he Dictionary was rendered still
more useful by taking under its protection various tables of moneys and
weights, an official list of all the post-offices in the United States,
the number of inhabitants in the several States, and new and instructive
chronological tables. This, by the way, was the first occasion, I think,
when a word-book had departed from the customary boundaries of such
literature. I have been able to find but one precedent, Dyche and
Pardon's Dictionary, which, published a few years before, had contained
a supplementary list of persons and places, arranged alphabetically, and
apparently only as a museum of curiosities. This Dictionary had,
however, as a part of its regular text the several market towns in
England and Wales, with a general description of the places, their
situation, market-days, government, manufacture, number of
representatives sent to parliament, and distance from London. The
encyclopaedic features of a dictionary are clearly of American addition,
growing out of the more general and exclusive use of the Dictionary as a
book of reference, and increased by the suggestions of competition. The
Dictionary proper was an enlargement of Entick, and in this preliminary
work Webster exercised very little authority in deviating from the
generally accepted orthography. The extent of his changes is indicated
in his preface:--

"In a few instances I have preferred the orthography of Newton,
Prideaux, Hook, Dryden, Whiston, etc., to that of Johnson, as being more
analogical and purely English, as _scepter_, _sepulcher_. In omitting
_u_ in _honour_ and a few words of that class I have pursued a common
practice in this country, authorized by the principle of uniformity and
by etymology, as well as by Ash's Dictionary. In omitting _k_ after _c_
[as in _public_] I have unequivocal propriety and the present usage for
my authorities. In a few words, modern writers are gradually purifying
the orthography from its corruptions. Thus, Edwards in his 'History of
the West Indies,' and Gregory in his 'Economy of Nature,' Pope, Hoole,
etc., restore _mold_ to its true spelling; and it would be no small
convenience to revive the etymological spelling of _aker_. Cullen, in
his translation of 'Clavigero,' follows Bacon and Davenport in the true
Saxon orthography of _drouth_; and the elegant Blackstone has corrected
the orthography of _nusance_ and _duchy_. The diphthongs in words
borrowed from the Latin language hav