OF ASIATICK WORDS. 7 



to retain with minute attention throughout his work. 

 Where he had acquired his refined articulation of the 

 Perfian I never was informed ; but it is evident that 

 he fpells raoft proper names in a manner which a native 

 of Perfia, who could read our letters, would be unable 

 to comprehend. For inftance ; that the capital of 

 Azarbdijdn is now called Tabriz, I know from the 

 mouth of a perfon born in that city, as well as from 

 other Iranians ; and that it was fo called fixteen hun- 

 dred years ago, we all know from the Geography of 

 Ptolemy ; vet Major Davy always wrote it 1 ubburaze, 

 and infilled that it mould thus be pronounced. Whe- 

 ther the natives of Semerkand, or Samarkand, who pro- 

 bably fpeak the diale6t of Soghd with a Turanian pro- 

 nunciation, call their birth-place, as Davy fpelled it, 

 Summurkund, I have yet to learn; but I cannot believe 

 it; and am convinced, that the former mode of writing 

 the word, expreffes both the letters, and the found of 

 them, better than any other combination of characters. 

 His method, therefore, has every defecl; fince it ren- 

 ders neither the original elements of words, nor the 

 founds reprefented by them in Per/ia, where alone we 

 mult feek for genuine Per/ian,a.s for French in France* 

 and for Italian in Italy. 



The fecond method has found two able fupporters in 

 Mr. Halhed and Mr. Wilkins; to the firlt of whom 

 the public is indebted for a perfpicuous and ample 

 grammar of the Bengal language ; and to the fecond 

 for more advantages in Indian literature, than Europe 

 or India can ever fufficiently acknowledge. 



Mr. Halhed having juftly remarked, 4 that the two 

 4 greateft defecls in the orthography of any language, 

 fc are the application of the fame letter to feveral dif- 



* ferent founds, and of different letters to the fame 



* found,' truly pronounces them both to be 4 fo com- 

 4 mon in Englijh, that he was exceedingly embarraffed 



* in the choice of letters to exprefs the found of the 



B 4 4 Bengal 



