CONCLUSION.
The publication of "An American Dictionary" in 1828 was followed by
increased activity on Dr. Webster's part. He was more than ever
ambitious to secure a standard, especially in orthography, and he began
the arrangement of his various text-books in a series which should
constitute an imposing phalanx, each supporting its neighbor. The work
of preparation, revision, and publication occupied the rest of his life.
The quarto Dictionary in two volumes cost twenty dollars. He provided
soon an abridgment in octavo, and a "Dictionary for Schools, the
Counting-House, and for Families in Moderate Circumstances;" he was
constantly revising his most lucrative book, the "Elementary
Spelling-Book," and he issued new editions of his "History of the United
States," his "Teacher," a supplement to the "Elementary," his "Improved
Grammar," and he prepared a "Manual of Useful Studies." All of these
books had friends and enemies, and one of the most energetic of the
latter, Lyman Cobb, published "a Critical Review of the Orthography of
Dr. Webster's Series of Books for Systematick Instruction in the English
Language," which, in spite of some injustice and much quibbling, is a
most searching and exhaustive commentary on Webster's weaknesses. The
contest over Webster's Dictionary, however, did not assume great
proportions until after the publication of Worcester's Dictionary, which
afforded Webster's opponents a flag about which they could rally. The
war of the dictionaries occurred after Webster's death, and it is not
within the province of this sketch to enter upon that military campaign.
Within Webster's own life-time a revision of the Dictionary appeared in
1840-1841, and he was at work upon a further revision when he died in
1843.
Our study of Webster has easily led us away from Webster's personal
history, except so far as this has illustrated social, literary, and
historical movements. There are still living those who, as young men,
were associated with him in New Haven, and these with his grandchildren,
as well as his only surviving daughter, bear a memory of his person
entirely distinct from its public reputation. The resolute old man,
working at his lexicography to the last moment, was for them also the
tender-hearted head of a family, coming out from his study to hear the
music he loved so well, joining in the home life, making affectionate
pilgrimages to the old homestead in West Hartford, and putting in a plea
there for the preservation of the old fruit trees and vines which dated
from his childhood. He was a sturdy, upright man, with the courtesy of
an old Federalist, and his figure was a familiar one in the streets of
New Haven. It was there that he died, May 28, 1843, in the eighty-fifth
year of his age, surrounded by his family, and cheerful with the sense
of a full life and of Christian trust and expectation.
Noah Webster's name abides, connected with the great work which he
initiated, and the monument will keep his name imperishable. It never
can be an uninteresting study to the people how the man, whose name is
a household word, wrought and achieved; the solid expression of
character, which I have tried to outline, is worthy of a fuller, more
thorough treatment; and it is to be hoped that the sturdy life of more
than three score years and ten, which he lived, with its dreams, its
discoveries, its ventures, its toil, and its honest achievements may
some day be told with all the minuteness which records, researches, and
reminiscences will permit. Yet I do not believe the fullest account of
Webster would disclose any important traits not discovered by the
exhibition of such of his writings and labors as we have included in
this survey. There was nothing concealed in his nature. His vanity made
him open, and his strong self-reliance gave him a boldness of expression
which makes it possible for any student to measure his aims.
The chief discovery yet to be made of Webster, if any is possible, lies
in the direction of history. I do not suppose that if the entire
correspondence of Webster with his contemporaries could be produced, we
should find him any more potent as a public man than we have seen him to
be; but a more thorough comprehension of the forces at work in the
organization of national life may yet enable us to see with greater
distinctness the degree of Webster's power and function. The last result
of historical study is the determination of national genius, and for
that time and the slow evolution of national character are requisite. I
am sure that the dignity of Webster's position in our history is more
intelligible to-day than it was in his own time. I am confident that the
twentieth century will give him a juster meed than we are giving him
to-day.
It was at once his fortune and his misfortune to pass his life
contemporaneously with the birth and adolescence of a great nation, and
to feel the passion of the hour. There is unquestionably a parochial
sort of nationality which it is easy to satirize. No one could well set
it out in stronger light than Webster himself in those passages in the
preface to his Dictionary which I have already quoted. He is judiciously
silent concerning the American poets of his time, being careful,
even,--most unkindest cut!--not to commit himself to the support of
Joel Barlow's heroic verse; but he produces a list of American
prosaists, whom he places back to back with their English fellows. He
has a proper sense of the importance of language to a nation, and
appears to be perplexed by the implied question: If Englishmen and
Americans speak the same language, how in the world are we to tell them
apart and keep them apart? Then again, since there has been a revolution
resulting in governmental independence, what stands in the way of a
complete independence, so that the spick and span new nation may go to
the language tailors and be dressed in a new suit of parts of speech?
"Let us seize the present moment," he cries, "and establish a national
language as well as a national government." Never was there such a
chance, he thinks, for clearing away the rubbish which has accumulated
for generations in our clumsy, inelegant language. Hand him the Bible
which people have foolishly regarded as a great conservator of the
English tongue, and he will give you a new edition "purified from the
numerous errors." Knock off the useless appendages to words which serve
only to muffle simple sounds. Innocent iconoclast, with his
school-master ferrule!
It is worth our while to make serious answer to these serious
propositions, since the true aspect of native literature may thus be
disclosed. The Revolution, which so filled Webster's eyes, was
unquestionably a great historic event by reason of its connection with
the formal institution of a new nation; but the roots of our national
life were not then planted. They run back to the first settlements and
the first charters and agreements; nor is the genesis of the nation to
be found there; sharp as are the beginnings of our history on this
continent, no student could content himself with a conception of our
national life which took into account only the events and conditions
determined by the people and the soil of America. Even in actual
relations between America and Europe there never has been a time when
the Atlantic has not had an ebbing as well as a flowing tide, and the
instinct which now sends us to the Old World on passionate pilgrimages
is a constituent part of our national life, and not an unfilial
sentiment. In the minds of Webster and many others, England was an
unnatural parent, and the spirit of anger, together with an elation at
success in the severing of governmental ties, made them impatient of
even a spiritual connection. But the Revolution was an outward, visible
sign of an organic growth which it accelerated, but did not produce; and
the patriotic outcries of the generation were incoherent expressions of
a profounder life which had been growing, scarcely heeded, until wakened
by this event. The centripetal force of nationality was at work, and it
is possible now, even from our near station, to discover the conjunction
of outward circumstance and inward consciousness which marks nationality
as an established fact. It was a weak conception of nationality which
was bounded by Webster's definition; but his belief in his country and
his energetic action were, in reality, constantly overpassing that
conception. In spite of the disposition to regard a written constitution
as the bottom fact, there was the real, substantial, organic nation, and
that saved the paper nation from erasure,--a fate which easily overtakes
South American republics. A nation which could immediately be placed in
the world's museum, duly ticketed and catalogued, with its distinct
manners, dress, language, and literature,--this was a conception which
resulted logically from theories which held the nation itself to be the
creation of popular will or historic accident; but a nation slowly
struggling against untoward outward circumstance and inward dissension,
collecting by degrees its constituent members, forming and reforming,
plunging with rude strength down dangerous ways, but nevertheless
growing into integral unity,--this has been the historical result of the
living forces which were immanent in the country when the nation was
formally instituted.
Now there never has been a time from Webster's day to this when
Americans have not believed and asserted that nationality consisted
mainly in independence, and waxed impatient not merely of foreign
control and influence, but even of hereditary influence: the temper
which calls for American characteristics in art and literature is often
scarcely less hostile to the past of American history than to the
present of European civilization. It is a restless, uneasy spirit,
goaded by self-consciousness. It finds in nature an aid and abettor; it
grows angry at the disproportionate place which the Cephissus, the Arno,
the Seine, the Rhine, and the Thames hold on the map of the world's
passion. We are all acquainted with the typical American who added to
his name in the hotel book on the shores of Lake Como, "What pygmy
puddles these are to the inland seas of tremendous and eternal America!"
But these are coarser, more palpable signs of that uneasy consciousness
which frets at a continued dependence on European culture.
There is no doubt that Webster was right when he set himself the task of
Americanizing the English language by a recourse to the Spelling-Book.
He succeeded very largely in determining the form of words; but he did
more than this, while he failed in the ambitious and preposterous task
which he set himself. He did more; by his shrewdness and his ready
perception of the popular need he made elementary education possible at
once, and furnished the American people with a key which moved easily in
the lock; he failed where he sought the most, because language is not a
toy or a patent machine, which can be broken, thrown aside at will, and
replaced with a better tool, ready-made from the lexicographer's shop.
He had no conception of the enormous weight of the English language and
literature, when he undertook to shovel it out of the path of American
civilization. The stars in their courses fought against him. It is so
still. We cannot dispense with European culture, because we refuse to
separate ourselves from the mighty past, which has settled there in
forms of human life unrepresented among us. We cannot step out of the
world's current, though it looks sluggish beside our rushing stream,
because there is a spiritual demand in us which cries louder than the
thin voice of a self-conscious national life. This demand is profoundly
at one with the deeper, holier sense of national being which does not
strut upon the world's stage. The humility of a great nation is in its
reverence for its own past, and, since that is incomplete, in its
admiration for whatever is noble and worthy in other nations. It is out
of this reverence and humility and this self-respect that great works
in literature and art grow, and not out of the overweening sensitiveness
which makes one's nationality but a petty jealousy of other people.
It is possible for us thus to discriminate between a nationality which
is a mere posture and that which is a plain expression of positive
organic life. When we measure the force of the latter we are compelled
to a finer analysis, and its illustrations are to be sought in subtler
manifestations. Webster well exemplifies, by the very rudeness of his
mind, phases of Americanism which may be traced in more delicate lines
elsewhere. There can be no doubt that self-reliance, which was both the
cause and the effect of local self-government long practiced, has been a
powerful factor in American life; that an indifference to the past has
often been only the obverse of an elastic hope, a consciousness of
destiny; that a fearlessness and a spirit of adventure have been invited
by the large promises held out by nature; that an expansiveness of mind,
and an alertness and facility in intellectual device, have been
encouraged by the flexile condition of American society. All things
have seemed possible to the ardent American, and each has secretly said
to himself:--
"I ... had resolved to be
The maker of my destiny."
These elements of character have entered into literature, the exponent
of character; and Webster, with his self-reliance, his indifference to
the past, his consciousness of destiny, his courage and resolution and
quick fitting into his country's work, stands easily as the first
aggressive American in our literature. In him we see roughly marked what
future critics will discern of men more readily assigned a place in
universal literature. The Americanism of Hawthorne, for example, differs
from that of Webster in quality rather than in essence. They were both
content with America and New England. Hawthorne, with his shrug at old
buildings and his wish that all over two hundred years of age should be
burnt down, was repeating Webster's contempt of the musty halls of
collegiate Cambridge; and Hawthorne, Yankeeizing the Greek myths, and
finding all Rome but the background for his Puritan maiden, was
asserting that new discovery of Europe by America which has ever since
been going on, and was illustrated by Webster's excursions in language
to bring back English variations from American usage.
The ease with which Webster walked about the Jericho of English
lexicography, blowing his trumpet of destruction, was an American ease,
born of a sense that America was a continent and not a province. He
transferred the capital of literature from London to Boston, or New
York, or Hartford,--he was indifferent so long as it was in the United
States. He thought Washington as good an authority on spelling as Dr.
Johnson, and much better than King George. He took the Bible as a book
to be used, not as a piece of antiquity to be sheltered in a museum, and
with an American practicality set about making it more serviceable in
his own way. He foresaw the vast crowds of American children; he knew
that the integrity of the country was conditioned on the intelligibility
of their votes, and he turned his back on England less with indifference
to her than with an absorption in his own country. He made a Speller
which has sown votes and muskets; he made alone a Dictionary, which has
grown, under the impulse he gave it, into a national encyclopædia,
possessing an irresistible momentum. Indeed, is not the very existence
of that book in its current form a witness to the same Americanism which
Webster displayed, only now in a firmer, finer, and more complex form?
In the high walks of scholarship, where nationality would seem to be
effaced, we have had very recently a capital illustration of the
inevitable tendency of national traits to seek expression. The Appendix
to the "Revised Version of the New Testament" contains the variations
proposed by the American company from the text as otherwise determined.
There were in the English company men of radical temperament and of
conservative; there were in the American company like distinctions;
nevertheless the final separation between the two companies is largely
on this line, and one can easily see how much sympathy, Webster, for
example, would have expressed with the position which the American
company took, a position not of dissent but of independent assertion.
The separation between England and America which was so effectual in
Webster's conception, and thus determined much of his thought, was
really incipient and not complete. The two countries are more widely
separate to-day than they were then, while the outward signs of
separation are in many ways less conspicuous. The forces of national
life have been diverging, and the resultant in character and literature
is more sure and ineffaceable.
It should be observed that the individualism which characterizes
American life was more marked in the first years of the republic than it
is now. After we have reasoned away all we will of a revolutionary
cataclysmal element in the separation of the United States from the
British Empire, there still remains a sharp determination of individual
life, historically evident, and very influential in the formation of
national character. In the earliest years the centripetal force for
union was barely superior to the centrifugal force for state
independence; but the political thought which justified state
sovereignty had its logical issue in an isolated individuality. Common
sense and prudence, to be sure, are always defeating logic; but the
logical conception helps us to understand tendencies, and it is not
difficult to see that the word independence, which was on every one's
lips at the close of the last century, was not the sign of a political
thought only, but expressed the habit of mind with which persons
everywhere regarded life in its varied relations. The breaking up of old
political connections not only unsettled the social fabric, it affected
necessarily all the relations which the person held to society; and it
was only as a profounder political unity disclosed itself in the nation
that each man put forth more confidently his hand to his fellow. The
historian of the Union will not fail to observe how with the growth of
that Union there began to spring up societies and corporations of every
kind, the interdependence of the States extending itself to the
interdependence of all interests involved in the State, and the whole
fabric of society feeling its web and woof grow firmer and denser.
The career of Webster illustrates this truth. He worked alone, and his
solitariness was not wholly due to his idiosyncrasies. It was in part
the penalty paid by a student of the time. The resolution and
self-reliance of an American were his, and so was the individuality.
That such enterprises are not now conducted single-handed is owing not
to a lack of courage but to the greater complexity of life, the more
constant sense of interdependence, the existence of greater solidarity
in intellectual pursuits. Webster was unable to believe that a company
of scholars could ever be formed who should carry forward a revision of
the Bible, and therefore he made the attempt himself. Individual
criticism has been abundant ever since, but no one, however learned or
popular, has ever been able to impress his work upon the community. The
most carefully organized body of scholars submits the results of its ten
years' conference to the votes of the world. The history of Webster's
Dictionary is parallel with the growth of national life out of
individualism.
INDEX.
Adams, John and Abigail, letters of, compared with those of John and
Margaret Winthrop, 49.
Adams, J. Q., 22.
Adams, Samuel,
a pet aversion of the Hartford wits, 99, 100.
"Address to the President of the United States, on the subject
of his Address," by N. W., 144.
Advertisement of school at Sharon, 10.
Agricultural life as determining social conditions, 13;
its comprehensive character in New England, 14.
Alexandrian Library, N. W.'s views on its destruction, 4.
Almanac, the, as light literature, 24.
America, condition of literature in, in 1800, 105, 110.
American, an average, as drawn by N. W., 150.
"American Dictionary of the English language, An," first promised, 235;
published, 236;
the earlier and later editions compared, as to orthography, 245-254;
as to pronunciation, 255-257;
as to etymology, 258, 259;
as to definitions, 260;
as to vocabulary, 261-263;
its Americanism, 264-274;
N. W.'s property in the present edition, 275.
Americanism, appeal to, 45;
in politics, 147;
in national morals, 163;
in literature, 241;
N. W.'s estimate of it, 282;
of what it consists, 283-292.
"American Magazine, The," character of, 77;
established by N. W., 78.
"American Spelling Book," by N. W., 38;
cautions in, 39;
first publication of, 69;
contracts concerning, 70;
sales of, 71;
Timothy Pickering on, 72;
the Macon issue, 74.
Ames's Almanac, 25, 26.
Amherst, N. W.'s removal to, 186.
Andrus, Mr., who wrote a dialogue, 48.
Barlow, Joel, N. W.'s classmate, 4;
a classic author, 48;
memorializes Congress on copyright laws, 50;
his poetry lightly esteemed by N. W., 281.
Beers, Isaac, entertains Washington, 6.
Belknap, Jeremy, difficulties of, in securing publication of his
history, 69;
measures taken for same, 75;
his opinion of N. W., 79;
his dealings with him, 80-94.
Bible, N. W.'s edition of, 168-181.
"Boston Argus" mocked, 100.
Boston, literary resources in, 22.
Boy that stole Apples, The, 40.
Bradford, William, an ancestor of N. W.'s, 3.
Buckminster, Tutor, 5.
Bushnell, Horace, upon Sunday in his boyhood, 31;
on grasping the handle of one's being, 182.
Cabinet, relative importance of officers in, 136.
Cambridge, England, N. W.'s dispassionate opinion of, 238.
Canfield, John, 54.
Cicero against Verres, 48.
Citizens, training of, in New England, 19.
Clark, L. Gaylord, letter to, from N. W., 112.
Classic writers, respect felt for, in New England, 147.
Clergyman, the position of the, in New England society, 16;
his prominence among college graduates, 17;
his ideal character, 31.
"Collection of Essays and Fugitiv writings on Moral, Historical,
Political, and Literary subjects, A," 187.
"Columbian, The," an early magazine of short life, 80, 81, 82, 88.
"Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, A," 216.
Congress, on copyright laws, 55, 56, 62-67.
Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 161.
Connecticut, legislature of, in connection with copyright laws, 56;
discontents in, written about by N. W., 112.
Connecticut Valley, the, a strong-hold of Puritanism, 12.
Constitution, origin of the, 116;
an examination of its leading principles, 129.
Copyright laws, origin of, 52;
N. W.'s efforts in securing, 53-56;
letter to D. Webster on, 57-61;
reply by D. W., on, 61, 62;
petition by authors for, 63;
movements in Congress concerning, 62-67;
their connection with N. W.'s writings, 67, 68.
"Courant, The Connecticut," started in Hartford, 1764, 24;
N. W. writes for it under signature of Candor, 130.
Curtius, a signature of N. W., 137.
Definitions in N. W.'s Dictionary, 260.
Delaware legislature in connection with copyright laws, 56.
Dictionary, Encyclopædic character of the, introduced by N. W., 216, 217.
Dilworth, Thomas, and his New Guide, 34;
compared with N. W. and his Spelling-Book, 36, 87.
Doctor, the, in New England life, 17;
of the Indian school, 18.
Dwight, Timothy, 55.
Dyche and Pardon's Dictionary, 216.
East Windsor, at convenient distance from Hartford, 11.
"Echo, The," 98-104.
"Effects of Slavery on Morals and Industry, On the," by N. W., 139.
"Elementary," N. W.'s, 34.
Ellsworth, Oliver, N. W. lives in the family of, 9.
Epidemic Diseases, N. W.'s Treatise on, 105.
"Errors in Johnson's Dictionary and other Lexicons," by N. W., 219.
"Essay on the Rights of Neutral Nations," by N. W., 142.
Etymology, N. W.'s studies in, 258.
Everett, Edward, lends George Ticknor Meidinger's Grammar, 21.
"Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution,
An," 129.
Federal Catechism, A, 39.
Federalism, N. W.'s, 46, 113.
Fowler, William Chauncey, quoted, 28-30.
Fox and the Swallow, The, illustration to, 41.
France in American politics, 131.
Franklin, Benjamin, N. W. compared with, 152, 160;
views of, on spelling reform, 190.
French Revolution, The, 131, 133.
Freneau, Philip, 48, 133.
Genet, Citizen, 130, 131, 132.
Gibbon repeated in N. W., 239.
Glastonbury, temporary seat of a section of Yale College, 7;
school at, taught by N. W., 8.
Goodrich, Chauncey, on N. W.'s mental habits, 215.
Goodrich, S. G., describes N. W., 237
Goshen, N. W. conceives his Spelling-Book at, 33;
Spelling-Book revised at, 54.
Goths and Vandals disapproved of in New England, 5.
Grammar, N. W.'s, 41.
"Grammatical Institute, A." N. W.'s earliest work, 34;
compared with Dilworth's New Guide, 35, 37;
meant for the farmers' children, 38;
second part of, a grammar, 41;
third part of, a reader, 46; 182, 183.
Greenleaf, Rebecca, N. W.'s wife, 96.
Hamilton, Alexander, 114;
compared with N. W., 115;
his connection with the French difficulties, 132;
what Jefferson thought of him, 137.
Harrison, Governor, of Virginia, 56.
Hartford, 1;
N. W. teaches school at, 9;
a village only, 13;
North Church in, 48.
Hartford Convention, N. W.'s part in, 146.
Hartford Wits, The, 97, 104.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and N. W. compared, 289.
Hazard, Ebenezer, 68, 75;
his opinion of N. W., 79;
dealings with him, as brought out in correspondence with Belknap,
80, 94.
Hillard, George Stillman, quoted, 22.
"History of New Hampshire," Belknap's, 69, 75, 76.
"History of the United States," by N. W., 277.
Holst, H. Von, quoted, 116.
Ingersoll, Mr., representative from Connecticut, 62.
Izard, Ralph, 55.
Jackson, Andrew, election of, 145.
Jay's Treaty defended by N. W., 137, 143.
Jefferson, Thomas, 119, 132;
his opinion of N. W.'s anonymous work, 137;
his address attacked by N. W., 144.
Johnson, Samuel, the Magnus Apollo of Lexicographers, 218;
criticised by N. W., 219-225;
N. W.'s preface compared with S. J.'s, 242;
his Dictionary and N. W.'s compared, 246, 260-263, 273.
Jonas, Mr. Jacob Abbott's, a type, 14.
Kent, Chancellor, 137.
King, Rufus, 137, 138.
Language, a national, 202.
Lawyers in Connecticut, 18.
Lee, Charles, 6.
"Letter on the Value and importance of the American Commerce of Great
Britain, addressed to a Gentleman of Distinction in London, A," by
N. W., 142.
"Letter to the Governors," N. W.'s, quoted, 44.
Litchfield, N. W. reads law at, 9.
Livingston, Governor, of New Jersey, on copyright laws, 53, 83.
Lodge, H. C., quoted, 137.
Lord's Almanac, 25.
Lowth's "Short Introduction to the English Grammar," 41.
Lyman, Joseph, and the Hartford Convention, 146.
McFingal, Trumbull's, 102.
Madison, James, 55;
his correspondence with N. W., 114;
his connection with the French party, 132.
Mahn, Dr., 260.
Mansfield, Lord, on copyright laws, 61.
"Manual of Useful Studies" by N. W., 278.
Massachusetts legislature in connection with copyright laws, 55.
Massachusetts Magazine, The, 89.
Mein, John, and his bookstore, 22.
Mile stones and bridges, requiring toll from belles, 11.
Military life in New England, 20.
Miller, Ashur, N. W.'s class-mate, 4.
Miller v. Taylor, case of, 6.
"Minerva, American," N. W.'s paper, 130;
amount of work done on it by N. W., 142.
Mirabeau, quoted by N. W. 47.
Monarch, The, a title given to N. W. by two of his contemporaries, 79, 115.
Neutrals, N. W. on, 142-144.
New England in its educative influences, 12.
New England Primer, The, as a work of art, 40.
New Haven, visited by Washington and Lee, 6.
New Jersey in connection with copyright laws, 53, 55.
New Rochelle, 12.
Newspaper, the, in N. W.'s youth, 24;
its condition when he engaged in it, 111.
"New York Commercial Advertiser," 130.
New York legislature in connection with copyright laws, 54.
Orthography, N. W.'s supposed innovations in, 245-254.
Otis, Harrison Gray, 146.
Pardee, Rebecca, a friend of N. W., 11.
"Peculiar Doctrines of the Gospel explained and defended, The," by
N. W., 167.
Perkins, Nathan, N. W.'s teacher, 4;
what books he found at Yale College Library, 23.
Pickering, John, is to be instructed in N. W.'s speller, 73;
later in life, appears as a critic of N. W., 225;
goes to him for Americanisms, 264.
Pickering, Timothy, sits up late at night to read N. W.'s
Spelling-Book, 72.
"Porsenna in pursuit of the Kingdom of Felicity," 25.
Priestley, Joseph, lectures the young America, 104;
and draws down upon himself a letter by N. W., 105.
Princeton, N. J., visit to, by N. W., 53.
"Prompter, The," by N. W., 153;
extracts from, 154-160.
Pronunciation, in different parts of the United States, 209;
N. W.'s treatment of in his Dictionary, 255-257.
Quincy, Josiah, letter to, by N. W., 185.
Ramsay, Dr., draws down N. W.'s criticism of Johnson, 219.
"Remarks on the Manners, Government, and Debt of the United States,"
by N. W., 163, 202.
Revision Committee's work and N. W.'s compared, 173, 175, 176, 181;
the American company and N. W., 291.
Revolution, The, and its connection with American history, 283, 284.
Roman precedents, 49.
Rousseau, 119.
Rowan, Mr., 66.
Sabbath, the, as the shrine of Puritanism, 30.
Sabbath-Day Houses, 27;
description of, by W. C. Fowler, 28-30.
Savage, James, and his sarcastic remarks on N. W., 95.
School-teaching by N. W., at Glastonbury, 8;
at Hartford, 9;
at Sharon, 10;
at Goshen, 33.
Schuyler, Philip, 55.
Sharon, N. W. teaches school at, 9;
advertisement of school there, 10.
"Sketches of American Policy," 113;
N. W.'s publication of, 115;
a specimen of political thought, 119;
analyzed, 120-126.
Slavery, N. W. on, 139.
Sleighing parties, 11.
Smith, Samuel Stanhope, examines N. W.'s manuscript, 53.
Smith, Zephaniah, N. W.'s classmate, 4.
South, literature at the, in the War of 1861-1865, 74.
Spelling-reform, hints of by N. W., 40;
his pioneer efforts at, 187;
his formal views on, 192-202.
Stiles, Ezra, President of Yale College, 4;
his impressive scholarship, 5.
Strong, Jedediah, 9.
Sunday, observance of, in New England, 27, 31.
Tetard, M., N. W.'s French teacher, 12.
Thomas, Isaiah, 89.
Ticknor, George, quoted, upon the difficulties in the way of a
student, 21.
"Times, The," a series of papers by N. W., 134.
Tooke, Horne, N. W.'s teacher in grammar, 43;
in derivations, 258.
Trumbull, Governor, of Connecticut, 95.
Trumbull, John, on N. W.'s prospects, 97.
Unabridged, The, 275.
Union, The, and its connection with social and individual life, 293.
Verplanck, Mr., 63, 66.
Washington, George, passes through New Haven, 5;
is escorted by N. W., 6;
his virtues commemorated in a spelling-book, 39;
Mirabeau, conscious of his own defects, wishes children early taught
the name of, 47;
visited by N. W., 56;
defended by N. W. against the Republicans, 131;
his connection with the French difficulties, 132.
Waterston, R. C., 184.
Watson, James, 130.
Webster, Daniel, letter to, from N. W., 57;
his part in passing copyright law, 66.
Webster, Mercy, 3.
Webster, Noah, born, 2;
his ancestry, 3;
his early education, 4;
at Yale College, 4;
escorts Washington and Lee through New Haven, 6;
serves as private in the Revolutionary Army, 7;
graduates and takes up school-teaching, 8;
studies law and teaches in Hartford, 9;
is admitted to the bar, 9;
resumes teaching at Sharon, 9;
has a tender regard for R. P., 11;
goes on sleighing parties, 11;
the influences about his youth, 13-32;
enters upon the making of school-books, 33;
his Grammatical Institute, 34;
his portrait, 35;
his aim in his early writings, 38;
his hints at orthographic reform, 40;
his early conversion in the matter of grammars, 42;
issues a new grammar, 43;
his views on usage, 44;
appeals to the pride of his countrymen, 45;
his Federalism, 46;
his attention to the political interests of America in his
reading-book, 47;
not a mere Anglo-phobian, 50;
his weakness and strength, 51;
sets out to secure copyright laws, 52;
makes a journey to Southern States, 56;
writes a letter to Daniel Webster on copyright laws, 57-61;
his publication of his Spelling-Book, 69;
his contracts with book-sellers, 70;
his venture in the American Magazine, 78;
his magazine projects, 80-93;
his enterprise, 94;
his publication of Winthrop's Journal, 95;
marries Rebecca Greenleaf, 96;
is outside of the Hartford Wits, 97;
writes a letter to Priestley, 104;
contributes to the "Connecticut Courant," 111;
publishes a pamphlet entitled "Sketches of American Policy," 113;
the product of certain forces, 118;
goes to Philadelphia at Franklin's request, 128;
writes "An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal
Constitution," 129;
editor of "The Minerva," 130;
his defense of the administration, 133;
discusses the French Revolution, 134;
writes "The Times," 134;
publishes a pamphlet on the French Revolution, 136;
defends Jay's Treaty, 137;
mistaken for Hamilton by Jefferson, 138;
his editorial skill, 138;
what he thought of slavery, 139;
closes his connection with "The Minerva," 142;
publishes further political works, 142;
his attack on Jefferson, 144;
at the polls, 145;
is concerned in the Hartford Convention, 146;
the ephemeral character of his political writings, 148;
his general average, 151;
his likeness to Franklin, 152;
writes "The Prompter," 153;
his interest in the people, 161;
his taste for statistics, 162;
his theological writings, 167;
his revision of the Bible, 168-181;
is discouraged about his prospects, 184;
his pecuniary resources, 186;
his pioneer efforts in spelling reform, 187;
his sympathy with Franklin, 190;
his formal views on spelling reform, 192-202;
his doctrine of usage, 208;
his varied method of disseminating his views, 213;
his mental habits, 215;
his Compendious Dictionary, 216;
introduces new features, 217;
criticises Dr. Johnson, 219-225;
replies to J. Pickering, 226-232;
the improvement in his style, 233;
his announcement of his great work, 235;
his labor upon it, 236;
visits Europe, 237;
completes his work with Gibbonian emotion, 238;
his individuality, 275;
his proprietorship in the present edition of the Dictionary, 276;
his industry after publication of the first edition, 277;
his personal appearance, family life, and death, 278, 279;
his place in history, 280;
what he attempted, 282;
and what he did, 286;
a representative American, 289;
his career illustrative of the individuality resident in early national
life, 294.
Webster, Noah, Sr., a Connecticut farmer, 2;
his character and offices, 3;
captain in the alarm list, 7.
Webster, William G., 70.
West Hartford, N. W.'s birth-place, 1, 279.
Wethersfield, within driving distance of Hartford, 11.
"Whistle, The," 160.
Williamson, Hugh, 55.
Winthrop, John: his letters compared with those of Adams, 49.
Winthrop's Journal, published by N. W., 83, 85, 95, 96.
Wolcott, Oliver, N. W.'s classmate, 4;
written to by Trumbull on N. W., 96.
Yale College, N. W.'s alma mater, 4;
its impoverished condition during the war for independence, 8;
distinctions in rank at, 16;
proportion of ministers among the graduates of, 17;
condition of its library in 1765, 23.
Yates, Mr. Justice, 61.