230 



The Antiquary. 



[Oa. 1, 



phrafe which the Normans introducecl. — 

 The woids he has divided into three 

 ciafTes, the Ga'.lo-Francic, the Gallo- 

 Latin, and tlie Danifli. Among the firll 

 of thefe ranks jjiasp, ei grave (orrepofi- 

 tory for the deao). Such too were, ge- 

 nerally fpeaking, the iiaines for animal 

 food which had been prepared for the 

 table, as Bsef, Mutton, Fsal ; while to the 

 Jiving animal its Saxon name was (fill 

 preferved : a proof perhaps that the Nor- 

 mans were be'ter fkiUed in the ait of the 

 cook, than of the herdiinan. Ot the fe- 

 cond, or Gallo-Latin clafs, a (lit;ht pcru- 

 fal of a few pagts of the Saxon Ctironicle 

 will fup^ily a hundred inftance*.* And 

 of the DanKh it muli be oblerved, that 

 when thefe conC|iierors iiTiitd from the 

 North under the bann-r of their chieftain 

 Rollo, lh«y carried w^th them a dinleft 

 pretty near the early Baxon, parts of 

 which they mingled •'ish the Frarkifti 

 tongue ; To that for many wokIs import- 

 ed bv the Normans we have to feek a 

 Cimbric origin. Among thefe were our 

 pre!'enty<f//(?w, to call, to crave, an:l j-af.t- 

 Jan, to fettle. Befide thefe, there are a 

 few words wliich the Normans introduced, 

 whofe parent-ige remains in uncertainty ; 

 YcXyJhe i and j-catrrjiah, tofcatter, are 

 two of them. 



Having thus briefly hinted at the rife 

 and changes of the language, it may be 

 proper to fay fomcti.ingof the grammars. 

 Our Saxon Grammari:ms, with the hope 

 of rendering their works as ap;jropriate in 

 foreign countries as in their own, have 

 generally cio^thed their inlfrutlijns in the 

 Latin language ; yet was this the fole 

 complaint, it might be borne with ; but 

 the giammatical ftudy which they rtcom- 

 mend is planned and conduced on the 

 principles of Latin grammar. Nor is 

 this confined to Sax n grammais only : 

 the lame degeneracy his crept into the 

 principles of modern Er.gliih grammar, 

 and perhaps with greater facility, as nur 

 language has at various times received 

 manv augmentations fr< m the Latin. — 

 But in Eiiglifti, though there is much La 



* From the arrival of St. Auftin it is 

 probable Latin wortis were gradually mixed 

 with the genuine Saxon. And many innova- 

 tions mu<{ be attributed to King Alfred, 

 v.ho in the execution of his great dcfign of 

 renilering learning not only more pcrfedf but 

 more general, biought into ufe many words 

 of Latin etymology. 



tin, the Saxon predominates. The Ro- 

 mans, by conqueft and migration, conti- 

 nually changed and amplified the genius 

 of iheir language : it was their pride to 

 improve it both in energy and comprehen- 

 fion. But the Englifh have been ever 

 proud to boaft the perfpicuity of their na- 

 tive tongue ; its verbs have never beea 

 obje8ed to as complex ; nor do they want 

 inf^eflicns to fignify the varities of time ; 

 and that multiplication of tenfes which 

 loads the Latin tongue is perfectly unne- 

 cedary in the Englilh ; in fhirt, as the 

 language of a civilized nation, its form 

 and conftru^lion is the finpleft in the 

 wo: Id ; and tor all thefe beauties it is in- 

 delUed to the Saxon. 



Of the Saxon Grammars, however, of 

 which the woild is already in polleflion, 

 the beft, the mod elegant, and mod con- 

 cife, is Mr. Thwaites's ;• it is a com- 

 pendium of all that is indifpenfably requi- 

 fite for a fcholar in tiie larger Grammar 

 of Dr. Hickes. Both Mrs. EUlob's Ru- 

 diments, -f- the Grammar Mr. Lye pre- 

 fixed to the Etymology of Junius (Ox. 

 ford, 1745, fol.), and Mr. Manning's 

 to Lye's Diifionary ftand much indebted 

 to it. Mrs. Elftoh was however unwil- 

 ling to acknowledge Mr. Tiiwaites's 

 feventh declenfion ot nouns fubftantive ; 

 perhaps btcaufe Dr. Hickes had omitted 

 it. And Mr. Lye reduced the number of 

 declenfions to four ; artj^ir and pojib, 

 which formed the third and fourth of Mr. 

 Thwaites's, being viewed as exceptions 

 from the finf. Another Grammar, but 

 now unufuai'y fcarce, was publifhed in 

 1716, by the celebrated Orator Henley, 

 as the tenth number of his Complete Lin- 

 guilt. Such (fuslenis as have time and 

 opportunity will find it no wallc of labour 

 to perufe them all. VVii.Kever effcniial, 

 from the copioufnefs of Dr. Hickes's 

 Grammar, may have fled fiom memory, 

 Mr. Thwaites's will recal and fix. Mrs. 

 Eiftob gives moft, if not all, the gramma- 

 tical terms in true ol I Saxon, from JEA- 

 fiic's Tranfliiion of Prifcian. And Mr. 

 Manning, it will be readily owned, has 

 pla ed feveial parts of the grammar in a 

 new light. 



* Grammatica Anglo-Saxonica ex Hick- 

 efiano Ling. Septentr. Thefauro excerpca.— 

 Oxon. 1711. 8vo. 



t The Rii.:irnents of Grammar for the 

 Englifli-Saxon tongue, firft given in Engliih 

 by Wiiz, £lflob, Lond. 1715. 4to. 



ft 



