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GRAMMAR.

20, Words ending in ty have their accent on the antepenult, aspusillanimity, activity. '

These rules are not advanced as complete or infallible, but pro-posed as useful. Almost every rule of every language has its ex- Iceptions ; and in English , as in other tongues, much must be learn-ed by example and authority. Perhaps more and better ruie.s jmay be given that have escaped inv observation.

Quantity ascertains the time in which a syllable is pronounced,determining it to be long or short. Quantity distinguishes verse :from prose; and the ccconomy and arrangement of quantities, jthat is, the distribution of long and short syllables, makes what we icall the metre. The quantities are distinguished, among gramma- jrians, by the characters u, short, as per ; and -, long, as ros. |There is also a common, variable, or dubious quantity; that is, isyllables that are one time taken for short ones, and at another time !for long ones, as the first syllable in A"tlas, patres, &c. Feet are ,made up of quantities. The quantity of a syllable is either natu- ;ral or accidental : natural quantity is that taken from the nature of |the vowel, as re in resisto, is short, and de in depello is long. Ac- |cidental quantity is that departing from the natural quantity, jmerely by accident, as re in rcsliti is long, because it is imme-diately followed by two consonants; and de in dcamo is short,because it immediately precedes a vowel. The quantity of sylla-bles is known two ways. 1. By rules for that purpose. And, 2.By authority. The rules for this end are taught by that part ofgrammar called prosody ; the authority made use of in this case isno more than examples from, or the testimony of, approved au-thors ; and is never used but either when the rules are deficient,or when we are unacquainted with them. The quantity of the sylla-bles is but little fixed in the modern tongues ; and there is still less jregard paid to it in the composition of modern verses. The want of ffeet, oi rather the shortness and uniformity of our feet, makes agreat difference between the numbers of the ancient and modernverse.

Versification is the disposing of long and short syllables in a dis-course, so that they may run with an agreeable cadence, the likebeing also reiterated in the course of the piece. This repetition,according to Bossu, is necessary to distinguish the notion of versefrom that of prose ; for in prose, as well as verse, each period andmember are parts of a discourse, consisting of a certain number oflong and short syllables; only prose is continually diversifying itsmeasures and cadences, and verse regularly repeating them. Thisrepetition of the poets appears even in the manner of writing ; forone verse being finished, they return to the beginning of anotherline, to write the verse following, and it is to this return, thatverse owes its name. Verses are sometimes denominated from thenumber of feet, whereof they are composed, as the monometer,dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, Ac . SeeHexameter, Ac . Some also, from the kinds of feet used inthem, as the pyrrhichion, proceleusmatip, iambic, trochaic, &c.See Pyrrhichion, Ac . Sometimes verses are denominated fromthe names of the inventors, or the authors who have used themwith most success, as the anacreontic, archilochian, asclepia, al- ;chaic, sapphic, Ac . See Air acreontic, &c. The moderns ihave invented heroic or alexandrine verses ; the ane.ie.nts likewise !invented various kinds of poetical devices in verse,, as centos,echos, Ac. See Alexandrine, Ac .

Tlic feet of our verses are either iambic, as aloft, create ; or,trochaic, as holy, lofty.

Our iambic measure comprises verses of four syllables,

With ravish’d earsThe monarch hears.

Of six,

Thus while we are abroad,

Shall we not touch our lyre iShalt we not sing an ode ?

Or shall that holy fire,

In us that strongly glow’d.

In this cold air expire?

Of eight, which is the usual measure of short poems,

And may at last my wegry ageFind out the peaceful hermitage,

The hairy gown, and mossy cellWhere i may sit, and nightly spellOf ev’rv star the sky doth shew,

And ev’rv herb that sips the dew.

Of ten, which is the common measure of heroic and tragicpoetry,

The courts are filled with a tumultuous dinOf crowds, or issuing forth, or entring in:

A thorough-fare of news; where some devise'Filings never heard, some mingle truth with lies:

The troubled air with empty sounds they beat,

Intent to hear, and eager to repeat.

In all these measures the accents are to be placed on even syl-lables ; and every line considered by itself is more harmonious,as this rule is more strictly observed. 1 lie variations necessaryto pleasure belong to the art of poetry, not the rules of grammar.

Our trochaic measures areOf three syllables,

Here we mayThink and prayBefore deathStops our breath :

Other joysAre but toys.

Of five,

In the days of old,

Stories plainly told,

Lovers felt annoy.

Of seven,

Fairest piece of welform’d earth,

Urge not thus your haughty birth.

In these measures the accent is to be placed on the odd syl-lables.

These are the measures which are now in use, and above the restthose of seven, eight, and ten syllables. However, various otherkinds of verses have been invented, and used by different poets,as above observed.

The authors who have written on grammar are innumerable.The grammar of the F.nglish language by Dr. Louth, and that byLindley Murray , are deservedly held in high estimation.

Grammar, Philosophic, or Universal. " Grammar,”saysthe Rev, Mr. Bruce, “considered as an art, necessarily sup-poses the previous existence of language; and as its design isto teach any language to those who are ignorant of it, it must headapted, to the genius of that particular language of which it treats.But grammar, considered as a science, views language only as it issignificant of thought. Neglecting particular and arbitrary modifi-cations introduced for the sake of beauty or elegance, it examinesthe analogy and relation between words and ideas; distinguishesbetween those particulars, which are essential to language, andthose which are only accidental; and thus furnishes a certain stand-

ard, by which different languages may be compared, and theirseveral excellencies or defects pointed out. This is what is calledPhilosophic or Universal Grammar.” Encyc , Brit. See Lan-ei’Acs.

GRAMMARIAN, was anciently a title of honour, 'literature,and erudition, being given to persons accounted learned ii/any artor faculty. But it is now often used as a term of reproach, to sig-nify a plodding person, employed about words and phrases, hut in-attentive to the beauties of expression and delicacy ol sentiment.Theancient grammarians, called also pliiloiogers, must not lie confound-ed wilhtUe grammatists,whose business was to teachehildren the lint- elements