with the ideas they represent have entered the mind, and been rendered familiar by the constant practice of reading and hearing.

Very young children derive their first impres sions of their national idiom from those who speak to them; older ones, or adults, who learn a foreign language not habitually spoken before them, being unable to follow identically the course imposed by Nature, adopt a similar one suggested by reason: they have recourse to books as a means of becoming initiated into that language. To read a book, is to listen to its author; it is to learn a language by practice and imitation, just as a child does who hears it spoken. There is a complete analogy between these two modes of proceeding: translation interprets the foreign idiom, as the language of action interprets the national idiom.

As models of expression, books are preferable to spoken language. In books, particularly, can be found the proper application of words, the only standard which can serve as a guide to speak and write a language according to its genius. They not only contain a larger supply of expressions and more elegance of style than are usually found in conversation, but the impressions received by the eye are also more vivid and more lasting than those conveyed through the ear.

The art of reading, that is, the comprehension of the written language, assumes the first rank in

reçu l'impression, associée aux idées qu'ils représentent, et qu'on se les est rendus familiers par l'habitude de lire et d'entendre.

Le jeune enfant reçoit de ceux qui lui parlent ses premières notions de l'idiome national; l'adolescent ou l'adulte, qui apprend une langue étrangère qu'il n'entend point parler habituellement autour de lui, ne pouvant suivre identiquement le procédé qu'impose la nature, en adopte un parfaitement analogue que suggère la raison : il a recours aux livres, comme moyen d'initiation dans cette langue. Lire un livre, c'est écouter son auteur; c'est apprendre une langue, par la pratique et l'imitation, aussi bien que le fait l'enfant en entendant parler. Il y a complète analogie entre ces deux manières de procéder la traduction interprète l'idiome étranger, comme le langage d'action interprète l'idiome national.

Les livres sont préférables au langage parlé comme modèles d'expression. Ce sont les livres, plus particulièrement, qui font connaître le bon usage, seul guide pour parler et écrire conformément au génie d'une langue. Non-seulement on y trouve une plus riche provision de mots et un style généralement plus soigné que celui de la conversation, mais les impressions de la vue sont plus vives et plus durables que celles de l'ouïe.

L'art de lire, c'est-à-dire l'intelligence du langage écrit, est le premier dans l'ordre de l'étude, comme

the order of study, being the basis upon which rests the acquirement of the three others. The easiest and most accessible, it exceeds them by the number and importance of the advantages it can lay claim to. In the ordinary occurrences of life it affords the greatest resources. It can be practised everywhere and on all occasions, at home or among strangers, either to acquire knowledge, or as a diversion. Alone, it furnishes the means of studying phraseology, from which the laws of an idiom can only be derived. The earnest perusal of a good book is equivalent to following a course of practical logic.

While learning its native tongue, a child passes from audition to reading; the spoken language, the direct sign of its thoughts, gives it the key to written language. In like manner, but reversing the order of acquiring knowledge, he who learns an idiom in books, and becomes familiarized with the written form, will only require frequent audition of the written text, which he already understands, to become familiar with pronunciation. This progress in the comprehension of the spoken language will increase in proportion to his knowledge of the written idiom.

After having for a certain length of time observed in books, and acquired orally from the teachthe words associated with the ideas they repre sent, the student will experience no difficulty whatever in imitating orthography and pronunciation,

er,

étant la base sur laquelle repose l'acquisition des trois autres. Outre qu'il est le plus facile et le plus accessible, il les surpasse par le nombre et l'importance des avantages qu'il présente. C'est celui dont on tire le plus grand parti dans les circonstances ordinaires de la vie. On peut s'y exercer en tout temps et en tous lieux, chez soi ou à l'étranger, soit pour s'instruire, soit pour se distraire. Seul, il fournit les moyens d'étudier la phraséologie et d'en déduire les lois du langage. La lecture sérieuse d'un bon livre est un cours de logique pratique.

Dans la langue maternelle, l'enfant passe de l'audition à la lecture: c'est le langage parlé, signe direct de sa pensée, qui lui donne la clef du langage écrit. De même, mais dans un ordre inverse, celui qui apprend une langue dans les livres, se familiarisant d'abord avec la forme écrite, il lui suffira d'entendre souvent lire le texte écrit qu'il comprend pour se familiariser avec la prononciation. Ses progrès dans l'intelligence du langage parlé seront d'autant plus rapides qu'il comprendra mieux la langue écrite.

Quand on aura longtemps observé dans les livres et entendu dans la parole du maître les mots associés aux idées qu'ils représentent, on n'éprouvera aucune difficulté à en reproduire l'orthographe et la prononciation, premiers éléments pour écrire et pour

the first elements of reading and speaking. Phrase. ology itself, unconsciously stamped upon our mem ory by constant repetition, becomes identified with our thoughts. When reading or listening, we always learn something, and particularly to write and to speak. When speaking or writing, we learn nothing, not even the idiom. The mind does not acquire a single word-not one idea.

Some innovators pretend to teach a language at once, without considering the instincts with which man is endowed for acquiring languages. But this disregard of the evident laws of Providence is unproductive of success.

Whatever view we may take of the relative importance of the four branches, the art of speaking can only be ranked as the third. The art of writing, being the least useful and most difficult to acquire, will be the last to claim the attention of students. Therefore, the order to be pursued in the study of a foreign language should be as follows:

1. The art of reading.
2. The art of hearing.
3. The art of speaking.
4. The art of writing.

Each of these arts constitutes a preparation to those that follow. Thus, linguistic studies fully harmonize the art of reading leads to the art of hearing; both lead to the art of speaking, and the three combined to that of writing.