A 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 ~ o 
 
 
 
 JTH 
 
 
 
 
 
 ZZZZZZ 
 
 ^^ m ^ mmm ^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 ^^^= m 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 ———-—■ O 
 
 ^^^^ z 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 8 
 
 LIB 
 
 
 — — ^o 
 
 4 
 
 ~ > 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 ■^^^-" -n 
 
 ^^^^™ ^ 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 ===== ^ "* 
 
 9
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O' 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 ;m/a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 :Lfj> 
 
 
 
 
 
 ;ifj^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 LECTURE 
 
 BEST METHODS 
 
 TEACHING THE LIVING LANGUAGES 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 AMERICAN INSTITUTE, 
 
 AUGUST 24, 1832. 
 
 BY GEORGE TICKNOR, 
 
 SMITH PROFESSOR IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 CARTER, HENDEE AND CO 
 
 1833.
 
 PRINTED BY I
 
 V33S 
 
 Ti3H 
 
 TEACHING THE LIVING LANGUAGES 
 
 4 
 
 MR PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN : 
 
 The most important characteristic of a living language, — the at- 
 tribute in which resides its essential power and value, — is, that 
 it is a spoken one ; that it serves for that constant and principal 
 bond of union between the different individuals of a whole nation, 
 without which, they could not, for a moment, be kept together 
 as a community. This great and prevalent characteristic is, there- 
 fore, everywhere visible in its structure, arrangements and expres- 
 sion ; hardly less so in books, than in conversation. The main 
 object, indeed, to which every other is sacrificed, in the formation 
 of a language is, to facilitate personal intercourse; to enable one 
 human being, in the easiest and most direct manner, to communi- 
 cate to another his thoughts and his wants, his feelings and his pas- 
 sions ; and to this great object every living language is essential- 
 ly, and, it may almost be said, is exclusively adapted in its vocabu- 
 lary, its forms, its inflexions, idioms and pronunciation. 
 
 The easiest and best method, therefore, for persons of all ages 
 and all classes to learn a living language is undoubtedly to learn it 
 as a spoken one ; since this is not only its paramount characteristic, 
 but is the only foundation on which the written language has been 
 built or can rest. Persons, then, who have the opportunity, should 
 learn the living language they wish to possess, as it is learnt by 
 those to whom it is native. They should reside where it is con- 
 stantly spoken, and use it, as it is used around them. It should be 
 the minister to their hourly wants, and the medium of their constant 

 
 4 
 
 intercourse. Even the books they read should be chosen with 
 reference to the habits and peculiarities of the spoken idiom that 
 produced them, and in studying the language itself, it should be 
 pursued less as a foreign language than as one which they may claim 
 among their birthrights. This is the natural method, and is, no 
 doubt, the most effectual and the easiest. 
 
 Only a few persons however are able or willing to avail themselves 
 of it. If we wish to instruct our children in a foreign language, we 
 find it inconvenient and unwise to send them among strangers, m 
 a strange land to learn it: and, if we undertake to teach them at 
 home, we shall hardly be disposed, like Montaigne's father, to sur- 
 round them only with those who speak no other than the one we 
 wish them to acquire. In the vast majority of cases, therefore, we 
 must resort to means somewhat more artificial and indirect ; and, 
 while still endeavoring to teach it as a living and a spoken lan- 
 guage, use the best method within our power at home. 
 
 What, then, is this best method? For this is precisely the 
 question you have done me the honor to propose to me ; and as it 
 is entirely plain and practical in its nature and objects, I shall not 
 venture, in the reply I may endeavor to make to it, to go in any 
 respect beyond the limits of my personal experience and observa- 
 tion, or wish to say anything which is not as perfectly plain and 
 practical as the question itself. 
 
 Before, however, we enter on the topics it involves, it maybe ne- 
 cessary to premise, that there is no one mode of teaching langua- 
 ges, applicable to all classes and characters, or to persons of all the 
 different ages and different degrees of preparation, who present 
 themselves to be taught. Instruction in this branch of education, 
 even more than in most others, cannot, without great violence and 
 injustice to a large proportion of the pupils, be managed upon a 
 Procrustes system of stretching all who have not the proper intel- 
 lectual size, till they are brought to it, and of cutting down all who 
 are grown beyond its proportions, till they are sufficiently reduced 
 to fit its demands. On the contrary, it is, perhaps, the most im- 
 portant part of the duties of a teacher in the living languages, and 
 the highest exercise of his skill, to select from the different systems 
 and modes in use, what may be most appropriate to the whole class 
 of pupils submitted to his care, and then to endeavor again to ac-
 
 commodate and arrange what he has thus selected for the whole 
 of his pupils to the individual capacities, dispositions and wants of 
 each. Thus it is plain, that a method adapted to children seven 
 or eight years old, would he altogether unsuited to persons in the 
 maturity of their faculties ; — and, even in the case of those of the 
 same age, who might more naturally be thrown into the same class, 
 it cannot be doubted, by persons accustomed to the business of in- 
 struction, that a mode entirely fitted to an individual already familiar 
 with other languages and with philosophical grammar, would 
 be no less entirely unfitted to one, who had gone through no such 
 previous preparation, and who should come to his task without regu- 
 lar habits of study or acquisition. 
 
 But, though no universal method can be pointed out, which will 
 suit all the individuals, who might pursue it; and though even a 
 general one, which might suit a particular class might need modi- 
 fications in relation to some of its members ; still there are, no doubt, 
 principles which may be ascertained and settled — principles, which 
 rest on the nature and laws of the human faculties, and which it 
 must, therefore, be important to understand rightly and to apply 
 with judgment. Undoubtedly, too, experience and skill have long 
 since discovered most of these principles, perhaps all of them ; 
 and established land-marks, which, pointing out the way others have 
 trodden with safety or success, may prevent us, if we are wise, 
 from making impossible experiments or falling into gross deviations. 
 Bearing in mind, then, that something may be done by systems, 
 though not so much, as is usually imagined or undertaken ; and es- 
 pecially remembering, that nothing can be done wisely, which has 
 not a consi ant reference to the different classes, ages, and charac- 
 ters of the pupils to be instructed, I shall divide what I have to say 
 on the best methods of teaching the Modern Languages according 
 to the character and condition of the persons usually presenting 
 themselves to be taught. 
 
 I. And first, of little children. It seems to be settled, that 
 little children can be taught living languages easier than they can 
 be taught anything else. The reason is, that it is the very voca- 
 tion of their young minds to learn words. They have, indeed, done 
 little during the short period of their existence, except to acquire 
 the power of distinguishing objects and qualities, and of apply ins;
 
 to them the names which their native language has affixed to them. 
 This power however, is so easily transferred to the acquisition of other 
 living languages, that in Europe, where it is sometimes thought im- 
 portant to educate children to the free use of several, they are with- 
 out difficulty taught to speak, read and write three or four without 
 confounding them, from early infancy, merely by giving them nurses 
 and attendants, who are natives of different countries. This method, 
 of course, would not be pursued here. We have neither the means 
 nor the motives for it. But it proves in the strongest manner, 
 what the experience and observation of many among ourselves has 
 confirmed, that much time is now lost in childhood or misapplied in 
 instructions unsuited to its tender years, which might be success- 
 fully and pleasantly given to the acquisition of at least one living 
 language. 
 
 The method of teaching however, should be no less skilfully and 
 tenderly adapted to the age and circumstances of the pupil, than 
 the pursuit itself. Of the Grammar, or the Dictionary, or any of 
 the customary apparatus of formal instruction and recitation, there 
 should be no thought. A child of six or seven years old can no 
 more be made to comprehend the definition of an article or a verb, 
 than he can be made to comprehend what is an abstract idea or a 
 logarithm ; but, if you will read several times over, to the same 
 child, word by word, a clear translation of a very simple fable or 
 story from the French or the Italian, or any other living language, 
 making him follow you aloud step by step, and bringing the whole, 
 by the simplicity of your explanations, fully down to the level of 
 his comprehension, he will be able the next day so to translate it to 
 you, in return, that he can not only give you the entire fable or 
 story in its connexion, but the foreign word for every English one 
 it contains, and the English for every foreign one, taken at random. 
 We have a few books, and only a few, prepared to teach quite 
 young children on this system. Bolmar's Edition of the Fables 
 commonly called Perrin's, is one of them, well suited to its pur- 
 pose, and none but those who have made the experiment can fully 
 understand how easy it is for childhood to read and learn this book, 
 and how much can thus be accomplished towards the final acquisi- 
 tion of the French language. Indeed, when a hundred pages 
 have been thoroughly learnt in this way, not a few of the difficul-
 
 ties of any modern language have been overcome ; and yet this 
 certainly can be accomplished and has been accomplished with 
 children of six or seven years old, who yet did not feel, in any part 
 of the process, that a task had been imposed on them- 
 
 In selecting books, however, from which to teach according to 
 this method, one rule must be carefully followed. Take only such 
 as, in their subjects and ideas, their manner and their tone, are 
 below the age of the child to be taught ; so that if the child you 
 wish to instruct be seven years old and the language you have cho- 
 sen be French, the books to be used should be such as are given to 
 French children of four or five years old for their amusement. The 
 reason is, that the child should have no difficulty to encoun- 
 ter but the mere difficulty of the language itself, and this will be 
 found quite sufficient to make up for the difference in years, while, 
 at the same time, the interest that might otherwise be wanting, is 
 sustained by the instinctive curiosity to learn the meaning of new 
 words, which belongs to the age, and the instinctive pleasure of dis- 
 covery and progress which always belongs to our nature, and is then 
 fresh and eager. Of course, books of this kind are easily procured ; 
 for no country that has a literature is without books for its children. 
 In French, which is the language where we should most need 
 them, they are abundant ; and many of them have been reprinted 
 in England, and some in this country. Besides these, Berquin's 
 Child's Friend, many of Lafontaine's Fables, and many of Mad- 
 ame Guizot's Tales, with other similar works, may be added, which, 
 when explained and understood, are as interesting to our children as 
 they are to those for whom they were written. How long this pro- 
 cess should be continued, must depend on the judgment of the 
 teacher ; but as it is one that is both useful and amusing to the 
 child, there is no reason, why it should not be carried very far. 
 Certainly, it must not be given up, until the reading such books as 
 are suited to his years, has become, without assistance from his in- 
 structor, as easy and pleasant as it had been with it. 
 
 This, too, is the period, when vocabularies and dialogues, like 
 the Abbe Bossut's and those of Mad. de Genlis, can be used with 
 great effect, because the extreme facility with which they are com- 
 mitted to memory in early youth, especially after some little pro- 
 gress has been made in reading, renders the whole exercise a plea-
 
 8 
 
 sure and not a toil. Above all, this is the period for acquiring a 
 just pronunciation, since the organs are now flexible, and permit 
 that to be done easily, which, later, it is often impossible to do at 
 all. Nor is this an unimportant part of the needful instruction. It 
 is, to a language, what a costume is to an age or his physiognomy 
 to an individual ; and not a few of the characterstic differences be- 
 tween different languages are lost to him, who has no perception 
 of their several inflexions and no familiarity or sympathy with the 
 effects of that peculiar accent and intonation, in which resides so 
 much of the power of poetical rhythm and measure, as well as 
 of the grace and harmony of all polished style in prose. 
 
 When, however, the child has attained a reasonable facility in 
 reading, we may venture to look for some assistance towards the 
 Grammar and the Dictionary; — not, indeed, to compel him to 
 learn his lessons by turning over leaves, which his young hands have 
 not yet even the mechanical aptitude to do with much effect, and 
 still less to endeavor to carry him through the purgatory of defini- 
 tions in the accidence, and of rules and constructions and exceptions 
 in the syntax, as if this were the only or even the efficient mode of 
 obtaining the promised rewards beyond. Far from it. The gram- 
 mar, at this age, can be used, with practical benefit, only for the 
 forms contained in its accidence ; but here something can be done, 
 which will prove of permanent advantage. A child of eight or nine 
 years old will learn, often with eagerness, and always without much 
 effort, all the regular and irregular verbs ; and that will in general 
 prove to be the best grammar for this purpose, in which they are 
 found spread out and developed in all their forms with the greatest 
 distinctness. After having gone through with all the conjugations 
 of the verbs, both regular and irregular, he can learn without diffi- 
 culty the little there is to learn in most living languages of the in- 
 flexions of the articles, pronouns and adjectives, together with the 
 lists of the indeclinable parts of speech. From this time, too, he 
 can begin to use the dictionary ; and though the reading lesson 
 should still be translated to him by his teacher, as well as after- 
 wards translated to the teacher by the pupil, still the child will be 
 able gradually to advance with less and less assistance, and will soon 
 read books suited to his age without other help than such as his 
 own means will afford him.
 
 Let us now suppose the pupil, whose course we have thus far 
 followed, to be thirteen or fourteen years old, and to have learnt 
 the French, if that be the language he has pursued, as nearly as 
 circumstances would permit, in the same way he has learnt his own 
 language ; let us suppose him to have read a considerable number 
 of children's books in French, such as he would have read if he 
 had been a French boy, and, for the same reason, — for his amuse- 
 ment ; let us suppose him, by means of his vocabularies and dia- 
 logues, and by the help of his teacher, to have made that little 
 progress in speaking to which every one who learns a living lan- 
 guage in a natural method is instinctively impelled ; — let us suppose 
 him, in short, at the age of thirteen or fourteen to have acquired 
 such a use of the language as is suited to his opportunities, his years, 
 and the limited range of his ideas and faculties ; — what is next to 
 be done ? Undoubtedly, the next thing is, to explain to him the 
 reasons and rules for what he has already learnt. It is in short, 
 the period for teaching the Grammar; — not perhaps, the whole 
 of it, at first, but such parts as can be made intelligible and useful ; 
 and afterwards in proportion as the faculties are developed, the re- 
 mainder. This, he could not probably do, even now, with ease or 
 thoroughness if he were embarrassed with .the additional difficulties 
 of learning the vocabulary ; but, having gone through this, and 
 having little else, on which he is required to fasten his attention, it 
 is become a pleasure to him to learn the reasons, rules and expla- 
 nation of what, under other aspects, is already familiar to him. In 
 this way, he can be carried, first through the definitions and written 
 exercises in the accidence, with a careful review of all the forms it 
 contains ; and afterwards through the syntax, committing the ex- 
 amples perfectly to memory, though not learning the rules by heart ; 
 but from this period, so long as he continues a student of the lan- 
 guage, he should continue to study its grammar, either reading or 
 writing its exercises into the foreign language, or pursuing the more 
 difficult portions relating to its idiomatic construction. 
 
 This course, beginning in childhood and ending in manhood, is, 
 
 no doubt, the longest, but it will be found the least tedious to the 
 
 pupil of any, and at the same time prove the most thorough and 
 
 effectual. It is the longest, because, beginning with such portions 
 
 2
 
 10 
 
 of the vocabulary, reading, and pronunciation as can never be so 
 well learnt as in the earliest and freshest years of life, it is necessa- 
 ry to wait for the natural growth of the mind before the more 
 difficult parts can be ventured upon, and not to leave it entire- 
 ly until the maturity of the faculties permits, not merely the 
 words of the higher and more difficult authors to be comprehended, 
 but their thoughts and characteristics to be felt and enjoyed. It is 
 not tedious to the pupil, because from the first to the last, he need 
 not have and ought not to have, anything prescribed to him which 
 could reasonably be felt as a task. And, finally, there is much 
 less consumption of valuable and useful time by it, than by any 
 other, because what is given to it at the earliest period is taken from 
 no occupation so important, and from nothing which can be so well 
 learnt, and what is given to it later should be taken generally from 
 the hours allotted to amusement. Permit me to add, that, from 
 some personal experience and much observation of the application 
 of this method, I have no doubt, it is the best usually within our 
 reach ; and that a person who should have gone through with the 
 course of instruction it implies, would, if ever thrown into a coun- 
 try where it should be important for him, be able, in a very short 
 time, to speak with ease and success the language he should thus 
 have acquired. 
 
 II. Having thus spoken of the method of teaching a living 
 language to those who have an opportunity of beginning to learn 
 it in childhood, we naturally next consider a class, which, in this 
 country is much larger ; — and indeed the largest, consisting of those 
 who enter on the rudiments of their instruction, between the ages of 
 thirteen or fourteen, and seventeen or eighteen. And here too, 
 there seems little reason to doubt that the Grammar should not, at 
 the outset, be made so prominent, as it has generally been made ; 
 nor its embarrassing and difficult portions be so regularly gone 
 through and pressed upon the young minds of this class of pupils. 
 On the contrary, let an easy reading book, which will be amusing 
 to their age, like one of Mad. Guizot's stories in French ; or Soave's 
 Novelle in Italian ; or the Brother Grimm's Popular Tales in 
 German, be given to them at once; — let the teacher carefully 
 translate a small portion at the first lesson explaining the meaning
 
 1] 
 
 of each individual word several times over ; — and let the pronun- 
 ciation and the force of the phrases or idioms he particularly attend- 
 ed to. At the same lesson, let them have a verb or part of a verb 
 to learn by heart, and, when the recitation comes, let it be repeated, 
 and let the translation given out he so made that the English can 
 be rendered for each foreign word, and the foreign word for each 
 English one, when separated from their connexions and put out 
 promiscuously. Let this exercise be pursued until all the verbs 
 regular and irregular have been thoroughly learnt, with the inflex- 
 ions of the articles, nouns, pronouns and adjectives, so far as the 
 mere forms in the accidence are concerned. Then, while still 
 pursuing the same system of translating some pleasant book, let 
 the teacher begin the Grammar regularly explaining the definitions, 
 reviewing the forms, and reading a short English Exercise into the 
 language to be learnt, that, the next time the pupils may read it to 
 him; — and let this process of reading and translating both ways 
 accompanied with regular lessons in the accidence to be committed 
 to memory, be continued until a common narrative book, like Vol- 
 taire's Louis XIV., or Schiller's Thirty Year's War, can be read 
 with little difficulty. After this, but as late as may be found con- 
 venient, the Syntax with its examples, which are to be learnt by 
 heart, and its exercises, which are to be written or read, should 
 be gone through with great care, at least twice, in lessons of mod- 
 erate length and with much previous explanation from the instruc- 
 tor, while at the same time, the pupils may read the highest authors, 
 which their faculties are sufficiently developed to comprehend — 
 Goethe, Moliere, or Cervantes — if their years and tastes permit 
 them to enjoy the first order of imaginative genius. 
 
 But here, perhaps, it is needful to stop a moment, and consider 
 what kind of a Grammar will be most appropriate to pupils of 
 this class, and, indeed, all classes except the very youngest, and 
 what should be the general character of the Books given them to 
 read. 
 
 As to the Grammar, two common defects should be guarded 
 against. The first of these is, that it should not like Levizac's 
 French Grammar and JNoehden's German one, contain either philo- 
 sophical discussions of the principles of Language in general,
 
 12 
 
 or even of the particular language to which it is devoted, be- 
 cause such inquiries are suited only to persons of mature minds, 
 and, except in very rare cases, useful only to those, to whom die 
 language is native ; while, to all learners of the rudiments, they 
 are particularly embarrassing, and to learners of the usual age, en- 
 tirely incomprehensible. — The other defect is, the confusion of 
 the accidence and syntax. It is not, perhaps, easy to keep them 
 entirely apart, and, in many very good grammars there is occasionally 
 a want of exactness in observing the distinctions between them ; 
 but there is one in quite common use — I mean Wanostrocht's 
 French Grammar, — in which this confusion is assumed as the very 
 plan of the work ; so that whatever relates to the articles, for in- 
 stance, whether form or construction, accidence or syntax, is crowd- 
 ed together under that head, and finished before proceeding to the 
 noun, pronoun, he, which, in their respective turns, are exhibited 
 and despatched in the same manner. And yet nothing seems of 
 more obvious importance than to keep carefully apart whatever 
 relates to learning the forms of a language, from what relates to its 
 construction, since either is troublesome enough in itself, while the 
 difficulties of each being quite different, those of the accidence 
 arising chiefly from the memory and those of the syntax from the 
 judgment, the union of the two and the confounding of both must 
 constitute and does in fact constitute an embarrassment altogether 
 gratuitous and extremely perplexing. 
 
 Supposing, then, these two considerable defects to be avoided ; 
 the qualities most important in a good grammar, to learn a living 
 language are ; — First, that the definitions and explanations in the 
 accidence and the rules in the syntax be short and clear. Second, 
 that the forms in the accidence be exhibited broadly and plainly; as 
 for instance, that the nouns, pronouns, and adjectives be declined 
 at full length in all their forms, and especially that the verbs both 
 regular and irregular be conjugated and developed in the amplest 
 manner; — some of them both negatively, interrogatively, and 
 negatively-interrogatively. Third, that after each definition and 
 form, and after each rule, there be always several, and generally a 
 considerable number of examples to illustrate it ; — short, perspicu- 
 ous, and as much as possible in an idiomatic and conversational
 
 13 
 
 style, so that when committed to memory, which they always should 
 be, progress may be made, not merely in the grammar but also in 
 the characteristic peculiarities of the language. Fourth, that, 
 after the examples, should follow Exercises in English, to be writ- 
 ten or read in the foreign language, and which, like the examples, 
 should be short and conversational, with a translation of the more 
 difficult words and phrases at the bottom, where they can be cov- 
 ered when recited. And lastly, at the end of the whole grammar, 
 it is convenient to have a few easy fables and other lessons with 
 which to begin reading, and a considerable number of dialogues 
 on the most familiar subjects of conversation, such as are best found 
 in the Manual of Mad. de Genlis, because she took them down as 
 they happened to be held in her presence, and afterward caused 
 them to be translated into the principal languages of Europe. — 
 A Grammar like this, it may be added, should be short. For the 
 French or the German, it would, perhaps, be expedient to extend 
 it to three hundred or three hundred and fifty pages, in duodecimo ; 
 but for either of the other languages usually taught, half that num- 
 ber is abundant. 
 
 As to the books to be used or read it is possible to make only 
 one or two quite general remarks, since the selection must be 
 governed by circumstances not always within the control of either 
 the teacher or the pupil. It is not well, however, I think, to use 
 collections and extract-books; or, if they cannot be avoided, it is 
 important to take only such as contain each work of an author 
 complete when they give any part of it. Perhaps, however, in 
 many cases, it may be expedient or inevitable to begin with such 
 books ; but it can rarely be advisable to go further. They are un- 
 interesting to the learner ; they give no proper knowledge, but rath- 
 er a false impression of the literature they profess to represent ; and 
 they are not well adapted to teach even the language itself, because, 
 by changing the manner and style of writing so often, an opportu- 
 nity is not afforded to become familiar and thorough in any one. It 
 is as if we should attempt to instruct a foreigner in our own language 
 and literature out of two or three of the selections for reading and 
 speaking used in our schools, which, though excellent in the place 
 for which they are designed, would be entirely unsuitedto purposes
 
 14 
 
 like this. On all accounts, therefore, it is best to begin, at once, with 
 a good book of the simplest kind like Lessings's Fables in German, 
 or one of Mad. Guizot's Tales in French, and go on afterwards with 
 agreeable and interesting narratives or dramas, like Voltaire's Charles 
 XII. in French, and Moratins's Comedies in Spanish, which should 
 be continued until the language has become really easy. When 
 this point has been attained, there is no reason, except such as may 
 be found in the age, the tastes and the means of the pupils, which 
 should prevent them from being carried through any of the au- 
 thors of established reputation.* 
 
 III. Having gone through with the modes of instruction for little 
 children and youth, there remains to be considered only one class 
 of learners, and that is one whose numbers are everywhere constant- 
 ly diminishing — I mean, those who have already reached the full 
 maturity of their minds; and, in years, are arrived at least, as far 
 as manhood. With them, except in a few rare and fortunate in- 
 stances, there is no easy method. The age of a quick and eager 
 memory is gone by ; and the reasoning faculties being fully devel- 
 oped choose rather to learn by the analysis of particulars from gen- 
 erals, than by the induction of generals from particulars. With 
 them, therefore, the grammar and its rules must be more important 
 at the outset, and more relied upon during the whole course, than 
 with either of the other classes. They must begin with a strict 
 study of it, and go warily through its definitions and rules, as well 
 as through it forms. It cannot be expected of them to commit to 
 memory the declensions and conjugations, or the examples, with 
 the accuracy any more than with the ease of their earlier years ; 
 but still there is no shorter or pleasanter road left to them to attain 
 their object, and if the examples are prepared with proper skill and 
 have an ultimate reference to conversation, they will be found as 
 immediately useful as any exercise such pupils can undertake. 
 From the first lesson they learn, however, they will find it both 
 expedient and agreeable to begin to translate into English ; to make 
 the most resolute efforts to accommodate their organs to the pro- 
 
 * Lost, however, it should seem, that I have proposed an expensive course, I 
 will add, that all the hooks it implies, need not cost in any one of the modern lan- 
 guages usually taught, more than from ten to twelve or fifteen dollars.
 
 16 
 
 nunciation ; and, as soon as possible, they should begin to write 
 the language and write it constantly and a great deal. But, during 
 the whole course of their pursuit, their main reliance must be on 
 the grammar, and on such books as they may be able to read with 
 interest and pleasure. 
 
 We have now considered, as far as the limits of such a discourse 
 will permit, the different classes of persons who are to be taught, 
 and the different methods that have seemed, from experience, suit- 
 able to be used with each : — never forgetting, however, that in 
 practice, there is no sharp and exact division of classes, by age, but 
 that one is constantly running into another, and that the pupils who 
 would fall under each may often need some modification of the sys- 
 tem of teaching proposed for the whole, in order to accommodate 
 it to their respective characters and wants. The divisions, howev- 
 er, that we have gone through, have often been adopted in practice, 
 sometimes because they were thought judicious ; but often, perhaps, 
 because they seemed natural or inevitable ; while, at the same 
 time, the general methods of instruction recommended have had 
 the sanction of much experience and success, though rather in oth- 
 er countries than in our own. It only remains, therefore, to say a 
 few words on two points immediately connected with the whole 
 subject. 
 
 The first is, the general mode of teaching all classes and all in- 
 dividuals. Let the instructor bring his mind as much as possible 
 into contact with that of his pupil, so as to feel precisely and fully 
 the nature of the obstacles and difficulties which are from day to 
 day encountered ; and then let him remove them all, as far as may 
 be in his power, by personal explanation and assistance. For it is 
 a great mistake to suppose, that the learning a living language, 
 which nature teaches every day so faithfully, without an effort on 
 the part of her scholars, can be made too easy. On the contrary, 
 let the teacher facilitate the progress of his pupils by all the means 
 in his power, explaining everything to them, translating their les- 
 sons for them, and serving them, as far as he can, instead of Gram- 
 mar, Dictionary and Commentary ; only requiring, that the pupils, 
 on their side, shall faithfully retain what has been thus sedulously 
 imparted to them, and be able afterwards correctly and understand-
 
 16 
 
 ingly to recite or explain it. Above all, let not the recitations 
 themselves, become merely dry and hard examinations in order to 
 ascertain whether prescribed tasks have been accomplished ; but 
 let them be seized upon as the golden opportunities for teaching,— 
 as the fortunate moments when the seed will fall on good ground 
 because the pupils will so eagerly and gratefully receive whatever 
 of explanation and assistance may be given them. Let, therefore, 
 the teacher always go first and lead, instead of following to drive 
 his pupils ; and especially let him shed all the light of his own 
 knowledge upon the path, which is so familiar and easy to him, but 
 which, to them is new and full of difficulties. Thus, let him explain 
 and illustrate the rules until it is certain they are comprehended 
 before they are studied. Let him translate beforehand the exer- 
 cises that are to be prepared, so that they may not only be well 
 done, but done easily and pleasantly. And from time to time, let 
 him read into somewhat free and choice English large portions of 
 the book his pupils may happen to be studying, that they may them- 
 selves acquire the power of selecting appropriate words and phrases, 
 and learn, what they can in no other way learn so easily or so well, 
 the corresponding idioms and respective peculiarities of the two 
 languages. In short, let them be taught, as well as required to 
 learn, and let their recitations, instead of being merely strict exami- 
 nations become pleasant opportunities for acquiring further know- 
 ledge and making easier progress. 
 
 The other circumstance to which I referred, is, the direction to 
 be given to all studies in a living language in order to insure the 
 greatest amount of success ; — the point, I mean, to be set before 
 both teacher and pupil, not indeed, as the one always or even gen- 
 erally to be attained, but as the one, which may be most safely 
 relied upon to determine their general course, and towards which 
 whatever progress they may make, should be directed. This point 
 is, the speaking the language ; and the reason why it should mainly 
 govern our course in attempting to learn it is, that, what is idioma- 
 tic and peculiar to it, its particles and its phrases, is entirely the re- 
 sult of its use as a spoken language ; that in these particles and 
 idioms reside always the difficulties, as well as the essential genius 
 and power of every language ; and, that, therefore, as we advance
 
 17 
 
 in acquiring its vocabulary from reading and its construction from 
 the accidence and syntax, we should still so select the books we 
 use and the grammar we study, as to be continually making pro- 
 gress in our knowledge of the spoken language and its idiomatic 
 difficulties. 
 
 But, it may be answered, " we never intend to speak it ; — we 
 only wish to learn to read it, that tve may have free access to its 
 written treasures and especially its classic authors ; — we do not 
 propose to visit foreign countries, but we wish to read and enjoy at 
 home, Schiller, and JMoliere, Cervantes, and Dante." Be it so. 
 But what are the chief difficulties in the way of this undertaking, 
 and what is there in these authors that makes it necessary they 
 should be read in the original rather than in translations ? Is it not 
 precisely those felicities and peculiarities of idiom and inflexion, 
 which are the result of the formation and use of the language it- 
 self as a spoken one ; as the vehicle of the feelings and passions of 
 men in the sudden turns of life, its changes and its adventures ? 
 Consider, too, who these leading authors are ; to what class they 
 belong ; and what constitute their characteristic claims, attractions 
 and value. They are precisely the authors in whom the pecu- 
 liar genius of their respective languages stands forth in the boldest 
 relief; — those in whom the distinctive features of the national tem- 
 per and character are most prominent ; — those, in short, who come 
 to us fresh from the feelings and attributes of the mass of the peo- 
 ple they represent, and full of the peculiarities of thought, idiom, 
 and expression which separate that people from all others, and con- 
 stitute them a distinct portion of mankind. That such authors can- 
 not be understood without some knowledge of the popular feeling 
 and colloquial idiom, with which their minds have been nourished 
 and of which their works are full, hardly needs to be urged or made 
 more apparent. Take the case of the great Masters in our own 
 English. Can any one, who is entirely ignorant of the phraseolo- 
 gy, inflexions, and shadings of our spoken language, comprehend 
 the picturesque but homely directness of Chaucer, or the exquisite 
 delicacy of Spenser, or the unapproached power of nature in 
 Shakspeare ? Nay, can such a one know in what is hidden the 
 idiomatic simplicity of Addison or Cowper ; or can he even read 
 3 

 
 18 
 
 his own contemporaries, Miss Edgeworth or Sir Walter Scott ? Nor 
 is it in any respect different in the other living languages, which 
 have succeeded in vindicating for their authors a place among the 
 classical literature of the world. The great masters, in all ages 
 and in all nations, have built on the same foundations and can be 
 successfully approached only in one way. For who can pretend 
 to understand or estimate the untold riches of the elder Drama, of 
 Spain or of its early romantic and popular Ballads ; or who will ven- 
 ture to open Don Quixote, who knows nothing of the peculiarities 
 of the Spanish as a spoken tongue ? Or who can draw near to 
 Goethe and Schiller and Tieck in the spirit in which their power is 
 revealed, unless he feels in some degree that he is holding inter- 
 course with contemporaries who speak to him, as it were, with liv- 
 ing voices ? Or who can comprehend the quaint simplicity of 
 Lafontaine, or the rich humor and genuine comic power ol Moliere, 
 if he have never turned his thoughts towards that conversational 
 idiom, to which each resorted for whatever is peculiar both in his 
 beauty and his power. Or, finally, — to take instances, which are 
 the more striking because they seem at first the least susceptible of 
 such application — who can be aware either of the sublimity or 
 the tenderness of Dante, unless he studies that unwritten language 
 from which alone this first and greatest master of Italian Poetry 
 could draw his materials or his inspiration ; or who else can ima- 
 gine himself able to comprehend Alfieri, who, casting aside the 
 accumulated literature of five centuries, went constantly, as he 
 himself tells us, to the thronged market place of Florence, there 
 to gather from the lips of the peasantry and the populace those 
 phrases and inflexions, which afterwards thrilled with horror the 
 audiences of Tuscany and Lombardy, and now leave his own- 
 great name to close up that long and bright series, at the head of 
 which stands the solemn form of Dante himself. Indeed, on this 
 subject, there is no delusion, no mistake. We knoiv that we 
 can none of us read the great Masters in any foreign literature, or 
 enjoy them like natives, because we cannot speak their language 
 like natives. For, the characteristic peculiarities, and essential 
 beauty and power of their gifted minds are concealed in those idioma- 
 tic phrases, those unobtrusive particles, those racy combinations
 
 19 
 
 which, as they were first produced by the prompt eloquence and 
 passions of immediate intercourse, can be comprehended and felt 
 only by those who seek them in the sources from which they flow; 
 so that, other things being equal, he will always be found best able 
 to read and enjoy the great writers in a foreign language, who, in 
 studying it, — whether his progress have been little or much — 
 has never ceased to remember that it is a living and a spoken 
 tongue. 
 
 Gentlemen ; The general views, so imperfectly developed in 
 this discussion are not new. They coincide with the suggestions 
 made by Lord Bacon, and with the systems pursued and recom- 
 mended by Cardinal Wolsey and Roger Ascham, by Milton and 
 Locke, and by the vast majority of skilful teachers in those parts of 
 Europe, where Education at the present time, is the best conduct- 
 ed and advanced the furthest. The substance of the whole is, 
 that instruction, to be as effectual as it ought to be, should be com- 
 municated not only by books, which are indeed the great means of 
 acquisition, and facilitate it more than all others united, but also by 
 constant and familiar and laborious explanation from the teacher, 
 skilfully adapted to the age, character and progress of his pupil. 
 Before the invention of printing, and, indeed, for some time after- 
 wards, while books were still rare, this oral instruction was necessa- 
 rily almost the only mode of communicating knowledge not merely 
 of the living languages, but, in general, of all other subjects. Grad- 
 ually, however, as books were multiplied and especially when they 
 became so much improved, they began to be trusted too much with 
 the business of Education, until, in many branches, and certainly 
 in that of the living languages, results were claimed from them, 
 which it is quite impossible they should produce. In our own 
 country this error was, at one time, all but universal ; and even 
 now, I fear, is common. But it is acknowledged by some, perhaps 
 by many ; and, is in the sure way to be eradicated by the success 
 of those teachers, who rely not merely upon the dead letter of 
 books, but also upon that living knowledge which is imparted only 
 by living explanation ; — nay, which is communicated by the very 
 tones of the voice and the expression of the countenance with a 
 vivacity and effect never found or felt by the most eager lover of 
 acquisition in a cold and silent page.
 
 A
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA L T 
 Los Angeles 
 1 '■ :<= DUE on 'be ''-*<* -■ ' 
 
 \ .rQRniA 
 
 /V
 
 v^lOS-AHCElfj> 
 
 tact s 
 
 : v j— | 
 
 ^Sa3AINn-3WV s 
 
 ^HIBRARY 
 
 %OJIWJj ^OJIIVJ-JO^ 
 
 >- 
 
 
 
 .vtO$«Lfj> 
 
 ^ainihw^ 
 
 ^•OFCALIFO/?^ 
 
 
 ^Auvaan#" >&ahvn8iv# 
 
 
 
 BRARYtfr 
 
 '^d/OJi 
 
 AWEUNIVERS// 
 
 ^lOS-ANCElfT* 
 
 ^hdnv-sov^ tymm 
 
 
 
 
 JQkmw^ 
 
 <*VIE-UNIVER% 
 
 ^WONV-SOV^ 
 
 .^lOSANGEtfj> 
 
 <Jc«F 
 
 "%a uivaa 
 
 
 **■' '■' ■ V ~> 
 
 
 -MUIBRAR' 
 
 ^OdllVD-JO* 
 
 ^ojnvD-jo^ 5 
 
 ^Aavaan-i 
 
 StfNJNI\ 
 
 
 ANCEL^r ^OKAUFQRfc, ^0FCALIFC%, 
 
 
 ? 1 lrf— 
 
 
 AWEUNIVERi"//, 
 
 
 
 VER% 
 
 
 ^10SANGEI5J> 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^OF 
 

 
 UCLA-Young Research Library 
 
 PB35 T43I 
 
 L 009 608 169