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THE

ELEMENTS

OF

LATIN GRAMMAR,

FOR THE

USE OF SCHOOLS.

BY RICHARD HILEY;

Author of an English Grammar, &c. &c.

LONDON:

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. STATIONERS'-HALL-COURT;

JOHN HEATON, LEEDS.

1836.

///

THE VENERABLE ARCHDEACON BUTLER'S OPINION

OF THIS GRAMMAR.

A copy having been sent to the Venerable Archdeacon Butler, D.D. he has been pleased to honour the work with the following flattering opinion :

"I think your book, wherever I have examined it, done with care and ability; it is short, clear, and well selected, and likely to be very useful."

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VENERABLE ARCHDEACON BUTLER, D.D.

HEAD MASTER OF THE ROYAL FREE-GRAMMAR SCHOOL,

SHREWSBURY,

AND AUTHOR OF "ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY," &c. &c.

THIS MANUAL

IS, BY HIS PERMISSION, DEDICATED,

AS A

SMALL TESTIMONIAL OF THE HIGH ESTIMATION IN WHICH

HIS ERUDITION AS A SCHOLAR,

AND HIS TALENTS AS A PRECEPTOR, ARE HELD,

NOT ONLY BY THE PUBLIC,

BUT BY HIS

OBLIGED SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

THE object which the Author has had in view in publishing the present manual is, to furnish the classical student, at a trifling expense, with a good First and Second Latin Grammar.

Instead of considering Grammar, as is too commonly the case, as a mere necessary evil,—a something to be endured for an ulterior advantage, he has, on the contrary, regarded it as a positive good,-the basis of all sound scholarship. In this light it is held by the Germans, and perhaps to this circumstance alone is to be attributed their superiority over us in Classical Literature.

True it is, that in several of the most respectable schools and academies, the introductory compendium is succeeded by the perusal of some larger work on the subject; but as there seldom exists any connexion between the two, the different facts are not easily retained, and consequently time is wasted, and little advantage derived. But with respect to the vast majority of schools, no other work than the common Grammar is adopted or even known. In such instances, the pupil, in preparing his lessons, has to encounter so many idioms and peculiarities of construction unexplained in his Grammar, that he is rarely enabled, after years of toil, to translate with even tolerable certainty, much less with facility. By an attentive application, however, of the information contained in the present treatise, he will be materially assisted both in translation and composition, as most of the peculiarities of construction occurring in the Authors usually read in schools are here explained under appropriate heads.

The greatest attention has been paid throughout both to the Definitions and to the Classification of the different rules. In the former, brevity has been studiously combined with perspicuity, and in the latter, an arrangement has been adopted which appeared best conducive to facilitate the retention and ready application of the whole.

In closing these remarks, the Author most cheerfully acknowledges great obligations to the works of Zumpt, Scheller, Crombie, Grant, Valpy, Ruddiman, and Adams.

Leeds, February 12, 1836.

An efficient series of Exercises, expressly adapted to this Grammar, is in course of preparation.

LATIN GRAMMAR.

LATIN GRAMMAR is a methodical collection of those rules on the spelling, the properties, construction, and pronunciation of the words in the Latin language, which were observed by the best Latin authors.

A knowledge of Latin Grammar enables us to read the Classics, that is, the best authors in the Latin language; and to write after their model.

It is divided into four Parts; namely, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody.

I. ORTHOGRAPHY.

Orthography teaches the forms and sounds of letters, and the just method of spelling words.

Letters are characters, representing the sounds of the human voice.

The letters of the Latin language, called the Latin Alphabet, are twenty-five in number; namely, A, a; B, b; C, c; D, d; E, e; F, f; G, g; H, h; I, i; J, j; K, k; L, 1; M, m; N, n; O, o; P, p; Q, q: R, r; S, s; T, t; U, u; V, v; X, x; Y, y; Z, z.

In Latin there is no W.

.

Letters are divided into vowels and consonants.
A vowel makes a full sound of itself; as, a, e, o.

A consonant makes only an imperfect sound of itself; as b, c, d, which require the aid of vowels to express them fully. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y. The consonants are b, c, d,

f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z.

The consonants are divided into mutes and semivowels. The mutes are those letters which entirely, and at once, obstruct the sound of the vowel, and prevent its continuation; they are b, c, d, g, k, p, q, t.

B

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