guard against the admission or the inculcation of any principle which may have an improper tendency, and be ultimately prejudicial to those whom they instruct.  In preparing this treatise for publication, the author has been solicitous to avoid every thing that could be offensive to the most delicate and scrupulous reader; and of the several thousands of quotations introduced for the illustration or application of the principles of the science, he trusts that the greater part will be considered valuable on account of the sentiments they contain.

35.  The nature of the subject almost entirely precludes invention.  The author has, however, aimed at that kind and degree of originality which are to be commended in works of this sort.  What these are, according to his view, he has sufficiently explained in a preceding chapter.  And, though he has taken the liberty of a grammarian, to think for himself and write in a style of his own, he trusts it will be evident that few have excelled him in diligence of research, or have followed more implicitly the dictates of that authority which gives law to language.  In criticising the critics and grammatists of the schools, he has taken them upon their own ground—­showing their errors, for the most part, in contrast with the common principles which they themselves have taught; and has hoped to escape censure, in his turn, not by sheltering himself under the name of a popular master, but by a diligence which should secure to his writings at least the humble merit of self-consistency.  His progress in composing this work has been slow, and not unattended with labour and difficulty.  Amidst the contrarieties of opinion, that appear in the various treatises already before the public, and the perplexities inseparable from so complicated a subject, he has, after deliberate consideration, adopted those views and explanations which appeared to him the least liable to objection, and the most compatible with his ultimate object—­the production of a work which should show, both extensively and accurately, what is, and what is not, good English.

36.  The great art of meritorious authorship lies chiefly in the condensation of much valuable thought into few words.  Although the author has here allowed himself ampler room than before, he has still been no less careful to store it with such information as he trusted would prevent the ingenious reader from wishing its compass less.  He has compressed into this volume the most essential parts of a mass of materials in comparison with which the book is still exceedingly small.  The effort to do this, has greatly multiplied his own labour and long delayed the promised publication; but in proportion as this object has been reached, the time and patience of the student must have been saved.  Adequate compensation for this long toil, has never been expected.  Whether from this performance any profit shall accrue to the author or not, is a matter of little consequence;