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whi chall sounds could be represented, is ascribed to some wise man in the reign of Cadmus, king of Thebes. This simple contrivance facilitated the propagation and preservation of knowledge, by enabling us to express a million of words, if we desired it, by the various combination of only twenty-four or five characters.

Obs. 1.-In the GREEK LANGUAGE there are twentyfour letters, of which seven are vowels, and seventeen consonants :

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Omega.

¥ï..
Ωμέγα .

ps

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The vowels are 4, 1, ", 1, 0, 0, க.

2.-The following is the ancient HEBREW ALPHABET of twenty-two letters, of which five are vowels, and the rest are consonants

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397. The English language consists of about 40,000 words; and is derived from the Celtic, Gothic, and Latin; successively incorporated by the Welsh, Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans; and by the terms used in the sciences, derived from the Greek, French, Italian, and German languages.

898. Grammar, in a limited sense, is the art which teaches the construction of phrases and

sentences; but, in an extended sense it embraces the whole science of language.

The study of language is properly divided into the seven following branches:Orthoëpy, Orthography, Accidence, Syntax, Prosody, Rhetoric and Composition.

399. Orthoëpy consists of rules for pronouncing letters and syllables according to the esiablished usage.

Orthography is the art of writing words with the proper and necessary letters.

The Accidence treats of the modificatlon of the different kinds of words, called parts of speech.

Syntax furnishes the rules for the proper construction and just disposition of words in a sen

tence.

400. Prosody teaches the right accentuation of syllables; and the different measures of

verses.

Rhetoric enables us to affect or convince those whom we address in speaking or in writing, by using suitable figures of speech.

Composition teaches us to arrange our thoughts with precision and elegance; and is, conse quently, the object and end of the study of language.

401. The nine kinds of words, or nine parts of speech, compose most languages; and there are in the English language about 20,500 nouns, 40 pronouns, 9,200 adnouns, or adjectives, 8,000 verbs, 2,000 adverbs, 69 prepositions, 19

conjunctions, 68 interjections, and 2 articles;in all above forty thousand words.

402. After we have acquired a stock of words by reading and copying the best authors, and mixing in good company, we should learn to arrange and combine them in a sentence with elegance; and in such manner, as exactly to express the sense we intend to convey, and no other than that sense; a power of writing, which is called perspicuity.

403. The great rule for the attainment of the art of composition, is to conceive, ourselves, that sentiment which we purpose to convey to. others, by previously reflecting upon it; as it is impossible to express clearly to others what we do not well understand ourselves.

404. We should never desire to express too many ideas in one sentence; but dispatch them one after another in their proper order; and confine ourselves to simple and short sentences till we have acquired facility in the management of them.

Obs. The best exercise in writing and speaking is to read a short story; and then write or speak it, in our own phraseology. Such an exercise continued every day for two years, one day writing, and the other spenking, would teach the arts of spelling, writing, and speaking, at the same instant.

405. We should avoid all quaint phrases, cant words, vulger proverbs, and foreign idioms; and make our choice from the phraseology of the Old or New Testaments, the book of Common Prayer, or the works of Addison er Shake

speare; and avoid the latinized phraseology of Johnson, and the Gallic phraseology of some other modern writers,

Obs,-Happily, the translation of the Bible and the book of Common Prayer have served to preserve our language; or it would have been lost amidst the barbarous affectations of Johnson and his followers. We have no where such variety of beautiful and affecting language as in the Old and New Testaments; and these, with the book of Common Prayer, and the works of pur immortal Shakespeare, will, I hope, preserve our language from the corruptions and innovations daily making in it, by those who prefer sound to sense,

406. To speak or write our ideas in an able and persuasive manner, we ought to possess ourselves of various knowledge; to read the best books on all subjects; to suffer no hour to pass, without making some improvement; and think, talk, and write ourselves on subjects, on which we have perused the opinions of others.

407. We should commit to memory the terms and leading facts of the various Arts and Sciences; and frequently reduce to writing, striking facts or important sentiments which we meet with in reading. We should compare one author with another on the same subject; and frequently converse with others, on any points in which authors do not satisfy our curiosity.

Obs.-De. InvinG's Elements of Composition is a library for young persons; and the study of it should follow that of every grammar, Adair's Questions Funder it practical for Schools,

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