“A Compendious English Grammar,” in A New General English Dictionary.

Thomas Dyche & William Pardon

“A Compendious English Grammar,” in A New General English Dictionary.

London

Richard Ware

1737

2d ed.

First published eight years after Dyche’s death in 1727, this book was one of the more important pre-Johnson English dictionaries. The “Compendious Grammar” consists of ten pages in the front matter—an early instance of prefacing a dictionary with a grammar. Dyche (or Pardon) wrote: “The vulgar error among the generality of people is that young persons are necessitated to learn the Latin, or Lily’s Grammar, to understand English.”