Rudimenta prima grammatices, ex eruditissimis quibusque grammaticis excerpta

What is the dative? That which signifies the person or thing to whom loss, gratification, a sending, a comparison of parity or equality, or finally an accession occurs: and whose sign is this French word, "à," "au," or "aux": as "I am useful, useless, similar, or equal to you," original: "Ie suis vtile, inutile, semblable, ou egal à toy". This is also called the case of giving.

What is the accusative? That which generally receives the transition and action of active verbs, and which follows certain prepositions that are constructed with the accusative: as "I love God" Amo Deum. "I go into the forum" Eo in forum. This is also called the Incusative and Causative case.

What is the vocative? That which is suitable for calling and addressing persons. And it is frequently accustomed to be joined with adverbs of calling: as, "Alas Peter," "O Antony." And it always stands absolutely without any verb, as if, once it has effected an address, its duty is finished. It is also called the Salutatory case.

What is the ablative? That which signifies time, price, or instrument, and in French has these signs: "à," "au," "du," "de," "pour," "auecques," "par": as "I waited for you for three hours" Expectaui te tribus horis, "I bought the book for a penny" Emi asse librum, "He struck me with his fist" Percussit me pugno. This is called Latin, the Sixth, and the Comparative case.

What is declension? The variation of a word through cases at the end.
How many declensions of nouns are there? Five. First, second, third, fourth, fifth.
The first, whose singular genitive and dative end in the diphthong "ae": as "poet," "of the poet," "to the poet" Poëta, poëtæ, poëtæ.
The second, whose singular genitive ends in "i," and the dative in "o": as "master," "of the master," "to the master" Magister, magistri, magistro.
The third, whose singular genitive ends in "is," and the dative in "i": as "father," "of the father," "to the father" Pater, patris, patri.
The fourth, whose genitive ends in "us," and the dative in "ui": as "sense," "of the sense," "to the sense" Sensus, sensus sensui.
The fifth, whose singular genitive and dative end in "ei": as "thing," "of the thing," "to the thing" Res, rei, rei.

What is a pronoun? A part of speech which, being inflected by cases, signifies a thing without any difference of a certain time, but never without the difference of a definite person.
Whence is it called a pronoun? From "pro" for and "nomen" noun: because it is put in place of a noun, so that in demonstrating or repeating a thing, where the repetition of the noun would be unpleasant, the iteration of the same might not cause disgust.