542 LHer&ry and Cri 



last Chinese embassy^ Britain had not a 

 man who coiikl offici;Ue in it as an inter- 

 prctfr. We believe tiit'y pi-ocnied a 

 Ueajiotitan. A prospectus oC tliis postlin- 

 mons pHblicatinii was distiibmcd iniinedi- 

 alely after the iiutlioi's derease ; but, from 

 «aiiseH of viliich we arc told notliin:;, itlms 

 cniy now appeared. 'liie niaiinscript 

 from whicli it is almost liurally printed, 

 was, it seems, left iieiirly ready for the 

 yrcs.t. We liave on!y room to jjive the 

 followinsj sliort t-xposilion of hij theory, 

 abridged from the account drawn np by 

 iiisedltor. From a n)inii>e examination of 

 ihe European and other tonmics, Di-. Mnr- 

 ray is persuaded that Ihey are ail fourided 

 «n one lan^ua^c, and that tiiis lan::uase 

 consisted of a few nionosyllaliles, some of 

 »*hich were mere vaiietics of the others. 

 Of these lie thinks that as^, or u-a^, was 

 ')>r(ibubly the first articulated somid. To 

 men in early ages all natnre was animated, 

 and all the appearances or everits in the 

 ^nrronndint; universe were ihsni^lit to be 

 sections. Tiie primitive sounds were, 

 therefore, verbs of an intc ijeriion;d na- 

 Inre, and the actions meant l>y them were 

 forcible, vehement, and striking. The 

 time at which this sniiple, inteijeciional, 

 and energelic, lanunaste was spoKt n, lies 

 beyond tlie period of history ; hut w;is pio- 

 fcahly that of some trihe to tiienuithof 

 Persia, not far from tlie Knxiiie and Cas- 

 pian seas, from «henrc t!ie liJc of emigia- 

 tion seems to have (lovvcil v\cstwards to 

 Eitropp-, This piinioval speech he has 

 found at the root of all the lanmiages 

 which he has examined, which he divides 

 into ti^e streams; the Celtic, Teutonic, 

 fiicek., and Latii;.; .Sclavonic, Persic, -and 

 iiiinserit. Of ihesc tiie Teutonic, as it is 

 I'uund in the Visijioihic, is nearest to the 

 ©liiiinal. "Tasicand philosophy," says 

 the doctor, ''will Kceive wilh aversion 

 Jhe rtidc syllables which are the base of 

 that medium thiiin;.;h ^^hich Hniiier, and 

 R'lihon, and Ne^vlon, haxc (lelij;!ile:l cr 

 iiliijiiisied nianliind."' According to lirni, 

 litywcver, Jhey were only nine, eg-, bag, dug, 

 g'lg, tfg, »i«g", ^X'g, rag, and sag, each of 

 Mhich is Expressive of a sepira'te mode of 

 action, and by tlie coinbination of which 

 the words of all the European lans^uafi;es 

 Iiave been foriucd. There arc, therefore, 

 T>-iro stages of languaiie mentioned in Dr. 

 JMnrruy's v^ork, the tirst wlien tliese nine 

 ijtterjectinnal syllables were alone used, 

 the other when they were compounded in 

 that peculiar manner to which he tracers all 

 the giammatical inflexions of language. 

 Jn the perusal of tlie work, the reader will 

 Lavf^ frequent cause to admire his inge- 

 nuity of analysis, if he cannot always sub- 

 scribe to his conclusions. 



A little work, entitled " Points of 

 IJumoui;' is intended to illnstrate the pecu- 

 liar talents of our modern Hogarth, 

 Ojlikshaxk. The principal attraction i» 



lical Protmium. [Jiiiy 1, 



tire plates, which afford a very high treat. 

 The Short CuurtsUjt, and the Uiccremoniuns 

 Visi(or, are admirable, both for effect and 

 detail ; and the old tale of Squire Farrer's 

 breeches is moie amusing than ever. The 

 illustrations of Burns's Jolly Beggars have 

 all the spirit of the inimitable original ; but 

 the favourite • Point' is, the plate called 

 Yes or N'> ? As the illustrative anecdote is 

 but little known, and relates to a very in- 

 teresting and .illustrious character, we 

 shall close the notice by extracting it. 

 " Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, 

 was so rcinaikalJy fond of children, that 

 he suliercd the sons of the Prince Royal to 

 enter his apartments wlienevcr they 

 tho'j;;l.t proper. One day, while he was 

 writ Hi; i.i his closet, the eldest of these 

 prince. s was playing at shuttlecock near 

 him. T lie shuttlecock liappened to fall 

 tipon the table at which the king sat, who 

 threw it at the young prince, and conti- 

 nued to write. The shuttlecock fallingon 

 the table a second lime, the king threw it 

 back, looking sternly at the child, who 

 pioiuised that no accident of the kind 

 shoii'd bap'i-cn again ; tlie shuttlecock, 

 however, fell a third time upon the paper 

 on whicii the king was writing. Frederick 

 tlicii took the shuttlecock and put it in his 

 pocket; the little prince humbly asked 

 pardon, and begged the khig to return him 

 the shuttlecock. His majesty refused; the 

 prince redoub'ed his entreaties, but no at- 

 tintion was paid to them; the young 

 pi ii^ce, at length, being tired of begging, 

 advanced boldly tow.iids the king, put his 

 two hands on his side, and tossing back his 

 head with fireat haughtiness, said, in a 

 threatenini; lone, " Will jour n:ajesty give 

 nie my shuttlecock, yes or i:of" The 

 king burst into a fit of laughter, and 

 taking the shuttlecock out of liis pocket, 

 returned it to the prince, saying, '*Yoii 

 are a biave boy, ym will never tuli'er 

 Silesia to be taken from you.'' 



The veiy unjiistifiahle attaik which ap- 

 peared in a late nnmher of the Quaitcriy 

 Heview, upon the chaiactcr and conduct 

 of the late Sir George Picvost, called 

 loudly for answer and csposure. We aie 

 ha|)py to see that this has been done in a 

 volume just published, under the title of 

 " Some Accoinit nf the I'uhlic Life of the late 

 Licut.-Geii. Sir George Prtvost, Lart. par- 

 ticularly of his Services in the Canailas-' 

 A more satisfactory leply to the calumnies 

 of the Quarterly Reviewtr could not be 

 wished for. The disgraceful niisirpre- 

 sentations, and gross ignorance, with 

 which tbe article on " The Campaign In 

 theCanadas" abounds, are fully laid open, 

 and all the w liter's assertions with regard 

 to the misconduct of the late .Sir G. 

 Prevost, are disproved by the evidence of 

 facts. Ho far from meriting censuie by liis 

 administration in the Canada?, it is not too 

 much to say that he preserved those pro- 



VllICES 



