New-York tribune., 1894-06-13
ENGLISH.
PROFESSOR LOUNsBURY's HISTORY OS
THE LANGUAGE.
Of Maildun.

I.r,VcriIty' Revised and ENLARGED Edition. Up
xiv, 800. Henry Holt d CO
Professor Lounsburys new book-for II Is NV,
.ho,ch /, nretends 10 be only revision Of an carrier
orl % mis- bv the same title-illus;raies once mo'e
the fascination which the study OF the r"N.'a"
,,,c,,aea has for It's vo;aries. The most eh'""S''
,ic of these lovers of English are u2quesuohapF
Americans They love the language OF th"' AN,'
tors no. only because they themselves spe"N 49, w.
o,eo hecause Il comes TO them with an ar o'
s,rangeness out Of past which seems H''''
than i, really is Il has been said thA' d" '-.''
American cherishes the same fee.ng loi I-'b''''
tbt an enthusiastic classical scholar betTays some
times for Greek HIS affection may he JuS'"'' ~
valid reasons for no language. not even "'''h '''
vIhstood 50 mary strange v!cssltuAos. "'.'"' az
most Identical with that OF the Age o' / l'''C''' -
nov, he read in A;henlan newspapers or heard among
tho nsonla who love the ancient lore Of Attca. lhe
rsnascerce was comparatively easy to bring ap'u''
ence there has never been total oc4lISe OF cu''"'
in Greece. and the language mas sdHe'e4 "'"'
louslv little change in TWO thousand years w
never disappeared from the View OF the e'uoa.e' 90
Greece But English did much as this ana sur
,.,,.4 T. was lost 20 view 50 completely after the
Norman conquest that rs history cannot be uacel'
II emerged from otscuriiy so revou,onz'd lh Us
very groundwork that It could not have oeen uh'r'-
stood bv the men who had created rs earlier ~
erature Only in fugitive expressions 'i 'hoSe VIZ
were in Old times called "upland.sh' men. thai H.
and ignorant
tlquities OF the language. Professor Lounsoury
shows how "our'n" and 'iheir'n" and ''his'n'-more
likely perhaps TO be heard on this side OF the Al
,ant,c than on the other-are not modeTh gram
uatical blunders for "our own Their own ana
the Ike but were ignoran,ly formed according 70
rule OF the language which was misunderstood i''
ours" yours" hers" are equally faulty from the
a,csn, noin. n view The fact that one dialect
added IS" and another n" and the former per-
petuated rs error in cultivated speech Will" the
latter left It's legacy 10 Tennessee and CaTo'ha
mountaneers.
But in spite OF the long interval OF ooscurity ana
the vast change that came upon the language IL
bore within itself the record Of its past The ony
trouble was TO read this record II Is almost wlthn
the memory OF men still living that the mys'eri'S
Of ancient English have been pen,rated' 4ha'
there were mysteries doubtless strengthened the al
fecton OF students who cared Tor thclr native
tongue not more in It's familiar aspects than IN
those which were strange. Compared win Greek
for instance. It seemed to scholars snort tin'
ago as If notifications in English had taken place
by accident and could never be classified. But "
was found simply that the search had 10 De more
thorough In one than the other. causes "hi'h
had made one race ar3lmentative triners and the
other race the organizer Of empires were NJ "p'h
also on the languages. and 1t was TO be eNp"ctci
that the problems on side should be less aim
cult than on the other. From the vantage point
OF the nineteenth century Professor Lounsbury mas
his fling at Bacon for doubling the vitality oi Inc
English language But In the slow rise Of English
10 precedence among the highly cultivated Ian
puages Of ChrstenGom. Bacon has already pech
Justified ON the warrant Of some observation II
NAV be contectured that outside OF England ana
| America. even at the present day, bacon Is more
likely to be quoted In his Latin translation than III
| his English original. OF course. That VIII De
| changed ln the near future II 1t Is not changed
| now The same feeling which has impelled English
| Ia ne
ouoqe has driven other civilized races TO similar
| labors and the mutual respect created by these
paralcl and often interlaclng studies has resulted
| in a damaged repute for Latin as the universal
speech Of learning 1t IS not half as easy TO get a
| Latin letter out of German professor as 1t used
TO be.
Aside from the mlnutae OF the study. the history
Of English is attractive on broad lines which Pro-
| fessor Iounsbury indicates in the first part OF MS
| work II he or any other profound scholar in Eng
lsh were to narrate that history in fun. he might
without seeming go out Of his way In the least
traverse the entire field OF European civilization as
| well as eone districts remote. English has
| taken what IL could use-here little, there much
| and the chapters upon these debts wouid vary 'he
| main story in a wonderful way. Professor l"uns-
| hurry is conservative In his estimate OF eXtefhdi
influences especially those from the ancient Celts,
| the Roman Empire and the ScandnaVlaiS" hu'
with every discount that can be made 1t Is as impos
| sible TO begin the study OF English strictly with
Anglo-Saxon as Il Is begin the study OF Britlsh
| ethnoloey with the advent OF Caesar Later the
| merest glance away from the narrow lines OF de-
clenson and conjugaton toward the literary SIDE oil
| the subject opens an endless vista-Latn, French
Italian. German, Spanish and barbaran-where un'
| numbered forces have been at work creating ina
| which is at last found necessary to English Oi
| course something OF the same kind can be SAID oil
| other modern languages. but only with traction
of the meaning 1t has when said Of English Thus II
the vcissitudes of It's history In the touch u has
with all the world at once, in the oVeTwheim'hp
speed with which II has gone about the word since
II was fairly started It's career OF conquest, Eng
llsh LAYS claim on the admiration not only 81 th'
student but OF those who nothing for th'
n!cetles OF philoogy But Professor IOunsDury re-
fuses TO predict for IL universal use. proud there
fore as we may now well be-, he says OF oui
tongue we may assured that. II II ever attain
to universal sovereignty 1t will do 50 only because
the ideas of the who speak 1t are ht TO become
the ruling ideas OF the world and the men them
selves are strong enough 10 carry them over th'
world. and that. In the last analysis, depends. hk'
everything else upon the development Of the indi
vldual; depends not upon the territory we buy o
steal, not upon the gold mine or the grain w
grow but upon the produce"