New-York daily tribune., 1858-11-11
AR. asRssrS FOURTH Lee ruRE.


The Hoo. Mr.. MsEsb gave the fourth lecture sf ~
seri~s on t!e E'gs-h Language yesterday. IN tAs
l.c,ur--room Of the Hhtorcsi S-cie,y III. sabi~sS
the aid 10 be ccnyed from tb, s,aiy 4 lorsisa
lsrgusgrs in mastering the Rugi,h The ~,a~ly
quoted spothegm of Go<,he-tha, " he who 10 az
qusint,,i with for-ign tcngre kpows nsthins
" of his own-was sa6cs-niiy Sas~or~j by ts. ssyss
OF Goethe Liu self IL bis Wa ri,sn und D,chtasa.-
sherc his wonderful style reached it, culminsiisg
prt il had noti ,ng TO rrmind of cla~ics otcisl
~hilc the Eastern style ~ kis Oriental Mssims ~s
Acquired only through the mrdum cf usnsisticos.
kbo~leige If language wss rcthi'g more nss
hss than ability b. use u. The gr-at writers Il
Gfeese formed their style without the kno~is~ig"
of sny l'ngusgc other ,hsu their o~n. The
uightcst mee,cr of words the world eve kp-w
was nuos,bencs. who certainly knew her.
baran toDg'e. lie fern-d his style thM @
Tncydires, whose education VA pap-y Hek'nto. II
TIE tweth century. We frnd in l,>l.rd saga smod
NjAls, which 10 popt OF style. hs no SUPERIOR T,ers
10 proof that Shaksspesrr kasw any language
lut t. Rlsh. Ins,ed. Il Wa highly imprb.nl. thal
he, who married ano entered vpcn actv- l,6c .,
eight,on, should ever have ohtAin.i kuowtoixc
nough of auy foreign language Ia Influence bis ssy.
In own day., Hash Miller. ~hos- koa~'edrs cf
language wss ootsssd 20 English ard its northern
dialects had few sapecrs in felicity of expr-s.ioa.
lie rsei tire cumbrous Greek ,npons ssd ,xicrpsly
ar though they wers words Of sysb =. No srneuot
Of sssic al Knowledge would enable US e. "a nprchcsA
The ursn,rg of modem scientific technicshr.-r. He
could hot lrsyn all wsrd- through other words. masy
could only he iesrsed through the sc,cu,c etuty e
TIM ~ Sill. fo,tigu pathological knowledge was oot
only useful hut nee,ssary to all hut the exceptionally
R,itea And frst Of aD stood the Anglo Saxon asd
the Latin. Upon a cursory inspection, woulI
suppo-e that the Latin supplied sli tho worts
o, meaning ard the Anglo Saxon only toe ma
cLn.ry; bet urshsr study showed that The language
OF the purposes atd the affections, Of the will aud the
heart, va. geruiN EngIish.hcrn. Tnc dialect OF tho
ma,k.t and the 6r=side was emiry Angio-Ssxoa
Tie acvocate VITO would the tcchasaa
Judge snd dnzzlsthe nry spoke Latin hut tbs p"~scn
no appea.3 most seay to the h-sts Of the
teope, spoke Arglo-Saxon. The stady Of Anglo
SsS' e. s.ntai to a knowlenge OF E"ghsh sai
th,ie wsa reason hope that the Increased interest
which had been awakened in Vt might b" the n
restoring to u, many a rich weu OF Eogisb. rhe
Latin fun irhsd Ms with grosser structure Ut sn.
euaa-. in which relations we're expressed by woNis
and infections which in Arglo-Ssxop sod Eogl,sh wesV
sAp..ssed ty position in the rebieuc .ons Toe syn
tax of the e,pgirh demanded an exercise a higher
power than thss Of the Latin. We might aA ~ea
try to Learn TO walk or swim by = cosrss
Of lectures anatomy "a to attempt " use Esetsh
by its grammar. The only means oi attsiaas pr
lection in tbs language careful suiy Of il bsst
writer's Tie forms Of the English language wsros ~
few that O. ~ learned before III, aye of oti tyiax
,rnminsg, xhile its s,btaX subtle that Il be.
pg.d Ia rhetoric rshrr than ~ grammar. Tho Lstia
wa HI sscee, lngustic msan,kln wth al the pSrs
well etuoe.d aud such, excellent for the study II
laI gusss. The Nsso- Gothic, to Scaudiusy,aa iix-
ltcis, the Frisc, Dutch aud German, especially tue
PAsi- Drutsch we're uf considerable vx.se as ssis in
tia study oi Euglsh. Many Eugl,sh words waioh
wero uum'stakaby Ar glo-S saxon, could .bs found in
~ Aiglo-Sax,n writings, but wers detected ia
of languages should be further advanced.
the Ssnd,cridt might superseds the Latin ~
mears of Illustrating grammatical construc-
tiur. With respect 10 verbal f)rns ncs supplied
by tho Ans h-Saxon or Latin. aay one of the Gotho
tongues was =, ficen but MI. yrrh the ught care
fol study Of old T., gi-h slsll better. Ito could
net see that Greek wss worth srudying tor its phio
lgicaI Use sh regard to Eoglis., although familiar
ity with it ADD its literature was tho uost valuable
literary acquisition which one caali have. Ls in
made us grammariaDs; Greek thlaker,.
MIR. Mash's next lecture, which will be gvsn on
Mon, ay at 3P. ~, will be the 6fea OF series oa /
rcurcer and composition o. tho English tongue And
its vocabulary. Nearly ole bali hls auditors yester'
day were ladies'.