Abstract

A Study of Selected English Critical Terms from 1650 to 1800: A Constellation is a lexicographical record of the usage of twenty-two words, terms and concepts in the critical literature of the Restoration and eighteenth century. These twenty-two terms form a constellation or cluster because of a certain predictability in the critical vocabulary and the associations generated from the use of an imprecise nomenclature. This stylization accounts for the imprecision in the use of specific words, and the study indicates the pluri-signative nature of many of the terms used.