bered and applied. Should they escape the memory for a time, they may be retraced through the analogy and association by which they were formed.

The phraseology being at the option of the instructor, he always has it in his power to direct the attention of his pupils to the forms of speech the grammatical principles of which he wishes them to infer. But, to afford them early an opportunity of speaking idiomatically, we would recommend that, in general, preference be given to the expressions which differ in construction in the two languages, or which may illustrate some principle peculiar to the foreign idiom. He should, as much as possible, select model-phrases, or compose the native ones which he submits to his pupils for translation into the foreign language in such a manner that the principal facts under all the rules of grammar may be through them elicited and generalised in succession; and the variations of each illustration should be so multiplied as to render the syntactical forms habits of the mind. In this practical and inductive way the whole syntax of the foreign language may be made clear, intelligible, and familiar.

Should the instructor wish to lead his pupils methodically through a course of grammatical phraseology, let him select one of the standard foreign grammars published with exercises annexed to the rules, and avail himself, in their regular order, of these exercises, by modifying diversely the phrases which they contain ;-the tediousness and difficulty attendant on writing them are obviated when performed orally with an assistant. He may also introduce other sentences, as he thinks they are required, and persevere in varying the illustrations until his pupils can infer the rule readily and apply it unconsciously. The multiplicity of oral variations, indispensable for creating habits of language, will make up for the paucity of examples to which the written grammatical exercises are necessarily confined.

If, for example, a great diversity of sentences be formed on each French verb requiring either à or de after it (a list of such verbs is given in most French grammars), the perplexity which these prepositions present will soon disappear by that practice; and learners will use them, as it were, instinctively by the force of habit and analogy, as is done by the natives themselves. The use of the subjunctive and the rule of the participles in French can be mastered only through this phraseological process. In the same way also practical acquaintance with the genders of

nouns would be easily gained in languages which, like the French, attribute to the names of inanimate objects a masculine or feminine, devoid of any distinctive mark by which it can be known, and whose articles and adjectives vary in their form to indicate their concord with the substantives: by frequently presenting to the learner substantives preceded by articles and other determinatives, or joined to various adjectives, associations would be formed in his mind which would enable him to use the proper gender spontaneously and unconsciously. In this manner all the grammatical forms of a language would soon be rendered familiar, and all idiomatical difficulties overcome.

Conformably to the dictates of nature and reason, a learner, whether a child or an adult, should postpone entering upon a regular synthetical course of grammatical studies until he has made some progress in the first two branches and has mastered many words, especially those of the second class and the verbs. Once in possession of a large supply of materials with which to illustrate rules, as he learns them, he will find the study of a standard grammar both interesting and profitable. Had he learned the grammar of the foreign language before he could apply its rules, he would have forgotten them by the time they would be required for practice.

As a learner studies each rule he ought to be exercised in modifying, in the manner detailed above, the examples which are given in the grammar in support of it, and which then serve as model-phrases. The better also to understand the rule, and ensure its practical application, he should, under the direction of the professor and subject to his correction, form numerous sentences of his own illustrative of it, and persevere in these illustrations until he has acquired readiness in them. When, on account of his youth, his reflective powers are not equal to the abstractions of grammar, the teacher should himself explain it, as he finds needful. Young people, listening to his oral explanations, would attend to the ideas more than to the words, whereas they usually labour more to retain words than to understand their meaning, when desired to get the same information from books.

In these illustrations the learner proceeds synthetically, by deduction, from the rules to the phraseology: it is the counterpart of that useful exercise in generalisation in which the learner passes, by induction, from the phraseology to the grammatical principles. The benefits arising from these two opposite

exercises, and from thus alternately attending to practice and theory, must be obvious.

Rules should not, at any time, be committed to memory: if they are well understood, and if they assist in the expression of thought, the object is gained. Real knowledge of grammar consists, not in repeating, but in applying rules, and observing them in practice without retrospective consideration of them. In speaking or writing a foreign language we ought to be able, as in the native, to ascertain the right pronunciation, orthography, gender, inflection, grammatical concord, and order of words, by an appeal to our consciousness of their correctness, resulting from reiterated impressions rather than to our recollection of rules. A learner would not possess greater fluency of speech after having recited the whole grammar than before he commenced this laborious task. On the frequent, diversified, and just application of principles depend facility and correctness in speaking and writing the language. The frequency of the applications and the diversity of examples secure the double advantage of exercising at the same time the understanding and imagination. To illustrate the rules demands more reflection than a monotonous repetition of them, and thus leaves deeper and more lasting impressions on the mind. It is in this manner that synthesis, by generalising the phraseology acquired through analysis and practice, fixes it permanently in the memory.

SECT. III. ON THE POWER OF THINKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE WHEN SPEAKING IT.

If the exercise of phraseology, which has now been minutely explained, be long persevered in, conjointly with reading and hearing, it will give great command of language to the learner, who then will not have to depend on accidental recollection of school-book phrases. Constantly expressing ideas by combinations formed of the same words necessarily associates them in the mind with those words; and, by the law of habit, this exercise becomes so easy, that the phrases which at first demand much reflection, are at last produced instantaneously, unconsciously, and as the immediate expressions of the ideas which call them forth. This direct association of the ideas with the foreign phrases which the learner utters, is the third stage in mental language, that which we call mental speaking. It is

only when we possess the power by which the thoughts come forth intuitively embodied in the words to which we give utterance, that we can be said to speak the foreign language, that the lips become "parcel of the mind."

In the oral expression of thought words should flow in their proper order, not by the aid of reasoning, but instantaneously from a sentiment of analogy and as the immediate consequence of the thought. In fact, the foreign language should be used like the native, in which the ideas and signs invariably recall each other.

Direct association of words and ideas is indispensable in the audible expression of thought. Translation in speaking would be attended with the same inconvenience which, we have before observed, is attached to it in reading and hearing. Speaking by translation must be very imperfect, from the want of identically corresponding terms in the two languages. Its tediousness but ill accommodates itself to the impatience of hearers, to whom it must be even painful to witness the embarrassment which the speaker experiences in translating.

Desirable as undoubtedly is the power of reading or writing without translating, yet it may, in some cases, be thought only a matter of convenience, since the person who reads or writes may devote as much time as he pleases to the translation; but, in colloquial intercourse, no time is allowed for this operation; and, unless hearing and speaking be direct, that is, independent of translation, there can be no genuine conversation.

The interruption caused by translation in the succession of thoughts is not favourable to argumentative or continued discourse. It can, at best, only answer for unconnected propositions. But one of its greatest disadvantages is, that the speaker, intent on finding words as interpreters of other words, is, in the expression of his thoughts and sentiments, prevented from yielding to his feelings; he is unable fully to convey to the hearer's mind the impressions which influence his own; he is destitute of that eloquence of the heart from which spring all the charms of social intercourse. The simple manifestation of emotion will, by the power of sympathy, excite similar emotion in those who witness it, even although a single word may not be uttered; but in one who speaks by translation, we behold a man exclusively engaged in an exercise of the intellect ;-how can such an exhibition call forth sympathy with feelings which are hidden from our view? The mind must be entirely free from such pre-occupation, to

cause, by its direct and spontaneous influence, the inflection of the voice and the expression of the face to manifest internal emotions. The tone, the echo of the heart, is mute, and the countenance, its mirror, is dull, if the soul remains passive during the act of speaking.

To the sympathetic effects of the language of action on our impressible minds in infancy, we are indebted for our first progress in the maternal language; we must, in our turn, bring it into play, if we wish to render our conversation intelligible and interesting to others. Let us then avoid translation, that we may speak spontaneously and naturally,—that every feeling may be expressed by a tone and look, which will awaken in others the feeling that gave them birth. These two natural modes of expression should be in harmony with the sentiments conveyed by the words uttered. Were it otherwise, there would be no appearance of truth or earnestness in audible expression, and language would be deprived of the power of carrying conviction to the mind or delight to the soul. It would then indeed be what Talleyrand called it,-"the means of concealing our thoughts."

The simplest phrase may present great variety of meanings, and even opposite meanings, according to the particular emphasis which is given to its words separately, or the particular tones and looks which accompany the delivery of the whole. From the inadequate number of words and their multiplied acceptations, expressions would be liable to frequent misinterpretations, if inflections of voice and changes of countenance did not supply their deficiencies. These natural symbols of our feelings vary with the kind and degree of sensation under which the ideas are expressed. Truth or fiction, seriousness or irony, pain or pleasure, pity, love, anger, all possible states of the mind and heart, from the softest emotions to the most violent passions, find, in tone and look combined, a language more expressive and eloquent than the lips can utter. "There is not less eloquence," says La Rochefoucauld, "in the tone of voice, in the eye and countenance of the person who speaks, than in the choice of words."* "I have seen an eye," says Addison, “ curse for half an hour together, and an eye-brow call a man a scoundrel.”†

The exercise in phrase-making, which is addressed to the understanding, and connects in the mind the idea with its expression, favours the adoption of appropriate tone and look, and does

VOL. II.

* Maximes.

† Spectator, No. 86.

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