the functions of such an official defined in the Act. He is to be a legally qualified medical practitioner of skill and experience, to inspect and report periodically on the sanitary condition of town or district; to ascertain the existence of diseases, more especially epidemics increasing the rates of mortality, and to point out the existence of any nuisances or other local causes, which are likely to originate and maintain such diseases, and injuriously affect the health of the inhabitants of such town or district; to take cognisance of the existence of any contagious disease, and to point out the most efficacious means for the ventilation of chapels, schools, registered lodging-houses, and other public buildings."

In this passage, all the words in italics are either Latin or Greek. But, if the purely English words were left out, the sentence would fall into ruins-would become a mere rubbishheap of words. It is the small particles that give life and

motion to each sentence. They are the joints and hinges on which the whole sentence moves.-Let us now look at a passage from Shakespeare. It is from the speech of Macbeth, after he has made up his mind to murder Duncan :—

(ii) "Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,
She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed!-

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come! let me clutch thee!
-I have thee not; and yet I see thee still."

In this passage there is only one Latin (or French) word-the word mistress. If Shakespeare had used the word lady, the passage would have been entirely English.The passage from the newspaper deals with large generalisations; that from Shakespeare with individual acts and feelings-with things that come home "to the business and bosom" of man as man. Every master of the English language understands well the art of mingling the two elements-so as to obtain a fine effect; and none better than writers like Shakespeare, Milton, Gray, and Tennyson. Shakespeare makes Antony say of Cleopatra :

"Age cannot wither her; nor custom stale
Her infinite variety."

Here the French (or Latin) words custom and variety form a vivid contrast to the English verb stale, throw up its meaning and colour, and give it greater prominence.-Milton makes Eve say:

"I thither went

With inexperienc'd thought, and laid me down
On the green bank, to look into the clear

Smooth lake, that to me seem'd another sky."

Here the words inexperienced and clear give variety to the sameness of the English words.—Gray, in the Elegy, has this verse:—

"The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,

The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
The cock's shrill clarion or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed."

Here incense, clarion, and echoing give a vivid colouring to the plainer hues of the homely English phrases.-Tennyson, in the Lotos-Eaters, vi., writes:

"Dear is the memory of our wedded lives,

And dear the last embraces of our wives

And their warm tears: but all hath suffer'd change;

For surely now our household hearths are cold:

Our sons inherit us: our looks are strange :

And we should come like ghosts to trouble joy."

Most powerful is the introduction of the French words suffered change, inherit, strange, and trouble joy; for they give with painful force the contrast of the present state of desolation with the homely rest and happiness of the old abode, the love of the loving wives, the faithfulness of the stalwart sons.

47. English and other Doublets. We have already seen how, by the presentation of the same word at two different doors the door of Latin and the door of French-we are in possession of a considerable number of doublets. But this phenomenon is not limited to Latin and French-is not solely due to the contributions we receive from these languages. We find it also within English itself; and causes of the most different description bring about the same results. For various reasons, the English language is very rich in doublets. possesses nearly five hundred pairs of such words. The language is all the richer for having them, as it is thereby enabled to give fuller and clearer expression to the different shades and delicate varieties of meaning in the mind.

It

But five different

48. The sources of doublets are various. causes seem chiefly to have operated in producing them. They are due to differences of pronunciation; to differences in spelling; to contractions for convenience in daily speech; to differences in dialects; and to the fact that many of them come from different languages. Let us look at a few examples of each. At bottom, however, all these differences will be found to resolve themselves into differences of pronunciation. They are either differences in the pronunciation of the same word by

different tribes, or by men in different counties, who speak different dialects; or by men of different nations.

49. Differences in Pronunciation.-From this source we have parson and person (the parson being the person or representative of the Church); sop and soup; task and tax (the sk has here become ks); thread and thrid; ticket and etiquette; sauce and souse (to steep in brine); squall and squeal.

50. Differences in Spelling.-To and too are the same word -one being used as a preposition, the other as an adverb; of and off, from and fro, are only different spellings, which represent different functions or uses of the same word; onion and union are the same word. An union 1 comes from the Latin unus, one, and it meant a large single pearl-a unique jewel; the word was then applied to the plant, the head of which is of a pearl-shape.

51. Contractions.—Contraction has been a pretty fruitful source of doublets in English. A long word has a syllable or two cut off; or two or three are compressed into one. Thus example has become sample; alone appears also as lone; amend has been shortened into mend; defend has been cut down into fend (as in fender); manœuvre has been contracted into manure (both meaning originally to work with the hand); madam becomes 'm in yes 'm2; and presbyter has been squeezed down into priest.3 Other examples of contraction are: capital and cattle; chirurgeon (a worker with the hand) and surgeon; cholera and choler (from cholos, the Greek word for bile); disport and sport; estate and state; esquire and squire; Egyptian and

1 In Hamlet v. 2. 283, Shakespeare makes the King say

"The King shall drink to Hamlet's better breath;

And in the cup an union shall he throw."

2 Professor Max Müller gives this as the most remarkable instance of cutting down. The Latin mea domina became in French madame; in English ma'am; and, in the language of servants, 'm.

3 Milton says, in one of his sonnets

"New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large."

From the etymological point of view, the truth is just the other way about. Priest is old Presbyter writ small.