200 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



it originally meant a sharing of joy, it has degenerated into a far 

 lighter sphere, and has become a mere word of polite language, so 

 that the illiterate will hardly recognize the original meaning from its 

 present use. To use that French word to convey a deep feeling would 

 be like using the word " plaisir " in German to express deep joy. The 

 effect is similar to what it is when Heine, after his protestation of deep 

 feeling, bursts forth with the French " Madeline^ ich liebe sie ! " 



Now, I am inclined to believe that where there is no expression for 

 such a feeling, and where we rarely find such feelings expressed in 

 other ways, such feelings are not so likely to exist, and, in truth, the 

 ideal of " good form," which cripples the nature of many young men at 

 a time when their emotions are still developing, goes to suppress the 

 expression of any such feelings. One may frequently hear young men 

 express their disapproval of others ; but I think that I am not making 

 a hasty statement when I maintain that one hears young men express- 

 ing their approval of others far less frequently in England than in Ger- 

 many, though it is not unmanly nor ungainly to express one's liking of 

 a third person, and one's joy with another, and this expression may have 

 good effects, as well upon the sociable character as upon the whole 

 emotional nature of men.' 



But " good form " and other causes are contributing to impoverish 

 the English language in expressions of original emotions. We notice 

 the avidity with which pe'ople grasp at slang, because it has such origi- 

 nal life. Were it not for the wide-spread knowledge of Shakespeare, I 

 verily believe that our emotional language would be sorely crippled. 

 There are desirable emotions, and they can be cultivated. Language 

 is a means of cultivating them. There is a great difference in the 

 mental cast of those who know but one language and those who know 

 several, even if they have never left their home. The latter are pos- 

 sessed of broader vision and feeling, they have learned new feelings. 

 When we have learned the true meanings of the French word " chic " 

 and the German word " Gemiithlichkeit," we may have learned some- 

 thinsT the existence of which was unknown to us before. If we can 

 force people to express "Mitfreude" we may perhaps teach some how 



"gonnen") "her the blessing. Had her child died, I should have had many expressions 

 at my service." 



' Niebuhr, the great admirer of Englishmen, has remarked : " It is quite a national 

 trait not to dwell upon what concerns us personally, upon what fills our heart; and it is 

 as unnatural to them to hear me speak of the topics upon which I feel strongly as it 

 would be to do the same themselves. How I shall bless the time when this constraint 

 will be over, when in my own land I shall listen to the joys and sorrows of others, not as 

 a mere piece of news, but as a communication to which I have a right, and be as sure of 

 a welcome when I lay open my own heart ! I am far from attributing it to coldness in 

 these good people. It is altogether national, and it is the same with every one I have 

 known here, whatever their rank or calling, learning or sex." — (From "The Life and 

 Letters of B. G. Niebuhr, with Essays, etc.," by the Chevalier Bunsen, Professors Brandis 

 and Loebell ; translated by M. Winkworth.) 



