is a demonstration of their near affinity. It may be worth while, also, to remark that, in looking for farther proof or illustration of his principles of cognation in the inflexions of the Latin noun, Mr. Whiter appears to us to have been still more inaccurate and unlucky :-s, he says, is changed familiarly into d, because pes is turned into pedis, and lapis into lapidis. It is our own persuasion that the original nominative of these words was peds and lapids, and that they were inflected at first without any change of the second consonants:-but, even if this were not the case, we cannot perceive that the change should indicate any analogy between the letters so substituted :-to us, it would rather appear that they were intended to be as different as possible; that the identity of the word was intrusted to its preceding letters; and that it must have been the object of the mutation in the final letters, to alter that part of it as completely as possible.-If this be not the case, indeed, Mr. W. might have enlarged his list of cognates still farther than he has done; and, from the instances of dies and other words of that description, which pass into dierum, diebus, &c. he might have discovered that s was commutable with r, m, b, &c. He has not ventured, however, to carry his assertions so far: though, if these letters be not cognate, there is no reason for holding that s and d are.

These, however, as we have already said, are instances not of substitution and unintentional variation, but of deliberate mutation adopted for the very purpose of distinguishing the words in which they occur. In all the other cases, in which the consonants of any word are changed in its inflexions, its derivatives, or its transmission into other languages, we apprehend that the cause of change is to be explained either by the want of euphony in the new combination, or by the imperfect conception or utterance of foreign organs. Now, though, in both these cases, since there is no variation intended, it is natural to think that the change will be as slight as possible, and that a letter of the same organ will be more frequently substituted than any other; yet the instances are innumerable in which a different letter will be employed. The combinations in flexion and derivation are often such as no cognate letter will answer; and the misapprehension or indocility of strangers runs through all the degrees of variation.

The limits of our work do not permit us to enter into any very extensive illustration of the doctrine which we have now been stating :-yet we cannot forbear to enumerate a few instances of such multiplied and anomalous changes in the consonants of particular words, as seem to make the idea of their permanency ridiculous, and to demonstrate the absurdity of

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attempting

attempting to subject their variations to any intelligible

rule.

The only letters which can properly be called cognate, or between which any resemblance can be supposed, are evidently those that are articulated by the same organ: every instance, therefore, of the substitution of any other letter is a direct proof of the anomaly for which we are contending. There is no proof of their affinity to their substitutes, more than to any other letter whatsoever; and it is to be presumed that any other letter would have been substituted that might have suited the combination or the organ equally well, without any regard to the existence of any imaginary affinity. Now Mr. W. has himself demonstrated that s, k, g, sh, are frequently substituted not only for each other, but for 1, d, th, &c.; and these for the former; although the letters belong respectively to the organ of the teeth, the throat, and the tongue. We shall subjoin a few instances, in which a similar interchange is made of letters, that even Mr. W. will not venture to call cognate. N, for example, is familiarly changed into m, though the one belongs unquestionably to the lips, and the other to the palate and nose. Bpaxov in this manner becomes brachium; &dwho, idolum; and a great multitude of Greek neuters in ov take um in their transition into Latin.-L, in like manner, is changed into r; as μugia into millia; luscinia into rossignol; ulmus into orme; and marbre into marble which last word has thus exchanged two of the consonants of marmor, and entirely suppressed another. N also passes easily into r, as dwgov into donum; where again two consonants of different organs are converted:-it also passes into , as in veleno from venenum, &c. D, too, by a still greater variation, is sometimes replaced by 1: Courseus becomes Ulysses; dangu, lacryma; and sometimes by b, as dis, bis. This changed into fonça, fera;—ew, felio. G, again, is converted into v, the Italian tregua making the French treve; and in the English truce, the same letter is virtually changed into s. In the Spanish muger, the I of mulier is changed into g; and a variety of similar mutations occur in the dialects of the North.-These instances alone, however, appear perfectly sufficient to shew that even Mr. W.'s enlarged ideas of the cognation of consonants will not serve to explain all the changes which they undergo; and that, in fact, there is scarcely a consonant which may not, in some circumstances, become the substitute of any other. A system of etymology, however, on the principle of Mr. W.'s present work, must be entirely subverted by the esta blishment of this fact. It is his object to ascertain the origin of words by investigating the signification of their elementary consonants-but, if these consonants may have been substi

tuted for any other, the very idea of elementary signification becomes futile, and all prospect of systematical derivation is hopeless.

There are still greater obstacles to the admission of Mr. W.'s preliminaries.-Consonants are not only exchanged without rule or limit, but they are added and suppressed with equal licence and irregularity.-What Mr. W. would call the element of a word is often taken away altogether, and can often be proved to have been added in some of its most recent derivations.Vowels, too, (which must grieve him still more sensibly,) he will frequently find substituted for consonants, and sometimes A few obvious instances of these radical passing into them. alterations we shall now set down.-ist. Consonants are added without any apparent rule or principle.-If we take the Latin for an early dialect of the Greek, we find land turned into a wos iuto δρόσον, aper into χαπρος, &c. The Mohian said Βρίδον, where the Athenian said jedov: and they in their turn said

W

pov, &c. where the other Greeks made no use of the d The Latin otium has grown into the French loisir-hodiernus into modern—umbra into sombre - nivis into show and do proba bly into reap; - amarus becomes amargo, and London Londres. We add n to almost al the Latin words in that we have borrowed; and consonant terminations in tas, ar, el, ard, &c. seem to have been annexed, by almost every nation, to the derivatives from other languages.

may

ง

on

- secu

2dly. Consonants are suppressed in all parts of a word, and without any traces of regularity. Catena is turned into chain;-laudare into louer ;-balneus is abbreviated to bain, and becomes bath in English by the united aid of suppression and mutation. Decanus sinks into dean,-pratum into pré-fides into foi, or faith,-and niger into noir. Pater and mater become père and mère in French, and continue to drop their consonants and till they are worne down to pay in Portuguese rus dwindles down to sure; consanguineus shrinks into cousin and all that is left of oculus is œil in French, and ojo in Spanish. -It is unnecessary to multiply instances of a degradation so common. If the significancy of these words resided originally in their consonants, it should have been lost when these were omitted; and all attempt to trace their derivation by means of them must plainly have been impossible, if the steps of their mutation had once been lost, or that historical evidence of their genealogy had been wanting, which it is the object of systematic etymology to supply. Of those words which it is the task and the glory of the etymologist to explain, how many may have been subjected to those changes which we have

K 3

already

already proved to be incident to words of every descriprion; or what reliance can be placed on an explanation which proceeds on the notion of their immutability, and depends altogether on the permanency of the consonants which they contain?

3dly. Consonants are also changed into vowels, and they in their turn into consonants :-oculus, we have already seen, becomes ojo plus and plumbum are changed into piu and piombo; and al into au in a great variety of instances, falta, faute, &c. In the same manner, vuga becomes nervum and nerf; qvov, vinum, &c. &c. On the other hand, we find e and u replaced by b; numerus is changed to number, cumulus into comble, &c.

Even these, however, are not all the mutations to which the consonant combinations are exposed. Where the letters remain the same, they are liable to be transposed or inverted; and this: derangement in their order is frequently combined with one or another of the substitutes of which we have been speaking:spre becomes repo; yara, lac; μopon, forma; and uvgunt, formica : folium is changed into leaf, and the ab and am of the Eastern languages into the pa and ma of Europe.-With what assurance can an etymologist proceed in the midst of such fluctuation and uncertainty? The elements, of which he is in search, are continually disappearing and reviving, altering their forms and changing their places? He must proceed like the pilgrim who looks for a beaten track among the moving sands of the desart, or the mariner who steers his course by the bearings of the summer clouds. The significancy of a word can no more be detected in any particular portion of its structure, than the life of an animal can be referred to any member of its frame: in both cases, the vivifying spirit is diffused through the whole of a mass that is continually changing; it has no circumscription nor local habitation in either; and the etymologist, who confines the meaning of a word to its elementary consonants, may be fairly compared to the anatomist who has chained the soul to the pineal gland, and hunted the flying life through the blood, the nerves, and the brain.

We have already extended this article to an unusual length, and we fear that our remaining observations will not be comprized in a very short compass: but we mean to terminate them in our next number.

[To be continued.]

Jeffr..y 1st Art.

ART.

ART. II. Gli-gamena Angel-Deob: or, the Sports and Pastimes of the People of England: including the rural and domestic Recreations, May-games, Mummeries, Pageants, Processions, and pompous Spectacles, from the earliest Period to the present Time: illusstrated by Engravings selected from ancient Paintings; in which are represented most of the popular Diversions. By Joseph Strutt. 4to. pp. 358. 40 Plates. 31. 3s. plain; 51. 5s. coloured. White.

1801.

THE HE informed and ingenious author of this volume is well known by his former publications, of a similar nature; and with respect to deep research, accurate knowlege, variety of matter, and entertaining narrative, the present work is in no degree inferior to any of its predecessors. Indeed, it not less excites our surprise than our praise, that so much has been effected in this branch of investigation, con sidering the indefatigable pains that are required in collecting the documents, in arranging the materials, in combining the relations, in elucidating the obscurities, and in completing the imperfections of decayed intelligence: but what will not perseverance accomplish, in a pursuit in which we are engaged by taste and affection?

The Introduction contains a general arrangement of the popular sports, pastimes, and military games, together with the various spectacles of mirth or splendour, exhibited in England publicly or privately, for the sake of amusement, at different periods. As all the information that can now be obtained, concerning the antient inhabitants of this island, is derived from foreign writers, partially acquainted with them as a people, and totally ignorant of their domestic customs and amusements, (the contemporary historians of the country being entirely silent on these important subjects,) the difficulties naturally attending such an undertaking are considerably increased: but the laborious and unwearied exertions of Mr. Strutt have surmounted them all, so far at least as to allow us little reason for regretting the loss of those few particulars on which he has it not in his power to be more explicit. With that modesty, however, which generally accompanies real merit, the author thus concludes his general view of the sports and pastimes of our ancestors:

I shall proceed to arrange them under their proper heads, and allot to each of them a separate elucidation. The task in truth is extremely difficult; and many omissions, as well as many errors, must. of necessity occur in the prosecution of it; but none I hope of any great magnitude, nor more than candour will overlook, especially when it is recollected, that, in variety of instances, I have been con. *See M. Rev. Vols. li. lii. lv. lvii. lix. &c.