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DEDICA T ON.

tongue, feeling themselves foreigners amid the language of
their country, may turn with some point against their
teachers the reproach of banished Bolingbroke:My tongue's use is to me no more
Than an unstringed viol or a harp,
Or like a cunning instrument cased up,
Or, being open, put into his hands
That knows no touch to tune the harmony;
Within my mouth you have engaoled my tongue,
Doubly portcullis'd with my teeth and lips,
And dull, unfeeling, barren ignorance
Is made my gaoler to attend on me.
I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,
Too far in years to be a pupil now.
It is our pleasant duty, on the contrary, to thank you
for encouraging us to study the "cunning instrument" of
our native tongue.
Our sense of the benefits which we derived from this
study, and our recollection that the study was at that time
optional, and did not affect more than a small number of the
pupils, lead us to anticipate that when once the English
language and literature become recognized, not as an
optional but as a regular part of our educational course,
the advantages will be so great as to constitute nothing
short of a national benefit.
The present seems to be a critical moment for English
instruction. The subject has excited much attention of late
years; many schools have already taken it up; others are