It is not to be expected that inquiries of this kind will ever engage the attention of any very considerable number of persons.

Over the minds of the reading public, the attractions of novelty hold a much greater influence, than any thing that is to be discovered in the dusk of antiquity.

All old books contain a greater or less number of obsolete words, and antiquated modes of expression, which puzzle the reader, and call him too frequently to his glossary.

And even the most common terms, when they appear in their ancient, unsettled orthography, are often so disguised as not to be readily recognized.
5.

These circumstances (the last of which should be a caution to us against innovations in spelling) retard the progress of the reader, impose a labour too great for the ardour of his curiosity, and soon dispose him to rest satisfied with an ignorance, which, being general, is not likely to expose him to censure.