stance while, they alter their appearance, and be varied and compounded, yet not destroyed.

But this is a privilege which words are fcarcely to expect; for, like their author, when they are not gaining ftrength, they are generally lofing it. Though art may fometimes prolong their duration, it will rarely give them perpetuity; and their changes will be almost always informing us, that language is the work of man, of a being from whom permanence and ftability cannot be derived.

Words having been hitherto confidered as feparate and unconnected, are now to be likewise examined as they are ranged in their various relations to others by the rules of fyntax or conftruction, to which I do not know that any regard has been yet fhewn in English dictionaries, and in which the grammarians can give little affiftance. The fyntax of this language is too inconftant to be reduced to rules, and can be only learned by the diftinct confideration of particular words as they are used by the best authors. Thus, we fay, according to the prefent modes of fpeech, The foldier died of his wounds, and the failor perished with hunger; and every man acquainted with our language would be offended by a change of thefe particles, which yet feem originally affigned by chance, there being no reafon to be drawn from grammar why a man may not, with equal propriety, be faid to die with a wound, or perish of hunger.

Our fyntax therefore is not to be taught by general rules, but by special precedents; and in examining whether Addison has been with juftice accused of a folecifm in this paffage,

The poor inhabitant

Starves in the midft of nature's bounty curf,

And in the loaden vineyard dies for thirst

it is not in our power to have recourfe to any established laws of speech, but we must remark how the writers of former ages have ufed the fame word, and confider whether he can be acquitted of impropriety, upon the teftimony of Davies, given in his favour by a fimilar paffage.

She loaths the wat'ry glass wherein she gaz'd,
And fhuns it still, although for thirst fhe dye.

When the conftruction of a word is explained, it is neceffary to purfue it through its train of phrafeology, through thofe forms where it is used in a manner peculiar to our language, or in fenfes not to be comprised in the general explanations; as from the verb make arife these phrafes, to make love, to make an end, to make way, as, he made way for his followers, the fhip made way before the wind; to make a bed, to make merry, to make a mock, to make prefents, to make a doubt, to make out an affertion, to make good a breach, to make good a caufe, to make nothing of an attempt, to make lamentation, to make a merit, and many others which will occur in reading with that view, and which only their frequency hinders from being generally remarked.

The great labour is yet to come, the labour of interpreting thefe words and phrafes with brevity, fulness and perfpicuity; a task of which the extent and intricacy is fufficiently fhewn by the mifcarriage of those who have generally attempted it. This difficulty

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difficulty is increased by the neceffity of explaining the words in the fame language; for there is often only one word for one idea; and though it be eafy to translate the words bright, fweet, falt, bitter, into another language, it is not eafy to explain them.

With regard to the interpretation, many other queftions have required confideration. It was fome time doubted whether it be neceffary to explain the things implied by particular words; as under the term baronet, whether, instead of this explanation, a title of honour next in degree to that of baron, it would be better to mention more particularly the creation, privileges, and rank of baronets; and whether, under the word barometer, instead of being fatisfied with obferving that it is an inftrument to dif cover the weight of the air, it would be fit to spend a few lines upon its invention, construction, and principles. It is not to be expected, that with the explanation of the one the herald fhould be fatisfied, or the philofopher with that of the other; but fince it will be required by common readers, that the explications fhould be fufficient for common ufe; and fince, without fome attention to fuch demands, the Dictionary cannot become generally valuable, I have determined to confult the beft writers for explanations real as well as verbal; and perhaps I may at laft have reafon to fay, after one of the augmenters of Furetier, that my book is more learned than its author.

In explaining the general and popular language, it feems neceffary to fort the feveral fenfes of each word, and to exhibit first its natural and primitive fignification; as,

Το

To arrive, to reach the fhore in a voyage: he arrived at a fafe harbour.

Then to give its confequential meaning, to arrive, to reach any place, whether by land or fea; as, he arrived at his country feat.

Then its metaphorical sense, to obtain any thing defired; as, he arrived at a peerage.

Then to mention any obfervation that arifes from the comparison of one meaning with another; as, it may be remarked of the word arrive, that, in confequence of its original and etymological fenfe, it cannot be properly applied but to words fignifying fomething defirable; thus we fay, a man arrived at happiness, but cannot fay, without a mixture of irony, he arrived at mifery.

Ground, the earth, generally as opposed to the air or water. He fwam till he reached ground. The bird fell to the ground.

Then follows the accidental or confequential fignification, in which ground implies any thing that lies under another; as, he laid colours upon a rough ground. The filk had blue flowers on a red ground,

Then the remoter or metaphorical fignification; as, the ground of his opinion was a falfe computation. The ground of his work was his father's manufcript.

After having gone through the natural and figurative fenfes, it will be proper to fubjoin the poetical fenfe of each word, where it differs from that which is in common ufe; as, wanton, applied to any thing of which the motion is irregular without terror; as, In wanton ringlets curl'd her hair.

To the poetical fenfe may fucceed the familiar; as of toast, ufed to imply the perfon whofe health is drunk:

The wife man's paffion, and the vain man's toaft, POPE. The familiar may be followed by the burlesque; as of mellow, applied to good fellowship:

In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow,

Or of bite, used for cheat;

More a dupe than wit,

Sappho can tell you, how this man was bit,

ADDISON,

POPE.

And lastly, may be produced the peculiar fenfe in which a word is found in any great author: as faculties, in Shakespeare, fignifies the powers of authority:

This Duncan

Has born his faculties fo meek, has been
So clear in his great office, that, &c.

The fignification of adjectives may be often afcertained by uniting them to fubftantives; as, fimple fwain, fimple fheep. Sometimes the fenfe of a fubftantive may be elucidated by the epithets annexed to it in good authors; as, the boundless ocean, the open lawns: and where fuch advantage can be gained by a fhort quotation it is not to be omitted.

The difference of fignification in words generally accounted fynonymous, ought to be carefully obferved; as in pride, haughtiness, arrogance: and the ftrict and critical meaning ought to be diftinguished from that which is loofe and popular; as in the word perfection, which, though in its philofophical and