418 



Next to Bopp's* Comparative Grammar, and Grimm's German 

 Grammar, T know of no book from which I have learnt so mnch (I 

 mean htjltum, not multa) as from August Schleicher's " Languages of 

 Europe." 



As I said before, all that distinguishes Schleicher from other scho- 

 lars, and raises him above them, appears already in this book — accuracy 

 almost marvellous in the statement of facts — I never yet found a mis- 

 take of that kind in his books — width of view, clearness and elegance 

 of exposition, and withal, a genuine modesty, that shows he was not 

 seeking his own glory, but truth, and truth alone. 



Besides, these ''Languages of Europe" embody his youthful con- 

 ception of the ideal aim of his life, which he has never quite abandoned ; 

 for frequently he has announced to the world that his ultimate intention 

 was to write a history or encyclopedia of language at large, not confin- 

 ing himself to the Indo-European family. He has never given up 

 that idea. The paper inserted in the Memoirs of the St. Petersburg!! 

 Academy (1859) on the Morphology of Language, and various others, 

 to be mentioned soon, showed that he kept that end steadily in view. 

 It seems, however, that no part of that encyclopedia, which would have 

 been a reproduction of the "Languages of Europe" on a larger scale, 

 has been fully shaped for printing, and that the students of comparative 

 philology shall miss it for evermore. 



Next we come to the work called " Grammar of the Church Slavo- 

 nic," in which Schleicher has given, for the use of comparative philo- 

 logy, a masterly exposition of the forms of words of " Palaeoslavonic," 

 published at Bonn in 1852. 



Perhaps his chef-d'oeuvre is the "Manual of the Lithuanian Lan- 

 guage," (Prague and Sonneberg, 1855-56), the result of his scientific 

 journey to Lithuania, supplemented by the work "Lithuanian Tales, 

 Proverbs, Kiddles, and Songs" (Weimar, 1857). This latter is a trans- 

 lation, in part at least, of the Lithuanian, Anthology, which forms the 

 second part of the Lithuanian Manual. 



Schleicher's forte certainly lay in that direction : than his Lithuanian 

 grammar a better one of any language can scarcely be conceived, and 

 the anthology attached to it is full of delightful and instructive 

 matter, tales, and songs simple and impressive. 



It is no wonder that a language possessed of excellent, jsweet, 

 and simple poetry engrossed the attention of August Schleicher. He 

 never gave up its study entirely. One of his last publications was an 

 edition of the poems of the only great poet Lithuania has produced, 

 namely, Christian Donalaitis. It appeared at St. Petersburgh in 

 1865. Donalaitis' works I have never seen; but August Schleicher is 

 positive that his chief poem, called " The Seasons," bears comparison 

 with the English work of the same title, and with Calidasa's poem 

 of the Seasons ; and as Schleicher was a man of exquisite taste, we 

 are bound to believe him. 



