Of Alphabetical CharaBers. 303 



*' ceived the art of alphabetical tvriting from the 

 " PhcenicianSi ufed it, with an alteration of fome 

 *' few charaders : and confefTed ingenuoufly, that 

 " it was called P/(7^«?Vw«, from the jiitroducers 

 " of it. And I have feen myfelf the characlers 

 ** of Cad;nus in the temple of Ifmenian Apollo at 

 " "Thebes in Baotia, engraven upon tripods, and 

 " very much refembling the Ionian chariders." 



5. The old Samaritan is precifely the fame as 

 the Hebrew language : and the Samaritan Penta- 

 teuch does not vary by a fingle letter in twenty 

 words from the Hebrew. But the charafters are 

 widely different : for the Jews adopt the Chaldaic 

 letters, during their captivity at Babylon, inftead 

 of the characters of their forefathers. This diffi- 

 culty then feems to have been fufficiently con- 

 fidered. 



III. What we know of thofe nations, who have 

 continued for many centuries unconnefted with 

 the reft of the world, ftrongiy militates againft 

 the hypothefis of the human invention of alpha-^ 

 betical writing. The experiment has been fairly- 

 made upon the ingenuity of mankind for a longer 

 period, than that which is fuppofed to have pro-- 

 duced alphabetical writing by regular gradations : 

 and this experiment determines peremptorily in 

 our favour. 



The Chinefey a people famous for their dif- 

 covcries and mechanical turn of genius, have 

 made fome advances towards the delineation 



of 



