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Canto shine brightly.
Su.. .....a sacrifice.
Cog...a kingdom..
Gao. ⚫to laugh.
Youm....eternity.
Diosi....God.

From can 66 'a concert of men" comes kanur the Hebrew word for a harp, the Ethiopian kaza a song, the Latin cano and canto, the Greek yavow yavua, the German sanger, the Saxon singan, the English sang or song, the Irish canam or cantaire and CLAN! ·

From cog a kingdom we have cog the tooth of a wheel, the German sug, victory, the Italian doge, the Egyptian and Arabic cheik and scheik, the Greek xoxvai, xoxxos, xoxxis, and the Hebrew pn.

We beg the attention of the reader to the following sum

mary:

The

"The analysis of these words, says Mr. Allwood, will enable us to discover the solution of a difficulty which has hitherto much perplexed the learned-namely, for what reason the lower extremity of the spina dorsi has been denominated os sacrum. Joins are the chief seat of strength in the human body; and by means of the articulation of these, man is enabled to support himself erect, to view the spacious canopy of heaven over his head, and to maintain the superiority of his form above that of the brutes around him. When, therefore, the worship of the true God became supplanted by a higher veneration for the first restorers of mankind-when a devotion to astronomical research, co-operating with this idolatrous reverence, had raised these patriarchs to the skies-and when under the influence of this unhappy superstition, every thing was only valued in proportion as it was rendered subservient to the interests of impiety-then this part of the corporeal system (the os sacrum, namely) was honoured with particular marks of attention: it was considered as sacred to the glorious orb of day, and was often separated from the slaughtered victims, in preference to every other part, as the sacrifice of highest value. Hence the origin of the words xoxam, and xoxo; for they are literally cоCHON, the supreme deity of the. sun, and were only terms of dedication. The os sacrum is an expression perfectly analogous to these, and was evidently indebted for its use to the same religious custom."

κοχωνον;

καχώνης

It would be difficult, we think, to find in any book, not meant to be burlesque, an example of derivation more thoroughly ludicrous than the above. Nor has the following instance of philological acumen much more the air of serious

thinking. "From gao, to laugh," says he, "we have the Welsh word for a goat, which in that language is called GAUP, from its friskiness and love of play."

In regard to one or two of his radicals, no doubt, he is more successful in tracing a faint orthographical resemblance between the language of China and the numerous dialects of modern Europe. But what are nine syllables compared to the many thousand words of which the literature of China is said to boast? In the most fortuitous and unmeaning combination of letters that a child could form at its play, we should unquestionably discover some resemblance to the language even of philosophy and religion-a more striking resemblance perhaps than Mr. Allwood has been able to establish between his Chinese primitives, and any tongue that has yet been spoken to the westward of the Himalayan mountains.

Our readers cannot fail to perceive that the only reason for which we have introduced to their notice, on the present occasion, the works of Whiter and Allwood, arises from the similarity which they bear to the Philosophical History of European Languages now before us. This last production, no doubt, is considerably different from the other two, in the principles by which the author attempts to carry us back to the origin of all regular speech: but the object of the three authors is very much the same, inasmuch as they profess to illustrate the complicated system of writing and speaking which obtains among civilized men by a reference to a few primitive sounds and radical letters; which, to use the words of Mr. Whiter, have served all along "to record, represent, and propagate ideas," in proportion as society has advanced and the human mind has expanded. In every attempt of this kind, there is almost unavoidably a great deal of groundless hypothesis as well as of revolting paradox: but the most groundless and paradoxical of the whole, perhaps, is that undertaken by Dr. Murray, who thought it not too much, as we have already remarked, to ascribe the languages of Greece and Rome, together with the varied tongues of all the Teutonic nations, as well as the numerous languages of modern Europe, to the mystical combinations of Ag, Wag, Bag, Dwag, Cwag, Lag, Mag, Nag, and Rag!

It might be amusing to discover in what manner a people, whose language was confined to the scanty stock of vocables which we have now exhibited, could perform a narrative or enter into conversation. Dr. Murray imagines to himself that the monosyllabic orators would proceed as follows: Kk

VOL. XX. NOV. 1823.

RAG, run; RAG, RAG, run, run; DWAG, DWAG, drive, drive, dash, dash; NAG, knock, crush; MAG, MAG, MAG, kill him, murder him by bruising. Bring water, Bag Wag; bring a little water, BAG AG; drive a stone, DWAG LAG; roll a stone, RAG LAG; move a stone, SWAG LAG; LAG RAG, take or lay a reed; MAG, AG, bruise the fire, crush it; DWAG AG, dash out the fire, extinguish; BAG AG, move the fire, that is, kindle it, raise it. DAG DAG, work, work; AG BAG, the serpent bites; AG DWAG, the serpent strikes; AG LAG, the serpent gives a blow; AG AG, I eat; MAG MAG, I am chewing, grinding; NAG, chump it with thy teeth; BAG, he drinks; WAG, the air moves; TWAG, it is thin, tugged, tense; DWAG, he is dead; DWAG! DWAG! killed! killed! MAG! O MAG! murdered! O murdered! BAG, BAG, BAG! they fought very much, greatly; SWAG, SWAG, they gave heavy blows; RAG, rushed on. Such he considers as a just and not imaginary specimen of the earliest articulated speech, when words were few and the natural signs of voice, gesture, and look, indicated and supplied their deficiency, as a system of communication!

With all this absurdity attached to it, we must not allow ourselves to despair of the future triumphs of the rational philologist, even in regard to this difficult achievement of tracing back the history of modern languages to one original and simple form. The identity of the Greek, Sanscrit, and Persic, was long ago ascertained by Sir William Jones; and the affinity of these languages to the Teutonic, or parent tongue of Europe, is successfully illustrated in Dr. Murray's volumes. Others have found a relationship, not less striking, between the Hebrew, including its kindred dialects, and the more ancient of our European tongues, particularly the Greek; and on the basis of this general connection may yet be formed a path which will ultimately lead to a complete knowledge of that primitive speech, which has served for a foundation to all the languages of the East and West. Much unquestionably still remains to be accomplished before any reasonable attempt can be made to generalize on all the languages of the globe. In the first place, these languages must be thoroughly studied, their structure analyzed, and their radical import completely ascertained. Hitherto our philologists have entered on their investigations with much too limited resources. Their acquirements, in oriental literature, particularly, were extremely confined; and as a proof of this, in one case at least, we have the authority of Mr. Whiter himself for asserting that he knew little more than

the letters and grammar rules of most of the eastern languages which he has adduced for the illustration of his theory. Of late, indeed, the progress of philology in the East has been unusually rapid. The formation of literary society in our Asiatic Provinces has at once revived the spirit and supplied the means by which the main difficulties will at no distant period be finally overcome. Even the mysteries of Chine grammar will soon be brought into view. Diction aries of that singular language are already announced; and there is good ground to hope, accordingly, that the literature, the laws, and religion of the Celestial Empire, will not much longer remain a secret to the enlightened curiosity of Europeans. But with all these advantages, our preparations for some time to come will only extend to the erection of the scaffolding, and not to the completion of the building: and if we attempt the latter whilst we are only qualified to accomplish the former, we shall assuredly renew all our disappointments, and give existence to works such as those which, in this article, we have only mentioned for the purpose of regretting the time, the talent, and, in some instances, the erudition, which have been uselessly thrown away.

ART. V. A Charge delivered on Wednesday the 18th of June 1823, to the Clergy of the Episcopal Communion of Ross and Argyle. By the Right Reverend David Löw, L.L.D. their Bishop. 8vo. p. 36. Rivingtons.

NOTHING can be more natural than for a Scottish bishop, when he looks around on the penury and depression, which are now the leading features of Episcopacy in too many districts of the North, to think of the happier circumstances from which his Church has fallen, and on the various causes which have produced that change. The subject of this excellent and pathetic Charge accordingly, is an historical outline of the vicissitudes which have afflicted the Scottish Episcopalians; arising as well from the Penal Laws which long pressed heavily upon them, for their attachment, real or imaginary, to the exiled branch of the Stuart dynasty, as also from the calumny and persecution of those bigoted Presbyerians, who were the most active in lifting the "axes and hammers" against the ancient establishment. At Inverness, therefore, where this Charge was delivered, and from whence, we believe, the field of Culloden as also the ruins of several

Episcopal chapels may be distinctly seen, the review of past events which it unfolds, must have been listened to with the deepest attention, and the most lively interest.

But our brethren in the North, it should seem, are doomed to suffer affliction and loss, not only from wars and revolutions, but also, in more modern times, from that zeal which is not according to knowledge, and more especially from the hypocritical pretensions of men who appear to "reach Christ of envy and strife," if not for popularity and the sake of filthy lucre.

"To the very distressing difficulties with which our Church has had to struggle, we have to add the recent introduction of that pretended Evangelism, which has so long cherished schism and the bigotry of religious dissension in England, but from which we happily continued free till the seed was insidiously sown by itinerant intruders, whose trade, to adopt the language of Bishop Warburton, seems to be their profession, and their profession to be their trade. I am aware that those men, with the bigotry which specially belongs to them, have long declared, that none of us (their agents excepted) were or are gospel ministers. Many worthy members of our communion, seduced by this groundless calumny, from the sober gospel of Christ, and the sound system which our church has never ceased to inculcate, have, I lament to say, been cozened into an entire confidence in the crude conceits and peculiar phraseology of a presumptuous stranger, who has learned his prescribed lesson as the leaders of the party have adapted it to the popular taste and tendency of the age.' P. 4.

In the commencement of his address, the Bishop compares the condition of his church, in her present circumstances, with that of the primitive church, as persecuted by the Roman Emperors, or as enjoying a precarious and undefined toleration. He next takes a view of her situation, as compared with the Episcopal Church in the United States, and shews that his brethren in Scotland labour under peculiar difficulties; arising not only from the fact that they are dissenters, in the midst of a hostile Establishment, but also, and, in no small degree, from the caution and delicacy which are found expedient on the part of Government, who cannot, it appears, without the risk of exciting unpleasant suspicions, extend to the Scottish Episcopalians that measure of support and countenance which they openly bestow upon dissenters both in England and Ireland. In reference to Independent America he thus observes:

"The present condition of the Episcopal Church in that country, affords a triumphant answer to a thousand illiberal cavils, which have been urged by ignorance, prejudice, and bigotry. The liberty,

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