little, from condign [= deserved] and most deserved punishment."

"He deserves some condign [= deserved] punishment,' cried Mrs. Grantham."

"Practical punishment does not deserve condign [= deserved] punishment the less because it often succeeds in escaping it."

Condone means to pardon, to forgive. "The public will gladly condone his earlier errors." Webster says it means, "to forgive for a violation of the marriage vow." It is sometimes misused for compensate, and atone for.

"The abolition of the income tax more than condones [atones] for the turmoil of an election."

"There was a certain vague earnestness of belief about him which [that] qualified and condoned [compensated] the shrewd and sometimes jocular look of his father."

Confirmed invalid. This phrase is a convenient mode of expressing the idea it conveys, but it is difficult to defend, inasmuch as confirmed means strengthened, established.

Congregate together. A pleonastic expression often met with. Congregate, unaided, means to collect or gather together; to assemble.

"A large number of swallows congregated together, as if holding a convention, most likely on the condition of the bridge, as a number have built their nests among the unsafe timbers."-Kansas City Journal.

Conquer. This word is often employed when the better word would be overcome, or vanquish. The leading idea in conquer is that of getting; in overcome and vanquish, that of getting the better of. Wellington overcame or vanquished Napoleon at Waterloo. Alexander con

quered the Persians after having overcome Darius in three great battles.

Consequence. This word is sometimes used instead of importance or moment; as, They were all persons of more or less consequence": read, "of more or less importance." "It is a matter of no consequence": read, “of no moment."

Consider. "This word," says Mr. Richard Grant White, in his Words and Their Uses, “is perverted from its true meaning by most of those who use it." Consider means, to meditate, to deliberate, to reflect, to revolve in the mind; and yet it is made to do service for think, suppose, and regard. Thus: "I consider [think] his course very unjustifiable"; "I have always considered [thought] it my duty," etc.; “I consider [regard or look upon] him as being the cleverest man of my acquaintance."

Contemptible. This word is sometimes used for contemptuous. An old story says that a man once said to Dr. Parr, "Sir, I have a contemptible opinion of you." "That does not surprise me," returned the doctor; "all your opinions are contemptible." What is worthless or weak is contemptible. Despicable is a word that expresses a still more intense degree of the contemptible. A traitor is a despicable character, while a poltroon is only contemptible.

"It contributed a good deal to confirm me in the contemptible [contemptuous] idea I always entertained of Cellarius."

"Having expressed himself in terms of abhorrence of a piece of baseness and treachery, the delinquent said, 'Well, sir, perhaps some day you may change your opinion of me.' 'Perhaps I may, sir,' was the reply, for if I should find any one who holds a more contemptible [contemptuous]

opinion of you than I do myself, I should lay down my own and take up his."

Continually. See PERPETUALLY.

Continue on. The on in this phrase is usually superfluous. "We continued on our way" is idiomatic English, and is more euphonious than the sentence would be without the particle. The meaning is, " We continued to travel on our way." In such sentences, however, as Continue on," "He continued to read on," "The fever continued on for some hours," and the like, the on usually serves no purpose.

Continuous-Continual.

"A continuous action is one that is uninterrupted, and goes on unceasingly as long as it lasts, though that time may be longer or shorter. Continual is that which is constantly renewed and recurring, though it may be uninterrupted as frequently as it is renewed. A storm of wind or rain which [that] never intermits an instant, is continuous; a succession of showers is continual. If I am exposed to continual interruptions I can not pursue a continuous train of thought."-Whately's Synonyms.

The adoption of continuous brakes on the British railways is becoming general. Let us hope that the result may be by means of the continuous brakes to avoid the continual smash."-Judy. See PERPETUALLY.

Conversationist. This word is to be preferred to conversationalist. Mr. Richard Grant White says that conversationalist and agriculturalist are inadmissible. On the other hand, Dr. Fitzedward Hall says: "As for conversationist and conversationalist, agriculturist and agriculturalist, as all are alike legitimate formations, it is for convention to decide which we are to prefer."

Converse. In logic, the word conversion signifies that

the terms of a proposition are transposed, the subject becoming predicate, the predicate, subject; thus, "Some boasters are cowards; therefore, conversely, some cowards are boasters."

"To have wit, it is necessary to be endowed with a good understanding. The converse of this proposition is not true."

'Though it be [is] true that every religious man must be honest, the converse does not follow, that every honest man must be religious."

"The king of solitude is also the king of society. The reverse [converse] is not true."

"While our corn laws lasted we acted the converse [reverse] of the Roman policy."

Converse is sometimes misused for reverse, inverse, opposite.

Convoke-Convene. At one time and another there has been some discussion with regard to the correct use of these two words. According to Crabb, "There is nothing imperative on the part of those that assemble or convene, and nothing binding on those assembled or convened: one assembles or convenes by invitation or request; one attends to the notice or not, at pleasure. Convoke, on the other hand, is an act of authority; it is the call of one who has the authority to give the call; it is heeded by those who feel themselves bound to attend." Properly, then, President Arthur convokes, not convenes, the Senate.

Co-operate together. If I had found this expression in a publication less fastidious than the fastidious Independent, and if it had been from the pen of a man less cultured than the cultured Rev. George Washburn, I should not have thought it worth while to call attention to its pleonastic inelegance. Co-operate means, to act, to operate, or

to labor with one another to the same end; and operate together means, to act, to operate, or to labor with one another to the same end; hence, co-operate together means co-operate, or operate together, and can mean no more, which makes it plain that the co or the together serves no purpose —is a superfluity.

Farther on, Mr. Washburn talks about making an experimental attempt at co-operation a permanent institution." Make an attempt an institution! If the reverend gentleman's preaching and praying are not better than his logic and rhetoric he is not likely to save many souls.

Corporeal Corporal. These adjectives, though regarded as synonyms, are not used indiscriminately. Corporal is used in reference to the body, or animal frame, in its proper sense; corporeal, to the animal substance in an extended sense-opposed to spiritual. Corporal punishment; corporeal or material form or substance.

That to corporeal substances could add

Speed most spiritual."-Milton.

"What seemed corporal

Melted as breath into the wind."-Shakespeare. Couple. In its primitive signification this word does not mean simply two, but two that are united by some bond; such as, for example, the tie that unites the sexes. It has, however, been so long used to mean two of a kind considered together, that in this sense it may be deemed permissible, though the substituting of the word two for it would often materially improve the diction.

Courage. See BRAVERY.

Create. "Mme. Carvalho . . . has been before the public thirty-five years, during seventeen of which she created [i. e., brought into being; caused to exist] fifteen distinct rôles [parts]".-N. Y. Sun. If Mme. Carvalho