The  various  syntactical   structures  occurring  in   the  10
examples  have  been  carefully  noted ;  the  Ijcgnse  or  negli-
gence with  which  many  words  have  been  hitherto  used,
.   £as  made  our  style  capricious  and  indeterminate;  when
\  the  different  combinations  of  the  same  word  are  ex-
hibited   together,    the    preference   is    readily    given    to  15
propriety^  and  I  have  often  endeavored  to  direct  the
choice.
/^  Thus   have   I   labored   by  settling   the   orthography,
displaying  the  analogy,  regulating  the  structures,  and
ascertaining  the  signification  of  English  words,  to  per- 20
:    form  all  the  parts  of  a  faithful  lexicographer:  but  I
have  not  always  executed  my  own  scheme,  or  satisfied
my  own  expectations.     The  work,  whatever  proofs  of
diligence  and  attention  it  may  exhibit,  is  yet  capable  of
many  improvements:  the  orthography  which  I  recom-26
mend   is   still    controvertible;    tho    etymology    whicli   I
adopt  is  uncertain,  and  perhaps  frequently  erroneous;
the  explanations   are  sometimes   too   much  contracted,
and  sometimes     too    much   diffused;  the  significations
are    distinguished    rather    with     subtlety    than     skill,  30
and     the     attention     is     harassed     with     unnecessary
minuteness.
The  examples  are  too  often  injudiciously  truncated,
and  perhaps  sometimes — I  hope  very  rarely — ^alleged  in
a  mistaken  sense;  for  in  making  this  collection  I  trusted 35
more  to  memory,  than,  in  a  state  of  disquiet  and  em-
barrassment, memory  can  contain,  and  purposed  to  sup-


PREFACE  TO  THE  ENGLISH  DICTIONARY    49

ply  at  the  review  what  was  left  incomplete  in  the  first
transcription.
Many  terms  appropriated  to  particular  occupations,
though    necessary    and    significant,    are    undoubtedly

5 omitted;  and  of  the  words  most  studiously  considered
and  exemplified,  many  senses  have  escaped  observation.
