The frere arose,

But I suppose,

Amased was his hed,

He shoke his eares

And from grete feares,

He thought hym well yfled.

Sir T. More. Poor naked men laboured one another with shagged sticks, or dully fell together by the ears at fisty-cuffs. More. Sir J. Perrot ordered the Irish to mark all their cattle with pitch or ear-mark, on pain of forfeiture.. Cor. Hist. Ireland. For feare lest we like rogues should be reputed And for eare-marked beasts abroad be bruited.

Spenser. All present were made earwitnesses, even of each particular branch of a common indictment. Hooker. With gold and silver they increase his store, And gave the precious earrings which they wore. Sandys. Their warlike force was sore weakened, the city beaten down about their ears, and most of them wounded. Knolles.

An unworthie counceller is a wicked charme in the king's eare, a sword of terror in the aduice of tyranny. Breton. 1616.

You have heard of the news abroad: I mean the whispered ones; for they are yet but ear-kissing arguments. Shakspeare.

Aristippus was earnest suitor to Dionysius for some grant, who would give no ear to his suit: Aristippus fell at his feet, and then Dionysius granted it. Bacon's Apophthegms. Himself he on an earwig set; Yet scarce he on his back could get,

So oft and high he did curvet. Drayton's Nymphiad.
Princes, that will but hear, or give access
To such officious spies, can ne'er be safe :
They take in poison with an open ear,
And, free from danger, become slaves to fear.

Ben Jonson.
Nor can I bide to pen some hungrie scence
For thick-skin eares, and undiscerning eyne.
Bp. Hall. Satires.
0 age well thriven and well fortunate,
When ech man hath a muse appropriate;
And shee like to some servile eare-boared slave,
Must play and sing when and what he would have.
Id.

:

This gold is now grown to a calf; let no man think that form came forth casually out of the melted earrings this shape was intended by the Israelites, and perfected by, Aaron. Id. Contemplations. There are some vessels, which, if you offer to lift by the belly or bottom, you cannot stir them; but are soon removed, if you take them by the ears.

Taylor's Rule of Holy Living.

He laid his sense closer, and in fewer words, according to the style and ear of those times. Denham. The leaves on trees not more,

Nor bearded ears in fields, nor sands upon the shore.
Dryden.
Gomez, stand you out of earshot.—I have some-
thing to say to your wife in private.
Id. Spanish Friar.

Better pass over an affront from one scoundrel, than draw the whole herd about a man's ears.

L'Estrange.

Fools go together by the ears, to have knaves run away with the stakes. Id. A mean rascal sets others together by the ears without fighting himself. Id.

The ear being to stand open, because there was some danger that insects might creep in thereat; therefore hath nature loricated or plaistered over the sides of the hole with earwax, to entangle insects. Ray on the Creation. Be not alarmed, as if all religion was falling about Burnet's Theory. It is usual to set these poor animals by the ears. Addison.

our ears.

Prior.

All Asia now was by the ears,
And gods beat up for volunteers.
A quilted night cap with one ear.
Congreve. Way of the World.

A pot without an ear.
Doll never flies to cut her lace,
Or throw cold water in her face,
Because she heard a sudden drum,
Or found an earwig in a plum.

Swift,

Id.

I may say of him (Mr. John Smith) in Antonius's phrase, he was-dipped into justice, as it were, ever head and ears; he had not a slight superficial tincture, but was dyed and coloured quite through with it, Bp. Patrick.

In cases where there is little expected but the pleasure of the ears and eyes, the least diminution of that pleasure is the highest offence. Steele.

Eloquence, that leads mankind by the ears, gives a nobler superiority than power that every dunce may use, fraud that every knave may employ, to lead them by the nose. Bolingbroke.

If on a pillory, or near a throne, He gain his prince's ear, or lose his own. Pope. Earless on high stood unabashed Defoe, And Tutchin flagrant from the scourge below. Id. Valsalva discovered some passages into the region of the ear-drum; of mighty use, among others, to make discharges of bruises.

Derham's Physico-Theology. She used to carry tales from one to another, till she had set the neighbourhood together by the ears. Arbuthnot.

EARLY, adj. & adv. Į

Sax. ærlice; Goth. EAR'LINESS, n. s. Sarla, from ar; Goth. and Sax. ær, soon; or ar, day-break. Soon; precocious; betimes. Earliness is the act or quality of being soon.

And al the puple roos eerli to come to him in the temple, and to heere him. Wiclif. Luk. 21.

So had I spokin with them everych one,
That I was of ther felaship anone;
And made forward erli for to rise,

To take our weye, ther as I did devise. Chaucer.
The joyous day 'gan early to appear,
And fair Aurora from her dewy bed

Of aged Tithone 'gan herself to rear,
With rosy cheeks, for shame as blushing red.

This method fixes the attention of children extremely to the orthography of words, and makes them good spellers very early. Franklin.

The great misfortune of my life was to want an aim. I had felt early some stirrings of ambition, but they were the blind groupings of Homer's Cyclops round the walls of his cave. I saw my father's situation entailed on me perpetual labour. Burns.

From the earliest dawnings of policy to this day, the invention of men has been sharpening and improving the mystery of murder, from the first rude essay of clubs and stones, to the present perfection of

gunnery, cannoneering, bombarding, mining. Burke.

The year 1731-2, which is the earliest date of any trials for these offences, that I happen to have met with, was only thirty-two years after the act of King William had passed, and only sixteen after that of Queen Anne, and during that period there had been scarcely any sensible diminution in the value of

money.

Sir S. Romilly.

With more capacity for love than earth Bestows on most of mortal mould and birth, His early dreams of good outstripped the truth, And troubled manhood followed baffled youth. Byron.

EARN, v. a. n From Sax, earnian, to purEARNING, n. s. sue. To win; deserve; labor for; gain.

I can't say whore;

It does abhor me, now I speak the word:
To do the act, that might the' addition earn,
Not the world's mass of vanity could make me.
Shakspeare.

Those that have joined with their honour great perils, are less subject to envy; for men think that they earn their honours hardly. Bacon's Essays.

Winning cheap the high repute,

Which he through hazard huge must earn. Milton.
Men may discern

From what consummate virtue I have chose
This perfect man, by merit called my Son,
To earn salvation for the sons of men.

Id.

The poems gained the plagiary wealth, while the author hardly earned his bread by repeating them. Pope on Homer. After toiling twenty days,

To earn a stock of pence and praise, Thy labour's grown the critick's prey. Swift. EARNE, LOUGH, a lake of Ireland, in Fermanagh, Ulster, the second in that island for magnitude. It is about thirty-five miles in length, but

of very unequal breadth, being in some places ten, and in others not above one. It is properly two lakes, which are joined by a narrow channel at the town of Inniskilling, both branches contracting towards this point. There are a number of small rivers, that fall chiefly from the heights of the northern and southern confines, which, after enriching the country, supply this large basin. The only outlet is a short and rapid river that runs to the sea by the port of Ballyshannon. The Lough abounds with pike, perch, trout, eel, and numerous other species of fresh-water fish. Salinon emigrate a considerable length, but are usually caught at Belleek village. The beauties of this lake have long been the boast of the country and the admiration of strangers. The vast variety of figures and assemblages, in which nature is here displayed, can hardly be conceived, but from actual observation. The country is of that diversified character, which loses not by abundance of the same materials. The mingled prospect of water, wood, islands, and mountains, is inconceivably picturesque and grand. The islands are so thickly clustered and interspersed, that they are almost innumerable. The natives say there are 365, or one for each day in the year. They are every where crowned with deep aspiring woods and luxuriant pastures, which evince the fertility of the soil. The solitary recesses of these islands are the habitation of the stag and the roebuck; the rocky cliffs, of the spray and the sea eagle. The islands in some places slope gradually to the water-edge, and in others rise in bold shores. The coasts of the lake ascend gradually to lofty eminences, which tower in solemn grandeur above the milder beauty of the scene below.

EAR'NEST, adj. & n. s. ? Also from the EAR'NESTNESS, S Sax. verb earnian, to pursue (see EARN). Ardent; intent; warm; importunate; serious. As a substantive, earnest is reality;' seriousness; opposed to joking:

and a pledge given to prove a serious intention, or a bargain made. Earnestness is also seriousness, and synonymous with earnest as a substantive.

Which is the cernys of oure eritage into the redempcioun of purchesyng into hertyng of his glory. Wiclif. Effesies. 1. This Palamon, when he these words herd, Dispiteously he looked and answerd, Whether sayest this in ernest or in play?

Chaucer. Cant. Tales.

Therewith she laughed, and did her earnest end in jest. Faerie Queene. He which prayeth in due sort, is thereby made the more attentive to hear; and he which heareth, the more earnest to pray for the time which we bestow, as well in the one as the other.

Hooker.

mark of it, viz. the not entertaining any proposition with greater assurance than the proofs it is built upon Locke. will warrant.

It may be looked upon as a pledge and earnest of quiet and tranquillity. Smalridge. We shall die in earnest, and it will not become us to live in jest. Government of the Tongue. Sempronius, you have acted like yourself; One would have thought you had been half in earnest. Addison.

Marcus is overwarm; his fond complaints
Have so much earnestness and passion in them,

I hear him with a secret kind of horror,
And tremble at his vehemence of temper.

Id. Cato.

which is to come.

That high All-seer, which I dallied with, Hath turned my feigned prayer on my head, And given in earnest, what I begged in jest.

Id.

foundation to support it.

Atterbury. The mercies received, great as they are, were earnests and pledges of greater. Id. And then fair Haidee tried her tongue at speaking, But not a word could Juan comprehend,

Although he listened so, that the young Greek in Her earnestness would ne'er have made an end.

Byron.

EARNEST, ARRHA. By the civil law, he who recedes from his bargain loses his earnest, and if the person who received the earnest give back, he is to return the earnest double. But with us, the person who gave it, is in strictness obliged to abide by his bargain; and in case he decline it, is not discharged upon forfeiting his earnest, but may be sued for the whole money stipulated.

EAR-RING, in the sea language, is that part of the bolt-rope which at the four corners of the sail is left open, in the shape of a ring. The two uppermost parts are put over the ends of the yard-arms, and so the sail is made fast to the yard; and into the lowermost ear-rings, the sheets and tacks are seized or bent at the clew. EARSH, n. s. From ear, to plough. A

ploughed field. Not now in use.

Fires oft are good on barren earshes made, With crackling flames to burn the stubble blade.

low, abject; and this term, in composition, frequently expresses the idea of low, or grovelling: earth-flax is a fibrous, flaxy-looking fossil: earthling an inhabitant of earth; a mortal: earthnut, a pignut, or root of the appearance of a nut. The other compounds seem to require no expla

nation.

Nile ye deme that I came to sende pees into erthe: I cam not to sende pecs, but swerd.

Wiclif. Matthew 10. I saigh whanne he hadde opened the sixte seel, and lo a greet erthemouyng was maad.

Id. Apocalips 6. The whole earth was of one language. Gen. xi. 1. Whereby he [Virgil] would insinuate that there is an igneous, luminous, or æthereal vehicle alwaies intimately adhering to the soul, though it be much slaked or damped with the gross and crude moisture of the body during this earthly peregrination.

More. App. to Def. of Phil. Cab. fol. 134. Our common necessities, and the lack which we all have as well of ghostly as of earthly favours, is in Hooker. each kind easily known.

Great grace that old man to him given had,
For God he often saw, from heaven hight,
All were his earthly eyen both blunt and bad.

Spenser.

Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth With such a full and unwithdrawing hand, Covering the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks, Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable, But all to please and sate the curious taste? Milton. When faith and love, which parted from thee

never,

Shakspeare.

Id.

Long mayest thou live in Richard's seat to sit, And soon lie Richard in an earthy pit.

Id.

Lay open to my earthy gross conceit,

Teach me, dear creature, how to think and speak;

Smothered in errors.

Id.

* * *

Id.

Id. Henry VIII.

If you be born so near the dull-making cataract of Nilus, that you cannot hear the planet-like music of poetry, if you have so earth-creeping a mind that it cannot lift itself up to look to the sky of poetry; Thus much curse I must lend you in the behalf of all poets, that while you live, you live in love, and never get favour for lacking skill of Sir P. Sidney. But from this earth, this grave, this dust, My God shall raise me up I trust.

a sonnet.

Raleigh.

The great winding-sheets that bury all things in oblivion are two, deluges and earthquakes. Bacon. Worms are found in snow commonly, like earthworins, and therefore it is not unlike that it may likewise put forth plants. Id. Nat. Hist.

It is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth. Lord Bacon.

Him lord pronounced, he, O indignity! Subjected to his service angel-wings, And flaming ministers to watch and tend Their earthy charge. Id. Paradise Lost.

The master saw the madness rise; His glowing cheeks, and ardent eyes; And, while he heaven and earth defied, Changed his hand and checked his pride. Dryden.

Id.

In ten set battles we have driven back
These heathen Saxons, and regained our earth,
As earth recovers from the ebbing tide
The wounds I make but sow new enemies;
Which, from their blood, like earthborn brethren rise.
Id.

Was it his youth, his valour, or success,
These might perhaps be found in other men :
"Twas that respect, that awful homage paid me;
That fearful love which trembled in his eyes,
And with a silent earthquake shook his soul.

Id.

Id.

Those earthy spirits black and envious are; I'll call up other gods of form more fair. The fox is earthed; but I shall send my two terriers in after him. Id. Spanish Friar.

This solid globe we live upon is called the earth, which word, taken in a more limited sense, signifies such parts of this globe as are capable, being exposed to the air, to give rooting and nourishment to plants, Locke. so that they may stand and grow in it.

Where there are earthnuts in several patches, though the roots lie deep in the ground, and the stalks be dead, the swine will by their scent root only Ray. where they grow.

Upon a shower, after a drought, earthworms and land snails innumerable come out of their lurting. places.

Id.