I have intended to be fair; for captiousness is not criticism.

If the reader perceives in these strictures any improper bias, he has a sort of discernment which it is my misfortune to lack.

Against the compilers of grammars, I urge no conclusions at which any man can hesitate, who accedes to my preliminary remarks upon them; and these may be summed up in the following couplet of the poet Churchill: "To copy beauties, forfeits all pretence To fame;--to copy faults, is want of sense.".