does not mean here bowing or taking off the hat. But it conceals the meaning of smouch, which is neither more nor less than a strong term for a gentle performance, namely, to kiss; or, as this is reserved for refined society, it implies rather the hearty smack of low life, or a buss, in which conventional restraints are lost. We have, I believe, wholly thrown aside this signification, not, however, the act; and a smouch, or smooch, is, with New England people, a dirty mark along the cheek, as a smooch of paint, or ink, or charcoal-a sad let down from the old luxury. Tod's Johnson has smutch, to dirty with soot or coal; no doubt the

same.

Swop, to exchange. I take this from a Vocabulary of Lancashire Words. Britton has it also, among his Wiltshire Words. Jamison derives it from an Icelandic word. It is in "Chevy Chase," and there means to exchange blows.

At last the Douglas and the Perse met
Lyk to captayns of myght and mayne;
The swapte together tyll the both swat
With wondes that wear of fyn myllan.

PERCY'S RELIQUES.

In the ballad of the "Battle of Otterbourne," there is the same word. To swap horses, or anything else, is a very common expression in New England, but I have never heard it out of New England.

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T.

TAKE ON, to grieve. He took on terrible bad, for being depressed by misfortune or loss of friends, is common in New England. I have not met with it in any of the glossaries, yet it must have been in use two or three centuries ago, as it is in Middleton's "Michaelmas Time:"____

"Take on for my gold, my land, and my writings; grow worse and worse; call upon the devil, and so make an end;" and in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Scornful Lady:”—

"Alas, good soul, she cries and takes on!" TARRY, to stop, to stay. Won't you tarry awhile longer? Get off your horse, and tarry with us. This is an old and good word, of frequent use in Scripture and in Shakspeare. The first scene in "Troilus and Cressida" has it six times. The Persians have a word, tarir, that means tarrying.

TATEE, for potato. (Brockett.) It is not often heard, though taters, is common. They so call them in Suf

folk, England.

THICK, for intimate. (Brockett.) They are quite thick, is a frequent phrase.

THINGUMBOBS, nameless trifles.

Thingumbob is also a vulgar substitute for a person's name, when it is not immediately recollected. (Brockett.) In the latter way this is found very useful, and commonly applied; but it is not so frequent in the first sense.

5.

ere

I

TIPPY, smart, fine. (Brockett.) That's the tippy! was a boy's note of admiration for anything more than usually fine.

To, shut, close.

(Brockett, who brings it from the Dutch.) Shut that door to, means to close it tight. To Do, bustle, confusion. (Jennings.) Here's a to do! would be the exclamation of some dame, on finding that during her absence her things were pulled about and the children squalling.

TODDLE, to walk; to saunter about. (Brockett.) This has descended in its application from grown people to children: the little thing is just able to toddle. TO SQUAT. This word has a meaning peculiar to this country, and very significant. It means to enter on the lands of another person, and establish yourself, and exercise all the rights of a proprietor. Our government and individuals suffer from this species of robbery. In the wild and frontier portions of the country, the enlightened citizens have a very indistinct idea of "meum and tuum," and when once fairly settled, object very much to removing. The law and writs of ejectment avail very little. These highwaymen are known as squatters.

TOP, good, excellent. (Brockett.) He's a tip-top fellow,

I have heard, but not top alone, in the sense of good. TOTHER, TUTHER, for the other. (Brockett.) A very common vulgarism.

TOUCHWOOD. Wood in a state of extreme rottenness

and decay, supposed to possess the property of tinder,

from whence the name, as of taking fire at a touch. (Hallamshire Glossary.) The wood in this condition is called, as Mr. Pickering says, and as I well remember, everywhere in New England, punk; a corruption, no doubt, of spunk-punk meaning something very different from wood in any state. When we found it in the woods, we carried it home, and rubbed pieces of it together in the dark, when it gives a kind of phosphorescent light.

To VAY, to succeed; to turn out well; to go. This word

is most probably derived from the French aller, to go. It don't vay, that is, it does not go on well. (Jennings.) In New England they have a word, to fay, to fit: that fays nicely. Is it possible that it comes from vay? To fay, in Tod's Johnson, is altogether a different word. Bailey has, to fey, to do anything notably, and Holloway gives a phrase, it feys well, as common in Hampshire, for "the thing answers." This is our word and application, and comes probably from faire.

TOWARDS.

Is in Somersetshire invariably pronounced as a dissyllable, with the accent on the last syllable. (Jennings.) It is also so pronounced in New England, among those whom propriety and polish have not spoiled. TRANSMOGRIFIED, transformed; metamorphosed. (Brockett.) It is heard, but only as a burlesque word, never seriously.

TRICKY, for artful, cunning. (Brockett.) Very common here.

TRIM, to beat soundly. (Brockett.) To trim his jacket; or, he got such a trimming, are both common. TROUNCE. To punish by means of the law. (Britton.) To trounce one, or, to get a trouncing, implies physical suffering, not legal, with us.

TUSSEL, or TUSSLE, a struggle or contest. (Brockett.) I had such a tussle with him. (Hallamshire Glossary.) The word is common, though tustle does not imply a violent contest or fight.

TWITTER, to tremble; a teut; tittern. (Grose, who says it is a word in general use.) It is also in Brockett, who derives it from the German zittern. I am all of a twitter, I have heard as a burlesque expression, but it is no way in general use. It is used in Hampshire and Sussex, England.

and

Gray has hallowed it,

"The swallow, twittering from his straw-built shed," has relieved it from vulgarity.

V.

VURDER, VURDEST, for farther, farthest. (Jennings.) One hears, in New England, furder, furdest. VOYAGE. We may hear this word pronounced, in New England, vige he's gone a vige. I do not see it, in any of the glossaries, so corrupted, but it seems an old mode. In Peel's "Sir Clymon and Sir Clamydes," who wrote in the sixteenth century, there is this line:

"And afterwards having met our vige."