been solitary animals, afterwards to have herded together without government or subordination, then to have formed political societies, and by their own exertions, to have advanced from the grossest ignorance to the refinements of science. But, say the reasoners, whom I have quoted in its defence, this is a supposition contrary to all history, and all experience. There is not upon record, a single instance, well authenticated, of a people emerging, by their own efforts, from barbarism to civilization. The original savages of Greece, were tamed by the Pelasgi, a foreign tribe, and afterwards further polished by Orpheus, Cecrops, Cadmus, and others, who derived their knowledge from Egypt and the East. The ancient Romans, a ferocious and motley crew, received the blessings of law and religion from a succession of foreign kings — and the conquests of Rome, at a later period, contributed to civilize the rest of Europe. It is said, that before language could be invented, mankind must have existed for ages in large political societies, and have carried on, in concert, some common work; but if inarticulate cries, and the natural visible signs of the passions and affections, were modes of communication sufficiently accurate to keep a large society together for ages, and to direct its members in the execution of some common work, what could be their inducement to the invention of an art so useless and difficult as that of language? Men, who have not learned to articulate in their childhood, never afterwards acquire the faculty of speech, but by such helps as savages cannot obtain; and, therefore, if speech was invented at all, it must either have been invented by children, who seem incapable of invention, or by men who were incapable of speech; — a thousand, nay, a million of children could not think of inventing a language; and, therefore, reason, as well as history intimates that mankind in all ages must have been speaking animals ; the young having constantly acquired this art, from imitating those that were older ; we may then, in despite of every assertion to the contrary, warrantably conclude, that our first parents received the blessing of language by Divine inspiration.
There are several well authenticated cases on record of children having been found in solitary places, leading a brutish life, incapable of communicating ideas by language, and apparantly completely ignorant of all the social usuages of mankind. These remarkable instances exhibit how degraded and miserable is the condition of a human being, when its mind has been unformed by the example of others, and no moral or intellectual training has been bestowed upon it. The two most striking examples of this unhappy state are those furnished by the individuals known by the names of Peter the Wild Boy, and {smallcaps|The Savage of Aveyron}}. The first was found in July, 1724, in a field belonging to a townsman of Hameln, naked, covered with a brownish black hair, apparently about twelve years of age, and uttering no sound. In October, 1725, he was sent for by George I. to Hanover, from whence he was escorted to London, and finally placed with a farmer in Hertfordshire, with whom he resided till his death in 1785. Peter could not be taught to speak; the plainest of the few articulate sounds he could utter were Peter ki sho, and qui ca; the two latter being attempts at pronouncing King George and Queen Caroline. He was of middle size, somewhat robust in appearance, and strong, and had a good beard. He was fond of warmth and relished a glass of brandy. Peter was first found in the act of sucking a cow, in the woods of Hanover. Queen Caroline, who greatly interested herself about Peter, was very desirous of having him educated, and employed various masters to teach him to speak. After the Queen's death Government
