The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-02-01
For he AissaSsipptan
j AND THINGS.

q AND THlHdS.
NUMBER I.
IIsIss1rrIAN
es ioare to send you few
and trust, readable sort,
lions and reflections upon
giving outlines OF subjects
sas occupy the thoughts of the
n ftsany articles will form q sort
sggamagurffe an enormous word this, no
doubt, but wlks. Irving in his younger days
rendered cIas 1sE If any Of your uniform
ed readers viii to know its definition, refer
them to Irvir.is works, or to Webster's Die
tionary. And " the way, what could the
world do without dictionaries? All honor to
DR.. johnson 10 frst fairly and successfully
undertook thaiIareu,ean task Of catching all
the words Of u language and labelling them
This side up, nsth caro3' Until Johnson's
day, there cx:sssa no fixed and recognized
standard "knoylI and respected of all men,"
as the law bysNlich the English language
should be spef5sd, pronounced and verbally
defned.* If es 60 back to the time of good
old Queen Besssxsso wrote Latin like Bene-
dictine Monk afHspoke Greek like an Archi-
peligian Corsair, rye noste learned Ladie in
allie her rcalme, 1--WE will find she was sadly
at a loss how toEpell her own Christian name.
In State paperAuow extant in the Bodleian
Library it IS s led as many as aiae different
ways, a process ingenuity it would be hard
for our lnodeg Eagram experts" to initiate.
It is s.lEaslIiissll,s., 'tElissahethe,'
"EGzabet,' sIlssssssitetha, > and 50 on. She
writes to ole, Il busie ny Wits wyth a Bol1e
whenn l don't wische to tbinlle. Boxes and
bee gate iicndas."
Now let no one laugh at this, especially
you, fair school miss who pride yourself on
never spelling word wrong in your compo-
sition. 1t is not ignorance in the learned
| Queen, for in her day there was no standard
Of the English language which fixed, 10y au-
thority Of colleges, the mode of spelling. For
instance, to-das, in France, there is (and has
been fer century, Board Of Directors of
the French Language appointed by the Acad-
envy Of Sciences, called "L'Academie Fran
caise, which every few years reyscs the ma
tiona! Dictionary, aud regulates the spelling
/ force, Specification and pronunciation Of erery
word and all printers and authors are bound
by law to follow this supreme umpire and
guide! In this country educated men and
scholars, and editors especially, usually follow
Walker, which Is also the national English
guide; though Webster is the favoritc with
the great mass Of American people and is
coming into use in England. We are oppos-
cd, however, ourselves TO the absurd changes
/ Webster introduces and never see "TheateI''
and center that we do not feel like twisting
their last 81 liable round in the proper place
/ Iarpers books all affect this corrupt style OF
innovation. In a case of close criticism Walk
CT Is the classical tribunal Of final appeal.
/ Ia Queen Elzabeth's day and long after
wards there was no '.accrcditcd'' dictionary.
/ There was II, LAW Of orthosnphy Or pronun-
cation laid down by the Universities. These,
given up to Latin and Greek, treated with
Sovereign contempt the ycrnacular as unwor-
/ thy the attention Of scholars who could and
did write elegantly in the ancient tongues of
Cicero and Demosthenes Where there IS no
law there is no Offence. The Queen and all
her subjects, therefore, in spelling and pro-
ncuncing, followed The devices and desires Of
/ '"e'F own ilias'natonS !" II there were no
s-sa EszEalatad the spelling OF her own
now - she was at perfect lib
she pleased. Who
- spell wrong