uld read any thing else; and,
even to this very day, the grammatical study of the English language is
shamefully neglected in what are called the higher institutions of
learning. In alleging this neglect, I speak comparatively. Every student,
on entering upon the practical business of life, will find it of far more
importance to him, to be skillful in the language of his own country than
to be distinguished for any knowledge which the learned only can
appreciate. "Will the greatest Mastership in Greek and Latin, or [the]
translating [of] these Languages into English, avail for the Purpose of
acquiring an elegant English Style? No--we know just the Reverse from
woeful Experience! And, as Mr. Locke and the Spectator observe, Men who
have threshed hard at Greek and Latin for ten or eleven years together, are
very often deficient in their own Language."--_Preface to the British
Gram._, 8vo, 1784, p. xxi.

23. That the progress of English literature in early times was slow, will
not seem wonderful to those who consider what is affirmed of the progress
of other arts, more immediately connected with the comforts of life. "Down
to the reign of Elizabeth, the greater part of the houses in considerable
towns, had no chimneys: the fire was kindled against the wall, and the
smoke found its way out as well as it could, by the roof, the door, or the
windows. The houses were mostly built of wattling, plastered over with
clay; and the beds were only straw pallets, with a log of wood for a
pillow. In this respect, even the king fared no better than his subjects;
for, in Henry the Eighth's time, we find directions, 'to examine every
night the straw of the king's bed, that no daggers might be concealed
therein.' A writer in 1577, speaking of the progress of luxury, mentions
three things especially, that were 'marvellously altered for the worse in
England;' the multitude of chimneys lately erected, the increase of
lodgings, and the exchange of treen platters into pewter, and wooden spoons
into silver and tin; and he complains bitterly that oak instead of willow
was employed in the building of houses."--REV. ROYAL ROBBINS: _Outlines of
History_, p. 377.

24. Shakspeare appeared in the reign of Elizabeth; outlived her thirteen
years; and died in 1616 aged 52. The English language in his hands did not
lack power or compass of expression. His writings are now more extensively
read, than any others of that age; nor has any very considerable par