298 Cy Ay Det: Up st 
their appetites crave, Shew thefe people new objects, and 
they will, as every traveller evinces, form new words to. 
exprefs them: and, if the formation of any language can, 
be thus proved, it is vain to look for another origin. Iam. 
alfo of opinion that alphabetical writing took its rife. in 
monofyllables, to which hieroglyphicks could not be ap- 
plied, and that thefe marks becoming the fymbols of the: 
founds and not of the things, were regularly put for the fame 
founds in the compofition of other abftraat terms and me- 
taphyfical ideas, till the feale of marks increafed, and led 
gradually toa mark for each found. Some authors, whofe 
admiration of the invention bewilders them too much to 
permit an examination of the principles, declare that the 
difcovery is perfe&t, but they can only {peak relatively ;. 
for the alphabets of fome modern languages are fo much 
more extenfive than many ancient ones, that thefe are very 
imperfect if we fpeak of a general alphabet for human 
fpeech, and not for particular languages. If a Chinefe 
were to ftudy the Englifh, he would be eafily perfuaded 
that the alphabetical mode of writing was an invention of 
the Englith, and that it was not yet perfected, from the in- 
numerable faults, deficiencies, fuperfluities, irregularities, 
&c. of the written language. It is fo fhamefully incorre@,. 
that, when read as it is written,fan Enghfhman cannot un-. 
derftand it*, and a foreigner reading it becomes the objeé: 
of his laughter, although, as a good {cholar, he reads it 
perfectly, according to the orthography. I have often 
heard the queftion ‘*:do you fpeak French ?” with the 
anfwer **no fir, but I read and write it.” The fame is 
faid of the Englith and fome other languages; every ftrang- 
er to them lamenting, that the learned bodies of men, efta~. 
blifhed in fo many places for the benefit of mankind, fhould 
fo 
* Efpecially if the common vowels fhould be read with their various powers-mifplaced, for 
there areno marks to determine them, 
