A similar expedient enables men, in the situation above-mentioned, to get rid of almost the whole intricacy of their conjugations. There is in every language a verb, known by the name of the substantive verb; in Latin, _sum_; in English, _I am_. This verb denotes not the existence of any particular event, but existence in general. It is, upon this account, the most abstract and metaphysical of all verbs; and, consequently, could by no means be a a word of early invention. When it came to be invented, however, as it had all the tenses and modes of any other verb, by being joined with the passive participle, it was capable of supplying the place of the whole passive voice, and of rendering this part of their conjugations as simple and uniform, as the use of prepositions had rendered their declensions. A Lombard, who wanted to say, _I am loved_, but could not recollect the word _amor_, naturally endeavoured to supply his ignorance, by saying, _ego sum amatus_. _Io sono amato_, is at this day the Italian expression, which corresponds to the English phrase above-mentioned. There is another verb, which, in the same manner, runs through all languages, and which is distinguished by the name of the possessive verb; in Latin, _habeo_; in English, _I have_. This verb, likewise, denotes an event of an extremely abstract and metaphysical nature, and, consequently, cannot be supposed to have been a word of the earliest invention. When it came to be invented, however, by being applied to the passive participle, it was capable of supplying a great part of the active voice, as the substantive verb had supplied the whole of the passive. A Lombard, who wanted to say, _I had loved_, but could not recollect the word _amaveram_, would endeavour to supply the place of it, by saying either _ego habebam amatum_, or _ego habui amatum_. _Io avevá amato_, or _Io ebbi amato_, are the correspondent Italian expressions at this day. And thus upon the intermixture of different nations with one another, the conjugations, by means of different auxiliary verbs, were made to approach towards the simplicity and uniformity of the declensions. In general it may be laid down for a maxim, that the more simple any language is in its composition, the more complex it must be in its declensions and conjugations; and, on the contrary, the more simple it is in its declensions and conjugations, the more complex it must be in its composition.