ough with his particular purpose;
because he meant to teach the derivation of words, and not to meddle at all
with their construction. But who does not see that it is impossible to lay
down rules for the _construction_ of words, without first dividing them
into the classes to which such rules apply? For example: if a man means to
teach, that, "A verb must agree with its subject, or nominative, in person
and number," must he not first show the learner _what words are verbs?_ and
ought he not to see in this rule a reason for not calling the participle a
verb? Let the careless followers of Lowth and Priestley answer. Tooke did
not care to preserve any parts of speech at all. His work is not a system
of grammar; nor can it be made the basis of any regular scheme of
grammatical instruction. He who will not grant that the same words may
possibly be used as different parts of speech, must make his parts of
speech either very few or very many. This author says, "I do not allow that
_any_ words change their nature in this manner, so as to belong sometimes
to one part of speech, and sometimes to another, from the different ways of
using them. I never could perceive any such fluctuation in any word
whatever."--_Diversions of Purley_, Vol. i, p. 68.

12. From his own positive language, I imagine this ingenious author never
well considered what constitutes the sameness of words, or wherein lies the
difference of the parts of speech; and, without understanding these things,
a grammarian cannot but fall into errors, unless he will follow somebody
that knows them. But Tooke confessedly contradicts, and outfaces "_all
other Grammarians_" in the passage just cited. Yet it is plain, that the
whole science of grammar--or at least the whole of etymology and syntax,
which are its two principal parts--is based upon a division of words into
the parts of speech; a division which necessarily refers, in many
instances, the same words to different sections according to the manner in
which they are used. "Certains mots repondent, ainsi au meme temps, a
diverses parties d'oraison selon que la grammaire les emploie
diversement."--_Buffier_, Art. 150. "Some words, from the different ways in
which they are used, belong sometimes to one part of speech, sometimes to
another."--_M'Culloch's Gram._, p. 37. "And so say all other
Grammarians."--_Tooke, as above_.

13. The history of _Dr. Webster_, as a grammarian, is singular. He is
remarkable for his change