e _nature_ of these rejected Shakespearian vocables,
which he seems to have viewed as milk that would bear no more than one
skimming?"

The percentage of _classical_ words among them is great--greater indeed
than in the body of Shakespeare's writings. According to the analysis of
Weisse, in an average hundred of Shakespearian words one-third are
classical and two-thirds Saxon. But then all the classical elements have
inherent meaning, while half of the Saxon have none. We may hence infer
that of the significant words in Shakespeare one-half are of classical
derivation. Now, of the apa? ?e?? mue?a with initial _a_, I call 262 words
out of 364 classical, and with initial _m_, 152 out of 310; that is, 414
out of 674, or about four-sevenths of the whole Shakespearian host
beginning with those two letters. In doubtful cases I have considered
those words only as classical the first etymology of which in Webster is
from a classical or Romance root. In the biblical words used once only
the classical portion is enormous--namely, not less than sixty-nine per
cent.--while the classical percentage in Shakespearian words of the same
class is no more than sixty-one.

Among the 674 _a_ and _m_ Shakespearian words occurring once only the
proportion of words now _obsolete_ is unexpectedly small. Of 310 such
words with initial _m_, only one-sixth, or 51 at the utmost, are now
disused, either in sense or even in form. Of this half-hundred a few are
used in Shakespeare, but not at present, as verbs; thus, to _maculate_,
to _miracle_, to _mud_, to _mist_, to _mischief_, to _moral_--also
_merchandized_ and _musicked_. Another class now wellnigh unknown are
_misproud, misdread, mappery, mansionry, marybuds, masterdom,
mistership, mistressship._

Then there are slight variants from our modern orthography or meanings,
as _mained_ for maimed, _markman_ for marksman, _make_ for mate,
_makeless_ for mateless, _mirable, mervaillous, mess_ for mass,
_manakin, minikin, meyny_ for many, _momentarry_ for momentary,
_moraler, mountainer, misgraffing, misanthropos, mott_ for motto, to
_mutine, mi'nutely_ for every minute.

None seem wholly dead words except the following eighteen: To _mammock_,
tear; _mell_, meddle; _mose_, mourn; _micher_, truant; _mome_, fool;
_mallecho_, mischief; _maund_, basket; _marcantant_, merchant; _mun_,
sound of wind; _mure_, wall; _meacock_, henpecked; _mop_, grin;
_militarist_, soldier; _murrion_, affected with murrain;