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heavenly vision. But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having, therefore, obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come; that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles."-ACTs, 26.

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"In whiche the while I wenten to Damask, with power and suffryng of princes, of preestis, at myddai, in the weie, I sigh, Sir Kyng, that fro heune light schynyde aboute me, passynge the schynyng of sunne, and about hem that weren togidre with me: and whanne we alle hadden falle doun into the erthe, I herde a vois seiynge to me, in Ebrew tunge, Saul, Saul, what pursuest thou me? It is hard to thee to kike aghens the pricke.' And I seide, Who art thou, Lord?' And the Lord seide, I am Jhesu, whom thou pursuest: but rise up, and stonde on thi feet; for whi to this thing I apperide to thee, that I ordeyne thee mynystre and witnesse of tho thingis that thou hast seyn, and of tho in whiche I schal schewe to thee. And I schal delyuere thee fro peplis and folkis to whiche now I sende thee, to opene the ighen of hem, that thei be conuertid fro darknesse to light, and fro power of Sathanas to God, that thei take remyssioun of synnes, and part among seintis bi feith that is in me.'

Wherfor, Sir Kyng Agrippa, I was not unbileeful to the heuenli visioun, but I told to hem that ben at Damask firste, and at Jerusalem, and bi al the cuntree of Judee, and to hethene men, that thei schulden do penaunce, and be conuertid to God, and do worthi werkis of penaunce. For this cause, Jewis tooken me whanne I was in the temple to sle me. But I was holpun bi the help of God into this dai, and stonde witnesyng to lesse and to more. And I seie no thing ellis than whiche thingis the profetis and Moises spaken that schulen come, if Christ is to suffre, if he is the firste of aghenrysyng of deede men that schal schewe light to the peple, and to hethene men."-DEDIS, 26.

An uncivilized state, in emerging from its barbarism, must be indebted to more polished nations in its acquisitions of knowledge and improvement in the arts; and it necessarily follows, that, being unfurnished with terms of which it has not previously had need, it will borrow those of its benefactors, when its attention is called to the new subjects of inquiry. It was so with England. Our obligations to France for a multitude of terms,-that country being then before us in intellectual advancement,-have already been hinted at. Italy, long distinguished as the land of the fine arts, furnished the harmonious terms employed in musical science. The Flemish and Dutch, from their very situation, were impelled to com

mercial speculation; and their language consequently be came fruitful in such terms; and, by intercourse with them, our language became supplied with the terms of navigation. Mathematicians and philosophers, engaged in loftier speculations, borrowed their terms from the Latin and Greek.

With the distinguished writers who benefited their language, and did honour to their country, from the reign of James to the present time, all lovers of literature are too familiar to need even the enumeration of them; nor could the mere repetition of so vast a multitude of names subserve any important purpose; and, to dwell on each, would render this an interminable essay.

But not to mention Milton, would be as unpardonable as to have passed over Shakspeare. Many poets had taught the adaptedness of the language to the playfulness of rhyme; it remained for him to show its transcendant majesty in uncontrolled blank verse. Homer and Virgil, if the Greek and Latin languages possessed no other treasures, would have secured to those languages perpetual attention; and Milton, the rival of both, but particularly of the former, has ensured to our language a deathless fame: his subject, connecting him with heaven, gave a matchless sublimity to his strains, and elevated his style, in consistency with his theme, above his fellow-bards.

Amid the eminent authors, whose writings-although that may not have been their object-contributed to beautify the language, various have been the grammarians who have laboured to reduce it to regularity; and with various degrees of success; particularly, at no distant date, Lowth and Priestley: nor should we forget, coming home to our own times, the successful exertions of Johnson, Walker, and Murray.

Of Johnson, it perhaps may be said, that he rendered more essential service to the language than any individual since the days of Milton. He cannot be exculpated from the charge of an excessive introduction of laboured classical terms; the more so, because of his powerful censures of the practice in others but his dictionary, with its incomparable preface, is a monument of his judgment, learning, and industry, which can never be forgotten, and whose benefits can never cease to be realized. Contemplating its effects on the language, of which it is so good a criterion, and so great a treasure, at the close of his mighty labour he modestly says, "Those who have been persuaded to think well of my design, require that it should fix our language, and put a stop to those alterations which time and chance have hitherto been suffered to make in it without opposition. With this consequence, I will confess, that I flattered myself for a while; but now begin to fear that

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I have indulged expectations which neither reason nor experience can justify." Towards that end it has greatly contributed; but, literally, to have effected so much, would have required a power to prevent or suppress the innovations of pedantry and fashion, as well as the mistakes of ignorance, and the technicalities of art; yea, complete control over the human mind, on the operations of whose powers, and the accumulations of whose knowledge, language depends;-a power which, while it could not be entrusted to, could not be wielded by, man;-a power, indeed, which none but a coldhearted or malignant being could wish to possess, seeing that we anxiously expect and endeavour to accelerate the approach of a period, when the tide of knowledge shall flow more sublimely, because more widely, than the ocean; and, consequently, when the panting soul must break the narrow boundaries of existing language, introducing other terms to express its new ideas.

"The late Mr. Walker," says his friend Murdoch, "exerted himself more earnestly and perseveringly than perhaps any of his predecessors: he compared the different orthoëpists with indefatigable attention, weighed their reasons with critical justice, and modestly pronounced his decisions with a confidence, which a life-time's familiarity with the subject entitled him to assume." To which testimony, it may be added, his dictionary, and the masterly principles prefixed to it, have nearly fixed the pronunciation of the English language. He has done for our pronunciation, what Johnson previously did for our orthography, and with equal ability; and, it is delightful to observe, with equal success. He has succeeded in giving, to verbal criticism, the most fascinating charms; and, merely to turn over the pages of his Pronouncing Dictionary, and read his elegant notes, is no ordinary treat to the reader of literary taste. In this dictionary, with a dread of innovation, he has servilely copied Johnson; but, in his Rhyming Dictionary, a title very inadequately expressive of so extraordinary a work, he has given us a far more complete vocabulary of our language.

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To Lindley Murray we turn, as to another benefactor to our language; and, where is the juvenile English student who has not been benefited by his remarks? The grammatical labours of our philologists lay scattered in works more numerous than the authors who prepared them. It was a desideratum that they should be collected, arranged, and, as far as possible, made to harmonize, that the unlearned reader should not be confounded and discouraged on his very entrance on grammatical inquiry, by the variety and opposition of opinion on some controverted points. It required, more

over, some work on a popular plan, steering a middle course between the inapplicable technicalities of classical distinctions, and the excessive simplicity of discarding all grammatical forms; - a work that should not fatigue by its length, nor disappoint by its brevity; that should not be so diffuse as to become useless, nor so uninteresting as not to reward perusal; and which, being generally used as a national grammar, might become a work of general reference. To have promised so much, would have appeared arrogant and presumptuous; and, to have accomplished so much, may therefore well excite our gratitude and surprise. It would, however, be injustice to the pious grammarian not to add, that, while he has succeeded in smoothing many of the asperities, and saving many of the windings of the student's path, he has succeeded in strewing it with many fragrant flowers, and in ever bending its direction through the regions of virtue, piety, and peace.

In conclusion of an essay already tedious, it is feared, from its length, we arrive at the present state of our language. The Secretary of this Institution has recently said, that our "language is not so well adapted as the French, to the purposes of animated and lively conversation; it is not so exclamatory; it is not so interjectional; it does not possess so many little elegancies;" but, in that very book, "The Outlines of Character," he has shown, in his own perspicuous, elegant, and forcible style, that it possesses qualities far more important. Suffice it to say, that, in common with languages in general, it is characteristic of the people who speak it. Bold and energetic, yet not incapable of describing the softest passions, and expressing the gentlest emotions of the soul: distinguished by the utmost simplicity in its construction, yet remarkable for copiousness, and variety of expression: though somewhat abrupt, and occasionally harsh and hissing in its sounds, yet the vehicle of the sweetest harmony of poetic numbers. The medium of communication of the freest people under the sun, it soars above the fine-wrought fetters of hypercriticism.

In proof of these remarks, we have referred to the immortal works of Shakspeare and Milton, and to the dignified prose of the sacred volume; and we must point to the melodious descriptions of Thomson, the plaintive strains of Hammond, the soothing melancholy of Gray, the tender lines of Shenstone, the artless numbers of Goldsmith, and the vigorous verses of Cowper.

In further confirmation of our subject, we must refer the reader to the admirable prose of our great and unrivalled essayists; whether we contemplate the ease and elegance, the

perfect English style, of Addison; the grandeur and majesty of Johnson; or the bold originality of Foster: or, turning our attention to a kindred, but somewhat higher, class of prosewriters, whose grand business it is to place present and future things before us, according to their relative importance; to display to us the perfections of the Great Creator, and to woo us to his love; to depict to us the bliss of penitence, and the woes of rebellion,-we might show that our language is equal to all these important purposes. We might advert to the sweet and simple accents of Watts; whether he descends to teach the child to lisp his Maker's praise, or soothes and delights his bereaved and accomplished friends with a description of the probable employments of the heavenly world. We might farther point to the literary labours of the manly Chillingworth, the intellectual Cudworth, and the lively. Fuller; to the forcible and finished lines of South, the clear and familiar style of Richard Baxter, and the fascinating brilliancy of Jeremy Taylor; or, coming home at once to our own times, to the enchanting and masterly pages of Robert Hall.

While such views of language cannot but be interesting to the philosophical student, the patriot will glow with ennobling satisfaction at reviewing the geographical progress of his favourite tongue; whether he visits transatlantic climes, the plains of British India, or the modern settlements of Africa.

OBJECTIONS TO PHRENOLOGY
INVESTIGATED.

A WRITER in a Medical Journal, who has discussed the subject of Phrenology, brings forward ten objections against the system.

1. He dissents from its claims to accuracy-"Because all the organs or faculties are placed on the surface or external part of the brain, and none of them in the interior; and he demands, therefore, to know the use of the inner parts of the brain."

Now, we have to observe, in the first place, that this objection is very inaccurately stated. The organs, it is true, terminate on the surface, but they are not confined to it; they have their rise in the interior, and their action is displayed on the surface: and, supposing even that the whole mass of the brain should not thus be employed, it may surely, without much difficulty, be conceived, that the remainder may have its uses :

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