exifted. The dramatic merit and the eloquence of Livy; the profound philosophy of Salluft; the rich and folemn pencil of Tacitus, all ages of the world will admire: but no hiftorian of any other country has ever been able to rival.

Add to this, that the beft ages of Rome afford the pureft models of virtue that are any where to be met with. Mankind are too apt to lose fight of all that is heroic, magnanimous and public-fpirited. Modern ages have formed to themselves a virtue, rather polifhed, than fublime, that confifts in petty courtefies, rather than in the tranquil grandeur of an elevated mind. It is by turning to Fabricius, and men like Fabricius, that we are brought to recollect what human nature is. Left to ourselves, we are apt to fink into effeminacy and apathy.

But, if fuch are the men with whofe actions it is moft our intereft to familiarife ourselves, we cannot do this fo fuccefsfully as by ftudying them in the works of their countrymen, To know them truly, we must not content ourselves with viewing them from a difiance, and reading them. in abridgment. We muft watch their minuteft actions, we muft dwell upon their every word. We must gain admiffion among their confidents, and penetrate into their fecret fouls. Nothing

is fo wretched a wafte of time as the ftudy of abridgments.

If it be allowable to elucidate the infufficiency of the modern writers of ancient hiflory by inflances, it might be remarked, that Rollin takes care repeatedly to remind his reader that the virtucs of the heathens were only fo many fpecious vices, and interlards his hiftory with an expofition of the prophecies of Daniel; that Hooke calumniates all the greateft characters of Rome. to exalt the reputation of Cæfar; and that Mitford and Gillies are at all times ready to fufpend their narrative for a panegyric upon modern defpotifm. No perfons feem to have been more utter strangers to that republican fpirit which is the fource of our nobleft virtues, than those authors who have affumed to be the hiftoriographers of the ancient republics.

A fecond argument in favour of the ftudy of the Latin claffics may be thus ftated. Language is the great medium of communication among mankind. He that defires to inftruct others, or to gain perfonal reputation, muft be able to exprefs himself with perfpicuity and propriety. Moft of the mifunderftandings which have exifted, in fentiment or in fcience, may be traced to fome obfcurity or loofenefs of expreffion as

their fource. Add to this, that the taste of mankind is fo far refined, that they will not accept an uncouth and difgufiful leffon, but require, elegance and ornament. One of the arts that tend moft to the improvement of human intel lect, is the art of language; and he is no true friend to his fpecies, who would fuffer them from neglect to fall back, from their prefent ftate of advancement in this refpect, into a barbarous and undifciplined jargon.

But it is perhaps impoffible to understand one language, unlefs we are acquainted with more than one. It is by comparison only that we can enter into the philofophy of language. It is by comparison only that we feparate ideas, and the words by which thofe ideas are ordinarily conveyed. It is by collating one language with another, that we detect all the fhades of meaning through the various inflections of words, and all the minuter degradations of fenfe which the fame word fuffers, as it fhall happen to be connected with different topics. He that is acquainted with only one language, will probably always remain in fome degree the flave of language. From the imperfectnefs of his knowledge, he will feel himself at one time feduced to fay the thing he did not mean, and at another time will fall into errors of this fort without

being aware of it. It is impoffible he should understand the full force of words. He will fometimes produce ridicule, where he intended to produce paffion. He will fearch in vain for the hidden treafures of his native tongue. He will never be able to employ it in the most advantageous manner. He cannot be well acquainted with its ftrength and its weakness. He is uninformed refpecting its truc genius and diferiminating characteristics. But the man who is competent to and exercised in the comparison of languages, has attained to his proper elevation. Language is not his mafier, but he is the mafter of language. Things hold their juft order in his mind, ideas firft, and then words. Words therefore are ufed by him as the means of communicating or giving permanence to his fentiments; and the whole magazine of his native tongue is fubjected at his feet.

The feience of etymology has been earnefily recommended, as the only adequate inftrument for effecting the purpofe here defcribed; and undoubtedly it is of high importance for the purpose of enabling us more accurately to judge of the value of the words we have occafion to employ. But the neceffity and the use of etymology have perhaps been exaggerated. However extenfive are our refearches, we must stop

fome

fomewhere; and he that has traced a word half-way to its fource, is fubject to a portion of the fame imperfection, as he that knows nothing of it beyond the language in which he has occafion to use it. It is here perhaps as in many other intellectual acquifitions; the habit of inveftigating, diftinguishing and fubtilifing, is of more importance than any individual portions of knowledge we may chance to have accumulated. Add to which, that the immediate concern of the speaker or writer, is not with the meaning his words bore at some distant period or the materials of which they are compounded, but with the meaning that properly belongs to them according to the pureft standard of the language he uses. Words are perpetually fluctuating in this respect. The gradations by which they change their fenfe are ordinarily imperceptible; but from age to age their variations are often the most memorable and furprifing. The true mode therefore of becoming acquainted with their exact force, is to liften to them in the best speakers, and confider them as they occur in the best writers, that have yet appeared.

Latin is indeed a language that will furnish us with the etymology of many of our own' words; but it has perhaps peculiar recommendations as a praxis in the habits of invefti