are almost exhausted, and in
a few days I shall sell my house to get bread for my children. All the
assurances of aid which I had received in Boston, New York, etc., have
failed, and I am soon to retire to a humble cottage in the country. To
add to my perplexity, the political measures pursuing render it almost
impossible to sell property, or to obtain money upon the best security.
A few thousand dollars, for which I can give security, would place me in
a condition in the country to live with comfort and pursue my studies;
but even this cannot be obtained till the measures of Congress assume a
more auspicious aspect. Adieu, dear sir. The little Band will no doubt
do their duty, but what can be done against the army of slaves?
Alexander Wolcott!! We must drink the cup of disgrace to the dregs!
Yours, in low spirits,

"N. WEBSTER, JUN."

If the letter was an indirect appeal to Mr. Quincy to advance a few
thousand dollars on good security, it does not seem to have effected its
purpose, and a man with money to lend would not have his confidence in
the borrower's capacity to repay it increased by knowing that the time
of the loan was to be occupied in making astonishing discoveries in the
roots of language. It has often been stated that Dr. Webster supported
himself and large family, during the twenty or thirty years he was
employed in the preparation of his great Dictionary, mainly by a
copyright of one cent or less on his Spelling-Book, and it is quite
certain that the several other enterprises in which he engaged never
supported him while they were going on, and often resulted in losses.
But what a picture the letter presents of an impecunious scholar,
bewitched by his pursuit, and sure that it was to end in some vast
result! He writes like an inventor who needs but little to enable him to
perfect a machine which is to revolutionize labor.

It was only a few years after the first publication of the
Spelling-Book, and while Webster was still unmarried and trying his hand
at various occupations, that he published "A Collection of Essays and
Fugitiv Writings on Moral, Historical, Political, and Literary
Subjects." The short-tailed word on the title-page is an oddity intended
probably to attract the reader's attention and lead him to look within.
The contents embrace thirty essays, originally written or published
between the years 1787 and 1790, but before the reader comes upon the
table of contents he is likely to stop a