The Comic Latin Grammar in Victorian England

The Comic Latin Grammar in Victorian England

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This paper presents the first scholarly analysis of The Comic Latin Grammar by Percival Leigh, a satirical textbook of Latin grammar published in London in 1840.Sections I and II analyze the role of Latin education and the rapid publication of Latin grammar Pre-Rolled books during the nineteenth century.Sections III and IV conduct close readings of the Comic Latin Grammar to assess its techniques of parody and allusion.

I conclude that the textbook achieves its satire of Latin learning by embedding two tiers of humor in its lessons designed for two types of here readers: those with and without a background in Classical education.In this way, Leigh uses parody as a mechanism for constructing and enforcing social boundaries, but also satirizes the use of Latin as a shibboleth for polite society.