PREFACE. MEN who have been accustomed to the more finished Grammars, employed in teaching the ancient Classical Languages; and who have most generally acquired their knowledge of their own through them; have felt great embarrassment, when they have been called upon to teach the English, by means of the Grammars that have hitherto been employed. Their arrangement has appeared so imperfect, that to obviate the inconvenience, many persons have compiled forms of their own; and, in several instances, have been kind enough to submit their productions, however elementary, to the inspection of the public eye. The Editor of the present Grammar, being called to the education of his own family, fell into the same perplexity. The difficulty was, how to make choice of a Grammar, upon which he liked to commence. Some that he procured, were too brief; having rules without examples for their illustration; others were of a didactic kind, leaving to the master the task of verbal instruction and elucidation; others were too abstruse and technical; some came in an Epistolary form; and Mr. Murray's Grammar, which hitherto a had obtained the greatest preference, was arranged in a style so peculiarly his own, as not only to overlook the Saxon origin of our language, but, entirely to reject all conformity with the classical models of Greece and Rome; was not the one exactly to be selected. At length, the Grammar published at the expense of the late Miss Linwood, of Leicester, for the use of her school, from a manuscript compiled by the Rev. Henry St. John Bullen, formerly Head Master of the classical school there, was lent him. And finding it arranged with more regard to order, and the classification of the several heads, important to be learned; the Editor made it the outline of the scheme which is now presented to the public. He found it, however, very incorrectly printed, and otherwise constructed with fanciful peculiarities; but, at the same time so novel in it's form, so capable of further enlargement, and so much more nearly arranged according to the Latin Grammar, that he made choice of it, as the basis of the plan herein pursued. And it has been one of the main objects of the Editor to carry out this conformity; however not solely in consonance with the Latin model, but that it might more nearly assimilate with modern European Grammars, all of which approach the construction of the Latin more nearly than our own. At the commencement of his undertaking, the first step taken by the Editor was, carefully to revise Mr. Bullen's work itself, to remove from it such parts as seemed objectionable; to correct the various typo graphical errors that defaced it; and to add to it such elucidations, as by constant repetition, from time to time, with his children, occurred to his observation; which either appear in the text, or are embodied in notes, so presented in the body of the work, as to bespeak their importance; and so placed to attract the perusal of the scholar, in his further progress, as to supply him with every information requisite for a complete understanding of the English. This being done, the additions of the Editor were found so much more enlarged than he anticipated; that he was induced to test his observations, by a comparison of them with every good authority, which he was able to procure, or his time would allow him to peruse. Where he found himself supported, he had no hesitation in adopting his observations. And where he had advanced what had not occurred to previous writers on the subject, he did not expunge it, but has confided his conceptions to the candid indulgence of the public: that, whether approved or not, they might, at least, throw out hints to other enquirers, who may seek to improve the present attempt. Whichever may be the result of his undertaking, he will feel satisfied that his labour has not been entirely thrown away. If, however, in attempting this, he should be considered, in certain instances, to have been over-minute, he has thought it preferable not to omit any illustrations, which a foreigner might deem requisite, or that might be required as general matters of reference; leaving the English Tutor at his option, either to omit or to erase them. Brevity, and comprehensiveness as well, being studied; the next desideratum seemed to be, to render the information imparted, as simple and explanatory, as the nature of the subject would admit; always bearing in mind that it was intended for the study of the young, whose capacities had hitherto been unexercised in the comprehension of any thing abstruse. Older heads, well versed in the elements of general Grammar, may treat the subject on a philosophic principle, but it cannot be expected from children. Facilities, therefore, he conceived, ought to be afforded them in the acquisition of the elements of information, suited to their capacities; and every possible encouragement given to smooth the way. This the Editor has attempted, by tracing the derivations of technical terms, and suiting the phraseology of the earlier rules, so as to define and explain their application, by accommodating the translation of them to the terms of the rule; so long as the simplification of these rudiments, by such means, did not injure or degrade the subject, by unclassical or too homely expressions. In the transition, also, from the earlier to the later subjects of acquisition, he has endeavoured so to arrange his materials in the ascent, by accounting for their use on philosophical and naturally practical principles, as to excite corresponding thought and reflection in the mind of the learner; and yet, that the transition, from the simple to the more abstruse, should be encum |