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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34863-8.txt b/34863-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae56b7d --- /dev/null +++ b/34863-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4152 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Conversation, by Andrew P. Peabody + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Conversation + Its Faults and Its Graces + +Author: Andrew P. Peabody + +Release Date: January 6, 2011 [EBook #34863] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONVERSATION *** + + + + +Produced by Emmy, Darleen Dove and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + + +CONVERSATION. + + + + +CONVERSATION; + +ITS FAULTS + +AND + +ITS GRACES. + +COMPILED BY + +ANDREW P. PEABODY. + + * * * * * + + BOSTON AND CAMBRIDGE: + JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. + + M DCCC LV. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by + JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY, + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of + Massachusetts. + + CAMBRIDGE: + THURSTON AND TORRY, PRINTERS. + + + + + DEDICATED + + TO + + AMERICAN TEACHERS. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +THE Compiler has attempted to bring together in this little volume the +principles which should govern conversation among persons of true +refinement of mind and character, and to point out some of the most +common and easily besetting vulgarisms occurring in the colloquial +English of our country and day. Part I. is an Address delivered before a +Young Ladies' School, in Newburyport. Part II. is a Lecture addressed to +the Literary, Scientific and Mechanics' Institution at Reading, England. +Part III. is a reprint from the fourth English edition of "A Word to the +Wise, or Hints on the Current Improprieties of Expression in Writing and +Speaking," by Parry Gwynne, a few passages not applicable to the habits +of American society being omitted. Part IV. is composed of selections +from two little English books, entitled, "Never too late to Learn: +Mistakes of daily occurrence in Speaking, Writing and Pronunciation +corrected;" and "Common Blunders in Speaking and Writing." + + + + +PART I. + +AN ADDRESS + +DELIVERED BEFORE THE + +NEWBURYPORT FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL, + +DECEMBER 19, 1846, + +BY ANDREW P. PEABODY. + + +YOUNG LADIES, + +You have made me happy by your kind invitation to meet you, and to +address you on this anniversary. A day spent in this room at your annual +examination, nearly two years ago, was a season of privilege and +enjoyment not readily to be forgotten. I had previously entertained a +high regard for your instructor. I then learned to know him by his work; +and, were he not here, I should be glad to extend beyond a single +sentence my congratulations with you that you are his pupils. + +I have said that I accepted your invitation with gladness. Yet, in +preparing myself to meet you, I find a degree of embarrassment. This is +for you a season of recreation,--a high festival; and I am accustomed to +use my pen and voice only on grave occasions, and for solemn services. I +know not how to add to your amusement. Should I undertake to make sport +for you, my awkwardness would give you more mirth than my wit. The best +that I can do is to select some subject that is or ought to be +interesting to you, and to endeavor to blend a little instruction with +the gayer and more lively notes of the occasion. The lesson shall be +neither tediously long nor needlessly grave. + +I propose to offer you a few hints on _conversation_. How large a +portion of life does it fill up! How innumerable are its ministries and +its uses! It is the most refined species of recreation,--the most +sparkling source of merriment. It interweaves with a never-resting +shuttle the bonds of domestic sympathy. It fastens the ties of +friendship, and runs along the golden links of the chain of love. It +enriches charity, and makes the gift twice blessed. There is, perhaps, a +peculiar appropriateness in the selection of this topic for an address +to young ladies; for they do more than any other class in the community +towards establishing the general tone and standard of social +intercourse. The voices of many of you already, I doubt not, strike the +key-note of home conversation; and you are fast approaching an age when +you will take prominent places in general society; will be the objects +of peculiar regard; and will, in a great measure, determine whether the +social converse in your respective circles shall be vulgar or refined, +censorious or kindly, frivolous or dignified. It was said by a wise man +of antiquity,--"Only give me the making of songs for the people, and I +care not who makes the laws." In our unmusical age and land, talking +occupies the place which songs did among the melody-loving Greeks; and +he who could tune the many-voiced harp of the social party, need crave +no higher office or more potent sway. + +Permit me now to enumerate some of the characteristics of graceful, +elegant, and profitable conversation, commencing with the lower graces, +and passing on to the higher. + +Let me first beg you, if you would be good talkers, to form and fix now, +(for you can do this only now,) habits of correct and easy +pronunciation. The words which you now miscall, it will cost you great +pains in after life to pronounce aright, and you will always be in +danger of returning inadvertently to your old pronunciation. There are +two extremes which you ought equally to shun. One is that of +carelessness; the other, that of extreme precision, as if the sound of +the words uttered were constantly uppermost in the mind. This last fault +always suggests the idea of vanity and pedantry, and is of itself enough +to add a deep indigo hue to a young lady's reputation. + +One great fault of New England pronunciation is, that the work is +performed too much by the outer organs of speech. The tones of the voice +have but little depth. Instead of a generous play of the throat and +lungs, the throat almost closes, and the voice seems to be formed in the +mouth. It is this that gives what is called a _nasal_ tone to the voice, +which, when denied free range through its lawful avenues, rushes in part +through the nose. We notice the nasal pronunciation in excess here and +there in an individual, while Englishmen and Southerners observe it as a +prevailing characteristic of all classes of people in the Northern +States. Southerners in general are much less careful and accurate in +pronunciation than we are; but they more than compensate for this +deficiency by the full, round tones in which they utter themselves. In +our superficial use of the organs of speech, there are some consonants +which we are prone to omit altogether. This is especially the case with +_g_ in words that end with _ing_. Nine persons out of ten say _singin_ +instead of _singing_. I know some public speakers, and many private +ones, who never pronounce the _t_ in such words as _object_ and +_prospect_. Very few persons give the right sound to _r_ final. _Far_ is +generally pronounced as if it were written _fah_. Now, I would not have +the full Hibernian roll of the _r_; but I would have the presence of the +letter more distinctly recognized, than it often is, even by persons of +refined and fastidious taste. + +Let me next beg you to shun all the ungrammatical vulgarisms which are +often heard, but which never fail to grate harshly on a well-tuned ear. +If you permit yourselves to use them now, you will never get rid of +them. I know a venerable and accomplished lawyer, who has stood at the +head of his profession in this State, and has moved in the most refined +society for half a century, who to this day says _haint_ for _has not_, +having acquired the habit when a schoolboy. I have known persons who +have for years tried unsuccessfully to break themselves of saying _done_ +for _did_, and _you and I_ for _you and me_. Many well-educated persons, +through the power of long habit, persist in saying _shew_ for _showed_, +while they know perfectly well that they might, with equal propriety, +substitute _snew_ for _snowed_; and there is not far hence a clergyman, +marvellously precise and fastidious in his choice of words, who is very +apt to commence his sermon by saying, "I _shew_ you in a recent +discourse." A false delicacy has very generally introduced _drank_ as +the perfect participle of _drink_, instead of _drunk_, which alone has +any respectable authority in its favor; and the imperfect tense and +perfect participle have been similarly confounded in many other cases. I +know not what grammar you use in this school. I trust that it is an old +one; for some of the new grammars sanction these vulgarisms, and in +looking over their tables of irregular verbs, I have sometimes half +expected to have the book dashed from my hand by the indignant ghost of +Lindley Murray. Great care and discretion should be employed in the use +of the common abbreviations of the negative forms of the substantive and +auxiliary verbs. _Can't_, _don't_, and _haven't_, are admissible in +rapid conversation on trivial subjects. _Isn't_ and _hasn't_ are more +harsh, yet tolerated by respectable usage. _Didn't_, _couldn't_, +_wouldn't_, and _shouldn't_, make as unpleasant combinations of +consonants as can well be uttered, and fall short but by one remove of +those unutterable names of Polish gentlemen which sometimes excite our +wonder in the columns of a newspaper. _Won't_ for _will not_, and _aint_ +for _is not_ or _are not_, are absolutely vulgar; and _aint_, for _has +not_ or _have not_, is utterly intolerable. + +Nearly akin to these offences against good grammar is another untasteful +practice, into which you are probably more in danger of falling, and +which is a crying sin among young ladies,--I mean the use of +exaggerated, extravagant forms of speech,--saying _splendid_ for +_pretty_, _magnificent_ for _handsome_, _horrid_ for _very_, _horrible_ +for _unpleasant_, _immense_ for _large_, _thousands_ or _myriads_ for +any number greater than _two_. Were I to write down, for one day, the +conversation of some young ladies of my acquaintance, and then to +interpret it literally, it would imply that, within the compass of +twelve or fourteen hours, they had met with more marvellous adventures +and hair-breadth escapes, had passed through more distressing +experiences, had seen more imposing spectacles, had endured more +fright, and enjoyed more rapture, than would suffice for half a dozen +common lives. This habit is attended with many inconveniences. It +deprives you of the intelligible use of strong expressions when you need +them. If you use them all the time, nobody understands or believes you +when you use them in earnest. You are in the same predicament with the +boy who cried WOLF so often, when there was no wolf, that nobody would +go to his relief when the wolf came. This habit has also a very bad +moral bearing. Our words have a reflex influence upon our characters. +Exaggerated speech makes one careless of the truth. The habit of using +words without regard to their rightful meaning, often leads one to +distort facts, to misreport conversations, and to magnify statements, in +matters in which the literal truth is important to be told. You can +never trust the testimony of one who in common conversation is +indifferent to the import, and regardless of the power, of words. I am +acquainted with persons whose representations of facts always need +translation and correction, and who have utterly lost their reputation +for veracity, solely through this habit of overstrained and extravagant +speech. They do not mean to lie; but they have a dialect of their own, +in which words bear an entirely different sense from that given to them +in the daily intercourse of discreet and sober people. + +In this connection, it may not be amiss to notice a certain class of +phrases, often employed to fill out and dilute sentences, such as, _I'm +sure_,--_I declare_,--_That's a fact_,--_You know_,--_I want to +know_,--_Did you ever?_--_Well! I never_,--and the like. All these forms +of speech disfigure conversation, weaken the force of the assertions or +statements with which they are connected, and give unfavorable +impressions as to the good breeding of the person that uses them. + +You will be surprised, young ladies, to hear me add to these +counsels,--"Above all things, swear not at all." Yet there is a great +deal of swearing among those who would shudder at the very thought of +being profane. The Jews, who were afraid to use the most sacred names in +common speech, were accustomed to swear by the temple, by the altar, and +by their own heads; and these oaths were rebuked and forbidden by divine +authority. I know not why the rebuke and prohibition apply not with full +force to the numerous oaths by _goodness_, _faith_, _patience_, and +_mercy_, which we hear from lips that mean to be neither coarse nor +irreverent, in the schoolroom, street, and parlor; and a moment's +reflection will convince any well-disposed person, that, in the +exclamation _Lor_, the cutting off of a single letter from a consecrated +word can hardly save one from the censure and the penalty written in the +third commandment. I do not regard these expressions as harmless. I +believe them inconsistent with Christian laws of speech. Nor do they +accord with the simple, quiet habit of mind and tone of feeling which +are the most favorable to happiness and usefulness, and which sit as +gracefully on gay and buoyant youth as on the sedateness of maturer +years. The frame of mind in which a young lady says, in reply to a +question, _Mercy! no_, is very different from that which prompts the +simple, modest _no_. Were there any room for doubt, I should have some +doubt of the truth of the former answer; for the unnatural, excited, +fluttered state of mind implied in the use of the oath, might indicate +either an unfitness to weigh the truth, or an unwillingness to +acknowledge it. + +In fine, transparency is an essential attribute of all graceful and +becoming speech. Language ought to represent the speaker's ideas, and +neither more nor less. Exclamations, needless expletives, unmeaning +extravagances, are as untasteful as the streamers of tattered finery +which you sometimes see fluttering about the person of a dilapidated +belle. Let your thoughts be as strong, as witty, as brilliant, as you +can make them; but never seek to atone for feeble thought by large +words, or to rig out foolish conceits in the spangled robe of genuine +wit. Speak as you think and feel; and let the tongue always be an honest +interpreter to the heart. + +But it is time that we passed to higher considerations. There are great +laws of duty and religion which should govern our conversation; and the +divine Teacher assures us that even for our idle words we are +accountable to Him who has given us the power of speech. Now, I by no +means believe that there is any principle of our religion which frowns +upon wit or merriment, or forbids playful speech at fit seasons and +within due limits. The very fact that the Almighty has created the +muscles which produce the smile and the laugh, is a perpetual rebuke to +those who would call all laughter madness, and all mirth folly. +Amusement, in its time and place, is a great good; and I know of no +amusement so refined, so worthy an intellectual being, as that +conversation which is witty and still kind, playful, yet always +reverent, which recreates from toil and care, but leaves no sting, and +violates no principle of brotherly love or religious duty. + +Evil speaking, slander, detraction, gossip, scandal, are different names +for one of the chief dangers to be guarded against in conversation; and +you are doing much towards defending yourselves against it by the +generous mental culture which you enjoy in this seminary. The demon of +slander loves an empty house. A taste for scandal betrays a vacant mind. +Furnish your minds, then, by useful reading and study, and by habits of +reflection and mental industry, that you may be able to talk about +subjects as well as about people,--about events too long past or too +remote to be interwoven with slander. But, if you must talk about +people, why not about their good traits and deeds? The truest ingenuity +is that which brings hidden excellences to light; for virtue is in her +very nature modest and retiring, while faults lie on the surface and are +detected with half an eye. + +You will undoubtedly be careful to have your words always just and kind, +if you will only take a sufficiently thorough view of the influence of +your habits of conversation, both in the formation of your own +characters and in determining the happiness of others. But how low an +estimate do many of us make of the power of the tongue! How little +account we are apt to take of our words! Have we not all at times said +to ourselves, "Oh! it is only a word!" when it may have been sharp as a +drawn sword, have given more pain than a score of blows, and done more +harm than our hands could have wrought in a month? Why is it that the +slanderer and the tale-bearer regard themselves as honest and worthy +people, instead of feeling that they are accursed of God and man? It is +because they deal in evil words only, and they consider words as mere +nought. Why is it that the carping tongue, which filches a little from +everybody's good name, can hardly utter itself without a sneer, and +makes every fair character its prey, thinks better of itself than a +petty pilferer would? It is because by long, though baseless +prescription, the tongue has claimed for itself a license denied to +every other member and faculty. + +But, in point of fact, your words not only express, but help create, +your characters. Speech gives definiteness and permanence to your +thoughts and feelings. The unuttered thought may fade from the +memory,--may be chased away by better thoughts,--may, indeed, hardly be +a part of your own mind; for, if suggested from without, and met without +a welcome, and with disapproval and resistance, it is not yours. But by +speech you adopt thoughts, and the voice that utters them is as a pen +that engraves them indelibly on the soul. If you can suppress unkind +thoughts, so that, when they rise in your breast, and mount to your very +lips, you leave them unuttered, you are not on the whole unkind,--your +better nature has the supremacy. But if these wrong feelings often find +utterance, though you call it hasty utterance, there is reason to fear +that they flow from a bitter fountain within. + +Consider, also, how large a portion speech makes up of the lives of all. +It occupies the greater part of the waking hours of many of us; while +express acts of a moral bearing, compared with our words, are rare and +few. Indeed, in many departments of duty, words are our only possible +deeds,--it is by words alone that we can perform or violate our duty. +Many of the most important forms of charity are those of speech. +Alms-giving is almost the only expression of charity of which the voice +is not the chief minister; and alms, conferred in silent coldness, or +with chiding or disdainful speech, freeze the spirit, though they may +warm the body. Speech, too, is the sole medium of a countless host of +domestic duties and observances. There are, indeed, in every community +many whose only activity seems to be in words. There are many young +ladies, released from the restraints of school, and many older ladies, +with few or no domestic burdens, with no worldly avocation and no taste +for reading, whose whole waking life, either at their own homes or from +house to house, is given to the exercise, for good or evil, of the +tongue,--that unruly member. And how blessed might they make that +exercise,--for how many holy ministries of love, sympathy, and charity +might it suffice,--how many wounds might it prevent or heal,--did they +only believe and feel that they were writing out their own characters in +their daily speech! But too many of them forget this. So long as they do +not knowingly and absolutely lie, they feel no responsibility for their +words. They deem themselves virtuous, because they refrain from vices to +which they have not the shadow of a temptation; but carp, backbite, and +carry ill reports from house to house, with an apostle's zeal and a +martyr's devotedness. To say nothing of the social effect of such a +life, is not the tongue thus employed working out spiritual death for +the soul in whose service it is busy? I know of no images too vile to +portray such a character. The dissection of a slanderer's or +talebearer's heart would present the most loathsome specimen of morbid +anatomy conceivable. It is full of the most malignant poison. Its life +is all mean, low, serpent-like,--a life that cannot bear the light, but +finds all its nourishment and growth in darkness. Were these foul and +odious forms of speech incapable of harming others,--did human reptiles +of this class creep about in some outward guise, in which they could be +recognized by all, and their words be taken for what they are worth, and +no more,--still I would beg them, for their own sakes, not to degrade +God's image, in which they were created, into the likeness of a creeping +thing; I would entreat them not to be guilty of the meanest and most +miserable of all forms of spiritual suicide; I would beseech them, if +they are determined to sell their souls, to get some better price for +them than the scorn and dread of all whose esteem is worth having. + +In this connection, we ought to take into account the very large class +of literally idle words. How many talk on unthinkingly and heedlessly, +as if the swift exercise of the organs of speech were the great end of +life! The most trivial news of the day, the concerns of the +neighborhood, the floating gossip, whether good-natured or malignant, +dress, food, frivolous surmises, paltry plans, vanities too light to +remain an hour upon the memory,--these are the sole staple of what too +many call conversation; and many are the young people who are training +themselves in the use of speech for no higher or better purpose. But +such persons have the threatened judgment visibly following their idle +speech. Their minds grow superficial and shallow. They constantly lose +ground, if they ever had any, as intellectual and moral beings. Such +speech makes a person, of however genteel training, coarse and vulgar, +and that not only in character, but even in voice and manners, and with +sad frequency it obliterates traits of rich loveliness and promise. The +merely idle tongue is also very readily betrayed into overt guilt. One +cannot indulge in idle, reckless talk, without being implicated in all +the current slander and calumny, and acquiring gradually the envious and +malignant traits of a hackneyed tale-bearer. And the person who, in +youth, can attract the attention and win the favor of those of little +reflection by flippant and voluble discourse, will encounter in the very +same circles neglect, disesteem, and dislike, before the meridian of +life is passed; for it takes all the charms that youth, sprightliness, +and high animal spirits can furnish, to make an idle tongue fascinating +or even endurable. + +Let me ask you now to consider for a moment the influence which we exert +in conversation upon the happiness or misery of others. It is not too +much to say, that most of us do more good or harm in this way than in +all other forms beside. Look around you,--take a survey of whatever +there is of social or domestic unhappiness in the families to which you +belong, or among your kindred and acquaintance. Nine tenths of it can be +traced to no other cause than untrue, unkind, or ungoverned speech. A +mere harsh word, repented of the next moment,--how great a fire can it +kindle! The carrying back and forth of an idle tale, not worth an hour's +thought, will often break up the closest intimacies. From every +slanderous tongue you may trace numerous rills of bitterness, winding +round from house to house, and separating those who ought to be united +in the closest friendship. Could persons, who, with kind hearts, are yet +hasty in speech, number up, at the close of a day, the feelings that +they had wounded, and the uncomfortable sensations that they had caused, +they would need no other motive to study suavity of manner, and to seek +for their words the rich unction of a truly charitable spirit. Then, +too, how many are the traits of suspicion, jealousy, and heart-burning, +which go forth from every day's merely idle words, vain and vague +surmises, uncharitable inferences and conjectures! + +These thoughts point to the necessity of religion as the guiding, +controlling element in conversation. All conversation ought to be +religious. Not that I would have persons always talking on what are +commonly called religious subjects. Let these be talked of at fitting +times and places, but never obtrusively brought forward or thrust in. +But cannot common subjects be talked of religiously? Cannot we converse +about our plans, our amusements, our reading, nay, and our neighbors +too, and no sacred name be introduced, and yet the conversation be +strictly religious? Yes,--if throughout the conversation we own the +laws of honesty, frankness, kind construction, and sincere +benevolence,--if our speech be pure, true, gentle, dignified,--if it +seek or impart information that either party needs,--if it cherish +friendly feeling,--if it give us kinder affections towards others,--if +it bring our minds into vigorous exercise,--nay, if it barely amuse us, +but not too long, and if the wit be free from coarseness and at no one's +expense. But we should ever bear it in mind, that our words are all +uttered in the hearing of an unseen Listener and Judge. Could we keep +this in remembrance, there would be little in our speech that need give +us shame or pain. But that half hour spent in holding up to ridicule one +who has done you no harm,--that breathless haste to tell the last piece +of slander,--you would not want to remember in your evening prayer. From +the flippant, irresponsible, wasteful gossip, in which so much time is +daily lost, you could not with a safe conscience look up and own an +Almighty presence. + +Young ladies, my subject is a large one, and branches out into so many +heads, that, were I to say all that I should be glad to say, the setting +sun would stop me midway. But it is time for me to relieve your +patience. Accept, with these fragmentary hints, my cordial +congratulations and good wishes. Life now smiles before you, and beckons +you onward. Heaven grant that your coming days may be even happier than +you hope! To make them so is within your own power. They will not be +cloudless. If you live long, disappointments and sorrows must come. +There will be steep and rough passages in the way of life. But there is +a Guide, in whose footprints you may climb the steep places without +weariness, and tread the rough ground without stumbling. Add to your +mental culture faith in Him, and the self-consecration of the Christian +heart. Then even trials will make you happier. When clouds are over your +way, rays from Heaven will struggle through their fissures, and fringe +their edges. Your path will be onward and upward, ever easier, ever +brighter. On that path may your early footsteps be planted, that the +beautiful bloom of your youth may not wither and perish, but may ripen +for a heavenly harvest! + + + + +PART II. + + + + +A LECTURE + +DELIVERED AT READING, ENGLAND, DECEMBER 19, 1854, + +BY FRANCIS TRENCH. + + +WE are all of us more or less apt to overlook that which is continually +going on around us. We omit to make it a matter of inquiry, and reserve +our attention for that which is more rare, although of far less +importance. What is it, for instance, which, after a course of long, +sultry heat,--when the sun, day by day, has blazed in the sky +above,--what is it, I ask, which has still preserved the verdure and +freshness of all vegetable life? Surely it has been nothing else than +the dew of heaven, gently, regularly, plenteously falling, as each +evening closed in. Nevertheless, how little is it thought of,--how +little are its benefits acknowledged! But when the clouds gather +speedily and darkly, and perhaps unexpectedly, when the sense of +coolness spreads once more through the parched atmosphere, when +abundance of rain all at once descends, then all observe the change, all +notice the beneficial results; yet perhaps they are trifling indeed +compared with those of the nightly and forgotten dew, which has never +ceased to fall, week by week, or even month by month, during the course +of the drought. I feel no doubt that it will be acknowledged how it is +the same, the very same, in all things calling for our observation. So, +therefore, it is regarding conversation, as a thing of every day. We +flock to hear and admire some mighty orator's address, but we think +little of and little appreciate that daily, hourly thing which is our +subject now,--I mean conversation. But I leave you to judge which has +the most effect on our general interest, as social creatures,--which, in +the long run, has most to do with the pleasure and the profit of all +human intercourse. + +Having made this claim on your attention, I would now observe that the +subject is one of so wide a scope that I can do little more than present +you with a few thoughts, which I have noted down as they have risen to +my own mind, upon it. And I trust that they will prove not entirely +unacceptable, though well indeed aware that the topic is one to which it +must be very difficult indeed to do any justice. + +But I must first try to meet one objection, for which I am quite +prepared, namely, that conversation is not a fit subject for a lecture +at all, but should be considered as too independent and free to have +any rules, principles, or guidance applied to it. This, however, is +indeed a fallacy, and may briefly be exposed by a few such questions as +those I am about to ask. What should be more free than the sword of the +soldier in the battle-day?--than the pencil of the artist at the +mountain side?--or than the poet's song in its upward flight? Yet who +would condemn the use of the drill, or the study of perspective, or the +rules of poetic art? No less untenable is it to maintain that +conversation can be subject to no principle, rule, or review, without +checking its free and unfettered range. Cowper has simply summed up the +whole truth:-- + + "Though conversation in its better part + May be esteemed a gift, and not an art; + Yet much depends, as in the tiller's toil, + On culture and the sowing of the soil." + +Nor shall I venture to suggest any measures which I do not believe +already well sanctioned, well honored, and well practised too, even by +many who have never yet thought of classifying them at all. But these I +shall freely give, as my duty is, at your summons this night. + +Conversation may be termed or defined as "the exchange and +communication, by word, of that which is passing in the inward mind and +heart." And none of all known creatures, except man, has this peculiar +gift. The animal tribes approach us and even surpass us in many of +their physical powers and capacities. As to their capacities in the five +senses of the body, I conceive that, generally speaking, it is so; but +none of them converse, like man, in expressive words, however they may +and do comprehend one another through inferior means. Homer has +therefore defined our race as "word-dividing men." And surely such a +capacity or power is not bestowed on us unaccompanied by an obligation +and a claim to give due diligence how we do and how we may employ it. +Never to act thus is surely an undue disregard of our endowment,--a +virtual depreciation and contempt of that which is at once among the +most needful, the most useful, and, at the same time, most ornamental +gifts of God to mankind. + +As, then, it is said of real wisdom, that first "it is pure," or free +from error and wrong, so too, first of all, right and proper +conversation must be free from everything evidently and positively +inconsistent with our duty towards God and man. It has ever been well +said that we must be just before we are generous. The one attribute is +essential and indispensable in every transaction of life. The acts and +deeds connected with the other are comparatively undefined and +indefinable. So it is essential, it is indispensable, that our +conversation, from our own choice and deliberate aim, should be utterly +free from all things irreverent to God and injurious to our +fellow-creatures. God's name must never be taken in vain. God's Word, +and divine things generally, must never be treated with any levity. No +sentence must come forth from our lips having any tendency to undermine +or subvert the principles and practices of true religion. These are +among the mere dues and obligations to Him who gives us the faculty of +speech, and enables us to interchange conversation with our fellows; +and, beyond all doubt, hour after hour of silence and reserve would be +infinitely better--more to be desired by any Christian--than the most +entertaining and most captivating talk of a witty but unprincipled man. +And so too, exactly, with regard to our fellow-creatures. They too have +an absolute claim on us, that we should resolutely keep to the grand +rule of speaking to them only such things as will do them no hurt,--no +hurt to their minds, no hurt to their feelings, no hurt to their best +and true and everlasting interest. As the words of one lead many to +heaven and joy, so too the words of another lead many to hell and woe. +Better, again I say, would it be for you to be silent as a dumb man than +to indulge carelessly and wickedly in any such utterances. He who does +it is a cruel enemy of his fellow-creatures, however popular, however +able and attractive he may be. + +Thus much with regard to conversation--on the negative side. Thus much +as to that nature and character of which it must _not_ be, under any +circumstances. And, having no intention to make my present address in +any degree of that more solemn and absolutely serious kind, which it is +my privilege so often to employ in my profession, I will only add here +that, having now seen what it is essential and indispensable for us to +shun in conversation, so again, to aim at pleasing God and serving our +fellow-creatures is not less needful,--not less essential, as the one +grand object and scope with which at all times we should use and +interchange it. I am sure you will all admit that I could not rightly +proceed without laying down this broad, this sure foundation. On it we +may build the lighter superstructure; but, without laying it down, I +could not conscientiously proceed. Nay, farther, I feel equally +convinced that many would perceive at once the deficiency, and regret it +too, were I to adopt any other course. Conversation, to be worthy of the +name at all, is not child's play. It must be dealt with, if considered +at all, as an important and substantial thing, not as the mere toy +wherewith to trifle and sport each day and hour till we pass away to +meet that judgment where our Lord has himself declared,--"By your words +ye shall be justified, and by your words ye shall be condemned." + +The subject may now branch out into many and various directions. To make +a choice is the only difficulty. One of these may lead us to notice +that, in all conversation, special attention should ever be paid to the +feelings of all present. Every subject should be studiously avoided +likely to give needless pain, and perhaps, as it were, open the +sluice-gate through which other observations might more plentifully +flow in from others of the company, painful to one or more in the +circle. Nothing, of course, will teach this so much as true kindness and +true sympathy of heart; and, if this be wanting, offences of this kind +will continually abound,--yes, I am sorry to say, will sometimes be +studiously and intentionally committed. But even the most loving and +most kindly spirit will do well to be very watchful on this point, +seeking to exercise all judgment and tact in the matter; and even beyond +this a beautiful art is sometimes to be witnessed,--happy indeed are +they who possess it,--which turns and leads away the general strain of +talk, and that often with unperceived skill, when approaching dangerous +ground, or perhaps already beginning to grieve or disturb another. + +Among injurious practices in talk, the following may perhaps be +enumerated:--an overbearing vehemence, challenging assertions, cold +indifference to the statements of others, a love of argumentation, an +inclination to regard fair liberty of mutual address as undue license, +pressure on another to express more than he desires, all personalities +which would be forbidden by the royal law of speaking unto others as you +would like to be spoken to yourself. These and many more transgressions, +in our address one to another, are not only of a grave, but also of a +very evident kind, and therefore on them, perhaps, there is less need to +dwell. + +Others are more subtle,--more elude the grasp of ordinary observation. +All social life, and even all family life, if rightly carried on, +requires not only mutual forbearance in talk, but mutual sympathy too, +mutual encouragement one from the other. In families and in society we +find the old, the young; the busy and those comparatively unemployed; +the studious or the literary, and those whose tastes are completely +different; people occupied in various professions and trades; +politicians and statesmen; soldiers and sailors; young men and women +reared up at home, with young men and women reared up at schools and +public institutions; travellers acquainted with divers parts of the +globe, and those who never have quitted their own land; men of the city +and men of the field;--in a word, persons and characters almost as +various in the aspect of their inward taste as the very features which +each countenance wears,--for I may venture to say that no two persons +think or feel exactly and altogether alike. Now, whenever there is such +a thing as opinion, and whenever there is such a thing as feeling (which +is the case in all members of families, and in all members of society +with whom you can possibly live or be thrown), there at once is, or +there arises, an immediate claim for a kind and proper treatment of +these opinions and of these feelings. They may not be your own, they may +be utterly different from your own, but that has nothing to do with the +question. As a general rule, every one present has no less right to +them than you have to yours. You had better go, like Shakspeare's Timon, +altogether out of the concourse of your fellow-creatures, if you cannot +realize this truth and apply it too. And it is in conversation that you +will ever give the chief proofs and evidences whether you do so or not. +In it there must be nothing despotic,--nothing to give any present the +idea that you have any right to decide what his opinions, what his +tastes, what his habits, what his pursuits, should be. You will, of +course, not misunderstand me here,--not forget that I am supposing each +opinion, each taste, each habit and pursuit, as, on the face of it, +allowable and innocent, although not yours. I repeat it, there must be +no despotism in society. Equality must prevail as a general rule; I say +a general rule, because there are, no doubt, certain seasons and times +when the intercourse of social and of family life must partake of that +special character which is adapted to the various relationships of man. +The parent must, at times, simply direct the child by his words. The +teacher, authoritatively, must instruct the pupil. The master or +employer must tell the employed what to do. And occasionally, in +society, the rule above laid down will, by general consent, lie in +abeyance, if it may be so expressed. And, on certain subjects,--I mean +those whereon we are ourselves ignorant, but others in our company are +highly informed,--we may be content to be just listeners, merely +demonstrating that sympathy and interest adequate to keep up the flow +of instruction from another's lips. But intercourse of this kind +scarcely can be termed conversation; and when circumstances like these +occur in social and family life, they must be directed by other rules +not altogether applicable to our present subject. Now, to enter with +full sympathy into the claims of all present in society for this equal +right of interchanged sentiment, and to show this feeling at times by +patient forbearance and at other times by manifest appreciation of that +which others say, is no slight grace and gift. And here the various +lessons on the subject, which experience or observation has taught, must +be brought into play; and the information in any way gained as to the +various feelings, habits, and tastes ordinarily entertained by people of +different ages, different professions, and different characters, must be +judiciously applied. Nor will this, in the least, spoil free and fair +discussion of any topic. On the contrary, it will promote it. And thus +that principle will be rightly maintained which I have endeavored to lay +down and commend, viz., that when any special opinion, feeling, or taste +is expressed in society,--I mean, of course, in a proper and legitimate +way,--it should always be treated by all present with that measure of +respect which each one would wish exercised towards himself for his own +personal views. Just in proportion as men are boorish, coarse, and +unsocial, in the true and extensive sense of the word, will they +transgress here. Yes, even put together one, ungainly tempered, from +his field, and another of the same character from his shop or counting +house, and very likely not five minutes will elapse before one or the +other will say something to disparage those habits and tastes with which +he himself happens to be not conversant. There ensues discord and +disseverance, or, it may be, silence and separation. But, on the other +hand, just in proportion as you are enabled to unite yourself with +others through your demeanor and words,--not, of course, hypocritically +or obsequiously, but from real sympathy with all the innocent tastes and +engagements of our fellow-creatures,--just, I say, in proportion as you +are enabled to do this, will your intercourse with them, in the way of +conversation, be of that kind at which we should aim. None will be +afraid of your indulging in rebuffs, or ridicule, or depreciation. None +will meet from you a cold, heartless, and repulsive indifference. To +you, and before you, the flower[A] of each human heart (if I may so +speak) will then have a tendency to open and expand its varied forms and +hues, instead of retaining them all closed and shut up; and many, many +thoughts will be expressed to you and before you which will never be +heard, or at all events rarely, indeed, by those of a sneering, +unsympathizing, hard, and ungenial spirit. Thus you will be known, or +rather felt, instinctively felt, as one who will do nothing to chill, +but, on the contrary, much to encourage that free spirit (in the best +sense of the word) which should mark and imbue all social intercourse +deserving the name at all; and you will be welcomed by all who can +appreciate good taste, good tact, and (I will add) good feeling +too,--for that is the chief spring of all such conduct; and you will be +enabled to receive and communicate much pleasure and profit too, +wheresover you may go. + +A word here may not be inappropriate as to what is sometimes called +"drawing a person out"--_i. e._ leading another to tell you, or any +company assembled in your presence, what they know, what they have seen, +what they feel, what, in a word, they are able to communicate, if so +disposed and led. Now, this drawing out is a very delicate affair. When +successfully done, it is most valuable. When the attempt proves +unsuccessful, you are very likely to lose or interfere with the very +object in view. Questioning of all kinds,--up from that on the simplest +topic, and with a purpose of the simplest kind, to that involving the +most important results,--questioning, I say, of all kinds, requires +judgment and tact. Many persons much err in this department of address. +Some err by asking about matters on which it is quite clear that they +have no real feeling and concern. Some err by demands as to your own +personal proceedings, wherewith they have no connection. Some, again, +err by putting questions, not wrongly or inappropriately, but merely too +many at a time, or in too rapid a succession. This scarcely can be +called conversation at all,--and, generally speaking, (though I do not +deny that there are exceptions, which will at once recur to the +intelligent,) yes, generally speaking, is most unsatisfactory. And the +reason, if we analyze the matter, is, that all the statements, or +observations, or call them what you will, proceed, under such +circumstances, from one of the parties engaged. It is not reciprocal; it +is not mutually communicated with due equality of interchanged thought. +You will at once perceive that this must be detrimental; and I would +suggest that when you may observe the damage which is thus done to +conversation, you should seek at once to put the discourse on a better +plan,--to shift it, as it were, on a better line for good progress. And +that may sometimes be done by putting a question to those who question +you, or even more, by making the number of questions on each side, in +some measure, to correspond. This, of course, must not be done harshly +or abruptly, nor so as to give the very least impression that you +yourself desire to withhold and draw in; but it may often be +advantageously done; and you will thus afford to another the natural and +fit means of telling you something, as a response for that which you +tell him. Then true conversation will begin; then the due interchange +of expression, which alone merits the name; then each party becomes +rightly placed, and the intercourse will improve almost instantaneously. + +But if, in these very commonest forms of our mutual address, it is not +an easy thing to put questions well,--neither too many, nor in their +wrong place,--then we may be well assured that it is more difficult +still when the object, expressly, is to lead on another, gifted perhaps +in many ways, or having perhaps some special thing to tell, unknown to +you or others present. And yet what a valuable art this is! Much is lost +in society by incapacity for its due exercise. Much is gained by skill +in its employment. But many reasons concur to render it very difficult. +The following may be mentioned among many others. Some are full of +matter, but shy or reserved. Some are unaware of the deep interest which +certain things, well known to them, would have for others, if they would +communicate them; (in illustration of this, I may perhaps quote +scientific men, travellers, those who have led strange and peculiar +lives.) Some are too modest to put themselves in any prominent light. +Others are too proud so to do, lest they should fail in winning full +attention to their words. Some are jaded and worn with previous hours of +intellectual toil, and the current of their thoughts is still flowing on +in a channel of its own. Some are laboring under a kind of awe of one or +more persons in the company. Some are young, and scarcely seem to +realize or know how acceptable are the thoughts and fresh expressions of +youth to those of maturer years. Others are afraid of being too +professional in their remarks. Others are indolent in the use of their +tongue and utterance. And numerous other causes might be mentioned, +which sadly interfere with the full, free, and general flow of discourse +or conversation. And yet, at the same time, there may be rich stores in +the assembly,--much, very much, to communicate,--something, at least, in +each either to please, or inform and improve,--something perhaps in +every one present which, if told and expressed to those around him, +would add and contribute no slight nor unprized contribution to the +common stock. But how to elicit it--there is the difficulty. +Nevertheless, very much may be done by tact and kindness, by animation +and by cordiality, by watching and waiting for fit opportunities, by +that appreciation of each one in the circle which will encompass and +arouse all, as it were, with a kind of electric chain,--by a constant +and deliberate aim to converse yourself at the time when it may be +requisite, and willingly to lapse into silence and the background when +another takes up the subject. And, although it is a measure which +requires no little taste and moderation in its use, still it is +sometimes not only very graceful, but very effectual too, if you will +open out on some few personal topics which may concern yourself, and +thus win a response from others present, who may personally know or +have personally gone through that which you and others in the company +would desire, and rightly desire, to hear opened out without any +reserve. + +In order, again, to promote conversation of a superior sort, endeavor +must be made to expand and enlarge its bounds to the very utmost. It +should be of a comprehensive kind,--not the gossip of some narrow set, +not a mere comment on the persons and affairs of any one locality, not a +wearisome and dull repetition of things already, perhaps long, familiar +to all present. I repeat, it should be comprehensive,--brought forward, +as it were, from a full treasury of "things new and old," and coined +into various sums, larger for such occasions as may need, and +small--yes, even to the smallest--for the fit use and time. It should be +formed of various materials, of that which has been seen, and heard, and +read. A monotonous character is fatal to it. At one time it should +arouse and awaken,--at another it should calm and soothe. At one time it +should lead into deep and grave questions,--at another it should play +lightly over the surface of things. At one time it may touch the spirit +of the hearer, almost into tears,--at another it may raise the full +freedom of laughter and mirth. At one time it may be addressed to all +within the convenient reach of your words,--at another to one listening +ear. If possible, it should touch on many tastes, on many places, on +various interests, giving to each present (however different each taste +and character) the best and fairest opening for a share in the circling +talk, which opportunity every one, at fit occasion and turn, should be +willing to embrace, and thus to render his or her social dues to those +who freely and fairly contribute theirs. No one, on the other hand, +should seek dominion, nor ever two or three, over the remainder. Again, +conversation should never be allowed so to fall into separate or little +knots, that one here or one there should remain alone or excluded +altogether. It should be carried on in appropriate tones of voice. They +should be somewhat raised, or rather, I would say, strengthened for the +old and for those who are a little deaf, of whom there are many. This, +however, not too obviously; not to remind any of infirmity. They should +be quick, firm, and spirited for those in middle age, with their +faculties in full strength. They should be somewhat gentler to the +young, lest they be at all checked; and somewhat slower, that they may +have more time and means to frame their own answer. For which the reason +is, that as "practice makes perfect" in all things, so they, whose +practice has, of course, been less than their seniors', need more time +to make up for the want of it, even in conversation. At all times +discourse is liable to alternations as to its interest and life. Expect +this, and even should it become at any moment what is called dull, or +even should an awkward pause and silence come on, do not seem to notice +it. This will only make it worse. Rather try yourself to gather up the +broken thread, or to introduce some new matter. Every one should avoid +bringing forward or needlessly dwelling on any topic whatsoever likely +to affect any others present with any unfavorable reminiscences. The +wealthy will avoid, as a general rule, allusions to their property and +wealth before any persons who, although their equals in society, are +known to be of poor and inadequate estate. The healthy and the vigorous +of frame will not forget that others are invalids; those free as air in +the disposition of their time, that others have but very little, and +that with difficulty spared; the quick and intelligent, that others are +more slow in apprehension; those of hardy spirit, well strung and +braced, that others are nervous, sensitive, and tried by words, tones, +gestures, and expressions, which would not try, nor vex, or affect them +in the least degree. But what tact is requisite in all this! And many, +many failures must there be; sins of commission and of omission too, +even among those who earnestly seek in this matter to fulfil, always and +everywhere, the rules of true courtesy, and, which is better still, the +rules of true Christian love. Nevertheless, the aim at which we point is +by no means without its value as a profitable exercise both of the mind +and heart. No, nor is it ineffectual and unblessed. For, although at +times words may be said which we would long to recall, and strings of +feeling touched by our utterance which afterthought tells us we should +not have moved, and topics handled with much want of that skill and +judgment which we should have wished most truly to employ, still, with a +good aim before us, and with right principles in some measure realized, +and seeking to correct any error when discovered, as well as to advance +more in all which improves and adorns right social intercourse, much +will be done towards the goodly end. And large indeed will be the amount +of pleasure and of benefit which you may thus hope to reap for yourself +and communicate to others in the course of your life, and that, too, up +to an age, should your days be prolonged, when you may be shut up, or at +all events much restrained, from many other means of active usefulness. +For the mellowed wisdom of age, showing and expressing itself in that +charity and sympathy for all which nothing less than experience itself +has taught, is indeed a strong and beautiful thing. + +Hitherto I have spoken altogether on conversation with those whose rank +and position of life corresponds with your own. A few words now on +conversation, first, with those of a higher rank, and, secondly, with +those in the humbler conditions of life--to use the common phrase; and +every man should be qualified and prepared for any and for all kinds of +association. + +To those of a higher rank than ourselves we may, without derogating in +the least from our independence and self-respect, show that deference +which not only the customs of all nations, but the Scripture also most +evidently inculcates. This, of course, will appear when engaged with +them in conversation. It will, however, be shown rather in some +occasional acknowledgment than in the manner or matter of discourse. The +rank of another does not in the least demand that you should surrender +your opinion to his, nor conceal your sentiments, nor assume any other +line of subjects and topics than you would address to those more +immediately your equals in worldly position. A vague, undefined notion +seems to float through each rank of society in our land, that those in +the stage above think, feel, and act in a manner different from those +below. A very great mistake this, which oftentimes chills and checks and +mars all open freedom of address when one of an higher and one of a +lower rank are brought into those circumstances where the opportunity +for conversation occurs, if not the absolute claim. But let it be +remembered that the mind and heart of man or of woman varies but little +through these mere distinctions of the world. I do not say that it does +not vary at all, but very little. The main current of joy, the main +current of sorrow, is the same in all classes, though the lesser streams +may variously and separately flow. The main current of affections, of +interests, is the same. All are subject to the same need of kind, +friendly sympathy; all are made to interchange thought; all share in the +manifold impressions of our common nature. Wealth and nobility, and rank +and station, are, after all, only artificial things, not the main +staple of life in any man or woman. When, therefore, you are brought +into the society of one or more like these, be to them appropriately +courteous. Acknowledge their position at once, and then let your +intercourse with them flow freely on, just as with others. Trouble not +them, nor trouble yourself, with any other system of address. Deprive +not them, nor deprive yourself, of free, open, natural communication. +And, depend upon it, that acting and speaking thus, you will not only be +oftentimes pleased rather than silenced and embarrassed by such society, +but you will be sure to please and to be valued,--yes, and to meet no +less friendly sympathy, both of mind and heart, than is to be found in +each other rank of life. + +And now a few words on conversation with our poorer friends or +neighbors, or any persons in this class of life with whom, habitually, +we may have to do, or whom we may meet at any time or place. And few of +that class being, I conclude, here, I may speak to you as those who +would gladly receive any hints for kind consideration as to the right +way of fulfilling your own part in this matter. For I, too, would wish +to be a learner on it, so important do I conceive it to be. So much has +been said, and so much has been written, on the benefit of free, kindly +intercourse between the rich and the poor, the employers and the +employed, those who labor with their heads and those who labor with +their hands, that any mere general or vague observations on the subject +would be quite out of place here. I shall, accordingly, regard you not +only as admitting this truth, but also as desirous yourselves to +exemplify it; and, again, as admitting, and feeling too, that merely to +pay wages, and to give directions and commands, and to bestow alms, and +to support charitable institutions (however needful and good such things +may be), is not enough for one desiring to secure the sympathy and love +of his poorer brethren. For that you must be ready, willing, able to +converse with them. To qualify yourself for doing this, is in many +professions an indispensable and most evident duty,--for instance, with +the ministers of religion and with medical men. They could do nothing +without such conversation. And, considering it due at proper seasons +from every one in a higher class of life to those below them, I shall +just offer you a few hints, which seem to me not unworthy of note. +Avoid, then, on the one hand, all hard, overbearing address; while, on +the other, there must be energy, spirit, firmness, and life. Avoid all +semblance of patronage and condescension, but at the same time never +make any forced attempts to appear what you are not, or to assume a +character not your own. Do not imagine the range of subjects small; and, +when you can, choose those topics in which you and those addressed both +take an interest. Many there are common to all classes. Be not impatient +to come to a point too quick, but give people a full opportunity to +express themselves in their own way; nor count this waste time. It is +very much otherwise. Use short rather than long sentences,--language +colloquial, not that of books,--giving emphasis, tone, and strength to +your words,--never lapsing into cold, lifeless, inexpressive tones. +Trust oftentimes, in conversation with the poor and comparatively +uneducated, that there is much more intelligence within than the answer +which they make in words would lead you, at first sight, to expect. Be +willing and ready to tell something about yourself, your family, and +concerns, when there appears any interest about them. Remember that +family ties and affections are strong in one as in another of the human +family; and, as among your own friends and associates you would refer to +these natural topics, so do here. Let wants and necessities, and trials +and difficulties, not be forgotten, but let them not be the whole +subject-matter of discourse. No, let it range far more widely, far more +attractively; and your looks and your demeanor, and your tones and +words, being all directed by good will, and by practice too, you indeed +will be no idler in good works during times and occasions thus employed. +You will win much love, much esteem, much appreciation; you will hear +much right feeling expressed, and, at times, much to inform you of a +practical kind. You will do good and receive good too. + +It appears to me that I have now presented to your notice almost a +sufficiency of topics, relative to conversation, for one single lecture. +Nevertheless, I feel unwilling to conclude without drawing your +attention to a few facts connected with the subject. One is, that the +ablest and mightiest authors of all times and countries have borne their +strong testimony to the attraction which conversation presents, by +casting a large portion of their writings into this form or mould. Thus +did Homer in poetry, Plato in philosophy, and dramatists, of all ages, +in their plays. Thus did Cicero in his various treatises; and Horace +appears[B] talking to you in many and many a page. Dante's grand poem, +"Il Purgatorio," is chiefly a conversation. The French have ever +excelled in such writings; and of such a character is that well-known +gem in the literature of Spain, I of course allude to "Don Quixote." In +Shakspeare and Walter Scott it is the same, and they, perhaps, are the +most popular writers of our land, except one. Who, do you ask, is that? +John Bunyan, the author of the "Pilgrim's Progress;" but that very book +comes up with its testimony too, being a dialogue throughout,--rich in +pathos and wit, rich in illustration, rich in experience, rich in all +variety and combination,--in a word, the very perfection of talk; not +less attractive than it is weighty, not less entertaining than +heavenly, holy, and full of all things which make a book precious. + +But another book there is, of which it is well said:-- + + "A glory gilds the sacred page, + Majestic like the sun! + It gives a light to every age; + It gives, but borrows none." + +And in that book of books there are four short but most mighty +narratives. And each of those narratives contains the one most important +record which ever had to be told upon this earth. Each of them gives one +concurrent history; namely, that of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, +with his sayings and his deeds. And of conversation these holy +narratives are full. God has chosen this mode of reaching our minds and +influencing our hearts, by large--very large--portions of them written +after this fashion. Cowper felt this so deeply, that, in his poem on our +present subject, he has beautifully told and paraphrased all that went +on when Jesus met and talked with the two disciples on the way to +Emmaus. Moreover, in those gospels, there is one, penned by that +"disciple whom Jesus loved;" and if there is much conversation in all +four of them, in it especially--in the gospel of St. John--conversation +appears in all its full and continued glory. Take one or two examples. +Mankind, all mankind, had to be taught about the complete atonement for +our sins made by our Saviour on the cross. Where is it more clearly, +more mightily told than in the third chapter of St. John's gospel? But +what is that chapter? Is it a law prescribed in set terms?--No. Is it a +sermon?--No. Is it a mere address?--No. You will all remember it is a +conversation,--Christ's conversation with Nicodemus by night. And so it +is again in the very next chapter, where a subject of no less +importance--I say it advisedly, no less importance--is set forth, viz. +the work of the Holy Spirit in man's heart; and that is portrayed for us +in a conversation with the woman of Samaria, at Sychar's well. What +striking instances are these! And many others might be added to them. +And thus we have before us even the sanction and proof from the Word of +God, that the most mighty and transcendent truth can reach us in no +better form than that which conversation gives, and also that Jesus +Christ put his own royal stamp of glory on it, by employing it Himself +continually, when upon the earth among men, though he was their Lord and +their God. + +Having thus been led on,--I think very naturally, and, as I think, quite +appropriately, too, for one of my office and position, at any time or +place, or on any subject,--I will not return to any lighter theme. I do +not in the least regret that I have selected my present topic out of +very many which suggested themselves to my mind, when I was asked to +exercise the privilege of thus addressing you, as I have now done for +these four years. I might have chosen others far more entertaining, +and, no doubt, some far more kindling and exciting at this present +time,[C] when our thoughts and our feelings are all so concentrated on +one distant spot of strife and of contest, and of danger, and of +bravery, and wounds, and deaths, and bereavements,--and amidst all, of +honor unexampled to our brave brethren in arms. But, for many reasons, I +have done otherwise. I have chosen, as usual, a subject of general, of +national, of wide-world, of never-failing interest, from day to day, +from week to week, from month to month, from year to year, among the +vast race of our fellows,--born social creatures, born for mutual +sympathy, with interchanged utterance, speech, and conversation. +Strongly do I feel its importance, and I cannot help expressing my +surprise that so little, so very little, has systematically been written +or said upon it. I have found it no ordinary theme, I assure you; and, +though it is one on which we all instinctively are interested in any +circle, or with whomsoever we may at any time be, still it is not one on +which the arrangement and classification of thought is an easy thing. I +therefore shall not feel disappointed, nor, do I trust, will you be +disappointed either, in that good employment of your time which you have +a right to expect from me, as your lecturer to-night here, if I shall +have set before you any thoughts, for your attention, which may improve, +in the least degree, the course and the current of ordinary +conversation. When we remember how much of our innocent +gratification,--how much of our daily harmony one with another,--how +much of our mutual improvement,--depends on the right exercise of this +goodly gift,--then, I am sure, you will not consider that the subject is +one to be neglected or ignored. I verily believe that I do not +over-state the fact, in asserting that for one time when we are liable +to hurt, or distress, or offend another by our acts and deeds, there are +fifty or an hundred, or perhaps more, occasions, when we are liable to +do so by our words, and demeanor, and utterance. And again, for once +that we can do kind and profitable actions to those around us, and +associating with us, there are fifty or an hundred,--perhaps more +occasions still,--when we can please or profit another by our words. I +ask you, as those who can judge in this matter for yourselves, "Is it +not so? Is it not so most undeniably?" Well, then, if I have been +successful in laying down any right principles, in exposing anything +disadvantageous, or in presenting any available means for rendering your +daily intercourse more evidently kind, more evidently sympathizing, more +evidently, in a word, such as that which every good man would wish to +exhibit, and which must render him not only welcome and not only useful, +but a real and true ornament of society in the best sense of the word; +if I have shown you anything whatever available to this end, whether for +your use at home or abroad, in the cottage or the shop, in the humblest +abode or in the noblest and in the wealthiest, then surely I shall not +have spoken in vain. I speak on no narrow topic, and I speak for all. +Truly it is one which touches all; and in this lies its strength and its +interest. There is no one, I believe, who does not intuitively and +instinctively feel either his gain or his loss in conversation,--the +effect of it on his own mind and on his own feelings at the time and +afterwards,--either its harms or its charms. All must feel this, though +unable perhaps to classify their thoughts or express them on it, and +perhaps they have never thought of so doing. And I, for one, will not +hesitate to say that, it having been my lot to mix much, and willingly, +in all the various classes of society,--and having endeavored, so far as +in my power has been, to cultivate and show a true brotherly and +friendly spirit, both to high and low,--I have met nothing to confer +more pleasure and more advantage in daily life than fit conversation. I +have found it from the poorest. I have found it from those of middle +station. I have found it among the noble and the rich. And, while +without it the hours of social and of family life may drag on heavily, +and in a wearisome and worthless way, under the roofs of splendor and +magnificence, and in the midst of feasts, and pomp, and parade, with it, +freely interchanged from well-informed heads and cordial hearts, +expressing what they know and telling what they feel, without any +restraint except that of love, and tact, and propriety,--with it, I +say, the simplest home may be one of enjoyment and improvement every +recurring day, and each coming guest will share its attractions,--and +therefore I say to every one present, "Despise not this gift, and try to +improve it; and seek Divine help for its right regulation, as well as +for its use; and be well assured that, under God's blessing, in its +direction you will gain for yourself, and promote for your +fellow-creatures, no slight share of true enjoyment, no slight benefits +both for this world and for the world to come." + +FOOTNOTES: + + [A] "Quale i fioretti, dol notturno gielo + Chinati e chiusi, poi che 'l sol gl' imbianca, + Si drizzan tutti aperti in loro stelo, + Tal mi fece io di mia virtute stanca." + _Inf._ Can. ii. 127-9. + + [B] "Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico + Tangit, et admissus circum præcordia ludit." + Pers. i. 116. + + [C] December, 1854. + + + + +PART III. + + +A WORD TO THE WISE; + + +BY + +PARRY GWYNNE. + + + + +A WORD TO THE WISE. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +IT is readily acknowledged, by all well educated foreigners, that +English Grammar is very easy to learn, the difficulties of the language +lying in the numberless variations and licenses of its pronunciation. +Since to us then, children of the soil, pronunciation has no +difficulties to offer, is it not a reproach that so many speak their own +language in an inelegant and slatternly manner,--either through an +inexcusable ignorance of grammatical rules, or a wanton violation of +them? There are two sorts of bad speakers,--the educated and the +uneducated. I write for the former, and I shall deal the less leniently +with them, because "where much is given, much will be expected." Ay, and +where much has been achieved too, and intellectual laurels have been +gathered, is it not a reproach that a _slatternly_ mode of expression +should sometimes deteriorate from the eloquence of the scholar, and +place the accomplished man or woman, in _this_ respect, on a level with +the half-educated or the illiterate? + +Some one, I think it is Lord Chesterfield, has wisely said, "Whatever is +worth doing, is worth doing well." Then, if our native language is worth +studying, surely it is worth _speaking well_, and as there is no +standing still in excellence of any kind, so, even in language,--in so +simple a thing as the expression of our thoughts by words,--if we do not +improve we shall retrograde. + +It is a common opinion that a knowledge of Latin supersedes the +necessity of the study of English grammar. This must entail a strong +imputation of carelessness on our Latin students, who sometimes commit +such solecisms in English as make us regret they did not _once_, at +least, peruse the grammatical rules of their native language. + +We laugh at the blunders of a foreigner, but perpetrate our own offences +with so much gravity that an observer would have a right to suppose we +consider them what they really are,--_no laughing matter_. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +I. + +Some people speak of "so many _spoonsfull_," instead of "so many +spoonfuls." The rule on this subject says: "Compounds ending in _ful_, +and all those in which the principal word is put last, form the plural +in the same manner as other nouns,--as 'handfuls, spoonfuls, +mouthfuls,'" &c., &c. + +Logic will demonstrate the propriety of this rule. Are you measuring by +a plurality of spoons? If so, "so many _spoonsfull_" must be the correct +term; but if the process of measuring be effected by _refilling the same +spoon_, then it becomes evident that the precise idea meant to be +conveyed is, the _quantity_ contained in the vessel by which it is +measured, which is a "_spoonful_." + + +II. + +It is a common mistake to speak of "a disagreeable effluvia." This word +is _effluvium_ in the singular, and _effluvia_ in the plural. The same +rule should be observed with _automaton_, _arcanum_, _erratum_, +_phenomenon_, _memorandum_, and several others which are less frequently +used, and which change the _um_ or _on_ into _a_, to form the plural. It +is so common a thing, however, to say _memorandums_, that I fear it +would sound a little pedantic, in colloquial style, to use the word +_memoranda_; and it is desirable, perhaps, that custom should make an +exception of this word, as well as of _encomium_, and allow two +terminations to it, according to the taste of the speaker and the style +of the discourse,--_memorandums_ or _memoranda_, like _encomiums_ or +_encomia_. + + +III. + +We have heard _pulse_ and _patience_ treated as pluralities, much to our +astonishment. + + +IV. + +It seems to be a position assumed by all grammarians, that their readers +already understand the meaning of the word "case," as applied to nouns +and pronouns; hence they never enter into a clear explanation of the +simple term, but proceed at once to a discussion of its grammatical +distinctions, in which it frequently happens that the student, for want +of a little introductory explanation, is unable to accompany them. But I +am not going to repeat to the scholar how the term "case" is derived +from a Latin word signifying "to fall," and is so named because all the +other cases _fall_ or _decline_ from the nominative, in order to express +the various relations of nouns to each other,--which in Latin they do by +a difference of termination, in English by the aid of prepositions,--and +that an orderly arrangement of all these different terminations is +called the declension of a noun, &c. I am not going to repeat to the +scholar the things he already knows; but to you, my gentle readers, to +whom Latin is still an unknown tongue, to whom grammars are become +obsolete things, and grammatical definitions would be bewildering +preliminaries, "more honored in the breach than in the observance,"--to +you I am anxious to explain, in the clearest manner practicable, all +the mysteries of this case, because it was a cruel perplexity to myself +in days of yore. And I will endeavor to make my lecture as brief and +clear as possible, requesting you to bear in mind that no knowledge is +to be acquired without a little trouble; and that whosoever may consider +it too irksome a task to exert the understanding for a _short_ period, +must be content to remain in inexcusable and irremediable ignorance. +Though, I doubt not, when you come to perceive how great the errors are +which you daily commit, you will not regret having sat down quietly for +half an hour to listen to an unscholastic exposition of them. + + +V. + +We all understand the meaning of the word "case," as it is applied to +the common affairs of life; but when we meet with it in our grammars, we +view it as an abstruse term. We will not consent to believe that it +means nothing more than _position of affairs_, _condition_, or +_circumstances_, any one of which words might be substituted for it with +equal propriety, if it were not indispensable in grammar to adhere +strictly to the same term when we wish to direct the attention +unerringly to the same thing, and to keep the understanding alive to the +justness of its application; whilst a multiplicity of names to one thing +would be likely to create confusion. Thus, if one were to say, "This is +a very hard case," or "A singular case occurred the other day," or +"That poor man's case is a very deplorable one," we should readily +comprehend that by the word "case" was meant "circumstance" or +"situation;" and when we speak, in the language of the grammar, of "a +noun in the nominative case," we only mean a person or thing placed in +such circumstances as to become merely named, or named as the performer +of some action,--as "the man," or "the man walks." In both these +sentences, "man" is in the nominative case; because in the first he is +simply _named_, without reference to any circumstance respecting him, +and in the second he is named as the performer of the _act_ of _walking_ +mentioned. When we speak of a noun in the possessive case, we simply +mean a person or thing placed under such circumstances as to become +named as the _possessor_ of something; and when we speak of a noun in +the objective case, we only intend to express a person or thing standing +in such a situation as to be, in some way or other, affected by the act +of some other person or thing,--as "Henry teaches Charles." Here Henry +is, by an abbreviation of terms, called _the nominative case_, (instead +of the _noun_ in the nominative case,) because he stands in that +situation in which it is incumbent on us to name him as the _performer_ +of the act of teaching; and Charles is, by the same abbreviating +license, called the _objective case_, because he is in such a position +of affairs as to _receive_ the act of teaching which Henry performs. I +will now tell you how you may always distinguish the three cases. Read +the sentence attentively, and understand accurately what the nouns are +represented as doing. If any person or thing be represented as +_performing_ an _action_, that person or thing is a noun in the +nominative case. If any person or thing be represented as _possessing +something_, that person or thing is a noun in the possessive case. And +if any person or thing be represented as neither performing nor +possessing, it is a noun in the objective case, whether directly or +indirectly affected by the action of the nominative; because, as we have +in English but _three_ cases, which contain the substance of the _six +Latin_ cases, _whatever is neither nominative nor possessive must be +objective_. Here I might wander into a long digression on passive and +neuter verbs, which I may seem to have totally overlooked in the +principle just laid down; but I am not writing a grammar,--not +attempting to illustrate the various ramifications of grammatical laws +to people who know nothing at all about them,--any more than I am +writing for the edification of the accomplished scholar, to whom purity +of diction is already familiar. I am writing, chiefly, for that vast +portion of the educated classes who have never looked into a grammar +since their school days were over, but who have ingeniously hewn out for +themselves a middle path between ignorance and knowledge, and to whom +certain little hillocks in their way have risen up, under a dense +atmosphere, to the magnitude of mountains. I merely wish to give to +them, since they will not take the trouble to search for themselves, one +broad and general principle, unclogged by exceptions, to guide them to +propriety of speech; and should they afterwards acquire a taste for +grammatical disputation, they will of course apply to more extensive +sources for the necessary qualifications. + + +VI. + +It is scarcely possible to commit any inaccuracy in the use of these +cases when restricted to nouns, but in the application of them to +pronouns a woful confusion often arises; though even in this confusion +exists a marked distinction between the errors of the ill-bred and those +of the well-bred man. To use the objective instead of the nominative is +a _vulgar_ error; to use the nominative instead of the objective is a +_genteel_ error. No person of decent education would think of saying, +"Him and me are going to the play." Yet how often do we hear even well +educated people say, "They were coming to see my brother and _I_,"--"The +claret will be packed in two hampers for Mr. Smith and _I_,"--"Let you +and _I_ try to move it,"--"Let him and _I_ go up and speak to +them,"--"Between you and _I_," &c. &c.;--faults as heinous as that of +the vulgarian who says, "Him and me are going to the play," and with +less excuse. Two minutes' reflection will enable the scholar to correct +himself, and a little exercise of memory will shield him from a +repetition of the fault; but, for the benefit of those who may _not_ be +scholars, we will accompany him through the mazes of his reflections. +Who are the persons that are performing the act of "coming to see"? +"_They_." Then the pronoun _they_ must stand in the nominative case. Who +are the persons to whom the act of "coming to see" extends? "My brother +and I." Then "my brother and I," being the _objects affected_ by the act +of the nominative, must be a noun and pronoun standing in the objective +case; and as nouns are not susceptible of change on account of cases, it +is only the _pronoun_ which requires alteration to render the sentence +correct: "They were coming to see my brother and _me_." The same +argument is applicable to the other examples given. In the English +language, the imperative mood of a verb is never conjugated with a +pronoun in the nominative case, therefore, "Let you and _I_ try to move +it," "Let him and _I_ go up and speak to them," are manifest +improprieties. A very simple test may be formed by taking away the first +noun or pronoun from the sentence altogether, and bringing the verb or +preposition right against that pronoun which you use to designate +yourself: thus, "They were coming to see _I_," "The claret will be +packed in two hampers for _I_," "Let _I_ try to move it," &c. By this +means your own ear will correct you, without any reference to +grammatical rules. And bear in mind that the number of _nouns_ it may +be necessary to press into the sentence will not alter the _case_ +respecting the pronouns. + +"Between you and I" is as erroneous an expression as any. Change the +position of the pronouns, and say, "Between I and you;" or change the +sentence altogether, and say, "Between I and the wall there was a great +gap;" and you will soon see in what case the first person should be +rendered. "Prepositions govern the objective case," therefore it is +impossible to put a nominative _after_ a preposition without a gross +violation of a rule which ought to be familiar to everybody. + + +VII. + +The same mistake extends to the relative pronouns "who" and "whom." We +seldom hear the objective case used either by vulgar or refined +speakers. "Who did you give it to?" "Who is this for?" are solecisms of +daily occurrence; and when the objective "whom" _is_ used, it is +generally put in the wrong place; as, "The person whom I expected would +purchase that estate," "The man whom they intend shall execute that +work." This intervening verb in each sentence, "I expected" and "they +intend," coming between the last verb and its own nominative (the +relative pronoun), has no power to alter the rule, and no right to +violate it; but as the introduction of an intervening verb, in such +situations, is likely to beguile the ear and confuse the judgment, it +would be better to avoid such constructions altogether, and turn the +sentence in a different way; as, "The person whom I expected _to be_ the +purchaser of that estate," "The man whom they intend _to_ execute that +work." If the reader will cut off the intervening verb, which has +nothing to do with the construction of the sentence, except to mystify +it, he will perceive at a glance the error and its remedy: "The person +_whom_ would purchase that estate," "The man _whom_ shall execute that +work." + + +VIII. + +It is very easy to mistake the nominative when another noun comes +between it and the verb, which is frequently the case in the use of the +indefinite and distributive pronouns; as, "One of those houses _were_ +sold last week," "Each of the daughters _are_ to have a separate share," +"Every tree in those plantations _have_ been injured by the storm," +"Either of the children _are_ at liberty to claim it." Here it will be +perceived that the pronouns "one," "each," "every," "either," are the +true nominatives to the verbs; but the intervening noun in the plural +number, in each sentence, deludes the ear, and the speaker, without +reflection, renders the verb in the plural instead of the singular +number. The same error is often committed when no second noun appears to +plead an apology for the fault; as, "Each city _have their_ peculiar +privileges," "Everybody has a right to look after _their_ own +interest," "Either _are_ at liberty to claim it." This is the effect of +pure carelessness. + + +IX. + +There is another very common error, the reverse of the last mentioned, +which is that of rendering the adjective pronoun in the _plural_ number +instead of the singular in such sentences as the following: "_These_ +kind of entertainments are not conducive to general improvement," +"_Those_ sort of experiments are often dangerous." This error seems to +originate in the habit which people insensibly acquire of supposing the +prominent noun in the sentence (such as "entertainments" or +"experiments") to be the noun qualified by the adjective "these" or +"those;" instead of which it is "kind," "sort," or any word of that +description _immediately following_ the adjective, which should be so +qualified, and the adjective must be made to agree with it in the +singular number. We confess it is not so agreeable to the ear to say, +"_This_ kind of entertainments," "_That_ sort of experiments;" but it +would be easy to give the sentence a different form, and say, +"Entertainments of this kind," "Experiments of that sort," by which the +requisitions of grammar would be satisfied, and those of euphony too. + + +X. + +But the grand fault, the glaring impropriety, committed by "all ranks +and conditions of men," rich and poor, high and low, illiterate and +learned,--except, perhaps, one in twenty,--and from which not even the +pulpit or the bar is totally free,--is, the substitution of the active +verb _lay_ for the neuter verb _lie_ (to lie down). The scholar _knows_ +that "active verbs govern the objective case," and therefore _demand_ an +objective case after them; and that neuter verbs _will not admit_ an +objective case after them, _except_ through the medium of a preposition. +_He_, therefore, has no excuse for his error, it is a wilful one; for +him the following is not written. And here I may as well say, once for +all, that whilst I would _remind_ the _scholar_ of his lapses, my +instructions and explanations are offered _only_ to the class which +requires them. + +"To lay" is an active transitive verb, like _love_, _demanding_ an +objective case after it, _without the intervention of a preposition_. +"To lie" is a neuter verb, _not admitting an objective case after it, +except through the intervention of a preposition_;--yet this "perverse +generation" _will_ go on substituting the former for the latter. Nothing +can be more erroneous than to say, as people constantly do, "I shall go +and lay down." The question which naturally arises in the mind of the +discriminating hearer is, "_What_ are you going to lay down,--money, +carpets, plans, or what?" for, as a transitive verb is used, an object +is wanted to complete the sense. The speaker means, in fact, to tell us +that he (himself) is going to _lie down_, instead of which he gives us +to understand that he is going to _lay_ down or _put_ down something +which he has not named, but which it is necessary to name before we can +understand the sentence; and this sentence, when completed according to +the rules of grammar, will never convey the meaning he intends. One +might as well use the verb "to put" in this situation, as the verb "to +lay," for each is a transitive verb, requiring an objective case +immediately after it. If you were to enter a room, and, finding a person +lying on the sofa, were to address him with such a question as "What are +you doing there?" you would think it ludicrous if he were to reply, "I +am _putting_ down;" yet it would not be more absurd than to say, "I am +_laying_ down;" but custom, whilst it fails to reconcile us to the +error, has so familiarized us with it, that we hear it without surprise, +and good breeding forbids our noticing it to the speaker. The same +mistake is committed through all the tenses of the verb. How often are +nice ears wounded by the following expressions,--"My brother _lays_ ill +of a fever,"--"The vessel _lays_ in St. Katharine's Docks,"--"The books +were _laying_ on the floor,"--"He _laid_ on a sofa three weeks,"--"After +I had _laid_ down, I remembered that I had left my pistols _laying_ on +the table." You must perceive that, in every one of these instances, the +wrong verb is used; correct it, therefore, according to the explanation +given; thus, "My brother _lies_ ill of a fever,"--"The vessel _lies_ in +St Katherine's Docks,"--"The books were _lying_ on the floor,"--"He +_lay_ on a sofa three weeks,"--"After I had _lain_ down, I remembered +that I had left my pistols _lying_ on the table." + +It is probable that this error has originated in the circumstance of the +present tense of the verb "to lay" being conjugated precisely like the +imperfect tense of the verb "to lie," for they are alike in orthography +and sound, and different only in meaning; and in order to remedy the +evil which this resemblance seems to have created, I have conjugated at +full length the simple tenses of the two verbs, hoping the exposition +may be found useful; for it is an error which _must_ be corrected by all +who aspire to the merit of speaking their own language _well_. + + +VERB ACTIVE. + +_To lay._ + +Present tense. + + I lay } + Thou layest } money, + He lays } carpets, + We lay } plans,--any + You lay } _thing_. + They lay } + +Imperfect tense. + + I laid } + Thou laidest } money, + He laid } carpets, + We laid } plans,--any + You laid } _thing_. + They laid } + + Present Participle, Laying. + Perfect Participle, Laid. + + +VERB NEUTER. + +_To lie._ + +Present tense. + + I lie } + Thou liest } down, + He lies } too long, + We lie } on a sofa,--any + You lie } _where_. + They lie } + + Imperfect tense. + + I lay } + Thou layest } down, + He lays } too long, + We lay } on a sofa,--any + You lay } _where_. + They lay } + + Present Participle, Lying, + Perfect Participle, Lain. + +In such sentences as these, wherein the verb is used reflectively,--"If +I lay myself down on the grass I shall catch cold," "He laid himself +down on the green sward,"--the verb "to lay" is with propriety +substituted for the verb "to lie;" for the addition of the emphatic +pronoun _myself_, or _himself_, constituting an objective case, and +coming _immediately after_ the verb, _without the intervention of a +preposition_, renders it necessary that the verb employed should be +_active_, not _neuter_, because "active verbs govern the objective +case." But this is the only construction in which "to lay" instead of +"to lie" can be sanctioned by the rules of grammar. + + +XI. + +The same confusion often arises in the use of the verbs _sit_ and _set_, +_rise_ and _raise_. _Sit_ is a neuter verb, _set_ an active one; yet how +often do people most improperly say, "I have _set_ with him for hours," +"He _set_ on the beach till the sun went down," "She _set_ three nights +by the patient's bedside." What did they set,--potatoes, traps, or what? +for as an objective case is evidently implied by the use of an active +verb, an object is indispensable to complete the sense. No tense +whatever of the verb "to sit" is rendered "set," which has but _one +word_ throughout the whole verb, except the active participle "setting;" +and "sit" has but two words, "sit" and "sat," except the active +participle "sitting;" therefore it is very easy to correct this error +by the help of a little attention. + + +XII. + +_Raise_ is the same kind of verb as _set_,--active-transitive, requiring +an objective case after it; and it contains only two words, _raise_ and +_raised_, besides the active participle _raising_. _Rise_ is a neuter +verb, not admitting an objective case. It contains two words, _rise_ and +_rose_; besides the two participles, _rising_ and _risen_. It is +improper, therefore, to say, "He _rose_ the books from the floor," "He +_rises_ the fruit as it falls," "After she had _risen_ the basket on her +head," &c. In all such cases use the other verb _raise_. It occurs to +me, that if people would take the trouble to reckon how many different +words a verb contains, they would be in less danger of mistaking them. +"Lay" contains two words, "lay" and "laid," besides the active +participle "laying." "Lie" has also two words, "lie" and "lay," besides +the two participles "lying" and "lain;" and from this second word "lay" +arises all the confusion I have had to lament in the foregoing pages. + + +XIII. + +To the scholar I would remark the prevalent impropriety of adopting the +subjunctive instead of the indicative mood, in sentences where doubt or +uncertainty is expressed, although the former can only be used in +situations in which "contingency and futurity" are combined. Thus, a +gentleman, giving an order to his tailor, may say, "Make me a coat of a +certain description, if it _fit_ me well I will give you another order;" +because the "fit" alluded to is a thing which the future has to +determine. But when the coat is made and brought home, he cannot say, +"If this cloth _be good_ I will give you another order," for the quality +of the cloth is _already_ determined; the future will not alter it. It +may be good, it may be bad, but whatever it _may be_ it already _is_; +therefore, as contingency only is implied, _without futurity_, it must +be rendered in the indicative mood, "If this cloth _is_ good," &c. We +may with propriety say, "If the book be sent in time, I shall be able to +read it to-night," because the sending of the book is an event which the +_future_ must produce; but we must not say, "If this book be sent for +me, it is a mistake," because here the act alluded to is already +performed,--the book has come. I think it very likely that people have +been beguiled into this error by the prefix of the conjunction, +forgetting that conjunctions may be used with the indicative as well as +with the subjunctive mood. + + +XIV. + +Some people use the imperfect tense of the verb "to go," instead of the +past participle, and say, "I should have _went_," instead of "I should +have gone." This is _not_ a very common error, but it is a very great +one; and I should not have thought it could come within the range of the +class for which this book is written, but that I have heard the fault +committed by people of even tolerable education. One might as well say, +"I should have _was_ at the theatre last night," instead of "I should +have _been_ at the theatre," &c., as say, "I should have _went_" instead +of "I should have _gone_." + + +XV. + +Others there are who invert this error, and use the past participle of +the verb "to do" instead of a tense of the verb, saying, "I _done_" +instead of "I _did_." This is inadmissible. "I _did_ it," or "I _have +done_ it," is a phrase correct in its formation, its application being, +of course, dependent on other circumstances. + + +XVI. + +There are speakers who are _too refined_ to use the past (or perfect) +participle of the verbs "to drink," "to run," "to begin," &c., and +substitute the _imperfect tense_, as in the verb "to go." Thus, instead +of saying, "I have drunk," "he has run," "they have begun," they say, "I +have _drank_" "he has _ran_," "they have _began_" &c. These are minor +errors, I admit; still, nice ears detect them. + + +XVII. + +I trust it is unnecessary to warn any of my readers against adopting the +flagrant vulgarity of saying "_don't_ ought," and "_hadn't_ ought," +instead of "ought _not_." It is also incorrect to employ _no_ for _not_ +in such phrases as, "If it is true or _no_ (not)," "Is it so or _no_ +(not)?" + + +XVIII. + +Many people have an odd way of saying, "I expect," when they only mean +"I think," or "I conclude;" as, "I expect my brother is gone to Richmond +to-day," "I expect those books were sent to Paris last year." This is +wrong. _Expect_ can relate only to _future_ time, and must be followed +by a future tense, or a verb in the infinitive mood; as, "I expect my +brother _will go_ to Richmond to-day," "I expect _to find_ those books +were sent to Paris last year." Here the introduction of a future tense, +or of a verb in the infinitive mood, rectifies the grammar without +altering the sense; but such a portion of the sentence must not be +omitted in expression, as no such ellipsis is allowable. + + +XIX. + +The majority of speakers use the imperfect tense and the perfect tense +together, in such sentences as the following,--"I intended to _have +called_ on him last night," "I meant to _have purchased_ one +yesterday,"--or a pluperfect tense, and a perfect tense together I have +sometimes heard, as, "You should _have written_ to _have told_ her." +These expressions are illogical, because, as the _intention_ to perform +an act _must_ be _prior_ to the act contemplated, the act itself cannot +with propriety be expressed by a tense indicating a period of time +_previous_ to the intention. The three sentences should be corrected +thus, placing the second verb in the infinitive mood, "I intended _to +call_ on him last night," "I meant _to purchase_ one yesterday," "You +should have written _to tell_ her." + +But the imperfect tense and the perfect tense are to be combined in such +sentences as the following, "I remarked that they appeared to have +undergone great fatigue;" because here the act of "undergoing fatigue" +_must_ have taken place _previous_ to the period in which you have had +the opportunity of remarking its effect on their appearance; the +sentence, therefore, is both grammatical and logical. + + +XX. + +Another strange perversion of grammatical propriety is to be heard +occasionally in the adoption of the present tense of the verb "to have," +most probably instead of the past participle, but in situations in which +the participle itself would be a redundance; such as, "If I had _have_ +known," "If he had _have_ come according to appointment," "If you had +_have_ sent me that intelligence," &c. Of what utility is the word +"have" in the sentence at all? What office does it perform? If it +stands in place of any other word, that other word would still be an +incumbrance; but the sentence being complete without it, it becomes an +illiterate superfluity. "If I had _have_ known that you would have been +there before me, I would have written to you to _have_ waited till I had +_have_ come." What a construction from the lips of an educated person! +and yet we do sometimes hear this _slip-slop_ uttered by people who are +considered to "speak French and Italian _well_," and who enjoy the +reputation of being "accomplished!" + + +XXI. + +It is amusing to observe the broad line of demarcation which exists +between _vulgar_ bad grammar and _genteel_ bad grammar, and which +characterizes the violation of almost every rule of syntax. The vulgar +speaker uses adjectives instead of adverbs, and says, "This letter is +written _shocking_;" the genteel speaker uses adverbs instead of +adjectives, and says, "This writing looks _shockingly_." The +perpetrators of the latter offence may fancy they can shield themselves +behind the grammatical law which compels the employment of an adverb, +not an adjective, to qualify a verb, and behind the first rule of +syntax, which says "a verb must agree with its nominative." But which +_is_ the nominative in the expression alluded to? _Which_ performs the +act of looking,--the writing or the speaker? To say that a thing _looks_ +when _we_ look _at_ it, is an idiom peculiar to our language, and some +idioms are not reducible to rules; they are conventional terms which +pass current, like bank notes, for the sterling they represent, but must +not be submitted to the test of grammatical alchymy. It is improper, +therefore, to say, "The queen looks beautifully," "The flowers smell +sweetly," "This writing looks shockingly;" because it is the speaker +that performs the act of looking, smelling, &c., not the noun looked +_at_; and though, by an idiomatical construction necessary to avoid +circumlocution, the sentence _imputes the act_ to the _thing beheld_, +the qualifying word must express the quality of the thing spoken of, +_adjectively_, instead of qualifying the act of the nominative +understood, _adverbially_. What an adjective is to a noun, an adverb is +to a verb; an adjective expresses the quality of a thing, and an adverb +the manner of an action. Consider what it is you wish to express, the +_quality of a thing_, or the _manner of an action_, and use an adjective +or adverb accordingly. But beware that you discriminate justly; for +though you cannot say, "The queen looked _majestically_ in her robes," +because here the act of _looking_ is performed by the spectator, who +looks _at_ her, you can and _must_ say, "The queen looked _graciously_ +on the petitioner," "The queen looked _mercifully_ on his prayer," +because here the _act_ of _looking_ is performed _by_ the queen. You +cannot say, "These flowers smell sweetly," because it is _you_ that +smell, and not the flowers; but you can say, "These flowers perfume the +air deliciously," because it is _they_ which impart the fragrance, not +you. You cannot say, "This dress looks badly," because it is you that +look, not the dress; but you can say, "This dress _fits_ badly," because +it is the dress that performs the act of fitting either well or ill. +There are some peculiar idioms which it would be better to avoid +altogether, if possible; but if you feel compelled to use them, take +them as they are,--you cannot prune and refine them by the rules of +syntax, and to attempt to do so shows ignorance as well as affectation. + + +XXII. + +There is a mistake often committed in the use of the adverbs of place, +_hence_, _thence_, _whence_. People are apt to say, "He will go _from +thence_ to-morrow," &c. The preposition "from" is included in these +adverbs, therefore it becomes tautology in sense when prefixed to them. + + +XXIII. + +"Equally as well" is a very common expression, and a very incorrect one; +the adverb of comparison, "as," has no right in the sentence. "Equally +well," "Equally high," "Equally dear," should be the construction; and +if a complement be necessary in the phrase, it should be preceded by the +preposition "with," as, "The wall was equally high with the former +one," "The goods at Smith's are equally dear with those sold at the shop +next door," &c. "Equally the same" is tautology. + + +XXIV. + +"Whether," sometimes an adverb, sometimes a conjunction, is a word that +plainly indicates a choice of things (of course I cannot be supposed to +mean a _freedom_ of choice); it is highly improper, therefore, to place +it, as many do, at the head of each part of a sentence, as, "I have not +yet made up my mind whether I shall go to France, or _whether_ I shall +remain in England." The conjunction should not be repeated, as it is +evident the alternative is expressed _only in the combination_ of the +_two_ parts of the sentence, not in either of them taken separately; and +the phrase should stand thus, "I have not yet made up my mind whether I +shall go to France _or_ remain in England." + + +XXV. + +There is an awkwardness prevalent amongst all classes of society in such +sentences as the following: "He quitted his horse, and got _on to_ a +stage coach," "He jumped _on to_ the floor," "She laid it _on to_ a +dish," "I threw it _on to_ the fire." Why use two prepositions where one +would be quite as explicit, and far more elegant? Nobody, at the present +day, would think of saying, "He came up to London _for_ to go to the +exhibition," because the preposition "for" would be an awkward +superfluity. So is "to" in the examples given; in each of which there is +an unwieldiness of construction which reminds one of the process of +glueing, or fastening, one thing "on to" another. Expunge the redundant +preposition, and be assured, gentle reader, the sentence will still be +found "an elegant sufficiency." There are some situations, however, in +which the two prepositions may with propriety be employed, though they +are never indispensable, as, "I accompanied such a one to Islington, and +then walked on to Kingsland." But here _two_ motions are implied, the +walking onward, and the reaching of a certain point. More might be said +to illustrate the distinction, but we believe it will not be deemed +necessary. + + +XXVI. + +There seems to be a natural tendency to deal in a redundance of +prepositions. Many people talk of "continuing _on_." I should be glad to +be informed in what other direction it would be possible to _continue_. + + +XXVII. + +It is most illiterate to put the preposition _of_ after the adverb +_off_, as, "The satin measured twelve yards before I cut this piece _off +of_ it," "The fruit was gathered _off of_ that tree." Many of my readers +will consider such a remark quite unnecessary in this volume; but many +others, who ought to know better, must stand self-condemned on reading +it. + + +XXVIII. + +There is a false taste extant for the preposition "on" instead of "_of_" +in songs, poetry, and many other situations in which there is still less +excuse for borrowing the poetic license; such as, "Wilt thou think _on_ +me, love?" "I will think _on_ thee, love," "Then think _on_ the friend +who once welcomed it too," &c., &c. But this is an error chiefly to be +met with among poetasters and melodramatic speakers. + + +XXIX. + +Some people add a superfluous preposition at the end of a +sentence,--"More than you think _for_." This, however, is an awkwardness +rarely committed by persons of decent education. + + +XXX. + +That "prepositions govern the objective case" is a golden rule of +grammar; and if it were only _well remembered_, it would effectually +correct that mistake of substituting the nominative for the objective +pronoun, which has been complained of in the preceding pages. In using a +relative pronoun in the objective case, it is more elegant to put the +preposition before than after it, thus, "To whom was the order given?" +instead of, "Whom was the order given to?" Indeed, if this practice +were to be invariably adopted, it would obviate the possibility of +confounding the nominative with the objective case, because no man would +ever find himself able to utter such a sentence as, "To who was this +proposal made?" though he might very unconsciously say, "Who was this +proposal made to?" and the error would be equally flagrant in both +instances. + + +XXXI. + +There is a great inaccuracy connected with the use of the disjunctive +conjunctions _or_ and _nor_, which seem to be either not clearly +understood, or treated with undue contempt by persons who speak in the +following manner: "Henry or John _are_ to go there to-night," "His son +or his nephew _have_ since put in _their_ claim," "Neither one _nor_ the +other _have_ the least chance of success." The conjunctions disjunctive +"or" and "nor" separate the objects in sense, as the conjunction +copulative unites them; and as, by the use of the former, the things +stand forth separately and singly to the comprehension, the verb or +pronoun must be rendered in the singular number also; as, "Henry _or_ +John _is_ to go there to-night," "His son _or_ his nephew _has_ since +put in _his_ claim," &c. If you look over the sentence, you will +perceive that only _one_ is to do the act, therefore only _one_ can be +the nominative to the verb. + + +XXXII. + +Many people improperly substitute the disjunctive "but" for the +comparative "than," as, "The mind no sooner entertains any proposition, +_but_ it presently hastens to some hypothesis to bottom it +on."--_Locke._ "No other resource _but_ this was allowed him." "My +behavior," says she, "has, I fear, been the death of a man who had no +other fault _but_ that of loving me too much."--_Spectator._ + + +XXXIII. + +Sometimes a relative pronoun is used instead of a conjunction, in such +sentences as the following: "I don't know but _what_ I shall go to +Brighton to-morrow," instead of, "I don't know but _that_," &c. + + +XXXIV. + +Sometimes the disjunctive _but_ is substituted for the conjunction +_that_, as, "I have no doubt _but_ he will be here to-night." Sometimes +for the conjunction _if_, as, "I shouldn't wonder _but_ that was the +case." And sometimes _two_ conjunctions are used instead of one, as, +"_If that_ I have offended him," "_After that_ he had seen the parties," +&c. All this is very awkward indeed, and ought to be avoided, and might +easily be so by a little attention. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +I. + +IT is obsolete now to use the article _an_ before words beginning with +long _u_ or with _eu_, and it has become more elegant, in modern style, +to say, "a university," "a useful article," "a European," "a euphonious +combination of sentences," &c., &c. It is also proper to say "such a +one," not "such an one." + + +II. + +Some people pronounce the plural of handkerchief, scarf, wharf, dwarf, +_handkerchieves_, _scarves_, _wharves_, _dwarves_. This is an error, as +these words, and perhaps a few others, are exceptions to the rule laid +down, that nouns ending in _f_ and _fe_ shall change these terminations +into _ves_ to form the plural. + + +III. + +There is an illiterate mode of pronouncing the adverb _too_, which is +that of contracting it into the sound of the preposition _to_; thus, "I +think I paid _to much_ for this gun," "This line is _to long_ by half." +The adverb _too_ should be pronounced like the numeral adjective _two_, +and have the same full distinct sound in delivery, as, "I think I paid +_two_ much for this gun," "This line is _two_ long by half." + + +IV. + +One does not expect to hear such words as "necessi'ated," +"preventative," &c., from people who profess to be educated; but one +_does_ hear them, nevertheless, and many others of the same genus, of +which the following list is a specimen, not a collection. + + "Febuary" and "Febbiwerry," instead of February. + "Seckaterry" instead of secretary. + "Gover'ment" " government. + "Eve'min" " evening. + "Sev'm" " seven. + "Holladiz" " holidays. + "Mossle" " morsel. + +"Chapped," according to orthography, instead of _chopped_, according to +polite usage. + +And we have even heard "continental" pronounced _continential_, though +upon what authority we know not. Besides these, a multitude of others +might be quoted, which we consider too familiar to particularize and +"too numerous to mention." + + +V. + +There is an old jest on record of a person hearing another pronounce the +word curiosity "_curosity_," and remarking to a bystander, "That man +murders the English language." "Nay," replies the person addressed, "he +only knocks an eye (i) out." And I am invariably reminded of this old +jest whenever I hear such pronunciations as the following,--"Lat'n" for +Latin, "sat'n" for satin, and Britain pronounced so as to rhyme with +_written_,--of which a few examples will be given on a subsequent page, +not with the wild hope of comprising in so short a space _all_ the +perversions of prosody which are constantly taking place, but simply +with the intention of reminding careless speakers of some general +principles they seem to have forgotten, and of the vast accumulation of +error they may engraft upon themselves by a lazy adherence to the custom +of the crowd. Before, however, proceeding to the words in question, it +may be satisfactory to our readers to recall to their memory the +observations of Lindley Murray on the subject. He says, "There is +scarcely anything which more distinguishes a person of poor education +from a person of a good one than the pronunciation of the _unaccented +vowels_. When vowels are _under the accent_, the best speakers, and the +lowest of the people, with very few exceptions, pronounce them in the +same manner; but the _un_accented vowels in the mouths of the former +have a distinct, open, and specific sound, while the latter often +totally sink them, or change them into some other sound." The words that +have chiefly struck me are the following, in which not only the i but +some of the other vowels are submitted to the mutilating process, or, as +I have heard it pronounced, _mutulating_. + + Brit'n instead of Britain. + Lat'n " Latin. + Sat'n " Satin. + Patt'n " Patten. + Curt'n " Curtain. + Cert'n " Certain. + Bridle " Bridal. + Idle " Idol. + Meddle " Medal. + Moddle " Model. + Mentle " Mental. + Mortle " Mortal. + Fatle " Fatal. + Gravle " Gravel. + Travle " Travel. + Sudd'n " Sudden. + Infidle " Infidel. + _Scroop_'-lous " _Scru-pu_-lous. + +And a long train of _et cetera_, of which the above examples do not +furnish a tithe. + + _Note._--That to sound the _e_ in _garden_ and + _often_, and the _i_ in _evil_ and _devil_, is a + decided error. They should always be pronounced + _gard'n_ and _oft'n_, _ev'l_ and _dev'l_. + +Some people pronounce the _I_ in Irish and its concomitants so as to +make the words Ireland, Irishmen, Irish linen, &c., sound as if they +were written _Arland_, _A-rishmen_, _Arish_ linen, &c. This is literally +"knocking an _i_ out." + + +VI. + +It is affected, and contrary to authority, to deprive the _s_ of its +sharp hissing sound in the words _precise_, _desolate_, _design_, and +their derivatives. + + +VII. + +There is one peculiarity which we feel bound to notice, because it has +infected English speakers,--that of corrupting the _e_ and the _i_ into +the sound of _a_ or _u_, in the words ability, humility, charity, &c.; +for how often is the ear wrung by such barbarisms as, humi_lutty_, +civi_lutty_, qua_laty_, quan_taty_, cru_alty_, char_aty_, human_aty_, +barbar_aty_, horr_uble_, terr_uble_, and so on, _ad infinitum_!--an +uncouth practice, to which nothing is comparable, except pronouncing +_yalla_ for yellow. + + +VIII. + +There is in some quarters a bad mode prevalent of pronouncing the plural +of such words as _face_, _place_, &c., _fazes_, _plazes_, whilst the +plural of _price_ seems everywhere subject to the same strange mutation. +The words should be _faces_, _places_, _prices_, without any softening +of the _c_ into _z_. There is, too, an ugly fashion of pronouncing the +_ng_, when terminating a word or syllable, as _we_ pronounce the same +combination of letters in the word _finger_, and making such words as +"singer," "ringer," &c., rhyme with _linger_. Sometimes the double _o_ +is elongated into the sound which we give to that dipthong in "room," +"fool," "moon," &c., which has a very bad effect in such words as +_book_, _look_, _nook_, _took_, &c.; and sometimes it is contracted into +the sound of short _u_, making "foot," and some other words, rhyme with +_but_. + + +IX. + +And having remarked on the _lingering_ pronunciation, it is but fair to +notice a defect, the reverse of this, namely, that of omitting the final +_g_ in such words as _saying_, _going_, _shilling_, &c., and pronouncing +them "sayin," "goin," "shillin." This is so common an error that it +generally escapes notice, but is a greater blemish, where we have a +right to look for perfection, than the peculiarities of the provinces in +those who reside there. + + +X. + +It is also a common fault to add a gratuitous _r_ to words ending with a +vowel, such as Emma_r_, Louisa_r_, Julia_r_, and to make _draw_, _law_, +_saw_, _flaw_, with all others of the same class, rhyme with _war_; to +omit the _r_ in such words as _corks_, _forks_, _curtains_, _morsel_, +&c.; in the word _perhaps_, when they conscientiously _pronounce_ the +_h_; and sometimes in _Paris_; or to convert it into the sound of a _y_ +when it comes between two vowels, as in the name _Harriet_, and in the +words _superior_, _interior_, &c., frequently pronounced _Aah-yet_, +_su-pe-yor_, _in-te-yor_, &c. + + +XI. + +There is a vicious mode of amalgamating the final _s_ of a word (and +sometimes the final _c_, when preceded and followed by a vowel) with the +first letter of the next word, if that letter happens to be a _y_, in +such a manner as to produce the sound of _sh_ or of _usu_ in _usual_; +as, "A _nishe_ young man," "What _makesh_ you laugh?" "If he _offendsh_ +you, don't speak to him," "_Ash_ you please," "Not _jush_ yet," "We +always _passh_ your house in going to call on _Missh_ Yates,--she lives +near _Palash_ Yard;" and so on through all the possibilities of such a +combination. This is decided, unmitigated _cockneyism_, having its +parallel in nothing except the broken English of the sons of Abraham; +and to adopt it in conversation is certainly "not speaking like a +Christian." The effect of this pronunciation on the ear is as though the +mouth of the speaker were filled with froth, which impedes the +utterance, and gives the semblance of a defect where nature had kindly +intended perfection; but the radical cause of this, and of many other +mispronunciations, is the carelessness, sometimes the ignorance, of +teachers, who permit children to read and speak in a slovenly manner, +without opening their teeth, or taking any pains to acquire a distinct +articulation. + + +XII. + +Whilst we are on the subject of Prosody, we must not omit to mention the +vicious pronunciation occasionally given to the words _new_, _due_, +_Tuesday_, _stupid_, and a few others, sometimes corrupted into _noo_, +_doo_, _Toosday_, _stoopid_, &c., by way of refinement, perhaps, for +lips which are too delicate to utter the clear, broad, English _u_. + + +XIII. + +Never say "Cut it in _half_," for this you cannot do unless you could +_annihilate one_ half. You may "cut it in two," or "cut it in halves," +or "cut it through," or "divide it," but no human ability will enable +you to _cut it in half_. + + +XIV. + +Never speak of "lots" and "loads" of things. Young men allow themselves +a diffusive license of speech, and of quotation, which has introduced +many words into colloquial style that do not at all tend to improve or +dignify the language, and which, when heard from _ladies_' lips, become +absolute vulgarisms. A young man may talk recklessly of "lots of +bargains," "lots of money," "lots of fellows," "lots of fun," &c., but a +lady may _not_. Man may indulge in any latitude of expression within the +bounds of sense and decorum, but woman has a narrower range,--even her +mirth must be subjected to rule. It may be _naïve_, but must never be +grotesque. It is not that we would have _primness_ in the sex, but we +would have refinement. Women are the purer and the more ornamental part +of life, and when _they_ degenerate, the Poetry of Life is gone. + + +XV. + +"Loads" is a word quite as objectional as "lots," unless it can be +reduced to a load of _something_, such as a _ship_-load, a _wagon_-load, +a _cart_-load, a _horse_-load, &c. We often hear such expressions as +"loads of shops," "loads of authors," "loads of compliments;" but as +shops, authors, compliments, are things not usually piled up into loads, +either for ships or horses, we cannot discover the propriety of the +application. + + +XVI. + +Some people, guiltless of those absurdities, commit a great error in the +use of the word _quantity_, applying it to things of _number_, as "a +quantity of friends," "a quantity of ships," "a quantity of houses," &c. +_Quantity_ can be applied only where _bulk_ is indicated, as "a quantity +of land," "a quantity of timber;" but we cannot say, "a quantity of +fields," "a quantity of trees," because _trees_ and _fields_ are +specific individualities. Or we may apply it where individualities are +taken in the gross, without reference to modes, as "a quantity of +luggage," "a quantity of furniture;" but we cannot say "a quantity of +boxes," "a quantity of chairs and tables," for the same reason which is +given in the former instances. We also apply the term _quantity_ to +those things of number which are too minute to be taken separately, as +"a quantity of beans," "a quantity of oats," &c., &c. + + +XVII. + +Avoid favorite words and phrases; they betray a poverty of language or +of imagination not creditable to a cultivated intellect. Some people are +so unfortunate as to find all things _vulgar_ that come "betwixt the +wind and their nobility;" others find them _disgusting_. Some are always +_anticipating_, others are always _appreciating_. Multitudes are +_aristocratic_ in all their relations, other multitudes are as +_distingués_. These two words are chiefly patronized by those whose +pretensions in such respects are the most questionable. To some timid +spirits, born under malignant influences no doubt, most things present +an _awful_ appearance, even though they come in shapes so insignificant +as a cold day or an aching finger. But, thanks to that happy diversity +of Nature which throws light as well as shadow into the human character, +there are minds of brighter vision and more cheerful temperament, who +behold all things _splendid_, _magnificent_, down to a cup of small +beer, or a half-penny orange. Some people have a grandiloquent force of +expression, thereby imparting a _tremendous_ or _thundering_ character +even to little things. This is truly carrying their conceptions into +the sublime,--sometimes a step beyond. + +We have, however, no intention of particularizing _all_ the "pet" +phrases which salute the ear; but the enumeration of a few of them may +make the _candid_ culprit smile, and avoid those trifling absurdities +for the future. + + * * * * * + +We would, under favor, suggest to the reader the advantage of not +relying too confidently on knowledge acquired by habit and example +alone. There are many words in constant use which are perverted from +their original meanings; and if we were to dip into some standard +dictionary occasionally, search out the true meanings of words with +which we have fancied ourselves acquainted, and convict ourselves of +_all_ the errors we have been committing in following the crowd, our +surprise, perhaps, would equal that of Molière's _Bourgeois Gentilhomme_ +when he discovered that he had been talking _prose_ for forty years. + +The words _feasible_, _ostensible_, _obnoxious_, _apparent_, _obtain_, +_refrain_, _domesticated_, and _centre_, are expressions which, nine +times out of ten, are misapplied, besides a host of others whose +propriety is never questioned, so firmly has custom riveted the bonds of +ignorance. + +In closing this little volume, the writer begs leave to say that the +remarks offered are intended only as "Hints," which they who desire +perfection may easily improve, by a little exercise of the +understanding, and a reference to more extensive sources, into a +competent knowledge of their own tongue; also as _warnings_ to the +careless, that their lapses do not pass so unobserved as they are in the +habit of supposing. + +Though many of the syntactical errors herein mentioned are to be found +in the works of some of our best writers, they are _errors_ +nevertheless, and stand as blemishes upon the productions of their +genius, like unsightly excrescences upon a lovely skin. Genius is above +grammar, and this conviction may inspire in some bosoms an undue +contempt for the latter. But grammar is a constituent part of good +education, and a neglect of it _might_ argue a _want_ of education, +which would, perhaps, be mortifying. It is an old axiom that "civility +costs nothing," and surely grammatical purity need not cost _much_ to +people disposed to pay a little attention to it, and who have received a +respectable education already. It adds a grace to eloquence, and raises +the standard of language where eloquence is not. + +A handsome man or handsome woman is not improved by a shabby or +slatternly attire; so the best abilities are shown to a disadvantage +through a style marked by illiteracies. + + + + +PART IV. + + + + +MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES + +IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. + + +1. HAVE you _learned_ French yet? say _learnt_, as _learned_ is now used +only as an adjective,--as, _a learned man_. Pronounce _learned_ in _two_ +syllables. + +2. The business would suit any one who _enjoys bad health_ [from an +advertisement in a London newspaper]; say, any one _in a delicate state +of health_, or, _whose health is but indifferent_. + +3. "We have no _corporeal_ punishment here," said a schoolmaster once to +the author of this little work. _Corporeal_ is opposed to _spiritual_; +say, _corporal_ punishment. _Corporeal_ means _having a body_. The +Almighty is not a _corporeal_ being, but a _spirit_, as St. John tells +us. + +4. That was a _notable_ circumstance. Pronounce the first syllable of +_notable_ as _no_ in _notion_. Mrs. Johnson is a _notable_ housewife; +that is to say, _careful_. Pronounce the first syllable of _notable_ as +_not_ in _Nottingham_. + +5. Put an _advertisement_ in the "Times." Pronounce _advertisement_ +with the accent on _ver_, and not on _tise_. + +6. He _rose up_ and left the room; leave out _up_. + +7. You have _sown_ it very badly; say, _sewed_ it. + +8. Mr. Dupont _learnt_ me French; say, _taught_. The _master teaches_, +but the _pupil learns_. + +9. John and Henry both read well, but John is the _best_ reader; say, +the _better_ reader, as _best_ can only be said when _three or more +persons_ or objects are compared. + +10. The _two first_ pupils I had; say, the _first two_. + +11. He has _mistook_ his true interest; say, _mistaken_. + +12. Have you _lit_ the fire, Mary? say, _lighted_. + +13. The doctor _has not yet came_; say, _has not yet come_. + +14. I have always _gave_ him good advice; say, _given_. + +15. To be is an _auxiliary_ verb. Pronounce _auxiliary_ in _five_ +syllables, sounding the second _i_, and _not in four_, as we so +frequently hear it. + +16. _Celery_ is a pleasant edible; pronounce _celery_ as it is written, +and _not salary_. + +17. Are you at _leisure_? pronounce _lei_ in _leisure_ the same as _Lei_ +in _Leith_, and _not_ so as to rhyme with _measure_. + +18. Have you seen _the Miss Browns_ lately? say, _the Misses Brown_. + +19. You have soon _forgot_ my kindness; say, _forgotten_. + +20. He keeps _his coach_; say, _his carriage_. + +21. John is my _oldest_ brother; say, _eldest_. _Elder_ and _eldest_ are +applied to _persons_,--_older_ and _oldest_ to _things_. + +22. Disputes have frequently _arose_ on that subject; say, _arisen_. + +23. The cloth was _wove_ in a very short time; say, _woven_. + +24. French is _spoke_ in every state in Europe; say, _spoken_. + +25. He writes as the best authors would have _wrote_, had they _writ_ on +the same subject; say, would have _written_,--had they _written_. + +26. I prefer the _yolk_ of an egg to the white; say, _yelk_, and sound +the _l_. + +27. He is now very _decrepid_; say, _decrepit_. + +28. I am very fond of _sparrowgrass_; say, _asparagus_, and pronounce it +with the accent on _par_. + +29. You are very _mischievous_. Pronounce _mischievous_ with the accent +on _mis_, and _not on chie_, and do not say _mischievious_. + +30. It was very _acceptable_. Pronounce _acceptable_ with the accent on +_cept_, and _not on ac_, as we so often hear it. + +31. "No conversation be permitted in the Reading Room to the +interruption of the company present. _Neither Smoking or Refreshments +allowed_" [from the prospectus of a "Literary and Scientific +Institution"]; insert _can_ after _conversation_, and say, _neither +smoking nor refreshments_. + +32. _No extras or vacations_[from the prospectus of a schoolmistress +near London]; say, _neither extras nor vacations_. + +33. He is very covetous. Pronounce _covetous_ as if it were written +_covet us_, and _not covetyus_, as is almost universally the case. + +34. I intend to _summons_ him; say, _summon_. _Summons_ is a _noun_, and +_not a verb_. + +35. Dearly _beloved_ brethren. Pronounce _beloved_ in _three_ syllables, +and _never in two_, as some clergymen do. + +36. He is now _forsook_ by every one; say, _forsaken_. + +37. Not _as I know_; say, _that I know_. + +38. He came _for to do_ it; leave out _for_. + +39. They have just _rose_ from the table; say, _risen_. + +40. He is quite _as good as me_; say, _as good as I_. + +41. _Many an one_ has done the same; say, _many a one_. _A_, and _not +an_, is used before the _long sound of u_, that is to say, when _u_ +forms _a distinct syllable of itself_, as, _a unit_, _union_, _a +university_. It is also used before _eu_, as, _a euphony_; and likewise +before the word _ewe_, as, _a ewe_. We should also say, _a youth_, not +_an youth_. + +42. _Many people_ think so; say, _many persons_, as _people_ means _a +nation_. + +43. "When our ships sail among the _people_ of the Eastern islands, +_those people_ do not ask for gold,--'iron! iron!' is the call." [From a +work by a peer of literary celebrity.] Say, among the _inhabitants_; +and, instead of _those people_, which is ungrammatical, say, _those +persons_. + +44. _Was you_ reading just now? say, _were you_. + +45. I have _not had no dinner yet_; say, _I have had no dinner yet_, or, +I have _not yet had my dinner_, or, _any dinner_. + +46. She will _never be no taller_; say, she will _never be taller_, or, +she will _never be any taller_. + +47. I _see him_ last Monday; say, _saw him_. + +48. He was _averse from_ such a proceeding; say, _averse to_. + +49. He has _wore_ his boots three months; say, _worn_. + +50. He has _trod_ on my toes; say, _trodden_. + +51. Have you _shook_ the cloth? say, _shaken_. + +52. I have _rang_ several times; say, _rung_. + +53. I _knowed_ him at once; say, _knew_. + +54. He has _growed_ very much; say, _grown_. + +55. George has _fell_ down stairs; say, _fallen_. + +56. He has _chose_ a very poor pattern; say, _chosen_. + +57. They have _broke_ a window; say, _broken_. + +58. Give me _them books_; say, _those books_. + +59. My brother gave me _them there pictures_; say, gave me _those +pictures_. + +60. Whose are _these here books_? say, _these books_. + +61. The men _which_ we saw; say, _whom_. + +62. The books _what_ you have; say, _which_, or _that_. + +63. The boy _as is_ reading; say, _who is_ reading. + +64. The pond is _froze_; say, _frozen_. + +65. He has _took_ my slate; say, _taken_. + +66. He has often _stole_ money from him; say, _stolen_. + +67. They have _drove_ very fast; say, _driven_. + +68. I have _rode_ many miles to-day; say, _ridden_. + +69. You cannot _catch_ him; pronounce _catch_ so as to rhyme with +_match_, and not _ketch_. + +70. Who has _got_ my slate? leave out _got_. + +71. What are you _doing of_? leave out _of_. + +72. _If I was rich_ I would buy a carriage; say, _If I were_. + +73. We have all within us an _impetus_ to sin; pronounce _impetus_ with +the accent on _im_, and not on _pe_, as is very often the case. + +74. He may go to the _antipodes_ for what I care; pronounce _antipodes_ +with the accent on _tip_, and let _des_ rhyme with _ease_. It is a word +of _four_ syllables, and _not of three_, as many persons make it. + +75. _Vouchsafe_, a word seldom used, but, when used, the first syllable +should rhyme with _pouch_. _Never say, vousafe._ + +76. Ginger is a good _stomachic_; pronounce _stomachic_ with the accent +on _mach_, sounding this syllable _mak_, and _not mat_, as is often the +case. + +77. The land in those parts is very _fertile_; pronounce _fertile_ so as +to rhyme with _pill_. The _ile_ in all words must be sounded _ill_, +with the exception of _exile_, _senile_, _gentile_, _reconcile_, and +_camomile_, in which _ile_ rhymes with _mile_. + +78. _It is surprising the fatigue he undergoes_; say, _The fatigue he +undergoes is surprising_. + +79. _Benefited_; often spelt _benefitted_, but _incorrectly_. + +80. _Gather_ up the fragments; pronounce _gather_ so as to rhyme with +_lather_, and _not gether_. + +81. I _propose_ going to town next week; say, _purpose_. + +82. If I _am not mistaken_, you are in the wrong; say, If I _mistake +not_. + +83. _Direct_ your letters to me at Mr. Jones's; say, _Address_ your +letters. + +84. Wales is a very _mountainious_ country; say, _mountainous_, and +place the accent on _moun_. + +85. Of two evils choose _the least_; say, _the less_. + +86. _Exag'gerate_; pronounce _exad'gerate_, and _do not sound agger_ as +in the word _dagger_, which is a very common mistake. + +87. He knows _little or nothing of Latin_; say, _little, if anything, of +Latin_. + +88. He keeps a _chaise_; pronounce it _shaise_, and not _shay_. It has a +regular plural, _chaises_. + +88. The _drought_ lasted a long time; pronounce _drought_ so as to rhyme +with _snout_, and not _drowth_. + +90. The man was _hung_ last week; say, _hanged_; but say, I am fond of +_hung beef_. _Hang, to take away life by hanging_, is a regular verb. + +91. We _conversed together_ on the subject; leave out _together_, as it +is implied in _conversed_, _con_ being equivalent to _with_, that is to +say, _We talked with each other_, &c. + +92. The affair was _compromised_; pronounce _compromised_ in three +syllables, and place the accent on _com_, sounding _mised_ like +_prized_. The word has nothing to do with _promised_. The noun +_compromise_ is accented like _compromised_, but _mise_ must be +pronounced _mice_. + +93. A _steam-engine_; pronounce _engine_ with _en_ as in _pen_, and _not +like in_, and _gine_ like _gin_. + +94. Numbers were _massacred_; pronounce _massacred_ with the accent on +_mas_, and _red_ like _erd_, as if _mas'saker'd_, never _mas'sacreed_. + +95. The king of Israel and the king of Judah sat _either of them_ on his +throne; say, _each of them_. _Either_ signifies the _one_ or the +_other_, but _not both_. _Each_ relates to _two or more objects_, and +signifies _both of the two_, or _every one of any number taken singly_. +_Never_ say "_either_ of the three," but "_each_ or _any one_ of the +three." + +96. A _respite_ was granted the convict; pronounce _respite_ with the +accent on _res_, and sound _pite_ as _pit_. + +97. He soon _returned back_; leave out _back_, which is implied by _re_ +in _returned_. + +98. The _horizon_ is the line that terminates the view; pronounce +_horizon_ with the accent on _ri_, and not on _ho_. + +99. She has _sang_ remarkably well; say, _sung_. + +100. He had _sank_ before assistance arrived; say, _sunk_. + +101. I have often _swam_ across the Tyne; say, _swum_. + +102. I found my friend better than I expected _to have found him_; say, +_to find him_. + +103. I intended _to have written_ a letter yesterday; say, _to write_, +as however long it now is since I thought of writing, "_to write_" was +then present to me, and must still be considered as present when I bring +back that time and the thoughts of it. + +104. His death _shall be_ long regretted [from a notice of a death in a +newspaper]; say, _will be_ long, &c. _Shall_ and _will_ are often +confounded; the following rule, however, may be of use to the reader. +Mere _futurity_ is expressed by _shall_ in the _first_ person, and by +_will_ in the _second_ and _third_; the _determination_ of the speaker +by _will_ in the _first_, and _shall_ in the _second_ and _third_; as, I +WILL go to-morrow, I SHALL go to-morrow. N. B. The latter sentence +simply expresses a future event; the former expresses my determination. + +105. "_Without_ the grammatical form of a word can be recognized at a +glance, little progress can be made in reading the language" [from a +very popular work on the study of the Latin language]; say, _Unless_ the +grammatical, &c. The use of _without_ for _unless_ is a very common +mistake. + +106. Have you begun _substraction_ yet? say, _subtraction_. + +107. He claimed admission to the _chiefest_ offices; say, _chief_. +_Chief_, _right_, _supreme_, _correct_, _true_, _universal_, _perfect_, +_consummate_, _extreme_, &c., _imply_ the superlative degree without +_est_ or _most_. In language sublime or impassioned, however, the word +_perfect_ requires the superlative form to give it effect. A lover, +enraptured with his mistress, would naturally call her the _most +perfect_ of her sex. + +108. The ship had _sprang_ a leak; say, _sprung_. + +109. I _had rather_ do it now; say, I _would rather_. + +110. He was served with a _subpoena_; pronounce _subpoena_ with the +accent on _poe_, which you will sound like _tea_, and sound the _b_ +distinctly. _Never pronounce the word soopee'na._ + +111. I have not travelled _this twenty years_; say, _these twenty +years_. + +112. He is _very much the gentleman_; say, He is _a very gentlemanly +man_, or _fellow_. + +113. The _yellow_ part of an egg is very nourishing; _never_ pronounce +_yellow_ like _tallow_, which we so often hear. + +114. We are going to the _zoological_ gardens; pronounce _zoological_ in +_five_ syllables, and place the accent on _log_ in _logical_. Sound +_log_ like _lodge_, and _the first two o's in distinct syllables_. +_Never_ make _zool_ _one_ syllable. + +115. He always preaches _extempore_; pronounce _extempore_ in _four_ +syllables, with the accent on _tem_, and _never in three_, making _pore_ +to rhyme with _sore_. + +116. _Naught_ and _aught_; _never_ spell these words _nought_ and +_ought_. There is no such word as _nought_, and _ought_ is a verb. + +117. Allow me to _suggest_; pronounce _sug_ so as to rhyme with _mug_, +and _gest_ like _jest_. Never _sudjest_. + +118. The Emperor of Russia is a _formidable_ personage; pronounce +_formidable_ with the accent on _for_, and _not on mid_, as is often the +case. + +119. Before the words _heir_, _herb_, _honest_, _honor_, _hostler_, +_hour_, _humble_, and _humor_, and their compounds, instead of the +article _a_, we make use of _an_, as the _h_ is not sounded; likewise +before words beginning with _h_ that are _not_ accented on the _first +syllable_, such as _heroic_, _historical_, _hypothesis_, &c., as, _an +heroic action_, _an historical work_, _an hypothesis_ that can scarcely +be allowed. N. B. The letter _h_ is seldom mute at the beginning of a +word; but from the negligence of tutors and the inattention of pupils +many persons have become almost incapable of acquiring its just and full +pronunciation. It is, therefore, incumbent on teachers to be +particularly careful to inculcate a clear and distinct utterance of this +sound. + +120. He was _such an extravagant young man_ that he soon spent his whole +patrimony; say, _so extravagant a young man_. + +121. I saw the _slough_ of a snake; pronounce _slough_ so as to rhyme +with _rough_. + +122. She is _quite the lady_; say, She is _very lady-like in her +demeanor_. + +123. He is _seldom or ever_ out of town; say, _seldom, if ever_, out of +town. + +124. Death _unloosed_ his chains; say, _loosed_ his chains. + +125. It is dangerous to walk _of a_ slippery morning; say, _on a_ +slippery morning. + +126. He who makes himself famous by his eloquence, illustrates his +origin, let it be _never so mean_; say, _ever so mean_. + +127. His fame is acknowledged _through_ Europe; say, _throughout_ +Europe. + +128. The bank of the river is frequently _overflown_; say, _overflowed_. + +129. _Previous to_ my leaving England I called on his lordship; say, +_previously to_ my leaving, &c. + +130. I doubt _if this_ will ever reach you; say, _whether this_, &c. + +131. He was _exceeding kind_ to me; say, _exceedingly kind_. + +132. I lost _near_ twenty pounds; say, _nearly_. + +133. _Bills are requested to be paid quarterly_; say, _It is requested +that bills be paid quarterly_. + +134. It was _no use asking_ him any more questions; say, _of no use to +ask him_, &c. + +135. The Americans said they _had no right_ to pay taxes; say, they +_were under no obligation_ to pay, &c. + +136. I _throwed_ my box away, and _never took no more snuff_; say, I +_threw_, &c., and _took snuff no more_. + +137. She was _endowed_ with an exquisite taste for music; say, _endued_ +with, &c. + +138. I intend to _stop_ at home; say, to _stay_. + +139. At this time I _grew_ my own corn; say, I _raised_, &c. + +140. He _was_ no sooner departed than they expelled his officers; say, +he _had_ no sooner, &c. + +141. He _was_ now retired from public business; say, _had_ now retired, +&c. + +142. They _were_ embarked in a common cause; say, _had_ embarked, &c. + +143. Hostilities _were_ now become habitual; say, _had_ now become. + +144. Brutus and Aruns killed _one another_; say, _each other_. + +145. Pray, sir, who _may you be_? say, who _are you_? + +146. Their character as a warlike people _is_ much degenerated; say, +_has_ much, &c. + +147. He is gone on an _errand_; pronounce _errand_ as it is written, and +not _arrant_. + +148. In a popular work on arithmetic we find the following sum,--"If for +7_s._ 8_d._, I can buy 9 lbs. of raisins, _how much_ can I purchase for +£56 16_s._?" say, "_what quantity_ can I," &c. Who would think of saying +"_how much raisins_?" + +149. Be very careful in distinguishing between _indite_ and _indict_; +_key_ and _quay_; _principle_ and _principal_; _check_ and _cheque_; +_marshal_ and _martial_; _counsel_ and _council_; _counsellor_ and +_councillor_; _fort_ and _forte_; _draft_ and _draught_; _place_ and +_plaice_; _stake_ and _steak_; _satire_ and _satyr_; _stationery_ and +_stationary_; _ton_ and _tun_; _levy_ and _levee_; _foment_ and +_ferment_; _fomentation_ and _fermentation_; _petition_ and _partition_; +_practice_ and _practise_; _Francis_ and _Frances_; _dose_ and _doze_; +_diverse_ and _divers_; _device_ and _devise_; _wary_ and _weary_; +_salary_ and _celery_; _radish_ and _reddish_; _treble_ and _triple_; +_broach_ and _brooch_; _ingenious_ and _ingenuous_; _prophesy_ and +_prophecy_; _fondling_ and _foundling_; _lightning_ and _lightening_; +_genus_ and _genius_; _desert_ and _dessert_; _currier_ and _courier_; +_pillow_ and _pillar_; _executer_ and _executor_; _suit_ and _suite_; +_ridicule_ and _reticule_; _lineament_ and _liniment_; _track_ and +_tract_; _lickerish_ and _licorice_; _statute_ and _statue_; _ordinance_ +and _ordnance_; _lease_ and _leash_; _recourse_ and _resource_; +_straight_ and _strait_; _immerge_ and _emerge_; _style_ and _stile_; +_compliment_ and _complement_; _bass_ and _base_; _contagious_ and +_contiguous_; _eminent_ and _imminent_; _eruption_ and _irruption_; +_precedent_ and _president_; _relic_ and _relict_. + +150. I prefer _radishes_ to _cucumbers_; pronounce _radishes_ exactly as +it is spelt, and not _redishes_, and the _u_ in the first syllable of +_cucumber_ as in _fuel_, and not as if the word were _cowcumber_. + +151. Never pronounce _barbarous_ and _grievous_, _bartarious_ and +_grievious_. + +152. The _two last_ chapters are very interesting; say, The _last two_, +&c. + +153. The soil on these islands is so very thin, that little vegetation +is produced upon them _beside_ cocoanut trees; say, _with the exception +of_, &c. + +154. He restored it _back_ to the owner; leave out _back_. + +155. _Here_, _there_, _where_, are generally better than _hither_, +_thither_, _whither_, with verbs of motion; as, _Come here_, _Go there_. +N. B. _Hither_, _thither_, and _whither_, which were formerly used, are +now considered stiff and inelegant. + +156. _As far as I_ am able to judge, the book is well written; say, _So +far as_, &c. + +157. It is doubtful whether he will play _fairly or no_; say, _fairly or +not_. + +158. "The Pilgrim's _Progress_;" pronounce _progress_, _prog-ress_, not +_pro-gress_. + +159. He is a boy of a great _spirit_; pronounce _spirit_ exactly as it +is written, and never _sperit_. + +160. The _camelopard_ is the tallest of known animals; pronounce +_camelopard_ with the accent on the _second_ syllable. Never call it +_camel leopard_, as is so often heard. + +161. He is very _awkward_; never say, _awkard_. + +162. He ran _again_ me; I stood _again_ the wall; instead of _again_, +say _against_. Do it _again_ the time I mentioned; say, _by_ the time, +&c. + +163. I always act _agreeable_ to my promise; say, _agreeably_. + +164. The study of syntax should be _previously_ to that of punctuation; +say, _previous_. + +165. No one should incur censure for being tender of _their_ reputation; +say, of _his_ reputation. + +166. They were all _drownded_; say, _drowned_. + +167. _Jalap_ is of great service; pronounce _jalap_ exactly as it is +written, NEVER _jollop_. + +168. He is gone on a _tour_; pronounce _tour_ so as to rhyme with +_poor_, _never_ like _tower_. + +169. The rain _is_ ceased; say, _has_ ceased. + +170. _They laid their heads together_, and formed their plan; say, _They +held a consultation_, &c. _Laid their heads together_ savors of SLANG. + +171. The _chimley_ wants sweeping; say, _chimney_. + +172. I was walking _towards_ home; pronounce _towards_ so as to rhyme +with _boards_. _Never_ say _to wards_. + +173. It is a _stupenduous_ work; say, _stupendous_. + +174. A _courier_ is expected from Paris; pronounce _cou_ in _courier_ so +as to rhyme with _too_. _Never_ pronounce _courier_ like _currier_. + +175. Let each of us mind _their_ own business; say, _his_ own business. + +176. Is this or that the _best_ road? say, the _better_ road. + +177. _Rinse_ your mouth; pronounce _rinse_ as it is written, and NEVER +_rense_. "_Wrench your mouth_," said a fashionable dentist one day to +the author of this work. + +178. The book is not _as_ well printed as it ought to be; say, _so_ well +printed, &c. + +179. Webster's _Dictionary_ is an admirable work; pronounce _dictionary_ +as if written _dik-shun-a-ry_; _not_, as is too commonly the practice, +_dixonary_. + +180. Some disaster has certainly _befell_ him; say, _befallen_. + +181. She is a pretty _creature_; never pronounce _creature_, _creeter_, +as is often heard. + +182. We went to see the _Monument_; pronounce _monument_ exactly as it +is written, and _not_ as many pronounce it, _moniment_. + +183. I am very wet, and must go and _change myself_; say, _change my +clothes_. + +184. He has had a good _education_; _never_ say, _edication_, which is +often heard, nor _edicate_ for _educate_. + +185. He is much better _than me_; say, _than I_. + +186. You are stronger _than him_; say, _than he_. + +187. I had _as lief_ stand; say, I _would as soon_ stand. + +188. He is _not a whit_ better; say, _in no degree_ better. + +189. They are _at loggerheads_; say, _at variance_. + +190. His character is _undeniable_,--a very common expression; say, +_unexceptionable_. + +191. Bring me the _lantern_; never spell _lantern_, _lanthorn_. + +192. The room is twelve _foot_ long, and nine _foot_ broad; say, twelve +_feet_, nine _feet_. + +193. He is _singular_, though _regular_ in his habits, and also very +_particular_; beware of leaving out the _u_ in _singular_, _regular_, +and _particular_, which is a very common practice. + +194. They are detained _at_ France; say, _in_ France. + +195. He lives _at_ London; say, _in_ London, and beware of pronouncing +_London_, as many careless persons do, _Lunnun_. _At_ should be applied +to small towns. + +196. No _less_ than fifty persons were there; say, No _fewer_, &c. + +197. _Such another_ mistake, and we shall be ruined; say, _Another such_ +mistake, &c. + +198. It is _some distance_ from our house; say, _at some distance_, &c. + +199. I shall call _upon_ him; say, _on_ him. + +200. He is a Doctor of _Medicine_; pronounce _medicine_ in _three_ +syllables, NEVER in _two_. + +201. They told me to enter _in_; leave out _in_, as it is implied in +_enter_. + +202. His _strength_ is amazing; never say, _strenth_. + +203. "_Mistaken_ souls, who dream of heaven,"--this is the beginning of +a popular hymn; it should be, "_Mistaking_ souls," &c. _Mistaken +wretch_, for _mistaking wretch_, is an apostrophe that occurs everywhere +among our poets, particularly those of the stage; the most incorrigible +of all, and the most likely to fix and disseminate an error of this +kind. + +204. Give me both _of_ those books; leave out _of_. + +205. Whenever I try to write well, I _always_ find I can do it; leave +out _always_, which is unnecessary. + +206. He plunged _down_ into the stream; leave out _down_. + +207. She is the _matron_; say _may-tron_, and not _mat-ron_. + +208. Give me _leave_ to tell you; NEVER say _leaf_ for _leave_. + +209. The _height_ is considerable; pronounce _height_ so as to rhyme +with _tight_. Never _hate_ nor _heighth_. + +210. Who has my _scissors_? _never_ call _scissors_, _sithers_. + +211. First _of all_ I shall give you a lesson in French, and last _of +all_ in music; leave out _of all_ in both instances, as unnecessary. + +212. I shall have finished by the _latter_ end of the week; leave out +_latter_, which is unnecessary. + +213. They sought him _throughout_ the _whole_ country; leave out +_whole_, which is implied in _throughout_. + +214. Iron sinks _down_ in water; leave out _down_. + +215. I own that I did not come soon enough; but _because why_? I was +detained; leave out _because_. + +216. Have you seen the new _pantomime_? never say _pantomine_, as there +is no such word. + +217. I _cannot by no means_ allow it; say, I _can by no means_, &c., or, +I _cannot by any means_, &c. + +218. He _covered it over_; leave out _over_. + +219. I bought _a new pair of shoes_; say, _a pair of new shoes_. + +220. He _combined together_ these facts; leave out _together_. + +221. My brother called on me, and we _both_ took a walk; leave out +_both_, which is unnecessary. + +222. The _duke_ discharged his _duty_; sound the _u_ in _duke_ and +_duty_ like the word _you_, and carefully avoid saying, _dook_ and +_dooty_, or _doo_ for _dew_. + +223. _Genealogy_, _geography_, and _geometry_ are words of Greek +derivation; beware of saying, _geneology_, _jography_, and _jometry_, a +very common practice. + +224. He made out the _inventory_; place the accent in _inventory_ on the +syllable _in_, and NEVER on _ven_. + +225. He deserves _chastisement_; say, _chas-tiz-ment_, with the accent +on _chas_, and NEVER on _tise_. + +226. He threw the _rind_ away; never call _rind_, _rine_. + +227. They contributed to his _maintenance_; pronounce _maintenance_ with +the accent on _main_, and _never_ say, _maintainance_. + +228. She wears a silk _gown_; never say, _gownd_. + +229. Sussex is a _maritime_ county; pronounce the _last_ syllable of +_maritime_ so as to rhyme with _rim_. + +230. He _hovered_ about the enemy; pronounce _hovered_ so as to rhyme +with _covered_. + +231. He is a powerful _ally_; _never_ place the accent on _al_ in +_ally_, as many do. + +232. She bought a _diamond_ necklace; pronounce _diamond_ in _three_ +syllables, NEVER in _two_, which is a very common practice. + +233. He reads the "Weekly _Despatch_;" NEVER spell the word _despatch_, +_dispatch_. + +234. He said _as how_ you _was_ to do it; say, he said _that you were to +do it_. + +235. Never say, "_I acquiesce with you_;" but, "_I acquiesce in your +proposal, in your opinion_," &c. + +236. He is a distinguished _antiquarian_; say, _antiquary_. +_Antiquarian_ is an adjective; _antiquary_, a noun. + +237. In Goldsmith's "History of England" we find the following +extraordinary sentence in one of the chapters on the reign of Queen +Elizabeth:--"This" [a communication to Mary, Queen of Scots] "they +effected by conveying their letters to her by means of a brewer _that +supplied the family with ale through a chink in the wall of her +apartment_." A queer brewer that,--to supply his ale through a chink in +the wall! How easy the alteration to make the passage clear! "This they +effected by conveying their letters to her _through a chink in the wall +of her apartment, by means of a brewer that supplied the family with +ale_." + +238. Lavater wrote on _Physiognomy_; in the last word sound the _g_ +distinctly, as _g_ is always pronounced before _n_ when it is not in the +same syllable; as, _indignity_, &c. + +239. She is a very clever _girl_; pronounce _girl_ as if written _gerl_; +never say _gal_, which is very vulgar. + +240. He built a large _granary_; pronounce _granary_ so as to rhyme with +_tannery_, never call the word _grainary_. + +241. Beware of using _Oh!_ and _O_ indiscriminately; _Oh!_ is used to +express the emotion of _pain_, _sorrow_, or _surprise_; as, "Oh! the +exceeding grace of God, who loves his creatures so." _O_ is used to +express _wishing_, _exclamation_, or a direct _address_ to a person; as, + + "O mother, will the God above, + Forgive my faults like thee?" + +242. Some writers make a distinction between _farther_ and _further_; +they are, in fact, the very same word. _Further_, however, is less used +than _farther_, though it is the genuine form. + +243. He did it _unbeknown_ to us; say, _unknown_, &c. + +244. If I say "They retreated _back_," I use a word that is +_superfluous_, as _back_ is implied in the syllable _re_ in _retreated_. +Never place the accent on _flu_ in _superfluous_, but always on _per_. + +245. In reading Paley's "Evidences of Christianity," I unexpectedly +_lit on_ the passage I wanted; say, _met with_ the passage, &c. + +246. He has ordered a _phaeton_ from his coach-maker; beware of saying, +_pheton_ or _phaton_. The word should always be pronounced in _three_ +syllables, with the accent on _pha_. N. B. In pha-e-ton the _a_ and _e_ +do _not_ form a diphthong, as many suppose; the word is of Greek origin. + +247. Be careful to use the hyphen (-) correctly; it joins compound +words, and words broken by the ending of the line. The use of the hyphen +will appear more clearly from the following example: "_many colored_ +wings" means _many_ wings, which are _colored_; but "_many-colored_ +wings" means "wings of _many colors_." + +248. He had to wait in an _antechamber_; carefully avoid spelling the +last word _antichamber_. N. B. An _antechamber_ is the chamber that +leads to the chief apartment. _Ante_ is a LATIN PREPOSITION, and means +_before_, as, to ante_date_, that is, "to date beforehand." _Anti_ is a +GREEK PREPOSITION, and means _against_, as, anti_monarchical_, that is, +"against government by a single person." + +249. The _axe_ was very sharp; never spell _axe_ without the _e_. + +250. The force of voice, which is placed on any particular word or words +to distinguish the sense, is called _emphasis_ and those words are +called _emphatical words_: as, "Grammar is a _useful_ science." In this +sentence the word _useful_ is emphatical. The great importance of +_emphasis_ may be seen by the following example: + + 1. Will you _call_ on me to-morrow? + Yes, I shall [_call_]. + + 2. Will you call on _me_ to-morrow? + No, but I shall call on your _brother_. + + 3. Will you call on me _to-morrow_? + No, but I shall on the _following day_. + + 4. Will _you_ call on me to-morrow? + No, but my _brother_ will. + +251. Never say _o-fences_ for _offences_; _pison_ for _poison_; +_co-lection_ for _collection_; _voiolent_ for _violent_; _kiver_ for +_cover_; _afeard_ for _afraid_; _debbuty_ for _deputy_. + +252. He is a mere _cipher_; never spell _cipher_ with a _y_. + +253. I was _necessitated_ to do it; a vile expression, and often made +worse by _necessiated_ being used. Say, I was _obliged_, or _compelled_, +to do it. + +254. Gibbon wrote the "_Rise_ and Fall of the Roman Empire;" pronounce +_rise_, the noun, so as to rhyme with _price_; _rise_, the verb, rhymes +with _prize_. + +255. Have you been to the _National_ Gallery? Never pronounce _national_ +as if it were written _nay-shun-al_, a very common error, and by no +means confined to uneducated persons. + +256. I bought a new _umbrella_; beware of pronouncing _umbrella_, +_umberella_, or _umbereller_, both very common errors. + +257. He is a supporter of the _government_; beware of omitting the _n_ +in the second syllable of _government_. A very common practice. + +258. He strenuously maintained the _contrary_; never place the accent on +the _second_ syllable in _contrary_. In the ancient and time-honored +ditty, however, of + + "Mistress Mary, + Quite _contrary_, + How does your garden grow?" + +a ballad with which we are all more or less familiar, the word +"_contrary_" _is_ accented on the _second_ syllable, so as to rhyme with +the name of the venerable dame to whom these memorable lines were +addressed. + +259. "Received this day _of_ Mr. Brown, ten pounds;" say, "Received this +day _from_", &c. + +260. "In what case is the word _dominus_?" "In the _nominative_, sir." +In the hurry of school pronunciation "_nominative_" is nearly always +heard in _three_ syllables, as if written _nomnative_ or _nomative_, an +error that should be very carefully avoided; it is a word of _four_ +syllables. + +261. Of whatever you _get_, endeavor to save something; and, with all +your _getting_, _get_ wisdom. Carefully avoid saying _git_ for _get_, +and _gitting_ for _getting_. + +262. So intent was he on the song he was _singing_, as he stood by the +fire, that he did not perceive that his clothes were _singeing_. N. B. +Verbs ending with a _single e_ omit the _e_ when the termination _ing_ +is added; as, _give_, _giving_. In _singeing_, however, the _e_ must be +retained, to prevent its being confounded with _singing_. + +263. The boy had a _swingeing_ for _swinging_ without permission. _Read +the preceding note._ + +264. The man who was _dyeing_ said that his father was then _dying_. +Read the note in No. 262, in reference to _dyeing_; and observe that +_die_ changes the _i_ into _y_ before the addition of the termination +_ing_. + +265. His _surname_ is Clifford; never spell the _sur_ in _surname_, +_sir_, which shows an ignorance of is true derivation, which is from the +Latin. + +266. In "Bell's Life in London," of Saturday, Jan. 13th, of the current +year [1855], there is a letter from a Scotchman to the editor on the +subject of the declining salmon fisheries in Scotland. In one passage +the writer thus expresses himself: "The Duke of Sutherland has got +_almost no rent_ for these [salmon] rivers for the last four years," &c. +The writer should have said, _scarcely any rent_. "_Almost no rent_" is +a downright Scotticism. + +267. His _mamma_ sent him to a preparatory school; _mamma_ is often +written with one _m_ only, which is not, as may at first be supposed, in +imitation of the French [_maman_], but in sheer ignorance. The word is +pure Greek. + +268. Active verbs often take a neuter sense; as, _The house is +building_. Here _is building_ is used in a neuter signification, because +it has no object after it. By this rule are explained such sentences +as, _Application is wanting_, _The grammar is printing_, &c. + +269. He _attackted_ me without the slightest provocation; say, +_attacked_. + +270. I saw him _somewheres_ in the city; say, _somewhere_. N. B. +_Nowheres_, _everywheres_, and _anywheres_ are also very frequently +heard. + +271. He is still a _bacheldor_; say, _bachelor_. + +272. His language was quite _blasphemous_; beware of placing the accent +on _phe_ in _blasphemous_. A very common mistake. Place the accent on +the syllable _blas_. + +273. I fear I shall _discommode_ you; say, _incommode_. + +274. I can do it _equally as well as_ he; leave out _equally_, which is +altogether superfluous. + +275. We could not forbear _from_ doing it; leave out _from_, which is +unnecessary. + +276. They accused him _for_ neglecting his duty; say, _of_ neglecting, +&c. + +277. He was made much _on_ at Bath; say, made much _of_, &c. + +278. He is a man _on_ whom you can confide; say, _in_ whom, &c. + +279. _I'm thinking_ he will soon arrive; say, _I think_, &c. + +280. He was obliged to _fly_ the country; say, _flee_ the country. A +very common mistake. + +281. The snuffers _wants_ mending; say, _want_ mending. + +282. His conduct admits _of_ no apology; leave out _of_, which is quite +unnecessary. + +283. A _gent_ has been here, inquiring for you,--a detestable, but very +common, expression; say, a _gentleman_, &c. + +284. That was _all along of_ you; say, That was _all your fault_. + +285. You have no _call_ to be vexed with me; say, no _occasion_, &c. + +286. I _don't_ know nothing about it,--a very common cockneyism; leave +out _don't_. + +287. I _had_ rather not, should be, I _would_ rather not. + +288. I _had better_ go, should be, _It were better_ that I should go. + +289. A _new pair_ of gloves, should be, A _pair of new_ gloves. + +290. He is a _very rising_ man, should be, He is _rising rapidly_. + +291. Apartments _to let_, should be, Apartments _to be let_. + +292. No _less_ than ten persons, should be, No _fewer_ than ten persons. +_Less_ must be applied to quantity, as, No _less_ than ten pounds. +_Fewer_ must be applied to things. + +293. I _never_ speak, _whenever_ I can help it, should be, I never speak +_when_ I can help it. + +294. _Before_ I do that, I must _first_ be paid, should be, Before I do +that, I must be paid. + +295. To _get over_ an illness, should be, To _survive_, or, To _recover +from_ an illness. + +296. To _get over_ a person, should be, To _persuade_ a person. + +297. To _get over_ a fact, should be, To _deny_ or _refute_ it. + +298. The _then_ Duke of Bedford, should be, The Duke of Bedford _of that +day_, or, The _sixth_ Duke of Bedford. + +299. The _then_ Mrs. Howard, should be, The Mrs. Howard _then living_. + +300. A _couple_ of pounds, should be, _Two_ pounds. Couple implies +union, as, A married couple. + +301. He speaks _slow_, should be, He speaks _slowly_. + +302. He is _noways_ in fault, should be, He is _nowise_ in fault. + +303. He is _like_ to be, should be, He is _likely_ to be. + +304. _All over_ the land, should be, _Over all_ the land. + +305. I am stout in comparison _to_ you, should be, I am stout in +comparison _with_ you. + +306. At _best_, should be, At _the best_. + +307. At _worst_, should be, At _the worst_. + +308. The dinner was _all eat up_, should be, The dinner was _all eaten_. + +309. I _eat_ heartily, should be, I _ate_ heartily. + +310. As I _take_ it, should be, As I _see_ it, or _understand_ it. + +311. I shall _fall down_, should be, I shall _fall_. + +312. It fell _on_ the floor, should be, It fell _to_ the floor. + +313. He _again repeated_ it, should be, He _repeated_ it. + +314. His conduct was _approved of_ by all, should be, His conduct was +_approved_ by all. + +315. He was killed _by_ a cannon ball, should be, He was killed _with_ a +cannon ball. The gun was fired _by_ a man. + +316. Six weeks _back_, should be, Six weeks _ago_, or _since_. + +317. _Every now and then_, should be, _Often_, or _Frequently_. + +318. Who finds him _in_ money? should be, Who finds him money? + +319. The _first of all_, should be, The _first_. + +320. The _last of all_, should be, The _last_. + +321. Be that as it _will_, should be, Be that as it _may_. + +322. My _every_ hope, should be, _All_ my hopes. + +323. Since _when_, should be, Since _which time_. + +324. He put it _in_ his pocket, should be, He put it _into_ his pocket. + +325. Since _then_, should be, Since _that time_. + +326. The _latter_ end, should be, The _end_. + +327. I saw it _in here_, should be, I saw it _here_. + +328. That _ay'nt_ just, should be, That _is not_ just. + +329. The hen is _setting_, should be, The hen is _sitting_. + +330. The wind _sets_, should be, The wind _sits_. + +331. To _lift up_, should be, To _lift_. + +332. I said so _over again_, should be, I _repeated_ it. + +333. From _here to there_, should be, From _this place to that_. + +334. _Nobody else_ but him, should be, _Nobody_ but him. + +335. The balloon _ascended up_, should be, The balloon _ascended_. + +336. _This_ two days, should be, _These_ two days. + +337. Do you _mean_ to come? should be, Do you _intend_ to come? + +338. Each of them _are_, should be, Each of them _is_. _Each_ means one +_and_ the other of two. + +339. _Either_ of the _three_, should be, _Any one_ of the three. +_Either_ means one _or_ the other of two. + +340. _Neither_ one _or_ the other, should be, Neither one _nor_ the +other. _Neither_ (not either) means not the one _nor_ the other of two. + +341. Better _nor_ that, should be, Better _than_ that. + +342. _Bad grammar_, should be, Bad or ungrammatical _English_. + +343. As soon as _ever_, should be, As soon as. + +344. You will _some_ day be sorry, should be, You will _one_ day be +sorry. + +345. From _now_, should be, From _this time_. + +346. Therefore, I _thought_ it proper to write you, should be, +Therefore, I _think_ it proper to write _to_ you. + +347. _There's_ thirty, should be, There _are_ thirty. + +348. _Subject matter_, should be, The subject. + +349. A _summer's_ morning, should be, A _summer_ morning. + +350. My clothes _have got_ too small, or too short, for me, should be, I +have become too stout or too tall for my clothes. + +351. A _most perfect_ poem, should be, A _perfect_ poem. Perfect, +supreme, complete, brief, full, empty, true, false, do not admit of +comparison. + +352. Avoid using unmeaning or vulgar phrases in speaking, as, You don't +say so? Don't you know? Don't you see? You know; You see; So, you see, +&c. + +353. Is Mr. Smith _in_? should be, Is Mr. Smith _within_? + +354. The _other one_, should be, The other. + +355. _Another one_, should be, Another. + +356. I _left_ this morning. Name the place left. + +357. Over head _and ears_, should be, Over _head_. + +358. I may _perhaps_, or _probably_, should be, I may. + +359. Whether he will or _no_, should be, Whether he will or _not_. + +360. _Says_ I, should be, _Said_ I, or, I _said_. + +361. He spoke _contemptibly_ of him, should be, He spoke +_contemptuously_ of him. + +362. _Was_ you? should be, _Were_ you? + +363. I am _oftener_ well than ill, should be, I am _more frequently_ +well than ill. + +364. For _good and all_, should be, For _ever_. + +365. It is _above_ a month since, should be, It is _more_ then a month +since. + +366. He is a _superior_ man, should be, He is _superior to most_ men. + +367. He _need_ not do it, should be, He _needs_ not do it. + +368. Go _over_ the bridge, should be, Go _across_ the bridge. + +369. I was some distance from home, should be, I was _at_ some distance +from home. + +370. He _belongs_ to the _Mechanics'_ Institution, should be, He is a +_member_ of the _Mechanics'_ Institution. + +371. For _such another_ book, should be, For _another such_ book. + +372. They _mutually_ loved _each other_, should be, They loved _each +other_. + +373. I _ay'nt_, should be, I _am not_. + +374. I am _up to you_, should be, I _understand_ you. + +375. Bread has _rose_, should be, Bread has _risen_. + +376. He was in _eminent_ danger, should be, He was in _imminent_ danger. + +377. Take hold _on_, should be, Take hold _of_. + +378. Vegetables were _plenty_, should be, Vegetables were _plentiful_. + +379. Avoid all slang and vulgar words and phrases, as, _Any how_, +_Bating_, _Bran new_, _To blow up_, _Bother_, _Cut_, _Currying favor_, +_Fork out_, _Half an eye_, _I am up to you_, _Kick up_, _Leastwise_, +_Nowheres_, _Pell-mell_, _Scrape_, _The Scratch_, _Rum_, _Topsy-turvey_, +_Walk into_, _Whatsomever_. + +"Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar."--SHAKESPEARE. + + + + +CATALOGUE + +OF + +Books for Schools and Colleges, + +PUBLISHED BY + +JAMES MUNROE & CO. + +No. 134 Washington Street, Boston, + +AND + +Lyceum Building, Harvard Square, Cambridge. + + * * * * * + +FIRST LESSONS IN GRAMMAR. + +LITTLE EDWARD'S FIRST LESSONS IN GRAMMAR. By Mrs. Lowell. 18mo. 17 +cents. + + * * * * * + +ENGLISH GRAMMAR. + +ENGLISH GRAMMAR, on the basis of Lindley Murray. By John Goldsbury. +12mo. 20 cents. + + * * * * * + +SEQUEL TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR. + +SEQUEL TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR, being the second part. By John Goldsbury. +12mo. 20 cents. + + * * * * * + + +DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES. + +DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES FOR SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES, with a Selection of +Hymns. 16mo. 37 cents. + + * * * * * + +MORAL PHILOSOPHY. + +A SYSTEM OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY. Adapted to Children and Families, and +especially to Common Schools. By Rev. D. Steele and a Friend. 18mo. pp. +80. 15 cts. + + * * * * * + +UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. + +MASON ON THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. This work is highly recommended +by the late Judge Story. 12mo. 84 cents. + + * * * * * + +RUSSELL'S ELOCUTIONARY READER. + +THE ELOCUTIONARY READER; containing a Selection of Reading Lessons. By +Anna U. Russell. With Introductory Rules and Exercises in Elocution. By +W. 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Peabody + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Conversation + Its Faults and Its Graces + +Author: Andrew P. Peabody + +Release Date: January 6, 2011 [EBook #34863] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONVERSATION *** + + + + +Produced by Emmy, Darleen Dove and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> +<h1>CONVERSATION.</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>CONVERSATION;</h1> + +<h2>ITS FAULTS<br /> + +AND<br /> + +ITS GRACES.</h2> + +<div class='center'>COMPILED BY</div> + +<div class='author'>ANDREW P. PEABODY.</div> + + + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /><br />—————<br /><br /><br /><br /> +BOSTON AND CAMBRIDGE:<br /> +JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY.<br /> +<br /> +M DCCC LV.<br /> +</div> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='copyright'> +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by<br /> +<span class="smcap">James Munroe and Company</span>,<br /> +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.<br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /> +CAMBRIDGE:<br /> + +THURSTON AND TORRY, PRINTERS.<br /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'> +<b>DEDICATED</b><br /> +<br /> +<span class='small'>TO</span><br /> +<br /> +AMERICAN TEACHERS.<br /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Compiler has attempted to bring together in +this little volume the principles which should govern +conversation among persons of true refinement of +mind and character, and to point out some of the +most common and easily besetting vulgarisms occurring +in the colloquial English of our country and day. +Part I. is an Address delivered before a Young Ladies' +School, in Newburyport. Part II. is a Lecture addressed +to the Literary, Scientific and Mechanics' +Institution at Reading, England. Part III. is a reprint +from the fourth English edition of "A Word to +the Wise, or Hints on the Current Improprieties of +Expression in Writing and Speaking," by Parry +Gwynne, a few passages not applicable to the habits +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>of American society being omitted. Part IV. is composed +of selections from two little English books, +entitled, "Never too late to Learn: Mistakes of daily +occurrence in Speaking, Writing and Pronunciation +corrected;" and "Common Blunders in Speaking +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span>and Writing."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PART I.</h2> + +<h2>AN ADDRESS</h2> + +<div class='center'>DELIVERED BEFORE THE<br /> + +<span class='big'>NEWBURYPORT FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL,</span><br /> + +DECEMBER 19, 1846,<br /> + +BY ANDREW P. PEABODY.<br /><br /><br /></div> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Young Ladies</span>,</div> + +<p>You have made me happy by your kind invitation +to meet you, and to address you on this anniversary. +A day spent in this room at your annual +examination, nearly two years ago, was a season of +privilege and enjoyment not readily to be forgotten. +I had previously entertained a high regard for your +instructor. I then learned to know him by his work; +and, were he not here, I should be glad to extend +beyond a single sentence my congratulations with you +that you are his pupils.</p> + +<p>I have said that I accepted your invitation with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +gladness. Yet, in preparing myself to meet you, I +find a degree of embarrassment. This is for you a +season of recreation,—a high festival; and I am +accustomed to use my pen and voice only on grave +occasions, and for solemn services. I know not how +to add to your amusement. Should I undertake to +make sport for you, my awkwardness would give you +more mirth than my wit. The best that I can do is to +select some subject that is or ought to be interesting +to you, and to endeavor to blend a little instruction +with the gayer and more lively notes of the occasion. +The lesson shall be neither tediously long nor needlessly +grave.</p> + +<p>I propose to offer you a few hints on <i>conversation</i>. +How large a portion of life does it fill up! How +innumerable are its ministries and its uses! It is the +most refined species of recreation,—the most sparkling +source of merriment. It interweaves with a +never-resting shuttle the bonds of domestic sympathy. +It fastens the ties of friendship, and runs along the +golden links of the chain of love. It enriches charity, +and makes the gift twice blessed. There is, perhaps, +a peculiar appropriateness in the selection of this +topic for an address to young ladies; for they do +more than any other class in the community towards +establishing the general tone and standard of social +intercourse. The voices of many of you already, I +doubt not, strike the key-note of home conversation; +and you are fast approaching an age when you will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +take prominent places in general society; will be the +objects of peculiar regard; and will, in a great measure, +determine whether the social converse in your respective +circles shall be vulgar or refined, censorious or +kindly, frivolous or dignified. It was said by a wise +man of antiquity,—"Only give me the making of +songs for the people, and I care not who makes the +laws." In our unmusical age and land, talking occupies +the place which songs did among the melody-loving +Greeks; and he who could tune the many-voiced +harp of the social party, need crave no higher +office or more potent sway.</p> + +<p>Permit me now to enumerate some of the characteristics +of graceful, elegant, and profitable conversation, +commencing with the lower graces, and passing +on to the higher.</p> + +<p>Let me first beg you, if you would be good talkers, +to form and fix now, (for you can do this only now,) +habits of correct and easy pronunciation. The words +which you now miscall, it will cost you great pains in +after life to pronounce aright, and you will always be +in danger of returning inadvertently to your old pronunciation. +There are two extremes which you ought +equally to shun. One is that of carelessness; the +other, that of extreme precision, as if the sound of the +words uttered were constantly uppermost in the mind. +This last fault always suggests the idea of vanity and +pedantry, and is of itself enough to add a deep indigo +hue to a young lady's reputation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> + +<p>One great fault of New England pronunciation is, +that the work is performed too much by the outer +organs of speech. The tones of the voice have but +little depth. Instead of a generous play of the throat +and lungs, the throat almost closes, and the voice +seems to be formed in the mouth. It is this that +gives what is called a <i>nasal</i> tone to the voice, which, +when denied free range through its lawful avenues, +rushes in part through the nose. We notice the nasal +pronunciation in excess here and there in an individual, +while Englishmen and Southerners observe it +as a prevailing characteristic of all classes of people +in the Northern States. Southerners in general are +much less careful and accurate in pronunciation than +we are; but they more than compensate for this +deficiency by the full, round tones in which they utter +themselves. In our superficial use of the organs of +speech, there are some consonants which we are +prone to omit altogether. This is especially the case +with <i>g</i> in words that end with <i>ing</i>. Nine persons out +of ten say <i>singin</i> instead of <i>singing</i>. I know some +public speakers, and many private ones, who never +pronounce the <i>t</i> in such words as <i>object</i> and <i>prospect</i>. +Very few persons give the right sound to <i>r</i> final. +<i>Far</i> is generally pronounced as if it were written <i>fah</i>. +Now, I would not have the full Hibernian roll of the +<i>r;</i> but I would have the presence of the letter more +distinctly recognized, than it often is, even by persons +of refined and fastidious taste.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + +<p>Let me next beg you to shun all the ungrammatical +vulgarisms which are often heard, but which never +fail to grate harshly on a well-tuned ear. If you +permit yourselves to use them now, you will never +get rid of them. I know a venerable and accomplished +lawyer, who has stood at the head of his +profession in this State, and has moved in the most +refined society for half a century, who to this day +says <i>haint</i> for <i>has not</i>, having acquired the habit +when a schoolboy. I have known persons who have +for years tried unsuccessfully to break themselves of +saying <i>done</i> for <i>did</i>, and <i>you and I</i> for <i>you and me</i>. +Many well-educated persons, through the power of +long habit, persist in saying <i>shew</i> for <i>showed</i>, while +they know perfectly well that they might, with equal +propriety, substitute <i>snew</i> for <i>snowed;</i> and there is +not far hence a clergyman, marvellously precise and +fastidious in his choice of words, who is very apt to +commence his sermon by saying, "I <i>shew</i> you in a +recent discourse." A false delicacy has very generally +introduced <i>drank</i> as the perfect participle of <i>drink</i>, +instead of <i>drunk</i>, which alone has any respectable +authority in its favor; and the imperfect tense and +perfect participle have been similarly confounded in +many other cases. I know not what grammar you +use in this school. I trust that it is an old one; for +some of the new grammars sanction these vulgarisms, +and in looking over their tables of irregular verbs, I +have sometimes half expected to have the book dashed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +from my hand by the indignant ghost of Lindley +Murray. Great care and discretion should be employed +in the use of the common abbreviations of the +negative forms of the substantive and auxiliary verbs. +<i>Can't</i>, <i>don't</i>, and <i><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'havn't'">haven't</ins></i>, are admissible in rapid conversation +on trivial subjects. <i>Isn't</i> and <i>hasn't</i> are +more harsh, yet tolerated by respectable usage. <i>Didn't</i>, +<i>couldn't</i>, <i>wouldn't</i>, and <i>shouldn't</i>, make as unpleasant +combinations of consonants as can well be +uttered, and fall short but by one remove of those +unutterable names of Polish gentlemen which sometimes +excite our wonder in the columns of a newspaper. +<i>Won't</i> for <i>will not</i>, and <i>aint</i> for <i>is not</i> or <i>are +not</i>, are absolutely vulgar; and <i>aint</i>, for <i>has not</i> or +<i>have not</i>, is utterly intolerable.</p> + +<p>Nearly akin to these offences against good grammar +is another untasteful practice, into which you are +probably more in danger of falling, and which is a +crying sin among young ladies,—I mean the use of +exaggerated, extravagant forms of speech,—saying +<i>splendid</i> for <i>pretty</i>, <i>magnificent</i> for <i>handsome</i>, <i>horrid</i> +for <i>very</i>, <i>horrible</i> for <i>unpleasant</i>, <i>immense</i> for <i>large</i>, +<i>thousands</i> or <i>myriads</i> for any number greater than <i>two</i>. +Were I to write down, for one day, the conversation +of some young ladies of my acquaintance, and then to +interpret it literally, it would imply that, within the +compass of twelve or fourteen hours, they had met +with more marvellous adventures and hair-breadth +escapes, had passed through more distressing experiences,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +had seen more imposing spectacles, had endured +more fright, and enjoyed more rapture, than +would suffice for half a dozen common lives. This +habit is attended with many inconveniences. It deprives +you of the intelligible use of strong expressions +when you need them. If you use them all the time, +nobody understands or believes you when you use +them in earnest. You are in the same predicament +with the boy who cried <span class="smcap">wolf</span> so often, when there +was no wolf, that nobody would go to his relief when +the wolf came. This habit has also a very bad +moral bearing. Our words have a reflex influence +upon our characters. Exaggerated speech makes +one careless of the truth. The habit of using words +without regard to their rightful meaning, often leads +one to distort facts, to misreport conversations, and to +magnify statements, in matters in which the literal +truth is important to be told. You can never trust +the testimony of one who in common conversation is +indifferent to the import, and regardless of the power, +of words. I am acquainted with persons whose representations +of facts always need translation and correction, +and who have utterly lost their reputation for +veracity, solely through this habit of overstrained and +extravagant speech. They do not mean to lie; but +they have a dialect of their own, in which words bear +an entirely different sense from that given to them in +the daily intercourse of discreet and sober people.</p> + +<p>In this connection, it may not be amiss to notice a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +certain class of phrases, often employed to fill out +and dilute sentences, such as, <i>I'm sure</i>,—<i>I declare</i>,—<i>That's +a fact</i>,—<i>You know</i>,—<i>I want to know</i>,—<i>Did +you ever?</i>—<i>Well! I never</i>,—and the like. +All these forms of speech disfigure conversation, +weaken the force of the assertions or statements with +which they are connected, and give unfavorable impressions +as to the good breeding of the person that +uses them.</p> + +<p>You will be surprised, young ladies, to hear me +add to these counsels,—"Above all things, swear +not at all." Yet there is a great deal of swearing +among those who would shudder at the very thought +of being profane. The Jews, who were afraid to use +the most sacred names in common speech, were +accustomed to swear by the temple, by the altar, and +by their own heads; and these oaths were rebuked +and forbidden by divine authority. I know not why +the rebuke and prohibition apply not with full force to +the numerous oaths by <i>goodness</i>, <i>faith</i>, <i>patience</i>, and +<i>mercy</i>, which we hear from lips that mean to be +neither coarse nor irreverent, in the schoolroom, street, +and parlor; and a moment's reflection will convince +any well-disposed person, that, in the exclamation +<i>Lor</i>, the cutting off of a single letter from a consecrated +word can hardly save one from the censure +and the penalty written in the third commandment. +I do not regard these expressions as harmless. I believe +them inconsistent with Christian laws of speech.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +Nor do they accord with the simple, quiet habit of +mind and tone of feeling which are the most favorable +to happiness and usefulness, and which sit as +gracefully on gay and buoyant youth as on the sedateness +of maturer years. The frame of mind in which +a young lady says, in reply to a question, <i>Mercy! no</i>, +is very different from that which prompts the simple, +modest <i>no</i>. Were there any room for doubt, I should +have some doubt of the truth of the former answer; +for the unnatural, excited, fluttered state of mind implied +in the use of the oath, might indicate either an +unfitness to weigh the truth, or an unwillingness to +acknowledge it.</p> + +<p>In fine, transparency is an essential attribute of all +graceful and becoming speech. Language ought to +represent the speaker's ideas, and neither more nor +less. Exclamations, needless expletives, unmeaning +extravagances, are as untasteful as the streamers of +tattered finery which you sometimes see fluttering +about the person of a dilapidated belle. Let your +thoughts be as strong, as witty, as brilliant, as you +can make them; but never seek to atone for feeble +thought by large words, or to rig out foolish conceits +in the spangled robe of genuine wit. Speak as you +think and feel; and let the tongue always be an honest +interpreter to the heart.</p> + +<p>But it is time that we passed to higher considerations. +There are great laws of duty and religion +which should govern our conversation; and the divine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +Teacher assures us that even for our idle words we +are accountable to Him who has given us the power +of speech. Now, I by no means believe that there is +any principle of our religion which frowns upon wit +or merriment, or forbids playful speech at fit seasons +and within due limits. The very fact that the Almighty +has created the muscles which produce the +smile and the laugh, is a perpetual rebuke to those +who would call all laughter madness, and all mirth +folly. Amusement, in its time and place, is a great +good; and I know of no amusement so refined, so +worthy an intellectual being, as that conversation +which is witty and still kind, playful, yet always reverent, +which recreates from toil and care, but leaves +no sting, and violates no principle of brotherly love or +religious duty.</p> + +<p>Evil speaking, slander, detraction, gossip, scandal, +are different names for one of the chief dangers to be +guarded against in conversation; and you are doing +much towards defending yourselves against it by the +generous mental culture which you enjoy in this seminary. +The demon of slander loves an empty house. +A taste for scandal betrays a vacant mind. Furnish +your minds, then, by useful reading and study, and +by habits of reflection and mental industry, that you +may be able to talk about subjects as well as about +people,—about events too long past or too remote to +be interwoven with slander. But, if you must talk +about people, why not about their good traits and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +deeds? The truest ingenuity is that which brings +hidden excellences to light; for virtue is in her very +nature modest and retiring, while faults lie on the surface +and are detected with half an eye.</p> + +<p>You will undoubtedly be careful to have your words +always just and kind, if you will only take a sufficiently +thorough view of the influence of your habits +of conversation, both in the formation of your own +characters and in determining the happiness of others. +But how low an estimate do many of us make of the +power of the tongue! How little account we are apt +to take of our words! Have we not all at times said +to ourselves, "Oh! it is only a word!" when it may +have been sharp as a drawn sword, have given more +pain than a score of blows, and done more harm than +our hands could have wrought in a month? Why is +it that the slanderer and the tale-bearer regard themselves +as honest and worthy people, instead of feeling +that they are accursed of God and man? It is because +they deal in evil words only, and they consider words +as mere nought. Why is it that the carping tongue, +which filches a little from everybody's good name, +can hardly utter itself without a sneer, and makes +every fair character its prey, thinks better of itself +than a petty pilferer would? It is because by long, +though baseless prescription, the tongue has claimed +for itself a license denied to every other member and +faculty.</p> + +<p>But, in point of fact, your words not only express,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +but help create, your characters. Speech gives +definiteness and permanence to your thoughts and +feelings. The unuttered thought may fade from the +memory,—may be chased away by better thoughts,—may, +indeed, hardly be a part of your own mind; +for, if suggested from without, and met without a welcome, +and with disapproval and resistance, it is not +yours. But by speech you adopt thoughts, and the +voice that utters them is as a pen that engraves them +indelibly on the soul. If you can suppress unkind +thoughts, so that, when they rise in your breast, and +mount to your very lips, you leave them unuttered, +you are not on the whole unkind,—your better nature +has the supremacy. But if these wrong feelings +often find utterance, though you call it hasty utterance, +there is reason to fear that they flow from a +bitter fountain within.</p> + +<p>Consider, also, how large a portion speech makes up +of the lives of all. It occupies the greater part of the +waking hours of many of us; while express acts of a +moral bearing, compared with our words, are rare +and few. Indeed, in many departments of duty, +words are our only possible deeds,—it is by words +alone that we can perform or violate our duty. Many +of the most important forms of charity are those of +speech. Alms-giving is almost the only expression of +charity of which the voice is not the chief minister; +and alms, conferred in silent coldness, or with chiding +or disdainful speech, freeze the spirit, though they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +may warm the body. Speech, too, is the sole medium +of a countless host of domestic duties and observances. +There are, indeed, in every community many whose +only activity seems to be in words. There are many +young ladies, released from the restraints of school, +and many older ladies, with few or no domestic burdens, +with no worldly avocation and no taste for reading, +whose whole waking life, either at their own +homes or from house to house, is given to the exercise, +for good or evil, of the tongue,—that unruly +member. And how blessed might they make that +exercise,—for how many holy ministries of love, +sympathy, and charity might it suffice,—how many +wounds might it prevent or heal,—did they only +believe and feel that they were writing out their own +characters in their daily speech! But too many of +them forget this. So long as they do not knowingly +and absolutely lie, they feel no responsibility for their +words. They deem themselves virtuous, because +they refrain from vices to which they have not the +shadow of a temptation; but carp, backbite, and carry +ill reports from house to house, with an apostle's zeal +and a martyr's devotedness. To say nothing of the +social effect of such a life, is not the tongue thus +employed working out spiritual death for the soul in +whose service it is busy? I know of no images too +vile to portray such a character. The dissection of a +slanderer's or talebearer's heart would present the +most loathsome specimen of morbid anatomy conceivable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +It is full of the most malignant poison. +Its life is all mean, low, serpent-like,—a life that +cannot bear the light, but finds all its nourishment and +growth in darkness. Were these foul and odious +forms of speech incapable of harming others,—did +human reptiles of this class creep about in some outward +guise, in which they could be recognized by all, +and their words be taken for what they are worth, +and no more,—still I would beg them, for their own +sakes, not to degrade God's image, in which they +were created, into the likeness of a creeping thing; I +would entreat them not to be guilty of the meanest +and most miserable of all forms of spiritual suicide; I +would beseech them, if they are determined to sell +their souls, to get some better price for them than the +scorn and dread of all whose esteem is worth having.</p> + +<p>In this connection, we ought to take into account +the very large class of literally idle words. How +many talk on unthinkingly and heedlessly, as if the +swift exercise of the organs of speech were the great +end of life! The most trivial news of the day, the +concerns of the neighborhood, the floating gossip, +whether good-natured or malignant, dress, food, frivolous +surmises, paltry plans, vanities too light to remain +an hour upon the memory,—these are the sole staple +of what too many call conversation; and many are +the young people who are training themselves in the +use of speech for no higher or better purpose. But +such persons have the threatened judgment visibly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +following their idle speech. Their minds grow superficial +and shallow. They constantly lose ground, if +they ever had any, as intellectual and moral beings. +Such speech makes a person, of however genteel +training, coarse and vulgar, and that not only in character, +but even in voice and manners, and with sad +frequency it obliterates traits of rich loveliness and +promise. The merely idle tongue is also very readily +betrayed into overt guilt. One cannot indulge in +idle, reckless talk, without being implicated in all the +current slander and calumny, and acquiring gradually +the envious and malignant traits of a hackneyed tale-bearer. +And the person who, in youth, can attract +the attention and win the favor of those of little reflection +by flippant and voluble discourse, will encounter +in the very same circles neglect, disesteem, and dislike, +before the meridian of life is passed; for it takes +all the charms that youth, sprightliness, and high animal +spirits can furnish, to make an idle tongue fascinating +or even endurable.</p> + +<p>Let me ask you now to consider for a moment the +influence which we exert in conversation upon the +happiness or misery of others. It is not too much to +say, that most of us do more good or harm in this +way than in all other forms beside. Look around +you,—take a survey of whatever there is of social or +domestic unhappiness in the families to which you +belong, or among your kindred and acquaintance. +Nine tenths of it can be traced to no other cause than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +untrue, unkind, or ungoverned speech. A mere harsh +word, repented of the next moment,—how great a +fire can it kindle! The carrying back and forth of +an idle tale, not worth an hour's thought, will often +break up the closest intimacies. From every slanderous +tongue you may trace numerous rills of bitterness, +winding round from house to house, and separating +those who ought to be united in the closest friendship. +Could persons, who, with kind hearts, are yet hasty +in speech, number up, at the close of a day, the feelings +that they had wounded, and the uncomfortable +sensations that they had caused, they would need no +other motive to study suavity of manner, and to seek +for their words the rich unction of a truly charitable +spirit. Then, too, how many are the traits of suspicion, +jealousy, and heart-burning, which go forth +from every day's merely idle words, vain and vague +surmises, uncharitable inferences and conjectures!</p> + +<p>These thoughts point to the necessity of religion as +the guiding, controlling element in conversation. All +conversation ought to be religious. Not that I would +have persons always talking on what are commonly +called religious subjects. Let these be talked of at +fitting times and places, but never obtrusively brought +forward or thrust in. But cannot common subjects be +talked of religiously? Cannot we converse about our +plans, our amusements, our reading, nay, and our +neighbors too, and no sacred name be introduced, and +yet the conversation be strictly religious? Yes,—if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +throughout the conversation we own the laws of honesty, +frankness, kind construction, and sincere benevolence,—if +our speech be pure, true, gentle, dignified,—if +it seek or impart information that either party +needs,—if it cherish friendly feeling,—if it give us +kinder affections towards others,—if it bring our +minds into vigorous exercise,—nay, if it barely amuse +us, but not too long, and if the wit be free from coarseness +and at no one's expense. But we should ever +bear it in mind, that our words are all uttered in the +hearing of an unseen Listener and Judge. Could we +keep this in remembrance, there would be little in our +speech that need give us shame or pain. But that +half hour spent in holding up to ridicule one who has +done you no harm,—that breathless haste to tell the +last piece of slander,—you would not want to remember +in your evening prayer. From the flippant, +irresponsible, wasteful gossip, in which so much time +is daily lost, you could not with a safe conscience +look up and own an Almighty presence.</p> + +<p>Young ladies, my subject is a large one, and +branches out into so many heads, that, were I to say +all that I should be glad to say, the setting sun would +stop me midway. But it is time for me to relieve +your patience. Accept, with these fragmentary hints, +my cordial congratulations and good wishes. Life +now smiles before you, and beckons you onward. +Heaven grant that your coming days may be even +happier than you hope! To make them so is within<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +your own power. They will not be cloudless. If +you live long, disappointments and sorrows must +come. There will be steep and rough passages in +the way of life. But there is a Guide, in whose footprints +you may climb the steep places without weariness, +and tread the rough ground without stumbling. +Add to your mental culture faith in Him, and the self-consecration +of the Christian heart. Then even trials +will make you happier. When clouds are over your +way, rays from Heaven will struggle through their +fissures, and fringe their edges. Your path will be +onward and upward, ever easier, ever brighter. On +that path may your early footsteps be planted, that +the beautiful bloom of your youth may not wither and +perish, but may ripen for a heavenly harvest!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> +<h2>PART II.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A LECTURE</h2> + +<div class='center'><span class='small'>DELIVERED AT READING, ENGLAND, DECEMBER 19, 1854,</span><br /> + +BY FRANCIS TRENCH.</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> are all of us more or less apt to overlook that +which is continually going on around us. We omit +to make it a matter of inquiry, and reserve our attention +for that which is more rare, although of far less +importance. What is it, for instance, which, after a +course of long, sultry heat,—when the sun, day by +day, has blazed in the sky above,—what is it, I ask, +which has still preserved the verdure and freshness of +all vegetable life? Surely it has been nothing else +than the dew of heaven, gently, regularly, plenteously +falling, as each evening closed in. Nevertheless, +how little is it thought of,—how little are its benefits +acknowledged! But when the clouds gather speedily +and darkly, and perhaps unexpectedly, when the sense +of coolness spreads once more through the parched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +atmosphere, when abundance of rain all at once descends, +then all observe the change, all notice the +beneficial results; yet perhaps they are trifling indeed +compared with those of the nightly and forgotten dew, +which has never ceased to fall, week by week, or +even month by month, during the course of the +drought. I feel no doubt that it will be acknowledged +how it is the same, the very same, in all things calling +for our observation. So, therefore, it is regarding +conversation, as a thing of every day. We flock to +hear and admire some mighty orator's address, but +we think little of and little appreciate that daily, hourly +thing which is our subject now,—I mean conversation. +But I leave you to judge which has the most +effect on our general interest, as social creatures,—which, +in the long run, has most to do with the pleasure +and the profit of all human intercourse.</p> + +<p>Having made this claim on your attention, I would +now observe that the subject is one of so wide a scope +that I can do little more than present you with a few +thoughts, which I have noted down as they have risen +to my own mind, upon it. And I trust that they will +prove not entirely unacceptable, though well indeed +aware that the topic is one to which it must be very +difficult indeed to do any justice.</p> + +<p>But I must first try to meet one objection, for which +I am quite prepared, namely, that conversation is not +a fit subject for a lecture at all, but should be considered +as too independent and free to have any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +rules, principles, or guidance applied to it. This, +however, is indeed a fallacy, and may briefly be exposed +by a few such questions as those I am about to +ask. What should be more free than the sword of +the soldier in the battle-day?—than the pencil of the +artist at the mountain side?—or than the poet's song +in its upward flight? Yet who would condemn the +use of the drill, or the study of perspective, or the +rules of poetic art? No less untenable is it to maintain +that conversation can be subject to no principle, +rule, or review, without checking its free and unfettered +range. Cowper has simply summed up the +whole truth:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Though conversation in its better part<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">May be esteemed a gift, and not an art;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Yet much depends, as in the tiller's toil,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On culture and the sowing of the soil."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>Nor shall I venture to suggest any measures which +I do not believe already well sanctioned, well honored, +and well practised too, even by many who have never +yet thought of classifying them at all. But these I +shall freely give, as my duty is, at your summons this +night.</div> + +<p>Conversation may be termed or defined as "the +exchange and communication, by word, of that which +is passing in the inward mind and heart." And none +of all known creatures, except man, has this peculiar +gift. The animal tribes approach us and even surpass<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +us in many of their physical powers and capacities. +As to their capacities in the five senses of the body, I +conceive that, generally speaking, it is so; but none +of them converse, like man, in expressive words, however +they may and do comprehend one another through +inferior means. Homer has therefore defined our +race as "word-dividing men." And surely such a +capacity or power is not bestowed on us unaccompanied +by an obligation and a claim to give due +diligence how we do and how we may employ it. +Never to act thus is surely an undue disregard of our +endowment,—a virtual depreciation and contempt of +that which is at once among the most needful, the +most useful, and, at the same time, most ornamental +gifts of God to mankind.</p> + +<p>As, then, it is said of real wisdom, that first "it is +pure," or free from error and wrong, so too, first of +all, right and proper conversation must be free from +everything evidently and positively inconsistent with +our duty towards God and man. It has ever been +well said that we must be just before we are generous. +The one attribute is essential and indispensable in +every transaction of life. The acts and deeds connected +with the other are comparatively undefined +and indefinable. So it is essential, it is indispensable, +that our conversation, from our own choice and deliberate +aim, should be utterly free from all things +irreverent to God and injurious to our fellow-creatures. +God's name must never be taken in vain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +God's Word, and divine things generally, must never +be treated with any levity. No sentence must come +forth from our lips having any tendency to undermine +or subvert the principles and practices of true religion. +These are among the mere dues and obligations to +Him who gives us the faculty of speech, and enables +us to interchange conversation with our fellows; and, +beyond all doubt, hour after hour of silence and +reserve would be infinitely better—more to be desired +by any Christian—than the most entertaining and +most captivating talk of a witty but unprincipled man. +And so too, exactly, with regard to our fellow-creatures. +They too have an absolute claim on us, that +we should resolutely keep to the grand rule of speaking +to them only such things as will do them no hurt,—no +hurt to their minds, no hurt to their feelings, no +hurt to their best and true and everlasting interest. +As the words of one lead many to heaven and joy, so +too the words of another lead many to hell and woe. +Better, again I say, would it be for you to be silent as +a dumb man than to indulge carelessly and wickedly +in any such utterances. He who does it is a cruel +enemy of his fellow-creatures, however popular, however +able and attractive he may be.</p> + +<p>Thus much with regard to conversation—on the +negative side. Thus much as to that nature and +character of which it must <i>not</i> be, under any circumstances. +And, having no intention to make my present +address in any degree of that more solemn and absolutely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +serious kind, which it is my privilege so often +to employ in my profession, I will only add here that, +having now seen what it is essential and indispensable +for us to shun in conversation, so again, to aim at +pleasing God and serving our fellow-creatures is not +less needful,—not less essential, as the one grand +object and scope with which at all times we should +use and interchange it. I am sure you will all admit +that I could not rightly proceed without laying down +this broad, this sure foundation. On it we may build +the lighter superstructure; but, without laying it down, +I could not conscientiously proceed. Nay, farther, I +feel equally convinced that many would perceive at +once the deficiency, and regret it too, were I to adopt +any other course. Conversation, to be worthy of the +name at all, is not child's play. It must be dealt +with, if considered at all, as an important and substantial +thing, not as the mere toy wherewith to trifle +and sport each day and hour till we pass away to +meet that judgment where our Lord has himself declared,—"By +your words ye shall be justified, and +by your words ye shall be condemned."</p> + +<p>The subject may now branch out into many and +various directions. To make a choice is the only +difficulty. One of these may lead us to notice that, +in all conversation, special attention should ever be +paid to the feelings of all present. Every subject +should be studiously avoided likely to give needless +pain, and perhaps, as it were, open the sluice-gate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +through which other observations might more plentifully +flow in from others of the company, painful to +one or more in the circle. Nothing, of course, will +teach this so much as true kindness and true sympathy +of heart; and, if this be wanting, offences of +this kind will continually abound,—yes, I am sorry +to say, will sometimes be studiously and intentionally +committed. But even the most loving and most kindly +spirit will do well to be very watchful on this point, +seeking to exercise all judgment and tact in the +matter; and even beyond this a beautiful art is sometimes +to be witnessed,—happy indeed are they who +possess it,—which turns and leads away the general +strain of talk, and that often with unperceived skill, +when approaching dangerous ground, or perhaps +already beginning to grieve or disturb another.</p> + +<p>Among injurious practices in talk, the following +may perhaps be enumerated:—an overbearing vehemence, +challenging assertions, cold indifference to the +statements of others, a love of argumentation, an inclination +to regard fair liberty of mutual address as +undue license, pressure on another to express more +than he desires, all personalities which would be forbidden +by the royal law of speaking unto others as +you would like to be spoken to yourself. These and +many more transgressions, in our address one to another, +are not only of a grave, but also of a very +evident kind, and therefore on them, perhaps, there is +less need to dwell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>Others are more subtle,—more elude the grasp of +ordinary observation. All social life, and even all +family life, if rightly carried on, requires not only +mutual forbearance in talk, but mutual sympathy too, +mutual encouragement one from the other. In families +and in society we find the old, the young; the busy +and those comparatively unemployed; the studious or +the literary, and those whose tastes are completely +different; people occupied in various professions and +trades; politicians and statesmen; soldiers and sailors; +young men and women reared up at home, with young +men and women reared up at schools and public institutions; +travellers acquainted with divers parts of the +globe, and those who never have quitted their own +land; men of the city and men of the field;—in a +word, persons and characters almost as various in the +aspect of their inward taste as the very features which +each countenance wears,—for I may venture to say +that no two persons think or feel exactly and altogether +alike. Now, whenever there is such a thing as opinion, +and whenever there is such a thing as feeling (which +is the case in all members of families, and in all +members of society with whom you can possibly live +or be thrown), there at once is, or there arises, an +immediate claim for a kind and proper treatment of +these opinions and of these feelings. They may not +be your own, they may be utterly different from your +own, but that has nothing to do with the question. +As a general rule, every one present has no less right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +to them than you have to yours. You had better go, +like Shakspeare's Timon, altogether out of the concourse +of your fellow-creatures, if you cannot realize +this truth and apply it too. And it is in conversation +that you will ever give the chief proofs and evidences +whether you do so or not. In it there must be nothing +despotic,—nothing to give any present the idea that +you have any right to decide what his opinions, what +his tastes, what his habits, what his pursuits, should +be. You will, of course, not misunderstand me here,—not +forget that I am supposing each opinion, each +taste, each habit and pursuit, as, on the face of it, +allowable and innocent, although not yours. I repeat +it, there must be no despotism in society. Equality +must prevail as a general rule; I say a general rule, +because there are, no doubt, certain seasons and times +when the intercourse of social and of family life must +partake of that special character which is adapted to +the various relationships of man. The parent must, +at times, simply direct the child by his words. The +teacher, authoritatively, must instruct the pupil. The +master or employer must tell the employed what to +do. And occasionally, in society, the rule above laid +down will, by general consent, lie in abeyance, if it +may be so expressed. And, on certain subjects,—I +mean those whereon we are ourselves ignorant, but +others in our company are highly informed,—we +may be content to be just listeners, merely demonstrating +that sympathy and interest adequate to keep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +up the flow of instruction from another's lips. But +intercourse of this kind scarcely can be termed conversation; +and when circumstances like these occur +in social and family life, they must be directed by +other rules not altogether applicable to our present +subject. Now, to enter with full sympathy into the +claims of all present in society for this equal right of +interchanged sentiment, and to show this feeling at +times by patient forbearance and at other times by +manifest appreciation of that which others say, is no +slight grace and gift. And here the various lessons +on the subject, which experience or observation has +taught, must be brought into play; and the information +in any way gained as to the various feelings, +habits, and tastes ordinarily entertained by people of +different ages, different professions, and different characters, +must be judiciously applied. Nor will this, in +the least, spoil free and fair discussion of any topic. +On the contrary, it will promote it. And thus that +principle will be rightly maintained which I have +endeavored to lay down and commend, viz., that +when any special opinion, feeling, or taste is expressed +in society,—I mean, of course, in a proper and legitimate +way,—it should always be treated by all +present with that measure of respect which each one +would wish exercised towards himself for his own +personal views. Just in proportion as men are boorish, +coarse, and unsocial, in the true and extensive sense +of the word, will they transgress here. Yes, even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +put together one, ungainly tempered, from his field, +and another of the same character from his shop or +counting house, and very likely not five minutes will +elapse before one or the other will say something to +disparage those habits and tastes with which he himself +happens to be not conversant. There ensues discord +and disseverance, or, it may be, silence and separation. +But, on the other hand, just in proportion as +you are enabled to unite yourself with others through +your demeanor and words,—not, of course, hypocritically +or obsequiously, but from real sympathy +with all the innocent tastes and engagements of our +fellow-creatures,—just, I say, in proportion as you +are enabled to do this, will your intercourse with them, +in the way of conversation, be of that kind at which +we should aim. None will be afraid of your indulging +in rebuffs, or ridicule, or depreciation. None will +meet from you a cold, heartless, and repulsive indifference. +To you, and before you, the flower<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> of +each human heart (if I may so speak) will then have +a tendency to open and expand its varied forms and +hues, instead of retaining them all closed and shut +up; and many, many thoughts will be expressed to +you and before you which will never be heard, or at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +all events rarely, indeed, by those of a sneering, unsympathizing, +hard, and ungenial spirit. Thus you +will be known, or rather felt, instinctively felt, as one +who will do nothing to chill, but, on the contrary, +much to encourage that free spirit (in the best sense +of the word) which should mark and imbue all social +intercourse deserving the name at all; and you will +be welcomed by all who can appreciate good taste, +good tact, and (I will add) good feeling too,—for +that is the chief spring of all such conduct; and you +will be enabled to receive and communicate much +pleasure and profit too, wheresover you may go.</p> + +<p>A word here may not be inappropriate as to what +is sometimes called "drawing a person out"—<i>i. e.</i> +leading another to tell you, or any company assembled +in your presence, what they know, what they have +seen, what they feel, what, in a word, they are able +to communicate, if so disposed and led. Now, this +drawing out is a very delicate affair. When successfully +done, it is most valuable. When the attempt +proves unsuccessful, you are very likely to lose or +interfere with the very object in view. Questioning +of all kinds,—up from that on the simplest topic, and +with a purpose of the simplest kind, to that involving +the most important results,—questioning, I say, of all +kinds, requires judgment and tact. Many persons +much err in this department of address. Some err +by asking about matters on which it is quite clear that +they have no real feeling and concern. Some err by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +demands as to your own personal proceedings, wherewith +they have no connection. Some, again, err by +putting questions, not wrongly or inappropriately, but +merely too many at a time, or in too rapid a succession. +This scarcely can be called conversation at all,—and, +generally speaking, (though I do not deny +that there are exceptions, which will at once recur to +the intelligent,) yes, generally speaking, is most unsatisfactory. +And the reason, if we analyze the +matter, is, that all the statements, or observations, or +call them what you will, proceed, under such circumstances, +from one of the parties engaged. It is not +reciprocal; it is not mutually communicated with due +equality of interchanged thought. You will at once +perceive that this must be detrimental; and I would +suggest that when you may observe the damage which +is thus done to conversation, you should seek at once +to put the discourse on a better plan,—to shift it, as +it were, on a better line for good progress. And that +may sometimes be done by putting a question to +those who question you, or even more, by making the +number of questions on each side, in some measure, +to correspond. This, of course, must not be done +harshly or abruptly, nor so as to give the very least +impression that you yourself desire to withhold and +draw in; but it may often be advantageously done; +and you will thus afford to another the natural and fit +means of telling you something, as a response for that +which you tell him. Then true conversation will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +begin; then the due interchange of expression, which +alone merits the name; then each party becomes +rightly placed, and the intercourse will improve almost +instantaneously.</p> + +<p>But if, in these very commonest forms of our +mutual address, it is not an easy thing to put questions +well,—neither too many, nor in their wrong place,—then +we may be well assured that it is more difficult +still when the object, expressly, is to lead on +another, gifted perhaps in many ways, or having perhaps +some special thing to tell, unknown to you or +others present. And yet what a valuable art this is! +Much is lost in society by incapacity for its due exercise. +Much is gained by skill in its employment. +But many reasons concur to render it very difficult. +The following may be mentioned among many others. +Some are full of matter, but shy or reserved. Some +are unaware of the deep interest which certain things, +well known to them, would have for others, if they +would communicate them; (in illustration of this, I +may perhaps quote scientific men, travellers, those +who have led strange and peculiar lives.) Some are +too modest to put themselves in any prominent light. +Others are too proud so to do, lest they should fail in +winning full attention to their words. Some are jaded +and worn with previous hours of intellectual toil, and +the current of their thoughts is still flowing on in a +channel of its own. Some are laboring under a kind +of awe of one or more persons in the company.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +Some are young, and scarcely seem to realize or +know how acceptable are the thoughts and fresh expressions +of youth to those of maturer years. Others +are afraid of being too professional in their remarks. +Others are indolent in the use of their tongue and +utterance. And numerous other causes might be +mentioned, which sadly interfere with the full, free, +and general flow of discourse or conversation. And +yet, at the same time, there may be rich stores in the +assembly,—much, very much, to communicate,—something, +at least, in each either to please, or inform +and improve,—something perhaps in every one present +which, if told and expressed to those around him, +would add and contribute no slight nor unprized contribution +to the common stock. But how to elicit it—there +is the difficulty. Nevertheless, very much +may be done by tact and kindness, by animation and +by cordiality, by watching and waiting for fit opportunities, +by that appreciation of each one in the circle +which will encompass and arouse all, as it were, with +a kind of electric chain,—by a constant and deliberate +aim to converse yourself at the time when it may +be requisite, and willingly to lapse into silence and +the background when another takes up the subject. +And, although it is a measure which requires no little +taste and moderation in its use, still it is sometimes +not only very graceful, but very effectual too, if you +will open out on some few personal topics which may +concern yourself, and thus win a response from others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +present, who may personally know or have personally +gone through that which you and others in the company +would desire, and rightly desire, to hear opened +out without any reserve.</p> + +<p>In order, again, to promote conversation of a superior +sort, endeavor must be made to expand and enlarge +its bounds to the very utmost. It should be of a comprehensive +kind,—not the gossip of some narrow set, +not a mere comment on the persons and affairs of any +one locality, not a wearisome and dull repetition of +things already, perhaps long, familiar to all present. +I repeat, it should be comprehensive,—brought forward, +as it were, from a full treasury of "things new +and old," and coined into various sums, larger for +such occasions as may need, and small—yes, even +to the smallest—for the fit use and time. It should +be formed of various materials, of that which has +been seen, and heard, and read. A monotonous character +is fatal to it. At one time it should arouse and +awaken,—at another it should calm and soothe. At +one time it should lead into deep and grave questions,—at +another it should play lightly over the surface of +things. At one time it may touch the spirit of the +hearer, almost into tears,—at another it may raise +the full freedom of laughter and mirth. At one time +it may be addressed to all within the convenient reach +of your words,—at another to one listening ear. If +possible, it should touch on many tastes, on many +places, on various interests, giving to each present<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +(however different each taste and character) the best +and fairest opening for a share in the circling talk, +which opportunity every one, at fit occasion and turn, +should be willing to embrace, and thus to render his +or her social dues to those who freely and fairly contribute +theirs. No one, on the other hand, should +seek dominion, nor ever two or three, over the remainder. +Again, conversation should never be allowed +so to fall into separate or little knots, that one here or +one there should remain alone or excluded altogether. +It should be carried on in appropriate tones of voice. +They should be somewhat raised, or rather, I would +say, strengthened for the old and for those who are a +little deaf, of whom there are many. This, however, +not too obviously; not to remind any of infirmity. +They should be quick, firm, and spirited for those in +middle age, with their faculties in full strength. They +should be somewhat gentler to the young, lest they be +at all checked; and somewhat slower, that they may +have more time and means to frame their own answer. +For which the reason is, that as "practice makes perfect" +in all things, so they, whose practice has, of +course, been less than their seniors', need more time +to make up for the want of it, even in conversation. +At all times discourse is liable to alternations as to its +interest and life. Expect this, and even should it +become at any moment what is called dull, or even +should an awkward pause and silence come on, do not +seem to notice it. This will only make it worse.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +Rather try yourself to gather up the broken thread, or +to introduce some new matter. Every one should +avoid bringing forward or needlessly dwelling on any +topic whatsoever likely to affect any others present +with any unfavorable reminiscences. The wealthy +will avoid, as a general rule, allusions to their property +and wealth before any persons who, although their +equals in society, are known to be of poor and inadequate +estate. The healthy and the vigorous of frame +will not forget that others are invalids; those free as +air in the disposition of their time, that others have +but very little, and that with difficulty spared; the +quick and intelligent, that others are more slow in +apprehension; those of hardy spirit, well strung and +braced, that others are nervous, sensitive, and tried +by words, tones, gestures, and expressions, which +would not try, nor vex, or affect them in the least +degree. But what tact is requisite in all this! And +many, many failures must there be; sins of commission +and of omission too, even among those who earnestly +seek in this matter to fulfil, always and everywhere, +the rules of true courtesy, and, which is better +still, the rules of true Christian love. Nevertheless, +the aim at which we point is by no means without its +value as a profitable exercise both of the mind and +heart. No, nor is it ineffectual and unblessed. For, +although at times words may be said which we would +long to <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'recal'">recall</ins>, and strings of feeling touched by our +utterance which afterthought tells us we should not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +have moved, and topics handled with much want of +that skill and judgment which we should have wished +most truly to employ, still, with a good aim before us, +and with right principles in some measure realized, +and seeking to correct any error when discovered, as +well as to advance more in all which improves and +adorns right social intercourse, much will be done +towards the goodly end. And large indeed will be +the amount of pleasure and of benefit which you may +thus hope to reap for yourself and communicate to +others in the course of your life, and that, too, up to +an age, should your days be prolonged, when you +may be shut up, or at all events much restrained, +from many other means of active usefulness. For +the mellowed wisdom of age, showing and expressing +itself in that charity and sympathy for all which nothing +less than experience itself has taught, is indeed a +strong and beautiful thing.</p> + +<p>Hitherto I have spoken altogether on conversation +with those whose rank and position of life corresponds +with your own. A few words now on conversation, +first, with those of a higher rank, and, secondly, with +those in the humbler conditions of life—to use the +common phrase; and every man should be qualified +and prepared for any and for all kinds of association.</p> + +<p>To those of a higher rank than ourselves we may, +without derogating in the least from our independence +and self-respect, show that deference which not only +the customs of all nations, but the Scripture also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +most evidently inculcates. This, of course, will appear +when engaged with them in conversation. It +will, however, be shown rather in some occasional +acknowledgment than in the manner or matter of discourse. +The rank of another does not in the least +demand that you should surrender your opinion to his, +nor conceal your sentiments, nor assume any other +line of subjects and topics than you would address to +those more immediately your equals in worldly position. +A vague, undefined notion seems to float through +each rank of society in our land, that those in the +stage above think, feel, and act in a manner different +from those below. A very great mistake this, which +oftentimes chills and checks and mars all open freedom +of address when one of an higher and one of a +lower rank are brought into those circumstances where +the opportunity for conversation occurs, if not the +absolute claim. But let it be remembered that the +mind and heart of man or of woman varies but little +through these mere distinctions of the world. I do +not say that it does not vary at all, but very little. +The main current of joy, the main current of sorrow, +is the same in all classes, though the lesser streams +may variously and separately flow. The main current +of affections, of interests, is the same. All are +subject to the same need of kind, friendly sympathy; +all are made to interchange thought; all share in the +manifold impressions of our common nature. Wealth +and nobility, and rank and station, are, after all, only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +artificial things, not the main staple of life in any +man or woman. When, therefore, you are brought +into the society of one or more like these, be to them +appropriately courteous. Acknowledge their position +at once, and then let your intercourse with them flow +freely on, just as with others. Trouble not them, nor +trouble yourself, with any other system of address. +Deprive not them, nor deprive yourself, of free, open, +natural communication. And, depend upon it, that +acting and speaking thus, you will not only be oftentimes +pleased rather than silenced and embarrassed +by such society, but you will be sure to please and to +be valued,—yes, and to meet no less friendly sympathy, +both of mind and heart, than is to be found in +each other rank of life.</p> + +<p>And now a few words on conversation with our +poorer friends or neighbors, or any persons in this +class of life with whom, habitually, we may have to +do, or whom we may meet at any time or place. +And few of that class being, I conclude, here, I may +speak to you as those who would gladly receive any +hints for kind consideration as to the right way of +fulfilling your own part in this matter. For I, too, +would wish to be a learner on it, so important do I +conceive it to be. So much has been said, and so +much has been written, on the benefit of free, kindly +intercourse between the rich and the poor, the employers +and the employed, those who labor with their +heads and those who labor with their hands, that any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +mere general or vague observations on the subject +would be quite out of place here. I shall, accordingly, +regard you not only as admitting this truth, but also +as desirous yourselves to exemplify it; and, again, as +admitting, and feeling too, that merely to pay wages, +and to give directions and commands, and to bestow +alms, and to support charitable institutions (however +needful and good such things may be), is not enough +for one desiring to secure the sympathy and love of +his poorer brethren. For that you must be ready, +willing, able to converse with them. To qualify yourself +for doing this, is in many professions an indispensable +and most evident duty,—for instance, with +the ministers of religion and with medical men. They +could do nothing without such conversation. And, +considering it due at proper seasons from every one +in a higher class of life to those below them, I shall +just offer you a few hints, which seem to me not unworthy +of note. Avoid, then, on the one hand, all +hard, overbearing address; while, on the other, there +must be energy, spirit, firmness, and life. Avoid all +semblance of patronage and condescension, but at the +same time never make any forced attempts to appear +what you are not, or to assume a character not your +own. Do not imagine the range of subjects small; +and, when you can, choose those topics in which you +and those addressed both take an interest. Many +there are common to all classes. Be not impatient to +come to a point too quick, but give people a full<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +opportunity to express themselves in their own way; +nor count this waste time. It is very much otherwise. +Use short rather than long sentences,—language colloquial, +not that of books,—giving emphasis, tone, +and strength to your words,—never lapsing into +cold, lifeless, inexpressive tones. Trust oftentimes, +in conversation with the poor and comparatively uneducated, +that there is much more intelligence within +than the answer which they make in words would +lead you, at first sight, to expect. Be willing and +ready to tell something about yourself, your family, +and concerns, when there appears any interest about +them. Remember that family ties and affections are +strong in one as in another of the human family; +and, as among your own friends and associates you +would refer to these natural topics, so do here. Let +wants and necessities, and trials and difficulties, not +be forgotten, but let them not be the whole subject-matter +of discourse. No, let it range far more widely, +far more attractively; and your looks and your demeanor, +and your tones and words, being all directed +by good will, and by practice too, you indeed will be +no idler in good works during times and occasions +thus employed. You will win much love, much +esteem, much appreciation; you will hear much right +feeling expressed, and, at times, much to inform you +of a practical kind. You will do good and receive +good too.</p> + +<p>It appears to me that I have now presented to your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +notice almost a sufficiency of topics, relative to conversation, +for one single lecture. Nevertheless, I feel +unwilling to conclude without drawing your attention +to a few facts connected with the subject. One is, +that the ablest and mightiest authors of all times and +countries have borne their strong testimony to the +attraction which conversation presents, by casting a +large portion of their writings into this form or mould. +Thus did Homer in poetry, Plato in philosophy, and +dramatists, of all ages, in their plays. Thus did +Cicero in his various treatises; and Horace appears<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> +talking to you in many and many a page. Dante's +grand poem, "Il Purgatorio," is chiefly a conversation. +The French have ever excelled in such writings; and +of such a character is that well-known gem in the +literature of Spain, I of course allude to "Don Quixote." +In Shakspeare and Walter Scott it is the same, +and they, perhaps, are the most popular writers of our +land, except one. Who, do you ask, is that? John +Bunyan, the author of the "Pilgrim's Progress;" but +that very book comes up with its testimony too, being +a dialogue throughout,—rich in pathos and wit, rich +in illustration, rich in experience, rich in all variety +and combination,—in a word, the very perfection of +talk; not less attractive than it is weighty, not less<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +entertaining than heavenly, holy, and full of all things +which make a book precious.</p> + +<p>But another book there is, of which it is well +said:—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"A glory gilds the sacred page,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Majestic like the sun!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It gives a light to every age;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">It gives, but borrows none."</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>And in that book of books there are four short but +most mighty narratives. And each of those narratives +contains the one most important record which +ever had to be told upon this earth. Each of them +gives one concurrent history; namely, that of the life +of our Lord Jesus Christ, with his sayings and his +deeds. And of conversation these holy narratives are +full. God has chosen this mode of reaching our minds +and influencing our hearts, by large—very large—portions +of them written after this fashion. Cowper +felt this so deeply, that, in his poem on our present +subject, he has beautifully told and paraphrased all +that went on when Jesus met and talked with the two +disciples on the way to Emmaus. Moreover, in those +gospels, there is one, penned by that "disciple whom +Jesus loved;" and if there is much conversation in +all four of them, in it especially—in the gospel of +St. John—conversation appears in all its full and +continued glory. Take one or two examples. Mankind, +all mankind, had to be taught about the complete +atonement for our sins made by our Saviour on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +cross. Where is it more clearly, more mightily told +than in the third chapter of St. John's gospel? But +what is that chapter? Is it a law prescribed in set +terms?—No. Is it a sermon?—No. Is it a mere +address?—No. You will all remember it is a conversation,—Christ's +conversation with Nicodemus by +night. And so it is again in the very next chapter, +where a subject of no less importance—I say it advisedly, +no less importance—is set forth, viz. the +work of the Holy Spirit in man's heart; and that is +portrayed for us in a conversation with the woman of +Samaria, at Sychar's well. What striking instances +are these! And many others might be added to +them. And thus we have before us even the sanction +and proof from the Word of God, that the most mighty +and transcendent truth can reach us in no better form +than that which conversation gives, and also that Jesus +Christ put his own royal stamp of glory on it, by employing +it Himself continually, when upon the earth +among men, though he was their Lord and their God.</div> + +<p>Having thus been led on,—I think very naturally, +and, as I think, quite appropriately, too, for one of +my office and position, at any time or place, or on +any subject,—I will not return to any lighter theme. +I do not in the least regret that I have selected my +present topic out of very many which suggested themselves +to my mind, when I was asked to exercise the +privilege of thus addressing you, as I have now done +for these four years. I might have chosen others far<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +more entertaining, and, no doubt, some far more +kindling and exciting at this present time,<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> when our +thoughts and our feelings are all so concentrated on +one distant spot of strife and of contest, and of danger, +and of bravery, and wounds, and deaths, and bereavements,—and +amidst all, of honor unexampled to our +brave brethren in arms. But, for many reasons, I +have done otherwise. I have chosen, as usual, a subject +of general, of national, of wide-world, of never-failing +interest, from day to day, from week to week, +from month to month, from year to year, among the +vast race of our fellows,—born social creatures, +born for mutual sympathy, with interchanged utterance, +speech, and conversation. Strongly do I feel +its importance, and I cannot help expressing my surprise +that so little, so very little, has systematically +been written or said upon it. I have found it no ordinary +theme, I assure you; and, though it is one on +which we all instinctively are interested in any circle, +or with whomsoever we may at any time be, still it is +not one on which the arrangement and classification +of thought is an easy thing. I therefore shall not feel +disappointed, nor, do I trust, will you be disappointed +either, in that good employment of your time which +you have a right to expect from me, as your lecturer +to-night here, if I shall have set before you any +thoughts, for your attention, which may improve, in +the least degree, the course and the current of ordinary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +conversation. When we remember how much +of our innocent gratification,—how much of our daily +harmony one with another,—how much of our mutual +improvement,—depends on the right exercise of +this goodly gift,—then, I am sure, you will not consider +that the subject is one to be neglected or ignored. +I verily believe that I do not over-state the fact, in +asserting that for one time when we are liable to hurt, +or distress, or offend another by our acts and deeds, +there are fifty or an hundred, or perhaps more, occasions, +when we are liable to do so by our words, and +demeanor, and utterance. And again, for once that +we can do kind and profitable actions to those around +us, and associating with us, there are fifty or an hundred,—perhaps +more occasions still,—when we can +please or profit another by our words. I ask you, as +those who can judge in this matter for yourselves, "Is +it not so? Is it not so most undeniably?" Well, +then, if I have been successful in laying down any +right principles, in exposing anything disadvantageous, +or in presenting any available means for rendering +your daily intercourse more evidently kind, more +evidently sympathizing, more evidently, in a word, +such as that which every good man would wish to +exhibit, and which must render him not only welcome +and not only useful, but a real and true ornament +of society in the best sense of the word; if I +have shown you anything whatever available to this +end, whether for your use at home or abroad, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +cottage or the shop, in the humblest abode or in the +noblest and in the wealthiest, then surely I shall not +have spoken in vain. I speak on no narrow topic, +and I speak for all. Truly it is one which touches all; +and in this lies its strength and its interest. There is +no one, I believe, who does not intuitively and instinctively +feel either his gain or his loss in conversation,—the +effect of it on his own mind and on his own +feelings at the time and afterwards,—either its harms +or its charms. All must feel this, though unable perhaps +to classify their thoughts or express them on it, +and perhaps they have never thought of so doing. +And I, for one, will not hesitate to say that, it having +been my lot to mix much, and willingly, in all the +various classes of society,—and having endeavored, +so far as in my power has been, to cultivate and show +a true brotherly and friendly spirit, both to high and +low,—I have met nothing to confer more pleasure +and more advantage in daily life than fit conversation. +I have found it from the poorest. I have found it +from those of middle station. I have found it among +the noble and the rich. And, while without it the +hours of social and of family life may drag on heavily, +and in a wearisome and worthless way, under the +roofs of splendor and magnificence, and in the midst +of feasts, and pomp, and parade, with it, freely interchanged +from well-informed heads and cordial hearts, +expressing what they know and telling what they feel, +without any restraint except that of love, and tact, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +propriety,—with it, I say, the simplest home may be +one of enjoyment and improvement every recurring +day, and each coming guest will share its attractions,—and +therefore I say to every one present, "Despise +not this gift, and try to improve it; and seek Divine +help for its right regulation, as well as for its use; +and be well assured that, under God's blessing, in its +direction you will gain for yourself, and promote for +your fellow-creatures, no slight share of true enjoyment, +no slight benefits both for this world and for the +world to come."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<h2>PART III.</h2> + + +<h2>A WORD TO THE WISE;</h2> + + +<div class='center'>BY<br /> + +PARRY GWYNNE.</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A WORD TO THE WISE.</h2> + + + +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is readily acknowledged, by all well educated +foreigners, that English Grammar is very easy to +learn, the difficulties of the language lying in the +numberless variations and licenses of its pronunciation. +Since to us then, children of the soil, pronunciation +has no difficulties to offer, is it not a reproach +that so many speak their own language in an inelegant +and slatternly manner,—either through an inexcusable +ignorance of grammatical rules, or a wanton violation +of them? There are two sorts of bad speakers,—the +educated and the uneducated. I write for the +former, and I shall deal the less leniently with them, +because "where much is given, much will be expected." +Ay, and where much has been achieved +too, and intellectual laurels have been gathered, is it +not a reproach that a <i>slatternly</i> mode of expression +should sometimes deteriorate from the eloquence of +the scholar, and place the accomplished man or +woman, in <i>this</i> respect, on a level with the half-educated +or the illiterate?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some one, I think it is Lord Chesterfield, has wisely +said, "Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well." +Then, if our native language is worth studying, surely +it is worth <i>speaking well</i>, and as there is no standing +still in excellence of any kind, so, even in language,—in +so simple a thing as the expression of our +thoughts by words,—if we do not improve we shall +retrograde.</p> + +<p>It is a common opinion that a knowledge of Latin +supersedes the necessity of the study of English grammar. +This must entail a strong imputation of carelessness +on our Latin students, who sometimes commit +such solecisms in English as make us regret they did +not <i>once</i>, at least, peruse the grammatical rules of +their native language.</p> + +<p>We laugh at the blunders of a foreigner, but perpetrate +our own offences with so much gravity that an +observer would have a right to suppose we consider +them what they really are,—<i>no laughing matter</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<div class='center'>I.</div> + +<p>Some people speak of "so many <i>spoonsfull</i>," instead +of "so many spoonfuls." The rule on this +subject says: "Compounds ending in <i>ful</i>, and all +those in which the principal word is put last, form the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +plural in the same manner as other nouns,—as 'handfuls, +spoonfuls, mouthfuls,'" &c., &c.</p> + +<p>Logic will demonstrate the propriety of this rule. +Are you measuring by a plurality of spoons? If so, +"so many <i>spoonsfull</i>" must be the correct term; but +if the process of measuring be effected by <i>refilling the +same spoon</i>, then it becomes evident that the precise +idea meant to be conveyed is, the <i>quantity</i> contained +in the vessel by which it is measured, which is a +"<i>spoonful</i>."</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />II.</div> + +<p>It is a common mistake to speak of "a disagreeable +effluvia." This word is <i>effluvium</i> in the singular, and +<i>effluvia</i> in the plural. The same rule should be observed +with <i>automaton</i>, <i>arcanum</i>, <i>erratum</i>, <i>phenomenon</i>, +<i>memorandum</i>, and several others which are less +frequently used, and which change the <i>um</i> or <i>on</i> into +<i>a</i>, to form the plural. It is so common a thing, however, +to say <i>memorandums</i>, that I fear it would sound +a little pedantic, in colloquial style, to use the word +<i>memoranda;</i> and it is desirable, perhaps, that custom +should make an exception of this word, as well as of +<i>encomium</i>, and allow two terminations to it, according +to the taste of the speaker and the style of the discourse,—<i>memorandums</i> +or <i>memoranda</i>, like <i>encomiums</i> +or <i>encomia</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'><br />III.</div> + +<p>We have heard <i>pulse</i> and <i>patience</i> treated as pluralities, +much to our astonishment.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />IV.</div> + +<p>It seems to be a position assumed by all grammarians, +that their readers already understand the +meaning of the word "case," as applied to nouns and +pronouns; hence they never enter into a clear explanation +of the simple term, but proceed at once to a +discussion of its grammatical distinctions, in which it +frequently happens that the student, for want of a +little introductory explanation, is unable to accompany +them. But I am not going to repeat to the +scholar how the term "case" is derived from a Latin +word signifying "to fall," and is so named because +all the other cases <i>fall</i> or <i>decline</i> from the nominative, +in order to express the various relations of nouns to +each other,—which in Latin they do by a difference +of termination, in English by the aid of prepositions,—and +that an orderly arrangement of all these different +terminations is called the declension of a noun, +&c. I am not going to repeat to the scholar the +things he already knows; but to you, my gentle +readers, to whom Latin is still an unknown tongue, to +whom grammars are become obsolete things, and +grammatical definitions would be bewildering preliminaries, +"more honored in the breach than in the +observance,"—to you I am anxious to explain, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +clearest manner practicable, all the mysteries of this +case, because it was a cruel perplexity to myself in +days of yore. And I will endeavor to make my lecture +as brief and clear as possible, requesting you to +bear in mind that no knowledge is to be acquired +without a little trouble; and that whosoever may consider +it too irksome a task to exert the understanding +for a <i>short</i> period, must be content to remain in inexcusable +and irremediable ignorance. Though, I +doubt not, when you come to perceive how great the +errors are which you daily commit, you will not +regret having sat down quietly for half an hour to +listen to an unscholastic exposition of them.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />V.</div> + +<p>We all understand the meaning of the word "case," +as it is applied to the common affairs of life; but +when we meet with it in our grammars, we view it as +an abstruse term. We will not consent to believe that +it means nothing more than <i>position of affairs</i>, <i>condition</i>, +or <i>circumstances</i>, any one of which words +might be substituted for it with equal propriety, if it +were not indispensable in grammar to adhere strictly +to the same term when we wish to direct the attention +unerringly to the same thing, and to keep the understanding +alive to the justness of its application; whilst +a multiplicity of names to one thing would be likely +to create confusion. Thus, if one were to say, "This +is a very hard case," or "A singular case occurred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +the other day," or "That poor man's case is a very +deplorable one," we should readily comprehend that +by the word "case" was meant "circumstance" or +"situation;" and when we speak, in the language of +the grammar, of "a noun in the nominative case," +we only mean a person or thing placed in such circumstances +as to become merely named, or named as +the performer of some action,—as "the man," or +"the man walks." In both these sentences, "man" +is in the nominative case; because in the first he is +simply <i>named</i>, without reference to any circumstance +respecting him, and in the second he is named as the +performer of the <i>act</i> of <i>walking</i> mentioned. When +we speak of a noun in the possessive case, we simply +mean a person or thing placed under such circumstances +as to become named as the <i>possessor</i> of something; +and when we speak of a noun in the objective +case, we only intend to express a person or thing +standing in such a situation as to be, in some way or +other, affected by the act of some other person or +thing,—as "Henry teaches Charles." Here Henry +is, by an abbreviation of terms, called <i>the nominative +case</i>, (instead of the <i>noun</i> in the nominative case,) +because he stands in that situation in which it is incumbent +on us to name him as the <i>performer</i> of the +act of teaching; and Charles is, by the same abbreviating +license, called the <i>objective case</i>, because he +is in such a position of affairs as to <i>receive</i> the act of +teaching which Henry performs. I will now tell you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +how you may always distinguish the three cases. +Read the sentence attentively, and understand accurately +what the nouns are represented as doing. If +any person or thing be represented as <i>performing</i> an +<i>action</i>, that person or thing is a noun in the nominative +case. If any person or thing be represented as +<i>possessing something</i>, that person or thing is a noun in +the possessive case. And if any person or thing be +represented as neither performing nor possessing, it is +a noun in the objective case, whether directly or indirectly +affected by the action of the nominative; because, +as we have in English but <i>three</i> cases, which +contain the substance of the <i>six Latin</i> cases, <i>whatever +is neither nominative nor possessive must be objective</i>. +Here I might wander into a long digression on passive +and neuter verbs, which I may seem to have totally +overlooked in the principle just laid down; but I am +not writing a grammar,—not attempting to illustrate +the various ramifications of grammatical laws to people +who know nothing at all about them,—any more +than I am writing for the edification of the accomplished +scholar, to whom purity of diction is already +familiar. I am writing, chiefly, for that vast portion +of the educated classes who have never looked into a +grammar since their school days were over, but who +have ingeniously hewn out for themselves a middle +path between ignorance and knowledge, and to whom +certain little hillocks in their way have risen up, under +a dense atmosphere, to the magnitude of mountains.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +I merely wish to give to them, since they will not +take the trouble to search for themselves, one broad +and general principle, unclogged by exceptions, to +guide them to propriety of speech; and should they +afterwards acquire a taste for grammatical disputation, +they will of course apply to more extensive sources +for the necessary qualifications.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />VI.</div> + +<p>It is scarcely possible to commit any inaccuracy in +the use of these cases when restricted to nouns, but in +the application of them to pronouns a woful confusion +often arises; though even in this confusion exists a +marked distinction between the errors of the ill-bred +and those of the well-bred man. To use the objective +instead of the nominative is a <i>vulgar</i> error; to use the +nominative instead of the objective is a <i>genteel</i> error. +No person of decent education would think of saying, +"Him and me are going to the play." Yet how +often do we hear even well educated people say, +"They were coming to see my brother and <i>I</i>,"—"The +claret will be packed in two hampers for Mr. Smith +and <i>I</i>,"—"Let you and <i>I</i> try to move it,"—"Let +him and <i>I</i> go up and speak to them,"—"Between +you and <i>I</i>," &c. &c.;—faults as heinous as that of the +vulgarian who says, "Him and me are going to the +play," and with less excuse. Two minutes' reflection +will enable the scholar to correct himself, and a little +exercise of memory will shield him from a repetition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +of the fault; but, for the benefit of those who may +<i>not</i> be scholars, we will accompany him through the +mazes of his reflections. Who are the persons that +are performing the act of "coming to see"? "<i>They</i>." +Then the pronoun <i>they</i> must stand in the nominative +case. Who are the persons to whom the act of +"coming to see" extends? "My brother and I." +Then "my brother and I," being the <i>objects affected</i> +by the act of the nominative, must be a noun and +pronoun standing in the objective case; and as nouns +are not susceptible of change on account of cases, it +is only the <i>pronoun</i> which requires alteration to render +the sentence correct: "They were coming to see my +brother and <i>me</i>." The same argument is applicable +to the other examples given. In the English language, +the imperative mood of a verb is never conjugated +with a pronoun in the nominative case, therefore, +"Let you and <i>I</i> try to move it," "Let him and <i>I</i> go +up and speak to them," are manifest improprieties. +A very simple test may be formed by taking away +the first noun or pronoun from the sentence altogether, +and bringing the verb or preposition right against that +pronoun which you use to designate yourself: thus, +"They were coming to see <i>I</i>," "The claret will be +packed in two hampers for <i>I</i>," "Let <i>I</i> try to move +it," &c. By this means your own ear will correct +you, without any reference to grammatical rules. +And bear in mind that the number of <i>nouns</i> it may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +necessary to press into the sentence will not alter the +<i>case</i> respecting the pronouns.</p> + +<p>"Between you and I" is as erroneous an expression +as any. Change the position of the pronouns, and +say, "Between I and you;" or change the sentence +altogether, and say, "Between I and the wall there +was a great gap;" and you will soon see in what +case the first person should be rendered. "Prepositions +govern the objective case," therefore it is impossible +to put a nominative <i>after</i> a preposition without +a gross violation of a rule which ought to be familiar +to everybody.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />VII.</div> + +<p>The same mistake extends to the relative pronouns +"who" and "whom." We seldom hear the objective +case used either by vulgar or refined speakers. +"Who did you give it to?" "Who is this for?" are +solecisms of daily occurrence; and when the objective +"whom" <i>is</i> used, it is generally put in the wrong +place; as, "The person whom I expected would purchase +that estate," "The man whom they intend shall +execute that work." This intervening verb in each +sentence, "I expected" and "they intend," coming +between the last verb and its own nominative (the +relative pronoun), has no power to alter the rule, and +no right to violate it; but as the introduction of an intervening +verb, in such situations, is likely to beguile +the ear and confuse the judgment, it would be better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +to avoid such constructions altogether, and turn the +sentence in a different way; as, "The person whom I +expected <i>to be</i> the purchaser of that estate," "The +man whom they intend <i>to</i> execute that work." If the +reader will cut off the intervening verb, which has +nothing to do with the construction of the sentence, +except to mystify it, he will perceive at a glance the +error and its remedy: "The person <i>whom</i> would +purchase that estate," "The man <i>whom</i> shall execute +that work."</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />VIII.</div> + +<p>It is very easy to mistake the nominative when +another noun comes between it and the verb, which is +frequently the case in the use of the indefinite and +distributive pronouns; as, "One of those houses <i>were</i> +sold last week," "Each of the daughters <i>are</i> to have +a separate share," "Every tree in those plantations +<i>have</i> been injured by the storm," "Either of the children +<i>are</i> at liberty to claim it." Here it will be perceived +that the pronouns "one," "each," "every," +"either," are the true nominatives to the verbs; but +the intervening noun in the plural number, in each +sentence, deludes the ear, and the speaker, without +reflection, renders the verb in the plural instead of the +singular number. The same error is often committed +when no second noun appears to plead an apology for +the fault; as, "Each city <i>have their</i> peculiar privileges," +"Everybody has a right to look after <i>their</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +own interest," "Either <i>are</i> at liberty to claim it." +This is the effect of pure carelessness.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />IX.</div> + +<p>There is another very common error, the reverse +of the last mentioned, which is that of rendering the +adjective pronoun in the <i>plural</i> number instead of the +singular in such sentences as the following: "<i>These</i> +kind of entertainments are not conducive to general +improvement," "<i>Those</i> sort of experiments are often +dangerous." This error seems to originate in the +habit which people insensibly acquire of supposing +the prominent noun in the sentence (such as "entertainments" +or "experiments") to be the noun qualified +by the adjective "these" or "those;" instead of +which it is "kind," "sort," or any word of that +description <i>immediately following</i> the adjective, which +should be so qualified, and the adjective must be +made to agree with it in the singular number. We +confess it is not so agreeable to the ear to say, "<i>This</i> +kind of entertainments," "<i>That</i> sort of experiments;" +but it would be easy to give the sentence a different +form, and say, "Entertainments of this kind," "Experiments +of that sort," by which the requisitions of +grammar would be satisfied, and those of euphony too.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />X.</div> + +<p>But the grand fault, the glaring impropriety, committed +by "all ranks and conditions of men," rich<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +and poor, high and low, illiterate and learned,—except, +perhaps, one in twenty,—and from which not +even the pulpit or the bar is totally free,—is, the +substitution of the active verb <i>lay</i> for the neuter verb +<i>lie</i> (to lie down). The scholar <i>knows</i> that "active +verbs govern the objective case," and therefore <i>demand</i> +an objective case after them; and that neuter +verbs <i>will not admit</i> an objective case after them, +<i>except</i> through the medium of a preposition. <i>He</i>, +therefore, has no excuse for his error, it is a wilful +one; for him the following is not written. And here +I may as well say, once for all, that whilst I would +<i>remind</i> the <i>scholar</i> of his lapses, my instructions and +explanations are offered <i>only</i> to the class which requires +them.</p> + +<p>"To lay" is an active transitive verb, like <i>love</i>, +<i>demanding</i> an objective case after it, <i>without the +intervention of a preposition</i>. "To lie" is a neuter +verb, <i>not admitting an objective case after it, except +through the intervention of a preposition;</i>—yet this +"perverse generation" <i>will</i> go on substituting the +former for the latter. Nothing can be more erroneous +than to say, as people constantly do, "I shall go and +lay down." The question which naturally arises in +the mind of the discriminating hearer is, "<i>What</i> are +you going to lay down,—money, carpets, plans, or +what?" for, as a transitive verb is used, an object is +wanted to complete the sense. The speaker means, +in fact, to tell us that he (himself) is going to <i>lie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +down</i>, instead of which he gives us to understand that +he is going to <i>lay</i> down or <i>put</i> down something which +he has not named, but which it is necessary to name +before we can understand the sentence; and this sentence, +when completed according to the rules of grammar, +will never convey the meaning he intends. One +might as well use the verb "to put" in this situation, +as the verb "to lay," for each is a transitive verb, +requiring an objective case immediately after it. If +you were to enter a room, and, finding a person lying +on the sofa, were to address him with such a question +as "What are you doing there?" you would think it +ludicrous if he were to reply, "I am <i>putting</i> down;" +yet it would not be more absurd than to say, "I am +<i>laying</i> down;" but custom, whilst it fails to reconcile +us to the error, has so familiarized us with it, that we +hear it without surprise, and good breeding forbids our +noticing it to the speaker. The same mistake is committed +through all the tenses of the verb. How often +are nice ears wounded by the following expressions,—"My +brother <i>lays</i> ill of a fever,"—"The vessel +<i>lays</i> in St. Katharine's Docks,"—"The books were +<i>laying</i> on the floor,"—"He <i>laid</i> on a sofa three +weeks,"—"After I had <i>laid</i> down, I remembered +that I had left my pistols <i>laying</i> on the table." You +must perceive that, in every one of these instances, +the wrong verb is used; correct it, therefore, according +to the explanation given; thus, "My brother <i>lies</i> +ill of a fever,"—"The vessel <i>lies</i> in St Katherine's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +Docks,"—"The books were <i>lying</i> on the floor,"—"He +<i>lay</i> on a sofa three weeks,"—"After I had <i>lain</i> +down, I remembered that I had left my pistols <i>lying</i> +on the table."</p> + +<p>It is probable that this error has originated in the +circumstance of the present tense of the verb "to +lay" being conjugated precisely like the imperfect +tense of the verb "to lie," for they are alike in orthography +and sound, and different only in meaning; and +in order to remedy the evil which this resemblance +seems to have created, I have conjugated at full length +the simple tenses of the two verbs, hoping the exposition +may be found useful; for it is an error which +<i>must</i> be corrected by all who aspire to the merit of +speaking their own language <i>well</i>.</p> + + + +<div class='center'><span class="smcap">Verb Active.</span><br /><i>To lay.</i><br />Present tense.</div> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Table 1"> +<tr><td align='left'>I lay</td><td align='left' rowspan='6'><img src="images/bracket1.png" width="21" height="150" alt="Bracket" title="" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thou layest </td><td align='left'>money,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>He lays</td><td align='left'>carpets,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>We lay</td><td align='left'>plans,—any</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>You lay</td><td align='left'><i>thing</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>They lay</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='center'><br />Imperfect tense.</div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Imperfect"> +<tr><td align='left'>I laid</td><td align='left' rowspan='6'><img src="images/bracket1.png" width="21" height="150" alt="Bracket" title="" /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thou laidest</td><td align='left'>money,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>He laid</td><td align='left'>carpets,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>We laid</td><td align='left'>plans,—any</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>You laid</td><td align='left'><i>thing</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>They laid</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Participles"> +<tr><td align='left'><br />Present Participle, Laying.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Perfect Participle, Laid.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /><span class="smcap">Verb Neuter.</span><br /> + +<i>To lie.</i><br /> +<br /> +Present tense.<br /></div> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Present tense"> +<tr><td align='left'>I lie</td><td align='left' rowspan='6'><img src="images/bracket1.png" width="21" height="150" alt="Bracket" title="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thou liest</td><td align='left'>down,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>He lies</td><td align='left'>too long,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>We lie</td><td align='left'>on a sofa,—any</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>You lie</td><td align='left'><i>where</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>They lie</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<div class='center'><br />Imperfect tense.<br /></div> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Imperfect"> +<tr><td align='left'>I lay</td><td align='left' rowspan='6'><img src="images/bracket1.png" width="21" height="150" alt="Bracket" title="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thou layest</td><td align='left'>down,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>He lays</td><td align='left'>too long,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>We lay</td><td align='left'>on a sofa,—any</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>You lay</td><td align='left'><i>where</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>They lay</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Participles"> +<tr><td align='left'><br />Present Participle, Lying,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Perfect Participle, Lain.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> + +<p>In such sentences as these, wherein the verb is used +reflectively,—"If I lay myself down on the grass I +shall catch cold," "He laid himself down on the +green sward,"—the verb "to lay" is with propriety +substituted for the verb "to lie;" for the addition +of the emphatic pronoun <i>myself</i>, or <i>himself</i>, constituting +an objective case, and coming <i>immediately +after</i> the verb, <i>without the intervention of a preposition</i>, +renders it necessary that the verb employed +should be <i>active</i>, not <i>neuter</i>, because "active verbs +govern the objective case." But this is the only construction +in which "to lay" instead of "to lie" can +be sanctioned by the rules of grammar.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XI.</div> + +<p>The same confusion often arises in the use of the +verbs <i>sit</i> and <i>set</i>, <i>rise</i> and <i>raise</i>. <i>Sit</i> is a neuter +verb, <i>set</i> an active one; yet how often do people most +improperly say, "I have <i>set</i> with him for hours," +"He <i>set</i> on the beach till the sun went down," "She +<i>set</i> three nights by the patient's bedside." What did +they set,—potatoes, traps, or what? for as an objective +case is evidently implied by the use of an active +verb, an object is indispensable to complete the sense. +No tense whatever of the verb "to sit" is rendered +"set," which has but <i>one word</i> throughout the whole +verb, except the active participle "setting;" and +"sit" has but two words, "sit" and "sat," except +the active participle "sitting;" therefore it is very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +easy to correct this error by the help of a little attention.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XII.</div> + +<p><i>Raise</i> is the same kind of verb as <i>set</i>,—active-transitive, +requiring an objective case after it; and it +contains only two words, <i>raise</i> and <i>raised</i>, besides +the active participle <i>raising</i>. <i>Rise</i> is a neuter verb, +not admitting an objective case. It contains two +words, <i>rise</i> and <i>rose;</i> besides the two participles, +<i>rising</i> and <i>risen</i>. It is improper, therefore, to say, +"He <i>rose</i> the books from the floor," "He <i>rises</i> the +fruit as it falls," "After she had <i>risen</i> the basket on +her head," &c. In all such cases use the other verb +<i>raise</i>. It occurs to me, that if people would take the +trouble to reckon how many different words a verb +contains, they would be in less danger of mistaking +them. "Lay" contains two words, "lay" and "laid," +besides the active participle "laying." "Lie" has +also two words, "lie" and "lay," besides the two +participles "lying" and "lain;" and from this second +word "lay" arises all the confusion I have had to +lament in the foregoing pages.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XIII.</div> + +<p>To the scholar I would remark the prevalent impropriety +of adopting the subjunctive instead of the +indicative mood, in sentences where doubt or uncertainty +is expressed, although the former can only be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +used in situations in which "contingency and futurity" +are combined. Thus, a gentleman, giving an order +to his tailor, may say, "Make me a coat of a certain +description, if it <i>fit</i> me well I will give you another +order;" because the "fit" alluded to is a thing which +the future has to determine. But when the coat is +made and brought home, he cannot say, "If this cloth +<i>be good</i> I will give you another order," for the quality +of the cloth is <i>already</i> determined; the future will +not alter it. It may be good, it may be bad, but +whatever it <i>may be</i> it already <i>is;</i> therefore, as contingency +only is implied, <i>without futurity</i>, it must be +rendered in the indicative mood, "If this cloth <i>is</i> +good," &c. We may with propriety say, "If the +book be sent in time, I shall be able to read it to-night," +because the sending of the book is an event +which the <i>future</i> must produce; but we must not say, +"If this book be sent for me, it is a mistake," because +here the act alluded to is already performed,—the +book has come. I think it very likely that people +have been beguiled into this error by the prefix of the +conjunction, forgetting that conjunctions may be used +with the indicative as well as with the subjunctive +mood.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XIV.</div> + +<p>Some people use the imperfect tense of the verb +"to go," instead of the past participle, and say, "I +should have <i>went</i>," instead of "I should have gone."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +This is <i>not</i> a very common error, but it is a very +great one; and I should not have thought it could +come within the range of the class for which this +book is written, but that I have heard the fault committed +by people of even tolerable education. One +might as well say, "I should have <i>was</i> at the theatre +last night," instead of "I should have <i>been</i> at the +theatre," &c., as say, "I should have <i>went</i>" instead +of "I should have <i>gone</i>."</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XV.</div> + +<p>Others there are who invert this error, and use the +past participle of the verb "to do" instead of a tense +of the verb, saying, "I <i>done</i>" instead of "I <i>did</i>." +This is inadmissible. "I <i>did</i> it," or "I <i>have done</i> it," +is a phrase correct in its formation, its application +being, of course, dependent on other circumstances.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XVI.</div> + +<p>There are speakers who are <i>too refined</i> to use the +past (or perfect) participle of the verbs "to drink," +"to run," "to begin," &c., and substitute the <i>imperfect +tense</i>, as in the verb "to go." Thus, instead of +saying, "I have drunk," "he has run," "they have +begun," they say, "I have <i>drank</i>" "he has <i>ran</i>," +"they have <i>began</i>" &c. These are minor errors, I +admit; still, nice ears detect them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XVII.</div> + +<p>I trust it is unnecessary to warn any of my readers +against adopting the flagrant vulgarity of saying +"<i>don't</i> ought," and "<i>hadn't</i> ought," instead of "ought +<i>not</i>." It is also incorrect to employ <i>no</i> for <i>not</i> in +such phrases as, "If it is true or <i>no</i> (not)," "Is it so +or <i>no</i> (not)?"</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XVIII.</div> + +<p>Many people have an odd way of saying, "I expect," +when they only mean "I think," or "I conclude;" +as, "I expect my brother is gone to Richmond +to-day," "I expect those books were sent to Paris +last year." This is wrong. <i>Expect</i> can relate only +to <i>future</i> time, and must be followed by a future +tense, or a verb in the infinitive mood; as, "I expect +my brother <i>will go</i> to Richmond to-day," "I expect +<i>to find</i> those books were sent to Paris last year." +Here the introduction of a future tense, or of a verb +in the infinitive mood, rectifies the grammar without +altering the sense; but such a portion of the sentence +must not be omitted in expression, as no such ellipsis +is allowable.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XIX.</div> + +<p>The majority of speakers use the imperfect tense +and the perfect tense together, in such sentences as +the following,—"I intended to <i>have called</i> on him +last night," "I meant to <i>have purchased</i> one yesterday,"—or +a pluperfect tense, and a perfect tense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +together I have sometimes heard, as, "You should +<i>have written</i> to <i>have told</i> her." These expressions +are illogical, because, as the <i>intention</i> to perform an +act <i>must</i> be <i>prior</i> to the act contemplated, the act +itself cannot with propriety be expressed by a tense +indicating a period of time <i>previous</i> to the intention. +The three sentences should be corrected thus, placing +the second verb in the infinitive mood, "I intended <i>to +call</i> on him last night," "I meant <i>to purchase</i> one +yesterday," "You should have written <i>to tell</i> her."</p> + +<p>But the imperfect tense and the perfect tense are to +be combined in such sentences as the following, "I +remarked that they appeared to have undergone great +fatigue;" because here the act of "undergoing +fatigue" <i>must</i> have taken place <i>previous</i> to the period +in which you have had the opportunity of remarking +its effect on their appearance; the sentence, therefore, +is both grammatical and logical.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XX.</div> + +<p>Another strange perversion of grammatical propriety +is to be heard occasionally in the adoption of +the present tense of the verb "to have," most probably +instead of the past participle, but in situations in +which the participle itself would be a redundance; +such as, "If I had <i>have</i> known," "If he had <i>have</i> +come according to appointment," "If you had <i>have</i> +sent me that intelligence," &c. Of what utility is the +word "have" in the sentence at all? What office<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +does it perform? If it stands in place of any other +word, that other word would still be an incumbrance; +but the sentence being complete without it, it becomes +an illiterate superfluity. "If I had <i>have</i> known that +you would have been there before me, I would have +written to you to <i>have</i> waited till I had <i>have</i> come." +What a construction from the lips of an educated +person! and yet we do sometimes hear this <i>slip-slop</i> +uttered by people who are considered to "speak +French and Italian <i>well</i>," and who enjoy the reputation +of being "accomplished!"</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXI.</div> + +<p>It is amusing to observe the broad line of demarcation +which exists between <i>vulgar</i> bad grammar and +<i>genteel</i> bad grammar, and which characterizes the +violation of almost every rule of syntax. The vulgar +speaker uses adjectives instead of adverbs, and says, +"This letter is written <i>shocking;</i>" the genteel speaker +uses adverbs instead of adjectives, and says, "This +writing looks <i>shockingly</i>." The perpetrators of the +latter offence may fancy they can shield themselves +behind the grammatical law which compels the employment +of an adverb, not an adjective, to qualify +a verb, and behind the first rule of syntax, which +says "a verb must agree with its nominative." But +which <i>is</i> the nominative in the expression alluded to? +<i>Which</i> performs the act of looking,—the writing or +the speaker? To say that a thing <i>looks</i> when <i>we</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +look <i>at</i> it, is an idiom peculiar to our language, and +some idioms are not reducible to rules; they are conventional +terms which pass current, like bank notes, +for the sterling they represent, but must not be submitted +to the test of grammatical alchymy. It is +improper, therefore, to say, "The queen looks beautifully," +"The flowers smell sweetly," "This writing +looks shockingly;" because it is the speaker that +performs the act of looking, smelling, &c., not the +noun looked <i>at;</i> and though, by an idiomatical construction +necessary to avoid circumlocution, the sentence +<i>imputes the act</i> to the <i>thing beheld</i>, the qualifying +word must express the quality of the thing spoken +of, <i>adjectively</i>, instead of qualifying the act of the +nominative understood, <i>adverbially</i>. What an adjective +is to a noun, an adverb is to a verb; an adjective +expresses the quality of a thing, and an adverb the +manner of an action. Consider what it is you wish +to express, the <i>quality of a thing</i>, or the <i>manner of +an action</i>, and use an adjective or adverb accordingly. +But beware that you discriminate justly; for though +you cannot say, "The queen looked <i>majestically</i> in +her robes," because here the act of <i>looking</i> is performed +by the spectator, who looks <i>at</i> her, you can +and <i>must</i> say, "The queen looked <i>graciously</i> on the +petitioner," "The queen looked <i>mercifully</i> on his +prayer," because here the <i>act</i> of <i>looking</i> is performed +<i>by</i> the queen. You cannot say, "These flowers smell +sweetly," because it is <i>you</i> that smell, and not the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +flowers; but you can say, "These flowers perfume +the air deliciously," because it is <i>they</i> which impart +the fragrance, not you. You cannot say, "This +dress looks badly," because it is you that look, not +the dress; but you can say, "This dress <i>fits</i> badly," +because it is the dress that performs the act of fitting +either well or ill. There are some peculiar idioms +which it would be better to avoid altogether, if possible; +but if you feel compelled to use them, take +them as they are,—you cannot prune and refine +them by the rules of syntax, and to attempt to do so +shows ignorance as well as affectation.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXII.</div> + +<p>There is a mistake often committed in the use of +the adverbs of place, <i>hence</i>, <i>thence</i>, <i>whence</i>. People +are apt to say, "He will go <i>from thence</i> to-morrow," +&c. The preposition "from" is included in these +adverbs, therefore it becomes tautology in sense when +prefixed to them.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXIII.</div> + +<p>"Equally as well" is a very common expression, +and a very incorrect one; the adverb of comparison, +"as," has no right in the sentence. "Equally well," +"Equally high," "Equally dear," should be the construction; +and if a complement be necessary in the +phrase, it should be preceded by the preposition +"with," as, "The wall was equally high with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +former one," "The goods at Smith's are equally dear +with those sold at the shop next door," &c. "Equally +the same" is tautology.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXIV.</div> + +<p>"Whether," sometimes an adverb, sometimes a +conjunction, is a word that plainly indicates a choice +of things (of course I cannot be supposed to mean a +<i>freedom</i> of choice); it is highly improper, therefore, +to place it, as many do, at the head of each part of a +sentence, as, "I have not yet made up my mind +whether I shall go to France, or <i>whether</i> I shall remain +in England." The conjunction should not be repeated, +as it is evident the alternative is expressed +<i>only in the combination</i> of the <i>two</i> parts of the sentence, +not in either of them taken separately; and the +phrase should stand thus, "I have not yet made up +my mind whether I shall go to France <i>or</i> remain in +England."</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXV.</div> + +<p>There is an awkwardness prevalent amongst all +classes of society in such sentences as the following: +"He quitted his horse, and got <i>on to</i> a stage coach," +"He jumped <i>on to</i> the floor," "She laid it <i>on to</i> a +dish," "I threw it <i>on to</i> the fire." Why use two +prepositions where one would be quite as explicit, and +far more elegant? Nobody, at the present day, +would think of saying, "He came up to London <i>for</i> +to go to the exhibition," because the preposition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +"for" would be an awkward superfluity. So is +"to" in the examples given; in each of which there +is an unwieldiness of construction which reminds one +of the process of glueing, or fastening, one thing "on +to" another. Expunge the redundant preposition, +and be assured, gentle reader, the sentence will still +be found "an elegant sufficiency." There are some +situations, however, in which the two prepositions +may with propriety be employed, though they are +never indispensable, as, "I accompanied such a one +to Islington, and then walked on to Kingsland." But +here <i>two</i> motions are implied, the walking onward, +and the reaching of a certain point. More might be +said to illustrate the distinction, but we believe it +will not be deemed necessary.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXVI.</div> + +<p>There seems to be a natural tendency to deal in a +redundance of prepositions. Many people talk of +"continuing <i>on</i>." I should be glad to be informed in +what other direction it would be possible to <i>continue</i>.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXVII.</div> + +<p>It is most illiterate to put the preposition <i>of</i> after +the adverb <i>off</i>, as, "The satin measured twelve yards +before I cut this piece <i>off of</i> it," "The fruit was gathered +<i>off of</i> that tree." Many of my readers will +consider such a remark quite unnecessary in this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +volume; but many others, who ought to know better, +must stand self-condemned on reading it.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXVIII.</div> + +<p>There is a false taste extant for the preposition +"on" instead of "<i>of</i>" in songs, poetry, and many +other situations in which there is still less excuse for +borrowing the poetic license; such as, "Wilt thou +think <i>on</i> me, love?" "I will think <i>on</i> thee, love," +"Then think <i>on</i> the friend who once welcomed it +too," &c., &c. But this is an error chiefly to be met +with among poetasters and melodramatic speakers.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXIX.</div> + +<p>Some people add a superfluous preposition at the +end of a sentence,—"More than you think <i>for</i>." +This, however, is an awkwardness rarely committed +by persons of decent education.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXX.</div> + +<p>That "prepositions govern the objective case" is a +golden rule of grammar; and if it were only <i>well +remembered</i>, it would effectually correct that mistake +of substituting the nominative for the objective pronoun, +which has been complained of in the preceding +pages. In using a relative pronoun in the objective +case, it is more elegant to put the preposition before +than after it, thus, "To whom was the order given?" +instead of, "Whom was the order given to?" Indeed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +if this practice were to be invariably adopted, it +would obviate the possibility of confounding the nominative +with the objective case, because no man would +ever find himself able to utter such a sentence as, +"To who was this proposal made?" though he might +very unconsciously say, "Who was this proposal +made to?" and the error would be equally flagrant +in both instances.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXXI.</div> + +<p>There is a great inaccuracy connected with the use +of the disjunctive conjunctions <i>or</i> and <i>nor</i>, which +seem to be either not clearly understood, or treated +with undue contempt by persons who speak in the +following manner: "Henry or John <i>are</i> to go there +to-night," "His son or his nephew <i>have</i> since put in +<i>their</i> claim," "Neither one <i>nor</i> the other <i>have</i> the +least chance of success." The conjunctions disjunctive +"or" and "nor" separate the objects in sense, +as the conjunction copulative unites them; and as, by +the use of the former, the things stand forth separately +and singly to the comprehension, the verb or pronoun +must be rendered in the singular number also; as, +"Henry <i>or</i> John <i>is</i> to go there to-night," "His son +<i>or</i> his nephew <i>has</i> since put in <i>his</i> claim," &c. If +you look over the sentence, you will perceive that +only <i>one</i> is to do the act, therefore only <i>one</i> can be +the nominative to the verb.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXXII.</div> + +<p>Many people improperly substitute the disjunctive +"but" for the comparative "than," as, "The mind +no sooner entertains any proposition, <i>but</i> it presently +hastens to some hypothesis to bottom it on."—<i>Locke.</i> +"No other resource <i>but</i> this was allowed him." +"My behavior," says she, "has, I fear, been the +death of a man who had no other fault <i>but</i> that of +loving me too much."—<i>Spectator.</i></p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXXIII.</div> + +<p>Sometimes a relative pronoun is used instead of a +conjunction, in such sentences as the following: "I +don't know but <i>what</i> I shall go to Brighton to-morrow," +instead of, "I don't know but <i>that</i>," &c.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XXXIV.</div> + +<p>Sometimes the disjunctive <i>but</i> is substituted for the +conjunction <i>that</i>, as, "I have no doubt <i>but</i> he will be +here to-night." Sometimes for the conjunction <i>if</i>, as, +"I shouldn't wonder <i>but</i> that was the case." And +sometimes <i>two</i> conjunctions are used instead of one, +as, "<i>If that</i> I have offended him," "<i>After that</i> he +had seen the parties," &c. All this is very awkward +indeed, and ought to be avoided, and might easily be +so by a little attention.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<div class='center'>I.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is obsolete now to use the article <i>an</i> before words +beginning with long <i>u</i> or with <i>eu</i>, and it has become +more elegant, in modern style, to say, "a university," +"a useful article," "a European," "a euphonious +combination of sentences," &c., &c. It is also proper +to say "such a one," not "such an one."</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />II.</div> + +<p>Some people pronounce the plural of handkerchief, +scarf, wharf, dwarf, <i>handkerchieves</i>, <i>scarves</i>, <i>wharves</i>, +<i>dwarves</i>. This is an error, as these words, and perhaps +a few others, are exceptions to the rule laid +down, that nouns ending in <i>f</i> and <i>fe</i> shall change these +terminations into <i>ves</i> to form the plural.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />III.</div> + +<p>There is an illiterate mode of pronouncing the +adverb <i>too</i>, which is that of contracting it into the +sound of the preposition <i>to;</i> thus, "I think I paid <i>to +much</i> for this gun," "This line is <i>to long</i> by half." +The adverb <i>too</i> should be pronounced like the numeral +adjective <i>two</i>, and have the same full distinct sound in +delivery, as, "I think I paid <i>two</i> much for this gun," +"This line is <i>two</i> long by half."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'><br />IV.</div> + +<p>One does not expect to hear such words as "necessi'ated," +"preventative," &c., from people who profess +to be educated; but one <i>does</i> hear them, nevertheless, +and many others of the same genus, of which +the following list is a specimen, not a collection.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Wrong pronunciation"> +<tr><td align='left' colspan='3'>"Febuary" and "Febbiwerry," instead of February.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Seckaterry" </td><td align='left'>instead of </td><td align='left'>secretary.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Gover'ment"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>government.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Eve'min"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>evening.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Sev'm"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>seven.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Holladiz"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>holidays.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"Mossle"</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>morsel.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>"Chapped," according to orthography, instead of +<i>chopped</i>, according to polite usage.</p> + +<p>And we have even heard "continental" pronounced +<i>continential</i>, though upon what authority we know +not. Besides these, a multitude of others might be +quoted, which we consider too familiar to particularize +and "too numerous to mention."</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />V.</div> + +<p>There is an old jest on record of a person hearing +another pronounce the word curiosity "<i>curosity</i>," +and remarking to a bystander, "That man murders +the English language." "Nay," replies the person +addressed, "he only knocks an eye (i) out." And I +am invariably reminded of this old jest whenever I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +hear such pronunciations as the following,—"Lat'n" +for Latin, "sat'n" for satin, and Britain pronounced +so as to rhyme with <i>written</i>,—of which a few examples +will be given on a subsequent page, not with +the wild hope of comprising in so short a space <i>all</i> +the perversions of prosody which are constantly taking +place, but simply with the intention of reminding +careless speakers of some general principles they +seem to have forgotten, and of the vast accumulation +of error they may engraft upon themselves by a lazy +adherence to the custom of the crowd. Before, however, +proceeding to the words in question, it may be +satisfactory to our readers to recall to their memory +the observations of Lindley Murray on the subject. +He says, "There is scarcely anything which more +distinguishes a person of poor education from a person +of a good one than the pronunciation of the <i>unaccented +vowels</i>. When vowels are <i>under the accent</i>, the best +speakers, and the lowest of the people, with very few +exceptions, pronounce them in the same manner; but +the <i>un</i>accented vowels in the mouths of the former +have a distinct, open, and specific sound, while the +latter often totally sink them, or change them into +some other sound." The words that have chiefly +struck me are the following, in which not only the i +but some of the other vowels are submitted to the +mutilating process, or, as I have heard it pronounced, +<i>mutulating</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Things not to say"> +<tr><td align='left'>Brit'n </td><td align='left'>instead of </td><td align='left'>Britain.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lat'n</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Latin.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sat'n</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Satin.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Patt'n</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Patten.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Curt'n</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Curtain.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cert'n</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Certain.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bridle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Bridal.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Idle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Idol.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Meddle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Medal.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Moddle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Model.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mentle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Mental.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Mortle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Mortal.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Fatle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Fatal.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gravle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Gravel.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Travle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Travel.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sudd'n</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Sudden.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Infidle</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'>Infidel.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Scroop</i>'-lous</td><td align='center'>"</td><td align='left'><i>Scru-pu</i>-lous.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>And a long train of <i>et cetera</i>, of which the above +examples do not furnish a tithe.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Note.</i>—That to sound the <i>e</i> in <i>garden</i> and <i>often</i>, and the <i>i</i> +in <i>evil</i> and <i>devil</i>, is a decided error. They should always be +pronounced <i>gard'n</i> and <i>oft'n</i>, <i>ev'l</i> and <i>dev'l</i>.</p></div> + +<p>Some people pronounce the <i>I</i> in Irish and its concomitants +so as to make the words Ireland, Irishmen, +Irish linen, &c., sound as if they were written <i>Arland</i>, +<i>A-rishmen</i>, <i>Arish</i> linen, &c. This is literally "knocking +an <i>i</i> out."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'><br />VI.</div> + +<p>It is affected, and contrary to authority, to deprive +the <i>s</i> of its sharp hissing sound in the words <i>precise</i>, +<i>desolate</i>, <i>design</i>, and their derivatives.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />VII.</div> + +<p>There is one peculiarity which we feel bound to +notice, because it has infected English speakers,—that +of corrupting the <i>e</i> and the <i>i</i> into the sound of <i>a</i> +or <i>u</i>, in the words ability, humility, charity, &c.; for +how often is the ear wrung by such barbarisms as, +humi<i>lutty</i>, civi<i>lutty</i>, qua<i>laty</i>, quan<i>taty</i>, cru<i>alty</i>, char<i>aty</i>, +human<i>aty</i>, barbar<i>aty</i>, horr<i>uble</i>, terr<i>uble</i>, and so +on, <i>ad infinitum!</i>—an uncouth practice, to which +nothing is comparable, except pronouncing <i>yalla</i> for +yellow.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />VIII.</div> + +<p>There is in some quarters a bad mode prevalent of +pronouncing the plural of such words as <i>face</i>, <i>place</i>, +&c., <i>fazes</i>, <i>plazes</i>, whilst the plural of <i>price</i> seems +everywhere subject to the same strange mutation. The +words should be <i>faces</i>, <i>places</i>, <i>prices</i>, without any +softening of the <i>c</i> into <i>z</i>. There is, too, an ugly fashion +of pronouncing the <i>ng</i>, when terminating a word or +syllable, as <i>we</i> pronounce the same combination of +letters in the word <i>finger</i>, and making such words as +"singer," "ringer," &c., rhyme with <i>linger</i>. Sometimes +the double <i>o</i> is elongated into the sound which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +we give to that dipthong in "room," "fool," "moon," +&c., which has a very bad effect in such words as +<i>book</i>, <i>look</i>, <i>nook</i>, <i>took</i>, &c.; and sometimes it is +contracted into the sound of short <i>u</i>, making "foot," +and some other words, rhyme with <i>but</i>.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />IX.</div> + +<p>And having remarked on the <i>lingering</i> pronunciation, +it is but fair to notice a defect, the reverse of +this, namely, that of omitting the final <i>g</i> in such +words as <i>saying</i>, <i>going</i>, <i>shilling</i>, &c., and pronouncing +them "sayin," "goin," "shillin." This is so common +an error that it generally escapes notice, but is a +greater blemish, where we have a right to look for +perfection, than the peculiarities of the provinces in +those who reside there.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />X.</div> + +<p>It is also a common fault to add a gratuitous <i>r</i> to +words ending with a vowel, such as Emma<i>r</i>, Louisa<i>r</i>, +Julia<i>r</i>, and to make <i>draw</i>, <i>law</i>, <i>saw</i>, <i>flaw</i>, with all +others of the same class, rhyme with <i>war;</i> to omit +the <i>r</i> in such words as <i>corks</i>, <i>forks</i>, <i>curtains</i>, <i>morsel</i>, +&c.; in the word <i>perhaps</i>, when they conscientiously +<i>pronounce</i> the <i>h;</i> and sometimes in <i>Paris;</i> or to convert +it into the sound of a <i>y</i> when it comes between +two vowels, as in the name <i>Harriet</i>, and in the words +<i>superior</i>, <i>interior</i>, &c., frequently pronounced <i>Aah-yet</i>, +<i>su-pe-yor</i>, <i>in-te-yor</i>, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>&c.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XI.</div> + +<p>There is a vicious mode of amalgamating the final +<i>s</i> of a word (and sometimes the final <i>c</i>, when preceded +and followed by a vowel) with the first letter of the +next word, if that letter happens to be a <i>y</i>, in such a +manner as to produce the sound of <i>sh</i> or of <i>usu</i> in +<i>usual;</i> as, "A <i>nishe</i> young man," "What <i>makesh</i> +you laugh?" "If he <i>offendsh</i> you, don't speak to +him," "<i>Ash</i> you please," "Not <i>jush</i> yet," "We +always <i>passh</i> your house in going to call on <i>Missh</i> +Yates,—she lives near <i>Palash</i> Yard;" and so on +through all the possibilities of such a combination. +This is decided, unmitigated <i>cockneyism</i>, having its +parallel in nothing except the broken English of the +sons of Abraham; and to adopt it in conversation is +certainly "not speaking like a Christian." The effect +of this pronunciation on the ear is as though the +mouth of the speaker were filled with froth, which +impedes the utterance, and gives the semblance of a +defect where nature had kindly intended perfection; +but the radical cause of this, and of many other mispronunciations, +is the carelessness, sometimes the +ignorance, of teachers, who permit children to read +and speak in a slovenly manner, without opening +their teeth, or taking any pains to acquire a distinct +articulation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XII.</div> + +<p>Whilst we are on the subject of Prosody, we must +not omit to mention the vicious pronunciation occasionally +given to the words <i>new</i>, <i>due</i>, <i>Tuesday</i>, <i>stupid</i>, +and a few others, sometimes corrupted into <i>noo</i>, +<i>doo</i>, <i>Toosday</i>, <i>stoopid</i>, &c., by way of refinement, +perhaps, for lips which are too delicate to utter the +clear, broad, English <i>u</i>.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XIII.</div> + +<p>Never say "Cut it in <i>half</i>," for this you cannot do +unless you could <i>annihilate one</i> half. You may "cut +it in two," or "cut it in halves," or "cut it through," +or "divide it," but no human ability will enable you +to <i>cut it in half</i>.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XIV.</div> + +<p>Never speak of "lots" and "loads" of things. +Young men allow themselves a diffusive license of +speech, and of quotation, which has introduced many +words into colloquial style that do not at all tend to +improve or dignify the language, and which, when +heard from <i>ladies</i>' lips, become absolute vulgarisms. +A young man may talk recklessly of "lots of bargains," +"lots of money," "lots of fellows," "lots of +fun," &c., but a lady may <i>not</i>. Man may indulge in +any latitude of expression within the bounds of sense +and decorum, but woman has a narrower range,—even +her mirth must be subjected to rule. It may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +<i>naïve</i>, but must never be grotesque. It is not that we +would have <i>primness</i> in the sex, but we would have +refinement. Women are the purer and the more +ornamental part of life, and when <i>they</i> degenerate, the +Poetry of Life is gone.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XV.</div> + +<p>"Loads" is a word quite as objectional as "lots," +unless it can be reduced to a load of <i>something</i>, such +as a <i>ship</i>-load, a <i>wagon</i>-load, a <i>cart</i>-load, a <i>horse</i>-load, +&c. We often hear such expressions as "loads +of shops," "loads of authors," "loads of compliments;" +but as shops, authors, compliments, are +things not usually piled up into loads, either for ships +or horses, we cannot discover the propriety of the +application.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XVI.</div> + +<p>Some people, guiltless of those absurdities, commit +a great error in the use of the word <i>quantity</i>, applying +it to things of <i>number</i>, as "a quantity of friends," +"a quantity of ships," "a quantity of houses," &c. +<i>Quantity</i> can be applied only where <i>bulk</i> is indicated, +as "a quantity of land," "a quantity of timber;" but +we cannot say, "a quantity of fields," "a quantity of +trees," because <i>trees</i> and <i>fields</i> are specific individualities. +Or we may apply it where individualities are +taken in the gross, without reference to modes, as "a +quantity of luggage," "a quantity of furniture;" but +we cannot say "a quantity of boxes," "a quantity of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +chairs and tables," for the same reason which is given +in the former instances. We also apply the term +<i>quantity</i> to those things of number which are too +minute to be taken separately, as "a quantity of +beans," "a quantity of oats," &c., &c.</p> + + +<div class='center'><br />XVII.</div> + +<p>Avoid favorite words and phrases; they betray a +poverty of language or of imagination not creditable +to a cultivated intellect. Some people are so unfortunate +as to find all things <i>vulgar</i> that come "betwixt +the wind and their nobility;" others find them <i>disgusting</i>. +Some are always <i>anticipating</i>, others are +always <i>appreciating</i>. Multitudes are <i>aristocratic</i> in +all their relations, other multitudes are as <i>distingués</i>. +These two words are chiefly patronized by those whose +pretensions in such respects are the most questionable. +To some timid spirits, born under malignant influences +no doubt, most things present an <i>awful</i> appearance, +even though they come in shapes so insignificant +as a cold day or an aching finger. But, thanks to +that happy diversity of Nature which throws light as +well as shadow into the human character, there are +minds of brighter vision and more cheerful temperament, +who behold all things <i>splendid</i>, <i>magnificent</i>, +down to a cup of small beer, or a half-penny orange. +Some people have a grandiloquent force of expression, +thereby imparting a <i>tremendous</i> or <i>thundering</i> +character even to little things. This is truly carrying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +their conceptions into the sublime,—sometimes a +step beyond.</p> + +<p>We have, however, no intention of particularizing +<i>all</i> the "pet" phrases which salute the ear; but the +enumeration of a few of them may make the <i>candid</i> +culprit smile, and avoid those trifling absurdities for +the future.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>We would, under favor, suggest to the reader the +advantage of not relying too confidently on knowledge +acquired by habit and example alone. There are +many words in constant use which are perverted from +their original meanings; and if we were to dip into +some standard dictionary occasionally, search out the +true meanings of words with which we have fancied +ourselves acquainted, and convict ourselves of <i>all</i> the +errors we have been committing in following the +crowd, our surprise, perhaps, would equal that of +Molière's <i>Bourgeois Gentilhomme</i> when he discovered +that he had been talking <i>prose</i> for forty years.</p> + +<p>The words <i>feasible</i>, <i>ostensible</i>, <i>obnoxious</i>, <i>apparent</i>, +<i>obtain</i>, <i>refrain</i>, <i>domesticated</i>, and <i>centre</i>, are expressions +which, nine times out of ten, are misapplied, +besides a host of others whose propriety is never +questioned, so firmly has custom riveted the bonds of +ignorance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<p>In closing this little volume, the writer begs leave +to say that the remarks offered are intended only as +"Hints," which they who desire perfection may +easily improve, by a little exercise of the understanding, +and a reference to more extensive sources, into a +competent knowledge of their own tongue; also as +<i>warnings</i> to the careless, that their lapses do not pass +so unobserved as they are in the habit of supposing.</p> + +<p>Though many of the syntactical errors herein mentioned +are to be found in the works of some of our +best writers, they are <i>errors</i> nevertheless, and stand +as blemishes upon the productions of their genius, +like unsightly excrescences upon a lovely skin. +Genius is above grammar, and this conviction may +inspire in some bosoms an undue contempt for the +latter. But grammar is a constituent part of good +education, and a neglect of it <i>might</i> argue a <i>want</i> of +education, which would, perhaps, be mortifying. It +is an old axiom that "civility costs nothing," and +surely grammatical purity need not cost <i>much</i> to +people disposed to pay a little attention to it, and who +have received a respectable education already. It +adds a grace to eloquence, and raises the standard of +language where eloquence is not.</p> + +<p>A handsome man or handsome woman is not improved +by a shabby or slatternly attire; so the best +abilities are shown to a disadvantage through a style +marked by illiteracies.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> +<h2>PART IV.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES</h2> + +<p>IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED.</p> + + +<p>1. <span class="smcap">Have</span> you <i>learned</i> French yet? say <i>learnt</i>, as +<i>learned</i> is now used only as an adjective,—as, <i>a +learned man</i>. Pronounce <i>learned</i> in <i>two</i> syllables.</p> + +<p>2. The business would suit any one who <i>enjoys +bad health</i> [from an advertisement in a London newspaper]; +say, any one <i>in a delicate state of health</i>, or, +<i>whose health is but indifferent</i>.</p> + +<p>3. "We have no <i>corporeal</i> punishment here," said +a schoolmaster once to the author of this little work. +<i>Corporeal</i> is opposed to <i>spiritual;</i> say, <i>corporal</i> punishment. +<i>Corporeal</i> means <i>having a body</i>. The Almighty +is not a <i>corporeal</i> being, but a <i>spirit</i>, as St. +John tells us.</p> + +<p>4. That was a <i>notable</i> circumstance. Pronounce +the first syllable of <i>notable</i> as <i>no</i> in <i>notion</i>. Mrs. +Johnson is a <i>notable</i> housewife; that is to say, <i>careful</i>. +Pronounce the first syllable of <i>notable</i> as <i>not</i> in +<i>Nottingham</i>.</p> + +<p>5. Put an <i>advertisement</i> in the "Times." Pronounce<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +<i>advertisement</i> with the accent on <i>ver</i>, and not +on <i>tise</i>.</p> + +<p>6. He <i>rose up</i> and left the room; leave out <i>up</i>.</p> + +<p>7. You have <i>sown</i> it very badly; say, <i>sewed</i> it.</p> + +<p>8. Mr. Dupont <i>learnt</i> me French; say, <i>taught</i>. +The <i>master teaches</i>, but the <i>pupil learns</i>.</p> + +<p>9. John and Henry both read well, but John is the +<i>best</i> reader; say, the <i>better</i> reader, as <i>best</i> can only +be said when <i>three or more persons</i> or objects are +compared.</p> + +<p>10. The <i>two first</i> pupils I had; say, the <i>first two</i>.</p> + +<p>11. He has <i>mistook</i> his true interest; say, <i>mistaken</i>.</p> + +<p>12. Have you <i>lit</i> the fire, Mary? say, <i>lighted</i>.</p> + +<p>13. The doctor <i>has not yet came;</i> say, <i>has not yet +come</i>.</p> + +<p>14. I have always <i>gave</i> him good advice; say, +<i>given</i>.</p> + +<p>15. To be is an <i>auxiliary</i> verb. Pronounce <i>auxiliary</i> +in <i>five</i> syllables, sounding the second <i>i</i>, and <i>not +in four</i>, as we so frequently hear it.</p> + +<p>16. <i>Celery</i> is a pleasant edible; pronounce <i>celery</i> +as it is written, and <i>not salary</i>.</p> + +<p>17. Are you at <i>leisure?</i> pronounce <i>lei</i> in <i>leisure</i> +the same as <i>Lei</i> in <i>Leith</i>, and <i>not</i> so as to rhyme +with <i>measure</i>.</p> + +<p>18. Have you seen <i>the Miss Browns</i> lately? say, +<i>the Misses Brown</i>.</p> + +<p>19. You have soon <i>forgot</i> my kindness; say, <i>forgotten</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>20. He keeps <i>his coach;</i> say, <i>his carriage</i>.</p> + +<p>21. John is my <i>oldest</i> brother; say, <i>eldest</i>. <i>Elder</i> +and <i>eldest</i> are applied to <i>persons</i>,—<i>older</i> and <i>oldest</i> +to <i>things</i>.</p> + +<p>22. Disputes have frequently <i>arose</i> on that subject; +say, <i>arisen</i>.</p> + +<p>23. The cloth was <i>wove</i> in a very short time; say, +<i>woven</i>.</p> + +<p>24. French is <i>spoke</i> in every state in Europe; say, +<i>spoken</i>.</p> + +<p>25. He writes as the best authors would have +<i>wrote</i>, had they <i>writ</i> on the same subject; say, would +have <i>written</i>,—had they <i>written</i>.</p> + +<p>26. I prefer the <i>yolk</i> of an egg to the white; say, +<i>yelk</i>, and sound the <i>l</i>.</p> + +<p>27. He is now very <i>decrepid;</i> say, <i>decrepit</i>.</p> + +<p>28. I am very fond of <i>sparrowgrass;</i> say, <i>asparagus</i>, +and pronounce it with the accent on <i>par</i>.</p> + +<p>29. You are very <i>mischievous</i>. Pronounce <i>mischievous</i> +with the accent on <i>mis</i>, and <i>not on chie</i>, and +do not say <i>mischievious</i>.</p> + +<p>30. It was very <i>acceptable</i>. Pronounce <i>acceptable</i> +with the accent on <i>cept</i>, and <i>not on ac</i>, as we so often +hear it.</p> + +<p>31. "No conversation be permitted in the Reading +Room to the interruption of the company present. +<i>Neither Smoking or Refreshments allowed</i>" [from +the prospectus of a "Literary and Scientific Institution"];<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +insert <i>can</i> after <i>conversation</i>, and say, <i>neither +smoking nor refreshments</i>.</p> + +<p>32. <i>No extras or vacations</i>[from the prospectus of +a schoolmistress near London]; say, <i>neither extras +nor vacations</i>.</p> + +<p>33. He is very covetous. Pronounce <i>covetous</i> as +if it were written <i>covet us</i>, and <i>not covetyus</i>, as is +almost universally the case.</p> + +<p>34. I intend to <i>summons</i> him; say, <i>summon</i>. <i>Summons</i> +is a <i>noun</i>, and <i>not a verb</i>.</p> + +<p>35. Dearly <i>beloved</i> brethren. Pronounce <i>beloved</i> +in <i>three</i> syllables, and <i>never in two</i>, as some clergymen +do.</p> + +<p>36. He is now <i>forsook</i> by every one; say, <i>forsaken</i>.</p> + +<p>37. Not <i>as I know;</i> say, <i>that I know</i>.</p> + +<p>38. He came <i>for to do</i> it; leave out <i>for</i>.</p> + +<p>39. They have just <i>rose</i> from the table; say, <i>risen</i>.</p> + +<p>40. He is quite <i>as good as me;</i> say, <i>as good as I</i>.</p> + +<p>41. <i>Many an one</i> has done the same; say, <i>many a +one</i>. <i>A</i>, and <i>not an</i>, is used before the <i>long sound of +u</i>, that is to say, when <i>u</i> forms <i>a distinct syllable of +itself</i>, as, <i>a unit</i>, <i>union</i>, <i>a university</i>. It is also used +before <i>eu</i>, as, <i>a euphony;</i> and likewise before the +word <i>ewe</i>, as, <i>a ewe</i>. We should also say, <i>a youth</i>, +not <i>an youth</i>.</p> + +<p>42. <i>Many people</i> think so; say, <i>many persons</i>, as +<i>people</i> means <i>a nation</i>.</p> + +<p>43. "When our ships sail among the <i>people</i> of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +Eastern islands, <i>those people</i> do not ask for gold,—'iron! +iron!' is the call." [From a work by a peer +of literary celebrity.] Say, among the <i>inhabitants;</i> +and, instead of <i>those people</i>, which is ungrammatical, +say, <i>those persons</i>.</p> + +<p>44. <i>Was you</i> reading just now? say, <i>were you</i>.</p> + +<p>45. I have <i>not had no dinner yet;</i> say, <i>I have had +no dinner yet</i>, or, I have <i>not yet had my dinner</i>, or, +<i>any dinner</i>.</p> + +<p>46. She will <i>never be no taller;</i> say, she will <i>never +be taller</i>, or, she will <i>never be any taller</i>.</p> + +<p>47. I <i>see him</i> last Monday; say, <i>saw him</i>.</p> + +<p>48. He was <i>averse from</i> such a proceeding; say, +<i>averse to</i>.</p> + +<p>49. He has <i>wore</i> his boots three months; say, +<i>worn</i>.</p> + +<p>50. He has <i>trod</i> on my toes; say, <i>trodden</i>.</p> + +<p>51. Have you <i>shook</i> the cloth? say, <i>shaken</i>.</p> + +<p>52. I have <i>rang</i> several times; say, <i>rung</i>.</p> + +<p>53. I <i>knowed</i> him at once; say, <i>knew</i>.</p> + +<p>54. He has <i>growed</i> very much; say, <i>grown</i>.</p> + +<p>55. George has <i>fell</i> down stairs; say, <i>fallen</i>.</p> + +<p>56. He has <i>chose</i> a very poor pattern; say, <i>chosen</i>.</p> + +<p>57. They have <i>broke</i> a window; say, <i>broken</i>.</p> + +<p>58. Give me <i>them books;</i> say, <i>those books</i>.</p> + +<p>59. My brother gave me <i>them there pictures;</i> say, +gave me <i>those pictures</i>.</p> + +<p>60. Whose are <i>these here books?</i> say, <i>these books</i>.</p> + +<p>61. The men <i>which</i> we saw; say, <i>whom</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<p>62. The books <i>what</i> you have; say, <i>which</i>, or <i>that</i>.</p> + +<p>63. The boy <i>as is</i> reading; say, <i>who is</i> reading.</p> + +<p>64. The pond is <i>froze;</i> say, <i>frozen</i>.</p> + +<p>65. He has <i>took</i> my slate; say, <i>taken</i>.</p> + +<p>66. He has often <i>stole</i> money from him; say, <i>stolen</i>.</p> + +<p>67. They have <i>drove</i> very fast; say, <i>driven</i>.</p> + +<p>68. I have <i>rode</i> many miles to-day; say, <i>ridden</i>.</p> + +<p>69. You cannot <i>catch</i> him; pronounce <i>catch</i> so as +to rhyme with <i>match</i>, and not <i>ketch</i>.</p> + +<p>70. Who has <i>got</i> my slate? leave out <i>got</i>.</p> + +<p>71. What are you <i>doing of?</i> leave out <i>of</i>.</p> + +<p>72. <i>If I was rich</i> I would buy a carriage; say, <i>If +I were</i>.</p> + +<p>73. We have all within us an <i>impetus</i> to sin; pronounce +<i>impetus</i> with the accent on <i>im</i>, and not on <i>pe</i>, +as is very often the case.</p> + +<p>74. He may go to the <i>antipodes</i> for what I care; +pronounce <i>antipodes</i> with the accent on <i>tip</i>, and let +<i>des</i> rhyme with <i>ease</i>. It is a word of <i>four</i> syllables, +and <i>not of three</i>, as many persons make it.</p> + +<p>75. <i>Vouchsafe</i>, a word seldom used, but, when +used, the first syllable should rhyme with <i>pouch</i>. +<i>Never say, vousafe.</i></p> + +<p>76. Ginger is a good <i>stomachic;</i> pronounce <i>stomachic</i> +with the accent on <i>mach</i>, sounding this syllable +<i>mak</i>, and <i>not mat</i>, as is often the case.</p> + +<p>77. The land in those parts is very <i>fertile;</i> pronounce +<i>fertile</i> so as to rhyme with <i>pill</i>. The <i>ile</i> in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +all words must be sounded <i>ill</i>, with the exception of +<i>exile</i>, <i>senile</i>, <i>gentile</i>, <i>reconcile</i>, and <i>camomile</i>, in which +<i>ile</i> rhymes with <i>mile</i>.</p> + +<p>78. <i>It is surprising the fatigue he undergoes;</i> say, +<i>The fatigue he undergoes is surprising</i>.</p> + +<p>79. <i>Benefited;</i> often spelt <i>benefitted</i>, but <i>incorrectly</i>.</p> + +<p>80. <i>Gather</i> up the fragments; pronounce <i>gather</i> so +as to rhyme with <i>lather</i>, and <i>not gether</i>.</p> + +<p>81. I <i>propose</i> going to town next week; say, <i>purpose</i>.</p> + +<p>82. If I <i>am not mistaken</i>, you are in the wrong; +say, If I <i>mistake not</i>.</p> + +<p>83. <i>Direct</i> your letters to me at Mr. Jones's; say, +<i>Address</i> your letters.</p> + +<p>84. Wales is a very <i>mountainious</i> country; say, +<i>mountainous</i>, and place the accent on <i>moun</i>.</p> + +<p>85. Of two evils choose <i>the least;</i> say, <i>the less</i>.</p> + +<p>86. <i>Exag'gerate;</i> pronounce <i>exad'gerate</i>, and <i>do +not sound agger</i> as in the word <i>dagger</i>, which is a +very common mistake.</p> + +<p>87. He knows <i>little or nothing of Latin;</i> say, +<i>little, if anything, of Latin</i>.</p> + +<p>88. He keeps a <i>chaise;</i> pronounce it <i>shaise</i>, and +not <i>shay</i>. It has a regular plural, <i>chaises</i>.</p> + +<p>88. The <i>drought</i> lasted a long time; pronounce +<i>drought</i> so as to rhyme with <i>snout</i>, and not <i>drowth</i>.</p> + +<p>90. The man was <i>hung</i> last week; say, <i>hanged;</i> +but say, I am fond of <i>hung beef</i>. <i>Hang, to take away +life by hanging</i>, is a regular verb.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>91. We <i>conversed together</i> on the subject; leave +out <i>together</i>, as it is implied in <i>conversed</i>, <i>con</i> being +equivalent to <i>with</i>, that is to say, <i>We talked with each +other</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>92. The affair was <i>compromised;</i> pronounce <i>compromised</i> +in three syllables, and place the accent on +<i>com</i>, sounding <i>mised</i> like <i>prized</i>. The word has nothing +to do with <i>promised</i>. The noun <i>compromise</i> is +accented like <i>compromised</i>, but <i>mise</i> must be pronounced +<i>mice</i>.</p> + +<p>93. A <i>steam-engine;</i> pronounce <i>engine</i> with <i>en</i> as +in <i>pen</i>, and <i>not like in</i>, and <i>gine</i> like <i>gin</i>.</p> + +<p>94. Numbers were <i>massacred;</i> pronounce <i>massacred</i> +with the accent on <i>mas</i>, and <i>red</i> like <i>erd</i>, as if +<i>mas'saker'd</i>, never <i>mas'sacreed</i>.</p> + +<p>95. The king of Israel and the king of Judah sat +<i>either of them</i> on his throne; say, <i>each of them</i>. +<i>Either</i> signifies the <i>one</i> or the <i>other</i>, but <i>not both</i>. +<i>Each</i> relates to <i>two or more objects</i>, and signifies <i>both +of the two</i>, or <i>every one of any number taken singly</i>. +<i>Never</i> say "<i>either</i> of the three," but "<i>each</i> or <i>any +one</i> of the three."</p> + +<p>96. A <i>respite</i> was granted the convict; pronounce +<i>respite</i> with the accent on <i>res</i>, and sound <i>pite</i> as <i>pit</i>.</p> + +<p>97. He soon <i>returned back;</i> leave out <i>back</i>, which +is implied by <i>re</i> in <i>returned</i>.</p> + +<p>98. The <i>horizon</i> is the line that terminates the +view; pronounce <i>horizon</i> with the accent on <i>ri</i>, and +not on <i>ho</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + +<p>99. She has <i>sang</i> remarkably well; say, <i>sung</i>.</p> + +<p>100. He had <i>sank</i> before assistance arrived; say, +<i>sunk</i>.</p> + +<p>101. I have often <i>swam</i> across the Tyne; say, +<i>swum</i>.</p> + +<p>102. I found my friend better than I expected <i>to +have found him;</i> say, <i>to find him</i>.</p> + +<p>103. I intended <i>to have written</i> a letter yesterday; +say, <i>to write</i>, as however long it now is since I thought +of writing, "<i>to write</i>" was then present to me, and +must still be considered as present when I bring back +that time and the thoughts of it.</p> + +<p>104. His death <i>shall be</i> long regretted [from a +notice of a death in a newspaper]; say, <i>will be</i> long, +&c. <i>Shall</i> and <i>will</i> are often confounded; the following +rule, however, may be of use to the reader. +Mere <i>futurity</i> is expressed by <i>shall</i> in the <i>first</i> person, +and by <i>will</i> in the <i>second</i> and <i>third;</i> the <i>determination</i> +of the speaker by <i>will</i> in the <i>first</i>, and <i>shall</i> in +the <i>second</i> and <i>third;</i> as, I <span class="smcap">will</span> go to-morrow, I +<span class="smcap">shall</span> go to-morrow. N. B. The latter sentence +simply expresses a future event; the former expresses +my determination.</p> + +<p>105. "<i>Without</i> the grammatical form of a word +can be recognized at a glance, little progress can be +made in reading the language" [from a very popular +work on the study of the Latin language]; say, <i>Unless</i> +the grammatical, &c. The use of <i>without</i> for +<i>unless</i> is a very common mistake.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>106. Have you begun <i>substraction</i> yet? say, <i>subtraction</i>.</p> + +<p>107. He claimed admission to the <i>chiefest</i> offices; +say, <i>chief</i>. <i>Chief</i>, <i>right</i>, <i>supreme</i>, <i>correct</i>, <i>true</i>, <i>universal</i>, +<i>perfect</i>, <i>consummate</i>, <i>extreme</i>, &c., <i>imply</i> the +superlative degree without <i>est</i> or <i>most</i>. In language +sublime or impassioned, however, the word <i>perfect</i> +requires the superlative form to give it effect. A +lover, enraptured with his mistress, would naturally +call her the <i>most perfect</i> of her sex.</p> + +<p>108. The ship had <i>sprang</i> a leak; say, <i>sprung</i>.</p> + +<p>109. I <i>had rather</i> do it now; say, I <i>would rather</i>.</p> + +<p>110. He was served with a <i>subpœna;</i> pronounce +<i>subpœna</i> with the accent on <i>pœ</i>, which you will sound +like <i>tea</i>, and sound the <i>b</i> distinctly. <i>Never pronounce +the word soopee'na.</i></p> + +<p>111. I have not travelled <i>this twenty years;</i> say, +<i>these twenty years</i>.</p> + +<p>112. He is <i>very much the gentleman;</i> say, He is <i>a +very gentlemanly man</i>, or <i>fellow</i>.</p> + +<p>113. The <i>yellow</i> part of an egg is very nourishing; +<i>never</i> pronounce <i>yellow</i> like <i>tallow</i>, which we so often +hear.</p> + +<p>114. We are going to the <i>zoological</i> gardens; pronounce +<i>zoological</i> in <i>five</i> syllables, and place the +accent on <i>log</i> in <i>logical</i>. Sound <i>log</i> like <i>lodge</i>, and +<i>the first two o's in distinct syllables</i>. <i>Never</i> make +<i>zool</i> <i>one</i> syllable.</p> + +<p>115. He always preaches <i>extempore;</i> pronounce<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +<i>extempore</i> in <i>four</i> syllables, with the accent on <i>tem</i>, +and <i>never in three</i>, making <i>pore</i> to rhyme with <i>sore</i>.</p> + +<p>116. <i>Naught</i> and <i>aught;</i> <i>never</i> spell these words +<i>nought</i> and <i>ought</i>. There is no such word as <i>nought</i>, +and <i>ought</i> is a verb.</p> + +<p>117. Allow me to <i>suggest;</i> pronounce <i>sug</i> so as to +rhyme with <i>mug</i>, and <i>gest</i> like <i>jest</i>. Never <i>sudjest</i>.</p> + +<p>118. The Emperor of Russia is a <i>formidable</i> personage; +pronounce <i>formidable</i> with the accent on +<i>for</i>, and <i>not on mid</i>, as is often the case.</p> + +<p>119. Before the words <i>heir</i>, <i>herb</i>, <i>honest</i>, <i>honor</i>, +<i>hostler</i>, <i>hour</i>, <i>humble</i>, and <i>humor</i>, and their compounds, +instead of the article <i>a</i>, we make use of +<i>an</i>, as the <i>h</i> is not sounded; likewise before words +beginning with <i>h</i> that are <i>not</i> accented on the <i>first +syllable</i>, such as <i>heroic</i>, <i>historical</i>, <i>hypothesis</i>, &c., as, +<i>an heroic action</i>, <i>an historical work</i>, <i>an hypothesis</i> +that can scarcely be allowed. N. B. The letter <i>h</i> is +seldom mute at the beginning of a word; but from +the negligence of tutors and the inattention of pupils +many persons have become almost incapable of acquiring +its just and full pronunciation. It is, therefore, +incumbent on teachers to be particularly careful +to inculcate a clear and distinct utterance of this +sound.</p> + +<p>120. He was <i>such an extravagant young man</i> that +he soon spent his whole patrimony; say, <i>so extravagant +a young man</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<p>121. I saw the <i>slough</i> of a snake; pronounce +<i>slough</i> so as to rhyme with <i>rough</i>.</p> + +<p>122. She is <i>quite the lady;</i> say, She is <i>very lady-like +in her demeanor</i>.</p> + +<p>123. He is <i>seldom or ever</i> out of town; say, <i>seldom, +if ever</i>, out of town.</p> + +<p>124. Death <i>unloosed</i> his chains; say, <i>loosed</i> his +chains.</p> + +<p>125. It is dangerous to walk <i>of a</i> slippery morning; +say, <i>on a</i> slippery morning.</p> + +<p>126. He who makes himself famous by his eloquence, +illustrates his origin, let it be <i>never so mean;</i> +say, <i>ever so mean</i>.</p> + +<p>127. His fame is acknowledged <i>through</i> Europe; +say, <i>throughout</i> Europe.</p> + +<p>128. The bank of the river is frequently <i>overflown;</i> +say, <i>overflowed</i>.</p> + +<p>129. <i>Previous to</i> my leaving England I called on +his lordship; say, <i>previously to</i> my leaving, &c.</p> + +<p>130. I doubt <i>if this</i> will ever reach you; say, +<i>whether this</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>131. He was <i>exceeding kind</i> to me; say, <i>exceedingly +kind</i>.</p> + +<p>132. I lost <i>near</i> twenty pounds; say, <i>nearly</i>.</p> + +<p>133. <i>Bills are requested to be paid quarterly;</i> say, +<i>It is requested that bills be paid quarterly</i>.</p> + +<p>134. It was <i>no use asking</i> him any more questions; +say, <i>of no use to ask him</i>, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>&c.</p> + +<p>135. The Americans said they <i>had no right</i> to pay +taxes; say, they <i>were under no obligation</i> to pay, &c.</p> + +<p>136. I <i>throwed</i> my box away, and <i>never took no +more snuff;</i> say, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: this was italicized in original text">I</ins> <i>threw</i>, &c., and <i>took snuff no more</i>.</p> + +<p>137. She was <i>endowed</i> with an exquisite taste for +music; say, <i>endued</i> with, &c.</p> + +<p>138. I intend to <i>stop</i> at home; say, to <i>stay</i>.</p> + +<p>139. At this time I <i>grew</i> my own corn; say, I +<i>raised</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>140. He <i>was</i> no sooner departed than they expelled +his officers; say, he <i>had</i> no sooner, &c.</p> + +<p>141. He <i>was</i> now retired from public business; +say, <i>had</i> now retired, &c.</p> + +<p>142. They <i>were</i> embarked in a common cause; +say, <i>had</i> embarked, &c.</p> + +<p>143. Hostilities <i>were</i> now become habitual; say, +<i>had</i> now become.</p> + +<p>144. Brutus and Aruns killed <i>one another;</i> say, +<i>each other</i>.</p> + +<p>145. Pray, sir, who <i>may you be?</i> say, who <i>are you?</i></p> + +<p>146. Their character as a warlike people <i>is</i> much +degenerated; say, <i>has</i> much, &c.</p> + +<p>147. He is gone on an <i>errand;</i> pronounce <i>errand</i> +as it is written, and not <i>arrant</i>.</p> + +<p>148. In a popular work on arithmetic we find the +following sum,—"If for 7<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i>, I can buy 9 lbs. of +raisins, <i>how much</i> can I purchase for £56 16<i>s.?</i>" +say, "<i>what quantity</i> can I," &c. Who would think +of saying "<i>how much raisins?</i>"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + +<p>149. Be very careful in distinguishing between +<i>indite</i> and <i>indict;</i> <i>key</i> and <i>quay;</i> <i>principle</i> and <i>principal;</i> +<i>check</i> and <i>cheque;</i> <i>marshal</i> and <i>martial;</i> <i>counsel</i> +and <i>council;</i> <i>counsellor</i> and <i>councillor;</i> <i>fort</i> and +<i>forte;</i> <i>draft</i> and <i>draught;</i> <i>place</i> and <i>plaice;</i> <i>stake</i> +and <i>steak;</i> <i>satire</i> and <i>satyr;</i> <i>stationery</i> and <i>stationary;</i> +<i>ton</i> and <i>tun;</i> <i>levy</i> and <i>levee;</i> <i>foment</i> and <i>ferment;</i> +<i>fomentation</i> and <i>fermentation;</i> <i>petition</i> and +<i>partition;</i> <i>practice</i> and <i>practise;</i> <i>Francis</i> and <i>Frances;</i> +<i>dose</i> and <i>doze;</i> <i>diverse</i> and <i>divers;</i> <i>device</i> and +<i>devise;</i> <i>wary</i> and <i>weary;</i> <i>salary</i> and <i>celery;</i> <i>radish</i> +and <i>reddish;</i> <i>treble</i> and <i>triple;</i> <i>broach</i> and <i>brooch;</i> +<i>ingenious</i> and <i>ingenuous;</i> <i>prophesy</i> and <i>prophecy;</i> +<i>fondling</i> and <i>foundling;</i> <i>lightning</i> and <i>lightening;</i> +<i>genus</i> and <i>genius;</i> <i>desert</i> and <i>dessert;</i> <i>currier</i> and +<i>courier;</i> <i>pillow</i> and <i>pillar;</i> <i>executer</i> and <i>executor;</i> +<i>suit</i> and <i>suite;</i> <i>ridicule</i> and <i>reticule;</i> <i>lineament</i> and +<i>liniment;</i> <i>track</i> and <i>tract;</i> <i>lickerish</i> and <i>licorice;</i> +<i>statute</i> and <i>statue;</i> <i>ordinance</i> and <i>ordnance;</i> <i>lease</i> +and <i>leash;</i> <i>recourse</i> and <i>resource;</i> <i>straight</i> and <i>strait;</i> +<i>immerge</i> and <i>emerge;</i> <i>style</i> and <i>stile;</i> <i>compliment</i> and +<i>complement;</i> <i>bass</i> and <i>base;</i> <i>contagious</i> and <i>contiguous;</i> +<i>eminent</i> and <i>imminent;</i> <i>eruption</i> and <i>irruption;</i> +<i>precedent</i> and <i>president;</i> <i>relic</i> and <i>relict</i>.</p> + +<p>150. I prefer <i>radishes</i> to <i>cucumbers;</i> pronounce +<i>radishes</i> exactly as it is spelt, and not <i>redishes</i>, and +the <i>u</i> in the first syllable of <i>cucumber</i> as in <i>fuel</i>, and +not as if the word were <i>cowcumber</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<p>151. Never pronounce <i>barbarous</i> and <i>grievous</i>, +<i>bartarious</i> and <i>grievious</i>.</p> + +<p>152. The <i>two last</i> chapters are very interesting; +say, The <i>last two</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>153. The soil on these islands is so very thin, that +little vegetation is produced upon them <i>beside</i> cocoanut +trees; say, <i>with the exception of</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>154. He restored it <i>back</i> to the owner; leave out +<i>back</i>.</p> + +<p>155. <i>Here</i>, <i>there</i>, <i>where</i>, are generally better than +<i>hither</i>, <i>thither</i>, <i>whither</i>, with verbs of motion; as, +<i>Come here</i>, <i>Go there</i>. N. B. <i>Hither</i>, <i>thither</i>, and +<i>whither</i>, which were formerly used, are now considered +stiff and inelegant.</p> + +<p>156. <i>As far as I</i> am able to judge, the book is well +written; say, <i>So far as</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>157. It is doubtful whether he will play <i>fairly or +no;</i> say, <i>fairly or not</i>.</p> + +<p>158. "The Pilgrim's <i>Progress;</i>" pronounce <i>progress</i>, +<i>prog-ress</i>, not <i>pro-gress</i>.</p> + +<p>159. He is a boy of a great <i>spirit;</i> pronounce +<i>spirit</i> exactly as it is written, and never <i>sperit</i>.</p> + +<p>160. The <i>camelopard</i> is the tallest of known animals; +pronounce <i>camelopard</i> with the accent on the +<i>second</i> syllable. Never call it <i>camel leopard</i>, as is so +often heard.</p> + +<p>161. He is very <i>awkward;</i> never say, <i>awkard</i>.</p> + +<p>162. He ran <i>again</i> me; I stood <i>again</i> the wall;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +instead of <i>again</i>, say <i>against</i>. Do it <i>again</i> the time I +mentioned; say, <i>by</i> the time, &c.</p> + +<p>163. I always act <i>agreeable</i> to my promise; say, +<i>agreeably</i>.</p> + +<p>164. The study of syntax should be <i>previously</i> to +that of punctuation; say, <i>previous</i>.</p> + +<p>165. No one should incur censure for being tender +of <i>their</i> reputation; say, of <i>his</i> reputation.</p> + +<p>166. They were all <i>drownded;</i> say, <i>drowned</i>.</p> + +<p>167. <i>Jalap</i> is of great service; pronounce <i>jalap</i> +exactly as it is written, <span class="smcap">never</span> <i>jollop</i>.</p> + +<p>168. He is gone on a <i>tour;</i> pronounce <i>tour</i> so as +to rhyme with <i>poor</i>, <i>never</i> like <i>tower</i>.</p> + +<p>169. The rain <i>is</i> ceased; say, <i>has</i> ceased.</p> + +<p>170. <i>They laid their heads together</i>, and formed +their plan; say, <i>They held a consultation</i>, &c. <i>Laid +their heads together</i> savors of <span class="smcap">slang</span>.</p> + +<p>171. The <i>chimley</i> wants sweeping; say, <i>chimney</i>.</p> + +<p>172. I was walking <i>towards</i> home; pronounce <i>towards</i> +so as to rhyme with <i>boards</i>. <i>Never</i> say <i>to +wards</i>.</p> + +<p>173. It is a <i>stupenduous</i> work; say, <i>stupendous</i>.</p> + +<p>174. A <i>courier</i> is expected from Paris; pronounce +<i>cou</i> in <i>courier</i> so as to rhyme with <i>too</i>. <i>Never</i> pronounce +<i>courier</i> like <i>currier</i>.</p> + +<p>175. Let each of us mind <i>their</i> own business; say, +<i>his</i> own business.</p> + +<p>176. Is this or that the <i>best</i> road? say, the <i>better</i> +road.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> + +<p>177. <i>Rinse</i> your mouth; pronounce <i>rinse</i> as it is +written, and <span class="smcap">never</span> <i>rense</i>. "<i>Wrench your mouth</i>," +said a fashionable dentist one day to the author of this +work.</p> + +<p>178. The book is not <i>as</i> well printed as it ought to +be; say, <i>so</i> well printed, &c.</p> + +<p>179. Webster's <i>Dictionary</i> is an admirable work; +pronounce <i>dictionary</i> as if written <i>dik-shun-a-ry;</i> <i>not</i>, +as is too commonly the practice, <i>dixonary</i>.</p> + +<p>180. Some disaster has certainly <i>befell</i> him; say, +<i>befallen</i>.</p> + +<p>181. She is a pretty <i>creature;</i> never pronounce +<i>creature</i>, <i>creeter</i>, as is often heard.</p> + +<p>182. We went to see the <i>Monument;</i> pronounce +<i>monument</i> exactly as it is written, and <i>not</i> as many +pronounce it, <i>moniment</i>.</p> + +<p>183. I am very wet, and must go and <i>change myself;</i> +say, <i>change my clothes</i>.</p> + +<p>184. He has had a good <i>education;</i> <i>never</i> say, +<i>edication</i>, which is often heard, nor <i>edicate</i> for <i>educate</i>.</p> + +<p>185. He is much better <i>than me;</i> say, <i>than I</i>.</p> + +<p>186. You are stronger <i>than him;</i> say, <i>than he</i>.</p> + +<p>187. I had <i>as lief</i> stand; say, I <i>would as soon</i> +stand.</p> + +<p>188. He is <i>not a whit</i> better; say, <i>in no degree</i> +better.</p> + +<p>189. They are <i>at loggerheads;</i> say, <i>at variance</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>190. His character is <i>undeniable</i>,—a very common +expression; say, <i>unexceptionable</i>.</p> + +<p>191. Bring me the <i>lantern;</i> never spell <i>lantern</i>, +<i>lanthorn</i>.</p> + +<p>192. The room is twelve <i>foot</i> long, and nine <i>foot</i> +broad; say, twelve <i>feet</i>, nine <i>feet</i>.</p> + +<p>193. He is <i>singular</i>, though <i>regular</i> in his habits, +and also very <i>particular;</i> beware of leaving out the +<i>u</i> in <i>singular</i>, <i>regular</i>, and <i>particular</i>, which is a very +common practice.</p> + +<p>194. They are detained <i>at</i> France; say, <i>in</i> France.</p> + +<p>195. He lives <i>at</i> London; say, <i>in</i> London, and beware +of pronouncing <i>London</i>, as many careless persons +do, <i>Lunnun</i>. <i>At</i> should be applied to small +towns.</p> + +<p>196. No <i>less</i> than fifty persons were there; say, +No <i>fewer</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>197. <i>Such another</i> mistake, and we shall be ruined; +say, <i>Another such</i> mistake, &c.</p> + +<p>198. It is <i>some distance</i> from our house; say, <i>at +some distance</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>199. I shall call <i>upon</i> him; say, <i>on</i> him.</p> + +<p>200. He is a Doctor of <i>Medicine;</i> pronounce <i>medicine</i> +in <i>three</i> syllables, <span class="smcap">never</span> in <i>two</i>.</p> + +<p>201. They told me to enter <i>in;</i> leave out <i>in</i>, as it +is implied in <i>enter</i>.</p> + +<p>202. His <i>strength</i> is amazing; never say, <i>strenth</i>.</p> + +<p>203. "<i>Mistaken</i> souls, who dream of heaven,"—this +is the beginning of a popular hymn; it should be,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +"<i>Mistaking</i> souls," &c. <i>Mistaken wretch</i>, for <i>mistaking +wretch</i>, is an apostrophe that occurs everywhere +among our poets, particularly those of the +stage; the most incorrigible of all, and the most +likely to fix and disseminate an error of this kind.</p> + +<p>204. Give me both <i>of</i> those books; leave out <i>of</i>.</p> + +<p>205. Whenever I try to write well, I <i>always</i> find I +can do it; leave out <i>always</i>, which is unnecessary.</p> + +<p>206. He plunged <i>down</i> into the stream; leave out +<i>down</i>.</p> + +<p>207. She is the <i>matron;</i> say <i>may-tron</i>, and not +<i>mat-ron</i>.</p> + +<p>208. Give me <i>leave</i> to tell you; <span class="smcap">never</span> say <i>leaf</i> for +<i>leave</i>.</p> + +<p>209. The <i>height</i> is considerable; pronounce <i>height</i> +so as to rhyme with <i>tight</i>. Never <i>hate</i> nor <i>heighth</i>.</p> + +<p>210. Who has my <i>scissors?</i> <i>never</i> call <i>scissors</i>, +<i>sithers</i>.</p> + +<p>211. First <i>of all</i> I shall give you a lesson in French, +and last <i>of all</i> in music; leave out <i>of all</i> in both +instances, as unnecessary.</p> + +<p>212. I shall have finished by the <i>latter</i> end of the +week; leave out <i>latter</i>, which is unnecessary.</p> + +<p>213. They sought him <i>throughout</i> the <i>whole</i> country; +leave out <i>whole</i>, which is implied in <i>throughout</i>.</p> + +<p>214. Iron sinks <i>down</i> in water; leave out <i>down</i>.</p> + +<p>215. I own that I did not come soon enough; but +<i>because why?</i> I was detained; leave out <i>because</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>216. Have you seen the new <i>pantomime?</i> never +say <i>pantomine</i>, as there is no such word.</p> + +<p>217. I <i>cannot by no means</i> allow it; say, I <i>can by +no means</i>, &c., or, I <i>cannot by any means</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>218. He <i>covered it over;</i> leave out <i>over</i>.</p> + +<p>219. I bought <i>a new pair of shoes;</i> say, <i>a pair of +new shoes</i>.</p> + +<p>220. He <i>combined together</i> these facts; leave out +<i>together</i>.</p> + +<p>221. My brother called on me, and we <i>both</i> took a +walk; leave out <i>both</i>, which is unnecessary.</p> + +<p>222. The <i>duke</i> discharged his <i>duty;</i> sound the <i>u</i> +in <i>duke</i> and <i>duty</i> like the word <i>you</i>, and carefully +avoid saying, <i>dook</i> and <i>dooty</i>, or <i>doo</i> for <i>dew</i>.</p> + +<p>223. <i>Genealogy</i>, <i>geography</i>, and <i>geometry</i> are words +of Greek derivation; beware of saying, <i>geneology</i>, +<i>jography</i>, and <i>jometry</i>, a very common practice.</p> + +<p>224. He made out the <i>inventory;</i> place the accent +in <i>inventory</i> on the syllable <i>in</i>, and <span class="smcap">never</span> on <i>ven</i>.</p> + +<p>225. He deserves <i>chastisement;</i> say, <i>chas-tiz-ment</i>, +with the accent on <i>chas</i>, and <span class="smcap">never</span> on <i>tise</i>.</p> + +<p>226. He threw the <i>rind</i> away; never call <i>rind</i>, +<i>rine</i>.</p> + +<p>227. They contributed to his <i>maintenance;</i> pronounce +<i>maintenance</i> with the accent on <i>main</i>, and +<i>never</i> say, <i>maintainance</i>.</p> + +<p>228. She wears a silk <i>gown;</i> never say, <i>gownd</i>.</p> + +<p>229. Sussex is a <i>maritime</i> county; pronounce the +<i>last</i> syllable of <i>maritime</i> so as to rhyme with <i>rim</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> + +<p>230. He <i>hovered</i> about the enemy; pronounce +<i>hovered</i> so as to rhyme with <i>covered</i>.</p> + +<p>231. He is a powerful <i>ally;</i> <i>never</i> place the accent +on <i>al</i> in <i>ally</i>, as many do.</p> + +<p>232. She bought a <i>diamond</i> necklace; pronounce +<i>diamond</i> in <i>three</i> syllables, <span class="smcap">never</span> in <i>two</i>, which is a +very common practice.</p> + +<p>233. He reads the "Weekly <i>Despatch;</i>" <span class="smcap">never</span> +spell the word <i>despatch</i>, <i>dispatch</i>.</p> + +<p>234. He said <i>as how</i> you <i>was</i> to do it; say, he +said <i>that you were to do it</i>.</p> + +<p>235. Never say, "<i>I acquiesce with you;</i>" but, "<i>I +acquiesce in your proposal, in your opinion</i>," &c.</p> + +<p>236. He is a distinguished <i>antiquarian;</i> say, <i>antiquary</i>. +<i>Antiquarian</i> is an adjective; <i>antiquary</i>, a +noun.</p> + +<p>237. In Goldsmith's "History of England" we +find the following extraordinary sentence in one of +the chapters on the reign of Queen Elizabeth:—"This" +[a communication to Mary, Queen of Scots] +"they effected by conveying their letters to her by +means of a brewer <i>that supplied the family with ale +through a chink in the wall of her apartment</i>." A +queer brewer that,—to supply his ale through a chink +in the wall! How easy the alteration to make the +passage clear! "This they effected by conveying +their letters to her <i>through a chink in the wall of her +apartment, by means of a brewer that supplied the +family with ale</i>."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<p>238. Lavater wrote on <i>Physiognomy;</i> in the last +word sound the <i>g</i> distinctly, as <i>g</i> is always pronounced +before <i>n</i> when it is not in the same syllable; as, <i>indignity</i>, +&c.</p> + +<p>239. She is a very clever <i>girl;</i> pronounce <i>girl</i> as +if written <i>gerl;</i> never say <i>gal</i>, which is very vulgar.</p> + +<p>240. He built a large <i>granary;</i> pronounce <i>granary</i> +so as to rhyme with <i>tannery</i>, never call the word +<i>grainary</i>.</p> + +<p>241. Beware of using <i>Oh!</i> and <i>O</i> indiscriminately; +<i>Oh!</i> is used to express the emotion of <i>pain</i>, <i>sorrow</i>, +or <i>surprise;</i> as, "Oh! the exceeding grace of God, +who loves his creatures so." <i>O</i> is used to express +<i>wishing</i>, <i>exclamation</i>, or a direct <i>address</i> to a person; +as,</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"O mother, will the God above,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Forgive my faults like thee?"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>242. Some writers make a distinction between <i>farther</i> +and <i>further;</i> they are, in fact, the very same +word. <i>Further</i>, however, is less used than <i>farther</i>, +though it is the genuine form.</p> + +<p>243. He did it <i>unbeknown</i> to us; say, <i>unknown</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>244. If I say "They retreated <i>back</i>," I use a word +that is <i>superfluous</i>, as <i>back</i> is implied in the syllable +<i>re</i> in <i>retreated</i>. Never place the accent on <i>flu</i> in +<i>superfluous</i>, but always on <i>per</i>.</p> + +<p>245. In reading Paley's "Evidences of Christianity,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +I unexpectedly <i>lit on</i> the passage I wanted; +say, <i>met with</i> the passage, &c.</p> + +<p>246. He has ordered a <i>phaeton</i> from his coach-maker; +beware of saying, <i>pheton</i> or <i>phaton</i>. The +word should always be pronounced in <i>three</i> syllables, +with the accent on <i>pha</i>. N. B. In pha-e-ton the <i>a</i> +and <i>e</i> do <i>not</i> form a diphthong, as many suppose; the +word is of Greek origin.</p> + +<p>247. Be careful to use the hyphen (-) correctly; +it joins compound words, and words broken by the +ending of the line. The use of the hyphen will appear +more clearly from the following example: +"<i>many colored</i> wings" means <i>many</i> wings, which +are <i>colored;</i> but "<i>many-colored</i> wings" means "wings +of <i>many colors</i>."</p> + +<p>248. He had to wait in an <i>antechamber;</i> carefully +avoid spelling the last word <i>antichamber</i>. N. B. An +<i>antechamber</i> is the chamber that leads to the chief +apartment. <i>Ante</i> is a <span class="smcap">Latin preposition</span>, and means +<i>before</i>, as, to ante<i>date</i>, that is, "to date beforehand." +<i>Anti</i> is a <span class="smcap">Greek preposition</span>, and means <i>against</i>, as, +anti<i>monarchical</i>, that is, "against government by a +single person."</p> + +<p>249. The <i>axe</i> was very sharp; never spell <i>axe</i> +without the <i>e</i>.</p> + +<p>250. The force of voice, which is placed on any +particular word or words to distinguish the sense, is +called <i>emphasis</i> and those words are called <i>emphatical +words:</i> as, "Grammar is a <i>useful</i> science." In this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +sentence the word <i>useful</i> is emphatical. The great +importance of <i>emphasis</i> may be seen by the following +example:</p> + +<div class='poem'> +1. Will you <i>call</i> on me to-morrow?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Yes, I shall [<i>call</i>].</span><br /> +<br /> +2. Will you call on <i>me</i> to-morrow?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">No, but I shall call on your <i>brother</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +3. Will you call on me <i>to-morrow?</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">No, but I shall on the <i>following day</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +4. Will <i>you</i> call on me to-morrow?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">No, but my <i>brother</i> will.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>251. Never say <i>o-fences</i> for <i>offences;</i> <i>pison</i> for +<i>poison;</i> <i>co-lection</i> for <i>collection;</i> <i>voiolent</i> for <i>violent;</i> +<i>kiver</i> for <i>cover;</i> <i>afeard</i> for <i>afraid;</i> <i>debbuty</i> for <i>deputy</i>.</p> + +<p>252. He is a mere <i>cipher;</i> never spell <i>cipher</i> with +a <i>y</i>.</p> + +<p>253. I was <i>necessitated</i> to do it; a vile expression, +and often made worse by <i>necessiated</i> being used. +Say, I was <i>obliged</i>, or <i>compelled</i>, to do it.</p> + +<p>254. Gibbon wrote the "<i>Rise</i> and Fall of the +Roman Empire;" pronounce <i>rise</i>, the noun, so as to +rhyme with <i>price;</i> <i>rise</i>, the verb, rhymes with <i>prize</i>.</p> + +<p>255. Have you been to the <i>National</i> Gallery? +Never pronounce <i>national</i> as if it were written <i>nay-shun-al</i>, +a very common error, and by no means confined +to uneducated persons.</p> + +<p>256. I bought a new <i>umbrella;</i> beware of pronouncing +<i>umbrella</i>, <i>umberella</i>, or <i>umbereller</i>, both very +common errors.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<p>257. He is a supporter of the <i>government;</i> beware +of omitting the <i>n</i> in the second syllable of <i>government</i>. +A very common practice.</p> + +<p>258. He strenuously maintained the <i>contrary;</i> never +place the accent on the <i>second</i> syllable in <i>contrary</i>. +In the ancient and time-honored ditty, however, of</p> + +<div class='poem'> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Mistress Mary,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Quite <i>contrary</i>,</span><br /> +How does your garden grow?"<br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>a ballad with which we are all more or less familiar, +the word "<i>contrary</i>" <i>is</i> accented on the <i>second</i> syllable, +so as to rhyme with the name of the venerable +dame to whom these memorable lines were addressed.</div> + +<p>259. "Received this day <i>of</i> Mr. Brown, ten pounds;" +say, "Received this day <i>from</i>", &c.</p> + +<p>260. "In what case is the word <i>dominus?</i>" "In +the <i>nominative</i>, sir." In the hurry of school pronunciation +"<i>nominative</i>" is nearly always heard in <i>three</i> +syllables, as if written <i>nomnative</i> or <i>nomative</i>, an error +that should be very carefully avoided; it is a word of +<i>four</i> syllables.</p> + +<p>261. Of whatever you <i>get</i>, endeavor to save something; +and, with all your <i>getting</i>, <i>get</i> wisdom. Carefully +avoid saying <i>git</i> for <i>get</i>, and <i>gitting</i> for <i>getting</i>.</p> + +<p>262. So intent was he on the song he was <i>singing</i>, +as he stood by the fire, that he did not perceive that +his clothes were <i>singeing</i>. N. B. Verbs ending with +a <i>single e</i> omit the <i>e</i> when the termination <i>ing</i> is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +added; as, <i>give</i>, <i>giving</i>. In <i>singeing</i>, however, the <i>e</i> +must be retained, to prevent its being confounded +with <i>singing</i>.</p> + +<p>263. The boy had a <i>swingeing</i> for <i>swinging</i> without +permission. <i>Read the preceding note.</i></p> + +<p>264. The man who was <i>dyeing</i> said that his father +was then <i>dying</i>. Read the note in No. 262, in reference +to <i>dyeing;</i> and observe that <i>die</i> changes the <i>i</i> +into <i>y</i> before the addition of the termination <i>ing</i>.</p> + +<p>265. His <i>surname</i> is Clifford; never spell the <i>sur</i> +in <i>surname</i>, <i>sir</i>, which shows an ignorance of is true +derivation, which is from the Latin.</p> + +<p>266. In "Bell's Life in London," of Saturday, Jan. +13th, of the current year [1855], there is a letter +from a Scotchman to the editor on the subject of the +declining salmon fisheries in Scotland. In one passage +the writer thus expresses himself: "The Duke +of Sutherland has got <i>almost no rent</i> for these [salmon] +rivers for the last four years," &c. The writer should +have said, <i>scarcely any rent</i>. "<i>Almost no rent</i>" is a +downright Scotticism.</p> + +<p>267. His <i>mamma</i> sent him to a preparatory school; +<i>mamma</i> is often written with one <i>m</i> only, which is +not, as may at first be supposed, in imitation of the +French [<i>maman</i>], but in sheer ignorance. The word +is pure Greek.</p> + +<p>268. Active verbs often take a neuter sense; as, +<i>The house is building</i>. Here <i>is building</i> is used in a +neuter signification, because it has no object after it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +By this rule are explained such sentences as, <i>Application +is wanting</i>, <i>The grammar is printing</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>269. He <i>attackted</i> me without the slightest provocation; +say, <i>attacked</i>.</p> + +<p>270. I saw him <i>somewheres</i> in the city; say, <i>somewhere</i>. +N. B. <i>Nowheres</i>, <i>everywheres</i>, and <i>anywheres</i> +are also very frequently heard.</p> + +<p>271. He is still a <i>bacheldor;</i> say, <i>bachelor</i>.</p> + +<p>272. His language was quite <i>blasphemous;</i> beware +of placing the accent on <i>phe</i> in <i>blasphemous</i>. A very +common mistake. Place the accent on the syllable +<i>blas</i>.</p> + +<p>273. I fear I shall <i>discommode</i> you; say, <i>incommode</i>.</p> + +<p>274. I can do it <i>equally as well as</i> he; leave out +<i>equally</i>, which is altogether superfluous.</p> + +<p>275. We could not forbear <i>from</i> doing it; leave +out <i>from</i>, which is unnecessary.</p> + +<p>276. They accused him <i>for</i> neglecting his duty; +say, <i>of</i> neglecting, &c.</p> + +<p>277. He was made much <i>on</i> at Bath; say, made +much <i>of</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>278. He is a man <i>on</i> whom you can confide; say, +<i>in</i> whom, &c.</p> + +<p>279. <i>I'm thinking</i> he will soon arrive; say, <i>I +think</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>280. He was obliged to <i>fly</i> the country; say, <i>flee</i> +the country. A very common mistake.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<p>281. The snuffers <i>wants</i> mending; say, <i>want</i> +mending.</p> + +<p>282. His conduct admits <i>of</i> no apology; leave out +<i>of</i>, which is quite unnecessary.</p> + +<p>283. A <i>gent</i> has been here, inquiring for you,—a +detestable, but very common, expression; say, a +<i>gentleman</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>284. That was <i>all along of</i> you; say, That was <i>all +your fault</i>.</p> + +<p>285. You have no <i>call</i> to be vexed with me; say, +no <i>occasion</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>286. I <i>don't</i> know nothing about it,—a very common +cockneyism; leave out <i>don't</i>.</p> + +<p>287. I <i>had</i> rather not, should be, I <i>would</i> rather +not.</p> + +<p>288. I <i>had better</i> go, should be, <i>It were better</i> that +I should go.</p> + +<p>289. A <i>new pair</i> of gloves, should be, A <i>pair of +new</i> gloves.</p> + +<p>290. He is a <i>very rising</i> man, should be, He is +<i>rising rapidly</i>.</p> + +<p>291. Apartments <i>to let</i>, should be, Apartments <i>to be +let</i>.</p> + +<p>292. No <i>less</i> than ten persons, should be, No <i>fewer</i> +than ten persons. <i>Less</i> must be applied to quantity, +as, No <i>less</i> than ten pounds. <i>Fewer</i> must be applied +to things.</p> + +<p>293. I <i>never</i> speak, <i>whenever</i> I can help it, should +be, I never speak <i>when</i> I can help it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + +<p>294. <i>Before</i> I do that, I must <i>first</i> be paid, should +be, Before I do that, I must be paid.</p> + +<p>295. To <i>get over</i> an illness, should be, To <i>survive</i>, +or, To <i>recover from</i> an illness.</p> + +<p>296. To <i>get over</i> a person, should be, To <i>persuade</i> +a person.</p> + +<p>297. To <i>get over</i> a fact, should be, To <i>deny</i> or +<i>refute</i> it.</p> + +<p>298. The <i>then</i> Duke of Bedford, should be, The +Duke of Bedford <i>of that day</i>, or, The <i>sixth</i> Duke of +Bedford.</p> + +<p>299. The <i>then</i> Mrs. Howard, should be, The Mrs. +Howard <i>then living</i>.</p> + +<p>300. A <i>couple</i> of pounds, should be, <i>Two</i> pounds. +Couple implies union, as, A married couple.</p> + +<p>301. He speaks <i>slow</i>, should be, He speaks <i>slowly</i>.</p> + +<p>302. He is <i>noways</i> in fault, should be, He is <i>nowise</i> +in fault.</p> + +<p>303. He is <i>like</i> to be, should be, He is <i>likely</i> to be.</p> + +<p>304. <i>All over</i> the land, should be, <i>Over all</i> the +land.</p> + +<p>305. I am stout in comparison <i>to</i> you, should be, I +am stout in comparison <i>with</i> you.</p> + +<p>306. At <i>best</i>, should be, At <i>the best</i>.</p> + +<p>307. At <i>worst</i>, should be, At <i>the worst</i>.</p> + +<p>308. The dinner was <i>all eat up</i>, should be, The +dinner was <i>all eaten</i>.</p> + +<p>309. I <i>eat</i> heartily, should be, I <i>ate</i> heartily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<p>310. As I <i>take</i> it, should be, As I <i>see</i> it, or <i>understand</i> +it.</p> + +<p>311. I shall <i>fall down</i>, should be, I shall <i>fall</i>.</p> + +<p>312. It fell <i>on</i> the floor, should be, It fell <i>to</i> the +floor.</p> + +<p>313. He <i>again repeated</i> it, should be, He <i>repeated</i> +it.</p> + +<p>314. His conduct was <i>approved of</i> by all, should +be, His conduct was <i>approved</i> by all.</p> + +<p>315. He was killed <i>by</i> a cannon ball, should be, +He was killed <i>with</i> a cannon ball. The gun was +fired <i>by</i> a man.</p> + +<p>316. Six weeks <i>back</i>, should be, Six weeks <i>ago</i>, or +<i>since</i>.</p> + +<p>317. <i>Every now and then</i>, should be, <i>Often</i>, or +<i>Frequently</i>.</p> + +<p>318. Who finds him <i>in</i> money? should be, Who +finds him money?</p> + +<p>319. The <i>first of all</i>, should be, The <i>first</i>.</p> + +<p>320. The <i>last of all</i>, should be, The <i>last</i>.</p> + +<p>321. Be that as it <i>will</i>, should be, Be that as it <i>may</i>.</p> + +<p>322. My <i>every</i> hope, should be, <i>All</i> my hopes.</p> + +<p>323. Since <i>when</i>, should be, Since <i>which time</i>.</p> + +<p>324. He put it <i>in</i> his pocket, should be, He put it +<i>into</i> his pocket.</p> + +<p>325. Since <i>then</i>, should be, Since <i>that time</i>.</p> + +<p>326. The <i>latter</i> end, should be, The <i>end</i>.</p> + +<p>327. I saw it <i>in here</i>, should be, I saw it <i>here</i>.</p> + +<p>328. That <i>ay'nt</i> just, should be, That <i>is not</i> just.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p>329. The hen is <i>setting</i>, should be, The hen is +<i>sitting</i>.</p> + +<p>330. The wind <i>sets</i>, should be, The wind <i>sits</i>.</p> + +<p>331. To <i>lift up</i>, should be, To <i>lift</i>.</p> + +<p>332. I said so <i>over again</i>, should be, I <i>repeated</i> it.</p> + +<p>333. From <i>here to there</i>, should be, From <i>this place +to that</i>.</p> + +<p>334. <i>Nobody else</i> but him, should be, <i>Nobody</i> but +him.</p> + +<p>335. The balloon <i>ascended up</i>, should be, The balloon +<i>ascended</i>.</p> + +<p>336. <i>This</i> two days, should be, <i>These</i> two days.</p> + +<p>337. Do you <i>mean</i> to come? should be, Do you +<i>intend</i> to come?</p> + +<p>338. Each of them <i>are</i>, should be, Each of them +<i>is</i>. <i>Each</i> means one <i>and</i> the other of two.</p> + +<p>339. <i>Either</i> of the <i>three</i>, should be, <i>Any one</i> of the +three. <i>Either</i> means one <i>or</i> the other of two.</p> + +<p>340. <i>Neither</i> one <i>or</i> the other, should be, Neither +one <i>nor</i> the other. <i>Neither</i> (not either) means not +the one <i>nor</i> the other of two.</p> + +<p>341. Better <i>nor</i> that, should be, Better <i>than</i> that.</p> + +<p>342. <i>Bad grammar</i>, should be, Bad or ungrammatical +<i>English</i>.</p> + +<p>343. As soon as <i>ever</i>, should be, As soon as.</p> + +<p>344. You will <i>some</i> day be sorry, should be, You +will <i>one</i> day be sorry.</p> + +<p>345. From <i>now</i>, should be, From <i>this time</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> + +<p>346. Therefore, I <i>thought</i> it proper to write you, +should be, Therefore, I <i>think</i> it proper to write <i>to</i> you.</p> + +<p>347. <i>There's</i> thirty, should be, There <i>are</i> thirty.</p> + +<p>348. <i>Subject matter</i>, should be, The subject.</p> + +<p>349. A <i>summer's</i> morning, should be, A <i>summer</i> +morning.</p> + +<p>350. My clothes <i>have got</i> too small, or too short, +for me, should be, I have become too stout or too tall +for my clothes.</p> + +<p>351. A <i>most perfect</i> poem, should be, A <i>perfect</i> +poem. Perfect, supreme, complete, brief, full, empty, +true, false, do not admit of comparison.</p> + +<p>352. Avoid using unmeaning or vulgar phrases in +speaking, as, You don't say so? Don't you know? +Don't you see? You know; You see; So, you +see, &c.</p> + +<p>353. Is Mr. Smith <i>in?</i> should be, Is Mr. Smith +<i>within?</i></p> + +<p>354. The <i>other one</i>, should be, The other.</p> + +<p>355. <i>Another one</i>, should be, Another.</p> + +<p>356. I <i>left</i> this morning. Name the place left.</p> + +<p>357. Over head <i>and ears</i>, should be, Over <i>head</i>.</p> + +<p>358. I may <i>perhaps</i>, or <i>probably</i>, should be, I may.</p> + +<p>359. Whether he will or <i>no</i>, should be, Whether +he will or <i>not</i>.</p> + +<p>360. <i>Says</i> I, should be, <i>Said</i> I, or, I <i>said</i>.</p> + +<p>361. He spoke <i>contemptibly</i> of him, should be, He +spoke <i>contemptuously</i> of him.</p> + +<p>362. <i>Was</i> you? should be, <i>Were</i> you?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>363. I am <i>oftener</i> well than ill, should be, I am +<i>more frequently</i> well than ill.</p> + +<p>364. For <i>good and all</i>, should be, For <i>ever</i>.</p> + +<p>365. It is <i>above</i> a month since, should be, It is +<i>more</i> then a month since.</p> + +<p>366. He is a <i>superior</i> man, should be, He is <i>superior +to most</i> men.</p> + +<p>367. He <i>need</i> not do it, should be, He <i>needs</i> not do +it.</p> + +<p>368. Go <i>over</i> the bridge, should be, Go <i>across</i> the +bridge.</p> + +<p>369. I was some distance from home, should be, I +was <i>at</i> some distance from home.</p> + +<p>370. He <i>belongs</i> to the <i>Mechanics'</i> Institution, should +be, He is a <i>member</i> of the <i>Mechanics'</i> Institution.</p> + +<p>371. For <i>such another</i> book, should be, For <i>another +such</i> book.</p> + +<p>372. They <i>mutually</i> loved <i>each other</i>, should be, +They loved <i>each other</i>.</p> + +<p>373. I <i>ay'nt</i>, should be, I <i>am not</i>.</p> + +<p>374. I am <i>up to you</i>, should be, I <i>understand</i> you.</p> + +<p>375. Bread has <i>rose</i>, should be, Bread has <i>risen</i>.</p> + +<p>376. He was in <i>eminent</i> danger, should be, He was +in <i>imminent</i> danger.</p> + +<p>377. Take hold <i>on</i>, should be, Take hold <i>of</i>.</p> + +<p>378. Vegetables were <i>plenty</i>, should be, Vegetables +were <i>plentiful</i>.</p> + +<p>379. Avoid all slang and vulgar words and phrases, +as, <i>Any how</i>, <i>Bating</i>, <i>Bran new</i>, <i>To blow up</i>, <i>Bother</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +<i>Cut</i>, <i>Currying favor</i>, <i>Fork out</i>, <i>Half an eye</i>, <i>I am up +to you</i>, <i>Kick up</i>, <i>Leastwise</i>, <i>Nowheres</i>, <i>Pell-mell</i>, +<i>Scrape</i>, <i>The Scratch</i>, <i>Rum</i>, <i>Topsy-turvey</i>, <i>Walk into</i>, +<i>Whatsomever</i>.</p> + +<p>"Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar."—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1_ad" id="Page_1_ad">[1]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CATALOGUE<br /> + +<span class='small'>OF</span><br /> + +Books for Schools and Colleges,<br /> + +<span class='small'>PUBLISHED BY</span><br /> + +JAMES MUNROE & CO.<br /> + +<span class='small'>No. 134 Washington Street, Boston,</span><br /> + +<span class='small'>AND</span><br /> + +<span class='small'>Lyceum Building, Harvard Square, Cambridge.</span></h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>FIRST LESSONS IN GRAMMAR.</b></div> + +<p>LITTLE EDWARD'S FIRST LESSONS IN GRAMMAR. +By Mrs. Lowell. 18mo. 17 cents.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>ENGLISH GRAMMAR.</b></div> + +<p>ENGLISH GRAMMAR, on the basis of Lindley Murray. +By John Goldsbury. 12mo. 20 cents.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>SEQUEL TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR.</b></div> + +<p>SEQUEL TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR, being the second +part. 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Volume +Second, containing Calculus of Imaginary Quantities, Residual +Calculus, and Integral Calculus. Second Edition. 2 +vols. 12mo. Plates. $2.50.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>WHATELY'S ENGLISH SYNONYMS.</b></div> + +<p>A SELECTION OF ENGLISH SYNONYMS. First +American, from the Second London Edition. Revised and +enlarged. 12mo. pp. 180. 63 cents.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"For a clear and full understanding of the force and meaning of +these, the reader will find here great assistance."—<i>Merchants' +Magazine.</i></p> + +<p>"It will be welcome to the lovers of nice philological distinctions. +As a whole, they are marked by good sense, as well as by critical +acumen; and rich as they are in suggestions, even to the most accomplished +word-fancier, they cannot be studied without advantage."—<i>Harper's +Magazine.</i></p> + +<p>"It is marked by that strong common-sense and accurate learning +which have rendered the author's educational treatises so indispensable +to all professional teachers. We know of no work on synonyms +that is equal in value to this."—<i>New York Recorder.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5_ad" id="Page_5_ad">[5]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>WHATELY'S ELEMENTS OF LOGIC.</b></div> + +<p>ELEMENTS OF LOGIC, comprising the Substance of +the Article in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, with Additions, +&c. By Richard Whately, D. D., Archbishop of +Dublin. New revised Edition, with the Author's last Additions. +Large 12mo. pp. 484. Cloth stamped. $1.00.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"This work (Elements of Logic) has long been our text-book here. +The style in which you have published this new edition of so valuable +a work leaves nothing to be desired in regard of elegance and +convenience."—<span class="smcap">Professor Dunn</span>, <i>Brown University.</i></p> + +<p>"Its merits are now too widely known to require an enumeration +of them. The present American edition of it is conformed to the +ninth English edition, which was revised by the author, and which +contains several improvements on the former issues."—<i>North American +Review.</i></p> + +<p>"This elementary treatise holds a very high rank among the educational +works of the day, having been introduced into most of the +best managed and popular seminaries of learning, both in England +and the United States. It is got up in correct and beautiful style."—<i>Merchants' +Magazine.</i></p> + +<p>"From stereotype plates, and the new ninth edition revised by its +author, have just been published, in a fairer and handsomer style, +than the English copy, Archbishop Whately's Elements of Logic, +which, like the 'Rhetoric' by the same prelate, has taken its place +as a standard work, and is too generally known and used to need +special notice."—<i>Christian Inquirer.</i></p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>WHATELY'S ELEMENTS OF RHETORIC.</b></div> + +<p>ELEMENTS OF RHETORIC: comprising an Analysis +of the Laws of Moral Evidence and of Persuasion, with +Rules for Argumentative Composition and Elocution. New +Edition, revised by the Author. Large 12mo. pp. 546. +$1.00.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Elements of Rhetoric has become so much a standard work +that it might seem superfluous to speak of it. In short, we should +not dream of teaching a college class from any other book on Rhetoric. +Communion with Whately's mind would improve any mind +on earth."—<i>Presbyterian Quarterly Review.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6_ad" id="Page_6_ad">[6]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>QUESTIONS TO WHATELY'S RHETORIC.</b></div> + +<p>QUESTIONS ADAPTED TO WHATELY'S ELEMENTS +OF RHETORIC, for the Use of Schools and +Colleges; prepared by a Teacher. 12mo. 15 cents.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>QUESTIONS TO WHATELY'S LOGIC.</b></div> + +<p>QUESTIONS ADAPTED TO WHATELY'S ELEMENTS +OF LOGIC, for the Use of Schools and Colleges; +prepared by a Teacher. 12mo. 15 cents.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>WHATELY'S LESSONS ON REASONING.</b></div> + +<p>EASY LESSONS ON REASONING. By Richard +Whately, D. D. Fourth Edition, from the Fifth London +Edition. 12mo. pp. 180. 63 cents.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is an admirably clear and simple introduction to Dr. Whately's +'Elements of Logic,' being designed, apparently, to facilitate the use +of that work in academies and high schools."—<i>North American +Review.</i></p> + +<p>"It is marked on every page by that same strong good-sense and +solid learning, which have rendered his works on Logic and Rhetoric +to universally valuable as text-books for students."—<i>Boston Daily +Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p>"The work before us is an attempt to simplify the study of logic, +and to set young persons at the good task of thinking,—thinking +correctly, and speaking correctly. The attempt is admirable, and +the volume deserves general patronage."—<i>United States Gazette.</i></p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class='center'><b>BOWEN'S VIRGIL.</b></div> + +<p>P. VIRGILII MARONIS BUCOLICA, GEORGICA, +ET ÆNEIS. Virgil; with English Notes, prepared for +the Use of Classical Schools and Colleges. By Francis +Bowen, Alford Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy +in Harvard College. Stereotype Edition. 8vo. pp. +600. $2.25.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> +<div class='poem3'> +"Quale i fioretti, dol notturno gielo<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Chinati e chiusi, poi che 'l sol gl' imbianca,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Si drizzan tutti aperti in loro stelo,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Tal mi fece io di mia virtute stanca."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 16em;"><i>Inf.</i> Can. ii. 127-9.</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> +<div class='poem3'> +"Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Tangit, et admissus circum præcordia ludit."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Pers. i. 116.</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> December, 1854.</p></div> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Conversation, by Andrew P. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Conversation + Its Faults and Its Graces + +Author: Andrew P. Peabody + +Release Date: January 6, 2011 [EBook #34863] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONVERSATION *** + + + + +Produced by Emmy, Darleen Dove and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + + +CONVERSATION. + + + + +CONVERSATION; + +ITS FAULTS + +AND + +ITS GRACES. + +COMPILED BY + +ANDREW P. PEABODY. + + * * * * * + + BOSTON AND CAMBRIDGE: + JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. + + M DCCC LV. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by + JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY, + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of + Massachusetts. + + CAMBRIDGE: + THURSTON AND TORRY, PRINTERS. + + + + + DEDICATED + + TO + + AMERICAN TEACHERS. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +THE Compiler has attempted to bring together in this little volume the +principles which should govern conversation among persons of true +refinement of mind and character, and to point out some of the most +common and easily besetting vulgarisms occurring in the colloquial +English of our country and day. Part I. is an Address delivered before a +Young Ladies' School, in Newburyport. Part II. is a Lecture addressed to +the Literary, Scientific and Mechanics' Institution at Reading, England. +Part III. is a reprint from the fourth English edition of "A Word to the +Wise, or Hints on the Current Improprieties of Expression in Writing and +Speaking," by Parry Gwynne, a few passages not applicable to the habits +of American society being omitted. Part IV. is composed of selections +from two little English books, entitled, "Never too late to Learn: +Mistakes of daily occurrence in Speaking, Writing and Pronunciation +corrected;" and "Common Blunders in Speaking and Writing." + + + + +PART I. + +AN ADDRESS + +DELIVERED BEFORE THE + +NEWBURYPORT FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL, + +DECEMBER 19, 1846, + +BY ANDREW P. PEABODY. + + +YOUNG LADIES, + +You have made me happy by your kind invitation to meet you, and to +address you on this anniversary. A day spent in this room at your annual +examination, nearly two years ago, was a season of privilege and +enjoyment not readily to be forgotten. I had previously entertained a +high regard for your instructor. I then learned to know him by his work; +and, were he not here, I should be glad to extend beyond a single +sentence my congratulations with you that you are his pupils. + +I have said that I accepted your invitation with gladness. Yet, in +preparing myself to meet you, I find a degree of embarrassment. This is +for you a season of recreation,--a high festival; and I am accustomed to +use my pen and voice only on grave occasions, and for solemn services. I +know not how to add to your amusement. Should I undertake to make sport +for you, my awkwardness would give you more mirth than my wit. The best +that I can do is to select some subject that is or ought to be +interesting to you, and to endeavor to blend a little instruction with +the gayer and more lively notes of the occasion. The lesson shall be +neither tediously long nor needlessly grave. + +I propose to offer you a few hints on _conversation_. How large a +portion of life does it fill up! How innumerable are its ministries and +its uses! It is the most refined species of recreation,--the most +sparkling source of merriment. It interweaves with a never-resting +shuttle the bonds of domestic sympathy. It fastens the ties of +friendship, and runs along the golden links of the chain of love. It +enriches charity, and makes the gift twice blessed. There is, perhaps, a +peculiar appropriateness in the selection of this topic for an address +to young ladies; for they do more than any other class in the community +towards establishing the general tone and standard of social +intercourse. The voices of many of you already, I doubt not, strike the +key-note of home conversation; and you are fast approaching an age when +you will take prominent places in general society; will be the objects +of peculiar regard; and will, in a great measure, determine whether the +social converse in your respective circles shall be vulgar or refined, +censorious or kindly, frivolous or dignified. It was said by a wise man +of antiquity,--"Only give me the making of songs for the people, and I +care not who makes the laws." In our unmusical age and land, talking +occupies the place which songs did among the melody-loving Greeks; and +he who could tune the many-voiced harp of the social party, need crave +no higher office or more potent sway. + +Permit me now to enumerate some of the characteristics of graceful, +elegant, and profitable conversation, commencing with the lower graces, +and passing on to the higher. + +Let me first beg you, if you would be good talkers, to form and fix now, +(for you can do this only now,) habits of correct and easy +pronunciation. The words which you now miscall, it will cost you great +pains in after life to pronounce aright, and you will always be in +danger of returning inadvertently to your old pronunciation. There are +two extremes which you ought equally to shun. One is that of +carelessness; the other, that of extreme precision, as if the sound of +the words uttered were constantly uppermost in the mind. This last fault +always suggests the idea of vanity and pedantry, and is of itself enough +to add a deep indigo hue to a young lady's reputation. + +One great fault of New England pronunciation is, that the work is +performed too much by the outer organs of speech. The tones of the voice +have but little depth. Instead of a generous play of the throat and +lungs, the throat almost closes, and the voice seems to be formed in the +mouth. It is this that gives what is called a _nasal_ tone to the voice, +which, when denied free range through its lawful avenues, rushes in part +through the nose. We notice the nasal pronunciation in excess here and +there in an individual, while Englishmen and Southerners observe it as a +prevailing characteristic of all classes of people in the Northern +States. Southerners in general are much less careful and accurate in +pronunciation than we are; but they more than compensate for this +deficiency by the full, round tones in which they utter themselves. In +our superficial use of the organs of speech, there are some consonants +which we are prone to omit altogether. This is especially the case with +_g_ in words that end with _ing_. Nine persons out of ten say _singin_ +instead of _singing_. I know some public speakers, and many private +ones, who never pronounce the _t_ in such words as _object_ and +_prospect_. Very few persons give the right sound to _r_ final. _Far_ is +generally pronounced as if it were written _fah_. Now, I would not have +the full Hibernian roll of the _r_; but I would have the presence of the +letter more distinctly recognized, than it often is, even by persons of +refined and fastidious taste. + +Let me next beg you to shun all the ungrammatical vulgarisms which are +often heard, but which never fail to grate harshly on a well-tuned ear. +If you permit yourselves to use them now, you will never get rid of +them. I know a venerable and accomplished lawyer, who has stood at the +head of his profession in this State, and has moved in the most refined +society for half a century, who to this day says _haint_ for _has not_, +having acquired the habit when a schoolboy. I have known persons who +have for years tried unsuccessfully to break themselves of saying _done_ +for _did_, and _you and I_ for _you and me_. Many well-educated persons, +through the power of long habit, persist in saying _shew_ for _showed_, +while they know perfectly well that they might, with equal propriety, +substitute _snew_ for _snowed_; and there is not far hence a clergyman, +marvellously precise and fastidious in his choice of words, who is very +apt to commence his sermon by saying, "I _shew_ you in a recent +discourse." A false delicacy has very generally introduced _drank_ as +the perfect participle of _drink_, instead of _drunk_, which alone has +any respectable authority in its favor; and the imperfect tense and +perfect participle have been similarly confounded in many other cases. I +know not what grammar you use in this school. I trust that it is an old +one; for some of the new grammars sanction these vulgarisms, and in +looking over their tables of irregular verbs, I have sometimes half +expected to have the book dashed from my hand by the indignant ghost of +Lindley Murray. Great care and discretion should be employed in the use +of the common abbreviations of the negative forms of the substantive and +auxiliary verbs. _Can't_, _don't_, and _haven't_, are admissible in +rapid conversation on trivial subjects. _Isn't_ and _hasn't_ are more +harsh, yet tolerated by respectable usage. _Didn't_, _couldn't_, +_wouldn't_, and _shouldn't_, make as unpleasant combinations of +consonants as can well be uttered, and fall short but by one remove of +those unutterable names of Polish gentlemen which sometimes excite our +wonder in the columns of a newspaper. _Won't_ for _will not_, and _aint_ +for _is not_ or _are not_, are absolutely vulgar; and _aint_, for _has +not_ or _have not_, is utterly intolerable. + +Nearly akin to these offences against good grammar is another untasteful +practice, into which you are probably more in danger of falling, and +which is a crying sin among young ladies,--I mean the use of +exaggerated, extravagant forms of speech,--saying _splendid_ for +_pretty_, _magnificent_ for _handsome_, _horrid_ for _very_, _horrible_ +for _unpleasant_, _immense_ for _large_, _thousands_ or _myriads_ for +any number greater than _two_. Were I to write down, for one day, the +conversation of some young ladies of my acquaintance, and then to +interpret it literally, it would imply that, within the compass of +twelve or fourteen hours, they had met with more marvellous adventures +and hair-breadth escapes, had passed through more distressing +experiences, had seen more imposing spectacles, had endured more +fright, and enjoyed more rapture, than would suffice for half a dozen +common lives. This habit is attended with many inconveniences. It +deprives you of the intelligible use of strong expressions when you need +them. If you use them all the time, nobody understands or believes you +when you use them in earnest. You are in the same predicament with the +boy who cried WOLF so often, when there was no wolf, that nobody would +go to his relief when the wolf came. This habit has also a very bad +moral bearing. Our words have a reflex influence upon our characters. +Exaggerated speech makes one careless of the truth. The habit of using +words without regard to their rightful meaning, often leads one to +distort facts, to misreport conversations, and to magnify statements, in +matters in which the literal truth is important to be told. You can +never trust the testimony of one who in common conversation is +indifferent to the import, and regardless of the power, of words. I am +acquainted with persons whose representations of facts always need +translation and correction, and who have utterly lost their reputation +for veracity, solely through this habit of overstrained and extravagant +speech. They do not mean to lie; but they have a dialect of their own, +in which words bear an entirely different sense from that given to them +in the daily intercourse of discreet and sober people. + +In this connection, it may not be amiss to notice a certain class of +phrases, often employed to fill out and dilute sentences, such as, _I'm +sure_,--_I declare_,--_That's a fact_,--_You know_,--_I want to +know_,--_Did you ever?_--_Well! I never_,--and the like. All these forms +of speech disfigure conversation, weaken the force of the assertions or +statements with which they are connected, and give unfavorable +impressions as to the good breeding of the person that uses them. + +You will be surprised, young ladies, to hear me add to these +counsels,--"Above all things, swear not at all." Yet there is a great +deal of swearing among those who would shudder at the very thought of +being profane. The Jews, who were afraid to use the most sacred names in +common speech, were accustomed to swear by the temple, by the altar, and +by their own heads; and these oaths were rebuked and forbidden by divine +authority. I know not why the rebuke and prohibition apply not with full +force to the numerous oaths by _goodness_, _faith_, _patience_, and +_mercy_, which we hear from lips that mean to be neither coarse nor +irreverent, in the schoolroom, street, and parlor; and a moment's +reflection will convince any well-disposed person, that, in the +exclamation _Lor_, the cutting off of a single letter from a consecrated +word can hardly save one from the censure and the penalty written in the +third commandment. I do not regard these expressions as harmless. I +believe them inconsistent with Christian laws of speech. Nor do they +accord with the simple, quiet habit of mind and tone of feeling which +are the most favorable to happiness and usefulness, and which sit as +gracefully on gay and buoyant youth as on the sedateness of maturer +years. The frame of mind in which a young lady says, in reply to a +question, _Mercy! no_, is very different from that which prompts the +simple, modest _no_. Were there any room for doubt, I should have some +doubt of the truth of the former answer; for the unnatural, excited, +fluttered state of mind implied in the use of the oath, might indicate +either an unfitness to weigh the truth, or an unwillingness to +acknowledge it. + +In fine, transparency is an essential attribute of all graceful and +becoming speech. Language ought to represent the speaker's ideas, and +neither more nor less. Exclamations, needless expletives, unmeaning +extravagances, are as untasteful as the streamers of tattered finery +which you sometimes see fluttering about the person of a dilapidated +belle. Let your thoughts be as strong, as witty, as brilliant, as you +can make them; but never seek to atone for feeble thought by large +words, or to rig out foolish conceits in the spangled robe of genuine +wit. Speak as you think and feel; and let the tongue always be an honest +interpreter to the heart. + +But it is time that we passed to higher considerations. There are great +laws of duty and religion which should govern our conversation; and the +divine Teacher assures us that even for our idle words we are +accountable to Him who has given us the power of speech. Now, I by no +means believe that there is any principle of our religion which frowns +upon wit or merriment, or forbids playful speech at fit seasons and +within due limits. The very fact that the Almighty has created the +muscles which produce the smile and the laugh, is a perpetual rebuke to +those who would call all laughter madness, and all mirth folly. +Amusement, in its time and place, is a great good; and I know of no +amusement so refined, so worthy an intellectual being, as that +conversation which is witty and still kind, playful, yet always +reverent, which recreates from toil and care, but leaves no sting, and +violates no principle of brotherly love or religious duty. + +Evil speaking, slander, detraction, gossip, scandal, are different names +for one of the chief dangers to be guarded against in conversation; and +you are doing much towards defending yourselves against it by the +generous mental culture which you enjoy in this seminary. The demon of +slander loves an empty house. A taste for scandal betrays a vacant mind. +Furnish your minds, then, by useful reading and study, and by habits of +reflection and mental industry, that you may be able to talk about +subjects as well as about people,--about events too long past or too +remote to be interwoven with slander. But, if you must talk about +people, why not about their good traits and deeds? The truest ingenuity +is that which brings hidden excellences to light; for virtue is in her +very nature modest and retiring, while faults lie on the surface and are +detected with half an eye. + +You will undoubtedly be careful to have your words always just and kind, +if you will only take a sufficiently thorough view of the influence of +your habits of conversation, both in the formation of your own +characters and in determining the happiness of others. But how low an +estimate do many of us make of the power of the tongue! How little +account we are apt to take of our words! Have we not all at times said +to ourselves, "Oh! it is only a word!" when it may have been sharp as a +drawn sword, have given more pain than a score of blows, and done more +harm than our hands could have wrought in a month? Why is it that the +slanderer and the tale-bearer regard themselves as honest and worthy +people, instead of feeling that they are accursed of God and man? It is +because they deal in evil words only, and they consider words as mere +nought. Why is it that the carping tongue, which filches a little from +everybody's good name, can hardly utter itself without a sneer, and +makes every fair character its prey, thinks better of itself than a +petty pilferer would? It is because by long, though baseless +prescription, the tongue has claimed for itself a license denied to +every other member and faculty. + +But, in point of fact, your words not only express, but help create, +your characters. Speech gives definiteness and permanence to your +thoughts and feelings. The unuttered thought may fade from the +memory,--may be chased away by better thoughts,--may, indeed, hardly be +a part of your own mind; for, if suggested from without, and met without +a welcome, and with disapproval and resistance, it is not yours. But by +speech you adopt thoughts, and the voice that utters them is as a pen +that engraves them indelibly on the soul. If you can suppress unkind +thoughts, so that, when they rise in your breast, and mount to your very +lips, you leave them unuttered, you are not on the whole unkind,--your +better nature has the supremacy. But if these wrong feelings often find +utterance, though you call it hasty utterance, there is reason to fear +that they flow from a bitter fountain within. + +Consider, also, how large a portion speech makes up of the lives of all. +It occupies the greater part of the waking hours of many of us; while +express acts of a moral bearing, compared with our words, are rare and +few. Indeed, in many departments of duty, words are our only possible +deeds,--it is by words alone that we can perform or violate our duty. +Many of the most important forms of charity are those of speech. +Alms-giving is almost the only expression of charity of which the voice +is not the chief minister; and alms, conferred in silent coldness, or +with chiding or disdainful speech, freeze the spirit, though they may +warm the body. Speech, too, is the sole medium of a countless host of +domestic duties and observances. There are, indeed, in every community +many whose only activity seems to be in words. There are many young +ladies, released from the restraints of school, and many older ladies, +with few or no domestic burdens, with no worldly avocation and no taste +for reading, whose whole waking life, either at their own homes or from +house to house, is given to the exercise, for good or evil, of the +tongue,--that unruly member. And how blessed might they make that +exercise,--for how many holy ministries of love, sympathy, and charity +might it suffice,--how many wounds might it prevent or heal,--did they +only believe and feel that they were writing out their own characters in +their daily speech! But too many of them forget this. So long as they do +not knowingly and absolutely lie, they feel no responsibility for their +words. They deem themselves virtuous, because they refrain from vices to +which they have not the shadow of a temptation; but carp, backbite, and +carry ill reports from house to house, with an apostle's zeal and a +martyr's devotedness. To say nothing of the social effect of such a +life, is not the tongue thus employed working out spiritual death for +the soul in whose service it is busy? I know of no images too vile to +portray such a character. The dissection of a slanderer's or +talebearer's heart would present the most loathsome specimen of morbid +anatomy conceivable. It is full of the most malignant poison. Its life +is all mean, low, serpent-like,--a life that cannot bear the light, but +finds all its nourishment and growth in darkness. Were these foul and +odious forms of speech incapable of harming others,--did human reptiles +of this class creep about in some outward guise, in which they could be +recognized by all, and their words be taken for what they are worth, and +no more,--still I would beg them, for their own sakes, not to degrade +God's image, in which they were created, into the likeness of a creeping +thing; I would entreat them not to be guilty of the meanest and most +miserable of all forms of spiritual suicide; I would beseech them, if +they are determined to sell their souls, to get some better price for +them than the scorn and dread of all whose esteem is worth having. + +In this connection, we ought to take into account the very large class +of literally idle words. How many talk on unthinkingly and heedlessly, +as if the swift exercise of the organs of speech were the great end of +life! The most trivial news of the day, the concerns of the +neighborhood, the floating gossip, whether good-natured or malignant, +dress, food, frivolous surmises, paltry plans, vanities too light to +remain an hour upon the memory,--these are the sole staple of what too +many call conversation; and many are the young people who are training +themselves in the use of speech for no higher or better purpose. But +such persons have the threatened judgment visibly following their idle +speech. Their minds grow superficial and shallow. They constantly lose +ground, if they ever had any, as intellectual and moral beings. Such +speech makes a person, of however genteel training, coarse and vulgar, +and that not only in character, but even in voice and manners, and with +sad frequency it obliterates traits of rich loveliness and promise. The +merely idle tongue is also very readily betrayed into overt guilt. One +cannot indulge in idle, reckless talk, without being implicated in all +the current slander and calumny, and acquiring gradually the envious and +malignant traits of a hackneyed tale-bearer. And the person who, in +youth, can attract the attention and win the favor of those of little +reflection by flippant and voluble discourse, will encounter in the very +same circles neglect, disesteem, and dislike, before the meridian of +life is passed; for it takes all the charms that youth, sprightliness, +and high animal spirits can furnish, to make an idle tongue fascinating +or even endurable. + +Let me ask you now to consider for a moment the influence which we exert +in conversation upon the happiness or misery of others. It is not too +much to say, that most of us do more good or harm in this way than in +all other forms beside. Look around you,--take a survey of whatever +there is of social or domestic unhappiness in the families to which you +belong, or among your kindred and acquaintance. Nine tenths of it can be +traced to no other cause than untrue, unkind, or ungoverned speech. A +mere harsh word, repented of the next moment,--how great a fire can it +kindle! The carrying back and forth of an idle tale, not worth an hour's +thought, will often break up the closest intimacies. From every +slanderous tongue you may trace numerous rills of bitterness, winding +round from house to house, and separating those who ought to be united +in the closest friendship. Could persons, who, with kind hearts, are yet +hasty in speech, number up, at the close of a day, the feelings that +they had wounded, and the uncomfortable sensations that they had caused, +they would need no other motive to study suavity of manner, and to seek +for their words the rich unction of a truly charitable spirit. Then, +too, how many are the traits of suspicion, jealousy, and heart-burning, +which go forth from every day's merely idle words, vain and vague +surmises, uncharitable inferences and conjectures! + +These thoughts point to the necessity of religion as the guiding, +controlling element in conversation. All conversation ought to be +religious. Not that I would have persons always talking on what are +commonly called religious subjects. Let these be talked of at fitting +times and places, but never obtrusively brought forward or thrust in. +But cannot common subjects be talked of religiously? Cannot we converse +about our plans, our amusements, our reading, nay, and our neighbors +too, and no sacred name be introduced, and yet the conversation be +strictly religious? Yes,--if throughout the conversation we own the +laws of honesty, frankness, kind construction, and sincere +benevolence,--if our speech be pure, true, gentle, dignified,--if it +seek or impart information that either party needs,--if it cherish +friendly feeling,--if it give us kinder affections towards others,--if +it bring our minds into vigorous exercise,--nay, if it barely amuse us, +but not too long, and if the wit be free from coarseness and at no one's +expense. But we should ever bear it in mind, that our words are all +uttered in the hearing of an unseen Listener and Judge. Could we keep +this in remembrance, there would be little in our speech that need give +us shame or pain. But that half hour spent in holding up to ridicule one +who has done you no harm,--that breathless haste to tell the last piece +of slander,--you would not want to remember in your evening prayer. From +the flippant, irresponsible, wasteful gossip, in which so much time is +daily lost, you could not with a safe conscience look up and own an +Almighty presence. + +Young ladies, my subject is a large one, and branches out into so many +heads, that, were I to say all that I should be glad to say, the setting +sun would stop me midway. But it is time for me to relieve your +patience. Accept, with these fragmentary hints, my cordial +congratulations and good wishes. Life now smiles before you, and beckons +you onward. Heaven grant that your coming days may be even happier than +you hope! To make them so is within your own power. They will not be +cloudless. If you live long, disappointments and sorrows must come. +There will be steep and rough passages in the way of life. But there is +a Guide, in whose footprints you may climb the steep places without +weariness, and tread the rough ground without stumbling. Add to your +mental culture faith in Him, and the self-consecration of the Christian +heart. Then even trials will make you happier. When clouds are over your +way, rays from Heaven will struggle through their fissures, and fringe +their edges. Your path will be onward and upward, ever easier, ever +brighter. On that path may your early footsteps be planted, that the +beautiful bloom of your youth may not wither and perish, but may ripen +for a heavenly harvest! + + + + +PART II. + + + + +A LECTURE + +DELIVERED AT READING, ENGLAND, DECEMBER 19, 1854, + +BY FRANCIS TRENCH. + + +WE are all of us more or less apt to overlook that which is continually +going on around us. We omit to make it a matter of inquiry, and reserve +our attention for that which is more rare, although of far less +importance. What is it, for instance, which, after a course of long, +sultry heat,--when the sun, day by day, has blazed in the sky +above,--what is it, I ask, which has still preserved the verdure and +freshness of all vegetable life? Surely it has been nothing else than +the dew of heaven, gently, regularly, plenteously falling, as each +evening closed in. Nevertheless, how little is it thought of,--how +little are its benefits acknowledged! But when the clouds gather +speedily and darkly, and perhaps unexpectedly, when the sense of +coolness spreads once more through the parched atmosphere, when +abundance of rain all at once descends, then all observe the change, all +notice the beneficial results; yet perhaps they are trifling indeed +compared with those of the nightly and forgotten dew, which has never +ceased to fall, week by week, or even month by month, during the course +of the drought. I feel no doubt that it will be acknowledged how it is +the same, the very same, in all things calling for our observation. So, +therefore, it is regarding conversation, as a thing of every day. We +flock to hear and admire some mighty orator's address, but we think +little of and little appreciate that daily, hourly thing which is our +subject now,--I mean conversation. But I leave you to judge which has +the most effect on our general interest, as social creatures,--which, in +the long run, has most to do with the pleasure and the profit of all +human intercourse. + +Having made this claim on your attention, I would now observe that the +subject is one of so wide a scope that I can do little more than present +you with a few thoughts, which I have noted down as they have risen to +my own mind, upon it. And I trust that they will prove not entirely +unacceptable, though well indeed aware that the topic is one to which it +must be very difficult indeed to do any justice. + +But I must first try to meet one objection, for which I am quite +prepared, namely, that conversation is not a fit subject for a lecture +at all, but should be considered as too independent and free to have +any rules, principles, or guidance applied to it. This, however, is +indeed a fallacy, and may briefly be exposed by a few such questions as +those I am about to ask. What should be more free than the sword of the +soldier in the battle-day?--than the pencil of the artist at the +mountain side?--or than the poet's song in its upward flight? Yet who +would condemn the use of the drill, or the study of perspective, or the +rules of poetic art? No less untenable is it to maintain that +conversation can be subject to no principle, rule, or review, without +checking its free and unfettered range. Cowper has simply summed up the +whole truth:-- + + "Though conversation in its better part + May be esteemed a gift, and not an art; + Yet much depends, as in the tiller's toil, + On culture and the sowing of the soil." + +Nor shall I venture to suggest any measures which I do not believe +already well sanctioned, well honored, and well practised too, even by +many who have never yet thought of classifying them at all. But these I +shall freely give, as my duty is, at your summons this night. + +Conversation may be termed or defined as "the exchange and +communication, by word, of that which is passing in the inward mind and +heart." And none of all known creatures, except man, has this peculiar +gift. The animal tribes approach us and even surpass us in many of +their physical powers and capacities. As to their capacities in the five +senses of the body, I conceive that, generally speaking, it is so; but +none of them converse, like man, in expressive words, however they may +and do comprehend one another through inferior means. Homer has +therefore defined our race as "word-dividing men." And surely such a +capacity or power is not bestowed on us unaccompanied by an obligation +and a claim to give due diligence how we do and how we may employ it. +Never to act thus is surely an undue disregard of our endowment,--a +virtual depreciation and contempt of that which is at once among the +most needful, the most useful, and, at the same time, most ornamental +gifts of God to mankind. + +As, then, it is said of real wisdom, that first "it is pure," or free +from error and wrong, so too, first of all, right and proper +conversation must be free from everything evidently and positively +inconsistent with our duty towards God and man. It has ever been well +said that we must be just before we are generous. The one attribute is +essential and indispensable in every transaction of life. The acts and +deeds connected with the other are comparatively undefined and +indefinable. So it is essential, it is indispensable, that our +conversation, from our own choice and deliberate aim, should be utterly +free from all things irreverent to God and injurious to our +fellow-creatures. God's name must never be taken in vain. God's Word, +and divine things generally, must never be treated with any levity. No +sentence must come forth from our lips having any tendency to undermine +or subvert the principles and practices of true religion. These are +among the mere dues and obligations to Him who gives us the faculty of +speech, and enables us to interchange conversation with our fellows; +and, beyond all doubt, hour after hour of silence and reserve would be +infinitely better--more to be desired by any Christian--than the most +entertaining and most captivating talk of a witty but unprincipled man. +And so too, exactly, with regard to our fellow-creatures. They too have +an absolute claim on us, that we should resolutely keep to the grand +rule of speaking to them only such things as will do them no hurt,--no +hurt to their minds, no hurt to their feelings, no hurt to their best +and true and everlasting interest. As the words of one lead many to +heaven and joy, so too the words of another lead many to hell and woe. +Better, again I say, would it be for you to be silent as a dumb man than +to indulge carelessly and wickedly in any such utterances. He who does +it is a cruel enemy of his fellow-creatures, however popular, however +able and attractive he may be. + +Thus much with regard to conversation--on the negative side. Thus much +as to that nature and character of which it must _not_ be, under any +circumstances. And, having no intention to make my present address in +any degree of that more solemn and absolutely serious kind, which it is +my privilege so often to employ in my profession, I will only add here +that, having now seen what it is essential and indispensable for us to +shun in conversation, so again, to aim at pleasing God and serving our +fellow-creatures is not less needful,--not less essential, as the one +grand object and scope with which at all times we should use and +interchange it. I am sure you will all admit that I could not rightly +proceed without laying down this broad, this sure foundation. On it we +may build the lighter superstructure; but, without laying it down, I +could not conscientiously proceed. Nay, farther, I feel equally +convinced that many would perceive at once the deficiency, and regret it +too, were I to adopt any other course. Conversation, to be worthy of the +name at all, is not child's play. It must be dealt with, if considered +at all, as an important and substantial thing, not as the mere toy +wherewith to trifle and sport each day and hour till we pass away to +meet that judgment where our Lord has himself declared,--"By your words +ye shall be justified, and by your words ye shall be condemned." + +The subject may now branch out into many and various directions. To make +a choice is the only difficulty. One of these may lead us to notice +that, in all conversation, special attention should ever be paid to the +feelings of all present. Every subject should be studiously avoided +likely to give needless pain, and perhaps, as it were, open the +sluice-gate through which other observations might more plentifully +flow in from others of the company, painful to one or more in the +circle. Nothing, of course, will teach this so much as true kindness and +true sympathy of heart; and, if this be wanting, offences of this kind +will continually abound,--yes, I am sorry to say, will sometimes be +studiously and intentionally committed. But even the most loving and +most kindly spirit will do well to be very watchful on this point, +seeking to exercise all judgment and tact in the matter; and even beyond +this a beautiful art is sometimes to be witnessed,--happy indeed are +they who possess it,--which turns and leads away the general strain of +talk, and that often with unperceived skill, when approaching dangerous +ground, or perhaps already beginning to grieve or disturb another. + +Among injurious practices in talk, the following may perhaps be +enumerated:--an overbearing vehemence, challenging assertions, cold +indifference to the statements of others, a love of argumentation, an +inclination to regard fair liberty of mutual address as undue license, +pressure on another to express more than he desires, all personalities +which would be forbidden by the royal law of speaking unto others as you +would like to be spoken to yourself. These and many more transgressions, +in our address one to another, are not only of a grave, but also of a +very evident kind, and therefore on them, perhaps, there is less need to +dwell. + +Others are more subtle,--more elude the grasp of ordinary observation. +All social life, and even all family life, if rightly carried on, +requires not only mutual forbearance in talk, but mutual sympathy too, +mutual encouragement one from the other. In families and in society we +find the old, the young; the busy and those comparatively unemployed; +the studious or the literary, and those whose tastes are completely +different; people occupied in various professions and trades; +politicians and statesmen; soldiers and sailors; young men and women +reared up at home, with young men and women reared up at schools and +public institutions; travellers acquainted with divers parts of the +globe, and those who never have quitted their own land; men of the city +and men of the field;--in a word, persons and characters almost as +various in the aspect of their inward taste as the very features which +each countenance wears,--for I may venture to say that no two persons +think or feel exactly and altogether alike. Now, whenever there is such +a thing as opinion, and whenever there is such a thing as feeling (which +is the case in all members of families, and in all members of society +with whom you can possibly live or be thrown), there at once is, or +there arises, an immediate claim for a kind and proper treatment of +these opinions and of these feelings. They may not be your own, they may +be utterly different from your own, but that has nothing to do with the +question. As a general rule, every one present has no less right to +them than you have to yours. You had better go, like Shakspeare's Timon, +altogether out of the concourse of your fellow-creatures, if you cannot +realize this truth and apply it too. And it is in conversation that you +will ever give the chief proofs and evidences whether you do so or not. +In it there must be nothing despotic,--nothing to give any present the +idea that you have any right to decide what his opinions, what his +tastes, what his habits, what his pursuits, should be. You will, of +course, not misunderstand me here,--not forget that I am supposing each +opinion, each taste, each habit and pursuit, as, on the face of it, +allowable and innocent, although not yours. I repeat it, there must be +no despotism in society. Equality must prevail as a general rule; I say +a general rule, because there are, no doubt, certain seasons and times +when the intercourse of social and of family life must partake of that +special character which is adapted to the various relationships of man. +The parent must, at times, simply direct the child by his words. The +teacher, authoritatively, must instruct the pupil. The master or +employer must tell the employed what to do. And occasionally, in +society, the rule above laid down will, by general consent, lie in +abeyance, if it may be so expressed. And, on certain subjects,--I mean +those whereon we are ourselves ignorant, but others in our company are +highly informed,--we may be content to be just listeners, merely +demonstrating that sympathy and interest adequate to keep up the flow +of instruction from another's lips. But intercourse of this kind +scarcely can be termed conversation; and when circumstances like these +occur in social and family life, they must be directed by other rules +not altogether applicable to our present subject. Now, to enter with +full sympathy into the claims of all present in society for this equal +right of interchanged sentiment, and to show this feeling at times by +patient forbearance and at other times by manifest appreciation of that +which others say, is no slight grace and gift. And here the various +lessons on the subject, which experience or observation has taught, must +be brought into play; and the information in any way gained as to the +various feelings, habits, and tastes ordinarily entertained by people of +different ages, different professions, and different characters, must be +judiciously applied. Nor will this, in the least, spoil free and fair +discussion of any topic. On the contrary, it will promote it. And thus +that principle will be rightly maintained which I have endeavored to lay +down and commend, viz., that when any special opinion, feeling, or taste +is expressed in society,--I mean, of course, in a proper and legitimate +way,--it should always be treated by all present with that measure of +respect which each one would wish exercised towards himself for his own +personal views. Just in proportion as men are boorish, coarse, and +unsocial, in the true and extensive sense of the word, will they +transgress here. Yes, even put together one, ungainly tempered, from +his field, and another of the same character from his shop or counting +house, and very likely not five minutes will elapse before one or the +other will say something to disparage those habits and tastes with which +he himself happens to be not conversant. There ensues discord and +disseverance, or, it may be, silence and separation. But, on the other +hand, just in proportion as you are enabled to unite yourself with +others through your demeanor and words,--not, of course, hypocritically +or obsequiously, but from real sympathy with all the innocent tastes and +engagements of our fellow-creatures,--just, I say, in proportion as you +are enabled to do this, will your intercourse with them, in the way of +conversation, be of that kind at which we should aim. None will be +afraid of your indulging in rebuffs, or ridicule, or depreciation. None +will meet from you a cold, heartless, and repulsive indifference. To +you, and before you, the flower[A] of each human heart (if I may so +speak) will then have a tendency to open and expand its varied forms and +hues, instead of retaining them all closed and shut up; and many, many +thoughts will be expressed to you and before you which will never be +heard, or at all events rarely, indeed, by those of a sneering, +unsympathizing, hard, and ungenial spirit. Thus you will be known, or +rather felt, instinctively felt, as one who will do nothing to chill, +but, on the contrary, much to encourage that free spirit (in the best +sense of the word) which should mark and imbue all social intercourse +deserving the name at all; and you will be welcomed by all who can +appreciate good taste, good tact, and (I will add) good feeling +too,--for that is the chief spring of all such conduct; and you will be +enabled to receive and communicate much pleasure and profit too, +wheresover you may go. + +A word here may not be inappropriate as to what is sometimes called +"drawing a person out"--_i. e._ leading another to tell you, or any +company assembled in your presence, what they know, what they have seen, +what they feel, what, in a word, they are able to communicate, if so +disposed and led. Now, this drawing out is a very delicate affair. When +successfully done, it is most valuable. When the attempt proves +unsuccessful, you are very likely to lose or interfere with the very +object in view. Questioning of all kinds,--up from that on the simplest +topic, and with a purpose of the simplest kind, to that involving the +most important results,--questioning, I say, of all kinds, requires +judgment and tact. Many persons much err in this department of address. +Some err by asking about matters on which it is quite clear that they +have no real feeling and concern. Some err by demands as to your own +personal proceedings, wherewith they have no connection. Some, again, +err by putting questions, not wrongly or inappropriately, but merely too +many at a time, or in too rapid a succession. This scarcely can be +called conversation at all,--and, generally speaking, (though I do not +deny that there are exceptions, which will at once recur to the +intelligent,) yes, generally speaking, is most unsatisfactory. And the +reason, if we analyze the matter, is, that all the statements, or +observations, or call them what you will, proceed, under such +circumstances, from one of the parties engaged. It is not reciprocal; it +is not mutually communicated with due equality of interchanged thought. +You will at once perceive that this must be detrimental; and I would +suggest that when you may observe the damage which is thus done to +conversation, you should seek at once to put the discourse on a better +plan,--to shift it, as it were, on a better line for good progress. And +that may sometimes be done by putting a question to those who question +you, or even more, by making the number of questions on each side, in +some measure, to correspond. This, of course, must not be done harshly +or abruptly, nor so as to give the very least impression that you +yourself desire to withhold and draw in; but it may often be +advantageously done; and you will thus afford to another the natural and +fit means of telling you something, as a response for that which you +tell him. Then true conversation will begin; then the due interchange +of expression, which alone merits the name; then each party becomes +rightly placed, and the intercourse will improve almost instantaneously. + +But if, in these very commonest forms of our mutual address, it is not +an easy thing to put questions well,--neither too many, nor in their +wrong place,--then we may be well assured that it is more difficult +still when the object, expressly, is to lead on another, gifted perhaps +in many ways, or having perhaps some special thing to tell, unknown to +you or others present. And yet what a valuable art this is! Much is lost +in society by incapacity for its due exercise. Much is gained by skill +in its employment. But many reasons concur to render it very difficult. +The following may be mentioned among many others. Some are full of +matter, but shy or reserved. Some are unaware of the deep interest which +certain things, well known to them, would have for others, if they would +communicate them; (in illustration of this, I may perhaps quote +scientific men, travellers, those who have led strange and peculiar +lives.) Some are too modest to put themselves in any prominent light. +Others are too proud so to do, lest they should fail in winning full +attention to their words. Some are jaded and worn with previous hours of +intellectual toil, and the current of their thoughts is still flowing on +in a channel of its own. Some are laboring under a kind of awe of one or +more persons in the company. Some are young, and scarcely seem to +realize or know how acceptable are the thoughts and fresh expressions of +youth to those of maturer years. Others are afraid of being too +professional in their remarks. Others are indolent in the use of their +tongue and utterance. And numerous other causes might be mentioned, +which sadly interfere with the full, free, and general flow of discourse +or conversation. And yet, at the same time, there may be rich stores in +the assembly,--much, very much, to communicate,--something, at least, in +each either to please, or inform and improve,--something perhaps in +every one present which, if told and expressed to those around him, +would add and contribute no slight nor unprized contribution to the +common stock. But how to elicit it--there is the difficulty. +Nevertheless, very much may be done by tact and kindness, by animation +and by cordiality, by watching and waiting for fit opportunities, by +that appreciation of each one in the circle which will encompass and +arouse all, as it were, with a kind of electric chain,--by a constant +and deliberate aim to converse yourself at the time when it may be +requisite, and willingly to lapse into silence and the background when +another takes up the subject. And, although it is a measure which +requires no little taste and moderation in its use, still it is +sometimes not only very graceful, but very effectual too, if you will +open out on some few personal topics which may concern yourself, and +thus win a response from others present, who may personally know or +have personally gone through that which you and others in the company +would desire, and rightly desire, to hear opened out without any +reserve. + +In order, again, to promote conversation of a superior sort, endeavor +must be made to expand and enlarge its bounds to the very utmost. It +should be of a comprehensive kind,--not the gossip of some narrow set, +not a mere comment on the persons and affairs of any one locality, not a +wearisome and dull repetition of things already, perhaps long, familiar +to all present. I repeat, it should be comprehensive,--brought forward, +as it were, from a full treasury of "things new and old," and coined +into various sums, larger for such occasions as may need, and +small--yes, even to the smallest--for the fit use and time. It should be +formed of various materials, of that which has been seen, and heard, and +read. A monotonous character is fatal to it. At one time it should +arouse and awaken,--at another it should calm and soothe. At one time it +should lead into deep and grave questions,--at another it should play +lightly over the surface of things. At one time it may touch the spirit +of the hearer, almost into tears,--at another it may raise the full +freedom of laughter and mirth. At one time it may be addressed to all +within the convenient reach of your words,--at another to one listening +ear. If possible, it should touch on many tastes, on many places, on +various interests, giving to each present (however different each taste +and character) the best and fairest opening for a share in the circling +talk, which opportunity every one, at fit occasion and turn, should be +willing to embrace, and thus to render his or her social dues to those +who freely and fairly contribute theirs. No one, on the other hand, +should seek dominion, nor ever two or three, over the remainder. Again, +conversation should never be allowed so to fall into separate or little +knots, that one here or one there should remain alone or excluded +altogether. It should be carried on in appropriate tones of voice. They +should be somewhat raised, or rather, I would say, strengthened for the +old and for those who are a little deaf, of whom there are many. This, +however, not too obviously; not to remind any of infirmity. They should +be quick, firm, and spirited for those in middle age, with their +faculties in full strength. They should be somewhat gentler to the +young, lest they be at all checked; and somewhat slower, that they may +have more time and means to frame their own answer. For which the reason +is, that as "practice makes perfect" in all things, so they, whose +practice has, of course, been less than their seniors', need more time +to make up for the want of it, even in conversation. At all times +discourse is liable to alternations as to its interest and life. Expect +this, and even should it become at any moment what is called dull, or +even should an awkward pause and silence come on, do not seem to notice +it. This will only make it worse. Rather try yourself to gather up the +broken thread, or to introduce some new matter. Every one should avoid +bringing forward or needlessly dwelling on any topic whatsoever likely +to affect any others present with any unfavorable reminiscences. The +wealthy will avoid, as a general rule, allusions to their property and +wealth before any persons who, although their equals in society, are +known to be of poor and inadequate estate. The healthy and the vigorous +of frame will not forget that others are invalids; those free as air in +the disposition of their time, that others have but very little, and +that with difficulty spared; the quick and intelligent, that others are +more slow in apprehension; those of hardy spirit, well strung and +braced, that others are nervous, sensitive, and tried by words, tones, +gestures, and expressions, which would not try, nor vex, or affect them +in the least degree. But what tact is requisite in all this! And many, +many failures must there be; sins of commission and of omission too, +even among those who earnestly seek in this matter to fulfil, always and +everywhere, the rules of true courtesy, and, which is better still, the +rules of true Christian love. Nevertheless, the aim at which we point is +by no means without its value as a profitable exercise both of the mind +and heart. No, nor is it ineffectual and unblessed. For, although at +times words may be said which we would long to recall, and strings of +feeling touched by our utterance which afterthought tells us we should +not have moved, and topics handled with much want of that skill and +judgment which we should have wished most truly to employ, still, with a +good aim before us, and with right principles in some measure realized, +and seeking to correct any error when discovered, as well as to advance +more in all which improves and adorns right social intercourse, much +will be done towards the goodly end. And large indeed will be the amount +of pleasure and of benefit which you may thus hope to reap for yourself +and communicate to others in the course of your life, and that, too, up +to an age, should your days be prolonged, when you may be shut up, or at +all events much restrained, from many other means of active usefulness. +For the mellowed wisdom of age, showing and expressing itself in that +charity and sympathy for all which nothing less than experience itself +has taught, is indeed a strong and beautiful thing. + +Hitherto I have spoken altogether on conversation with those whose rank +and position of life corresponds with your own. A few words now on +conversation, first, with those of a higher rank, and, secondly, with +those in the humbler conditions of life--to use the common phrase; and +every man should be qualified and prepared for any and for all kinds of +association. + +To those of a higher rank than ourselves we may, without derogating in +the least from our independence and self-respect, show that deference +which not only the customs of all nations, but the Scripture also most +evidently inculcates. This, of course, will appear when engaged with +them in conversation. It will, however, be shown rather in some +occasional acknowledgment than in the manner or matter of discourse. The +rank of another does not in the least demand that you should surrender +your opinion to his, nor conceal your sentiments, nor assume any other +line of subjects and topics than you would address to those more +immediately your equals in worldly position. A vague, undefined notion +seems to float through each rank of society in our land, that those in +the stage above think, feel, and act in a manner different from those +below. A very great mistake this, which oftentimes chills and checks and +mars all open freedom of address when one of an higher and one of a +lower rank are brought into those circumstances where the opportunity +for conversation occurs, if not the absolute claim. But let it be +remembered that the mind and heart of man or of woman varies but little +through these mere distinctions of the world. I do not say that it does +not vary at all, but very little. The main current of joy, the main +current of sorrow, is the same in all classes, though the lesser streams +may variously and separately flow. The main current of affections, of +interests, is the same. All are subject to the same need of kind, +friendly sympathy; all are made to interchange thought; all share in the +manifold impressions of our common nature. Wealth and nobility, and rank +and station, are, after all, only artificial things, not the main +staple of life in any man or woman. When, therefore, you are brought +into the society of one or more like these, be to them appropriately +courteous. Acknowledge their position at once, and then let your +intercourse with them flow freely on, just as with others. Trouble not +them, nor trouble yourself, with any other system of address. Deprive +not them, nor deprive yourself, of free, open, natural communication. +And, depend upon it, that acting and speaking thus, you will not only be +oftentimes pleased rather than silenced and embarrassed by such society, +but you will be sure to please and to be valued,--yes, and to meet no +less friendly sympathy, both of mind and heart, than is to be found in +each other rank of life. + +And now a few words on conversation with our poorer friends or +neighbors, or any persons in this class of life with whom, habitually, +we may have to do, or whom we may meet at any time or place. And few of +that class being, I conclude, here, I may speak to you as those who +would gladly receive any hints for kind consideration as to the right +way of fulfilling your own part in this matter. For I, too, would wish +to be a learner on it, so important do I conceive it to be. So much has +been said, and so much has been written, on the benefit of free, kindly +intercourse between the rich and the poor, the employers and the +employed, those who labor with their heads and those who labor with +their hands, that any mere general or vague observations on the subject +would be quite out of place here. I shall, accordingly, regard you not +only as admitting this truth, but also as desirous yourselves to +exemplify it; and, again, as admitting, and feeling too, that merely to +pay wages, and to give directions and commands, and to bestow alms, and +to support charitable institutions (however needful and good such things +may be), is not enough for one desiring to secure the sympathy and love +of his poorer brethren. For that you must be ready, willing, able to +converse with them. To qualify yourself for doing this, is in many +professions an indispensable and most evident duty,--for instance, with +the ministers of religion and with medical men. They could do nothing +without such conversation. And, considering it due at proper seasons +from every one in a higher class of life to those below them, I shall +just offer you a few hints, which seem to me not unworthy of note. +Avoid, then, on the one hand, all hard, overbearing address; while, on +the other, there must be energy, spirit, firmness, and life. Avoid all +semblance of patronage and condescension, but at the same time never +make any forced attempts to appear what you are not, or to assume a +character not your own. Do not imagine the range of subjects small; and, +when you can, choose those topics in which you and those addressed both +take an interest. Many there are common to all classes. Be not impatient +to come to a point too quick, but give people a full opportunity to +express themselves in their own way; nor count this waste time. It is +very much otherwise. Use short rather than long sentences,--language +colloquial, not that of books,--giving emphasis, tone, and strength to +your words,--never lapsing into cold, lifeless, inexpressive tones. +Trust oftentimes, in conversation with the poor and comparatively +uneducated, that there is much more intelligence within than the answer +which they make in words would lead you, at first sight, to expect. Be +willing and ready to tell something about yourself, your family, and +concerns, when there appears any interest about them. Remember that +family ties and affections are strong in one as in another of the human +family; and, as among your own friends and associates you would refer to +these natural topics, so do here. Let wants and necessities, and trials +and difficulties, not be forgotten, but let them not be the whole +subject-matter of discourse. No, let it range far more widely, far more +attractively; and your looks and your demeanor, and your tones and +words, being all directed by good will, and by practice too, you indeed +will be no idler in good works during times and occasions thus employed. +You will win much love, much esteem, much appreciation; you will hear +much right feeling expressed, and, at times, much to inform you of a +practical kind. You will do good and receive good too. + +It appears to me that I have now presented to your notice almost a +sufficiency of topics, relative to conversation, for one single lecture. +Nevertheless, I feel unwilling to conclude without drawing your +attention to a few facts connected with the subject. One is, that the +ablest and mightiest authors of all times and countries have borne their +strong testimony to the attraction which conversation presents, by +casting a large portion of their writings into this form or mould. Thus +did Homer in poetry, Plato in philosophy, and dramatists, of all ages, +in their plays. Thus did Cicero in his various treatises; and Horace +appears[B] talking to you in many and many a page. Dante's grand poem, +"Il Purgatorio," is chiefly a conversation. The French have ever +excelled in such writings; and of such a character is that well-known +gem in the literature of Spain, I of course allude to "Don Quixote." In +Shakspeare and Walter Scott it is the same, and they, perhaps, are the +most popular writers of our land, except one. Who, do you ask, is that? +John Bunyan, the author of the "Pilgrim's Progress;" but that very book +comes up with its testimony too, being a dialogue throughout,--rich in +pathos and wit, rich in illustration, rich in experience, rich in all +variety and combination,--in a word, the very perfection of talk; not +less attractive than it is weighty, not less entertaining than +heavenly, holy, and full of all things which make a book precious. + +But another book there is, of which it is well said:-- + + "A glory gilds the sacred page, + Majestic like the sun! + It gives a light to every age; + It gives, but borrows none." + +And in that book of books there are four short but most mighty +narratives. And each of those narratives contains the one most important +record which ever had to be told upon this earth. Each of them gives one +concurrent history; namely, that of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, +with his sayings and his deeds. And of conversation these holy +narratives are full. God has chosen this mode of reaching our minds and +influencing our hearts, by large--very large--portions of them written +after this fashion. Cowper felt this so deeply, that, in his poem on our +present subject, he has beautifully told and paraphrased all that went +on when Jesus met and talked with the two disciples on the way to +Emmaus. Moreover, in those gospels, there is one, penned by that +"disciple whom Jesus loved;" and if there is much conversation in all +four of them, in it especially--in the gospel of St. John--conversation +appears in all its full and continued glory. Take one or two examples. +Mankind, all mankind, had to be taught about the complete atonement for +our sins made by our Saviour on the cross. Where is it more clearly, +more mightily told than in the third chapter of St. John's gospel? But +what is that chapter? Is it a law prescribed in set terms?--No. Is it a +sermon?--No. Is it a mere address?--No. You will all remember it is a +conversation,--Christ's conversation with Nicodemus by night. And so it +is again in the very next chapter, where a subject of no less +importance--I say it advisedly, no less importance--is set forth, viz. +the work of the Holy Spirit in man's heart; and that is portrayed for us +in a conversation with the woman of Samaria, at Sychar's well. What +striking instances are these! And many others might be added to them. +And thus we have before us even the sanction and proof from the Word of +God, that the most mighty and transcendent truth can reach us in no +better form than that which conversation gives, and also that Jesus +Christ put his own royal stamp of glory on it, by employing it Himself +continually, when upon the earth among men, though he was their Lord and +their God. + +Having thus been led on,--I think very naturally, and, as I think, quite +appropriately, too, for one of my office and position, at any time or +place, or on any subject,--I will not return to any lighter theme. I do +not in the least regret that I have selected my present topic out of +very many which suggested themselves to my mind, when I was asked to +exercise the privilege of thus addressing you, as I have now done for +these four years. I might have chosen others far more entertaining, +and, no doubt, some far more kindling and exciting at this present +time,[C] when our thoughts and our feelings are all so concentrated on +one distant spot of strife and of contest, and of danger, and of +bravery, and wounds, and deaths, and bereavements,--and amidst all, of +honor unexampled to our brave brethren in arms. But, for many reasons, I +have done otherwise. I have chosen, as usual, a subject of general, of +national, of wide-world, of never-failing interest, from day to day, +from week to week, from month to month, from year to year, among the +vast race of our fellows,--born social creatures, born for mutual +sympathy, with interchanged utterance, speech, and conversation. +Strongly do I feel its importance, and I cannot help expressing my +surprise that so little, so very little, has systematically been written +or said upon it. I have found it no ordinary theme, I assure you; and, +though it is one on which we all instinctively are interested in any +circle, or with whomsoever we may at any time be, still it is not one on +which the arrangement and classification of thought is an easy thing. I +therefore shall not feel disappointed, nor, do I trust, will you be +disappointed either, in that good employment of your time which you have +a right to expect from me, as your lecturer to-night here, if I shall +have set before you any thoughts, for your attention, which may improve, +in the least degree, the course and the current of ordinary +conversation. When we remember how much of our innocent +gratification,--how much of our daily harmony one with another,--how +much of our mutual improvement,--depends on the right exercise of this +goodly gift,--then, I am sure, you will not consider that the subject is +one to be neglected or ignored. I verily believe that I do not +over-state the fact, in asserting that for one time when we are liable +to hurt, or distress, or offend another by our acts and deeds, there are +fifty or an hundred, or perhaps more, occasions, when we are liable to +do so by our words, and demeanor, and utterance. And again, for once +that we can do kind and profitable actions to those around us, and +associating with us, there are fifty or an hundred,--perhaps more +occasions still,--when we can please or profit another by our words. I +ask you, as those who can judge in this matter for yourselves, "Is it +not so? Is it not so most undeniably?" Well, then, if I have been +successful in laying down any right principles, in exposing anything +disadvantageous, or in presenting any available means for rendering your +daily intercourse more evidently kind, more evidently sympathizing, more +evidently, in a word, such as that which every good man would wish to +exhibit, and which must render him not only welcome and not only useful, +but a real and true ornament of society in the best sense of the word; +if I have shown you anything whatever available to this end, whether for +your use at home or abroad, in the cottage or the shop, in the humblest +abode or in the noblest and in the wealthiest, then surely I shall not +have spoken in vain. I speak on no narrow topic, and I speak for all. +Truly it is one which touches all; and in this lies its strength and its +interest. There is no one, I believe, who does not intuitively and +instinctively feel either his gain or his loss in conversation,--the +effect of it on his own mind and on his own feelings at the time and +afterwards,--either its harms or its charms. All must feel this, though +unable perhaps to classify their thoughts or express them on it, and +perhaps they have never thought of so doing. And I, for one, will not +hesitate to say that, it having been my lot to mix much, and willingly, +in all the various classes of society,--and having endeavored, so far as +in my power has been, to cultivate and show a true brotherly and +friendly spirit, both to high and low,--I have met nothing to confer +more pleasure and more advantage in daily life than fit conversation. I +have found it from the poorest. I have found it from those of middle +station. I have found it among the noble and the rich. And, while +without it the hours of social and of family life may drag on heavily, +and in a wearisome and worthless way, under the roofs of splendor and +magnificence, and in the midst of feasts, and pomp, and parade, with it, +freely interchanged from well-informed heads and cordial hearts, +expressing what they know and telling what they feel, without any +restraint except that of love, and tact, and propriety,--with it, I +say, the simplest home may be one of enjoyment and improvement every +recurring day, and each coming guest will share its attractions,--and +therefore I say to every one present, "Despise not this gift, and try to +improve it; and seek Divine help for its right regulation, as well as +for its use; and be well assured that, under God's blessing, in its +direction you will gain for yourself, and promote for your +fellow-creatures, no slight share of true enjoyment, no slight benefits +both for this world and for the world to come." + +FOOTNOTES: + + [A] "Quale i fioretti, dol notturno gielo + Chinati e chiusi, poi che 'l sol gl' imbianca, + Si drizzan tutti aperti in loro stelo, + Tal mi fece io di mia virtute stanca." + _Inf._ Can. ii. 127-9. + + [B] "Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico + Tangit, et admissus circum praecordia ludit." + Pers. i. 116. + + [C] December, 1854. + + + + +PART III. + + +A WORD TO THE WISE; + + +BY + +PARRY GWYNNE. + + + + +A WORD TO THE WISE. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +IT is readily acknowledged, by all well educated foreigners, that +English Grammar is very easy to learn, the difficulties of the language +lying in the numberless variations and licenses of its pronunciation. +Since to us then, children of the soil, pronunciation has no +difficulties to offer, is it not a reproach that so many speak their own +language in an inelegant and slatternly manner,--either through an +inexcusable ignorance of grammatical rules, or a wanton violation of +them? There are two sorts of bad speakers,--the educated and the +uneducated. I write for the former, and I shall deal the less leniently +with them, because "where much is given, much will be expected." Ay, and +where much has been achieved too, and intellectual laurels have been +gathered, is it not a reproach that a _slatternly_ mode of expression +should sometimes deteriorate from the eloquence of the scholar, and +place the accomplished man or woman, in _this_ respect, on a level with +the half-educated or the illiterate? + +Some one, I think it is Lord Chesterfield, has wisely said, "Whatever is +worth doing, is worth doing well." Then, if our native language is worth +studying, surely it is worth _speaking well_, and as there is no +standing still in excellence of any kind, so, even in language,--in so +simple a thing as the expression of our thoughts by words,--if we do not +improve we shall retrograde. + +It is a common opinion that a knowledge of Latin supersedes the +necessity of the study of English grammar. This must entail a strong +imputation of carelessness on our Latin students, who sometimes commit +such solecisms in English as make us regret they did not _once_, at +least, peruse the grammatical rules of their native language. + +We laugh at the blunders of a foreigner, but perpetrate our own offences +with so much gravity that an observer would have a right to suppose we +consider them what they really are,--_no laughing matter_. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +I. + +Some people speak of "so many _spoonsfull_," instead of "so many +spoonfuls." The rule on this subject says: "Compounds ending in _ful_, +and all those in which the principal word is put last, form the plural +in the same manner as other nouns,--as 'handfuls, spoonfuls, +mouthfuls,'" &c., &c. + +Logic will demonstrate the propriety of this rule. Are you measuring by +a plurality of spoons? If so, "so many _spoonsfull_" must be the correct +term; but if the process of measuring be effected by _refilling the same +spoon_, then it becomes evident that the precise idea meant to be +conveyed is, the _quantity_ contained in the vessel by which it is +measured, which is a "_spoonful_." + + +II. + +It is a common mistake to speak of "a disagreeable effluvia." This word +is _effluvium_ in the singular, and _effluvia_ in the plural. The same +rule should be observed with _automaton_, _arcanum_, _erratum_, +_phenomenon_, _memorandum_, and several others which are less frequently +used, and which change the _um_ or _on_ into _a_, to form the plural. It +is so common a thing, however, to say _memorandums_, that I fear it +would sound a little pedantic, in colloquial style, to use the word +_memoranda_; and it is desirable, perhaps, that custom should make an +exception of this word, as well as of _encomium_, and allow two +terminations to it, according to the taste of the speaker and the style +of the discourse,--_memorandums_ or _memoranda_, like _encomiums_ or +_encomia_. + + +III. + +We have heard _pulse_ and _patience_ treated as pluralities, much to our +astonishment. + + +IV. + +It seems to be a position assumed by all grammarians, that their readers +already understand the meaning of the word "case," as applied to nouns +and pronouns; hence they never enter into a clear explanation of the +simple term, but proceed at once to a discussion of its grammatical +distinctions, in which it frequently happens that the student, for want +of a little introductory explanation, is unable to accompany them. But I +am not going to repeat to the scholar how the term "case" is derived +from a Latin word signifying "to fall," and is so named because all the +other cases _fall_ or _decline_ from the nominative, in order to express +the various relations of nouns to each other,--which in Latin they do by +a difference of termination, in English by the aid of prepositions,--and +that an orderly arrangement of all these different terminations is +called the declension of a noun, &c. I am not going to repeat to the +scholar the things he already knows; but to you, my gentle readers, to +whom Latin is still an unknown tongue, to whom grammars are become +obsolete things, and grammatical definitions would be bewildering +preliminaries, "more honored in the breach than in the observance,"--to +you I am anxious to explain, in the clearest manner practicable, all +the mysteries of this case, because it was a cruel perplexity to myself +in days of yore. And I will endeavor to make my lecture as brief and +clear as possible, requesting you to bear in mind that no knowledge is +to be acquired without a little trouble; and that whosoever may consider +it too irksome a task to exert the understanding for a _short_ period, +must be content to remain in inexcusable and irremediable ignorance. +Though, I doubt not, when you come to perceive how great the errors are +which you daily commit, you will not regret having sat down quietly for +half an hour to listen to an unscholastic exposition of them. + + +V. + +We all understand the meaning of the word "case," as it is applied to +the common affairs of life; but when we meet with it in our grammars, we +view it as an abstruse term. We will not consent to believe that it +means nothing more than _position of affairs_, _condition_, or +_circumstances_, any one of which words might be substituted for it with +equal propriety, if it were not indispensable in grammar to adhere +strictly to the same term when we wish to direct the attention +unerringly to the same thing, and to keep the understanding alive to the +justness of its application; whilst a multiplicity of names to one thing +would be likely to create confusion. Thus, if one were to say, "This is +a very hard case," or "A singular case occurred the other day," or +"That poor man's case is a very deplorable one," we should readily +comprehend that by the word "case" was meant "circumstance" or +"situation;" and when we speak, in the language of the grammar, of "a +noun in the nominative case," we only mean a person or thing placed in +such circumstances as to become merely named, or named as the performer +of some action,--as "the man," or "the man walks." In both these +sentences, "man" is in the nominative case; because in the first he is +simply _named_, without reference to any circumstance respecting him, +and in the second he is named as the performer of the _act_ of _walking_ +mentioned. When we speak of a noun in the possessive case, we simply +mean a person or thing placed under such circumstances as to become +named as the _possessor_ of something; and when we speak of a noun in +the objective case, we only intend to express a person or thing standing +in such a situation as to be, in some way or other, affected by the act +of some other person or thing,--as "Henry teaches Charles." Here Henry +is, by an abbreviation of terms, called _the nominative case_, (instead +of the _noun_ in the nominative case,) because he stands in that +situation in which it is incumbent on us to name him as the _performer_ +of the act of teaching; and Charles is, by the same abbreviating +license, called the _objective case_, because he is in such a position +of affairs as to _receive_ the act of teaching which Henry performs. I +will now tell you how you may always distinguish the three cases. Read +the sentence attentively, and understand accurately what the nouns are +represented as doing. If any person or thing be represented as +_performing_ an _action_, that person or thing is a noun in the +nominative case. If any person or thing be represented as _possessing +something_, that person or thing is a noun in the possessive case. And +if any person or thing be represented as neither performing nor +possessing, it is a noun in the objective case, whether directly or +indirectly affected by the action of the nominative; because, as we have +in English but _three_ cases, which contain the substance of the _six +Latin_ cases, _whatever is neither nominative nor possessive must be +objective_. Here I might wander into a long digression on passive and +neuter verbs, which I may seem to have totally overlooked in the +principle just laid down; but I am not writing a grammar,--not +attempting to illustrate the various ramifications of grammatical laws +to people who know nothing at all about them,--any more than I am +writing for the edification of the accomplished scholar, to whom purity +of diction is already familiar. I am writing, chiefly, for that vast +portion of the educated classes who have never looked into a grammar +since their school days were over, but who have ingeniously hewn out for +themselves a middle path between ignorance and knowledge, and to whom +certain little hillocks in their way have risen up, under a dense +atmosphere, to the magnitude of mountains. I merely wish to give to +them, since they will not take the trouble to search for themselves, one +broad and general principle, unclogged by exceptions, to guide them to +propriety of speech; and should they afterwards acquire a taste for +grammatical disputation, they will of course apply to more extensive +sources for the necessary qualifications. + + +VI. + +It is scarcely possible to commit any inaccuracy in the use of these +cases when restricted to nouns, but in the application of them to +pronouns a woful confusion often arises; though even in this confusion +exists a marked distinction between the errors of the ill-bred and those +of the well-bred man. To use the objective instead of the nominative is +a _vulgar_ error; to use the nominative instead of the objective is a +_genteel_ error. No person of decent education would think of saying, +"Him and me are going to the play." Yet how often do we hear even well +educated people say, "They were coming to see my brother and _I_,"--"The +claret will be packed in two hampers for Mr. Smith and _I_,"--"Let you +and _I_ try to move it,"--"Let him and _I_ go up and speak to +them,"--"Between you and _I_," &c. &c.;--faults as heinous as that of +the vulgarian who says, "Him and me are going to the play," and with +less excuse. Two minutes' reflection will enable the scholar to correct +himself, and a little exercise of memory will shield him from a +repetition of the fault; but, for the benefit of those who may _not_ be +scholars, we will accompany him through the mazes of his reflections. +Who are the persons that are performing the act of "coming to see"? +"_They_." Then the pronoun _they_ must stand in the nominative case. Who +are the persons to whom the act of "coming to see" extends? "My brother +and I." Then "my brother and I," being the _objects affected_ by the act +of the nominative, must be a noun and pronoun standing in the objective +case; and as nouns are not susceptible of change on account of cases, it +is only the _pronoun_ which requires alteration to render the sentence +correct: "They were coming to see my brother and _me_." The same +argument is applicable to the other examples given. In the English +language, the imperative mood of a verb is never conjugated with a +pronoun in the nominative case, therefore, "Let you and _I_ try to move +it," "Let him and _I_ go up and speak to them," are manifest +improprieties. A very simple test may be formed by taking away the first +noun or pronoun from the sentence altogether, and bringing the verb or +preposition right against that pronoun which you use to designate +yourself: thus, "They were coming to see _I_," "The claret will be +packed in two hampers for _I_," "Let _I_ try to move it," &c. By this +means your own ear will correct you, without any reference to +grammatical rules. And bear in mind that the number of _nouns_ it may +be necessary to press into the sentence will not alter the _case_ +respecting the pronouns. + +"Between you and I" is as erroneous an expression as any. Change the +position of the pronouns, and say, "Between I and you;" or change the +sentence altogether, and say, "Between I and the wall there was a great +gap;" and you will soon see in what case the first person should be +rendered. "Prepositions govern the objective case," therefore it is +impossible to put a nominative _after_ a preposition without a gross +violation of a rule which ought to be familiar to everybody. + + +VII. + +The same mistake extends to the relative pronouns "who" and "whom." We +seldom hear the objective case used either by vulgar or refined +speakers. "Who did you give it to?" "Who is this for?" are solecisms of +daily occurrence; and when the objective "whom" _is_ used, it is +generally put in the wrong place; as, "The person whom I expected would +purchase that estate," "The man whom they intend shall execute that +work." This intervening verb in each sentence, "I expected" and "they +intend," coming between the last verb and its own nominative (the +relative pronoun), has no power to alter the rule, and no right to +violate it; but as the introduction of an intervening verb, in such +situations, is likely to beguile the ear and confuse the judgment, it +would be better to avoid such constructions altogether, and turn the +sentence in a different way; as, "The person whom I expected _to be_ the +purchaser of that estate," "The man whom they intend _to_ execute that +work." If the reader will cut off the intervening verb, which has +nothing to do with the construction of the sentence, except to mystify +it, he will perceive at a glance the error and its remedy: "The person +_whom_ would purchase that estate," "The man _whom_ shall execute that +work." + + +VIII. + +It is very easy to mistake the nominative when another noun comes +between it and the verb, which is frequently the case in the use of the +indefinite and distributive pronouns; as, "One of those houses _were_ +sold last week," "Each of the daughters _are_ to have a separate share," +"Every tree in those plantations _have_ been injured by the storm," +"Either of the children _are_ at liberty to claim it." Here it will be +perceived that the pronouns "one," "each," "every," "either," are the +true nominatives to the verbs; but the intervening noun in the plural +number, in each sentence, deludes the ear, and the speaker, without +reflection, renders the verb in the plural instead of the singular +number. The same error is often committed when no second noun appears to +plead an apology for the fault; as, "Each city _have their_ peculiar +privileges," "Everybody has a right to look after _their_ own +interest," "Either _are_ at liberty to claim it." This is the effect of +pure carelessness. + + +IX. + +There is another very common error, the reverse of the last mentioned, +which is that of rendering the adjective pronoun in the _plural_ number +instead of the singular in such sentences as the following: "_These_ +kind of entertainments are not conducive to general improvement," +"_Those_ sort of experiments are often dangerous." This error seems to +originate in the habit which people insensibly acquire of supposing the +prominent noun in the sentence (such as "entertainments" or +"experiments") to be the noun qualified by the adjective "these" or +"those;" instead of which it is "kind," "sort," or any word of that +description _immediately following_ the adjective, which should be so +qualified, and the adjective must be made to agree with it in the +singular number. We confess it is not so agreeable to the ear to say, +"_This_ kind of entertainments," "_That_ sort of experiments;" but it +would be easy to give the sentence a different form, and say, +"Entertainments of this kind," "Experiments of that sort," by which the +requisitions of grammar would be satisfied, and those of euphony too. + + +X. + +But the grand fault, the glaring impropriety, committed by "all ranks +and conditions of men," rich and poor, high and low, illiterate and +learned,--except, perhaps, one in twenty,--and from which not even the +pulpit or the bar is totally free,--is, the substitution of the active +verb _lay_ for the neuter verb _lie_ (to lie down). The scholar _knows_ +that "active verbs govern the objective case," and therefore _demand_ an +objective case after them; and that neuter verbs _will not admit_ an +objective case after them, _except_ through the medium of a preposition. +_He_, therefore, has no excuse for his error, it is a wilful one; for +him the following is not written. And here I may as well say, once for +all, that whilst I would _remind_ the _scholar_ of his lapses, my +instructions and explanations are offered _only_ to the class which +requires them. + +"To lay" is an active transitive verb, like _love_, _demanding_ an +objective case after it, _without the intervention of a preposition_. +"To lie" is a neuter verb, _not admitting an objective case after it, +except through the intervention of a preposition_;--yet this "perverse +generation" _will_ go on substituting the former for the latter. Nothing +can be more erroneous than to say, as people constantly do, "I shall go +and lay down." The question which naturally arises in the mind of the +discriminating hearer is, "_What_ are you going to lay down,--money, +carpets, plans, or what?" for, as a transitive verb is used, an object +is wanted to complete the sense. The speaker means, in fact, to tell us +that he (himself) is going to _lie down_, instead of which he gives us +to understand that he is going to _lay_ down or _put_ down something +which he has not named, but which it is necessary to name before we can +understand the sentence; and this sentence, when completed according to +the rules of grammar, will never convey the meaning he intends. One +might as well use the verb "to put" in this situation, as the verb "to +lay," for each is a transitive verb, requiring an objective case +immediately after it. If you were to enter a room, and, finding a person +lying on the sofa, were to address him with such a question as "What are +you doing there?" you would think it ludicrous if he were to reply, "I +am _putting_ down;" yet it would not be more absurd than to say, "I am +_laying_ down;" but custom, whilst it fails to reconcile us to the +error, has so familiarized us with it, that we hear it without surprise, +and good breeding forbids our noticing it to the speaker. The same +mistake is committed through all the tenses of the verb. How often are +nice ears wounded by the following expressions,--"My brother _lays_ ill +of a fever,"--"The vessel _lays_ in St. Katharine's Docks,"--"The books +were _laying_ on the floor,"--"He _laid_ on a sofa three weeks,"--"After +I had _laid_ down, I remembered that I had left my pistols _laying_ on +the table." You must perceive that, in every one of these instances, the +wrong verb is used; correct it, therefore, according to the explanation +given; thus, "My brother _lies_ ill of a fever,"--"The vessel _lies_ in +St Katherine's Docks,"--"The books were _lying_ on the floor,"--"He +_lay_ on a sofa three weeks,"--"After I had _lain_ down, I remembered +that I had left my pistols _lying_ on the table." + +It is probable that this error has originated in the circumstance of the +present tense of the verb "to lay" being conjugated precisely like the +imperfect tense of the verb "to lie," for they are alike in orthography +and sound, and different only in meaning; and in order to remedy the +evil which this resemblance seems to have created, I have conjugated at +full length the simple tenses of the two verbs, hoping the exposition +may be found useful; for it is an error which _must_ be corrected by all +who aspire to the merit of speaking their own language _well_. + + +VERB ACTIVE. + +_To lay._ + +Present tense. + + I lay } + Thou layest } money, + He lays } carpets, + We lay } plans,--any + You lay } _thing_. + They lay } + +Imperfect tense. + + I laid } + Thou laidest } money, + He laid } carpets, + We laid } plans,--any + You laid } _thing_. + They laid } + + Present Participle, Laying. + Perfect Participle, Laid. + + +VERB NEUTER. + +_To lie._ + +Present tense. + + I lie } + Thou liest } down, + He lies } too long, + We lie } on a sofa,--any + You lie } _where_. + They lie } + + Imperfect tense. + + I lay } + Thou layest } down, + He lays } too long, + We lay } on a sofa,--any + You lay } _where_. + They lay } + + Present Participle, Lying, + Perfect Participle, Lain. + +In such sentences as these, wherein the verb is used reflectively,--"If +I lay myself down on the grass I shall catch cold," "He laid himself +down on the green sward,"--the verb "to lay" is with propriety +substituted for the verb "to lie;" for the addition of the emphatic +pronoun _myself_, or _himself_, constituting an objective case, and +coming _immediately after_ the verb, _without the intervention of a +preposition_, renders it necessary that the verb employed should be +_active_, not _neuter_, because "active verbs govern the objective +case." But this is the only construction in which "to lay" instead of +"to lie" can be sanctioned by the rules of grammar. + + +XI. + +The same confusion often arises in the use of the verbs _sit_ and _set_, +_rise_ and _raise_. _Sit_ is a neuter verb, _set_ an active one; yet how +often do people most improperly say, "I have _set_ with him for hours," +"He _set_ on the beach till the sun went down," "She _set_ three nights +by the patient's bedside." What did they set,--potatoes, traps, or what? +for as an objective case is evidently implied by the use of an active +verb, an object is indispensable to complete the sense. No tense +whatever of the verb "to sit" is rendered "set," which has but _one +word_ throughout the whole verb, except the active participle "setting;" +and "sit" has but two words, "sit" and "sat," except the active +participle "sitting;" therefore it is very easy to correct this error +by the help of a little attention. + + +XII. + +_Raise_ is the same kind of verb as _set_,--active-transitive, requiring +an objective case after it; and it contains only two words, _raise_ and +_raised_, besides the active participle _raising_. _Rise_ is a neuter +verb, not admitting an objective case. It contains two words, _rise_ and +_rose_; besides the two participles, _rising_ and _risen_. It is +improper, therefore, to say, "He _rose_ the books from the floor," "He +_rises_ the fruit as it falls," "After she had _risen_ the basket on her +head," &c. In all such cases use the other verb _raise_. It occurs to +me, that if people would take the trouble to reckon how many different +words a verb contains, they would be in less danger of mistaking them. +"Lay" contains two words, "lay" and "laid," besides the active +participle "laying." "Lie" has also two words, "lie" and "lay," besides +the two participles "lying" and "lain;" and from this second word "lay" +arises all the confusion I have had to lament in the foregoing pages. + + +XIII. + +To the scholar I would remark the prevalent impropriety of adopting the +subjunctive instead of the indicative mood, in sentences where doubt or +uncertainty is expressed, although the former can only be used in +situations in which "contingency and futurity" are combined. Thus, a +gentleman, giving an order to his tailor, may say, "Make me a coat of a +certain description, if it _fit_ me well I will give you another order;" +because the "fit" alluded to is a thing which the future has to +determine. But when the coat is made and brought home, he cannot say, +"If this cloth _be good_ I will give you another order," for the quality +of the cloth is _already_ determined; the future will not alter it. It +may be good, it may be bad, but whatever it _may be_ it already _is_; +therefore, as contingency only is implied, _without futurity_, it must +be rendered in the indicative mood, "If this cloth _is_ good," &c. We +may with propriety say, "If the book be sent in time, I shall be able to +read it to-night," because the sending of the book is an event which the +_future_ must produce; but we must not say, "If this book be sent for +me, it is a mistake," because here the act alluded to is already +performed,--the book has come. I think it very likely that people have +been beguiled into this error by the prefix of the conjunction, +forgetting that conjunctions may be used with the indicative as well as +with the subjunctive mood. + + +XIV. + +Some people use the imperfect tense of the verb "to go," instead of the +past participle, and say, "I should have _went_," instead of "I should +have gone." This is _not_ a very common error, but it is a very great +one; and I should not have thought it could come within the range of the +class for which this book is written, but that I have heard the fault +committed by people of even tolerable education. One might as well say, +"I should have _was_ at the theatre last night," instead of "I should +have _been_ at the theatre," &c., as say, "I should have _went_" instead +of "I should have _gone_." + + +XV. + +Others there are who invert this error, and use the past participle of +the verb "to do" instead of a tense of the verb, saying, "I _done_" +instead of "I _did_." This is inadmissible. "I _did_ it," or "I _have +done_ it," is a phrase correct in its formation, its application being, +of course, dependent on other circumstances. + + +XVI. + +There are speakers who are _too refined_ to use the past (or perfect) +participle of the verbs "to drink," "to run," "to begin," &c., and +substitute the _imperfect tense_, as in the verb "to go." Thus, instead +of saying, "I have drunk," "he has run," "they have begun," they say, "I +have _drank_" "he has _ran_," "they have _began_" &c. These are minor +errors, I admit; still, nice ears detect them. + + +XVII. + +I trust it is unnecessary to warn any of my readers against adopting the +flagrant vulgarity of saying "_don't_ ought," and "_hadn't_ ought," +instead of "ought _not_." It is also incorrect to employ _no_ for _not_ +in such phrases as, "If it is true or _no_ (not)," "Is it so or _no_ +(not)?" + + +XVIII. + +Many people have an odd way of saying, "I expect," when they only mean +"I think," or "I conclude;" as, "I expect my brother is gone to Richmond +to-day," "I expect those books were sent to Paris last year." This is +wrong. _Expect_ can relate only to _future_ time, and must be followed +by a future tense, or a verb in the infinitive mood; as, "I expect my +brother _will go_ to Richmond to-day," "I expect _to find_ those books +were sent to Paris last year." Here the introduction of a future tense, +or of a verb in the infinitive mood, rectifies the grammar without +altering the sense; but such a portion of the sentence must not be +omitted in expression, as no such ellipsis is allowable. + + +XIX. + +The majority of speakers use the imperfect tense and the perfect tense +together, in such sentences as the following,--"I intended to _have +called_ on him last night," "I meant to _have purchased_ one +yesterday,"--or a pluperfect tense, and a perfect tense together I have +sometimes heard, as, "You should _have written_ to _have told_ her." +These expressions are illogical, because, as the _intention_ to perform +an act _must_ be _prior_ to the act contemplated, the act itself cannot +with propriety be expressed by a tense indicating a period of time +_previous_ to the intention. The three sentences should be corrected +thus, placing the second verb in the infinitive mood, "I intended _to +call_ on him last night," "I meant _to purchase_ one yesterday," "You +should have written _to tell_ her." + +But the imperfect tense and the perfect tense are to be combined in such +sentences as the following, "I remarked that they appeared to have +undergone great fatigue;" because here the act of "undergoing fatigue" +_must_ have taken place _previous_ to the period in which you have had +the opportunity of remarking its effect on their appearance; the +sentence, therefore, is both grammatical and logical. + + +XX. + +Another strange perversion of grammatical propriety is to be heard +occasionally in the adoption of the present tense of the verb "to have," +most probably instead of the past participle, but in situations in which +the participle itself would be a redundance; such as, "If I had _have_ +known," "If he had _have_ come according to appointment," "If you had +_have_ sent me that intelligence," &c. Of what utility is the word +"have" in the sentence at all? What office does it perform? If it +stands in place of any other word, that other word would still be an +incumbrance; but the sentence being complete without it, it becomes an +illiterate superfluity. "If I had _have_ known that you would have been +there before me, I would have written to you to _have_ waited till I had +_have_ come." What a construction from the lips of an educated person! +and yet we do sometimes hear this _slip-slop_ uttered by people who are +considered to "speak French and Italian _well_," and who enjoy the +reputation of being "accomplished!" + + +XXI. + +It is amusing to observe the broad line of demarcation which exists +between _vulgar_ bad grammar and _genteel_ bad grammar, and which +characterizes the violation of almost every rule of syntax. The vulgar +speaker uses adjectives instead of adverbs, and says, "This letter is +written _shocking_;" the genteel speaker uses adverbs instead of +adjectives, and says, "This writing looks _shockingly_." The +perpetrators of the latter offence may fancy they can shield themselves +behind the grammatical law which compels the employment of an adverb, +not an adjective, to qualify a verb, and behind the first rule of +syntax, which says "a verb must agree with its nominative." But which +_is_ the nominative in the expression alluded to? _Which_ performs the +act of looking,--the writing or the speaker? To say that a thing _looks_ +when _we_ look _at_ it, is an idiom peculiar to our language, and some +idioms are not reducible to rules; they are conventional terms which +pass current, like bank notes, for the sterling they represent, but must +not be submitted to the test of grammatical alchymy. It is improper, +therefore, to say, "The queen looks beautifully," "The flowers smell +sweetly," "This writing looks shockingly;" because it is the speaker +that performs the act of looking, smelling, &c., not the noun looked +_at_; and though, by an idiomatical construction necessary to avoid +circumlocution, the sentence _imputes the act_ to the _thing beheld_, +the qualifying word must express the quality of the thing spoken of, +_adjectively_, instead of qualifying the act of the nominative +understood, _adverbially_. What an adjective is to a noun, an adverb is +to a verb; an adjective expresses the quality of a thing, and an adverb +the manner of an action. Consider what it is you wish to express, the +_quality of a thing_, or the _manner of an action_, and use an adjective +or adverb accordingly. But beware that you discriminate justly; for +though you cannot say, "The queen looked _majestically_ in her robes," +because here the act of _looking_ is performed by the spectator, who +looks _at_ her, you can and _must_ say, "The queen looked _graciously_ +on the petitioner," "The queen looked _mercifully_ on his prayer," +because here the _act_ of _looking_ is performed _by_ the queen. You +cannot say, "These flowers smell sweetly," because it is _you_ that +smell, and not the flowers; but you can say, "These flowers perfume the +air deliciously," because it is _they_ which impart the fragrance, not +you. You cannot say, "This dress looks badly," because it is you that +look, not the dress; but you can say, "This dress _fits_ badly," because +it is the dress that performs the act of fitting either well or ill. +There are some peculiar idioms which it would be better to avoid +altogether, if possible; but if you feel compelled to use them, take +them as they are,--you cannot prune and refine them by the rules of +syntax, and to attempt to do so shows ignorance as well as affectation. + + +XXII. + +There is a mistake often committed in the use of the adverbs of place, +_hence_, _thence_, _whence_. People are apt to say, "He will go _from +thence_ to-morrow," &c. The preposition "from" is included in these +adverbs, therefore it becomes tautology in sense when prefixed to them. + + +XXIII. + +"Equally as well" is a very common expression, and a very incorrect one; +the adverb of comparison, "as," has no right in the sentence. "Equally +well," "Equally high," "Equally dear," should be the construction; and +if a complement be necessary in the phrase, it should be preceded by the +preposition "with," as, "The wall was equally high with the former +one," "The goods at Smith's are equally dear with those sold at the shop +next door," &c. "Equally the same" is tautology. + + +XXIV. + +"Whether," sometimes an adverb, sometimes a conjunction, is a word that +plainly indicates a choice of things (of course I cannot be supposed to +mean a _freedom_ of choice); it is highly improper, therefore, to place +it, as many do, at the head of each part of a sentence, as, "I have not +yet made up my mind whether I shall go to France, or _whether_ I shall +remain in England." The conjunction should not be repeated, as it is +evident the alternative is expressed _only in the combination_ of the +_two_ parts of the sentence, not in either of them taken separately; and +the phrase should stand thus, "I have not yet made up my mind whether I +shall go to France _or_ remain in England." + + +XXV. + +There is an awkwardness prevalent amongst all classes of society in such +sentences as the following: "He quitted his horse, and got _on to_ a +stage coach," "He jumped _on to_ the floor," "She laid it _on to_ a +dish," "I threw it _on to_ the fire." Why use two prepositions where one +would be quite as explicit, and far more elegant? Nobody, at the present +day, would think of saying, "He came up to London _for_ to go to the +exhibition," because the preposition "for" would be an awkward +superfluity. So is "to" in the examples given; in each of which there is +an unwieldiness of construction which reminds one of the process of +glueing, or fastening, one thing "on to" another. Expunge the redundant +preposition, and be assured, gentle reader, the sentence will still be +found "an elegant sufficiency." There are some situations, however, in +which the two prepositions may with propriety be employed, though they +are never indispensable, as, "I accompanied such a one to Islington, and +then walked on to Kingsland." But here _two_ motions are implied, the +walking onward, and the reaching of a certain point. More might be said +to illustrate the distinction, but we believe it will not be deemed +necessary. + + +XXVI. + +There seems to be a natural tendency to deal in a redundance of +prepositions. Many people talk of "continuing _on_." I should be glad to +be informed in what other direction it would be possible to _continue_. + + +XXVII. + +It is most illiterate to put the preposition _of_ after the adverb +_off_, as, "The satin measured twelve yards before I cut this piece _off +of_ it," "The fruit was gathered _off of_ that tree." Many of my readers +will consider such a remark quite unnecessary in this volume; but many +others, who ought to know better, must stand self-condemned on reading +it. + + +XXVIII. + +There is a false taste extant for the preposition "on" instead of "_of_" +in songs, poetry, and many other situations in which there is still less +excuse for borrowing the poetic license; such as, "Wilt thou think _on_ +me, love?" "I will think _on_ thee, love," "Then think _on_ the friend +who once welcomed it too," &c., &c. But this is an error chiefly to be +met with among poetasters and melodramatic speakers. + + +XXIX. + +Some people add a superfluous preposition at the end of a +sentence,--"More than you think _for_." This, however, is an awkwardness +rarely committed by persons of decent education. + + +XXX. + +That "prepositions govern the objective case" is a golden rule of +grammar; and if it were only _well remembered_, it would effectually +correct that mistake of substituting the nominative for the objective +pronoun, which has been complained of in the preceding pages. In using a +relative pronoun in the objective case, it is more elegant to put the +preposition before than after it, thus, "To whom was the order given?" +instead of, "Whom was the order given to?" Indeed, if this practice +were to be invariably adopted, it would obviate the possibility of +confounding the nominative with the objective case, because no man would +ever find himself able to utter such a sentence as, "To who was this +proposal made?" though he might very unconsciously say, "Who was this +proposal made to?" and the error would be equally flagrant in both +instances. + + +XXXI. + +There is a great inaccuracy connected with the use of the disjunctive +conjunctions _or_ and _nor_, which seem to be either not clearly +understood, or treated with undue contempt by persons who speak in the +following manner: "Henry or John _are_ to go there to-night," "His son +or his nephew _have_ since put in _their_ claim," "Neither one _nor_ the +other _have_ the least chance of success." The conjunctions disjunctive +"or" and "nor" separate the objects in sense, as the conjunction +copulative unites them; and as, by the use of the former, the things +stand forth separately and singly to the comprehension, the verb or +pronoun must be rendered in the singular number also; as, "Henry _or_ +John _is_ to go there to-night," "His son _or_ his nephew _has_ since +put in _his_ claim," &c. If you look over the sentence, you will +perceive that only _one_ is to do the act, therefore only _one_ can be +the nominative to the verb. + + +XXXII. + +Many people improperly substitute the disjunctive "but" for the +comparative "than," as, "The mind no sooner entertains any proposition, +_but_ it presently hastens to some hypothesis to bottom it +on."--_Locke._ "No other resource _but_ this was allowed him." "My +behavior," says she, "has, I fear, been the death of a man who had no +other fault _but_ that of loving me too much."--_Spectator._ + + +XXXIII. + +Sometimes a relative pronoun is used instead of a conjunction, in such +sentences as the following: "I don't know but _what_ I shall go to +Brighton to-morrow," instead of, "I don't know but _that_," &c. + + +XXXIV. + +Sometimes the disjunctive _but_ is substituted for the conjunction +_that_, as, "I have no doubt _but_ he will be here to-night." Sometimes +for the conjunction _if_, as, "I shouldn't wonder _but_ that was the +case." And sometimes _two_ conjunctions are used instead of one, as, +"_If that_ I have offended him," "_After that_ he had seen the parties," +&c. All this is very awkward indeed, and ought to be avoided, and might +easily be so by a little attention. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +I. + +IT is obsolete now to use the article _an_ before words beginning with +long _u_ or with _eu_, and it has become more elegant, in modern style, +to say, "a university," "a useful article," "a European," "a euphonious +combination of sentences," &c., &c. It is also proper to say "such a +one," not "such an one." + + +II. + +Some people pronounce the plural of handkerchief, scarf, wharf, dwarf, +_handkerchieves_, _scarves_, _wharves_, _dwarves_. This is an error, as +these words, and perhaps a few others, are exceptions to the rule laid +down, that nouns ending in _f_ and _fe_ shall change these terminations +into _ves_ to form the plural. + + +III. + +There is an illiterate mode of pronouncing the adverb _too_, which is +that of contracting it into the sound of the preposition _to_; thus, "I +think I paid _to much_ for this gun," "This line is _to long_ by half." +The adverb _too_ should be pronounced like the numeral adjective _two_, +and have the same full distinct sound in delivery, as, "I think I paid +_two_ much for this gun," "This line is _two_ long by half." + + +IV. + +One does not expect to hear such words as "necessi'ated," +"preventative," &c., from people who profess to be educated; but one +_does_ hear them, nevertheless, and many others of the same genus, of +which the following list is a specimen, not a collection. + + "Febuary" and "Febbiwerry," instead of February. + "Seckaterry" instead of secretary. + "Gover'ment" " government. + "Eve'min" " evening. + "Sev'm" " seven. + "Holladiz" " holidays. + "Mossle" " morsel. + +"Chapped," according to orthography, instead of _chopped_, according to +polite usage. + +And we have even heard "continental" pronounced _continential_, though +upon what authority we know not. Besides these, a multitude of others +might be quoted, which we consider too familiar to particularize and +"too numerous to mention." + + +V. + +There is an old jest on record of a person hearing another pronounce the +word curiosity "_curosity_," and remarking to a bystander, "That man +murders the English language." "Nay," replies the person addressed, "he +only knocks an eye (i) out." And I am invariably reminded of this old +jest whenever I hear such pronunciations as the following,--"Lat'n" for +Latin, "sat'n" for satin, and Britain pronounced so as to rhyme with +_written_,--of which a few examples will be given on a subsequent page, +not with the wild hope of comprising in so short a space _all_ the +perversions of prosody which are constantly taking place, but simply +with the intention of reminding careless speakers of some general +principles they seem to have forgotten, and of the vast accumulation of +error they may engraft upon themselves by a lazy adherence to the custom +of the crowd. Before, however, proceeding to the words in question, it +may be satisfactory to our readers to recall to their memory the +observations of Lindley Murray on the subject. He says, "There is +scarcely anything which more distinguishes a person of poor education +from a person of a good one than the pronunciation of the _unaccented +vowels_. When vowels are _under the accent_, the best speakers, and the +lowest of the people, with very few exceptions, pronounce them in the +same manner; but the _un_accented vowels in the mouths of the former +have a distinct, open, and specific sound, while the latter often +totally sink them, or change them into some other sound." The words that +have chiefly struck me are the following, in which not only the i but +some of the other vowels are submitted to the mutilating process, or, as +I have heard it pronounced, _mutulating_. + + Brit'n instead of Britain. + Lat'n " Latin. + Sat'n " Satin. + Patt'n " Patten. + Curt'n " Curtain. + Cert'n " Certain. + Bridle " Bridal. + Idle " Idol. + Meddle " Medal. + Moddle " Model. + Mentle " Mental. + Mortle " Mortal. + Fatle " Fatal. + Gravle " Gravel. + Travle " Travel. + Sudd'n " Sudden. + Infidle " Infidel. + _Scroop_'-lous " _Scru-pu_-lous. + +And a long train of _et cetera_, of which the above examples do not +furnish a tithe. + + _Note._--That to sound the _e_ in _garden_ and + _often_, and the _i_ in _evil_ and _devil_, is a + decided error. They should always be pronounced + _gard'n_ and _oft'n_, _ev'l_ and _dev'l_. + +Some people pronounce the _I_ in Irish and its concomitants so as to +make the words Ireland, Irishmen, Irish linen, &c., sound as if they +were written _Arland_, _A-rishmen_, _Arish_ linen, &c. This is literally +"knocking an _i_ out." + + +VI. + +It is affected, and contrary to authority, to deprive the _s_ of its +sharp hissing sound in the words _precise_, _desolate_, _design_, and +their derivatives. + + +VII. + +There is one peculiarity which we feel bound to notice, because it has +infected English speakers,--that of corrupting the _e_ and the _i_ into +the sound of _a_ or _u_, in the words ability, humility, charity, &c.; +for how often is the ear wrung by such barbarisms as, humi_lutty_, +civi_lutty_, qua_laty_, quan_taty_, cru_alty_, char_aty_, human_aty_, +barbar_aty_, horr_uble_, terr_uble_, and so on, _ad infinitum_!--an +uncouth practice, to which nothing is comparable, except pronouncing +_yalla_ for yellow. + + +VIII. + +There is in some quarters a bad mode prevalent of pronouncing the plural +of such words as _face_, _place_, &c., _fazes_, _plazes_, whilst the +plural of _price_ seems everywhere subject to the same strange mutation. +The words should be _faces_, _places_, _prices_, without any softening +of the _c_ into _z_. There is, too, an ugly fashion of pronouncing the +_ng_, when terminating a word or syllable, as _we_ pronounce the same +combination of letters in the word _finger_, and making such words as +"singer," "ringer," &c., rhyme with _linger_. Sometimes the double _o_ +is elongated into the sound which we give to that dipthong in "room," +"fool," "moon," &c., which has a very bad effect in such words as +_book_, _look_, _nook_, _took_, &c.; and sometimes it is contracted into +the sound of short _u_, making "foot," and some other words, rhyme with +_but_. + + +IX. + +And having remarked on the _lingering_ pronunciation, it is but fair to +notice a defect, the reverse of this, namely, that of omitting the final +_g_ in such words as _saying_, _going_, _shilling_, &c., and pronouncing +them "sayin," "goin," "shillin." This is so common an error that it +generally escapes notice, but is a greater blemish, where we have a +right to look for perfection, than the peculiarities of the provinces in +those who reside there. + + +X. + +It is also a common fault to add a gratuitous _r_ to words ending with a +vowel, such as Emma_r_, Louisa_r_, Julia_r_, and to make _draw_, _law_, +_saw_, _flaw_, with all others of the same class, rhyme with _war_; to +omit the _r_ in such words as _corks_, _forks_, _curtains_, _morsel_, +&c.; in the word _perhaps_, when they conscientiously _pronounce_ the +_h_; and sometimes in _Paris_; or to convert it into the sound of a _y_ +when it comes between two vowels, as in the name _Harriet_, and in the +words _superior_, _interior_, &c., frequently pronounced _Aah-yet_, +_su-pe-yor_, _in-te-yor_, &c. + + +XI. + +There is a vicious mode of amalgamating the final _s_ of a word (and +sometimes the final _c_, when preceded and followed by a vowel) with the +first letter of the next word, if that letter happens to be a _y_, in +such a manner as to produce the sound of _sh_ or of _usu_ in _usual_; +as, "A _nishe_ young man," "What _makesh_ you laugh?" "If he _offendsh_ +you, don't speak to him," "_Ash_ you please," "Not _jush_ yet," "We +always _passh_ your house in going to call on _Missh_ Yates,--she lives +near _Palash_ Yard;" and so on through all the possibilities of such a +combination. This is decided, unmitigated _cockneyism_, having its +parallel in nothing except the broken English of the sons of Abraham; +and to adopt it in conversation is certainly "not speaking like a +Christian." The effect of this pronunciation on the ear is as though the +mouth of the speaker were filled with froth, which impedes the +utterance, and gives the semblance of a defect where nature had kindly +intended perfection; but the radical cause of this, and of many other +mispronunciations, is the carelessness, sometimes the ignorance, of +teachers, who permit children to read and speak in a slovenly manner, +without opening their teeth, or taking any pains to acquire a distinct +articulation. + + +XII. + +Whilst we are on the subject of Prosody, we must not omit to mention the +vicious pronunciation occasionally given to the words _new_, _due_, +_Tuesday_, _stupid_, and a few others, sometimes corrupted into _noo_, +_doo_, _Toosday_, _stoopid_, &c., by way of refinement, perhaps, for +lips which are too delicate to utter the clear, broad, English _u_. + + +XIII. + +Never say "Cut it in _half_," for this you cannot do unless you could +_annihilate one_ half. You may "cut it in two," or "cut it in halves," +or "cut it through," or "divide it," but no human ability will enable +you to _cut it in half_. + + +XIV. + +Never speak of "lots" and "loads" of things. Young men allow themselves +a diffusive license of speech, and of quotation, which has introduced +many words into colloquial style that do not at all tend to improve or +dignify the language, and which, when heard from _ladies_' lips, become +absolute vulgarisms. A young man may talk recklessly of "lots of +bargains," "lots of money," "lots of fellows," "lots of fun," &c., but a +lady may _not_. Man may indulge in any latitude of expression within the +bounds of sense and decorum, but woman has a narrower range,--even her +mirth must be subjected to rule. It may be _naive_, but must never be +grotesque. It is not that we would have _primness_ in the sex, but we +would have refinement. Women are the purer and the more ornamental part +of life, and when _they_ degenerate, the Poetry of Life is gone. + + +XV. + +"Loads" is a word quite as objectional as "lots," unless it can be +reduced to a load of _something_, such as a _ship_-load, a _wagon_-load, +a _cart_-load, a _horse_-load, &c. We often hear such expressions as +"loads of shops," "loads of authors," "loads of compliments;" but as +shops, authors, compliments, are things not usually piled up into loads, +either for ships or horses, we cannot discover the propriety of the +application. + + +XVI. + +Some people, guiltless of those absurdities, commit a great error in the +use of the word _quantity_, applying it to things of _number_, as "a +quantity of friends," "a quantity of ships," "a quantity of houses," &c. +_Quantity_ can be applied only where _bulk_ is indicated, as "a quantity +of land," "a quantity of timber;" but we cannot say, "a quantity of +fields," "a quantity of trees," because _trees_ and _fields_ are +specific individualities. Or we may apply it where individualities are +taken in the gross, without reference to modes, as "a quantity of +luggage," "a quantity of furniture;" but we cannot say "a quantity of +boxes," "a quantity of chairs and tables," for the same reason which is +given in the former instances. We also apply the term _quantity_ to +those things of number which are too minute to be taken separately, as +"a quantity of beans," "a quantity of oats," &c., &c. + + +XVII. + +Avoid favorite words and phrases; they betray a poverty of language or +of imagination not creditable to a cultivated intellect. Some people are +so unfortunate as to find all things _vulgar_ that come "betwixt the +wind and their nobility;" others find them _disgusting_. Some are always +_anticipating_, others are always _appreciating_. Multitudes are +_aristocratic_ in all their relations, other multitudes are as +_distingues_. These two words are chiefly patronized by those whose +pretensions in such respects are the most questionable. To some timid +spirits, born under malignant influences no doubt, most things present +an _awful_ appearance, even though they come in shapes so insignificant +as a cold day or an aching finger. But, thanks to that happy diversity +of Nature which throws light as well as shadow into the human character, +there are minds of brighter vision and more cheerful temperament, who +behold all things _splendid_, _magnificent_, down to a cup of small +beer, or a half-penny orange. Some people have a grandiloquent force of +expression, thereby imparting a _tremendous_ or _thundering_ character +even to little things. This is truly carrying their conceptions into +the sublime,--sometimes a step beyond. + +We have, however, no intention of particularizing _all_ the "pet" +phrases which salute the ear; but the enumeration of a few of them may +make the _candid_ culprit smile, and avoid those trifling absurdities +for the future. + + * * * * * + +We would, under favor, suggest to the reader the advantage of not +relying too confidently on knowledge acquired by habit and example +alone. There are many words in constant use which are perverted from +their original meanings; and if we were to dip into some standard +dictionary occasionally, search out the true meanings of words with +which we have fancied ourselves acquainted, and convict ourselves of +_all_ the errors we have been committing in following the crowd, our +surprise, perhaps, would equal that of Moliere's _Bourgeois Gentilhomme_ +when he discovered that he had been talking _prose_ for forty years. + +The words _feasible_, _ostensible_, _obnoxious_, _apparent_, _obtain_, +_refrain_, _domesticated_, and _centre_, are expressions which, nine +times out of ten, are misapplied, besides a host of others whose +propriety is never questioned, so firmly has custom riveted the bonds of +ignorance. + +In closing this little volume, the writer begs leave to say that the +remarks offered are intended only as "Hints," which they who desire +perfection may easily improve, by a little exercise of the +understanding, and a reference to more extensive sources, into a +competent knowledge of their own tongue; also as _warnings_ to the +careless, that their lapses do not pass so unobserved as they are in the +habit of supposing. + +Though many of the syntactical errors herein mentioned are to be found +in the works of some of our best writers, they are _errors_ +nevertheless, and stand as blemishes upon the productions of their +genius, like unsightly excrescences upon a lovely skin. Genius is above +grammar, and this conviction may inspire in some bosoms an undue +contempt for the latter. But grammar is a constituent part of good +education, and a neglect of it _might_ argue a _want_ of education, +which would, perhaps, be mortifying. It is an old axiom that "civility +costs nothing," and surely grammatical purity need not cost _much_ to +people disposed to pay a little attention to it, and who have received a +respectable education already. It adds a grace to eloquence, and raises +the standard of language where eloquence is not. + +A handsome man or handsome woman is not improved by a shabby or +slatternly attire; so the best abilities are shown to a disadvantage +through a style marked by illiteracies. + + + + +PART IV. + + + + +MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES + +IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. + + +1. HAVE you _learned_ French yet? say _learnt_, as _learned_ is now used +only as an adjective,--as, _a learned man_. Pronounce _learned_ in _two_ +syllables. + +2. The business would suit any one who _enjoys bad health_ [from an +advertisement in a London newspaper]; say, any one _in a delicate state +of health_, or, _whose health is but indifferent_. + +3. "We have no _corporeal_ punishment here," said a schoolmaster once to +the author of this little work. _Corporeal_ is opposed to _spiritual_; +say, _corporal_ punishment. _Corporeal_ means _having a body_. The +Almighty is not a _corporeal_ being, but a _spirit_, as St. John tells +us. + +4. That was a _notable_ circumstance. Pronounce the first syllable of +_notable_ as _no_ in _notion_. Mrs. Johnson is a _notable_ housewife; +that is to say, _careful_. Pronounce the first syllable of _notable_ as +_not_ in _Nottingham_. + +5. Put an _advertisement_ in the "Times." Pronounce _advertisement_ +with the accent on _ver_, and not on _tise_. + +6. He _rose up_ and left the room; leave out _up_. + +7. You have _sown_ it very badly; say, _sewed_ it. + +8. Mr. Dupont _learnt_ me French; say, _taught_. The _master teaches_, +but the _pupil learns_. + +9. John and Henry both read well, but John is the _best_ reader; say, +the _better_ reader, as _best_ can only be said when _three or more +persons_ or objects are compared. + +10. The _two first_ pupils I had; say, the _first two_. + +11. He has _mistook_ his true interest; say, _mistaken_. + +12. Have you _lit_ the fire, Mary? say, _lighted_. + +13. The doctor _has not yet came_; say, _has not yet come_. + +14. I have always _gave_ him good advice; say, _given_. + +15. To be is an _auxiliary_ verb. Pronounce _auxiliary_ in _five_ +syllables, sounding the second _i_, and _not in four_, as we so +frequently hear it. + +16. _Celery_ is a pleasant edible; pronounce _celery_ as it is written, +and _not salary_. + +17. Are you at _leisure_? pronounce _lei_ in _leisure_ the same as _Lei_ +in _Leith_, and _not_ so as to rhyme with _measure_. + +18. Have you seen _the Miss Browns_ lately? say, _the Misses Brown_. + +19. You have soon _forgot_ my kindness; say, _forgotten_. + +20. He keeps _his coach_; say, _his carriage_. + +21. John is my _oldest_ brother; say, _eldest_. _Elder_ and _eldest_ are +applied to _persons_,--_older_ and _oldest_ to _things_. + +22. Disputes have frequently _arose_ on that subject; say, _arisen_. + +23. The cloth was _wove_ in a very short time; say, _woven_. + +24. French is _spoke_ in every state in Europe; say, _spoken_. + +25. He writes as the best authors would have _wrote_, had they _writ_ on +the same subject; say, would have _written_,--had they _written_. + +26. I prefer the _yolk_ of an egg to the white; say, _yelk_, and sound +the _l_. + +27. He is now very _decrepid_; say, _decrepit_. + +28. I am very fond of _sparrowgrass_; say, _asparagus_, and pronounce it +with the accent on _par_. + +29. You are very _mischievous_. Pronounce _mischievous_ with the accent +on _mis_, and _not on chie_, and do not say _mischievious_. + +30. It was very _acceptable_. Pronounce _acceptable_ with the accent on +_cept_, and _not on ac_, as we so often hear it. + +31. "No conversation be permitted in the Reading Room to the +interruption of the company present. _Neither Smoking or Refreshments +allowed_" [from the prospectus of a "Literary and Scientific +Institution"]; insert _can_ after _conversation_, and say, _neither +smoking nor refreshments_. + +32. _No extras or vacations_[from the prospectus of a schoolmistress +near London]; say, _neither extras nor vacations_. + +33. He is very covetous. Pronounce _covetous_ as if it were written +_covet us_, and _not covetyus_, as is almost universally the case. + +34. I intend to _summons_ him; say, _summon_. _Summons_ is a _noun_, and +_not a verb_. + +35. Dearly _beloved_ brethren. Pronounce _beloved_ in _three_ syllables, +and _never in two_, as some clergymen do. + +36. He is now _forsook_ by every one; say, _forsaken_. + +37. Not _as I know_; say, _that I know_. + +38. He came _for to do_ it; leave out _for_. + +39. They have just _rose_ from the table; say, _risen_. + +40. He is quite _as good as me_; say, _as good as I_. + +41. _Many an one_ has done the same; say, _many a one_. _A_, and _not +an_, is used before the _long sound of u_, that is to say, when _u_ +forms _a distinct syllable of itself_, as, _a unit_, _union_, _a +university_. It is also used before _eu_, as, _a euphony_; and likewise +before the word _ewe_, as, _a ewe_. We should also say, _a youth_, not +_an youth_. + +42. _Many people_ think so; say, _many persons_, as _people_ means _a +nation_. + +43. "When our ships sail among the _people_ of the Eastern islands, +_those people_ do not ask for gold,--'iron! iron!' is the call." [From a +work by a peer of literary celebrity.] Say, among the _inhabitants_; +and, instead of _those people_, which is ungrammatical, say, _those +persons_. + +44. _Was you_ reading just now? say, _were you_. + +45. I have _not had no dinner yet_; say, _I have had no dinner yet_, or, +I have _not yet had my dinner_, or, _any dinner_. + +46. She will _never be no taller_; say, she will _never be taller_, or, +she will _never be any taller_. + +47. I _see him_ last Monday; say, _saw him_. + +48. He was _averse from_ such a proceeding; say, _averse to_. + +49. He has _wore_ his boots three months; say, _worn_. + +50. He has _trod_ on my toes; say, _trodden_. + +51. Have you _shook_ the cloth? say, _shaken_. + +52. I have _rang_ several times; say, _rung_. + +53. I _knowed_ him at once; say, _knew_. + +54. He has _growed_ very much; say, _grown_. + +55. George has _fell_ down stairs; say, _fallen_. + +56. He has _chose_ a very poor pattern; say, _chosen_. + +57. They have _broke_ a window; say, _broken_. + +58. Give me _them books_; say, _those books_. + +59. My brother gave me _them there pictures_; say, gave me _those +pictures_. + +60. Whose are _these here books_? say, _these books_. + +61. The men _which_ we saw; say, _whom_. + +62. The books _what_ you have; say, _which_, or _that_. + +63. The boy _as is_ reading; say, _who is_ reading. + +64. The pond is _froze_; say, _frozen_. + +65. He has _took_ my slate; say, _taken_. + +66. He has often _stole_ money from him; say, _stolen_. + +67. They have _drove_ very fast; say, _driven_. + +68. I have _rode_ many miles to-day; say, _ridden_. + +69. You cannot _catch_ him; pronounce _catch_ so as to rhyme with +_match_, and not _ketch_. + +70. Who has _got_ my slate? leave out _got_. + +71. What are you _doing of_? leave out _of_. + +72. _If I was rich_ I would buy a carriage; say, _If I were_. + +73. We have all within us an _impetus_ to sin; pronounce _impetus_ with +the accent on _im_, and not on _pe_, as is very often the case. + +74. He may go to the _antipodes_ for what I care; pronounce _antipodes_ +with the accent on _tip_, and let _des_ rhyme with _ease_. It is a word +of _four_ syllables, and _not of three_, as many persons make it. + +75. _Vouchsafe_, a word seldom used, but, when used, the first syllable +should rhyme with _pouch_. _Never say, vousafe._ + +76. Ginger is a good _stomachic_; pronounce _stomachic_ with the accent +on _mach_, sounding this syllable _mak_, and _not mat_, as is often the +case. + +77. The land in those parts is very _fertile_; pronounce _fertile_ so as +to rhyme with _pill_. The _ile_ in all words must be sounded _ill_, +with the exception of _exile_, _senile_, _gentile_, _reconcile_, and +_camomile_, in which _ile_ rhymes with _mile_. + +78. _It is surprising the fatigue he undergoes_; say, _The fatigue he +undergoes is surprising_. + +79. _Benefited_; often spelt _benefitted_, but _incorrectly_. + +80. _Gather_ up the fragments; pronounce _gather_ so as to rhyme with +_lather_, and _not gether_. + +81. I _propose_ going to town next week; say, _purpose_. + +82. If I _am not mistaken_, you are in the wrong; say, If I _mistake +not_. + +83. _Direct_ your letters to me at Mr. Jones's; say, _Address_ your +letters. + +84. Wales is a very _mountainious_ country; say, _mountainous_, and +place the accent on _moun_. + +85. Of two evils choose _the least_; say, _the less_. + +86. _Exag'gerate_; pronounce _exad'gerate_, and _do not sound agger_ as +in the word _dagger_, which is a very common mistake. + +87. He knows _little or nothing of Latin_; say, _little, if anything, of +Latin_. + +88. He keeps a _chaise_; pronounce it _shaise_, and not _shay_. It has a +regular plural, _chaises_. + +88. The _drought_ lasted a long time; pronounce _drought_ so as to rhyme +with _snout_, and not _drowth_. + +90. The man was _hung_ last week; say, _hanged_; but say, I am fond of +_hung beef_. _Hang, to take away life by hanging_, is a regular verb. + +91. We _conversed together_ on the subject; leave out _together_, as it +is implied in _conversed_, _con_ being equivalent to _with_, that is to +say, _We talked with each other_, &c. + +92. The affair was _compromised_; pronounce _compromised_ in three +syllables, and place the accent on _com_, sounding _mised_ like +_prized_. The word has nothing to do with _promised_. The noun +_compromise_ is accented like _compromised_, but _mise_ must be +pronounced _mice_. + +93. A _steam-engine_; pronounce _engine_ with _en_ as in _pen_, and _not +like in_, and _gine_ like _gin_. + +94. Numbers were _massacred_; pronounce _massacred_ with the accent on +_mas_, and _red_ like _erd_, as if _mas'saker'd_, never _mas'sacreed_. + +95. The king of Israel and the king of Judah sat _either of them_ on his +throne; say, _each of them_. _Either_ signifies the _one_ or the +_other_, but _not both_. _Each_ relates to _two or more objects_, and +signifies _both of the two_, or _every one of any number taken singly_. +_Never_ say "_either_ of the three," but "_each_ or _any one_ of the +three." + +96. A _respite_ was granted the convict; pronounce _respite_ with the +accent on _res_, and sound _pite_ as _pit_. + +97. He soon _returned back_; leave out _back_, which is implied by _re_ +in _returned_. + +98. The _horizon_ is the line that terminates the view; pronounce +_horizon_ with the accent on _ri_, and not on _ho_. + +99. She has _sang_ remarkably well; say, _sung_. + +100. He had _sank_ before assistance arrived; say, _sunk_. + +101. I have often _swam_ across the Tyne; say, _swum_. + +102. I found my friend better than I expected _to have found him_; say, +_to find him_. + +103. I intended _to have written_ a letter yesterday; say, _to write_, +as however long it now is since I thought of writing, "_to write_" was +then present to me, and must still be considered as present when I bring +back that time and the thoughts of it. + +104. His death _shall be_ long regretted [from a notice of a death in a +newspaper]; say, _will be_ long, &c. _Shall_ and _will_ are often +confounded; the following rule, however, may be of use to the reader. +Mere _futurity_ is expressed by _shall_ in the _first_ person, and by +_will_ in the _second_ and _third_; the _determination_ of the speaker +by _will_ in the _first_, and _shall_ in the _second_ and _third_; as, I +WILL go to-morrow, I SHALL go to-morrow. N. B. The latter sentence +simply expresses a future event; the former expresses my determination. + +105. "_Without_ the grammatical form of a word can be recognized at a +glance, little progress can be made in reading the language" [from a +very popular work on the study of the Latin language]; say, _Unless_ the +grammatical, &c. The use of _without_ for _unless_ is a very common +mistake. + +106. Have you begun _substraction_ yet? say, _subtraction_. + +107. He claimed admission to the _chiefest_ offices; say, _chief_. +_Chief_, _right_, _supreme_, _correct_, _true_, _universal_, _perfect_, +_consummate_, _extreme_, &c., _imply_ the superlative degree without +_est_ or _most_. In language sublime or impassioned, however, the word +_perfect_ requires the superlative form to give it effect. A lover, +enraptured with his mistress, would naturally call her the _most +perfect_ of her sex. + +108. The ship had _sprang_ a leak; say, _sprung_. + +109. I _had rather_ do it now; say, I _would rather_. + +110. He was served with a _subpoena_; pronounce _subpoena_ with the +accent on _poe_, which you will sound like _tea_, and sound the _b_ +distinctly. _Never pronounce the word soopee'na._ + +111. I have not travelled _this twenty years_; say, _these twenty +years_. + +112. He is _very much the gentleman_; say, He is _a very gentlemanly +man_, or _fellow_. + +113. The _yellow_ part of an egg is very nourishing; _never_ pronounce +_yellow_ like _tallow_, which we so often hear. + +114. We are going to the _zoological_ gardens; pronounce _zoological_ in +_five_ syllables, and place the accent on _log_ in _logical_. Sound +_log_ like _lodge_, and _the first two o's in distinct syllables_. +_Never_ make _zool_ _one_ syllable. + +115. He always preaches _extempore_; pronounce _extempore_ in _four_ +syllables, with the accent on _tem_, and _never in three_, making _pore_ +to rhyme with _sore_. + +116. _Naught_ and _aught_; _never_ spell these words _nought_ and +_ought_. There is no such word as _nought_, and _ought_ is a verb. + +117. Allow me to _suggest_; pronounce _sug_ so as to rhyme with _mug_, +and _gest_ like _jest_. Never _sudjest_. + +118. The Emperor of Russia is a _formidable_ personage; pronounce +_formidable_ with the accent on _for_, and _not on mid_, as is often the +case. + +119. Before the words _heir_, _herb_, _honest_, _honor_, _hostler_, +_hour_, _humble_, and _humor_, and their compounds, instead of the +article _a_, we make use of _an_, as the _h_ is not sounded; likewise +before words beginning with _h_ that are _not_ accented on the _first +syllable_, such as _heroic_, _historical_, _hypothesis_, &c., as, _an +heroic action_, _an historical work_, _an hypothesis_ that can scarcely +be allowed. N. B. The letter _h_ is seldom mute at the beginning of a +word; but from the negligence of tutors and the inattention of pupils +many persons have become almost incapable of acquiring its just and full +pronunciation. It is, therefore, incumbent on teachers to be +particularly careful to inculcate a clear and distinct utterance of this +sound. + +120. He was _such an extravagant young man_ that he soon spent his whole +patrimony; say, _so extravagant a young man_. + +121. I saw the _slough_ of a snake; pronounce _slough_ so as to rhyme +with _rough_. + +122. She is _quite the lady_; say, She is _very lady-like in her +demeanor_. + +123. He is _seldom or ever_ out of town; say, _seldom, if ever_, out of +town. + +124. Death _unloosed_ his chains; say, _loosed_ his chains. + +125. It is dangerous to walk _of a_ slippery morning; say, _on a_ +slippery morning. + +126. He who makes himself famous by his eloquence, illustrates his +origin, let it be _never so mean_; say, _ever so mean_. + +127. His fame is acknowledged _through_ Europe; say, _throughout_ +Europe. + +128. The bank of the river is frequently _overflown_; say, _overflowed_. + +129. _Previous to_ my leaving England I called on his lordship; say, +_previously to_ my leaving, &c. + +130. I doubt _if this_ will ever reach you; say, _whether this_, &c. + +131. He was _exceeding kind_ to me; say, _exceedingly kind_. + +132. I lost _near_ twenty pounds; say, _nearly_. + +133. _Bills are requested to be paid quarterly_; say, _It is requested +that bills be paid quarterly_. + +134. It was _no use asking_ him any more questions; say, _of no use to +ask him_, &c. + +135. The Americans said they _had no right_ to pay taxes; say, they +_were under no obligation_ to pay, &c. + +136. I _throwed_ my box away, and _never took no more snuff_; say, I +_threw_, &c., and _took snuff no more_. + +137. She was _endowed_ with an exquisite taste for music; say, _endued_ +with, &c. + +138. I intend to _stop_ at home; say, to _stay_. + +139. At this time I _grew_ my own corn; say, I _raised_, &c. + +140. He _was_ no sooner departed than they expelled his officers; say, +he _had_ no sooner, &c. + +141. He _was_ now retired from public business; say, _had_ now retired, +&c. + +142. They _were_ embarked in a common cause; say, _had_ embarked, &c. + +143. Hostilities _were_ now become habitual; say, _had_ now become. + +144. Brutus and Aruns killed _one another_; say, _each other_. + +145. Pray, sir, who _may you be_? say, who _are you_? + +146. Their character as a warlike people _is_ much degenerated; say, +_has_ much, &c. + +147. He is gone on an _errand_; pronounce _errand_ as it is written, and +not _arrant_. + +148. In a popular work on arithmetic we find the following sum,--"If for +7_s._ 8_d._, I can buy 9 lbs. of raisins, _how much_ can I purchase for +L56 16_s._?" say, "_what quantity_ can I," &c. Who would think of saying +"_how much raisins_?" + +149. Be very careful in distinguishing between _indite_ and _indict_; +_key_ and _quay_; _principle_ and _principal_; _check_ and _cheque_; +_marshal_ and _martial_; _counsel_ and _council_; _counsellor_ and +_councillor_; _fort_ and _forte_; _draft_ and _draught_; _place_ and +_plaice_; _stake_ and _steak_; _satire_ and _satyr_; _stationery_ and +_stationary_; _ton_ and _tun_; _levy_ and _levee_; _foment_ and +_ferment_; _fomentation_ and _fermentation_; _petition_ and _partition_; +_practice_ and _practise_; _Francis_ and _Frances_; _dose_ and _doze_; +_diverse_ and _divers_; _device_ and _devise_; _wary_ and _weary_; +_salary_ and _celery_; _radish_ and _reddish_; _treble_ and _triple_; +_broach_ and _brooch_; _ingenious_ and _ingenuous_; _prophesy_ and +_prophecy_; _fondling_ and _foundling_; _lightning_ and _lightening_; +_genus_ and _genius_; _desert_ and _dessert_; _currier_ and _courier_; +_pillow_ and _pillar_; _executer_ and _executor_; _suit_ and _suite_; +_ridicule_ and _reticule_; _lineament_ and _liniment_; _track_ and +_tract_; _lickerish_ and _licorice_; _statute_ and _statue_; _ordinance_ +and _ordnance_; _lease_ and _leash_; _recourse_ and _resource_; +_straight_ and _strait_; _immerge_ and _emerge_; _style_ and _stile_; +_compliment_ and _complement_; _bass_ and _base_; _contagious_ and +_contiguous_; _eminent_ and _imminent_; _eruption_ and _irruption_; +_precedent_ and _president_; _relic_ and _relict_. + +150. I prefer _radishes_ to _cucumbers_; pronounce _radishes_ exactly as +it is spelt, and not _redishes_, and the _u_ in the first syllable of +_cucumber_ as in _fuel_, and not as if the word were _cowcumber_. + +151. Never pronounce _barbarous_ and _grievous_, _bartarious_ and +_grievious_. + +152. The _two last_ chapters are very interesting; say, The _last two_, +&c. + +153. The soil on these islands is so very thin, that little vegetation +is produced upon them _beside_ cocoanut trees; say, _with the exception +of_, &c. + +154. He restored it _back_ to the owner; leave out _back_. + +155. _Here_, _there_, _where_, are generally better than _hither_, +_thither_, _whither_, with verbs of motion; as, _Come here_, _Go there_. +N. B. _Hither_, _thither_, and _whither_, which were formerly used, are +now considered stiff and inelegant. + +156. _As far as I_ am able to judge, the book is well written; say, _So +far as_, &c. + +157. It is doubtful whether he will play _fairly or no_; say, _fairly or +not_. + +158. "The Pilgrim's _Progress_;" pronounce _progress_, _prog-ress_, not +_pro-gress_. + +159. He is a boy of a great _spirit_; pronounce _spirit_ exactly as it +is written, and never _sperit_. + +160. The _camelopard_ is the tallest of known animals; pronounce +_camelopard_ with the accent on the _second_ syllable. Never call it +_camel leopard_, as is so often heard. + +161. He is very _awkward_; never say, _awkard_. + +162. He ran _again_ me; I stood _again_ the wall; instead of _again_, +say _against_. Do it _again_ the time I mentioned; say, _by_ the time, +&c. + +163. I always act _agreeable_ to my promise; say, _agreeably_. + +164. The study of syntax should be _previously_ to that of punctuation; +say, _previous_. + +165. No one should incur censure for being tender of _their_ reputation; +say, of _his_ reputation. + +166. They were all _drownded_; say, _drowned_. + +167. _Jalap_ is of great service; pronounce _jalap_ exactly as it is +written, NEVER _jollop_. + +168. He is gone on a _tour_; pronounce _tour_ so as to rhyme with +_poor_, _never_ like _tower_. + +169. The rain _is_ ceased; say, _has_ ceased. + +170. _They laid their heads together_, and formed their plan; say, _They +held a consultation_, &c. _Laid their heads together_ savors of SLANG. + +171. The _chimley_ wants sweeping; say, _chimney_. + +172. I was walking _towards_ home; pronounce _towards_ so as to rhyme +with _boards_. _Never_ say _to wards_. + +173. It is a _stupenduous_ work; say, _stupendous_. + +174. A _courier_ is expected from Paris; pronounce _cou_ in _courier_ so +as to rhyme with _too_. _Never_ pronounce _courier_ like _currier_. + +175. Let each of us mind _their_ own business; say, _his_ own business. + +176. Is this or that the _best_ road? say, the _better_ road. + +177. _Rinse_ your mouth; pronounce _rinse_ as it is written, and NEVER +_rense_. "_Wrench your mouth_," said a fashionable dentist one day to +the author of this work. + +178. The book is not _as_ well printed as it ought to be; say, _so_ well +printed, &c. + +179. Webster's _Dictionary_ is an admirable work; pronounce _dictionary_ +as if written _dik-shun-a-ry_; _not_, as is too commonly the practice, +_dixonary_. + +180. Some disaster has certainly _befell_ him; say, _befallen_. + +181. She is a pretty _creature_; never pronounce _creature_, _creeter_, +as is often heard. + +182. We went to see the _Monument_; pronounce _monument_ exactly as it +is written, and _not_ as many pronounce it, _moniment_. + +183. I am very wet, and must go and _change myself_; say, _change my +clothes_. + +184. He has had a good _education_; _never_ say, _edication_, which is +often heard, nor _edicate_ for _educate_. + +185. He is much better _than me_; say, _than I_. + +186. You are stronger _than him_; say, _than he_. + +187. I had _as lief_ stand; say, I _would as soon_ stand. + +188. He is _not a whit_ better; say, _in no degree_ better. + +189. They are _at loggerheads_; say, _at variance_. + +190. His character is _undeniable_,--a very common expression; say, +_unexceptionable_. + +191. Bring me the _lantern_; never spell _lantern_, _lanthorn_. + +192. The room is twelve _foot_ long, and nine _foot_ broad; say, twelve +_feet_, nine _feet_. + +193. He is _singular_, though _regular_ in his habits, and also very +_particular_; beware of leaving out the _u_ in _singular_, _regular_, +and _particular_, which is a very common practice. + +194. They are detained _at_ France; say, _in_ France. + +195. He lives _at_ London; say, _in_ London, and beware of pronouncing +_London_, as many careless persons do, _Lunnun_. _At_ should be applied +to small towns. + +196. No _less_ than fifty persons were there; say, No _fewer_, &c. + +197. _Such another_ mistake, and we shall be ruined; say, _Another such_ +mistake, &c. + +198. It is _some distance_ from our house; say, _at some distance_, &c. + +199. I shall call _upon_ him; say, _on_ him. + +200. He is a Doctor of _Medicine_; pronounce _medicine_ in _three_ +syllables, NEVER in _two_. + +201. They told me to enter _in_; leave out _in_, as it is implied in +_enter_. + +202. His _strength_ is amazing; never say, _strenth_. + +203. "_Mistaken_ souls, who dream of heaven,"--this is the beginning of +a popular hymn; it should be, "_Mistaking_ souls," &c. _Mistaken +wretch_, for _mistaking wretch_, is an apostrophe that occurs everywhere +among our poets, particularly those of the stage; the most incorrigible +of all, and the most likely to fix and disseminate an error of this +kind. + +204. Give me both _of_ those books; leave out _of_. + +205. Whenever I try to write well, I _always_ find I can do it; leave +out _always_, which is unnecessary. + +206. He plunged _down_ into the stream; leave out _down_. + +207. She is the _matron_; say _may-tron_, and not _mat-ron_. + +208. Give me _leave_ to tell you; NEVER say _leaf_ for _leave_. + +209. The _height_ is considerable; pronounce _height_ so as to rhyme +with _tight_. Never _hate_ nor _heighth_. + +210. Who has my _scissors_? _never_ call _scissors_, _sithers_. + +211. First _of all_ I shall give you a lesson in French, and last _of +all_ in music; leave out _of all_ in both instances, as unnecessary. + +212. I shall have finished by the _latter_ end of the week; leave out +_latter_, which is unnecessary. + +213. They sought him _throughout_ the _whole_ country; leave out +_whole_, which is implied in _throughout_. + +214. Iron sinks _down_ in water; leave out _down_. + +215. I own that I did not come soon enough; but _because why_? I was +detained; leave out _because_. + +216. Have you seen the new _pantomime_? never say _pantomine_, as there +is no such word. + +217. I _cannot by no means_ allow it; say, I _can by no means_, &c., or, +I _cannot by any means_, &c. + +218. He _covered it over_; leave out _over_. + +219. I bought _a new pair of shoes_; say, _a pair of new shoes_. + +220. He _combined together_ these facts; leave out _together_. + +221. My brother called on me, and we _both_ took a walk; leave out +_both_, which is unnecessary. + +222. The _duke_ discharged his _duty_; sound the _u_ in _duke_ and +_duty_ like the word _you_, and carefully avoid saying, _dook_ and +_dooty_, or _doo_ for _dew_. + +223. _Genealogy_, _geography_, and _geometry_ are words of Greek +derivation; beware of saying, _geneology_, _jography_, and _jometry_, a +very common practice. + +224. He made out the _inventory_; place the accent in _inventory_ on the +syllable _in_, and NEVER on _ven_. + +225. He deserves _chastisement_; say, _chas-tiz-ment_, with the accent +on _chas_, and NEVER on _tise_. + +226. He threw the _rind_ away; never call _rind_, _rine_. + +227. They contributed to his _maintenance_; pronounce _maintenance_ with +the accent on _main_, and _never_ say, _maintainance_. + +228. She wears a silk _gown_; never say, _gownd_. + +229. Sussex is a _maritime_ county; pronounce the _last_ syllable of +_maritime_ so as to rhyme with _rim_. + +230. He _hovered_ about the enemy; pronounce _hovered_ so as to rhyme +with _covered_. + +231. He is a powerful _ally_; _never_ place the accent on _al_ in +_ally_, as many do. + +232. She bought a _diamond_ necklace; pronounce _diamond_ in _three_ +syllables, NEVER in _two_, which is a very common practice. + +233. He reads the "Weekly _Despatch_;" NEVER spell the word _despatch_, +_dispatch_. + +234. He said _as how_ you _was_ to do it; say, he said _that you were to +do it_. + +235. Never say, "_I acquiesce with you_;" but, "_I acquiesce in your +proposal, in your opinion_," &c. + +236. He is a distinguished _antiquarian_; say, _antiquary_. +_Antiquarian_ is an adjective; _antiquary_, a noun. + +237. In Goldsmith's "History of England" we find the following +extraordinary sentence in one of the chapters on the reign of Queen +Elizabeth:--"This" [a communication to Mary, Queen of Scots] "they +effected by conveying their letters to her by means of a brewer _that +supplied the family with ale through a chink in the wall of her +apartment_." A queer brewer that,--to supply his ale through a chink in +the wall! How easy the alteration to make the passage clear! "This they +effected by conveying their letters to her _through a chink in the wall +of her apartment, by means of a brewer that supplied the family with +ale_." + +238. Lavater wrote on _Physiognomy_; in the last word sound the _g_ +distinctly, as _g_ is always pronounced before _n_ when it is not in the +same syllable; as, _indignity_, &c. + +239. She is a very clever _girl_; pronounce _girl_ as if written _gerl_; +never say _gal_, which is very vulgar. + +240. He built a large _granary_; pronounce _granary_ so as to rhyme with +_tannery_, never call the word _grainary_. + +241. Beware of using _Oh!_ and _O_ indiscriminately; _Oh!_ is used to +express the emotion of _pain_, _sorrow_, or _surprise_; as, "Oh! the +exceeding grace of God, who loves his creatures so." _O_ is used to +express _wishing_, _exclamation_, or a direct _address_ to a person; as, + + "O mother, will the God above, + Forgive my faults like thee?" + +242. Some writers make a distinction between _farther_ and _further_; +they are, in fact, the very same word. _Further_, however, is less used +than _farther_, though it is the genuine form. + +243. He did it _unbeknown_ to us; say, _unknown_, &c. + +244. If I say "They retreated _back_," I use a word that is +_superfluous_, as _back_ is implied in the syllable _re_ in _retreated_. +Never place the accent on _flu_ in _superfluous_, but always on _per_. + +245. In reading Paley's "Evidences of Christianity," I unexpectedly +_lit on_ the passage I wanted; say, _met with_ the passage, &c. + +246. He has ordered a _phaeton_ from his coach-maker; beware of saying, +_pheton_ or _phaton_. The word should always be pronounced in _three_ +syllables, with the accent on _pha_. N. B. In pha-e-ton the _a_ and _e_ +do _not_ form a diphthong, as many suppose; the word is of Greek origin. + +247. Be careful to use the hyphen (-) correctly; it joins compound +words, and words broken by the ending of the line. The use of the hyphen +will appear more clearly from the following example: "_many colored_ +wings" means _many_ wings, which are _colored_; but "_many-colored_ +wings" means "wings of _many colors_." + +248. He had to wait in an _antechamber_; carefully avoid spelling the +last word _antichamber_. N. B. An _antechamber_ is the chamber that +leads to the chief apartment. _Ante_ is a LATIN PREPOSITION, and means +_before_, as, to ante_date_, that is, "to date beforehand." _Anti_ is a +GREEK PREPOSITION, and means _against_, as, anti_monarchical_, that is, +"against government by a single person." + +249. The _axe_ was very sharp; never spell _axe_ without the _e_. + +250. The force of voice, which is placed on any particular word or words +to distinguish the sense, is called _emphasis_ and those words are +called _emphatical words_: as, "Grammar is a _useful_ science." In this +sentence the word _useful_ is emphatical. The great importance of +_emphasis_ may be seen by the following example: + + 1. Will you _call_ on me to-morrow? + Yes, I shall [_call_]. + + 2. Will you call on _me_ to-morrow? + No, but I shall call on your _brother_. + + 3. Will you call on me _to-morrow_? + No, but I shall on the _following day_. + + 4. Will _you_ call on me to-morrow? + No, but my _brother_ will. + +251. Never say _o-fences_ for _offences_; _pison_ for _poison_; +_co-lection_ for _collection_; _voiolent_ for _violent_; _kiver_ for +_cover_; _afeard_ for _afraid_; _debbuty_ for _deputy_. + +252. He is a mere _cipher_; never spell _cipher_ with a _y_. + +253. I was _necessitated_ to do it; a vile expression, and often made +worse by _necessiated_ being used. Say, I was _obliged_, or _compelled_, +to do it. + +254. Gibbon wrote the "_Rise_ and Fall of the Roman Empire;" pronounce +_rise_, the noun, so as to rhyme with _price_; _rise_, the verb, rhymes +with _prize_. + +255. Have you been to the _National_ Gallery? Never pronounce _national_ +as if it were written _nay-shun-al_, a very common error, and by no +means confined to uneducated persons. + +256. I bought a new _umbrella_; beware of pronouncing _umbrella_, +_umberella_, or _umbereller_, both very common errors. + +257. He is a supporter of the _government_; beware of omitting the _n_ +in the second syllable of _government_. A very common practice. + +258. He strenuously maintained the _contrary_; never place the accent on +the _second_ syllable in _contrary_. In the ancient and time-honored +ditty, however, of + + "Mistress Mary, + Quite _contrary_, + How does your garden grow?" + +a ballad with which we are all more or less familiar, the word +"_contrary_" _is_ accented on the _second_ syllable, so as to rhyme with +the name of the venerable dame to whom these memorable lines were +addressed. + +259. "Received this day _of_ Mr. Brown, ten pounds;" say, "Received this +day _from_", &c. + +260. "In what case is the word _dominus_?" "In the _nominative_, sir." +In the hurry of school pronunciation "_nominative_" is nearly always +heard in _three_ syllables, as if written _nomnative_ or _nomative_, an +error that should be very carefully avoided; it is a word of _four_ +syllables. + +261. Of whatever you _get_, endeavor to save something; and, with all +your _getting_, _get_ wisdom. Carefully avoid saying _git_ for _get_, +and _gitting_ for _getting_. + +262. So intent was he on the song he was _singing_, as he stood by the +fire, that he did not perceive that his clothes were _singeing_. N. B. +Verbs ending with a _single e_ omit the _e_ when the termination _ing_ +is added; as, _give_, _giving_. In _singeing_, however, the _e_ must be +retained, to prevent its being confounded with _singing_. + +263. The boy had a _swingeing_ for _swinging_ without permission. _Read +the preceding note._ + +264. The man who was _dyeing_ said that his father was then _dying_. +Read the note in No. 262, in reference to _dyeing_; and observe that +_die_ changes the _i_ into _y_ before the addition of the termination +_ing_. + +265. His _surname_ is Clifford; never spell the _sur_ in _surname_, +_sir_, which shows an ignorance of is true derivation, which is from the +Latin. + +266. In "Bell's Life in London," of Saturday, Jan. 13th, of the current +year [1855], there is a letter from a Scotchman to the editor on the +subject of the declining salmon fisheries in Scotland. In one passage +the writer thus expresses himself: "The Duke of Sutherland has got +_almost no rent_ for these [salmon] rivers for the last four years," &c. +The writer should have said, _scarcely any rent_. "_Almost no rent_" is +a downright Scotticism. + +267. His _mamma_ sent him to a preparatory school; _mamma_ is often +written with one _m_ only, which is not, as may at first be supposed, in +imitation of the French [_maman_], but in sheer ignorance. The word is +pure Greek. + +268. Active verbs often take a neuter sense; as, _The house is +building_. Here _is building_ is used in a neuter signification, because +it has no object after it. By this rule are explained such sentences +as, _Application is wanting_, _The grammar is printing_, &c. + +269. He _attackted_ me without the slightest provocation; say, +_attacked_. + +270. I saw him _somewheres_ in the city; say, _somewhere_. N. B. +_Nowheres_, _everywheres_, and _anywheres_ are also very frequently +heard. + +271. He is still a _bacheldor_; say, _bachelor_. + +272. His language was quite _blasphemous_; beware of placing the accent +on _phe_ in _blasphemous_. A very common mistake. Place the accent on +the syllable _blas_. + +273. I fear I shall _discommode_ you; say, _incommode_. + +274. I can do it _equally as well as_ he; leave out _equally_, which is +altogether superfluous. + +275. We could not forbear _from_ doing it; leave out _from_, which is +unnecessary. + +276. They accused him _for_ neglecting his duty; say, _of_ neglecting, +&c. + +277. He was made much _on_ at Bath; say, made much _of_, &c. + +278. He is a man _on_ whom you can confide; say, _in_ whom, &c. + +279. _I'm thinking_ he will soon arrive; say, _I think_, &c. + +280. He was obliged to _fly_ the country; say, _flee_ the country. A +very common mistake. + +281. The snuffers _wants_ mending; say, _want_ mending. + +282. His conduct admits _of_ no apology; leave out _of_, which is quite +unnecessary. + +283. A _gent_ has been here, inquiring for you,--a detestable, but very +common, expression; say, a _gentleman_, &c. + +284. That was _all along of_ you; say, That was _all your fault_. + +285. You have no _call_ to be vexed with me; say, no _occasion_, &c. + +286. I _don't_ know nothing about it,--a very common cockneyism; leave +out _don't_. + +287. I _had_ rather not, should be, I _would_ rather not. + +288. I _had better_ go, should be, _It were better_ that I should go. + +289. A _new pair_ of gloves, should be, A _pair of new_ gloves. + +290. He is a _very rising_ man, should be, He is _rising rapidly_. + +291. Apartments _to let_, should be, Apartments _to be let_. + +292. No _less_ than ten persons, should be, No _fewer_ than ten persons. +_Less_ must be applied to quantity, as, No _less_ than ten pounds. +_Fewer_ must be applied to things. + +293. I _never_ speak, _whenever_ I can help it, should be, I never speak +_when_ I can help it. + +294. _Before_ I do that, I must _first_ be paid, should be, Before I do +that, I must be paid. + +295. To _get over_ an illness, should be, To _survive_, or, To _recover +from_ an illness. + +296. To _get over_ a person, should be, To _persuade_ a person. + +297. To _get over_ a fact, should be, To _deny_ or _refute_ it. + +298. The _then_ Duke of Bedford, should be, The Duke of Bedford _of that +day_, or, The _sixth_ Duke of Bedford. + +299. The _then_ Mrs. Howard, should be, The Mrs. Howard _then living_. + +300. A _couple_ of pounds, should be, _Two_ pounds. Couple implies +union, as, A married couple. + +301. He speaks _slow_, should be, He speaks _slowly_. + +302. He is _noways_ in fault, should be, He is _nowise_ in fault. + +303. He is _like_ to be, should be, He is _likely_ to be. + +304. _All over_ the land, should be, _Over all_ the land. + +305. I am stout in comparison _to_ you, should be, I am stout in +comparison _with_ you. + +306. At _best_, should be, At _the best_. + +307. At _worst_, should be, At _the worst_. + +308. The dinner was _all eat up_, should be, The dinner was _all eaten_. + +309. I _eat_ heartily, should be, I _ate_ heartily. + +310. As I _take_ it, should be, As I _see_ it, or _understand_ it. + +311. I shall _fall down_, should be, I shall _fall_. + +312. It fell _on_ the floor, should be, It fell _to_ the floor. + +313. He _again repeated_ it, should be, He _repeated_ it. + +314. His conduct was _approved of_ by all, should be, His conduct was +_approved_ by all. + +315. He was killed _by_ a cannon ball, should be, He was killed _with_ a +cannon ball. The gun was fired _by_ a man. + +316. Six weeks _back_, should be, Six weeks _ago_, or _since_. + +317. _Every now and then_, should be, _Often_, or _Frequently_. + +318. Who finds him _in_ money? should be, Who finds him money? + +319. The _first of all_, should be, The _first_. + +320. The _last of all_, should be, The _last_. + +321. Be that as it _will_, should be, Be that as it _may_. + +322. My _every_ hope, should be, _All_ my hopes. + +323. Since _when_, should be, Since _which time_. + +324. He put it _in_ his pocket, should be, He put it _into_ his pocket. + +325. Since _then_, should be, Since _that time_. + +326. The _latter_ end, should be, The _end_. + +327. I saw it _in here_, should be, I saw it _here_. + +328. That _ay'nt_ just, should be, That _is not_ just. + +329. The hen is _setting_, should be, The hen is _sitting_. + +330. The wind _sets_, should be, The wind _sits_. + +331. To _lift up_, should be, To _lift_. + +332. I said so _over again_, should be, I _repeated_ it. + +333. From _here to there_, should be, From _this place to that_. + +334. _Nobody else_ but him, should be, _Nobody_ but him. + +335. The balloon _ascended up_, should be, The balloon _ascended_. + +336. _This_ two days, should be, _These_ two days. + +337. Do you _mean_ to come? should be, Do you _intend_ to come? + +338. Each of them _are_, should be, Each of them _is_. _Each_ means one +_and_ the other of two. + +339. _Either_ of the _three_, should be, _Any one_ of the three. +_Either_ means one _or_ the other of two. + +340. _Neither_ one _or_ the other, should be, Neither one _nor_ the +other. _Neither_ (not either) means not the one _nor_ the other of two. + +341. Better _nor_ that, should be, Better _than_ that. + +342. _Bad grammar_, should be, Bad or ungrammatical _English_. + +343. As soon as _ever_, should be, As soon as. + +344. You will _some_ day be sorry, should be, You will _one_ day be +sorry. + +345. From _now_, should be, From _this time_. + +346. Therefore, I _thought_ it proper to write you, should be, +Therefore, I _think_ it proper to write _to_ you. + +347. _There's_ thirty, should be, There _are_ thirty. + +348. _Subject matter_, should be, The subject. + +349. A _summer's_ morning, should be, A _summer_ morning. + +350. My clothes _have got_ too small, or too short, for me, should be, I +have become too stout or too tall for my clothes. + +351. A _most perfect_ poem, should be, A _perfect_ poem. Perfect, +supreme, complete, brief, full, empty, true, false, do not admit of +comparison. + +352. Avoid using unmeaning or vulgar phrases in speaking, as, You don't +say so? Don't you know? Don't you see? You know; You see; So, you see, +&c. + +353. Is Mr. Smith _in_? should be, Is Mr. Smith _within_? + +354. The _other one_, should be, The other. + +355. _Another one_, should be, Another. + +356. I _left_ this morning. Name the place left. + +357. Over head _and ears_, should be, Over _head_. + +358. I may _perhaps_, or _probably_, should be, I may. + +359. Whether he will or _no_, should be, Whether he will or _not_. + +360. _Says_ I, should be, _Said_ I, or, I _said_. + +361. He spoke _contemptibly_ of him, should be, He spoke +_contemptuously_ of him. + +362. _Was_ you? should be, _Were_ you? + +363. I am _oftener_ well than ill, should be, I am _more frequently_ +well than ill. + +364. For _good and all_, should be, For _ever_. + +365. It is _above_ a month since, should be, It is _more_ then a month +since. + +366. He is a _superior_ man, should be, He is _superior to most_ men. + +367. He _need_ not do it, should be, He _needs_ not do it. + +368. Go _over_ the bridge, should be, Go _across_ the bridge. + +369. I was some distance from home, should be, I was _at_ some distance +from home. + +370. He _belongs_ to the _Mechanics'_ Institution, should be, He is a +_member_ of the _Mechanics'_ Institution. + +371. For _such another_ book, should be, For _another such_ book. + +372. They _mutually_ loved _each other_, should be, They loved _each +other_. + +373. I _ay'nt_, should be, I _am not_. + +374. I am _up to you_, should be, I _understand_ you. + +375. Bread has _rose_, should be, Bread has _risen_. + +376. He was in _eminent_ danger, should be, He was in _imminent_ danger. + +377. Take hold _on_, should be, Take hold _of_. + +378. Vegetables were _plenty_, should be, Vegetables were _plentiful_. + +379. Avoid all slang and vulgar words and phrases, as, _Any how_, +_Bating_, _Bran new_, _To blow up_, _Bother_, _Cut_, _Currying favor_, +_Fork out_, _Half an eye_, _I am up to you_, _Kick up_, _Leastwise_, +_Nowheres_, _Pell-mell_, _Scrape_, _The Scratch_, _Rum_, _Topsy-turvey_, +_Walk into_, _Whatsomever_. + +"Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar."--SHAKESPEARE. + + + + +CATALOGUE + +OF + +Books for Schools and Colleges, + +PUBLISHED BY + +JAMES MUNROE & CO. + +No. 134 Washington Street, Boston, + +AND + +Lyceum Building, Harvard Square, Cambridge. + + * * * * * + +FIRST LESSONS IN GRAMMAR. + +LITTLE EDWARD'S FIRST LESSONS IN GRAMMAR. By Mrs. Lowell. 18mo. 17 +cents. + + * * * * * + +ENGLISH GRAMMAR. + +ENGLISH GRAMMAR, on the basis of Lindley Murray. 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