"With gogle-eyed Tomson, shepster of Lyn."
It is pretty certain, however, that this masculine occupation was not the one followed by "Marie Fraunceys de Suthwerk!"
Pray accept this "Reply" for what it is worth. Perhaps I might have done better by meeting Mr. John R. Fox's "Query" (No. 14. p. 216.) with another. Should not the designation of Marie F. be Spinster instead of Shipster?
MARK ANTONY LOWER.
Lewes, Feb. 2.
Sparse.—Permit me to refer your correspondent "C. FORBES" for a reply to his query, p. 215. of your last Number, to the article "Americanism" in the Penny Cyclopædia, the author of which observes:—
"Sparse is, for any thing we know, a new word, and well applied; the Americans say a sparse instead of a scattered population; and we think the term has a more precise meaning than scattered, and is the proper correlative of dense."
In the Imperial Dictionary (avowedly based upon Webster's American work, which I cannot at this moment refer to in its original form), the word in question is given both as an adjective and as a verb, and the derivatives "sparsed," "sparsedly," "sparsely," and "sparseness," are also admitted. The reference given for the origin of "sparse" is to the Latin "sparsus, scattered, from spargo;" and the definitions are, 1. "Thinly scattered, set or planted here and there; as, a sparse population:" and, 2., as a botanical term, "not opposite, not alternate, nor in any regular order; applied to branches, leaves, peduncles, &c."
J.T. STANESBY.
Cosmopolis—Complutensian Polyglot.—Though in considerable haste, I must send replies to the fourth and eighth queries of my friend Mr. Jebb, No. 14. p. 213.