master of its pronunciation, has occasion to apply to a dictionary, he should avoid repeating the unknown word to himself, while looking for it. This practice is harmless in a dead language, but most injurious in a living one. Thinking of the letters which compose the words will sufficiently assist in the search, and bad habits of pronunciation will thus be avoided.

Anxious to facilitate the work of searching for words in a dictionary, we warn inexperienced learners, that, as the initials at the head of each column refer to the last word of it, it is by applying at once to that word, that they will, without loss of time, ascertain whether the word they seek is in that column. Trifling as this piece of information may appear, it is most valuable as a means of saving time and labour.

We must here advert to the injudiciousness of preserving, as some modern lexicographers do, the old classification of the words beginning with i and j, and those beginning with u and v. Our ancestors considered the characters j and v only as other forins of i and u, which accounts for their alphabetical arrangements of them in vocabuluries; but now that these have become distinct letters, it is inconsistent with reason to jumble them together, to the great perplexity of young people.

After the diligent and consecutive reading of eight or ten volumes, a student possessing general information, extensive knowledge of his own language, and habits of mental activity, will but rarely need to apply to the dictionary. Under any circumstances, the more assiduously one reads, the less the dictionary is required; because the same words presenting themselves to the learner more frequently, and in more rapid succession, are easily remembered, and their meaning sufficiently explained by the ever-varying circumstances in which they occur; as is proved in the case of those who, in their own language, have read many volumes and have fully understood them from the context and through the occasional help of oral explanations. If but little is read, the same words recurring only at long intervals, the learner has not the same facility in apprehending their meanings or recollecting them, and a dictionary becomes indispensable. This is the case with those who, in pursuance of the slow and sure method, read the classics at the rate of one or two volumes a year.

SECT. V.-DIFFERENCE IN THE MODES OF PROCEEDING WITH ADULTS AND CHILDREN.

Opposed as some of our suggestions may be to common routine, we believe that they will be found conformable to the natural course pursued in acquiring the vernacular tongue, and to the practice of the most eminent linguists. We shall further observe that, in reading the first volumes, the learner, especially an adult, should attach himself only to the sense of the author without trying to analyse, by the test of grammar, every expression which may appear irregular. It was in this manner that the great orientalist, Dr. Alexander Murray, had, as he informs us, at the age of sixteen, learned in eighteen months not less than four languages-French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. "I always strove," he says, “to seize the sense; but, when I supposed that I had succeeded, I did not weary myself with analysing any sentence.”

Much should at first be taken for granted, especially in a living tongue, when a practical knowledge of it is the end proposed. If the ideas of the author are apprehended, the object of reading is attained: inquiring into the reasons of the peculiarities of the foreign idiom only impedes progress through the book, without making it more intelligible. Let the reader reflect, that, in his own language, he can seldom solve difficulties of such a kind: he cannot account for innumerable anomalies and idiomatic forms, although, in common practice, he properly applies every expression and never hesitates about their signification. Few English persons, for example, even among the well educated, know, or care to know, the reasons of the following deviations from grammar or from the proper meaning of words, two mackerel, a few salmon, a brace of snipe, of woodcock, of partridge; many a day, now a days; methinks; would I were there; were I to put up with it; I had rather stay; you had better go, and a thousand other equally odd expressions which are in daily use.

Those who distrust their memory should write each new word as it occurs, after having ascertained its meaning; all the words. acquired during the day should be carefully studied each succeeding day. Thus, at little cost, a large stock of words would soon be fixed in the mind. If the learner, when reading alone,

• Letter to Rev. Maitland.

should meet words which his dictionary fails to interpret, or idiomatic intricacies which, for want of explanatory notes, he has no means of unravelling, let him mark them with a pencil line in the margin, to have them explained by his teacher the next time he is with him. This practice would save considerable time, and enable the student to advance rapidly, his progress through the book not being retarded by the slow process of examination in class, which may then be dispensed with. Should he have no instructor or friend to whom he can apply for such explanations, let him, when he has completed the reading of the volume, reconsider the difficult passages he has marked, and he will find, that further acquaintance with the subject and the style of the work will clear up that which, at the first perusal, appeared obscure.

These suggestions are addressed to adults, especially to those whose chief object is to gain practical knowledge of the foreign language, and whose time for its acquisition is limited. Such persons should beware of delay in their progress in reading; for it is, we repeat it, of the utmost importance to advance rapidly in an acquirement on the possession of which depends, in great measure, improvement in the three other branches.

It is obvious that many of the above suggestions, especially those which refer to self-direction, could not strictly be followed by children who, as yet, possess but very limited knowledge of their own language. Ignorant as they must often be of the native words which correspond in meaning and spelling to the foreign ones, they could have no clue by which to discover the signification of these foreign words. An extensive knowledge of things and a large supply of native words will, therefore, be needed as a preparation for translating in the absence of an instructor, or as a means of dispensing with the dictionary. It may, in general, be-affirmed, that foreign authors will be better understood, and progress in reading be more rapid, in proportion as the mind of the learner is better informed and more highly cultivated; because figurative forms will be more easily perceived, allusions more promptly seized, sentiments more fully entered into, and arguments more closely followed.

Young persons, from twelve to fifteen years of age, who learn with a view to mental culture, as is more especially the case in pursuing the classical course, and who study chiefly in school, should analyse every form of speech, ascertain the functions of words, their etymology and syntactical relations;

they ought, when in class, to investigate with the professor every idiomatical expression which admits of explanation.

Children under the age of twelve, who are made to learn a language by the comparative process, incapable of preparing class lessons by themselves, and demanding the constant watchfulness of a guide, must be taught separately, and must, until the age of twelve or thirteen, translate simple and easy works several times under the eye and with the aid of an instructor, who ought to be their living dictionary. They should not be left to themselves, for, anxious as they may be to fulfil the task imposed, they will, for the greater part, be unable to judge whether or not they understand the foreign author; whether the ideas which they attach to the new words they meet suit or do not suit the circumstances to which they refer; whether the native expressions by which they render the foreign ones are correct or incorrect. For half a page that they would badly translate, when left to themselves, they would, with an assistant, translate several pages correctly, cheerfully, and profitably. The instructor must, therefore, devote much of his time to them. But, in affording them the benefit of his services, he should aid and direct their exertion, rather than free them from the necessity of using any: he should put them in the road, not carry them through the course.

Learners who have passed the age of twelve or thirteen, being able to understand without aid the greater portion of an author, require little of the professor's time, and that little may then be employed to greater advantage for them in explaining intricate passages, and commenting on the language and the ideas in the manner unfolded above. (See Section II. of this Chapter.) With very young children, on the contrary, the teacher should not only construe, explain, and translate for them every part of the book, but he should also examine them after they have translated again in the interval of the lessons what he has previously explained. In schools, when circumstances permit, the work of examination may devolve on monitors, who, in helping their juniors in a branch which lies within their power of explanation, will thereby have the advantage of reviewing what they have not translated for a long time before.

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SECT. VI.-OF THE PARTIAL READING OF WORKS.

The practice of reading only detached parts of books can impart but a superficial knowledge both of the subject and of the language. It is incumbent on learners to finish a work once begun let their instructors recommend none but such as are worthy of being read entirely. Much of the interest and profit is lost when books are but half read: the second part of a work generally indemnifies us for the trouble we have had in reading the first. As we advance in a volume, we become acquainted with the author's peculiarities of style and our minds are gradually identified with his. Perseverance through the work, necessarily bringing a repetition of the same words and phraseology, engraves them on the memory. The comparative facility also with which the latter part is read is a source of pleasure and a manifest indication of improvement. It is, then, unreasonable to deprive students, as is often done, of this gratification, of this stimulus to further exertion, by making them read only portions of works. More unreasonable still is it to expect that learners can become conversant with the literature of a country by the perusal of extracts from various authors, however judicious their selection be.

The beauties of literary productions are not confined to propriety of terms and to choice of language; they should also be sought in conception of design, consistency of characters, and nice adaptation of parts. To these excellences, which can be perceived only by the reading of the whole work, the attention of the learner should be directed, as well as to the meaning or the grammatical analysis of words. Besides, young people should, in every department of their studies, be early trained to the useful habit of persevering to completion.

Bossuet strictly adhered to this plan in teaching the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV. He declares, in a letter to Pope Alexander IX., that he never confined his pupil to portions of classics, but made him read each work entirely without stopping, and, as it were, in one breath, "that the Prince might be able to form a judgment not of a part only of a work, but of the whole design and the connection of the parts."

On the usual practice of confining boys to portions of the classic writers, Mr. Wyse observes, "What we do study, we not only