3G2 A rieio Method of' leaching Latin to Youth. 



be displaced for anotlier. Each has its precise meaning, as well 

 as place : what shall we say, then, to not only a disarrange- 

 ment of position, but also a substitution of one word for another ? 

 proving either that Virgil did not know his own language, or, 

 rather, attempting to adopt other expressions more easily conver- 

 tible into our modern languages. This is like dressing a Roman 

 in a bag- wig and sword, and putting over him a modern costume. 



I e3rly made mv son feel, that the great perfection of Virgil 

 was, that he liad the art of saying tlie best things in the best 

 manner, and that all alteration was disfigurement. 



Tiiis distortion then, to make boys understand Virgil, is there- 

 fore the sure method of making tliem insensible to his beauties, 

 to the proprietv of his diction, and the harmony of his periods. 

 The mock imitation of him occasions his real person to vanish, 

 and we become contented with a shadow. Those words which 

 burn in verse, sink into lifeless prose; and what is worse, when 

 the taste once becomes corrupted, it cannot easily be relighted j 

 and the boy accustomed to such a bad facility, does not after- 

 wards readily ap])ly himself to catch the true meaning from the 

 author himself. Having discarded, therefore, this facility, a ques- 

 tion now arises, What other facility, or facilities, shall be substi- 

 tuted ? 



If we open any book even in English, not knowing what has 

 preceded, nor able to guess at what is to follow, the meaning of 

 any sentence so taken up, is difficult at once correctly to make 

 out. This is more particularly the case in Latin. A clue there- 

 fore should be given, to enable the reader to know what he is to 

 expect. If this be a literal translation (used in some schools), 

 the boy so instructed anglicises his Latin, if I may so express 

 myself. He gets not the Roman conception of Latin ; he feels 

 not the energy of that fine language, so superior to modem 

 tongues; nor is be alive to that power of position arising from 

 the repeated changes in termination, governed by certain philo- 

 sophical rules denominated grammar. If the translation be 

 loose (adopted in some schools), the boy, being blind himself, has 

 " a blind guide, and both fall into the ditch." He is always at 

 sea, and catching at aids which, like the will of the wisp, are 

 sure to lead bin into a wrong path. We have, therefore, also 

 abandoned these two bad facilities, and supplied in their place, 

 only an introduction or previous comment, to make the discovery 

 of the true meaning of the author more easily intelligible in his 

 own language. 



Notes form the next point to be considered. These are wanted 

 in all languages, and more particularly in the dead, where allu- 

 sions to foreign customs are constantly made. The Deiphin 

 notes are many of them extremely good; but as the Latinity we 



should 



