VVKl TlNli. 



to thofe of France; the fixtli, to Germany; the feventh, 

 ei^lith, and ninth, to all the countries of Europe where 

 Latin is read. The fix former alphabets are before the 

 age of Charlemagne ; the three latter follow it. The 

 charafters of thefe are more diftinguifhed by their names 

 than by their forms, which indicate that they are all of 

 Roman extraAion. The Lonibardic, introduced into Italy 

 by the Lombards in 569, was ufed by the popes in their 

 bulls, and fometimes called Roman in the eleventh century : 

 it ceafed in the thirteenth century. The Vifigothic, or 

 Spani(h Gothic, was introduced into Spain by the Goths 

 or Vifigoths ; it was abohfhed in a provincial fynod, held 

 at Leon in 1091, when the Latin letters were ellablifhed 

 for all public inftruments ; though thefe charafters were 

 occafionally ufed in private tranfaftions for upwards of 

 three centuries afterwards. Saxon writing admits of va- 

 rious diftinftions, -viz. the Anglo-Saxon, Britanno-Saxon, 

 and Dano-Saxon. The Gauls, on being fubdued by the 

 Romans, adopted their mode of writing ; and by addi- 

 tions of their own, gave rife to the GaOican or Roman 

 Gallic. The Franks, a people of Germany, having con- 

 quered part of Gaul, introduced their charafters called 

 Franco-Gallic, or Merovingian, becaufe this kind of 

 writing was praftifed under the kings of the Merovingian 

 race. It took place about the clofe of the fixth century, 

 and prevailed till the beginning of the ninth. The Ca- 

 roline was derived from the improvement of Charle- 

 magne ; this declined in the twelfth century, and totally 

 difappeared in the thirteenth, when it was fucceeded in 

 Germany by the Modern Gothic. The Caroline writing 

 was reftored by Hugh Capet about the year 987, and 

 called Capetian : it was much praftifed till about the 

 middle of the twelfth centur}' ; but in the thirteenth it 

 degenerated into the Modern Gothic. The Capetian 

 writing was ufed in England and in Germany, as well as 

 France, during the above-mentioned period. The Modern 

 Gothic, which fpread itfelf over Europe in the twelfth and 

 thirteenth centuries, is improperly fo called ; becaufe it 

 does not derive its origin from the \vriting anciently ufed 

 by the Goths and Vifigoths in Italy and Spain, but it is 

 the mod barbarous kind of writing : it took its rife in the 

 decline of the arts among the lazy fchoolmen, who had the 

 word tafte ; it is nothing more than the Latin writing de- 

 generated. It began in the twelfth century, and was 

 generally ufed (efpecially by monks and fchoolmen) in all 

 parts of Europe, till the reftoration of the arts in the 

 fifteenth century, and longer in Germany and the north- 

 ern nations. Our ftatute-books are ftill printed in Go- 

 thic letters. 



The learned are not agreed with refpeft to the origin of 

 what is called national writing. Some will have it, that 

 the Roman manner prevailed throughout the Weft, until 

 the irruption of the barbarous nations of the North, in 

 the fifth and fixth centuries : the Goths, they fay, firft 

 introduced their mode of writing into Italy, inftead of 

 the Roman manner ; the Vifigoths did the like in Spain ; 

 the Franks in Gaul ; the Saxons in England ; and the 

 Lombards in Italy. 



According to others, the Romans were in poflTeffion of 

 various forms of writing ; but it is fuppofed, that the 

 barbarous nations introduced fome of their own letters 

 in the writings compofed of capitals and fmall letters ; 

 that the running-hand, peculiar to each nation, was ufed 

 in grants and contrafts, and found admittance hkewife in 

 manufcripts after the middle of the feventh century. 



Mr. A&le, howcTer, is of opinion, that the different 



modes of writing in Italy, Spain, France, England, and 

 Germany, were derived from the Roman alone. 



While Rome continued the centre of all the provinces of 

 the empire, her manner of writing generally prerailed 

 in each ; but the empire being difmembered, and all the 

 weftern provinces difunited, a change was produced ; 

 the conquerors disfigured the Roman writing, and by 

 their falfe tafte and ignorance, diftinguiftied their writing 

 from that of their neighbours : the genius and difpofition 

 of the different people having no fmall fliare in producing 

 this diverfity. 



This notion greatly aflifts in difcovering the age of ma- 

 nufcripts ; for if a writing is Merovingian, it cannot be 

 fubfequent to the ninth, nor prior to the fifth century ; if 

 another is Lonibardic, it muft be pofterior to the middle of 

 the fixth, and anterior to the thirteenth ; if Saxon, it can- 

 not be earlier than the feventh, nor later than about the 

 middle of the twelfth. 



With regard to the forms of letters, many authors are 

 of opinion that they are derived from the pofitions of the 

 organs of fpeech in their pronunciation. Accordingly, M. 

 Van Helmont hath taken great pains to prove, thati the 

 Chaldaic charafters are the genuine alphabet of nature, 

 becaufe, he fays, no letter can be rightly founded, without 

 difpofing the organs of fpeech into an uniform pofition with 

 the figure of each letter. 



Mr. Nelme publifhed a work, in which he endeavours to 

 ftievv that all elementary charafters or letters derive theii- 

 form from the line and the circle. Mr. Gebelin deduces 

 them from hieroglyphic reprefentations, and he hath given 

 feveral delineations of human figures, trees, &c. in con- 

 firmation of his hypothefis. Mr. Aftle obferves, that as 

 letters are only marks for founds, their forms entirely de- 

 pended upon the tafte, fancy, will, or caprice, of thofe 

 who firft formed them. In this point of \'iew, they may be 

 confidered as arbitrary marks, or fecret cyphers, which, by 

 being made known and adopted, would become of general 

 ufe, wherever they were received by agreement. For the 

 number and forms of the letters of various alphabets, illuf- 

 trated by figures, we muft refer to Mr. Aftle's account, 

 uii Infra. 



After the moft diligent inquirj', it doth not appear, fays 

 Mr. Aftle, that the Britons had the ufe of letters before 

 their intercourfe with the Romans : and though, from the 

 coming of Juhus Csefar till the time when the Romans left 

 the ifland in the year 427, the Roman letters were familiar 

 to the eyes of the inhabitants, he is of opinion, that writ- 

 ing was very little praftifed by the Britons till after the 

 coming of St. Auguftine, about the year 596. 



The writing which prevailed in England from this time 

 to the middle of the eleventh century, is generally termed 

 Saxon, and may be divided into five kinds ; -viz. the Roman 

 Saxon, which is very iimilar to the Roman, and prevailed in 

 England from the coming of St. Auguftine till the eighth 

 century ; the fet Saxon, which took place toward the 

 middle of the eighth century, continued till about the 

 middle of the ninth, and was not entirely difufed till the 

 beginning of the tenth century ; the running-hand Saxon, 

 which came into ufe towards the latter end of the ninth 

 century, when learning was diff^ufed in England under the 

 aufpices of king Alfred, in whofe reign many books were 

 written in this ifland, in a more expeditious manner than 

 formerly ; the mixed Saxon, occurring in the ninth, tenth, 

 and in the beginning of the eleventh centuries, in many 

 MSS., which were written in England in charafters partly 

 Roman, partly Lombardic, and partly Saxon ; and the 



elegant 



