censured as intemperance in anything else; like intemperance in other things, its effect is vulgarizing.

"The Princess Isabella, as well as her French husband, Comte d'Eu, used to be excessively [exceedingly] unpopular."-N. Y. Sun.

Excise laws. A good deal is heard about our excise laws, yet New York has no excise laws. Our excise laws, so called, are properly license laws.

An excise is a tax levied on domestic products; it is an internal revenue tax. The tax, for example, that the Federal Government levies on whisky and cigars is an

excise tax.

New York has license laws and license commissioners, and properly they should be so called. Tax-collecting and license-granting are very different duties.

"No license for Macy's. The Excise Board says liquor can't [sha'n't] be sold there."-N. Y. Sun. Properly, the License Board.

Execute. This word means, to follow out to the end, to carry into effect, to accomplish, to fulfill, to perform; as, to execute an order, to execute a purpose. And the dictionaries and almost universal usage say that it also means, to put to death in conformity with a judicial sentence; as, to execute a criminal. Some careful speakers, however, maintain that the use of the word in this sense is indefensible. They say that laws and sentences are executed, but not criminals, and that their execution only rarely results in the death of the persons upon whom they are executed. In the hanging of a criminal, it is, then, not the criminal that is executed, but the law and the sentence. The criminal is hanged.

Expect. This verb always has reference to what is to come, never to what is past. We can not expect back

ward. Instead, therefore, of saying, "I expect you thought I would come to see you yesterday," we should say, “I suppose," etc.

Also sometimes incorrectly used for suspect. "I expect you know all about it." As, "I suspect you know," etc.

Experience. "We experience great difficulty in getting him to take his medicine." The word have should be big enough, in a sentence like this, for anybody. "We experienced great hardships." Better, "We suffered.”

Experiment. See TRY.

Explode. "All our present uses of explode, whether literal or figurative, have reference to bursting, and to bursting with noise; and it is for the most part forgotten, I should imagine, that these are all secondary and derived ; that to explode, originally an active verb, means, to drive off the stage with loud clapping of the hands; and that when one of our early writers speaks of an exploded heresy or an exploded opinion, his image is not drawn from something which [that], having burst, has perished so; but he would imply that it has been contemptuously driven off from the world's stage."-Trench.

Extend. This verb, the primary meaning of which is to stretch out, is used, especially by lovers of big words, in connections where to give, to show, or to offer would be preferable. For example, it is certainly better to say, 'They showed me every courtesy," than " They extended every courtesy to me." See EVERY.

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Fall. The use of this word, in the sense of autumn, is rare in Great Britain, and is there regarded as provincial. It is good old English nevertheless.

False Grammar. Some examples of false grammar will show what every one is the better for knowing that, in literature, nothing should be taken on trust; that errors

of grammar, even, are found where we should least expect them. "I do not know whether the imputation were just or not."-Emerson. "I proceeded to inquire if the 'extract'... were a veritable quotation."-Emerson. Should be was in both cases. "How sweet the moonlight sleeps!" -Townsend, Art of Speech, vol. i, p. 114. Prof. Townsend cites this as a grammatically correct-though seemingly incorrect-use of the adjective. Poetic license makes such a use of the adjective permissible in verse, but it is not grammatical. It is no better grammar to say “the moonlight sleeps sweet," than it is to say “the baby sleeps sweet." "There is no question but these arts will greatly aid him," etc.-Ibid., p. 130. Should be that. "Nearly all who have been distinguished in literature or oratory have made . . . the generous confession that their attainments have been reached through patient and laborious industry. They have declared that speaking and writing, though once difficult for them, have become well-nigh recreations."-Ibid., p. 143. The have been should be were, and the have become should be became. "Many pronominal adverbs are correlatives of each other."-Harkness's New Latin Grammar, p. 147. Should be one another. "How much better for you as seller and the nation as buyer . . . than to sink in cutting one another's throats." Should

be each other's.

"A minister noted for prolixity of style was once preaching before the inmates of a lunatic asylum. In one of his illustrations he painted a scene of a man condemned to he hung, but reprieved under the gallows." These two sentences are so faulty that the only way to mend them is to rewrite them. They are from a work that professes to teach the "art of speech." Mended: "A minister noted for his prolixity once preached before the inmates of a

lunatic asylum. By way of illustration, he painted a scene in which a man, who had been condemned to be hanged, was reprieved under the gallows."

"I never saw [have seen] you looking in better health,' remarked a Journal reporter.'

Further, I never [have] made a loan or pledged [nor have I pledged] any of these stocks. I never [have] bought stocks on a margin, or [nor have I] pledged bonds or stocks in payment. I have always bought for investment-not speculation."

was said to have been

"The late Mr. Fountaine [was said to be, or, is said to have been] a deadly foe to foxes, and it is averred [said] that his keepers made them scarce," etc.-Vanity Fair.

"In consequence of the inquiry into the conspiracy at Warsaw, it has been arranged that the Czar will [shall] arrive at Fortress Modlin, outside of Warsaw."

The climate of Pau is perhaps the most [more] genial, and the best [better] suited to invalids [than that] of any other spot in France."

"The giving [of] the bride away is also criticised."N. Y. Sun.

"All persons are forbid [forbidden] walking [to walk] or driving [to drive] through this tunnel."-Fourth Avenue Railroad.

"If there ever were [has been] a case for a peaceful settlement of an international dispute, the VenezuelanGuiana case is certainly one."-N. Y. Sun.

"If he were [was] indeed intriguing, it is not surprising that he was treated as an intriguer rather than as a consul." -N. Y. Sun.

Raikes once asked Montrond if it were [was] true that,” etc.-Argonaut.

"It is such an exhibition of the French art of this century as was never seen [never before has been seen] even in France."-N. Y. Sun.

Family. In Great Britain, a man of family is a man well connected; in America, a man of family is a man having a wife and children.

Farther-Further. "I will go no farther." "I have nothing further to say." "He lives farther away than I do." "We will not discuss the matter further."

Female. Often used when woman is the word that good taste, as well as correctness, demands. Why should woman, any more than man, be confounded with the lower animals of the same sex? The following are examples of the incorrect use of the word:

"He did not bid him go and sell himself to the first female he could find possessed of wealth."

"With the repugnance not unnatural to a female," etc. Fetch. See BRING.

Fewer. See LESS.

Final Completion. If there were such a thing as a plurality or a series of completions, there would, of course, be such a thing as the final completion; but as every completion is final, to talk about a final completion is as absurd as it would be to talk about a final finality.

Financial. Often, very often, used when the proper word is pecuniary, monetary, or money.

"Instead of the burden of financial [pecuniary] obligations being from him to Woolston, the fact is quite the reverse."-A New York Daily.

Financial is used properly of the public funds or revenues of a state, and of the governmental system of raising and disbursing the same. Pecuniary or monetary has reference to individual enterprises, and of the money relations