Besides 'tis known he could speak Greek
As naturally as pigs squeak;
That Latin was no more read more

Besides 'tis known he could speak Greek
As naturally as pigs squeak;
That Latin was no more difficile
That to a blackbird 'tis to whistle.

A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.

A Babylonish dialect
Which learned pedants much affect.

Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of
the two!

Egad, I think the interpreter is the hardest to be understood of
the two!

It is Hebrew to me.
[Fr., C'est de l'hebreu pour moi.]

It is Hebrew to me.
[Fr., C'est de l'hebreu pour moi.]

Languages are no more than the keys of Sciences. He who despises
one, slights the other.

Languages are no more than the keys of Sciences. He who despises
one, slights the other.

I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,
Which melts like kisses from a female mouth.

I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,
Which melts like kisses from a female mouth.

. . . Philologists, who chase
A painting syllable through time and space
Start it at home, read more

. . . Philologists, who chase
A painting syllable through time and space
Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark,
To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's Ark.

Everything is Greek, when it is more shameful to be ignorant of
Latin.
[Lat., Omnia Graece!
read more

Everything is Greek, when it is more shameful to be ignorant of
Latin.
[Lat., Omnia Graece!
Cum sit turpe magis nostris nescire Latine.]

He plays o' th' viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four
languages word for word without book, and hath all read more

He plays o' th' viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four
languages word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts
of nature.