CASSELL'S LESSONS IN ENGLISH; CONTAINING A PRACTICAL GRAMMAR, ADAPTED FOR THE USE OF THE SELF-EDUCATING STUDENT. BY J. R. BEARD, D.D. FROM THE "POPULAR EDUCATOR." LONDON: JOIN CASSELL, LA BELLE SAUVAGE-YARD, LUDGATE-HILL. 1854. 302. c. 9. PREFACE. THIS Manual is intended, not for children, but for young men and young women. Thousands of that age are there in England, who are totally ignorant of the facts and laws of their mother-tongue, which, accordingly, they speak and write very incorrectly. Ignorance of Grammar is ever attended by inaccurate thinking, for the laws of language and the laws of thought are intertwined. In the removal of the one, then, we may expect the other to pass away. The result may be promoted by a course of Grammatical instruction, that requires the exercise of thought on the part of the learner. Such a course is presented in the ensuing pages, and that, with the more confidence, because the author addresses his work to those who have arrived at that period of life when the thinking faculty comes naturall into play. It is indeed very certain that these Lessons cannot be mastered, without serious and sustained mental application on the part of the young and the uneducated. Aiming to excite thought, they cannot dispense with the employment of thought. Yet simplicity has been studied in the preparation of them, and the writer ventures to hope that something has been done to remove difficulties, and that the diligent study of this Manual will put the student into possession of most of what it is essential for young persons to know, who 'have not received a training in Latin and other languages, whence the English has largely borrowed. The Manual is meant to assist the young to compose. The full development of the author's plan would have increased the bulk, already somewhat too large. A similar regard to size and the low price consequent thereon, has curtailed other parts, and precluded a full and detailed application of the instructions, to the peculiar requirements of the more uncultivated. In the doctrines here advanced, the author has not been bound by prescription nor carried away by a love of novelty. In intention, at least, he has simply set forth facts, and generalised facts into principles and laws. Yet he is himself little satisfied with what is here said on one or two disputed points. In truth, English Grammar in many parts is still incomplete and unsettled. The exposition and arrangement of the Verb, for instance, are most variously presented by writers of high authority. Until some genius shall arise and cast light through this darkness, and bring this confusion into order, all that can be done is for each writer on the subject simply and honestly to expound the views he has been led to form. With these explanations the author dedicates the present work to the uneducated males and females of the United Kingdom above the age of childhood, for whose improvement and elevation he feels a most earnest desire. |