I then contracted my design, determining to confide in myself, and
no longer to solicit auxiliaries, which produced more incumbrance
than assistance: by this I obtained at least one advantage, that
I set limits to my work, which would in time be ended, though not
completed.

Despondency has never so far prevailed as to depress me to
negligence; some faults will at last appear to be the effects of
anxious diligence and persevering activity. The nice and subtle
ramifications of meaning were not easily avoided by a mind intent
upon accuracy, and convinced of the necessity of disentangling
combinations, and separating similitudes. Many of the distinctions
which to common readers appear useless and idle, will be found
real and important by men versed in the school philosophy, without
which no dictionary shall ever be accurately compiled, or skilfully
examined. Some senses however there are, which, though not the same,
are yet so nearly allied, that they are often confounded. Most men
think indistinctly, and therefore cannot speak with exactness; and
consequently some examples might be indifferently put to either
signification: this uncertainty is not to be imputed to me, who do
not form, but register the language; who do not teach men how they
should think, but relate how they have hitherto expressed their
thoughts.

The imperfect sense of some examples I lamented, but could not
remedy, and hope they will be compensated by innumerable passages
selected with propriety, and preserved with exactness; some shining
with sparks of imagination, and some replete with treasures of
wisdom.