The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-03-21


A copy Of DR.. oRcHs1fR' q new illaIg1ratSI
quarto Dictionary has heen placed uuon oa,
table. The executtoncf tAe work i. verY me
and does much credit to The publishers. III,
typography is beautiful and the paper excel
lent. The author adopts motto from HoR
ACE, which clearly indicated the method n
mas pursned in compiling his work. II is te
be found In the epistie to the Pisos, the bes'
collection of critical rules ever published
We are not In the habit of numbering our col
umns with passages from authors who write
in \ dead, or living foreign language. The
amount of it, in plain English, IL, that many
words which have become obsolete, will b<
hereafter restored, and many which are now in
common use will grow Obsolete, II such be
the will of usage, whose authority in regula.
ting the language ls absolute. DIR. WORCESTER
processes to have followed the precept implied
in this dietum Of the great Roman poet and
CRITIC finding 1t not less applicable to the Eng.
lish language than it WAS to the Latin. Ac.
cordingly he has set down all the words he
could ascertain to have been used at any stage
Of its progress, in authors who protested to
write English. The propriety Of this method
cannot be doubted, we think for, as HORACE
intimates, no matter how old a word
may be, or how long fallen into disuse.
there is no security that it may not re-
appear in the pages Of the best authors
The elder DIsRAELI, in fact, recommends to
neologists careful study of the language in
its earlier stages. with this very view. If it
be absolutely necessary, in order to express
an idea accurately, to introduce a word not
now in common use, he thinks it better to re-
N oil no will
convenience. Neologisms are always to be
avoided, and when they become absolutely
necessary, they must be used as sparingly as
may be consis' ent with the expression Of the
idea Mr.. WORCESTER has dealt with the new
words as he did with the old. Where he found
them in use he put them down, and this is
certainly the proper course for a photographer,
who processes to record the language as he
finds it, not to coin it anew, or alter it at
his own pleasure. Languages undergo great
changes il is true. But such variations are
the slow work Of time, and no photographer
can be allowed to take the law into his own
hands. 1t is only necessary to add that the
definitions Of WORCESTER are neat, compact
and exhaustive, and that he spells like a scho-
lar and gentleman.
These facts, however did not suggest the
title of this article. The universal Yankee
nation boast of being peculiar people, and in
4 certain sense they are. They religiously be.
lieve that the whole world stands to them
pretty much in the same relation that Naza-
reth was said to stand to another "peculiar
nation,' who made some noise in the world
in their day. They believe that no good thing
can come out of the rest OF the world They
RI !, t;o,1
and we suspect some of the less in.
formed among them think the author of it
and all his disciples were Yankees At any
rate, they do not hesitate to improve upon it's
doc trines at their pleasure, and TO seek the
abolition OF such portions Of it rs do not suit
their peculiar notions. There are thousands
Of them who think the Lords Prayer could
be amended to advantage, and who condemn
the sermon on the Mount because it says
lothing about niggsrs. The American reyo-
luton they consider to be the Yankee revolu-
ion. GEORGE WASHINGTON they would prove
% be Yankee General, if they could but not
'eing able to compass that, they set up a rival
II his glory in the person of old JOHN
Brown. They boast of being descended
rom the Puritans of England, who. in
he next generation after the Mayflower's !
nen, made CHARLES l. miss Il figure
hey profess mortal hatred to all kings es-
ecially English Kings, and have declared |
lortal war against the Kings English. They |
re determined to throw it off if they can AS |
hey threw Off the government of GEORGE Ill.
nd to substitute the "Yankee language" as |
hey substituted the Commonwealth of Massa- |
lusetts. Their Coryphaeus in this sensible |
lterprise is old NOAH WEBSTER, a man who.
he knew nothing else, knew the Yankee |
nguage perfectly. To prove his proficiency
that branch of education, he published a |
ctionary in which he speltacre aker, leather
ther, mOlasses melasses, Island leland, sove.
ign snrran, spread sprsd, turnip turnsp bride.
Dom bridegroom, build bid, turkey fuyky.
ugue tnng, thumb thMm,, thread thred, feather
ther, theatre theaser, &c. These denominations
e not all found in the present unabridged
iition of his dictionary, which was published
ter his death, but they exist in the original
ltlon III two quarto volumes, the publication
which he himself superintended. His lit.
AIRY executors, probably, found it best to re-.
ore the words to their proper spelling. for
is attempt to convert English into Yankee
d not suit the public taste. Everybody ont.
de OF the A"peculiar nation" wanted to
low what right NOAH WEBSTER had to set
mself up as dictator in matters of ortho.
Apply, and why authors and writers of All
nds were expected TO spell like a Yankee
They thought it would be the
light OF presumption in any author of the
ntury-In BYRON, i'll SCOTT, in SoUTHEY. in
WING, In MACAULAi, in PRESCOTT, in EVE
TT-in anybody who had made himself fa.
)us by his writings, to undertake such task
Id who was NOAH WEBSTER, that he
ould undertake what JOHNSON with all
) literary fame, never thought of doing,-
hat had he ever done to establish a claim
literary dictatorship! What evidence
d he ever given of his mastery over
It language, which he pretended to dis.
Sc OF at his will and pleasure! Where
IS the great poem, The sublime philosophical
ause, the brilliant essay, the world
lowned history-where was anything that I
'rature would allow to be classed among i
: wares-that he had ever written! His
ae rested upon spelling book-long since I
hope, banished from every decent school
the whole cOuntry-and few other school
ks OF no greater pretensions. If he had
ltten anything else, nobody outside of the , ;
nliar nation had ever heard of it. And vet !,
undertook, on his sole authority, TO upse,
M its very foundation, a language which
arrived at its present stage, by the slow =
laborious accretion Of five hundred wears
he attempts of WKEsTER's publishers to =
'e the Yankee language into general use =
'ugh the medium Of this lexicon, are per- =
emit ana systematic. Nothing will satisfy -
n less than the agreement of all Anglo.Sax. !
ON, from this day forth, to think Yankee =.
Yankee, and write Yankee A part of .,
+ policy is to malign every new work :.
n the same subject. This game was plav- =,
pom the work OF WORCESTER. and il nro. =.