172 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO IJOA. 



have been made, as, Mr, S. says, there is good reason to believe, if not very 

 lately, several years after the memoir itself was read. This, as the Abbe is said 

 to be the first antiquary in France, and must undoubtedly have a great influence 

 over the members of that illustrious body which he has so long adorned, cannot 

 well fail of being considered by many people as a confirmation of the suspicion 

 for some time entertained in several parts of Europe, and hinted at by Mr. S. in a 

 former paper. It will therefore enable us to account for the late publication of a 

 piece, which seems to have been applauded by the Abbe's admirers as one of the 

 most valuable literary productions of the present age. What degree of attention 

 to this performance from the lovers of antiquity is really due, Mr. S. shall not at 

 present take upon him to decide. His sentiments of it, however, if not yet suffi- 

 ciently known, from the following short additional remarks, submitted with the 

 utmost deference to the superior judgment of the b. s,, will very clearly appear. 



It is needless to add that Mr. S. controverts many of the explanations given 

 by M. B. relative to the Maltese Phoenician inscription, before noticed by Mr. 

 S. in the Philos. Trans. At the conclusion of this rather unprofitable dispute, 

 Mr. S. sums up the whole in the following deductions. 



" Hence it seems to appear, that the names of two Amathusians, probably 

 of the first distinction, one of whom was unfortunate enough, have been handed 

 down to us, and perhaps to all succeeding ages, by this sepulchral inscription. 

 It must be further observed, that this curious monument consists of 4 short 

 periods, every one of which may, in some respect, be taken for a complete in- 

 scription. But this is a property it has in common with other similar remains of 

 antiquity. Thus the Sigean inscription is composed of 4 such periods, and 3 are 

 exhibited by the Punic inscription in a former paper explained. 



" I have hinted above, that the inscription is come down to us perfect and 

 incorrupt; not so much as one of its letters having been either lost, or greatly 

 damaged, by the injuries of time. To which I shall now beg leave to add, that 

 the words formed of these letters are, for the most part, distinguished from one 

 another by points, placed between them ; which must, in a good measure at least, 

 ascertain the lection here, and of course greatly facilitate the explication. The 

 Etruscans sometimes separated their words from one another by two points, and 

 sometimes by a single one only, as we learn from the Etruscan inscriptions on 

 the celebrated tables of Gubbio, and others published by Sig. Gori, in the learned 

 work referred to, which may be considered as a noble repository of all kinds of 

 Etruscan antiquities. The earlier Greeks also used the first kind of interpunc- 

 tion, as we learn from the Sigean, Teian, and other ancient inscriptions. That 

 they likewise applied 3 points for the separation of their words, on some occa- 

 sions, though more rarely, as well as the Etruscans, is not unknown to those 

 who have been conversant with the antiquities of these nations. I must further 



