440 Mr. Pickering on the present state of the English language 
have the least tincture of learning, will continue to feel an ardent de- 
sire to acquaint themselves with the works of English authors... Let 
us then for a moment imagine the time to have arrived, when Ameri- 
cans shall be no longer able to understand the works of Milton, Pope, 
Swift, Addison, and the other English authors, justly. styled classic, 
without the aid of a trans/ation into a language that is to be called at 
some future day the American tongue! By such a change, it is true, 
our loss would not be so great in works purely scientific, as in those 
which are usually termed works of taste ; for the obvious reason, that 
the design of the former is merely to communicate information, with- 
out regard to elegance of language or the force and beauty of the sen- 
timents. But the excellencies of works of taste cannot be felt even 
in the best translations ; a truth, which, without resorting to the ex- 
ample of the matchless ancients, will be acknowledged by every man, 
who is a with the admirable works in the various ks lane 
Nab is: this the: lait view in. which a radical cag anguage 
would be a loss tous. To say nothing of the facilities afforded by 4 
common language in the ordinary intercourse of business between the” 
people of the two countries, it should not be forgotten that our reli- 
gion and our laws are studied in the language of the nation, from 
which we are descended ; and with the loss of the language we should 
finally suffer the loss of those peculiar advantages, which we now dee 
rive from the investigations of the jurists and divines of that country: 
‘But, itis often asked among us, do riot the people of America now: 
speak and write the English language with purity? A brief consid- 
eration of the. ‘subject will furnish a satisfactory answer to this ques é 
tion ; it will also — us to correct the erroneous opinions enter 
tained by some Ame on Bent ing and at the same time (0 
