uncultivated individual. The
mental cultivation, however, may take place in the mother tongue as well as
in Latin or Greek. Yet the spirit of the ancient languages, further is
declared to be superior to that of the modern. I allow this to be the case;
but I do not find that the English style is improved by learning Greek. It
is known that literal translations are miserably bad, and yet young
scholars are taught to translate, word for word, faithful to their
dictionaries. Hence those who do not make a peculiar study of their own
language, will not improve in it by learning, in this manner, Greek and
Latin. Is it not a pity to hear, what I have been told by the managers of
one of the first institutions of Ireland, that it was easier to find ten
teachers for Latin and Greek, than one for the English language, though
they proposed double the salary to the latter? Who can assure us that the
Greek orators acquired their superiority by their acquaintance with foreign
languages; or, is it not obvious, on the other hand, that they learned
ideas and expressed them in their mother tongue?"--DR. SPURZHEIM: _Treatise
on Education_, 1832, p. 107.

25. "Dictionaries were compiled, which comprised all the words, together
with their several definitions, or the sense each one expresses and conveys
to the mind. These words were analyzed and classed according to their
essence, attributes, and functions. Grammar was made a rudiment leading to
the principles of all thoughts, and teaching by simple examples, the
general classification of words and their subdivisions in expressing the
various conceptions of the mind. Grammar is then the key to the perfect
understanding of languages; without which we are left to wander all our
lives in an intricate labyrinth, without being able to trace back again any
part of our way."--_Chazotte's Essay on the Teaching of Languages_, p. 45.
Again: "Had it not been for his dictionary and his grammar, which taught
him the essence of all languages, and the natural subdivision of their
component parts, he might have spent a life as long as Methuselah's, in
learning words, without being able to attain to a degree of perfection in
any of the languages."--_Ib._, p. 50. "Indeed, it is not easy to say, to
what degree, and in how many different ways, both memory and judgement may
be improved by an intimate acquaintance with grammar; which is therefore,
with good reason, made the first and fundamental part of literary
ed