less absurdly indeed, but with equal
unlikelihood of success, have endeavoured to proportion the number of
letters to that of sounds, that every sound may have its own character, and
every character a single sound. Such would be the orthography of a new
language to be formed by a synod of grammarians upon principles of science.
But who can hope to prevail on nations to change their practice, and make
all their old books useless? or what advantage would a new orthography
procure equivalent to the confusion and perplexity of such an
alteration?"--_Johnson's Grammar before Quarto Dict._, p. 4.

OBS. 28.--Among these reformers of our alphabet and orthography, of whose
schemes he gives examples, the Doctor mentions, first, "_Sir Thomas Smith_,
secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth, a man of real learning, and much
practised in grammatical disquisitions;" who died in 1597;--next, "_Dr.
Gill_, the celebrated master of St. Paul's School in London;" who died in
1635;--then, "_Charles Butler_, a man who did not want an understanding
which might have qualified him for better employment;" who died in
1647;--and, lastly, "_Bishop Wilkins_, of Chester, a learned and ingenious
critic, who is said to have proposed his scheme, without expecting to be
followed;" he died in 1672.

OBS. 29.--From this time, there was, so far as I know, no noticeable
renewal of such efforts, till about the year 1790, when, as it is shown
above on page 134 of my Introduction, _Dr. Webster_, (who was then only
"_Noah Webster, Jun._, attorney at law,") attempted to spell all words as
they are spoken, without revising the alphabet--a scheme which his
subsequent experience before many years led him to abandon. Such a
reformation was again attempted, about forty years after, by an other young
lawyer, the late lamented _Thomas S. Grimke_, of South Carolina, but with
no more success. More recently, phonography, or phonetic writing, has been
revived, and to some extent spread, by the publications of _Isaac Pitman_,
of Bath, England, and of _Dr. Andrew Comstock_, of Philadelphia. The system
of the former has been made known in America chiefly by the lectures and
other efforts of _Andrews and Boyle_, of _Dr. Stone_, a citizen of Boston,
and of _E. Webster_, a publisher in Philadelphia.

OBS. 30.--The
pronunciation of words being evidently as deficient in regularity, in
uniformity, and in stability, as is their orthography, if not more so,
cannot be conveniently made