414 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



as was the fact with the gymnasiums, 

 counted for naught. It was only said 

 that the graduates of the gymnasiums 

 beat the graduates of the real schools, 

 when tested side bysideinthe university. 

 We venture to think that " the most 

 powerful plea ever made in behalf of 

 classical studies," when viewed in the 

 light of Professor James's exposition, 

 will be seen to disclose the customary 

 weakness of all the defenses of the 

 classical superstition, besides being for 

 imperative considerations wholly inap- 

 plicable in this country. 



LEARNING ONE LAN OV AGE BY STUDY- 

 ING OTHERS, 



That fine classical scholar, and ac- 

 complished master of both prose and 

 poetic English, Walter Savage Landor, 

 in his " Letters to an Author," observed, 

 " If we wish to write well, we must keep 

 our Greek and Latin out of sight." We 

 shall not undertake to say what or how 

 much Landor meant by this remark, 

 but he could not have signified less than 

 that the infiuence of those dead lan- 

 guages may be bad upon an author who 

 strives to attain a high standard in his 

 native tongue. The implication is that 

 the vernacular must be itself and inde- 

 pendently cultivated without interfer- 

 ence from foreign infiuences. Obvious- 

 ly skill and perfection in any art can 

 only come from careful study and pa- 

 tient practice of that art, and not by 

 studying any other art. The acquire- 

 ment of a language for its highest pur- 

 poses, to become a powerful and perfect 

 instrument for the expression of thought 

 in any of the nobler forms of literature, 

 is the most transcendent of the arts, and 

 the utmost excellence in it is not to be 

 achieved through the study of anoth- 

 er language. Genius, perseverance, and 

 an everlasting apprenticeship are re- 

 quired to develop even partially the re- 

 sources of any vernacular tongue, and, 

 by the laws of all human eflFort and hu- 

 man success, there must be undivided 

 concentration upon the instrument to 

 be mastered. The Greeks, as we have 



before had occasion to state, were shut 

 up to this condition, and, by not scatter- 

 ing their eflPorts upon other languages, 

 carried their own to a high degree of 

 perfection. But in these times, when 

 there is such a passion to become fa- 

 miliar with many languages, there is a 

 corresponding neglect of the vernacular, 

 and no end of crude, incompetent writ- 

 ing is the result. We are told perpet- 

 ually that perfection in English is to be 

 achieved through familiarity with the 

 ancient classical models ; or, in other 

 words, to get the completest command 

 of our own speech, it is necessary first 

 to know the Greek and Latin languages. 

 This stereotyped dictum is equally a 

 violation of common sense, out of har- 

 mony with the open facts, and in the 

 teeth of weighty authority. It is sim- 

 ply notorious that a great number of 

 the finest masters of English in differ- 

 ent departments of literature knew little 

 or nothing of Greek and Latin, and ac- 

 quired their proficiency in English by 

 the direct cultivation of it. And that 

 competent classical scholars may be, 

 and often are, incompetent in English, 

 is strongly affirmed by many who have 

 the best opportunities of knowing. An 

 able English scholar, Mr. Dasent, who 

 had large experience as-an examiner of 

 classical students, says : " I have known 

 young men who write very good Latin 

 prose indeed, and very good Latin verse. 

 I know what good Latin prose and Lat- 

 in verse is, and I have known the same 

 young men utterly incapable of writing 

 a letter or a decent essay in their own 

 language." And, again : " I think I 

 know good writing when I see it, and 

 I must say that some who had great 

 classical reputation have been the worst 

 English writers I have known. I have 

 observed this over and over again. I 

 have known men recommended solely 

 in consequence of their university repu- 

 tation, and I have found that they have 

 been signal failures in English writing — 

 splendid scholars, but utterly incapable 

 of expressing themselves in their own 

 tongue. They have no choice of words, 



