REPLIES.

SHAKSPEARE'S USE OF THE WORD "DELIGHTED."

(Vol. ii., pp. 113. 139.)

Although Mr. Hickson's notion of the meaning of _delight_, in the three
passages of Shakspeare he has cited, is somewhat startling, it was not
to be summarily rejected without due examination; and yet, from a
tolerably extensive acquaintance with old English phraseology, I fear I
cannot flatter him with the expectation of having it confirmed by
instances from other writers.

I believe that _lighted_ is rather an unusual form to express
_lightened_, _disencumbered_, but that it was sometimes used is
apparent; for in Hutton's _Dictionary_, 1583, we have "Allevo, to make
light, to light."--"Allevatus, lifted up, _lighted_." And in the
_Cambridge Dictionary_, 1594, "Allevatus, lifted up, _lighted_, raised,
eased or recovered." The use of the prefix _de_ in the common instance
of _depart_ for to _part_, _divide_, is noticed by Mr. Hickson; and
_demerits_ was used for _merits_ by many of our old writers as well as
Shakspeare. I find _decompound_ for _compound_ in Heylyn's
_Microcosmos_, 1627, p. 249., thus:--"The English language is a
_decompound_ of Dutch, French, and Latin."

These instances may serve to show that it is not at all improbable
Shakspeare may have used _delighted_ for _lighted==lightened==freed from
incumbrance_; and it must be confessed that the sense and spirit of the