I located this interesting paragraph in the Introduction section of the 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language;
Etymology "To enable the young inquirer to estimate the erudition, correctness, or negligence of writers on this subject, and to awaken more attention to this branch of learning, I will state briefly the results of my researches and the opinions which I have been compelled to form on the merits of the principal treaties on this subject. And if these opinions or this statement should be charged to egotism, or my over-weening confidence in the success or my own investigations, my apology is, that I have suffered so much myself by a misplaced confidence in the erudition of writers; I have so often embraced errors which it has cost me more labor to unlearn than to learn; that if I can prevent my fellow-citizens, who have a taste for this study, from being subjected to the same evils." -Noah Webster