The Grammar of English Grammars, page 438 by Gould Brown
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ess; fertileness, fertily; sliness, slyly; fearlessly, fearlesness; needlessness, needlesly_."--_Ib._ In respect to the final ck and our, he also intentionally departs from THE STANDARD _which he thus commends_; preferring, in that, the authority of _Walker's Rhyming Dictionary_, from which he borrowed his rules for spelling. For, against the use of k at the end of words from the learned languages, and against the u in many words in which Johnson used it, we have the authority, not only of general usage now, but of many grammarians who were contemporary with Johnson, and of more than a dozen lexicographers, ancient or modern, among whom is Walker himself. In this, therefore, Murray's practice is right, and his commended standard dictionary, wrong.
OBS. 4.--Of words ending in or or our, we have about three hundred and twenty; of which not more than forty can now with any propriety be written with the latter termination. Aiming to write according to the best usage of the present day, I insert the u in so many of these words as now seem most familiar to the eye when so written; but I have no partiality for any letters that can well be spared; and if this book should ever, by any good fortune, happen to be reprinted, after _honour, labour, favour, behaviour_, and endeavour, shall have become as unfashionable as _authour, errour, terrour_, and emperour, are now, let the proof-reader strike out the useless letter not only from these words, but from all others which shall bear an equally antiquated appearance.
OBS. 5.--I have suggested the above-mentioned imperfections in _Dr. Johnson's_ orthography, merely to justify the liberty which I take of spelling otherwise; and not with any view to give a preference to that of _Dr. Webster_, who is now contending for the honour of having furnished a more correct standard. For the latter author, though right in some things in which the former was wrong, is, on the whol