242 grammatical disquisition!. Aug. 22^ 



substantive, and the last they denominated, names 

 adjective ; of this last we ihall at pi'esent say nothing, 

 but proceed in our analysis of !he first. 



If the Latin language was beautiful in the original 

 choice of the word for denoting the clafs, we are now 

 led to perceive that it was not only imperfect, but 

 erroneous, in as far as the same word was employed 

 to denote qualities as well as substances. This led 

 them into another error, by denominating substantives 

 the whole clafs of names properly so called. The 

 word substantive was evidently adopted, because a 

 great many of the objects for which these names were 

 invented consist of solid matter, called substance ; 

 but under this clafs is included a prodigious variety 

 of ideal objects, that have neither form nor substance. 

 This, therefore, misleads the mind ; so that here our 

 unmeaning noun has the preference to it ; but we 

 have been so fond of the Latin as even to adopt this, 

 word, and indifferently say ttoun or substantive. 



It would be tiresome to go farther in this kind of 

 parallel ; and we only went thus far to give an idea 

 of the manner in which the mind is imperceptibly 

 misled in all languages, by the \erj terms that are 

 made use of in that language ; and to fhow in what 

 way a particular idiomatic exprefsion in one language 

 may convey a sensation of pleasure or disgust to the 

 misd, that cannot be felt when it is translated into 

 the nearest equivalent words of another language* 

 The above only exhibits one instance in its simplest 

 for«n J but when we advert to the infinite diversity 

 of latent ideas, to adopt a new phrase, that mu~t be 

 annexed to particular words, by a kind of reflection 



