indeed, than when manhood has marked its wrinkles on the brow, and the requirements and vicissitudes of life have asserted their claims? The curiosity of the young is continually prompting and urging them onwards, till it manifests itself in that firmness of purpose we have already alluded to, and which should never be disregarded or despised, but carefully studied, tended, and promoted when right; when wrong, cautiously checked and its direction changed; for on a right fixedness of purpose much of the happiness and success of after life is dependent. Many, when told what grammar will enable them to do, commence the study with a pleasure and alacrity, such as might be supposed to influence any, who for the first time are taken to view scenes, to them, hitherto unknown except by report; but when the shades begin to deepen, when objects begin to appear confused and indistinct, when the pathway seems ever and anon to be turning, twisting, and changing, now in one direction, now in another, impeded here, bewildered there, and not at all understanding the why and the wherefore, we need not wonder if they become confused, wearied, and perplexed, like those who have lost their way; and that which in anticipation gave pleasure, ends in disappointment. Hence arises that aversion to the study of grammar, so seldom overcome in after life. And when we remember that the young are not, from experience, very clear in perceiving the need of comprehending the subject, the difficulties of which now appear greater than they really are, and finding that they can make themselves pretty well understood, and can get on tolerably well without, in ordinary life, they become, in a measure, content, and are disposed to look on the subject with indifference, and are glad when the first opportunity offers to escape from the study. It remains therefore that we endeavour to assist the young student to comprehend the subject and to interest him therein. Let it not also be forgotten, that to the young the path of knowledge must necessarily be one of difficulty for many reasons, but chiefly from the variety of objects claiming attention, and the weakness of the faculties of reflective thought or abstract reasoning. In grammatical pursuits this power of reflective thought is especially requisite, whether it be to the understanding of the subject itself, to disentangle what seems to the young a mass of confusion, or to connect together things which seem to have little or no relation. If we examine the matter closely, we shall find that the great difficulty in pursuing grammatical studies arises from the confusion of names, definitions, and distinctions, apparently without any difference, in the student's mind, whether of the young or of the more advanced in years. This had been frequently observed, but it was more impressively brought under notice while engaged in teaching a class of young scholars in the early part of the day, and a class of young persons who met for self-improvement in the evening; and their lessons for some time running nearly parallel it became strikingly apparent. While thinking how to provide a remedy for this state of things, and remembering the words of the poet "Sounds that address the ear are lost and die In one short hour; but that which strikes the eye it occurred to us, whether it might not be possible, by the assistance of the eye, to lesson, if not altogether to remove the confusion; with that view we were led to trace out the Chart; or, in the familiar language of those for whom it was designed, the Grammar Tree. The Chart or Tree will enable the young student at one view to observe the mutually dependent parts, from the beginning to the end; to trace the various divergencies of the parts, and, that they have, like the branches of a tree, an intimate connection and close relationship; dependent upon and springing out of, the main-stem, however remote their place; he will thus learn that every term has its own proper relation, and by so doing, one great cause of confusion will be overcome, he will be able also to record his own progress day by day, review the past, and, in some measure, anticipate the future. Still further to carry out the idea and to clear away the mist from those apparently interminable inflections of a verb, it was found desirable in a Second Chart or Table to run out a verb through all its variations and ramifications, by which the young student can follow with his eye all the changes of the Verb to be and of the Active Verb; he will be enabled also at a glance to see how the Passive Verb is formed, that it consists simply of the perfect tense of the Active Verb UNITED TO and added to every one of the changes of the Verb to be. By this table the mind of the young student will perceive the important part the Verb sustains in our language; and its voices, moods, and tenses, will cease to have a confused or mysterious arrangement, because, deprived of these perplexities, a stumbling block of no small magnitude is removed. The next step was to give the young student, in language suited to his capacity, a clear and concise definition of the terms laid down in the Chart, the reasons why those terms were used, with instances of their application, which latter have principally been selected from the Holy Scriptures, they being easily attainable, if not in the hands of all. This part was familiarly termed a Key, and is somewhat in the manner of conversation, by which we are enabled to unite the pointedness of the catechetical mode with the freedom of dialogue, without the tediousness of either; and at the same time it also enables us, while imparting information, to cultivate the student's reasoning powers. The work is divided into two parts; the first part consisting of two courses; the first course is a very brief outline; the second is that outline considerably extended, all the questions of the first being repeated without answers, that the lesson of yesterday may be shewn as belonging to that of to-day for when a young student once perceives that the lessons already acquired are important links to future acquisitions, it will teach him to discipline his memory, to bend it to his purpose, and make it both a servant and a friend. The second part of the work is an enlargement of the first, and gradually requiring from the young student more thought and careful attention. This part also is but the filling up of the original outline, and hence all questions repeated are without answers, serving as a still further test of the amount of information retained and made available for present purposes. Between the first and second parts is a plan for committing the Chart to memory, and also that of the Table of the verbs. The plan here suggested will be found especially useful for collective teaching; it has been well tested, and it is hoped will, wherever used, justify the scholar's remark, who, suddenly looking up from his book, exclaimed, “I do like this grammar though, teacher, it is so plain and straightforward." The previous edition having met with so favourable a reception by the press, for which we refer the reader to the end of the work, the suggestions and revisions kindly tendered, among others, by The Right Rev. the Bishop of Melbourne, John Mann, Esq., the late Benjamin Heywood Bright, Esq., and Mr. John Stoneman, encouraged us to attempt still further to overcome the dislike of tyros to grammatical studies, and this edition has therefore been carefully revised and enlarged. If we succeed in converting what has long been considered a toil into a pleasure, and a trial into a delight; if we but facilitate in any way the work of the teacher, and make the attainment of grammatical knowledge, not only pleasant, but an object of interest to the young, these pages will not have been written in vain, nor our time fruitlessly employed. |