all, in short, under whatsoever denomination they may come, who have had any share in bringing the English language to its present polish and accuracy? Let the points of analogy, which the case demands, be once established, and it will be something to the purpose. But this cannot be done, because very few, if any, points of analogy, are really to be found. Indeed, so faint is the resemblance to be traced between the construction of the English language and that of ancient Greece and Rome, that any argument on either relation must be drawn, not from what is, but from what is not; while daily experience confirms the fact that the more a grammarian tries to harmonize the discrepancies betwixt any two languages, the more perplexed, and, consequently, the less intelligible he becomes. The primary laws, and what is called the philosophy of language, ever remain essentially the same; but, from the time of the grand division at Babel to the present, the modifications and diversities in construction, over the surface of the globe, have been endless. It is true that since custom among the English established the study of Greek and Latin as an indispensable part of certain professional qualifications, many terms of art have flowed in from that prolific source. This, however, only corroborates an expression, as happy as it is true, lately made by a learned gentleman of this section, that "in their connection with the English, the Greek and Latin languages were rather a kind of superstructure than a foundation."

If, notwithstanding, the derivation and composition of words is, in itself, a consideration sufficiently weighty to demand the actual study of foreign languages in order to improve and facilitate an acquaintance with our own, why not rather insist on the advantage derivable from the Saxon character, the French, or the German, as the parent stem?-Both among the people and at the Court of England, the Saxon and the French, in the times of early history, appear to have held disputed sway. For a long period, before and after the invasion of England by duke William, commonly called the Conqueror, the French was in great use there. The historian, Beda, affirms that in the year 640 it was the custom of England to send their daughters into the monasteries of France, to be brought up there; and that Ethelbert, Ethelwolf, Ethelred, and other Saxon kings, married into the royal blood of France. Glabor notes that before the time of duke William, the Normans and English did so link together, that they were a terror to foreign nations. Ingulphus saith, the Saxon hand was used until the time of king Alfred, long before the time of duke William ;

*The Rev. Moses Raymond, of Hampshire county, Virginia.

and that he, being brought up by French teachers, used the French hand; and he notes many charters of Eldred and Edgar written in the French hand, and some Saxon mixed with it, as in the book of Doomsday; that Edward the Confessor, by reason of his long being in France, was turned into the French fashion, and all England with him but that William the First commanded the laws to be written in the English tongue, because most men understood it, and that there be many of his patents in the Saxon tongue."

Giraldus Cambrensis notes, that the English tongue was in great use in Bourdeaux, and in other parts of France, where Englishmen were resident and conversant: the like was when the Frenchmen were so conversant in England.

Matthew Westminster writes, that he was in hazard of losing his living because he understood not the French tongue; and that in king Henry II. and king Stephen's time, who had large dominions in France, their native country, the number of French, and of matches with them, was so great, that one could hardly know who was French and who was English. Gervasius Tilburensis observes the same; and Brackland writes, that in Richard I. time, preaching in England was in the French tongue; probably pleading might be so likewise; and in king John's time French was accounted as the mother-tongue. From the great use of the French tongue in England it was that the reporters of law cases and judgments did write their reports in French, which was the pure French in that time, though mixed with some words of art. These terms of art were taken, many of them, from the Saxon tongue, as may be seen by those yet used.

Of these and other historical facts connected with the subject an elaborate digest may be found in a paliamentary speech on "A proposal to have the Old Laws translated from the French into English," delivered in the British House of Commons, A. D. 1650, by an eminent barrister, Mr. Whitlocke, who adds:

"I shall not deny but some monks, in elder times, and some clerks and officers, might have a cunning for their private honour and profit, to keep up a mystery, to have as much as they could of our laws to be in a kind of mystery to the vulgar, to be the less understood by them; yet the counsellors in law and judges could have no advantage in it."

And farther:

"As to the debate and matter of the act now before you, I have delivered no opinion against it; nor do I think it reasonable that the generality of the people of England should, by an implicit faith, depend upon the knowledge of others in that which concerns them most of all. It was the Romish policy to keep them in ignorance of mat

ters pertaining to their soul's health; let them not be in ignorance of matters pertaining to their bodies, estates, and all their worldly comfort. It is not unreasonable that the law should be in that language, which may best be understood by those, whose lives and fortunes are subject to it, and are to be governed by it. Moses read all the laws openly before the people in their mother-tongue. God directed him to write it, and to expound it to the people in their own native language, that what concerned their lives, liberties, and estates, might be made known to them in the most perspicuous way. The laws of the Eastern nations were in their proper tongue; the laws at Constantinople were in Greek; at Rome, in Latin; in France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and other nations, their laws were published in their native idiom. For our own country, there is no man that can read the Saxon character, but may find the laws of your ancestors yet extant in the English tongue. Duke William himself commanded the laws to be proclaimed in English, that none might pretend ignorance of them. It was the judgment of the parliament, 36 Edward III., that pleadings should be in English; and in the reigns of those kings when our statutes were enrolled in French and English, yet then the sheriffs in their several counties were to proclaim them in English."

Thus, I think, it is placed beyond the reach of doubt or contradiction which of the two languages, French and, Latin, as compared with the English now in use, deserves the most attention in regard to probable analogy of idiomatical construction, and even the derivation of words. It is no where shown, no where contended, that the temporary possession of the British materially affected the vernacular idiom in England. In town and country Saxon and French were the popular tongues; while Latin was entirely a scholastic concern; its peculiar sphere, the cloister; its principal requisition,-that of Monkish mystery and the enrolment of the laws, and, it may be added, the emolument of the lawyers. But the books of the law themselves were subsequently translated into English, particularly about Edward the Third's time.

Reverting to the assertion that Greek and Latin are necessary to accomplish the study of English, may it not be almost inferred that the very sound of such a phrase betrays a want of patriotism in those who use it? Have there not figured in the world statesmen, lawyers, divines, physicians, poets, orators, men of eminence in every walk of life, whose book-learning was limited to the works of their compatriots and to those of foreigners translated into their native tongue? Under parallel circumstances, that which in one age and nation is antipatriotic becomes equally so in another. The Roman Lyrist, in one

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once

of his most finised Odes ingenuously relates of himself that " upon a time," wile musig in deep reverie, on the plan of enriching the Latin vocabury and decorating the poetical diction of his country by the introducen foreign idioms, the Muse or guardian Genius of the land appeared, and, with an air of rebuke, ordered the bard to banish the unworthy design, and content himself with exploring and bringing to the light of day, the unlocked treasures of his native language, instead of tainting the purity of its source by extraneous admissions.

It will not, surely, be denied, that for all purposes of Art or Eloquence the English language is a well of supply equally unfailing. Moreover, let it be remembered that former things have now passed away; a different spirit is now moving on the face of the earth. The study of Greek and Latin, as a matter of necessity, is now no longer indispensable. We live in a day when the reputation of taste and good sense is not confined to an acquaintance with the Greek and Latin authors, and it is not thought necessary to a man's understanding an eloquent discourse, or even to his making one, that he should ever have read a definition either of logic or rhetoric.

Little need be added to the above observations. This review of the subject, however imperfect, will probably suffice to place the languages of ancient Greece and Rome and the modern English in their true relative position. But fashion deigns to play a part in the affair, and hence it is led to assume a more serious aspect. Be the theatre of its operation where it may, Fashion, confessedly too strong for the law, will ever enact the usurper. Not the sons alone, but the daughters of the land, are, "now-a-days," to be marshalled in the ranks of the "learned Thebans" of our College Halls. Certainly, if any parent does not think, with Milton, that" one tongue is enough for a woman," let such parent have his daughter instructed in two, or twenty. In the way of language, I dare say, there is no difficulty which a female cannot readily conquer. Cleopatra, of old, is an instance in point: in modern times, Madame Dacier, in France, and Mrs. Carter, in England, were among the best Greek and Latin scholars of the times they flourished in their names are the boast of classical criticism. But is it society at large, or the sedentary student in his closet, that has most profited by the literary labours of these talented women? It must always be borne in mind, that, for practical application, the Latin language is restricted to the very limited circle of the literati or school-men. To them, living in different parts of the world, and imperfectly, or, perhaps, not at all acquainted with each other's tongue, the ability to write in Latin forms a convenient medium of communication and controversy.

To return to Madame Dacier and Mrs. Ce. arter.-he case of these formidable female Drawcansirs was peculia ar. Wth them classical study was a business, and a serious busines s, too, bsorbing all other ho considerations. They had the courage to eply into the criticism of classical erudition; and thus they became critics in their turn. In consequence of this they had a literary character at stake, the jealous support of which, at any sacrifice, did in a manner force on them the necessity of extending their researches to the utmost. How far such a course may coincide with feminine taste and feminine avocations, generally, I leave for others to determine. For myself, I should rather suppose that some modern and living language,-some one equally flexible, whether for conveying the vigorous sallies of wit and exuberant fancy, or the social recreation of conversational intercourse, would be preferable. Such, for example, is the language of France, Spain, or Italy. To the taste and opportunities of a young, intelligent female, such a study may be accounted quite congenial. Can it be questioned which is best calculated to win the fair student's choice the freshness of a poetical wreath woven from the blooming garden" of Ariosto, Tasso, Petrarca; or the age-worn 'hues of Anacreontic, Catullian, or Propertian flowers, which, undying though they are, Time's despoiling touch has dimmed, if unable to destroy?

ever

To be sure, we know there is no accounting for taste. English historians have drawn a picture of personal and mental excellence in the character of the Lady Jane Grey, who, at an age almost puerile, "derived more pleasure in her closet from the study of Plato, in the original Greek, than her gay companions from the sports of the chase." The sad fate of this unfortunate Lady is touching, and might well move the sympathy of the sternest heart. There is, however, it must be acknowledged,-something extremely frigid in the narrative that, when led forth to execution, pausing awhile over the body of her beheaded husband, she calmly and deliberately composes and writes in her tablets a moral sentiment in three different languages, Greek, Latin, and English. Will it be deemed harsh to declare an opinion, that, in a display of learning like this, there is something too much of pedantry, or singularity, at the least?

I shall here close these "remarks" with a few lines bearing on the subject of the French language, taken from Franklin's letter, addressed to Noah Webster, jun., on the "Modern Innovations in the English language and in Printing."

The Latin language," says Doctor Franklin, "long the vehicle used in distributing knowledge among the different nations of Europe, is daily more and more neglected; and one of the modern tongues,