of>0 EMERITUS PROFESSOR J. S. BLAOKIE ON 



polished feebleness in which that emasculated offspring of the Latin language 

 delights. 



XL The quality of the vowels, and the choice and combination of consonants 

 by which the music of language is specially affected, must depend partly on the 

 delicacy of the original senses and organic tissue ; and that this is influenced in 

 a considerable degree by the climate, that is, by the atmosphere which the 

 speaker breathes from his cradle, can scarcely be doubted. Hence the greater 

 fulness and sweetness of the English vocalisation compared with the Scotch ; 

 hence, perhaps, the less musical character of the Teutonic languages generally as 

 compared with the Greek and Latin. But, though climate no doubt asserts its 

 sway here, as in a matter as much physical as moral, national character, at the 

 same time, as the moral element which affects enunciation, cannot fail to make 

 itself felt; so the Germans and the Scotch, being a more emotional people than 

 the English, put more soul into their syllables, and draw out their words with a 

 more kindly moral emphasis ; and it seems impossible not to deduce the nos 

 tamen sumus fortiores of Quinctilian, spoken in contrasting Latin with Greek, 

 from the radically different character of the two peoples. But here we must 

 remark, that the ideal of harmony in a language consists not merely in rich- 

 ness and sweetness, but in that grand and curiously varied combination of 

 strength and sweetness by which the great compositions of a Beethoven or a 

 Handel distinguish themselves from a pleasant or a plaintive popular ditty. 

 Now the strength or the bones of a language are in the consonants ; and the 

 trunk, so to speak, of the word lies in the root ; so that the typical language is 

 that which has always at hand a strong combination of consonants to express 

 strong feelings, and a rich flow of vowels to express the more delicate emotions. 

 Now, as we have already said, it is extremely difficult for a language to possess 

 all excellences ; as the French avez for habetis, pere for the Italian padre, peat 

 for potest, not to mention the systematic deletion of the nt in the final syllable 

 of the present indicative of verbs, are a strong proof of how apt polish in this 

 region is to degenerate into feebleness. Nay, it seems absolutely impossible, 

 even in the best constituted languages, to combine sweetness with strength in 

 the degree which an ideal type would demand ; for, as the most significant and 

 dramatically most effective part of a word lies in the root, it follows that when- 

 ever a strong utterance is to be fairly given, then the root which dramatically 

 expresses the strong word ought to be made prominent. On the other hand, 

 as the music of a language depends very much upon the cadence of the termina- 

 tions, which in fact have only their vocalic element to recommend them, it 

 follows that, whenever sweetness is to be expressed, these terminations ought 

 not to be cheated of their natural emphasis. But, as a matter of fact, these 

 terminations being affixed without distinction to all kind of roots, either, 

 being accented, will swamp the root, or, being unaccented, will be apt to lose 



