from their originals.' And in the preface, he adds, that 'the
etymologies and derivations, whether from foreign languages or native
roots, are more diligently traced, and more distinctly noted, than in
other dictionaries of the same kind.' Mr Whitaker assures us that in
this single article the Doctor has committed upwards of _three thousand_
errors: And the historical pioneer produces abundant evidence in support
of his assertion[141]. But independent of this curious circumstance, let
us ask the Doctor what he means by crouding such trifles into an
abstract, which is, he says, intended for those who are 'to gain degrees
of knowledge suitable to lower characters, or necessary to the common
business of life.' To tell such people, that the word _porridgepot_ is
compounded of _porridge_, and _pot_, is to insult their understandings;
and of his Greek and Saxon roots, not one individual in a thousand can
read even a single letter. The preface commences with a pitiful untruth.
Having mentioned the publication of his folio dictionary, he subjoins,
'it has _since_ been considered that works of that kind are by no means
necessary for the bulk of readers.' Here he would insinuate that the
_abstract_ was an _after-thought_: But every body sees, that its
publication was delayed, only to accelerate the sale of his folio
dictionary. There is not room now left, to dissect every sentence in the
preface to his octavo. I shall therefore conclude that subject with one
particular, wherein the Doctor's taste, learning, and genius, blaze in
their meridian.
In the title page to his octavo dictionary, we are informed, that the
words are 'authorised by the names of the writers in whose works they
are found.' And this tale is repeated at greater length in the preface,
where 'it will be found that truth requires him to say less[142]': For
under letter A only, there are between four and five hundred words, for
which the _Idler_ has not assigned any authority--and of these one
hundred and eighty are to be found in no language under heaven. He
boasts indeed that his dictionary 'contains many words not to be found
in any other.' But it also contains many words, not to be found at all
in any other book. If we compute that letter A has a thirteenth part of
these _recruits_, we shall find that the whole number scattered through
his compilation exceeds two thousand. A purchaser of his _abstract_ has
a title to ask the Doctor, why the work is loaded with such a profusion
of trash, which serves only to testify the folly of him who collected
or created it. Men of eminent learning have been consulted, who disown
all acquaintance (in English) with most articles in the following list:
Abacus, Abandonement, Abarticulation, Abcedarian, Abcedary, Aberrant,
Aberuncate, Abject, _v. a._ Ablactate, Ablactation, Ablation, Ablegate,
Ablegation, Ablepsy, Abluent, Abrasion, Abscissa, Absinthiated,
Abitention, Absterge, Accessariness, Accidentalness, Accipient,
Acclivious, Accolent, Accompanable, Accroach, Accustomarily,
Acroamatical, Acronycal, Acroters, or Acroteria, Acuate, Aculerate,
Addulce, Addenography, Ademption, Adiaphory, Adjectitious, _Adition_,
Abstergent, Acceptilation, Adjugate, Adjument, Adjunction, Adjunctive,
Adjutor, Adjutory, Adjuvant, Adjuvate, Admensuration, Adminicle,
Adminicular, Admix, Admonishment, _Admurmuration_, Adscititious,
Adstriction, Advesperate, Adulator, Adulterant, Adulterine, Adumbrant,
Advolation, Advolution, Adustible, Aerology, Aeromancy, Aerometry,
Aeroscopy, Affabrous, Affectuous, Affixion, Afflation, Afflatus,
Agglomerate, Agnation, Agnition, Agreeingness, Alate, Abb, Alegar,
Alligate, Alligation, Allocution, Amalgmate, Amandation, Ambidexterity,
Ambilogy, Ambiloquous, Ambry, Ambustion, Amende, Amercer, Amethodical,
_Amphibological_, _Amphibologically_, Amphisch, Amplificate, Amygdalate,
Amygdaline, Anacamptick, Anacampticks, _Anaclacticks_, Anadiplosis,
Anagogetical, Anagrammatize, Anamorphosis, Anaphora, Anastomosis,
Anastrope, Anathematical, Androgynal, Androgynally, Androgynus,
Anemography, Anemometer, _Anfractuousness_, Angelicalness,
_Angiomonospermous_, Angularity, Angularness, Anhelation, Aniented,
Anileness, Anility, Animative, Annumerate, Annumeration, Annunciate,
Anomalously, Ansated, Antaphroditick, Antapoplectick, Antarthritick,
Antasthmatick, Anteact, Auscultation, Antemundane, Antepenult,
Antepredicament, Anthology, Anthroposophy, Anthypnotick,
Antichristianity, Auxiliation, Antinephritick, Antinomy, Antiquatedness,
Apert, Apertly, Aphilanthrophy, Aphrodisiacal, Aphrodosiack, Apocope,
Apocryphalness, Apomecometry, Appellatory, Apsis, Aptate, Aptote, Aqua,
Aquatile, Aqueousness, Aquose, Aquosity, Araignee, Aratory, Arbuscle,
Archchanter, Archaiology, Archailogick, Archeus, Arcuation, Arenose,
Arenulous, Argil, Argillaceous, Argute, Arietate, Aristocraticallness,
Armental, Armentine, Armigerous, Armillary, Armipotence, Arrentation,
Arreptitious, Arrison, Authentickness, Arrosion, Articular,
Articulateness, Austral, Arundinaceous, Arundineous, Asbestine,
Ascriptitious, Asinary, Asperation, Asperifolious, Aspirate, _v. a._
Assassinator, Assumptive, Astonishingness, Astrography, Attiguous,
Attinge, Aucupation, Avowee.
Of these words about forty only are proper, yet though they are so, and
though they are frequently to be found in the best authors, yet the
Doctor has not given any authority for them. His reading therefore must
have been very circumscribed, or his negligence very great. Is the word
_Avowee_, for instance, one of those which 'are however, to be yet
considered as resting only upon the credit of former dictionaries[143].'
Besides these forty, there are under letter A, some hundreds of the most
common words, for which no author's name is quoted. A gross omission
according to the plan which he lays down.
Let us put the case, that a foreigner sits down to compose a page of
English, by the help of Dr Johnson's work. The strange combinations of
letters (for I dare not call them words) which swell his book to its
present bloated size, are not marked with an asterisk, to distinguish
them as barbarous: The novice would therefore adopt a stile unknown to
any native of England. Here is a short specimen of what he would say.
'An _Admurmuration_ has long wandered about the world, that the
pensioner's political principles are _anfractuous_. Their
_anfractuousness_, their _insipience_, and their _turpitude_, are no
longer _amphibological_. His _nefarious repercussion_ of _obloquy_ must
_contaminate_, and _obumbrate_, and who can tell but it may even
_aberuncate_ his _feculent_ and _excrementitious celebrity_. His
_perspicacity_ will see without _comity_, or _hilarity_, that his
character as an author and a gentleman, requires _resuscitation_, for it
is neither _immane_ nor _immarcessible_. This is a _homogeneous_
truth[144]. Let him distend, like the _flaccid_ sides of a
football[145], his _sal_, his _sapience_, and his powers of
_ratiocination_. The _mellifluous_ and _numerose cadence_ of
_equiponderant_ periods cannot ensure him from a _luxation_, a
_laceration_, and a _resiliency_ of his _adminicular concatenation_ with
the _rugged mercantile_ race[146]. The loss of this _adscititious
adminicle_ would make the sage's _impeccable_, but _lugubrious_ bosom
vibrate with the horrors of _dilution_ and _dereliction_. His organs of
vision would gush with _salsamentarious_ torrents of spherical
particles, of equal diameters, and of equal specific gravities, as Dr
Cheyne observes--their smoothness--their sphericity--their frictions,
and their hardness,'[147] &c.
To the last edition (the 4th) of the folio dictionary, there is prefixed
an advertisement, from which I have extracted a few lines: 'Finding my
dictionary about to be reprinted, I have endeavoured by a revisal to
make it less reprehensible. I will not deny that I found _many parts
requiring emendation_, and _many more capable of improvement_. _Many
faults_ I have corrected, some superfluities I have taken away, and some
deficiencies I have supplied. I have methodised some parts that were
_disordered_, and illuminated some that were _obscure_. Yet the changes
or additions bear a very small proportion to the whole.' That his
improvements, bear a very small proportion to the quantity of errors
still in his book is true, for after a long and painful search, I have
only been able to trace out ONE alteration. The word _Gazetteer_ is now
defined without that insolent scurrility formerly quoted. But in this
correct edition, thunder continues to be a _most bright flame_. Whig is
still the name of a faction; and a Tory is said to be an adherent to the
antient constitution of England. Oats, Excise, _Monarch_, &c. are all in
the same stile. Nowise, _n. s._ '(_no_ and _wise_: this is commonly
spoken and written by IGNORANT BARBARIANS, _noways_). Not in any manner,
or degree.' Theorem, _n. s._ 'A position laid down as an acknowledged
truth.'
Here a schoolboy can detect the Doctor's ignorance, for every body knows
that this word has the _opposite_ meaning, which is indeed evident from
the quotations that are intended to exemplify it.
'Having found this the head _theorem_ of all their discourses, we hold
it necessary that the _proofs_ thereof be weighed.' _Hooker._ 'Here are
three _theorems_, that from thence we may draw some conclusions[148].'
_Dryden._ No words can paint the Doctor's want of attention.
To piss, _v. n._ (pisser Fr. pissen Dutch) 'To make water. I charge the
_pissing_ conduit run nothing but claret. _Shakespeare._ One ass pisses,
the rest _piss_ for company. _L'Estrange._ The wanton boys _piss_ upon
your grave. _Dryden._' Whoredom, _n. s._ (from _whore_) 'Fornication.
Some let go _whoredom_ as an indifferent matter. _Hale._' Whorish, _a._
(from whore) 'Unchaste, incontinent. By means of a _whorish_ woman a man
is brought to a piece of bread. _Proverbs._ I had as lief you should
tell me of a mess of _porridge_[149].'
The reader has seen what a profusion of low, and even blackguard
expressions are to be met with in the Doctor's celebrated work. I shall
now give an additional specimen of his _great_ work; and if, like some
American savages, we cannot count our fingers, Dr Johnson himself will
teach us how to do it; for he tells us, on _Shakespeare's_ authority,
that two is, 'one and one,' Pope and Creech are quoted to prove, that
three is, 'two and one.' Four is, 'two and two;' and, if you have the
least doubt that 'four and one' make five, or that five is, 'the half of
ten,' you will be silenced by the name of Dryden. Six is, 'twice three,
one more than five.' Seven is, 'four and three, one more than six.'
Eight is, 'twice four, a word of number.' Nine is, 'one more than
eight.' Ninth is, 'that which precedes the tenth.' Ten is, 'the decimal
number, twice five.' Tenth is, 'first after the ninth, the ordinal of
ten.' Eleven is, 'ten and one.' Eleventh is, 'the next in order to the
tenth, and is derived from eleven.' Twelve is, 'two and ten;' and
twelfth, 'second after the tenth, the ordinal of twelve.' Thirteen is,
'ten and three.' Fourteen is, 'four and ten.' Fifteen is, 'five and
ten.' Fifteen, 'the ordinal of fifteen, the fifth after the tenth;' and,
if you entertain any suspicion as to the verity of these definitions,
read over Boyle, Brown, Dryden, Moses, Raleigh, Sandys, Shakespeare, and
Bacon. Thirdly is, in the 'third place.' Thrice, 'three times,'
threefold, 'thrice repeated, consisting of three.' Threepence, (_three_
and _pence_) 'a small silver coin, valued at thrice a penny.'
Threescore, a. (_three_ and _score_) 'thrice twenty, sixty.' Pope,
Raleigh, Wiseman, Shakespeare, Brown, Dryden, and Spencer, are cited to
convince you, that these explanations are accurate. And the other
articles of numeration, with all their derivations, definitions, and the
passages which are quoted to support them, would fill a sixpenny
pamphlet. And this is one recipe for making a book worth four guineas!
A farthing is, 'the fourth part of a penny, and a penny is, _a small
coin_[150], of which twelve make a shilling.' A shilling is 'now twelve
pence.' A Pound is, 'the sum of twenty shillings;' and, if thou hast
forgot the worth of a Guinea, know that it is 'a gold coin, valued at
one and twenty shillings;' for Dryden, Locke, and Cocker, have said all
this. A Punk is, 'a whore, a common prostitute;' and a Puppy is, 'a
whelp, the progeny of a bitch, a name of contemptuous reproach to a
man.' To _Mew_ is, 'to cry as a cat.' To Kaw is, 'to cry as a Raven,
Crow, or Rook; and the cry of a Raven or Crow (and he might have added,
of a Jack Daw too) is kaw.'
'There are men (says Dr Johnson) who claim the name of authors, merely
to disgrace it, and fill the world with volumes, only to bury letters in
their own rubbish. The traveller who tells, in a pompous Folio, that he
saw the _Pantheon_ at _Rome_, and the _Medicean Venus_ at _Florence_;
the natural historian, who, describing the productions of a narrow
island, recounts all that it has in common with every other part of the
world; the collector of antiquities, that accounts every thing a
curiosity, which the ruins of Herculaneum happen to emit, though an
instrument already shown in a thousand repositories, or a cup common to
the antients, the moderns, and all mankind, may be justly censured as
the persecutors of students, and the _thieves_ of that time, which never
can be restored[151].'
The traveller who visits Rome and Florence, and gives an account of what
he saw to the world, without describing the Pantheon and the Medicean
Venus, will, very properly, be censured as an ignorant and tasteless
wanderer. The historian who describes an island, whether wide or narrow,
ought to begin by telling if it produces water, grass, wood, and corn. A
sword, a bow, and a dagger, are common to the antients, the moderns, and
almost all mankind; yet, if any Roman military weapon were discovered in
the ruins of Herculaneum, it would deservedly be the object of
curiosity, and a collector of antiquities might describe it without
being censured, in Dr Johnson's polite style, as a _thief of time_. Of
this passage, however, the leading idea is just; and, had the Doctor
been able to express himself with precision, it would have served, in an
admirable manner, to delineate the character of the author of those
passages which we have just now been reading from his Dictionary.
A Puppy is said to be, 'the progeny of a bitch,' but so is the bitch
herself. Repleviable is, 'what may be _replevined_.' Repair is,
'reparation;' and reparation is, 'the act of repairing.' A Republican
is, 'one who thinks a commonwealth, without monarchy, the best
government.' But this is only half a definition; for every subject of a
republic, is a republican, whether he think it the best government or
not. Republican, a. (from republic) is, 'placing the government in the
people.' Is Venice under the government of the people? It is curious
enough to hear such an author as Ben Johnson cited to prove what a
republic is. The reader will compute what title the Doctor has to the
character given him by a late writer, viz. that 'his great learning and
genius render him one of the most _shining_ ornaments of the present
age.' A Looking-glass is, 'a glass which shews forms reflected;' but so
will a common glass bottle; though we never term it a looking-glass. He
says it is compounded of _look_ and _glass_; but, if the reader happens
to think it is derived from _looking_ and _glass_, the Doctor cannot
confute him. A knave is, 'a petty rascal, a scoundrel.' A _Loon_ is, 'a
sorry fellow, a scoundrel.' A _Looby_ is, 'a lubber, a clumsy clown.' A
_Lubber_ is, 'a sturdy drone, an idle, fat, bulky _losel_, a booby.' A
_Losel_ is, 'a scoundrel, a sorry worthless fellow.' A _Lubbard_ is, 'a
lazy sturdy fellow.' A _Booby_ is--but you must know what it is, while
you read, in these elegant definitions, the taste and genius of Dr
Johnson. He says, that Bone is, 'the solid parts of the body of an
animal.' Are not the fat and the muscles also solid? A Volume is,
'something rolled or convolved;' and so is a barrel, a foot-ball, and
a blanket. But a volume is likewise '_as much as seems convolved at
once_;' an expression hardly intelligible; and it is a book. A Book, we
are told, is, 'a volume, in which we read or write;' and whether we read
and write in it or not.
'V has two powers expressed in English by two characters, v, consonant,
and u, vowel.' One would think these were two different letters, as much
as any others in the alphabet. The same remark applies to letters I and
J, which the Doctor has blended. It is remarkable that this _English_
Dictionary begins with a _Latin_ word; and the Doctor has inserted it
without giving an authority.
A Ketch is, 'a _heavy_ ship;' and a Junk is, 'a _small_ ship of China.' A
Sloop is, 'a small ship;' and a Brigantine is, 'a light vessel;' but, it
would have required little learning or ingenuity to have said, that, in
our marine, a sloop has only one mast, except sloops of war, which have
three; and, that a brigantine is a merchant ship with two. A brig, a
lugger, a hooker, a schooner, a galliot, a galleon, a proa, a punt, a
xebeque, and a snow, are not inserted in this _compleat_ English
Dictionary; but a Cutter is, 'a nimble boat that _cuts_ the water.' Did
we ever hear of a boat that did not cut the water? This explanation,
like that of at least twenty thousand others, is defective; because,
besides a man of war's boat, the word Cutter is applied to a small
vessel with one mast, rigged as a sloop, that sails very near the
_wind_; from which peculiarity, its appellation is derived.
A Cannon is, 'a gun larger than can be managed by the hand.' Cannon-ball
and Cannon shot are, 'the balls which are shot from great guns.' Mr
Locke is cited to shew, that _cannot_ is compounded of _can_ and _not_.
Menstruous is, 'having the catamenia;' and this last word is wanting, a
frequent mode of _definition_ in this book. The Eye is, 'the organ of
vision.' Eye-drop, (_eye_ and _drop_) 'tear.' See also Eye-ball,
Eye-brow, Eye-glance, Eye-glass, Eyeless, Eye-lid, Eye-sight, Eye-sore,
Eye-tooth, Eye-wink, Eye-witness. Eye-string is, 'the string of the
eye[152].' The following names are cited to support the explanations:
Dryden, Spencer, Newton, Milton, Garth, Bacon, Samuel, Peter, and
Shakespeare four times. The man who can make such a pedantic parade of
erudition, must be a mere quack in the business of book-building; and
the reader who thinks himself edified by hearing, that an eye-wink is,
'a wink as a hint or token,' must be an object of pity. But there is no
such reader. _Quere._ Do we never wink but as a hint or token? Achor is,
'a species of the _Herpes_;' and Hey, 'an expression of joy.' A Mocker
is,'one who mocks;' and a Laughing-stock, (_laugh_ and _stock_) a 'butt,
an object of ridicule.' Iron, a. is, 'made of iron;' and Iron, s. is
said to be, 'a metal common to all parts of the world;' which is not the
fact.
Numskull, _s._ (_numb_ and _skull_) 'a _Dullard_; a dunce; a dolt; a
blockhead.' Numskulled, _a._ (from _Numskull_) 'dull; stupid; doltish.'
Nun, _s._ 'a woman dedicated to the severer duties of religion, secluded
in a cloister from the world.' The Nuns of London were _not_ employed in
the severer duties of religion, which has nothing to do with severity.
The institution of nunneries is the most atrocious insult upon human
feelings, that ever disgraced the selfish and brutal policy of the Roman
priesthood, and its consequences are the most shocking and criminal. The
man who would palliate such an outrage on Christianity, deserves no
quarter[153]. From this sample of his good sense and piety, one would
hardly rank the Rambler above 'a domestic animal, that catches mice.'
Jack is, '1. The diminutive of John. 2. The name of _instruments_, which
supply the place of a boy, _as an instrument_ to pull off boots.'
Bronchocele, _s._ 'a tumor of that part of the _aspera tertia_, called
the _Bronchos_,' and this last word is wanting. Broom is 'a shrub;' and
Brogue 'a kind of shoe.' See also Broomstaff, Broomy, Broth, Brothel,
and Brothelhouse. Bubo, 'the groin from the bending of the thigh to the
_scrotum_;' but the _scrotum_ is not explained.
Snot. 'The mucus of the nose.' Nose. 'The prominence on the face, which
is the organ of _scent_, and the emunctory of the brain.'
He should have said the organ of _smell_, for we do not say the sense of
_scenting_. But from what he says of them, it appears that he is
ignorant of the distinction between these two words. If the nose were
the emunctory of the brain (which every surgeon's apprentice knows that
it is _not_), in that case snot could not be the mucus of the nose, but
the mucus of the brain. It belongs to neither. It is entirely, or
principally formed in the glands of the throat, as we see every day in
coughing. To contradict such inconsistencies, would be below the
dignity of any writer, if they were found in a book less famous than the
English Dictionary.
Rust. 'The red _Desquamation_ of old iron.' Desquamation. 'The act of
scaling foul bones.' Sinew. '1. A tendon; the ligaments by which the
joints are moved. 2. _Muscle_ or _nerve_!' Other metals rust as well as
iron, and rust is not always red; that of copper for instance is blue or
green. It is not quite clear why the word _Desquamation_ is introduced.
But his account of _sinew_ exceeds every thing of the kind.
Highflier. 'One that carries his opinion to extravagance.' The word
relates to a particular set of men in this country, and to them only. A
Dervise, a Friar, and a Bramin, profess extravagant opinions; but an
English writer would not call them _Highfliers_, nor would he be
understood if he did.
Chervill. 'An _umbelliferous_ plant.' Periwig. '_Adscititious_ hair.'
Chemist, and Chemistry are omitted, but Chymistry is, 'philosophy by
FIRE;' and Chymist, 'a philosopher by FIRE!' With what inexpressible
contempt would the youngest of Dr Black's audience hear these
definitions? The folly of the man, who can scribble such jargon is
eclipsed by the superlative ignorance of those who vindicate and admire
him. Dr Johnson asserts, that Shakespeare 'has corrupted language by
every mode of depravation[154].' The remark applies to himself. And his
advocates must allow, that 'they endure in _him_ what they should in
another loath and despise[155].' Indeed I can very well believe the
Doctor, when he says, that his book was composed while he was in a state
of DISTRACTION[156]. For the honour of his veracity, we may hope, that
he was likewise _distracted_ when he observed of the social, facetious,
and celebrated John Wilkes, Esq; that 'Lampoon would disdain to speak
ill of him, of whom no man speaks well[157].'
Part of his book has merit; but take it altogether, and perhaps it is
the strangest farrago which pedantry ever produced. It will be said that
these are partial specimens, but we have traced him through various
_ramifications_ of learning, and found his ignorance extreme. A sensible
reader will try his own abilities, in judging of the Doctor's _great_
performance. Nor will he throw down this pamphlet without a candid
perusal, because, by some unaccountable infatuation, the dictionary has
for twenty seven years been admired by thousands and ten thousands, who
have never _seen_ it. Let us exert that courage of thought, and that
contempt of quackery, which to feel, and to display, is the privilege
and the pride of a Briton. In a country where no man fears his king, can
any man fear the sound of a celebrated name, or crouch behind the the
banner of Dullness, because it is born by SAMUEL JOHNSON, A.M. & LL.D.?
I shall now take leave of this enormous compilation, and return, for a
few pages, to the rest of his works.
* * * * *