Excerpt from Grammar of the Latin Language: For the Use of Schools and Colleges, With Exercises and Vocabularies The final test of a school grammar is the test of the class-room. Tried by this test, Bingham's Latin Grammar, despite defects in matters of detail, has for nearly twenty years enjoyed a wide popularity in the Preparatory Schools and in many Colleges throughout the country. Its author, Prof. William Bingham, was a man of clear head, a scholar without parade of learning, and, as a teacher, possessed of notable skill in imparting knowledge. His experience of many years as head of a great school, his enthusiastic devotion to his work as a teacher of Latin, and especially his intimate knowledge of the needs of younger boys, admirably fitted him for the task which he set himself - the preparation of "a practical first book in Latin, simple enough for beginners and yet full enough for more advanced students." Guided by this practical experience in the class-room, he shaped his book on lines so simple and easy of comprehension as have ensured its popularity in spite of many palpable deficiencies. Had Professor Bingham lived, there can be no question that long before this the book would have been thoroughly revised and brought up more nearly to the requirements of modern scholarship. The twenty years that have elapsed since he gave the first edition to the public have been marked by extraordinary activity in the field of classical philology. Much that was regarded as assured when he wrote has been rejected by a more scientific study of Latin, and much that was then clouded with doubt is now settled upon a sure basis. The task that would have been to him a labor of love has finally been confided to me by his representatives, and I have honestly tried to carry out the work, as nearly as has been possible, in accordance with the methods that originally guided him. I have carefully avoided lumbering up the pages with a mass of philological matter out of place in a practical drill-book of limited scope, steadily keeping in view, in the many changes found necessary, the aim of presenting the results of recent study in the simplest possible language. A word as to some of these changes: As will be seen, I have adopted at the outset the "Roman Pronunciation" as resting on the surest historical basis, and have endeavored to illustrate by English equivalents, as nearly as may be, what the best scholars regard as the true Roman sound of the letters. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.