340 UNIVERSAL ERUDITION. 



guage, give it force and brevity without, in the 

 leaft, diminifhing its perfpicuity. Proper names 

 have alfo a meaning in this, as in the Oriental 

 languages, and the learned there find likewife 

 the character of their origin. The dialed itfelf, 

 or the pronunciation, is fonorous, foft, harmo- 

 nious and delightful : in a word, the Greek is 

 the language of a polite nation, that had a tafte 

 for all the arts and fcknces. 



IV. (2) The Greek of the middle age. The 

 ancient Greek ended at the time that Conftanti- 

 nople became the capital of the Roman empire, 

 though there were after that time feveral works, 

 and fome by the fathers of the church, which 

 were wrote in Greek, and with fufficient purity : 

 but as theology, law, civil and military policy, 

 the alteration of cuftoms and manners, &c. in- 

 troduced fucceflively a great number of words 

 that were before unknown, thefe novelties by 



degrees altered and corrupted the language 



The natural elegance of the ancient Greek was 

 no longer to be found. Thofe men of exalted 

 genius, who conftantly give a true beauty to a 

 language, were no more. And what could be 

 expected from a barbarous age, and from authors- 

 that were even below a moderate capacity ? 



V. (3.) The modern or vulgar Greek. Ic 

 commenced at the taking of Conitandnople by 

 the Turks, and is the language that is now 

 commonly fpoke in Greece, without any regard 



to 



