"Of all rapacious animals, man is the most `univerfal destroyer. The deftruction of carni have a very the tongue. The noise made by the dental is exactly that which is fometimes ufe'd to express impatience, and the palatial is much more ful and fonorous, and not unlike the clacking [clucking] of a hen that has young chickens. All languages in their infancy confifted, probablely, of fimple or monofyllable founds; but as these could convey onely a very limited number of ideas, recourse was had to inflexion of voice and compofition of the fimple founds to make the vocabulary more copious. The divifion of such fimple founds into their elements, and by the various combinations of thefe elements to form an almost unlimited number of new founds, was one of the most wonderful inventions in the hiftory of man, and much beyond the genius of a Hottentot. He has done, however, all that he found to be necessary by a very few compound words, and by the clucking' with the tongue. In the first formation of his language nature seems to have been his guide. The croaking of a frog is readily recognize'd in kraak or kraaic; the lowing of an ox, in 'mnoo; the mewling of a cat, in meau; the neighing of a horfe, in ba ba; the breaking of the fea upon the shore, in burroo: all of which are corre spondent words in the language of this people [and, with the lightest variation, in our own, as croak, moo, mew, ba ba'! (which occurs in the book of Job), and burra, or, as the Irish pronounce it, burroo]. Many inftances, befides thefe, fufficiently prove that the vocables [Scoticè] were adopted in imitation of the founds proceeding from the different objects they were meant to exprefs. In the origin they might probablely be much clofeër imitations . . .The genius of a language is generally discoverable in the application of new words to new ideas. The Hottentots, who had never seen nor hear'd the re different meaning with the palatial retraction of 9 ge vorous quadrupeds, birds, and infects, is, in neral, limited to particular kinds but the ra port of a gun before their unfortunate connection with Europeans, had a new word to invent in order to express it. They called it kaboo, and pronounce'd the word in fo emphatick a manner that it was scarcely possible to mistake their meaning. The ka is thrown out with a strong palatial stroke of the tongue, in imitation of the found given by the ftroke of the flint against the cover of the pan; and, with out-stretch'd lips, a full mouth, and prolong'd found [like ourselves] the boo fends forth the report. This language, at first, appears to be of fuch a nature as to make it impossible for an [a] European to acquire." (Travels in Southern Africa, p. 160, &.) Thefe obfervations are not lefs ingenious and profound, than folid and important; they, perhap, throw more light upon the subject than any thing yet writen. Prejudice and bigotry may fwallow the absurdity of speech or language being the gift of god; without haveing the sense to perceive that, in this case, all the human fpecies, throughout the world, would as infalliblely have fpokeën one and the fame language as they utter articulate founds, eat, drink, fleep, and perform the other usual avocations of nature. It cannot be doubted, however, that the fubject wil, one day, if not by himself, by such another mind and genius as thofe of this perfpicacious traveler, be, with matters of greater importance, fully elucidateëd, when tyranny and fanaticism fhal no longer unite to opprefs, enflave, and, as it were, ftultify, man; to "lay their hand on the spring there is in fociety, and put a ftop to its motion." "When the first mortals crawling rofe to birth, pacity of man has hardly any limitation. His empire over the other animals which inhabit this But foon improve'd, with clubs they bolder fought, "Men," according to Vitruvius, "by old custom, were born, like wild beasts, in forests, caves and woods, and, wild food being eaten, they spent their life. In a certain congress of men [whom they had inviteëd together by figns to behold a fire which had been raife'd by accident and kept up by skil] when they would have utter'd, otherwise, founds out of their breath, by dayly custom, they made words, fuch as might hap en to be alloted to them by nature: afterward, by fignifying things more frequently in use, fortuitously, began to fpeak: fo that they procreateed languageës amongst themfelves."+ "If there were any language natural to man, all men would speak it, or at least they would have a great propensity and great dispofitions to speak it, [and] many foot-fteps of it would remain among the different people of the world. Children that were abandon'd and expofe'd or deaf would speak this language; all which is contrary to experience. Let any one leave a child without talking to it and it wil never speak any language, either known or unknown. Melablin Echebas, king of Indostan, having appointed a certain child to be brought up at a distance from the company of men, the child *Horace, Satires, B. 1, S. 3. (Francis.) ↑ Of architecture, B. 2, C. I. globe is allmoft univerfal. He accordingly em-1 ploys his power, and fubdues or devours everyfpecies. Of fome of the quadruped tribes, as the horse, the dog, the cat, he makes domeftick flaves, and, though, in this country, none of thefe fpecies is ufe'd for food, he either obligeës them to labour for him, or keeps them as fourceës of plea-fure and amusement... The ox [which, as wel as continue'd without ever speaking. There were two boys of about nine years old, found in 1661, amidst a troop of bears in Poland, one of which was takeën and great endeavours were ufe'd to teach him to speak; but this could never be accomplish'd he should, however, have fpoken the language which was natural to man, there haveing been no defect, as the phyfician reported, in his tongue. We must conclude, therefor, that there is no national language peculiar to man. He has, indeed, certain founds, motions and natural figns to express his pasfions, his joy, pleasure, grief and defires; but he has no speech or articulate found, whereby to fignify his other thoughts. The induction which fome pretend to draw from other animals, who have, they say, a kind of language among them, is many ways falfe and defective. Animals have certain crys and founds which are natural to them, whereby they declare their joy, their appetite or pain: in like manner as man gives indications of his joy by laughing, and of his grief by fighing; but this is very different from speech... So that, takeing the matter right, neither men nor animals have any natural language." ."* Calmets Dictionary of the bible, ii, 26. D the horse, and the ram, he changeës from its natural condition by a barbarous and cruel operation], after receiveing the emoluments of his labour and fertility, he rewards with death, and then feeds upon his carcafe! Many other species, though not commonly use'd as food, are dayly masfacre'd in millions for the purpofeës of commerce, luxury, and caprice. Myriads of quadrupeds are annually deftroy'd for the fake of their furs, their hides, their tusks, their odoriferous fecretions, &c. Over the feather'd tribes, the dominion of man is not lefs [ufurpingly] extenfive. By his fagacity and address he has been enable'd to domesticate turkeys, geefe, and the various kinds of poultry. These he multiplys without end, and devours at pleasure. [Others he imprisons in cageës to afford him the melody of their fong.] Neither do the inhabitants of the waters escape the rapacity of man...neither air nor water can defend against the ingenuity, the art, and the deftructive industry of the human fpecies... In artificial ponds, he feeds and rears carp, tench, perch, trout, and other fpecies, and with them, occafionally, furnishes his table [which even rivers and feas are constantly drain'd to fupply]. Next to man the carnivorous quadrupeds are the most numerous and the most deftructive. Di.furent parts of the earth are in |