The Power of the Tongue; Or, Chapters for Talkers

INTRODUCTION.

THE government of the tongue is a practical science with which every individual ought to be acquainted. The circle of the sciences has of late become so extended, that no person, however gifted, and whatever his leisure and advantages, can master the whole. A selection must be made by every student, and that selection must, in the case of most, be exceedingly restricted. Concerning many subjects, the merest elements must suffice. The nation would not be well supplied with laws, medicine, or divinity, with coats, houses, or food, if each member of the commonwealth undertook to comprehend, in all its amplitude, what is comprised in the term "science." But we are certainly disposed to think that the practical science considered in this volume ought to be mastered by all. This may, perhaps, appear more fully, as the chapters are read; but at the very threshold we commend the subject to earnest and prayerful attention. We speak here of an agency which will certainly be employed in some manner; and which cannot, without great injury, be employed selfishly, heedlessly, or ignorantly.

He who daily uses a lancet ought to know how a lancet should be used. But the tongue has inflicted injuries more numerous and disastrous than were ever occasioned by the lancet when in the hands of the most ignorant, clumsy, and self-opinionated of pretenders; and the tongue has also done more good than was ever effected by the lancet as employed by the most learned, skilful, and inquiring among the noble-minded brotherhood of surgeons. The tongue, so potent for good or evil, is daily employed by each one of us. Few are the waking hours which we allow to pass away without talking. We, therefore, certainly ought to learn how to employ our tongues.

The government of the tongue demands the care of all, because of its influence upon our welfare and that of others. The science of language, sometimes spoken of as "comparative philology," is a subject of deep interest, but can be carefully and advantageously studied by few. The number of students is, doubtless, greater than at the commencement of this century; and will, most likely, increase. Some who possess the needful gifts, and are placed in favourable circumstances, and have tastes of this order, will be forthcoming to extend the researches commenced by such men as Grimm, Max-Müller, and other scholars of renown. From that field of intellectual toil, rich harvests will be reaped. Practical men, who have looked on the quiet and absorbed students with mingled pity and disdain, and have been ready to stigmatize them as idlers, will begin to perceive that

the results of that noiseless and patient toil may be profitably employed amid the bustle of manufacturing and commercial enterprise. The higher welfare of our race will also be hereby promoted. Comparative philology stands among the younger of the noble sisterhood of sciences; yet has she already laid some token of her allegiance before the Eternal Throne. There has been, and for a time may be, somewhat of the hasty vaunting and premature prediction in which sceptics are apt to indulge. But the science of language will one day bear a glorious tribute to confirm and illustrate that Divine word which shall never pass away. Speech, as an instrument of the human mind, will become more powerful than it has ever been. For a time it may be employed in the support of error, as well as of truth; yet this weapon will have much to do with the final and complete prevalence of truth.

But, however important comparative philology may be, we cannot commend it as an acquisition for all. The key, which we are told by scholars has been furnished by Sanskrit, that ancient and longguarded language of India, must not be so much as handled or gazed upon by the busy among us. Most of us will never acquire more than the merest elements of the science, as these are simplified for our benefit; and many will never have the opportunity of proceeding even so far. We must leave to others the task of laborious investigation, curious research, and ingenious theorizing concerning the weapon which we all constantly wield. Our duty is to employ it, as

it has been committed to us, for God and the right. It may be proper for some to ascertain all that can be known of warlike weapons. Such, in the quiet of a military academy, may have leisure to inquire with what kind of armour, offensive and protective, Nimrod, that mighty hunter of men, was arrayed; how old Troy was assailed and defended; how Carthage directed the fiery tide of war to the very walls of Rome, yet was at length destroyed; and so trace the increasing destructiveness of those deadly instruments by which, age after age, men have sought to slay their opponents, until the question arises concerning the comparative merits of granite and iron, land-defences and floating batteries. But there is no time for such researches during actual conflict. The question for each combatant, face to face with the foe, is, "How can I best employ such weapons as I have?" When the empire of the sea was disputed, at the opening of this century, our naval chieftain perplexed not his mind concerning curious questions appertaining to the past or the future. Yonder, this day, is an armament which, if triumphant, will greatly assist in the subjugation of Europe to a military despotism. That armament must not be triumphant. How can it be most effectually and speedily destroyed? Nelson had no iron ships, no screw-steamers, no invulnerable rams; but with such vessels as he had, and the hearts of English oak prepared to carry out his resolves, he swept the allied foes of Britain from the seas. We must leave comparative philology, though it may establish its claim

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