University of Virginia Library

SCHOOL OF MODERN LANGUAGES.

SPANISH, ITALIAN AND ANGLO-SAXON.

Professor Schele de Vere.

In Spanish and Italian each there is one class in which a number of
classic and of modern authors is read, to practice pronunciation, to acquire
facility in prompt rendering of the foreign idiom, and to appreciate the
literary beauties of eminent writers. A much larger number of works,
mainly by modern authors, is assigned to be read privately.

At every meeting a lecture is delivered, and to a large extent illustrated
by examples and quotations. In these lectures the Grammar and the
Syntax of each idiom are discussed. The treatment is mainly historical,
the words, the sentences, and the general structure being exhibited as they
gradually develop themselves from the earliest efforts made by the infant
nation to the highest results obtained in its so-called Golden Age.

These lectures are accompanied by weekly exercises, translations from the
vernacular into the foreign idioms. They furnish the Professor with evidence
of the degree of success with which he has tried to explain the rules and
usages of each language. After having been carefully marked, they are returned to the student, and then written, in correct form, on the blackboard.
The Professor, as he writes there, accompanies the exercises with a
running commentary on the various rules that have been violated or misunderstood.

At stated intervals the Professor reads aloud, so as to train the ear; at
others, he dictates extracts from foreign writers for the same purpose.

After the classes have become somewhat familiar with the language, they
are given a series of lectures treating of the History of the idiom. Its forms,
its structure, and its spiritual characteristics are carefully traced through the
different periods, and minutely compared with each other. This gives an
opportunity for instruction in the fundamental rules of the Science of Language,
to which much attention is given. These lectures are followed by
another course on the Literature of each idiom. The different periods of the
literature are explained and illustrated by sketches of the lives, and criticisms
on the works, of the principal writers of each age. The parallelism
between the national growth of a people and its literary proficiency is constantly
pointed out.

In the Class of Anglo-Saxon the study of the language is mainly
pursued in its aspect as the mother of English, furnishing the student the
means of tracing the history of his native tongue from its earliest beginning.

Much attention is given to the illustration of the history of words, their
birth, teir fate under the rule of the Norman, and their subsequent modification.
Lxtracts from Anglo-Saxon writers are read, and the bearing of
their works on the history of our race is explained.

The following text books are used:

Spanih. The rofessor's Grammar, Seoane's Dictionary, Velasquez' Reader, Breton's
La Independencia, Don Quiote, Calderon's El Principe Constante, Lope's Estrella de Sevilla,
Cervantes's Novelas E'emplares, Galdos's Trafalgar, Caballero's La Familia de Alvareda,
Ticknor's Hitory of Spanish Literature. In default of the Professor's Grammar, now out
of print, Knapp's Spanish Grammar will be used.

Itaan.—Cuore's Grammar, Foresti's Reader, Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi, Tasso's Gerusalemme
Lberata, Pellico's Le Me Prigioni, Petrarca, Dante's La Divina Commedia.

AnloSan—Shute's Manual of Anglo-Saxon, or Sweet's Primer, The Professor's
Studies in English, March's Anglo-Saxon Grammar (for reference), the Anglo-Saxon Gospels.

FRENCH AND GERMAN.

Adjunct Professor Perkinson.

There will be three classes in each language.

The Junior Classes are designed for beginners. They must possess an
accurate knowledge of the elements of English grammar, and will study the
grammar of the language with weekly written exercises, and will be practiced
in pronunciation, on which special stress will be lad, and in translation from
easy authors. As soon as sufficient progress has been made in acquiring elementary
grammatical principles, translation from the foreign idioms into
English will be begun.

The Intermediate Classes embrace the work for the B. A. degree.
These classes are based on the Junior, and include a thorough study of the
grammar, supplemented by weekly written exercises and copious reading,
and a course in the history and the literature of the language. The amount
of reading to be done is definite, and is assigned at the beginning of the
session. A part of this is read in class, the rest is left as parallel reading.
Special attention is paid to reading at sight.

The Senior Classes study the historical grammar of the language, given
by lectures, continue the practice of translation and composition, and enter
more minutely into the study of certain authors and selected periods. Candidates
for graduation will be expected to translate at sight any passage that
may be assigned and to render selections from English authors into the foreign
idiom.

The text-books in all the classes and the authors to be read vary from
year to year and are subject to change at any time. The following are the
books for 1889-90:

Junior French.—Whitney's Grammar, De Vere's Reader, La Mare au Diable, Les
Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr.

Junior German.—Whitney's Brief Grammar, Joynes-Meissner's Grammar, Grimm's
Kinder-und Hausmärchen, Das Kalte Herz, Undine.

Intermediate French.—Whitney's Grammar, Saintsbury's Primer of French Literature,
Le Cid, Phédre, Andromaque, L'Avare, Le Misanthrope, Roman d'un Jeune Homme Pauvre,
Le Matre de Forges, La France, Un Philosophe sous les Toits.

Intermediate German.—Whitney's Grammar, Die Jungfrau von Orleans, Maria Stuart,
Historische Skizzen, Ballads; Hermann und Dorothea, Die Journalisten, Peter Schlemihl,
Undine.

Senior French.—Saintsbury's History of French Literature, Taine's Notes sur L'Angleterre,
Verre d'eau, Paris en Amérique, Sacs et Parchemins, Dosia, Britannicus, Victor Hugo's
Works.

Senior German.—Heine's Prosa, Goethe's Egmont, Iphigenie auf Tauris, Faust, Götz von
Berlichingen, Aus Meinem Leben; Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm, Emilia Galotti, Nathan
der Weise, Laocöon.

Gasc's, or Spiers and Surenne's French Dictionary.

Adler's, or Whitney's German Dctionary.

Candidates for graduation in the School of Modern Languages are required
to pass examination in French and German only.