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the want of particles and of forms for expressing the various relations of things. They had not sufficient scope to admit of much philosophical or metaphysical reasoning. The character of a people, as well as their literature, may be always inferred from the genius of their language; for language is but a mirror in which the ideas of the soul are reflected and made visible. Therefore, as might be expected from their language, the Shemetic nations made few advances in mathematical or philosophical science. Their attainments in the liberal arts were but limited, and they made few valuable discoveries. The invention of letters has been attributed to the Phoenicians; but this rests on very doubtful authority, and all that now remains of their language is the inscriptions on a few coins. The science of astronomy has, in the same way, been supposed to have originated with the Chaldeans; but it is evident, from all their writings, that their notions on this subject were very obscure and confused. For instance, they thought that the shape of the earth was that of a boat, and that, when all the planets meet in Cancer, it will be destroyed by fire; and when they meet in Capricorn, it will be swept away by an inundation. Several books were written about the time of the Christian era, which, the authors pretended, were the production of the ancient Chaldeans and Persians; and as it is not always very easy to detect the forgery, much caution is requisite in investigating the subject. The writings of the ancient Shemetic family, which are known to be genuine, contain but little real philosophy. The object of the so-called wise men among them, was to excite wonder rather than to disseminate truth. The little they knew was imparted only to the few, and concealed from the vulgar by studied mysticism of language.

THE INDO-EUROPEAN CLASS OF LANGUAGES.

The languages belonging to this class are spoken in the greater part of Europe and in part of Asia-from the island of Ceylon to the shores of Iceland. They still form a connecting link between nations who now resemble each other but little in form or colour, and whose religion, government, and institutions are widely different. The Sanscrit is one of the most ancient of languages. Its name imports the language of perfection. It contains the roots of the Latin, Greek, Celtic, German, and Selavonic languages. It is more easy in this language than in any other to analyse compound words, and reduce them to their primitive radicals. It contains many compound words; some consist of no less than twenty syllables. The grammar is complex and difficult. There are, as in Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, and Greek, three numbers-singular, dual, and plural. A distinguished scholar, Sir William Jones, has said, that "Sanscrit is more copious than the Latin, more perfect than the Greek, and more exquisitely refined than either; yet that it bears to each of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the form of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident." It appears that Sanscrit was once the current language of India; now, it is shut up in the libraries of the brahmins or priests of the country, invested with mysterious sanctity, and used alone for religious purposes. It is cultivated only by the learned, so that it now takes its place among the dead languages. The names of objects in all primitive languages are descriptive, and often highly poetical. This is eminently the case in Sanscrit. The name given to

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rally, that which should not be done. Almost all the languages which are spoken in India, are merely dialects of the Sanscrit, and immediately derived from it. The Sanscrit family is therefore a very large one. The dialect called Bali, or Magudha, that is, mixed, is spoken beyond the Ganges; Bengalee is spoken in and about Calcutta ; the Hindee or Hinduvee, about Agra; Hindustanee prevails in Lower Hindostan. The Afghan dialect contains more Hebrew words than any of the above. A Persian tradition relates, that the Afghans came from the north about two thousand years ago, and that they are the descendants of King Saul. The Multan dialect, which is spoken to the north of Sindh, contains a great many Persian words and idioms. The language spoken among the Gipsies approximates more to this dialect of the Sanscrit than to any other; so that it is probable they originally emigrated from this part of Asia. They are known in various countries by the name of Bohemians, Gitanos, Zigani, &e.; but in every part of the world they invariably style themselves and their dialect Rommany, from a word signifying husband. The Celtic family is also of Asiatic origin. Europe has been successively occupied by dif ferent tides of population, which poured in from the East. The Celts appear to have been the first settlers in Europe. They were compelled to move more and more westward, to make room for the other Asiatic tribes who successively invaded Europe. The Celts, or Celta, as they were then called, thus irresistibly impelled westward, at length reached Gaul, whence they are supposed to have crossed the sea to Britain, whose first inhabitants they are believed to have been. If this was the case, the first language spoken in our land was of course the Celtic. The Celta were not allowed, however, to remain in quiet possession of Britain; the successive invasions of the Romans, Saxons, and Danes, drove them to the north and western parts of the island, where their descendants are still found, and where dialects of their language are still spoken. The Celtic language now comprises the following dialects:-1. Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands of Scotland; 2. Erse or Irish, spoken in Ireland; 3. Welsh, spoken in Wales; 4. Manks, spoken in Isle of Man ; 5. Cornish, spoken in Cornwall; 6. Armorican, spoken in Bre tagne or Brittany. History affirms that, at a very early period, the Phoenicians traded with the first inhabitants of Britain for tin. If this be true, it may account, in some degree, for the words of Eastern origin which exist in the Celtic dialects. The affinity, however, which they still retain to the Sanscrit, although their structure has been considerably altered by the lapse of centuries, clearly proves them to be of cognate origin. It is not known exactly at what period the Celta became first settled in Ireland. The Highlanders of Scotland are descended from a colony of these Irish Celts, who, about the beginning of the sixth century, migrated to the west of Scotland, bringing with thei the dialect of the Celtic which was then spoken in Ireland, and the name of Scuite or Scots.

The Welsh, Cornish, and Armorican dialects, are formed from that branch of the Celtic family which was called the Cymbric. The frequent changes of the initial letters of the radical words, in the formation of cases and numbers, are the characteristics of all the Celtic dialects. In Welsh, there are nine mutable initial letters, called litera umbratiles, from the Latin umbra, a shadow, because they change and vanish like a shadow: for instance, tád is father; ei thad is her father; ei dad, his father; and fy nhád, my father. M also is frequently converted into f; thus mam is mother, and ei fam, his mother.

The Basque language is a dialect of the old Spanish or Iberian. It is spoken in Biscay and Navarre in Spain, and in Lower Navarre and Soule in France. In some words it resembles the Celtic family; thus, father is aita in the Basque, and in Irish atáir. The celebrated traveller Humboldt affirmed that he discovered a strong resemblance between the Basque language and that of the American Indians.

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The second tide of population which poured into Europe from the East, consisted of the Germanic tribes: they are generally called the Teutons, or Goths, in his- Sie hatten, tory. In this family we are more especially interested, as it is from the Teutonic branch that the principal portion of the present inhabitants of Great Britain are descended.

Ich bin,

Du bist,

IMPERFECT.

I had.

thou hadst.
he had.

we had.
you had.
they had.

INDICATIVE.

I am.
thou art.

CONDITIONAL.

Ich hätte,
Du hättest,

OPTATIVE.

I might have.
thou mightest have.
Er hätte, he might have.
Wir hätten, we might have.
Ihr hättet, you might have.
Sie hätten, they might have.

SEIN, TO BE.

PRESENT.

Er (sie, es) ist, he (she, it) is.

Wir sind,
Ihr seid,

Sie sind,

Du warest,
Er war,
Wir waren,

The languages of the Gothic tribes parted into two main branches. The first, called the GERMAN OF TEUTONIC BRANCH, gave rise to two sub-branches-from one of which originated the Anglo-Saxon, Friesic, and Old Saxon; from the Anglo-Saxon came the modern English, and from the Friesic and Old Saxon came the Low German or Dutch, and the Flemish, spoken in Belgium. From the other sub-branch sprang the Ich war Maso-Gothic, the Alemannic, and Frankie; and from a union of these three originated the High Dutch or German-proper. The second great branch is comprehensively called the SCANDINAVIAN. It was the language of the ancient Scandinavians, spoken in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Greenland, Feroes, and the Shetland and Orkney Islands. From it have sprung two distinct branches, one of which is the modern Icelandic, and the other is that comprehending the modern Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and the dialect Eins, called Lowland Scotch.

German Language.-The Hoch Deutsch, or, as it is called by us, the German language, is spoken in the various countries on the Upper Rhine (Baden, Nassau, and many other states), in Prussia, Austria, part of Switzerland, and various countries on the Baltic, including part of Russia. To an Englishman it appears harsh, and at first very disagreeable; but it improves on acquaintance, and is found to be expressive and copious. It is said to consist of at least 80,000 words, or more than double the number in the French or English languages. Originally consisting of various dialects, including those of the Moso-Goths and Franks, it has latterly, by the progress of literature and education, been established in the distinct form in which it appears in German literature. Luther's Bible, of which the first edition was issued in 1545, was principally instrumental in the establishment and dissemination of this peculiar combination of dialects. The German language since that period has had few if any changes; the German of 1841, compared with that of 1545, will be found to differ chiefly in orthography. In German, as in English, there are two articles, the definite and the indefinite; but the definite article has a plural, and in all the various cases of the singular number it has distinct terminations for the three genders; so that it denotes whether the substantive before which it stands is masculine, feminine, or neuter, and also whether it is singular or plural. Both articles have four cases. One peculiarity of the German is the frequent addition of the termination inn to denote the feminine gender. For instance, der löwe signifies the lion, and die löwinn the lioness. This termination is also used to express a female title, it being the custom in Germany for a wife to share the title of her husband. Thus, der rector signifies the rector, and die rectorinn the rectoress or rector's wife. Die professorinn signifies the professor's wife, and die doctorinn the doctor's wife. The following are specimens of the mode of conJugating the two important auxiliary verbs to have and to be:

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you have.

they have.

CONJUNCTIVE.

Ich habe,

Du habest,

OPTATIVE.

I may have.
thou mayest have.
Er (sie, es) habe, he (she, it) &c.
we may have.

Wir haben,

Ihr habet,

Sie haben,

you may have.
they may have.

we are.

you are.
they are.

IMPERFECT.

I was. thou wast. he was.

we were. you were. they were.

Ich sei,

Du seist,

CONJUNCTIVE.

OPTATIVE.

I may be.

thou mayest be.

Er (sie, es) sei, he (she, it) may be.

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Wir wären, we might be.
Ihr waret,
Ihr wäret, you might be.
Sie waren,
Sie wären, they might be.
It may likewise be interesting to know the names of
the cardinal numbers in German, with a view to com-
paring them with our own Anglo-Saxon terms.

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Unfortunately, the Germans hold with great pertinacity to an old and barbarous character in their alphabet, by which a more general study of their literature is in some measure retarded. This peculiar character is similar to the Old English,—a, b, c, d, e, f, &c. ; A, B, C, D, E, F, &c.

Dutch Language. This language, or Lower German, is spoken only in Holland, and though used in the literature of the people of that country, has never made any progress elsewhere. In speaking of this language, in his work on Batavian Anthology, Dr Bowring remarks, that "the Dutch is not soft or musical, but it is sonorous and emphatic: it has not the beauties of the vowelled idioms of the south, but it has beauties they can never possess; and especially in the variety and grace of its diminutives (a quality in which our own language is singularly deficient), it may be compared with the richest among them. It may be studied in its perfection, in that beautiful and emphatic version of the Bible which owes its existence to the Synod of 1618-19; to the expression of devout and dignified emotion it is particularly adapted, and a high tone of religious feeling pervades all its literature." Believing that their language is already perfect, the Dutch are most scrupulous about admitting terms from any other language; when any new word is required, as in science, they form a compound for the purpose. Thus, astronomy is called sterrekunde, from ster, a star, and kunde, knowledge. Another term for the same science is hemelloopkunde; from hemel, heaven, loop, a course, and kunde, knowledge. Grammar is taalkunde, from taal, language, and kunde, knowledge; literally signifying the knowledge or science of language. Occasionally this plan may be advantageous, but it produces inelegance, and is adverse to improvement. The

Flemish language has borrowed many words from the French, but it is very similar to the Dutch. It is chiefly distinguished by a more nasal pronunciation, while the Dutch is rather a guttural language: The orthography of the two languages differs; for the Flemish writers have devised a different method of spelling those words which agree in sound but not in signification. Thus, wagen is to hazard, and waegen to weigh; leven is life, and leeven is to live. Another language is spoken in the Netherlands, which is neither Dutch nor Flemish. It is the popular language in Hainault, Namur, Liege, and part of Limbourg, and is called the Walloon; it is a kind of corrupt French. In Brussels, the people in the lower city speak Flemish, and in the upper city Walloon. Of these languages, the Dutch most closely resembles our own. Its similarity to English is shown by the following Dutch proverb, coupled with a literal translation:

"Als de wyn is in de man,

Is de wysheid in de kan."

"When the wine is in the man,

Is the wisdom in the can."-BOWRING.

As all classes of persons above those in the humblest ranks, in every part of Belgium, speak French, and as the bulk of the literature is in that language, it is not unlikely that the native vernacular will in course of time sink to the character of provincial dialects which, indeed, they have already reached in different districts.

The English Language.-This language, as already mentioned, is based on the Anglo-Saxon, "the language of the Angles, one of the tribes of that Saxon confederacy which, about the beginning of the sixth century, supplanted the Celtic inhabitants of Britain, and drove them into the mountains of Wales and Scotland. The incursions of the Danes into England, and their settlement in several parts, made little alteration on the Anglo-Saxon, as the Danish tribes were kindred with the Saxon, being descendants of the same great Gothic or Teutonic family. In the eleventh century, the Normans, or North-men, another kindred tribe, who had, two centuries before, seized and possessed that part of France since called Normandy, subdued England. They brought with them the French language, which, in the course of time, they had adopted from the people amongst whom they had been settled. This they continued, in England, to use in common discourse, and in schools and courts of law, for more than two centuries after the Conquest. Yet as they were not so numerous as the Saxon population, the old language finally prevailed; and though many French words found their way into the English, the bulk of the language continued to be Saxon.

The French tongue being founded on the Latin, its introduction caused the infusion of a great number of Latin words into our language; afterwards, as Roman literature was studied, a great number of other Latin terms were introduced into English. It is in some measure possible to distinguish the Latin introduced through the French, by the words being more changed in their form than the other Latin terms which were adopted directly by the learned. From the addition of so many Latin words, a species of double language has been formed the Saxon English, which we commonly employ in conversation, and the Latinised English, which is principally employed in learned composition. Mixed, however, as the two are, each language preserves an idiomatic character; for, with few exceptions, the prefixes and affixes of the one cannot be conjoined with the words of the other

A further addition has been made to the English by the introduction of Greek words. This has been going on since the commencement of the study of Greek literature in the sixteenth century. As we had Latin through the French, we had unconsciously many Greek words through the Latin, which may be regarded as a variety of the Greek. The words which we have received immediately from the Greek are comparatively few,

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with the exception of terms of art and science, which are now extensively taken from that language. When we look back to the early history of our language, it may be said that we see it approaching our country in two great but unequal streams; one of which comes from the shores of the Baltic, while the other, leaving Greece, passes along the shores of the Mediterranean, and finally reaches us through France, Though the Celtic inhabitants, or Britons, are said to have been expelled by the Saxons, some of their words have been left in our language. The names of rivers, mountains, and other natural objects, in England as well as in Scotland, are generally Celtic, and the names of many places are founded on terms in the same language. As in the case of the Latin passing into the English through the French, we have words of Celtic origin through the French, France having been at one time widely inhabited by Celtic tribes. In many of the names of places in France, Spain, and Italy, the Celtic is also still discernible."*

The language of England-proper is now spoken over the whole British islands, and has been fixed at a standard by the diffusion of literature and the labours of Johnson and other lexicographers. In the common speech of the people, however, there are, as we previously noticed, numerous dialects differing less or more from pure English. The most remarkable of these dialects is that spoken by the humbler classes in the Lowlands of Scotland, of which we have specimens in the poetry of Ramsay and Burns, and the prose fictions of Scott. A controversy has existed respecting the origin of this dialect. By some it has been considered only an unimproved English, such as was spoken and written generally in England three or four cen turies ago; by others, it has been defined as a distinct branch of the original Teutonic, through the Scandina vian branch; and this, in our opinion, is the true view of the matter. We now, then, have upon our island two branches of an original Gothic tongue, one of which has taken the lead in literature, while the other has continued as a local vernacular, and must in the course of time disappear.

The English language, as finally established, consists of about 38,000 words, of which about 23,000, or nearly five-eighths, are Anglo-Saxon. Many words, however, may be said to be in a state of disuse, particularly those from the Latin introduced by a fantastic mode of writing in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Possessing all the force and bluntness of the Anglo-Saxon, with a due share of the polish and dignity of the Roman tongue, the English is powerful, copious, and adapted to express the most refined emotions of feeling, as well as the complex doctrines of an enlightened philosophy. For honesty and sincerity it has no equal-a peculiarity dis tinctly referable to the upright character of the English. One of the chief peculiarities of the language is its slight dependence on inflection, and the abundant use of articles, prepositions, &c., such as a, an, the, of, to, with, by; also, shall, will, may, might, could, would, should, &c. (all Anglo-Saxon), the meaning of which is usually provided for in languages of Latin origin by the various terminations of the verbs or main words in the sentence. The rules of English orthography are exceedingly indecisive, partly from the want of any authoritative academy to lay down a law on the subject, and partly from the diffidence of grammarians in attempting any change. This irregularity in the adap tation of spelling to pronunciation, and the constant shifting of sounds in the letters a, c, and g, without any apparent rule, render the language difficult of acquisition by foreigners. The sound expressed by th, as in the, month, pathos, equivalent to the sound of the letter theta in Greek, is also rarely mastered by natives of France or Germany who come to reside amongst us.

In writing English, some authors adhere more closely to Anglo-Saxon roots than others; but the best Eng lish is that in which no particular rule on this subject is followed. To show what difference may exist * Graham's English Etymology.

styles, according as the Anglo-Saxon or Latin are followed, we present the following specimens; those words not Anglo-Saxon being in Italics. The first is from the authorised version of the Bible, which has few Latin words.

systems followed in the structure of all languages, consists in the addition of syllables to the root, or, as we may briefly describe it, in a variety of terminations. These are called inflections, because the word in this case is, as it were, bent or turned. In the Greek, we see **In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the inflective system in its greatest extent. The noun the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon is inflected for the expression of the various cases, the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face genders, and numbers. The verb is inflected for active, of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was middle, and passive voice, and all the usual variety of 1 light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided tenses in the first, second, and third persons. There the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and is also a form of the verb for use with reference to two the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning persons, called therefore the dual form. Thus, the were the first day."-Genesis, i. 1—6. imperfect of the indicative of the verb rúrra (tupto), I strike, appears in the following variety of forms.—

"And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau, his eldest son, and said unto him, My son. And he said unto him, Behold, bre am L. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me same renison; and make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee befare I die. And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his a. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to tring it. And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Bebold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death."-Genesis, vil 1-7.

The second specimen is from Robertson, showing an bundance of Latin roots :

"This great emperor, in the plenitude of his power, and in postion of all the honours which can flatter the heart of man, took the extraordinary resolution to resign his kingdom, and to withdraw entirely from any concern in business or the affairs of this

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The modern Greek derives most the ancient language, but a great many Italian and Turkish terms have been introduced. Perhaps the difference between the ancient and modern Greek cannot be better illustrated, than by comparing-parallel passages from the same writer. The passage selected is the 1st chapter of John's Gospel, 1st verse :

ANCIENT GREEK.

world, in order that he might spend the remainder of his days in
rement and solitude. Diocletian is perhaps the only prince,
expable of holding the reins of government, who ever resigned them
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος
from deliberate choice, and who continued during many years toys Or Oser zai Bios Bo
joy the tranquillity of retirement, without fetching one penitent
rich, or casting back one look of desire towards the power or dig
ty which he had abandoned."

For further details respecting the English language, we refer to the number on ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

The Pelasgian or Greco-Latin Family.

The first inhabitants of Greece were called the Pegi, and seem to have been the ancestors of the Greeks; but the early history of these nations is lost in fable.

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En arche en ho logos, kai ho
Logos en pros ton Theon, kai
Theos en ho logos.

ROMAIC OR MODERN GREEK. Εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἦτον ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ήτον μὲ τὸν Θεόν καὶ Θεὸς ἦτον ὁ λόγος.

Eis ten archen eton ho logos, kai ho logos eton me ton Theon kai Theos elon ho logos.

The

The Latin, or language of ancient Rome, may be regarded as a composition of the early languages spoken in central Italy, particularly the Etrurian, and of the Greek, brought to the same country by colonists, and by the study of Greek literature among the Romans, after they had attained a certain degree of civilisation. The Greek is a most powerful and expressive lanIt has been remarked that the Eolian, more than any age. It is divided into four dialects, which arose from the peculiar pronunciation of the inhabitants in other variety of the Greek, has contributed to the formation of Latin. The Latin, in its grammatical strucdifferent parts of the country, thus occasioning a change ture, follows the Greek, but dispenses with the dual a orthography. The Attic dialect is generally conform of the verb. We shall here more particularly sidered the most polished and the most classical; it is illustrate the inflective system, for the sake of those subdivided into the old, middle, and new. Solon wrote the old Attic, which is almost the same as the Ionic. whose studies have not embraced any language besides their own. For example, while the Latin word for a The historian Thucydides, the tragic writers Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, used the middle style, as did speech, in the nominative case, is sermo, our ideas of a also Plato and Xenophon, and Aristophanes, the writer speech, to a speech, with a speech, are expressed respecof comedy. Demosthenes, and later orators and writers tively by the words sermonis, sermoni, sermone. of comedy, adopted the new Attic style. verb presents a great variety of terminations for the two voices, the various moods, tenses, and persons, &c. the Attic dialect is derived from Attica, the country which it originated; the political and literary pre-emi-Thus, for example, while I love (active voice) is expressed by amo, I am loved (passive voice) is amor. lence of the Athenians, or people of Attica, eventually While I had loved (pluperfect of indicative mood) is rendered it almost the universal dialect of Greece. It distinguished by its contraction of vowels. The Ionic amaveram, I might have loved (pluperfect of subjuncdialect uses the uncontracted inflections of nouns and tive mood) is amavissem. The whole of the last tense verbs. It is smooth and harmonious, and was adopted by the historian Herodotus, Hippocrates the physician, and by Anacreon the poet. The Doric and Eolic diaincts were more harsh and unpolished than the others. The Doric has a very broad pronunciation, and frequently substitutes a for the other vowels. The Eolic has no dual form, and, in other points, resembles the Latin more strongly than the other dialects. The New Testament was originally written in Greek. We find in it instances of all the four dialects, and several Hebraisms or Hebrew idioms.

13

The name of
in

We have seen that one of the leading grammatical

is

1. Amavissem,
2. Amavisses,
3. Amavisset,

SINGULAR.

I might or could have loved.
thou mightst or couldst have loved.
he might or could have loved.

PLURAL

1. Amavissemus, we might or could have loved.
2. Amavissėtis, ye might or could have loved.
3. Amavissent, they might or could have loved.

It may be remarked, for the sake of an unlearned class of readers, that there are various forms for the termination of nouns, called declensions. A large class,

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The conjugations of verbs are analogous to the declensions of nouns. Amo is an example of a class in which the imperfect of the indicative always ends in abam, the future in abo, and in which all the other tenses take certain terminations in like manner. This class of verbs are said to be of the first conjugation. There is another class in which the present of the indicative always ends in eo; thus, moneo, I advise, moveo, I move; and in which the imperfect of the indicative always ends in ebam, the future in ebo, &c. These constitute the second conjugation. The other two conjugations, for there are four, all observe certain rules as to the formation of the various parts of the verb; in other words, all the various parts of the various verbs of the Latin language are formed after four schemes or modes, these being called conjugations.

In the syntax of the Latin language, there is one principle carried to an unusual extreme, namely, the transposition of words. Generally, the verb was amongst the last words placed in a sentence. The specimens of early Roman writers which are preserved, show the language in a rude state, as the English was about the thirteenth century. The language was afterwards polished, and became remarkable for its smoothness and harmony. Of the beautiful literature of which, like the Greek before it, it became the honoured vehicle, this is not the place to speak.

Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Languages.—When the empire of Rome sank, as it were, beneath the weight of its own greatness, the different tribes by whom it was dismembered introduced a complete change into the language. Not only were new words introduced, but the very structure of the grammar was altered. The barbarians, probably finding a difficulty in remembering the various forms of the passive voice, substituted the use of an auxiliary with a participle throughout the verbs, and introduced prepositions to express the various relations of nouns, instead of the old system of declension. The language was thus rendered more simple and flexible. It is probable that many of these changes first sprang up among the Latins themselves, and that they were originally conventionally used by the vulgar in provincial districts. It would be very interesting if we could trace, step by step, the process of the conversion of the Latin language into the Italian. But this, like the history of the transmutation of the ancient into the modern Greek, is a subject upon which little satisfactory information can be gained. One characteristic in Italian, is the the little use that is made of the letter h. "Not worth an h," is a familiar saying in Italy. The only office of hin the language, is to indicate when c is to be pronounced like k; as, for instance, in such words as cheto, &c., which is pronounced keto.

Italian, says Metastasio, is "musica stessa” (music itself). It is a language of great compass and variety, well adapted to express passion and emotion. There are many dialects in Italy; with respect to these, a common proverb says, "Lingua Toscana in bocca Romana," meaning that the Tuscan dialect is the most classical, and the Roman pronunciation the purest.

There are other languages besides the Italian which are derived from the Latin. Of these, the Spanish preserves the strongest resemblance to the genius and

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structure of the Latin. It is almost equally pompous and solemn. The Spanish character is likewise akin to that of the ancient Romans, both nations being conspicuous for their prowess and dignity of mind. A great many Latin words may be traced in the Spanish, particularly if it be remembered that the e of the Latin language always becomes g in the Spanish; for instance, Dico becomes Digo; and that t is changed into d, so that the Latin word totus is discernible in the Spanish form todo. The Romans occupied Spain between six and eight hundred years. About 416, the Goths entered it, and effected some little change in the language, which was then called Langue romance, because derived from the Roman or Latin. About A. D. 741, Spain was again invaded by the Arabs, who gave an oriental tincture to the language. One peculiarity in the Spanish language, is the constant occurrence of il at the commencement of a word; for instance, llamar, to call; laneza, equality; llave, a key; llegar, to arrive; llevar, to carry; lluvia, to rain. The sound given to these double consonants is similar to the gl of the Italian, in figlio, son; to the lh of the Por tuguese, in filho, son; and also to the ll of the French, in fille, daughter. There is another distinguishing sound in the Spanish, which is connected in pronuncia tion with the French. The Spanish n is pronounced like the French gne in Bretagne; so that such words as senor, sir, mana, dexterity, and manana, to-morrow, are to be read as if written segnor, magna, &c.

The Portuguese language has not so close an affinity with the Spanish as might have been expected from the geographical position of the two countries. The Portaguese attracted but little attention in the rest of Europe before the appearance of the Lusiad. Derivatives are in this language very numerous; thus, from the root pedra, a stone, we get the following derivatives:pedregál, a stony place; pedregúlha, gravel; pedregós, stony; pedreyra or pedréyro, a stone-cutter; pedrada, a blow with a stone. By the simple addition of the ter mination ada, many words are formed, which in other languages could not be expressed without circumlocution; thus, pancada, a blow with a stick or club; cutilada, a cut with a sword; estocada, a stab with a sword or dagger. The Portuguese, like the French and Italians, have no adjectives of a triple form, as in Latin Some of their adjectives mark the distinction in gender of the nouns which they qualify, as formoso, formosa beautiful; alto, alta, high : and others are unchangeable thus, tempo breve, a short time; manhãa breve, a shor morning; cavallo forte, a strong horse; egoa forte, strong mare.

French Language. This language is also, in a grea measure, a broken and reorganised Latin. It originated in the following manner :- "The Celtic, remnants o which were long preserved in Brittany, was the languag of the Gauls. After the conquest of the country by the Romans under Julius Caesar, Latin became the pre dominant language. On the overthrow of the West ern Roman empire, this language was corrupte partly in its pronunciation by Teutonic organs, an partly by the mixture of words and expressions or ginally Frankish, Burgundian, Ostrogothic, or Vis gothic. This corrupt language was called the R mance, and was divided into two branches. They ar denominated from their respective terms for expressin yes-the southern, or Langue d'Oc (dialect of Oc, O citanic dialect), and the northern, spoken north of th Loire, or Langue d'Oui or d'Oil, from the latter which the modern French language is derived. In th beginning of the twelfth century, Raymond de St Gille Count of Provence, united the south of France unde one government, and gave the whole the name of Pr vence. From that period the two dialects were call the Provençal and the French. The former, thou much changed, is still the dialect of the common peop in Provence, Languedoc, Catalonia, Valencia, Majore Minorca, and Sardinia. In the thirteenth centur the northern, or Norman French dialect, which w much more prosaic than the former, gained the asce

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