ersons, had thus both its strength and weakness. There was wanting the
large and comprehensive spirit of an historic church; there was the
peril of a too abstract regard for religion; but on the other hand there
was a very strong stimulus to individualism. No one with any force of
character could grow up under these influences without being vigorously
affected by them.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] An examination of the Yale catalogue shows that, with some
fluctuations, the proportion of clerical alumni to the whole number of
graduates fell off pretty surely during the middle of the century. In
the decades marked by Webster's graduation, the proportion was roughly
as follows: in 1748, nearly one half the class entered the ministry; in
1758, nearly one third; in 1768 one fourth; in 1778, one tenth.

[2] _Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor_, i. 11, 12.

[3] _President Clap's Annals_, under date of 1765.

[4] _History of Durham, Connecticut_. By William Chauncey Fowler, LL.
D., pp. 97, 98.

CHAPTER II.

THE GRAMMATICAL INSTITUTE.

"In the year 1782, while the American army was lying on the bank of the
Hudson, I kept a classical school in Goshen, Orange County, State of New
York. I there compiled two small elementary books for teaching the
English language. The country was then impoverished, intercourse with
Great Britain was interrupted, school-books were scarce and hardly
attainable, and there was no certain prospect of peace."

These words have doubtless a familiar sound to the reader. They form the
phrases which Webster never wearied of repeating, and whenever he had
occasion to refer to the beginning of his literary career he fell
naturally into this paragraph. It became a formula for the expression of
a fact which was embedded in his mind as a stone marking a point of
departure. There is a consciousness in it of the beginning of a great
enterprise, and certainly, when one considers the immense stream which
has flowed from this little rill, he may seriously stand and gaze at the
young school-master and his two small elementary books. The modesty of
the statement agrees with the size of the books, but not with the
expansiveness of the composite title. The work projected by Webster was
"A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, comprising an Easy,
Concise, and Systematic Method of Education, designed for the Use of
English Schools in America." The "Institute" was to be in three parts,
which were,