1. 1
    2. The
    3. 2
    4. power
    5. 7
    6. of
    7. 2
    8. speech
    9. 5
    10. is
    11. 1
    12. a
    13. 2
    14. faculty
    15. 4
    16. peculiar
    17. 7
    18. to
    19. 2
    20. man,
    21. 8
    22. and
    23. 5
    24. was
    25. 5
    26. bestowed
    27. 7
    28. on
    29. 3
    30. him
    31. 7
    32. by
    33. 3
    34. his
    35. 4
    36. beneficent
    37. 2
    38. Creator
    39. 7
    40. for
    41. 1
    42. the
    43. 4
    44. greatest
    45. 8
    46. and
    47. 6
    48. most
    49. 4
    50. excellent
    51. 2
    52. uses;
    53. 8
    54. but
    55. 9
    56. alas!
    57. 6
    58. how
    59. 6
    60. often
    61. 5
    62. do
    63. 3
    64. we
    65. 5
    66. pervert
    67. 3
    68. it
    69. 7
    70. to
    71. 1
    72. the
    73. 4
    74. worst
    75. 7
    76. of
    77. 2
    78. purposes?

In the foregoing sentence the Words the, a, are Articles; power, speech, faculty, man, creator, uses, purposes, are Substantives; him, his, we, it, are Pronouns; peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excellent, worst, are Adjectives; is, was, bestowed, do, pervert, are Verbs; most, how, often, are Adverbs; of, to, on, by, for, are Prepositions; and, but, are Conjunctions; and alas is an Interjection.

The Substantives power, speech, faculty, and the rest, are General, or Common, Names of things; whereof there are many sorts belonging to the same kind, or many individuals belonging to the same sort: as there are many sorts of power, many sorts of speech, many sorts of faculty, many individuals of that sort of animal called man; and so on. These general or common names are here applied in a more or less extensive signification, according as they are used without either, or with the one, or with the other, of the two Articles a and the. The words speech, man, being accompanied with no article, are taken in their largest extent, and signify all of the kind or sort, all sorts of speech, and all men. The word faculty, with the article a before it, is used in a more confined signification, for some one out of many of that kind; for it is here implied, that there are other faculties peculiar to man beside speech. The words power, creator, uses, purposes, with the article the before them, (for his Creator is the same as the Creator of him) are used in the most confined signification for the things here mentioned and ascertained: the power is not any one indeterminate power out of many sorts, but that particular sort of power here specified, namely, the power of speech; the creator is the One great Creator of man and of all things; the uses, and the purposes, are particular uses and purposes; the former are explained to be those in particular, that are the greatest and most excellent; such for instance, as the glory of God, and the common benefit of mankind; the latter, to be the worst, as lying, slandering, blaspheming, and the like.

The Pronouns him, his, we, it, stand instead of some of the nouns, or substantives, going before them; as him supplies the place of man; his of man’s; we of men (implied in the general name man, including all men, of which number is the speaker;) it of the power, before mentioned. If instead of these pronouns the nouns for which they stand had been used, the sense would have been the same, but the frequent repetition of the same words would have been disagreeable and tedious: as, The power of speech peculiar to man, bestowed on man, by man’s Creator, &c.

The Adjectives peculiar, beneficent, greatest, excellent, worst, are added to their several substantives to denote the character and quality of each.

The Verbs is, was bestowed, do pervert, signify severally, being, suffering, and doing. By the first it is implied, that there is such a thing as the power of speech, and it is affirmed to be of such a kind; namely, a faculty peculiar to man: by the second it is said to have been acted upon, or to have suffered, or to have had something done to it; namely, to have been bestowed on man: by the last, we are said to act upon it, or to do something to it; namely, to pervert it.

The Adverbs most, often, are added to the adjective excellent, and to the verb pervert, to shew the circumstance belonging to them; namely, that of the highest degree to the former, and that of frequency to the latter: concerning the degree of which frequency also a question is made by the adverb how, added to the adverb often.

The Prepositions of, to, on, by, for, placed before the substantives and pronouns speech, man, him, &c. connect them with other words, substantives, adjectives, and verbs, as power, peculiar, bestowed, &c. and shew the relation which they have to those words; as the relation of subject, object, agent, end; for denoting the end, by the agent, on, the object; to and of denote possession, or the belonging of one thing to another.

The Conjunctions and, and but, connect the three parts of the sentence together; the first more closely both with regard to the sentence and the sense; the second connecting the parts of the sentence, tho’ less strictly, and at the same time expressing an opposition in the sense.

The Interjection alas! expresses the concern and regret of the speaker; and though thrown in with propriety, yet might have been omitted without injuring the construction of the sentence, or destroying the sense.