s of _knowledge_; by
a vain desire and false conceit of which, they had forfeited the tree of
life. So runs the story

"Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our wo,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat."

13. The analogy of words in the different languages now known, has been
thought by many to be sufficiently frequent and clear to suggest the idea
of their common origin. Their differences are indeed great; but perhaps not
greater, than the differences in the several races of men, all of whom, as
revelation teaches, sprung from one common stock. From the same source we
learn, that, till the year of the world 1844, "The whole earth was of one
language, and of one speech."--_Gen._, xi, 1.[22] At that period, the whole
world of mankind consisted only of the descendants of the eight souls who
had been saved in the ark, and so many of the eight as had survived the
flood one hundred and eighty-eight years. Then occurred that remarkable
intervention of the Deity, in which he was pleased to confound their
language; so that they could not understand one an other's speech, and were
consequently scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. This, however, in
the opinion of many learned men, does not prove the immediate formation of
any new languages.

14. But, whether new languages were thus immediately formed or not, the
event, in all probability, laid the foundation for that diversity which
subsequently obtained among the languages of the different nations which
sprung from the dispersion; and hence it may be regarded as the remote
cause of the differences which now exist. But for the immediate origin of
the peculiar characteristical differences which distinguish the various
languages now known, we are not able with much certainty to account. Nor is
there even much plausibility in the speculations of those grammarians who
have attempted to explain the order and manner in which the declensions,
the moods, the tenses, or other leading features of the languages, were
first introduced. They came into use before they could be generally known,
and the partial introduction of them could seldom with propriety be made a
subject of instruction or record, even if there were letters and learning
at hand to do them this honour. And it is better to be content with
ignorance, than to form such