1801. ] 
this word: hence, in its adverbial form, : 
afcant, it means obliquely, as to look afcant. 
But in its other adverbial form, /caztly, the 
idea of deficiency prevails. 
When adverbs are formed from tub- 
ftantives, they cannot be employed as pre- 
politions. Walk ahead of us, not abead us. 
Come aboard of us. Ride abreaft of us. 
The prepofition muft be fupplied to com- 
plete the conftruétion. But when ad- 
verbs are formed from adjectives, or verbs, 
or participles, they can be ufed prepofi- 
.tionally ; becaufe they may agree with, 
or govern, a following fubftantive. The 
conftruétion of the phrafe is complete 
without any further interpofition. Above 
the ground, not above of the ground; be- 
caufe derived from the Anglo-Saxon verb 
bufan.  Acrofs the fireet, not acrofs of the 
Jireet; becaufe derived from the old par- 
ticiple ycrofed.  Amidft the crowd, not 
amidfi of the crowd ; becaufe derived from 
the {uperlative adjective midde/t. 
A/fcant, being a participle, belongs -to 
that clafs of adverbs which can be em- 
ployed as prepofitions ; it is therefore a 
legitimate word, whether.it be really au- 
thorized or no. 
Afiign.— The language of the law is 
at times anti-grammatical, as well as 
_- tautological, and offends the ghoft of 
Prifcian no Jefs than that of Quintilian, 
. The word affign is a notable imftance. 
From verbs, the perfonal fubftantive active 
is regularly formed by adding the fyllable 
er; and the perfonal fub{tantive paflive, by 
adding the fyllable ee. hus we fhould 
fay rightly afiguer for the perfon affign- 
ing, and affignee for the perfon affigned to, 
The fyliable er (whether originally Saxon 
or French) is become wholly Englith, and 
is annexable to all verbs ; but the fyllable 
ee {till retains its Norman foreignnefs, and 
is chiefly ufed by lawyers. © 
the verb afign in either. of thele fenfes, 
as if it were a perfonal fubftantive, is an 
awkward anomaly, excufable only becaufe 
affignee has acquired a cant fenfe, which 
renders a more general term alfo requifite. 
—See Barragouin, 
Aurij?.—Dr. Johnfon enquires, in the 
Gentleman’s Magazine, for the derivation 
of curmudzeon. He obtains the required 
information, and thus records, in his 
Dittionary, the obligation to an‘anony- 
mous letter-writer. 
*« Curmudgedn—(It is a vitious way 
of pronouncing c@ur méchant, Fr. An 
unknown correfpondent. )”’ 
Qne Afi publithes foon after an Ety- 
Voyage of the Wandering Knight. 
To employ: 
201 
mological Digtionary, and thus’ borrows 
the fame derivation. | 
<¢ Curmudgeon, from the French coeur, 
unknown, and méchant, a correfpon- 
dent.”” 
Yet, on the authority of this Afh, Mr. 
Maton receives the word auri/?. 
Aurora Borealis. —Why ave Latin words 
ever employed in writing, when there are 
equivalent Englith ones? Js it fympto- 
matic of good tafte in the Perfians to ad~ 
mire a Macaronic ftyle, and to interpolate 
their fentences with an Arabic gibberif, 
preferving its native inflections? One 
might fay, the boreal Aurora, or the boreal 
dawmn ; the poet.of the Seafons has faid the 
northern dawn. One hears among the peo- 
ple of the northern lights,and the north light. 
There feems, however, a diflinction be- 
tween thefe two expreffions. Does not 
the north light defignate that fettled lumi- 
noufnefs repofing on an arch of darknefs, 
which is feen near the feptentrional hori- 
zon; while in the northern lights is com~ 
prehended the whole afcending maf of 
flickering radiatien? , 
Authenticate. —To authenticate is avery 
common verb, omitted in Johnion, and 
omitted in this Supplement. 
( To be continued. )- 
— 
To the Editer of the Monthly Magazines 
SIR, : 
{| F your valuable correfpondent Mezrion, 
(p.24,) will take the trouble to revife 
his V/elfh manufcripts, he wil] probably 
‘confign them to a later period than the 
reign of Henry the Seventh. Jean de 
Caitheni, or Carthenay, the author of the 
{pirjtual romance of The Voyage of the 
wandering Kaight, -was prior of the Car- 
melites of Bruffels, and died at Cambray 
about 1580, one of his biographers naming 
this as the year of his death, whilft ano- 
ther mentions it as having haopened in 
158%. His work, in the French ianguage, 
was firft printed at Antwerp, 1557, 8vo. 
Tt was tranflated into Englifh by William 
Goodyeare, amerchant of Southampton, 
and twice printed in ato, without date, 
but about the year 1600. One of thefe 
impreffions is in my poffeffion, I think it 
‘is extremely probable that John Bunyan 
had read, and even made coufiderable ufe 
of this work in his Pilgrim’s Progrefs. 
F..D- 
February 18, 1801, 
Ppa To 
