University of Virginia Library

SCHOOL OF MODERN LANGUAGES.

Prof. Schele De Vere.

The subjects taught in this School are as follows:

1. The French, German, Spanish, and Italian languages. A number
of classic and of modern authors are read in the class, to practice the
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, are expected
to be read privately, in order to acquire that familiarity with
foreign writers which enables the student to judge of the difference in
style and diction in individuals, and in various periods of literature.

At every meeting of the class, moreover, a lecture is delivered, and
to a large extent illustrated by examples and quotations, written on the
blackboard, so that the eye and the ear may mutually assist each other.
In these lectures the Grammar and the Syntax of each idiom is discussed
in a manner varying according to the state of preparation of
each class. The treatment is mainly historical: the words, the sentences
and the general structure being exhibited as they gradually
developed themselves from the earliest efforts made by the infant nation
to the highest results obtained in its so-called Golden Age.

These lectures are again accompanied by weekly exercises, translations
from the vernacular into foreign idioms. They furnish the Professor
with evidence of the success or want of success with which he
has tried to explain the rules and the 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 them 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 of their history, 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.

After each lecture the Professor remains some time in the lecture
room to meet informally such students as desire additional information.

Diplomas of graduation are conferred in each of the four languages
named above; and upon the student who succeds in French and German
a diploma of graduation in the School of Modern Languages is
conferred.

2. The study of Anglo-Saxon 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,
their fate under the rule of the Norman, and their subsequent modifications.
Whilst the student is furnished with a key to the rich and
historically invaluable literature of our forefathers, he is at the same
time given an opportunity to learn the inner nature, the inherent power
and the right to supremacy awarded to his native tongue. Extracts
from Anglo-Saxon writers are read, and the bearing of their works on
the history of our race is explained.

Certificates of Proficiency are conferred in Anglo-Saxon.

The following text-books are used in the several languages:

French.

Junior Class.—The Professor's Grammar and First Reader, Whitney's Grammar, Télémaque,
Saintine's Picciola, Masson's Dictionary.

Senior Class.—The Professor's Grammar, Brachet's Grammar, Molière, Racine, Voltaire,
Taine's L'Angleterre, Masson's, Gasc's, or Littré's Dictionary. A course of private reading
is prescribed. Prof. J. A. Harrison's French Syntax is recommended.

German.

Junior Class.—Whitney's Grammar, Whitney's Reader, Schiller's William Tell, Whitney's
Dictionary.

Senior Class.—Whitney's and Wilmans' or Frauer's (German) Grammar, Whitney's
Dictionary, Schiller's Works, Gœthe's Torquato Tasso and Faust, Jean Paul's Flegeljahre.
A course of private reading is prescribed.

Spanish.

The Professor's Grammar, Seoane's Dictionary, Velasquez' Reader, Breton's La Independencia,
Don Quijote, Calderon's El Principe Constante, Lope's Estrella de Sevilla, Ticknor's
History of Spanish Literature. In default of the Professor's Grammar, now out of print,
Knapp's Spanish Grammar will be used.

Italian.

Cuore's Grammar, Foresti's Reader, Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi, Tasso's Gerusalemme
Liberata, Pellico's Le Mie Prigioni, Petrarca, Dante's La Divinia Commedia.

Anglo-Saxon.

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.