Office of the Commissioners of Public Schools, May 17th, 1853. At a meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Public Schools for the city of Baltimore held this day, Worcester's Universal and Critical Dictionary was introduced into all the schools for the use of the teachers.

The publishers of Webster's Dictionaries modestly say, that:—

"It is deemed superfluous to present evidence at the present day that the works of Dr. Webster are really the STANDARD AUTHORITY in the orthography and orthophy of the English language.

We have not "deemed it superfluous to present evidence" to disprove this statement; and we leave the public to determine whether we have done so or not. In the language of WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, we believe, that "so far is Webster's Dictionary from meeting with the general acceptance of scholars and the community, that of those who, in different parts of our country and of the world, employ our common language, that noble vehicle of thought which we call English, with a moderate degree of attention to its purity, there are not ten in a hundred who accept Webster's' Dictionary as a standard of language; nay, the majority of them have in fact no acquaintance with it."

Most of the literary men of the country have written to Messrs. G. & C. Merriam, acknowledging the receipt of Webster's Dictionary, and speaking in complimentary terms of it as a book of reference, but they do not recommend it as a National Standard for orthography and pronunciation. Read the following from Washington Irving, in reply to a letter of inquiry addressed to him by the chairman of the committee on literature, in the New York Legislature.

"SUNNYSIDE, June 25, 1851..

"Dear Sir: Several months since, I received from Messrs. G. & C. Merriam a copy of their quarto edition of Webster's Dictionary. In acknowledging the receipt of it, I expressly informed them that I did not make it my standard of orthography, and gave them my reasons for not doing so, and for considering it an unsafe standard for American writers to adopt. At the same time I observed, the work had so much merit in many respects that I made it quite a vade mecum.

"They had the disingenuousness to extract merely the part of my opinion which I have underlined, and to insert it among their puffs and advertisements, as if I had given a general and unqualified approbation of the work. I have hitherto suffered this bookseller's trick to pass unnoticed; but your letter obliges me to point it out, and to express my decided opinion that Webster's Dictionary is not a work advisable to be introduced "by authority" into our schools as a standard of orthography.

"I am, sir, with great respect,

"To Hon. JAMES W. BEEKMAN,

"Your obedient servant,

"WASHINGTON IRVING.

Chairman of the Senate Committee of Literature.'"

The publishers of Webster's Dictionary print a letter from Hon. Horace Mann, late Secretary of the Board of Education, commendatory of Webster's Dictionary. Read what he says of Worcester's as a standard for orthography and pronunciation.

"For many years, in all my writing, speaking, and teaching, I have endeavored to conform to the rules for orthography and pronunciation as contained in Worcester's Dictionary. I suppose them, with but very few exceptions, to represent the highest standard recognized by the best writers and speakers, in England and in this country. I shall not fail to recommend every person to purchase a copy of this Dictionary who is able to do so.

*

"HORACE MANN."

Mr. S. S. Greene, now Professor of Didactics in Brown University, and Superintendent of Public Schools, Providence:

"I regard Worcester's Dictionary as a standard work on the orthography and pronunciation of the English language, and as such, I keep it in constant use.

"S. S. GREENE."

That the public may become acquainted with Webster's orthography,

as corrected, amended, and authorized by his heirs, in the Dictionary now claimed to be the standard authority, the following illustration is taken from that judicious paper, the Boston Mercantile Journal :

"The English language might be greatly improved were there any center around which the people could rally, or had we a few men of sufficient caliber to compel the mass to imitate them. Unluckily, few scholars have reached a hight sufficiently elevated to command attention, or, having reached it, they have become the most rigid conservatives. The somber specter of injured usage seems to rise and warn them not to attempt to remold what time has modeled, and covered with venerable oxyd. Were all the anomalies of our unequaled orthography collected in one head, so that one stroke of a saber could sever them all, and send them to repose forever in the sepulcher of awkward and perhaps useless things, one would be marvelously willfull not to be ready to strain every fiber to make the stroke effectual; but it is trifling to kill a snake 'joint by joint, verteber by verteber, as Dr. Webster proposes. It is to be regretted that the noble writers who perfected our language, and have rarely been equaled by the best of their successors, did not lay down rules for the reduction of all anomalous words to a uniform rule, as they might have done, had they been thoughtful; whereas they only fixed irregularity, and, by the luster of their talents, brought on a thralldom, the end of which no earthly traveler can foretell. I am not a worshiper of antiquity, but I cannot lay aside habits as easily as a bird molts its feathers. It is an offense to me to see old usages set aside or canceled, under pretense of reform, when the reform, if it be one, is too partial to do any good. The theater of a man's actions may be very circumscribed, but the humblest can practice what is just, in language as well as in conduct, and be a counselor, and a defense to the weak and erring. To fulfill our duty we should endeavor to instill into other minds, and exhibit in our own, a love of truth and simplicity, for as niter is powerless (until mixed with carbon, so virtue is useless until by blending with society it finds objects, is tried, and becomes invigorated."

This is Websterian orthography, and it is worthy of note, that, although most of the literary men in the country have made courteous acknowledgments to the Messrs. Merriam for an elegantly bound literary present, as in the case of WASHINGTON IRVING,not one of them having the slightest claims to eminence in scholarship has, in his published works, adopted Webster's orthography as a standard. THEY ALL FOLLOW WORCESTER INVARIABLY. Take, for instance, the beautiful edition of the works of Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER, in six volumes, just issued from the well-known publishing house of Messrs. Little & Brown. Mr. Webster adopts Worcester's orthography. So with Everett, Irving, Bancroft, Prescott, Longfellow, Sparks, Hawthorne, Whipple, Bryant, and others.

The National Intelligencer is so averse to the Websterian mode of spelling now practised by the Harpers in all their publications, that, says the editor, "We have not purchased a book of the issue of that press which could be procured from any other source.

JENKS, HICKLING & SWAN, BOSTON.

Sold by all the booksellers.

P. S. Since the publication of this advertisement the Publishers of Webster's Dictionary have issued an advertisement that purports to controvert our statements. We have no reply to make to it, except to ask all interested in this question, to compare carefully their quotations from our statement with the passages as they occur in the original. We are content to leave to an impartial and candid public, how far our text has been garbled and perverted; and how far their rejoinder has been prepared with an honest purpose, to spread the whole truth before the community.

We cannot, however, refrain from copying the following statement from Messrs. Merriam's advertisement:

"Now mark this fact. An edition of Worcester's Dictionary has recently been published in London, and sought to be pushed there, in which the paragraph we have cited is carefully suppressed, and is advertised as 'WEBSTER'S Critical and Pronouncing Dictionary, &c., enlarged and revised by Worcester.' On the title page WEBSTER is placed first, in large type, and Worcester follows in another line, in smaller type, and the book is lettered on the back, WEBSTER'S and Worcester's Dictionary!!' This text, we think, needs no commentary."

We think it does. If the statement be true, we presume it to be, in the language of Washington Irving, a "bookseller's trick," to manufacture a reputation in London for Dr. Webster's character as a lexicographer, at the expense of Dr. Worcester. Advertising Worcester's Dictionary as Webster's may account for some of the flattering notices which Webster's Dictionaries have recently received from that country.

J., H. & S.

SCHOOL FURNITURE WORKI

CORNER OF HAWKINS AND IVERS STREETS,

MERICAN SCHOOL FURNITURE WORKS,

CORNER OF HAWKINS AND IVERS STREETS, BOSTON.

JOSEPH L. ROSS, Proprietor.

No. 4. Ross's New England Primary Desk and Chair. No. 8. Ross's New York Prmary Double Desk and Chairs.

The above and all other articles of SCHOOL FURNITURE are

MANUFACTURED AND WARRANTED BY JOSEPH L. ROSS,

Hawkins Street, Corner of Ivers Street, Boston.

J. L. ROSS takes pleasure in referring to the following gentlemen, who are acquainted with the quality of his work, viz. BILLINGS BRIGGS, Esq., Chairman of Committee on Public Buildings, from 1827 to 1852.

JOHN P. OBER, Esq., Chairman of the above Committee for 1852.

JAMES MCALLASTER, Esq., Superintendent of Public Buildings.

NATHAN BISHOP, Esq., Superintendent of Public Schools.

The following SCHOOL BOOKS, many of them recently published, are perhaps the most popular Books, as a Series, ever issued. Teachers and friends of education are respectfully requested to examine the same, under the assurance that they are already preferred by a large body of intelligent educators, viz. :

BULLIONS'S SERIES OF GRAMMARS-English, Latin, Greek; and the ELEMENTARY CLASSICS, consisting of Practical Lessons in English Grammar; The Principles of English Grammar; An Analytical and Practical English Grammar; Introduction to do. ; Exercises in Parsing; (SPENCER'S) Latin Lessons; Latin Grammar; Latin Reader; Cæsar; Cicero; Sallust; (COOPER'S) Virgil; First Lessons in Greek; A Greek Grammar and Greek Reader.

THE ANALYTICAL AND PRACTICAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR is in use in the Public Schools of Boston, Normal School at Bridgewater, in Salem, Middleboro' Academy, Quincy, and over seventy Academies in New York, &c. DODD'S ELEMENTARY ALGEBRA, a new work.

DODD'S ELEMENTARY AND PRACTICAL ARITHMETIC.

DODD'S HIGH SCHOOL ARITHMETIC, containing Practical Mensuration, Exchange, Life Insurance, and Annuities. By J. B. DODD, A. M., President of Transylvania University.

This last Book has just been introduced into the Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H., Middleboro' Academy, Preparatory Department of the Normal School, West Newton, and other places in New England.

COMSTOCK'S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, just revised and enlarged." COMSTOCK'S ELEMENTS OF CHEMISTRY, just revised and enlarged. The Philosophy has been very greatly improved, and commands the admiration of teachers. Ericsson's Caloric Engine has been added. The Chemistry is again a new work, and contains much new matter.

BROCKLESBY'S METEOROLOGY, including Rain, Wind, Waterspouts, Hail, Electricity, Aurora Borealis, &c., for High Schools.

BROCKLESBY'S VIEWS OF THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD, one of the most interesting books ever published, also for High Schools.

OLNEY'S SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY AND ATLAS, with the late CENSUS; a MAP OF THE WORLD, as known to the Ancients; and a MAP OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD.

OLNEY'S QUARTO GEOGRAPHY, elegantly illustrated, including the Census and Physical Geography.

These Maps are just revised and engraved by SHERMAN & SMITH, engravers for Government surveys. They contain all Railroads in operation, and other internal improvements, and are rapidly going into schools from which others had displaced them.

THE STUDENT'S SPELLER, PRIMER, and READER, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. No Books recently published have created a greater sensation among Teachers than the Student's Series. D. P. PAGE, formerly of Mass., when Principal of the New York State Normal School, said of the system on which these readers are based, "It is the best system I ever saw for teaching the first principles

of Reading."

Books sent for examination on application by letter or otherwise. A complete assortment of School Books, besides the above Works, may be had of the Publishers,

PRATT, WOODFORD & CO.

No. 4 Cortlandt Street, New York.