LANGUAGE. 
are become too ftiff for the talk ; and therefore, fay the 
advocates for the divine origin of language, reafon as well 
as hiftory intimates, that mankind in all ages muft have 
been fpeaking animals; the young having conftantly ac¬ 
quired this art by imitating thofe who were older; and we 
may warrantably conclude, that our JirJl parents received it 
by immediate infpiration. 
To this account of the origin of language, an objection 
readily offers itfelf. If the firft language was communi¬ 
cated by infpiration, it mult have been perfect, and held 
in reverence by thofe who fpake it, i. e. by all mankind. 
But a vatt variety of languages have prevailed in the world ; 
and fome of thofe which remain are known to be very im- 
perfeft, vvhilft there is reafon to believe that many others 
are loft. If different languages were originally invented 
by different nations, all this w'ould naturally follow from 
the mixture of thefe nations; but what could induce men 
poffeffed of one perfect language of divine original, to 
forlake it for barbarous jargons of their own invention, 
and in every refpeCt inferior to that with which their fore¬ 
fathers or themfelves had been infpired ? 
. In anfwer to this objection, it is faid, that nothing was 
given by infpiration but the faculty of fpeech and the 
elements of language; for, when once men had language, 
it is eafy to conceive how they might have modified it by 
their natural powers, as thoufands can improve what they 
could not invent. The firft language, if given by infpi¬ 
ration, muft in its principles have had all the perfection 
of which language is fulceptible ; but from the nature of 
things it could not poffibly be very copious. The words 
of language are either proper names or the ffgns of ideas 
and relations; but it cannot befuppofed that the All-wife 
Inltructor would load the memories of men with words 
to denote things then unknown, or with the figns of ideas 
which they had not then acquired. It was fufffcient that 
a foundation was laid of fuch a nature as would fupport 
the largeft fuperllructure which they might ever after have 
occafion to raife upon it, and that they were taught the 
method of building by compofition and derivation. This 
would long preferve the language radically the fame, 
though it could not prevent the introduction of different 
dialects in the different countries over which men lpread 
themfelves. In whatever region we fuppofe the human 
race to have been originally placed, the increafe of their 
numbers would in procefs of time either difperfe them into 
different nations, or extend the one nation to a vaft dif- 
tance on all fides from what we may call the feat of go¬ 
vernment. In either cafe they would everywhere meet 
with new objeCts, which would occafion the invention of 
new names; and, as the difference of climate and other 
natural caufes would compel tiiofe who removed eaftward 
or northward to adopt modes of life in many refpects dif¬ 
ferent from the modes of thofe who travelled towards the 
weft or the fouth, a vaft number of words would in one 
country be fabricated to denote complex conceptions, 
which muft neceffarily be unintelligible to the body of the 
people inhabiting countries where thofe conceptions had 
never been formed. Thus would various dialeCts be un¬ 
avoidably introduced into the original language, even 
vvhilft all mankind remained in one fociety and under 
one government. But, after feparate and independent fo- 
cieties were formed, thefe variations would become more 
numerous, and the feveral dialeCls would deviate far¬ 
ther and farther from each other, as well as from the 
idiom and genius of the parent tongue, in proportion to 
the diftance of the tribes by whom they were fpoken. If 
we fuppofe a few people either to have been baniffied to¬ 
gether from the fociety of their brethren, or to have wan¬ 
dered of their own accord to a diftance, from which 
through tracklefs forefts they could not return (and fuch 
emigrations have often taken place), it is ealy to fee how 
the mod copious language muft in their mouths have foon 
become narrow, and how the offspring of infpiration muft 
have in time become fo deformed as hardly to retain a fea¬ 
ture of the anceftor whence it originally fprang. Men do 
Vol. XII. No. 819. 
157 
not long retain a practical (kill in thofe arts which they 
never exercife; and there are abundance of fads to prove, 
that a fingle man call upon a defert illand, and having to 
provide the neceffaries of life by his own ingenuity, would 
foon lofe the art of fpeaking with fluency his mother 
tongue. A fmall number of men call away together, 
would indeed retain that art fomewhat longer; but in a 
fpace of time not very long, it would in a great meafure 
be loft by them or their pofterity. In thisftate of banifti- 
ment,as their time would bealmoft wholly occupied in hunt¬ 
ing, filhing, and other means within their reach to fupport 
a wretched exiftence, they would have very little leilure, 
and perhaps lefs defire, to preferve by converfation the re¬ 
membrance of that eafe and thofe comforts of which they 
now found themfelves for ever deprived; and they would 
of courfe foon forget all the words which in their native 
language had been ufed to denote the accommodations 
and elegancies of polilhed life. This at leaft feems to be 
certain, that they would not attempt to teach their chil¬ 
dren a part of language which in their circumltances could 
be of no ufe to them, and of which it would be impofiible 
to make them comprehend the meaning; for, where there 
are no ideas, the figns of ideas cannot be made intelligi¬ 
ble. From fuch colonies as this, dilperfed over the earth, 
it is probable that all thofe nations of favages have arifen, 
which have induced lo many philofophers to imagine that 
the ftate of the favage was the original ftate of man; and, 
if fo, we fee that from the language of infpiration mult 
have unavoidably 1 ’prung a number of different dialeCls, all 
extremely rude and narrow, and retaining nothing of the 
parent tongue, except perhaps the names of the moft con- 
fpicuous objects of nature, and of thofe wants and enjoy¬ 
ments which are infeparable from humanity. Speech 
therefore, in this rude condition of men, muft be extremely 
narrow, and extremely various. Every new region, and 
every new climate, fuggells different ideas and creates dif¬ 
ferent wants, which muft be expreffed either by terms en¬ 
tirely'new or by old terms ufed with a new fignification. 
Hence muft originate great diverfity, even in the firft ele¬ 
ments of fpeech, among all favage nations, the words re¬ 
tained of the original language being ufed in various fenfes, 
and pronounced, as we may believe, with various accents. 
When any of thofe favage tribes emerged from their bar- 
barifm, whether by their own efforts or bv the aid of peo¬ 
ple more enlightened than themfelves, it is obvious that 
the improvement and copioufnefs of their language would 
keep pace with their own progrefs in knowledge and in 
the arts of civil life; but, in the infinite multitude of words 
which civilization and refinement add to language, it 
would be little lefs than miraculous were any two nations 
to agree upon the fame founds to reprefent the fame ideas. 
Superior refinement, indeed, may induce imitation, con- 
quefts may impofe a language, and extenfion of empires 
may melt down different nations and different dialects 
into one mafs; but independent tribes naturally give rife 
to diverfity of tongues, nor does it feem poffible that they 
fhould retain more of the original language than the words 
expreflive of thofe objetts with which ail men are at all 
times equally concerned. 
The variety of tongues, therefore, the copioufnefs of 
fome, and the narrownefs of others, furnifh-no good ob¬ 
jection to the divine origin of language in general ; for 
w’hether language was at firft revealed from heaven, or in 
a courfe of ages invented by men, a multitude of dialects 
would inevitably arife as foon as the human race was fe- 
parated into a number of diftinftand independent nations. 
We pretend not to decide for our readers in a queftion of 
this nature; we have given the belt arguments on both 
fides which we could either devife or find in the writings 
of others; and, if it be feen, as we doubt not it will, that 
our own judgment leans to the fide of revelation, let it 
not be haftily condemned by thofe whole knowledge of 
languages extends no farther than to Greece and Rome, 
and France and England ; for, if they will carry their phi¬ 
lological inquiries to theeaft, they may perhaps be able to 
S s trace 
