a particular language, which have for their object to class together words inflected by a similar rule of analogy. Hence a sweeping allotment of indeclinables is precisely the first best resource of the classifier. In languages of southern (or rather of Latin) origin, the parts of speech are more numerous than in languages of northern (or Gothic) origin. In English, why should we class under different heads the words this, the, that? If we call them articles, or particles, pronouns, or adnouns, they are still words of the same class; the indicating a middle situation between this and that; this indicating a more contiguous, and that a more remote situation than the. Of the, the old plural was they, which is now used only as a nominative to verbs. Mr. Grant makes (p.25.) some good observations on the article, which he would term the definitive.

Another case of impropriety is the calling in an English grammar by the name preposition, which means put before, those separable inflective syllables, with which our verbs are frequently combined. To stand by, to look over, to set on, are instances of verbal composition, in which not a preposition, but an affix, is employed; yet, as we can say a by-stander, an overlooker, and onset, we ought not to include any idea of place, or position, in the definition of this class of words.

Under the head prepositions, (p. 105.) Mr. Grant takes no notice of our peculiar, and to foreigners difficult, management of the preposition. To see through you is to penetrate your intentions; to see you through (a business) is to help you out of a difficulty. To go under is to pass beneath; to undergo is to suffer. To forego is to go before; to forgo is to go without. To stand under is to stay beneath; to understand is to comprehend. To overcast is to grow gloomy; to cast over is to fling from on board of a ship, or over a wall, &c. To take under protection is to bestow shelter generally; to undertake protection is to promise it in case of need. To take over is to carry across; to overtake is to pursue so fast as to catch. To do over is to obtain an advantage; to overdo is to work excessively. To come over is to desert to the other side; to overcome is to vanquish. To run out is to quit the house; to outrun is to surpass in speed. To stand with is to be in alliance; to withstand is to be in hostility. To draw with is to assist in drawing; to withdraw is to go away. To hold with is to agree in sentiment; to withhold is to keep a thing out of reach. To wear out is to exhaust, or consume; to outwear is to last longer than something else. To overthrow is to pull down; to throw over is to fling across. An offset is the shoot of a pullulating plant; a set-off is an indemnity. To burn out is to extinguish; to outburn is to be brighter than another fire. To swear for is to support with an

oath;

oath; to forswear is to commit perjury. To postpone a preposition in English totally alters its signification.

In the class of adjectives, we are surprized to see Mr. Grant giving countenance (p. 52.) to some equivocally correct comparatives. Thus, from the adjective hind, it is legitimate to form hinder and hindest, or to form hindmore and hindmost, which last have prevailed in writing, in order to avoid ocular equivocation but it is not legitimate to combine both forms of inflection, and to say or to write hindermost.

At p. 80. a curious note occurs concerning the use of shall and will; from which it appears that the received version of the Bible is at variance with the Common-prayer-book in the use of these auxiliaries. Hence Dissenters, who read every Sunday in the Bible, so commonly differ from Churchmen, who read every Sunday in the Common-prayer-book, in the appli cation of these defective verbs.

Mr. G. supplies at p. 90. a list of verbs commonly called irregular. Some of these are irregular only by contraction: such are the verbs of which the infinitives terminate with a t. From a natural difficulty in pronouncing rapidly the sound ed after the letter t, this termination has in conversation been habitually omitted; and the omission, which in comedies or novels, where the language of conversation is imitated, was a thing of course, has finally travelled into solemn oratory, and into literature for the closet. Such are the verbs cast, cost, hit, hurt, knit, let, burst, must, rid, put, shed, shut, shred, set, spred, &c. Many of these verbs might, with entire euphony, and without any violation of English analogy, receive at least a participial inflection. We might say casten, hitten, shedden, shutten, as Lowth recommends. - Other verbs called irregular ought rather to be classed as of the second conjugation; being inflected by a peculiar rule of analogy common to most of the Gothic dialects. Such are the verbs which form the past, tense by changing the vowel of the present tense, and the participle in en: as break, broke, broken; blow, blew, blown; chide, chid, chidden; bite, bit, bitten; behold, beheld, beholden; arise, arose, arisen; bind, bound, bounden; choose, chose, chosen; cleave, clave, cloven; grow, grew, grown; draw, drew, drawn; eat, ate, eaten; fall, fell, fallen; freeze, froze, frozen; get, got, gotten's hide, hid, hidden; hold, held, holden; know, knew, known ;"ride, rode, ridden; show, shew, shown; sink, sank, sunken; sit, sat, sitten; slide, slid, slidden; smite, smote, smitten; speak, spake, 'spoken; steal, stole, stolen; stride, strode, stridden; strow, strew, strown; swell, swoll, swollen; take, took, taken; thrive, throve, thriven; wear, wore, worn; write, wrote, written; and several others. As these verbs are the completest in the . REV. JULY, 1814.

X

English

English language, distinguishing the past tense both from the present tense and from the past participle, no opportunity should be lost by the grammarian for pressing into this list those verbs which, if we may so say, are still hesitating whether they shall belong to it or not. Thus the verb to strike forms struck in the past sense, but is hesitating whether to form stricken in the participle. Though Shakspeare already uses the latter in speaking of " the stricken deer," yet "I have struck" is in most frequent use.

Among the conjunctions, Mr. Grant (p. 112.) places either, botb, and neither; which many of our grammarians rank among the pronouns: so strangely indefinite are the subdivisions termed parts of speech. The tenth chapter, on Derivation, has the merit of introducing a topic too little discussed in popular grammars.

At p. 169. the following rule is given:-'substantives, or nouns and pronouns, signifying the same thing, agree in case; as "Cicero the orator," "I the king."-That substantives placed in apposition agree in case may be a rule of Latin grammar, but it is not a law of the English language. We say, His Majesty King George's soldiers: not His Majesty's King's George's soldiers. The Englishman imagines all words connected by apposition to be hyphened together, and inflects them as a single word: but, when the phrase is too long to be so contemplated, the inflective syllable is attached to the main substantive, and those which are subordinate stand apart in the case absolute. We staid at Lord Lyttleton's, the ornament of his country: no one would write the ornament's.

The first Appendix treats of figures of speech, somewhat pedantically. It may be well to attach more of the theory of rhetoric than is commonly allotted to grammars of language; yet, we think, the department of grammatical tuition is so different in its character from that of oratorical composition, that we should have preferred the assignment of a distinct treatise to each.

Appendix ii. treats of style. On these topics, Blair and Campbell are not easily excelled, but may properly be abridged.

The third Appendix relates to punctuation; a topic which is essential to an English grammar. The vitious punctuation of the Psalms in the Common-prayer-book is deservedly blamed at p. 344. As the art of reading is acquired and preserved among the people of England in a great degree by means of their liturgic exercises, it is important that gross grammatical blunders should not be inculcated in them.

We extract the fifth chapter. Having treated of the comma, semicolon, colon, and period, Mr. Grant observes:

There are four other marks, which influence the sense and the delivery, the Dash (-) the Note of Interrogation (?) the Note of Exclamation (!) and the Parenthesis ( ).

Of the Dash.-The Dash is commonly used to denote abruptness; to shew that a significant pause is intended; or that there is an unexpected turn in the sentiment: thus, "Nothing, my Lord, or if-Î know not what." (Shakesp.) "You have given the command to a person of illustrious birth, of antient family, of innumerable statues, but-of no experience.' "He sometimes counsel takes and sometimes snuff." It is used instead of the regular points, by rambling, incoherent, or ignorant writers.

"Of Interrogation.-The Note of Interrogation is put after a question; as "What shall we do?" If, in any matter of inquiry, the expression is not in the precise form of a question, this mark is not used; thus," Your father inquired, when I should depart." But, if the expression is in the form of a question, it should, though introduced with an affirmation, be followed by this mark; thus, "And they asked him, Who art thou?" When exclamation, rather than interrogation, is intended, this mark should not be used; thus, "With what kindness does God vouchsafe to look upon us!" No question being intended, no answer is expected.

• Of Exclamation or Admiration. The Note of Exclamation is put after expressions of sudden emotion; thus, "Alas! what will become of us!" Although exclamations be generally expressed, as just observed, in an interrogative form; yet, as no answer is expected or intended, they should not be followed by the mark of interrogation.

Clauses which are terminated by these two last marks are sometimes followed by others, which are closely connected with them. This connection may be denoted by beginning the others with a small letter. When there is no such connection, we should begin with a capital; thus, "Wherefore is consciousness reposed in thee alone? and whence is it derived to thee?"-" Is he come? Are they arrived?" Both marks occasion an elevation of the voice, but are indeterminate with respect to the time of the pause.-Every sentence ends either with a period, a note of interrogation, or a note of exclamation.

Of the Parenthesis.-The Parenthesis incloses something expla natory, but which does not necessarily affect the construction of the sentence; thus, "King James wrote a treatise (what could be more ridiculous!) on the Heinous Sin of using Tobacco." This mark is often used when it is not necessary; thus, "Insomuch that (if it were possible) they shall deceive the elect." Two commas may here be substituted. When the intermediate clause is short, or coincides with the rest of the sentence, it needs not be used; thus, "The man, he replied, had never called." The pa. renthesis requires a small depression of the voice, (cases of Interroga tion and Exclamation excepted;) and may contain any point which the sense would require, were it omitted. The comma, however, is seldom employed, its place being sufficiently supplied by the pa renthetical characters.

To conclude: The primary object of punctuation, as already hinted, is to ascertain the grammatical construction, or the mutual relation of words, members, and sentences; and hence, in recitation, its influence in directing the intonation, pauses, and vocal inflexions, so that the hearer may have a distinct perception of the construction and meaning of each sentence, and a clear comprehension of the whole.'

In the fourth Appendix, Mr. G. discusses Prosody. This is an essential part of grammar properly so called, and is too often neglected; under this head, the author not unwisely treats much of orthoepy.

Mr. Grant's grammar deserves perusal by those who have studied the laws of the English language only in the concise elementary school-books: but perhaps it does not sufficiently keep in view a specific and single class of readers. Examples, and erroneous lessons for correction, and other exercises, abound in it; as if it were deliberately intended for the use of schools: yet, in

parts, learned words and critical refinements are lavished, as if the appeal were only to the literary and the philosophic. We should advise the author to separate his book into two distinct volumes; to treat popularly of English grammar merely in the first; and to reserve for the second those chapters on Derivation, Synonymy, Style, Harmony, and Expression, which belong rather to a grammar of rhetoric than to a grammar of language.

1

In p. 323. and 324. the author declares with great warmth his admiration of the style of Addison and Beattie. The former certainly has been a very fashionable writer, and copied with fidelity and grace the idiom in use among the genteel world: but that which was formerly the conversation of the young lady has now descended to the lady's maid; and the tone of opinion and expression, of topic and phraseology, which pervades the Spectator, has insensibly faded into an antiquated sort of elegance. In order to keep the name and works of Addison current in the reading world, it has been found necessary to garble his parterre, to throw away the flowerets that are off show, and to plant out in smaller beds the perennials and evergreens of which there are still hopes. Addison lives, but not undecaying, nor unpruned; dead leaves are daily picked off; he does not luxuriate and replenish, and promise to bloom again in every summer of our literature.-Beattie is of much feebler stem than Addison. Charity and nationality held a hand-glass over his early reputation, and aided a sickly plant to grow up with a hot-house delicacy, which enabled it to pass for an exotic. Of his prose, little remains but the chapter on prosody in the Theory of Language. Of his verse, the Minstrel is generally supposed to retain value as a descriptive

poem ;