1804.] 
folving the difficulty, the {mall quantity 
_of hops will be leflened, and there will 
then be no other way left than to fuppofe 
that the Englifh ar that period drank 
their beer nearly freth and fermenting. _ 
Ir is obfervable that in the preparation 
of their beer the ancients did not make 
ufe of hops ; and therefore it is probable 
that they did not keep it for any length of 
time. 
I hope that Dr. Carey will pardon the 
liberty which I have taken in this paper, 
and which he is welcome to make ule of 
towards me : 
Hanc veniam petimus damufque 
vicifim. Ei i 
Iam, Sir, your’s, &c. 
Ravenftonedale, © J. RoBivson. 
March 23, 1804. 
I wifh to inform your Correfpondent J.C. 
{p. 144,) that it was not my intention to fay 
that in all cafes river-water will leave no 
earthy fediment at the bottom of the tea- 
kettle: on the contrary, I know that it 
fometimes will. But we have many rivu- 
lets, and fome rivers, in Weftmoreland, 
which will leave no particles pf earth at the 
bottom ; and I doubt not there are many 
others of a like nature in different parts of 
England. What feems remarkable is, that 
rivers, or rivulets, which rife in moffy or 
boggy places, leave the feweft fediments of 
earthy particles ; whilft thofe whofe waters 
and fprings are cleareft, leave: the moft.— 
What difference there may be between iron 
and copper kettles in attraCting the earthy 
particles, I know not ; but inthe cafes al- 
Juded to in my letter, the kettles were made 
‘ef copper, 
a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
AVING cecafionally feen in your 
Magazine fomething like philological 
or philogrammatical difcuffion, I venture 
to fubmit to your confideration a few ob- 
fervations that have occurred to me onone 
er twe idioms of Englifh grammar, 
which I have never feen noticed by any 
ef our grammarians. Before I advance 
further on my fubject, I could wifh to pre- 
mife, firft, that although Mr. Horne 
Tooke, in his Diverfions of Purley, feems 
to have fhewn, or to have it in in his 
power to fhew, that the old divifion of 
fpeech, into eight parts, as noun, pro- 
noun, &c. & is erroneous and ridicu- 
lous ; yet I conceive it is an eafy me- 
thed of teaching, or fimplifying the learn- 
ing of, language; and, as fuch, not likely 
to be rejected by the pedagogues, nor, 
perhaps, unwerthy to be learnt by the 
Obfervations on Englifo Grammer. 
345 
child, though hereafter to be unlearnt and 
ridiculed by the man. Confequently; 
Sir, an attempt to better the condition of 
this ancient fyftem of grammar may not 
be without its ule. My fecond prelims 
nary obfervation is, that thofe who have 
undertaken to write Englifh Grammars, 
have contented themfelves with applying 
the rules of the Latin tongue to the Eng- 
lifh tongue, as far as they were wanted; 
but have not very clofely inveftigated the 
peculiarities of the Englifh language 5 
nor, where thofe peculiarities exifted, inx 
vented any frefh rules to notify or enforce 
them. I make this lJaft obfervation for 
the purpofe of directing the attention of 
thofe gentlemen more minutély to their 
own language; not doubting but they 
may find other examples of this incorre@— 
nefs than that which is the immediate ob 
ject of my prefeot animadverfions. The 
readers of Homer will recollect the expref~ - 
fion, wareida yaravy country land, wherein, 
of two fubftantives coming together in the 
fame cafe, and not in appofition, one afts 
the part of an adjective. This is one of 
the commoneft modes of fpeech in Eng- 
lith 5 yet I know no grammarian that has 
noticed if.. When we talk of a gold 
watch, houfe lamb, county politics, party. 
fp'rit, family pride, the Miffiffippi {cheme, 
Ruffia firs, the Grenville Party, have we: 
not in each phrafe two fubftantives coming 
together in the fame cafe, and not in ap- 
polition, of which the firft in pofitien (as 
the adjective is always placed before the 
fubftantive in Englifh,) acts the part, and 
fupplies the place, of an adjective >—~ 
Aye they not all exactly fimilar expref- 
fions to the sareda yay of Homer ?—I[t 
wiil be found, I believe, Sir, that all pro- 
per names, which have no adjectives form- 
ed from them by an alteration of the ter- 
mination, are ufed, when occafion re- 
quires, as adjcétives. If you fveak of am 
inhabitant of Cornwall, you fay, ‘* he is 
a Cornifh man ;”’ or of the mines: in that 
county, ‘* Cornifh miner.””. But Devon- 
fhire, of which there is no adjective, is it- 
felf ufed as an adjective, or is, if you like 
it, both an adjective and a fubftintive 5 
as, ** he is a Devonfhire man ;”” “ thofe 
are the Devonfhire hills.” It is. needlefs 
to produce any more inftances ; bur i will 
further advance, that the Englifh tongue 
admi:s of whole fentences being uled as, 
adjectives. To begin with ** High Church 
politics,” ** the New York Advertiler 3°” 
where High Church and New York are 
both uted as adjectives. E will, proceed, 
to“ Church et England difcipline,” ‘*Hud- 
foa’s Bay Company,”’ the gentleman who 
wens. 
