MOODS of VERBS, 249 



mafs of thought which they had to exprefs. Thus, Give me a 

 bow, might be exprefTed by one word j Give me food, by ano* 

 ther ', I faw a friend, an enemy, a beaji, a man, a woman, by as 

 many different words ; no diftinclion being made between noun 

 and verb, agent or fubject, mood or accident. But the incon- 

 venience of fuch a language would foon be felt and gradually 

 remedied ; and the firft and moft natural ftep would be to em- 

 ploy the fame word for give, whatever was to be given, one word 

 for fee , whatever was feen, and to employ different nouns to 

 denote the fubftances given or feen. But this implies the pre- 

 vious exercife of a faculty of a higher order than that of di- 

 viding the voice, or forming articulate founcjs. The fame 

 power that has made us Msgortg, hath alfo taught us to divide 

 our thoughts. Indeed, without this nobler faculty, which 

 feems to be denied to all the inferior animals, and is fcarce per- 

 ceptible in man during the firft months of his life, the other 

 would be of little value. Several animals have learnt to divide 

 the voice, or to articulate, better than many unfortunate indi- 

 viduals of our own fpecies, who were deficient in the proper 

 organs of voice and fpeech ; but none of them have ever learned 

 to make ufe of fpeech as we do. They probably always, and 

 children for fome time, make no attempt to feparate or analyfe 

 their thoughts. Till that be done, which our fuperior faculties 

 foon enable us to do, the very fundamental notions of the parts 

 of fpeech cannot be conceived, grammatical language cannot 

 be contrived, nor even if it were prefented to us ready made, 

 m all the perfection of the Greek of Demosthenes, could it be 

 either learned or employed. 



On the former fuppofition, (page 247.) the moods of verbs 

 mull be conceived to be added to them in the courfe of the 

 formation or improvement of language. 



On the latter fuppofition, they mud be conceived to be re- 

 tained in language, and to be a remnant of a very rude polyfyl- 



Vol. II. I i labie 



