"of beef, mutton, veal, venifon, partridges, plum-pudding, and custard."

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Another cafe muft alfo be excepted: copulatives have a good effect where the intention is to give an impreffion of a great multitude confifting of many divifions; for example: "The army "was compofed of Grecians, and Carians, and

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Lycians, and Pamphylians, and Phrygians." The reason is, that a leisurely furvey, which is expreffed by the copulatives, makes the parts appear more numerous than they would do by a hafty survey in the latter cafe the army appears in one group; in the former, we take as it were an accurate furvey of each nation and of each divifion *.

We proceed to the fecond kind of beauty; which confifts in a due arrangement of the words or materials. This branch of the subject is no lefs nice than extenfive; and I defpair of fetting it in a clear light, except to thofe who are well acquainted with the general principles that govern the structure or compofition of language.

In a thought, generally speaking, there is at least one capital object confidered as acting or as fuffering. This object is expreffed by a fubftantive noun; its action is expreffed by an active verb; and the thing affected by the action is expreffed by another fubftantive noun: its fuffering

or

*See Demetrius Phalereus of Elocution, fect. 63.

or paffive state is expreffed by a paffive verb; and the thing that acts upon it, by a substantive noun.. Befide these, which are the capital parts of a fentence or period, there are generally underparts; each of the fubftantives as well as the verb, may be qualified: time, place, purpose, motive, means, inftrument, and a thousand other circumstances, may be neceffary to complete the thought. And in what manner these several parts are connected in the expreffion, will appear from what follows.

In a complete thought or mental propofition, all the members and parts are mutually related, fome flightly, fome intimately. To put fuch a thought in words, it is not fufficient that the component ideas be clearly expreffed; it is alfo neceffary, that all the relations contained in the thought be expreffed according to their different degrees of intimacy. To annex a certain meaning to a certain found or word, requires no art: the great nicety in all languages is, to exprefs the various relations that connect the parts of the thought. Could we fuppofe this branch of language to be still a fecret, it would puzzle, I am apt to think, the acuteft grammarian, to invent an expeditious method and yet, by the guidance merely of nature, the rude and illiterate have been led to a method fo perfect, as to appear not susceptible of any improvement; and the next step in our progrefs fhall be to explain that method.

Words that import a relation, must be diftinguifhed from fuch as do not. Subftantives commonly imply no relation; fuch as animal, man, tree, river. Adjectives, verbs, and adverbs, imply a relation; the adjective good must relate to fome being poffeffed of that quality; the verb write is applied to fome perfon who writes; and the adverbs moderately, diligently, have plainly a reference to fome action which they modify. When a relative word is introduced, it must be fignified by the expreffion to what word it relates, without which the fenfe is not complete. For answering that purpose, I obferve in Greek and Latin two different methods. Adjectives are declined as well as fubftantives; and declenfion ferves to afcertain their connection: If the word that expreffes the fubject be, for example, in the nominative case, so also muft the word be that expreffes its quality; example, vir bonus: again, verbs are related, on the one hand, to the agent, and, on the other, to the fubject upon which the action is exerted and a contrivance fimilar to that now mentioned, ferves to exprefs the double relation: the nominative cafe is appropriated to the agent, the accufative to the paffive fubject; and the verb is put in the firft, fecond, or third perfon, to intimate its connection with the word that fignifies the agent examples, Ego amo Tulliam; tu amas Semproniam; Brutus amat Portiam. The other method is by juxtapofition, which is ne

ceffary

ceffary with refpect to fuch words only as are not declined, adverbs, for example, articles, prepofitions, and conjunctions. In the English language there are few declenfions; and therefore juxtapofition is our chief refource: adjectives accompany their fubftantives*; an adverb accompanies the word it qualifies; and the verb occupies the middle place between the active and paffive fubjects to which it relates.

It must be obvious, that those terms which have nothing relative in their fignification, cannot be connected in so easy a manner. When two fubftantives happen to be connected, as cause and effect, as principal and acceffory, or in any other manner, fuch connection cannot be expreffed by contiguity folely; for words must often in a period be placed together which are not thus related the relation between fubftantives, therefore, cannot otherwife be expreffed but by particles denoting the relation. Latin indeed and Greek, by their declenfions, go a certain length to exprefs fuch

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* Taking advantage of a declenfion to separate an adjective from its fubftantive, as is commonly practised in Latin, though it detract not from perfpicuity, is certainly less neat than the English method of juxtapofition. Contiguity is more expreffive of an intimate relation, than refemblance merely of the final fyllables. Latin indeed has evidently the advantage when the adjective and substantive happen to be connected by contiguity, as well as by refemblance of the final fyllables.

fuch relations, without the aid of particles. The relation of property for example, between Cæfar and his horfe, is expreffed by putting the latter in the nominative cafe, the former in the genitive; equus Cæfaris: the fame is alfo expreffed in English without the aid of a particle, Cafar's horse. But in other inftances, declenfions not being used in the English language, relations of this kind are commonly expreffed by prepofitions. Examples; That wine came from Cyprus. He is going to Paris. The fun is below the horizon.

This form of connecting by prepofitions, is not confined to fubftantives. Qualities, attributes, manner of existing or acting, and all other circumstances, may in the fame manner be connected with the fubftances to which they relate. This isdone artificially by converting the circumftance into a substantive; in which condition it is qualified to be connected with the principal fubject by a prepofition, in the manner above described. For example, the adjective wife being converted into the fubftantive wifdom, gives opportunity for the expreffion "a man of wisdom," instead of the more fimple expreffion a wife man: this variety in the expreffion, enriches language. I obferve, befide, that the ufing a prepofition in this cafe, is not always a matter of choice: it is indifpenfable with respect to every circumftance that cannot be expreffed by a fingle adjective or adverb.

To pave the way for the rules of arrangement,

ona