"_Truth is that which a man troweth_" (Vol. iv., p. 382.).--For the
information of your correspondent Γ. I send the following,
which I believe to be the original authority for the above saying. It is
taken from the celebrated work of Horne Tooke's, entitled _Diversions of
Purley_, which, though highly interesting as a treasury of philological
information, contains this among other absurd attempts to base moral
conclusions on the foundation of etymology:--
"_Truth_ is the third person singular of the indicative _trow_. It
was formerly written _troweth_, _trowth_, _trouth_, and _troth_.
And it means (_aliquid_, anything, something) that which one
_troweth_, i.e. thinketh, or firmly believeth."
Dugald Stewart, in his _Philosophical Essays_, justly observes regarding
the principle involved in such speculations, that "if it were admitted
as sound, it would completely undermine the foundations both of logic
and of ethics."