J59 



us to some other than the upright position of the characters in 

 tracing- tliose resemblances, which a priori I'easoniiig might lead 

 us to expect ; since we can scarcely imagine, that names of sensible 

 objects could have been arbitrarily affixed to characters, to which 

 they had no resemblance. 



In confirmation of this, it may be remarked, that the charac- 

 ter J, in which Doctor Fitzgerald, one of the warmest advocates 

 of this resemblance, acknowledges, that little or none can be dis- 

 covered, affiards, when viewed in its lateral position, a fair illustra- 

 tion of the principle.* 



The sum of the positions laid down in the preceding part of this 

 essay amounts to this : that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet were 

 originally characters expressive of sensible objects : — that, in wri- 

 ting and inscribing, those characters were originally set down one 

 under another, forming perpendicular rows ; the first of these rows 

 commencing at the left corner of the tablet, parchment, &c. and 

 each succeeding one being formed to the right of the preceding : — 

 that in collections of parchments, lying one over the other, the 

 writing was commenced on that, which lay at top : — that, on com- 

 pleting the last row to the right, it was turned back, and the 

 writing pursued in a similar manner, either on the reverse of that 

 parchment, or on the obverse of that lying immediately beneath : — 

 and lastly, as that, which it has been the principal aim of this 

 essay to establish, that this accounts for the Orientals in general, 

 or at least the Hebrews, proceeding, in their order of writing, 

 from right to left ; and commencing at that part of the book, which, 

 among the Europeans, forms the termination. 



* See an Essay on tlie Originality and Permanency of the Biblical Hebrew, by the Rev. Dr 

 Fitzgerald p. 0), 92, 8vo. Dublin, 1796. 



