Excerpt from A Tractate on Language: With Observations on the French Tongue, Eastern Tongues and Times, and Chapters on Literal Symbols, Philology and Letters, Figures of Speech, Rhyme, Time, and LongevityAlthough the writer of this Tractate should consider the preface already prefixed to the first edition of the work sufficient, yet on the appearance of a second edition, some reason might be expected why material changes have been made.The author admits with regret that the first edition was not so aptly or uniformly adjusted in all its parts as consists with such a subject, and he felt he was capable of imparting to it that lucidus ordo, which a too hasty publi cation had prevented, although the manuscripts had lain by him for many years.He has deemed it expedient to recast entirely the grammatical sections, and having so done, he commits them to the press in the hopeful assurance they may prove acceptable to the reader of a composition which includes a congeries of philosophical and grammatical Observa tions.The general principles, which are nearly the same as in the former edition, have been further illustrated by the help of some authority from comparatively recent publications, but which had been only cursorily perused by the author Of the Tractate, viz. Welsford and Prichard.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.