fore they cannot make Laundreffes: They are rarely fkilful at their Needle, and cannot make a Soldier's Shirt: They will make bad Suttlers, being not much accustomed to eat. I must therefore propofe, that they fhall form a Regiment of themselves, and Regiment of themselves, and garrifon the Town which is fuppofed to be in most Danger of a French Invafion. They will probably have no Enemies to encounter; but, if they are once fhut up together, they will foon difincumber the Public, by tearing out the Eyes of one another.

The great Art of Life is to play for much, and to ftake little; which Rule I have kept in View through this whole Project: For, if our Authors, and Authoreffes defeat our Enemies, we shall obtain all the ufual Advantages of Victory; and if they should be deftroyed in War, we fhall lofe only thofe who had wearied the Public, and whom, whatever be their Fate, nobody will miss.

戴

THE

THE PLAN OF A

DICTIONARY

OF THE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

To the Right Honourable Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State.

My LORD,

HEN firft I undertook to write an English

W Dictionary, I had no Expectation of any

higher Patronage than that of the Proprietors of the Copy, nor Profpect of any other Advantage than the Price of my Labour. I knew that the Work in which I engaged is generally confidered as Drudgery for the Blind, as the proper Toil of artless Induftry; a Task that requires neither the Light of Learning, nor the Activity of Genius, but may be fuccessfully performed without any higher Quality than that of bearing Burthens with dull Patience, and beating the Track of the Alphabet with sluggish Refolution.

Whether this Opinion, fo long tranfmitted, and fo widely propagated, had its Beginning from Truth and Nature, or from Accident and Prejudice; whether it be decreed by the Authority of Reafon, or the Tyranny of Ignorance, that of all the Candidates for literary Praife, the unhappy Lexicographer holds the lowest Place, neither Vanity nor Interest incited me to enquire. It appeared that the Province allotted me was, of all the Regions of Learn

ing, generally confeffed to be the leaft delightful, that it was believed to produce neither Fruits nor Flowers; and that, after a long and laborious Cultivation, not even the barren Laurel had been found upon it..

Yet on this Province, my Lord, I entered, with the pleafing Hope, that, as it was low, it likewife would be fafe. I was drawn forward with the Profpect of Employment, which, though not fplendid, would be useful; and which, though it could not make my Life envied, would keep it innocent; which would awaken no Paffion, engage me in no Contention, nor throw in my Way any Temptation to disturb the Quiet of others by Cenfure, or my own by Flattery.

I had read indeed of Times, in which Princes and Statesmen thought it Part of their Honour to promote the Improvement of their native Tongues ; and in which Dictionaries were written under the Protection of Greatnefs. To the Patrons of fuch Undertakings I willingly paid the Homage of believing that they, who were thus folicitous for the Perpetuity of their Language, had Reason to expect that their Actions would be celebrated by Pofterity, and that the Eloquence which they promoted would be employed in their Praife. But I confider fuch Acts of Beneficence as Prodigies, recorded rather to raife Wonder than Expectation; and content with the Terms that I had ftipulated, had not fuffered my Imagination to flatter me with any other Encouragement, when I found that my Defign had been thought by your Lordship of Importance fufficient to attract your Favour.

How far this unexpected Diftinction can be rated among the happy Incidents of Life, I am not yet able to determine. Its first Effect has been to make me anxious, left it fhould fix the Attention of the Public too much upon me, and, as it once happened

to

I

to an Epic Poet of France, by raifing the Reputa tion of the Attempt, obftruct the Reception of the Work. I imagine what the World will expect from a Scheme, profecuted under your Lordship's Influence; and I know that Expectation, when her Wings are once expanded, eafily reaches Heights which Performance never will attain; and when the has mounted the Summit of Perfection, derides her Follower, who dies in the Purfuit.

Not therefore to raife Expectation, but to reprefs it, I here lay before your Lordfhip the Plan of my Undertaking, that more may not be demanded than I intend; and that, before it is too far advanced to be thrown into a new Method, I may be advertised of its Defects or Superfluities. Such Informations I may juftly hope, from the Emulation with which thofe, who defire the Praife of Elegance or Difcernment, must contend in the Promotion of a Defign that you, my Lord, have not thought unworthy to fhare your Attention with Treaties and with Wars.

In the first Attempt to methodife my Ideas I found a Difficulty, which extended itself to the whole Work. It was not eafy to determine by what Rule of Distinction the Words of this Dictionary were to be chofen. The chief Intent of it is to preferve the Purity, and afcertain the Meaning of our English Idiom; and this feems to require nothing more than that our Language be confidered, fo far as it is our own; that the Words and Phrafes ufed in the general Intercourfe of Life, or found in the Works of thofe whom we commonly ftile polite Writers, be felected, without including the Terms of particular Profeffions; fince, with the Arts to which they relate, they are generally derived from other Nations, and are very often the fame in all the Languages of this Part of the World. This is, perhaps, the exact and pure Idea of a grammatical Dictionary; but in Lexicography, as in other Arts, naked Science is too delicate for

the

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 amufes 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, excepted by Critics, or those 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 Mean ing of Words, than for their Structures or Formations; and the Words that moft want Explanation are generally Terms of Art; which, therefore, Experince has taught my Predeceffors to fpread with a Kind of pompous Luxuriance over their Produc

tions.

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 incoporated, but others still continue Aliens, and are rather Auxiliaries then VOL. II. Subjects.