But the words made by Sir Thomas Browne were quite different. Such ordinary words as _medical_, _literary_, and _electricity_ were first used by him. He made many others too, not quite so common, but words which later writers and speakers could hardly do without.
Another seventeenth-century writer, John Evelyn, the author of the famous _Diary_ which has taught us so much about the times in which he lived, was a great maker of words. Most of his new words were made from foreign words, and as he was much interested in art and music, many of his words relate to these things. It was Evelyn who introduced the word _opera_ into English, and also _outline_, _altitude_, _monochrome_ ("a painting in one shade"), and _pastel_, besides many other less common words.
Robert Boyle, a great seventeenth-century writer on science, gave many new scientific words to the English language. The words _pendulum_ and _intensity_ were first used by him, and it was he who first used _fluid_ as a noun.
The poets Dryden and Pope gave us many new words too.
Dr. Johnson, the maker of the first great English dictionary, added some words to the language. As everybody knows who has read that famous book, Boswell's _Life of Johnson_, Dr. Johnson was a man who always said just what he thought, and had no patience with anything like stupidity. The expression _fiddlededee_, another way of telling a person that he is talking nonsense, was made by him. _Irascibility_, which means "tendency to be easily made cross or angry," is also one of his words, and so are the words _literature_ and _comic_.
The great statesman and political writer, Edmund Burke, was the inventor of many of our commonest words relating to politics. _Colonial_, _colonization_, _electioneering_, _diplomacy_, _financial_, and many other words which are in everyday use now, were made by him.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was a great revival in English literature, since known as the "Romantic Movement." After the rather stiff manners and writing of the eighteenth century, people began to have an enthusiasm for all sorts of old and adventurous things, and a new love for nature and beauty. Sir Walter Scott was the great novelist of the movement, and also wrote some fine, stirring ballads and poems. In these writings, which dealt chiefly with the adventurous deeds of the Middle Ages, Scott used again many old words which had been forgotten and fallen out of use. He made them everyday words again.