Accidence, a Short Introduction to the Latin Tongue

Accidence, a Short Introduction to the Latin Tongue was a highly influential Latin textbook written by Ezekiel Cheever, a prominent schoolmaster in colonial British America. First published in New Haven, Connecticut, the book was considered the standard Latin textbook throughout colonial New England.1

"Accidence" itself refers to the part of grammar that deals with inflections, or how words change to express grammatical contrasts like tense or number. Cheever's work aimed to introduce students to these fundamental aspects of the Latin language, making it accessible and widely adopted for over a century.21