ABSTRACT
As Professor Dobson has observed, some of the most important contemporary contributions to our understanding of the English language in the seventeenth century were made 'for the benefit of foreigners, to enable them to read our theological and other writings, which are nowadays so full oflearning that they leave hardly anything to be desired' .1 What seems to have been largely overlooked by writers on English lexicography is the highly significant contribution made at this time to the development of the English dictionary by the compilers of bilingual dictionaries, in particular that of Guy Miege.
