“ again, by still varying the termination, could vary the shade of idea existing in the mind . . .

" These are my visions on the improvement of the English language by a free use of it’s faculties. to realize them would require a course of time, the example of good writers, the approbation of men of letters, the judgment of sound critics, & of none more than of the Edinburgh Reviewers, would give it a beginning, &, once begun, it’s progress might be as rapid as it has been in France, where we see what a period of only 20 years has effected. under the auspices of British science and example it might commence with hope. but the dread of innovation there, and especially of any example set by France, has, I fear, palsied the spirit of improvement. here, where all is new, no innovation is feared which offers good. but we have no distinct class of literati, in our country. every man is engaged in some industrious pursuit, and science is but a secondary occupation, always subordinate to the main business of his life. few therefore, of those who are qualified, have leisure to write. in time it will be otherwise. in the mean while necessity obliges us to neologise. and, should the language of England continue stationary, we shall probably enlarge our employment of it, until it’s new character may separate it in name as well as in power, from the mother-tongue.

" Altho’ the copiousness of a language may not in strictness make a part of it’s grammar, yet it cannot be deemed foreign to a general course of lectures on it’s structure & character; and the subject having been presented to my mind by the occasion of your letter, I have indulged myself in it’s speculation, and hazarded to you what has occurred, with the assurance of my great respect. ”

Waldo answered this from Georgetown on April 25, 1814: “For your obliging and highly esteemed favour of August 16th, plase [sic] to accept my warmest thanks. My apology for not presenting them at a much earlier period, is this; My business of teaching leaves but a little of my time unoccupied, & the preservation of my health requires a great proportion of that little to be devoted to relaxation & exercise. Had I contemplated writing only the few lines to which I am even now, confined, I should certainly have sent you my immediate acknowledgment. But the subject on which you have honoured me with your very ingenious and learned remarks, is truly interesting to me & in a great measure novel. It therefore excited my curiosity, and induced me to think of bestowing some attention upon it; & of making you the poor return of some additional remarks of my own. I have however the mortification of finding myself after this long interval, no nearer obtaining the objecting of my wish than I was at first. When I received the letter I was suffering from more than usually bad health, which for months put it out of my power to do more than to attend to the duties of my school. Since, I have received my usual, but infirm health, I have been engaged, the few leisure moments I could catch, in abridging my grammar, and in preparing my spelling books for the press. As the worm [sic] weather returns, my health becomes more feeble; and some additional private business also requires my attention for some time. I have therefore, altho’ the above works are off my hands, not a moment that has not its regular business. That my situation thus limits my pursuits, and almost wholly denies me the satisfaction of attending to literary subjects, except the first elements, to which the business of teaching confines me, and which lose their relish by their daily recurrence, would be to me the subject of sever[e] regret, were I not satisfied that the duties Providence has imposed upon me, tho’ humble and laborious, are most important to society, and that it is the part of wisdom, as well as of our duty to acquiesce with cheerfulness, in that disposition of ourselves & of our time, which we find not left to our own choice to alter.

"I had an opportunity of shewing your letter to many of your, as well as my own friends, who think with me, that it is ably written, and that you ought to consent to its publication. Tho’ I was satisfied that you could have no objection to ”