is nothing which demands attention. Hence LECT. arifes the habit of writing in a loose and in accurate manner. I ADMIT, that no grammatical rules have fufficient authority to controul the firm and established usage of Language. Established custom, in speaking and writing, is the standard to which we must at laft refort for determining every controverted point in Language and Style. But it will not follow from this, that grammatical rules are fuperfeded as useless. In every Language, which has been in any degree cultivated, there prevails a certain ftructure and analogy of parts, which is understood to give foundation to the most reputable ufage of Speech; and which, in all cases, when usage is loose or dubious, poffeffes confiderable authority. In every Language, there are rules of fyntax which must be inviolably obferved by all who would either write or fpeak with any propriety. For fyntax is no other than that arrangement of words, in a fentence, which renders the meaning of each word, and the relation of all the words to one another, most clear and intelligible. ALL the rules of Latin fyntax, it is true, cannot be applied to our Language. Many of these rules arofe from the particular formof their Language, which occafioned verbs or Q 2 : prepo IX. IX. LEC T. prepofitions to govern, fome the genitive, fome the dative, fome the accufative or ablative case. But, abstracting from these peculiarities, it is to be always remembered, that the chief and fundamental rules of fyntax are common to the English as well as the Latin Tongue; and, indeed, belong equally to all Languages. For, in all Languages, the parts which compofe Speech are effentially the fame; fubftantives, adjectives, verbs, and connecting particles: And wherever these parts of Speech are found, there are certain neceffary relations among them, which regulate their syntax, or the place which they ought to poffefs in a fentence. Thus, in English, just as much as in Latin, the adjective must, by position, be made to agree with its fubftantive; and the verb must agree with its nominative in perfon and number; because, from the nature of things, a word, which expreffes either a quality or an action, muft correspond as closely as poffible with the name of that thing whofe quality, or whose action, it expreffes. Two or more fubftantives, joined by a copulative, must always require the verbs or pronouns, to which they refer, to be placed in the plural number; otherwife, their common relation to thefe verbs or pronouns is not pointed out. An active verb muft, in every Language, govern the accufative; that is, clearly point out fome substantive noun, as the object to which its action is directed. A relative pronoun L E C T. muft, in every form of Speech, agree with its antecedent in gender, number, and perfon; and conjunctions, or connecting particles, ought always to couple like cafes and moods; that is, ought to join together words which are of the fame form and ftate with each other. I mention thefe, as a few exemplifications of that fundamental regard to fyntax, which, even in fuch a Language as ours, is abfolutely requifite for writing or speaking with any propriety. WHATEVER the advantages, or defects of the English Language be, as it is our own Language, it deferves a high degree of our study and attention, both with regard to the choice of words which we employ, and with regard to the fyntax, or the arrangement of these words in a fentence. We know how much the Greeks and the Romans, in their most polished and flourishing times, cultivated their own Tongues. We know how much study both the French, and the Italians, have bestowed upon theirs. Whatever knowledge may be acquired by the ftudy of other Languages, it can never be communicated with advantage, unlefs by fuch as can write and speak their own Language well. Let the matter of an author be ever fo good and useful, his compofitions will always fuffer in the pub IX. IX. LECT. lic esteem, if his expreffion be deficient in pu rity and propriety. At the fame time, the attainment of a correct and elegant ftyle, is an object which demands application and labour. If any imagine they can catch it merely by the ear, or acquire it by a flight perufal of fome of our good authors, they will find themselves much difappointed. The many errors, even in point of grammar, the many offences against purity of Language, which are committed by writers who are far from being contemptible, demonftrate, that a careful study of the Language is previously requifite, in all who aim at writing it properly *. On this fubject, the Reader ought to perufe Dr. Lowth's Short Introduction to English Grammar, with Critical Notes; which is the grammatical performance of highest authority that has appeared in our time, and in which he will fee, what I have faid concerning the inaccuracies in Language of fome of our beft writers, fully veri In Dr. Campbell's Philofophy of Rhetoric, he will likewife find many acute and ingenious obfervations, both on the English Language, and on Style in general. And Dr. Priestley's Rudiments of English Grammar, will alo be useful, by pointing out feveral of the errors into which writers are apt to fall. LECTURE X. STYLE-PERSPICUITY AND HAV X. AVING finished the fubject of Lan- LE C T. guage, I now enter on the confideration of Style, and the rules that relate to it, IT is not eafy to give a precife idea of what is meant by Style. The beft definition I can give of it, is, the peculiar manner in which a man expreffes his conceptions, by means of Language. It is different from mere Language or words. The words, which an author employs, may be proper and faultlefs; and his Style may, nevertheless, have great faults; it may be dry, or ftiff, or feeble, or affected. Style has always fome reference to an author's manner of thinking. It is a picture of the ideas which rife in his mind, and of the manner in which they rife there; and, hence, when we are examining an author's compofition, it is, in many cafes, extremely difficult Q4 |