And he took him asidis from the people and puttede hise fyngris into hise eeris and he spette and touchide his tunge. Wielif. Mark, c. 7.

And whan he had take hym asyde from the people, to put hys fyngers into hys eares, and dyd spyt, and touched his tonge.-Bible, 1539. Ib.

We own it to be highly proper, that men should ask themselves, why they believe: but it is equally proper for them to ask, why they disbelieve.-Secker, vol. i. Ser. 1.

ASKA'NCE. ASKA'UNCE.

ASKA'UNT.

ASQUINT.

Probably (says Tooke) the participles Achuined, Aschuins. In Dutch, Schuin, wry, oblique. Schuinen, to cut awry.

As he cast his eye aside,

Wher that ther kneled in the highe wey A compagnie of ladies, twey and twey, Eche after other, clad in clothes blake.

p. 471.) See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note upon the word in the following lines from Chaucer. Asquint, probably has the same origin. See SHUN. Awry, obliquely; (perhaps) as if shunning, or

She cleped hym, and bad him abide.
And he his hors head aside

Tho torned, and to hir he rode.-Gower. Con. A. b. i. This battayll was sore foughtē, for hope of lyfe was set on side on every part and takyng of prisoners was proclaymed as a great offence.-Hall. Hen. VI. an. 39.

That glorious form, that light unsufferable,

And that far-beaming blaze of majesty,

Wherewith he wont at heav'n's high council-table
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,

He laid aside.-Milton. Ode on the Nativity.

Thus (she pursu'd) I discipline a Son,
Whose uncheck'd fury to revenge wou'd run:
He champs the bit, impatient of his loss,
And starts a-side, and flounders at the cross.
Dryden. Hind & Panther.

Reader, whoever thou art, whatever be thy character, station, or distinction in life, if thou art afraid to look into thine heart, and hast no inclination to self-acquaintance, read no further; lay aside this book for thou wilt find nothing here that will flatter thy self-esteem; but perhaps something that may abate it.-Mason. On Self-Knowledge.

ASK. A'SKER.

Goth. Socjan, to seek, to ask, to question. A. S. Secan, Asecan, A'SKING, n. Ascan, Ascian, to ask. A. S. Acsian, Axian, to acs or axe, (qv.) To seek, sc. an answer; to question, to inquire, to require, to demand.

To seek, sc. alms, relief, assistance; to beg, to petition. See To SEEK.

Heo aschede at Corineus, how heo so hardi were,

To honte vp the kynge's lond, bute he leue hem geue,
Corineus saide, that he nolde nomon asche leue,

To honto and to wynne hys mete, and habbe solas and
game.
R. Gloucester, p. 16.
What did kyng Egbriht? withouten any somons,
And withouten askyng of erles or barons,
He hied him thider suyth.-R. Brunne, p. 16.

But halewe ye the lord crist in youre hertis, and euermore be ye redi to satisfaccioun to ech man axinge you reasoun of that feith and hope that is in you, but with myldnesse and drede.-Wiclif. I Petir, c. 3.

But sanctifye the Lorde God in youre hertes, be ready allwayes to geue an answere to euery ma that asketh you a reasoun of ye hope that is in you, and that with meaknes and fear.-Bible, 1539. Ib.

She saith, Florent, on loue it hongeth

All that to myn askyng longeth

What all women most desyre:

This woll I aske, and in thempire

Where thou hast most knowlageyng

Take counseile of this askynge.-Gower. Con. A. b. i. God heareth the godly, geuing to the askers in fayth, wysdom and other gyftis.-Joye. Exposicion of Daniel, c. 2.

How now, Sir John Hume!

Seal vp your lips, and giue no words but mum,
The businesse asketh silent secrecie.

Shakespeare. 2 Part Hen. IV. Act i. sc. 4.

And I beseech you come againe to-morrow,
What shall you aske of me that I'll deny,
That honour (sau'd) may vpon asking giue.

Id. Twelfth Night, Act. iii. sc. 4.
Thither he plyes,
Undaunted to meet there whatever power,
Or spirit of the nethermost abyss,
Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask
Which way the neerest coast of darkness lyes
Bordering on light.-Milton. Paradise Lost, b. ii.

Ask not the cause, why sullen spring

So long delays her flowers to bear;

Why warbling birds forget to sing,

And winter storms invert the year?-Dryden. Song. In this sence [mercifulness] it [Luke vi. 30] will best agree with the precept of liberality to enemies, (with which it is joined, v. 31,) and the promise of God here to give to every asker. Hammond. Works, vol. i. p. 99.

Those many blessings, and holy prayers which the childe needs, or his askings or sicknesses, or the mother's fears or joyes respectively do occasion: should they not be cast into this account?-Bp. Taylor. Great Exemplar, pt. i. Dis. 1.

And wrote alway the names, as he stood,
Of alle folk that yave hem any good,
Askaunce that he wolde for hem preye.

Chaucer. The Sompnoure's Tale, v. 7327.

Amid this ioy befell a sory chance,
That, welaway, the stranger bought full dere,
The fare she had; for as she lookte a skance,
Under a stole she spied two steming eyes.

Wyatt. The Meane Estate.
While thus their worke went on with lucky speed,
And reared rammes their horned fronts aduance,
The ancient foe to man, and mortall seed,
His whannish eyes vpon them bent askance.

Fairefax. Tasso, b. iv. We poor parcel-sainted souls here on earth, profess to bend our eyes directly upon the same holy end, the honour of our Maker and Redeemer; but, alas, at our best we are drawn to look asquint at our own aims of profit or pleasure. Bp. Hall. Christ Mystical.

Grant that the sun had happen'd to prefer
A seat ascant but one diameter,
Lost to the light by that unhappy place,
This globe had lain a frozen lonesome mass.

Blackmore. Creation, b. ii.
The little warriors doff the targe and spear,
And loud enlivening strains provoke the dance,
They meet, they dart away, they wheel askance;
To right, to left, they thrid the flying maze.
Beattie. Minstrel.
Panic-fix'd he stood,
His sev'n-fold shield behind his shoulder cast,
And hemm'd by numbers with his eyes askant,
Watchful retreated.
Couper. Homer. Iliad, b.xi.
ASKE/W. In the Danish skiæv, is wry, crooked,
oblique. Skiæver, to twist, to wrest. Skiaært,
twisted, wrested, Tooke, i. 470.) See SKEW.
Askew is nearly equivalent to Askaunce.
And with that worde all sodenly
She passeth, as it were a skië,

All cleane out of the ladies sight.-Gower. Con. A. b. iv. Some beares his speare, his helmet some, the resdue Turnus weares

Since him he slue, the mournfull bands of Troians do

ASKILE. Hall appears to be the coiner of this form of writing Askew.

What tho' the scornful waiter looks askile, And pouts and frowns, and curseth thee the while. Hall, b. v. Sat. 2. ASLAKE. A. S. Aslacian, to loosen, to untie, to remit, to abate, to dissolve, to slake, or slacken, (Somner.) See SLACK.

And on hir bare knees adoun they falle,
And wold have kist his feet ther as he stood,
Till at the last, asiaked was his mood;
(For pitee renneth sone in gentil herte.)

Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 1762.
But such as of ther golde ther only idoll make,
Noe treasure may the rauyn of their hungry hands aslake.
Surrey. Eccles. c. 5.
Henceforth his ghost freed from repining strife,
In peace may passen ouer Lethe lake,
When mourning altars, purg'd with enemies life
The black infernal furies doen aslake.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c. 3. ASLANT. On slant. See SLANT. Obliquely, inclined from an upright or perpendicular.

There is a willow growes aslant a brooke,
That shews his hore leaues in the glassie streme.
Shakespeare. Hamlet, Act iv. sc. 7.
When in the ring the rustic routs he threw,
The damsel's pleasures with his conquests grew :
Or when aslant the cudgel threats his head,
His danger smites the breast of every maid,
But chief of Marian.
Gay. Shepherd's Week.
Through his bright disk the stormy weapon flew,
Transpierc'd his twisted mail, and from his side
Drove all the skin, but to his nobler parts
Found entrance none, by Pallas turn'd aslant.

ASLEEP.

SLEEP.

Cowper. Homer. Iliad, b. xi. See A. S. Aslapen. On sleep.

Leaning half-rais'd, with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld
Beautie, which whether waking or asleep,

Shot forth peculiar graces.-Milton. Paradise Lost, b. v
For, gorg'd with flesh, and drunk with human wine,
While fast asleep the giant lay supine.

Dryden. Virgil. Eneis, b. ii Many people think that they are in pleasure, provided the are neither in study nor in business. Nothing like it; the are doing nothing, and might just as well be asleep. Chesterfield, Let. 27 ASLO PE. A. S. A-slup-an, to slip away. On slope, or slip. See SLIP.

For many times I haue it seen
That many haue begyled been
For trust that they haue set in hope
Which fell hem afterward aslope.

Chaucer. The Rom. of the Ros Natheless he would ye point should be lesse & more f uorably handled, not euen fully plain & directly, but the ye matter should be touched a slope craftely, as though n spared in ye point to speke al the troueth for fere of h displeasure. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 58.

The Flemynges, with theyr arbalasters and theyr lon mareys pykes set a slope before theym, woudyd so the horses, that they laye trembelynge one in the others neck Fabyan. Phil. IV. an. 1

On mee the curse aslope

Glanc'd on the ground, with labour I must earne
My bread; what harm? Idleness had been worse;
My labour will sustaine me.-Milton. Par. Lost, b. z.
There porters' hogsheads roll from carts aslope,
Or brewers down steep cellars stretch the rope.

Gay. Trivia, d.

ASP. A. S. Eps, Espe; D. Espe; Ge A'SPEN. Aspe, Espe, tremulus, (Somner. ) Shaking, trembling. The tree is so called, b cause the leaves shake or tremble with the lea breath of air. Wachter and Skinner prefer th Gr. AoTaipei, to palpitate, to tremble, to quive

This Hyperanestre cast her eyen doun,
And quoke as doeth the leefe of aspe greene,
Deed wext her hew, & like to ashen to seene.
Chaucer. The Leg. of Hyperanest

This Sompnour in his stirops high he stood
Upon this frere his herte was so wood,
That like an aspen leef he quoke for ire.

Id. The Sompnoures Prol. v. 72 For if they myghte be suffred to begin ones in the gregacyon to fal in disputing, those aspen leaues of the would neuer leaue waggyng.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 7 He to him raught a dagger sharpe and keene, And gave it him in hand: his hand did quake, And tremble like a leafe of aspin greene.

Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. i. c Of the aspen our woodmen make hoops, fire-wood, coals, &c.-Evelyn. Sylva, c. 17.

Where near the village rose the elm-crown'd hill,
And white leav'd aspins trembled o'er the rill.
Scott, Ecl

ASP. Fr. Aspic; It. Aspide; Sp. Aspido; A'stick. Gr. Aoris; Lat. Aspis. Of uncertain etymology. See Vossius.

A sand-coloured serpent, full of black spots, (Cotgrave.)

Their throte is an open sepulchre, wt their tounges they have disceaued; the poyson of aspes is vnder their lyppes. Bible, 1539. Romayns, c. 3.

For like the stings of aspes, that kill with smart,,
Her spiteful words did prick and wound the inner part.
Spenser, Faerie Queene, b. iv.
The aspides of all serpents that creep upon the ground,
are most mortall, and their wounds least curable.
Pliny, b. xxix. c. 4.

This is an aspickes traile,
And these figge-leaues haue slime vpon them, such
As th' aspicke leaues vpon the canes of Nyle.

Shakespeare. Anth. & Cleo. Act v. sc. 2.

The deadly killing aspic when he seeth
This world of creatures sheaths his poison'd teeth.
Drayton. Noah's Flood.
Why did I 'scape th' invenom'd aspic's rage,
And all the fiery monsters of the desert,
To see this day!
Addison. Cato Act iii. sc.5.
ASPARAGUS.

Also written Sparagus (qv.) and formerly Sperage. Fr. Asperge; It. Asparego; Sp. Esparagos; Lat. Asparagus; Gr. Aσnays. Varro says, ex asperis Virgultis, unless from the Greek; and the Greek, Lennep says, means, the first bud or sprout, from a, priv. and rapar-, dilacerare, to tear to pieces.

Now there is a middle sort of these sperages, not so civile and gentle as the asparagi of the garden, and yet more klad and mild than the corruda of the field.

Holland. Plinie, b. xix. c. 7. Searagus, exparagus, (ab asperitate), temperately hot and mast, cordial, diuretic, easie of digestion, and next to flesh nothing more nourishing.-Evelyn. Acetaria.

ASPECT, v. A'SPECT, a. or ASPECT. ASPECTABLE. ASPECT A'TION. A'SFECTED.

ASPECTION.

Fr. Aspect; It. Aspetto; Sp. Aspecto; Lat. Aspectum, past part. of Aspicere, (Ad-specere,) from σKETEσeal, to look, to view.

Any thing looked at, seen, viewed; the appearance, face or countenance; the point of view; look; the Grection of the view or look.

And all so blisfull Venus wele arayed
Satte in her seventh house of heuen tho
Disposed wele, and with aspects payed

To help sely Troytus of his wo.-Chaucer. Troilus, b. ii.

O mightie god, that all hast wrought,

And all might bryng againe to nought:

Nove knowe 1, but all of thee,

This warlde hath no prosperitee,

In thyn aspecte ben all aliche,

The pour man and eke the riche.-Gower. Con. A. b. i,

Ne joy of aught that under heaven doth hove

Can comfort me, but her own joyous sight;
Whose sweet expect both God and man can move,
In her unspotted pleasance to delight.-Spenser, Son. 88.

The image of a wicked heynous fault
Lives in his eye: that close aspect of his,
Do shew the inood of a much troubled breast.

ASPERSE. ASPERSION. ASPERSIVELY. scatter, to sprinkle.)

To scatter or sprinkle over; to cast or throw upon; to cast-blame or censure; and, consequentially, to blame, to censure, to calumniate.

We had so long groned, we had so long cryed to God for a Prince; that except he had in the moste desired birth of the same, aspersed the death of your moste dere mother: we should by our immoderate felicitee have tepted, and prouoked hym to take you bothe from vs. Udal. Vnto the Kynges Maiestee. For he who tempts, though in vain, at least asperses The tempted with dishonour foul, suppos'd Not incorruptible of faith, not proof Against temptation. Milton. Paradise Lost, b. ix.

Straightway Jesus went up out of the water, saith the Gospel: He came up, therefore he went down. Behold an immersion, not an aspersion, said Jeremy, the Patriarch. Bp. Taylor. Rule of Conscience, p. 644.

If thou dost breake her virgin-knot, before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy right, be ministered, No sweet aspersions shall the heauens let fall To make this contract grow.-Shakes. Tempest, Act iv. sc. 1. Not doubting but under the fortitude of the most ingenious and generous spirits, this may not only crave, but find a benevolent shelter from those many envious and injurious detractions, which the ignorant may aspersively cast thereon.-Sir F. Drake Revived. To the Reader,

Jup. I will not leave thee lyable to scorn, But vindicate thy honour from that wretch Who wou'd by base aspersions blot thy vertue. Dryden. Amphitryon, Act v.

He set his voice
At highest pitch, and thus aspers'd the king.
Cowper. Homer. Iliad, b. ii.
He sent him thence

To Lycia, with the blackest crimes aspers'd
In tablets closely seal'd, which he should show
To queen Anteia's father, there, and die.-Id. Ib. b. vi.

Less bright the Moon,

Ent opposite in level'd west was set

Her mirror, with full face borrowing her light
From him, for other light she needed none
In that aspect, and still that distance keeps
TL night.

Milton. Paradise Lost, b. vii.

That this destruction [the Basalisk killing at a distance] *ald be the effect of the first beholder, or depend upon mity of aspection is a point not easily to be granted. Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. iii. c. 7.

Briefly taken, the heart is seated in the middle of the :bat, after a careless and inconsiderate aspectation, according to the rediest sense of pulsation, we shall not arted, if any affirm it is seated toward the left.

Id. Ib. b. iv. c. 2. Piries, chap. 19, saith they are most prone to this burnCore] that have Venus in Leo in their horoscope, When the Moon and Venus be mutually aspected, or such abe of Venus complexion.-Burton. Anat. of Melan. p. 443.

The throng is in the midst: The common crew
Sout out, the hall admits the better few,
In knots they stand, or in a rank they walk,
Serious in expect, earnest in their talk.

Dryden. Palamon & Arcite, b. iii.

To pant after, to desire eagerly, to be ambitious to reach or attain; to soar,

To aspirate is to breathe strongly.
Ayer is the thirde of elementes,
Of whose kinde his aspirementes
Taketh euery liuisshe creature
The whiche shall vpon erth endure.

Gower. Con. A. b. vii. That shal come to passe, if we shal, as it wer setting mortalitie apart, desyrously aspyre vnto that countreye of heauen with all our whole heartes, the enheritaunce wherof abideth them that obey the gospel.-Udal. 1 Petre, c. 3.

And that it so may, to God's honour and the profite of some good folke, I hartely beseche our lorde, without the adspiracion and helpe of whose especiall grace no laboure of man can profite.-Sir T. More. Workes, p. 357.

By chaunce finding in Suydas that Pritannia in Greke, with a circumflexed aspiracion, doth signifie metalles, also reuenues belonging to the common treasure, I than conceyued this opinion.-Grafton. Briteyn.

There, lavish nature, in her best attire,
Pours forth sweet odours and alluring sights;
And art, with her contending, doth aspire
T'excel the natural with made delights.

Spenser. The Butterfly.

All his host

Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in glory above his peers,
He trusted to have equal'd the Most High,
If he oppos'd.
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. i.

Forth went they, through blacke bloud and armes and presently aspir'd

The guardlesse Thracian regiment, fast bound with sleepe,
and tir'd.-Chapman. Homer. Iliad, b. x.
Such wat'ry orbicles young boys do blow,
Out from their soapy shells, and much admire
The swimming world, which tenderly they row
With easy breath till it be waved higher:
But if they chance but roughly once aspire,
The painted bubble instantly doth fall.

G. Fletcher. Christ's Triumph on Earth.
Th' aspirer once attain'd unto the top,
Cuts off those means by which himself got up.

Daniel. Civil War, b. ii.

Be not highminded and proudly conceited, neither do affect ambitious aspirings.-Bp. Hall. Parap. upon Romans.

Those [consonants] are stiled aspirated, which seem to be But in mixed with (H), and are usually so written 0, 4, x. propriety of speech, if aspiration be defined to be an impetus of breathing, then these consonants cannot so fully be said to be aspirated, but rather incrassated by compression of the breath in framing of them. Wilkins. Real Character, pt. iii. c. 13.

His [man's] then blisful injoyments anticipated the aspires to be like gods; being in a condition not to be added to, as much as in desire.-Glanvil. The Vanity of Dogmatizing, c.1. But if my heavy blood restrain the flight Of my free soul, aspiring to the height Of nature, and unclouded fields of light: My next desire is, void of care and strife, To lead a soft, secure inglorious life.

Dryden. Virgil, Georg. 2. With this he mingled the Attic contractions, the broader Doric, and the feebler Eolic, which often rejects its aspirate, or takes off its accent; and completed this variety by altering some letters with the licence of poetry.

Pope. Preface to Homer.

He expressed in his whole life so perfect and exemplary a virtue, and yet so much sweetness and gentleness towards those aspirers to it, that were the most short of it, that the Jews themselves could say of him, that he had done all things well.-Boyle. Works, vol. i. p. 284.

The proudest boast of the most aspiring philosopher is no more, than that he provides his little play-fellows the greatest pastime with the greatest innocence.

Goldsmith. On Polite Learning.

Look at the aspirant to power; he wears a countenance always suited to the present occasion; no symptom of inward uneasiness is suffered to appear in it.

Bp. Horne. The Duty of Self-denial.

Could the successful aspirant after earthly things secure to himself the possession of the prize he has obtained, for

any reasonable time; or spend, what is called, a life in the enjoyment of it; some little might be said in his excuse. Bp. Warburton, Ser. 23.

of a house and gardens, and feels neither inclination to pleasure, nor aspiration after virtue, while she is engrossed by the great employment of keeping gravel from grass, and

She lives for no other purpose but to preserve the neatness

wainscot from dust.-Johnson. Rambler, No. 112.

ASPORTATION. Lat. Asportatio, from Asportare, (ad, and portare; popros, a burden, from pepew, to bear,) to carry away. See the quotation.

There must not only be a taking but a carrying away, repit et asportarit was the old law-latin. A bare removal from the place in which he found the goods, though the thief does not quite make off with them, is a sufficient asportation, or carrying away.-Blackstone, b. iv. c. 17.

For if Creseide had erst complained sore
Tho gan she plain a thousand times more
And in her aspre plaint, thus she seide.

Chaucer. Troil. & Cres. b. iv. For both to that one man, and eke to that other, the ilk difficultie is the matter, to that one man of encrease of his glorious renoume, and to that other man, to conserue his sapience, that is to say, to the aspernesse of his estate, for therefore is it called vertue, for that it susteineth and enforceth by his strengthes, so that it is not ouercomen by aduersities.Id. Boecius, b. iv

The Carthagenians percyuyng divers young Romaynes, threwe themselfes into the sea, and swyinmyng vnto the shippes, enforced theyr enemies to stryke on lande, and there assaulted them so asprely, that the capitaine of the Romaynes, called Lucatius, mought easily take them. Sir T. Elyot. The Governour, b. i. c. 17.

We should not muche nede with wordes and reasoning, to extenuate and minysh the vygour and asperite of the paynes, but the greatter and the more bitter that the passion wer, the more ready was of olde tyme the feruor of faith to suffer it. Sir T. More. Workes, p. 1218. All base notes or very treble notes give an asper sound. Bacon. Nat. Hist. § 173.

Your gracious precedence in this asperous and narrow way of the cross (wherein your vertue doth prescribe the order of their march) may well draw every generous minde off from the thoughts of their own private distresses.

Montague. Dev. Essayes. The Epis. Dedicatory.

The level surface of clear water being by agitation asperated with a multitude of unequal bubbles, does thereby acquire a whiteness; and a smooth piece of glass, by being scratched with a diamond, does in the asperated part of its surface disclose the same colour.-Boyle. Works, vol. i. p.683.

He seemes not consonant to himself about the red, which, as you have seen in one place, he represents as somewhat more asperous than the blue; and in another, very smooth. Id. Ib. p. 682.

I can scarce believe, that our blind man could tell all the colours he did, merely by the ribbons having more or less of asperity; so that I cannot but think, notwithstanding this history, that the blind man distinguished colours not only by the degrees of asperity in the bodies offered to him, but by forms of it, though this (latter) would perhaps have been very difficult for him to make an intelligible mention of. Id. Ib.

The example of our Saviour is accommodated for all men; especially conducting them in the hardest and roughest parts of the way leading to bliss, the acclivities and asperities of duty.-Barrow, vol. iii. Ser. 42.

I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the publick should consider me as owing that to a patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself. Johnson. Letter to Lord Chesterfield. Used as we now use espy. See ESPY and SPY.

ASPY, v.
ASPY, n.
Whan the geandes were alle y slawe, that ther bi leued

no mo,

Brut wende forth into Engolond, and aspiede vp and doun For to seche an ese place, to make an heued toun. R. Gloucester, p. 23. Tite that hadde be with me while he was hethene was compellid to be circuncidid, but for false brithren that weren brought yn whiche hadden entried to aspie oure fredom which we han in crist iesus to brynge us into seruage, &c. Wiclif. Galathies, c. 2. For Jon seide to Eroude it is not leveful to thee to have the wyf of thi brothir, and Erodias leide aspies to him and wolde sle him and myghte not.-Id. Mark, c. 6.

In due season, as she alway aspied
Euery thing to execute conueniently
The one louer first frendly she eied
The second she offred the cuppe curtesly.

ASS. A'SININE. A'SSISH.

}

Chaucer. The Rem. of Loue.
Fr. Asne; It. Asino; Sp. Asno;
Lat. Asinus, of uncertain etymo-
logy. See Vossius.

The comon of the oste bouht tham hors flesch,
Or mules or assis roste, or haf bien mete lesse.

R. Brunne, p. 175. And anoon ye shulen fynde an asse tied, and colt with him, untye ye, and bryngeth to me.-Wiclif. Matt. c. 21.

And saide awake full wonderliche and sharpe
What sloumbrest thou, as in a litargie.
Or art thou like an asse to the harpe

That hereth soun, whan men ye strings ply?

Chaucer. Troilus, b. i. After wordly estimation the ignorauntes the simple sorte, and suche as can no skill of fraude or falsehood appeare to be of the assishe kinde.-Udal. Luke, c. 19.

As when (the boys o'erpow'r'd) a sluggish ass,
Whose tough sides erst have shiver'd many a staff,
Enters the harvest, and the spiry ears

Crops persevering: with their rods the boys
Still ply him hard, but all their puny might
Scarce drives him forth when he has brows'd his fill.
Cowper. Homer. Iliad, b. xi.
Fr. Assaillir; It. Assalire;
Bar. Lat. Adsallire; Lat.
Adsilire, to leap to or against,
(Ad-salire, from the Greek
αλλεσθαι, to leap.)

ASSAIL. ASSA'ILABLE. ASSAILANT, adj. ASSAILANT, n. ASSA'ILER. ASSA'ILMENT.

To leap, spring, or run against; to rush upon, to fall upon, to invade, to attack; (to assault, qv.)

The kyng made hym wrothynow, and no wonder yt was, That strange men in hys owne londe dude hym such trespas,

That a sailede ys lond, and to robbereye drowe,
And robbede ys bestes and ys game, and hys men slowe.
He wende with all ys power, and sailede hem a non.
R. Gloucester, p. 16.
Bot Alfride his brother gede to the bataile.
He was ouer hardy, the Danes he gan assaile.
R. Brunne, p. 23.
How may this be (qd. I) for often han shrewes me as-
sailed, and mokell badnesse therein haue I founden.
Chaucer. The Test. of Loue, b. ii.

And whan that he was enbatailed,
He goth, and hath the felde assailed,
And slough, and toke all that he fonde.

Gower. Con. A. b. ii. They that be euill, beene alwaics double euill, because they beare armour defensiue, to defend their owne euils: and armes offensiue to assaile the good maners of other. Golden Boke, c. 15. Diuers daies this assault cōtinued, not to the litle losse of the Englishemen, which toke more harme of the defeders then they gat hurte of the assailantes.-Hall. Hen.V. an. 5. For what a filthy thing is drunkenesse and gluttony? The greatest assailers of chastity and shamefastnesse; and enemies of honest name. Vices. Instruct. of a Christ. Woman, b. ii. c. 10. Bar. Sit downe a-while, And let vs once againe assaile your ears, That are so fortified against our story, What we two nights haue seene

Shakespeare. Hamlet, Act i. sc. 1.
On either side
Disparted Chaos over built exclaim'd,
And with rebounding surge the barrs assail'd.
That scorn'd his indignation.-Milton. Par. Lost, b. x.
Thou know'st, that Banqo and his Fleans lives.
Lady. But in them. nature's coppies not eterne.
Macb. There's comfort yet, they are assaileable.
Shakespeare. Macbeth, Act iii. sc. 2.

And as an ev'ning dragon came,
Assailant on the perched roosts,
And nests in order rang'd,

Of tame villatic fowle.-Milton. Samson Agonistes.

I opened it (not without fear and assailment of my senses) knowing that it must have been some serious occasion which could move her to write unto me, being absent, seeing she did it so rarely, even when I was present.

Shelton. Don Quixote.

New pangs of mortal fear our minds assail,
We tug at ev'ry oar, and hoist up ev'ry sail;
And take th' advantage of the friendly gale.
Dryden. Virgil. Eneis, b. iii.

His most frequent assailment was the head-ach, which he used to relieve by inhaling the steam of coffee, which he frequently required.-Johnson. Life of Pope.

He would not stoop To conquer those by jocular exploits, Whom truth and soberness assail'd in vain. Cowper. Task, b. ii. Fr. Assassin; It. Assassino; Sp. Assasino; of unsettled etymology; though Caseneuve, Menage, and Du Cange, particularly the two former, have written much, and learnedly, upon it. Applied to—

ASSASSIN, n. ASSASSIN, v. ASSASSINACY. ASSA'SSINATE, v. ASSA'SSINATE, n. ASSASSINATION. ASSASSINATOR. ASSASSINATOUS.

One who attacks unawares, and murders those unprepared for defence.

Assassin is used as a verb by Stillingfleet. Assassinate, n. is applied both to the act and the agent. The verb, in Milton, is to beset, to assail-assassin-like—as he himself expresses it.

I find that the Saracen prince, of whom the name of th assassins is derived, which had divers votaries at command ment, which he sent and employed to the killing of diver princes in the east, by one of whom Amurath the First wa slain, and Edward the First of England was wounded, wa put down and rooted out by common consent of the Maho metan princes.-Bacon. Works, vol. ii. p. 593.

The Syrian king, who, to surprise

One man, assassin-like, had levied war-
Warr unproclaimed.-Milton. Paradise Lost, b. xi.

This spiritual assassinacy, this deepest dye of bloude bein most satanically designed on souls, and (because they can not get these into their power) practising it in effigie. Hammond, Works, vol. i. p. 470

Divulging first a fair apology
Of his clear heart, touching the foul report
Of that assassinate; which utterly
He doth abjure: protesting, in no sort,
T' agree thereto, in will or privity.

Daniel. Civil Wars, b. iv

Sam. Such usage as your honourable lords
Afford me, assassinated and betray'd,
Who durst not, with ther whole united powers,
In fight withstand me, single and unarm'd.

Milton. Samson Agonistes, v. 1100

And let him ask the Jesuits about him, whether it be not their known doctrine and also practice, not by fair and du process of justice to punish kings and magistrates, which we disavow not, but to murder them in the basest and mos assassinous manner, if their church interest so require. Id. On the Articles of Peace

But when your rhimes assassinate our fame,
You hug your nauseous blund'ring ballad-wits,
And pay 'em as if nonsense were a merit

If it can mean but treason.-Dryd. Duke of Guise, Act
Ed. But, one thing more,

Jocasta told me thou wert by the chariot
When the old king was slain? Speak, I conjure thee,
For I shall never ask thee ought again.-
What was the number of the assassinates?

Id. Edipus, Act i

Can God be as well pleased with him that assassines h parents, as with him that obeys them ?-Stilingfleet. Ser.

He [Oliver Cromwell] said, assassinations were suc detestable things that he would never begin them: but any of the king's party should endeavour to assassinate hin and fail in it, he would make an assassinating war of it, an destroy the whole family.-Burnet. Own Time, b. i.

In the judgment of mankind, some heinous offenders, a parricides, the assassinators of kings, the betrayers of the country, contract so great a guilt as exceeds the most e quisite torments that the criminal can endure.

Bates. On the Immortality of the Soul, c. 1 ASSATION. Lat. Assare, to roast.

In the assation or roasting, it [an egg] will sometim abate a dracm, that is threescore grains in weight. Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. vi. c. 2 Assation is a concoction of the inward moisture by he its opposite is semiustulation.

Burton. Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 2

Thys Knout bygan to reste, tho ys assaut was ydo, And bet Edmond, as in pes, aword hure other tuo. R. Gloucester, p. 3 Kyng Suane gaf assaut, the walles to assaile, Mykelle folk he les, & tynt his trauaile.-R. Brunne, p. But whanne there was maad an asaught of the heth men and the iewis with their prynces to turmente and stoone hem, thei undirstoden and fledden togidre to citees of licaonye and listris and derben, and into all cuntre aboute.-Wiclif. Dedis, c. 14.

Whe ther was an assaute made both of ye Gentyles & of the Jewes with their rulers, to do the violece & to st the, they werre ware of it, & fled vnto Lystra & De cities of Lycaonia, & vnto the region yt lyeth roud about Bible, 1539.

& thei maden an asaught with oo wille in to the tea & tooken gayus and aristark, men of macedonye, felowi poul.-Wiclif. Dedis, c. 19.

And by assaut he wan the citee after,
And rent adoun bothe wall and sparre, and rafter.
Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v.

The lofty pine the great winde often rives;
With violenter swey falne turrets stepe;
Lightnings assaut the hie mountaines and clives.
Surrey. Praise of Meane Estate.

When the master of the ordinaunce had all thinges ready, at the houre of ifil. of the clocke in the mornyng he discharged the ordinaŭce continually in suche fashion, that by vil of the clocke the xxviii. day of October the walles were male lowe & the toune assautable.-Hall. Hen. VIII. an. 15.

Also the sated capitain and his compaignie promise, to defend the said castle against all commers, beeyng gentle

of name and armes, and the assaulters to deuise, all Kazer of engynes for the assaulting, edge tole to breake the house and ground, onely except.-Id. Ib. an. 16.

At length a universal hubbub wilde Of stunning sounds and voices all confus'd, Torn through the hollow dark assaults his eare With loudest vehemence.-Milton. Paradise Lost, b. il. Thereupon there was a hot assault given to the city of Placentia, with great store of sundry engines. Howbeit, Starina's men had the better, and having with great slaughter repulsed the assailante, they saved one of the goodliest, the greatest, and most flourishing cities of all Italy.

North. Plutarch, p. 871.

ASSAY, v. ASSA'T, M.

Fr. Essayer; It. Assaggiare; Sp. Ensayár. See To ESSAY.

To prove; to take or make proof; to make trial, to try, to attempt.

So that he maste for myseise awei at the ende.

The other dogter be hadde a sayed, that he ne durste to

hire wyude.-R. Gloucester, p. 34.

It was on a day Edward thouht a wile,
He said he wild say ther hors alle in a mile.

R, Brunne, p. 219. B: 6th thei passiden the reed see as bi drye lond, which thing egipcians asaiyage weren deuoured.

Wiclif. Ebrewis, c. 11.

By fayth they passed thorow ye reed see as by drye lāde: which when the Egypeyas had assayea to do, they were forward-Bible, 1539. Ib.

He went his way, and neuer the preest him sey
After that day: and whan that this preest shold
Maken casos, at swiche time as he wold,

Of this rereft, farewel, it n'olde not be.

Chaucer. The Chanones Yemannes Tale, v. 16,851.

Neyther is it enoughe to haue taken a slendre taste or assage therof, but it muste be receyued and conueyghed lato the verage bowels, that as soone as it is receiued within the stomake, the vertue therof maye haue full course to reane euery waye throughout all the veins.

Udal. Pref. to Luke.

I haue two boyes
Seeke Percy and thy seife about the field:
But seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily,
I wa. assay thee: so defend thy selfe.

Shakespeare. 1 Part Hen. IV. Act. v. sc. 4.

Great are thy vertues, doubtless, best of fruits,
Though kept from man, and worthy to be admir'd,
We taste, too long forborn, at first assay,
Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise.
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. ix.

She thrice assay'd to speak; her accents hung
And falt ring dy'd unfinish'd on her tongue,
vanish'd into sighs: with long delay
Her voice return'd; and found the wonted way.
Dryden. Ceya & Alcyone.

Ha Eneus also, warrior gray with age,
Ascending to his chamber, and his doors
Fiting importunate, with earnest pray'rs
Ansy'd to soften, kneeling to his son,
For less his sisters woo'd him to relent,
Not less his mother.

ASSECURE.

ASSECT'RANCE.

Cowper. Homer. Iliad, b. ix. The Bar. Lat. Assecurare, Assecuratio, appear to have been in very common use; from the Lat. Securus; whence the Fr. Seur, Asser, Eng. Sure, Assure, (qv.)

ASSECURATION.

Can never mischief end as it begun;

But being once out, must farther out of force?
Think you, that any means under the sun,
Can assecure so indirect a course?-Daniel. Civil War, b.iii.

Sin is not helped but by being assecured of pardon.

Hooker. Eccles. Pol. b. vi.

But how far then reaches this assecuration? So far as to exclude all fears, all doubting and hesitation? Neither of these.-Bp. Hall. Ser. 43. Good Security.

ASSECUTION. Lat. Assecutio, from Assecutus, past part. of Assequi; (Ad, and sequi, to follow.)

A following up, an overtaking, an obtaining.

By the canon law, a person, after he has been in full possession of a second benefice, cannot return to his first, because it is immediately void by his assecution of a second.

ASSEMBLANCE.

Ayliffe. Parergon.

The same as Semblance, (Skinner.) Fr. Sembler, from the Lat. Simulare, to make like.

Likeness, representation.

There be none byshoppes excepte that of congruence ought to liue more after the ghospeli then princes. But they oftentymes by simplicitie vnder an assemblance of deuocion be deceyued.-Udal. Pref. to John.

Falst. Will you tell me [Master Shallow] how to chuse a man? Care I for the limbe, the thewes, the stature. bulke and bigge assemblance of a man? give mee the spirit [Master Shallow.]-Shakes. 2 Part Hen. IV. Act iii. sc. 2.

They were a X thousande men of armes, and in ye feldes mo than a hūdred thousand horse; there neuer was suche assemble made in Bretayne before.-Berners. Frois. c. 333.

In the mornyng earlye after they had counsayled together afreshe, the hye priestes, with the elders, scrybes and al the whole assemble, led him awaye with his armes bounde, and deliuered him vnto Pilate to be iudged.-Udal. Marke, c. 13.

For the which occasion after the assembling of these wise men, the Emperour commaunded to examine them, and to be enfourmed of the bloude of theyr predecessours. Golden Boke, c. 6.

For your confession of faith which you say shall be published by your assemblers, if that be to be used in the service of God, then must there be some new direction for it put into the directory.-Hammond. Works, vol. i. p. 193.

-Anon
Grey-headed men and grave, with warriors mixt,
Assemble, and harangues are heard.
Millon. Paradise Lost, b. xi.

So, as he traueled vpon the way,
He chaune't to come, where happily he spide
A rout of many people farre away;
To whom his course he hastily applide,
To weet the cause of their assemblance wide.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, b. v. c. 4.

None better, knows then you
How I haue euer lou'd the life remoued;
And held in idle price to haunt assemblies
Where youth, and cost, and witlesse brauery keepes.
Shakespeare. Meas. for Meas. Act i. sc. 4.

He scarce had finisht, when such murmur fill'd
Th' assembly, as when hollow rocks retain
The sound of blustering winds, which all night long
Has rous'd the sea.
Millon. Paradise Lost, b. ii.

If they can poll an indifferent number out of a mob; if they can produce a set of Lancashire noddles, remote provincial head-pieces, or visionary assemblers, to attest a story of a witch upon a broomstick, and a flight in the air; they triumph in the solid proof of their new prodigy, and cry, magna est veritas et prævalebit. Shaftsbury. Charact. On Wit, pt. iv.

At length there issu'd from the grove behind
A fair assembly of the female kind:

A train less fair, as ancient fathers tell,
Seduc'd the sons of Heaven to rebel.

Dryden. Flour & Leaf.

In sweet assemblage every blooming grace
Fix love's bright throne in Teraminta's face.

Fenton. Ep. to Mr. Lambard.

From ev'ry clime they come

To see thy beauty and to share thy joy,
O Sion! an assembly such as earth
Saw never, such as heav'n stoops down to see.

ASSE/NT, v.
ASSENT, n.

ASSENTATION.
ASSENTATOR.
ASSENTATORILY.
ASSENTER.
ASSENTMENT.

Cowper. Poems. Fr. Assentir; It. Assentire, Lat. Assentiri, (Ad-sentire.)

To think, to feel, to think the same, to be of the same opinion, to agree, comply, yield.

Assentation is used for pretended assent, flattery, adulation. Lat. Assentatio.

The Monenday that felle to be next after the tuelft day,
The kyng of France and he, at the riuer of S. Rymay,
Held a parlement, gode sikernes to make,
That bothe with on assent the way suld vndertake.
R. Brunne, p. 147.

him dredynge hem that weren of circumcisioun, and the

But whanne thei weren come he withdrough and departide othere iewis assentiden to his feynyng, so that barnabas was drawen of hem into that feynyng.-Wiclif. Galathies, c. 2.

But, lordes, wol ye maken assurance,

As I shal say, assenting to my lore?
And I shal make us sauf for evermore.
They sworen, and assented every man
To live with hire and die, and by hire stond.

Chaucer. The Man of Lawes Tale, v. 4764.

And if you liketh alle by on assent
Now for to stonden at my jugement:-
Hold up your hondes withouten more speche.

Id. The Prologue, v. 779.

Other there be, which in a more honest terme may be called assentatours, or followers, whiche do awayte diligently, what is the fourme of the speche and gesture of theyr mayster, and also other his maners and facion of garmentes: and to the imitatio and resemblance thereof they applie theyr study.-Sir T. Elyot. The Governovr, b. ii. c. 14. -The bold design

Pleas'd highly those infernal states, and joy
Sparkl'd in all their eyes; with full assent
They rose.
Milton. Paradise Lost, b. ii.

One would think hell should have little need of the fawning assentation of others, when men carry so dangerous parasites in their own bosoms; but, sure, both together must needs help to people that region of darkness.

Bp. Hall. Soliloquie, 75. It is a fearful presage of ruin, when the prophets conspire in assentation.-Id. Contem. Death of Ahab.

I have no purpose vainly or assentatorily to represent this greatness [of Britain], as in water, which shews things bigger than they are, but rather, as by an instrument of art, helping the sense to take a true magnitude and dimension. Bacon. Works, vol. ii. p. 246.

She is not an assenter (though thousands be) to that rabbinical rule, cited in Drucius, from Rabbi Haurica: let a man clothe himself (saith he) beneath his ability, his children according to it, and his wife above it! Whitlock. Manners of the English. With excusable reservation may we shrink at their bare testimonies, whose argument is but precarious, and subsists upon the charity of our assentments.

Brown. Vulgar Errours, b. i. c. 7.

It is but a very little while before we shall all certainly be of this mind that the best thing we could have done in this world, was to prepare for the other. Could I represent to you that invisible world which I am speaking of, you would all readily assent to this counsel.

Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 34. Consider then and judge me in this light: I told you when I went, I would not write; You said the same; and are you discontent With laws, to which you gave your own assent? Pope. Imit. of Horace, b. ii. Ep. 2.

Subscription to articles of religion, though no more than a declaration of the subscribers' assent, may properly enough be considered in connection with the subject of oaths, because it is governed by the same rule of interpretations. Paley. Moral Philosophy, b. iii. c. 22.

ASSERT. ASSERTA'CION. ASSERTION.

ASSERTIVE. ASSERTIVELY. ASSERTOR. A'SSERTORY.

dicate.

To join, or add to; to join, or add as a cause, as a reason; to affirm, to maintain, to vinSee the quotation from Tooke.

And hole bokes would it hold, both ye confuting of theirs, and vnto them the assertacion of our owne, specially for yt thei receiue not our scripture, and betwene the and vs nothig comune to groud vpon but reason.

Sir T. More. Workes, p. 141.

And, therfore, while he doth but tel vs and proue it not, and so vnder proppeth his assercion wt it self: he sheweth himself as wise, as one that lest hys rotten house should fall, wold go about to take down ye rofe, and pull vp ye groūdsel to vndershore the sides with the same. Id. Ib. p. 473. Read it interrogatively, and it is as strong for Soto and the Dominicans; if it be read assertively, for Catherine and the Jesuits.-Bp. Bedel. Letters, p. 403.

-That tongue

Inspir'd with contradiction durst oppose
A third part of the gods, in synod met

Thir deities to assert.-Milton. Paradise Lost, b. vi.

[We all acknowledge that the whole Church of God kept the faith intire, and transmitted faithfully to after ages the whole faith.] Well what says he to this principle? He says, this principle as to the positive part is good, and assertive of tradition.-Bp. Taylor. Dissuas. from Popery, pt.ii. Introd. If the very voice of nature did not so sufficiently confute thee, that even thine own most eminent heathens have herein taken part against thee, living and dying strong assertors of the soul's immortality. Id. Temptations Repelled, Dec. 1. T. 4.

We have not to do here with a promissory oath, the obligation whereof is for another inquisition: it is the assertory oath, that is now under our hand; which the great God, by whom we swear, hath ordained to be an end of controversies. Id. Cases of Conscience, Dee. 2. c. 5.

But whether each of them be according to the kinds of oaths divided by the schoolmen, one assertory, the other promissory, to which some add a third, comminatory, is to me unknown.-Fuller. Worthies. Cornwall.

Now nothing is more shameful and unworthy a natural philosopher than to assert any thing to be done without a cause, or to give no reason of it.-Ray. On the Creation.

I can hardly believe any one will assert, that a parcel of mere matter left altogether to itself, could ever of itself begin to move. If there is any such bold assertor, let him fix his eyes upon some lump of matter, ex. gr. a stone, piece of timber, or a clod clear'd of all animals, and peruse it well. Wollaston. Religion of Nature, s. 5.

The fourth awarded lot (for he had fourth Arriv'd) Meriones asserted next, The golden talents.-Cowper. Homer. Iliad, b. xxiii. For the verb does not denote any time; nor does it imply any assertion. No single word can. Till one single thing can be found to be couple, one single word cannot make an ad-sertion, or an adfirmation: for there is joining in that operation and there can be no junction of one thing. Tooke, vol. ii. p. 432. Among the assertors of regal authority, I never fail'd to declaim with republican warmth upon the original charter of universal liberty, the corruption of courts, and the folly of voluntary submission to those whom nature has levelled with ourselves.-Johnson. Rambler, No. 95.

ASSESS, v.
Asse'ss, n.
ASSE'SSIONARY.

ASSE'SSING, n.
ASSESSMENT.

Fr. Assis; It. Assesso. Skinner says, Assess, or Sess, from the It. Assessare, to impose a tax (Assesso), which never is imposed unless by an Assize (nisi ab assessu) of men appointed for the purpose. Lord Berners writes To Assize (qv.)

To sit, or hold a sitting or assize; sc. for the purpose of imposing a rate or tax; and, consequentially

To rate, to tax, to fix, settle the sum to be levied.

Writynges wer sent to al shires, to certifie the names of menne of fourtie pounde, to receiue the ordre of knighthood, or els to make a fine: the assessement of whiche fines, were appoynted to Thomas Cromwell, Master of the Kynge's Juell house.-Hall. Hen. VIII. an. 24.

equall contribution and paiment, proportionably to the

He it was that devised and brought up the manner of assessment and rate of men's goods.-Id. Ib. p. 31.

One of the answers of the jury, upon their oaths at the assessionary court, I have inserted. Carew. Survey of Cornwall.

Minos, the strict inquisitor, appears; And lives and crimes, with his assessors, hears. Dryden. Virgil. En. b. vi. This sum [the amount of land tax] is assessed and raised upon individuals by commissioners appointed in the act. Blackstone. Commentaries, b. i. c. 8.

In the beginning of the civil wars between Charles the 1st and his parliament, the latter having no other sufficient revenue to support themselves and their measures, introduced the practice of laying weekly and monthly assessments of a specifick sum upon the several counties of the kingdom. Id. Ib. -Pausanias sat the judge, Callicrates and Emnestus wise, His two assessors.

A'SSETS. A'SSETH. Satis.

Glover. Athenaid, b. xxiii. Fr. Assez; It. Assai, which Menage thinks are from the Latin

Enough; sufficient.

And if it suffice not for asseth.-Piers Plouhman, p. 94. And Pilat, willynge to make aseeth [sufficiens facere] to the puple lefte to hem Barabas, and bitooke to hem Jhesus betun with scorgis to be crucified.-Wiclif. Mark, c. 15. And though on heapes that lie him by, Yet neuer shall make his richesse

Asseth vnto his gredinesse.-Chaucer. Rom. of the Rose. Whatever is so recovered, that is of a saleable nature, and may be converted into ready money, is called assets in the hands of the executor or administrator; that is sufficient or enough (from the French assez) to make him chargeable to a creditor or legatee, so far as such goods and chattels extend.-Blackstone. Commentaries, b. ii. c. 32.

ASSE/VER. It. Asseverare; Sp. AsseASSEVERA'TION. verar; Lat. Asseverare, quasi severe dicere; from ad and severus. See SEVERE. To say or declare, affirm or assert, seriously, earnestly, solemnly.

M. Hardinge, as wel here, as els where thinkethe it an easy mater, with the bold asseveration to smoothe his vnlearned simple reader.-Bp. Jewell. Def. of the Apol. p. 61.

Anselmus, though otherwise a severe and a very austere man, yet is so sweetened and mollified with the conceit of this musick (the harmony of heaven), that he not only assevereth it, but also endeavoureth, with great pains and labour, to set out the true musical proportion of it. Fotherby. Atheomania.

Mar. - Therefore, if you're right, Make me not fear it by asseverations, But speak your heart, and O resolve me truly. Dryden. Duke of Guise, Act v.

The mind that lies fallow but a single day, sprouts up in follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous culture. Spectator, No. 10.

A scholar is industrious, who doth assiduously bend his mind to study for getting knowledge. Barrow. vol. iii. Ser. 20

Often as she mounts

Or quits the car, his arm her weight sustains
With trembling pleasure. His assiduous hand
From purest fountains wafts the living flood.

Glover. Leonidas, b. viii.
ASSIEGE, v. Fr. Assieger; It. Assediare,
ASSIEGE, n. to sit before; Lat. Ad-sedere.
To sit down (before a town, fortress.)
The common word now in use is Besiege.
Kyng Arture and ys poer aseged hym wythoute.

R. Gloucester, p. 184. Swiche wondring was ther on this hors of bras, That sin the gret assege of Troye was, Ther as men wondred on an hors also, Ne was ther swiche a wondring, as was tho.

Chaucer. The Squiere's Tale, v 10,620.

Then ye duke hauyng in his ayde the kyng of Nauern, the duke of Normandy, with the erle of Escamps and of Flaundres, assieged ye castel of Chausy, & at the ende of vi. wekes wan the same, & after yede vnto the cytie of Besenson & layd siege to it also.

Fabyan. Philip de Valoys, an. 8.

I leave what glory virtue did attain
At th' ever-memorable Agincourt.

I leave to tell, what wit, what pow'r did gain
Th' assieged Roan Caen, Dreux; or in what sort.

ASSIGN, v. ASSIGN, n. ASSIGNABLE. ASSIGNATION. ASSIGNEE. ASSIGNER. ASSIGNMENT.

Daniel. Civil War, b. v. Fr. Assigner; It. Assignare; Sp. Assignar; Lat. Assignare, (Ad-signare,) to mark or sign. See SIGN.

To mark out, to fix, to appoint, to allot, to apportion, to transfer to.

And wat thyng he adde assygned ys tueye bretheren al so.
R. Gloucester, p. 314.

The lerid and the lay granted that thei said,
And assigned a day, that taxe to be laid.

R. Brunne, p. 247. Sche sat up aghen, and he took hir bi the hond, and reiside hir, & whanne he hadde clepid the hooly men and widewis he assignyde hir alyue.-Wiclif. Dedis, c. 9.

At last, as forced by false Ulysses crye, purpose he brake fourth, assigning me To the altar.

The greate thinges of the worlde are ministred by then [the prelates]: neyther do the lay people any great thing but at their assignement.-Tyndal. Workes, p. 101.

And foorthwith in oure presences and other he [Richar the Second] subscribed the same [his resignation], and afte delyuered it vnto the Archebyshop of Cauntorbury, saiyn that if it were in his power or at his assignement, he woul that the Duke of Lancaster, there present, should be hi successor and king after him.-Grafton. Rich. II. an. 23. In hast whereof, most heartily I pray Your highnesse to assigne our triall day.

Shakespeare. Rich. II. Act i. sc. 1 If there be neither heir, nor executor, nor administrato nor assign, the poor, saith our Saviour, ye shall have alway with you make thou them your heir: turn your debt int alms.-Bp. Hall. Cases of Conscience, Dec. 1. c. 6.

This order being taken in the senate, as touching th appointment and assignation of those provinces, then it w thought good that the new consuls should cast lots for the governments.-Holland. Livy, p. 919.

And the holiest man that ever was upon earth, can more assign and make over his righteousness, or repentanc or any part of either, to another that wants it, than a ma can bequeath his wisdom or learning to his heir or his frien Tillotson, vol. i. Ser. 3

Nor does want of memory, or slowness of perception, a pear in persons of a middle age, but from some assigna cause that discomposes the organ. Reflections of Mr. Clarke's Second Defen