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ceive, either with an heavy heart, or a forrowful countenance. There is no kind of tribute but what I will pay readily; confidering that all we either mourn or fear is but the tribute we owe to Nature for our existence. It is in vain either to expect an exemption from these things, or to afk it. Are you racked with pains in the bladder? have you had continual loffes? - I will go further: are you in fear of your life? And did you not know that you wished for these things when you wished for old age? All these things as neceffarily attend a long life, as in a long journey we mult expect duft, and dirt, and showers.

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But you would fain live, you fay, and yet be free from all these inconveniencies. Such an effeminate declaration by no means becomes a man. I would fain fee how you would take this wifh of mine; which I protest I make, not only with a great, but good, intention; may neither Gods nor Goddeffes permit Fortune to indulge you in eafe and pleasure. Put to yourself this question, whether, if God was pleafed

flink out of the part affigned us in this beautiful difpofition of things; whereof even our fufferings make a neceffary part. Let us addrefs ourselves to God who governs all; as Cleanthes did in thofe excellent lines which are going to lofe part of their grace and energy by my tranflation of them. Bolingbroke. (See the original Epiltle, 107, N. f.)

Parent of Nature, Mafter of the world,
Where'er thy providence directs, behold
My steps with chearful refignation turn.
Fate leads the willing, drags the backward on,
Why Should I grieve, when grieving I must bear,
Or take with guilt, what guiltless I might share.

Thus let us fpeak, thus let us act. Refignation to the will of God is true m gnanimity. But the fure mark of a pufillanimous and bafe fpirit, is to ftruggle againft, to cenfure, the order of Providence; and inflead of mending our own conduct, to fet up for that of correcting our Maker. Id. See alfo Adams on Suicide, p. 176.

"This established courfe of things it is not in our power to change: but it is in our power to affume fuch a greatness of mind as becomes wife and virtuous men; as may enable us to encounter the accidents of life with fortitude; and to conform ourfelves to the order of Nature; who governs her great kingdom, the world, by continual mutations. Let us fubmit to this order: let us be perfuaded that whatever does happen ought to happen; (or, as Mr. Pope expreffes it, whatever is, is right;) and never to be fo foolish as to expoftulate with Nature."

The best refolution we can take, is to fuffer what we cannot alter; and to purfue, without repining, the road which Providence, who directs every thing, has marked out to us. Id.

† Γήρας ἐπὰν μὲν ἀπῇ, πᾶς ἔυχετας, ἢν δέ ποῖ ̓ ἐλῃ,
Μέμφεται· ἔσι δ' ἀεὶ χρεῖσσον ὀφειλόμενον.

All wifh for age, but when it comes, they cry,
They have enough, and rather wish to die.
Εἴ τις γηράσας ζηνεύχεται, άξιος επι
Γηράσκειν πολλῶν ἐις ἐτέων δεκάδας»

to favour you with your choice, you had rather live in the fhambles than in a camp. Know, Lucilius, that life is a warfare: fuch men therefore who are ordered from place to place; who undergo all manner of difficulties in the execution of the most dangerous commithions; these are your brave men, and chiefs in an army while they who enjoy public eafe at the expence of others labours, are mere poitrons who buy their fafety with difgrace.'

From the notes to the preceding fpecimens, it will be perceived that they do not promife fo much entertainment to the critical fcholar as might have been expected: they will, however, serve to render the Author more intelligible to the English reader, and will at the fame time afford an amufing fpecimen of the garrulity of age; for the Doctor often fpeaks of himself, and lays open his fentiments of men and things. Thofe who know how indefatigably Dr. Morell laboured in the fervice of letters, will be pleased to hear the old man fay, at the clofe of life, "Old as I am, I never knew an injury that was not easily forgiven, nor a distress but what was tolerable, and, as the world goes, rather required a contemptuous smile than a tear."

E. ART. V. Elays on the Origin of Society, Language, Property, Government, Jurifdiction, Contracts, and Marriage; interfperfed with Illuftrations from the Greek and Galic Languages. By James Grant, Efq. Advocate. 4to. 7s. 6d. Boards. Robinfons. 1785.

ANGUAGES having been conftructed to fuit the wants, the ideas, and the feelings of mankind, it cannot be doubted that many conclufions may be drawn from the modes of speech which are common to different countries refpecting the notions and habits of men in the early ages of fociety. Several judicious hints of this kind we have met with in Dr. Reid's late Effays on the Intellectual Faculties of Man. But it may perhaps be more difficult to deduce conclufions of this kind from the ftructure of any particular language, or from the etymology of its words, where fo much muft neceffarily depend upon mere conjecture.

It is upon this hazardous ground that Mr. Grant treads. Having derived the origin of fociety, not from the apprehenfion of

*This allufion is common in fcripture. I have fought a good fight, faith St. Paul; I have finished my courfe; I have kept the faith; henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. 2 Tim. iv. 7. This charge I commit with thee, fon Timothy, that thou mayeft war a good warfare. 1 Tim. i. 18.'

+ Turdilli funt, tuti contumeliæ caufa.-4. Turburilla funt. Pincian. Tubilinæ, the name of a Goddess amongst the ancients. Lipf. Turdi funt. From one Turdus, a man of fo infamous a character, that his name became a proverb.-Seneca, the father, makes mention of him, in 1. 9. Centrov. 4.-Turdilli, Oufils; or fome fuch birds, that are fafe in being defpicable.'

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danger,

danger, but from the natural principle of affociation, he confiders language as one of the primary diftinctions of human nature, and offers it as his opinion, that there are founds in a primitive and ftill living language, which will caft fome light upon the original condition of man, and the train of his ideas in his primeval state of exiflence. The Erfe or Galic language (a dialect of the ancient Celtic, ftill fpoken in its original purity in the highlands of Scotland) he maintains to be a monument of the primitive manners of the human race.

That the firft vocal founds were expreffions of paffion, varied according to the nature of the paffion, our Author thus attempts to prove from the fimple founds, with their fignifications, in the Galic language.

The vowels A, E, I, O, U, pronounced in Scotland in the fame manner as they are in Italy, are all fignificant founds with the defendants of the Caledonians. is a found, uttered with loud vociferation, to caufe terror. E is an exclamation of joy; I, of diflike; O, of admiration; and U, of fear; alfo of grief, modified by a graver tone of voice.

"Sudden fenfations of heat, cold, and bodily pain, are expreffed by articulate founds, which, however, are not ufed in the language to denote heat, cold, or bodily pain. Sudden fenfation of heat is denoted by an articulate exclamation, Heit; of cold, by Id; of bodily pain, by Oich. The fimple cries are generally, if not always, fellowed by articulate founds; as, A, Ab; E, Ed; I, lbh; 0, Obb; U, Ubb. The letters bb found like v. All thefe founds, both fimple and articulate, may be called interjections, being parts of speech which difcover the mind to be feized with fome paflion. We doubt if any of the modern improved languages of Europe prefent fo great a variety of interjections, or founds which in utterance inftantaneously convey notice of a particular paffion, bocily or mental feeling. Although the founds, fimple and articulate, enumerated above, have not all been adopted or preferved as fignificant words, fome of them fili remain as words or founds of marked fignification.

The pronouns He and She are exprefied by the fimple founds, or vowels, E and I; and thefe ferve as regular marks of the mafculine and feminine genders. A neuter gender being unknown, every ob est is in a manner perionified in the application of these pro

nouns.

Diftinely varied founds having been once employed by primitive Man to denote the genders of living objects, he naturally applies them to inanimate things. Language advances from flerility to coploufnefs by flow degrees. The intention of a word to denote a neuter gender, belongs to an improved underlanding. It is probable that the 1 of the Greeks was not coeval with their O and H, which, like the Galic E and I, were fimple founds ufed to denote the male and female of every fpecies.

Rude Man is incapable of forming abftra&t ideas: his intellectual powers are extremely limited: his reafoning faculty is applied to few objects: the rare imprefions made upon his mind are therefore frong; inanimate things pafs unnoticed; objects of motion and life catch his attention. Dipoled to taciturnity, he foldem communi

cates

cates his thoughts; but when his mind is agitated by matters of imprtant concern, defirous to paint forcibly, he expreffes himself in bold and figurative language, accompanied with bodily figs and geftures: his manner and flyle naturally, if not neceflarily, affume the tone of animation. He delights in imagery and perfonification Hence it is, that the compofitions of rude and barbarous ages, tranfmitted to pofterity, are univerfally found to approach to the ftyle and numbers of poetry. The diftinction of two genders futiiciently fatifies the mind of primeval Man: the invention of a third gender is referved for that stage of fociety when the understanding is much exercifed, and the imagination and genius are not fuffered to wanton in extravagance, but are reduced within the limits of precifion, correctnefs, method, and rule.

The diftinction of male and female naturally claimed the earliest attention. The difference of fex was denoted by two fimple founds, which formed two diftinct words in primitive language.

The vowel I, with an afpiration, figrifies to eat. The afpiration being the termination of the found, it had in the mouths of many acquired the guttural pronunciation Ich. Both I and Ich are in common ufe. From Ich came Iche, which fignines compaffion; importing, that the most common relief from diftrefs flowed from pro. vifion of food.

It has been obferved, that E is an exclamation of jy. The fame found, with an afpiration, is ufed as a word, fignifying a cry. The fame found, terminating in the confonant D, formed the primitive word Ed, which fignifies food. Hence Eda, Edo, of the Greeks and Latins.

The more we trace mankind to their primeval ftate, we find them the more thoughtless and improvident. Their fubfifience, like that of the greater part of other animals, depends upon the acquifitions of the day. When the means of fubfiftence are precarious, and not commanded with certainty, the paffion of joy and the poffeffion of food are closely allied. Hence a found or cry expreffive of joy, came naturally to give a name to the caufe that produced it.

An exclamation of Ed or Eid is ufed upon difcovery of any animal of prey or game: it is meant to give notice to the hunting companion to be in readiness, and prepare the means of conqueft and poffeffion.

Ed is ufed in Ireland to fignify cattle. In Scotland it is preferved in many compound words. Edal, cattle, literally fignifies the offspring or generation of cattle. Edich, clothes, literally the hide or fkin of cattle. Coed or Cued, fhare or portion of any fubject of property; literally, common food. Faced, hunting; literally, gathering of for d. Edra, the time of the morning when cattle are brought home from their paflure to give milk; literally, meal-time. These words tend to fhew, that an etymological analyfis of the words of a primitive language may be of ufe in throwing light upon the fituation and circumftances of primeval Man; and may ferve to mark the progiefs of the human mind from its fimpleft to its more enlarged conceptions in increafing fociety.'

The power of imitation, the Author confiders as a fruitful parent of language, and gives many examples of imitative lan

Ed Scheich. S and are quiefcent.
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guage

guage in the Galic. Here he finds a large fcope for conjecture, and indulges h mfelf freely. All his Readers will not perceive that Uai, a cave, is derived from the hollow found generally heard in entering one.

The common obfervation, that men naturally transfer the name of one object to another which is in any manner nearly related to it, Mr. Grant fupports by examples from the Galic language.

BE, in the Galic language, fignifies life: but it is ufed to denote the means of fubfiftence; which bearing obviously the most intimate relation to life, acquires, in a figurative fenfe, the appellation proper, in its primitive acceptation, to life fimply. When a ftranger happens to enter the houfe of a modern Caledonian at mealtime, the landlord addreffes him with the words 'S e do † bhe, which literally fignify, it is thy life, but import an invitation to come and partake of the family fare, or victuals, as the fupport of life.

It has been obferved that Ed in its primitive fenfe fignifies food. It came to be applied to denote cattle, when fuch became the chief fund of fubfiflence. Eallach fignifies a burthen; but it is ufed in Ireland to denote a beaft. It received this name from the circumftance of an animal fit for food being the most common and ordinary burthen, or that which attracted moft attention in early fociety.

We have before remarked, that Re fignifies divifion, and that in procefs of time the word came to be applied to the effect of divifion, which was concord or agreement. In like manner the word Reinn, which fignifies one's portion or divifion, is used to denote any action. If one fhould afk, if another had eaten his victuals, he would fay, An d'reinn e a bhia? which is literally, Has he divided his meat? The verb Reinn correfponds with the English verb to do or to make. In like manner, the Greek word P fignifies to do, to make. The act of divifion being originally of moft frequent ufe, and of greatest importance, came naturally to be used as a common appellation for any action. Many more examples of the like nature might be given,'

On fimilar grounds (which afford the Author much room for the difplay of ingenuity) he proceeds to prove, that much accuracy and juftness of thought appear in the combination of words from their roots.

In the course of these remarks, Mr. Grant maintains, that the Greek and Latin languages are derived from the Celtic, of which the Galic is a dialect.

*The vowel E founds like the English proper A.

is te.

The word do is improperly used to fignify thy: the proper word The poffeffive pronouns my, thy, his, are expreffed in Galic by ne, te, fe. In the first two, the juft orthography, from not attending to the pronunciation and regular analogy of the words, has been loft fight of, and retained only in the last. The original words are preferved in the Latin language as the accufatives of ego, tu, and fui. In thefe Galic pronouns the e has the pronunciation of the French e in the article le.

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