Worcester's and Webster's Dictionaries [pp. 566-573]

WORCESTER S AND WVEBSTER S DICTIONARIES.
the author of this innovation or improvement is erroneous, for
we find it introduced into the dictionary of Benjamin Martin, published in 1794, and also in the dictionary of John Ash, published
in 1775.
In orthoepy, the influence of Dr. Webster has been almost equally
unfortunate. He introduced or gave currency to the odious pronunciation which is too generally prevalent in New-England and some
other portions of the North, of u as oo, as in constitution, institution,
tube, tune, duty, pronounced constitootion, institootion, &c. His rule as
stated by himself; is, that u has the sound of yu only in the beginning
of words, as in unite, union, and when followed by r, as in failure, insure, whereas the correct rule, as given by the best orthoepists, is,
that u has the sound of oo only when preceded by r, and, in some
cases, when preceded by 1 or j, in the same syllable as in rule, lunatic, and june.
The above enumeration comprises the principal classes of innovations in orthography and pronunciation introduced by Dr. Webster.
That they were unwise, and even mischievous, we think is susceptible
of clear demonstration. As he was not clothed with the power of a
dictator over the English language, and could not enforce his decrees,
and they have not been obeyed voluntarily, it is obvious that the
tendency of his. innovations has been to confuse and unsettle the languag,e, by introducing two rules where but one existed before. It
would, doubtless, be well to have some final arbiter to settle the lex
linguae in cases of doubt or dispute, but such an arbiter must be generally recognized as possessing rightful authority, in order to secure
obedience to his dic,ta. The academies of language which have been
established in France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Russia, have had
this authority conceded to them by public sentiment, and they publish,
from time to time, dictionaries and grammars, fixing and altering
orthography and pronunciation, adopting new words, rejecting old
ones, and reviving some which had become obsolete. The influence
of these academies tends to give more permanency, stability, and
uniformity, to language. In England two attempts have been made
to establish an academy of language —one under the lead of the Earl
of Roscommon, aided by Dryden, in 1660, and the other by Swift, in
1712. Both proved failures. The project was then abandoned, and
since that day has not been revived, until Dr. Webster, with singular
misapprehension of his own abilities, constituted himself into an
"academy," and proceeded to issue his decrees with the lordly air of:
an autocrat. It is a tendency of the human mind to yield to any
authority, rightful or otherwise, which is boldly assumed and arrogantly asserted, and on this principle Dr. Webster's authority has
been accepted by many. But it is rather a remarkable fact, that there
is not one author of reputation in England or America, nor any literary man of any pretension whatever, in either country, who has
avowed himself a follower of Webster. On the contrary, in this,
country, when it was first proposed in the New-York Legislature to
introduce Webster's series of dictionaries as text-books into the pub
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