“All that I have done in this difficult part of grammar, concerning the proper use of prepositions, has been to make a few general remarks upon the subject; and then to give a collection of instances, that have occurred to me, of the improper use of some of them.”—­Priestley’s Gram., p. 155.

“This is not an age of encouragement for works of elaborate research and real utility.  The genius of the trade of literature is necessarily unfriendly to such productions.”—­Thelwall’s Lect., p. 102.

“At length, at the end of a range of trees, I saw three figures seated on a bank of moss, with a silent brook creeping at their feet.”—­Steele.

   “Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulph’rous bolt,
    Splitst the unwedgeable and gnarled oak.”—­Shakspeare.

LESSON X.—­INTERJECTIONS.

“Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David; thou, and thy servants, and thy people, that enter in by these gates:  thus saith the Lord, Execute ye judgement and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor.”—­Jeremiah, xxii, 2, 3.

“Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!  He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”—­Jer., xxii, 18, 19.

“O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.”—­Isaiah, liv, 11.

   “O prince!  O friend! lo! here thy Medon stands;
    Ah! stop the hero’s unresisted hands.”
        —­Pope, Odys., B. xxii, l. 417.

    “When, lo! descending to our hero’s aid,
    Jove’s daughter Pallas, war’s triumphant maid!”
        —­Ib., B. xxii, l. 222.

    “O friends! oh ever exercised in care! 
    Hear Heaven’s commands, and reverence what ye hear!”
        —­Ib., B. xii, l. 324.

    “Too daring prince! ah, whither dost thou run? 
    Ah, too forgetful of thy wife and you!”
        —­Pope’s Iliad, B. vi, l. 510.

CHAPTER II.—­ARTICLES.

In this chapter, and those which follow it, the Rules of Syntax are again exhibited, in the order of the parts of speech, with Examples, Exceptions, Observations, Notes, and False Syntax.  The Notes are all of them, in form and character, subordinate rules of syntax, designed for the detection of errors.  The correction of the False Syntax placed under the rules and notes, will form an oral exercise, similar to that of parsing, and perhaps more useful.[334]

RULE I.—­ARTICLES.