To the very valuable Grammar of my friend and official associate, Prof. Nordheimer, I have made occasional references, and they would probably have been still more numerous but for the fact, that the body of my work was entirely written before I became aware of his intention to publish. Had I known it at an earlier date I might have questioned the expediency of going on with my own undertaking. Perhaps it had been wiser to have waved it, as it was; but one is slow to come to a decision that would require him to throw away the labor of many months; and as I perceived that our several plans were in many respects different, I determined on the whole to cast my bread also upon the waters. It is due, however, to Prof. N. to say, that with a singular freedom from the influences that often weigh with authors, he has evinced from the first a kindly interest in my enterprise, and proffered every assistance in his power in conducting the work through the press. For this generous service, and for the many valuable suggestions on the subject of Hebrew Grammar and Philology in general, derived from my intercourse with him, I am happy in this opportunity of expressing my unfeigned thanks. Nor will gratitude for literary courtesies allow me to pass unnoticed the aid very kindly tendered in correcting the proof-sheets of the latter half of the volume by Prof. J. Seixas, a well known teacher of Hebrew in the United States. My only regret is that circumstances did not permit him to afford to my pages from the outset the benefit of his accurate revisals. As it is, although the portion submitted to his practised eye is more especially free from errors of the press, yet I think I may assure the reader of the general typographical correctness of the whole work. Occasional inaccuracies in the vowel-pointing or letters may here and there be detected additional to those that appear in the table of Errata, but they are mostly of a very trifling nature, and the learner may go forward in the full confidence of not being misled in any important point, either through the lapse of type or pen. Extraordinary care particularly has been bestowed in this respect upon the Analysis of the First Chapter of Genesis at the close of the volume, which will be found of great service as a Praxis for the beginner, and the use of which will perhaps supply the best test of the adaptedness of the Grammar to its objects. This Analysis might have been considerably extended, but it is believed that after the thorough initiation into the vowel structure of the language, he will have little difficulty in solving any apparent mysteries that may occur in his subsequent progress. With an earnest hope that the work may conduce somewhat to the furtherance of the interests of Hebrew literature-but another name for sacred phiLology- the author commends it to the favor of the public. New York, July 1st, 1839. G. B. CHAP. V. Form, Signification, &c., of the Usual Conjugations, |