In expressing acts which are quickly and often repeated, it is natural to enounce the manner of their performance, twice, or thrice, in rapid succession: 'He came time after time;' he did so again and again.' There are numerous acts that can only be reiterated by alternate reverses,-by passing forwards and backwards, and these modes are often expressed (especially if of little interest) by such words as see-saw, tit for tat, &c. The jingle of Lilliputian rhyme, or its substitute alliteration, was a predominant feature in the English composition of an early period. It gratified the ear, as well as refreshed the memory, and is still preserved in almost all the saws and proverbs that have been handed down from generation to generation. Fast bind, fast find;' 'Harm watch, harm catch:' Cut your coat according to your cloth;'Tis too late to spare when all is spent,' are examples of both kinds. The motley tribe of adverbs now under consideration appear to have been formed in a similar manner; as will be obvious from the following list, which, though collected with some care, is perhaps far from complete.

Objections may be made to the above collection, as containing substantives and adjectives as well as adverbs; and many may be considered as provincialisms rather than words of general acceptation; but we were not well aware where to stop, or which to expunge. We, therefore, let them pass at what they are worth; for we subscribe to the opinion of Mr. Tooke, that the class of adverbs "is the common sink and repository of all heterogeneous unknown corruptions." The explanation of the several compounds, thus collected, would here be out of place. Few, if any, of them are unconnected with other words which will occur, in the successive series that we have chosen for the body of the work; and it is there that their usage (and, in many cases, contracted orthography) can be best illustrated.

OF FREQUENTATIVES.

It will be observed that many of the Adverbial compounds, in the preceding list, are not only repetitions, (with slight variations,) of the same words, but, that the word so repeated often includes, within itself, the idea of repetition. Thus prittle-prattle is a reiterative of prattle; and this, again, is a Frequentative of prate.

The Latin grammarians formed a class of Frequentative Verbs, chiefly terminating in to, and all of the first conjugation. Thus, clamo, I cry out, and dormio, I sleep, produced clamito, I cry frequently, and dormito, I sleep often. Some of those we have naturalized, as AGITATE, derived from ago, agito, and COGITATE, from cogo, cogito; but English Frequentatives (or Iteratives) are also formed by means of the common verbal terminations.

When treating of Verbs, we noticed different affixes which mark the Infinitives. Each is indicative of action; but the nature of that action is modified by the signification of the root with which the affix is conjoined. The termination EN (as we formerly mentioned) is added only to adjectives, which it changes into verbs that signify to make, or to become, what the adjective describes; but ER and LE (or EL) are often affixed to the names of actions, that is, to verbs themselves and, in such cases, they may imply continuations, or repetitions, of the same act. Thus, from to beat and to pat, we have to batter and to patter; and, to crackle and to dribble, from to crack and to drip. Some of this class of verbs have a contemptuous application, as indicating a repetition of trifling acts; and those etymologists who ascribe meanings to isolated letters have asserted that, el and le are, in their nature, diminutives. We believe otherwise. They are merely marks of verbal action; and, when reiterative, the repeated acts are trifling, or not, according to our associated ideas of their value: a crackling noise, for example, may proceed either from the damp wick of a lighted candle, or from the flames of a burning city.

OF INTERJECTIONS.

The nature of the class of words termed Interjections has already been defined;* and we have, now, to notice, individually, such as cannot conveniently be introduced in the order of the Dictionary. Some of these are so associated with our feelings as to remind us instantaneously of the thought by which they are produced; while others are applicable to different states of the mind, and are distinguished, solely, either by the context, or by the tone in which they are pronounced. Some seem, like the cries of animals, to be the voice of nature, being alike in many languages; while others are contractions of words, or of short sentences, that are peculiar to particular nations.

The following Interjections are elicited by uneasy sensations:

OH! and OH DEAR! are exclamations, arising from bodily or mental pain, or at the unexpected appearance of a disagreeable object.

AH! is expressive of sorrow for a person's own sufferings, or of compassion for those of others.

The Oh! and Ah! which we have here distinguished, are, nevertheless, confounded in different dialects; and, in those nations which have preserved the gutteral sounds, the h, in both, is strongly aspirated. The Ach of the Teutonic and Celtic tongues is, probably, in its origin, the same as the English Acн, or ACHE (Saxon ace) pain; which is now pronounced, and often written AK [See ACUTE, in the Dictionary.]

O! when expressive of entreaty, or of vehement desire, is a varied usage of Oh! but is now generally written without the h. It is either a direct prayer, or a wish, to be relieved from pain. In the former case it precedes the name of the person or being who is addressed, which name, or pro-name, is then understood to be in, what the Latin and other languages call, the VOCATIVE CASE; though English nouns and pronouns do not on that account, vary in orthography from their nominatives. 'Hear us, O Lord!' and 'O, that I could see him!' are examples; and the latter phrase is, in some grammars, said to be in the OPTATIVE MOOD, from the Latin Optare, to wish.

ALAS! (formerly ALASS,) is the French helas and the Italian ahilasso! from lasso (Latin lassus) weary, unhappy, wretched.

ALAS THE DAY! and ALAS THE WHILE! are equivalent to 'unhappy day!' 'unhappy time!' but are both obsolete.

See p. xxix.

ALACK! (from lack, want or need,) is an expression of regret for some deprivation.

ALACK-A-DAY! what a miserable, or lost day! This is rather antiquated, and the contraction, LACK-A-DAY! (and, more particularly, its ludicrous orthography LACK-A-DAISEY!) is now never written in serious composition.

Wo! or Wo IS ME! expresses the extremity of grief. 'WO BE TO HIM, THEM, &c. is a bitter imprecation. May he, they, &c. be wretched!'

WA-LA-WA! (Wo-oh-wo!) is the Saxon and old English lamentation, and, though now obsolete, appears in the modern dictionaries, with the orthographies WELAWAY! and WELLADAY! The Saxon la! was, in this usage, equivalent to Oh!

HEIGH-HO! Or HEI-HO! is imitative of a long-drawn sigh. This is not always supposed to be the consequence of pain; but, indeed, any one of the preceding Interjections may, by travesty or irony, be wrested from their primary connexion with sorrow; so as even to assume a tone of playful gaiety.

The pleasurable sensations produce Interjections of a less personal kind. They pass from ourselves to those around us, and often exhibit marks of friendship and benevolence.

HA, HA! Or HE, HE! are the signs of laughter: imitating, in some degree, the fitful sounds.

WELCOME and WELL MET are plain expressions of kindness; but, HAIL! and ALL HAIL! are solemn salutations, unpractised in the ordinary intercourse of life, though still existing in the imaginary addresses of the poet.

WELL DONE! is an expression of satisfaction with respect to the action of another.

BRAVO! is an Italian Interjection, (of similar import to Welldone,) which we have recently naturalized. It is a theatrical term, and, therefore, more suited to the expression of popular applause than of private praise.

HUZZA! is another expression of public approbation; but it is tumultuary,—the loud and usually repeated acclamations of an assembled multitude. This word is not of modern introduction. The dictionaries have to Huzz, meaning to buzz, or murmur; and the Gothic hazeins is praise. Huzza is not confined to the class of Interjections. It is also a substantive and a verb. The HOSANNAS of the Jews are prayers, which, of course, contain praises of the divine Being to whom they are addressed.

When calling to those that are distant, a single syllable, or a contracted compound, must be, necessarily, used. We call on the person to listen, to stop, or to return; and a word, expressive of one, or other, of these ideas, is always employed. Those calls are a species of commands, and hence are very commonly,