Eight Parts of Speech this Day wear Mourning Gowns
Declin'd Verbs, Pronouns, Participles, Nouns.
And not declined, Adverbs and Conjunctions,
In Lillies Porch they ſtand to do their functions.
With Prepoſition; but the moſt affection
Was ſtill obſerved in the Interjection.
The Subſtantive ſeeming the limbed beſt,
Would ſet a hand to bear him to his Reſt.
The Adjective with very grief did ſay,
Hold me by ſtrength, or I ſhall faint away.
The Clouds of Tears did over-caſt their faces,
Yea all were in moſt lamentable Caſes.
The five Declenſions did the Work decline,
And Told the Pronoun Tu, The work is thine:
But in this caſe thoſe have no call to go
That want the Vocative, and can't ſay O!
The Pronouns ſaid that if the Nouns were there,
There was no need of them, they might them ſpare:
But for the ſake of Emphaſis they would,
In their Diſcretion do what ere they could.
Great honour was confer'd on Conjugations,
They were to follow next to the Relations.
Amo did love him beſt, and Doceo might
Alledge he was his Glory and Delight.
But Lego ſaid by me he got his skill,
And therefore next the Herſe I follow will.
Audio ſaid little, hearing them ſo hot,
Yet knew by him much Learning he had got.—
O Verbs the Active were, Or Paſſive ſure,
Sum to be Neuter could not well endure:
But this was common to them all to Moan
Their load of grief they could not ſoon Depone.
A doleful Day for Verbs, they look ſo moody,
They drove Spectators to a Mournful Study.
The Verbs irregular, 'twas thought by ſome,
Would break no rule, if they were pleaſ'd to come.
Gaudeo could not be found; fearing diſgrace
He had with-drawn, ſent Mæreo in his Place.
Poſſum did to the utmoſt he was able,
And bore as Stout as if he'd been A Table.
Volo was willing, Nolo ſome-what ſtout,
But Malo rather choſe, not to ſtand out.
Poſſum and Volo wiſh'd all might afford
Their help, but had not an Imperative Word.
Edo from Service would by no means Swerve,
Rather than fail, he thought the Cakes to Serve.
Fio was taken in a fit, and ſaid,
By him a Mournful POEM ſhould be made.
Fero was willing for to bear a part,
Altho' he did it with an aking heart.
Feror excus'd, with grief he was ſo Torn,
He could not bear, he needed to be born.
Such Nouns and Verbs as we defective find,
No Grammar Rule did their attendance bind.
They were excepted, and exempted hence,
But Supines, all did blame for negligence.
Verbs Offspring, Participles hand-in-hand,
Follow, and by the ſame direction ſtand:
The reſt Promiſcuouſly did croud and cumber,
Such Multitudes of each, they wanted Number.
Next to the Corps to make th' attendance even,
Jove, Mercury, Apollo came from heaven.
And Virgil, Cato, gods, men, Rivers, Winds,
With Elegies, Tears, Sighs, came in their kinds.
Ovid from Pontus haſt's Apparell'd thus,
In Exile-weeds bringing De Triſtibus:
And Homer ſure had been among the Rout,
But that the Stories ſay his Eyes were out.
Queens, Cities, Countries, Iſlands, Come
All Trees, Birds, Fiſhes, and each Word in Um.
What Syntax here can you expect to find?
Where each one bears ſuch diſcompoſed mind.
Figures of Diction and Conſtruction,
Do little: Yet ſtand ſadly looking on.
That ſuch a Train may in their motion chord,
Proſodia gives the meaſure Word for Word.
Sic Mæſtus Cecinit,
Benj. Tompſon.
The custom was in Boston—until this century—to study through the grammar three times before any application to parsing.
Far better wit than any found in an old-time jest book was the sub-title of a very turgid Latin grammar, "A delysious Syrupe newly Claryfied for Yonge Scholars yt thurste for the Swete Lycore of Latin Speche."
The first English Grammar used in Boston public schools and retained in use till this century, was The Young Lady's Accidence, or a Short and Easy Introduction to English Grammar, design'd principally for the use of Young Learners, more especially for those of the Fair Sex, though Proper for Either. It is said that a hundred thousand copies of it were sold. It was a very little grammar about four or five inches long and two or three wide, and had only fifty-seven pages, but it was a very good little grammar when compared with its fellows, being simple and clearly worded.
The fashion of the day was to set everything in rhyme as an aid to memory; and even so unpoetical a subject as English Grammar did not escape the rhyming writer. In the Grammar of the English Tongue, a large and formidable book in fine type, all the rules and lists of exceptions and definitions were in verse. A single specimen, the definition of a letter, will show the best style of composition, which, when it struggled with moods and tenses, was absolutely meaningless.