Advertise ment. A consequent application will sometimes be inferred from the metaphorical usage, English which cannot be inferred from the literal. "To admit an opinion, to admit the propriety or force of an apology, excuse, argument, &c." is, consequently, "To grant, to concede, to agree, to assent." These are the main divisions which it will be incumbent upon the lexicographer to observe in the explanation of different words; and they may be thus methodically disposed: Lexicon. 1. The etymology, with the literal meaning, applied literally or to material objects: Plan. with the words similarly applied. 2. The metaphorical application of this meaning to the human mind; and the words similarly applied. 3. The application consequent or inferred from the literal meaning. 4. The application consequent, or inferred from that which is metaphorical. But the greater portion of language will admit of this comprehensive yet simple distribution: The etymology, and literal meaning, literally and metaphorically employed; with the words of similar application. Whatever divisions, however, may occur, each must be attended by proper autho- Authorities. rities; those for the literal meaning (whenever they can be produced) will claim the first place; those for the metaphorical and consequent usage, must take their stations in due succession. A few words are required to explain the manner of proceeding with compound Compounds. words; and this may be done most clearly by examples in illustration from those which we have derived immediately from the Latin. Take the compounds of Duco, and Traho. To abduce, adduce, conduce, deduce, induce, &c. To abstract, attract, contract, detract, distract, &c. The difference of meaning, it is obvious, arises from the different preposed or prefixed words; ab, ad, con, de, dis, in. The Latin compound, then, should be separated into its component parts; each part should be rendered into equivalent (or rather equivocal) English, and no other difference be allowed in the explanation than the prefix itself expresses. Advertise ment. Periods of the Lan guage. Advantages of Chrono tions. And so with the rest: then in each case must of course (to use the word of an old chronicler*), subsecute the words synonimously applied. To revert to the authorities: The writers, from whose works citations are to be made, may advantageously be classed into periods; and each word, when it is possible, should be supported by authorities within each period. The first period must commence with the rhyming chronicles of Robert of Gloucester, and Robert of Brunne; and terminate with the writers, whose powers were invigorated by their exertions in the struggle with the see of Rome, during the reign of Henry VIII. and his two immediate successors. The second will extend from the accession of Elizabeth, to the return of Charles II.; or from Hooker and Shakespeare, to Milton and J. Taylor. The third, from the Restoration to the establishment of the House of Hanover upon the throne; or from Waller and Barrow, to Pope and Samuel Clarke. The fourth, from the time of George II, through that of his present majesty (in itself a period of nearly sixty years):-the great names of Cowper and Paley, of Horsley and Watson, will close the catalogue. All living writers must submit to a bar of exclusion. The first period, as the least explored, and the longest in duration, seems not only to permit, but to demand that citations should be adduced with a hand so lavish, as sometimes to risk the imputation of wasteful liberality; and in every period, fullness and freedom will be considered as the more pardonable error, if it be an error at all to prefer dullness to a dearth of information; and to expose those who are in search of knowledge to some degree of tediousness, when there is no other path to the knowledge they are or pretend to be desirous of acquiring. By the arrangement of the citations chronologically, some view may be taken logical cita of the progressive changes of the language; and more particularly so by the use of early and succeeding translators: among whom, the translators of the Bible stand pre-eminent. It will contribute much to the more effectual attainment of SO useful an object, if translations of the same passages are produced;-that we may consider the manner in which writers of different ages endeavoured, according to the changes which had been made in the language, to signify the same ideas. Hall, p. 404. Lexicon. Advertise ment. Lexicon. The word explained, and its immediate derivatives, may be classed together: English of such derivatives no explanation is necessary. Thus: A general Preface must ascertain the force of the terminations. It is upon the force of terms, or the number of ideas they are employed to denote, that the lexicographer, in his peculiar province, must bestow his labour: the grammarian must settle their manner of signification. By thus classing the words with their immediate derivatives together, a Derivatives. glance will acquaint us with the barrenness or fertility of the parent branch; some abuses, which have been admitted in the process of composition, will be, with little difficulty, distinguished; and some guide will also be presented to direct our efforts for the improvement of our native tongue by the accumulation of new terms. Thus, from a comparison of the words Reduce and Educe, words formed from the same root, it will be seen that we have supplied ourselves much more abundantly with the immediate derivatives from the former, than the latter compound. Enough, however, has been said for the present purpose; which was barely this-to lay down with clearness, the broad principles upon which a Dictionary of the English language may be so constructed as to accomplish a decisiveadvancement in lexicographical learning; and to note a peculiarity or two in the manner of execution. And is it a very culpable degree of presumption to assert--that by a Dictionary composed with all possible observance of such principles, copiously and (may it prove) judiciously illustrated, such decisive advancement will be indisputably accomplished? In it an effort will be made to establish and to exemplify the just principles of etymology; and to mark and preserve that wide and most important distinction, which the Coryphoeus of modern philology has so satisfactorily proved vi ADVERTISEMENT TO THE ENGLISH LEXICON, ment. Lexicou. Advertise to subsist, between the meaning and the application of words. By commencing English with authorities, wherever they can be detected, from the earliest periods of English composition, and continuing them successively through the different stages by which it has arrived at its present state of copiousness and refinement;-it will aspire to the pretension of exhibiting to the English reader, a sketch at least of some very interesting and instructive portions of a history of his own language. ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITANA; OR, THE UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY OF KNOWLEDGE, ON AN ORIGINAL PLAN. Fourth Division. A. MISCELLANEOUS AND LEXICOGRAPHICAL. A, is the first letter, and first vowel of the alphabet, in all the modern, and in most of the ancient languages. To the letter A, three names may be given to distinguish its different sounds; and these names and sounds have been thus exhibited: Name. Short. Long. Examples. Sound as commonly spelt. Sal. Sal. A: the English article means One, in A. S. An. In A. S. On means In; and has been corrupted in English to An before a vowel; and to A before a consonant; and in writing and speaking it has been connected with the subsequent word: hence a numerous race of adverbs. From On dæg, On niht, On lenge, On bræde, On bæc, On lande, On life, On middan, On pihte, On rpa, On pez; we have Aday, Anight, Along, Abroad, Aback, Aland, Alive, Amid, Aright, Atwo, Away. Tooke, p. 524. v. i. A, so originating, is also a common prefix to many nouns and verbs. To Acknowledge is a word of comparatively modern usage. The old English word is Knowleche or Knowledge. Its progress is Knowleche, Knowledge, Aknowledge, Aknowledge, Acknowledge. This is the simple history of the prefix Ac. Dr. Johnson thought the word, Acknowledge, was formed between the Latin and English, from agnosco, and knowledge. Aknow is not uncommon in our older writers. A, in such expressions, as a-hunting, a-begging, a-going, admit of a similar explanation. In the A. S. the prefix A to words in use without it, is of constant occurrence. In some words, which have descended from that language, the word with this prefix is preserved; e. g. in Abide, Abut, Ashamed. In a far greater number the prefix is dropped. e. g. in Abeodan, to bid ; Abitan, to bite; Acelan, to keel or cool. Junius points out the following usages of the expression A per se (A by itself) in Chaucer and Douglas, as denoting pre-eminence. O faire Creseide, the floure and A per se Of Troye and Grece, how were thou fortunate, Testament of Creseide, v. 78. Among these other folke was Creseida In widdowes habite blake: but natheles Right as our first letter is now an A, In beaute first so stode she makeles. Maist Reverend Uirgil, of Latine poetis prince, Gem of ingyne, and flud of eloquence, Thou peirles peirle, patron of poetry, Rois, register, palme, laurere, and glory, Chosin carbunkill, cheif floure and cedir tre, Lanterne, ladesterne, myrrour and A per se. Douglas. Pref. p. 3. AA, the name of several rivers; one in Dutch Brabant, another in the United Provinces, a third in Westphalia, a fourth in France, a fifth in Courland, a sixth in Swisserland. AAIN-CHARIN, a village near Jerusalem, said to be the place where Zacharius lived, and much frequented by pilgrims. AALBURG, or AALBORG, the capital of a diocese in North Jutland, of the same name, and a bishop's see. Next to Copenhagen, it is the most opulent and best built city in Denmark, containing 14,500 inhabitants. E. lon. 9°, 46'. N. lat. 56°, 50'. AAM, or HAAM, a Dutch liquid measure in common use, containing 128 measures called mingles, each weighing about 36 ounces avoirdupois; consequently the Aam contains 288 English, and 1483 pints Paris measure. AARHUUS, the capital of a diocese of the same A. AARHUUS |