_Expressions in Milton_ (Vol. iii., p. 241.).--If this Query has already
met with an answer, my apology for troubling you with this must be, that
it has escaped my notice.
R. is undoubtedly right in supposing that a "toothed sleck stone" means
a toothed or jagged whetstone; the word _sleck_ preserving a greater
resemblance to its Danish cousin _slecht_ than the modern _slick_.
For "bullish," Milton shall be his own interpreter. "I affirm it to be a
_bull, taking away the essence of that which it calls itself_."
The phrase "bid you the base" is apparently taken from the old game of
Prisoner's Base, for which, if necessary, reference may be made to the
_Boy's Own Book_. I am inclined to think that the very phrase was, in my
school days, used in the game; but if wrong in any remembrance, I may
still be right in my conjecture, and then the phrase would be equivalent
to, "I challenge you to follow me," as one boy follows another in
Prisoner's Base; and we should then have a curious illustration of the
antiquity of the game.