HAT. "Our Northern women have almost discarded the word _bonnet_, except in _sun-bonnet_, and use the term _hat_ instead. A like fate has befallen the word _gown_, for which both they and their Southern sisters commonly use _frock_ or _dress_." We do not know where Mr. Bartlett draws his Northern line; but in Massachusetts we never heard the word _hat_ or _frock_ used in this sense. They are so used in England, and _hat_ is certainly, _frock_ probably, nearer Anglo-Saxon than _bonnet_ and _gown_. IMPROVE. Mr. Bartlett quotes Dr. Franklin as saying in 1789, "When I left New England in the year 1723, this word had never been used among us, as far as I know, but in the sense of _ameliorated_ or _made better_, except once in a very old book of Dr. Mather's, entitled _Remarkable Providences_." Dr. Increase Mather's _Providences_ was published in 1684. In 1679 a synod assembled at Boston, and the result of its labors was published in the same year by John Foster, under the title, _Necessity of a Reformation_. On the sixth page we find, "Taverns being for the entertainment of strangers, which, if they were _improved_ to that end only," etc. Oddly enough, our copy of this tract has Dr. Mather's autograph on the title-page. But Mr. Bartlett should have referred to Richardson, who shows that the word had been in use long before with the same meaning. To INHEAVEN. "A word invented by the Boston transcendentalists." And Mr. Bartlett quotes from Judd's _Margaret_. Mr. Judd was a good scholar, and the word is legitimately compounded, like _ensphere_ and _imparadise_; but he did not invent it. Dante uses the word:-- "Perfetta vita ed alto merto _inciela_ Donna piú su." LADIES' TRESSES. "The popular name, in the Southern States, for an herb," etc. In the Northern States also. Sometimes _Ladies' Traces_. LIEFER. "A colloquialism, also used in England." Excellent Anglo-Saxon, and used wherever English is spoken. LOAFER. We think there can be no doubt that this word is German. _Laufen_ in some parts of Germany is pronounced _lofen_, and we once heard a German student say to his friend, _Ich lauf'_ (lofe) _hier bis du wiederkehrst_: and he began accordingly to saunter up and down,--in short, to _loaf_ about. TO MULL. "To soften, to dispirit." Mr. Bartlett quotes _Margaret_,--"There has been a pretty considerable _mullin_ going on among the doctors." But _mullin_ here means stirring, bustling in an underhand way, and is a metaphor derived from _mulling wine_. _Mull_, in this sense, is probably a corruption of _mell_, from Old Fr. _mesler_, to mix. TO BE NOWHERE (in the sense of failure) is not an Americanism, but _Turf_-Slang. SALLY-LUN, a kind of cake, is English. TO SAVE, meaning to kill game so as to get it, is not confined to the Far West, but is common to hunters in all parts of the country.