em 



But to return to Virgil, and the task we have assigned 

 him : — In separately studying the columns, as abeve arrang- 

 ed, he would perceive several sounds very closely resembling 

 each other, yet at the same time distinctly difterent. I al- 

 lude to the syllables which rhyme to each other, such as 

 7na, ca, fa, la; — no, to, pro, m6, &c. He would clearly dis- 

 cover the simple sound a or o which he could distinctly 

 pronounce, pervading all those rhymes; and he would at 

 the same time ascertain that it was in every instance com- 

 bined with another and different sound, which he could not 

 separately articulate, but which, like an invisible elastic fluid 

 in a chemical investigation, would satisfy him of its presence 

 by its effects. 



Now for the first time he would entertain sanguine hopes 

 of success ; and in the ardour of discovery he might possibly 

 hasten to dissect, and assign distinct characters to the 

 sounds in his several columns : or perhaps he would more 

 systematically make a new arrangement of those columns, 

 placing together in separate groups the several rhymes, for 

 the purpose of entering on a more minute comparison of 

 their component sounds. If such was a necessary step in 

 the process, the following table may exhibit his new arrange- 

 raent. 



A A 2 ' 



ytm 



!038 



1 



