"no farther than to nouns; i. e. the figns of thofe "impreffions or names of ideas. The other part of

re

fpeech, the verb, must be accounted for from the

neceffary ufe of it in communication. It is in "fact, the communication itself; and therefore well "denominated Papa, dictum. For the verb is quod

loquimur, the noun, de quo." (p. 71.): to make a verb, or to communicate, we put together the name of a thing and of an action or paffion. The mode of expreffion of children and Africans frequently exemplifies this remark.

To conclude a conteft with chimeras, which af→ fords no immediate fatisfaction, and in its most favourable iffue, can confer little honour; I fhall quote from Mr. Scheid a paffage, in which he finally rejects the whole analogy of his masters; and if we had none but præternatural means offered to our choice, I should, with him, prefer revelation to the fuppofition of rude men falling upon this milliner's method of fafhioning a language, by fticking letters in the middle or at the end of little primitives, in order to puff them out. Equidem fateor, fubtilem nimis mihi fæpe vifam fuiffe iftam quam diximus, derivandi rationem; quafi vero antiquiffimi Græci normam banc de communi confilio, in fermonis fui amplificatione, fibi legiffent;

ut ab änw infertâ aliquâ vocali de quinque vocalibus, ef

ακω

formarent άκαω, ακέω, ακίω, ακόω, ακύω, ab έλω, ελαω, ελεώς ελιω, ελέω, ελυω. Rudibus mortalibus, (fi vel maxime linguas humanum opus effe exiftimes, quod nunquam ego crediderim) antequam lingua jam conftituta esset, eam tribuere expirar, quæ vix a philofophis, novam forte linguam ἀκρίβειαν, condituris, expectari poffit, id vero nimium mihi videtur effe, in hoc antiquitatis ftudio; neque id voluiffe Lennepium, fummofque ipfius præceptores, Hemfterhufium et Valckenarium, facile inducor ut credam (p. 491.) Mr. S. fuppofes ax the old dative of axn, which is formed from anw, to have given rife to answ, and so forth.

The physical confideration of the vowels will go a great way towards explaining the facts upon which this fyftem of analogy is founded. In the different languages of Europe, A, E, I, O, U, represent some fcores, and perhaps fome hundreds of founds, varying by imperceptible gradations; and it is evident from anatomy, that fuch founds may be varied without end. From the affinity of the vowels, and of feveral of the confonants, it happens that the fame found is in

* Lennep's idea, if he be the author of it, of arranging the letters of the alphabet, according to their affinity, is ingenious. He places, for inftance, G next to K, & to P, D to T, and so on.

writing

writing represented very differently. Before the in vention of the art of printing, it was perhaps impoffible to introduce an uniform orthography; though the more a language was written, the more it would approach towards uniformity in this refpect. In moft of those cases therefore, where the vowels are fuppofed to have been severally inferted, we have, in fact, only one word differently fpelled: and this difference of spelling will be more firmly established, the longer the states, that speak a common language, continue independant of one another. Had all Germany groaned for ages under the tyranny of one defpot, we should not have had the difference of orthography, which ftill prevails between the Saxon, Swiss, Pruffian and Austrian writers. Moreover, in every thing we do, we proceed by analogy, and imitation is the mould in which we are all caft. Now it is a circumstance of great fingularity and importance, that in the improvement of the Greek language, and in the gradual contraction of Greek words, this invariable tendency of human nature was not disturbed by the influence of any more polished language. Thefe feveral causes will, I think, fully account for those groups of resembling founds which are obferved in that language. And fimilarity of conftruction, being founded

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founded upon a principle, common to all mankind, must prevail to a certain extent in other languages as well as in the Greek; and as Lennep juftly obferves; analogia, ex ipfa hominis natura manans, in omnibus omnino linguis, pro diverfâ indole earum, diverfa quidem, in fingulis tamen, æquali modo, per omnes earundem partes, regnat conftantiffimè. It may appear extraordinary, that a perfon, who makes fo many juft fingle obfervations, fhould adopt a fyftem fo improbable and so deftitute of proof. But the phænomenon is not unprecedented. The facts, adduced by other theorifts, have sometimes been fubverfive of their fyftem.

NOTE

NOTE II

On the Spirit and Tendency of the Doctrines of the Exeα Пrepoɛla, and on the Merit of the Author as a Difcoverer.

C

Onfidering the long delufions which words have

fupported, the deadly animofities, public and private, to which they have given rife, and how much genius they have rendered useless or pernicious to mankind, grammar may be numbered among the most important of all purfuits. That work, therefore, in which Mr. Tooke has revealed so much of the ftructure of language, appeared to me, on its firft publication, one of the most valuable, as well as one of the most ingenious productions, that ever iffued from the prefs; except Mr. Locke's Effay, I confider it as that which has most contributed towards the theory of our intellectual faculties. Whatever may be thought of their value, no one, I believe, capable of underftanding

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