he idea into practice. But this
further step in the evolution of the modern dictionary was now about
to be made, and the man who made it was one of the most deserving in
the annals of English lexicography. We now, looking back on the
eighteenth century, associate it chiefly with the work of Dr. Johnson;
but down beyond the middle of that century, and to the man in the
street much later, by far the best-known name in connexion with
dictionaries was that of NATHANAEL BAILEY. An advertisement appended
to the first edition of his Dictionary runs thus: 'Youth Boarded, and
taught the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages, in a Method more Easy
and Expedient than is common; also, other School-learning, by the
_Author_ of this _Dictionary_, to be heard of at Mr. Batley's,
Bookseller, at the Sign of the Dove in Paternoster Row.' Bailey was
the author or editor of several scholarly works; but, for us, his
great work was his _Universal Etymological English Dictionary_,
published in 1721. In this he aimed at including all English words;
yet not for the mere boast of 'completeness,' but for a practical
purpose. The dictionary was not merely explanatory, it was also
etymological; and though Englishmen might not need to be told the
meaning of _man_ or _woman_, _dog_ or _cat_[10], they might want a
hint as to their derivation. Bailey had hit the nail aright:
successive editions were called for almost every two years during the
century; when the author died, in 1742, the tenth edition was in the
press. In that of 1731, Bailey first marked the stress-accent, a step
in the direction of indicating pronunciation. In 1730, moreover, he
brought out with the aid of some specialists, his folio dictionary,
the greatest lexicographical work yet undertaken in English, into
which he also introduced diagrams and proverbs. This is an interesting
book historically, for, according to Sir John Hawkins, it formed the
working basis of Dr. Johnson[11].

Bailey had many imitators and rivals, nearly all of whom aimed, like
him, at including all words; of these I need only name Dyche and
Pardon 1735, B.N. Defoe 1735, and Benjamin Martin 1749.

During the second quarter of the century, the feeling arose among
literary men, as well as among the booksellers, that the time had come
for the preparation of a 'Standard Dictionary' of the English tongue.
The language had now attained a high degree of literary perfection; a
perfect prose style, always a characteristic