The author ventures forward, however, under the
conviction, that most of his predecessors are very deficient, at least,
in _manner,_ if not in _matter_; and this conviction, he believes, will
be corroborated by a majority of the best judges in community. It is
admitted, that many valuable improvements have been made by some of our
late writers, who have endeavored to simplify and render this subject
intelligible to the young learner, but they have all overlooked what the
author considers a very important object, namely, _a systematic order of
parsing;_ and nearly all have neglected to _develop and explain_ the
principles in such a manner as to enable the learner, without great
difficulty, to comprehend their nature and use.
By some this system will, no doubt, be discarded on account of its
_simplicity_; while to others its simplicity will prove its principal
recommendation. Its design is an humble one. It proffers no great
advantages to the recondite grammarian; it professes not to instruct the
literary connoisseur; it presents no attractive graces of style to
charm, no daring flights to astonish, no deep researches to gratify
him; but in the humblest simplicity of diction, it attempts to
accelerate the march of the juvenile mind in its advances in the path of
science, by dispersing those clouds that so often bewilder it, and
removing those obstacles that generally retard its progress.
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