Gregory has expressed my thoughts better than I could. (Thx.) Which doesn't stop me from continuing to blither some more.
The early writers who wrote in Latin were schooled in it from an early age and not all were as talented as Milton.
Conrad essentially gave up his original language as he was in an isolated setting (shipboard) where the language of communication was English. And he read copious amounts of English literature. (If I remember correctly.) I have friends who have forgotten their original language (when a minority language) because they never have a chance to use it and have completely absorbed Swedish. They tell me that they have forgotten large chunks of their vocabulary.
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