a primary and a fecondary idea in them; as when I hear my neighbour fpeak that which is not true, and I fay to him, This is not true, or this is falfe, I only convey to him the naked idea of his error; this is the primary idea: But if I fay it is a lie, the word lie carries alfo a fecondary idea in it, for it implies both the falsehood of the speech and my reproach and cenfure of the speaker. On the other hand, if I fay it is a mistake, this carries alfo a fecondary idea with it; for it not only refers to the falfehood of his speech,but includes my tenderness and civility to him at the fame time. Another inftance may be this; when I use the word inceft, adultery, and murder, I convey to another not only the primary idea of thofe actions, but I include alfo the fecondary idea of their unlawfulness, and my abhorrence of them.

Note ift....Hence it comes to pass, that among words which fignify the fame principle ideas, fome are clean and decent, others unclean; fome chafte, others obfcene; fome are kind, others are affronting and reproachful, because of the fecondary idea which cuftom has affixed to them. And it is the part of a wife man, when there is a neceffity of expreffing any evil actions, to do it either by a word that has a fecondary idea of kindness or foftness, or a word that carries with it an idea of rebuke and feverity, according as the cafe requires: So when there is a neceflity of expreffing things unclean or obfcene, a wife man will do it in the most decent language, to excite as few uncleanly ideas as poffible in the minds of the hearers.

Note 2d....In length of time, and by the power of custom, words fometimes change their primary ideas, as fhall be declared, and fometimes they have changed their fecondary ideas, though the primary ideas may remain: So words that were once chafte by frequent ufe grow obscene and uncleanly; and words that were once honourable may, in the next generation, grow mean and contemptible. So the word dame originally fignified a mistress of a family, who was a lady; and it is ufed ftill in the English law to fignify a lady, but in common ufe now a-days it represents a farmer's wife, or a mistress of a family of the lower rank in the country. So those words of Rabfbaketh, Ifa. xxxvi. 12, in our tranflation, (eat there own dung, &c.) were doubtless decent and

clean language, when our tranflators wrote them, above a hundred years ago. The word eat has maintained its old fecondary idea and inoffenfive sense to this day; but the other word in that fentence has by cuftom acquired a more uncleanly idea, and fhould now rather be changed into a more decent term, and fo it fhould be read in public, unless it should be thought more proper to omit the fentence.* For this reafon it is that the Jewish Rabbins have fupplied other chafte words in the margin of the Hebrew Bible, where the words of the text, through time and cuftom, are degenerated, fo as to carry any bafe and unclean fecondary idea in them; and they read the word which is in the margin, which they call keri, and not that which was written in the text, which they called chetib.

er.

III. W

SECT. IV.

OF WORDS COMMON AND PROPER.

ORDS and names are either common or propCommon names are fuch as ftand for univerfal ideas, or a whole rank of beings, whether general or special. These are called appellatives; fo fifh, bird, man, city, riv er, are common names; and fo are trout, eel, lobfter, for they all agree to many individuals, and fome of them to many fpecies; But Cicero, Virgil, Bucephalus, London, Rome, Etna, the Thames, are proper names, for each of them agrees only to one fingle being.

Note here, firft, That a proper name may become in fome fenfe common, when it hath been given to several beings of the fame kind; fo Cefar, which was the proper name of the first emperor Julius, became also a common name to all the following emperors. And tea, which was the proper name of one fort of Indian leaf, is now-a-days become a common name for many infufions of herbs, or plants, in water; a fage tea, ale hoof tea, limon tea, &c. So

*Note....So in fome places of the facred hiftorians, where it is written, Every one that pisseth against the wall, we should read, every male.

E

Peter, Thomas, John, William, may be reckoned common names alfo, because they are given to many persons, unlefs they are determined to fignify a fingle perfon at any particular time or place.

Note in the fecond place, That a common name may become proper by custom, or by the time, or place, or perfons that use it; as in Great-Britain, when we fay the king, we mean our present rightful fovereign King GEORGE, who now reigns; when we fpeak of the prince, we intend his royal highness GEORGE Prince of Wales: If we mention the city, when we are near London, we generally mean the eity of London: when in a country town we fay the parfon, or the efquire, all the parish knows who are the fingle perfons intended by it; fo when we are speaking of the hiftory of the New Testament, and use the words Peter, Paul, John, we mean thofe three apoftles.

Note in the third place, That any common name whatsoever is made proper by terms of particularity added to it, as the common words pope, king, horse, garden, book, knife, &c. are defigned to fignify a fingular idea, when we fay, the prefent pope; the king of Great Britain; the horse that von the last plate at Newmarket; the royal garden at Kenfington; this book, that knife, &c.

Abstract terms fignify the mode or quality of a being, without any regard to the fubject in which it is; as whitenefs, roundness, length, breadth, wisdom, mortality, life, death.

Concrete terms, while they exprefs the quality, do alfo either express or imply, or refer to fome fubject to which it belongs; as white, round, long, broad, wife, mortal, living, dead. But thefe are not always noun adjectives in a grammatical fenfe; for a fool, a knave, a philofopher, and many other concretes, are fubftantives, as well as knavery, folly, and philofophy, which are the abstract terms that belong to them.

SECT. VI.

OF UNIVOCAL AND EQUIVOCAL WORDS.

v. WORDS and terms are either univocal or e

quivocal. Univocal words are fuch as fignify but one idea, or at least but one fort of thing; equivocal words are such as fignify two or more different ideas, or different forts of objects. The words book, bible, fifh, houfe, elephant, may be called univocal words; for I know not that they fignify any thing else but those ideas to which they are generally affixed; but head is an equivocal word, for it fignifies the head of a nail, or of a pin, as well as of an animal; Nail is an equivocal word, it is used for the nail of the hand, or foot, and for an iron nail to faften any thing. Poft is equivocal, it is a piece of timber, or a fift messenger. A church is a religious affembly, or the large fair building where they meet; and fometimes the fame word means a fynod of bishops, or of prefbyters, and in some places it is the pope and a general

council.

Here let it be noted, that when two or more words fignify the fame thing, as wave and billow, mead and meadow, they are usually called fynonymous words: But it feems ve ry strange, that words, which are directly contrary to each other, fhould fometimes represent almost the fame ideas; yet thus it is in fome few inftances; a valuable, or an invaluable bleffing; a shameful, or a shameless villain; a thick fkull, or a thin fkull'd fellow, a mere paper fkull; a man of a large confcience, little confcience, or no confcience; a famous rafcal, or an infamous one. So uncertain a thing is human language, whofe foundation and fupport is cuftom!

As words fignifying the fame thing are called fynony mous, fo equivocal words, or thofe which fignify feveral things, are called homonymous, or ambiguous; and when perfons ufe fuch ambiguous words with a defign to deceive, it is called equivocation..

Our fimple ideas, and especially the fenfible qualities, furnish us with a great variety of equivocal or ambiguous words; for thefe being the first and most natural ideas we have, we borrow fome of their names, to fignify many other

ideas, both fimple and complex. The word fweet expreffes the pleasant perceptions of almost every sense; fugar is fweet, but it hath not the same sweetness as mufic: nor hath mufic the sweetness of a rofe; and a sweet prospect differs from them all: Nor yet have any of these the same sweetnefs as difcourfe, council, or meditation hath; yet the royal Pfalmift faith of a man, We took fweet council together; and of God, My meditation of him fhall be fweet. Bitter is alfo fuch an equivocal word; there is bitter wormwood, there are bitter words, there are bitter enemies, and a bitter cold morning. So there is a fharpness in vinegar, and there is a fharpness in pain, in forrow, and in reproach! there is a fharp eye, a fharp wit, and a sharp fword: But there is not one of these seven sharpnesses the fame as another of them; and a fharp caft wind is different from them all.

Thefe are alfo verbs, or words of action, which are equivocal, as well as nouns or names. The words to bear, to take, to come, to get, are fufficient inftances of it; as when we fay, to bear a burden, to bear forrow or reproach, to bear a name, to bear a grudge, to bear fruit, or to bear children; the word bear is used in very different fenfes: And fo is the word get, when we fay, to get money, to get in, to get off, to get ready, to get a ftomach, and to get a cold, &c.

There is alfo a great deal of ambiguity in many of the English particles; as but, before, befide, with, without, that, then, there, for, forth, above, about, &c. of which grammars and dictionaries will fufficiently inform us.

SECT. VII.

VARIOUS KINDS OF EQUIVOCAL WORDS.

IT

T would be endless to run through all the varieties of words and terms which have different fenfes applied to them; I fhall only mention therefore a few of the moft remarkable and most useful diftinctions among them.

ift, The first divifion of equivocal words lets us know that fome are equivocal only in their found or pronunciation; others are equivocal only in writing; and others both i writing and in found.