Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Mathematics, Language, Education

    Begins with observations relating to the grammatical writings of John Wallis and on the richness of the English language. Observes of Wallis: 'He excelled in Etymology, for his habits as a Geometer led him to sift every subject to its bottom, and trace every branch or even filament of language to its radix' (92). Considers it a shame that 'with a language, and such treasures in it, the best part of the lives of so many of our youth should be spent, if not wasted, in studies, and in languages, that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, serve only to pass through the forms of Schools and Colleges, and however they may have acquitted themselves in Greek and Latin, Mathematics, and a still inefficient Aristotelian Philosophy, enter upon life with scarcely a requisite for passing honourably and usefully through it' (94).