402 Cast. Iron Spires, or 



Bet itself to work to seek less compli- 

 cated, more clear, and easy modes of 

 expression and communicatiiis ideas. 



A similar rule was he'd lor the forma- 

 tion of tbe adjectives, in suppressing tiie 

 termination, or a vowel in tiie middle 

 of the word, and adding- a final vowel for 

 the sake of cnpliony. This, it will bo 

 «een, was a vast step to the formation of 

 a netv iaiigutrge ; but Dr. and ad eould 

 not meet every case, and necessity sug- 

 gested a new resource, and the pronouns 

 ILLE and irsE were employed as auxilia- 

 ries, and designated as substantives the 

 words they preceded. Examples — 

 Sixth century, C'alices Argeutcos IV.; 

 ILLM McdioHus valet solidus XXX; et 

 ILLE qiiarlus valet soUdas XIII. Se- 

 yentli century — illi Saxones; ipsl'ji 

 Monaslcrium, &c. Eighth centmy — 

 J)uno — jnrcler ILLAS vineus, quoniodu 

 ILLE riviiltts citrrit — Totum illum ilan- 

 tiim. The same examples are allorJed 

 in the documents of the ninth century, 

 and in the tenth the Latin was so en- 

 tirely disfigured, as no longer to be re- 

 cognized. 



The new language thus, by a bold and 

 liappy device, created and employed ar- 

 ticles which, in indicating number and 

 gender, supplied the absence of cases ; 

 this is the more to be admired, as the 

 languages which already adojited arti- 

 cles were neverlheless subject to tlie rules 

 of <leclension. Thus were formed, and 

 introduced into the Itumance language, 

 those articles \<hieh cliaracterized the 

 laiiguagcs of Latin Europe, that is to 

 sjiy, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and 

 Italian,— articles of which the uniform 

 and easy nse has delivered those mo- 

 dern idioms from the servitude of Latin 

 decIjRsious, without injuring tlic per- 

 spicuity of discourse. Some have fan- 

 cied the use of articles borrowed from 

 thuGjeek; Lut wliy should the ignorant 

 Goths and Franks be supposed to bor- 

 row from a classic lanrrui'se what had 

 existed from ^11 antiquity in their own; 

 it is eviueiit top that the u,se of ariicies 

 in tlie Greek and the Romance are radi- 

 cally dificreut. Itis true that the H e!le- 

 irisms arc found in the language of liio 

 Troubadours, but this arose fnSm tisc in- 

 habitants of the south of Franco being 

 for the lyost part Grcciaii colonists ; 

 tlicse HellefjisiiLS tyidoubtcdly ejiriched 

 tiie FconK'.nGe, jjqt had no s'narc In its 

 loundatioii. . Wiien i\>u GoUw and 

 Frnuks mixed with tlie ancient inhabi- 

 tants of tlw couiilries tliey had eontju.'^r- 

 eU, the^jecessity of expressing- in Latin 

 tBe ideas their miudsTiacl conceived in 



Church. Steeples. [Dec. 1, 



their native idiom, compelled them to 

 seek a Latin sign to reproduce the sign 

 of tlie article, which in their language 

 announced and designated the substan- 

 tive. And, as the articles and demon- 

 strative jironouns arc the same, or near- 

 ly the same*, they had recourse to the 

 demonstrative pronouns of the Latin 

 ILLE and IPSE. 



To supply the use of cases, the new 

 language invented a method, as simple* 

 as ingenious, which produced the same 

 result as the Latin declensions. In the 

 shigular, s, added or preserved as a final 

 to the greater part of nouns, especially 

 the masculine, designated the subject, 

 and its absence the regime, whether di- 

 rect or indirect. In the plural the ab- 

 sence of s denoted the subject, and its 

 presence the regimes. This idea seems 

 to have been furnished by the Latin it- 

 self from the second declension in us. 

 Can wc suUiciently admire this gram- 

 matical industry, which exists in no 

 other language? — an industry, which per- 

 mitted and facilitated to the Trouba- 

 dours the grace, and the multitude of 

 inversions, at once bold and perspicu- 

 ous, lor which their compositions are 

 distinguished. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 



SIR, 



IN this age for improvements, we are 

 daily producing some new and valu- 

 able combinations, or finding some nevy 

 application for old inventions. The 

 article of cast-iron is now adopted for so 

 many things, that it may appear to most 

 of the world to be a diflicult (ask to find 

 a purpose that it could, with propriety, 

 be used for, to which it has not already 

 been api)lied ; we have cast-iron bridges, 

 cast-iron boats, cast-iroii roads; but, I be- 

 lieve, we have never yet seen or heard of 

 a cast-iron spire or church-steeple; for 

 this latter purpose, I think this metal is 

 extremely well qualified : it h ill be ob- 

 vious that it would be much cheaper 

 than stone, in the value of the materials, 

 as well as in tlic working, moulding, and 



