The Carrier-Pigeon, 137.
The Flying-Fish, 217.

The Banyan-Tree, 311.

Mooks; a class of the inhabitants of Western Africa, particularly of the States of Fez and Morocco. They are of Arabian origin, and strict Mahometans. Moor. The root of this word is the same as that of to meet. Moot-points are points to be mooted or debated ; dis'putable points.

MORE RICHER (p. 372). The double comparison, often used in Shakspeare's time, is now regarded as ungrammatical. MORE, SIR THOMAS, a celebrated chancellor of England, who succeeded Cardinal Wolsey as lord high chancellor in 1530, and filled the office three years with scrupulous integrity. For his conscien

tious refusal to take the oath of supremacy in favor of that brutal and bloody-minded king, Henry VIII., he was beheaded, July 6, 1535, at the age of fifty-five. He was the author of the celebrated political romance of "Utopia."

MOSES, the great legislator of the Hebrews,

was born in Egypt about 1600 B. C. The moral law, embraced in the ten commandments, as given to him from Mount Sinai, continues to find its response in the inmost conscience and highest convictions of the pure in heart. MOULT, to shed the feathers. MOUNTFORD, WM., Extract from, 367. MULTIFORM, having various forms. Multi, in Lat., is the plural of multus, many. MULTIFA'RIOUS, having great diversity. MUNDANE (Lat. mundus, the world), belonging to this world; earthly. MUNICIPAL, pertaining to a town, city or district; to a state or kingdom; municipality, the government of a city, or it may mean a district corresponding to a ward.

MURAT (Murah), Joachim, one of the brav

est of Napoleon's generals; b. in France in 1771. Raised to the throne of Naples in 1808, subsequent reverses placed him in the power of a court-martial, by whose order he was shot, Oct. 13, 1815. MUSES. In the Greek and Roman mythology, nymphs or inferior divinities, supposed to preside over literature, science and the liberal arts. Originally these were supposed to be only three: Memory, Meditation and Song. Their number was ultimately extended to nine. See Amuse.

MYSORE', a principality of South India, the Rajah of which is tributary to the British.

MYTHOLOGY (Gr. mutho3, fable, and logos, discourse). By the mythology of a people, we understand the collective body of its

traditions respecting its gods and other fabulous preternatural beings.

NAPOLEON. See Bonaparte. NATURALIST, one versed in the science of nature, or of the laws impressed on bodies or beings by divine power.

NEEDLE. The small pointed piece of steel, touched with a loadstone, used in the mariner's compass, is thus called. Mod ern science has explained the variation which surprised Columbus and his men. NEIGHBOR. The Saxon original simply means a boor, or countryman, living nigh; a nigh-boor.

NEPTUNE, in Roman mythology, the deity who presided over the sea.

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC, the greatest of English philosophers, was born in Lincolnshire, Dec. 25th, 1642; died 1727. His three great discoveries, of fluxions, the nature of light and colors, and the laws of gravi tation, were conceived before the com pletion of his twenty-fourth year. By witnessing the fall of an apple in his garden, he was led into a train of reflection, which resulted in his theory of gravitation. He was a sincere Christian, as well as a profound mathematician. Certain passages in the prophecies of the Bible led him to infer that men would one day be able to travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. Voltaire, the French scoffer, who did not believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures, sneered at Newton for this, as a credulous "old dotard." But who is the dotard now, when to travel fifty miles an hour on our railroads is a common achievement !

NICHT GUT. As nearly as the pronuncia tion of these words can be expressed in English, it is, neekht goot. See p. 181. NIEBUHR, BARTHOLD GEORGE, the historian of Rome, was born in Denmark, 1776; died 1830.

Perseverance under Failure, 369. NIEMEN (Nemen), a river of Russian Poland.

NIEPCI, a French artist, who preceded Da guerre in certain experiments, which were preliminary to the invention of the Da guerreotype. See p. 379.

NILE, a large river of Africa, which flows through Nubia and Egypt; supposed to rise in the Mountains of the Moon; but its source has not yet been fixed with certainty. The proverb, p. 65, Fling him into the Nile, &c., is meant to charac terize those brave spirits who even from adversity extract something good; who are never so baffled by misfortune as not to make it surrender something for their benefit, if not to the body, to the soul. NODE (Lat. nodus, a knot), in Astronomy, the point where the orbit of a planet in tersects the ecliptic.

NOR DID NOT. In English this use of a double negative is ungrammatical, except when an affirmative meaning is intended. In Shakspeare's time the rule was often unheeded.

NOT TO MYSELF AON, 118. NOVEMBER (from noem, aine), the eleventh month of the Julian year (so called from Julius Cæsar, who reformed the Calendar); but the ninth month in the old Roman year, which began with March.

OBLA'TION (Lat. oblatio, an offering) means, properly, an offering presented to the church.

OB'SOLETE, gone into misuse; neglected. OCTOBER (Lat. octo, eight), the eighth month

of the old Roman year; the tenth of ours. ODD. According to Trench, odd is properly owed; an "odd" glove, or an "odd" shoe, is one that is "owed" to another, or to which another is "owed" for the making of a pair just as we speak of a man being "singular," wanting, that is, his match. The plural form, odds, is often used to signify the excess of a thing, inequality, &c.

ODE. The Greeks called every lyrical poem

adapted to singing an ode. In the modern sense of the word, the ode is distinguished from the song by greater length and variety, and by not being necessarily adapted to music; and it is distinguished from the ballad by its admitting narrative, if at all, only as subsidiary to the expression of sentiment, or of imaginary thought. See Lyric.

Ode to Peace, 137.

Ode to the Passions, 402.

Ode on Cecilia's Day, 416. OMNIFA'RIOUS, of all varieties, forms, or kinds; omni being Latin for all. ONE-PENNIED, having only a penny. Words

are often compounded, by poetical license, which it would not be proper to use in prose.

OPAQUE (v-pak'), dark; not transparent. OPIE, AMELIA, On False Pride, 57. OPTICAL (Gr. op'tomai, I see), belonging to optics, which is that branch of physical science which treats of light and vision. ORATORIO, an Italian word, from the Lat. oratorium, a small chapel, which again is derived from orärë, to pray. A sacred musical composition, the subject of which is generally taken from Scripture. ORATOR. The Latin word os, the mouth (genitive, oris), whence orarë, to speak, is the root of this word, so that the literal meaning is, one who makes or utters a speech, 383.

JR BIT (Lat. orbis, a circle) is the path which any celestial body describes by its proper motion.

ORDER OF THE DAY (p. 136), in deliberative assemblies, the particular business previously assigned for the day. ORGANIC, pertaining to an organ or organs. In organic disease, the structure of an organ is morbidly altered; in functional disease, the secretions or functions only are altered.

DRION, one of the forty-eight ancient constellations mapped out by Ptolemy, the astronomer. It is situated in the southern hemisphere with respect to the ecliptic,

and contains seven stars, three of which form what is called the belt of Orvon. ORPHEUS, one of the old bards of the Greeks, who is fabled to have tamed the wildest animals by his lyre. There is a legend that his wife, Euryd'icë, having died, he followed her to the infernal abode of Pluto. and, by the charms of his music, won her back from the inexorable deity. An Orphean song is one that pleases like the strains of Orpheus.

OSCILLA'TION, a motion backward and forward, like that of a pendulum. OS'SIAN, the name of a supposed Scottish bard, who lived in the third century. His productions were first given to the world in an English version by James M'Pherson, in 1760, with the assurance that these were translations made by himself from ancient Erse manuscripts. There was a long controversy as to the genuine ness of these poems, which was finally settled by the decision of the Highland Society, in 1805, that they had not been able to obtain any one poem the same in title and tenor with the poems of Ossian. It is believed, however, that there was much traditional foundation for the poems as they now exist. For extracts, see pp 47, 48.

OVIEDO (o-ve-a'do), a city in the north-west of Spain, having a fine cathedral. OWL. The name of this dissonant night bird, according to Trench, has the same origin with "howl," differing from it only in the omission of the aspirate letter. OXFORD, a city of England, having a university founded or revived by King Alfred; which university consists of twenty colleges, each with separate students and teachers, but all united under one government. An Oxonian is one who studies at Oxford.

OXYDA'TION, the act of combining with oxy

PALADIN, a knight-errant, one who wan

dered about the earth to give proofs of his valor and gallantry. It is doubtful whether the word has a similar origin with palace, or whether it is from palus, a wooden spear or lance.

PALATINE. See Palace.

PALEY, WM., an eminent English divine, b. 1743, d. 1805; one of the clearest reasoners on the subject of religious evidences. PALLIATE. This word is derived from the Latin pallium, a cloak, and its original meaning is to cloak, to cover; though now to "palliate" our faults is not to hide them altogether, but to seek to diminish their guilt in part.

PALMY RA, a Syrian city, once called Tadmor (the city of palms), of which Palmy'ra is a Latin translation. It was situated in a valley in the midst of a beautiful palm-grove in the desert, and was adorned with magnificent palaces, of which the ruins still excite admiration. PA'LOS, a small town in Spain, from which Columbus sailed on his first voyage of discovery, and where there is a convent at which he once begged bread for his child.

PANAMA', an ancient seaport city of New Granada, S. America, on the gulf of the same name, which is an inlet of the Pacific ocean. It has been nearly Americanized, since the Californian emigration. Population, six thousand. PANEGYRIC (pan-e-gyr'ic), an harangue in praise of some person or persons. PANORAMA (Gr. pan, all, and orama, view), a picture in which all the objects of nature and art that are visible from a certain point are represented on the interior surface of a round or cylindrical wall. PAPUA, an extensive island separated southward by Torres Strait from the north point of Australia.

PARABLE (Gr. paraballo, I compare), a comparison; in Scripture, a short tale conveying some moral or religious truth. It differs from the fable in being taken from the province of reality.

PARADISE LOST, Extracts from, 348. See Milton.

PARADOX (Gr. para, against, doxa, opinion), any proposition contrary to received opinion, or at variance with common

sense.

PARALLELOGRAM, a plain four-sided figure, of which the opposite sides are parallel. PARAPHRASE (Gr. para, beside, or near to, phrazein, to speak), an exposition that holds the sense, but changes the words of the thing expounded; a free or altered translation.

PARASITE (Gr. para, beside, sitos, food),

one who takes food with another; hence, a flatterer, a fawner. Parasitical plants are those which feed on the juices of other plants or of trees. A parasitic animal is one that lives on some other body. PAREN'THESIS, Uses of the, 49, 54. PABIAN, pertaining to Paros, an island of the Grecian Archipelago, famous for its

white marble; whence parian may mean in poetry, white. A delicate species of white porcelain of modern manufacture is called Parian.

PARIS, the capital of France, the second city in Europe for population, and the fourth for extent.

PARK, SIR A., On Christianity, 313. PARLEY, to treat with by words; the French word parler means to speak. The prov erb (p. 66), Virtue that parleys, &c., imposes upon us the danger of treating with temptation for a moment. The only safety is in instant and final resistance. PARLIAMENT (păr/le-měnt), from the French parler, to speak. The name of the supreme legislative assembly of Great Britain and Ireland.

PARLOR. This word is also from the French parler, to speak; and originally meant the room out of which nuns used to speak through an iron grating.

PARNASSUS, in mythology, a mountain in ancient Greece, sacred to Apollo, the god of music and song, and to the Muses. From its side flowed the Castalian spring, the fancied source of inspiration to poets. PARR, THOMAS, an extraordinary instance of longevity, was born in England in 1483. He labored in the field after he was 130 years old. He died at the age of 152, through the change and dissipation attendant on going to the court of Charles I. PARTICULAR LADY, THE, 133. PASCAL, BLAISE, born in France 1623, died 1662. He was equally eminent as a geometrician, a writer, and a pious Chris

tian.

PATRICIANS (derived from patres, fathers) were the first order or nobility of the Roman people.

PECULATION, the embezzlement of public money or goods by a public officer. PEDAGOGUE; a Greek word, from pais, boy and agōgos, leader; originally, at Athens, the slave who went with a boy from home to school and back again; in modern usage, an inferior teacher of boys. PELISSE (pe-lees'), originally a furred robe now a silk habit for ladies. The word is from the Latin pellis, a skin. PELTING, in Shakspeare, paltry. PENAFLOR. The Spanish pronunciation of this word is Pa-nyah-flor'.

PENAL (from the same root as pain), enact ing punishment. PEND'ULOUS (Lat. pendeo, I hang), hang ing, or swinging in suspense. PERPETUITY, indefinite duration. PHENOMENON, a Greek word, the past participle of the verb phainein, to appear. In Natural Philosophy, the term is usually applied to those appearances of nature of which the cause is not immediately obvious. Remember that the plural of this word is phenomena: do not, as many blunderers do, use this as the singular

form.

PHILANTHROPY (Gr. phileo, I love, aud anthropos, a man), a general term for a benevolent feeling towards the whole hu

man race.

It is opposed to misanthropy

(misos, hate). PHILOLOGY (Gr. phileo, I love, and logos, speech), in its restricted sense, the knowledge and study of languages. PHILOSOPHY (Gr. phileo, I love, and sophia, wisdom), a general term, signifying the sum total of systematic human knowledge. The philosopher is distinguished from the sophist; the former is a seeker of wisdom, the latter presumptuously conceives himself to be in the possession of wisdom.

PHOTOGRAPHY (Gr. phōs, photos, light, grapho, I write, or I describe), the art by which daguerreotypes are procured. See p. 379.

PHRASE (Gr. phrasis, speech), a mode or form of speech; an expression, or combination of words.

PHYSIOLOGY (Gr. phusis, nature, and lego, I discourse), the science of things generated or alive; the doctrine of vital phe

nomena.

PIANO-FORTE (pe-ăn'o-for-te), a well-known

musical instrument, invented by Schroeder, a German, and introduced into England in 1766. The name is compounded of two Italian words, signifying soft and loud.

PICHEGRU (pronounced Pe-sh-gru), Charles, a French general, born 1761; arrested in 1804 for attempting the overthrow of the consular government, and soon afterwards found dead by strangulation in his bed. PILATE, PONTIUS, the Roman governor of Judæa in the time of our Saviour. He and his wife both endeavored to deliver Jesus from the Jews; and when the latter persisted in claiming his life, Pilate caused water to be brought, washed his hands before all the people, and publicly declared himself innocent of the blood of that just person. Yet, at the same time, be delivered Jesus up to the soldiers, that they might crucify him.

PILGRIMAGE, a long journey; properly a journey undertaken to some spot for devotional purposes. The Scholar's Pilgrimage (p. 61) is a playful allegorical description of the progress of the schoolboy, first through the small and capital letters of the alphabet, then through spelling, writing, ciphering, grammar, &c., in the direction of the Temple of Learning. PIL'LORY (Fr. pillier, a pillar), a wooden engine on which offenders were formerly exposed to public view and insult. PISTOLE (pistole'), a gold coin of Spain, worth about $3.60.

PIZARRO, FRANCIS, the conqueror of Peru, was born in 1475, at Truxilio, in Spain; was assassinated in 1541. See p. 417. PLACE DE LA CONCORDE, pronounced plas de la Cong-cor-d: the a as in father, the e as in her. A public square in Paris.

PLAINTIFF (from the Fr. plaintif, complaining), one who commences a law-suit. PLANGENT (plän'jent). The Latin word plangens means beating striking. It

has not yet been introduced into Eng lish.

PLA'TO, an illustrious Grecian philosopher who taught the immortality of the soul He was born 430 B. C.; died 347 B. C His system of philosophy is known as the Platonic. He was the disciple of Soc

rates.

PLEASAUNCE, an ancient form of the word pleasure.

PLE-BE IAN (Lat. plebs, the common people). The plebeians were the free citizens of Rome, not belonging to the patrician class.

PLOUGHMAN, THE, a poem, 265. PLUTARCH (Plu'tark), a Greek biographer, born A. D. 50, died about 120. Hig "Lives of Illustrious Men," though not scrupulously accurate, may always be read with profit.

POEMS, MISCELLANEOUS, 358. POETRY. The origin of the word is the Greek poieo, I make; so that poets are makers. Genuine poetry must ever be in accordance with the beautiful and the true. It has a natural alliance with our best affections; with our highest spiritual aspirations; and "through the brightness of its prophetic visions, helps faith to lay hold on the future life."

On Reading Poetry, 52. POICTIERS (the French pronunciation is, pwah-tee-a', the first a as in water; -on p. 100, Miss Lamb would seem to mean to have it pronounced as written). An ancient town of France. See Edward. POLICE (po-lees'). This word is from the Gr. polis, a city, and means the system for securing the health, order, &c., of a city or town; also a body of city officers. POPE, ALEXANDER, a celebrated Englisk poet, born in London in 1688, died 1744. He was deformed, and small in size. Ho is at the head of what many critics call the artificial school of poetry; but his great merits are likely to be recognized while the English language remains what it is.

Extracts from, 286, 309, 411.

Epistle to Arbuthnot, 435. PORSON, RICHARD, an eminent Greek sholar and critic, b. in England, 1759; d. 1808. Anecdote of, 86.

POR'TICO, a projection supported by columns placed before a building; also, a covered walk.

POST FIX, in grammar a letter, syllable, or word, added to the end of another word; a suffix. The word is compounded of the Latin post, after, and fixi, I have fixed. See prefix.

POST'HUMOUS (Lat. post, after, and humum, the ground, after interment, or burial), done, had, or published, after one's death. Pronounced, põst'humus.

P. M., the initial letters of the Latin words post meridiem, after noon.

P. S., the initial letters of the Latin words post scriptum, after written. A poet. script is something added to a letter alter it is signed by the writer.

POUNDS, Jons, Account of, 115. POVERTY, THE GODDESS of, p. 439. In this allegorical apostrophe, the author, resorting to the mythological license of the ancient poets, under which they deified the quality or attribute which they would exalt, has made Poverty a goddess, and told us how much the world has been indebted for its great deeds to the stimulus she imparts. There is much truth in the thought. Whatever may be the obstacles and privations of the poor man's son, he may be assured that they are less perilous to his successful fulfilment of the active purposes of life than the temptations to pleasure and inertness that beset on every side the youth brought up in afflu

ence.

PRACTICAL JOKES, Danger of, 77. PRAGUE (Prag), a city of Bohemia, on the river Moldau. It contains a fine Gothic cathedral, built in the middle of the fourteenth century; also a university, the oldest in Germany.

PRAIRIE (pra're), a French word; meaning, in the U. States, an extensive tract of land, mostly level, and destitute of trees, and covered with tall, coarse grass. PRAYER, EFFICACY OF, 318. PRECISIAN (pre-siz'yan), a person ceremoniously exact in the observance of rules. PREFIX, a letter, syllable, or word, put to the beginning of a word, usually to vary its signification, as un, not, in unseen, not seen; ex, out, in exclude, to shut out; mis, ill, wrong, as misconduct, ill conduct; inter, between, as interpose, to place between. The English prefix pre is from the Latin præ, before. PREJUDICE. The original meaning is simply a judgment beforehand; but so apt are we to judge harshly and unfavorably before knowledge, that a prejudice is almost always taken to signify an unfavorable anticipation about one. PREROGATIVE (Lat. præe, before, and rogo, I ask), an exclusive, peculiar, or prior privilege. PRESCOTT, WM. HICKLING, a distinguished American historian, born in 1796.

Pizarro in Peru, by, 417. PREVENT (Lat. præe, before, and venio, I come), to come before, anticipate; now more generally used to signify to hinder. PRIESTLEY, JOSEPH, an eminent theologian and experimental philosopher, b. in England in 1733; died at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, in 1804. He was a friend of Dr. Franklin.

PROPERTY. The Latin root of this word is propě, near; whence property meaning a man's peculiar quality, possession, &c. PROVERB. The explanation of the word "proverb" (says Trench) I believe to lie here. One who uses it uses it pro (for) verbo (a word); he employs, for and instead of his own individual word, this more general word, which is every man's Proverbs of all Nations, 64.

From Proverbs of Solomon, 443. I BALMIST. The word psalm is from the Greek psallo, I twang or sing. The title of "the psalmist," and "the sweet psalmist of Israel," is applied to King David. Pronounced sam'ist (the a as in father), or sal'mist.

PUFFERS, THE, by Macaulay, 162. PUNCTUATION, Derivation of, &c., 49. PURITAN, the name by which the dissent. ers from the Church of England, about the year 1564, began to be known. The term was assumed, as the word implies, from the superior purity of doctrine and dis cipline which they claimed.

PYRAMID. The etymology of this word 18 undecided. Some derive it from the Gr. pur, fire, because of the resemblance of the form to a spire of flame; others derive it from Egyptian and Greek roots combined.

PY-THAG-O-RE'AN. So the word is accented by Walker; but Webster makes it Pyth a-go're-an. The followers of Pythago ras, a Greek philosopher, born B. C. 570, were thus called. The doctrine of me tem'psychosis, or the transmigration of souls through different orders of anima. existence, was held by them.

QUAINT. This word is believed to be derived

from the Lat. comptus, decked, dressed. QUALITY (from the Latin qualis, of what In common use it means, odd, fanciful. sort?), anything pertaining or belonging to a thing; property, disposition, temper, rank.

QUANTITY OF Words, p. 25.

QUARRY, the game which a hawk or eagle is pursuing or has killed; thought to be derived from the Lat quæro, I seek. The word also means a mine or pit.

QUAR'TAN (Lat. quartanus, the fourth). occurring every fourth day, as a quartan ague or fever.

QUARTERLY REVIEW, LONDON, On Educa tion, 184. On Shakspeare, 311. On Milton, 146.

Extent of the Universe, 404.

not derived from another. PRISONER AND RATS, THE, 59. FROBLEM (from the Gr. proballo, I throw or lay before), anything proposed; a question for solution. PRONUNCIATION (Lat. pro, before, and nuncius, a news-bearer, or announcer). The meaning of the word, in its modern use, is Ed to the act and mode of uttering or articulating syllables and words. See remarks on, p. 38.

(p. 237), is from to reek, like vapor or smoke; hence it simply means, a vapor, an exhalation.

RAD'ICAL, having reference to the root of a matter; a primitive word; an uprooting politician.

RA'DIUS, a Latin word, meaning a ray; in geometry the semi-diameter of a circle. RAFFAELLE (sometimes spelled Raphael) the most celebrated of Italian painters born 1483, died 1520.