Were this
retrogressive mode of investigating and applying principles, to
obtain, among philologists, the ascendency over that which
accommodates the use of language to progressive refinement, it is
easy to conceive the state of barbarism to which society would, in a
short time, be reduced. Moreover, if what some call the philosophy
of language, were to supersede, altogether, the province of
philology as it applies to the present, progressive and refined
state of English literature, the great object contemplated by the
learned, in all ages, namely, the approximation of language, in
common with every thing else, to that point of perfection at which
it is the object of correct philology to arrive, would be
frustrated.
The dubious and wildering track struck out by those innovators and
visionaries who absurdly endeavor to teach modern English, by
rejecting the authority and sanction of custom, and by conducting
the learner back to the original combinations, and the detached,
disjointed, and barbarous constructions of our progenitors, both
prudence and reason, as well as a due regard for correct philology,
impel me to shun.
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