Excerpt from A Critical Review of the Orthography of Dr. Webster's Series of Books for Systematick Instruction in the English Language: Including His Former Spelling-Book, and the Elementary Spelling-Book, Compiled by Aaron Ely, and Published Under the Name of Noah Webster, LL. D The1e a1e few classes of literary men from whose labours society has der ived more important benefits than f1om the class of eminent philologists and lexi cographers, who, during the last century, have contributed so largely to the cultivation of the English Languaoe; thereby laying the foundation of those highly polished effusions of sentiment for which the writings of the present age are distinguished. The names of Bailey, Ash, Johnson, Sheridan, Walker, Jones, Jameson, and ebster, will ever possess a distinguished niche in the gallery of literary men and, their contributions to the stock of useful improvements will claim for them the appellation of fathers of English litera ture. But while I am thus ready and desirous to render to these the just tribute of gratitude for their eminent services in this department of learning, I am by 110 means disposed to concede the proposition, that their productions are to be exempt from the usual ordeal to which the writings of every other author are subjected, and which is the principal test of relative merit. I mean impar t'ial and candid criticism. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.