“ its being presented to the public, I did not think it correct to do it without your express approbation. I will therefore
thank you to write me on the subject.”
To this, Jefferson replied from Monticello on July 1: “
A long absence from home has prevented an earlier acknolegement of your favor of Apr. 25. and I learn from it with regret
the circumstances of your habitual ill health. I did not mean by my answer to trouble you with any particular attention to
it’s subject. it conveyed thoughts which had occurred to me sometimes in the course of a busy life, which had never allowed
me time to examine them: and being called up by the occasion of your letter, I hazarded them for consideration, conscious
that, the subject being so much more familiar to you, they would recieve from you their just estimate. of committing them
to the public I had not the smallest idea. neither their merit nor my inclinations looked towards that tribunal. my present
object is tranquility, & retirement from public notice, relieving sometimes, by literary speculations, the ordinary cares
of a farming life; but never hazarding my quiet by provoking public controversy. I feel much indebted therefore to your justice
& discretion in considering what I wrote as not meant for the public eye, but a mere indulgence of a course of thought produced
by the occasion of your letter, and of the book you had been so kind as to send me. permit me to repeat to you the assurances
of my esteem and respect.
”
[4848]
116
Johnson’s spelling dict.
12
mo.
1815 Catalogue, page 166, no. 41, Johnson’s Spelling Dictionary, 12mo.
JOHNSTON,
William.
A Pronouncing and Spelling Dictionary: Wherein, by a new and sufficient Method, The Proper Sounds of
English Words are exactly ascertained; And by which, Both His Majesty’s Subjects, and Foreigners, may correct an Improper, or acquire
a Right Pronunciation of the
English Language. Together with An Introduction, and an Appendix . . . To which is added, by Way of Praxis, A Discourse on an Important
Subject: Wherein The Right Sounds of the Words are so intimated by the Notation, that a Stranger to the
English Accent, after carefully perusing the Introduction, may be able to pronounce them properly. By William Johnston, M. A.
London: Printed for
W. Johnston, in Ludgate-Street.
m.dcc.lxiv
[1764.]
PE1620 .J7
First Edition? 12mo. 132 leaves.
Dedicated by the author to Queen Charlotte,
in a humble Hope, and dutiful Desire, that it may be assisting to her Majesty, in cultivating a right Pronuncation of the
English Language
. This work provides interesting information as to the correct pronunciation of English at that time.
[4849]
117
Webster’s dictionary.
12
mo.
1815 Catalogue, page 168, no. 96, as above.
WEBSTER,
Noah.
A Compendious Dictionary of the
English Language. In which Five Thousand Words are added to the number found in the Best
English Compends. The Orthography is, in some instances, corrected; The Pronuncation marked by an Accent or other suitable Direction;
And the Definitions of many Words amended
