nd variations, and show them such as they must have
been, not only ages before the Bible and the Iliad had been
written, but even as they were at their very birth; then it will,
I dare hope, be admitted, that I shall not only have surmounted
innumerable difficulties, but have discovered the real science of
languages. Yet all this, and a great deal more, may be done by
the application of the principle by which I am guided."

Again he says:--

"I am sorry that the resolution I have formed, of frankly speaking
my mind throughout this work, obliges me to express myself as I
do here and elsewhere with such an apparent want of modesty; but
were I to adopt, with regard to this discovery, and the knowledge
we have hitherto had of the science of grammar, what is
understood by a more becoming and humble tone, I should, by doing
so, lose in truth what I might gain by affected modesty, since I
should not only be speaking falsely, but be leading the reader
into error by concealing from him my real opinion, which I should
by no means do. And if while it be allowed, as I am sure it must,
that though I do well to speak as I think, it be observed that
this is not a reason why I should think as I do--that is, so
presumptuously--I beg to reply, that if I had never _thought so_,
this discovery had never been attempted, and much less made; for
notwithstanding what the world may say about the modesty of
certain great men, I do in my heart believe that such modesty has
been ever affected, and that it is wholly impossible that any
thing great may be undertaken or achieved, but where there is at
bottom great presumption, which is, after all, nothing more than
a consciousness of one's own strength."

This is all right, and no apology was necessary. Why should a man be
modest, who, in the six thousandth year of the creation, has found
out, for the first time, the science of languages? Though entirely
devoid of originality ourselves, we can sympathize with the proud
exultation of those who have produced a new and "glorious birth." From
the cackling of the hen when she has laid an egg, to the [Greek:
heurecha] of Archimedes when he discovered hydrostatics, we see the
instinctive impulse under which those who have brought to light a
great result, are constrained to proclaim it aloud; and we should be
thankful when