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 have been plainly borne down by numbers and betrayed by those who promised to assist me.

His project of forming an academy to correct and ﬁx the English Language likewise proved futile. It was attacked by Warburton and Johnson. The lexicographer, convinced of the vanity of such expectations, described Swift's project as having been written without much knowledge of the general nature of Language and without any very accurate enquiry into the history of other tongues.

"With the little then known of the nature of language, it is perhaps no wonder that even the greatest of the men of the past should fail to detect the fallacy which pervades the idea of regulating speech by an academy and that consequently belief in the effectiveness of such an agency should be widespread. The French Academy even under the aegis of an absolute government, failed to ﬁx the French language, which altered much during the century after its establishment. That learned body had to pass many arretes approving the changes that time has introduced into the language of the nation. Belief about the beneficent influence of an academy is now dying; and with the increasing knowledge of the nature of language, such projects are less likely to meet with public favour.