Excerpt from On the Science of Language and Its Study: With Special Regard to South Africa
Ladies and Gentlemen, -
The Committee of Management of the South African Public Library has . conferred upon me the honour of taking the chair at its fifty-third annual meeting, and in accordance with the traditions of this Institution, of addressing you on some scientific or literary subject
Although born under the English flag, my lot in early life unfortunately did not put me in the position of enjoying the literary treasures which during six centuries had been accumulated by your poets, historians and philosophers. When far away from my native land, I became acquainted with the English language and literature, in that country where your Beowulf, Shakespeare and Byron found their greatest and most eloquent interpreters, their most competent translators and their most enthusiastic admirers.
In Germany I had learnt to understand English and to enjoy an English book; but it is still a great step from reading to writing a language. And when eleven years ago I came back to my native shores, I at once proceeded to the Transgaripian territories, where, during my seven years of wanderings, I never had an opportunity of cultivating English conversation and style. And it is only since my return from there, four years ago, that I have been able to devote myself to a more careful practice of the English idiom.
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