respects, but not with respect to that circumstance on which their character as neuter verbs depends, which is not the non-significance of action, but the intransi tiveness of action or energy. In that essential circumstance they must necessarily agree. There is one novelty in Dr. Lumsden's Persian Grammar (Vol. II. Pp. 157–159,) that I ought not to have passed without applause: I mean his vindication of a practice condemned by Dr. Lowth, (in his Grammar P. 131,) but of frequent occurrence in our best writers, of indirectly connecting a nominative with its verb by the intervention of a pronoun: as in the following instances: "I did hear him groan: "Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans "And the man said, the woman whom thou gavest "to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did "eat." Gen. III. 12.-" And then be fain to club "quotations with men whose learning and belief lies in marginal stuffings; who, when they have, like "good sumpters, laid down their horse-load of citati66 ons, and fathers at your door, with a rhapsody of "who and who were Bishops here and there, you may "take off their pack-saddles, their day's work is done, and episcopacy as they think stoutly defended." Milton.* The above sentences cannot be altered without detracting from their force and perspicuity; and See also the absolution or remission of sins in the Common Prayer: and the first sentence of Burns's Dedication of his poems. therefore Grammar must expand its principles so as to embrace them as examples of, not as exceptions to, its rules. There can be no glorious offences against sound criticism. "What indeed," says Dr. Lumsden, "can "be more reasonable than it is to state, in the first "place, the subject to which we have occasion to call "the attention of the hearer; "The person of whom "I had occasion to speak to you the other day," "and subsequently to get rid of this long sentence by "means of a simple pronoun? His father, who is ""my intimate friend, is desirous to introduce him "to your notice." " But not only may the subject of a proposition be thus indirectly connected with the verb: it may stand merely as the antecedent to a pronoun which shall be the object of the proposition. Thus: "But what of that? Your Majesty, and we that "have free souls, it touches us not." Hamlet. "Cato, "that stout champion of the laws, we have seen him 66 a riotous Magistrate," &c. Hooke, III. 401. The first of these forms of construction is common in Persian, in French, and in Chinese; the second is common in Chinese (Marshman's Elements, P. 535;) and I dare say instances of both are to be found in different languages. The following are examples of the second. "S. C. factum ut qui Ligurum post Q. Fulvium, L. "Manlium Coss. hostes non fuissent, ut eos C. Lici"nius, Cn. Sicinius prætores in libertatem restituen"dos curarent." Liv. XLII. 22. The antecedent to the relative qui, (which is understood) is also the antecedent to the pronoun eos, and is unconnected with any verb. The first ut is connected indirectly with fuissent by the intervention of qui, but does not directly govern any verb. "Now the things which I write "unto you, behold, before God, I lie not." Gal. I. 20. σεΑ δὲ γράφω ὑμῖν, ἰδὲ ἐνώπιον το Θεό, ὅτι οὐ ψευδομαι.” In both languages the antecedent is without a verb. The French avoids this construction by the insertion of a preposition,: "Or, dans les choses que je vous "écris, je proteste devant Dieu, que je ne mens "point." "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, "him declare I unto you." Acts, XVII. 23. i. e. He, therefore, whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. "E veramente questi, che ci si sono di"mostri tanto nimici, mai privatamente non gli offen"demmo:" &c. Rr Machiav ART. XII. Vindicia Alphabeticæ; or Observations on "A Dissertation on the Chinese Language. By J. "Marshman." "The swarthy daughters of Cadmus may hang "their trophies on high, for when all the pride of the chissel and the 66 pomp of heraldry yield to the silent touches of Time, a single line, a "half worn-out inscription, remain faithful to their trust." BURKE. ༣ THE Chinese Language is not less deserving of attention, from the singularity of its structure, than from the light it throws on the whole theory of oral and written language. But as a view of this structure, and of all the philological principles connected with it, may be obtained, without committing its Vocabulary to memory, curiosity has been repelled from further enquiry, by a belief that such a task would be more tedious, irksome, and unprofitable than any other that could be imposed or easily imagined. The design of Mr. Marshman's Dissertation is to shew, that much of this aversion and terror has been occasioned by the misrepresentations of those who have considered the object rather in the aggregate, than in detail; whose information concerning it "has "borne a stronger resemblance to a sudden but "transient flash of light, which darting on some large "and undescribed object, serves merely to disclose "its size without conveying any distinct idea of its "shape, than to that calm and steady light, which "giving us an opportunity of contemplating an ob"ject at leisure, enables us to form a just idea of its "proportions, and leads us to the discovery of its na"ture and qualities:" and "that a cool and thorough * "investigation of the subject will remove many of "the mistaken ideas entertained respecting it, and "perhaps evince, that though totally different in its "nature, it is little less regular in its formation, "and (were the means of acquiring it equally within "our power,) scarcely more difficult than the Sung"scrit, the Greek, or even the Latin language.' Mr. Marshman has, undoubtedly, the merit of having given us the most full and accurate account of the subject that has yet appeared; but I must except from his censure of preceding accounts that contained in the admirable work of Mr. Barrow, in which I can find nothing erroneous except his statement of the number of words in the spoken, and of characters in the written language: and especially I must withhold my assent from his philological paradoxes, and shall endeavour to shew that reasoning from his own data will lead to very different conclusions. As verbal communication preceded written, in the order of human improvement, and is of more frequent and indispensable use, I shall begin by considering the spoken language, the value of which will best be estimated by considering in what degree it unites the advantages of utility and elegance; the former chiefly resulting from copiousness, the latter from harmony. European languages, wherein writing and speaking go hand in hand, have been enriched by the successive labours and contributions of the philosopher, the his * In the penultimate page, however, Mr. Marshman avers from experience that a man will be able to do little more than digest the elements of Sungskrit in the same space of time (7 years) that would be sufficient, with proper helps, to bring him thoroughly acquainted with the most con siderable Chinese writings. |