LE C T. other; whereas, the voice is fugitive and pass

VII.

ing; you must catch the words the moment they are uttered, or you lofe them for ever.

BUT, although these be so great advantages of written Language, that Speech, without Writing, would have been very inadequate for the inftruction of mankind; yet we must not forget to observe, that spoken Language has a great fuperiority over written Language, in point of energy or force. The voice of the living Speaker, makes an impreffion on the mind, much stronger than can be made by the perufal of any Writing. The tones of voice, the looks and gefture, which accompany difcourfe, and which no Writing can convey, render difcourfe, when it is well managed, infinitely more clear, and more expreffive, than the most accurate Writing. For tones, looks, and geftures, are natural interpreters of the fentiments of the mind. They remove ambiguities; they enforce impreffions; they operate on us by means of fympathy, which is one of the most powerful instruments of perfuafion. Our fympathy is always awakened more, by hearing the Speaker, than by reading his works in our clofet. Hence, though Writing may answer the purposes of mere inftruction, yet all the great and high efforts of eloquence must be made, by means of spoken, not of written, Language.

LECTURE VIII.

STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE.

A

VIII.

FTER having given an account of the LECT. Rife and Progrefs of Language, I proceed to treat of its Structure, or of General Grammar. The Structure of Language is extremely artificial; and there are few sciences in which a deeper, or more refined logic, is employed, than in Granmar. It is apt to be flighted by fuperficial thinkers, as belonging to thofe rudiments of knowledge, which were inculcated upon us in our earliest youth. But what was then inculcated before we could comprehend its principles, would abundantly repay our ftudy in maturer years; and to the ignorance of it, must be attributed many of thofe fundamental defects which appear in writing.

FEW authors have written with philofophical accuracy on the principles of General Grammar; and, what is more to be regretted, fewer ftill have thought of applying those principles

3

LEC T. principles to the English Language. While the French tongue has long been an object of attention to many able and ingenious writers of that nation, who have confidered its conftruction, and determined its propriety with great accuracy, the Genius and Grammar of the English, to the reproach of the country, have not been ftudied with equal care, or afcertained with the fame precifion. Attempts have been made, indeed, of late, towards fupplying this defect; and fome able writers. have entered on the fubject; but much remains yet to be done.

I no not propose to give any system, either of Grammar in general, or of English Grammar in particular. A minute difcuffion of the niceties of Language would carry us too much off from other objects, which demand our attention in this courfe of Lectures. But I propofe to give a general view of the chief principles relating to this fubject, in obfervations on the feveral parts of which Speech or Language is compofed; remarking, as I go along, the peculiarities of our own Tongue. After which, I fhall make fome more particular remarks on the Genius of the English Language.

THE first thing to be confidered, is, the divifion of the feveral parts of Speech. The effential

VIII.

effential parts of Speech are the fame in all LECT. Languages. There must always be fome words which denote the names of objects, or mark the subject of discourfe; other words, which denote the qualities of thofe objects, and express what we affirm concerning them; and other words, which point out their connections and relations. Hence, fubftantives, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, prepofitions, and conjunctions, muft neceffarily be found in all Languages. The moft fimple and comprehenfive divifion of the parts of Speech is, into fubftantives, attributives, and connectives*. Substantives, are all the words which exprefs the names of objects, or the fubjects of difcourfe; attributives, are all the words which exprefs any attribute, property, or action of the former; connectives, are what exprefs the

66

* Quinctilian informs us, that this was the most antient divifion. "Tum videbit quot & quæ funt partes orationis. Quanquam de numero parum convenit. Veteres enim, quorum fuerant Ariftoteles atque Theodictes, verba " modo, & nomina, & convin&tiones tradiderunt. Videlicet, quod in verbis vim fermonis, in nominibus mate«riam (quia alterum eft quod loquimur, alterum de quo loquimur), in convinctionibus autem complexum eorum “effe judicârunt ; quas conjunctiones a plerifque dici scio;

66

fed hæc videtur ex oud op magis propria tranflatio. "Paulatim a philofophicis ac maximè a ftoicis, auctus eft "numerus; ac primùm convinctionibus articuli adjecti;

86

poft præpofitiones; nominibus, appellatio, deinde pro"nomen; deinde miftum verbo participium; ipfis verbis, "adverbia." Lib. I. cap. iv.

connections,

VIII.

LE C T. connections, relations, and dependencies, which take place among them. The common grammatical divifion of Speech into eight parts; nouns, pronouns, verbs, participles, adverbs, prepofitions, interjections, and conjunctions, is not very logical, as might be eafily fhewn; as it comprehends, under the general term of nouns, both fubftantives and adjectives, which are parts of Speech generically and effentially diftinct; while it makes a feparate part of fpeech of participles, which are no other than verbal adjectives. However, as these are the terms to which our ears have been moft familiarifed, and, as an exact logical divifion is of no great confequence to our present purpose, it will be better to make use of these known terms than of any other.

We are naturally led to begin with the confideration of fubftantive nouns, which are the foundation of all Grammar, and may be confidered as the moft antient part of Speech. For, affuredly, as foon as men had got beyond fimple interjections, or exclamations of paffion, and began to communicate themselves by difcourse, they would be under a neceffity of affigning names to the objects they faw around. them; which, in Grammatical Language, is called the Invention of fubftantive nouns *.

And

*I do not mean to affert, that, among all nations, the first invented words were fimple and regular fubftantive

nouns.