It is suggested to Q. (Bloomsbury), that Lord Brougham meant not to say that Horne Tooke _had ever held_ or _maintained_ this strange doctrine, "that the law of libel was unjust and absurd, because libel means a little book," but that he _would_ have done so, or might have done so consistently with his etymological theory, namely, that the _present_ sense of words is to be sought in their primitive signification: _e.g._, in the _Diversions of Purley_, vol. ii. p. 403., Horne Tooke says,--
"_True_, as we now write it, or _trew_, as it was formerly written, means simply and merely that which is _trowed_; and, instead of its being a rare commodity upon earth, except only in words, there is nothing but truth in the world."
If we ought _now_ to use the word truth only in this sense, then, _pari ratione_, we ought to mean only a little book when we use the word libel.
_Irish Rhymes_ (Vol. viii., p. 250.).--A. B. C. asks, "Will any one say it was through ignorance { 576} that he (Swift) did not sound the _g_ in dressing?" Now I cannot tell whether or not I shall raise a nest of hornets about my ears, but my private impression is that in doing so Swift meant to be "more _English_ and less nice." I think it invariably strikes an Irishman as one of the most remarkable peculiarities of the English people, the almost constant omission of that letter from every word ending (I should have said, if I was an Englishman, "endin'") with it. The fair sex, I fear I must add, are, of the two, rather more decided in clippin' (_g_) the Queen's English.
_Cabbages_ (Vol. ix., p. 424.).--I was aware of the passage in Evelyn's _Acetaria_, and am anxious to know whether there is any confirmation of that statement. Is there any other information extant as to the first introduction of cabbages into England?
_Sir William "Usher," not "Upton"_ (Vol. viii., p. 328.), was appointed Clerk of the Council in Ireland, March 22, 1593. He was knighted by Sir George Carey, Law Deputy, on St. James' Day, 1603; and died in 16--, having married Isabella Loftus, eldest daughter of Adam Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin. Of what family was he?
"_Buckle_" (Vol. viii., pp. 127. 304. 526.).--An awkward person, working incautiously with a saw, will probably, to use a carpenter's phrase, _buckle_ it; that is, give it a bend or twist which will injure its working.