whom the concurring judgment of the literary world has pronounced classic.

By exercising a careful discrimination as to the number of authors cited, it is possible to give far more liberal and satisfactory specimens from those whose preeminence is unquestioned.

Above all, the Hand-Book is intended to be readable, to make the introduction to our noble literature attractive, and to show that works of acknowledged authority are none the less entertaining, even to the casual reader, from being models. of style and treasuries of thought.

The extracts are arranged in chronological order, so as to show the development of the language; but it will be found convenient in schools, in the first reading, to follow an order similar to that marked out in the original plan for the Latin School, mentioned in the early pages of this volume: since few pupils would be able to contend with the difficulties of obsolete phraseology and masculine thought at the outset. But when the selections are read a second time, it should be in the order in which they are printed.

In regard to this order of reading just mentioned, it will be observed that a few works are prescribed which are not included in this volume. The reason will commend itself to all judicious teachers. While we must be content, in the majority of cases, to give only selections from an author, often too brief, there are some works that will not bear any division, but must be read entire, if at all. For instance, to give a single scene, or even an act, from one of Shakespeare's plays, would be merely tantalizing; far better to omit altogether, unless a whole play could be presented. And any single play would be but a partial expression of his genius. It is strongly recommended that every High School should be furnished with a sufficient number of copies of Shakespeare to allow of a systematic reading of several of his plays; also with Scott's "Lady of the Lake," and Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield.”

A few other authors, of whom Pope, Cowper, Tennyson, and Macaulay may be cited as instances, deserve more attention than the limits of the Hand-Book allow; and the addition of their works to the school library would be highly desirable.

A condensed account of the growth of the language, and of the character and influence of its various elements, is presented, with which, it is hoped, aided by the exposition of the instructor, every pupil will become familiar.

A biographical notice, brought by necessity into narrow limits, is prefixed to the specimens of each author.

For explanatory notes which might often be of signal service, but would fatally cumber the book, the reader must be referred to the full editions in the libraries. Glossarial references, however, are printed upon the margin of the extracts from Chaucer and Burns, and in a few other instances. The translations of a few Latin quotations will be found in an appendix at the end of the volume.

If students derive as much pleasure in reading over this collection as the author has enjoyed in preparing it, they will be amply repaid.

The author acknowledges his indebtedness to Trench "On the Study of Words," Professor Schele de Vere's "Studies in English," White's "Words and their Uses," Marsh's "Lectures on the English Language," Chambers's "Cyclopædia of English Literature," and Morley's "Tables of English Literature." He would also express his gratitude to Robert Carter, Esq., Editor of "Appleton's Journal," to George W. Minns, Esq., and other Masters of the Latin and English High Schools for valuable suggestions during the progress of this work.

A second volume, containing extracts from the works of American authors, made on a somewhat more liberal scale, is nearly ready, and will be issued uniform in style with

this.

BOSTON, April 5, 1871.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.

THE language of a nation, like the prevailing features, stature, and other traits of the people, is a part of its history, and its elements are derived from the speech of older races which have combined to form the new type. Most of the existing languages of Europe are composite, and each one corresponds in close analogy to the union of the races or tribes whose blended traits have become the characteristics of the modern nation.

Our inquiries will not go back farther than the Christian era; to trace the origin of words back to the Sanskrit through Asiatic colonization is a matter of great difficulty and uncertainty, and does not belong to a treatise so elementary as this. That the Latin and Greek languages appear to us as mainly original and uncompounded is due to the fact that the migrations that took place while these tongues were forming were prior to any authentic history. After the fall of the Roman empire, when each European tribe was left to establish its own government, their several original languages, more or less impregnated by the Latin of their former masters, began to receive their natural and diverse development. The laws and customs of each people, their cultivation of the arts of war or peace, their agricultural or maritime pursuits, their fertile plains or mountain fastnesses, their easy obedience to rulers or their fierce contests for independence, their local attachments or their roving, marauding disposition, — all these native tendencies and social and political influences were soon evident as well in their speech as in their character. And, if we did not know the speech of a single

modern European nation, we could, upon the basis of its original stock of words, with a knowledge of its wars offensive and defensive, its migrations and governmental changes, its wealth, customs, and general cultivation, predict with a good degree of certainty the prevailing character of its language and literature.

French, Spanish, and Italian are but three slightly-varying corruptions of Latin. The last is nearest to its original, with only slight additions by the barbarian conquerors of Italy. French, which is in one sense only a lingo, is for the most part only Latin debased by old Gallic and later Norman pronunciation. Spanish is the same noble tongue corrupted by an admixture of Arabic and by the indistinct articulation that prevails among the indolent dwellers in hot climates. People using northern languages, that bristle with sharp consonants and are choked with guttural sounds, would never have rolled "Cæsar Augustus" under lazy tongues until it came out limp and helpless as "Saragossa."

For our present purpose we need not go back farther than the invasion of Britain by the Romans; for subsequent political events neutralized and finally destroyed the influence of the Picts and Celts, and penned up in Wales or drove to the coast of Cornwall nearly all that remains of the original British tongue. The Roman occupation, though it covered a long period, does not appear to have made a very deep or lasting impression upon the customs or the language of the aborigines. The remains of their roads, their camps (castra), and vestiges of their law can still be seen; but in our language the only trace of the first is in the name for distance, mile, and in compounds of stratum, as in Stratford; the second lives in the terminations cester and caster, and in the abridged form of colonia, as in Lincoln; and the last is represented by debt· a word that many a poor Briton probably learned to his cost in the courts. This, of course, is not intended as an exact statement; very many Latin words were probably used before the Romans abandoned the island which were afterwards forgotten during the long domination of other races. It is accurate enough to say that the Latin elements of our language did not come in through the

conquest, but have been introduced through the French, or have been transferred by scholars and naturalized by use.

A history of the invasions of the next following centuries is a history of the foundation of the language. It will not be necessary, even if it were possible, to give more than the most general account of these movements; for piratical excursions were as frequent then as rural picnics are now, and every sailor considered getting booty to be the original purpose and chief end of navigation. As has been already stated, the primitive British or Celtic element was driven out, and it cannot be proved that any part of its vocabulary remains, except in the Erse or Irish, Gaelic or Highland Scotch, and Cymric or Welsh, branches (if they are branches) of the old Celtic speech. A large proportion of the invasions came from the islands and coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic. In Friesland, where the ancient language has not been wholly supplanted by the modern Dutch, the English-speaking traveller understands many simple phrases, and has but little difficulty in making his wants known. But whatever were the relative proportions of the Danes, Jutes, Angles, Frisians, and Saxons that occupied the British Islands, the warring elements were after a time composed under the rule of Saxon kings, the whole population was converted to Christianity, and their different dialects blended into Anglo-Saxon. The Danish invasions for the next century (787-878) were carried on by veritable heathens, worshippers of Woden and Thor, who butchered women and children as well as men, and who endeavored to destroy every church and every vestige of religion. It was one of the turning-points in England's history, therefore, when Saxon Alfred defeated these barbarians, and became, as it were, the schoolmaster as well as protector of his ignorant and long-suffering people. But many Danes had become permanent settlers, and a large portion of the eastern shore was set off for their occupancy and exempted from the jurisdiction of the Saxons. In time there were fresh arrivals of Scandinavians, ever increasing in numbers and in ferocity, until at last the land was overwhelmed, and a Danish king ruled over England.