280 GENERAL LITERATURE, &C. 



thus, F was called di, or double gamma. This let- 

 ter is retained in the Latin alphabet. The sound 

 of this letter, so often to be supplied, and so rarely 

 expressed in Greek, is by Gattaker and others sup- 

 posed to be the sound of W. 



Pronunciation. 



The Chinese are incapable of articulating many of 

 the sounds uttered by other nations ;" Russia, for ex- 

 ample, they pronounce Golosee. 



Greek, Hebrew, and Phoenician Characters. 



Invert the Greek characters from left to right, ac- 

 cording to the Phoenician and Hebrew manner, and 

 they are nearly the same, as also in name, for which 

 see the 19th Psalm. 



The mode of writing from the right hand to the 

 left, appears originally to have obtained among the 

 Greeks. Afterwards they adopted a new method of 

 writing the lines alternately from the right to the 

 left, and from the left to the right, which was called 

 Boustrophedon, or writing after the manner in which 

 oxen plough the ground. 



Utterance. 



Gibbon inquired of a short-hand writer, at Mr. 

 Hastings' trial, how many words a ready and rapid 

 speaker might pronounce in an hour ; from 7000 to 

 7500 was the answer. Suppose the average to be 

 7200, this will be at the rate of two words per second, 

 and 120 per minute. 



Speaking. 



From what cause does it happen, that a good 

 speaker no sooner conceives what he would express, 



