Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

attests the permanency of Elementary Language, beyond all possibility of doubt or error. Without involving ourselves in the remote ages of Hindoo Chronology, we may appeal to the writings of Moses, as they are delivered down to us in their genuine Elementary state-unincumbered with those unnecessary symbols, which vainly attempt to record the fleeting sounds of a vowel breathing. We there discover the same Elements bearing the same meanings; which compose at this moment the familiar Language of the English nation; and which, as we have seen, are employed to represent the same train of ideas over all the regions of the globe, with which we are most conversant.

On considering therefore this universal diffusion and unchangeable permanency of Elementary Speech while we observe at the same time the incessant mutability of Languages; we shall be enabled to throw light on a confusion of ideas, which appears to have clouded all former investigations on this subject. The similitude between various Languages has been perpetually observed; though it will be acknowledged, I trust, if these speculations are founded on truth, that our enquirers were totally unacquainted with the nature and the extent of the resemblance. Their speculations have been employed in discovering the Original Language, from which all these forms of Speech were derived; and to the Celtic the Arabic-the Hebrew-the Gothic, &c. and even to the Greek itself, has this distinguished honour been respectively attributed. Nothing, we shall readily agree, can be more idle and unmeaning, than to talk of an Original form of Speech, when we all know, that these forms are perpetually changing. We may decide indeed by historical evidence and by other modes of reasoning, on a recent combination; but the idea of an Original form to a fluctuating object, in which no period is fixed for its com→ mencement, we instantly perceive, is absurd and ridiculous.

We may still however direct our enquiries, with the most

anxious

anxious curiosity, to a wondrous fact, which is deeply involved with the fate and fortunes of the Human Race. We may enquire, I must repeat, with the most anxious curiosity, whence it has arisen, that the same Elementary Language has been thus universally diffused, almost through every region of the globe, to which the discoveries of Europeans have yet extended. On this important question, I dare not venture even to interpose a conjecture. Our enquiries into these subjects can at present scarcely be regarded even as commencing; and the decision of a question, like. this, would be the last result of meditation on the accumulated facts, which long and laborious researches had finally collected. It will be perhaps at last discovered, that the History of Man is deposited in the Elements of Language:-It is at least certain, that we shall vainly endeavour to trace the progress of Human Speech, in the migration of different nations through the various regions of the Earth; till we are furnished with the most ample materials for investigating the principles of that universal Language, which is the object of our search.

Though we are unable to discover, by what important event this wide diffusion of Elementary Speech was effected among the inhabitants of the Earth; and though we cannot form any possible conjecture on the remote periods of its origin, still however we may venture to hazard a prediction on the limits of its duration. If Languages shall continue to be propogated by the same mode, with which alone we are acquainted, passing from mouth to mouth, through successive generations; and if men should continue to be endued with the same mind and the same organs; there is no reason to believe, that the Elementary Language, now existing, will ever perish or be impaired in its progress. The experience of four thousand years, in which we have not even perceived any properties of change or decay, will lead us to conclude in the most temperate spirit of calm investigation, that

the

the same Elements will continue to preserve the same meanings, through every period of succeeding generations.

THUS, at last, we perceive, that a system, formed without contrivance, and propagated without design-the baseless fabric (as it might seem) of chance and of change, has alone remained constant, inviolate and immutable; when all around has dissolved and disappeared. The Arts and the Institutions of Man have perished with their inventors:-The monuments of his glory, his science and his superstition,-the palaces and the temples have crumbled into dust; and the proud cities, in which the wonders of his atchievements were exhibited, are buried for ever under their own ruins:- All however is not lost :-THE ORIGINAL ELEMENTS OF LANGUAGE, which were once vocal with the inventions and emotions of primeval Man, still survive amidst the ravages of time :-They still continue to be instinct with the energies of mind; and to record in mystic, though in faithful characters, the secret History of the Ancient World.

[ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
« ZurückWeiter »