PHILOLOGY. 321 



of his being a man of great learning, or becaule 

 he was highly fkilful in languages : or whether, 

 in modern times, Juftus Lipfius, Angelus Po- 

 litianus, CaeKus Rhodiginus, Muret and others, 

 have obtained the title of philologies by one or 

 the other of thetc accomplilhments -, but as in our 

 lyltem we undcrftand, by the term erudition^ the 

 univerlality of the Iciences, and by that of lite- 

 rature^ all which relates to the knowledge of an- 

 tiquities, fo we include, under the term philology, 

 a critical knowledge of the languages. This 

 fcience when juftly limited is ib extenfive, that 

 we arc obliged greatly to concenter itsoSjecls, in 

 order to give the analyfis of it in a fuccinct from. 



III. A e already treated, in the fecond 

 book, on grammar, rhetoric, eloquence, poetry 

 and verification, we have there given thofe ge- 

 neral rules which are applicable to all poffible 

 languages-, and as we mall have occafion here- 

 after, in the twenty-fourth chapter of this book, 

 to explain the principal precepts of criticifm, 

 we fhall here confine our obfervation to the Ian- 



:cs themfclves, and to thofe general ideas 

 which philology offers, without leading our 

 readers through all the paths of an immenfe 

 labyrinth. 



IV. Language in general may be divided into, 

 i . Ancient languages -, which are thofe that have 



become extinct with the people who fpokc them, 



or have been fo altered and tli 4 figured, that they 



VOL. III. X no 



