1846 printing of first American edition based on the second London edition. This Introduction states that English composition has two distinct branches: grammar and the union of logic and rhetoric. Credits Lindley Murray for his treatment of grammar, but argues that Latin grammar doesn't fully translate to the features of English. States that the object of this text is the discipline necessary to acquire English composition. The first edition was divided into three parts. The first part is on perception of the subject (includes themes and definitions); the second on perception and judgment; the third on perception, judgment and argumentation. The second edition was amended with additional illustrative examples, a list of subjects, and a fourth part with rules on how to "ascertain and express the considerations from which his conclusion of judgment proceeded" (arguments produced by comparison and contrast). The book's illustrative examples include excerpts from well known authors. The introduction acknowledges the influence of Addison, Johnson, Blair, and Watts. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete text.
1846 fifth edition/printing of the 1843 copyrighted text. The author is credited as the author of District School Speaker. The text endeavors to find a more natural way of teaching grammar than to rely on the methods used for Latin and Greek. The text's first part is a plan for oral instruction. The second part covers the Eight Parts of Speech. The third part covers twelve rules of syntax, and contains lessons for parsing and the correction of false grammar. The Schultz Archive's copy only includes the preface.
