"Youth of soul! unstained and pure, Innocent and fresh in feeling,

Choose and ponder, but be sure

World's praise never sways thy dealing. Though the crowds with plaudits hail thee, Though their calumnies assail thee, Swerve not, but remember, youth,

Minstrel praises oft betray;

Narrow is the path of truth

Duty threads 'twixt chasms her way."

III.

YOUNG LINGUISTS.

'HE acquisition of languages has been an achievement of youth. Though there are some striking examples of old men learning new languages-as that of Dr. Richard Cumberland, who learned Coptic at the age of eighty-three, and of Dr. James Ingram the centenarian, who mastered German about the same age-it has been generally found difficult to acquire new tongues in advanced years. Unless the habit had been acquired early, it could scarcely have been acquired at all in mature life. But history is full of remarkable attainments in language by arduous youth. The ancients were too circumscribed in their relations with foreigners, and too isolated in their position, to have facilities for linguistic pursuits; but in modern times large opportunities for learning languages have been afforded by the intercourse of nations. And the study of comparative philology, now so full of interest, has made the conquest of families of speech more easy. A few illustrious examples will show what young scholars have accomplished.

ANGELICUS POLITIAN (1454–1491) was a native of Monte Pulciano in Tuscany, and lived in an age when learning had begun to revive in the west of Europe, by means of the migration of Greek scholars from Constantinople and the East.

He had the advantage of early instruction in the

Greek language from Andronicus of Thessalonica, and could write verses both in Greek and Latin when he was twelve years old. He at once attracted the attention of Lorenzo de Medici, the magnificent patron of the new learning, who encouraged his studies. He was afterwards made tutor to the children of his patron, and also professor of Greek and Latin literature at Florence. Such scholars as Erasmus and the two Scaligers mention the name of Politian in terms of the highest praise. He became one of the most learned and polite writers of his age, and was greatly lamented when he died, aged thirty-seven. His works were published by the celebrated Aldus at Venice a few years after his death; and they have been frequently republished during the four intervening centuries. Scarcely any work has excited so much interest as his Miscellanies.

Count GIOVANNI PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA (1463-1494) was another ornament of languages at the same brilliant period. He was the youngest son of Count Gian Francesco della Mirandola, Prince of Concordia. He was favoured with a most accomplished mother, to whom he was indebted for his early lessons. He astonished all his friends by the precocity of his genius, and by his feats of memory. Before he was twenty years of age, he is said to have acquired twenty-two different languages. He was first placed at the University of Bologna, that he might study law; but he did not like the subject, and turned to philosophy and theology, which he cultivated with delight. But he thirsted after universal knowledge, and devoted seven years to visiting those universities which had just then been originated in Europe, and where he sat at the feet of the most renowned professors. He entered into the disputes of the schools with the keenest zest, and shone among his competitors. He had a clear perception, an acute mind, a rich philosophy, a retentive 9

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memory, and a fluent style, and soon bore the palm in the controversial arena, which then enlisted the champions of debate.

When only twenty-three years of age he appeared at Rome, and, according to the custom of the time, threw down the gauntlet of controversy on any one or all of nine hundred theses in every branch of human knowledge. He offered to bear the expenses of any who might come from a distance to dispute with him. Though an age of ponderous learning and of keen dialectics, no one dared to appear. There were, however, some who wished to humble the arrogant youth, and to restrain his puerile pretensions, by accusing him of heresy. They drew up thirteen propositions which he was alleged to hold, and laid them before the Pope. Mirandola was able successfully to vindicate his orthodoxy, and he became more religious in all his studies. He made a great effort to reconcile Aristotle with Plato, and Plato with the Christian religion. He could write well in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic, and also in European languages. He resided at Florence amidst the fellowship of the galaxy of illustrious men then assembled there, but died at the age of thirty-one. He was, says Mr. Hallam, "justly called the Phoenix of his age."

JAMES CRICHTON (1560-1583) was the prodigy of the sixteenth century, so renowned for its clusters of great men. He was a Scotsman, born in the castle of Clunie, on an island in the lake of that name in Perthshire. His father was Robert Crichton, Lord Advocate of Scotland in the reigns of Mary and of James VI. His mother was a Stewart, lineally descended from King Robert II. He was sent to the University of St. Andrews when he was only ten years old. He graduated M.A. in his fifteenth year, and came out third in the list of proficiency. He rapidly acquired languages, twelve of which he knew so well as to be able to speak and

write them before he reached the age of twenty. He was equally master of other subjects of study, and what is more remarkable, he had found time to practise athletic exercises and cultivate music and painting. He had a form of great beauty and symmetry, and could spring at a bound a space of twenty or even twenty-four feet in closing with an adversary. In sword exercise he was also a proficient.

Owing to some dispute with his father, who had embraced the Reformed religion, young Crichton, clinging to the old form, went to Paris, where he distinguished himself both in literature and in arms. Sir Thomas Urquhart states that Crichton, after the custom of the period, fixed a placard in the public places of the city, inviting all men of learning to meet him at the College of Navarre within six weeks, when he would be ready to answer any question propounded to him "concerning any science, liberal art, discipline or faculty practical or theoretic, not excluding the theological or jurisprudential habits, though grounded but upon the testimonies of God and man, and that in any of these twelve languages, -Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, English, Dutch, Flemish, or Slavonian, in either prose or verse, at the discretion of the disputant!" Meantime the "admirable Scot," as he was called, gave himself up to hawking, hunting, tossing the pike, and every kind of sport, or to musical exercises in the mansions. On the appointed day fifty professors-including doctors of law, physic, and divinity-and three thousand auditors assembled. Crichton acquitted himself beyond expression in an engagement from nine in the morning till six at night, and overcame four doctors of the Church, as well as others, so that some thought he must be Antichrist! He was highly eulogized, and was presented with a diamond ring and purse of gold. Next day, at a tilting match before the court, he carried the ring

away