THE STLT-Y <)F FRENCH IN FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES. 363 



In France, Auguste Brachet* was the first to make the results 

 of Diez's investigations accessible to the general public, and to 

 introduce rudimentary groundings of philology into secondary 

 schools. Leon Gautier,f professor of paleography at the " Ecole 

 des Chartres," did the same thing for the Chanson de Roland. 

 Under the auspices of the indefatigable Mr. Godefroy the first 

 " Dictionnaire complet de l'ancien franqais " was set on foot and 

 is now practically completed. The great Littre composed his 

 world-famous dictionary, which, though only part of the huge 

 pile of valuable works sent into the world by this encyclopaedic 

 genius, is in itself sufficient to secure immortality to the author. 

 It is a work that daily renders the most signal services to the 

 most eminent philologist, as well as to the modest beginner, who 

 is called upon to consult it. And ever since Gillieron, in con- 

 junction with a staff of scholars, inaugurated the study of the 

 various dialects and patois, this interesting new departure, which 

 has now become an indispensable element of all serious scientific 

 philology, has been carried on with great industry and crowned 

 with brilliant successes. ; Among the modern philological appa- 

 ratus his " Atlas linguistique " has become an instrument second 

 only to the steadily growing collection of gramophone records, 

 on which the relics of almost extinct dialects and patois are pre- 

 served.. In short, Romance studies are flourishing and in full 

 swing everywhere. Each new copy of the overwhelming profu- 

 sion of linguistic periodicals brings a fresh problem or is the 

 harbinger of a discovery. The libraries, archives, and muniment 

 rooms have surely not yet given up all their treasures, and any 

 amount of texts lie waiting for capable editors. The method 

 has been definitely laid down and established ; as far as that is 

 concerned, nothing remains to be either discovered or improved 

 upon. Rut this method has as yet been applied to a fraction only 

 of the available stock, and after deduction of the achievements 

 of the great masters among the romancists, plenty remains to be 

 done. There are attractive jobs left, and workmen from all parts 

 of the globe will be welcome to them. Rut I must come to the 

 point now after this preliminary ramble. Taking it for granted 

 that the study and the teaching of French at a university is 

 essentially a branch of the study and the teaching of Romance 

 languages, I think it is but right, in teaching French, to follow 

 the method pointed out and prescribed by the great romancists 

 with regard to the neo-latin languages jointly. This method, the 

 only one compatible with scientific philological tuition, is the 

 historical method. To trace, for each of the sounds constituting 

 a syllable, for each of the separate forms assumed by a word, 

 for each of the acceptations that it derives from colloquial and 

 technical usage or from literary tradition, for every form of 

 speech, about the meaning of which modern usage leaves us in 



* A. Brachet: Grammaire historique de la languc franqaise; les 

 Doublets; Diction tuiircs etymologiaue de la langue franqaise. 



t Leon Gautier : La Chanson de Poland, texte critique, traduction, etc. 

 X Gillieron et Mongin : Etude de geographic linguistique. Paris, 1905. 



