nsistent with itself; and, if so, no doubt it
was granted to Eve that she should understand him--perhaps that she
should possess a similar power."

"The woman made the language, Sir, you may be sure," said Angus. "They
are shocking chatterers."

"Unfortunately, my boy, Scripture is against you. `Whatsoever Adam'--
not Eve--`called the name of every living creature, that was the name
thereof.' To proceed:--The confusion of tongues at Babel seems, from
what we can gather, to have called into being a number of languages
quite separate from each other, yet all having a certain affinity. The
structure differs; but some of the words are alike, or at least so
nearly alike that the resemblance can be traced. Take the word for
`father' in all languages: cut down to its root, there is the same root
found in all. Ab in Hebrew, abba in Syriac, pater in Greek and Latin,
vater in Low Dutch, pere in French, padre in Spanish and Italian, father
in English--ay, even the child's papa and the infant's daddy--all come
from one root. But this cutting away of superfluities to get at the
root, is precisely what a 'prentice hand should not attempt; like an
unskilled gardener, he will prune away the wrong branches."

"Then, Sir," I asked, "what are the languages which belong to the same
class as ours?"

"Ours, young lady, is a composite language. It may almost be said to be
made up of bits of other languages. German or Low Dutch is its mother,
and the Scandinavian group--Swedish, Danish, and so forth--may be termed
its aunts. It belongs mostly to what is called the Teutonic group; but
there are in it traces of Celtic, and though more dimly perceptible,
even of Latin and Oriental tongues. We are altogether a made-up
nation--to which fact some say that we owe those excellences on which we
are so fond of priding ourselves."

"Please, Sir, what are they?" I asked.

Mr Cameron seemed much amused at the question.

"What are the excellences we have?" said he; "or, what are those on
which we pride ourselves? They are often not the same. And--notice it,
young ladies, as you go through life--the virtue on which a man plumes
himself the most highly is very frequently one which he possesses in
small measure. (I do not say, in no measure.) Well, I suppose the
qualities on which we English--"

"We are not English!" cried Angus, hotly.

"For this purpose we are," was Mr Cameron's answer. "As I observed
before, the Lowland Scots and