gle-handed a task which, once
done, prepared the way for lexigraphical work far more thorough and
satisfactory than could have been possible without his pioneer labor.
Not only have the successive Dictionaries which bear his name resulted
from his labor, but it is not unfair to refer the other great lexicon
begun and carried out by one of his early assistants to the impetus
which he gave. Indeed, the commercial success of the great American
Dictionary may reasonably have been taken as a ground of confidence for
the production of the corresponding works of an encyclopaedic and
dictionary character which attest the enterprise of American publishers
and the thoroughness of American scholars.

CHAPTER VIII.

CONCLUSION.

The publication of "An American Dictionary" in 1828 was followed by
increased activity on Dr. Webster's part. He was more than ever
ambitious to secure a standard, especially in orthography, and he began
the arrangement of his various text-books in a series which should
constitute an imposing phalanx, each supporting its neighbor. The work
of preparation, revision, and publication occupied the rest of his life.
The quarto Dictionary in two volumes cost twenty dollars. He provided
soon an abridgment in octavo, and a "Dictionary for Schools, the
Counting-House, and for Families in Moderate Circumstances;" he was
constantly revising his most lucrative book, the "Elementary
Spelling-Book," and he issued new editions of his "History of the United
States," his "Teacher," a supplement to the "Elementary," his "Improved
Grammar," and he prepared a "Manual of Useful Studies." All of these
books had friends and enemies, and one of the most energetic of the
latter, Lyman Cobb, published "a Critical Review of the Orthography of
Dr. Webster's Series of Books for Systematick Instruction in the English
Language," which, in spite of some injustice and much quibbling, is a
most searching and exhaustive commentary on Webster's weaknesses. The
contest over Webster's Dictionary, however, did not assume great
proportions until after the publication of Worcester's Dictionary, which
afforded Webster's opponents a flag about which they could rally. The
war of the dictionaries occurred after Webster's death, and it is not
within the province of this sketch to enter upon that military campaign.
Within Webster's own life-time a revision of the Dictionary appeared in
1840-1841, and he was at work upon a further revision whe