2 PROSPECTUS OF AN ENGLISH DICTIONARY. 



useful and the most convenient of any extant; and one which, 

 lie trusts, would do credit to the Country, to the Language, 

 and to himself. 



That the deficiency of most, if not all, of our present 

 Dictionaries has been long acknowledged ; that the volumi- 

 nous work of Dr. Johnson, improved as it has been very 

 materially by Mr. Todd, is yet extremely deficient in many 

 words, particularly in those relative to, or used in the pro- 

 cesses connected with the arts, manufactures, and science. 

 That such words as are now commonly used in popular 

 treatises on Medicine, Chemistry, Botany, &c. ought to be 

 found in an English Dictionary ; and that many other 

 words in constant use, but which have not yet been fixed in 

 a Dictionary of the English Language, ought also to have 

 a place there. 



That it will, no doubt, excite surprise to be told that 

 neither the word Brad, as a generic term for a nail without 

 a head (of which there are various sizes from half an inch 

 to three inches in length,) nor the compound word Brad-awl 

 will be found in Todd's Johnson. It is true the word 

 Brad is in that work, but is there defined " a sort of nail 

 to floor rooms with ;" thus only giving a specific definition 

 instead of a generic one, which ought to be given, and thus 

 misleading the reader as to the meaning of the word. 



That in the Dictionary which your Petitioner contem- 

 plates, he will not servilely follow, as has been too commonly 

 the practice, either Dr. Johnson or any other writer, in 

 the Definition, Orthography, Etymology, or Pronunciation 

 of words. He will correct such Definitions as are ma- 

 nifestly erroneous ; and the Orthography and Pronunciation 

 will be regulated by the best usage : in a word, his Dic- 

 tionary shall be, if possible, what it ought to be, a complete 

 copy of our language as spoken and written at the present 

 time. l 



