cook, your barber, your tailor, your boot-maker, and so on to satiety, are all artists. Painters, sculptors, architects, actors, and singers, nowadays, generally prefer being thus called, rather than to be spoken of as artists.

As. "Not as I know": read, "not that I know." "This is not as good as the last": read, "not so good." "It may be complete so far as the specification is concerned": correctly, "as far as."

As, preceded by such or by same, has the force of a relative applying to persons or to things. "He offered me the same conditions as he offered you." "The same conditions that" would be equally proper. See, also, Like.

Ascribe. See Impute.

At. Things are sold by, not at, auction. "The scene is more beautiful at night than by day": say, "by night."

At all. "It is not strange, for my uncle is King of Denmark." Had Shakespeare written, "It is not at all strange," it is clear that his diction would have been much less forcible. "I do not wish for any at all"; "I saw no one at all"; "If he had any desire at all to see me, he would come where I am." The at all in sentences like these is superfluous. Yet there are instances in which the phrase is certainly a very convenient one, and seems to be unobjectionable. It is much used, and by good writers.

At best. Instead of at best and at worst, we should say at the best and at the worst.

At last. See At length.

At least. This adverbial phrase is often misplaced. "'The Romans understood liberty at least as well as we.' This must be interpreted to mean, 'The Romans understood liberty as well as we understand liberty.' The intended meaning is, 'that whatever things the Romans failed to understand, they understood liberty.' To express this meaning we might put it thus: 'The Romans understood at least liberty as well as we do'; 'liberty, at least, the Romans understood as well as we do.' 'A tear, at least, is due to the unhappy'; 'at least a tear is due to the unhappy'; 'a tear is due at least to the unhappy'; 'a tear is due to the unhappy at least'—all express different meanings. 'This can not, often at least, be done'; 'this can not be done often, at least.' (1. 'It often happens that this can not be done.' 2. 'It does not often happen that this can be done.') So, 'man is always capable of laughing'; 'man is capable of laughing always.'"—Bain.

At length. This phrase is often used instead of at last. "At length we managed to get away": read, "at last." "At length we heard from him." To hear from any one at length is to hear fully; i. e., in detail.

Authoress. With regard to the use of this and certain other words of like formation, Mr. Gould, in his "Good English," says: "Poet means simply a person who writes poetry; and author, in the sense under consideration, a person who writes poetry or prose—not a man who writes, but a person who writes. Nothing in either word indicates sex; and everybody knows that the functions of both poets and authors are common to both sexes. Hence, authoress and poetess are superfluous. And they are superfluous, also, in another respect—that they are very rarely used, indeed they hardly can be used, independently of the name of the writer, as Mrs., or Miss, or a female Christian name. They are, besides, philological absurdities, because they are fabricated on the false assumption that their primaries indicate men. They are, moreover, liable to the charge of affectation and prettiness, to say nothing of pedantic pretension to accuracy.

"If the ess is to be permitted, there is no reason for excluding it from any noun that indicates a person; and the next editions of our dictionaries may be made complete by the addition of writress, officeress, manageress, superintendentess, secretaryess, treasureress, walkeress, talkeress, and so on to the end of the vocabulary."

Avocation. See Vocation.

Bad cold. Inasmuch as colds are never good, why say a bad cold? We may talk about slight colds and severe colds, but not about bad colds.

Baggage. See Luggage.

Balance. This word is very frequently and very erroneously used in the sense of rest, remainder. It properly means the excess of one thing over another, and in this sense and in no other should it be used. Hence it is improper to talk about the balance of the edition, of the evening, of the money, of the toasts, of the men, etc. In such cases we should say the rest or the remainder.

Barbarism. Defined as an offense against good usage, by the use of an improper word, i. e., a word that is antiquated or improperly formed. Preventative, enthuse, agriculturalist, donate, etc., are barbarisms. See also Solecism.

Been to. We not unfrequently hear a superfluous to tacked to a sentence; thus, "Where have you been to?"

Beg. We often see letters begin with the words, "I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favor," etc. We should write, "I beg leave to acknowledge," etc. No one would say, "I beg to tell you," instead of, "I beg leave to tell you."

Begin—Commence. These words have the same meaning; careful speakers, however, generally prefer to use the former. Indeed, there is rarely any good reason for giving the preference to the latter. See also Commence.

Being built. See Is being built.

Belongings. An old idiomatic expression now coming into use again.

Beside—Besides. In the later unabridged editions of Webster's dictionary we find the following remarks concerning the use of these two words: "Beside and besides, whether used as prepositions or adverbs, have been considered synonymous from an early