ed with the French and paid the highest homage to

the native tongue.

For lewd men I undertook

On English tongue to make this book,"

Sometimes he rises above himself and exhibits some happy strokes of imagination; in one of his anecdotes, the influence of music is well expressed:

"He loved much to hear the harp;"

he says that it sharpens the wit, soothes and delights the mind and its charms destroy the power of the fiend. He too, consecrated music to worship, and in allusion to David the divine poet, he commands them to worship heaven's King, with the harp, the taboret and all the instruments of music.

The meeting of the king of the Britains with the beautiful and accomplished princess Rouwen, is beautifully expressed, in the "Brut of England" which is his most extensive work. The king pays to beauty the admiration of a noble heart; and they pass round the gold cup and drink after the custom of saluting with a kiss:

"That says Wasseille drinking of the cup

And kissing his fellow he gives it up."

He complains already of the adulterations of the language and rejects with contempt the strange English which writers are attempting to introduce. And it is to be observed, that from the time the Normans invaded Britain, the language has had to maintain a constant struggle against the innovation of foreign terms and idioms. Words are admitted with far less ceremony than the constitution enjoins upon adopted citzens,

and it is not uncommon to meet with works in which the foreign elements predominate. If, in the early stages of the language, when it was barren and needed to be enriched from other sources, there was cause of complaint against these innovations, it cannot be prudence, nor wisdom to tolerate them after it has become sufficiently rich and copious for all purposes.

SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.

Mandeville is considered the founder of English prose as Chaucer, of poetry, and besides showing the progress of the language, his writings exhibit quite a general view of the state of the science in this age: particularly that of astronomy, which is, in a manner, the foundation of all the other arts and sciences.

It is a common observation that there is a natural affinity existing between the sciences and that they are all of equal importance, but astronomy precedes all others in the order of time and influence. The structure of the firmament is among the first objects which engages the attention of the mind and elevates it to a contemplation worthy of its powers. Until the causes of these phenomena are revealed, and the illusions of the imagination dissipated, superstition maintains possession of the soul, paralizing its energies and clothing the world with spectral forms and shadows. When correct ideas are formed with regard to these things and man discovers his elevated position in the economy of the Universe, his mind becomes lucid as the firmament above him, and he is prepared to go forth in the discharge of his duties. Mandeville is famed for the

air of fiction which he throws around his wrtings, and the high coloring he gives to every thing he describes, and yet, though arrogating the distinction of being one of the learned of the times, he ventures with much caution to illustrate the principles that the earth is spherical in form and that it would be possible to circumnavigate it. The spirit of inquiry which his works display, render them interesting, and command a certain degree of respect for his childish absurdities. From the ideas which are commonly entertained of poetry and prose, nothing appears to be more distinct than these two classes of literature, dividing it as they do, into two grand divisions. But it is difficult to define the exact limits of each; there is no absolute distinction between them unless it be rhyme: both admit a high finish, and are regulated according to certain rules of melody. It is a question whether prose may not be more musical than poetry; it admits of a greater variety of melody and observes as certain rules in its construction and the variations of its scale.

That the mechanical execution of prose is more difficult than that of poetry, is inferred from the fact, that the construction of the latter is reduced to definite rules which can be learned in a few hours, and which are applied purely upon mechanical principles. A refined taste and a cultivated ear, as well as an enlarged mind are indispensable to the production of a high order of prose. Prose requires a longer time to mature than poetry; poetry springs up and blossoms and bears fruit the same season, comparatively, whereas, prose requires many. Mandeville and Chaucer, are the Eng

lish fathers of these two species of composition, both appearing in the same age, yet the latter carried his divine art to a high degree of perfection while the former only marked the era of the commencement of his. Both sustain the relation of founder to the language, but Wicliffe shares the honor with Mandeville, in prose, while Chaucer is without an equal in his age.

JOHN WICLIFFE.

Human productions are the creatures of a day, and the interest attached to the best works is generally, of short duration. They scarcely rise into favor when their novelty ceases; neglected and no longer read they are soon forgotten. They embody only the partial knowledge of the times, and that adulterated with error, and are adapted only to particular tastes, and capacities. Language committed to such works, must in a great measure be subject to the same vicissitude. This was one of the great obstacles which our language had to contend with in its early stages. But Wicliffe, in translating the Bible into the English, gave it an element of purity and stability; he thus breathed into it life and immortality.

The Bible is the book of all times, adapted to all tastes and capacities: it is truth without mixture of error; and thus it became the foundation and the rock of support to the language. The waves of time have beat against it, but they have only washed away its Gothic features and displayed the beauty and symmetry of its native, genuine element. As it is the mine of divine knowledge, so to speak, to which every

age has resorted, and will continue to resort to throughout all time; as its precepts are cherished and treasured up in the memory, and as its sacredness guards it against the approaches of innovation: so it will continue to be as it has been, the living fountain whence shall issue the purest streams of the English language.