1823.] 
by the addition of ‘lok,’ people ; thus 
projaa, a peasant, becomes projaa-lok, 
apeasant-people, or projaalok, peasants.” 
It is also clearly proved, that the 
Anglo-Saxon and its direct descen- 
dant, the modern English, has not a 
passive voice, nor has it any more than 
two tenses; for instance, in the sen- 
tence I will go, the principal verb is 
ZI will, which is the present tense; I 
would have, the principal verb is I 
would or willed. ‘The words go and 
have are verbs in the infinitive mood. 
If any should doubt this, as_ these 
words have no sign prefixed, let them 
examine these sentences in the origi- 
nal Saxon, and they will be convinced 
of the truth of this assertion :—Ic pylle 
fanan, and Ic polde hebban; here 
Fanan and hebban are known to be 
in the infinitive mood by their infinitive 
termination an. 
While 1 would, in general, acknow- 
ledge the truth of the preceding re- 
marks, I am sorry that the author 
should injure the cause of Saxon lite- 
rature by several unjustifiable and 
sweeping conclusions; for instance, 
when he affirms that ‘the present 
language of Englishmen is not that 
heterogeneous compound which some 
imagine, compiled from the. jarring 
and corrupted elements of Hebrew, 
Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and 
Italian ; but completely Anglo-Saxon.” 
Is not this going too far? 'The author 
surely must know, that the expressive 
words used in the arts and sciences 
are of Greek extraction: such as 
Borany, from Borayy, a herb ; GEOME- 
TRY, from yn, the earth, and peteov, a 
measure ; ASTRONOMY, from aoreov, a 
star, and youos, a law or rule, &c. The 
Romans were in possession of this 
country for more than 400 years before 
the Saxons, surely then they must 
have left some traces of their language. 
Nay, it is so evident, that I need not 
give examples, unless it be mentioned 
that the terms arts and sciences are 
derived from the Latin ars, artis, art, 
trade; and scientia, knowledge. No 
proof need be given that we have re- 
ceived shoals of words from the 
French, and some vocables from all 
the other nations of Europe. 
Another assertion of this indefati- 
gable Saxonist, on the same subject, 
appears equally unfounded with the 
preceding. ‘He aflirms—“ If we exa- 
mine the most elegant specimens of 
our written language, we shall find 
the average of Saxon words to be not 
2 
Mr. Weekes on the Musicus Ventusorum. 
123 
less than eight out of ten.” This is 
confuted by his own example from 
Locke, where the words of Saxon 
origin are in Roman, and the other in 
Italic, letters:—‘ bt is a received doc- 
trine, that men have zative ideas and 
original characters stamped upon their 
minds at birth.” Here are nineteen 
words, out of which twelve only are 
Saxon. He also asserts, ““Substan+ 
tives constitute the primitive words in 
all languages.” Now, as things  re- 
ceived their names*trom their actions, 
(Gen. ii. 19.) those: words, therefore, 
which denoted the actions, that is 
verbs, must be primitives (See Bur- 
gess’s Essay, page 89). Soin Hebrew 
we find the verb 3 (ba), to go, from 
which is derived NID (meba), an en- 
trance, &e. from the verb 52, to mix, 
-is derived ban (tébél), @ mixture, con- 
fusion. 
By attempting to prove too much, [ 
think I have shown that this gentle- 
man has injured the cause he intended 
to serve. PHILOGRAIUS. 
Aug. 9, 1823. 
—_—— 
To the Editor of ihe Monthly. Magazine. 
SIR, 
i my communication on the Musi 
cus Ventusorum, at page 508, No: 
383, for July, the paragraph com- 
mencing with line 18 from bottom: of 
the paye, should! read thus—** Longi- 
tudinally over the cylinder are stretch- 
ed, at) about an incl’ apart, ten or 
twelve cat-gut strings,” &c. 
a 
a 
The above sketch represents. what 
is termed the quadrant wind-screen of 
the float-wheels which are shown in 
Fig. 3. It consists of the quadrature 
of a circle, represented by the shaded 
part (a) in the annexed figure, of such 
dimensions as will admit. the wheel to 
run freely within it, and is attached to 
each end of the box. of the instrument, 
for the regulation of the current of air 
on the floats of the respective wheels, 
This quadrant. may, be made of any 
thin, material, and. the breadth of its 
circumference: (a) regulated by’ thie 
breadth of the floats whicl are to cir- 
culate within it. Its use is to. defend 
the upper portion of the said floats 
from 
