OCR Text |
Show . Chat many terms of art and manufacture are omitted, muft be ff%?lsl};aitgiggwggd%zgr; Iilfit fo defe I ma boldly alleg tha it was unavmdable:l I ctlt_oillz}t n.(;t n‘;lvlioratio i1ls dialec o the'v'v:,f?me houfe of + whj VI and operatiors of wares, tool tO_fipCrfCfi; to mzalf;l{fltlhénnztn;e Voy‘l% tal:le 31 fthop an of artificers € mention is found in books; what favourable accident, or eafy enquiry t:jl‘ouéght ‘within lmy're%Ch" not been neglected; but it had been a hopelefs labour to glean up words, by courting living info tion, and contefting with the fullennefs of one; and the roughnefs of another To furnith the academicians della Crufea with words of this kind, a feries of comedies called J of merchants, i?lguagle o the Fair, was profefledl Fiera, o writte but I ha by Buonaroti tl}_grefpg an no fuch. affiftant fi‘Pphed. f bcen luckil no the ha likewife wante hav muf the was content to want wha No ar all word whic are no foun in the vocabulary to b lamente as omiffions. O laborious and mercantile part of the people, the diction is in a great meafure cafual and mutable ; m of their terms are formed for fome temporary or local convenience, and though current at certain time and places, are in others utterly unknown This fugitive cant, which is always .in a ftate of increafe o decay, cannot be regarded as any part of the durable materials of a language, and th¢ref9re muf fuffered to perifh with other things unworthy of prefervation Care will fometimes betray to the appearance of negligence He that is catching opportuniti.es w}uc feldom occur, will fuffer tholfe to pafs by unregarded, which he GEXPC&S hourl}{ to return ; he t isa fearch ing for rare and remote things, will negle thofe that are obvious and familiar : thus many of the mof commo and curfory words have been inferted with little illuftration, becaufe in gatherin the gutho;ities I forbore to copy thofe which I thought likely to occur whenever they were wanted. It is remarkable that, in reviewing my collection, I found the word Sea unexemplified s Thus it happens, that in things difficult there is danger from ignorance, and in things eafy f confidence; th mind afraid of greatnefs an difdainfu of littlenefs, haftily withdraw herfelf fr painful fearches, and pafles with {cornful rapidity over tafks not adequate to her powers, fometime to fecure for caution, and again too anxious for vigorous effort; fometimes idle in a plain path, an fo etimes diftracted in labyrinths, and diffipated by different intentions A large work is difficult becaufe it is large, even though all its parts might fingl b ‘ e f r e w facility; where there are many things to be done, each muf be allowed its {hare of time and lab in the proportion only which it bears to the whole; nor can it be exp c e t a t f o e w i f r the dome of a templ , fhould be fquared and polithed like the diamond of a ring Of the event of this work for which having laboure it with fo muc application I cannot bu have fome degree of parental fondnefs, it is natural to form conjeCtures T o w h v b e P fuaded to think well of my defign, will require that it tho ld fix our language, and put.a ftop- thofe alterations which time and chance have hithert been fuffered to make in it without oppofiti With this confequence I will confefs that I flattered myfelf fo w i e b n b g t f a that have indulged expectation which n ither reafon nor experience can juftify and die at a certain time one after another, fro century to century to prolong life to a thoufand years; and wit equal Juftice ma When we fee men grow ol we laugh at the elixir that prhomi'fé*s? the lexicographer be derided, wh being able to produce no example of a nation tha has preferved their words andophrafes from muta[;il fhall imagine that his di¢tionary can embalm h s language, and fecure it from corruption an decay that it is in his power to change fublunary nat re, and clear the world at once from folly, v nity, a affettation Wit this hope, however S academie have bee inftitute d, to guar es of their languages to retain fugitives, and repulfe intruders; but thei vigil ance and activity have hitherto bee {ounds are too volat_ile and {fubtile for leg l reftraints; to enchain fyllables, and t lath the win equally the undertakings of pride, unwilling to me fure its defires by its ftre has vifibly changed under the infpe@ion of the acad my ; th i obferve by Le Courayer to be un peu paffés and no Ital modern writer is not perceptibly differént from tha of Boccace Total and fudden transformations of a language fel om ha ppen; conquefts and migrationsar.e no very rare: but there are other caufes of change, which, though flow in their operati nb, and iowilibie o |