THOUGHTS ON THE CAUSE OF the Present DISCONTENTS (1770) 570 DANIEL DEFOE AN ESSAY UPON PROJECTS 1697 [This essay, one of Defoe's earliest works, included a History of Projects and separate sections proposing plans for reform of the banking and bankruptcy laws, an insurance system, the development of public roads, the care of idiots, and various academies. The last-named section is here represented by two extracts.] OF ACADEMIES We have in England fewer of these than in any part of the world, at least where learning is in so much esteem. But to make amends, the two great seminaries we have are, without comparison, the greatest I won't say the best in the world; and though much might be said here concerning universities in general, and foreign academies in particular, I content myself with noting that part in which we seem defective. The French, who justly value themselves upon erecting the most celebrated Academy of Europe, owe the lustre of it very much to the great encouragement the kings of France have given to it. And one of the members, making a speech at his entrance, tells you that "'tis not the least of the glories of their invincible monarch to have engrossed all the learning of the world in that sublime body." The peculiar study of the Academy of Paris has been to refine and correct their own language, which they have done to that happy degree that we see it now spoken in all the courts of Christendom as the language allowed to be most universal. I had the honor once to be a member of a small society who seemed to offer at this noble design in England; but the greatness of the work and the modesty of the gentlemen concerned prevailed with them to desist an enterprise which appeared too great for private hands to undertake. We want indeed a Richelieu to commence such a work; for I am persuaded were there such a genius in our kingdom to lead the way, there would not want capacities who could carry on the work to a glory equal to all that has gone before them. The English tongue is a subject not at all less worthy the labor of such a society than the French, and capable of a much greater perfection. The learned among the French will own that the comprehensiveness of expression is a glory in which the English tongue not only equals, but excels its neighbors. Rapin, St. Evrémont, and the most eminent French authors have acknowledged it; and my Lord Roscommon, who is allowed to be a good judge of English, because he wrote it as exactly as any ever did, expresses what I mean in these lines: For who did ever in French authors see Drawn to French wire, would through whole pages shine. "And if our neighbors will yield us, as their greatest critic has done, the preference for sublimity and nobleness of style, we will willingly quit all pretensions to their insignificant gaiety." 'Tis a great pity that a subject so noble should not have some as noble to attempt it; and for a method, what greater can be set before us than the Academy of Paris, which, to give the French their due, stands foremost among all the great attempt in the learned part of the world. The present King of England, of whom we have seen the whole world writing panegyrics and encomiums, and whom his enemies, when their interest does not silence them, are apt to say more of than ourselves; as in the war he has given surprising instances of a greatness of spirit more than common, so in peace, I dare say, with submission, he shall never have an opportunity to illustrate his memory more than by such a foundation; by which he shall have opportunity to darken the glory of the French King in peace, as he has by his daring attempts in the war. Nothing but pride loves to be flattered, and that only as 'tis a vice which blinds us to our own imperfections. I think princes are particularly unhappy in having their good actions magnified, as their evil actions covered. But King William, who has already won praise by the steps of dangerous virtue, seems re served for some actions which are above the touch of flattery, whose praise is in themselves. And such would this be; and because I am speaking of a work which seems to be proper only for the hand of the King himself, I shall not presume to carry on this chapter to the model as I have done in other subjects. Only thus far: That a society be erected by the King himself, if his Majesty thought fit, and composed of none but persons of the first figure in learning; and 'twere to be wished our gentry were so much lovers of learning that birth might always be joined with capacity. The work of this society should be to encourage polite learning, to polish and refine the English tongue, and advance the so much neglected faculty of correct language, to establish purity and propriety of style, and to purge it from all the irregular additions that ignorance and affectation have introduced; and all those innovations in speech, if I may call them such, which some dogmatic writers have the confidence to foster upon their native language, as if their authority were sufficient to make their own fancy legitimate. By such a society I dare say the true glory of our English style would appear, and among all the learned part of the world be esteemed, as it really is, the noblest and most comprehensive of all the vulgar languages in the world. Into this society should be admitted none but persons eminent for learning, and yet none, or but very few, whose business or trade was learning. For I may be allowed, I suppose, to say we have seen many great scholars, mere learned men, and graduates in the last degree of study, whose English has been far from polite, full of stiffness and affectation, hard words, and long unusual coupling of syllables and sentences, which sound harsh and untunable to the ear, and shock the reader both in expression and understanding. In short, there should be room in this society for neither clergyman, physician, or lawyer. Not that I would put an affront upon the learning of any of those honorable employments, much less upon their persons. But if I do think that their several professions do naturally and severally prescribe habits of speech to them peculiar to their practice, and prejudicial to the study I speak of, I believe I do them no wrong. Nor do I |