Spectator,” No. 62,

1. According to Addison and Steele’s essay in the “Spectator,” No. 62, what is “wit”? How does it relate to literary creativity?

2.

In his preface to The Dictionary, Johnson speaks at length
about language change, then describes his purpose for the dictionary:

It remains that we retard what we
cannot repel, that we palliate what we cannot cure. Life may be
lengthened by care, though death cannot be ultimately defeated:
tongues, like government, have a natural tendency to degeneration; we
have long preserved our constitution, let us make some struggles for
our language.

Compare Johnson’s philosophy of language change–and his idea of the
purpose of a dictionary–to that of the modern Oxford Dictionary. You
can get a sense of the Oxford Dictionary’s mission and philosophy of
language change on the Oxford Dictionaries FAQ page. How does this
philosophy of language and dictionary purpose compare to Johnson’s?