LET 
The verbal expreffion; the literal meaning.—Touching 
tranflations of holy fcripture, vve may not dilhllow of their 
painful travels herein, who Itriftly have tied thernfelves to 
the very original letter. Hooker. —In obedience to human 
laws, we mutt obferve the letter of the law, without doing 
violence to the reafon of the law, and the intention of the 
lawgiver. Taylor's Holy Living. 
What! fince the pretor did my fetters loofe. 
And left me freely at my own difpofe. 
May I not live without controul and awe. 
Excepting ftill the letter of the law ? Dryden. 
Letters, without the lingular: learning.—The Jews mar¬ 
velled, faying, How knoweth this man letters, having ne¬ 
ver learned ? John vii. 15.—Any thing to be read.—Good 
laws are at belt but a dead letter. Addifon. —Type with 
which books are printed.—The iron ladles that letter- 
founders ufe to the calling of printing letters, are kept con- 
ftantly in melting metal. Moxon. 
As by the help of fneech we render our ideas audible ; 
by the a Alliance of letter j we render them vifible, and by 
their help we can wrap up our thoughts, and fend them 
to the molt dilfant parts of the earth, and read the tranf- 
affions of different ages. As to the firlt letters, what 
they were, who firlt invented them, and among what peo¬ 
ple they were firlt in ufe, there is Hill room to doubt: 
Philo attributes this great and noble invention to Abra¬ 
ham ; Jofephus, St. Irenseus, and others, to Enoch ; Bib- 
liander, to Adam; Eufebius, Clemens Alexandrinus, Cor¬ 
nelius Agrippa, and others, to Mofes; Pompcnius Mela, 
Herodian, Rufus Feltus, Pliny, Lucan, &c. to the Phoe¬ 
nicians; St. Cyprian, to Saturn ; Tacitus, to the Egyp¬ 
tians; fome, to the Ethiopians; and others, to the Chi- 
nefe; but, with refpedt to thefe laft, they can never be en¬ 
titled to this honour, fince all their charafters are the figns 
of words, formed without the ufe of letters; which ren¬ 
ders it im'poflible to read and write their language with¬ 
out a valt expenfe of time and trouble; and abfolutely 
impoflible to print it by the help of types, or any other 
manner but by engraving, or cutting in wood. See the 
article Printing. 
There have been alfo various conjedtures about the dif¬ 
ferent kinds of letters ufed in different languages : thus, 
according to Crinitus, Mofes invented the Hebrew letters; 
Abraham, the Syriac and Chaldee; the Phoenicians, 
thofe of Attica, brought into Greece by Cadmus, and 
thence into Italy by the Pelafgians ; Nicoftrata, the Ro¬ 
man-; Ilis, the Egyptian ; and Vulfilas, thofe of the Goths. 
Dr. Bryant opens the fubjedt thus : “ It is laid that 
Cannes (the Man of the Sea) and Sifuthrus inltrudted 
men in the knowledge of letters, and committed many 
things to writing. Now, if the people of the firffc ages 
had been pofielTed of fo valuable a fecret as that of writ¬ 
ing, thejf would never have afterwards defeended to 
means lefs perfedl for the explanation of their ideas. And 
it is to be obferved, that the invention of hieroglyphics 
was certainly a dilcove'ry of the Chaldeans, and made ufe 
of in the firlt ages by the Egyptians ; the very nations, 
who are fuppofed to have been pofielTed of the fupeiior 
and more perfect art. They might retain the former, 
when they became pofleffed of the latter; becaufe their 
ancient records were entrulted to hieroglyphics ; but, had 
they been pofieffed of letters originally, they would never 
have deviated into the ufe of lymbols; at lead, for things 
which were to be publilhed to the world, and commemo¬ 
rated for ages. Of their hieroglyphics we have famples 
without end in Egypt; on their obelilks, portals, and other 
buildings; every mummy almoft abounds with them. 
How comes it, if they had writing fo early, that fcarcely 
one fpecimen is come down to us; but that every exam¬ 
ple fhould be in the lead perfedt character?” It is pro¬ 
bable, therefore, that the Egyptian hieroglyphics were the 
firll manner of writing ; but whether Cadmus and the 
Phoenicians learned the aife of letters from the Egyptians, 
■or from their neighbours of Judea or Samaria, is a quef- 
L E T 539 
tion ; for, fince fome of the books of the Old Telfament 
were then written, they are more likely to have given them 
the hint than the hieroglyphics of Egypt. But, where- 
foever the Phoenicians learned this art, it is generally 
agreed, that Cadmus the fon of Agenor firlt brought let¬ 
ters into Greece ; whence, in following ages, they fpread 
over the reft of Europe. See the article Language. 
Dr. Bryant continues : “ For my part, I believe that 
there was no writing antecedent to the law at Mount Si¬ 
nai. Here the divine art was promulgated ; of which 
other nations partook ; the Tyrians and Sidonians firlt, as 
they were the neareft to the fountain-head. And, when 
this difeovery became more known, even then I imagine 
that its progrefs was very flow; and that in many coun¬ 
tries, whither it was carried, it was but partially received, 
and made ufe of to no purpofe of confequence. The Ro¬ 
mans carried their pretentions to letters pretty high ; and 
the Helladian Greeks Itill higher; yet the former marked 
their years by a nail driven into a polt; and the latter for 
fome ages Amply wrote down the names of the Olympic 
victors from Corsebus, and regiltered the priefteffes of 
Argos. 
“ Why letters, when introduced, were fo partially re¬ 
ceived, and employed to fo little purpofe, a twofold rea¬ 
fon may be given. Firlt, the want of antecedent writings, 
to encourage people to proceed in the fame track. The 
practice of writing, or, in other words, compofing, de¬ 
pends upon previous reading, and example. A fecond 
reafon teems to have been the want of fuch materials as 
are neceffary for expedition and free writing. The rind 
and leaves of trees, and fliells from the fea, "can lend but 
Rnall a Alliance towards literature ; and Hones and llabs 
are not calculated to promote it much further. It is im¬ 
poflible for people to receive any great benefit from let¬ 
ters, where they are obliged to go to a flrard or an oyfter- 
fliell for information ; and where knowledge is contigned 
to a pantile. As to the high antiquity alfigned to letters 
by Pliny, no credence can be given to that author, who 
from 720 years infers eternity, and fpeaks of thofe terms 
as fynonymous. From writing upon leaves and fliells, 
came the peta/ifmas and ojlracijmus of the Greeks: from 
the bark of trees, tiie libri of the Latins.” See farther un¬ 
der the article Writing. 
Letters make the firlt part or elements of grammar; an 
aflemblage of thefe compcfe fyllables and words, and thefe 
compofe fentences. The alphabet of every language con- 
flits of a number of letters, which ought each to have a 
different found, figure, and ufe. As the difference of ar¬ 
ticulate founds was intended to exprefs the different ideas 
of the mind, fo one letter was originally intended to fig- 
nify only one found, and not, as at prefent, to exprefs 
fometimes one found and fometimes another ; which prac¬ 
tice has brought a great deal of confufion into lan¬ 
guages, and rendered the learning of the modern tongues 
much more difficult than it would otherwife have been. 
This conlideration, together with the deficiency of all the 
known alphabets, from their wanting fome letters to ex¬ 
prefs certain founds, has occalioned feveral attempts to¬ 
wards an univerfal alphabet, to contain an enumeration of 
all Rich Angle founds or letters as are ufed in any lan¬ 
guage. See the article Alphabet, vol. i. 
Grammarians diftinguifn letters into vowels, confonants, 
mutes, liquids, diphthongs, and charabteriftics. They 
are likevvife divided into capital and Rnall letters. They 
are alio denominated from the fhape and turn of the let¬ 
ters ; and in writing are diftinguilhed into different hand-s, 
as round text, German text, round hand, Italian, &c. and 
in printing, into Roman, Italic, and black. The term 
letter, or type, among printers, not only includes the CA¬ 
PITALS, small capitals, and Rnall letters, but all the 
points, figures, and other marks, call and ufed in print¬ 
ing; and alfo the large ornamental letters, cut in wood or 
metal, which take place of the illumined letters ufed in 
manuferipts. See Foundery, vol. vii. p. fi-and Fount, 
p. 627. Alfo the article Printing. 
The 
