w, what man with a strong nature can merge himself so
entirely in his fictitious being as not to burst the seams and tear the
lining of a garment that only impedes the free action of his limbs, and
actually threatens the very extinction of his respiration?

It is not merely by their greater adaptiveness that women are better
linguists than men; it is by their more delicate organisation, their
more subdued identity, and their less obstreperous temperaments, which
are consequently less egotistical, less redolent of the one individual
self. And what is it that makes the men of mark or note, the cognate
signs of human algebra, but these same characteristics; not always
good, not always pleasant, not always genial, but always associated with
something that declares preeminence, and pronounces their owner to be a
"representative man"?

When Lord Ward replied to Prince Schwartzenberg's flippant remark on
the bad French of English diplomatists by the apology, "that we had not
enjoyed the advantage of having our capital cities so often occupied by
French troops as some of our neighbours," he uttered not merely a smart
epigram but a great philosophical truth. It was not alone that we had
not possessed the opportunity to pick up an accent, but that we had not
subordinated our minds and habits to French modes and ways of thought,
and that the tone and temper of the French people had not been beaten
into us by the roll of a French drum. One may buy an accomplishment
too dearly. It is possible to pay too much even for a Parisian
pronunciation! Not only have I never found a linguist a man of eminence,
but I have never seen a linguist who talked well. Fluent they are, of
course, like the Stecknadel gun of the Prussians, they can fire without
cessation, but, like the same weapon, they are comparatively aimless. It
is a _feu roulant_, with plenty of noise and some smoke, but very
"few casualties" announce the success. The greatest linguist of modern
Europe, Mezzofanti, was a most inferior man. Of the countries whose
dialect he spoke to perfection, he knew nothing. An old dictionary would
have been to the full as companionable. I find it very hard not to be
personal just now, and give a list--it would be a long one--of all the
tiresome people I know, who talk four, five, some of them six modern
languages perfectly. It is only with an effort I abstain from mentioning
the names of some well-known men who are the charming people at Borne
an