Preserving the Languages spoken by Uncivilized Nations. 105 



would serve the cause of Philology. In the execution of this 

 plan, it is very probable that the liberality of the Admiralty 

 and of merchants owning vessels might most materially assist. 

 A combination of efforts for this purpose might form the basis 

 of an institution something like the Propaganda at Rome, 

 where young men from various countries are educated and 

 trained to become influential missionaries amongst their coun- 

 trymen. The great importance which the most politic leaders 

 in the See of Rome attach to this institution is a strong proof 

 of the influence which it is capable of exerting, and it is some- 

 what surprising that this example has remained so long with- 

 out imitation amongst Protestant nations. It would not, how- 

 ever, be necessary to wait for the formation of a magnificent 

 establishment like the Propaganda in order to act on the sug- 

 gestions which I have offered. The Managers of the London 

 University, whose liberality supplies us with the means of 

 meeting as we do this evening, might possibly be induced to 

 give to foreign youths, properly selected, free admission to the 

 classes; and the missionary societies and other associations un- 

 der whose auspices such youths were brought to this country, 

 might easily provide for their suitable accommodaticn in the 

 vicinity of the University. 



If I am not greatly mistaken, the united operation of the 

 different plans which I have proposed would speedily rescue 

 much valuable matter from the irretrievable destruction to 

 which it is now hastening ; a stimulus would be given to a 

 most important branch of Philology, which would give it a 

 new position amongst the sciences, and it would acquire a popu- 

 pularity which it had never before possessed. It is not every one 

 who is formed by nature to become a great Philologist : for the 

 formation of such a character, it is essential that the indivi- 

 dual should possess an incommunicable talent for the acquisition 

 of languages, which seems analogous to that possessed by other 

 individuals who almost intuitively perform the most abstruse 

 and laborious arithmetical calculations. Examples of such 

 linguists have been seen in Sir William Jones, the celebrated 

 Messofanti of Bologna, William and Alexander Humboldt, 

 Dr. Morrison, whose recent death has cast a gloom over the 

 friends to the religious improvement of Asia, and many others; 

 but, I cannot close the list without mentioning the name of my 

 late friend John Fowler Hull, who when he was scarcely 

 twenty-five years of age had made himself familiarly acquainted 

 with nearly thirty languages, when he fell a victim to the zeal 

 with which he pursued in India his philological researches 

 into the ancient and modern languages of that country. The 

 talent for the acquisition and investigation of languages differs 



Third Scries. Vol. 7. No. 38. Aug. 1835. P 



