the ingenious ground, that no one at Babel would have forgot his wallet, whatever else he might leave behind. This valuable psychological sur

mise he confirms from his own observation. Our learned doctor was once on a time called in to attend a German in a brain fever, who had stabbed himself during a paroxysm of his complaint; but though suffering dreadful pain, the patient would not allow him, or any of his brethren, to approach him. "The wretched man," says he, "did not remember that we were physicians, ready to put his disorder to flight." Yet in spite of this manifest exhibition of madness and delirium, there was one object which he never forgot, and about which his reason seemed perfectly unclouded—a bag of dollars, which he kept under his pillow. "No wonder, therefore," exclaims our philosopher, cunningly transferring his argument from the contents to the container, and from the object to its name, no wonder, that at Babel none should forget the term for so interesting an article."* Yet the numerous examples collected of this word, will be hardly found to go out of two only families of languages, the Semitic and the Indo-European. In like manner, Count de Gebelin, who made the last stand upon the old system, often draws the most sweeping conclusions of universal affinity, after comparing, among themselves, words from the different Semitic or Teutonic dialects.†

* Ubi sup. p. 578.

+ Monde Primitif, vol. iii. p. 30, seq.: Paris, 1775-81, in

This method of reasoning was now, however, to be exploded, and in the mean time no general principle was to be substituted in its place. Only an analytical method would be admitted, whereby the grammatical elements of language were to be minutely decomposed and compared as well as their words, and no affinity admitted between two languages which would not stand a very rigid test. It would therefore appear that the farther the search proceeded, the more dangerously it would trespass upon the forbidden ground of inspired history.

An uneasiness on this head is clearly discernible in the works of an author, who, towards the close of last century, went far beyond all his forerunners, in laborious research, and in amassing materials for this interesting science. This was the indefatigable and learned Jesuit, Don Lorenzo Hervas y Pandura, who, in a series of works, mostly forming part of his Idea dell' Universo, laid before the public vast additions to the stores already described. He had indeed the advantage of belonging to a religious society, possessing within its own circle men who had travelled and preached in every district of the globe. Not only did he thus receive personal information on languages little known, but he was able to procure many grammars, vocabularies, and writings, which had scarcely been seen in Europe. With these matethe illustration of his "Premier Principe: Les langues ne sont que des dialectes d'une seule." Also pp. 290, seqq.

*

rials at command, he published year after year at Cesena, his numerous quartos upon languages, which were translated and republished by his friends in Spain.†

The great merit of Hervas is his indefatigable zeal and diligence in collecting; there is hardly an attempt at systematic arrangement in his works, but rather a degree of confusion and want of judgment are perceptible in his remarks. Mistakes must indeed be naturally expected in one who wandered over so wide a field, and who had generally to make his own path; yet so assiduous was he in collecting materials, that in spite of the caution wherewith his results must be adopted, the ethnographer is even at this day obliged to explore his pages for information which farther researches have not been able to procure or enlarge. At every step, however, he seems to fear that the study he is pursuing may be turned

* The following are his principal works: Catalogo delle Lingue conosciute, e Notizia della loro Affinità e Diversità, 1784. Origine, Formazione, Meccanismo, ed Armonia degl' Idiomi, 1785. Aritmetica delle Nazioni, e Divisione del Tempo fra l' Orientali, 1785. This is one of the most interesting and valuable among Hervas's works, and there is a supplement to it at the end of the 20th volume of his works. Vocabolario Poliglotto con Prolegomeni sopra più di 150 Lingue, 1787. Saggio Prattico delle Lingue, 1787. This contains the Lord's Prayer in more than 300 languages and dialects, with grammatical analyses and notes.

+ See Voyage en Espagne, par C. A. Fischer. Paris, 1801, tom. ii. p. 52. The Spanish edition of Hervas is much the more complete. The Catalogo de las Lenguas de las Naciones conocidas, Madrid, 1800-5, is in six large 8vo. volumes.

to the prejudice of revelation.

He evidently

labours under a great anxiety to prove the contrary; he opens some of his works, and concludes others, with long and elaborate dissertations on this subject. But his manner of treating it is long and abstract, and his conclusions do not seem to follow easily from the facts which he quotes in evidence. So unsatisfactory, indeed, are the comparisons of words from different languages which he makes on these occasions, that the existence of one letter in common is sufficient with him to form an identity in an entire word.†

Whilst the south of Europe was thus promoting the interests of this science by means of this modest and learned clergyman, in the north it was more brilliantly encouraged by the personal application and patronage of an empress. Among the many literary merits of Catherine II., that of having planned, conducted, and afterwards directed a large comparative work on language, though nowhere mentioned by her English biographer, is far from being the least. Ample justice has, however, been done to her claims by Frederick Adelung, in a small treatise on this

*Saggio Prattico: Origine, Formazione, ec. pp. 156, seqq.

See examples in his "Origine," ec. pp. 27, 29, 118, 128, 134; and Vocab. Polig. pp. 33, seqq.

See Tooke's Life of Catherine II." 5th edition. Neither in the 13th nor in the 17th chapter is there any mention of the Tzarina's or Pallas's researches on this point, though their literary performances are there enumerated.

subject. We there learn, upon the authority of her letter to Dr. Zimmerman, that she drew out a list of one hundred Russian words, and had them translated into as many languages as possible. She soon discovered unexpected affinities, and with her own hand began to draw up comparative tables. The doctor's book on "Solitude" superseded this dry task; and accordingly sending for the naturalist Pallas, she commissioned him to complete her undertaking, and prepare it for publication. * This commission was nowise suited to his taste or previous pursuits; it was imposed upon him against his will, and consequently came forth very imperfect.† Under the title of Linguarum totius Orbis Vocabularia Comparativa, Augustissimæ cura collecta, the two first volumes appeared at St. Petersburgh, in 1787 and 1789. These contain only the European and Asiatic languages; the third was never published, but, in a second edition by Jankiewitsch (179091), the African dialects were added.

*"Catherine der grossen Verdienste um die vergleichende Sprachkunde." St. Petersb. 1815. This was not the first attempt made in Russia to promote this study. Bacmeister, in 1773, published there a prospectus of a similar work.

"We have Pallas's own acknowledgment on this point. "Pallas vergleichendes Wörterbuch der europäischen und asiatischen Sprachen, welches er, wie er selbst kurtz vor seinem Tode sagte, invita Minerva, und nur auf dringendes Verlangen der Kaiserin Katherine II., nach den von ihr gesammelten und bestellten Hülfsmitteln, eiligst zum Druck befördete, enthält zwar shätzbare Materialien, die aber ohne alle Kritik zusammengestellt sind."-Klaproth, Asia Polyglotta. Paris, 1823, p. vii.