f it, or
even to get sense out of it, he will only follow the fortune which
FRANCISCUS says has befallen all his predecessors, and stumble _in
limine_. The presence of _r_, and the turning of _mens_ into _mentum_,
are minor difficulties. If FRANCISCUS be not a wag, he is perhaps an
anti-ballot man, bent on finding an argument against the ballot in the
etymology of _Parliament_: but whatever he be, I trust your readers
generally will remain content with the old though humble explanation of
_parliament_, that it is a modern Latinisation of the French word
_parlement_, and that it literally means a talk-shop, and has nothing to
do with open or secret voting, though it be doubtless true that Roman
judges voted _clam vel palam_, and that _palam_ and _mens_ are two Latin
words.

C.H.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE'S USE OF THE WORD "DELIGHTED."

"_Delighted_" (Vol. ii., p. 113.).--I incline to think that the word
_delighted_ in Shakspeare represents the Latin participle _delectus_
(from _deligere_), "select, choice, exquisite, refined." This sense will
suit all the passages cited by MR. HICKSON, and particularly the last.
If this be so, the suggested derivations from the adjective _light_, and
from the substantive _light_, fall to the ground: but MR. HICKSON will
have been right in distinguishing Shakspeare's _delighted_ from the
participle of the usual verb _to delight, delectare_=gratify. The roots
of the two are distinct: that of the former being _leg-ere_ "to choose;"
of the latter, _lac-ere_ "to tice."

B.H. KENNEDY.

_Meaning of the Word "Delighted."_--I am not the only one of your
readers who have read with deep interest the important contributions of
MR. HICKSON, and who hope for further remarks on Shakspearian
difficulties from the same pen. His papers on the _Taming of the Shrew_
were of special value; and although I do not quite agree with all he has
said on the subject, there can be no doubt of the great utility of
permitting the discussion of questions of the kind in such able hands.

Perhaps you would kindly allow me to say thus much; for the remembrance
of the papers just alluded to renders a necessary protest against that
gentleman's observations on the meaning of the word _delighted_ somewhat
gentler. I happen to be one of the unfortunates (a circumstance unknown
to MR. HICKSON, for the work in which my remarks on the passage are
contained is not yet published) who have indul