A Key to the Art of Letters: An English Grammar for the Eighteenth Century

J. Matlock's Young ladies guide to the knowledge of the English tongue (1715): contextualising the first grammar of English for ladies

“…In over fifteen other texts on ECEG, ‘true’ tends to collocate with spelling or pronunciation, and later to relate to examples of bad English: The Expert Orthographist (1704), for instance, teach[es] to write true English exactly, by rule, and not by rote . Good English and classical learning were often collocated, though the assumption was debunked by authors including Lane ( [1700]: x; Rix : 547) and the Expert Orthographist , who claimed that ‘True English’ was rare in this ‘Learned Age’ (e.g. 1704: A3r).…”

“…Jones : 293ff). Moreover, in an increasingly commercial society, even the ‘educated classes’ increasingly valued ‘modern subjects’ for their own sake (Holmes : 45); interest in English was anticipated by educators like Lane ( [1700]; Rix : 550). A trawl of texts from this period confirms both that an advanced introduction to English was a potentially popular commodity – and also that rising anxiety about good English had not yet been matched by authoritative codification.…”

“…As applied to English, the Latin tradition was both modified and challenged: indeed, several of Matlock's predecessors had ostentatiously rejected categories and terms associated with Latin. Lane ( [1700]) was the first to use only four grammatical categories, likely influenced by the Port‐Royal tradition that used the (French) vernacular and ‘universal’ or ‘general’ grammar rather than Latin (Lane [1700]: 19; Michael : 167–9, 254, 498–9, 510; Rix : 549). Similarly influenced by the Port‐Royal tradition, Gildon & Brightland introduced new terms, innovatively describing the four parts of speech as ‘Names, Qualities, Words of Affirmation, The Manners of Words’ (Gildon & Brightland [1710]: 69; Michael : 255, 508–11).…”

“…Alexander, as the subject of conquered objects, does appear in other grammars, for instance Lane's ( [1700]: 109). Indeed, Lane also used the term ‘Subject’ and linked it with ‘Logick’ (Lane [1700]: xvii, 81, 90–103; Rix : 548).…”

“…Michael (: 168) observes that the English grammatical tradition ‘largely ignored’ the Port‐Royal grammarians’ ‘return to logic’. Matlock's sources perhaps included this very different tradition to adapt English grammar to a broad audience: addressing ‘all Persons’, Lane observes that ‘ Reason and Speech ’ ‘distinguished’ ‘Men […] from Brutes’ (Lane 1700 [1706]: vii; Rix : 548). Indeed, for his contemporary, proto‐feminist and philosopher Mary Astell (1666–1731), the accessibility of logic contrasted with Latin grammar offered educational opportunities for women; Astell was greatly influenced by the Port‐Royal tradition (Sutherland : 149–51).…”