Outlines of the History of the English Language

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1864 - 148 pages

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Page 136 - I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
Page 137 - The turtle to her make hath told her tale. Summer is come, for every spray now springs: The hart hath hung his old head on the pale; The buck in brake his winter coat he flings; The fishes flete with new repaired scale.
Page 143 - And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely : for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Page 144 - ... in waste places far from danger of law, maketh his mantle his house, and under it covereth himself from the wrath of heaven, from the offence of the earth, and from the sight of men. When it raineth, it is his pent-house ; when it bloweth, it is his tent ; when it freezeth, it is his tabernacle.
Page 137 - The swift swallow pursueth the flies smale; The busy bee her honey now she mings ; Winter is worn that was the flowers' bale. And thus I see among these pleasant things Each care decays ; and yet my sorrow springs.
Page 146 - There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
Page 146 - So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord ? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
Page 141 - For the philosopher, setting down with thorny argument the bare rule, is so hard of utterance, and so misty to be conceived, that one that hath no other guide but him shall wade in him till he be old before he shall find sufficient cause to be honest...
Page 144 - In woods, in waves, in warres, she wonts to dwell, And wil be found with perill and with paine ; Ne can the man, that moulds in ydle cell, Unto her happy mansion attaine : Before her gate High God did Sweate ordaine, And wakefull Watches ever to abide : But easy is the way and passage plaine To Pleasures pallace ; it may soone be spide, And day and night her dores to all stand open wide.
Page 93 - We have not indeed so clear a proof of the original pronunciation of the Saxon part of our language ; but we know, from general observation, that all changes of pronunciation are usually made by small degrees ; and therefore, when we find that a great number of those words, which in Chaucer's time ended in e, originally ended in...

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