Dictionary of the English Language

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Of the Saxon poetry fome fpecimen is neceffary, though our ignorance of the laws of their metre and the quantities of their fyllables, which it would be very difficult, perhaps impoflible, to recover, ex cludes us from that pleafure which the old bards undoubtedly gave to their contemporaries.