and which are not inserted in Johnson's dictionary, nor in the late improved edition by Todd, amount to five or six thousand. These, with the participles, and other words added, will augment the vocabulary with nearly twenty thousand words.

2. Precise and Technical Definitions. The dictionaries hitherto published are almost exclusively translating dictionaries, in which one word is defined by another that is synonymous, or nearly so. Of this kind of dictionaries and lexicons, we have many of great excellence. But if there is any dictionary of the English language, of a price which places it within the means of purchase which readers in general possess, in which the definitions are sufficiently accurate, discriminating, and technical, that work has not come to the knowledge of the author of the proposed dictionary. The precision of definitions in this work will, it is believed, supersede the necessity of a book of synonyms.

Additional Significations. The significations and distinct applications of English words, which are omitted by all English lexicographers, and are inserted in this work, amount to between thirty and fifty thousand. Many of these are among the most important senses in which the words are used.

4. New Etymological Deductions and Affinities. The obscurity which has rested on this subject, and which has brought it into discredit, will be, in a good degree, dissipated by the author's researches, and etymology will be made subservient to the illustration not only of words but of history. This part of the work is the result of ten years' examination and comparison of the principal radical words in the following languages-the Chaldee, Syriac, Hebrew, Arabic, Samaritan, Ethiopic, and Persic, in Asia and Africa, and in Europe, the Gaelic or Hiberno-Celtic, AngloSaxon, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Russ, Gothic, Welsh, and Armoric. It is found that all these languages serve to illustrate each other, and are all useful in elucidating the English. A synopsis of the principal words in all these languages has been compiled, and will be published, if sufficient patronage can hereafter be obtained. In the mean time, the results of this labor, which will appear in the Dictionary, will present, on this subject, interesting views of the history and affinities of these languages, which have escaped the observation of European lexicographers.

5. The peculiar Scriptural Uses of words, most of which are omitted by English authors of dictionaries, are explained and exemplified.

6. The words beginning with I are separated from those which begin with J, as are those which begin with U from those which begin with V.

7. Obsolete words and words of local use are noted as such, and the different applications of words used in England and in the United States, are specified as far as they are known. The obsolete words include all that have been found in books from the age of Gower, and the law terms from the Norman French.

8. The different significations or applications of words, when not obvious and well known, are illustrated by some short passage from an author of reputation, or by a brief familiar sentence. Exemplifications, however, are not multiplied under each definition, as the most judicious scholars consider one example as sufficient, and numerous extracts from books serve only to swell the size and price of a dictionary. American writers of reputation are placed on a footing with English writers, and cited as authorities.

9. Many errors, which have escaped the notice of all English lexicographers,

are corrected.

10. Words of irregular orthography are given, not only in the customary spelling, but in letters which express the true pronunciation, without the use of a Key. The publisher undertakes this work, with full confidence that his efforts will be liberally encouraged by the literary and wealthy classes of the community. It is a work adapted to the wants and capacity of the man of business as well as of the scholar. It is a work of magnitude, and cannot be published without great expense, and therefore cannot be undertaken without liberal patronage. To its pages Mr Webster has devoted from twenty to thirty years of almost exclusive and laborious application.

H. C. CAREY & I. LEA have in press THE ATLANTIC SOUVENIR ; & CHRISTMAS and NEW YEAR'S OFFERING, for 1827.

Encouraged by the result of their attempt last year to introduce into the, literature of this country a kind of work which, though long known in Europe, was here yet untried; the publishers are about to present to the public a second volume. Benefited by experience and flattered by success, they have spared no effort to make this volume superior to the last. The same exclusive regard to American produc tions has been retained; and upwards of forty original articles from the pens of our authors combine every branch of lighter literature. Where they owe so much to all, it seems scarcely proper to mention any in particular, yet the names of Irving, Percival, Paulding, Sedgwick, Gilman, Mellen, Barker, Bancroft, Brooks. Longfellow, and the author of Hobomok, have been so advantageously known to the public, that they may be excused for noticing them as contributors with others of no inferior genius.

In the embellishments of the work, the same principle has been pursued, and no expense has been spared. Among the designs may be mentioned those of Leslie, Newton, Wood, and Doughty; and the engravings are in the best style of Longacre, Ellis, Maverick, Childs, and other well known artists. In the designs original drawings have been made from scenes in our own country, rendered famous either by their own native beauties, or the associations of poetry or history.

H. C. CAREY & I. LEA also propose publishing,

NOVELS and TALES, by the author of 'The Spy,' -uniform edition in 10 vols. 12mo.

MEMOIRS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Vol. 2. INTERNAL NAVIGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, containing an Account of all the Canals made, making, and projected, throughout the Union. In 1 vol. 8vo. with 13 maps.

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY, by ROBERT WALSH, JR. Esq. In 2 large vols. 8vo. Price to subscribers 7 dollars, handsomely bound.

Preparing for the press, a TRANSLATION OF THE SURGICAL WRITINGS OF A. CORN. CELSUS, by USHER PARSONS, M. D. Providence.

Cornelius Celsus practised at Rome from the year of the nativity of Christ, 29 to 60, and flourished in the time of the emperors Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero-was called the Latin Hippocrates from his having translated all the writings of that author. He wrote six books on Medicine and two on Surgery. Quintilian extols his erudition, and all writers concur in pronouncing his Latin the purest and most elegant of any that is to be found on the subject of Medicine.'

The chief value of the work consists in the accurate views it presents of the state of the theory and practice of Physic and Surgery at a period of the Roman Empire when the arts and sciences were at their highest elevation. A translation of this work was published in London in 1759, by Grieve, of which there are not more than one or two copies to be found in New England, and copies of the Latin edition are rarely to be met with.

In Press, the INDIANA GAZETTEER, or TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY; containing a description of the several Counties, Towns, Villages, Settlements, Roads, Lakes, Rivers, Creeks, Springs, &c. in the State of Indiana; alphabetically arranged, by JOHN SCOTT.

This work will also contain a general description of the State, in which will be noticed its Name, Boundaries, Situation, and Extent, Civil and Political Divisions, Principal Towns, Religion, Character and Manners, Literature, Trade and Manufactures, Form of Government, Settlement, Face of the Country, Soil, Productions, Climate, and Antiquities.

INDEX

TO THE

TWENTYTHIRD VOLUME

OF THE

NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.