created these fifteen parts, what did the librettists do for them? Miss Rose Eytinge tells us that she created the part of Armande in Led Astray, at the Union Square Theater in 1873. Now, if Miss E. created the part of Armande, what did Octave Feuillet do who wrote Tentation, the French play; and what did Dion Boucicault do, who put Tentation into its English dress, and daily, for a month or more, directed the rehearsals? For this absurd use of the verb to create we are indebted (!) to the vanity of the players. Creditable. We sometimes see creditable, which means, worthy of approbation, reputable, honorable, misused for credible, which means, worthy of belief, that may be believed. "Two creditable [credible] witnesses, without having any communication one with another, affirmed the appearance of the same man." "I am creditably Duke of Argyle can arms." [credibly] informed that the assemble five thousand men in Crime-Vice-Sin. The confusion that exists in the use of these words is due largely to an imperfect understanding of their respective meanings. Crime is the violation of the law of a state; hence, as the laws of states differ, what is crime in one state may not be crime in another. Vice is a course of wrong-doing, and is not modified either by country, religion, or condition. As for sin, it is very difficult to define what it is, as what is sinful in the eyes of one man may not be sinful in the eyes of another; what is sinful in the eyes of a Jew may not be sinful in the eyes of a Christian; and what is sinful in the eyes of a Christian of one country may not be sinful in the eyes of a Christian of another country. In the days of slavery, to harbor a run away slave was a crime, but it was, in the eyes of most people, neither a vice nor a sin. Crushed out. "The rebellion was finally crushed out." Out of what? We may crush the life out of a man, or crush a man to death, and crush—not crush out—a rebellion. Cultured. This word is said to be a product of Boston—an excellent place for anybody or anything to come from. Many persons object to its use on the ground that there can be no such participial adjective, because there is no verb in use from which to form it. We have in use the substantive culture, but, though the dictionaries recognize the verb to culture, we do not use it. Be this objection valid or be it not, cultured having but two syllables, while its synonym cultivated has four, it is likely to find favor with those that employ short words when they convey their meaning as well as long ones. Other adjectives of this kind are, moneyed, whiskered, slippered, lettered, talented, cottaged, lilied, anguished, gifted, and so forth. TALENTED. See Dangerous. This word is often used very incorrectly in speaking of persons that are ill. He is sick, but not dangerous"; say, not in danger, or, not dangerously. Dearest. "A gentleman once began a letter to his bride thus: 'My dearest Maria.' The lady replied: 'My dear John, I beg that you will mend either your morals or your grammar. You call me your "dearest Maria"; am I to understand that you have other Marias'?"-Moon's Bad English. The editor of the Brooklyn Daily News believes in using superlatives; he says: “It will be many years, we apprehend, before lovers will discontinue calling one another 'dearest' at Mr. Ayres's particular request. When an ardent young man addresses his mistress as ‘My dearest ་ Maria,' it does not imply that he has a number of Marias, whatever the author of The Verbalist may think about it it implies that of all the things in the world his Maria is the dearest, and it is quite right for the young gentleman to say so. Affection deals in superlatives, and a lover who will not or can not use them is a cold-hearted humbug. In short, Mr. Ayres has set forth on a fool's errand when he attempts to reform a language in no serious need of reformation by the establishment of [establishing] such arbitrary rules as he sets forth. There are too many restrictions upon speech already, and it were better to violate every grammatic and rhetorical dogma than to have our literature hedged around in a dead level of commonplaces. When a man has an earnest thought, no matter how he blurts it out so that the language fit the meaning, and if it has a glow and sincerity that defies conventional forms, so much the better. Even Mr. Ayres is at his best when he is maddest." But then, you see, there would be very little good in Mr. Ayres's best if he didn't observe some of the rules of grammar and rhetoric. As for addressing one's sweetheart as one's "dearest," no one but a bloodless pedant would seriously object to it. Decade means the sum or number of ten. "He put one in each decade to death." It is used by many good writers nowadays precisely as we use the word century. We can not expect that three decades of equality before the law should obliterate the passions and prejudices in duced by three centuries of wrong and insult." "Between 1870 and '80, probably about the middle of the decade." Many other writers seem to prefer decade of years. Deceiving. "You are deceiving me." Not infrequently deceiving is used when the speaker means trying to deIt is when we do not suspect deception that we are ceive. deceived. Decimate. The Latin word from which this word comes, meant, in the olden time, the taking of the tenth, as the taking of every tenth soldier for punishment by death, or the taking of the tenth of a subject's produce as a yearly tax. In writing of the things that occur nowadays the word should not be used. Demean. This word should not be used in the sense of, to lower, to debase, to disgrace, to humble oneself. Its true meaning is, to conduct oneself, to bear oneself, to carry oneself. When we say that a man de-means himself -i. e., that he conducts or behaves himself—like a gentleman, or a blackguard, as the case may be, we use the word in its proper sense. "Zerlina, after having mourned her husband's death for a decent time, demeans [should be, lowers or disgraces] herself by marrying a former lover.” Denude. "The vulture," says Brande, " has some part of the head and sometimes of the neck denuded of feathers." Most birds might be denuded of the feathers on their heads; not so, however, the vulture, for his head is always featherless. A thing can not be denuded of what it does not have. Denuding a vulture's head and neck of the feathers is like denuding an eel of its scales. As denude means, to strip the covering from, to make naked, the use of the word in the following sentence could not be easily defended: "Lake P. is reported as being almost denuded of its large fish."-N. Y. Sun. Depart. Lovers of big words often use depart when go or set out or off would express their thought just as well, and be much better diction. "That functionary, on this particular occasion, had departed [set out, or off] with his burden somewhat late in the evening." "Mr. Blaine departs [leaves here] for Bar Harbor tomorrow, to remain for an indefinite period. He will spend the Sabbath [Sunday] with Senator Eugene Hale, in Elsworth." Deprecate. Strangely enough, this word is often misused in the sense of disapprove, censure, condemn; as, "He deprecates the whole proceeding"; "Your course, from first to last, is universally deprecated." But, according to the authorities, the word really means, to endeavor to avert by prayer; to pray exemption or deliverance from ; to beg off; to entreat; to urge against. "Daniel kneeled upon his knees to deprecate the captivity of his people."-Hewyt. Description. This word is very often and very absurdly made to do service for kind or sort, thus: "His manners were, in truth, not always of the most amiable description." "But little trace has been left of Roman occupation, and such remains as have been discovered are mainly of the portable description that affords little proof of actual settlement." Desirous. See ANXIOUS. Desperately. "A Spanish victory which [that] was of the most signal character, if Marti was killed and Gomez was desperately wounded." No painstaking writer would use desperately as it is used here. Despite. This word is often incorrectly preceded by |