(Vol. ii., p. 133.)
For the origin of this word, A.W.H. may refer to Brocket's _Glossary of
North Country Words_, where he will find--
"Gradely, decently, orderly. Sax. _grad_, _grade,_ ordo. Rather, Mr.
Turner says, from Sax. _gradlie_ upright; _gradely_ in Lanc., he
observes, is an adjective simplifying everything respectable. The
Lancashire people say, our _canny_ is nothing to it."
The word itself is very familiar to me, as I have often received a scolding
for some boyish, and therefore not very wise or orderly prank, in these
terns:--"One would think you were not altogether gradely," or, as it was
sometimes varied into, "You would make one believe you were not _right in
your head;_" meaning, "One would think you had not common sense."