Of Jlphabetical CharaSlers. 297 



down by facred and profane hiftorians ; the 

 confelTed mediocrity of their intelleflual acquire- 

 ments, and the confined intercourfe of nations 

 with each other, which would render fuch an 

 expeditrnt lefs neceffary, and therefore lefs likely 

 to be difcovered : all thefe confiderations feem to 

 argue with no little cogency, that fo complex, fo 

 curious, fo wonderful, fo confummate a devife as 

 that of alphabetical writing could hardly be frji 

 detefled by a race of men, whofe wants were few, 

 whofe advantages were circumfcribed, and whofc 

 ideas were commenfurate to their fituation. 

 This pofition, therefore, conjcdural as it is, 

 and unfubflancial, feems unworthy of further 

 animadveffion. 



II. If alphabetical writing were a human invett' 

 tion, the natural refult of ingenuity and experi- 

 ence ; might we not exped, that different nations, 

 would have fallen upon the fame expedient, 

 independently of each other, during the compafs 

 of lb many ages : when the faculties of the mind 

 are equally capable at all times, and in every 

 corner of the univerfe, and when the habits of 

 life and modes of thought inevitably bear fo 

 great a refemblance to each other in fimilar 

 ftages of fociety ? This I fay, were but a 

 reafonable expeftation : which however, corref- 

 ponds not to the event. For alphabetical writings 

 as now pra6tifed by every people in the univerfe, 

 jnay be referred to one common original. If 



this 



