$14 
past, on all subjects of human specula- 
tion. In that space of time, the press 
has teemed with Grammars of all lan- 
guages, and Introductions to every art 
and science., This auspicious circum- 
stance undoubtedly forms a new era in 
the annals of philosophy, and ought to be 
regarded by every lover of his species, as 
a favourable presage of the much to be 
wished for, and long-expected, universal 
diffusion of human knowledge, and as a 
consequence thereof, the certain and pro- 
gressive amelioration of the human cha- 
racter, Whocan behold without emo- 
tion the numerous list of learned men 
who have relaxed from their iabours for 
the homely, perhaps irksome, yet lauda- 
ble, purpose of smoothing the rugged 
pathsof science to the yet unaccustomed 
fect of the youthful adventurer! Witness 
the attempts of a Watts, of a Lowth, of 
a Priestley, of a Turner, of a Clarke, of 
a Murray, of a Mavor, of a Goldsmith, of 
a. Watkins, of a Wanostrocht; of an 
Evans, of a Robinson, .and of a Blair, 
whase various elementary pieces adapted 
to the capacities of youth, call forth the 
warmest expressions of gratitude from 
every father of a family, from every lover 
of virtue, and from every friend to the real 
interests of mankind. 
The diffusion of useful knowledge among 
the different ranks of society, is not the 
only good effect resulting from the num- 
ber of hands employed in this laudable 
exercise, and the competition of talents 
excited thereby; but knowledge is ac- 
tually increased, fresh discoveries made, 
doubts resolved, difliculties elucidated, 
abstrusities simplified, and a shorter and 
miore effectual mode is struck out, for 
imitating the pupil into the arcana of 
science, It is an observation, which I 
think incontrovertibic, that almost every 
fresh writer on any particular art or sci- 
ence, although he may have much in 
common with bis contemporaries or pre- 
decessors; yet has always something 
original avhich distinguishes him from the 
rest, and renders his work of real utility 
to his fellow-creatures. And it. is cer- 
wainly requisite that it should be so, other- 
wise his works would be a pest, not a 
profit to society, and no proof of the su- 
periority, of his abilities, or in fact of 
their competency to the task he may 
have undertaken. From this view of the 
numbers of elementary works,and of their 
distinguishing differences, would it not be 
a thing much to be desired and worthy 
of the labour of any, who may have 
time, patience, andabilities, adequate to 
the purpose, to collect, as itwere, all these 
Hints for the Improvement of Grammars» [Noev. Ig 
scattered rays of human discovery, toge~ 
ther into one focus, or in other words to. 
combine the excellencies of every author 
on any particular subject, rejecting 
whatever may be deemed _ ineligible. 
Thus, might we not approximate to a 
perfect English grammar, and so on 
through all the languages, and in this 
manner go through the whole circle of 
arts and sciences? After having said 
much more than I intended, I beg leave 
to detail to you the circumstances which 
occasioned the snost of the foregoing ob-. 
servations. In a conversation, - lately, 
with one of my friends, on the defects, 
aud excellencies of some of our popular 
grammars, he informed me, that he was. 
then endeavouring to acquire a know- 
ledge of the Italian language, by means 
of a grammar which has generally been 
recommended as the best for the purpose ; 
and that is Galignani’s, edited by Mon- 
tucci, He had not made much progress 
before he met with an insurmountable 
obstacle to his farther advances in the 
the difficulty of ascertaining the gerder 
of the nouns in that language. Yet this 
difficulty would certainly vanish, howe- 
ver numerous the rules might be of 
the genders, were those rules but fairly 
stated and all their exceptions enumerated, 
But I am sorry to say, that there is hardly 
a grammar extant, of any language, with 
perhaps the exception of the Port-Royal 
Latin, that possesses this advantage, and 
indeed it does not seem to have been an 
object of any importance in the views of 
grammar writers and compilers to attain 
to this eminence. The same difficulty 
exists in the Gerinan and French lan- 
guages. Rules of genders only perplex, 
when they are not adequate, or, in other 
words, when the nouns excepted, are 
more in number than those which the 
rule embraces, or when the exceptions are 
not given at fulllength, When a learner, 
in making his exercises, has occasion to 
use a noun whose gender he is not ac- 
quainted with, and cannot determine it 
by a reference to the rules, by reason of 
the exceptions not being detailed, he ei- 
ther stumbles in the dark by guessing at 
it, or else he is obliged, every time he is 
in doubt, to consult his dictionary, which 
is not only extremely troublesome, but 
very often fruitless, (many dictionaries 
not always indicating the genders, which 
is the case with several German ones,} 
and on the whole a wasteful loss of time, 
which might have been applied to a much 
better purpose. With such obstacles he’ 
turns away from his exercise with disgust, 
and perhaps with a resolution never 
more 
