504 . Comments on Mafon’s Supplement to Fobnfon’ s DiGionary. [July r, 
. Bafoful then means primarily apt zo 
fioop, and metaphorically, timid, eafily 
daunted, in which fenfe it is very com- 
mon: but ba/fblefs, fignifying primarily 
not apt to ftoop, unbending, defcribes the 
mien and gefture, not of impudence, but 
of haughtinefs. pa 
' . Mr. Mafon’s definition apparently re- 
fults from the erroneovs fuppofition that 
the fubftantive fyllable ba/> méant at firft 
not a dow, but a diufh. 
Beau-monde.—To record fuch words, 
if they have been ufed by Englith writers, 
may be neceffary; but it characterizes a 
nation not yet grown up to refinement, 
and unaccuitomed to take the lead in man- 
ners, thus to borrow abroad the techni- 
cal terms of fafhion. We begin to eng- 
Jith belles letires oy je literature, why 
mot beau monde by fine world? 
Beau-pere.—Beau-pere fignifiesin French 
a father.in-law: in the paflage adduced 
from Spenfer, vo fuch word occurs at all: 
beau is there an adjective, and pere is the 
old Englith peer, or pheere, a companion. 
Bebleed-—In ail the Gothic dialeéts 
verbs can be formsd from fubftantives, 
by prefixing the fyllable Je. | ‘Thus 
from the Anglo-Saxon hyd hide, bebydan 
to flay; Danith uxder wonder, at beundre, 
to admire; Freifith claga acculation, 6bi- 
claga to inci&; Dutch fpek bacon, be- 
fpekken to lard; German fiigel a wing ; 
befliigeln to furnith with wings, &c. As 
thefe verbs are all a€tive, the fyllable be 
implies, no doubt, fome neceffarily tran- 
fitive exertion. It feems to be an old im- 
perative or infinitive, fignifying, perhaps, 
' to drive fiakes. At leaft the Anglo- 
Saxon byaz to own, to poflefs; Danith at 
boe to caule to dwell, to place; German 
bauen to build, to plow; Lfelandic bui 
colonift ; and Englith dy clofe to, near to; 
might all be untwifted into fome fuch ftaple 
idea as fiaking out a hut. 
Johnfon’s Dictionary contains few lefs 
than a hundred Englith verbs forrned by 
this far-fpreading analogy; as to bedew, 
beduft, bedwarf, to befool, befriend, be- 
Sringe, to begreafe, begrime, beguile, to 
behead, &c. Nor is the ufe of this for- 
mative fyllable at all obfolete; Pope em- 
ploys fatire to befool and beknwave us, and 
the winds to éecloud and befform 
us. 
Still it remains queftionable, whether 
the preterite betled, uled by Fairfax, or 
the infinitive thence, inferred by Mr. 
Maton, zo debleed, can confiftently be re- 
ceived into the Englifh language. Al- 
though verbs aétive may be formed at 
plealure from fubfantives, by means of 
the prefix de, it does not follow'that they 
can be fo formed from other verbs. To 
beblood, although unauthorized, is, per- 
haps, legitimate Englith; to bebleed, al- 
though authorized, illegitimate; at leaft 
in the fenfe here intended, to caver with - 
blood. —‘* A neighbour of mine lets his 
arms to young furgeons, who are learning 
to bleed, at halt-a-crown the wound; 
they are a fry of leeches, they bebleed him 
moft unmercifully.”—In this inftance, 
every one, I prefume, underftands the 
word at once; and feels, by that truft- 
worthy inftin& of the ear, to anglyfe whofe - 
rules of decifion conftitutes the fcience of 
grammar, that it is ufed conformably to 
the practice of converfation. This has 
its reafon. Suppofe, for a moment, the 
‘infinitive active to bleed ufed as a fubftan- 
tive; what would it mean? Undoubtedly 
a blocd-letting ; as, to bleed is \efs in 
fafhion among medical men than it was 
formerly. Now as the proper’ office of 
the formative fyllable de is to convert fub- 
fiantives into verbs; verbs, in crder to 
become compoundable with it, muft make 
themfelves {ubfantives, and carry with 
them into the new combination, the fenfe, 
which, as fub‘tantives, they acquire.— — 
Thus to bebleed is to cover with blood- 
lettings. From the verb to guaw would 
derive the fubftantive a@ gnaw, a com- 
preflure of the teeth; and thence to be- 
gnaw, to cover with compreflures of the 
teeth. From the verb to /primkle would 
derive a fprinkle, a drop of {cattered 
water; and thence fo befprinkle, to 
cover with drops of {cattered water: and 
fo on. ‘ a 
Some verbs of this fort, although con- 
-venient, eupbonious and well-authorized, | 
are juftly obfolefcent, from the latent per- 
ception that they have not been formed 
analogically: fuch .are Shakefpeare’s to 
Lemad, Mailton’s to bemeil, and Dryden's 
to belay. Shes 
BenefaGrice. —Why introduce this ano- 
maly? Is not benefadirefs familiar as well 
as grammatical Englifh? It would be bet-_ 
ter to fuperfede heroime, dutchefs, execu- 
trix, &c. by beroefs, dukefs, executrefs, 
&c. than to increafe the monftrous variety 
of our fexual terminations. 
Befayle.—Befayle being derived from 
the French d:/ayeul, great-grandfatner, 
furely the lawyers would do well to write 
bifayl, if they muft tolerate fo antique an 
exprefion. In its prefent form it too 
nearly refembles another word. , ‘¢ Thefe 
new contractors befail the fleet with rotten 
canvas.”” 
Bewiichful.~-Although coined by Mil- 
I ton 
