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It is an unanswerable argument of a very refined age. the wonderful civilities that have passed between the nation of authors and that of readers.

It was an unsuccessful undertaking; which, although it has failed, is no objection at all to an enterprise so well concerted.

The reward is his due, and it has already, or will hereafter, be given to him.

By intercourse with wise and experienced persons, who know the world, we may improve and rub off the rust of a private and retired education.

Sincerity is as valuable, and even more valuable, than knowledge.

No person was ever so perplexed, or sustained the mortifications, as he has done to day.

The Romans gave, not only the freedom of the city, but capacity for employments, to several towns, in Gaul, Spain and Germany.

Such writers have no other standard on which to form themselves, except what chances to be fashionable and popular.

Whatever we do secretly, shall be displayed and heard in the clearest light.

To the happiness of possessing a person of such uncommon merit, Boethius soon had the satisfaction of obtaining the highest honor his country could bestow.

IMPROPRIETIES OF SPEECH TO BE AVOIDED.

The following improprieties in language occur more or less frequently, though for the most part in conversation, in different parts of the United States. They are here arranged and exhibited, that they may be avoided.

To ADMIRE, in the sense of to be pleased; as, 'I should admire to go;' 'I should admire to be present,' &c. AN'T, CAN'T, SHAN'T, DON'T, &c. for am not, cannot, shall not, &c.

'ARY ONE, for either.

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AWFUL, for disagreeable, frightful, &c. as, an awful wind, an awful hole, an awful face,' &c.

AWFULLY, for badly, wickedly; as, "Her child behav

ed awfully.'

BALANCE, for remainder; as, 'I have paid my part, and you must pay the balance.'

BE, for am, are, &c. as, "Be you going?' 'I be'
BREACHY, for unruly. The oxen are breachy.'
CALCULATE, for intend. 'I calculate to go.'

CHIRK, for comfortable; as, 'She was sick yesterday, but is chirk to-day.'

CHORE, for char, or small job

CHUNK, CHUNKY, CHUNKED. Low, unauthorized words. CLEVER, for honest; as, 'He is not very intelligent, but very clever.'

CLEVERLY, for in good health; as, 'How do you do?' Cleverly, I thank you.'

COMPOSUIST, for writer, composer.

TO CONDUCT, in the sense of a neuter verb.

TO CONVENE, 'for to be convenient; as, 'The house does not convene us.'

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CROCK, CROCKED, for black, blacked; smut, smutted. CURIOUS, for excellent; as, This is curious cider.' DROUTH, for drought.

EXPECT, in the sense of believe, think, presume; as, 'I expect there was a meeting; I expect he went yesterday.' We expect things to come, not things past.

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To FALL, for to fell; as, 'You fall this tree, and I will fall that.'

FROUGHY, for rancid, fetid, &c.

GUARDEEN, for guardian.

GUESS, for suppose, believe, think. We should never guess about things which we well know.

HAD RATHER, for should or would rather; as, 'I had rather go.'. Had go is a singular combination.

HAVE GOT, to express necessity; as, 'I have got to do it,' for 'I must do it.'

HEFT, for weight. What's the heft?'

HEFT, for lift; as, 'Do heft this stone.'
HET, for heated.

'The iron was well het.

HOUSEN, for houses; as, 'How many housen are there in Worcester ??

ING, a very common termination, pronounced In; as, Cunnin, comin, mornin, workin, &c.

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KEDGE, for comfortable.

am kedge now.'

'I have been very ill, but

LAY, for lie; as, 'I will lay down and rest me for an hour.'

LENGTHY, for long. We might as properly say strengthy for strong.

MAD, for angry. Mad means disordered in mind, deranged.

MIGHTY, for very. The child has been mighty good.' 'It's mighty cold.'

MUSICAL, for humorous, noisy ; as, 'John is a musical fellow.'

NARY ONE, for neither.

NEVER SO MUCH, for ever so much.

NICELY, for in good health; as, 'How does your mother?' Nicely, I thank you.'

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No, for not.

'You may believe

NOWAYS, for nowise.

OTHERWAYS, for otherwise.

me, or no.'

HAD OUGHT, HADN'T OUGHT, DON'T OUGHT, &c. for ought and ought not.

PEEK, for peep; and PEEKING for peeping.

PERK, for brisk, lively. The child is very perk to-day.'
POORLY, for ill. 'I feel very poorly, I assure you.'
TO PROGRESS, for to make progress, to advance.
TO RECKON, for suppose, believe, think.

shall be there.'

I reckon I

SAT, for set; as, ' He sat out on his journey yesterday.' SAUCE, for vegetables.

SEE, for saw. 'I see you do it.' 'I see you when you went out."

SICH, for such.

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SIGHT, for great number, or quantity. What a sight of men !'

SINGULAR NUMBER, for the plural.

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'The stick is twenty foot long.' The pig weighs forty pound.' 'He owes two million of dollars.'"

SPAN, for pair ; as, 'A span of horses.'

SPELL, for term, duration, &c. as, 'A bad spell of weather.'

THAT 'ARE, for that; as,

THIS 'ERE, for this ; as,

'What book is that 'are?' This 'ere is mine.' THEM, for those ; as, 'See them pigeons.' them books.'

'Give me

UGLY, for ill tempered. Ugly is the opposite of handsome. A woman may be very ugly, and still very amiable. FROM WHENCE, for whence. The from, in this connexion, in superfluous.

WILT, for wither.

The flower wilted and died.'

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PROSODY.

PROSODY, the last part of Grammar, teaches the true pronunciation of words: comprising ACCENT, QUANTITY, EMPHASIS, PAUSE, and TONE; and the laws of VERSIFICA

TION.

ACCENT is the laying of a peculiar stress of the voice, on a certain letter or syllable in a word, that it may be better heard than the rest, or distinguished from them: as, in the word presume, the stress of the voice must be on the letter u, and second syllable, sume, which take the accent.

Every word in our language, of more than one syllable, has one of them distinguished from the rest in this manner and some writers assert, that every monosyllable of two or more letters, has one of its letters thus distinguished.

Accent is either principal or secondary. The principal accent is that which necessarily distinguishes one syllable in a word from the rest. The secondary accent is that stress, which we may occasionally place upon another syllable, besides that which has the principal accent, in order to pronounce every part of the word more distinctly, forcibly, and harmoniously.

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Accent seems to be regulated, in a great measure, by etymology. In words from the Saxon, the accent is generally on the root: in words from the learned languages, it is generally on the termination; and if to

these we add the different accent we lay on some words, to distinguish them from others, we seem to have the three great principles of accentuation; namely, the radical, the terminational, and the distinctive. The radical : as, 'Love, lovely, loveliness; the terminational: as, 'Hármony, harmónious;' the distinctive : as, ' Cónvert, to convért.'

The QUANTITY of a syllable, is that time which is occupied in pronouncing it. It is considered as LONG or

SHORT.

A vowel or syllable, is long, when the accent is on the vowel; which occasions it to be slowly joined in pronunciation with the following letters: as, 'Fäll, bale, mōōd, house, feature."

A syllable is short, when the accent is on the consonant; which occasions the vowel to be quickly joined to the succeeding letter; as, 'ănt, bonnet, hunger.'

A long syllable generally requires double the time of a short one in pronouncing it: thus, 'Mate,' and 'Nōte should be pronounced as slowly again as 'Măt' and 'Not.'

By EMPHASIS is meant a stronger and fuller sound of voice, by which we distinguish some word or words on which we design to lay particular stress, and to show how they affect the rest of the sentence. Sometimes the emphatic words must be distinguished by a particular tone of voice, as well as by a greater stress.

On the right management of the emphasis depends the life of pronunciation. If no emphasis be placed on any words, not only will discourse be rendered heavy and lifeless, but the meaning often left ambiguous.

If the emphasis be placed wrong, we shall pervert and confound the meaning wholly.

To give a common instance: such a simple question as this, 'Do you ride to town to-day?' is capable of no fewer than four different acceptations, according as the emphasis is differently placed on the words.

If it be pronounced thus: Do you ride to town to day?' the answer may naturally be, 'No, we send a servant in our stead.'

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