The Erse, or Irish, is now spoken by illiterate portions of the Irish. It is thought that there are 600,000 who speak no other language. It was once the language of literature and science. "The English," says Camden, "recently flocked to Ireland as the mart of sacred learning." The language of the Highland Scotch, or the Gaelic, is spoken by about 400,000 in the Highlands and the Western Isles of Scotland. It strongly resembles the Irish. The Manx language is spoken in the Isle of Man, in which there are nearly 50,000 inhabitants. The English is, however, the predominant language. The Erse, the Highland Scotch, and the Manx, constitute the Gaelic, in the broad sense of the term.

SPECIMEN OF THE WELSH.

1. Yn y dechreuad yr oedd y Gair, a'r Gair oedd gyd â Duw, a Duw oedd y Gair. 2. Hwn oedd yn y dechreuad gyd â Duw. 3. Trwyddo ef y gwnaethpwyd pob peth; ac hebddo ef ni wnaethpwyd dim a'r a wnaethpwyd. 4. Ynddo ef yr oedd bywyd; a'r bywyd oedd oleuni dynion. 5. A'r goleuni sydd yn llewyrchu yn y tywyllwch; a'r tywyllwch nid oedd yn ei amgyffred. 6. Yr ydoedd gwr wedi ei anfon oddi wrth Dduw, a'i enw Ioan. 7. Hwn a ddaeth yn dystiolaeth, fel y tystiolaethei am y Goleuni, fel y credai pawb trwyddo ef.-ST. JOHN, chap. i., v. 1-7.

SECTION XLVII.-THE GOTHIC FAMILY.

The Gothic tribes followed the Celts as early as 680 B.C. The term Gothic is taken from the name of those tribes in the north of Europe that were best known to the Romans. The older writers say that it is derived from the word goth, good or brave. We have high authority for using the term in this wide sense, though there is some inconvenience attending it, inasmuch as it sometimes has also been used instead of Meso-Gothic. The language which the descendants of those tribes spoke was divided into two branches, namely, the TEUTONIC and the SCANDINAVIAN.

SECTION XLVIII.-THE TEUTONIC BRANCH.

This branch of the Gothic family falls into three divisions, namely,-1, the Moeso-Gothic; 2, the High Germanic; 3, the Low Germanic.

SECTION XLIX. THE MESO-GOTHIC.

The ancient Goths occupied the island of Gothland and the southern shores of the Baltic, and were in contact with the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, who emigrated to Britain, and spoke the same or a similar language. Early in the Christian era a portion of them, leaving their ancient seats, established themselves on the coasts of the Black Sea. A section of these, called the Visigoths, or West Goths, being oppressed by the Huns, induced Ulphilas, their bishop, to implore the protection of the Roman Emperor Valens, in A.D. 376. He pleaded their cause so successfully, that they were permited to cross the Danube and occupy the country of Moesia. They were

hence called Maso-Goths. Their bishop having thus secured for them the peaceful possession of that country, that he might lead them to the fountain of Christian truth, translated for them, between A.D. 360 and 380, the Bible into the Gothic language. This language is, in fact, the pure German of that period, which the Goths had carried into Mosia. This is the earliest German dialect now in existence. The most famous of the remaining fragments of this translation is the Codex Argenteus, or Silver Book, so called from being transmitted to us in letters of a silver hue. The words appear to be formed on vellum by metallic characters heated, and then impressed on silver foil; some of the capital letters are of gold. It is now in the royal library at Upsal. This language is rich in grammatical forms, and exhibits the common bond which unites all the German dialects with each other, and their connection with the Sanscrit, the Zend, and the Classical stock. The suggestion has been made, that it may be regarded as the parent of the Anglo-Saxon, in some such sense as the latter is the parent of the English.

SPECIMEN OF THE MESO-GOTHIC.

1. Atta unsar thu in Himinam. Veihnai namo thein. 2. Quimai thuidinassus theins. 3. Vairthai vilja theins, sue in Himina, jah ana airthai. 4. Hlaif unsorana thana sinteinan gif uns himmadaga. 5. Jah affet uns thatei sculans sijarma sua sue jah veis ofletam thaim skulem unsaraim. 6. Jah ni bringais uns in fraistubnjai. 7. Ak lausei uns of thamma ubilin. Amen.-ULPHILAS, Version of the Lord's Prayer.

SECTION L.-THE HIGH GERMANIC.

The High Germanic, to which the current German belongs, is spoken in the south part of Germany, and is bounded on the east by the Lithuanic, Slavonic, and Hungarian languages; while on the south it touches the Italian and French, and on the north it joins the Low Germanic divisions. The translation of the Scriptures, by Luther, in the sixteenth century, and his other writings, gave a prominence to this dialect, which it retains. In this dialect there are writers distinguished in every branch of literature and science.

The origin of the term German is not well ascertained. The word has, by some, been supposed to be connected with the Latin word germani-brothers, tribes in brotherly alliance with the Romans. Others derive it from gar―a dart, and man=dart-man.

SPECIMEN OF THE HIGH GERMANIC.

1. Unser Vater in dem himmel. Dein nahme werde geheiliget. 2. Dein Reiche komme. 3. Dein wille gescheche auf erden wie im himmel. 4. Unser taeglich brodt gib as heute. 5. Und vergib uns unsere schulden, wie wir unsern schuldigern vergeben. 6. Und fuehre uns nicht in versuchung. 7. Sondern erloese uns von dem übel. Amen.— LORD'S PRAYER.

SECTION LI.-THE LOW GERMANIC.

The Low Germanic comprises,-1, the Anglo-Saxon and the Modern English; 2, the Old and the Modern Frisian; 3, the Modern

Dutch; 4, the Old Saxon and the Platt Deutsch. Specimens of the Anglo-Saxon and of the Modern English will be given hereafter.

SECTION LII.-THE FRISIAN.

The Frisians occupied a territory immediately south and west of the country of the Anglo-Saxons, and probably spoke nearly the same dialect. Encompassed on one side by the sea, and on the other by the Saxons, they have retained their ancient dialect to a remarkable degree; so that, in the opinion of that distinguished scholar, Francis Junius, who spent two years in those parts of Frisia noted for their tenacity of old manners and language, none of the German tongues approach so closely to the Anglo-Saxon as the Frisian. A careful comparison of the two languages, whether in the grammar or the lexicon, will lead us to the same conclusion.

They still live in Friesland, and, as their language formerly resembled that of the Anglo-Saxons, so it now bears a close resemblance to the English.

The Dutch language is spoken in Holland. The distinguishing characteristic of this language is descriptive energy. It is not soft

and musical; it is dignified, sonorous, and emphatic. It has great compositive power; all technical terms, which the English borrow from exotic names, from the Greek and Latin, are composed by the Dutch from their own indigenous roots. Almost every polysyllabic word is descriptive of the object which it designates. Astronomy is, in Dutch, sternkunde, from ster, a star, and kunde, science. Grammar is taalkunde, from taal, language, and kunde, science. In this respect, the Dutch is much superior to the English. There is, however, a striking affinity between our language and the Dutch,

SPECIMEN OF THE DUTCH.

1. In den beginne was het woord, en het woord was bij God, en het woord was God. 2. Dit was in den beginne bij God. 3. Alle dingen zijn door hetzelve gemaakt, en zonder hetzelve is geen ding gemaakt, dat gemaakt is. 4. In hetzelve was het leven, en het leven was het licht der menschen. 5. En het licht schijnt in de duisternis, en de duisternis heeft het niet begrepen. 6. Daar was een mensch van God gezonden, wiens naam was Johannes. 7. Deze kwam tot een getuigenis, om van het licht te getuigen, opdat zij allen door hem gelooven zouden.-ST. JOHN, chap. i., v. 1-7.

SECTION LIV.--OLD SAXON AND THE PLATT DEUTSCH.

The Platt Deutsch is. spoken by those whose ancestors spoke the Old Saxon, in Northern Germany, in Holstein, in Sleswick, and Brunswick. The most flourishing period of this language was just before the Reformation. The old Saxons, chiefly remaining in their ancient localities, retained their low, soft dialect in great purity. The Anglo-Saxons, a branch of the Old Saxons, wrote and matured their language in England; hence it differs both from the Old Saxon, and also from the Platt Deutsch.

SPECIMEN OF PLATT DEUTSCH.

As dat beer is in den man,

Is de wyshet in de kan,

IN ENGLISH.

As (when) the beer is in the man,
The wisdom is in the can.

SECTION LV.--THE SCANDINAVIAN BRANCH.

The Scandinavian branch of the Gothic stock comprehends,-1, the language of Iceland; 2, the language of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, with their dialectical differences; 3, the language of the Faroë Islands.

These languages all sprang from the Old Danish (Danska Tunga). This Old Danish, sometimes called the Old Norse, was, in its present state, carried into Iceland by the first Norwegian refugees in the ninth century, and embalmed there among the snow and ice. There is so little difference between the present writing and the most ancient records, that modern Icelandic scholars can read the oldest documents with the greatest facility. The present Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish dialects all differ so much from the Icelandic, that they would each of them be unintelligible to an Icelander.

SECTION LVI.-THE SLAVONIC FAMILY.

The Slavonic stock of languages was spoken by those emigrating tribes which came out of Asia about 450 B.C., and who were the ancestors of the Russians, Poles, Servians, and Bohemians.

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It is said that the Old Sanscrit type is more faithfully preserved in the Slavonic than in the Latin or the Greek. Like the Sanserit, the Old Slavonic possesses three numbers, three genders, seven cases, a perfect system of prefixes and affixes, and an unlimited power of forming compound words. "Of the three sisters," says Dankovsky, "one kept faithful to her mother tongue-the Slavonic; the second gave to that common heritage the highest cultivation-the Greek; and the third mixed the mother tongue with a foreign idiom-the Latin." The author of "Eōthen" remarks of it: "I think the old Slavonic language, as spoken in Servia, the most perfect of the living European languages. It has quite the power and the honesty of the German language, and a philosophical grammar." Besides genuine indefinite verbs, as they call all those which have the general character of verbs in other languages, the Russian has verbs simple, frequentative, or a perfect: thus, verb indefinite, dvigat, to move; verb simple, dvinut, to move a single time; verb frequentative, dvigivat, to move repeatedly; verb perfect, sdvigat, to move completely. See Historical View of the Languages of Slavonic Nations, by TALVI, pp. 17, 18.

SECTION LVII.-THE LITHUANIAN FAMILY.

This family was formerly classed with the Slavonic. It is spoken in Lithuania, formerly a part of Poland, but now subject to Russia, by a population which amounts to more than two millions. It was formerly spoken in Prussia, but is now extinct in that country. It