Chapter · England · Language
Three years against forty
The dictionary of 1755 and what its preface admits
In 1747 one man undertook to do in three years what an academy of forty members had taken forty years to do. This path reads the preface of the book that came out of it, and the letter that preceded it by two months.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The lessons in this chapter
- 1To enchain syllablesHis preface refuses what was asked of it: a dictionary cannot embalm a language. He names commerce and translation as the causes of change, and rejects the idea of an English academy.10 min
- 2A wretch who supports with insolenceThe dictionary of 1755 defines a patron as a wretch paid with flattery. Two months before it appeared, its author wrote to the earl who had kept him seven years in his outward rooms.10 min
- 3With frigid tranquillityThe preface's last page announces its own errors, compares the work to the anvil and the mine, and concludes that success has no taste once the people it was for are dead.10 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.