English Grammar, in Familiar Lectures - Embracing a New Systematic Order of Parsing, a New System of Punctuation, Exercises in False Syntax, and a System of Philosophical Grammar #270825

Content to be useful, instead of being brilliant. The writer of these pages has endeavoured to shun the path of those whose aim appears to have been to dazzle, rather than to instruct. As he has aimed not so much at originality as' utility, he has adopted the thoughts of his prede cessors whose labours have become public stock, whenever he could not, in his opinion, furnish better and brighter of his own. Aware that there is, in the public mind, a strong predilection for the doctrines contained in Mr. Murray's grammar, he has thought proper, not merely from motives of policy, but from choice, to select his principles chiefly from that work and, moreover, to adopt, as far as consistent with his own views, the lan guage of that eminent philologist. In no instance has he varied from him. Unless be conceived that, in so doing, some practical advantage would be gained. He hopes, therefore, to escape the censure so frequent ly and so justly awarded to those unfortunate innovators who have not scrupled to alter, mutilate, and torture the text of that able writer, merely to gratify an itching propensity to figure in the world as authors, and gain an ephemeral popularity,by arrogating to themselves the credit due to another. The author is not disposed, however, to disclaim all pretensions to ori ginality for, although his principles are chiefly selected, (and who would presume to. Make new ones?) the manner of arranging, illustrating, and applying them, is principally his own. Let no one, therefore, if he hap pen to find in other works, ideas and illustrations similar to some contain ed ia the following lectures, too hastily accuse him of plagiarism. It is well knownthat similar investigations and pursuits often elicit corres ponding ideas in different minds; and hence it is not uncommon for the same thought to be strictly original with many writers. The author is not here attempting to manufacture a garment to shield him from rebuke, should he unjustly claim the property of another; but he wishes it to be understood, that a long course of teaching and investigation, has often produced in his mind ideas and arguments on the subject of grammar, exactly or nearly corresponding with those which he afterwards found had, under similar circumstances, been produced in the.minds of others. He hopes, therefore, to be pardoned by the critic, even though he should not be willing to reject a good idea of his own, merely because some one else has, at some time or other, been blessed with the same thought.