300 Mr, Wakefield on the Origin 



and the numberlcfs words, common to them all, 

 demonftrably evince: and the Perfic has a clofc 

 affinity to the Arabic. Alterations would natu- 

 rally be introduced, proportionate to the civili- 

 zation of the feveral pofleflbrs, and their repa- 

 ration from the other nations : and this will 

 account for the fuperior copioufnefs of fome 

 above the reft-. So then, not to determine which 

 was the more ancient language, the Hebrew^ 

 SyriaCy or Arabic^ a queftion of no importance 

 on this occafion J all the languages in ufe 

 amongft men, that have been conveyed in alpha- 

 betical charaSfers, have been the languages of 

 people, conneded ultimately or immediately, 

 with thofe, who have handed down the earliefl: 

 fpecimens of writing to pofterity. And when 

 the languages of the Eajiern nations are fo fimi- 

 lar — when fo curious an art would be, in all 

 probability, the firft improvement communi- 

 cated by one people to another — is it not morally 

 certain, that alphabetical writing originally cen- 

 tered in one people ? For length of time has 

 deprived us of exprefs hiftorical teftimony in 

 this cafe. 



Indeed, this propofition feems to be fuffici- 

 ently afcertained by another argument j that is 

 from the famenefs of the artificial denominations 

 of the letters in the Oriental^ Greeks and Latin 

 languages ; accompanied too by a fimilar arrange* 

 ment : Alpha ^ Beta^ and fo on. 



But 



