denied all knowledge of the trap; and, to show his sincerity, at once volunteered to carry it and throw it into the deepest pit of the river below; a proposal St. Prix derisively scoffed at, saying to the braconnier, You may do that if you please; but you'll fish it up again 'before the sun rises to-morrow morning.'

'I never have trapped, and never tried to trap a wolf in my life,' said Kledan, fiercely; but there's no knowing what I may do for 'the future, when, on my oath, you refuse to believe my word.'

St. Prix had fairly exasperated him, and, I believe, did him great injustice; for, as I afterwards discovered, Kledan feared no man, and would speak the truth in the face of death itself. How this altercation would have terminated, it is useless now to conjecture; but, just at the moment it bid fair to culminate into violent action between St. Prix and the braconnier, a peasant opportunely appeared in the field, hastening towards us, and bearing by his manner some tidings of import to some of the party. He walked straight up to the Louvetier, and, lifting his hat respectfully, intreated his immediate help at Trefranc. For,' said he, the wolves are eating us up there; 'two days ago they killed my cow by daylight; and last evening they 'seized my horse by the gullet, and would have killed him in half a 'minute, if I had not rushed to his rescue and scared the brutes away; 'as it is, they have stripped his skin down from the throat to the chest. 'So pray, monsieur, don't delay.'

St. Prix at once slipped a five-franc piece into his hand, and gladdened the poor fellow's heart further by saying: "To-morrow morn'ing my hounds shall be at Trefranc Rocks at eight o'clock; and if he prove to be the Loup-garou himself, let him look to his skin.'

SLANG TERMS AND ORIENTAL ROOTS.

A SEQUEL TO SLANG TERMS AND THE GIPSY TONgue.

'Ne velut innatus triviis

Migret in obscuras humili sermone tabernas.
Quem fricti ciceris probat et nucis emptor.'

Horace.

IN Slang, we say of a person who exalts himself above his proper position, and of whom we have a low opinion, that he is no great shakes; and this term is explained when we know that in Hindostanee shaks signifies to raise one's-self, to be borne on high. Hurra, in the same language, is a general jail delivery, and this word, being shouted in front of the prisons when the prisoners were liberated, gave rise to our word hurrah! which is now shouted on all joyful occasions. When we say that a man is taken aback, we do not mean that he is out-manoeuvred, but that he is taken speechless; abak, in Hindostanee, signifies dumb. When we say that beer is hard, we do not mean exactly what we say, we really mean that it is sour; in Hindostanee hadd, pronounced like our word hard, signifies acrid, sour.

Shakes

pear's commentators, following one another like a flock of sheep, explain the expression miching mallecho,' which Hamlet used when the players represented the poisoning of the king, by 'it means mischief;' mich, they say, means to filch, and mallecho, mischief, in the Spanish language; unfortunately, however, there are no such words as mich and mallecho in that language; nor is it likely that Hamlet would have used a phrase containing a hidden meaning, and then have translated it for the benefit of his audience. In reality, he used an Oriental phrase, which we may suppose he had learned at the University of Göttingen; and he used it not to explain but to conceal the thoughts of revenge which rankled in his bosom. He was fully aware that neither his mother nor his uncle, nor any of the courtiers, would understand the meaning of his words, which signified that death and a place of destruction awaited the foul murderer of his father: mich, in Hindostanee, is death, and mahlaka a place of destruction. When we know that in the same language janglà is a wild musical mode, we appear to have some light thrown on the beautiful passage in which Ophelia describes the state of Hamlet's mind:

'And I of ladies most deject and wretched,
That suck'd the honey of his music vows,
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason
Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and harsh.'

Ragamuffin has puzzled the lexicographers completely, and Richardson, one of the most learned of them, abandons the word as inexplicable: we think we have discovered its origin-in Hindostanee rag is a cloth in which the threads are uneven, in fact, a coarse rag, and muffis, in the same language (as we explained in a previous chapter), are mean wretches. mean wretches. Ragamuffins are, therefore, muffs clothed in rags. There is no necessity to refer to the father of the faithful for the origin of a Sham Abram-man, as bhram, to deceive, clearly explains the term, which signifies an impostor. Bhokas, a wizard, originated hocus; and the Gipsy word hokkany, a trick, and our word hoax, have the same paternity. A lurry is a low cart, on which goods are conveyed to and from the East and West India Docks; its original is the Hindostanee larhi, a small cart. When we fix upon bos, the act of kissing, as the original of a buss, we think we are nearer the mark than the lexicographers, who derive it from the French baiser. The word mez, a table, is evidently the original of the officers' mess. The importunity of a dun seems closely allied with the word dhun, diligence, perseverance. When a lady gets into a passion with her domestics, as the sweetest-tempered housewives sometimes do, she is said by them to be in a great pucker; and so she is, as pukar in Hindostanee signifies excitement. Dagh is a scar, and a dagger is an instrument by which wounds are inflicted. Wafa signifies sincerity, faithfulness; and the use of a wafer is to preserve faith. A dandy is almost a term of the past: there are few such creatures in the present generation; the word signified a con

ceited creature who placed all his wealth on his back, and swinging a malacca cane in his hand, which he styled his bamboo, strutted up and down Bond Street; in Hindostanee, a dandi is a mendicant who brandishes a cane. Lather,' the foam of soapy water,' which enables the skilful barber to mow—

'The fiercest stubble from the bearded chin
Without abrasion to the finest skin,'

has sadly puzzled the learned; and their guesses at its etymology are very remote from the truth; it is from the Hindostanee lathernā, to besmear. Whilst we are upon this saponaceous subject, it may be as well to mention that sūda signifies things dissolved,' and has clearly originated soap-suds. Vahdo, in Gipsy, is a cart; in Sanscrit, vah is to drive, to carry the Latin veho, and English vehicle, and similar words in French and Italian, are clearly from the same root. The word shikar, a hunter, reminds us forcibly of the Old Shekarry, whose hunting exploits in jungle and on prairie have so often delighted the readers of Baily.' We apply chit as a term of endearment to a little girl, and we could not use a prettier word; chitti is the young of the elegant little bird the averduvat. We think there must be some connection between the words chatta, a schoolboy, and chattering; if chattā had meant a schoolgirl we should have had no doubt on the subject. We are inclined to believe that our vulgar word a louse is derived from the Hindostanee laus, impurity, defilement. The Slang term grabh, to seize, is a pure Sanscrit word. Farsh, in Hindostanee, signifies spreading carpets, which is a ceremony of great importance among the Hindoos, as each guest when he enters a room has a carpet spread for him. The Europeans looked upon it as a troublesome formality, and applied the term farsh or fash to anything that was vexatious. Chirk signifies dirt, both in Hindostanee and Persian; and in English he who shirks a bargain is guilty of a dirty trick. Chaft, in Hindostanee, is a prop, and the English word shaft is, no doubt, the same word slightly altered. Chikhuran is a weed; our word chickweed would seem to have the same origin. We are not very remote from the derivation of to chew when we arrive at chau, the back tooth. Bhar, a lighter, has no doubt the same origin as a barge. Hakh, wages, explains hackney, a horse let out to hire. Bicker, in English, is to quarrel; bigar, having the same meaning in Hindostanee, is nearer than the derivations usually suggested. The Gipsy word bokro, a sheep, and the Hindostanee bok, a he-goat, are very nearly allied with our buck. We give the name of honeymoon to the first month after marriage. The Hindoos call a place set apart for the reception of bride and bridegroom madha, honey-room. Madhu is their name for honey; and our word mead (a preparation from honey) is from the same root. Garb, in Hindostanee, is vanity, pride. We give that name to the material substance in which these qualities clothe themselves. On board ship, to keep a tally is to keep an account. In Hindostanee tālīka signifies an inventory. Menage derives our word to tan (to imbrown the skin), from casta

neus, a chesnut-the first syllable being dropped. We think it is much more probable that it is from tana, to heat. Richardson can suggest no better origin for tar than the poetical one, that it is the tear of a tree. In Hindostanee and Sanscrit, taru is a tree, and we are disposed to believe, though our supposition is prosaic, that the name for a tree has been applied to one of its products. In Hindostanee, jibh-i is a bit (the portion of a bridle which enters the mouth of a horse); and in Slang, a jibber is a horse that will not face the bit. Jumla, the aggregate, is evidently at the root of a jumble. In Sanscrit, svap is sleep, whence the Latin sopio, I sleep, and our word sop, something which induces sleep. We have always considered the expression to be cast in damages,' as applied to losing a law-suit, to be a very curious expression. It is, in fact, a pleonasm, as the word cast in Hindostanee signifies damages, and it has no doubt found its way from the Indian law-courts to our own. We have scarcely patience to give the learned lexicographer's explanation of to bask: Perhaps,' says Skinner, from the verb to bake,' and Richardson gives the sanction of his authority to the stupid conjecture. To bask is literally to sun one's self, as bhaskar is an Hindostanee word for the sun.

Sup and soup (that which is supped) come from the Sanscrit supa, through the medium of the Anglo-Saxon. Tankā in Hindostanee signifies a tub made of stones; we make our tanks of iron, wood, or stone, whichever material may be most handy. Gizzard, the receptacle in which birds grind their food to prepare it for digestion, is a puzzle to the etymologists. We are inclined to believe that it is from the Hindostanee word ghiza, which signifies food, nourishment; the receptacle being named from the material which it receives; we are strengthened in this opinion by the fact that the domestic fowl, as well as the pheasant, came to us originally from India. The Slang term to blab, to let out secrets, is from the Hindostanee ba-lab, which signifies on the lip;' labium, the Latin word for a lip, is no doubt from the same root as the Hindostanee word lab, a lip. Our nursery words babe and baby have a strong affinity with the Hindostanee word babu, a child. In the Gipsy tongue, pal is a brother; in Slang, pal is a friend, a companion. Mull is wine in Hindostanee and Gipsy; and mol has the same signification in Persian; we call wine mulled when it is boiled, and no doubt spoiled, in the opinion of wine-bibbers, and hence arose the Slang term to make a mull of 'it.' We shall understand why a man is said to be boozy when he is intoxicated, if we call to mind that in Hindostance boza signifies beer. In the absence of a better explanation of the origin of the word ape, we are inclined to think that it may be derived from the Sanscrit ápàs, signifying activity. We should not be surprised to learn that we are indebted to the same language for a farthing dip, a miserable species of candle; but we are uncertain whether we should give the preference to the word dip, to light, or dipa, a lamp, as its

root.

There are many Oriental words in common use amongst us which

cannot be regarded as Slang terms, although some of them belonged originally to that category. The Anglo-Indian nabob calls not for his slippers and pipe, but for his paposhes and hookah, and smokes whilst his attendant fans him with a punkah; his wife shows him the shawl, chintz, amber, and saffron which she has bought in the bazaar; she sits down at his feet on a hassock whilst she melts the candy in his sherbet. The words which we have italicised are now household words in England, and are as well understood in Belgravia as in Calcutta ; many of them are exactly the same as in Hindostanee, and the rest are but very slightly altered. J. C. M. H.

HINTS ON SHORE-SHOOTING.*

THERE must be few men fond of the gun who do not enjoy an occasional day upon the coast shooting plovers and sandpipers, or stalking the wary curlew over the ooze and sea-wrack. Sport of this kind furnishes so complete a change after the monotony of a month's partridge shooting, or a series of pheasant battues,' that we can only imagine a man to be deterred from it through ignorance of the charm which it possesses.

To those who would learn something of the sport-where to go, and how to go to work, we can cordially recommend the book now before us. The author evidently writes from his own experience, and endeavours to supply for others the wants which he has doubtless felt himself. The names and distinguishing marks of all the British shore-birds are concisely given; and whether a man shoots a plover, a sandpiper, a godwit, or a curlew, he has only to turn to Mr. Harting's little book to discover its proper name, and something about its food, habits, and changes of plumage. Not the least useful chapter in the book is that which is devoted to hints upon skinning and preserving birds. The want of a knowledge of taxidermy has frequently prevented sportsmen from keeping many a beautiful bird which they would have been glad to preserve, and Mr. Harting's practical hints on this subject may be read by such persons with advantage. The size of the volume is so convenient and portable that we shall be deceived if sportsmen and naturalists do not find it a useful form of pocket-book in their excursions to the coast.

Hints on Shore-shooting; with a chapter on Skinning and Preserving Birds.' By J. E. Harting, F.L.S., F.Z.S Post 8vo. London: J. Van Voorst, 1871.