6. Suddenly the step It was not always thus. There was a time 7. But it was different now. His tottering steps 8. With glaring eyeballs, and a look That more became a devil than a man. He gazed upon his sorrowing wife and sleeping babe, Once burnt within, a pure and holy flame. Rum had changed A heart of flesh, and, in its stead, Had placed a heart of stone; or such a one Where pity never enters; and the melting cry LESSON LXIII. History of the English Language. 1. THE language which is at present spoken throughout Great Britain, is neither the ancient primitive speech of the island, nor derived from it, but is altogether of foreign origin. The language of the first inhabitants of our island, beyond doubt, was the Celtick, or Gaelick, common to them with Gaul; from which country it appears, by many circumstances, that Great Britain was peopled. 2. This Celtick tongue, which is said to be very expressive and copious, and is probably one of the most ancient languages in the world, obtained once in most of the western regions of Europe. 3. It was the language of Gaul, of Great Britain, of Ireland, and very probably of Spain also; till, in the course of those revolutions, which, by means of the conquests, first of the Romans, and afterward of the northern nations, changed the government, speech, and, in a manner, the whole face of Europe. This tongue was gradually obliterated, and now subsists only in the mountains of Wales, in the highlands of Scotland, and among the wild Irish; for the Irish, the Welsh, and the Erse, are no other than different dialects of the same tongue, the ancient Celtick. 4. This, then, was the language of the primitive Britons, the first inhabitants that we know of in our island, and continued so till the arrival of the Saxons in England, in the year of our Lord 450; who, having conquered the Britons, did not intermix with them, but expelled them from their habitations, and drove them, together with their language, into the mountains of Wales. 5. The Saxons were one of those northern nations that overran Europe; and their tongue, a dialect of the Gothick, or Teutonick, altogether distinct from the Celtick, laid the foundation of the present English tongue. With some intermixture of Danish, a language probably from the same root with the Saxon, it continued to be spoken throughout the southern part of the island, till the time of William the Conqueror. 6. He introduced his Norman or French, as the language of the court, which made a considerable change in the speech of the nation; and the English which was spoken afterward, and continues to be spoken now, is a mixture of the ancient Saxon and this Norman French, together with such new and foreign words as commerce and learning have, in progress of time, gradually introduced. 7. The history of the English language can, in this manner, be clearly traced. The language spoken in the low countries of Scotland is now, and has been for many centuries, no other than a dialect of the English. How, indeed, or by what steps, the ancient Celtick tongue came to be banished from the low country in Scotland, and to make its retreat into the highlands and islands, cannot be so well pointed out, as how the like revolution was brought about in England. 8. Whether the southernmost part of Scotland was once subject to the Saxons, and formed a part of the kingdom of Northumberland, or whether the great number of English exiles that retreated into Scotland upon the Norman conquest, and upon other occasions, introduced into that country their own language, which afterward, by the mutual intercourse of ⚫ the two nations, prevailed over the Celtick, are uncertain and contested points, the discussion of which would lead us too far from our subject. 9. From what has been said, it appears that the Teutonick dialect is the basis of our present speech. It has been imported among us in three different forms: the Saxon, the Danish, and the Norman; all which have mingled together in our language. A very great number of our words too are plainly derived from the Latin. These we had not directly from the Latin, but most of them, it is probable, entered into our tongue through the channel of that Norman French, which William the Conqueror introduced. 10. For, as the Romans had long been in full possession of Gaul, the language spoken in that country, when it was invaded by the Franks and Normans, was a sort of corrupted Latin, mingled with Celtick, to which was given the name of Romanshe; and as the Franks and Normans did not, like the Saxons in England, expel the inhabitants, but, after their victories, mingled with them; the language of the country became a compound of the Teutonick dialect, imported by these con querors, and of the former corrupted Latin. 11. Hence, the French language has always continued to have a very considerable affinity with the Latin; and, hence, a great number of words of Latin origin, which were in use among the Normans in France, were introduced into our tongue at the conquest; to which, indeed, many have since been added directly from the Latin, in consequence of the great diffusion of Roman literature throughout all Europe.-BLAIR. LESSON LXIV. Evils in Female Education. Their 1. YOUNG ladies suffer from the habits of schools. exercise is much too limited. They walk out, it is true, but scarcely at a rate sufficient to warm their feet. Their time for amusement is too little; and full romping exercise, exercise which brings all the muscles into play, is discouraged. 2. It is vulgar to use the limbs as nature designed; it is vulgar to take the food which nature requires; and young ladies must not do any thing that is vulgar. Sitting, moreover, for hours at needlework, or in what are called accomplishments, they leave a numerous class of muscles wasting for want of exercise. 3. The muscles of the back are especially enfeebled, and the spinal column in youth, comparatively soft and flexible, bends under the weight of the head and arms. The spine yields, because the muscles which closely connect the bones, and by their action keep them in a proper line, are too weak. 4. We are often asked, why are spínal complaints so common? We answer, that a principal cause is the want of full exercise; we say that young persons are obliged to acquire what is of little or no use in after life, while they neglect what is necessary to the establishment of the body in health and vigour; in short, we have daily to lament, that the muscular exercise is sacrificed to accomplishments and learning. 5. If it be asked, why are girls more subject to distortion than boys? The amusements of the boys are far more active than sedentary; those of the girls are more sedentary than active. 6. When girls leave the school, the same system of muscular quietism is enforced. They must keep up their accomplishments by practice. Several hours a day they must devote to musick, and, frequently, a considerable time to the more injurious occupation of drawing; most of the remaining day they spend in finger occupations. 7. Little time is devoted to exercise in the open air, and the exercise they do take, is such as to chill, rather than to invigorate the circulation. Need I add, that half the disorders of the young arise from the errours I have mentioned? Need I advert to remedies and preventions? They are obvious. THACKRAH on the Influence of Employment. LESSON LXV. March. 1. THE stormy March is come at last, With wind, and cloud, and changing skies: 2. Ah! passing few are they who speak, 3. For thou to northern lands again The glad and glorious sun dost bring, And wearest the gentle name of spring. 4. And, in thy reign of blast and storm, Smiles many a long, bright, sunny day, 5. Then sing aloud the gushing rills, 6. The year's departing beauty hides, 7. Thou bringest the hope of those calm skies, 1. 2. 3. LESSON LXVI. April. WHEN the warm sun, that brings I love the season well, When forest glades are teeming with bright forms The coming in of storms. From the earth's loosened mould The sapling draws its sustenance, and thrives: |