An Apology for the Study of Northern Antiquities | Page 6

assure them, that our greatest Divines[A], and Lawyers[B],
and Historians[C] are of another Opinion, they wou'd advise them to
consult our Libraries, those of the two Universities, the Cottonian, and
my Lord Treasurers; to study your whole Thesaurus, particularly your
Dissertatio Epistolaris, to look into Mr. Wanleys large and accurate

Catalogue of Saxon Manuscripts, and so with Modesty gain a Title to
the Applause of having confest their former Ignorance, and reforming
their Judgment. I believe I may farther take leave to assure them, that
the Doctor is as little concerned for their Inference, which they think
_so plain from what has been said, that they are not obliged to derive
the Sense, Construction, or Nature of our present Language from his
Discoveries_. He desires them not to derive the Sense and Construction
of which they speak, in any other manner, than that in which the Nature
of the things themselves makes them appear; and so far as they are his
Discoveries only, intrudes them on no Man. He is very willing they
should be let alone by those, who have not Skill to use them to their
own Advantage, and with Gratitude.
[Footnote A: Archbishops Parker, Laud, Usher, Bishop Stillingfleet,
the present Bishops of Worcester, Bath and Wells, Carlisle, St. Asaph,
St. Davids, Lincoln, Rochester, with many other Divines of the first
Rank.]
[Footnote B: The Lord Chief Justice Cook, Mr. Lombard, Selden,
Whitlock, Lord Chief Justice Hales, and Parker, Mr. Fortescue of the
Temple, and others.]
[Footnote C: Leland, who writes in a Latin Style in Prose and Verse, as
polite and accurate as can be boasted of by any of our modern Wits.
Jocelin, Spelman, both Father and Son, Cambden, Whelock, Gibson,
and many more of all Ranks and Qualities, whose Names deserve well
to be mention'd with Respect, were there room for it in this place.]
But to leave these Pedagogues to huff and swagger in the heighth of all
their Arrogance. I cannot but think it great Pity, that in our
Considerations, for Refinement of the English Tongue, so little Regard
is had to Antiquity, and the Original of our present Language, which is
the Saxon. This indeed is allow'd by an ingenious Person, who hath
lately made some Proposals for the Refinement of the English Tongue,
_That the old Saxon, except in some few Variations in the Orthography,
is the same in most original Words with our present English, as well as
with the German and other Northern Dialects; _which makes it a little
surprizing to me, to find the same Gentleman not long after to say,
_The other Languages of Europe I know nothing of, neither is there any
occasion to consider them: _because, as I have before observ'd, it must
be very difficult to imagin, how a Man can judge of a thing he knoweth

nothing of, whether there can be occasion or no to consider it. I must
confess I hope when ever such a Project shall be taken in hand, for
correcting, enlarging, and ascertaining our Language, a competent
Number of such Persons will be advised with, as are knowing, not only
in Saxon, but in the other Languages of Europe, and so be capable of
judging how far those Languages may be useful in such a Project. The
want of understanding this aright, wou'd very much injure the Success
of such an Undertaking, and the bringing of it to Perfection; in denying
that Assistance toward adjusting the Propriety of Words, which can
only be had from the Knowledge of the Original, and likewise in
depriving us of the Benefit of many useful and significant Words,
which might be revived and recalled, to the Increase and Ornament of
our Language, which wou'd be the more beautiful, as being more
genuine and natural, by confessing a Saxon Original for their native
Stock, or an Affinity with those Branches of the other Northern
Tongues, which own the same Original.
The want of knowing the Northern Languages, has occasion'd an
unkind Prejudice towards them: which some have introduced out of
Rashness, others have taken upon Tradition. As if those Languages
were made up of nothing else but Monosyllables, and harsh sounding
Consonants; than which nothing can be a greater Mistake. I can speak
for the Saxon, Gothick, and Francick, or old _Teutonick_: which for
aptness of compounded, and well sounding Words, and variety of
Numbers, are by those learned Men that understand them, thought
scarce inferior to the Greek itself. I never cou'd find my self shocked
with the Harshness of those Languages, which grates so much in the
Ears of those that never heard them. I never perceiv'd in the Consonants
any Hardness, but such as was necessary, to afford Strength, like the
Bones in a human Body, which yield it Firmness and Support.