Burrow (Vol. vii., p. 205.).—Balliolensis says that in North Gloucestershire "the side of a thick coppice is spoken of as a very burrow place for cattle." He understands this to mean "sheltered, secure from wind;" and he asks to what etymology this sense can be attributed. I suspect the Anglo-Saxon bearo, a grove or copse, is the word here preserved. As a wood forms a fence against the wind, and is habitually so used and regarded by the agricultural population, the association of ideas is suitable enough in this interpretation. Bearo, first signifying the grove itself, might easily come to mark the shelter which the grove afforded. But there is also a compound of this word preserved in the ancient charters, in which the fitness of a place as a pasture for swine is the prominent notion. Kemble, Cod. Dipl., No. 288.: "Hæc sunt pascua porcorum, quæ nostrâ linguâ Saxonicâ denbera nominamus." In the same sense the compound with the word weald (= a great forest) is found: weald-bero. The wood was considered by our forefathers as propitious to their swine, not only for its shelter, but also for the masts it supplied; and this may have further helped to associate bearo with the comforts of cattle.
Orielensis.
"Coming home to men's business" (Vol. vii., p.235.).—It is hardly requisite to state to the readers of "N. & Q.," that many editions of Bacon's memorable, beautiful, and didactic Essays appeared in the distinguished author's lifetime, obviously having experienced (proved by prefatory epistles of different dates) the repeated revision and emendations of the writer. The Essays were clearly favourites with him, as well as with the then reading public. They were first published in 1597, preceded by a letter addressed "To M. Anthony Bacon, his deare Brother." The ninth edition was issued the year before his death, which took place April 9, 1626. In that edition is added a dedication "To the Right Honorable my very good Lo. the Duke of Buckingham, his Grace Lo. High Admirall of England;" signed, "Fr. St. Alban:" previous signatures being "Fran. Bacon" (1597); "Fr. Bacon" (1612); "Fra. Bacon" (no date). In this dedication to the Duke of Buckingham first appeared the passage inquired about: "I doe now (he tells the Duke) publish my Essayes; which, of all my other workes, haue beene most current: for that, as it seems, they come home to Men's Businesse and Bosomes."—How accurate, yet modest, an appreciation of his labours!
A Hermit at Hampstead.
My copy of Lord Bacon's Essays is a 12mo.: London, 1668. And in the epistle dedicatory, the author himself tells the Duke of Buckingham as follows:
"I do now publish my Essays; which, of all my other works, have been most current: for that, as it seems, they come home to men's business and bosomes."
This will carry J. P. eleven years further back, at all events.
Rt.
Heuristic (Vol. vii., p. 237.), as an English scholar would write it, or Hevristisch, as it would be written by a German, is a word not to be found in the sixth edition of Kant's Critik (Leipzig, 1818), nor in his Prolegomena (Riga, 1783).[[3]] Your correspondent's copy appears to have been tampered with. The title Kritik should be spelt with the initial C, and reinen should not have a capital letter: the Germans being very careful to prefix capitals to all substantives, but never to adjectives. The above-mentioned edition of the Critik was sent to me from Hamburg soon after its publication. It was printed by Fröbels at Rudolstadt in 1818; and is unblemished by a single erratum, so far as I have been able to detect one. Allow me to suggest to H. B. C. to collate the pages in his edition with the sixth of 1818; the seventh of 1828; and, if possible, with one published in Kant's lifetime prior to 1804; and he will probably find, that the very favourite word of Kant, empirisch, has been altered in a few instances to hevristich. Mr. Haywood is evidently inaccurate in writing evristic, which is wrong in Greek as well as in German and English.
Instead of giving the pages of his copy, your correspondent will more oblige by stating the divisions under which this exceptional word occurs, in the running title at the top of each page of his copy; together with two or three lines of the context, which I can compare with my own copy. I