Vin PREFACE. 



learn English again, and to speak it for all 

 scholarly purposes ; and, if they use, instead, 

 Greek or Latin, to use them only that they 

 may be understood by Greeks or Latins ;* and 

 not that they may mystify the illiterate many 

 of their own land. Dead languages, so called, 

 may at least be left at rest, if not honoured ; 

 and must not be torn in mutilation out of their 

 tumuli, that the skins and bones of them may 

 help to hold our living nonsense together; 

 while languages called living, but which 

 live only to slack themselves into slang, or 

 bloat themselves into bombast, must one day 

 have new grammars written for their license, 

 and new laws for their insolence. 



Observe, however,, that the recast methods 

 of classification adopted in this book, and in 

 'Proserpina,' must be carefully distinguished 

 from their recastings of nomenclature. I am 

 perfectly sure that it is wiser to use plain 

 short words than obscure long ones ; but 

 not in the least sure that I am doing the best 

 that can be done for my pupils, in classing 



Greek is now a living nation's language, from Messina 

 to Delos— and Latin still lives for the well-trained churchmen 

 and gentlemen of Italy. 



