Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/70

46&#93; 4 6] ss C mas., the use of accents, ^r the meaning of a passage in Horace, ■whilst, at the same time, they are sr.'Nring the finest language in the world, their own, to lie entirely uncultivated, unless by the lauda- ble and occasional efforts of some lual? Had the same been practised b} r the Greeks or Romans — had they studied nothing but Egyptian hieroglyphics, we might, at this day, have been obliged to travel to the Pyrari. read the Classics, whilst ail the let- ters in the wortii would have been tag more than the ill-imitated fi >rmS of men. animals, implements, fee: If we think that they did right, why do We not imitate their example ? What possible reason 6an be aHedged why the English might not, by similar care and at- tention, be made as good a lan- guage a^ either the Greek or Latin ? Had we the address of Swift, or AjddisoNj what a petition might we draw up in favour of our poor mother tongue, setting forth the many hai • long en- dured ; the various insults and barbarous injuries she, from time to tirri ' ... red, and is still oblige .. duti- fulm ss kc. ANCIENT LEAR XING sig- mcewith the writin .A very great and illiberal prejudice has : -ted, which has induced us to give a con- si int J refei ence for their genius, as well as their virtue. Their :on 'age, and i been tx- folled rior to our nq» acq-.: ■- rfecblon. 1 . indeed, have been ar their laurels dux- ANC fe ; these have been generally reserved, either to crown their statues, or entwine around their tombs. Homer, in his days, was considered as a mere ballad singer ; he is now a bard. Shaksteare lived a precarious hireling. Mil- ton's divine poem lay long neglect- ed, and was sold for a song. 0T- way lived and died in a corner; Cervantes passed his days in po- verty and obscurity, a living re- proach to Spain ; and the first of our English philosophers, the im- mortal Newton, was indebted to the officious kindness of a Bar- row, to announce his merit to the world. Praise is slower than cen- sure, because the former is retarded by envy and contention, which time alone, the final subduer of all things, can effectually remove. — Tis th' • iri the moral as in die natural world : the sun exhibits the largest disk, when about to quit our hemisphere. The ancients have acquired a prejudged In. tary admiration, and their only solid grounds of preference are, that they had the good fortune vo come first rid. Thus, by the] of primogeniture, the eldest son fits the patrimony, to the de- trime "est of the famn It cannot, however, be disputed, that the ancient writers have left -rformances which would re- flect the highest honour on any age, .o allow them the
 * sive excellence, is

injustice to their competitors. A principle of tenderness has been urged as a plausible reason for entert for the ancients, and that the infant state j ought to experience the^ indulgence which is shewn to young children. The weakness of this plea is evident ; and