n he died in
1843.

Our study of Webster has easily led us away from Webster's personal
history, except so far as this has illustrated social, literary, and
historical movements. There are still living those who, as young men,
were associated with him in New Haven, and these with his grandchildren,
as well as his only surviving daughter, bear a memory of his person
entirely distinct from its public reputation. The resolute old man,
working at his lexicography to the last moment, was for them also the
tender-hearted head of a family, coming out from his study to hear the
music he loved so well, joining in the home life, making affectionate
pilgrimages to the old homestead in West Hartford, and putting in a plea
there for the preservation of the old fruit trees and vines which dated
from his childhood. He was a sturdy, upright man, with the courtesy of
an old Federalist, and his figure was a familiar one in the streets of
New Haven. It was there that he died, May 28, 1843, in the eighty-fifth
year of his age, surrounded by his family, and cheerful with the sense
of a full life and of Christian trust and expectation.

Noah Webster's name abides, connected with the great work which he
initiated, and the monument will keep his name imperishable. It never
can be an uninteresting study to the people how the man, whose name is
a household word, wrought and achieved; the solid expression of
character, which I have tried to outline, is worthy of a fuller, more
thorough treatment; and it is to be hoped that the sturdy life of more
than three score years and ten, which he lived, with its dreams, its
discoveries, its ventures, its toil, and its honest achievements may
some day be told with all the minuteness which records, researches, and
reminiscences will permit. Yet I do not believe the fullest account of
Webster would disclose any important traits not discovered by the
exhibition of such of his writings and labors as we have included in
this survey. There was nothing concealed in his nature. His vanity made
him open, and his strong self-reliance gave him a boldness of expression
which makes it possible for any student to measure his aims.

The chief discovery yet to be made of Webster, if any is possible, lies
in the direction of history. I do not suppose that if the entire
correspondence of Webster with his contemporaries could be produced, we
should find him any more potent as a public man than we have seen him to
be; but a