t 349 3 

 CHAP. XXI. 



MODERN LANGUAGES. 



IF we call all the different dialers of the va- 

 rious nations that now inhabit the known 

 earth, languages, the number is truly great, and 

 vain would be his ambition who fhould attempt 

 to learn them, though but imperfe&ly. We 

 will begin with naming the principal of them. 

 There are three which may be called original, 

 or mother languages, and which feem to have 

 given birth to all that are now fpoke in Europe. 

 Thefe are the Latin, German, and Sclavonian. 

 From the Latin are derived the languages of all 

 thofe nations which inhabit the fouthern, and 

 mod weftern countries of this part of the world . 

 From the German, all thofe of the nations that 

 inhabit the centre and the northern regions : and 

 from the Sclavonian all the languages of the 

 people who dwell in the mod caftern part of 

 Europe. The Sclavonian is extended even to 

 A fid i and is fpokcn from the Adriatic fea to the 

 northern ocean ; and almoft from the Cafpian 

 fea to Saxony. But it muft not be imagined 

 from the term Original, which is given to thcfc 

 languages, that they have come down to us 



from 



