337. “The robber entered the dwelling, and secretly carried off the silver:” say, thief; a robber attacks violently, and commits his depredations by main force; a thief is one who uses secrecy and deception.
338. “Go and fetch me my riding-whip:” say, bring. Fetch means to go and bring; go and fetch is repetition.
339. To leave and to quit are often used as synonymous terms, though improperly; to leave implies a design of returning soon—to quit, an absence of a long time, or forever; as, in Shakespeare:—
“——the very rats
Instinctively had quit it.”—Tempest, i. 2.
“I shall leave my house for a month before next Autumn; but I shall not be obliged to quit it until after Christmas.”
340. Mute and dumb. A dumb man has not the power to speak; a mute man either does not choose, or is not allowed to speak. It is, therefore, more proper to say of a person who can neither hear nor speak, that he is “deaf and dumb,” than that he is a “deaf mute.”
341. Strong and robust. These words are frequently misused: a strong man is able to bear a heavy burden, but not necessarily for a long time; a robust man bears continual fatigue with ease; a strong man may be active and nimble; while an excess of muscular development, together with a clumsiness of action, exclude these qualities from the robust man:—
“Strong as a tower in hope, I cry Amen!”
Shakespeare, Richard II. i. 3.
“For one who, though of drooping mien, had yet
From nature’s kindliness received a frame
Robust as ever rural labor bred.”
Wordsworth, Excursion, VI.
342. “Isaac Newton invented the law of gravitation:” say, discovered. “Galileo discovered the telescope:” say, invented.
343. To hear and to listen have each distinct degrees of meaning. To hear implies no effort or particular attention. To listen implies some eagerness to hear. An old proverb says, “They that listen seldom hear any good of themselves.”