LECTURE I. siastical buildings; even so it would be objection­able to revert to the simple Anglo-Saxon in literature

siastical buildings; even so it would be objection­able to revert to the simple Anglo-Saxon in literature, to the exclusion of words derived from the classics.

The first attempt at a revival of the Gothic in architecture in the last century was made by Hor­ace Walpole, in the erection of his pseudo-Gothic villa at Twickenham, to which he gave the very inappropriate name of Strawberry-Hill. At the same period, which appears to have been too early for the introduction of the Gothic, flourished that Goliath of literature, Dr. Samuel Johnson, who carried the adoption of Latin-derived words to such an excess as to render his style ponderous and turgid. It is also remarkable, that in dress, in furniture, in equipage, and in manners, the formal and heavy style prevailed which charac­terized the architecture and literature of the day.

On the other hand, Swift resisted the new style of writing; and amongst English authors of the period, he is the most remarkable for the use of words derived from Saxon, almost to the entire exclusion of those borrowed from Latin; which was the more remarkable in Ireland, where the Anglo-Saxon is less in use. His theory was that no words should ever be allowed to become obsolete; and hence, even allowing the introduc­tion of new words, he would have retained and preferred all that was of Anglo-Saxon origin. Other writers of, the last century were distin-

LECTURE I. 13

guished for the use of words of classical origin, though not to the same extent with Dr. Johnson. For example, the historians Hume and Gibbon, also Pope, Steele, Addison, and Dryden.

In our own day, with the recent revival of Mediaeval architecture, there has of late arisen a remarkable admiration of Saxon English. To this, as I have said, I am far from objecting, if only it be carried out in moderation, and not adopted to the exclusion of words borrowed from the classical languages; and in my former work, already referred to, I have endeavoured to point out the peculiar advantages and beauties of the Anglo-Saxon element in our language. But as, notwithstanding the present taste for the Gothic, many eminent architects and other competent judges still adhere to the classical style; so while some writers, such as the late Rev. Julius Hare, have evinced what may be accomplished through the Saxon, other able writers of our own day have extensively employed words borrowed from the Latin; while they have at the same time been distinguished for simplicity and clearness, contrasting most favourably with the laboured and often pedantic style of the writers of the last century. Amongst these may be cited the late Lord Macaulay and the present Archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Whately), than whom no greater masters of the English language have adorned the present or any former age.

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