RACE, GENERATION, BREED.

Race, v. Family; generation, in Latin generatio from genero, and the Greek yevváw, to engender or beget, signifies the thing begotten; breed signifies that which is bred (v. To breed).

These terms are all employed in regard to a number of animate objects which have the same origin; the former is said only of human beings, the latter only of brutes: the term is employed in regard to the dead as well as the living; generation is employed only in regard to the living: hence we speak of the race of the Heraclidæ, the race of the Bourbons, the race of the Stuarts and the like; but the present generation, the whole generation, a worthless generation, and the like; Where races are thus numerous and thus combined, none but the chief of a clan is thus addressed by his name.' JOHNSON.

Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,
Now green in youth, now with'ring on the ground,
So generations in their course decay,

So flourish these when those are pass'd away. POPE.

Breed is said of those animals who are brought forth, and brought up in the same manner. Hence, we denominate some domestic animals as of a good breed, where particular care is taken not only as to the animals from which they come, but also of those which are brought forth;

Nor last forget thy faithful dogs, but feed
With fatt'ning whey the mastiff's gen'rous breed.
DRYDEN.

TO BREED, ENGENDER. Breed, in Saxon breetan, is probably connected with braten to roast, being an operation principally performed by fire or heat; engender, compounded of en and gender, from genitus participle of gigno, signifies to lay or communicate the seeds for production.

These terms are figuratively employed for the act of procreation.

To breed is to bring into existence by a slow operation: to engender is to be the author or prime cause of existence. So in the metaphorical sense, frequent quarrels are apt to breed hatred and animosity the levelling and inconsistent conduct of the higher classes in the present age serves to engender a spirit of insubordination and assumption in the inferior order.

LAND, COUNTRY.

Land, in German land, &c. from lean and line, signifies an open, even space, and refers strictly to the earth; country, in French contrée, from con and terra, signifies lands adjoining so as to form one portion. The term land, therefore, properly excludes the idea of habitation; the term country excludes that of the earth, or the parts of which it is composed: hence we speak of the land, as rich or poor, according to what it yields of a country, as rich or poor, according to what its inhabitants possess: so, in like manner, we say, the land is ploughed or prepared for receiving the grain: but the country is cultivated; the country is under a good government; or, a man's country is dear to him. In an extended application, however, these words may be put for one another: the word land may sometimes be put for any portion of land that is under a government, as the land of liberty; 'You are still in the land of the living, and have all the means that can be desired, whereby to prevent your falling into condemnation.' BEVERIDGE. Country may be put for the soil, as a rich country; We love our country as the seat of religion liberty, and laws.' BLAIR.

NEIGHBOURHOOD, VICINITY.

Neighbourhood, from nigh, signifies the place which is nigh, that is nigh to one's habitation; vicinity, from vicus a village, signifies the place which does not exceed in distance the extent of a village.

Neighbourhood, which is of Saxon origin, and first admitted into our language, is employed in reference to the inhabitants, or in regard to inhabited places; that is, it signifies either a community of neighbours, or the place they occupy: but vicinity, which in Latin bears the same acceptation as neighbourhood, is employed in English for the place in general, that is, near to the person speaking, whether inhabited or otherwise; hence the propriety of saying, a populous neighbourhood, a quiet neighbourhood, a respectable neighbourhood, and a pleasant neighbourhood, either as it respects the people or the country; to live in the vicinity of a manufactory, to be in the vicinity of the metropolis or of the sea; Though the soul be not actually debauched, yet it is something to be in the

neighbourhood of destruction. SOUTH. The Dutch, by the vicinity of their settlements to the coast of Caraccas, gradually engrossed the greatest part of the cocoa trade.' ROBERTSON.

DISTRICT, REGION, TRACT, QUARTER.

District, in Latin districtus, from distringo to bind separately, signifies a certain part marked off specifically; region, in Latin regio from rego to rule, signifies a portion that is within rule; tract, in Latin tractus, from traho to draw, signifies a part drawn out; quarter signifies literally a fourth part.

These terms are all applied to country; the former two comprehending divisions marked out on political grounds: the latter a geographical or an indefinite division: district is smaller than a region; the former refers only to part of a country, the latter frequently applies to a whole country: a quarter is indefinite, and may be applied either to a quarter of the world or a particular neighbourhood: a tract is the smallest portion of all, and comprehends frequently no more than what may fall within the compass of the eye. We consider a district only with relation to government: every magistrate acts within a certain district; The very inequality of representation, which is so foolishly complained of, is perhaps the very thing which prevents us from thinking or acting as members for districts. BURKE. We speak of a region when considering the circumstances of climate, or the natural properties which distinguish different parts of the earth, as the regions of heat and cold;

a thing so deep that it may not totter; it is merely in the moral sense that they are here considered, as the verb to ground with this signification is never used otherwise. Found is applied to outward circumstances; ground to what passes inwardly: a man founds his charge against another upon certain facts that are come to his knowledge; he grounds his belief upon the most substantial evidence: a man should be cautious not to make any accusations which are not well founded; nor to indulge any expectations which are not well grounded: monarchs commonly found their claims to a throne upon the right of primogeniture; The only sure principles we can lay down for regulating our conduct must be founded on the Christian religion.' BLAIR. Christians ground their hopes of immortality on the word of God; I know there are persons who look upon these wonders of art (in ancient history) as fabulous; but I cannot find any ground for such a suspicion.' ADDISON.

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To found and ground are said of things which demand the full exercise of the mental powers; to rest is an action of less importance: whatever is founded requires and has the utmost support; whatever is rested is more by the will of the individual: a man founds his reasoning upon some unequivocal fact; he rests his assertion upon mere heresay; distinction must rest upon a steady adherence to rational religion, when the multitude are deviating

Our

into licentious and criminal conduct.' BLAIR. The words found, ground, and rest, have always an immediate reference to the thing that supports; to build has an especial reference to that which is supported, to the superstructure that is raised: we should not say that a person founds an hypothesis, without adding something, as observations, experiments, and the like, upon which it was founded; but we may speak of his simply building systems, supposing them to be the mere fruit of his distempered imagination; or we may say that a system of astronomy has been built upon the discovery of Copernicus respecting the motion of the earth; They who from a mistaken zeal for the honour of Divine revelation, either deny the existence, or vilify the authority of natural religion, are not aware, that by disallowing the sense of obligation, they undermine the foundation on which revelation builds its power of commanding the heart." BLAIR.

FOUNDATION, GROUND, BASIS.

Foundation and ground derive their meaning and application from the preceding article: a report is said to be without any foundation, which has taken its rise in mere conjecture, or in some arbitrary cause independent of all fact; If the foundation of an high name be virtue and service, all that is offered against it is but rumour, which is too short-lived to stand up in competition with glory, which is everlasting." STEELE. A man's suspicion is said to be without ground, which is not supported by the shadow of

external evidence: unfounded clamors are frequently raised against the measures of government; groundless jealousies frequently arise between families, to disturb the harmony of their intercourse; Every subject of the British government has good grounds for loving and respecting his country.' BLAIR. Foundation and basis may be compared with each other, either in the proper or the improper signification: both foundation and basis are the lowest parts of any structure; but the former lies under ground,

the latter stands above: the foundation supports some large and artificially erected pile; the basis supports a simple pillar: hence we speak of the foundation of St. Paul's, and the base or basis of the monument: this distinction is likewise preserved in the moral application of the terms: disputes have too often their foundation in frivolous circumstances; treaties have commonly their basis in acknowledged general principle; with governments that are at war pacific negotiations may be commenced on the basis of the uti possidetis; It is certain that the basis of all lasting reputation is laid in moral worth.' BLAIR.

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TO BUILD, ERECT, CONSTRUCT. Build, in Saxon bytlian, French batir, German bauen, Gothic boa, bua, bygga, to erect houses, from the Hebrew n'a a habitation; erect, in French eriger, Latin erectus, participle of erigo, compounded of e and rego, comes from the Greek péx to stretch or extend, signifies literally to carry upward; construct, in Latin constructus, participle of construo, compounded of con together, and struo to put, in Greek Spavviu to strow, in Hebrew 7 to dispose or put in order, signifies to form together into a mass.

The word build by distinction expresses the purpose of the action; erect indicates the mode of the action; construct indicates contrivance in the action.

What is built is employed for the purpose of receiving, retaining, or confining. What is erected is placed in an elevated situation; what is constructed is put together with ingenuity.

All that is built may be said to be erected or constructed; but all that is erected or constructed is not said to be built; likewise what is erected is mostly constructed, though not vice versa. We build from necessity; we erect for ornament; we construct for utility and convenience. Houses are built, monuments erected, machines are constructed; Montesquieu wittily observes, that by building professed madhouses, men tacitly insinuate that all who are out of their senses are to be found only in those places.' WARTON. It is as rational to live in caves till our own hands have erected a palace, as to reject all knowledge of architecture which our understandings will not supply.' JOHNSON. From the raft or canoe, which first served to carry a savage over the river, to the construction of a vessel capable of conveying a numerous crew with safety to a distant coast, the progress in improvement is immense.' ROBERTSON,

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EDIFICE, STRUCTURE, FABRIC.

Edifice, in Latin ædificium, from ædifico or ædes house made; structure, from the Latin structura and facio, to make a house, signifies properly the and struo to raise, signifies the raising a thing, or the thing raised; fabric, from the Latin fabrico, signifies the fabricating or the thing fabricated.

Edifice in its proper sense is always applied to a building; structure and fabric are either employed as abstract actions, or the results and fruits of actions: in the former case they are applied to many objects besides buildings; structure referring to the act of framing or contriving. raising or setting up together; fabric to that of

As the edifice bespeaks the thing itself, it requires no modification, since it conveys of itself the idea of something superior; The levellers only pervert the natural order of things; they load the edifice of society, by setting up in the air what the solidity of the structure requires to be on the ground.' BURKE. The word structure must always be qualified; it is employed only to designate the mode of action; In the whole structure and constitution of things, God hath shown himself to be favorable to virtue, and inimical to vice and guilt.' BLAIR. The fabric is something contrived by the power of art or by design; itself a species of epithet, it designates the object as

By destiny compell'd, and in despair, The Greeks grew weary of the tedious war, And, by Minerva's aid, a fabric rear'd. DRYDEN. The edifices dedicated to the service of religion have in all ages been held sacred: it is the business of the architect to estimate the merits or demerits of the structure: when we take a survey of the vast fabric of the universe, the mind becomes bewildered with contemplating the infinite power of its Divine author. When employed in the abstract sense of actions,

structure is limited to objects of magnitude, or such as consist of complicated parts; fabric is extended to every thing in which art or contrivance is requisite; hence we may speak of the structure of vessels, and the fabric of cloth, iron ware, and the like.

CORNER, ANGLE.

Corner answers to the French coin, and Greek yuvia, which signifies either a corner or a hidden place; angle, in Latin angulus, comes in all probability from dyxwv the elbow.

The vulgar use of corner in the ordinary concerns of life, and the technical use of angle in the science of mathematics, is not the only distinction between these terms.

Corner properly implies the outer extreme point of any solid body; angle, on the contrary, the inner extremity produced by the meeting of two right lines. When speaking therefore of solid bodies, corner and angle may be both employed; but in regard to simple right lines, the word angle only is applicable: in the former case a corner is produced by the meeting of the different parts of a body whether inwardly or outwardly; but an angle is produced by the meeting of two bodies; one house has many corners; two houses or two walls at least, are requisite to make an angle; 'Jewellers grind their diamonds with many sides and angles, that their lustre may appear many ways." DERHAM.

We likewise speak of making an angle by the direction that is taken in going either by land or sea, because such a course is equivalent to a right line; in that case the word corner could not be substituted: on the other hand, the word corner is often used for a place of secrecy or obscurity, agreeably to the derivation of the term; Some men, like pictures, are fitter for a corner than for a full light.' POPE.

PILLAR, COLUMN.

Pillar, in French pilier, in all probability comes from pile, signifying any thing piled up in an artificial manner. Column, in Latin columna, comes from columen a prop or support. In their original meaning therefore, it is obvious that these words differ essentially, although in their present use they refer to the same object. The pillar mostly serves as a column or support, and the column is always a pillar; but sometimes a pillar does not serve as a prop, and then it is called by its own name; but when it supplies the place of a prop, then it is more properly denominated a

column;

Whate'er adorns

The princely dome, the column, and the arch,
The breathing marbles, and the sculptur'd gold,
Beyond the proud possessor's narrow claim,
His tuneful breast enjoys. AKENSIDE.

but the pillars on which the roofs of churches are made to rest, may with more propriety be termed columns. Pillar is Pillar is more frequently employed in a moral application than column, and in that case it always implies a prop; Withdraw religion, and you shake all the pillars of morality.' BLAIR. Government is the pillar on which all social order rests.

LODGINGS, APARTMENTS.

A lodging, or a place to lodge or dwell in, comprehends single rooms, or many rooms, or in fact any place which can be made to serve the purpose; apartments respect only suites of rooms: apartments, therefore, are, in the strict sense, lodgings; but all lodgings are not apartments: on the other hand, the. word lodgings is mostly used for rooms that are let out to hire, or that serve a temporary purpose; but the word apartments may be applied to the suites of rooms in any large house: hence the word lodging becomes on one ground restricted in its use, and apartments on the other: all apartments to let out for hire are lodgings; but apartments not to let out for hire are not lodgings.

MONUMENT, MEMORIAL,

REMEMBRANCER.

or moni

Monument, in Latin monumentum mentum, from moneo to advise or remind, signifies that which puts us in mind of something; memorial, from memory, signifies the thing that helps the memory; and remembrancer, from remember (v. Memory), the thing that causes to remember.

From the above it is clear that these terms have, in their original derivation, precisely the same signification, and differ only in their collateral acceptations: monument is applied to that which is purposely set up to keep a thing in mind; memorials and remembrancers are any things which are calculated to call a thing to mind: a monument is used to preserve a public object of notice from being forgotten; a memorial serves to keep an individual in mind: the monument is commonly understood to be a species of building; as a tomb which preserves the memory of the dead, or a pillar which preserves the memory of some public event: the memorial always consists of something which was the property, or in the possession, of another; as his picture, his hand-writing, his hair, and the like. The Monument at London was built to commemorate the dreadful fire of the city in the year 1666 friends who are at a distance are happy to have some token of each other's regard, which they likewise keep as a memorial of their former intercourse.

monuments of antiquity; the actions of a good prince are more lasting monuments than either brass or marble; If (in the Isle of Sky) the remembrance of papal superstition is obliterated, the monuments of papal piety are likewise effaced.' JOHNSON.

Memorials are always of a private nature, and at the same time such as remind us naturally of the object to which they have belonged; this object is generally some person, but it may likewise refer to some thing, if it be of a personal nature: our Saviour instituted the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a memorial of his death; Any memorial of your goodnature and friendship is most welcome to me.' POPE.

A memorial respects some object external of ourselves; the remembrancer is said of that which directly concerns ourselves and our particular duty: a man leaves memorials of himself to whomsoever he leaves his property; but the remembrancer is that which we acquire for ourselves: the memorial carries us back to another; the remembrancer brings us back to ourselves the memorial revives in our minds what we owe to another; the remembrancer puts us in mind of what we owe to ourselves, it is that which recalls us to a sense of our duty: a gift is the best memorial we can give of ourselves to another; a sermon is often a good remembrancer of the duties which we have neglected to perform; When God is forgotten, his judgements are his remembrancers.' CowPER.

GRAVE, TOMB, SEPULCHRE.

All these terms denote the place where bodies are deposited. Grave, from the German graben to dig, has a reference to the hollow made in the earth; tomb, from tumulus and tumeo to swell, has a reference to the rising that is made above it; sepulchre, from sepelio to bury, has a reference to the use for which it is employed. From this explanation it is evident, that these terms have a certain propriety of application: to sink into the grave' is an expression that carries the thoughts where the body must rest in death;

The path of glory leads but to the grave. GRAY. To inscribe on the tomb, or to encircle the tomb with flowers, carries our thoughts to the external of that place in which the body is interred;

Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,

If mem'ry o'er their tombs no trophies raise. GRAY. To inter in a sepulchre, or to visit or enter a sepulchre, reminds us of a place in which bodies are deposited; The Lay itself is either lost or buried, perhaps for ever in one of those sepulchres of MSS. which by courtesy are called libraries.' TYRWHITT.

TO ADORN, DECORATE, EMBELLISH. Adorn, in Latin adorno, is compounded of the intensive syllable ad and orno, in Greek pain to make

One decorates by annexing something to improve its appearance; A few years afterwards (1751) by the death of his father, Lord Lyttleton inherited a baronet's title, with a large estate, which though perhaps he did not augment, he was careful to adorn by a house of great elegance, and by much attention to the decoration of his park.' JOHNSON. One embellishes by giving a finishing stroke to a thing that is well executed; I shall here present my reader with a letter from a projector, concerning a new office which he thinks may very much contribute to the embellishment of the city.' ADDISON. Females adorn their persons by the choice and disposal of their dress: a head dress is decorated with flowers, or a room with paintings: fine writing is embellished by suitable flourishes.

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Adorn and embellish are figuratively employed; decorate only in the proper sense. The mind is adorned by particular virtues which are implanted in it a narrative is embellished by the introduction of some striking incidents.

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OBLONG, OVAL.

Oblong, in Latin oblongus, from the intensive syllable ob, signifies very long, longer than it is broad; oval, from the Latin ovum an egg, signifies eggshaped.

The oval is a species of the oblong: what is oval is oblong; but what is oblong is not always oval. Oblong is peculiarly applied to figures formed by right lines, that is, all rectangular parallelograms, except squares, are oblong; but the oval is applied to curvilinear oblong figures, as ellipses, which are distinguished from the circle : tables are oftener oblong than oval; garden beds are as frequently oval as they are oblong.

GLOBE, BALL.

Globe, in Latin globus, comes probably from the Greek yogos a hillock of earth; ball, in Teutonic ball, is doubtless connected with the words bowl, bow, bend, and the like, signifying that which is turned or rounded.

Globe is to ball as the species to the genus; a globe is a ball, but every ball is not a globe. The globe does not in its strict sense require to be of an equal