250 r HEO RT of the MOODS, &c. 



labic ftate of it, which, though inconvenient on the whole, 

 had fome advantages. 



Some exprejfions occafionally employed in this DiOTertation, 

 may feem to favour or to imply the former fuppofition. But 

 that is not meant. Neither hypothefis is alTumed in the reafon- 

 ing. Thofe expreffions have always been employed with cau- 

 tion and diftruft, and merely in compliance with cuftom, a 

 deviation from which might have feemed to imply the oppofite 

 hypothefis, and would have required a new, and, in fome mea- 

 fure, an embarralTed and uncouth mode of expreflion. 



Both hypothefes are equally indifferent to this Theory of the 

 Moods of Verbs, which is independent of all hypothefes, and 

 does not extend to the hijlory of the firfl appearance of moods, 

 nor to the queftion, whether they be added to language in its 

 progrefs, or retained in it when perhaps many other inflections 

 were laid afide. They may be partly both, or their hiftory may 

 be different in different languages. All that is attempted in 

 this Theory of the Moods of Verbs, is only to inveftigate the 

 nature and import of them more accurately than had been 

 done before, and to fhew what valuable, and almoft indifpenfi- 

 ble purpofes they a(5lually ferve in the communication of 

 thought. 



VII. 



