It is possible that _brattle_ has fallen into disuse through too
indiscriminate application. After Burns's famous poem the word can
establish itself only in the sense of a scurrying dry noise: it is too
small for thunder.
We would call attention to the principle involved in this judgement,
for it is one of the main objects of our society to assist and guide
Englishmen in the use of their language by fully exposing the facts
that should determine their practice. Every word has its history,
and no word can prosper in the speech or writing of those who do not
respect its inherited and unalterable associations; these cannot
be got rid of by ignoring them. Littr['e] in the preface to his
dictionary claims for it this pre-eminent quality of usefulness,
that it will enable his countrymen to speak and write good French
by acquainting them with historic tradition, and he says that it was
enthusiasm for this one purpose that sustained him in his great work.
Its object was to harmonize the present use of the language with
the past usage, in order that the present usage may possess all
the fullness, richness, and certitude which it can have, and which
naturally belong to it. His words are: 'Avant tout, et pour ramener
[`a] une id['e]e m[`e]re ce qui va [^e]tre expliqu['e] dans la
_Pr['e]face_, je dirai, d['e]finissant ce dictionnaire, qu'il embrasse
et combine l'usage pr['e]sent de la langue et son usage pass['e],
afin de donner [`a] l'usage pr['e]sent toute la pl['e]nitude et la
s[^u]ret['e] qu'il comporte.
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