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CHAPTER XV, 



MODERN LANGUAGES. 



In tliis chapter nothingmore will be attempted than 

 to present some brief and general remarks on the 

 improvements which have been received during the 

 last age by the more cultivated living languages of 

 Europe. To propose a discussion of greater ex- 

 tent would be to engage in an inquiry altogether 

 incommensurate with the design and the limits of 

 the present sketch. 



There is no living language in Europe which 

 can boast of greater antiquity than five or six cen- 

 turies. Derived from various sources, and rising 

 from rude beginnings to a regular and consistent 

 character, they have been gradually becoming 

 more rich, copious, aiid polished during the greater 

 part of this time. To trace the causes and the 

 means of these improvements through their inter- 

 rupted and devious course, is here neither neces- 

 sary nor possible. It Mould be a task of great mag- 

 nitude and difficulty to the most accomplished phi^ 

 lologist. 



The portion of these improvements which be« 

 longs to the eighteenth century may, in general, 

 be pronounced to be veiy great, and to demand 

 particular consideration in tracing the revolutions 

 and the progress of this ])eriod. It deserves the 

 more attention on account of its connection not 

 only with the literary and scientific, but also with 

 the social and political interests of the age. 



