The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1877-12-06

lament to the English almost bodily and
Without the loss of their directness OF
force. It is, then, a fact that i'm read
ling our Bible, we receive many3Of~ the
thoughts as though they came. warm
and Unchanged from tile lips of the
prophets. A. I.
ELEMENTS OF OUR LANGUAGE.
The English language is a compound
of several languages, the proportions
being about as follows: Anglo-Saxon,
81 per cent. Latin, 80 per cent. Greek,
5 per cent. and other languages 5 per
cent. I'VE are to be congratulated upon
the fact that so large a proportion of
the vigorous and beautiful,sAnglo-Sax-
on has been retained. And I wish to
say here to those who speak and write
the language, that the more Anglo-Sax-
on words they use and the more Latin
words they reject, the more forcible
and effective will be their style.
We need not 90 back to the earliest
times of England to begin the study of
our language and literature, for there
are very few words in the language de-
rived from the Celtic, or the early lam
guage of Britain. The Anglo-Saxon is
a branch of the great Teutonic trunk,
a tree which seems destined to over
shadow the earth. The English and
the German races are brothers. They
are scions of the same mighty Teutonic
root, which in language, politics and
religion is usurping the globe.
BEGINNING OF ENGLISH.
The period at which the English Ian
guage began is fixed at about the year
l150. The Saxon possessors of the land
successfully suppressed the Celtic and
afterwards successfully resisted the
Norman French, which William the
COnquerOr endeavOred so StrenuOusly
to introduce. From 1150 to the time
of Chaucer, nearly two hundred years,
the struggle went on, and when Chau-
Ger came, he found vigorous native
language in use, upon which he seized
by means of that wonderful pow
er called Genius and laid the foundation
of English Literature. And here let
us notice again the influence of the BIZ
BILE. Wickliffe, tile early translator of
the Bible, was the friend and cotempo-
rary of Chaucer, and his translation lad
a mighty influence in crYstalliZing and
fixing the language.
Let us now fix in our minds the dates.
The English language began to take
form about the year 1850. English Lit
erature began to take form about the
year 1850, or nearly 200 years after. in
the reign of Edward the III.
Between these periods, there were
many poems and prose works written,
some of which have come down to us us
exceedingly Interesting relics, showing
the crudeness of the language and the
awkward efforts at expression.
CHAUCER.
In 1928 was born Godfrey Chaucer,
commonly called the Father of English
Literature. He was a soldier and a
courtier, as we'll as poet, and was, like
Shakespeare and other great poets, not
altogether divine. but having Il large
basalar element of the human in lis
makeup. It is recorded that he was
fined for beating Friar in Fleet Street
| Chaucer wrote Il number of poems
the chief ones being, The Canterbury
Tales, The House Of Fame, The Court
of Love and The Flower and tile Leaf.
HIS fame rests upon the Canterbury
Tales, Il brief account of which is az
follows: A number of pilgrims meet al
Il tavern in London and set out for j.:
pilgrimage to the tomb of Thomas &
Beckett. Each of these pilgrims is de-
scribed with wonderful distinctness
and vividness. Each is to tell story
and when they return, the one who is
adjudged to have told the best story il
to he entertained at the expense of the
others. Chaucer did not live to com
plete the work, but the tales he left hav'
come down to US across FIVE centurie!
with all the freshness and beauty of til,
early world. They are redolent will
morning air and rosy with the health
and charm of youth. Mrs. BroWnin,
speaks of Cllaucer'S
'infantine,
Familiar clasp of things dvine.''
He writes with the freshness and tn,
naturalness of 4 child's prattle and We
with the culture, taste, vigor and gent
lis of man. III reading these poems
one must pause upon every page and in
wardly smile or weep with delight.
1.-THE lecture closed with reading
from Chaucer.]
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