can only have come
about through the people who used them not keeping their promises, but
putting off doing things until later. The word _soon_ in Old English
meant "immediately," so that when a person said that he would do a
thing soon he meant that he would do it "instantly." The trouble was
that often he did _not_, and so often did this happen that the meaning
of the word changed, and _soon_ came to have its present meaning of
"in a short time." The same thing happened with the words _presently_
and _directly_, and the phrase _by-and-by_, all of which used to mean
"instantly." _Presently_ and _directly_ seem to promise things in a
shorter time than _soon_, but _by-and-by_ is a very uncertain phrase
indeed. It is perhaps because Scotch people are superior to the
English in the matter of doing things to time that with them
_presently_ still really means "instantly."

In all the examples we have seen of changes in the meaning of words it
is fairly easy to see how the changes have come about. But there are
some words which have changed so much in meaning that their present
sense seems to have no connection with their earlier meaning. The
word _treacle_ is a splendid example of this. It comes from a Greek
word meaning "having to do with a wild beast," and this seems to have
no connection whatever with our present use of the word _treacle_ as
another word for _syrup of sugar_. The steps by which this word came
to change its meaning so enormously were these. From the general
meaning of "having to do with a wild beast," it came to mean "remedy
for the bite of a wild beast." As remedies for wounds and bites were,
in the old days, generally thick syrups, the word came in time to mean
merely "syrup," and lastly the sweet syrup which we now know as
"treacle."

Another word which has changed immensely in its meaning is _premises_.
By the word _premises_ we generally mean a house or shop and the land
just round it. But the real meaning of the word _premises_ is the
"things already mentioned." It came to have its present sense from the
frequent use of the word in documents drawn up by lawyers. In these,
which very frequently dealt with business relating to houses, the
"things before mentioned" meant the "house, etc.," and in time people
came to think that this was the actual meaning of _premises_, and so
we get the present use of the word.

The word _humour_ is one which has changed its meaning very much in
the course of its hi