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+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: 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.
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
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+
+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.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
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+DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES.
+
+DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES FOR SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES, with a Selection of
+Hymns. 16mo. 37 cents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
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+MORAL PHILOSOPHY.
+
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+especially to Common Schools. By Rev. D. Steele and a Friend. 18mo. pp.
+80. 15 cts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
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+
+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. Russell, Author of the University Speaker. 12mo. pp. 480. 83 cents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+RUSSELL'S INTRODUCTION TO THE READER.
+
+INTRODUCTION TO THE ELOCUTIONARY READER: containing a Selection of
+Reading Lessons; together with the Rudiments of Elocution. By William
+and Anna U. Russell. New Edition. 12mo. pp. 252. 63 cents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+RUSSELL'S UNIVERSITY SPEAKER.
+
+THE UNIVERSITY SPEAKER: a Collection of Pieces designed for College
+Exercises in Declamation and Recitation, with Suggestions on the
+Appropriate Elocution of Particular Passages. By William Russell, Author
+of the Elocutionary Reader, &c. 12mo. New Edition. pp. 528. $1.25.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PICTORIAL NATURAL HISTORY.
+
+A PICTORIAL HISTORY: embracing a View of the Mineral, Vegetable, and
+Animal Kingdoms. For the Use of Schools. By S. G. Goodrich. Author of
+Peter Parley's Tales. New Edition. 12mo. Four Hundred Cuts. $1.00.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+JOUFFROY'S INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS.
+
+INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS, including a Critical Survey of Moral Systems.
+Translated from the French of Jouffroy. By William H. Channing. Two
+vols. 12mo. pp. 362 each. Sixth Edition. $2.00.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+STEWART'S PHILOSOPHY.
+
+STEWART'S PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN MIND. Revised and abridged, with
+Critical and Explanatory Notes, for the Use of Colleges and Schools. By
+Francis Bowen, Alford Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in
+Harvard College. Second Edition. 12mo. pp. 502. $1.25.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MATHEMATICAL ARITHMETIC.
+
+MATHEMATICAL ARITHMETIC, By Rev. Thomas Hill. 12mo. 37 cents.
+
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+GEOMETRY AND SCIENCE OF FORM.
+
+AN INTRODUCTION TO GEOMETRY AND THE SCIENCE OF FORM. Prepared from the
+most approved Prussian Text-Books. 12mo. pp. 180. 160 Figures, 83 cents.
+
+          "I have carefully examined the manuscript of 'An
+          Introduction to Geometry,' and think it admirably
+          adapted to supply an important want in education.
+          It is not a mere geometrical logic, but a natural
+          and simple introduction to the Science of Form."
+
+          BENJAMIN PEIRCE,
+
+          _Perkins Professor of Astronomy and Mathematics
+          in Harvard University._
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GEOMETRICAL BLOCKS.
+
+GEOMETRICAL BLOCKS, designed to accompany The Introduction to Geometry.
+In case. $2.00.
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+PEIRCE'S ALGEBRA.
+
+An ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON ALGEBRA, To which are added Exponential
+Equations and Logarithms. By Benjamin Peirce, A. M., Perkins Professor
+of Astronomy and Mathematics in Harvard University. 12mo. Seventh
+Edition. 83 cents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
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+PEIRCE'S GEOMETRY.
+
+AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON PLANE AND SOLID GEOMETRY. New Edition. 12mo.
+184 Figures. 83 cents.
+
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+PEIRCE'S TRIGONOMETRY. AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON PLANE AND SPHERICAL
+TRIGONOMETRY, with their Applications to Navigation, Surveying, Heights,
+and Distances, and Spherical Astronomy, and particularly adapted to
+explaining the Construction of Bowditch's Navigator, and the Nautical
+Almanac. New Edition, revised, with Additions. 8vo. Plates. $1.75.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
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+PEIRCE'S CURVES AND FUNCTIONS.
+
+AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON CURVES, FUNCTIONS, AND FORCES. Volume First,
+containing Analytic Geometry and the Differential Calculus. Volume
+Second, containing Calculus of Imaginary Quantities, Residual Calculus,
+and Integral Calculus. Second Edition. 2 vols. 12mo. Plates. $2.50.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+WHATELY'S ENGLISH SYNONYMS.
+
+A SELECTION OF ENGLISH SYNONYMS. First American, from the Second London
+Edition. Revised and enlarged. 12mo. pp. 180. 63 cents.
+
+          "For a clear and full understanding of the force
+          and meaning of these, the reader will find here
+          great assistance."--_Merchants' Magazine._
+
+          "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."--_Harper's
+          Magazine._
+
+          "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."--_New
+          York Recorder._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+WHATELY'S ELEMENTS OF LOGIC.
+
+ELEMENTS OF LOGIC, comprising the Substance of the Article in the
+Encyclopaedia 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.
+
+          "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."--PROFESSOR DUNN, _Brown
+          University._
+
+          "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."--_North American Review._
+
+          "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."--_Merchants' Magazine._
+
+          "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."--_Christian Inquirer._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+WHATELY'S ELEMENTS OF RHETORIC.
+
+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.
+
+          "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."--_Presbyterian
+          Quarterly Review._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+QUESTIONS TO WHATELY'S RHETORIC.
+
+QUESTIONS ADAPTED TO WHATELY'S ELEMENTS OF RHETORIC, for the Use of
+Schools and Colleges; prepared by a Teacher. 12mo. 15 cents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+QUESTIONS TO WHATELY'S LOGIC.
+
+QUESTIONS ADAPTED TO WHATELY'S ELEMENTS OF LOGIC, for the Use of Schools
+and Colleges; prepared by a Teacher. 12mo. 15 cents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+WHATELY'S LESSONS ON REASONING.
+
+EASY LESSONS ON REASONING. By Richard Whately, D. D. Fourth Edition,
+from the Fifth London Edition. 12mo. pp. 180. 63 cents.
+
+          "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."--_North
+          American Review._
+
+          "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."--_Boston
+          Daily Advertiser._
+
+          "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."--_United
+          States Gazette._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+BOWEN'S VIRGIL.
+
+P. VIRGILII MARONIS BUCOLICA, GEORGICA, ET AENEIS. 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.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+Page 6 "havn't" changed to "haven't" (and _haven't_, are)
+
+Page 38, "recal" changed to "recall" (long to recall)
+
+Page 109, "_I threw_" changed to "I _threw_ to match rest of usage
+
+Advertising, Page 2, "RUSSELLS'" changed to "RUSSELL'S" (RUSSELL'S
+INTRODUCTION TO THE READER)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Conversation, by Andrew P. Peabody
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