Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/177

 I can give of a proper noun or name. Thus we commonly distinguish the names of particular persons, places, nations, tribes, or sects, with capitals. Yet we name the sun, the moon, the equator, and many other particular objects, without a capital; for the word the may give a particular meaning to a common noun, without converting it into a proper name: but if we say Sol, for the sun, or Luna, for the moon, we write it with a capital. With some apparent inconsistency, we commonly write the word Gentiles with a capital, but pagans, heathens, and negroes, without: thus custom has marked these names with degradation. The names of the days of the week, and those of the months, however expressed, appear to me to partake of the nature of proper names, and to require capitals: as, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; or, as the Friends denominate them, ''Firstday, Secondday, Thirdday, Fourthday, Fifthday, Sixthday, Seventhday''. So, if they will not use ''January, February, &c., they should write as proper names their Firstmonth, Secondmonth'', &c. The Hebrew names for the months, were also proper nouns: to wit, Abib, Zif, Sivan, Thamuz, Ab, Elul, Tisri, Marchesvan, Chisleu, Tebeth, Shebat, Adar; the year, with the ancient Jews, beginning, as ours once did, in March.

OBS. 8.--On Rule 5th, concerning Titles of Honour, it may be observed, that names of office or rank, however high, do not require capitals merely as such; for, when we use them alone in their ordinary sense, or simply place them in apposition with proper names, without intending any particular honour, we begin them with a small letter: as, "the emperor Augustus;"--"our mighty sovereign, Abbas Carascan;"--"David the king;"--"Tidal king of nations;"--"Bonner, bishop of London;"--"The sons of Eliphaz, the first-born you of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz, duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek."--Gen., xxxvi, 15. So, sometimes, in addresses in which even the greatest respect is intended to be shown: as, "O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food."--Gen., xliii, 20. "O my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears."--Gen., xliv, 18. The Bible, which makes small account of worldly honours, seldom uses capitals under this rule; but, in some editions, we find "Nehemiah the Tirshatha," and "Herod the Tetrarch," each with a needless capital. Murray, in whose illustrations the word king occurs early one hundred times, seldom honours his Majesty with a capital; and, what is more, in all this mawkish mentioning of royalty, nothing is said of it that is worth knowing. Examples: "The king and the queen had put on their robes."--Murray's Gram., p. 154. "The king, with his life-guard, has just passed through the village."--Ib., 150. "The king of Great Britain's dominions."--Ib., 45. "On a sudden appeared the king."--Ib., 146. "Long live the King!"--Ib., 146. "On which side soever the king cast his eyes."--Ib., 156. "It is the king of Great Britain's."--Ib., 176. "He desired to be their king."--Ib., 181. "They desired him to be their king."--Ib., 181. "He caused himself to be proclaimed king."--Ib., 182. These examples, and thousands more as simple and worthless, are among the pretended quotations by which this excellent man, thought "to promote the cause of virtue, as well as of learning!"

OBS. 9.--On Rule 6th, concerning One Capital for Compounds, I would observe, that perhaps there is nothing more puzzling in grammar, than to find out, amidst all the diversity of random writing, and wild guess-work in printing, the true way in which the compound names of places should be written. For example: What in Greek was "ho Areios Pagos," the ''Martial Hill'', occurs twice in the New Testament: once, in the accusative case, "ton Areion Pagan," which is rendered Areopagus; and once, in the genitive, "tou Areiou Pagou," which, in different copies of the English Bible is made Mars' Hill, Mars' hill, Mars'-hill, Marshill, Mars Hill, and perhaps Mars hill. But if Mars must needs be put in the possessive case, (which I doubt,) they are all wrong: for then it should be Mars's Hill; as the name Campus Martins is rendered "Mars's Field," in Collier's Life of Marcus Antoninus. We often use nouns adjectively; and Areios is an adjective: I would therefore write this name Mars Hill, as we write Bunker Hill. Again: Whitehaven and Fairhaven are commonly written with single capitals; but, of six or seven towns called Newhaven or New Haven, some have the name in one word and some in two. Haven means a harbour, and the words, New Haven, written separately, would naturally be understood of a harbour: the close compound is obviously more suitable for the name of a city or town. In England, compounds of this kind are more used than in America; and in both countries the tendency of common usage seems to be, to contract and consolidate such terms. Hence the British counties are almost all named by compounds ending with the word shire; as, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, &c. But the best books we have, are full of discrepancies and errors in respect to names, whether foreign or domestic; as, "Ulswater is somewhat smaller. The handsomest is Derwentwater."--Balbi's Geog., p. 212. "Ulswater, a lake of England," &c. "Derwent-Water, a lake in Cumberland," &c.--Univ. Gazetteer, "Ulleswater, lake, Eng. situated partly in Westmoreland," &c.--Worcester's Gaz. "Derwent Water, lake, Eng. in Cumberland."--Ibid. These words, I suppose, should be written Ullswater and Derwentwater.

OBS. 10.--An affix, or termination, differs from a distinct word; and is commonly understood otherwise, though it may consist of the same letters and have the same sound. Thus, if I were to write Stow Bridge, it would be understood of a bridge; if Stowbridge, of a town: or the latter might even be the name of a family. So Belleisle is the proper name of a strait; and Belle Isle of several different islands in France and America. Upon this plain distinction, and the manifest inconvenience of any violation of so clear an analogy of the language, depends the propriety of most of the corrections which