Kossuth's English

Xossuth had a remarkable niastery of English. This story shows how he strengthened his knowledge of our difflcult tongue. Speaking at Concord, Mass. , Kossuth wished to express the figure of the Austrian eagle rendiiig the young freedom of Hungary. The word escaped Mm. Stopping f or a moment in the full flight of eloquence, he asked a matter of f act American who sat near him, ' ' What yon say when man tear his coat?" ' 'Hole, ' ' was the reply. That word did aot satisfy him, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who had overheard the question, whispered ' 'rent, ' ' with poetic sympathy for enphony, and the stately sweep of the sentence was completed. He learned the language after his arrest in 1837, when he was sentenced iu 1838 to three years' imprisonment, during a part of which he was cut off from all communication with his friends and was denied the use of pen and ink, and even of books. In the second year he was allowed to read, but as all political books were interdicted he selected an English grammar, Walker's Pronounoing Dictionary, and Shakespeare. Without knowing a single word he began to read ' 'The Tempest. ' ' He was engaged for a fortnight iu getting through the first