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 CHAPTER XIII

THOUGHTS ON THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE

I

T is difficult to interest the educated Englishman in a subject so widely remote from his intellectual horizon as the study of the Russian language; and even the Oxford classical scholar, who, it is true, is prodigiously ignorant outside the narrow range of his professional studies, knows nearly as much about the dialects of the Bantu tribes of Central Africa, as about the language of Tolstoy. This dense ignorance and stupid insularity cannot continue for ever. Already the University of Liverpool, under the able leadership of Professor Pares, has done splendid work in promoting intellectual intercourse between Great Britain and Russia. Under the stimulus of the modern universities—more progressive than the older seats of learning—the coming generation will, sooner or later, awaken to the existence of a language which provides as valuable a mental discipline and gymnastic as any classical language,