Lexiphanic

lexiphanic English Adjective en lexiphanic. en 1767 [Archibald Campbell] To the Right Honourable George, Lord Lyttleton Lexiphanes, a Dialogue.Imitated from Lucian, and Suited to the Present Times. With a Dedication to Lord Lyttleton, a Preface, Notes, and Postscript. Being an Attempt to Restore the English Tongue to Its Ancient Purity. And to Correct, as Well as Expose, the Affected Style, Hard Words, and Absurd Phraseology of Many Late Writers, and Particularly of Our English Lexiphanes, the Rambler. London Printed for, and Sold by John Knoxin the Strand. vi–vii https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_lexiphanes-a-dialogue-_campbell-archibald_1767/page/n6/mode/1up 519667205 I immediately perceived, and was very forceably ſtruck with the ſtrong reſemblance there ſubſiſts between Mr. Samuel Johnson’s character, and that of the Limouſin ſcholar in François Rabelais, and of Lexiphanes in Lucian. And I concluded, that an imitation of the latter would be admirably well ſuited to expoſe that falſe taſte and ridiculous manner of writing; and that it might alſo be of eminent uſe to letters, by decrying that abſurd Lexiphanick ſtile, which from the great and univerſal reputation this Pedant enjoyed, I reaſonably imagined had became faſhionable among us, and might, in a ſhort time, bring on an entire decline and corruption, nay, a total alteration of our language, as had been the caſe with the Roman tongue under the Emperors. Therefore, as ſoon as I had an opportunity, I ſet about the following work with all the diligence and application I was maſter of. In the courſe of it, beſides Mr. J⁠-⁠-⁠-⁠-⁠n’s, I carefully peruſed, it may ſafely be ſaid, for the firſt time, what other modern writings came in my way; and I generally found them more or leſs Lexiphanick in proportion to the ſhare of fame and reputation their ſeveral authors enjoyed. en 1767 [Archibald Campbell] scene II The Sale of Authors, a Dialogue, in Imitation of Lucian’s Sale of Philosophers London Printed, and sold by the Booksellers in London and Westminster footnote 18 https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-sale-of-authors-a-d_campbell-archibald-pu_1767/page/n33/mode/1up 36000289 It is to be obſerved, that in this ſcene Mercury ſometimes ſpeaks a different language from what he uſes in the firſt. In this he often ſpeaks, if I may expreſs myſelf ſo, in the Lexiphanic ſtyle, in order to conform the better to the prevailing taſte of his hearers. See the dialogue, intiteld LEXIPHANES. en 1787 January Of the Art of Sinking in Prose. The European Magazine, and London Review; London Printed for John Sewell, Cornhill; [a]nd John Debrett,Piccadilly. 20 https://archive.org/details/dlibra.bibliotekaelblaska.pl.1787-01_300.13652631/page/20/mode/1up 1 145142995 [I]t has been matter of much ſurpriſe to me, that no one hath hitherto put forth ſome ſimilar treatiſe on the profund in proſaic compoſition; more eſpecially, conſidering the divers appoſite illuſtrations which might eaſily be produced from writers of the paſt and preſent ages. Something of this kind has indeed been attempted and ſucceſsfully executed reſpecting one ſtile of proſaic bathos, that is to ſay, the Lexiphanic, by the deceaſed Doctor Kenrick of vituperative memory. So far as his tractate extendeth, it is ſufficiently well performed, and may preclude the neceſſity of any other to the ſame purport; for which reaſon the Lexiphanic in proſe ſhall be left either unnoticed, or ſlightly and collaterally touched on, in what I ſhall ſay concerning the proſaic diviſion of the profound. And herein, as I purpoſely touch not on the Lexiphanic, for reaſons before alledged, I go on to the ſtile more immediately adjoining thereto, that is to ſay, the nebuloſe or obumbratory ſtile. en 1788 March Poems by William Whitehead, Esq; Late Poet Laureat, and Register and Secretary to the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. Vol. III. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of His Life and Writings, by William Mason,M. A. 8vo. 4s. Boards. Robson, &c. 1788. The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal:From January to June, Inclusive, M,DCC,LXXXVIII. LXXVIII London Printed for Ralph Griffiths: and sold by Thomas Becket,in Pall Mall. 179 https://archive.org/details/monthlyreview09unkngoog/page/179/mode/1up 502278766 After all the Lexiphanic ridicule that has been attempted on Dr. Samuel Johnſon by others, the mockery in the concluding period of the Laureat Whitehead’s Life ſeems an inſtance of buffoonery unworthy of Mr. Maſon. en 16 February 1793 From a London Paper The Independent Gazetteer, and Agricultural Repository 1432 Philadelphia, Pa. E. Oswald [2] https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/39937917/ 3 2575-081X 9863321 Another gentleman having in a public room trod upon the toes of a gouty old gentleman, who happened to be preſent, is ſaid to have vociferated in the following Lexiphanic ſtrain: “S’death, how devious a veſtige! in what a turbidinous dilemma do I ſtand? may dimneſs to an ulterior approximation of obſcurity perambulate my oplic nerves if I ſaw you before. Without all ambiguity, I ave allaqueated myſelf in a labyrinth of ſuch inextricable mazes, as petrifies the emanations of common intellect. On this intereſting emergency, it is not indeed, ſir, in the compaſs of my elocution to excogitate an apology of adequate efficacy to abrogate your cenſure of my ruſticity.” en 11 July 1801 Court of King’s Bench, July 3. Darby and Nicholls v. Cowdry. Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal LII 2727 Bristol J. Rudhall [4] https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/963544598/ 4 7527323 The ſpecification was alſo produced, and in the moſt high-flown and Lexiphanic language deſcribed the oven as equally adapted for uſe by ſea or by land, above ground or under ground, on oceans or on rivers, in gulphs or in bays, on mountains or in vallies, in foreſts or in groves, in uplands and lowlands, hills or dales, &c. &c. and ſo on, in a ſtyle of hyperbole exceeding the moſt flowery and metaphorical deſcriptions of any of our moſt florid modern auctioneers. en 5 November 1887 In-Khorn and Ta-Phouse The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art LXIV 1,671 London Spottiswoode and Co. 624 https://archive.org/details/saturdayreview6418unse/page/624/mode/1up 1 0950-9852 1765055 We say further that, in the very manifesto of the innovators, with its “some uncertainty rests,” and its “A and B think,” and its “C doubts,” and so forth, with its explorations in Hibernian inkhorns, and its Lexiphanic contortions of the tongue, we have a confessing defendant. en 1959 S. C. Roberts Samuel Johnson in Parody Frederick Whiley Hilles New Light on Dr. Johnson: Essays on the Occasion of His 250th Birthday New Haven, Conn. w:Yale University Press 287 https://archive.org/details/newlightondrjohn0000fred/page/287/mode/1up 59-12696 1252666 To this mirthless rubbish Archibald Campbell appends a footnote in which he labours to explain that the paragraph is a Lexiphanic way of saying that the critic should step aside while the reader puts on his spectacles. Referring to the 1767 quotation. References adj 1188339358