EDITOR'S TABLE. 



411 



cases give evidence in their speech 

 that all the scholastic training to 

 which they have been subjected has 

 not sufl&ced to counterbalance the in- 

 fluence of their everyday surround- 

 ings : they will recite a rule of gram- 

 mar and violate it in the same breath. 

 Now, we do not belong to the 

 school of those who think that the ulti- 

 mate appeal in all questions of lan- 

 guage must be to the usage of the past, 

 and who contend for the standard 

 forms of speech as a man might for 

 "the faith once delivered to the 

 saints. " We agree rather with a great 

 historian and admirable writer, Sir 

 Francis Palgrave, who says that few 

 have done so much harra to literature 

 as " the martinets of language " ; add- 

 ing that " whenever the era arrives 

 in which artificial rules for style or 

 language are accurately laid down 

 and painfully obeyed, then literature 

 is approaching her climacteric." We 

 agree, too, with the more ancient 

 author of The Art of Poetry, who 

 says in effect that happy experiments 

 in enriching a language, at one time 

 with words recovered from antiquity 

 and at another with new and ex- 

 pressive words struggling for recog- 

 nition, are always in order. It is 

 one thing, however, to do as Pal- 

 grave advises, and set the expression 

 of thought and feeling above the 

 mere observation of artificial rules; 

 it is another to disregard all rules 

 through simple indolence and lack 

 of idealism lack of respect for the 

 vehicle of thought. It is one thing 

 to do as Horace advises and strive to 

 strengthen and enrich the speech we 

 use, and another to throw the door 

 open to every vulgar 'invention and 

 conceit of the hour. 



We can not better define the evil 

 with which we have to contend than 

 by describing it (in words just used) 

 as a total "lack of idealism" in the 

 use of language. Considering that ar- 

 ticulate and significant speech forms 



the great line of distinction between 

 man and the brutes, considering the 

 infinite riches of thovight and feel- 

 ing, the treasures of experience, the 

 varied presentments of human life 

 that are stored up in language, it 

 would not seem excessive if some- 

 thing of reverence toward language 

 considered as an exalted power and 

 prerogative of the human mind were 

 imparted to the young and made 

 through education a common pos- 

 session of all normal human beings 

 in a civilized state. That, however, 

 would appear to be, in any broad 

 sense, past hoping for. But what 

 the many pass by with indiflFerence, 

 if not contempt, the few may if they 

 like appropriate. The question which 

 some at least ought to consider is 

 whether there are not great and solid 

 advantages connected with an accu- 

 rate knowledge and practical mas- 

 tery of the English language. Of 

 course, we believe very strongly that 

 there are, and it would not be diffi- 

 cult to discuss these advantages at 

 length under the three heads of in- 

 tellectual, moral, and aesthetic. Accu- 

 racy and precision of speech means, 

 or at least tends strongly toward, accu- 

 racy and precision of thought. Many 

 persons have but little distinct con- 

 sciousness of the words they use, and 

 to try to hold them to any precise 

 meaning is hopeless. The way to 

 remedy such defect of thought is 

 thi'ough careful and strenuous drill 

 in the verbal expression of thought 

 such drill as language studies prop- 

 erly conducted will bestow aided by 

 scientific drill in the observation of 

 facts. To what extent mental dis- 

 honesty is favored by vagueness and 

 indefiniteness of speech it is almost 

 needless to observe. Taking finally 

 the aesthetic view, if any value is set 

 upon distinction of mind, upon purity 

 of taste, upon sensibility to the har- 

 monies of which language is capable, 

 and sympathy with all the nobler 



