Eton, that half a dozen lawyers, much less my precepts, would be unable to eradicate the principles of a virtuous education. Strange obstinacy! that people should be so blind to their own interest, as to give up every thing that is considered excellent and honourable amongst mankind, for the self supporting satisfaction of an applauding conscience, and the blessed hope of peace, glory, and immortality. E. THE MINIATURE, NUMB. XXI. MONDAY, November 12; 1804. Patriis intermiscere petita Verba foris malis, Canusini more bilinguis? HOR. Sat. 1, 10. Would you forgetful of your native tongue,, No branch of literature comes, in my opinion, more immediately under the cognizance of a periodical writer, than the important fluctuations to which language is perpetually liable; for through the means of such publications alone this nation can at present acquire any correct acquaintance with the idioms of its own variable dialects. From caprice or the love of novelty, (no better reason can, I fear be assigned,) new expressions are continually adopted, foreign phrases are A a naturalized; and should the words of our ancestors be retained, their signification is so materially altered, that we cannot safely conjecture their present meaning, by resting our judgment upon what they formerly used to express. It has been observed, that the disposition and ruling passions of a nation might be ascertained by the genius of their language; and the Grecian or Latin tongue would either of them seem to corroborate this opinion; more particularly in the terms which they appropriate to express that perfection, which we include under the word, virtue. Whether the English nation could ever have been adduced as an example in favor of this proposition, I am very doubtful; but surely no correct judgment can be at present passed upon us, since our natural language has been so materially altered, and is become so party-coloured from the continual adoption of vulgar phraseology or foreign alloy, that it can scarcely be said with propriety to possess any genius at all. Germany with justice boasts a dialect less varied by the gleanings of other nations than that of almost any other civilized country now existing; for it is only within a very few years that she has permitted any extraneous words to mix and pass as current coin with her own. Is it not then a subject of just indignation to all true patriots, that the very country who boasts the peculiar perfection of her own laws, who asserts a dislike, very nearly bordering upon contempt, for the adoption of foreign manners or sentiments, should condescend to borrow words from another land, to clothe and decorate the terms of that very law she so justly celebrates? That in the course of common conversation, she should adopt her refined expressions from the very country, which is the more peculiar object of her enmity and rivalship? Does it not evince a species of degeneracy, that we should be so far ashamed of the customs, which our ancestors have transmitted to us, as to admit those of our enemy to reform the language which they esteemed already sufficiently correct? What the conquering William at the head of a victorious army, could not force upon our fathers, by the most scrupulous care and strictest regulations, we their ignobler sons are gradually adopting without any necessity, command, or even utility. As the Attic dialect was esteemed by the Grecians, most peculiarly remarkable for its purity, so amongst the English, that of St. James ought to be the most remarkable for its literary pre eminence. Nevertheless, those who are the leaders in that district, are most notorious for their refined innovations. They study to interlard their conversation with foreign idioms and expressions, and render their words more partycoloured than a harlequin's dress. I cannot here avoid quoting a passage from a celebrated Monkish writer, which so remarkably coincides with my own observations, that one would almost imagine him to be ridiculing the manners of the present day. Plane deos esse sese credunt, si hirudinum ritu bilingues appareant; ac præclarum facinus esse ducunt, latinis orationibus subinde græculas aliquot toculas, velut emblemata intertexere, etiam si nunc non erat his locus. They esteem themselves as more than human, should they, like leeches, appear to possess a double tongue; and think it noble to interweave Greek expressions with their Latin orations, even should it be foreign to their purpose. ERASMUS MOR. ENCOM. The affectation which Erasmus ridicules in the foregoing passage, constitutes a prominent feature in the manners of a modern fine gentleman, whose greatest merit lies in his ability to diversify his conversation with foreign expressions, in |