279 his own mind, by a general comparison of the sense, in which that word has been most generally employed by the best writers in the language; rejecting the casual deviations from it that occur even in the best authors. But where again, you ask, is such a man to be found? I know not; I do not expect ever to meet with such a one. I do not, therefore, expect to find a dictionary even approaching to perfection, that shall be written by any one man.

There are men, however, to be found, who possess uncommon talents for disquisitions of this nature ; and where such a man can be found, much may be done. The quickest way of reaching perfection would be to set such a man, or several such men, if they can be found, to work, as it were in concert,

Let each write out the task afsigned him in the most perfect way he is able. Let these several ar ticles be read over with great deliberation, in a general meeting of a society of men, well versed in studies of this nature. Let such hints as occurred, for perfecting every article, be suggested to the whole, and in-. vestigated by them. Let a second meeting of the same be called, and the same be read over with the improvements adopted. Let these, when approved, be put to the prefs. Let them be published to the world of philologists, as a grammatical sketch. A leaf or two of this might be published weekly, to be circulated among the learned, for their information and correction, accompanied with a general re, quisition, that every person, to whom any corrections, omifsions, or improvements, occurred, would be so good as communicate these hints to the undertakers,

during the progrefs of the work, who fhould take care, after they had been duly considered and approved, to insert them under the proper heads, for a second and more correct edition of the work.

One stumbling block that lies in the way to mislead, or at least to add unnecefsary bulk to a work of this kind is etymologies. These have been the source of much perplexity and error. But it is a hobby that learned men are so well pleased to mount, that it would perhaps be cruel to deprive them of the favourite recreation. It can do little other harm than adding to the bulk of a work, as men of sense have now little reliance upon it. They know, that without being certain of the language from which a word has been derived, the conclusions to be deduced from etymology are infinitely ludicrous; and who is it that knows all the languages from which, words may have been derived? Some men know a few of the ancient languages of Europe; but is there any man that can say, with certainty, these languages were not composed of others that are now lost, without a knowledge of which, the radical etymology of many words may have been lost? Without this knowledge, etymologists might be compared to the learned apothecary, who explained the phrase bernia humeralis, (a cant phrase for the p-x.), by gravely saying it was a very good name, for certainly it is an eruption of the humours.

Among other particulars that should be adverted to in such a dictionary, fhould be obsolete words, and provincialisms. Words that are now obsolete are often very good, and might with propriety be adopted,

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at any rate their meaning ought to be preserved; but care fhould be taken to mark these words so as to be known, and I know no way in which the accurate knowledge of provincial words could be acquired but that which is here recommended.

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Among the other advantages that would result from this mode of composing a dictionary, it would happen, that words which affected and conceited writers had invented through vanity, and a desire of distinguishing themselves, would be allowed to fall < quickly into total oblivion, instead of being perpetuated, as they would be if the mere authority of the writer fhould be deemed a sufficient proof of their currency. There are, in every nation, to be found writers, who have acquired a temporary vogue by affectation and blameable singularities of language; and as the selecting of authorities is a' mere mechanical labour, that must be intrusted to inferior afsistants, these meaner geniuses could not fail to admire the popular writer of the day, and therefore would select with care all the flowers of his oratory, and store them up in their dictionary. Judicious men, who had made this branch of science a study, would know, that such words and phrases had not the authority of a general currency, and theredore they would be rejected.

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It is needlefs for me to add, that I do not ever expect to see such a plan seriously adopted by a man, or men, who are qualified to carry it into full effect; but I may recommend it as a useful exercise to such of my readers as have a turn for things of this nature, to give an accurate explanation of any single VOL. vii.

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word or more, just as they occur to them, and to send it here, if they incline, where it shall be printed with all due attention, and communicated to the public. This will be productive of two advantages,——first, it will make a small addition to our general fund of real knowledge; and secondly, it will accustom readers to a greater degree of accuracy of observation than they have been used to employ.

In some following number a few words fhall be given as a specimen.

ACCOUNT OF ANTIQUITIES IN SCOTLAND.

Continued from p. 141.

v. CIRCULAR buildings, consisting of walls composed of stones firmly bedded on one another, without any cementing matter, usually called duns.

Of these I have seen many, more or less entire, some of which have been able to withstand the ravages of time for many centuries, even in the most exposed situations, where they have also been liable to dilapidations of various sorts. None that I have seen are probably half their original height; but I have heard of others much more entire, some of which to this day are not lefs than forty-five feet in height. It appears that all these structures, when entire, have resembled in some measure one of our modern glafs houses; being of a circular form, wider at the base than the top, though there is no reason to believe that they ever tapered so much as the glafs houses do, or were so narrow at top, which, like the other, was always open.

This account of the upper part of these buildings I give merely from hear-say, as the walls of the most entire one that I have seen, did not, as I imagine, exceed twenty feet in height, and was at the top little very narrower than at the base. This was at a place called Dun-Agglesag in Rofsfhire, about ten miles west from Tain, on the south bank of the frith of Dornoch, which was in summer 1775, in the following condition :

The walls appeared to be perfectly circular. The internal diameter, (as nearly as I can recollect, having lost my notes of this tour,) was about fifty feet. The walls were about twelve feet in thickness, and the entry into it was at one place, by a door, about four feet wide. The height I could not exactly mea-sure, as the passage, as well as the inside of the building, was choaked up in some measure with rubbish, so that we could not see the floor: The quoins of the door consisted of large stones, carefully chosen, so as exactly to fit the place where they were to be put ;; but neither here, nor in any other part of the building, could I discover the smallest mark of a hammer or any other tool. The aperture for the door was covered at top with a very large stone, in the form of an equilateral triangle, each side being bout six feet in length, which was exactly placed over the middle of the opening. This stone was a-bout four feet in thicknefs. It is impofsible not to be surprised to think in what manner a rude people,. seemingly ignorant of the powers of mechanism, could i have been able to raise a stone of these dimensions to such a height, and to place it above loose stones, sq.)