how the object was distinguished from both; and in this manner I should have tried to investigate the origin and use of all the different parts of speech, and of all their different modifications, considered as necessary to express all the different qualification's and relations of any single event. Mr. Ward, however, may have excellent reasons for following his own method; and, perhaps, if I was engaged in the same task I should find it necessary to follow the same; things frequently appearing in a very different light when taken in a general view, which is the only view that I can pretend to have taken of them, and when considered in detail. “Mr. Ward, when he mentions the definitions which different Authors have given of nouns substantive, takes no notice of that of the Abbé Girard, the author of a book, called, Les vrais Principes de la Langue Françoise,' which made me think it might be possible that he had not seen it. It is the book which first set me a thinking upon these subjects, and I have received more instruction from it than from any other I have yet seen upon them. If Mr. Ward has not seen it, I have it at his service. The grammatical articles, too, in the French Encyclopedie have given me a good deal of entertainment. Very probably Mr. Ward has seen both these works, and, as he may have considered the subject more than I have done, may think less of them. Remember me to Mrs. Baird, and Mr. Oswald; and believe me to be, with great truth, dear Sir,

"Sincerely yours,

"DEAR SIR,

ADAM SMITH."

Winton, July 4, 1763.

"I was so much engaged in business all the last month, that I could not find time to set down what occurred to me on the subject of your book. You will now give me leave to do it with that perfect sincerity, without which it ought not to be done at all.

"In general, I think you have seen farther, and gone deeper, than any other writer on Grammar that has fallen in my way. The only objection I find, of any considerable moment, is, perhaps, more an objection to the design itself, than to the execution of it; I mean, the difficulty of reaching your meaning. But they only who have been much conversant in very abstracted notions are capable judges, how far it was possible for you to avoid this inconvenience. I know not but there may be room for some additional definitions; if not definitions properly so called, at least illustrations or examples. Thus the word communication is of so much importance on your plan, that perhaps it might be worth your pains to settle the meaning of it very carefully.

"I think, indeed, it were to be wished, that you had done always, what you do sometimes: I mean, that you had taken each of your definitions to pieces, and illustrated every clause separately by one or more instances. If, either by this means, or any other, you can make your book more accessible to common readers, it will both promote the credit of the Work, and the good ends it is designed to answer. I am the more free with you on

this point from considering the manners and taste of the present age. I am not one of those who think their own times worse than any other; but a more idle age (I speak in regard to Literature) I believe, never existed. Very few Readers now can bear the fatigue of thinking: you must either force your ideas upon them, without any labour of their own; or you will find it a difficult matter to gain admittance.

"I observe you give no general idea of a noun; I mean, so general as to comprehend substantives and adjectives, or the subordinate genera. Perhaps it is impossible to do this.

"I am not sure whether I perfectly comprehend a very curious part of your work, what you have written on cases: but it gives me occasion to intimate a suspicion I have conceived, that you have sometimes confined your attention to your own language. Remarks peculiar to that language should always be mentioned as peculiar, or rather (I think) reserved for notes or appendix; but certainly no branch of a general system should be grounded on such peculiarities. You may easily know whether this observation be, in any degree, well founded, by reading over your Grammar with a constant eye on the Greek or Latin; but especially the Latin.

"Your account of pronouns I think the most perfect part of the book. What you have written on verbs shows very plainly how little this subject has been understood by those who have gone before you; but, I must confess, I do not see any reason for your omission of the indefinite tenses; for, may I not describe a past event without intending to signify whether it was or was not completed at any assigned point of time?-why then should I be confined to tenses, which include this signification ?—Yet, if I am not mistaken, these last are the only tenses of which you have taken any notice.

"I wish I had sitten down to write this letter when I came fresh from the reading of your book; for, though I am now more at leisure, yet I find some things I intended to say have slipped my memory; though, perhaps, of as little moment as what follows.

"If you should commit any grammatical errors in your own composition, cavillers would be apt to take notice of thein.' Had you written this same sentence, you would probably have written SHALL for SHOULD; and I take it to be indifferent: for, IF may be used with either mood; but it is not so with THAT, answering to the Latin ur: 'I propose that you SHALL publish by subscription' is wrong; SHOULD, you know, is the present tense, as well as the past, of that mood. By calling it present I only mean that it answers to AMEM or LEGAM; to which custom gives the name of present, though they are more properly future.

"Whenever your book appears in public, permit me to call to your remembrance that of Seneca-PAUCIS contenta JUDICIBUS. There are very few, at this time of day, qualified for such researches; and, therefore, you ought not to think the worse either of yourself, or your Work, if it sell slowly, and make no

great

great noise in the world. I should rather expect it to meet with justice abroad than at home.

"Whatever your success may be in other respects, your time has not been lost. Besides the satisfaction of yourself and your friends, you have doubtless laid an excellent foundation for that practical grammar you seem to promise. And I believe you will not think yourself anticipated by any thing which has yet appeared of that nature. Please to let me know how I am to dispose of your MS.; and believe me, Sir,

"Your most faithful and obedient servant, THO. BALGUY."

Extract of a Letter from the Rev. THOMAS CASTLY*, "I had received my Medal but a very few hours before your Letter was delivered me, and am glad that it gives me an opportunity of returning thanks for those instructions of yours to which my success ought, in a great measure, to be ascribed. The examination was more easy than it was ever known to be before; but the concurrents the most numerous, and allowed to be the ablest that ever appeared on the like occasion. We were six in all, more by two, and often three, than had ever offered themselves before. The first morning we construed part of an Ode of Horace, which begins, Ne forte credas, &c.; then a portion of the beginning of one of the books of Tully De Finibus; then a section of Longinus where he considers the question, whether a faultless mediocrity, or a faulty sublime, in composition, is preferable? In the afternoon we had given us the beginning of Demosthenes's Oration De Corona. The questions that were asked in the mean time related to the grammar, the idiom, and the dialect, of the Greek. The history of persons, and the geography of places, which cccurred. We all construed separately, and exactly the same passages. The next morning we had a subject for a theme, Paulum sepultæ distat inertiæ celata virtus; and another for verses, Cum pulvere palma, which concluded the whole. The Examiners were, Dr. Thomas, Master of Christ's, Vice Chancellor; Dr. George, Provost of King's; Dr. Smith, Master of Trinity; Dr. Newcome, Master of St. John's; Dr. Wilcox, Master of Clare Hall; and Mr. Meredith."

Extract of a Letter from Mr. LAWSON, Fellow of Sidney College.

"I congratulate you on the honour which your scholars have this year received. Castly was by universal acknowledgment the best scholar of his year. Mr. Stockdale's being chose a Fellow of our Society cannot be more agreeable to you than it is to me, for I am sure he will be a very amiable one."

"WORTHY SIR, Grosvenor-square, Feb. 16, 1765. "I have my best thanks to return you for the valuable present of your noble Work on Grammar; a work much wanted, and which a number of imperfect attempts did but weakly supply. You are very candid, and modest, in your account of some who have gone before you in this career; who might, thereby, be* Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge; B. A. 1755; M. A. 1758. He was Senior Wrangler of his year; and also obtained one of the Chancellor's Medals for Classical Learning.

come

come able to mislead, did not your fuller and juster rules prevent that inconvenience. I am, with great esteem, Sir, your very obedient and faithful humble servant,

"REVEREND SIR,

W. GLOUCESTER." London, April 4, 1765.

"I have received your letter, and your obliging present of your Grammar, for which I return you many thanks. In the multiplicity of business I am engaged in, I have not been able to peruse your Work with due attention; but I have seen enough of it to make me think highly of your acuteness and industry, and that you have great merit with this nation for so elaborate an analysis of its language. Wishing you much health and happiness, I am, reverend Sir, your faithful servant, EDM. CHESTER *." "SIR, Leicester-fields, March 80, 1765. "If I had not been much taken up since my receiving your kind present, I should not have been so many days without acknowledging and thanking you for it. I assure you, your remembrance of me on this occasion gives me great pleasure; and, though my leisure has not yet permitted me to read the book, and my abilities may fail me to judge of it when I do, yet I return you my best thanks now as for a valuable present, since it has had so honourable a testimony as you transmit to me in your letter. I promise you, the great School † I attend is not very celebrated for its Grammar, and our Orators (some few excepted) would possibly be no worse for some little helps.

.

G. SAVILE." Bristol, Dec. 26, 1769.

"I will venture, however, to answer for one who is, Sir, "Your obliged and obedient servant, "REVEREND AND GOOD SIR, "I received the acceptable present of your Grammar some time since. I have perused it with attention, and not without some improvement I hope. Sure I am it has cost you infinite pains; for it is a very exact technical Grammar; and a Work so laborious in itself, and so well executed, cannot sufficiently be commended; and must supersede the labours of any other person, as the subject is completed. The rules drawn from the Portuguese young gentleman's observation should, I think, be printed, and stuck at the back of the title-page in all the books which are bound, and added (as a single leaf at the end) to all those which are not bound. I had the satisfaction of a Letter from your daughter Dicey last post; and am very glad to hear she is better. I shall advise her to spend the months of June and July, or July and August, here, as our water is then in its perfection. She came at a proper time in the season last year. I am, good Sir, with much real esteem, your obliged, and very humble servant, J. STONHOUSE." Leeds, June 5, 1769.

"SIR,

"I think myself honoured by the favourable mention you make of my Observations on English Grammar,' and am much obliged to you for the very agreeable present of your own per* Edmund Keene, Bp. of Chester, formerly Master of Peter-house, Camb. + Meaning the House of Commons, of which he was so distinguished a Member for many years.

formance

formance on the same subject. I was in hopes that I should have been able to have perused your Work before I wrote to you, and this expectation has been the reason of my not having acknowledged my obligation sooner; but a great variety of engagements have put it out of my power; so that I can only say, that, from what I have seen of it, I think it elaborate and useful, and expect to find it of much service to me in the Work I have promised to the publick, on the subject of the Theory of Language and Universal Grammar. At present I am a good deal engaged in Philosophical studies, which will, for some time, prevent my giving much attention to it.

"I think, with you, that it is the duty of every literate Englishman to promote a thorough knowledge of the language in which he writes, and I very much admire your laudable zeal in this cause. I am really apprehensive that the genuine idiom of the English tongue is in danger of suffering by admired Scotch Writers; and though I have been blamed for giving examples from them, I think I have given a satisfactory answer to the objection in the Preface to the new and corrected Edition of iny Grammar. Near as we are, I should think myself happy in our being nearer, that I might have frequent opportunities of conferring with you upon this subject. I am, with great respect, Sir, "Your obliged humble servant, J. PRIESTLEY."

Rev. Dr. JOHN DAVIES* to the Rev. Dean Moss. "HONOURED SIR, July 21, 1725.

"I had the favour of your letter, and am glad to hear you and your lady are in good health. You must needs have had no inconsiderable trouble to bring Lord Onslow's business to a conclusion. I will assure you what has been transacted is very much to my satisfaction, and we have all of us reason to thank you upon that account. I was very well pleased you had agreed to leave 400l. undivided, to the intent that sum should be applied to some charitable uses. If it had been 500l. I was thinking it might be bestowed upon the Minor Canons for the augmentation of their places, which are too small. But, I shall leave that matter to the consideration of you and my brethren. In the mean time, you may be certain I am too sensible, as well of your personal merit, as of the care you have taken in this and other affairs, to molest you by any unreasonable opposition. Dr. Ashton consulted with Mr. Chambers, and his opinion was agreeable to the proposal of Lord Onslow's agent; so that I suppose that method of proceeding will be safe and secure. My wife and mother join in their best respects to you and your lady, with, honoured Sir, your most obedient humble servant, J. DAVIES."

* Of Queen's College, Cambridge; B. A. 1698; M. A. 1701; LL. D. and Prebendary of Ely 1711; Principal of Queen's 1716; D. D. Com. Reg, 1717. He was Editor of several pieces of Cicero, Cæsar's Commentaries, &c. &c.; and died March 7, 1731-2. See the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VII. p. 104.

History