(1) Barton Swaim, A Definitive American Life; Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary embodied a nation grown self-confident enough to celebrate its own language. Wall Street Journal, Apr 14, 2011.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576247334173406802.html
(book review on Joshua Kendall, The Forgotten Founding Father; Noah Webster's obsession and the creation of American culture. Putnam, 2011)
Quote: "Politician Daniel Webster [US senator from Massachusetts] was Noah Webster’s cousin. As a senator, Daniel sponsored Noah’s proposed copyright bill. The first major statutory revision of U.S. copyright law, the 1831 Act was a result of intensive lobbying by Noah Webster and his agents in Congress.
* Merriam-Webster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merriam-Webster
(originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts; Merriam-Webster Inc. has been a subsidiary of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1964; section 1.1 Noah Webster, section 1.2 Merriam as publisher)
(b) typescript (n; type + manuscript): "a typewritten manuscript)
All definitions are from www.m-w.com.
Go to images.yahoo.com and you will see a typescript is different from a print.
(c) peremptory (adj): "characterized by often imperious or arrogant self-assurance <how insolent of late he is become, how proud, how peremptory — Shakespeare>"
(d) Thomas Dilworth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Dilworth
(died 1780; English author of a widely-used schoolbook, both in Great Britain and America: A New Guide to the English Tongue, published in 1761)
(e) Minerva (n): "the Roman goddess of wisdom — compare ATHENA" who is "the Greek goddess of wisdom."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerva
(f) Benjamin Rush
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Rush
(1746-1813; a Founding Father of the United States; lived in the state of Pennsylvania; a physician)
(g) The review talks about "attempts to improve Dr. Johnson."
Samuel Johnson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson
(1709-1784; often referred to as Dr Johnson; Englishman)
Quote: "Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755; it had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship."[3] The Dictionary brought Johnson popularity and success. Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnson's was viewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary.
(h) balderdash (n; origin unknown): "NONSENSE"
(2) John A Murray, Noah Webster and the Bee; Nobody would be prouder of contestants at the National Spelling Bee than the Founding Father who made it possible. Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704875604575280822341418854.html
Quote:
"The first national spelling bee was held in 1925.
"Given this amazing diversity united under one language, the author of America's first dictionary and the originator of uniform spelling in America (which makes the Bee possible!) would be proud. That's Noah Webster