172 



BIBLIOGFAPHY OF THE 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



tify to your honour. The Practice of Piety is also 

 finished, and beginneth to be bound up." 



Copies seen: Biitish Museum, Brown, Har- 

 vard, Lenox, Prince, Trumbull. 



A copy was sold in the library of Rev. "Will- 

 iam Jenks, in Boston, December, 1867, for $61; 

 and another, imperfect at beginning and end, 

 for $8. 50. In October, 1873, Mr. Quaritch ad- 

 vertised a copy fur sale (29 1 Oatalogxie, no. 18671), 

 from the library of Charles Nodier, bound in 

 red morocco by Thompson of Paris, for 501. It 

 was bought by Mr. Brinley, and at the sale of 

 his library in New York, March, 1879 (no. 797), 

 it was purchased for $50 for the Lenox Library. 

 Mr. Briuley's other copy (u >. 796), lacking 

 seven leaves, and bound in blue levant morocco 

 by Bedford, was bought at the same sale by Dr. 

 Trumbull, for $42.50. 



The I Indian | Grammar | begun : 



or, I An Essay to bring the Indian Lan- 

 guage I into I rules, | For the Help of 

 such as desire to Learn tbe same,for | the 

 furtherance of the Gospel among them. 

 By John Eliot. | [Nine lines of scrip-i 

 ture texts from Isa. 33. 19, Isa. 66. 18, 

 Dan. 7. 14, Psal. 19. 3, and Mai. 3. 11. ] | 



Cambridge : | Printed by Marmaduke 

 Johnson. 1666. 



Ti tie 1 leaf with in a b order of small ornam en t s 

 verso blank, dedication 1 leaf "to the Right 

 Honourable, Robert Boyle, Esq.," the Indian 

 grammar begun pp. 1-65, final remarks p. [66], 

 4°. Signatures A to I in fours, including a 

 blank leaf at the end, See the fac-simile of the 

 title-page. 



The language of which this grammar treats 

 was specifically that of the Massachusetts 

 tribes of Indians, dwelling near the sea-coast 

 of th6 present state of Massachusetts. " It 

 was spoken," according to Dr. Trumbull, 

 "with some differences of dialect which can- 

 not now be accurately indicated, by the Wam- 

 pauoags of Plymouth colony, the Narragansets 

 and Niantics, the islanders of Nope (Martha's 

 Vineyard), the Montauks, &c." In the intro- 

 duction to the reprint of the grammar. Dr. John 

 Pickering remarks : "It has also been called 

 the Nonantum language; but more frequently 

 the Natick tongue, apparently from the acci- 

 dental circumstance, that Eliot established his 

 first Indian church in.the town called Natick, 

 which was near Boston and was once the town 

 of greatest note among the Indians in this 

 quarter." Mr. Eliot himself writes: "We 

 Massachusets pronounce the n. The Nipmuk 

 Indians pronounce I. And the Northern Indians 

 pronounce r." To illusti'ate this difference in 

 pronunciation he mentions the word for dog 

 {Anum, Alum, and Arum) in these three dia- 

 lects. 



In Mr. EliDt's letter 'f August 25th, 1664 (25 

 of the 6th, 64), to the Commissioners at Hart- 

 ford, inf rming them that the Corporation in 

 Jlngland had advised him to make a translation 



Eliot (J.) — Continued. 



of the Practice of Piety, he adds : " Moreover, 

 they are pleased to put me upon a Gramar of this 

 language, W^"" my sonn ■; and I havi' oft sp )ken 

 of, but now I mui^t, (if the Lord give life and 

 .'■trength) be doeing about it. But we are not 

 able to doe much in it, becau e we know not 

 the latituds and corners cf the language : some 

 general and useful collections, I hope the L' rd 

 will enable us to pduce. And for these reasons 

 my request is, that you would please to con- 

 tinue my interpi'ter's ' alary, w<='^ is ten pound 

 more added to w' I was bold to make mention 

 of afore." He also wrote to Mr. Boyle, August 

 26th, 1664: " You are pleased to intimate unto 

 me a memorandum of your des res, that there 

 may be a grammar of our Indian language com- 

 posed, for publick and after use, which motion, 

 as I doubt not but it spriugeth from your elf, 

 so my answer unto yourself about it will be 

 most proper. I and my sons [John and Joseph] 

 have often spoken about it. But now I take 

 your intimation as a command to set about it. 

 "When I have finished the translation of the 

 Practice of Piety, my purpose is, if the Lord will, 

 and that I do live, to set upon seme essay and 

 beginning of reducing this language into rule; 

 which, in the most common and us ful p ints, 

 I do see, is reducible ; though there be Ciirners 

 and anomalities full of difficulty to be reduced 

 under any stated rule, as yourself know, better 

 than I, it is in all languages. I have not so 

 much either insight or judgment, as to dare to 

 undertake anything worthy the name of a gram- 

 mar; only some preparatory collections, that 

 way tending, which may be of no small use 

 unto such as may be studious to learn this lan- 

 guage, I desire, if God" will, to take some pains 

 in. But this i > a work for the morrow ; to-day 

 my work is transla ion, which, by the Lord's 

 help, I desire to attend unt >." 



The grammar was finished and printed in 

 1666, in an edition, probably, of about 500 cop- 

 ies, according to Dr. 1 rumbull. The records 

 of the Commissioners contain, under tho date 

 of September 13th, 1667, the fo lowing charge 

 for binding: "To 4 hundred and fifty Indian 

 Gramers at 3s. a hundred," 13s. QM. From 

 this charge it may be inferred that the books 

 were merely sewed and issued in paper covers. 

 Some copies may have been sent to England in 

 sheets, to be bound there for presents. Dr. 

 Trumbull supposes that "a few were bound 

 with copies of the New Testament of 1663 

 [^sic];'" and Mr. Thomas says that "it accom- 

 panied ome copies of the Psalter ,- i. e. they 

 were occasionally bound together in one volume 

 small octaA^o [sic\." 



In the dedi ation to the Hon. Robert Boyle, 

 prefixed to the book, Mr. Eliot writes: "Tou 

 were pleased ... to Command me (for such 

 an aspect have your so wise and seasonable 

 Motions, to my heart) to Compile a Grammar 

 of this Language, for the help of others who 

 have an heart to study and learn the same . 

 . . I have made an Essay unto this diflBcult 

 Service, and laid together some Bones and Ribs 



