rate test of its merits.
The goddess of the plenteous horn stands blindfold yet upon the floating
prow; and, under her capricious favour, any pirate-craft, ill stowed with
plunder, may sometimes speed as well, as barges richly laden from the
golden mines of science. Far more are now afloat, and more are stranded on
dry shelves, than can be here reported. But what this work contains, is
candidly designed to qualify the reader to be himself a judge of what it
_should_ contain; and I will hope, so ample a report as this, being thought
sufficient, will also meet his approbation. The favour of one discerning
mind that comprehends my subject, is worth intrinsically more than that of
half the nation: I mean, of course, the half of whom my gentle reader is
not one.

"They praise and they admire they know not what,
And know not whom, but as one leads the other."--_Milton_.

CHAPTER III.

OF GRAMMATICAL SUCCESS AND FAME.

"Non is ego sum, cui aut jucundum, aut adeo opus sit, de aliis detrahere,
et hac via ad famara contendere. Melioribus artibus laudem parare didici.
Itaque non libenter dico, quod praesens institutum dicere cogit."--Jo.
AUGUSTI ERNESTI _Praef. ad Graecum Lexicon_, p. vii.

1. The real history of grammar is little known; and many erroneous
impressions are entertained concerning it: because the story of the systems
most generally received has never been fully told; and that of a multitude
now gone to oblivion was never worth telling. In the distribution of
grammatical fame, which has chiefly been made by the hand of interest, we
have had a strange illustration of the saying: "Unto every one that hath
shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not,
shall be taken away even that which he hath." Some whom fortune has made
popular, have been greatly overrated, if learning and talent are to be
taken into the account; since it is manifest, that with no extraordinary
claims to either, they have taken the very foremost rank among grammarians,
and thrown the learning and talents of others into the shade, or made them
tributary to their own success and popularity.

2. It is an ungrateful task to correct public opinion by showing the
injustice of praise. Fame, though it may have been both unexpected and
undeserved, is apt to be claimed and valued as part and parcel of a man's
good name; and the dissenting critic, though ever-so candid, is liable to
be thought an envious detractor.