Languages, like individuals, grow up from infancy to maturity; and like nations, they advance from barbarism to refinement. The English is the youngest child in the family of languages; but, as it frequently happens to the youngest child, it has been nursed with peculiar care, and enjoyed peculiar advantages; and it exhibits a vigorous constitution, and has acquired a manly growth. From poverty it has advanced to riches, and from barbarism to great refinement. It is an interesting employment to trace its history, and to mark its progress. It has originated, not from one source, but from many sources. It has amassed its wealth not only by carefully husbanding its own resources, but by the lawful plunder of numerous other languages.

The history of the English language is intimately connected with the history of the English nation. The island of Great Britain has been the scene of its infancy, the theatre of its childhood, and the spot on which, in its maturity, it has flourished in peculiar glory. The earliest inhabitants of Britain, and indeed of all northern and western Europe, were the Celts, a people who, probably many centuries before the Christian era, wandered away from the parent tribes in Asia. They were rude and uncultivated, with the exception of the Druids, their priests, who had a humble claim to the title of philosophers. Such was the people whom Julius Cæsar found in Britain, when he raised the Roman eagle on its shores; and who, after a severe struggle, were subdued to the Roman dominion. The languages of the Welsh, of the native Irish, denominated the Erse, and of the highlands of Scotland, called the Gaelic, which differ only in dialect, are the remains of the Celtic, the original language of northern and western Europe.

After the internal troubles of the Roman Empire obliged the Romans to withdraw from Britain, the inhabitants of the southern portion of the island were exposed to the inroads of the Picts and Scots from the north, whom the Roman arms, during the Roman dominion, had kept in check. In vain did the Britons call on the Romans for aid; instead of defending others, they were scarcely able to defend themselves. In their extremity, the Britons invited the Saxons to undertake their defence. The Saxons inhabited northern and western Germany, and the adjacent territory, a branch of whom was denominated the Angles, from whom the English derive their name. They were a part of the extensive Gothic nation which spread itself over central and northern Europe; a people that left the eastern tribes at a later period than the Celts, and who were considerably in advance of them in civilization and mental improvement. The Saxons, after having driven back the Picts and Scots, conquered the Britons whom they came to defend; and so complete was the subjugation, that the Saxon or Gothic entirely superseded the Celtic, or ancient language of the country, and the Saxon is to be considered as the parent of the English language. Doubtless, from an intercourse with the original inhabitants, some Celtic words were intermingled with the Saxon, but they were not so numerous as materially to alter its form. The Saxon language, from the remains of it which have come down to modern times, appears to have been capable of expressing with copiousness

and energy the sentiments of a people not destitute of mental cultivation.

From the subjection of the Britons to the Saxons, the Saxon language underwent no material alteration, during a period of six hundred years. The Danes, indeed, during this time, overran the country, and for a season held it in subjection, and doubtless some Danish words were introduced into the Saxon. These seem not to have been very numerous, and made no material change in the form of the language, which may be accounted for from the fact, that the Danish and Saxon were but different dialects of the same parent, Gothic.

A much greater change in the language was effected by William the Conqueror, who, in 1066, subdued the English. He, with his followers, spoke the Norman French, a language formed by a mixture of the Celtic, Latin, and Gothic languages. William attempted, what few conquerors have done, to give law to the language of his subjects, and to introduce the Norman French in the place of the Saxon, by causing the intercourse of the court, and the proceedings of the courts of justice, to be held in the Norman French. But this conqueror found it more easy to subdue the English nation, than to conquer the Saxon language. Although the Norman French was, for a time, spoken by the higher ranks of society in England, and some of its words found their way into the native Saxon from this circumstance, yet the Saxon language maintained its ground in Britain, essentially unchanged. By the intercourse which took place between England and France, for several centuries afterward, many more French words were introduced into the English. These were adopted, with very little change from their original form; and hence has arisen the similarity between many words in the two languages, which is now so clearly visible.

In later times, the words of the English language have been exceedingly augmented by the introduction of many derived from the Latin and the Greek, and occasionally from the French, the Spanish, the Italian, and the German. The Latin, in latter times, has been the primary source whence the English has been enriched and adorned. This has arisen, not only from the fact that the Latin was the language of a people highly cultivated and refined, and embodied a great variety of valuable literature, but also from the circumstance that for many ages it was the common medium of communication between the learned of the nations of modern Europe, and was therefore well understood by every English scholar.

Still, however, after all its changes and augmentations, the Saxon remains the basis of the English language. Almost all the words in common and familiar use, and those which relate to agriculture and the mechanic arts, are of Saxon origin. He who speaks Saxon English, speaks plain English, which every person understands. If we were to speak of the circumambient air, which is Latin English, some persons might be found who would not fully understand us. If we say the surrounding air, which is Saxon English, we shall be distinctly and universally understood.

Of all the distinguished English writers, none is more remarkable for a general use of Saxon English, than Addison. It gives a peculiar

simplicity to his style, and perhaps was one means of securing to the Spectator, to which he largely contributed, the unbounded popularity which it enjoyed with the mass of readers, at the time of its first publication. Dr. Johnson, equally celebrated, is especially distinguished for the use of Latin English. His Rambler, which was issued as a periodical, like the Spectator, though it contains more depth of sentiment, and greater splendor of imagery, which have ever rendered it a favorite with scholars, was by no means as popular with the mass of readers, when it was first issued, as was the Spectator.

The terms in the English language which relate to music, sculpture, and painting, have been derived from the Italian, as it is from Italy, especially, that the improvements in these fine arts have been derived. The words which relate to navigation, have been derived from Holland and Flanders, countries which were early distinguished among the nations of western Europe for the cultivation of this art. The French have ever been celebrated in the art of war, and from them have been derived the terms which relate to military affairs. The mathematics and philosophy, which owe their advancement chiefly to scholars, have derived their terms from the Latin and the Greek.

It has generally been the case, that the refinements of a language have kept an equal pace with a nation's advancement in civilization; and the state of a language, therefore, forms a good criterion of the state of general improvement among a people. This has been emphatically true of the English language. Under the reign of Elizabeth, in the sixteenth century, the national manners advanced in refinement, and the language made equal and signal advances in its character. Spenser and Shakspeare, among the poets, and Hooker among the divines, of that period, gave illustrious proofs of genius, and contributed essentially to improve the language of which they were ornaments. Of Hooker, Pope Clement VIII., who would not be likely to entertain an undue partiality for a Protestant, said : This man indeed deserves the name of an author. His books will get reverence by age; for there are in them such seeds of eternity, that they shall continue till the last fire shall devour all learning.' The works of Shakspeare, the prince of dramatic writers, whom no man in this department has ever rivalled, or probably may ever hope to rival, are well calculated to give a very favorable idea of the respectable advances which the language had made, at the time in which he flourished. The conceptions of his transcendent genius appear to have been not at all cramped by the language in which he wrote; and what author ever wrote, who showed more versatility of talent, or who required a more flexible, strong, and copious language to give life and animation to his varied and extraordinary conceptions?

The writers of the seventeenth century nobly carried on the work of improving the English language, which their predecessors had so honorably begun. The present authorized version of the Scriptures, which was first published in 1613, under the reign of James I., considered merely in a literary point of view, is a most remarkable production, honorable to the translators, and to the character of the language, at the time when it was written. The subjects of this

volume are vast and sublime; its variety is well nigh boundless; and although it is designed to be, as it is, a literal translation of the original Hebrew and Greek, it must have been no common language which could have preserved that precision, force, and beauty of the originals, which it so signally exhibits. With the exception of a few obsolete words and phrases, the common version of the Scriptures is regarded by literary men, at the present day, as an English classic; and many an orator has kindled the fire of his eloquence at this great fountain of light and of warmth, and many a poet has adorned his imagination by a careful attention to the imagery of the prophets. Pope, in his Messiah,' one of his most elegant and sublime productions, in admiration no doubt of the splendor of the prophet, invokes the aid of Him,

'Who touch'd Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire!'

It is scarcely possible to calculate how great has been the effect of a book of such a character, so widely circulated, and so generally read, upon the public taste; and how extensive has been its influence in promoting a general acquaintance with the beauty and force of the English language. If the Scriptures had not trained up a nation of intelligent readers, distinguished authors would not have addressed a public so well prepared to admire their beauties, and to estimate their worth. In the seventeenth century, distinguished writers arose, in almost every department of literature and science, to instruct the world by their wisdom, and to cultivate and adorn the English language. In this rapid sketch, but a few of them can be noticed.

Milton, an epic poet, to whom no age or nation has produced a superior, who is more sublime than Homer, and more diversified, and not less elegant, than Virgil, contributed not a little to the cultivation of the language in which he wrote, and signally displayed its compass and its power. Waller, Dryden, and others, in the department of poetry, contributed largely to the improvement of their native tongue. Locke and Newton, in philosophy, who flourished in the latter part of this century, contributed to the precision and perspicuity of the language, and evinced that it is as well adapted to the purposes of the philosopher, as it is to those of the poet.

The divines of the seventeenth century were particularly distinguished for the copiousness and force of their language, as well as for the depth and compass of their thoughts; and in proportion as theological learning advances, these divines are held in increasingly high estimation. Barrow, in the fulness and exuberance of his periods, has an eloquence like that of Cicero. Dr. Jeremy Taylor, from his spirited descriptions of human character and human life, has been significantly called the theological Shakspeare. The silver-tongued Bates, the eloquent and devout chaplain of that profligate monarch, Charles the Second, added elegance to correctness, and is alike distinguished for the beauty and the force of his language. Charnock was a writer of great depth of thought, and great copiousness and force of expression. A distinguished recent English critic, in speaking of the writings of this author, says, 'If any student in theology be destitute of the writings of Charnock, let him sell his coat and buy them.' Baxter and Tillotson, and others little less distinguished,

contributed largely to the improvement of their native tongue, as well as to the instruction of their own age, and of succeeding gene

rations.

But while the English language, during the seventeenth century, was distinguished for its copiousness and strength, with a good degree of elegance, it was reserved for the writers of the eighteenth century to give it the finishing touch of beauty and of grace. The old prose writers made not the ornaments of language a primary object of attention. Their periods are generally long, and somewhat heavy, and are frequently encumbered with extensive parentheses, which later writers have very properly rejected. Whether in the acquisition of elegance, the language has not lost something of its strength, is not quite beyond question; and he who would perfect his style, should labor to add the grace of the writers of the eighteenth, to the strength of those of the seventeenth century.

In the latter part of the seventeenth, and early in the eighteenth century, a galaxy of authors appeared, who have left a track of light across the literary hemisphere. The reign of Queen Anne has been denominated, and not without reason, the Augustan age of English literature. Then flourished Addison, who brought philosophy from the schools to dwell among the common people; whose writings are distinguished for a simplicity and elegance of style, which have rarely been equalled, and never surpassed; and which has caused him to be regarded as a model of fine writing. It is the language of the great Johnson, that, whoever wishes to acquire a style, which is familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.' Young, to great diversity of thought, added an affluent magnificence of language. Pope scattered over the fields of literature flowers of the most delightful fragrance, and of every hue. Thomson displayed the beauties of the English language in the most enchanting descriptions of the prospects of nature, and the scenes of life. Neatness and perspicuity of style were finely illustrated in the history of Hume. Bolingbroke, corrupt as he was in moral principle, produced, as a political writer, some of the most beautiful specimens of elegant writing. Among theologians, Watts and Doddridge, Butler and Berkley, Sherlock and Lardner, Warburton and Lowth, furnished examples of writing different from each other, but all excellent of their kind. But space would fail us, were we to attempt an allusion to all the poets and philosophers, historians and moralists, who shed a glory over the earlier half and the middle of the eighteenth century.

The orthography of the preceding century had been unsettled, and encumbered with many needless letters; and the same writer was often found spelling the same word in a different manner, in different parts of his works. In the eighteenth century, the orthography of the language became nearly settled, the meaning of words had become definite and precise, and usage had in a great measure given law to language. It only remained that a commanding lexicographer should arise, to collect from the scattered works of distinguished authors a complete vocabulary, to fix, by the authority of good writers, accurately the meaning of words, and to embody the whole in a standard dictionary.