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Show their progrefs E ate perhaps as much fuperiour to human refiftance, as the revolutions of the fky, o Commerce intume}:cence of the tide however neceffary however lucrative, as it depraves the manners corrupts the language; they that have frequent intercourfe with ftrangers, to whom they endeavour t ‘accommodate themfelves muft in time learn a mingled dialect, like the jargon which ferves the trafficker 'on the Mediterranean and Indian coafts This will not always be confined to the exchange, the warehoufe or the port, but will be communicated by degrees to other ranks of the people, and be at laft incorporate ‘with the current fpeech There are likewife internal caufes equally forcible. The language moft Iilccl}} to continue lon without alteration, would be that of a natio - from ftrangers, and totally employe s ‘Ji‘&blgg 'Cffmn& Oflfif"-: raifed a little, an in procurin but a little, abov barbarity feclude the conveniencies of life; either without books, or like fome of the Mahometan countries, with very few : men thus bufied and unlearned, having only fuc words as common ufe requires, would perhaps long continue to expref figns. But no fuch conftancy can be expeéted in a people polithed by arts where one part of the community is fuftained and accommodated by th ‘who have much leifure to think, will always be enlarging the ftock o knowledge whethe real or fancied will produc the fame notions by the fam and claffed by fubordination labour of the other. Thof ideas; and every increafe o new words, or combination of words Whe th ‘mind is unchained from neceflity, it will range after convenience; when it is left at large in the field of {peculation, it will thift opinions ; as any cuftom is difufed, the words that expreffed it muft perith wit it ; asany opinion grows popular, it will innovate fpeech in the fame proportion as it alters practice ¢ i As by the cultivation of various {ciences, a language is amplified, it will be more furnithed wit L word defleCte fro thei origina fenfe th geometricia wil tal of a courtier' zenith o th ceccentrick virtue of a wild hero, and the phyfician of fanguine expectations and phlegmatick delays Copioufnefs of fpeech will give opportunities to capricious choice, by which fome words will be pre B ferred et ) fal () and i and others degraded ; viciffitudes of fathion will enforce the ufe of new, or extend the fignificatio of known terms. The tropes of poetry will make hourly encroachments, and the metaphorical wil become the current fenfe: pronunciation will be varied by levity or ignorance, and the pen muf at length comply with the tongue; illiterate writers will, at one time or other, by publick infatuation rife into renown, who, not knowing the original import of words, will ufe them with colloquial licentioufnefs, confound diftin¢tion, and forget propriety. As politenefs increafes, fome expreflions will b confidered as too grofs and vulgar for the delicate, others as too formal and ceremonious for the ga and airy ne phrafe are therefor adopted which muft for the fam reafons b in time difmiflfed Swift, In his petty treatife on the Englifh language, allows that new words muft fometimes be intro; duced, but propofes that none thould be fuffered to become obfolete. But what makes a word obfolete cm - more than general agreement to forbear it ? and how fhall it be continued, when it conveys an offenfiv benp idea, or recalled again into the mouths of mankind, when it has once become unfamiliar by difufe, an af unpleafing by unfamiliarity oppofifi th o ftat prefen th i ye whic other an tha prevale mor alterati o cauf anothe i Ther fart world cannot be obviated. A mixture of two languages will produce a third diftinét from both, an thment accompl ou confpic mof th an n educati o par chie th wher mixed b alway wil the it fin wil languag anothe cultivat lon ha tha H tongues foreig i o ancien i {kil i o ce, refinement and affectation neglige an haft an memor hi upo crow ion combina an word put ns expreffi exotic an term borrowe obtrud wil od anit}') The great peft of {peech is frequency of tranflation. No book was ever turned from one language int another, without imparting fomething of its native idiom; this is the moft mifchievous and comprehenfive innovation ; fingle words may enter by thoufands, and the fabrick of the tongue continue the fam g but new phrafeology changes much at once; it alters not the fingle ftones of the building, but the orde 36 VM If an academy fhould be eftablifhed for the cultivatio of our ftyle, whic I, wh ca never with to fee dependance multiplied, hope the fpirit of Engli/b liberty will hinder or deftroy, let them inftead of compiling grammars and diétionaries, endeavour, with all their influence, to ftop the licence o 1 Of Ifl g of the columns tranflators, whof of France idlenefs and ignorance, if it be {uffered to proceed, will reduc us to babble a dialec If the changes that we fear be thus irrefiftible, what remains but to acquiefce with filence, as in the othe pallia w tha repel canno w wha retar w tha remai I it huma o e diftref l ounta infur ate def ate ult b o can dea g tho car b e the len b ma what | we cannot cure, Lif TONgUEs |