134 On the Englijh Conjuntlion TOO, &c. 



part offpeech fb called, which is ftill a Dejideratum in grain- 

 mar, the nature of it being, perhaps, lefs underftood than 

 that of any other of the parts of fpeech *. 



* THE author is fully fenfible that, in feveral places of this effay, he has ufed expref- 

 fions which, to an Englifh reader, muft appear extremely uncouth. Convinced as he is, 

 that the word AD or AT, and AE, however varioufly applied, are always reprefentative 

 of the fame idea, he has attempted to hold that circumftance up to view, by ufing always 

 the fame Englifh word, fo, in tranflating them. Now, in this attempt, fuch uncouth- 

 nefs was unavoidable ; for it happens that the Greek, Latin and Englifh languages have 

 not followed always the fame range in the application of thefe words, although they are 

 in themfelves ftri&ly fynonymous. And whenever the ufage of our language does not 

 correfpond with that of the Greek or Latin, a literal tranflation cannot be attempted, 

 without a manifeft violation of the propriety of the Englifh idiom : In truth, it frequent- 

 ly happens that words of the fame generic meaning are found in very different fpecial appli- 

 cations, in different languages. For example, the Greek prepofition ANTI, and the Latin 

 ANTE, not only reprefent the fame idea, viz. priority, but they are really the fame word; 

 and yet the fpecial applications of them are by no means correfpondent with each other, 

 ANTE, in Latin, never marking oppofition, nor ANTI, in Greek, priority in refpeft of 

 time. On the other hand, words that are very different in their original import, fre- 

 quently produce the fame ultimate effedl. Thus the words AD and EX are not only of 

 different, but nearly of oppofite meaning ; and yet, of the two expreffions, " AD fuam 

 " naturam fingere caeteros," and " EX fua natura fingere caeteros," the effect is ulti- 

 mately the fame. 



VII. 



