522 The Word 'to refigrC re-confidered. — Suhf.riprion-Libraries. [Jan. ]. 



Darieii Indians, or fome other American 

 tribes, he would fancy himfelf among his 

 coiintrvmen, whom painting, expoluie to 

 the I'ui,, &c , he might luppofe had exalt- 

 ed or deg. led to rheic prtfent tinge. I 

 lately convirled -ith an old Highlander, 

 who laid, that ih-- Indians fpeak the High- 

 land Ijnguagt. Some Highland words 

 were n)entioned i y him ; •*** one word 

 **•• I lecolleft, the void teine, which 

 in the Highland languaj.,', he laid, Ogni- 

 fies fire : now our Delaware Indians call 

 lire teriaay ; the refemblance in found is 

 certainly not fmall. The C^Xa have un- 

 doubtedly been very wideli fpread over 

 the globe : I '.pI;. ^ Sey exifttd in this 

 country, .i id i\.:.t their defcendants are 

 Ibme o: the prcleit tribes.* That Celtic 

 words fhoulv ')t found among the Ameri- 

 cans, when Celtic words are to be found 

 alraoft every where elfe, is not I think to 

 be wondered at." 



7i> the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



StK, 



WILL you permit me to ofFer a few 

 remarks on the ob)ei5\ions which 

 } are urged, in your Magazine for Septem- 

 ber lalF, againft a very common applica- 

 tion of the word refign? It is there con- 

 tended that this term ought not to be em- 

 ployed to denote fubmiflion to Providence 

 in adverfity. 



This is laid to be " a cant and techni. 

 cal ufe of the term, which fmells of the 

 conventicle, or rather ot themafs-houfe." 

 Now, what is the original and proptr im- 

 port of this word ? To fign again, to 

 yield up, to transfer. Let common fenfe, 

 therefore, decide whether it is more cb. 

 jef^ionable to fay, •' I refign mylelf to 

 the will of God," than to fay, " I refign 

 my feat to you," or to employ the term 

 in any other ufual way. This relign^tion 

 of mind muft include and imply cuntent- 

 rtient with whatever lot Providence may 

 afllgn us, and patient acquiefcence if that 

 lot be adverle. Is there any reafon, then, 

 for reje'iing the ufe of the term in that 

 fenfe? On the contrary, is there not 

 lomtthing peculiarly appolite in the reli- 

 gious application of it ? The good man 

 regards life, realLn, and all his endow- 

 ments as ihe gifts of h:s Creator: yet he 

 does not wifli to keep the property which 

 he has received to be employed meiely at 



» Verv confiderahle fragments of the Cel- 

 tic dlalefls are (lill preferved in America, 

 particularly, if 1 do not miftake, an^ong the 



Ranticokes, and the Katalba or Ka'avvbas 



February 19, 1805. 



his own pleaftire, but is " defirous to re- 

 fign and render back" himfelf and all that 

 has been given him, to be difpofed of ac. 

 cording to the will of the donor : and it 

 is evident that this refigned difpofition of 

 mind mulf be p:iiiiciilarly called into exer- 

 cife in a flate of adverfity. This pious 

 ufe of the word in queftion, therefore, has 

 a clofe affinity with the original meanlBg 

 of if, and is equally appropriate and ex- 

 preflive. 



Your Correfpondent alio feems to con- 

 fider this fignification of the word as a no- 

 vel ar.d unauthorized mode of employing 

 it, which muft foon fall into difufe. — 

 " There are already (fays he) traces of it 

 in French books of devotion ;" and he 

 concludes his remarks by pronouncing it 

 to be " not likely to endure." But lure- 

 jy the faff is, that the word under conii- 

 deiation has been very long and generally 

 ufed in the fenfe which he condemns. In 

 iupport of this alTertion I appeal not 

 merely to works ot devotion, either French 

 or Englilh, but to books of every defcrip- 

 tipn, and tooralufage. And this accep- 

 tation of the word is fo thoroughly efla- 

 bliflied, that one may venture to affirm 

 that it will laft as long as the language 

 itfelf. 



The account which your Correfp ndent 

 gives refpefting the origin of the religious 

 application of the terin, is very conje6fu- 

 ral and improbable. This form of em- 

 ploying it appears to be perfeftly obvious 

 and natural; and when a plain, lational, 

 and fatisfaftory, account of the matter 

 lies fo nesr us, why warder fo far to fetch 

 an ambiguous explanation? TrebOR.' 



Worcefiefi November, 1805. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



BEING in the cuftom of vifiting Aber- 

 deen, in one of my laft touis I in- 

 quired 11 there were any antiquaiian or 

 literary fociety or fubfcription library 

 there, and W3S much furprifed at not 

 finding either the one or the other ; there 

 is, I am told, an Athenaeum, in which a 

 good number of newfpapers, and fome of 

 the molt relpeflable periodical publica- 

 tions, are taken in ; and in a room above 

 that a circulating-library. This laft I 

 know to be, and I prelume the Atherasum 

 is alfo, the propcity of two very refpeft*. 

 able booklellers there ; but the two unit- 

 ed by 110 means reach the utility of either 

 a literary i'lcicty or a fubfcription library, 

 in which the books, &c., are the property 

 of the members, and whole concerns, fuch 



as 



