that this manner of fpeaking is not accurate. Neis ther difcourfe in general, nor poetry in particus lar, can be called altogether imitative arts. We muft diftinguish betwixt imitation and defcription, which are ideas that fhould not be confounded. Imitation is performed by means of fomewhat that has a natural likenefs and refemblance to the thing imitated, and of confequence is understood by all; fuch are ftatues and pictures. Defcription, again, is the raifing in the mind the conception of an object by means of fome arbitrary or inftituted fymbols, understood only by those who agree in the institution of them; fuch are words and writing. Words have no natural refemblance to the ideas or objects which they are employed to fignify; but a ftatue or a picture has a natural likeness to the original. And therefore imitation and defcription differ confiderably in their nature from each other.

As far, indeed, as a poet introduces into his work perfons actually speaking-and, by the words which he puts into their mouths, reprefents the difcourfe which they might be fuppofed to hold; fo far his art may more accurately be called imi tative and this is the cafe in all dramatic compofition. But in narrative or defcriptive works, it can with no propriety be called fo. Who, for inftance, would call Virgil's defcription of a tempeft, in the first neid, an imitation of a ftorm? If we heard of the imitation of a battle, we might naturally think of fome mock fight, or reprefentation of a battle on the ftage; but would never apprehend, that it meant one of Homer's descriptions in the Iliad. I admit, at the fame time, that imitation and defcription agree in their principal effect, of recailing by external figns, the ideas of things which we do not fee. But though in this they coincide, yet it fhould not be forgotten, that the terms themfelves are

not fynonymous; that they import different means of electing the fame end; and of courfe make different impreffions on the mind*.

Whether we confider poetry in particular, and difcourfe in general, as imitative or defcriptive; it is evident, that their whole power in recalling the impreflions of real objects, is derived from the fignificancy of words. As their excellency flows altogether from this fource, we muft, in order to

* Though, in the execution of particular parts, poetry is certainly defcriptive, rather than imitative, yet there is a qualified fenfe, in which poetry, in the general, may be termed an imitative art. The fubject of the poet (as dr. Gerard has shown in the appendix to his effay on tafte) is intended to be an imitation, not of things really exifting, but of the courfe of nature; that is, a feigned reprefentation of fuch events, or fuch fcenes, as, though they never had a being, yet might have exifted; and which, therefore, by their probability, bear a refemblance to nature. It was probably, in this fenfe, that Ariftotle termed poetry a mimetic art. How far either the imitation or the defeription which poetry employs, is fuperior to the imitative powers of painting and mufic, is well shown by mr. Harris, in his treatife on mufic, painting, and poetry. The chief advantage which poetry, or difcourfe in general, enjoys, is that whereas, by the nature of his art, the painter is confined to the reprefentation of a fingle moment, writing and difcourfe can trace a tranfaction through its whole progrefs. That moment, indeed, which the painter pitches upon for the fubject of his picture, he may be faid to exhibit with more advantage than the poet or the orator; inafmuch as he fets before us, in one view, all the minute concurrent circumftances of the event which happen in one individual point of time, as they appear in nature; while difcourfe is obliged to exhibit them in fucceffion, and by means of a detail, which is in danger of becoming tedious, in order to be clear; or if not tedious, is in danger of being obfcure. But to that point of time which he has chofen, the painter being entirely confined, he cannot exhibit various stages of the fame action or event; and he is fubject to this farther defect, that he can only exhibit objects as they appear to the eye, and can very imperfectly delineate characters and fentiments, which are the nobleft fubjects of imitation or defcription. The power of reprefenting thefe with full advantage, gives a high fuperiority to discourse and writing above all other imitative arts.

make way for further enquiries, begin at this fountain head. I fhall, therefore, in the next lecture, enter upon the confideration of language: of the origin, the progrefs, and conftruction of which, I purpose to treat at fome length.

LECTURE VI.

RISE AND PROGRESS OF LANGUAGE.

HAV

AVING finished my observations on the pleafures of tafte, which were meant to be introductory to the principal fubject of these lectures, I now begin to treat of language; which is the foundation of the whole power of eloquence. This will lead to a confiderable difcuffion; and there are few fubjects belonging to polite literature, which more merit fuch a difcuffion. I fhall firft give a hiftory of the rife and progrefs of language in feveral particulars, from its early to its more advanced periods; which fhall be followed by a fimilar hiftory of the rife and progrefs of writing. I shall next give fome account of the conftruction of language, or the principles of univerfal grammar; and shall, laftly, apply these observations more particularly to the English tongue*

Language, in general, fignifies the expreffion of

See dr. Adam Smith's differtation on the formation of languages.-Treatife of the origin and progrefs of language, in 3 vols.-Harris's Hermes, or a Philofophical Enquiry concerning language and Univerfal Grammar.-Effai fur l'Origine des Connoiffances Humaines, par l'Abbe Condillac.-Principes

our ideas by certain articulate founds, which are ufed as the figns of thofe ideas. By articulate founds, are meant thofe modulations of fimple voice, or of found emitted from the thorax, which are formed by means of the mouth and its feveral organs, the teeth, the tongue, the lips, and the palate. How far there is any natural connexion between the ideas of the mind and the founds emitted, will appear from what I am afterwards to of fer. But as the natural connexion can, upon any fyftem, affect only a fmall part of the fabric of language; the connexion between words and ideas may, in general, be confidered as arbitrary and conventional, owing to the agreement of men among themselves; the clear proof of which is, that different nations have different languages, or a different set of articulate founds, which they have chofen for communicating their ideas.

This artificial method of communicating thought, we now behold carried to the highest perfection. Language is become a vehicle by which the most delicate and refined emotions of one mind can be tranfmitted, or, if we may fo fpeak, transfufed into another. Not only are names given to all objects around us, by which means an easy and speedy intercourfe is carried on for providing the neceffaries of life, but all the relations and differences among these objects are minutely marked, the invifible fentiments of the mind are defcribed, the most abstract notions and conceptions are rendered intelligible; and all the ideas which science

de Grammaire, par Marfais. Grammaire Generale et Raifonnee. -Traite de la Formation mechanique des langues, par le prefident de Broffes.-Difcours fur l'Inegalite parmi les hommes, par Rouffean-Grammaire generale, par Beauzee.-Principes de la Traduction, par Batteux.-Warburton's Divine Legation of Mofes, vol. iii.-Sanctii Minerva, cum notis Perizonii.-Les vrais principes de la langue Francoife, par l'abbe Girard.