WRITING. 



I 



An ingeniou* and learned writer has lately difcufled the 

 lubjeA of this article in a very elaborate manner. He 

 oblerves, that there is a difference, deferving partic\ilar 

 attention in the inquiry, concerning the origin and pro- 

 refs of writing, between the imitative charafters and fym- 

 olic or arbitrary marks. The former derive their origin 

 from that imitative faculty, which is fo confpicuous in 

 the human fpecies ; the latter are founded in neceffity or 

 convenience, and become fignificant by compaft : the 

 one comprehends fymbols and marks for founds, fignifi- 

 cant of ideas ; and tlie other have an immediate reference 

 to fenfible objeiSs which prefent themfelves to fight, and 

 are applicable to hieroglyphical reprefentations. Accord- 

 ingly all reprefentations, marks, or charafters, which were 

 ever ufed by any nation or people, muft. have been either 

 imitative or fymbolic. 



This writer controverts the opinion of M. Fourmont, 

 bifhop Warburton, and M. Gebelin, who have endea- 

 voured to fhew, that alphabets were originally formed of 

 hieroglyphical charadlers ; alleging that the letters of an 

 alphabet were effentially different from the charafteriftic 

 marks deduced from hieroglyphics, which are marks for 

 things and ideas, like the ancient and modern charac- 

 ters of tlie Chinefe ; whereas the former are only marks 

 for founds ; and that, though there be a fufficient rc- 

 femblance between the Mexican pifture-writing, the 

 Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the Chinefe charafters, yet 

 thefe are foreign to alphabetic letters, and, in reality, do 

 not bear the leaft relation to them. The hieroglyphic 

 characters of the Chinefe are, it is faid, in their nature 

 imitative, and do not combine into words, like arbitrary 

 marks for founds or letters, which are very few, and of a 

 fymbolic nature. 



Letters, it is maintained, do not derive their powers 

 from their forms, but originally their forms entirely de- 

 pended on the fancy or will of thofe who made them. 



Many learned men have fuppofed, that the alphabet was 

 of divine origin ; and feveral writers have afferted, that 

 letters wi-re tirft communicated to Mofes by God him- 

 felf ; whilll otliers have contended, that the Decalogue 

 was the firll alphabetic writing. But if this art had been 

 a new difcovery in the time ot Mofes, he would probably 

 have commemorated it ; nor is tliere any reafon to fup- 

 pofe, that God was the immediate revealer of the art, 

 for Mofes could never have omitted to have recorded 

 the hillory of fo important a circumftance, as the memory 

 of it would have been one of the ftrongefl barriers againlt 

 idolatry. 



It appears, however, that the art of v.'riting is of great 

 antiquity, and that the ancients, who afcribed the inven- 

 tion of it to the gods, had very imperfeft ideas of its 

 true origin. When it is confidered that letters muft 

 have been the produce of a certain degree of civilization 

 among mankind, the inquirers into their original have 

 been naturally led to feek it in the hiftory of thofe 

 nations that appear to have been firft civilized. Accord- 

 ingly, many authors have decided in favour of the Egyp- 

 tians. See Letters. 



Others have vindicated the claim of the Phoenicians to 

 the invention of letters ; urging the tellimony of Sanco- 

 niatho, the moft ancient and alfo the moll celebrated 

 Phoenician hillorian, corroborated by Pliny, Curtius, 

 Lucan, Euftbius, &c. as well as their very early and 

 high degree of civilization. The Chaldseans have alfo had 

 feveral learned advocates, who have attributed the in- 

 vention of letters to the patriarch Abraham : and fir Ifaac 



Newton, in particular, admits, that letters were known in 

 the Abrahamic hne for fome centuries before Mofes. 



It is needlefs to mention the claims of the Tufcans, 

 Indians, and Arabians. Mr. Artie, uii Infra, dechires in 

 favour of the Phoenicians ; and obferves, that as the Chal- 

 dseans, Syrians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians, all bordered 

 upon each other, and as the Phoenicians were the greatefl 

 as well as the moll ancient commercial nation, it is very 

 probable that they communicated letters to the Egyptians ; 

 the ports of Tyre and Sidon, and tliofe of the Egyptians, 

 being not far diftant from each other. This author adds, 

 that before the time when Mizraim Vv'ent into Egypt, in the 

 year before Chrift 2188, and 160 years after the flood, 

 Taaut, his fon, had invented letters in Phoenicia ; and if 

 this invention took place ten years before the migration of 

 his father into Egypt, as Mr. Jackfon fuppofes, we can 

 trace letters as far back as the year 2178 before Chrifl, 

 and 150 after the deluge recorded by Mofes: and beyond 

 this period, the written annals of mankind, which have been 

 hitherto tranfmitted to us, will not enable us to trace the 

 knowledge of them, though this want of materials is no 

 proof that letters were not known until a century and a 

 half after the Deluge. 



An opinion feems to be gaining credit among the learned, 

 that arts and letters took their rile in the nortliern parts of 

 Aha, and that they were cultivated in thofe parts, long 

 before they were praftifed in PhcEiiicia or Egypt. Some 

 travelled fouthwards, others ftaid behind ; and thofe who 

 afterwards emigrated from the Ea!l were generally called 

 Scythians, and fometimes Hiias, who overfpread the 

 nortliern parts of Europe. Many fettlements were made 

 in Germany long before the Chrillian era. 



It has been afferted by many writers, that all alphabets 

 are derived from one ; but Mr. Allle maintains, that there 

 are various alphabets ufed in different parts of Afia, 

 which differ from the Phoenician, ancient Hebrew, or 

 Samarita::, in name, number, figure, order, and power. 

 In feveral of thefe alphabets, there are marks for founds 

 peculiar to the language of the Eaft, which are not necef- 

 fj.ry to be employed in the notation of the languages of 

 Europe. 



The following alphabets, fays this learned writer, feem 

 to be immediately derived from the Phoenician ; vi-i, the 

 ancient Hebrew, or Samaritan ; the Chaldaic ; the Baf- 

 tulan, or that of the colony of Phoenicians or Canaanites, 

 who are faid to have fled from Jortiua, and to have fettled 

 themfelves, in the moft early ages, in that part of Spain 

 now called Andalufia and Grenada ; the Punic, Cartha- 

 ginian, or Sicilian ; the Pelafgian Greek, and its deriva- 

 tives, which are written in the Eaftern manner, from right 

 to left ; and the Ionic Greek, written from left to right. 

 This laft-mentioned branch from the Pelafgic ftock is the 

 fource from wiience not only moft of the alphabets of 

 Europe are dei-ived, but alio of many others which have 

 been adopted in different parts of Afia and Africa. 

 From the Ionic Greek are derived the Arcadian, the 

 Latin or Roman, the ancient Gaulilb, the ancient Spaniih, 

 the ancient Gothic, the Coptic, the Ruffian, the Illyrian or 

 Sclavonian, tlie Bulgarian, and the Armenian : the Runic 

 is immediately derived from the Gothic. 



The alphabets derived from the Roman are, the Lom- 

 bardic, the Vifigothic, the Saxon, the Gallican, the 

 Franco-Gallic or Merovingian, the German, the Caroline, 

 the Capetian, and the Modern Gothic. The firll relates 

 to the MSS. of Italy ; the fecond, to thofe of Spain ; the 

 tliird, to the MSS. of Great Britain ; the fourth and fifth, 



to 



