ern
_French_ in that Term. Of all the Parts of Learning, that is surely the
least ally'd to Politeness that deals in Old Musty Manuscripts, and
affects a Knowledge in Tongues which have not one Polite Book to
recommend them. How such a Quality can be serviceable to the Advancement
of Wit and _Eloquence_, I cannot conceive; but there are some Characters
in the World, that encroach upon all others, and some Men that for their
Interest will say any thing that comes uppermost, either for or against
another. The Knowledge of Tongues is certainly very useful; but if a
Person knows a great many Ancient and Modern, and can hardly speak
intelligibly in his own, He shou'd be no Orator for me. I would no more
value his Learning than Sir _Hudibras_'s, of which the Doctor puts me in
mind more than once by his Compliments, especially of this Passage in
the first Canto.

_We grant, altho' he had much Wit,
He was very shy of using it,
As being loth to wear it out.
And therefore bore it not about,
Unless on Holydays or so,
As Men their best Apparel do.
Besides, 'tis known he could speak +Greek+
As naturally as Pigs squeak.:
That +Latin+ was no more difficile
Than to a Blackbird 'tis to whistle;
Being rich in both he never scanted
His Bounty unto such as wanted;
But much of either wou'd afford,
To many that had not one Word:
For +Hebrew+ Roots altho they're found
To flourish but in barren Ground,
He had such Plenty as suffic'd
To make some think him circumcis'd._

The rest of Sir _Hudibras_'s Merit in Letters is of a Piece, and set off
with a Puritanical Air, that renders the whole truly Ridiculous, and
makes a good Comment on several Pages of the Doctor's Epistle, which is
most valuable for the great Judgment and Sincerity that he has shewn
in it.

It has already been observ'd, that _Horace_ asserts _Osse_ to be the
only Rule of Language; and the Letter-Writer repeats what he says, _of
Words going off and perishing like Leaves, and new ones coming in their
Places_, which he tells us did not approve of _Horace_, notwithstanding
his own Law of paying Obedience to usage. For if that were necessary,
what, according to our Author, would become of his _Monumentum AEre
perennius_? Did not the _Roman_ Tongue even by his own confession,
change as much as ours has done. _The Latin Three Hundred Years before
Tully was as unintelligible in his Time as the +English+ and +French+ of
the same Period are