Holdgate the least positive of the claimants. This
new purveyor for the public taste, dislikes the catering of his
predecessor, who poached in the fields of Murray; and, with a tacit censure
upon _his productions_, has _honestly bought_ the rareties which he has
served up. In this he has the advantage. He is a better writer too than
some who make grammars; though no adept at composition, and a total
stranger to method. To call his work a "_system_" is a palpable misnomer;
to tell what it is, an impossibility. It is a grammatical chaos, bearing
such a resemblance to Smith's or Kirkham's as one mass of confusion
naturally bears to an other, yet differing from both in almost every thing
that looks like order in any of the three.

25. The claimant of the combination says, "this new system of English
grammar now offered to the public, embraces _the principles_ of a
'Systematic Introduction to English Grammar,' by John L. Parkhurst; and the
_present author_ is indebted to Mr. Parkhurst for a knowledge of _the
manner_ of applying the principles involved in _his peculiar method_ of
teaching grammatical science. He is also under obligations to Mr.
Parkhurst for many useful hints received several years since while under
his instruction.--The _copy right_ of Parkhurst's Grammar has been
purchased by the writer of this, who alone is responsible for the present
application of _its definitions._ Parkhurst's Systematic Introduction to
English Grammar has passed through two editions, and is _the first improved
system_ of English grammar that has appeared before the public _since the
first introduction_ of Lindley Murray's English Grammar."--_Sanborn's
Gram., Preface_, p. iii. What, then, is "THE PRODUCTIVE SYSTEM?" and with
whom did it originate? The thousands of gross blunders committed by its
professors, prove at least that it is no system of writing grammatically;
and, whether it originated with Parkhurst or with Pestalozzi, with Sanborn
or with Smith, as it is confessedly a method but "recently adopted," and,
so far as appears, never fairly tested, so is it a method that needs only
to be _known_, to be immediately and forever exploded.

26. The best instruction is that which ultimately gives the greatest
facility and skill in practice; and grammar is best taught by that process
which brings its doctrines most directly home to the habits as well as to
the thoughts of the pupil--which the most effectually conquers inattention,
and le