362 Mr. Carmichael on the [Nor. 



coverj^ of printing. Little did he imagine that he had set a 

 force in operation which was to overturn ignorance and barba- 

 rism in every class of society, and we may venture to predict, in 

 eveiy horde of the species, however at present degraded, and 

 pour over the surface of the globe in irresistible streams, the 

 blessings of knowledge, liberty, and happiness. 



But let us turn from the sublime eftects to the lowly instru- 

 ment and unconscious prime-mover. Let us endeavour to 

 analyze the process, by which a human being might have con- 

 trived an arrangement, which, collectively regarded, might not 

 unreasonably be deemed beyond the reach of human ingenuity, 

 yet, when elucidated by the analysis which shall be immediately 

 explained, the invention, it is believed, will appear not merely a 

 matter of possibility, but an event of natural occurrence. 



Let us begin the investigation by tracing, if we can, the mode 

 of proceeding which might have been adopted by any of our 

 great epic poets, if he had not the means of recording his verses, 

 yet was anxiously bent on transmitting them to posterity. Let 

 us suppose Homer, Virgil, or Milton, labouring under this predi- 

 cament, and endeavouring distinctly to note down the successive 

 sounds which compose the first i^erses of the Iliad, iEneid, or 

 Paradise Lost. Let us select one of this immortal triumvirate ; 

 and as the Latin language is more uniform in its sounds than the 

 Enghsh, and the Roman letter more convenient than the Greek 

 for combining two or more characters into one, as will be found 

 serviceable in explaining the process of the invention, let the 

 Roman poet on the present occasion be our guide. 



Having composed and committed to memory the first four 

 lines of the ^neid, he would have no difficulty in dividing the 

 words into syllables as he pronounced them. 



Ar-ma vi-rum-que ca-no, Tro-jee qui pri-mus ab o - ris 

 L 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 



I - ta - li - am, fa - to pro - f u - gus, La - vi - na - que ve - nit 

 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 



Li - to - ra ; raul-tum il - le et ter - ris jac-ta - tus et al - to, 

 31.32.33. 34. 35.36.37.38.39.40.41.42.43.44.45.46. 



Vi su - pe - rum, sae-vai me - mo-rem Ju-no - nis ob i - ram.* 

 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 



But as every syllable would seem a simple sound, he would be 

 under the necessity of noting each by a separate character. In 

 the lines just quoted, he would find 61 syllables, but as 13 of 

 them are repetitions, 48 characters would suffice to designate 

 them. Having sufficiently familiarized himself with these cha- 



♦ Numbers are pl;iced under the several syllables that the reader may trace 

 them in the subsequent tables. 



