But what his system claims as improvements on others,
consists not so much in bettering the principles themselves, as in the
_method adopted of communicating a knowledge of them to the mind of the
learner_. That the work is defective, the author is fully sensible: and
he is free to acknowledge, that its defects arise, in part, from his own
want of judgment and skill. But there is another and a more serious
cause of them, namely, the anomalies and imperfections with which the
language abounds. This latter circumstance is also the cause of the
existence of so widely different opinions on many important points; and,
moreover, the reason that the grammatical principles of our language can
never be indisputably settled. But principles ought not to be rejected
because they admit of exceptions.--He who is thoroughly acquainted with
the genius and structure of our language, can duly appreciate the truth
of these remarks.
* * * * *
Should parents object to the Compendium, fearing it will soon be
destroyed by their children, they are informed that the pupil will not
have occasion to use it one-tenth part as much as he will the book which
it accompanies: and besides, if it be destroyed, he will find all the
definitions and rules which it contains, recapitulated in the series of
Lectures.
Pages:
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42