ELEMENTARY STUDIES. 87 



attention, and, to assist him in this desirable work, he soon 

 procured that capital old book, unique in its time, and 

 still worth having, the " Universal Etymological English 

 Dictionary of N. Bailey, QiXoXoyoz" with the derivation and 

 explanation of words in common use, in the sciences and arts, 

 in law, in place and proper names, etc., and " a collection, 

 explication, and illustration of our most common proverbs," 

 which are really well done ; " the whole compiled and 

 methodically digested, as well for the entertainment of 

 the curious as the information of the ignorant ; and for 

 the benefit of young students, artificers, tradesmen, and 

 foreigners, who are desirous thoroughly to understand 

 what they speak, read, or write " a far better book than 

 its magniloquent title-page would indicate. In 1757, 

 it had passed through seventeen editions, and was the 

 very help a solitary student like our good weaver required. 

 In 1830, he also bought a "Dictionary of the Scottish 

 Language," published three years before, to extend his 

 knowledge of the vernacular he used so well. The 

 etymology of the names of the places round about him 

 he also wished to know, and he has preserved a list of 

 names derived from the Gaelic, with their meanings, 

 written by him at an early date. 



He worked also at grammar, with the help of a 

 "Grammar Made Easy," published in 1805; and at 

 arithmetic, guided by the immortal Cocker, of which he 

 used the edition of 1787, afterwards getting, in 1839, the 

 " Introduction " of Gray, a name as synonymous with 

 arithmetic in Scotland as Cocker's in England. 



So determined was John to get at the roots of things 

 in regard to his studies, that he essayed Latin, and his 



