A particular or given space is the idea common to these terms; but the former is general and indefinite, the latter specific. Place is limited to no size nor quantity, it may be large: but spot implies a very small place, such as by a figure of speech is supposed to be no larger than a spot: the term place is employed upon every occasion; the term spot is confined to very particular cases: we may often know the place in a general way where a thing is, but it is not easy after a course of years to find out the exact spot on which it has happened. The place where our Saviour was buried is to be seen and pointed out, but not the very spot where he lay ; O how unlike the place from whence they fell! MILTON. GOLDSMITH. The site is the spot on which any thing stands or is situated; it is more commonly applied to a building or any place marked out for a specific purpose; as the site on which a camp had been formed; Before my view appear'd a structure fair, BACK, BACKWARD, BEHIND. Back and backward are used only as adverbs; behind either as an adverb or a preposition. Hence we say to go back or backward, to go behind or behind the wall. Back denotes the situation of being, and the direction of going; backward, simply the manner of going: a person stands back, who does not wish to be in the way; he goes backward, when he does not wish to turn his back to an object; So rag'd Tydides, boundless in his ire, Drove armies back, and made all Troy retire. POPE. No one regardful look would ever backward cast. Back marks simply the situation of a place, behind the situation of one object with regard to another: a person stands back, who stands in the back part of any place; he stands behind, who has any one in the front of him: the back is opposed to the front, behind to before; Forth flew this hated fiend, the child of Rome, AFTER, BEHIND. After respects order; behind respects position. One runs after a person, or stands behind his chair; After is used either figuratively or literally: behind is used only literally. Men hunt after amusements; misfortunes come after one another: a garden lies behind a house; a thing is concealed behind a bush; Good after ill, and after pain delight, Alternate, like the scenes of day and night. DRYDEN. He first, and close behind him followed she, For such was Proserpine's severe decree. DRYDEN. UNDER, BELOW, BENEATH. Under, like hind in behind, and the German unter, hinter, &c. are all connected with the preposition in implying the relation of enclosure; below denotes the state of being low; and beneath from the German nieder, and the Greek veple or Evepte downwards, has the same original signification. It is evident, therefore, from the above, that the preposition under denotes any situation of retirement or concealment ; below any situation of inferiority or lowness; and beneath, the same, only in a still greater degree. We are covered or sheltered by that which we stand under ; we excel or rise above that which is below us; we look down upon that which is beneath us: we live under the protection of government; the sun disappears when it is below the horizon; we are apt to tread that which is altogether beneath us; upon 6 The Jewish writers in their chronological computations often shoot under or over the truth at their pleasure.' PRIDEAUX. All sublunary comforts imitate the changeableness, as well as feel the influence, of the planet they are under.' SOUTH. Our minds are here and there, below, above; How can any thing better be expected than rust and canker when men will rather dig their treasure from beneath than fetch it from above. SOUTH. ABOVE, OVER, UPON, BEYOND. When an object is above another, it exceeds it in height; when it is over another, it extends along its superior surface; when it is upon another, it comes in contact with its superior surface; when it is beyond another, it lies at a greater distance. Trees frequently grow above a wall, and sometimes the branches hang over the wall or rest upon it, but they seldom stretch much beyond it; So when with crackling flames a caldron fries, SITUATION, CONDITION, STATE, PRE DICAMENT, PLIGHT, CASE. Situation (v. Place) is said generally of objects as they respect others; condition (v. Condition) as they respect themselves. Whatever affects our property, our honor, our liberty, and the like, constitutes our situation The man who has a character of his own is little changed by varying his situation.' MRS. MONTAGUE. Whatever affects our person immediately is our condition: a person who is unable to pay a sum of money to save himself from a prison is in a bad situation: a traveller who is left in a ditch robbed and wounded is in a bad condition; It is indeed not easy to prescribe a successful manner of approach to the distressed or necessitous, whose condition subjects every kind of behaviour equally to miscarriage.' JOHNSON. The situation and condition are said of that which is contingent and changeable; the state, from the Latin sto to stand, signifying the point that is stood upon, is said of that which is comparatively stable or established. A tradesman is in a good situation who is in the way of carrying on a good trade: his affairs are in a good state if he is enabled to answer every demand and to keep up his credit. Hence it is that we speak of the state of health, and the state of the mind; not the situation or condition, because the body and mind are considered as to their general frame, and not as to any relative or particular circumstances; so likewise, we say a state of infancy, a state of guilt, a state of innocence, and the like; but not either a situation or a condition; 'Patience itself is one virtue by which we are prepared for that state in which evil shall be no more.' JOHNSON. When speaking of bodies there is the same distinction in the terms, as in regard to individuals. An army may be either in a situation, a condition, or a state. An army that is on service be in a critical situamay tion, with respect to the enemy and its own comparative weakness; it may be in a deplorable condition if it stand in need of provisions and necessaries: an army that is at home will be in a good or bad state. according to the regulations of the commander in chief. Of a prince who is threatened with invasion from foreign enemies, and with a rebellion from his subjects, we should not say that his condition, but his situation, was critical. Of a prince, however, who like Alfred was obliged to fly, and to seek safety in disguise and poverty, we should speak of his hard condition: state of his affairs and government may; hence, likethe state of a prince cannot be spoken of, but the wise, state may with most propriety be said of a nation but situation seldom, unless in respect to other nations, and condition never. On the other hand, when speaking of the poor, we seldom employ the term situation, because they are seldom considered as a body in relation to other bodies: we mostly speak of their condition as better or worse, according as they have more or less of the comforts of life; and of their state as regards their moral habits. These terms may likewise be applied to inanimate objects; and upon the same grounds, a house is in a good situation as respects the surrounding objects; it is in a good or bad condition as respects the painting, cleaning, and exterior, altogether; it is in a bad state, as respects the beams, plaister, roof, and interior structure, altogether. The hand of a watch is in a different situation every hour; the watch itself may be in a bad condition if the wheels are clogged with dirt; but in a good state if the works are altogether sound and fit for service. Situation and condition are either permanent or temporary. The predicament, from the Latin predico to assert or declare, signifies to commit one's self by an assertion; and when applied to circumstances, it expresses a temporary embarrassed situation occasioned by an act of one's own: hence we always speak of bringing ourselves into a predicament; The offender's life lies in the mercy Plight, contracted from the Latin plicatus, participle Satan beheld their plight, And to his mates thus in derision call'd. MILTON. He will be in evil case if he is compelled to put up with a spare and poor diet; Our case is like that of a traveller upon the Alps, who should fancy that the top of the next hill must end his journey, because it terminates his prospect.' ADDISON. CASE, CAUSE. Case, in Latin casus, from cado to fall, chance, happen, signifies the thing falling out; cause, in French cause, Latin causa, is probably changed from case, and the Latin casus. The case is matter of fact; the cause is matter of question: a case involves circumstances and consequences; a cause involves reasons and arguments: a case is something to be learned; a cause is something to be decided.. A case needs only to be stated; a cause must be defended a cause may include cases, but not vice versâ in all causes that are to be tried, there are many legal cases that must be cited; There is a double praise due to virtue when it is lodged in a body that seems to have been prepared for the reception of vice in many such cases the soul and body do not seem to be fellows.' ADDISON. Whoever is interested in the cause of humanity will not be heedless of those cases of distress which are perpetually presenting themselves; I was myself an advocate so long, that I never mind what advocates say, but what they prove, and I can only examine proofs in causes brought before me.' SIR WILLIAM JONES. CONDITION, STATION. Condition, in French condition, Latin conditio, from condo to build or form, signifies properly the thing formed; and in an extended sense, the manner and circumstances under which a thing is formed; station, in French station, Latin statio, from sto to stand, signifies the standing place or point. Condition has most relation to the circumstances, education, birth, and the like; station refers rather to the rank, occupation, or mode of life which one pursues. Riches suddenly acquired are calculated to make a man forget his original condition; The common charge against those who rise above their original condition, is that of pride.' JOHNSON. There is nothing which men are more apt to forget than the duties of their station; The last day will assign to every one a station suitable to the dignity of his character.' ADDISON. The condition of men in reality is often so different from what it appears, that it is extremely difficult to form an estimate of what they are, or what they have been. It is the folly of the present day, that every man is unwilling to keep the station which has been assigned to him by Providence. The rage for equality destroys every just distinction in society; the low aspire to be, in appearance, at least, equal with their superiors; and those in elevated stations do not hesitate to put themselves on a level with their inferiors. TO PUT, PLACE, LAY, SET. Put is in all probability contracted from positus, participle of pono to place; place signifies the same as in the preceding articles; lay, in Saxon legan, German legen, Latin loco, and Greek Aéyoua, signifies to cause to lie; set, in German setzen, Latin sisto, from sto to stand, signifies to cause to stand. Put is the most general of all these terms; The labourer cuts Young slips, and in the soil securely puts. DRYDEN. Place, lay, and set, are but modes of putting; one puts, but the way of putting it is not defined; we may put a thing into one's room, one's desk, one's pocket, and the like; but to place is to put in a specific manner, and for a specific purpose; one places a book on a shelf as a fixed place for it, and in a position most suitable to it; Then youths and virgins, twice as many, join To place the dishes, and to serve the wine. DRYDEN. To lay and set are still more specific than place; the former being applied only to such things as can be made to lie; Here some design a mole, while others there And set only to such as can be made to stand: a book may be said to be laid on the table when placed in a downward position; and set on a shelf when placed on one end we lay ourselves down on the ground; we set a trunk upon the ground; Ere I could Give him that parting kiss, which I had set TO LIE, LAY. By a vulgar error these verbs have been so confounded as to deserve some notice. To lie is neuter, and designates a state: to lay is active, and denotes an action on an object; it is properly to cause to lie: a thing lies on the table; some one lays it on the table: he lies with his fathers; they laid him with his fathers. In the same manner, when used idiomatically, we say, a thing lies by us until we bring it into use; we lay it by for some future purpose: we lie down in order to repose ourselves; we lay money down by way of deposit: the disorder lies in the constitution; we lay the ill treatment of others to heart: we lie with the person with whom we sleep; we lay a wager with a person when we stake our money against his; Ants bite off all the buds before they lay it up, and, therefore, the corn that has lain in their nests will produce nothing.' ADDISON. The church admits none to holy orders without laying upon them the highest obligations imaginable.' BEVERIDGE. TO DISORDER, DERANGE, DISCONCERT, DISCOMPOSE. Disorder signifies to put out of order; derange, from de and range or rank, signifies to put out of the rank in which it was placed; disconcert, to put out of the concert or harmony; discompose, to put out of a state of composure. All these terms express the idea of putting out of order; but the three latter vary as to the mode or object of the action. The term disorder is used in a perfectly indefinite form, and might be applied to any object. As every thing may be in order, so may every thing be disordered; yet it is seldom used except in regard to such things as have been in a natural order. Derange and disconcert are employed in speaking of such things as have been put into an artificial order. To derange is to disorder that which has been systematically arranged, or put in a certain range; and to disconcert is to disorder that which has been put together by concert or contrivance: thus the body may be disordered; a man's affairs or papers deranged; a scheme disconcerted. To discompose is a species of derangement in regard to trivial matters: thus a tucker, a frill, or a cap, may be discomposed. The slightest change of diet will disorder people of tender constitutions: misfortunes are apt to derange the affairs of the most prosperous: the unexpected return of a master to his home disconcerts the schemes which have been formed by the domestics: those who are particular as to their appearance are careful not to have any part of their dress discomposed. When applied to the mind disorder and derange are said of the intellect; disconcert and discompose of the ideas or spirits: the former denoting a permanent state; the latter a temporary or transient state. The mind is said to be disordered when the faculty of ratiocination is in any degree interrupted; Since devotion itself may disorder the mind, unless its heats are tempered with caution or prudence, we should be particularly careful to keep our reason as cool as possible.' ADDISON. The intellect is said to be deranged when it is brought into a positive state of incapacity for action: persons are sometimes disordered in their minds for a time by particular occurrences, who do not become actually deranged; All passion implies a violent emotion of mind; of course it is apt to derange the regular course of our ideas.' BLAIR. A person is said to be disconcerted who suddenly loses his collectedness of thinking; There are men whose powers operate only at leisure and in retirement; and whose intellectual vigour deserts them in conversation; whom merriment confuses, and objection disconcerts." JOHNSON. A person is said to be discomposed who loses his regularity of feeling; A sense of shame is the most apt to disconcert: the more irritable the temper the more easily one is discomposed. DERANGEMENT, INSANITY, LUNACY, MADNESS, MANIA. Derangement, from the verb to derange, implies the first stage of disorder in the intellect; insanity, or unsoundness, implies positive disease, which is more or less permanent; lunacy is a violent sort of insanity, which was supposed to be influenced by the moon; madness and mania, from the Greek paivoua to rage, implies insanity or lunacy in its most furious and confirmed stage. Deranged persons may sometimes be perfectly sensible in every thing but particular subjects. Insane persons are sometimes entirely restored. Lunatics have their lucid intervals, and maniacs their intervals of repose. Derangement may sometimes be applied to the temporary confusion of a disturbed mind, which is not in full possession of all its faculties: madness may sometimes be the result of violently inflamed passions: and mania may be applied to any vehement attachmotive mania of an Englishman circulates his person, ment which takes possession of the mind; The locoand of course his cash, into every quarter of the kingdom.' CUMBERLAND. MADNESS, PHRENZY, RAGE, FURY. Madness, v. Derangement; phrenzy, in Latin phrenesis, Greek paviris from p the mind, signifies a disordered mind'; rage, in French rage, Latin rabies; fury, in Latin furor, comes in all probability from feror to be carried, because fury carries a per son away. Madness and phrenzy are used in the physical and moral sense; rage and fury only in the moral sense: in the first case, madness is a confirmed derangement in the organ of thought; phrenzy is only a temporary derangement from the violence of fever: the former lies in the system, and is, in general, incurable; the latter is only occasional, and yields to the power of medicine. In the moral sense of these terms the cause is put for the effect, that is, madness and phrenzy are put for that excessive violence of passion by which they are caused; and as rage and fury are species of this passion, namely, the angry passion, they are therefore to madness and phrenzy sometimes as the cause is to the effect the former, however, are so much more violent than the latter, as they altogether destroy the reasoning faculty, which is not expressly implied in the signification of the latter terms. Moral madness differs both in degree and duration from phrenzy: if it spring from the extravagance of rage, it bursts out into every conceivable extravagance, but is only transitory; if it spring from disappointed love, or any other disappointed passion, it is as permanent as direct reflective sense: a person confounds one thing with physical madness; another; To allay my rages and revenges with Rage, when applied to persons, commonly signifies highly inflamed anger; but it may be employed for inflamed passion towards any object which is specified, as a rage for music, a rage for theatrical performances, a fashionable rage for any whim of the day. Fury, though commonly signifying rage bursting out, yet may be any impetuous feeling displaying itself in extravagant action: as the divine fury supposed to be produced upon the priestess of Apollo, by the inspiration of the god, and the Bacchanalian fury, which expression depicts the influence of wine upon the body and mind; Confin'd their fury to those dark abodes. DRYDEN. In the improper application, to inanimate objects, the words rage and fury preserve a similar distinction: the rage of the heat denotes the excessive height to which it is risen; the fury of the winds indicates their violent commotion and turbulence: so in like manner the raging of the tempest characterizes figuratively its burning anger; and the fury of the flames marks their impetuous movements, their wild and rapid spread. TO CONFOUND, TO CONFUSE. Confound and confuse are both derived from different parts of the same verb, namely, confundo and its participle confusus, signifying to pour or mix together without design that which ought to be distinct. Confound has an active sense; confuse a neuter or I to the tempest make the poles resound, And the conflicting elements confound. DRYDEN. Objects become confused, or a person confuses himself: it is a common error among ignorant people to confound names, and among children to have their ideas confused on commencing a new study; A confus'd report passed through my ears; It vanished in the bus'ness of the day. LEE. The present age is distinguished by nothing so much as by confounding all distinctions, which is a great source of confusion in men's intercourse with each other, both in public and private life. DIFFERENCE, VARIETY, DIVERSITY, MEDLEY. Difference signifies the cause or the act of differing; variety, from various or vary, in Latin varius, probably comes from varus a speck or speckle, because this is the best emblem of variety; diversity, in Latin diversitas, comes from diverto, compounded of di and verto, signifying the quality of being asunder; medley comes from the word meddle, which is but a change from mingle, mix, &c. Difference and variety seem to lie in the things themselves; diversity and medley are created either by accident or design: a difference may lie in two objects only; a variety cannot exist without an assemblage: a difference is discovered by means of a comparison which the mind forms of objects to prevent confusion; variety strikes on the mind, and pleases the imagination with many agreeable images; it is |