PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. VU

enabling us to distingiiish sounds and retain them, and a ready flexibility in the organs of articulation (and such flexibility is greatest in youth,) in order to imitate foreign pronunciation with facility, are two of the most important qualifications for learning a living language. If, in addition, we are endowed with a retentive memory, and especially a self-confidence inducing us to reject ail mauvaise îionte in our first attempts at speaking ; nioreover, if we frequently hear a pure phraseology of the language which is the object of our study, its practice will daily become more easy and familiar to us, and its impressions on our mind will be found indelible and lasting.

In order to exemplify practically the application of the above, it will, perhaps, prove interesting to allude to the plans and détails of a first or introcluctory lesson given to English youths. In a vénérable Institution*, widely diffusing the blessings of éducation, an unprecedented opportunity lately offered itself of practising a mode of instruction which, from the circumstance of ail the students commencing to learn the French language at the same time, was unrestrained and unfettered by any previous impressions upon their mincis : the homogeneity of the class was perfect ; no bad habits of speech, so frequently contracted by beginners, had to be eradicated, no ennui to be overcome, no unwillingness to be subdued. It was an excellent opportun ity, and I trust the liberty I am now taking of explaining the mode of proceeding on the occasion of this first lesson in the French language given at that Institution, will be attributed solely to my désire of illus-

* Christ' s Hospital, London. The French language was added to the other branches of éducation in this Institution on the lst of June,

Vlll PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

trating the advantages of a System of imparting a living language possessing great simplicity and endless variety in its application.

Considering that teaching tlie forms and peculiarities of the speech of a foreign nation consists mainly in developing to the mind of students the meanings attached to the foreign sound in the endless multiplicity of its combinations, I apprised the pupils that I was about to exhibit the manner in which the French people represent their thoughts by the voice. For this purpose I chose a few easy and familiar sentences, to the utterance of which I added the ~ natural auxiliary of gesticulation, in order that the latter might assist in the interprétation of my meaning ; mindful with the grammarian Paulmier that " Les gestes précèdent et accompagnent la parole dans V enfance et dans tout le cours de la vie en raison du plus ou moins d'imagination. Ils sont l'interprète des langues*." I soon perceived that sentences thus conveyed were rapidly comprehended, and that the practice of this familiar phraseology excited the greatest interest in the class. The pupils then simultaneously imitated the sentences after me, perseveringly reechoing the pronunciation, and by continued répétition produced a perfect and exact imitation of the original accent. The next step consisted in imparting to the class a correct idea of the nature of the words and sentences which formecl the subject of our practice ; this was an easy task, the students having by their previous

* Les professeurs qui se sont dévoués à renseignement du français en pays étrangers, doivent être convaincus que le langage d'action explique le langage parlé, que les élèves saisissent facilement l'expression orale quand elle est accompagnée de gestes naturels et énergiques. La vérité de cette observation se fait plus sentir quand on se rappelle que " Le muet parle au sourd étonné de V entendre."

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. ix

éducation been well-grounded in classical attainments ; they consequently analysed the language according to its grammatical subdivisions with the greatest accuracy ; and the construction of the words and sentences offering to their intelligence a variety of peculiarities in the French language similar to the Latin, (whence it is chiefîy derived,) many of the rules of French grammar came to them as the natural resuit of their own observation.

To listen, hear and imitate, and to analyse, recompose sentences and practise them in new combinations, form then the basis of this system ; and its application in the above-mentioned Institution promises to produce the most bénéficiai results.

To return to the immédiate object of the présent compilation ; in reminding the student of the meilxod of study contained in the Préface to the French Class-Book, I take this opportunity to direct his attention to the invaluable practice of recitation, the most efficient of ail means for obtaining a good pronunciation. Recitations proceeding from the master and repeated by the student rapidly inculcate the accent upon the car, provided the meaning of the recited or spoken language reach the mind by sounds only. To ascertain this, I generally hâve recourse to the learner's vivâ voce translation of the sentences as I utter them ; careful, at the same time, that the books containing the original remain closed. By this plan the pupil is compelled to listen with the greatest attention, and he thereby acquires the understanding of the oral language in ail its varieties of intonation, with the greatest correctness and the utmost facility.

That " it is the ear which should cause the tongue to move," may be considered an axiom in the study of a living language. The written language speaks only to the eye ;