[Footnote 7: It appears from a note in Pepys's _Diary_, June 23, 1660, that
the library of the Duke of Sussex contained four several editions of the
Book of Common Prayer, all printed after the accession of the House of
Hanover, and all containing, as an integral part of the service, "The
Office for the Healing."--ED.]
_Creole_ (Vol. vii., p. 381. Vol. viii., p. 138.).--I have never met with
any satisfactory explanation of the origin of this word; its meaning has
undergone various modifications. At first it was limited in its application
to the descendants of Europeans born in the colonies. By degrees it came to
be extended to all classes of the population of colonial descent and now it
is indiscriminately employed to express things as well as persons, of local
origin or growth. We say a _creole_ Negro, as contra-distinguished from a
negro born in Africa or elsewhere; a _creole_ horse, as
contra-distinguished from an English or an American horse; and we speak
"Creole" when we address the uneducated classes in their native jargon.