r different ways. 1. A
stranger to the fact, would not learn from this phrase, that the
"Providence Plantations" are included in the "State of Rhode Island," but
would naturally infer the contrary. 2. The phrase, "Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations," may be supposed to mean "Rhode Island
[Plantations] and Providence Plantations." 3. It may be understood to mean
"Rhode Island and Providence [i.e., two] Plantations." 4. It may be taken
for "Rhode Island" [i.e., as an island,] and the "Providence Plantations."
Which, now, of all these did Charles the Second mean, when he gave the
colony this name, with his charter, in 1663? It happened that he meant the
last; but I doubt whether any man in the state, except perhaps some learned
lawyer, can _parse_ the phrase, with any certainty of its true construction
and meaning. This old title can never be used, except in law. To write the
popular name "_Rhodeisland_," as Dr. Webster has it in his American
Spelling-Book, p. 121, would be some improvement upon it; but to make it
_Rhodeland_, or simply _Rhode_, would be much more appropriate. As for
_Rhode Island_, it ought to mean nothing but the island; and it is, in
fact, _an abuse of language_ to apply it otherwise. In one of his parsing
lessons, Sanborn gives us for good English the following tautology: "_Rhode
Island_ derived its name from the _island of Rhode Island_."--_Analytical
Gram._, p. 37. Think of that sentence!

OBS. 11.--On Rules 7th and 8th, concerning _Two Capitals for Compounds_, I
would observe, with a general reference to those _compound terms_ which
designate particular places or things, that it is often no easy matter to
determine, either from custom or from analogy, whether such common words as
may happen to be embraced in them, are to be accounted parts of compound
proper names and written with capitals, or to be regarded as appellatives,
requiring small letters according to Rule 9th. Again the question may be,
whether they ought not to be joined to the foregoing word, according to
Rule 6th. Let the numerous examples under these four rules be duly
considered: for usage, in respect to each of them, is diverse; so much so,
that we not unfrequently find it contradictory, in the very same page,
paragraph, or even sentence. Perhaps we may reach some principles of
uniformity and consistency, by observing the several different kinds of
phrases thus used. 1. We often add an adjective to an old proper name to
make a n