De il 
Thoughts on th HISTORY of ALPHABETIC 
WRITING. By MICHAEL KEARNEY, 
D.D. M.R.I.A. and of the Etrufcan Academy of Cortona. 
Tue origin of the art of expreffing the conceptions of the peay Dec. 
mind by vifible, permanent figns, hath at all times been an obje&t 12 1789 
of curiofity. Cicero adduces the invention of alphabetic writing 
_ as a proof of the czleftial nature of the human foul. Many 
who have fpeculated on the fubje&, overpowered by a view of 
the utility of the art, and the comprehenfive fagacity which the 
formation of it implies, have afcribed its introduétion to the 
immediate infpiration of the Deity. ‘The Heathens, in this 
opinion, conformed to their ufual practice of affigning a divine 
author for every ufeful and extraordinary invention. But Chriftian 
writers have alfo held the divine infufion of this art, though 
there are different opinions concerning the time of the com- 
(A2) munication ; 
