Is not this derivation erroneous? Sincere does not mean "pure, like virgin-honey;" but it expresses the absence of deception. I doubt not that it is derived from—
"The practice of Roman potters to rub wax into the flaws of their unsound vessels when they sent them to market. A sincere [without wax] vessel was the same as a sound vessel, one that had no disguised flaw."
So says Bushnell (God in Christ, p. 17.). The derivation is no novelty. I reproduce it merely to correct an error which is obtaining currency under the name of Mr. French. I should be obliged to any of your correspondents who would refer me to, or still better cite, any passages in the Latin classics relating to the practice I have mentioned.
C. Mansfield Ingleby.
Birmingham.
Epitaph in Appleby Church-yard, Leicestershire.—
"I was a fine young man,
As you would see in ten.
And when I thought of this,