carry into
effect his design. This man, "at the instigation of the devil," stole
some of the metal with which he had been furnished for the work; and the
bell was, in consequence, mis-shapen and of small size. It was, however,
placed in the turret; but, as a divine punishment for his crime,
whenever the bell was struck, the dishonest founder was thereupon seized
with frenzy, uttering strange words and barking like a dog!

GASTROS.

* * * * *

ORIGIN OF THE WORD "NEWS."

I have great respect for "Mr. SAMUEL HICKSON," but I cannot treat his
derivation of the word "News" with any respect (No. 27. p. 428.). I wish
"Mr. HICKSON" had been a little more modest in his manner of propounding
his novelty. Can any thing be more dogmatic than his assertions? which I
will recapitulate as much as possible in his own words, before I proceed
to deal with them.

1. "I have never had the least doubt that this word is derived
immediately from the German."

2. "It is, in fact, 'das Neue' in the genitive case;" and "Mr. H."
proceeds to mention the German phrase, "Was giebt's Neues?" as giving
the exact sense of our "What is the news?" [which cannot be gainsaid;
but I shall have a word to say presently about _neues_ in that phrase
being the genitive case.]

3. "That the word is not derived from the English adjective 'new,'--that
it is not of English manufacture at all--I feel well assured."

4. "In that case '_s_' would be the sign of the plural; and we should
have, as the Germans have, either extant or obsolete, also 'the new.'"
[I do not see the _sequitur_.]

5 "'News' is a noun singular, and as such must have been adopted bodily
into the language."

Such are "Mr. HICKSON's" principal assertions: and when I add, that he
has found out that the German "neu" was in olden time spelt "new," so
that the genitive, "newes," was identical with the old form of the
English word "news;" and that he explains the transformation of a
genitive case of a German adjective into an English substantive by
English ignorance, which he further thinks is exemplified by the Koran
having been called "the Alkoran," in ignorance of "_Al_" meaning "the,"
I have given not only all of his assertions, but also the whole of his
argument.

I now proceed to assert on my part that the word "news" is not "derived
immediately from the German," and "has not been adopted bodily into our
language;" that the English "new" and German "neu