t is also used rather contemptuously to describe some one who
is not wicked but unutterably miserable. Yet in Old English this word
merely meant an "exile." An exile was a person to be pitied, and also
sometimes a person who had done something wrong, and we get both these
ideas in the modern uses of the word. The word _blackguard_, which now
means a "scoundrel," was also once a word for "scullion;" but it does
not go back as far as "knave" and "villain," being found chiefly in
writings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Another word in which the "villeins" and "knaves" and "churls" seem to
have their revenge on the "upper classes" is _surly_. This word used
to be spelt _sirly_, and meant behaving as a "sire," or gentleman,
behaves. Originally this meant "haughty" or "arrogant," but by degrees
came to have the idea of sulkiness and ungraciousness, much like
_churlish_.

Several adjectives which are now used as terms of blame were not only
harmless descriptions originally, but were actually terms of praise.
No one likes to be called "cunning," "sly," or "crafty" to-day; but
these were all complimentary adjectives once. A _cunning_ man was one
who knew his work well, a _sly_ person was wise and skilful, and a
_crafty_ person was one who could work well at his trade or "craft."
Two words which we use to-day with a better sense than any of these,
and yet which have a slightly uncomplimentary sense, are _knowing_ and
_artful_. It is surely good to "know" things, and to be full of art;
but both words have already an idea of slyness, and may in time come
to have quite as unpleasant a meaning as these three which have the
same literal meaning.

_Fellow_, a word which has now nearly always a slightly contemptuous
sense, had originally the quite good sense of _partner_. It came from
an Old English word which meant the man who marked out his land next
to yours. The word still has this good sense in _fellowship_,
_fellow-feeling_, etc., and as used to describe a "fellow" of a
college or society. But the more general use is as a less respectful
word for man. One man may say of another that he is a "nice fellow"
without any disrespect; but the word has no dignity, and people, even
though they use it of an equal, would not think of using it to
describe a superior, and the more general use is that of blame or
contempt, as in the expressions, "a disagreeable fellow" or "a stupid
fellow." The word _bully_ was at one time a wo