1 10 Modern Languages. 



some late popular writers of that country than 

 formerly, it is believed no substantial improvements 

 have been made in the vigour, the polish, the pre- 

 cision, and the chaste ornaments of French style. 



At the commencement of the eighteenth cen-~ 

 tury, it is probable that there was no living lan- 

 guage so generally understood, and so correctly 

 spoken, among the learned of all civilized countries, 

 as the French. It was then spoken as the most 

 polite medium of intercourse at several of the 

 courts of Europe, and the acquisition of it consi- 

 dered as an important part of liberal education. 

 Since that time the knowledge and use of this lan- 

 guage have greatly extended. It has, in fact, al- 

 most become, what the Latin once was, an uni- 

 versal language. Perhaps it may be asserted that 

 a larger portion of mankind, at the present day, 

 understand and speak this language, than were 

 ever before known to be acquainted with a living 

 tongue. 



GERMAN LANGUAGE. 



The German Language, in the course of this 

 century, has been greatly enriched and refined. 

 Until the middle of the century it remained in a 

 rude and unpolished state. Such of the learned 



o Some remarks on modern improvements in the Spanish language, 

 would naturally follow this section, if the author were sufficiently acquainted 

 with the nature and amount of these improvements to make even general 

 remarks on them. It may not be improper, however, to mention, that 

 the Royal Spanish Academy of Madrid, founded in 1713, was instituted for 

 the express purpose of cultivating and improving the national language. 

 With this view, after spending many years in the requisite preliminary in- 

 vestigations; after devoting much attention to the selection of such words 

 and phrases as were used by the best writers, and noting those which 

 were either low, corrupt or obsolete, that learned Society published, in 

 I783, the Diccionario de la Lengua Castellana ; a work, which, though defec- 

 tive in etymological inquiries, and in several other respects, is yet by far the 

 best extant. 



