SENTIALS OF NGLISH SPEECH
ANK H.VIZETELLY
PE
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH
SPEECH AND LITERATURE
AN OUTLINE OF THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE LANGUAGE, WITH CHAPTERS ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE, THE VALUE OF THE DICTIONARY, AND THE USE OF THE GRAM- MAR IN THE STUDY OF THE ENGLISH TONGUE
BY
FRANK H. VIZETELLY, LITT.D., LL.D.
Managing Editor of the "Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary of the
English Language," Author of "A Desk-Book of Errors
in English," etc.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1915
V
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e.
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COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America
Published, February, 1915
I V *• /S,
? "
TO
B. M. V.
MY STAR OF HOPE IN A NEW LAND
TO WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND DEVOTION
THIS BOOK OWES ITS ORIGIN
IT IS DEDICATED
IN LOVING APPRECIATION
AND GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
F. H. V.
PREFACE
To acquire a knowledge of the essentials of English speech and literature is an accomplishment which should commend itself to all who speak the English tongue. From the point of view of this book, these essentials are indicated by the following questions: (1) How did the language come into being? (2) Who was responsible for its origin? (3) What changes have taken place in its orthographical develop- ment? (4) To whom is this development due? (5) Through what media has it been attained? (6) What were the refining influences that have brought it through its crude original forms to the plastic medium for expressing thought which we have to-day?
To present these essentials in concrete form is the purpose of this book, which records the chief facts concerning the historical and ethnological development of the language, and which shows, by illustrative examples from different periods, the progress made therein. Therefore, the aim has been: (1) To trace the evolution of English speech. (2) To describe the development and growth of English litera- ture. (3) To direct attention to mutations in English orthography and syntax. To this end the following pages combine the history of the English language with that of English literature to the time of Milton, whose orthographic and syntactical forms approximate closely to our own. It tells, in brief, the story of the language from the dawn of civilization in Britain practically to our time, so that the reader may be said to have before him a conspectus of the different stages of assimilation through which it has passed.
vi PREFACE
As a correct knowledge of the use of English words is based chiefly upon the forms established by that which is best in English literature, brief accounts of the lives and works of the chief writers of English — the Masters of the English tongue — are included, and these are supplemented by short extracts from their works to illustrate characteris- tics of style and of spelling, and show the progress made in the different periods into which the chapters are subdivided. As an aid to the student interested in a comparative study of English, the extracts from Anglo-Saxon, Old English, and Middle English are accompanied by translations into Modern English, or by explanatory notes that elucidate the original text.
It is hoped that this book will prove of service to those persons who wish to inform themselves on the history, orthography, and literature of the language which they speak. To those who have already acquired this knowledge, it may serve to refresh the memory about facts and things long forgotten or out of reach. Be that as it may, the book is so planned as to enable the student to determine with ease the different periods in the evolution of the language, and it provides him with a succinct guide to the important writers of each period. The names of the later or lesser lights in literature, together with the dates of their births and deaths, and the titles of their principal works are recorded in an appendix.
In addition, chapters on the influence of the English Bible — our great standard of purity and exactness — the Drama, and the Periodical Press have been included, and these are supplemented by others pointing out the functions of the English Grammar and of the English Dictionary, and the benefits that may be derived by a systematic consulta-
PREFACE . vii
tion of both. The greatest text-book to knowledge is the dictionary, but its systematic study has been so long neglected that many people do not know how to draw from its pages the large fund of useful information that it con- tains. A chapter is devoted to explaining how this may be done. Suggestions on the benefits to be derived from read- ing, and by writing for publication are also included, to- gether with a comprehensive list of the world's best books in English, where they can be obtained, and the prices of each, if known.
The man and woman who devote themselves to the study of the English language have a large and fruitful subject for investigation — one so exhaustless that it is impossible of completion. This book makes no pretense to exhaustiveness. The following pages are offered with the hope that within their limits they may serve adequately the purpose for which they have been written, and prove acceptable to all persons interested in the study of the glorious English tongue.
E. H. V.
NEW YORK, February, 1915.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE v-vii
I. ENGLISH: ITS ORIGIN 1
II. ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 11
1. The Anglo-Saxon Period : The Dialects of
the Tribes 12
2. The Early Middle English Period: the
Minstrels and the Monks 23
3. The Late Middle English or Chaucerian
Period 34
4. The Modern Period: the Invention of
Printing 49
(A) The Early Modern or Tudor Period : the Mystery-Play and the Moralities 54
1. The Influence of the Drama . 89
2. The English Bible .... 116
(B) The Modern Period: the In- fluence of the Press 124
III. SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE .... 139
IV. THE FOREIGN ELEMENT IN ENGLISH .... 159 V. LITERATURE: ITS ELEMENTS 174
VI. THE FUNCTION OF THE DICTIONARY .... 212
ix
x CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
VII. THE DICTIONARY AS A TEXT-BOOK .... 233
VIII. THE FUNCTION OF GRAMMAR 259
IX. PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING . 270
1. Phonetics and Pronunciation .... 270
2. On Reading 304
X. WRITING FOR PUBLICATION 314
XI. INDIVIDUALITY IN WRITING 325
XII. ON THE CORRUPTION OF SPEECH .... 332
APPENDIX 349
INDEX 387
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH
SPEECH AND LITERATURE
i
English: Its Origin
THE first race to inhabit Albion of which we have any reliable records was that of the Celts. ' * Albion, ' ' as Britain was originally called, or as it is sometimes rendered, "Al- bin," has been variously explained. Dr. W. F. Collier1 is authority for the statement that the Cassiterides, or Tin Islands, as Herodotus called them, were placed by Aristotle as "beyond the pillars of Hercules, " and described by him as "two islands, which are very large, Albion and lerne, called the Britannic, which lie beyond the Celtae." Albion, says Collier, is explained to be a Celtic word meaning "white island/' used by the Gauls to describe the chalk- rocked land that lay to the north of them, but Dr. Isaac K. Funk, in his "Standard Dictionary," states the word is Latin, perhaps derived from the Gaelic Alp, meaning ' * height " — a view which is accepted by most lexi- cographers.
Whatever may have been the origin of the name of the land which the Celts inhabited, the fact remains that they were found there, together with the Belgse, by the Romans when they descended on British shores. The Belgae were a
1 "History of the British Empire."
1
2 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Teutonic tribe whose people in Caesar's time possessed the mainland of Europe from the Rhine to the Seine. This tribe, crossing the channel, settled in the southern part of Britain, inhabiting that region which to-day comprises Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somersetshire. But over the rest of the land, even to the adjacent country lerne (modern Ireland), the Celtic was the dominating race. Certain Gal- lic tribes inhabited eastern Britain, and to the north con- trolling the basin of the Clyde and its vicinity, lived the Cymry, a Bryttuonic branch (Welsh-Breton) of the Celts. Possibly a few Saxons, or Frisians, also dwelt on the eastern shores of Britain.
The descent of Csesar's troops upon the southern shore brought about a confederation of these tribes to repel the Roman attack, but to little purpose. Csesar had come, had seen, and had conquered.2 For nearly five hundred years thereafter Roman arms and Roman civilization controlled Britain.
Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about this Roman occupation is that the language, the law, and the literature of the Romans left only slight traces in the land. A cor- rupt Latin was spoken, no doubt, in towns under Roman control. It may even have displaced the native tongue in Kent, yet it is not to this period, but to a much later one, that we must trace the infusion of Latin words into our language. The final establishment of Roman law in the
2 The words "Veni, vidi, vici" are frequently misstated to have been applied by Caesar to his expedition to Britain in B.C. 55. There is no basis for the statement. According to Suetonius, the words were displayed before Caesar's title, at the public celebration, in Rome, of his victories in Pontus, not as a record of the events of the war, but as illustrating the rapidity with which the campaign was carried on. The words are not ascribed to Caesar by Suetonius. Plutarch, in his Life of Caesar, says that in describing to Amintus the rapidity of his campaign against Pharnaces in Pontus (B.C. 47) Caesar used only three words — "Veni, vidi, vici."
ENGLISH: ITS ORIGIN 3
land is not to be traced to this time, although it is possible that the British people owe the organization of municipal institutions and town governments to the Romans.
The withdrawal of the Roman soldiery by Honorius practically left the natives to defend themselves against the Picts and the Scots, who, scaling the walls that had been built to keep them out, swarmed across the northern border, and attacked the Cymry, whom they drove upon the Gaels in North Wales. The Gaels withdrew to the fertile midland region, and destroyed the towns of the Roman provincials as they went. There are two accounts of what followed — the Celtic and the Saxon. The 'commonly accepted account is the Saxon story related by Bede and the ' ' Saxon Chron- icle. "
Vortigern, a British chieftain, himself unable to cope with the Picts and Scots, sought the aid of the Ethelings, Hengest and Horsa, to repel them. These princes, giving heed to Vortigern 's call for help, set sail for Britain in three chiules or war-keels. Aboard of these were warriors repre- senting three tribes — the Jutes, the Angles, and the Saxons — who, soon after landing (A.D. 449), routed the invading hordes, and settled down to enjoy the fruits of their victory. The Jutes established themselves in Kent, and new arrivals rapidly increased their ranks. This incursion so alarmed the Britons that they refused to provide food for the in- vaders, who, joining forces with the Picts, turned against the Britons, and gained their first victory over them by forcing the passage of the Medway at Aylesford. This defeat was followed by another at the passage of the Cray, when the Britons were driven back and fled in terror to London. Then, collecting their scattered forces, they re- newed the attack and soon regained much of the land that
4 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
they had lost, but not before the invaders had firmly established themselves in the north of Kent and on its eastern and southern shores. On the arrival of reinforce- ments, Hengest and Aesc, taking the aggressive, attacked and totally defeated the Britons at Wippedesfleot (identi- fied as Ebbsfleet in Thanet). So overwhelming was this defeat that the Britons found it impossible to save Northern Kent, and, abandoning it, withdrew to the southern shore, where for a time they held their own.
In 477 Ella, or, as his name is sometimes written, Aelle, accompanied by his three sons, Cymen, Whencing, and Cissa, landed at Cymenesora, in Sussex, a place which G. M. Lappenberg3 identifies with Keynor in Selsea. He fought a hard but indecisive battle with the Britons, which led him to send for reinforcements. On their arrival he attacked and captured the Roman fortress, Anderida, and burned the town (491). " Aelle and Cissa beset Anderida, " so reads the chronicle of the conquerors, "and slew all that were therein, nor was there afterwards one Briton left." With this pitiless victory Ella broke the British power in Sussex and founded the kingdom of the South Saxons. This king- dom had scarcely been established when another band of Saxons, the Genissas, tinder the leadership of Cerdic, and his son Cymric, landed (495) at the place which is called Cerdicesora, placed by Green "on the shores of Southamp- ton water. ' '4 Cerdic 's proposed campaign of conquest was not immediately successful. He had made a landing and held it, but before victory crowned his arms he was com- pelled to seek alliance with Aesc and Ella. The defeat of the Britons followed and culminated in a decisive victory
8 "History of England Under the Anglo-Saxon Kings." 4J. R. Green, "A_ Jtistory of the English People," chu i«
ENGLISH: ITS ORIGIN 5
for Cerdic at Charford in 519. This ended the struggle, and * ' Cerdic and Cymric obtained the kingdom of the West Saxons. ' '
There are no records of the time or manner of the in- vasion of Essex. Its reduction is attributed to a prince of the Uffingas, a descendant of Uffa, King of Ea*st Anglia, from whom all the kings of the East Angles are said to have been descended.5 Notwithstanding the active and vigorous part taken by the Jutes and the Saxons in the subjugation of Britain, the chief part fell to the Angles (Engles) , a tribe that was destined to absorb both the Jutes and the Saxons, and so to impress itself upon the descendants of the union of the three tribes as to leave an indelible impression on the history of the world.
The exact date when the Angles settled on the shores of Northumbria is not known, nor are the details of the in- vasion that led to this settlement. Green says : ' c The Engle had probably been settling for years along the coast of Northumbria and the great district which was cut off from the rest of Britain by the Wash and the Fens, the later East Anglia." The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" relates of the northern part of Northumbria, that Ida the Torch-bearer assumed the kingdom of Northumbria (Bernicia) in the year 547. Bernicia lay between the Forth and the Tyne, and embraced the eastern coast land. The Angles who had migrated there steadily pushed their way westward, but the progress made was slight, for the winning of the west proved slow work. It was not until Ida united the various settlements of that region into one kingdom that the Angles made headway. But no sooner had they subdued the Britons than they turned their attention to the subjuga-
6 Bede, "Historia Ecclesiastica."
6 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
tion of their fellow countrymen who had settled in Deira, which lay to the south of them,
Deira, which ultimately became a part of Northumbria, extended from the Tees, or the Tyne, to the Humber, and spread inland to the borders of Strathclyde. It was colonized probably by several tribes, each under a different leader. These tribes, uniting eventually, formed the King- dom of Deira, to the throne of which Ella came in 560. He reigned for twenty-eight years, and extended his do- main to the very border of Bernicia, but at his death Ethelric (JEthelric6) of Bernicia drove Ella's son Edwin out of Deira and usurped the country (588). Edwin then sought refuge with Redwald, King of the East Angles, who subsequently (617) helped him to defeat Ethelric and re- gain his territory. But it was not until the reign of Oswy, a son of Ethelfrith (JEthelfrith7) that the two kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira, were permanently united, being merged into Northumbria (670). The union seems to have lasted until the appearance of the Danes, among whom Deira was partitioned in 876. As a political division, Deira became extinct with the Norman Conquest.
Mercia was the name of a great Anglian kingdom in the midlands of Britain. The exact date of its settlement is unknown, but has been approximated to the latter half of the sixth century (582). Its first king, Cridda, died in 600. The original Anglian settlers, owing to their proxim- ity to the unconquered Welsh, received the name of Mer- cians, or "Men of the March." The Mercians were as suc- cessful in their military activity as in their industrial progress, and at one time Wessex, Kent, Essex, and Sussex
• Green's "A History of the English People." 7T. A. Archer, "Dictionary of English History."
ENGLISH: ITS ORIGIN 7
acknowledged their supremacy, but the death of Offa, King of Mercia, in 796, marked the decline of Mercian power. Four years later Egbert, King of Wessex, who had been deprived of his kingdom and driven into exile by Offa, returned to Britain, and was restored to his throne by the West Saxon people (Collier, 800; Green, 802). He signalized his return by a march into Cornwall, the pur- pose of which was the subjugation of this remnant of the British in the southwest. This accomplished, he turned his attention to the Mercians, who had advanced into the heart of Wiltshire, and defeated them at Ellandum (modern Allington or Wilton), in 825,8 after which Kent, Essex, Northumbria, and East Anglia submitted to his sword; then, for the first time, the whole English race was united under one king.
Dr. 0. F. Emerson,9 quoting Kluge's "History of Eng- lish Speech,"10 says that Kluge "sums up the whole, as it relates to settlement in these words: 'The Jutes settled Kent, the Isle of Wight, and the neighboring parts of Hampshire. The Saxons occupied the banks of the Thames and the remaining portion of England southward. The rest of England was possessed by the Angles.' '
The facts relating to the settlement of England, as here- inbefore shown, may be summarized as follows:
A.D.
Reputed Landing of Hengest and Horsa 449
The .Kingdom of KENT, founded by the Jutes under
Hengest 457
The Kingdom of SUSSEX (embracing Sussex and Sur- rey) founded by the South Saxons under Ella . . 491
8 Green's "A History of the English People," p. 65. • "History of the English Language," p. 42. 10 "Geschichte der englischen Sprache."
8 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
A.D.
The Kingdom of WESSEX (embracing Hants, Wilts, Dor- set, and Devon), founded by the West Saxons under Cerdic . . 519
The Kingdom of EAST SAXONY (embracing Essex and Middlesex), founded by the East Saxons under Ercenwin 527
The Kingdom of BERNICIA (called also NORTHUMBRIA)
was founded by the Angles under Ida 547
The Kingdom of DEIRA, founded by the Angles under
Ella 560
The Kingdom of EAST ANGLIA (embracing Norfolk, Suf- folk, and Cambridge), founded by the East Angles under Uffa 575
The Kingdom of MERCIA (embracing the Midland
counties), founded by the Angles under Cridda . . 582 ( ?)
BERNICIA and DEIRA (the eastern shore of Britain, from
the Humber to the Forth), finally united . . . . 670
The foregoing has been written to familiarize the reader with the distribution over Britain of the tribes whose lan- guage formed the nucleus of our own — the Anglo-Saxon tongue. Marsh11 tells us that, while we have no historical proof by which, we can identify the Anglo-Saxon language, and the people who spoke it, with, any dialect and nation of Continental Europe, we have linguistic evidence of a commingling of nations in the body of intruders, yet that there is no proof that Anglo-Saxon was ever spoken any- where but on the soil of Great Britain. Therefore, he ex- plains that Anglo-Saxon was a new speech resulting from the fusion of many elements rather than a transplantation of the Heliand and other remains of Old Saxon.
Originally the Germanic tribes that inhabited Britain were known by various names, according to the region from which they came. Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were in the
11 "Lectures on English Language," by George P. Marsh, p. 35.
ENGLISH: ITS ORIGIN 9
majority, but the terms "Angle" and "English" were not used to designate them until later. Ethelbert, King of Kent, styled himself and his people as Angles. Dr. Free- man12 claims that the term "Anglo-Saxon" is a mere con- traction of the phrase "Angles and Saxons," but other authorities,13 who preceded him, assert that the term was used to distinguish the Saxons of England from the Sax- ons of the Continent. The preponderance of authority is in favor of the latter explanation, for in English we have the forms Angul-Seaxna and Ongol-Saxna, while in Latin we have Angul-Saxones and Angli-Saxones. If the Old English ' ' Angel eyn, ' ' or, as it is sometimes written, ' ' ongol eyn," renders "English kin" as it is commonly tran- scribed, it is evident that "Angul-Seaxe," or "Ongol- Saxe," must be transcribed into "English Saxons." Yet Freeman's explanation, if supported by the language, would be more satisfactory, especially when the term Anglo- Saxon was applied to the ruler of the land — the King of the Angles of the North and of the Saxons of the South. The term "Anglo-Saxon" is not found in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," which refers to the five languages in use in Britain as "English, British, Scotch, Pictish, and Latin," nor is it in the "Latin Chronicle of the Anglo-Saxon Kings" by Ethelward (Fabius Quaestor Ethel werdus), a work which consists mainly of a condensation of Bede's "Ecclesiastical History" and the "Anglo-Saxon Chron- icle."
The people ruled by Edgar and Harold called themselves "English kin." King Alfred, although only King of the
12 Edward Augustus Freeman, "History of the Norman Conquest." "William Camden's "Britannia, or a Chronological Description of England,
Scotland, and Ireland," and John Mitchell Kemble, "Remains Concerning
Britain."
10 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
West Saxons, is referred to in the " Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" as "King of all the English kin except the part that was under the wield of the Danes."
In the languages of the world the English tongue may be classified as belonging to the West Teutonic branch of the Teutonic sub-family in the Indo-European ' division. It is regarded as belonging to the Low Germanic group of the Gothic languages. "What is now called the German language, therefore, though of the same Gothic stock, be- longs to a different branch from our own. We are only distantly related to the Germans proper, or the race among whom the language and literature now known as the Ger- man have originated and grown up. We are, at least in respect of language, more nearly akin to the Dutch and the Flemings than we are to the Germans. It may even be doubted if the English language ought not to be regarded as having more of a Scandinavian than of a purely Ger- manic character — as, in other words, more nearly re- sembling the Danish or Swedish than the modern German. The invading bands by whom it was originally brought over to Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries were in all probability drawn in great part from the Scandinavian countries. At a later date, too, the population of England was directly recruited from Denmark, and the other re- gions around the Baltic to a large extent. From about the middle of the ninth century the population of all the east- ern and northern parts of the country was as much Danish as English. And soon after the beginning of the eleventh century the sovereignty was acquired by the Danes."14
14 G. L. Craik, "English Literature and Language," Vol. I, p. 49.
II
English: Its Growth
OF all the languages of the earth English, in its vocabu- lary, is the most heterogeneous. Almost every nation has contributed to it until words from the Hebrew, Celtic, Latin, Greek, Saxon, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Hindu, Maori, Hawaiian, Russian, Turkish, and even American-Indian may be found in one great agglom- eration in the English dictionary.
In the history of the language and its literature there are four periods :
(1) The first, commonly spoken of as the Anglo-Saxon period, and more recently sometimes termed Old English or Oldest English, dates from the earliest Teutonic speech in England, A.D. 450 to A.D. 1150. This was the period of full inflection.
(2) The second, designated as the Early Middle English, during which French words in large numbers, were intro- duced into the language. This period extended from A.D. 1150 to A.D. 1350, which should be divided into two separate periods (a) 1150 to 1250, during which the inflections were broken up; and (b) 1250 to 1350, which marked the intro- duction of French words.
(3) The third, or Chaucerian Period, better known as the Old English of literature, now commonly called the Late Middle English, during which the Saxon and Norman and
11
12 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Angevin French elements were formed into a new literary language. This period extended from 1300 to 1477.
(4) The fourth, which dates from 1477 is called Modern English, and extends to the present time. During this period foreign words in very large numbers were borrowed and have since been assimilated. The vocabularies of the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Scotch, the Dutch, the Germans, the Italians, the Turks, the Hindus, the Russians, the Persians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Arabs, and even the Sudanese have been drawn upon for terms with which to enrich the English tongue. Originally merely borrowed, many of these terms have now passed into our language as Anglicized, and it should not be a matter of surprize if this, the present so-called Modern English period, is eventually so divided as to mark the dates of each distinct stage of this assimilation.
1. THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD : THE DIALECTS OF THE TRIBES
The language of the different Teutonic tribes that in- vaded Britain was not common to all. Each tribe spoke a dialect which differed more or less from that of its neigh- bor. But once the tribes settled down upon the land, speech was divided into four dialects: (1) The North- umbrian, which was spoken from the Humber to the Forth : (2) the Mercian, which was spoken from the Thames north- ward through the Midlands to Cheshire; (3) the Kentish, spoken in the regions now known as the counties of Kent and Surrey; and (4) the West Saxon, spoken in all counties south of the Thames and west of Kent and Surrey. East Anglian dialects were spoken in Norfolk and Suffolk, but not much is known of these. The northern group, or Anglian, consisted of the Northumbrian and Mercian dia-
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 13
lects, while the southern group comprised Kentish, as the language of the Jutes, and West Saxon, that of the Saxons.
Until comparatively recent times the study of the early English texts seems to have been neglected by the British. So low was the standard of linguistic science in England in the early decades of the second half of the last century that Marsh,1 in writing on the subject, said: " British scholars have produced few satisfactory discussions of Anglo-Saxon or Old English inflectional or structural forms, and it is to Teutonic zeal and learning that we must still look for the elucidation of many points of interest connected with the form and the signification of primitive English. A large proportion of the relics of the Anglo-Saxon and of early English literature remains yet unpublished, or has been edited with so little sound learning and critical ability as to serve less to guide than to lead astray. . . . But a better era has commenced. The recent admirable translations of Layamon, of the Ormulum, and of the Wycliffite transla- tions of the Scriptures, are exceedingly valuable contribu- tions to English philology, and in the highest degree credit- able to the critical skill and industry of the eminent schol- ars who have prepared and published them."
The conditions to which Marsh refers were due probably to the fact that in England interest in matters of English philology is restricted to the few private individuals of independent means rather than distributed among the public at large. To cite an instance of this state of things no better example can be given than the vicissitudes from which the "New English Dictionary," still in course of production at Oxford University, has suffered. Sir James Murray's experience, and that of his assistants, was at one
1 "Lectures on the English Language," introd.
14 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
time almost on a par with that of his famous predecessor in lexicography, Dr. Samuel Johnson, who produced his dic- tionary "with little assistance of the learned." This is not strange, however, in a land where national recognition of literary talents is restricted to the appointment of a poet laureate. It is to be regretted that this land, that gave birth to so noble a tongue as our own, has not yet estab- lished as a concrete part of its national organization a department of public printing and another of literature and art.
Dr. Emerson2 traces the first official use of English words to a Kentish charter of the year 679, and of West Saxon words to a charter dated 778.
The Old English tongue was highly inflectional, but it was a homogeneous language which had very little of the foreign element in it. Its derivatives and compounds it formed from its own resources.
The Anglian or northern dialect was the first to produce a literature. This was fostered probably by Ionian scholars under the Northumbrian Kings who reigned from 616 to 685. Caedmon, or as it is sometimes spelled Cedmon, said to have been a cowherd belonging to the monastery at Whitby in Northumbria, and "even more ignorant than his fellows/' was the first English poet to sing in Anglo- Saxon of whom we have any knowledge. He flourished about 650 (died about 680), and sang "verses which he had never heard or learned, praising and magnifying the Creator who made heaven and earth for the children of men."3
Although the authorship of the poems commonly at-
2 O. F. Emerson, "History of the English Language," page 45.
8 Dr. Thomas Arnold in "Encyclopedia Britannica," ninth ed., s.v.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 15
tributed to Caedmon has been disputed, modern scholars generally concede that he was responsible for that part of the "Paraphrase," a collection of separate Bible stories which concerns the book of Genesis, and forms one of the Scrip- tural narratives to be found in a tenth century manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, England. The narra- tives form two series, the first comprising "Genesis," "Exodus," and "Daniel"; and the second, collectively called, "Christ and Satan," consists of the "Fallen Angels, " the " Harrowing of Hell, ' ' and the ' ' Temptation. ' ' The second series is believed to be of too late a date to be by Caedmon. In Milton's "Paradise Lost" there are some passages that closely resemble those of Caedmon 's "Gene- sis" both in thought and language. Editions of these poems were published at Amsterdam in 1655; in London, under the auspices of the Society of Antiquaries, by Benjamin Thorpe — the only complete one issued and now out of print —and at Elberfeld in 1847 and 1848.
The following lines cited from that part of the "Para- phrase" which treats of the "Song of Azariah," and accom- panied by an extract from Thorpe 's translation, afford opportunity for the comparison of Anglo-Saxon with Modern English.
Caedmon Thorpe's Translation
J?a of roderum waes. Then from the firmament was
Engel selbeorht. An all-bright angel
Ufan onsended. Sent from above,
Wlite scyne wer. A man of beauteous form,
On his wuldor-haman. In his garb of glory:
Se him cwom to f rofre. Who to them came for comfort,
& to feorh-nere. And for their lives* salvation,
Mid luf an & mid lisse. With love and with grace ;
Se )?one lig tosceaf. Who the flame scattered
16
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Caedmon
Halig and heofon-beorht. Hatan fyres.
Tosweop hine & toswende. J?urh J?a swij?an miht. Ligges leoma. j?at hyra lice ne wa3s. Owiht geegled.
Thorpe's Translation (Holy and heaven-bright) Of the hot fire, Swept it and dashed away, Through his great might, The beams of flame; So that their bodies were not Injured aught.
The fragment of Caedmon reproduced below was first printed by Wanley from an ancient manuscript. It is accompanied by one printed by Hickes from Beda Hist. Eccl., 4, 24, and by a translation. The first of the three has been said to represent the Northumbrian dialect of Caedmon 's time.
Wanley Nu scylun hergan
Hefaen-rieaes uard, Metudes maecti, End his modge}?anc. Uerc uuldur fadur,
Hickes
Nu we sceolan
herigean Heofon-rices weard,
Metodes mihte, And his modgethanc. Weorc wuldor-faeder,
Sue he uundra gihuaes, Eci drictin, Ord stelidse. |
Sva he wundra gewaes, Eee drihten, Ord onstealde. |
He aerist scopa, Elda barnum, Heben til hrofe; Haleg scepen : j?a mittungeard,
Ne ae'rest scop, Eorftan bearnum, Heofon to rof e ; Halig scyppend : Da middangeard,
Translation.
Now we should praise
The heaven-king- dom's ward,
The might of the Creator,
And his mood- thought.
The glory-father of works,
As he, of wonders, each
Eternal Lord,
Originally estab- lished.
He erst shaped,
For earth's bairns,
Heaven to roof;
Holy shaper;
Then mid-earth.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 17
Wanley Hickes Translation
Moncynnaes uard, Moncynnes weard, Mankind's home,
Eei drictin, Ece drihten, Eternal Lord,
JEfter tiafcae, u3Efter teode, After formed,
Firum foldu, Firum foldan, For the homes of men,
Frea allmectig. Frea almihtig. Lord Almighty.
To the student of the English language the most precious relic of Anglo-Saxon speech is the epic of ' 'Beowulf" which dates from the sixth or seventh century. This famous poem, which is considered "the most important surviving monument of Anglo-Saxon poetry, ' ' has been declared to be of West Saxon origin. It relates the exploits of Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, the nephew of Hygelac, King of the Geatas,4 or ancient people of Gotland, and affords a stirring picture of life among the Norsemen.
"Many episodes that have nothing to do with Beowulf himself have been inserted. They include many particulars of what purports to be the history of the royal houses, not only of the Gautar and the Danes, but also of the Swedes, the continental Angles, the Ostrogoths, the Frisians, and the Heathobeards, besides references to matters of un- localized heroic story such as the exploits of Sigismund. The Saxons are not named, and the Franks appear only as a dreaded hostile power. Of Britain there is no mention; and though there are some distinctly Christian passages, they are so incongruous in tone with the rest of the poem that they must be regarded as interpolations. In general, the extraneous episodes have no great appropriateness to their context, and have the appearance of being abridged versions of stories that had been related at length in poetry. Their confusing effect, for modern readers, is increased
4 "Encyclopedia Britannica" (1910), Vol. III., p. 758.
18 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
by a curiously irrelevant prologue. It begins by celebrating the ancient glories of the Danes, tells in allusive style the story of Scyld, the founder of the 'Scylding' dynasty of Denmark, and praises the virtues of his son Beowulf. If this Danish Beowulf had been the hero of the poem, the opening would have been appropriate; but it seems strangely out of place as an introduction to the story of his namesake. ' ' The poem consists of more than 6,000 lines, of which the four given below may serve as a specimen of the language of the time.
Beowulf Translation
J?a com of more Then came from the moor,
Unter mist-bleodhun Under mist-hills,
Grendel gongan ; Grendel to go ;
Goddes yrre bar. God's ire he bare.
Caedmon was followed by Cynewulf, whom Kemble identified with an abbot of Peterborough, who flourished in the eleventh century, but Dr. Arnold suggests he was prob- ably a "West Saxon writer of the first half of the eighth cen- tury. Cynewulf was a poet of no mean order and in his " Crist, " which contains nearly 1,700 lines, revels in the task of expressing in his mother tongue the new religious ideas which had come to his race.5 He wrote, among other poems, "Elene," a legend of the finding of the Cross at Jerusalem, and " Juliana/' a tale of the martyrdom of a saint bearing that name.
Cynewulf has been identified as a Northumbrian church- man, and as "Cynulf," a priest of Dunwich, whose name figures on a decree of the Council of Clofesho in 803.6 Pro-
8J. M. Kemble, "The Saxons in England."
•A. S. Cook, Introduction to "The Christ of Cynewulf" (1900).
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 19
fessor M. Trautmann identifies him as the bishop of Lindis- farne, who died in 783.7
Beda, sometimes called Bede, who on account of his learning and piety was surnamed "the Venerable," was the most distinguished scholar of his time and the greatest writer of the early literature of Britain. He was born in 672 and died in 735. Bede was a prolific author, and in the course of his career wrote homilies, hymns, lives of saints, and works on chronology and grammar. When fifty-nine years old he produced his most valuable work, "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum," an ecclesias- tical history of England, in five books, which furnished almost all of the information we have of the early history of England down to 731. Near the close of his life he was engaged on a translation of the Gospel of St. John into Anglo-Saxon, which he lived to complete, and died with the praise of God on his lips as the last sentence was penned.
With the rise of the West Saxon kingdom in the early years of the ninth century the dialect of the West Saxons came to the front, and it established its supremacy over all other Old English dialects about the middle of that century. Its ascendency was complete and it became the standard language of England during the reign of King Alfred, but to remain so only until the Danish invasion. To King Alfred, himself a scholar, we owe, among other works, translations of "The Universal History" of Orosius, "The Pastoral Care of St. Gregory," and "The Consolation of Philosophy" by Boethius.
Alfred the Great was born in 849, and died October 28, 901. He succeeded to the crown of England on the death of Ethelwulf, his father, in 872. His literary activity was
7M. Trautmann "Kynewulf der Bischof und Dichter" (1898).
20
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
restricted to the few years that followed his defeat of the Danes in 878. In character, his works embraced poetry, history, geography, moral philosophy, and legislation, and they form a valuable part of our Anglo-Saxon literature. His translation, or rather paraphrase of Boethius' "Con- solation" he began about 884. The following lines are among the best specimens of his work. They are from meter VI. of the forty-seven meters into which Alfred divided the work, and they are given side by side with a literal translation in Modern English.
On Change )?a se Wisdom eft Word-hord onleac, San so]?-ewidas, And )?us self a ewoej? :
]?onne sio sunne Sweotolost seine]? Hadrost of hefone, Hioe]?e bio]? a]?istrod Ealle ofer eor]?an 0]?re steorran; For]?oem hiora birhtu Ne bi]? auht So gesettanne With J>oere sunnan leoht. }?onne smolte bloewj? Sou]?an and westan. Wind under wolcnum, }?onne weaxa}? hraj>e. Feldes blostman, Foegan ]?oet hi moton. Ac se stearea storm }?onne he strong1 cym)? Nor]?an and eastan, He genime}? hra]?e ]?oere rosen white
Translation
Then Wisdom afterward Word-hoard unlocked, Sang various maxims, And thus himself expressed
When the Sun Clearest shineth Serenest in the heaven, Quickly are obscured All over the earth Other stars ;
Because their brightness Is not aught When set beside With that Sun's light. When mildly bloweth Southern and western Wind under clouds, Then wax rathly The field's blossoms, Joyful that they may. But the stark storm, When he strong- cometh Northern and eastern, He taketh away rathly The roses' beauty.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 21
On Change Translation
And eac )?a ruman soe, And eke the roomy sea,
NorJ?erne yst By northern storm
Nede geboeded Of necessity bidden ]?oet hio strange geondstyred, That it be strongly stirred up,
On staj?u beatej?. On the shore beateth.
Ea la ! ]?oet on eor]?an Alas ! that upon earth
Auht foeslices Aught fast-fixed
Weorces on worulde Work in the world
Ne wunaj? oefre ! Ne'er abideth forever !
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the most important of all our historical documents, for it treats of the earliest part of English history. Starting with the Christian era, it extends, in the latest copy, to 1154. It consists of six manu- scripts, and a part of a seventh, which are distributed (1) in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; (2-6) in the Cot- tonian Collection of the British Museum; (7) in the Bod- leian Library, at Oxford. They have been identified with the several great religious establishments in Southern England. The first, with Winchester ; the second, with St. Augustine's, Canterbury; the third, with Abingdon; the fourth, with Worcester; the fifth, with Peterborough; the sixth, which is in Latin and Saxon, with Canterbury. The seventh, of which only a fragment remains, is a late copy of the first, and was printed in full by Wheloc of Cambridge, in 1643, before it was destroyed by the Cottonian fire in 1723. A recent edition of the "Chronicle," was edited by the Rev. C. Plummer, and issued by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1899, under the title "Two of the Saxon Chron- icles parallel."
The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" took centuries to produce. Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, is credited with its compilation up to the year 891. In compiling it he drew
22
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
freely from Bede's History, already referred to. The fol- lowing is an extract from "The Chronicle" (A.D., 449), with translation.
Chronicle
Da comon J?a men of ]?rim megSum Germanise, of Ald- Seaxum, of Anglum, of Jotum.
Of Jotum comon Cantware and Wihtware, ]?aet is seo maeiab", J?e nu eardaj? on Wiht, and )?8Bt cyn on West-Sexum Se man gyt haet Litnacyn. Of Eald-Seaxum comon E a s t - Seax"an, and SuS-Seaxan, and West-Seax'an. Of Angle comon (se a siSSan stod westig betwix lutum and Seaxum) East-En- gle, Middel-Angle, Mearce, and ealle NorSymbra.
Translation
Then came there men of three powers of Germany, from Old Saxons, from Angles, from Jutes.
From the Jutes came [the people] of Kent and of Wight, that is, the race that now dwells in Wight and that kin [tribe] of the West Saxons, the ones [those] yet called the Jute race. Of the Old Saxons came the East Saxons, and South Saxons, and West Saxons. Of the Angles, who have occupied the waste8 be- twixt the Jutes and the Sax- ous, came the East Angles, Mercians, and all the North- umbrians.
Alfric the Grammarian, about whose identity authorities differ, was one of the Anglo-Saxon writers of the later days. He was the author of ' ' Eighty Homilies ' ' written in Anglo- Saxon for the use of the common people. Besides these he wrote a Latin grammar, whence his agnomen.
"With the passing of the glory of the West Saxon king- dom the supremacy of the West Saxon dialect came to an end. This was brought about by Danish incursions which checked progress, arrested culture, and blasted all the hopes of an advancing civilization.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 23
The Danes, or the Scandinavian pirates, as they might perhaps better be called, came as a blight upon the land and for nearly two and a half centuries — from the sack of Landisfarne to the accession of Canute — they ravaged the land, terrorized the people, burned their homes, their churches, monasteries, and schools. Under such conditions neither language nor literature flourished. Through the fall of Anglo-Saxon supremacy, achieved by the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the English language, though still spoken to some extent, was gradually superseded by Latin and Norman French, and by the year 1150 the Old English period drew to a close.
2. THE EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD: THE MINSTRELS AND THE MONKS
This period extended from 1150 to 1350, when the Chaucerian Period began. During the first century of the Early Middle English Period the full inflections of the Anglo-Saxon Period were broken up, and during the second a large number of Latin words that had been Gallicized, and assimilated by both Norman and Parisian, were intro- duced into English as French either through the Norman dialect or through the Parisian speech.
Latin was the language of the scholars, and William the Conqueror fostered this by replacing the few remaining Saxon prelates whose scholarship was behind the times by abler men, such as Lanfranc and Anselm. In addition to this he built many abbeys and convents where men of learning could study and commit their thoughts to parch- ment in quietude and peace. He established schools and raised the great seminaries of Oxford and Cambridge to the rank of universities.
24 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
The eventual result of the Norman Conquest was largely a reconstruction of the English vocabulary for, after having adopted Gallicized Latin as English speech, the people were not slow to convert such other words as they needed to their use. By this means the English vocabulary was much enlarged, and after the Renaissance — a period dating from the accession of Charles VIII. (1483) to that of Francis I. (1515) — a very marked increase in the number of words obtained from the same source is to be noted.
Then, when French words of Latin coinage were used in speech or writing they gradually passed as English cur- rency and suffered all pains and penalties for their intru- sion; that is, "they were subjected to all the duties and liabilities of English words in the same position."9
During this period confusion of grammatical forms was the rule rather than the exception. Side by side might be seen the full inflections of the Anglo-Saxons and the broken inflections of the Transition Period by which name this, the Middle Period, is sometimes known. On account of these broken inflections this period is sometimes called also the Semi-Saxon. This breaking down or leveling of inflections was completed by 1250.
In his "History of the English Language/' Dr. Emerson points out that, although the introduction of Norman French is generally credited to the Norman conquest and its results, French influence in England dates from the accession of Edward the Confessor (1041 ),10 and, says he, "It is not improbable that some words appearing in the written documents of a later time now first entered the spoken language."
9 "Encyclopedia Britannica," VIII, 393. "Pp. 51, 52.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 1>5
The same authority attributes the introduction of Angevin, the dialect spoken in Anjou, into English to the accession of Henry of Anjou, as sovereign of England. (1154.)
Although Norman influence waned with the loss of the dukedom of Normandy, still the influence of Parisian French upon the English language continued during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and it has exerted itself more or less sporadically ever since. But the waning of the influence referred to can not be better shown than by citing an official proclamation of Henry III. to the people of Huntingdonshire in 125811 — just one century later than the accession of Henry of Anjou, perhaps better known as Henry Plantagenet, the first English king of the Plantagenet line. This proclamation passes as one of the earliest specimens of official English, for that bulwark of the British constitution, the Great Charter, sealed, but not signed as is commonly stated, by John at "Runingmede inter Windlesorum (Windsor) et Staines," June 15, 1215, was drafted in Latin.
Proclamation Modern English "Henry, )?urg Godes ful- Henry, through God's sup- tome, King on Engleneloande, port, King of England, Lord of Ihoaurd on Yrloand, Duke on Ireland, Duke of Normandy, of Normand, on Acquitain, Eorl Acquitain, Earl of Anjou, on Anjou, send I greting, to sends greeting, to all his sub- alle hise holde, ilaerde & ile- jects, learned and unlearned werde on Huntingdonschiere. (i.e., clergy and laity) of
"J?at witen ge well alle, Huntingdonshire.
j?set we willen & u n n e n This know ye well all, that
(grant) Ipsst ure raedesmen alle we will and grant, what our
other, J?e moare del of heom, counselors all or the more part
11 "Henry's History," Vol. VIII, app. iv.
26
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Proclamation
f ae beof ichosen f urg us and f urg fast loanctes-folk on ure Kuneriche, habbif idon, and schullen don, in fe worfnes of God, and ure treowf e, for f e freme of f e loande, f urg fe besigte of fan toforen iseide raedesmen, beo stedfaest and ilestinde in alle finge abutan aende, and we beaten alle ure treowe, in the treowf e faet heo us ogen, fet heo stedefaestliche healden & weren to healden & to swerien fe isetnesses faet beon makede and beo to makien, furg fan to foren iseide raBdesmen, of er furg fe moare del of heom alswo, alse hit is biforen iseide
And f et aehc of er helpe f aet for to done bif am ilche of er, aganes alle men in alle fet heo ogt for to done, and to foangen. And noan ne nime of loande, ne of egetewhere, f urg fis besigte muge beon ilet ofer iwersed on onie wise. And gif oni ofer onie cumen her ongenes, we willen & hoaten, faet alle ure treowe heom healden deadliche ifoan.
And for fast we willen faet fis beo staedfast and lestinde, we senden gew fis writ open, iseined wif ure seel, to halden amanges gew ine hord. Witnes usselven aet Lundaen, faene
Modern English of them, that be chosen through us and through the land's-folk of our kingdom, have done, and shall do, to the honor of God, and in allegiance to us, for the good of the land, through the determination of those beforesaid counselors, be steclfast and lasting in all things without end, and we enjoin all our lieges, by the allegiance that they us owe, that they stedfastly hold and swear to hold and to main- tain the ordinances that be made, and be to be made through the before-said coun- selors, or through the more part of them also, as it is before-said.
And that each help the other for to do by them each other, against all men, in all that they ought for to do, and to promote. And none is to take land, nor property where- by this business may be im- peded or damaged in any way. And if any man or any woman cometh them against, we will and enjoin that all our lieges them hold deadly foes.
And for that we will that this be stedfast and lasting, we send you this writ open, sealed with our seal, to keep amongst vou in store. Witness ourself
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 27
Proclamation Modern English
egeteten)?e day on the motive at London, the eighteenth day
of Octobr, in ]?e two and of the month of October, in the
£owertigj?e geare of nre crun- two and fortieth year of our
ninge." crowning.
With the accession of Edward III. (1327), the English tongue, as then spoken, virtually deposed the French as the official language. One of the statutes of his reign decrees that :
"... All pleas which shall be pleaded in his courts what- soever, before any of his justices whatsoever, or in his other places or before any of his ministers whatsoever, or in the courts and places of any other lords whatsoever within the realm, shall be pleaded, showed, defended, answered, debated and judged in the English tongue."12
. The chief writers of this period were: (1) William of Malmesbury, who wrote in Latin a "History of English Kings," which dates from the landing of the Saxons to the year 1120. (2) Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh monk to whom we owe the preservation of the legends of the Celtic race which he recorded in his "History of the Britons." The story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is to be found in this work. Geoffrey died in 1154.
Geoffrey's "History," which appeared in 1147, was dedicated to Robert of Gloucester. It professed to be a translation of an ancient history of Britain, written in the Cymric, offered to Geoffrey by Walter Calenius. Owing to its imaginative genius, the work proved very popular, and was abridged by Alfred of Beverley in 1150 and trans- lated into Anglo-Norman verse by Geoffrey Gaimar in 1154, and also by Wace in 1180. In 1718 Aaron Thomp- son translated it into English, and a revision of this trans-
12 Statutes of the Realm, I. p. 376.
28 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
lation was made by John Giles in 1842. This forms one of the "Six Old English Chronicles" in Bonn's Anti- quarian Library. The following is a modernized extract from the "History of the Britons":
Albion Divided Between Brutus and Corineus
"The island was then called Albion, and was inhabited by none but a few giants. Notwithstanding this, the pleasant situation of the places, the plenty of rivers abounding with fish, and the engaging prospect of its woods, made Brutus and his company very desirous to fix their habitation in it. They therefore passed through all the provinces, forced the giants to fly into the caves of the mountains, and divided the country among them according to the directions of their commander. After this they began to till the ground and build houses, so that in a little time the country looked like a place that had been long inhabited. At last Brutus called the island after his own name Britain, and his companions, Britons; for by these means he desired to perpetuate the memory of his name. From whence afterwards the language of the nation, which at first bore the name of Trojan, or rough Greek, was called British. But Corineus, in imitation of his leader, called that part of the island which fell to his share, Corinea, and his people Corineans, after his name; and though he had his choice of the provinces before all the rest, yet he preferred this country, which is now called in Latin Cornubia, either from its being in the shape of a horn (in Latin Cornu), or from the corruption of the said name. For it was a diversion to him to encounter the said giants, which were in greater numbers there than in all the other provinces that fell to the share of his companions. Among the rest was one detestable monster, Goemagot, in stature twelve cubits, and of such prodigious strength that at one shake he pulled up an oak as if it had been a hazel wand. On a certain day, when Brutus was holding a solemn festival to the gods, in the port where they had first landed, this giant with twenty more of his companions came in upon the Britons, among whom he made a dreadful slaughter. But the Britons at last,
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 29
assembling together in a body, put them to the rout, and killed them every one but Goemagot. Brutus had given orders to have him preserved alive, out of a desire to see a combat between him and Corineus, who took a great pleasure in such encounters. Corineus, overjoyed at this, prepared himself, and throwing aside his arms, challenged him to wrestle with him. At the be- ginning of the encounter, Corineus and the giant, standing front to front, held each other strongly in their arms, and panted aloud for breath; but Goemagot presently grasping Corineus with all his might, broke three of his ribs, two on his right side and one on his left. At which Corineus, highly enraged, roused up his whole strength, and snatching him upon his shoulders, ran with him, as fast as the weight would allow him, to the next shore, and there getting upon the top of a high rock, hurled down the savage monster into the sea; where falling on the sides of craggy rocks, he was torn to pieces, and colored the waves with his blood. The place where he fell, taking its name from the giant's fall, is called Lam, Goemagot, that is, Goemagot's Leap, to this day."
The transition of the language from Anglo-Saxon to the English of Chaucer and Wycliffe is seen in Robert of Gloucester's "Rhyming Chronicle," which was written after 1278, and consists of 10,000 lines. An edition of the "Chronicle" was issued by Hearne in two volumes in 1724, and reprinted in 1810. Of this work three manu- scripts are extant: the Bodleian, the Cottonian, and the Harleian. Very little is known of the author, who lived about the time of the battle of Evesham (1265). His work is a history of English affairs from the arrival in Britain of the fabulous Brutus to the close of the reign of Henry III. Its matter, in metrical verse, is drawn chiefly from Geoffrey of Monmouth and William of Mal- mesbury, but sheds some light on conditions in England when the language spoken and taught was principally
30 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Norman French. This is what Robert of Gloucester tells us about it:
Wyllam, f ys noble due, f o he adde ydo al f ys,
William, this noble duke, when he had done all this, fen wey he nome to Londone he & al hys
Then took his way to London, he and all his [men], As kyng & prince of lond, wyf nobleye ynou.
As king and prince of the land, with nobles enough. Agen hym wyf vayre processyon fat folc of town drou,
Against [toward] him came the folk of the town with a fair
[fine] procession And vnderuonge hym vayre ynou, as kyng of f ys lond.
And received him with fair [great] honor, as king of this land. f us come lo ! Engelond into Normannes honde,
Thus came, formerly, England into the Norman's hands, And f e Normans ne couf e speke f o bote her owe speche,
And the Normans could not speak any but their own speech, And speke French as dude atom & here chyldren dude al so
teche.
And spake French as they did af home, and their children
did also teach. So fat heymen of f ys lond, fat of her blod come,
So that the high [great] men of this land, that of their blood
came, Holdef alle f ulke speche, fat hii of hem nome.
All hold [used] this speech that they from home took. Vbr bote a man couf e French, me tolf of hym wel lute.
For but [unless] a man could [knew] French, of him very
little was cared [thought], Ac lowe men holdef to Englyss, & to her kunde speche yute.
Anllow [humble] men holdeth [held] to English, and to their
kind [native] speech yet. Ich wene f er ne be man in world contreyes none,
I ween there be no man, none in the world countries, fat ne holdef to her kunde speche, bote Engelond one,
That not holdeth to their kind [native] speech, but England alone.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH
Ac wol me wot vorto conne bate wel yt ys
And well I wot [know] for to understand both well it is,
Vor j?e more J?at a man con, ]?e more worj? he ys.13
For the more a man knows, the more worthy he is.
Of the Norman French writers Wace is the best known. He was the author of "Brut d ' Angleterre ' ' and "Roman de Rou. ' ' The first of these is a translation into romance verse of Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of Britons," and con- sists of 1,800 lines. The second relates the history of the Dukes of Normandy from Rollo to Henry II. The account of the battle of Hastings is the chief feature of this poem.
Layamon, or Laweman as he is sometimes called, a priest of Ernley (modern Arley), Worcestershire, who flourished between 1155 and 1200, translated Wace's "Brut d' Angle- terre" into semi-Saxon. Layamon 's work is, however, more than double the length of that by Wace. The following is a description of how the work was done :
Layamon
He nom )?a Englisca boc j?a makede Seint Beda ; An oj?er he nom on Latin, )?a makede Seinte Albin, And )?e feire Austin, J?e fulluht broute hider in. Boc he nom }>e J?ridde, Leide J>er amidden, ]?a makede a Frenchis clerc, Wace was ihoten, J?e wel con)?e writen, And he hoe yef J?are ae]?elen Aelienor, j?e wes Henries
quene, J?es heyes kinges.
18 "Robert of Gloucester," p. 364.
Translation
He took the English book That Saint Bede made; Another he took in Latin, That Saint Albin made, And the fair Austin, That baptism brought hither in. The third book he took, [And] laid there in midst, That made a French clerk, Wace was [he] called, That well could write, And he it gave to the noble Eleanor, that was Henry's
queen, The high king's.
32 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Layamon Translation
Layamon leide J?eos boo, Layamon laid [before him]
these books,
And ]?a leaf wende. And the leaves turned.
He heom leofliche bi-heold; He them lovingly beheld;
Li)?e him beo Drihten. Merciful to him be [the] Lord.
Fej?eren he nom mid fingren, Feather [pen] he took with
fingers,
And fiede on boc-felle, And wrote on book-skin,
And J?a soj?e word And the true words
Sette to-ga)?ere, Set together,
And }?a J?re boc And the three books
]?rumde to ane. Compressed into one.
A work commonly assigned to the time of Layamon is ' ' The Ormulum, ' ' from its writer 's name which is variously given as Orniin or Orm. This is a metrical work of some length, consisting of a series of homilies based upon the New Testament. The following lines, selected from the Dedication to the author's brother Walter, are interlined with Modern English as an aid to comparison.
Nu, brotherr Wallterr, brotherr min
Now, brother Walter, brother mine Affterr the flaeshes kinde;
After the flesh's kind Annd brotherr min i Crisstenndom
And brother mine in Christendom Thurrh fulluhht and thurrh trowwthe;
Through baptism and through truth Annd brotherr min i Godess bus,
And brother mine in God's house Yet o the thride wise,
Yet of the third wise Thurrh thatt witt hafenn takenn ba
Though that we two have taken both An reghellboc to folghenn,
One rule-book to follow
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 33
Unnderr kanunnkess had and lif,
Under canonic's rank and life Swa summ Sannt Awwstin sette;
So as St. Austin set Ice hafe don swa summ thu badd
I have done so as thou bade Annd forthedd te thin wille;
And performed thee thine will Ice hafe wennd inntill Ennglissh
I have wended14 into English Goddspelless hallghe lare,
Gospel's holy lore Affterr thatt little witt tatt me
After that little icit that me Min Drihhtin hafethth lenedd.
My Lord hath lent Thu thohhtesst tatt itt mihhte well
Thou thought est that it might well Till mickell frame turrnenn
To mickle15 profit turn Yiff Ennglissh follk, forr lufe off Crist,
If English folk for love of Christ Itt wollde yerne lernenn,
It would earnestly learn Annd follghenn itt, and fillenn itt
And follow it, and fulfil it Withth thohht, withth word, withth dede,
With thought, with word, with deed Annd forrthi gerrndesst tu thatt ice
And because thou desiredest that I Thiss werrc the shollde wirrkenn;
This work thee should work Annd ice itt hafe forthedd te,
And I it have performed thee Ace all thurrh Cristess hellpe;
But all through Christ's help
14 Turned. » Much.
34 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Annd mine birrth bathe tliannkenii Crist
And us two it becomes both [to] thank Christ Thatt itt iss brohht till ende. That it is brought to end
3. THE LATE MIDDLE ENGLISH OR CHAUCERIAN PERIOD
During the early years of the Chaucerian Period the language of the English people was fostered by the min- strels and the monks. In feudal times minstrels were attached to noble houses, and as appreciated guests sang their ballads of love and war in the dining-hall after the meal had been served and the mead began to flow. These men bore as a badge of office a wrest or tuning-key. There were also minstrels of another class who roamed over the land, spreading the language from hall to hall or from inn to inn — singing, juggling, and miming for their bed and board. Often they traveled in groups of two or three, then the minstrel provided the music, the poet sang, and the juggler (French jongleur) mimed to the great delight of the people. Except at the monastery gates the min- strels always found welcome. They were unpopular with the monks because their songs often showed scant respect for the men of the cloister, whom they decried and ridiculed until the churchmen, roused by the vicious doggerel which the minstrels sang or droned in the public market-places, determined to check their pernicious influence by intro- ducing mystery-plays — plays founded upon incidents in the Bible. These were the earliest English plays.
In those days the monks were the scholars and monas- teries were centers of learning. The cowled transcriber was a silent, assiduous, painstaking worker, who spent hours alone in the scriptorium in translating or transcribing the
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 35
Holy Scriptures, or in illuminating with brilliant colors some Missal or Psalter which has since come down to us as a triumph of bygone ages.
In the meantime the blending of the French and the English tongues had progressed slowly yet steadily from the thirteenth century, when translators began to intro- duce in their works French words that were currently in- telligible. It was not long thereafter • that the best of French books issued were translated into English despite the opposition to this course from such men as Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, who strove, but in vain, to have French retained as the literary language and English relegated to the inferior position of a dialect for use in intercourse with the common people — a language to be shunned by the polite society of his day. To speak French was then the "craze" of the day, but according to John de Trevisa, after the year of the "grete deth" (1348), there came a sudden change which was due prob- ably to the French War, which began with the battle of Cadsant (an islet between Flushing and Sluys), in 1337, and terminated with the Peace of Bretigny in 1360.
Englishmen, under the command of the Black Prince, then crossed the Pyrenees, through the Pass of Roncesvalles, and fought the Spaniards at Navarretta in 1367. From this event dates the beginning of the entrance of the direct Spanish element into English. It is possible, of course, that even before this date some Spanish words found their way into English through the French. It is possible, also, that the Crusades in which English soldiers took part may have had some influence on the language. For it is in- conceivable that any large body of men could travel to and from the Holy Land, remain there a twelvemonth or more.
36 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
come into contact with foreigners, and not bring back with them some terms for which they had no equivalent in their native tongue. Certain it is that in the language to-day we have a number of words derived from the Arabic, and others which have been borrowed from the Turkish.
To King Henry IV. of England, who spent years of exile in Prussia, but returned to England, deposed his cousin Eichard II., and ascended the throne in 1399, as well as to his retainers, we may, perhaps, attribute the introduction of certain Prussian words into English.
The great writers of the Chaucerian Period were Jehan de Mandeville, reputed in English literature; "Sir John de Mandeville," described as the earliest writer of English prose ; John de Wycliffe, translator of the Bible ; Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry; John Gower, his friend, and the ill-fated King James I. of Scotland.
Sir John de Mandeville, of whose identity some author- ities express doubt, is stated to have been born about 1300, and to have died in 1372. In 1356, or thereabouts, he is said to have returned from a journey to distant and strange lands on which he had set out in 1334, and written a "Nar- rative of his Travels"16 in Latin. This work was sub- sequently translated into French, and therefrom into English. In the writer's own words the reader is told in the introduction to this book that :
I have put this book out of Latin into French, and translated it agen out of French into English, that every man of my nation may understand it But lords and knights, and other noble and worthy men, that con Latin but little, and ban ben beyond the sea, knowen and understonden gif I err in devising, for for-
18 "It is in fact beyond reasonable doubt that the travels were in large part compiled by a Jjiege physician, known as Johains a le Barbe or Jehan & la Barbe, otherwise Jehan de Bourgogne." — "Encyc. Brit.," XVII, p. 561.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 37
getting or else; that they mowe redress it and amend it. For thing's passed out, of long time, from a man's mind, or from his sight, turnen soon into forgetting; because that mind of man ne may not ben comprehended ne withholden for the freelty of mankind.
The following is a specimen of Early English prose from Mandeville's "Of the Pilgrymages in Jerusalem and the Holy Places thereaboute, ' ' chapter vii., written about 1356.
After for to speke of Jerusalem the holy cytee, zee schull undirstonde that it stont full faire betwene hilles, and there be no ryveres ne welles, but watar cometh by condyte from Ebron. And zee schulle understonde that Jerusalem of olde tyme, unto the tyme of Melchisedech, was cleped Jebus: and after it was clept Salem, unto the tyme of Kyng David, that put these two names to gider, and cleped it Jebusalem. And after that Kyng Salomon cleped it Jerosolomye. And after that men cleped it Jerusalem, and so it is cleped zit. And aboute Jerusalem is the kyrigdom of Surrye.17 And there besyde, is the lond of Palestyne. And besyde it is Ascalon. And besyde that is the lond of Maritanie. But Jerusalem is in the lond of Judee; and it is clept Jude, for that Judas Machabeus was kyng of that contree. And it marcheth estward to the kyngdom of Arabye; on the south syde to the lond of Egipt; and on the west syde to the grete see. On the north syde toward the kyngdom of Surrye, and to the see of Cypre.
In Jerusalem was wont to be a Patriark and Erchebysshopes, and Bisshoppes abouten in the contree. Abowte Jerusalem be theise cytees ; Ebron at seven myle, Jerico at six myle, Bersabee at eyght myle, Ascalon at xvii myle, Jaff at xvi myle, Ramatha at iij myle, and Bethleem at ij myle. And a ij myle from Bethleem toward the southe is the chirche of Seynt Karitot that was abbot there, for whom thei maiden meche doel18 amongs the monks whan he scholde dye, and zit be in-moornynge in the wise that thei maden her lamentacon for him the first tyme, and it is full gret pytee to beholde.
" Syria. ls Dolor, grief.
38 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
John Wycliffe or Wyclif19 was born about 1324, in York- shire, England. He entered Queen's College, Oxford, in 1340, and in 1372 took the degree of doctor of divinity. Wycliffe 's greatest service to literature lies in the fact that he undertook the translation into English of the whole Bible. This he produced between the years 1380 and 1384. In the preface Wycliffe used a phrase that later writers and speakers have made as familiar to us as household words : ' ' The Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and of the people." (Walsh: "Encyc. of Quo- tations," p. 323.) An edition of this work in five volumes was printed by the University Press at Oxford in 1850.
The following section of Wycliffe 's translation of the Song of Moses from the Book of Exodus, chapter xv, verses 1-19, will serve to show the character of English about the year 1380.
Thanne Moises song, and the sones of Israel, this song to the Lord; and thei seiden, Synge we to the Lord for he is magnafied gloriousli; he castide down the hors and the stiere into the see. My strengthe and my preisyng is the Lord, and he is maad to me into heelthe; this is my God : y schal glorifie hym the God of my fadir: and y schal enhaunce hym: the Lord is as a man tizten: his name is almizti. He castide doun into the see the charis of Farao and his oost, his chosun princes weren drenchid in the reed see, the deepe watris hiliden them; thei zeden doun into the depthe as a stoon. Lord thy rizt hond is magnyfied in strengthe: Lord thi rizt hond smoot the enemye: and in the mychilnesse of thi glorie thou hast put doun all thyn adver- saryes; thou sentist thine ire that devouride hem as stobil: and watris weren gaderid in the spirit of thi woodnesse ; flowinge watir stood : depe watris weren gaderid in the middis of the
19 The name Wycliffe owes its origin to the village Wycliffe-on-Tees. He is sometimes referred to as "John de Wycliffe" or "Wyclif." In 1365 Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed one John de Wyclif to the warden- ship of Canterbury. — "Encyc. Brit.," XXVIII, p. 866.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 39
sec: the enemy seide, Y sehal pursue and y schal take, y schal departe spuylis: my soule schal be fillid: I sehal drawe out my swerde: myn hond schal sle hem. Thi spirit blew; and the see hilide hem, thei weren drenchid as leed, in grete watris. Lord, who is lyk thee in stronge men : who is lyk thee : thou art greet doere in hoolynesse; ferdful and p'isable, and doyng miracles; thou heldist forth thine hond, and the erthe devouride hem: Thou were ledere, in thi merci, to thi puple, which thou azen bouztest, and thou hast bore hym, in thi strengthe, to thin holi dwellyng place: puplis stieden and weren wroothe: sorewis helden the dwelleris of Flistiym; thane the pryncis of Edom weren disturblid; trembling helde the stronge men of Moab: all the dwelleris of Canaan weren starke. Inward drede falle on hem: and outward drede in the greetnesse of thin arm. Be thei maad unmoovable as a stoon, til thi puple passe, lord, til this thi puple passe. Whom thou weldidist, thou schalt brynge hem in and thou schalt plaunte in the hil of thin eritage: in the moost stidefast dwellyng place which thou hast wrodzt, Lord, Lord, thi seyntuarie which thin hondis made stidefast. The Lord schal regne in to the world and fertli'e. Forsothe Farao a ridere entride with his charis and knyztis in to the see: and the Lord brouzte the watris of the see on him ; sotheli the sones of Israel zeden bi the drie place, in the myddis of the see.
Translation According to the Authorized or King James Version
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will ex*alt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, 0 Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, 0 Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that
40 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which con- sumed them as stubble. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, 0 Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing won- ders ? Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed : thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them ; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, 0 Lord, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, 0 Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, 0 Lord, which thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
The exact date of the birth of Geoffrey Chaucer is un- known. On the authority of Thomas Speght, who pub- lished an edition of Chaucer's works in 1598, his birth was set originally in the year 1328, but as in 1386 he was des- cribed as " forty years and upward,'' the year 1340 or thereabouts has been accepted as the more probable date. He was the son of a London vintner in favor at Court, and in 1357 was a page in the household of the Duke of Clarence,
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 41
second son of Edward III. Of his early life nothing is known. Dr. Collier20 states that a reference to Chaucer in one of the poet 's earliest works has caused it to be inferred that he was educated at Cambridge. Warton and others have claimed him as an Oxford man. The point has not been settled. In his writing Chaucer shows as intimate a knowledge of Cambridge as he does of Oxford. Any one who knows both places needs but to read his " Reeves Tale" and his ' * Milleres Tale ' ' to see this. Perhaps the knowledge may have been obtained by sojourns in the towns or visits to the universities. However this may be, his education was well cared for, as Nicolas21 describes him as possessing acquaintance "with the classics, with divinity, with astron- omy, with so much as was then known of chemistry, and indeed with every other branch of the scholastic learning of the age."
In the fall of the year 1359 Chaucer accompanied the King's troops on an expedition to France. The English army consisted of 100,000 men ; provisions were scarce ; the weather execrable and no actual fighting occurred, never- theless, Chaucer, who had accompanied a foraging party which left the main body of the troops at Retiers, near Rennes in Brittany, was taken prisoner and detained until ransomed. Toward the sum required for his release the King contributed sixteen pounds. Following this event Chaucer returned to England and entered the King's household as a yoeman of the King's chamber, where he had "to make beds, bear torches, set boards, and apparel all chambers. ' '22 In 1369 he again went to France, being abroad "on the King's service from June to September," 1370.
20 "History of English Literature," p. 53.
21 "Life of Chaucer" (Aldine edition).
82 J. W. Hales in "Diet. Nat. Biog." s.v.
42 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Having learned all that France could teach him, Chaucer turned toward Italy, whither the public service was to take him, and in 1372 made an official visit to Genoa. He under- took a second journey thitherward, and on this occasion visited also Florence and Padua, returning to England in November, 1373. As Petrarch was living at Padua, and Boccaccio in Florence, at this time, it is not unlikely that Chaucer met them both ; evidences of such contact, direct or indirect, are given in his "Canterbury Tales/' the master- piece which in the sunset of his life he produced in retire- ment from the activities of public service at his quiet country home in Woodstock. This masterpiece was begun probably about 1387, for by 1393 most of the " Tales, " as we have them, were written. He died October 25, 1400.
Of Chaucer's earlier works some are either partly, or altogether, translations from the Latin, French, or Italian. He described the course of true love in a glowing allegory — * ' The Romaunt of the Rose, ' ' and in another, and still more beautiful one, "The Flour and the Lefe," pointed out that "They which honour the flour, a thing fading with every blast, are such as looke after beautie and worldly pleasure : But they that honour the life . . .are they which follow vertue and divining qualities without regard of worldly respects. ' '
To provide the reader with a specimen of Chaucerian English, a part of the "Persones (Parson's) Tale," from the Canterbury Tales, written about 1393, is given below. The section is entitled "De Superbia" (Of Pride).
Now ben there tuo maners of pride; that oon23 is heighnes withinne the hert of a man and that other is withoute. Of
23 The one of them.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 43
which sothly these forsayde thinges, and mo24 than I have said, aperteynen to pride that is in the hert of a man; and that other spices25 of pride ben withoute; but natheles, that oon of thise spices of pride is signe of that other, right as the gay levesselle26 at the tavern is signe of wyn that is in the celer. And this is in many thinges; as in speche and contienaunce, and in outrageous array of clothing. For certis, if ther hadde be no synne in clothing, Crist wolde not so soone have notid and spoke of the clothing of thilke riche man in the gospel. And seint Gregorie saith, that precious clothing is coupable for derthe of it, and for his schortnes, and for his straungenes and dis- gisines, and for the superfluite, or for the inordinat skantnes of it; alias! many man may sen as in oure dayes, the synful costlewe array of clothing, and namely27 in to moche superfluite, or elles in to disordinat skantnes.
As to the firste synne in superfluite of clothing, which that makid is so dere, to harm of the poeple, not oonly the cost of embrowdyng,28 the disguising, endentyng or barryng, ounding, palyng29 or bendyng,30 and semblable wast of cloth in vanite; and ther is also costlewe furring in here gownes, so mochil pounsyng31 of chiseles to make holes, so moche daggyng32 of scheris, for with the superfluite in lengthe of the forsaide gownes, traylinge in the donge and in the myre, on hors and eek on foote, as wel of man as of womman, that al thilke traylyng is verraily (as in effect) wasted, consumed, thredbare, and rotyn with donge, rather than it is geven to the pore, to gret damage of the forsaide pore folk, and that in sondry wise; this is to sain, the more that cloth is wastid, the more most it coste to the poeple for the scarsenes; and forthermore, if it so be that thay wolde give suche pounsed and daggid clothing to the pore folk, it is not convenient to were to the pore folk, ne suffisaunt to beete33 here necessite, to kepe hem fro the desperance of the firmament.
84 More. » Species.
88 A bower, an arbor, a summer-house or penthouse; also, a bough used as a sign at a tavern, whence the proverb "Good wine needs no bush."
87 Especially. •» Imitating waves. M Punching. w Supply.
88 Embroidering. 8° Imitating pales. «• Slitting.
44 ESSENTIALS OP ENGLISH SPEECH
The few lines that follow are quoted from ' ' The Romaunt of the Rose," and express the moral and chivalrous senti- ments of this great English poet.
To villaine speech in no degree Let never thy lippe unbounden bee: For I nought hold him, in good faith, Curteis, that foule wordes saith; And all women serve and preise, And to thy power hir honour reise, And if that any mis-sayere Despise women, that thou maist here, Blame him, and bid him hold him still.
The foreign element in Chaucer 's work is evidence of the influence upon him of the speech of the people he visited. Let any one consult a glossary to his works and he will be amazed at the large number of French and Latin words recorded there — amazed because "by the reign of Edward III. French was so little known in England, even in the families of the great, that about 1350 'John Cornwal, a maystere of gramere, chaunged J?e lore in gramere scole and construccion of Freynsch into Englysch.' "34 After the close of the fourteenth century, the language spoken in England was that of the Midlands; then, the southern dialect fell to the level of a peasant's jargon.
John Gower, whom his friend Chaucer dubbed, perhaps infelicitously, "0 moral Gower,"35 was of Kentish birth. Of his personal history little is known. The date of his birth has been set at about 1325. His death is stated to have taken place in 1408. Gower has been described as
84 Sir James A. H. Murray in "Encyc. Brit.," s.v. "English Language." 86 O moral Gower ! this booke I direct
To thee, and to the philosophical Strood, To vouchesauf there need is to correct Of your benignities and zeales good.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 45
one of the best of our minor poets. He came of a wealthy family, the owners of several country houses, and "seems to have studied at Merton College, Oxford. ' '36 The position he holds in English literature is due to his "Confessio Amantis," which is a collection of reflections on matters physical, metaphysical, and moral, woven in with stories derived from "the common repertories of the Middle Ages." His moral reflections have been declared confessedly wise, impressive, and almost sublime. This poem which was written almost in English, secured for him a permanent place among British poets.
The extract from "Confessio Amantis" given below serves a double purpose: to show the quality of Gower's verse, and his unbroken friendship with Chaucer, to whom he paid a graceful compliment by putting into the mouth of Venus the following words:
And greet well Chaucer when ye meet, As my disciple and my poete; For in the floures of his youth, In sondry wise, as he well couth, Of ditties and of songes glade, The which he for my sake made, The land fulfilled is over all; Whereof to him in special, Above all other, I am most hold: Forthy now in his dayes old Thou shalle him tell this message, That he upon his latter age, To set an end of all his werk, As he which is mine owne clerk, Do make his Testament of Love, As thou hast done thy shrift above, So that my court it may record.
88 Collier loc. cit. p. 61.
46 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Gower wrote four poems in all. The first was ' ' Balades and other Poeins, ' ' written in French ; the second, ' ' Specu- lum Meditantis, ' ' which was written in French and treated of the duties of conjugal life. The third, "Vox Clamantis," written in Latin, recounted the story of the rebellion of the Commons in Richard II. 's time. This work is believed to have been destroyed. To the fourth, "Confessio Aman- tis," reference has already been made. In 1399 Gower was struck with blindness and suffered from this affliction until his death, which occurred at Southwark, near London.
In the Manuscript Section of the British Museum, London, is a collection known as the Arundel MSS., number fifty-seven of which is written in the Kentish dialect of 1340. Folio eighty-two of this MS. contains the Lord's Prayer as written at that time :
"Pater Noster. — Vader oure thet art ine heuenes y halzed by thi name, cominde thi riche, y worthe thi wil ase in heuene ine erthe, bread oure eche dayes yef ous to day, and uor let ous oure yeldinges ase and we norleteth oure yelderes, and ne ous led nazt in to unondinge, ac vri ous uram queade. zo by hit."
To James I. of Scotland, born in 1394 and detained many years ast a state prisoner in England, we owe the famous "King's Quhair" (quire or book). It is a poem of about two hundred stanzas, each of seven lines, which relates many of the events of the King's life. For nineteen years he lived in England, chiefly at Windsor and Nottingham, and came under the influence of Chaucer's and Gower 's verse, but the song he sang in "The King's Quhair" was the inspired song of the lover.
One day while looking out of a window in the Round Tower he saw walking in a garden below the beautiful Joan
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 47
Beaufort, daughter of the Duke of Somerset, and this vision awakened the poetical passion within him. James wrote also ' ' Christis Kirk on the Grene, ' ' in Aberdeenshire dialect, and "Peblis to the Play" in that of Tweedale. There is little doubt that these helped for a time to check the then fast-disappearing northern English dialect from the literature of England.
The following verses from "The King's Quhair," written about 1420, during James's detention in England, serve to illustrate the character of English early in the fifteenth century.
Where as in ward full oft I would bewail My deadly life, full of pain and penance,
Saying right thus, What have I guilt to fail37 My freedom in this world and my pleasance ? Sen38 every wight has thereof suffisance
That I behold, and I a creature
Put from all this, hard is mine aventure.39
The bird, the beast, the fish eke in the sea, They live in freedom everich in his kind,
And I a man, and lacketh liberty!
What shall I sayn, what reason may I find, That fortune should do so? Thus in my mind
My folk I would arg'ue,40 but all for nought;
Was none that might that on my paines wrought.41
Among other writers of this period whose work serves to show the growth and development of the English tongue are Langland and Barbour.
William (sometimes styled Robert) Langland, who was born about 1330, died 1400, was the author of "The Vision
37 Of what have I been guilty so that I should lack?
88 Since. 39 Fate.
40 Read in "with" to precede "my folk."
"There was none to work on (i.e., relieve) my pains.
48
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
of Piers Plowman," an allegorical poem whose theme is similar to that of Bunyan 's ' ' Pilgrim 's Progress. ' ' For this reason some writers claim that it was he who struck the first telling blow in the fight for the Reformation in England. Be this as it may, it is certain that he never tired of un- masking the ignorant and vicious clergy of his time.
The following lines from ' ' The Vision of Piers Plowman, ' ' written about 1362, show the alliterative character of Lang- land's verse and the English of his day:
In a summer season,
When soft was the sun, I shoop me into shrowds42
As I a sheep43 were; In habit as an hermit
Unholy of werkes, Went wide in this world
Wonders to hear; Ac44 on a May morwening
On Malvern hills Me befel a ferly,45
Of fairy me thought. I was weary for-wandered,46
And went me to rest Under a brood47 bank,
By a burn's48 side;
And as I lay and leaned,
And looked on the waters, I slombered into a sleeping,
It swayed so mury49 Then gan I meten50
A marvellous sweven,51 That I was in a wilderness,
Wist I never where; And, as I beheld into the east
On high to the sun, I seigh52 a tower on a toft53
Frieliche ymaked,54 A deep dale beneath,
A donjon therein, With deep ditches and darke,
And dreadful of sight. . . .
John Barbour, born about 1316 at Aberdeen, died 1395, was author of a great epic poem entitled "The Bruce, " a narrative based upon historical facts, which in style differs
42 I put me into clothes.
43 Shepherd
44 And.
46 Wonder.
46 With wandering.
4T Broad.
48 Bourne (stream).
49 Sounded so pleasant. » Meet. 81 Dream.
62 Saw.
63 Hill.
"Well made (built).
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 49
from the English of Chaucer only in the broader vowel sounds of the Scottish epic.
The passage cited below, describing the condition of Scotland under Edward I. of England, illustrates the vowel peculiarities referred to strikingly. It occurs in the earlier part of "The Bruce,'' which was written probably about 1376.
Ah! Freedom is a noble thing! Freedom mays55 man to have liking;56 Freedom all solace to man gives: He lives at ease that freely lives ! A noble heart may have nane ease, Ne elles nought that may him please Giff freedom failye: for free liking Is yarnit57 ower58 all other thing. Na he that aye has livit free May nought knaw well the propertj7,59 The anger, na the wretched doom, That is couplit60 to foul thirldoom.61 But gif he had assayit it, Then all perquer62 he suld it wit; And suld think freedom mair to prise Than all the gold in warld that is.
4. THE MODERN PERIOD: THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
Before treating this period it is necessary to consider the conditions that prevailed shortly before its dawn, because it began with the introduction of printing into England. During the early years of the fifteenth century England was at war with France; later, civil war was a disturbing
"Makes. S9 The state, condition, or quality.
66 Pleasure. *> Coupled (attached).
57 Yearned for. 61 Thraldom.
BSOver (more than). 62 Exactly.
f>0 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
element at home. Englishmen were occupied in bearing arms for the King abroad and for his rivals at home. Under such conditions little attention was given to the language or the literature of the people. But the union of the White Rose, in the person of Elizabeth of York, with the Red Rose of Lancaster, in the person of Henry VII., brought the War of the Roses to an end and restored peace to the land. Then followed the introduction of printing. "At the very epoch when the greatness of Burgundy was most swiftly ripening/' wrote John Lothrop Motley,63 "another weapon was secretly forging, more potent in the great struggle for freedom than any which the wit or hand of man has ever devised or wielded. When Philip the Good, in the full blaze of his power, and flushed with the triumphs of terri torial aggrandizement, was instituting at Bruges the order of the Golden Fleece, to the Glory of God, of the Blessed Virgin, and of the holy Andrew, patron Saint of the Burgundian family, and enrolling the names of the kings and princes who were to be honored with its symbols, at that very moment an obscure citizen of Haarlem, one Lorenz Coster,64 or Lawrence the Sexton, succeeded in printing a little grammar by means of movable types. The invention of printing was accomplished, but it was not ushered in with such a blaze of glory as heralded the con- temporaneous erection of the Golden Fleece. The humble setter of types did not deem emperors and princes alone worthy his companionship. His invention sent no thrill of admiration throughout Christendom ; and yet what was the good Philip of Burgundy, with his Knights of the Golden Fleece and all their effulgent trumpery, in the eye of
88 "The Rise of the Dutch Republic," Vol. I., p. 45. M Spelled also Koster.
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humanity and civilization compared with the poor sexton and his wooden type ? ' '
One need not wonder that Coster's discovery sent no thrill of admiration throughout Christendom, for Coster was not slow to realize that his success would depend upon the length of time he could keep his discovery secret. Therefore, he guarded it jealously, and put all persons who assisted him in his work under oath not to reveal any of the secrets of his printery. But the story of his discovery has yet to be told, and although considered legendary by some writers — even that doyen of printers, Dr. De Vinne, met with no little difficulty in disposing of the story — it will serve its purpose if only to account for the existence of the numerous printed volumes which are attributed to him.65
The earliest evidence favoring Coster's right to be con- sidered the discoverer of printing is "The Chronicle of Cologne," a German book published at Cologne in 1499. This work was printed by Ulrich Zell at Mayence. The "Chronicle" states that "Although the art, as now prac- tised, was discovered at Mayence, nevertheless the first idea came from Holland, and the ' Donate, ' which had been pre- viously printed there. Those books are therefore the origin of the art. ' ' Laureritius, Laurens or Lorenz Coster, the dis- coverer of movable types, was a man of means, who lived in Haarlem, Holland. The approximate date of his discovery was 1429 ; the origin of it was a ramble in the woods near the city where he dwelt. On this occasion Coster cut some letters out of the bark of a tree. By the aid of these letters
68 The reader interested in pursuing this subject further is referred to Humphrey's "History of the Art of Printing" (London), and De Vinne's "Invention of Printing" (New York).
52 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
he obtained an impression upon paper, but the impression showed the letters in reverse. He continued cutting until he had carved several lines for his own amusement and liked the result so well that he set about to apply it in a practical way. With the help of his brother-in-law, one Thomas Pietrison, he made a thick, adhesive ink which he could use to better advantage, and with it was able to print from his wooden blocks. At the outset he printed on only one side of the paper, and the first book he printed in this way was a Dutch work named, ' ' Spiegal enser Behoude- nisse." The separate leaves of this book were pasted to- gether so that blank sides might not be seen. Coster died in 1439. Among his assistants was a workman named John Geinsfleisch (or Gutenberg, the Elder), who after he had learned the art returned to Mayence, his native city, and imparted the secret to a nephew — an artist of Strassburg, named John Gutenberg. Uncle and nephew spent much money and time in making experiments, in which they were helped by a capitalist named John Fust, who advanced the necessary funds for the carrying on of the work, but who required that all the tools and presses of the new craft should be pledged as security for his loans. After two years of assiduous labor both the types and the machinery necessary to the printing of a large work were made. Then began the printing of the Bible, which was not completed until 1455 or 1456. Gutenberg, while ex- perimenting, found time to print several other works before this, and among them were the "Donatus" (1451), the "Appeal against the Turks" (1454), and the "Letters of Indulgence" (1454-55). To Peter Schoeffer, another of Gutenberg's assistants, is due the invention of cast metal types which made the economical application of printing
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possible. These metal types were made after Fust had foreclosed the mortgage that he held against Gutenberg, and thus secured the control of the printing establishment and the services of Schoeffer.
For the reason that printing helped largely to establish the forms our words were to take, the literary language which it produced, since it had attained the almost inflec- tionless condition of the language of to-day, became known as Modern English. This language is commonly divided into two periods, the Early Modern or Tudor English which extends from Caxton to the close of Shakespeare's literary activity, and the publication of the King James Version of the Bible, or about one hundred and thirty years — 1477 to 1611 — and Modern English, from 1611 onward.
The influence of books on the language was immeasurable. As they increased in number and spread throughout the land the study of the people became the art of reading. Printing tended to establish the forms of the written word which, while suited to the eye, differed in sound when pronounced to the ear. Confusion of spelling arose when persons living in different parts of the country endeavored to express the sounds familiar to their ears in writing or printing. To this confusion — modified somewhat as time passed by improvements in printing, by added facilities of communication and the resulting increase of contact be- tween the people — we owe the anomalies to be found in our spelling to-day.
Although the inflections had disappeared no system to re- place them had been devised, so that a certain looseness in the order of using words prevailed. This was particularly so in the sixteenth century ; then the language was the sub- ject of syntactical license which would not be countenanced
54 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
to-day. Dr. E. A. Abbott, who in his "Shakespearian Gram- mar" made a valuable contribution to Tudor English, pointed out that the dropping of the inflections resulted in the use of words in any grammatical relation as long as they conveyed the idea of the speaker. "For then," said he, "clearness was preferred to grammatical correctness and brevity both to correctness and clearness." So the practise of placing words without any regard to syntax, in the order in which they first came to the thought, be- came common. This produced a forcible, direct, and clear English such as may be found in the writings of Shake- speare and Jonson.
(B) THE EARLY MODERN OR TUDOR PERIOD: THE MYSTERY PLAYS AND THE MORALITIES
The list of writers whose work exercised influence on the language during the Early Modern or Tudor Period is very large, so large that it is impossible to discuss each writer's achievements at length ; therefore, brief biographical notices of only a selected few are given in this book.
William Caxton, who introduced printing into England, was born probably about the year 1423. Some writers, as Oldys,66 whom Dr. Collier follows,67 have placed his birth as early as 1412, but as the records of the Worshipful Com- pany of Mercers show that he was apprenticed to one Robert Large in 1438, he would have been twenty-six years old at the time of his apprenticeship, which seems unlikely. For this reason the approximate date 1423, set by his biographer William Blades, which would have made Caxton about fif- teen years old when apprenticed, is preferred. He was
M Biographia Britannica," s.v.
67 "History of English Literature," p. 72.
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born in the Weald of Kent, a region which formerly ex- tended from the Strait of Dover (in Kent) to Beachy Head (in Sussex) . Exactly where, within the limits of this weald or exposed region, is not known. Caxton's master, Robert Large, was sheriff of London in 1430, and elected Lord Mayor of that city in 1439. This suggests that Caxton's parents must have been people of influence, or he would not have been able to secure apprenticeship to one of such high distinction. Before the expiration of Caxton's ap- prenticeship Robert Large died, and his executors decided to send Caxton to Bruges to complete it. His parents, whatever their names and condition may have been, gave Caxton some education, for in the prologue to his ' ' Charles the Grete" (1485), he says: "I am bounden to pray for my fader and moder's souls that in my youthe sent me to schoole, by which by the suffraunce of God I gete my living, I hope truly. ' '
While in Europe he was appointed to negotiate the renewal of the then existing treaty in regard to wool with the Duke of Burgundy in 1465. Although he failed in this, he was sent out by the Mercer's Company in 1468. When Edward IV. was driven into exile Caxton succeeded in find- ing favor and gaining influence at Court. In 1471 he entered the service of the Duchess of Burgundy, and while in her employ heard of the discovery of printing. As to who taught Caxton the art of printing there is some un- certainty. Wynkyn de Worde, who was one of Caxton's assistants, claimed that Ulric Zell, of Cologne, taught him, but an anonymous writer in the "Encyclopedia Britan- nica"68 says "he seems rather to have had Colard Mansion as his teacher." The exact date that Caxton brought his
68 Caxton, William, s.v.
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press to England and set it up in Westminster is uncertain, but the date is set between the years 1471 and 1478. Dr. Funk places the date of the printing of" The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye" — the first book printed in England —at about 1475.69 Caxton followed this up with the "Dictes and Sayinges of the Philosophers, emprynted by me William Caxton, at Westmestre, the yere of our Lord m.cccc.l.xxvij." But Caxton had printed English books before this at Bruges, and these were an earlier edition of "The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,". printed in 1471,70 and "The Game and the Play of Chesse, fynysshid the last day of marche the yer of our lord god. a. thousand foure honderd and Ixxiiii." These books, says Dr. Thomas MacKellar,71 were, however, "printed at Bruges." "At Bruges," says the ' l Dictionary of National Biography, " " there lived a skilful caligrapher named Colard Mansion, who set up a press in that city for the first time about 1473. Mr. Blades states that Caxton probably supplied Mansion with money to carry out his enterprise, and placed himself under Man- sion's tuition at Bruges, That Caxton and Mansion were acquainted with one another is not disputed. But Caxton 's explicit mention of Cologne as the place in .which he finished his translation in 1471, and the remark of Caxton 's suc- cessor, Wynkyn de Worde, that Caxton printed a Latin book, ' Bartholomseus de Proprietatibus Rerum,' at Cologne (W. de Worde, Proheme to his ed. of Bartholomaeus, n.d.), powerfully support the conclusion that Caxton was asso- ciated with Cologne in his early printing operations. M. J. P. A. Madden suggests that Caxton and Mansion were
69 "Standard Dictionary," s.v. Printing.
70 Collier "at Cologne in 1471."
71 "The American Printer," p. 16.
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fellow students of the art of printing at Cologne some time between 1471 and 1474, and this is very probable. For the rest, the absence from the 'Recuyell' of many technical points met with in Cologne books of the time, and the presence there of most, though not all, the technical points found in the early books of Mansion's press, point to the conclusion that Caxton, having learned printing at Cologne, returned to Bruges about 1474, and printed the 'Recuyell' at Mansion's press there." Caxton died in 1491 or 1492. Of the art of printing, the invention of which we owe to Germany, it has recently been pointed out72 that while it made way rapidly in Prance, its progress in England was very slow ; in France it was introduced early and fostered and developed on liberal lines by men of learning. Two professors of the Sorbonne brought experts from Germany and set up the first printing-press in Paris in 1470. From this press in less than two years issued twenty-two volumes, among them works of Vergil and Cicero, of Plato in Latin, of Terence, Sallust, and Juvenal; also manuals for the schools and books besides. By the close of the century eighty-five presses were at work in Paris and thirty-eight in the French provinces. In nearly all cases these presses were owned and conducted by scholars and men of letters. Throughout the sixteenth century in France the art of printing was very learnedly and brilliantly carried on.
Having introduced the printer's art into England, Caxton was not slow in pursuing it. He brought what was necessary for the purpose from the Continent and started a press in Westminster in 1478. This was only eight years later than the institution in Paris, but the art expanded
72 "English Literary Debt to France" in "The Sun," New York, April 23, 1911, p. 2.
58 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
very slowly in England, and with far less than the mag- nificence that attended it in France. By the end of the fifteenth century, says Sir Sidney Lee,73 only three or four presses had been set up in London, and all save Caxtoii's were the ventures of half -educated foreign mechanics. In Caxton's day a German printed a few books at Oxford. He was no more than a lonely and fleeting manifestation. The Oxford University Press can not trace its history further back than 1585. At Cambridge a wanderer from Cologne printed nine or ten books in 1521 and 1522, but there was no permanent press before 1582. In London, after Caxton's initial effort, the press was kept going in a modest manner by foreign hands. Germany and the Low Countries supplied the thin ranks of the London printers.
Notwithstanding that he had set up his establishment in London, Caxton found it necessary to enlist the aid of French printers, and several of his books were printed in Paris. It may have been due to this that Richard Pynson, a native of Rouen, where he had learned "the trade," determined to move to England and establish himself there. To Pynson belongs the distinction of having printed the first Latin classic in England. In 1497 he printed the plays of Terence. Although printing had been pursued as an occupation for sixty-three years, when the Great Bible was ready for composition, there was not among the London printers one bold enough to undertake the work, which had to be sent to Paris. Subsequently, however, owing to the interference of the French Government, the presses were removed to London and the work was completed there. The
""The French Renaissance in England: an Account of the Literary Relations of England and France in the XVIth Century."
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first type cast in England was cast by a Frenchman in the year 1545.
Between the years 1478 and 1491 Caxton issued ninety- six books from the Westminster Press, including among others the works of Chaucer and Gower, Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte d 'Arthur," and various translations of more or less classical works from French, Latin, and Dutch, together with a number of smaller books, a good many of which are religious. His industry was very great, and he died in the midst of his work. He was not only a skilful master printer and publisher of books, but to some extent a man of letters — editor, author, translator — with a certain style of his own and a true enthusiasm for literature. His work as writer and translator helped to fix the literary language of England in the sixteenth century. Specimens of his printed books exist in various public and private libraries. The British Museum possesses eighty-three Caxton volumes.74
The need for going somewhat at length into the discovery of printing and into the introduction of the printers' art to England must be self-evident to the reader who stops to consider the natural relation that exists between our language and literature. That relation was brought closer by the introduction of printing and by the dissemination of books. In the productions of Caxton 's press one can trace the completion of the transition from the Middle English Period to that of the Modern English and "the disappear- ance of the final e, and of most of the syllabic inflections of Middle English. "75 Those of us who watch with interest the spelling reform movements of our day have some idea
74 K. M. Warren, the "Catholic Encyclopedia," Vol. Ill, p. 469, s.v. "Caxton." 78 J. A. H. Murray in "Encyclopedia Britannica."
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of the trials that beset William Caxton during this period of transition. From the fact that the earlier production* of his press were in Middle English, and that this was discarded in the later works, it will be seen that almost from the beginning the printing-press has had an immense influence on the forms of our language.
To illustrate the confusion that existed in English speech, as much as to show Caxton 's perplexities in his own words, Sir James Murray reproduced 'a part of the prologue to Caxton 's translation of Vergil's "Eneydos" (1490), and with his permission this is reproduced here :
"I doubted that it sholde not please some gentylmen, whiche late blamed me, sayeng, y in my translacyons I had oner curyous termes, whiche coud not be vnderstande of corny n peple, and desired me to vse olde and homely termes in my translacyons. And fayn wolde I satysfy euery man; and so to doo, toke an olde boke and redde therin; and certaynly the englysshe was so rude and brook that I coude not wele vnderstande it. And also my lorde abbot of Westmynster ded to shewe to me late certayn euydences wryton in olde englysshe for to reduce it in to our englysshe now vsid. And certaynly it was wreton in suche wyse that it was more lyke to dutche then englysshe; I coude not reduce ne brynge it to be vnderstonden. And cer- taynly, our langage now vsed varyeth ferre from that which was vsed and spoken whan I was borne. For we englysshemen ben vnder the domynacyon of the mone, whiche is neuer stedfaste, but euer wauerynge, wexynge one season, and waneth and dycreaseth another season. And that comyn englysshe that is spoken in one shyre varyeth from a nother. In so much that in my days happened that certayn marchauntes wero in a shipe in tamyse, for to haue sayled ouer the sea into zelande, and for lacke of winde thei taryed atte forlond, and wente to lande for to refreshe them. And one of theym named sheffelde, a mercer, cam in to an hows and axed for mete, and specyally he axyd after eggys, And the goode wyf answerde,
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that he coiule speke no frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry, for he also couclc speke no frenshe, but wolde haue hadde egges; and she vnderstode hym not. And thenne at laste a nother sayd that he wolde haue eyren : then the good wyf sayd that she vnderstod hym well. Loo! what sholcle a man in thyse days HOAV wryte, egges or eyren ? certaynly, it is harde to playse euery man, by cause of dyuersite and chaunge of langage. For in these dayes, euery man that is in any repu- tacyon in his countre wyll vtter his comyncacyon and maters in suche maners & termes that fewe men shall vnderstonde theyin. And som honest and grete clerkes haue ben wyth me, and desired me to wryte the moste curyons termes that I coude fynde. And thus bytwene playn, rude, and curyous, I stande abasshed; but in my Judgemente, the comyn termes that be dayli vsed ben lyghter to be vnderstonde then the olde and auncyent englysshe."
Who knows but that the simplified spelling movement now afoot may not prove another transition period for the student of English ?
As has been stated, Caxton printed Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte d' Arthur." It is a prose romance which was completed in the ninth year of Edward IV. 's reign (1470). The author has been identified by Professor Kittridge with Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revell in Warwickshire, England, who succeeded to the family estates in 1433 or 1434. Caxton described him as "a ser- vant of Jesus both day and night," which has led to the conjecture that he may have been a priest, especially as "Sir" was a title accorded to priests. Malory's work com- bines simplicity and virility of language with an earnest- ness and tenderness of expression which show him to have been a master of his art. Several editions of "Morte d' Arthur" have been printed, and the work is one that has been recently selected for study as an English classic in
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American schools. The following extract will serve to show the quality of Sir Thomas Malory's English75*:
"0 ye myglity and pompous lordes shynynge in the glory transitory of this unstable lyf, as in regnynge over grete realines and myghty grete eountrees, fortyfyed with stronge castels and toures edifyed with many a ryche cite; ye also ye fyers and myghty knyghtes so valyaunt in adventurous dedes of armes, beholde, beholde, se how this myghty eonquerour kinge Arthur, whome in his humayne lyfe all the worlde doubted76; ye also, this noble quene Guenever, whiche somtyme sate in her chayre adourned with golde, perles, and precyous stones, now lye full lowe in obscure fosse or pyt covered with cloddes of erth and claye. Beholde also this myghty champyon Syr Launcelot, pereles of knyghthode, and se now how he lyeth grovelynge upon the colde moulde, now beynge so feble and faynt that somtyme was so terryble how and in what maner ought ye to be so desyrous of worldly honoure so daungerous. Therfore me thynketh this present boke called La Mort Darthur is ryght necessary often to be radde. For in it shall ye fynde the moost gracyous, knyghtly, and vertuous werre of ye moost noble knyghtes of the world, wherby they gate praysyng contynual. Also me semeth by ye ofte redyng therof ye shall gretely desyre to accustome your selfe in folowynge of those gracyous knyghtly dedes, that is to saye, to drede God, and to love ryghtwysnes,77 faythfully and coragyously to serve your soverayne prynce. And the more y* God hath gyven you the tryumphall honoure, the meker ye ought to be, ever ferynge the unstableness of this deceyvable worlde.
Sir Thomas More was born in London in 1480, and suffered death on the scaffold for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, by which Henry VIII. was acknowl- edged "the only Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England," and for opposing the King's marriage to Anne Boleyn. More's reputation as a writer rests on two
75aW. E. Mead, Selections from Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte D'Arthur," Athenaeum Press Series, pp. 320-321. 76 Dreaded. 77 Righteousness.
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works: (1) "The Life and Reign of Edward V.," written in 1513, which was the first specimen of Classic English prose, and the earliest work in English wortliy the name of history. (2 ) " Utopia, ' ' the romance of an ideal republic, written in flowing Latin and published in about the year 1514. More ranks as the leading writer of the period in which he lived. . " Utopia/' equivalent to "Nowhere," from the Greek ou, "not" and topos, "place," is an ideal commonwealth in which vice does not flourish and where there is no poverty because there is no personal property and no money. Agriculture is the chief industry and everybody works. The sanitation of cities is carefully pre- served. The magistrates are elected. Meals are enjoyed at a table common to thirty families. Nobody may travel without permission from the magistrate. War is deemed inglorious, but may be waged in self-defense. Conquest by guile is more creditable than if by prowess. Prisoners of war and persons guilty of offenses against morality are made slaves. Religious toleration, with slight restriction, prevails. The book is a keen satire of social and economic conditions that, judged by his other writings and his prac- tise, show More's political philosophy was not that of Utopia. In the book itself he counsels Hythloday so to order "that which you can not turn to good that it be not very bad. For it were not possible for all things to be well unless all men were good. Which I think will not be yet this good many years."
In 1528 More wrote a "Dialogue Concerning Heresies," from which the following extract is made. It consists of the fourteenth chapter of that work:
Some prieste, to bring up a pilgrimage in his parishe, may devise some false felowe fayning himselfe to come seke a saint
04 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
in hys chyrch, and there sodeinly say, that he hath gotten hys syght. Than shall ye have the belles rong for a miracle. And the fonde folke of the countrey soon made foles. Than women commynge thither with their candels. And the Person byenge of some lame begger iii or iiii payre of theyr olde crutches, with xii pennes spent in men and women of wex, thrust thorowe divers places, some with arrowes, and some wyth rusty knyves, wyll make his offerynges for one vij yere worth twise hys tythes.
Thys is, quoth I, very trouth that suche thynges may be, and sometime so be in dede. As I remember me that I have hard my father tell of a begger, that in Kyng Henry his daies the sixt cam with his wife to Saint Albonis. And there was walk- ing about the towne begging, a five or six dayes before the kinges commynge thither, saienge that he was borne blinde, and never saw in hys lyfe.78 And was warned in hys dreame, that he shoulde come out of Berwyke, where he said he had ever dwelled, to seke Saynt Albon, and that he had ben at his shryne, and had not bene holpen. And therefore he woulde go seke hym at some other place, for he had hard some say sins he came that Sainct Albonys body shold be at Colon^, and in dede such a contencion hath ther ben. But of troth, as I am surely informed, he lieth here at Saint Albonis, saving some reliques of him, which thei there shew shrined. But to tell you forth, whan the kyng was comen, and the towne full, sodaynlye thys blind man, at Saint Albonis shryne had his sight agayne, and a myracle solemply rongen, and Te Deum songen, so that nothyng was talked of in al the towne, but this myracle. So happened it than that duke Humfry of Glocester, a great wyse man and very wel lerned, having great joy to se such a myracle, called the pore man unto hym. And first shewing him self joyouse of Goddes glory so shewed in the getting of his sight, and exortinge hym to mekenes, and to none ascribing of any part the worship to him self nor to be proude of the peoples prayse, which would call hym a good and godly man thereby. At last he loked well upon his eyen, and asked why ther he could never se nothing at al, in all his life before.
78 Compare Shakespeare's "Henry VI.," Part II., act II., sc. 1.
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And whan as well his wyfe as himself affermed fastely no, than he loked advisedly upon his eien again, and said, I be- leve you very wel, for me thinketh that ye cannot se well yet. Yea syr, quoth he, I thanke God and his holy marter, I can se nowe as well as any man. Ye can, quoth the Duke ; what colour is my gowne? Then anone the beggar told him. What colour, quoth he, is this man's gowne? He told him also; and so forthe, without any sticking, he told him the names of al the colours that coulde bee shewed him. And whan my lord saw that, he bad him "walke faytoure," and made him be set openly in the stockes. For though he could have sene soudenly by miracle the dyfference betwene divers colours, yet coulde he not by the syght so sodenly tel the names of all these colours but if he had known them before, no more than the names of all the men that he should sodenly se. Lo therfore I say, quod your frende, who may bee sure of such thynges whan such pageantes be played before all the towne?
Another writer won his renown as a translator of the New Testament into English. This was William Tyndale born, according to Foxe,79 on the "Welsh border in 1484.80 Tyndale 's work (issued in 1525 or 1526) ranks with the best of the English classics, and his style is acknowledged to be both forceful and pure. The fame of Tyndale 's Tes- tament spread abroad rapidly, and although the Church was instrumental in having heavy fines imposed, and other punishment inflicted, upon those who sold and distributed the book, it was powerless to suppress it even though many copies were seized and publicly burned. A second and revised edition was issued in 1534. Tyndale also assisted in translating from the Hebrew the "Five Books of Moses," which were printed in Hamburg in 1530. This work was supplemented by a translation into English of the "Book of Jonah/' in 1531. Tyndale suffered martyrdom "for
79 "Book of Martyrs."
60 Collier "History of English Literature," p. 84, circa 1477.
f,6 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
heresy," dying by strangulation in 1536. His last words are said to have been, "0 Lord, open the King of Eng- land's eyes!" — a prayer that Henry VIII. had anticipated by declaring himself supreme head of the Church of Eng- land in the preceding year.
The following is an extract from Tyndale's admirable translation of the New Testament, written probably be- tween 1526 and 1536. It consists of the parable of the Good Samaritan, from Luke x, 30-37.
Jesus answered and sayde: A certayne man descended from Jerusalem into Jericho. And fell into the hondes off theves whych robbed hym off his rayment and wonded hym and departed levynge him halfe deed. And yt chaunsed that there cam a certayne preste that same waye and saw hym and passed by. And lyke wyse a levite when he was come neye to the place went and loked on hym and passed by. Then a certayne Samaritane as he iornyed cam neye vnto him and behelde hym and had compassion on hym and cam to hymn and bounde vppe hys wondes and poured in wyne and oyle and layed hym on his beaste and brought hym to a common hostry, and drest him. And on the morowe when he departed he toke out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him, Take care of him and whatsoever thou spendest above this when I come agayne I will recompence the. Which nowe of these thre thynkest thou was neighbour unto him that fell into the theves hondes? And he answered: He that shewed mercy on hym. Then sayd Jesus vnto hym, Goo and do thou lyke wyse.
A third writer of this period, also a churchman who gave up his life for the Faith, was Thomas Cranmer, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, by the grace of God and command of King Henry VIII., and sometimes referred to as the Father of the Church. He was one of the distinguished leaders of the Reformation, probably its greatest writer. Between the years 1540 and 1543 Cranmer headed a com-
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mission engaged in revising the "Bishop's Book," or "In- stitution of a Christian Man," and in preparing the "Necessary Erudition," known also as the "King's Book." This work and the translation of the Litany into English in 1543, opened the way for the greater task which he was to achieve in the following reign. To Cranmer's efforts the English Reformation owes three great works — the "Book of Common Prayer," "Twelve Homilies," or ser- mons written under Cranmer's guidance as aids to such of the clergy as were not able to write their own; and Cranmer's Bible, sometimes called the Great Bible on account of its size. Ranking next after the Bible, the "Book of Common Prayer" contains many beautiful speci- mens of pure English, the like of which it would be difficult to match in the entire range of English literature. The use of this work in Divine service in all English churches was ordered by act of Parliament in 1548.
Cranmer's Bible, which was issued in 1540, seems to have been based on Tyndale's version. In its production Cranmer had the assistance of Miles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter. Born in 1489, Cranmer died at the stake in 1556.
"Whatever good the Reformation wrought in England, it was at heavy cost. Stores of information perished with the destruction of the religious houses in the reign of Henry VIII. He who "neither spared man in his rage nor woman in his lust," spared not the literary collections in the libraries of the church. For though it appears that Henry directed a commission to Leland, the antiquary, to search for and preserve such works belonging to the dissolved monasteries and colleges as might rescue remarkable Eng- lish events and occurrences from oblivion, and though Le- land acquainted Henry that he had "conserved many good
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authors the which otherwise had bene lyke to have pery- shed, to no smal incommodite of good letters ; of the which, ' ' he tells him, "part remayne in the most magnificent lybraryes of your royal palaces; part also remayne in my custodie"; yet he expressly recites, that one of his pur- poses was to expel ' ' the crafty coloured doctryne of a rowt of Eomayne bysshopps"; which too plainly indicates that he "conserved" but little concerning ancient customs. Strype, who praises Henry's commission to Leland, after- ward breaks out, saying, "But great pity it was, and a most irreparable loss, that notwithstanding this provision, most of the ancient MS. histories and writings of learned British and Saxon authors were lost. Libraries were sold by mercenary men for anything they could get, in that confusion and devastation of religious houses. Bale, the antiquary, makes mention of a merchant that bought two noble libraries about these times for forty shillings; the books whereof served him for no other use but for waste paper; and that he had been ten years consuming them, and yet there remained still store enough for as many years more. Vast quantities and numbers of these books, banished with the monks and friars from their monasteries, were conveyed away and carried beyond seas to book- sellers there, by whole ship ladings ; and a great many more were used in shops and kitchens." It is not surprizing, then, that so little remains from those immense collections ; or rather it is wonderful that so much should have escaped the general devastation. Yet, in the economy of the Refor- mation, the ruthless deed was, perhaps, an essential pre- paration for the mighty knowledge that submerged the superstition of a thousand years.81
81 William Hone, "Ancient Mysteries," pp. viii and ix, London, 1S28.
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To Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, the fourth of the writers of this period, we must look to find the earliest writer of blank verse in English. The chief characteristics of Howard's work were elegance and refinement. He translated into English blank verse the second and fourth books of Vergil's "^Eneid," and wrote the first sonnets82 ever written in English. Howard was tried for treason upon a slight pretext and beheaded in 1547.
The few lines given below are selected from his trans- lation of the fourth book of the "^Eneid" first published in 1557 — ten years after his execution.
But now the wounded quene with heavie care Throwgh out the vaines doth nourishe ay the plage, Surprised with blind flame, and to her minde Gan to resort the prowes of the man And honor of his race, whiles on her brest Imprinted stake his wordes and forme of face, Ne to her lymmes care graunteth quiet rest. The next morowe with Phoebus lampe the erthe Alightned clere, and eke the dawninge daye The shadowe danke gan from the pole remove.
The following, in modernized spelling, is Howard's " Sonnet to the Fair Geraldine. "83
Give place, ye lovers, here before
That spent your boasts and brags in vain! My lady's beauty passeth more
The best of yours, I dare well sayn, Than doth the sun the candle-light, Or brightest day the darkest night.
82 See chapter v, page 200, of this book.
83 "Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, etc.," ed. by Nott, — Vol. I. p. 4, London, 1815.
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And thereto hath a troth as just
As had Penelope the fair; For what she saith ye may it trust,
As it by writing sealed were: And virtues hath she many mo Than I with pen have skill to show.
I could rehearse, if that I would,
The whole effect of Nature's plaint, When she had lost the perfit mould,
The like to whom she could not paint: With wringing hands how she did cry, And what she said, I know it, I.
I know she swore with raging mind,
Her kingdom only set apart, There was no loss by law of kind
That could have gone so near her heart: And this was chiefly all her pain ; "She could not make the like again."
Sith Nature thus gave her the praise,
To be the chiefest work she wrought, In faith, methink, some better ways
On your behalf might well be sought, Than to compare, as ye have done, To match the candle with the sun.
The fifth of the great writers of the Early Modern Period — the men whose work no less than their individu- ality and mode of death did much to spread the language abroad — was Miles Coverdale, whom the ' l Encyclopedia Britannica "84 fittingly describes as "the celebrated trans- lator of the first complete English Bible.7' Coverdale 's Bible was published with a dedication to Henry VIII. in 1535. From this time forward his name has been im-
84 Article, "Coverdale," s.v.
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perishably associated with the history of the English Bible. Coverdale was born in Yorkshire in 1487 or 1488, and died in 1569, or thereabouts, for his remains were buried in the chancel of the Church of St. Bartholomew, February 19, 1569.
Among other writers of this period who achieved dis- tinction may be named John Skelton, a popular and viva- cious, although grotesque, satirist of the clergy — author of " Colin Clout," who lived in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. He died in 1529, in the sanctuary at "West- minster Abbey, where he had taken refuge from the ven- geance of his one-time patron Cardinal Wolsey, whom he attacked bitterly in a satire of 1,300 lines, a few of which are reprinted below :
But this mad Amalek He would dry up the streams
Like to a Mamelek,85 Of nine kings' reams,88
He regardeth lords All rivers and wells,
No more than potshords; All water that swells;
He is in such elation For with us he so mells89
Of his exaltation, That within England dwells,
And the supportation I wold he were somewhere else;
Of our sovereign lord, For else by and by
That, God to record,86 He will drink us so dry,
He ruleth all at will, And suck us so nigh,
Without reason or skill; That men shall scantly
Howbeit the primordial Have penny or halfpenny.
Of his wretched original, God save his noble grace,
And his base progeny, And grant him a place
And his greasy genealogy, Endless to dwell
He came of the sank royal87 With the devil of hell ! That was cast out of a butcher's stall.
85 Mameluke. ^ Realms.
88 Witness. S9 Meddles.
87 Sang royal (blood royal).
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Another satirist of this period was John Heywood, styled the "Epigrammatist." He was author of short, satirical, anticlerical t ' Interludes, ' ' and flourished in Henry VIII. 's time. Indeed, he is credited with having enter- tained or consoled both Henry VIII. and Queen Mary. Heywood 's pla'ys are, however, his chief productions. He wrote also an allegorical burlesque of the dispute between the new and the old Faith entitled, "A Parable of the Spider and the Fly/' wherein the spider represents the Protestant party and the fly the Catholic. In his "Des- cription of England, ' ' Harrison said of it : " He dealeth so profoundly, and beyond all measure of skill, that neither he himself that made it, neither anyone that readeth it, can reach unto the meaning thereof."
Nicholas Udall was the writer of the earliest extant English comedy — "Ralph Royster Doyster," in five acts. Udall was born in Hampshire in 1506, and educated at Oxford University. He died in 1556 or 1557. His name has been variously written Uvedale, Owdall, Dowdall, Woodall, and Woddell. He was a zealous Lutheran, under whose care Erasmus's "Paraphrase of the New Testament" was produced in 1548. At one time he was master of Eton College, and as such was noted for his severity. In 1542 he was dismissed from his post charged with robbery, and among the Cottonian MSS. there is preserved a letter in his own hand which practically admits his guilt.
In character and plot "Ralph Royster Doystcr" ranks as true comedy. It dates from about 1551, but was not printed until 1566. The language, as will be seen from the extract given on the following page, is somewhat racy.
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And I heard our Nourse speake of an husbande to-day
Ready for our mistresse; a rich man and a gay:
And we shall go in our French hoodes every day;
In our silke cassocks (I warrant you), freshe and gay;
In our tricke ferdigews, and billiments of golde,
Brave in our sutes of chaunge, seven double folde.
Then shall ye see Tibet, sires, treade the mosse so trimme;
Nay, why said I tread ? ye shall see hir glide and swimme,
Not lumperdee, clumperdee, like our spaniell Rig.
The good done to the English language by the dissemi- nation of the sermons of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (born in 1459, beheaded June 22, 1535), was incalculable, and the example that he set is one by which the language has greatly benefited since. In like manner the homely and anecdotal sermons of Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester (born about 1485; burned at the stake at Oxford, 1555), exercised wide influence on the people, though perhaps not so potent as his memorable last words — ' ' We shall, ' ' said the dying prelate as the fire began to con- sume him, ' ' this day light such a candle, by God 's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." Words such as these, spread over the land by the same breezes that fanned the flames which shriveled to ashes the mortal re- mains of the martyrs of the early English Protestant Church, could not but awaken the public conscience. The deaths of Cranmer, Bonner, Fisher, Latimer, and Ridley all helped to direct attention to the work done by these men, who gave up their lives for the Faith, for their ser- mons were sought, their writings scanned, their teachings analyzed, and the stories of their lives and sufferings were told in imperishable manner, as by John Foxe (born 1517 ; died 1587), in his world-famous "Book of Martyrs."
The citation which follows is a part of Latimer ?s third
74 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
sermon, preached before Edward VI., at Westminster, March 22, 1549. It is derived, with all its original spellings and provincialisms, from Sir Henry Ellis 's "Pictorial History of England."
Syr, what forme of preachinge woulde you appoynt me to preache before a kynge? Wold you have me for to preache nothynge as concernynge a kynge in the kynges sermon? Have you any commission to apoynt me what I shall preach ? Besydes thys, I asked hym dyvers other questions, and he wold make no answere to none of them all. He had nothyng to say. Then I turned me to the kyng, and submitted my selfe to his Grace, and sayed, I never thoughte my selfe worthy, nor I never sued to be a preacher before youre Grace, but I was called to it, would be wyllyng (if you mislyke me) to geve place to my betters. For I graunt ther be a great many more worthy of the roume than I am. And, if it be your Grace's pleasure so to allowe them for preachers, I could be content to bere ther bokes after theym. But if your Grace allowe me for a preacher I would desyre your Grace to geve me leave to discharge my conscience. Geve me leve to frame my doctrine accordyng to my audience. I had byne a very dolt to have preached so at the borders of your realm as I preach before your Grace. And I thanke Almyghty God, whych hath alwayes byne remedy, that my sayinges were well accepted of the kynge, for like a gracious Lord he turned into a nother communicacyon. It is even as the Scripture sayeth Cor Regis in manu Domini, the Lorde dyrected the kinges hart. Certaine of my frendes came to me wyth teares in their eyes, and told me they loked I should have bene in the Tower the same nyghte. Thus have I ever more bene burdened wyth the werde of sedition. I have offended God grevouslye, transgressyng hys law, and but for his remedy and his mercye I wold not loke to be saved. As for sedicion, for oughte that I knowe, me thynkes I shoulde not nede Christe, if I might so saye. But if I be cleare in any thynge, I am clear in thys. So farre as I knowe myne owne herte, there is no man further from sedicion then I, whyche I haye declared in all my doynges, and yet it hath bene ever layed to me. An othher
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tyme, when I gave over myne offyce, I should have receyved a certaine dutye that they call a Pentecostall ; it came to the summe of fyftye and fyve pound, I sent my Commissarye to gather it, but he coulde not be suffered. For it was sayed a sedicion should ryse upon it. ...
The first edition of Foxe's "Book of Martyrs7' appeared from the press of John Day in 1563. Its popularity was "immediate and signal." The government ordered that a copy of it be placed in each parish church throughout the land. Its influence was by no means transient in char- acter. From its harrowing records of persecution the people derived much information of what had been going on around them for nearly half a century.
Roger Ascham (pronounced as'kam), whose fame as the author of "The Scholemaster, " which was not published until after his death, is greater than as tutor to Princess Elizabeth, was born at Kirby Wiske, near Northallerton, in Yorkshire, in the year 1515. He was the son of a yeoman, and was adopted by Sir Anthony Wingfield, who had him well educated and then sent him to St. John's College at Cambridge University. Taking the degree of master of arts in 1536 he immediately began life as a tutor, and in 1544 occupied the office of University Orator. Ascham 's first book, " Toxophilus, " was published in 1545. It was a treatise on archery in the form of a dialogue between a phil- ologue and a toxophilite, in which the author emphasized the necessity of open-air pastimes for the preservation of the health of the student. Ascham 's language is plain English prose strong in idioms, the particular characteristics of which were "its vigor and flexibility, and its plea for the use of the literary 'Englyshe tonge' as opposed to Latin or Greek." For this work he not only received the notice
76 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
of the King, Henry VIII., but was awarded a pension of £10 a year. Being selected as private tutor to Elizabeth, Ascham spent two happy years (1548-1550) in what proved to him to be a delightful task — the teaching of one who loved to learn. Later he went to Germany as secretary of the English ambassador at the Imperial Court, and sub- sequently related his experiences of German life in a work entitled ' ' A Report and Discourse of the Affairs and State of Germany."
When Queen Mary ascended the throne of England, Ascham, who was a fervent Protestant, was temporarily under cloud, but through the patronage of Gardiner, who became Mary's chancellor, his pension was increased to £20 a year, and he retained his post as university orator, be- sides being appointed Latin secretary to the Queen. When his former pupil ascended the throne Ascham was already an old man, but he had employed his years well and gave us in ' l The Scholemaster ' ' the first important work on edu- cation in English literature. In the first part of the book the author condemns severity as a treatment for the young, and in the second, advocates a new method for instruction in Latin, advising that it be practised instead of compelling pupils to first master the details of grammar.
Seized with ague while writing a New Year's day poem in honor of his Queen and former pupil, he was forced to take to his bed, but never recovered. He died December 30, 1568.
In his dedication of the work, "To all the Gentlemen and Yeomen of England," he recommends to him that would write well in any tongue the counsel of Aristotle — "To speak as the common people do, to think as wise men do." From this we may perceive that Ascham had a true
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 77
feeling of the regard due to the great fountain-head and oracle of the national language — the vocabulary of the common people. He goes on to reprobate the practise of many English writers, who by introducing into their com- positions, in violation of the Aristotelian precept, many words of foreign origin — Latin, French, and Italian — made all thing's dark and hard. ' * Once, ' ' he says, ' ' I com- muned with a man which reasoned the English tongue to be enriched and increased thereby, saying, Who will not praise the feast where a man shall drink 'at a dinner both wine, ale, and beer? Truly, quoth I, they be all good, every one taken by himself alone ; but if you put malmsey and sack, red wine and white, ale and beer and all, in one pot, you shall make a drink neither easy to be known, nor yet wholesome for the body/' The English language, however, it may be observed, had even already become too thoroughly and essentially a mixed tongue for this doctrine of purism to be admitted to the letter; nor, indeed, to take up Ascham's illustration, is it universally true, even in regard to liquids, that a salutary and palatable beverage can never be made by the interfusion of two or more different kinds. Our tongue is now, and was many cen- turies ago, not, indeed, in its grammatical structure, but in its vocabulary, as substantially and to as great an extent Neo-Latin as Gothic; it would be as completely torn in pieces and left the mere tattered rag of a language, useless for all the purposes of speaking as well as of writing, by having the foreign as by having the native element taken out of it.90
George Buchanan, proclaimed the greatest scholar that
90 George L. Craik, "A Compendious History of English Literature," Vol. I., p. 443.
78 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Scotland has produced, and master of the instrument of expression, was born in the parish of Killearn in Stirling- shire (? Dumbartonshire), Scotland, in February, 1506. His father, at one time owner of the farm of Moss in Kil- learn, died at an early age, and left his widow in abject poverty. It is said that Buchanan attended the parish school, but little is known of his life until he was sent to the University of Paris by James Heriot, his uncle. Heriot died two years later and Buchanan, sick and poor, was thrown on his own resources. He returned to Scotland, where he suffered from a severe illness. On his recovery he joined the French troops, which had been imported by the Duke of Albany to make a raid into England. The inroad proving unsuccessful, Buchanan entered the Uni- versity of St. Andrews and took the degree of bachelor of arts in 1525. He had gone there chiefly to attend John Mair's (sometimes printed "Major") lectures on logic, and when Mair set out for Paris Buchanan went with him.
In 1529 Buchanan became professor in the college of St. Barbe, and taught there for three years. At the same time he acted as private tutor to the Earl of Cassilis, but for five years, and when the Earl returned to Scotland Buchanan accompanied him. There his reputation as a teacher had preceded him and King James V. entrusted the tuition of one of his sons to Buchanan, but a poem which he wrote entitled " Franciscanus, " and in which he attacked the vices of the clergy, cost him his office. He was arrested, but fortunately escaped and reached London in safety. Thence he proceeded to Paris, but there found an implacable enemy, Cardinal Beaton. Receiving an invitation from Andrew Govea to accompany him to Bordeaux Buchanan accepted, and was chosen professor of Latin in the College
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 79
•
of Guienne. Subsequently he returned to Paris, where he remained three years as regent in the College of Car- dinal le Moine. Thence (1547) he went to Portugal, where he occupied a chair in the recently founded University of Coimbra, which became one of the most famous seats of learning in Europe. But his tenure of office was not to be peaceful, for soon after the death of his friend Govea, at whose suggestion he had accepted' the professorship, he was subjected to persecution by the priests and was sum- moned several times before the Holy Office, which ordered him to be confined in a monastery. It was while in this confinement that he made his famous translation of the Psalms, which is said to have "a peculiar grace and feeling" because it was freely executed so that in parts it is really a paraphrase instead of an exact translation. Dr. Collier declares that the 104th and 137th Psalms are "considered the gems of this masterpiece of elegant scholarship and poetic fire."
Buchanan returned to Scotland in 1560 or 1561, and notwithstanding his Protestant views was appointed tutor to Mary, Queen of Scots. In recognition of his literary ability she subsequently gave him the temporalities of Crossraguel Abbey, worth about £500 a year. In 1566 he was named principal of St. Leonard's College at St. An- drews by the Earl of Murray, and after the tragic death of Darnley and the marriage of Mary and Bothwell, under- took the tuition of James VI., which he accomplished so well that James became known as the "British Solomon." Buchanan died on September 28, 1582, so poor that he was buried at the expense of the city of Edinburgh.
During the closing years of his career he produced two important books — one, * ' De Jure Regni Apud Scotos, ' ' pub-
80 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
• lished in 1579, in which lie proclaimed the doctrine that
"the source of all political power is the people, and that the King is bound by the conditions under which the supreme power was first committed to his hands, and that it is lawful to resist, even to punish, tyrants."91 The book was twice condemned, and in 1683 was burned by the scholars at Oxford.
The second was a "History of Scotland," issued in 1582. Its chief value lay in the record of events during the lifetime of the author. Buchanan's influence on the lan- guage was indirect. He wrote in Latin, of which he was a complete master, and thus helped to develop the study of that classic language in the land of his birth.
Sir Philip Sidney, introduced at the court of Elizabeth as "one of the jewels of her crown," courtier, knight, statesman, soldier, poet, was born at Penshurst in Kent, November 29, 1554. He was educated at Shrewsbury school and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1572 he left Eng- land for the continent of Europe, where he spent three years in traveling through France, Germany, and Italy. On his return home he was presented at Court, where he instantly won favor, possibly through the influence of his uncle Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, who at that time was at the height of his power as royal favorite.
The brilliant pageant produced at Kenilworth in honor of Queen Elizabeth's visit to the Earl culminated in a masque entitled "The Lady of the May," which was writ- ten in the Queen's honor by Sidney, who also proved him- self an expert in horsemanship and with sword and lance in the tournament that followed. It has been said that on this occasion while playing at tennis he quarreled with
81 "Eneyc. Brit.," Vol. IV, s.v. "Buchanan."
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the Earl of Oxford, who ordered him off the ground. Sidney refused; swords clashed, but the Queen intervened, and taking Sidney aside rebuked him for his behavior. Unable to bear the rebuke so publicly administered, Sidney with- drew from Court to Wilton, the seat of his brother-in-law, the Earl of Pembroke, where he wrote a famous prose romance entitled, "The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia," a work not published until four years after his death which was due to a wound received at the battle of Zutphen, September 22, 1586.
"When the Earl of Leicester set out on an expedition to the Netherlands, Sidney accompanied him, and was ap- pointed governor of Flushing. His death has been at- tributed to the chivalric impulse which led him to cast aside the greaves he was wearing because his opponent entered the field of battle without his. Sidney thus ex- posed received a shot that proved fatal and he died at Arnheim two weeks later (October 7th). The truth of the story that on the field of Zutphen he paused to pass a cup of water to a soldier who lay bleeding to death by the roadside as he was being carried by, while in keeping with his character, has not been fully established. Of the effect of his death on his contemporaries the late Professor Wil- liam Minto92 wrote: "No poet's death was ever so lamented by poets as Sidney's. Pastoral elegy was in fashion, and all the numerous poets and rhymesters of the time, from Spenser to Davison, hastened to lay their tribute of verse on the bier of this the darling of all the Shepherds."
Sidney, besides occupying one of the most conspicuous positions at Court, took a permanent place in English literature as the author of the first important collection of
a- "En eye. Brit.," s.v. "Sidney."
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English sonnets (issued under the title "Astrophel and Stella") as well as of an English classic. His reputation rests on his ' ' Apologie for Poesie, ' ' a brief treatise written in 1581 to confute the opinions of that class of Elizabethan Puritans which aimed to suppress literature and art as well as many articles of adornment.
Edmund Spenser, the second of the great masters of English poetry, was born in East Smithfield, London, about the year 1552. The accepted date of his birth is based upon a passage in the sixtieth sonnet of the "Amor- etti, ' ' where he writes of having lived forty-one years. This work was published in 1595. The place of his birth is traced also from his writings, for in his ' ' Prothalamion " we read:
Merry London my most kindly nurse,
That to me gave this life's first native source.
Spenser was educated at the Merchant Taylor's School and at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, whither he was sent through the benevolence of Robert Nowell, a London mer- chant. Spenser was about sixteen years old when he entered Pembroke, which he did as a sizar, and was graduated therefrom as master of arts in 1576. How he occupied the three succeeding years is not known, but in 1579 he issued a volume of verse entitled "The Shepherd's Calendar." This, it has been said, was the balm that healed a wounded heart, for he had paid court to a lady whom he called Rosa- lind, who, after she had tired of his attentions, discarded him. Although this poem was begun in the North of England it was finished at Penshurst, the home of the Earl of Pembroke, where Spenser met Sir Philip Sidney, who ''put him in the way of preferment." The entire poem is
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in reality a personal narrative of Spenser's experiences, and it was dedicated to Sidney, who obtained for him a secre- taryship to Lord Grey of Wilton, whom he accompanied to Ireland when the latter was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of that country. Outside of the charm and power of the "Shepherd's Calendar" there is little in it to attract the reader, for this work requires a special training to under- stand it to the full, since its language is composite, being a combination of Chaucerian English with North Anglian. Nevertheless, it was received with marked enthusiasm, chiefly because it was in a form then unknown to English literature, and showed unmistakable command of meter and phrase.
Spenser's greatest achievement, "The Faerie Queene," which he himself modestly called a "simple song," proved to be the greatest poem that was written in England since Chaucer wrote his "Canterbury Tales." Spenser created the nine-lined stanza in' which this poem was penned. The first three books of "The Faerie Queene" were written among the green alders by the Mulla 's shore, whither Spen- ser withdrew after the death of his friend Sidney. They were issued in 1586. When asked to explain "the ethical part of moral philosophy" by some of his associates then in Ireland, he replied that he could not do so offhand, but that he had in preparation a poem which would illustrate it in action. Spenser was esteemed by these associates as a scholar "not only perfect in the Greek tongue, but also very well read in philosophy, both moral and natural." This was undoubtedly due to the fact that Spenser, if not actually the most learned, was one of the most learned of the English poets. In 1596 Spenser, who had held public office first as clerk of the council for Munster and later as
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sheriff of Cork, went to England, and there published the fourth, fifth, and sixth books of "The Faerie Queene," and then returned home, where he hoped to live the rest of his life in the peaceful enjoyment of that reputation which his work had achieved for him. But he had barely settled down there when the smoldering embers of rebellion broke aflame, and the oppressed peasantry marched upon his home, which they sacked and set on fire. Spenser and his wife, who were forced to abandon their child in the haste of their flight, barely escaped with their lives, and, crossing to England, found shelter in King Street, Westminster, where, three months later, the poet passed away (January 16, 1599). He died in abject poverty. Ben Jonson de- clared that he perished for lack of bread, and that when the Earl of Essex heard of his distress he sent twenty pieces93 to relieve his need, but the poet returned them, regretting he had no time to spend them.
The quality of Spenser's work in "The Faerie Queene" was uneven. The earlier books show the poet at his best ; in the later books he seems to have striven to interweave with allegory the history of his own time, and thereby marred what has otherwise been described as the most exquisite picture of chivalrous life that has ever been limned in English words. Nevertheless, Spenser has exerted great influence on the poetic literature of England. In his own day he had several imitators, such as William Smith, who wrote "Chloris" (1595), and Richard Niccols, the author of ' ' The Beggar 's Ape " ( 1 627 ) . Milton, who characterized him as "our sage and serious poet, Spenser,'7 considered him a sure guide as a thinker and as a poet. Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" has been attributed to the influence
93 A piece was an English coin worth from 20 to 22 shillings.
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of Spenser's "Faerie Queene" on its author by Dr. Samuel Johnson. Dryden found in Spenser a master of English and one endowed with natural genius and a greater fund of knowledge to support it than any other poet. James Eussell Lowell declared that no other poet has given an impulse to so many and so diverse minds as did Spenser, under whose inspiration wrote such men as Thomson, Burns, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Keats, Shelley, and Byron. Charles Lamb gave him his just title when he styled Spenser "the poet's poet."
Although his work ranks below that of Chaucer, Shake- speare, Ben Jonson, and Milton, it unites rare genius with purity, luxuriant and prolific power of imagination with sweetness of language and elegance of expression. For ten- derness of feeling and purity of thought Spenser's work has possibly never been surpassed.
The following extract from the second eclogue of the "Shepherd's Calendar," tells in part the "Tale of the Oak and the Briar," and will serve as a specimen of Eng- lish in 1579 :
There grew an aged tree on the green, A goodly Oak sometime had it been, With arms full strong and lergely displayed, But of their leaves they were disarrayed; The body big and mightily pight,94 Throughly rooted, and of wondrous height: Whilom he had been the king of the field, And mochel95 mast to the husband96 did yield, And with his nuts larded many swine; And now the grey moss marred his rine ;97 His bared boughs were beaten with storms, His top was bald and wasted with worms,
94 Firm. M Husbandman.
*Much. 9TRind (bark).
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His honour decayed, his branches sere. Hard by his side grew a bragging Brere, Which proudly thrust into th' element, And seemed to threat the firmament; It was embellished with blossoms fair, And thereto aye wonted to repair The shepherds' daughters to gather flowers, To paint their garlands with his colours; And in his small bushes used to shrowd The sweet nightingale, singing so loud; Which made this foolish Brere wex so bold, That on a time he cast him to scold And sneb the good Oak, for he was old. Why stand 'st there, quoth he, thou brutish block?
When Richard Hooker gave to the world his "Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity " he enriched English literature with a masterpiece of philosophical thought, notable as much for its gracefulness of style as for its nice discriminations in the choice of words. Hooker was born at Heavitree, near Exeter, England, in 1553 or 1554. While at school he showed such marked aptitude and unusual facility in acquiring knowledge that his teacher advised his parents to educate him for the Church. This they were unable to do, but an uncle, John Hooker, secured his admission to Corpus Christi College at Oxford, gave him a small pension, and secured for him the patronage of Bishop Jewel, through whose influence he obtained a clerkship in the college.
In 1567 Richard Hooker entered on his duties, and had been in the University barely four years when his patron, Bishop Jewel, died (1571). Fortunately for him, he found another friend in Dr. Cole, then the president of the col- lege, who offered to replace Jewel as his patron. Necessity • compelled Hooker to accept, but he determined to secure his
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independence, and devoted all his spare time to teaching. Among his pupils were Edwin Sandys and George Cran- mer. It was due to the influence of the former upon his father, the Archbishop of York, that Hooker received the Mastership of the Temple (1585). While at the University, Hooker became so famous as a scholar in Oriental lan- guages that in 1579 he was appointed lecturer in Hebrew, and two years later entered the Church.
Immediately after Hooker had entered into his duties as Master of the Temple he came into contact with his rival for that office, William Travers, who held a lectureship in the Temple at the time. According to custom, Hooker was called upon to preach a sermon every morning, while Trav- ers had to deliver a lecture every afternoon. As each man held views diametrically opposed to the other, it was not long before Travers, in his afternoon lectures, aimed to refute the views expressed in the sermon delivered by Hooker in the morning. So keen became the contest that Archbishop Whitgift forbade Travers to preach. This drove the rivals into print. Travers petitioned the Council to rescind the prohibition, and Hooker published "An Answer to the Petition of Mr. Travers." In addition, he printed a number of sermons dealing with certain specific points in the controversy; but realizing that he could not treat the subject as a whole satisfactorily in this way, he determined to write a comprehensive treatise by which its merits might be judged. To this end he petitioned Arch- bishop Whitgift for permission to withdraw from the Tem- ple, begging at the same time that he might be appointed to some country parsonage, where, as he expressed it, "I may keep myself in peace and privacy and behold God's blessing spring out of my mother earth, and eat my own
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bread without oppositions." Hooker's wish being granted, he withdrew in 1591 to the rectory of Boscombe, in Wilt- shire, where he set to work to produce his ' ' Eight Books of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity." The first four of these he published in 1594, and in 1595 was rewarded for the service he had done the Church thereby with the rectorship of Bishop's Bournes, near Canterbury, in Kent, whither he removed, and there strove to complete the rest of the series, but while traveling from Gravesend to London he took a severe cold, from the effects of which he died on November 2, 1600. The fifth book was printed in 1597, and a volume containing what purported to be the sixth and eighth books appeared in 1648. The authenticity of the sixth book has been challenged, and was shown by Keble to consist of matter totally at variance with the subject which Hooker had designed to treat. The seventh book, which was published in 1662, formed a part of a new edition of the work issued by Gauden. This and the eighth book are considered in substance the work of Hooker.
The chief charm of Hooker's "Ecclesiastical Polity" lies in the fact that it contains no affectations of language. Its clearness, however, is marred by such intricacies of con- struction as the inversion of clauses and the great length of many of its sentences, but these defects are compensated by the moderation of its .tone and the dignity of its style. Hallam, the historian, pronounced the first book * ' a master- piece of English eloquence."
The following is an extract from that part of " Eccle- siastical Polity ' ' which treats of l i the Law whereby Man is in his Actions directed to the imitation of God ' ' :
God alone excepted, who actually and everlastingly is what- soever he may be, and which cannot hereafter be that which
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now lie is not ; all other things besides are somewhat in possi- bility, which as yet they are not in act. And for this cause there is in all things an appetite or desire, whereby they .incline to something which they may be; and when they are it, they shall be perfecter than now they are. All which perfections are contained under the general name of Goodness. And be- cause there is not in the world any thing whereby another may not some way be made the perfecter, therefore all things that are, are good. Again, sith there can be no goodness desired which proceedeth not from God himself, as from the supreme cause of all things; and every effect doth after a sort contain, at least wise resemble, the cause from which it proceedeth: all things in the world are said in some sort to seek the highest, and to covet more or less the participation of God himself. Yet this doth nowhere so much appear as it doth in man; be- cause there are so many kinds of perfections which man seeketh. The first degree of goodness is that general perfection which air things do seek, in desiring the continuance of their being. All things therefore coveting as much as may be to be like unto God in being ever, that which cannot hereunto attain personally doth seek to continue itself another way, that is by offspring and propagation. The next degree of goodness is that which each thing coveteth by affecting resemblance with God, in the constancy and excellency of those operations which belong unto their kind. The immutability of God they strive unto, by working either always or for the most part after one and the same manner; his absolute exactness they imitate, by tending unto that which is most ex'quisite in every particular. Hence have risen a number of axioms in philosophy, showing how The works of nature do always aim at that which cannot be bettered.
1. The Influence of the Drama
The dramatic productions already referred to as Mystery Plays (see " Chaucerian Period," p. 34), which originated with the monks, and usually treated religious themes, were subsequently divided into Miracles and Moralities — the Miracles being restricted to plays based upon Bible narra-
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tive or on the legendary history of the saints, and the Moralities being confined to the presentation of allegorical stories designed to teach ethical or religious lessons.
The division was due chiefly to the fact that, with the advancement of learning, there was a corresponding ele- vation of public taste and a consequent demand for some- thing more refined than the Miracle Plays which, by the time of Henry VI. (1422-1461), had come into the control of laymen, and were used by them as a means for attack- ing the clergy. Then the most sacred themes were treated with scandalous freedom and in the broadest manner. The coarsest of mirth and filthiest of jokes were introduced to cater to ' l the brutality or pruriency " 98 of the audience.
Of the Miracles, the Coventry Mysteries were, probably, among the most famous. Dugdale in his " History of "Warwickshire," published in 1656, states that "Before the suppression of the monasteries this city was very famous for the pageants that were play'd therein, upon Corpus Christi Day (one of their ancient faires) which occasioning very great confluence of people thither from far and near, was of no small benefit thereto : which pageants being acted with mighty state and reverence by the Grey Friers, had theaters for the several scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all the eminent parts of the city, for the better advantage of spectators, and con- tain 'd the story of the Old and New Testament, composed in the old Englishe rithme, as appeareth by an ancient MS. (in Bibl. Cotton. Vesp. D. VIII) intituled, 'Ludus Corporis Christi, ' or ' Ludus Coventriae. ' : ' "I have been told,'7 says Dugdale, "by some old people, who in their younger years were eye-witnesses of these pageants so
98 Thomas Arnold, "Encyclopedia Britannica," article, "English Literature."
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acted, that the yearly confluence of people to see that shew was extraordinary great, and yielded no small advantage to this city." The celebrity of the performances may be inferred from the rank of the audiences ; for, at the festival of Corpus Christi, in 1483, Richard III. visited Coventry to see the plays, and at the same season, in 1492, they were attended by Henry VII. and his queen, by whom they were highly commended.
To what Dugdale tells of the Coventry Mysteries may be added Archdeacon Rogers 's account of those played at Ches- ter. * * The Mysteries acted there are four and twenty in num- ber, and were performed by the trading companies of the city. Every company had his pagiante, or parte, which pagiantes were a highe scafolde with two rowmes, a higher and a lower upon 4 wheeles. In the lower they apparelled themselves, in the higher rowme they played, being all open on the tope, that all behoulders might heare and see them. The places where they played them was in every streete. They begane first at the Abay Gates, and when the pagiante was played, it was wheeled to the High Cross before the mayor, and so to every streete; and so every street had a pagiante playing before them, till all the pagiantes for the daye appointed were played, and when one pagiante was neere ended, worde was broughte from streete to streete, that soe the mighte come in place thereof, excedinge orderlye, and all the streetes had their pagiante afore them, all at one time, playing together, to se which playes was great resorte, and also scafoldes, and stages made in the streetes, in those places wheare they deter- mined to playe their pagiantes." (Harleian MS. 1948.) These were performed for the last time in 1574.
The Moralities were written on a higher plane and
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proved to be the medium of transition to the modern drama. But the depicting of Virtue vanquishing Vice was not altogether to the public taste, especially when it took as many as nine hours to accomplish the task, and the Moralities, unable to withstand the introduction of the translated plays of Plautus and Terence, which were the pioneers of a higher state of culture, gradually lost their hold on the public. John Heywood 's * ' Interludes, ' ' to which reference has already been made, proved another step in advance since instead of personifications, genuine char- acters appeared therein, not as individuals, but as types of certain classes such as a palmer, pedler, soldier, etc. But the molding of English drama into refined form was done through the agency of Greek and Latin plays and the elegant productions of Italy and Spain. With the higher tone came greater popularity, and the demand for a fixed home instead of a traveling one for plays and players. Before the licensed theater was introduced the court- yards of many of the London inns were occasionally con- verted into temporary theaters. Among these the yards of "La Belle Sauvage" at the foot of Ludgate Hill, of "The Red Bull" in Bishopsgate Street, and of "The Cross Keys" in Gracechurch Street, London, were the most popular. Five of them were converted into permanent playhouses between 1570 and 1630. During this period theaters were built, and the stage became a permanent in- stitution. So great was the demand for theatrical enter- tainment during Elizabeth's reign that licenses were issued to no less than 200 playhouses in different parts of London. Then the players were under the patronage of the Queen or of some nobleman, or they would have been unable to pursue their calling in safety. The first licensed public
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theater was opened at Blackfriars, London, in 1576, and thenceforward the influence of the drama on the life and manners, as well as on the speech of the people was established. With the dawn of the Commonwealth (1649) came the closing of the theaters, for the God-fearing Puri- tans had no use for a stage that was steeped in shameless vices and one where unbridled licentiousness held sway. They were kept shut until the Restoration (1660) and reopened with a blaze of splendor, which had a dazzling effect on the people. Women now first impersonated the female characters. Stage settings were changed and beau- tifully painted scenery replaced the crude notice-boards of the formative period. Brilliant costumes displaced the tawdry attire of the players. The playhouses themselves were finely decorated. No effort was spared to draw the people out of the restraining influence under which the Puritan government had left them. Every night they swarmed to the play to be entertained with scenes in which Vice attired in the garb of Virtue flaunted itself upon the boards. The plays of Dryden and of Wycherley, those of Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar, were all morally bad. In fact, under the Restoration the tone of the drama was debased by works that were a disgrace to the nation ; works which lowered the standard of public morality so effectually that almost half a century passed before the corrupt tastes were corrected.
In the history of the English stage Thomas Sackville, later known as Lord Buckhurst, ranks as the first writer of genuine English tragedy. When a student in the Tem- ple he collaborated with Thomas Norton in writing a play then named "Gorboduc," but which when revised was
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called "Ferrex and Porrex." By command of Queen Elizabeth, who on her accession to the throne had selected Sackville for "continual private attendance upon her own person," the play was performed by some of Sack- ville's fellow students in the Temple at Whitehall as a part of the Christmas festivities of 1561.
Sackville was born in 1536 at Buckhurst in Sussex, Eng- land. His father, Sir Richard Sackville, was distantly re- lated to Elizabeth through the Boleyn family. Among his friends he counted Roger Ascham, who may possibly have taken some part in educating the young dramatist-poet, who became a distinguished diplomat. A few years of tuition at home, entrance at Hart Hall, Oxford, where he remained only a few terms, and a continuation of his course of studies at Cambridge led to his taking the degree of master of arts at the latter institution. Before leaving the university he achieved some reputation as a poet, and subsequently wrote, in the form of an allegory, a preface to a series of poems descriptive of the tragic fates of famous men. This was "The Induction to the Mirrour of Magis- trates. " The first of the series was "The Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham." The remainder, the work of writers of lesser rank, consists of poetic histories of the lives of the famous men who fell as martyrs during the gloomy years of Queen Mary's reign. The Induction de- scribes Revenge, Dread, and Remorse, ' ' within the porch and jaws of hell" as well as other awful influences which prey unceasingly upon human weakness. Although this poem consists of only a few hundred lines, these show such power and command of language as to have earned for Sackville a high place among British poets.
As a statesman and ambassador, Sackville carried out
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his instructions and all negotiations entrusted to him with fearless fidelity and honor to his country and to himself. It was he who, in 1586, was selected for the delicate task of announcing her doom to the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots. Again, in 1587, he was sent as ambassador to The Hague to ' ' expostulate in favor of peace with a people who knew that their existence depended on war." That he discharged his duties with sagacity was shown by the his- torian of "The United Netherlands," yet on his return home he received no praise but incurred Elizabeth's dis- pleasure on account of the independent course he chose to pursue in regard to the Queen's favorite, the Earl of Leicester, and in consequence was ordered to remain within the precincts of his own estate for almost a year. He re- turned to favor after the death of Leicester, and in 1588 was created knight of the Order of the Garter. When the Chancellorship of the University of Oxford became vacant Sackville was selected to fill it, and on the death of Lord Burleigh, in 1599, was appointed Lord High Treasurer of England, an office which he held till death came suddenly upon him while seated at a council table at Whitehall, April 19, 1608.
The following lines are from l ' The Induction ' ' and afford a vivid picture of the author's idea of a winter's day:
The Induction
The wrathful Winter, preaching on apace, With blustering blasts had all ybared the treen, And old Saturnus, with his frosty face, With chilling cold had pierced the tender green; The mantles rent, wherein enwrapped been The gladsome groves that now lay overthrown, The tapets torn, and every tree down blown.
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The Soil, that erst so seemly was to seen,
Was all despoiled of her beauty's hue;
And soote fresh flowers, wherewith the Summer's Queen
Had clad the earth, now Boreas' blasts down blew;
And small fowls, flocking, in their song did rue
The Winter's wrrath, wherewith each thing defaced
In woful wise bewailed the summer past.
Hawthorn had lost his motley livery,
The naked twigs were shivering all for cold,
And dropping down the tears abundantly ;
Each thing, methought, with weeping eye me told
The cruel season, bidding me withhold
Myself within; for I was gotten out
Into the fields, whereas I walked about.
When lo the Night, with misty mantles spread, Gan dark the day, and dim the azure skies; And Venus in her message Hermes sped To bloody Mars, to will him not to rise, Which she herself approached in speedy wise; And Virgo hiding her disdainful breast, With Thetis now had laid her down to rest.
And pale Cynthea, with her borrowed light, Beginning to supply her brother's place, Was past the noonsteed six degrees in sight, When sparkling stars amid the heaven's face, With twinkling light shone on the earth apace, That, while they brought about the Nightes chare, The dark had dimmed the day ere I was ware.
And sorrowing I to see Jhe summer flowers, The lively green, the lusty leas forlorn, The sturdy trees so shattered with the showers, The fields so fade that florished so beforn, It taught me well — all earthly things be born
To die the death, for nought long time may last;
The summer's beauty yields to winter's blast.
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In English literature the light which has shone with the greatest brilliancy during the past three hundred years, and burns with most luster to-day, is that which was kindled by William Shakespeare. With a remarkably small vocabu- lary at his command Shakespeare described or depicted the widest variety of human experience. In his own time, Jonson, his contemporary, "allowed him the first place among all dramatists, including those of Greece and Rome, and claimed that all Europe owed him homage." Of all the great literary works the world has seen, excepting the Bible, none have been translated more often and into a greater number of languages than the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. To him more than to any other master of English we owe an everlasting debt as the su- preme creative and poetical genius of our tongue. No writer has ever approached him in constructive power; none has ever shown such strength combined with such varied imagination. In ms dramatic work he portrayed every condition of life and almost every phase of human affairs conceivable. Of his genius no estimate can be adequate. His knowledge of human character, his wealth of wit, his intensity of passion, his fertility of imagination, and his mastery of language have never been equaled. Shake- speare's style, if compared with that of all other authors, will be found to be the most natural. Of the art of eupho- nious expression he was past master. Every page of his work contains examples of that form of intensified ex- pression in which some well-chosen words convey a com- plete train of ideas focused on a single perspicuous point — words so free, so well fitted to express his ideas, and so natural and familiar that their full meaning can be easily understood by the simplest mind. Of his manner, the late
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Professor Spencer Baynes said: "He could talk simply and naturally without a touch of patronage or condescension to a hodman on his ladder, costermonger at his stall, the tailor on his board, the cobbler in his combe . . . the plow- man in his furrow, or the base mechanicals at the wayside country inn. ... He could seize from the inner side by links of vital affinity every form of higher character, pas- sionate, reflective, or executive — lover and prince, duke and captain, legislator and judge, counselor and king — and portray with almost equal ease and with vivid truthfulness men and women of distant ages, of different races, and widely sundered nationalities."99
Shakespeare's wit was boundless, his passion intense and inimitable. His thirty-seven plays are classed as comedies, tragedies, and histories. The finest of his comedies are "As You Like It," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and "The Merchant of Venice." His great tragedies are "Mac- beth," "Romeo and Juliet," "Othello," "Hamlet," and "King Lear," and of his histories the finest are "Julius Cajsar," "Henry V.," and "Richard III." To have read these eleven plays is to have read Shakespeare at his best.
Some critics have censured Shakespeare's language for obscurity — "it is full of new words in new senses" they say. As to this, Sidney Lee declares that "although sud- den transitions, elliptical expressions, mixed metaphors, obsolete words, indefensible verbal quibbles, and a few hope- lessly corrupt readings disturb the modern reader's equa- nimity, the glow of the author's imagination leaves few passages wholly unilluminated."100 It is unfortunate for the language that some persons more familiar with the
99 "Encyc. Brit." s.v. "Shakespeare."
100 "Diet. of National Biog.," s.v. "Shakespeare."
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text than with the spirit of Shakespeare's writings are given to cite him as authority in defense of illiterate Eng- lish forms. These persons often overlook the type of character into whose mouth Shakespeare put the words they cite in support of their contentions. That he intended all of his characters to be speakers of correct English is inconceivable, and, therefore, most of the passages in his writings which are of doubtful construction may have been written deliberately. It is equally unfortunate for the advocates of the phonetic forms of English spelling that another class of persons fondly cherishes the belief that the spellings used in the modern editions of Shakespeare's works are ' identical in form with those which the great writer used. The slogan of this class of persons is "the spelling of Shakespeare is good enough for us!" Little do they know of this spelling. Possibly, very few of them have heard that the dramatist spelled his name in no less than sixteen different ways.
William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire, England, in April, 1564. The day of Shake- speare's birth is unknown. There is an inscription on his monument that states he died on April 23 (new style, May 3), 1616, in the fifty-third year of his age. Accord- ingly, tradition has fixed on April 23rd as the day of his birth, and if he became fifty-two on the day of his death he may have been correctly described on his monument as in the fifty-third year of his age.
On Wednesday, April 26, or, according to the new style, May 6, 1564, at Stratford-on-Avon was baptized ' c Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere." The plague had spread to Stratford, but had spared the home of John Shakespeare. Knight tells us that from June 30th to December 31st, two
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hundred and thirty-eight persons, one-ninth of the in- habitants of Stratford, were carried to the grave.
William Shakespeare probably entered the free grammar school of his native town in 1571, and there received some training in the Latin language and literature, which proved of immense service to him in later life. Family reverses caused his removal from school at an early age, and when but thirteen years old he ''exercised his father 's trade," which, according to Aubrey, was that of a butcher. When he attained the age of eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne, the daughter of Richard Hathaway, a yeoman who dwelt at Shottery, in the neighborhood of Stratford. Anne Hath- away was eight years older than Shakespeare.' Early in 1585 she bore him twins, a son named Hamnet and a daughter named Judith, who were both baptized on Feb- ruary 2nd. Later in that year Shakespeare left Stratford, and for the next eleven years saw very little of his family. He set out for London, which he reached in 1586, but what he did for a living when he first reached there is not positively known. Tradition has it that he served an ap- prenticeship with a printer named Vautrollier; that he secured a position as a lawyer's clerk; that he held horses for men of fashion who attended the theater owned by James Burbage, who himself kept a livery stable at Smith- field. Of the three means of securing a livelihood, possibly the last was the one which Shakespeare adopted, as it led to his appointment as call-boy and, subsequently, to the office of deputy-prompter. That he prospered at whatever call- ing he followed is known from the fact that in 1589 he owned a share in the Blackfriars Theater, where he not only adapted old plays, but produced new ones, and even took part in them. Fortune continued to favor him, and
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he became part-owner of the Globe Theater. During this time he took part in Ben Jonson's " Every Man in His Humour," and also acted in his own plays, taking such parts as the Ghost in "Hamlet," and Adam in "As You Like It." Although a fair actor, he was a better manager, and at one time derived a yearly income from his various interests which would amount to $7,500 in our own coin. Fortunately for him, he soon found out that he could make more money as a playwright than as a performer, and he devoted twenty years of his life to writing.
Between his twenty-seventh and his forty-seventh years he produced all of his plays. His poem, "Venus and Adonis, ' ' published in 1593, secured for him a greater share of public attention than his earlier plays. Queen Eliza- beth signaled him out for special favor, and thenceforward he moved among the most cultivated men of his time. After the Queen 's death he continued in royal favor, and James I. is said to have exceeded Elizabeth in his appreciation of the dramatist.
The closing years of Shakespeare's life (1611-1616) were spent at Stratford-on-Avon. He sold his shares in the Blackfriars and the Globe theaters in 1611, and retired to Stratford, where he settled in New Place. He took part in the public life of his native town, sharing both its civic and social responsibilities. In the spring of 1616 he entertained his old friends, Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton, at New Place, where they had "a merry meeting." He died of a fever contracted at this time, but the exact cause of his death has not been determined. On April 25, 1616, he was laid to rest near the north wall of the chancel in Stratford Church.
It is said that he was the author of his own epitaph,
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which he wrote from the fear that after death his bones would be disinterred and thrown into the charnel-house hard by the church. The curse pronounced he thought would prove an effective check to the disturbance of his remains.
"Good frend for Jesus' sake forbeare To digg the dust encloased heare : Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones, And curst be he yt moves my bones."
There is no question that Shakespeare is the greatest of the English poets as well as the greatest of our dramatists. As Dr. Craik has expressed it, "his sympathy is the most universal, his imagination the most plastic, his diction the most expressive, ever given to any writer. His poetry has in itself the power and varied excellences of all other poetry. While in grandeur, and beauty, and passion, and sweetest music, and all the other higher gifts of song, he may be ranked with the greatest — with Spenser, and Chaucer, and Milton, and Dante, and Homer — he is at the same time more nervous than Dryden, and more sententious than Pope, and more sparkling and of more abounding conceit, when he chooses, than Donne, or Cowley, or Butler. In whose hand- ling was language ever such a flame of fire as it is in his? His wonderful potency in the use of this instrument would alone set him above all other writers.101 Language has been
1W Whatever may be the extent of the vocabulary of the English language, it is certain that the most copious writer has not employed more than a fraction of the entire number of words of which it consists. It has been stated that some inquiries set on foot by the telegraph companies have led to the con- clusion that the number of words in ordinary use does not exceed 3,000. A rough calculation, founded on Mrs. Clarke's Concordance, gives about 21,000 as the number of words to be found in the plays of Shakespeare, without count- ing inflectional forms as distinct Avords. Probably the vocabulary of no other of our great writers is nearly so extensive. Todd's "Verbal Index" would not give us more than about 7.000 for Milton ; so that, if we were to add even 50 per cent, to compensate for Milton's inferior voluminousness, the Miltonic vocabulary would still be not more than half as copious as the Shakespearian.
ENGLISH: ITS GKOWTH
103
Vol. So farewell, to the link good you bare me. Fare well f A long farewell to all my Great oefle. Thu i* the ftate ofM»n \ to day h* pirn forth The tender Leaves of hopes, to morrow BiofToaj«, And betres hit bhifh ing Honors thicfce vpon hints The third day. com«s a Ff eft ; a killing T-roft , And when he ihinkes, good eafic nua.ftill furely Hit Greaincit* ist ripening, ntppei hurooie. And then he fall ul do. 1 haue ventur'd Like (itd« wanton Boy« that f**im en bladder) r Thu many Summers in a Sea of Glory, But fstft beyondmy depth: my h.gh-blowne Pride At length broke vnder roe. and now ha'i left me Weary ,»nd old with Seruic«, to the mercy Oft rude ftr came, that muft for euer hide me. Vnoe pompe, ind glory of thu World,, I hate ye, I feele my he»M new open'd. Oh how wretched If (hat poorc man, thu hangs on Pr inert fauowrt? There it b/iwint that fmile we would afpire to», Thit Tweet Afpeft of Princes, and their mine, Morepangi, and fearo then wmci, or women htue i And when he falles.he fallei like Luofet. Neuertohopeagame. £nier Craa Why how now Cnma
Cnm, 1 tuue n0 power to fpcitic >ir.
O. What.amaid
At n> y misfortune* > Canthy Spirit wonder A grot man (Vould dcclmr. N«y .and you we» I »n. bine indeed.
Crtm How doet youi Gract.
Card. Why well:
Newer fo truly hippy, my good CrcnrvtO. I know my felf* now, and I feele within mo, Apettf aboue all uiihly Dignities. Artill,andquiciConi~clence. The KinjrUli aifdmt, I humbly thankc bit Gf jcr and from ihcf« (holders Theft rum'd Pillen, out of p.try, t»fcen A lotdr, would fmke a Nauy. (coo moth Honor )
0 'in a burden Crormtl, m , burden
Too h«ioy fot a m»n, ih»t hopes for Hcjut n.
Crtm I am glad your Grace, Ha'i made that right vfeof it.
Card. Ihopelhauei
1 am able now (mr ihioket)
(Oat of» Fo.n.udc of Soule, 1 ferlt)
To endure mart Mifenet, and greatrr fa/re
Then my We>ke he»ned Encmiei. d»re offer.
Wh.tNewe.jbro.df
Crtm. The hfiuit (1, »nd (h« v»offt, I» your difplcafurr wiih the Kmg.
Card GodblefTehmx
Crtm. The ne»t n, that Sir 7k>rxw .V<«vUcnofi!a Lord Cruncellor. in yout pUce
CjrJ. That i Tome what foJj.o But hc*4 a Learned man. May he common Long in Kit H <ghnc df ftuour, and do ! after For Tnithv(akr,ind hn Confaence (that hn bone t, When he ha'i nin hti cour fe, and flrepet m Blrffingi , V(»y haue a Tombe ofOrphantt icarei wevt on him What more t
Cr*n. Tb»t Citnmft is rwum'd with wekomr j ftiird Lord Arfh-byft>op ofC*nterbu,y.
C*r4. Truc'sNe wet indeed.
Crtm. Uft, that ihe L»dy Amt, Whom the King hath m (ctren) Ion* married, Thit day waj riew'd in open, at hit Queenc, Going to ChapptU t tnd thcTOycett now Onely tbouthrt Corrotvnion.
Cjrd There wjj the waight that pull'd me OOWTM. .
0 C'"n»'l,
The KmK ha'i gone beyond me i All my Clone* In th 1 1 one woman, t fvueloft fot euer. No Son, Adi euer Wbefforth mine Honors, Or g»l<k againe the Noble Troopei that waighted Vpon my fmiles. Go get th*e from me Crwmrr/,
1 am a poore falne man. vn worthy now TobethyLord,and>la«Vr. SeeketruKmj (That Sun, I pray nuy newer fet) I haue told him. What, end how true thou art , he will tduancc the* : Some lit tie memory of me, w iU (Krre him
(I know hit Noble Nature) not to let thy hopeful! f.njtre peri(h too.. Good Crow/t Neglea him not » make vfe now, and prouudc Fot thme own* future fafety
Cram. O my Lord,
Mufl I then leaue you ? Muft I needet forgo So good, fo Noble, and To true aMiOer > Bear* witneffe, >ll i rut haue not heart! of Iron, With what a forrow Crcmatt Icaocs hii Lord, The King Dull haue my feruice , but*my praytet For ever, and for euet (hall be yours.
Card. Croamn{t ] did not thinke to (bed a trare In all my Miferie* : But tho« haA fore'd me (Out of thy hotxR tn»ch)toplay the Woman. Leil dry our eyei i And thui farre hcare me f><xv«xy, And when I am forgotten, as I OiaJl be. And flecpe in dull cold Marble, where no mention Ofme,morcmuAbeheardof:Saytiaaghtthee; Say Wtt/n, that once trod the wayes ofGlory, And founded all theDeptht.and ShoalnofHonor, Pound ihee a way (out of hi. WTacfce)torife In : A fate, and fofe one, though thy MaAcr mirt it. Marke but my Tall, and thai that Ruln'd me : fnwnw/, 1 charge thee, Sing away Ambition, By that finne fell the Angrh : how can roan then (The Image of hit Maker )hope to win by it ? Loue ihy felfc lafl, chetifh ihofe heart* ihat h»u triee , Corruption wmi oot more then Honefly. Still in thy right hand, cany gentle Peace To filerwr tmiiout Tongues Be KiO.and fearr not i Let all the cndi thou aym'ft at, be thy Countries , Thy Godj.and Trutb*. Then if ihou fall ft(O Cr,mwtt(\ Thou falCrl > blefled Martyr. Serue the King : And prythee leadt me 10 f There take an I nuentory of all 1 hiur. To the Uft petty, 'tit the Kmgt. My Robe, And my Integrity to Heauen, u ill, 1 dare now cjll mine owne. O Croaaptl, Crtnrvd, Had 1 but fem'd my God. withhalfe the Zole I frtu'd my King . he would not in mine Age Hau* left me naked lomineEnemict.
Crem. Good Sir, haue panence.
CW So I haue. Paiewell The Hopes of Cowt, my Hopes in Heatfo do dwell. Extuul.
104 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
called the costume of thought; it is such a costume as leaves are to the tree or blossoms to the flower, and grows out of what it adorns. Every great and original writer accordingly has distinguished, and as it were individualized, himself as much by his diction as by even the sentiment which it embodies ; and the invention of such a distinguish- ing style is one of the most unequivocal evidences of genius. But Shakespeare has invented twenty styles. He has a style for every one of his great characters, by which that char- acter is distinguished from every other as much as Poe is distinguished by his style from Dryden, or Milton from Spenser. And yet all the while it is he himself with his own peculiar accent that we hear in every one of them. ' '102 But even so great a man could not escape the gibes and sneers of his less successful contemporaries. In 1592 in his 1 ' Groatsworth of Wit, ' ' Robert Greene thus described him :
"There is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that, with his tiger's heart wrapt in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you; and, being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is, in his own conceit, the only Shake-scene in a country."
In later years Dryden decried him, and James Thomson dubbed him, "wild Shakespeare" in "The Season's Sum- mer " — "Is not wild Shakespeare thine and Nature's boast?"
On page 103 is shown a photographic reproduction from the First Folio Edition of Henry VIII., act iii, scene 2, and it consists of Cardinal Wolsey's "Soliloquy upon his Fall." It affords a good illustration of that orthography which many of the opponents of spelling reform love to fall
102 "English Literature," Vol. I., pp. 591, 592.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 105
back upon when they say — "The spelling of Shakespeare (and of Milton) is good enough for me."
Benjamin Jonson, or as he was familiarly called in his own time arid commonly so since, Ben Jonson, was the son of a clerg^yman. He was born in 1572 or 1573, and was a direct descendant of the Johnston's of Annandale, whence his grandfather set out for and settled in Carlisle. A few days after Ben Jonson 's birth his father died; his mother married again — this time to a master bricklayer. In those days the bricklayer was a craftsman, and the lesser clergy ranked as the equals of only tradesmen and servants. The paternal home was situated in Hartshorn Lane, near Char- ing Cross, and there Jonson was, as he expressed it, "poorly brought up." At first he attended the parish school of St. Martins-in-the-Fields close by, but shortly afterward, at the instance of one William Camden, who then was second master of Westminster school, and who undertook to bear the expenses of his schooling, he entered the latter insti- tution. There he proved himself an apt pupil, but was not permitted to continue his studies any length of time, being taken from school and put to learn his stepfather's trade. Jonson found this occupation intolerable and ran away from home. He escaped to Flanders, where he en- listed with the English troops then engaged in fighting the Spaniards. The rough life which he was forced to lead as a soldier left a permanent mark on his character and habits. Loud of voice, boastful, and boorish, he was ill-fitted to mingle with the dapper courtiers in attendance upon Queen Elizabeth and King James I., yet after he had forsaken the trowel and the pike he took up the pen and almost im- mediately sprang into fame. In 1595 he began to work for the stage, driven thence perhaps by poverty, perhaps
106 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
because of an unhappy marriage, but more probably be- cause of natural bent. He was both player and playwright in 1597, and in 1598 gave to the world "Every Man in his Humour, ' ' which is classed as one of our finest comedies to-day, and which immediately placed him in the foremost rank of the dramatists of his time. This was followed by "The Case is Altered," which was staged in 1599. In the same year he produced a tragedy, "Robert II., King of Scots," in collaboration with Dekker, Chettle and one other ' ' jentellmen, ' ' and ' ' Every Man out of his Humour, ' ' which by special command was played before Queen Elizabeth.
Jonson, as a dramatist, reached the highest point in his career during the first half of James's reign. By the year 1616 he had written all the plays worthy of his pen. The tragedy "Catiline" appeared in 1611, but met with in- different success. Then followed his comedies "Volpone or the Fox," produced in 1605; "Epicoene or The Silent Woman" (1609) ; "The Alchemist" (1610) ; "Bartholomew Fair" (1614) ; and "The Devil is an Ass" (1616). The composition of court masks occupied a part of this time. For some time thereafter he gave himself up to holiday- making, but in 1621 produced "Gipsies Metamorphosed," which was so well received by the King, before whom it was presented on three occasions, that he granted him "the reversion of the office of master of the revels,"103 and would have conferred upon him the honor of knighthood but for Jonson 's respectful declination.
Jonson 's tragedies are eloquent, stately, and poetical. He avoided the looseness of fancy which characterized much of the work of his contemporaries that degenerated into licentiousness. He wrote for men of sense and knowledge.
103 "Encyc. Brit.," XIII, s.v. "Jonson."
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 107
Of his prose work one piece, which has been preserved to us, may be cited as particularly suited to a work of this kind.
Language most shews a man; speak, that I may see thee. It springs out of the most retired and inmost parts of us, and is the image of the parent of it, the mind. No glass renders a man's form or likeness so true, as his speech. Nay, it is likened to a man ; and as we consider feature and composition in a man, so words in language ; in the greatness, aptness, sound, structure, and harmony of it. Some men are tall and big; so some lan- guage is high and great. Then the words are chosen, the sound ample, the composition full, the absolution plenteous, and poured out, all grace, sinewy and strong. Some are little and dwarfs; so of speech, it is humble and low ; the words poor and flat ; the members and periods thin and weak, without knitting or number. The middle are of a just stature. There the language is plain and pleasing: even without stopping, round without swelling; all well turned, composed, elegant, and accurate. The vicious language is vast and gaping; swelling and irregular; when it contends, high, full of rock, mountain and pointedness; as it affects to be low, it is abject and creeps, full of bogs and holes. And according to their subject these styles vary, and lose their names; for that which is high and lofty, declaring excellent matter, becomes vast and tumorous, speaking of petty and inferior things ; so that which was even and apt, in a mean and plain subject, will appear most poor and humble in a high argument.
The next thing to the stature, is the figure and feature of language; that is, whether it be round and straight, which con- sists of short and succinct periods, numerous and polished, or square and firm, which is to have equal and strong parts, every thing answerable, and weighed.
The third is the skin and coat, which rests in the well joining, cementing, and coagmentation of words; when as it is smooth, gentle, and sweet; like a table upon which you may run your finger without rubs, and your nails can not find a joint, nor horrid, rough, wrinkled, gaping, and chapt; after these, the flesh,
108 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
blood,, and bones come in question. We say it is a fleshy style, when there is much periphrasis, and circuit of words ; and when with more than enough it grows fat and corpulent. It hath blood and juice, when the words are proper and apt, their sound sweet, and the phrases neat and picked. There be some styles again that are bony and sinewy. . . .
As old age crept upon him Jonson, in receipt of a meager salary irregularly paid, and beset with debt, became a prey to paralysis. For the very necessaries of life he was com- pelled to write begging letters to his affluent noble friends. Life slowly ebbed until August 6, 1637, when he died, and three days later was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a square, time-worn tablet bearing the words "0 Bare Ben Jonson7' marks his last resting-place.
OTHER WRITERS
Another soldier who won fame with the pen was Sir Walter Raleigh, better known, perhaps, for his achieve- ments at sea than on land. He was born at Hayes in Devon- shire, England, in 1552, and after a brief sojourn at Oriel College, Oxford, espoused the cause of the French Protes- tants, enlisting in the Huguenots' army in 1569. For the next five years he followed the calling of a soldier, but found time to study seamanship, in which he became so proficient as to be created vice-admiral. His achievements in Ireland — whither he was sent to subdue the rebellious people, whom he butchered in cold blood as if they were wild beasts — although they did not reflect credit upon him as a humane commander, brought him to the attention of Queen Eliza- beth, and he received special licenses to export wool and to sell wine. For some years thereafter he shone as a courtier and obtained various offices, as the posts of lord-warden of
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 109
the Stannaries, and vice-admiral of Devon and Cornwall. In addition he received a charter to develop and colonize Virginia, and spent more than £40,000 in the venture, which did not prove a success. Twice he sent out expeditions to achieve this; the first settlers retired discouraged, taking refuge on Drake's ships, but bringing back with them to- bacco and the potato104 as the only fruits of the enter- prise; the second batch was either exterminated by the natives or assimilated with them.
But we are not concerned so much with Raleigh 's achieve- ments as an adventurous courtier, soldier, and seaman, as with the great work he began to write when confined in the Tower of London on a questionable charge of treason. For thirteen years he suffered solitary confinement, and these years he devoted to making experiments in chemistry and in writing a "History of the World" — a work which he was unable to complete. Beginning with the creation, Raleigh brought his achievement down to the second Macedonian war. Then followed his release and dispatch with a squadron of fourteen ships on an expedition to replenish a penniless King's treasury. He captured St. Thomas, obtained only two bars of gold, and suffering from ill-health, with "brains broken," he set sail for home. On landing at Plymouth he was arrested, taken to London, and on October 29, 1618, was sent to the block on the charge of treason that still hung over him. With what composure he advanced toward the block and faced death may be seen from his last words as he felt the edge of the ax which was to sever his head from his body — •' ' This is a sharp medicine, but it will cure all diseases."
104 The introduction and cultivation of the potato in Ireland were due to Raleigh, who assigned a part of his estates there to its cultivation.
110 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Raleigh's "History of the World" is remarkable for its spirited narrative, eloquence, deep learning, profound philosophy, and devout sentiment. It is cast in an antique mold and stamped with melancholy, due, no. doubt, to the somber surroundings of his prison chamber. To the student of English it is notable as one of the finest specimens of the quaint and stately old English style.
Raleigh wrote in addition "A Narrative of a Cruise to Guiana," and a number of political pamphlets. He was also author of pleasing poetry which won for him the praise of Edmund Spenser, by whom he was called the "Summer Nightingale." As a man he was master of the art and finesse of the courtier, and as a seaman, soldier, and states- man he stood preeminent at a time prolific of famous men.
The following extract is from Sir Walter Raleigh's Essay on "The Sceptic." It is quoted from Oldys and Birch's edition of the "Works of Sir Walter Raleigh" (Vol. VII, pp. 553-54), published by the Oxford University Press in 1829.
It is evident also that men differ very much in the tem- perature of their bodies, else why should some more easily digest beef than shell-fish? and others be mad for the time, if they drink wine? There was an old woman about Arbeus, which drank three drams of cicuta (every dram weighing sixty barleycorns, and eight drams to an ounce) without hurt. Lysis, without hurt, took four drams of poppy; and Demothon, which was gentleman-sewer to Alexander, was very cold when he stood in the sun, or in a hot bath, but very hot when he stood in the shade. Athenagoras felt no pain if a scorpion stuns: him. And the Psilli (a people in Libya, whose bodies are venom to serpents), if they be stung by serpents or asps, receive no hurt at all.
The Ethiopians, which inhabit the river Hydaspis, do eat serpents and scorpions without danger. Lothericus, a surgeon,
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 111
at the smell of a sturgeon would be for the time mad. Andron of Argos was so little thirsty, that without want of drink he travelled through the hot and dry country of Libya. Tiberius Caesar would see very well in the dark. Aristotle mentioneth of Thratius, who said, that the image of a man went always before him.
If then it be so, that there be such differences in men, this must be by reason of the diverse temperatures they have, and diverse dispositions of their conceit and imagination ; for if one hate and another love the very same thing, it must be that their phantasies differ, else all would love it, or all would hate it. These men then may tell how these things seem to them good or bad; but what they are in their own nature they cannot tell.
If we will hearken to men's opinions concerning one and the same matter, thinking thereby to come to the knowledge of it, we shall find this to be impossible; for either we must believe what all men say of it, or what some men only say of it. To believe what all men say of one and the same thing is not possible; for then we shall believe contrarieties; for some men say that that very thing is pleasant, which others say is dis- pleasant. If it be said we must believe only some men, then let it be shewed who those men are; for the Platonists will believe Plato, but the Epicures Epicurus, the Pythagoreans Pythagoras, and other philosophers the masters of their own sects; so that it is doubtful to which of all these we shall give credit. If it be said we must credit the greatest number, this seemeth childish; for there may be amongst other nations a greater number which deny that very point, which the greatest number with us do affirm; so that hereof nothing can certainly be affirmed.
Francis Bacon, the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, was born at York House in the Strand, London, January 22, 1561. He achieved great distinction as a lawyer, but far greater renown as a philosopher and essayist. In the law he rose
112 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
step by step from Queen 's Counsel to Lord High Chancellor of England, with the title of Baron Verulam, and ulti- mately became Viscount St. Albans. But the splendor of his career was dimmed by accusations of bribery and cor- ruption. He was impeached, tried, convicted, fined and imprisoned in the Tower of London for two days, then set free a disgraced and broken man. But the world is quick to forget, and it forgot his frailties in remembering the great service he did to the language and literature of his native land by producing his inimitable "Essays" first pub- lished in 1597, and his famous Novum Organum, which ap- peared in 1620. Of him Ben Jonson, his contemporary, wrote : ' ' There happened in my time one noble speaker who was full of gravity in his speaking. His language, where he could spare or pass by a jest, was nobly censorious. No man ever spoke more neatly, more pressly, more weightily, or suffered less emptiness, less idleness in what he uttered. ... I have and do reverence him for the greatness that was only proper to himself, in that he seemed to me ever, by his work, one of the greatest men and most worthy of admiration that had been in many ages."
Bacon's "Essays" are examples of the finest work ever done in English prose, and as such place him in the first rank of the English Classics. It is due as much to the excellence of their style as to the interesting character of the subjects of which they treat that Bacon's "Essays" are read more generally than any other of his works. So highly were these essays esteemed by Hallam that he declared it "would be derogatory to a man of the slightest claim to polite letters, were he unacquainted with the 'Essays' of Bacon."
The "Essays" were followed by a treatise on the "Ad-
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH H3
vancement of Learning," a work written in English and issued in 1605. This was the forerunner of a far greater undertaking styled "Instauratio Magna." In this work Bacon aimed to produce an analytical classification of all phases of human knowledge, and to provide a system of logic which would supply certain deficiencies of the Aris- totelian system. As originally planned, the work was divided into six parts:
Part I. De Augmentis Scientiarum: This consists of a sum- mary of human knowledge, as embraced by his "Advancement of Learning," but deals with the undeveloped condition of science.
Part II. Novum Organum explains his system of logic and expounds the inductive method of reasoning which earned for him the title of father of experimental science. Only one of the nine sections into which this part is divided is fully ex- plained; the remainder are only named. The Novum Organum gave expression to matters which were then under consideration. The period was ripe for reform. Scholasticism had begun to decay, the authority of the church was waning. Men turned to the study of nature and, basing their work upon theory, began investigating the sciences.
Part III. Sylva Sylvarum was to be a complete treatise on natural philosophy and natural history, but Bacon treated only four of the many subjects which were to come under this head — the history of the Winds, that of Life and Death, that of Density and Rarity, and that of Sound and Hearing.
Part IV. Scala Intellectus. Only the Filum Labyrinthi, which consists of but two or three pages, is extant. This, as its main title suggests, was intended as a key to the new philosophy.
Part V. Prodromi — the forerunners of the new philosophy. In this section Bacon purposed to present certain speculations of his own not based upon his new method but derived from "the unassisted use of his understanding."105 The preface of
105 "Encyc. Brit.," Vol. III., s.v. "Bacon."
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this work is extant, and several miscellaneous treatises which may have been intended for it as De Principlis, De Fluxu et Befluxu, etc.
Part VI. Philosophic/, Secunda — the second philosophy which results from the new method — which was never written.
Bacon's writings, although they received but scant atten- tion in his lifetime, gave enormous impulse to scientific thought for almost a century after his death. To the fact that he felt the neglect of his own countrymen, or that he realized that learning in England in his own time was not so far advanced as on the Continent, may have been due the prophetic lines found in his will : ' ' My name and mem- ory I leave it to men's charitable speeches and to foreign nations and the next ages." Among his contemporaries both Raleigh and Jonson appreciated his genius,106 but none expressed it so fittingly as his own friend, Sir Tobie Mat- thews, who in an address to the Reader107 said; "A man so rare in knowledge of so many several kinds, endued with the facility and felicity of expressing it all in so elegant, significant, so abundant and yet so choice and ravishing a way of words, of metaphors, of allusions, as perhaps the world hath not seen since it was a world." After his im- peachment Lord Bacon retired to his country home at Gorhambury, where he revised and enlarged his "Essays," wrote a "History of King Henry VII.," and a philosophical treatise called "The New Atlantis." He was heavily in debt and applied for the office of Provost of Eton College, hoping to secure release from them, but it was refused. He died from the effects of a cold taken while out for a drive, and during which he alighted from his carriage to test if
106 See Spedding "Letters and Life of Lord Bacon," Vol. I., p. 268.
107 "Collection of English Letters" (1660).
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 115
the flesh of fowl could be preserved with snow as well as with salt. While stuffing a chicken full of snow by the roadside he took a chill, from which he never recovered. He was taken to the home of the Earl of Arundel near by, and died there April 9, 1626.
The following extract is from Bacon's work, "The Essays, or Counsels Civil and Moral/' and treats of "Learning." The Essays have always stood as standard English prose.
Learning taketh away the wildness, and barbarism, and fierceness of men's minds: though a little superficial learning doth rather work a contrary effect. It taketh away all levity, temerity, and insolency, by copious suggestion of all doubts and difficulties, and acquainting the mind to balance reasons on both sides, and to turn back the first offers and conceits of the kind, and to accept of nothing but examined and tried. It taketh away vain admiration of anything, which is the root of all weakness: for all things are admired, either because they are new, or because they are great. For novelty, no man wadeth in learning or contemplation thoroughly, but with that printed in his heart, "I know nothing." Neither can any man marvel at the play of puppets, that goeth behind the curtain, and adviseth well of the motion. And as for magnitude, as Alexander the Great, after that he was used to great armies, and the great conquests of the spacious provinces in Asia, when he received letters out of Greece, of some fights and ser- vices there, which were commonly for a passage or fort or some walled town at the most, he said, "It seemed to him that he was advertised of the battle of the frogs and the mice, that the old tales went of"; — so certainly, if a man meditate upon the universal frame of nature, the earth with men upon it, the divineness of souls excepted, will not seem much other than an ant-hill, where some ants carry corn, and some carry their young, and some go empty, and all to and fro a little heap of dust. It taketh away or mitigateth fear of death, or adverse fortune, which is one of the greatest impediments of virtue, and imperfections of manners. For if a man's mind be deeply
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seasoned with the consideration of the mortality and corrupt- ible nature of things, he will easily concur with Epictetus, who went forth one day, and saw a woman weeping for her pitcher of earth that was broken ; and went forth the next day, and saw a woman weeping for her son that was dead ; and thereupon said, "Yesterday I saw a fragile thing- broken, to-day I have seen a mortal thing die." And therefore Virgil did excellently and profoundly couple the knowledge of causes and the conquest of all fears together.
2. The English Bible
With the year 1611, which marks the close of Shake- speare's literary activity, and the publication of the Authorized Version of the Bible, the Early Modern or Tudor Period may be said to close. But before then there was a time in England when Bibles were only to burn and not to read. The law compelled those that read them to throw them into the flames, but the Bible survived and was revised, translated and, finally, authorized. By royal order a copy of it was placed in every church throughout England in 1541, and there the people flocked to read it or to hear it read. If naught else had been done in the reign of Elizabeth but to establish the Bible as the great standard of our national Faith by her command, this act alone would have entitled he¥ to rank among the great sovereigns of England.
Two editions of this great work appeared before that which we commonly designate the Authorized Version. The first was the translation by Miles Coverdale, known as the Geneva Bible, which was completed in 1560, and which was greatly prized by the Puritans. The second, known as the Bishops' Bible, was translated under the supervision of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, by ''able
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bishops and other learned men, ' ' and was completed October 5, 1568.
The Bible which Protestants still use, notwithstanding the defects pointed out by eminent Bible scholars, was the result of a conference between representatives of the High Church and of the Low Church parties which was held at Hampton Court Palace, in Middlesex, England, in 1604. The guiding spirit of this conference was King James I., who himself spontaneously sketched out the plan under which the labor was to be done. The work, once under- taken, was subdivided among forty-seven eminent scholars and divines who formed themselves into six committees and were occupied in the revision for nearly five years. It took Robert Barker, the King's Printer, two years to put it into print, and when published it consisted of "two contem- porary issues of folio volumes separately composed, and printed in the year 1611. "108
What shall one say of the style of the English Bible? A writer in "The Spectator" (London) has answered the question thus: "It is the noblest example of the English tongue," and will bear analysis as its subject matter has borne criticism. As for the prose of the Bible, even its more dominant elements are difficult to isolate. They are as much psychological as linguistic, elements not only of the English tongue but of the English spirit. Of the prose of the Bible it may, indeed, be said, "Le style c'est le peuple." For instance, there is the adaptation of Hebrew ideas; it is an adaptation not only in expression but in substance. It might seem inevitable that in a translation from the Hebrew the essence of the ideas at least would remain Hebraic. But there are good grounds, among them
108"Encyc. Brit.," VIII., s.v. English Bible.
118 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
being the influence of the Bible upon the English people, for believing that this is not the case. A priori, of course, the mere fact of translation proves that the ideas, in passing from Hebrew to English words, have ceased to be Hebrew and have become English. The remarks of Jesus, the son of Sirach, in the preface of his translation from Hebrew into Greek of his grandfather's "Wisdom," which we know as "Ecclesiasticus," are very much to the point. He says: "The same things uttered in Hebrew and translated into another tongue have not the same force in them ; and not only these things but the law itself, and the prophets and the rest of the books, have no small difference when they are spoken in their own language/'
"All wisdom cometh from the Lord, and is with Him for ever. ' ' That contains the essence of the characteristic style of the prose of our Bible. We select it for the interesting contrast it presents to the preface. For, if we were search- ing for a specimen containing the essential characteristics of English prose, we could hardly do better than quote the words already cited from this preface. Compare them from any point of view, and with any qualifications, to the already cited first words of "Ecclesiasticus." There is clearly a profound difference.
We are not implying that these characteristics, whatever they may be, are Hebraic. We merely suggest that they are not the normal characteristics of English prose, either at the period of their composition or at any other. One or two further specimens will serve to emphasize the type and to show how constant it is. "Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters ; and thy footsteps are not known. " 1 ' Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being fast bound in misery and iron." "And there was no more
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sea. " " The Lord do so to me and more also, if aught but death part me and thee." "As rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.'' "Rise up, ye women that are at ease. Hear my voice, ye careless daughters." "They sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes." Clearly the passages cited haphazard out of hundreds of thousands like them bear a special stamp. When we consider them we find that they have a particular appeal to the ear. And in fact, we may take it that the first and most prominent characteristic is a special rhythm. It is of a simple type, but as the least study will show, it is handled with extraordinary art. It is neither too fluent nor too slow, but it is both smooth and weighty. It is carefully balanced in the complementary members of a sentence, yet it never degenerates into meter. The rhythm of many English writers tends to be either dissipated among polysyllables or emphasized to monotony, iambic as in Blackmore, hexametric as in Buskin. But the rhythm of the Bible, though built of the same elements as the verse of Shakespeare and Milton, is specifically a prose, not a verse rhythm. The perfection of its technique is infallible.109
In qne of his Epistles Seneca tells us that the first petition we should make to the Almighty is for a good conscience, the second, for a healthy mind, and the third, for a healthy body. A perusal of the Bible will put us in the proper frame of mind to do this better than any other work penned by human hand. How such a practise affected Ruskin he has told us: "Read your Bible," said he, "making it the first morning business of your life to understand some portion of it clearly, and your daily business to obey it in
109 "The Spectator," London, August 26, 1911.
120 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
all that you do understand. To. my early knowledge of the Bible I owe the best part of my taste in literature, and the most precious, and, on the whole, the one essential part of my education. ' ' No living being can hope to achieve all the good that is taught by the Scriptures, but he may hope to achieve a great part of it. As Sir "Walter Scott ex- pressed it, "the more deeply he works the mine, the richer and more abundant he finds the ore ; new light continually beams from this source of heavenly knowledge, to direct the conduct, and illustrate the work of God and the ways of men; and he will at last leave the world confessing that the more he studied the Scriptures, the fuller conviction he had of his own ignorance, and of their inestimable value. ' '
Ulysses Simpson Grant attributed to the influence of the Bible all the progress made in true civilization, and be- lieved that we must look to it as our guide in the future. Others, too, have echoed this sentiment, for the Bible be- longs to the world, and has outlived all other books as a mighty factor in civilization. Eadical in its unique and peerless teachings, identified with the promotion of liberty, the companion or pioneer of commerce, the founder of civil government, the source and support of learning, as both containing and fostering literature of the noblest order, and as the promoter and purifier of art, it is a book that has enshrined within its many pages more specimens of genius and taste than any other work known to man. To Napoleon it was a living power — a book surpassing all others. 1 1 1 never fail to read it," said he, "and every day with the same pleasure. Nowhere is to be found such a series of beautiful ideas, and admirable moral maxims, which pass before us like the battalions of a celestial army. . . . The soul can never go astray with this book for its guide. ' ' If
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it has taught us nothing else it has taught us the best way to live, the manly way to suffer, and the noblest way to die. Empires may crumble, kingdoms decay, and cities fall, but tyranny has not been able to destroy it, traditions have been unable to shake it, and atheism can not undermine it. Amid the wreck of nations this work — the Word of God — stands supreme throughout our world to-day.
. As literature the English Bible is a masterpiece. It was of this book that Macaulay said, ' ' If everything else in our language should perish, it would alone suffice to show the whole extent of the beauty and power of that language." As it has proved to others, so it has proved to me, the light of my understanding, my consoler in sorrow, and my guide in the hour of trial. It teaches man the most effectual way to civilize and humanize his kind ; to elevate and purify public morals; to efficiently maintain the precepts of law and order, and to improve all the relations of social and domes- tic life. " Scholars may quote Plato in their studies, " said Con way, "but the hearts of millions will quote the Bible at their daily toil, and draw strength from its inspiration, as the meadows draw it from the brook. ' ' It is, indeed, a noble Book, the Book for all men. It is not only our first and our oldest expounder of the everlasting problem of man's des- tiny in his relation to God, but, to borrow Daniel Webster 's view, it is a book of Faith, and a book of doctrine, a book of morals, and a book of religion. Horace Greeley believed that the principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom, and Benjamin Franklin felt its influence for good so supreme that he said: "A Bible and a news- paper in every house, a good school in every district — all studied and appreciated as they merit — are the principal supports of virtue, morality, and civil liberty." Found in
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the home of the poor, as well as in the halls of the rich, it has been woven into our literature, and absorbed by our speech. As that great American statesman, Edward Ever- ett, once said : ' ' If it were possible to annihilate the Bible, and with it all its influences, we should destroy with it the whole spiritual system of the moral world, all refine- ment of manners, constitutional government, security of property, our schools, hospitals and benevolent associations, the press, the fine arts, the equality of the sexes, and the blessings of the fireside/' For our own sakes let us hope, then, that the day of its annihilation may be far distant.
The occasion of the tercentennary celebration of the publication of the King James Version at the Albert Hall, London, March 29, 1911, led William H. Taft, who was President of the United States at the time, to express the following sentiments concerning the English Bible to the delegates convened: "This Book of books has not only reigned supreme in England for three centuries, but has bound together as nothing else could two great Anglo-Saxon nations, one in blood, in speech, and in common religious life. Our laws, our literature and our social life owe what- ever excellence they possess largely to the influence of this, our chief classic, acknowledged as such equally on both sides of the sea."
To the reader who cares to study the Bible in its relation to modern life it is a pleasure to recommend a work bear- ing on this subject from the pen of Joseph S. Auerbach. In this work nothing is omitted because of difference of in- terpretation. As the writer reads without comment, so the student is left to connect the text according to his faith or teaching.
The influence of the Authorized Version of the Bible
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upon the English language can be measured only in part by its influence on the English-speaking peoples. As a literary work it has preserved to us a language peculiarly its own. Of Anglo-Saxon words it contains 97 per cent. — more than any other English book. Biblical English may be archaic in form, but this archaic character was not derived from Elizabethan or Jacobean sources. Hallam has pointed out that it is "not the English of Daniel, or Raleigh, or Bacon," but it may be traced back to the language of Wycliffe, and although this "abounds with obsolete phraseology and with single words long since abandoned or retained only in provincial use" it has given all men so much satisfaction that no other revision which has succeeded it has been received with sufficient favor as to displace the veneration in which the King James Version is held.
In his "Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures," Dr. Thomas Hartwell Home gives the following statistics concerning the contents of the Bible, the computation of which occupied more than three years of his time.
OLD |
NEW |
||
TESTAMENT |
TESTAMENT |
TOTAL |
|
Books |
.... 39 |
27 |
66 |
Chapters . . |
.... 929 |
260 |
1,189 |
Verses |
. . . . 33,214 |
7,959 |
41,173 |
Words |
. . . . 593,493 |
181,253 |
774,746 |
Letters |
. 2,728,100 |
838,380 |
3,566,480 |
APOCRYPHAL BOOKS
Books, 14 ; chapters, 183 ; verses, 6,031 ; words, 125,185 ; letters, 1,063,876.
Another computation made by the Prince of Granada,
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heir to the Spanish throne, during a period of imprison- ment yields the following facts:
Books 66
Chapters 1,189
Verses 31,373 [ f ]
Words 773,693
Letters 3,538,483
A writer to the ''Manchester Union" (Manchester, Eng- land) computed the number of words as 810,697. A calcu- lation of the different words used in the Old Testament, based on the number of Hebrew words translated into Eng- lish, yields a total of 8,674, or about one-half the number of English words usually credited to Shakespeare.
(B) THE MODERN PERIOD: THE INFLUENCE OF THE PRESS
In point of time the Modern Period ranges from 1611 to the present day. It embraces a vast army of writers of every kind of literature which has appeared during the past three hundred years. Of these writers John Milton was unquestionably the peer. His own contemporary, John Dryden, to whom Buckhurst, who later became Lord Dorset, showed a copy of "Paradise Lost," exclaimed, "This man cuts us all out and the ancients too." A tradition is pre- served that Sir John Denham, who had been permitted to read a sheet of this poem as it came off the press, declared it to be "the noblest poem ever written." Macaulay in his "History of England" described Milton as "a mighty poet who, tried at once by pain, danger, poverty, obloquy, and blindness, meditated, undisturbed by the obscene tumult which raged all around him, a song so sublime and so holy that it would not have misbecome the lips of those ethereal Virtues whom he saw, with that inner eye which no calamity
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could darken, flinging down on the jasper pavement their crowns of amaranth and gold."
John Milton was born in Bread Street, Cheapside, Lon- don, 011 December 9, 1608. A portrait of Milton, made when he was ten years old, shows him to have been a beau- tiful lad, and this likeness is borne out by a tradition which claims that his beautiful and delicate pink and white skin, together with his wealth of silken auburn hair, earned for him the sobriquet of "The Lady of the College " at Christ College, Cambridge. He received his early education at the hands of a private tutor named Thomas Young, who later became a famous Presbyterian divine. When about twelve years old Milton attended St. Paul's School. From the outset he showed a passion for study, often reading late into the night, thereby, as he himself thought, causing the injury to his eyes which ultimately caused his blindness. Besides acquiring a thorough knowledge of English, Milton learned Latin and Greek, French and Italian, and was able to read Hebrew. When but fifteen years old he wrote two paraphrases of the Psalms.
On attaining his sixteenth year Milton entered Cambridge University as a minor pensioner. Owing to a quarrel be- tween his tutor, William Chappell and himself, he is said to have withdrawn from the University for a time, and on his return to have been placed under the tutorship of Nathaniel Tovey. Milton wrote the Latin verses for the college commencement of 1628, and a magnificent "Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity" in 1629. This is one of the most noble specimens of lyric poetry ever produced. It was followed by a sonnet to Shakespeare in 1630. Although educated for the church, Milton refused to take the necessary oaths, and therefore was "church-crated by the
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prelates." From July, 1632 to April, 1638, Milton lived with his father at Horton (Bucks), about eighteen miles from London. While here, reading the Greek and Latin poets, he produced "L 'Allegro," "II Periseroso," "Ar- cades," "Comus," and "Lycidas." Of these poems the first two are the most popular, and show the poet's intense love of nature.
In April, 1638, Milton, with his father's consent, went abroad. He arrived in Paris, but notwithstanding the fact that there he met Hugo Grotius, the famous Dutch states- man, found that city uncongenial ; he disliked * ' the manners and genius" of the place and so proceeded to Nice. From there he traveled by sea to Genoa and Leghorn, and thence through Pisa to Florence, where he remained some time, and visited Galileo who was detained there as a prisoner by the Holy Office for having expressed his views about the stars. From Florence Milton went to Rome, where he was well received, and thence to Naples, where he met the Marquis of Villa, the friend of Tasso. Returning to Flor- ence he remained there for two months, then visited Venice, Bologna, and Ferrara in turn. Leaving Italy via Verona he crossed the Simplon Pass and proceeded to Geneva, which he reached in July, 1639, whence he set out for home through Paris and reached England at the end of the month.
Milton's visit to Florence was memorable, for he was received most cordially by all the learned men there. Among these were Jacopo Gaddi, Carlo Diodati, Benedetto Bon- mattei, Antonio Malatesti, and Agostino Coltellini. Milton's chief companion when in Rome was Lucas Holste, who at that time held the office of librarian to the Vatican. It was while in that city that Milton attended a concert held in
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Cardinal Barberini 's palace. In Naples he met Manso, the patron of Tasso and many other men, whose names now adorn the school of fame.
Shortly after his return to England Milton settled in lodges in St. Bride's Churchyard, and from there moved, for lack of space for his books, to a cosy little garden-house on Aldersgate Street. Here he resumed his literary work and devoted a part of his time to the tuition of a number of pupils (1643). In that year he married Mary Powell, the daughter of Richard Powell, a Royalist, of Forest Hill, near Shotover in Oxfordshire. His first matrimonial venture did not prove a happy one, and in 1644 the fruit of this mes- alliance was a work on "Divorce." The ' * Areopagitica, " said to be the finest of his prose compositions, he addressed to Parliament in the same year. This work dealt with the question of unlicensed prints. In that year there appeared also his "Tractate on Education. " During the ten years that followed Milton produced a number of political papers which reflect the intense feelings which the writer held against the crown. In 1653 he lost his wife and suffered from paralysis of the optic nerve, which culminated in blindness. It was under these conditions that he began to write his immortal poem "Paradise Lost." This was not completed until 1663. In 1667 Milton signed an agreement with one Samuel Simmons or Symons, under which the former was to receive five pounds down and five pounds additional on the sale of the first three editions. Each edition consisted of 1,500 copies, but an accounting was to be made when 1,300 copies had been sold. Milton re- ceived only ten pounds in all for this work, and in 1680 his widow110 settled all claims on Simmons for eight pounds,
110 Milton married three times.
128 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
then he became sole owner of the copyright. Milton's "Paradise Regained,'' said to have originated from a re- mark made by his friend, Ellwood,111 was published to- gether with his "Samson Agonistes" in 1671. The latter has a certain autobiographical value which makes it most interesting.
Milton, spared by the Great Plague, and by the Great Fire, passed away so peacefully that when the end came it was scarcely perceived. Gout "struck in," and he passed away with scarcely a pain, November 8, 1674. He was buried in the Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, in London.
It took Milton seven years to produce "Paradise Lost" (1658-1665), but much longer to conceive it. While the Cavalier poets had been stringing their garlands of arti- ficial blossoms in the heated air of the Stuart court, Milton had been weaving his sweet chaplets of unfading wild- flowers in the meadows of Horton. It was not in the nature of things that the great Puritan poet should pass through the trying hours of conflict and triumph without many stains of earth deepening on his spirit. To purge these away, required suffering in many shapes — blindness, bitter- ness of soul, threatening ruin and narrowness of means. Yet political disgraces could not break the giant's wing; they but served to give it greater strength. From a fall which would have laid a feebler man in his coffin, Milton arose with his noblest poem completed in his hand — and Milton's noblest poem is the crown and glory of our Eng- lish literature. What more need be said of Puritan in- fluence upon English letters than that Puritan Milton wrote 1 'Paradise Lost!"112
111 "Thou hast, said much here of Paradise Lost, but what hast thou to say of Paradise Found?"— "Diet, of Nat. Biog.," Vol. XXXVIII, p. 34. »2W. F. Collier, "Hist, of Eng. Lit.," p. 180.
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The following lines rendered in modern spelling, are taken from the College Exercise, and were written by Milton in 1627. He was then in his nineteenth year.
"Hail, native Language, that by sinews weak Didst move my first endeavouring tongue to speak, And mad'st imperfect words with childish trips, Half-unpronounced, slide through my infant lips:
"I have some naked thoughts that rove about, And loudly knock to have their passage out; And, weary of their place, do only stay Till thou hast deck'd them in their best array.
"Yet I had rather, if I were to chose, Thy service in some graver subject use, Such as may make thee search thy coffers round, Before they clothe my fancy in fit sound ; Such where the deep transported mind may soar Above the wheeling poles, and at heaven 's door Look in, and see each blissful deity How he before the thunderous throne doth lie, Listening to what unshorn Apollo sings To the touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings Immortal nectar to her kingly sire: Then passing through the spheres of watchful fire, And misty regions of wide air next under, And hills of snow, and lofts of piled thunder, May tell at length how green-eyed Neptune raves, In heaven's defiance mustering all his waves; Then sing of secret things that came to pass When beldame Nature in her cradle was; And last of kings, and queens, and heroes old, Such as the wise Demodocus once told In solemn songs at King Alcinous' feast, While sad Ulysses' soul and all the rest Are held with his melodious harmony In willing chains and sweet captivity."
130 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
The following sonnet from the first edition (1645) of Milton's " Minor Poems," will serve to show the reader that in some respects the spelling of Milton is not the spelling of our day — note the italicized words:
"How soon hath Time the subtle theef of youth, Stoln on his wing my three and twentith yeer! My hasting dayes ftie on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, That I to manhood am arriv'd so near, And inward ripenes doth much less appear, That som more timely-happy spirits indu'th. Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, It shall be still in strictest measure eev'n, To that same lot, however mean, or high, Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heav'n; All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever in my great task Masters eye.
Let us now look into the state of the language at the time of Milton's birth. It was then the practically in- flectionless tongue which we use to-day, but its orthography was unsettled. Notwithstanding the publication of Eng- lish dictionaries which was begun in 1552, when Richard Huloet issued his folio volume which gave English defi- nitions for English words, and was continued by Robert Cawdrey with his " Table Alphabeticall conteyning and teaching the true writing and understanding of hard usuall English wordes," — the first dictionary confined entirely to the English language — the manner of spelling of English words was not fixed. Although it has been claimed that English spelling "did not settle down to present usage till about the Restoration" (1660),113 it is a fact that both
m"Encyc. Brit.," VIII, p. 399.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 131
Nathan Bailey and Samuel Johnson — the first in 1721, the second in 1755 — issued their respective dictionaries, hoping thereby " to fix the language, ' ' but their hopes were not realized.
tained in domestick, publick, musick, etc. ; for "ct" in connexion; "authors" he spelled authours; "control," controul; "expense," expence; "forborne," forborn; "registered," registred, "synonyms," synonimes, etc. It is chiefly because of these attempts to establish a standard of orthography that English spelling has become the most perplexing problem with which every one who learns the English language has to deal. At the very bottom is an alphabet, the sounds of the letters of which have been perverted by one generation after another until it is the most unphonetic creation of the kind in existence. It represents the 32 elementary sounds in English speech with 26 letters, many of which are used without regard to phonetic sounds.
It has been claimed that the letter "a" represents from five to eight sounds. The claim is modest ; the fact is that it may be written in its varying sounds no less than thirty different ways : (1) o-le; (2) m-a^-d; (3) ih-ey; (4) g-ao-1; (5) g-em-ge; (6) st-ea-k; (7) v-ei-I; (8) str-aigh-t't (9) eigh-t; (10) d-ay -, (11) aye; (12) at-, (13) arm; (14) alms; (15) h-ear-th; (16) 1-aw-gh; (17) ah; (18) la; (19) augh-t; (20) b-aw-1; (21) all; (22) h-cm-1; (23) ough-t; (24) ot-r; (25) c-are; (26) ere; (27) b-ea-r; (28) sof-a; (29) w-a-tch; (30) extr-ao-rdinary.
By close observation one may see that "e," too, is some- what of a usurper, for it represents at least seven dip- thongal sounds : — ^2?sop ; peace ; flee ; seizure ; clear ; mere ; G?dipus.
132 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
The letters "i," "o," and "u" have been used, or rather misused in the same way, until all that remains to us is an agglomeration of erratic symbols to indicate distinct sounds. That the common English alphabet does not contain enough letters has already been proved. We have twelve distinct vowel sounds, and besides these? a large number of syllables in pronouncing which the voice passes from one consonant to another, barely touching the intervening obscure vowel. The diphthongs i and u, represented by single letters, in- crease the number to fifteen. We have but five letters, and such help as we can get from w and y, to represent them. Meiklejohn is authority for the statement that every printed symbol may be sounded in from two to eighteen different ways. For further discussion of this subject, see Chapter IX.
Although usage has determined the correct spelling of many common words, mutations in others in daily use con- tinue, as the spelling of such words as ax, fetish, gram, pedler, plow (a reversion from plough to the spelling found in the King James Version of the Bible), savior, sirup, etc., will serve to show, and it may be safely inferred therefrom that as long as the language is spoken some changes in the spelling of its words will be made from time to time.
By the year 1611 the English language had become a plastic medium for the expression of thought. Since then it has been enriched as occasion required by assimilation — drawing from foreign sources such words as were needed. Other words called for by new inventions in the arts and sciences were coined to meet these requirements. But greater diffusion was needed, and this the language began to secure with the appearance of the first English "Courant" which was issued December 2, 1620. It was preceded by a "News Letter " printed in Dutch.
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There is in the British Museum, London, a volume con- taining 24 English "Courants," the existence of which was unknown two years ago. The Museum authorities acquired them as recently as November, 1912. They are single sheets folio of sizes varying from 223 millimeters to 302 millimeters. Eighteen of the twenty-four are printed in black letter type. Sixteen were printed at Amsterdam, thirteen by George Veseler and three by Broer Jonson ; one at Alkamaar by "M. H."; one at The Hague by Adrian Clarke, and six at London by "N. B." (Nathaniel Butter).
The first of these publications bears the date December 2, 1620, and announces that "the new ty dings out of Italic are not yet com," but continues: "Out of Weenen, the 6 November," etc. This was printed at Amsterdam "the 2 of December." It was sold by Petrus Keerius, cartog- rapher and bookseller on the Calverstreete.
The others bear the following dates : December 23, 1620 ; January 21, 1621 ; March 31, 1621 ; April 9, 1621 ; July 5, 1621 (this number is entitled "Courant Newes out of Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Poland, &c.") ; July 9, 1621 (this bears the same date as the preceding but is designated "Cor- ante, or, Newes from Italy, Germanic, Hungarie, Spaine and France"; it was printed at "Amstelredam" by Broer Jonson) ; July 15, 1621 ; July 20, 1621, wherein Broer Jon- son is described as "Coranter to his Excellencie " ; July 29, 1621, which was "printed at Altmore by M. H." ; August 2, 1621, "Imprinted by Broyer Johnson Corantere to his Excellency" (note the changes in spelling here) ; August 9, 1621, entitled "News from the Low Countries, or a Courant from the Low Countries, or a Courant out of Bohemia, Poland, Germanic, &c. Printed at Amsterdam by loris Veseler"; August 10, 1621, "imprinted at the Hage by
134 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Adrian Clarke"; September 6, 1621; September 12, 1621; another of the same date as the preceding; September 18, 1621; one dated September 24, 1621, is styled "Corante, or, News from Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spaine and France. 1621. London. Printed for N. B. * * * Out of Hie Dutch Coppy printed at Franckford" — perhaps the 11 Frankfurter Zeitung"; September 30, 1621, which be- came "Corante, or Weekely Newes"; October 2, 1621; October 6, 1621 ; October 11, 1621 ; October 22, 1621.
The last six were all printed in London from "the Dutch," "the Hie Dutch" or "the High Dutch Coppy" or "copy" as suited the whim of the printer.
With the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1618 the demand for information of its progress became so keen that Abraham Verhoeven of Antwerp commenced the publication of a small quarto News Letter in 1619. This consisted of eight pages, and was issued with the approval of the Church. Ultimately it became known as the "Gazette of Antwerp."
The following brief extracts will serve to show the char- acter of the "Newes" provided by the English papers:
FROM COLLEN THE 28TH OF JULY 1621
Some fewe dayes past, there came to Collen a holy Italian Frier of the Woldoenders order of the Cormelites, whom the common people judgeth to be a Prophet, because that hee had fore-told the Victory of the Emperor against the King of Bohemia, and obtained it by his fervent prayers.
He is here received with so great devotion, that it is almost impossible to relate it, because that thorough the great presse of people, hee could not get with his Horse-litter through the streetes of the Citie, whereupon some rubbed their Beads to his garments, others cut small peeces of his holy Cowle, and he that might kisse his hand, esteemed himselfe most happy.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 135
In surnma, all those that were creeple, deafe, blinde, duinbe, and diseased came running to him, who in time may yet be cured. Our Elector, having knowledge of his arrival came sud- denly to him, who with great intreatings got the staffe of the holy man.
FROM VENICE THE !()TH OF AUGUST 1621
The famous Pirate, Samson, hath desyred of this Seigniory, a free incoming with all his, and as some thinck : for to inhabite to Pola in Istria: upon which condition he offers to this Seigniory 36. wel armed shipps with one million of gold for a gift against tyme of need: more-over two millions of gold, for ten in the hondert, besides other conditions: the Secretary Ancelay hath already commission to treate with him of these things.
The foregoing affords a fair idea of the beginnings of the English weekly newspaper which was first published irregu- larly from December 2, 1620, to August, 1621, but which appeared every week from September 6, 1621. Prior to this time the publication of pamphlets, religious and politi- cal, and therefore more or less controversial in character, had helped to spread the language, but in popularity the newspaper soon eclipsed them.
Under Charles II. and his brother James, newspapers were numerous. ' * The London Gazette, ' ' a bi-weekly, was an official and political journal, which, besides containing royal proclamations, notices of promotion, distribution of the forces, political addresses, notices of cock-fights, etc., gave such items of foreign news as reached the editor's desk. But this was the organ of the few; the " Newsletter" was the daily of the masses. At that time the coffee-houses were the chief centers of information and to them people thronged at all hours of the day to learn the news. Papers of any kind were scarce, for none could be issued without
136 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
special license before 1694. In that year the press was freed from the restrictions which had been placed upon its liberty, and it thereafter made great strides. Newspapers increased in numbers as well as in popularity, and as these were more widely read their influence became greater. It was due to this that another check was placed upon them by the introduction of the stamp tax in 1712. This tax not only required a half-penny stamp on each half sheet, and a penny stamp on every whole sheet, but in addition called for the payment of one shilling for every advertisement printed. This system of taxation continued until June 9, 1855, when "The Illustrated Times, " the first English paper published without a stamp, was issued. Its editor, the late Henry Vizetelly, was sued by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue for penalties amounting to £12,000, which, acting on the advice of Richard Cobden and of his counsel, he refused to pay. The repeal by Parliament of the impost as a tax on knowledge was then imminent, and as other publishers, following the example set them, issued their papers without stamps, the government passed a measure abolishing the tax, and none of the suits instituted by the Commissioners were presented for trial.
Periodicals of a very different kind preceded this illus- trated paper. Two years after Queen Anne ascended the throne of England the first English serial appeared (1704). This was Defoe's "Review" — the pioneer of English periodical literature. But this class of publication was not firmly established until 1709 when "The Tatler," a tri- weekly sheet, was started by Richard Steele. Its life was brief — only two years — but long enough to bring to notice the pleasing and eloquent contributions of its founder, and of his schoolmate, Joseph Addison.
ENGLISH: ITS GROWTH 137
When "The Tatler" passed out of existence Addison founded "The Spectator" (1711) ; and with his contribu- tions raised it to the highest rank among the English classics. The immense popularity of this periodical was due to the fact that its contributions were free from political partizanship, and were the means of disseminating judicious teachings in manners, morals, and literary criti- cism. To them was largely due the elevation of public taste and the higher standard of thought attained thereby. Following "The Spectator" there appeared at different intervals during the eighteenth century "The Gentleman's Magazine," "The Guardian," and "The Rambler"— the last a bi-weekly first issued in 1750, with which Samuel Johnson's name is inseparably associated, as he contributed the greater part of the essays which appeared in its pages. The life of "The Rambler" was of short duration— the last number appeared in March, 1752 ; but six years later John- son founded * * The Idler, ' ' and resumed the post of essayist. Of this periodical, which was written in lighter vein than its predecessor, only 103 numbers appeared. The standard of English which these journals established was a high one, and with the development of journalism it has been im- proved until it has reached the high-water mark of purity which characterizes the quality of English used in the repu- table journals of our day.
The development of the printing-press has proved a most potent factor in the dissemination of literature of all kinds, and in the consequent spread of the language. In the development of the language the press — daily, and period- ical— the almanacs, annuals, keepsakes, and garlands — all have helped to elevate the tone of thought and that of speech. This improvement has been secured gradually,
138 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
almost unconsciously, by the labor of years, and the process of purification still continues. Every year a large army of new words endeavors to find a permanent home in the language. Some of the words are of sterling quality; others are decrepit or discarded words which some writers have endeavored to revivify; others which knock for ad- mission are colloquialisms or slang. They must all be tried in the furnace of usage, and tested in the melting-pot of human experience ; those that survive these tests are given place in the great lexicons while the others, discarded, are thrown into the scrap-heap. Such is the condition of the language to-day that the process of its refinement must ever be as "a continuous performance."
Within the limits assigned to this volume, it is not possi- ble to include biographical notices of the principal British and American authors of the Modern Period, for this would necessitate the inclusion of several hundreds of these. Each decade has produced writers whose influence has been felt in various directions and whose contributions to litera- ture have helped to improve or embellish the language. For a list of authors, their dates of birth and death, and their principal works, see Appendix.
Ill
Some Mutations of Form and Sense
THE study of the English language brings to light many curiosities in spelling and of expression. Derived as it is from various sources and receiving as it has many accre- tions in its progress it, more than any other language, is the sport of whim and caprice, and therefore, it is still far from being completely grammaticized. Modes of speech which were treated with contempt as evidences of vulgarity, lack of education, or as mere colloquial barbarisms, by past generations, are in the main permitted to pass as of sterling value when it is shown that they are supported by the usage of writers of reputable English. To-day the sneer of the pedant is rebutted by the printed authority of established forms. But the language of every country is just as subject to change as are its inhabitants and their dress and their environment. "All languages which are vulgar (or living languages) are subject to so many alter- ations, " said Bishop Wilkins, "that in tract of time they will appear to be quite another thing than they were at first. Every change is a gradual corruption, partly by refining and mollifying old words for the more easy and graceful sound."1
As it was governed in the past so orthography is governed in the present by standards established by the literary world of its time. Consequently, forms that were accepted as
1 Bishop John Wilkins, "Real Character," p. 6.
139
140 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
correct at the beginning of one century may be discarded as incorrect before the dawn of another. To-day we write public, music, physic, yet our grandfathers and their con- geners wrote publick, musick, physick, and their great- grandfathers wrote publicke, physicke, musicke. Innova- tions of spelling seldom secure general approval even though they may, after all, be but steps back to older forms for the sake of simplicity, the differences existing between American and English spellings excepted ; for, when a na- tion of one hundred million souls uses the same forms, it may be said that these forms have secured general approval. It is more than strange that in a country so progressive in almost everything as the United States, the efforts to advance the language to a more efficient form in orthog- raphy have made so little headway. It is true that some headway has been made, and that at least 50,000 persons are now using simpler forms of spelling, but when one considers that the efforts to introduce these forms have taken nearly fifty years, the advance must be characterized as "slow." To illustrate that innovations of the kind are sometimes fraught with serious consequences, Bishop Fuller2 once told the experience of an under-clerk in the royal household of his time. This unhappy being was threatened with a summons before the tribunal of the Board of the Green-cloth to answer for the crime of having written the term sinapi (mustard) as it ought to be spelled, in his official accounts, contrary to the style established by the Court, which for time immemorial had been cinapi!
Concerning the standards established at Court, the French etymologist Menage3 relates that in the reign of
2 Fuller's "Church History," bk. iv, p. 150.
8 "Menagiana," Vol. IV., p. 3 (Amsterdam, 1716).
SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE 141
Louis XIV. this monarch expressed his royal displeasure at the frequent use of the words gros and grosse (Anglice, "big," "fat," "great," or "gross") in such phrases as "un gros plaisir"; "une grosse qualite"; "une grosse beaute," etc. He feared, it was said, lest he, who had for some time been styled Louis le Grand, might at another time be styled Louis le Gros. It was left to the adroit Boileau to point out to the King the absurdity of supposing that the world would ever think of Louis le Gros in the reign of Louis le Grand!
But it is with the vagaries of English words rather than with those that exist in the French that we are concerned, and, perhaps the best suited to do service at the outset is the English word old. If Shakespeare's text may be taken as mirroring the English of his time this word meant "great" then, as well as "aged." In the "Merry Wives of Wind- sor" (act i, sc. 4), we find "Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the King's English." Again, in "Much Ado About Nothing" (act v, sc. 2), "Yonder's old coil at home." He was so familiar with the force of the word that he made a play upon it in the "Taming of the Shrew" (act iii, sc. 1). Here Grumio enters and shouts, "News, old news, and such news as you never heard of!" But Baptista asks, "Is it new and old too? How should that be?"
Of the abundance of quaint forms that have come down to us Shakespeare has preserved many. In "All's Well that Ends Well" (act v, sc. 3), he wrote "necessityed," while in "Richard II." (act ii, sc. 2) he is credited with "Is all impossible." "^partial" for "impartial" was used by his contemporaries. The privative im — in the place of un — is a modern refinement. Again, Shakespeare used "com-
142 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
mandement" as in the " Merchant of Venice" (act iv, sc. 1), "Be valued 'gainst your wife's commandement, ' ' and in "Henry VI." (pt. L, act i, sc. 3), "From him I have ex- press commandement."
A hundred years ago such forms as pastes and posteses for "posts" were common. They still survive in the speech of the Sussex farm-hands, the writer having heard them frequently during a prolonged sojourn in that English county. Akin to these in form are ghostes and ghosteses; beastes and beasteses. These words are ancient plural forms preserved by old Scottish writers, as in Gawin Douglas's translation of Vergil. The form mystes for "mists" was used from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. As to posteses, ghosteses, and beast eses, these are redundancies. The elision of the "e" in other forms is a refinement of late date. In the early years of the nineteenth century "Portingal" was a London corruption for "Portugal." When Portuguese currency was common in England, the Londoner carried "Portingal pieces" in his pocket. According to Holinshed and Stowe, the word was written Porting ale, but the Earl of Salisbury (1607) spelled it Portingalls*
Another curious form is mar gent for "margin." It is used by Milton in "Comus" and by Gray in his "Prospect of Eton College." Shakespeare also used it in "Love's Labor's Lost" (act ii, sc. 1) ; "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (act ii, sc. 2), and in "Hamlet" (act v, sc. 2). But in "Romeo and Juliet" (act i, sc. 3) we find the form "margin."
The words respectfully and respectively were interchange- able in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In
4 Lodge's "Illustrations of English History," III, p. 348.
SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE 143
' ' Timon of Athens' ' (act iii, sc. 1) we find Lucullus address- ing one of Timon 's servants thus familiarly: "Flaminius, honest Flaminius, you are very respectively welcome, Sir. ' ' Again, in the ''Merchant of Venice" (act v, sc. 1) we have Nerissa, Portia's waiting-maid, chiding Gratiano in these words,
You swore to me, when I did give it you, That you would wear it till your hour of death : And that it should lie with you in your grave: Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths, You should have been respective, and have kept it.
It is true, however, that in each instance the words are put into the mouths of a serving-man and maid. Curious with the sense of ''nice/' "severe," and "scrupulously exact," is recorded by Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary. It occurs in the "Taming of the Shrew" (act iv, sc. 4), where Vincentio, pleading the "weighty cause of love" between Bianca and Lucentio to Baptista, says :
For curious I can not be with you, Signior Baptista, of whom I hear so well.
In "King Lear" (act i, sc. 2), curiosity is used to mean "scrupulousness," as when Edmund Gloster's natural son, asks:
. . . Wherefore should I Stand in the plague of custom, and permit The curiosity of nations to deprive me For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines Lag of a brother?
Discommode was permissible for "mcommode" in John- son's time; so, also, were discommodius and discommodity for "wcommodius" and "incommodity." But of the two
144 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
privatives, dis seems the more emphatic. Colleague as a verb occurs in " Hamlet " (act i, sc. 2, line 21), and found favor with Johnson who noted it in his Dictionary.
Forms which we condemn in general to-day, and rule out of court as violations of the verbal code, were at one time common. The double negative, for instance, dates from Chaucer's time —
So lowely, ne so trewely yow serve Nyl non of 'hein as I shal til I sterve.
Troylus and Cryseyde, lib. v, st. 25.
Shakespeare and Roger Ascham both made use of it; the first, frequently, as in "Romeo and Juliet" (act iv, sc. 1),
... a sudden day of joy That thou ex'pect'st not, nor I look'd not for.
The second, in " Toxophilus, ' '5 where he makes use of the expression, "No, nor I think I never shall." Pope's "Epi- taph of P.P.," the parish clerk, contains an example of this use in a derisive couplet from his pen :
Do all we can, Death is a man Who never spareth none.
The double negative was a form once commonly used to emphasize the thought expressed. In the Saxon tongue this idea was carried often beyond the double to the triple, and even occasionally to the quadruple, negative. Worser, now characterized in the "New Standard Dictionary" as "usually regarded as a vulgarism though sometimes used by the best writers," is one of the forms used by Shake- speare and Dry den. "Let thy worser spirit tempt me again" wrote the former in "King Lear" (act iv, sc. 6) j
6 Page 123 (Bennett's ed).
SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE 145
the latter, we must credit with ' ' and worser far than arms. ' ' Lesser as an adverb for "less" is another comparative that may be found in Shakespeare —
I think there's ne'er a man in Christendom, Can lesser hide his love or hate than he.
Richard III., act iii, sc. 4.
There are still other forms of expression, at one time in good use, that strike us as odd to-day. One's ear rebels instantly at more better, more happier, more sharper, most basest, etc., yet during the Elizabethan era they passed as good English. So much can be found in Shakespeare that is of interest to the student of English that one may draw at will from his writings for illustration, as of these uses. In "The Tempest" (act i, sc. 2), we find "nor that I am more better than Prospero" ; in "Henry V." (act iii, sc. 5), "more sharper than your swords," and in the same play (act v, sc. 7), "ne'er from France arrived more happier men," also in "Richard II." (act ii, sc. 1), "the envy of less happier lands. ' '
Super-superlatives, once in frequent use, constitute an- other form of expression which survives, but only in certain combinations to-day. In the Psalms, the form "Most Highest" is used as an expression of great force that may be properly applied to the Divinity. St. Paul, according to the language of the Acts of the Apostles (ch. xxvi, verse 5), says, "after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. ' ' Such super-superlatives as most perfect, most excellent, etc., to which many persons take exception to-day, enjoy a very reputable sponsorship. None who know their Shakespeare can forget Antony's characteriza- tion of the blow "the well-beloved" Brutus dealt— "This
146 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
was the most unkindest cut of all ! "6 In " Cymbeline ' ' (act i, sc. 7), we find "most perfect goodness" used by lachimo in addressing Imogen concerning Leonatus. Ben Jonson, quoting Sir Thomas More, in his "Grammar"7 cites more readier and most basest as examples of the usage of his time, and then, as if to show the uncertainty of his position, characterizes the sentence in which they occur as ' ' a certain kind of English Atticism . . . imitating the manner of the most ancient est . . .Grecians." John Lyly, acknowledged as a purist in his day, made use of "most brightest," and to this we may add two more from Shakespeare, most boldest ("Julius Caesar," act iii, sc. 1) and most heaviest ("Two Gentlemen of Verona, ' ' act iv, sc. 3 ) .
At the time that Nathan Bailey was compiling his Dic- tionary, the word "tax" was task, and a pretty heavy "task" it proved later, as it has since to some of us, to pay it. Bailey, in the earlier editions of his work, defined task as "a pecuniary tribute" as well as "a duty per- formed." Holinshed says "There was a new and strange subsidie or taske granted to be levied for the King's use." In old leases certain monetary charges were called taskes. Cullum in his "History of Hawsted"8 cites a lease made in 1580 in which the term used is task, but in another one, dated 1589, the charge is contracted to tax. Shakespeare ("Henry IV.," pt. I, act iv, sc. 3), helped to prove that tax is a perversion of task, for he makes Hotspur reproach King Henry with having "task'd the whole state."
Sometimes one hears of persons who take pride in saying that the English of Shakespeare and of Milton is "good
8 "Julius Caesar," act iii, sc. 2, 1. 185.
7 Page 127 (A. V. Waite's Ed. 1909).
8 Pages 233, 235.
SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE 147
enough for us," on the assumption that the writings of these great lights of bygone ages are free from error. Unfortunately, neither Shakespeare nor Milton were Super- men, but being heirs to all the weakness that man is heir to they erred even as other men have done. The "Swan of Avon" used took for "taken"; mistook for "mistaken" and overtook for "overtaken." In "Henry IV." (pt. II, act i, sc. 1), we find, "and in his flight stumbling in fear was took"-, and in "Henry VI." (pt. I, act i, sc. 1), "He lives: but is took prisoner." Mistook used for "mistaken" may be found in "Henry IV." (pt. II, act 4, sc. 2), in "Twelfth Night" (act v, sc. 1) and in "Love's Labor's Lost" (act iii, sc. 1). Milton wrote "to be mistook" in "Arcades," and forsook instead of "forsaken" in "II Penseroso" and "Samson Agonistes," and Pope in his "Odyssey":
"Forsook by thee, in vain I sought thy aid."
Among others Swift, Bentley, and Prior are also charged with using mistook for "mistaken."9
Other quaint forms are rose and arose for "risen" and "arisen." To Swift we owe "the sun has rose" ] to Prior, "have rose"; to Dry den on "Oliver Cromwell," "have arose"; and to Shakespeare, "are arose" ("Comedy of Errors," act v, 1. 388). Gay in his third fable used befel for "befallen" — "Sure some disaster has befel" — and Prior, in his most ambitious work, wrote "he should have fell" ("Solomon," bk. iii).
Bishop Lowth, in his "Introduction to English Gram- mar" (p. 606), pointed out that many of our best and classical authors have written wrote for "written." He
9 Lowth's "Intro, to English Grammar." p. 108.
148 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
names among these Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Claren- don, Prior, Swift, Bolingbroke, Bentley, Atterbury, and Addison. .
The forms of the past tense of certain English verbs have been the cause of some distraction. These forms seem to be more firmly established to-day than they were in the sixteenth century, yet one dare not predict what a day may bring forth. Thus spake the Duke of Exeter to his nephew, King Henry V., of that monarch's cousin, the Duke of York:
Upon these words I came and cheer'd him up: He snail 'd me in the face, raught me his hand.10
Here we have raught as the past tense of reach. In "Romeo and Juliet" (act iv, sc. 3) and "Richard III." (act iii, sc. 5) distraught is used for "distracted," and in "Henry VI." (pt. Ill, act ii, sc. 2) extraught for
Sham'st thou not, knowing whence thou are extraught, To let thy tongue detect thy base-born heart?
O'er-raught is another form that found favor with Shakespeare :
Upon my life, by some device or other The villain is o'er-raught of all my money.11
The changes that have been wrought in the orthography of these words were effected gradually and are modern refinements. Judged by the following it would seem that Milton did not favor the use of participial inflections.
10 Shakespeare "King Henry V," act iv, sc. 6.
11 "Comedy of Errors," act i, sc. 2.
SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE 149
. . . But I recover breath,
And sense distract, to know well what I utter. Samson Agonistes, i, 1555.
Who ever, by consulting at thy shrine, Returned the wiser, or the more instruct To fly or follow what concerned him most.
Paradise Regained, bk. i, 1. 438.
What I can do or offer is suspect.
Paradise Regained, bk. ii, 1. 399.
Among the quaint idioms that have come down to ,us one, which seems to have passed out of literary use or common speech (except perhaps in some provincial dialect), is fetch a walk, sometimes rendered also fetch a turn, and often expressed only by the word fetch. John Palsgrave is cited by Sir James Murray12 as authority for "I fetche a gam- bolde or a fryske in daunsyng." In "Cymbeline" the Queen says:
I'll fetch a turn about the garden, pitying The pangs of barr'd affections.13
And in the ''Merchant of Venice," Lorenzo, addressing himself to Jessica, explains the power of music on
... a wild and wanton herd Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, Fetching mad bounds.14
The Genius of the Wood, in Milton's "Arcades" tells us that
When evening grey doth rise, I fetch my round Over the mount, and all this hallowed ground.15
12 New English Dictionary, Vol. IV. s.v. 14 Act v, sc, 1, 1. 71.
13 Act i, sc. 2. 15 Lines 54, 55.
150 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
The winding courses of a river were called fetches and the rivers fetched windings, as is shown by reference to Hol- land's translation of Pliny (i, 108) "The riuer . . . fetcheth such windings to and fro"16; or to Benjamin Martin's "Natural History of England" (i, 213), "the river fetches a large winding. ' n7
But it was left to the Scotsman from Lanark who walked himself into celebrity by covering over thirty-six thousand miles through Europe, Asia, and Africa, to write of fetching a walk. William Lithgow, born in 1683, in his "Rare Adventures and Painful Peregrinations of long Nineteen Years Travayles, etc.," explains18 that "I would often fetch a walk, to stretch my legs." In view of the great distance he covered, one may be permitted to indulge the thought that stretching his legs must have been Lithgow 's particular hobby. If we credit Congreve's and Mrs. Delany 's use of it, the phrase was a provincialism that found its way into literature through popular use. In Con- greve's comedy "The Way of the World," Sir William Witwou'd, addressing a lady of rank in the vernacular, says : " If that how you were disposed to fetch a walk this evening, and if so be that I might not be troublesome I would have f aught19 a walk with you." In Mrs. Delany's "Autobiography,"20 written in 1758, we learn that "accord- ing to the country phrase, yesterday Sally and I fetched a charming walk.11 Southey in his correspondence with Bowles wrote (1829) : "I shall ... in vulgar English, fetch a walk," and Thackeray, in "The Virginians,"21
18 1601. "1759. 18ch. v, p. 205.
19 In some editions rendered "fought." See act iv, sc. 4.
20 Edition of 1861, Vol. III., p. 508. "Edition of 1859, Vol. I., p. 364.
SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE 151
"Mr. Warrington . . . was gone to fetch a walk in the moonlight. ' '
Odd as learn for "teach" may sound to the unaccustomed ear, time was when such use was approved as good English, and although it is condemned by the beau monde as a vul- garism, and a sign of want of culture among those who use it, yet it can not escape the devout attendant at the church service of the Episcopal or Church of England Communion. In the Book of Common Prayer we may find the following in the Psalms :22
"Lead me forth in thy truth, and learn me." "Them shall he learn his way." "Oh, learn me true understanding."
Among the reputable authors who made use of this word now stamped as vulgar are Wy cliff e (Proverbs ix, 7), "Who lerneth a scorner doth wrong he to himself" (1382) ; Caxton (1480) ; Miles Coverdale (1535) ; Spenser (1590) ; Shakespeare (1610) ; Bunyan (1666) ; De Foe (1719) ; Richardson (1742) ; Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) ; Strutt (1801) ; Coleridge (1801) ; Disraeli (1844), and Stevenson (1893). Shakespeare used both learn and teach inter- changeably, as in "As You Like It" (act i, sc. 2), where Rosalind, speaking to Celia, says: "Unless you could teach me to forget a banished father, you must not learn me how to remember any extraordinary pleasure." See also "The Tempest" (act ii, sc. 2) :
You taught me language . . . The red plague rid you For learning me your language !
Another use that jars the sensitive modern eardrum is
-" xxv, 4 & 8 ; cxix, 66.
152 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
that of remember in the sense of " remind" or " recollect," yet among its sponsors was Chaucer, who used it in the "Canterbury Tales" (See Frankelyene's Tale, 1. 515) :
This was as thise bookes me remembre The colde frosty seson of Decembre.
Others were Shakespeare, the Earl of Clarendon, Bishop Burnet, the authors of the Paston letters, and Sir Walter Scott. We may find this use in the "Edinburgh Review" for Januarjr, 1808 (p. 285) where the reader is informed that the writer "takes care to remember us of Dr. Johnson's saying." Rossetti, in "Dante and his Circle," issued in 1850, referring to a lady, wrote: "She remembered me many times of my own most noble lady. ' ' Among examples found in Shakespeare are the following:
I must remember you, my Lord, We were the first and dearest of your friends. Henry IV., pt. I, act v, sc. 1.
Grief fills the room up of my absent child, Lies in his bed . . . Remembers me of all his gracious23 parts.
John, act iii, sc. 4.
It doth remember me the more of sorrow.
Richard II., act iii, sc. 4.
In "Richard III." (act ii, sc. 2), we find the following playful allusion:
Now, by my troth, if I had been remember* d, I could have given my Uncle's Grace a flout.
Some of our most familiar forms of expression do violence to grammatical rule, yet these are accepted as good English because they have come down to us supported by authorities
23 Graceful.
SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE 153
conceded to be of high standard. How often do we hear used such expressions as "let him do it himself," or "let him speak for himself" in which, but for emphasis, "him- self" is redundant? The objective case has often been used for the nominative, but we are none the worse for it. Who, among the lovers of that bulwark of our Faith, the Bible, would deny us these anomalies?
Whom do men say that I am? — Matt. ch. xvi, verse 13.
"Whom say ye that I am? — Ibid, verse 15.
Whom think ye that I am? — Acts xiii, verse 25.
Shakespeare, Prior, and Dryden may be quoted as writers who, consciously or unconsciously, mixed their forms. Witness the following :
Art thou proud yet? Aye, that I am not thee!
— Timon of Athens, act iv, sc. 3.
Is she as tall as me? — Antony and Cleopatra, act iii, sc. 3.
Prior wrote "That which once was thee," and Dryden, "Time was when none would cry, that oaf was me." In Shakespeare's "Henry VI." (pt. II, act i, sc. 2), occurs the line, "Here's none but thee and I," which is not much worse than "between you and I," a form which one hears repeatedly every day. The former is one of a number of like forms to be found in the works of Shakespeare, whose fame has not been dimmed, nor the character of his works marred by small negligences due, perhaps, to inattention to form while the attention itself was centered on the theme. In the "Winter's Tale,"24 Queen Hermione, referring to herself and her attendants, asks, "We are yours i' the
84 Act i, sc. 2.
154 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
garden: shaft's attend you there?" In "Othello,"25 the Moor accuses Emilia with knowledge of the supposed in- trigue of Cassio with Desdemona. She denies it. Then Othello taxes her "Yes; you have seen Cassio and she to- gether."
In our own time the need for a personal pronoun of the singular number and common gender has led to the sug- gestion that we adopt such forms as heer (that is, "he" or "she"), himer (that is, "him" or "her"), and User (that is, "his" or "hers"). These forms in themselves are uncouth. To the modern cultivated eye they seem repul- sive; their appearance seems to do violence to the genius of the language, and yet like forms were in the mouths of the common people a century ago ; in fact, they still survive in certain English dialects. It was Dr. Wallis who observed that while some people say her'n, his'n, our'n and your'n for "hers," "his," "ours," and "yours," nobody would WRITE such barbarous language. From the "Progress of Queen Elizabeth," issued in 1575,26 we learn that a certain Keeper of the Council Chamber, referring to another dig- nitary, says that he "after praying for her Majesty's per- petual felicity, finishes with the humblest subjection both of him and hizzen!"
Ourn and yourn are Saxon pronouns of the possessive case, for the Saxon lire (our), in the nominative, has for its objective urne, and the Saxon pronoun eower (your) gives the objective eowerne. Nothing is needed to warrant the use of them but a mutation of case. Side by side with the Saxon possessive pronouns ourn and yourn, there flourished the auxiliary verbs aron (are) and wceron (were),
25 Act iv, sc. 2. 28 Vol. T., p. 14.
SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE l.V)
which had the final letter of both. These forms have been preserved in certain of our old writers. But when the pronouns were discarded for ours and yours, the final "n," supplanted in the original words in favor of "s," was re- tained in the verbs, for am (are) and weren (were) are found in Chaucer, and in "Selections" from the poems of Thomas Hoccleve who flourished circa 1400.27 It is true that the plural endings -n, -an, and -en are out of general use, except as in "ox," "oxen/' but they have not been lost for they still survive in the dialect of the northern counties of England, where they may be heard in use by the laboring classes, as, for example, in Derbyshire.
News is a word that in our time is used as a singular, and other parts of speech, when used in connection with it, must agree in number. Yet, custom makes words fa- miliar with strange bedfellows. Although we say "this news" or "that news" our great-grandparents said "these news ' ' and ' ' those news. ' ' Shakespeare used the word news in the singular as well as in the plural, as in "Henry VI." (pt. II, act i, sc. 4), "Thither go these news?" and again (pt. I, act v, sc. 2), "These news, my lords, may cheer our drooping spirits." Roger Ascham28 wrote "there are news," and used the forms "many news," "these be news to you, but olds2Q to that country."
Before dismissing the subject, allusion may be made to that modern bugbear of the purists — the split infinitive. According to the * ' Standard Dictionary ' ' the split infinitive is "an infinitive in which the 'to' and the verb are separ- ated by some intervening word, usually adverbial, as in
27 See Mason's Edition, 1796.
28 Ascham, "English Letters," Bennet's Edition, pp. 372, 374, 384.
29 See references to old in this chapter.
156 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
the phrase, to quickly return." On a misreading of the lines,
What ever have been thought on in this state, That could be brought to bodily act ere Rome Had circumvention1?30
Shakespeare has been charged with having made use of this form, but an examination of the text shows that the charge is without foundation. In the sentence cited the word act, on which emphasis is put to prove the point, is a noun not a verb. Nevertheless, when it suited his purpose to use a participial adjective between the sign of the infin- itive "to" and the auxiliary verb "be" he did not hesitate to do so, as in his * * Sonnet CLXII, ' ' where he wrote,
Root pity in thy heart, that when it grows, Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.
The split infinitive proper is a form to which the modern ear is not accustomed, hence it has been condemned. But an examination of our literature shows that it not only has the support of usage, but of good usage through centuries of time. Although this form of expression is a violation of the canons of the English language as accepted by the purists, it may be permitted because it has received the sup- port of literary usage. The claim made by some writers that not a grammar in existence sanctions the split infinitive is not proof that this form of expression has no right in the language. Mason, in the twenty-first edition of his English Grammar, says: "The preposition 'to' is not an essential part of the infinitive mood nor an invariable sign of it." Another eminent grammarian31 says: "It is true
80 "Coriolanus," act i, sc. 2.
31 Goold Brown, "Grammar of English Grammars," p. 661.
SOME MUTATIONS OF FORM AND SENSE 157
that the adverb is in general more elegantly placed before the preposition than after it, but the latter position may sometimes contribute perspicuity, which is more essential than elegance; as, 'If any man refuse to so implore, and to so receive pardon let him die the death/ — Fuller, 'On the Gospel,' p. 209."
In considering the restrictions within which the gram- marians strive to confine language, we should remember that the language came first and that its codification pro- duced the grammar. Ever since the first grammarian laid down the rules, others have set out to correct him. In the meantime, however, usage has adjusted the language to suit the occasion. Then, why characterize the split infinitive as an outrage on the English language? It is nothing of the sort ; it is but a natural arrangement of words to forcefully express thought. Byron wrote, "To slowly trace the forest's shady scene," and on this account was dubbed "the father of the split infinitive" by the London "Academy"; but, before him, Burns wrote, in "The Cotter's Saturday Night," "Who dared to nobly stem tyrannic pride."
Not so long ago Professor John Earle spoke of the split infinitive as "a new collocation," and "a most astounding change which has come up in our time"; but, as stated above, it is not the modern creation it is commonly believed to be. Professor Lounsbury has found numerous examples of it. It may be found in Massinger, Wycliffe, Donne, Sir Thomas Browne, De Foe, Samuel Johnson, Burke, Lamb, Macaulay, Ruskiri and Herbert Spencer. Earle, although he condemns it as a modern collocation, quotes an example of it which occurs in Bishop Pecock (1450). "Forto there- with make. ' ' It occurs also in Coleridge, Matthew Arnold, Browning, Motley, Lowell and Holmes.
158 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
A writer, treating this subject for ' * The Christian Work and Evangelist, ' ' said appropriately : * ' Some of us who do a little writing generally avoid the split infinitive. But it is certain that one can not prevent others from using it; and a little study of the subject shows that it is not only used by some of the best writers, but that a violation of the rule against it often helps perspicuity, and is sometimes almost necessary. In behalf of the fracture of the rule we may cite the phrase justified by Professor Lounsbury 'to more than counterbalance/ To say of the result of an act, 'it is to more than kill her, it is to dishonor/ is, perhaps, stronger than to say, 'it is more than to kill/ It is noted by Professor Brander Matthews, in a recently published brochure, that the split infinitive is a cause of pain to the purist who finds George H. Lewis, in his 'Life of Goethe,' saying: 'To completely understand/ This inserting of an adverb between the to and the rest of the verb, strikes the verbal critic as pernicious, yet the fact remains that it has been in constant use from the days of Wycliffe to Herbert Spencer. The split infinitive, in fact, has a most respect- able pedigree, and it is rather the protest against its use than the practise itself that is now establishing itself/'
Some of the examples that are recorded liere show that no matter how much we may revere the forms that have come down to us from the Ages, we can not afford to overlook the age in which we live. That which in our age is accepted as reputable English is sterling. Just as we progress in culture, so does the language which we speak grow with us, sometimes along strictly grammatical lines but, often, along lines that will not be trammeled by grammar no matter who the grammarian may be.
IV
The Foreign Element in English 1
WHEN some of us speak of the English language as a language we are prone to refer to it proudly as the Anglo- Saxon tongue, and to give the credit of its making to Geoffrey Chaucer. Why we persist in perpetuating these anomalies it is difficult to tell. For, of the great mass of words in the so-called Anglo-Saxon tongue which pass cur- rent to-day as English, less than one-twentieth are entitled to rank as Anglo-Saxon ; and, although we may refer with pride to Chaucer as the "father of English poetry/' we should not forget that there is a great difference between this title and that of "maker of the English language." Long before Chaucer's time Anglo-Saxon flourished, and Anglo-Saxon literature — although scanty — reached its prime when Alfred the Great was King of Wessex, five hundred and twenty years before Chaucer wrote his famous "Canterbury Tales."
So far is the English language from being the Anglo- Saxon tongue that it is the most composite language known to-day. In none other do foreign words play so important a part, and by none other have they been assimilated in so great a number. From the very beginning the settlers on Britain 's shores forced their various dialects on the natives and their conquerors were not slow in following this example. Therefore, he who would seek the sources
1 Printed in part in "The New Age," October, 1913.
159
160 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
of the English tongue must turn to the rock-bound coasts of Albion and stroll along the pleasant English lanes, must tread the heather of the Scottish moorlands, and the green fields of Erin. He must travel thence to the land of the Vikings, those hardy Norsemen who settled on Albion's shores and who, for centuries, became a dominant power in that land. But before them came a mightier host — the Romans — whose rule swayed the fortunes of Britain for four hundred years before the descent of the Norsemen, and left some trace, however slight, upon the speech of the people. So, he must pass through France to reach the Empire of the Caesars who first conquered Gaul and then subdued the Britons.
As the land of the Angles developed so the speech of the people grew, and he who wishes to seek that growth must be prepared to traverse the globe. From Scandi- navian fiords, he must sail to the shores of Denmark and, journeying over these, must cross the frontier and pene- trate the very fastnesses of the German Fatherland. Next his steps must turn to the flowery fields of France whence came the Norman Conqueror, and, sauntering along its leafy highways, learn from his surroundings that the noble spires which dot this land, have their very counterpart in the cradle of the English tongue. Even here his journey is far from ended. From the shores of sunny Spain to the lands of the Great White Czar ; from the Crescent City on the Golden Horn to the coral strands of India; from the land of the Ibis and the Lotus to the sun-baked veldt of the African Union ; from the golden shores of Australia to the fertile fields of New Zealand ; from the Land of the Rising Sun to the Land of the Morning Calm ; from the Flowery Republic of China to the dreary Siberian steppes — from
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each, from every one has English speech drawn tribute. And it did not stop there, for the islands that dot the Seven Seas have all contributed to its needs, and nowhere has it been fostered more tenderly; nowhere has it borne fruit more abundantly than on the continent of America.
With their occupation of Britain the Danes brought their language of which, although it was but a dialect of the tongue that under different names was spoken in northern Europe, some traces remain. With the advent of the Conqueror came Norman French and Latin, which was continued in use in law pleadings and statutes until dis- placed by English under Edward III. Probably the Lombards introduced a few of the Italian words that are now naturalized, and these were amplified by the church- men that went to England from Rome. Others were added undoubtedly by merchants trading with Italy and the Levant. Of modern Italian terms, many have been intro- duced by travelers, by operatic stars, by actors, by musicians and by dancers.
To England's relations with Spain and to the marriage of Catherine of Aragon with Henry VIII., in whose court, while Catherine was in royal favor, there were many Spanish grandees, we may trace an influx of Spanish terms which was increased by such subsequent events as the marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain, and the war with Spain which culminated in the dispersion of the Spanish Armada. For accretions of the Portuguese, we may look to the marriage of Charles II. to Catherine of Braganca. The Flemish and Dutch words came from trade, immigration, and warfare.
As to the influx of Greek, this may be attributed to scholars more than to trade, which, however, played no un-
162 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
important part through the Romans, and through those other Latin nations that came into contact with them. It was the opinion of Franciscus Junius that Gothic was no more than a dialect of Greek. The Goths, whose language is referred to here, were that branch which inhabited Moesia, a region not remote from the northern shores of Greece. Their language, with different dialects, may have spread over all of northern Europe, that is, from the coast of Norway to the Black Sea. There is no doubt that many of the words that came to us from the Greek did so through the Latin, as, for instance, the Greek diafioXo? ("slan- derer," which in the New Testament is used to designate Satan), which, originating with the Greek Christians, came to us either from the Latin diabolus, through the spread of Roman Christianity, or through that branch of the Goths who conquered . Moesia in A.D. 250. The first authority for its use cited by Sir James Murray,2 is the "Corpus Glos- sarium" (the Old English Texts). It is assigned to the year 800. The Christianity of the Eastern Goths was Greek, and it is not impossible that the term was carried by the Goths to other Germanic tribes, and finally reached those that later descended and settled on Britain's shores.
As has already been said, scholars were largely respon- sible for the assimilation of Greek terms into English. The adoption of a large number of these may be traced to the revival of the study of Greek and English classics in Eng- land during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and since then the language of Science has turned to Greece for its forms.
Various estimates of the sources of English words have been made. On the basis of the Lord's Prayer, George
2 "New English Dictionary," s.v. Devil.
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Hickes calculated that nine-tenths of our words were of Saxon origin. Sharon Turner's estimate was that the Norman were to the Saxon as 4 to 6. Trench computed 60 per cent. Saxon ; 30 per cent. Latin, including those re- ceived through French ; 5 per cent. Greek, and 5 per cent, other sources. A recent analysis of the origin of 20,000 words in the language taken from the ''New Standard Dictionary" shows the following sources:
Anglo-Saxon and English 3,681
Low German 126
Dutch 207
Scandinavian 693
German 333
French from Low German 54
French from Dutch or Middle Dutch 45
French from Scandinavian 63
French from (1) German 85
French, from (2) Middle High German 27
French from (3) Old High German 154
French from (4) Teutonic 225
French (Romance languages) 297
French from Latin 4,842
French from Late Latin 829
French from Italian 162
Celtic 170
Latin (direct) 2,880
Provencal, from Latin 25
Italian 99
Spanish 108
Portuguese 21
Greek direct or through Latin, Late Latin, French or other
sources 2,493
104 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Slavonic 31
Lithuanian 1
Asiatic : Aryan languages, including Persian and Sanskrit 163
European non-Aryan languages 20
Semitic : Hebrew 99
Arabic 272
Asiatic : Non Aryan, not Semitic, including Malay, Chi- nese, Japanese, Tatar, Australian 135
African languages 32
American 102
Hybrid 675
Unknown 12
Total 19,161
It was the late Professor George P. Marsh's idea that English as spoken by the people in general was derived from Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and French. This statement he qualified by admitting that certain grammatical forms adopted from the Danish passed into the literary dialect and became established in modes of speech in English. The Professor claimed that spoken English did not possess any important characteristic that could not be traced to one of these sources. In support of his claims he cited Dean Trench's estimate of the relative proportions of the differ- ent elements in English given above. "This estimate," said Marsh, "applies to the total vocabulary as contained in the completest dictionaries." As the dictionaries of his time did not contain more than one-sixth of the total num- ber of words in the language, irrespective of that part of it which is restricted to particular professions, this esti- mate has little linguistic value. The same may be said of all other estimates based upon selection from various
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authors. Sir James Murray said at one time of the actual proportion of the various elements, "it is probable that original English words do not now form more than a third or, perhaps, a fourth of the total entries in a full English dictionary."
Professor Marsh did not make any attempt to determine the etymological proportions of our vocabulary because, he said, ' ' no dictionary contains more than two-thirds or at most three-fourths, of the words which make up the Eng- lish language." But ever since then the growth of that language, as recorded by the vocabularies of the different lexicons, has been phenomenal.
As by common consent we date the beginning of literary English from Chaucer, it is pertinent that we examine his work with a view to determining to what extent he made use of foreign words. The foreign element in the prologue to Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" has been calculated at from 12 to 13 per cent. An examination of a glossary to his entire works shows a much greater percentage. The glossary compiled by Tyrwhitt gives by actual count 1,480 Saxon words, 1,376 French, 84 Latin, 3 Dutch, and 1 Ital- ian. This serves to demonstrate the absurdity of selecting a stanza or two of Chaucer's work and of basing upon these an estimate of the percentage of foreign words in his writings.
In all Middle English writings before 1250, says Dr. O. F. Emerson, the number of French words probably does not exceed 500; Professor Skeat, through the examination of the thirty-one texts written before 1400, found just 3,400 words of French origin.
From the last quarter of the fifteenth century to the seventeenth, writers often resorted to words borrowed from
1(JG ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
the older languages instead of making use of their English equivalents. Thus it is that Latinized French, Angevin and Latinized English words, based upon forms previously in vogue, are to be found in abundance in our later liter- ature— especially in that of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — but fortunately the bulk of them were soon dis- placed as debased currency by sterling English words. It must not be forgotten, however, that the voyages of dis- covery made by the great English navigators, and by for- eign navigators sailing under the English flag, were re- sponsible for the introduction into English of a large num- ber of foreign words. Thus, a great many Spanish words, and American words in Spanish dress, came into use. The discovery of the potato and the tobacco plant, due to this source, gave us not only the articles themselves but the names for them. Alligator, armada, armadillo, ~bolo, cara- bao, caravel, cargo, galleon, hidalgo, nipa, are other exam- ples of Spanish terms which we have adopted. In like manner, banana, binnacle, caste, cobra, coca were absorbed from the Portuguese. How this process of assimilation continues through the years may be seen from such words as bodega, hacienda, junta, machete, reconcentrado, all terms which we have appropriated in comparatively recent times.
Of the words derived from the French which we have appropriated, the earliest are to be found in the Saxon ' ' Chronicle. ' ' There are only sixteen of these : castle, coun- tess, count, empress, justice, miracle, peace, prison, privilege, procession, rent, standard, tower, treason, treasure and war. So situated that in the arts of peace and war she was in constant contact with her French neighbor, it is not to be wondered at that England received a much larger number
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of French words into her vocabulary as the centuries rolled on. Conditions such as the exile of English kings in France, where they often were able to take refuge in times of distress, helped to increase this process of assimi- lation. The Restoration evidenced an intensified French influence due to the prolonged sojourn of Prince Charles, afterward King Charles II., in France. One has but to examine the literature of the seventeenth century to verify this. Dryden made use of a fair number, possibly 200 in all. Other writers were not slow in following his example until we appropriated such words as adroit, apartment, bagatelle, brunette, burlesque, caprice, chignon, coquette, cravat, crinoline, and many more. The modern tendency to draw from the same source may be illustrated by such words as automobile, cabaret, chassis, chauffeur, cigarette, communique, demarche, depot, empennage, garage, grisette, hangar, massage, masseur, masseuse, programme, sabotage, seance, tonneau, vaudeville.
Although a few Italian words are to be found in Chaucer, their introduction, in an appreciable number, into English dates from a much later time. For instance, the word pilgrim, Italian, ' ' pelligrino, " came into English before 1200. Emerson found it in Layamon's translation of Wace 's ' ' Brut, ' ' the date of which has been placed between 1155 and 1200. The development of art, especially of music, has given us a rich vocabulary of Italian words besides, such as brigand, ruffian, ducat. Among art terms we have cameo, cartoon, mezzotint, torso, virtu, while in music there are allegro, andante, canto, concert, piano, and the series of mezzos with the soprano and coloratura which some of our operatic song-birds have vividly impressed on our notice. Of words in general use from the same
168 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
source among hundreds of others we have catacomb, regatta, dilettante, extravaganza, and the comparatively recently acquired Camorra, Mafia and pantata.
As to the other sources from which English-speaking people have drawn, they are varied and numerous. In the work of adaptation the seafarer has proved his efficiency for he has a very reputable list of terms to his credit — not that he coined them all, but because he kept them alive. From various sources we have bilge, brig, bunk, bunker, burgee, centerboard, clipper, commodore, cove, cutter, dock, donkey, fender, gig, hurricane-deck, jiggermast, list, lugger, pancakes, peajacket, pier, poop, propeller, skiff, skylight, skysail, steerage, stern, storekeeper, stringer, surf, tank, tender, track, tramp, transmitter, trawl, trim, trunk, twist. A great number of our seafaring terms we took from the Dutch or Low German, as ahoy! boom, marline, skipper, schooner, sloop, yacht, etc. Others are of the homemade variety, as battleship, freighter, funnel, ironclad, lifeboat, liner, man-of-war, searchlight, screw, steamer, submarine, etc.
From the Dutch or Low German we have also derived many terms used in trade, as cannikin, hogshead, holland, spool, stoop, store, wagon. Of Scandinavian, which at one time exerted a marked influence on the language, especially through the settlement of the Norsemen and Danes in the northeastern region of Britain, very few words survived the Middle English period, but these found their way into the dialects by which they were preserved. Thus we have to-day from Old Norse, aloft, call, crave, fellow, husband, knife, wrong, etc. More than 500 Norse terms have been appropriated by the language. This process of appropria- tion continues. Saga, slang, Valkyrie, Viking, Edda, etc.,
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came from this source. The Norse element to be found in personal and place names is much greater. Most English names ending with the suffix -son are of Norse origin, as Gibson, Gilson, Jamieson, Johnson, Robertson, Thomson; while the place-name suffixes -by, -thorpe, -toft, and -thwaite — each one of which means "hamlet" or "village" — as in Selby, Oglethorpe, Lowestoft, Linthwaite, came to us through the Anglo-Saxon.
The American Indians gave us our hominy, and mocca- sins; the tomahawk, the poiv-wow, etc. From the Hindu we got Bahadur, khaki, nainsook. The polka we got from the Pole, and the hussar from Hungary; jujutsu from Japan, as well as kimona and geisha; the Chinese gave us tea and the chinaware to drink it from. We took the caravan, harem, and kaftan from the Turk. From the Australian we got the boomerang and kangaroo, as well as hundreds of other terms peculiar to the Australian continent, as bushranger, billabong, cooey (the shrill call of the Abo- rigines), larrikin, corroboree. To New Zealand we owe the aweto, the kiwi, the sundowner, and many others.
A few years ago Professor Brander Matthews attributed the injection of foreign words into the English language to "the pedant wishing to parade his knowledge" or to "the pretender desiring to get credit for what he does not really possess." But the influence of individuals forming the first class is slight ; few, if any, of their writings make per- manent impression on the public mind, and the craze for going abroad to acquire a European "finish" is chiefly re- sponsible for the existence of the second.
One of the most prolific of the various sources from which our language derives foreign words is the periodical press. Nowadays one may take up almost any copy of a
170 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
daily newspaper and find foreign words injected into Eng- lish sentences. Despatches from the field of war have re- peatedly assisted in the work. Through them we learned of the chassepot. Although known before the Franco- Prussian War, the word mitrailleuse was not really natural- ized until the machine-gun had revealed its terrible power for destruction in battle, and the news was flashed over the wire. The German landwehr and ulilan, though familiar enough to military men, were not injected into our lan- guage until the Napoleonic wars, and they had come to stay. In our own times bolo, commando, communique, demarche, khaki, trek, kopje, laager, machete, reconcentrado, taube, and Zeppelin, have been used so often in foreign news as to have become almost naturalized.
It seems but yesterday that the vali of the vilayet of Monastir despatched government troops against the in- surgents, and an irade of the Sultan called out the reserves, and to-day hodjas and softas are leaving the city of the Golden Gate to conquer Egypt.
Outside the military pale we are indebted as much to travelers as to journalists for bungalow, hacienda, jin- rikisha, pasha, porcelain, proa, for which we have no Eng- lish equivalents. The explorations and discoveries of Speke and Grant, of Baker, Du Chaillu, and Livingstone, of Stanley, Selous, and Johnstone, and the experiences of Slatin Bey, Emin Pasha, Father Ohrwalder, Charles Neufeld and Eoosevelt gave us more. Through such sources we ob- tained cassava, dahabiyeh, nyanza, ombeya, palaver, razzia (French), tomtom, and a host of others. Uncommon as many of these words may sound to the ear nowadays there is, nevertheless, a voluminous literature where they are re- peatedly used for lack of English equivalents.
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With the territorial expansion of the United States came the natural expansion of the language of its inhabitants. We obtained depot, jardiniere, levee, from the French popu- lation embraced by the Louisiana Purchase ; banana, bronco, burro, cafeteria, chaparral, cinch, guava, tornado, etc., from Spanish America, and the events of the closing years of the past century have multiplied this class. Spanish and native terms now current in the speech of the English- speaking peoples of the Philippine Islands are fast finding their way into our own, as calesin, carabao, carretala, carre- toncio, etc., and show that we have only begun to assimilate words from this source; also from Alaska, Hawaii and Samoa. The process of assimilation from the French still continues. We have drawn a few words from Russia, as droshky, moujik, ukase, and from the Mohammedan world we have kaftan, muezzin and sura.
To-day, the total number of words in the English lan- guage, including radicals, derivatives, participles, obsoletes, and foreign terms, and excluding those words which Lowell so characteristically described as * ' the sewerage of speech, ' ' is estimated at about 600,000, or nearly twenty times the number computed by a contributor to the "Edinburgh Review " seventy years ago. Assuming his computation to be correct, our language has grown since that time at the rate of nearly 5,000 words per annum. In the light of the immense vocabularies already collected we can but consider the computer's figures as inaccurate. Taking ac- count of all the various sources from which the language has assimilated words since the time of the Anglo-Saxon Kings, it seems absurd, in the face of American and British activities over all the world, to say (on the basis of the analysis referred to above) that only 75,000 foreign terms
172 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
have been injected into it. If this total were multiplied by three we would be nearer the actual number. But this computation does not take into account the thousands of technical terms found in text-books. In this computation there must have been a rigid exclusion of technical terms as those of foreign origin common to the sciences.
Take astronomy, botany, biology, chemistry, entomology, geology, ichthyology, morphology, mycology, pathology, physiology. Examine the text-books on these subjects and compare them with all modern dictionaries. The result of such a comparison in the present state of lexicology will prove a revelation. The dictionaries of the day are made so that they shall prove of the greatest use to the largest number. In essential particulars they are made for the people rather than for the scientist, who if he require in- formation upon terms related to his particular study must turn to his text-books to find it. This condition is due to the fact that to produce a dictionary in which every word used in every science is given place would prove so costly an undertaking that no one has yet dared to embark in it. Further, even if some one were found with sufficient capital and enterprise to issue so comprehensive a work, that one would find it hard to recover his investment. That such a work as this could be compiled there is no doubt, but the labor of producing it should be done by our great univer- sities— it should be considered a national monument and supported as such. In the field of lexicology the United States leads the world, the people of America are a word- studying people, the requisite knowledge to produce such a magnum opus is in the American universities; all that is needed to set it to work is the founding of a great fund which shall be sufficient to finance it to completion.
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For some years past the French people have been en- gaged in producing an "Encyclopedia of Science" to be completed in one thousand volumes. The work is well under way; more than a hundred volumes have already appeared, but the project is not a national one ; it is merely one of private enterprise. What the Frenchman is doing the American can do. The question is, "Will any one give him the opportunity?"
Literature: Its Elements
CICERO has told us that the study of literature nourishes youth, entertains old age, adorns prosperity, solaces adver- sity, is delightful at home, unobtrusive abroad, deserts us not by day or by night, in journeying or in retirement. In addition, it broadens one's horizon, develops one's mind, and amplifies, balances, or corrects one's ideas.
Huxley defined literature as "the expression of the thoughts of society"; Edward Everett believed it to be "the voice of the age and the state" reflecting the character, energy and resources of a country in the conceptions of its great minds. Accepting both these definitions in their broadest sense, it must follow that a country without a national literature is an indeterminate quantity, or as Car- lyle expressed it, ' *' an unestimated country. ' ' In the broad expanse of the field of letters which the term Literature embraces, there are many furrows. These have been vari- ously classified. To De Quincey there were only the liter- ature of knowledge and the literature of power. This classification is too general. For the purpose of explaining what the term Literature comprehends, the treatment ac- corded to the word by the "New Standard Dictionary" has been selected. According to that work Literature embraces the written or printed productions of the human mind col- lectively; especially, such productions as are marked by the elevation, vigor, and catholicity of thought, by fitness,
174
LITERATURE: ITS ELEMENTS 175
purity, and grace of style, and by artistic construction. It embraces also the portion of such writing that pertains to any particular epoch, country, subject, or branch of learn- ing; so that we may speak of French literature, or of the literature of chemistry.
In a restricted sense, literature designates the portion of literary productions that excludes the positive sciences. In this sense it is called belles-lettres. The history of the development of these is what is taught in the schools as " literature. ' ' In this narrowest and strictest sense, liter- ature belongs to the sphere of high art, and embodies thought that is power-giving, or inspiring and elevating, rather than merely knowledge-giving (excluding thus all purely scientific writings) ; and catholic, or of interest to man as man (excluding writings that are merely technical, or for a class, trade, profession or the like, only). Such literature is esthetic in its tone and style (excluding all writings violating the principles of correct taste), and shaped by the creative imagination, or power of artistic construction (excluding all writings that are shapeless and without essential and organic unity). Dean Stanley understood literature to consist of "those great works that rise above professional or commonplace uses, and take possession of the mind of a whole nation or a whole age."
The production of literature involves (1) artistic con- struction, or esthetic art, which is that constructive power or process by which forms, facts, or ideas regarded as beau- tiful are grouped and organized according to esthetic prin- ciples, and (2) the constructive faculty, or constructive imagination, which is the mental activity by which the elements or single objects of perception and self -conscious- ness are grouped into systems, scientific, artistic, and prac-
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tical. In such activity both the intellect and the imagina- tion take part.
Literature may be divided into (1) Oratory, where the representation is for the sake of the effect of another mind ; (2) Representative discourse, where it is for the sake of the theme itself; and (3) Poetry, where it is embodied in beautiful form, mainly for the sake of the form.
A very broad division of literature, on the basis of lan- guage form, is into prose and poetry (or rather verse). As Dr. James C. Fernald1 has pointed out, "Used abso- lutely, the term denotes what has been called 'polite liter- ature' or belles-lettres, i.e., the works collectively that em- body taste, feeling, loftiness of thought, and purity and beauty of style, as poetry, history, fiction, and dramatic compositions, including also much of philosophical writing, as the ' Republic' of Plato, and oratorical productions, as the 'Orations' of Demosthenes. In the broad sense we can speak of the literature of science ; in the narrow sense, we speak of literature and science as distinct departments of knowledge. Literature is also used to signify literary pursuits or occupations. ' '
The term comparative literature connotes the study of the literatures of several peoples as to the relations that they bear one to another with reference to their similarity or dissimilarity of style or thought at the same or different periods of time; and of "light literature," meaning liter- ature that requires little mental exertion to understand, and is produced chiefly for amusement. The latter term is applied usually to fiction.
In the foregoing classification, the first division of liter- ature is Oratory, which is the form of discourse or com-
1 "Synonyms, Antonyms and Prepositions," page 319.
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position, the object of which is to produce an effect on another mind. It embraces oratory proper, which ad- dresses present minds, and, by extension, epistolary com- position, which addresses absent minds.
According to the Ancients, the three leading branches of Oratory Proper are (1) Didactic or Philosophic Oratory, to enlighten or instruct the hearer, embracing the lecture, scientific discourse, etc. ; (2) Epideictic or Demonstrative, to awaken feeling, especially the sentiment of approbation or disapprobation, in the hearer, embracing the panegyric and the eulogy, and other less serious and important forms ; (3) Judicial or Forensic and Deliberative, the former having the right as its governing idea, and the proceedings of civil judicature as its chief province, the latter having the good, the useful, the expedient as its governing ideas, and legislative assemblies as its chief province.
Representative Discourse, the second division of liter- ature, connotates that form of literature which, for the sake of unfolding a theme, presents its fiction or drama in distinction from oratory and poetry.
The essay, a comparatively modern product, is a literary composition on some special subject. It is distinct from biography or history. The term is sometimes extended to poetical dissertations ; as, Pope's (( Essay on Criticism." But the essay forms a comparatively small part of the mass of representative discourse, which consists mainly of fiction and drama.
Fiction is that department of literature which embraces all fictitious narrative. Prose fiction is prose work in nar- rative form in which the incidents, characters, and scenes are partly or wholly imagined.
Fiction may be divided into two departments: (a) the
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romance, the product of the fancy; and (b) the novel, the product of imagination or artistic construction.
A number of terms are used to distinguish the several kinds of fictitious writings, as allegory, fable, legend, myth, novel, romance, story. These words Dr. Fernald2 discrim- inates in part as follows: "Fiction is chiefly used of a narrative designed to portray human life, with or without a practical lesson ; a romance portrays what is picturesque or striking, as a mere fiction may not do ; novel is a general name for any continuous fictitious narrative, especially a love-story. The moral of the fable is expressed formally; the lesson of the fiction, if any, is inwrought. A fiction is studied; a myth grows up without intent. A legend may be true, but can not be historically verified ; a myth has been received as true at some time, but is now known to be false. In modern usage we may say that an allegory is an extended simile. The allegory, parable, or fable tells its story as if true, leaving the reader or hearer to discover its fictitious character and learn its lesson. All these are, in strict de- finition, fictions; but the word fiction is now applied almost exclusively to novels or romances. An allegory is a moral or religious tale, of which the moral lesson is the sub- stance, and all descriptions and incidents but accessories, as in 'The Pilgrim's Progress.' A fable is generally briefer, representing animals as the speakers and actors, and commonly conveying some lesson of practical wisdom or shrewdness, as 'The Fables of ^Esop.' A parable is exclusively moral or religious, briefer than an allegory, with its lesson more immediately discernible, given, as it were, at a stroke. "
The romance is a form of prose fiction, distinguished
2 "Synonyms, Antonyms and Prepositions," p. 52.
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from the novel or tale because it does not bind itself to verisimilitude or reality, but gives scope to imagination and idealization. Examples are Sir Philip Sidney 's ' * Arcadia, ' ' Scott's "Ivanhoe," or Cervantes' "Don Quixote."
The romance proper — the product of the fancy, rather than of the creative imagination — includes (1) the apolog, embracing the fable and the allegory; (2) the extrava- ganza; and (3) the sentimental romance.
The period of chivalry supplied the age of romance with the greatest wealth of material. This was the age of medieval legends, such as those of the Cid, Alexander, Charlemagne, or Arthur, written originally in Old French, Provencal, or other Romance dialect, or in late Latin, and in metrical forms.
They were often epic, of great length, and nearly allied to the chansons de geste of the minstrels and trouveres. Modern imitations of this species of romance are found in Tennyson's "Idylls of the King," Byron's "Bride of Abydos," Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," Moore's "Lalla Rookh."
The stories of the beginnings of the modern European literatures may be derived from accounts of the men who produced and preserved them. These men were known by differing names. A minstrel was originally, in the early middle ages and before, a traveling gleeman or wandering musician who composed and sang to the harp, and recited in hall and castle. From almost the beginning a minstrel here and there became attached to a court or household as a retainer ; with greater frequency the minstrel became, in the middle ages, a retainer whose business it was to play musical instruments and recite poems (generally metrical tales) for the entertainment of his lord. About the twelfth
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century the multiplication of manuscript books began to supplant the old-time minstrel in hall and palace. Then minstrels as a class became again musical or performing vagabonds, strolling musicians or mountebanks. In Eng- land they were repressed by Henry IV., and classed among * ' wasters, rimers, and other vagabonds. ' '
On the continent of Europe, from the eleventh to six- teenth centuries, minstrels of various classes were known as jongleurs, trouveres, troubadours, minnesingers, meister- singers. A jongleur was one of a class of French, Prov- encal, and Anglo-Norman minstrels who during the middle ages visited courts and castles, composing and reciting songs, poems, and fabliaux, becoming later mere story-tellers and buffoons. Jongleurs were distinct from troubadours, and trouveres.
A trouvere was one of a class of narrative poets of northern France who wrote in the langue d'oui from the eleventh century to the fourteenth century. The trouveres were distinct from the troubadours, and to them are due the gest, the fabliau, the Arthurian romance, the ''Roman du Renart" and "Roman de la Rose," the prose chronicles, the mystery, etc.
As Edmund Gosse has pointed out,3 the established idea that the poetry of the trouveres was entirely founded upon imitation of that of the troubadours has been ably corn- batted by Paul Meyer, who comes to the conclusion that the poetry of the North of France was essentially no less original than that of the South.
A troubador was one of a class of lyric poets that origi- nated in Provence, France, at the close of the eleventh century, and flourished in southern France, and also in
3"Encyc. Brit,," Vol. XXVII, p. 312.
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Italy and Spain, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. They wrote in the langue d'oc, chiefly of love, war, and satire. The real importance of this period in French literature consists of its lyrical poetry written by more than 500 poets.
The minnesinger was a lyric poet of medieval Germany (1170-1250), who sang in the Swabian Middle High German of love, springtime, woman, and nature; that is, he was a German troubadour. The minnesingers were usually of knightly rank ; their meters were most varied. One of the principal minnesingers of the thirteenth century was Walther von der Vogelweide,or Walter of the Bird-Meadow. A meistersinger was one of the burgher poets and mu- sicians of Germany who succeeded the minnesingers, in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries.
The minstrel of earliest English (and German) literary history was the scop or the gleeman who produced and pre- served the primitive ballads that later grew into such national epics, as "Beowulf," and "Niebelungenlied." (See account of epics and ballads, below.)
The consideration of Eomance thus takes us back to the beginnings of modern literatures. The other great depart- ment of fiction, the Novel, is very modern.
The Novel is a fictitious prose narrative, now usually of sufficient length to fill a fair-sized volume, in which char- acters and actions typical of real life are portrayed as through the medium of a plot of more or less intricacy. It forms the third transitional stage in the evolution of imaginative fiction, of which the epic was the first and the romance the second; differing from the former in that it deals with ordinary characters and actions, and from the latter in that it appeals to the emotions rather than to the
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fancy and love of the marvelous. The novel is dramatic, and may be regarded as a narrative play to the extent that its scenery, manners, surroundings, and mode of speech all belong to the historical period in which its characters are assumed to be living, and also because the personages of the history are brought upon the stage by the author to play their several parts, according to. their dispositions and temperaments, in the development of the plot, the action of which is merely assisted by his descriptive and analytical interludes. Technically, the length of a novel is from 40,000 words upward, that of a novelette being 10,000 to 40,000 words, and of a short story from 1,000 to 10,000 words.
The novel proper may be broadly divided into four classes: (1) The novel of incident, including (a) the novel of adventure, (b) the biographical novel, and (c) the naval, military, or sporting novel; (2) The novel of artifice, dependent on the cleverness of the action and ingenuity of the plot, embracing (a) the detective novel, (b) the novel of mystery, (c) the novel of the unknown, in which appar- ently impossible conditions are so treated as to seem actual, (d) the novel whose motif is fear, intrigue, etc.; (3) The novel of ordinary life, including (a) the novel of purpose, which points a moral or exploits a theory, (b) the realistic novel; (4) The novel of the inevitable, dealing with the .unescapable sequence of cause and effect, including (a) the problem novel, which considers problems in human re- lations or experience; and (b) the analytical novel or novel of character, which considers events solely in their relation to, and their effect upon, character. As Mr. Wilbur L. Cross4 has suggested, the interest in the novel of character
4 "Encyclopedia Americana," art. Novel.
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is directed to the portrayal of men and women, and the tale is a subordinate consideration. In the novel of in- cident, the interest is directed to what happens ; characters, if there be any at all, come only by the way; the tale is the main thing.
A general and philosophical division applied to all art, and, therefore, to Literature, is that made by the terms Realism and Idealism. "With reference to fiction, the terms are rather Realism and Romanticism; and we speak of a novel as realistic or as romantic.
Realism is the doctrine of the realists in literature, art, philosophy, etc. Specifically, in art and literature, it is the principle and practise of depicting persons and scenes as they are observed really to exist and without attempt to select or modify according to any ideal standard. The term is opposed to Romanticism and Idealism.
Romanticism is the quality or characteristic of being romantic. In literature, romanticism involves the use of a romantic style as opposed to the classical, as well as the embodiment of matter that is non-realistic in that it is either idealistic or extravagant. In actual fact, roman- ticism in art and literature is largely a revival of medieval forms.
The birthplace of romanticism is to be found in the chivalrous tales and ballads of the Romance literature of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Toward the end of the eighteenth and in the beginning of the nineteenth a marked change took place in intellectual life which influenced art, music, literature, and thought, manifesting itself in Eng- land, Germany, and France, in the romantic movement or school which substituted for the simplicity, harmony, and
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purity of the classicism of the Augustan age, the mystic, passionate, free-spirited, and capricious standards of the middle ages. The principal advocates of this spirit of idealism as opposed to realism were, in France, Rousseau, who first consistently expressed the romantic view of life ; in Germany, Schelling, Schleiermacher, Schlegel, Lessing, and others; and in England, Gray, Cowper, Burns, Cole- ridge, Southey, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Rossetti, and Carlyle, whose work "Sartor Resartus" best represents their school.
Idealism in art is the endeavor to attain perfection by improving and uniting in one form all the best qualities to be found in different individual forms. While in art and literature, realism strives to portray things with scientific accuracy and detail, allowing comparatively restricted play for the imaginative faculty, idealism creates from the imagination a type of beauty in conformity with a precon- ceived ideal. Idealism will thus be seen to cover a wide range in the field of art, from the work of pure imagina- tion, in which no attempt is made to conform to facts, to the representation of reality with only a slight tinge of modifying color, introduced to emphasize certain features or aspects of the work.
The distinctions drawn in the meanings of these three words, and here applied to fiction, must be borne in mind in connection with the discussion of poetry, below. A most marked characteristic of English poetry for the century from 1780 to 1880, was its romantic quality.
In Classical Literature (Greek and Roman) the Drama formed one of the three divisions of poetry (see below). In modern literatures, dramatic writings were at first mainly in verse, but more recently are generally written in prose. In this respect drama has drawn close to its
LITERATURE: ITS ELEMENTS 185
younger cousin, fiction. A drama is a composition, in prose or in poetry, usually intended to be acted upon the stage, presenting a story by means of characters speaking and acting in situations contrived to develop a plot, and with such accessories of scenery, stage machinery, costume, etc., as are fitted to produce an impression of reality. A drama is a play. "Hamlet" is a drama.
The early history of the modern drama, as of romance, takes us back into the Middle Ages. The very beginnings of English drama date, in reality, from the end of the tenth century. As has already been pointed out elsewhere, the miracle play, or mystery, formed the first stage of the English drama. It was acted in churches and convents, either by the clergy or by persons coached by them. Gradu- ally by the side of the church play there was developed the morality play, from which dates the second stage of the drama in England.
A mystery or miracle-play treated sacred subjects; a morality was an old form of play in which the characters were personified virtues, vices, mental attributes, and the like. Moralities were in vogue in the fifteenth century.
In 1902 "Everyman," an old morality, was revived on the stage in England and Amsrica, and in 1911 "Every- woman," a modern morality of an ethical character, was produced in New York, and later also, in London, England.
In the "spacious" days of Praise-God Barebone, or Barbon, the drama was declared "lewd and iniquitous," and under his orders all stage-plays were "absolutely for- bidden, and the players punished as rogues and vaga- bonds." It was characteristic of this peace-loving politi- cian and leather-seller to condemn the orderly that they might bestir themselves to a full appreciation of his talents.
186 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Barebone combined " preaching " with his trade as leather- seller. In a contemporary scurrilous pamphlet entitled, "New Preachers, New"5 reference is made to "the last tumult in Fleet Street, raised by the disorderly preachment, pratings, and pratlings of Mr. Barebones, the leather- seller, and Mr. Greene, the felt-maker, on Sunday last, 19 December (1641). The 'tumult' is jocosely described, and '1,000 persons' are alleged to have been present; but the ' tumult, ' so far from originating in the ' disorderly preach- ment,' certainly originated in violent intrusion upon the worshipers. Another pamphlet on the same disturbance is entitled 'The Discovery of a Swarme of Separatists, or a Leather Seller's Sermon. Being a most true and exact relation of the tumultuous combustion in Fleet Street last Sabbath day, being 29th of December (19 in text) ; truly describing how Burboon, a leather seller, had a conventicle of Brownists met at his house that day, about the number of an hundred and fifty, who preached there himself about five hours in the afternoon. Showing likewise how they were discovered and by what means, as also how the con- stable scattered their nest, and of the great tumult in the street. . . . London; Printed for John Greensmith, 1641.' ' In this publication we read concerning the persecutors1 treatment of the worshipers: "At length they catcht one of them alone, but they kickt him so vehemently as if they meant to beate him into a jelly. It is ambiguous whether they have kil'd him or no, but for a certainty they did knock him as if they meant to pull him to pieces. I con- fesse it had been no matter if they had beaten the whole tribe in the like manner."
Evidently the players were not the only rogues and
•Dr. A. B. Grosart in "Dictionary of National Biography," Vol. Ill, p. 152.
LITERATURE: ITS ELEMENTS 187
vagabonds in England at the time. Praise-God Barebone's point of view may have been derived from the fact that the drama began by introducing the vices that it might teach man how to shun them — a moral lesson too great for men of Barebone's mental caliber to learn. The drama teaches the virtues even when it depicts vice. Macaulay pronounced the Old English drama as the most lucid mirror that was ever held up to nature. To-day the purpose of the dramatist is to present life as in a looking-glass ; to this end he presents the best and the worst passions of the human heart. Probably no finer estimate of the drama has ever been made than that which Charlotte Cushman left us: "I think I love and reverence all arts equally," she said, * ' only putting my own just above the others ; because in it I recognize the union and culmination of the others. To me it seems as if when God conceived the world, that was poetry ; He formed it, and that was Scripture ; He colored it, and that was painting ; He peopled it with living beings, and that was the grand, divine, eternal drama."
The Drama assumes two principal forms, Tragedy and Comedy, the former representing some signal event or period and generally tending to a fatal issue, the latter pre- senting the lighter and usually humorous aspects of charac- ter and life, individual and social. Minor forms of drama are tragi-comedy, farce, burlesque, melodrama, etc.
Tragedy is that form of drama or of dramatic composi- tion of which the theme is solemn, lofty, or pathetic, being a great action or series of acts, usually presented in heroic verse or elevated prose, and generally involving the fatal issue of a hopeless struggle. It is the species of drama that deals with the sad and terrible phases of life and character, and is in its substance and spirit opposed to comedy.
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The principle that rules in tragedy and brings about the situation of extremity and desperation has Varied in differ- ent ages and dramas. Fate and its workings are the favorite themes of Greek tragedy, which grew out of the worship of Dionysos. In Rome, the germ of tragedy was found in the comcedia palliata, which was borrowed from the Greeks, and that part of Roman tragedy which has survived is associated with Seneca, whose plays, free adaptations of the works of Sophocles and Euripides, were designed for reading rather than for the stage. The great French writers who founded the classical tragedy of France took him as their model. Forms of the later Latin drama were the comcedia togata, which dealt with Roman life and man- ners ; commdia prcetexta, named from the magisterial dress and approaching nearest to true tragedy; commdia trdbeata, named from the equestrian dress ; and commdia tabernaria, which treated of tavern or low life. In modern tragedy the characteristic feature is a conflict between the forces of a strong human nature and outside forces, either blind and physical or moral and spiritual, affording a strong contrast to ancient Greek conception. According to Kames,6 epic poetry employs narration, while tragedy represents its facts as passing before our sight: in the former, the poet intro- duces himself as a historian ; in the latter, he presents his actors and never himself.
Comedy is the branch of dramatic art that portrays laughable incidents or characters, or the ludicrous, the sati- rical, or the gay, in a familiar or humorous style. In matter and spirit it is opposed to the tragic, serious, or ceremonial. In a restricted sense, a comedy is an entertaining drama less broadly humorous than a .farce. Comedy varies from
8 "Elements of Criticism," p. 414.
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a story illustrating the amusing side of human life to a serious composition depicting human existence or portray- ing truth and ending happily. Dante called his "Divina Commedia" a comedy because it had a fortunate ending.
Writers on the theater use the term light comedy to mean genteel comedy exhibiting humor in refined and natural language, dress, and action; and low comedy to mean comedy that is broadly humorous, droll, or farcical. A musical comedy is an extravaganza with musical accom- paniment.
Greek or Attic comedy, the original and typical form of the art, embraces (1) the old comedy, in which the charac- ters of living men were satirized and given their real names, a thing forbidden by law about 400 B.C.; (2) the middle comedy (lasting fifty years), in which the names were ficti- tious but the characters real; and (3) the new comedy, in which the characters as well as the names were fictitious.
There are also such minor forms of the drama as the tragi-comedy, a drama in which tragic and comic scenes are intermingled.
A farce is a short comedy the humor of which is due to exaggeration of effects and distortion of incidents. As Saintsbury7 has pointed out, the farce deals with an actual or possible incident of ordinary life to which a comic complexion is given by the treatment. Farce is that style of play-writing in which ludicrous and extravagant effects are produced. It is distinguished from other comic com- positions by the slightness of its thought and its extrava- gant and ridiculous self-abandon. A farce-comedy is properly a farcical comedy ; but the term is often applied to a form of entertainment in which topical songs, jokes,
7 "History of French Literature," p. 117.
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dances, etc., are strung on a very slender dramatic thread.
A burlesque is, in the drama, a dramatic travesty- largely interspersed with music — of some popular legend, custom, romance, or play. It is a dramatic extravaganza.
A melodrama is a drama with a romantic story or plot and sensational situations. In the melodramas of Greece the entrance of each actor was accompanied by music. In modern times the aim of all such plays is to thrill the crowd by a series of violent situations and unexpected happenings.
Plays are usually divided into Acts and Scenes. An act is the largest division of a play or opera, forming an incident or deed complete in itself. A scene is a division of an act of a play, comprising all that passes continuously at one time and place, or, as formerly and sometimes still, all that passes between the same persons in the same place.
Poetry is the third, and remaining, division of liter- ature as suggested in the initial classification.
According to Dr. Henry Van Dyke,8 Poetry is the emo- tional interpretation of nature and life through the imagin- ation in beautiful and metrical language. It is the type of literature of which the ruling factor is quickened emotion, the proper language figurative, the natural form verse, and the chief aim to impart imaginative pleasure.
The production of poetry is classed as one of the fine arts. All the elements of the highest type of poetry are properly included in a general definition of this art. The most im- portant are those that belong to its vital spirit: (1) Emo- tional intensity ; (2) insight; (3) imagination. The charac- teristic elements of its form are those by which the art is most easily recognized : (1) Abundant imagery ; (2) sugges-
8 "New Standard Dictionary," s.v. Poetry.
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live and revealing language; (3) a measured music of words. Poetry of a lower type may be weak in one or other of these elements and yet be included in poetic literature ; but there are many critics who hold that metrical form is indispensable.
Professor Saintsbury9 describes English poetry as con- sisting of syllables — accented or unaccented, stressed or unstressed — arranged on principles which, whatever they may be in themselves, have no analogy to those of classical feet.
A number of terms referring to poetical compositions are more or less synonymous : meter, metrical composition, metrical writing, poem, poesy, rime, verse. Dr. Fernald10 defines poetry as "that form of literature which embodies beautiful thought, feeling, or action in melodious, rhyth- mical, and (usually) metrical language in imaginative and artistic constructions. Poetry in a very wide sense may be anything that pleasingly addresses the imagination; as, the poetry of motion. In ordinary usage poetry is both imaginative and metrical. There may be poetry without rime, but hardly without meter or what in some languages takes its place, as the Hebrew parallelism; but poetry in- volves, besides the artistic form, the exercise of the fancy or imagination in a way always beautiful, often lofty or even sublime. Failing this, there may be verse, rime, and meter, but not poetry. There is much in literature that is beautiful and sublime in thought and artistic in construc- tion, which is not poetry, because quite devoid of the element of song, whereby poetry differs from the most lofty, beautiful, or impassioned prose."
9 "English Prosody," p. 8.
10 "Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions," p. 372.
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The original Greek division of poetry into lyric (express- ing personal emotion), epic (narrative of moving events), and dramatic (presenting the interaction of human wills), has been enlarged by the addition of other types, as the ballad, didactic poetry, the dramatic lyric, the idyll, the monodrama, etc.
The elements of its vital spirit, as explained above, are (1) emotional intensity; (2) insight; and (3) imagination. That is to say, it must be able ( 1 ) to move us by the presen- tation of the (2) truth which it has discovered, and to which it (3) has given a new, .beautiful, and significant shape.
The emotions are to be recognized as stronger than feel- ings or sentiments.
Insight is the power or faculty of immediate and acute perception or understanding, exercised (in poetry) in the realms of moral truth and of beauty. It is intuition, whether that power is regarded as a general inner faculty, a special capacity for a particular field of view, or the gift of mystical vision. By insight the poet discovers the material out of which he makes poetry.
The imagination faculty is the third vital element of poetry. This supreme power of the artist — of the human mind, in fact — is so fundamental in the production of poetry, or of any other form of art, and imparts to its product so much of the fundamental and essential character of that product, that a student of poetry or of any other form of art must give the term Imagination very careful and detailed consideration.
Two main aspects or functions of the imagination are to be noticed. These are: (1) the act or power of imaging or of re-imaging objects of perception or thought — its less sig-
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nificant function; (2) the act or power of combining the products of past experience in modified, new or ideal forms. In the latter, its more significant function, it is the creative or constructive power of the mind. The word has been used in wide and various senses in common life and litera- ture, as well as in the psychological sciences.
Professor Ladd11 defines the imagination specifically as, (1) The picturing power or act of the mind; the formation of mental images, pictures, or mental representations of objects or ideas, particularly of objects of sense-perception and of mathematical reasoning ; also, the reproduction and combination, usually with more or less of modification, of the images or ideas of memory or recalled facts, of experi- ence; imaginative reproduction: embracing fantasy, fancy, and imagination in its common acceptation ; as, the imagina- tion rules in reverie and dreams; the imagination of the reveler. (2) The mental representation of past knowledges of whatever kind, especially past knowledges of external and sense objects ; re-imaging power ; spontaneous and un- controlled play of images in consciousness — fantasy. (3) The act of constructive intellect in grouping the materials of knowledge or thought into new, original, and rational systems; the constructive or creative faculty, embracing poetry, artistic, philosophic, scientific, and ethical imagina- tion. This sense includes the rational and constructive element of taste or the esthetic faculty.
It is with the first and the third of these specific defini- tions that the student of poetry is concerned ; namely, with imagination as "the reproduction and combination of the images of memory, ' ' and as l ' the act of constructive intel- lect in grouping the materials of knowledge or thought into
11 "New Standard Dictionary," s.v. Imagination.
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new; original and rational systems." The poetic imagina- tion is the creative imagination as employed in the produc- tion of noble or elevating pictures, or of artistic literary construction, fixed and expressed by rhythmical language.
The characteristic elements of Poetry are (1) abundant imagery; (2) suggestive and revealing language; and (3) a measured music of words. As among the vital elements of poetry the imaginative element is supreme, so among the elements of poetic form that of meter — " measured music of words" — is the chief characteristic.
In rhetoric, imagery as an act or as a rhetorical product is figurative description in speech. As an effect it is the mental images produced by the use of figurative language. The obvious means of creating poetic imagery is figurative language — the use of figures of speech. A figure of speech is a form of expression that deviates intentionally from the ordinary mode of speech for the sake of more powerful, pleasing, or distinctive effect. Figures of speech are pic- torial or poetic language.
Rhetorical figures may be classed as follows: I. Those depending (1) on the kind of words employed, tropes, and
(2) on the number of words employed, (a) repetition and (b) ellipsis. II. Those depending on the representative imagery employed. (1) Figures that consist in a change of the presentation of the represented object — (a) in nature, personification; (b) in relations, vision; (c) in degree, hyperbole. (2) Those consisting in comparison or contrast.
(3) Those consisting in a deviation from the ordinary mode of expressing the views or mental condition of the speaker ; embracing (a) those in which another is personated, proso- popeia; (b) those in which another is addressed, apostrophe; and (c) those in which the conception is changed from
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reality, including irony, doubt, and interrogation. (4) Those depending on the structure of the sentence, as (a) on its order, inversion; (b) on its connection, anacoluthon; (c) on its completeness, aposiopesis ; (d) on its fulness, sententiousness.
Comparison, from the point of view of rhetoric, is a set- ting forth of the points of similarity or contrast between one thing and another. Comparison includes (1) compari- son proper, in which the properties of the representative object are formally attributed to the other; (2) the simile, which turns the mind on the representative object itself; (3) contrast, which emphasizes points of difference; (4) allusion, which closely approaches metaphor, comparative words being omitted; and (5) allegory, embracing (a) allegory proper, an extended simile, omitting comparative words; (b) fable, a short narrative allegory with a moral; and (c) parable, a narrative or descriptive allegory found- ed on real scenes and inculcating religious truth.
A discussion of the individual figures of speech belongs to rhetoric rather than to literature. By means largely of imagery language becomes suggestive, revealing. What is meant by this is unfolded in the treatment of the terms suggestion and suggestive. Suggestion is the imparting or exciting of a notion or idea in an indirect or unobtrusive way. A suggestion brings something before the mind less directly than by formal or explicit statement. A suggestion may be given unintentionally, and even unconsciously, as when we say an author has "a suggestive style." Sug- gestive means stimulating to thought or reflection. As an illustration of the meaning of the term a poet's and a botanist's description of a buttercup may be cited. The one by means of suggestive language makes the flower glow
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and dance before us as in life; the other by means of ex- plicit statement lays before us the dead husk of what once lived.
The third element of poetic form is its Metrical Char- acter. As stated in the definition of poetry quoted on page 190, metrical form is by most critics considered in- dispensable to poetry. Meter is a measured verbal rhythm. It constitutes the structure of verse. It is a definite arrangement of groups of syllables in a line, having a time- unit and a regular beat. Applied to the stanza, it is a specific sequence of such lines in a stanza. In Greek and Latin meter the length of the syllables is the controlling factor; in English, the stress, or metrical accent, is the structural element. See prosody, below.
The meter of a line is named from the number and char- acter of the feet, or measures, which it contains ; as, iambic pentameter, dactylic hexameter. But in Latin and Greek, verse of certain kinds is measured by double feet ; thus an iambic trimeter — six iambs. The meter of a stanza is named from the number and character of its lines ; as, a tetrameter quatrain; or specific names are given ; as, an Alcaic ode, the Spenserian stanza, ottava rima, rime royale.
In hymnology the term meter means the form of a stanza of a certain number of lines, each of which has a certain number of accented syllable-groups or feet. Such a stanza is often incorrectly called a "verse." There are various kinds of meter as the following will show: Iambic meters are (1) common meter, in which the stanza is composed of four lines alternately of four and of three iambic feet; (2) long meter, in which the stanza contains four lines of four feet each; and (3) short meter, in which the first two lines have three feet, the third four, and the fourth three. When
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the stanza is doubled the meter is called common meter double, long meter double, etc. Sometimes long meter has six lines to the stanza, and is then known as long meter six lines, or long particular meter. Common particular meter contains two lines of four iambics each, then one line of three iambics, then two more lines of four iambics, and then one more of three iambics. Short particular meter has two lines or three iambics followed by one of four, and then two more of three followed by one of four. Halleluiah meter contains four lines of three feet or six syllables, each followed by two lines of four feet or eight syllables. The meter tens has lines each composed of five feet; in sevens and sixes the stanza is composed of either four or eight lines, each of which contains three iambics, the odd-numbered lines ending with an added unaccented syllable. Trochaic meters are sevens, eights and sevens, sixes, sixes and fives, etc. These names indicate the number of syllables in the lines; lines having an odd number terminate with an added accented syllable. Dactylic meters, as also anapestic, are elevens, elevens and tens, etc.
Fernald12 gives further definition of the term meter in discriminating its synonymous terms, as, euphony, measure, rhythm, verse. Euphony is agreeable linguistic sound, however produced; meter, measure, and rhythm denote agreeable succession of sounds in the utterance of connected words ; euphony may apply to a single word or even a single syllable; the other words apply to lines, sentences, para- graphs, etc. ; rhythm and meter may be produced by accent only, as in English, or by accent and quantity combined, as in Greek or Italian ; rhythm or measure may apply either to prose or to poetry, or to music, dancing, etc. ; meter
12 "Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions," p. 328.
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applies only to poetry, and denotes an orderly and meas- ured rhythm with regular divisions into verses, stanzas, strophes, etc. A verse is strictly a metrical line, but the word is often used as synonymous with stanza. Verse, in the general sense, denotes metrical writing without refer- ence to the thought involved.
Composition written in meter is Verse. The term verse, like the term meter, is the basis of a number of phrases which apply to details of the form of poetry.
Verse is metrical composition as distinguished from prose. In another sense, a verse is a single metrical line made up of a number of feet, arranged according to a specific rule. With an appropriate adjective the term applies to a certain type of metrical composition as distinguished by form, or style, or theme; as blank verse, heroic verse, hexameter verse, etc.
Blank verse is verse without rime. Heroic verse is verse adapted to heroic or lofty themes, and is used especially in epic and dramatic poetry, as the hexameter in Greek and Latin, the ottava rima in Italian, the Alexandrine in the French drama, and the heroic couplet and blank verse, with various other combinations of iambic verse, in English.
Epic verse is the verse employed in epic poetry. The measures used by epic poets are various: in Latin and Greek, the dactylic hexameter; in Italian, the terza rima or the stanzaic measure of Tasso; in Spanish ("The Cid") and old French, assonance; in Anglo-Saxon, alliterative lines; in English, the blank verse of Milton and Tennyson, the heroic couplet of Pope, the stanza of Spenser, and the trochaic tetrameter of Longfellow's poem "Hiawatha."
The word verse is often used incorrectly to denote stanza. A verse is a single line ; a stanza is a certain num-
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ber of lines of verse grouped in a definite scheme of meter and sequence, and usually corresponding to the other line- groups in the same poem. It is, therefore, a metrical division composed of lines, as the line is composed of feet. A stanza is often incorrectly called a verse. In English verse the structural factor of the stanza is generally the rime, which binds the lines together. Two rimed lines form a couplet, three a triplet. A four-line stanza is often called a quatrain • a six-lined stanza, a sestet; an eight-lined stanza, an octave. Favorite stanzaic forms in English are the four-stress quatrain with alternate rimes, the rime royal in seven decasyllabic lines (ababbcc) , the Spenserian in eight decasyllabic lines and an Alexandrine (ababbcbcc) . the ottava rima of "Don Juan" and Keats 's "Isabella" (a'baba'bcc), and the ode-stanza of Gray, Wordsworth, and others. The letters in the parentheses show the arrange- ment of rimes.
Rime is an important though not essential element in poetical form. As the term is now used, rime13 is a corres- pondence of sound in the accented vowels (not initials) and the following letters, if any, of the final feet of two or more lines of verse. Occurring in the initial letters of words, a correspondence of sound is called alliteration. If it is in final syllables, and is in vowel sounds only, it is called assonance. End-rime is usually the organizing factor of the stanza in modern English verse, and is what is commonly understood by the .word rime.
Alliteration and assonance were used in Anglo-Saxon Romance, and early English verse ; end-rime is modern,
13 The spelling rhyme, although commoner in literature than the older rime, is etymologically incorrect, having been introduced in the sixteenth century through a mistaken connection with rhythm. The use of the older spelling has now been revived by many writers.
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and was introduced into English in imitation of Latin hymns and French lyrics. Where the accented vowels in a rime are followed by an unaccented or light syllable, it is called a feminine rime; as, making — taking. Where there are two light syllables, it is called a triple rime; as, tenderly — slenderly. Where riming words occur at the end of the first natural pause in a line, and at the end of the line, it is called an internal or leonine rime. A com- plete identity of sounds (including initials) in the members of a rime (as fair — fare) is called a perfect rime. While allowed in French, this is inadmissible in modern English verse.
The fundamental divisions of Poetry are (1) lyric, (2) epic, and (3) dramatic. To these terms further names are added distinguishing certain forms unknown to or un- recognized by the ancients; as, didactic poetry, the ballad, the dramatic lyric, the dramatic monologf etc. Lyric Poetry is that form of which the main object is to express emotion directly and personally. It is verse of quickened feeling and song-like form. In lyric poetry, the poet gives vent to his personal emotions, or experiences. The term lyric, then, as applied to poetry, does not mean specifically 11 adopted for singing to the lyre," but rather designates the contents and spirit of the poetry so named.
Lyric poetry includes various subordinate forms, as the sonnet and the elegy, not now set to music, and the ode, song, psalm, and hymn, which imply or suggest a musical setting. There are yet other forms, mostly felt as foreign to English poetry, such as madrigal, rondeau, villanelle, triolet, etc. These are distinguished each by its metrical or stanzaic structure.
A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines, usually in iambic
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pentameter, riming according to a prescribed scheme. The sonnet came into English verse from Italy in the sixteenth century. There are two principal forms: (1) The so- called Italian sonnet consists of 14 iambic pentameter lines, arranged thus : an octave, riming abba, abba, and a sestet, riming c d e, c d e, or c d e, d c d, or c d e, dee, or c d e, e d c. A rime in the last couplet is permissible, but disapproved by most critics. The octave is supposed to introduce the main idea or sentiment, which the sestet develops, or illustrates by comparison or contrast. (2) The Elizabethan or Shakespearian sonnet consists of 14 iambic pentameter lines, arranged in quatrains of interwoven rime and closing with a rimed couplet.
An elegy is a lyric poem lamenting the dead, as Shelley's "Adonais."
An ode, in ancient usage, was a lyric poem intended to be sung or chanted; in modern usage, it is any lyric of lofty tone dealing progressively with one dignified theme. In ancient Greek the ode embraced the choral songs and other lyrics in tragedy and comedy. Its principal forms were (1) the monody, recited by the actors; (2) the par ode, the stasimon, and the parabasis, recited by the choreutae, or members of the chorus; (3) the kommos (a wild lament for the dead), sung alternately by one or more of the chief actors and the chorus.
The modern ode does not necessarily follow the classical model, being more free in form, as Dry den's "Alexander's Feast," Keats 's "On a Grecian Urn," and Wordsworth's t ' Ode on Intimations of Immortality. ' ' Some English odes are regular but somewhat intricate in structure, in imita- tion of the classical ode ; that is, they consist of two stanzas of like form, the strophe and the antistrophe, and a third
202 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
of different form, the epode, this combination being one or more times repeated. But most of the English poems called odes, as Dryden's for ''St. Cecilia's Day" or Wordsworth's on ' ' Intimations of Immortality, ' ' are irregular in metrical structure.
The strophe, in classical poetry, was a group of lines of poetry, arranged in a certain order, and repeated one or more times in an ode, or dramatic chorus. It corresponded to the repetition of an air in music, or to the turning of the chorus in a drama as they passed, chanting, from the cen- tral altar to the side of the stage. As Gummere14 shows, strophe means literally "a turning." At the end of the strophe we turn, and repeat the same conditions. Stanza, under another symbol means the same thing. Strictly, a strophe was the first of a pair of such verse-groups, corres- ponding to the second or antistrophe. To these a third group, called an epode, was sometimes added, thus consti- tuting a triple division of an ode. Ben Jonson rendered these names in English as turn, counter-turn, and stand.
Other forms of the lyric, as song, psalm, hymn, are* familiar. The dramatic lyric is a lyric poem ' ' characterized by the action and spirit of the drama. ' ' That is, the poem suggests vividly both the character of the speaker and the action supposed to accompany the words.
The ballad was in origin a lyric poem ; but being narra- tive it tended to grow by accretion and to take more and more an objective and sometimes dramatic form. The simple story thus grew toward epic elevation and propor- tions.
Epic Poetry. — An epic is a poem in which actions or events in related sequence are presented by narration and
14 "Poetics," p. 236.
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description. The term applies especially to a poem cele- brating in stately, formal verse the real or mythical achieve- ments of great personages, heroes, or demigods. Dr. Van Dyke15 has given us a convenient generic distribution of epics in the wide sense, as (1) the higher epic or heroic, narrating a great action, as of heroes, demigods, and gods ; (2) the middle epic, or poetic tale; and (3) the mock-heroic or burlesque. Epics are also variously classed and named, according to their origin, special themes, etc. : (a) Epics of growth, or collections of ballads of different authorship, anonymous, which seem to have grown up spontaneously, such as "Beowulf," the ' ' Mahabharata, " the ' ' Nibelungen- lied," and the "Kalevala"; (&) The epics of art, in which a single poet concentrates his poem about some great central figure, as Homer's "Iliad," Homer's "Odyssey," Vergil's "^Eneid," Milton's "Paradise Lost," and Tasso's "Jeru- salem Delivered." (c) The mixed epic of growth and art combined, as Firdusi's "Shah Nameh." (d) The heroic poem, such as the ' ' Chanson de Roland ' ' and the ' * Orlando Furioso, " describing medieval knights and heroes, (e) Sacred epics, such as Dante's "Divina Commedia" and Klopstock's "Messias." (/) Historical epics, such as Camoens 's ' ' Lusiad ' ' and Lucan 's t ' Pharsalia. " (g) Mock epics, such as Butler's "Hudibras," "Reynard the Fox," the "Batrachomyoraachia" (Frogmousiad) , and Pope's "Rape of the Lock." "Paradise Lost" has been pro- nounced the epic of English Puritanism and of Protestant Christianity.
A sort of epic poem, or minor epic, is called the idyl, which was originally a short poem descriptive of rustic or pastoral life, as the "Cotter's Saturday Night" of Burns,
15 "New Standard Dictionary," s.v. Epic.
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or the "Idyls" of Theocritus. By extension the term has come to mean a short and highly wrought description, and, more loosely, a more extended descriptive or narrative poem of elevated and artistic style. As a narrative poem the idyl is a minor epic with a content, spirit and style that make it akin also to the pastoral.
Just as the origins of the Romance take the student of literature back close to the origins of the modern European literatures, so the Epics of Growth go back to the ballad, the primitive folk-poem of a people. The folk-ballad ex- panded as the legend it told grew by accretion ; and, when several such overgrown legends collected about a national hero or a national event, the overgrown ballads which re- cited them coalesced into a national epic. Such is by many supposed to have been the origin of the genuine folk epic like the English "Beowulf," the Greek "Iliad," the Ger- man ' i Nibelungenlied. ' ' But, of course, the welding of the original materials into an organic whole demanded the constructive power of an artist, and hence even these older national epics are in some degree also Epics of Art.
The term ballad is used in two senses, wliich must be distinguished: (1) It designates a simple lyrical poem, telling a story or legend, usually of popular origin ; as, the "Ballad of Chevy Chase." A writer in the "British Quarterly Review" has pointed out that the English ballad possesses three main distinguishing characteristics: (a) narration in substance; (6) lyric form; and (c) traditional origin. (2) In another sense, the term connotes a simple popular song, amatory, proverbial, laudatory, or satirical, usually consisting of two verses, each of which is sung to the same melody, the musical accompaniment being invari- ablv subordinate to the air.
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The first is the distinctly literary sense; and in this specific sense one must distinguish two kinds of ballad: (a) the genuine folk-ballad or folk-song, originating and cur- rent among the common people, and hence, being in a measure of communal origin, not associated with any indi- vidual author; and (&) the literary ballad written by an individual author in imitation of the folk-ballad. The folk-ballad is largely represented in Percy's "Reliques of Ancient English Poesie."
Dramatic Poetry is the third division of poetry as the ancient critics treated the topic. The classical drama, and also modern drama in its earlier and greater period, used metrical language as its vehicle. At the present time an occasional "poetical drama" is produced; but the great period of English drama was about the beginning of the seventeenth century (Shakespeare and his contemporaries) ; of French drama was toward the close of the seventeenth century (Corneille, Racine, Moliere) ; and of German drama was toward the end of the eighteenth century (Lessing, Schiller, Goethe). The dramatic product of these periods was in verse.
A special kind of dramatic composition is named dra- matic monologue. This is a dramatic soliloquy, or a story or drama told or performed by one person. Dramatic mono- logue has taken three forms: (1) when the actor tells a continuous story in which he is the chief character, referring to the others as absent; (2) when he assumes the voice or manner of several characters successively; (3) more re- cently, when he implies that the others are present, leading the audience to imagine what they say by his replies. It is in this third form that Browning's poetic genius found frequent effective expression, as in "My Last Duchess. "
20G ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
On the borderland between poetry and non-poetry is a class of composition in verse to which the classical scheme of kinds of poetry gives no place. It is one of the added types and is known as Didactic Poetry — the form of poetry that embodies ideas regarded as thought, rather than as feeling or action; the poetry of the intellect. Its main divisions are: (1) didactic poetry proper, the object of which is to embody or teach some truth or system of truth — including (a) moral and religious, and (6) critical, as Pope's "Moral Essays"; (2) descriptive poetry — including (a) descriptive poetry proper of things and events; (6) pastoral ; (c) satirical, etc. How high such poetry may rise in the scale of poetical quality depends upon the genius of the author. In the treatment of the subject, the purpose has been to be as inclusive as the importance of the theme requires. There are some bypaths along which the reader has not been led because they in turn lead to themes that are not germane to the subject under consideration.
As these pages are passing through the press, the subject of the school course in English is again receiving the attention of educators. There is a tendency, in certain parts of the country, to modernize the curriculum, and in one of our central States some of the changes proposed include such a radical substitution as the study of "Cab- bages and Kings ' ' for that of ' ' Paradise Lost ' ' ; that is to say, the writings of the late Sydney Porter, better known by the pseudonym "0. Henry," are to take the place of those of Milton. The President 's addresses to Congress are to be studied in preference to the works of Shakespeare, but while Shakespeare 's writings will still be used sparingly (for which one may fte excused for offering a prayer of
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thanks), the monotony of applying the mind to the Bard of Avon's exquisite work is to be relieved by studying the writings of Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde ! As an anti- dote to Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," Kipling's "The Light that Failed" is to be taken. In fine, it is declared that the worth of the English classics is a negligible quantity — teachers, we are told, are "killing the love of literature by forcing upon pupils too much Carlyle, Scott, Thackeray, and Dickens." As a further excuse for the substitutions suggested, it is pointed out that the great English poets and masters of literature did not write or speak in the vernacular of the present day. For this weighty reason, therefore, students of English speech and literature are to be enticed from the classics by Shavian bait and the brilliant but suggestive essays that compose "The Picture of Dorian Gray!"
These proposals imply a morbid abhorrence for the study of the accepted standards of beauty of expression and of form so trying to the patience that one is driven to ask whether it is not the teachers of English who are at fault rather than the well of good English that has run dry. As the editor of an evening paper16 recently remarked, "To insist on diluting Shakespeare with Bernard Shaw does, indeed, indicate a certain futility of mental process which does not command respect. ' ' It may be pointed out that in regard to forms of speech the present usage of society as a whole — with its jargon and its conventionally imposed bad grammar and vicious syntax — is not more authoritative than the illiterate or obsolescent phrases of passed gener- ations.
Whatever success the proposal referred to may have it
i« "The Evening Sun," New York, December 4, 1914.
208 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
can not be immediate, and there is ground for congratu- lation that the National Conference of Associated Colleges and Preparatory Schools of New England, the Middle States and Maryland, the North Central States, the Central Atlantic States, and the Southern States, has determined that the entrance requirements in English for the years 1915 to 1919 inclusive shall embrace, in the Department of Literature, the study of the following groups:
A. FOR READING
GROUP I. Classics in Translation: (1) The Old Testament, comprising at least the chief narrative episodes in Genesis, Extodus, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Daniel, together with the Books of Ruth and Esther. (2) The "Odyssey," Books VI to XIV— the others may be studied, if desired. (3) The "Iliad," Books I to X, XII, XVI, and XVIII to XX— the others may be studied, if desired. (4) The "^neid." The "Odyssey," "Iliad" and "^Eneid" should be read in English translations of recognized literary excellence. For any selection from this group a selection from any other group may be substituted.
GPuoup II. Shakespeare: (1) "Midsummer Night's Dream";
(2) "Merchant of Venice"; (3) "As You Like It" ; (4) "Twelfth Night"; (5) "The Tempest"; (6) "Romeo and Juliet"; (7) "King John"; (8) "Richard II."; (9) "Richard III."; (10) "Henry V."; (11) "Coriolanus" • (12) "Julius Oesar"; (13) "Macbeth"; (14) "Hamlet."
GROUP III. Prose Fiction: (I) Malory, "Morte d Arthur" (about 100 pages); (2) Bunyan, "Pilgrim's Progress," part I:
(3) Swift, "Gulliver's Travels" (voyages to Lilliput and to Brobdingnag) ; (4) Defoe, "Robinson Crusoe," part I; (5) Gold- smith, "Vicar of Wakefield"; (6) Frances Burney, "Evelina"; (7) Scott's Novels, any one; (8) Jane Austen's Novels, any one;
(9) Maria Edgeworth, "Castle Rackrent," or "The Absentee";
(10) Dickens's Novels, any one; (11) Thackeray's Novels, any one; (12) George Eliot's Novels, any one; (13) Mrs. Gaskell, "Cranford"; (14) Kingsley, "Westward Ho!" or "Hereward, the
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Wake"; (15) Reade, "The Cloister and the Hearth"; (1C) Blackrnore, "Lorna Doone"; (17) Hughes, "Tom Brown's Schooldays"; (18) Stevenson's "Treasure Island," or "Kid- napped," or "Master of Ballantrae"; (19) Cooper's Novels, any one; (20) Poe, "Selected Tales"; (21) Hawthorne, "The House of the Seven Gables," or "Twice Told Tales," or "Mosses from an Old Manse"; (22) A collection of Short Stories by various standard writers.
GROUP IV. Essays, Biography, etc.: (1) Addison and Steele, "The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers," or selections from "The Tatler" and "The Spectator" (about 200 pages) ; (2) Boswell, selections from the "Life of Johnson" (about 200 pages) ; (3) Franklin, "Autobiography"; (4) Irving, selections from the "Sketch Book" (about 200 pages), or "Life of Goldsmith"; (5) Southey, "Life of Nelson"; (6) Lamb, selections from the "Essays of Elia" (about 100 pages) ; (7) Lockhart, selections from the "Life of Scott" (about 200 pages) ; (8) Thackeray, lectures on Swift, Addison, and Steele in the "English Humorists"; (9) Macaulay, any one of the following essays: (a) Lord Clive, (b) Warren Hastings, (c) Milton, (d) Addison, (e) Goldsmith, (/) Frederic the Great, (g) Madame d'Arblay; (10) Trevelyan, selections from the "Life of Macaulay" (about 200 pages) ; (11) Ruskin, "Sesame and Lilies," or selections from his writings (about 150 pages) ; (12) Dana, "Two Years before the Mast"; (13) Lincoln, selections from his addresses, including at least the two Inaugurals, the speeches in Independ- ence Hall and at Gettysburg, the last public address, the letter to Horace Greeley; together with a brief memoir or estimate of Lincoln; (14) Parkman, "The Oregon Trail"; (15) Thoreau, "Walden"; (16) Lowell, "Selected Essays" (about 150 pages); (17) Holmes, "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table"; (18) Stevenson, "An Inland Voyage" and "Travels with a Donkey" ; (19) Huxley, "Autobiography" and selections from "Lay Ser- mons," including the addresses on "Improving- Natural knowl- edge," "A Liberal Education," and "A Piece of Chalk": (20) Collection of Essays by Bacon, Lamb, DeQuincey, Hazlitt, Emerson, and later writers; (21) Collection of Letters by various standard writers.
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GROUP V. Poetry: (1) Palgrave's "Golden Treasury" (First Series) : Books II and III, with special attention to Dry den, Collins, Gray, Cowper, and Burns; (2) Palgrave's "Golden Treasury" (First Series), Book IV, with special attention to Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley (if not chosen for study under B) ; (3) Goldsmith : "The Traveler" and "The Deserted Village" ; (4) Pope: "The Rape of the Lock"; (5) A collection of English and Scottish Ballads, as, for example, some Robin Hood ballads, "The Battle of Otterburn," "King Estmere," "Young Beichan," "Bewick and Grahame," "Sir Patrick Spens," and a selection from later ballads; (6) Coleridge, "The Ancient Mariner," "Christabel," and "Kubla Khan"; (7) Byron, "Childe Harold," Canto III or IV, and "The Prisoner of Chillon"; (8) Scott, "The Lady of the Lake," or "Marmion"; (9) Macaulay, "The Lays of Ancient Rome," "The Battle of Naseby," "The Armada," "Ivry"; (10) Tennyson, "The Princess," or "Gareth and Lynette," "Lancelot and Elaine," and "The Passing of Arthur" ; (11) Browning, "Cavalier Tunes," "The Lost Leader," "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix," "Home Thoughts from Abroad," "Home Thoughts from the Sea," "Incident of the French Camp," "Herve Riel," "Pheidippides," "My Last Duchess," "Up at a Villa— Down in the City," "The Italian in England," "The Patriot," "The Pied Piper," "De Gustibus— " "Instans Tyrannus"; (12) Arnold, "Sohrab and Rustum," and "The Forsaken Merman"; (13) Selections from American Poetry, with special attention to Poe, Lowell, Long- fellow, and Whittier.
B. FOR STUDY
The foregoing are supplemented by the following, intended as a natural and logical continuation of the student's earlier reading, with greater stress laid upon form and style, the exact meaning of words and phrases, and the understanding of allusions. The books provided are arranged in four groups, from each of which one selection is to be made.
GROUP I. Drama. Shakespeare, "Julius Ca3sar," "Macbeth," "Hamlet."
GROUP II. Poetry. Milton, "L'Allegro," "II Penseroso," and either "Comus" or "Lycidas"; Tennyson, "The Coming of
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Arthur," "The Holy Grail," and "The Passing of Arthur"; The selections from Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley in Book IV. of Palgrave's "Golden Treasury" (First Series).
GROUP III. Oratory. Burke, "Speech on Conciliation with America"; Macaulay's Two "Speeches on Copyright," and Lin- coln's "Speech at Cooper Union"; Washington's "Farewell Address," and Webster's "First Bunker Hill Oration."
GROUP IV. Essays. Carlyle, "Essay on Burns," with a selection from Burns's "Poems"; Macaulay, "Life of Johnson"; Emerson, "Essay on Manners."
The pursuit of such a comprehensive yet varied course of reading, intelligently followed, should make the study of literature a pleasure rather than an irksome duty.
VI
The Function of the Dictionary
STUDYING the dictionary to get the greatest advantage out of it with the least expenditure of time is an art easily acquired. Once upon a time there lived an old lady who, having read Dr. Samuel Johnson's dictionary from title page to colophon, pronounced it a very interesting book, but lacking in continuity and connection. She epitomized the character of dictionaries in general ; still she was doubt- less wiser at the finish than at the start, and in most cases a similar course of reading would produce a like result. As an editorial writer for "The Boston Evening Transcript"1 pointed out some time ago, people appropriate their vocabu- laries to a rather undue extent from the speech of others or from desultory reading. This is a rather haphazard way of acquiring the proper methods or terms of expression, to say nothing of the formation of style. It is dangerous unless carefully balanced and steadied by authority. The dictionary is not only a very interesting book, but next to the Bible it should be the one in the library most frequently consulted. Like the Bible, it is usually the one that receives the least attention. In these days, when modern teaching methods turn out so many poor spellers, it no doubt invites frequent reference for the correction of orthographical deficiencies, but that is only one and the slightest of its functions. It belittles its dignity to make it take the place
1 "Boston Evening Transcript," December 27, 1911.
212
THE FUNCTION OF THE DICTIONARY 213
of the old spelling-book. Many mines of learning have been explored and exploited to furnish the information that it has to give.
The director of an oratorical club offered a prize for the finest collection of words beginning with the same letter of the alphabet, for the purpose of turning the attention of those whom he directed to the treasures of the dictionary, and to implant or reawaken within them an interest in that much-neglected source of knowledge. The better the dic- tionary is understood the clearer will be the interchange of ideas either through the spoken word or the written page. It is the only safe guide to the finer shades of meaning. And even that has by no means reached its limitations. Rich as the language is, additions to it are being made con- stantly. Some of these are in response to obvious needs. Others creep in through mere slovenliness. Fifty years ago "humanitarian" was employed simply as a theological term and applied rather in the way of reproach to one who denied the divinity of Christ. Now it more commonly describes one who manifests the finer and more altruistic traits of our common nature — in fact a philanthropist.
How grudgingly some words are admitted into good verbal society. But if they possess inherent usefulness they will in good time win their way. In the class due to slovenliness is ' ' replica. ' ' It means the exact reproduction by an artist or artizan of a piece of work which he has produced before. When preparations were making for the New York Tercentenary a great deal was printed about the "replica of the Half Moon" that was to be one of the features. Even were he the "flying Dutchman" himself, the designer of the original craft could hardly have been on hand to duplicate his work. But some writers seemed
214 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
to like the word. It kept creeping into the dispatches. It could not be kept out and it has been traveling ever since, and eventually its sense must be modified to permit of acceptance by the lexicographers. We should be particu- larly wary of words that appeal to us because of their face value, and find out whether they are likely to fit into our contemplated verbal structures before employing them. The word that should have been used to describe this imi- tation of the "Half Moon" is "ectype" — ugly but exact.
The vocabulary of the average man has often been the subject of speculation and estimate but seldom has a system- atic attempt to determine its actual strength in number of words been made. For such an attempt thanks are due to the Editor of the "Indianapolis Journal," who made what, to all intents and purposes, may be termed a practical study of the subject. He was led to do this by the publica- tion of a statement that an ordinary man will say everything that any occasion calls for with a vocabulary of 1,000 words. Of these he commonly uses but 400 or 500, reserv- ing the remainder for the emergency of an idea out of his usual line of thought.
In harmony with this is a statement once made by a speaker at an educational meeting: "The best-educated person in this room will not use more than 600 or 700 words." And he added that an ignorant man would not use more than 300 or 400. Some years ago a writer in the "Chautauquan" said: "It is estimated that an English farm-hand has a vocabulary limited to 300 words. An American workman who reads the newspapers may com- mand from 700 to 1,000 words. Five thousand is a large number, even for an educated reader or speaker." This differs considerably from the statement published in a
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recently compiled English encyclopedia2 which states that ''It has been reckoned that the agricultural laborer uses about 1,500 words, but this is probably an over-estimate. Intelligent artizans have a vocabulary of 4,000 words, which educated persons are familiar with, if they do not use 8,000 to 10,000 words." This is a step forward all along the line, but it is a long distance from Dr. Joseph Jacobs' discoveries. In a recent review,3 Dr. Jacobs said l ' that the average well- educated American or Englishman can control from 30,000 to 35,000 words." His own range, and it must be remem- bered that he commands six or seven languages, he in- adequately sets somewhat higher — 50,000 words — and adds, "a learned jurist of my acquaintance would appear to be fairly familiar with 55,000 words." Figures like these leave Milton 's vocabulary of 13,000 words or 9,000, which- ever it may be, and Shakespeare's 24,000, 21,000 or 15,000 words (as his vocabulary has been variously computed4) far in the shade, and yet what did they not achieve with words! Dr. Jacobs thinks that a professional dealer in words may be able to recognize at first sight from 60,000 to 70,000 words.
But given an individual with a vocabulary of 10,000 primitive words, it is a simple matter for him to increase his stock of words fivefold or more by the use of prefixes and suffixes. From four to six derivatives may be formed by the use of these from nearly every primitive word. Take,
2 "Everybody's Cyclopedia," p. 339.
8 "New York Times," Saturday Review of Books, November 16, 1913.
4 Professor Albert Cook in his "Study of English," says: "Shakespeare, it has been estimated, employs about 21,000 words (others say 15,000 or 24,000) ; Milton, in his verse, about 13,000. . . . The whole English Bible, if we may trust Marsh, employs about 6,000." According to a computation made by the writer, and based on the number of Hebrew words translated into English, there are in the Old Testament alone 8,674 words.
216 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
for example, the words abolish, accent, accept, and access, and note the number of their derivatives.
Abolish: — abolished; abolishable; abolisher; abolishment; abolition; abolitional; abolitionary; abolitiondom ; abolitionism; abolitionist ; abolitionize.
Accent: — accentor; accentric; accentual; accentualist ; accen- tually; accentuality ; accentuate; accentuable; accentuation; accentus.
Accept: — acceptable; acceptableness ; acceptability; accept- ably; acceptance; acceptancy; acceptant; acceptation; accepted; acceptedly; aceeptilate; acceptation ; acception; acceptive; acceptor; acceptress.
Access: — accessary; accessarily; accessariness ; accessaryship ; accessible; accessibility; accessibly; accession; accessional; accessit; accessive; accessively; accessorial; accessoriness ; accessorius; accessory; accessorily.
Now add to these such other forms as may be made by the use of such common privatives as in-, non-, un-, etc. Apply- ing these to the words cited above, we get in addition the following : —
In: — inacceptable ; inaccessible; inaccessibility; inaccessible- ness; inaccessibly.
Non : — non-acceptance ; non-access.
Un : — unabolishable ; unabolished ; unaccented ; unaccentuated ; unacceptable; unacceptableness ; unacceptability ; unacceptably ; unacceptant; unaccepted; unaccessible ; unaccessibleness ; un- accessibly.
Thus out of four primitive words we secure a total of 74 words. If these four words could be accepted as character- istic of the language and the same plan followed with the 10,000 primitive terms already referred to, the total would
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be increased to 740,000 words. But all primitive words do not have the same percentages of derivatives.
As stated above, the number of derivatives ranges from four to six, therefore, any one having a vocabulary of 10,000 primitive words at command may be said to control from 40,000 to 60,000 words irrespective of proper names. If proper names be added to either of these totals they might be increased by not less than 10,000 items from Biblical, bibliographical, biographical, geographical and mythological sources, and thus yield a total of 50,000 to 70,000 terms. From the foregoing it may be deducted that "the average well-educated American or Englishman" controls almost twice as many words as Dr. Jacobs esti- mates. Judging the range of his own vocabulary from his literary achievements, the writer would place it at not less than 100,000 words. In considering the class which Dr. Jacobs aptly characterizes as "the professional dealers in words" it must be borne in mind that many of these have, at one time or another, followed other vocations than that of lexicographer. Some, for example, are not only encyclo- pedists but lawyers ; others have followed the sciences, and thereby may have added to their store of words the vast vocabularies of the chemical, medical, or surgical pro- fessions, or those of the biologist or botanist, of the elec- trician or engineer, and so on. It naturally follows that the wider the range of study or reading the greater the number of words brought under control. From these premises the conclusion of the writer is that the professional dealer in words controls from 100,000 to 200,000 words.
To revert to the investigation mentioned above: Any one may, with a little trouble, estimate the number of words whose meanings would be plain to him in print or in speech.
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The vocabulary of the Editor of the "Indianapolis Jour- nal" was estimated by the aid of an abridged dictionary, because almost all unusual words were at once eliminated thereby.
Under each letter of the alphabet a page or more of words was selected at random and counted. A separate record was kept of primitive and derivative words. That is, among the former was put "measure"; among the latter "measureable," "measureableness," "measurably," "measured," "measureless," "measurement," "meas- urer," "unmeasurable," and " unmeasured." Compound words whose meanings were clearly indicated by their component were omitted; as "clock-work," "draft-horse," "hard-earned." Counting this way, an average of twenty primitive and thirty-five derivative words are found on each page. This would make, there being 814 pages of vocabulary in the dictionary, a total of 16,210 of the former and 28,400 of the latter, or almost 45,000 in all.
Next was taken a page in each letter, and on it were counted the words which it seemed any person of average intelligence would be able to use and understand. On twenty-four pages there were 268 primitive words and 221 derivative, or nearly 9,000 in all of the former, and more than 7,000 of the latter. And, lastly, was made a count of very common words, such as even a poorly educated person could hardly escape knowing, and they were found to number 5,700 primitive and 3,200 derivative. No proper names were included in any of the countings.
It would, therefore, seem to follow, if what we are told of the vocabularies of Shakespeare and Milton be correct, that a person of average education to-day knows at least as many words as did the former, and one whose school
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opportunities have been limited is capable of walking beside the latter in this respect. As regards ideas and ability to express them, however, the difference may be world-wide.
The foregoing facts seem to warrant these general con- clusions: Every well-read person of fair ability and edu- cation will be able to define or to understand as used nearly or quite, perhaps, more than, 50,000 words. And the same person in conversation and writing will command not fewer than 15,000 to 20,000, and can add 5,000 to 10,000 to these numbers if he be literarily inclined. The plain people, as Lincoln liked to call them, use or read understandingly from 8,000 to 10,000 words according to their general in- telligence and conversational power, while a person who can not read, but who has a good degree of native mental ability, will command about 5,000.
Professor Emerson tells us that each individual has a vocabulary of his own, differing somewhat from that of another individual, and largely from that of the whole race. The child first learns only a few of the words belonging to the locality in which he lives. As he grows older he gradually acquires others, while he learns to use some words which he finds in books, as well as to recognize many which he does not actually use. Travel, or a large acquain- tance, adds other new words to the original stock, while on the other hand, some words used in childhood and youth are discarded and finally lost. The vocabulary even of the individual is, therefore, not stable, but constantly changing, constantly suffering growth and decay. The expression vocabulary of the individual has two distinct senses, as it applies, first, to the words he actually uses, and second, to the words he understands when used.5
B "History of the English Language," p. 114.
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How then shall he set about to increase this vocabulary in the shortest space of time ? Let him begin by cultivating what may be termed a taste for the dictionary, and let him consult the book as frequently as he comes across words whose meanings are not known to him. There is nothing tame or prosy about this labor. When a new word or an unfamiliar word is found, or a word is used in a new sense, it should be run down to its source, for if this is done it will leave a lasting impression on the mind. Besides, the •examples the dictionary gives from literature to illustrate the meanings of words, if studied, enable one to see the force of a word at once and to trace its history from remote times to the present. Of all the tastes which may be cultivated, none is so profitable as this one. The great Earl of Chat- ham acquired it; Daniel Webster, the prince of orators, formed it ; and William Pinckney, the giant of the Ameri- can bar of his day, developed it by studying the dictionary assiduously page after page, content with nothing less than the complete mastery of the English tongue. The Earl of Chatham read Bailey's folio dictionary through twice, scrutinizing each word carefully so as to bring the whole range of the English language under his control. At one time in his life the dictionary was read aloud to him once a year ; and he was wont to complain that many noble words fell from time to time out of use.
Intelligent reference to the dictionary teaches not only the origin and the spelling of words, but the pronunciation, the part of speech, the meanings, and the fine distinctions. Cicero has said, ' ' The use and the command of proper words are the groundwork of correct speech." They give one a thorough command of the language.
There was a time when dictionary makers and printers
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aimed to control the language and the philosophy of its structure. Of these men the late Professor George P. Marsh said: "They suggest wrong etymologies and thereby give a new shade of meaning to words, and exert over speech a sway no less absolute or no more conducive to the interests of good taste and truth in language than that which the modiste possesses in the fashion of dress. " Of the dictionaries themselves, he added: "Those selected are often works of no real philological merit. The aim of their authors has been, not to present the language as it is, as the conjoined influence of uncontrollable circumstances and learned labor has made it, but as, according to their crude notions, it ought to be."6
"What," asked Dr. Phelps in 1884, "is the best English dictionary for the use of an American author and public speaker? In answer, I remark first, that, in respect to purity of language, no dictionary now extant can be ac- cepted as good authority. Both our standard lexicons, Web- ster's and Worcester's, are helps ; but neither is a conclusive authority. Both have, in their later editions, been con- structed on principles other than those which govern a scholar's vocabulary. They are both committed to the search for the largest number of words in use6a ; not, by any means, all of them in good use. Neither the scholarly editors, nor the enterprising publishers, would venture to commend all the words in either as pure English ; and the distinctions they make between words obsolete, and words vulgar, and words rare, can not always be depended on. A scholarly writer is not safe in using every word which
a "Lectures on the English Language," p. 363.
6a The vocabulary strength of Webster's Unabridged American Dictionary was 119,000 words, as against 117,000 words recorded by Worcester. The In- ternational of 1890 contained only 125.000 words; but the New International of 1909 registered 400,000 — an increase of 275,000 words in nineteen years.
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these dictionaries do not condemn, or question in point of purity. We greatly need a dictionary the equal of these in other respects, and at the same time a perfect standard of pure English."7
Great strides have been made in lexicography since then and things are very different now.
The keynote which guides the new school of lexicog- raphers that has arisen since then was struck by Dr. Isaac Kauffman Funk, editor-in-chief of the " Standard Dic- tionary. ' ' In the preface to his work Dr. Funk laid down the principle that throughout the compilation of his work it was borne in mind that the chief function of a diction- ary is to record usage, not, except in a limited degree, to seek to create it. The exception was rendered necessary for the correction of the misuse of words very prevalent in some quarters. He says: "The work of a dictionary is to define not to advocate. It is to give accurate defini- tions to words, and thus help advocates to discuss intelli- gently, using with precision the terms employed. Advocacy or comment was a common fault in early English lexi- cography. John "Wesley defined in his dictionary : 'Metho- dist, one that lives according to the method laid down in the Bible, ' and Johnson, in his dictionary, did not hesitate to rap the Scotch in his definition of oats, nor to indulge in such pleasantry as, 'Lexicographer: Writer of diction- aries : a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.' ; "The work of the lexicographer nowadays, " wrote Dr. Funk, "is much more prosaic, and the glasses through which he sees must be wholly colorless. "8
T "English Style in Public Discourse," p. 26.
8 "A Standard Dictionary of the English Language," Intro, x-xi.
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Modesty was certainly not one of the failings of the founder of Methodism if one may judge from the title- page of the dictionary which he published in 1753 — "The Complete English Dictionary, explaining most of those hard words which are found in the best English writers. By a Lover of Good English and Common Sense. N. B. — The Author assures you he thinks this is the best English Dictionary in the world."
National development causes the growth of language, and as we advance in the knowledge of the arts and sciences we require new words to describe new inventions, new dis- coveries. This can not be better illustrated than by citing the terms which the so-called "conquest of the air" has brought into being, or those which the discovery of wireless telegraphy has brought with it. Among words of the former class are such as "aeroplane," "aerodrome," "bi- plane," "glider," "helicopter," "monoplane," "or- thopter," and "volplane"; and in the latter, "cohere," "decohere," "hysteresis," " marconigram, " and "radio- gram. ' ' The development of new powers, the manufacture of firearms, farming implements, appliances, and instru- ments; new methods of manufacture or of handling raw materials ; new discoveries in chemistry, medicine, and sur- gery— all have helped to enrich our language.
The profitable study of the dictionary is an art in itself ; for not only does it teach spelling, the pronunciation, the meaning, and the etymology of words, but also synonymy, which is the systematic study of synonyms, "one of the most valuable of intellectual disciplines."9
No language can compare with English in words that are the approximate or the precise equivalents of one
9 G. P. Marsh, "Lectures on the English Language," xxvi. pp. 507-508,
224 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
another in meaning. For this reason it is best to make a systematic study of synonyms, and while this can be done more or less laboriously by the aid of the dictionary, it can be accomplished more systematically and more speedily by consulting some work devoted to this branch of philology. And here, a word or two of advice as to the selection of the books to be used may not be out of place. There are, among other books devoted to this subject, the works of Whately, Crabbe, Roget, Smith, Fallows and Fernald. Archbishop Whately 's work, as it contains possibly no more than five hundred words, is of little value to-day. Crabbe 's book, while excellent in many respects because of the examples he cites, is marred by defects owing to the writer's want of knowledge of the derivation of words. Eoget 's ' ' Thesaurus ' ' has long proved serviceable to men of large vocabularies on account of its comprehensive char- acter, its system of classification, and its ease of con- sultation. Fallows' work consists of little else than bare lists of words, and is now out of date. Fernald 's "Syn- onyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions/' is a work of a totally different kind. The method followed, not altogether unlike that originated by Crabbe, has been to select from every group of synonyms one word, or two contrasted words, the meaning of which can be settled by clear, definitive state- ment, thus securing some fixed point or points to which all the other words of the group may be referred. The great source of vagueness, error, and perplexity in many discussions of synonyms is, that the writer merely asso- ciates stray ideas loosely connected with the different words, sliding from synonym to synonym with no definite point of departure or return, so that a smooth and, at first sight, pleasing statement really gives the mind no definite
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resting-place and no sure conclusion. A true discussion of synonyms is definition by comparison, and for this there must be something definite with which to compare. When the standard is settled, approximation or differentiation can be determined with certainty and clearness. It is not enough to tell something about each word. The thing to tell is how each word is related to others of that particular group.
The book contains also more than 3,700 antonyms. These are valuable as supplying definition by contrast or by negation, one of the most effective methods of defining being in many cases to tell what a thing is not. To speakers and writers antonyms are useful as furnishing effective antitheses.
Much valuable help is afforded by the indication of the correct use of prepositions, the misuse of which is one of the common errors and one of the most difficult to avoid, while their right use gives to style cohesion, firmness and compactness and is an important aid to perspicuity.10
We live in an age of specialization. Before the publi- cation of Dr. Funk's dictionary the lexicons in use were modeled upon old and irrational lines. Compiled as they were by a handful of scholars, it was not to be expected that the knowledge of these few men could cover such a vast area of research and exact knowledge as was demanded in the production of authoritative works of reference. With the advance of knowledge came the era of special- ization. Men who had devoted their lives to special lines of activity, were selected as best qualified to speak on their particular specialty. To make his dictionary authoritative and indisputably exact Dr. Funk referred all questions that
10 J. C. Fernald, idem. pp. viii-x.
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arose for answer to the men best qualified to reply to them. Hence, he produced a work that an English critical review declared ' ' challenges criticism and commands admiration. ' ' He blazed a path through the intricacies of lexicography that his competitors have been quick to follow. But how much more one may learn from the dictionary has yet to be told, and as this has been most effectively done by De Amicis, his views are given below.
Edmondo de Amicis, born at Oneglia in 1846; Italian soldier, patriot, publicist and litterateur — the friend of Theophile Gautier — won more renown with the pen than he did with the sword. As a writer he was prolific. His knowledge of his native tongue made him master of ex- pression. Before his death, which occurred at Bordighera in 1908, he told the world how he obtained the extraordinary command of language that characterizes all his work. Baudelaire once asked Gautier how he had learned to write as he did. Gautier replied: "I studied the dictionary." He read the dictionary constantly, he said, and always with renewed pleasure. When the meaning of these words came home to De Amicis it seemed to him that a mist had risen from before him and had revealed to him the straight road to the correct understanding of his mother tongue. "I saw," said he, "in a flash that it was not merely necessary but that it was actually a duty, a matter of con- science for every writer, for every patriotic citizen, to study the dictionary of his native tongue; to read from start to finish ; to annotate it, and to draw from it constantly the gems to be found on every page, and so by force of habit assimilate little by little the learning it contains. When this dawned upon me a feeling of shame that I had not found it out before overcame me. Shaking my finger
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at the ink-well, I exclaimed in apostrophe : ' Blush for your ignorance.' Then I started to enumerate the various reasons for blushing: (1) No one could with reason sup- pose he had studied his mother tongue unless he had made use of the simplest, quickest and surest way to learn, if not all, almost all its elements. (2) That this way was none other than through using the dictionary, the only book which contains all the riches of our language and, as it were, accept its contents entirely with a confidence on which the intellect can rely and from which it may proceed with greater daring to the study of books. To study a language through books alone, or only by word of mouth, is to study it in a haphazard way ; for books contain only a part of it, and the people can not speak it all, not to mention the impossibility of grasping all if all could be spoken. Of this we have proof in the fact that no one ever turned over even a few pages of the dictionary without finding a good number of words that may be applied to certain things or facts of which he had no knowledge, or if he had it has forgotten, and for which he substituted com- parisons, definitions, or circumlocutions. Failure to study the dictionary has created an infinity of words which are now seldom used or written by any one, anywhere ; for one can never know how to use them when occasion requires, unless one spends hours in what often proves to be futile, weary search. In a written language, and even in one spoken by cultured people, there is much less variety than there might be, simply because they do not study the dic- tionary. Everyone of a certain age provides himself with a vocabulary which suffices to express all that he ordinarily desires to say; to this he seldom adds except on some extraordinary occasion. Now, by reading the dictionary
228 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
daily one might add to one's stock, and thus daily say something more and thereby enrich our common toneue, both written and spoken. I considered many other reasons but never came to the conclusion that I had hitherto been cheated into considering the dictionary merely as a book made to answer questions when it was interrogated; that it was a book to be read continually like a history, an essay, or a novel; to be kept on the table by the bedside; and to be carried in parts even on country rambles. Beginning at A, I started to read, and did so with increasing zest. In a few days I had devoured several hundred pages and so covered their margins with notes that these were hidden from sight. What else would you have? The pleasure which I derived was so great that I could not resist my inclination to give it expression and, pausing in my read- ing, I wrote the following lines :
" ' Imagine a vast building in which all the articles that could be seen at a hundred expositions are collected to- gether and massed in inextricable confusion. To walk through such a place must cause a similar delight to that which I experienced by reading the dictionary. We pass from city to country, from sea to shore, from earth to sky, from the heavens to the bowels of the earth with the rapidity of thought. Side by side with an article of fur- niture we have a medieval weapon; beside the weapon a rare fish; then an Asiatic plant; then a bit of ingenious mechanism, a precious stone, a flower, a building, a textile fabric. We meet with instruments, customs of every kind, representatives of every science, costumes of every nation, of all ages, images of every form of religious worship. We are continually accompanied by a mingled sound of poems, proverbs, popular concerts, expressions of amazement, in-
THE FUNCTION OF THE DICTIONARY 229
suits, compliments, jeers, and salutations. We come into contact with a multitude of words which seem like masks of men, scholars, dandies, spectacled professors ; antiquated words, snuffy archeologists, snarling at modern men and times; modern words, fresh, bold, like boys just launched into the world with letters of recommendation from some well-accredited author; common words, public men with a long train of clients; sinister words, questionable char- acters; bombastic words, the braggarts of a popular as- sembly ; effeminate words, affected nobles of recent creation ; indecent words, shameless women with a brand upon their brow; foreign words, travelers who have lost their way; diminutives, troops of tiny children in long rows with their mothers at the head. Some of these we pass without a glance, as members of our own household; to others we bow hastily and indifferently; toward some we hasten as forgotten friends suddenly sprung to life again; before others yet we pause a moment to recall their faces to our memory; one shows us a mistake we have made, another gives us friendly advice ; this one treats a historic fact, that one explains a popular tradition ; and we meditate, laugh, dream and learn language, history, morals, poetry, science, sports and trades, until we close the book bewildered, as if leaving a building in which we had found at once a theater, a college and a market. What more can be found in any book? How can anyone deny that this is a magic book? And who can ever say that he has had enough of it?'
" Paolo Mantegazza fails to name the dictionary in his * Physiology of Pleasure/ and it is an omission not easily pardoned. I remember a professor of mathematics, ar- dently devoted to his science, who, having taken the table of logarithms into the classroom for the first time, pored
230 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
over his book until his chin rested on its covers, and, waving his arms exclaimed with much content: 'How sweet to drift upon this tide!' And so it is sweet to drift in the dictionary. We float down the columns, as if borne by the current of a mighty stream, and the words are villages, plants, and people scattered along the shore. Here we offer no resistance, but glide on placidly, thinking of a thousand things. . . . The dictionary is a fantastical book. Some persons say that to read the 'Arabian Nights' is to unfold a whirl of dazzling mental images which cause a sort of inebriation which is followed by entrancing dreams. 'Fifty pages of the dictionary produce a denser, more varied, more dazzling host of images in my brain than fifty pages of the 'Arabian Nights.' I close the book, close my eyes and see a myriad of dissimilar things about me, which moving as in a circle chase one another, appearing and dis- appearing like a host of butterflies, and producing a pleasant mental agitation, which follows me even in my sleep. The dictionary excites my senses.
"Putting the pleasure aside and looking at the matter in a somewhat pedantic way, how much this invaluable book teaches in its familiar words and with its homely kind- ness! "With its clear, simple, calm definitions and speci- fication of things, it enables us to form our ideas and to express them clearly ; so that, if after reading it for an hour, we sit down to write, we feel as if our thoughts and our way of giving expression to them could never be sufficiently direct and clear ; so we no longer are satisfied with the first form, and end by improving it. By constantly studying its minute definitions of the vast number of things which we usually indicate by adding gestures to words, we accustom ourselves to exactness of description, to the use
THE FUNCTION OF THE DICTIONARY 231
of the correct word. The dictionary excites our curiosity at every step. As we read, we wish we had at hand now a botanist, now a mechanic, now an archeologist, now a historian whom we may beset with questions. But they are not available so we can not satisfy our curiosity; our questions remain unanswered, we bide our time. Then, again, the dictionary kindles many a spark in our brain, for word and thought are twins of the mind. Gautier said that some words were like diamonds, others like rubies, and others like sapphires, and they only needed proper setting. "We may claim more: there are words which inspire us to great deeds ; words that awaken a thousand thoughts which have been slumbering in the innermost cells of our brain, and words that recall to mind some long-forgotten book. Finally the reading of a dictionary teaches us modesty, for no matter how well-educated we may be we can find in every column some word which leads us to exclaim: 'I didn't know that!' and we realize the limitations of our knowledge. Many of us should read it if only to follow the example of the snail and draw in our horns. "
De Amicis considers the dictionary as the most truly "national" book. It is, he says, an agreeable useful and moral companion to which all ages and all sorts and con- ditions of men have contributed — scholars, clowns who did not know a single letter of the alphabet, and children even. It quotes a verse from every poet, and contains a sentence from every writer of prose. Great events have left their traces on its pages; it is the history of our language and its battlefields, for here is arrayed a victorious army of vigorous, living words; there lie the dead and dying — the obsolete and the obsolescent words, the last like so many cripples or wounded are hobbling to the rear, and there
232 ESSENTIALS OP ENGLISH SPEECH
again, is a foreign legion — words that like soldiers of for- tune have strayed from their native land to lend us a hand and enable us to express ourselves the more clearly thereby. Then, like De Amicis, let us hail the dictionary ''Master, friend, all-wise counselor that answerest all questions; faithful companion of the student, dear and glorious teacher, we acknowledge thee ! ' '
After this should one wonder at Daniel Webster's laconic reply to a lately elected member of the United States Senate who inquired of him what he would need in Wash- ington— "Dictionaries, sir, Dictionaries!" Then, let us study the dictionary column by column, page by page, until we have increased our store of knowledge and acquired an adequate vocabulary of words to serve the purpose of ex- pressing our thoughts.
VII
The Dictionary as a Text-Book
ALTHOUGH the United States is the home of the English dictionary, inasmuch as more dictionaries are made, sold, and used under the Stars and Stripes than anywhere else in the English-speaking world, it is curious that there exists but a very limited knowledge of how to draw from its pages the jewels of speech which be-gem our language. The average man, woman, or child, who consults the pages of a dictionary does so in a superficial sort of way. It may be that a discussion has arisen upon the correct way to spell or to pronounce a word; if so, the appeal is to the dictionary to settle the argument. Again, perhaps, but this rarely, it is a matter of what does the word mean or whence came it? Once more the dictionary is appealed to as the court of last resort, and in this respect, it may be said, the people of America fortunately differ from their friends across the water.
In America the supreme court of language is the dic- tionary. The people bow down to it and therefore obtain from it much more reliable information than the average educated Englishman, who seldom or never consults . it. It is commonly known that in the spelling, pronunciation, meaning, and derivation of words in England the native is a law unto himself. Sometimes one meets the type who spells this way or pronounces that way because his father
233
234 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
and his grandfather did the same thing before him. But more often one meets the man, and woman too, I regret to say, who pronounces according to the vogue, and insists that he or she is correct. Alas ! for them, the positivists are invariably wrong. In the great majority of cases they have no actual knowledge of orthoepy, and although they may have some rudiments of orthography they would con- demn the more inoffensive simple speller to the gallows (if they had their way) for daring to spell " check " without the ' ' q, " and ' ' labour ' ' without the " u. " They would hesi- tate to enter a theater because they are accustomed to the -re and would run out at once if they found that the final -me was dropped from their program. Yet this very class of educated person will talk of my den lyne, where the sound required is that of the word that designates the national beverage — "a" as in "ale" — and talk of "goin' huntin/ or shootin'," because some ill-bred persons set afoot a society for the mispronunciation of English words. That we, too, sin in the same direction, notwithstanding our wealth of dictionaries, is in evidence in some quarters, as is shown by the corruption of our Anglo-Saxon1 yes to "yep," "yer," and "yah," as if the original corruption, or refinement, were not enough. There are also pazzaza for piazza; eats used for food; complected for complectioned, and hundreds of other erroneous, and many other corrupted forms of words which are known to be incorrect, yet are fostered by certain classes notwithstanding the opposition offered to them by people of culture.
With the publication of the ' ' New Standard Dictionary ' ' in America, and the approaching completion of the New English Dictionary by Sir James Murray and his asso-
1 Gese, gitte, or gyse, from gea, "yea," and swa, "so."
THE DICTIONARY AS A TEXT-BOOK 235
ciates in England, let us hope that public attention will be directed once again to a subject which, although closer to the English-speaking races than to any other, is still per- sistently neglected by them. To preserve it in its native glory requires watchful care, for its correct use is the ineffaceable cachet to culture in social circles throughout the English-speaking world.
If it be possible to do so, my purpose is to get the public to look upon the dictionary as the beacon-light of knowledge to all men. It is not merely a word-book to be consulted fitfully, or, because of its bulk, to be used as a substitute for the worn-out screw of a piano-stool ; it is the national key to human knowledge. With the dictionary as one's only text-book it is possible to impart an education that no set of text-books, be they even fifty in number, can impart. Therefore, it behooves all who are concerned in the educa- tion of the young to place this book on the same plane as the churchmen of old placed the English Bible. The dic- tionary should be placed on a lectern in every school throughout the land, and the teachers should be required to instruct their pupils in the art of how to use it intelli- gently.
The purpose of this chapter is to point to the benefits that can be derived from consulting the dictionary ; how by con- scientious application the teacher and student may both profit materially through studying its pages. To demon- strate the practical character of the study proposed can not be done better than by stating a case.
Take, for example, the study of English as a language in a -public school. How shall the teacher proceed ? First, by directing the pupil called up to turn to the word l i Eng- lish " in the dictionary used by the class. (Here it should
236 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
be stated, that only an unabridged dictionary2 should be used on the floor of the classroom.) The pupil proceeds to read the definition slowly while his classmates copy down the statement which he reads. English is the language of England, or of the English peoples, wherever spoken. In this sense there are four periods of the history of the Eng- lish language: (a) The period from the earliest Teutonic speech in England, A.D. 450 to A.D. 1150, the Anglo-Saxon period, lately often called Old English, Oldest English. This was the period of full inflection, (b) The period from A.D. 1150 to A.D. 1350, called Early English, during which the inflections were broken up (1150-1250), and large numbers of French words were introduced into the language (1250-1350). (c) The period from 1350 to 1550, the Chaucer period, the Old English of literature, now often called Middle English, in which the Saxon and Nor- man elements were shaped into a new literary language. (d) The period since 1550, called Modern English. It con- sists of the cultivated mixed speech of the English since the beginning of the Chaucer period, A.D. 1350.
Now, the entire class has before it a concrete statement of what " English, " as far as it pertains to language, actually is. Having proceeded so far, the next word requiring consideration is "language." You, gentle reader, Tom Brown, Jack Smith, or Ben Tibbs, all have a general idea of what language is, of course; but can you express that idea concisely, yet comprehensively enough, for it to pass muster as your contribution to a Civil Service examination ? If you can, then, you advance one step forward in the course of this explanation ; if not, then you are required to step to the lectern and read to the class what the word
2 The work used in the exposition that follows is the "Standard Dictionary."
THE DICTIONARY AS A TEXT-BOOK 237
" language" means and embraces, when it is used to desig- nate the words, written or spoken, that cqmprise the means of intercommunication between persons of the same race. A language consists of all the uttered sounds, and their combinations into words and sentences, that human beings employ for the communication of ideas, together with the written or printed representations of such sounds; the expression of ideas by human words. The elements of language are (1) nouns or merely naming words, also called substantives; (2) adjectives (words attributing or predicating), sometimes called nouns adjective; (3) verbs (words asserting action or being) ; and (4) particles (words more closely defining and giving the references of general relation; called adverbs when more nearly defining and making particular a quality or relation ; prepositions when showing the relations of objects; conjunctions when con- necting statements). These are combined into (1) phrases, (2) clauses, and (3) sentences, simple, compound, and com- plex. To get a clear idea of this one must examine all the italicized words. Language embraces the words and com- binations of words forming the means of communication among the members of a single community, nation, or people. Philologists recognize groups of related languages or language-stocks, the most important of which (genetically classified) are the Aryan, or Indo-European, the Semitic, the Ural-Altaic, Scythian, or Turanian, the Monosyllabic or southeastern Asian, and the Hamitic, the first written. More than 1,000 languages are spoken on the globe — so different that each is unintelligible to the speakers of any other. Speeches less remote, but still called different, are counted by thousands. The philological characteristics of these groups (morphologically classified or considered) are
238 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
highly inflected structure for the Aryan and Semitic, monosyllabic structure for the Chinese, or southeastern Asian, and partly monosyllabic structure for the Hamitic (Egyptian). The Basque and the American languages are highly poly synthetic or agglutinative.
To what family or group does your native speech belong ? You do not know? Then, look it up in your dictionary. From it you learn that English is a language belonging to the West Teutonic branch of the Teutonic subfamily in the Indo-European division of the languages of the world, and that certain existing forms, as the Irish, Manx, Cor- nish, etc., belong to the Celtic subfamily.
Philology is the study of language in connection with history and literature; specifically, classical learning: in this, the older sense, commonly called philology or classical philology. It is sometimes called also literary philology. It embraces the scientific investigation of the laws and principles that obtain in a language or a group of lan- guages, and in this sense is usually called comparative phil- ology, as involving the comparison of languages with each other.
Comparative philology is in familiar use in England, to denote linguistic philology, or linguistics, as opposed to literary philology; but continental usage (especially Ger- man), restricting philology to literary philology, favors a specific term, like linguistics, linguistic science, science of language, glossology, etc., for the linguistic. Philology in- cludes the study of language as the word or as speech in order to ascertain its elements and laws.
But to continue. What is a word? A word is a vocal sound or combination of vocal sounds, used as a symbol to embody and signify an idea or thought, especially a notion
THE DICTIONARY AS A TEXT-BOOK 239
or conception, and forming one of the elements of language ; a single independent utterance, forming usually a con- stituent unit of a sentence.
A vocal sound that is a mere reflex of sensation is not usually regarded as a word; but a vocal sound of reflex origin may become by general use significant of an idea, and therefore as truly a word as any utterance belonging to language ; such a word is oh. A word may be a single elementary sound symbolized by one letter, as the English indefinite article, or a combination' of many sounds; it may express a simple or a complex idea; it may be any part of speech ; it may be an elementary word, as eat, or a complicated derivative, as uneatableness. In human lan- guage all words, except proper names and certain ex- clamations, are signs of generalized ideas, called notions. Even particles that now seem almost unmeaning and un- necessary, originally expressed some verbal, substantive, or other idea.
A word is, also, the letter, or combination of written or printed letters or characters, that stands for a significant vocal sound or sounds. Words are made up of letters ; the letters are, invariably, grouped to form an alphabet. At least, so it is in English. Let us therefore turn to alphabet and see what we can learn there.
We learn that an alphabet is a series of symbols indi- cating sound, and that in philology it consists of the letters that constitute collectively the elements of written lan- guage, arranged in an order fixed by usage, as a, &, c, d, etc. ; as, the English alphabet. The alphabets of different nations vary in number of letters. The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters, Armenian 38, Coptic 32, Dutch 26, English 26, French 25, Georgian 39, German 26, Greek 24, Hebrew
240 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
22, Italian 21, Latin 23, Persian (Parsi or Zend) 45, Rus- sian 33, Sanskrit 49, Slavonic 40, Spanish 27 (reckoning the digraphs ch and II), Syriac 22. The Chinese have no alphabet, but about 20,000 syllabic characters.
It is more than this ; in fact, it is any system of symbols or signs representing letters, syllables, words, or phrases; as, a telegraphic, a shorthand, or a deaf-and-dumb alphabet. In English we find there are 26 letters in the alphabet ranging from A to Z. Let us turn to every one of these, each in order, to find out what the dictionary tells us about them. Here is A. The letter came to us from the Pheni- cians through the Romans, and in English it is used in combination with other letters in such a way that it has no less than seven sounds for its single form. This is a unique fact — that in English the vowel-letters a, e, i, o, and u are used to express many more sounds than the symbols themselves. Thus, a is used with a different pronunciation in artistic, art, fat, fare, ask, sofa, senate; e is used with different valuation in end, eight, eve, moment, over; i has acquired the powers of sound shown in the following words, pin, pine, police; o is pronounced in no less than five differ- ent ways as in obey, no, not, nor, atom, and u follows closely after with four sounds for the same letter, as is shown by the power of the letter in the words full, rule, but and burn.
Proceed by studying each letter in the same way through- out the alphabet and you will thus acquire an intimate knowledge of all the powers of the letters in English speech that you can not hope to get otherwise. Follow this up by studying the principles of pronunciation, as applied in the dictionary, as you will find them explained in the intro- ductory pages, then you may be said to have mastered the
THE DICTIONARY AS A TEXT-BOOK 241
principles of phonetic expression as applied to English sounds.
The next step in advance is to consider what English words are for — to express ideas. How do they do this? Properly by following the rules of grammar. What is grammar ? The dictionary tells us that grammar is the art of speaking and writing a language correctly; but it does not stop there. It tells us in addition that it is the science that treats of the principles that govern the correct use of language, and that it is often so defined to include (1) orthography or the grammar of letters; (2) phonetics or phonology or the grammar of sounds, which has already been considered; (3) etymology or the grammar or science of the derivation of words; (4) syntax or the grammar of sentences; (5) prosody or the grammar of verse.
To get a correct idea of the sense of the italicized words it is necessary to find out what they mean, therefore, the student should look them up in their places in the vocabu- lary of the dictionary, each in turn, and note their respective definitions. Orthography is the science that treats of the art of spelling words correctly. Spelling is the art of pronouncing or writing the letters of a word in their proper order. Phonetics or phonology is the science of pronouncing words correctly. Etymology is the science of the origin of words, their derivation, structure, and growth. Syntax is the science that treats of the con- struction of sentences by combining words in accordance with the rules or laws of the language to which they belong. It embraces (1) the doctrine of the joining of words, in the simple sentence, treating of their relations as elements of the sentence and subjects of concord and gov- ernment; (2) the doctrine of the joining of sentences, in
242 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
compound and complex sentences, treating of coordination and subordination; and (3) the doctrine of the collocation of words and sentences in connected speech, treating of their arrangement and relative positions as required by gram- matical connection, euphony, clearness and energy of ex- pression. To get a perfect idea of what these subdivisions treat each italicized word should be looked up and its definition carefully studied. Prosody is the science that governs poetry or poetical forms, and which regulates the quantity and accent of syllables, meter, and versification. The meaning of each one of these terms should be written down for handy reference and the attention should then be turned to the word sentence. In grammar, a sentence consists of a related group of words that contains certain parts of speech, as a noun and a verb and their modifiers, that express a complete thought. Before one can proceed further it becomes necessary to have a clear understanding of what is meant by parts of speech. The dictionary tells us that a part of speech is any one of the words of a language that is classified under the nine divisions in Eng- lish grammar: (1) a noun, (2) a pronoun, (3) a verb, (4) an adjective, (5) an adverb, (6) a conjunction, (7) a pre- position, and (8) an interjection. According to some grammarians there is a ninth class, the article, which is now classed as a limiting adjective. To get a clear conception of what these words are they must also be sought out in their places in the dictionary vocabulary. An industrious statistician has computed that in a dictionary containing 50,000 words which, in view of the fact that there are upward of 450,000 living words in the language to-day, may be described as greatly abridged, there are approxi- mately 30,000 nouns, 10,000 adjectives, 5,000 verbs, 2,000
THE DICTIONARY AS A TEXT-BOOK 243
adverbs, 80 prepositions, 50 pronouns, 30 interjections, 20 conjunctions, and 3 articles.
A noun, we are told, is a word used as the name of a thing, quality, or action existing or conceived by the mind. Nouns are classified as (1) proper nouns (sometimes termed proper names) ; (2) common nouns; (3) collective nouns; (4) abstract nouns; and (5) material nouns. A proper noun is the name of an individual as distinguished from others of the same class as, John Smith, London, Mount Washington; a common noun is the name that an individual object has in common with others of its class as, man, city, mountain; a collective noun is a noun that expresses an aggregate or collection of individuals as, army, assembly, congregation; an abstract noun is a noun that indicates a quality as, beauty, goodness, strength; a material noun is one that describes the material or homogeneous matter or mass of which an object consists, as wine, sugar, gold, iron. When a material noun is used in the plural it denotes different kinds of the substance named.
Before turning to investigate the pronoun let us examine the definition of the word concord, which is that part of syntax which treats of the agreement of one word with another as in gender, number, case, or person. To ascer- tain whether a sentence meets the requirements of gram- matical principles and usage we resort to parsing, which is the art of describing a word by giving its classification as a part of speech, its form as to inflection and derivation or composition, and its relation to other words in a sentence. Now, in parsing a noun there are three things which may be told about it (1) its number; (2) its gender, and (3) its case. Look up each one of these words.
In grammar number is the form of inflection that in-
244 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
dicates whether one thing or more is spoken of. It is a quality possessed by (1) nouns, (2) pronouns, (3) ad- jectives,3 and (4) verbs. Particular attention should be given to this fact, which is of equal importance to all the classes of words mentioned. English has two numbers, singular and plural. The singular number notes one per- son or thing ; as, boy, man, wife, goose, mouse, etc. ; the plural number denotes more than one person or thing; as, boys, men, wives, geese, mice, etc.
Gender is the property of certain words by which they indicate the sex or lack of sex of that which they represent. In English, gender is indicated (1) by endings; (2) by qualifying words or prefixes; or (3) by words used exclu- sively for males or females, especially in pairs. It classifies words into masculine, feminine, or neuter, and other classes as they a'gree in forms and syntax. There is a common gender which embraces words that are of the same form in the masculine as in the feminine; as, child, fish, day, stone, etc. Examples of the three gender-formations re- ferred to above are : (1) emperor, empress, widow, widower; (2) man, woman, man-servant, maid-servant, he wolf, she wolf; (3) father, mother; husband, wife; son, daughter; he, she; cock, hen. Certain neuter words have a second gender, as in personification, as sun (masculine), moon (feminine).
Case denotes the relation of a noun, pronoun, or ad- jective to other words in the same sentence. In English
3 Grammarians differ as to these. Dr. Fernald in his "Working Grammar of the English Language" says (p. 91): "English adjectives have neither gender, person, number, nor case." Goold Brown, in his "Grammar of English Grammars," says (p. 542): "Adjectives that imply unity or plurality must agree with their nouns in number ; as, that sort, those sorts ; this hand, these hands."
THE DICTIONARY AS A TEXT-BOOK 245
case has, for the most part, come to signify a relation, the inflections, or case-endings being confined to (1) the possessive case ('s) of the noun, and to the pronouns; as, nominative case, thou ; possessive case, thine ; objective case, thee.
The nominative case is that of a noun which is subject of a sentence and generally comes before the verb; as, "the nephew dwells in his uncle's home." The objective case denotes the case of the object of (1) a transitive verb, or (2) a preposition, and usually follows after its verb; as, "the Normans colonized Britain"; "he sailed from New York to spend six weeks in London/' The possessive case is, as its qualifying words suggest, the case of a noun or pronoun that denotes possession, origin, or the like. Nouns in the possessive case are formed by the addition of 's to the nominative singular and to irregular plurals and an apostrophe only to the regular plural; as Warren's bicycle; men's souls; boys' shoes.
Pronouns in the possessive case have special forms, as my, his, her; its; our, ours; your, yours; their, theirs; whose. But we are anticipating. First let us find out what the dictionary teaches us about pronouns. A pronoun is a word that denotes a person or thing by certain temporary relations, as 7 (the speaker), you (one spoken to), instead of by a name or noun. There are five classes of pronouns : (1) personal; (2) demonstrative; (3) interrogative; (4) relative or conjunctive; (5) indefinite. A personal pro- noun is one which denotes or indicates the person, and distinguishes the three grammatical persons from one an- other. By person is meant one of the relations or modi- fications which distinguish the speaker, the person or thing spoken to, the person or thing spoken of, also the forms or
246 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
inflections indicating each relation. The subject is one of three persons, according as it is the one speaking, the one spoken to, or some one or some thing that is spoken of. There are no inflections to indicate the person in nouns. In pronouns different forms designate the three persons. First person, singular, "I"; plural "we"; second person, singular, "thou" and by sanction of usage also "you"; plural, "you"; third person, singular, "he," "she," or " it " ; plural, ' ' they. ' ' In verbs certain terminal inflections indicate the person of the subject, and the verb is said to be in the same person ; as, I love, thou lovesf, he loves. In English the plural verb is without distinctive endings; in French, German., Latin, and Greek the persons are dis- tinguished by inflections. The gender of a pronoun is either masculine, feminine or neuter. This is indicated by its meaning or by the meanings of the noun for which it stands.
A demonstrative pronoun is one which in itself defines or indicates that to which it refers, thus pointing out- definite objects; as, this, that, these, those.
An interrogative pronoun is one used to ask a question ; as, who? which f what?
A relative or conjunctive pronoun is one that refers or relates to an antecedent term or expression and joining to it a qualifying clause; as, who, which, what, and their compounds, whoever, whichever, whatever (which are sometimes called adjectives) and that. A clause of a com- plex sentence introduced by a relative pronoun, having a subject and predicate of its own, and referring to, de- scribing, or limiting an antecedent, is called a relative clause, as, "he in whom we trust."
An indefinite pronoun is one that represents objects in-
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definitely or generally; as, any, some, other, another, each, either.
Pronouns are used in the nominative case, the possessive case, and the objective case. The case of certain others depends upon the manner in which they are used. The pronouns used in the nominative case are I, we; thou, they; he, she; ivho, whoever; those used in the possessive case are, my, mine; thy, thine; his, her, hers; our, ours; your, yours; their, theirs; whose; those used in the objective case are, me, thee, him, us, them, whom, ivhomever. The case of the following pronouns is dependent upon the manner of their use : her, herself, himself, you, yourself, yourselves, myself, thyself, ourselves, themselves, ye, it, itself, that, what, which, whatever, and whichever.
The dictionary tells us that in grammar a verb is a part of speech which asserts, declares, or predicates something. A predicate is a word or words in a sentence that express what is affirmed or denied of a subject; that which is affirmed or denied of the subject; as, in the sentence "Life is short." "short" is the predicate. The grammatical predicate is the bare verb form in which the assertion is made ; the logical predicate is that form with all its modi- fiers. In the sentence ' ' John went away quietly, " " went ' ' is the grammatical predicate, and "went away quietly" is the logical predicate. There is also the objective or factitive predicate, which is an adjective or a noun made by a verb to qualify its object; as, they called him a coward; she wrings the clothes dry.
Verbs may be classified with regard to their use with or without a grammatical object; as, (1) transitive, including reflexive and reciprocal, and having in general two voices, active and passive, and (2) intransitive. With regard to
248 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
the expression of action or state they are either (1) active or (2) neuter; and with regard to the subject they are either (1) personal or (2) impersonal. According to their special import they also include the classes of desideratives, f requentatives, or iteratives, and inchoatives. An auxiliary verb is one that assists in the conjugation of another verb, such as & e in the passive voice, have in the perfect tense, shall and will as futures; it is a helping word. The term formerly had a much wider range, embracing not only, as at present, verbs of incomplete predication, but any sub- ordinate or formative element of language, as prefixes or even prepositions. A transitive verb is one that has, re- quires or terminates upon a direct object; followed (in the active voice) by a noun or pronoun in an objective or accusative relation ; also, expressing an action performed by a subject or agent, that passes over to and terminates upon some person or thing as its object : said of a verb or of the action expressed by it; as, a transitive verb; a transitive action. See INTRANSITIVE below. There is some difference of opinion among grammarians as to whether a verb whose object is not expressed shall be called transitive or in- transitive, some contending that any verb that may take an object is transitive, others that a verb is transitive only when it has an object expressed. In the "Standard Dic- tionary " verbs are given intransitive definitions whenever they are commonly used without objects.
The word reflexive means ' ' reflected upon or referring to itself or its subject." There are reflexive verbs and re- flexive pronouns. A reflexive verb is one the object of which, be it expressed or implied, denotes the same person or thing as its subject. A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that, in an object of relation, signifies the same person or
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thing as the subject: in English generally, though not necessarily, a compound of a personal with self; as, I dress myself; they saw themselves.
The word reciprocal means " mutually interchangeable or convertible ; such that one may be viewed or accepted as the equivalent of the other; as, reciprocal terms." A re- ciprocal term is one that is the equivalent of another or is interchangeable with it.
Voice, in grammar, connotates the relation of the subject of a verb to the action which the verb expresses — that is, the relation of the subject as acting, acting upon or for itself, or as acted upon. Therefore, it is the form of a verb (as modified by inflection or auxiliaries) that expresses or indicates the relation of the subject to the action affirmed by the verb. Collectively, it designates the various verb-forms, as so modified, arranged in a systematic way as regards mode, tense, number, person, etc., or so much of the conjugation of a verb as shows a single relation of the subject to the action expressed by the verb ; as, a paradigm of the passive voice of "to love."
English grammarians give conjugation for two voices, the active and passive. With them the passive voice is formed with the past participle, and some part of the sub- stantive verb to be. The active voice has two forms : one comprising the simple inflected forms of the verb with auxiliaries not parts of to be; the other, called progressive, adding the present participle to some part of the verb to be. The active voice expresses the action of verbs, as distinguished from being and state; also, as opposed to passivity. Verb-forms to which active is so applied are said to belong to the active (opposed to the passive) voice. Some grammarians use active in the sense of transitive.
250 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
The passive voice is the form of verbal statement that represents the subject of a verb as the object of the action : opposed to active; as, in the statement "Caesar was killed by Brutus," the verb "was killed" is passive.
An intransitive verb is one that does not pass over to or require an object. It denotes a state, feeling, or action that terminates in the doer or agent; as, he sleeps; she walks; the grass grows. It is applied to verbs that do not govern a direct object. Many transitive verbs may be used in- transitively, and vice versa. Intransitive verbs often have causative transitive verbs corresponding to them; as, lie, lay; rise, raise; sit, set. Intransitive verbs become tran- sitive by association with a cognate accusative, a positive predicate, and the like; as, he died a terrible death; he ran himself tired. The cognate accusative or objective, as it is sometimes called, is the accusative or objective case of a noun which names the action of the verb governing it. In the sentence, "to live one's life," life is a cognate objective of live. A positive predicate is the simple uncompared form of a predicate.
A neuter verb is one that is neither active nor passive; it is intransitive. A personal verb is one that denotes or indicates the person; it is one that has or that expresses the distinction of the three grammatical persons. An im- personal verb is one that has or contains an indeterminate subject; as, an impersonal verb; an impersonal construc- tion. In English the subject of an impersonal verb is usually the pronoun it, in apposition with a following clause; as, it grieves me to see you mourn.
As the adjective desiderative expresses desire, a desider- ative verb is one that is so formed from another verb as to express desire of performing the act expressed by the
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primitive. A frequentative verb is one that denotes re- peated action; it is sometimes called an iterative, and an inchoative verb is one that begins or expresses beginning.
Verbs have participles, modes, and tenses. A participle is a form of the verb that may be used either verbally or adjectively, or both verbally and adjectively. In the verbal use English participles are active or passive, present or past . The present participle ends in -ing, and expresses the present tense of the verb, as in "the leaves are falling," etc. The past participle ends commonly in -d, -ed, -en, -n, or -t, and expresses the past or imperfect tense, as in "he has learned," etc. Both present and past participle are sometimes used with qualifying function and without an idea of time, and in such use they are called verbal or participial adjectives; they are commonly attributive, as in ' ' a learned man, " " a charming manner, ' ' etc. Mode means "manner," and, in grammar, it means specifically, the manner in which the action, being, or state expressed by a verb is stated or conceived, whether as actual, doubtful, commanded, etc. : denoted by the form of the verb. Also, the verb-form used to express action, etc., in a particular manner. This term is sometimes but less correctly called mood. The English modes proper are the indicative, the subjunctive, and the imperative. Certain verb-phrases are also called modes, as those formed by may, might, can, could (potential), should, would (conditional), must, ought (obligative) . The subjunctive mode is that mode of the finite verb that is used to express doubtful or conditional assertion. In English the forms of the subjunctive mode are introduced by conjunctions of doubt, contingency, con- cession, etc., as if, though, or whether. Be and were are almost the only surviving English subjunctive forms. The
252 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
tense of a verb is the form taken by it to indicate primarily the time, but sometimes also the continuance or completed- ness of the action, being, or state; also, the temporal re- lation thus expressed. The English tenses are formed by inflection endings, as in liked; by vowel-change, as in sang; or by the use of auxiliary verbs, as in shall see, have seen. There are two primary simple tenses, expressing respec- tively present and past time; but these admit of many modifications both in our own and in other languages. The tenses are named aorist; future; imperfect; perfect; plu- perfect; present; preterit. The word tense denotes also the grammatical time as expressed by such forms. There is much discordance in the views of grammarians as to the offices of some tenses and as to the names by which they should be called. The aorist is a Greek tense (or an analogous tense in another language, as Sanskrit), which expresses complete action as a simple occurrence, without further limitation. The future perfect tense is a tense that expresses action as past with reference to a point in the future; as, "I shall have gone." Called also futurum exactum, formerly paulo-post-future, and in English second future. The future tense is that tense of a verb or verbal form that expresses future action or time. The imperfect tense indicates past action as uncompleted, continuous, or synchronous with some other action. The perfect tense is one that notes past or finished action ; it is sometimes called preterit. Some grammarians note in English a present, past (or pluperfect), and a future perfect tense, a conditional perfect, and a perfect infinitive and participle. See also imperfect; preterit. The pluperfect tense ex- presses past time or action prior to some other past time or action. It is the verbal tense or phrase that expresses
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the past-perfect relation, as English / had been. The present tense is the tense marking present time; as, I go, do go, am going. The emphatic present is represented by do with an infinitive; as I do say; with an ellipsis of to. The progressive present is formed by the present participle with the verb to be; as, I am coming; the house is being built. The preterit is the tense that expresses absolute past time and especially indicates completed and not con- tinued past action as shown by the form "he fell." The historical tenses are the past tenses, in distinction from those denoting present or future time; also, the present when used in place of a past tense for vividness, when it is called the historical present.
There are various other classes of verbs not yet con- sidered. These are: (1) The irregular verb which shows any departures from rule in inflection, as in abnormal end- ings or alteration of stem. Specifically, in English: (a) A strong verb; a verb forming its preterit by vowel-change (as give, gave; fly, flew), and its past participle by en or n (as given; bitten; flown), (b) A verb (like have, sell, seek, cast, feed, wet, etc.) showing certain irregularities in past tense or past participles. (2) The regular verb, which follows rule in inflection; specifically, in English, a verb forming its preterit and past participle in -ed or -d; as loved; walked. This -d often changes to t, as built. There are also the strong-iveak verb, which shows both vowel- change and weak ending (as English bring, brought; German bringen, brachte), and the substantive verb, which is the verb to be. A verb phrase is a phrase composed of a verb and complementary words, as participles or an in- finitive, as the compound tenses with have and be, the- model verb phrases with may, can, must, etc., the forms of the
254 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
passive voice, etc. A verbal noun is a noun directly derived from a verb, in English often having the form of the pres- ent participle.
We must now turn to an entirely different class of words — adjectives. The "Standard Dictionary" tells us that an adjective is a word used to limit or qualify the application of a noun or a nominal phrase ; as this book ; sweet sounds ; good men ; a red brick house. Adjectives are of two kinds :
(1) limiting adjectives, which merely define or restrict the meaning of the noun, and which include (a) the article, (b) the pronominal adjective, and (c) the numeral adjective;
(2) qualifying adjectives, which denote some attribute of the object named by the noun. A noun adjective is the name of an attribute ; but this is a former designation and is opposed to noun substantive, the name of an object. A participial adjective is a participle used as an adjective, as "a cultivated mind." A proper adjective is an adjective derived from a proper noun, as American from America, A demonstrative adjective is a demonstrative pronoun which is used also as an adjective ; as, this, that, you, each. Ad- jectives are said to have degrees of comparison. These are positive, comparative, and superlative. The same may be said for adverbs. A degree, in grammar, is one of the three grades in which an adjective or adverb is compared. Or, it may be a variation of form to indicate the grade above noted; as, "sooner" is the comparative degree of "soon." Comparison is the inflection of adjectives or ad- verbs which indicates differences of degree in quality, etc. The positive degree is the simple uncompared form of an adjective or adverb, as good (adjective) ; badly (adverb). The comparative degree expresses comparison. It is the first degree in quality above or below the positive. It is
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regularly indicated in adjectives by the addition of er or r to the positive, as bright, brighter, true, truer, or by the use of more or less, as excellent, more excellent, less excellent; it is irregularly indicated by different words, as good, better. A few adverbs are compared in like manner, as often, oftener. The superlative degree is the highest degree of comparison of the adjective or adverb. In English it is formed either (a) by adding -st, -est, to the positive; as, brightest, ablest; (b) by prefixing the word most (or least) to the positive, which is done especially with words of more than two syllables; as, most delightful; (c) by prefixing an adverb of superlative meaning, as very, extremely, ex- ceedingly, to the positive ; as, very kind. The first two are called the superlative relative; the last the superlative ab- solute (without comparison) ; opposed to comparative, positive. A kind of superlative is also sometimes formed with the suffix -most from words that do not distinguish any positive and comparative ; for example, -midmost, under- most, northernmost, southmosf, topmost.
An adverb is a part of speech used to modify words ex- pressing action and quality ; hence, it is any word used to modify verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. Adverbs denote the way or manner in which an action takes place, or the relations of place, time, manner, quality, and number, or an attribute of an attribute. Some adverbs are merely particles and indeclinable, as noiv, here, so; while others are not properly particles, but are capable of inflection to indicate degrees of comparison, as soon, sooner, soonest, brightly, most brightly. A relative adverb is an adverb derived from a relative pronoun and relating to an ante- cedent, as when, where, whence, etc. ; usually introducing adverbial clauses. An adverbial clause is a dependent
256 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
proposition in a complex sentence, having the office of an adverb; as, he visited London when he came from Paris. An adverbial or adverb phrase is a phrase having the force of an adverb, as "in very truth."
So as not to exhaust the patience of the reader by ex- tended explanations of the terms that remain to be con- sidered, they are summarized briefly below. A conjunction is a word or part of speech that connects words, clauses, and sentences, or determines the relation between sentences, as and in "day and night." Conjunctions are of two principal kinds — coordinate (coordinating) and subordinate (subordinating) — according as they join coordinate clauses in compound sentences or subjoin subordinate clauses in complex sentences. (See coordinate and subordinate.} Conjunctions are called correlatives when they appear commonly in pairs, and each introduces an alternative or a correlate, as either and or. Adverbial conjunctions not only unite thoughts, but also express relations of place, time, causation, comparison, etc., as where, when, because, as, than, etc.
Coordinate conjunctions are those conjunctions that join coordinate clauses, etc. See conjunction, above. Coordinate (coordinating) conjunctions embrace (1) copulative, ex- pressing addition or expansion (and, also, etc.) ; (2) ad- versative, expressing opposition (but, notwithstanding, etc.) ; (3) disjunctive, expressing exclusion (or, nor, etc.) ; (4) causal, expressing cause (because, etc.) ; (5) illative, or inferential, expressing consequence and inference (hence, therefore, etc.).
Subordinate conjunctions are those conjunctions that join subordinate to principal clauses. Subordinate con- junctions embrace (1) final, expressing purpose or result
THE DICTIONARY AS A TEXT-BOOK 257
(that, etc.) ; (2) temporal, expressing time (when, 'before, since, etc.) ; (3) local, expressing place (where, beyond, etc.) ; (4') conditional, expressing condition (if, etc.) ; and concessional, expressing concession (though, etc.).
A preposition is a part of speech or particle that denotes the relation of an object to an action or thing: so called because it is usually placed before its object. The object is expressed by a noun or pronoun, which with the pre- position constitutes an adverbial phrase, and the action or thing by a verb, adjective, or other noun or pronoun. The relation expressed was originally that of space alone, but became extended to time, cause, etc. See language. Eng- lish prepositions have been divided by Maetzner into (1) those referring originally to a starting-point, as of, from, since; (2) those supposing a movement or direction to an object, as to, toward, till, against, across; (3) those origin- ally containing the idea of position or abiding ; as in, on, at, with, among; (4) those that refer decidedly to a contrary determination, as but, save, notwithstanding.
An interjection is a part of speech that expresses sudden emotion, excitement, or feeling, as, oh! alas! hurrah!
This investigation may also include the tracing of the etymology of each word recorded if desired. But, suf- ficient has been given above to show how much benefit can be obtained by a systematic study of the contents of a dictionary. By turning back it is easy to see that one word leads to the other through the entire series until the whole subject has been traversed, and by following the plan herein outlined, any intelligent person with a dictionary before him can obtain with comparative ease at his desk extended knowledge of any subject on which he may wish
258 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
to inform himself. Apply the plan to some other branch of learning, and the result will be the same. The advantages of following such a course of study are various. In addition to acquiring a knowledge of the subject, one, almost unconsciously, learns to spell correctly, acquires an enlarged vocabulary of words and their derivations, and learns how to use them correctly.
The man or woman who purchases a dictionary for the purpose of educating himself purchases the short-cut to a complete education in all that it contains, IF he or she will use it intelligently. Properly used, the dictionary may be made the greatest of all factors in education. Approach it how we may, no matter how wide the range of our knowl- edge, it teaches us the wisdom of humility, for not one of us is certain that he has a complete mastery of its con- tents, even though some may delude themselves into be- lieving that they have. He who purchases it may well consider its price a charity to himself.
VIII
The Function of Grammar
A KNOWLEDGE of the science that treats of the principles which govern the correct use of language in either oral or written form is essential but not indispensable to the correct use of English words. This science is known as grammar which has been defined as "the way to speak and write language correctly." A knowledge of grammar is a de- sirable adjunct to correct writing, because if one would be- come a master of English, one must have an accurate knowl- edge of the collocation of words and sentences, that is, the treating of their arrangement and relative positions and grammatical connection, producing euphony, clearness, and energy of expression.
Rules governing the correct use of English words are codified and are available in every grammar of the English language, where the exceptions to these rules are not always truthfully told. Grammarians, ever since the best usages of the language have been codified, have split hairs the one with the other so persistently that the student of language is sometimes puzzled to know whether the particular form of expression he wishes to use is or is not correct. In this respect most grammarians are helpless to aid him for they reflect only the views of their compilers. The student, therefore, is often unable to determine what form of ex- pression will pass muster as good English.
A reviewer of Professor Thomas Lounsbury's book, "The
259
260 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Standard of Usage in English," writing to "The Globe" (New York), lately, said: "Professor Lounsbury is not one of those who lament the lack of an ' authoritative ' grammar. He agrees to a certain extent with Forster that 'as soon as grammar is printed it begins to go, ' and he subscribes with enthusiasm to the view of a Yale professor that ' language can not be school-mastered.' Professor Lounsbury quotes with appreciation a passage in Scott 's diary, where he takes issue with his son-in-law, Lockhart: *J. G. L. points out some solecisms in my style, as amid for amidst, scarce for scarcely. "Whose," he says, "is the proper genitive of ivhich only at such times as which retains its quality of impersonification. ' ' Well ! I will try to remember all this, but after all, I write grammar as I speak, to make my mean- ing known, and a solecism in point of composition, like a Scotch word in speaking, is indifferent to me . . .1 believe the Bailiff in "The Good-natured Man" is not far wrong when he says, "One man has one way of expressing him- self, and another another, .and that is all the difference between them."
The chief value of Professor Lounsbury 's work lies in the fact that it demonstrates clearly ( 1 ) that rules of grammar are worthless if they be not founded upon the usages of reputable authors, and (2) that the grammarian who does not accept this usage as his guide shows by this very practise his unfitness for the task he has undertaken, "his own in- competence and the worthlessness of the results he reaches. ' '
In our own time most of the schoolmasters, and the majority of the pedants are eagerly striving to fix the lan- guage with rules of grammar. There is a straining toward the austerities of grammatical purity on every side. Our teachars have forgotten that the function of grammar is not
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to anticipate and formulate thought, and its mode of ex- pression, but to follow after them and analyze and describe them. For the earliest English grammar we must go back to the time of the Tudors ; William Bullokar in 1586 pub- lished "A Bref Grammar for English" which he claimed was ' ' the first grammar for English that ever was, ' ' and he, like many who followed him, set about to harness the lan- guage after the Latin model then in use. "Even so late as 1796," says Ramsey1 "the grammar of Thomas Coar, published in London, filled its pages with diagrams like the following :
Singular Plural
Norn, a house • Nom. houses
Gen. of a house Gen. of houses
Dat- to a house Dat. to houses
Ace. a house Ace. houses
Voc. 0 house Voc. 0 houses
Abl. with a house Abl. with houses
The English language is so beset with irregularities and with exceptions to grammatical rule that in its study the dictionary is far more helpful than the treatise on grammar. At the very time the Tudor grammarians were struggling to harness our speech Sir Philip Sidney, in his "Defence of Poesie" said: "Another will say that English wanteth grammar. Nay, truly, it hath that praise that it wants not grammar; for grammar it might have, but needs it not, being so easie in itselfe, and so void of those cumbersome differences of cases, genders, moods and tenses . . . that a man should be put to schoole to learne his mother tongue. But for the uttering sweetly and properly the conceit of
* "The English Language and English Grammar," p. 49.
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the minde, which is the ende of speech, that it hath equally with any other tongue in the world. "
Read the works of the English Classics, above all read the three great monuments of the English tongue — the Bible, Shakespeare, and Milton — and you will experience very little difficulty with English grammar. The late Dr. Whit- ney2 claimed that the study of grammar was not "by any means necessary in order to acquire correctness of speech. Most persons learn good English in the same way that they learn English at all — namely, by hearing and reading. ' ' But the conversation must be with persons who speak correctly, and the reading from books that are written by the best authors. Who are the best authors? They are those writers whose works have, by common consent of the Eng- lish-speaking races become the Classics of our tongue. Edward S. Gould, who in his "Good English"3 set out to prove how many masters of our speech violated its canons does not agree with this. He says, "As a general rule, the usage of good writers is held to be the common law of the language. Such usage, therefore, is prima facie evidence of the accuracy of a disputed word or phrase. But the final proof of accuracy can not be established by usage; because the writer, in any particular instance, may have been guilty of carelessness; he may have used the word or phrase inadvertently ; and if it is fairly presumable that, were his attention called to the point, he would admit the error, his example can not be permitted to justify what sound philological principles must condemn. In other words, the records of usage are liable to review, and there- fore usage is not the court of last resort.
2 W. Whitney, "Essentials of English Grammar,"
3 Pp. 3-4.
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"There are, however, many persons who dispute that proposition; persons who lack sensibility to the evils of corruption in philology ; who think the purposes of lan- guage are fulfilled when a speaker or writer has made himself understood; who regard conservative views in philology as obstinate adherence to the past; and whose principles, if they can be called such, would go to the extreme of justifying error itself by erroneous precedents. Such reasoning can lead to nothing but literary anarchy.
"He can not shut his eyes to the very rudiments of grammar. He dares not deny that syntax is subject to grammatical rules. He must admit the necessity of con- cord between verbs and nouns in the matters of number and person, as well as the submission of cases to the govern- ment of verbs and prepositions. And so forth. And, if he does admit such necessity, he must further admit that no amount of usage can supersede it. ' '
But in the foregoing Gould has inverted the order of things. People learn to speak correctly much as a child learns how to walk -properly. The proof of this is to be found in the fact that many of the masterpieces of the world's literature were produced by men who had abso- lutely no knowledge of grammar ; who, in fact, never heard of it. Guizot believes that Shakespeare, who was a notorious violator of grammatical precision, did so intentionally, desiring to produce the language of the period of which he wrote. Be this as it may, it must not be forgotten that it was in his time that the grammarians aimed to put the English tongue into the Latin harness.
"If grammar does not make rules for the government of language, what is its use?" asks Ramsey.4 The answer is
4 Loc. cit. supra., p. 50.
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that grammar serves to dissect written or spoken thought somewhat after the manner that the surgeon anatomizes the human body. Grammar is an anatomical science rather than a creative one. The grammarian's duty, like the lexi- cographer's, is not to seek to create the facts, but to state them, and to state them and classify them as he finds them. In our time many persons condemn the split infinitive as a mode of expression that violates grammatical precision. But if reputable usage shows that this mode of expression is permissible it is not only the province but the duty of the grammarian to state the fact. He may, if he so desires, and the facts warrant his doing so, state that the greater part of the most accurate speakers and writers of his time avoid this form of expression ; but if the expression is the only one recognized in its class, and it has in its favor a consensus of reputable usage, the grammarian must recog- nize it as accepted. The chief value of grammar lies in the fact that its study enables one to produce sentences that are mechanically correct. This function prepares the path to rhetoric, it is true, but it leads to stiffness, for to the majority of persons who are learning to write for pub- lication the* order in which they shall set their words causes more trouble to them than the art of speaking them.
"To those persons who set about learning to write, the art of arranging words seems to be more important than the words themselves," says Havelock Ellis. "This tends to make them assiduous students of grammar and syntax, and leads them to write to formal order instead of by divine right of creative instinct. The most pronounced sign of the decadence of a nation and its literature is slavish sub- servience to rule."5 Spoken words come naturally, but
5 "Westminster Review," p. 629.
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words written under the conditions described are usually arrayed with mechanical precision, yet lack that force which freedom of thought and expression would give them.
In a recently published essay on "The Simplicity of English,"6 Dr. Fernald, referring to grammarians, wrote: * ' The trouble with many English grammarians has been that they have known too much. By the time a man has mas- tered the hundreds of parts of the Latin and the Greek verb, and the Hiphil, Hophal, and Hithpael of the Hebrew ; when he knows the five declensions of Latin and the three of Greek nouns and the various declensions of adjectives to suit all of these nouns; when he has labored through the Slough of Despond of German genders, and added a light fringe of French, Spanish, and Italian eccentricities, he is apt to become an incarnate inflection. He feels that lan- guage exists in order to be inflected. It is beautiful and rich according as it can be tabulated in paradigms under the law of permutations. He looks upon all that is self- evident and straightforward with the scorn of an expert in mysteries and occult arts. . . . He longs to recast the language and run it into traditional moulds, from which it should come forth with cogs and cams and dovetails to be interlocked with mathematical precision."
And in an address delivered to the Woman 's Club of the Chautauqua Institution, the same writer, while admitting the helpfulness of grammar and dictionary as summary statements and guides, warned his audience against the error of considering that grammar and dictionary make the language and not that they merely offer condensed expres- sion of facts to be derived from observation of language in use. Dr. Fernald added, "The use of the best writers of
8 "Harper's Monthly," September, 1909, p. 618.
266 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
all time, and of the best speakers of the present day, should be the guide to correctness of speech."7
The student of language who wishes to consult a gram- mar will find few better guides than "The Grammar of English Grammars," written by Goold Brown in 1851. Many other grammars have been published since this book appeared ; some by persons high in authority in education, who were well exploited for their efforts; others by gram- marians who differed in opinion with their contemporaries or predecessors and whose grammars were written for the purpose of airing personal views or admonishing those writers with whom they felt themselves at odds. The use- fulness of such grammars is open to question. Goold Brown says:
"Like every other grammarian, I stake my reputation as an author upon 'a certain set of opinions/ and a certain manner of exhibiting them, appealing to the good sense of my readers for the correctness of both. All contrary doctrines are un- avoidably censured by him who attempts to sustain his own; but, to grammatical censures, no more importance ought to be attached than what belongs to grammar itself. He who cares not to be accurate in the use of language, is inconsistent with himself, if he be offended at verbal criticism; and he who is displeased at finding his opinions rejected, is equally so, if he can not prove them to be well founded. It is only in cases sus- ceptible of a rule, that any writer can be judged deficient. I can censure no man for differing from me, till I can show him a principle which he ought to follow. According to Lord Kames, the standard of taste, both in arts and in manners, is 'the common sense of mankind/ a principle founded in the uni- versal conviction of a common nature in our species.8 If this is so, the doctrine applies to grammar as fully as to any thing about which criticism may concern itself.
7 "The Chautauqua Daily," August 11, 1909, p. 7, col. 2.
8 See "Elements of Criticism," Vol. II., ch. xxv, p. 364.
THE FUNCTION OF GRAMMAR 267
"My main design has been, to prepare a work which, by its own completeness and excellence, should deserve the title here chosen. But, a comprehensive code of false grammar being confessedly the most effectual means of teaching what is true, I have thought fit to supply this portion of my book, not from anonymous or uncertain sources, but from the actual text of other authors, and chiefly from the works of professed gram- marians.
"It was some ambition of the kind here meant, awakened by a discovery of the scandalous errors and defects which abound in all our common English grammars, that prompted me to undertake the present work. Now, by the bettering of a lan- guage, I understand little else than the extensive teaching of its just forms, according to analogy and the general custom of the most accurate writers. This teaching, however, may well embrace also, or be combined with, an exposition of the various forms of false grammar by which inaccurate writers have cor- rupted, if not the language itself, at least their own style of it.
"With respect to our present English, I know not whether any other improvement of it ought to be attempted, than the avoiding and correcting of those improprieties and unwarrant- able anomalies by which carelessness, ignorance, and affectation, are ever tending to debase it, and the careful teaching of its true grammar, according to its real importance in education. What further amendment is feasible, or is worthy to engage attention, I will not pretend to say."
Punctuation, when used to indicate a greater or less degree of separation in the relations of the thought, as by division into sentences, clauses, and phrases, to aid in the better comprehension of the meaning and grammatical relation of words, is known as grammatical punctuation. In general its purpose is to enable the reader to note the different pauses and inflections required to produce the effect which the writer desires to convey. The system of punctuation used in English resembles that common to the European languages. The Germans favor open rather than
268 ESSENTIALS OP ENGLISH SPEECH
close punctuation, and consequently make less frequent use of the comma than most writers in English. If this subject is to be applied intelligently it must be studied carefully, and the relative length of the different pauses mastered in connection with the points which represent them before it is possible to make a correct use of them. The chief points used to denote the different pauses are the comma ( , ) which denotes the shortest pause, the semicolon ( ;) a pause double the length of that of the comma, the colon ( :) a pause double the length of the semicolon, and the period (.) double the length of the colon. The value of the other four points depends upon the structure of the sentences in which they are used. In marking pauses they may be the equal of any of the foregoing, but two of them serve in a measure to mark the inflections. These are the dash ( — ) , the note of interrogation ( ? ) , the note of exclamation ( ! ) , and the parenthesis [ ( ) ] . The dash is used chiefly to indicate an emphatic or unexpected pause of variable duration. It is used also to denote hesitancy as in speech. The note of interrogation, as its name implies, is used to designate a question; the note of exclamation indicates a pause de- noting joy, grief, or other strong emotion or marked aston- ishment, in which case sometimes it is repeated — a practise commonly condemned as inelegant nowadays, but one which formerly had some vogue. ' ' Grammatical consistency ! ! ! " wrote John Pierce,9 and added "What a gem!" The parentheses are used to enable the writer to inject into a sentence an incidental clause which does not properly belong there. In reading, this is generally spoken in a lower tone and faster than the principal sentence.
• "A Plain and Easy Introduction of English Grammar," page 352, Phila- delphia, 1804.
THE FUNCTION OF GRAMMAR 269
The late Dr. Theodore De Vinne, in his "Correct Com- position, ' '10 says, ' ' A working knowledge of punctuation is not to be acquired by merely learning rules. . . . The great object of punctuation is to make clear to the reader the meaning of the author. Rules are of value, but the unfold- ing of obscure sense is the object of most importance." In the work referred to, Dr. De Vinne includes an excellent essay on punctuation that presents the subject clearly and tersely. A brief explanation of the subject, with examples illustrating the correct application of points, may be found in the writer's "Preparation of Manuscripts for the Printer/'
»P. 293.
IX
Phonetics, Pronunciation, and Reading
AMONG the essentials of English speech the most im- portant is a knowledge of how to pronounce words correctly, for correct pronunciation is the evidence of education, and it may be fostered and developed by a course of intelligent and useful reading. But to be able to read correctly one must be well grounded in the different values of the letters of the English alphabet in their various com- binations. Hence, a few words upon the means employed to teach the young idea how to speak its mother tongue and how to read to advantage are given below.
1. PHONETICS AND PRONUNCIATION
Those of us who have attended public school know of the efforts made to stimulate good-natured competition among boys and girls to acquire a thorough knowledge of spelling and a correct pronunciation, for these two branches of education are highly valued by teachers.
As a rule, modern methods of teaching these necessary adjuncts to a thorough understanding of the English lan- guage are complex. They are beset by so many difficulties, especially in the field of pronunciation, in the guise of dots and dashes, curves and curlicues, that the child who studies English by these methods is greatly retarded in its studies. The powers of memory of a child are severely taxed when it is condemned to labor over chaotic aggregations of signs for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the arbitrary
270
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 271
rules that govern the various combinations of letters that enable it to read and write. These chaotic aggregations form a chief stumbling-block to the progress of a child. But it is not only the child that suffers ; the teacher too is beset with perplexities difficult to solve, as has been evi- denced recently at Kings College, London,1 where a con- ference was held to consider the best means for teaching pronunciation.
At this conference two methods of teaching pronunciation were considered. Professor H. Caldwell Cook, represent- ing the University of Cambridge, advocated the pronun- ciation of unstressed vowels. He declared that what was wrong with English pronunciation was that it was slipshod and careless — a declaration with which any one who has studied the subject should agree. But in this case, as in many another which conies up in the teaching of the English language, the doctors disagree. Professor H. C. K. Wyld, of Liverpool University, attacked this theory, and said that careful speech was either ludicrous or vulgar. He thought the best pronunciation to teach was that which would not make a boy appear ludicrous when he went out into the world, and perhaps the best type is that of the army officer of the old school. But the worthy Professor has evidently forgotten that "the army officer of the old school' ' is a law unto himself as much in the pronouncing of words as in his interpretation of their meaning. The writer, who in the course of his career has come into contact with army men of "the old school," from Major to General,2 has had ample opportunity to judge of the quality of this pronunciation, both in formal address and in conversation, and his judgment is that the army man 's lead is a poor one
1 January 8, 1915. 2 Of the British army.
272 ' ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
to follow. Two of the characteristics of the pronunciation referred to — if such it may be called — are the obscuring of the initial "h" and the clipping of the final "g" — characteristics which would never have been indulged had the persons concerned been taught correct pronunciation.
It is a well-known fact that there is a tendency to obscure the unstressed vowels in colloquial English conversation, and this is due chiefly to rapidity of speech ; but this ten- dency is largely overcome when the speaker takes time to express his thought. Professor Walter Rippman, an expert on phonetic values, believes that clearer and better speech is a matter of articulation and not of the stressing of un- stressed syllables, while Dr. Daniel Jones, who is lecturer on phonetics at the University College, London, is of the opinion that the best pronunciation is that which is not obstrusive. In his judgment affected speech is bad. Just exactly what is meant by * { affected speech ' ' is not explained, but if this means assumed or unnatural speech, then one must agree with the dictum. If it be an affectation of speech to ignore the "h" in such words as which, what, when, and whither, then one must write down the great mass of the English people as affected. Of the two methods considered at the Kings College conference there can be no question that the first is to be preferred, for teach a child the correct, formal pronunciation of words as units and you teach it at the same time to observe not only the vowel values of their contents but the accentuation and the syllabic division also, thereby producing far better spellers than by the word- picture method of sight-reading.
No one should expect to make over an adult who has de- voted twenty years of his life to acquiring a slovenly enunciation. No amount of teaching can uproot all the
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 273
evils of mispronunciation in the grown man; but these evils can be checked, corrected, and even eradicated in the young. None but a Liverpool professor would expect a grown man to cure himself of habits of mispronunciation acquired through years of contact with fellow men equally as careless with their diction. The purpose of that London Conference was evidently to determine whether or not teachers of English should instruct their charges in the correct way to speak English — giving full utterance to all sounds in every spoken word ; that is, teach them the formal pronunciation of words. Time and tide of public affairs will take care of the unstressed vowel, the silent letters, etc. We are all in a hurry, and never more so than when we speak. We suffer from a chronic disease — that of trying to say what we have to say before the other fellow gets a chance to say it for us, and so correct pronunciation goes by the board. Have you ever heard anything more utterly absurd than the variant pronunciations of our little word "yes"? Would that the public discard it altogether and revert to the "yea" of our Puritan forebears.
Realizing the necessity for removing the stumbling-block that has impeded the advance of both pupil and teacher, the National Education Association appointed a commit- tee for the purpose of considering the adoption of a uniform and consistent system by which all the sounds in the English language could be correctly indicated. But this Associa- tion was not the first to recognize this need, for in the third decade of the closing half of last century it had received the attention of a committee of the foremost scholars of the time, some of whom are living to-day. Until this committee began its work the means of indicating pronunciation ac- curately had not received such attention from educators as
274 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
the importance of the subject required. Even after the labors of this committee had been completed educators were slow to adopt the recommendations of the committee, notwithstanding the fact that it had devised the most logical and consistent method for indicating sounds.
Prior to this period, and for some years afterward, none but motley methods for indicating pronunciation had been used — used not only in the dictionaries, but also in the text-books. Then (and even now) pronunciation was ex- pressed by the same chaotic aggregations of dots and dashes above or below the letters, together with curves and curlicues, until it became necessary for the student of orthoepy to commit to memory no less than 85 sound-signs in order to study the subject intelligently. These sound- signs varied with the successive revisions of the different works presenting them, to suit the fancy of the author or the editor-in-charge. That such a method would ultimately be condemned is not to be wondered at, yet while it was tolerated at large it was discountenanced by the leading philologists of this country and by many eminent scholars abroad.
On this subject Dr. Charles P. G. Scott, who was a prominent member of the editorial staff of the Century Dictionary, having been editor-in-chief of the department of etymology of that work, and who comparatively recently was editor of the new Worcester Dictionary in course of revision, once said:
"In my opinion, long held, and confirmed in the most positive manner by a somewhat extensive lexicographic experience and philologic study, the so-called 'system' of notation used in the current American and English dictionaries (except the Oxford and the Standard) is thoroughly bad — unhistoric, unscientific, unliterary, unscholarly, inconsistent, 'irrational, ineffective, ut-
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 275
terly senseless in itself. There is not only no redeeming merit in it — it is a serious obstacle to the understanding and teaching of the simplest facts concerning the pronunciation of English and its true historical position, and its relation with other lan- guages."
While, as has been said above, such a condition is still tolerated at large, great strides have been made during the
New Correct Pairing of Vowel-Sounds
SHORT |
LONG |
|||||
a |
as in |
artistic |
a as |
in |
art |
|
a |
tt a |
at |
a |
u |
a |
air |
e |
tt tt |
met |
e |
tt |
tt |
prey |
i |
a n |
it |
I |
a |
it |
marine |
0 |
tt tt |
poetic |
o |
tt |
it |
note |
e |
a tt |
not |
e |
u |
tt |
nor |
u |
tt it |
put |
u |
It |
u |
mood |
u |
tt it |
up |
u |
tt |
n |
urge |
Old Erroneous |
Pairing |
|||||
SHORT |
LONG |
|||||
a |
as in |
at |
a |
tt |
it |
ale |
$ |
tt tt |
met |
e |
". |
tt |
eve |
! |
tt u |
it |
i |
n |
it |
ice |
6 |
a n |
not |
o |
u |
it |
note |
u |
n tt |
put |
u |
tt |
n |
mute |
last decade by some of the expert orthoepists of the coun- try toward securing the establishment of a standard system for indicating pronunciation; and these efforts have re- sulted in the adoption of the Scientific Alphabet. This system has been successfully applied, and because of its
276 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
successful application has met with some opposition from the very sources which it was designed to assist.
The first step in teaching English pronunciation is to train in the ability to detect and produce each of the sounds that make up the spoken language; let this be done thor- oughly, and the pupil has taken a long step toward be- coming a good reader, a good speller, and, incidentally, a good talker.
As there is no definite relation between the name of a letter and its sound in the ordinary spelling, the common alphabet name should not be the first taught to a child learning to read, as this leads to confusion, for a letter in the common alphabet often represents many sounds. This confusion of symbols and sounds in the common alphabet is an appalling difficulty for children. At the very best, to learn to read is an enormous draft on the energy of the child. For simplicity, exactness, and thoroughness in train- ing the pupils to pronounce the sounds of the language, no system of diacritics compares for a moment with the Scien- tific Alphabet.
There are many advantages in letting a pupil learn first the fixed symbols that represent the sounds in spoken English. After the pupil has mastered the sounds of the Scientific Alphabet, and fixed their unvarying symbols in his mind, he can then without confusion proceed to master the hundreds of equivalents of these symbols which are to be found in the common spelling. For example, in the Scientific Alphabet 6 is the unvarying symbol for the sound of the vowel o in "no"; in the common spelling the sound is expressed by many symbols and combinations of symbols.
The variations and vagaries of the common spellings are so confusing even to grown people that a child should not
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 277
be taught them until after he has fixed in his mind the actual sounds that make up English words and has tied these to unvarying symbols — one sound for each symbol, one symbol for each sound. The mind of the child then has something fixed to which to tie. Any other system is needless labor for little folks, and is in addition a waste of time.
When the child has mastered the signs and sounds that make up the Scientific Alphabet it has mastered practically and scientifically the essential elements of pronunciation. The general introduction of teaching of this kind in the schools of our country would prove the death-knell of provincial pronunciation — of dialects.
In addition to the simplicity and accuracy with which the Scientific Alphabet represents pronunciation, it famil- iarizes the rising generation with the forms which words would have were our language spelled phonetically ; that is, scientifically, and following the line of least resistance, it will ultimately prove a powerful factor in the simplification of spelling. The pupils trained in such an alphabet will not be opposed, when full-grown, to any step that it may later be found necessary to take to simplify spelling.
Any foreigner studying the English language will find the Scientific-Alphabet system of respelling for pronun- ciation of greater help in acquiring a correct pronunciation than any other system yet devised, because of its simplicity and of its use of fixed symbols.
"The great merit of this system/' says the "School Jour- nal' ' of the Scientific Alphabet, "lies in the fact that it re- quires fewer characters. Its main feature is that each of its letters is required to do service for one sound only. According to its principles, each vowel-letter represents one
278 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
distinct elementary sound in its two forms, as long and short ; each consonant-letter represents only one sound, and diphthongs are represented by their vowel-letters. Three new vowel-letters are introduced for three distinct ele- mentary sounds never before adequately represented by the vowel-letters of the ordinary alphabet." These three new vowel-letters are a, for the sound of a in " sofa " ; e, for the sound of o in "not," and u, for the sound of u in "but." Each of these letters is distinct in itself; the dif- ference between any two may be readily distinguished. At first they may appear unfamiliar, but are easily assimilated, as their form closely resembles existing letters, and in any system of phonetic respelling some modification of the forms a, o, and u must be made to distinguish the adapted use of those letters from their regular use. The Hon. C. J. Bax- ter, State Superintendent of Public Instruction of New Jersey, said: "I find it [the Scientific Alphabet] grows upon me with use, and that I am learning a new system of diacritics without conscious effort." In other systems of notation the letters a, o, and u when used to perform the functions of the missing vowel-letters are modified by dia- critics. The Scientific Alphabet dispenses with these dia- critics by using new letters in preference to old letters modified by confusing signs, but these new letters are already familiar to the eye. The first is simply the ordi- nary "a" printed in italic — a ; the second, the common "o" with a line drawn through it — e ; the third, the capital let- ter "u" printed the size of the lower-case letter. There is an advantage in the adoption of the symbol u which may not be observed by some readers; it is that in European languages generally the natural and prevalent short u sound is that which appears in "pull." The promulgators
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 279
of the Scientific Alphabet chose a new symbol to indicate a distinct sound because they built on the basic principles of language in general rather than upon our somewhat ir- regular English. Professor E. F. Jackson, of Washington University, St. Louis, said that the diacritical marks used in the Standard "appear to me to be reasonable and scien- tific, and much better adapted for use in a school where Latin, Greek, French, and German are taught than the former diacritics. "
As a large number of the unaccented vowels in English words have two pronunciations — equally good each in its own time and freely used by the same persons — the one formal, distinct, and pedagogical, the other colloquial, the Scientific Alphabet adopted the breve (^) and the reverse breve (^) for the purpose of designating these pronun- ciations. The vowel-weakenings are classified in the Scien- tific-Alphabet system as invariably trending either toward short i or short u. The Websterian system failed to in- dicate this trend. In the Scientific-Alphabet system the breve or reverse breve beneath a vowel is the general sign of colloquial weakness. Thus, in " mountain " the weaken- ing trends toward short i, while in ' ' ever ' ' it trends toward short u; that is, the regular breve denotes the i tendency while the reverse breve denotes the u tendency. The breve direct or inverted is the only diacritic ever placed below a vowel in the Scientific Alphabet. While the breve and inverted breve are retained in the Revised Scientific Alpha- bet, recommended for use by the National Education Asso- ciation's special committee, they are optional, the symbols i and a being suggested as alternatives. Messrs. Isaac Pitman & Sons, the well-known shorthand and educational publishers of New York, "deem the Scientific Alphabet,
280 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
which is used to indicate pronunciation in the Standard Dictionary, the most accurate and simple used in any dictionary. ' '
The efforts that have been made during the past few years to introduce the Scientific-Alphabet system, which so com- petent an authority as the " School Journal " has acknowl- edged to be ' ' a triumphant creation of philological genius, ' ' and which no less eminent an expert than Dr. Charles P. G. Scott has pronounced to be " a notation based on historic and scientific principles," have been met here and there with sullen opposition based on false premises; as, that it does not conform to the system adopted by all the text- books issued for the purpose of imparting primary educa- tion by school-book houses which have, directly or in- directly, constantly stirred up hostility to the adoption of the Scientific Alphabet because no monopoly can be based on this alphabet. The falsity of this premise is best shown by comparison. When the systems adopted by these text- books are compared with the so-called system of diacritics fostered as the Websterian system, the former vary from it to such an extent as to be absolutely different, as the following comparison will show. In text-books pronuncia- tion is usually indicated by the marking of letters as they occur in the words proper, and in dictionaries by repro- ducing the given words spelled phonetically. These two systems are exemplified on page 281.
Comparison of the words on the next page shows that the pupil who has mastered the text-book style has many things to forget and many to learn before he can become proficient in the art of reading the "Websterian system of indicating pronunciation. The assumption that a pupil who has learned the text-book system thereby commands the Web-
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 281
sterian system is not correct. The examination of a num- ber of school-books will show many variations from the so-called Websterian system of diacritical markings. In such a recent examination of fifteen text-books it was found that the Websterian system had not been closely followed. For example: in a list of twenty words exam- ined the text-books used 28 diacritics to indicate sound, yet had the Websterian system been applied to these very
Ordinary Spelling. |
Text-book Style, without Respelling. |
Dictionary Style, with Kespelllng. |
civic |
9lv'Ie |
slv'Ik |
was |
was |
w5z |
obey |
6-bey' |
8-ba' |
heir |
heir |
ar |
police |
p6-ll9e' |
p6-les' |
do |
dQ |
doo |
wolf |
wolf |
wulf |
son |
•te |
sun |
myrrh |
myrrh |
mer |
gage |
gage |
gaj |
chorus |
«ho'rus |
ko'riis |
edge |
edge |
8J |
exist |
gj-Isf |
8gz-tat' |
words as many as 38 diacritics would have been necessary. A tabulation of these words produced the surprizing re- sult that in applying the Scientific- Alphabet system to these same words it was necessary to use only 19 diacritics. Fur- ther, it was found that the Websterian system, as repre- sented by the Unabridged and International dictionaries, was not strictly followed by the text-books, as they adopted their own distinctive signs and symbols — signs and symbols not used by Webster.
282 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
The difference existing between the systems adopted by the text-books and the dictionaries must necessarily drive the students of orthoepy to consult the guide to pronun- ciation which accompanies every dictionary, where the powers of the different letters are explained. Therefore, inasmuch as text-books and dictionaries differ, consultation becomes imperative, and a system that uses only 63 sound- signs and is based upon truly scientific principles should be found more acceptable than one which employs as many as 85 and which is purely arbitrary in character. Professor C. M. Young, of the University of South Dakota, speaking of the Standard Dictionary, says that he has "no difficulty with its diacritical markings, and it occurs to me that people who are not able to use its diacritical markings are not able to use a dictionary intelligently."
A phonetic system is fatally defective which employs a given symbol for more than one sound or which expresses one sound by more than one symbol. This is a common error in all systems other than the Scientific Alphabet. For example, take this from the Websterian notation: It uses ' ' a ' ' with a straight mark over it for the sound of a in "hate"; with a curve over it for the sound of a in "hat"; with a right-angled mark over it for the sound of a in "senate"; with a circumflex over it for the sound of a in "care"; with a dot over it for the sound of a in "ask"; with two dots over it for the sound of a in "arm"; with a dot under it for the sound of a in " wad ' ' ; with two dots under it for the sound of a in "all," and in the italic form for the sound of a in "final." Besides doing this, it adds to the confusion which is likely to arise from the using of one letter nine times by indicating vowel-sounds in two different ways by employing " a " with a line over it and an
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 283
4 ' e " with a line under it to indicate the sound of the letter c as expressed in Continental pronunciation. Other com- binations to indicate the same sound are a and e and 6 and a. Further, this system of notation uses seven different kinds of els, five different kinds of i's, seven different kinds of o's, and six different kinds of u's. It indicates a given sound by several different letters and makes a given letter repre- sent several different sounds. Any pronouncing system of notation is fundamentally wrong if it attempts to build a system of vocal sound notation by bringing the sounds of the language to the letters rather than the letters to the sounds. The vocal elements of speech are fixed in all lan- guages, and no system of phonetic indication can be prac- ticable which fails to recognize these fixed sounds and to build upon the basis of one symbol for each sound and one sound for each symbol, as is done by the Scientific Alphabet. The necessity of adopting a uniform system for respelling being apparent, the National Education Association's special committee began its investigation and later reported on the subject. The committee's recommendation, formu- lated in the report, called for 31 changes in the "Websterian system of notation as against 14 modifications in the Scien- tific Alphabet.
The advantages to be derived from such a system of re- spelling for pronunciation as the Scientific Alphabet are so important to the scholastic training of the youth of America that the late William T. Harris, at one time United States Commissioner of Education, declared that by practical test school children who were taught by such a system proved to be more rapid in the acquiring of an accurate pronunciation and more correct in spelling the words brought to their notice. Experiments made in different
284 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
parts of the United States to ascertain the amount of time required for children to learn to read the English language when printed in a phonetic alphabet have shown that about two years may be saved in learning to read by this method ; such an alphabet was prepared and promulgated, after care- ful investigation, by the American Philological Association, and was introduced in respelling for pronunciation in the Standard Dictionary by its Editor, Dr. Isaac K. Funk.
There is much independent testimony of the value of the Scientific Alphabet as an aid to exact pronunciation. "The Atlantic Monthly" declares that it is "the simplest and best method of phonetic representation yet devised, and one distinctly better than that used by the Century [Dic- tionary], which is more difficult to be understood by the people. " " The Scientific American ' ' pronounces the Scien- tific Alphabet as "an immense advance over the arbitrary system used in so many other works." "The School Jour- nal ' ' says the Scientific Alphabet ' t furnishes a basis of ac- curately representing all sounds used in the English lan- guage with the fewest possible characters. Our readers will find it of great advantage to study carefully this trium- phant creation of philological genius. We are convinced that they will readily grasp the niceties of pronunciation which it affords, and with it they will achieve much more satisfactory results with far less exertion than by adhering to the illogical and inconsistent systems commonly in vogue. By adding it to their methods of imparting in- struction and by applying it systematically they will attain an exactness of diction that will be the envy of their asso- ciates and the admiration of all."
Let it be understood that the Scientific Alphabet has never been copyrighted; it is open to all, hence it is free
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 285
from all taint of monopoly. It is, in fact, far more easy to understand and to remember than the complicated and illogical systems of diacritical markings used in other dic- tionaries ; it is far more exact, and is absolutely consistent. The Scientific Alphabet is more simple and more accurate in every way than any other system used for indicating pro- nunciation (1) as it requires fewer characters — its three new vowels, which are easily recognized, doing away with about three-fourths of the diacritics required by other sys- tems; (2) as it involves far fewer changes from the or- dinary spelling than any other system.
Moreover, it furnishes a basis for accurately representing all the sounds used in the English language, with the fewest possible characters, and indicates only such changes in spelling as are in the direction of logical and scientific spelling reform. No two revisions of the Webster Dic- tionary employ the same system of diacritics, and the same objection applies to the Worcester Dictionary.
What need was there for the alphabet recommended by the National Education Association's Committee? The need for an alphabet that would adjust the differences existing between the systems adopted by the text-books and those used by the dictionaries and encyclopedias. Every phonetic system that employs a given symbol for more than one sound, or which expresses one sound by more than one symbol is fatally defective. When the members of the National Education Association's Committee, and those of the Committees of the other learned bodies associated with them, began their labors they were confronted with the conditions that have been summarized in the table printed on the following page.
286 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
The sound of a in about was rendered by six symbols — a, a, a, a, a, a.
The sound of a in at was rendered by three symbols — S, a, and a.
The sound of c in cat was rendered by three symbols— c, ch (chorus), and k.
The sound of e in prey was rendered by four symbols — a, a, e, and e.
The sound of i in tin was rendered by/awr symbols — I, a, i, and y".
The sound of i in marine was rendered by seven symbols— 6, ?, g, e, I, ee, and f.
The sound of o in not was rendered by six symbols — o, 0, o, e, a, and a.
The sound of o in nor was rendered by seven symbols— 0, p, 6, a, a, aw, and aw.
The sound of u in push was rendered by eight symbols — u, u, fl, u., fl, p, 6t», and oo.
The sound of u in rude was rendered by ten symbols — u, u, u, u, u, 0, 6, 6, o, and oir
The sound of u in hut was rendered by seven symbols— u, u, ft, w, 6, 6, and 5.
The sound of u in urn was rendered by eight symbols — e, e, I, I, u, u, u, and y.
The sound of ai in aisle was rendered by seven symbols— ai, I, 5, f, I, y, and p.
The sound of au in umlaut was rendered by six symbols — an, ou, ou, ow,ow, and ow.
The sound of oi in oil was rendered by six symbols— oi, ei, oi, oy, oy, and oy.
In other words, the National Education Association Com- mittee and the Joint Committees that worked with it faced the problem of reducing to 48 signs the 92 phonetic symbols in use to indicate vowel sounds in dictionaries and text- books, and still in use to-day. Out of this disorderly Babel of sound-symbols the Committee brought an orderly system of sound notation, based upon phonetic principles scien- tifically correct and recommended by the leading phon- ologists of the world.
Notwithstanding the erroneous interpretations that have been put upon it in certain quarters, this alphabet remains the most practical alphabet for the respelling of words for pronunciation yet devised. Why ? Because it accomplishes the purpose of its projectors — to bring order out of chaos. It is the ripe fruitage of the joint labors of committees appointed by America 's leading educational institutions :
(1) The American Philological Association, founded in 1869 for the advancement and diffusion of philological knowledge.
(2) The National Education Association, founded in 1857
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 287
for the promotion of national educational aims and investi- gations, which have made the association the most important educational organization in the world.
(3) The Modern Language Association, founded in 1886, for the advancement of the study of modern languages and their literatures.
The total number of members in these three associations is 14,000. In this vast body may be found the names of every scholar of national or international reputation, and every expert in phonetics which the American continent has produced.
The alphabet was devised by such men as Calvin Thomas, George Hempl, Charles P. G. Scott, 0. F. Emerson, E. 0. Vaile, E. S. Sheldon, James W. Bright, C. H. Grandgent, Raymond Weeks, T. M. Balliet, H/ H. Seerley, Melvil Dewey, William H. Maxwell. This body of experts had also the advantage of the researches and labors of such specialists in phonetics as the late Francis A. March, Sr., the late Professor W. D. Whitney, the late S. Haldeman, and the late William T. Harris, United States Commissioner, and others.
It is, perhaps, owing to the recommendation of the National Education Association Committee already re- ferred to that its alphabet has met with opposition. But no fitting substitute has been offered. The opponents of this alphabet know that the alphabet used for respelling words in one of the recently published dictionaries, with 64 sym- bols disfigured with dots and dashes, curves and curlicues, and in which not one vowel is used without some diacritical mark, is not a scholarly substitute for the National Educa- tion Association alphabet of 48 characters, of which 36 bear no diacritical mark, in which only one diacritical mark (the
288
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
macron) is used — an alphabet which was devised by the foremost American phonetists. Instead of offering a sub- stitute the question asked is whether this alphabet ' ' is easy to learn." Which is easier to memorize — an alphabet of
RECOMMENDED ALPHABET
Letter |
Name |
Key-word |
Letter |
Name |
Key- word |
a |
art |
e |
nor |
||
a |
artistic |
o |
not |
||
ai |
aisle, find |
ei |
oil |
||
au |
out, thou |
P |
pi |
pit |
|
a |
air |
r |
er (or dr) |
rat |
|
a |
at |
s |
es |
set |
|
b |
bi |
be |
sli |
esh |
ship |
di |
dli |
chew |
t |
ti |
ten |
d |
di |
day |
ft |
«1h |
thin |
e |
prey |
th |
eth |
that |
|
e |
men |
u |
mood |
||
f |
ef |
fee |
u |
push |
|
g |
gi |
go |
u |
urge |
|
h |
hi |
he |
u |
hut |
|
i |
marine |
V |
ev (or vi) |
vat |
|
i |
tin |
w |
wi |
win |
|
iu |
mute |
y |
yi |
yes |
|
j |
ji (or je) |
jaw |
z |
ez (or zi) |
zest |
k |
ki (or ke) |
kin |
3 |
eg |
azure |
1 |
el |
let |
|
||
m |
em |
met |
a |
for a in |
ask |
n |
en |
net |
( " a " |
about |
|
I" e" |
over |
||||
6 o |
sing note poetic |
i |
(" i " I " e " |
candid added |
64 symbols, each vowel of which is marked with some dot or dash, some curve or curlicue, or, as is sometimes the case —both; or an alphabet of 48 symbols of which only 8 are marked with a macron ? Which is easier to learn, an alpha-
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 289
bet based upon the sound phonetic principles of one sound for each symbol, or an arbitrary system in which several symbols are used for the same sound?
Whether an alphabet designed to respell for pronuncia- tion is easy to learn depends as much upon the ease with which its symbols may be memorized as upon its being based on sound phonetic principles — one symbol one sound invariably throughout the alphabet. This feature the National Education Association alphabet possesses, and it is the only alphabet yet devised that does possess it. The opponents of this alphabet have declared that "no reform alphabet of any kind has hitherto met with success, and this raises the presumption that any similar alphabet, still un- tried, will prove equally unsuccessful. ' ' None but the veriest tyro in phonetics would make such a statement. The fact is that (1) the alphabet of the American Philological Associa- tion has been in active use during the past twenty years and has been found to answer its purposes very well; (2) the alphabet devised by Paul Passy, and declared by the opposition to be * ' the only phonetic alphabet that can claim international standing, ' ' has been in use by the Association Phonetique Internationale, with satisfaction to all con- cerned, almost from its introduction. Therefore, it is in- correct to say that no reform alphabet has met with suc- cess. Nothing is or can be proved a failure until tried. It was the very failure of Noah Webster's system for ex- pressing sound that determined the subsequent editors of the dictionary that bears his name to respell words for pronunciation.
We have been told that "the subject of an alphabet for respelling for pronunciation is very complex. " It is be- cause of this very complex character that the subject was
290 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
referred for consideration to a body of expert phonetists and not left to amateur philologists to determine. The members of the Joint Committee who formulated the alpha- bet as scholars in phonetics of international repute, are, of all men, the best capable to deal with so complex a matter. The labor of the National Education Association Commit- tee, as expressed in its report issued July 6, 1910, was "to prepare and recommend a key alphabet for uniform use in indicating pronunciation in all our cyclopedias, dictionaries, gazetteers, text- and reference-books" — so far but no far- ther was the Committee to go, nor has it done so. Oppo- nents of the National Education Association Alphabet claim that if the alphabet is adopted "every dictionary, every card catalogue, now so generally used in libraries, would have to be remade." They cite as an illustration of the application of this alphabet that all words whose initial letter is "i," having the "so-called long i sound," would have to be indexed under "a" because the sound is repre- sented by the National Education Association alphabet by a diphthongal symbol "ai." Also that the sound of "u" in mute, being represented by the diphthongal symbol "iu," all words beginning with this symbol must be transferred to "i" and indexed under it. As there are very few, if there are any, libraries in which card indexes are used to indicate the pronunciation of the titles of books, this claim is absurd. "We have been told that six of the symbols in the National Education Association alphabet are "consonants replacing our present symbols," which "is undesirable since the sounds to be represented are clearly and adequately shown by our present letters." This is not so — our present let- ters do not show the diphthongal characters of ch, sh, ng, th and zh. The Committee of the National Education
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 291
Association recommended the use of ties in certain of these symbols purposely to bring out this very diphthongal character. The amateur philologist, who declares these un- desirable, even though he may have sat at the feet of the great professors of languages in the universities of Europe, simply shows colossal ignorance as regards these digraphs. Every one of the great dictionaries has decided that the sound of these letters is diphthongal. The late Dr. William T. Harris, in the latest Webster, said on this subject of ch (p. xlix) : "The most frequent sound is diphthongal, and is approximately described tsh. Most phonetists analyze this sound as a combination of t and sh : they blend into a composite sound. Ch has this diphthongal sound in all native English words." This being the case, let us be guided by the expert phonetist. Incidentally, let us re- member that in the Websterian system of notation the following symbols, with the addition of "a diacritic tick or tie" and other embellishments, are used: du, rj., 66, do, th? ta? and the following also, but without the trimmings, gz, hw, ks, kw, ng, th and zh. Well may one believe that ' ' the addition of the diacritic tick or tie occasions needless trouble ' ' in such a system as this, in which six symbols are "ticked or tied" and seven are not! Which is the easier to remember, the five tied symbols of the National Educa- tion Association alphabet, or the thirteen mixed symbols of the Websterian system?
To persons interested in phonetics the following points concerning the National Educational Association's alphabet may prove useful : (1) Of the letter a it may be proper to say that the reason for assigning a to the vowel in artistic and a to that in at is that the sound in at is much more frequent in English than the sound in artistic. Some pho-
292 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
netists have preferred a as in artistic and ae as in at, but a is like the old Greek, German, and Italian type for the a in artistic and like our English script a, and is used by German reformers and by the Association Phonetique Internationale.
(2) Of the diphthong ai, which it has been said ' ' analyzes to the eye a sound which has long been represented as a single letter/' and "is forcing into our written language an uncalled-for nicety of phonetic analysis, ' ' the New Web- ster says (pp. li-lii) that "the long form [of i] has under- gone a decided change, having within the modern English period [from about 1550 (p. 726)] become a true diph- thong, so that what we still call 'long i' is no longer a sim- ple sound but one composed of two elements. . . . The quality of the sound ... [of the initial element] varies all the way from a (arm) to a (man) • the final element being in any case i (ill). In America the initial element is most often ... a (art).99 Judging from this it does not seem that the Committee of the National Education Asso- ciation was committing a great crime in recommending the adoption of ai for the sound erroneously called long i, and correcting a blunder in indicating a pronunciation which even the editors of "Webster's New International admit has been in vogue for more than 360 years!
(3) Of the diphthong du, as in sauerkraut: it may be said that this consists of a glide between a in arm and u in rule, and that as such this diphthong represents a sound very common in English, which in some systems of notation has been variously rendered as ou, ow, etc. (See page 286.) The recommendation of cm in the National Education Asso- ciation alphabet is the result of the Committee's deter- mination to adhere to the principle of one symbol for one
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 293
sound throughout the alphabet — and of representing that sound by the values assigned to the various letters by the unanimous consent of the three Associations concerned.
(4) Of the sound of a in fare: it may be said that the value given to it is the same as that given to it by the American Philological Association thirty-eight years ago when trying to bring order out of chaos — a value that has been represented variously in England and America by the symbols a, a, a, a, a, and a, and one which to this day is rendered by e in the New English Dictionary, edited by Sir James A. H. Murray at Oxford University, and in Ameri- can text-books, without respelling, by e.
(5) Of the sound of e in they : this is the original sound of the letter as indicated in Anglo-Saxon, Old English, and Middle English. It is also the sound indicated in Latin, French, German, Greek, and other languages. In the National Education Association's alphabet it is represented by the symbol e ; in other systems the symbols a and a both do duty for the same sound, as shown below :
crepe fete great they
krep fet gret the
or or or or
krap fat grat tha
(6) Of the sound of i in marine: this, the New Inter- national declares, "was originally the true long sound of the letter i (e of eve} . ' ' Then, one may well ask, why not re- tain it? In addition, it is, with this value, one of the symbols of the alphabet recommended by the American Philological Association in 1877, and by the Philological Society of England, besides having the same value in Latin and the chief languages of Europe.
294 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
(7) Of the sound of "u" in mute: this is a diphthong consisting of a glide from, "i" in marine to "u" in rule, which will enable all persons using the key to correct the mispronunciation of such words as Tuesday (toosday) and New York (noo york), which the systems formerly in vogue did much to propagate. This is simplifying phonet- ics, not complicating them. Besides, these letters have been given this value by both the American Philological Asso- ciation and the Philological Society of England, and they have been in use for more than thirty years, and are em- ployed by the New English Dictionary and by the Standard Dictionary in their systems of respelling for pronunciation.
(8) Of the sounds of "o" in not, and "o" in nor: these have the recommendations of the Joint Committee to support them, have been in use more than thirty years ; were recommended by the American Philological Associa- tion in 1877 to correct the confusion caused by the Web- sterian system of notation which used o and a for the sounds of "o" and "a" in not and what, and 6 and a for the sounds of "o" and "a" in nor and all. The latest edition in the Webster dictionary series has corrected this blunder of its former editors, and now respells what, hwot, and all, 61.
(9) Of the sound of "oi" in oil: this the editors of the Webster 's New International declare (p. liv.) to be "a full diphthong," and on page xlx, "the most perfect diph- thongs in English are i as in ice, on as in out, and oi as in oil." The symbol recommended has the support of all three of the learned bodies whose members formed the Joint Committee which devised and agreed to the alphabet recommended by the National Education Association Com- mittee.
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 295
(10) Of the sound of "u" in rule, which method of re- spelling for pronunciation is the simpler? Let the reader determine for himself:
bulletin crew cruel fulfil
bulitin kru kruel fulfil
or or or or
boolltin kroo krooel foolfil
(11) The symbols "u" as in push,ll\i" as in urge, and "u" as in but are recommended to help correct the con- fusion governing these sounds, which has been caused by the use of ten symbols (u, 06, o; u, 66, o; u, 6; u, 6) for the four sounds found in mood, push, urge, and hut ad- vocated by the Webster ian system of notation.
The Committee has been accused of recommending an alphabet that subverts our present usage. The facts are that when the various joint committees of the three Asso- ciations got together their members knew of the confusion that existed in the various schemes employed for phonetic notation. They set about to devise, and have devised, a better system than has ever before been offered to the pub- lic, and the step taken is one toward simplification and progress.
We have been told by those who do not like the National Education Association alphabet that "it is not necessary to foist upon the public, or force upon our school children, an alphabet of forty odd symbols instead of an alphabet of twenty-six," yet the editors of the Webster series of dic- tionaries have for years been forcing on their public an alphabet of 85 sound-signs, which has now been reduced to 64! Is it easier to memorize 48 symbols or 64 or 85? Certainly, the child that "has no time to indulge in pho-
296 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
netic niceties" [ ?] is much more likely to take to the 48 sym- bols of the National Education Association alphabet than to the 64 or 85 of the Websteriaii systems.
"We have been asked, "Ought there to be any organized attempt by the National Education Association to force this alphabet upon the teachers and children throughout the country ? " No such attempt was ever organized, none of the kind suggested was ever made. The alphabet is recommended to correct an abuse that has existed for close on a century of time — an abuse which grows with every year that passes over our heads.
The situation resolves itself into this: On the one hand the members of the National Education Association have offered for use an alphabet endorsed by the leading phonet- ists of America, by three leading learned societies, and recommended and accepted by its Board of Superinten- dence; on the other hand, those opposed to it have issued anonymous pamphlets assailing this alphabet, for some reason other than appears on the surface.
In estimating the claims to recognition of any alphabet for respelling words to indicate pronunciation several things should be considered: (1) Who devised the alpha- bet? (2) Why was the alphabet devised? (3) What are the phonetic qualities of the alphabet? (4) Why is it easy to learn? (5) Why should it be applied to the English language ?
(1) Who devised the alphabet?
On page 6 of a circular entitled, "On the Phonetic Al- phabet Proposed by the Committee of the Department of Superintendence, " we are told that the alphabet "does not meet the approval of leading phoneticians, men who
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 297
have given years of study to the question. ' ' But the facts are that this alphabet was devised by the foremost pho- netists of America after careful investigations extending over thirty-five years, and not the least experienced among them was Dr. William T. Harris, late United States Com- missioner of Education and editor-in-chief of Webster's New International Dictionary, so that the National Edu- cation Association alphabet is approved by leading pho- neticians and is not the result of the hasty judgment which some persons have claimed.
(2) Why was the alphabet devised?
To assign fixed symbols to each of the various sounds in English so that every sound may have its own sign, and every sign its own sound throughout the alphabet, and so as to remedy the chaotic condition existing through the giving of unusual values to many symbols "by the pub- lishers of dictionaries, gazetteers, encyclopedias, and text- books," bring about uniformity, and establish an un- changeable standard — one that, having been based on the recommendations of the experts of past generations, has not been overturned or discredited by the experts of the present generation, for the Joint Committees in their work preserved that done by the experts of the American Philo- logical Association in 1877.
(3) What are the phonetic qualities of the alphabet?
The phonetic qualities of this alphabet are (a) that it uses the fundamental vowel letters with the original Latin values, and thus (b) brings the notation into accord with international phonetic science.
298 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
(4) Why is it easy to learn?
Because (a) it is based on a system and is not the result of haphazard work in which more than one symbol is used to represent the same sound. Because (&), consisting of 48 symbols it contains the smallest number of symbols needed to adequately represent the sounds which are now being rendered variously by 85, 64, and 63 symbols. ' ' The number of distinct sounds in any one language seldom ex- ceeds fifty," said the late A. J. Ellis, "and practically fewer still are needed, for a native needs only a broad hint of the sound to reproduce it."
Because (c) it is easy to write, and, as the late A. J. Ellis said, ' ' any signs easy to write and distinct to read without wearying the eye will suffice."
(5) Why should this alphabet be applied to the English language ?
Because (a) it was devised for that purpose by experts.
Because (&) it is sufficiently delicate and precise for all practical purposes.
Because (c) this eclectic key is the most happy com- bination of the scholarly and the practical which it is pos- sible to evolve.
On page 1 of the circular already referred to one is told, "that among phoneticians and the societies interested in phonetics, as well as in text-books and reference books, there is not one alphabet in general use for indicating pro- nunciation"— all of which is gratuitous information to which attention is drawn in the National Education As- sociation Committee's various reports, but the National Education Association Committee includes dictionaries, and
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 299
it is to remedy this very condition of chaos that the alphabet recommended by the National Education Association Com- mittee was devised. It is to be remembered, also, that this alphabet, like the mill that does not grind with the water that is past, does not apply to any books that have already been published, so that in no way can it affect publica- tions that have preceded its recommendation. On page 2 of the circular one is told "that the English sounds of the vowels have shifted far away from the Continental vowel sounds,'* and "the fact remains that they have done so, and that there now seems to be no practical chance that they will ever be moved back." The care exercised in not underlining one word — fact — in the foregoing may, in the eyes of the critic, save the situation. But what are the FACTS? In English as spoken to-day there are vowel- sounds that are identical with the so-called "Continental vowel-sounds," as, for example, in the following words: arm, crepe, marine, hotel, rule. Therefore, English vowel- sounds and Continental vowel-sounds have not shifted far away, as is claimed. Further, let it not be forgotten that, even if they had, it is not the purpose of the National Edu- cation Association Committee to move them back — that Committee was empowered to report on and recommend an alphabet for use in the respelling of words in dictionaries, gazetteers, encyclopedias, and text-books — to devise an alphabet that shall bring sounds into harmony with usage as recognized by the leading American experts in phonetics. It is pointed out in the same circular that the late A. J. Ellis, who is styled "the Father of English Phonetics," and who is characterized as "one of the most eminent of phoneticians," based his system of phonetic symbols on "the common English sounds of the letters." This is
300 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
exactly what the various committees in joint labor have done. But the results are different. Ellis 's universal alpha- bet contained no less than 94 symbols, and his ideal inter- national alphabet contained 243 symbols made up of 192 elements, 14 vowel-diphthongs, 4 consonant-diphthongs, 19 modifiers, and 11 other signs. Ellis 's alphabet, as the editors of Webster 's New International Dictionary describe it (p. xxxix), is "essentially a makeshift scheme, adapted solely to scientific, not popular, use," and others who are competent judges have declared it "an ingenious sys- tem of compound letters, but the complexity of the writing forbids its universal adoption."
The statement made on page 1 "that the vowel letters do not have in English the sounds they have in Continental language" is reiterated, and it is said also "that many proposed phonetic alphabets are based on a Continental vowel scheme," and "this is the chief reason why all such alphabets have failed." That the reiteration belies the facts has already been shown, and any one interested enough to investigate the subject can find this out for himself. That such alphabets have failed is untrue, for the values of the Continental vowel-sounds are the basis of all. These values are recognized by (1) the American Philological Association; (2) the Modern Language As- sociation; (3) the United States Board on Geographic Names; (4) the National Education Association; (5) the Philological Society of England, and (6) the Royal Geographical Society of England, and also (7) by the Oxford English Dictionary, and (8) form the basis of the "Guide to Pronunciation of "Webster's New International Dictionary."
See Webster's New International Dictionary, page
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 301
xlvii— A. 112. In the Greek language the letter alpha (the Greek letter with which our "a" corresponds) represented a single sound, that of English a in art. . . . This was the value of the letter a in Latin also, and in the various alphabets founded upon Latin . . . and the same value is mainly retained to the present day in the languages of Con- tinental Europe.
See page xlix — E. 148. In the classical pronunciation of Latin, the letter e, when long, represented practically the same sound as English a (ale) [or as "e" as in they], and when short the same sound pronounced more quickly, or a wider sound, that of e (end), the wide correlative of a. In most of the languages of Europe which have adopted the Roman alphabet these two sounds have been retained for the letter, as they were in Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, and in Middle English.
See page li — I. 178. In the classical pronunciation of Latin, the letter i, when long, had practically the same value as modern English e (eve), and this is the value ivhich it still has in the chief languages of Europe.
For the discussions of the values of o and u, see page liii, §199, and page Iv, §240, of Webster's New International Dictionary.
On page 2 of another anonymous circular, quoting ' ' The Teacher's Journal," the work of Professor E. W. Scripture, done in 1901, is cited as applying to the National Education Association alphabet — an alphabet which was not devised nor recommended until 1910, or nine years later. Comment on such tactics is needless.
The number of symbols recommended for use by the National Education Association Committee is 48.
The number of symbols used by the Oxford English
302 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
Dictionary, with its many representations of rapid, careless, and incidental colloquial utterance, is 95.
The number of symbols used by Webster's International Dictionary is 85.
The number of symbols used by Webster's New Inter- national is 64 (eleven new symbols added, ten old symbols discarded — twenty-one changes in all).
Again one is prompted to ask which is easier to memorize — an alphabet of 48 symbols or one of 64 ?
On page 5 of the circular which attacks the National Education Association's work its projectors who have had no experience whatever with the National Education As- sociation alphabet, claim that "confusion is involved when attempt is made to distinguish the symbols." The Com- mittee of the National Education Association can afford to challenge any one to produce an alphabet in which the symbols are clearer and cleaner than that which they have recommended. Practical typographers have pronounced it far superior to anything else of the kind yet devised. And the symbols are so cut as to make it next to impossible for any of them to become obscure through filling in or break- ing apart.
In conclusion the opponents say (p. 6, par. 4) : "The above criticisms are not intended to discourage the attempt to agree upon a single phonetic key alphabet."
Then, evidently, they are intended to promote it, or what we have before us is no more nor less than a Greek gift, and the efforts to oppose the work of the National Educa- tion Association Committee lacks raison d'etre. The alpha- bet recommended by this Committee is used for indicating sounds in the Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dic- tionary of the English Language. It is designated therein
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 303
as Key 1, and a full account of it is given in the Department of Spelling and Pronunciation in the introductory pages of that work.
As a concession to those persons who contend that it is easier to remember 64 symbols than 48, and who are not concerned with exact phonic values, the alphabet used for indicating sounds in text-books is also given. This is merely temporary ; the alphabet is used to aid the transition from the older and utterly unscientific and unscholarly me- dium to the modern scientific and scholarly alphabet de- vised and recommended by the Committee of the Depart- ment of Superintendence of the National Education Association.
One of the reasons that there are several millions of immigrants in the United States who are unable to speak English is because the Federal Government has not taken any steps to provide, through its Department of Education, a bureau to which the important branch of imparting in- struction in English might be intrusted. There is no doubt that an alien immigrant who has been afforded the oppor- tunity of learning English will the sooner realize to the full the benefits of American citizenship, and thus will graduate earlier as a good citizen than he will if left to the European mill that, in the name of patriotism, grinds him out as "cannon-fodder" every year. In imparting this instruction the adoption of a phonetic system that har- monizes in its values with the values that each letter has in the alphabet of the language which the immigrant speaks will prove a big help in the Americanizing of the alien pro "bono publico, and will prevent him from mispro- nouncing such words as been, finger, forehead, girl, nature, picture, third, were, white, yes, etc.
304 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
2. ON READING
John Ruskin, past master in the art of expression, left to all who love our language some advice in regard to its study — advice which, in these days of fads in teaching, if heeded in our schoolrooms would turn out better spellers, better readers, and infinitely better speakers than are turned out to-day. "You must/ ' said he, "get into the habit of looking intently at words, assuring yourself of their mean- ing syllable by syllable — nay, letter by letter. For though it is only by reason of the apposition of letters in the function of signs to sounds that the study of books is called * literature/ and that a man versed in it is called a man of letters instead of a man of books or of words, you may yet connect with that accidental nomenclature this real fact, that you might read all the books in the British Museum (if you could live long enough), and remain an utterly illiterate, uneducated person ; but that if you read ten pages of a good book, letter by letter — that is to say, with real accuracy — you are forevermore in some measure an edu- cated person."
The first, the most palpable evil, and the one most difficult to amend in teaching the art of reading is the wrong done to little children by our wretched orthography. Learning to read could be made a pleasant and an easy victory for the child instead of a burden. Everybody knows this, but every time some one sets to work to save the children from the hateful task that not all their elders have conquered he is assailed much as the labors of the Com- mittee of the National Education Association, referred to above, have been assailed.
To be a good reader, ready to take an article and deliver
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it in an intelligible, artistic, impressive manner, calls for a good deal of study and practise. Fifty years ago a boy or a girl was considered very poorly educated who could not recite well a bit of Shakespeare, Milton, or Tennyson. It is said to be the case no longer. And more is the pity. A good reader has an art more effective than a poor piano- player. Better know how to read well than have a little smattering of geology or botany.
That we are now in want of an art to teach how books are to be read, rather than to read them, is as true to-day as it was when Isaac D 'Israeli expressed the thought. ' l Our reading public," said Dr. Haley, "is generally too much like a mob at a public execution crowding and jostling, hasting and fuming, to witness the catastrophe."
Coleridge described readers as of four kinds. "The first," he said, "is the hour-glass, and their reading being as the sands, it runs in and runs out and leaves not a vestige behind; a second is like the sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtier ; a third is like a jelly-bag, allowing all that is pure to pass away, and retaining only the refuse and dregs; and the fourth is like the slaves in the diamond mines of Golconda, who, casting aside all that is worthless, retain only pure gems."
A class of sophomores, who had but lately completed a course in English literature, and were required to take an examination, are said to have furnished the following gems as the result of their studies :
(1) The periodical essay was in vogue as far back as the time of the Danish invasion and Alfred the Great. The English "Chronicle" was the paper then, and in it were placed various bits of literature worth keeping. Later came the introduction
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of printing, and then the papers were more widely distributed. It remained, however, for Goldsmith and his friends to produce the papers which were widely read and looked for. Goldsmith edited during his life several different papers, among them being the "Spectator," the "Tatler," and the Sir Roger de Coverly paper.
(2) In the year 1422 William Caxton was ushered on to terra firma.
(3) Marlowe died when only twenty-nine years of age, and although he might have done better, we can't tell.
(4) Shakespeare's marriage was not a howling success; he had three children.
(5) The first English novel was "Robinson Crusoe," by Stevenson.
(6) Still another who contributed to the development of the novel was Blackstone, who wrote "Loona Doane."
(7) Samuel Richardson developed the novel still farther when he wrote "Johnny Jones."
(8) Caedmon is one of the oldest men in literature that we know of.
(9) "The Rape of the Lark/' by Alexander Pope, was his favorite work.
Incredible as they seem, these results are said not to have been worse than their teacher had expected.
The occupant of a chair in the English Department of one of our universities recently distinguished between the work of teaching boys to write English and teaching how to know English literature — that is, to know it and to appre- ciate it in any reasonable degree. He found his task a remarkably difficult one. Commenting on this subject, Professor Henry S. Canby3 said: ''The undergraduate
8 "Yale Review," October, 1914.
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must be able to read literature in order to know it, and to read he must have the power of interpretation. Unless he has some pretty exact knowledge of the thought behind the words of Milton or Shakespeare or Tennyson or Emerson or Shelley or Stevenson, he can not read them with more than (it is reckoned) about 50 per cent, efficiency of com- prehension. This percentage is, in Professor Canby's judgment, below the margin of enjoyment and below the point where real profit begins. " The Professor concludes that " two- thirds of an English course must be learning to search out the meaning of the written word, must be just learning how to read. And, if one can not read lightly, easily, intelligently, why, the storehouse is locked; the golden books may be purchased and perused, but they will be little better than so much paper and print. ' '
Given a parent with a love of literature, the chance of a child 's learning to read intelligently is greater; the results are likely to be superior in character to the examples cited above, and if the reading be done in the company of an unabridged dictionary, of a much more permanent value. *
When we read we should do so to instruct ourselves and to extract the wholesome percepts from the pages before us. Eufus Choate acquired the habit of reading daily some first-class English author, "chiefly for the copia verborum, to avoid sinking into cheap and bald fluency, to give elevation, dignity, sonorousness, and refinement to my vocabulary/' But the great mass of the reading public reads differently. Its choice of reading matter is shown by the patronage it gives nowadays to anything sensational, be it newspaper, magazine or short story. The value of reading is not in the quantity of matter perused but in its quality and in the amount of intelligence brought to bear
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upon the task or pastime. A year or two ago Mr. H. G. Wells, the novelist, speaking at the British Institute of Journalists, said that our reading should be more of the work of the present than of that of the past. He depre- cated the cheap reprints of the Classics and of standard books, and thought they were bought but not read. If they were read he did not think the readers gained much benefit by their study, and that the time given to them would be better applied into following up what was being written and what was being done to-day. One may, perhaps, be pardoned for pointing out that Mr. Wells, as a writer of the day, thinks that writers of the day should receive greater patronage from the reading public than they actually do, and take their Classics at second hand from the modern school rather than from the fountain head. One is almost tempted to ask if that is the way Mr. Wells himself studied the Classics.
That in many spheres of activity and of thought the pres- ent is far ahead of the past one will not attempt to deny, but this very advance was built upon past knowledge which must have been based upon a very solid foundation to place us where we are to-day. None of us can understand any part of the present without having some knowledge of the past. We feel, for instance, that in the very life we lead we have left behind forever that coarseness of expression — that plain unvarnished speech which characterized the dramatists of the Elizabethan and Restoration periods. But are we not deluding ourselves? Is it not a fact that the coarseness is still with us, but it has been veneered? The modern press, the modern drama, and the modern novel are seasoned to public taste, and in some cases so highly seasoned as to be unpalatable. They are tainted to such a
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degree as to threaten the moral health of that very public which patronizes them. Freedom of the press, when that press is controlled by men of good repute, is eminently desirable; but when it is controlled by men who have no regard for truth, none for morality, and only degraded conceptions of national honor ; by men who for the sake of profit glory in debauching the minds and corrupting the morals of their readers, then it is time to curtail that free- dom, for when hand in hand with untruth, immorality and corruption go unchecked, they will sooner or later prey upon national life and degrade society.
No one can deny the widespread influence of the sala- cious press and the suggestive novel, and their powers to do harm is incalculable, so let us hope some steps will be taken to check them. The past may have had a coarseness of expression in its literature that it would be impossible for us to imitate, but even that was health itself compared with the abominable suggestiveness of the modern sex novel of which Dr. Horton said, referring to one such book that had been forwarded to him by an English publisher: "I honestly tell you I would rather wade up to my chin in a cesspool than read that book through ! ' ' Well, all modern books are not as bad as that; probably Dr. Horton re- ceived an extreme type.
Now let us turn to that past of which Mr. Wells dis- approves, or rather to its literature which is Classic and without a knowledge of which no education is complete. A Classic, said Sainte-Beuve, is "an author who has enriched the human spirit, who has really augmented the treasure, who has enabled it to take another step onward ; who has discovered some genuine truth of morals, or seized afresh some eternal passion of the heart, in which everything
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seemed known and explored ; who has rendered his thought, his observation, his discovery in a form varied, it may be, yet with breadth and grandeur, with strength and delicacy, noble and beautiful in itself, who has spoken to all in a style of his own, yet a style which belongs to the world, in a style new without neologism, new and old, easily the contemporary of all ages."
The royal road to the correct use of English words is the reading of the English Classics, and from the natural process of unconscious assimilation which such a course of reading produces the lover of English will acquire the command of the correct application of words; an ample vocabulary for all his needs, and, by consulting a good dictionary every time he comes across a word of which the meaning is unfamiliar, and noting it down carefully in a commonplace book, an exact knowledge of the meaning of words. To understand the Classics we should, before we read them, set ourselves to the task of finding out something of the periods in which they lived as well as of those of which they wrote, for learning how to read is no easy acquisition ; this does not refer to matters of enuncia- tion or those of voice inflection, but to the quick and true apprehension of the meaning.
By following Dr. Thomas Arnold's advice to let our reading be varied in its kind, and widely varied, we may greatly benefit. The reader who wishes to be guided to a course of reading which will enable him to enlarge his vocabulary will find the Chandos Classics — a series of stan- dard works complete in 150 volumes, each of which can be purchased separately for 75 cents — an excellent medium to begin with. Another is Sir John Lubbock's (Lord Ave- bury) selection of One Hundred Best Books, which has
PHONETICS, PRONUNCIATION, AND READING 3H
been pronounced a splendid treasury of deep thought, of romance, of wit, of travel and of history. These are sold separately for 50 cents each. There is another series much more extensive. It is Bonn's Standard Library, consist- ing of more than 300 volumes, which are sold separately from 75 cents to $1.00 each. And in the list of books se- lected by the National Conference of Associated Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the United States there is another series of English Classics which comprises more than 100 works written by seventy authors.4 The volumes are issued by various publishers at different prices. Another series are the Eclectic English Classics. The volumes are sold separately from 20 cents to 60 cents each. A very popular series nowadays is provided in "Everyman's Library'' of 700 volumes, sold separately at 70 cents each.
The intelligent reading of the volumes in any one of the selections named will enable all who wish to do so to acquire the command of vocabularies ample for their needs. It is not my purpose to supply bare lists of words for the meanings of which the reader would have to consult a dictionary, for these words are best studied in relation with their context, for therefrom one obtains a conception of their correct use. Intelligent reading helps one to keep in touch with his fellow men ; it quickens the imagination, helps to develop the intellect, relieves depression, 'and often proves a perfect panacea for the mitigation of physical strain.
The following list of books that children may read with pleasure and profit is offered by way of suggesting that one should guide a child's tastes in reading early and thus help to develop a latent interest along the right lines. As
4 See pp. 208-211 of this book.
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Miss Ruth Cameron has fittingly said: (l Start a child to reading some of the really fine books written for children, and some of the really fine books not written especially for them but simple enough to interest them, and by and by you will have a grown man or woman capable of enjoy- ing good literature. ' ' The list might be amplified by citing the works of Jules Verne, Erckmann-Chatrian, and of others, but is of sufficient length to start along the right road:
(1) JEsop's Fables. (2) Alcott, Louisa— Little Men, Little Women, Under the Lilacs. (These three books are considered far and away her best.) (3) Aldrich — The Story of a Bad Boy. (4) Andersen and Grimm — Fairy Tales. (5) Arabian Nights. (6) Barbour— For the Honor of the School. (7) Barrie— Peter Pan ; Peter and Wendy. (8) Bunyan — Pilgrim's Progress. (9) Burnett— Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Little Princess. (10) Carroll — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Look- ing Glass. (11) Child's Bible. (12) Cooper— Last of the Mohi- cans, Leather Stocking Tales. (13) Crockett — The Lilac Sun- bonnet. (14) Daskam — Sister's Vocation, Memoirs of a Baby. (15) Defoe — Robinson Crusoe. (16) Dickens — David Copper- field, Nicholas Nickleby, Old Curiosity Shop, Tale of Two Cities, Christmas Carols. (17) Doyle— The White Company. (18) Dumas — Monte Cristo. (19) Eggleston — Hoosier School Master. (20) Evans — Saint Elmo, Beulah. (21) Ewing1 — Jackanapes; Lob-lie-by-the-fire. (22) Fox— The Little Shepherd of King- dom Come. (23) Garland, Hamlin— The Long Trail. (24) Gaskell — Cranford. (25) Haggard — King- Solomon's Mines. (26) Hale— Man Without a Country. (27) Hawthorne— Tangle- wood Tales, Wonderbook. (28) Henty — March to Magdala. (29) Hughes— Tom Brown's Schooldays. (30) Jackson, Helen Hunt— Ramona. (31) Kingsley— Water Babies. (32) Kipling — Jungle Book, Captains Courageous. (33) Lamb — Tales from Shakespeare. (34) Lytton, Bulwer — Last Days of Pompeii. (35) Macleod— The Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights. (36) Marryatt— Masterman Ready. (37) Page,
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Thomas Nelson— Old Creole Days. (38) Quiller-Couch— The Splendid Spur. (39) Raspe — The Adventures of Baron Mun- chausen. (40) Ruskin — King of the Golden River. (41) Scott — Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, Quentin Durward, The Talisman. (42) Selections from Les Miserables. (43) Stevenson — Child's Garden of Verse, Treasure Island, Kidnapped. (44) Swift — Gulliver's Travels. (45) Sydney— The Five Little Pepper Series (Earlier ones). (46) Twain, Mark — Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Huckleberry Finn. (47) Van Dyke — The First Christmas Tree. (48) Wallace, Lew— Ben Hur. (49) Wiggin —Polly Oliver's Problem, Birds' Christmas Carol. (50) Wyss — Swiss Family Robinson.
NOTE: The claims based on so-called experiments with the National Edu- cation Association alphabet made by Mr. Guy M. Whipple, and described in his pamphlet, "Relative Efficiency of Phonetic Alphabet," have been effec- tively disposed of by Professors Raymond Weeks, James W. Bright, and Charles H. Grandgent in their "Review of the Whipple Experiments."
Writing for Publication
IN the art of writing for publication no short cut leads to^ success. Everyone who expects to succeed at it must serve a long and sometimes a tedious apprenticeship, during which his patience will be sorely taxed and his powers of perseverance severely tested. Ability to tell a story well is helpful, but this quality must be supported by a knowl- edge of the principles of correct composition. Good com- position is the result of correctly using well-chosen words, and of so arranging them that their meaning can be readily understood.
The successful writer invariably has personality and char- acter. It is by the exercise of that dynamic force which we call "will" that he is able to achieve what he sets out to do. Native or developed genius, keen observation, vivid imagination, a lively sense of humor, ability to properly appreciate the picturesque, and power to concentrate thought — these are the qualities that help to make for success in writing. These qualities are not usually all found in one person, but such as are lacking may be ac- quired, developed, and cultivated by application. Among men of average education there are very few who are able to find "sermons in stones and books in running brooks," even though they be optimistic enough to declare that they can find good in everything. Some persons are impressed by scenery; others are controlled by sentiment; some are
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influenced by contact with their fellow men and women; others are affected by their surroundings and home in- fluences. As a rule, the dunce that has been sent to roam excels the dunce that has been kept at home.
Every writer should cultivate the habit of accuracy, for, at the very best, there are few persons who can relate even the most trivial of circumstances as they really occurred. "The writer who would write for immortality," wrote Vergil, "should study with accuracy the plan of his work, the propriety of his characters, and the purity of his diction. ' ' To Emerson we owe this advice : "If you would write to any purpose you must be perfectly free from within ; give yourself the natural rein ; think on no pattern, no patron, no paper, no press, no public ; think on nothing, but follow your impulses; give yourself as you are, what you are, and how you see it; every man sees with his own eyes, or does not see at all; this is incontrovertibly true. Bring out what you have ; if you have nothing, be an honest beggar, rather than a respectable thief. ' '
Such grammarians as embrace the art of composition in their treatises invariably state that style is the manner in which a writer expresses his conceptions by means of language ; style, they say, is not to be regulated altogether by rules of construction, and then they proceed to enumerate the different qualities of style. It is not wise for a beginner to hamper the natural flow of his thoughts with these at the outset. In time he will be able to determine for him- self the difference between the natural and the forced, the concise and the diffuse; the perspicuous and the obscure. If he thinks clearly he will, in all probability, write natur- ally and concisely, and perspicuity will follow as a matter of course. But, before putting pen to paper he must have
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or acquire a thorough knowledge of the matter about which he purposes to write. Care and perseverance are qualities essential to accuracy. Exactness of thought results more often than not from ability to analyze details and to exer- cise sound judgment. Strong convictions and the power to absorb often lead to forceful writing, which is the result of feeling and earnestness of purpose. The foundation of all good creative work is feeling; eliminate feeling and whatever you write will lack individuality and interest; nothing but a lifeless mass of words will remain, possibly icily correct so far as grammar and rhetoric are concerned, but nevertheless colorless and without spirit.
Purity of style restricts one to the use of only those words and phrases which belong to our language. To secure this one must abstain (1) from using foreign words or idioms, and give preference to the native English term whenever that exists; (2) from using archaic, obsolescent or obsolete words; (3) from using colloquialisms and slang; (4) from using hybrid terms or nonce words; (5) from bombast or affectedness which only serve to make one ridiculous. Roger Ascham sought to discourage the use of foreign words in the introduction to "Toxophilus" (1544)1. Propriety of style is secured by selecting the right words to use and by using them correctly in constructing sen- tences to express thought. This correct use is in general based upon the best usage as found in the works of the great masters. When writing prose one should take care (1) to follow the natural order of things or events; (2) to refrain from using equivocal and ambiguous expressions ; (3) to avoid making use of the language of poetry — morn and eve, oft and stilly are words that belong to the poet's
1 "Toxophilus," Arber's reprint, p. 18. See also p. 77 of this book.
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vocabulary rather than, to that of the essayist and prose writer — and (4) to reject provincial and dialectal phrase- ology as undesirable. (5) Technical terms should be used only in treating the particular art, science, trade or occu- pation to which they belong.
Precision in writing is obtained by avoiding the use of unnecessary words and by expressing oneself in such a way that neither more nor less than the thought one has in mind is presented to the reader. To do this effectively it is necessary (1) to avoid tautology or the unnecessary repeti- tion of the same word or idea, and (2) to use only such words as are suited to the occasion. To illustrate this point clearly: One may acquire knowledge by diligent study and thus attain honor and gain celebrity. Another obtains a reward when he wins a prize. In these sentences the five words printed in italics are approximately synonymous in meaning, but can not well be transposed without offending precision.
Phelps2 tells us that one to whom thought comes in a volume of words may express more, he may express less, he may express other than his real meaning. He to whom words occur with difficulty is the more apt to have a studied expression, and therefore an exact expression. In one of Edmund Burke 's elaborated sentences there may be found words and clauses selected and multiplied and arranged and compacted and qualified and defined and repeated, for the very purpose of extending and limiting the truth to its exact and undoubted measure. He ob- viously labors to say just what he means, no more, no less, no other. Still, on the whole, he fails, because he is so elaborately precise in details. The thought is suffocated by
2 "English Style in Public Discourse," p. 91.
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the multitude of words employed to give it life. It is buried.
"Perspicuity," says Thomas Reid,3 "depends upon a proper choice of words, a proper structure of sentences, and a proper order in the whole composition . . . but it supposes distinctness in our conceptions." Concisely defined, per- spicuity is freedom from obscurity, intricacy, or ambiguity, and is secured (1) by placing adjectives, adverbs, relative pronouns, participles, and explanatory phrases as near as possible to the words to which they relate and in such a position as is necessary to the correct interpretation of the sense; and (2) by avoiding the misuse of ellipses, and by repeating such words as are necessary to express the sense. For example, in the sentence "Self-reliance fits us both for the development of our plans and for carrying them to completion," the two words in italics are indispensable to the correct understanding of the thought. Likewise, the insertion of the word "other" in the sentence that follows is necessary to a correct reading : ' ' This dictionary contains more words than any other dictionary published. ' '
Unity in literary composition is the principle that one central or dominating idea or ideal should pervade and con- trol the whole. This is to be obtained (1) by avoiding the introduction of useless breaks or pauses; (2) by keeping the main object predominant throughout a sentence or paragraph; (3) by treating different subjects in distinct paragraphs; (4) by taking care to favor the principal subject of a sentence instead of its adjuncts; (5) by avoid- ing the introduction of unnecessary or long parentheses and thus diverting the reader's mind from the main theme.
Strength is power in the expression of meaning in lan-
8 "Works," Vol. II., Intellectual Powers essay, iv., p. 399. v
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guage and depends upon placing the most important words in the position in which they will create the strongest impression. Therefore, when making different assertions the stronger assertion should always precede the weaker, and in sentences composed of two members the longer member should follow the shorter.
Hazlitt hated anything that occupied more space than it was worth. ''I hate," said he, "to see a load of band- boxes go along the street, and I hate to see a parcel of big words without anything in them." Persons who write in a concise and terse style write most effectively. They do this not by selecting the big, round word but by using the short, simple one wherever possible. They avoid redun- dancy, tautology, and circumlocution. Their sentences are not so short as to be abrupt and jerky, not so long as to weary the reader, nor so involved as to entangle him in a maze of words. Milton, in his essay on "Education," has given us an example of such a maze, the sense of which has been preserved by careful punctuation: "And for the usual method of teaching arts, I deem it to be an old errour of universities, not yet well recovered from the scholastic grossness of barbarous ages, that instead of beginning with arts most easy (and those be such as are most obvious to the sense), they present their young immatriculated novices at first coming with the most intellective abstractions of logic and metaphysics ; so that they having but newly left those grammatic flats and shallows where they stuck un- reasonably to learn a few words with lamentable construc- tion, and now on the sudden transported under another climate to be tossed and turmoiled with their unballasted wits in fathomless and unquiet depths of controversy, do for the most part grow into hatred and contempt of learn-
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ing, mocked and deluded all this while with ragged notions and babblements, while they expected worthy and delight- ful knowledge; till poverty or youthful years call them importunately their several ways, and hasten them with the sway of friends either to an ambitious and mercenary, or ignorantly zealous divinity; some allured to the trade of law, grounding their purposes not on the prudent and heavenly contemplation of justice and equity, which was never taught them, but on the promising and pleasing thoughts of litigious terms, fat contentions, and flowing fees; others betake them to state affairs, with souls so unprincipled in virtue and true generous breeding, that flattery and courtships and tyrannous aphorisms appear to them the highest points of wisdom ; instilling their barren hearts with conscientious slavery; if, as I rather think, it be not feigned. ' '
Of the difficulties that beginners have to contend with the chief is the desire to produce something that will be impressive. This leads, often, to the use of big words and flowery expressions which are forced on the paper much as plants are forced under the nurseryman's frame. To those persons who wish to overcome this defect, the best advice that can be given is : when you write try to appear as you are rather than as you wish to be. Be natural, and you will not only find that nature is your second self but that writing will become a pleasure rather than a laborious task. Simple language is always effective.
As a writer in ' ' Ophthalmic Literature ' M put it : Any one who has something to write can learn to write it clearly, smoothly, and effectively if he wishes to do so. To learn to write good English, thought must be given to the exact
4 "Ophthalmic Literature," September, 1912.
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meaning of each word used. From among different words that carry about the same meaning, one must learn to choose that one which most exactly conveys the thought. The words so chosen must be arranged in the order that will un- fold the idea most smoothly and regularly without any un- necessary breaks. The words must be grouped in sen- tences, each of which presents a fairly complete idea, that may be grasped without leaving it indefinite, or dependent on something that is to come after.
No course in logic or general intellectual training will do more to develop the power of exact, definite connected think- ing than the endeavor to use words with exactness, and in proper sequence in writing. But by practising the exer- cises designed to improve one's style, much may be gained. A practical plan to develop what one has in mind is first to put it on paper; then, after it has been forgotten, to go over it again and attempt to substitute sentences equally as appropriate or better; and finally, after another period of waiting, to choose from among the different forms of ex- pression the clearest, most definite. Only by this effort to use the best possible form of expression, kept up all the time one is engaged in writing ; and by repeated revision of what one has written, can the writing of good English be attained. A keen interest in one's subject is an un- deniable desideratum, for when one is full of what one wishes to say, the various forms that express one's thought arise spontaneously in one's mind, and it is by selecting the best of these that one becomes master of the art of writing.
The person who can tell a story effectively should have very little difficulty in writing it interestingly if nature be given sway over ambition. The desire to shine is human,
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but it is so strong in most persons who wish to write for publication that it often suppresses individuality inasmuch as it begets in the writer's mind an exaggerated idea of what prospective readers may expect, for most of us have an ideal which we wish to attain or an idol whom we desire to imitate. There are few persons who, when they begin to write, do not set about it without having some model in mind — one they wish to imitate or one after whom they desire to pattern their work. The novice should not try to cast his thoughts in some master's mold, chiefly because he will find the task beyond his powers, but in addition because if he could succeed he would be compelled to produce an artificial individuality at the expense of the suppression of his own. Ellis5 tells us that as a writer slowly finds his own center of gravity, the influence of the rhythm of other writers ceases to be perceptible except in so far as it coincides with his own natural movement and tempo. That is a familiar fact. We less easily realize, perhaps, that not only the tunes, but the notes that they are formed of, in every great writer are his own. In other words, he creates even his vocabulary. That is so not only in the more obvious sense that out of the mass of words that make up a language every writer uses only a limited number, and even among these has his words of predilec- tion. It is in the meanings he gives to words, to names, that a writer creates his vocabulary.
Writing for the press is one of the best exercises for those who have, decided to follow a literary career. Jour- nalism is an exacting profession, but he who has been for- tunate enough to graduate from the editorial rooms of some great daily has a liberal education in the art of
c "The Atlantic Monthly," November, 1908.
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writing. Some of the shining lights in English literature served their apprenticeship in writing for the press. Joseph Addison, poet and essayist, wrote for a tri-weekly sheet called "The Tatler," which was started by his old schoolfellow, Richard Steele, and also for a much more famous publication, "The Spectator" — the first English periodical worthy of the name. It was in the latter that Addison 's finest work appeared.
Richard Steele, playwright and essayist, not only founded "The Tatler," "The Spectator," and "The Guardian," but contributed to them. Dr. Samuel Johnson, teacher, lexi- cographer, author, was inseparably associated with "The Rambler," a bi-weekly periodical and "The Idler," a pub- lication in lighter vein, of which 103 numbers appeared. Lord Macaulay wrote his inimitable essays for "The Edin- burgh Review." Emerson edited "The Dial." Holmes contributed to the "Atlantic Monthly." Whittier edited "The Haverhill Gazette," and later "The New England Weekly Review" and "The Pennsylvania Freeman." — Lowell, Dickens, Thackeray, — all had experience in news- paperdom before they attained the lasting fame which they enjoyed. Horace Greeley and Charles Anderson Dana were famous editors, and many others have followed them, but few of these have reached to their high plane. Journalism has been defined as literature in a hurry. Vis- count Morley, who was taxed with having framed the definition, denied it. He said that to define journalism accurately one must go a great deal deeper than that. The journalist has to take the moods and occasions of the hour and make the best he can of them. He is a man of action and is concerned with the real. The qualities of a good journalist, says Lord Morley, are candor, courtesy, inde-
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pendence and responsibility, but even this definition the noble Lord declared inadequate. The journalist works in a hurry, and tries to tell what he has to tell in as few words as it is possible to tell it. He has learned how to con- centrate thought, and thus can present facts concisely. That is one of the great advantages to be obtained from journalistic training.
The journalist aims to suit his style to the intelligence and taste of the greater number of the readers of the jour- nal to which he contributes, and the better class of journal seeks to elevate and to refine the public taste rather than to deprave it. When the founders of "The Evening Post" (New York), of which William Cullen Bryant was chief editor in 1828, issued the first number of this journal they announced its purpose in the following terms : ' ' The design of this paper is to diffuse among the people correct infor- mation on all interesting subjects, to inculcate just prin- ciples in religion, morals, and politics; and to cultivate a taste for sound literature."6 The progress of intelligence has developed human thought and that development is due largely to the intellectual influence which the newspaper press brings to bear upon the people.
6 Prospectus of the "Evening Post," No. 1, November 16, 1801.
XI
Individuality in Writing
To tell the reader how he can infuse his individuality into what he writes is not an easy task, and therefore it is one to approach with timidity. It is not the purpose here to instruct him how he can become eminent in literature. Practise, talent, opportunity and time only may help him to the enviable position of a successful author. To Orson Squire Fowler, an eminent phrenologist of the last century, we owe the thought that individuality is one of the first developed and most active intellectual organs of the young. For this reason Fowler claimed that the power of obser- vation in children should be the principal power employed in their education. It is on the individuality of the citizen that the strength of the State depends, and this individu- ality is the result of the development of character.
Individuality in writing depends upon personal character more than upon anything else. Men and women of strong character, if they write at all, are usually persons who write forcefully, earnestly, and convincingly. A writer's style depends also upon his opinions, and no writer who does not think for himself and act for himself can be said to possess individuality.
Medical men have told us that in man physical changes take place every seven years. Similarly changes may be said to take place in character and individuality. Some- times the point of view is changed by travel or by wide range of contact with one's fellow men. Sometimes opin-
325
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ions firmly and doggedly held for years are modified and often ultimately completely reversed. William Ewart Gladstone began his career as a Conservative (Tory) and ended it as a Liberal ; and his great contemporary, Benjamin Disraeli, entered the House of Commons as a Liberal and left it a Conservative, which he remained throughout his career in the House of Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield.
Individuality is subject, in great measure, to one's sur- roundings, the influences of home, the experiences of child- hood— for these often leave on the mind indelible impres- sions which influence the molding of character to some degree.
"Every writer," says Havelock Ellis, "is called afresh to reveal new strata of life. By digging in his own soul he becomes the discoverer of the soul of his family, of his nation, of the race, of the heart of humanity. For the greater writer finds style as the mystic finds God, in his own soul. It is the final utterance of a sigh, which none could utter before him, which all could utter after." If you have something to say put your thought and feeling, your heart and soul into the manner in which you say it. That is the way to stamp your individuality upon it.
A short time ago Viscount Morley, addressing a meeting of representatives of the British Imperial Press, said: "I remember once, when I was in charge of a newspaper, there came to me a youngster who sought employment, and I said, 'Have you any special quality ?' £Yes/ he thought he had. 'What is it?' He said, 'Invective/ 'Any par- ticular form?' 'No; general invective.' ' And in this quality the young man was not by any means alone. Un- fortunately, the too free use of the language of personal vituperation, coarse epithet and innuendo has sometimes
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been mistaken for individuality. Its use has enabled young writers to secure a measure of questionable fame which has proved a boomerang. They have found out that scandal and personality are popular, so they use pointed insinua- tions, sophistry, in dissecting private characters or des- cribing fashionable vices. Their efforts seem to be devoted to trying to prove that ''things are not what they seem." To such as have fallen into the rut of the scavenger's cart the best advice that can be given is — take your own muck- rake and rake yourself out on solid ground, and once there, stay there.
Just as in musical notation there are notes which are sharp, others which are flat, and others still that are natural, so there are individuals who possess like qualities. Indeed, most men possess them but few know how to use them. Lord Macaulay possessed them and used them judiciously, as any one who cares to read his essays can see for himself. But then, Macaulay was the foremost essayist of his time, and he to-day ranks as a master of the art of expression. His scathing denunciation of Bertrand Barrere is a brilliant example of the manner in which he could wield a pen when spurred by indignation. His essay on Milton, although written at the starting-point of his literary fame, was so brilliant that its appearance was felt, and notwithstanding the fact that later in life he himself condemned it as "overloaded with gaudy and ungraceful ornament," it is still considered a masterpiece of literary skill. Forcefulness, brilliancy, and grace were not his only qualities as a writer, for he was an artist, and painted pictures with the pen, in which every word he used blended harmoniously. As a poet his Lays have never been surpassed for natural vigor and melody.
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' ' The great writers of any school bear witness, each in his own way, that deeper than the conventions and decorums of style there is a law from which no writer can escape, a law which he must needs learn but can never be taught. That is the law of the logic of thought. All the conven- tional rules of the construction of speech may be put aside if a writer is thereby enabled to follow more closely and lucidly the form and process of his thought. It is the law of that logic that he must forever follow, and in attaining it alone find rest.1 ' '
With young writers, or with those persons who begin to write, the tendency to imitate seems irresistible. Imita- tion may be the sincerest flattery, but it is not individuality and is best avoided. Individuality may be said to assert itself in letter-writing more than in any other form of composition, and therefore it is an art which should be cultivated as in the direct line toward the aim in view. It is one of the most fascinating of pastimes. It is not an exotic, and therefore should not be forced. It is a plant of natural growth, and as such should be fostered only by natural means. For this reason, in practising the art of letter-writing it is best to begin by addressing oneself to an intimate friend, one who is willing to read and com- petent to point out such errors as may have unconsciously been committed. It may seem paradoxical to suggest that individuality can assert itself without the use of the personal pronoun, first person singular, yet such is the case; and the person who can compose a readable letter without re- peated reference to self can be said to have overcome one of the principal difficulties that besets beginners.
The literatures of England and of France have been en-
1Havelock Ellis in "The Atlantic Monthly," November, 1908.
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riched with the work of famous letter-writers. The Paston letters, the publication of which earned for John Fenn the honor of knighthood, are a valuable collection of the correspondence that passed between the members of the Paston family of Norfolk in England between the years 1424 and 1506. The originals bound in three volumes were presented to King George III. by their editor in 1787, but, unfortunately, have disappeared. ' ' The Paston let- ters," said Richard Garnett,2 "are peculiarly interesting from the importance, and, in some respect the represen- tative character of the family ... In its broader aspects the correspondence exhibits human nature much as it is now, except for the notable deficiency in public spirit and the absence of large views or worthy interests in life. The contrast with our own times is instructive, showing how largely commerce and literature, art and travel, have con- tributed to augment moral and intellectual as well as material wealth."
Pope originated the literary letter when in 1737 he issued a volume of letters which passed between his literary friends and himself. Lord Chesterfield's "Letters to his Son" and those to his godson and successor are reckoned *among the English Classics. James Howell was one of England 's most entertaining letter- writers, and Thackeray, who greatly admired his work, always kept a volume of Howeirs letters by his bedside. Dr. Joseph Jacobs edited an edition of Howeirs familiar letters in 1893. The letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, of Dean Swift and of Horace Walpole are worthy to rank with the best literature of their time.
The perusal of famous diaries, as those of Samuel Pepys
- "Encyc. Brit.," Vol. XVIII., page 345.
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and Madame D'Arblay, may prove instructive as well as useful in the development of individuality in writing. The "Diary" of Pepys is instructive in that it depicts in minute detail the manners and customs of the times in which he lived. It is amusing in that the author quite unconcernedly displays within its pages his own weaknesses and faults, as well as the vanities and extravagancies of the persons with whom he came into contact as Secretary of the Ad- miralty during the reigns of Charles II. and of his ill-fated brother James, whom William III. practically drove out of England. It is instructive in that without it the history of the Court of Charles II. could not have been written. Pepys lacked imagination and had little political knowl- edge, therefore could only record the sights and the current gossip — this he did well. It is because these were recorded without hesitation that from his "Diary" we can under- stand the brilliancy and wickedness of the Court, as well as the social state and daily life of the bourgeois class.3 The "Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay" (Frances Burney) are also full of court gossip, but contain in ad- dition much spirited dialogue and many character sketches marred, however, by amazing self-conceit.
In a recent criticism of Pepys 's work Havelock Ellis4 said :>
"Pepys wrote his 'Diary' at the outset of a life full of strenuous work and not a little pleasure, with a rare devotion indeed, but with a concision and carelessness, a single eye on the fact itself and an extraordinary absence of self-conscious- ness, which rob it of all claim to possess what we convention- ally term style. Yet in this vehicle he has perfectly conveyed not merely the most vividly realized and delightfully detailed
3 "Encyc. Brit.," Vol. XVIII., page 521.
4 "The Atlantic Monthly," November, 1908.
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picture of a past age ever achieved in any language, but lie has, moreover, painted a psychological portrait of himself which, for its serenely impartial justice, its subtle gradations, its bold juxtapositions of color, has all the qualities of the finest Velas- quez. There is no style here, we say, merely the diarist writing with careless, poignant vitality for his own eye; and yet no style that we could conceive would be better fitted, or so well fitted, for the miracle that has here been effected."
XII
On the Corruption of Speech
BAD English is an offense when it emanates from the uneducated; it is little short of a crime when it comes from those who have had opportunities for education. It is due to the care which we exercise in teaching the lan- guage that the level of English speech is higher in America than it is in England. A recent visitor to our shores gave expression to the following:
"The American has a way of writing, figuratively, with a dictionary at his elbow and a grammar within reach. There are few educated Englishmen who do not consider their own authority — the authority drawn from their school and univer- sity training — superior to that of any dictionary, or grammar, especially of any American one. So it has come about that, while the tendency of the American 'people is constantly to become more exact and more accurate in its written and spoken speech, the English tendency is no less constantly toward a growing laxity; and while the American has been sternly and conscientiously at work pruning the inelegancies out of his language, the Briton has been light-heartedly taking these same inelegancies to himself."1
He is not alone in his view. Professor Walter W. Skeat, writing on "The Problem of Spelling Reform,"2 said: "I lately met the President of an American University, who said to me (I have no doubt with perfect truth) : 'In our universities English takes first place. ' This is one of those
1H. P. Robinson, "The Twentieth Century American." 2 "Proceedings of the British Academy," Vol. II.
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facts of which the ordinary Englishman is entirely ignor- ant ; indeed, it is almost impossible for him to imagine how such a state of things can be possible. I recommend the contemplation of this astounding fact to your serious con- sideration. ' '
Compare the foregoing with what Rudyard Kipling has written about the Americans, and note the difference: "They delude themselves into the belief that they talk English — the English — the American has no language. He is dialect, slang, provincialism, accent, and so forth."2* It is as well known in England to-day as it is in America, even if it be not known to Mr. Kipling, that professors in American universities, and other American scholars, have done more than any other English-speaking people to preserve in all its purity that "Well of English undefiled" which we share in common.
The American has dialect, so have the British Isles, and they have it almost to the number of all their counties and shires. Professor Emerson in his "History of the English Language" says: "Spoken English throughout America is more uniform among all classes, there being no such strongly marked dialects as in England. America differs from England also in having no one locality, the speech of which is acknowledged by all as standard usage. The only standard recognized in America is that of dictionaries, which attempt to follow, not one locality, but the best usage of the country as a whole. ' '
The American has slang. Much slang, American or English, is slovenly, incorrect, vicious, and worthless; but this lives its little day and is soon crowded out of use by the lesser part which is virile, expressive, and picturesque.
23 "American Notes," II.
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American slang breathes the atmosphere of thought un- trammeled by conventionalities; it is free, forcible, and vigorous, and to use the best of it is no longer considered an offense to good taste. To-day Richard Grant White's principle that "in language everything distinctively American is bad,"3 is erroneous.
Mr. Kipling says that the American has "provincialism," whatever that may mean. If Mr. Kipling means that the American uses provincialisms, and will study Dr. Joseph Wright's "English Dialect Dictionary," he will find that there are others to whom the distinction of "provincialism" applies much more appropriately than it does to the people of the United States.
The American has accent. For this he has reason to be thankful because he knows what to do with it. Mr. Robin- son says the American people are to be envied for the homogeneity of their language. He thinks Stevenson understates matters when he says: "You may go all over the States, and setting aside the actual intrusion and in- fluence of foreigners — negro, French, or Chinese — you will scarce meet with so marked a difference of accent as in forty miles between Edinburgh and Glasgow, or of dialect as in the hundred miles between Edinburgh and Aber- deen."4 Mr. Robinson believes this universal tongue — "this universal comprehensrbility" — is of the greatest im- portance to the nation, and thinks there is no way of reckoning how much England has lost owing to the fact that communication of thought is practically impossible between people who are neighbors.
With all his faults as enumerated by Mr. Kipling, the
3 "The Atlantic Monthly," XLI, 495.
4 H. P. Robinson, "The Twentieth Century American."
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American, even in the haste of affairs which is a char- acteristic of his race, has not yet reached the state of his English "cousins," which was recently described by a writer in "The Bystander " as follows:
Long ago society unanimously decided to drop its g's. We went huntin', ridin', shootin'. Now it is my duty to reveal, we are threatened with the mutilation of the adverb. "I should be awful glad to come if it wasn't so frightful far," writes the gilded youth. "I'm absolute sick of this utter boring play," says Lady Hortense in the stalls. We are "fearful pleased" and "terrible disgusted." Last week, we spoke of a certain young lady as "huntin' regular" with the Quorn.
In treating the subject of a Pure Speech League estab- lished in London, "The Sun" (New York) said editorially:
No one knows who the founders are, but they must be superior people, for in a circular newly published they allege that not more than one person in 104 speaks real English. It is alleged, for instance, that the Londoners say oi for i, whereas others aver that they have never heard anything resembling oi. "Many say aw, " writes one critic ; "many say ah, but in all the various shades and gradations of Cockney we do not remember having heard oi" A common Cockneyism of our time is the substitution of i for a, as "pile' ' for pail, "line* ' for lane, and so on; but Professor Skeat says he can well remember the shock of surprize when first he heard this singular perversion. On that occasion it was a railway porter who cried "Myden Lyne," but now, according to Professor Skeat, "you can already trace a tendency toward the Cockney 'line' for lane in the speech of many educated persons." Dr. Wright in his Dic- tionary of Dialect gives sixteen different pronunciations of the word "down" as used in various parts of England, and these differences are all in the vowel sound.
A German who spent some time in the United States and then returned home was greatly impressed with the passion
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for the study of English which he found here: "The bul- wark of the American republic is the dictionary/' he said. "I never saw so many dictionaries in my life in any lan- guage, as I have seen in New York. In homes the dictionary occupies a prominent place on the library or sitting-room table, and in offices it is frequently the only literature in sight. When I first began to make my acquaintance with the business life of the metropolis I considered it a reflec- tion on my ability as a linguist when the office-boy handed me a dictionary with which to while away the time while waiting for his employer. Later I found that Americans born and bred improved the fleeting moments in the same manner. " It is different in England — there dictionaries are the luxury of a few. But, notwithstanding the fact that the habit of consulting the dictionary frequently is culti- vated among the masses in America far more than among them in England, there is a strong tendency to misuse words on both sides of the Atlantic. In America the endeavor is to obtain an accurate knowledge of the mean- ings of words, yet despite this endeavor, erroneous and illiterate forms of speech abound. Perhaps, these may be attributed to an abnormal passion for novelty which seems to dominate the English-speaking races. There are very few persons, even among those who would be shocked at being told that they were not well educated, who are not given to cultivating, perhaps unconsciously, the vernacular of the street. "The English Slanguage," as one purist fittingly termed it, pervades our daily life. Children dis- play persistent aptitude in acquiring expressive but un- cultured phrases, and their parents in chiding them some- times make matters worse by the way they set about it. "The Philadelphia Telegraph " recently printed a good
ON THE CORRUPTION OF SPEECH ,337
example of this: "The other night at dinner in West Philadelphia a little girl surprized her mother by saying, ' I'm not stuck on this bread.' 'Margie/ said her mother reprovingly, 'you want to cut that slang out.' 'That's a peach of a way of correcting the child,' remarked the father. 'I know,' replied the mother, 'but I just wanted to put her wise.' 5
In commercial life one often meets men who pass for educated whose sense of the correct use of words has been blunted by contact with others who possibly have not enjoyed the same educational advantages as themselves. They know good English when they hear it, but seldom use it. They seem to forget that accuracy of speech and knowledge of the true meanings of words are essential to clear understanding. Errors of speech are due more often to carelessness than to ignorance. And it is that careless- ness which should be checked.
In the course of an address delivered before the Prin- cipals ' Club a few months ago, a prominent member of the New York Bar5 took occasion to say, "We as Americans are noted for the bad English that we use. Now, with all due credit to the splendid work that has been done, and is being done by you teachers, I would urge that specimens of the finest literature should be put into the hands of our school children, and they should be taught to read them up to the time they graduate from college. There is to-day a deplorable lack of knowledge of English literature among college graduates. I would advocate the daily reading of good literature in our schools. Thus shall we cultivate a taste for good writing and thereby secure the elimination of the ever-prevalent slang. "
6 The Hon. John J. Delany.
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Mr. George J. Smith, a member of the Board of Exam- iners of applicants for teachers' licenses in New York City, recently reached the conclusion that "the fund of general knowledge possessed by the graduates of our in- stitutions is discouragingly limited, and in very many cases the command of the mother tongue is exceedingly poor." He found ample evidence that the graduates had done little reading of standard works of literature other than those required in the course. In other words, "they had not acquired that habit without which scholarship and culture are impossible — the reading habit, the getting acquainted with many informing and masterly works for the pleasure and the use of so doing. "
This condition he attributes to "too little time and at- tention" given in the schools to reading. He said that in some of the elementary schools not more than. 100 minutes a week are given to reading, while in high schools little more time is allotted.
"Good English," said Dr. Elroy Avery many years ago, "is an art and not a science ; a thing of habit and not merely one of theory ; a matter of practise rather than one of preaching." But the art of speaking and writing good English is not easily acquired in the face of such conditions as are described above or as have been described by Pro- fessor Walter Skeat. On the occasion of millenary cele- brations in honor of King Alfred the Great, held at Win- chester, England, several years ago, the Professor, speak- ing of the history of the English language, remarked that the number of students who have even an elementary knowledge of it is remarkably small. He added : " I know of nothing more surprizing than this singular fact. The history of English is just the one thing which hardly any
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schoolboy knows. Very often he can tell you the differ- ence between one ancient Greek dialect and another, but to discriminate between the English of Chaucer's 'Canter- bury Tales' and that of Barbour's story of 'King Robert the Bruce' is wholly beyond him. Just as the schoolboy is taught to look with reverence upon every Latin and Greek sentence, so is he, in only too many instances, left to his own devices as regards his native tongue."
If such be the condition of the schoolboy, what may one expect of those persons who, in their day, have not enjoyed even the meager advantages which the Professor referred to. It is to such as these that the writer ventures to hope this book may appeal.
Between the class that has acquired a perfect mastery of the English tongue and the class that cares little whether or not it speaks or writes correctly, there is a third class — a vast and important multitude which is constantly engaged in the culture of self, that strains its faculties to acquire those attainments which make for success in life, and above all, that aims to secure a perfect command of our language. It is to this class, also, that these pages may prove of interest. In the use of English the reader must bear in mind the fact that the correctness of a form 'or of a con- struction is not impaired by the fact that nothing analogous to it exists in the language, any more than that the correct- ness of a word is to be challenged because there is no other in the language resembling it in sound or spelling. All rules of grammar and rhetoric should be based on good usage, for that is the only standard by which the correct use of words is to be judged.
"The depravation of a language is not merely a token pr an effect of the corruption of a people, but corruption
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is accelerated, if not caused, by the perversion and degra- dation of its consecrated vocabulary. " So wrote Professor George P. Marsh in his "Lectures on the English Lan- guage," and judging from the forming of a Pure Speech League in London, and the recent plea of the Editor of "The New York Times Saturday Review of Books" for a Society for the Protection of Words in New York, one may well think that the English language is being cor- rupted.
Things may be rotten in the State of Denmark, but English, notwithstanding that it suffers fearfully from maltreatment, has not yet reached that stage of decay which the word "rotten" implies. In the natural order of things speech is more susceptible to corruption than writing, be- cause the greater number of the intelligent people are care- less of their diction, and are guilty of making mistakes in conversation which they would never make if they wrote what they wished to say. Grammarians, too, have helped the work of misuse along. A short time ago Professor Lounsbury pointed out that we have no "authoritative" English grammar. "What is good English to an English- man, may be bad English to an American," said he, and, continuing, pointed out that Sir Philip Burne-Jones, in a new book on America, commented on the fact that Ameri- cans use "gotten" instead of "got." And yet a well- educated American girl would be as likely to say "had went" as "had got." An English play can generally be distinguished from an American play by the single fact that the actors say "ain't," something unspeakable in educated American circles. The English people are not to be shamed out of saying "ain't." They use it boldly and unblushingly, declaring it is all right and perfectly
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proper, if for no other reason than that the English people say it. In America "ain't" is always inelegant, and when used is due more to carelessness than to ignorance.
Thoughtlessness lies at the root of that maltreatment of words which leads to the corruption of their original sense, and this the Editor of "The Saturday Review of Books" says "marks all classes of authors and, indeed, has become almost universal in both England and America." He quotes the word "vast" as one that is flagrantly misused. "Small of body but mighty of soul, its limits are those of a continent, an ocean, the universe, space itself. Imagine its sensations when put into a literary scavenger's daughter and compressed to the point where it can circumscribe a fireplace, a crab, or a pot of jam ! ' ' Another word which has received no better treatment is "infinite" — "a sleeping bag with an infinite number of compartments ! " " Think, ' ' says the same authority, "of the sort of jolt that poor word must have experienced, accustomed to shadow forth the wisdom of the Almighty, when forced to dwindle and dwarf its majesty to the description of a dozen pockets in a sleeping bag ! ' '
"When the word "chesty" was given place in the dic- tionary the Editor of "The New York Herald" told us that "words have been admitted in the language that are not only disreputable in origin, not only offensive in all their associations, not only vulgar in essence, but unfit at all points for survival," and all because the expressive little word "chesty" found place in a lexicon! The Editor of "The Herald" may be right but was he not a little too severe? It is a matter of record that language purifies itself ? Many words which were in common use in the days of Fielding and Smollett are not accepted as of sterling
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value to-day, and one does not need a divining-rod to predict that many words now in vogue will find permanent rest in some lexicographic mausoleum of the future.
In considering the subject under discussion several years ago the Editor of "The Evening Sun" (New York) re- marked that "every now and then some one gets up and proves to his own satisfaction that among other things which are going to the dogs is the English language. The appearance of books written in slang, in which the argot of the stage, the race-track, and the gambling-house are used, is cited as good and sufficient evidence of this. But, all this is quite unscientific." We know from past experi- ence that the slang of one age has become the reputable language of another. In every period of the past there has been apprehension that corruptions were pouring into the language with irresistible force. One has but to look back to the prefaces of the earlier dictionaries to find proof of this assertion.
Dr. Samuel Johnson set out "to fix" the language; Addison wished that "certain men might be set apart as superintendents of our language, to hinder any words of a foreign coin passing among us"; Swift, in a letter to the Earl of Oxford, written in 1712, proposed "correcting and improving it"; Dickens deplored the flood of slang which was imported and incorporated in the language of his time.
Sixty years ago he wrote in "Household Words": "To any person who devotes himself to literary composition in the English language, the redundancy of unauthorized words and expressions must always be a source of unutter- able annoyance and vexation. Should he take advantage of what he sses and hears in his own days and under his own eyes, and incorporate into his language those idiomatic
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words and expressions he gathers from the daily affairs of life and the daily conversation of his fellow men, he will have no lack of critics to tell him that he writes insufferable vulgarity and slang.
"You may hear slang every day in term from barristers in their robes, at every mess-table, at every bar mess, at every college commons, in every club dining-room. Brig- ands, burglars, beggars, impostors, and swindlers will have their slang jargon to the end of the chapter. Mariners, too, will use the terms of their craft, and mechanics will borrow from the technical vocabulary of their trade. And there are cant words and terms traditional in schools and colleges, and in the playing of games, which are orally authorized if not set down in written lexicography. But so universal has the use of slang terms become, that, in all societies, they are frequently substituted for, and have almost usurped the place of wit.
"If we continue the reckless, and indiscriminate im- portation and incorporation into our language of every cant term of speech from the columns of American news- papers, every Canvas Town epithet from the vocabularies of gold-diggers, every bastard classicism dragged head and shoulders from a lexicon by an advertising tradesman to puff his wares, every slipslop Gallicism from the shelves of the circulating library ; if we persist in yoking Hamlets of adjectives to Hecubas of nouns, the noble English tongue will become, fifty years hence, a mere dialect of colonial idioms, enervated ultramontanisms, and literate slang; the fertility of a language may degenerate into the fecu- lence of weeds and tares. Should we not rather, instead of raking and heaping together worthless novelties of ex- pression, endeavor to weed, to expurgate, to epurate; to
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render, once more, wholesome and pellucid that which was once a well of English undefiled, and rescue it from the sewerage of verbiage and slang?
"If the evil of slang has grown too gigantic to be sup- pressed, let us at least give it decency by legalizing it; else, assuredly, this age will be branded by posterity with the shame of jabbering a broken dialect in preference to speaking a nervous and dignified language."
The use of slang generally betokens imperfect education, or a small vocabulary, though men of good education fre- quently employ it in their ordinary speech to win the favor of the ignorant. This is a doubtful expedient. A man who habitually talks and writes good English generally makes himself felt more strongly than the educated im- postor who uses bad English for popularity's sake. But, slang we shall have with us always, and only the fittest will survive.
Professor Brander Matthews has a good word to say for slang as a vitalizing element in our language. He is quoted in "The New York Herald " as saying: "I consider Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling writers of the best English we have to-day; their use of slang is wonderful, and they have made it a part of the literature of the period." The people, not the schoolmaster, says Professor Matthews, give our tongue its virility. He continues: "The English language belongs to the people who speak it. It is their own precious possession, to deal with at their pleasure and at their peril. The English language has gone on its own way, keeping its strength in spite of the efforts of pedants and pedagogs to bind it and to stifle it, ever insisting on renewing its freshness as best it could.
"This actual speech of the people, whether in Rome or
ON THE CORRUPTION OF SPEECH 345
in London or in New York, is the real language of which the literary dialect is but a sublimation. Language is made sometimes in the library, it is true, and in the parlor also, but far more often in the workshop and on the sidewalk; and nowadays the newspaper and the advertisement record for us the simple and undistilled phrases of the workshop. Most of these will fade out of sight unregretted, but a few will prove themselves possessed of sturdy vitality.
"The ideal of style, so it has been tersely put, is the speech of the people in the mouth of the scholar. One reason why so much of the academic writing of educated men is arid is because it is as remote as may be from the speech of the people. One reason why Mark Twain and Budyard Kipling are now the best-beloved authors of the English language is because they have, each of them, a welcome ear for the speech of the people/'
There are not many persons who will deny the vigor of Mr. Kipling's English, but there will be many who will disagree with Professor Matthews when he classes Mr. Kipling among the "writers of the "best English we have to-day," for much of Mr. Kipling's work is marred by faulty English. Although his style is pellucid to trans- parency, yet his dwelling-place is of that exceedingly brittle kind which makes it an unsafe haven from which to assail the quality of the English used by the educated American.
In a recent essay entitled ' ' The Test of Language, ' ' Miss Phyllis Dale relates that she received a letter from a mother begging her to write on the intemperate language used by many young girls to-day. The distressed mother wrote : " It is hard to keep correcting and nagging children, and yet the expressions that my girls and their friends — all high-school students — make use of make me look back
346 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
with reverence to my own - convent school-days. To be sure, I was not well versed in the 'ologies and 'ometries when I graduated, but I certainly did not call things 'terribly nice' or 'awfully pretty' or puzzle my hearers with the ridiculous exaggerations of speech which seem a fashion nowadays." This intemperance Miss Dale justly condemns and adds: ll Language affects sensitive persons like music. If it is well chosen and clearly expressed it is a sensuous delight to listen to, whereas if it is marred by grammatical errors and harshened by provincialisms, it jars upon one's sensibilities as discordant strains of 'music.
" Exaggeration is a peculiarly infectious mania of the moment. There is a picturesque extravagance of speech which is sometimes very effective, but it is the exaggeration of the fairy story and the wonder book, and is not in the least degree misleading.
"The exaggerating girl has milder and less effective methods. If she has a headache she tells you that she is in 'agony,' or that she 'will go crazy.' If she speaks of a rich acquaintance he figures as a person of vast wealth or comes under the general head of 'millionaire' Every one who has an automobile and a fine house and money to spend figures as a 'millionaire' in the average girl's con- versation. She tells of a 'terrible accident' that has taken place around the corner. You investigate and find that a cab horse has fallen down and frightened two women who were in the cab. ' '
Popular perversions are in some degree responsible for the misuse of words. Professor Lourisbury has cited one commented upon by Fitzedward Hall as follows: "While one is surprized to hear, for example, 'I done it' from any American but the most illiterate, one may often hear it in
ON THE CORRUPTION OF SPEECH 347
England from persons not very far below the rank of gentlemen. ' ' That the Professor does not deem Fitzedward Hall an unassailable authority will prove a source of satis- faction to many Englishmen who, like the writer, have never heard the expression used in England, although they have come into contact with farmers, mechanics, the middle class, and the class with handles to their names. Apropos of this expression the following anecdote, culled from "Lippincott's Magazine/' shows that the use of "I done it" is not unknown in the United States. A young woman of the official set in Washington at a public function found herself bored by the attentions of a " fresh ' ' young man, the son of a Senator. Soon after his introduction he proceeded to regale her with a story of some adventure in which he had figured as hero. ' * Did you really do that ? ' ? she asked, not knowing what else to say. ' ' I done it ! " was the proud response, and he began forthwith another lengthy narrative, more startling even than the first. The young woman again politely expressed her surprize. "Yes," said the hero, "that's what I done!" A third story followed, with another "I done it!" whereupon the girl remarked: "Do you know you remind me so strongly of Banquo's ghost in the play." "Why?" "Don't you remember that Mac- beth said to the ghost : ( Thou canst not say I did it ! ' "
Professor Lounsbury is not seriously apprehensive of the general corruption of the English tongue. The same cry has been raised frequently in the last three centuries, but the language has survived in spite of it. "No matter how many of these so-called corruptions creep in," says the Professor, "no fear need be entertained that the language is going to ruin in consequence. The result depends on agencies entirely different from those which affect the for-
348 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
mation of words, the rules of syntax, or the construction of sentences."
Our language is so plastic a medium for the expression of thought that it may be said to adapt itself to the needs, intellectual and material, of the persons who use it. It develops with their development and degenerates with their decay. None but the conservative influence of the men of letters can check its decline. Corruptions in the use of words there undoubtedly are, and there will continue to be. One does not need to go much further than the street to find them, but they do not exist in such proportion as to give grammarians, lexicographers, or purists cause for alarm. These corruptions are due sometimes to mere accidental misuse (as, "Where am I at?") ; to the affecta- tions or the caprices of society; to local conditions; to political influences, and even to translations from foreign languages in which words are often incorrectly made to do service for others through the linguistic limitations of the translator. Sooner or later such corruptions must all undergo that natural process of refining to which English words are subjected before they are accepted as measuring up to the required standard. In the meantime, however, it is the duty of every educated man and woman to check their spread and to lead those who use them back to that well of English undefiled from which they can draw speech in all its limpid purity.
APPENDIX
349
A Partial List of British and American Authors
Adv. — adventure; alleg. — allegory; as*. — astronomy; biog. — biography; ess. — essay; hist. — history; hum. — humor; lexicog. — lexi- cography ; lit. — literary ; mis. — miscellaneous ; math. — mathematics ; nat. — nature study; nov. — novel; philos. — philosophy; philol. — phil- ology; poet. — poetry; pol. — politics; print. — printing; sci. — science; soc. — sociology ; theol. — theology ; trans. — translation ; trav. — travel.
NAME Type of Work Chief WorTcs $ Dates Born-Died
Abbott, Jacob, (Nov.), Rollo BooTcs 1803-1879
Abbott, John S. C. (Hist. & Biog.), Hist, of Napoleon III. 1805-1877 Abbott, Lyman, (Biog. & Mis.), Life of Henry Ward
Beecher 1835-
Acton, Lord, (Hist.), Cambridge Modern History . . . 1834-1902 Adams, Brooks, (Hist. & Ess.), The Emancipation of
Massachusetts 1848-
Adams, Charles F., (Hist. & Ess.), Railroads.- their Origin
and Problems 1833-1886
Adams, Henry, (Hist. & Biog.), Hist, of United States 1838- Adams, William Taylor, (" Oliver Optic "), Young
America Abroad 1822-1897
Addison, Joseph, (Ess.), The Spectator 1672-1719
Ainger, Canon Alfred, (Biog. & Ess.), Biography of
Charles Lamb (English Men of Letter Series) . 1837-1904 Ainsworth, William Harrison, (Nov.), The Tower of Lon- don 1805-1882
Akenside, Mark, (Poet), Pleasures of the Imagination . 1721-1770
Alcott, Louisa May, (Nov., Juveniles), Little Women . 1832-1888
Alcuin, (Theol., Hist. & Poet), Epistles 735-804
Aldhelm, (Poet), Latin Poems ?640-709
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, (Poet & Drama), Prudence
Palfrey 1836-1907
Alfred, (Trans., Saxon Poems), Trans, of Bozthius
Consolation of Philosophy 849-901
Alfred of Eievaulx, (Hist.), Account of the Battle of the
Standard, 1138 1109-1166
Alfric, (Archbishop of Canterbury), Homilies, Latin
Grammar ? -1006
Alison, Sir Archibald, (Hist. & Biog.), History of Europe 1792-1867 Allen, Grant, (Nov. & Ess.), The Evolution of the Idea of
God 1848-1899
Allen, James Lane, (Nov.), The Choir Invisible . . . 1848- Allibone, Samuel Austin, A Critical Dictionary of English
Literature and Authors .- 1816-1889
351
352 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of WorTc Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Allingham, William, (Poet), Day and Night Songs . . 1824-1889
Allston, Washington, (Poet), Sylphs of the Season . . 1779-1843 Andrew of Wyntoun, (Hist.), Orygynale Cronykil of
Scotland 1350-1420
Anstey, F. See GUTHRIE
Arnold, Sir Edwin, (Poet), The Light of Asia . . . . 1832-1904
Arnold, Matthew, (Poet & Mis.), Essays in Criticism . 1822-1888
Arnold, Thomas (Hist.), Hist, of Some (Unfinished) . 1795-1842
Ascham, Eoger, (Sport), Toxophilus 1515-1568
Ashe, Thomas, (Poet), London Lyrics 1836-1889
Asser, (Hist.), Life of Alfred the Great d. about 910 Audubon, John James, (Nat.), The Birds of America . 1780-1851 Aungervyle, Eichard, ("Eichard de Bury"), (Biblio- phile), Philobiblon 1281-1345
Austen, Jane, (Nov.), Sense and Sensibility .... 1775-1817
Austin, Alfred, (Poet), English Lyrics 1835-1913
Bacon, Francis, (Philos.), Essays (1597), Novum Or-
ganum (1620) 1561-1626
Bagehot, Walter, (Philos.), Physics and Politics . . . 1826-1877 Baillie, Joanna, (Poet & Drama), Dramatic Works
(1798), Poetical Worlcs (1823) 1763-1851
Baker, Sir Eichard, (Hist. & Poet), Chronicles of the
Kings of England 1568-1645
Bale, John, (Hist. & Drama), Lives of British Writers . 1495-1564 Balfour, Arthur James, (Pol. & Philos.), Foundations of
Belief 1848-
Ball, Sir Eobert, (Sci.), Story of the Heavens . . . 1840-1913 Ballantyne, E. M., (Nov. & Travel, Juveniles), Tale of the
Oregon Gold Fields 1825-1894
Bancroft, George, (Hist.), History of the United States 1800-1891
Banim, John, (Nov.), The Tales of the O'Hara Family . 1800-1842 Banks, Sir Joseph, (Nat.), Circumstances Relative to
Merino Sheep 1743-1820
Barbauld, Mrs. Anna L., (Poet & Ess.), The Death of
Eighteous 1743-1825
Barham, Eichard Harris, (Hum.), The Ingoldsby Legends 1788-1845 Baring-Gould, Sabine, (Nov. & Mis.), Curious Myths of
the Middle Ages 1834-
Barlow, Joel, (Poet), The Vision of Columbus . . . 1755-1812 Barrie, James Matthew, (Nov. & Drama), Auld Licht
Idylls (1888), Peter Pan (1904) 1860-
Barrow, Isaac, (Theol. & Math.), Methods of Tangents . 1630-1677
Bates, Arlo, (Nov. & Poet), The Pagans 1850-
Baxter, Andrew, (Philos.), An Enquiry into the Nature
of the Human Soul 1686-1750
Baxter, Eichard, (Theol.), The Saint's Everlasting Best . 1615-1691
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 353
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Bayly, Ada Ellen, ("Edna Lyall"), (Nov.), Donovan . 1857-1903 Bayly, Thomas Haynes, (Poet & Songs), Weeds of
Witchery 1797-1839
Beattie, James, (Poems & Ess.), The Minstrel . . . 1735-1803 Beckford, William, (Lit.), The History of the Caliph
Vatliek 1760-1844
Beaumont, Francis, (Drama), The Woman Hater . . 1584-1616
Beddoes, Thomas, (Sci. & Mis.), History of Isaac Jenkins 1760-1808 Beddoes, Thomas Lovell, (Drama & Poet), The Bride's
Tragedy 1803-1849
Bede, (Hist. & Theol.), Ecclesiastical History of the
English Nation 672-735
Beecher, Henry Ward, Life of Christ 1813-1887
Bell, Sir Charles, (Anatomy), System of Dissections . . 1774-1842 Bellamy, Edward, (Soc. & Mis.), Looking Backward . . 1850-1898 Belloc, Hilaire, (Nov. & Mis.), Emmanuel Burden, Mer- chant 1870-
Bennett, Arnold, (Nov.), The Old Wives' Tale .... 1867-
Benson, Arthur C., (Ess.), From a College Window . . 1862-
Benson, Edward F., (Nov.), Dodo 1867-
Bentham, Jeremy, (Philos. & Legal), Principles of Morals
and Legislation 1748-1832
Bentley, Richard, (Theol.), Dissertations (2) upon the
Epistles of Phalaris 1662-1742
Benton, Thomas Hart, (Hist. & Pol.), Thirty Tears View 1782-1858 Berkeley, George, (Philos.), Principles of Human Knowl- edge 1684-1753
Besant, Sir Walter, (Nov.), All Sorts and Conditions of
Men 1836-1901
Beverley, Robert, (Hist.), Hist, of the Present State of
Virginia about 1675-1716
Bigelow, John, (Biog. & Pol.), Life of Benjamin Franklin 1817-1911
Binyon, Laurence, (Poet), The Death of Adam . . . 1869- Bishop, William Henry, (Nov.), The House of a Merchant
Prince 1847-
Black, William, (Nov.), Yolande 1841-1898
Blackmore, R. D., (Nov.), Lorna Doone 1825-1900
Blackstone, Sir William, (Legal), Commentaries of the
Laws of England 1723-1780
Blair, Hugh, (Theol. & Lit.), Sermons 1718-1800
Blair, Robert, (Poet), The Grave 1699-1747
Blake, William, (Poet), Songs of Innocence and Experi- ence 1757-1828
Blessington, Countess of, (Nov. & Mis.), Conversations
with Lord Byron 1789-1849
Blind, Mathilde, (Poet), The Ascent of Man .... 1841-1896
Bloomfield, Robert, (Poet), Farmer's Boy 1766-1823
354 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief WorTcs # Dates Born-Died
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen, (Poet), Sonnets and Songs . . 1840- Boker, George H., (Poet & Drama), Anne Boleyn, a
Tragedy 1824-1890
Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, (Lord Bolingbroke),
(Pol. & Lit.), Letters on the Study of History 1678-1751
Bonnycastle, John, (Math.), Elements of Geometry . . 1750-1821
Bosw ell, James, (Biog.), Life of Johnson 1740-1795
Bourchier, John, (Baron Berners), (Trans.), Froissart's
Chronicle 1469-1532
Boyle, Eobert, (Sci. & Philos.), Skeptical Chemist . . . 1627-1691 Brackenridge, Hugh Henry, (Poet), Eising Glory of
America 1748-1816
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth, (Mrs. John Maxwell), (Nov.),
Lady Audley's Secret 1837-1915
Bradford, William, (Hist. & Theol.), History of Plymouth
People and Colony 1590-1657
Bradley, Andrew Cecil, (Ess. & Critic), A Commentary on
Tennyson's in Memoriam 1851-
Bradstreet, Mrs. Anne, (Poet), Poems 1612-1672
Brady, Cyrus Townsend, (Nov.), Stephen Decatur . . 1861- Bret Harte, Francis, (Hum. & Nov.), ~The Luck of Boar- ing Camp 1839-1902
Bridges, Kobert, (Poet & Drama), The Growth of Love . 1844-
Bright, James Franck, (Hist.), A History of England . 1832- Brodhead, John Romeyn, (Hist.), Hist, of the State of
New York, 1609-1691 1814-1873
Bronte, Charlotte, (Nov.), Jane Eyre 1816-1855
Brooke, Henry, (Poet & Nov.), The Fool of Quality . . 1706-1783 Brooke, Stopford Augustus, (Theol. & Ess.), Freedom in
the Church of England 1832-
Brougham, Lord Henry, (Pol. & Hist.), Sketches of the
Statesmen of the Time of George III. . . . 1778-1868
Broughton, Ehoda, (Nov.), Nancy 1840-
Brown, Chas. -Brockden, (Nov.), Wieland 1771-1810
Brown, George Douglas, (Nov.), The House with the
Green Shutters 1869-1902
Brown, Thomas Edward, (Poet), Fo'c'sle Yarns . . . 1830-1897 Browne, Charles F., ("Artemus Ward")* (Hum.),
Artemus Ward, his Book 1834-1867
Browne, Sir Thomas, (Sci. & Mis.), Religio Medici . . 1605-1682
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, (Poet), Aurora Leigh . . 1809-1861
Browning, Eobert, (Poet & Drama), Paracelsus . . . 1812-1889 Bruce, James, (Travels), Travels to Discover the Source
of the Nile 1730-1794
Bryan, William Jennings, (Pol. & Soc.), Speeches . . 1860-
Bryant, William Cullen, (Poet), Thanatopsis .... 1794-1878
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 355
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Bryce, James, Viscount, (Hist. & Pol.), The American
Commonwealth 1838-
Brydges, Sir Samuel E., (Poet & Ess.), bonnets and Poems 1762-1837 Buchanan, George, (Hist. & Poet), Latin History of Scot- land 1506-1582
Buchanan, Robert, (Poet & Nov.), God and the Man . . 1841-1901
Sullen, Frank Thomas, (Nov.), The Cruise of the Cachalot 1857- Bulwer-Lytton, Edward, (Lord Lytton), (Poet & Nov.),
Pelham 1805-1873
Bunner, Henry Cuyler, (Nov. & Poet), The Story of a New
York House 1855-1896
Bunyan, John, (Allegory), The Pilgrim's Progress . . 1628-1688
Burgess, Thomas, (Theol.), Hebrew Elements .... 1756-1837
Burgess, Gelett, (Hum.), The Purple Cow 1866-
Burke, Edmund, (Pol. & Ess.), The Sublime and the
Beautiful 1729-1797
Burnet, Gilbert, (Hist.), History of the Reformation . . 1643-1715
Burnett, Frances Hodgson (Nov.), Little Lord Fauntleroy 1849-
Burney, Charles, (Mus. Hist.), General History of Music 1726-1814
B.urney, Frances, (Madame D'Arblay), (Nov.), Evelina 1752-1840 Burns, Robert, (Poet), The Cotter's Saturday Night, Tarn
O'Shanter, The Unco Guid . 1759-179G
Burroughs, John, (Nat. & Ess.), Winter Sunshine . . . 1837- Burton, Sir Richard, (Travel & Mis.), Pilgrimage to El-
Medinah and Mecca 1821-1890
Burton, Robert, (Philos.), The Anatomy of Melancholy . 1576-1640
Bury, John B., (Hist.), History of Greece 1861-
Bushnell, Horace, (Theol. & Philos.), Nature and the
Supernatural 1802-1876
Butler, Ellis Parker, (Nov.), Pigs is Pigs . .... 1869-
Butler, Joseph, (Theol. & Philos.), Analogy of Religion . 1692-1752
Butler, Samuel, (Poet), Hudibras 1612-1680
Butler, Samuel, (Nov.), Erewhon 1835-1902
Butler, William Allen, (Nov. & Hum.), Nothing to Wear 1825-1902
Byron, Lord, (Poet), Childe Harold 1788-1824
Cable, George W., (Nov.), Old Creole Days 1844-
Caedmon, (Poet), Saxon Poems . • -680
Caine, Hall, (Nov.), The Manxman 1853-
Caird, Edward, (Philos. & Theol.), Evolution of Religion 1835-1908 Caird, John, (Theol. & Philos.), An Introduction to the
Philosophy of Religion 1820-1898
Calverley, Charles Stuart, (Poet), Fly Leaves .... 1831-1884
Camden, William, (Hist.), Britannia 1551-1623
Campbell, Thomas (Poet), The Pleasures of Hope (1799),
Gertrude of Wyoming (1809) 1777-1844
Capes, Bernard, (Nov.), The Secret in the Hill . . . Modern
356 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died Carew, Thomas, (Poet), He that Loves a Eosy Cheek U589-1639 Carey, Henry, (Poet), Sally in our Alley .... 1700-1743 Carey, Henry Charles, (Econ. & Mis.), Principles of Polit- ical Economy 1793-1879
Carleton, William, (Nov.), Traits and Stories of the
Irish Peasantry 1794-1869
Carleton, Will, (Poet), 'Farm Ballads 1845-1912
Carlyle, Thomas, (Hist. & Ess.), Sartor Eesartus . . . 1795-1881
Carte, Thos., (Hist.), Hist, of England 1686-1754
Gary, Henry F., (Poet), Translation of Dante's Divina
Commedia 1772-1844
Castell, Edmund, (Orientalist & Poet), Lexicon Hepta-
glotton, etc 1606-1685
Cavendish, George, (Biog.), Life of Cardinal Wolsey . . 1500-1562?
Caxton, William, (Hist.), History of Troy 1423-1491
Chalmers, Geo., (Hist.), Political Annals ..... 1742-1825
Chalmers, Thomas, (Theol. & Philos.), Political Economy 1780-1847 Chanler, Amelie Kives. See EIVES.
Channing, William Ellery, (Poet & Biog.), Thoreau . 1818-1901 Chapman, George, (Poet & Drama), Ovid's Banquet of
Sence 1557-1634
Chatterton, Thomas, (Poet), Poems 1752-1770
Chaucer, Geoffrey, (Poet), Canterbury Tales . .1328 or 1340-1400
Chesterton, Gilbert K., (Nov.), Heretics 1874-
Cheyne, Canon Thomas K., (Theol.), Job and Solomon . 1841- Child, Frances James, (Lit.), Edited, English and Scottish
Popular Ballads 1825-1896
Chillingworth, William, (Theol.), The Eeligion of Protes- tants 1602-1644
Cholmondeley, Mary, (Nov.), Eed Pottage .... Modern Church, Eichard William, (Dean of St. Paul's) (Hist.,
Biog. & Mis.), Anselm 1815-1890
Churchill, Winston, (Nov.), The Crisis 1871-
Churchill, Et. Hon. Winston, (Biog.), Life of Lord Ean-
dolph Churchill 1874-
Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, (Hist.), History of
the Eebellion and Civil Wars in England . . 1608-1674 Clark, James Freeman, (Theol.), Ten Great Eeligions . 1810-1888 Clarke, Adam, (Theol. & Mis.), A Bibliographical Dic- tionary 1763-1832
Clarke, Edward Daniel, (Travels), Travels in Europe,
Asia and Africa 1769-1822
Clarke, Samuel, (Thefcl. & Philos.), Three Practical Essays
on Baptism, Confirmation and Eepentance . . 1675-1729 Clemens, Samuel L., ("Mark Twain "), (Hum.), Inno- cents Abroad 1835-1910
Clifford, Mrs. W. K., (Nov. & drama), The Modern Way Modern
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 357
NAME Type of -Work Chief Works $- Dates Born-Died Clodd, Edward, (Philos. & Mis.), The Story of the Creation 1840- Cobbett, William, (Pol. & Ess.), Rural Sides (1825), Cot- tage Economy (1822), America 1762-1835
Coke, Sir Edward, (Legal), Institutes of the Laws of
England 1552-1632
Coleridge, Samuel T., (Poet & Philos.), The Ancient
Mariner 1772-1834
Collier, Jeremy, (Theol. & Mis.), Essays upon Several
Moral Subjects 1650-1726
Collins, J. Churton, (Ess. & Critic), Sir Joshua Reynolds
as a Portrait Painter 1848-1908
Collins, William, (Poet), The Passions 1721-1756
Collins, Wm. Wilkie, (Nov.), The Woman in White . . 1824-1889
Colman, George, (Drama & Trans.), The Jealous Wife . 1733-1794 Colvin, Sir Sidney, (Biog. & Ess.), Keats, English Men of
Letters Series 1845-
Congreve, William, (Drama), The Mourning Bride . . 1670-1729
Conington, John, (Trans.), Vergil's ^Eneid .... 1825-1869
Conrad, Joseph, (Nov.), The Nigger of the Narcissus . 1857- Conway, Sir (William) Martin, (Travel & Ess.), No Man's
Land 1856-
Cook, Captain James, (Travel), Three Voyages Round
the World 1728-1779
Cooke, John Esten, (Nov. & Poet), Last of the Foresters 1830-1886
Cooper, J. Fenimore, (Nov.), The Spy 1789-1851
Corelli, Marie, (Nov.), Romance of Two Worlds . . . 1864- Cotton, John, (Theol.), The Keyes to the Kingdom of
Heaven, and the Power thereof 1585-1652
Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce, (Hist. & Pol.), Life and Raigne
of Henry III 1570-1631
Courthope, William J., (Hist. & Biog.), History of En- glish Poetry . 1842-
Coverdale, Miles, (Theol.), First Translation of the
Entire Bible 1487-1568
Cowley, Abraham, (Poet), Pindaric Odes (1656), The
Mistress (1656) 1618-1667
Cowper, William, (Poet), The Task (1785), Letters . . 1731-1800
Coxe, William, (Hist.), History of the House of Austria 1747-1828
Crabbe, George, (Poet), The Parish Register .... 1754-1832 Craigie, Mrs. ("John Oliver Hobbes"), (Nov.), The
School for Saints 1867-1906
Craik, Mrs. Dinah Maria (Nov.), John Halifax, Gentleman 1826-1887 Cranch, Christopher Pearse, (Poet), Last of the Hugger- muggers 1813-1892
Cranmer, Thomas, (Theol.), The Book of Common Prayer
(1549), Translation of the Bible (1540) . . 1489-1556
Crawford, F. Marion, (Nov.), Mr. Isaacs 1854-1909
358 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Creighton, Mandell, (Hist.), History of the Papacy . . 1843-1901
Crockett, Samuel Eutherford, (Nov.), The Saiders . . 1860-
Croly, George, (Poet & Mis.), Catiline 1780-1860
Cronwright-Schreiner, Mrs. ("Olive Schreiner"), (Nov.),
The Story of an African Farm 1863-
Cudworth, Ealph, (Philos. & Mis.), The True Intellectual
System of the Universe 1617-1688
Cumberland, Eichard, (Drama & Mis.), Memoirs . . . 1732-1811
Cunninghame-Graham, Eobert B., (Trav. & Nov.), Ipane 1852- Curtis, George Ticknor, (Hist.), Hist, of the Constitution
of the United States 1812-1894
Curtis, George William, (Nov. & Mis.), Prue and I . . 1824-1892
Cynewulf, (Poet), Eeligious Poems 8th Cent.
Dale, Eobert William, (Theol.), The Atonement . . . 1829-1895 Dalton, John C., (Sci.), New System of Chemical Phil- osophy 1767-1844
Dalton, John C., (Sci.), Human Physiology .... 1825-1889 Dana, Charles Anderson, (Encyclopedist & Mis.), Edited
Appleton's New American Cyclopedia . . . 1819-1897
Dana, Eichard Henry, (Nov. & Poet), The Idle Man . . 1787-1879 Dana, Eichard Henry, Jr., (Nov. & Mis.), Two Years
Before the Mast 1815-1882
Danby, Frank, (Nov.), (Mrs. Julia Frankau), Dr. Phil- lips, a Maida Vale Idyll; Eighteenth Century
Color Prints 1864-
Daniel, Samuel, (Poet), Sonnets 1562-1619
Daniell, John F., (Sci.), Meteorological Essays . . . 1790-1845
Darwin, Charles, (Nat.), The Origin of Species . . . 1809-1882
Darwin, Erasmus, (Poet, Nat. & Philos.), Botanic Garden 1731-1802
Davenant, Sir William, (Drama & Poet), Gondibert . . 1605-1668
Davidson, John, (Poet), Ballads and Songs 1857-1909
Davidson, Lucretia Maria, (Poet), Amir Khan . . . 1808-1825
Davies, Sir John, (Poet & Ess.), Nosce Teipsum . . . 1569-1626 Davis, Eichard Harding, (Nov. & Drama), Soldiers of
Fortune 1864-
Davy, Sir Humphry, (Sci., Poet & Ess.), Consolations in
Travel 1778-1829
De Bracton, Henry, (Legal), De Legibus et Consuetudinibus d. 1268
Defoe, Daniel, (Adv.), Robinson Crusoe 1663-1731
Dekker, Thomas, (Drama), The Shoemaker's Holiday . 1570-1641 Deland, Mrs. Margaret Wade, (Nov. & Poet), John Ward,
Preacher 1857-
De la Eamee, Louisa, ("Ouida"), (Nov.), Under Two
Flags 1839-1908
De Mandeville, Bernard, (Philos. & Poet), The Gambling
Hive 1670-1732
A PARTIAL LIST OB' AUTHORS 359
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
De Mandeville, Sir John, (Trav.), Narrative of Travels . 1300-1372
De Morgan, William Frend, (Nov.), Joseph Vance . . 1839-
Denham, Sir John, (Drama), Cooper's Hill .... 1615-1668 De Quincey, Thomas, (Ess.), Confessions of an English
Opium Eater 1785-1859
Derby, George Horatio, ("John Phoenix"), (Hum.),
Squibob Papers 1823-1861
De Tabley, Lord, (Poet), Philoctetes 1835-1895
De Vere, Aubrey, (Poet), Legends of St. 'Patrick . . . 1814-1902
Dickens, Charles, (Nov.), David Copper field; Pickwick . 1812-1870
Dickinson, John, (Pol.), Letters 1732-1808
Dilke, Sir Charles, (Hist. & Pol.), Problems of Greater
Britain 1843-1911
Disraeli, Benjamin (Lord Beaconsfield), (Nov.), Vivian
Grey 1805-1881
Disraeli, Isaac, (Mis.), Curiosities of Literature . . . 1766-1848
Dobson, Austin, (Poet & Mis.), Vignettes in Rhyme . . 1840- Dodge, Mary Abigail ("Gail Hamilton"), (Nov. & Ess.),
Gala Days 1838-1896
Dodge, Mary Mapes, (Nov.), Irvington Stories . . . 1838-1905 Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge, ("Lewis Carroll"), (Nov.,
Juveniles), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . 1832-1898 Dodsley, Eobert, (Drama), The King and the Miller of
Mansfield 1703-1764
Donne, John, (Ess. & Satires), An Anatomy of the World 1573-1631
Doughty, Charles M., (Travel), Arabia Deserta . . . 1843-
Douglas, Gawin, (Trans.), Mneid . , 1474-1522
Dowden, Edward, (Poet & Biog.), Shakespeare, his Mind
and Art 1843-1913
Dowson, Ernest, (Poet), Verses . ... . ... . . 1867-1900
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, (Nov.), The Adventures of
Sherlock Holmes 1859-
Drake, Joseph Rodman, (Poet), The American Flag . 1795-1820 Draper, John William, (Hist.), Hist, of the Civil War in
America 1811-1882
Drayton, Michael, (Poet), The Polyolbion 1563-1631
Driver, Samuel Rollis, (Theol.), Isaiah: his Life and
Times 1846-
Drummond, Henry, (Theol. & Philos.), The Ascent of
Man 1851-1897
Drummond, William, (Poet), The Flowers of Zion . . 1584-1649 Dryden, John, (Poet), Absalom and Achitophel (1681),
Ode to St. Cecilia's Day (3700) 1631-1700
Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni, (Trav. & Nat.), Explorations
in Equatorial Africa 1835-1903
Dugdale, Sir William, (Hist.), The Antiquities of War- wickshire 1605-1686
360 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Du Maurier, George, (Nov.), Trilby 1834-1896
Dunbar, William, (Alleg. Poet), The Thistle and Eose 1465-1530 Dunne, Finley Peter, ("Mr. Dooley"), (Hum.), Mr.
Dooley's Philosophy 1867-
Dwight, Timothy, (Theol. & Poet), The Triumph of
Infidelity 1752-1817
Dyer, John, (Poet), Grougar Hill 1700-1758
Earl of Chesterfield, ("Philip Dormer Stanhope"),
(Lit.), Letters to his Son 1694-1773
Earle, John, (Theol. & Philol.), Philology of the English
Tongue 1824-1903
Ediard, Laurence, (Hist.), The History of England to
1688 ?1671-1730
Edgeworth, Maria, (Nov.), Castle Rackrent .... 1767-1849 Edwards, Amelia B., (Mis.), A Thousand Miles up the
Nile 1831-1892
Edwards, Jonathan, ( Theol. & Philos.) , Freedom of the Will 1703-1758 Eggleston, Edward, (Nov. & Hist.), The Hoosier School- master 1837-1902
Elmsley, Peter, (Lit.), Bacchce 1773-1825
Elyot, Sir Thomas, (Philos.), The Governor . . about 1490-1546 Emerson, Kalph Waldo, (Ess. & Poet), Essays, 1st series 1803-1882 Erigena, Johannes Scotus, (Philos.), Of the Nature of
Things -?886
Evans, Marian, ("George Eliot "), (Nov. & Poet), Adam
Bede 1820-1880
Evelyn, John, (Mis.), Sylva 1620-1706
Ewing, Mrs. Juliana Horatia, (Nov., Juveniles), Jack- anapes 1841-1885
Fabyan, Eobert, (Hist.), Chronicles of England and
France -1513
Fairbairn, Andrew M., (Theol.), The Philosophy of the
Christian Religion 1838-1911
Fairfax, Edward, (Trans. & Poet), Trans. Tasso's
Recovery of Jerusalem about 1580-1635
Farjeon, Benjamin L., (Nov.), Toilers of Babylon . . 1833-1903
Farquhar, George, (Com. & Poet), The Beaux Stratagem 1678-1707
Farrar, Frederic W., (Theol.), Life of Christ .... 1831-1903
Fawcett, Edgar, (Nov. & Drama), Olivia Delaplaine . . 1847-1904 Felkin, The Hon. Mrs., (Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler),
(Nov.), Concerning Isabel Carnaby . . . Modern
Fenn, George Manville, (Nov.), The Man with a Shadow 1831-1909
Fergusson, Eobert, (Poet), Poems 1750-1774
Field, Eugene, (Hum. & Poet), A Little Book of Western
Verse 1850-1895
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 361
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Fielding, Henry (Nov. & Drama), Joseph Andrews (1742),
Tom Jones (1749), Amelia (1751) .... 1707-1754 Fields, James Thomas, (Poet, Biog. & Mis.), Ballads, and
other Verses (Editor Atlantic Monthly, 1862-
1870) 1817-1881
Findlater, Jane Helen, (Nov.), The Green Graves of
Balgowrie 21860-
Findlater, Mary, (Nov.), Tales that are Told .... 1865-
Firth, Charles H., (Hist.), Oliver Cromwell 1857-
Fisher, John, (Theol.), Sermons 1459-1535
Fiske, John, (Philos. & Hist.), Cosmic Philosophy . . 1842-1901 Flamsteed, John, (Ast.), Historia Ccelestis Britannica . 1646-1719 Fletcher, John, (Drama), Philaster, The Faithful
Shepherdess 1576-1625
Florence of Worcester, (Hist.), Chron. of England . . -1118
Foote, Samuel, (Drama), The Mayor of Garrat . . . 1720-1777 Ford, John, (Drama), The Lover's Melancholy . . . 1586-1639? Ford, Paul Leicester, (Nov.) , The Honorable Peter Stirling 1865-1902 Fordun, John de, (Hist.), Chron. of Scotland . . . -1384
Fortescue, Sir John, (Legal), Laws of England . . . 1394-1476 Fosbrooke, Thomas D., (Hist. & Mis.), The Economy of
Monastic Life 1770-1842
Foster, Stephen Collins, (Songs & Ballads), Old Folks at
Home 1826-1864
Fox, George, Journal of his Life, Travels, etc. . . . 1624-1691 Fox, John, (Nov.), The Little Shepherd of Kingdom
Come 1863-
Foxe, John, (Hist.), Acts and Monuments of the Church
("BooTc of Martyrs") 1516-1587
Frankau, Mrs. Julia. See FRANK DANBY.
Franklin, Benjamin, (Philos. & Hist.), Poor Eichard's
Almanac (1732), Autobiography 1706-1790
Freeman, E. A., (Hist.), Hist, of the Norman Conquest . 1823-1892 Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins, ("Mary E. Wilkins"),
(Nov.), Jane Field 1862-
Freneau, Philip, (Poet), The Indian Bury ing -Ground . 1752-1832 Froude, James Anthony, (Hist. & Ess.), History of Eng- land from the Fall of Wolsey to the Armada . 1818-1894 Fuller, Henry Blake, (Nov.), The Chevalier of Pensieri-
Vani 1857-
Fuller, Sarah Margaret, (Mis. & Critic), Woman in the
Nineteenth Century (Editor of The Dial} . . 1810-1850 Fuller, Thomas, (Biog. & Hist.), The Worthies of England 1608-1661 Funk, Isaac K., (Philos. & Lexicography), The Next Step
in Evolution; A Standard Dictionary of the
English Language 1839-1912
362 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $• Dates Born-Died
Furness, Horace Howard, (Critic & Ess.), Edited a
New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare . . . 1833-1912 Furnivall, Frederick J., (Philo. & Mis.), Edited a Parallel
Text Edition of Chaucer's Minor Poems . . . 1825-1911
Fyffe, Charles Alan, (Hist.), Hist, of Modern Europe . 1845-1892
Gaimar, Geoffrey, (Trans.), Translation into Anglo-Nor- man of Geoffrey's History of the Britons (1154) 12th Cent. Gairdner, James, (Biog. & Hist.), The Houses of Lan- caster and York 1828-
Galsworthy, John, (Drama & Nov.), Joy; Fraternity . . 1867-
Galt, John, (Nov.), The Annals of the Parish . . . . 1779-1839
Gardiner, S. E., (Hist.), The Thirty Years' War . . . 1829-1902
Garnett, Mrs. E. S., (Nov.), The Infamous John Friend Modern Garrick, David, (Drama), Miss in Her Teens (1747),
The Lying Valet (1740) H716-1779
Gatty, Mrs. Margaret ("Aunt Judy"), (Nov. & Poet,
Juveniles), Aunt Judy's Tales 1807-1873
Gastfoigne, George, (Poet), The Steele Glas .... 1525-1577
Gay, John, (Poet), Fables, Black-eyed Susan, Beggar's
Opera (1726) . . . . . . . . . . 1685-1732
Gayarre, Charles Etienne A., (Hist.), History of Louisiana 1805-1895
Geikie, Sir Archibald, (Sci.), Text-Book of Geology . . 1835- Geoffrey of Monmouth, (Hist.), Historia Britonum . . -1154
George Eliot. See EVANS Gervase of Canterbury, (Hist.), Chronicle of the Reigns
of Stephen, Henry II. and Richard I. . . d. about 1210 Gibbon, Edward, (Hist.), The Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire 1737-1794
Gilbert, Sir William Schwenck, (Poet & Dram.), Bab
Ballads 1836-1911
Gildas, (Hist.), Conquest of Britain about 516-570
Gilder, Eichard Watson, (Poet), The Great Remembrance 1844-1909
Gillies, John, (Hist.), History of Ancient Greece . . . 1747-1836
Gissing, George E., (Nov.), Demos 1857-1903
Gladstone, William E., (Pol. & Mis.), The State in its
Relations with the Church 1809-1898
Glanville, Eanulf De, (Legal), Collection of English Laws -1190
Glover, Eichard, (Poet), Leonidas 1712-1789
Godwin, William, (Nov. & Mis.), Caleb Williams . . . 1756-1836 Goldsmith, Oliver, (Nov. & Drama), The Vicar of Wake- field (1764), The Deserted Village (1770), She
Stoops to Conquer (1773) 1728-1774
Goodrich, Samuel Griswold, ("Peter Parley "), (Nov.,
Hist. & Mis.), Peter Parley Tales 1793-1863
Gore, Charles, (Theol.), Editor of Lux Mundi . . . . 1853-
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 363
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Gosse, Edmund William, (Hist. & Ess.), Hist, of Eigh- teenth Century Literature; Record of English
Literature 1849-
Gower, John, (Poet), Confcssio Amantis (1483 Caxtons)
about 1325-1408
Grahame, James, (Poet), The Sabbath 1765-1811
Granger, James, (Hist.), Biog. Hist, of England . . -1776
Grant, James, (Nov.), The Yellow Frigate .... 1822-1887
Grant, Eobert, (Nov.), Unleavened Bread 1852-
Graves, Alfred Perceval, (Poet), Songs of Irish Wit and
Humour 1846-
Gray, Thomas, (Poet), Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard 1716-1771
Green, John Eichard, (Hist.), Short History of the En- glish People 1837-1883
Green, Mrs. M. A. Everett, (Wood), (Hist.), Lives of
the Princesses of England 1818-1895
Green, Thomas Hill, (Philos.), Prolegomena to Ethics . 1836-1882 Greene, George Washington, (Hist.), Short History of
Rhode Island 1811-1883
Greene, Robert, (Drama & Mis.), The Scottish Historic
of James IV about 1560-1592
Gregory, Daniel Seelye (Theol. & Mis.), Why Four Gos- pels; Managing Editor of A Standard Diction- ary of the English Language 1835-
Grosseteste, Robert, (Theol., Philos. & Poet), Sermons,
Verses, etc ?1175-1253
Grote, George, (Hist.), Hist, of Greece 1794-1871
Guest, Lady Charlotte, (Trans, from Welsh), Mabinogion 1812-1895 Guthrie, Thomas Anstey, ("F. Anstey")> (Nov.), Vice
Versa 1856-
Gwynn, Stephen Lucius, (Nov. & Poet), Robert Emmet: a
Historical Romance 1864-
Habberton, John, (Nov.), Helen's Babies 1842-
Haggard, H. Rider, (Nov.), King Solomon's Mines . . 1856-
Hakluyt, Richard, (Trav.), Voyages and Discoveries . . 1553-1616 Hale, Edward Everett, (Nov. & Ess.), The Man Without
a Country 1822-1909
Hall, Basil, (Trav.), Fragments of Voyages and Travels 1788-1844
Hall, Joseph, (Poet & Nov.), Satires 1574-1656
Hall, Robert, (Sermons), Modern Infidelity Considered . 1764-1831
Hall, Samuel Carter, (Mis.), Baronial Halls of England 1800-1889
Hallam, Henry, (Hist.), Europe During the Middle Ages 1777-1859
Halleck, Fitz-Greene, (Poet), Marco Bozzaris .... 1790-1867 Halley, Edmund, (Sci. & Nat. Philos.), Catalogue of *
Southern Stars . 1656-1742
364 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died Halsey, Francis Whiting, (Hist.), The Old New York
Frontier 1851-
Hamilton, Thomas, (Nov. & Hist.), The Youth and Man- hood of Cyril Thornton 1789-1842
Hamilton, William, (Poet), Braes of Yarrow .... 1704-1754
Hannay, James, (Nov. & Mis.), Satire and Satirists . 1827-1873 Hannay, Eev. James Owen, (" George A. Birmingham"),
(Nov. & Dram.), The Seething Pot . . . . 1865-
Hardy, Arthur S., (Nov. & Poet), The Wind of Destiny 1847- Hardy, Thomas, (Nov. & Poet), Under the Greenwood
Tree; less of the D'Urbervillcs 1840-
Hardyng, John, (Hist. & Poet), A Metrical Chronicle of
England 1378-1465?
Harraden, Beatrice, (Nov.), Ships that Pass in the Night 1864-
Harrington, James, (Pol. & Philos.), Oceana .... 1611-1677
Harris, James, (Philol. & Philos.), Hermes .... 1709-1780
Harris, Joel Chandler, (Nov.), Uncle Eemus .... 1848-1908
Harrison, Frederic, (Hist. & Ess.), Cromwell .... 1831- Harrison, Mrs. St. Leger (" Lucas Malet"), (Nov.),
The Wages of Sin 1852-
Hartley, David, (Sci.), Observations on Man .... U705-1757
Harvey, William, (Sci.), Circulation of the Blood . . 1578-1657
Hawes, Stephen, (Poet), The Pass Tyme of Pleasure . 1483-1523
Hawker, Eobert Stephen, (Poet), Cornish Ballads . . 1803-1875
Hawkins, Anthony Hope, (Nov.), The Prisoner of Zenda 1863-
Hawthorne, Julian, (Nov.), Archibald Malmaison . . . 1846-
Hawthorne, Nathaniel (Nov.), The Scarlet Letter . . . 1804-1864
Hay, John, (Hist., Poet & Nov.), Pike County Ballads 1838-1905
Hayne, Paul Hamilton, (Poet), Legends and Lyrics . . 1830-1886 Hay ward, Sir John, (Hist.), Life and Eaigne of Henry
IV about 1560-1627
Hazlitt, William, (Ess. & Critic), Character of Shake- speare's Plays 1778-1830
Hearn, Lafcadio, (Travel), Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan 1850-1904 Heber, Eeginald (Travel, Poet & Mis.), A Journey through
India 1783-1826
Helps, Sir Arthur, (Ess. & Hist.), Friends in Council . . 1813-1875
Hemans, Felicia D., (Poet), Vespers of Palermo . . . 1794-1835
Henley, William Ernest, (Poet), The Song of the Sword 1849-1903
Henry of Huntingdon, (Hist. & Poet), Chron. of England d. abt. 1157
Henry, Matthew, (Theol.), Commentary (Unfinished) . 1662-1714 Henryson, Eobert, (Poet), The Testament of Cresseid
about 1425— about 1500
Henty, George A., (Nov., Juveniles), Under Drake's Flag 1832-1902 Herbert, Lord Edward, (Hist. & Poet), Hist, of the Life
and fteign of Henry VIII 1581-1648
Herbert, George, (Poet), The Temple 1593-1633
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 365
NAME Type of Work Chief Works if Dates Born-Died
Herrick, Eobert, (Poet), Hesperides 1591-1674
Herrick, Robert, (Nov.), The Man Who Wins .... 1868- Herschel, Sir John F. W., (Philos.), Cape Observations . 1792-1871 Hewlett, Maurice, (Nov.), The Forest Lovers .... 1861- Heywood, John, (Poet & Drama), The Spider and the Fly 1497-1565? Heywood, Thomas, (Drama), A Woman Killed with Kind- ness n570-1648
Hichens, Robert S., (Ess. & Nov.), The Garden of Allah 1864- Higdon, Ranulf, (Hist.), Polychronicon (Chron. of En- gland) about 1299-about 1363
Higginson, Thos. Wentworth, (Hist., Nov. & Ess.), Mai- bone, an Old Port Romance 1823-1911
Hildreth, Richard, (Hist.), History of the United States . 1807-1865 Hill, George Birkbeck, (Biog.), Dr. Johnson: his Friends
and Critics 1835-
Hillhouse, James A., (Poet), Percy's Masque .... 1789-1841
Hoadly, Benjamin, (Theol. & Pol.), Sermons .... 1676-1761 Hobbes, John Oliver. See CRAIGIE. Hobbes, Thomas, (Philos. & Hist.), Leviathan (1651),
Behemoth, a History of the Civil Wars (1679) . 1588-1679
Hodgkin, Thomas, (Hist.), Italy and her Invaders . . 1831- Hogg, James, ("Ettrick Shepherd") (Poet & Nov.), The
Queen's Wake 1770-1835
Holinshed, Raphael, (Hist.), Chronicles of England, Scot- land, and Ireland -1580
Holland, Dr. Josiah Gilbert, (Biog., Nov. & Ess.), Life
of Lincoln 1819-1881
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, (Ess., Poet & Nov.), Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858), Under the Violets
(1860), Elsie Venner (1861) 1809-1894
Home, John, (Drama), Douglas 1724-1808
Hone, William, (Mis.), Every -Day Book 1779-1842
Hood, Thomas, (Poet & Hum.), The Song of the Shirt
(1844) ; Miss Kilmansegg ; Eugene Aram (1831) 1799-1845
Hook, Theodore E., (Drama & Nov.), Siege of St. Quentin 1788-1841
Hooke, Nathaniel, (Hist.), Eoman History -1763
Hooke, Robert, (Philos.), Micrographia .... 1635-1702
Hooker, Richard, (Theol.), Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity 1553-1600 Hooker, Thomas, (Theol.), The Pattern of Perfection abt. 1586-1647 Hope, Anthony. See HAWKINS.
Hopkinson, Francis, (Poet, Pol. & Ess.), Battle of the Kegs 1737-1791 Hornung, Ernest William, (Nov.), The Amateur Cracks- man 1866-
Horsley, Samuel, (Theol. & Philos.), On Prosodies of the
Greek and Latin Languages 1733-1806
Housman, Laurence, (Poet & Nov.), An Englishwoman's
Love Letters . 1867-
366 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Worlcs $ Dates Born-Died
Howard, Henry, ("Earl of Surrey"), (Poet), Sonnets
(1557); Translation of Virgil's Mneid (1557) . 21516-1547 Howe, Julia Ward, (Poet), Battle Hymn of the Republic 1819-1910 Howells, William Dean, (Nov.), Venetian Life (1866),
The Eise of Silas Lapman (1885) 1837-
Hughes, Thomas, (Nov.), Tom Brown's Schooldays . . 1823-1896 Hughes, Thomas Patrick, (Lexicog. & Orient.), The Dic- tionary of Islam 1838-1911
Hume, David, (Hist.), Hist, of England 1711-1776
Humphreys, Mrs. W. Desmond, ("Eita"), (Nov.), A
Man of no Importance f
Hunt, J. H. Leigh, (Ess. & Poet), Men, Women and
Books 1784-1859
Hunter John, (Sci.), Natural Hist, of the Human Teeth 1728-1793 Hunter, Sir William W., (Hist.), The Imperial Gazetteer
of India 1840-1900
Hutcheson, Francis, (Philos.), A System of Moral Philos- ophy 1694-1747
Hutchinson, Lucy, (Biog.), Memoirs 1620-1675
Hutchinson, Thomas, (Hist.), Hist, of the Province of
Massachusetts 1711-1780
Button, Charles, (Mathematics), Miscellanea Mathematica 1737-1823 Hutton, Eichard Holt, (Ess. & Mis.), Contemporary
Thought' and Thinkers 1826-1907
Huxley, Thomas Henry, (Sci. & Mis.), Man's Place in
Nature 1825-1895
Ingelow, , Jean, (Poet & Nov.), High Tide on the Coast of
Lincolnshire; Off the Skelligs 1830-1897
Ingersoll, Ernest, (Nat.), The Life of Animals — the
Mammals 1852-
Ingersoll, Eobert Green, (Philos.), Some Mistakes of
Moses 1833-1899
Ingulphus, (Hist.), Hist, of the Monastery of Croyland . 1030-1109 Ireland, William H., (Drama, Poet & Nov.), Shakespeare
Forgeries 1777-1835
Irving, Washington, (Nov. & Hist.), Knickerbocker's
Hist, of New York (1809), Sketch Book (1819) 1783-1859 Irwin, Wallace, (Hum.), Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum . 1875-
Jacobs, Joseph, (Fables & Judaica), English Fairy Tales
(1890) ; The Jews of Angevin, England (1893) 1854-
Jacobs, William Wymark, (Nov.), Skipper's Wooing . 1863-
James, George P. E. (Nov. & Hist.), Eichelieu . . . 1801-1860
James, Henry, (Theol. & Philos.), The Nature of Evil . 1811-1882
James, Henry, (Nov. & Ess.), A Passionate Pilgrim . 1843-
James I. of Scotland, (Poet), The King's Quhair . . 1394-1437
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 367
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
James, William, (Philos.), Principles of Psychology . . 1842-1910 Jebb, Sir Richard, (Trans. & Mis.), Sophocles . . . 1841-1905 Jefferies, Richard, (Nat. & Mis.), Wild Life in a Southern
County 1848-1887
Jefferson, Thomas, (Pol.), Drafted the Declaration of
Independence 1743-1826
Jenyns, Soame, (Ess & Poet), View of the Internal Evi- dence of the Christian Eeligion . . . 1703 or 04-1787 Jerome, Jerome K., (Nov. & Hum.), Three Men in a Boat 1859- Jewel, John, (TheoL & Philos.), Apologia Ecclesice
AnglicancB 1522-1571
Jewett, Sarah Orne, (Nov.), Deephaven 1849-1909
John of Salisbury, (Philos. & Biog.), Life of Thomas a
Becket 1120-1180
Johnson, Edward, (Hist.), Wonderworking Providence of
Sion's Saviour in New England 1599-1672
Johnson, Rossiter, (Hist.), History of the War of Seces- sion 1840-
Johnson, Samuel, (Lex. & Nov.), Dictionary of the English
Language, (17 55) ; Easselas (1759) .... 1709-1784 Johnston, Sir Harry H., (Nat. & Travel), The Kilima-
Njaro Expedition 1858-
Jones, Henry Arthur, (Drama & Ess.), The Hypocrites . 1851- Jones, Sir William, (Orientalist & Ess.), Works (1799) 1746-1794 Jonson, Ben, (Drama), Every Man in His Humour
(1598); Catiline (1611) 1573-1637
Jortin, John, (Theol. & Critic), Remarks on Ecclesiastical
History .' 1698-1770
Junius, Letters which appeared between 1769 and 1772, and are ascribed to Sir Philip Francis .
Kames, Henry Home (Lord Kames), (Philos.), Elements
of Criticism 1696-1782
Keats, John, (Poet), Endymion 1795-1821
Keble, John, (Poet), The Christian Year 1792-1866
Kemble, John Mitchell, (Hist. & Philology), The Saxons
in England 1807-1857
Kennedy, John P., (Nov. & Ess.), Swallow Barn . . . 1795-1870
Key, Francis Scott, (Poet), The Star-Spangled Banner . 1779-1843
King, Henry, (Poet & Sermons), Poems and Sonnets . . 1591-1669
Kinglake, Alexander W., (Hist.), Eothen 1811-1891
Kingsley, Charles, (Mis.), Alton Locke 1819-1875
Kingsley, Henry, (Nov.), Bavenshoe 1830-1876
Kingston, William H. G., (Nov. & Juveniles), The Prime
Minister 1814-1880
Kipling, Rudyard, (Mis. & Poet), Plain Tales from the
Hills; The Recessional 1865-
368 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Kitto, John, (Theol.), Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature 1804-1854
Knight, Charles, (Hist.), A History of England . . 1791-1873
Knighton, Henry, (Hist.), A Hist, of English Affairs . -1366
Knolles, Bichard, (Hist.), General Hist, of the Turks, abt. 1545-1610
Knowles, James Sheridan, (Drama), William Tell . . 1784-1862
Knox, Vicesimus, (Ess. & Mis.), Essays 1752-1821
Krehbiel, Henry Edward (Music), The Pianoforte and its
Music 1854-
Lamb, Charles, (Ess.), Essays of Elia . . . .» . . 1775-1834 Landon, Letitia E., ("Mrs. Mac Lean"), (Nov. & Poet),
Ethel Churchill 1802-1838
Landor, A. Henry Savage, (Travel), An Explorer's Adven- tures in Tibet 1865-
Landor, Walter Savage, (Poet & Mis.), Gebir . . . 1775-1864 Lang, Andrew, (Ess. & Poet), Ballads and Lyrics of Old
France 1844-1912
Langland, William, (Alleg.), Piers Plowman . abt. 1330Tabt. 1400 Lanier, Sidney, (Critic & Poet), The English Novel and
its Development 1842-1881
Lankester, Sir Edwin Bay, (Sci.), Studies on Apus,
Limulus, and Scorpio 1847-
Lathrop, George Parsons, (Nov.), An Echo of Passion . 1851-1898
Latimer, Hugh, (Theol.), Sermons abt. 1472-1555
Layamon, (Poet & Hist.), Brut or Chron. of Britain . 1155-1200
Lea, Henry Charles, (Hist.), Hist, of the Inquisition . 1825-1909 Lecky, William Edward Hartpole, (Hist. & Philos.), 'Hist.
of the Rise and Progress of Rationalism in
Europe 1838-1903
Lee, Nathaniel, (Drama), Gloriana 1657-1692
Lee, Sir Sidney, (Biog. & Mis.), Life of Shakespeare . 1859-
Le Gallienne, Kichard, (Poet & Crit.), Eudyard Kipling . 1866-
Leighton, Bobert, (Theol.), Sermons 1611-1684
Leland, John, (Hist.), English Antiquities . . . abt. 1506-1552
Lemon, Mark, (Mis.), The Streets of London . . . . 1809-1870 Leslie, Sir John, (Philos. & Mis.), Elements of Natural
Philosophy 1766-1832
Lewes, George Henry, (Philos. & Mis.), The Biographical
Hist, of Philosophy 1817-1878
Lewis Carroll. See DODGSON.
Lewis, Sir George Cornewall (Polit.), A Dialogue on the
Best Form of Government . 1806-1863
Liddon, Canon Henry Parry, (Theol.), The Divinity of
Christ 1829-1890
Lightfoot, Joseph Barber, (Theol. & Philos.), On a Fresh
Revision of the English New Testament . . 1828-1889
Lingard, John, (Hist.), Hist, of England .... 1771-1859
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 369
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $• Dates Born-Died
Linton, Mrs. E. Lynn, (Nov.), Sowing the Wind . . . 1822-1898
Lister, Thomas H., (Nov.), Granby 1801-1842
Littleton, Sir Thomas de (Legal), The Tenures . . . 1402-1481 Livingstone, David, (Trav.), Missionary Travels and
Researches in South Africa 1813-1873
Locke, David R., ("Petroleum V. Nasby"), (Nov. &
Hum.), Nasby Papers 1833-1888
Locke, John, (Philos.), An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding 1632-1704
Locker-Lampson, Frederick, (Poet), London Lyrics . . 1821-1895 Lodge, Henry Cabot, (Hist. & Pol.), Short Hist, of the
English Colonies in America 1850-
Lodge, Sir Oliver, (Sci. & Philos.), Life and Matter . 1851-
Lodge, Thomas, (Nov. & Drama), Eosalynd .... 1556-1625
London, Jack, (Nov. & Travel), The Call of the Wild . 1876-
Longfellow, Henry W., (Poet), Evangeline .... 1807-1882
Longstreet, Augustus Baldwin, (Nov.), Georgia Scenes . 1790-1870 Lossing, Benson J., (Hist.), Pictorial Field-book of the
Revolution 1813-1891
Lothrop, Harriet, (Nov. & Juv.), The Golden West . . 1844- Lounsbury, Thomas Raynesford, (Lit. & Critic), A Hist.
of the English Language 1838-
Lovelace, Sir Richard, (Poet), To Althea from Prison . 1618-1658 Lowell, James Russell, (Poet, Hum. & Pol.), Bigelow
Papers 1819-1891
Lowth, Robert, (Theol. & Philology), New Translation of
Isaiah 1710-1787
Lucas, Edward Verrall, (Nov. & Hum.), Over Bremerton's 1868- Litcy, Henry W., ("Toby, M.P."), (Hum.), A Diary
of Two Parliaments 1845-
Lyall, Edna (Miss Ada Ellen Bayly), (Nov.), Donovan 1857-1903 Lyall, Sir Alfred C., (Poet & Biog.), Verses Written in
India 1835-19U
Lydgate, John, (Poet), The Fall of Princes . . . 1370?-1451?
Lylie, John, (Drama & Poet), Euphues 1553-1606
Lyndsay, Sir David, (Poet), The Dreme $1490-1555
Lyttelton, Lord George, (Poet & Mis.), Dialogues of the
Dead 1708 or 09-1773?
Macaulay, Lord Thomas B., (Ess., Hist. & Poet), Essays
(1825-1844), Lays of Ancient Eome (1842) . . 1800-1859 MacCarthy, Denis Florence, (Poet), Under glimpses, and
other Poems 1817-1882
MacCarthy, Justin, (Hist., Nov. & Pol.), My Enemy's
Daughter (1869), Hist, of our Own Time (1880) 1830-1912 McCosh, James, (Philos. & Theol.), Method of Divine
Government 1811-1894
370 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
MacCrie, Thomas, (Hist. & Biog.), The Life of John Enox 1772-1835 MacDiarmid, John, (Biog. & Hist.), Lives of British
Statesmen 1779-1808
MacFall, Mrs. Frances E., ("Sarah Grand")* (Nov.),
The Heavenly Twins 1862-
Mackail, Prof. J. W., (Mis.), Latin Literature . . . . 1859-
Mackay, Eric, (Poet), Love Letters of a Violinist . . 1851-1898 Mackintosh, Sir James, (Philos., Hist. & Ess.), Vindicice
Gallicce 1765-1832
McMaster, John Bach, (Hist.), Hist, of the People ^of the
United States 1852-
Macpherson, James, (Poet), Ossian : Fingal, Temora . 1738-1796 Mahaffy, John Pentland, (Hist. & Ess.), Prolegomena to
Ancient History 1839-
Mahan, Alfred Thayer, (Hist. & Mis.), Influence of Sea
Power upon History 1840-1914
Maitland, Frederic W., (Law & Hist.), Roman Canon Law
in the Church of England 1850-1906
Malcolm, Sir John, (Hist.), Hist, of Persia .... 1769-1833 Malory, Sir Thomas, (Eomance), Morte d' Arthur . . . -1470
Malthus, Thomas K., (Economist), Principles of Political
Economy 1766-1834
Mangan, James Clarence, (Poet), Dark Eosaleen . . 1803-1849 Mannyng, Eobert ("Bobert of Bmnne"), (Poet), The
Story of Inglande abt. 1264-1340?
Map, or Mapes, Walter, (Poet), Latin Poems . . abt. 1150-1210?
March, Francis Andrew, (Philol.), March's Thesaurus . 1825-1911 Mark Twain. See CLEMENS. Marlowe, Christopher, (Drama), Tamburlaine, 1590;
Faustus (1616) 1564-1593
Marjyat, Captain Fred, (Nov.), Mr. Midshipman Easy . 1792-1848 Marsden, William, (Hist. & Travels), Hist, of the Island
of Sumatra 1754-1836
Marsh, George Perkins, (Philol.), Man and Nature . . 1801-1882
Marshall, John, (Biog.), Life of Washington . . . 1755-1835
Marston, John, (Drama & Poet), The Malcontent . . ?1575-1634
Marston, Philip Bourke, (Poet), Song Tide .... 1850-1887 Martin, Sir Theodore, (Hist., Poet & Mis.), Life of His
Eoyal Highness, the Prince Consort .... 1816-1909 Martineau, Harriet, (Mis.), Illustrations of Political
Economy 1802-1876
Martineau, James (Theol. & Philos.), A Study of Eeligion 1805-1900 Marvel, Ik. See MITCHELL, DONALD G. Marvell, Andrew, (Poet & Pol.), The "Rehearsal Trans- posed 1620-1678
Masefield, John, (Poet & Drama), Salt-Water Ballads . Modern
Mason, Alfred E. W., (Nov.), The Four -Feathers . . 1865-
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 371
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Mason, William. (Poet & Biog.). Memoirs of Thomas
Gray 1725-1797
Massinger, Philip, (Drama), A New Way to Pay Old
Debts 1583-1640
Mather, Cotton, (Theol., Hist. & Sci.), Magnalia Christi
Americana 1663-1728
Matthews, James Brander, (Ess., Drama & Mis.), Intro- duction to the Study of American Literature . 1852-
Maturin, Charles K., (Drama & Nov.), Bertram . . . 1782-1824
Maxwell, Mrs. See BRADDON, M. E.
Maxwell, William B., (Nov.), The Guarded Flame . .
May, Thomas, (Poet & Hist.), Hist, of the Long Parlia- ment 1595-1650
Meredith, George, (Poet & Nov.), Ordeal of Eichard
Feveral 1828-1909
Merivale, Charles, (Hist.), A History of the Romans under
the Empire 1808-1893
Meynell, Mrs. Alice C., (Poet & Ess.), The Rhythm of Life 1850-
Middleton, Conyers, (Hist. & Mis.), Hist, of the Life of
Cicero 1683-1750
Middleton, Thomas, (Drama), A Game at Chess . abt. 1570-1627
Mill, James, (Philos. & Hist.), Principles of Political
Economy 1773-1836
Mill, John Stuart, (Philos.), System of Logic . . . 1806-1873
Miller, Joaquin, (originally ' ' Cincinnatus Heine Miller"),
(Poet), Songs of the Sierras 1841-1913
Milner, Joseph, (Hist. & Theol.), Hist, of the Church
of Christ 1744-1797
Milton, John, (Poet), Paradise Lost (1665), Paradise
Regained (1671) 1608-1674
Minot, Laurence, (Poet), Historical Poems . . abt. 1333-1352
Minto, William, (Biog., Ess. & Mis.), Characteristics of
English Poets from Chaucer to Shirley . . . 1845-1893
Mitchell, Donald G., ("Ik Marvel"), (Nov. & Ess.),
Reveries of a Bachelor 1822-1908
Mitchell, John Ames, (Nov.), The Silent War . . . 1845-
Mitchell, Silas Weir, (Sci., Poet & Nov.), Injuries of the
Nerves; Hugh Wynne 1829-1914
Mitford, William, (His*.), Hist, of Greece .... 1744-1827
Moffat, Robert, (Trav.), Missionary Labours and Scenes
in South Africa 1795-1883
Monkhouse, William Cosmo, (Poet, Art Critic & Mis.), Italian Pre-Raphaelites ((<The National Gal- lery") 1840-1901
Monier- Williams, Sir Monier, (Orientalist & Philologist),
Sanskrit-English Dictionary 1819-1899
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, (Lit.), Letters . . . 1690-1761
372 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Montgomery, James, (Poet), The Pelican Island . . . 1771-1854
Moody, Dwight Lyman, (Theol!), How to Study the Bible 1837-1899 Moody, William Vaughan, (Poet & Dramatist), The Fire
Bringer 1869-1910
Moore, F. Frankfort, (Nov. & Travel), The Mate of the
"Jessica" 1855-
Moore, George, (Nov. & Eealist), Esther Waters . . . 1853-
Moore, John, (Mis.), A View of Society and Manners . 1730-1802
Moore, John Bassett, (Law), American Diplomacy . . 1860-
Moore, Thomas, (Poet), Irish Melodies 1779-1852
More, Hannah, (Poet & Nov.), Percy 1745-1833
More, Henry, (Theol.), Divine Dialogues 1614-1687
More, Sir Thomas, (Hist. & Poet), Life and Reign of
Edward V. (1513), Utopia (1514) .... 1480-1535 Morgan, Lady Sydney, (Nov. & Poet), The Wild Irish
Girl abt. 1783-1859
Morier, James, (Nov.), Adventures of Hajji Baba . . 1780-1848 Morison, J. Cotter, (Hist. & Mis.), Service of Man . . 1831-1888 Morley, Henry, (Lit.), First Sketches of English Liter- ature 1822-1894
Morley, John, (now Viscount Morley of Blackburn),
(Biog. & Hist.), Life of Gladstone .... 1838- Morris, George P., (Poet, Drama & Songs), Woodman,
Spare that Tree 1802-1864
Morris, Sir Lewis, (Poet), The Epic of Hades . . . 1833-1907 Morris, Eichard, (Philo. & Mis.), Historical Outlines of
English Accidence 1833-1894
Morris, William, (Poet), Life and Death of Jason : . 1834-1896 Morrison, Eobert, '(!Plrilo-)> Dictionary of the Chinese
Language 1782-1834
Morton, Nathaniel, (Hist.), New England's Memoriall . 1613-1685 Motley, John Lothrop, (Hist.), The Rise of the Dutch
Republic 1814-1877
Mulford, Elisha, (Theol. & Philos.}, Republic of God . 1833-1885
Mulock. See CRAIK.
Murfree, Mary Noailles, ("Charles Egbert Craddock"),
(Nov.), In the Tennessee Mountains .... 1850-
Murphy, Arthur, (Drama & Mis.), The Orphan of China 1730-1805
Murray, David Christie, (Nov.), The Weaker Vessel . 1847-1907 Murray, George Gilbert A., (Greek & Mis.), Hist, of
Ancient Greek Literature 1866-
Murray, Sir James A. H., (Lexicographer), A New En- glish Dictionary on Historic Principles . . . 1837- Myers, Ernest James, (Poet); Judgment of Prometheus 1844- Myers, Frederic W. H., (Philos., Poet & Ess.), The
Human Personality (1903) 1843-1901
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 373
NAME Type of Work Chief Works # Dates Born-Died
Napier, Sir William F. P., (Hist.), Hist, of the War in
the Peninsula 1785-1860
Nasby, Petroleum V. See LOCKE, DAVID E.
Nash, Thomas, (Drama & Mis.), The Tragedie of Dido
1558-1600 or '01 Neckham, Alexander, (Poet, Theol. & Philos.), Latin
Poems 1157-1217
Newbolt, Henry, (Poet), Admirals All 1862-
Newman, Francis Wm., (Ess.), The Soul, her Sorrows
and Aspirations 1805-1897
Newman, John Henry, (Theol.), Apologia pro Vita Sua 1801-1890 Newton, Booth Tarkington, (Nov.), The Gentleman from
Indiana 1869-
Newton, Sir Isaac, (Philos.), Philosophies Naturalis
Principia Mathematica 1642-1727
Nicolay, John George, (Hist.), Life of Abraham Lincoln
(Collaborated with John Hay) 1832-1901
Noel, Hon. Eoden, (Poet), A Modern Faust .... 1834-1894 Norris, William Edward, (Nov.), Adrian Vidal . . . 1847- North, Christopher. See WILSON, JOHN.
North, Sir Thomas, (Trans.), Plutarch's Lives . . . $1535-1603 Norton, Charles Eliot, (Trans. & Critic), Historical Study
of Church Building in the Middle Ages . . 1827-1908 Noyes, Alfred, (Poet), Drake 1880-
Ockley, Simon, (Hist.), Hist, of the Conquest of Egypt,
Persia and Syria, etc 1678-1720
Odell, Jonathan, (Poet & Satire), The Word of Congress 1737-1818 Oliphant, Laurence, (Travel), Episodes in a Life of
Adventure 1829-1888
Oliphant, Mrs. M., (Nov.), Adam Graeme 1828-1897
Oppenheim, E. Phillips, (Nov.), The Lighted Way . . 1866-
O'Reilly, John Boyle, (Poet), Moondyne 1844-1890
Orm or Ormin, (Poet), Ormulum 1187-1237
O 'Shaughnessy, Arthur, (Poet), Songs of a Worker . . 1844-1881 Otis, James, (Ess.), Considerations on Behalf of the
Colonies, in a Letter to a Noble Lord . . . 1725-1783
Otway, Thomas, (Drama), Venice Preserved .... 1651-1685 Ouida. See DE LA RAMEE.
Oxenham, John, (Nov.), John of Gerisan .... Modern
Page, Thomas Nelson, (Nov.), The Old South . . . 1853- Pain, Barry, (Hum. & Nov.), Another Englishwoman's
Love Letters 1867-
Paine, Robert Treat, (Poet), The Invention of Letters . 1773-181J
Paine, Thomas, (Philos.), The Age of Eeason .... 1737-1809
374 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Worfc Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died Paley, William, (Theol. & Philos. ),* The Principles of
Moral and Political Philosophy 1743-1805
Palfrey, John Gorham, (Hist.), Hist, of New England . 1796-1881 Palgrave, Sir Francis, (Hist.), Hist, of Normandy and
England 1788-1861
Palgrave, Francis Turner, (Poet), Golden Treasury of
English Songs and Lyrics 1824-1897
Palgrave, William G., (Trav.), Essays on Eastern
Questions 1826-1888
Palmer, George Herbert, (Philos. & Mis.), The Field of
Ethics 1842-
Palmer, John Williamson, (Poet, Nov. & Mis.), Stonewall
Jackson's Way; After His Kind 1825-1906
Paris, Matthew, (Hist.), Historia Major, (Hist, of En- gland) -1259
Park, Mungo, (Trav.), Travels in the Interior of Africa 1771-1805 Parker, Sir Gilbert, (Poet & Nov.), Seats of the Mighty 1862- Parker, Theodore, (Theol.), Discourse on Matters Per- taining to Religion 1810-1860
Parkman, Francis, (Hist.), Oregon Trail 1823-1893
Parnell, Thomas, (Poet), The Hermit 1679-1718
Parsons, Theophilus, (Legal), Law of Business for
Business Men 1797-1882
Parton, James, (Biog. & Ess.), Life and Times of Aaron
Burr . 1822-1891
Paston Family, 1460-1482, (Hist.), Letters: Edited by
James Gairdner, 3 vols. (1872-1875) . From 1400-1506 Pater, William H., (Ess. & Mis.), Studies in the Hist, of
the Renaissance 1839-1894
Patmore, Coventry K. D., (Poet), The Unknown Eros . 1823-1896
Pattison, Mark, (Biog. & Ess.), Isaac Casaubon, 1559-1614 1813-1884
Paul, Herbert, (Hist.), Hist, of Modern England . . 1853-
Paulding, James Kirke, (Nov. & Ess.), Salmagundi . . 1779-1860
Payn, James, (Nov. & Ess.), Married Beneath Him . 1830-1898 Payne, John Howard, (Drama & Mis.), Home, Sweet
Home 1792-1852
Pearson, John, (Theol.), Exposition of the Creed . . 1612-1686 Peckham, John, (Theol. & Philos.), Collectanea Bib-
liorum . ?1240-1292
Peele, George, (Drama & Poet), The Old Wives' Tale . 1558-1598
Pemberton, Max, (Nov.), Iron Pirate 1863-
Penn, William, (Relig.), A Brief Account of the People
Called Quakers 1644-1718
Pepys, Samuel, Diary 1633-1703
Percival, James Gates, (Poet), Prometheus .... 1795-1856 Percy, Thomas, (Poet), Reliques of Ancient English
Poetry 1729-1811
A PARTIAL LIST OP AUTHORS
375
NAME Type of WorTc Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Petty, Sir William, (Philos.), Political Arithmetic . . 1623-1687
Philips, John, (Poet), Splendid Shilling 1676-1708
Phillips, Stephen, (Poet), Christ in Hades .... 1866-
Phillpotts, Eden, (Nov.), The Secret Woman .... 1862-
Pierpont, John, (Poet), Airs from Palestine .... 1785-1866 Pinero, Sir Arthur W., (Drama), The Second Mrs. Tan-
queray ' . . . . . 1855-
Poe, Edgar Allen, (Poet), Tales (1840), The Raven
(1845) 1809-1849
Pollok, Eobert, (Poet), The Course of Time .... 1799-1827
Pomfret, John, (Poet), The Choice 1667-1703
Pope, Alexander, (Poet), Eape of the Lock (1713),
Dunciad (1729), Essay on Man (1733) . . . 1688-1744 Person, Richard, (Philology), Translations of Greek
Plays, etc 1759-1808
Porter, Jane, (Nov.), Scottish Chiefs 1776-1850
Potter, John, (Hist.), The Antiquities of Greece . . . 1674-1747
Praed, Winthrop Mackworth, (Poet & Ess.), Lillian . . 1802-1839
Prescott, William H., (Hist.), Ferdinand and Isabella . 1796-1859 Priestley, Joseph, (Theol., Philos. & Mis.), Institutes of
Natural and Revealed Religion 1733-1804
Prince, John Dyneley, (Philol.), Assyrian Primer . . 1868- Prince, Thomas, (Theol. & Hist.), Chronological Hist, of
New England in the Form of Annals . . . 1687-1758
Prior, Matthew, (Poet), Solomon 1664-1721
Proctor, Bryan W., ("Barry Cornwall"), (Poet),
Mirandola 1787-1874
Purchas, Samuel, (Trav.), Pilgrimage (1613), Pilgrims
(1625) 1577-1626
Quarles, Francis, (Poet), A Feast for Wormes . . . 1592-1644
Quiller-Couch, Sir Arthur, (Nov.), Noughts and Crosses 1863-
Kadcliffe, Anne, (Nov. & Poet), The Romance of the
Forest 1764-1823
Raleigh, Sir Walter, (Hist.), Hist, of the World . . . 1552-1618 Raleigh, Sir Walter, (Ess. & Mis.), The English Novel .
Ramsay, Allan, (Poet), The Gentle Shepherd .... 1685-1758
Ray, John, (Nat. & Mis.), Catalogus plantarum Angliae 1628-1705
Read, Thomas Buchanan, (Poet), The House by the Sea 1822-1872 Reade, Charles, (Nov & Drama), The Cloister and the
Hearth 1814-1884
Reed, Talbot Baines, (Nov., Juveniles), The Fifth Form
at iSt. Dominic's 1852-1893
Reed, Thomas, (Philos. & Theol.), Inquiry into the
Human Mind 1710-1796
376 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died Khodes, James Ford, (Hist.), Hist, of the United States
from the Compromise of 1850 1848-
Rhys, Sir John, (Philologist), Celtic Heathendom . . 1840- Kicardo, David, (Pol. Economist), Principles of Political
Economy and Taxation 1772-1823
Kice, Alice Hegan, (Nov.), Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage
Patch 1870-
Rice, James, (Nov.), Eeady Money Mortiboy .... 1843-1882
In collaboration with Sir Walter Besant
Richard of St. Victor, (Theol. & Philos.) -1173
Richardson, Samuel, (Nov.), Pamela (1740), Clarissa
Harlowe (1748) 1689-1761
Ridge, William Pett, (Nov.), A Breaker of Laics . . . 1864- Riley, James Whitcomb, (Poet & Hum.), Pipes o' Pan at
Zekesbury 1853
Ripley, George, (Philos. & Lexicographer), Discourses on
the Philosophy of Religion 1802-1880
Rishanger, William, (Hist.), Chronicles of England . 1250-1312 Rives, Amelie, (Princess Troubetzkoy), (Nov.), The Quick
or the Dead 1863-
Robert of Gloucester, (Hist. & Poet), Rhyming Chronicle
of England 1255-1307
Robertson, William, (Hist.), History of Scotland (1759),
History of Charles V. of Germany (1769),
History of America (1777) 1721-1793
Rochester, Earl of, ("John Wilmot"), (Poet), Poems 1648-1680
Roe, Edward Payson, (Nov.), Barriers Burned Away . 1838-1888
Roger of Wendover, (Hist.), Flowers of History . . . ?1237 Rogers, Samuel, (Ess. & Poet), Human Life (1819),
Pleasures of Memory (1792) 1763-1855
Rolle, Richard, (Poet), The Pricke of Conscience . . ?1290-1349
Romanes, George John, (Sci), Mental Evolution in Man 1848-1894 Roosevelt, Theodore, (Politics, Hist. & Nov.), Winning
of the West 1858-
Ropes, John Codman, (Hist.), The First Napoleon . . 1836-1899
Roscoe, William, (Hist.), Life and Pontificate of Leo X. 1753-1831
Roscommon, Earl of, (Poet), Art of Poetry .... 1633-1684
Rossetti, Christine Georgina, (Poet), Goblin Market . . 1830-1894
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, (Poet), Ballads and Sonnets . 1828-1882
Rowe, Nicholas, (Drama), Jane Shore 1673-1718
Ruskin, John, (Art Critic), Modern Painters .... 1819-1900 Russell, William Clark, (Nov.), The Wreck of the
Grosvenor 1844-1911
Rymer, Thomas, (Hist.), Faedera 1641-1713
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 377
NAME Type of Work Chief Works & Dates Born-Died Sackville, Thomas, (Drama), Gorboduc (The first En- glish tragedy) 1536-1608
Saintsbury, George, (Critic & Mis.), History of Criticism
and Literary Taste in Europe 1845-
Sandys, George, (Trans., Poet & Travels), A Paraphrase
of the Psalms of David 1577-1644
Santayana, George, (Poet), The Hermit of Carmel . . 1863-
Sarah Grand. See MACFALL.
Savage, Richard, (Poet), Sir Thomas Overbury (1724),
The Wanderer (1729) 1697-1743
Saxe, John G., (Poet & Hum.), New Rape of the Lock . 1816-1887
Schreiner, Olive. See CRONWRIGHT.
Scott, Hugh Stowell, ("Henry Seaton Merriam")
(Nov.), The Sowers 1863-1903
Scott, Thomas, (Theol.), The Force of Truth .... 1747-1821 Scott, Sir Walter, (Nov. & Poet), The Lady of the Lake
(1810); Waverley Novels (1814-1828) . . . 1771-1832 Scotus, John Duns ("Duns Scotus"), (Theol. & Philos.),
A collective edition of works published in 1639 1265-1308 Seabury, Samuel ("Westchester Farmer"), (Theol. &
Pol.), Series of Pamphlets 1729-1796
Seaman, Owen, (Hum. & Nov.), In Cap and Bells . . 1861- Sedgwick, Catharine Maria, (Nov.), New England Tales 1789-1867 Seeley, Sir John Robert, (Philos. & Hist.), Ecce Homo
(1866), Life and Times of Stein (1879) . . 1834-1895 Selden, John, (Hist., Legal & Mis.), The Duello, or Single
Combat 1584-1654
Shakespeare, William, (Drama) 1564-1616
Shaw, George Bernard, (Nov. & Drama), Man and Super- man 1856-
Shea, John Dawson G., (Hist.), The Catholic Church in
America 1824-1892
Shelley, Percy B., (Poet), Prometheus Unbound (1819),
The Cenci (1819) 1792-1822
Shenstone, William, (Poet), The School-Mistress . . . 1714-1763 Shepard, Thomas, (Theol.), New England's Lamentation
for Old England's Errours 1605-1649
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, (Drama), The School for
Scandal 1751-1816
Sherlock, Thomas, (Theol.), The Trial of the Witnesses,
etc 1678-1761
Sherlock, William, (Theol. & Pol.), A Vindication of the
Doctrine of Trinity 1641-1707
Shirley, James, (Drama). The Traitor 1594-1666
Shorter, Clement King, (Ess. & Critic), Sixty Years of
Victorian Literature 1858-
Shorthouse, Joseph Henry, (Nov. & Ess.), John Inglesant 1834-1903
378 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Sidgwic-k, Henry, (Philos.), The Methods of Ethics . . 1838-1900 Sidney, Sir Philip, (Lit. & Poet), Arcadia, Defense of
Poesie (1581) 1554-1586
Sigourney, Lydia Huntley, (Poet), Pocahontas, and other
Poems 1791-1865
Sill, Edward Kowland, (Poet), The Hermitage . . . 1841-1887 Simms, William Gilmore, (Nov. & Poet), Guy Rivers . 1806-1870 Skeat, Walter William, (Philologist and Lexicographer), An Etymological Dictionary of the English Lan- guage 1835-1912
Skelton, John, (Poet), Booke of Colin Clout .... 1460-1529 Smart, Hawley, (Nov.), Master of Rath Kelly . . . 1833-1893 Smedley, Francis Edward, (Nov.), Frank Farleigh . . 1818-1864 Smiles, Samuel, (Hist., Biog. & Mis.), Self Help . . 1812-1904 Smith, Adam, (Philos.), The Wealth of Nations . . . 1723-1790 Smith, Benjamin Eli, (Lexicog. & Trans.), Century Dic- tionary 1857-1913
Smith, Captain John, (Hist.), The Generall Historic of
Virginia, etc. 1579-1631
Smith, Goldwin, (Hist. & Mis.), Canada and the Canadian
Question 1823-1910
Smith, Horace, (Nov. & Poet), Gale Middleton . . . 1779-1849
Smith, Sydney, (Ess. & Pol.), Peter Plymley's Letters . 1771-1845 Smith, William Eobertson, (Theol.), The Prophets of
Israel 1846-1894
Smollett, Tobias, (Nov.), Roderick Random (1748); Pere- grine Pickle (1751) ; Humphrey Clinker (1771) 1721-1771
Somervile, William, (Poet), The Chace 1677-1742
South, Eobert, (Theol.), Sermons 1634-1716
Southey, Eobert, (Poet & Hist.), The Curse of Kehama
(1810) ; Life of Nelson (1813) 1774-1843
Sparks, Jared, (Biog. & Hist.), Library of American
Biography 1789-1866
Spedding, James, (Biog.), Life and Letters of Francis
Bacon 1808-1881
Speed, John, (Hist.), History of Great Britain . . . 1552-1629
Spencer, Herbert, (Philos.), Principles of Biology . . 1820-1903 Spenser, Edmund, (Poet), Shepheardes Calendar (1579);
Faerie Queene (1590-1596) 1552-1599
Spofford, Harriet E., (Nov. & Poet), Sir Rohan's Ghost . 1835- Spurgeon, Charles Haddon (Theol.), The Treasury of
David 1834-1892
Stanley, Sir Henry M., (Travel), In Darkest Africa . 1841-1904 Stannard, Mrs. Arthur, ("John Strange Winter"),
(Nov.), Booties' Baby 1856-1911
Stedman, Edmund Clarence, (Poet & Critic), The Dia- mond Wedding 1833-1908
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS
379
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died Steel, Mrs. Flora Annie, (Nov.), On the Face of the
Waters 1847-
Stecle, Sir Richard, (Ess.), The Tatler (1709) ; Sir Roger
dc Coverlcy in No. 2 of The Spectator . . , . 1672-1729
Stephen, James Kenneth, (Poet & Satire), Lapsus Calami 1859-1892 Stephen, Sir Leslie, (Ess. & Biog.), Dictionary of National
Biography 1832-1904
Sterne, Laurence, (Nov.), Tristam Shandy (1759-1762),
Sentimental Journey (1765) 1713-1768
Stevens, Augusta de Grasse, (Nov.), The Lost Dauphin,
Louis XVII abt. 1865-1894
Stevenson, Robert Louis, (Nov.), The New Arabian
Nights 1850-1894
Stewart, Dugald, (Philos.), Outlines of Moral Philosophy 1753-1828 Stimson, Frederic Jesup, ("J. S., of Dale"), (Nov. &
Legal), The Crime of Henry Vane .... 1855-
Stockton, Francis (Frank) R., (Nov.), Rudder Grange 1834-1902 Stoddard, Richard Henry, (Poet & Mis.), Loves and
Heroines of the Poets 1825-1903
Stokes, Sir George G., (Sci. & Philos.), Natural Theology 1819-1903
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, (Nov.), Uncle Tom's Cabin . 1812-1896
Street, Alfred B., (Poet), Frontenac 1811-1881
Strutt, Joseph, (Hist. & Mis.), The Chronicles of England 1742-1802 Stubbs, William, (Hist.), Constitutional History of En-
gland 1825-1901
Suckling, Sir John, (Poet), Session of the Poets . . . 1609-1642 Sullivan, Thomas Russell, (Nov. & Poet), Roses of
Shadow 1849-
Swift, Jonathan, (Nov. & Satire), Gulliver's Travels . 1667-1745
Swinburne, Algernon C., (Poet), Atlanta in Calydon . . 1837-1909
Symonds, John A., (Hist.), Renaissance in Italy . . . 1840-1893
Symons, Arthur, (Poet & Critic,), London Nights . . 1865-
Tautphoeus, Baroness, (Nov.), The Initials .... 1807-1893 Taylor, Bayard, (Nov., Poet & Mis.), Poems of the
Orient 1825-1878
Taylor, Sir Henry, (Poet & Drama), Philip van Artevelde 1800-1886 Taylor, Jeremy, (Theol.), Holy Living (1650), Life of
Christ (1649) 1613-1667
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, (Poet), Morte d' Arthur . . . 1809-1892 Terhune, Mary Virginia, ("Marion Harland"), (Nov.),
The Hidden Path 1831-
Thackeray, William M., (Nov.), Vanity Fair .... 1811-1863
Thaxter, Celia, (Poet), Among the Isles of Shoals . . 1836-1894
Thompson, Francis, (Poet), Poems 1859-1907
Thompson, Robert Ellis, (Economist & Theol.), Elements
of Political Economy 1844-
380 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died Thompson, Silvanus Phillips, (Biog. & Sci.), Life of
Lord Kelvin 1851-
Thomson, James, (Poet), The Seasons (1726-1730), The
Castle of Indolence (1748), Eule Britannia . 1700-1748 Thomson, James, ("Bysshe Vanolis"), (Poet), The City
of Dreadful Night 1834-1882
Thomson, Prof. J. Arthur, (Sci. & Philos.), Heredity . 1861-
Ticknor, George, (Hist.), Hist, of Spanish Literature . 1791-1871 Thoreau, Henry David, (Ess. & Naturalist), Walden; or,
Life in the Woods 1817-1862
Thorpe, Benjamin, (Transl. & Mis.), Northern Mythology 1782-1870
Thorpe, Sir Edward, (Sci. & Mis.), Inorganic Chemistry 1845-
Thurston, Katherine Cecil, (Nov.), John Chilcote, M.P. 1879-1911
Timrod, Henry, (Poet), Cotton Boll 1829-1867
Todhunter, Dr. John, (Poet & Dramatist), The Banshee 1839- Tooke, John Home, (Pol. & Philologist), Winged Words,
or the Diversions of Purley 1736-1812
Toplady, Augustus Montague, (Hymns & Sacred Poems),
Bock of Ages 1740-1778
Tourgee, Albion Winegar, (Nov.), A Eoyal Gentleman . 1838-1905
Traill, Henry Duff, (Ess.), The New Lucian .... 1842-1900
Trollope, Anthony, (Nov.), The Warden 1815-1882
Trollope, Thomas A., (Nov.), La Beata 1810-1892
Trumbull, John, (Poet & Satire), McFingal .... 1750-1831 Tusser, Thomas, (Husbandry & Poet), A Hundred Good
Points of Husbandrie 1527-1580
Tuttiett, Miss M. G., ("Maxwell Gray"), (Nov. & Poet),
The Silence of Dean Maitland — —
Tyler, Moses Coit, (Hist. & Biog.), Hist, of American
Literature 1835-1900
Tynan, Katherine, (Mrs. Hinkson), (Poet), Shamrocks . 1861-
Tyndale, William, (Theol.), Transl. of New Testament 1484-1536 Tyndall, John, (Sci. & Mis.), Heat a Mode of Action,
and other scientific papers 1820-1893
Udal, Nicholas, (Drama & Trans.), Ealph Eoyster Doy-
ster, First Comedy in English 1506-1556
Usher, James, (Theol. & Philos.), Body of Divinitie . 1581-1656
Vachell, Horace Annesley, (Nov.), The Hill .... 1861-
Vanbrugh, Sir John, (Drama), The ProvoTced Wife . . 1664-1726
Very, Jones, (Poet), Essays and Poems 1813-1880
Vizetelly, Edward, (Adventure), From Cyprus to Zanzibar 1847- Vizetelly, Ernest, (Nov. & Trans.), A Lover's Progress . 1853- Vizetelly, Henry Kichard, (Mis.), A History of Cham- pagne; The Story of the Diamond Necklace . 1820-1893
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 381
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Wace, (Hist.), Roman de Brut 1100-1175
Wake, William, (Theol.), The Genuine Epistles of the
Apostolical Fathers 1657-1737
Walker, John, (Lexicographer), Outlines of English
Grammar 1732-1807
Walkley, Arthur B., (Critic & Ess.), Drama and Life . 1855-
Wallace, Lewis, (Nov. & Biog.), Ben Hur 1827-1905
Waller, Edmund, (Poet), Love Songs to " Sacharissa,' '
Lady Dorothy Sidney 1606-1687
Walpole, Horace, (Lit. & Pol.), Anecdotes of Painting in
England 1717-1797
Walpole, Sir Spencer, (Hist. & Pol.), A History of En- gland, from the Conclusion of the Great War
in 1815 1839-1907
Walsingham, Thomas, (Hist.), Historia Anglicana . d. abt. 1422 Walton, Brian, (Theol. & Lit.), Polyglot Bible . . . 1600-1661 Walton, Izaak, (Sport), The Compleat Angler . . . . 1593-1683 Warburton, William, (Theol. & Critic), Divine Legation
of Moses 1698-1779
Ward, Adolphus William, (Hist. & Biog.), History of
English Dramatic Literature . . . . . . 1837-
Ward, Art emus. See BROWNE, CHARLES F.
Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, (Nov.), Gates Ajar . 1844-1911
Ward, Mrs. Humphry, (Mary A. Arnold), (Nov.),
Robert Elsmere 1851-
Ward, Nathaniel, (Theol. & Philos.), The Simple Cobler
of Agavvam in America abt. 1570-1653
Warner, Charles Dudley, (Hum. & Poet), My Summer in
a Garden 1829-1900
Warton, Thomas, (Poet), The Triumph, of Isis . . . 1728-1790 Watson, H. B. Marriott, (Nov. & Dramatist), Marahuna 1863- Watson, Eev. John, ("Ian Maclaren"), (Nov.), Beside
the Bonnie Brier Bush 1850-1907
Watson, William, (Poet), The Year of Shame . . Watts, Isaac, (Hymns), The Psalms of David . Watts-Dunton, Theodore, (Poet & Nov.), Aylwin Webster, Augusta, (Poet), The Auspicious Day . Webster, John, (Drama), The White Devil
1858-
1674-1748
1836-
1840-1894
1580-1625
Webster, Noah, (Philologist & Lexicographer), Diction- ary of the English Language, 1st edition, 1828,
2nd edition, 1840 1758-1843
Wells, H. G., (Nov. & Ess.), Kipps 1866-
Wendell, Barrett, (Lit.), A. Hist, of American Literature 1855-
Wesley, John, (Hymns & Theol.), Hymns, Journal . . 1703-1791 Westcott, Brooke Foss, (Theol.), The Gospel of the
Resurrection 1825-1901
Weyman, Stanley J., (Nov.), A Gentleman of France . 1855-
382 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
NAME Type of Work Chief Works $ Dates Born-Died
Wharton, Mrs. Edith, (Nov.), The Valley of Decision . 1862-
Whately, Abp. Eichard, (Philos.), Christian Evidence . 1787-1863 Whetham, William C. D., (Sci. & Mis.), The Recent
Development of Physical Science 1867-
Whewell, W., (Mis.), Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences 1794-1866
White, Gilbert, (Nat.), The Natural History of Selborne 1720-1793 White, Eichard Grant, (Philologist & Mis.), Every Day
English 1821-1885
White, William Hale, ("Mark Eutherford"), (Nov.),
The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford . . 1857-
Whiteing, Eichard, (Nov.), No. 5 John Street . . . 1840-
Whitman, Walt, (Walter), (Poet), Leaves of Grass . . 1819-1892
Whitney, Adeline D., (Nov.), Faith Gartney's Girlhood 1824-1906 Whitney, William Dwight, (Philologist & Lexicog.),
Editor of The Century Dictionary .... 1827-1894
Whittier, John Greenleaf, (Poet), Mogg Megone . . 1807-1892
Whymper, Edward, (Travel), Scrambles among the Alps 1840-1911
Whyte-Melville, G. J., (Nov.), Kate Coventry .... 1821-1878 Wiggin, Kate Douglas, (Nov.), Eebecc'a of Sunnybrook
Farm 1857-
Wigglesworth, Michael, (Theol. & Poet), Day of Doom . 1631-1715
Wilde, Oscar, (Nov. & Poet), Lady Winder mere's Fan . 1856-1900 William of Malmesbury, (Hist.), History of the Kings
of England (De Gestis Begum) 1095-1143
William of Newburgh, (Hist.), Hist, of English Affairs 1136-1198 Williams, Eoger, (Theol.), The Bloody Tenent of Perse- cution 1599-1683
Willis, Nathaniel P., (Poet & Mis.), Pencilings by the
Way 1806-1867
Wilson, John, (Poet), Isle of Palms 1785-1854
Wilson, Woodrow (Thomas), (Politics & Hist.), The State 1856- Winsor, Justin, (Hist.), Narrative and Critical History
of America 1831-1897
Winthrop, John, (Hist.), History of New England . . 1588-1649
Wirt, William, (Biog.), Life of Patrick Henry . . . 1772-1834
Wister, Owen, (Nov.), The Virginian 1860-
Wither, George, (Poet & Mis.), Faire-Virtue .... 1588-1667 Wolcot, John ("Peter Pindar "), (Poet & Satire),
Expostulatory Odes 1738-1819
Wood, M. A. E. See GREEN, MRS. M. A. EVERETT.
Wood, Mrs. Henry, (Nov.), East Lynne 1814-1887
Wood, William, (Hist.), New England's Prospect . . 1580-1639 Woodberry, George Edward, (Biog. & Poet), Edgar Allan
Foe, ("American Men of Letters Series9') . . 1855- Woodworth, Samuel, (Nov. & Poet), The Champion of
Freedom 1785-1842
A PARTIAL LIST OF AUTHORS 383
NAME Type of Work Chief Works # Dates Born-Died Woojman, John, (Philos.), Some Considerations on the
Keeping of Negroes 1720-1772
Woolson, Constance Fenimore, (Nov.), Castle Nowhere . 1848-1894 Worcester, Joseph Emerson, (Lexicographer), Dictionary
of the English Language 1784-1865
Wordsworth, William, (Poet), Lyrical Ballads . . . 1770-1850 Wotton, Sir Henry, (Poet & Lit.), The Elements of
Architecture 1568-1639
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, (Poet), Sonnets and Lyrics, first in
England 1503-1542
Wycherley, William, (Crania), The Country Wife . . 1640-1716
Wycliffe, John, (Theol.), Translation of Bible . . . 1325-1384
Yates, Edmund, (Nov.), Running the Gauntlet . . . 1831-1894 Yeats, William Butler, (Poet & Nov.), The Wanderings
of Oisin 1865-
Yonge, Charlotte M., (Nov.), The Heir of Kedclyffe . . 1823-1901
Young, Edward, (Poet), Night Thoughts 1683-1765
Zangwill, Israel, (Nov. & Drama), The Master . . . 1864-
384 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
A Hundred Best Books
The following is a selection of one hundred books made by the
late Sir John Lubbock, Bart. (Lord Avebury). "A splendid treasury of deep thought, of romance, of wit, of travel, and of history. ' ' — The Daily Telegraph, London, England.
1. The Bible. Authorized version.
2. Voyage of a Naturalist. Darwin.
3. Meditations. Marcus Aurelius.
4. The Teachings of Epictetus.
5. Essays. Bacon.
6. Principles of Political Economy. Mill.
7. History of the French Revolution. Carlyle.
8. Self -Help. Samuel Smiles.
9. Natural History of Selborne. White.
10. The Pickwick Papers. Dickens.
11. The Shi-King: Chinese National Poetry (transl.).
12. Homer. Transl. by Pope.
13. Vergil. Transl. by Dryden.
14. Essays (transl.). Montaigne.
15. System of Logic. Mill.
16. Biographical History of Philosophy. Lewis (Lewes).
17. Vanity Fair. Thackeray.
18. The Shah Nameh (transl.). Firdausi.
19. Three Voyages Eound the World. Capt. Cook.
20. Vicar of Wakefield. Goldsmith.
21. William Tell (transl.). Schiller.
22. The Koran. Transl. By Sale.
23. Plays and Poems. Shakespeare.
24. Life of Johnson. Boswell.
25. Ivanhoe. Sir W. Scott.
26. Pendennis. Thackeray.
27. Thucydides (transl.).
28. David Copperfield. Dickens.
29. Childe Harold. Byron.
30. Plays (transl.). JEschylus.
31. Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith.
32. Canterbury Tales. Chaucer.
33. Decline and Fall of the Koman Empire; 2 vols. Gibbon.
34. Dialogues of Plato (transl.).
A HUNDRED BEST BOOKS 35.5
35. Don Quixote (transl.). Cervantes.
36. Plays. Sheridan.
37. Kobinson Crusoe. Defoe.
38. Poetical Works. Dryden.
39. Lives of the Greeks and Eomans (transl.). Plutarch.
40. Last Days of Pompeii. Lytton.
41. Past and Present. Carlyle.
42. Pilgrim's Progress. Bunyan.
43. Ethics (transl.). Aristotle.
44. Apostolic Fathers. Wake.
45. Novum Organum. Bacon.
46. On the Crown (transl.). Demosthenes.
47. Thoughts on Eeligion (transl.). Pascal.
48. Human Knowledge. Berkeley.
49. Morte d 'Arthur. Malory.
50. Essays. Emerson.
51. The Nibelungenlied (transl.).
52. Selections from Speeches and Writings. Burke.
53. Faerie Queene. Spenser.
54. Gulliver's Travels. Swift.
55. Politics (transl.). Aristotle.
56. Poetical Works. Sir W. Scott.
57. Arabian Nights, The.
58. Poetical Works. Burns.
59. The Imitation of Christ. Thomas a Kempis.
60. Divine Comedy (Longfellow's transl.). Dante.
61. Plays (transl.). Moliere.
62. Poetical Works. Milton.
63. Faust (transl.). Goethe.
64. The Christian Year. Keble.
65. Essays and Lays of Ancient Home. Macaulay.
66. Analogy of Keligion. Butler.
67. Odes (Lytton 's transl.). Horace.
68. Poetical Works. Wordsworth.
69. Plays. Aristophanes.
70. Poems. Gray.
71. History of England, 3 vols. Hume.
72. On the Human Understanding. Locke.
73. Essays. Addison.
74. Holy Living and Holy Dying. Taylor.
75. Essays. Hume.
76. Offices, Friendship, and Old Age (transl.). Cicero.
386 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH SPEECH
77. Works (transl.). Hesiocl.
78. Anabasis and Memorabilia (transl.). Xenophon.
79. Zadig et Micromegas (transl.). Voltaire.
80. CEuvres. Moliere.
81. Sakoontalia of The Lost Eing (trans, from Sanskrit). Kalidasa.
82. Disconrs de la Methode. Descartes.
83 — 84. Livy, History, bks. i-v; Tacitus 's Germania and Agricola (transl.).
85. The Antiquary; steel plates. Sir W. Scott.
86. Travels, 3 vols. (transl.). Humboldt.
87. Confessions. St. Augustine.
88. The Origin of Species. Darwin.
89. Westward Ho! Kingsley.
90. Short History of the English People. Green.
91. Tractatus Theologico-Politicus. Spinoza.
92. Adam Bede. "George Eliot."
93. The Analects (transl.). Confucius.
94. Buddha. St. Hilaire.
95. Plays. Sophocles.
96. Plays. Euripides.
97. Essay on Man, etc. Pope.
98 — 99. The Kamayana and The Mahabarata; 1 vol.
100. Herodotus (transl.).
INDEX
387
INDEX
A, the letter and its varying sounds, 131.
"a," the sound and symbol in the N. E. A. Alphabet, 293.
"a," the sound and symbol in the N. E. A. Alphabet, 291.
Abbott (Dr. E. A.), on dropping of inflections, 54.
Aberdeenshire dialect, 47.
Absolute (superlative) defined, 225.
Accent, American, 334 ; Robert L. Stevenson on American and Brit- ish, 334.
Accuracy indispensable to writing for publication, 315.
"Act" defined, 190.
"Active voice" defined, 249.
Addison, Joseph, 323 ; on the puri- fication of the language, 342 ; starts "The Spectator," 137.
"Adjective" defined, 254.
"Advancement of Learning," by Francis Bacon, 113.
"Adverb" defined, 255.
"Adverb phrase" defined, 256.
"Adverbial clause" defined, 255.
"Adverbial phrase" defined, 256.
Advocacy not lexicography, 222.
Aelle, see ELLA.
Aeronautics in the Dictionary, 223.
Aesc and Ella allies of Cerdic, 4.
Aesc and Hengest defeat Britons at Wippedesfleot, 4.
^Ethelric, see ETHELRIC.
"Affairs and State of Germany" ; Report and Discourse, by Asch- am, 76.
Affectation of speech, British, 272.
African terms in English, 170.
"di," the diphthong in the N. E. A. Alphabet and Webster's New In- ternational Dictionary, 292.
Ain't, 340.
Albion, origin of the name, 1.
"Alchemist," by Jonson, 106.
Alfred, "the Great," 10 ; defeats the Danes, 20 ; his works, 19 ; para- phrases Boethius's "Consolation," 20.
Alfred of Beverley abridges Geof- frey's "History," 27.
Alfric the Grammarian, 22.
"Allegory" defined, 178, 179.
Alliteration in Anglo-Saxon ro- mance, 199 ; in early English verse, 199.
"Alphabet" defined, 239, 240.
Alphabet (English), inadequate, 132 ; (National Education Asso- ciation), why devised, 297; num- ber of letters in different, 239, 240.
— recommended by the N. E. A., 288.
Alphabet, the Scientific, 275.
— proclaimed "a triumphant cre- ation of philological genius," 284.
American accent, 334 ; dialect, 333 ;
provincialism, 334; slang, 333,
334. American-Indian words in English,
169.
American lexicology, 172. American Philological Association,
286, 289^ 293, 294. Amicis (Edmondo de) on the dic- tionary, 226, 231. "Amorette," by Spenser, 82. Amsterdam, first English "Cou-
rants" printed at, 133. "cm," the diphthong in the N. E. A.
alphabet, 292. Analogy and correctness, 339,
389
390
INDEX
Anderida beset by Aelle and Cissa, 4.
Angevin introduced, 25.
Angles arrive in Britain, 3 ; con- quer Britain, 5 ; found Bernicia (Northumbria), 5; Deira, and Mercia, 8 ; people of Kent, 9 ; Anglia produces a literature, 14.
Anglo-Saxon, 1-10 ; words in the Bible, percentage of, 123.
"Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," 5, 9, 10; number and location of manu- scripts, 21 ; specimen from, 22.
Anglo-Saxon Period, 11, 12-23.
Antwerp, Gazette of, 134.
Aorist, the, 252.
Apocrypha, Statistics of the Con- tents of the, 123.
"Apolog" denned, 179.
"Apologie for Poesie," by Sidney, 82.
Appendix, 351-383.
"Arcades" by Milton, 12G.
"Areopagitica" by Milton, 127.
Army (British) officers' pronuncia- tion, 271-272.
Arnold (Dr. Thomas), on the Miracle Plays, 90; on reading, 310.
Arose used for "arisen," 147.
Arthurian romance, 180.
Ascham, Roger, 75 ; adopted, 75 ; advice on manner of speech, 76 ; appointed Secretary to German ambassador, 76 ; appointed tutor to Princess Elizabeth, 76 ; edu- cation, 75 ; death, 76 ; Ascham opposes use of foreign words, 77 ; quality of his English, 75 ; re- ceives notice and reward from Henry VIII., 76; Report and Discourse of the Affairs and State of Germany, 76 ; Ascham used double negative, 144 ; used "news" as a plural, 155.
Associated Colleges and Prepara- tory Schools of the United States, Conference of, 208-211, 311.
Assonance, 199.
"Astrophel and Stella" by Sidney, 82.
"Atlantic Monthly," Havelock Ellis in, 322.
Attic comedy, 189.
Australian terms in English, 169. Authorship, Emerson on, 316. Authorized Version of the Bible,
influence on the language, 123. Authors, Partial list of, 351-383. Auxiliary verb defined, 248. Avebury (Lord), Hundred Best
Books, 384. Average man, vocabulary of, 214-
219. Avery (Elroy) on good English,
338.
Bacon, Francis, 111-116 ; "Advance- ment of Learning," 113 ; Essays, 112, 115-116; Chancellor (Lord High) of England, 112; Bacon impeached and imprisoned in the Tower, 112 ; influence on scientific thought, 114; his "In- stauratio Magna," 113 ; "History of King Henry VII.," 114 ; "New Atlantis," 114 ; "Novum Or- ganum," 112 ; views of contem- poraries on, 114 ; specimen from Essays "On Learning," 115-116 ; sudden death, 115.
Bailey, Nathan, 131, 146.
"Balades," by Gower, 46.
Bale on the destruction of books, 68.
"Ballad" denned, 192, 202, 204-205.
— (literary) defined, 205.
Balliet, T. M., 287.
Barbour, John, 48-49.
Barebone (Praise God) and the drama, 185-186.
Barker (Richard), King's printer, 117.
"Bartholomaeus de Proprietatibus Rerum," printed by Caxton, 56.
Baxter (C. J.) on the Scientific Alphabet, 278.
Baynes (Prof. Spencer) on Shake- speare's manner, 97, 98.
Beastes, beasteses, 142.
Beaton, Cardinal, 78.
Beda (Bede), his birth, death, and work, 19.
Befel used for "befallen," 147.
Beginners, difficulties that beset, 320-321.
Belgse, 1.
Belles-lettres, 175, 176.
INDEX
391
"Beowulf," 17, 181, 203.
Bernicia, 55 ; ruled by Ida the Torch-bearer, 5 ; united with Deira under Oswy, 6.
Bible, English (The), 116-124 ; Ben- jamin Franklin on the, 121 ; books in, number of, 123-124 ; chapters in number of, 123-124 ; character- istics of, 117 ; Daniel Webster's view of, 121 ; Edward Everett on, 122 ; Horace Greeley on, 121 ; In- fluence of, 117 ; letters in, num- ber of, 123-124 ; Macaulay's esti- mate of, 121 ; objective case used for the nominative in, 153 ; per- centage of Anglo-Saxon words in, 123; Prince of Granada's statis- tics of the, 124 ; printed by King's printer, 117 ; rhythm of, 119 ; statistics of its contents, 123- 124 ; style of, 117 ; time taken to print, 117 ; veneration in which King James version is held. 123 ; verses in, number of, 123-124 ; William H. Taft on, 122; words in, number of, 123-124.
Bible, the Great, 58.
Bible-stories of Caedmon, 15.
Bishop's Bible, 116.
"Bishop's Book," 67.
Blackfriars Theater, Shakespeare's connection with, 100.
Blades, William, on Caxton's rela- tion to Mansion, 54, 56.
"Blank verse" defined, 198.
Blending of French and English, 35.
Boccaccio in Florence, 42.
Bohn's Standard Library, 311.
Boileau on "gros" and "grand," 141.
"Book of Common Prayer," The, 67, 151.
"Book of Martyrs," 73, 75.
Books, influence of, 53.
"Boston Evening Transcript" on the dictionary, 212-213.
Bretigny, Peace of, 35.
Brevity, 54.
Bright, James W., 287.
Britain, Angles, Jutes, and Saxons land in, 3.
British Museum's collection of Caxton volumes, 59 ; collection of "Courants," 132-135.
British power in Sussex broken, 4.
Britons beat back the Jutes, 3-4 ; defeated at Charford, 5.
Brown (Goold), and the split infini- tive, 156 ; "Grammar of English Grammars," 266-267.
Bruce, The, extract from, 49.
"Brut d'Angleterre," 31.
Bryant, William Cullen, 324.
Buchanan (George), 77-80; ap- pointed tutor by King James V. of Scotland, 78 ; appointed tutor to Earl of Cassilis, 78 ; appointed tutor to Mary Queen of Scots. 79 ; "De Jure Regni Apud Scotos" burned by the scholars at Oxford, 80 ; influence on language, 80 ; principal of St. Leonard's College at St. Andrew's, 79 ; translation of the Psalms, 79 ; tutor to James VI. of Scotland, 79; writes a "History of Scotland," 80.
Buckhurst, Lord, see SACKVILLE, THOMAS.
Bunyan (John), Spenser's influence on the "Pilgrim's Progress," 85.
Burbage, James, 100.
Burke (Edmund) and precision, 317.
"Burlesque" defined, 190.
Burney, Frances, 330.
Burns, influence of Spenser on, 85 ; split infinitive used by, 157.
Butter, Nathaniel, prints English "Courants," 133.
Byron, influence of Spenser on, 85 ; split infinitive used by, 157.
"Bystander" (The), London, on English speech, 335.
Cadsant, battle of, 35.
Caedmon (Cedmon), 14; "Genesis," 15 ; poems published, 15.
Caesar in Britain, 1.
Cambridge, England, Founding of the University of, 23; printer from Cologne begins work at, 58.
Camden, William, befriends Ben Jonson, 105.
Cameron (Ruth), on books for children's reading, 312, 313.
Canby (Professor H. S.), on read- ing by undergraduates, 306-307.
"Canterbury Tales," 42.
392
INDEX
Carlyle (Thomas), on literature, 174.
"Case is Altered," by Jonson, 106.
"Case" defined, 244-245.
Cassiterides, 1.
"Catiline" by Jonson, 106.
Cawdrey, Robert, 130.
Caxton, William, 54-62; dates of the printing of his books, 56 ; press set up in Westminster, 56 ; prints, the works of Chaucer and Malory, 59.
Celtse, 1.
Celts found by the Romans, 1.
Cerdic arrives on shores of South- ampton Water, 4 ; ally of Aesc and Ella, 4 ; defeats Britons at Charford, 5.
Cerdicesora, Cerdic and Cymric land at, 4 ; located, 4.
Chandos Classics, 310.
Chansons de geste, 179.
Chappell, William, tutor to Milton, 125.
Characteristics of poetry, 194.
Charford scene of British defeat by Cerdic, 5.
Chatham (Earl of), how he acquired his vocabulary, 220.
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 36, 159 ; his life and work, 40-44 ; foreign words in, 44 ; in the "Canterbury Tales," 165 ; forms "arn," "weren," retained in, 155 ; not maker of the English language, 159.
Chaucerian, English specimen of, 42-43.
— Period, 11, 34-39.
Chautauqua Institution, Dr. Fer- nald's address before the, 265.
Chesterfield's (Lord), "Letters to his Son," 329.
Chester Mysteries, 91.
Chesty, 341.
Chettle collaborates with Ben Jon- son, 106.
Children, books for, 311-312.
Child's memory severely taxed, 270.
Chinese terms in English, 169.
Choate (Rufus), habit of reading, 307.
"Christian Work and Evangelist," Editor of (quoted on the split infinitive), 158.
"Christis Kirk on the Grene," 47.
"Chronicle of Cologne," first pub- lished, 51.
Churchmen check influence of min- strels, 34.
Cicero on literature, 174 ; on the use and command of words, 220.
Cissa lands at Cymenesora, 4.
Clarke, Adrian prints an English Courant at the Hague, 133.
Classic, Sainte-Beuve's definition of a, 309-310.
Classical philology, 238.
Clause (adverbial) defined, 255.
Clofesho, Council of, 18.
Coar (Thomas), diagrams in his grammar, 261.
Cobden, Richard, and the repeal of the Newspaper Stamp Tax, 136.
Coffee-houses as news-centers, 135.
Cole, Dr., becomes Hooker's patron, 86.
Coleridge, influence of Spenser on, 85.
Coleridge's description of classes of readers, 305.
"Colin Clout," 71.
Colleague as a verb, 144.
"College Exercise," 129.
Collier (Dr. W. F.), on "Paradise Lost," 128.
Comedies by Jonson, 106.
— by Shakespeare, 98. Comedy defined, 188.
— (light) defined, 189.
— (low) defined, 189.
— (musical), 189. Commandement, 141, 142. Committee, Members of National
Education Association Committee,
287.
Committee on Pronunciation, Nat- ional Education Association, 298,
299. Common people, Ascham on the
speech of, 76-77. Comcedia palliata, 188 ; prcetexta,
188 ; tabernaria, 188 ; togata,
188; trabeata, 188. "Comparative degree" defined, 254-
255.
INDEX
393
Comparative literature, 176. - philology, 238. "Comparison" defined, 254.
— in rhetoric, 195.
Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buck- ingham, 94. "Comus," 126. "Confessio Amantis," 45. Confusion of grammatical forms, 24.
— of spelling. 53.
Congreve (William), Plays of, 93;
"fetch a walk" used by, 150. "Conjunction" denned, 256. "Conjunctive pronoun" defined,
246. Construction, artistic, 175.
— on correct, 339. "Constructive faculty" or imagina- tion defined, 175.
Conway on the Bible, 121.
Cook (Professor Albert) on the
vocabularies of Shakespeare and
Milton (note), 215. Cook (Professor H. Caldwell) on
pronunciation, 271. "Coordinate conjunction" defined,
256.
Correct use of words, 310. Correctness of form in English, 339. Corruption of Speech, On the, 332-
348. Corruptions of English described by
"The Bystander," London, 335 ;
undergo refining process, 348. Coster, Lorenzo, 50. Coster cuts wooden type, 51. Council of Clofesho, 18. "Courants," English, the early, 132-
135 ; extracts from early En- glish, 134.
Coventry Mysteries. 90. Coverdale, Miles, 67, 70-71 ; trans- lator of first complete English
Bible, 70. Craik, Dr. George L., on English,
77 ; on Shakespeare, 102. Cranmer, Thomas, 60 ; Bible, 67. Cridda, King of Mercia, 6. "Crist," 18. Cross (Wilbur L.), on the Novel,
182, 183.
Crusades, effect of the, 35. Cullum on uses of "task" and "tax,"
146.
Curiosity (scrupulousness), 143.
Curious (exact), 143.
Curves and Curlicues used to indi- cate pronunciation confusing, 270-271.
Cushman (Charlotte), on the drama, 187.
Cut that out, 337.
Cymen lands at Cymenesora, 4.
Cymenesora identified, 4.
Cymric lands, 4.
Cymry attacked by Picts and Scots, 3.
Cynewulf identified ; his works, 18.
Dale, Phyllis, 345.
Dana, Charles Anderson, 323.
Danes partition Deira, 6.
Danish incursions, effect of, 22-23; words in English, 161. 168, 169.
Dante's "Divina Commedia," 189.
D'Arblay, Madame, 330.
De Augmentis Scientiarum, 113.
Defoe's "Review" pioneer of En- glish periodical literature, 136.
Degree defined, 254.
Deira colonized. 6 ; extinct as a political division, 6 ; located, 6 ; partitioned by Danes, 6 ; ruled by Ella, 6.
De Juri Regni Apud Scotos, 79.
Dekker, Thomas, collaborates with Ben Jonson, 106.
Delany, Mrs, "fetch a walk," used by, 150.
Delany, Hon. John J., on lack of knowledge of English literature, 337.
"Demonstrative pronoun" defined, 246.
Depravation of language, 339.
De Quincey on literature, 174.
Descent of Picts and Scots, 3.
"Disiderative verb" defined, 250.
De Superbia, 42-43.
"Devil is an Ass," 106.
De Vinne, Theodore L., and the In- vention of printing, 51 ; on punc- tuation, 268-269.
Dewey, Dr. Melvil, member of N. E. A. special committee on phonetics, 287.
Diacritics, scientific alphabet dis- penses with, 278.
394
INDEX
Dialect, American, 333.
Dialects, Northern group of, 12-13.
— Southern group of, 13.
— spoken, 12-13.
— Aberdeenshire and Tweedale, preserved, 47.
"Dialogue Concerning Heresies," by Sir Thomas More, 63.
Diaries, 329-330.
Dickens, Charles, 323 ; on slang in English, 342.
"Dictes and Sayings of the Philos- ophers," 56.
Dictionaries are a luxury, where, 336.
— publication of, 130.
— vocabularies of the, 172. Dictionary, Amicis on the, 228-229. Dictionary, as a Text-book, 233-
258 ; as an educative medium, 235, 258 ; entertaining character of, 230 ; first restricted to the English language, 130 ; how to benefit from the, 220, 235-258 ; Supreme Court of language, 233 ; value of the study of, 220, 223.
"Didactic poetry" defined, 192, 206.
Difficulties besetting pronunciation, 270.
Diffusion of slang, 343.
Discommodity, discommodius, 143.
Discourse (representative) defined, 176, 177.
Disraeli (Benjamin), change in political conviction of, 326.
Discommode used for "incom- mode," 143.
Distraught used for "distracted," 148.
"Divorce" by Milton, 127.
Doggerel sung by Minstrels, 34.
"Donate" printed, 51.
Dots and dashes used to indicate pronunciation confusing, 270-271.
Double negative, uses of the, 144.
Drama, influence of, 89-93; lewd and iniquitous according to Barebone, 185-186; under the Restoration, 93.
Drama (the) and its subdivisions defined, 184-190.
"Dramatic lyric" defined, 192, 200.
"Dramatic monologue" defined, 205.
"Dramatic poetry" defined, 192,
205.
Drayton, Michael, 101. Dryden, "arose" used for "arisen''
by, 147 ; on Milton's work, 124 ;
mixed forms used by, 153 ; plays
of, 93 ; Shakespeare decried by,
104 ; on Spenser, 85 ; "worser"
used by, 144. Dugdale on the Coventry Mysteries,
90. Dutch or Low German words in
English, 163, 168. Dutch words in English, 161, 163,
168.
"e," disappearance of final, 59 ;
elision of the letter in English,
142 ; the letter and its varying
sounds, 131. "e" the sound and symbol in the
N. E. A. Alphabet, 293. Earle (Prof. John), split infinitive
condemned by, 157. Early English Texts, 13. Early Middle English period, 11;
characteristics of, 23-34. Early Modern Period, 53, 54-124. East Anglia, counties embraced by
kingdom of, 8 ; submits to Offa,
7. East Anglian kings descended from
Uffa, 5. East Saxony, counties embraced by
kingdom of, 8. Ebbsfleet, 4.
Eclectic English Classics. 311. "Edinburgh Review," 152. Editions, recent, of "Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle," 21. Education, first important work on
English, 76. "Education," Milton's tractate on,
127.
Edward the Confessor, 24. Edward III. and English in law
pleadings, 27. Edwin, son of Ella, 6. Effect of the Renaissance. 24. Egbert, King of Wessex, 7. "Elegy" defined, 201. "Elene," 18. Elizabeth, Princess, taught by
Roger Ascham, 76.
INDEX
395
Elizabeth, Queen, favors Shake- speare, 101 ; and Thomas Sack- ville, 74 ; and Sir Philip Sidney, 80.
Ella (Aelle) at Cymenesora, 4 ; founds kingdom o£ South Saxons, 4 ; rules Deira, 6.
Ellandum scene of Mercian defeat by Offa, 7.
Ellis (A. J.), on number of sounds in English, 298, 299-300.
Ellis (Havelock) and grammar, 264 ; on duty of writers, 326 ; on the logic of thought, 328 ; on Pepys, 330.
Ellwood on "Paradise Found," 128.
Emerson (Prof. O. F.) on first official use of English, 14 ; on French words in English, 165 ; on the forming of a vocabulary, 219 ; member of N. E. A. Com- mittee on phonetic system, 287.
Emerson (Ralph Waldo) on author- ship, 316; editor, 323.
Emotions, the, 192.
End-rime, 199.
Engles, see ANGLES.
English : by whom originated, 1- 10 ; effects of the crusades on, 35.
— alphabet unphonetic and in- adequate, 131, 132 ; Bible, 116- 124.
— (correct), based on good usage, 139.
— (bad), offensive, 332.
— deposes French, 27.
— German view of the study of, 335-336.
— growth of, 11, 221.
— its vocabulary, 160-161.
— indifference to philological study, 13.
'•English kin," 9.
English of Sir Thomas Malory, 62.
— of Sir Thomas More, 63-65.
— no longer the Anglo-Saxon tongue, 159.
— number of words in, 171.
— as presented in the Standard Dictionary, 235-237.
— state of at Milton's birth, 130.
— mixed tongue, 77.
— Modern, 53, 124-138.
— (newspaper) quality of, 137.
English of the pioneer press, 134, 135.
— its relation to German, 10.
— serial appears, the first, 136.
— of Shakespeare and of Milton, 146-147.
— speech, "The Bystander" on, 335.
— spelling, 130. .
— in Johnson's time, 131.
— Standard Dictionary definition of, 236.
— texts neglected, 13.
— tongue, 10.
— Tudor, 53.
— of Tyndale's New Testament, 66.
— people united under Offa, 7.
— vocabulary reconstructed, 24.
— words, sources of 20,000, 163. Englishmen fighting, 50. "Epicorne" by Jonson, 106. Epic of Beowulf, 17.
— poetry, 192, 198, 202-205. - verse defined, 192.
Epics classified, 203.
Erasmus's "Paraphrase of the New
Testament," 72. Erroneous vowel-pairing, 276. Errors of speech in commercial
life, 337.
"Essay" defined, 177. Essays of Francis Bacon, 112. Essex, reduction of, 5, 7. "Esthetic art" defined, 175. Ethelbert, King of Kent, 9. Ethelric (^Ethelric) usurps Deira ;
defeated, 6.
Etymology defined, 241. "Evening Post," New York, 324. "Evening Sun," New York (Editor
of), on slang, 342. Everett (Edward) on the Bible,
122 ; on literature, 174. "Everyman in His Humour," by
Jonson, 106.
"Everyman's Library," 311. Exaggeration of language, 346. Explorations, results of, 170. Extraught for "derived" or "ex- tracted," 148.
"Fable" defined, 178, 179. "Faerie Queene" by Spenser, 83, 84. "Farce-comedy" defined, 189.
396
INDEX
"Farce" defined, 189.
Farquhar, Plays of, 93.
Fell used for "fallen," 147.
Fernald (Dr. James C.), on "fiction and romance," 178 ; on gram- marians, 265 ; on literature, 178 ; o n "m e t e r," "measure," "rhythm," 197-198 ; on poetry, 191 ; "Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions," 224-225.
"Ferrex and Porrex" by Sackville and Norton, 94.
Fetch used for "accomplish," 149.
"Fetch a turn," 149.
"Fetch a walk," uses of, 149-150.
Fetches, 150.
"Fiction" defined, 177-178.
Fielding, 341.
"Figure of speech" defined, 194.
Filipino words in English, 171.
First foreclosed mortgage against Gutenberg, 53.
First official use of English words, 14.
Fisher, John, 73.
"Five Books of Moses," Tyndale translates, 65.
"Flour and the Lefe," 42.
"Folk-ballad" defined, 204, 205.
"Folk-song" defined, 205.
Foreign Element in English, 159, 173.
Foreign terms in English, number of, 171-172.
Foreign words used by Chaucer, 165.
Forms, mixed, 153.
Forsook used for "forsaken," 147.
Fowler (Orson Squire) on in- dividuality, 325.
"Fox" (The), by Jonson, 106.
Foxe, John, "Book of Martyrs," 73, 75.
France, printing in, 57.
"Franciscanus" by Buchanan, 78.
Franklin, Benjamin, on the Bible, 121.
French and its appearance in En- glish, 24; blending of, with En- glish, 35 ; books, early transla- tion of, 35 ; little known in En- gland, 44.
French prevent completion of print- ing of Great Bible, 58.
French words in English, 11, 24, 163, 166-167, 170.
Frenchman casts first type in En- gland, 59.
"Frequentative" verb defined, 251.
Fuller (Bishop) on sinapi, 140.
Function (the) of the dictionary, 212-232 ; of Grammar, 259-269.
Funk (Dr. Isaac K.) on "Albion," 1 ; on Caxton's "Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye," 56 ; princi- ples of lexicography, 222 ; secures expert assistance, 225-226 ; uses Scientific Alphabet, 284.
Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary of the English Lan- guage, N. E. A. Committee's Al- phabet used in, 302-303.
"Future tense'' defined, 252.
Gaels in North Wales and the Mid- lands, 3.
Galileo visited by Milton, 126.
"Game (The) and the Play of Chesse," 56.
Gardiner befriends Ascham, 76.
Garnett (Richard) on the Paston Letters, 329.
Gautier (Theophile) on the dic- tionary, 226 ; on words, 231.
Gay, Thomas, 147.
"Gazette of Antwerp," 134.
"Gender" defined, 244.
Geneva Bible, 116.
"Gentleman's Magazine," The, 137.
Geoffrey Gaimar, 27.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 27.
German language, its relation to English, 10.
— troubadour, 181.
— words in English, 163, 170. Germany, invention of printing
owed to, 57.
— Report and Discourse of the Affairs and State of, 76.
Ohostes, ghosttses, 142.
"Gipsies Metamorphosed," 106.
Gladstone (William Ewart), change in political convictions of. 326.
"Gleeman" defined, 179, 181.
Globe Theater, Shakespeare's con- nection with, 101.
INDEX
397
Golden Fleece, Philip institutes order of, 50.
Good usage dictates the correct in English, 139.
"Gorboduc," 93.
Gosse (Edmund) on the poetry of the trouveres, 180.
Gould (Edward S.) on law of language, 262 ; views contro- verted, 263.
Govea (Andrew) accompanied by Buchanan to France, 78 ; death, 79.
"Government of the people, by the people, and of the people," 38.
Gower, John, 36, 44-46.
Grammar, 241-257 ; knowledge of, desirable, 259 ; an anatomical science, its value, 264 ; the first English, 261 ; function to .follow after, analyze, and describe, not to dictate, 261 ; not indispen- sable, 259 ; unknown to some masters of English, 263.
Grammarians correct grammarians, 259 ; the duty of, 264.
Grammatical forms confused, 24 ; rules worthless, if not based on usage, 260.
Granada, Prince of, 123-124.
Grand, 141.
Grandgent, Professor Charles H., 287.
Grant, Ulysses Simpson, on the in- fluence of the Bible, 120.
Gray, Thomas, 142.
Great Bible, 58.
Great Charter, 25.
Greek Comedy, 189.
Greek poetry, divisions of, 192.
Greek terms in English, 161-162, 163.
— tragedy, 188.
Greeley, Horace, 121, 323.
Green, John Richard, 4; on settle- ment of Angles, 5.
Greene, Robert, on Shakespeare, 104.
Gros, 141.
Grossart (Dr. A. B.) on Barebone, 186.
Grosseteste urges retention of French as the literary language of England, 35.
Grotius (Hugo) meets Milton, 120. Growth of English, 11-138. Guardian (The), established, 137. Guiana, Raleigh's Narrative of a Cruise to, 110.
Had got, 340.
Had went, 340.
Hague (The), English "Courant" printed at, 133.
Haldeman, Dr. Samuel, 287.
Haley (Dr.) on the reading public, 305.
Hall, Fitzedward, 346.
Hallam (Henry), on Hooker, 88; on Bacon, 112 ; on the Bible, 123.
Harris, Dr. William Torrey, pro- nunciation and spelling, 283-284, 287; on the sound of "ch," 291.
Harrison on Heywood, 72.
Hathaway, Anne, 100.
Ilazlitt (William) on big words, 319.
Ilearne (Thomas) issues the "Rhyming Chronicle," 29.
Hebrew words in Bible, 124.
Heer, 154.
Hempl, Dr. George, 287.
Hengest and Horsa aid Vortigern, 3 ; defeat Britons, 4.
Henry IV. of England an exile, 36.
Henry VIII. and the Church of England, 66 ; and the religious houses, 67 ; Coverdale's Bible dedicated to, 70 ; rewards Ascham, 76.
Henry (O.), 206.
Hercules, Pillars of, 1.
Heriot (James) befriends Bu- chanan, 78.
Her>n, 154.
Herodotus, 1.
"Heroic verse" defined, 198.
Heterogeneous character of En- glish, 11, 159-173.
Heywood, John, 72.
Hickes (George), fragment from Caedmon, 16 ; on sources of En- glish words, 162.
Himer, 154.
Hindu words in English, 169.
Hiser, 154.
His'n, 154.
398
INDEX
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis An-
glorum, 19.
Historic plays, Shakespeare's, 98. "History of the Britons," character
of, 27 ; extract from, 28-29. "History of English Kings," 27. "History of Scotland," 80. "History of the World," 109-110. Hizzen, 154. Hoccleve, Thomas, 155. Holinshed (Raphael) on "taske,"
146.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 323. Holste, Lucas, 126. Holy Land, English soldiers in, 350. Hone (William) on the abolition
of religious houses, 68. Honorius, 3. Hooker, Richard, 86-89. Home (Thomas Hartwell) on sta- tistics of the Bible, 123. Horton (Dr. Edward A.) on the
modern sex novel, 309. "Household Words," 342. Howard (Henry, Earl of Surrey),
69-70.
Howell, James, 329. Huloet, Richard, 130. Humanitarian, change of meaning,
213.
Hungarian terms in English, 169. Huntingdonshire, Proclamation to
the people of, 25. Huxley's (Thomas) definition of
literature, 174.
"I," the sound and symbol. See AI.
"i" sound, the so-called long, 292.
"i" in "marine," the sound of, 293.
"I done it," 347.
Ida the Torch-bearer, 5.
Idealism in literature, 184.
Idler (The), started by Samuel Johnson, 137.
Idyl, the, 192, 200, 203-204.
lerne, 1.
Illustrated Times (The) issued without stamp, 136.
"II Penseroso," by Milton, 126.
Imagery in rhetoric, 194.
"Imagination" defined, 192.
Imitation, tendency toward, 328.
Immigrants, the teaching of En- glish to, 303.
Impartial, 141.
"Imperfect tense" defined, 252.
"Impersonal verb" defined, 250.
Incommode, 143.
Increase of one's vocabulary, the,
220. "Indefinite pronoun" defined, 246-
247. Indianapolis Journal (Editor of),
on vocabulary of average man,
214, 217-219. Individuality in its relation to the
state, 325 ; in writing, 325-331 ;
shown in letter-writing, 328-329. "Induction to the Mirrour of Mag- istrates," by Sackville, 94. Infinitive, Split. See SPLIT INFINI- TIVE. Inflation of dictionary vocabularies,
221.
Inflections, 24, 53, 54. Influence of the Bible, 120, 122-123. — of the Drama, 89-93. "Insight" defined, 192. Instauratio Magna, by Francis
Bacon, 113. "Institution of a Christian man,"
67. Instruct used for "instructed,"
149.
"Interjection" defined, 257. "Interludes," by John Heywood, 72. "Interrogative pronoun" defined,
246. "Intransitive verb" defined, 247-
248, 250. "Invective," 326. "Irregular verb" defined, 253. Italian words in English, 161, 163,
167-168.
Jacobs (Dr. Joseph), on average man's vocabulary, 215 ; Editor of "Howell's Familiar Letters," 329.
James I., King of England, favors Shakespeare, 101 ; fosters trans- lation of Bible, 117.
James I. of Scotland, 46-47.
James V. of Scotland, education of the sons of, 78.
James VI., the "British Solomon," 79.
INDEX
399
Jewel (Bishop) befriends Hooker, 86.
John (King) and the Great Charter, 25.
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 14, 131 ; starts "The Idler," 137 ; "curi- ous" defined by, 143 ; "colleague" defined by, 144 ; lexicographer" defined by, 222, 342.
Jongleur, the, 34, 180.
Jones (Dr. Daniel) on English pronunciation, 272.
Jonson, Benjamin, 105-108 ; on language and style, 107-108 ; on Francis Bacon, 114 ; on Shakespeare, 97, 101 ; on the strophe, 202.
Jonson, Broer, printer of English "Courants," 133.
"Juliana," 18.
Jutes defeat Britons and land, 3 ; settle in Kent, 3 ; settle in Isle of Wight and Hampshire, 7.
Keats (John), Influence of Spenser
on, 85. Keble (John), on the sixth book of
"Ecclesiastical Polity," 88. Kent, Jutes settle in, 3; under
Mercian supremacy, 6-7 ; submits
to Offa, 7.
Keynor identified, 4. Kingdom of West Saxons founded,
5 ; of Deira formed, 6. King James version of the Bible,
see BIBLE.
"King's Book," The, 67. "King's Quhair," The, 46, 47. Kipling (Rudyard) on American
English, 333-335.
Kittredge (Prof. George L.) identi- fies Malory, 61.
Ladd (Prof. George T.) on imagi- nation, 193.
"Lady of the May," by Sir Philip Sidney, 80.
"L' Allegro," by Milton, 126.
Lamb (Charles) on Spenser, 85.
Langland, William (Robert), 47- 48 ; alliterative character of his verse, 48.
Language, subject to syntactical license, 53.
Language, efforts of grammarians to confine, 157.
— number of words in English, 171.
— (English) as presented in the Standard Dictionary, 235-237.
"Language" defined, 237. Language purifies itself, 341.
— speech of the people the true, 344-345.
— test of, 345. Languages of Britain, 9. Lappenberg, Johann Martin, 4. Large (Robert) Caxton's master,
54. Late Middle English Period, 11, 34-
49.
Latimer, Hugh, 73. Lawrence the Sexton, 50. "Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity," by
Richard Hooker, 86, 88. Layamon (Laweman), 31. Learn used for "teach," 151. "Learning," Francis Bacon's Essay
on, 115-116. Lee (Sir Sidney) on Shakespeare,
98. Leland's (fruits of) commission to
preserve literary collections, 67-
68.
Lesser used for "less," 145. Less happier, 145. Letter-name and its sound, lack of
relation between, 275. Letters (number of) in different
alphabets, 239-240. Letter-writing, individuality shown
in, 328-329.
Leveling of inflections, 24. Libraries, effect of Henry VIII.'s
edicts on the, 68. "Life and Reign of Edward V.,"
by Sir Thomas More, 63. "Limiting adjective" defined, 254. Linguistic character of the Bible,
123.
Lippincott's Magazine, 347. Literature : its Elements, 174-211.
— American Association of Col- leges and Preparatory Schools selections for the study of En- glish, 208-211.
400
INDEX
Literature, Professor Henry Seidel Canby on the reading of English, 306-307.
— Hon. John J. Delany on lack of knowledge of English, 337.
Literary ballad, 205.
Lithgow (William), "fetching a walk," 150.
London, English "Courants" first appear in, 133.
London Gazette issued, 135.
Lord's Prayer (the) in Kentish dialect, 46.
Louis XIV.'s aversion to "gros," 141.
Lounsbury (Professor Thomas R.), on authors using split infinitive, 157 ; on grammars, 260 ; on cor- rect English, 340 ; on corrupt English, 346, 347.
Lowell (James Russell), on Spen- ser, 85 ; an editor, 323.
Lowth (Bishop) on "wrote" for "written," 147.
Lubbock, (Sir John), Hundred Best Books, 310, 384-385.
"Lycidas," by Milton, 126.
Lyly, John, "most brightest" used by, 146.
"Lyric poetry" defined, 192, 200.
Macaulay's (Lord), description of Milton, 124 ; Essays, 323 ; on Barrere, 327 ; on Milton, 327.
MacKellar (Dr. Thomas) on Cax- ton's books, 56.
Madden (M. J. P. A.) on relations of Caxton and Mansion, 56-57.
Mair, John, 78.
Maetzner's classification of prepo- sitions, 257.
Malory, Sir Thomas, 61 ; described by Caxton, 61.
Manchester Union (The) on num- ber of words in the Bible, 124.
Mandeville, Sir John de, 36 ; "Narrative" of his travels. 36; extract from his "Pilgrymages in Jerusalem, etc," 37.
Mansion, Colard, 55.
Manso, patron of Tasso, meets Milton, 127.
Mantegazza, Paolo, 229,
Maori terms in English, 169.
March, Dr. Francis A., Sr., 287.
Margent used for margin, 142.
Marsh (Professor George P.), on Anglo-Saxon speech, 8 ; on neglect of Anglo-Saxon and Old English, 13 ; on the contents of dictionaries, 164, 165 ; on the dictionaries of his day, 221 ; on the study of the dictionary, 223 ; on speech corruption, 340.
Martyrs, Book of, 73, 75.
Mary (Queen) appoints Roger Ascham her Latin secretary, 76 ; increases his pension, 76.
Mary Queen of Scots, Buchanan appointed tutor to, 79.
Masters of English ignorant of grammar, many, 263.
Matthews (Professor Brander) on the split infinitive, 158; on the use of foreign words in English 169 ; on the vitalizing element of slang, 344-345 ; on style, 345.
Matthews (Sir Tobie), appreciation of Francis Bacon, 114.
Maxwell (Dr. William H.), member of N. E. A. special committee on phonetics, 287.
Meiklejohn on English sounds, 132.
Meistersinger, the, 181.
Melodrama, the, 190.
Memory (child's), unnecessarily taxed in learning pronunciation, 270-271.
"Men of the March," 6.
Menage (Gilles) on Louis XIV. 141.
Mercia (kingdom of) settled, 6; counties embraced by kingdom of, 8.
Mercians supreme, 6 ; decline, 7.
"Meter" defined, 196-198.
Metrical character of verse, 196.
Middle comedy, 189.
Midlands (language of), dominant, 44.
Milton (John), extent of his vo- cabulary, 102 ; life and works, 125-130 ; on "Education," 127, 319 ; thirty-line sentence by, 319- 320.
— and participial inflections, 148- 149.
— use of "distract," 149,
— use of "fetch my round," 149.
— use of 'forsook," 147.
INDEX
401
Milton (John), use of "instruct," 149.
— use of "margent," 142.
— use of "suspect," 149.
— use of "to be mistook," 147. Milton"s characterization of Ed- mund Spenser, 84.
Milton, vocabulary strength of, 215.
Minnesinger, the, 181.
Minstrels, 34, 179, 180.
Minto (Professor William) on Sidney, 81.
Miracle play, 89-91, 185.
Mirrour of Magistrates, Induction to, by Sackville, 94.
Mistook used for "mistaken," 147.
"Mode" denned, 251.
Modern English, 12, 53, 124-138.
Modern Language Association, 287.
Modern Period, 49, 124-138.
Mohammedan (terms from) world, used in English, 171.
Monasteries centers of learning, 34.
Monks, the, 23-34.
Monodrama, 192.
Monolog (dramatic) defined, 205.
Montagu (Lady Mary Wortley), 329
Moralities (the), 91.
Morality play, 185.
More, Sir Thomas, 62-65.
More better, 145.
More happier, 145.
More readier, 146.
More sharper, 145.
Morley, Viscount, 323.
Morte d' Arthur, 61.
Most basest, 145.
Most boldest, 146.
Most, brightest, 146.
Most heaviest, 146.
Most Highest, 145.
Most perfect, 146.
Most straitest, 145.
Most unkindest, 146.
Motley, John Lothrop, 50.
Murray (Earl) appoints Buchanan principal of St. Leonard's Col- lege, 79.
Murray, Sir James A. H., 13; re- produces Caxton's translation of Vergil's "Eneydos," 60 ; citation of Palsgrave's use of "fetch" from the "New English Diction-
ary," 149 ; cited, 162 ; estimate of number of words recorded by dictionaries, 165 ; New English Dictionary, 293.
Mutations of Form and Sense of words, 139-158.
— of spelling, 131, 132, 141-142, 146, 154.
Mystery plays, 34, 89-91, 185.
Mystes, 142.
Napoleon on the power of the Bible, 120.
National Education Association, 273, 286, 296; Alphabet — who devised it, 287, 296 ; character of alphabet, 288 ; easy to learn, 298 ; why 'applied to the En- glish language, 298.
National Education Association Committee's Alphabet used in Funk and Wagnalls New Stand- ard Dictionary, 302-303.
Navarretta, battle of, 35.
Navigators enriched the language, 166.
"Necessary Erudition," The, 67.
Necessityed, 141.
Negative, the double, triple, and quadruple, 144.
"Neuter verb" denned, 250.
"New Atlantis," 114.
New Comedy, 189.
"New English Dictionary," 293, 294.
News as a singular, 155.
"News Letter," printed in Dutch, 133, 134.
"Newsletter" issued, 135.
Newspaper English, its quality, 137.
Newspaper press, introduction of, 132-135.
Newspaper Stamp Tax, 136.
Newspapers (increase of), under Charles II., 135; causes (tax- ation), 136.
"New Standard Dictionary" on "English," 236 ; on "language," 237-238 ; on "literature," 174- 175 ; on "worser," 144. See also STANDARD DICTIONARY.
New words, their test, 138.
New York Herald (Editor of), on words of disreputable origin, 341.
402
INDEX
New YorJc Times Saturday Review of Books (The Editor of), quoted, 340, 341.
"Niebelungenlied," 181, 203.
"Nominative case" defined, 245.
Norman influence, result of wan- ing, 25.
Norse words in English, 1G8-1G9.
Northumbria ruled by Ida the Torch-bearer, 5.
Northumbria submits to Offa, 7 ; dialect, 16.
Norton (Thomas), collaborates with Sackville, 93.
"Noun adjective" defined, 254.
"Noun" defined and classified, 243.
Novel, the, 178, 181-183.
Novum Organum, 112, 113.
Nowell (Robert), befriends Edmund Spenser, 82.
"Number" defined, 243.
Number of words in English lan- guage, 171.
"O" as in "not," and "nor," 294.
"Objective case" defined, 245 ; used for the nominative, 153.
Ode, the, 201-202.
O'er-raughtf 148.
Offa, 7.
"oi" (the diphthong), in the N. E. A. Alphabet and Webster's New International Dictionary, 295.
Old, former meaning of, 141.
Old comedy, 189.
Old English, character of, 14.
Oldest English Periods, 11-23.
Old News, 141.
Old Norse words in English, 168.
"On the Phonetic Alphabet, pro- posed by the Committee of the Department of Superintendence" of the National Education As- sociation, 296.
"Ophthalmic Literature" quoted, 320-321.
Opponents of N. E. A. Alphabet, claims of, 290-292.
Opposition to the introduction of the Scientific Alphabet, 280.
— to the study of classic writers, 206-207.
"Oratory" defined. 176-177.
Order of the Golden Fleece insti- tuted, 50.
Origin of English, 1-10.
Ormin and "The Ormulum," 32.
Orthography defined, 241.
— (English) hindrance to reading, 304.
Osborne (Dorothy), 329.
Oswy unites Bernicia and Deira, 6.
Our'n and ourn, 154,
Oxford, England, a university
founded at, 23; German printer
at, 58. Oxford University Press, The, 58.
"Parable of the Spider and the
Fly," by Heywood, 72. "Paradise Lost" (resemblance of),
to Caedmon's "Genesis," 15 ;
copies sold, number of, 127 ;
quality and character of, 128 ;
sum received by Milton for, 127 ;
time taken to produce, 128. "Paradise Regained," Origin of,
128.
"Paraphrase" of Caedmon, 14. "Paraphrase of the New Testa- ment" produced, 72. Paris, France, first printing press
set up in, works printed there,
57.
Parisian French, influence of, 25. Parker, Matthew, 116. "Participial adjective" defined, 254. Participial inflections, use of, 148-
149.
"Participle" defined, 251. "Part of speech" defined, 242. "Passive voice" defined, 249, 250. Passy, Paul, 289. Paston Letters, 329. "Past participle" defined, 251. Peace of Bretigny, 35. Peach of a way, 337. "Peblis to the Play," 47. Pepys, Samuel, 329-330. "Perfect tense" defined, 252. Period, Chaucerian, 34-49.
— Early Modern, 54-124.
— Late Middle English, 34-49.
— Modern, 124-138.
— Tudor, 54-124.
Periodical literature, the begin- nings of, 136-137.
Periods in history of language and literature, 11.
INDEX
403
Perseverance indispensable to writ- ing for publication, 316.
"Personal verb" defined, 250.
Perspicuity, 318.
Petrarch in Padua, 42.
Peversions of language, 340.
Phelps (Dr. Austin), on the dic- tionaries of his time, 221 ; on benefits of precision in writing, 317.
Philadelphia Telegraph, 33G-337.
Philip the Good, 50.
Philological Society of England, 293 294
"Philology" defined, 238.
Philoxophia Secunda, 114.
Phonetic qualities of the N. E. A. Alphabet, 297.
— systems, defects of, 282. "Phonetics" defined, 241. Phonetics, Pronunciation, and
Reading, 270-313.
"Phonology" defined, 241.
"Phrase" (verb), defined, 253.
Picts and Scots, 3.
Piers Plowman, vision of, 48.
Pillars of Hercules, 1.
Pinckney (William), use of the dic- tionary by, 220.
Pitman (Isaac) and Sons, on the Scientific Alphabet, 279, 280.
Playhouses permanent, 92.
Plays, earliest English, 34; char- acter of, 93.
Plegmund, 21.
"Pluperfect tense" defined, 252.
Plural endings -n -an -en, 155.
"Poetry" defined, 176, 190-191.
— Epic, 192, 198, 202-205. Points (Chief) of Punctuation, 268. Polish words in English, 169. Political power, Buchanan's views
on the source of, 80.
Pope, Alexander, double negative used by, 144; "forsook" used for "forsaken," by, 147 ; origi- nator of the literary letter, 329.
Porter, Sydney, 206.
Portingal, Portingale (Portugal), Portingalls, 142.
Portuguese words in English, 166.
"Positive degree" defined, 254.
"Possessive case" defined, 245.
Postts, posteses, 142.
Precision in writing, 317.
"Preposition" defined, 257.
"Present participle" defined, 251.
"Present tense" defined, 253.
Press, Influence of the, 132-137.
Press (newspaper), introduction of, 132-135 ; most prolific source of foreign words, the, 169-170 ; writing for the, 322-324.
"Preterit tense" defined, 252, 253.
Principals' Club, New York, 337.
Printers supplied by Germany and the Low countries, 58.
Printing, beginnings and effect of, 50-53 ; helps to establish forms of words, 53 ; invention of, owed to Germany, 57 ; at Cambridge, England, 58; at Oxford, En- gland, 58 ; in France, progress of, 57.
Printing-press, effect of the de- velopment of the, 137.
Prior (Matthew), use of "fell" by, 147 ; use of "rose," 147 ; mixed forms used by, 153.
Proclamation of Henry III., 25.
Prodromi, 113.
"Pronoun" defined, 245.
Pronunciation and Phonetics, 270- 303.
Pronunciation of British Army officers, 271-272.
— formal preferred, 272-273.
— indicated by unscientific sys- tems, 274.
— teaching of, 275-277.
— text-book and dictionary sys- tems of, 281.
"Proper adjective" defined, 254.
Propriety of style, 316.
"Prose fiction" defined, 176, 177.
"Prosody" defined, 242.
"Prothalamion," by Spenser, 82.
Provincialism, American, 334.
Prussian words in English, 36.
Punctuation, 267-269 ; in its re- lation to grammar, 267-269.
Pure Speech League, London, 335.
Purity of style, 316.
Put her wise, 337.
Pynson, Richard, prints first Latin classic in England, 58.
"Qualifying adjective" defined, 254.
404
INDEX
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 108-111; ex- tract from "The Sceptic," 110-
111 ; on opinions of men, 111 ;
on Francis Bacon, 114. "Ralph Royster Doyster," by Udall,
72, 73.
"Rambler" established, 137. Ramsey (Professor George J.), on
Thomas Coar's "Grammar," 261. Raught used for "reached," 148. Reading, on the benefits of, 304-
313.
Realism in literature, 183. "Reciprocal verb" denned, 247. "Recuyell of the Historyes of
Troye," printed by Caxton, 56. Redwald, King of the East Angles,
6.
"Reflexive verb" denned, 247. Reformation in England, 67. "Regular verb" defined, 253. Reid (Thomas), on perspicuity,
318.
"Relative adverb" defined, 255. "Relative" (Superlative) defined,
255.
"Relative pronoun" defined, 246. Religious houses destroyed, 67. Remember used for "remind," 152. Replica used for "ectype," 213-214. "Representative discourse" defined,
176, 177. Respectfully, 142. Respective (respectful), 143. Respectively (respectfully), 142. Restoration on the drama, effect of,
93.
Review, the first English, 136. Revised Scientific Alphabet, 279. Rhetorical figures classified, 194-
195. "Rhyming Chronicle," character
of the, 29.
"Rime" defined, 199, 200. Rippman (Professor Walter), on
English speech, 272. Robert of Gloucester, 29. Robinson (H. P.), on accuracy of
American speech, 332 ; on the
American accent, 334. Rogers (Archdeacon) on the
Chester Mysteries, 91. Roman literature in Britain, 2, — tragedy. 188. Romance, the, 178-179.
"Roman de Rou," 31.
Romans in Britain, 1-3.
Romanticism in literature, 183- 184.
"Romaunt of the Rose," 42; ex- tract from, 44.
Rose used for "risen," 147.
Rossetti (Dante G.), use of "re- membered," 152.
Rule (slavish subservience to), a sign of decadence, 264.
Ruskin (John), on the Bible, 119; on reading, 304.
Russian words in English, 171.
Sackville, Thomas, 93-96.
Saintsbury (Prof. George), de- scription of poetry, 191.
Samson Agonistes, by Milton, 128.
Saturday Review of Books, Editor of "The New York Times," 340, 341.
Saxon, Norman, and Angevin French combined, 12.
— possessive pronouns, 154.
— use of the negative, 144. Saxons land in Britain, 3. Scala Intellectus, 113. Scandinavian words in English,
168.
"Scene" defined, 190.
"Sceptic" (The), by Raleigh, ex- tract from, 110.
Schoeffer, Peter, 53.
"Scholemaster" (The), by Ascham, 75, 76.
School Journal (The), on the Scientific Alphabet, 277-278.
Scientific Alphabet, 277, 278, 285.
Scop, the, 181.
Scotland, greatest scholar pro- duced by, 78.
— History of, by Buchanan, 80.
Scott (Dr. Charles P. G.), on sys- tems of notation used by dic- tionaries, 274 ; member of special committee on phonetics, 287.
Scott (Sir Walter), on the Bible, 120; on grammar, 260.
Scripture (the work of Professor E. W.), and the N. E. A. Alpha- bet, 301.
Seafaring terms in English, 168.
INDEX
405
Seasoning of modern literature, 308.
Seerley (Dr. H. H.), member of N. E. A. special committee on phonetics, 287.
Seneca, 119.
"Sentence" defined, 242.
Sentence, Milton's longest, 319- 320.
Sermon preached by Latimer before Edward VI., 74-75.
Sex Novel, the modern, 309.
Shakespeare, John, 99.
Shakespeare, William, 97-105 ; classification of his plays, 98 ; his style, 97, 98 ; spelling of, 99, 103 ; connection with Black- friar's Theater, 100 ; with the Globe Theater, 101 ; First Folio Edition of his works, specimen page from, 103 ; envied by his contemporaries, 104 ; the split infinitive as used by, 156 ; vocabulary, strength of, 215.
— use of "arose" for "arisen," 147 ; "colleague" as a verb, 144 ; "curiosity" for "scrupulousness," 143 ; "curious" for "severe," 143 ; "distraught" for "dis- tracted," 148 ; double negative, 144 ; use of "extraught" fo*r "ex- tracted," 148; "fetch a turn," 149 ; "learn" and "teach," 151 ; "margent" for "margin," 142 ; "mistook" for "mistaken," 147 ; mixed forms used by, 153 ; "more better," "more happier," "more sharper," used by, 145 ; "most noblest," "most heaviest," "most perfect," "most unkind- est," used by, 146 ; "news" used as singular or plural by, 155 ; "e'er-Taught'" used by, 148 ; use of "old," 141 ; "raught" used for "reached," 148 ; "remember" used for "remind," by, 152 ; "respective" used for "respect- ful" by, 143 ; "respectively" used for "respectfully" by, 143 ; '•took" used for "taken" by, 147 ; "worser" used by, 144.
Shaw (Bernard), 207.
Sheldon (Prof. E. S.), member
of the N. E. A. special committee
on phonetics, 287. Shelley, influence of Spenser on,
85. "Shepherd's Calendar" (The), by
Spenser, 83 ; extract from, 85-
86. Sidney, Sir Philip, 80-82 ; effect of
his death on his contemporaries,
81 ; on grammar, 261. "Silent Woman," by Ben Jonson,
106.
Simplicity of English, 265. Simplified spelling, its progress,
140.
Simmons, Samuel, Milton's pub- lisher, 127. Skeat (Prof. Walter W.), on
French words in English, 165.
— on English as studied in Amer- ica, 332 ; on English schoolboys' lack of knowledge of the history of his native tongue, 338-339.
Skelton (John), satirist, 71; ex- tract from his satire on Wolsey, 71.
Slang, American, 333-334.
— evil of, 344.
— widespread use of, 343.
Smith (Professor George J.), on in- adequacy of reading in schools, 338 ; on knowledge acquired by graduates, 338.
Smollett, words used by, 341-342.
"Song of Azariah," 15.
"Song of Moses" as in Wycliffe's Bible, 38-39.
— from authorized version of the Bible, 39-40.
Sonnet, the, 200-201.
Sorbonne (the), Paris printer
brought to, 57.
Sounds in English, N. E. A. ap- points Committee to consider,
273. Sources of 20,000 English words,
163. Southey (Robert), influence of
Spenser on, 85 ; use of "fetch a
walk" by, 150.
South Saxon Kingdom founded, 4. Spanish words introduced, 35, 161,
163, 166.
40G
INDEX
Spanish-American words in En- glish, 171.
Spectator (The) started by Addi- son, 137.
Speculum Meditantis, by Gower, 46.
Speech (careful), ludicrous or vul- gar, 271.
— (errors in), due to carelessness, 337.
— figure of, 194.
Speght (Thomas) on Chaucer's birth, 40.
Spelling, confusion of, 53 ; denned, 241 ; English and American, 140 ; in Johnson's time, 131 ; of Mil- ton, 130 ; of Shakespeare, 103, 105, 141, 142; variations of, 131, 132, 140-142. 276.
Spenser, Edmund, 82-86.
— his "Amorette," 82 ; "The Shep- herd's Calendar," 82 ; character of "The Shepherd's Calendar,"
'The Faerie Queene," 83, Milton's characterization of,
imitators of, 84 ; place in English literature, 85 ; extract from "The Shepherd's Calendar," 85-86.
"Split infinitive" defined, 155 ; as found in Shakespeare, 156 ; uses of, 155-158. 264.
"Standard Dictionary of the En- glish Language," cited, 236-257 ; defines "split infinitive," 155 ; diphthong "u" recognized by. 294 ; Dr. I. K. Funk employs Scientific Alphabet in, 284.
Standard of English established by periodical press, 137.
Stanley (Dean) on literature, 175.
Stanza, characteristics of the, 199.
Steele (Richard), starts "The Tat- ler," 136.
Stevenson (Robert Louis) on American and British accent, 334.
"Strong-weak verb" defined, 253.
Strophe, the, 202.
Strength in language, 318.
Stuck on, 337.
"Subjunctive mode" defined, 251.
"Subordinate conjunction" defined, 256-257.
"Substantive verb" defined, 253.
"Suggestion" defined, 195.
"Suggestive" defined, 195.
Sun (The), New York, quoted, 335.
Superintendence (Board of), of the National Education Associa- tion accept their special com- mittee's alphabet, 296.
"Superlative absolute" defined, 255.
"Superlative degree" defined, 255.
"Superlative relative" defined, 255.
Super-superlatives and their use, 145-146.
Surrey, Earl of. See HOWARD, HENRY.
Surrey and Sussex form Kingdom of Sussex, 7.
Suspect used for "suspected," 149.
Sussex, Ella breaks British power in, 4 ; Mercian supremacy in. 6- 7 ; South Saxons found kingdom of, 7.
Swabian Middle High German of the Minnesinger, 181.
Swift, Dean, 329 ; on the correct- ing of the language, 342 ; "rose" used for "risen" by, 147.
Sylva Sylvarum, 113.
Symbols in different phonetic al- phabets, 286, 295, 301-302.
"Synonyms, Antonyms and Prep- ositions," by Dr. J. C. Fernald, quoted, 176, 178, 191, 197-198.
Synonyms, value of systematic study of, 224 ; works giving, 224.
Syntax disregarded, 54 ; defined, 241.
Taft, William Howard, on the
Bible, 122. "Tale of the Oak and the Briar,"
by Spenser, 85-86. Task (tax), 146. "Tatler" (The), appears, 136. Teaching pronunciation, 275. Temple, Sir William, 329. "Tense" defined, 252. Territorial expansion, effect on
language, 171. Testament, Tyndale's, 65. Teutonic tribes, dialects of the, 12-
13. Text-book and Dictionary, systems
of pronunciation compared, 281.
INDEX
407
Thackeray, William Makepeace,
323 ; "fetch a walk," used by,
150.
Theater, first licensed, 92, 93. Theaters, closing of, 93. Theatrical entertainment in de-'
mand, 92.
"The Scholemaster," 75, 76. "The Shepherd's Calendar," 82. The Spectator, London, quoted,
117, 118, 119. Thomas, Calvin, 287. Thomson, influence of Spenser on,
85. Took used for "taken," 147.
"U," the sound and symbol, 295.
Udall, Nicholas, 72.
Uffa, King of East Anglia, 5.
TJmngas, prince of the, subdues Essex, 5.
Union and extent of Bernicia and Deira, 8.
Unity in literary composition, 318.
Unpartial, 141.
Universities of Oxford and Cam- bridge claim of Chaucer, 41.
Unstressed vowel, tendency to ob- scure, 272.
Usage (good) determines the cor- rect in English, 139 ; not court of last resort according to Ed- ward S. Gould, 262-263.
"Utopia" described, Sir Thomas More, 63.
Tovey (Nathaniel), tutor to Mil- ton, 125.
Toxophilus, 75.
"Tractate on Education," 127.
Tragedies by Jonson, 106 ; by Shakespeare, 98.
Tragedy, 187-188.
Transition from Middle English to Modern English, 59.
"Transitive verb" defined, 247.
Trautmann identifies Cynewulf, 18- 19.
Travers (William), contest with Richard Hooker, 87.
Trench (Richard C.) on the sources of English words, 163.
Trevisa, John de, 35.
Troubadour, the, 180.
Trouvere, the, 180.
Tudor Period, 53, 54-124.
Turkish terms in English, 169, 170.
Turner (Sharon) on the sources of English words, 162.
Tweedale dialect, 47.
"Twelve Homilies," 67.
Tyndale, William, 65-66, 67.
Type, first wooden, 51.
Type (metal), first cast in En- gland, 59.
Vaile (Prof. E. O.), member of the N. E. A. special committee on phonetics, 287.
Vanbrugh, Plays of, 93.
Van Dyke's (Dr. Henry) defini- tion of poetry quoted, 190.
Variations of spelling, see SPELL- ING.
Veneration in which the King James version is held, 123.
"Venus and Adonis," 101.
"Verb" defined, 247.
"Verb phrase" defined, 253.
Verhoeven (Abraham) issues "News Letter," 134.
"Verse" defined, 198.
"Verse" differentiated from "stanza," 198-199.
Version (Bible), King James, 123.
Veseler, George, printer of English "Courants," 133.
"Vision of Piers Plowman," ex- tract from, 48.
Vizetelly, Henry, 136.
Vocabularies of the dictionaries, 172.
Vocabulary of average educated American or Englishman, strength of. 217 ; the average man, 214-219.
Vocal elements of speech, 283.
"Voice" defined, 249.
"Volpone," by Jonson, 106.
Vortigern seeks aid, 3.
"Vox Clamantis," by Gower, 46.
Vowel, pronunciation of the un- stressed advocated, 271.
Vowel-pairing, correct, 275.
Vowel-sounds, English and Conti- nental, 299-301.
— symbols used to indicate, 286.
Vowels, unaccented, 279.
408
INDEX
Wace, 27, 31.
Walk, fetch a, 149, 150.
Walpole, Horace, 329.
Walsh (William S.), "Encyclopedia of Quotations," 38.
Walther von der Vogelweid, 181.
Wanley's fragment from Caedmon, 16.
War of the Roses, end, 50.
Webster^ Daniel, on the Bible, 121 ; use of the dictionary, by, 220 ; on the requirements of a United States Senator, 232.
Webster's American Dictionary, 221.
Websterian notation, 281, 282.
Webster's New International Dic- tionary on the relations of En- glish and Continental vowel sounds, 301.
Weeks (Professor Raymond), mem- ber of the N. E. A. special com- mittee on phonetics, 287.
Wells (H. G.), on English classics, 308.
Wesley (John), definition of "Methodist" by, 222 ; his opinion of his dictionary, 223.
Wessex, counties embraced by king- dom of, 8 ; under Mercian su- premacy, 6-7.
Westminster, Caxton sets up press in, 56.
West Saxon kingdom founded, 5 ; ruled by Offa, 7.
Wheloc of Cambridge, 21.
Whencing, landing in Britain of, 4.
"Where am I at?" 348.
Whitgift permits Hooker to retire from the Mastership of the Temple, 87.
Whitney (Dr. William D.), on the acquiring of speech, 262 ; ex- pert phoneticist, 287.
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 323.
Wilde, Oscar, 207.
Wilkins (Bishop John) on changes in words, 139.
William the Conqueror raises Ox- ford and Cambridge to Univer- sity rank, 23.
William of Malmesbury, 27.
Wippedesfleot, scene of defeat of Britons by Hengest and Aesc, 4.
Wolsey (Cardinal), patron of John Skelton, 71 ; "Soliloquy upon his Fall," from Shakespeare's "Henry VIII.," extract, 103, 104.
Wooden type, invention of, 51.
Word, definition of, 238-239.
Words, correct use of, 310.
— in English language, number of, 171.
- — new, the survival of the fittest, 138.
— placed in the order of the thought, 54.
Wordsworth, influence of Spenser on, 85.
Works selected for study and read- ing by American Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools, 208-211.
Worser, uses of, 144.
Wright, Dr. Joseph, 334.
Writing for publication, 314-324.
"Wrote" for "written," uses of, 147-148.
Wycherley, Plays of, 93.
Wycliffe (Wyclif), John de, his life and work, 36, 38.
Wyld (H. C. K.), views on care- ful speech, 271.
Wynkyn de Worde, 55.
Young, Thomas, tutor to Milton,
125. Tour'n and yourn, 154.
Zell (Ulrich), prints "Chronicle of Cologne," 51 ; claim that he taught Caxton, 55.
I