Produced by Colin Bell, Keith Edkins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * In this e-text a-breve is represented by [)a], a-macron by [=a], y-dotted-over by [.y], s-acute by ['s] etc. a-ring is [oa], a-circumflex is [^a] and a-grave [`a]. Aesc, eth and thorn have been expanded to ae, dh and th. * * * * * Page numbers enclosed by curly braces (example: {25}) have been incorporated to facilitate the use of the Table of Contents. * * * * * THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. BY ROBERT GORDON LATHAM, M.D., F.R.S., LATE FELLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON; MEMBER OF THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, NEW YORK; LATE PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND GREATLY ENLARGED. LONDON: TAYLOR, WALTON, AND MABERLY, UPPER GOWER STREET, AND IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1850. * * * * * LONDON: Printed by SAMUEL BENTLEY & Co., Bangor House, Shoe Lane. * * * * * TO THE REV. WILLIAM BUTCHER, M.A., OF ROPSLEY, LINCOLNSHIRE, IN ADMIRATION OF HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS A LINGUIST, AND AS A TESTIMONY OF PRIVATE REGARD, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED, BY HIS FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. LONDON, _Nov. 4, 1841_. * * * * * {v} PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. * * * * * The first edition of the present work was laid before the public, with the intention of representing in a form as systematic as the extent of the subject would allow, those views concerning the structure and relations of the English language, which amongst such scholars as had studied them with the proper means and opportunities, were then generally received; and which, so being received, might take their stand as established and recognized facts. With the results of modern criticism, as applied to his native tongue, it was conceived that an educated Englishman should be familiar. To this extent the special details of the language were exhibited; and to this extent the work was strictly a Grammar of the English Language.