ENGLISH GRAMMAR. INTRODUCTION. Modern English is a composite language, of which the main elements are English and Roman. Nearly all the short words, well understood by the people, are pure English. The words by which men express most briefly and powerfully their thoughts and feelings; the common names of things seen in the heavens and on the earth; 'sun,' 'moon,' 'stars,' 'sunrise,' 'twilight,' 'hills,' 'dales,' 'streams,' 'springs,' 'waterfalls;' the household words 'father,' 'mother,' 'brother,' 'sister,' 'kindred;' the words 'right,' 'true,' 'kind,' 'good,' and others in which moral judgments are most readily uttered; 'the words that go straight to men's heads and hearts:' these are mostly English words. Roman words, either borrowed immediately from the Latin, or coming to us through the medium of Norman-French, supply convenient forms of expression for the abstractions and generalizations of jurisprudence, politics, science, philosophy, art, and criticism. To these departments (especially to science) several words derived from Greek belong. The Roman element supplies, moreover, many terms for which synonyms are found in pure English; hence the Composite Language is enriched, with regard to both variety and harmony of expression. From the union of the two vocabularies-English and Roman -are derived the wealth and the versatility of Modern English. The two elements of the language have not been combined as two parts equal to each other in use and importance. English supplies the best, as well as the most numerous, words of our living vocabulary, and, moreover, prescribes laws for the construction of sentences. Our Grammar is English. We can write or speak without any aid derived from Roman words. On the other hand, to write or speak without aid derived from English grammar and the English vocabulary is impossible. The use of Roman words may be limited by the rule of one or two in thirty,' and we may still have the language found in our Bible of the seventeenth century. In many of the narrative parts of that version the few Roman words found might, without any loss of truth or strength, be put into English. In a word, wherever good COMPOSITE ENGLISH is spoken or written, pure English maintains its mastership. Whence came the Oldest English? When was it spread as the language of Britain? How did it become mixed with many Roman words? The history that answers these questions may here be given in outlines, and may be divided into the following three periods : I. The time 450-1100, when the Oldest English, or First English (sometimes called 'Anglo-Saxon '), was spoken. II. The time 1100-1558. Several transitional forms of the language spoken during this period (including more than four centuries) may here be collectively called Old English. (The special names given to several transitional forms of the language may be noticed in another place.) III. The time extending from the Elizabethan age to the present the period in which Modern English has been prevalent in literature. 450-1100. About a hundred years after the birth of Christ, the greater portion of that part of Britain now called England was governed by a Roman army. It is believed that, at that time, almost all the tribes dwelling in Great Britain and Ireland belonged to the Keltic race, which had spread itself over the West of Europe, and was divided into two main branches-Gaelic and British. The two main branches of the Keltic languages then spoken in Great Britain and Ireland, have been named respectively Gaelic and Cymraeg. To the former branch belonged the Erse language, spoken by the people of Ireland, and the Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands of Scotland. The Cymraeg, spoken in old time in the central and southern parts of Britain, is represented, in modern times, by the Welsh language. Among the peoples speaking these languages the Irish and the Scottish Highlanders maintained their independence, and in the land now called England and Wales the tribes dwelling in the north and in the extreme west were obstinate in the assertion of their freedom. The Roman conquest of Britain was made by force of arms, and, apparently, was followed by no extensive culture, moral or intellectual, of the subjugated people. Their language, therefore, remained mostly separated from the Latin spoken by the Romans at their military stations, and by some educated natives, whose subservience and intelligence qualified them for holding appointments under the government. Men of this class are described by TACITUS as servile imitators of Roman manners, and as students of the Latin language. It is reported,' says MARTIAL, that Britannia now sings our verses,' i.e. 'natives of Britain now study Roman poetry.' This was probably an exaggeration, but might have some basis in facts. For the assertions of both TACITUS and MARTIAL are partly, though indirectly, confirmed by CESAR. The British people, he tells us, had schools governed by studious men, and the recitation of verses was one of their modes of teaching. These assertions are not contradicted by a want of evidence to show that Roman culture was transmitted by the natives of Britain to the invaders, who came in great numbers soon after the island was deserted by the Romans. The want of such evidence may be ascribed to the means by which the invaders gained possession of the soil, and to the relations which they afterwards held to the subjugated or expelled natives. The Keltic language of Britain, still living in the Cymraeg tongue (called Welsh), contains many stems like those found in Latin words; but it is, nevertheless, clearly separated, on one side, from languages based upon Latin; on the other, from languages called Teutonic. Of course it is not ignored here that Latin, Keltic, and Teutonic tongues all belong to the so-called Aryan stock of languages. The primitive union of Aryan languages belongs to a time indefinitely more ancient than that to which we here refer the time A.D. 43-410. It seems clear that, during the whole time of the Roman dominion, the people of Britannia spoke mostly Keltic tongues, and that some tribes in the south of the island spoke Cymraeg, or dialects closely connected with it, such as the Cornish and the Armorican. Such words as 'craig' (for ‘stan') and ‘caer’ (for 'burg') may indicate how widely the Cymraeg language differed from English. A rocky district in Yorkshire was called 'Craigvan' ('the district of rocks') by the Cymraeg people, and was, afterwards, called 'Stanclif' by the English people. That district now retains both names. The pastoral district called Craven almost exactly corresponds to the wapentake called Staincliffe. In other parts of England hills and rivers have retained their ancient Cymraeg names, as in the examples 'Avon,' 'Don,' ' Mendip,' and' Penygant.' About four hundred years after the Christian era, not only the Roman province north of the Alps, but also Italy and Rome itself, were disturbed by the incursions of migratory tribes, who, as far as we know, had no collective name for themselves. At a later time they called themselves 'the people.' As long ago as a hundred years before the birth of Christ two of these tribes marched from districts lying near the Baltic, and attempted an invasion of Roman territory. They not only marched but also fought separately, and were defeated by MARIUS. About fifty years later other incursive tribes, belonging to the migratory people of Central Europe, were repelled by the bold genius of CESAR. But the lesson then taught was forgotten when VARUS led Roman legions to defeat and extermination in the forest-land of the |