13/68 The acknowledgement on which he thus relies, does not appear to have been made, till his grammar had gone through several editions. It was, however, at some period, introduced into his short preface, or "Introduction," in the following well-meant but singularly sophistical terms: "In _a work_ which professes itself to be a _compilation_, and which, _from the nature and design of it_, must consist chiefly of materials selected from the writings of others, _it is scarcely necessary to apologise_ for the use which the Compiler has made of his predecessors' labours, or for _omitting to insert_ their names. |