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These reasonings are confirmed by undoubted facts. The style of all the most early Languages, among nations who are in the first and rude periods of Society, is found, without exception, to be full of figures; hyperbolical and picturesque in a high degree. We have a striking instance of this in the American Languages, which are known, by the most authentic accounts, to be figurative to excess. The Iroquois and Illinois carry on their treaties and public transactions with bolder metaphors, and greater pomp and style, than we use in our poetical productions.*

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Another remarkable instance is, the style of the Old Testament, which is carried on by constant allusions to sensible objects. Iniquity, or guilt, is expressed by "a spotted garment; misery, by "drinking the cup of astonishment;" vain pursuits, by "feeding on ashes;" a sinful life, by" a crooked path ;" prosperity, by" the candle of the Lord shining on our head;" and the like, in innumerable instances. Hence, we have been accustomed to call this sort of style the Oriental Style; as fancying it to be peculiar to the nations of the East: Whereas, from the American Style, and from many other instances, it plainly appears not to have been peculiar to any one region or climate; but to have been common to all nations, in certain periods of Society and Language.

*Thus, to give an instance of the singular style of these nations, the Five Nations of Canada when entering on a treaty of peace with us, expressed themselves by their chiefs, in the following language: "We are happy in having "buried under ground the red axe, that has so often been dyed with the blood "of our brethren. Now, in this fort, we inter the axe, and plant the tree of "Peace. We plant a tree, whose top will reach the Sun, and its branches "spread abroad, so that it shall be seen afar off. May its growth never be stifled "and choked; but may it shade both your country and ours with its leaves ! "Let us make fast its roots, and extend them to the utmost of your colonies. "If the French should come to shake this tree, we would know it by the motion " of its roots reaching into our country. May the Great Spirit allow us to rest "in tranquility upon our mats, and never again dig up the axe to cut down the tree of Peace! Let the earth be trod hard over it, where it lies buried. "Let a strong stream run under the pit, to wash the evil away out of our sight "and remembrance. The fire that had long burned in Albany is extinguished. "The bloody bed is washed clean, and the tears are wiped from our eyes. We "now renew the covenant chain of friendship. Let it be kept bright and clean as "silver, and not suffered to contract any rust. Let not any one pull away his 66 arm from it." These passages are extracted from Cadwallader Colden's History of the Five Indian Nations, where it appers, from the authentic documents he produces, that such is their genuine style. M

Hence, we may receive some light concerning that seeming paradox, that Poetry is more ancient than Prose. I shall have occasion to discuss this point fully hereafter, when I come to treat of the Nature and Origin of Poetry. At present, it is sufficient to observe, that from what has been said it plainly appears, that the style of all Language must have been originally poetical; strongly tinctured with that enthusiasm, and that descriptive, metaphorical expression, which distinguishes Poetry.

As Language, in its progress, began to grow more copious, it gradually lost that figurative style, which was its early character. When men were furnished with proper and familiar names for every object, both sensible and moral, they were not obliged to use so many circumlocutions. Style became more precise, and, of course, more simple. Imagination, too, in proportion as Society advanced, had less influence over mankind. The vehement manner of speaking by tones and gestures, became not so universal. The understanding was more exercised; the fancy less. Intercourse among mankind becoming more extensive and frequent, clearness of style, in signifying their meaning to each other, was the chief object of attention. In place of poets, philosophers became the instructors of men; and, in their reasonings on all different subjects, introduced that plainer and simpler style of composition, which we now call Prose. Among the Greeks, Pherecydes of Scyros, the master of Pythagoras, is recorded to have been the first, who, in this sense, composed any writing in Prose. The ancient metaphorical and poetical dress of Language, was now laid aside from the intercourse of men, and reserved for those occasions only, on which ornament was professedly studied.

Thus I have pursued the History of Language through some of the variations it has undergone: I have considered it, in the first structure, and composition, of words; in the manner of uttering or pronouncing words; and in the style and character of Speech. I have yet to consider it in another view, respecting the order and arrangement of words; when we shall find a progress to have taken place, similar to what I have been now illustrating.

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LECTURE VII.

RISE AND PROGRESS OF LANGUAGE, AND OF WRITING.

WHEN we attend to the order in which words are arranged in a sentence, or significant proposition, we find a very remarkable difference between the ancient and the modern Tongues. The consideration of this will serve to unfold farther the genius of Language, and to show the causes of those alter ations, which it has undergone, in the progress of Society.

In order to conceive distinctly the nature of that alteration of which I now speak, let us go back, as we did formerly, to the most early period of Language. Let us figure to ourselves a Savage, who beholds some object, such as fruit, which raises his desire, and who requests another to give it to him. Supposing our Savage to be unacquainted with words, he would in that case, labour to make himself be understood, by pointing earnestly at the object which he desired, and uttering at the same time a passionate cry. Supposing him to have acquired words, the first word which he uttered would, of course, be the name of that object. He would not express himself, according to our English order of construction," Give me fruit ;" but according to the Latin order, "Fruit give me ;" "Fructum da mihi :” for this plain reason, that his attention was wholly directed. towards fruit, the desired object. This was the exciting idea; the object which moved him to speak; and, of course, would be the first named. Such an arrangement is precisely putting into words the gesture which nature taught the Savage to make, before he was acquainted with words; and therefore it may be depended upon as certain, that he would fall most.readily. into this arrangement.

Accustomed now to a different method of ordering our we call this an inversion, and consider it as a forced and

words,

unnatural order of Speech. But though not the most logical, it is, however, in one view, the most natural order; because, it is the order suggested by imagination and desire, which always impel us to mention their object in the first place. We might therefore conclude, a priori, that this would be the order in which words were most commonly arranged at the beginnings of Language; and accordingly we find, in fact, that, in this order, words are arranged in most of the ancient Tongues; as in the Greek and the Latin; and it is said also, in the Russian, the Sclavonic, the Gaelic, and several of the American Tongues.

In the Latin Language, the arrangement which most commonly obtains, is, to place first in the sentence, that word which expresses the principal object of the discourse, together with its circumstances; and afterwards, the person or the thing that acts upon it. Thus Sallust, comparing together the mind and the body; "Animi imperio, corporis servitio, magis utimur;" which order certainly renders the sentence more lively and striking, than when it is arranged according to our English construction; "We make most use of the direction of the soul,

and of the service of the body." The Latin order gratifies more the rapidity of the imagination, which naturally runs first to that which is its chief object; and having once named it, carries it in view throughout the rest of the sentence. In the same manner in poetry:

Justum & tenacem propositi virum,
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non Vultus instantis tyranni,
Mente quatit solida.....

Every person of taste must be sensible, that here the words are arranged with a much greater regard to the figure which the several objects make in the fancy, than our English construction admits; which would require the "Justum & tenacem proposi"ti virum," though undoubtedly, the capital object in the sentence, to be thrown into the last place.

I have said, that, in the Greek and Roman Languages, the most common arrangement is, to place that first which strikes the imagination of the speaker most. I do not, however, pretend, that this holds without exception. Sometimes regard to the harmony of the period requires a different order; and in Languages susceptible of so much musical beauty, and pro

nounced with so much tone and modulation as were used by those nations, the harmony of periods was an object carefully studied. Sometimes, too, attention to the perspicuity, to the force, or to the artful suspension of the speaker's meaning, alter this order; and produce such varieties in the arrangement, that it is not easy to reduce them to any one principle. But, in general, this was the genius and the character of most of the ancient Languages, to give such full liberty to the collocation of words, as allowed them to assume whatever order was most agreeable to the speaker's imagination. The Hebrew is, indeed, an exception; which, though not altogether without inversions, yet employs them less frequently, and approaches nearer to the English construction, than either the Greek or the Latin.

All the modern Languages of Europe have adopted a different arrangement from the ancient. In their Prose compositions, very little variety is admitted in the collocation of words; they are mostly fixed to one order, and that order is, what may be called, the Order of the Understanding. They place first in the sentence, the person or thing which speaks or acts; next, its action; and lastly, the object of its action. So that the ideas are made to succeed to one another, not according to the degree of importance which the several objects carry in the imagination, but according to the order of nature and of time.

An English writer, paying a compliment to a great man, would say thus: "It is impossible for me to pass over in si"lence, such remarkable mildness, such singular and unheard

of clemency, and such unusual moderation, in the exercise "of supreme power." Here we have, first presented to us, the person who speaks. "It is impossible for me," next, what that person is to do," impossible for him to pass over in silence,” and lastly, the object which moves him so to do," the mildness, "clemency, and moderation of his patron." Cicero, from whom I have translated these words, just reverses this order; beginning with the object, placing that first which was the exciting idea in the speaker's mind, and ending with the speaker and his action. "Tantam mansuetudinem, tam inusitatam inauditamque clementiam, tantumque in summa potestate "rerum omnium modum, tacitus nullo modo præterire possum," (Orat. pro Marcell.)

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