No More Learning

The first is from a Father of the Roman Church, the second
from a Father of the Anglican, and the third from a Father of Modern
English poetry. The Puritan divines would furnish me with many more
such. St. Bernard says, _Sapiens nummularius est Deus: nummum fictum non
recipiet_; 'A cunning money-changer is God: he will take in no base
coin. ' Latimer says, 'You shall perceive that God, by this example,
shaketh us by the noses and taketh us by the ears. ' Familiar enough,
both of them, one would say! But I should think Mr. Biglow had verily
stolen the last of the two maligned passages from Dryden's 'Don
Sebastian,' where I find

'And beg of Heaven to charge the bill on me! '

And there I leave the matter, being willing to believe that the Saint,
the Martyr, and even the Poet, were as careful of God's honor as my
critics are ever likely to be.




II. GLOSSARY TO THE BIGLOW PAPERS


Act'lly, _actually_.
Air, _are_.
Airth, _earth_.
Airy, _area_.
Aree, _area_.
Arter, _after_.
Ax, _ask_.

Beller, _bellow_.
Bellowses, _lungs_.
Ben, _been_.
Bile, _boil_.
Bimeby, _by and by_.
Blurt out, _to speak bluntly_.
Bust, _burst_.
Buster, _a roistering blade_; used also as a general superlative.

Caird, _carried_.
Cairn, _carrying_.
Caleb, _a turncoat_.
Cal'late, _calculate_.
Cass, _a person with two lives_.
Close, _clothes_.
Cockerel, _a young cock_.
Cocktail, _a kind of drink_; also, _an ornament peculiar to
soldiers_.
Convention, _a place where people are imposed on; a juggler's show_.
Coons, _a cant term for a now defunct party_; derived, perhaps, from
the fact of their being commonly _up a tree_.
Cornwallis, _a sort of muster in masquerade_; supposed to have had
its origin soon after the Revolution, and to commemorate the surrender
of Lord Cornwallis. It took the place of the old Guy Fawkes procession.
Crooked stick, _a perverse, froward person_.
Cunnle, _a colonel_.
Cus, _a curse_; also, _a pitiful fellow_.

Darsn't, used indiscriminately, either in singular or plural number,
for _dare not, dares not_, and _dared not_.
Deacon off, _to give the cue to_; derived from a custom, once
universal, but now extinct, in our New England Congregational churches.
An important part of the office of deacon was to read aloud the hymns
_given out_ by the minister, one line at a time, the congregation
singing each line as soon as read.
Demmercrat, leadin', _one in favor of extending slavery; a free-trade
lecturer maintained in the custom-house_.
Desput, _desperate_.
D[=o]', _don't_.
Doos, _does_.
Doughface, _a contented lick-spittle_; a common variety of Northern
politician.
Dror, _draw_.
Du, _do_.
Dunno, dno, _do not_ or _does not know_.
Dut, _dirt_.

Eend, _end_.
Ef, _if_.
Emptins, _yeast_.
Env'y, _envoy_.
Everlasting, an intensive, without reference to duration.
Ev'y, _every_.
Ez, _as_.

Fence, on the; said of one who halts between two opinions; a trimmer.
Fer, _for_.
Ferfle, ferful, _fearful_; also an intensive.
Fin', _find_.
Fish-skin, used in New England to clarify coffee.
Fix, _a difficulty, a nonplus_.
Foller, folly, _to follow_.
Forrerd, _forward_.
Frum, _from_.
Fur, _for_
Furder, _farther_.
Furrer, _furrow_. Metaphorically, _to draw a straight furrow_ is to
live uprightly or decorously.
Fust, _first_.

Gin, _gave_.
Git, _get_.
Gret, _great_.
Grit, _spirit, energy, pluck_.
Grout, _to sulk_.
Grouty, _crabbed, surly_.
Gum, _to impose on_.
Gump, _a foolish fellow, a dullard_.
Gut, _got_.

Hed, _had_.
Heern, _heard_.
Hellum, _helm_.
Hendy, _handy_.
Het, _heated_.
Hev, _have_.
Hez, _has_.
Holl, _whole_.
Holt, _hold_.
Huf, _hoof_.
Hull, _whole_.
Hum, _home_.
Humbug, _General Taylor's antislavery_.
Hut, _hurt_.

Idno, _I do not know_.
In'my, _enemy_.
Insines, _ensigns_; used to designate both the officer who carries the
standard, and the standard itself.
Inter, intu, _into_.

Jedge, _judge_.
Jest, _just_.
Jine, _join_.
Jint, _joint_.
Junk, _a fragment of any solid substance_.

Keer, _care_.
Kep', _kept_.
Killock, _a small anchor_.
Kin', kin' o', kinder, _kind, kind of_.

Lawth, _loath_.
Less, _let's, let us_.
Let daylight into, _to shoot_.
Let on, _to hint, to confess, to own_.
Lick, _to beat, to overcome_.
Lights, _the bowels_.
Lily-pads, _leaves of the water-lily_.
Long-sweetening, _molasses_.

Mash, _marsh_.
Mean, _stingy, ill-natured_.
Min', _mind_.

Nimepunce, _ninepence, twelve and a half cents_.
Nowers, _nowhere_.

Offen, _often_.
Ole, _old_.
Ollers, olluz, _always_.
On, _of_; used before _it_ or _them,_ or at the end of a
sentence, as _on 't, on 'em, nut ez ever I heerd on_.
On'y, _only_.
Ossifer, _officer_ (seldom heard).

Peaked, _pointed_.
Peek, _to peep_.
Pickerel, _the pike, a fish_.
Pint, _point_.
Pocket full of rocks, _plenty of money_.
Pooty, _pretty_.
Pop'ler, _conceited, popular_.
Pus, _purse_.
Put out, _troubled, vexed_.

Quarter, _a quarter-dollar_.
Queen's-arm, _a musket_.

Resh, _rush_.
Revelee, _the reveille_.
Rile, _to trouble_.
Riled, _angry; disturbed,_ as the sediment in any liquid.
Riz, _risen_.
Row, a long row to hoe, _a difficult task_.
Rugged, _robust_.

Sarse, _abuse, impertinence_.
Sartin, _certain_.
Saxon, _sacristan, sexton_.
Scaliest, _worst_.
Scringe, _cringe_.
Scrouge, _to crowd_.
Sech, _such_.
Set by, _valued_.
Shakes, great, _of considerable consequence_.
Shappoes, _chapeaux, cocked-hats_.
Sheer, _share_.
Shet, _shut_.
Shut, _shirt_.
Skeered, _scared_.
Skeeter, _mosquito_.
Skooting, _running,_ or _moving swiftly_.
Slarterin', _slaughtering_.
Slim, _contemptible_.
Snake, _crawled like a snake_; but _to snake any one out_
is to track him to his hiding-place; _to snake a thing out_ is
to snatch it out.
Soffies, _sofas_.
Sogerin', _soldiering_; a barbarous amusement common among men
in the savage state.
Som'ers, _somewhere_.
So'st, _so as that_.
Sot, _set, obstinate, resolute_.
Spiles, _spoils; objects of political ambition_.
Spry, _active_.
Steddles, _stout stakes driven into the salt marshes_, on which the
hay-ricks are set, and thus raised out of the reach of high tides.
Streaked, _uncomfortable, discomfited_.
Suckle, _circle_.
Sutthin', _something_.
Suttin, _certain_.

Take on, _to sorrow_.
Talents, _talons_.
Taters, _potatoes_.
Tell, _till_.
Tetch, _touch_.
Tetch tu, _to be able_; used always after a negative in this sense.
Tollable, _tolerable_.
Toot, used derisively for _playing on any wind instrument_.
Thru, _through_.
Thundering, a euphemism common in New England for the profane English
expression _devilish_. Perhaps derived from the belief, common
formerly, that thunder was caused by the Prince of the Air, for some
of whose accomplishments consult Cotton Mather.
Tu, _to, too_; commonly has this sound when used emphatically,
or at the end of a sentence. At other times it has the sound of _t_
in _tough_, as _Ware ye gain' tu? Goin' ta Boston_.

Ugly, _ill-tempered, intractable_.
Uncle Sam, _United States_; the largest boaster of liberty and
owner of slaves.
Unrizzest, applied to dough or bread; _heavy, most unrisen, or most
incapable of rising_.

V-spot, _a five-dollar bill_.
Vally, _value_.

Wake snakes, _to get into trouble_.
Wal, _well_; spoken with great deliberation, and sometimes with the
_a_ very much flattened, sometimes (but more seldom) very much
broadened.
Wannut, _walnut (hickory)_.
Ware, _where_.
Ware, _were_.
Whopper, _an uncommonly large lie_; as, that General Taylor is in
favor of the Wilmot Proviso.
Wig, _Whig_; a party now dissolved.
Wunt, _will not_.
Wus, _worse_.
Wut, _what_.
Wuth, _worth_; _as, Antislavery perfessions 'fore 'lection aint
wuth a Bungtown copper_.
Wuz, _was_, sometimes _were_.

Yaller, _yellow_.
Yeller, _yellow_.
Yellers, _a disease of peach-trees_.

Zack, Ole, _a second Washington, an antislavery slaveholder; a humane
buyer and seller of men and women, a Christian hero generally_.




III. INDEX TO BIGLOW PAPERS


A.

A. wants his axe ground.
A. B. , Information wanted concerning.
Abraham (Lincoln), his constitutional scruples.
Abuse, an, its usefulness.
Adam, eldest son of,
respected,
his fall,
how if he had bitten a sweet apple?
Adam, Grandfather, forged will of.
AEeneas goes to hell.
AEeolus, a seller of money, as is supposed by some.
AEeschylus, a saying of.
Alligator, a decent one conjectured to be, in some sort, humane.
Allsmash, the eternal.
Alphonso the Sixth of Portugal, tyrannical act of.
Ambrose, Saint, excellent (but rationalistic) sentiment of.
'American Citizen,' new compost so called.
American Eagle,
a source of inspiration,
hitherto wrongly classed,
long bill of.
Americans bebrothered.
Amos cited.
Anakim, that they formerly existed, shown.
Angels
providentially speak French,
conjectured to be skilled in all tongues.
Anglo-Saxondom, its idea, what.
Anglo-Saxon mask.
Anglo-Saxon race.
Anglo-Saxon verse, by whom carried to perfection.
Antiquaries, Royal Society of Northern.
Antonius,
a speech of,
by whom best reported.
Antony of Padua, Saint, happy in his hearers.
Apocalypse, beast in, magnetic to theologians.
Apollo, confessed mortal by his own oracle.
Apollyon, his tragedies popular.
Appian, an Alexandrian, not equal to Shakespeare as an orator.
Applause, popular, the _summum bonum_.
Ararat, ignorance of foreign tongues is an.
Arcadian background.
Ar c'houskezik, an evil spirit.
Ardennes, Wild Boar of, an ancestor of Rev. Mr. Wilbur.
Aristocracy, British, their natural sympathies.
Aristophanes.
Arms, profession of, once esteemed, especially that of gentlemen.
Arnold.
Ashland.
Astor, Jacob, a rich man.
Astraea, nineteenth century forsaken by.
Athenians, ancient, an institution of.
Atherton, Senator, envies the loon.
'Atlantic,' editors of. See _Neptune_.
Atropos, a lady skilful with the scissors.
Austin, Saint, prayer of.
Austrian eagle split.
Aye-aye, the, an African animal, America supposed to be settled by.

B. , a Congressman, _vide_ A.
Babel,
probably the first Congress,
gabble-mill.
Baby, a low-priced one.
Bacon, his rebellion.
Bacon, Lord, quoted.
Bagowind, Hon. Mr. , whether to be damned.
Balcom, Elder Joash Q. , 2d, founds a Baptist society in Jaalam, A. D. 1830.
Baldwin apples.
Baratarias, real or imaginary, which most pleasant.
Barnum, a great natural curiosity recommended to.
Barrels, an inference from seeing.
Bartlett, Mr. , mistaken.
Baton Rouge,
strange peculiarities of laborers at.
Baxter, R. , a saying of,
Bay, Mattysqumscot.
Bay State, singular effect produced on military officers by leaving it.
Beast, in Apocalypse,
a loadstone for whom,
tenth horn of, applied to recent events.
Beaufort.
Beauregard real name Toutant.
Beaver brook.
Beelzebub, his rigadoon.
Behmen, his letters not letters.
Behn, Mrs. Aphra, quoted.
Sellers,
a saloon-keeper,
inhumanly refuses credit to a presidential candidate.
Belmont. See Woods.
Bentley, his heroic method with Milton.
Bible, not composed for use of colored persons.
Biglow, Ezekiel,
his letter to Hon. J. T. Buckingham,
never heard of any one named Mandishes,
nearly fourscore years old,
his aunt Keziah, a notable saying of.
Biglow, Hosea, Esquire,
excited by composition,
a poem by,
his opinion of war,
wanted at home by Nancy,
recommends a forcible enlistment of warlike editors,
would not wonder, if generally agreed with,
versifies letter of Mr. Sawin,
a letter from,
his opinion of Mr. Sawin,
does not deny fun at Cornwallis,
his idea of militia glory,
a pun of,
is uncertain in regard to people of Boston,
had never heard of Mr. John P. Robinson,
_aliquid sufflaminandus_,
his poems attributed to a Mr. Lowell,
is unskilled in Latin,
his poetry maligned by some,
his disinterestedness,
his deep share in commonweal,
his claim to the presidency,
his mowing,
resents being called Whig,
opposed to tariff,
obstinate,
infected with peculiar notions,
reports a speech,
emulates historians of antiquity,
his character sketched from a hostile point of view,
a request of his complied with,
appointed at a public meeting in Jaalam,
confesses ignorance, in one minute particular, of propriety,
his opinion of cocked hats,
letter to,
called 'Dear Sir,' by a general,
probably receives same compliment from two hundred and nine,
picks his apples,
his crop of Baldwins conjecturally large,
his labors in writing autographs,
visits the Judge and has a pleasant time,
born in Middlesex County,
his favorite walks,
his gifted pen,
born and bred in the country,
feels his sap start in spring,
is at times unsocial,
the school-house where he learned his a b c,
falls asleep,
his ancestor a Cromwellian colonel,
finds it harder to make up his mind as he grows older,
wishes he could write a song or two,
liable to moods,
loves nature and is loved in return,
describes some favorite haunts of his,
his slain kindred,
his speech in March meeting,
does not reckon on being sent to Congress,
has no eloquence,
his own reporter,
never abused the South,
advises Uncle Sam,
is not Boston-mad,
bids farewell.
Billings, Dea. Cephas.
_Billy, Extra, demagogus. _
Birch, virtue of, in instilling certain of the dead languages.
Bird of our country sings hosanna.
Bjarna Grimolfsson invents smoking.
Blind, to go it.
Blitz pulls ribbons from his mouth.
Bluenose potatoes, smell of, eagerly desired.
Bobolink, the.
Bobtail obtains a cardinal's hat.
Boggs, a Norman name.
Bogus Four-Corners Weekly Meridian.
Bolles, Mr. Secondary,
author of prize peace essay,
presents sword to Lieutenant-Colonel,
a fluent orator,
found to be in error.
Bonaparte, N. , a usurper.
Bonds, Confederate,
their specie basis cutlery,
when payable (attention, British stockholders! ).
Boot-trees, productive, where.
Boston, people of,
supposed educated,
has a good opinion of itself.
Bowers, Mr. Arphaxad, an ingenious photographic artist.
Brahmins, navel-contemplating.
Brains, poor substitute for.
Bread-trees.
Bream, their only business.
Brigadier-Generals in militia, devotion of.
Brigadiers, nursing ones, tendency in, to literary composition.
_Brigitta, viridis_.
Britannia, her trident.
Brotherhood, subsides after election.
Brown, Mr. , engages in an unequal contest.
Browne, Sir T. , a pious and wise sentiment of, cited and commended.
Brutus Four-Corners.
Buchanan, a wise and honest man.
Buckingham, Hon. J. T. , editor of the Boston Courier,
letters to,
not afraid.
Buffalo,
a plan hatched there,
plaster, a prophecy in regard to.
Buffaloes, herd of, probable influence of tracts upon.
Bull, John,
prophetic allusion to, by Horace,
his 'Run,'
his mortgage,
unfortunate dip of,
wool pulled over his eyes.
Buncombe,
in the other world supposed,
mutual privilege, in.
Bung, the eternal, thought to be loose.
Bungtown Fencibles, dinner of.
Burke, Mr. , his age of chivalry surpassed.
Burleigh, Lord, quoted for something said in Latin long before.
Burns, Robert, a Scottish poet.
Bushy Brook.
Butler, Bishop.
Butter in Irish bogs.

C. , General,
commended for parts,
for ubiquity,
for consistency,
for fidelity,
is in favor of war,
his curious valuation of principle.
Cabbage-heads, the, always in majority.
Cabinet, English, makes a blunder.
Caesar,
tribute to,
his veni, vidi, vici, censured for undue prolixity.
Cainites, sect of, supposed still extant.
Caleb, a monopoly of his denied,
curious notions of, as to meaning of 'shelter,'
his definition of Anglo-Saxon,
charges Mexicans (not with bayonets but) with improprieties.
Calhoun, Hon. J. C. ,
his cow-bell curfew, light of the nineteenth century to be extinguished
at sound of,
cannot let go apron-string of the Past,
his unsuccessful tilt at Spirit of the Age,
the Sir Kay of modern chivalry,
his anchor made of a crooked pin,
mentioned.
_Calyboosus, carcer_.
Cambridge Platform, use discovered for.
Canaan in quarterly instalments.
Canary Islands.
Candidate,
presidential, letter from,
smells a rat,
against a bank,
takes a revolving position,
opinion of pledges,
is a periwig,
fronts south by north,
qualifications of, lessening,
wooden leg (and head) useful to.
Cape Cod clergyman,
what,
Sabbath-breakers, perhaps, reproved by.
Captains, choice of, important.
Carolina, foolish act of.
Caroline, case of.
Carpini, Father John de Piano, among the Tartars.
Cartier, Jacques, commendable zeal of.
Cass,
General,
clearness of his merit,
limited popularity at 'Bellers's. '
Castles, Spanish, comfortable accommodations in.
Cato, letters of, so called, suspended _naso adunco_.
C. D. , friends of, can hear of him.
Century, nineteenth.
Chalk egg, we are proud of incubation of.
Chamberlayne, Doctor, consolatory citation from.
Chance,
an apothegm concerning,
is impatient.