EDITOR'S TABLE. 



705 



much to sav on this subject, which has been 

 more clearly said elsewhere; but he says plain- 

 ly this one thing, which is often only hinted 

 at or taken for granted : " The modern lan- 

 gu^es do not contain material out of which 

 to construct a logical grammar like theirs " 

 (the ancient languages). " What does Eng- 

 lish, French, or German grammar amount 

 t ) ? Simply debris of the classical languages, 

 mixed with barbaric elements." 



If this be true, we had better give up the 

 study of Greek, and emulate the method of 

 the Greeks, who made their language what 

 it is by studying the Greek alone. They 

 wrought upon it till it served their nicest 

 uses. If our English be but a mixture of 

 " debris'''' and " barbaric elements," it is high 

 time for us to leave off studying other lan- 

 guages, both dead and living, and work upon 

 our own until we make it somewhere nearly 

 equal, as a thought-conveying medium, to the 

 languages from which we are compelled to 

 translate ; for it is intellectual suicide to trans- 

 late from a fine language into an incompetent 

 one. 



But this statement in regard to the Eng- 

 lish is not only not just, it is utterly false and 

 misleading. We do, indeed, need to go to 

 work upon it to realize what an incomparable 

 language we have. Hear Jacob Grimm, 

 prince among philologists : 



No one of all the modem languages has 

 acquired a greater force and strength than the 

 English, through the derangement and relin- 

 quishment of its ancient laws of sound. The 

 unteachable (nevertheless leamable) profu- 

 sion of its middle-tones has conferred upon 

 it an intrinsic power of expression, such as no 

 other human tongue ever possessed. Its en- 

 tire, thoroughly intellectual, and wonderfully 

 successful foundation and perfected develop- 

 ment issued from a marvelous union of the 

 two noblest tongues of Europe, the Germanic 

 and the Romanic. Their mutual relation in 

 the English language is well known, since 

 the former furnished chiefly the material ba- 

 sis, while the latter added the intellectual 

 conceptions. The English language, by and 

 through which the greatest and most eminent 

 poet of modem times— as contrasted with an- 

 cient classical poetry— (of course I can refer 

 only to Shakespeare) was begotten and nour- 

 ished, has a just claim to be called a language 

 of the world ; and it appears to be destined, 

 like the English race, to a higher and broader 

 sway in all quarters of the earth. For in 

 richness, in compact adjustment of parts, and 

 in pure intelligence, none of the living lan- 

 guages can be compared with it — not even 

 our German, which is divided even as we are 



FOL. XXTI. — 45 



divided, and which must cast off many imper- 

 fections before it can boldly enter on its ca- 

 reer. 



Yet, while foreigners are writing thus of our 

 language, we are telling each other and our 

 students — who happily do not always believe 

 us — "that the Greek is more perfect; that 

 the Latin is more polished ; that the German 

 is stronger ; that the French and Italian are 

 more musical ; and we seem to be studying 

 other languages, not to train ourselves to see 

 and use the beauty and strength of our own, 

 but only to cultivate a contempt for it. 



Pursuing this idea of the claims of 

 modern languages, Professor Newton 

 quotes various authorities as to the great 

 philological importance of their more 

 systematic study, and he gives a strong 

 passage from Max Miiller in which it is 

 declared that " before the tribunal of 

 the science of language the difference 

 between ancient and modern languages 

 vanishes. . . . Where, except in these 

 modern dialects, can we expect to find 

 a perfectly certain standard by which 

 to measure the possible changes whicli 

 words may undergo, both in form and 

 meaning, without losing their identity ? 

 . . . where, again, except in the mod- 

 ern languages, can we watch the secret 

 growth of new forms, and so understand 

 the resources which are given for tlie 

 formation of the grammatical articula- 

 tion of language ? " Professor Newton 

 says : " I have brought forward these 

 arguments to show that there are rea- 

 sons to be adduced for studying the 

 modern languages, other than that they 

 are so ' easy ' ; that there are reasons 

 per se ; and that in every college for 

 either drill or culture the modern lan- 

 guages should have a respectable space 

 and a respectful recognition. As it is 

 now, every young man who elects the 

 one term of French, or even the three 

 terms of German, must count over 

 against their being ' easy ' the popular 

 estimation that they are ' boarding- 

 school ' studies." 



Professor Newton is of opinion that 

 the tenacious adherence to classical tra- 

 ditions in regard to the study of Ian- 



