Wisdom is shown in the estimation of present chances, in the skilful
adaptation of means to ends, in the prudent utilization of resources. The
outcome is in the hands of fortune, on the knees of the gods. Initia in
potestate nostra sunt, de eventu fortuna iudicat. There lies no reproach
against Dr. Flugel of being rash, visionary, or unpractical. And no
doubt he confidently believed, with that idealism of nature that consti-
tuted so large a part of his personal charm and that counted for so much
in determining the quality of his learning, that even if he should die
before completing his task, yet in the present advanced state of scholar-
ship, somewhere, somehow there would be found a man who would bring
■ the work to full perfection.*

I have been asked what is the worth, the value of the uncompleted
dictionary. Is a dictionary half-completed worth anything at all? There
seems to be an idea abroad that the worth of a dictionary may be judged
in some kind of inverse ratio to the degree of completion. Such may
perhaps be the case with a work of art, a poem, for instance, the object
of which is to create in the reader an emotional state or to carry him
through a series of emotional experiences of which the outcome is a
certain emotional equilibrium, a certain harmony of feeling. The whole
must exist before the parts can produce their proper impression, and in
a work of art incompleteness is a form of imperfection. In a business
enterprise to stop half-way may be to make your last state worse than
your first. But such is not the case with a dictionary. The worth of a
dictionary half-completed is only a little less than one-half the worth of
the same dictionary in a finished state. The completed portion of the
Chaucer Dictionary can be used by scholars, for whom it was of course
primarily intended, almost as well as if the whole were in existence. 1



dbyGoOgle



DR. FLUCEL AS A SCHOLAR — BRIGGS 45

Were there no prospect of a single page being added to the existing
manuscript, Dr. Fliigel's labors would still have been well spent.
