92 Modern Languages. 



The portion of these improvements which be- 

 long to the eighteenth century may, in general, 

 be pronounced to be very great, and to demand 

 particular consideration in tracing the revolutions 

 and the progress of this period. They deserve the 

 more attention on account of their connection not 

 only with the literary and scientific, but also with 

 the social and political interests of the age. 



The increased intercourse of men, during the 

 last century, led to important revolutions and im- 

 provements in the living languages. By means of 

 this intercourse the learned or different nations have 

 become more acquainted with the idioms and beau- 

 ties of many other languages than their own; and 

 this acquaintance has caused the respective trea- 

 sures of each language to become, in a degree, the 

 common property of all. Hence the more culti- 

 vated tongues of Europe have been very perceptibly 

 enriched, within a few years, by the adoption of 

 many significant words and phrases from each 

 other, as well as from those which are, in general, 

 less worthy of imitation. 



The effects of this extended intercourse have 

 been aided by the great number of translations, by 

 which modern times are peculiarly distinguished. 

 There never was an age in which the most esteemed 

 literary productions of different nations were so. 

 extensively circulated, or exhibited to the world 

 in so many different languages. The unexampled 

 prevalence of this practice has rendered the cha- 

 racteristic peculiarities of various tongues better 

 known, and produced the insensible incorporation 

 of them with others. This is the great source of 

 those " imported" words and phrases which have 

 sometimes received the approbation of philologists, 

 but of which they have, perhaps, more frequently 

 and justly complained. 





