University, has not only guided a large number of doctors in English, and edited the Yale Studies in English, but he has himself given definitive editions of several AngloSaxon poems. And Dr. Friedrich Klaeber, Professor of English and Comparative Philology at the University of Minnesota, has recently published an edition of Beowulf that has received unstinted praise from Old English scholars the world over. The result of twenty years of study, it is among the few really epoch-making works in the field of Old English.

In the next lecture I shall consider the Present-day Attitude toward the Historic Study of the Mother-tongue.

THE PRESENT-DAY ATTITUDE TOWARD THE HISTORIC STUDY OF THE MOTHER-TONGUE

BY MORGAN CALLAWAY, JR.

In my former lecture I gave a rapid survey of the work done in the past in the Historic Study of the Mother-tongue in the United States. In the present lecture, I shall attempt briefly to indicate the Present-day Attitude Toward the Historic Study of the Mother-tongue, especially on the linguistic side.

Beyond question much excellent work is being done in the study of the English Language. More colleges are offering courses in Old and Middle English than ever before; and these courses are being attended, not as largely as they should be, but somewhat more liberally than hitherto. New text-books are appearing for these earlier periods, such as Moore and Knott's The Elements of Old English (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1919); Moore's Historical Outlines of English Phonology and Middle English Grammar (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1919), and the revised version of the preceding, Moore's Historical Outlines of English Phonology and Morphology (Middle English and Modern English) (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1925); Wright's An Elementary Old English Grammar (Oxford, 1923); Wright's An Elementary Middle English Grammar (Oxford, 1923); E. E. Wardale's Old English Grammar (New York, 1922); Joseph Hall's Selections from Early Middle English (1130-1250), 2 vols. (Oxford, 1920); Kenneth Sisam's Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose (Oxford, 1921); Richard Jordan's Handbuch der Mittelenglischen Grammatik, 1. Teil: Lautlehre (Heidelberg, 1925); and two epoch-making editions of Beowulf, the first by Professor R. W. Chambers (Cambridge University Press, 1914) and the second by Professor Friedrich Kläber (Boston, 1922).

Again, historical grammars covering the modern as well as the earlier epochs are being issued from time to time.

As to text-books of this nature, Professor O. F. Emerson, we are told, is revising his useful History of the English Language; and Professor and Mrs. Joseph Wright announce an Historical English Grammar that is shortly to appear.

Larger undertakings of a similar nature have either recently been completed or are nearing completion. Here I would mention Professor H. C. Wyld's The Historical Study of the Mother-Tongue (London, 1906); Professor J. E. Wells's A Manual of the Writings in Middle English (10501400) (New Haven, 1916), with its two Supplements (1919, 1923); Professor Carleton Brown's Register of Middle English Religious and Didactic Verse (Part I, 1916; Part II, 1920), and his Religious Lyrics of the Fourteenth Century (1924); Dr. Karl Luick's Historische Grammatik der Englischen Sprache (Leipzig, 1914-), still in process of publication; Professor René Huchon's Histoire de la Langue Anglaise, Tome I. Des Origines à la Conquête Normande (Paris, 1923). Ewald Flügel's great Chaucer Dictionary is soon to be completed by Professor J. S. P. Tatlock, formerly of Leland Stanford, now of Harvard. And a syndicate of American scholars is planning a new Middle English Dictionary, under the editorship of Professor Clark S. Northup, of Cornell University. Again, Dr. Arthur G. Kennedy, of Leland Stanford, has in hand a sorely needed Bibliography of Old English. Besides all this, the Early English Text Society, the Scottish Text Society, etc., continue their invaluable work in Europe. The Review of English Studies, "A Quarterly Journal of English Literature and the English Language," has been launched in Great Britain within the past few months. In America almost every year some college begins the publication of a bulletin devoted to Studies in English; and quite recently a national Shakespeare Society has been formed.

Another encouraging feature is this: historic study, detailed historic study, is being given to the language of the Modern Period as well as to that of the older periods. Witness Professor Wilhelm Horn's Historische Neuenglische

Grammatik (Strassburg, 1908-), still in process of completion; Professor Henry Cecil Wyld's A History of Modern Colloqual English (London, 1920) and his Studies in English Rhymes from Surrey to Pope (London, 1923); Professor and Mrs. Joseph Wright's An Elementary Historical New English Grammar (Oxford, 1924); and A Modern English Grammar (two volumes already issued, Heidelberg, 1909, 1914) by Professor Otto Jespersen, of the University of Copenhagen; G. P. Krapp's Modern English: Its Growth and Present Use (New York, 1909) and his Pronunciation of Standard English in America (New York, 1919); Gilbert M. Tucker's American English (New York, 1921); H. L. Mencken's The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States (1st ed., New York, 1919; 3rd ed., revised and enlarged, 1923); J. S. Kenyon's American Pronunciation (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1924). And, in Great Britain, according to The Teaching of English in England, Being the Report of the Departmental Committee Appointed by the President of the Board of Education to Inquire into the Position of English in the Educational System of England (New York, 1922, p. 29), the teaching of grammar "must be closely allied with phonetics, since the first fact to be learnt about language is that it is composed of sounds, and since there are some grammatical notions which it is impossible to convey without the use of phonetic symbols." Mr. H. E. Palmer has just published A Grammar of Spoken English on a Strictly Phonetic Basis (W. Heffer, Cambridge, England, 1924). Of less importance, but worthy of consideration are H. Poutsma's A Grammar of Late Modern English, 2 vols. (Groningen, 1904-1905); E. Kruisinga's A Grammar of Present-day English, 3 vols. (Utrecht, 1909, 1911, 1912); G. Krüger's Syntax der Englischen Sprache (3 vols., Lepzig, 1914-1915); G. Wendt's Syntax des Heutigen Englisch (2 vols., Heidelberg, 1911, 1914); and Max Deutschbein's System der Neuenglischen Syntax (Cöthen, 1917).

Once more, some of the works dealing specifically with English have led their authors to produce notable works in general linguistics. Such is especially true of Professor Otto Jespersen, who, in addition to his specifically English works, already mentioned, has recently published two great works dealing with language in general: (1) Language: Its Nature, Development, and Origin (New York, 1922) and (2) The Philosophy of Grammar (London, 1924).

In a word, much excellent work is being done in the teaching and in the investigation of the English Language in the United States and elsewhere. But that certain dangers are threatening language-work in our schools from the high schools through the universities, I have been convinced against my will. Indeed, a few years back I found myself in a state of bewilderment much like that of Douglas Jerrold on his first attempting to read Sordello. While recovering from an illness, Jerrold picked up Sordello, and began to read. Says Mr. G. K. Chesterton, in his Robert Browning, p. 34: "No sooner had he [Jerrold] done so than he turned deadly pale, put down the book, and said, 'My God! I'm an idiot. My health is restored, but my mind's gone. I can't understand two consecutive lines of an English poem.' He then summoned his family and silently gave the book into their hands, asking for their opinion on the poem; and as the shadow of perplexity gradually passed over their faces, he heaved a sigh of relief and went to sleep." Now, at the time referred to, some ten or fifteen years ago, in my beloved class in English 4, The History of the English Language, as had been my wont for years, I asked a few fundamental questions about the syntax of Modern English; and, as usual, received from a few of the students excellent answers. But what was quite unusual, many of the students gave answers far from correct. I reasoned, however, that this might have been an off-year in English 4; so I should suspend judgment for another session. For two or three years following, little, if any,