the word nobly is therefore an adverb. "He read the paper lately;" "When did he read the paper?" Answer, "Lately." "It went upwards;" "Where did it go?" Answer, "Upwards."

c. The circumstances of the action expressed by moods and tenses, are of a nature too general to be sufficient of themselves for the purposes of communication. It is often necessary, therefore, to be much more particular in ascertaining both the time, manner, and place of an action. One important object of the adverb is to accomplish these ends. Thus, we may say an action was done lately, long ago; or, it is to be done now, immediately; or, it will be done hereafter; or, it will be repeated often, seldom, daily, once, twice, &c. So, we may say that it was done here, there, yonder; it was well or ill done.

d. Adverbs, in general, are abbreviations of two or more words: thus, bravely, or," in a brave manner," is derived from brave-like, wisely from wise-like, happily from happy-like. Adverbs therefore express, in one word, what would otherwise require two or more words; thus, here, there, denote in this place, in that place; hither, thither, to this place, to that place; hence, thence, from this place, from that place.

222. Adverbs are divided into several classes, of which the following are the principal:- Affirmation; as, Certainly, doubtless, indeed, really, verily, surely, truly, undoubtedly, yea, yes. Comparison; as, Alike, better, best, less, least, more, most, very, too, worse, worst. Conjunction; as, Together, generally, universally. Contingence; as, Peradventure, perchance, perhaps, possibly. Defect; as, Almost, nearly, less, least. Explanation; as, Namely. Gradation; as, Scarcely, hardly. - Inference; as, Consequently, hence, therefore, wherefore. - Interroga tion; as, How, why, wherefore; how is also sometimes an adverb of Manner or Exclamation. Likeness or Equality; as, So, thus, as, equally. Unlikeness or Inequality; as, Else, otherwise.- Manner or Quality; as, Foolishly, justly, quickly, slowly, unjustly, wisely, &c. Adverbs of this kind are the most numerous, and are generally formed by adding ly to an adjective, as, bad, badly; or by changing le into ly, as, able, ably. Abverbs of Negation are, Nay, no, not, not at all.-Number; as, Once, twice, thrice.- Order; as, First, secondly, thirdly, fourthly, &c., finally, lastly. - Place; as, Above, below, anywhere, backwards, upwards, downwards, homewards, elsewhere, forward, hence, thence, whence, here, there, where, herein, therein, wherein, hither, thither, whither, near, far. - Preference; as, Chiefly, especially, rather.- Quantity; as, Abundantly, copiously, enough, sufficiently, much.-Separation; as, Apart, separately, asunder, off. - Time; as, Now, already, before, heretofore, hitherto, lately, long ago, by and by, henceforth, hence forwards, hereafter, immediately, instantly, not yet, presently, afterwards, again, always, when, then, daily, ever, never, hourly, monthly, oft, often, oftentimes, ofttimes, sometime, seldom, rarely, still, yet.

a. To-day, to-morrow, and yesterday, are properly nouns, though frequently included under adverbs.

b. Many adverbs are formed by a combination of a preposition and the adverbs of place, here, there, and where; as, hereof, thereof, whereof, hitherto, thereto, hereby, thereby, whereby, herewith, therewith, herein, therein, wherein, &c. Some are composed of nouns, and the letter a used instead of at, on, &c.; as, aside, athirst, ahead, abroad, ashore, aground, afloat, &c.

c. The adverbs here, there, where, when prefixed to prepositions, have the nature of pronouns; as, hereby (by this), herein (in this), herewith, thereby, whereby, &c.

d. An adverbial phrase consists of two or more words taken together; as, byand-by, now and then, in general, now-a-days, at length, not at all, &c.

223. Most adverbs ending in ly may be compared by prefixing more and most; less and least; as, wisely, more wisely, most wisely; less culpably, least culpably. A few adverbs are compared by adding er and est; as, soon, sooner, soonest; often, oftener, oftenest; forth, further, furthest.

a. Some words are used sometimes as adjectives and sometimes as adverbs; as, less, least, more, most, &c. They are adjectives when they qualify nouns; and adverbs, when they qualify verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.

Gothic, whence Anglo-Saxon, Francic, MasoGothic, Cimbric or Old Icelandic.

239. The third and last stream of population which, according to Bosworth, flowed into Europe about the third century before Christ, conveyed the Sclavonian or Sarmatian nations. These occupied Russia, Poland, Eastern Prussia, Moravia, Bohemia, and their vicinity. From these Sclavonian tribes a third genus of European languages arose, as the Russian, Polish, Bohemian, &c.

With the Sclavonian and the Celtic languages, however, the English has very little, if any affinity.

240. The Fourth class of languages which may here be noticed, as influencing the southern dialects of Europe and supplying hundreds of words to the English, are the Greek and Latin. The Greek, now termed Romaic, is, in a modified form, still spoken in Modern Greece and the islands of the Ægean sea, while Latin forms the parent of the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Sicilian dialects. The Greeks and Latins were a branch of the great Caucasian family which early passed over into Greece and Italy.

241. BRITISH AND ROMAN PERIOD. The earliest account of ancient Britain which has reached modern times is that contained in the Fifth Book of the Commentaries of Julius Cæsar. According to Cæsar's description, the island was very populous even at that period, about fiftyfive years before Christ. The maritime regions towards the east were occupied by various tribes from ancient Belgica, who were very similar to the Gauls in language and customs. The interior and western districts were possessed by tribes whose origin was involved in obscurity, but who, perhaps, had emigrated at some distant period from the shores of Spain.

242. When Britain was completely subdued by the victorious arms of Agricola, in a. D. 85, and annexed to the Roman empire as a permanent province, every exertion was employed by the Roman governors to instruct the British youth in the language, manners, and civilisation of their conquerors. In process of time numerous Latin words were incorporated into the Celtic, or language of ancient Britain, many of which are still retained in modern Welsh.

243. SAXON PERIOD.-When the Romans were compelled finally, in A. D. 448, to withdraw their legions. from Britain, the Britons were unable to withstand the attacks of their northern neighbours, the Picts and Scots. In this emergency they were induced to call in to their assistance the Jutes, a piratical tribe occupying the northern part of modern Denmark. From that moment the independence of Britain received a fatal blow; for, with the exception of the W. and S.W. the country ultimately became subject to an entirely different race.

244. Subsequently, extensive settlements were made by the Angles and Saxons, tribes from the south of Denmark and north of Germany. In 547, a much more numerous body of Angles having seized upon various districts between the Tweed and the Forth, gradually extended their dominion over the whole of the north of England and a great portion of the south of Scotland. In this manner the Britons were compelled to retreat to the fastnesses of Wales, Cornwall, and Cumberland, leaving the rest of the country to be occupied by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. All these tribes were kindred in descent, and, with some few variations of dialect, spoke the same language. About the year 586, the country was divided into eight kingdoms, called the Saxon Octarchy.

245. As the Jutes, occupying Kent, part of Sussex, and the Isle of Wight, formed only an inconsiderable portion when compared with the Angles and Saxons, the people were called Anglo-Saxons, and the country from the chief tribe Angle-land, which was afterwards contracted into England.

246. Wherever the Saxons conquered, they substituted their own language in the place of the British. The districts in which the ancient British continued the longest to be spoken were-Cumberland, where it was spoken in the tenth century; Cornwall, where it existed till the reign of Elizabeth; Wales, where it continues to be spoken to this day.

247. The Anglo-Saxon language is, therefore, the mother tongue of modern English.

248. As the Saxons led a life of hardihood and warfare, it is natural to suppose that their language would

be, like themselves, hard, rough, and unpolished. Accordingly, we find the Saxon and the kindred northern languages abounding in consonants, and difficult of utterance except to a native. They are, however, distinguished for singular vigour and capability of forming a vast variety of compounds.

249. Long after the establishment of the Saxons in this island, the language was totally devoid of every species of composition, and of all recognised principles of Orthography and Grammar. The deficiency of an established mode of spelling is observable in the various ways in which the same word is spelled. The sound alone appears to have formed the guide, and hence the spelling would be perpetually varying.

250. About the seventh century the Saxon language began to be cultivated, and gradually advanced till the age of Alfred, when it may be said to have received its highest polish. The Saxon Alphabet differs from the Latin only in a few characters.

Bosworth mentions the Laws of the Saxon monarchs, Charters, and Chronicles before the time of Athelstan, the works of Alfred, and the translations of the Gospels, as exhibiting the Saxon language in its greatest purity.

Specimens of this period will be found in Bosworth's Grammar, Harrison's Rise of the English Language, and Webster's Dictionary.

251. The following words will shew the connection of the, 1. Maso-Gothic, 2. Saxon, and 3. English languages, and the changes which words undergo in the lapse of time:

252. One feature in Saxon, forming a marked distinction between it and the Latin language, is its monosyllabic structure. Objects which would in Latin be expressed by words of two or three syllables are generally expressed in Saxon by monosyllables; thus,

Latin. 1. Crinis, 2. Auris, 3. Oculus, 4. Cervix, 5. Pollex, 6. Sanguis.
Saxon. 1. Hair, 2. ear,
4. neck, 5. thumb, 6. blood.

3. eye,

The same monosyllabic principle, except in words derived from foreign languages, is very prevalent in modern English, particularly in the structure of our verbs. Thus,

we see, hear, feel, smell, touch; leap, run, walk, jump; swim, dive, sink, drown; smite, strike, pinch; mourn, sigh, laugh, smile, &c.

253. The Anglo-Saxon had, according to some philologists, six declensions, but Dr. Bosworth has reduced these to three. Every noun had, in each number, four cases, the Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative;

254. The Genders of the Anglo-Saxon were determined like the Greek, Latin, and French, not only by the signification but by the termination. In this respect it differed materially from modern English. The Adjectives also had variable terminations to correspond with their nouns. - The Verbs admitted a greater variety of terminations than the modern English verb. In the time of Chaucer, these had begun to assume much of their present form.

For a more extended account of this period - see Harrison's "Rise of the English Language."

255. DANISH PERIOD. - About the year 900 A. D. several words were introduced into the north of England by the Danes, who had succeeded in forming settlements in that quarter. Gradually, as the power of the Danes increased, the peculiarities of the dialect extended to other districts; till, under the reign of the Danish kings, their influence became pretty general over the whole country. The Dano-Saxon dialect prevailed more or less, from the year 900 A. D. to about 1070.

In addition to several words from Iceland and Denmark, the Danes introduced a kind of structural change in many of the Saxon words, by substituting one consonant for another, by frequently interchanging the vowels and by altering or omitting the terminations of many of the words.-Awry, earl, girl, gammer, flail, are words of Danish origin.

256. NORMAN PERIOD.-In the year 1066 A. D. the Norman conquest took place, when the property of the land and the superior dignities of office were mostly transferred from the Saxons to the Normans. William