University of Virginia Library

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.