Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

G R A
'fare they neither ave nor can be made. Here, then, we
perceive the rife and ufe of prepojitions : by theie we con-
neft thofe (ubftantives to fentetices, which, at the time,
are unable to coalefce of themfclves. Let us aflame, for
inflance, a pair of thefe connectives, through and with,
and mark their effeCt upon the fubitances here mention¬
ed; the fplendid fun with his beams genially nuarm-
eth through the air the fertile earth: the fentence,
.as before, remains entire and one; the/ubflantives re¬
quired are both introduced, and not a word which was
there before is difplaced from its proper ftation.
It mufl: be here obferved, that mojl if not all prepofitions
feem originally formed to denote the relations of place',
becaufe this is that grand relation which bodies or natu¬
ral fubfiances maintain at all times to one another, whe¬
ther they are contiguous or remote, whether in motion
or at reft : thus we have prepofitions to denote the con¬
tiguous relation of body ; as when we fay, Caius
’walked with a faff the fatuc food upon a pedefal',
the river ran over a precipice : others for the detached
relation ; as when we fay, he is going to Italy; the fun
is rifen above the hills ; thefe fgs came from Turkey :
So as to motion and rvy?; only with this difference, that
here the prepofition varies its character with the verb :
thus if we fay, that lamp hangs from the ceiling, the
prepofition from aflumes the character of quiefence :
but if we fay, that lamp is falling from the ceiling, the
prepofition aflumes a character of motion. So in Milton ;
To fupport uneafy feps
Over the burning marie
Again,
He with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamour d.-—
In the firftof thefe examples, over denotes motion, and
in the laft it denotes ref.
But though the original ufe of prepofitions was to de¬
note the relations of place, they could not be confined to
this office only ; but by degrees extended themfelves to
fufijeCts incorporeal, and came to denote relations as
well intelleflual as local. Thus becaufe, in place, he
who is above has commonly the advantage of him who is
below, we transfer over and under to dominion and
obedience : of a king we fay, he ruled over his people-,
of a common foldier, he ferved under fitch a general:
fo too we fay, with thought', without attention',
thinking over a fuhje£t\ under anxiety; from fear-,
out ov love •, t h rouG h jealoufy, &c. All which in-
ftances, with many of the like kind, fhew, that the firfl
words of men, like their firfl ideas, had an immediate
reference to fenfble objefts', and that, in aftehdays,
when they began to difcern with their intellefl, they
took thefe words which they found already made, and
transferred them, by metaphor, to intelleflual conceptions.
There is indeed no method to exprefs new ideas, but
M MAR. 745
either by metaphor, or by coining new words; both wl:h
have been praClifed by philolophers, according to the
nature and exigence of the occafion.
In the foregoing ufe of prepofitions, we Have feen how
they are employed by way of juxta-poftion \ that is to
fay, where they are prefixed to a word without becoming
a part of it: but they may be a!fo ufed by way of corn-
poftion; that is, they may be prefixed to a word fo as
to become a part of it: thus, to vntsERfand, to foke-
tell, to oveRaft, to xitroERvalue, to ovrgo, 8cc. are
fo many diftinCt words formed by prepofitions joined in¬
timately with feme other word: in all which cafes, the
prepofitions commonly transfufe fomething of their own
meaning into the word with which they are compounded ;
and this imparted meaning, in moft inftances, will be found
refolvable into fome of the relations of place, as ufed ei¬
ther in its proper or metaphorical acceptation.
Besides the above parts of fpeech, there is another,
which cannot be comprehended under any of the fore¬
going clafles, called Interjections: of this kind are
the words, ah! alas! fie! <ksc. This fpecics of
words coincide with no part of fpeech, but are either ut¬
tered alone, or elfe thrown into a fentence, without alter¬
ing its form either in fyniax or flgnificatlcn. It may
be therefore objedted, that as we fay, that all language
is divided into the feveral parts above enumerated, and
this clafs cannot be comprehended in any of thefe divi-
fions; of courfe, the analyfis that we have made cannot be
juft, becaufe it does not comprehend the whole To this
objedlion it may be anfwered, that the language of which
we have been treating, is that which has been formed by
mutual compadh, for the purpofes of reafoning and fp'ecu-
lation; that befides this artificial language, man, like e-
very other fenfitive animal, is endowed with a natural
language, by which he can exprefs any ftrong fenfation.
This language does not owe its charadteriftical expreflion
to the arbitrary form of articulation ; but derives its
whole force from the tone of voice, and modification
of countenance and gefturf : and of confequence thefe
tones and geftures exprefs the fame meaning without any
relation to the articulation which they may aflume, and
are therefore univerfally underftood by all mankind. Now,
interjeftion is the name by which we diftinguifti thefe
natural expreflions : thefe cannot be properly called
words, or parts of fpeech; but certain adventitious founds,
or voices of nature, exprefling thofe paflions and natural
emotions which fpontaneoufly arife in the mind upon
the view or narrative of interdfting events. We muft,
therefore, ftill conclude, that all language properly fo
called is compofed of words, all of which may be ar¬
ranged into the feveral clafles above-mentioned ; and as a
recapitulation of the whole that we have faid, we fubjoin
the following table, which prefents at one view the feve¬
ral clafles and fubdivifions of words.
2 8 B
Vol. II. No. 57.
A