Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1856-12-30
TFa--4 oNY.
Ernn, ELIHYI RURRITT.

NEw BRITAIN, CT, July % 1856
MRssRs. G. q @. Observation-Disclosures would hear
thy cong uate you for being the publishers of Web
ser's great Dictionary; which may be regarded
hearing the same relation to the English Language which
Nywton's PrincipiG doe3 to the sublime science of
Natural Philosophy Indeed in respects, this com.
Usrison hardly does it Justice That work of his long
fe's study and liiigous industry is coming to b.
recognized the first authority and most copious
my OF the language in The birth land Of mother
tongue An American may VII feel an emotion If honest
pride al seeing it, as he may in the libraries of British
stllemen aud of ditdgu,shed jterati Of that coun-
rg. But he should egard with richer satisfaction the
fact that such wors. its vast an unabrdg-
ed hes k erit c ypiia Of living knowledge. in
many of the G mmon School b-ares in Anne lea Let
MIN travel tile world over, and he will not hna in any
country Icdoa doInes;a ied, as it were, with
books prepared n the ia truction Of the Dung.
There are several IA Is ard fsstures Distinguishing
Webster Great Dictionary viii = mn. 'fh ish 50
utatin and enhance its value to all the gene of
the Auglo-Saxon race. when their muudnous millions
shall and bless the earth with their Institutions 1t
has not only collected every word knows to The language
at the present time but has also given its clinical
eaogy, well precise yIgnfcance has threaded
with keen eyed exploration every Celtic Saxon, Daush
Norman Latin, Greek, and Oriental EIguiet th7o has
brought down a root seed word from the babel will
derness of tongues TO enrich sregae our own These
meandering tributaries, all the way % their dim source,
bear the oot-pIints of WeSstsrs patient search Thus
he has brought down the history Of the English lam
guage for the first thousand years Of its existence. 1t
will be comparatively easy task for he future Lexco
grapher TO continue 1T for he will have merely TO anayze
and define those elements which the language shall alb
sorb it makes the tour OF the world, ami replace its
heathen tongues tn that in which probably all the fam
lilies of mankind will sog the Psalms of the millennium.
Thus Webster not only wrought all the elements which
thousand years have contributed to the English Ian
guage into ynfc mt structure, and left
for the LeXicographer of the future generations Of
Anglo Saxon but he also bequeahed to the Phoo
gist of other living tongues chart which they must be
constrained to follow They csnnot compare his Great
Dictionary with their best Lexicons without being struck
with the difference of condition developed by the ntrast
Whatever German or French photographers may have
done for Greex, Latin. Arabic and other Oriental tongues
they have exhibited but little Of the Webster cost of
ergy and investigation in analyzing the elements and
his tory of our own language.
There is another interesting feature in Websters work
Thousands Of young persons while tracing up words of
common use to their Teutonic, Norman Latin, Greek or
Hebrew origin must be stimulated by curiosity more
useful sentiments to pursue the investigation urhero
know more of those languages which have contributed to
the fitness and variety of their 1 persuaded
chat this particular influence WILL long, become per-
ceptble upon the Common Schools aud Educational In
situations of this country, in which this incompatible
Dictionary shall be freely used. ultitudes will derive
from it their first impulse toward the acquisition of other
languages, ancient ana modern.
Yours tFuly. EIJHIT RTTRHITT