GCA DM Ui S. 26g 
thei? mof learned grammarians or lexicographers, except,’ 
perhaps, Tames Robertfon* knew the derivation of even 
the commoneft monofyllables, ’till John Horne Tooke 
cleared away all’ the obfcurities, under’ which ignorance 
was veiled, and detected the learned abfurdities of Harris, 
Johnfon, Lord Monboddo, and many others.—James 
Robertfon, in his Hebrew grammar, (the firft edition of 
which was publifhed fifty years ago) gives hints which 
indeed could not efcape a perfon of much lefs learning 
and penetration than John Horne Tooke, but I would by: 
no means. infer thence, that any hints have been borrowed, 
becaufe hisname, I am confident, would have been menti-= 
oned. 
Some of the moft’ learned men are men of the leaft 
knowledge—take away their fchool learning, and they re- 
main children. As all their confequence in life: confifts 
in theiracquaintance with dead languages, they, no doubt, 
would condemn any attempt’to leffen'the dignity of fuch 
acquirements. ‘You muft not alter the orthography of 
languages, becaufe we cannot afterward derive the words; 
then all the learning we have taken fo much pains to ac« 
quire will be ufelefs.—We muft thus preferve bad:fpelling 
to render dead languages ufeful in its derivation, and we 
muft learn dead languages to derive bad {pelling.—j When 
does the lady (who {peaks the moft elegant language) afk 
the pedant whence the words are derived! He has fpent 
two minutes in two languages to know the meaning of the 
word, and fhe has {pent two minutes in one language; and 
«whereis the difference ? A child muft fpend many years in 
learning dead languages, that he may know more perfe@- 
ly his own.—Few acquire more than one language with 
its elegancies. I have known good latin fcholars, in En- 
gland, incapable of. writing Englifh tolerably.—j How 
much 
* Profeffor of the Oriental languages in the Univerfity of Edinburgh, 
