Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-10-20
J annrllonment nr ihn EnnIl.I- rnnrne.

rJaDeveIopment Of the EnsIlsl Tongue.
u1 Edward III was the FIRST 20 encourage
English composition. During his splendid
reign there was revival Of the Anel Saxon
genius, and the Language began a vigorous
growth. After bay ing passed through these
successive periods Of afnalgamation, itneeded
constructing anew. Let1s 60 on from wars
to authors The English language has been
highly favored with minds ofrare enninence,
who have brought the inherent power and
vitality of their native tongue. In every
period of its growth, authors of grand and
varied STYLES have given IL transparency and
copiousness. They arrayed il in garments it
had never worn, as In their fertile brains
ideas terminated which were not stirring
the minds of the mass-as in their souls
spiritual cravings started up unfelt by others.
Chaucer the father Of English poetry and a
living worshiper Of nature, left it weather.
in descriptions Of natural objects. he was
followed by vast assembly Of poets who
have consecrated it as temple in which to
pour forth great jubilees of song. o.. r..
In the Elizabethan era of the sixteenth
century, words by thousands were natural
lied, and the language was endowed with
powers ofintellectual and spiritual express
sion; Spenser, with his exquisite fancy and
creative genius, drew out its fine musical
harmony and the unsuspected richness of its
diction. By the minds of poets, this rude,
imperfect and rough implement is polished
and refined, till it mirrors in all theirdelicacy
the emotions that fill and agitate the human
heart. Shakespeare developed and improved
the art Of bodying forth visions of the 'imagi
nation, and of revealing internal and i'm
mortal conceptions to a perfection before
unknown. Milton gave an example of the
glorious vigor with which it could be en-
ployed to vindicate the rights of freedom
and with what solemn awe it could be mar
shalled into verse, to unfold drama which
has human life for its first scene, immensity for
its theater, and eternity for its completion.
Bacon and Locke, earnest seekers after
truth, in natural and mental science, enlarged
the phraseology Of our language to explain
abstract reasonings, and the gathered facts
of observing inquiring minds. Edwards
with an intellect Of unbending purpose and
of rigid logic, carved out its stern and mas
sive features, and gave us new model OF
the compact consistency of its logical stynax
Addison, johnson, Goldsmith, and all the
brilliant satirists and essayists, wits, his.
torians and reformers of that age, contributed
largely TO exhibit its keen pointedness, il:
| sharp antithesis, its fertile versatility, its
| plant adoptedness, bold simplicity and
strong dignity. Wordsworth showed how
| it could be used to hymn the diyinest mean
| ings, and transport us on its wings to realms
of grandeur and leveliAess, where thoughts
grow flowers and life makes music. Cole
ridge taught how it could be made to weave
the robes of dreamy mysteries, and to lay
open the steps of profound investigations
into the labyrinths of recondite problems; he
populariZed the language of metaplysics