authorities are selected, it is neceffary to obviate it, by declaring that many of the writers whofe teftimonies will be alleged, were felected by Mr. Pope, of whom I may be juftified in affirming, that were he still alive, folicitous as he was for the fuccefs of this work, he would not be displeased that I have undertaken it.

It will be proper that the quotations be ranged according to the ages of their authors; and it will afford an agreeable amufement, if to the words and phrafes which are not of our own growth, the name of the writer who first introduced them can be affixed; and if to words which are now antiquated, the authority be fubjoined of him who last admitted them. Thus, for feathe and buxom, now obfolete, Milton may be cited.

Stands feath'd to heaven

Winnow'd the buxom air

The mountain oak

He with broad fails

But

By this method every word will have its history, and the reader will be informed of the gradual changes of the language, and have before his eyes the rife of fome words, and the fall of others. obfervations fo minute and accurate are to be defired, rather than expected; and if ufe be carefully fupplied, curiofity muft fometimes bear its difappoint

ments.'

This, my Lord, is my idea of an English Dictionary; a dictionary by which the pronunciation of our language may be fixed, and its attainment facilitated; by which its purity may be preferved, its ufe afcertained, and its duration lengthened. And though, perhaps, to correct the language of nations

by

by books of grammar, and amend their manners by difcourfes of morality, may be tasks equally difficult, yet, as it is unavoidable to with, it is natural likewife to hope, that your Lordship's patronage may not be wholly loft; that it may contribute to the prefervation of ancient, and the improvement of modern writers; that it may promote the reformation of thofe tranflators, who, for want of underftanding the characteristical difference of tongues, have formed a chaotic dialect of heterogeneous phrases; and awaken to the care of purer diction fome men of genius, whofe attention to argument makes them negligent of ftyle, or whofe rapid imagination, like the Peruvian torrents, when it brings down gold, mingles it with fand.

When I furvey the Plan which I have laid before you, I cannot, my Lord, but confefs, that I am frighted at its extent, and, like the foldiers of Cæfar, look on Britain as a new world, which it is almost madness to invade. But I hope, that though I should not complete the conqueft, I fhall at leaft difcover the coaft, civilize part of the inhabitants, and make it eafy for fome other adventurer to proceed farther, to reduce them wholly to fubjection, and fettle them under laws.

We are taught by the great Roman orator, that every man should propose to himfelf the highest degree of excellence, but that he may ftop with honour at the fecond or third: though therefore my performance fhould fall below the excellence of other dictionaries, I may obtain, at leaft, the praife of having endeavoured well; nor fhall I think it any reproach to my diligence, that I have retired, without

a triumph,

a triumph, from a contest with united academies, and long fucceffions of learned compilers. I can not hope, in the warmeft moments, to preserve fo much caution through so long a work, as not often to fink into negligence, or to obtain fo much knowledge of all its parts, as not frequently to fail by ignorance. I expect that fometimes the defire of accuracy will urge me to fuperfluities, and fometimes the fear of prolixity betray me to omiffions : that in the extent of fuch variety I fhall be often bewildered; and in the mazes of fuch intricacy be frequently entangled: that in one part refinement will be fubtilifed beyond exactnefs, and evidence dilated in another beyond perfpicuity. Yet I do not despair of approbation from those who, knowing the uncertainty of conjecture, the fcantinefs of knowledge, the fallibility of memory, and the unfteadiness of attention, can compare the causes of error with the means of avoiding it, and the extent of art with the capacity of man; and whatever be the event of my endeavours, I fhall not easily regret an attempt which has procured me the honour of appearing thus publickly,

PREFACE.

TO THE

ENGLISH DICTIONARY.

IT

'Tis the fate of thofe who toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the profpect of good; to be exposed to cenfure, without hope of praise; to be disgraced by miscarriage, or punished for neglect, where fuccefs would have been without applause, and diligence without reward.

Among thefe unhappy mortals is the writer of dictionaries; whom mankind have confidered, not as the pupil, but the flave of fcience, the pioneer of literature, doomed only to remove rubbish and clear obftructions from the paths through which Learning and Genius prefs forward to conqueft and glory, without beftowing a smile on the humble drudge that facilitates their progrefs. Every other author may afpire to praife; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompense has been yet granted to very few.

I have, notwithstanding this discouragement, attempted a Dictionary of the English language, which,

while it was employed in the cultivation of every fpecies of literature, has itself been hitherto neglected; fuffered to fpread, under the direction of chance, into wild exuberance; refigned to the tyranny of time and fashion; and expofed to the corruptions of ignorance, and caprices of innovation.

When I took the firft furvey of my undertaking, I found our speech copious without order, and energetick without rule: wherever I turned my view, there was perplexity to be difentangled and confufion to be regulated; choice was to be made out of boundless variety, without any established principle of selection; adulterations were to be detected, without a fettled teft of purity; and modes of expreffion to be rejected or received, without the fuffrages of any writers of claffical reputation or acknowledged authority.

Having therefore no affiftance but from general grammar, I applied myself to the perufal of our writers; and noting whatever might be of ufe to afcertain or illuftrate any word or phrafe, accumu lated in time the materials of a dictionary, which, by degrees, I reduced to method, establishing to myfelf, in the progrefs of the work, fuch rules as experience and analogy fuggefted to me; experience, which practice and obfervation were continually increafing; and analogy, which, though in fome words obfcure, was evident in others.

In adjusting the Orthography, which has been to this time unfettled and fortuitous, I found it neceffary to diftinguish thofe irregularities that are inherent in our tongue, and perhaps coëval with it,

from