Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (italics).
The headings in the table of contents do not always match the headings in the text. The subsections do not have their own heading, but refer to the page where his writing on this topic starts.
The mistakes mentioned in the erratum list on page viii have all been incorporated in the text.
A list of corrections to the text can be found at the end of the document.
A COLLECTION of ESSAYS AND FUGITIV WRITINGS.
ON MORAL, HISTORICAL, POLITICAL and LITERARY SUBJECTS.
BY NOAH WEBSTER, JUN. ATTORNEY AT LAW.
Heureuses les villes qui, comme les individus, n'ont point encore pris leur pli! Elles feules peuvent aspirer à des loix unanimes, profondes et sages.
TABLEAU DE PARIS.
Printed at Boston, for the Author, by I. Thomas and E. T. Andrews, at Faust's Statue, No. 45, Newbury Street.
MDCCXC.
SUBSCRIBERS
The honorable John Adams, Esq. Vice President of the United States, 2 copies. The hon. Pierce Butler, Esq. } The hon. Charles Carrol, Esq. } The hon. Oliver Ellsworth, Esq. } The hon. William Few, Esq. } The hon. Benjamin Hawkins, Esq. } The hon. John Henry, Esq. } The hon. Ralph Izard, Esq. } Senators in Congress. The hon. William Samuel Johnson, Esq. } The hon. Samuel Johnston, Esq. } The hon. Rufus King, Esq. } The hon. Robert Morris, Esq. } The hon. George Read, Esq. } Hon. Jonathan Trumbull, Esq. } Representativs Jeremiah Wadsworth, Esq. 2 copies. } in Congress.
A. Nathaniel W. Appleton, Physician, Boston. John Allen, Esq. Attorney at Law, Litchfield.
B. Isaac Baldwin, Esq. Clerk of Court, Litchfield. Isaac Baldwin, jun. Esq. Attorney, do. Mrs. Ruthy Barlow, Greenfield. Mr. Jesse Benedict, Fairfield. Mr. Isaac Bronson, Hartford. Mr. Caleb Bull, do. Mr. James Burr, do. Jonathan Brace, Esq. Attorney, Glanstenbury. David Burr, Esq. Attorney, Fairfield. Barna Bidwell, Esq. Attorney, New Haven. John Bird, Esq. Attorney, Salisbury.
C. Peter Colt, Esq. Treasurer of Connecticut, Hartford. Mr. John M'Curdy, Merchant, do. Richard M'Curdy, Esq. Attorney, Lyme. John Caldwell, Esq. Alderman of the City of Hartford. Mr. John Chenevard, jun. Hartford. Hon. John Chester, Esq. Judge of the County Court, Wethersfield. Thomas Chester, Esq. Attorney, Wethersfield. Edward Carrington, Physician, Milford. Reverend Henry Channing, New London. Joshua Coit, Esq. Attorney, do. Mr. Lynde M'Curdy, Merchant, Norwich. Messieurs Coit and Lathrop, Merchants, do. Mason F. Cogswell, Physician and Surgeon, Hartford. Reverend John Clarke, Boston.
D. Samuel W. Dana, Esq. Attorney, Middleton. David Daggett, Esq. Attorney, New Haven. Mr. Benadam Dennison, Norwich.
E. Pierpont Edwards, Esq. Attorney for Connecticut District, New Haven.
F. Mr. Thomas Fanning, Norwich.
G. William Greenleaf, Esq. Boston. Chauncey Goodrich, Esq. Attorney, Hartford. Elizur Goodrich, Esq. Attorney, New Haven. Gideon Granger, jun. Esq. Attorney, Suffield. Gaylord Griswold, Esq. Attorney, Windsor.
H. His Excellency Samuel Huntington, Esq. Governor of Connecticut. Lemuel Hopkins, Physician, Hartford. Mr. Asa Hopkins, Druggist, do. Uriel Holmes, Esq. Attorney, New Hartford. Colonel Ebenezer Huntington, Merchant, Norwich. Mr. Joseph Howland, do. Mr. Andrew Huntington, Merchant, do. Mr. Levi Huntington, do. David Hull, Physician, Fairfield. William Hillhouse, Esq. Attorney, New Haven. Captain Pliny Hillyer, Granby. Samuel Henshaw, Esq. Northampton.
I. Jonathan Ingersoll, Esq. Attorney, New Haven.
J. William Judd, Esq. Attorney, Farmington, 2 copies. John Coffin Jones, Esq. Boston.
K. Mr. Isaac Kibby, Merchant, Enfield. Ephraim Kirby, Esq. Attorney, Litchfield. Mr. Joshua King, Ridgefield.
L. Lynde Lord, Esq. Sheriff of Litchfield County, Litchfield.
M. Reverend Jedidiah Morse, Charlestown. William Moseley, Esq. Attorney, Hartford. Samuel Marsh, Esq. Attorney, Litchfield. Mr. John Morgan, Merchant, Hartford. Mr. William Marsh, do. Eneas Munson, jun. Physician, New Haven. Ashur Miller, Esq. Attorney, Middleton. George R. Minot, Esq. Attorney, Boston.
N. Hon. Roger Newberry, Esq. Judge of the County Court, Windsor.
O. Mr. Jacob Ogden, Merchant, Hartford. Harrison Gray Otis, Esq. Attorney, Boston.
P. Ralph Pomeroy, Esq. Controller of the Treasury, Hartford. Enoch Perkins, Esq. Attorney, Hartford. Mr. Nathaniel Patten, Merchant, Hartford, 3 copies. Colonel Joshua Porter, Judge of the County Court, Salisbury. Jonas Prentice, jun. Esq. New Haven. Colonel Noah Phelps, Symsbury. Giles Pettibone, Esq. Norfolk.
R. Hon. Jesse Root, Esq. Judge of the Superior Court, Hartford. Nathaniel Rosseter, Esq. Guilford. Ephraim Root, Esq. Attorney, Hartford. Tapping Reeve, Esq. Attorney, Litchfield.
S. Reverend Nathan Strong, Hartford. Thomas Y. Seymour, Esq. Attorney, do. Mr. Isaac Sanford, Goldsmith, do. Reuben Smith, Esq. Litchfield. Daniel Sherman, Esq. Chief Judge of County Court, Woodbury. General Heman Swift, Cornwall. Lewis B. Sturgis, Esq. Attorney, Fairfield. Mr. James Smedley, do. Zephaniah Swift, Esq. Windham.
T. John Trumbull, Esq. State Attorney for Hartford County. Uriah Tracy, Esq. Attorney, Litchfield. Nathaniel Terry, jun. Esq. Attorney, Enfield. Mr. Thomas Tisdale, Merchant, Hartford.
W. The Hon. Oliver Walcott, Esq. Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, Litchfield. John Williams, Esq. Attorney, Wethersfield. William Williston, Esq. Attorney, Symsbury. Mr. Joseph Williams, Norwich. Mr. Ashbel Wells, Merchant, Hartford. Alexander Wolcott, Esq. Attorney, Windsor. Mr. Thomas Walley, Merchant, Boston. Thomas Welsh, Physician, Boston.
TO The PRESIDENT, The VICE PRESIDENT, The SENATORS, and The REPRESENTATIVS OF THE UNITED STATES of AMERICA, The following PUBLICATION, Designed to Aid the PRINCIPLES of the REVOLUTION, TO Suppress POLITICAL DISCORD, AND TO Diffuse a SPIRIT of ENQUIRY, Favorable to MORALS, to SCIENCE, and TRUTH, Is most humbly inscribed, As a TRIBUTE of RESPECT for their KARACTERS, Of GRATITUDE for their PUBLIC SERVICES, And a PLEDGE of ATTACHMENT TO THE Present CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, BY THEIR MOST OBEDIENT, AND MOST HUMBLE SERVANT,
The Author.
HARTFORD, June, 1790.
As the author was absent from the press, and the copy, in some places, obscure or not correct, some errors have unavoidably escaped the notice of the printers. The following are the most material.
Page 47, line 7, after corporate add body. 49, line 4 from bottom, for cognized reed organized. 54, line 6 of note, for would reed could. 58, line 7, for contrary reed contracting. 146, last line, for thousand reed hundred. 151, line 2 from bottom, for jurisdiction reed usurpation. 263, line 13, for do reed did. 275, line 5, for Archorites reed Archontes. 283, line 14, for leriquæ reed linguæ, and for dacodeni duodeni. 323, last line of text, for godfather reed grandfather. 327, line 7 from bottom, for change reed chance. 332, line 7 from bottom, for masks reed marks. 334, line 22, place the full point after equity. 349, line 1, for district reed distinct. 350, line 2, for mass reed map. 355, line 5, for ilans reed clans. 365, line 9, for the manners reed this manner. 375, line 3 and 4 from bottom, for ilans reed ilands. 377, line 4, for Koman reed Roman. 382, line 4 from bottom, for necessarily reed necessary. 401, line 28, for normous reed enormous.
PREFACE.
The following Collection consists of Essays and Fugitiv Peeces, ritten at various times, and on different occasions, az wil appeer by their dates and subjects. Many of them were dictated at the moment, by the impulse of impressions made by important political events, and abound with a correspondent warmth of expression. This freedom of language wil be excused by the frends of the revolution and of good guvernment, who wil recollect the sensations they hav experienced, amidst the anarky and distraction which succeeded the cloze of the war. On such occasions a riter wil naturally giv himself up to hiz feelings, and hiz manner of riting wil flow from hiz manner of thinking.
Most of thoze peeces, which hav appeered before in periodical papers and Magazeens, were published with fictitious signatures; for I very erly discuvered, that altho the name of an old and respectable karacter givs credit and consequence to hiz ritings, yet the name of a yung man iz often prejudicial to hiz performances. By conceeling my name, the opinions of men hav been prezerved from an undu bias arizing from personal prejudices, the faults of the ritings hav been detected, and their merit in public estimation ascertained.
The favorable reception given to a number of theze Essays by an indulgent public, induced me to publish them in a volum, with such alterations and emendations, az I had heerd suggested by frends or indifferent reeders, together with some manuscripts, that my own wishes led me to hope might be useful.
During the course of ten or twelv yeers, I hav been laboring to correct popular errors, and to assist my yung brethren in the road to truth and virtue; my publications for theze purposes hav been numerous; much time haz been spent, which I do not regret, and much censure incurred, which my hart tells me I do not dezerv. The influence of a yung writer cannot be so powerful or extensiv az that of an established karacter; but I hav ever thot a man's usefulness depends more on exertion than on talents. I am attached to America by berth, education and habit; but abuv all, by a philosophical view of her situation, and the superior advantages she enjoys, for augmenting the sum of social happiness.