and what is not,
good English.

36. The great art of meritorious authorship lies chiefly in the
condensation of much valuable thought into few words. Although the author
has here allowed himself ampler room than before, he has still been no less
careful to store it with such information as he trusted would prevent the
ingenious reader from wishing its compass less. He has compressed into this
volume the most essential parts of a mass of materials in comparison with
which the book is still exceedingly small. The effort to do this, has
greatly multiplied his own labour and long delayed the promised
publication; but in proportion as this object has been reached, the time
and patience of the student must have been saved. Adequate compensation for
this long toil, has never been expected. Whether from this performance any
profit shall accrue to the author or not, is a matter of little
consequence; he has neither written for bread, nor on the credit of its
proceeds built castles in the air. His ambition was, to make an acceptable
book, by which the higher class of students might be thoroughly instructed,
and in which the eyes of the critical would find little to condemn. He is
too well versed in the history of his theme, too well aware of the
precarious fortune of authors, to indulge in any confident anticipations of
extraordinary success: yet he will not deny that his hopes are large, being
conscious of having cherished them with a liberality of feeling which
cannot fear disappointment. In this temper he would invite the reader to a
thorough perusal of these pages.

37. A grammar should speak for itself. In a work of this nature, every word
or tittle which does not recommend the performance to the understanding and
taste of the skillful, is, so far as it goes, a certificate against it. Yet
if some small errors shall have escaped detection, let it be recollected
that it is almost impossible to compose and print, with perfect accuracy, a
work of this size, in which so many little things should be observed,
remembered, and made exactly to correspond. There is no human vigilance
which multiplicity may not sometimes baffle, and minuteness sometimes
elude. To most persons grammar seems a dry and difficult subject; but there
is a disposition of mind, to which what is arduous, is for that very reason
alluring. "Quo difficilius, hoc praeclarius," says Cicero; "The more
difficult, the more honourable." The merit of casting up a high-w