UNIVERSITIES OF NORTH CAROLINA AND VIRGINIA. - The Address by Mr. HUGH M'QUEEN, delivered before the Alumni and Graduating Class of the University of North Carolina, in June last, though now somewhat ancient, must not be passed over without a word of commendation, for its healthful arguments, and valuable inculcations. Yet we could wish the general style had been less elaborately florid, and tautological terms pruned with a more liberal hand. The merits we have mentioned, however, overbear these natural defects. We would commend to the reader, in this connexion, an excellent Lecture, introductory to the Course of Mathematics, of the University of Virgina, in September last, by CHARLES BONNYCASTLE. It is replete with practical lessons, such as have made the name of the writer justly famous.

MESSRS. WILEY AND PUTNAM'S CATALOGUE. We have before us the last Catalogue of Messrs. WILEY AND PUTNAM, enumerating upward of an hundred and sixty 'new, valuable, and most important books, in the fine arts, architecture, natural history, philology, and belles-lettres, now offered at very reduced prices.' The books are all quite new, and in all respects as good as when they were sold at the full prices. A glance through the Catalogue has convinced us, that for value and cheapness, the collection is altogether a remarkable one.

NEW BOSTON PUBLICATIONS. -We have received from the long-established press of Messrs. JAMES MONROE AND COMPANY, Boston, and shall take another occasion to notice, as they deserve, the following publications: BUCKMINSTER'S Works, in two volumes; 'Miriam,' by Miss PARK; 'Last Days of the SAVIOUR;' 'Arthur Lee;' 'Home,' by Miss SEDGWICK; 'Sketches of a New-England Village;' and 'Popular German Stories.' These works are all distinguished by the customary neatness of the Boston press.

COLLEGIATE.We are indebted to the Literary Adelphi Society of the 'Academical and Theological Institution' of New-Hampton, (N. H.,) for a catalogue of the officers and students of that seminary; from which we derive two gratifying items of intelligence; namely, that it is in a highly flourishing condition, both in the male and female departments, and that its courses of instruction are ample, and in the hands of capable officers. The institution has our warmest wishes for that success which it seems abundantly to deserve.

AIDS TO REFLECTION. -Messrs. SWORDS, STANFORD AND COMPANY have published a corrected edition of 'Aids to Reflection,' by COLERIDGE, with the author's last corrections. The work is edited by HORATIO NELSON COLERIDGE, and has already been noticed in this Magazine. To the American edition is prefixed a preliminary essay upon the character of the volume and its author, by JOHN M. VICKAR, D. D., Professor of Moral Philosophy in Columbia College.

THE AMERICAN MEDICAL JOURNAL, for November, is a very rich and copious number. Among its articles is one by PLINY EARLE, M. D., giving a full report of a visit made by him to thirteen Asylums for the Insane, in Europe, with Statistics. This is an elaborate and interesting paper, to which we shall take occasion to refer, in detail, in a subsequent number of the KNICKERBOCKER.

COLONIZATION. - We would commend to general attention, an 'Address delivered at the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Colonization Society,' in November last, by R. R. GURLEY. It is a well-reasoned and eloquent appeal in behalf of the benevolent aims of a society to whose interests the indefatigable author has long and effectively devoted his time and talents.

TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. It has been a just ground of complaint, heretofore, on the part of our distant country readers, as well as those more near- (who, notwithstanding, we are happy to say, are increasing beyond all former precedent,) that their numbers have reached them at a late period of the month, and often after they had perused some of the best articles in the journals of the day. Hereafter, this cause of complaint will be entirely removed. The February KNICKERBOCKER will be promptly issued; and thereafter, every copy of each successive number of the work, which goes to subscribers out of town, will be mailed, (and the most distant the first,) before the first day of the month, at which time our city readers will be promptly served. Thus, as near as possible, the perusal of the KNICKERBOCKER will be SIMULTANEOUS throughout the country. Meanwhile, we beg our friends to believe, that never, since the literary responsibilities of the work were in their present hands, have THE SUPPLIES, including almost every variety of composition, been so rich aud copious, as at the present moment. And here let us extend the right hand of fellowship to several new and valuable contributors. The author of Childhood,' in our last number, will always be welcome. He has an admirable style; and by his close observation of nature, his easy humor, and touching pathos, cannot fail to win all suffrages. Thanks to the translator of 'Perourou, the Bellows-mender.' We will leave the reader to pronounce, whether a tale of more sustained and intense interest has ever graced these pages. 'FLACCUS' is cordially greeted. None who have perused this writer's admirable poetical contributions to the 'New-York American,' or who may read his initial poem in the present number, but will share the pleasure with which we welcome him as a permanent correspondent of this Magazine. Nor should we omit to render our tribute of gratitude to the writer who occupies, for the first time, the first place in the present issue. The author of Chivalry and the Crusades' needs no blazon of ours. His literary avant courier will insure a greedy perusal of any subsequent paper from his pen. Ollapodiana,' and 'HARRY FRANCO'S 'Haunted Merchant,' number two, were too late for the present number. The 'Letters from London,' by the sparkling SANDERSON, and the welcome favors of the author of the Psalms of Life,' will be renewed in their company. The author of an amusing paper, re-christened 'Phrenology and Animal Magnetism, how they served an Individual,' will receive our acknowledgments. His article is filed for immediate insertion. 'The Progress of Society,' with a various, entertaining, and instructive essay upon 'The English Language,' and a capital ‘Leaf' from the Georgia Lawyer's Port-folio,' are among the earliest candidates for the favor of our readers. 'Limnings in the Thoroughfares' will add to the attractions of the February issue, as also the New-Year Verses by a Bachelor.' The lines from an old and favorite contributor, entitled ' Parting from a Household,' together with a vivid and picturesque description of 'A Visit to the Mines of the Lackawanna,' will also appear in our next number. Nor must we forget to mention, that Mrs. MARY CLAVERS, whose 'New Home, Who'll Follow? has won such golden opinions in all quarters of the country, may likewise be enrolled among our immediate contributors. Several excellent papers, which are accepted, but which we lack space to note, together with numerous contributions from older favorites, will appear in their season. In addition to these attractions, we are enabled, through the kindness of Mr. PUTNAM, of the publishing and book-selling house of WILEY AND PUTNAM, in London and New-York, to furnish our readers with a rich and most various entertainment, from a large collection of the very oldest and choicest books, pamphlets, etc., which could be found in London, many of them treating of the remotest history of this country, with records of travel, and adventures 'long ago betid,' on this continent, together with many works, rare even in England, and replete with interest. We shall begin, in our next, with a comprehensive synopsis of, and entertaining extracts from, a work by DANIEL DEFOE, author of 'Robinson Crusoe,' which abounds with the pe culiar characteristics of that delightful writer. With the liberal aid of our contributors, therefore, old and new, the above-mentioned sources of interesting matériel, and the earliest current literature, periodical and otherwise, of our neighbors across the water, we can promise more and better literary entertainment, than we have ever yet been enabled to present.

Ir is proposed, in the present paper, to direct the reader's attention to a brief history of the English language; to its excellencies and defects; the best means of cultivating an acquaintance with it; the dangers of corruption to which, in this age of literary hobbies and imitations, it is exposed; and its future prospects, in regard to its prevalence and extension. Lest the writer should be thought, by some, to wander from his subject, in his occasional allusions to English literature, it may be proper to remark, that the intimate connec tion between the themes, renders such reference unavoidable.

Language forms a distinguishing characteristic of man. Brutes have inarticulate cries, which express their emotions, and the import of which they seem in a measure to understand; but they have nothing which can be dignified with the name of language. This is the vehicle of thought; it is the instrument by which mind acts upon mind; by which the people of one nation and age converse with the people of other nations and of remote ages; and it is the means by which the social nature of man arrives at its highest gratification.

It is the testimony of the Scriptures, that originally the inhabitants of the world were of one speech and of one language, and that the foundation for a variety of languages was laid in the confusion of tongues, at the building of Babel. From the nature of the case, also, it might be inferred that but one language would originally exist; and so convenient would it be for human intercourse, that all the inhabitants of the earth should continue to speak the same language, that we 'cannot well account for the existence of so many languages, so widely differing from each other, without supposing a miraculous interference, like that which the confusion of tongues at Babel is described to have been. The departures from the original language, however, though sufficient to prevent the different tribes from understanding each other, appears not to have been so entire as to destroy all resemblance between the different dialects. Hence, learned men have been able to trace some remote resemblances between all the various languages that exist.

Languages, like individuals, grow up from infancy to maturity; and like nations, they advance from barbarism to refinement. The English is the youngest child in the family of languages; but, as it frequently happens to the youngest child, it has been nursed with peculiar care, and enjoyed peculiar advantages; and it exhibits a vigorous constitution, and has acquired a manly growth. From poverty it has advanced to riches, and from barbarism to great refinement. It is an interesting employment to trace its history, and to mark its progress. It has originated, not from one source, but from many Sources. It has amassed its wealth not only by carefully husbanding its own resources, but by the lawful plunder of numerous other languages.

The history of the English language is intimately connected with the history of the English nation. The island of Great Britain has been the scene of its infancy, the theatre of its childhood, and the spot on which, in its maturity, it has flourished in peculiar glory. The earliest inhabitants of Britain, and indeed of all northern and western Europe, were the Celts, a people who, probably many centuries before the Christian era, wandered away from the parent tribes in Asia. They were rude and uncultivated, with the exception of the Druids, their priests, who had a humble claim to the title of philosophers. Such was the people whom Julius Cæsar found in Britain, when he raised the Roman eagle on its shores; and who, after a severe struggle, were subdued to the Roman dominion. The languages of the Welsh, of the native Irish, denominated the Erse, and of the highlands of Scotland, called the Gaelic, which differ only in dialect, are the remains of the Celtic, the original language of northern and western Europe.

After the internal troubles of the Roman Empire obliged the Romans to withdraw from Britain, the inhabitants of the southern portion of the island were exposed to the inroads of the Picts and Scots from the north, whom the Roman arms, during the Roman dominion, had kept in check. In vain did the Britons call on the Romans for aid; instead of defending others, they were scarcely able to defend themselves. In their extremity, the Britons invited the Saxons to undertake their defence. The Saxons inhabited northern and western Germany, and the adjacent territory, a branch of whom was denominated the Angles, from whom the English derive their name. They were a part of the extensive Gothic nation which spread itself over central and northern Europe; a people that left the eastern tribes at a later period than the Celts, and who were considerably in advance of them in civilization and mental improvement. The Saxons, after having driven back the Picts and Scots, conquered the Britons whom they came to defend; and so complete was the subjugation, that the Saxon or Gothic entirely superseded the Celtic, or ancient language of the country, and the Saxon is to be considered as the parent of the English language. Doubtless, from an intercourse with the original inhabitants, some Celtic words were intermingled with the Saxon, but they were not so numerous as materially to alter its form. The Saxon language, from the remains of it which have come down to modern times, appears to have been capable of expressing with copiousness

and energy the sentiments of a people not destitute of mental cultivation.

From the subjection of the Britons to the Saxons, the Saxon language underwent no material alteration, during a period of six hundred years. The Danes, indeed, during this time, overran the country, and for a season held it in subjection, and doubtless some Danish words were introduced into the Saxon. These seem not to have been very numerous, and made no material change in the form of the language, which may be accounted for from the fact, that the Danish and Saxon were but different dialects of the same parent, Gothic.

A much greater change in the language was effected by William the Conqueror, who, in 1066, subdued the English. He, with his followers, spoke the Norman French, a language formed by a mixture of the Celtic, Latin, and Gothic languages. William attempted, what few conquerors have done, to give law to the language of his subjects, and to introduce the Norman French in the place of the Saxon, by causing the intercourse of the court, and the proceedings of the courts of justice, to be held in the Norman French. But this conqueror found it more easy to subdue the English nation, than to conquer the Saxon language. Although the Norman French was, for a time, spoken by the higher ranks of society in England, and some of its words found their way into the native Saxon from this circumstance, yet the Saxon language maintained its ground in Britain, essentially unchanged. By the intercourse which took place between England and France, for several centuries afterward, many more French words were introduced into the English. These were adopted, with very little change from their original form; and hence has arisen the similarity between many words in the two languages, which is now so clearly visible.

In later times, the words of the English language have been exceedingly augmented by the introduction of many derived from the Latin and the Greek, and occasionally from the French, the Spanish, the Italian, and the German. The Latin, in latter times, has been the primary source whence the English has been enriched and adorned. This has arisen, not only from the fact that the Latin was the language of a people highly cultivated and refined, and embodied a great variety of valuable literature, but also from the circumstance that for many ages it was the common medium of communication between the learned of the nations of modern Europe, and was therefore well understood by every English scholar.

Still, however, after all its changes and augmentations, the Saxon remains the basis of the English language. Almost all the words in common and familiar use, and those which relate to agriculture and the mechanic arts, are of Saxon origin. He who speaks Saxon English, speaks plain English, which every person understands. If we were to speak of the circumambient air, which is Latin English, some persons might be found who would not fully understand us. we say the surrounding air, which is Saxon English, we shall be distinctly and universally understood.

If

Of all the distinguished English writers, none is more remarkable for a general use of Saxon English, than Addison. It gives a peculiar