Lat. aper; Germ. eber. Sanser. grabh; Icel. gripa. Icel. k-nut. S. The most common of all prefixes, especially in Erse and We add the following to the numerous instances Lower Saxon. adduced by Grimn. (Gram. ii. 701.) Gr. κ-άπρος. Lat. nere (to spin). Germ. reihe (row). Many words seem to exhibit two or three gradations of this kind of composition,-e. gr., Sanscr. lip, to anoint (compare Homer's λichalov); Gr. dhɛiqw; Goth. s-a-lbon; Germ. rollen; Bavar. k-rollen; Eng. s-c-roll. We have actual evidence of the composition of many words bearing a considerable analogy to the above examples, especially in the Germanic dialects. Beichte (confession), bleiben, block, glaube, glied, gnade, flazan, fliesan, with many others, are known to be respectively compounded with the particles be, ge, fra. Fret, simple as it appears, consists of two distinct elements,--Goth. fra+itan ex-edere; so that the modern German ver-fressen (to devour) is twice compounded with the same particle. Even many of the words usually regarded as Sanscrit roots are capable of being resolved into still simpler elements. For instance, the root i denotes to go (Lat. i-re, Gr. eva); ri, also to go, may very possibly be a compound of ra + i = pergere; tri (to pass), ta + riq. d., go thither; stri, to strew, or spread, a further formation with the particle sa,—and so of many others. Our readers will find much ingenious speculation on this subject in Pott's 'Etymologische Forschungen.' We consider many of his conclusions as highly deserving of attention; but we do not feel disposed to agree with him in referring the above prefixes to the Sanscrit prepositions, in their present form, which is evidently not their primeval one. We think, for example, that tri is probably compounded, not, however, with the preposition ati, but with the pronominal or prepositional root ta. We freely admit that all this is, in a great measure, conjectural, and requires to be confirmed by a more copious induction from cognate dialects. Could the fact be sufficiently established, it would afford scope for much curious discussion respecting the formation of language, and might perhaps serve as a clue in tracing the affinities of tongues, commonly supposed to be entirely unconnected. It is scarcely possible for two languages to be more unlike than Sanscrit and Chinese; but it is by no means improbable that both were at a very early period much in the same condition and partly composed of the same elements. Both consist of monosyllabic roots; and a few more pronouns and particles, employed copiously in the connexion and composition of words, might have made the latter not unlike the former. But while the component elements of Greek and Sanscrit have, as it were, crystallized into beautiful forms, Chinese, as an oral language, has remained perfectly stationary, and is still, as it was 3000 years ago, 6 arena sine calce.' We think one point satisfactorily established,—namely, that pronouns and simple particles, instead of being, as Tooke represents, comparatively modern contrivances, are in reality of the most remote antiquity, as well as of first-rate importance in language. The oldest dialects have invariably more words of this class than the more recent ones, as may be seen by comparing Homer with Sophocles, or the Gothic of Ulphilas with the German of Luther. Their antiquity may be further proved by a comparison of different families of languages. Of all European tongues Finnish is perhaps the most remote from Sanscrit. The numerals have nothing in common, and there are very few coincidences in the names of ordinary objects. Nevertheless the personal, demonstrative, and relative pronouns, and the terminations of the verbs, are composed of nearly the same elements in both. It would be as absurd to ascribe this coincidence to accident, as to suppose that one race had borrowed terms of this sort from the other; the only rational supposition is, that they are in both languages derived from the same source, and consequently existed long before Sanscrit and Finnish had assumed their present forms. Tooke's corollary proposition, that language, in its in-artificial state, was destitute of pronouns and particles, is the very reverse of truth; it being well known that the barbarous South-Sea islanders have many more than the most cultivated Europeans. An Englishman or a Frenchman has only one word for we, but a native of Hawaii or Tahiti has perfectly distinct terms for all the following combinations,-I + thou; I + he; I + you; I+ they; my company. So unsafe is it to construct theories on insufficient evidence, or none at all! We have thus endeavoured to convey our ideas of the primeval nature nature of language, and to exhibit a small portion of the evidence on which they appear to be founded. Had our limits allowed, we could have confirmed some of our positions by a much more extensive induction; but we trust we have said sufficient to excite investigation and discussion. Our object has not been to advance paradoxes, but to endeavour to throw light on the real elements of language, and to show what it is apart from the confessedly artificial divisions of grammarians. If our speculations are proved to be erroneous, we shall be ready to renounce them for something better; if they are sound, their truth will eventually be recognized. They at least represent language as a more simple thing than it is commonly supposed to be; and, if well-founded, may serve to elucidate some of the sciences more immediately dependent upon language. Whether they will help to settle the old quarrel between the nominalists and realists or not, is more than we will venture to affirm; but we are persuaded that the proving or disproving them would be of some consequence to universal grammar, and perhaps to logic and metaphysics. ART. V. Schloss Hainfeld; or a Winter in Lower Styria. By Captain Basil Hall, Ř.N., F.R.S. 12mo. Edinburgh. 1836. WHAT Dr. Johnson said of Goldsmith is also true of Captain WHAT Hall-whatever subject he undertakes to write upon, he makes it as amusing as a fairy tale.' In the present instance, his narrative of a fortuitous visit to a country house in Lower Styriathough, we must presume, as accurate in matter of fact as one of his log-books-is, by the accident which produced it, the out-of-theway circumstances it relates, the lively and growing interest which it excites, and the unexpected catastrophe with which it concludes, much more like a novel than an episode in a continental tour in these locomotive times, when travelling has become the most general and, to ordinary men, the most common-place of human occupations. But in Captain Hall's hands nothing is common-place. His views of any subject are at once simple and shrewd, original yet unaffected: when he gives to what at first sight might appear an ordinary trifle an air of novelty and importance, it is not by a distortive endeavour to exhibit his own cleverness, but by the sagacious good sense which detects, and the easy style which developes, the latent merits of the unpromising theme. But to those qualities Captain Hall adds another, which, though not of a literary kind, has contributed very much to his literary success. He seems to have received from nature, and to have strengthened by the habits of his professional life, a busy, inqui sitive, sitive, and, if we may use the expression, venturesome turn of mind, which leads him to seize opportunities, and to pursue prospects, upon which men of less active or more reserved dispositions would have hesitated to venture. Not one, perhaps, of fifty travellers, to whom the accident which produced Captain Hall's visit to Styria should have presented itself, would have ventured to avail himself of it; it would be probably still more difficult to find one who, after he had embarked in the adventure, would have had either time, temper, or tenacity, to pursue it to its close-and we certainly believe that not one in a thousand would have ever thought of making a book of it. About the end of April, 1834, Captain Hall, with his lady and family, on their way from Rome to Naples, stopped for a couple of hours at Albano to refresh their horses, during which time sundry other carriages arrived, amongst which was one which particularly engaged his attention, and with that feverish curiosity' which the Captain attributes to all travellers, but which we believe is distinctive rather of the class to which Captain Hall fortunately belongs, than to travellers, and especially English travellers, in general-he set about discovering who the owner might be. The carriage belonged, as it happened, to a Polish lady with an unpronounceable name,' whom he had before seen at Rome, and he lost no time in repairing to her apartment to renew so agreeable an acquaintance, though it was but for a moment.' 'No sooner had we entered than she exclaimed, "Oh, how fortunate! It is only a day or two since I received a letter from Germany, containing a message to you; and had we not now fallen in with each other, I might never have been able to deliver it. My correspondent supposed we were still at Rome together, forgetting that at this season the travellers who crowd there in winter scatter themselves in all directions the moment the breath of spring opens the season. This letter," continued she, pulling one from her reticule, " contains a message from the Countess Purgstall, an elderly Scotch lady, who, having married forty years ago a nobleman of Austria, has resided in that country ever since. I am desired to ascertain if you be the son of Sir James Hall, one of her earliest and most intimate friends in Edinburgh? And if so, as I believe to be the case, I am requested to invite you, in her name, most cordially, to pay her a visit at her country place, the Schloss, or castle, of Hainfeld, near Gratz, should you think of taking the homeward route through Styria, instead of following the beaten track of the Tyrol."-pp. 4, 5. The random invitation thus tombée des nues, and which there were an hundred chances to one against his ever receiving, luckily found Captain Hall without any settled plan for his future movements, and he at once resolved to avail himself of it, though ' all 'all we knew of the Countess Purgstall was, that she was sister to Mrs. Dugald Stewart; that she had married a German nobleman, late in the last century, and proceeded with him to Austria, and that she had never revisited her native country. We had also a vague recollection of having heard that she had been extremely unfortunate in her family, and was left solitary in the world; moreover, that she was remarkably clever, and rather eccentric.'—pp. 6, 7. 6 He took, however, the precaution of obtaining a more precise invitation from the Countess herself, and for this purpose addressed her a letter, that very day, from Albano, acknowledging the lucky receipt of her hospitable overture, mentioning the number of which his party consisted, giving a sketch of his plans for the summer, and requesting further information about the roads, and the best season for travelling in Germany.' This produced a succession of letters from the Countess, urging the performance of the proposed visit with great, and as the event approached increasing, earnestness. A few extracts from these clever and characteristic letters will give the reader a preliminary idea of the Countess, her castle, and her country 'I have this moment, my dear sir, received your letter, dated Albano, 21st April. I am now so unaccustomed to a pleasing sensation, that I tremble while I tell you, it will be doing me a very great favour indeed if Mrs. Hall and you will bestow a visit upon me. Your little darlings surely need repose. I beseech you to let them find a home for a few weeks in Hainfeld; the house is large; there are thirty-nine rooms on this floor, all completely furnished, though in the mode of the last century; the air and water are good; the country is rich, well cultivated, and varied enough to be pleasing. I dare not promise you amusements; I am a widowed woman cut off from the tree of life; but if a cordial welcome can render solitude supportable, I am sure you will find it here. Hungary is only three hours distant from this-it is a country little known. You will be well received by my neighbours on the frontier, and find the people a race distinct from any in Europe. .'-p. 9. I dare not speak of the home of my youth. Thirty-five years of absence have sponged me from the remembrance of those dearest to me; but if you graciously visit me, you will draw back the veil and give me a glimpse of things still, alas! too dear to me. With a grief which I cannot express, I discovered a few minutes ago, on looking over the little register of my letters, that I had addressed my former answer to yours not to Rome, but to Naples. It was a degree of absence worthy of your good grand uncle, of absent memory; but I have not, alas! the apology of genius to plead. My mistakes are owing to a very different cause of late-to the state of my health. For more than three years I have been the victim of rheumatism, or what some physicians are pleased to call the tic-douloureux-volant. This cruel disease has torn my nerves in pieces, and when I am agitated, as I was when I received your letter-so dearly welcome to me-I became |