cations become numerous, and are of a marked character, they form what is called a dialect.

Those languages, which, though they generally differ from each other in words and structure, yet have a large number of roots, that is the parts of words that remain unchanged, alike,—and it may be some similarity in the inflexion of words and sentences, these languages are said to belong to the same family of languages. Thus, the English language has some affinity to the French, but a still closer relationship to the German.

The European and Asiatic languages belong mainly to one family, having some common monosyllabic roots. This large and important family of languages, known as the Indo-European, consists of six principal groups. The English, in common with the German, Dutch, and some others of northern and central Europe, belongs to the Teutonic group; while that spoken formerly by the ancient Britons, and those now spoken by the Welsh, the Gaels of Scotland, and the native Irish, belong to the Celtic group; the French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese speak languages belonging to the Latin or classical group; while the Russians, and some other inhabitants of Eastern Europe, use languages or dialects of the Sclavonic group; the Sanscrit and Persian include the ancient languages of Asia and those now spoken in Persia and some parts of India; and the sixth, and most extensively used of of all, includes the languages of India and the south-western parts of Asia.

It should be remembered that languages, like countries, differ from time to time in their character. Thus, the English of to-day is not exactly the English of our fathers. We are continually coining or importing new words, while at the same time we are allowing some old ones to fall out of use. Such a sentence as the following would have been quite unintelligible to most persons half a century ago—"I have

received a telegram announcing the safe arrival of my photographic apparatus, with the cartes-de-visite.” The words printed in italics are new words representing new things. The scholar would have had no great difficulty in translating the passage; for in the words "telegram" and "photographic," he would recognise two well-known Greek words in a slightly altered form, in the third a coinage from the Latin mint, and in the last a phrase from our neighbours across the channel.

Again, such words as trow, troth, inkle, reälty, erst, and many others, though in common use a century or two ago, are now almost or quite obsolete.

We see then that just as in the material progress of a nation its towns and manufactures, its roads and canals, its buildings and institutions vary from age to age, yet its great land elevations and depressions, its coast line and river system all remain; so it is of languages, they lose some old words and take in new ones, they modify wordendings and phrases, they slightly vary in the methods of grouping words into sentences; yet all the great and leading features of each are retained; the mass of its words, and the great principles for the construction of its sentences, live on from age to age the same.

PUPIL'S EXERCISE.-1. Supply meanings, or explanations, to the following words :-Intercourse, language, mother tongue, sentence, nonsense, language, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Gloucester, Sussex, composition, phrases, dialect, roots, European.

EXERCISE 2. Name and give examples of the several IndoEuropean languages.

SIR HENRY WOTTON, the writer of the following piece, lived during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. His life was spent partly in the English court, partly as ambassador at Venice and at other continental courts. He held the office of Provost of Eton for some time before his death, which took place in 1639.

Ambassador, one who repre

sents his sovereign at a foreign court.

Provost, one who governs a college.

Rumour, a mere flying report. Flatterer, one who praises without meaning it.

Passions, the lower feelings of

our nature.

Envy, to feel pain at another's good.

Servile, having the nature of a slave.

Oppressor, one who uses power
unjustly.

How happy is he born and taught,
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill;

Whose passions not his masters are,
Whose soul is still prepared for death;
Untied unto the worldly care

Of public fame or private breath;

Who envies none that chance doth raise,
Or vice; who never understood
How deepest wounds are given by praise;
Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

Who hath his life from rumours freed,
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great ;

Who God doth late and early pray,
More of His grace than gifts to lend;

And entertains the harmless day

With a religious book or friend;

This man is freed from servile bands

Of hope to rise, or fear to fall;
Lord of himself, though not of lands;

And, having nothing, yet hath all.

EXERCISE 1.-Explain :-Court, Venice, Eton, armour, honest, simple, skill, prepared, fame, praise, conscience, retreat, grace, religious.

EXERCISE 2.-Learn the first three stanzas of the above piece.

SPEECH OF H.R.H. THE PRINCE CONSORT, delivered at the Birmingham Town Hall, on the occasion of laying the First Stone of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, November 22nd, 1855.

As an example of lucid and pointed English, as now used, the following speech of the late lamented Prince Consort is given.* To the valuable quality of directness, it adds those of gracefulness and dignity, and withal contains, as a leading idea, faith in "the beauty of usefulness."

It has been a great pleasure to me to have been able to participate, in however trifling a degree, in a work which I By kind permission of John Murray, Esq.

do not look upon as a simple act of worldly wisdom on the part of this great town and locality, but as one of the first public acknowledgments of a principle which is daily forcing its way amongst us, and is destined to play a great and important part in the future development of this nation. and of the world in general: I mean the introduction of science and art as the unconscious regulators of productive industry.

The courage and spirit of enterprise with which an immense amount of capital is embarked in industrial pursuits, and the skill and indefatigable perseverance with which these are carried on in this country, cannot but excite universal admiration; but in all our operations, whether agricultural or manufacturing, it is not we who operate, but the laws of nature which we have set in operation.

It is, then, of the highest importance that we should know these laws, in order to know what we are about, and the reason why certain things are, which occur daily under our hands, and what course we are to pursue with regard to them.

Without such knowledge we are condemned to one of three states: either we merely go on to do things just as our fathers did, and for no better reason than because they did them so; or, trusting to some personal authority, we adopt at random the recommendation of some specific, in a speculative hope that it may answer; or lastly-and this is the most favourable case--we ourselves improve upon certain processes; but this can only be the result of an experience hardly earned and dearly bought, and which, after all, can only embrace a comparatively short space of time and a small number of experiments.

From none of these causes can we hope for much progress; for the mind, however ingenious, has no materials to work with, and remains in presence of phenomena, the causes of which are hidden from it.