Page:The plan of a dictionary of the English language - Samuel Johnson (1747).djvu/23

 the eye, have the same letters, but may be distinguished thus, tear, dare; tear, peer.

words have two sounds, which may be equally admitted, as being equally defensible by authority. Thus great is differently used. For Swift and him despis'd the farce of state, The sober follies of the wise and great.Author:Alexander Pope.

As if misfortune made the throne her seat, And none could be unhappy but the great.Author:Nicholas Rowe. The care of such minute particulars may be censured as trifling, but these particulars have not been thought unworthy of attention in more polished languages.

accuracy of the French, in stating the sounds of their letters, is well known; and, among the Italians, Crescembeni has not thought it unnecessary to inform his countrymen of the words, which, in compliance with different rhymes, are allowed to be differently spelt, and of which the number is now so fix'd, that no modern poet is suffered to encrease it.

the orthography and pronunciation are adjusted, the or  is next to be considered, and the words are to be distinguished according to their different classes, whether simple, as day, light, or compound as day-light; whether primitive, as,