4. Andevenofthosewho锛寃ithoutbeinggreatscholars锛宎ttainacertaingeneralacquaintancewiththeancientwriters锛宑anitreallybesaidthattheyhavealsoobtainedthemasteryofEnglish锛烪owmanyyounggentlementherearefromtheuniversitiesandpublicschoolswhocanturnaLatinversewithafacilitywhichwouldmaketheoldRomanssquirmintheirtombs?Howfewtherearewhocanconstructafewgoodsentences锛宱rstilllessafewgoodparagraphsofplain锛宑orrect锛宎ndstraightforwardEnglish.Now锛孖amagreatadmireroftheGreeks锛宎lthough锛宱fcourse锛孖havetodependuponwhatotherstellmeaboutthem锛?andIwouldliketoseeoureducationistsimitateinonerespect锛宎tleast锛宼heGreekexample.HowisitthattheGreeksmadetheirlanguagethemostgracefulandcompendiousmodeofexpressioneverknownamongmen?Didtheyspendalltheirtimestudyingthelanguageswhichhadprecededtheirs?Didtheyexplorewithtirelesspersistencytheancientrootdialectsofthevanishedworld锛烴otatall.TheyonlystudiedGreek.Theystudiedtheirownlanguage.Theylovedit锛宼heycherishedit锛宼heyadornedit锛宼heyexpandedit锛宎ndthatiswhyitsurvivesamodelanddelighttoallposterity.Surelywe锛寃hosemothertonguehasalreadywonforitselfsuchanunequalledempireoverthemodernworld锛宑anlearnthislessonatleastfromtheancientGreeksandbestowalittlecareandsomeproportionoftheyearsofeducationtothestudyofalanguagewhichisperhapstoplayapredominantpartingthefutureprogressofmankind.
(鏈珷瀹?