If Professor Dwight were of those that, in common with the Addisons and Macaulays and Newmans, think it worth while to give some attention to diction, the thought conveyed in the paragraph under consideration would perhaps have been expressed somewhat in this wise:

"We have now passed in review some of the changes that, in the revision, have been made in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. It was not possible to cite them all, but a sufficient number of examples of the several classes described have been given to enable the reader to get a tolerable survey of the whole subject. Whatever may be said of the other parts of the New Testament, we think it will be generally admitted that in this epistle the changes have improved the translation. They make the English text conform more nearly to the Greek. This being true, the revisers have done a good work; and if it be also true with regard to all the New Testament books, the work that they have done will be a blessing to the readers of these books for the generations to come."

Die with-from. Man and brute die of, and not with or from, fevers, consumption, the plague, pneumonia, old age, and so on.

"The health officer decided that Fennel had died from [of] yellow fever, and accordingly the body was cremated." -N. Y. Sun.

Differ. Writers differ from one another in opinion with regard to the particle we should use with this verb. Some say they differ with, others that they differ from, their neighbors in opinion. The weight of authority is on the side of always using from, though A may differ with C from D in opinion with regard, say, to the size of the fixed stars. "I differ, as to this matter, from Bishop Lowth." -Cobbett. Different to is heard sometimes instead of

different from, but it is nowhere sanctioned by good usage.

'I regret to differ from some of my friends in Birmingham on this difficult question."-John Bright.

Directly. The Britons have a way of using this word in the sense of when, as soon as. This is quite foreign to its true meaning, which is, immediately, at once, straightway. They say, for example, "Directly he reached the city he went to his brother's."

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Directly he [the saint] was dead the Arabs sent his woolen shirt to the sovereign."-London News.

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Directly he entered," says a recent English writer, for as soon as he entered"; "immediately N.'s arrival was heard of," for "as soon as N.'s arrival was heard of," and similar phrases, are not good English.

Dr. Hall says of its use in the sense of as soon as: "But, after all, it may simply anticipate on the English of the future."

Dirt. This word means filth, or anything that renders foul and unclean, and means nothing else. It is often improperly used for earth or loam, and sometimes even for sand or gravel. We not unfrequently hear of a dirt road when an unpaved road is meant.

"Dirt," says an English writer, "is nearly always used by Americans in cases where earth is the correct word. Matter in the wrong place' is Lord Palmerston's description of dirt, and a capital definition it is. Thus, a drop of fruit-juice in a spoon is not dirt; but spill it on your shirt-front, waistcoat, or trousers, and it is dirt. So, too, clay, sand, dust, or gravel, distributed over one's clothes and down one's back by the prevailing March wind, is properly called dirt; but it is casting an imputation on the wisdom of the Creator

to say that he has made our beautiful earth entirely out of dirt."

Disagree. "In your report this morning, . . . it is stated that Mr. Gladstone used the expression 'disagreed from,' and Mr. Disraeli that of 'disagreed to,' . . . and that the amendment was 'disagreed from.' In proposing the rejection, . . . Mr. Gladstone adopted the expression disagreed with,' which is in common use."-London

Times.

...

"Usually followed by with, sometimes by to, rarely by from."-Webster.

Discommode. This word is rarely used; incommode is accounted the better form.

Disposition. This word is sometimes very improperly used for disposal. We place things at the disposal, not at the disposition, of others.

Disremember. This is a word vulgarly used in the sense of forget. It is said to be more frequently heard in the South than in the North.

Distinguish. This verb is sometimes improperly used for discriminate. We distinguish by means of the senses as well as of the understanding; we discriminate by means of the understanding only. “It is difficult, in some cases, to distinguish between," etc., should be, "It is difficult, in some cases, to discriminate between," etc. We distinguish one thing from another, and discriminate between two or more things.

Divers-Diverse. Careless speakers sometimes err in using these words. Divers means several, sundry, various. "In the frame and constitution of the ecclesiastical polity there are divers ranks and degrees.”

Diverse means unlike, different; as, "Opinions on the subject are very diverse." Divers is not much used.

Dock-Wharf. The first of these words is often improperly used for the second. Of docks there are several kinds. A naval dock is a place for the keeping of naval stores, timber, and materials for shipbuilding. A dry dock is a place where vessels are drawn out of the water for repairs. A wet dock is a place where vessels are kept afloat at a certain level while they are being loaded or unloaded. A sectional dock is a contrivance for raising vessels out of the water on a series of air-tight boxes.

A dock, then, is a place into which things are received; hence, a man might fall into a dock, but could no more fall off a dock than he could fall off a hole. A wharf is a sort of quay built by the side of the water. A similar structure built at a right angle with the shore is commonly called a pier. Vessels lie at wharves and piers, not at docks.

Donate. This word, which is defined as meaning to give, to contribute, is looked upon by most champions of good English as being an abomination. Donation is also little used by careful writers. "Donate," says Mr. Gould, 'may be dismissed with this remark: so long as its place is occupied by give, bestow, grant, present, etc., it is not needed; and it should be unceremoniously bowed out, or thrust out, of the seat into which it has temporarily intruded."

The word is a good deal used by persons that are not careful in their speech, and it is quite possible that it will never be less used than it is now.

Done. This past participle is often very inelegantly, if not improperly, used thus: "He did not cry out, as some have done, against it," which should read, "He did not cry out, as some have, against it ”—i. e., as some have cried out against it."

"Done is frequently a very great offender against gram

mar," says Cobbett. "To do is the act of doing. We see people write, 'I did not speak yesterday so well as I wished [to speak] to have done.' Now, what is meant by the writer? He means to say that he did not speak so well as he then wished, or was wishing, to speak. Therefore the sentence should be, I did not speak yesterday so well as I wished to do [to speak].' That is to say, 'so well as I wished to do it'; that is to say, to do or to perform the act of speaking.

"Take great care not to be too free in your use of the verb to do in any of its times or modes. It is a nice little handy word, and, like our oppressed it, it is made use of very often when the writer is at a loss for what to put down. To do is to act, and therefore it never can, in any of its parts, supply the place of a neuter verb. 'How do you do?' Here do refers to the state, and is essentially passive or neuter. Yet, to employ it for this purpose is very common. Dr. Blair, in his twenty-third Lecture, says: 'It is somewhat unfortunate that this number of the Spectator did not end, as it might have done, with the former beautiful period.' That is to say, done it. And then we ask, Done what? Not the act of ending, because in this case there is no action at all. The verb means, to come to an end, to cease, not to go any further. This same verb to end is sometimes an active verb: 'I end my sentence'; then the verb to do may supply its place; as, 'I have not ended my sentence so well as I might have done [ended it]'; that is, done it; that is, done, or performed, the act of ending. But the number of the Spectator was no actor; it was expected to perform nothing; it was, by the doctor, wished to have ceased to proceed. 'Did not end as it very well might have ended. . . .' This would have been correct, but the doctor wished to avoid the repetition, and thus he