n the verge of the Court; with many
improbabilities of the like nature. We must therefore, in these and the
like cases, suppose that these remote hints and allusions aimed at some
certain follies which were then in vogue, and which at present we have
not any notion of. We may guess by several passages in the speculations,
that there were writers who endeavoured to detract from the works of this
author; but as nothing of this nature is come down to us, we cannot guess
at any objections that could be made to his paper. If we consider his
style with that indulgence which we must show to old English writers, or
if we look into the variety of his subjects, with those several critical
dissertations, moral reflections,

* * * * *

The following part of the paragraph is so much to my advantage, and
beyond anything I can pretend to, that I hope my reader will excuse me
for not inserting it.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

_Est brevitate opus_, _ut currat sententia_,

HOR., _Sat._ i. 10, 9.

Let brevity despatch the rapid thought.

I have somewhere read of an eminent person who used in his private
offices of devotion to give thanks to Heaven that he was born a
Frenchman: for my own part I look upon it as a peculiar blessing that I
was born an Englishman. Among many other reasons, I think myself very
happy in my country, as the language of it is wonderfully adapted to a
man who is sparing of his words, and an enemy to loquacity.

As I have frequently reflected on my good fortune in this particular, I
shall communicate to the public my speculations upon the English tongue,
not doubting but they will be acceptable to all my curious readers.

The English delight in silence more than any other European nation, if
the remarks which are made on us by foreigners are true. Our discourse
is not kept up in conversation, but falls into more pauses and intervals
than in our neighbouring countries; as it is observed that the matter of
our writings is thrown much closer together, and lies in a narrower
compass, than is usual in the works of foreign authors; for, to favour
our natural taciturnity, when we are obliged to utter our thoughts we do
it in the shortest way we are able, and give as quick a birth to our
conceptions as possible.

This humour shows itself in several remarks that we may make upon the
English language. As, first of all, by its abounding in monosyllables,
which gives us an opportunity of delivering