the Purposes of Life. The Value of a Work must be estimated by its Ufe: It is not enough that a Dictionary delights the Critic, unless, at the fame Time, it inftructs the Learner; as it is to little Purpofe that an Engine amuses the Philofopher by the Subtilty of its Mechanifm, if it requires fo much Knowledge in its Application, as to be of no Advantage to the common Workman.

The Title which I prefix to my Work has long conveyed a very mifcellaneous Idea, and they that take a Dictionary into their Hands, have been accustomed to expect from it a Solution of almost every Difficulty. If foreign Words therefore were rejected, it could be little regarded, except by Cri tics, or thofe who afpire to Criticism; and however it might enlighten thofe that write, would be all Darkness to them that only read. The Unlearned much oftner confult their Dictionaries for the Meaning of Words, than for their Structures or Formations; and the Words that moft want Explanation, are generally Terms of Art; which, therefore, Experience has taught my Predeceffors to fpread with a Kind of pompous Luxuriance over their Productions.

The Academicians of France, indeed, rejected Terms of Science in their first Effay, but found afterwards a Neceffity of relaxing the Rigour of their Determination; and, though they would not naturalize them at once by a fingle Act, permitted them by Degrees to fettle themselves among the Natives, with little Oppofition; and it would furely be no Proof of Judgment to imitate them in an Error which they have now retracted, and deprive the Book of its chief Ufe, by fcrupulous Diftinctions.

On fuch Words, however, all are not equally to be confidered as Parts of our Language; for fome of them are naturalized and incorporated, but others ftill continue Aliens, and are rather Auxiliaries than VOL. II. Subjects,

D

Subjects. This Naturalization is produced either by an Admiffion into common Speech, in fome metaphorical Signification, whichis the Acquifition of a Kind of Property among us; as we fay, the Zenith of Advancement, the Meridian of Life, the * Cynofure of neighbouring Eyes; or it is the Confequence of long Intermixture and frequent Ufe, by which the Ear is accustomed to the Sound of Words, till their Original is forgotten, as in Equator, Satellites; or of the Change of a foreign to an English Termination, and a Conformity to the Laws of the Speech into which they are adopted; as in Category, Cachexy, Peripneumony.

Of thofe which yet continue in the State of Aliens, and have made no Approaches towards Affimilation, fome feem neceffary to be retained; because the Purchasers of the Dictionary will expect to find them. Such are many Words in the Common Law, as Capias, Habeas Corpus, Præmunire, Nifi Prius: Such are fome Terms of Controverfial Divinity, as Hypoftafis; and of Phyfick, as the Names of Diseases; and in general, all Terms which can be found in Books not written profeffedly upon particular Arts, or can be fuppofed neceffary to those who do not regularly study them. Thus, when a Reader not skilled in Phyfick happens in Milton upon this Line,

-pining Atrophy, Marafmus, and wide-wasting Peftilence.

he will, with equal Expectation, look into his Dictionary for the Word Marafinus, as for Atrophy, or Peftilence; and will have Reafon to complain if he does not find it.

It seems neceffary to the Completion of a Dictionary defigned not merely for Critics, but for po- . pular Use, that it should comprise, in some Degree,

Milton.

the

the peculiar Words of every Profeffion; that the Terms of War and Navigation fhould be inferted, fo far as they can be required by Readers of Travels, and of Hiftory; and thofe of Law, Merchandise, and mechanical Trades, fo far as they can be supposed useful in the Occurrences of common Life.

But there ought, however, to be some Distinction made between the different Claffes of Words; and therefore it will be proper to print those which are incorporated into the Language in the ufual Character, and those which are still to be confidered as foreign, in the Italick Letter.

Another Question may arife with regard to Appellatives, or the Names of Species. It seems of no great Ufe to fet down the Words Horfe, Dog, Cat, Willow, Alder, Dafy, Rofe, and a Thousand others, of which it will be hard to give an Explanation, not more obfcure than the Word itfelf. Yet it is to be confidered, that, if the Names of Animals be inferted, we must admit those which are more known, as well as those with which we are, by Accident, lefs acquainted; and if they are all rejected, how will the Reader be relieved from Difficulties produced by Allufions to the Crocodile, the Camæleon, the Ichneumon, and the Hyæna? If no Plants are to be mentioned, the most pleasing Part of Nature will be excluded, and many beautiful Epithets be unexplained. If only thofe which are lefs known are to be mentioned, who fhall fix the Limits of the Reader's Learning? The Importance of fuch Explications appears from the Miftakes which the Want of them has occafioned. Had Shakespeare had a Dictionary of this Kind, he had not made the Woodbine entwine the Honeyfuckle; nor would Milton, with fuch Affiftance, have difpofed fo improperly of his Ellops and his Scorpion.

Befides, as fuch Words, like others, require that their Accents fhould be fettled, their Sounds afcer- .

tained, and their Etymologies deduced, they cannot be properly omitted in the Dictionary. And though the Explanations of fome may be cenfured as trivial, because they are almost universally understood, and thofe of others as unneceffary, because they will feldom occur, yet it seems not proper to omit them, fince it is rather to be wished that many Readers. should find more than they expect, than that one fhould miss what he might hope to find.

When all the Words are felected and arranged, the firft Part of the Work to be confidered is the Orthography, which was long vague and uncertain; which at laft, when its Fluctuation ceafed, was, in many Cafes,. fettled but by Accident; and in which, according to your Lordship's Obfervation, there is ftill great Uncertainty among the beft Critics: Nor is it easy to state a Rule by which we may decide between Cuftom and Reafon, or between the equiponderant Authorities of Writers alike eminent for Judgment and Accuracy.

The great orthographical Conteft has long fubfifted between Etymology and Pronunciation. It has been. demanded, on one Hand, that Men should write as they speak; but, as it has been fhewn that this Conformity never was attained in any Language, and that it is not more easy to persuade Men to agree exactly in Speaking than in Writing, it may be asked, with equal Propriety, why Men do not rather speak as they write. In France, where this Controverfy was at its greateft Height, neither Party, however ardent, durit adhere fteadily to their own Rule; the Etymologift was often forced to fpell with the People: and the Advocate for the Authority of Pronunciation found it fometimes deviating fo capriciously from the received Ufe of Writing, that he was conftrained to comply with the Rule of his Adverfaries, left he fhould lofe the End by the Means, and be left. alone by following the Crowd.

When

When a Question of Orthography is dubious, that Practice has, in my Opinion, a Claim to Preference, which preserves the greatest Number of radical Letters, or seems moft to comply with the general Cuftom of our Language. But the chief Rule which I propofe to follow is, to make no Innovation, without a Reafon fufficient to balance the Inconvenience of Change; and fuch Reasons I do not expect often to find. All Change is of itself an Evil, which ought not be hazarded but for evident Advantage; and as Inconftancy is in every Cafe a Mark of Weakness, it will add nothing to the Reputation of our Tongue. There are, indeed, fome who defpife the Inconveniencies of Confufion, who feem to take Pleasure in departing from Custom, and to think Alteration defirable for its own Sake, and the Reformation of our Orthography, which thefe Writers have attempted, fhould not pafs without its due Honours, but that I fuppofe they hold Singularity its own Reward, or may dread the Fascination of lavish Praise.

The prefent Ufage of Spelling, where the present Ufage can be diftinguished, will therefore, in this Work, be generally followed; yet there will be often Occafion to obferve, that it is in itself inaccurate, and tolerated rather than chofen; particularly when, by a Change of one Letter, or more, the Meaning of a Word is obfcured; as in Farrier, or Ferrier, as it was formerly written, from Ferrum, or Fer; in Gibberish, for Gebrish, the Jargon of Geber, and his chymical Followers, understood by none but their own Tribe. It will be likewife fometimes proper to trace back the Orthography of different Ages, and fhew by what Gradations the Word departed from its Original.

Clofely connected with Orthography is Pronunciation, the Stability of which is of great Importance to the Duration of a Language, because the first Change will naturally begin by Corruptions in

D 3

the