Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/38

 The PREFACE. xxv

whence arife die Cnifis, Colour, Heat, Specific Gravity, &c. of Blood ; Writers don't ordinarily trouble them- felves.

IF, by the Artifice abovementioned, we get free of a vaft load of plebeian Words, which mutt have greatly incumber'd us ; the Grammar and Analogy of Language difengages us from a ftill greater number of all kinds. The various States of the fame Word, confider'd as it comes under different Parts of Speech, and accordingly affumes different Terminations, increafes the Lift of Terms immenfely : as, in Dark, Dark- nefs, Dark/ring ; Projecl, Projection, Projetlile, Projective, &c. which may either be confider'd as one and the fame Word under different Habitudes ; in regard there is a common Subftratum of them all : or, as fo many different Terms ; in regard every one takes in fomething not contained in the other. This Lati- tude we make life of occafionally ; and either confider the Words this way or that, as feems moft advanta- geous to our purpofe. In fome Cafes, where the Alteration is merely grammatical, we content our felves to explain 'em in one ftate, e. g. Shearing ; and fuppofe the Reader able, by Grammar to form the reft, as Shorn, &c. In others, where feveral particular Ideas are arbitrarily fuperadded to the Word in one Part of Speech, which do not belong to it in another, we there explain it in all : as, Precipitate, Precipitant, Precipi- tation, &c.

T HI S gives an occafion to mention a ftrange kind of Licenfe frequently practis'd in our Language. Tho there be ordinarily a great deal of difference between the feveral States or Modifications of the fame Word, e. g. Reflecting, Reflexion, Reflexible, &c. the fame as between the Action and Quality, the Power and the Exercife of it in this or that Cafe, the Caufe and the Effect ; yet Authors make no difficulty of ufing 'em promifcuoufiy : which would make downright Nonfenfe, were the Readers to keep to the ftrict import of the Words. But the Truth is, we are not fo critical about the Matter ; if the Meaning come within our reach we jump at it, and are glad to take it ; without waiting to fee whether it would reach us in its prefent Direction, or whether it might not rather fall ftiort, or fly by us. What Confufion fhould we make, even in our beft and cleared Wri- ters, were we refolved not to underftand 'em but according to the ftrict Rules of Grammar, and not indulge 'em the petty liberty of ufing quid pro quo, one part of Speech for another ? In a thoufand Cafes, the fame Idea is denoted by oppofite Terms : Thus, we fay, fuch a Medicine is good for, or againft the Worms, Plague, &c.

IT may be urged, that as Cuftom has authoriz'd this latitudinarian Practice, it is become of grammatical Authority ; and that as the Licenfe is known, it can't deceive us ; fince the Readers are led on fuch occafions to relax the Bands of Grammar, and annul the difference between the Parts of Speech, in order to admit one

a fubftitute for another. But I am afraid this expedient fcarce indemnifies us from the Abufe. Befides the

extraordinary embarrafs of reading what is thus promifcuoufiy wrote, 'tis not always we know when and how to fuperfede the ftrict import of an Author's Words, and make him fpeak Senfe in his own defpite. This I take to be none of the leaft occafions of Controverfy and Difpute owing to Language, and which we. may almoft defpair of feeing rectified, unlefs in a new one.

I SHALL not here enter upon the Merits and Defects of the Englijh Tongue, confidered as a Language : A great deal has been faid on that Head by others, for which the Reader may turn to the proper Article in the Dictionary it felf. This Place we referve, not for other Peoples Notions, but our own ; and what we have to add, will be chiefly as it ftands with regard to Art, and more particularly to a Dictionary of Arts.

I BELIEVE none will queftion but we met with Difficulties enough in the Courfe of this Work. The very Bulk and Dimenfions of it confefs as much, and the Variety and Uncertainty of its Matter ftill more. But thefe were in fome fort natural Difficulties, and ought to be confider'd as neceffarily appendent to the very Effence of the Defign ; and therefore did not afflict us fo much as thofe that rofe from it at fecond hand, or were fuperadded to it, as it were, by Accident. And fuch was the prefent wild State of our Language, which alone were fufficient to have baffled the beft Scheme, and broke thro' the beft Meafures that could be form'd.

W E have already reprefented Language as fomething very important •, and as having a near and neceffary intereft in Knowledge. Names, we here add, are folemn things, as they are Reprefentatives of Ideas themfelves, and ufed on moft occafions in their ftead : and Terms, or Combinations of Ideas, are ftill more fo ; as much as complex Engines, are of farther and nicer Confideration thanjhe fimple mechanic Powers. But who would imagine this, to confider the wanton ufe we make of 'em ; and with how little Fear, or Difcretion, Words are treated among us ? Every body think themfelves privileg'd to alter, or fet afide the old, and introduce new ones at pleafure. England is open to all Nations, at leaft in this refpecr. ; and our Traders in this Commodity, import their Wares from every Country in all fecurity. The mercantile Humour feems to have poffeffed every Part of us, fo that we are not only unwilling to be without the natural Produce of our Neighbours Countries, but we even envy 'em their Falhions, their Follies, and their Words. Scarce a petty Author that appears, but makes his Innovations : But when a Dictionary comes out, 'tis like an Eaft India Fleet, and you are fure of a huge Cargo. The Effect is, that our Language is, and will continue in a perpetual flux ; and no body knows whether he is mafter of it or no. The utmoft he can fay, is, that he had it for fuch a Day, exclufive of what has happen'd fince.

A M A N never knows when he is at the end of the Terms, e. g. in Architecture. When he has got two or three Names, for fome one Member, and thinks himfelf overftock'd, 'tis odds he has not half. 'Tis not enough he knows what it is named in the Englijh ; but he mutt likewife learn what the French, Italians, Latins, and Greeks, likewife call it, or frequently find himfelf at a ftand. Thus it is in the Cafe of Fillets, Lifts, Lif- tels, Reglets, Platbands, Bandelelts, Tarnias, and Baguettes ; of Chaplets, Aftragals, Baloons, and Tores ; of Gulas, Gueules, Doucines, Cimas, Cymatiums, Ogees, and Talons; Ovums, Ovolos, Echinus' s, Quarter-rounds, Boultins, &c. between which, there is no known, allowed differences ; but they are either ufed indifcriminately, or diftinguifii'd arbitrarily •, one Perfon making this diftinction, and the next another, or perhaps none at all. So that if we come ftrictly to Dictionaries, we fhould have a different one for every Author.

BUT the Mifchicf does not end here: for as the antient Arts are in many refpects different from the mo- dern ; the ufe of their Terms neceffarily involves us in a new Confufion, and makes the fame Word ftand in an ancient Author for one thing, and in a modern for another. Thus it is in Paraftata, Orthoftata, Anta, &c. In effect, there is that Alteration continually making in the Language of Architecture, that there ought, in Pro- priety, to be a different Dictionary of it for every different Age.

THE Truth is, a fourth part of the Words in fome of our popular Dictionaries, ftand on no better Autho- rity, than the fingle Practice of fome one fanciful Author ; who having an intemperate Defire to Ihew either his Learning or Breeding, has met with Dictionary-Writers fond enough to take his Fripperies off his hands, and cxpofe 'em to the Publick for legitimate Goods. By fuch means, thefe Exotics have obtain'd a kind of Curren- cy ; fo that a Diftionary would be thought defeflive without 'em. To omit even our Fopperies would be thought a Failing ; and might even be efteemed by many as the moft unpardonable of all. On thefe ac- counts we have been oblig'd to temporife a little, how much foever againft our Will ; and thus perhaps have

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