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members or parts of a sentence, without making any teration in it, and is a kind of natural sound to express the affection, or emotion of the speaker; as, Oh! I have alienated my friend; alas! I fear for life;" when placed before a substantive, it denotes more strongly an address made to that person or thing; as, O virtue, how amiable thou art!

The above is the usual division of the parts of speech, but grammarians are by no means agreed concerning their number. The truth is' (observes Mr. Grant*) that the grammatical distribution of words into classes is partly arbitrary, there being no definite or universally allowed principle, by which to determine, under the influence of abstraction, what discriminative circumstances are sufficient to entitle any species of words to the distinction of a separate order. The essential or necessary parts of speech are, obviously, the noun and the verb. By some, articles, definitives, and possessive pronouns, are referred to the class of adjectives, and the participle is classed either with the adjective or the verb, so as to reduce the number to eight. It would be easy, were it expedient, to reduce the number still further.

'Words individually considered may be termed nouns, names of ideas, or objects of thought. Regarded, however, as parts of speech, or constituent parts of a sentence, the names or signs are generally accompanied with an intimation in what manner they are associated in our minds, so as to express our ideas, not only of the things, but of their attributes, of their connexion or separation, and of their various other relations. Hence, the convenient and sufficiently correct distribution of words into nouns or substantives, and their substitutes, pronouns; adjectives, definitives, verbs, adverbs, and participles; conjunctions, and prepositions. The interjection, when it is not merely an

• Author of Institutes of Latin Grammar.' The English Grammar of this gentleman is perhaps, after all, the best for practi cal purposes. It is divested of much of that extraneous matter, which usually accompanies works of this nature, and exhibits a concise, but perspicuous, statement of the principles, rules, and analogy of the language. Critical and explanatory notes are added, with Questions for examination, (an advantage peculiar to this grammar,) appropriate exercises,-rules for punctuation, and the principles of composition.

instinctive physical emission of sound, must partake of the nature of the noun, the adjective, or the verb.

'Words, then, are the elements of language, as letters are those of words; and their primary object is to represent ideas. But objects and ideas are innumerable, while words, to be manageable, must be limited in number; for a language of proper names, in which every individual had an appropriate distinct sign, would not be practicably adapted to general utility. Hence the necessity of general terms. And yet, as our sensations and perceptions are of single objects, language must also possess definitives or individuating words, for every occasional application, to render the general terms significant of individual objects. But its great art consists in representing a number of single ideas, alike or similar, by one term; in representing such collections of them as commonly occur together, by one term; and a plurality or indefinite number of such collections, by one term. Numerical definitives, too, of every description contribute to the brevity of speech; and so do adjectives, which express a quality or property, not simply, but without formal affirmation, in concreto, as conjoined with an object. Adverbs, also are, generally, abbreviated phrases. The number of terms is further reduced by representing all motions and actions of bodies that have a near resemblance to one another, by one term. By these and such means, an infinite variety of thoughts is denoted or conveyed, with sufficient precision and perspicuity, by a finite number of words.'

ACCENT is the act of raising or lowering the voice, in pronouncing certain syllables of words. There are three kinds of ACCENTS, the acute, the grave, and the circumflex. The acute (') designates the raising of the voice in pronouncing the syllables over which it is placed. The grave accent (`) directs when the voice is to be lowered. The circumflex (~ or ^) denotes a middle tone, neither sharp nor low. Words derived from the Saxon, have the accent usually on the root; in those from the learned languages, however, it is generally confined to the termination. For further information on the nature of accent, the reader is referred to the preface to Walker's Pronouncing Dict. pp. 70-90, 8vo. ed. Lond. 1809.

We shall conclude this chapter by giving a slight sketch

of the rise and progress of the English language, and some account of the nations to whom it is indebted for much of its copiousness and elegance.

When the antient Britons, (says an elegant writer*) were so harassed and oppressed by the invasions of their northern neighbours, the Scots and Picts, that their situation was truly miserable, they sent an embassy (about the middle of the fifth century) to the Saxons, a warlike people inhabiting the north of Germany, with solicitations for speedy relief. The Saxons accordingly came over to Britain, and were successful in repelling the incursions of the Scots and Picts, but they resolved to take advantage of the weak and defenceless state of the Britons; and at length established themselves in the greater part of south Britain, after having dispossessed the original inhabitants. From these barbarians who founded several petty kingdoms in this island, and introduced their own laws, languages, and manners, is derived the ground-work of the English language, which even in its present state of cultivation, and notwithstanding the successive augmentations and improvements which it has received through various channels, displays very conspicuous traces of its Saxon original.

'The Saxons did not long remain in quiet possession of the kingdom; for before the middle of the ninth century, the Danes, a hardy and adventurous nation, who had long infested the northern seas with their piracies, began to ravage the English coasts. Their first attempts were, in general, attended with such success, that they were encou raged to a renewal of their ravages, till at length, in the beginning of the eleventh century, they made themselves masters of the greater part of England. Though the period, during which these invaders occupied the English throne, was very short, not greatly exceeding half a century; it is highly probable, that some change was introduced by them into the language spoken by those whom they had subdued: but this change cannot be supposed to have been very considerable, as the Danish and Saxon languages arose from one common source; the Gothic being the parent of both.

The next conquerors of the kingdom after the Danes, were the Normans, who in the year 1066, introduced their

Dr. Coote..

leader William to the possession of the English throne. This prince soon after his accession, endeavoured to bring his own language (the Norman French) into use among his new subjects; but his efforts were not very successful, as the Saxons entertained a great antipathy to these haughty foreigners. In process of time, however, many Norman words and phrases were incorporated into the Saxon language but its general form and construction still remained the same. From the conquest to the reformation, the language continued to receive occasional accessions of foreign words, till it acquired such a degree of copiousness and strength, as to render it susceptible of that polish which it has received from writers of taste and genius, in the last and present centuries. During this period, the learned have enriched it with many significant expressious, drawn from the treasures of Greek and Roman literature; the ingenious and the fashionable have imported occasional supplies of French, Spanish, Italian, and German words, gleaned during their foreign excursions: and the connexions which we maintain, through the medium of goverument and commerce, with many remote nations, have made some additions to our native vocabulary.

Select English Grammars.

Bp. Lowth's Introduction to English Grammar, 12mo. Introduction to English Grammar, by R. Kitson, 12mo. Lindley Murray's English Grammar, Exercises, and Key. Grant's English Grammar, 12mo. (see p. 11. note.)

As useful companions to the above may be added, Johnson's Dictionary, 2 vols. 4to. Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary, 8vo. Nares' Elements of Orthoepy, 8vo. and Robertson on Punctuation, 12mo.

CHAP. IV.-RHETORIC.

RHETORIC denotes the art of composition, or that which enables us to apply language or speech to the best advantage; and affords us the power of communicating with fluency to others, our feelings and our thoughts. It includes all compositions whose object is to move, incline, and persuade, by addressing the imagination and the affections. Cicero has given us the best rule for composition, in the following concise manner:-1. We are to consider what is to be said. 2. How, or in what words. 3. In what manner it must be ornamented.

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SECT. I. DIFFERENT SPECIES OF ELOQUENCE, AND PROPER DIVISIONS OF A DISCOURSE.

There were three species of eloquence or oratorical composition among the antient rhetoricians; the demonstrative, the deliberative, and the judicial.

1. Demonstrative. This comprehends the panegyric and funeral eulogy so frequently used by the antients. In the former class may be enumerated the panegyric of Isocrates on Evagoras, king of Salamis; Cicero's oration on the pardoning of Marcellus; his Philippics against Mark Antony, and the panegyric on Trajan by Pliny. Among the moderns, may be named, the funeral discourses of the most celebrated French and English preachers-the éloges pronounced upon eminent men before the French academy-some modern pulpit compositions-and occasional speeches, delivered, at various times, in the British Parliament.

2. Deliberative, embraces all matters connected with legislation and government; as, war and peace-domestic interests the regulation of commerce, etc. etc. This species of eloquence, can be cultivated, in a free state only; we shall, therefore, in antient times, find its noblest memorials in the works of Demosthenes and Cicero; and in modern days, our own island will boast, almost exclusively, of this species of eloquence. It will be sufficient to mention the parliamentary speeches of Chatham-of Burke -of Fox-and of Pitt.

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3. Judicial, or forensic eloquence, comprises the whole extent of judicial proceedings, both criminal and civil. When Rome could boast her illustrious days of forensic eloquence, Cicero and Hortensius gave full scope to their talents. For a long series of years, the proceedings of own courts of justice have evinced proofs of the most astonishing sagacity, the clearest judgment, and the readiest wit. To mention names, in this place, would be only to exhibit a galaxy of talent which has long been visible, in the legal hemisphere, to the naked eye of every common observer.

The proper divisions of a discourse are six, the exordium or introduction; the statement of the subject; the narra