Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 18th August 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 798, Untitled Article

Page 798
Page 18
18 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (1)
    • f^LlIP ^iriS ^Kyi) ** avmai *
  • Text (6)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      - ROMAIC AND MODERET GREEK . Romaic and Modern Greek . By James Clyde , M . A . Simpkin , Marshall , and Co . W * said some time a ^ o , that living Greece must henceforth be regarded as ^ Sy- we may now add , that the modern Greek tongue offers materials ^ rthv the ^ onTideration of the studeut of modern philology , ascompared ^ Ji fue ancLnl The treatise of Mr . Clyde is to show the distinctions Indtbe points of resemblauoe between the Romaic and the modern Greek ? 2 dbeween these and the ancient language . He treats , therefore , of the elements and principal characteristics of the Romaic dialects of the various modes by which these dialects began in former tiroes , and still continue , thanks to the efforts of literature , journalism * and ecclesmstical science , to transform themselves into a language , and also of their tendency , amid philological dissensions , to a nearer approach to the classics of antiquity . The history of language without hesitation , be considered the history

      may , orfche intellectual , and , in a certain degree , of the political life of a nation . Those conquests which changed the existence and governments of nations have also reconstructed modern language upon the ruins of the ancient idioms . To those who would retrace the historical traditions of the human race , no monument is a safer guide than philology to point out the changes effected bv conquest or migration . Thus , although the inhabitants of ancient Greece had their peculiar dialects , some of which were exalted to the rank of alangua ^ e by the genius of great writers , yet the Romaic , so called from its admixture with foreign , and , in the first instance , entirely Roman elements , is the result of corruptions introduced not only by the Romans , but also by the Sclavoniaus , Saracens , Franks , and Turks , and engrafted on tlie ancient popular language , which thus retains traces of each of these

      conquerors : — " The Romaic dialects are in fact , " says Mr . Clyde , " like the acropolis of modern Athens , a fcuthful historical monument . As the temple of wingless victory the Pxopylseoam , the Erichtheium , and the Parthenon connect it with the age of Pericles , so do the ruinous state of these erections , the rubbish which encumbers the stranger ' s path , the mediaeval lower at the entrance , and the heterogeneous wall which encircles the crest of the rock tell of repeated disasters and long decay . In like manner , whilst the time-worn ^ Solo-Doric basis of the Romaic dialects connects thenr with the highest Greek antiquity , their superstructure is mingled with heterogeneons materials of a later date , on which conquerors , civilised and barbarous , have inscribed their language and their name . "

      Greece had not that power which easily enabled the genius of a Dante to reoTgattise'the fragments of a barbarous Latin into a new language . Hence , while the * Italian language , founded on the Latin , either cancelled all traces of barbarism or naturalised them , the Romaic dialects merely corrupted the Greek idioms , without moulding them into a new language . Whati then , is the modern Greek language ? It is the imperfect result of this multifarious mixture of foreign elements , uncertain in lexicography as in grammar , arbitrary in the written as in the spoken language , sufficiently fine-to remind us of its noble origin , but , at the same time , so far debased as toindicate all the phases of a long period of servitude . The ancient

      language , from its variety of construction , from its etymological changes , and ffoin the varied elements of civilisation , has been , and still is , left far behind . As might naturally be expected , the revival of Hellenism gave new life to the study of the Greek language ; and Riga , who , like Giovanni da Procida , made the tour of Europe to stir up Philhellenism , and who fell by the hand of the sanguinary Austrian , first victim of the Greek revolution , sang a hymn to Liberty ; this was the first echo of the new language . Since then many 'have ; aspired to become the Homers or Dantes of Greece ; and thus the-schools of the Philologues were divided . We may here quote Mr . Clyde , to-describe this period and its results : —

      • Tne immediate restorationof ancient Greek was the fond delusion of a few scholars , and the adoption of the Romaic , the enthusiastic expression of devotion to the popular cause ' on the part of a few poets and politicians ; but both worft wanting in the elements 6 f success , and failure was due to the uninteUigibility of ancient Greok on the ¦ one hand , and to the inadequacy of Eomaic on th& other . The compromise , which resulted in modern Greek , gave the requisite lingual expression to the national unity , and" established that intellectual intercourse between the several classes of society which is indispensable to sound national progress . Still unsettled in all its parts of speech , it cannot yet be considered a perfect language ; aud this for a very simple reason . The Greek writers -attempt as far as possible , to recur to the ancient grammar and lexicons , but the style of thought among the modern Greeks is essentially European ;

      hence , the result of these two facts would , as a whole , merit the criticism passed in Italy on the Abbe" Cesarotte ' s translation of Homer : " The statue of the great poet appears in the coat , waistcoat , cravat , and trousers of the present day . " Mr . Clyde ' s short pamphlet , notwithstanding the sterility inseparable from philological disquisitions , is not wanting in historical observations gleaned on . the spot , and we consider it to be as important to the student as to the learned . It however suggests a few considerations of a different nature . It is strange that in a country like England , where everj ^ new obj «; ct of investigation is anxiously sought for by a very numerous class of literary men , the people , the student , and the learned should be so slow in directing their attention , to that which other nations have for some years made a subject of

      deep research and labour . The study of the modern Greek language , out of Greece , began in Paris , and at the various German and Italian univeruities , where Greek youths , particularly from the Islands , were sent ; hence , those countries were provided with grammars and dictionaries far loss imperfect than those of England , many years before Colonel Leako , Professor Siackie , Mr . Donaldson , and Mr . Corpe placed their comparatively meagre prodnctions before the public . Louis Philippe maintained several pupils in Athens for that sole object . The French colleges established in the East make it one of their principal studies , and the language becomes in their hands a powerful instrument of political and religious influence . We will say nqthing of Germany ; the influence of the reigning , family of Bavaria in Athens speaks sufficiently for itself . There is nothing similar in England ,-yet , independently of the importance of the study for the correct pronunciation of the ancient Greek , why not study for itself that which is still one of

      the living languages of Europe ? We have carried war into a country where the greater portion of the inhabitants are Greeks , where trade and commerce are in the hands of the Greeks , where the most vital interests of state belong to the Greeks , and where , consequently , the G-reek language is the most generally spoken , even more than the Turkish , and yet there are scarcely a dozen Englishmen who know or care anything about the living G-reek language . We trust our youth of the industrial classes will soon be taught to consider modern Greek as a study of the utmost importance , more especially for those who are preparing to carry on that expanding commerce which is but now springing up in the Archipelago , and on the Asiatic and European coasts of the Ottoman Empire .

      Untitled Article

      BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Chemistry , Meteorology , and the Function of Digestion Considered with Reference to Natural Theology . By . William Ront , M . D . &c . Henry G . Bohn . The Heptameron of Margaret Queen of Nacar-re , Translated from the French , with a Memoir of the Author . By \ Valter K . Kelly . Henry G . Uolin . A Letter to t / ie Right Honourable Sir Benjamin Hall , Bart ., President of the General Board of Health . By John Snow , M . D . John Churchill . Outlines of Mythology , forthe Use of Schools . By a Scholar of Trinity College , Dublin . John W . Parker and Son . Cleon . By Robert W . Thorn . Hamilton , Adams , and Co . Hardwicke's Shilling Baronetage and Knightage , 1853 . Compiled by Edward Watford , M . A . K . Hardwicke . Principles and Rudiments of Mineralogy , Botany , Zoology . By C . R . W . Watkins .

      K . Hardwicke . Russia as it is at the Present Time ; in a Series of Letters . By James Carr , a Working Man , lately Returned from the Interior yf that Empire to England . ( Second edition , revised and corrected . ) Whittakcr and Co . Chambers s Journal of Popular Literature , Science , and Arts . ( Tart XIX , ) W . and R . Chambers . The Errors and Evils of the Bank Charter Act of 18-14 , as Divulged by Lord Overstone in his Lordship ' s Evidence before the Select Committee of the Houses of Parliament , Appointed to Inquire into the Cause * of the Commercial Distress in the year 1847 . By Lieutenant-Colonel J . II . Macdonald . Richardson , Brothers . Outlines of MilitarySurgery . By Sir George Ballingall , M . D ., &c . ( Fifth edition . ) Adam and Charles Black . Introduction a la Philosophic de IfegeL Par A . "VeYa . . W . Jeffs .

      Untitled Article

      FRENCH CRITICISM OX ENGLISH PICTURES . * SECOND AND FINAL ARTICLE . ( See the Leatler , No . 274 . ) "I am avrare that Mr . Maclise enjoys great popularity in England . His oil-paintings are in as great favour as Mr . Lewis ' s water-colours ami Madame Tussaud ' s wax-works . But I do not think that Art has anything to do with these singular successes . Mr . Maclise has had the luck to treat national subjects ; Mr . Lewis the good fortune to paint foreign ones : the first appeal to Saxon patriotism , the second to curiosity . The minute

      execution of petty details gives to the paintings of both a preciseness and dryness highly satisfactory to all those unimaginative minds who are lovers of legerdemain , enthusiasts of cocoa-nut carvings , fanatics of pen-and-ink sketcnes , and who admire wondcringly a ¦ writing-master ' s drawing " Androcles and his Lion " with a single penfui of mk . Mr . Lewis ' s watercolours , like Mr . Macmse ' s oil-paintings , are mado up of details grouped together without any reference to ensemble ; the dryness of tho drawing is enlivened only by a cacophony of colouring , of which the history of painting offers no previous example .

      And yet , in spite of what I say , Mr . Maclisk is a clever man , and there is a great deal of cleverness in Mr . Lewis ' s water-colours . So much the better for those gentlemen , so much the worse for painting ! Cleverness is killing Art in England , and the beautiful has no more dangerous enemy than this cleverness . Mr . AVkusteh has cleverness more than enough . His picture called " Football" is coloured coldly , drawn carefully , and composed with extrcmo cleverness . Imagine a troop of ruddy , healthy . children , well furnished with teeth , in good condition , and fed upon meat underdone ( viantle suitjnantc ) . These little roast-meat enters , villagers by trade , are in pursuit of a ball which has maliciously led them into the midst of a bush of thorns . Tho three most eager ones have passed through the danger without leaving much wool behind them ; the rest have

      fallen in a heap , one upon the other , in tho midst of the thorns and brambles 5 tho head only of one is to be seen , the contrary end only of another ; one has his hat knocked over "his eyes , another his stockings falling over hid shoes ; one is feeling his head , another his arm , a third his knee ; one opens his mouth and shuts his eyes , another opens his eyes and shuts his mouth ; the first seizes the hair of the second , who pushes the third , who fastens on to the arm of the fourth ; there are kicks and blows from one end of the picture to tho other ; the cleverest tactician of the troop has ingeniously made a circuit , has got in advance of tho ball , and is waiting for it . Will he catch it ? Mr . Wkhstjer will no doubt tell us at the next univorttal exhibition ; for at the foot of these picture fcuilletons might bo written : " To bo continued in the next number .

      In "A Village Choir" tho samo artist has amused himself by gro 11 ping some twenty perfectly national grimaces . This pninting is of groat interest to collectors anxious to compare all tho varieties of tho English type . His " Two Portraits" is a pleasing little picture , Tho man's faco appear * to me somewhat vulgar ; but tho snowy head of tho old woman is perhaps the finest thing that Mr . Wmustbii has sent us . Between Mr . Wuustku and Mr . Goodacx thoro is only tho science of

      Untitled Article

      ^ g . THE LEADER . [ No . 282 , Saturday ,

      Untitled Article

      * Thoso lively and olovor chaptors aro taken from M . E . About ' n Vvyaga a VEfposition , publiahod in Paris this week by M . HncUette .

      F^Llip ^Iris ^Kyi) ** Avmai *

      € jie M % .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 18, 1855, page 798, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2102/page/18/