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was to him as Sam s armour to David —• cumbersome because it had not been proved . He had wandered ten years ( for he became a student somewhat late in life ) in the wilderness of words ; often looking wistfully up the hill of knowledge , but as often despairing of climbing to the summit . Frequently indeed he returned to his fruitless efforts with a kind of
desperate courage ; but as frequently did he retire from the hopeless contest , under a mortifying sense of disappointment and useless effort . tc The truth is , he at last sunk into despair of ever knowing even the English language to his own satisfaction ; or so as to be able to experiment with it accurately
as an instrument of science ; and it had actually become one of his fixed opinions , that man is fated to be the dupe of his own inventions ; - that language of which be s © much boasts is the greatest of all impostors ; and that no remedy could be found for verbal , that is metaphysical
deception and mischief . Thus for a considerable time he heartily despised net only the systems of learning that owe tlieir origin to language , but language itself , as & mere Babel-jargon intended or calculated to be a curse rather than , a blessing—the parent of error , metaphysical nonsense , false-reasoning , endless controversy , contention and animosity .
< c With this opinion and contempt of language , it is probable that the author would have been content to pity and deride the learning that prevails , without cndeavoMiing to rectify it , had not an incident which it is unnecessary to name , roused him into a resolution of attempting to rid the world of intellectual bondage
and metaphysical imposture . He had always ( he means from the time he became a student ) a kind of intuitive perception and conviction that all the systems of grammar , rhetoric , logic , &c . which prevail , are wrong ; but believing the origin of all learned absurdities to be language itself , he perceived not how the evil t : ould be remedied ; and supposed that
learned men must go on as they had done , boasting of their technical nonsense . He at last , however , perceived , he thought , how the labyrinth might be demolished , and the Babel-systems confounded into silence . A » the radical evil was perceived to be in language , it was evident that there the remedy must be applied . He resolved therefore to create another kind
of grammar and lexicography than had hitherto prevailed ; in attempting which , the principle * he laid down were as follow : 1 * . That language was a human invention . 2 . That it was a simple invention , fr . That the true nature of true philology
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must he on the very surface of obvi oasite » 4 . That all the dialects must be essSl but one language . 5 . That the whol wilderness of words must have from a few expressive signs origiaallv ^
nected with sensible objects . 6 . Th therefore the whole multitude of pits a ^ J varieties in language , or that ail Words must be resolvable into a few simnl elements , indicating by resemblance visible objects . 7 . That there could be nothing arbitrary about language . 8 . That no words could be primarily or properly insignificant . "—Introd , pp . i . —iii .
" As the author continued to study hij subject , it became progressivel y more simple to his perceptions than he thought it could possibly be in its own nature ; for we are so educated and disciplined into the belief of ^ bstruseness and ingenious my 3-ticalness , connected with learned and
philosophic questions , as to be constantly overlooking obvious truth , or deeming it not worth finding and raising into the dignity of science . Every man of any pretension to philosophic thinking , would blush to refuse for his motto : Simplicity is the seal of truth . But who does not
seem to consider it the badge of intellectual poverty ? Frequently has the author felt over his discoveries as Bruce did at the source of the Nile . Frequently has he been Teady to exclaim with the good Parisians , who had anticipated a grand spectacle at the entree of the allies : Is this all !
" As may be supposed , the more that he studied words in different dialects , the more did he ascertain their true nature and origin . It was not , however , till he analized the alphabet and resolved its diversities into their primary form , that he could experiment with certainty on etymology . It was now discovered and proved at every step , that as mqn have fefw ideas , few senses , and are familiar
with few objects , so there are ie \^ fnmi tive words . "—Introd . pp . v . vi . That our readers may see at once the object of the present work , we shall lay before them the author ' s analysis of his philological principles , " which ; he says , he has given in his introduction , that they may be seen ana examined in their most naked form .
" 1 . There is nothing arbitrary about language . 2 . All the dialects as Hebrew , Celtic , Greek , Latin , &c . are essentially but one language . They have such diversities as may be termed idioms ; varieties
with all their circumstantial , they have substantial uniformity : thef proceed on the same princip les and » a * the same origin . The philosop hic & *? mar and lexicography of one , is *** . t ****
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540 Review *~—Gilckrisis Philosophic Etymology ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1816, page 540, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2456/page/40/
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