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appears, that the difference between night and day are indiftinctly perceptible; but no object of vifion can either be diftinguished or perceived.

In addition to this calamitous privation, the poor child had early the misfortune of being deprived of its mother; and from circumstances, partly arifing from neceffary attentions to the management of a numerous family, and partly, perhaps, from mistaken calculations of the comfort and accommodation of the child herfelf, The feems to have been, for a confiderable time at least, refigned to the exclusive, and almost fecluded, care of a nurse who, perhaps, had not all the difpofitions, and cannot be expected to have had all the knowledge and reflection, which the peculiar circumftances of the nurfling might ́ require.

One ferious mistake, it is obvious, has been committed. It seems to have been the univerfal practice to direct and manage the unfortunate child by the fenfe of touch alone. No appeal feems to have been made to any of the other fenfes. That of hearing, in particular, feems fo entirely to have been neglected, that the neceffity of comprehending, and confequently of imitating, the diftinctions of enunciated found, feems hardly to have been prefented. The guiding hand feems, on every occafion, to have been fubftituted for the inviting voice. How much of the additional calamity is to be attributed to this caufe, I fhall not pretend to determine; but certain it is, that the poor child has attained her feventh year, without making any intelligible efforts towards the exercife of the faculty of speech.

While I was at Glasgow, the obfervations I had occafion to make "on the Causes and Cure of Natural and Habitual Impediments," during my "Course of Lectures on the Science and Practice of Elocution," occafioned me to be applied to by the father of this unfortunate child; and I accordingly vifited her, in company with a medical friend, of philofophical and fcientific celebrity, whofe curiofity, like my own, was confiderably excited by the particulars we had heard of this very extraordinary cafe.

Of the dreadful ravages which the virus of the fmall-pox had made, it may eafily be inferred, from the facts already ftated, that the child presented a very lamentable fpectacle. Her general health, however, did not appear to be affected. Her growth and proportions are remarkably beyond the ordinary standard of her years; and her robuft and masculine figure formed a most striking contrast to the delicate

fymmetry of two beautiful and diminu tive filters, the fmallest of which was but two years younger than herself. Her animal fpirits appeared to be high and irregular; and fhe was full of boisterous activity, which fometimes approached almost to fierceness, and fometimes fubfided into abfolute inattention, and apparent inanity. In thefe tranfitions, however, and this wildness of deportment, neither my profeffional friend nor myfelf could dif cover any indications, either of deficiency or derangement of the fenforial faculty, that could account for the want of articulative utterance, even if deficiencies and derangements of that defcription could be admitted as fufficient folutions of the phenomenon. The mingled boldness and precaution with which the climbed over the tables and other furniture; the fkill with which the balanced herself upon the feats, and backs, and frames of the chairs, which the fucceffively inverted in all poffible directions; and the address with which he recovered herself, when in danger of lofing her equilibrium, conspired, with a variety of other feats and circumftances, to preclude all idea of any other degree of imbecility, than the mere complicated privations of vifion and difcourfe might naturally be expected to produce. Nor can any inferences be drawn that would invalidate this conclufion, from her intervals of her apparent inanity: if inanity that can be called, which is evidently nothing more than the pause of phyfical exhauftion, when boisterous exertion has fatigued her mufcles, or diffipated her animal fpirits. Then, indeed, the feats herfelf upon the ground, and, fwaying her head from fide to fide, with a fort of finuous ofcillation, begins to beat time with her left knee, while the hums, in a low and plaintive tone, a fort of imperfe&t tune: always, I believe, the fame, though of this I cannot be certain. But in this I can difcover no other indication than the effort of a mind contracted in its fphere of activity by physical privations, to vary according to its various means its occupations and its amusements.

But if idiotcy, or if derangement be not the caufe that has precluded this unfortu nate child from the use of speech, to what other circumftance shall be attributed the privation.

The perfuafion of the family feems to be, that this fecond and more aggravated calamity has refulted from the ravages of the fame difeafe which deprived the infant of its fight. As a fecondary confequence, this may, perhaps, have been the cafe ; but of the primary or phyfical operation

of

of the virus upon any of the organs effential to oral intercourfe, there is certainly not the flightelt appearance. The hearing of the child does not feem to be affected. She is evidently confcious to the general impreffions of found; and the even appears to be interested by particular tunes, and fome of the movements of init umental mufic. That the vocal organs are fufficiently perfect, is equally obvious, from the vociferations and noises of all kinds which the fo frequently utters. The enunciative organs † allo appeared, upon

*

It is only, perhaps, when the is thus amufing herself, that the unfortunate Augufta appears at all interefting. The deformity of feature produced by the original difeafe is, probably, in more refpects than one, an aggravation of the calamities of this unhappy child. Imagination has fomething to do even with the beft feelings of our nature; its affociations mingle with the active operations of cur moft imperious duties; and few, indeed, are the human beings whofe fympathies are fo abstractedly correct, as to require no affiftance from its alliance. Such affiftance, the perfon of this poor child is little calculat. ed to afford; and the vehemence of her actions and gefures is not likely to counteract the impreffion which her appearance inevitably produces. But when tired of jumping and tearing about, he fits herfelf down to murmur her inarticulate fong, the mournful monotony of her action, and the expreflion of her voice (which, though not harmonious, is most appropriately melancholy) finds is way, irrefiftibly, to the heart.

The contra-diftinction here fpecified, has not hitherto been marked, I believe, either by phyfiologifts, or by writers on elocution. It is a distinction, however, not less important than real; without the due comprehenfion of which, it is equally impoffible either to elucidate, with perfpicuity, the theory of oral intercourfe, or to carry to any confiderable extent a rational fyftem of elo cutionary inftruction.

The VOCAL ORGANS are those portions of the organic fyftem employed in the production and promulgation of voluntary founds. The attributes and objects of these are, power, or force; compafs, or variety; tone; modulation, or flexure; melody, or tune; fwell and dence, &c.

ca

The ENUNCIATIVE ORGANS are thofe portions and members of the human mouth, by the motions, pofitions, and contact of which, specific character is imparted to vocal founds, fo as to ren der them capable of being converted into communteable figns of definite ideas. Their attributes are, diftinctness, articulation, measure, and quantity, accent (vulgarly fo called), emphafis, &c.

Want of attention to this effential contradiftinction was, perhaps, one of the most un. fortunate mistakes of the philofophical phy

infpection, to be complete in every portion of their structure. That they were fo, indeed, would have been fufficiently evident, even if no fuch inspection had been made; for, amid the variety of unmeaning noifes with which the occafionally amufes herself, all the elements of enunciation may be diftinctly heard: nor is there an individual fimple found (whether labial, lingual, palatial, or gut ural) out of which the combinations of verbal language fhould be formed, which he does not repeatedly pronounce.

Whether from this chaos of original elements, the creations of intelligible fpeech will ever arife," I own I am exceed ingly doubtful. It cannot be ditguiled, that this is one of thofe cafes which would require much more attention than, from the nature of the circumftances, it is practicable that it fhould receive. Cafes fo completely anomalous are only to be un dericod by long and minute observation; and remedies, if practicable, are only to be expected from the perfevering affiduity of an intelligent fuperintendant, capable of fuggefting, and patient enough to con duct, a long and confiftent series of experiments;—a fuperin endant who could defcend to all the minutiae of miniftration and attendance, and who had fufficient authority over the whole houthold, to preclude all thwartings and interruptions of the neceff ry plans, either from the prejudices of ignorance, or the impatience

of unfeafonable doubt. All that I could

do, therefore, in the prefent inftance, was to give a few fimple rules for the future regulation of the child; the principal ob. ject of which was to divert, if poffible, to the fenfe of hearing that internal attention which, from the error of eucation, had hitherto been concentrated to the fenfe of touch alone :-regulations which, I was apprehenfive at the time, would never be and precifion; and which, during my feattended to with fufficient perfeverance cond vifit, were violated before my face, by the negligence or the perverseness of a domeftic who, naturally enough, defpifed a refriction, the tendency of which the could not comprehend.* As this was, in

fician, Itard, in his abortive attempt to communicate the power of speech to the favage of Aveyron.

* I had the greater reason to confide in the probability of fome effect from thefe regulations, becaufe, to me at leaft, it was apparent, that my frequent repetitions of the English falutation, "How do you do?” (a falutation to which her ears had never been familiarized) had produced (during the twentyfour hours that I staid in the house on my first

reality,

reality, no more than I expected, my only animadverfion was-never to call again.

Such, Mr. Editor, are the few and ucfatisfactory particulars I am able to com-, municate respecting this unhappy cafe. Unfatisfactory, however, as they are, they add one more to the fmall number of facts that feem to furnish land-marks for an inquiry into the caufes that facilitate, and thofe which preclude, the developement of the faculty of fpeech: an inquiry which, perhaps, may be interefting to fome of your readers; and which, yon will naturally conclude, has become of primary importance in the estimation of, Kendal, Your's, refpectfully,

May 13, 1804. JOHN THELWALL.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

the king, fat at the time in Stirling, dif
penfing juftice to his fubjects. The mo-
ment thefe difa@reus accounts reached his
ears, he ordered a large body of inen to
be affembled under arms, in that part
where the river Erne falls into the Tay;
when they came to that place, they learned
that the Danes had croffed the Tay, close-
ly invefted Perth, and had flain all that
fell in their way, without diftinction of
fex, age, or rank. As foon as Kineth re-
ceived this afflicting intelligence, he hasten-
ed to Loncart, or Longcartili, which lies
at a short distance from the Tay. Night
As foon
came on foon after his arrival.
as the dawn appeared, the battle began.
The king led the van; Malcolm, King of
Cumbria, commanded the right wing; and
Duncan, chieftain of Athol, headed the
left. Kineth promifed a certain fum of

IN pursuance of my promife, I fend you money, or an equivalent in land, to every

fome hiftorical extracts, tranflated from the Danish. I am, &c.

C. H. WILSON.

The BATTLE of LONCART,* in the YEAR 985.

"In this year (985) the Danish fleet
put to fea, with an intention either to land
in England or Scotland, according as the
favourable for the one
wind should prove
or the other. They caft anchor in Scot-
land, near the promontory called Red.
head, in the fhire of Angus or Forfar,
for it is known by thefe two names.
Many of the Danes preferred a war with
the English, as the Scotch were known to
be a warlike people, and, befides, there
was no plunder even in cafe of fuccefs.
On the contrary, England was rich. They
at length agreed, however, to try their
luck in Scotland. They took the town
of Montrofe, levelled it to the ground,
fo that not a veftige of it remained; they
alfo put all the inhabitants to the fword.
Having committed several wanton acts of
cruelty, they marched through Angus to
the Firth of Tay. Every step was mark.
ed with blood and rapine. The inha-
bitants fled in every direction. Kineth,

vifit) an imitative effort, which expreffed it-
felf in an indiftinct Horu do? which it ap-
a fort of
peared to me that he applied as
name or term affociated in her mind with the
impreffions fhe had received of my diftinct
and perfonal identity.
On my fecond vifit
the fame ejaculation again was uttered; yet
I could not learn that any fuch exclamation
had been obferved in my abfence. A circum-
stance from which I drew a very different
conclufion from thofe which were inferred
by the perfons who are ufually around her.

+ See Suhm's Hiftory of Denmark, vol. 3, P. 174.

man that would bring in the head of a Dane. The Danes were pofted at the foot of a mountain, from whence the Scots rolled down large ftones, intermingled with fhowers of arrows, which killed a great number of the enemy. The conteft was maintained with great bravery on both fides for a confiderable time. The right and left wings of the Scots at length gave way; but the van, encouraged by the voice and example of their prince, kept their ground, and refitted every fhock with unexampled valour. In this fituation it happened, that a Scottish peasant, of the name of Hay, and his two fons, ploughing in a field at fome distance, witeffed the battle: kindled with patriotic fire, the old man and his fons feized the implements of their plough-ftood in a gap-and flew every man, friend and foe, that came within the reach of their arms; calling with all their might on their flying countrymen to return to the action, as help was now at hand. Their countrymen obeyed their call-returned-fell on the foe with fuch fury that, in a fhort time, the field was covered with the dead bodies The camp of the enemy, of the Danes. filled with provifions, fell into the hands of the Scots the next day. The Danes fuffered fo feverely in this engagement, that they did not attempt to make head a fecond time. Hay, the patriotic peafant, was called into the prefence of the king, and was royally rewarded with a large portion of the booty which the foe had left behind, as well as lands: he was alfo ennobled. The hufe of Arrol is defcended from him. Hector Boethius, a Scottih hiftorian, fays, that Kineth granted him armorial bearings, but this must be a mistake, as armorial bearings were not known in those days."

VISIT

VISIT of KNUD the GREAT and QUEEN EMMA to ELY, in the YEAR 1035.* "KNUD the Great, and Emma, his queen, with the chief men of the land, failed for Ely, to celebrate, according to custom, the feast of the Purification of the Bleffed Virgin. As they failed by the church, which is built upon a high rock, the sweet found of many voices fell into their ears, which came from the monks who were celebrating divine fervice at the time in the church. The king inftantly commanded that all those who were in the thip fhould immediately join him in a fong, which he compofed in English upon the occafion, and which begins thus Merie fungen the muneches binnen Ely, tha Cnut cing reuther by; roureth cnites noer the land, and here we thes muneches foeng: that is, The monks of Ely fang fweet, as King Knud rowed by. Row nearer to the land, my men, that we may hear thefe monks fing. This fong, according to report, was inferted in the Cloifter Chronicle of Ely at full length, and was in public ufe in England in the days of its author. Thus the king fung with the monks till he came on fhore, on which he haftened to St. Edelreda's altar, and confirmed all the privileges which the former kings of England had granted to the monaftery. It is faid to have once happened, that the water round the monaftery was frozen at, the time of the feast of the Purification; and that it was not certain if the ice was fufficiently ftrong to bear any perfon; the king, however, would not be refrained from joining in the folemn ceremony, but paffed over in a fledge, having firft caufed a lufty peafant to walk before to try the ftrength of the ice. The peasant, by order of Knud, was liberally rewarded for the experiment. The king foon after caufed a dike to be thrown up, in order to lead away the water by Peterborough and Ramefey. This dike was called by fome Swerdefdelf, by others Coutfdelf, and fometimes Shedfdike; it now forms the divifion between Huntington and Cambridgeshire. Queen Emma prefented to the Church of Ely, a purple robe, border. ed with gold; it was befides ornamented with gold and precious ftones; fo that the like was never feen in all England. She alfo prefented to each of the faints, in the fame church, a filk robe, fet with gold and flones of inferior value. She, likewife, gave to the monks a green altar-cloth, interlaced with plates of gold; and a linen altar-cloth, of a blood colour, with a goid

border, one foot in breadth. Gram, Langebek, and Cambden, have amply treated of the fignification of the names of the two queens, Emma and Alfgiva. Langebek contends, that Algiva is the fame as thelwyf; that is, a noble woman. In Hemming's, Thattur fays, he is called Anna. King Knud entertained a high esteem for Alfric, abbot of St. Alban's, brother of the famous Leofric. He allowed him to pull down the buildings on Kingsbury, which King Ethelred had granted him, except a tower near the monaftery, which fhould remain to fhew that it was once a royal feat. The abbot either chafed away all the people who dwelt there, or com pelled them to become fervants to the cloister. Of all the clergy, however, Knud held archbishop Ethelnoth, and Living, monk of Winchefter, in the higheft reverence. He made Living abbot of of Tavistock, and afterwards bishop of Crydyn one. He had great influence over the king, and could make very free with him. He had lived a long time with him in Denmark, followed him to Rome, and returned thence to England with the king's letter, where he fettled every thing to the fatisfaction of his majesty. He prevailed on Knud to unite the fee of Cornwall with that of Crydyntone; but he abufed this addition of power, for he was died in the time of Edward the Confeffor, ambitious, proud, and imperious. and was buried in Tavistock. Adelwin, abbot of Abbington, was also a great favourite with the king, who granted that monaftery confiderable privileges and gifts; particularly a fhrine of gold an filver to preferve the remains of St. Vin cent. He expelled the Canik monks out of Gloucefter, and put another order in their place, by the advice of bifhop Wulfftan. Thefe tranfactions may be attributed to the fuperftition and ignorance of the times. It should not be forgotten, that Knud planted a number of fchools all over England; this was an act worthy of a prince, and will find admirers in every age. Notwithstanding his liberality, the brilliancy of his court, and the expensive wars in which he was engaged, he left, large fums behind him. He likewife cauf ed feveral buildings to be raised at his own expence, which his father and he had demolished. In 1019, he rebuilt the momaftery of Exeter, which his countrymen had broken down. He was temperate in his diet. There is a bird in England, of which he was fo fond, that it bears his name to this day; namely, Knots; in Latin, Tringa Canutus, or Marituria. The

He

* See Suhm's Hiftory of Denmark, vol. 3, natives call it by the different names of

P. 174.

puitte, godwitt, or dotterell."

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To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

A

SIR,

CONTRIBUTOR to the Monthly Magazine for laft month, has favoured the readers of that valuable work with his remarks on a peculiarity or idiom of our language, which, in his opinion, has efcaped the penetration of every writer on English grammar. After in forming us, that, when two fubftantives come together in the fame cafe, and not in oppofition, one acts the part of an adjective, he adds-"This is one of the commoneft modes of fperch in English; yet I know no grammarian that has no

ticed it."

This peculiarity is, indeed, a common mode of fpeech; but, I apprehend, the writer of the article in queition is miftaken in fuppofing that none of our grammarians have remarked it in proof of which, I beg leave to refer him to Murray's "English Grammar," eighth edit.* P. 140, where he will find the following note, which I take the liberty of inferting here for the information of the reader. "Sometimes the fubftantive becomes a kind of adjective, and has another fubftantive joined to it by a hyphen: as, a fea-fih; a filver-tankard; a mahogany-table; an adjective-pronoun. The hyphen is not always used, but may be difpenfed with, in cafes where the affociation bas been long established, and is become familiar. In fome of thefe inftances, the two words coalefce: as, Icehoufe; inkhorn; Yorkshire."

as "Church of England difcipline," would be expreffed by periphrafis, the effect of which is to load and enfeeble fpeech.

Your Correfpondent has introduced his criticifin with remarking, that Horne Tooke has treated the common divisions of speech as abfurd and ridiculous. The learned author of the "Diverfions of Purl y," has indeed proved that there are but two neceffary farts of words, the noun and the verb, and that all other commonly received divifions are mere abbreviatons, invented to increafe the rapidity of fpeech and to confirm this very ingeni ous fyftem, he has traced the roots of moft of our adverbs, prepofitions, and conjunctions, to either nouns or verbs. At the fame time, he allows that, in the strict fenfe of the term, both the neceffary words and the abbreviations are parts of fpeech," because they are all useful in language, and each has a different manner of fignification.

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Whatever be the origin of our adverbs, prepofitions, and conjunctions, no one will deny that they act a different part in language, from the noun or the verb; and, as fuch, deferve a feparate claffification in our grammars. Moreover, as no art can be properly taught (if taught at all) with out being fubjected, in tome degree, to the rules of analyfis; the divifion of words into eight, nine, or ten parts of fpeech, is extremely useful, and well calculated to facilitate the ftudy of language. I remain, &c.

Hitchin, 1804.

P.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

This note, I believe, includes every inftance of a noun's being used for an adjective, and placed before another noun; and it appears that, in many cafes, the affociation is become fo familiar, as not PRESUMING that your Magazine

to require the hyphen. This then accounts for fuch combinations, as, "6 gold watch, county politicks, houfe lamb," &c. where the words, gold, county, boufe, are truly adjectives. Allo, when feveral nouns are used in a like conftruction, they are allowed to have the force and import of an adjective; as, " Church of England difcipline:" though in farfing fuch a phrafe as this, it would be better to give the fentence another turn.

Hence it appears to be a prominent feature in English nouns to become adjectives; and as fuch, to be prefixed to other nouns: and this is an idiom which renders our tongue more forcible and expreffive; for without it, fuch a phrafe,

*The ninth edition of this excellent work has been lately printed.

MONTHLY MAG. No. 116.

SIR,

be open to liberal difcuffion, I venture to offer few obfervations upon a paper in your Magazine for March, entitled, "Confiderations on the Ceffion of Louifiana, by France, to the United States, and its probable Confequences not only to thofe Nations, but to Spain and Britain."

Your Correfpondent begins with an axiom, than which he fays none is more felf-evident, viz. "That the ceffion of Louisiana wil, at no very diftant period, transfer the ftewardship of the South American Government into other hands, and caufe a very extraordinary, if not a total, alteration in the fyftems and rela tive fate of politics of almost every European nation; while the United States are inextricably drawn into the vortex of European politics."

Y

Having

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