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A. The Celtic and the Sclavonic do so to a very great degree, but the others have become greatly changed.

Q. And where does the Sclavonic continue to be a spoken language?

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A. Chiefly in Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, and Russia.

Q. In what places does the Celtic still prevail?

A. In Wales, the Highlands of Scotland, Brittany in France, and some districts of Ireland.

Q. What are the principal languages derived from the Greek? A. The modern Greek, spoken in Greece, and some of the islands of the Archipelago, as well as the different languages of which Latin is the basis, this latter tongue being itself a derivative from the Greek. Q. And what are these languages?

A. Most of those spoken in the South of Europe, including the French, the Italian, the Spanish, and the Portuguese.

Q. What are the languages founded chiefly on the Gothic or Teutonic?

A. The German, the Dutch, the Danish, the Swedish, and the English.

Q. Do the languages of different countries always retain their distinctive characters?

A. They do so to a certain extent, though those of adjoining tribes and nations always run less or more into each other.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Q. What renders English a language of so much importance? A. The circumstances of its being spoken by so great a multitude of the human race at the present day; of its being so copious, simple, and expressive; and of its containing so rich, so varied, and so refined a literature.

Q. Has it always possessed these characteristics?

A. Far from it; for, till within three hundred years or so, it was rude and irregular in its structure,

meager in its vocabulary and power of expression, and destitute of every thing deserving the name of a literature.

Q. What tended to keep it so long in this state?

A. Partly the ignorance and barbarity of the people, and partly the practice which so long prevailed among the learned, of writing almost every thing in Latin.

Q. What prompted the learned for so long a period to compose chiefly in Latin?

A. That they might, by enlarging the circle of their readers, enjoy a more extended popularity.

Q. How did writing in a dead language increase the number of their readers?

A. Because Latin at that time was the language which the learned all cultivated and understood, while the illiterate were generally so ignorant as to be unable even to read or write their own tongue.

Q: Was there no other cause that tended to perpetuate the use of Latin as a written language?

A. Yes; there was the circumstance of so much of the service of the Catholic Church being performed in Latin; and besides, the British schools and universities being founded almost exclusively for the education of churchmen, the Roman tongue was honored in these seats of learning by being made nearly the sole instrument of communicating thought.

Q. Who were the first improvers of the English language? A. Those chiefly who wrote for the common people; and of these the poets took the lead.

Q. Supposing Latin to have been less cultivated, would the progress of the English language have been slow on any other account?

A. Yes; for, besides the unsettled state of the country, the dearth of books would have precluded every thing like learning among the great bulk of the people, and a language can not improve rapidly till extensively used in literary compositions.

Q. How does this happen?

A. Because, till such time as writers find numerous readers, they can not be expected to bestow much pains upon their compositions.

CHAPTER IV.

OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, ETC.
Q. From whom have we the earliest accounts of Britain?
A. From the Romans; and more especially from the
famous general and elegant writer, Julius Cæsar.
Q. What language was then spoken in the country?

A. That known by the name Celtic, and the same as prevailed at one time in France, Spain, and Portugal.

Q. What proof have we of the Celtic having been then the common language of the country?

A. The names of a vast number of its mountains, rivers, and lakes, and of other objects of a permanent character, are Celtic in their origin, a thing which never could have happened, had that language not been early and long the common speech of the country.

Q. Why are the names of towns not also of the same origin? A. Because towns being fluctuating in their nature, many of those of ancient date are now extinct, and many of those still existing have been of a date long subsequent to the pure Celtic period.

Q. What effect is the Roman conquest supposed to have had upon this language?

A. By introducing the use of Latin among the upper classes, it caused the Celtic to become the language of the lower orders merely.

Q. Did the two languages not blend into one?

A. No; for those who had adopted the Latin generally abandoned their native tongue; and the Romans never came to settle in such numbers as to produce any material change upon the original language of the country.

Q. To what purposes was the Celtic language applied, besides the common intercourse of life?

A. To those chiefly of eloquence and poetry.

Q. What instances have we of Celtic eloquence?

A. The warlike harangues delivered to their followers by Caractacus, Galgacus, and Boadicea.

Q. Who were their principal poets?

A. Those among the Druids denominated bards,

whose office it was to celebrate the praises of their gods and heroes.

Q. What branches of knowledge did the Druids chiefly culti vate?

A. Besides the learning peculiar to their sacerdotal office, they cultivated principally medicine, astronomy, and law.

Q. Were they acquainted with the art of writing?

A. Cæsar says they were, but that they never practiced it, except for the purpose of concealing, rather than of promulgating the knowledge which they possessed.

Q. What were some of the principal changes introduced by the Roman conquest?

A. The art of writing, of agriculture, and of architecture; and while it abolished Druidism, it substituted Christianity in its room.

CHAPTER V.

OF THE EFFECTS OF THE SAXON CONQUEST.

Q. Did the arts and improvements introduced by the Romans continue long to flourish?

A. No; they had not been long established when they were not merely checked, but entirely obliterated.

Q. By what event did this take place?

A. By that great revolution, called the Saxon conquest.

Q. What change did this produce upon the language?

A. The people having been exterminated by their invaders, rather than subdued, except among the fastnesses of Wales and the Highlands, every trace of the Celtic language became obliterated in all the other parts of the island, and the Saxon introduced in its stead.

Q. What was the character of the Saxons for learning?

A. Being a rude and savage race, whose sole occupation was war, in religion they were heathens, and in learning so deficient as not even to be acquainted with the use of letters.

Q. Did they long continue in this state?

A. No; for, having completely subjugated the country, they gradually settled down to a more regular course of life; and the reintroduction of Christianity gave a new impulse to learning by making the people acquainted with the art of writing.

Q. In what language did the learned men continue for a time to write?

A. In the Latin; and one or two of the most distinguished of the Saxon_Latin writers are Gildas, a native of Alcluyd, now Dumbarton; Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury; and the Venerable Bede, a native, and afterward a monk, of the Abbey of Wearmouth in the county of Durham.

Q. What characters did the Saxons use in writing their own tongue?

A. With the exception of a character to denote th, and another to denote w, their letters were the same as the Roman.

Q. Who were among the earliest writers in the Saxon language?

A. Two individuals called, for distinction, the one the elder, the other the second Caedmon, who were the authors of religious poetry.

Q. Of what did the Saxon literature chiefly consist?

A. Principally of poems, histories or chronicles, religious treatises, and translations from the Scriptures and from Latin authors, with some few tales or fictions.

Q. Who is one of its brightest ornaments?

A. The celebrated King Alfred, who is regarded not only as one of the wisest of monarchs, but as one of the most learned men of his day, and an ardent promoter both of religion and learning among his subjects. Q. Did the Saxon language and literature regularly improve after Alfred's time?

A. Quite the reverse; for, first by their incursions, and then by the invasion and ultimate conquest of the country by the Danes, society was thrown into the utmost confusion, and all improvement in language, in literature, and the arts of life, was completely checked.

Q. Did the Danish conquest produce much change upon the character of the language?

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