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method, as being indispensable to a complete knowledge of a foreign language. But the other acquisitions, which are far more valuable, although only incidental, are obtained by a frequent comparison of the foreign with the native tongue, which arises from the study of the one through the other. The various ways of considering the two languages relatively to each other and the investigations which bear on their respective genius, lead to a succession of analytical and synthetical processes which highly cultivate observation and judgment. The resemblances and differences which exist between the two idioms being thus constantly brought into view by reciprocal translations, elicit in a striking manner the principles which are peculiar to each or common to both; in other words, initiate learners into a knowledge of particular and general grammar.

In transferring into one language the ideas expressed in another, the translation may be either literal or free—that is, it may follow verbatim the words and construction of the original text, or depart from them to conform to the idiom and genius of the language in which it is made. In either case, the translation, to be faithful, should convey the identical ideas of the original. The literal and the free translation perform, each, an equally important part in the comparative study of a second language. The details of the course of instruction ought to show when one is to be preferred to the other, what benefit arises to the learners from translating orally or in writing, as also from rendering the foreign into the native tongue, or vice versa, and how far these different kinds of translation assist in learning the foreign idiom, or improving in the native.

The practical and the comparative methods have each their distinct sphere of action: the former exercises the powers of perception, imitation, and analogy: the latter, those of reflection, conception, comparison, and reasoning; the first leads to the art, the second to the science of language. The practical process requires little mental effort, and leads instinctively to a mastery of a language; the comparative process, on the contrary, by presenting difficulties which unceasingly call the reflective powers into action, inures the learners to self-reliance, self-direction, and intellectual labour, which constitute its chief merit as an instrument of moral and mental discipline. The one teaches how to use a language, the other how to use the higher faculties of the mind. The combination of both would constitute the most

efficient system.

Daily experience offers striking illustrations of the incomplete results of these two methods, when pursued separately. Those who have been confined to practice in acquiring their own or a foreign language, have not, by this acquisition, added much to their original stock of mental activity; and, although they may speak either language with great volubility, they are generally deficient in literary discrimination. On the other hand, a considerable number of persons could be found, who, having, in the study of Latin, attended to the analysis of a few classics rather than indulged in extensive reading, or in the practice of the language, could not, in the least, use it as a vehicle of thought, whilst, through its means, their intellectual character has been raised, their taste refined, and their power of native expression improved.

The distinction between the practical and the comparative method shows why the study of a second language is more favourable to mental culture than the acquiring of the native tongue. But the benefits of the comparative method depending, in a great measure, on a practical knowledge of the vernacular, this ought to be made the groundwork of the study of a foreign idiom. A complete course of education should commence with the vernacular, and means should be unfolded for imparting it to young people, and for making it, at the same time, the medium of mental development during the first two periods of youth. Foreign languages, and especially the ancient, will afterwards become the most efficient means by which to improve the powers of oral and written composition in the native tongue.

7. A good Method is an instrument of mental Culture. All the intellectual faculties should assume an equal activity throughout the various exercises which may be recommended for improvement in the native as well as in a foreign language. Any system which neglects this harmonious mental culture, fails in its paramount object. The study of language presents, in this respect, very great facilities; for it embraces thought and its expression: the operations of the mind may be said to be identical with the use of language. The various acquirements which constitute the complete possession of a foreign idiom afford, through the exercises indispensable for their attainment,

the means of cultivating attention and raising the intellectual powers from their original state to the highest degree of improvement. The manifold exercises through which these acquirements are made should be so regulated as to call forth all the energies of the mind. The intellectual discipline generated by a rational method begins with those mysterious lessons by which the child is first taught to associate external signs with sensations and notions, and continues through the whole course of the study, by means of critical explanations, translation, reading of foreign works, and analysis of their style. The gradual disclosure of the thoughts and sentiments of good writers will gratify his curiosity, excite his sympathies, improve his taste, invigorate his conception, enrich his memory, and enlighten his understanding. The powers of observation, comparison, imitation, analogy, recollection, invention, will be cultivated in learners by oral and written compositions, which will, first, afford them frequent opportunities of comparing their copies with the model, and will, next, throw them upon their own resources in the expression of ideas; imagination will be exercised by their attention being directed to imaginative and poetical productions, which will carry their thoughts beyond the time, place, and objects of ordinary life; and the reasoning powers will be unfolded by comparing, generalising, and classifying the facts of language, by inferring and applying the rules of grammar, as also by discriminating between different sentiments, different styles, different writers, and different languages; whilst the active co-operation of attention and memory will be involved in the action of all the other faculties.

To assist the mind still further in its operations, a system of examination should be introduced, which will require students to enter into an enumeration of particulars, to give a summary of the prelections made by the professor on various departments of grammar, philology, and criticism, and, finally, to bring their mental energy to bear on those rapid processes of thinking, speaking, and writing, so indispensable in the active scenes of civilised life.

The study of living languages, judiciously carried on, will prove particularly useful to females, who, being denied the privilege of a scientific education, may, by this pursuit, be afforded the means of complete mental discipline. Madame de Staël, who herself possessed high mental powers, speaking from her own experience, says, "The study of languages, which, in

Germany, constitutes the basis of education, is much more favourable to the progress of the faculties in childhood than that of mathematics or of the physical sciences." *

The second part of Madame de Staël's assertion is perhaps liable to objection: the physical sciences seem to us better calculated than languages for exercising the minds of children under twelve, and have, consequently, in the preceding pages, been recommended as a branch of elementary instruction; we will, in Book IV., consider this subject more fully. But to the first part of her assertion we fully assent: we consider the study of language as something more than a dry study of words, than a mere matter of colloquial convenience. It has already been shown that mathematics yields to languages in efficiency and usefulness, as an instrument of intellectual discipline. We will only add, that the pleasure of surmounting the difficulties of a foreign work, and of clearly conceiving the elevated thoughts of an eminent writer is, at least, as lively and refined as that of ascertaining mathematical truths; whilst the acquisition of a language affords, in general, more satisfaction, by reason of the immediate application which can be made of it, either to receive or to communicate ideas.

Every intellectual pursuit in early life ought to have for its principal object to invigorate the faculties, and to produce, by means of appropriate exercises, the highest degree of activity of which the mind is capable. All persons have not equal need of the different branches of instruction taught in schools, and they may differ in opinion as to their degree of utility; but all will agree that habits of reflection, investigation, and reasoning, are useful to every individual, and at every period of life. The classical and scientific information collected in youth is not unfrequently laid aside in maturity, to make room for the practical business of active life, with which it often has no connection; but high mental capacity is never lost and is always productive of real benefit.

A method which would exclusively rest on the action of a single faculty, whatever might be its apparent success, would be most prejudicial to the intellect. Even imagination, which is often checked in young people, ought to have its due share of exercise it performs an active part in learning and applying language. All the fine arts, among which may be placed the art of expressing thought, owe their best productions to the

* De l'Allemagne.

richness and vigour of that faculty. However, if any be entitled to more exercise than others, these are attention and judgment— attention, above all, that manifester of the will, that eye of the mind, without which the other faculties would remain dormant. The powerful influence which attention and judgment have in all the affairs of life demands that they should act a prominent part in the process of education. They are the guides which direct us in the use of the other faculties and render their action efficient.

Memory, although holding also an important place relatively to the acquisition of knowledge, demands less specific exercise than the other intellectual powers, because the use of it is necessarily involved in their action. Besides, it has abundant employment during the first periods of youth, in storing up the facts impressed through the senses upon the mind and retaining the corresponding native words. As it predominates in childhood, teachers are apt to resort to it as a general instrument of instruction; but its exclusive cultivation only tends to make learned fools.

This faculty, it is true, early manifests itself, but it never exists alone the others begin their action much sooner than persons generally imagine. Children are capable of attention and reflection; they have imagination and judgment; they observe, they invent, they reason, as actively as adults, with this difference, that their sphere of mental activity is confined to matters of comparatively little importance. Their intellectual constitution differs from ours only in degree. If we wish to exercise and improve it, we must offer to their consideration objects suited to the weakness of their minds, the use and purport of which they can understand, and which may be congenial to their tastes and feelings.

Memory, however, assumes a most active part in the learning of a language; but a great deal of care is required to render it truly effective. As the power of remembering greatly depends on associations, those should be preferred which link the objects of study more closely, and enable them to recall each other more readily. Mechanical memory should, on no occasion, usurp the place of intellectual memory. It is by exercising the judgment on things and their relations, that language is best secured; the signs will be easily remembered, when the mind is stored with the ideas which they signify. Words, being valueless, and not easily retained apart from the ideas which they represent, should

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