For obvious reasons,
the question is one that must be decided by reference to prose-writers,
and not poets; and it is, we think, pretty well settled that more words
of Latin original were brought into the language in the century between
1550 and 1650 than in the whole period before or since,--and for the
simple reason, that they were absolutely needful to express new modes and
combinations of thought.[123] The language has gained immensely, by the
infusion, in richness of synonyme and in the power of expressing nice
shades of thought and feeling, but more than all in light-footed
polysyllables that trip singing to the music of verse. There are certain
cases, it is true, where the vulgar Saxon word is refined, and the
refined Latin vulgar, in poetry,--as in _sweat_ and _perspiration_; but
there are vastly more in which the Latin bears the bell. Perhaps there
might be a question between the old English _again-rising_ and
_resurrection;_ but there can be no doubt that _conscience_ is better
than _inwit_, and _remorse_ than _again-bite_. Should we translate the
title of Wordsworth's famous ode, "Intimations of Immortality," into
"Hints of Deathlessness," it would hiss like an angry gander. If, instead
of Shakespeare's
"Age cannot wither her,
Nor custom stale her infinite variety,"
we should say, "her boundless manifoldness," the sentiment would suffer
in exact proportion with the music.
Pages:
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239