international transactions would thereby be greatly facilitated; diplomatists, scientific men, and merchants, especially, would derive incalculable advantage from the power of reading living languages; for they would then have no occasion in their foreign correspondence for translators or special clerks, who frequently misrepresent the ideas of their employers, and, more frequently still, write so inaccurately as considerably to perplex their correspondents abroad. Thus would the well educated in all countries be afforded a ready means of interchanging thoughts and, entering into that community of feelings which is so desirable for the advancement and well-being of society. International communication has, until now, been much impeded by the extreme difficulty attendant upon writing a foreign language, and by the misunderstandings arising to the reader from incorrect compositions. Very seldom could a person be sure of conveying his meaning in it with as much clearness and precision as in his own; and, if he had correspondents in various countries, it is more likely they could read his language than that he could write their different idioms so as to be perfectly understood. Few of those who study dead or living languages persevere until they are completely acquired. The greater number, owing to the tediousness and consequent expence attendant on the old system, stop in the middle of their course, and retain nothing of their past study but the painful recollection of the misery it inflicted on them. Had they turned their best efforts to reading, they would most probably have mastered it in the time which they wasted in vainly aiming at several objects of comparatively minor importance in the language; and this point once gained, it would be a good foundation for acquiring the other branches at a subsequent period, if they had the leisure and the wish to attend to them. The art of reading living languages has also this great advantage over the other branches, that as books can always be procured, it is, in most cases, within the power of the proficient to practise it with a view to instruction or amusement, and thus to preserve its possession to the latest period of life; whereas the capability of speaking and writing a foreign language is easily lost for want of the opportunities to bring these acquirements into practice. SECT. II.-READING-A MEANS OF ACQUIRING THE MATERIALS OF LANGUAGE. The efficiency of reading, considered as a means of acquiring the materials of language for oral or written expression, is undeniable, and shows itself even in the native tongue, although the reader is already habituated to a familiar language, which tends to counteract the impressions that he receives from works written in a style more elevated than that of conversation. In fact, no one can possess superior powers of speech who has not read much; for it is chiefly from books that scientific, classical, and elegant expressions are obtained. The influence of books must be greater in a second language, as the expressions of the foreign author come into the mind without having to contend with others previously acquired; they strike it with all the force of first impressions. The power of imitation, that innate propensity, so active especially in early life, prompts us to use the forms of speech rendered familiar by frequent repetition, and associated in the mind with the ideas which they represent. Moreover, extensive and attentive reading, by presenting the words in various situations and in different acceptations, gives a clear notion of their real value, impresses them in the memory, and thus furnishes materials for speaking and writing. The more extensive and diversified the reading, the more likely will the learner be to become acquainted with all the words and their various import. Even those who learn a language exclusively for the purpose of conversation require to read it a great deal. It is by studying the works of their predecessors that the most distinguished writers in every age have risen to celebrity. Many of them have declared this fact; others, anxious to give us the benefit of their own experience in the prosecution of their studies, have warmly recommended reading as the basis of improvement in a language. Among the many authorities which we could adduce in favour of this practice, we select a few: "Plato," says Longinus, who advocates the same opinion, "has taught us that the surest mode of attaining to perfection in style is to imitate and emulate the illustrious writers who preceded us.' Erasmus, the most distinguished scholar of the sixteenth century, asserts that "the true * Treatise on the Sublime. 66 way to speak correctly, is to live and converse with those who speak well and to read good authors.”* The learned society of Port-Royal held this doctrine and practised it: one of its most eminent members, Nicole, expresses himself in these terms, "The great secret for enabling children to understand Latin, is to put them early into the reading of books and to exercise them much in translating them."+ "Let the learner, above all," says Dean Colet, "learn and read good Latin authors, and note wisely how they wrote and spake; and study always to follow them, desiring none other rules but their examples." "What precepts," exclaims D'Alembert, "are preferable to the study of the great models ?"§ Nugent observes, 'Languages can be learned only by practice, and practice is nothing but a continual repetition of the same words applied in a hundred different ways and on a hundred occasions. But this practice, with regard to the dead Languages, can only be had in the ancient authors.”|| "The explanation of authors," says Suzanne, "is the easiest, shortest, and least irksome way to learn the meaning of words, the rules of syntax, and the niceties of the language." Voltaire also says, "The assiduous reading of good writers will be more useful for the formation of a pure and correct style than the study of the majority of our grammars.' Dugald Stewart observes, "As the air and manner of a gentleman can be acquired only by living habitually in the best society, so grace in composition must be attained by a habitual acquaintance with classical writers."++ Cicero, Quintilian, Milton, Locke, Rollin, and many others might be quoted in favour of this opinion; but the few authorities we have mentioned may, for the present, suffice to show that we are not unsupported in assigning to reading the first place in the study, as being the most efficient means of improvement in acquiring a foreign language. Further proofs of this truth will naturally find their place in the next Book, when we treat of the inefficiency of grammar towards this object. Nature, reason, and experience proclaim this order, example before precept. Reading, that is, the study of models or examples, must then precede the writing of exercises, which demands a *De Pueris ad Virtutem et Litteras. † Essais de Morale.-De l'Education d'un Prince. Address to the Masters of St. Paul's School. § Mélanges de Littérature.-Observations sur l'Art de traduire... ¶ Traité d'Education publique et privée. * Mélanges littéraires.-Langage. Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind. OF THE UNIVERSITY * knowledge of rules or precepts; yet it frequently happens that this order is reversed, and that writing a foreign language, or composing by rules, is practised at the outset, under the erroneous impression that it accelerates the acquisition of the first branch-reading-a mode of proceeding directly in opposition to the educational axiom, that the means ought to be consistent with the end. In a foreign idiom, as in the native, the comprehending of books is altogether independent of the ability to write. Innumerable instances could be adduced of persons who, although unskilful writers in their own language, are able, from assiduous and extensive reading, not only to understand literary productions, but also to derive pleasure from beauty of style. To write may assist in learning to speak, because there is some analogy in the performance of these two arts; but it is preposterous to suppose that it can assist in acquiring the very opposite art― reading. It cannot either, as is sometimes asserted, lead to a clear conception of the distinctive meanings of words, or to a knowledge of the idiomatic construction; it is the converse of this proposition which is true,-a previous knowledge of the words and idioms is indispensable for writing. It would be considered unreasonable to attempt to write in the native tongue before being able to read it, or to make a young child form his vernacular phrases from given rules of grammar; how much more unreasonable, how absurd is it to compel a learner to write exercises in a language which he not only cannot speak, but with the words and phraseology of which he has not yet been made acquainted by either reading or hearing. This subject will be more fully elucidated in treating of grammatical exercises. In support of early writing, it is often adduced that it fixes the foreign expression on the memory. This assertion, which is far from being generally assented to (see Book VIII., Chap. II., Sect. XI.,) does not, even admitting its efficiency for some learners, justify the adoption of this unnatural course for the Latin, because this language is not usually learned with a view to be spoken or written in after-life; and, consequently, there is need only of that acquaintance with its words, which is required for reading the classics. It will be fully proved, we hope, in Book VII., Chap. II., Sect. II. and III., that this acquaintance with the words of a language is gained with more rapidity and certainty by reading than by the tedious process of writing. Writing previously to reading has now, in the case of Latin and Greek, been in great measure superseded by the conjoint practice of these two exercises; but we believe it is still a favourite order of study among teachers of living languages. This cannot excite surprise: foreigners, not being in general proficients in the language of their pupils, feel incompetent to assist them in finding out the most appropriate expressions for translating the foreign authors; consequently they are inclined. to neglect translation, and to prefer the writing of grammatical exercises. The correction of these bringing into action their knowledge of the foreign language, gives to their services some appearance of utility; but, in reality, they only retard the learner's progress in the first three branches, without advancing them in the fourth. The time which, in the absence of the professor, is consumed by writing, leaves little leisure to the pupils for attending to the more important occupation of reading; and the correction of exercises engrosses a portion of the instructor's time which would be better employed in explaining the ancient classics, or attending to the art of speaking a living language. SEC. III.-READING-A MEANS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE. Books, as the depositories of human knowledge, are to communities what parental testimony is to the child: they supply the wants and deficiencies incident to our condition, by furnishing us with the means of appealing, in the search of truth, from private judgments to the testimony of mankind; they contain all the mental treasures which generations bequeath to succeeding generations. Standard works are the most available and the most efficient means of instruction in every walk of literature and science. The variety of information which a proper course of reading brings under the consideration of a learner, and the opportunities which it affords him of surmounting the intricacies of different styles, will extend his power of comprehending both the written and the spoken language, and secure the means of deriving advantage from an intercourse with the well-informed. The greater the number of subjects we have studied, the more varied are the conversations we are able to follow or take a part in. This is true with respect to a foreign language as well as to our own. Reading is conducive to improvement in the different branches of education and the various avocations of social life. A few |