A History of English Language

The appeal to authority, 1650-1800 241
something like a permanent standard. We may well believe that permanence and stability
would seem like no inconsiderable virtues to a generation that remembered the disorders
and changes of the Revolution and Restoration.
188. Its Reflection in the Attitude toward the Language.
The intellectual tendencies here noted are seen quite clearly in the eighteenth-century
efforts to standardize, refine, and fix the English language. In the period under
consideration discussion of the language takes a new turn. Previously interest had been
shown chiefly in such questions as whether English was worthy of being used for
writings in which Latin had long been traditional, whether the large additions being made
to the vocabulary were justified, and whether a more adequate system of spelling could
be introduced. Now for the first time attention was turned to the grammar, and it was
discovered that English had no grammar. At any rate its grammar was largely uncodified,
unsystematized. The ancient languages had been reduced to rule; one knew what was
right and what was wrong. But in English everything was uncertain. One learned to speak
and write as one learned to walk, and in many matters of grammatical usage there was
much variation even among educated people. This was clearly distasteful to an age that
desired above all else an orderly universe. The spontaneous creativeness of a
Shakespeare, verbing it with nouns and adjectives, so to speak, sublimely indifferent to
rules, untroubled by any considerations in language save those springing from a sure
instinct, had given place to hesitation and uncertainty, so that a man like Dryden
confessed that at times he had to translate an idea into Latin in order to decide on the
correct way to express it in English.
In its effort to set up a standard of correctness in language the rationalistic spirit of the
eighteenth century showed itself in the attempt to settle disputed points logically, that is,
by simply reasoning about them, often arriving at entirely false conclusions. The respect
for authoritative example, especially for classical example, takes the form of appeals to
the analogy of Latin, whereas a different manifestation of the respect for authority is at
the bottom of the belief in the power of individuals to legislate in matters of language and
accounts for the repeated demand for an English Academy. Finally it is an idea often
expressed that English has been and is being daily corrupted, that it needs correction and
refinement, and that when the necessary reforms have been effected it should be fixed
permanently and protected from change. In other words, it was desired in the eighteenth
century to give the English language a polished, rational, and permanent form. How
mistaken were these goals and methods will be shown later. The various features of that
attempt will constitute the major topics for discussion in the remainder of this chapter.
189. “Ascertainment.”
Eighteenth-century attempts to codify the English language and to direct its course fall,
we may repeat, under three main heads: (1) to reduce the language to rule and set up a
standard of correct usage; (2) to refine it—that is, to remove supposed defects and
introduce certain improvements; and (3) to fix it permanently in the desired form.