PT. m. Progress and Civilisation. 131 



early ages of history ; to this day the Chinese cha- 

 racter appears to be a sort of combination of the two, 

 yet it seems to be a form capable of expressing ideas 

 with considerable facility; the Chinese are great 

 readers, and their books are generally in the hands 

 of the natives as they sit at their stalls and their 

 shops. It is curious that not only are we ignorant 

 of the name of any individual inventor of the 

 Alphabet, but we do not know with any certainty 

 among what nation the art of writing was first prac- 

 tised. This mighty invention, through wh'ich all 

 the fruits of human thought, past and present, are 

 transmitted to us ; this invention by means of which 

 we of these later times become acquainted with the 

 Poems of Homer, the Histories of Thucydides, the 

 Philosophy of Plato and the Inspirations of Isaiah, 

 seems to have stolen among the human race with so 

 gradual and noiseless a step as to leave no trace of 

 its tirst appearance. Yet it has gradually developed 

 into the great engine of human progress, connecting 

 the whole human race together past and present, and 

 conferring upon Man, considered collectively, a species 

 of earthly immortality. 



' Non omnis inoriar, multaque pars mei 

 Vitabit Libitinam.' 



