and as late as 1660 we find a book in defence of Charles I. described as-- "A sad and impartial inquiry whether the King or Parliament began the war." Stout, valiant, now used euphemistically for fat, is cognate with Ger. stolz, proud, and possibly with Lat. stultus, foolish. The three ideas are not incompatible, for fools are notoriously proud of their folly and are said to be less subject to fear than the angels. Sturdy, Sturdee, once meant rebellious, pig-headed-- "Sturdy, unbuxum, rebellis, contumax, inobediens." (Prompt. Parv.) Cotgrave offers a much wider choice for the French original-- "Estourdi (etourdi), dulled, amazed, astonished, dizzie-headed, or whose head seemes very much troubled; (hence) also, heedlesse, inconsiderate, unadvised, witlesse, uncircumspect, rash, retchlesse, or carelesse; and sottish, blockish, lumpish, lusk-like, without life, metall, spirit" Sly and its variant Sleigh have degenerated in the same way as crafty and cunning, both of which once meant skilled. Chaucer calls the wings of Daedalus "his playes slye," i.e. his ingenious contrivances. Quick meant alert, lively, as in "the quick and the dead." Slight, cognate with Ger. schlecht, bad, once meant plain or simple. Many adjectives which are quite obsolete in literary English survive as surnames. Mid. Eng. Lyle has been supplanted by its derivative Little, the opposite pair surviving as Mutch and Mickle. The poor parson did not fail-- "In siknesse nor in meschief to visite The ferreste in his parisshe, muche and lyte." (A, 493.) We have for Lyte also the imitative Light; cf. Lightwood. With Little may be mentioned Murch, an obsolete word for dwarf-- "Murch, lytyl man, nanus." (Prompt. Parv.) Lenain is a fairly common name in France. Snell, swift or valiant, had become a personal name in Anglo-Saxon, but we find le snel in the Middle Ages. Freake, Frick, also meant valiant or warrior-- "Ther was no freke that ther wolde flye" (Chevy Chase); but the Promptorium Parvulorum makes it equivalent to Craske (Chapter XXII)-- "Fryke, or craske, in grete helth, crassus." It is cognate with Ger. frech, which now means impudent. Nott has already been mentioned (Chapter II). Of the Yeoman we are told-- "A not hed hadde he, with a broun visage." (A, 109.) Stark, cognate with starch, now usually means stiff, rather than strong-- "I feele my lymes stark and suffisaunt To do al that a man bilongeth to." (E, 1458.) DISGUISED SPELLINGS But Stark is also for an earlier Sterk (cf. Clark and Clerk), which represents Mid. Eng. stirk, a heifer. In the cow with the crumpled horn we have a derivative of Mid. Eng. crum, crooked, whence the names Crum and Crump. Ludwig's German Dict. (1715) explains krumm as "crump, crooked, wry." The name Crook generally has the same meaning, the Ger. Krummbein corresponding to our Cruikshank or Crookshanks. It is possible that Glegg and Gleig are Mid. Eng. gleg, skilful, of Scand. origin.