The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1854-10-06
COMMUNICATIONS.
WHEELING, Va, ., Sept. 23d, 1854.

WHEELING, Va, Sept. 23d, 1854.
B. II. CowEN, Esq.-Sir, Some weeks
since, furnished an article on "The Gram
the Independent Republican. When the ar
l!cle oppeared,I discovered that it contained
numerous errors, which knew were not in
the manuscript Immediately wrote to the
editor, Mr.. Balsley, stating that the article as
published, nboundeS in typographical errors,
for which was not willing to be responsible,
and that hoped he would do me the favor to
re-publish it, with the errors corrected.
then reviewed the article as published, and
pointed out the mistakes in detail. did not
intimate nor even suppose, that the errors
were the result Of design Or wilful reglect.-
| very well knew that the editor was under
the necessity Of giving much Of his time TO
the business affairs Of his estab isbment, and
it was but reasonable to suppose, that he had
had but limited amount Of time to devote 10
his ptoof-sheet. | therefore requested him
TO state the facts OF the case in an editorial
and that the errors alluded to, did not appear
in the manuscript as furnished by me. Since
he could very well do it, without any discredit
would, as an act Of simple justice to me, cheer
| fully re-publish the article with an appropri-
ate editorial apology. Two numbers OF his
paper have since appeared, and my article is
not re-pubished, nor has any mention, what
ever, been made of the matter. Hence,
conclude that the editor has, for some reason
to me unknown, concluded to treat my re-
quest :th silent contempt.
Not willing to let the matter rest thus,
now forward to you an exact copy Of my
manuscript article, as originally furnished to
the Republican, and you will 90 me kind.
ness which shall endeavor to appreciate, if
you will publish the article in the Chronicle,
as ii is. Yours Respectfully,
F. s. WILLIAMS.
For the Belmont Chronicle.
ssThe Grammar of English Grammars.''
desire, through your paper as a. medium,
| to call the attention of teachers, school-otfi-
GERS, and literary men in general, within tn e
scope of it's circulation, to the work entitled d
"The Grammar of English Grammars," by
Good Brown, Of Lynn, Massachusetts.
This great work, conta ning ever one thou
sand closely printed pages octave, was first
Published in the year 1851; and no other
work on English grammar, has, at any time,
created SO great a sensation with the learned,
and me: SO general approval, as this work Of
Browns. No other work upon this subject
can bring to BEAR from erudite sources, any
thing like the amount Of testimony in its ia
vor, that has been volur turily contributed in
favor Of this. Before its publication, the au-
thor had acquired reputation as a gramma-
rian, second to that Of no other writer. And
now, SO pre-eminent is his position, that it is
fairly presumed, that no other individual
whatever his aspirations, will venture to en-
ter the field of grammatical authorship as bis
competitor. Not that there are no others ca
pable of thinking and reasoning upon gram
matical subjects, but whero shall we look for
another, OF giant mind, who has devoted the
| labor of more than quarter OF u century to
this subject! Twenty-seven years were Civ
en- to the preparation of this great work, and
"probaby nothing important that has ever
appeared in print, on the subject OF our phi
lology, has escaped the attention Of Mr..
Brown"
Yet has "The Grammar of English Gram
mars" not escaped the animadversions oil
"wnnld hs" critics A writer in the Meth
odist Quarterly Review, for July, assumes the
novel position, that the English grammars
heretofore published, are such only in name
And, in a lengthy article, whose prominent
peculiarly is egotism, after acknowledge ne
Brow to be the great grammaran OF the age
the writer vainly attempts to show, that even
he has wholly mistaken the true province o
tho grammarian,-thath he has even failed tc
give q correct definition of grammar ITSELF
:, And still further to display his own sagacity
and critical acumen, the writer virtually
claims that it has been left to him to make
the important discovery that grammar il
something entirely different from anything
: that has heretofore appeared under the title
that, for some unaccountable reason, the
learned doctors have been strangely deluded
and that i; is his happy destiny to dispel th'
delusion. 1t 10, however, due to the write
. to state, that, in the closing paragraph o
his article, he remarks that "Other works
pursuing the natural and only true method
! that of genealogical analysis, are begnnin!
to be written and studied" The innovation
;, of S. Greene, entitled "a Treatise on tn
: Structure of the English Language" evident
ly approxmates more nearly to his 6eaa-'ded
. of "the real grammar" than any other wor
: extant. And yet this work, after having it
. merits thoroughly tested in some OF the be'
: : schools of the country, has been pronounce
sham; and, from nearly every institutlo
: in which it has been used it has been cast ou
as worse than worthless.
tits certainly surprising, that the conduc
tors of Review so deservsdly popular as tn
u Methodist Quarterly, should permit an artlcl
q SO puerile, to tarnish its pages.
1t has heen truly said, that "The Gramma
n of English Grammars' will stand among 9th
i er books of its class, as the large Dictionar
n of Noah Webster does among other works
e that kind A copy Of it should. b
8 in the hands of every teacher in the couI
IS try." And, in every state in which publ
s. school system has been adopted, it is imPer'
n lively the duty Of the Legislature, to MAX
provision to supply each school within tf
state, with copy Of this Grammar--quite
much SO, as with the unabridged Dictionar