the genius and idiosyncrasy of the language, as well as accuracy in its details-an extensive knowledge of its literature-a feeling of being at home in it, if we may so say, are acquirements which, while they richly repay the labour that they cost, are unattainable, except by long years of study and continuous practice. The spasmodic efforts of a few months, under strong pressure, may do much; but it is by steady, moderate exertion, year after year, that we best become thus familiar with a language. Without any painful sense of drudgery, it grows gradually upon us, and becomes "part and parcel" of our mental being. With a language, as with a friend, intimacy is evidently the work of time. . . . . It is often said, however, that the thorough grammatical drilling" in Latin and Greek, to which a boy is subjected in the early years of his school course,— the parsing of words, the analysis of the construction of sentences, the comparison of idioms and methods of expression, form an unequalled mental training,* and that not merely as a preparation for the more advanced study of the "classic" authors, but wholly apart from any subsequent practical application. In reply, we would ask-Is not an equally thorough 'drilling" possible in French and German? And, if possible, would it not be productive of equally good results? To these questions we have never seen or heard any negative reply which was not opposed alike to reason and to fact, so far as experience has been attainable in this matter. We do not

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1 A feeling, etc......say, la satisfaction de s'y sentir, pour ainsi dire, chez soi-2 are, etc......by, ne peuvent s'obtenir qu'au prix de-3 part and parcel, partie intégrante training, gymnastique-5 was, fût.

hesitate to affirm that, in so far as thorough "drilling" in all the departments of grammar tends to sharpen the faculties, to fix the attention, to strengthen the memory, or to produce any other intellectual advantage, the result would follow equally,1 in equally able hands, whether the subject language be2 French or Latin, Greek or German.

Westminster Review.

THE ELOQUENCE OF MR. FOX.*

There was no weapon of argument3 which this great orator more happily or more frequently wielded than wit, the wit which exposes to ridicule the absurdity or inconsistency of an adverse argument. It has been said of him that he was the wittiest speaker of his times, and they were the times of Sheridan and of Windham. This was Mr. Canning's opinion, and it was also Mr. Pitt's. There was nothing more awful in Mr. Pitt's sarcasm, nothing so vexatious in Mr. Canning's light and galling raillery as the battering and piercing wit with which Mr. Fox so often interrupted, but always supported, the heavy artillery of his argumentative declamation.

In most of the external qualities of oratory, Mr. Fox was certainly deficient, being of an unwieldy person, without any grace of action, with a voice of little compass, and which, when pressed in the vehe

1 Would follow equally, serait égal—2 whether, etc.......be, que le sujet fût.

3 Argument, argumentation of oratory, de l'orateur.

* Charles James Fox was born in 1748, and died in September, 1806.

mence of his speech, became shrill almost to a cry or squeak; yet all this was absolutely forgotten in the moment when the torrent began to pour. Some of the undertones of his voice were peculiarly sweet; and there was even in the shrill and piercing sounds which he uttered, when at the more exalted pitch, a power that thrilled the heart of the hearer. His pronunciation of our language was singularly beautiful, and his use of it2 pure and chaste to3 severity. As he rejected, from the correctness of his taste, all vicious ornaments, and was most sparing, indeed, in the use of figures at all,5 so, in his choice of words, he justly shunned foreign idiom, or words borrowed whether from the ancient or modern languages, and affected the pure Saxon tongue, the resources of which are unknown to so many who use it, both in writing and in speaking.

6

BROUGHAM.

CHARACTER OF MR. PITT.*

The sight of his mind was infinite, and his schemes were to affect, not England, not the present age only, but Europe and posterity. Wonderful were the means by which these schemes were accomplished, always seasonable, always adequate, the suggestions of an understanding animated by ardour and enlightened by prophecy.

8

1 Almost, etc......squeak, au point de n'être plus guère qu'un cri2 his use of it, l'usage qu'il en faisait-3 to, jusqu'à-4 from, grâce à -5 at all to be left out-6 tongue better omitted-7 both in......and in, tant en......qu'en.

8 Adequate, à la hauteur du but.

* William Pitt was born in 1759, and died in January, 1806.

The ordinary feelings which make life amiable and indolent, those sensations which soften, and allure, and vulgarize, were unknown to him; no domestic difficulties, no domestic weakness reached him; but, aloof from1 the sordid occurrences of life, and unsullied by its intercourse, he came occasionally into our system to counsel and decide.

2

A character so exalted, so strenuous, so various, so authoritative, astonished a corrupt age, and the Treasury trembled at the name of Pitt through all her classes of venality. Corruption imagined, indeed, that she had found defects in this statesman, and talked much of the inconsistency of his glory, and much of the ruin of his victories; but the history of his country, and the calamities of the enemy, answered and refuted her.

Nor were his political abilities his only talents; his eloquence was an era3 in the senate, peculiar and spontaneous, familiarly expressing gigantic sentiments and instructive wisdom,-not like the torrent of Demosthenes, or the splendid conflagration of Tully; it resembled, sometimes the thunder, and sometimes the music of the spheres. Like Murray, he did not conduct the understanding through the painful subtlety of argumentation; nor was he, like Townshend, for ever on the rack of exertion, but rather lightened upon the subject, and reached the point by the flashings of his mind, which, like those of his eye, were felt, but could not be followed.

Yet he was not always correct or polished; on

1 Aloof from, étranger à-2 and unsullied by its intercourse, exempt des souillures de son commerce-3 was an era, fit époque—1 lightened, il passait rapide comme l'éclair.

1

the contrary, he was sometimes ungrammatical, negligent, and unenforcing, for he concealed his art, and was superior to the knack of oratory. Upon many occasions he abated the vigour of his eloquence; but even then, like the spinning of a cannon ball, he was still alive with fatal, unapproachable activity.

Upon the whole, there was in this man something that could create, subvert, or reform; an understanding, a spirit, and an eloquence to summon mankind to society, or to break the bonds of slavery asunder, and rule the wildness of free minds with unbounded authority; something that could establish or overwhelm the empire, and strike a blow in the world that should resound through its history.

HENRY GRATTAN.

A GRANDMOTHER'S RECEIPT FOR DOMESTIC

HAPPINESS.

Take a large quantity of the clear stream of good sense, and an equal portion of good nature, mix them well with a sprig of temperance, and put in a good large bundle of thrift, prudence, candour, and humility, with as much gold-dust as you can procure; to give the dish a true zest, add a few accomplishments, taking great care to avoid conceit and affectation, which is sometimes difficult to separate from the flowers of the graces. A scruple of pride will not be amiss, but take very great care it is not of that rank sort so frequently met with amongst mushrooms: strain these ingredients from dross, let them stand

Unenforcing, peu persuasif-2 he was still alive with, il portait en

lui une.