it, remains, but
'lowth' (Becon) is gone; 'righteousness', or 'rightwiseness', as it
would once more accurately have been written, for 'righteous' is a
corruption of 'rightwise', remains, but its correspondent 'wrongwiseness'
has been taken; 'inroad' continues, but 'outroad' (Holland) has
disappeared; 'levant' lives, but 'ponent' (Holland) has died; 'to
extricate' continues, but, as we saw just now, 'to intricate' does not;
'parricide', but not 'filicide' (Holland). Again, of whole groups of
words formed on some particular scheme it may be only a single specimen
will survive. Thus 'gainsay', that is, again say, survives; but
'gainstrive' (Foxe), 'gainstand', 'gaincope' (Golding), and other
similarly formed words exist no longer. It is the same with 'foolhardy',
which is but one, though now indeed the only one remaining, of at least
five adjectives formed on the same principle; thus 'foollarge', quite as
expressive a word as prodigal, occurs in Chaucer, and 'foolhasty', found
also in him, lived on to the time of Holland; while 'foolhappy' is in
Spencer; and 'foolbold' in Bale. 'Steadfast' remains, but 'shamefast',
'rootfast', 'bedfast' (=bedridden), 'homefast', 'housefast',
'masterfast' (Skelton), with others, are all gone. 'Exhort' remains; but
'dehort' a word whose place neither 'dissuade' nor any other exactly
supplies, has escaped us{154}. We have 'twilight', but 'twibill' =
bipennis (Chapman) is extinct.

Let me mention another real loss, where in like manner there remains in
the present language something to remind us of that which is gone. The
comparative 'rather' stands alone, having dropped on one side its
positive 'rathe'{155}, and on the other its superlative 'rathest'.
'Rathe', having the sense of early, though a graceful word, and not
fallen quite out of popular remembrance, inasmuch as it is embalmed in
the _Lycidas_ of Milton,

"And the _rathe_ primrose, which forsaken dies",

might still be suffered without remark to share the common lot of so many
words which have perished, though worthy to have lived; but the disuse
of 'rathest' has left a real gap in the language, and the more so,
seeing that 'liefest' is gone too. 'Rather' expresses the Latin 'potius';
but 'rathest' being out of use, we have no word, unless 'soonest' may be
accepted as such, to express 'potissimum', or the preference not of one
way over another or over certain others, but of one over all; which we
therefore effect by aid of var