A train of circumstances has led to a general system of false teaching in England, which Americans have hitherto submissively followed. It is comparatively a short time since all the learned works of Europe were written in Greek or Latin. The latter was connected with religious faith and religious prepossessions, when all depended on the church of Rome. Though these tongues had ceased to be any where spoken, they were emphatically called the learned languages, and what they styled the vulgar tongue was made an object of secondary concern, or rather of absolute contempt. However excellent the literature of Greece and Rome may be, there was great pedantry in the English colleges, in attempting to graft the original branches of their language upon these foreign stocks. There is certainly a strange ignorance, both in England and America, of the real fountains of our native speech. All that has been done in exploring these sources is by a very small number of unaided individuals. The necessery consequence is, that so far as public patronage has extended, good English has always been sacrificed to bad Latin and Greek; and attempts to explain our mother tongue have been by arbitrary and partial analogies from foreign languages, with which it has but a remote affinity. The English tongue is, in its original structure, one of the most easy in the world to learn and follow; but made one of the most difficult by the errors of false practice.

54. On the subject of making any change in spirit or form in the English language, the most opposite opinions prevail. It is said, on one hand. that it is already fixed, and can admit no change: that Dr. Johnson has settled its vocabulary: Walker, Sheridan, and Jones, its pronunciation; and

Murray its grammatical rules; and that every attempt at improvement is fraught with mischief. This opinion appears to prevail to a considerable extent in the United States. An other opinion is that a living language can neither be arrested nor guided in its course, more than the wind can be chained; and this is the prevailing doctrine in England. Neither is true to the extent to which it is carried. Mr. Todd tells us, in the London editions of his dictionary, that he has added 14,000 words, not found in any vocabulary before. The simple fact that one individual can add a fifth part to the entire body of the language, may give some idea how far it is fixed, so as to need no change.

55. It is not within the plan of the present work to attend to pronunciation. It is known to be in a very confused state in England. The writings of Italians and Frenchmen to explain English to their people, give a more scientific and correct exposition of the sounds of our letters, than any. work by a British author, ever yet published. These remarks are thrown out without comment, that we may come at once to the consideration of our own country, in reference to its present condition, and its future prospects.

One of the first ideas presented to the mind, in relation to the United States, is the peculiar situation in which we are placed, differing from that of every other community which has existed on earth; for we have no account of any nation, a prime object of whose government was to diffuse instruction among the entire body of their people. The attempt has never been made, on a national plan, to produce uniformity, among all classes of people, in the speaking of a national language. Both these objects are of prime importance in the United States.

56. All that concerns our public happiness, our union and peace, within ourselves; all which tends to develop our resources, improve and perpetuate our institutions; all which may give us wealth, strength, and glory, among nations, depends on the general course of instruction: that instruction, in a great degree, on the goodness of our national language, which is the instrument of all. Our population has increased from 2,500,000 to 5,000,000, and from five millions to ten, in 44 years. We are still proceeding at the same rapid rate of increase, which is beyond all parallel in ancient or modern days. Our course of moral and physical progress is greater than that of our numbers. This impulse, extending to hundreds of millions of people, must take its direction from the general literature of our country, connected, to a greater extent than most persons would believe, with the degree of cultivation given to our speech. The principles of language, therefore, necessarily blend themselves with all our prime interests as a nation; and to those who are prepared to enter on this investigation, it is a source of unceasing admiration, that while the great leading rules of speech are few and simple, the minor variations are endless. The relative changes of words, connected with the workings of thought, adapt themselves to every imaginable form of utterance, and run into each other by such nice gradations, as are hardly obvious to the keenest observations of philosophy. Instead of considering the study of language as the mere task of the schools, there is reason to believe that a better understanding of its elements will lead to great improvements in mental and physical researches. The structure of speech, as exhibited in different conditions of society, is an exhaustless

store of practical facts and principles, which ge far beyond all abstract reasoning, in teaching to man the great lesson, "Know thou thyself."

ESSAY, &c.

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS.

57. One of the greatest difficulties in language, is the loose manner in which terms are frequently used, even by writers of distinguished reputation and influence. The word perfect refers only to the "highest conceivable excellence, that which is neither defective nor redundant, absolutely faultless ;" yet we find Dr. Johnson, contrary to his own definition, Dr. Blair, and most other British authors, of the highest reputation, habitually comparing this word, which properly admits of no comparison. One thing may be more excellent than an other, because excellence is always a relative term; but to go beyond perfection, is for the rider to jump over the horse, instead of seating himself in the saddle. More perfect is the same as less ; because it is not most perfect, and consequently not perfect at all.

58. The same observations will apply to insurmountable, unattainable, supreme, extreme, immense, insuperable, and a multitude of others, which contain the total affirmation or negation in the sim ple meaning of the term.