Images de page
PDF
ePub

the learner's imagination, and thus eminently promotes his progress, either in speaking or writing with facility or accuracy: while memory, the caterer of that valuable and brilliant faculty of the mind, is invigorated by the manner in which recitation is effected. (See page li., &c.) Thus, those whose retentive powers are weak, will very perceptibly acquire a degree of strength, which will enable them to recollect with case the phraseology of the new langnage, because all the mental powers are brought into action, and directed, simultaneously, to one and the same end, and concur to support and aid cach other. The great benefit of any system which invigorates the memory, will not be denied. There can be no genius without a strong memory. The retentive power is the source whence imagination draws her materials, and the moving principle of all the operations of judgment. The Greeks, therefore, were very correct in conferring on the Muses the title of Daughters of Memory We have incontestible proofs of the great supcriority it confers on those who continually exercise it. Demosthenes, that unrivalled orator and lawyer, transcribed Thucydides eight times, and committed the same to memory, to give, as he observed, more elasticity to his genius.

13th. If any method be calculated to give rise to diligence and industry, and, by the powerful force of habit, make them permanent, it must certainly be the present one, as it keeps the attention of each scholar alive, without the loss even of a single minute during the whole time of tuition; which, in this respect, differs materially from all other modes, where the hours of instruction, being subdivided among the several classes of a school, and oftentimes among individuals of it, leaves the greatest part of the school-time at the discretion of the pupils, which inevitably induces indolence and inattention.

14th. A very extraordinary advantage, peculiar to this method, is that any Frenchman, possessed of a good pronunciation, may, in a sufficient degree, without a knowledge of the English, convey instruction. This is evident, as it is not necessary the Master should utter a single word of English, either at the reading or recital of the lessons. As no explanations are wanted, at least for a considerable time, the teacher may attend to his pupils for a month or two without speaking to them, while they recite their lessons, or read new ones, during that period. At the end of that time, if the pupil exercise his memory, he will have amassed such a collection of phrases, that the Master may address him in French; and, should even all the words of the conversation not be understood, such parts of it as may be known to him will lead him into the meaning of the whole. Such a practice will daily make him more familiar with French; and, from his being under the necessity of drawing supplies for the formation of phrases from his continually-increasing stock of words, he will soon acquire a facility in speaking,-the great object in view.

As, towards the end of the course, from the peculiarity of the mode of tuition, the Master must have acquired a knowledge of the English language sufficient to enable him to translate English into French, he should comment, in French, on some of the rules of my syntax, as several of them are original, and clearly point out the peculiar genius of each language.

It will be objected, that the French Master, for want of a knowledge of the English, will not know how to use this book. In this, however, he can be relieved by the Scholars, who, as they understand English, can easily direct the Master how to instruct them. One of the Scholars, for instance, will, in his presence, personate his very part on the rest of the Class. The system being thus brought into action, will be readily understood by the French teacher.

15th. Were this method applied to the dead languages, which might be accomplished without material alterations in the two parts of the work, a tenth part of the time consumed in learning even imperfectly those languages, as they are now taught, would be sufficient to the attainment of a complete knowledge of them. What a salutary reformation would education then undergo!-Education, which, as it is generally conducted, is nothing more than a fashionable way of wasting in the drudgery of schools the most valuable part of life; and all this, in many cases, to acquire such languages as, on our entering into the world, are scarcely of any utility to us. How much better would that time be employed, in the acquisition of such arts as are useful to society, or even in gymnastic exercises, which invigorate the frame, and render man more adequate to the performance of those various duties and functions which an all-wise CREATOR has imposed on him, in his passage through this transitory life.

16th. Though the present work is applied to the French language, for the use of English learners, yet it may equally impart the English language to French learners. The method of using it will be the same as the one just laid down, except that the Master, when he wishes his pupils to recite their lessons, should read aloud the English phrase instead of the French. With regard to the verbs, it will be indispensable owing to the difference of genius between the two languages, that, when the pupil has become master of the two auxiliary verbs, to have, and to be, as well as of the two verbs, to carry, aud to dress, which may serve as models of conjugation to regular verbs, he should commit to memory the irregular verbs given in all grammars. As soon as he is well acquainted with the verbs, he will be qualified to begin reading my syntax, to the rules of which he should pay much attention; and, by comparing together the French and English examples which illustrate them, he will be enabled to observe how the two languages differ: a discovery which cannot fail to initiate him into the peculiarities of the English language.

17th. Another great benefit of this work is, that it precludes the necessity of going to France, in order to acquire the language; for it places the learner in the same situation as if he were to learn French by an intercourse with the natives; see pages lxvi., lxvii. &c. I will even assert, (paradoxical as it may appear,) on the firm ground of experience, that it would be better for an Englishman to learn French in his own country, under the direction of a good teacher, by my method, than to learn the language in France without it. The reason is obvious: with the assistance of a tolerable memory, he may, in the short period of four months, acquire a sufficient proportion of the phrases contained in my first volume; and these will be found to comprise a much greater supply of words and modes of expression, than he could have acquired in treble that time in France, where he must have depended on casual circumstances only for the acquisition of almost every word.

18th. The present System is equally admirable in its adaptation to SELF-TUITION. The two volumes comprise every particular relating to the French language; and, when we consider that they afford memory, -the faculty of the mind most actively engaged in learning languages, with an adequate supply, it will be evident that they can, without farther aid, impart the language upon which they treat. The objection, that the phrases cannot be uttered without lessons in pronunciation from a native, I have happily removed, by a system of pronunciation taken from my New Universal Pronouncing Dictionary of the French and English Languages," where, proceeding from the known to the unknown, I have deduced every French sound but one from the English; and from that one I have devised a mechanical process, by means of which it is most accurately defined to the conception of the pupil. We refer the reader to page 109, &c. of volume ii.

Of

19th. My System is also exquisitely formed for PRIVATE TUITION, this I can adduce an illustrious example. The amiable and accom. plished lady of the late Marshal MOREAU, on arriving at Philadelphia, whither she followed her husband in exile in 1805, evinced an anxious desire of acquiring the language of the nation where her misfortunes and persecuted merit experienced those kind attentions, which in some degree effaced the sadness arising from the recollection of the past. A gentleman presented her with a copy of "Nature Displayed." Madame

1

• A friend of mine gratified me with an interesting anecdote concerning this Dictionary. Being intimate with the celebrated Talma, he presented that distinguished artist with a copy of it. A few days afterwards, Talma called to thank my friend for his gift. "It is invaluable to me," exclaimed the celebrated tragedian, "I never suffer it to go out of my possession. At night I put it under my pillow, and by day I make it my companion; and it shall never be suffered to go out of my hand, till every syilable of it is rooted in my head."-Such a testimony, from such a source, cannot be quoted without pride.

i

i

Moreau, who speaks the Italian and Spanish languages with the facility of a native, and her own language with the most critical nicety, was struck with the extreme simplicity of the method.

At Morrisville (Pennsylvania), a short time after, she began her course of instruction herself, with no other assistance than oral information, derived from a young French lady, who, having come to America when a child, had acquired the purity of the English accent. At the end of three months, extraordinary as it may appear to those who, not having exercised the memory, are unacquainted with the great power of that faculty, she knew perfectly by heart all the phrases of my first volume, and the necessary English verbs. She then visited her female friends in Philadelphia, with whom she could already converse and enjoy their society. I was desired to assist her in the reading of English authors. I suspended with pleasure my literary pursuits, to accomplish it. Prose writers we read for a fortnight; they became too easy: and who can be surprised at this, when told, that the phrases embrace all the turns used in prose, and all the necessary words? To complete a knowledge of the language, we had recourse to the poets. Goldsmith's Poems were read with delight; than Thomson's Seasons. As a preparation to Shakspeare's tragedies, we revi several of the most celebrated among the more modern ones. At length we began Hamlet. Whatever might have been found obscure, was explained by the commentators upon the English bard, as well as they could. His other tragedies offered roses with very few thorns; for the sagacity of the fair learner soon entered so well into the spirit of the immortal author, that recourse was but seldom had to the commentators. Thus was a very copious and difficult language acquired in the course of less than six months,-a striking instance of the degree of elevation to which genius, supported by the rapid wings of analysis, may reach.

This brilliant example will point out to the wealthy the propriety of causing this System to be employed in the private education of their children. A man of abilities might do for an individual exclusively what he might accomplish with the same ease for thousands; that is to say, he might direct the whole power of this method to their general improvement. Nay, even a greater advantage than that of learning languages accrues from a plan thus deduced from the analysis of the human mind, as it invigorates the feeble understanding,and splendidly proves how far education can repair the neglect of Nature towards the intellectual faculties of man. 20th. It is the most economical of all methods; because it not only saves

The language or prose-writers and that of poets differs so much in English, that the former may be well understood without the latter, which is far more difficult. It is not so in French as its poetry is not very different from prose; for it is not so much in construction, as in the choice of expression, that the difference consists.

TIME, the most precious of all wealth, by the rapidity of the progress, but it likewise, in a surprising degree, saves MONEY.

The wonderful saving of MONEY which arises from the adoption of this system, distinctly appears, from the following calculation of the MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM OF EXPENSE required in the exercise of it on the largest scale.

I will suppose London, as the latest statistical writers assert, to contain about one million of inhabitants: and that, on an average, the hundredth part, or ten thousand of them, devote some portion of their

A striking instance of the power and efficacy of this system in teaching thoroughly in less than a year, occurred in Dublin, in a class of twenty-four young Irish gentlemen, who had never received any previous instruction. Such a proof of the power of the system must bring conviction to the mind of the most incredulous. The following account of a public exhibition of it is extracted from the Dublin Drumatic Review of the 4th of April, 1821.

"FRENCH ACTING.

"We were induced yesterday to attend Monsieur Buquet's lecture on the Drama, at the late We were highly gratified by it: for, though but a brief sketch, Theatre Royal, Rotunda. it contained many excellent remarks on French comedy. This lecture was succeeded by the performance of select scenes from French tragedies and comedies, by young gentlemen, pupils of M. Buquet. The scene between Brutus and C'ésur, from Voltaire's tragedy of "La Mort de Cesar," was well declaimed. The oration of Antoine over the dead body of César was admirably well delivered by the same young gentleman who personified Brutus in the preceding scene. The old physician and his servant, from the comedy of "Le Grondeur," by Brueys and Palaprat, were sustained, we might almost say, to perfection, considering the age of the boys who made the attempt, and that too in a foreign language. The boy that played M. de Pourceaugnac showed a great deal of comicality; Eraste was acted in a lively way, which was truly French. There were scenes from the following comedies of Moliere, viz. "Le Tartuffe," "Don Juan," (in which the spirit and vivacity of the gay libertine's character were given with great truth,)"Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme," "L'Avare," and "Le Médecin malgré lui ;” all of which, without exception, were received with great applause. How the fire and animation of the French character could be infused into an Irishman long resident in France, may be easily accounted for, from the similarity which the buoyant feelings of Hibernians bear to their more lively neighbours; but that the easy gaieté of a Parisian could be acquired in this country, at so early an age, and in so short a period, is almost incredible."

In the Dublin Freeman's Journal, of March 21, 1821, there occurs the following tribute to the merits of the system, as evidenced in the exhibition of the French plays.

"The exhibition on Monday was successful beyond expectation. This is not the first time that we have noticed the wonderful effects of Mr. Dufief's system, and of its powers on the human organs; and have no hesitation in calling the public attention to this new and valuable discovery in the art of teaching. We were prepared to bestow every indulgence on the dramatic efforts of these young boys, endeavouring to perform in a foreign language; and are free to confess that we received the highest gratification at the performance.

"The first scene between Cæsar and Brutus from Voltaire's tragedy of 'La mort de César, was ably acted. The boy who played Brutus well pourtrayed the conflict between filial sentiIn the comic scene of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme' the ments and those of a republican.

same boy was again introduced, and played Mr. Jourdain ; we understand his name is Healy; in this part, as well as in that of Sganarelli, the Mock-Doctor, he kept the whole audience laughing by his truly comical style. We were also much pleased with the boy who played the Miser's part; he displayed great talent for acting. The scene of a miser dismissing a servant was extremely well acted by him and little Reeves, who excited so much attention. The scene of the Mock Doctor was the last, and contributed not a little to the amusement of the company. All those scenes of Molier's were delivered in a pure accent, and delighted every body; and it would seem indeed as if nothing but a powerful method of teaching, such as that of Mr. Dufief, could have produced similar effects." i 2

« PrécédentContinuer »