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For the Use of the Lower Forms in Public and Private Schools.

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LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET.

AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.

THE following Work is the first of a short series which the Writer has undertaken with the view of facilitating the study of the Latin language. It is the result of many years' practical teaching, and seeks to combine the advantages of the older and more modern methods of instruction. While boys are sometimes compelled to commit to memory all the grammatical forms and syntactical rules without having their knowledge tested by any practical application in the construction of sentences, so that they frequently forget the former part of the Grammar by the time they have finished the latter, they are in other cases burdened by a large number of explanations and cautions, and by complicated rules for the formation of cases and other inflectional forms. The latter error is almost as grave as the former in the case of young boys, as they are thus taught analytically what ought to be first learned synthetically.

The main object of this work is to enable a Beginner to fix the Declensions and Conjugations thoroughly in his memory, to learn their usage by constructing simple sentences as soon as he commences the study of the language, and to accumulate gradually a stock of useful words. It is divided into two parts:

I. The first part contains the Grammatical forms,

with exercises upon all the inflections, in which the simple rules of syntax are introduced, as they are required for the formation of sentences.

II. The second part contains an explanation of some of the more important idioms of the language, such as the construction of the Accusative Case and the Infinitive Mood, of the Ablative Absolute, of the Gerund and Gerundive, &c., exemplified by Exercises upon each construction. The Vocabularies to both parts are printed at the end of the second, and Alphabetical Indices of the Latin and English words in the Vocabularies are appended to them.

The work thus contains Grammar, Delectus, and Exercise-book, with Vocabularies, and consequently presents in one book all that the pupil will require for some time in his study of the language. It is confidently believed that a boy who has gone carefully through the work will have acquired a sound knowledge of the chief grammatical forms, and of the most important syntactical rules, and will thus be prepared to enter upon the systematic study of a larger Grammar with advantage and profit.

In the Grammar, the Writer has deviated as little as possible from the usual arrangement of the Declensions and Conjugations, and only when some clear and positive advantage was to be gained. Thus in the Third Declension he has introduced a simpler and easier classification according to the final letter of the stem,*

*The Stem must be distinguished from the Root. The Root is that part of the word which remains after taking away the Suffix; the Stem is that part of the word which remains after taking away the Inflections: thus in agilis, agili is the Stem of the Adjective, but AG is the Root.

instead of the one in the ordinary grammars, which occasions boys so much difficulty and perplexity.

In using the book it is suggested that the pupil should be required to learn by heart the Vocabulary belonging to each Exercise; that he should then read over the Exercise vivâ voce in the class, the master giving such explanations as he may deem necessary; and that then, but not till then, the pupil should write down what he has previously read in class. It should be the aim of the master to prevent the pupil, as far as possible, from committing mistakes to writing, as experience has shown that the original mistake, when fixed in the memory by means of writing, is often remembered long after the correction has been forgotten.

In drawing up the Exercises, the Writer has derived assistance from the following books, all of which are used in the public schools of Germany :

Kühner, Lateinische Vorschule, Hannover, 1858.
Spiess, Uebungsbuch zum Uebersetzen aus dem Lateinischen in's
Deutsche und aus dem Deutsche in's Lateinische, Essen, 1858.
Jacobs and Döring, Lateinischer Elementarbuch, Jena, 1856.
Bleske, Elementarbuch der Lateinischen Sprache, Hannover,
1858.

Bonnell, Uebungstücke zum Uebersetzen aus dem Lateinischen in's Deutsche für die ersten Anfänger, Berlin, 1854.

Ellendt, Lateinisches Lesebuch für die untersten Klassen der Gymnasien, Königsberg, 1857.

Gedike, Lateinisches Lesebuch, Berlin, 1857.

He has also to acknowledge his obligations to Mr. T. D. Hall, M.A., for the correction of the proofs and for many valuable suggestions.

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