For instance, you know how, in French, when you wish to say, I _will not_ go or I _am not_ sure, two no’s are used, _ne_ and _pas_: Je _n_’irai _pas_, or je _ne_ suis _pas_ sûr. Well, in Chaucer’s time two no’s were used in English. He would have said, “I _n_’ill _nat_ go,” and “I _n_’am _nat_ sure.” There are many lines where you will see two no’s. “I n’am nat precious.” “I ne told no deintee.” “I wol not leve no tales.” “I ne owe hem not a word.” “There n’is no more to tell,” &c. Sometimes, however, _ne_ is used by itself, without _not_ or _nat_ to follow. As “it n’is good,” “I n’ill say--or sain,” instead of “it is not good--I will not say.” And, as in this last word sain (which only means _say_), you will find often an _n_ at the end of words, which makes it difficult to understand them; but you will soon cease to think that a very alarming difficulty if you keep looking at the modern version. As, “I shall nat _lien_” (this means _lie_). “I wol nat _gon_” (_go_): “_withouten_ doubt” (_without_). “Ther wold I _don_ hem no pleasance” (_do_); “thou shalt _ben_ quit” (_be_). “I shall you _tellen_” (_tell_). And I think you will also be able to see how much better some old words are for expressing the meaning, than our words. For instance, how much nicer ‘flittermouse’ is than ‘bat.’ That is an old North-country word, and very German (Fledermaus). When you see a little bat flying about, you know it is a bat because you have been told: but ‘flitter-mouse’ is better than bat, because it means ‘floating mouse.’ Now, a bat _is_ like a mouse floating in the air. The word expresses the movement and the form of the creature. Again--the old word ‘herteles’ (heartless), instead of without courage, how well it expresses the want of courage or spirit: we often say people have no heart for work, or no heart for singing, when they are sad, or ill, or weak. Heartless does not always mean cowardly; it means that the person is dejected, or tired, or out of spirits. We have left off using the word heartless in that sense, however, and we have no word to express it. When _we_ say heartless, we mean cruel or unkind, which is a perfectly different meaning. Again, we have no word now for a meeting-time or appointment, as good as the old word ‘steven:’ we use the French word ‘_rendezvous_’ as a noun, which is not very wise. ‘Steven’ is a nice, short, and really English word which I should like to hear in use again. One more instance. The word ‘fret’ was used for devouring. This just describes what we call ‘nibbling’ now. The moth fretting a garment--means the moth devouring or nibbling a garment.