592 
prefent cafe, it would have been a very 
queftionable compliment. But I promifed 
to reieafe you fome time ago, and will 
now be as good as my word: I will not 
be idle in colleéting any information 
whi¢h may intereft you. Believe me, 
Very affeétionately, your’s 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SER; 
Should be obliged to any one of your 
i Correfpondents, who could inform me 
by whom the following Effays in Dr. John- 
fon’s Idler were written, as the Doétor ac- 
knowledges they were written by his Cor- 
refpondents, viz. Numbers 9, 15, 42, $45 
98. The writers of thefe Numbers Mr. 
Bofwell, in his Life of Johnfon, does not 
mention. Wa. ANSON. 
s a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
BOUT a yearand a half ago I began 
A to examine how far the Englith 
language might be indebted to the ancient 
Britith, with refpect to its ftock of words ; 
being intended as a part of a Jarger work, 
undertaken upwards of eighteen years 
fince. The refult of fuch an inveftigation, 
when completed, will be of great im- 
portance, as may be perceived by the fol- 
lowing example, which is a table formed 
of all the words under the letter B, in 
Afh’s Diétionary. 
Werds under B, as derived by Lexicographers. 
Saxon : : IIO1 
Britith, and uncertain 886 
French. 545 
Latin ° ° 461 
Greek . . ‘164. 
Dutch | 3 ° 135 
Italian e e 60 
3348 
From the rroxr Saxon words F claim 
165 as Britifh words.-—Among the 8386 
Britifh and uncertain words I recognize 
740 as purely Britith. Thence it foliows, 
that the bafis of the Englifh language, 
under the letter B, as to Saxon and Bri- 
tifh, appears to be thus :— 
Saxon words. : 936 
Britifh words. E 995 
From the progrefs that_I have already 
made, I believe I thall find that the fore- 
going parallel, as to the Saxon and Britifh, 
will hold geod through the compafs of 
the whole Diétionary.; and therefore, ac- 
cording io my calculation, about 19,200 
Britifh words are blended with about 
50,000 other words of various derivations, 
Englih Words of Britih Derivation. 
[July ty 
in the formation of the prefent Engliffi 
languace. . r 
This fact, Mr. Editor, has not been 
fufpeéted by Englith lexicographers; and 
Dr. Johnfon, in the Introduétion to 
his Diétionary, controverts the poffibility 
of itin thefe terms :—* Though the Bri- 
tains or Welfh were the firft poffeffors of © 
this ifland, whofe names are recorded, 
and are therefore, in civil hiftory, always 
confidered as the predeceffors of the pre- 
fent inhabitants ; yet the deduétion of the 
Englifh language, from the earlieft times 
of which we have any knowledge, to its 
prefent fate, requires no mention of them: 
for we have fo few words, which can, 
with any probability, be referred to Bri- - 
tifh roots, that we juftly regard the Saxons 
and Welfh as nations totally diftiné&.”— 
And of fimilar conclufion are the words of 
Dr. Adam Smith, in his Differtation on 
Language,’ when he fays, that “the 
Englifh is compounded of the French and 
the ancient Saxon languages.”’ 
The fentiments here quoted, as hoftile 
to the refult of my inveftigations, have 
the authority of celebrated names, which 
has a prejudicial influence among the bulk 
of mankind ; but as I conceive it can have 
no weight with the intelligent readers of 
the Monthly Magazine, I fhall conclude 
without making comments thereone 
1 remain Sir, 
May 10, 1802. Your’s, &c. 
MEIRION, » 
— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HAVE been much gratified, in com- 
‘mon, I doubt not, with your. readers 
in general, by the remarks of Mr. Sin- 
gleton, in your magazine for Jan.on appa= _— 
rent violations of Greek concord, and by 
the fubfequent illuftrations of Mr. Cogan, ~ 
to which they gave rife. I hold myfelf - 
always indebted to any gentleman, who, 
making public his philological difficulties, 
affords me an incentive for calling into 
revifion my own ideas on the point, and - 
procures me the elucidations of thofe 
whofe previous conteft with the difficulty 
enables them to relieve me, . 
TI will ju& mention that a fimilar ano~- 
maly to that adduced by Mr. Singleton 
from Homer, occurs in Plato de Rep. 
db .ce hie : 
Krémrns apa tig o Suaioc, ws eomeyy dvagren 
PUyTas. , 
Bani, Oi, ewe 
Your humble fervant,. 
se 
: - 
