The similarity which exists between the Latin and the corresponding English affords the student aid either to learn the words which are of Latin extraction found in English, or to become acquainted with the Latin vocabulary itself. Suppose, for instance, that you meet with the word lateral, and know, or, not knowing, ascertain that it is a word of Latin origin which signifies that which pertains to the side. Having this information, you are enabled to remember that latus, the noun whence lateral comes, denotes the side. Or if you know that latus means the side, then you readily infer that lateral means that which pertains to the side. In this way, with an active mind, you may make the Latin roots with which you have become acquainted teach you the import of scores, nay, hundreds, of derivatives.

And observe, too, the specific service which the Latin element renders. We have the noun side, but we have no corresponding Saxon adjective. The want is supplied by the Latin.

In meaning, these nouns and adjectives do not always strictly correspond. Thus ager, field, and agrarian do not strictly correspond; I mean, you cannot infer the exact meaning of agrarian for instance, from the meaning of ager. You are thus taught that it is an intelligent, not a slavish study in which you are engaged. Rules are not chains, but guiding-posts.

Some of the words in the last list, and in previous lists, which appear as Latin or Saxon, are not exclusively of Latin or Saxon origin. To wade, given as a derivative of vado, is a Saxon root, being common to both the Latin (Celtic) and the Saxon tongues. Waddle, a diminutive of wade, is also Saxon. Rule and regula may be considered as the same word in different forms; also oculus and eye; so insula and island; leo and lion; mens and mind. Similar facts abound in our language, and show that in order to know one language well you must study several, and that the proper way to study languages is to study them in their mother tongues-in the primitive groups or classes where they are found, and whence they shoot and branch.

I subjoin a list in which the richness of our language is still more exemplified :

Latin nouns. Latin adjectives. Saxon adjectives. Saxon nouns.

corpus, corporis

corporeal

puerile

fraternal

bodily

body

boyish

boy

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The diverse meanings of capillary and hairy suffice to prevent you from thinking that these pairs of adjectives-one from the Latin, one from the Saxon-are in each case identical in meaning. Frequently, however, that which is indicated by the one is that which the other signifies. When the two are of the same import, the one may be used for the other. To which of the two you should give the preference depends on circumstances. If you are addressing the people, you will do well to employ words of Saxon origin. Nor fancy that by so doing you lower your style. Rather is it an object of honourable ambition to write a good pure idiomatic Saxon style. And much do I hope that none of my pupils will allow themselves to be seduced by the finery and the foppery of Latinisms, and long, high-sounding words. Simplicity in diction, like simplicity in dress, betokens real respectability. Write, because you have something to say, and if you have nothing to say, do not write; and if you write, write so as to be understood by those for whom you write; the BEST STYLE IS THAT WHICH

IS MOST READILY UNDERSTOOD.

COMPOSITION AND PARSING. Continue to make short sentences fout of the lists which I give of

Words with their proper Prepositions.

Deviate from,

F. R.

via, a way

Study carefully, and parse carefully the following admirable remarks by a great master. Having done so, write, as well as you can, on the same subject; and having corrected, preserve what you write. You may now, if you have followed my advice, and kept your compositions, compare your earlier attempts with the essay you produce on the love of knowledge. The comparison can hardly fail to give you both instruction and encouragement.

THE LOVE OF Knowledge.

But while I am descanting so minutely upon the conduct of the understanding, and the best modes of acquiring knowledge, some men may be disposed to ask, "Why conduct my understanding with such endless care?-and what is the use of so much knowledge?" What is the use of so much knowledge?-what is the use of so much life?-what are we to do with the seventy years of existence allotted to us ?-and how are we to live them out to the last? I solemnly declare that, but for the love of knowledge, I should consider the life of the meanest hedger and ditcher, as preferable to that of the greatest and richest man here present. for the fire of our minds is like the fire which the Persians burn in the mountains,-it flames night and day, and is immortal and not to be quenched! Upon something it must act and feed,-upon the pure spirit of knowledge, or upon the foul dregs of polluting passions. Therefore, when I say, in conducting your understanding, love knowledge with a great love, with a vehement love, with a love coeval with life; what do I say but love innocence-love virtue-love purity of conduct-love that which, if you are rich and

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great, will sanctify the blind fortune which has made you so, and make men call it justice,-love that which, if you are poor, will render your poverty respectable, and make the proudest feel it unjust to laugh at the meanness of your fortunes,-love that which will comfort you, adorn you, and never quit you; which will open to you the kingdom of thought, and all the boundless regions of conception, as an asylum against the cruelty, the injustice, and the pain that may be your lot in the outer world,-that which will make your motives habitually great and honourable, and light up in an instant a thousand noble disdains at the very thought of meanness and fraud! Therefore, if any young man here have embarked his life in the pursuit of knowledge, let him go on without doubting or fearing the event;-let him not be intimidated by the cheerless beginnings of knowledge, by the darkness from which she springs, by the difficulties which hover around her, by the wretched habitations in which she dwells, by the want and sorrow which sometimes journey in her train; but let him ever follow her as the angel that guards him, and as the genius of his life. Sue will bring him out at last into the light of day, and exhibit him to the world comprehensive in acquirements, fertile in resources, rich in imagination, strong in reasoning, prudent and powerful above his fellows, in all the relations and in all the offices of life.-Sydney Smith.

FRENCH STEMS.

The words which the English owes to the Romance languages are very numerous. Of this number, by far the largest portion comes from the French. This portion is too large to be here enumerated, though a few specimens may be given. Before, however, I proceed to set down instances, let it be observed that I shall prefer those which retain some marked resemblance to their originals, or still appear in their native form.

ENGLISH WORDS FROM THE FRENCH.

From CHEVAL, a horse (Lat. Caballus), come

Chevalier, a knight.

Chivalry, knighthood.

Cavalier, a knight, or horseman.

Cavalry, horse-troops.

From CHARTRE or CHARTE, a charter (Lat. charta), come
Chart, a sea-map.

Charter, a writing bestowing privileges.

Chartist, a person desirous of a new charter.
Cartel, a writing containing stipulations, &c.
Cartoon, a drawing on large paper, a painting.
Cartouch, a case for balls or cartridges.
Cartrage or Cartridge, a case for gunpowder.
Cartulary, a register; a monastic record.

From BARRE, a bar (the same word), come to bar, to hinder.
Barricade, a fence or temporary fortification.
Barrier, a boundary, or obstacle.
Barring-out, a boyish game.

The following are a few separate instances-bottle; brilliant escape; engagement; flask; forage; flank; guarantee; guard

garnish; grimace; hash; harangue; hardy; lodge; marquis mason; packet; robe; wardrobe; saloon; supper; dinner; (breakfast is Saxon); tirade; troubadour. The words which denote the various officers in civil government are mostly Norman French, as might be expected from the conquest of England by William the Norman: e.g., king and earl are Saxon, but prince, duke, marquis, baron, count, mayor, &c., are of French origin, at least so far as the English is concerned.

The ignorance of older philologists may be exemplified in the derivation which they gave of parliament. Parliament is a word of French extraction, from the word parler, to speak; the ment, as the student now knows, is merely the terminational suffix. But the wisdom of our forefathers made ment into mind, and stated that the parliament was so called because men there freely spoke their mind! The history of this derivation is no better than the philology, for in the French parliament liberty of speech was not predominant.

Another instance of philological ignorance is presented in these facts. Curmudgeon, which Bailey, in his "Universal Etymological Dictionary" (1731), describes as meaning a covetous hunks, a pitiful, niggardly, close-fisted fellow, Dr. Johnson derived from the French cœur-mechant (bad-heart), appending the words Unknown Correspondent as the authority. Dr. Ash, taking the English appendage as the meaning of the French words, gives the etymology thus: curmudgeon from cœur unknown, and mechant correspondent!!

French words have been a medium by which Latin words have come into the English, the extent of our obligation to both those languages can be known only when we have seen specimens of this transference.

FRENCH WORDS AS A MEDIUM FROM THE LATIN TO THE ENGLISH.