Romanticism and Linguistic Theory: William Hazlitt, Language and Literature

209 Pages·2009·1.178 MB·

by  Marcus Tomalin (auth.)

Romanticism and Linguistic Theory
Also by Marcus Tomalin:
LINGUISTICS AND THE FORMAL SCIENCES
Romanticism and
Linguistic Theory
William Hazlitt, Language and Literature
Marcus Tomalin
© Marcus Tomalin 2009
Softcover reprInt of the hardcover 1st edItIon 2009 978-0-230-21833-8
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publica-
tion may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2009 by
PALGRAVEMACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin's Press LLC,175 Fifth
Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-30429-5 ISBN 978-0-230-22831-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230228313
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tomalin, Marcus.
R omanticism and linguistic theory: William Hazlitt, language and literature
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Hazlitt, William, 1788-1830—Knowledge—Philology.
2. Grammar, Comparative and general—History—18th
century. 3. Grammar, Comparative and general—History 19th
century. 4. Language and languages—Philosophy—History—18th
century. 5. Language and languages—Philosophy—History—19th
century. 6. Romanticism—Great Britain. I. Title.
PR4773.T66 2008
824.7—dc22 2008016327
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
‘This is one of those subjects on which the human understanding has
played the fool’.
William Hazlitt, ‘English Grammar’, 1829.
Many of the topics presented here were first considered in the con-
text of lectures and classes that I gave for the Faculty of English at the
University of Cambridge during the period 2003-2008. Therefore, I am
indebted to several generations of undergraduates as well as to various
members of the ‘Language’ SGC who provided me with the opportu-
nitytorefine myideas. Inparticular,EricGriffiths, RaphaelLyne,Dan
Wakelin, and Laura Wright have been unfailingly supportive. I am also
grateful for the chance to speak at the 2008 ‘Hazlitt Day-School’ which
took place at Hertford College, Oxford. In particular, the discussions
that I had there with Uttara Natarajan, Duncan Wu, Tom Paulin, and
Simon Bainbridge (amongst others) were extremely helpful. In differ-
ent ways, Nick Roe, Julia Simon, Will Poole, Rhodri Lewis, and Cathy
Philips also provided valuable guidance when it was most required. Al-
though I made use of various libraries while preparing this book, the
CambridgeUniversityLibrarydeservesanespecialmention,particularly
the staff of the Munby Rare Books Room. Their careful assistance was
always exemplary. Further thanks are due to Palgrave Macmillan, first
for agreeing to support this venture, and then for overseeing the prepa-
ration of this manuscript so carefully. Paula Kennedy and Steven Hall,
especially, have been invariably helpful and encouraging, while Mary
Payne has proved to be a meticulous proof reader.
Over the years, numerous Tomalins, Trencs´enyis, and MacDonalds
have endured conversations about some of the topics discussed in this
book, and the chance to explain my ideas was always beneficial (for
me at least). I am grateful to them for their patience and I thank
them – especially my mother, who probably learnt more about Indian
Jugglers than she ever expected. Finally, as usual, Sarah is implicated
throughout.
All quotations from Duncan Wu’s The Selected Writings of William
Hazlitt 9 vols. (1998) are reproduced with the kind permission of Pick-
ering & Chatto Publishers.
Despite my vigilence, I assume that there are lingering errors in this
text. Ifso,thentheyaredueentirelytomyownignorance,carelessness,
and stupidity. I wish the mistakes well, though, and I trust that they
will bring joy to all attentive readers.
This book is dedicated to my father:
Malcolm (Raymond) Roy Tomalin
1935-2007
Contents
1 Introduction page 1
1.1 Romanticism and Language 1
1.2 Hazlitt on Language and Linguistic Theory 7
1.3 Reception and Analysis 14
1.4 The Way Ahead 22
2 Linguistic Theory in the Eighteenth Century 25
2.1 Theories and Theorists 25
2.2 Philosophy of Language 25
2.3 Philosophical Grammars 30
2.4 Grammar Textbooks 38
2.5 Lexicography 44
2.6 Language and Style 51
2.7 Tories and Radicals 57
3 Philology and Philosophical Grammar 60
3.1 Hazlitt and Philosophical Grammar 60
3.2 Nonsense and Redemption 63
3.3 Horne Tooke’s Theory of Language 65
3.4 Indeclinable Words 72
3.5 Winged Words 79
3.6 Rejecting Metaphysics 84
3.7 A Light in the Darkness 91
4 The Implications of Style 93
4.1 The Influence of Pedagogy 93
4.2 Vulgarisms and Broken English 94
4.3 The Grammars of English 98
4.4 Perspicuity: Purity, Propriety,and Precision 102
4.5 Familiarising the Perspicuous 108
ix
x Contents
5 The Languages of Literature 122
5.1 Grammar and Literature 122
5.2 Verbal Criticism 129
5.3 Common Language 141
6 Victorian Perspectives 148
6.1 Hazlitt’s Influence? 148
6.2 Journalism and Urbanism 150
6.3 The Progress of Philology 154
Notes 165
Bibliography 181
Index 188
1
Introduction
1.1 Romanticism and Language
The epigraph to this book is taken from an essay that Hazlitt wrote
towardstheendofhislife. ItwaspublishedinThe Atlas in1829,andit
contains his final thoughts concerning the nature of the difficulties that
perhaps inevitably bedevil the study of English grammar. It is a topic
that had fascinated him for many years and which had prompted him
to publish his own grammar textbook, A New and Improved Grammar
of the English Tongue (henceforthGrammar)in1809. Althoughtwenty
years had intervened between the publication of the Grammar and the
appearanceof the Atlas essay,Hazlitt adopts the same basicposition in
both texts: he repeatedly implores his audience not to allowthemselves
to be ‘hoodwinked and led blindfold by mere precedent and authority’,
and he speaks disparagingly of those who unquestioningly accept the
linguisticpreceptswithwhichtheyhadbeenindoctrinatedaschildren.1
As these remarks suggest, the system of grammatical analysis that was
standardly taught in British schools was, for Hazlitt, a detestable ab-
surdity:
If a system were made in burlesque and purposely to call into question and
exposeitsownnakedness,itcouldnotgobeyondthis,whichisgravelytaught
in all seminaries, and patiently learnt by all school-boys as an exercise and
discipline of the intellectual faculties.2
The conventional pedagogical practices seem farcical: diligent children
arerequiredtomasterananalyticalsystemwhichissoprofoundlyflawed
astobeinherentlyself-parodic. Everattentivetothefallibilityofappar-
ent authorities (be they political, intellectual, linguistic, or otherwise),
Hazlittmaintainsthatdireconsequencesinevitablyfollowfromanoverly
servileadherencetotradition,especiallywhentheparticularcustomsin-
1