Difference between revisions of "Hermes, or, A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar"

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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Hermes: Or, a Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar''}}
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Hermes, or, A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar''}}
 
===by James Harris===
 
===by James Harris===
 
{{BookPageInfoBox
 
{{BookPageInfoBox
 
|imagename=HarrisHermes1771Title.jpg
 
|imagename=HarrisHermes1771Title.jpg
|link=https://catalog.libraries.wm.edu/Record/4264313
+
|link=https://wm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01COWM_INST/g9pr7p/alma991011332099703196
|shorttitle=Hermes: Or, a Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar
+
|shorttitle=Hermes, or, A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar
 
|commontitle=Harris' Hermes
 
|commontitle=Harris' Hermes
|author=James Harris
+
|author=[[:Category:James Harris|James Harris]]
 
|editor=
 
|editor=
|publoc=London
+
|publoc=[[:Category:London|London]]
|publisher=Printed for John Nourse and Paul Vaillant
+
|publisher=Printed for John Nourse and Paul Vaillan
 
|year=1771
 
|year=1771
|edition=Third edition, revised and corrected
+
|edition=Third, revised and corrected
|lang=English, Latin
+
|lang=[[:Category:English|English]], [[:Category:Latin|Latin]], [[:Category:Greek|Greek]]
|pages=xix, 442, [27] pages, [1]  
+
|pages=xix, 442, [27], [1]  
|desc=8vo (22 cm.)
+
|desc=[[:Category:Octavos|8vo]] (22 cm.)
 
|shelf=H-1
 
|shelf=H-1
}}[[wikipedia:James Harris (grammarian)|James Harris]] (1709 – 1780) was an English politician and grammarian.
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}}[[wikipedia:James Harris (grammarian)|James Harris]] (1709 &ndash; 1780), an English philosopher, grammarian, and music patron, attended both [[wikipedia:Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham College]] and [[wikipedia:Lincoln's Inn|Lincoln's Inn]], but graduated from neither.<ref>Rosemary Dunhill, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12393 Harris, James (1709–1780)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed October 18, 2013.</ref> He and his wife Elizabeth had five children, but only three of them lived past infancy.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Harris was a great admirer of [[wikipedia:George Frideric Handel|Handel's]], and even wrote a first draft of one of the composer's librettos, ''L'allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato''.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Harris served as a member of parliament for Christchurch, as commissioner of admiralty and, eventually, as secretary and comptroller for [[wikipedia:Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Queen Charlotte]].<ref>Ibid.</ref> Harris had close royal ties, was elected as a fellow to the [[wikipedia: Royal Society| Royal Society]], and held a Trustee position in the British Museum for the fifteen years leading up to his death in 1780.<ref>Ibid.</ref>
  
[[File:HarrisHermes1771Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|300px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]
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Harris' ''Hermes'' is a scientific argument toward a universal theory of Greek, Latin, and modern grammar. Harris also wrote ''[[Philological Inquiries]]'' (1781), regarding the history and development of the use of metaphor.
 +
 
 +
[[File:HarrisHermes1771Frontispiece.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<center>Frontispiece.</center>]]
 
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
 
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
Epes Sargent's biography, ''[[Life and Public Services of Henry Clay|The Life and Public Services of Henry Clay]],'' mentions three books which were loaned or recommended to a young [[Henry Clay]], when he worked as a copyist for Wythe in Virginia's High Court of Chancery, between 1793 and 1796:
+
Epes Sargent's biography, ''[[Life and Public Services of Henry Clay|The Life and Public Services of Henry Clay]]'' (1852), mentions three books which were loaned or recommended to a young [[Henry Clay]], when he worked as a copyist for Wythe in Virginia's High Court of Chancery, between 1793 and 1796:
  
 
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
 
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
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</div>
 
</div>
  
Barbara Dean's 1975 [[Dean Bibliography|bibliography for Colonial Williamsburg]] lists a "Homer" by Harris as a book belonging to Wythe, citing Clarkin's ''[[Serene Patriot: A Life of George Wythe|Serene Patriot]]'' (1970). Clarkin, however, had apparently consulted Carl Schurz' 1887 work, ''Life of Henry Clay,'' and Schurz had misread "Hermes" as "Homer" in Epes Sargent's earlier biography.<ref>See Sargent, ''[[Life and Public Services of Henry Clay|The Life and Public Services of Henry Clay]]'' (1852), 14, cited in W. Edwin Hemphill, "[[George Wythe, America's First Law Professor#Page 92|George Wythe, America's First Law Professor]]," master's thesis, Emory University, 92.</ref>
+
Barbara Dean's 1975 [[Dean Bibliography|bibliography for Colonial Williamsburg]] lists a "Homer" by Harris as a book belonging to Wythe, citing Clarkin's ''[[Serene Patriot: A Life of George Wythe|Serene Patriot]]'' (1970). Clarkin, however, had apparently consulted Carl Schurz' work, a ''Life of Henry Clay'' (1887), and Schurz misprints "Homer" for "Hermes," as it appeared in Sargent's earlier biography.<ref>Carl Schurz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_6ZBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA10 Life of Henry Clay]'' (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1887), 1:10.</ref>
  
 
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
 
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
Images of the library's copy of this book are [https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolflawlibrary/albums/72157664256031973 available on Flickr.] View the record for this book in [https://catalog.libraries.wm.edu/Record/4264313 William &amp; Mary's online catalog].
+
Bound in full calf. Spine features raised bands and gilt rules with morocco label and gilt lettering.
 +
 
 +
Images of the library's copy of this book are [https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolflawlibrary/albums/72157664256031973 available on Flickr.] View the record for this book in [https://wm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01COWM_INST/g9pr7p/alma991011332099703196 William &amp; Mary's online catalog].
  
 
==See also==
 
==See also==
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*[[George Wythe Room]]
 
*[[George Wythe Room]]
 
*[[Life and Public Services of Henry Clay]]
 
*[[Life and Public Services of Henry Clay]]
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*''[[Philological Inquiries|Philological Inquiries In Three Parts]]
 
*[[Wythe's Library]]
 
*[[Wythe's Library]]
 
</div>
 
</div>
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[[Category: George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]
 
[[Category: George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]
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[[Category: James Harris]]
 
[[Category: Language and Rhetoric]]
 
[[Category: Language and Rhetoric]]
 
[[Category: Titles in Wythe's Library]]
 
[[Category: Titles in Wythe's Library]]
  
 
__NOTOC__
 
__NOTOC__
 +
[[Category: English]]
 +
[[Category: London]]
 +
[[Category: Octavos]]

Latest revision as of 15:45, 25 October 2021

by James Harris

Harris' Hermes
HarrisHermes1771Title.jpg

Title page from Hermes, or, A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary.

Author James Harris
Editor
Translator {{{trans}}}
Published London: Printed for John Nourse and Paul Vaillan
Date 1771
Edition Third, revised and corrected
Language English, Latin, Greek
Volumes {{{set}}} volume set
Pages xix, 442, [27], [1]
Desc. 8vo (22 cm.)
Location Shelf H-1
  [[Shelf {{{shelf2}}}]]

James Harris (1709 – 1780), an English philosopher, grammarian, and music patron, attended both Wadham College and Lincoln's Inn, but graduated from neither.[1] He and his wife Elizabeth had five children, but only three of them lived past infancy.[2] Harris was a great admirer of Handel's, and even wrote a first draft of one of the composer's librettos, L'allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato.[3] Harris served as a member of parliament for Christchurch, as commissioner of admiralty and, eventually, as secretary and comptroller for Queen Charlotte.[4] Harris had close royal ties, was elected as a fellow to the Royal Society, and held a Trustee position in the British Museum for the fifteen years leading up to his death in 1780.[5]

Harris' Hermes is a scientific argument toward a universal theory of Greek, Latin, and modern grammar. Harris also wrote Philological Inquiries (1781), regarding the history and development of the use of metaphor.

Frontispiece.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Epes Sargent's biography, The Life and Public Services of Henry Clay (1852), mentions three books which were loaned or recommended to a young Henry Clay, when he worked as a copyist for Wythe in Virginia's High Court of Chancery, between 1793 and 1796:

The chancellor being unable to write well, in consequence of the gout or rheumatism in his right thumb, bethought himself of employing his young friend as an amanuensis. This was a fortunate circumstance for the fatherless boy. His attention was thus called to the structure of sentences, as he wrote them down from the dictation of his employer; and a taste for the study of grammar was created which was noticed and encouraged by the chancellor, upon whose recommendation he read Harris's Hermes, Tooke's Diversions of Purley, Bishop Lowth's Grammar, and other similar works.[6]

Barbara Dean's 1975 bibliography for Colonial Williamsburg lists a "Homer" by Harris as a book belonging to Wythe, citing Clarkin's Serene Patriot (1970). Clarkin, however, had apparently consulted Carl Schurz' work, a Life of Henry Clay (1887), and Schurz misprints "Homer" for "Hermes," as it appeared in Sargent's earlier biography.[7]

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Bound in full calf. Spine features raised bands and gilt rules with morocco label and gilt lettering.

Images of the library's copy of this book are available on Flickr. View the record for this book in William & Mary's online catalog.

See also

References

  1. Rosemary Dunhill, "Harris, James (1709–1780)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed October 18, 2013.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Ibid.
  6. Epes Sargent, The Life and Public Services of Henry Clay, Down to 1848, edited by Horace Greeley (Auburn, NY: Derby & Miller, 1852), 14.
  7. Carl Schurz, Life of Henry Clay (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1887), 1:10.

External links