S49 
Original Letters^ 
181!.] 
mine tSiat I am become so poor, as you 
now see me to be.” This repartee so 
pleased Timour, that, instead of re- 
proacijitig him, he treated iiim graciously. 
Kliodj i Hafez Schirazi died m the year 
(anno 1391-2 of the Christian 
era) and was buried in the iiniselia,* 
* In the campayna around the large towns 
of Persia, is a place of prayer, where the 
inussulmen assemble on certain occasions for 
their public worship. Voyag. della Valle, T*. 
(i. e. oratory) of Schlraz. When the 
Sultan Abouicassern Habour Behadur 
seized this town, IMohaniined Mamai,one 
of !iis principal officers, built a magnifi™ 
cent ediilce upon tiie tomb of Hafez. It 
still subsists, but at some distance from 
the town. A description of it may bs 
seen in Pietro della Valle, and Niebuhr. 
iv. f, 409, V. 339, Specim, P^s, Perska^ 
p. 6o. 
ORIGINAL LETTERS. 
From the late Rev. Gilbert Wake¬ 
field to Mr. Pytches, on the pros¬ 
pectus of his DICTIONARY. 
Sir, Hackney, JLily 15, 1796. 
FEFX myself honoured by your opi¬ 
nion of *my .ability to contribute to 
such an absolute and most important 
desideratum, as a complete Dictionary 
of the English Language. Ihe entire 
devotion of my time to my own pursuits, 
and the necessity of this devotion for my 
subsistence, renders it impossible for me 
to contribute, as I could wish, to this 
great undertaking. What few observa¬ 
tions have been noted on the margin of 
my Johnson, shall at any time be at 
your service; but they are scarcely worth 
the trouble of extracting. Give me leave, 
however, to suggest one most important 
remark; an ignorance or neglect of which, 
has ruined, and rendered ridiculous, every 
dictionary that I have yet seen ; not to 
mention the extreme prolixity to which 
this absurdity or inattention has given 
rise. 
It may be relied upon as a genera! 
and almost a universal truth, t'nat no 
word has more senses than two: a literal 
©r proper, and a translated or figurative 
signification. Now, when Johnson and 
others have sometimes ramified meanings 
mistakenly into a dozen or twenty, who 
does not see the immense waste of time 
and paper in this respect? to overlook 
the general futility and falsehood of such 
idle discriminations. First, let the ori¬ 
ginal and proper signification w’ith its 
etymology be given and exemplified; 
then, the translated meaning in .all its 
varieties. The shades of them, and their 
progressive explanation, so as to show 
tlieir immediate rise through all their 
stages from the root, will constitute a 
most valuable and philosophical employ- 
jaent, of iuimense inealculable utility to 
literature. This subject, as now inade« 
quately and briefly stated, has been fre¬ 
quently agitated in my mind; and sure 
I am, that no dictionary can be truly 
valuable, but by a sacred observance of 
the rule here laid down. 
I am, Sir, 
With great respect and the best wishesi 
for your undertaking, 
Your obedient servant, 
Gilbert Wakefield. 
EXTRACT. 
Sir Wm. Boswell to Sir Thomas Roe. 
Hague, 14 JuLie, 1639. 
Having written thus far before dinnerj 
and coming to conclude my letter, I fell 
into memory of a story, which my lord 
of Dorchester, not long before his death, 
for a condimeiunm of my public service 
here, told me.-—That being ambassador 
into France with my lords of Carlisle and 
Holland, the virtuous duchess of Cheu- 
reuse came to give him a visit apart id 
his lodging, found him in his night-gown,' 
cap of consideration, and dumpes dolo- 
rouses; upon which she asked him what 
he ailed: and he answered, that he was 
perplexed to see the public affairs in 
hand go on so ill; to which she replied— 
Yffiien, Monsi Estez done si foli de vous 
tourmenter de public,—Adieu, MonsC 
Cuni dicto abiens. Neither could all 
the intreaties his lordship could use, 
move her to stay, or speak one word 
more for that time. 
A. Gorges to Cecyl. 
Ejc. mss. Ashmolean, vol. 1929, p. 116. 
Honourable bi; 
I cannot cliuse but advertyse you of a 
straunge tragedye f this day had lyke to 
have fallen owie betw-een the Captayne 
of the Guarde and the Lyuetennant of 
the Ofdeiinance, if I had not by greate 
X cbuunce 
