()8 GRAMMAR OF THE LANGUAGE 



tains all the philological treatises of the author, or at least a 

 great part of them. As, however, neither the original nor 

 the translation have, to my knowledge, made their way into 

 this country, I can not say any thing more upon the subject, 

 nor can I form a judgment of the merits of the work itself: 

 all I can say is, that it does not appear to have been written 

 on the same plan with the Mithridates*, whose authors, how- 

 ever, have occasionally availed themselves of its contents, 

 but always with due acknowledgment. 



Since that period nothing has appeared, as far as I know, 

 in Europe or elsewhere, embracing the whole science of 

 languages; and indeed the works which I have cited cannot 

 be said to he entitled to be so considered; for the Compa- 

 rative Vocabulary is purely etymological, and the Mithri- 

 dates, although it takes in a much wider scope and gives 

 a view of the structure and grammatical forms of the 

 different languages, is in an important point entirely defi- 

 cient, being confined exclusively to oral language, while the 

 various modes by which nati-ms express their thoughts in 

 writing are a no less interesting part of the philological 

 science. I have heard of an Ethnographical Adas by M. 

 Balbi, which has lately appeared at Paris, containing a de- 

 scription of the world geographically divided by languages 



* The title of this work in Italian is Idea delV Universo, Cesena, 1778 

 — 1787,21 vols, quarto. 



The 17th volume is entitled Catalogo delle lingue conosciute, e notizia 

 delle loro affinita e diversila, 1784. The 18th, Origine, formazione, 

 mecanismo, ed ammonia degli idiomi, 1785. The 1 9th, .iritmetiea delle 

 nazioni e divisione del tempo fra gVorientali, 1786. The 20th, l-'ocabu- 

 lario poliglotto con prolegomeni sopra piii di 150 lingue. And the : 1st, 

 Saggio prattico delle lingue con prolegomeni, e una raccolta di orazioni 

 domenicali in piii de trecento lingue e diuletti, 1787. The exotic words 

 arc all written in Roman characters. 



As some of the public libraries of this country may wish to become 

 possessed of this work or some of its parts, these titles are given in order 

 to facilitate the means of obtaining them. I have not the Spanish title 

 of the Madrid translation. The 1st volume was published in 1800, and 

 the 6th and last in 1806. Volney, Discours sur I'ttude philosophique des 

 langues, Paris, 1821. 



