ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

BY CHARLES RICHARDSON.

This work consists of two large quarto volumes, upon the composition of which the author has been employed for more than 20 years: and though the expense of publication has exceeded the sum of 60001. it is published at the moderate price of 5 guineas. The two volumes contain nearly 2300 pages of 3 columns each, closely yet clearly and beautifully printed. In this Dictionary equal care has been bestowed upon the Etymologies and Explanation; and also upon the copious selection of quotations in illustration of both :-these are arranged in chronological series from Wiclif and Chaucer to Burke and Cowper.

REVIEWS AND CRITICAL NOTICES.

"MR. PICKERING has just put forth a New Dictionary of the English Language, which, whether we regard its extraordinary cheapness, or the extraordinary labour and ability by which it is characterised, bids fair to rival all similar publications. The meaning of each word is illustrated by a greater number of passages from standard English writers than is to be found in any similar work; and the reading necessary for the supply of this immense body, must have been the labour of years. A part of this Dictionary appeared, we find, in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, and was spoken of by the Quarterly and other reviews, as the greatest lexicographical achievement of the age. In its complete form it will be, to judge from the sample before us, a work of unrivalled ability, labour and utility."-Old England.

"The compiler, who has already approved his ability for this work by what he has contributed of it to the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, justly observes, that Dr. Johnson did not execute his own project, and that the desideratum of a

CRITICAL NOTICES continued..

Dictionary to exhibit, first, the natural and primitive signification of words, then give the consequential, and then the metaphorical meaning, and the quotations to be arranged according to the ages of the authors,' is, at the distance of nearly ninety years, still more to be desiderated now, than in 1747, when the learned lexicographer made his proposition to Lord Chesterfield. Mr. Richardson derives considerable aid from Horne Tooke's philological labours; and from the part before us, we would anticipate a useful and interesting work."-Literary Gazette.

"The arrangement is founded upon the plan which Dr. Johnson put forth as the proper mode of proceeding with his great undertaking, though he did not, in the execution, adhere to his own scheme. The task which our great philologer left unfulfilled has been performed by Mr. Richardson, with a patient labour in research and collection, which Johnson, we suspect, never possessed, and with means at his disposal, by the resuscitation of our ancient writers, which Johnson certainly never had. Judging from the specimen before us, the result will be to present the world with the most complete Dictionary that ever was published, as regards the etymology and primitive meaning of the words, the Successive growth of their secondary significations, the gradual advance and changes of the language, the vast body of quotations from all authors, whether ancient or modern, and, in consequence, the skeleton history of the English language which it indirectly presents; it will, in short, be a work indispensable to every one who is curious in his mother tongue, and without which no library can be considered complete."-Spectator.

"It would be impossible to speak of the value of this work within the short space of a literary notice; but thus much we can assure our readers, that in its plan it is novel, and more comprehensive than any of its predecessors; that the quotations from the earliest poets, chroniclers, divines, &c. arranged in chronological order, in illustration of different words, supply an admirable view of the progress of the English tongue; that reference is made to chapter and verse for every quotation given. No library should be without it."--Christian Remembrancer.

Of the care and diligence bestowed in getting up the New Dictionary we are prepared to speak in the highest praise. The paper is good, the type remarkably clear, the size convenient, in every respect becoming a work of national importance. The radical word with its derivatives, is placed at the head of the meaning, of the etymological derivation and of the quotations, by which their usages are illustrated. These quotations are selected and digested in the chronological order of the writers appealed to, so that one, with common sagacity, may trace the changes through which a word has passed down to its modern acceptation. The primitive signification is thus made to give a strength and clearness to our own perception of the word. We remember when it was the custom to characterise a dull heavy work by the remark, "I would as soon read a Dictionary through." We may now say, without drawing upon the truth, that we have a Dictionary surpassing in entertainment and knowledge most books. The deep research and extensive reading which have amassed this wealth of quotations, make us acquainted with stores of thought, hitherto buried in the dust of time, or accessible only to the favoured few. The divines, the poets, the dramatists, the philosophers, the historians, who have helped to build up the noble fabric of our language, are made in short but appropriate sentences, to give us their own literary portraits; and, if style be an index to character, and expression to thought, we have here a fine opportunity of comparing age with age, not only in its literary, but also in its intellectual features. We add, that no deeper stain could be marked upon our national reputation, than that such a work; so grand in its design, and so perfect in its execution, should meet with indifference, or even with partial success."-Gloucestershire Chronicle.

"We are inclined to consider the English language as having attained that fulness of maturity which leaves no wish for increase, but only anxiety for preservation. As helps to this, we have the various acceptations, in which every word has been used by approved writers, collected by Mr. Richardson, in a Dictionary, such as, perhaps, no other language could ever boast: and we have a new guide for the theory and use of languages, exemplifying his (Horne Tooke's) principles, by applying them to our own tongue."-Quarterly Review for March,

1827.

Pickering's Publications,

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