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tions IVilh

lh~irs

in cI'ery pan of fpeech, lI'as in fo far

d~feélive

and incomplete. So, for

lh~

lame reafon, an

aUlhor wuo had fürmed his idea of granlloar upon lhe

model of the HebreIV longue, would as naturally fup.

pofe, thal lhe fov eral varialions which the.verb admitted

of in his oIVn favourile

lJnguag~,

were elrenlial and neo

celrary; and lhat,

01'

confequence, every llnguage which

did oot admit of as many varialions was imperfeét and

iocoruplete. But

any one who

confid~rs

lhis matter

Wilh attention, it wil! appear, tbat lhere

c~uld

be no end

to thefe unnecelrdfy difcullions and groundlcfs claims of

faDcicd fuperiorilY: for if compound words h:we fueh

advantage over fimple, lbe Chinefe language, in which

we are told almon every fentence.has aparticularcompound

cbaraéter to exprefs' it, mull be by far the

mo~

perfell io

Ihe world; but fo far is this from being the cafe, that

every one aUo'ws il to be lhe moll imper(eét aod incom·

plele, The oply method, thereFore, which remains for us

10 con[Ider this fubjeé! ¡s, to diregard every particular

form of laoguage, and confider the words iO'lhemfelves,

divelled of every extraneous circumllance, aod ob–

(ene \Vhat varialioos lhey oecelfarily require, allowing

emy panicular language

compound lheFe ",ilh ooe

aoolher in what maooer ¡bey fhall Ihiok moll proper.

is in this manne! we have conGdered lhe verbal attri–

bUlives, aod eodeayoureu to difenungle lhem from thefe

lIooecelrary fmm with which they have beeo loaded,

aod reflore them to their owo origioal freedom.

Befides the variatioos above·meolioned, verbs have

beeo dillinguifhed from one another in adiffereO! manDer;

Ihe

nam~s

aod oalure of which may be lhus explained.

We have already feeo, that al! verbs, as they deoole

4ntrgiu,

necelrarily have refeffnce to cemio

Mergi%ing

jubj/aoCII.

For, how could there be fuch eoergies as

,. love, l. JlJ,

'Wound;

&c. were tbere not fuch

being! as

111M, bird/,j'Word/ ,

&te.

l'arther, every eoergy

.not ooly requires an energizer, but is oecelfarily coover·

fnt about fome fubjeé!. For example, ifwe fay,

Bra–

lu/love!,

we mull needs fuppl y-loves

Ca/o, CaJjiu/,

Iome ooe. And lhus il is, Ihal every energy is oecelra·

Jily /iluated between two fubllaotives, an energizer which

Q{}ive,

aod

fubj&t wbich is

p6Jjive.

Ihe eoergi.

'ler lea-dI Ibe fenteoce, the eoergy has beeo faid to fol!ow

-tlS

~har.é!er,

and becomes what we call a VERB ACTrVE:

Ihus we fay. BRuTus AMAT,

Dru/u/love!.

OD the

contrary, if the pallive fubjeél be principal, it is faid tO

follow lhe charaé!er of lhis toO, and beccmes what we

call a VER! PA SIIVE: thus we fay, PORTIA AMATUR,

'Por/io ¡'Jovd.

But iD fome verbs it happens, that tbe

'Loergy

al'Wl1J1 l" p/ 'Wi/hin /he tlurgizrr,

aod oever

lJ>alf~s

out to any extraoeous fubjeé!. Thus, wheo we

fay,

c.~rar

""alk" h, Ctrjar fille/h,

it is impollible that

1he enerAY

jhollld paft out,

becaufe bOlh lhe

tnergizer

Qnd Ibe

PflJjiUt

ju/Jj,{/

are uniteJ in lhe

foil/e f'rrfon.

For what is lhelcauCe

this walking or fitting? it is lhe

'lJJill

and

vital po""m

bc!ongiog

C~far :

and what is

lhe fu bjetl made fo to move or fil? it is the

bodJ

and

lilllb/

bdonging alFo to thefame

Cltfor.

This fpecies of

~crbs

h2Ve been by r,rammari. ns

dillin~uifhed ~y

lhe

~ame

of VERIISNEUTH, as if lhey ",ere void bOlh of

tlflion

and

¡aJlion,

when perhaps (bey may be rather [aid

to imply both.

is in lhis manner, that verbs'h::I'I'I:

beco diltioguilhed in

Ihe three el,lfes

afliue, pajiut,

anJ

n,u/er.

h&, however, might wilh more propliely

be dividtd iOlO I\VO clalrcs, which mighl be c'alled mbs

TIUNSlTIVE, and NOT TRASlITIVE; lhe 6rfl

cl~fs

iD–

c1udiog al! thofe verbs which are ufuaUy called

o{/ive,

with the

pojiue!

belooging to them; for it is evideot,

thal theFe pallives are oOI .verbs thcmFelves, but a varia–

tion ooly of a verb; and lhe Cecood dafs iocluding thofe

verbs commonly called

neu/er.

Some l,nguages, as the Greek and Freoch, have ao·

other c1afs of verbs, which are called by Ihe firfl v

ERas

MIDOLE , aod by tbe lafl RECIPROCAL VERBS; whieh

are

employ~d

to denote that Hate of any traor.ti.e ferb,

wheo the energizer hímfdf

~ecomes

the fuhjeé!; as lhus,

Brulu/ lill,d hiT1lfelf,

&c. BU! as th& ooly exprefs a

llight val iatioo of an accompaoiment of a verb, they

baye no c1aim la be coofidered as a diflioél fpecies.

Of ADJECT1 ·VES.

AOJEéTIVES are al! taoCe words which denote ami–

butes whofe elreoce does not coofill iD motion or in pci–

vation: or, in olher words, they are Ihofe words which

deoOle the attribules of quaotity, quality. aad relalioo;

fuch as,

manJ, /e'W, gual

and

lillle, hlocl

aDd

'Whilt,

good

aod

b.d, doubl" luMe , r¡uadrupl"

&c.

As thefe attributls admit of DO hacge of frate, DOl

cao be effeéled by lhe

varialio~s

of time, or acy otbcr

accideol, but are iD tbeir own oature perfeé!ly nxed and

invariable, the words which e"prefs thero OUghl to

all

uluations aod 00 al! occafions Ihe

bme.

Fa" as

lb:

qualilies

go,á

bad, 61acJ.

'l/Jhl~t,

admit of

chaage

in tneir owo Dature, whether they be applied to

man,

'omon,

mal!),

or to

j<'W;

neilher ought tbe

word which exprelfes any ooe of theCe a!tributes iD

:flriélnefs

admil of any alteratioo, whether it be joined

to ooe or other of thefe fubll,alives. So that although

in fome languages, from the particular conllruélioa of

tbe other parts of fpeech, il has btltDfouod necelf.,y lO

eodow their adjeé!il'cs wilb the threefold dillioélioo of

gmder, number,

:nd

cnfe

,'.

y~t

lhis mufl only be

COD~dered as aD accldeotal vanatloo

occa~ooed

by parti–

cular circumllances, and not iD Ihe lean elrenlial to laD–

guage, but rather. a deviation from Ihe order

oalure,

which would require them

be kept invari.bly lhe fame

in al! caCes.

This order, the Eftglifh langtlage (which

iD this aod almofl every olher cafe is moll Ilriélly coa·

fo rmable 10lhe nature of lhings tban any olher laoguage

we are aequainred with) moll flriélly obCtrvu ; as we f.y

equal!y,

a good mon,

Ko~d

'l/JOlJlall, ogood 60uft

go.d

111m,

good houfe/,

&c.

has probably beco From obferving, lhat

lh~

adje:.

tives in fome

partic~l¡¡r

laDguages areendoweu wllh vall–

alioos conformable 10 lhe

lit/,J,r, nOIJl6,·r.

and

c.,!,

¡heir fu

bllanli.es

, lhat

~rammariagl

h"yc been lcd ioto

the nr.nge ab(urdity of rangiog lhem Wilh nouns, and

feparaling them from yerbs; though Wilb refpeé! 10

verbs lhey are pefeélly hurtlogencous, aod wilh refpell

to oouns theyare quite Ihe contrary.

Adjdlives are

homogencoul with refpeél to mbs,

bOlh fom denote

Attribuw;