The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes | Page 3

errour which they have now retracted,
and deprive the book of its chief use, by scrupulous distinctions.
Of such words, however, all are not equally to be considered as parts of
our language; for some of them are naturalized and incorporated; but
others still continue aliens, and are rather auxiliaries than subjects. This
naturalization is produced either by an admission into common speech,
in some metaphorical signification, which is the acquisition of a kind of
property among us; as we say, the zenith of advancement, the meridian
of life, the _cynosure_[2] of neighbouring eyes; or it is the consequence
of long intermixture and frequent use, 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 to an English termination, and
a conformity to the laws of the speech into which they are adopted; as
in _category, cachexy, peripneumony_.
Of those which still continue in the state of aliens, and have made no
approaches towards assimilation, some seem necessary to be retained,
because the purchasers of the Dictionary will expect to find them. Such
are many words in the common law, as _capias, habeas corpus,
praemunire, nisi prius_: such are some terms of controversial divinity,
as _hypostasis_; and of physick, as the names of diseases; and, in
general, all terms which can be found in books not written professedly
upon particular arts, or can be supposed necessary to those who do not
regularly study them. Thus, when a reader not skilled in physick
happens in Milton upon this line,
--pining atrophy, Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,
he will, with equal expectation, look into his dictionary for the word
marasmus, as for atrophy, or _pestilence_; and will have reason to

complain if he does not find it.
It seems necessary to the completion of a dictionary, designed not
merely for criticks, but for popular use, that it should comprise, in some
degree, the peculiar words of every profession; that the terms of war
and navigation should be inserted, so far as they can be required by
readers of travels, and of history; and those of law, merchandise, and
mechanical trades, so far as they can be supposed useful in the
occurrences of common life.
But there ought, however, to be some distinction made between the
different classes of words; and, therefore, it will be proper to print those
which are incorporated into the language in the usual character, and
those which are still to be considered as foreign, in the Italick letter.
Another question may arise with regard to appellatives, or the names of
species. It seems of no great use to set down the words _horse, dog, cat,
willow, alder, daisy, rose_, and a thousand others, of which it will be
hard to give an explanation, not more obscure than the word itself. Yet
it is to be considered, that, if the names of animals be inserted, we must
admit those which are more known, as well as those with which we are,
by accident, less acquainted; and if they are all rejected, how will the
reader be relieved from difficulties produced by allusions to the
crocodile, the chameleon, the ichneumon, and the hyaena? If no plants
are to be mentioned, the most pleasing part of nature will be excluded,
and many beautiful epithets be unexplained. If only those which are
less known are to be mentioned, who shall fix the limits of the reader's
learning? The importance of such explications appears from the
mistakes which the want of them has occasioned: had Shakespeare had
a dictionary of this kind, he had not made the woodbine entwine the
_honeysuckle_; nor would Milton, with such assistance, have disposed
so improperly of his ellops and his scorpion.
Besides, as such words, like others, require that their accents should be
settled, their sounds ascertained, and their etymologies deduced, they
cannot be properly omitted in the Dictionary. And though the
explanations of some may be censured as trivial, because they are
almost universally understood, and those of others as unnecessary,
because they will seldom occur, yet it seems not proper to omit them;
since it is rather to be wished that many readers should find more than
they expect, than that one should miss what he might hope to find.

When all the words are selected and arranged, the first part of the work
to be considered is the orthography, which was long vague and
uncertain; which at last, when its fluctuation ceased, was in many cases
settled but by accident; and in which, according to your Lordship's
observation, there is still great uncertainty among the best criticks; nor
is it easy to state a rule by which we may decide between custom and
reason, or between the equiponderant authorities of