GRAMMAR. 
llS 
ledge of folnting to the time of that philofophcr, and 
fays, that it confided in the different pofnions of one 
fingie poit'.f. At the bottom of a letter, tlius, (A.) it was 
equivalent to a comma; in the middle (A') it was equal 
to a colon; at the top (A') it denoted a period, or the 
ronclufion of a fentcnce.' This mode was eafily prac. 
tifed in Greek manuicripts, while they tvere written in 
capitals. But wlten the imall letters w'cre adopted, that 
is, about the ninth century, this diftindfion could not 
be obferved ; a change' was therefore made in the Icheme 
of pundluation. 
According to Cicerc, the ancient Romans, as well as 
the Greeks, made uie of points. He mentions them un¬ 
der the appellation of librariorum nota\ and in (everal 
parts of liis works he I'peaks of inltrpunRue claujula: in ora- 
tiortibvs, of danfulte atque interpunSa nerborum, of interpiinc- 
tiones verborum, &c. Seneca, v/ho died A.D. 65, exprelsly 
fays, that Latin writers, in his time, had been ufed to 
punctuation. Nos, cum feribimus, interpimgere conjua'imus. 
hluretiis and Lipfuis imagined that thefe words alluded 
to th.e infertion of a point after each w’ord; but they cer¬ 
tainly miftook; for they muft neceffarily-refer to marks 
of punctuation in the divifion of fentences, becaufe, in 
the pafi'age in which thefe w'ords occur, Seneca is fpeak- 
ing of one Q. Haterius, v\ho made no paiifes in liis orar 
tions. According to Suetonius, Valerius Probus pro¬ 
cured copies of many old books, and emjdoyed himfelf 
in correCtitig, pointing, and illuftrating, them ; devoting 
ins time to this and no other part of grammar, it ap¬ 
pears from hence, that in the time of Probus, or about 
Hte year 68, Latin manuferipts had not been ufually 
pointed, and that grammarians made it their bufinefs to 
fupply this deficiency. 
Quinftilian, who wrote his celebrated treatife on Ora¬ 
tory about tlie year 88, fpeaks of commas, colons, and 
periods; but it muft be obferved, that by thefe terms 
he means claufes, members, and complete fentences, and 
!iot the marks of punctuation, .i^tlius Denatus publiflied 
a treatife on Grammar in tlie fourth century, in which 
he explains the diJlinElio, the media dijlindlio, and the fub- 
dijlindlio •, that is, the uie of a lingle point in the various 
pofitions already mentioned. Jerom, who had been the 
pupil of Donatus, in his Latin Verfion of the Scriptures 
made ufe of certain diftinttions or divifions, which Jie 
Calls cola and commata. It has, however, been thought 
jirobable, that thefe divifions were not made by tiie 
addition of any points or ftops; but were formed by 
writing, in one line, as many words as conftituted a 
claufe, equivalent to what w'e diftinguifti by a comma 
or a colon. Tiiefe divifions had the appearance of fliort 
irregular verles in poetry. There are I'ome Greek ma- 
<,nufcripts ftill extant, which are written in this manner. 
Tliough pundhiation had been for fo many hundred 
years in ufe, yet the period, in different pofitions, as 
before obferved, had lerved every purpofe; and our 
Very early printers employed no other mark, but ufed 
it indiferiminately for every paufe. The colon was in¬ 
troduced about the year 1485 ; the comma about 1521 ; 
and the femicolon, after being long ufed as a contraction 
for ue in que, as arma virumq-, is faid to have been firft in. 
troduced as a flop by our countryman fir Pliilip Sidney, 
in 15S7, The femicolon is not ufed in Roger Afeham’s 
Schoolmafter, printed in 1570. About the year 1578, we 
begin to obferve the inverted commas (“) as, a mark for 
quotations; alfo parenthefes (), crotchets or brackets 
t}, the note of interrogalion (?); alfo the marks of 
reference, as *, f, ; and the accents, ', 
The fyftem of points, as now ufed, may be regarded 
as iiifticient for every purpofe of elucidation; though 
fome would difeard the fem.icolon altogether; and 
otliers, on the contrary, are of opinion that we rather 
want an additional point, a fimiemnma. But let us pro¬ 
ceed to demonftrate the ufe ot thole we h.ave. 
The art of punftuation, though of the greateft im¬ 
portance in writing, in printing, and in direding the 
voice of the reader, has hitlierto been much negle6led, 
or confidered as an arbitrary invention, depending on 
fancy and caprice. “ The doClrine of punftuation,” 
fays bifliop Lovvth, “ muft needs be very imperfeCi; 
few precife rules can be given which will hold without 
exception in all cafes, but much muft be left to the 
judgment and tafte of the writer.” Our writers feem 
to have availed themfelves of this concefiion : infefted 
with the daftiing mania of Sterne, many of them appear 
even to liave given up this modern art in defpair, and 
to have confidered it as already obf'olete, or at leafl un¬ 
certain. Yet a little attention to this art, however iin- 
j'.erfedt it may be, would much conduce to the intelli¬ 
gibility of foine of thefe v-ery authors. I.'i moft of tiiem 
we indeed meet with commas, femicolons, colons, and 
periods; but in fuch confufion, that tlie old Roman 
manner, continuo duBu, would be as comprehenfible. The 
practice is here in fault, and deferves fevere reprehen- 
lion. The arbitrary ufage of tlie fourteenth century is 
not Cl editable in a writer of tlie nineteenth. V/e fhall 
therefore undertake to fliow, by tlie following rules, 
that a right puiRtiiation is founded on rational and de¬ 
terminate principles; and is really an indifpenfible part 
of grammar. 
Essential and General R.ules for Pointing. 
I . Two lubftantives, or any two words of the fame 
part of I'peech, connected by the conjunftion and, do 
not admit of a comma betw een them.— Examples, ift. Of 
Subftaiuives : “ Painting and fculpture are imitations of 
viiibie objcdls.”—2d. Of \Tibs; “ Tlie ftudy of natu- 
lii'l liiftory expands and elevates the mind.”—3d. Of 
Pronouns ; “ You and I were formerly infeparable.”— 
4th. Of Adverbs : “ However eafily and agreeably you 
may conduft yourfelf, a rival will deal his praife but 
Iparingly and cautioully.” 
II. 1 hree or more fubftantives, pronouns, adverbs, 
&c. in the fame cafe, &c. and in immediate lucceftion, 
are feparated by commas.— Ex. ift. Of Subflantives: 
“ Climate, foil, laws, cuftoms, food, and other acci¬ 
dental dift'erenccs, liave produced an aftonilhing variety 
in the complexion, features, manners, and faculties, of 
the human fpecies.”—2d. Of Prolioiins: “He, yon, and 
I, went with lier, him, and them, into the country.”— 
3d. Of Adverbs: “However truly, eloquently, and 
forcibly, he fpoke on the liibjedl, it made no impreftion 
on the audience.” 
The common, but very erroneous, practice, is to omit 
the laft comma, or that which feparates the laft fubftan- 
tive, &c. from the reft of the fentence; and fomeiimes 
to omit that alfo which precedes the word and: 
Ex. -- “Now beneath the walls 
At their command arms, food and fire they bring.” 
Lewis’s Statius, x, 28. 
Which certainly fhould be pointed thus; 
Now beneatli the walls. 
At their command, arms, food, and fire, they bring. 
III. Subflantives, or any words of the fame part of 
fpeech, immediately following one another, in the fame 
cafe, tenfe, &c. and joined in pairs by the conjunftioji 
and, are feparated in pairs by commas.—ill. Of 
Subflantives: “Shape and beauty, worth and educa¬ 
tion, wit and underftanding, gentle nature and agreeable 
humour, honour and virtue, were to come in for their 
fhare of fuch contrails.”—2d. Of Verbs : “ If honour 
were to prompt and impel, guide and dircil, enforce 
and execute, all our wifhes, laws would be ufelefs.”— 
3d. Of Adjeilives : “He behaved himfelf in a manner 
eafy and agreeable, affable and courteous, obliging and 
mild.”—4tli. Of Adverbs; “ He behaved himfelf eafily 
and agreeably, affably and courteoufly, obligingly and 
mildly.” 
IV; Two fubftantives, or any other words of the fame 
part of Ijpeech, conneited by the disjunifive or, fliould 
have 
