Excerpt from Familiar Words: An Index Verborum, or Quotation Handbook, With Parallel Passages, of Phrases Which Have Become Imbedded in Our English Tongue

While the chief value of a work like the present to the scholar and literary man is accuracy, it would be well, before his book were pronounced inaccurate, that any quotation in dispute should be carefully verified by an authoritative edition, since a multitude of passages are habitually misquoted. A very few instances will suffice: Pope's Catch ere she change the Cynthia of this minute becomes Of the minute, thy modesty's a candle to thy merit has been changed into flambeau; and Milton's fresh woods and pastures new is habitually quoted as fresh fields. From inattention to this rule, many well-meaning critics tried to amend the first edition needlessly, and with such positive assertion as caused the trouble of frequent reference and re-reference to see whether editor or critic were correct.

The present work was undertaken at the instance of the Publishers and a work of Mr. Bartlett, published in America, would have been used as a basis had not it been found on examination to have been taken, in a very great measure, from an English predecessor of the same nature. To be, therefore, as original as one can be in a volume every word of which should be well known and well worn, a distinct arrangement was struck out, a col lection of quotations made by the Editor some fifteen years ago was' added to, and the English poets re-read, for the purpose of meeting with the familiar words which they have so abundantly afforded. Some of the less-known Ammican authors were cited from Mr. Bartlett's book; but many of these lines, not being familiar in this country.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.