OF ASIATICK WOB 13 



could be added, or taken away, without manifeft incon- 

 venience; and the fame may indubitably be laid of the 

 Devandgarl fyllem ; which, as it is more naturally ar- 

 ranged than any other, (hall here be the ftandard of my 

 particular obfervations on Ajiatick letters. Our Englijk 

 alphabet and orthography are difgracefully, and almoR 

 ridiculoufly, imperfeft ; and it would be impoffible to 

 exprefs either Indian, Perjian or Arabian words in Ro- 

 man characters, as we are abfiirdly taught to pronounce 

 them : but a mixture of new characters would be incon- 

 venient; and, by the help of the diacritical marks ufed 

 by the French, with a few of thofe adopted in our own 

 treatifes on fluxions, we may apply our prefent alphabet 

 fo happily to the notations of all Ajiatick languages, as 

 to equal the Devandgarl itfelf in precifion and clearnefsj 

 and fo regularly, that any one, who knew the original 

 letters, might rapidly and unerringly tranfpofe into 

 them all the proper names, appellatives, or cited paf- 

 fages, occurring in traces of Ajiatick literature. 



% 



This is the fimpleft element of articulation, or flrft 

 vocal found, concerning which enough has been faid. 

 The word America begins and ends with it j and its 

 proper fymbol therefore is A ; though it may be often 

 very conveniently expreffed by E, for reafons which I 

 fhall prefently offer. In our own anomalous language, 

 we commonly mark this elementary found by our fifth 

 vowel, but fometimes exprefs it by a ftrange variety both 

 of vowels and diphthongs ; as in the phrafe, a mother 

 bird flutters over her young ; an irregularity which no 

 regard to the derivation of words, or to blind cuftom, 

 can in any degree juftify. The Ndgari letter is called 

 Acdr ; but it is pronounced in BengalMke. our fourth 



fhort 



