1830.] Mr. UREAN, A' Oldland Chapel.-On the English Language. Bilton Vicarage, June 8. LLOW me to request your assistance in preserving on record some recollection of OLDLAND CHAPEL, which has lately been taken down to be rebuilt on a larger scale; a southwest view of it accompanies this letter. (See Plate I.) Oldland is a Chapel of Ease to Bitton, situated in South Gloucestershire. Within the boundaries of the Chapelry (or hamlet as it is here called) is a great part of Kingswood Chace; adjoining to which, about a mile from the Chapel, are the remains of an extensive mansion, formerly belonging to the Newtons, called Barr's Court, where, in "a fayre old mannar place of stone, Mastar Newton's House," Leland rested awhile on his way from Bath to Bristol. After much search and inquiry, no records have been found relative to the date or origin of the foundation of this Chapel. It is not mentioned either in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, or in that of Henry the Eighth. Before the Reformation the parish of Bitton was in the diocese of Worcester; and there I have found a reference to "Bytton cum Capellâ de Oldelond," in Bp. Gif. fard's time, about 1280. Though in the index, it is not to be found in the register. The south doorway and porch were in early English style, also the pillars and arches in the inside; and from fragments of mouldings, capitals, and bases, found in pulling down the walls, it is fair to conclude that the Chapel was in existence in the 13th century. The venerable yew tree, indeed, speaks almost as much. The interior was divided into two aisles, and a chancel, separated from the nave by a coarsely wrought screen. There was a plain piscina on the east side of the south doorway, and the re mains of one on the south of the altar. The font is very plain, but apparently coeval with the foundation of the Chapel. Most of the sittings were of oak, carved and wrought in the old style, and open at either end. The register of baptisms and marriages in the chapelry are from 1586. In 1719 a Faculty was granted for burials in the Chapel-yard. The clergyman of Bitton used to * See Itinerary, by Hearne, vol. vii, p. 87. GENT. MAG. November, 1830. 393 serve this Chapel, and another at Hanham in the same parish, every alternate Sunday, having served the mother church at Bitton in the morning. But in 1817 a curate was licensed to these two chapels only. By the last census, the whole parish contains 7,171 souls; 4,297 being within the Chapelry of Oldland. In the year 1821 an ecclesiastical district was formed, and attached to a new Church (Holy Trinity) then built, which was consecrated the same year by the present Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, then Bishop of Gloucester. It was the first Church, I believe, consecrated, of those built by the Parliamentary Commissioners, by whose assistance, and that of the Churchbuilding Society, and a subscription, this good work was effected in the midst of a dense and increasing population. Since that time a parsonage. house and a school-room have been built close to the new church. John Wesley's celebrated school (an interesting account of which may be seen in his Life by Southey) is within the limits of this district. The new Church will contain ac commodation for 370 persons, in addi- H.T.ELLICOMBE. Mr. URBAN, Mere, Wilts, Sept. 6. YOUR kindness in inserting my former letter on the Corruptions of the English Language, has induced me to offer you another. The causes which have brought on these corruptions are-1st, a mixture of nations by conquest; 2nd, a want of new words, felt by the learned on the extension of the sciences and arts; 3d, the carelessness of translators; and 4th, the pomp of smatterers, who are fond of putting forth scraps of several languages, which they would be thought to know: and, as a noble language does honour to the national mind, like 394 Corruptions of the English Language. excellent works of genius or art, it may be worth while to inquire how far those causes might have been with stood, and how far their effects may yet be overcome. The first cause is certainly irresistible outcomers bring their own language with them; and where there is a mixed population, there will be an impure speech; so that it is not of that foreign branch which the Normans ingrafted on the Teutonic stock of our mother tongue, that we have to treat. To the second cause I would not yield so readily. That the English did want new words as they found out new facts in science, or acquired new works of art, is clear enough: but if they had been anxious to keep the purity of their language, it would have given them as good combinations as those they borrowed or made up from others. Unfortunately, while Greek, and the languages of the Latin family have been studied with particular care, German, and other Gothic dialects, which, (from having a like origin, throw light on our own,) have been almost wholly neglected; and as writers, in filling the deficiencies of their language, borrowed or copied only from such others as they knew, English has been losing its Gothic character ever since the revival of learning; but I really believe that when German and other Teutonic dialects begin to be studied by our writers, many of the Grecian and Italian additions that have been made to the Gothic structure of the English tongue will be put aside, and that it will be restored, in true antiquarian taste, to a state of consistency with the original plan. The German language, which has not (like ours) been withdrawn from its Gothic mother, and nursed from tongues of a different family, has grown to maturity in such strength and symmetry as are not often outdone; giving us a fine example of what ours might have been, if fostered in a like manner, and convincing every man who reads a page of High Dutch, that to say the English language will not give good combinations, is to state a very great error. So ill suited for the author's use was English thought little more than a century ago, that writings of that age very often hobble along on alternate sentences of Latin and English, like a man with a wooden leg; but with [Nov. this difference, that the writer considered the dead member (Latin) the stronger and the better. The third cause of corruption that I named was the carelessness of translators. From not attending closely to the difference of idiom between the original language and their own, they often bring over their author's words instead of his meaning; and repeat his expressions, instead of seeking their equals in English. In short, they make him see what he really is; a foreigner speaking English; and (as if he did not know the English names of many things which are as common to us as to himself,) speaking a broken English by using words and expressions of his own mother tongue. It is often said that this or that expression cannot be given in English, because we have no equivalent for it; an assertion which is in many cases groundless; because, for things that are common to any several nations, of course those nations have words: though we cannot suppose that Europeans found a name for the Kangaroo before they found the animal; or that we can trace the word orange to the old British language, rather than to the Vascuence in Spain. Somebody once observed that no Frenchman could be good-natured, because for good-nature the French had no word. By like reasoning, we should find that the English can never be about to do an action because they have no future participle, as the Latins had that they have nothing large in its kind, because they have no augmentives, like the Italians; and that they can never keep repeating an action, because they have not the iterative branch of verbs, as the Russians. But the answer to all this is, that we treat these and many other things in a different way; a fact that every translator should bear in mind. From the unwillingness of translators to find English idioms and words for foreign ones, we have such expressions as mis hors du combat," sent out of the battle; "in petto," in one's heart; "ennui," listlessness, &c.; and I saw an instance of this feeling, some time ago, in a translation of a German work, in which the idiom "Mit verhängten zügeln" was given, word for word, "with loose reins," instead of " in full gallop." The last enemy of purity that I 1830.] Formation of English Compounds. named was the pomp of smatterers; with which, however, I should have put the pomp of puffing citizens, quacks, &c.; but I am not inclined to be severe with these feelings, as their effects are bounded to the talk of private company, and the columns of the newspaper; and are not likely to hurt the glory of the national mind, our literary works. Having now considered the chief causes of the corruption of our language, it may not be useless to ascertain how far their effects can be lessened. In the first place, we should not use foreign words when we have good English ones of like meaning: as envelope, for cover or wrapper; veracity, for truth; termination, for end; chiaro scuro, for duller lights, &c. Secondly, our present manner of forming compounds should be looked into and extended. The use of the prepositions and adverbs, as in overseer, backslider, &c., may be much extended, by which we may obtain many expressive words, as Backfight, the skirmishing in a retreat. to reflect light. Backshine, Backblame, Forefeel, Foretake, to recriminate on one. Forespeech, prologue or preface. Foredeem, Foredoom, to form a premature opinion. to predestinate. to be prepossessed in favour of. Forelike, Outland, to expatriate. Outroam, Outstand, Offcast, Overgo, Underhold, to tie an excursion. to persevere against. exuviæ. to go beyond orders, power,&c. to keep in subjection, &c. Cattlescreen, Sunscreen, Folkscreen, 395 railing round haystacks, &c. Also mis as in misname. a ventilator. By the adjective lone, otherwise, we may make combinations for words of the mono class, as Lonesong, monody. For words of the poly class, by many. For the names of optical and other instruments of the scope class, we may use seer or learner, because it is by them that we the better see or learn something of the things to which they are applied. Farseer, telescope. And the noun writ, as in "holy writ," or writing, may often serve instead of graphy, and the endings from scribo, as 396 English Compounds.-Charles-Edward Stuart. clownish, quarrelsome, merciful, workmanlike, friendship, manhood; and, to learn what Latin endings they are equal to, I will help myself with the German; in which the corresponding ones are very widely used. y is the German ich or ig. ly some ship lich. isch. sam. shaft. frolicsome, [Nov. (German). quarrelsome, arbeitsam, liking work. actsome, wirksam, apt to do (active). lonesome, einsam, apt to be alone. apt to be long (slow peacesome, friedsam, liking peace. or tedious). marksome, aufmerksam, apt to take notice. heedsome, achtsam, troublesome, mühsam, (Danish). apt to be careful. apt to give or take trouble. apt to be useful. apt to be negligent. apt to spare (frugal). apt to be dark.* Ful and like need no observation; ship and hood are equal to ism and cy, and other foreign endings which we use; and from the above given comparisons, &c., I think it will be clear that with very little help from other tongues, the English may be made as copious and expressive as can be wished. Yours, &c. DILETTANTE. Mr. URBAN, ONE Clifton, Oct. 9. NE lovely evening in July 182while on a visit at Frescati, I wandered into the little church where the remains of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, commonly designated the Pretender, lie interred. The monument is extremely simple, and indeed might pass altogether unnoticed by the eye of the English traveller, were it not for the cast of the British arms with which it is surmounted. I sat down on a bench, and began indulging, as my custom is, in one of my reflecting reveries. I pictured to myself the day of his entry to Holyrood House, before yet a battle had been fought, and none had to mourn the loss of friends fallen before his victorious arms. Young, handsome, chivalrous, he came to the land of his fathers, claiming the support of his countrymen for the repossession of his father's throne; the desperate enterprise upon which he had entered, the royal line whence he was descended, a line still embalmed by |