Etymological reasons for supposing the European languages to be descended from one common stock, 313-350 Other arguments, 350-353 The affinity between the ancient Irish language and the Punic, 353 Reasons for supposing the Irish to be derived from the Phenician or Hebrew, 354 Specimen and state of the English Language in the reign of Richard II, 357 Strictures on the stile of Sir William Temple, 364 ---------- of Dr. Robertson, 365 ---------- of Mr. Gibbon, 367 APPENDIX. An Essay on the necessity, advantages and practicability of reforming the mode of spelling, 391 Dr. Franklin's arguments on the subject, 408 _DIRECTIONS._ The sounds of the vowels, marked or referred to in the second and third Dissertations, are according to the Key in the First Part of the Institute. Thus: a e i o u y First sound, late, feet, night, note, tune, sky, Second, hat, let, tin, tun, glory, Third, law, fraud, Fourth, ask, father, Fifth, not, what, Sixth, prove, room, The capitals, included in brackets [] in the text, are references to the Notes at the end. [Illustration] DISSERTATIONS ON THE _ENGLISH LANGUAGE, &c._ DISSERTATION I. I. _Introduction._--II. _History of the English Language._--III. _Remarks._ [Illustration] INTRODUCTION. [Illustration] A regular study of language has, in all civilized countries, formed a part of a liberal education. The Greeks, Romans, Italians and French successively improved their native tongues, taught them in Academies at home, and rendered them entertaining and useful to the foreign student. The English tongue, tho later in its progress towards perfection, has attained to a considerable degree of purity, strength and elegance, and been employed, by an active and scientific nation, to record almost all the events and discoveries of ancient and modern times. This language is the inheritance which the Americans have received from their British parents. To cultivate and adorn it, is a task reserved for men who shall understand the connection between language and logic, and form an adequate idea of the influence which a uniformity of speech may have on national attachments.