THE BOSTON REVIEW, FOR NOVEMBER, 1805. Librum tuum legi & quam diligentissime potui annotavi, quæ commutanda, quæ eximenda, ar, bitrarer. Nam ego dicere verum assuevi. Neque ulli patientius reprehenduntur, quam qul maxime laudari merentur.-Pliny. of We owe an apology to our rea- The work is announced as a treatise on universal grammar but the general principles investigated by the author are applied only to the French language; so that it may properly be considered as a grammar of that language alone. Without further remarks we lay before our readers the following account of it, from the author's preliminary discourse, which is written with great correctness, and, if entirely of Mr. Dufief's composition, is one of the best proofs he could have given us of the efficacy of his method of learning languages. The work is comprised in two volumes: the fift, which is practical, is by far the more important to the learner, as it will enable him to acquire a competent knowledge of the French language. It contains three vocabularies, and a collection of familiar and idiomatical phrafes. The firft vocabulary is that of the names of objects, which occur most frequently in converfation; the gender is carefully affixed to each of them: to every word is adapted a familiar phrofe, fuch as I could remember to have been often used with the word. This familiar phrafe renders the fundamental words in each vocabulary more striking, in the fame manner as an elegant frame renders the picture it contains more confpicuous. Some verbs, with appro priate phrafes following particular nouns, are defigned to defcribe the actions which thofe nouns might naturally bring to the mind, on being pronounced, and, on that account, they be come a valuable addition to the vocabulary.In the diftribution of this vocabulary, we have not claffed the terms in an arbitrary manner; we have, on the contrary followed, as near as poffible, the order pointed out by the scale of our quants, as the members of a civilized nation. -The advantages ari fing from fuch a claffification, must be obvious to every one, as the most useful words are the first offered to the memory; and the learner, judging of the utility of the French words by that of the correfponding English, and impelled by the voice of intereft and a conviction that we are leading him aright, will infenfibly have his attention more and more fixed on the object of his pursuit. If I may be permitted to speak in favour of this vocabulary, which has cost me no inconfiderable labour and attention, I will venture to affert that it contains no ufelefs, improper, or obfolete words, while it is thought but few neceffary terms have been omitted. Il demeure au cœur de la Country. The country is very pleasant The Second vocabulary comprises the various kinds of numbers, the principal adjectives, and a fufficient collection of abstract nouns. The numbers are placed at the head of this vocabulary. The adjectives have been so difpofed as to enable the fcholar eafily and Seventy four. It is a ftip of leventy four promptly to acquire as perfect a knowledge of the feminine gender of French adjectives as a Frenchman himself can pofffs. The abftract nouns have been ranged in alphabetical order. The third vocabulary is a series of very important words, which are called swords forming the link, or completion of fenfe, between the other parts of (peech, and are known in grammar by the denomination of pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions, and interections. "The collection of familiar and idiomatical phrases, already mentioned, will close the first part ;" and to obtain this collection, the author informs us, he has" perused above five hundred different plays ;" and in addition to that, "had recourse afterwards to every publication of note on the subject of French idioms." In order that our readers may be fully possessed of the design of this volume, we here insert a II. Vocabulary-numbers, adjectives, and abstract nouns. Soixante quatorze. Fickle. Atheism. Athéisme.m. Beauty. guns. C'eft un vaiffeau de foixante quatorze canons. The French are faid to be fickle. On accufe les Français d'être volages. Atheism is a monfireus error Beauty foon fades. III. Vocabulary-pronouns, articles, Ja duced in the familiar form of conversation, which renders it more lively and intelligible, and relieves the scholar from a continual series of long and prolix reasoning. Though the main scope of this fection be rather to establish the fundamental principles of language, than thofe of any particular one; yet I have by no means, neglected to inform the pupil on many points effential and peculiar to the French language. The conjugation of French verbs will, I truft, be found fufficiently exemplified. I fhall not here. attempt to expatiate on the system of the celebrated Beauzée and Sicard concerning the tenfes of verbs: I have adopted the fame, and have, I hope, in treating on the verb, fully demonstrated its truth and fimplicity; but that, which will recommend it more than all the arguments that can be advanced in its favour, is the facility of retaining it, and its eafy application not only to the mother tongue but to every other language which the learner may wish to acquire. The author next proceeds to give an account of the method of using his work : The first volume and first fection of the second,' are to be blended in fuch a manner, that the scholar must direct his application to both at the fame time. He is invited strictly to adhere to the following mode of ftudy, which is here earnestly recommended to his attention. He will become master of the fif volume of this work by learning The author concludes this part with assuring us, in pretty strong terms, that "no longer able to resist the powerful voice of reason and experience, he ventures to say, this is the most simple, expeditious, philosophical, and infallible method that can possibly be made use of." He also informs us, that by the like metha tolerable od he acquired knowledge of the English language as it is written and expressed, without the assistance of a teacher in the short space of four months." He observes too, that the method used by the Abbé Condillac in teaching the languages to his royal pupil, the Duke of Parma, resembled this; and he thinks "this work, in a great degree precludes the necessity of going to France to acquire the [French] language." For pronunciation, the author recommends the only method which we believe will ever be found effectual-that is, to learn it from a living instructor, "or any person who has a good French pronunciation." We subjoin one more extract, to exhibit a specimen of the second volume of the work. Scholar. CONVERSATION VIII. Of the Verb. What is a verb? Master. It is an effential and indifpenfabe word which expreffes the coexistence of an attribute (that is to fay, of a quality, colour, form, &c.) with any fubject or object whatever. Scholar. How many kinds of verbs are there? Mafter. From this definition of a verb, you may readily conclude that we acknowledge but one'; for existence being fimple and indivifible, one verb alone is fufficient to define it. Scholar. What is that verb? Mafter. In all languages, the verb to be,which is called the abftract verb, as it is feparated from all quality, and thus confidered in itfelf as a fubftance; it is fometimes termed the fubftantive verb. Scholar. What then is meant by an adjective verb; a mode of expreflion often used in grammars ? Mafter. They generally understand thereby fuch words as, to love, aimer; to fpeak, parler, &c. which are denominated verbs because the verb to be is interwoven with their very existence, and intimately connected with the word denoting the quality, from which they take the appellation of adjective verbs: We cannot always by the eye perceive the connection, but analysis, and fometimes etymology will evince that in all languages fuch expreffions as, to love, to Speak, &c. are, by an ellipfis, equivalent to the phrafes, to be loving, to be Speaking, &c. Such are the outlines of the "new and infallible method" of teaching language. The reader will perceive from this view of the work, that even "the shortest time possible," which the acquisition of a language demands, is no very inconsiderable portion; or rather, that a good deal of labour must be bestowed upon a language, whatever method we follow, in order to attain to perfection. And this is an opinion we have ever entertained, not only in respect to languages, but all departments of knowledge. We have no faith in the quackish expedients of Abridgments, Dictionaries, &c. &c. which have been one of the distinguishing characteristicks of modern literature: solid knowledge must be obtained now, as it was in former times, by long and hard study. But we return to our subject. Mr. Dufief's system appears to have for its basis the leading principle of modern science.... that the knowledge of facts pre cedes the knowledge of rules, or, as they are called in some of the sciences, laws. He considers, if we rightly apprehend him, the words of a language and their relations, as so many individual facts, which, like facts in any science, must be known and well fixed in the memory, before a thorough knowledge of rules can be obtained. We have no disposition to question the soundness of this doctrine; but we must be allowed to remark, that Mr. Dufief seems to carry the principle farther than practical utility would warrant. To speak in general terms: Although an acquaintance with every individual fact would undoubtedly be the most complete kind of knowledge, yet it is sufficient (and indeed all that is practicable) for the purposes of science, to be acquainted with the classifications of those facts, which have been made with great labour by the masters of the sciences; and, to apply the general remark to our subject, the laws or rules of grammar, which have been the result of the investigation of ages, like the laws of natural philosophy or any other science, do unquestionably facilitate the study of language. We therefore think the author's zeal for a favourite system has carried him a little too far, or that there is danger of his leaving a wrong impression, when he says "that as rules do not impart the knowledge of a language (that thing which one is aiming at) they are absolutely useless to be learned for that purpose." And we find some difficulty in wholly reconciling his doctrine with his practice; for a considerable part of his work consists of the rules of grammar. But from Mr. D's general correctness, we fear, in this case, we may have misapprehended him. We should now, according to our original intention, go into a particular examination of some of the principles of grammar, which Mr. Dufief discusses, and in which we do not fully agree with him; but this article is already extended to such a length, and the subject is of so little interest to most readers, that we shall close with a few general remarks. As a speculation on language, the work discovers considerable ingenuity; but the author, with that pardonable degree of vanity and ardour so natural to a young man, lays greater claim to originality, than we think he would be able to support, and exercises more of a reformer's severity towards old methods, than is warranted by the pre-eminence of his own. He has evidently studied with attention the works of the most eminent writers on this subject among whom the Abbè Sicard, the instructor of the deaf and dumb at Paris, has been almost literally copied by him. As a practical work, we think the design excellent : but we can not help wishing that the rules had been less abstract, and metaphysical Few pupils (of the age at which French is usually learned) would comprehend many of them. In respect to the distribution of the matter, the author has followed the fashionable method of placing the more important notes just where the reader would not think of looking for them: they are put at the end of each chapter, or "conversation": We Vol. II. No. 11. 3D think they would have been bet ter at the bottom of the page, or (to allow the utmost indulgence) at the end of the volume. On the whole, we consider this work, not only as a valuable acquisition to the student of the French language, but as a performance, which reflects credit on the literature of our country. ART. 72. Journal of a Tour into the territo ry northwest of the Alleghany mountains; made in the spring of the year 1803, with a Geographical and Historical account of the State of Ohio, illustrated ·with original maps and viewsby Thaddeus Mason Harris, A. M. &c. Boston. Manning & Loring. pp. 271. THE United States have been singularly distinguished by that class of travellers, who publish, for the benefit of those who remain at home, what they have discovered wonderful abroad. Sometimes the curiosity of the world has been gravely excited by the dignity of descriptions in quarto; at others, slyly enticed by the bewitching prettiness of sketches in duodecimo. One traveller has told us, that such a lady has bad teeth, that such a selectman disliked French cooking, but knew how to make most excellent punch; another has discovered Solons and Lycurguses amid obscure democrats "born to blush unseen;" a third, after visiting our metropolis, found the only thing remarkable were some of the houses in State-Street that had railings on the roofs for the purpose of drying clothes, which |