They might as well undertake to
teach architecture, by having recourse to its origin, as
represented by booths and tents. In addition to this, when we
consider the great number of obsolete words, from which many now in
use are derived, the original meaning of which cannot be
ascertained, and, also, the multitude whose signification has been
changed by the principle of association, it is preposterous to
think, that a mere philosophical mode of investigating and teaching
the language, is the one by which its significancy can be enforced,
its correctness determined, its use comprehended, and its
improvement extended. Before what commonly passes for a
philosophical manner of developing the language can successfully be
made the medium through which it can be comprehended, in all its
present combinations, relations, and dependances, it must undergo a
thorough retrogressive change, in all those combinations, relations,
and dependances, even to the last letter of the alphabet. And before
we can consent to this radical modification and retrograde ratio of
the English language, we must agree to revive the customs, the
habits, and the precise language of our progenitors, the Goths and
Vandals.
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