BAILEY'S DICTIONARY. 



C. C. MARBLE. 



THIS may be called the age of 

 dictionary making. All philo- 

 logical scholarship seems to 

 culminate in historic deriva- 

 tion. Without referring invidiously to 

 cultivated foreign languages, each of 

 which has many such monuments of 

 elaborate, accurate, and patient re- 

 search, it may be said with confidence 

 that the English language is unrivaled 

 in its lexicographers, who at the close 

 of the nineteenth century have com- 

 pleted works which only a few decades 

 ago were not thought of as possible. 

 Dr. Johnson prepared his unabridged 

 dictionary in seven years "with little 

 assistance from the great," an achieve- 

 ment which at the lime excited won- 

 der and admiration, though insignifi- 

 cant indeed in comparison with present 

 performances. And yet there may be 

 some doubt about the comparatively 

 greater usefulness to the general reader 

 of the bulky volumes of the modern 

 publishers. In illustration the reader 

 might find an analysis of one of the 

 oldest English dictionaries an interest- 

 ing example. 



For several years I have had at hand 

 "An Universal Etymological English 

 Dictionary and Interpreter of Hard 

 Words," by N. Bailey, 1747. On almost 

 all occasions when I have needed to 

 consult a dictionary I have found it 

 satisfactory, some of its learning, on 

 account of its very quaintnesses and 

 contemporaneous character, being bet- 

 ter adapted to a particular definition 

 than modern directness. Perhaps its 

 greatest defect is the absence from it 

 of scientific terms, of which, however, 

 there were very few at that time. 



The introduction is exceedingly 

 learned and the causes of change in 

 language are discussed with much in- 

 genuity. Many examples of Saxon 

 antiquities are given, one of which, the 

 Lord's prayer, written about A. D.900, 

 by Alfred, Bishop of Durham, we may 

 quote, from which "it doth appear," 

 says Bailey, "that the Plnglish Saxon 



Language, of which the Normans de- 

 spoiled us in great Part, had its beau- 

 ties, was significant and emphatical,. 

 and preferable to what the}' imposed 

 upon us." Here is the prayer: 



"Our Father which art in Heavens, 

 be hallowed thine name; come thine 

 Kingdom; be thy will so as in Heav- 

 ens and in Earth. Our Loaf supersub- 

 stantial give us to-day, and forgive us 

 Debts our so we forgive .Debts ours, 

 and do not lead us into Temptation., 

 but deliver us from Evil." 



The introduction is in Latin. Greek, 

 Hebrew, and Saxon characters are used 

 in the definitions. Bailey defines the 

 meanings of proverbs with far more 

 particularity than is necessary, per- 

 haps, and yet a small volume could be 

 made up of these curious " common or 

 old pithy sayings," as he defines them, 

 many of which are obsolete or un- 

 known to the readers of the present 

 day. Instance: 



"As sure as God's in Gloucester- 

 shire." This proverb is said to have 

 its rise, on account that there were 

 more rich and mitred abbe}s in that 

 than in any two shires of England be- 

 side; but some, from William of Malms- 

 bury, refer it to the fruitfulness of it 

 in religion, in that it is said to have re- 

 turned the seed of the gospel with the 

 increase of an hundred fold. And 

 "Good wine needs no bush." This 

 proverb intimates that virtue is valua- 

 ble for itself, and that internal good- 

 ness stands in need of no external 

 flourishes or ornaments; and so we say 

 "A good face needs no band." 



One other, a short one: "All goes 

 down gutter lane." This is applied to 

 those who spend all in drunkenness 

 and gluttony, alluding to the Latin 

 word gutter, which signifies the throat. 

 Not a few of these proverbs, with 

 their explanations, occupy whole pages 

 of the dictionary, and where they are 

 traced to the Greeks or the Hebrews 

 the original characters are brought into 

 use as incontestable evidence of their 



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