6
HEADLONG HALL.
ensconced themselves in the four corners of the Holyhead mail.
These four persons were, Mr. Foster[1], the perfectibilian; Mr. Escot[2], the deteriorationist; Mr. Jenkison[3], the statu-quo-ite;
- ↑ Foster, quasi Φωστηρ,—from φαος and τηροω, lucem servo, conservo, observo, custodio,-one who watches over and guards the light; a sense in which the word is often used amongst us, when we speak of fostering a flame.
- ↑ Escot, quasi ες σκοτον, in tenebras, scilicet, intuens: one who is always looking into the dark side of the question.
- ↑ Jenkison: This name may be derived from αιεν εξ ισαω, semper ex æqualibus-scilicet, mensuris, omnia metiens: one who from equal measures divides and distributes all things: one who from equal measures can always produce arguments on both sides of a question, with so much nicety and exactness, as to keep the said question eternally pending, and the balance of the controversy perpetually in statu quo. By an aphæresis of the α, an elision of the second ε, and an easy and natural mutation of ξ into κ, the derivation of this name proceeds according to the strictest principles of ety-
