A412 
I beg lve to oppofe fare faé&ts to the 
account which the compilers of ne 
es es Britennica” give under th 
article punctuation. Their words are i 
follow: ‘¢ In the 15th century Coy I 
_fuppofe, they méan), we obferve their firft 
appearance. We find, from the beaks 
of this age, that they were not all pro- 
duced at the fame time; thofe we meet 
with then in ule, being only the comma, 
the parenthefis, the interrogation, and 
the full point ; to prove this, we need but | 
look into" Bak’s As of Eaghih Vo- 
tarizs,” black letter, printed in 15503 
indeed, in the dedication of this book, 
we difcover a colon, but, as this is the 
only ene ot the kind throughout the work, 
it 15 plain this op was not eftablifhed at 
this time, and fo warily put in by the 
printer. cS 
In ‘6 Hackl a Voyages,’ printed in 
1599, we fee the fi writ infemee ot a femi- 
colon. 
Now, fir, ie can eafily fuppofe they 
were not aii introduced at the fame time; 
fo far we agree. But, that the colon was 
introduced many years before 1550, will 
be proved by “ Nowi Teffamenti poflrema 
ediiio, per Evafinum,” &c. anno 1527; 
which is now before me, and where it 
frequently occurs; as alio in another 
book, .«* Pub. Ovidiu Nafonts Metamer- 
phojeon, * anno 1543. Nay, fir, in fome 
cates, I hold it to be more early in ule 
than the comma, as I havé a miflal, from 
its appearance printed in England, and 
Jong betore the books aforementioned ; 
buen I cannot be affured as to its age, as it 
wants.a title page, and i do not perceive 
a ingle comma init: it is printed with 
red and biack } ink, the colon is Bory 
uied, and is made in a diamond-like form. 
AS tor the femicolan, I muit allow that 
in the fente it is now ufed, I do not find 
it inany of theie books, but in the Tetta- 
ment, and Ovid, it is Men as an abbre- 
Viation; as in xamgq3; meq; quicunq; &c. 
in the ee jenfe I find it aed es a 7 
annis Calvini Commentaria Integra in eae 
Ap fiolorum,” 1563; ‘'D. Erafmi Roto- 
vodamt Opus,” &c. anno 1554, and in 
Ovid a very free ufe is made ot this ab- 
breviating femicolon, 1 in almoft every line, 
in fuch words as thefe, where the laft 
fyllable begins with aq, as conditaq; ia- 
ty bag ; Sfummiffog ; &e. but in the fenie it 
is now ufed, I do not even find it in 
*° Fox’s Adts and Monuments,” black let- 
ter,  F5a.1; 
In hopes that fome of your correfpond- 
ents, More competent to the taik, will 
give fome further elucidations on the fub- 
ject, T remain re ke. 
Cary-fereet, March 22. 
Early Pointing.—Scots and Irifh early Literature. 
To the Editor of the Montil ly Magazines 
SIR, 
ONDERFUL tales have been told 
concerning the literary illumina- 
tion of the Scots and the Irifh ata very 
remote period in the dark ages of the 
hiftory of modern Europe. The Irifh 
pretend that their ifle was the feat of 
learning and civility, at a time when ig- 
norance and barbariim prevailed in every 
neighbouring country. The Scots have 
not yet ceafed to fet up fimilar pretentions 
in favour of their ancient Hebudian femi- 
nary of Jona. In Germany, in France, 
even in Italy, the pretenfions of both 
Scots and Irifh are, in part, allowed; the 
Germans have not been afhamed to refer 
their firit acquaintance with the prinei- 
ples of chriftianity to the preaching of a 
Scottifh apoftle; monafteries have been 
erected abroad, in favour of the Scots 
and Irifh, as monuments of that light 
which thefe infular regions are believed to 
have once fent forth, to enlighten the 
world. 
And yet, when hie orical ny EN qua-~ 
lified to diftinguifh between adequate evi- 
dence and that which is untfatisfactory, 
reviews the records of thofe diftant times, 
fhe difcovers no diftin& veftiges of the 
boafted illumination of Ireland and the 
Hebudian Ifles. Works of art, treafures 
of learning, arrangements of {cience, fuch 
as might unequivocally demonftrate the 
exiftence of fuch an ancient illumination, 
are looked for in vain. . Though a Gib- 
bon have been betrayed to adopt the 
fables of a Boéce; though g Joknfon 
could not view the ruins of Jona without 
having his feelings imprefled with a re- 
ligious awe, and exalted by a.fervent en- 
thufiaiin ; ; though a Vallenstg have not 
difdained to patronize the Milefian age of 
Irifh hiftory, yet mutt candour almott 
concur implicitly with fcepticifm, in re- 
jecting all thofe as mere vague and general 
probabilities which ace found to want 
the fuppart of clofe and particular eyt- 
dence. 
Amidft thefe difficulties, I am inclined: 
to flacter myfelf, that I have been fufies- 
ently fortunate to .difcover from, what 
fource haye ariien thefe too extravagant 
accounts of the early learning of the Scots 
and Irifh, which have been fo widely pro=_ 
pagated, without being perfedtly juit. 
If the influence of ‘the chriftianity. of 
the dark ages can be accounted to have 
been at all akin to knowledge or civility, 
then muft we grant the Scots and the Trifts. 
to have poffefled at leaft this one-adyan-) 
tage of an enlightened people, at.a time 9, 
when the Anglo- Saxons of Germany and 
Brita 
