, 1872-11-24

forensic orator since Demosthenes? He learned
but the elements Of Latin,> and in Greek went
beyond the alphabet; but he devoted
himself in youth with intense ardor to the study
Of Milton and Shakespeare, committing who1e
pages Of the former to memory; and so 1afnn-
iarizing himself with the latter that he could al
most, like Person, have held Conversations On
all subjects for days together in the phrases OF
the great English dramatiat. 1t Was here that
he acquired that fine choice Of words, that rich
ness Of thought and"gorgaouaneaa OF exp1esslon,
that beautiful rhythmus OF his sentences, which
charmed al who heard him.
Il one must learn English through the Greek
end Latin, how shall We aceount for the adni-
rable-we had almost said, iniuitable--
style Of Franklin2 Before be know anything of
foreign languages be had formed bis style, and
gained wide command OF words by tbs study
OF the best English models. Is our ountryman,
Edwin r. Whipple, master Of the English
language? 1t would be hard to name an
American author who has greater command Of
all the resources Of expression. His style varies
in excellence,-is sometimes faulty; but, 81 q
rule, it is singu]arly nervous, brisk, and bril-
liant, and is clear IS pebbled rin- 10 al these
examples va may add one, it possible, still moro
convincing, that Of the late Hugh Miller, who,
as Professor Marsh justly remarks, had
few contemporaneous auperiora as
clear, forcible, accurate, and eloquent
writer, and who uses the most ctnebro.s Greek
compounds 81 freely as monosylla'@c English
particles. His style is literally ASs despair OF
all other English scientific wria&a} Jet it is
positively certain that he was wholly ignorant Of
ell languages but that in which he wrote, andita
Northern provincial dialects.
as to the oft-quoted saying OF Goethe, to
which the obiector is so fond Of referring, we
may say With Professor Harsh, that, "it by
knowledge Of a language is meant the power Of
expressing or conceiving the laws Of q language
in formal rules, the opinion may be Well-found-
ed but, If it refers to the capacity Of Under
standing, and skill in properly using our
own tongue, all observation shows 1t to
be ve-y wide Of the truth" Goethe
himself, the same authority declares, YVES an In
different Gnguist; he apparently knew little Of
the remoter chronological sources Of his own
tongue, or the special philo1ogies Of the cognato
languages; and I'll is difficult to trace any Of
the exceuencies Of his narvelloua1y feicitous
style to the direct imitation, or the uncon-
scious influence Of foreign models" But he
WAS profound student Of the great German
writer's Of the sixteenth century; and hence his
works are test example in refutstion Of the
! theory that ascribea 40 exaggerated value to
classical studies
l. It is & remarkable fact, which throws food
?.of light upon this subject that the greatest
masters Of style in all the ages we're the Greeks,
who yet knew no Word OF any language but their
OWL.
In the most fouriahing period Of their 1itera-
turs, they had no grammatical system, nor did
they ever make any bnt the most trivial re-
searches in etymology. Demosthenes, the great
est master OF the Greek language, and one Of
:: the mightiest masters Of expression the world
has seen, knew no other tongue than his OWL
He modelled bis style after that Of Thucydides;
whose wonderful compaetness, tezseness, and
strength Of diction Were derived from no study
j of old Pe1asgic, PhGuician, Peraian, or other
primitive etymologies OF the Attic speech,-of
: which he knew nothing,-but the product Of hist
i, o7n marvellous genius W7ec.dng itself upon az
; preston.
I It has been observed by an acute Oxford
professor, that the Romans, in exact propor-
ton to their study Of Greek, para1yzed some
! Of the finest powers OF their OWL lan-
t guage. Schiller tells us that be WAS in the
habit Of reading as Gtt1s Is possible in foreign
languages, because It was his business to Wits
! German, and he thought that, by reading other
languages, he ahou1d lose his nicer perceptions
! OF what belonged to his own. Thomas Moore,
| Who was fine classical scholar, tells us that
! the perfect purity With which the Greeks wrota
| their OWL language, was just1y attributed TO
| their entire abstinence from every other. It Ii
| q saying as old as Cicero, that women, being ac-
customed solely to their native tongue, usually
speak and write it with grace and purity Bur-
passing those Of men. "a man Who thinks tha
knowledge Of Latin essential to the purity OF
English diction," aays Macau1ay, " either has
never conversed with an accomplished
womant or does not deserve to hsve coz
yersed with her. We are sure that all persons
who are in the habit Of hearing public spesking
must have observed, that the orators who are
fondest Of quoting Latin are BY no means tho
most ecrupulous about u1arring their native
tongue. Wa could mention several members o.
Parliament, who never fail to usher In their
SCRAPS OF Horace and JuYenal with half dozen
false concords." To the same effect is the decla'
ration Of that most acute judge Of style, Thomas
| De Quincy, who says that, to find the pu1est,
most idiomatic English, You must break open
the mai1-bags, and read the women's letters.
I On the other hand, who has forgotten Whist
havoc Bentley made, when ho laid his classic
hand On Paradise Lost2 What prose style, al
ways excepting that Of the Areopagdica, is worse
for imitation than that Of Milton with its long,
involved, half-9hythmica1 periods, "dzasging, :"
like d wounded snake, their allow lsngth along'
Yet Bentley and Milton, whose minds we're m
bued, saturated With Greek literature through
and through, we're probably the profoundest
:. classical scholara that England can boast.
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