THE 



MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



No. 150.] 



DECEMBER ], I8O6. [5 of Vol. 22. 



one as tliofe who write aieambitiou? of making convert 

 ifluence and celebrity, the mafl ejctenfively circvilatd 

 uriolitj' of thulc who read either for amulcmc 



d of giving to their opinions ^ 

 liany will repay with the grc; 



ftru^''ij.i." JOrfNSuN. 



ORIGINAL COJMMUNICATIONS. 



To the Editor of the Monthli/ Magazine. 



Each wight who reads not. and but fcans and fp-Hs, 



Each wnrd-catcher who lives on fyllables, 



Ev'n fuch fmall critics fume regard may claim. POPE, 



SIR, 



IT is the bufinefs of fome dull fouls to 

 prepare with painful induftry the ma- 

 terials which happier geniufes are to 

 turn to account. It is not eafy to fay of 

 any faithful coUeftion of faCts, however 

 apparently trivial, that it may not be 

 profitably employed. In this view I have 

 been led to think that an enumerative 

 claifification of the words of our lan- 

 guage might not be totally ufelefs. The 

 choice of a fource of analylis for this 

 purpofe feemed to lie between Johnfon 

 and Atli ; the latter of whom is perhaps 

 as cenfurabie in point of redundance as 

 the former is for deticieuc}', while the 

 fiiperfiuities of one do not I'upply the 

 defects of the other. I . have therefore 

 coniidered it a mark of due refpect to 

 take Johnfon for my theme, fince whofe 

 time no futiicient authority on this fub- 

 je6t has yet arifen; uling his large edi- 

 tion, as fuller than his abridgment. On 

 account liowever of the great additions 

 to our lanj,uage by the recent enlarge- 

 ment of Icieiice, as well as from llie 

 faftidioufnclis of Johnfon, it is obvious 

 tiiat fuch an undcrtakhig as mine will be 

 conliderably impeiiect as a tell of its ab- 

 folute copioufnefs. 



An accident has deprived me, for the 

 prcieiit, of the minute details of my 

 progrefs in this enumeration, and of fe- 

 vcral remarks which in the courfe of it 

 I had made on particular parts; and as I 

 c!o not wiili to delay any longer fending 

 you this conjinunicution, I can only liato 

 a few of the hitter from memory. 



Such compounds as admit of their 

 parts (whether united by Johnfon or not) 

 being feparately and diilincitly written 

 witliout injury to the feni'e or the con- 

 flrucijon, are omitted in my ftateinent. 

 Moft of his names of plants particularly 

 are of this defcription. I could not, 

 f()r example, pcrfuade myfelf to call 

 either ?•«//( «^, all faints da i/, or zcekomc 

 io our houff, a mere fubliantive. Com- 

 pound adjectives, as high-f/jirited, are 

 not often fufceptible of this difunion. 

 It is perhaps ditiiciilt to draw the exatt 

 line of the dillinction, but it is more fo 



Mo^'T^Lx J\Up., N». ISO." 



to go throueh the vocabulary without 

 attempting it. I fuppofe that I have dis- 

 placed about two or three hundred words 

 from Johiifon's lift on this fcore. 



With refpect to lerbs and other words 

 'having, with the fame orthography and 

 pronunciation, quite diftintt lignifications 

 and etymologies, he has ofttn repeated 

 them, as feparate articles; as in bid, to ' 

 hlow,w\A long adverb, (fee th.e Dictionary:) 

 but in pile, quarry, and roll, eacli fufcep- 

 tible of four fuch divifions, with a great 

 number of others having ali'b two or 

 tiirce, he has inconiiUeiitly negletted it. 

 Wherever I found my attention awake 

 to this circumllance, I liavc enumerated 

 thele different branches. 



His lifts of the indechiiable parts of 

 fpeech appear often very exceptionable in 

 point of claUitication ; but as I have not 

 before nie my notes of the particular 

 inftances, my numerical ftatemeut is as 

 he gives them, or nearly fo. — Some other 

 remarks I fliall fubjoia to the colunms 

 of the Table. 



I detail the refult of my examination 

 under the individual letters of die al- 

 phabet, for the convenience of any of 

 your readers who may w illi to verify par- 

 ticular parts of the enumeration : but I 

 muft moft ftrongly caution whoever goes 

 over the Dictionary with a view to the 

 parfing, againft unwarily taking the words 

 as they appear marked ; the errors of 

 pi'intiug, in this refpe6t, in the edition 

 which I have ufed (the recent ottavo), 

 being throughout extremely frequent 

 and flagrant. 



The elder Scaliger is faid to have 

 thanked God for having given to fome 

 men a talent and inclination for compil- 

 ing ditiiouaries and indexes. I iliall be 

 glad if any utility to be derived from my 

 labour in tiie prefent infiance, Ihouid 

 excite a finiilar fentiment in the mind 

 of a tingle fpeculator on the ftructure of 

 language. 2. 



Thk claffes of words, or parts of fpeech, 

 adopted by Johnfon are ihefe : Article ; 

 n»un fubftantive; adjective; pronoun; 

 verb active, neuter, pailive, defotlive (or 

 imperfect), auxiliary, and irapcrfonal; 

 verbal noun ; participle ; participial ad- 

 jective and noun; adverb; prepofition; 

 conjundtion; and inteijettion ;— 



8 H art. 



