, 1879-01-05

possessiye pronoun. He substituted for in
Hexions the invariable particles Of, from, to,
in. IN. and 1csth to mark the relation Of cases,
and so did away with all the perplezlties OF
declension with blow.
Another great reform accomplished by
CuAucEa was the forming OF the plurals OF
nouns by the addition Of 's" to the slngu"
lar. This resembles the usual practice IN
French but there are large classes OF e1oep
tions, such as those in " eux," to which no
parallel can be found in English. The Ger
man plurals are even more arbitrary, anu
they have been the grief and despair OF
learners for generations. Those who have
read TnEyE1YANs Life Of MAoAulAx Will
remember that the noble essayist and 8chol-
ar declared his intention Of learning German
on his way home from India, and provided
textbooks for the purpose, but never after
ward mentioned the subject. The German
plurals appear to have. been stumbling
blocks that he could never get over: All
these difficulties were removed from English
by CHAucER. With few triding excep-
tions, the plurals Of English nouns are
formed in 'fs."
Genders were another cause Of confusion
in EARLY English, and still are in all the Eu-
ropean languages. It is difficult to say
whether the French, with its two genders, in
which al inanimate objects are included, or
the German, with it's three, which ere appro-
priated by different objects in the most hap
hazard way, is the more objectionable. DR..
WE1ssE points out that, though German has
three genders, girl (Nadchen) is neuter;
boy (Kna5e), masculine; door (7Au'), fem
mime; house (Haus), neuter; dog (Hund),
MASCULINE; horse (PJerD, neuter; sun
(sonne) and earth (Brde) are feminine;
moon (AfonD and star CSte'7) are mascu-
line; brain, ear, leg, and knee are neuter;
neck, arm, finger, and foot are masculine;
hand, nose, liver, and toe are feml-
nine. Like inconsistencies and contradic-
tions are pointed out in French. CHAucEE
removed these Irregularities from English by
providing. three gendcrs, rs,-masculine, femi-
nine, and neuter,- classifying all nouns
according to their sex or want Of it. Of.
EOuI6H LIS HOlh Ill t4Ao AS@pE~I hA2 ANt N01AA-
plete, but it was a great step in the right
way.
The changes in the verb were not less rad
ical and important. The four conjugations,
which the French have brought down from
the latin, were dispensed with: 4 future,
which was wanting in Anglo o-Saxon, was sup
Piled by means of the auxiliary ttshall."
The present particfple was formed with the
compromise termination ting" which is at
once the most characteristic and the. most
valuable termination in the English language.
The pretorite and the past participle were
made with ted; and the past-perfect
lenses were expressed with this participle
and the "auziiary," as in other languages.
CHAUcER did not straighten out the ir-
regular verbs as he might hive done, md
they have remained ever SINCE to torment
unfortunate foreigners who have attempted
to learn the language. Nor did he do any
thing to simplify the tortuous orthography
of the Language. There is justice, after all,
in the observation of the modern humorist
that g CHAUoER was q great poet, but an
awful hand to SPELL" He did more to con-
fuse English orthography than to amend it.
But he set an example in the treatment Of its
grammar which might now be followed to
advantage by those who seek to change its
spelling. If CHAuoER, five centuries ago,
could see his way clear to drop out host Of
antiquated forms and membranes, there is
no reason why modern reformers, with a
mora general diffusion of knowledge and
stronger disposition among the people to
submit to the rule Of reason and common
sense, should not eventually do as much for
another and less vital part Of the language.