Ch. I. is distinguished, and made to be its true

and

proper self.

HENCE

this fupreme Intelligence has been called EIAOE EIANN, THE FORM OR FORMS, as being the Fountain of all Symmetry, of all Good, and of all Truth; and as imparting to every Being thofe effential and diftinctive Attributes, which make it to be itself, and not any thing else.

And so much concerning FORM, as before concerning MATTER. We shall only add, that it is in the uniting of these, that every thing generable begins to exist; in their Separating, to perish and be at an end-that while the two co-exift, they co-exist not by juxta-pofition, like the ftones in a wall, but by a more intimate Co-incidence, complete in the minutest part-that hence, if we were to perfift in dividing any fubftance (for example Marble) to infinity, there would ftill remain after every section both Matter and Form, and these as perfectly united, as before the Divifion began-lastly, that they are both pre-exiftent to the Beings, which they conftitute; the Matter being to be found in the world at large; the Form, if artificial, pre-existing within the Artificer, or if natural, within the Supreme Caufe, the Sovereign Artist of the Universe,

--Pulchrum pulcherrimus ipfe

Mundum mente gerens, fimilique in imagine formans.

Even

HENCE LANGUAGE, if compared ac- Ch. I. cording to this notion to the murmurs of a Fountain,

Even without speculating fo high as this, we may fee among all animal and vegetable Substances, the Form pre-existing in their immediate generating Cause; Oak being the parent of Oak, Lion of Lion, Man of Man. &c.

Cicero's account of these Principles is as follows,

MATTER.

Sed fubjectam putant omnibus fine ulla fpecie, atque carentem omni illa qualitate (faciamus enim tractando ufitatius boc verbum et tritius) MATERIAM quandam, ex quâ omnia expressa atque efficta fint : (quæ tota omnia acsipere poffit, omnibusque modis mutari atque ex omni parte) eóque etiam interire, non in nibilum, &c. Acad. I. 8.

FORM.

Sed ego fic ftatuo, nibil effe in ullo genere tam pulchrum, quo non pulchrius id fit, unde illud, ut ex ore aliquo, quafi imago, exprimatur, quod neque oculis, neque auribus, neque ullo fenfu percipi poteft: cogitatione tantùm et mente complectimur.- -HAS RERUM FORMAS appellat Ideas ille non intelligendi folum, fed etiam dicendi graviffimus auctor et magifter, Plato: eafque gigni negat, et ait femper effe, ac ratione et intelligentiâ contineri: cœtera nafci, occidere, fluere, labi; nec diutiùs effe uno et

eodem

Ch. I. a Fountain, or the dashings of a Cataract, has in common this, that like them, it is a SOUND. But then on the contrary it has in peculiar this, that whereas thofe Sounds have no Meaning or Signification, to Language a MEANING or SIGNIFICATION is effential. Again, Language, if compared to the Voice of irrational Animals, has in common this, that like them, it has a Meaning. But then it has this in peculiar to distinguish it from them, that whereas the Meaning of those Animal Sounds is derived from NATURE, that of Language is derived, not from Nature, but from СОМРАСТ (d).

FROM

eodem ftatu. Quidquid eft igitur, de quo ratione et viâ difputetur, id eft ad ultimam fui generis Formam Jpeciemque redigendum. Cic. ad M. Brut. Orat.

(d) The Peripatetics (and with just reason) in all their definitions as well of Words as of Sentences, made it a part of their character to be fignificant xarà curonany, by Compact. See Ariftot. de Interp. c. 2. 4. Boethius tranflates the Words xarà ovvonxnv, ad placi

tum,

FROM hence it becomes evident, that Ch. I. LANGUAGE, taken in the most comprehensive view, implies certain Sounds, having certain Meanings; and that of these two Principles, the SOUND is as the MATTER, common (like other Matter) to many dif ferent things; the MEANING as that peculiar and characteristic FORM, by which the Nature or Effence of Language becomes complete.

tum, or fecundum placitum, and thus explains them in his comment SECUNDUM PLACITUM vero eft quod fecundum quandam pofitionem, placitumque ponentis aptatur; nullum enim nomen naturaliter conftitutum eft, neque unquam, ficut fubjecta res à naturâ eft, ita quoque a naturâ veniente vocabulo nuncupatur. Sed bominum genus, quod et ratione, et oratione vigeret, nomina pofuit, eaque quibus libuit literis fyllabifque conjungens, fingulis fubjectarum rerum substantiis dedit. Boeth. in Lib. de Interpret. P. 308.

CHAP.

Ch. II.

CHA P. II.

Upon the Matter, or common Subject of

T

Language.

HE TAH or MATTER OF LAN

GUAGE comes first to be considered, a Subject, which order will not suffer us to omit, but in which we shall endeavour to be as concife as we can. Now this TAH or Matter is SOUND, and SOUND is that Senfation peculiar to the Senfe of Hearing, when the Air hath felt a Percuffion, adequate to the producing fuch Effect (a).

As

(a) This appears to be Prifcian's Meaning when he fays of a VOICE, what is more properly true of SOUND in general, that it is-fuum fenfibile aurium, id eft, quod propriè auribus accidit. Lib. I. p. 537.

The following account of the Stoics, which refers the cause of SOUND to an Undulation in the Air propagated circularly, as when we drop a stone into a Cistern of water, feems to accord with the modern Hypothefis,

and