Part 12 (1/2)

16 Of all rammar, that which has come nearest to what is recommended above, has doubtless been the most successful; and whatever objections ainst it, it will probably be found on exaous to nature It is analytic in respect to the doctrines of graical in respect to both It assue as an object which the learner is capable of conceiving to be one whole; begins with the classification of all its words, according to certain grand differences which make the several parts of speech; then proceeds to divide further, according to specific differences and qualities, till all the classes, properties, and relations, of the words in any intelligible sentence, becos are known, so that he can see at a glance what is the construction of each word, and whether it is right or not, is a good graeneralize the objects of thought, and to follow broad analogies in the use of words, discovers itself early, and seems to be an inherent principle of our nature Hence, in the language of children and illiterate people, ularly inflected even in opposition to the e

17 It has unfortunately becoainst the necessary labour of learning by heart the essential principles of graery And this notion, with the vain hope of effecting the sa countenance towell calculated to make superficial scholars When those principles are properly defined, disposed, and exe them is far less than has been represented; and the habits of application induced by such a rammar, are of the utmost importance to the learner Experience shows, that the taskthe years of childhood; and that, by an early habit of study, the memory is so improved, as to render those exercises easy and familiar, which, at a later period, would be found very difficult and irksome Upon this plan, and perhaps upon every other, some words will be learned before the ideas represented by thes spoken of are fully understood But this seems necessarily to arise from the order of nature in the develophtly esteemented and iress in knowledge depends

18 The memory, indeed, should never be cultivated at the expense of the understanding; as is the case, when the former is tasked with ill-devised lessons by which the latter is misled and bewildered But truth, whether fully co inconsistencies And it is manifest that that which does not in sohten it--can never awaken the spirit of inquiry or satisfy research How often have men of observation profited by the remembrance of words which, at the time they heard them, they did not ”_perfectly understand!_” We never study any thing of which we ie to be perfect To learn, and, to understand, are, with respect to any science or art, one and the saible phraseology alone, are they different He who by study has once stored his e of any important doctrine, can never, without some folly or conceit akin to madness, repent of the acquisition Milton, in his acades rather than words; andsince But it does not appear, that even in the hands of Milton, the attempt was croith any remarkable success

See _Dr Barrow's Essays_, p 85

19 The vain pretensions of several modern siraues, familiar lectures, ocular analyses, tabular compendiums, inductive exercises, productive systems, intellectualgranorant, to amuse the visionary, and to excite the ads has any favourable relation to that i taken place within the eneration The definitions and rules which constitute the doctrines of graed, illustrated, and applied; and in the expression, arrangement, illustration, and application of them, there may be room for some amendment; but no contrivance can ever relieve the pupil frohly to memory The experience of all antiquity is added to our own, in confirh he will not shut his eyes to a real i the practical lessons of hoary experience, for the futile notions of a vain projector

20 Soreat proficiency in grammar was to be made by means of a certain fanciful method of _induction_ But if the scheme does not coe of grammar than the contrivers themselves seem to have possessed, it will be found of little use[59] By the happy method of Bacon, to lead philosophy into the coe ofgrammar, to desert the plain didactic method of definition and example, rule and praxis, and pretend to lead children by philosophic induction into a knowledge of words, is to thron the ladder of learning, that boys ine the over the low level upon which its fragurammarians is founded on the principle, that children cannot be instructed by means of any words which they do not perfectly understand If this principle were strictly true, children could never be instructed by words at all For no child ever fully understands a word the first time he hears or sees it; and it is rather by frequent repetition and use, than by any other process, that theof words is commonly learned Hence most people make use of many terms which they cannot very accurately explain, just as they do of s_, the real nature of which they do not comprehend The first perception we have of any word, or other thing, when presented to the ear or the eye, gives us soht, as older persons use them, we soon attach some notion of what is e, and that which we call an understanding of the word or thing, is, for the ree Definitions and explanations are doubtless highly useful, but induction is not definition, and an understanding of words may be acquired without either; else nothe principle to be true, itfor this puerile ular process by definitions and examples is both shorter and easier, as well as ra_ questions and _enerally as unfair as the latter are silly It is a reical sequences

22 Of a silish Grammar on the _Productive System_: a method of instruction recently adopted in Germany and Switzerland” It is a hich certainly will be ”_productive_” of no good to any body but the author and his publishers

The book is as destitute of taste, as of inality It coes of such matter as is described above, becomes a ”_productive_ systeether the etyes more It is then made still more ”_productive_” by the appropriation of a like space to a reprint of Murray's Syntax and Exercises, under the inappropriate title, ”GENERAL OBSERVATIONS” To Prosody, including punctuation and the use of capitals, there are allotted six pages, at the end; and to Orthography, four lines, in the middle of the voluard the _title_ of this book, as being at once a libel and a lie; a libel upon the learning and good sense of Woodbridge;[60] and a practical lie, as conveying a false notion of the origin of what the volume contains

23 What there is in Germany or Switzerland, that bears _any reselish Graal of the reader's time, and inconsistent with the studied brevity of this work, to expose the fallacy of what is pretended in regard to the origin of this new method Suffice it to say, that the anonymous and questionable account of the ”Productive System of Instruction,” which the author has borrowed from a ”valuable periodical,” to save hi a preface, and, as he says, to ”_assist_ [the reader] in for an opinion of the comparative merits of _the system_” is not only destitute of all authority, but is totally irrelevant, except to the whimsical _name_ of his book If every word of it be true, it is insufficient to give us even the slightest reason to suppose, that any thing analogous to his production ever had existence in either of those countries; and yet it is set forth on purpose to convey the idea that such a system ”_now predominates_” in the schools of both (See _Pref_, p 5) The infidel _Neef_, whose new method of education has been tried in our country, and with its proot, was an accredited disciple of this boasted ”productive school;” a zealous coadjutor with Pestalozzi hi of a free people”--to teach thes sensible, and a contempt for all the wisdom of _books_ And what si and that of _Roswell C Se, and that both are worthless?

24 The success of Smith's Inductive and Productive Grammars, and the fame perhaps of a certain ”Grammar in Familiar Lectures,” produced in 1836 a rival work froentleman in New Halish Language, e_, with _Familiar Explanations in the Lecture Style_” &c This is a fair-looking duodecies, the character and pretensions of which, if they could be clearly stated, would throw further light upon the two fallacious scherammar professes _to combine_ both the _Inductive_ and _Productive_instruction, of which much has been said within a few years _past_”--_Preface_, p iv And again: ”The inductive and productive methods of instruction contain the essence of modern improvements”--_Gram_, p 139 In what these modern improvements consist, he does not inform us; but, it will be seen, that he hiht_ of _all_ the irammar_ since the appearance of Murray in 1795 More than two hundred pretenders to such iraate the least positive of the claimants This new purveyor for the public taste, dislikes the catering of his predecessor, who poached in the fields of Murray; and, with a tacit censure upon _his productions_, has _honestly bought_ the rareties which he has served up In this he has the advantage He is a better writer too than soh no adept at coer to method To call his work a ”_system_” is a palpable ra such a resemblance to Smith's or Kirkham's as onefro that looks like order in any of the three

25 The clairammar now offered to the public, elish Grammar,' by John L Parkhurst; and the _present author_ is indebted to Mr Parkhurst for a knowledge of _thethe principles involved in _his peculiar raations to Mr

Parkhurst for many useful hints received several years since while under his instruction--The _copy right_ of Parkhurst's Grammar has been purchased by the writer of this, who alone is responsible for the present application of _its definitions_ Parkhurst's Systeh two editions, and is _the first irammar that has appeared before the public _since the first introduction_ of Lindley Murray's English Grammar”--_Sanborn's Gram, Preface_, p iii What, then, is ”THE PRODUCTIVE SYSTEM?” and hoross blunders committed by its professors, prove at least that it is no systeinated with Parkhurst or with Pestalozzi, with Sanborn or with Smith, as it is confessedly a method but ”recently adopted,” and, so far as appears, never fairly tested, so is it a method that needs only to be _known_, to be immediately and forever exploded

26 The best instruction is that which ultireatest facility and skill in practice; and gras its doctrines hts of the pupil--which the most effectually conquers inattention, and leaves the deepest ie of soy, a power of expression, which penetrates even the soul of dullness, and leaves an impression both of words unknown and of sentiments unfelt before Such men can teach; but he who kindly or indolently accoreatly instru it ”The colloquial barbarisms of boys,” says Dr Barrow, ”should never be suffered to pass without notice and censure Provincial tones and accents, and all defects in articulation, should be corrected whenever they are heard; lest they grow into established habits, unknown, frouilty of them, and adopted by others, from the imitation of his manner, or their respect for his authority”--_Barrow's Essays on Education_, p 88

27 In the whole range of school exercises, there is none of greater i; and yet perhaps there is none which is, in general, more defectively conducted Scarcely less useful, as afalse syntax orally, by regular and logical forument; nor does this appear to have been more ably directed towards the purposes of discipline There is so much to be done, in order to effect what is desirable in the s; and so little prospect that education will ever be generally raised to a just appreciation of that study which, more than all others, for upon the state of the science at the present time, and upon the means of its iree, with the sadness of the learned Sanctius; who tells us, that he had ”always lamented, and often with tears, that while other branches of learning were excellently taught, gralected, and that for this neglect there seerae is in sweet alliance with the ret see exclamation of the Christian poet:

”Sacred Interpreter of huht!”--COWPER

28 No directions, either oral or written, can ever enable the heedless and the unthinking to speak or write well That must indeed be an admirable book, which can attract levity to sober reflection, teach thoughtlessness the true arity from its fondness for low examples, awaken the spirit which attains to excellency of speech, and cause graed, where teachers themselves are so often la may be effected by means of better books, if better can be introduced And ithstands?--Whatever there is of ignorance or error in relation to the preard to this, as well as to htier matter, one may too truly affirs are not as they seem to many

Common errors are apt to conceal themselves from the common mind; and the appeal to reason and just authority is often frustrated, because a wrong head defies both But, apart from this, there are difficulties: e; i theories demand examination; the principles of the science are unprofitably disputed; the end is often divorced from the means; and much that belies the title, has been published under the name

29 It is certain, that the printed formulariesand correcting, are either so aardly written or so negligently followed, as to rammar, in the mouths of our juvenile orators, little else than a crude and faltering jargon Murray evidently intended that his book of exercises should be constantly used with his grammar; but he made the examples in the forone through the series agreeably to his direction The publishi+ng of theiven rise to the absurd practice of endeavouring to teach his gra which this author furnishes, are also misplaced; and when found by the learner, are of little use They are so verbose, aard, irregular, and deficient, that the pupil rammar, if he cannot express the facts extere as a whole, and altogether inadequate to their purpose;at all exeraly important it is, that the business of a school should proceed without loss of time, and that, in the oral exercises here spoken of, each pupil should go through his part proht objection that these forms, so often to be repeated, are so badly written Nor does the objection lie against this writer only: ”_Ab uno disce omnes_” But the reader may demand soical parsing: ”O Virtue! how amiable thou art!”

Here his form for the word _Virtue_ is--”_Virtue_ is a _coender, _of the third_ person, _in the_ singular number, _and the_ nominative case”--_Murray's Gram_, 8vo, Vol ii, p 2 It should have been--”_Virtue_ is a comular nuender, and nos should have followed in regular nu, for virtue addressed beco, and in direct contradiction to what he says of the word in his section on gender; he gives the person wrong, as may be seen by the pronoun _thou_, which represents it; he repeats the definite article three times unnecessarily, and inserts two needless prepositions,them different where the relation is precisely the same: and all this, in a sentence of two lines, to tell the properties of the noun _Virtue!_--But further: in ety the properties of the parts of speech, ought to be regularly and rapidly rehearsed by the pupil, till all of them become perfectly faht, what alone will be true for the full description of any word in any intelligible sentence All these the author omits; and, on account of this o is, miserably deficient[62]

31 Secondly--frorades us” Here his form for the word _Vice_ is--”_Vice_ is a coular number, _and the_ nominative case”--_Murray's Gram_, 8vo, Vol ii, p 9 Nohen the learner is told that this is the syntactical parsing of a noun, and the other the etyical, he will of course conclude, that to advance froy to the syntax of this part of speech, isthe only difference between the two forin than the co his octavo book of exercises--the gender being inserted in the duodeci of a noun to be precisely the saical? Never But Murray, and all who admire and follow his work, are content to parseto , in both parts of the exercise, every thing which constitutes the difference He should here have said--”_Vice_ is a coender, and no to the rule which says, 'A noun or a pronoun which is the subject of a verb,is--_vice degrades_” This is the whole description of the word, with its construction; and to say less, is to leave the matter unfinished

32 Thirdly--fro erroneous sentences:”

Take his first example: ”The man is prudent which speaks little” (How far silence is prudence, depends upon circuht to say, ”This sentence is incorrect; because _which_ is a pronoun _of the neuter gender, and does not agree in gender_ with its antecedent _ree with its antecedent in gender, &c according to the fifth rule of syntax

_Which_ should _therefore_ be _who_, a relative pronoun, agreeing with its antecedent _man_; and the sentence should stand thus: 'The man is prudent _who_ speaks little'”--_Murray's Octavo Graain: ”'After I visited Europe, I returned to America' This sentence,” says Murray, ”_is not correct_; because the verb _visited_ is in the imperfect tense, and yet used here to express an action, not only past, but prior to the time referred to by the verb _returned_, to which it relates By the thirteenth rule of syntax, when verbs are used that, in point of time, relate to each other, the order of time should be observed The imperfect tense _visited_ should therefore have been _had visited_, in the pluperfect tense, representing the action of _visiting_, not only as past, but also as prior to the ti_ _The sentence corrected would stand thus_: 'After I _had visited_ Europe, I returned to America'”--_Gr_, ii, p 19; _and Ex_ 12mo, p xii These are the first two examples of Murray's verbal corrections, and the only ones retained by Alger, in his _ihted edition_ of Murray's Exercises Yet, in each of theumentation palpably false! In the former, truly, _which_ should be _who_; but not because _which_ is ”of the _neuter gender_;” but because the application of that relative to _persons_, is now nearly obsolete Can any gra of brute animals, male or female, we commonly use _which_, and never _who_? But if _which_in this--As for the latter exaht as it stands; and the correction is, in soical The conjunctive adverb _after_ ives to the _visiting_ all the priority that is signified by the pluperfect tense ”_After_ I _visited_ Europe,” is equivalent to ”_When_ I _had visited_ Europe” The whole argument is therefore void[63]

33 These few brief illustrations, out of thousands that ht be adduced in proof of the faultiness of the common manuals, the author has reluctantly introduced, to show that even in the most popular books, with all the pretended ie has never been treated with that care and ability which its importance demands

It is hardly to be supposed that men unused to a teacher's duties, can be qualified to compose such books as will most facilitate his labours

Practice is a better pilot than theory And while, in respect to gra changes fro birth to new expedients as constantly to end in the same disappointment; perhaps the practical instructions of an experienced teacher, long and assiduously devoted to the study,the aid and guidance which they require