Signora Cuzzoni, and dated May 25, 1724, beginning, "Little syren of the
stage;" but none of the verses quoted in the _Treatise on the Bathos_ are
extracted from it.

_Namby-pamby_ belongs to a tolerably numerous class of words in our
language, all formed on the same rhyming principle. They are all familiar,
and some of them childish; which last circumstance probably suggested to
Pope the invention of the word _namby-pamby_, in order to designate the
infantine style which Ambrose Philips had introduced. Many of them,
however, are used by old and approved writers; and the principle upon which
they are formed must be of great antiquity in our language. The following
is a collection of words which are all formed in this manner:

_Bow-wow._--A word coined in imitation of a dog's bark. Compare the French
_aboyer_.

_Chit-chat._--Formed by reduplication from _chat_. A word (says Johnson)
used in ludicrous conversation. It occurs in the _Spectator_ and _Tatler_.

_Fiddle-faddle._--Formed in a similar manner from _to fiddle_, in its sense
of _to trifle_. It occurs in the _Spectator_.

_Flim-flam._--An old word, of which examples are cited from Beaumont and
Fletcher, and Swift. It is formed from _flam_, which Johnson calls "a cant
word of no certain etymology." _Flam_, for a lie, a cheat, is however used
by South, Barrow, and Warburton, and therefore at one time obtained an
admission into dignified style. See Nares' _Glossary_ in v.

_Hab or nab._--That is, according to Nares, have or have not; subsequently
abridged into _hab, nab_. _Hob or nob_ is explained by him to mean "Will
you have a glass of wine or not?" _Hob, nob_ is applied by Shakspeare to
another alternative, viz. give or take (_Twelfth Night_, Act III. Sc. 4.).
See Nares in v. _Habbe or Nabbe_.

_Handy-dandy._--"A play in which children change hands and places"
(Johnson). Formed from hand. The word is used by Shakspeare.

_Harum-scarum._--"A low but frequent expression applied to flighty persons;
persons always in a hurry" (Todd). Various conjectures are offered
respecting its origin: the most probable seems to be, that it is derived
from _scare_. The Anglo-Saxon word _hearmsceare_ means punishment (see
Grimm, _Deutsche Rechtsalterthuemer_, p. 681.); but although the similarity
of sound is remarkable, it is difficult to understand how _harum-scarum_
can be connected with it.

_Helter-skelter._--Used by Shakspeare. Several derivations for this word
are sugg