Noah Webster.—Among students of linguistic science the first to be mentioned in point of time, and one of the first in importance, is Noah Webster (1758–1843), a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale College, whose “Grammatical Institute of the English Language” (spelling-book, grammar, and reader) appeared in 1783–1785. These books had an immense sale. The grammar showed originality, but was partly superseded by Murray’s. Webster published also “Dissertations on the English Language” (1789), a more advanced “Philosophical and Practical Grammar of the English Language” (1807), and “Origin, History, and Connection of the Languages of Western Asia and of Europe” (1807); the last being one of the first fruits of Sir William Jones’ identification of Sanskrit in 1786. The great work of Webster’s life, however, was his “American Dictionary of the English Language,” first published in 1828. Revised in 1847, 1864, and 1890, this is now the “International” and enjoys a large sale. The edition of 1901 contains 2528 pages.
Lindley Murray.—Lindley Murray (1745–1826), a native of Pennsylvania, made a fortune in trade at the time of the Revolution, and then settled at Holdgate, near York, England. Here he wrote his “Grammar of the English Language” (1795), which by 1816 had swollen to two volumes. In 1818 he published an “Abridgement,” which went through some six-score editions. It laid great stress on syntax, and was a terror to generations of students.
Joseph Emerson Worcester.—For many years the only rival of Webster’s Dictionary was Worcester’s. Like Webster, Joseph Emerson Worcester (1784–1865) was a graduate of Yale College. After teaching for a time at Salem, Massachusetts, he settled at Cambridge. After various lexicographical labours, he issued “A Universal and Critical Dictionary” (1846), containing “in addition to the words found in Todd’s edition of Johnson’s Dictionary, nearly 27,000 words for which authorities are given.” In 1860 this was expanded into the quarto “Dictionary of the English Language,” which included about 104,000 words. In a memoir of Dr. Worcester, Ezra Abbot said:
The tendency of his mind was practical rather than speculative. As a lexicographer, he did not undertake to reform long-established anomalies in the English language: his aim was rather to preserve it from corruption; and his works have certainly contributed much to that end. In respect both to orthography and pronunciation, he took great pains to ascertain the best usage; and perhaps there is no lexicographer whose judgment respecting these matters in doubtful cases deserves higher consideration.
Goold Brown.—Most of our grandfathers got their knowledge of English grammar from the text-books of Goold Brown (1791–1857). His education was obtained at the Friends’ School in Providence, Rhode Island, his birthplace. He became a successful teacher and for twenty years conducted an academy in New York City. His “Institutes of English Grammar” appeared in 1823 and with an elementary work had an enormous circulation. His “Grammar of English Grammars” (1851), which brought him wide reputation, has been called “the most exhaustive, most accurate, and most original treatise on the English language ever written.” This is absurdly high praise; yet the book is undoubtedly a monument of industry, and has been for many earnest souls “a court of last resort on matters grammatical.”
George Perkins Marsh.—In his day a distinguished diplomatist and man of letters, George P. Marsh (1801–1882) made substantial contributions to philology. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1820 and studied law. He soon turned to studies in language and in 1838 printed privately a translation of Rask’s “Icelandic Grammar.” His “Lectures on the English Language” (1861) were delivered originally at Columbia; his “Origin and History of the English Language” (1862) was a course of Lowell Institute lectures.
Samuel Stehman Haldeman.—Samuel S. Haldeman (1812–1880) attained a respectable place as a philologist, but was also known as a naturalist and an archæologist. He went to Dickinson College two years, but not liking the course of study, left to study by himself. Shortly after his marriage in 1835, he settled at Chickies, Pennsylvania, became a silent partner with two brothers in the iron business, and spent most of his time in his library, where, for many years, he worked sixteen hours a day. His nature-studies resulted in “Fresh-Water Univalve Mollusca of the United States” (nine parts, 1840–1845); “Zoölogical Contributions” (1842–1843); “Zoölogy of the Invertebrate Animals” (1850); and more than seventy papers. He began early to take interest in the Indian languages, and published papers on them, as well as on the languages of Europe and China, and on spelling reform. These writings are now valuable chiefly as landmarks in the history of linguistic science; but this does not impair Haldeman’s contemporary reputation as a learned and accurate linguist. His last works were a monograph on “Pennsylvania Dutch” (1872) and “Outlines of Etymology” (1878).
James Hammond Trumbull.—Well known as a thorough student of Indian languages was James H. Trumbull (1821–1897) of Hartford, Connecticut. He studied at Yale in the class of 1842, but was prevented by ill health from graduating. On linguistics he wrote “The Composition of Indian Geographical Names” (1870), “The Best Methods of Studying the Indian Languages” (1871), “Notes on Forty Algonkin Versions of the Lord’s Prayer” (1873), and “Indian Names of Places in and on the Borders of Connecticut, with Interpretations” (1881). He also edited Roger Williams’ “Key into the Language of America” (1866).
Francis James Child.—Francis J. Child (1825–1896), created a tradition of zeal for broad and sound learning, the influence of which is still strong. A Boston youth, he stood at the head of his class at Harvard, that of 1846. For forty-five years he was a professor in Harvard. In addition to some excellent editions of texts, he published an epoch-making monograph, “Observations on the Language of Chaucer” (1862), “Observations on the Language of Gower’s Confessio Amantis” (1866), and a monumental edition of “English and Scottish Popular Ballads” (1857–1858, revised and enlarged edition in ten volumes, 1882–1898), which is a model of accurate, comprehensive work, and which it is safe to say will not soon be superseded. It is due largely to Child that Harvard has become one of the leading centres of English study in America.
Francis Andrew March.—The Nestor of living American philologists is Professor Francis A. March (born in 1825), since 1855 a teacher in Lafayette College. He graduated at Amherst College in 1845. At first he pursued philosophical studies, but was later drawn to the study of language. His “Method of Philological Study of the English Language” appeared in 1865. His “Comparative Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language” (1870) was a pioneer, and with the “Anglo-Saxon Reader” (1870) did good service in introducing the subject into American colleges. For many years Dr. March has been an ardent apostle of spelling reform.