I afterwards with a little painstaking,
acquir'd as much of the Spanish as to read their books also.
I have already mention'd that I had only one year's instruction
in a Latin school, and that when very young, after which I neglected
that language entirely. But, when I had attained an acquaintance
with the French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surpriz'd to find,
on looking over a Latin Testament, that I understood so much more
of that language than I had imagined, which encouraged me to apply
myself again to the study of it, and I met with more success,
as those preceding languages had greatly smooth'd my way.
From these circumstances, I have thought that there is some inconsistency
in our common mode of teaching languages. We are told that it is
proper to begin first with the Latin, and, having acquir'd that,
it will be more easy to attain those modern languages which are
deriv'd from it; and yet we do not begin with the Greek, in order
more easily to acquire the Latin. It is true that, if you can
clamber and get to the top of a staircase without using the steps,
you will more easily gain them in descending; but certainly, if you
begin with the lowest you will with more ease ascend to the top;
and I would therefore offer it to the consideration of those who
superintend the education of our youth, whether, since many of
those who begin with the Latin quit the same after spending some
years without having made any great proficiency, and what they have
learnt becomes almost useless, so that their time has been lost,
it would not have been better to have begun with the French,
proceeding to the Italian, etc.
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