[ 355 ] 
two Others belonging to two of the antient Perllan al<r 
phabets publifhed by M. Anquetil du (31 ) Perron, to 
which he affigns the power of A. All which if 
we admit, it may probably be confidered as the 
val between the commencement and the diflblution of the 
Perfian empire, if not throughout that interval. And that 
they had aftually then fuch chara£lers, the coin under confider- 
ation here gives us good reafon to believe. But w'e mull not 
pofitively aflTert this, fince nothing certain or decifive, without the 
farther alEftance of antient coins, or other genuine monuments 
of antiquity, can be offered in fupport of fuch an opinion. 
The very learned M. la Croze, takes the antient letters of' 
the Perftans, fo many fpecimens of which have been given us by 
Dr. Hyde, to have been originally deduced from the Syriac al- 
phabet. But this is by no means certain. That they are,, 
however, more antient than has been hitherto generally imagined, 
will be readily acknowledged, by all who admit the charafter in 
queftion to be one of the letters of the antient Perfic alphabet,, 
as I am inclined to believe it is. But neither muft this be laid 
down as a fa£t, till it is confirmed by other antient coins, or by 
other authentic monuments of antiquity, that may be intirely 
depended upon. Herodot. lib. IV. c. 87. Matur. Veys. la 
Croze, apud Joan. Chamberlayn. Dijjeriat. Sic. p. 129, 130^ 
Amftelaedami, 1715. 
(31) M. Anquetil du Perron has lately publifhed, at Paris, his 
tranflation of the Zend-Avefta of Zeratufht. In the preliminary 
difeourfe, or introdudlion to which, he has been pleafed to abufe 
and ridicule two of the moft refpe£l:able members of our Univer- 
fity, as well as me. This condudl is the more extraordinary, 
as, by his own account, the polite and friendly reception he met 
with from us, during the two days he refided in Oxford, towards 
the clofe of January, 1762, ought to have infpired him with fer:- 
fiments very different from thofe of hatred and averfion to the 
whole Englifh nation ; which he, though greatly obliged to them 
both in the £aft Indies and In England, difeovers in many parts 
of his firft volume. But I mean not at this time to recriminate. 
Nor indeed is there any need of a recrimination. His own ac- 
count of the treatment he met with at Oxford, from the gentle- 
men he has fo grofsiy abufed, is a much feverer refle£tion upon 
him than any thing I have faid, or could have faid, of him, here. 
In my prefent circumftances it would be improper for me to 
characlerize his tranflation of the Zend-Avefla, as I might feern 
to be.a<ffed by too vindi 61 :ive a fpirit, if I delivered here my true 
femimems of it. But I would beg leave to recommend to the 
Z z 2 initial 
