Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1829-05-01
COMMUNICATIONS.
Remarks on. the mode and advantages Of
study,ng The dead Languages.

studylng The dead Languages.
There is more downright quackery abroad
IN the country on the subject Of Education, Than
an apy other whatever. 1t is no uncommon
thing now-a-lays 10 meet with advertiseme MS
in the public papers b. men promising MAKE
bows in six weeks thoroughly acquainted Win
sciences which i, would require the iahour OF
maturer minds for years fully to eompfthrhu'
Now what are we TO think OF these men.-ths'
they are so eagle.eyed as to have disco'ereu
some new process, by which the tacui'les Oh inc
human mind can be made TO develope them
selves at once, and grow up, as It were, by ma
gic. into maturity and 'beauty? If we draw any
such conclusion, we shall find ourselves, am
an, 10 imagine, esregiously mistaken III our
reasoning II they know any thing about the
process Of acquiring knowledge, they know they
are holding cut promises which ihty VIII
M, he able 10 fulfill if thew believe their own
statements, they are unfit TO teach, and there
fore not worthy of the patronage 1.-THE frlends
of sound learning There is no royal hght0dy 10
k,,o,cLedge The reputation OF a scholar can ne
yer be attained without submitting toIhe drua-
rery of learning. He who would win the prize,
must run the race He who would pluck me
flower, must first climb the precipioe on which
il blooms. Aliment of repeated and long con-
t;nued, is as essential TO the grouih OF the ninc'
as il is 10 that of the body and one. might as
well undertake 10, ccar the infant, within the
SPACE OLA few months, 10 the commanding
stature ard ripe vigour OF the tuiEgrown m'h.
as by six, or even twelve months course oil
6iscipline, u convert the intellect from the
preenness and feebleness OF infancy, 10 the ma
turi,y and strength of manhood.
This ar,is ir',,re>Se'.e,yt y tsei< 50 t"J
the good old S, stem of teaching the dead lam
guages Hamilton led The way in this QuIxot'c
innovation, aud his views were eagerly caught
bv one Of the Edinburgh Reviewers, and r.
eshord in pedantic and numbering article OF
some fifteen or twenty pages. BY the way, who
ever may have been converted to II amiltonian-
ism by tina, article, would earnestly recon-
mend 10 procure that number OF the ADer-
can Journal Of Educ alton, in which il is answer
ed by one Of The finest scholars Of our country.
He will there find the ialiacy of the reasoning
adopted by the Reviewer, clearly and forcibly
exposed; and the old system ably and success
fully defended Hamll,on's system, however,
was new thing, and with the many, who, like
men suffering under gripping pains, consider ev>
cry change for the better, tina, was sufficient
guarantee for its being subs, antial>improve-
men, Accordingly, it spread with rap;dity at
its first propagation, and Champions of it are
still springing up on every hand, thick as he
heads of the tabled hydra. The advocates Of
this new tangled scheme of teaching the Ian.
guages, may well be denominateG literary fac
fion, composed Of men, who, under the guise Of
extraordinary zeal for the Improvement Of their
species, would wither the flowers Of genius, and
dry up those living springs from which The in
tellecI drinks in neal;h and beauty. These men
boldly assert tina, on their plan boy will De.
come master Of more Lain IN six months, and
that without The aid either Of grammar or
dictionary, 'han, by pursuing the old method,
be could learn in two or three years. And as
further recommends, ion Of their system, they
add rha, the study Of Latin is with them a We
~ diff rent thing from labor, b ing mere a
mGsement. This last decla, alton of theirs is
OF itself sufhcien, to render their whole system,
without any examination Of it, in MY view COM
plsnly hers,ical; for am persuaded that no
mans mind was ever Thoroughly disciplined,
that is, trained TO habits of profound and sys-
tematic thinking, by mere play. Amusement
cannot, in The nature things, clolhe the mind
with vieour and symmetry.
The old method Of teaching the languages,
as every one knows, is by first placing grams
mar in the hands Of the learner, and requiring
him 10 commit 10 memory the elementary prn
ciples Of the language he wishes TO acquire, so
that in the prosecution Of his studies he may he
able 10 apply them, as cases occur in which
they are applicable. This, it was thought,
would have The double advantage Of facilitate
ing his progress, by enabling him, after little
practice, to see at a glance the various conns1-
ions and dependencies of words in any common
sentence, and Of making him more thoroughly
acquainted with the genius of the language
All this, however, reasonable as i, is in itself,
and excellent as experience has proved it to be,
is pronounced by these literary NewLigh,s
mere childfshness and dwelling. 1t goes for
nothing with them that :his is the process BY
which such scholars as Milton, Johnson, Burke. |
Parr, & Sir WIN. Jones, became What they were. |
I, goes for nothing with them that this is the |
way in which all the great scholars Of this, anc
every preceding age, nave acquired those vast
stores ofprofound and elegan, knowledge from
which they have afterwards drawn SO largely
for the instruction and entertainment of man
kind. What Lalin and Greek it costs man
eight or ten of the best years Of his life TO ac>