h die. Thus in instances out of
number a word lives on as a verb, but has ceased to be employed as a
noun; we say 'to embarrass', but no longer an 'embarrass'; 'to revile',
but not, with Chapman and Milton, a 'revile'; 'to dispose', but not a
'dispose'{150}; 'to retire' but not a 'retire'; 'to wed', but not a
'wed'; we say 'to infest', but use no longer the adjective 'infest'. Or
with a reversed fortune a word lives on as a noun, but has perished as
a verb--thus as a noun substantive, a 'slug', but no longer 'to slug' or
render slothful; a 'child', but no longer 'to child', ("_childing_
autumn", Shakespeare); a 'rape', but not 'to rape' (South); a 'rogue',
but not 'to rogue'; 'malice', but not 'to malice'; a 'path', but not 'to
path'; or as a noun adjective, 'serene', but not 'to serene', a beautiful
word, which we have let go, as the French have 'sereiner'{151}; 'meek',
but not 'to meek' (Wiclif); 'fond', but not 'to fond' (Dryden); 'dead',
but not 'to dead'; 'intricate', but 'to intricate' (Jeremy Taylor) no
longer.

Or again, the affirmative remains, but the negative is gone; thus
'wisdom', 'bold', 'sad', but not any more 'unwisdom', 'unbold', 'unsad'
(all in Wiclif); 'cunning', but not 'uncunning'; 'manhood', 'wit',
'mighty', 'tall', but not 'unmanhood', 'unwit', 'unmighty', 'untall'
(all in Chaucer); 'buxom', but not 'unbuxom' (Dryden); 'hasty', but not
'unhasty' (Spenser); 'blithe', but not 'unblithe'; 'ease', but not
'unease' (Hacket); 'repentance', but not 'unrepentance'; 'remission',
but not 'irremission' (Donne); 'science', but not 'nescience'
(Glanvill){152}; 'to know', but not 'to unknow' (Wiclif); 'to give', but
not 'to ungive'. Or once more, with a curious variation from this, the
negative survives, while the affirmative is gone; thus 'wieldy'
(Chaucer) survives only in 'unwieldy'; 'couth' and 'couthly' (both in
Spenser), only in 'uncouth' and 'uncouthly'; 'rule' (Foxe) only in
'unruly'; 'gainly' (Henry More) in 'ungainly'; these last two were both
of them serviceable words, and have been ill lost{153}; 'gainly' is
indeed still common in the West Riding of Yorkshire; 'exorable'
(Holland) and 'evitable' only in 'inexorable' and 'inevitable';
'faultless' remains, but hardly 'faultful' (Shakespeare). In like manner
'semble' (Foxe) has, except as a technical law term, disappeared; while
'dissemble' continues. So also of other pairs one has been taken and one
left; 'height', or 'highth', as Milton better spelt