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58 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. ing German; but when they were given to un- derstand that it should represent Greek, they burst into laughter, stamping with their feet, screaming and uttering cat-calls, and the prin- cipal himself could not help joining in the gen- eral hilarity. Any one can try the experiment of creating fun among Greeks by speaking to them of Erasmus of Rotterdam. We can easily understand this hilarity when we learn how a Frenchman, who had long studied English and was thoroughly conversant with the literature, but had never become fami- liar with the sound of the language, read Tenny- son's "Claribel" : "At ev ze little bommess Az vart ze zeenet Ion, At none ze veld be ommess Aboot ze most eldston At meednees ze mon commess An lokes doon alon Ere songz ze lint veet svelless Ze clirvoiced mari dvelless Ze slombvoos var ootvelless Ze babblang ronnel creepess Ze ollor grot replee — ess Vere Claribel lovelee— ess." Nobody has ever asserted that Greek pronun- ciation has remained unchanged from the time of Kadmus until now. This would be a unique phenomenon. In the course of time the pronun-