Hieroglyphical Fragments. 95 



if inserted entire or abridged, would make a real adjective of 

 the word, as yf&rlike, friendly. But this omission of the termi- 

 nation, like other figures of speech, is easily forgotten in the ordi- 

 nary forms of language ; and the Germans, as well as the English^ 

 make use of almost all their substantives in the place of adjec- 

 tives, though they are more in the habit of continuing them 

 into single long words. When, however, the substantives are so 

 used, they generally become by abstraction real adjectives : for 

 we seldom think of a chestnut, in speaking of the colour of a 

 horse ; but the idea of a light brown coat, with an ugly pale- 

 red mane and tail, and a fidgety temper, is very likely to occur 

 to us : arid in a horse chestnut the idea of a horse is out of the 

 question ; we only think of a coarse fruit which a man cannot 

 eat : so that the true sense, in both these instances, is that of a 

 quality ; but coral lips and ivory hands are rather elliptical 

 expressions, composed of two substantives, which might fairly 

 be represented hieroglyphically by the assistance of a branch 

 6f coral and an elephant's tusk. But to describe an abstract 

 quality by any hieroglyphic character, representative of form 

 only, would be generally impossible : colours might be imitated, 

 if we supposed coloured figures to be employed ; but other 

 simple ideas, such as those of sound or touch, could never be 

 immediately presented to the eye ; and some circuitous inven- 

 tion would always be required for their representation. 



Home Tooke has shewn, with considerable felicity of illus- 

 tration, that all the parts of speech may be resolved into the 

 noun and the verb ; but he has not pointed out so clearly that 

 every verb may be resolved into a noun and the single primi- 

 tive verb is or was, which, in this sense, may be said to be the 

 only essential verb in any language ; as we find, indeed, in the 

 Coptic, that almost every noun becomes a verb, either by the 

 addition of pe, or sometimes even without it. Thus, the morn- 

 ing BLUSHES is synonymous with the morning is red ; he loves 

 justice, with he is a lover of justice ; and / am an Englishman, 

 with the person now speaking is an Englishman. But this must 

 be understood of is, was, or will be, in all its tenses ; the idea 

 of time, if expressed, being an essential part of the verbal sense. 



I confess that some of these reflections have occurred to me 

 in looking over a very singular work, which I had the curiosity 



