INTRODUCTION A Vindication of the Press is one of Defoe's most characteristic pamphlets and for this reason as well as for its rarity deserves reprinting. Besides the New York Public Library copy, here reproduced, I know of but one copy, which is in the Indiana University Library. Neither the Bodleian nor the British Museum has a copy. Like many items in the Defoe canon, this tract must be assigned to him on the basis of internal evidence; but... more...

INTRODUCTION. The object of this paper is to present to students of American paleography a brief explanation of some discoveries, made in regard to certain Maya codices, which are not mentioned in my previous papers relating to these aboriginal manuscripts. It is apparent to every one who has carefully studied these manuscripts that any attempt to decipher them on the supposition that they contain true alphabetic characters must end in failure.... more...

FOR IMPLORATION OF GRACE.Grace of God that I love so mocheG race de Dieu que jayme tantI your requier ryght humblyI e uous requier treshumblementthe gift of love without any furtherL e don damour sans plus auantof it to make any refuceE n faire aulcun refusementIf ye do fynde in any wiseS e uous trouués aulcunementof me service, but in trouthD e moy seruice quen loyaultéI gyve you leve utterlyU ous habandonne entierementto wyll at... more...

I. ORIGIN OF THE WORK. About a generation ago Mr. Matthew Arnold twitted our nation with the fact that "the journeyman work of literature" was much better done in France—the books of reference, the biographical dictionaries, and the translations from the classics. He did not especially mention dictionaries of the language, because he was speaking in praise of academies, and, as far as France is concerned, the great achievement in that line... more...

CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE CHINESE LANGUAGE If the Chinese people were to file one by one past a given point, the interesting procession would never come to an end. Before the last man of those living to-day had gone by, another and a new generation would have grown up, and so on for ever and ever. The importance, as a factor in the sum of human affairs, of this vast nation,—of its language, of its literature, of its religions, of its... more...

COMMERCIALISM AND JOURNALISM   In the United States of America, public opinion prevails. It is an axiom of the old political economy, as well as of the new sociology, that no man, or set of men, may with impunity defy public opinion; no law can be enforced contrary to its behests; and even life itself is scarcely worth living without its approbation. Public opinion is the ultimate force that controls the destiny of our democracy. By... more...

A stands for an Archer, B for his Bow; C the Crow that he shot at;—and D for his Dog.   E stands for an Ensign, F for a Flag, and a Fort: G stands for a Goat;—and H for a Horse.   I stands for an Italian, J for a Jug, and for Jane: K stands for a Kite:—and L for a Lobster.   M stands for Mary, N for the Numbers she wrote; O stands for an Owl:—and P for a pretty Parrot.  ... more...

INTRODUCTION. The work now for the first time reprinted from Caxton’s original edition has been preserved in three copies. One of these is in the Library of Ripon Cathedral, another in the Spencer Library, now at Manchester, and the third at Bamborough Castle. A small fragment, consisting of pp. 17-18 and 27-28, is in the Bodleian Library. The text of the present edition is taken from the Ripon copy. I have not had an opportunity of... more...

SPELLING The idea that there is one right way to combine the letters representing a certain sound or group of sounds, that is a word, and that all other ways are wrong and little short of shameful is a comparatively new idea among us. The English speaking folk held down to a comparatively recent time that any group of letters which approximately represented the sound was amply sufficient as a symbol of the word. This sort of phonetic spelling... more...

PREFACE In the following pages I have attempted to trace certain developments in the theory of translation as it has been formulated by English writers. I have confined myself, of necessity, to such opinions as have been put into words, and avoided making use of deductions from practice other than a few obvious and generally accepted conclusions. The procedure involves, of course, the omission of some important elements in the history of the... more...