X PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

tîie characters which compose it are merely the représentatives of souncls and articulations. The spoken language, as has been before said, is the immédiate représentative ofideas. A knowledge of beth, namely the graphie and oral language, is necessary to constitute the full and desired information, but they are each to be acquired by a process of study perfectly distinct. When reading French, or any other spoken language, the alphabet of which is similar to that of his vernacular tongue, the English student is constantly deceived by its characters, which, to his eye, represent the sounds of his own language ; hence the continuai Anglicisms in his utterance, or English -French as the attempts of beginners are often termed. How, indeed, can it be otherwises if the car has not been cultivated by listening to, and endeavouring to retain the foreign accent ? How can it be otherwise, if the organs of articulation hâve not been well drilled to imitate with rapidity and ease ?

In pronunciation the student must follow the master; books will ne ver teach the language spoken, and the charlatanisme of those works, which prétend to teach the speaking of a language without the aid of oral instruction, must be as obvions as their professions are absurd. A living language is composed of sounds which are very imperfectly rapresented by graphie characters ; as the word itself expresses, it is the tongue, and that alone, can teach it ; besides, as has been before said, there are the adjuncts of gesture, the expression of the physiognomy, and çndless familiar means, which might be called the tacit socialities that accompany speech, — and thèse cannot be found in books. Doubtless a student may acquire, with labour, a very extensive knowledge of French by books alone, treating it as a dead language, but he may rest assured that his information will always be limitée! to books.