[ 41 ] 



uin Y^SSKYotithe VARIATIONS o/ENGLISH PROSE, 



from the REVOLUTION to the PRESENT TIME. By 



THOMAS WALLACE, A B. and M. R. L A. ; to which 



was adjudged the Gold Prize Medal propofed by the Royal Irijb 



Academy for the beji EJJay on that SubjeEl. 



Ut filvx foliis pronos mutantur in annos ; 

 Prima cadunt : ita verborum vetus interit setas, 

 Et, juvenum ritu, florent modo nata, vigentque. 



Horace. 



A HE progrefs of language marks the progrefs of the human Read June 1 8, 

 mind. They proceed together with equal ftep from the rudenefs 

 of barbarifm toward that ftatc beyond which improvement cannot 

 go, in which language exhibits the higheft polifli of elegance and 

 accuracy, and the mind exerts all its faculties in their full force. 

 So true is this, that there can fcarcely be found any period in 

 the hiftory of any people when the ftate of their language did not 

 accurately correfpond with the ftate of their polity and manners, 

 and when a fagacious obfervcr might not have afccrtained, with 

 tolerable exadnefs, the excellence and refinement of thefe from 

 the qualities of their literary produdions. Hence the inveftigations 

 of the philologift become ufcful as they furnifti important aids 



Vol. VI. * (F) to 



