A Light to Grammar and All Other Arts and Sciences, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
Of the Figures and Tropes.
THE childe will meet ſometimes Figurala Syntaxis.with a conſtruction different in forme and faſhion from that he hitherto hath obſerved: To the underſtanding whereof, both in words and ſentences, he hath good preparatories from the eye, and eare; from nature, and reaſon, to frame true conſtruction there, and his voyce thereunto, for that is a chiefe thing.
There are ſome flowers of ſpeech, (as the Rhetorician calleth them) which will ſtand the childe in great ſtead as he goeth along. He will finde alſo in the practiſe of the Syntaxe one word put for another, as where the word ſignifies Suns, he muſt conſtrue dayes: So where he reads the ſeed of the woman, and of Tres incertos ſoles. Virgil.Abraham, he muſt underſtand the ſon of the Virgin, and the children of Abraham; and when the Poet ſaith, He hath an Horn in his hand, his meaning is, it is a Lanthorn, &c.
The foundation of all this little Art, is grounded in nature; the childs naturall Logick will doe it; which hath been exerciſed ever ſince he ſaw his The foure Cauſes.Mother make Apple-pies, for then he could diſcerne who made them, of what materialls; The forme and faſhion, he is exact there, and knowes for what end, as well as the biggeſt fellow in the towne. And becauſe that followes, and we ſuppoſe him in the dark, where the Lanthorne gives him light; he will underſtand, that is not ſo, but the light in Subject. Adjunct.the Lanthorne, that was it; and it was put into the Lanthorne, and is taken out; the Lanthorne remaines ſtill; but ſo you cannot folly from a foole, that ſticks cloſer then ſo; Now hee underſtands his Subject, and his Adjunct, and ſomthing more belonging to it then ſo.
His Mother called him good boy, when by a lawfull kind of mockery, ſhe Ironia.meant the contrary, that he was a very wag, and the Child knows it very well. The child hath heard often, that hee hath a ſtony heart; that is but a borrowed Metapho…a.word, the child knowes where, and that the meaning muſt be, that he hath a hard heart; And yet the man knowes not, that ſo hard his heart is, harder then any kind of metall, for that will gain againe in the fire, and melt, ſo will not a ſtone. The Child can Synecdochetake a part of an Apple for the whole, when the Mother will let him have no more; and he can take the whole for a part, when hee can be his owne chooſer: And he can tell what whole this is, as well as he, who underſtands homogeneum, for that is Greeke; he can tell the whole Apple, is Apple, and ſo is every part, as are Earth, Water, Aire, Fire, Silver, Gold, &c.
The Child reads; aColoſ. 1. 23.The Goſpell was preached to every Creature; that's too generall ſure, for Beaſts could not heare it, it is more ſpecially meant then ſo. He daylie asketh his daylie bread; our deſire here muſt be moderate, yet not confined to our loafe only (a word wee find in our Engliſh, but in no other tongue:) wee meane thereby as wee have good warrant, our meat too, our cloathing alſo, all neceſſaries: little doth a child think, what a bleſſing he hath in his hand when Bread is there; For, as the word meaneth, and our Lord alſo, having Bread, he hath All.
Thus the Child hath this neceſſary additament to Grammar, for hee can make no way without it. And in all this we have not out-compaſſed his underſtanding nor burthened it at all. For our precognitions have prepared way thereunto, and prevented the labour. For that was our promiſe ſtill, and we are ſure we have kept our word.
But I ſhall tranſgreſſe preſently, if I doe not take leave, as all along I have done, to goe out of the Common-rode way, for there lyeth Proſodia next, ſtraight on in the rode, at the very bottome of the way. And there wee have Tone, a very acute and witty word; Spirit, as ſublime: Time long and ſhort, a great part of a mans underſtanding to obſerve it, and yet for his Turne the child ſhall doe it, nay can do it well enough. But what ſhall wee doe with thoſe things here? Certainly they ſtand out of place. I ſaid well a little before; This part of Grammar lyeth at the very bottome. It doth indeed even there, therefore I tooke it in, when I was upon my bottome worke, the Declenſions and Verbes, for they are the foundation of all. And wee carried it along with us, as the Maſter-builder doth his meaſuring line, through the whole ſtructure, up to the very top, and this is the naturall order. Nor doe we goe alone here at this point: There is one who ſheweth his Judgement here, as H. Hayne in his Grammar lately printed.he hath his judgement, and learning both, in higher points; For he makes it no diſtinct part of Grammar, but as that, which hath its uſe every where, and ſo it ſpreadeth it ſelfe through all, whereby it comes to paſſe, that the Child well perceives its uſe in every word hee ſpeaks; attaines to a more perfect underſtanding thereof in one weeke, then by a verball repetition of it, he can attaine unto in a whole yeare. And ſo for the whole Grammar, though, haply he cannot give you ſix lines in ryme, (which will never be required by any underſtanding man) yet for every line and word, hee can give you good reaſon, and that we hope one day, will ſatisfie a reaſonable man. And now our practiſe is gone as far as we can, perhaps farther then needed; wee will ſet downe alſo the Reaſons of our practiſe, which may ſerve as rules for our after proceeding.