ABSTRACT
54 A :M: E 1t 1 CAN ENG L 1 S H stop, especially as changes are occurring in England as well: "You take some pains," he says, "to ascertain the point, whether the people of this country now speak and write the English language with purity. The result is, that we have, in several instances, departed from the standard of the language, as spoken and written in England at the present day. Be it so -it is equally true, that the English have departed from the standard, as it appears in the works of Addison. And this is acknowledged by yourself. It is equally true that Addison, Pope and Johnson deviated from the standard of the age of Elizabeth. Now, sir, where is the remedy?" Wherever else it may lieif remedy is desirable or possible-it certainly does not lie, Dr. Webster thought, in slavish imitation of British practices. "With regard to the general principle that we must use only such words as the English use," he proceeds, "let me repeat, that the restriction is, in the nature of the thing, impracticable, and the demand that we should observe it, is as improper as it is arrogant. Equally impertinent is it to ridicule us for retaining the use of genuine English words, because they happen to be obsolete in London, or in the higher circles of life. There are many instances in which we retain the genuine use of words, and the genuine English pronunciation, which they have corrupted; in pronunciation they have introduced more corruptions, within half a century, than were ever before introduced in five centuries, not even
