1800. | 
dam penitus fententiam aliquid preeterea 
defideretur, et ejufdem feré fententize com- 
mata dividit. Infima vero pofitura mo- 
rulam interponit quandam, dum lector {pi- 
ritum ducat, et diverfas ejufvem fententize 
partes wna connexione aptas inter fe et 
conclufasdittinguit. Prioris generis punc- 
tum 7Tedce sty appellatur ab antiquis 
grammaticis; fecundi pécn ; tertil Smoriyui. 
Atque id inventum ad orationis nitorem ex- 
cogitatum, Ariftophant Grammatico accep- 
tum refertur. Quod cum ipfe hoc tem- 
pore reperiffet, quo literis quadratis et 
majufculis vulgo fcribebatur, aptiffimus 
fuit et utiliffimus ¢1yuay illarum ufus, 
quod literarum gqmplitudo intercapedi- 
nem obfervatu perfacilem tres inter punc- 
torum fedes con({titueret*.”? And that this 
Ariftophanes was the author of the mode 
of punttuation, which at firft prevailed, 
was the epinion alfo of Montfaucon and 
Salmafiust. 
But there does not appear to be any 
probability, that either Thrafymachus or 
Ariffophanes invented punStuation, or that 
this fcience was ever practiced at periods 
fo remote. Mr. Warburton reters to paf- 
fages in Cicero and Ariftotle, as authori-— 
ties in vindication of the opinion of Sui- 
das. 
thefe authorities amount to nothing in be- 
half of what they are intended to prove. 
Cicero and Ariftotle, inthe paflages referred 
to, mean not the marks of punctuation, 
but only the parts and compietion of a fen- 
tence. And with refpe& to the affertion 
of Huetius, I know*of no proofs from an- 
cient writers, that have ever been adduced 
in confirmation of his opinion; nor do I. 
believe any fuch proofs can be adduced. 
I can eafily conceive, that fome kind 
of paules, in fpeaking and réading, muft 
have exifted with the knowledge of com- 
municating ideas; but that marks of 
punctuation, in writing, were alfo coeval 
with this knowledge, I cannot fo readily 
admit. Had punctuation in writing been 
ufed inthe times when Dionyfus of Ha- 
licarnaffus, and Quinétilian, compofed 
their celebrated treatifes upon lancuage, I 
cannot imagine but they would have men- 
tioned it: the moft minute parts of gram- 
mar .are noticed by them; and their fi- 
lence upon this fubject I confider as an 
argument fufficient to prove, that punStu- 

* Dan. Huet. prefat. ad Orig. Comment. 
+ Vide Paleogr. Grec. pp. 31. 32. and 
the Epiftle of Salmafius te Sairavius. 
Antiquity of Punétuation. 
It muft however be obferved, that: 
52r 
ation was then unknown.  Befides, if 
Thrafymachus or Ariltophanes had, as 
has been afferted, invented marks of punc- 
tuation, and this had been generally 
known, Quinétilian would fcarcely have 
omitted to mention this particular. 
On the whole, the arguments hitherto 
brought forward in favour and fupport of 
the great antiquity of punctuation, appear 
fallacious, and founded upon no good au- 
thority ; and there is every reafon to be- 
lieve, that the invention of this {cience be- 
longs to a period lefs remote than fome 
have imagined. To what particular pe- 
riod, or to what particular perfon, the ho- 
nour of this invention is due, it is perhaps 
dificult accurately to decide, fince fatis- 
fa&ory authorities feem to be wanting, 
for judging with precifion upon the fub- 
ject. 
This, however, appears to be generally 
agreed upon, that the form of punétuation, 
at firft practiled, was fimilar to what Mr. 
Warburton has fhewn from Dr. Bernard, 
and of which Huetius, in the paflage 
quoted above, kas taken notice, viz, a 
point at the bottom of a letter denoted a 
comma; inthe middle it fignified a co- 
lon; and at the top was equivalent to a 
period or full ftop. Neverthelefs, it is not 
unworthy of oblervation that the mode of 
punctuation ufed in after times was lefs 
full and complete. I have feen a Latin 
tranflation of ‘* Strabo,” publithed about 
the year 1490, in which no other marks, 
befides the period (compofed of a fquare 
dot), and the colon, are to found. And 
Mr. Dowling, in the thirty-fifth Number 
of your Magazine, tells us, that in ** Dio- 
nyfius de Situ Orbis” printed at Venice in 
1498, the colon and period are abundant, 
but no others. That a different modifi. 
cation in the charaéters of punétuation 
fhould have been a confequence of the 
ule of letters different in fize and form 
from thote formerly employed, is a matter 
of no furprife ; but that this modificatibn 
fhould be lels perfeét, feems unaccount- 
able. ; JouN ROBINSON. 
Ravenjfienedale. 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N alluding to a remark of one of your 
corre/pondents refpeCting benefit-{ocie- 
ties, I by no means intended to reprefent 
the plan of providing for the neceffities of 
age by fuch means as wholly imprac- 
ticable ; 





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