Animadverfions on American Literature. 
any nations, which fhe doth not amply 
- ge-pay with herown, America borrows 
from all—pays none. From Great 
Britain, fhe receives not only all Britith 
works, but Britifhtranflations of foreign 
works.’ Perhaps it may be faid, the 
pays forthem; certainly, nothing more 
can be required between a bookfeller 
and a cuftomer in his fhop: but, be- 
tween nations, genius cannot be bar- 
tered but foritfelf; itis a reftlefs, ever- 
ftirring quality of the humah mind, 
which can only be fatisfied with itfelf, 
which increafés only, to be increafed ; 
enlightens only to be enlightened the 
more. Is there any literary produétion 
to which America hath given birth, 
ftamped with original genius? An Eu- 
ropean will immediately anfwer, — 
—— 
But, as Americans may choofe to an- 
{wer the queftion, a blank is’ left for 
any man of found underitanding among 
them to fill it up with ae a produc- 
tion, if hecan. Itis prefumed, that it 
cannot be filled up with the writings of 
Dr. Franklin; they are not original :. 
but popular home-fpun Proverbs, and 
were dealt out in a wholefale way, long 
before the Doctor faw the light; nor 
with Morfe’s Geography ; the Fabulous 
Mythology of the Heathens; the Le- 
gends of the Monks ; the Romances of 
Chivalry—all exifted before his publi- 
catious. Nor with the Poetry of Trum- 
bull, Dwight; nor the Hiftories of 
Adams, Ramiay, Belknap, Minot— 
the latter indeed may ferve as collec- 
tions of materials for fome perfon of 
genius tofound an hiftorical work upon, 
but they will never be read as models of 
hiftoriograpby. ‘Thefe are the names 
of the few principal American writers, 
except one, who, if this paper fhould 
ever meet his eye, will, without hefi- 
tation, fill up the blank with his own 
productions, and it will then ftand 
thus, Phe Works of Noah Webfter, 
Efq. Thefe’ have been numerous; 
and feveral of them very refpectable 
and ingenious, but fo heterogeneous 
as to defy analyfis: Morality, Poli- 
tics, Religion, and Aftrology, mixed, 
and beat up together like drugs in a 
mortar. It was referved for this gentle- 
man to difcover that the Britith Lterati, 
by the pains which they had taken for 
fo many centuries to arrange their lan- 
guage into its prefent tate of fymmetry, 
had deprived it of its beauties, and fo 
tied it up with parts of {peech, moods, 
tenfes, numbers, and perfops, as to 
625 
require a long and tedious time to 
untie the Gordian knot; therefore, 
Alexander like, he determined to cut it 
at once; let Syntax loofe; diverce ad- 
jective from fubftantive; wreak his ven 
geance upon orthography and deliver. it, 
bound hand andioot, to orthoépy, to 
-ufe at pleafure: out of thefe poor dif- 
jointed rudiments, he propofed to frame, 
in his peftle and mortar way; an Ame- 
rican Tongue, of which he was to be 
the immortal founder! Fired with the. 
glorious profpeét, and determined to. 
break down that barrier which he 
could not over-leap, between learning 
and ignorance, and to becomethe cham- 
pion of the Jatter, he publithed a Mif- 
cellaneous Collection of Stuff, having’ 
the fame affinity to fcience, which an. 
Olla podrida, or hotch-potch, hath to: 
cookery, ‘‘ pafling all underitanding of 
man,’’ and propofed it'as a model of 
American writing, and the foundation 
of the new tongue. Among the prin- 
cipal improvements introduced into this 
elegant {pecimen of Tranfatlantic novel+ 
ty, was that of {pelling words according: 
to auricular founds; as, az; his, biz3 
honor, homnur; and alfo, that of cutting 
out, by fyncope, all letters not ufed in 
pronunciation—as in brought, bret; 
thought, thot; fought, /o?: but, un-' 
fortunately for this Tongue-maker, his 
work procured him only one difciple,. 
or wag, who pretended to be fo—a. 
Razor-grinder by trade. He refided, 
for he was above the order of itinerant 
brethren, in a heufe adjoining to the 
bridge over the creek in Richmond, in’ 
Virginia; and, in order to hold out his 
Occupation to the imtelligent Virginians, 
put a board over his fhop-window, on 
-which was infcribed, ** Razors ground 
and fot here !”” vit 
Pride, inherent to, and the deadly foe 
of, man, keeps him in utter darkne{s 
and makes him regard: the friend 
who would probe his weaknefs as an 
enemy; the tafkis therefore very im- 
portant. American hauteur will be | 
offended, when it is told that they are 
only bad copyilts; but it muft be mol- 
lined, when it is alfo told that Horace 
ufed coarfer language to the mafters of 
the world, when he called them, O imi- 
tatores, fervum pecus! and that they 
{ubmitted to it, becaufe they had tht 
fenfe to perceive that they deferved it.- 
Dr. Franklin, whofe eccentricities be- 
came no man befides himfelf, made ute 
of the homelieit language, feldom rie ° 
fing higher than moral proverbs, “evi- 
deithy 
ra 
