55 



CHAPTER IV. 



GESTURE 'LANGUAGE AND WORD -LANGUAGE. 



We know very little about the origin of language, but the 

 subject has so great a charm for the human mind that the 

 want of evidence has not prevented the growth of theory after 

 theory; and all sorts of men, with all sorts of qualifications, 

 have solved the problem, each in his own fashion. We may 

 read, for instance, Dante's treatise on the vulgar tongue, and 

 wonder, not that^ as he lived in mediasval timeSj his argument 

 is but a mediaeval argument, but that in the ' Paradise,' seem- 

 ingly on the strength of some quite futile piece of evidence, he 

 should have made Adam enunciate a notion which even in this 

 nineteenth century has hardly got fairly hold of the popular 

 mind, namely, that there is no primitive language of man to 

 be found existing on earth. 



" La lingua ch' io parlai fu tiltta spenta 



Innanzi che all' ovra inconsumabile 



Fosse la gente di Nembrotte attenta. 

 Che nuUo afFetto mai raziocinabile 



Per lo piacere uman clie rinnovellas 



Seguendo 'l cielo, sempre fu durabile. 

 Opera naturale e cli' uom favella : 



Ma cosi, o cosi, natura lascia 



Poi fare a vol secondo che v' abbella. 

 Pria eh' io seendessi all' infernale ambascia 



EL s' appellava in terra il sommo Bene 



Onde vien la letizia che mi fascia: 

 ELI si chiamo poi : e cio conviene : 



Che r USD de' mortali e come fronda 



In ramo, che sen va, ed altra viene." 



