Continued from
The Plan of an English Dictionary written by
Samuel Johnson to
PHILIP DORMER,
EARL OF CHESTERFIELD.
When the
construction of a word is explained, it is
necessary to
pursue it through its
train of
phraseology, through those forms
where it is used in a manner
peculiar to our language, or in
senses not to be
comprised in the general
explanations; as from
the verb
make arise these phrases, to
make love, to
make an end, to
make way; as, he
made way
for his followers, the ship
made way before the wind; to
make a bed, to
make merry, to
make a mock,
to
make presents, to
make a doubt, to
make out
an assertion, to
make good a breach, to
make
good a cause, 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 these
words and phrases with brevity, fullness, and perspicuity; a task
of which the extent and intricacy is sufficiently shown by the
miscarriage of those who have generally attempted it. This
difficulty is increased by the necessity of explaining the words
in the same language; for there is often only one word for one
idea; and though it be easy to translate the words bright,
sweet, salt, bitter, into another language,
it is not easy to explain them.
With regard to the interpretation, many other questions have
required consideration. It was some time doubted whether it be
necessary 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 satisfied with
observing that it is an instrument to discover 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 should
be satisfied, or the philosopher with that of the other; but
since it will be required by common readers, that the
explications should be sufficient for common use; and since,
without some attention to such demands, the Dictionary cannot
become generally valuable, I have determined to consult the best
writers for explanations real as well as verbal; and, perhaps, I
may at last have reason to say, after one of the augmenters of
Furetier, that my book is more learned than its author.
In explaining the general and popular language, it seems
necessary to sort the several senses of each word, and to exhibit
first its natural and primitive signification; as,
To arrive, to reach the shore in a voyage: he
arrived at a safe harbour.
Then to give its consequential meaning, to arrive, to
reach any place, whether by land or sea; as, he arrived at
his country-seat.
Then its metaphorical sense, to obtain any thing desired; as, he
arrived at a peerage.
Then to mention any observation that arises from the comparison
of one meaning with another; as, it may be remarked of the word
arrive, that, in consequence of its original and
etymological sense, it cannot be properly applied but to words
signifying something desirable; thus we say, a man
arrived at happiness; but cannot say, without a mixture of
irony, he arrived at misery.
Ground, the earth, generally as opposed to the air or
water. He swam till he reached ground. The bird fell to
the ground.
Then follows the accidental or consequential signification in
which ground implies any thing that lies under another;
as, he laid colours upon a rough ground. The silk had blue
flowers on a red ground.
Then the remoter or metaphorical signification; as, the
ground of his opinion was a false computation. The
ground of his work was his father's manuscript.
After having gone through the natural and figurative senses, it
will be proper to subjoin the poetical sense of each word, where
it differs from that which is in common use; as wanton,
applied to any thing of which the motion is irregular without
terrour; as,
In wanton ringlets curl'd her hair.
To the poetical sense may
succeed the familiar; as of
toast, used to imply the person whose
health is drunk; as,
The wise man's passion, and the vain man's toast. POPE.
The
familiar may be followed by the
burlesque; as of
mellow, applied to good
fellowship:
In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow. ADDISON.
Or of
bite, used for
cheat:
----- More a dupe than wit,
Sappho can tell you how this man was bit. POPE.
And, lastly, may be produced the
peculiar sense, in which a word
is found in any great author: as
faculties, in
Shakespeare, signifies the powers of authority:
--- This Duncan
Has borne his faculties so meek, has been
So clear in his great office, that, &c.
The
signification of
adjectives may be often
ascertained by
uniting them to substantives; as,
simple swain,
simple
sheep. Sometimes the sense of a substantive may be
elucidated
by the epithets annexed to it in good authors; as, the
boundless ocean, the
open lawns: and where such
advantage can be gained by a short
quotation, it is not to be
omitted.
The difference of signification in words generally accounted
synonymous, ought to be carefully observed; as in pride,
haughtiness, arrogance: and the strict and critical
meaning ought to be distinguished from that which is loose and
popular; as in the word perfection, which, though in its
philosophical and exact sense it can be of little use among human
beings, is often so much degraded from its original
signification, that the academicians have inserted in their work,
the perfection of a language, and, with a little more
licentiousness, might have prevailed on themselves to have added
the perfection of a dictionary.
There are many other characters of words which it will be of use
to mention. Some have both an active and passive signification;
as fearful, that which gives or which feels terrour; a
fearful prodigy, a fearful hare. Some have a
personal, some a real meaning; as, in apposition to old,
we use the adjective young of animated beings, and
new of other things. Some are restrained to the sense of
praise, and others to that of disapprobation; so commonly, though
not always, we exhort to good actions, we instigate
to ill; we animate, incite and encourage
indifferently to good or bad. So we usually ascribe good,
but impute evil; yet neither the use of these words, nor,
perhaps, of any other in our licentious language, is so
established as not to be often reversed by the correctest
writers. I shall, therefore, since the rules of style, like those
of law, arise from precedents often repeated, collect the
testimonies on both sides, and endeavour to discover and
promulgate the decrees of custom, who has so long possessed,
whether by right or by usurpation, the sovereignty of words.
It is necessary likewise, to explain many words by their
opposition to others; for contraries are best seen when they
stand together. Thus the verb stand has one sense, as
opposed to fall, and another, as opposed to fly;
for want of attending to which distinction, obvious as it is, the
learned Dr. Bentley has squandered his criticism to no purpose,
on these lines of Paradise Lost:
--- In heaps
Chariot and charioteer lay overturn'd,
And fiery foaming steeds. What stood, recoil'd
O'erwearied, through the faint satanic host,
Defensive scarce, or with pale fear surpris'd,
Fled ignominious.-----
"Here," says the critick, "as the
sentence is now read, we find
that what
stood,
fled:" and, therefore, he proposes
an
alteration, which he might have spared, if he had consulted a
dictionary, and found that nothing more was affirmed than, that
those
fled who did
not fall.
In explaining such meanings as seem accidental and adventitious,
I shall endeavour to give an account of the means by which they
were introduced. Thus, to eke out any thing, signifies to
lengthen it beyond its just dimensions, by some low artifice;
because the word eke was the usual refuge of our old
writers, when they wanted a syllable. And buxom, which
means only obedient, is now made, in familiar phrases, to
stand for wanton; because in an ancient form of marriage,
before the Reformation, the bride promised complaisance and
obedience, in these terms: "I will be bonair and buxom in
bed and at board."
I know well, my Lord, how trifling many of these remarks will
appear, separately considered, and how easily they may give
occasion to the contemptuous merriment of sportive idleness, and
the gloomy censures of arrogant stupidity; but dulness it is easy
to despise, and laughter it is easy to repay. I shall not be
solicitous what is thought of my work, by such as know not the
difficulty or importance of philological studies; nor shall think
those that have done nothing, qualified to condemn me for doing
little. It may not, however, be improper to remind them, that no
terrestrial greatness is more than an aggregate of little things;
and to inculcate, after the Arabian proverb, that drops added to
drops constitute the ocean.
There remains yet to be considered the distribution of words into
their proper classes, or that part of lexicography which is
strictly critical.
The popular part of the language, which includes all words not
appropriated to particular sciences, admits of many distinctions
and subdivisions; as, into words of general use; words employed
chiefly in poetry; words obsolete; words which are admitted only
by particular writers, yet not in themselves improper; words used
only in burlesque writing; and words impure and barbarous.
Words of general use will be known by having no sign of
particularity, and their various senses will be supported by
authorities of all ages.
The words appropriated to poetry will be distinguished by some
mark prefixed, or will be known by having no authorities but
those of poets.
Of antiquated or obsolete words, none will be inserted, but such
as are to be found in authors, who wrote since the secession of
Elizabeth, from which we date the golden age of our language; and
of these many might be omitted, but that the reader may require,
with an appearance of reason, that no difficulty should be left
unresolved in books which he finds himself invited to read, as
confessed and established models of style. These will be likewise
pointed out by some note of exclusion, but not of disgrace.
The words which are found only in particular books, still be
known by the single name of him that has used them; but such will
be omitted, unless either their propriety, elegance or force, or
the reputation of their authors, affords some extraordinary
reason for their reception.
Words used in burlesque and familiar compositions, will be
likewise mentioned with their proper authorities; such as
dudgeon, from Butler, and leasing, from Prior; and
will be diligently characterized by marks of distinction.
Barbarous, or impure, words and expressions, may be branded with
some note of infamy, as they are carefully to be eradicated
wherever they are found; and they occur too frequently, even in
the best writers: as in Pope,
---- in endless error hurl'd.
'Tis these that early taint the female soul.
In
Addison:
Attend to what a lesser muse indites.
And in
Dryden:
A dreadful quiet felt, and worser far
Than arms.------
If this part of the work can be well
performed, it will be
equivalent to the proposal made by
Boileau to the
academicians,
that they should review all their
polite writers and
correct such
impurities as might be found in them, that their
authority might
not
contribute, at any distant time, to the
depravation of the
language.
With regard to questions of purity or propriety, I was once in
doubt whether I should not attribute too much to myself, in
attempting to decide them, and whether my province was to extend
beyond the proposition of the question, and the display of the
suffrages on each side; but I have been since determined, by your
Lordship's opinion, to interpose my own judgment, and shall,
therefore, endeavour to support what appears to me most consonant
to grammar and reason. Ausonius thought that modesty forbade him
to plead inability for a task to which Caesar had judged him
equal:
Cur me posse negem posse quod ille putat?
And I may hope, my Lord, that since you, whose
authority in our
language is so generally
acknowledged, have commissioned me to
declare my own opinion, I shall be considered as exercising a
kind of
vicarious jurisdiction, and that the power which might
have been denied to my own claim, will be readily
allowed me as
the
delegate of your Lordship.
In citing authorities, on which the credit of every part of this
work must depend, it will be proper to observe some obvious
rules; such as of preferring writers of the first reputation to
those of an inferior rank; of noting the quotations with
accuracy; and of selecting, when it can be conveniently done,
such sentences, as, besides their immediate use, may give
pleasure or instruction, by conveying some elegance of language,
or some precept of prudence or piety.
It has been asked, on some occasions, who shall judge the judges?
And since, with regard to this design, a question may arise by
what authority the authorities are selected, it is necessary to
obviate it, by declaring that many of the writers whose
testimonies will be alleged, were selected by Mr. Pope; of whom I
may be justified in affirming, that were he still alive,
solicitous as he was for the success 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 amusement,
if to the words and phrases 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 subjoined
of him who last admitted them. Thus, for scathe and
buxom, now obsolete, Milton may be cited:
------The mountain oak
Stands scath'd to heaven.------
------He with broad sails
Winnow'd the buxom air.------
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
rise of some words, and the
fall of others.
But observations so
minute and
accurate are to be desired, rather
than expected; and if use be carefully supplied,
curiosity must
sometimes bear its
disappointments.
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 preserved, its
use ascertained, and its duration lengthened. And though,
perhaps, to correct the language of nations by books of grammar,
and amend their manners by discourses of morality, may be tasks
equally difficult, yet, as it is unavoidable to wish, it is
natural likewise to hope, that your Lordship's patronage may not
be wholly lost; that it may contribute to the preservation of
ancient, and the improvement of modern writers; that it may
promote the reformation of those translators, who, for want of
understanding the characteristical difference of tongues, have
formed a chaotick dialect of heterogeneous phrases; and awaken to
the care of purer diction some men of genius, whose attention to
argument makes them negligent of style, or whose rapid
imagination, like the Peruvian torrents, when it brings down
gold, mingles it with sand.
When I survey the Plan which I have laid before you, I cannot, my
Lord, but confess, that I am frighted at its extent, and, like
the soldiers of Caesar, look on Britain as a new world,
which it is almost madness to invade. But I hope, that though I
should not complete the conquest, I shall, at least, discover the
coast, civilize part of the inhabitants, and make it easy for
some other adventurer to proceed further, to reduce them wholly
to subjection, and settle them under laws.
We are taught by the great Roman orator, that every man should
propose to himself the highest degree of excellence, but that he
may stop with honour at the second or third: though, therefore,
my performance should fall below the excellence of other
dictionaries, I may obtain, at least, the praise of having
endeavoured well; nor shall I think it any reproach to my
diligence, that I have retired without a triumph, from a contest
with united academies, and long successions of learned compilers.
I cannot hope, in the warmest moments, to preserve so much
caution through so long a work, as not often to sink into
negligence, or to obtain so much knowledge of all its parts, as
not frequently to fail by ignorance. I expect that sometimes the
desire of accuracy will urge me to superfluities, and sometimes
the fear of prolixity betray me to omissions; that in the extent
of such variety, I shall be often bewildered, and, in the mazes
of such intricacy, be frequently entangled; that in one part
refinement will be subtilized beyond exactness, and evidence
dilated in another beyond perspicuity. Yet I do not despair of
approbation from those who, knowing the uncertainty of
conjecture, the scantiness of knowledge, the fallibility of
memory, and the unsteadiness of attention, can compare the causes
of errour 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 shall not easily regret an attempt, which has
procured me the honour of appearing thus publickly.
MY LORD,
Your Lordship's most obedient,
and most humble servant,
SAM. JOHNSON.