New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-11-23
Mr.. MARSHS SEVENTH LECTURE.

Mr. MARSH commenced the seventh lecture OF his
series yesterday by pointing out the loss of poetic
possibilities which language had sustained since
the time of CHANGER the plentiful troc ices which
the verbal epdiDgs and toe pronunciation Of the hna
supplied in such profusiop in the language OF Chsncer
we we're now often compelled to use spondacs. Mach
Of thus might be recovered; especially might The Saxon
words which had grown obsolete be revived; our
Saxon senses would recognize them as old friends OF
the race and Like haorgotten friends returning after
absence so long that their features were scarcely re-
member ed, would we.come them with a double
warmth The study Of the classics seemed almost to
ipjure this instinct Of language be had known women
and selfeducaed men to read Chaucer with appre-
citation ind relish rare among those versed in classic
lore OF course the use Of old Saxon words in poetry
mutt depend upon the subject and manner Of trestng
H. il would be very much ont Of place "Noth,ugto
Wear" OF all English authors Spenser had most ST
fected archssms: but he coined many words, besides,
which were never adopted. Ben Jopson had ex-
pressed the true rule Of selection of words for poetry
when he wrote "The Oldest present and the newest
"past is the best" It was difficult to determine
the exact number of new words which come
into use within certain period. and as difficult to de-
termine how many old ones had become obsolete.
Word, sometimes had kind Of suspended animation,
Ike that of Rip Van Wrinkle, which was followed by
a resusctation For our own generation We could not
compute what words We had given up and what We
had gained Tie modern phrases lei drire and let FIJI
dire were often used by Spenser; and both be and
later writers spoke of ladies with their faces Hu6bred
Nth tears Hooker and Shakespeare used companion
as we do feilotc. When distinguished statesman in
certain contingency expressed his willingness t, let the
Union eide the English Of his phrase was criticised
almost as much its patriotism. Bot he had the
authority of Shakespeare. Many supposed American
isms were, after ALL Of good old British families. At
one time, We were informed, an abom,na6e sigM q
monks was elegant English for large assembage OF
friars The number of good English words found IN
use by good writers could hardly fall short of O0O
But we knew these mainly as we knew Greek as book
words and not the language OF speech. Even II a
man was able on extraordinary occasions to bring into
use in wordy battle half of that number, he generally
coptented himself with fsr fewer. Each individual
used in hi. daily life repertory of words to some ex-
tent peculiar to himsef-one which would furnish
a KEY to his private history. Few scholars used as
many a. 10, coo English words ordinary people not
more than 5000. Ia all Shakespeare there was not
more than Is, 200 words in all Milton 5000. OF the
Egyptian hieroglyphcs there were but 900, and it
was said that the vocabulary Of the Italian opera was
scarcely greater. We each found very Limited vo-
cabulsry CROUCH for our purposes. One man would
say a HoughJal heart another a grat.fm spr 1t !;
one fancy another Imagination; one described his
friend as Of sanguine temperament, another as Of
hopefm disposition one nan began to build, smother
commenced building; each had his own words aud
stuck to them. A man of controlled passi ons Used
plain words while passionate man used many nten-
siyes. Loose thinkers contented themselves with
general applications for large classes OF ideas, while
logical thinkers used more aud more specific words
The arts demanded new words than anything
else The terms Of tie mechanical arts were generally
Of native stock though often from obscure roots, and
many of the did not get into the dictionaries Penny
for instance as q denomination OF the size OF nails,
though employed by Fuller 300 years ago, aud IN
constant use ever sIce, could not be found in Web
ster's or any other dictionary he knew OF. A new
art must of course employ new terms. Some
ID departments, like Botany, used new words be-
cause they could be made to carry precise techn'
cal meaning more Enthusiastically than old words. For
this reason glabrous used instead OF smooth, and
kysute instead Of shaggy To show the queer extent
to which this was carried, Mr. Marsh read tremea-
dous b, tanical sentence, greatly to the amusement o
his audience. But the nomenclature OF sc!e &c, he SAID,
repugnant to the ear that words were sellolh
adopted from science into our common speech. SUI
We were getting prOJem c0rolary, phenom, noH guam
tatire quanftatrce demonstrattre posture, ngdtire
he mean htureen er,renes ant,pOdd!, senuh and IN
rerse ratio Authorities, civil sud religious, were al
most the exclusive subjects OF the grea, thinkers OF the
past in Europe. Their works. 50 far as England VAS
concerned, were mostly written in Latin, and when
done in English the Latin words, with their technical
meanings, were adopted resdy-rade. The old meta
physicians anticipated in Eoglish mot OF the words
supposed to be peculiar to &c man philosophy h'a-
son and undtrdnding in their tec,nics! sense, se"su
Gus and ranscendentG suteet're oteefare aud super
natural were all words revved-Dot invehted-by tue
school of Coeridge. 1t was only for century past
that the newspapers and the historical no'ei h1d IN
preserving for the speech Of the hour given Us 'ne
means Of reading in unconscious expression the mental
and moral tendence. o. the age.