UNIVERSAL ERUDITION.' 



XIV. Paleography is a defcription of the an- 

 cient manner of writing a language from its 

 origin to the rnoft recent time. This denomi- 

 nation is taken from the two Greek words 

 wtAaiof palates? and y^aPu graph e , of which 

 the former fignifies, ancient, and the latter, 

 witing. Paleography is not confined to the 

 tracing of the various alterations that have been 

 introduced from age to age in the letters and 

 abbreviations of a language, but it likewife 

 gives an account of the fucceflive changes in 

 tke language itfelf, of the corruptions and bar- 

 bariirns that have been introduced, or of its im- 

 provements, of its acquifitions, and the manner 

 by which it has arrived at the greateft degree of 

 perfection. In a word, it is the hiftory of the re- 

 volutions of a language, whether ancient, learned 

 or modern. Abbe Pluche has given, in his 

 Spectacle de la Nature, vol. vii. a paleography 

 of the French language, which may ferve as 

 an example, and which we here quote as it is 

 in the hands of every one ; who, by confulting 

 it, may eafily form an idea of this art. 



CHAP; 



