But as we find in prose or rhyme, A joke, made happily in time, However poor, will often tend The hottest argument to end, And smother anger in a laugh, So S succeeded with his _chaff_, Containing, as it did, some wheat, In calming this fierce verbal heat. Authorities were all conflicting, And S there was no contradicting. P L O U G H was _Plow_ Even _enough_ was called _enow_, And no one who preferred _enough_ Would dream of saying “Speed the _Pluff_.” So they considered it was wise With S to make a compromise, To leave no loop to hang a doubt on By giving three cheers for Lord Houghton (_Howton_). EXCISE. The following curious document gives the opinion of Lord Mansfield, when Attorney-General, upon Dr. Johnson’s definition of the word Excise:— _Case._ Mr. Samuel Johnson has lately published a book, entitled _A Dictionary of the English Language, in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers. To which are prefixed a history of the Language, and an English grammar._ Under the title “Excise” are the following words:— Excise, n. s. (_accijs_ Dutch; _excisum_, Latin,) a hateful tax levied upon commodities and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but _wretches_ hired by those to whom _Excise_ is paid. The people should pay a ratable tax for their sheep, and an _Excise_ for every thing which they should eat.—§Hayward.§ Ambitious now to take _excise_ Of a more fragrant paradise.—§Cleveland.§ EXCISE. With hundred rows of teeth the shark exceeds, And on all trades, like Cassowar, she feeds.—§Marvel.§ Can hire large houses and oppress the poor By farmed Excise.—§Dryden§, _Juvenal, Sat. 3_. The author’s definition being observed by the Commissioners of Excise, they desire the favor of your opinion: _Qu._—Whether it will not be considered as a libel; and, if so, whether it is not proper to proceed against the author, printers, and publishers thereof, or any and which of them, by information or how otherwise? _Opinion._ I am of opinion that it is a libel; but, under all the circumstances, I should think it better to give him an opportunity of altering his definition; and, in case he don’t, threaten him with an information. §W. Murray.§ 29th Nov. 1755. PONTIFF. Mr. Longfellow, in his _Golden Legend_, thus refers to the derivation of this word from _pons_ (a bridge) and _facere_ (to make):—