Hermes: Or, A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar.

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Creator

James Harris

Title

Hermes: Or, A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Universal Grammar.

Coverage

London

Publisher

John Nourse & Paul Vaillant

Date

1765

Subject

2d ed.

Description

One can understand Samuel Johnson’s evaluation of Harris (1709–1780) as “a prig and a bad prig.” His self-praise was undisguised: he thought that with this book, he had done “a service to mankind.” If the book sold well, Harris would find it “no unpleasing event.” And his chauvinism was worse than priggish: “The Supreme Being . . . is in all languages masculine, in as much as the masculine sex is the superior and more excellent.”