PREFACE. THE Introductory Grammar of the Latin language here offered to the public, is intended to be put into the hands of beginners, whose object is, in the first instance, to become acquainted only with the principal and leading features of the language. To those who wish to prosecute their studies further, it may serve as an introduction to the larger Grammar, which forms part of this Series of Latin School-books; while those learners who do not intend to enter more deeply into the study of the Latin language, will find in the present little work all that is essential for practical purposes. The work, therefore, claims a place among the Elementary Grammars commonly known 'under the name of Rudiments of the Latin Language; but it is hoped that it will be found to place the laws of the language before the learner in a more correct form than is done in many Rudiments which are still used in our schools, and in which incorrect statements, grammatical fictions, and unphilosophical definitions are met with oftener than could be desired in books of which the substance is impressed upon the memory of the young, and which thus have a strong tendency to perpetuate error, and obstruct the progress of accurate knowledge. As the book necessarily contains information on many points which the pupil may dispense with at the beginning of his career, but which, after having mastered the first elements, it will be useful and interesting to know, the parts which are thought more essential than others are printed in larger type, and are meant to be committed to memory. The parts printed in small type may at first be omitted; but after a little time, and especially when the pupil is revising what he has learned before, they ought to form subjects of explanation and discussion for the teacher, so as to extend the knowledge of the pupil, and establish it on a rational basis. The number of examples illustrating the various rules might easily have been made more numerous; but as this Introductory Grammar is accompanied by a book of Exercises, beginning with the first elements of the language, it has been thought unnecessary to increase its size by such additions. The rules of gender and quantity, which are generally treated of separately in elementary grammars, have been given in connection with the inflections, and certain general principles only are laid down in separate sections at the beginning of the work, because without some general rules of this kind the beginner will not be able even to read and pronounce a Latin word or proposition correctly. EDINBURGH, 1864. L. S. PREFACE TO PRESENT EDITION, THE present Edition has undergone careful revisal by DR SCHMITZ; and the Publishers, in deference to the wishes of a large number of Teachers, have re-set the whole of this, as well as the more advanced work, in a larger and consequently clearer type. EDINBURGH, 1865. 65 74 78 Peculiar and Contracted Forms of Conjugation, . Conjugation by Periphrasis or Circumlocution, Irregular Verbs of the Second Conjugation, Irregular Verbs of the Third Conjugation, Irregular Verbs of the Fourth Conjugation, |