Classical Theology.

order , they have carefully established a regular hierarchal gradation of ranks and degrees amongst themselves . Like the sacerdotalists of Greece , the Brahmins of India organised a stately scheme of studied artifice and deceit , distorting truth for the mammon of unrighteousness , enriching the shrines of

innumerable deities , exhorting a people to an extreme state of inoffensive and harmless humanity , fanatically to be be immolated by funereal fire , or the rolling car of some triumphant image-god . But the march of knowledge has accomplished many victories in the cause of reformation , illustrative of that refulgent

spirit , "the true Light , " the Light of the World and of Life , brightly reflected in the admonitive letter of the Prince of Joudpore to Aurengzebe , divinely shining in the exhortive epistle of St . Paul to the Eomans , whereof it is held in view , " Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love , in honour preferring

one another . Bless them which persecute you , bless and curse not . Eecompense no man evil for evil . Provide things honest in the sight of all men . If it be possible , so much as lieth in you , live peaceably with all men . Avenge not yourselves , but rather give place unto wrathfor it is written Vengeance is

, mine , I will repay , saith the Lord . Therefore if thine enemy hunger , feed him ; if he thirst , give him drink , for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head . Be not overcome of evil , but overcome evil with good . "

Odd Words.

ODD WORDS .

From ugly surnames , about which so much has been said lately—the impropriety of changing them , notwithstanding the precedents among the upper ten thousand for doing so , as in . the case of the Percies late Smithsons , the desirability of making such unfortunate cognomens honourably distinguished above better-sounding names , as in the case of the numerous Bacons and Jones ' s—the

transition of stringing odd words in common use is irresistible . We have many words in everyday wear that appear to have no connexion , either by derivation or association , with the objects they represent . Some of these have been formed from derivations that are forgotten ; others from associations of idea that are now unknown . Before running over a few odd words used

especially in relation to architectural subjects , we will mention others of a general nature to illustrate our meaning in a wider range . We have all dealings with an individual represented by the word cordwainer . How can we connect this name with his trade of boot-making ? It might apply satisfactorily to a rope-maker ( from the French root cordon ); but how comes ib to represent a

bootmaker ? This is a word sprung from a remote association of ideas . Boots or shoes were once most esteemed when made of goat skins from Cordova , in Andalusia , in Spain Cordovan leather is the source from which the term Cordwainer has come into use . In the Stuart period this leather was used for gloves , and discarded as a materials for boots ; the word must , therefore , have been formed

at a still earlier date . Grocer is another eccentric word . The French term for the same trade is epieier . This we can understand , because the goods dealt in are spices : but whence grocer ? It appears this , was the name given in early English times to all wholesale merchants , that is , all dealers in vendable merchandise in the gross ; but as commerce developed the term was assigned to one of the twelve chief cempanies of London . Whence , too , the term liawlcers ? This has a most far-fetched significance . Hawkers are supposed from the earliest times to have

been deceitful dealers , ever ready , like the birds of that name , to prey upon their fellows , going to and fro for this purpose . It is almost like framing a conundrum to ask by what transmutation of terms a necktie has come to be called a cravat . The answer comes laden with the dignity of antiquity : cravats were a kind of neckcloth worn by the Groats . The word gooseberry is another

of the hundreds that require explanation to make them comprehensible to the etymologist . This fruit was in old times used as a sauce to green geese . At the beginning of last century it was as well known among country people by the words feabs and fea-berries . The names of localities are sometimes far fetched : to give one example only , —what stood upon the site of

Crooked or Crutched Friars ? Doubtless a Friary ; and then we recollect the connection between couch and cross , so antiquaries will say the names from the word cruciferi ( cross-bearers ) . Referring to words used in the building trades , ive know mason to be of French derivation ( macan ); plumber of Latin derivation [ plumbum ); glazier , of Saxon derivation ( glees ); smith , of Saxon derivation ; painter , of French

derivation ( peindre ); but ivhence slates and slaters , to say nothing of their curious names for different sized slates—ladies , countesses , duchesses ? Why eelater is French for " to split , " so here we get near it . Garvers ( from ceorfan ) and gilders ( from yildan ) , are of Saxon origin ; carpenters are of French connection ( cliarpentier ); and bricklayers are of Dutch nomenclature . Painters

( peiiictre ) and their brushes ( brosse ) are of French derivation . Building operations bein g of antediluvian antiquity , we would naturally look into the very early languages for their names ; but we should look in vain . To build takes us to the source of to establish and make firm ; to bore ( borian ) , and to dig ( die ) , have Saxon parentage . The names of tools in every-day use are derived from many

languages : tool ( tol ) , hammer ( limner ) , awl ( ale ) , axe ( acse ) , file ifeol ) , are Saxon saw comes from the Danish saive ; plane from the French ; but whence bradawl and gimlet ? The Saxons named our streets ( straet ) , lanes ( lana ) , and lands . Alleys , ' roads , places , terraces , entries , and passages are French introductions . Rotten-row is thought to be a corruption of Houte au roi , the king ' s road ; and it may not be difficult to guess how we get Amen-corner , nen . r St . Paul's .

Other words , again , are most oddly prolific m their sorts and elastic in their adaptation . Take two words in constant nse—circle and cross . There are at least a dozen distinct circles and at least a dozen different crosses . We speak of a wedding-ring as of a magic circle . Then there is the geometrical circle . Besides these there are circles of declination ( on the globe ) , on which the

declination or distance from the equator of any planet or star is counted in circles of longitude , which pass through the star and the pole of the ecliptic where they determine the star ' s longitude ; circles of position , where the horizon and meridian bisect one another ; the circle of inclination , a great circle of about the sun in tbe sphere of the fixed stars ; the circle of the equantdescribed on the centre

, of the equant , the use of which is to find the variation of the first inequality : then further varieties of astronomical circles—the circle of perpetual apparition , the circle of perpetual occultation , circles of altitude , and the circles of the empire , being the ten provinces into which G ermany is divided .

The perplexities of crosses arise principally from their heraldic differences . These are of the greatest importance in reality , aud therefore not to be confused with one another . There are , besides the plain cross , the cross avellane , the ends of which are like the husk of a filbert ; the cross fitchee , so called from being , as it were , fixed in the coat with a sharp end ; the cross fleury ,

a fleur-de-fys at each end ; tbe woss fourchet , forked ; the cross milrine , the ends being treated like the milrine of a mill-stone ; the cross patee , whose ends are broad and open ; and the cross potent , tbe ends of which are