STUDY OF LANGUAGES. 845 



method has ah'eady been tested by experience, and proved 

 fully successful. It is being, I believe, increasingly used in 

 America with great success. One of the most successful 

 teachers of modern time, Roger Ascham, advocates it as the 

 result of his own experience, and it was on this system that 

 he brought to such a high level of scholarship at an early 

 age Lady Jane Grey and Queen Elizabeth. (3) It may be 

 objected that independent composition is deferred. No one 

 believes more firmly than myself in the mental value of 

 Latin prose composition, but I do not believe in attempting to 

 make bricks without clay. It is surely better for the student 

 to read and learn l^y heart a fair amount of real Latin first, 

 instead of manufacturing bad Latin from the outset. For 

 instances of the bad effects of ])reniature composition we 

 have only to look at the fearful and wonderful results of so- 

 called conversational French in girls' schools, or to think of 

 the under-graduate who, after several years devoted to Latin 

 under present methods, translated " I am given to under- 

 stand " by " Iiitelligere dur!'' 



In the more advanced stages of learning, the scientific 

 grammatical and historical analysis of language will assume 

 increasing importance. (1) The first reform needed is a 

 homogeneous nomenclatui'e. The multiplicity of different 

 names for the same thing causes endless confusion and waste 

 of time to the learner — e.g., the tense implied in " I went " 

 is called in Greek the aorist, in Latin the perfect, in French 

 the ]3reterite definite, in German the imperfect, in English 

 the past, in Sanskrit the second preterite, and in Hebrew in 

 certain cases the future ! Can we wonder if the unfortunate 

 student is bewildered .'' (2) Where several languages are 

 being learned simultaneously they should be taught as a 

 whole, with due regard to tlieir mutual relations. The 

 essence of science is comparison, and therefore the essential 

 of a scientific method of learning languages is that it should 

 be comparative. In other words, though results of high 

 educational and practical value may be otherwise obtained, it 

 is an absolute impossibility for any language to be learned 

 scientifically, in the truest sense of the word, apart fi-om 

 comparative philology. Nothing can be understood when 

 viewed by itself, but only when viewed in its relation to other 

 things. I am aware that many teachers allege that com- 

 parative philology cannot be used in practical teaching in 

 schools ; but it will, I think, generally be found that such 

 objectors know nothing whatever about comjmrative i^hilology. 



