Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/212

202 of the printer, who had miſtaken a ſhort l in the writing for an r, and a y with too ſhort a tail for a v, whereby employed was converted into improved: but when I returned to Boſton in 1733, I found this change had obtained favour, and was then become common; for I met with it often in peruſing the newſpapers, where it frequently made an appearance rather ridiculous. Such, for inſtance, as the advertiſement of a country houſe to be ſold, which had been many years improved as a tavern; and in the character of a deceaſed country gentleman, that he had been, for more than thirty years, improved as a juſtice of the peace. This uſe of the word improve is peculiar to New-England, and not to be met with among any other ſpeakers of Engliſh, either on this or the other ſide of the water. During my late abſence in France, I find that ſeveral other new words have been introduced into our parliamentary language. For example, I find a verb formed from the ſubſtantive notice. I ſhould not have noticed this, were it not that the gentleman, &c. Alſo another verb, from the ſubſtantive advocate; The gentleman who advocates, or who has advocated that motion, &c. Another from the ſubſtantive progreſs, the moſt aukward and abominable of the three: The committee having progreſſed, reſolved to adjourn. The word oppoſed, though not a new word, I find uſed in a new manner, as, The gentlemen who are oppoſed to this meaſure, to which I have alſo myſelf always been oppoſed. If you ſhould happen to be of my opinion with reſpect to theſe innovations, you will uſe your authority in reprobating them.

The Latin language, long the vehicle uſed in diſtributing knowledge among the different nations of Europe, is daily more and more neglected; and one of the modern tongues, viz. French,