New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1858-12-11
phe Lecture or DR.. Palmer.

the Public Library of the First District delivered
by pr. Palmer last evening to large auditory. The
subject was, -" The Claims Of the English Language
and certainly, more polished and fOrcble, more
convincing and interesting eucidatou, could not have
been condensed into the various limits Of single
lecture. From first last the auditory were enehaned
and hung upon the every word Of the reverend lee
turer, but a brief reference to the most marked
points is all that our space allows.
He considered that the first argument ia favor of
the critical study Of the English language was found
in its claims upon our affections the voice Of the
mother first spoke in its accents to the child and the
earliest thoughts found uttennce in it; like our
country and our kindred it was identified with all we
ever felt loved its sounds were music to the ear
long accustomed to the unCouth accents of foreign
tongues, and coniured to the heart Of the exile in
strange lands the tenderest "reminiscences Of home,
and fired anew the warmth Of patriotism. The
language had been neglected. and the attention given
to the critical study of the ancient classic, rather
than to searching out the rich stores Of wealth which
exist in the ADgloSaxon. The ancient prejudice in
its favor yet fingered, which long made the Latin
the only language in which poet or philosopher would
dare to embody his genius. Even the profound Lord
Bacon expressed the wish that the works he had
written in English might be translated into Latin.
| AS with the works Of Dante, Petrarch and Bocca-
cio the pure Italian was created and rose from the
m9ngrel language of the country, so Luthers yer.
sion of the Bible gave stability to the German, and
King James translation gave consistency to the Eng
lish Dean Swift said that were it not for the Bible
and prayer We should not be able to read what was
written two hundred years ago. The language has
now been polished to fitness for thenobest literature,
and its claims entitle it to the proudes place among
the classics. The boy was put to the study of Latin
as if from it the English language was derived as if
its construction was borrowed from that narrow
tongue In our colleges English classics should take
precedence Of ancient and is time that the proes.
sors of Bellies Lettes 60 beyond nculcating the mere
graces ofrheorc and introduce critical study of the
language and close research into the history of its
words
The language is OF Saxon origin; its substratum is
Saxon, and the proportion of words otherwise derived
is far less than is generally understood, Fveeighths
of the words in the English language were of Saxon
origin, and but threeeghths from all other sources
principally from the Latin which were infused with
the Norman conquest for the occupation of the island
by the Romans left very few as theirs was military
possession and they did not minge with the natives
After the Romans had abandoned the island, came
Wales and Ireland where the traces of their language
are still principally to be found in the Gaelic and
Welsh dialects Then came the Nornans, who
brought the Latin words and those applied to articles
ofluxury and significant of the habits the ideas and
the customs of that parician element of the popula
tion, but the Saxon still remained as the language o
the people and the two became incorporated and
they have gradually been purified into the present
magnificent Anglo.Saxon language.
The most striking portion Of the lecture was per
haps, that which proved the English language to be
the natural expression of thought consequent upor
that absence Of transposions diversions and infec
tions which insures its direct constructions Unlike
the Latin, in which cumbrous system of infection
was necessary to mark the connection between widel,
separated verbs, nouns and adectives the construc
ton was that suggested by the order of thought ant
for the infections were substituted the simplicity o
coniOinng certain particle words and auxiliary verbs
The elaborate infections of cases and genders in tht
declenson Of nouns and adjectives which belong tt
the ancient classic languages and have not entirely
disappeared in a number Of the modern polite Ian
gnages are entirely done away with by this simple
plan of the English The inversion and transpositioG
of words was defect which was remedied when the
Norman became engrafted upon the Saxon.
But we cannot pursue the subject, for our brief an(
crude remarks do but wrong the lecturer, who con
clnded in peroration Of brilliant eloquence and ex
Quise rhetorical beauty in which he proclaimed thu
English as the language of civil liberty and religion
to it belonged the sacred preemnence conferred BY
its mission to reveal Christianity to the world, anc
the language of the imperial Anglosaxon race
which is spreading its influences of civilization aut
enlightenment to remotest corners of the globe i
that which shall record the history of civil liberty.
In concluding, we may suggest that the publication
of this lecture in pamphlet form for the benefit of th
object in behalf of which it was delivered would re
suit in material aid to the cause.