ROMANCE PHILOLOGY' 



The student of Neo-Latin naturally directs his steps 

 to one of the Latin lands, and with double profit; for, 

 although the honor of first placing Romance linguistics 

 on a scientific basis was achieved by a German, F. C. 

 DIEZ (1794-1876), and although Germany is still an 

 abundant and able contributor, the countries that can 

 now boast of the greatest number of truly eminent 

 Romance scholars are Italy and France. Of these, 

 France, with her concentration of intellectual life, offers 

 the better facilities for study. From early times, Paris 

 has been the center where the leading men of other 

 Romance countries princes, statesmen, scholars, and 

 men of letters have sought their education and re- 

 ceived much of their best inspiration; and through 

 them, of course, Parisian influence has reached the 

 peoples from which they came. At the present day, 

 Paris offers the student an unequalled opportunity to 

 come into contact with cultivated and prominent rep- 

 resentatives of the various Romance nations, and to 

 learn to understand the spirit that animates them 

 that Latin genius which has already given the world 

 three great civilizations, the Roman, the Neo-Latin 

 culture of Europe, and the Hispanic civilization in 

 America. 



The essential unity of the principal Romance tongues 

 was recognized by French scholarship as early as the 



1 [Drafting Committee: C. H. GRANDGENT, Harvard University; 

 H. R. LANG, Yale University; KENNETH MCKENZIE, University of 

 Illinois; RAYMOND WEEKS, Columbia University. ED.] 



221 



