But the best and easiest rule, for dividing the fyllables in spelling, is to divide them as they are naturally divided in a right pronunciation ; without regard to the derivation of words, or the poffible combination of consonants at the beginning of a syllable,

ORD S.

WORDS are articulate founds, fed by com

mon confent_as_figns of ideas or notions.
There are in English nine Sorts of Words, or,
as they are commonly called, Parts of Speech.
1. The ARTICLE; prefixed to substantives,
when they are common names of things, to point
them out, and to fhow how far their fignifica-
tion extends.

2. The SUBSTANTIVE,
or NoUN; being the
name of any thing conceived to fubfift, or of
which we have any notion.

3. The PRONOUN; standing instead of the noun. 4. The ADJECTIVE; added to the noun to exprefs the quality of it.

5. The VERB; or Word, by way of eminence; fignifying to be, to do, or to suffer.

6. The ADVERB; added to verbs, and alfo to. adjectives and other adverbs, to exprefs fome. circumftance belonging to them.

7. The PREPOSITION; put before nouns and pronouns chiefly, to connect them with other words, and to fhow their relation to thofe words. 8. The CONJUNCTION; connecting fentences together.

9. The INTERJECTION; thrown in to exprefs the affection of the speaker, though unnecessary with refpect to the conftruction of the sentence.

The power of speech is a faculty peculiar to

2

8 5

5

7 3

7 3

man, and was beftowed on him by his beneficent

7 I

4

8

Creator for the greatest and most excellent uses ;

8 9

6

6.

5 3

5

3 7 I

but alas! how often do we pervert it to the

2

[4 7 worft of purpofes?

In the foregoing fentence, the Words the, a, are Articles; power, Speech, faculty, man, creator, ufes, purposes, are Subftantives; him, his, we, it, are Pronouns; peculiar, beneficent, greatest,. excellent, worst, are Adjectives; is, was, bestowed, do, pervert, arc Verbs; most, how, often, are Adverbs; of, to, on, by, for, are Prepofitions; and, but, are Conjunctions; and alas is an Interjection.

The Subftantives, power, Speech, faculty, and the reft, are General, or Common, Names of things; whereof there are many forts belonging to the fame kind; or many individuals belonging to the fame fort as there are many forts of power, many forts of speech, many forts of faculty, many individuals of that fort of animal called man; and fo on, Thefe general or common names are here applied in a more or less extenfive fignification; according as they are used without either, or with the one, or with the other, of the two Articles a and the. The words fpeech, man, being accompanied with no article, are taken in their largest extent; and fignify all of the kind or fort; all forts of fpeech,

and all men. The word faculty, with the article a before it, is ufed in a more confined fignification, for fome one out of many of that kind; for it is here implied, that there are other faculties peculiar to man befide speech. The words power, creator, ufes, purposes, with the article the before them, (for his Creator is the fame as the Creator of him,) are used in the moft confined fignification, for the things here mentioned and afcertained the power is not any one indeter minate power out of many forts, but that parti cular fort of power here fpecified; namely, the power of fpeech: the creator is the One great Creator of man and of all things: the ufes, and the purposes, are particular uses and purposes; the former are explained to be thofe in particular, that are the greatest and most excellent; fuch, for inftance, as the glory of God, and the common benefit of mankind; the latter to be the worft, as lying, flandering, blafpheming, and

the like.

The Pronouns, him, his, we, it, ftand inftead of fome of the nouns, or fubftantives, going before them; as, him fupplies the place of man;

his, of man's; we, of men, implied in the general name man, including all men, (of which number is the speaker ;) it, of the power, before mentioned. If, inftead of thefe pronouns, the nouns for which they ftand had been used, the fenfe would have been the fame; but the frequent repetition of the fame words would have been difagreeable and tedious: as, The power of speech peculiar to man, bestowed on man, by man's Creator, &c.

The Adjectives peculiar, beneficent, greateft, excellent, worst, are added to their feveral fubftantives, to denote the character and quality of

each.

The Verbs is, was bestowed, do pervert, fignify feverally, being, fuffering, and doing. By the firft it is implied, that there is fuch a thing as the power of speech, and it is affirmed to be of fuch a kind; namely, a faculty peculiar to man: by the fecond it is faid to have been acted upon, or to have had something done to it; namely, tó have been bestowed on man: by the laft, we are said to act upon it, or to do fomething to it; namely, to pervert it.