we suppose that any people have ever invented an entirely new dialect. "The confusion of tongues at Babel" (Gen. xi. 7), says a recent writer, "accounts for all the peculiarities of language. The confounding of the original speech of mankind fully explains the origin of the variety of languages, whose separate peculiarities would become more decided and indelible by the lapse of forty centuries. As the primitive language was subject to a violent disruption, fragments of it only could be carried away by each diverging tribe, who would gradually build up new languages, while all retained some elements of their former speech." 127. That men should be masters of the language they speak is much to be desired. They would then be able to express themselves fully and accurately. Each should cultivate" the power of utterance. . . . Our power over others lies not so much in the amount of thought within us as in the power of bringing it out. A man of more than ordinary intellectual vigour may for want of expression be a cipher. . . . Not only does a man influence others, but he greatly aids his own intellect, by giving distinct and forcible utterance to his thoughts. We understand ourselves better, our conceptions grow clearer by the very effort to make them clear to another. Our social rank too depends a good deal on our power of utterance." What confidence must an orator possess when he rises and without premeditation makes a long speech! The ancient republican was a man to whom nature had given an inevitable empire. He was the defender of a nation, its sovereign, its master. It was he who made the enemies of his country tremble. Philip who could not subdue Greece as long as Demosthenes breathed-Philip who at Cheronea had conquered an army of Athenians, but who had not conquered Athens while Demosthenes was one of its citizens; that this Demosthenes so terrible to him might be given up offered a city in exchange." 66 128. It is of great consequence to men's understanding one another that a speaker and hearer, as far as practicable, apply words in the same exact sense. We should therefore avoid an improper application of those we employ. A misunderstanding can scarcely arise as to the words hat and chapeau (116). But it is quite otherwise with words that have no tangible originals, such, for instance, as honour, equity, virtue, propriety, liberality, &c. As men's notions widely differ with regard to what these words designate, the application of them may also widely differ. Each individual applies words conformably with his own notions (258-260). What is considered just by one person is thought otherwise by another. That which is considered equitable in one country or age is not deemed to be so in another. And the same thing may be affirmed as to different ages of the same country. In England formerly it was not, and in some parts of the United States now it is not, thought unjust to buy and sell men like bales of goods. In addressing others we should be anxious not only to be understood, but that it is impossible to be misunderstood; by selecting and arranging in the best manner such words as the most established usage has appropriated to the ideas we intend to express. The only standard is the practice of accurate writers and speakers. Anything that offends the ear cannot duly influence the affections. To endeavour to express our thoughts in the best manner is a most compendious way to make us think with the greatest accuracy and fulness. Inability to express ourselves properly, obviously arises from ignorance of language, or of the subject about which we speak, or of both. 129. We should consider, as far as practicable, both in what sense those we address, and those by whom we are addressed apply words, especially strangers and foreigners. From men using the same term in various senses has arisen much of the interminable disputing with which in different countries and ages they have been and are involved. Hence also it is that in the interpretation of laws both human and divine there is scarcely any end of comments and explications. "To attain clear and distinct ideas," says Watts, " we must search the sense of words; we must consider what is their original and derivation in our own or foreign languages; what is their common sense amongst mankind, or in authors, especially such as wrote in the same country, . . about the same time, and upon the same subjects. We must consider in what sense the same author uses any particular word or phrase, . . . . in a strict and limited, or in a large and general sense; whether in a literal, in a figurative, or in a prophetic sense; whether it has any secondary idea annexed to it, [and] what is the scope and design of the writer.” ... 130. Technical terms are well understood only by the classes that employ them. They are therefore scarcely admissable in ordinary life. A seaman thus speaks in one of Smollett's novels, "Death has not yet boarded my comrade. But they have been yard-arm and yard-arm these three glasses. His starboard eye open but fast jammed in his head, and the haulyards of his under jaw have given way." is 66 131. Words then may be misapplied, from-1. Ignorance; 2. Carelessness; 3. Design. With regard to the second, few persons are as exact as they ought. Many constantly so exaggerate that frequently what they utter is deserving of little or no attention. As to the third, Talleyrand used to say, Words were not given to express but to conceal men's thoughts." The force of language depends on the use of such words as instantly and vividly recal suitable ideas. Its beauty depends on their best arrangement. The most perfect language, however, can never express all the variety of human conceptions. Multitudes pass through life without precise notions of things of great importance, partly arising from the imperfection of language, and partly from their limited comprehension of the dialect they do speak. The common fluency in many is frequently owing to a scarcity of matter and a scarcity of words. For whoever is master of a language, and has a mind full of ideas, will be apt in speaking to hesitate upon the choice of both; whereas common speakers have only one set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in, and these are always ready. 132. "The languages which have hitherto existed in the world," says D. Stewart, "have derived their origin from popular use Their application to philosophical purposes was altogether out of the view of those men who first employed them." The English language has been "suffered to spread . . . . into wild exuberance, resigned to the tyranny of time and fashion; and exposed to the corruptions of ignorance and the caprices of innovation." Dialects necessarily vary in their degrees of excellence. Not any language ever yet employed by any nation is suitable for man, had he remained as he came from the hand of God; who has been pleased to speak in the following manner, referring as is supposed to the future restoration of the Jews to their ancient country,— "Then will I turn to the people a pure language, That they may all call upon the name of the Lord, To serve Him with one consent." A language to be truly suitable for man's progress in wisdom and virtue must, we consider, be the work of inspiration.-(See Appendix, Note I.) SECTION X.-LANGUAGE WRITTEN. 133. The three most remarkable modes that have been adopted to express men's thoughts are,-1, by pictures, as formerly in Peru; 2, by hieroglyphics, as anciently among the Egyptians; and 3, by letters or alphabetical writing, as employed by us. 134. Pictures seem in some nations to have been the first essay towards writing, but they could do no more than delineate external events; they could not properly exhibit their connexion nor those ideas that are without archetypes. To supply in some degree this defect, hieroglyphics, a kind of abridgment of pictorial writing, were invented. Metaphor, which makes the nearest approach to painting, is a figure much used in speaking. It adds light and strength to description. Thus we speak of an arm of the sea, or the foot of a hill. Pictorial delineations were employed among the original inhabitants of Mexico. When the Spaniards first landed upon that coast, the natives despatched messengers to the king Montezuma, with a representation painted on cloth of the landing and appearance of the Europeans. Acosta saw in Peru an Indian bring a confession of his sins, expressed partly by pictures and partly by hieroglyphics. 66 135. "In the Egyptian hieroglyphics," says a recent writer, sometimes a part is put for the whole; thus two arms, the one with a shield the other with a battle-axe, denote an army, and a pair of arms holding an oar signifies a rower. The effect is often put for the cause,—the cause for the effect,—and the instrument for the work produced. Thus a picture of the sun denotes the day, of which it is the cause; fire is represented by smoke issuing from a chafing-dish, and letters by the materials employed in writing. Sometimes the symbol is employed in consequence of some fancied resemblance between it and the idea. A bee signifies a people obedient to a king, because that insect submits to regular government. In some cases the emblem used is necessarily completely arbitrary." The Chinese have no alphabet. Every character they use is significant of some one thing or object, consequently the number of these characters must be very great, said to be about 80,000. In our almanacks we have hieroglyphics representing the sun, the moon, and her phases, various stars, and the signs of the zodiac. Our numerals 1, 2, 3, &c., are also hieroglyphics. 136. The earliest notices of writing do not exhibit the characters as being formed on soft substances, but as being cut on the smoothed surface of rocks or on stone. The object was to transmit laws and the account of great events to future times, and not for the purposes of familiar communication. These uses probably were not immediately connected with but resulted from its origin. The Decalogue was inscribed on stone, and Job at a period supposed to be earlier than the time of Moses thus expressed himself: "Oh that my words were now written! Ancient inscriptions on rocks are still found in Asia. The grand desideratum in alphabetical writing was to invent characters to represent simple sounds, and to reduce these characters to so small a number that they may be easily recollected. We may suppose that pictorial writing would not have been practised had hieroglyphics been known, nor these by an intellectual people after the invention of letters. Hieroglyphics have nothing in common with alphabetical writing; the first are the immediate representations of things, the second represents sounds. The difference between languages with respect to the number of letters in their alphabet is very considerable. Bishop Wilkins charges all the alphabets extant with great irregularities in respect to order, number, power, and figure. 137. With the ancient Hebrews, from the spirit of their times, symbolical action was employed. Elisha directs Joash to shoot arrows out of a window eastward. Jeremiah hides a linen girdle in the hole of a rock near the Euphrates, he also breaks a potter's vessel in the sight of the people, puts on bonds and yokes, and casts a book into the Euphrates. Ezekiel weighs his beard, and delineates the siege of Jerusalem on a tile. "In eastern lands they talk in flowers, And they tell in a garland their loves and cares; The Orientals have been from remote antiquity and still are expert in making communications to each other by means of signs and gestures with the eyes, hands, and feet. The number of these signs is great, and is much used among official persons. The Greeks invented a method of expressing by torches properly arranged every letter of the alphabet, so that a man on an eminence could converse with another at a distance. The Romans |