OR, A

Philofophical Inquiry

I

CONCERNING

UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR.

BOOK I.

CHAP. I.

INTRODUCTION.

Defign of the Whole.

F Men by nature had been framed Ch. I. for Solitude, they had never felt an

Impulfe to converfe one with an

other. And if, like lower Animals, they had been by nature irrational, they could not have recogniz'd the proper Subjects Since SPEECH then is the

of Difcourfe.

Ch. I. joint Energie of our best and noblest Fa

culties (a), (that is to fay, of our Reafon and our focial Affection) being withal our peculiar Ornament and Distinction, as Men; thofe Inquiries may furely be deemed interefting as well as liberal, which either fearch how SPEECH may be naturally refolved; or how, when refolved, it

again combined.

may be

HERE a large field for fpeculating opens before us. We may either behold SPEECH, as divided into its conftituent Parts, as a Statue may be divided into its feveral Limbs; or elfe, as refolved into its Matter and Form, as the fame Statue may be refolved into its Marble and Figure.

THESE different Analyzings or Refolutions conftitute what we call PHILOSOPHICAL, or UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR.

WHEN,

(a) See V. I. p. 147 to 169. See also Note xv. p. 292, and Note xix. p. 296. of the fame Volume.

WHEN we have viewed SPEECH thus Ch. I. analyzed, we may then confider it, as compounded. And here in the first place we may contemplate that (b) Synthesis, which by combining fimple Terms produces a Truth; then by combining two Truths produces a third; and thus others, and others, in continued Demonstration, till we are led, as by a road, into the regions of SCIENCE.

Now this is that fuperior and most excellent Synthefis, which alone applies itself to our Intellect or Reason, and which to B 2 conduct

(6) Ariftotle fays — τῶν δὲ κατὰ μηδεμίαν συμπλοκὴν λεγομένων ἐδὲν ἔτε ἀληθὲς ἔτε ψευδές ἐστιν· οἷον ἄνθρωπῳ, λεῦκῳ, τρέχει, νικᾷ of thofe words which are spoken without Connection, there is no one either true or false; as for instance, Man, white, runneth, conquereth. Cat. C. 4. So again in the Beginning of his Treatife De Interpretatione, megi γὰρ σύνθεσιν καὶ διαιρεσιν ἔτσι τὸ ψευδός τε καὶ τὸ ἀληθές. True and falfe are feen in Compofition and Divifion. Compofition makes affirmative Truth, Divifion makes negative, yet both alike bring Terms together, and fo far therefore may be called synthetical.

Ch. I. conduct according to Rule, conftitutes the Art of LOGIC.

AFTER this we may turn to those (c) inferior Compofitions, which are pro

ductive

(c) Ammonius in his Comment on the Treatife Περί Ερμηνείας, Ρ. 53. gives the following Extract from Theophraftus, which is here inserted at length, as well for the Excellence of the Matter, as because it is not (I believe) elsewhere extant.

Δι τῆς γὰρ ἔσης το λόγο σχέσεως, (καθὰ διώρεσεν ὁ Φιλόσοφο Θεόφρας) τῆς τε ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ̓ΑΚΡΟΩΜΕΝΟΥΣ, οἷς καὶ σημαίνει τις καὶ τῆς ΠΡΟΣ ΤΑ ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΑ, ὑπὲρ ὧν ὁ λέγων πεῖ σαι προστίθηται τις ἀκροωμένες, περὶ μὲν ἔν τὴν σχέ σιν αυτᾶ τὴν ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ̓ΑΚΡΟΑΤΑΣ καλαγίνονται ποιητικὴ καὶ ῥητορική, διότι ἔργον αὐταῖς ἐκλέγεσθαι τὰ σεμνότερα τῶν ὀνομάτων, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὰ κοινὰ και δεδημευμένα, καὶ ταῦτα ἐναρμονίως συμπλέκειν ἀλ λήλοις, ὥστε διὰ τέτων καὶ τῶν τάτοις ἑπομένων, οἷον σαφηνείας, γλυκύτητα, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἰδεῶν, ἔτι τε μακρολογίας και βραχυλογίας, κατὰ καιρὸν πάντων παραλαμβανομένων, οἶσαί τε τὸν ἀκροατὴν, καὶ ἐκπλῆξαι, καὶ πρὸς τὴν πείθω χειρωθέντα ἔχειν· τῆς δέ γε ΠΡΟΣ ΤΑ ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΑ το λόγο χέσεως ὁ Φιλόσοφο προηγεμένως ἐπιμελήσεται, τό, τε ψεῖος διελέγχων,

ductive of the Pathetick, and the Plea-Ch. I. fant in all their kinds. These latter Compofitions

καὶ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἀποδεικνύς. The Relation of Speech being twofold (as the Philofopher Theophraftus hath fettled it one to the HEARERS, to whom it explains fomething, and one to the THINGS, concerning which the Speaker propofes to perfuade his Hearers: With refpect to the first Relation, that which regards the HEARERS, are employed Poetry and Rhetoric. Thus it becomes the business of these two, to select the most refpectable Words, and not thofe that are common and of vulgar ufe, and to connect fuch Words harmoniously one with another, fo as thro' these things and their confequences, fuch as Perfpicuity, Delicacy, and the other Forms of Eloquence, together with Copioufness and Brevity, all employed in their proper feafon, to lead the Hearer, and frike him, and hold him vanquished by the power of Perfuafion. On the contrary, as to the Relation of Speech to THINGS, here the Philofopher will be found to have a principal employ, as well in refuting the Falfe, as in demonftrating the True.

Sanctius fpeaks elegantly on the fame Subject. Creavit Deus hominem rationis participem; cui, quia Sociabilem effe voluit, magna pra munere dedit Sermonem. Sermoni autem perficiendo tres opifices adhibuit. Prima eft Grammatica, quæ ab oratione folacifmos barbarifmos expellit. Secunda Dialectica, quæ in Sermonis veritate verfatur. Tertia xhetorica, quæ ornatum Sermonis tantum exquirit. Min. 1. 1.

C. 2.

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