Queen Victoria's German marriage
and all the close connexion that followed from it pressed the study of
German to the front; the influence of Carlyle told in the same
direction, and the study of Italian declined. Then in our enthusiasm for
physical sciences for a time we read more German, but not German of the
best quality, and in another line we were influenced by German literary
criticism. Now, the balance of things has altered again. For scholarship
and criticism German is in great request; in commercial education it is
being outrun by Spanish; for the intercourse of ordinary life Germans
are learning English much more eagerly than we are learning German. We
have had a fit of--let us call it--shyness, but we are trying to do
better. We recognize that these fits of shyness are not altogether to
our credit, not wholly reasonable, and that we are not incapable of
learning foreign languages well. We know the story of the little boy
reprimanded by the magistrate for his folly in running away from home
because he was obliged to learn French, and his haughty reply that if
foreigners wished to speak to him they might learn his language. But our
children have outgrown him, as to his declaration if not as to his want
of diligence, and we are in general reforming our methods of teaching so
much that it will soon be inexcusable not to speak one or two languages
well, besides our own.
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