Chapter 74

“_Ovid._ While slaves be false, fathers hard, and bawds be whorish.”

The roughness noticed by Theobald and Whalley, may be cured by a simple transposition:—

“While fathers hard, slaves false, and bawds be whorish.”

Act. iv. sc. 3—

“_Crisp._ O—oblatrant—furibund—fatuate—strenuous. O—conscious.”

It would form an interesting essay, or rather series of essays, in a periodical work, were all the attempts to ridicule new phrases brought together, the proportion observed of words ridiculed which have been adopted, and are now common, such as _strenuous_, _conscious_, &c., and a trial made how far any grounds can be detected, so that one might determine beforehand whether a word was invented under the conditions of assimilability to our language or not. Thus much is certain, that the ridiculers were as often wrong as right; and Shakespeare himself could not prevent the naturalisation of _accommodation_, _remuneration_, &c.; or Swift the gross abuse even of the word _idea_.

“Fall Of Sejanus.”