New-York tribune., 1886-01-20
NOTES ON BOOKS.
THE NEW DICTIONARY-MR. JOHN MORLEY
MIR. GLADSTONE CAPTAIN BURTON.

THE NEW DICTIONARY-MR.J JOHN MORLEY
MIR GLADSTONE CAPTAIN BURTON.
pnoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or m rhiiuS"|
LONDON, January 2.
The second part of The New English Dlcton-
ary which DR.. Murray is editing completes the
letter !" and enters upon "B." There has oeen
so long a delay between the issues OF the trst ana
second parts that NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. began to thnK
the dictionary would be rs slow in finishing as the
sActa Sanctorum." But the Delegates OF the
Clarendon Press. who are in effect the pupnshers'
now confidently hope that succeeding parts VIII ap-
near at intervals of six months only. lhe stan mas
been greatly enlarged, its headquarters have been
removed 10 Oxford where the PRINTING is done,andi
snnpose there is no difficulty about money. In ALL
there are to he twenty four parts and as two nave
be.n published. the whole work ought I" he com
pleted within eleven years. IL Is long tiihs ana
this is an impatient age, but meanwhile each part
Ia an invaluable addition to the working tools OF
every student, or of everybody to whose business
full knowledge and accurate use of words are
essential
Dr. Murrays qualifications for the gigantic taste
he has set himself of a high order, and tie work
ne has already done is proof enough of his capacity
The specialists in words admit his competency and
applaud the workmanship of the dictionary SO far
as ait has gone If DR.. Murray's discretion were
canal to his learning he would be model editor;
standard which, indeed, he does not as 1t is very lar
depart from. 1t in too ready admission OF douOt-
full words and doubtful authorities that he may be
said to If this is meant to be Il thesaarus Oh
all words which have ever been irinted In Enghsn
type there is nothing to be said. Dr. Murrays own
account of the matter is broad enough to cover any
thing The general reader he observes, VIII mere
find the derivation and accepted pronunciation the
past history and present use, of every WORD WHICH
NAV occnr in his reading. He adds, to be sure, a
1 he
every word which may occur i'll his reading. and
concerning which be may require further informa-
tion There are certainly many %o:ds which occur
In ones cuTen. reading concerning winch the
iudicious student would require no other lnforma-
tion than an assurance that he should never meet
them again. To include in a dictionary all the
slang and all the spshOd uses of words in the
printed matter of the day. is to embam hies In
amber: The record is curious rather than usef1i'
and il may be extremely misleading; its influence
op the English language corrupting' The general
reader, enormously but inevitably, has come TO re-
gard Dictionary as au authority, and to shelter
himself behind it, especially If it be big one.
Scientifically speaking, Dictionary is not an
authorty il is a record of authorities. 1t is col
lection of testimonies by credible aud respectable
Witnesses The wider editor spreads his net, the
less can he claim to be of himself an authority His
office is judicial he is to determine, and that WIN
out appeal, on the admissibility of evidence. But
there are judges and judges. The English Judge ad'
mits only such evidence as comes within dehmte
legal rules A French judge lets in everything. Dr.
Murray has preferred to follow the French. lie
lends the sanction of his and of his Dictionary
to words which are of to-day. and which can nave
or ought to have, no tomorrow. 1t is dangerous
liberation
So OF authorities. In days when BOOKS were few,
the use of word by any English writer was
valuable Indication of It's place in the language.
But in these latter ages the multiplication OF books
and the growth OF printed matter of all kinds s so
enormous that an editor may discriminate; must
discriminate unless he means to set up pure de-
mocracy in language, or even worse Democracy
is or may be, the most stringent form OF govern
ment Mob-law is no government AT all. Dr MuI-
ray has gone to sources which exempify. DO doubt.
the usage of the moment, but which require very
careful handling indeed before they can be deem ed
safe journalism is Even the best journals are
produced under conditions which nobody can de-
scribe as conducive to rigid accuracy in the use of
words The degree of precision and the general ex-
ceencc of style actually attained IN the best are
surprisng; in those which not the best they are
surprising also, but in different sense. but Dr.
Murray does not conne himself to the be t. or even
to the second best SO of modern books. lie draws
from printed volumes which bear the names OF un-
known authors books which have failed to make
these unknown authors known. and which will owe
their Immortality exclusively to the mention OF
them in this dictionary. 1t woLld do no good to
specify examples and the task would be unpleasant.
Anybody VINO turns over this second part VIII
soon light upon them.
The system by which the material for this New
English Dictionary" has been collected would
naturally tend to accumulate great masses OF
quotations. To gather il has been the task OF
twenty-five years and of more than $500 readers.
working under the superIntendenre of the LOldon
Pathological Society. More than 100000 gnOta-
tions have been supplied to the editor, and of these
he means to insert in the completed work not less
than million. So comprehensive a scheme, useful
and necessary as it was. made it all the more i'm
perative on the editor TO apply to the results of it
rgdly critical method But he has been more
catholic than critical and he has acted in the
largest spirit on his definition, already large, OF
a-dlctionary which should include the history Of
every word and of all the different uses of every
word in the written language. Yet we all know he
has not really included all, and could not include
oil. DR.. Murray would not venture to own himself
much indebted to the labOrs OF his predecessor,
Grosc nor will he adopt into his theSaurus all tho
words which Captain Burton has thought needful
for rendering TO English ear the full meaning of
@The Arabian Nights" For one reason or another,
any editor of any English Dictionary excludes
something. II from this had been shut ont much
that is trivial and transient, well as whatever is
indecent the work would not have been less salts
factory either to the scholar to the general reader
In most other respects this New English Diction-
ary" is by the consent OF those most competent to
Judge of it, an admirable piece of photographed
work. 1t Is nothing to say that it surpasscs all
others There Is no other which eau pretend to
compete with it i'll method, ia fupess the copious
application of the historical principle to each word,
or in the richness of its chronological exegesis.
Criticism on it has dealt for the most part with