Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1818-02-24

when Mr.. COhbett, from sheer Ignorance and
stupidity, Is a stranger 10 fear or irIesoiution.
Tile motives from which any Inan acts can
only be- perfectly Known 10 himseif; aud,
therefore. Il would be presunpiuous in us 10
sit IN Judgment on Mr.. Cobbett's motives. He
has successfully advocated and abandoned
almost every opinion after every change he
Is as confident in his infallibiity ms ever, and
there IS not one OF his incorporates ofany
note whom he has not both praised and aiuS-
ed. This incessant change of opinion has been
attributed 10 The worst of motives ; indeed Il
has been very often said, that duriug his whole
HE lie las been stranger to sincerity. This
Is further, however. hian we are disposed to
80. We attribute this singular union of conf
dence and vacciation chiefly To the want of
the imaginative faculty 10 which we have al
ready alluded. lie sees with the eye of lynx
what IS immediately before him. bit his range
of yisios is extremely limited. Ills mind is
incapable OF ing in many objects at once
AND hence every time he changes his ground,
things appear to him IN quite different light.
To this very confidence in his faculties, he is
indebted for no small share of his popularity
every thing is decided and clear with him
the !, adler is never presses ted with difficulties
or nice distinctions, for the best OF ali reasons.
because the author himself knew nothing of
them.
A thing is sometimes best illustrated by its
opposite. Let us take the instance of Il man
who has received from nature talents of an
order very superior to Mr.. Cobhctts, a rich
imagination and great mental subtleiy. and
WHO possesses AN extensive range of know
ledge we mean Mr.. CoLERIDGE. Mr. Cole.
ridge has occasionally addressed the public,
properly SO called, as welt as Gr. Cobbett, par
ticulaIiy in ms C0RciGneS al POpuiuni his
Friend, his Lay Sermons, &c: but how very
different the degree OF popularity which has
fallen 10 his share. IL ~ impossible Tor any
man of cultivated mind 10 take up the Friend
without deriving bOih delight and instruction
from il; but the nicely OF his distinctions, the
e&tensiveaess OF his views, only serve to per
pleN the ordinary reader. who cannot always
eN,ricaie himself from a labyrinth in which the
author is frequently him.eltiost.
Tie subject OF Mr.. Cobtstt's two last nnm-
bers is Grammar and the Learned Languages;
ADD in readin. these, we.ieel that to his igno-
renee We are Indebted for no small part of our
entertainment.
Among variouS publications which he has
announced, al English Grammar for the use
of Apprentices plouyhhoNS Soldiers and Sal
lors, i at the lead. For this description OF
people, we dare say his work will be found
very we'll adopted. lie will be able reproduce
work more lrrsi 70 their capacity than any Of
the existing GrammarS
But il is amusing enough To witness the self
cOmplacency with which he sets himself above
all men who have yet written ON the subject
OF grammar. He seems Ia imagine that he has
attained perfection in il which person
vcr attained before him--that il is his great
eXcellency.-" DGriug the whole of my militia
ry life, lie sayS," owed my safety TO it," And
Ivy way approving his aCQDaiu' ance with ETY.
inolcsy. he gravcly tells rs, IL Convent comes
from the French word COHCedt and this comes
from the French word COrPr, which meaus TO
Sit over eggs" This is amusing enough. E.
very person, possessed even Ola smatteriug of
learning, knows that the French Courent, As
well as the En-. lIslI COarQnt, come from the
Latin word CoprcntfS, an assembly. Nothing
as so common an The progress of language as
the leaving ont of consonants, or supplying
their place with yowels, aud this word is an
exempiifcatiOu; in Low German. it is Koveat,
In French It'll Convent. and in English, though
the u is stll retained in Convent, yet in the
well known compound, which is much more
often IN use in this country, COueHt garden, tits
also left ont. Mr.. Cobhett wished to show that
he a French scholar and betrayed by
the similarity of sound. often Ia very treache-
rous guide in etymology, he traces Coure1H
up TO Courier. Some amusing specimens of 81
miiar absurd etymologies may be found III
Horne Tooke and every one remembers the
fH eggs under the CRATE, and the .4adrO Mckay
of Swift.
In one of these numbers, while extoIIing his
grammar skill, Mr.. Goblet makes of the
expression, " lie burstec into food OF tears"
This kird eff hlunaer he frequently commits
il is the blunder of low people and children,
who, on natural principle OF analogy, make
all their verbs regular. MIR. Cobhett says uni
foTmly bnrsted, thurSted, &c. for burst and
thurSt; lie never trouble his head with eAcep-
tions 20 rules IN grammar any more than in
politics. Ills work will nSequently be very
defective ; but il will probably give the peo-
pie for whom it is intended, with several err
rors, much information, both new ard useful
70 them.
That Mr.. Cobbett or his printer may be on
their guard against the sort of vulgarisIns into
which he has a tendency TO fall, we shall select
few from well known and highly amusing
work OF His, The Account of his Own Life, a.
mounting to between 80 ana 10 pages, and
printed in The 18th volume of Porcupine's
Works. In this publication lie confidently tells
as, OIe branch of learning, however, trent
to the b0ttOm NTH, and that the most essential
branch too, the grammar of my mother
tongue" Now for the Examples " An old
woman who. believe, did not succeed in learn
ing me my irtters"--" My father learnt us all
to read and write '-'' ami therefore, his en-
deavors to learn us that necessarily failed."-
Speaking TO the passions Is ever sure to sue
coed on the uminformed." " He was a month
in ledyWiHg me to copy" " Andmy desire to be
on that element bad rather increased By
being 9eHaed up in London =" Which ended
in tile good and gallant old colonel being strip
ped OF the reward bestON ed on him for bis
long aud merilOrOus SerritWie." Ii had so han
pened that one of the Whiskey Bows had trent
over TO England" Where they ever thrsted
upon people in spite of their circumstances"
&c.N
BIT our readers will hink, probably, that
we have given them enough OF MIR. Cobbetfs
grammar the second WORK which he aynoun-
ces, on Ecclesiastical History, we leave TO the
DiVnes.
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