tural squall at
the Italian Opera. It answers to the question Whom? or What? as, Whom do
you laugh at? (behind his back) Derideo magistrum-- I laugh at the
master.

The vocative case is known by calling, or speaking to; as, O magister--
O master; an exclamation which is frequently the consequence of shirking
out, making false concords or quantities, obstreperous conduct in
school, &c.

The ablative case is known by certain prepositions, expressed or
understood; as Deprensus magistro-- caught out by the master. Coram
_rostro_-- before the _beak_. The prepositions, in, with, from, by, and
the word, than, after the comparative degree, are signs of the ablative
case. In angustia-- in a fix. Cum indigena-- with a native. Ab arbore--
from a tree. A rictu-- by a grin. Adipe lubricior-- slicker than grease.

+GENDERS AND ARTICLES.+

The genders of nouns, which are three, the masculine, the feminine, and
the neuter, are denoted in Latin by articles. We have articles, also, in
English, which distinguish the masculine from the feminine, but they are
articles of dress; such as petticoats and breeches, mantillas and
mackintoshes. But as there are many things in Latin, called masculine
and feminine, which are nevertheless not male and female, the articles
attached to them are not parts of dress, but parts of speech.

[Illustration: MASC. FEM.]

We will now, with our readers' permission, initiate them into a new mode
of declining the article hic, haec, hoc. And we take this opportunity of
protesting against the old and short-sighted system of teaching a boy
only one thing at a time, which originated, no doubt, from the general
ignorance of everything but the dead languages which prevailed in the
monkish ages. We propose to make declensions, conjugations, &c.,
a vehicle for imparting something more than the mere dry facts of the
immediate subject. And if we can occasionally inculcate an original
remark, a scientific principle, or a moral aphorism, we shall, of
course, think ourselves sufficiently rewarded by the consciousness-- et
caetera, et caetera, et caetera.

Masc. hic. Fem. haec. Neut. hoc, &c.

The nominative singular's hic, haec, and hoc,--
Which to learn, has cost school boys full many a knock;
The genitive 's hujus, the dative makes huic,
(A fact Mr. Squeers never mentioned to Smike);
Then hunc, hanc, and hoc, the accusative makes,
The vocative-- caret-- no very great shakes;
The ablative c