A new English grammar prescribing as certain rules as the languages will bear, for forreners to learn English : ther is also another grammar of the Spanish or Castilian toung, with some special remarks upon

To the Sagacious REDER.

HE who will pry well in∣to the pedigree of the English Language will find that shee is of a high Descent, For shee hath the Highdutch (the most ancient German Toung) to her Gran Mother, And the Saxon (the prime dialect of the Highdutch) to her Mother, For the ancient Britains and Hibernians, I mean the Welsh and Irish have no other name for Her (and her Nation) to this day.

Shee may be said also to have the French for her Mother-in-law, her Lawes being couch'd therin, for 'tis 600. compleat yeers within five, since the Norman took footing here, who with his Leopards endeavor'd to bring in his Laws and Language.

But whereas Mothers-in-law or Stepmothers seldom use to be kind, yet the French hath bin so to the En∣glish, For shee hath not onely en∣rich'd, but civiliz'd and smooth'd Her with many thousands of words de∣riv'd from the Latin, whereby shee is grown the more copious, nor indeed is ther any Language fuller of Syno∣nymas, in regard shee hath for most things both a Saxon and a French word, as Stout valiant; Bold hardy; Godly devout; Wise prudent; Anger choler; a spit a broche; Board table; Town City, &c. But tis worth the observing that her Monosyllables are all Saxon or Dutch, which made one say, that the Englishman capapiè from top to toe is Dutch in all the parts of his body, in his drinking and eating He is Dutch, at bed and board hee is Dutch; Hee is

all Dutch at Sea, as also when he holds the plough, in his numbers in the daies of the week (not the months) Hee is Dutch; in his clothing he is Dutch, (though French in his fashion) Hee is Dutch in his Fishing, but in Fighting, Fortifying, and Fencing, as also in Hawking, Hunting, and Heraldry, in Dancing, Riding, and Painting, in his Music and Airs he is all French, &c.

Add herunto that the English grows every day more and more Copious by an adoption shee makes of the choi∣cest forren Words, which insinuating themselfs into Her by degrees do in tract of time as it were Naturalize themselfs and becom free denisons; In so much that the English may be said to be Dutch embordered with many other Languages.

Now, touching this new English

Grammar, let not the Reder mistake, as if it were an English Grammar to learn another Language, as Lillie is for Latin, and Littleton for French, &c. No, This is a meer Grammar of the English it self, for the use of Forreners; With a modest re∣serche into som Solecismes that are in the ortography and speak∣ing.

It is a hard task to make a Gram∣mar of a Mother Toung, A harder task to make one of a Dialect, But to make an exact Regular Grammar for all parts of a Subdialect (as the English is) is a task that may be said to be beyond the reach of human understanding, the subject being not capable of it: Mr. Ben. Iohnson a Weighty man, and one who was as patient as hee was painfull in all his

composures confess'd, the further hee waded herin the more he was still gravelled.

Concerning the Spanish, The best Gramarians and Artists have bin consulted withall, besides the Au∣thors own observation who breath'd air a long time under that Clime; The Castilian is a cleer and grave le∣surly Speech, it carries a kind of state, and deliberation with it; Therfore it affects long words as what we ex∣presse in one Syllable, the Spaniard hath five or six Syllables, as Nacimiento birth, Murcielago a batt; Levantamiento an uproar, &c. Now, as English may be said to be nothing els but Dutch inlayed with French, so the Castilian Toung is nothing els but Latin inlay∣ed with Morisco words; But the diffe∣rence is, that the English is made the

smoother by association shee hath with the French, But the Castilian Toung is grown more rugged by the admission and mixture of the Morisco words, who coming from the Arabic have a guttural or throaty pronunciation.