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Page 4
But it seems you are not of so much Credit with these _Gentlemen_, who
question your Authority, and have given a very visible Proof of their
Ingenuity in an Instance which plainly discovers, that they cannot
believe their own Eyes.
The _Saxons_, say they, if we may credit Dr. _Hickes_, had
various Terminations to their Words, at least two in every
Substantive singular: whereas we have no Word now in use, except
the personal Names that has so. Thus Dr. _Hickes_ has made six
several _Declensions_ of the _Saxon_ Names: He gives them three
_Numbers_; a Singular, Dual, and Plural: We have no Dual Number,
except perhaps in _Both_: To make this plainer, we shall
transcribe the six Declensions from that Antiquary's Grammar.
I would ask these Gentlemen, and why not credit Dr. _Hickes_? Is he
not as much to be believ'd as those Gentlemen, who have transcribed
so plain an Evidence of the six Declensions to shew the positive
Unreasonableness and unwarrantable Contradiction of their Disbelief?
Did he make those six Declensions? or rather, did he not find them in
the Language, and take so much pains to teach others to distinguish
them, who have Modesty enough to be taught? They are pleased to say we
have no Word now in use that admits of Cases or Terminations. But let
us ask them, what they think of these Words, _God's Word_, _Man's
Wisdom_, the _Smith's Forge,_ and innumerable Instances more. For in
_God's Word_, &c. is not the Termination _s_ a plain Indication of a
Genitive Case, wherein the Saxon _e_ is omitted? For example_, *Godes
Word*, *Mannes Wisdom*, *Smi�es Heor�*. _Some will say, that were
better supplied by _his_, or _hers_, as Man _his_ Thought, the Smith
_his_ Forge; but this Mistake is justly exploded. Yet if these
Gentlemen will not credit Dr. _Hickes_, the _Saxon_ Writings might
give them full Satisfaction. The _Gospels_, the _Psalms_, and a
great part of the _Bible_ are in _Saxon_, so are the _Laws_ and
_Ecclesiastical Canons_, and _Charters_ of most of our _Saxon Kings_;
these one wou'd think might deserve their Credit. But they have not
had Learning or Industry enough to fit them for such Acquaintance, and
are forc'd therefore to take up their Refuge with those Triflers,
whose only Pretence to Wit, is to despise their Betters. This Censure
will not, I imagine, be thought harsh, by any candid Reader, since
their own Discovery has sufficiently declared their Ignorance: and
their Boldness, to determine things whereof they are so ignorant, has
so justly fix'd upon them the Charge of Impudence. For otherwise they
must needs have been ashamed to proceed in manner following.
We might give you various Instances more of the essential
difference between the old _Saxon_ and modern _English_ Tongue,
but these must satisfy any reasonable Man, that it is so great,
that the _Saxon_ can be no Rule to us; and that to understand
ours, there is no need of knowing the _Saxon_: And tho' Dr.
_Hickes_ must be allow'd to have been a very curious Enquirer
into those obsolete Tongues, now out of use, and containing
nothing valuable, yet it does by no means follow (as is plain
from what has been said) that we are obliged to derive the
Sense, Construction, or Nature of our present Language from
his Discoveries.
I would beseech my Readers to observe, the Candour and Ingenuity of
these Gentlemen: They tell us, _We might give you various Instances
more of the essential difference between the old _Saxon_ and modern
_English_ Tongue_; and yet have plainly made it appear, that they know
little or nothing of the old _Saxon_. So that it will be hard to say
how they come to know of any such _essential difference, as _MUST_
satisfy any reasonabie Man_; and much more that this _essential
difference_ is so _great, that the _Saxon_ can be no Rule to us,
and that to understand ours, there is no need of knowing the _Saxon_.
_What they say, _that it cannot be a Rule to them_, is true; for
nothing can be a Rule of Direction to any Man, the use whereof he does
not understand; but if to understand the Original and Etymology of the
Words of any Language, be needful towards knowing the Propriety of any
Language, a thing which I have never heard hath yet been denied; then
do these Gentlemen stand self-condemned, there being no less than
four Words, in the Scheme of Declensions they have borrowed from
Dr. _Hickes_, now in use, which are of pure _Saxon_ Original, and
consequently _essential to the modern English_. I need not tell any
English Reader at this Day the meaning of _Smith_, _Word_, _Son_, and
_Good_; but if I tell them that these are Saxon Words, I believe they
will hardly deny them to be _essential to the modern English_, or that
they will conclude that the difference between the old _English_ and
the modern is so great, or the distance of Relation between them so
remote, as that the former deserves not to be remember'd: except by
such Upstarts who having no Title to a laudable Pedigree, are backward
in all due Respect and Veneration towards a noble Ancestry.
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