MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 



4^i3 



vous. Indeed I have observed that 

 nerves very much follow the scale 

 of property ; and I fancy that if I 

 could procure a peep at the books 

 of the commissioners of income, I 

 could pretty exactly point out those 

 whose ten per cents amount to a 

 decent trepidation. But as these 

 gentlemen are sworn to secrecy, I 

 must be content without this dis- 

 play of the physiognomy of income, 

 and perhaps it would, like other phy- 

 siognomonical sketches, be rather 

 a subject of curiosity than utility. 



In the country there are very few 

 nerves: even in places not more 

 than twenty miles from London, 

 they are scarcely heard of, except 

 in the newspapers. But in the ad- 

 jacent villages they are sufficiently 

 plenty. You may trace them on 

 the Hammersmith road, as far as 

 Kew or Richmond. Their ten- 

 dency is westward; for, although 

 they are exceedingly common on 

 the Bath road, and at the south- 

 western villages of Roehampton, 

 Wimbledon, Putney, &c. yet we 

 do not hear much of them about 

 Rotherhithe, Limehouse, or Step- 

 ney. Indeed I do not know of 

 what service they could be in the 

 ship-building line. On Hounslow- 

 heath they are occasionally found 

 in persons who travel after dark. 

 I am told likewise that they are ge- 

 neral in assembly-rooms, and that 

 the possession of nerves is a sifie 

 qua non in the subscribers to dances 

 and card clubs. In Wales and 

 Scotland, they are unknown — a 

 circumstance which is particularly 

 fortunate for the natives of the lat- 

 ter, as tliey would travel very 

 slowly on the London road with 

 such an inciimbriincc. 



Having staled these circumstan- 

 ces as mcmoircs pour scrvir a 



I'histoire des nerj's ! I trust that 

 some of your correspondents will 

 supply my defects, and answer the 

 chronological questions above re- 

 quired. In this expectation I remain 



Your humble servant, 

 Feb. 10, 1800. Neurologus. 



A n Essay on the Origin of the Italia n 

 Language ; from the German. 



THE learned differ very much 

 in their opinions relative to 

 the origin of the Italian language. 

 Leonardo Bruni, of Arezzo, a cele- 

 brated writer, of the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, cardinal Bembo, and among 

 the modern writers, Quadrio, main- 

 tain that the Italian was as old as 

 the Latin language, asserting that 

 the latter had been the language 

 of the learned, whilst the former 

 had been .spoken by the multitude, 

 and in common conversation. They 

 say, that the ancient Romans had 

 learned the genuine Latin language 

 in the schools, and that in the co- 

 medies of Plautus and Terence, 

 who, from the nature of their com- 

 positions, were the least able to de- 

 viate from the language of the mul- 

 titude, words and idioms are found, 

 which are not to be met with in 

 works of science. Hence they con- 

 clude, that the common language 

 of the people had been a peculiar 

 language as widely different from 

 the Latin as the Italian is now. 



Nothing can be easier than to re- 

 fute this opinion. When Plautus 

 wrote his plays, and caused thera 

 to be acted at Rome, the difference 

 between thelanguage of thelearned 

 and that of the common people 

 could not but be very trifling. The 

 Romans then began to be ambitious 

 of literary eminence. The Latin 



