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.

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.

But to the purpose--for we cite our faults
That they may hold excused our lawless lives;
And read more

But to the purpose--for we cite our faults
That they may hold excused our lawless lives;
And partly, seeing you are beautified
With goodly shape, and by your own report
A linguist, and a man of such perfection
As we do in our quality much want--

. . . 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.

He who is ignorant of foreign languages, knows not his own.
[Ger., Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts read more

He who is ignorant of foreign languages, knows not his own.
[Ger., Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner
eigenen.]

He attempts to use language which he does not know.
[Lat., Negatas artifex sequi voces.]

He attempts to use language which he does not know.
[Lat., Negatas artifex sequi voces.]

But those that understood him smiled at one another and shook
their heads; but for mine own part, if read more

But those that understood him smiled at one another and shook
their heads; but for mine own part, if was Greek to me.

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.

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!