Particularly of the LETT ER ^ITUA. 1 1 7 



pofTefs univerfally the fame organs of fpeech, and, by means 

 of thefe, the fame faculty of uttering articulate founds ; yet 

 the manner of exerting thofe organs, fo as to produce a parti- 

 cular language, being quite arbitrary, is a work, at firft, of ac- 

 cident, and then of gradual improvement, and which cannot 

 be carried forward, even by the help of writing, without a fre- 

 quent intercourfe, and a fort of mutual convention among the 

 individuals of that fociety, who find it for their advantage to 

 adopt fuch a language *. But an intercourfe adequate to fuch 

 an end cannot take place beyond a particular nation ; therefore 

 an univerfal living language cannot poffibly fubfift : For, ac- 

 cording to an obfervation of D'Alembert, " There is nothing, 

 " either in nature or in reafon, which determines an objed to 

 ** be defigned by one found more than by another." To which 

 Beauzee adds, That " there is nothing in nature or reafon 

 " which determines a found to be defigned by one letter more 

 " than by another f ." Accordingly, a variety of different 



tongues 



* The inhabitants of fonie nations, fays M. du Marsais, employ certain organs, and 

 even certain parts of organs, of which others make no ufe. There is likewife a particu- 

 lar form or manner of exerting the organs, &c. " II y'a des peuples qui mettcnt en. 

 " aftion certains organes et meme certaines parties des organes, dont les autres ne font 

 " point d'ufage. 11 y'a aufli une forme on maniere particuliere de faire agir les organes. 

 " De plus en chaque nation, en chaque province, et meme en chaque ville, on s'enonce 

 " avec un forte de modulation particuliere ; c'eft qu'on appelle accent national, ou accent 

 " firavincia/e," Kncyclop. an mot Consonne. 



f " Si, comme le dit I'illuftre Secretaire de I'Academie Franjoiie, // n'y a rien 

 " dans la nature ni dans la raifon qui determine un objet a etre dejigne par un 

 " fon plutot que par un autre ; on peut dire avec autant ou plus de verite, qu'il n'y a 

 " rien dans la nature ni dans la raifon qui determine un Ton a etre defigne par une lettre 

 " plutfit que par une autre." Gramm. Generate, par M. Beauzee. Tom. I. p. 179. 

 See alfo p. 233, 234. 



Dr WiLKiNs indeed has endeavoured to contrive a fet of characters, which, in their 

 Ihape, have " fonie refemblance to that configuration which there is in the organs of 

 " (peech upon the framing of feveral letters." Upon which account, he thinks, fuch an 

 alphabet may deferve the name of a natural charaEler of the letters. Elfay, &c. p. 375. 

 But here he has not been very fuccefsful ; and indeed he feems himfelf to prefer anotlier 

 alphabet, which he has alfo fet down, although it has no fuch property, and yet is, as he 

 confefles, " more facile and fimple." 



