St. Mary's beacon., 1858-07-22
The Han Of Many Tongues

WsttA. rf tl,e British Museum, and recent ar
,icle in the E.linburg Review. of Which Dr.
Russell. President Of MsynOoth College, was
the author, have been hitherto the eest extant
studies of the great hngu;st, Cardinal MeZzo-
Eanti. whose appetite for languages enaoieG nlsh
20 digest more or less perfectly, nifty, ana Do
Iosnsse. DIR. Russell has been perstiaded, uy
his own irlclinatiou and by the judscious urgency
of several correspondents, TO bring more conl-
pletely together all the facts relating 70 ms SUD
tcct i'm a book. The Cardinal WAS the most
wonderful example upon record OF man
power Of comprising for himself Inc sly oi
tongues. He wrote nothing; he was not q IA
NOUS thinker, The same unfaiiinz memory
that was nj the foundation Of his success n
Iosuist fixesl in his mind what he rcsad Of the
literature Of each tongue, and all that was IN
his u,esnory was instantly ut his command. 1t
is very cossible that this facility ct passage
from one train Of thought into another, which
is seldom found 10 be Compatible with hames
of profound reflection, is allied 20 that relish
E,r nuns which DIR. Russell also shows that he
had and yiel,ls like the achievements OF the
n,lnster matter for surprise In an outward sem
Llance Of great strength that really Is an evil
dence of weakness. Whatever may have been
the reason. certain is the fact that Cardinal
Mexzofanti, who not only possessed but bad at
command a range of actual knowledge almost
without equal for its width, and who, TO become
one of the most valuable scholars OF our time,
had only to bring powers of comparison and
seldom cune hsay nRoq n mn Ve same 6 BRAIN :, But
which did meet i'm his, wrote nothing. That
he was modest, amiable and good, we gladly
admi. but, except in his private sphere Of
labor as charitable man aud priest, he did
nothing Cor the world but eli his head and show
TO those with whom he personally was brought
into contact how much knowledge Of n certain
kind single head can hold. In this respect
he was n marvel, add 80 great marvel that
the truth will not hereafter be credited il tea.
timonies be not carefully collected in good
time.
MeZzIfanti has been ten years dead, many Of
those who could bear certain witness to para
ticular puints relating TO his curious attain-
ments are dead also but SD many still survive
that from them and from the published no.
ticcs Of literary aud scientific travellers who Wis
itr,l him at R,me or Bologna, a body Of i'm
portaint evidence can he collected It was time
ercfurc that some writer should trouble him.
self to define what the attainments Of this lin-
guist really were, and furnish then Of future
generations will, record that shall save Car
,iinal Near Gant's many parts of speech from
such historic doubts IS have bcset those who
are more vaguely tnld like things of Mithri-
dates. DIR. Russell has not grudged the neces-
sary trouble. The labors of the cardinal am. n:
the young men who studied languages in the
IrJpagandI made his attanments now in this
MT in that branch Of his especial study, pet
accurately known to many persons who are now
Living in al quarters of the glote. With any
OF these who were accessible DIR. Russell telS
us that he has communicated, he has collected
testimonies also from several living Eurclrnn
scholars who were qualified 10 n,ld important
testimony to the cum Of evidence from which
he finally dcductgl his astonishing concluio;..
The Language and dialects of which the Car
dinal acquired knowledge are thus classified
l.. Languages frequently tested and spoken
with rare excellence: Thirty in number.
IL. States to have been spoken auently, but
hardly sufficiently tested: Nine.
Ill. Spoken rarely and less perfectly Ele-
ven.
". Spoken impcrfectly few sentences
and conversational forms: Eight.
Y. Studied from books, but known to have
been spoken: Fourteen.
VI. Dialects spoken, or their peculiarities
understood The list contains the dIaIe. Is of
ten languages, seven of :he French, six of the
Italian, five Of German, four Of Arabic, &C..
amounting to a total of thirty-eight.
These acquisitions were made in obctlieucq
to an extreme hunger for such kaowledge-
When young Able at Bologna, Mczzofanti
was accustomed TO receive intelligence from the
innkeepers Of the town when any foreigner ar
rived. and hasten to him for the purpose of Sc
curing more of that which was 10 him the lux.
ury of life.
Work was ihcessant, the time for sleep was
reduced to sOrnG four hours day. and though
the worker lived his life through to the end Of
the allotted span, he lived with an ll.nouriah-
cd body, he was spare, round-shouldered aid
slckly. There Is great deal in MezzoGnti's
lie that has stronger resemblance to that Of an
Italian scholar in the beginning Of the sixteenth
than IN the middle of the nineteenth century.
There Is the SIMPLE appetite for work in the
poor student, who at q very early age becomes
professor IN an university, and lives on a sti-
pehd o a fe" crowns, which, with other and
lesser etnoluments make up an income of about
five and twenty pounds a year: there is ,h,.
confusion introduced into the land by French
arinies-it might be Of the armies Of Francis
the First--tlIr stopPage of university work. the
struggles for bread by exercise of skill as a
teacher under the patronage of noble houses
There Is the professorship recovered, and AGAR,
lost through loyalty TO Rome. The scholar has
become librarian In his town, and for his mar
veilous attalnmcnts as a Inquest, there is a re-
sort Of the learned to his lodgings, where ON
scanty income he maintains a Door marr;eI
sister, feeds, teaches aud plays with her crowd
Of children. Every stranger of note who tray-
els through Bologna goes as surely tn see Mo-.
zofanti 40 to see any other chief sight of the
place, and the linguist is happy, since from
every stranger he can pick up sUme addition
to his glossary. He is not vain in any mean
sense, he does not over-esiimate his powers NO
man declares more frankly than himself that
his learning is almost prOftIess, that he ha.
more power of language than of thought. But
he takes pleasure in being accosted aud tested
In all sorts Of tongues, partly through natural
and aniable vanity, partly because a variety
OF foreign talk gives him such pleasure as the
steam OF malay dishes may give to the gour-
mand. Therefore-and because also there in
an Unborn gentleness and courtesy determining
hss whole demeanor-he takes in good part the |
VISITS Ut sight seers- Three centuries ago men |
did so. and when they failed in so ds,i.lg. men
noted the dIscourtesy. It was another Italian |
professor who in old times roughly rebuk.d |
the Intrusion of An inuuixtivz ari s,.sss.@., -