J 32 Progress and Civilisation. PT. in. 



The thought so beautifully expressed by the 

 greatest of elegiac poets, has acquired an expansion, 

 possibly far beyond his own conception. He most 

 likely limited his aspirations of future fame to the 

 Roman Empire, which he might have conceived 

 eternal, but the Eoman Empire has passed away ; 

 yet, through the medium of printing, the Odes of 

 Horace have obtained a wider celebrity than Rome 

 could ever have given them, and will probably be 

 the delight of the scholar, in all countries, for ages 

 to come. 



The invention of written language is in many 

 respects a far more accurate and comprehensive 

 medium of thought than speech itself. It is gene- 

 rally more the offspring of deliberation and reflec- 

 tion ; it is more completely an intellectual process. 

 Speech is often the almost unconscious utterance of 

 some passing impression, but it is the mind and the 

 will which dictate writing, and leave a permanent 

 record of thought. It has exercised a wonderful 

 influence in extending and perfecting the gift of 

 speech itself; it has gradually imparted to it re- 

 gularity, grammatical correctness, and copiousness. 

 The perpetual recurrence to a fixed standard must 

 have a constant influence in correcting errors, and 



