s necessarily invented by the Americans.
When the people of England emigrated to the states, they came from every
county in England, and each county brought its provincialisms with it.
These were admitted into the general stock; and were since all collected
and bound up by one Mr Webster. With the exception of a few words
coined for local uses (such as _snags_ and _sawyers_, on the
Mississippi,) I do not recollect a word which I have not traced to be
either a provincialism of some English county, or else to be obsolete
English. There are a few from the Dutch, such as _stoup_, for the porch
of a door, etcetera. I was once talking with an American about
Webster's dictionary, and he observed, "Well now, sir, I understand it's
the only one used in the Court of St James, by the king, queen, and
princesses, and that by royal order."

The upper class of the Americans do not, however, speak or pronounce
English according to our standard; they appear to have no exact rule to
guide them, probably from the want of any intimate knowledge of Greek or
Latin. You seldom hear a derivation from the Greek pronounced
correctly, the accent being generally laid upon the wrong syllable. In
fact, every one appears to be independent, and pronounces just as he
pleases.

But it is not for me to decide the very momentous question, as to which
nation speaks the best English. The Americans generally improve upon
the inventions of others; probably they may have improved upon our
language.

I recollect some one observing how very superior the German language was
to the English, from their possessing so many compound substantives and
adjectives; whereupon his friend replied, that it was just as easy for
us to possess them in England if we pleased, and gave us as an example
an observation made by his old dame at Eaton, who declared that young
Paulet was, without any exception, the most _good-for-nothing-est_, the
most _provoking-people-est_, and the most _poke-about-every-corner-est_
boy she had ever had charge of in her life.

Assuming this principle of improvement to be correct, it must be
acknowledged that the Americans have added considerably to our
dictionary; but, as I have before observed, this being a point of too
much delicacy for me to decide upon, I shall just submit to the reader
the occasional variations, or improvements, as they may be, which met my
ears during my residence in America, as also the idiomatic
peculiarities, and h