Particularly of the LE TIE R 21THA. 1 1 7 



poffefs univerfally the fame organs of fpeech, and, by means 

 of thefe, the fame faculty of uttering articulate founds ; yet 

 the manner of exerting thofe organs, fo as to produce a parti- 

 cular language, being quite arbitrary, is a work, at firft, of ac- 

 cident, and then of gradual improvement, and which cannot 

 be carried forward, even by the help of writing, without a fre- 

 quent intercourfe, and a fort of mutual convention among the 

 individuals of that fociety, who find k for their advantage to 

 adopt fuch a language *. But an intercourfe adequate to fuch 

 an end cannot take place beyond a particular nation ; therefore 

 an univerfal living language cannot poflibly fubfift : For, ac- 

 cording to an obfervation of D'Alembert, " There is nothing, 

 " either in nature or in reafon, which determines an object, to 

 " be defigned by one found more than by another." To which 

 Beauzee adds, That " there is nothing in nature or reafon 

 " which determines a found to be defigned by one letter more 

 " than by another f." Accordingly, a variety of different 



tongues 



* The inhabitants of fome nations, fays M. du Marsais, employ certain organs, and 

 even certain parts of organs, of which others make no ufe. There is likewife a particu- 

 lar form or manner of exerting the organs, &.c. " II y'a des peuples qui mettent en. 

 " adtion certains organes et meme certaines parties des organes, dont les autres ne font 

 " point d'ufage. 11 y'a auffi une forme on maniere particuliere de faire agir les organes. 

 " De plus en chaque nation, en chaque province, et meme en chaque ville, on s'enonce 

 " avec un forte de modulation particuliere j e'eft qu'on appelle accent national, ou accent 

 " provinciate" Encyclop. au mot Consonne. 



f " Si, comme le dit l'illuftre Secretaire de l'Academie Francoife, it n'y a rien 

 " dans la nature ni dans la raifon qui determine un objet a etre dejigne par un 

 " fon plutot que par un autre ; on peut dire avec autant ou plus de verite, qu'il n'y a 

 " rien dans la nature ni dans la raifon qui determine un fon a etre defigne par une lettre 

 " plutot que par une autre." Gramm. Generate, par M. Beauzee. Tom. I. p. 179. 

 See alfo p. 233, 234. 



Dr Wilkins indeed has endeavoured to contrive a fet of characters, which, in their 

 fhape, have " fome reiemblance to that configuration which there is in the organs of 

 " fpeech upon the framing of feveral letters." Upon which account, he thinks, fuch an 

 alphabet may deferve the name of a natural charaBer of the letters. E(fay, &cc. p. 375. 

 But here he has not been very fuccefsful ; and indeed he feems himfelf to prefer another 

 alphabet, which he has alio fet down, although it has no fuch property, and yet is, as he 

 confefles, " more facile and fimple." 



