43 
euitiyated tRan in Greece, it is reafonable 
to {uppole,.as far as any hypothefis can 
now de eitablithed, that the Ihad and the 
Odyliey, the only works which can with 
any certainty be attributed to him, imme- 
diately, or very foon, received that form 
in which we now fee them; and were 
preferved by the admiration of cotemn-. 
poraries and of fucceeding ages, by mul- 
tplied copies and tranfcriptions. It. is 
to this anxiety to preferve utimpaired 
the writings of Homer, fays the learned 
Wolfius, that we aré indebted for their 
prefent perfection, while the works of fo 
maany and more recent authors have de- 
fcended to us umpertect, or are recover- 
ably loft. at 93 
a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Mugezine. 
SIR, 
“N No. 150, of your valuable Ma- 
{ gazine, is a remark of Mr. Pick- 
bourn, on Mr. Pytches’ affertion, “ that 
the firfi terms of language were nouns, 
which were turned into verbs by being 
put in action.” ‘This affertion may, 
perhaps, be expreffed fomewhat loofely ; 
but I thmk the meaning 1s fufficiently ob- 
vious. Before nouns can be turned into 
active tranfitive verbs, they muft be put 
into a¢tion, fome way or other; they mutt 
be endowed with motion. To explain 
more fully what I mean, f fhall take two 
nouns, fugar, and plough, and by Mr. 
Pickbourn’s process, add is to each of 
them; thus, jugar is, plough is; do then 
thefe exprefiions imply any thing equi- 
valent to the active verbs, ploughs and 
'fugars. ‘They imply no a€tion, and con- 
tain nothing but the fimple aflertion of 
the exiitence of twe names Is there 
hot fomething neceflary to give thefe 
names aétion as verbs? And the obvi- 
ating of this want is, what I conceive 
Mr. Pytches means, by “ putting the 
nouns in ation.” Indeed, in regard ‘to 
feuter.verbs, Mr. Pickbourn’s doétrine 
is rather plaufible; for rain is, and rains, 
gre not very different, But in refpect 
to, at any rate, aclive tranitive verbs, it 
has always feemed to me more likely, 
that the nouns are put into action, by the 
verb do, which I imagine to be nearly 
co-eval with be. Hence, taking the noun 
plough, and prefixing to it, do, forming 
“T do plough,” I denote the action of 
ploughing. in time, do might have been 
emitted, leaving ‘1 plough;” and, from 
this circumnftance, I apprehend, it arifes, 
that we have fo many aétions exprefled 
by the fame word, as the noun, or name 
of the thing. Indeed, it is a commen 
On the Origin of the English Verb. 
| Feb. 1 . 
fuppofition, that the ed, by which regular 
Preterites aré formed, is a contraction of 
did; thus “T worked,” or “workdid:” 
and, in confirmation of this; it, 18 ftated, 
that we fay, “he did work,” or “ he 
worked,” but not “he did workéd,” which 
would involve an unnecceffary tautology 
equivalent to “he did workdid.” This | 
is an ingenious remark, and the only ob- 
jeétion which, it itrikes me, militates 
again{t it, is the derivation of did itfelf 
from do and ed; thus doed, did.—It may 
be full farther objeéted, that the verb 
does itfelf is a compound of the noun de 
(tor there is fuch a noun) and is ; thus de 
is, does. That the verb of exiftence enters 
into it, and into evéry other verb, I ain 
hot going to deny; neither is the purport 
of this letter to invalidate Mr: Pick- 
bourn’s hypothefis, with the whole feope — 
of which | am not acquamted, nor to pro- 
pofe any one of ny own, but merely to 
explain what appeared to me to be the 
real import of Mr. Pytches’ affertion, 
IT grant, that the principal objection to 
Mr. Pickbourn’s hypothefis, as far as { 
know its nature, is furmounted by the 
ufe of the participle, or, as he gppears to 
name it, the noun of aétion; as, “ Johi 
ploughing is,” or “ John ploughs ;” but 
this feems to me to be cutting the knot, 
and not untying it; fince it is as arduous 
a tatk to invent ploughing, to denote the 
name of the action of the imftrument, 
plough, as to conftruét the verb itfelf, 
To conclude, it appears to me that the 
verb is enters inte all verbs, do included ; 
and that do enters into all verbs, is ex- 
cepted, whether tranfitive or intranfitive, 
and that if is the verb which infufes into 
all of them their energy; which, other- 
wife, they would not poflefs—Mr. Pick- 
bourn’s “ Differtationy” Ihave not feen, 
but I have always heard it fpoken of, as 
a work of great merit and ingenuity. 
Crouch End, Highgate, Your's, &c. 
December 16, 1806. J. GRANT. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, . | 
HAVE good authority, and wifh it to 
be noticed, that during his illnefs, and 
to his death, the abolition of the Slave 
Trade was mott particularly near to the 
heart of Mr, Fox. 3 
It was not Henry Kerbe but Henry 
Kirke White, who died’ at St. John’s, — 
Cambridge, on the 19th°of October laft. 
‘He was born on the 21ft of March, 1785. 
He is juftly characterized by one of the 
firft Poet’s of this age, as a truly original 
Poetie genius. Wis application to feience 
and literature were almoft unexampled 5 
aD 
