Blair Collection > History of the Celtic language

72 HISTORY OF THE
CHAPTER III.
Know well each Ancient's proper character :
His/able, suhjrct, scope, m every page,
Religion, countiy, genius of his age :
Without all these at once before your eyes.
Cavil you may, but never criticise."— Pope.'
ADAM GIVIJfG NAMES TO BEASTS OF THE FIELD THESE
NAMES AN ECHO OR REHEARSAL OF THEIR VOICES
SEVERALLY, AND STILL PRESERVED IN THE CELTIC
LANGL'AGE AND ITS COGNATE DIALECTS, AND FORMING
IMPORTANT ROOTS THE HIEROGRAMS AND THEO-
GONY OF PRIMITIVE AGES EXAMINED AND ILLUS-
TRATED.
" In considering the character of Adam," as Calmet says,
" the greatest difficulty is to divest ourselves of ideas received
from the present state of things. We cannot sufficiently dis-
miss from our minds that knowledge, or rather subtlety which
we have acquired by experience. We cannot truly imagine
that entire simplicity — that total absence of cunning, or worldly
wisdom which may adequately express the extreme candour
of Adam's mind ; for, as we must, even in common language,
use words drawn from things invented since his time ; so we
cannot help referring the knowledge of certain things to him,
because they are known laws. When we contemplate the
active nature of the passions of the mind, anger, jealousy
grief, for example, we can hardly conceive of them in a state
of absolute quiescence, and, therefore, connect them with our
ideas of Adam : whereas the truth is, although Adam, on his
creation had abundant capacity for such things, yet they