Images de page
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

"Pourquol les ouvrages de la Nature sont-ils si parfaits? c'est que chaque ouvrage est un tout et qu'elle travaille sur un plan éternel dont elle ne s'écarte jamais."-BUFFON

ALTHOUGH I am fully aware that an author can seldom be justified in obtruding his own affairs on the reader, yet there are certain circumstances of my private history so intimately interwoven with the Plan which I have now the honour to propose, that I trust I shall be forgiven for saying as much of myself as may be found necessary to elucidate my system. I have been many years a witness of the wonderful effects of my plan of education: by its influence, I have seen the youthful mind dart upward, as it were at one bound, to knowledge; and, when I contrast its great comparative benefits with the perfect simplicity of its origin and operation, I am not surprised if superficial observers regard my enthusiasm with a smile. Those, however, who recollect that a falling apple first awakened the exploring powers of NEWTON to the wonders of the creation; and that a mere verbal difference, at a convivial party, directed the acute mind of LOCKE towards the mysteries of the human understanding, will not need to be reminded, that the greatest effects may spring from the most trivial causes. In the present case, the strongest arguments in support of my system are deducible from the circumstances which gave birth to it; and the detail of its history will at once explain its pretensions, and render its value evident.

My father, a knight of the royal and military order of St. Louis, was strongly attached to the august dynasty of the Bourbons, and followed their fortunes: he was one of their last and warmest defenders among the noblesse of Brittany. My mother, though reared in luxury, possessed a masculine and heroic spirit. While her husband, serving as a volunteer under the French Princes in Germany, was fighting for his king and country in one quarter, this excellent woman was no less ardently patriotic in another. Rising above the general consternation, she armed her vassals at her own expense, and personally led on a little army to assert the rights of Royalty.

b

The virtuous monarch whom sho vindicated remembered her zeal, and restored her to her dignities. The sons of this gallant pair were not untrue to their glory: though but a stripling of fifteen, I volunteered my services, and received the regular certificates of my humble faithfulness.† The misfortunes of the cause scattered our family, and destroyed our resources. We were forced to abandon France, and were thrown, for support, upon our personal efforts. My destiny led me to the West Indies; and thence I was attracted to Philadelphia, in the United States of North America, where I arrived in July 1793. It became essential for me to acquire the English language. My career had been military. I was but a youth of sixteen, and of course had never paid much attention to literary pursuits; consequently, I prepared to begin my new studies in the beaten track. I purchased such books as were thought best calculated to effect my object. The works of the three great English historians, with those of Milton and Thomson; two Grammars, written for French learners; Boyer's Dictionary, in quarto; and Sheridan's for Pronunciation, constituted my library. No sooner had I agreed with an English instructor to commence a course of grammar and grammatical exercises, than the sudden appearance of the yellow fever scattered the population of Philadelphia, and drove me to Princeton, in New Jersey,

• A letter from His Majesty Louis XVIII. acknowledging the services of the Countess, my mother, has already been inserted in the preceding pages.

The following certificate, which was transmitted to me in America by the Comte d'Hector, is selected from several others, and repeated here, in corroboration of the narrative. To say that I quote such testimonials without pride, would be uncandid. He who does not exult in having exposed his life for his country, deserves no praise for loyalty and patriotism.

[Original]

JEAN CHARLES, COMTE D'HECTOR, Lieutenant Général des Armées Navales de sa Majesté Très-Chrétienne, Commandeur de l'Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis : CERTIFIONS que Monsieur Nicolas Gouïn Dn Fief, gentilhomme de la province de Bretagne, diocèse de Nantes, s'est réuni en 1792, au corps de la marine royale rassemblé sous nos ordres à Enghein; qu'il a fait avec le corps la campagne de 1792, dans l'armée de L. A. R. les Princes, trères du Roi, jusqu'à l'époque de son licenciement et qu'il a tenu constamment la conduite d'un gentilhomme fidèle à Dien et à l'Honneur. En foi de quoi nous lui avons donne le preent certificat pour lui servir au besoin, LE CTE. D'HECTOR.

A Southampton, le 27 8re, 1796.

[Translation.]

We, John Charles, Count of Hector, Lieutenant General of the Naval Forces of his Mos Christian Majesty, and Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis, DO HEREBY CERTIFY, that Nicolas Gouïn Du Fief, a nobleman of the province of Brittany in the bishopric of Nantz, joined, in 1792, the royal naval corps assembled under our command at Enghein; and that he performed the campaign of 1792 with the said corps, in the army of their Royal Highnesses the Princes, brothers of the King, till it was disbanded; and that his conduct was undeviatingly that of a nobleman faithful to God and Honor. As a testimony of which, we have given the present certificate that it may be of service to him in case of need. Southumpton, 27th of October, 1798. (Signed)

LE COMTE D'HECTOR.

for refuge. In this healthful retreat, celebrated as the seat of a distinguished seminary of learning, my mind was immediately bent upon my English studies. On examining my trunks, I discovered that, in the consternation of my flight, my grammars had been left behind. I sought in vain for grammars at Princeton: I found several for teaching French to the English, but nono for teaching English to the French. I wrote to Philadelphia in vain: every communication with that unfortunate city had been forbidden. This dilemma affected me more sensibly than all my misfortunes in the Revolution. Without my grammars, I thought it impossible to learn English. After losing several days in listlessness and irrcsolution, I determined to attempt to instruct myself, through the medium of the books in my possession. Necessity compelled me to undertake this arduous task, as none of the teachers in the seminary were sufficient masters of the French to enable me to benefit by their instructions. By a method essentially the same as the one here detailed, NATURE and NECESSITY enabled me to attain my object. In the short period of four months, though entirely unassisted, I acquired a tolerable knowledge of the English language; and, by the aid of Sheridan's Dictionary, even pronounced tolerably well. Animated by this triumph, I was impelled to pursue the idea of a thorough reform in the mode of teaching language, to which my personal experience had given birth. At this time I had the good fortune to meet with a gentleman of considerable literary acquirements and metaphysical knowledge. To him I communicated my discovery, and learned for the first time that the high authoritics of Locke, Condillac, Dumarsais, D'Alembert, Saint-Pierre, and other great inen, might be adduced in my support. I borrowed from my friend the “Cours d'Etude" of Condillac, and was delighted to find that the abbe's method of teaching languages to the Prince of Parma resembled mine of teaching English to myself. It was but natural that I should desire to extend the benefits of a system, for which I had been indebted to the simple dictates of Nature. With the ardour which could not fail to arise from the consciousness of the great reform within my grasp, I pursued the object. I prepared a System of Teaching, and communicated the particulars to a friend. "Don't be discouraged at difficulties," said be, in answer to my letter; 66 come as near NATURE as you can; observe her take her, as Fontenelle says, by surprise. Have mothers recourse to grammar, when teaching their offspring?"-When my work had attained more maturity, I addressed a letter upon the subject to THOMAS JEFFERSON, Esq. then Vice-President, and afterwards President, of the United States. I had, not long before, by the honour of an acquaintance with this venerable philosopher, been enabled to judge how far his high reputation fell below his real merits, and I became solicitous to be encouraged by his good opinion. From his polite answer, the following is an extract:-.

"Washington; 9th of January, 1800. “You will render a great service, if you can abridge the acquisition of a new language; it would greatly facilitate our progress in science, if one could shorten the time necessary for learning the languages in which it is deposited. "" Accept my salutations and best wishes,

[blocks in formation]

Thus animated, I specdily put my system to the test of experiment, and taught the French language by it with unexampled success. I was instantly urged to publication. Three editions of my work were soon exhausted; and every year has impelled me to farther improvements, until at length I have been enabled, by ardent and unremitting application, to extend my plan to a general system of rapid, economical, and profound instruction, equally applicable to every language; which will, I trust, render it worthy of the enlightened country to which it is now submitted.

Before explaining the system to which I have adverted, it will be proper to enter into an Analysis of the work before us, to which that system is meant to be applied. I shall then proceed to the great plan which I am so ardently desirous of rendering useful to the world. I shall afterwards refute every objection which has been offered against it; and, finally, I shall endeavour to impress my readers with a conviction of its advantages, equal to that which has rendered me so sanguine and fervent in its support.

The present edition of "Nature Displayed" is divided into two Volumes. The FIRST is exclusively practical. It contains three voc、bularies of familiar phrases; two very useful lists of French verbs, exemplified in appropriate sentences; two collections of phrases, the one comprising a complete formulary of conversation, and the other exclusively proverbial and idiomatical; and it concludes with a selection from suitable authors, constituting the first part of "LE LECTEUR FRANÇAIS," or French Reader; to which, I shall revert hereafter.

In the First Vocabulary will be found a catalogue of numbers, the principal adjectives, and an adequate collection of abstract nouns. It commences with the catalogue of numbers, because the frequent occurrence of ideas relative to numbers renders the earliest acquaintance with their signs indispensable. The adjectives have been so disposed as to impart as prompt and as perfect a knowledge of the feminine gender to French adjectives as can be found even in a native Frenchman. From the most ingenious rules and theories on the subject, the scholar could not obtain that accurate information requisite to save him from continual errors, which is here acquired with incredible facility. The abstract nouns in this vocabulary are alphabetically arranged.

The Second Vocabulary comprises those important words which are known in Grammar by the denomination of ARTICLES, PRONOUNS, PRE

POSITIONS, ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS, and INTERJECTIONS. These words give to the language that possesses them in the greatest abundance a decided superiority over any other, as the thoughts in the human mind (like a picture in which light and shade are happily disposed), appear with more precision, when conveyed under that variety of expression from which even the faculty of reasoning receives a greater degree of acouracy: indeed they are so essential to the complete conveyance of our ideas, that we can scarcely utter a sentence without introducing some of them. To be more fully convinced of their frequent occurrence, let the reader extract them, with the auxiliary verbs to have and to be, from any printed or written page, and little more than two-fifths of it will remain. This circumstance, therefore, clearly demonstrates the expedience of supplying the memory with those essential words in the first

nstance.

The Third Vocabulary is that of the names of objects which occur most frequently in conversation, the gender being always affixed to each. To every word of this vocabulary, as well as to those of the two preceding, is adapted a familiar phrase, which renders the fundamental words more striking. There are certain nouns which naturally call to the memory certain verbs; for example, the words kitchen, turnspit, &c. elicit the idea of to cook, to roast, &c. To meet these instances, phrases have been constructed, which bring, in due succession, all the nouns and verbs tending to the same general subject, before the student. The classification in the third vocabulary is not arbitrary: on the contrary, I have followed as nearly as possible the succession indicated by our wants. The advantages of this arrangement must be obvious to every one, as it places the most useful phrases the first in order. To obtain greater pre ́cision, the vocabulary is divided into sections, and the scctions are divided into chapters.

The first list of French verbs, which follows the third vocabulary, comprises such as do not require particles after them, which the corresponding English verbs do. The second, on the contrary, includes verbs requiring particles different from those of the corresponding English. A knowledge of these two lists, and their appropriate phrases, will guard the pupil from the great errors to which, by the genius of his own language, he is naturally predisposed.

Two collections of peculiar phrases next occur. The first includes the formulary of conversation, which the preceding vocabularies offered no opportunity of presenting'; some of these phrases are selected from numerous works written for the use of Englishmen, and others supplied from me

The French language is universally acknowledged to excel in this respect, and hence derives Cat clearness, or precision, which is its great characteristic.-Ce qui n'est pas clair, (says Rivaroi,) n'est pas Français; ce qui n'est pas clair est encore Anglais, Italien, Grec› ou Latin,

« PrécédentContinuer »