G R A 



G R A 



is OHly a colleflion from tl:e reft ; thofe of Lowe, of Eton, 

 of Jones, &c. 12. Fertile Italisii, tliofe of Berger, Lanfre- 

 dini, Port Royal, and Vcnoroiii, Baretti, Sec. 13. For the 

 Spanidi, thofe of Salazar, Port Royal, the abbot de Vairac, 

 &c. i 14. For t"lie Portuguefe, tliat of Pereira. 15, For 

 the French,: tjiofe of the abbe Regnier, and F. Buflier, &c. 

 16. For the High Dutch, thofe of Claius, Hertfbiirgenfis, 

 Schottclius, BoeJichcr, and Stsinbach. 17. For the Ger- 

 man, that of Wendeborn, iScc. 18. For the Eiiglifli, thofe of 

 Wallis, Brightland, Greenwood, Lowth, Prieftley, Mur- 

 ray, Cronibey, &c. 



Grammar is alfo ufed in the fame fenfe with elements ; 

 as geographical grammar. 



GllAMMAlt, PkUof'jphkr.I, is tliat which, without regard- 

 ing the fjveral idioms of particular languages, only relpefts 

 thofe principles that are clTential to them all. One of this 

 kind was propofed by lord Bacon ; not upon the analogy of 

 words, but fuch as ftouid diligently examine the analogy or 

 relation between words and things. He clifapproves too cu- 

 rious an enquiry about the original impolition and etymology 

 of names. This he thinks an elegant, and, as it were, a 

 waxen fubjeft, that may be handfomely wrougl.t and twitted, 

 butis attended with little truth and advantage. But, fays 

 he, it would be a noble kind of grammar, if any one well 

 verfed in languages, both the learned and the vulgar, lliould 

 treat of iheir various properties, fltewing wherein each of 

 them excel and f.dl (hort : for thus languages might be en- 

 riched by mutual commerce, and one beautiful image of 

 fpeech, or one grand model of language, for jullly expreff- 

 ing the fenfe of manliind, be formed like the Venus of 

 Apelles, from the excellencies of feveral. And thus, at the 

 fame time, we fnould have fome confiderable marks of the 

 peiW'.is ar.d m.anners of people and nations, from their refpcc- 

 tive .languages. See Bacon's Dodrine of Delivery, J' 7. 

 and De Augm. Sclent, vi. i. 



The object of philofophical or univcrfal grammar is fpeech 

 or language, as divided into its ccnftituent parts, ns a ftatue^ 

 may be divided into its ieveral limbs ; or elfe, as refolved 

 into its matter and form, as the fame ftatue may be refolved 

 into its. marble and figure : and thus it is dillinguiflied from 

 the art of logic, which confiders fpeech as combined or 

 compo\inded ; fo that by this fyntlielis, fimple terms are 

 combined to produce a truth, and two tnuhs are com- 

 bined to produce a third, S;c. In this kind of grammar, 

 the .delign is to point, out the feveral powers and modes 

 of expreffion which founds are capable. of, to trace their 

 connexions with, or relation to the ideas they rcprefent ; 

 and to fn^w the aftual variety of the external exprcUions 

 of the fame mental conceptions which different languages 

 exhibit. By this companion we fliall be enabled to judge 

 which is the moft adequate and convenient method of ex- 

 preffion, what is defeciive and what is redundant in the 

 llrufture of any particular language, and direft to the motl 

 proper method of fupplying the defeft, or leffening the in- 

 convcniencies arifmg trom the fuperfluity. (See L.vx- 

 OUAGE.) See an excellent and well-known work of this 

 kind, by the ingenious and learned Mr. Harris, called the 

 Hermes, or a Philofophical Enquiry concerning Univerfal 

 Grammar, 2d ed. 176;. See alfo Tooke's Diveriions of 

 Parley, and the pnxeding article Guamm.'VR, 



GiiAM'siAK, Charaaers in. See Character. 



GRAMMARIAN, GuaiM.maticus, a perfon well verfed 

 in grammar ; or who teaches grammar. 



The denomination grammarian is, like that of critic, fre- 

 quently, though unjultly, ufed as a term of reproach ; a mere 

 grammarian ; a drv, plodding grammarian, &c. The gram- 

 marian is conceived as a perfon wholly attentive to the minuti.e 

 of language'; induilrioully employed about words and plirales; 



and incapable of perceiving the beauties, the delicacy, finenV, 

 extent, Sic. of a fentiment. 



Scaliger, hovv-ever, confidered grammarians in another light. 

 " Utinam eli'em,'' fays he, " bonus graniinaticus ? fufiicit 

 enim ei, qui omnes auftores probe vult intcliigere, efie gram- 

 maticum." 



The title grammarian, it is certain, was anciently a title of 

 honour ; being given not only to fuch as applied themlelves 

 to o-rammar, or excelled in philology ; but to all viho were 

 reputed learned in any art or faculty whatever, as is fliewn 

 by Ger. Voflius, in his book of grammar. 



The word was properly a title of literature and erudition, 

 and \vas frequently given to perfons who excelled in all, or 

 many arts, Cidled alio polyhijlores . 



Thus, Philoponus, a famous philofopher in .TulUnian's 

 time, remarkable for the extent and variety of hi-s know- 

 ledge, was furnamed Gramiiuit'icus, as appears from Photius's 

 Bibliothec. 



So Saxo, the Danidi hiftorian, in the 13th century, got 

 the appellation grammatictis : and as late as the year 1580, 

 Thomas d'AverIa, a celebrated Neapolitan lawyer, was fur- 

 named the Grammarian. 



The title grammarian was anciently befiowed on thofe we 

 now call cril'ics, men of learning, erudition, letters, &c. 

 and particularly fuch as wrote well, and politely, in every 

 kind. 



It is in this fenfe that Suetonius intitlcs his book which 

 he wrote on the belt Latin authors, " Of the celebrated 

 Grammarians ;" and that Cornelius Nopos calls the com* 

 mentators on the orators and poets, grammarians ; and 

 laftly, it is in this fcnle the appellation is attributed by the 

 ancients to Apion, Philoponus, and Solinus. 



The moll celebrated grammarians of the fecoiiJ century 

 were Aper, PoUio, Eutychius, Proculus, Athenaeus, 

 Julius Pollux, Macrobius, and Aulu.; Gellius : the works 

 of tliefe hill authors are an afiemblage of abundance of 

 very different things, and fubjcfts relating to, the criticifm 

 of the ancient writers, and the polite literature. 



If the name have loft its ancient honour, it is through the 

 fault of thofe who have alfumed it ; by their treating of 

 grammar in a low, pedantic, dogmatic manner ; reducing it 

 .to words and fyllables ; and dwelling altogether on trifling 

 puerile remarks and cenfures : whereas its ancient ofiice was 

 to make an accurate and thorough examen of an author'; 

 to enter into all his views ; to point out the beauties, and 

 the defefts thereof; to diftinguifli the true beauties from 

 the falfe ; and the genuine productions of an author, ■ from 

 the fuppofititious ; that is, a grammarian was then, what we 

 call a critic now. 



Thofe who only taught to read, underfland, and explain 

 authors, were called grammatiils, gramraatilla ; in contra- 

 diftinclion from grammatici ; though, in courfe of time, the 

 grammatift-.e have rifcn in the place ot grammatici, who are 

 now preferred to that of critici. 



GRAMMATICAL, fomething relating to gram- 

 mar. 



We fay, grammatical conftruftion ; grammatical fignifi- 

 cation, &c. Idioms, as Anglicifms, Latiniims, Grecifms, 

 Gallicifms, &c. deviate from grammatical ftrittncfs. Such a 

 phraie is not grammatically jiift ; it is an idiom. 



Gk.ammaticai, Cnfuifm. Sec Cnn'KiSM. 



GRAMME, in the new wei^-hts of France, is the weight 

 of a centimetre of diftillcd water at its maximum of deidlty, 

 =: 1H.8247 French- grains = 15.44.]. Englilh grains ;= 

 .002206^ Englifh avoirdupoife pounds. 



This weight is the ilandard, or unit, of the new fyftem 

 of weights ; 10, 100, 1000, and 10,000 times its weight, 

 being expreffed by the prefixes, ckca, htSo, kilo, and myiia, 



rcfpcc- 



