626 
stands centinel in vain. By degrees the 
form of the letter is impressed no less 
distinctly: than’ that of its emblematic 
companion. We then withdraw the gays, 
‘and expect that the D should suggest 
the first effort to pronounce dog; and 
‘the Eeel. No doubt the Babylonians 
had their primers, which delineated dis- 
tinetly the ox, the booth, the camel, and 
beside them the simplest outline, or mark, 
which would distinguish the aw, the be, 
the ka, abstracted from their original fis 
ures. The obelisks of Egypt are pro- 
Sane such primers. If the roof of the 
temple of Tentyra was a public almanac, 
‘why may notits pillars have been a public 
primer? 'The’most familiar objects of 
rimitive society came to stand for the 
Frejpient articulations which described 
them. Some of these articulations are 
_ not simple, as tiadd?; and thus double 
“‘Yetters occur in. the original alphabet, 
‘which could never have been the case; 
if, as our author imagines, the analysis 
of language into elementary sounds ( Pp: 
-19.} had led to the invention of symbols. 
“These symbols ‘are mere abbreviations, 
“not atall' the result of philosophical ana- 
lysis. Itis high time that the European 
nations should begin to disuse their 
double, and their equivocal letters ; and 
should apply the superfluous characters 
to the notation of other unrepresented 
simple sounds... Analphabet universally 
applicable is the-first step to an universal 
language. Our alphabet is ill-named : 
the incipient and final sound of every 
letter ought to occur in its name. We 
should either call the } ebba or bab; the 
dedda or dad; the f effa or faf, and so 
forth. It is particularly worth the while 
of the English nation to perfect its al- 
phabet ; as it is likely to become the in- 
structress of almost all the uncivilized 
portion of the globe; and as its language 
is alone fitted, by absence of inflection 
and simplicity of structure, to become 
the basis of a universal language. All 
anomalies should be laid aside: mouses 
not mice; oxes HOt oxens sheeps not sheep 5 
every departure from analogy is a need- 
less task the miore for every -child, and 
for every foreigner, who is to partake 
the luxury and the advantage of know- 
ing our literature. pereen 
“The fifth ‘chapter, which’ treats of 
writing in England, displays to advan- 
tage the peculiar and industrious examt- 
nations of our author. Concerning Phe- 
nicians and Chaldeans he leans on the. 
inferentes of others: concerning writing 
# 
PHILOLOGY AND CRITICISM. 
in England his researches are petsonal 
comprehensive, and skilful. He pros 
duces admirable fac similes of many of 
our most curious manuscripts, and indi- 
cates with instructive detail, the marks 
of earlier or later execution. Of this 
chapter to produce a specimen will much 
tend to invite the reader to consult the 
original work, which to the studiers and 
commentators of our manuscript litera- 
ture is of essential value. 
«¢ After the most diligent inquiry it doth 
not appear that the Britons had the use of 
letters before their intercourse with the Ros 
mans. Although alphabets have been pro- 
duced, which are said to have been wee | by 
the ancient Britons, yet no one MS. ever 
appeared that was written in them. Cuno- 
belin, king of Britain, who lived in the reigns 
of the emperors Tiberius and Caligula, erect- 
ed different mints in this island, and coined 
moncy in gold, silver, and copper, inscribed 
with Roman characters. From the coming 
of Julius Cesar, till the time the Romans 
left the islandin the year 427, the Roman 
letters were as familiar to the eyes of the in- 
habitants, as their language to their cars, as 
the numberless inscriptions, coins, and othet 
monuments of the Romans still remaining 
amongst us, sufficiently evince. However, 
we are of opinion that writing was very litile 
practised by the Britons, till after the coming 
of St. Augustin, about the year 596. 
«€ The Saxons who were invited hither by 
the Britons, and who arrived about the year 
449, were unacquainted with letters. ‘The 
characters which they afterwards used were 
adopted by therh in the island, and though 
the writing in England from the fifth to the 
middle of the eleventh century is called Saxon, 
it will presently appear, that the letters used 
in this island were derived from the Romans, 
and were really Roman in their origin, and 
Italian in their structure at first, but were 
barbarized in their aspect by British Ro- 
mans and Roman Britons. A great variety 
of capital letters were used by the Saxons in 
their MSS. of which many specimens are 
given in our plates. Hb 
‘« Saxon capitals. The capital letters ih 
slates fourteen AA and B, are taken from the 
Lexius Sancti Cuthberti, written in the: se- 
venth century, formerly preserved in the ca- 
‘thedral of Durham, but now in the Cottenian 
library (Nero D. ’4). In this fine MS. we 
find several of the capital letters which were 
used by the Greeks, the Etruseans, the Ro- 
mans, the Visigoths, the Saxons, the French, 
and the Germans. ‘The, the parent of the 
Roman I, was not disused at the+time this 
MS, was written.. Lhe Roman F, and also 
the F used by the northern nations, appear 
in:the alphabet which we have engraven, as 
doth the M of the Pelasgians, of the Etrus- 
cans, of the Oscans, and of the Romans. 
The different forms of the letter O, in this 
