very frequently, give them
pain, by making them appear inferior, in point of mind, to many who are,
in fact, their inferiors in that respect. These things are _grammar,
arithmetic, history_, accompanied with _geography_ Without these, a man,
in the middle rank of life, however able he may be in his calling, makes
but an awkward figure. Without _grammar_ he cannot, with safety to his
character as a well-informed man, put his thoughts upon paper; nor can
he be _sure_, that he is speaking with propriety. How many clever men
have I known, full of natural talent, eloquent by nature, replete with
every thing calculated to give them weight in society; and yet having
little or no weight, merely because unable to put correctly upon paper
that which they have in their minds! For me not to say, that I deem _my
English Grammar_ the best book for teaching this science, would be
affectation, and neglect of duty besides; because I know, that it is the
best; because I wrote it for the purpose; and because, hundreds and
hundreds of men and women have told me, some verbally, and some by
letter, that, though (many of them) at grammar schools for years, they
really never _knew_ any thing of grammar, until they studied my book. I,
who know well all the difficulties that I experienced when I read books
upon the subject, can easily believe this, and especially when I think
of the numerous instances in which I have seen _university_-scholars
unable to write English, with any tolerable degree of correctness. In
this book, the principles are so clearly explained, that the disgust
arising from intricacy is avoided; and it is this disgust, that is the
great and mortal enemy of acquiring knowledge.

315. With regard to ARITHMETIC, it is a branch of learning absolutely
necessary to every one, who has any pecuniary transactions beyond those
arising out of the expenditure of his week's wages. All the books on
this subject that I had ever seen, were so bad, so destitute of every
thing calculated to lead the mind into a knowledge of the matter, so
void of principles, and so evidently tending to puzzle and disgust the
learner, by their sententious, and crabbed, and quaint, and almost
hieroglyphical definitions, that I, at one time, had the intention of
writing a little work on the subject myself. It was put off, from one
cause or another; but a little work on the subject has been, partly at
my suggestion, written and published by Mr. THOMAS SMITH of Liver