On an Universal written Character. 279 
must have been equally inconvenient to invent and 
to remember. 
This device is twofold. Words are used figu- 
ratively ;—thus the word express is used to denote 
the manner in which one person conveys his 
thoughts by language to another, though properly 
the word has no such meaning. But this is not the 
part of the device I mean to speak of. I wish you 
to attend to the second class of arbitrary signs, 
which I have said forma constituent part of language: 
This class is intirely different from the one I have 
already mentioned: its signs convey no meaning 
when they stand alone, and serve only to modify 
the meaning of those of the other class. As all 
things denoted by the first class of signs may be 
placed in various relations, and be in some measure 
modified; the application of this class is as exten— 
sive as are the situations and degrees in which things 
denoted by the other class can be placed or modified, 
This class consists of prepositions and terminations, 
Before exemplifying the use and application of 
the two classes of constituent signs of oral Jan- 
guage, suffer me to make an observation concern- 
ing our English compounds. It has been the 
practice of those who have endeavoured to en- 
rich .our tongue, to borrow compounds from 
other languages, without having previously intro- 
duced the simple words of which such compounds 
are formed, In so doing, they have not only dis- 
