CHAPTER XIX.
GRAMMAR.
_Method of instruction--Grammatical rhymes_.
* * * * * "A few months ago, Mr .-- -- gave his little daughter, H----, a child of five years old, her first lesson in English Grammar; but no alarming book of grammar was produced on the occasion, nor did the father put on an unpropitious gravity of countenance.

He explained to the smiling child the nature of a verb, a pronoun, and a substantive."-- _Edgeworth_.
* * * * * It has been well observed, "that grammar is the first thing taught, and the last learnt." Now, though it is not my purpose to pretend that I can so far simplify grammar, as to make all its rules comprehensible to children so young as those found in infant schools, I do think that enough may be imparted to them to render the matter more comprehensible, than it is usually found to be in after years.
The great mystery of grammar results, in my opinion, from not making the children acquainted with the things of which the words used are the signs, and moreover, from the use of a number of hard words, which the children repeat without understanding.

For instance, in the classification of words, or the parts of speech, as they are called, _nouns, substantives_, and _adjectives_, convey, as terms, no idea to the minds of children; and, in spite of the definitions by which their import is explained, remain to them as unintelligible as the language of magical incantation.

That the children can easily comprehend the difference between words which express the names of things, and those which express their qualities, and between words which express actions, and those which express the nature of those actions, is undeniable; and this is just what should be taught in an infant school.

In the first place, let the children be accustomed to repeat the names of things, not of any certain number of things set down on a lesson card, or in a book, but of any thing, and every thing, in the school-room, play-ground, &c.: next let them be exercised in telling something relating to those things--_their qualities_; as for instance, the school-room is _large, clean_, &c.,--the children are _quiet, good, attentive_, &c .-- the pictures are _pretty_: the play-ground is _pleasant_, &c.