with the inhabitants of the conquered provinces; so in Cornwall as late as the last century; they could that a mixed speech presently grew up, retaining understand the language of the Scotch Highlandmore traces of the language of the vanquished ers without much difficulty. The Cornish dialect, than of the victors. But the Roman tongue and however, is now lost, though some partial remains idolatry, with such advances as christianity had of it may still perhaps be found among the mines made among the Britons, together with the whole of Cornwall. language of the native population, were at once The language of Wales is supposed to have been, swept away from the largest and fairest portion of before its present corruptions, a better dialect of Britain, in which the conquerors fixed themselves, the Celtic than that of Cornwall. As the Welsh and where they established their own superstitions have had much less communication with other peoand language without compromise or commixture. ple than their Cornish neighbors, they still preSome little mingling of races there must have serve their ancient tongue, though now a good deal been; but it was too little to produce any marked altered by words of Latin and English growth. effect upon the speech or manners of the invaders. The people of Armonia were a colony from The vanquished Britons did not, however, adopt Wales. This name was given to the country to the language or superstition of the Anglo-Saxons; which they migrated by the Romans. The name but retiring to Wales, Scotland and other places of was afterwards changed for that of Brittany. They refuge carried their religion and language with preserved communication for a long time with their them. kinsmen of Wales and Cornwall, and spoke a dialect which, though not exactly the same as theirs, was perfectly intelligible among all. Before proceeding with the history of the language thus introduced in place of the old Celtic, we will follow the latter to its retreats and see what became of it after the Anglo-Saxon conquest. A part of the Britons fled from the sword of their Teutonic enemies into Scotland-already peopled by a race of a kindred dialect. All Scotland continued for many years afterwards entirely Celtic. But in process of time, the inhabitants of that region, extending themselves southward to the vicinity of the Anglo-Saxon borders, their Kings and many of their Chieftains embraced the Saxon language and manners, leaving the ancient Celtic to be preserved by those independent tribes in the north, who, disdaining their Tentonic neighbors and the apostacy of their own kindred, maintained themselves unconquered and uncorrupted among the Highlands and isles of their native country. Among them the Celtic is still preserved. It is but lately that relics of this ancient language have been discovered in a few individuals in some part of France and even among the Alps. It is supposed that the present Irish is a genuine descendant of the Celtic, not by emigration from Britain, but by the settlement of a colony of Celts which emigrated at considerable distance of time from that at which the Celts of Gaul and Britain left their parent race. It is supposed that this interval of time occasioned whatever difference is found between the real Irish and the true Celtic of Britain. The language of the Isle of Man is considered also as a descendant of the Celtic. In its present state it is called the Manx language. With this brief notice of the several colonies of the subjugated Britons, we take up again our account of the Anglo-Saxon invaders. The Scottish Highlanders are considered as the The language of the conquerors, which we have genuine descendants of the exiled Britons and stated to have been a dialect of the ancient Gothic their language as the most genuine Celtic in or Teutonic, became the sole language of all Engexistence. It has, till recently, been an un- land with the exception of those districts to which written tongue-a translation of the Scriptures the scattered Britons fled. having been recently made into it. This language It is well known that the Anglo-Saxons estabas now spoken in Scotland is often called the Gae-lished in England a number of petty sovereignties, lie, more frequently the Erse. called the Saxon Heptarchy, the intestine wars of which so prostrated the strength of the country as to expose it to the ravages of any barbarians who chose to descend upon its coasts. Besides those of the Britons who fled to Scotland, colonies were planted by the same people in Wales, Cornwall, and Armonia, or Brittany, a district of country on the coast of France, lying be- It was about the year 850, or 400 years after tween the Seine, the Loire and the Atlantic. the Anglo-Saxon invasion, that the Danes comThose who went to that part of England, form-menced their piratical descents upon the shores of ing its most Southwestern point, and called Corn- England. Under the name of Danes the old Engwall, long remained in a state of independence, lish historians included the people of Sweden and having in union with the other colonies, their own Norway, as well as of Zealand and Jutland. They governors, laws and language. Cornwall has been were consequently of the same origin as the Anoften called, on account of the similarity of its in-glo-Saxons. habitants to those of Wales, West-Wales. Some The base of their language was the same and persons speaking the ancient language were found its whole character possessed much similarity with that of the people whom they found in the occupancy of England; though in the language and manners of the latter, a material change must have taken place during the 4 or 500 years since their separation from the kindred tribes on the coasts of the German Sea. composed several works in the language of his own country. Among other works of his translating, were the histories by the Venerable Bede: by Orosius and work by Boethius on the consolations of Philoso phy. The country of the Danes, at the time of their He also composed a body of laws, which form aggressions upon England, was divided into num-the basis of the Common Law of England. berless petty kingdoms; the population was con- From these facts, the Anglo-Saxon appears to fined to the coasts and rivers; the habits of the have been too well fixed, to have suffered much people were wholly piratical and their institutions from the short-lived dominion of the Danes. were founded upon a system of piracy. We proceed to the next influence by which the English language was modified. We have said that Edward the Confessor bequeathed the crown to William, Duke of Normandy. The throne being usurped by Harold, imme After many years of aggressions and of alternate successes and defeats on the coasts, they at length, in 981, in the reign of Ethelred, and under the command of the Kings of Denmark and Norway, made themselves masters of a large part of diately after the death of Edward, William, aided England. But their conquest was not complete till Canute, partly by war and partly by treaty, ascended the throne of all England in the year 1017. The throne continued in the hands of the Danes under Canute and his successors, Harold and Hardicanute, in all 23 years. At the death of the last, the English revolted and gave the crown to Edward the Confessor, who at his death bequeathed it to William, Duke of Normandy. From this brief account of the Danish invasion, we may form some idea of the probable extent of the change produced by it in the Anglo-Saxon, then prevailing in England. The Danes having retained the throne but 23 years, and during that period never being free from AngloSaxon disturbance, could have had but little opportunity of spreading their destructive dialect beyond the precincts of their court. Some change was undoubtedly introduced into the language of those parts most completely under their sway. But this must have been very partial, and consisted not in the substitution of Danish words, but only in the blending of such words with those of the AngloSaxon. The dialect thus produced was principally spoken in Northumberland in the Northern part of the Island, in which the Danes were the most numer ous. by many Princes and much of the Nobility of the Continent, landed an army of 60,000 men on the coast of Sussex; and, after defeating the English army at the battle of Hastings, took possession of the throne in the year 1066. A very considerable change was introduced into the English language by the efforts of William, surnamed the "Conqueror." He did not consider his conquest as complete, while the vanquished English retained their native speech. It was therefore ordered that all the edicts, laws, records, and proceedings of the courts should be written in the language of the Normans. This was also the Courtier's tongue. William was not successful in accomplishing the complete change at which he aimed, for the body of Normans was so inconsiderable compared with the English, that their language after the time of William, was soon, either forgotten as a separate tongue, or was so incorporated with that of the nation, as not to be readily distinguished. Still, however, an abundance of words, brought over by the invaders, did certainly gain a place in the English language, and obtain an influence which to this day continues. The Norman conquerors were from that part of France lying on the North-West coast, which till a late period of French history, was always called Normandy. We have said that the original laaguage of all that country was Celtic. What contributed, probably, very much to prevent an important change of language under the Danes, was the fact, that the Anglo-Saxon After the invasion of Gaul, by the Romans, the for a long time previous to their invasion, had from latter having obtained complete possession of the the labors of Christian Missionaries, been made a country and remained in possession a long time, written language and possessed translations of the language of the people became a sort of corChristian writings widely circulated among the rupted Latin, mingled with Celtic, to which was people. given the name of Romansh. Just before the Danish conquest, Alfred had given This was the language of Gaul or France, till every encouragement to men of letters. He the invasion of the Franks and Normans about the invited to reside in his dominions the learned men year 912. These were Teutonic tribes, from the on the continent; he established schools and is re- neighborhood of the Baltic. The Franks were puted to have been the founder of the University from its southern and western shore. of Oxford. He himself being a very considerable The Normans or Northmen, as they were originscholar, considering the age in which he lived, ally called, were from Norway. As in their inva sion of Gaul, these two tribes did not, like the [tury, while some have deferred it till the time of Saxons in England, expel the natives, they soon Henry VIII., in the 16th century, the reformation united with them and formed one nation. Thus in that century, being considered as having exterthe ancient Celtic of Gaul, with its leaven of Laminated the Norman dialect and introduced the tin, was corrupted by a considerable accession of common English not only into the religious servipeculiarities from the speech of the new population. ces of the church, but also into the literature of The compound language thus formed, was called-Lingua-Franca, sometimes Francri. Thus we perceive the nature of the dialect brought by William into England. Upon the English, in its base and general composition, Saxon, but mingled a little with Danish, was ingrafted a mixture of Celtic, Latin and Norman, so that it appears that the base and general character of our own tongue is original Teutonic, while it has a large number of words for which it is indebted to a corrupt mixture of the speech of the Romans, the Celts and the Goths. From this account is perceived the principal reason for the large intermingling of Latin in the present language of Gaul or France; as also for the similarity between many of our words and those of the French. No remarkable changes as to the words of our language, have taken place since the time of the Norman conquest. A gradual increase of Latin words and terminations has occurred in consequence of the wide diffusion of Roman literature throughout Europe. French words have also made inroads and been too often naturalized, principally by means of translations, the most dangerous source of corruption to which a language can possibly be exposed. It is probable that French words were much more numerous formerly than at present. In the reign of Henry II., a considerable territory in France was owned by the English crown, and visits thither were frequently made in that reign and for a long time after, as long as the territory remained in connection with England, and thus the whole English court, with immense retinues, was carried and quartered from time to time, within the direct influence of French manners and language. So late as the reign of Edward III., in the year 1327, Latin and French were taught together in the schools. It was then usual to make the scholars construe their Latin lessons into French-a practice which must greatly have retarded the refinement of the native tongue. Some check, indeed, was given in the reign of Edward III. to the influence of the Norman French. But the proceedings in parliament and the statutes continued to be published in that language for a long time after. In consequence of the long continued use of the Norman-French, as the language of the court and government, it is difficult to fix the precise period at which the English may be considered as having become the fashionable as well as vulgar tongue of the country. Some fix it towards the close of the 13th century; others in the 14th cen the country. The age of the poet, Chaucer, about the year 1380, is considered as that in which our language attained a small portion of refinement. This ancient English Poet is celebrated as the father of English literature. The age of Spenser, about 1580, was one of important improvement; Shakspeare, Ben Jonson and Lord Bacon, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., carried improvement still further. From them the language came into the hands of Milton, Cowley, Waller, Tillotson, Dryden, &c.—from whom it has been received in its present state of excellence and refinement. Dr. Johnson, in his preface to his Dictionary, speaks of the writers just before the Restoration in 1689, as the wells of English undefiled, and says, "that on account of our tendency to the Gallic structure and phraseology, we should make our ancient volumes the ground-work of style, admitting among the additions of later times, only such as may supply real deficiencies, such as are readily adopted by the genius of our tongue, and incorporated easily with our native idioms." From the authors of the reign of Elizabeth (he says) a speech might be formed, adequate to all the purposes of use and eloquence. Taking the language of Theology from Hooker, and the translation of the Bible: that of natural science from Bacon: that of politics, war and navigation from Raleigh: that of poetry and fiction from Spenser and Sidney, and that of commonlife from Shakspeare, few ideas would be lost to mankind for want of English words in which they might be expressed. The English language cannot be considered as so fixed at present, as not to be continually exposed to silent and gradual changes in its words and idioms. That stability of character which no other language ever attained, cannot be expected in ours. A few centuries made the greatest changes in the Latin while a living tongue. The Greek has almost entirely changed since the removal of the seat of Government of the Western Empire to Constantinople. The French, notwithstanding all the efforts of their Academy, has undergone a visible change under its very inspiration. The Italian, since Machiavel, is perceptibly altered and the same causes under which all these changes have occurred, are more numerously and industriously at work upon the English tongue. Among these, the principal are foreign intercourse; the changes and enlargements in the several sciences; the vicissitudes of fashion; the figurative language of poetry, the partial influence of illite rate writers and vulgar pronunciation; the progress not speak of any but the Grammar of our own of politeness, whether spurious or genuine; but language. especially the study of the learned and of foreign But few of the many excellent works on this languages, as an essential part of accomplished branch can be mentioned. There is a Grammar, education and the frequency of translations from by Ben Jonson, called by Horne Tooke "the first foreign literature to our own. Before concluding and the best." Dr. South published "a short Inthis article, we will furnish our readers with a brief troduction to English Grammar, with critical outline of reading by which, according to oppor-notes," a small book, but pronounced by Blair to be tunity and inclination, they may hereafter pursue" the grammatical performance of the highest authe subject of language. thority that has appeared in our times." There are two heads under which the several subordinate parts of this subject may be arranged. Language may be studied Philosophically and Historically. The study of language philosophically embraces the two departments of universal and particular grammar. Under the former, the following are some of the principal questions to be attended to. Is language altogether of human origin or invention or must it be ascribed in any degree to Divine suggestion. If of human origin, by what steps may we sup pose the mind to have proceeded in its formation; then what are the essential parts of language, and into how many distinct elements speech may it be divided; how far the peculiarities of different languages may be considered as indications of the peculiar character of those who speak them; how far the study of language may be of service in studying the philosophy of the human mind, and what conclusions are actually furnished by different languages illustrative of the human mind. Priestley's Rudiments of English Grammar, is in good repute. In addition to these, Nare's Elements of Orthoepy; Walker on Elocution, together with his Introduction to his Critical Pronoun cing Dictionary; Sheridan on Elocution; Crabbe's English Synonyms, and the preface to Johnson's Dictionary, are all worthy of our attention. So much for the study of language philosophically considered. Considered historically, it embraces the earliest history of mankind; views particularly the separation of the family and posterity of Noah soon after the deluge, and traces, as far as possible, the migrations and mixtures of those several barbarous nations from which the present inhabitants of Europe have descended. A correct knowledge of the changes of language will require a particular acquaintance with general history. The study of antiquities is necessary to this branch of the subject. Whether the original primitive language of the human race is extant; whether all the European tongues are from the In this study a good deal was written among the in their etymology and structure, are the most insame parent; how far they now resemble each other Greek and Romans. Many works upon the phi- teresting subjects of inquiry in this department. losophy of language, were published in modern Connected with this is the history of the progress Europe, which, as Latin was then the language of the learned, are found in that tongue. of Grammatical and Philological science from the The French have, of late, written much upon an account of the Greek and Latin Grammarians, earliest period of history to the present time. For the same subject. The Abby Condillac was the author of an essay on the origin of human knowledge, which has been extensively read. There is a work of some repute on the mechanical formation of Languages, "by the president De Brosses." A work by the Abby Girard, on Grammar, is well known. English writers have not done much in this department. Among those works which have entered upon it, we would select for special attention, Harris's Hermes, which Dr. South pronounced "the most beautiful example of analysis since the days of Aristotle." After this, the "Diversions of Purley," by Horne Tooke-an irregular, original, very ingenious, though fanciful work. Next an anonymous treatise on the origin and progress of language, in three volumes. Smith's Disserta tion on the origin and formation of languages. Much may be found on the same subject in Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric and in Blair's Lec tures. Under the head of a Practical Grammar, we need the Ancients. THE TROUBADOUR'S SONG. The sun is sinking o'er the hills, The nightingale pours forth his song- I see her gentle dreamy face, Her parted lips and half-closed eyes The hour is come, the twilight hour, The air is still, the pale moon bathes The sun has sunk beneath the hill, INCIDENTS OF THE FLORIDA WAR. BY A LOOKER ON. the camp, pick up information and escape,--made their tents within the General's lines, where many of them were afterwards seized and sent off to the West. Our gallant little army in Florida on numerous occasions, indeed, in every open encounter with the enemy, demonstrated its thorough superiority. No doubt of success ever crossed a commanding officer's mind; the only difficulty was to find the Indian's trail, ferret him out of his gloomy cypress, or unexplored morass, and bring him to a stand. In this inglorious and almost hopeless pursuit, the time of our troops and hundreds of valuable lives were, year after year, expended; until the Florida war, the mention of which brought a pang to a thousand widowed hearts, and reminiscences of disappointment, disease and vexation to most of our military men, began to be looked upon as an interminable contest entailed upon the army. The Government, the troops and the people were alike wearied with About the beginning of February, 1838, a de- the unhappy strife. The limited number of Indians, tachment of the Tennessee mounted brigade, under their roving character and independent chiefs and that gallant old man, Lauderdale, had been sent by bands, their peculiar mode of warfare, their cunGeneral Jessup to the banks of New River, South ning, treachery and relentless hatred of the whites, Florida, to operate against the Indians in the Ever together with their unknown and inaccessible haunts, glades; and here, on the day of its arrival, it was all combined not only to preclude the hope of its joined by a small artillery force under a distinguish-speedy termination, but to justify the belief that ed officer of that corps, who, to other soldierly hostilities would never cease so long as an Indian qualities, united as nice a discrimination as to the trod the soil of Florida. Reports had at various merits of good wine and turtle, as could be boasted times reached Head-Quarters and been circulated of by any man in the army. These troops occu- by the papers, that "the war had closed ;" and so pied the left bank of the river, where they at once often had editors been thus misled, that one of the threw up a small block house and immediately leading Northern journals, disclaiming all confiopposite on the right bank, was encamped the com- dence in such announcements from Florida, promand of Lieutenant, (now Commander,) Powell, posed to publish alternate daily accounts, that of the Navy, consisting of naval seamen and offi-"the war had closed," and "the war had not clocers, and our company of artillery, a total of about sed." The official reports of those engaged, subeighty effective men. Powell had marched from ordinates commanding detachments, and officers the head of Key Biscayne Bay, and after a most commanding regiments, proved that our greatest laborious examination of the country, following successes were positive disasters. The climate, trails by day and fires by night, and destroying face of the country, and habits of the enemy cresome half-dozen Indian huts, had reached the right ated obstacles difficult to overcome, and called for bank of New River without having seen an enemy. steady, plodding industry, rather than the more General Jessup, (for whose able conduct Florida brilliant characteristics of the soldier ;—and though should ever feel grateful,) had driven a large body no troops ever labored with truer hearts, or better of Indians, headed by Tus-ke-gee and Hal-lick- faith, the results of almost every military effort, ha-jo, step by step, through hammock and swamp, however happy in conception, or thorough in exefrom the Locha Hatchee, near the head-waters of cution, were ludicrously disproportioned to its magthe St. Johns, to Jupiter Bay; where, on the 7th nitude and the soldier's anticipations. The weakof February, 1838, they were found strongly post-ness of the foe was his greatest strength. His ed in dense cypress, every approach to which was movements could only be guessed at by the desocovered by water waist deep. Here, in view of lation left upon his path; and the smoking ruins of the great sacrifice of life, as well as of the uncer- a squatter's cabin covering the mangled forms of tainty of beneficial results, which must follow an his wife and children,-the mutilated corpse of an attack upon them, he began his truce system; and express rider, or the massacre of straggling solin the course of a few days the white flag had ac-diers, were the general tell-tales of his presence complished more than twenty victories could have and progress. done, and the Indians, some to prepare in good In his own figurative language, his "path was faith for emigration,—others, and by far the great-not white; the pale face tracked the red man by est number, to enjoy the pleasures and profusion of the blood of his people." Days and weeks were VOL. XIV-67 |