^U Classic Literature. [Chap. XIIL 



habitually referring to them as standard, the lite- 

 rati of those days were enabled to transfuse their 

 beauties into the living languages ; to give the lat- 

 ter a large portion of the copiousness, regularity, 

 and numerous excellences, of the former ; and to 

 convert them from that miserably defective and 

 barbarous state in which they were found, to a de- 

 gree of richness and refinement bordering on rival- 

 ship with their admired patterns. 



If these facts and reasonings be admitted, it 

 would seem to follow that the same course of 

 studies which contributed so much to raise modern 

 languages to their present refined and improved 

 state, must also be considered as useful, if not in- 

 dispensably necessary to the preservation and sup- 

 port of those excellences which they have attained. 

 The tendency of living languages to fluctuate and 

 change is universally known. The intercourse of 

 different nations ; the ignorance, presumption, and 

 affectation, of authors; the gradual introduction of 

 provincial barbarisms, and many other causes, are 

 frequently found to debase the purity, and, in no 

 small degree, to affect the regularity of modern 

 tongues. Of the mischief which has been often 

 done in these respects, even by a single popular 

 writer, the annals of literature furnish numerous 

 instances. It is true, to possess a language abso- 

 lutely //.ret/ is neither possible nor desirable. New 

 discoveries in science, new refinements in art, and 

 the continual progress made in various depart- 

 ments of human knowledge, call for new words and 

 phrases, and necessarily give rise to many corre- 

 sponding changes, some of which are invaluable 

 improvements in speech. But if left unrestrained 



