An English dictionary . . . by Elisha Coles
This month’s featured text is An English dictionary . . . by Elisha Coles (1624-1680). Coles was the son of John Coles, a schoolmaster in Woverhampton. Elisha went to Magdalen College, Oxford in in 1658 and left without obtaining a degree in 1661. He then moved to London to become a schoolmaster himself. He is best known for his works on teaching and lexicography including The Newest, Plainest and the Shortest Short-Hand (1674), The Compleat English Schoolmaster (1674), Nolens volens, or, You shall make Latin whether you will or no (1675), and An English Dictionary Explaining the Difficult Terms (1676). Coles went on to become second under-master at the Taylor's School in London, and master of the free school of Galway in Ireland from 1678 until his death in 1680).

An English Dictionary is an important work that documents the beginnings of the English language and the pedagogical methods used to teach it to children. Coles is noted for his inclusion of earlier works including John Ray's Collection of English Words not Generally used (1673) and Richard Head's The Canting Academy (1673). Both works contained slang words and Head's specifically contained "canting terms" or criminal slang which Coles which Coles justified by saying "It may chance to save your throat from being cut, or (at least) your Pocket from being pickt." Therefore, it is perhaps the first complete snapshot of the complete usage of English both by the upper and lower classes. It is a seminal work in understanding the development of the English language in the early modern period, and is still used by lexicographers today.

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