Subjects. This Naturalization is produced either by an Admission into common Speech, in fome metaphorical Signification, which is 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 into an Englife Termination, and a Conformity to the Laws of the Speech into which they are adopted; as in Catego ry, Chachexy, Peripneumony.

Of those which ftill continue in the State of Aliens, and have made no Approaches towards Affi milation, fome feem neceffary to be retained; be cause 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 Dis vinity, 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 pare ticular Arts, or can be fuppofed neceffary to those who do not regularly ftudy them. Thus, when a Reader not skilled in Phyfick happens in Milton upon this Line,

pining Atrophy, Marafmus, and wide-wafting Peftilence,

2

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

It feems neceffary to the Completion of a Dictionary defigned not merely for Critics, but for po pular Ufe, that it should comprife, in fome Degree

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 fupposed useful in the Occurrences of common Life.

But there ought, however, to be fome 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 thofe which are ftill to be confidered as foreign, in the Italick Letter.

Another Queftion may arife with regard to Appellatives, or the Names of Species. It feems of no great Ufe to fet down the Words Hörfe, 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 inserted, we must admit thofe which are more known, as well as thofe 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 moft pleafing 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.

Besides, as fuch Words, like others, require that their Accents should be fettled, their Sounds afcertained,

D2

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 almoft univerfally understood, and thofe of others as unneceffary, because they will feldom occur, yet it feems not proper to omit them,. fince it is rather to be wished that many Readers fhould find more than they expect, than that one fhould mifs what he might Hope to find..

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

The great orthographical Contest has long fubfifted between Etymology and Pronunciation. It has been demanded, on one Hand, that Men fhould write as they fpeak; but, as it has been fhewn that this Con formity never was attained in any Language, and that it is not more eafy to perfuade Men to agree exactly in fpeaking than in writing, it may be asked with equal Propriety, why Men do not rather fpeak as they write. In France, where this Controversy was at its greateft Height, neither Party, however ardent, dürft 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 preferves the greatest Number of radical Letters, or feems moft to comply with the general Cuftem 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 Reafons 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 Weaknefs, it will add nothing to the Reputation of our Tongue. There are, indeed, fome who despise the Inconveniences of Confufion, who feem to take Pleasure in departing from Cuftom, 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 a Singularity its own Reward, or may dread the Fafcination of lavish Praife.

The prefent Ufage of Spelling, where the prefent 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 chosen; 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 Gebrifh, 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 thew 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, becaufe the firft Change will naturally begin by Corruptions in

D 3

the

the living Speech. The Want of certain Rules for the Pronunciation of former Ages, has made us wholly ignorant of the metrical Art of our ancient Poets; and fince those who ftudy their Sentiments regret the Lofs of their Numbers, it is furely Time to provide that the Harmony of the Moderns may be more permanent.

A new Pronunciation will make almoft a new Speech; and therefore, fince one great End of this Undertaking is to fix the English Language, Care will be taken to determine the Accentuation of all Polyfyllables by proper Authorities, as it is one of thofe capricious Phænomena which cannot be easily reduced to Rules. Thus there is no antecedent Reafon for Difference of Accent in the Words dolorous and fonorous; yet of the one Milton gives the Sound in this Line:

He pafs'd o'er many a Region dolorous, and that of the other in this,

Sonorous Metal blowing martial Sounds.

It may likewife be proper to remark metrical Licenfes, fuch as Contractions, generous, gen'rous; reverend, rev'rend; and Coalitions, as Region, Queftion.

But it is ftill more neceffary to fix the Pronunciation of Monofyllables, by placing with them Words of correfpondent Sound, that one may guard the other against the Danger of that Variation, which, to fome of the most common, has already happened; fo that the Words Wound and Wind, as they are now frequently pronounced, will not rhyme to Sound and Mind. It is to be remarked, that many Words written alike are differently pronounced, as Flow, and Brow; which may be thus registered, Flow, Woe, Brow, now; or of which the Exemplification may be generally given by a Diftich: Thus the Words

tear,