PREFACE.

It may seem surprising that the English, who have employed their talents successfully in every branch of literature, and in none more than in, that of philology, should yet have fallen below other nations in the study of their synonymes. It cannot, however, be denied that, while the French and Germans have had several considerable works on the subject, we have not a single writer who has treated it in a scientific manner adequate to its importance: not that I wish by this remark to depreciate the labors of those who have preceded me, but simply to assign it as a reason why I have now been induced to come forward with an attempt to fill up what is considered a chasm in English literature.

In the prosecution of my undertaking, I have profited by everything which has been written in any language upon the subject; and although I always pursued my own train of thought, yet whenever I met with anything deserving of notice I adopted it, and referred it to the author in a note. I had not proceeded far before I found it necessary to restrict myself in the choice of my materials, and accordingly laid it down as a rule not to compare any words together which were sufficiently distinguished from each other by striking features in their signification, such as abandon and quit, which require a comparison with others, though not necessarily with themselves; for the same reason I was obliged to limit myself, as a rule, to one authority for each word, unless where the case seemed to require further exemplification. But, notwithstanding all my care in this respect, I was compelled to curtail much of what I had written, for fear of increasing the volume to an inconvenient size.

Although a work of this description does not afford much scope for system and arrangement, yet I laid down to myself the plan of arranging the words according to the extent or universality of their acceptation, placing those first which had the most general sense and application, and the rest in order. By this plan I found myself greatly aided in analyzing their differences, and I trust that the reader will thereby be equally benefited. In the choice of authorities. I have been guided by various considerations,

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namely, the appropriateness of the examples; the classic purity of the author; the justness of the sentiment; and, last of all, the variety of the writers. But I am persuaded that the reader will not be dissatisfied to find that I have shown a decided preference to such authors as Addison, Johnson, Dryden, Pope, Milton, etc. At the same time it is but just to observe that this selection of authorities has been made by an actual perusal of the authors, without the assistance of Johnson's "Dictionary."

For the sentiments scattered through this work I offer no apology, although I am aware that they will not fall in with the views of many who may be competent to decide on its literary merits. I write not to please or displease any description of persons; but I trust that what I have written according to the dictates of my mind will meet the approbation of those whose good opinion I am most solicitous to obtain. Should any object to the introduction of morality in a work of science, I beg them to consider that a writer whose business it was to mark the nice shades of distinction between words closely allied could not do justice to his subject without entering into all the relations of society, and showing, from the acknowledged sense of many moral and religious terms, what has been the general sense of mankind on many of the most important questions which have agitated the world. My first object certainly has been to assist the philological inquirer in ascertaining the force and comprehension of the English language; yet I should have thought my work but half completed had I made it a mere register of verbal distinctions. While others seize every opportunity unblushingly to avow and zealously to propagate opinions destructive of good order, it would ill become any individual of contrary sentiments to shrink from stating his convictions when called upon, as he seems to be, by an occasion like that which has now offered itself. As to the rest, I throw myself on the indulgence of the public, with the assurance that, having used every endeavor to deserve their approbation, I shall not make an appeal to their candor in vain.

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ENGLISH SYNONYMES

EXPLAINED.

We may desert or forsake a place, but MILTON. the former comprehends more than the

latter; a place that is deserted is left by | nounce that which may be in our posses sion only by an act of violence; a usurp all, and left entirely, as described in er cannot be said properly to abandon his

The Deserted Village. GOLDSMITH.

A place may be forsaken by individu- people or abdicate a throne, but he may resign his power or renounce his pretensions to a throne.

als or to a partial extent.

Macdonald and Macleod have lost many of its tenants and laborers, but Kaarsa has not yet been forsaken by its inhabitants.

us.

JOHNSON.

TO ABANDON, RESIGN, RENOUNCE,

ABDICATE.

THE idea of giving up is common to these terms, which signification, though analogous to the former, admits, however, of this distinction, that in the one case we separate ourselves from an object, in the other we send or cast it from ABANDON, v. To abandon, desert. RESIGN, from re and signo, signifies to sign away or back from one's self. NOUNCE, in Latin renuncio, from nuncio, to tell or declare, is to declare off from a thing. ABDICATE, from ab, from, and dico, to speak, signifies like wise to call or cry off from a thing.

RE

The passive Gods beheld the Greeks defile
Their temples, and abandon to the spoil
Their own abodes.

DRYDEN.

It would be a good appendix to "the art of living and dying," if any one would write "the art of growing old," and teach men to resign their pretensions to the pleasures of youth.

STEELE.

Much gratitude is due to the Nine from their favored poets, and much hath been paid: for even to the present hour they are invoked and worshipped by the sons of verse, while all the other deities of Olympus have either abdicated their thrones, or been dismissed from them with CUMBERLAND. contempt.

To abandon and resign are likewise used in a reflective sense; the former in the bad sense, to denote the giving up the understanding to the passion, or the giving up one's self, mind, and body to bad practices; the latter in the good sense, to denote the giving up one's will and desires to one's circumstances or whatever is appointed. The soldiers of Hannibal abandoned themselves to pleas

A patient man resigns himself to his fate, however severe that may be.

Reason ever continues to accuse the business

their dominion.

and injustice of the passions, and to disturb the repose of those who abandon themselves to KENNETT. Pascal's Thoughts. It is the part of every good man's religion to CUMBERLAND. resign himself to God's will.

We abandon and resign by giving up to another; we renounce by sending away from ourselves; we abandon a thing by transferring it to another; in this manner a debtor abandons his goods to his creditors: we resign a thing by transferring our possession of it to another; inure at Capua. this manner we resign a place to a friend; we renounce a thing by simply ceasing to hold it; in this manner we renounce a claim or a profession. As to renounce signified originally to give up by word of mouth, and to resign to give up by signature, the former is consequently a less formal action than the latter; we may renounce by implication; we resign in direct terms; we renounce the pleasures of the world when we do not seek to enjoy them; we resign a pleasure, a profit, or advantage, of which we expressly give up the enjoyment. To abdicate is a species of informal resignation. A monarch abdicates his throne who simply declares his will to cease to reign; but a minister resigns his office when he gives We up the seals by which he held it. abandon nothing but that over which we have had an entire control; we abdicate nothing but that which we have held by a certain right, but we may resign or re

When resign is taken in the bad sense, it is not so complete a giving up of one's self as abandonment.

These three leading desires for honors, knowl

edge, and pleasures, constitute, as may be, three factions, and those whom we compliment with the name of philosophers have really don nothing else but resigned themselves to one of these KENNETT. Pascal's Thoughts.

three.

TO ABASE, HUMBLE, DEGRADE, DIS-
GRACE, DEBASE.

To ABASE expresses the strongest degree of self-humiliation; like the French abaisser, it signifies literally to bring down

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