Grantham.
* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries.
_Cabal_ (Vol. iv., p. 507.).--The two quotations from _Hudibras_ evidently
refer to two different meanings of this word _Cabal_. The first, alluding
to the ancient Cabala, or Mysteries, or Secrets, from whence _Cabalistic_;
the second, to its more modern, or political acceptation,--both, however,
including the idea of _secrecy_ or _privity_, as opposed to a general
participation of knowledge or purpose. It is the latter application of the
word to which the inquiry of E. H. D. D., at p. 443., Vol. iv., refers: and
MR. KERSLEY's quotation from a book printed in 1655 (p. 139., Vol. v.),
proves its usage in this sense at least seven years before Burnet's
derivation of the word from the initials of the five chief ministers of
Charles II. I do not think that Pepys could use the word _Cabal_, as
applicable to the "king's confidential advisers," _several_ years before
Burnet derived it from their initials; the ministers in question having
been appointed circa 1670. Burnet's definition was published in 1672, and
Pepys was appointed Secretary to the Admiralty in 1673. Blount, in his
_Glossographia_, 3rd edition, 1670, says, "We use to say he is not of our
_cabal_, that is, he is not received into our {521} council, or is not
privy to our secrets." Cole, in his _English Dictionary_, 1685, defines
_Cabal_, "a secret council:" and Bailey derives _Caballer_ from _cabaleur_
(French), "a party man" and _To cabal_, from _cabaler_ (French), "to plot
together privately, to make parties;" and _Cabal_, from "a junto, or
private council, a particular party, a set, or gang."
I find among my papers a scrap relating to the derivation of the word
_Whig_. I do not know where I took it from; but the origin which it gives
to this much-used word is new to me, and may be to some others of your
readers also:
"The word Whig was given to the Liberal party in England by the
Royalists in Cromwell's days, from the initial letters of their motto,
'We hope in God.'"